South Africa: President Ramaphosa: Appeal of High Court ruling aimed at saving grid

President Cyril Ramaphosa says governments appeal of the High Court judgment on load shedding is a means of saving the grid from collapsing.

President Ramaphosa made these remarks on Thursday while responding to questions for oral reply in Parliament on the energy crisis.

This comes after the High Court found that load shedding constituted an infringement of constitutional rights and gave the Minister of Public Enterprises 60 days to ensure that public health facilities, schools and police stations are exempted from power outages, with the alternative being the provision of generators.

The Department of Public Enterprises on Monday said it was lodging an urgent appeal to set aside last Fridays judgment on load shedding.

It is not done in an arrogant way, in a way where we are trying to second guess the court. It is actually being done to ensure we save the grid, otherwise it would collapse if we were to implement that judgement in full, President Ramaphosa said.

Explaining the court appeal, the President said that it is not practically possible to exempt hospitals, clinics, schools and police stations from load shedding, as per the High Court ruling.

Ideally, I would personally want all those hospitals and schools to be exempt but from an engineering point of view, I am told, it is practically impossible to do. Now we are faced with a court judgment and the impracticality of it, he said.

The President told MPs that all hands are on deck in dealing with the energy challenges currently facing the country.

Responding to a question on why government was challenging the court order, the President said government took a decision to be practical about the matter.

He said government needs to deal with the practicality of that decision because the whole process of load shedding is to manage the grid.

When a number of units are not available to generate energy, you could be tempted to drive those remaining units to a point of breakdown. You therefore need to manage it. The engineers tell me that youd need to limit them from overheating and if you overheat them because you are driving them all at one go to generate the electricity at its maximum, the grid could collapse.

You therefore need to feed the electricity in a number of areas on possibly a sequential a basis and switch off other areas and switch other areas on, until you reach a stage where all other units are able to give the electricity needed, the President explained.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2023-05-12. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Dr. Alveda King -- Experience Mother's Day Click here to view this press release with images on the Alveda King Ministries website



NEWS PROVIDED BY

Alveda King Ministries

May 12, 2023



ATLANTA, May 12, 2023 /Christian Newswire/ -- The following is submitted by Dr. Alveda King, she is available for comment: Even though the world seems upside down in many ways, we will experience Mother's Day on Sunday. Notice I write the word experience, rather than celebrate. Our children are in danger. With death in the wombs and in classrooms; painful transgender surgeries and mutilations; and all forms of rampant child abuse, we are in trouble. There is too much pain, violence, and evil in America and around the world; and not enough Jesus today.



Yet, as all too many mourn, some will still celebrate Mother's Day. Whether you are a mother or not, if you are a living member of the one blood human race today (Acts 17:26), God alone has granted you the gift of life from the sperm of a man and egg of a woman.



If you are grieving for any reason today, I extend my deepest prayers and condolences. If he were here today, my grandfather, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Sr. would remind us to "thank God for what we have left."



My mother, Christian civil rights leader, Dr. Naomi Ruth Barber King would add this: "pray, love, forgive and keep living. Heal on your feet."



My daddy, Gospel preacher and Civil Rights Giant Rev. A. D. Williams King taught me to love Jesus and honor my parents. Daddy would kiss Mother and encourage us to "keep on keeping on" because WE HAVE OVERCOME.



I'm grateful that Mother, at age 91, AKA "the Butterfly Queen" is still here to celebrate with family and friends. While we remain mindful that many need comfort and encouragement today, WE ARE NOT COLORBLIND.



Every living human being has a reason to take pause and remember; good or bad, happy or sad; God created us, our mothers chose life, and we are here.



As a mom and grandmother, for me Mother's Day is always full of smiles and I must confess, amusement as I see the many things my six adult children and eleven grandchildren come up with to surprise me. They are all living miracles.



My mother chose life over abortion for me in 1950. While I unfortunately did have two abortions and a miscarriage; I repented, God forgave me, and still blessed my womb; and I'm a grateful mother and grandmother. Read more at How Can the Dream Survive If We Murder the Children?



While we don't know what Mother's Day looks like in your world, or for the moms in your family (living and departed), we pray that yours will be full of mercy, forgiveness, healing, love, peace, kindness and joy.



After all, Mother's Day isn't just a day for moms, but for the children who are here today because of the courage and sacrifice of their parents, and everyone who has loved and supported us.



Did you know that on Sunday, there will be millions of people celebrating Mother's Day because their mothers chose life? THANK YOU, MOTHERS.



THANK YOU. As a mom, I am so thankful that God made Mother's Day possible for these precious families. To all the people of compassion, thank you for stepping in and speaking up; for remembering that Jesus can when parents can't.



And remember, as we celebrate, we also know that Sunday won't be a happy day for many women. All too many of our church family, our neighbors, maybe even women in our own families carry the dark secret each Mother's Day of a different choice. A life-ending one. These women also need our love and our prayers. They need healing.



This Mother's Day, I want to encourage and equip you to Speak for Life. Remember that children are a gift from God (Psalm 127). Every life has a NIA; a purpose.



Finally, whether abased or abound; be encouraged. I pray that your Mother's Day weekend is full of precious reminders of God's goodness and faithfulness, in every season of your life. Our ministry is funded by generous individuals like yourself. We have many ongoing projects that help us to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ in a world much in need of His message. Please consider making a tax deductible contribution to Alveda King Ministries.



About Alveda C. King:

As founder of Alveda King Ministries (www.alvedaking.com), Alveda C. King, PhD, uses her God-given talents and abilities to glorify God and uphold the sanctity of life from the womb to the tomb, and beyond. She currently serves as a Board Member and Senior Advisor to Priests for Life, and as Chair of the America First Policy Institute's Center for the American Dream. She is also a voice for the Silent No More Awareness Campaign, sharing her testimony of two abortions, God's forgiveness, and healing.



Alveda is the daughter of the late slain civil rights activist Rev. A. D. King and Mrs. Naomi King; the granddaughter of Rev. M. L. King, Sr. and Mrs. Alberta King; and the niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.



As a Christian Evangelist, author of the best sellers KING RULES and WE'RE NOT COLORBLIND, she is also founder of Speak for Life and currently serves as a Fox News Channel contributor and is the host of "Alveda King's House" on Fox Nation.



She is a NEWSMAX opinion contributor; a member of Optimist International; former college professor; and a film and music veteran; creating uplifting "conversation starting content" to advance life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness from the womb to the tomb and beyond.



Alveda is also a graduate of Aidan University and a member of SHE LEADS AMERICA, and CHRISTIAN WOMEN IN MEDIA. She is a former Georgia State Legislator, and a twice assigned Presidential appointee. While living a "lifetime of serving God and humanity," she has been honored with many awards, including a (2021) Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award and the Cardinal John O'Connor Pro-Life Hall of Fame Award (2011).



Evangelist King lives in Atlanta, where she is the grateful mother of six and a blessed grandmother.



SOURCE Alveda King Ministries



CONTACT: Brian Mayes, 615-771-2040, brian@nashvillepublicity.com



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Photo: The Canadian Press Janice Abbott, CEO of Atira Property Management and Atira Women's Resource Society, speaks after giving Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland a tour of a supportive housing project for at risk women under construction that will be operated by Atira, in Surrey, B.C., on Wednesday, April 13, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

The British Columbia housing group that was named in a damning forensic audit says it has returned almost $2 million in surplus funds to the provincial government.

Atira Women's Resource Society says the $1.9 million it will return is from the 2020 and 2021 fiscal years.

The society also says in a statement it takes the independent audit with the "utmost seriousness," and that it will establish its own task force to oversee a review of its policies and practices.

The audit by Ernst and Young found mismanagement at the provincial social housing provider, BC Housing, related to its former CEO, who is married to the head of Atira, Janice Abbott.

The report said it found significant risk to public funds and Premier David Eby said after its release that efforts to hide those activities from the government were very troubling.

Eby said he had deep concerns about the situation at Atira, that the government would restrict its funding, suspend the renewal of agreements and launch inspections of buildings the company manages.

Atira's statement says now that it has had the opportunity to consider the report, the board will conduct the comprehensive third-party review of its policies and practices, including on conflict of interest.

It says its focus will remain on its staff and the vulnerable populations it has served for many decades.

"Atira does critical work each day to protect women and children affected by violence by offering supportive housing and delivering education and advocacy aimed at ending all forms of gendered violence," board chair Elva Kim says in the statement.

This independent review, in addition to the BC Housing investigation, will help ensure we can continue to do the work that serves this community.
DoT officials said that more than 1.47 lakh mobile connections that failed in the re-verification process have been disconnected by the Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) in Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura.

So far, the TSPs have blacklisted 493 Points of Sale (PoS) and registered 71 police complaints against the suspected PoS for further investigation and necessary action against the culprits.

Cyber crimes, financial frauds and anti-social activities are mainly committed through SIMs fraudulently subscribed on the basis of forged documents.

In order to detect and weed out such suspected SIMs, the DoT has taken up the initiative of conceptualising and implementing an innovative and indigenous artificial intelligence and facial recognition powered solution for telecom SIM subscriber verification (ASTR).

The system uses subscriber images and a database of TSPs to detect fraudulent subscriptions.

--IANS sc/arm

( 181 Words)

2023-05-11-22:56:03 (IANS)
Actor-politician Pawan Kalyan on Thursday indicated that he has the ambition to become the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh. Citing the example of Karnataka where JD-S leader H.D. Kumaraswamy became chief minister by winning only 30 assembly seats, the Jana Sena Party (JSP) leader stated that if people had given him 40 seats in 2019, he too would have demanded chief minister's post. Talking to reporters at the JSP office in Mangalagiri here, the actor-politician remarked that if he wants to become the chief minister, he will not hesitate to say so. He made it clear that he will not ask Telugu Desam Party (TDP) or Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to make him the chief minister. "I will show my strength and ask," he added. Pawan's party, which had an alliance with the Left parties and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in the 2019 elections, could win just one seat in the 175-member Assembly. The actor himself lost both the seats he had contested. He made it clear on Thursday that the JSP is looking for alliance with major parties to end the rule of YSR Congress Party (YSRCP). Stating that many political parties emerged stronger with alliances, he said the JSP was also looking to have alliances with major parties to prevent the split of anti-incumbency votes in the next elections. Pawan said he respects the Communist parties but would discuss alliances, keeping in view those parties who can influence the elections. The JSP is already in alliance with the BJP and it is keen to forge a grand alliance by roping in TDP, the main opposition party in the state assembly. Pawan recently held a series of meetings with TDP president and former chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu. Pawan said he had an alliance with BJP and TDP in 2014 after detailed analysis of the then prevailing situation. The actor said JSP will take a decision on alliances keeping in view only the state's interests. He claimed that the JSP's position has strengthened compared to the past. He recalled that in 2019, JSP contested 137 assembly seats (out of total 175) and secured 7 per cent votes. He said in some constituencies, the party polled 20-30 per cent votes. Pawan said if elections are advanced, he will begin the field work from June. He also remarked that he will be happy if strong parties come with him to check the YSRCP. --IANS ms/pgh ( 416 Words) 2023-05-11-22:58:01 (IANS)
The Supreme Court judgment, ruling on a batch of petitions arising out of the intra-party rift in the Shiv Sena, made a detailed analysis of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution (or the anti-defection law) to draw a distinction between a legislative party and a political party. A five-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, said the Tenth Schedule would become unworkable if the term 'political party' is read as the 'legislature party'. The bench -- also comprising Justices M.R. Shah, Krishna Murari, Hima Kohli, and P.S. Narasimha - said that the Parliament, in its constituent capacity, was conscious of the necessity of not allowing anti-defection laws to stifle intra-party dissent and the freedom of expression of legislators. "When the anti-defection law seeks to curb defections from a political party, it is only a logical corollary to recognize that the power to appoint a whip vest with the political party," it said. The bench observed that to read the term 'political party' as 'legislature party' would be contrary to the plain language of the Tenth Schedule. It said that to hold that it is the legislature party which appoints the whip would be to sever the figurative umbilical cord which connects a member of the house to the political party. The bench said "that a whip be appointed by the political party is crucial for the sustenance of the Tenth Schedule. The entire structure of the Tenth Schedule which is built on political parties would crumble if this requirement is not complied with. It would render the provisions of the Tenth Schedule otiose and have wider ramifications for the democratic fabric of this country. Thus, the courts cannot be excluded by Article 212 from inquiring into the validity of the action of the Speaker recognising the whip". The bench said the Speaker, on taking cognizance of the resolution passed by the faction of Shiv Sena Legislative Party (SSLP) led by Eknath Shinde, did not attempt to identify which of the two persons who were nominated (Sunil Prabhu or Bharat Gogawale) were authorised by the political party. "In a contentious situation such as this, the Speaker should have conducted an independent inquiry based on the rules and regulations of the political party to identify the whip authorised by the Shiv Sena Political Party." "The Speaker must only recognise the Whip appointed by the political party. The decision of the Speaker recognising Mr. Gogawale as the Chief Whip of the Shiv Sena is illegal because the recognition was based on the resolution of a faction of the SSLP without undertaking an exercise to determine if it was the decision of the political party". The bench noted that the leader of the legislature party is the link between the political party and the legislative Assembly. "If the interpretation of the respondents is accepted, the action of the leader condoning an MLA's prohibitory conduct would not reflect the voice of the political party and would instead reflect the voice of the legislature party. This would be contrary to the manner in which the Tenth Schedule is intended to operate. The manner in which the Tenth Schedule would then operate would not effectively prevent or provide a solution to the constitutional sin of defection," said the bench. The top court concluded that the political party and not the legislature party appoints the whip and the leader of the party in the House. "Further, the direction to vote in a particular manner or to abstain from voting is issued by the political party and not the legislature party," it said. --IANS ss/vd ( 611 Words) 2023-05-11-23:12:03 (IANS)
Mohammad Shahid had committed the crime on June 16, 2009 and after a long legal fight of 14 years, the victim's family has secured justice.

The incident occurred when Shahid, a native of Buxar district, went to Semri village under Kargahar police station to attend a marriage function of his relative on June 16, 2009.

"The accused had raped a 14-year-old minor girl on June 16, 2009. After the rape, the accused killed her and buried the body near the scene of crime. The local police managed to discover the dead body two days after the incident," Vidyasagar Rai, the lawyer for the the victim's family, said.

"On Thursday, a final hearing of the case was held in the court of ADJ-1 in Sasaram where he found the accused guilty. He observed this case in the category of rarest of rare and accordingly, pronounced the death penalty," Rai said.

--IANS ajk/vd

( 185 Words)

2023-05-11-23:16:02 (IANS)
Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee president Govind Singh Dotasara on Thursday called Sachin Pilot's 'Jan Sangharsh Yatra' a "personal journey", and said that it has nothing to do with a party. Dotasara also claimed that no prior permission has been sought by Pilot from All India Congress Committee (AICC) or from Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC). "It's his (Sachin Pilot)'s personal Yatra (journey) and has nothing to do with the party. There was no prior permission sought by Pilot from the All India Congress Committee (AICC) or from Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) before the Yatra. The Yatra with the party's logo, and photographs of party leaders including Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and Mallika Arjun Kharge, can be called an official one," Rajasthan PCC Chief said. Dotasara while speaking to reporters at the Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee office in Jaipur, said, "The matter will be taken up with the Party high command." Meanwhile, the Rajasthan in-charge at the AICC Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa has called a meeting of state leaders in Delhi on Friday amidst the ongoing political turmoil in the state. According to sources, the meeting will be attended by PCC chief Govind Singh Dotasara and three newly appointed co-in charges of Rajasthan. It is to be believed that the current political developments and organizational issues will be discussed in this meeting. Congress leader Sachin Pilot on Thursday arrived in Ajmer to conduct Jan Sangharsh Yatra in protest against the inaction of the Rajasthan government in the alleged corruption cases during the previous Vasundhara Raje-led BJP government in the state. Talking to the media, ahead of the yatra, Pilot said, "We are here for the benefit of the people. We had promised a zero-tolerance against corruption and we still demand an investigation for the same. People have always chosen the one who stands by them and with them." The five-day Jan Sangharsh Yatra was launched by Sachin Pilot from Ajmer to Jaipur on Thursday with an aim to raise a series of issues including corruption. Sachin Pilot will also stop at different locations during the course of his yatra. He has affirmed receiving immense support from the public. Earlier on Tuesday, on being asked why he is carrying out the yatra against his own government, Pilot told ANI that he is just raising his voice against "corruption". "I am not protesting against my government, but just raising my voice against corruption. When we had come to power, we had promised a zero-tolerance against corruption, but no investigation was done by this government," he said. (ANI)
Delhi Police's special cell has arrested two more inmates of Tihar jail in connection to the killing of gangster, Tillu Tajpuriya inside the prison, officials said on Thursday. According to officials, the arrested accused have been identified as Chavanni and Attar Rehman. "They were also lodged in jail number eight of Tihar prison. It was the same prison where Tajpuriya was stabbed to death allegedly by four members of a rival gang," officials said. With this, the police have so far arrested six accused in gangster Tillu Tajpuria's murder in Tihar jail. According to official sources, Rehman had allegedly helped the four assailants get rid of the weapons used in the murder while Chavanni had covered the CCTV camera with a bedsheet during the incident that took place on May 2. Special Cell of Delhi Police once again reached Tihar Jail, on Thursday and recreated the crime scene with the accused. Tajpuria was allegedly murdered in Tihar Jail by the members of a rival gang on May 2. The entire incident was captured on the CCTV installed in the prison. On the other hand, in a major rejig in the Tihar Jail, following Tajpuriya's murder as many as 99 prison officials were transferred on Thursday. This came after CCTV footage of the killing of Tillu Tajpuriya surfaced, which showed that fellow inmates continued stabbing the prime accused of the Rohini Court shootout in front of uniformed personnel, who did not intervene. The footage from the CCTV camera mounted on the wall of Central Gallery inside Tihar Jail, was from around 6:15 am on May 2. The police personnel could be seen standing near Tillu Tajpuriya, lying on the floor, and watching three men stabbing the gangster with weapons, fashioned out of lockup grills. Later, nine Tihar Jail officials, including the assistant superintendent, were suspended in this matter. However, apart from this, sources earlier told ANI that the jail administration has initiated listing of dreaded gangsters, lodged inside Tihar, and started shifting them to different prisons. "Tihar administration has initiated the work as they predict another gang war inside the jail," the sources said. The sources further said that in the wake of Tillu Tajpuriya's murder by the members of Gogi gang, the administration is shifting all inmates to different cells, which would be far from their rival gang members' cells. "All in all, Tihar Jail has over thousand prisoners, including the top gangster and his henchmen. They mainly include those prisoners who are in silent mode and suddenly attack their rival gang members," the Tihar Jail sources said. They went on to add that there are around 30-35 inmates, whose security is under threat. (ANI)
Three persons have been arrested for allegedly gang-raping a college student in a moving car in West Tripura district, said police on Thursday. According to officials, Gautam Sharma (26), the prime accused and the driver of the vehicle in which the crime was committed, and co-accused Sudip Chetri (31) were arrested soon after the incident came to light. While the third accused, identified as Ptadenjit Paul (26), a resident of the Mahesh Kala area, was arrested on Thursday. The police also recovered Rs 90 lakh from the house of one of the accused. "We have arrested the third accused in the case. Suspected items like log books, IPL batting logs and some documents of money laundering cases have been sized. A laptop and ATM cards have also been seized from his possession," West Tripura SP Kiran Kumar said. "A separate case is being filed under the gambling act and for money laundering. Prima facie evidence proves the involvement of Prasenjit Paul in the rape case as well. However, we are investigating the matter in a detailed manner," the SP added. Meanwhile, the victim's condition, who is undergoing treatment at GB Hospital, is said to be critical. Following the incident, various organisations, including students and women's bodies, in Tripura staged protests on Thursday and demanded for stringent action against the accused. The 20-year-old student was allegedly abducted on Monday afternoon when she was returning from her college on the outskirts of West Tripura. "The prime accused was known to the victim for five months and he had picked the victim from her college. After that, they roamed in the town and then late in the night the accused and his friends raped the victim at a school ground near her house and fled the spot," officials said. "The victim was found at an abandoned place along the bypass road late on Monday night and was taken to the hospital," they said. While The victim's mother said that her daughter was returning home when Gautam offered her a lift. There were three others in the car, the girl's mother said, as she alleged that all four persons raped her daughter inside the moving vehicle and abandoned her along the bypass road. (ANI)
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has asked Health Secretary Narayan Swarup Nigam to look at the possibility of starting a diploma course for doctors on the lines of engineering diplomas to address the "shortfall of" doctors in the state. "Please find out if we can start a diploma course for doctors, just like we have for engineers. Then many children will get a chance to study medicine through diploma course," she said on Thursday at a review meeting of 'Utkarsh Bangla'. Stressing the need for meeting the shortage of doctors and nurses at hospitals, she asked the health secretary to form a committee to decide on the legal aspects of such diploma courses to train more doctors for primary healthcare units. The CM also asked the officials to look into the opening of 100 more nursing training institutes in the state. "The doctors now have to complete their five-year curriculum for a regular MBBS course. They have to study again and then join as junior doctors. There has been an increase in the number of seats, hospitals and patients. If in parallel, there are diploma doctors to cover the primary health centres, it will give a good outcome. This will cater to the growing demand for doctors and population," Mamata asked to Health Secretary N S Nigam. She also added that by introducing diplomas, the shortage in primary health centres can be met by hiring such diploma holders as doctors. She asked the health secretary to form a committee to decide on the legal aspects of such diploma courses to train more doctors for primary healthcare units. (ANI)
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to "expedite' the process of the site clearance of Sri Jagannath Puri International Airport (SJIA) from the Ministry of Civil Aviation that is pending since September last year. Patnaik who met the PM on Thursday in Delhi during his visit to the national capital, discussed various key issues of his state with the latter and requested to expedite the process. He further requested PM Modi to extend the provision of five free connections in each gram panchayat for Bharat Net Phase II. Patnaik also apprised the PM of a detailed project report (DPR) which was prepared for extending Bharat Net from the gram panchayats to the villages and submitted to the Department of Telecommunication and no decision on the matter has been taken so far. "Also the DPR for converting the Bharat Net linear network to an internet protocol multi-protocol label switching ring network and extending the same to districts and state capital, submitted by the state to the telecom department has been regretted," he told PM Modi, as per the Odisha government press release. While requesting for a decision for internet protocol multi-protocol label switching, he also discussed incomplete national highways in the state. "There are as many as eight national highway projects, as per annexure, that is yet to be completed though many have started in 2017 and 2018," Patnaiak told Modi asking to expedite the process. The leader also sought the PM's intervention in opening more bank branches in rural areas of the state. "Department of Financial Services may put in place a two-year plan for covering all unbanked gram panchayats of the state by bank branches. However, in order to avoid inconvenience to those elderly and disabled persons who are unable to visit the bank for receiving cash, relaxation may be granted for the disbursement of pension in cash to a maximum of 20 per cent of the beneficiaries under National Social Assistance Scheme (NSAP)," Patnaik said to Modi. However, Patnaik also ruled out the possibility of a 'third front' being formed to contest the next year's Lok Sabha elections. The Chief Minister, who is in Delhi, was answering queries from reporters about the possibility of a third front in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections amid efforts by some leaders to bring together opposition parties. "No, as far as I am concerned. Not now," he said. During his visit to the national capital, Patnaik met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in connection with development works related to Odisha. "I met the Prime Minister and we discussed issues related to Orissa's demand. I spoke for the International Airport that we have to set up in Puri, Bhubaneswar is getting too much traffic now that's why we want an expansion. The Prime Minister said that he will definitely help in every way possible," he said. (ANI)
In a bid to ensure foolproof security arrangements at all judicial complexes, Punjab Police on Thursday conducted cordon and search operations (CASO) around the District and Sub-Divisional Courts across the state, said an official release. It comes after a low-intensity blast occurred near Sri Guru Ram Dass Niwas, in the vicinity of the Golden Temple in Amritsar in the early hours of Thursday. However, no fatalities were reported in the incident According to the release, the search operation aims to keep vigil around the anti-social elements, besides, making sure that Door Frame Metal Detector (DFMDs), Closed-Circuit Television (CCTVs) cameras and other security equipment installed are in working condition. The checking was conducted from 11 AM to 2 PM simultaneously in all the 28 police districts of the state on the directions of the Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav. The Commissioner of Police/Senior Superintendent Of Police (CPs/SSPs) were directed to personally monitor this operation and make a sufficient number of police teams to carry out checks, added the release. Special DGP Law and Order Arpit Shukla said that Police teams under the supervision of SPs carried out checking at around 64 Courts across the state. Apart from reviewing security arrangements, he said that police teams have also frisked 1305 suspicious people found roaming around the court complexes and also checked 2079 vehicles. He said that the purpose to carry out this checking was to ensure foolproof security arrangements at judicial complexes in the state to tighten noose around the anti-social elements. Meanwhile, the (CPs/SSPs) are also directed to increase Police Patrolling around vulnerable places to intensify surveillance of anti-social elements. Earlier on Thursday, a low-intensity blast occurred near Sri Guru Ram Dass Niwas, in the vicinity of the Golden Temple in Amritsar, the Punjab police said. This was the third explosion to rock the vicinity in a week. The police also said that five conspirators were arrested for the low-intensity blast that occured near Sri Guru Ram Dass Niwas. According to the Punjab police, the motive behind the blast was to disturb peace. (ANI)
Photo: The Canadian Press United Conservative Party Leader Danielle Smith waits to make an election campaign announcement in Calgary, Alta., Thursday, May 11, 2023. The Alberta election is nearing the end of its second week, as United Conservative Leader Danielle Smith dismisses concerns about over past musings about selling hospitals to private operators. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

Alberta's NDP focused on fixing health-care and combating racism Friday, while the United Conservative Party criticized a rival candidate for past comments about Alberta's energy sector.

The province's election campaign is nearing the halfway point before voting day on May 29.

NDP Leader Rachel Notley, appearing on Global Calgary, talked about health care, affordability and the $1.2-billion deal to replace the aging Saddledome with a new arena for the Calgary Flames.

She said she can't commit to the deal until she knows more about the final project and its costs.

"All I'm doing on that issue is taking a very cautious and conservative approach that I think most Calgarians and Albertans would expect us to do," she said.

The NDP also announced it would provide all Albertans with better health-care cards as part of its commitment to protect public health care. And to combat hate and discrimination, it said it would introduce an anti-racism act and establish an anti-racism office.

United Conservative Leader Danielle Smith wasn't campaigning Friday. She was in Grande Prairie, Alta., in her role as premier to tour a fire zone and meet with local officials and Indigenous leaders.

The UCP government declared a state of emergency last week due to dozens of wildfires burning in central and northern Alberta. About 16,500 people have been forced from their homes in several communities.

On Thursday, Smith dismissed concerns over her past musing about selling hospitals to private operators. She was hustled offstage after a few protesters disrupted her news conference in Calgary.

Smith later returned to take questions, comparing the protesters to the Opposition NDP and saying both seek to misrepresent her position on health care.

She said she should be judged on what she does, not her past comments, as her positions on different issues have evolved.

On Friday, some of her UCP candidates held a news conference to demand an apology from NDP candidate Kevin Van Tighem for comments he made in a 2021 book about the energy sector.

Van Tighem, who is running in Livingstone-Macleod, said in a statement on Twitter that "everybody's insights evolve."
The G20 summit is a major international forum hosted by one of the member countries and attended by the leaders of the world's largest economies. This time India is hosting the G20 summit and some meetings and events are planned to be held in Srinagar.

Srinagar is one of the cities selected by the Indian government for development under the Smart Cities before G20 meetings which aims to focus on improving infrastructure, services, and quality of life for citizens through the use of technology and data.

Srinagar has been allocated a budget of crores for various development projects. These include the development of smart roads, smart public transport, smart waste management, and the installation of a city-wide surveillance system.

Athar Amin Khan, Commissioner of Srinagar Municipal Corporation said the city is all geared up for the upcoming G20 meetings.

"The city is geared up. All the important monuments, and structures, have been illuminated, blacktopping of the roads done. Repair works are also underway. We hope this will be a nice and wonderful event," said Khan.

Recently, the first wire-free market Polo View was completed under this project which is based on a pedestrian-based market.

These projects under Srinagar smart city will give a boost to the economy and tourism industry in the Kashmir Valley and the people have appreciated the steps taken by the government in this direction. (ANI)
NCP leader Ajit Pawar on Monday took a dig at Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde saying that he will not resign as Maharashtra Chief Minister on moral grounds following the Supreme Court verdict on last year's political crisis in the state and said the opposition MVA alliance will see what it can do on the issue of disqualification of 16 MLAs during the assembly session in July. He also took a swipe at the BJP's central leadership. "There is no need of demanding resignation from the current Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on moral grounds. We know he will not resign even in his dreams. There is a huge difference between former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee and the current people," Pawar told reporters. "The next Assembly session will be held in the month of July. We will use our rights to see what we can do about this issue," he added. He also said that Congress leader Nana Patole resigned as Speaker without consulting then Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and if a new Speaker had been elected immediately, the 16 MLA belonging to the Shinde camp would have been disqualified. "Our Speaker had resigned then without asking our CM Uddhav Thackeray, that should not have happened. Even if he resigned, we could have elected a new Speaker immediately. If we had our Speaker, then those 16 MLAs would have been disqualified then," he said. The constituents of Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance have said that the Shinde government should resign on moral grounds following the Supreme Court verdict. Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut had said on Thursday that the Eknath Shinde government in Maharashtra "is illegal and formed against the Constitution". Chief Minister Shinde on Thursday said that former Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari had acted as per the situation at the time. "I won't talk about what Supreme Court said about the then Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshiyari, but I would say that he acted as per the situation at the time," he said at a press briefing. Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis described the Supreme Court verdict as "victory of democracy and the democratic process". "This is a victory for democracy and the democratic process. We are satisfied with the verdict given by the Supreme Court," Fadnavis said. The Supreme Court on Thursday held that former Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari was "not justified" to call for a floor test based on the request of Eknath Shinde faction since he did not have enough objective material before him to conclude that the then Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had lost the confidence of the House. A five-judge Constitution bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices MR Shah, Justice Krishna Murari, Justice Hima Kohli and PS Narasimha said it could not disqualify the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government and reinstate Uddhav Thackeray as Chief Minster because the latter had chosen to resign instead of facing a test of strength in the Assembly. The court said the political imbroglio in Maharashtra arose as a result of party differences within the Shiv Sena. "However, the floor test cannot be used as a medium to resolve internal party disputes or intra-party disputes. Dissent and disagreement within a political party must be resolved in accordance with the remedies prescribed under the party constitution, or through any other methods that the party chooses to opt for," the bench held. "There is a marked difference between a party not supporting a government, and individuals within a party expressing their discontent with their party leadership and functioning." It further said that the Governor is the "titular head of the State government" and he is a constitutional functionary who derives his authority from the Constitution."This being the case, the Governor must be cognisant of the constitutional bounds of the power vested in him. He cannot exercise a power that is not conferred on him by the Constitution or a law made under it," the top court said. The judgement of the apex court came on a batch of petitions filed by rival groups of the Shiv Sena in relation to the Maharashtra political crisis.The Whip has to be appointed by a political party, the top court said. The apex court held that the Speaker's decision to appoint Bharat Gogawale (Eknath Shinde) as the whip of the Shiv Sena party was illegal. "The political party and not the legislature party appoints the Whip and the Leader of the party in the House. Further, the direction to vote in a particular manner or to abstain from voting is issued by the political party and not the legislature party. The decision of the Speaker as communicated by the Deputy Secretary to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly dated July 3, 2022, is contrary to law. The Speaker shall recognise the Whip and the Leader who are duly authorised by the Shiv Sena political party with reference to the provisions of the party constitution, after conducting an enquiry in this regard and in keeping with the principles discussed in this judgement," it held. The apex court further said that the Speaker must decide on disqualification petitions within a reasonable time. It also said that MLA has the right to participate in the proceedings of the House regardless of the pendency of any petitions for their disqualification. "The validity of the proceedings of the House in the interregnum is not "subject to" the outcome of the disqualification petitions," it added. (ANI)
Abdur Rashid Mandal, MLA representing Goalpara West constituency inGoalpara district, told ANI that, he has welcomed the decision taken by the Assam government.

"Polygamy should be banned. The Assam government has taken a good decision and I welcome this," Abdur Rashid Mandal said.

However, he further noted that it should not be targeted at a particular community.

"It is a good decision and we also want to end polygamy," Abdur Rashid Mandal said.

The Assam government on Thursday constituted a four-member expert committee to examine the legislative competence of state legislature to enact a law to end polygamy.

The committee comprises Justice (Retired) Rumi Phookan as Chairperson, Debajit Saikia, Advocate General, Assam as Member, Nalin Kohli, Additional Advocate General, Assam as Member, and Nekibur Zaman, Advocate.

On Thursday, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said his government will not bring Uniform Civil Code (UCC) but want to ban polygamy under a State Act.

He further said that the constituted committee will engage broadly in discussions with all stakeholders including legal experts and will scrutinize the provisions of the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Act, 1937. (ANI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that the country is creating new opportunities as per the needs of the 21st century and the new National Education Policy was made keeping these aspects in mind. Participating in Akhil Bhartiya Shiksha Sangh Adhiveshan, which is the 29th Biennial Conference of All India Primary Teachers' Federation, the Prime Minister said that lakhs of teachers have contributed to the making of the National Education Policy. Addressing the gathering here, he said his interactions with teachers has helped the government in formulating policies at the national level. "Our education system is transforming, and teachers and children are also transforming. In this transformation period, how we will move forward is important... My interaction with teachers has helped us in formulating policies at the national level," he said. "Lakhs of teachers have contributed to the making of the National Education Policy this time...today, India, making new opportunities as per the needs of the 21st century and the new National Education Policy was made keeping this in mind," he added. The theme of this conference is 'Teachers are at the Heart of Transforming Education'. During his day-long visit to Gujarat, the Prime Minister will inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of various projects worth around Rs 4400 crores. (ANI)
A Nigerian national has been arrested for allegedly peddling narcotic drugs from the Lower tank bund area of the city, the police said. According to Circle Inspector (CI) Gandhi Nagar police station, the accused has been identified as Agodike Nnaemeka alias Michael Ebere (34). "The accused is a resident of Bengaluru and was arrested on Thursday afternoon at 1230 am with possession of 11 grams of narcotic drugs (MDMA) Methyl enedioxy methamphetamine, commonly known as ecstasy, molly or mandy," said the police. MDMA was first developed in 1912 by Merck. It was used to enhance psychotherapy in the 1970s and became popular as a street drug in the 1980s. Tablets sold as ecstasy may be mixed with other substances such as ephedrine, amphetamine, and methamphetamine. During the investigation, the police also recovered a mobile phone from the accused's possession and discovered that he was also arrested previously at Narayanaguda and Golconda police stations. Further investigation into the matter is underway. Meanwhile, the Mumbai police also arrested a Nigerian national, who did not have a valid visa or passport, in the Taloja area of the city with possession of 116 grams of drugs named Methaquiline valued at Rs 11 lakh in the grey market, the police said. The accused identified as Boniface Emenike was also arrested for peddling drugs by Thane police in 2022. Having come out on bail four months back, he started the illegal activity again, said the police. The arrest and seizure of the drugs were made in a search operation at his rented apartment in Shrikripa Residency in Taloja, sector 2 after the police got a tip-off. In his interrogation, he told the police officers that he received the drugs from another Nigerian identified as Ogbona Paul, said the police adding that they started zeroing in on Paul. Further investigation into the matter is underway. (ANI)
With the murder of dreaded gangster Tillu Tajpuriya inside Delhi's Tihar jail early this month raising questions on security inside the prison, Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) HGS Dhaliwal on Friday said that there were "lapses from the jail administration's end." Tillu Tajpuriya was killed on May 2 by the members of the rival Jitendra Gogi gang in Tihar. The entire incident was captured on the CCTVs installed in the prison. Notably, on September 24, 2021, Tajpuriya's gunmen, dressed as lawyers, shot Gogi dead in a courtroom in Rohini. "Lapses were from the jail administration's end, but yes, to avoid this incident, we should have kept members of both gangs in separate jails," Dhaliwal said in an exclusive interview with ANI. He said that the police have arrested six people so far in connection with Tajpuriya's murder. "Initially, Special Cell had arrested four persons. Yogesh Tunda, Deepak, Riyaz Khan and Rajesh Bawani. Later, two more people were nabbed namely Vijay Chawanni and Ataul Rehman," he said. According to the senior officer, Chawanni had tried to cover the CCTV with the blanket so that incident would not get recorded while Ataul Rehman disposed of the knives which were used in stabbing Tillu. "After rival Jitendra Gogi's murder, Tillu Tajpuriya was the main target. In fact, Yogesh Tunda and Deepak were attacked before in jail. Deepak was stabbed two times before and was holding the Tajpuriya gang responsible for the attack on him," Dhaliwal said. He further said that the accused were planning to kill Tajpuriya since April 22 when one of the accused Yogesh came from Mandoli jail. "Riyaz broke the jail's railing and it broke easily as it wasn't that strong. Riyaz belongs to a family that works in the business of denting and painting so he had good skills in that. First, they broke a wiper, made a jack from the blanket and tied the wet blanket between both the jail railing. After that, they started rotating the wiper and created that much space that they rappelled down from their cell," Dhaliwal said. He further said that the accused had four knives made with the exhaust fan's blade. "They knew that 'chakki cell' opens at 6 AM where inmates mingle with each other and attacked Tillu at the same time," he added. On Thursday, the Special Cell of Delhi Police once again reached Tihar Jail and recreated the crime scene with the accused. Meanwhile in a major rejig, as many as 99 Tihar prison officials were transferred on Thursday. The CCTV footage of the killing of Tillu Tajpuriya showed that fellow inmates continued stabbing him in front of uniformed personnel, who did not intervene. The footage from the CCTV camera mounted on the wall of Central Gallery inside Tihar Jail was from around 6:15 am on May 2. The police personnel could be seen standing near Tajpuriya, lying on the floor, and watching three men stabbing the gangster with weapons, fashioned out of lockup grills. Later, nine Tihar Jail officials, including the assistant superintendent, were suspended. However, apart from this, sources earlier told ANI that the jail administration has initiated listing of dreaded gangsters, lodged inside Tihar, and started shifting them to different prisons. "Tihar administration has initiated the work as they predict another gang war inside the jail," the sources had said. The sources further said that in the wake of Tillu Tajpuriya's murder by the members of the Gogi gang, the administration is shifting all inmates to different cells, which would be far from their rival gang members' cells. "All in all, Tihar Jail has over thousand prisoners, including the top gangster and his henchmen. They mainly include those prisoners who are in silent mode and suddenly attack their rival gang members," the Tihar Jail sources said. They went on to add that there are around 30-35 inmates, whose security is under threat. (ANI)
The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to the West Bengal government on the plea of the makers of the movie, 'The Kerala Story', challenging the decision of the Mamata Banerjee government to ban the screening of the movie in the State. Supreme Court also issued notice to Tamil Nadu on a de-facto ban on the movie in the State. Supreme Court sought a response from West Bengal and Tamil Nadu governments and posted the hearing of the plea on Monday. "The movie is being exhibited all over the country, why should West Bengal ban the movie, why should you not allow it to run? The film is running in different parts of country with similar demographic profiles. This has nothing to do with the cinematic value of the movie, it may be good or bad," Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said. The West Bengal government in a notification, last week, said that the movie 'The Kerala Story' is "likely to cause a breach of peace" and that it has prohibited the screening of the film to avoid "any incident of hatred or violence to maintain law and order in the state". West Bengal was the first state to ban the film, which narrates the ordeal of three women who are trafficked to ISIS camps after being converted to Islam through marriage. On the decision to ban the film, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said, "It is to avoid any incident of hatred and violence, and maintain peace in the state." Also raking up the 'Kashmir Files', a film on the alleged genocide of Kashmiri Pandits, which ran to packed houses despite evoking protests from the Opposition, the Bengal CM said, "What was 'The Kashmir Files'? It was meant purely to humiliate a particular section of society. What is 'The Kerala Story'? It is a distorted story." The CM directed the state chief secretary to remove the movie from all theatres where it is being screened. Reacting to the ban, Vipul Amrutlal Shah, the producer of the film, said they will pursue legal options against the decision. "If state government won't listen to us, we will explore legal avenues. However, whatever course we take will be based on legal advice," Shah had told ANI. Helmed by Sudipto Sen and produced by Vipul Amrutlal Shah, the film evoked sharp opposition from Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who called it "RSS propaganda". Congress MP from Kerala, Shashi Tharoor accused the makers of "misrepresenting" Kerala. Campaigning for the BJP in poll-bound Karnataka, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, too, weighed in on the controversy, accusing the Congress of standing with terrorists. 'The Kerala Story' stars Adah Sharma, Yogita Bihani, Siddhi Idnani and Sonia Balani in lead roles. A massive controversy erupted around the film after its trailer claimed that 32,000 women from Kerala had gone missing and joined the terrorist group ISIS. However, in the face of protests, the contentious figure in the trailer was later withdrawn. Its trailer description was later changed to a story of three women from Kerala. (ANI)
The Supreme Court on Friday questioned the West Bengal government over banning the film 'The Kerala Story' saying the movie is running in different parts of the country with similar demographic profile. A bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha said the movie is being released all over the country and asked the West Bengal government why it should not allow the film to run. CJI Chandrachud asked West Bengal, "The movie is being released all over the country, why should West Bengal ban the movie? West Bengal is not different from other parts of the Country. If it can run in other parts of the country, why should the State of West Bengal ban the film? It is running in other parts of the country which have a similar demographic profile as West Bengal." The bench further asked, "If the public does not think that the film is not worth seeing, they will not see it. This has nothing to do with the cinematic value of the movie, it may be good or bad. Why should you not allow a film to run?" It also issued notice to the West Bengal government on the plea of the makers of the movie challenging the decision of West Bengal to ban the screening of the movie in the State. It further issued notice to the Tamil Nadu government on the de facto ban on the movie in the State. The bench sought responses from the States and posted the matter for hearing on Wednesday. Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for the West Bengal government, said that in all other matters relating to the same film, this court had asked the parties to move High Court, and the producer should also be asked to move High Court. When the bench asked why the West Bengal government banned the movie, Singhvi said that there are intelligence reports regarding threats of law and order problems. Senior advocate Harish Salve appearing as producer of the film, said that on the date of the release of the movie, the Chief Minister of West Bengal made a statement that the film is against a community and the exhibition can cause law and order problems. He further said that the film was banned after it ran for three days without any problem. The filmmakers also challenged the de facto ban imposed on the movie by the State of Tamil Nadu by issuing an "alert" anticipating protests in connection with the release of the film due to which theatres in the State withdrew the film. Regarding Tamil Nadu, the bench asked the government what it is doing as this is a public order situation. "We would like to know from you, what are the specific administrative arrangements to ensure safety. The state government cannot say that we will look the other way while theatres are being attacked, chairs being burnt," the bench said. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has ordered an immediate ban on the screening of the film in the State to avoid "any incident of hatred and violence and to maintain peace in the State". The makers contended that the State government has no power to ban a movie that has been certified for public viewing by the Central Board of Film Certification. State government cannot cite law and order issues to stop the screening of the movie, which will result in the violation of the fundamental rights guaranteed to them, the plea of filmmakers said. Makers also alleged that the movie is facing a 'shadow' ban in Tamil Nadu and seeking protection for screening the film in the southern State. On Tuesday, the bench agreed to list on May 15 an appeal against the interim order of the Kerala High Court refusing to stay the release of the film. The High Court had declined to stop the release of the film while observing that there was no allegation against a religion, but only against the organisation Islamic State or ISIS. The High Court watched the trailer of the film before refusing to stay its screenings and said that there was nothing offensive to any particular community in it while hearing a batch of pleas challenging the CBFC certification granted to the film. Earlier, the Supreme Court declined to interfere with the release of the movie and asked the High Court to decide the pleas. The apex court had then said, "Think about the labour of actors, producers who put in a lot of work. A filmmaker invests a lot of money and time in making the film. Leave it to the market, the market will decide if it is not up to the mark." Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind had earlier approached the Supreme Court seeking a stay on the release of the movie in theatres and OTT platforms saying the movie was likely to cause hatred and enmity between different sections of society in India. The plea said the film demeans the entire Muslim community and it will result in endangering the life and livelihood of the entire Muslim community. Alternatively, it sought direction that the movie 'The Kerala Story' be released with a disclaimer stating that it is a work of fiction and the characters in the movie bear no resemblance to any person living or dead. Another plea in the apex court had sought a stay on the release of the film saying it allegedly promotes hate speech. The film depicts how thousands of young women were allegedly brainwashed into joining the Islamic State (IS) and heading off to countries like Syria and Afghanistan. 'The Kerala Story', starring Adah Sharma, was released in cinemas on May 5. (ANI)
The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to examine a plea by the 2008 Jaipur serial bomb blasts victims' family members challenging the Rajasthan High Court order which acquitted four accused in the case. A bench of justices Abhay S Oka and Rajesh Bindal accepted the plea filed by family members of victims. The court has sought a reply from the concerned respondents in the matter. The plea challenging the Rajasthan High Court order would be heard by the top court next Wednesday. Families of the victims moved the Supreme Court challenging the Rajasthan High Court order dated March 29, 2023, which acquitted four accused in the 2008 Jaipur serial bomb blasts case. Rajasthan High Court set aside the trial court order that convicted the accused. The Special Leave Petition was filed by the families of the victims of the serial bomb blasts which took place at various public premises in the City of Jaipur on May 13, 2008 which resulted in the death of 71 persons and injuries to 185 persons. In total eight FIRs were registered out of which four were registered at Kotwali Police Station, Jaipur and rest four were registered at Manak Chowk Police Station, Jaipur. "The present appeal represents the plight of the huge numbers of innocent citizens and their families who were victims of serial bomb blasts and who have been left in a situation of facing grave injustice arising out of the impugned order whereby after waiting for justice for more than 14 years, the convicted accused persons have been acquitted on the basis of gross misapplication of law by the High Court," the petition said. The petition also said that the entire appreciation of law as made by the High Court is so grossly erroneous and contrary to settled principles of law of appreciation of evidence that a bare perusal of the impugned order would be sufficient to shake the conscience of the top Court. (ANI)
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Friday said that the need of the hour is that all the state government agencies should collaborate, connect, and respond to the needs of the public more efficiently by accessing accurate and real-time data. He was addressing a conference organised by the Bharti Institute of Public Policy of the Indian School of Business (ISB) on governance and technology at Mohali. The Chief Minister also launched the 'Him Data Portal' a common digital platform to integrate data of all organisations for the deliverance of welfare schemes and to better serve the public. "From July 2023, the Himachal Pradesh government would start the Him Parivar project which will give a special digital identity to the people of the State. This will strengthen the state's benefit delivery systems through Him Pulse which will support and enhance the capacity of Him Parivar in linking digital identity to the delivery of benefits to the targeted population," said Sukhu. He said that information about essential facilities like ration cards, family registers, electricity, drinking water etc would be available with a single click through the Him Parivar Project. He said that the people associated with the Him Pariyojna project would get information about various welfare schemes easily. "I believe that the simple off-the-shelf connection will not only save the time of the public but will also bring in more efficiency in the working of the Government besides transparency, which is the sole motto of my Governance," he said, adding that this will largely benefit the targeted sections. Sukhu further added that the most important component of a welfare State is 'Good Governance' with better administration and giving practical shape to the overall development in a phased manner. He said that the aim of the state government was to provide basic facilities down to the last man and for this, it was necessary to have accurate digital data of the services and the beneficiaries. "The Him Data Portal will bring valuable data from multiple domains together of various departments thereby helping in visualizing patterns, gaps, opportunities and connections cohesively, which would result in strengthening efficiencies in governance. Besides, it will assist in giving operators insights into critical parts of a transaction, smart recovery process and connected system outages to benefit both the government and the public," Sukhu said. "In the very first budget our government emphasized adopting state-of-the-art data collection and research techniques so that available resources could be better utilized," said the Chief Minister. He said that in the next 10 years, Himachal would be the most prosperous state of the country. This collaboration will go a long way in facilitating in improving the socio-economic prosperity of the state. The Indian School of Business, as a knowledge partner, would help in making the Himachal Data Portal more useful. The state government and the Indian School of Business would work together in the fields of education, information technology, forests and governance. Sukhu also invited the Indian School of Business to set up a Center for Policy Research in Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Board Chairman, Raghuveer Singh Bali said that the wide political experience of the Himachal Chief Minister would give new heights to the development of Himachal Pradesh through digital technology. This collaboration will go a long way in facilitating in improving the socio-economic prosperity of the State as well. Chief Advisor, Information Technology and Innovation, Gokul Butail said that the most important asset of the 21st century is data and the timely collection of correct information. He said that Chief Minister is working to make Himachal an exemplary state of the country by using innovation and information technology. "As data integration creates a pathway toward the unification of systems that also improves overall efficiency it also saves time which is an obvious benefit to data integration as users eliminate search time and manual errors arising from data transfer and manipulation," he said while giving detailed information about Him Parivar Project. Secretary of Information Technology, Himachal Pradesh Abhishek Jain, said that the Indian School of Business in collaboration with the state government would be beneficial for the people by saving their time and money. He said that access to the right data in policymaking is an important factor in the successful implementation of schemes. Professor Madan Pilutla, Dean, of Bharti Institute of Public Policy, said that with the use of information technology and information available on the HIM Data Portal, people would be able to get benefits at the right time in a real sense. Professor Ashwani Chatre, Director of Bharti Institute of Public Policy, gave detailed information about access to data in Himachal and its benefits to the people. He said that Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu's initiative to benefit the public through information technology is praiseworthy. Policy Director, of Bharti Institute of Public Policy Dr Arushi Jain, welcomed the dignitaries present and briefed them about the theme of the conference including the HIM Data Portal. Principal Private Secretary to Chief Minister, Vivek Bhatia, Himachal Pradesh Director Information Technology, Mukesh Repaswal, academicians from the Indian School of Business, other researchers and students of the Institute were present on the occasion. (ANI)
A day after the reshuffle in Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin's cabinet, state BJP president K Annamalai alleged that a viral 'audio tape' is the reason behind the transfer of Palanivel Thiaga Rajan (PTR) from the Finance Ministry to the IT Ministry. Palanivel Thiaga Rajan (PTR) was divested of the Finance and Human Resources Management portfolio and made the Minister for Information Technology and Digital Services in the reshuffle of the Tamil Nadu Cabinet. An unverified audio, purportedly of PTR had gone viral on social media wherein the person is heard saying that the first family of DMK had amassed wealth. Annamalai highlighted the statements of MK Stalin during a public meeting in January this year, and said that Stalin spoke about the efficiency of PTR as a Finance Minister, then why did he change his department? The audio tape was the reason behind this. "PTR has been transferred to the IT Ministry. In January this year, CM M K Stalin during a public meeting spoke about the efficiency of PTR as Finance Minister. Even in March, Stalin spoke about the efficiency of PTR and said that he manages the finance department well. Then why PTR has to be changed from Finance Department? What is the need? PTR tape is the reason for that," said Annamalai while addressing a press conference in Chennai. He also lashed out at DMK leaders TR Baalu and RS Bharathi for making comments about him and said that he will put more allegations against him as they have done a lot of corruption. "DMK leaders TR Baalu and RS Bharathi made comments about me this morning. TR Baalu's defamation case against me is a joke. I will put more allegations against him as they have done a lot of corruption," he said. Hitting out at the recent shuffle in the Tamil Nadu cabinet, Annamalai said that S M Nasar was dropped from the state cabinet because BJP raised issues regarding the nutrition scam and the hike in Aavin Milk price. "BJP raised issues about SM Nasar regarding the nutrition scam, and the hike in Aavin Milk price due to which S M Nasar was dropped from the state cabinet. BJP welcome this decision, the new minister has to reduce the Aavin milk price and hope he will do that," said Annamalai. S M Nasar was dropped from the state cabinet and TRB Raja was made the State Dairy Development minister on Wednesday. Raja, son of DMK treasurer T R Baalu, is a three-time MLA from Mannargudi and was appointed as the DMK IT Wing chief. He also informed that in the PTR tape, he has put allegations against CM Stalin, so Stalin must put a defamation case against him and said that he is ready to submit full audio to the court and forensics. "Even in the PTR tape, I have put allegations on CM Stalin. I am saying the same thing that PTR in the audio said, 'CM, Sabareesan and Udhyanithi earned money'. I request CM to put a defamation case on me for releasing the PTR tape. I am ready to submit full audio to court and forensics," he said. "In DMK files Part 2 you will get to know where the Aarudhra scam went. To which minister? I am challenging you," he added. With the removal of Nasar and the addition of Raja the strength of the Council of Ministers remains at the maximum number as according to the Tamil Nadu Assembly rules, the maximum approved strength of the Council of Ministers is 15 per cent of the total number of members in the house. (ANI)
National General Secretary, Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Abhishek Banerjee who embarked on the two-month TMC mega event 'Jan Sanjog Yatra' on April 25 completed 2000 km in 17 days on Thursday at the TMC Bhawan in Kolkata district of West Bengal. Trinamool Congress mega event called 'Jan Sanjog Yatra' was led by TMC national general secretary and MP Abhishek Banerjee and completed the journey in just a matter of days. President of Trinamool Youth Congress Sayoni Ghosh praised Abhishek Banerjee for this success and slammed the opposition party who mocked the Jan Sanjog Yatra. Talking about the mega event the TMC President said that Thursday marked a huge accomplishment for the TMC and Abhishek Banerjee, who had been leading the 'Jan Sanjog Yatra' caravan since it began on April 25, 2023, and had continued to do so for 60 days. "Today is the 17th day and Abhishek completed 2000 km without rest. It's a continuous process. During this event, Abhishek Banerjee organised atleast 50 mass gatherings, 35 special events and 12 roads." she said. Speaking to ANI, Sayoni said, "This is my personal view that Rahul Gandhi organised the Bharat jodo yatra about his own fame and branding but Abhishek organised Jan Sanjog Yatra to build his party more powerful. He never said that he is a big leader, he always said he is a learner in politics." The All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) National General Secretary, Abhishek Banerjee welcomed all the 88 Gram Panchayat representatives out of the 167 Gram Panchayats during the event in the Birbhum district. He added that these Gram Panchayats included Anchal Sabhapati and Booth Sabhapati, both of which had already cast their referendum. He also said that each Gram Panchayat had a separate polling station, where representatives could cast their votes. The TMC National General Secretary stated, "If you vote for BJP's idea of Achche Din, you will get the fake promise of 15 lakh and 2 crore employment." He further added, "Voting for Trinamool Congress has made Bengal safer. Trinamool has made sure that there is no communal divide. Reaching out to the people is what Trinamoole Nabo Jowar does. When a wave starts, all dirtiness is washed away. Ours will make sure the same takes place once we are done with our yatra." "Being new Trinamool was about selflessness, it's the same might we showed while defeating the 34 years of misrule by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) CPIM government. With that same intensity, we will fight and defeat the BJP," he said. Adding further the National General Secretary of TMC said, "And those who think that by winning Panchayat, you are free to do whatever you want for the next 5 years, you are mistaken. I will personally review your work every 3 months. I have rusticated 4-5 panchayat pradhans in the past few months. You can't make people wait and not provide them with services. Your duty is to serve the people." "We have sent 11.36 lakh names to the Centre for the Awas Yojana beneficiaries. If the Centre can find one name in the list who is not eligible to get a house, I will leave politics," he added. Earlier on April 22, the National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee had declared to embark upon a two-month 'Jono Sanjog Yatra' starting on April 25. Sharing a post on Twitter, Trinamool Congress Party said, "National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee will embark upon a two-month 'Jono Sanjog Yatra' from Cooch Behar to Kakdwip, starting 25th April." "Determinedly, we shall strive to strengthen our connection with the people and ensure grassroots development," added the post. The post also mentioned that Banerjee will interact with the masses and will bring grassroots party members together. "Traversing every district of Bengal, Abhishek Banerjee will interact with the masses and bring grassroots party members together," read the post. The post also gave the details of the activities to be held in the campaign. Detailing the campaign, the post said, "Over the course of a day, the campaign will consist of a series of activities, including a bus yatra through a curated cluster of Panchayats, three to four block level meetings, district level TMC party Adhivesan to conduct a referendum and community dinner and night stay at the Adhivesan camp." (ANI)
Rajasthan minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas on Friday spoke out against the remarks by fellow Congress leader Shanti Kumar Dhariwal on dissident leader Sachin Pilot, saying one should "refrain" from making such comments. In an apparent attack on former deputy chief minister Pilot on Thursday, Dhariwal said, "Ashok Gehlot ne acche accho ko paani pilaaya hai (He has dealt with several big leaders)." Reacting to this statement, Khachariyawas urged all fellow Congress leaders to refrain from airing such views as they reflect poorly on the party and weaken it. "This 'dialogue baazi' (war of words) must stop. The whole party should unite to make Congress victorious under Rahul Gandhi. CM Gehlot asked everyone to move on from the attempt to topple his government. However, such comments are only weakening the party. I urge all Congress members to refrain from airing such comments," he said. The state minister added, "Pilot has taken out a yatra against corruption. No one should have any problem with that. If he can come up with suggestions on the (alleged) paper leak issue, I will place them before the cabinet." On the outcome of the Karnataka Assembly polls, amid exit poll projections hinting at a Congress return, Khachariyawas said, "Lord Hanuman will hoist the victory flag of the Congress in Karnataka." Congress's Rajasthan chief Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa sought to dissociate the Congress from Dhariwal's remarks, claiming that it was "his personal opinion". "This is his personal opinion. But one shouldn't make such statements against fellow party members. Politics teaches us to respect fellow leaders. No one should be considered as inferior or superior," he said. On Pilot's 'Jan Sangharsh Yatra', he called it a "personal yatra" saying it had nothing to do with the party. "This is his (Pilot's) personal yatra. We are keeping track of it and everything will be discussed once (Congress national president Mallikarjun) Kharge-ji comes from Karnataka," he said. On whether the party was mulling action against Pilot in light of his recent remarks, Randhawa said, "I will present my views to the Congress president." Pilot is currently in the middle of his five-day 'Jan Sangharsh Yatra' from Ajmer to Jaipur. He embarked on the march on Thursday in protest against the alleged inaction of the Rajasthan government in "corruption cases" during the previous Vasundhara Raje-led BJP government in the state. Pilot, on Friday, on the second day of the Jan Sangharsh Yatra, said people were coming out on the streets in his support, braving the sweltering heat, adding that he was hopeful that the Gehlot government would take cognisance of the issues that he was raising through the march. Speaking to ANI, on the sidelines of the march, he said, "It is the middle of May and people are coming out on the streets (in his support) braving the heat. This shows that the issues that I have raised are relevant and resonate with the people. Corruption and issues related to the future of our youths affect us all." "We hope the state government takes cognisance of the issues I have raised," he added. (ANI)
Citing his 'busy schedule', Jayanat sought 10 days' time from the federal agency to appear before the agency.

On Thursday, the ED summoned Jayant to appear before the agency on Friday morning to record his statement in a case.

The ED is probing the NCP Maharashtra chief's alleged involvement in dubious loans extended to Kohinoor CTNL by IL&FS, which filed for bankruptcy in 2018.

The investigation pertains to alleged irregularities in IL&FS Group's loan and equity investment in Kohinoor CTNL, which is one of the defaulters. Kohinoor CTNL is developing the Kohinoor Square tower in Dadar (West).

The ED began its probe into the IL&FS money laundering case in 2019 based on a First Information Report by Delhi Police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW). (ANI)
Lashing out at the Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee, Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) national president JP Nadda on Friday said that the West Bengal Chief Minister did not like how BJP is growing so fast in the state and is therefore trying to silence the opposition. Addressing a book launch of 'Democracy in COMA: Silenced Voices of Women Victims in Bengal', Nadda said, "On one hand, we say that India is the mother of democracy. On the other hand, Mamata Ji's style of functioning is to silence the opposition. To see to it that there is no opposition." He further narrated the chain of events leading to an attack on his convoy during the West Bengal election, saying that the plight of Bengal is painful. "...When the campaign started, the first attack was on me when I was going to Diamond Harbour...If this can happen to me, what is the common man's plight?...," said Nadda. Speaking about West Bengal he said that there needs to be a change in the state and it can happen only with the strength of everyone. "We don't speak of 'Badla' but 'Badlav'. We want a change there (West Bengal). With your strength, we will be able to do it...They (TMC) speak of 'Ma Mati Manush'. But neither 'Ma' nor 'Mati' survived, 'Manush' perished...," he said. He further said that West Bengal tops in the number of acid attacks on women but the people need to be made aware of the Pride of Bengal. "As per NCRB, crime against women is 74.6 per cent. West Bengal tops in the number of acid attacks on women. We need to make people aware and establish the Pride of Bengal," he added. (ANI)
Karnataka election result 2023 will be announced on Saturday, three days after the voting concluded to elect the 224 members of the state Assembly. Record turnout The voting passed off peacefully in Karnataka with a voting turnout of 73.19 per cent, surpassing the 72.36 per cent recorded in 2018. A total of 737 Theme-based and ethnic Model Polling stations were set up. At 239 Polling stations set up in the state, voters were greeted by PwD staff. As part of the initiative of the Election Commission of India (ECI) to inspire young voters to participate in the festival of democracy, 286 Polling Stations set up were managed by the youngest available staff. There were over 11.71 lakh first-time voters registered in the state. Significant State elections ahead of 2024 Lok Sabha polls This Assembly election carried much significance as it was held almost a year before the 2024 general elections. Apart from the magic figure of 113 seats out of 224 Assembly seats, here is what you need to know ahead of the counting. The counting will be held in 36 centres across the State. A clear picture of the result is likely to emerge by noon. 2018 statistics In the 2018 assembly elections, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party emerged as the single-largest party with 104 seats, followed by the Congress with 78 seats and the Janata Dal (Secular) with 37. This time in the 224 Assembly constituencies, a total of 2,615 candidates contested the polls. Exit Polls Notably, Congress is expected to have a clear edge in Karnataka as four exit polls giving it a full majority and some predicting a hung assembly with an advantage to the party. A few exit polls also said that BJP is ahead in the sweepstakes to form the government. The exit polls, which were released after the polling ended in Karnataka, predicted that Janata Dal-Secular JD(S) would not touch the 37 seats it won in the 2018 polls but will continue to be a strong regional player in the state. If Karnataka throws up a hung assembly, the JD-S could emerge in the role of kingmaker. According to India Today-Axis My India exit poll, Congress is poised to win a comfortable majority with 122-140 seats, BJP will get 62-80 seats, JD(S) 20-25 and others 0-3 seats. A party needs 113 seats for a majority in the 224-member Karnataka assembly. The poll of polls shows an advantage for the Congress with the party poised to win 109 seats, BJP 91 seats and JD-S 23. News24-Today's Chanakya predicted Congress crossing the halfway mark. It said BJP is poised to win 92 seats, Congress, 120 and JD-S 12 seats. Times Now-ETG poll and India TV-CNX poll also predicted Congress hitting the majority mark. Times Now-ETG said BJP is expected to win 85 seats, Congress 113, JD-S 23 and others three. India TV-CNX poll gave 80-90 seats to BJP, 110-120 to Congress, JD-S 20-24 and 1-3 to others. Republic P-MARQ has predicted that Congress would get a 40 per cent vote share, BJP 36 per cent, JD(S) 17 per cent and seven per cent for independents and others. The poll predicted that no party would get the majority mark in Karnataka with BJP poised to get 85-100 seats, Congress 94-108, JD-S 24-32 and others 2-6 seats. The ABP-C Voter exit poll gave 83-95 seats to BJP, 100-112 to Congress, 21-29 to JD(S) and 2-6 to others. TV9 Bharatvarsh-Polstrat poll predicted a hung assembly. It said that BJP would win 88-98 seats, Congress 99-109 seats, JD-S 21-26 seats and others 0-4 seats. The Zee News-Matrize exit poll gave a clear advantage to Congress. It predicted BJP getting 79-94 seats, Congress 103-118 seats, JD-S 25-33 seats and others 2-5 seats. The News Nation-CGS exit poll predicted a majority for BJP. It predicted that BJP will win 114 seats, Congress 86, JD-S 21 and others 3. Asianet Suvarna News-Jan Ki Baat also predicted that BJP will be ahead of Congress with a better chance of forming the government. As per the exit poll, BJP is expected to get 94-117 seats while Congress would be close second with 91-106 seats. It said JD(S) is expected to get 14-24 seats, while 0-2 seats would go to other parties. The fiercely contested election that saw high-pitch campaigns from the political parties is crucial for both BJP and Congress. Hectic electioneering by leaders of various political parties saw BJP allowing Union Ministers and Chief Ministers to campaign with their full force. The Congress on the other hand worked hard to wrest power from the BJP that is striving to break the 38-year-old pattern of alternating governments and retain its power in the state. Congress leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, held various roadshows, rallies and elections campaigns. An incumbent government has not returned to power in Karnataka after a full term of five years since 1985. (ANI)
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) will organize the G20 Conference on "Crime and Security in the age of NFTs (Non Fungible Tokens), Artificial Intelligence and Metaverse" on July 13-14 in Gurugram. The two-day event will be held in partnership with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Rashtriya Raksha University, National Forensic Science University, National Law School of India University, Interpol and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) are the organizing partners. A round table was organized by the MHA in New Delhi on Friday to present the details of the proposed G20 Conference. It was attended by ambassadors, high commissioners and senior dignitaries from more than 20 countries apart from senior officers from various ministries and organizations of the government of India and partner organizations. Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla appraised the participating dignitaries about the contours of the forthcoming conference during the round table and countries were requested to send high-level delegations for the conference. The conference will bring together G-20 countries, guest and invitee countries and international bodies. There will also be participation from Ministries and Organizations of Government of India, Chief Secretaries, Administrators of states and Union Terrirories (UTs), Director Generals of Police of states and UTs, cyber experts and guest speakers representing legal fraternity, academia, training institutions, financial intermediaries, fintech, social media intermediaries, information and communication technology, cyber forensics, regulators, startups, over the top (OTT) service providers, e-commerce companies and others. (ANI)
Delhi police busted an eight-member gang involved in investment and online gaming fraud, said the officials on Friday. Eight persons who have been involved in cheating people on the pretext of offering them to earn money through investment and online gaming were nabbed from Delhi's Rohini on May 10, the police said. DCP Shahdara Rohit Meena informed that 21 mobile phones, 25 sim cards, 2 Laptops, and 4 Bank Cards were recovered from the accused and a money trail of over 5 crores was unearthed till now in accounts. "As of now, a total of 5 complaints from various states have been identified as linked to the arrested persons. A money trail of more than 5 crore rupees is found. Further investigation is underway to unearth the previous incidences of similar and other MO. Also, previous victims are being contacted on the basis of CDR, and WhatsApp Chat analysis", DCP Meena said. According to DCP Meena, a complainant Mayank Rahella resident of Gandhi Nagar, Shahdara Delhi filed a complaint at PS Cyber Shahdara mentioning that he read a message over a telegram group that investment could be doubled within 3 hours. "So, he paid Rs 20000 online but he got nothing and later he found that he was cheated by some unknown person. On his complaint, an FIR under section 420 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) dated May 9 was registered at PS Cyber Shahdara and the investigation was taken up", the DCP said. DCP further said that the investigating team collected all the relevant information including CDR and WhatsApp Chat from the complainant. "All bank details and the number of the cheater were analysed. After deep analysis and using technical evidence, a raid was conducted at an identified place situated at Sector-16, Rohini. During the investigation, it was found that the complainant's money was transferred to one account in Jharkhand and again transferred to the ICICI bank account in Jhangirpuri, Delhi. On the basis of CDR and the live location of the registered number of the alleged ICICI bank account, 8 members of the telegram investment fraud gang were nabbed from Rohini, Delhi on May 10", DCP Meena said. During interrogation, the accused persons disclosed that they used to contact the victims over WhatsApp and offered them to earn money through investment and online gaming, the official said. "After gaining their trust, they add the victims to the telegram group and make them believe that other members of the group are earning good profits in a short span of time. The victim falls into their trap and transfers money as per their instruction", DCP added. The DCP further added that the accused also lure the victims to earn money through online gaming. "They send them the link to their website to play games. If a person wins, they gave them coins in their account instead of money when victims ask for money, they stop responding to him/her", DCP Meena said. (ANI)
In two separate operations conducted this week, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) seized 23.34 kg of smuggled foreign gold valued at Rs 14.43 crore through Chennai International Airport and foiled an attempt to smuggle foreign gold into the country. The operation was conducted on May 8. The DRI officers received intelligence that a passenger, who arrived at Chennai international airport from Dubai through Colombo, was carrying huge quantities of foreign-origin smuggled gold and was on his way to his residence in Chennai. He was intercepted while getting down from an auto-rickshaw near his residence. Examination of the person led to the recovery of gold in paste form concealed in various kneecaps worn by him and in specially made pouches in his pants. After extraction, 13.28 kg of gold totally valued at 8.28 crore was recovered and seized, informed an official statement. In another operation on May 11, 2023, the DRI officers intercepted a Sri Lankan national arriving from Colombo at Chennai International Airport. On examination of the hand baggage of the passenger, gold in paste form was found concealed inside eight chocolate packets. Melting of the paste resulted in the recovery of gold weighing 10.06 kg valued at Rs 6.15 crore. Both persons were arrested and remanded to judicial custody. (ANI) Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], May 12
While addressing students of Lucknow University during their convocation ceremony at Lok Bhavan on Friday, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that the state government is launching a big campaign to convert the 'scale' of the state into 'skill'. As part of the launch of this campaign, an MoU has been signed with Tata Technology for the upgradation and modernization of more than 150 ITIs in the state as a significant step towards achieving this goal, CM Yogi said. Speaking on occasion, the CM said, "The infrastructure development, setting up of laboratories, and introduction of new courses with futuristic programs will provide the necessary resources and opportunities for the youth to develop their skills. 35,000 youth will take training every year in this initiative is a testament to the government's commitment to skilling the youth of the state." CM Yogi further said, "This will not only contribute to the development of the country but will also create a skilled workforce that can teach new youth and continue the cycle of skill development." "Uttar Pradesh is taking steps to combine the talent of its youth with technology and training to drive development in the state", CM said. The Chief Minister went on to say that the programs for artificial intelligence, the internet of things, big data, and coding and programming futuristic skills are essential in preparing the youth for the jobs of the future. By connecting the youth with these programs, the state can create a skilled workforce that can attract more investments and businesses, leading to more job and employment possibilities for the youth, he stated. "The state has received investment proposals worth Rs 35 crore through the Global Investors Summit in the state and is working on getting them on the ground. This is a significant opportunity to create jobs and employment for the youth of the state", said CM Yogi. He further stated that the Samsung Innovation Campus program can play a huge role in preparing the youth for the jobs of the future and contributing to the state's development. "It is encouraging to see that our government recognized the importance of this program and distributed certificates to the students who have completed the program", he said. He said that the youth who completed their training at the Samsung Innovation Campus were given full-time project work, instilling confidence in them. This confidence is essential for the youth to believe in a bright future for themselves and the state, he added. Assuring the youth, he also said that the double-engine government is fully committed to providing employment and jobs to them along with development.The Chief Minister stated that the government is making significant efforts to make the youth of the state technically competent. "The distribution of tablets and smartphones to two crore youth, especially students studying in universities and colleges. This is the biggest campaign regarding technology in the whole country, and so far 20 lakh youths have already been associated with this program. For this, a separate provision has been made in the budget", he added. The CM attended the convocation ceremony of Lucknow University under the Samsung Innovation Campus in the auditorium of Lok Bhavan on Friday. He also distributed certificates to 383 students on this occasion. (ANI)
The states top public health official has signed an order allowing women across Illinois to get hormonal birth control directly from pharmacists, without first visiting their doctors.

The head of the Illinois Department of Public Health issued a standing order Wednesday that will allow pharmacists who complete additional training to dispense hormonal patches, vaginal rings, oral contraceptives and contraceptive injections to patients. Patients will not need prescriptions from their own doctors first.

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In Illinois, we respect a womans right to make reproductive health choices, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said in a news release Thursday. Im pleased that as part of that mission, we are making safe, tested hormonal contraceptives more accessible than ever by allowing pharmacists to dispense this necessary medication, removing barriers to treatment for women across the state.

Illinois women may start getting birth control through the standing order once pharmacists complete the required training, said Michael Claffey, a spokesman for the state health department. He was not able to say Thursday exactly when that might be.

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Jennifer Welch, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Illinois, called the standing order in Illinois a win for people seeking easier and more convenient access to birth control, in a statement.

The standing order comes during a tumultuous time in reproductive health care. In June of last year, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which had guaranteed the right to abortion. That decision left it up to states whether to keep abortion legal. Since then, 14 states have banned most abortions, according to The New York Times. Courts are also considering efforts to ban the abortion pill mifepristone.

With the standing order, Illinois is now one of more than 20 states that allow pharmacists to dispense hormonal contraception without first visiting a doctor, according to the governors office.

Not every woman who lives throughout the state has the same access to providers, said Garth Reynolds, executive director of the Illinois Pharmacists Association. There are areas of Illinois, even in the most urban areas, that have health care deserts. ... This just allows pharmacists to be able to do our part.

Reynolds, however, cautioned that it might take time for the change to fully roll out. Under the standing order, pharmacists must educate patients and answer questions about all methods of contraception. Pharmacies and private insurance companies are still working out how to cover that, Reynolds said.

Insurance companies must cover the full cost of birth control, under the Affordable Care Act. But its possible that patients might face out-of-pocket costs for consultations with pharmacists over birth control dispensed under the standing order, depending on their insurance plans, said Laura Minzer, president of the Illinois Life and Health Insurance Council.

CVS Health said in a statement it plans to review Illinois new standing order and then determine whether well offer hormonal contraceptive evaluation and prescribing by pharmacists at our Illinois CVS Pharmacy locations in the future. CVS said its pharmacists can already educate patients who are 18 and older and prescribe and fill birth control prescriptions in 10 states.

The standing order is allowed under a state law passed in 2021. Certain provisions of that law didnt take effect until January of this year. That bill faced opposition from critics who worried that it would allow minors to have access to birth control without follow-up medical care. Neither the law nor the standing order requires a minimum age for obtaining birth control.

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The law does not include a minimum age because, biologically, women may need birth control at different ages, Reynolds said.

Under the law, pharmacists must use their professional and clinical judgment to determine when a patient should be referred to a doctor or other health care provider. Pharmacists dont have to dispense birth control under the standing order if they find any cause for concern during the screening process.

Pharmacists who wish to dispense contraceptives under the standing order must complete training accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education. They must also have patients first complete medical a screening form to make sure its safe for them to use the contraception.

Separately, a U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory panel weighed in Wednesday on whether a birth control pill called Opill should be sold without a prescription. The advisory panel said the benefits of selling the pill over-the-counter would outweigh the risks. If the FDA follows the panels advice and approves Opill for over-the-counter sales, women across the country will be able to get that pill without a prescription.

Illinois standing order allows women in Illinois to get contraceptives that are not sold over the counter, without first visiting a doctor.

Tribune reporter Angie Leventis Lourgos contributed.
Responding to the ongoing civilian unrest in neighbouring Pakistan in the wake of the arrest of former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif in a corruption case, National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah on Friday said the stronger Pakistan remains, the better it is for India. Speaking to ANI on Friday, the former Jammu & Kashmir chief minister said, "Pakistan is a separate country. What they do, is their job. All that we want is for Pakistan to stay strong. As long as peace prevails there and Imran Khan remains unharmed...Pakistan has a chequered history. The stronger Pakistan remains, the better it is for India." Meanwhile, earlier in the day, ihe Islamabad High Court barred authorities from arresting PTI chairman Imran Khan in cases, including those that are undisclosed, until Monday, May 15, Dawn reported. The court also granted protective bail to the former prime minister in three terrorism cases registered against him in Lahore and the Zille Shah murder case. The verdict came a day after the Supreme Court termed his arrest "invalid and unlawful". It also stopped authorities from arresting the PTI chief till May 17 in any case registered in Islamabad after May 9, Dawn reported. Imran Khan was arrested outside Islamabad High Court by Pakistan Rangers on a warrant issued by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in the Al-Qadir Trust case on Tuesday. The Pakistan Rangers broke in through the windows of the bio-metrics room while Imran was present there. They broke in through the windows and arrested the former PM. Thereafter, the former PM was dragged out of Islamabad High Court, towards a waiting armoured vehicle. His arrest prompted the PTI workers to erupt in protest against government authorities as well as the army. The protests were met with a crackdown by the authorities. The festering civilian unrest in the wake of Imran's arrest drew concerns from across the world. (ANI)
According to Vice President's Secretariat, Dhankhar will offer prayers at the Brahma temple and Shri Jat Shiva temple in Pushkar. He will later visit Kharnal, Nagaur, the birthplace of celebrated and revered social reformer Veer Tejaji.

Later in the day, the Dhankhar will visit Merta City, Nagaur to unveil the statue of former Union Minister Late Nathuram Mirdha.

Renowned freedom fighter and eminent leader of the farming community from Nagaur, Late Nathuram Mirdha was a six-time Member of Lok Sabha and served as a Union Minister from 1979-80 and 1989-90.

He served as Chairman of the National Agriculture Prices Commission. He was also a four-time Member of the Legislative Assembly, Rajasthan and served as a cabinet minister in the Rajasthan government. (ANI)
Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar, advisor to the Lieutenant Governor, on Friday addressed the G20 Digital Innovation Alliance National Roadshow at Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir (SKUAST-K) here. The National Roadshow was organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), Startup Hub Ministry of Information Technology, Government of India in collaboration with SKUAST-K. In his keynote address, Advisor Bhatnagar said that it is the endeavour of our Prime Minister, Narendra Modi to make the G-20 Presidency a people's event across India. He added that the G-20 is an important institution which reflects the topmost economies of the world, adding that several areas which are important for humanity are being addressed through it. The Advisor further remarked that our Prime Minister has the vision of putting India on a global level and this G-20 Presidency has brought a sense of pride, excitement and motivation among the countrymen that our country is attaining its position in global order. Speaking on different aspects of this National Roadshow, Advisor Bhatnagar said that this G20 Digital Innovation Alliance will foster collaboration and advance digital innovation in various sectors like agriculture, healthcare, education, finance, and governance. He added that technology is progressing rapidly and we all need to adapt ourselves to new and emerging means of technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, among others. The Advisor further highlighted that an effective education system, vocational training, innovation and incubation techniques, research and others are very essential for today's world. He added that the National Education Policy (NEP-2020) of our country is very unique and it covers all these aspects which are essential for today's digital and technology-driven world. While speaking on the digital transformations in Jammu and Kashmir, Advisor Bhatnagar remarked that under the able leadership of Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha sea changes are being witnessed across the UT. He added that accelerated growth and development is happening in the region besides key digital initiatives have brought transparency and accountability in the governance system across J&K. During his keynote address, Advisor Bhatnagar highlighted the importance of harnessing the power of digital innovation to drive inclusive growth, enhance economic competitiveness, and address critical societal challenges. He emphasized the need for strong partnerships among G20 countries to leverage emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, and the Internet of Things (IoT) to create sustainable and resilient economies. In his address, Vice Chancellor SKUAST-K, Prof. Nazir Ahmad Ganai said that India is emerging as a knowledge superpower of the world and our country is self-sufficient in every means due to a host of initiatives for the common people. He added that this National Roadshow will expose students of the University to Startups and make them job creators instead of job seekers which is the vision of this university. The National Roadshow witnessed engaging panel discussions, interactive sessions, and presentations by leading experts in various domains related to digital innovation. Participants gained valuable insights into the best practices, success stories, and challenges associated with harnessing the power of digital technologies in diverse sectors such as agriculture, healthcare, education, finance, and governance. (ANI)
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday expressed grief over the death of a woman doctor, who was allegedly stabbed to death by a patient, assuring that necessary security will be provided in hospitals. Addressing the Youth Literature Festival in Kochi, Vijayan said, "This is very sad. A high-level meeting was held yesterday to discuss ways to prevent the recurrence of such incidents. Necessary security will be provided in hospitals. More things will be checked and further action will be taken based on that. Health workers need not worry." Deceased Dr Vandana Das (23) was murdered after the accused, S Sandeep (42), stabbed the house surgeon to death in the hospital on Tuesday. The accused, who was under police custody, was brought to the government hospital for a mandatory medical checkup. He also attacked others and vandalised the hospital. A home guard and a sub-inspector also sustained stab injuries in the incident. Dr Vandana was shifted to KIMS hospital in Thiruvananthapuram where she succumbed to her injuries, police added. Kerala's Kottarakkara magistrate court on Wednesday remanded the accused, G Sandeep, to 14 days' police custody in the house surgeon murder case. Earlier, on Thursday, the Kerala CM said the government has decided to bring necessary amendments to the Hospital Protection Bill to ensure the safety of health workers in light of the incident. The government will bring the ordinance bill in the next cabinet meeting. The decision was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by the CM on Friday in the wake of the murder of Dr Vandana Das while on duty. CM Vijayan said police checkposts will be set up at all major hospitals. "Amendments will be made to ensure the strict implementation of the Kerala Health Care Service Institutions (Prevention of Violence and Damage to Property) Act,2012," the CM said. The CM added, "Changes in the definitions of health institutions and health workers in the existing law, punishments etc. will be brought from time to time. Discussions in this regard have to be held under the supervision of the chief secretary, the additional chief secretary of the Home department, the principal secretary of the Health department and the Law secretary, and the amendment proposals will have to be submitted before the Cabinet meeting." (ANI)
The aviation regulator has also imposed a fine of Rs 30 lakh on Air India for failing to address the safety-sensitive issue in a prompt and effective manner.

Additionally, the co-pilot has been cautioned for not being assertive enough to prevent the unauthorized entry.

The Air India pilot was under investigation for violating safety norms by allowing a friend into the cockpit during a flight from Dubai to Delhi on February 27, violating DGCA safety norms.

In April, a senior DGCA official had said that this act is unacceptable and could have put the passengers' safety at risk.

Air India had also released a statement saying that they have taken note of the reported incident and investigations are underway.

"The airline has a zero-tolerance policy regarding passenger safety and well-being and will take requisite action. The matter has also been reported to the DGCA, and Air India is cooperating with their investigation," said the statement.

"We have taken serious note of the reported incident and investigations are underway in Air India," the statement further said.

--IANS ss/bg

( 232 Words)

2023-05-12-19:04:03 (IANS)
The first woman mountaineer from Madhya Pradesh, Megha Parmar, has been dropped as the brand ambassador of the 'Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao' campaign of the state government, a day after she joined the Congress at an event in Chhindwara. The 28-year-old, who hails from Ichhawar town in Sehor -- home district of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan -- will now be pursuing a career in politics and will be campaigning for the Congress on the poll promise for women -"Nari Samman Yojna". Sharing her experience as brand ambassador of the government-run scheme "Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao", Parmar claimed the ground reality for women in the rural areas was very different from what the government presents. She alleged that the government wants only positive things to come out and not pays much attention to women's poor condition. "I have visited all 52 districts of Madhya Pradesh and I found that even after 75 years of Independence, the women in Madhya Pradesh are surviving in a worst situation. Officials would do nothing, they would follow only political instructions. The government should work on the ground instead of expending huge amounts on image building publicity, and then the situation of women would change," Parmar told IANS. Parmar said she had no political inclination and she joined the Congress because of ex-CM Kamal Nath. "I was made a brand ambassador during the Kamal Nath government, however, after 2020 things were very different," she stated. When asked what made her join politics, Parmar said she had no intention to join politics, but Kamal Nath's office approached her. "I know Kamal Nath personally since 2019 and I knew that he is a man of commitment. He does what he promises. This is what made me join the Congress," Parmar added. When asked about her role in the Congress, Parmar said she is familiar with the ground reality across the state and whatever task will be assigned to her, she would be ready to accept it. On whether she will contest the assembly election, Parmar said "Yes, if the party finds me a suitable candidate from Ichhawar assembly, I would be ready to grab this opportunity. But I have joined the Congress as a worker because of Kamal Nath." The Ichhawar and Budhni assembly seats of Sehore district have been won by the BJP for the last several years and the Congress this time has planned to make a dent in Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's home district Sehore. --IANS pd/bg ( 430 Words) 2023-05-12-19:18:03 (IANS)
Additionally, the strengthening of the connectivity will alleviate the burden on existing roads and ease the traffic congestion in the region.

Kaushal said it was decided that the Public Works Department (PWD) would take up the issue with counterpart NCT Delhi regarding the road connectivity from Inder Lok Metro Station (New Delhi) to the Delhi-Haryana Border in Sonipat district, utilising the alongside of Western Yamuna Canal.

The PWD has been instructed to prepare and submit the detailed project report (DPR) to the Irrigation Department for approval.

The meeting also entailed discussion on three additional road connections between Gurugram and Delhi. The first proposal involved establishing a 75-meter wide connection from Sectors 114/115 and 108/109 to Najafgarh Road in Delhi.

Gurugram-Mehrauli road as the National Highway 236 and the link connecting the Gurugram-Mehrauli road with Nelson Mandela T-Point, located near the Vasant Kunj Flyover, will be developed by traversing through the Delhi Ridge.

This proposed link holds great potential for enhancing connectivity and streamlining transportation routes in the region.

--IANS vg/uk/

( 206 Words)

2023-05-12-19:40:06 (IANS)
Hours after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) lodged an FIR and raided the premises of former Mumbai Zonal Director of Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Sameer Wankhade, the Nationalist Congress Party and Shiv Sena (UBT) said on Friday that former Maha Vikas Aghadi minister Nawab Malik's stand has been vindicated. NCP national spokesperson Clyde Crasto posted a photo of Malik currently in jail in an alleged financial misappropriation case with just a simple Satyameva Jayate' caption. The party's chief spokesperson Mahesh Tapase said that the CBI has filed a corruption case against Wankhede, who was first exposed as a "corrupt officer" by Malik in 2021-2022. "At that time, Malik had clearly said that Wankhede and his accomplices were indulging in illegal business of conducting high-profile raids and extorting crores of rupees from their victims," said Tapase. He said that people have not forgotten how the signatures of witnesses were taken on blank papers in the case pertaining to the raid on a cruise ship, Cordelia, and later the death of one of the witnesses, Prabhakar Sail, in April 2022. Shiv Sena (UBT) national spokesperson Kishore Tiwari said that when he had filed his plea before then Supreme Court Chief Justice N.V. Ramanna, he had prominently raised the question of massive corruption in the NCB. "I had demanded a probe by a sitting judge of the apex court as the NCB and its officials pursued vendetta' by targeting select celebrities, since Wankhede's wife was trying to make it big in Bollywood and hence the hounding of leading names in film industry, their families, top national-international models, producers-directors, etc., who were in direct competition to her," said Tiwari. In the sensational 2021 raid aboard the ship anchored off Mumbai harbour, around 20 persons were arrested, including Aryan Khan, the son of Bollywood icon Shah Rukh Khan. After spending 25 days in Arthur Road jail, Aryan finally got bail and later in May 2022, the NCB admitted that there was no evidence against him and the star-son's name was dropped from the charge sheet. Tapase said that all the points raised by Malik who is in jail since February 2022 - have been proved true now. In a sudden twist in the entire matter, the CBI has booked Wankhede - now posted in Chennai - and four of his associates on alleged corruption charges, and raided some 29 locations in multiple states, including Maharashtra. --IANS qn/arm ( 416 Words) 2023-05-12-19:56:04 (IANS)
The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the promotion of Gujarat judge Harish Hasmukhbhai Verma, who had convicted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a criminal defamation case, along with 67 other judicial officers. A bench comprising Justices M.R. Shah and C.T. Ravikumar said: "We are more than satisfied that the impugned select list dated March 10, 2023 issued by the high court and the subsequent notification dated April 18, 2023 issued by the state government granting promotion to the cadre of district judge are illegal and contrary to the relevant rules and regulations, and even to the decision of this court in the case of 'All India Judges' Association and Others'... Therefore, we are more than prima facie satisfied that the same as such are not sustainable." The bench said that taking into consideration the fact that the state government had issued a notification on April 18, during the pendency of the present writ petition and after the receipt of the notice issued by this court in the present proceedings, the state government could have waited till the next date of hearing by this court on April 28. The bench said: "The respective promotees be sent to their original posts which they were holding prior to their promotion vide the select list dated 10.03.2023 and notification dated 18.04.2023. However, it is clarified that the present stay order shall be confined with respect to those promotees whose names do not figure within the first 68 candidates in the merit list on the basis of the merits, the copy of which is produced by the high court along with the counter." The top court said the high court has adopted the wrong method and "merely because a wrong method is being adopted, it cannot be a ground to perpetuate the same, if it is found to be illegal and/or contrary to the directions issued by this court, more particularly, in the case of All India Judges' Association and Others". The bench said at present, the respective promotees have not assumed their posting on the promotional post and as such are sent for training. "We stay the further implementation and operation of the select list dated March 10 issued by the High Court of Gujarat and the subsequent notification dated April 18, issued by the state government," it said. The bench passed the interim order staying the promotions, and said that the matter be heard by an appropriate bench since Justice Shah is scheduled to retire on May 15. The top court order came on a plea filed by senior civil judge cadre officers, Ravikumar Maheta and Sachin Pratapraya Mehta, challenging the selection of 68 judicial officers to the higher cadre of district judges. The bench directed the matter to be placed before a bench led by Chief Justice of India, D.Y. Chandrachud, subject to orders on the administrative side. The top court observed that in the present case, in conducting the written test, the high court has considered the merits only for the purpose of achieving benchmark and thereafter switched to the principle of seniority-cum-merit and thereby has given a go-by to the principle of merit-cum-seniority. The bench said, "We do not find anything in the Recruitment Rules, 2005 and/or even the Recruitment Notice to consider the merit only for the purpose of achieving a benchmark of 50 per cent." The petitioners had challenged the promotion of senior civil judges to the cadre of district judge (65 per cent quota) as being violative of Article 14 of the Constitution as well as Rule 5 of the Gujarat State Judicial Service Rules, 2005. Verma, the CJM of Surat, is presently working as under secretary in the legal department of the Gujarat government and as the assistant director in the state legal services authority. The top court had issued notices to the state government and the Registrar General of the Gujarat High Court on April 13 on the plea of the two judicial officers. --IANS ss/arm ( 679 Words) 2023-05-12-20:16:04 (IANS)
The Special Cell of Delhi Police has arrested three Punjab residents from Sarai Kale Khan in Delhi for their alleged involvement in a drugs nexus linked to Pakistan. The accused were allegedly supplying drugs trafficked from Pakistan via drones in Punjab and other states. Punjab Police have taken custody of the trio identified as Dharmendra Singh, a resident of Amritsar, Malkit Singh and Harpal Singh, both residents of Tarn Taran in Punjab. Sources said that they were receiving drugs from a peddler sitting across the border and working at the behest of Pakistan's secret agency ISI. According to the police, the trio, who even had links with Indian fugitives now based in the Philippines and the United States, was supplying drugs in Punjab and other states since 2011 and the money earned from the process was transferred through a hawala network to Pakistan. The police have also recovered arms and ammunition from the accused persons' possession. "We have also found US and Philippines contact numbers when we scanned their phones. It seems that the numbers belong to the persons giving directions to them. We are also trying to find out if they had links with Harwinder Singh Rinda, who was the mastermind of the RPG attack on the Punjab Police intelligence headquarters in May last year," said a source. --IANS ssh/arm ( 237 Words) 2023-05-12-21:12:03 (IANS)
Jonny Bahena refills water bottles in April at the Open Arms Christian Child Development Center in Glenview. The center has spent thousands of dollars on lead reduction measures. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)

When administrators at Open Arms Christian Child Development Center in Glenview learned they had to test their water for lead to keep their license, it sent them down an expensive and time-consuming path.

The mandatory testing, required under a 2017 state law, revealed trace amounts of the toxic metal at some of the day cares drinking water fixtures. It took hours of plumbing work, several pounds worth of new metal fixtures, more than two years and thousands of dollars before the day care was able to reduce its water lead levels below the threshold set by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.

It didnt help that the state did not finalize lists of approved water testing vendors or set the new process in stone before the first testing deadlines, leaving day cares to scramble, said facility business manager Kathy Gerken. Day care director Jessy Dinkelman, a former teacher and not a pipe specialist, noted that the requirements were completely outside of the day care leaderships expertise.

It was like, well yeah we have to fix it; this is what we considered our responsibility, Dinkelman said. But it would have been nice if (the state) had been like, OK heres what we know; let us help you through this. Rather than saying, All right, what are you going to do to fix it?

Day care centers throughout Illinois have faced similar challenges thanks to the 2017 law, which also required schools to test their drinking water for brain-damaging lead.

The law required schools to notify parents if elevated levels of lead were found but didnt mandate any further action. Day cares faced stricter standards in part because of their particularly young and vulnerable clientele, who may get an outsized portion of their nutrients from formula mixed with tap water. These businesses risked losing their license if they failed to test for lead and reduce the contamination.

Research has shown that lead exposure affects the brain and its neurons, impairing learning and memory and disrupting brain development and behavior.

The Tribune obtained lead testing results for both schools and day cares through public records requests. But despite the heightened risk for young children at day cares, limitations in the data prevent a full accounting of the extent of the problem. Here is what we do know about the lead testing regulations and their impact:

So what did day cares have to do, exactly?

Representatives from the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services visit day care operations annually and make sure the facilities are up to date on various health and safety regulations; the operators license is renewed every three years. New facilities also undergo review.

As a result of the 2017 law, DCFS now expects to see proof that the day care has tested its drinking water for lead, if its located in a building constructed before Jan. 2, 2000.

During the first few years of the laws existence, no money was available to help day cares pay for this new testing requirement. That meant owners had to figure out a way to foot the bill on their own.

The Tribune asked some day cares what their testing costs were, and at some bigger operations it was not cheap. A Glencoe Park District official said the district spent $6,300 to test all the drinking fixtures at the Takiff Center in 2017. The total cost for testing at Open Arms Daycare Center in Glenview was about $4,000, Gerken said.

Day cares still undergoing testing to meet the state requirements can now register for free test kits covered by federal grants and the Illinois Department of Public Health.

If elevated levels of lead were found  above 2 parts per billion  day care owners had to take further action. More on that in a moment.

How many day cares in Illinois found elevated lead levels?

In short, we dont really know. Heres why.

The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services tracks compliance with its lead testing standards, but the Tribune cant tell exactly how many day cares identified lead since 2017 based on the data the department provided.

The Tribune first sought and reviewed the departments lead results through a public records request in spring 2021. When reporters asked for updated data in 2022, small but substantial changes turned up in the results. For example: Results for some day cares were included in the 2021 data but missing from the 2022 version. Sometimes, one data set showed that a day care had identified elevated lead on a particular testing date, but the other data set had the day care NOT identifying lead on that same date. The department provided the Tribune with a third data set this spring that contained some similar discrepancies.

Hundreds of licensed day cares also showed no testing results at all, even though several confirmed to Tribune reporters that they had tested their water as part of their license renewal. After the Tribune raised questions about the inconsistencies, a DCFS data management associate deputy director clarified that each set of data was pulled from only the most recent licensing cycle, and the department is now working to provide a historical record of the testing results.

In addition, it was impossible to know from the data what the actual test results were. For each testing date, DCFS simply marked each facility as y or n based on whether any test found lead above 2 parts per billion. How many fixtures had elevated lead, what types of fixtures had elevated lead (bathroom sinks, kitchen sinks or drinking fountains), how much lead was found  all of this is not included in the states data.

For now, the best the Tribune can say is that, between the three data sets, more than 1,400 day care centers identified a water lead level above 2 parts per billion, the threshold where DCFS requires mitigation.

For a group of day cares where the Tribune obtained test results and mitigation plans submitted to the state, documents showed elevated lead findings ranged from 2.01 parts per billion at a preschool drinking source to 1,640 parts per billion at a day cares kitchen sink.

What if a day care found lead in its water?

If a day care found water lead levels above 2 parts per billion at a drinking source, DCFS required that owners notify parents by posting their results in a visible area at the day care, develop a mitigation plan to reduce lead, and send both their plan and the results to DCFS.

Day care owners are obviously far more likely to be trained in early childhood education than in environmental engineering or plumbing. But the law and administrative code set by DCFS still holds them responsible for both figuring out how to solve the problem and paying for any necessary repairs.

When the law first took effect, day care owners told the Tribune, they were given very little guidance from the state and instead relied on advice from private companies they hired or on their own research in navigating next steps. One day care director said she spent hours researching what a mitigation plan was and what information it should include as she hurried to address the lead problems at the facility. More guidance is now available to day care facilities thanks in part to a federal grant that funded a state partnership with Elevate Energy.

Heather Tarczan, director of communications for DCFS, said she could not comment on how the process played out under the previous administration but noted that lead testing and mitigation are also outside the departments expertise.

Were not water treatment experts, Tarczan said. We want (day cares) to succeed as well. Were not going to not help, but theres a limitation to what exactly we can guide them to. We can only guide them to other experts.

Filtered water fills bottles at the Open Arms Christian Child Development Center in Glenview, which has worked to reduce trace amounts of lead previously identified at some fixtures. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)

Curious about what steps day cares took after finding lead, the Tribune requested the results and mitigation plans that more than 80 day cares sent to the state. The bulk of the day cares were larger facilities serving at least 100 children, though reporters requested test results and mitigation plans from some smaller child care centers as well.

The records show that dozens of day cares quickly turned to low- or no-cost options such as posting do not drink signs at fixtures, using lead filters and running taps before first use to flush out water that had been sitting in pipes. Day cares also commonly reported replacing sinks, drinking fountains and other fixtures, which is more costly.

Lindsay McCormick of the Environmental Defense Fund said solutions that rely on human behavior  such as manually flushing taps, obeying signs and regularly replacing filters  are not good long-term fixes. She described filters, for example, as a band-aid solution.

More permanent solutions recommended by McCormick and other experts include installing automatic flushing mechanisms that do not fall prey to human error and updating pipes and fixtures with materials that meet modern plumbing standards and contain only small amounts of lead.

Under the regulations, day cares are supposed to take interim measures to reduce water lead levels as well as develop full mitigation plans. Longer-term solutions can include installation of mechanical flushing devices, replacement of lead-based lines or fixtures, or reverse osmosis filters installed at affected drinking water fixtures, according to department regulations.

Day cares where testing had previously identified lead also need to show the state two subsequent tests without elevated lead. The first two attempts must occur six months and a year after a facility executes a mitigation plan.

Some day cares have found it difficult to get water lead levels below the 2 parts per billion threshold, even after several rounds of mitigation.

Take day care director Lori Schneiders experience in suburban Northbrook. Schneider tested all the drinking water at the Christian child care center Seeds of Grace for the first time in 2018 and was surprised to find some fixtures with lead above the threshold set by DCFS. Schneider paid plumbers to tear out and replace old pipes and worked with the village to determine if the public water itself was to blame.

This year, Schneider said the center still had four fixtures that continued to exceed the DCFS threshold, coming in a tick over the 2 parts per billion limit even though the fixtures were new. All four are hand-washing sinks located in areas of the facility that only adults can access, she said.

Were a little bit baffled, Schneider said.

How are day cares supposed to pay for all these fixes?

In Chicago, two programs recently launched to cover mitigation costs for day care centers still undergoing testing and repairs. Other places are mostly out of luck.

Elevate Energy, the nonprofit working with the Illinois Department of Public Health, has a separate program that provides funds to pay for repairs at Chicago day cares, while Chicagos Department of Water Management last year announced that it would prioritize lead service line replacements to licensed day care facilities in low-income neighborhoods at no cost.

Service lines are the pipes that connect water mains to homes and smaller commercial buildings. If made of lead, the lines can leach dangerous amounts of the toxic metal into drinking water, especially if theyve been jostled during other construction work, such as water main replacements. Chicago has more lead service lines than any other city in the country, largely because the citys plumbing code required them until 1986, and the city also is finishing up a long-term project to update old water mains. The cost of replacing a lead service line is hefty, upward of $15,000 to tear up the sidewalk and replace the lead piping.

El Hogar del Nino, a day care facility in Chicagos Pilsen neighborhood that mostly serves low-income families, received financial and logistical support from Elevate Energy after testing showed elevated water lead levels at fixtures including a sink in their toddler room.

Elevate Energy CEO Anne Evens said at an event hosted at the facility last year that her group helped the day care to replace a lead service line, a water heater and a boiler at the center. Work began in 2017 and took about a year to complete, according to the day cares former executive director.

A facilities room at El Hogar Del Nino, a day care in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood, where the nonprofit group Elevate Energy helped replace a lead service line, a water heater and a boiler. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)

Evens acknowledged it would have been tough for the day care to navigate and finance the process on its own. Its a little bit of detective work  (and) a level of complexity that includes getting permits, breaking up the streets, Evens said.

But other Illinois cities and towns also have lead service lines, and no statewide funding has been available to help day cares offset the costs of mitigation.

Though Chicagos lead problems are well known, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency has found significant lead contamination issues in other cities and towns throughout Illinois. As the Tribune reported two years ago, very elevated water lead levels were found at homes in cities including Cicero, University Park, Loves Park, Coal City and East Moline.

Did any day cares actually lose their license as a result of this law?

According to DCFS, no licenses for day cares were revoked solely because of lead testing or mitigation issues. One day care in Springfield was closed because of issues including but not limited to elevated lead levels in water, Tarczan said.

What happens if a day care tests and doesnt find lead?

If a facility tests its drinking water sources and finds water lead levels at or below 2 parts per billion, they face no requirements beyond posting the results and sending them to DCFS. These day cares do not have to test their water again unless they move their center to a new building or their internal plumbing changes, unlike in some other states.

In North Carolina, for example, the health departments sanitation rules require that day care facilities retest their water three years later. Research has shown that the amount of lead that finds its way into drinking water can be highly variable.

Why were day cares in newer buildings exempt from testing?

Older buildings generally pose greater lead risks, but the rationale for the January 2000 cutoff isnt exactly clear.

The federal government first set limits in 1986 on how much lead could be used in new plumbing, though pipes could contain up to 8% lead and still be considered lead free. In 2014, the government strengthened the definition of lead free to mean less than 0.25% lead for materials that come in contact with water.

Researchers have found that even the newer lead free plumbing doesnt consistently prevent lead from leaching into water at very low levels.

So its possible that some Illinois day cares have lead in their water but the law didnt require them to look for it.

Where can I learn more about lead in drinking water?

The Environmental Protection Agencys website provides helpful tips on reducing water lead levels at any tap, such as using cold water, regularly cleaning faucets aerators and letting water run down the drain for a bit before drinking it or using it to cook.

For day care providers, resources and a way to request free testing kits are available at LeadCare Illinois. Day care providers in Chicago facing the need for plumbing repairs following testing can visit LeadCare Complete for information about free plumbing upgrades.

To learn more about Chicagos free lead service line replacement program for day cares, visit the Chicago Department of Water Management website. The program is currently focused on replacing lead service lines at day cares located in low-income areas.

The city also has several programs that offer some financial assistance for lead service line replacements at homes that are not day care facilities, and free water lead testing is available to any residents who sign up for a test kit.

Interested in required water lead testing that was done at public schools statewide? Visit chicagotribune.com/lead to learn more about what testing results showed at your school or district and what steps were taken following the testing.

Former Tribune reporters Cecilia Reyes and Kinsey Crowley contributed.

ehoerner@chicagotribune.com
The Special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court on Friday sent Shahrukh Saifi, the accused caught in connection to the Kozhikode's Elathur train attack case, to judicial custody till May 27. Earlier on Thursday, NIA had conducted searches at 10 locations in the national capital in connection with the attack case that took place on April 2 this year. The agency sleuths carried out raids at Delhi's Shahin Bagh and other locations of suspects. The NIA carried out these searches at the hideouts of suspects in the case which was taken over by the anti-terror agency almost a month ago and it started its probe charging the "highly radicalised" arrested accused Shahrukh Safi. The agency took over the case from Kerala Police in mid-April following an order issued by the Counter Terrorism and Counter Radicalization (CTCR) division under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). As it was a clear case of terror involving many states, the NIA invoked the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in its based on doubts that the accused was sent to the state by his handlers and he got enough local help. The NIA's action comes days after the accused, identified as one Shahrukh Saifi, who also suffered burn injuries during the terror act, was slapped with murder charges under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code by a district session court in Kozhikode. He was charged with murder in a case filed by the railway police. As per officials, there was a preplanned conspiracy behind the crime and it was not a single-man mission as confessed by the accused. Saifi, 27, a native of Shaheen Bagh in Delhi, was arrested by the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) of Maharashtra police and Central Intelligence after the train arson attack case. He had also suffered injuries in the attack. At the time of interrogation by a special investigation team (SIT) Saifi provided contradictory statements in which initially, he had said he was being used by someone and later retracted saying, everything was planned and executed by him only. The NIA is investigating the larger conspiracy as part of which Saifi, assessed by Kerala police to be "highly radicalised" and influenced by inflammatory speeches of Islamic evangelist Zakir Naik, planned and executed the act of arson. On April 2, Saifi had attempted to set some passengers on fire on board the Alappuzha-Kannur Executive Express at Elathur in Kozhikode, after spraying them with an inflammable liquid. Three passengers lost their lives while trying to jump out of the train to escape the fire. Saifi was later arrested from Ratnagiri. (ANI)
After the Supreme Court of Pakistan ordered for the immediate release of Imran Khan on Thursday while terming the arrest of former Prime Minister "unlawful," the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders took exception to the "double standards of justice," reported Dawn. PML-N leader Marriyum Aurangzeb while addressing a press conference in Islamabad said that "a few hundred armed protesters and terrorists have been attacking" the country and state properties regarding the protest by PTI supporters. "You all saw how PTI leaders incited violence and gave orders for attacks on Imran Khan's directives," she alleged. Moreover, she cited the Islamabad High Court order, stressing that Imran's arrest was carried out in a legal manner, reported Dawn. "But the impression of the Supreme Court giving relief to a criminal, terrorist, and a gangster leading armed groups -- it amounts to backing a terrorist," she decried. She further said several PML-N leaders faced arrests and raids in the past but no one raised any question. "Because all of that was done in support of the Ladla (a favourite child)" who disrespected the SC. Directly addressing the chief justice of Pakistan, she said, "Had this love affair ended back then, then chief justice sahib, the court would not have been disrespected the way it is being today." "Courts are disrespected when they become shelters for criminals, terrorists and armed groups. Courts, the Constitution and justice are disrespected then. Courts are disrespected when their decisions support criminals," she added. She contended that if the court would back "terrorists" and "armed groups" that "set my country on fire, then all others deserve this relief as well". Reacting to the development, PML-N leader Khawaja Asif addressed a press conference in Islamabad, highlighting the "double standards of justice," reported Dawn. He began by recalling that PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif and several other party leaders and workers were arrested in the past. "But why were they not treated in this kind manner by the court? Is this good treatment reserved only for Imran Khan on a selective basis?" he asked. "They never thought of [...] keeping us in a rest house. Why are there double standards in this country?" In this connection, the defence minister also referred to a video of Imran released prior to his arrest. "In his video message published prior to his arrest [...] did Imran not incite and preach violence? And what was the result of that violence?" Imran was arrested in the Al-Qadir Trust case, in which he has been accused of corruption, from the Islamabad High Court premises on Tuesday afternoon before he was due to attend the hearings of two other cases. The former prime minister's arrest sparked violent protests across the country, during which at least eight people were killed, several injured and thousands rounded up amid police action. There were many incidents of arson. Meanwhile, the IHC deemed his arrest within legal parameters, but the Supreme Court ruled today that Imran's arrest was "unlawful" and directed authorities to retain him at the Police Lines Guest House in Islamabad but under the court's supervision as a "guest" until his appearance before the IHC tomorrow. A three-member bench -- headed by CJP Bandial and comprising Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar -- issued the verdict on PTI's petition challenging Khan's arrest. Reacting to the verdict, PML-N Chief Organiser Maryam Nawaz criticised Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, asking him to step down from the post and join the opposition party -- PTI, reported Geo News. "The chief justice was very happy today to meet the criminal who plundered Rs60 billion from the national exchequer and he [CJP] was even more happy to release this criminal," the PML-N leader said while referring to the CJP remarks during the hearing. At least nine people died and dozens of others were injured during the two-day countrywide protests with rioters damaging public properties and storming the military installations. "..[the CJP] is acting as a shield of a fitna [rabble-rouser Imran Khan] and is pouring fuel on the fire in the country. You should leave the post of chief justice and join the Tehreek-e-Insaf like your mother-in-law," she added. (ANI)
Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan expressed grievances about his arrest on Thursday, claiming that he was abducted from the Islamabad High Court and beaten with sticks, which is not an acceptable treatment for even a criminal, media reports said. Khan claimed that he was taken to various places, including the police lines, and had no knowledge of what was happening outside, Samaa TV reported. Khan also mentioned that he had many cases registered against him, including on charges of terrorism, and demanded to see the arrest warrant. He also criticised those who want chaos and anarchy instead of elections, stating that a party that wants elections will not support such behaviour. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman urged his party workers to refrain from damaging public and private property, Samaa TV reported. During the hearing in the Supreme Court on Thursday, Khan appealed to the public to protest peacefully and not harm the country. The court termed Khan's arrest by Pakistan's anti-corruption body as illegal, and ruled that the PTI chief should be released immediately. Khan was under the custody of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). --IANS san/arm ( 201 Words) 2023-05-11-21:30:04 (IANS)
A new audio leak of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has surfaced in which he was purportedly talking with Musarrat Jamshed Cheema about the court developments and the response of the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP), media reports said on Thursday. The purported audio conversation between Imran Khan and PTI leader Musarrat Jamshed Cheema has surfaced online in which the party chief who was detained by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Tuesday could be heard inquiring about the latest situation, ARY News reported. Cheema replied that they had sent a "message to them and we are sitting in the high court now. We demanded them to bring Khan Sahib before us, otherwise we will not leave [the high court premises]". Khan, apparently criticising his arrest, said whatever they have done is "malicious". "You should also initiate a proceeding in the Supreme Court against whatever they have done today. What is Chief Justice doing," Khan could be heard saying in the purported video, ARY News reported. Cheema then apprised Khan, "NAB officials have just come here and we questioned them. We asked Salman Safdar to tell them to present him before the court, otherwise, we will not leave. Your case will also be heard by the Chief Justice." Khan replied, "No, he receives orders from them. You should talk to Azam and ask him to talk with the other people," ARY News reported. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Thursday termed Khan's arrest by Pakistan's anti-corruption body as illegal, and ruled that the PTI chief should be released immediately. Khan was under the custody of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). --IANS san/arm ( 285 Words) 2023-05-11-22:02:05 (IANS)
A 13-year-old exchanged gunfire with police during a chase through a residential neighbourhood in Florida, and ended up injuring a police officer and self, reported The Washington Post. Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd and Lakeland Police Chief Sam Taylor provided an update on an officer-involved shooting that happened on Lincoln Avenue Wednesday afternoon. They said a Lakeland police officer was shot in the foot by a 13-year-old suspect. That teen was later shot, and both were taken to the hospital. The 13-year-old boy is currently at Tampa General Hospital after the officer managed to shoot him thrice, hitting him in the stomach, the left thigh and leg. One officer was shot in the foot Wednesday evening in Lakeland, between Tampa and Orlando in central Florida, and is expected to be released from a hospital in the coming days, police said. No other officers were injured, reported The Washington Post. Officer Jamie Smith heard gunshots being fired near a park Wednesday evening and drove up as the shooter was getting back into a vehicle, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said Thursday. Smith pursued the vehicle briefly until the 19-year-old driver, the 13-year-old and a 14-year-old passenger jumped out and ran. On Thursday, the Polk County Sheriff's Office held a press conference where Sheriff Grady Judd gave details about what led to the shooting of the officer. He revealed the 13-year-old boy's name was Wesley Damas, who was riding around in a white vehicle with 14-year-old Leonard Speight Jr. and 19-year-old Jermaine Julian. All three suspects are facing felony charges. The 13-year-old and 14-year-old were on probation after being arrested in January following a car burglary and had a stolen handgun at that time, Judd said. Judd said authorities are asking the state attorney to charge the 13-year-old as an adult, reported The Washington Post. "He has no regard for life. None. Zero," said Judd, whose agency is investigating, at a news conference Wednesday night. "He may be 13 years old chronologically, but he's a hardened criminal willing to shoot it out with cops." There have been 207 shootings in the US in 2023, as of May 7, CNN reported. Mass shootings in the US are being tracked by CNN using data from the Gun Violence Archive, a non-profit group formed in 2013 to track gun-related violence. (ANI)
The US State Department's Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel on Thursday raised concern over human rights and press freedom issues in Pakistan. He said that the US is closely monitoring the developments in Pakistan, adding that the issues of human rights and press freedom were raised. "The United States wants to see the upholding of the democratic principles and law in Pakistan," Vedant Patel said in a statement while reacting to political developments in Pakistan. Former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan was arrested in the Al-Qadir Trust case, in which he has been accused of corruption, from the Islamabad High Court premises on Tuesday afternoon before he was due to attend the hearings of two other cases. The former prime minister's arrest sparked violent protests across the country, during which at least eight people were killed, several injured and thousands rounded up amid police action. There were many incidents of arson. "We support the peaceful upholding of constitutional and democratic principles, including respect for human rights," said Patel regarding the US's response to the blockage of internet services in Pakistan. The spokesperson said that the Internet is also an important medium of communication. On Wednesday, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) said that internet services across the country will remain suspended for an indefinite period, reported ARY News. Internet services were suspended in Pakistan after protests were witnessed all across the country following former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan's arrest in the Al-Qadir Trust case. He said that they do not support, whether it's in Pakistan or anywhere else around the world, one political party over another. "We support broader principles, including the rule of law and equal justice under the law." Earlier today, the Supreme Court of Pakistan termed Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chief Imran Khan's arrest "illegal" minutes after the PTI chief reached Supreme Court after a three-member bench ordered the authorities to produce him before the court. The three-member bench comprising Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Athar Minallah along with the CJP, while hearing the former prime minister's plea against his arrest in the Al-Qadir Trust case, termed Imran Khan's arrest by Rangers from inside the courtroom "illegal" and ordered his immediate release. (ANI)
The Israel Defence Forces on Thursday for the first time apologized for the death of Al Jazeera's journalist, Shireen Abu Akleh, reported CNN. Their apology came after a year, she was shot dead while covering an Israeli military operation in Jenin in the occupied West Bank. The Al Jazeera journalist was tragically gunned down on May 11, 2022, while another journalist Ali Al Samudi who was present with Akleh was also shot, according to CNN. The apology came from the IDF's chief spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, in an interview with CNN. "I think it's an opportunity for me to say here that we are very sorry for the death of Shireen Abu Akleh," he said. It is the first time the IDF has apologized for the killing of the well-known correspondent, after conceding last year that there was a "high possibility" she was shot by an Israeli soldier. "She was a journalist, a very established journalist. In Israel, we value our democracy and in a democracy, we see high value in journalism and in a free press. We want journalists to feel safe in Israel, especially in wartime, even if they criticize us," said Hagari. Notably, it comes days after The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) published a report that said it had found no accountability was taken by the Israeli military over its killings of at least 20 journalists over the past two decades, reported CNN. The press advocacy group said it had documented at least 20 journalists killed by Israeli military fire since 2001, adding 18 of those killed were Palestinian. "No one has ever been charged or held accountable for these deaths," it said in the press release. While the IDF admitted for the first time last September that there was a "high possibility" Abu Akleh was "accidentally" shot and killed by Israeli fire, its Military Advocate General's Office said in a statement that it did not intend to pursue criminal charges or prosecutions of any of the soldiers involved. Responding to the CPJ report earlier this month, the IDF said it "regrets any harm to civilians during operational activity and considers the protection of the freedom of the press and the professional work of journalists to be of great importance." "The IDF does not intentionally target noncombatants, and live fire in combat is used only after all other options have been exhausted," it said in the statement. (ANI)
Japan is holding this year's G7 presidency. The country will host the Health Ministers' Meeting from May 13-14.

Meanwhile, it was recently reported that multipronged measures are being taken by the Department of Fertilizers, Government of India to deter any malpractices and ensure quality fertilizers for the farmers on the directions of Mandaviya, also Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers.

These measures have resulted in averting the diversion and black marketing of fertilizers in the country. Talking to ANI, Mandaviya said, "The Fertiliser Flying Squads have conducted over 370 surprise inspections across 15 states/UTs which included mixture units, Single Superphosphate (SSP) units and NPK (Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium) units.

Consequentially, 30 FIRs have been registered for diversion of urea, and 70,000 bags have been seized of suspected urea from Gujarat, Kerala, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Karnataka out of which 26,199 bags have been disposed of as per FCO guidelines."

On Wednesday, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman arrived at Haneda Airport at Tokyo in Japan where she was received and welcomed by Indian Ambassador to Japan and Marshall Islands, Sibi George.

The Union finance minister is on an official two-day visit to Niigata, Japan, for a 'Dialogue with partner countries at the G7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting on May 12, 2023, according to a tweet from the finance ministry. (ANI)
China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has asked the Taliban to adopt "moderate and prudent" domestic and foreign policies, and protect the rights and interests of women in Afghanistan, Tolo News reported. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin while speaking at a press conference on May 10, urged the Taliban to take a firmer stance on countering terrorism. Wenbin noted: "We also noted that there are quite some concerns and expectations about the Afghan interim government from the rest of the world. Specifically, it is hoped that the Afghan side will make more progress in adopting moderate and prudent domestic and foreign policies and protecting the rights and interests of women and children. It is also hoped that the Afghan side will take a firmer stance on countering terrorism and strive for more tangible outcomes in this regard." According to Wang Wenbin, Afghanistan should not be excluded from the international community. "As a traditionally friendly neighbour of Afghanistan, China always believes that Afghanistan should not be excluded from the international community, the interests and wellbeing of the Afghan people should be given attention, the peaceful reconstruction of the country should be encouraged, and the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Afghanistan should be respected," Wenbin added, according to Tolo News. The Taliban, however, said that the issue of women in Afghanistan is an internal issue, and the current challenges will be resolved in accordance with Islamic principles. "There are some issues in Afghanistan which are values or are Islamic laws, and they should respect them. Interference in Afghanistan's affairs is not in anyone's interest," said Zabihullah Mujahid, spokesman of the Islamic Emirate. Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently said the Muslim world condemns the Taliban's ban on higher education for women, Tolo News reported. "When the Taliban enacted restrictive bans on higher education for women, governments from across the Muslim world spoke up to condemn the Taliban's decision," and they argued that the actions were inhumane and contrary to Islamic beliefs. Blinken made the remarks at a reception to celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr in Washington DC. "Scholars of Islamic law weighed in to condemn the Taliban's actions, too, noting that the Quran gives the right to education to women and men alike," he said, as cited by Tolo News. (ANI)
Elon Musk is in talks to hire Linda Yaccarino, the chair of global advertising and partnerships at NBCUniversal as the chief executive of Twitter, The New York Times reported. According to the NYT, the people who spoke on condition of anonymity said the talks are now at an advanced stage. They said Yaccarino has been in discussion with Musk for weeks. Last month, Yaccarino interviewed Musk onstage at an advertising event in Miami. Earlier on Thursday, Musk said he had selected a chief executive for Twitter but did not disclose her identity. In a tweet, he wrote, "She will be starting in ~6 weeks!" He added that he would remain involved as executive chair and "CTO," which typically denotes chief technology officer and that he would still oversee Twitter's product and software. According to The New York Times, Musk and Yaccarino did not respond to requests for comment. The Wall Street Journal earlier reported that Yaccarino was in talks with Musk. Musk who bought Twitter for USD 44 billion last year will continue to retain a firm grip on the company even if he names a chief executive. As Twitter's owner, he has put his stamp on it by eliminating more than 75 per cent of its 7,500 employees, installing his own leaders and changing the service's features and strategy. He also took Twitter private, which means he does not have to disclose corporate information to the public. The outgoing CEO recently announced adding another update to Twitter allowing its verified users to have early access to encrypted messaging service. The update is currently available only for verified users. Earlier on May 11, Musk shared a tweet updating about the early version of the encrypted messaging being launched. "Early version of encrypted direct messages just launched. Try it, but don't trust it yet," his tweet read. (ANI)
On a recent school day, a student at Uplift Community High School in Chicagos Uptown neighborhood began vomiting multiple times and became unresponsive.

A short time later, other students alerted security that they had taken cannabis gummies from a classmate and felt sick, the school incident report showed. Another student whod taken a gummy was extremely paranoid and delusional.

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Five students were transported to hospitals, one classified as code red, suggesting a potentially serious condition, though all recovered. The Chicago Fire Department tweeted that the gummies came from a dispensary  but those involved indicate thats not the case.

The gummies came not from a licensed cannabis dispensary, but from a neighborhood smoke shop, according to the school report of the incident and one of the parents of the teens involved.

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That store, Uptown Smokes, is one of countless stores around the country selling hemp-derived cannabis products with little regulation or oversight. Products such as delta-8 THC have been found to have mislabeled potency levels, in some cases with illegal levels of psychoactive substances, heavy metals or even fentanyl.

This is the wild West, state Rep. Kelly Cassidy said. We dont know what theyre selling, and somebody is going to die.

In fact, prosecutors in Virginia blamed delta-8 gummies for killing a 4-year-old. The Connecticut attorney general has sued companies for selling delta-8 products targeting kids, often with packaging mimicking legitimate candy such as Skittles or Nerds. At least 14 states have banned the sale of delta-8-THC, while a dozen more, including pro-cannabis Colorado, have acted to regulate delta-8, in some cases to meet the same testing and labeling standards as legalized marijuana.

Big cannabis companies have strict requirements in Illinois to test and label the contents of their products, and limit access to adults 21 and over. They have long pushed for makers of hemp annabinoids to face the same requirements.

But state lawmakers have taken no action to protect consumers. Two years ago, state Rep. Bob Morgan introduced a bill to regulate such cannabinoids, but it went nowhere.

When the Tribune asked Senate President Don Harmons office about it, his deputy press secretary, Elizabeth Mitchell, responded in writing: Safety was a top priority when Senate Democrats voted to legalize adult-use cannabis in 2019. With the DEA recently stating that cannabinoids like delta-8 are illegal, the Senate is looking into the issue to ensure continued public safety.

Uptown Smokes is located within 1,000 feet of Uplift school and would not be allowed to be a licensed dispensary. The store, according to its Instagram account, advertises delta-8 and delta-10-THC, tobacco, and another drug called kratom, it sold alongside potato chips, pop, candy and other items popular with high schoolers.

Uptown Smokes was shut down by the city the day after the incident  not for the overdoses, but for building code violations. Chicago officials say they generally have no authority to regulate the sale of delta-8, but can use code citations to temporarily address problem sites. The store was to remain closed until violations were corrected. The registered agent for Uptown Smokes, Zeyad Abughoush, could not be reached for comment.

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Uptown Smokes at 4527 N. Sheridan Ave. is closed for building violations, May 4, 2023. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)

State agencies that regulate marijuana also say they have authority only to regulate licensed establishments.

On a national level, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warns that it has not evaluated delta-8 products for safety, and they raise significant public health concerns. One of the concerning aspects of delta-8 THC is that it may be created by using potentially harmful chemicals.

The FDA received 104 reports of adverse events in patients who consumed delta-8 THC products between December 2020 and February 2022, including hallucinations, vomiting, tremors, anxiety, dizziness, confusion, and loss of consciousness. National poison control centers received 2,362 exposure cases of delta-8 THC products, with 70% requiring evaluation at a health care facility, and 41% of patients under age 18.

The proliferation of delta-8 shops is the result of a legal gray area created by the legalization of hemp.

When Congress approved the federal farm bill of 2018, it legalized hemp, which comes from the same cannabis plant that produces marijuana, but without the psychoactive effects. Hemp was defined as including all derivatives and cannabinoids having less than .3% of delta-9 THC, the component of pot that gets users high.

Since then, hemp-grown cannabidiol (CBD) has been used to create intoxicating derivatives such as delta-8, which are said to give users a milder high without the anxiety that marijuana can produce.

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A federal court in California ruled in 2022 that delta-8 and other hemp-derived cannabinoids were legal. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, however, has issued notice that it considers delta-8 and delta-10-THC to be illegal. The FDA has warned several companies for selling delta-8.

Members of Congress, meanwhile, have blamed the FDA for failing to come up with regulatory guidelines for cannabinoids, the various compounds found in hemp.

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Another concern is that hemp-derived products can come in far higher concentrations than legal marijuana dispensaries can sell. The package of gummies at Uplift High School, for instance, was labeled as having 300 milligrams of delta-8-THC, while licensed cannabis dispensaries are limited to selling packages of 100 milligrams.

The legal cannabis industry says such smoke shops are unfairly cutting into their business because they have none of the same requirements for testing and labeling as do the licensed businesses.

The Marijuana Industry Group recently stated that the hemp market is selling hundreds of millions of dollars in unregulated, untaxed products annually without identification checks, purchase limits, or safety restrictions. Kids can purchase these products, often shaped like popular candy, online.

Even NORML, the organization that advocates for legalization of cannabis, warns against using untested synthetically derived cannabinoids, because they may contain impurities.

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And some companies that make delta-8 and other cannabinoids want to be regulated, to prove they are properly testing and labeling their products.

State Rep. La Shawn Ford, who has taken the lead on cannabis legislation, said the state needs to regulate delta-8 sales to require testing and limit sales to those over 21.

We need to regulate those delta-8 shops, " he said. They should have to go through the same process as (cannabis) dispensaries. It needs to be regulated and taxed  thats in the best interests of public health.
Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan made an appearance before the Islamabad High Court on Friday amid tight security in connection with the Al-Qadir Trust case, a day after the Supreme Court deemed his arrest "illegal" and responsible for fatal confrontations across the nation, ARY News reported. Imran Khan, chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), is apparently seeking bail. Imran Khan's request will soon be heard by a two-person special division bench made up of Justices Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb and Saman Imtiaz. In the capital, extraordinary security measures were put in place for Imran Khan's appearance before the high court. Outside the IHC, there are police and Frontier Corps (FC) personnel on duty. Containers have been placed near police lines on the Srinagar Highway and a heavy contingent of police and Rangers officials has been deployed under the Faizabad Bridge, Srinagar Highway and Police Lines in Pakistan as Khan's supporters have gathered there, according to ARY News. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has called on the cadre to gather near Islamabad HC. PTI has said that Imran would make a speech after his court appearance there. The police crackdown on Imran Khan's party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders show no signs of mercy as another senior female PTI leader and former health minister of Pakistan's Punjab Yasmin Rashid was arrested in Lahore on Friday. Earlier, Dr Shireen Mazari, the party's Senior Vice President was arrested by Islamabad Police from her residence in the federal capital during the wee hours today. Shireen Mazari's home was searched by the Islamabad police, according to officials. Following a string of arrests of senior PTI leaders, including Imran Khan, Senator Ejaz Chaudhry, Asad Umar, Fawad Chaudhry, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, and Ali Mohammad Khan, she was taken into custody, according to Geo News. PTI Chairman Imran Khan's arrest in the Al-Qadir Trust case was declared "illegal" by the Supreme Court on May 11, and authorities were instructed to release him "immediately". Following the decision, the apex court sent the PTI chief to the Police Lines Guest House, allowing him to spend the night with his family. Khan was arrested on Tuesday this week inside the premises of Islamabad High Court when he appeared before the court in two cases. Ever since Khan's arrest, Pakistan has been witnessing a situation of unrest. Several protests have broken out across the country as PTI has urged its supporters to come out in support of Imran Khan. (ANI)
Due to decades of conflict, little rainfall, drought conditions, and a donation-based economy, among other things, two-thirds of the population of Afghanistan is in urgent need of humanitarian aid, Khaama Press reported. A senior UNICEF official stated on Thursday that inadequate financing had negatively impacted food relief efforts in Afghanistan. According to the report, the nation's access to international humanitarian aid has declined. In comparison to the severe humanitarian crisis that the majority of the Afghan population is currently experiencing, the UN's Afghanistan humanitarian response plan for this year is only 7 per cent financed, according to Khaama Press. The most recent report from the World Health Organisation estimated that 6 million people are at risk of famine and that approximately 20 million people are suffering from extreme hunger in Afghanistan under Taliban rule. According to several media reports, the humanitarian crisis has gotten worse since the Taliban took back control of Afghanistan in 2021. Earlier today, Khaama Press reported that the Moroccan locust, one of the most economically destructive agricultural pests in the world, has been spotted in numerous provinces of Afghanistan, mostly in the north and northeast, at various stages of development. Apparently, it can destroy wheat fields in the country, resulting in an upsurge in the food crisis. The Food and Agriculture Organisation reported that this spring's locust outbreak in northern Afghanistan was caused by inadequate rainfall, a drought, and overgrazing. The economic and political situation of Afghanistan has only gone worse since the Taliban took control of the country in mid-August of 2021. Afghanistan is currently grappling with a serious humanitarian crisis as according to international assessments, the country now has the highest number of people in emergency food insecurity in the world. Additionally, the Ukraine crisis has had a massive impact on the rise in food costs and food was out of reach for many Afghans. Moreover, Afghan children and women are impacted the most by the atrocities that the Taliban has unleashed in the country since taking control. (ANI)
Sources confirmed to Khaama Press that Tahir Zaheer, former minister and governor of Afghanistan's Bamyan Province, surrendered to the Taliban forces on Wednesday.

As per the report, he surrendered to the Taliban in the Dara Soof district of Samangan province.

Sources also said that the Taliban forces have detained, imprisoned, and tortured Zaheer's family members and relatives, leading to his surrender, Khaama Press reported.

Zaheer and the Taliban's Hazara leader Mawlavi Mehdi fought with the Taliban last year. After Mehdi's death, Zaheer continued to fight with the Taliban.

Zaheer's family has not commented on his surrender. It is also unclear under what condition he surrendered to the Taliban forces.

Meanwhile, it was recently reported that an increasingly unstable and volatile Afghanistan is causing worry to the world.

Worsening human rights, in particular, women's and girls' rights, poverty, hunger, terrorism and the spread of drug trafficking, are among the issues that the people of Afghanistan have been facing under Taliban rule.

World leaders under the aegis of the United Nations recently held a closed-door meeting in Doha to reinvigorate international engagement around these key issues and to engage the Taliban government.

Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary-General said that the meeting was about developing a common international approach, not about recognition of the de-facto Taliban authorities.

The participants are worried about the stability of Afghanistan and have expressed those serious concerns. They relate to the persistent presence of terrorist organisations, a risk for the country, the region and further afield. The lack of inclusivity, which importantly includes human rights in particular those of women and girls, was severely undermined by recent Taliban decisions and the spread of drug trafficking with all its dramatic consequences. (ANI)
China's imports contracted 7.9 per cent in April while exports rose at a slower pace of 5.8 per cent, official data showed, reinforcing signs of feeble domestic demand despite the lifting of Covid curbs.

China's exports to the US fell more than 14 per cent in the first four months while the country's imports from the world's largest economy also dropped 2 per cent during the period, The Standard reported.

Government officials have repeatedly warned of a "severe" and "complicated" external environment in the wake of mounting recession risks for many of China's key trading partners.

This came as the city's benchmark the Hang Seng Index dropped 429 points to close at 19,867 on Tuesday while the Shanghai Composite Index lost 1.1 per cent on concerns over China's economic recovery due to slower exports.

The Hang Seng Tech Index slid three per cent, with Tencent (0700) dipping 3.6 per cent.

Chinese state-owned lenders retreated after a surge on Monday. China Construction Bank (0939) fell 1.1 per cent while Bank of China (3988) lost 1.5 per cent, The Standard reported.

BYD (1211) went down one per cent after Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway further reduced its stake in the automaker.

Meanwhile, BYD's proposed acquisition of insurer Yian P&C Insurance has earned approval from Chinese regulators.

BYD will fully take over Yian P&C Insurance, which was among nine firms Chinese regulators seized from the Tomorrow Holdings conglomerate in July 2020.

Artificial intelligence company SenseTime (0020) extended its decline to close at a three-month low of HKD 2.27 after the news that the company was not able to be included in an MSCI index, The Standard reported.

Separately, Suzano, the biggest producer of hardwood pulp, said it is considering selling its products to China priced in yuan, adding to signs that the USD is losing its dominance in commodity markets.

China's currency is growing in importance and smaller customers there are requiring deals linked to the yuan, Suzano chief executive Walter Schalka said in an interview.

China is the largest commodity buyer and accounts for 43 per cent of Suzano's pulp.

In money markets, the onshore yuan fell 109 basis points to a week low of 6.9275 against the US dollar. (ANI)
Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Bharati Pravin Pawar chaired the virtually-held sixth session of the Health Ministers meeting of the Shanghai Corporation Organization (SCO) member states, here today. Union Minister of Ayush, Sarbananda Sonowal delivered the keynote address. The meeting was attended by high-level stakeholders and partners including Health Ministers of all SCO member states, Tedros Ghebreyesus, Director General, of the World Health Organization (WHO), and Jhang Ming, SCO Secretary-General. India organized various consultation and negotiation meetings under the SCO Presidency including a health expert working group meeting and four side events throughout the year. Highlighting the efforts of all SCO member states, Bharati Pravin Pawar in her welcome address noted that the discussions will help take the world a step closer in the direction of achieving Universal Health Coverage. She welcomed all delegates and noted that the meeting embodies the Indian philosophy of 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam' i.e., 'whole world is one family'. Bharati Pawar stated that collective efforts by the SCO towards creating a long-lasting positive impact for the betterment of mankind will guarantee health security for citizens, elevate global health as a top priority for economic development, and foster a united front to overcome challenges. Highlighting the unprecedented challenges to the global healthcare landscape due to COVID-19, Dr Pawar underlined the need for a unified approach and global collaborations to mitigate its impact. "The fact that we are here today, united and committed to each other, despite the challenging times, is a testament to our dedication and resilience", she stated. She further noted that "establishing strong surveillance systems for early detection of health emergencies and promoting collaborative research and development, as well as medical countermeasure production among SCO nations, are vital steps towards achieving these goals". Underscoring the role of technology in improving last-mile delivery of healthcare services, the Union Minister said that "Digital Health interventions can bridge the existing gap among different stakeholders of the healthcare ecosystem. Sharing of digital public goods within SCO nations will help in achieving the goal of Universal Health Coverage through the usage of technological advancements in the field of healthcare delivery". On the need for addressing the burden of non-communicable diseases, Dr Pawar highlighted the "need for collaboration on holistic management of non-communicable diseases through lifestyle modification, behaviour change, and integration of NCD services at all levels of healthcare among the SCO member states as a preventive, promotive and curative approach to deal with NCDs". Pawar also urged the SCO member states to recognize the potential of medical value travel in promoting and exploring the ways to collaborate and exchange best practices within the region. She also informed the gathering that the establishment of the World Health Organization's Global Centre for Traditional Medicine (GCTM) in India aims to facilitate joint efforts between SCO member nations in leveraging both modern and traditional medicine systems. Union Minister of AYUSH, Sarbananda Sonowal urged the SCO members to work together to recognize the potential of medical value travel in promoting and exploring ways to collaborate and exchange best practices within the region. He added that embracing modern technologies while also preserving traditional systems will provide a holistic healing experience to patients across the region. He noted that the concept of 'One Health' has drawn significant attention in the last 3-4 years. He stated that "the holistic approach to health and well-being taking into consideration the human being along with the entire ecology, including animals, plants, soil, air, water, weather, etc., explained in ancient philosophies and adopted in different ancient systems of medicine are of high significance while addressing 'One Health'. Highlighting India's rich heritage of traditional systems of medicine, Shri Sarbananda Sonowal stated that "traditional systems of medicine like Ayurveda is an important form of the healthcare system which is holistic and people-centric". He informed that the World Health Organization is encouraging member states to develop enabling policies and regulations to promote, regulate and integrate the traditional systems of medicine while ensuring their safety and quality. "Ayurveda and Yoga are Indian traditional systems of medicine and health, which are popular worldwide and are utilized by people to improve their health", he stated. Tedros Ghebreyesus highlighted that parallel processes are underway to address the critical gaps in international health regulations. Urging member states to treat health as an investment rather than a cost, he emphasized revamping global health infrastructure to prepare for future health emergencies. S Gopalakrishnan, Special Secretary, Health Ministry gave a detailed overview of the multiple side events conducted during the Indian Presidency wherein subject matter experts deliberated on the key health priorities identified under India's SCO Presidency. He stated that the experts were in convergence on a broad framework of activities for coordination and collaboration between SCO Member States. India holds the rotating Presidency of the Shanghai Corporation Organization (SCO) - a regional intergovernmental organization, representing 42 per cent of the world's population, 22 per cent of its land area, and contributing 20 per cent to global GDP and comprises eight Member States (China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan). The theme of the Indian SCO Presidency is to create a long-lasting positive impact for the betterment of mankind and work together towards a "SECURE SCO". To this end, the health priorities identified by India for the SCO include Health Emergencies Prevention, Preparedness and Response, Digital Health, Non-Communicable Diseases, and Medical Value Travel. India aims to achieve convergence in discussions across various multilateral fora engaged in health cooperation, therefore these priorities are also aligned with India's G20 Presidency. During the meeting, officials were engaged in fruitful deliberations about the health priorities identified by India for its Presidency. The focus remained on topics such as Global Health Architecture for Health Emergency Prevention, Preparedness, and Response; Digital Health; Strengthening National Monitoring and Surveillance Systems; and Multi-Stakeholder Collaboration for Mitigating the burden of Non-Communicable Diseases; and Enhancing Access to Affordable and Quality Healthcare through Medical Value Travel among the SCO member states. This was followed by interventions by Health Ministers of all SCO member states who supported India's ambitious and action-oriented agenda while expressing hope for the adoption of the SCO declaration. Toward the end of the meeting, the member countries adopted the Final Statement of the Sixth Meeting of SCO Health Ministers. This declaration will lay the groundwork for healthcare cooperation and partnerships to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal of promoting good health and well-being among SCO member countries. The Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Bharati Pravin Pawar concluded the session by quoting the Hon'ble Prime Minister's statement, "In Unity lies our biggest strength and expressed hope that the SCO countries will act as a pedagogy for the shared commitment towards regional collaboration in achieving common goals and creating a world where everyone can live with equality and dignity, and free of ill health." (ANI)
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday barred authorities from arresting PTI chairman Imran Khan in cases, including those that are undisclosed, registered across the country until Monday, May 15, Dawn reported. The court also granted protective bail to the former prime minister in three terrorism cases registered against him in Lahore and the Zille Shah murder case. Earlier in the day, a separate IHC bench accepted Imran's bail in the Al-Qadir Trust case for two weeks. The verdict came a day after the Supreme Court termed his arrest "invalid and unlawful". It also stopped authorities from arresting the PTI chief till May 17 in any case registered in Islamabad after May 9, Dawn reported. A division bench, comprising Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb and Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz, granted Imran a two-week bail in the Al-Qadir Trust case, in connection with which the Rangers had whisked him away from the Islamabad premises on May 9. The PTI chief's bail plea was heard and disposed of in courtroom No.2. During the hearing, Justice Aurangzeb asked Imran if he condemned the violence that ensued after his arrest, to which the PTI chief's lawyer replied in the affirmative. The judge then asked the former premier to submit a declaration in court stating the same. The hearing had initially begun after a nearly two-hour delay, with the media reporting that officials were conducting a security sweep outside the courtroom, Dawn reported. But it was halted shortly after it began at 1 pm on account of Friday prayers. Geo News, meanwhile, reported that judges had left the courtroom after "pro-Imran" slogans were raised. When the hearing resumed after 2.30 pm (local time), Imran was present in the courtroom as his legal team and lawyer Khawaja Haris presented his arguments, Dawn reported. Haris contended before the court that the National Accountability Bureau's (NAB) actions were illegal, saying that the NAB could only issue an arrest warrant after an inquiry had formally been turned into an investigation. He said the PTI got to know through media reports that NAB had formally initiated an investigation against Imran. Harris also said the PTI chief had approached the IHC on May 9 seeking the NAB report in the inquiry but was arrested before he could enter the courtroom. At one point during the hearing, the court asked the petitioner if he was provided with a questionnaire in connection with the case, to which Haris replied in the negative. He said Imran was issued a call-up notice which he did not appear for but, instead, submitted a written reply. Haris further said the accountability watchdog was "biased". The court then accepted Imran's bail plea, directing the NAB prosecutor general and Imran's lawyers to come prepared at the next hearing. It also said that it would decide whether Imran's bail should be cancelled or extended at the next hearing, Dawn reported. After the hearing concluded, Dawn.com's correspondent outside the court said a sea of PTI workers and supporters celebrated in the streets. Separately, an IHC bench comprising Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri and Justice Ejaz Ishaq Khan granted the PTI chief protective bail in three terrorism cases registered against him in Lahore for 10 days. During the hearing, the PTI chief told the court that Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah had warned of arresting him again, saying that there was no rule of law in the country currently. Earlier, Justice Jahangiri also approved Imran's protective bail in a case pertaining to the death of Zille Shah, a PTI worker who was killed during a party rally in Lahore earlier this year, for 10 days against surety bonds worth PKR 50,000, Dawn reported. On the other hand, the ruling coalition -- Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) president Maulana Fazal-Ur-Rehman called on the nation to march towards Supreme Court and protest against the release of Imran Khan. He asked the party workers to resort to violence if touched or harmed by the security forces. (ANI)
Pakistan's Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb on Friday refuted reports that emergency would be imposed in the country and said that no such decision was taken during the cabinet session. State broadcaster PTV News quotes her as saying: The reports in the media about the implementation of emergency in the country are baseless. No decision was taken in the cabinet meeting regarding the implementation of the state of emergency." She requested the media not to run any news without verifying it first. The reports of the emergency came after the Islamabad High Court (IHC) barred authorities from arresting PTI chairman Imran Khan in cases, including those that are undisclosed, registered across the country until Monday, May 15, Dawn reported. The court also granted protective bail to the former prime minister in three terrorism cases registered against him in Lahore and the Zille Shah murder case. Earlier in the day, a separate IHC bench accepted Imran's bail in the Al-Qadir Trust case for two weeks. The verdict came a day after the Supreme Court termed his arrest "invalid and unlawful".It also stopped authorities from arresting the PTI chief till May 17 in any case registered in Islamabad after May 9, Dawn reported. A division bench, comprising Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb and Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz, granted Imran a two-week bail in the Al-Qadir Trust case, in connection with which the Rangers had whisked him away from the Islamabad premises on May 9. The PTI chief's bail plea was heard and disposed of in courtroom No.2. During the hearing, Justice Aurangzeb asked Imran if he condemned the violence that ensued after his arrest, to which the PTI chief's lawyer replied in the affirmative. The judge then asked the former premier to submit a declaration in court stating the same. The hearing had initially begun after a nearly two-hour delay, with the media reporting that officials were conducting a security sweep outside the courtroom, Dawn reported.But it was halted shortly after it began at 1 pm on account of Friday prayers.Geo News, meanwhile, reported that judges had left the courtroom after "pro-Imran" slogans were raised. When the hearing resumed after 2.30 pm (local time), Imran was present in the courtroom as his legal team and lawyer Khawaja Haris presented his arguments, Dawn reported. Haris contended before the court that the National Accountability Bureau's (NAB) actions were illegal, saying that the NAB could only issue an arrest warrant after an inquiry had formally been turned into an investigation. He said the PTI got to know through media reports that NAB had formally initiated an investigation against Imran. Harris also said the PTI chief had approached the IHC on May 9 seeking the NAB report in the inquiry but was arrested before he could enter the courtroom. At one point during the hearing, the court asked the petitioner if he was provided with a questionnaire in connection with the case, to which Haris replied in the negative. He said Imran was issued a call-up notice which he did not appear for but, instead, submitted a written reply. Haris further said the accountability watchdog was "biased". The court then accepted Imran's bail plea, directing the NAB prosecutor general and Imran's lawyers to come prepared at the next hearing. It also said that it would decide whether Imran's bail should be cancelled or extended at the next hearing, Dawn reported. After the hearing concluded, Dawn.com's correspondent outside the court said a sea of PTI workers and supporters celebrated in the streets. Separately, an IHC bench comprising Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri and Justice Ejaz Ishaq Khan granted the PTI chief protective bail in three terrorism cases registered against him in Lahore for 10 days. During the hearing, the PTI chief told the court that Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah had warned of arresting him again, saying that there was no rule of law in the country currently.Earlier, Justice Jahangiri also approved Imran's protective bail in a case pertaining to the death of Zille Shah, a PTI worker who was killed during a party rally in Lahore earlier this year, for 10 days against surety bonds worth PKR 50,000, Dawn reported. On the other hand, the ruling coalition -- Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) president Maulana Fazal-Ur-Rehman called on the nation to march towards Supreme Court and protest against the release of Imran Khan. He asked the party workers to resort to violence if touched or harmed by the security forces. (ANI)
The Ministry of Home Affairs is all set to organise the G20 Conference on Crime and Security in the Age of NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens), AI and Metaverse on Saturday in Haryana, according to the statement released by the Ministry of Home Affairs. The two-day conference will take place in Gurugram in partnership with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The organising partners are Rashtriya Raksha University, National Forensic Science University, National Law School of India University, Interpol and UNODC. Meanwhile, on Friday, a round table was organised by the Ministry of Home Affairs in New Delhi today to present the details of the proposed G20 Conference, as per the statement. It was attended by ambassadors, high commissioners and senior dignitaries from more than 20 countries apart from senior officers from various ministries and organizations of the government of India and partner organizations. During the roundtable Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla appraised the participating dignitaries about the contours of the forthcoming conference and countries were requested to send high-level delegations for the conference. "The conference will bring together G-20 countries, guest/invitee countries and international bodies. There will also be participation from Ministries/Organizations of Govt. of India, Chief Secretaries/Administrators of States/UTs, Director Generals of Police of States/UTs, cyber experts and guest speakers representing legal fraternity, academia, training institutions, financial intermediaries, fintech, social media intermediaries, information and communication technology, cyber forensics, regulators, startups, over the top (OTT) service providers, e-commerce companies and others," the statement added. (ANI)
United Nations-appointed human rights experts called on the Taliban to end the "brutal and undignified" forms of punishment immediately, Khaama Press reported. A group of UN-appointed ten Special Rapporteurs, including Richard Bennett and members of the Working Group on discrimination against women and girls, called on the Taliban to end "brutal and undignified" forms of punishment, including stoning, flogging, and burying people under walls. The experts expressed serious concerns regarding the use of capital punishment without giving fair trial guarantees. The discrimination against women is so evident and deep-rooted in Afghanistan. The statement said that the urgent call by the group came in response to an announcement by the Taliban-appointed Supreme Court in favour of brutal punishment, according to Khaama Press. "The de facto deputy chief of the court announced on May 4 that they had sentenced 175 individuals to "retribution in kind" punishments, and 37 to be stoned. Dozens of others were condemned to "crimes against God" punishments such as lashing," said the press statement. The experts noted that "women are more likely to be sentenced to death by stoning, due to deeply entrenched discrimination and stereotypes against them... held by the exclusively male judiciary". They said that stoning or being buried alive under a wall constituted torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. "These cruel punishments are contrary to international law." According to a recent report by the UN Assistance Mission (UNAMA) in the country, 274 men, 58 women and two boys have been publicly flogged, and one judicially sanctioned execution has been carried out within the last six months alone, reported Khaama Press. Afghanistan's women have faced numerous challenges since the Taliban returned to power in 2021. Girls and women in the war-torn country have no access to education, employment and public spaces. The de facto authorities have barred girls from attending secondary school, restricted women and girls' freedom of movement, excluded women from most areas of the workforce and banned women from using parks, gyms and public bathhouses. (ANI)
"Being the Chief Justice does not mean enslaving the state to a person who has burnt every symbol of national honour and national defence to ashes through his pet thugs," she tweeted.

"Preventing such a person from being arrested in any case, makes him a royal guest. To keep doing it, to criticize it is an insult to every Pakistani apart from those martyrs and Ghazis whose every sign was attacked," Maryam tweeted further.

She wrote that the CJP is no longer the judiciary, and the Constitution and law have become a threat to the justice system and national security.

Addressing Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial directly, Maryam further wrote on Twitter, "You have lost your dignity after becoming a facilitator of a terrorist playing with the country's destiny."

"You are using your chair for Imran's politics so now be prepared for political backlash," she posted, in a warning to the Chief Justice.

Earlier, Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) president Maulana Fazal-Ur-Rehman called on the nation to march towards Supreme Court and protest against the release of Imran Khan. He asked the party workers to resort to violence if touched or harmed by the security forces. (ANI)
Asylum seekers arrive on a busy from El Paso, Texas, at the Port Authority bus terminal in Manhattan, May 3, 2023. (Juan Arredondo/The New York Times)

NEWBURGH, N.Y.  After days of angry standoffs over the possibility of New York City busing migrants to nearby suburban counties, two busloads of migrants arrived Thursday at a hotel in Newburgh, in Orange County, about 60 miles north of Manhattan.

They were greeted by about 15 supporters, who waved signs and cheered their arrival, and by Newburgh police officers, who stood aside and allowed the buses to park by the front door of the Crossroads Hotel here.

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When the second bus arrived, shortly before 1 p.m., 19 men exited. They traveled light, with two dozen bags between them.

The peaceful arrival stood in marked contrast to the fierce opposition expressed in recent days by some leaders and residents of Rockland and Orange counties, who had vowed to do everything in their power to prevent New York Citys mayor, Eric Adams, from sending the migrants north.

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In Orangetown, a Rockland County town 45 miles south of Newburgh, that resistance took the form of police officers and sheriffs deputies, who parked their cruisers near the entrance to the parking lot of the Armoni Inn & Suites hotel and remained there all week, with orders from county leaders to physically block and search any bus of migrants that might arrive.

In Newburgh on Thursday morning, after the migrants had arrived, men on motorcycles rode by the Crossroads Hotel and yelled obscenities at the journalists and immigrant advocates gathered outside.

Those interactions were more heated Wednesday evening, when a group of people protesting the migrants arrival stood in front of the hotel and told those gathered in support of the migrants to go home, according to a video of the interaction.

Were from here! the pro-migrant protesters yelled back.

The political standoff over where the migrants would be housed began Friday, when Adams announced that he would begin sending them to hotels in Orange and Rockland counties. All migrants who participated would do so voluntarily, Adams said. They would receive housing in hotels for up to four months, all paid for by the city.

The response to the mayors announcement gripped all levels of New York state government this week. Leaders in both counties declared states of emergency, as did Gov. Kathy Hochul.

Its just poorly executed and indicative of how theyve been handling this thing from Day 1, said Steven Neuhaus, the Orange County executive. They really need to start communicating more.

Rockland County, the town of Orangetown and the town of Newburgh all sought temporary restraining orders to prevent migrants from arriving. The New York Civil Liberties Union filed a federal countersuit Thursday.

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The Rockland County Department of Health inspected the Armoni hotel, one of the hotels selected to house migrants, and found its operating permit had expired in April, Ed Day, the county executive, said.

It was a sneak attack in the middle of the night, Teresa Kenny, the supervisor of Orangetown, said of Adams decision to send migrants there. If the mayor really wanted a successful plan, it was his responsibility to call us months ago.

Adams initiated the busing of migrants to nearby suburban towns in an effort to relieve the citys shelters and hotels, which are experiencing overcrowding as tens of thousands of migrants arrive in the city, mostly from Latin America.

The buses to Newburgh left the city hours before the expiration of Title 42, an executive order that former President Donald Trump issued early in the coronavirus pandemic that enabled officials to quickly deport hundreds of thousands of migrants, some of whom might otherwise have been granted asylum.

More than 60,000 migrants have arrived in New York City in the past year, according to City Hall officials, including 4,200 in the past week alone.

Citing federal sources, state officials have warned that the weekly arrivals were likely to increase to as many as 5,000 with the end of Title 42, which is scheduled to expire at midnight.

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More than 37,500 migrants are now in city care at more than 120 emergency shelters and eight larger-scale centers.

New York City has been frantically searching for additional space in which to house them, including at an abandoned psychiatric hospital and at hangars at Kennedy International Airport. City officials even asked an owner of the Flatiron Building if there was any room there (he said no).

We could potentially get thousands of people a day in our city, Adams said.

Even as the buses arrived in Orange County on Thursday, officials there were seeking a last-minute court injunction to block the citys plan, according to Neuhaus.

Both he and Day have faulted Adams for failing to communicate effectively with them, and for behaving in a highhanded manner.

As tensions rose, Day even threatened to grab Adams by the throat.

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On Wednesday night, Fabien Levy, a spokesman for Adams, said Day was incapable of demonstrating a shred of the humane and compassionate care New York City has shown over the past year.

The mayor Thursday said he had no choice but to send migrants further north. He also pointedly noted that unlike Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas, New York City would be paying for the migrants hotel rooms and support services.

Everything is on the table, the mayor said.

I mean, that is an oh shucks moment, he said, referring to the influx of 4,200 migrants in the last week. And Im only saying shucks because Im being televised.

c.2023 The New York Times Company
Pakistan government on Friday night released 198 Indian fishermen at Attari-Wagah border who were caught for crossing the maritime international border. The fishermen who cross the maritime international border in the Arabian Sea are charged with violation of the Passport Act of the respective countries and are punished for a period of about six months. The Indian fishermen who were released by the Pakistan government said that they crossed the border while fishing as they were unaware of the border in the sea. "I was held in Pakistani jails for 5 years. 12 of us were caught while were fishing in two boats for crossing the border. There were no navigation buoys, beacons or marks on the water, and it was difficult for us to identify the border in the sea. I am very happy to be in my country now," said Biku, one of the fishermen released by the Pakistan government. He added that there 5-6 Indian fishermen kept in Pakistan jails, and urged the government to help them. Indian and Pakistani fishermen often cross the international maritime border in the Arabian Sea. They are caught by the respective agencies of both countries. The issue occurs due to a dispute over Sir Creek between India and Pakistan. India wants to divide the estuary by following the Thalweg doctrine but Pakistan is not ready to do so which is leading it to a dispute. According to Thalweg doctrine, if a water body is passing between two countries then it must be divided in such a way that both countries should get an equal part of the water body. This division is impacting a major international Maritime border between Rann of Kutch and Sindh of Pakistan, which in a way is affecting both the countries' exclusive economic zones. The Pakistani authorities arrest them when they cross the maritime border, as well as, also seize their boats. The fishermen demanded that those seized boats should be returned back to them. "We crossed over to Pakistan in the sea, there are no borders there. We were caught in 2018. We request you help those who are still left back in Pakistani jails. They took our boats and they do not return that," said Ajgar, another fisherman. The solution to the above issue can be to provide communication and navigation kits to the fisherman by both countries so that they must be aware of the border lines. To minimize the issue, both countries should spread awareness, train the fisherman, and provide communication and navigation kits to the fisherman on a large scale so that they didn't cross the borders. "I was fishing around the border when Pakistani boats came and took us. Many of us are still kept in Pakistani jails, please help them. We would also like to request the government to return our boats too," said Vijay, a fisherman from Gujarat. (ANI)
Amid reports of disunity among the ranks of the Pakistan army, Inter-Services Public Relations Director General Maj-Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry on Friday refuted allegations of imposition of martial law in the country, reported Geo News. "I want to say very clearly that General Asim Munir and the army's leadership wholeheartedly support democracy and will continue to do so. The imposition of martial law is out of the question," said Chaudhry. This comes after an almost four-day political turmoil erupted due to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan's arrest, in which army's installations were also targeted, reported Geo News. "The army chief and the army's senior leadership completely believe in democracy," the military's top spokesperson said. There are reports coming in from Pakistan that several Brigadier, Colonel and Major level officers of the Pakistan Army have been sacked because they refused to open fire at PTI protestors and Imran Khan supporters. Meanwhile, in a video, Imran launched a direct attack on Pakistan Army Chief General Asim Munir and blamed him for creating chaos in the country. "I am not against the institution but today the Pakistan Army is getting maligned because of one man - The Pakistan Army Chief," said Imran. He criticised the military while his supporters raised the stakes by attacking military targets -- torching the residence of the corps commander in Lahore and attacking the entrance to the army's headquarters in Rawalpindi, reported Geo News. In response to the reports which were circulating that army officers have resigned due to the ongoing chaos, the spokesperson snubbed these speculations as well. "Despite all-out efforts of internal miscreants and external enemies, the army remains united under Chief of Army Staff General Asim Munir," Maj Gen Chaudhry said. "The dreams of creating division within the army will remain dreams. Neither anyone has resigned nor disobeyed any order," the army's spokesperson added. Violent protests took place following Khan's arrest, in which nearly a dozen people were killed and several injured. The law enforcement agencies then began a crackdown on PTI, arresting scores of workers and top leaders. After the supporters attacked army installations, the ISPR said that May 9, 2023 -- the day when chaos gripped the nation following Khan's arrest -- would go down in history as a "dark chapter," reported Geo News. The ISPR called the PTI leaders "hypocrites" for inciting their workers against the armed forces on the one hand, and praising the military -- in a bid to overshadow their criticism -- on the other. The unrest in the country has come to a halt for now as the Islamabad High Court (IHC) has provided blanket relief to Khan and barred authorities from arresting the PTI chief till Monday morning (May 15), after which, the government said it could arrest him, "if need be". In response to Khan's fresh salvo against the army chief, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the PTI chairman's latest statement against Gen Munir depicted his "cheap mentality" towards the armed forces, reported Geo News. "His statement proves that he is the mastermind of May 9 events," the premier said in a statement, criticising Khan's "baseless" allegations against a senior army official for planning to have him assassinated. (ANI)
Two terrorists and two soldiers were killed in a terrorist attack on a Frontier Constabulary (FC) camp in Balochistan's Muslim Bagh town, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said on Friday, reported Dawn. The military's media wing said that a "group of terrorists attacked an FC camp in the Muslim Bagh area in northern Balochistan". The statement said that an operation by the security forces was "underway to capture the terrorists who have been cornered into a building complex" while a heavy exchange of fire was also taking place, reported Dawn. The ISPR further said, "Commander 12 Corps is supervising the security forces operations being conducted at Muslim Bagh area in Balochistan where terrorists have been cornered." Since the talks with the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) broke down in November last year, the outfit has intensified its attacks, particularly targeting the police in KP and areas bordering Afghanistan. Over the past few months, the law and order situation in the country has worsened, with terrorist groups executing attacks with near impunity across the country, reported Dawn. Earlier this month, experts at a discussion warned that the TTP was forging a nexus with Baloch separatists and local militant groups based in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan -- a development that will likely exacerbate the already precarious security situation in the country. On April 1, four soldiers were killed in a terrorist attack along the Pak-Iran border in the Jalgai sector of Balochistan's Kech district, reported Dawn. On March 10, five terrorists were killed by security forces in intelligence-based operations (IBO) carried out in North and South Waziristan. On March 8, six terrorists were killed by security forces in an IBO in North Waziristan's Datta Khel general area. According to statistics released by the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies, an Islamabad-based think-tank, January 2023 remained one of the deadliest months since July 2018, as 134 people lost their lives -- a 139 per cent spike -- and 254 received injuries in at least 44 militant attacks across the country, reported Dawn. (ANI)
A woman is charged with murder after her 1-year-old daughter was pulled from an Atlanta-area pond, police say.

Officers found Asia Calabrese-Lewis in a parking deck about 6:40 p.m. on May 11 after they were called about a disturbance near the Concourse office park in Sandy Springs, according to the citys police department.

She was having some type of episode, police said.

Lewis then told her childs father, who arrived soon after, that their baby was deceased in a pool, according to a police news release.

A woman is charged with murder after her 1-year-old was pulled from a pond near an office park in Sandy Springs, Georgia, on May 11, police said. McClatchy News

A missing child alert was issued a little earlier after a 911 call about a child that disappeared near the office complex, which includes the King and Queen towers, WXIA reported.

Police spokesperson Sgt. Matt McGinnis said the area is not normally a place where children run and play, according to the station.

Police and fire rescue crews scoured the bodies of waters in the area before finding the babys body in a pond, the release said.

The child, identified as Nirvana Oliver, was taken to a hospital but did not survive, police said.

Calabrese-Lewis was booked into jail and charged with child cruelty and felony murder, according to the release.

Authorities didnt release additional information and said the case remains under investigation.

Sandy Springs is about 15 miles north of downtown Atlanta.

2-year-old drowned in pool while left alone for hours, SC cops say. Woman is charged

Fishermen discover mans body after he was shot and killed by his sons, TN cops say

Teen drowns at water park with friends after wading into deep end, Georgia coroner says
Buena Vista Images - Getty Images

For most of us, the thought of a beach conjures images in our minds of peaceful days in the sun or exotic excursions into crystal clear waters. While many of the worlds most beautiful beaches offer these exciting activities, not every beach is perfectly suited for fun in the sun. From shipwrecks to sharks to nuclear radiation, there are a number of beaches across the globe that are better to avoid than to visit on your next vacation.

Utakleiv Beach, Norway

Many people visit Norways Lofoten Islands for a prime view of the northern lights, and while it may be tempting to traverse the islands beaches, its ill-advised. The waters surrounding the islands are so cold that they are potentially life-threatening, so visitors should remain on dry land.

Jan Marcin / 500px - Getty Images

Schitovaya Bukhta Beach, Russia

Even though Schitovaya Bukhta beach is known for being one of the best surf destinations in the world, youre unlikely to find any surfers riding its waves. The beach looks perfectly safe from the shore, but old nuclear submarines have sunk to the bottom of the ocean from where they are quietly leaking harmful radiation.

Boris Fedorenko / EyeEm - Getty Images

Skeleton Coast, Namibia

Namibias Skeleton Coast Beach has seen more its fair share of shipwrecks due to the deadly Benguela Current. Equally treacherous are the waters that surround the beach, which are home to nearly a dozen species of sharks.

Martin Harvey - Getty Images

West End Beach, Bahamas

The Bahamas are a wildly popular vacation destination, and for good reason; it is home to some seriously gorgeous beaches. However, stay away from West End Beach on your next trip to the Bahamas, because it is home to some of the most shark-infested waters in the world.

apomares - Getty Images

Chowpatty Beach, India

Setting foot onto Chowpatty Beach reveals why its worth avoiding; the beach is heavily polluted and covered in sewage. The beach is literally toxic, which makes it even more surprising that its still popular among tourists.

Peter Adams - Getty Images

New Smyrna Beach, Florida

Even though many surfers flock to Florida to ride the waves, New Smyrna Beach is one worth skipping. The beachs waters are densely populated by sharks, making it undeniably one of the most dangerous.

Story continues

Daniel Piraino / EyeEm - Getty Images

Cable Beach, Australia

Australia is known for its population of terrifying creatures, and Cable Beach is home to many of them. The beach is home to venomous spiders, snakes, white pointer sharks, crocodiles, and lethal box jellyfish.

Posnov - Getty Images

Virginia Beach, Virginia

Believe it or not, the predators that are most commonly found on the shores of Virginia beach are wild foxes. Known for stealing food and terrorizing pets, wild foxes have been known to attack beachgoers for a number of years. If youre planning a visit to Virginia Beach, leave your dog and your snacks at home.

OKRAD - Getty Images

Praia Do Norte, Portugal

The home of waves that have shattered Guinness World Records, Praia Do Norte is a prized surf destination. However, surfers beware, because those big waves can be deadly, resulting in drownings and capsized boats.

To Mane - Getty Images

Boa Viagem Beach, Brazil

Known for one of the highest rates of shark attacks over the last two decades, Boa Viagem Beach in Brazil is one to be avoided. The beach is part of the hunting area frequented by sharks, which is why attacks are so prevalent.

Fabiano Rebeque - frebeque@yahoo.ca - Getty Images

Darwin, Australia

On your next trip to Australia, skip Darwins beaches. The area is heavily populated with crocodiles, sharks, and deadly box jellyfish.

Louise Denton Photography - Getty Images

Costa del Sol, Spain

Though the Costa del Sol region of Spain is nothing short of breathtaking, that doesnt keep the jellyfish away. The area is home to more than one ton of jellyfish, meaning you may want to grab a pair of binoculars to enjoy Costa del Sol from a safe distance.

Ventura Carmona - Getty Images

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In an effort to avoid a potential debt ceiling crisis, President Joe Biden and White House officials are looking into alternative ways to raise the nation's borrowing limitations.

The debt ceiling, or debt limit, is a cap on the total amount of money that the federal government is authorized to borrow via the U.S. Treasury. Biden is considering challenging the limit by invoking the 14th Amendment  something many Republicans are arguing against.

MONEY WORRIES: Inflation is crushing Delawareans: Here's how your neighbors cope

Heres what to know about the 14th Amendment and what lawmakers are saying.

President Joe Biden speaks in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, April 18, 2023, about efforts to increase access to child care and improve the work life of caregivers.

What is the 14th Amendment?

The amendment, ratified during the Civil War in 1868, is known for extending citizenship to former slaves. It states that all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.

PLANS TO FIX THE DEBT CRISIS: Debt limit crisis has Biden and GOP divided. Here's how their plans to fix things compare.

But it also includes a clause referring to the debt ceiling in Section 4, which states that the "validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned.

In theory, the 14th Amendment could challenge the legality of the debt limit and have the Treasury continue to issue new debt to fulfill the nation's financial obligations.

So, why is Congress debating the debt ceiling?

In January, the U.S. reached a debt limit of $31.381 trillion. If the debt is not raised by a June 1 deadline, the nation will default on its debt and have negative economic implications.

IMPROVE YOUR CREDIT SCORE: Delaware residents are worried about credit scores, study shows. How to raise your score.

In addition, the House Republican majority wont raise the debt ceiling without a compromise from Biden and Democrats on spending cuts. Senate Majority Leader McConnell argues that a Biden move to invoke the 14th Amendment would be unconstitutional. Other political experts say it violates the clause stated in section 4 of the Constitution.

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In a January letter from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to House leaders, she advised Congressional leaders to start taking certain extraordinary measures to prevent the U.S from defaulting on its obligations.

What are Bidens next steps?

Bidens position is to raise the debt without any conditions and he could look into pursuing an extension to pay the nation's bills.

However, talks have hit an impasse after Biden met with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Senate Majority Chuck Schumer, Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and McConnell on Tuesday.

Contact local reporter Cameron Goodnight at cgoodnight@delawareonline.com, or by calling or texting 302-324-2208. Follow him on Twitter at @CamGoodnight.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: The 14th Amendment is relevant to the U.S. debt crisis. Here's why
The Writers Guild of America is striking over wages, residual pay, healthcare, and pensions.

Picket lines have popped up outside studio and network offices in New York and Los Angeles.

Writers proved that Hollywood needs them with a variety of witty picket signs.

Members of the Writers Guild of America started striking on May 2, with thousands of writers putting their pens and keyboards down.

This happened after the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers could not come to an agreement over salary, residual pay, healthcare, and pension.

Many writers have also used the strike to voice their concerns over the profits streaming services make, being forced to go freelance, and the possibility of AI being used in productions across the industry.

The striking guild members have been supported by a number of actors, talk show hosts, and comedians.

And many of the writers have found a different avenue for their wit with some brilliant picket signs. Here are the funniest ones.

"You're gonna need a bigger offer."

"How I Met Your Father" writer Austin Harris holding a sign with a "Jaws" joke on it. AP Photo/Chris Pizzello/Invision

"HBO Max pays HBO minimum."

Warner Bros.' HBO Max streaming service comes under fire. AP Photo/Ashley Landis

"Stop trying to make freelance happen."

What would Regina from "Mean Girls" think? AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes

"Don't you wanna know how Yellowjackets ends?"

"Barry" writer Nicky Hirsch knows we all want to find out how "Yellowjackets" ends. AP Photo/Chris Pizzello

"Logan Roy would be alive!"

That's a good point, "Succession" did the world a favor by killing off Logan Roy. VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images

"Do the write thing."

Spike Lee would be proud. LEONARDO MUNOZ/AFP via Getty Images

"I stream, you stream, for a fair contract!"

Stream as loud as you can. LEONARDO MUNOZ/AFP via Getty Images

"You're a CEO? What, like it's hard?"

The plot for "Legally Blonde 3" just writes itself at this point. David McNew/Getty Images

"It's one writer, Michael. What could it cost? Ten dollars?"

The writers think the studios are just as out of touch as Lucille Bluth. David McNew/Getty Images

"I told ChatGPT to write a picket sign and it sucked."

And if the picket sign sucked, imagine the movie script. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

"I still wanna see Batgirl."

Everyone is understandably angry that Warner Bros. canceled the "Batgirl" movie. Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images

"Pay your writers or we'll spoil Succession."

No! Not the "Succession" spoilers! Spencer Platt/Getty Images

"Please. For the love of God. I just want to sit down."

Don't we all? FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images

"Please don't make me have to move back to Ohio."

Sorry, Ohio. Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images

And finally: "What is good TV, if not writers persevering?"

Netflix writer Dan Park wins with his "WandaVision" reference. Dan Park/Twitter

Read the original article on Insider
The owners of Davidson Chocolate Co. have decided to close up the family-owned shop after 15 years in the Lake Norman area.

The store will close on June 3, so you still have time to stop by to say goodbye and order one last box of handmade truffles or confections. The team will continue making chocolates until the shop closes  so youll have a chance to stock up on your favorites.

This decision was not made lightly, said co-owner Ana Vogel. She cited the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, rising costs and personal circumstances.

We have faced tremendous challenges, both professionally and personally, navigating my fathers health issues and feeling a profound calling to prioritize my role as mother and being present for my family and fast-growing babies has made it clear that it is time for us to close this wonderful chapter of our story, she said in a statement emailed to CharlotteFive.

Vogel grew up with a love of food and cooking, helping her mother around their kitchen in Venezuela. She earned a culinary degree from the Culinary Institute of Caracas and started a catering business offering cakes, mini desserts and chocolates before moving to North Carolina with her parents. The family purchased Davidson Chocolate Co. in 2014 from its founders, John and Sue Elliott.

Keep following on social media for more

Goodbyes can be bittersweet, and saying farewell to a place that has provided community alongside its sweet treats can be particularly difficult. However, the family plans to keep a virtual presence through Davidson Chocolate Co.s social media channels. Follow for updates, recipes and virtual chocolate experiences:

From the moment we embarked on this journey, we knew it was something special, Vogel said. Bringing a little bit of sweetness into peoples lives has been a true privilege. We are incredibly grateful for the loyalty, love, and support weve received. We are honored to have been a part of the local community for so many years, and beyond proud of the creative and delicious work weve done.

Story continues

Location: 610 Jetton St #150, Davidson, NC 28036

Instagram: @davidsonchocolateco
Border agents are required by law to place unaccompanied minors into US government custody within 72 hours

A 17-year-old migrant who arrived unaccompanied in the US from Honduras has died in government custody.

The boy, who died at a shelter facility in Florida, was identified by the Honduran foreign affairs office as Angel Eduardo Maradiaga Espinoza.

The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) acknowledged the death in a statement that did not name him or say how he died.

US officials have braced in recent days for an influx of border crossings.

On Friday, Enrique Reina, the secretary of foreign affairs in Honduras, said on Twitter the death had occurred at a shelter in Safety Harbor, a city on the Tampa Bay coastline in western Florida.

The shelter is managed by the HHS Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), which is in charge of housing and caring for unaccompanied migrant children.

Mr Reina said his government was in contact with the teenager's family and called for "an exhaustive investigation" into the circumstances of his death.

The boy had been in US custody for five days, a source told CBS News, the BBC's US partner. He was found unconscious on Wednesday morning, taken to a local hospital and was pronounced dead an hour later, the source added.

A federal official told CBS there had been "no altercation of any kind" involved in the death.

The teenager "wanted to live the American Dream" his mother, Norma Sarai Espinoza Maradiaga, told the Associated Press.

"He told me he was in a shelter and not to worry because he was in the best hands," she said in a phone interview. "We only spoke two minutes, I told him goodbye and wished him the best."

A medical examiner's investigation is currently underway. Bill Pellan, director of investigations, told US media that a cause of death has yet to be determined. He said hospital staff had failed to resuscitate the boy.

Border officials are required by law to place unaccompanied minors in ORR care within 72 hours of apprehension. The ORR then houses these children in shelters and other facilities nationwide until they turn 18 or are claimed by a US-based sponsor.

Story continues

Deaths in ORR custody are rare, according to Aura Bogado, a senior reporter at the Center for Investigative Reporting, but CBS reports that a four-year-old child from Honduras described as "medically fragile" died from a cardiac arrest event in March while in HHS custody in Michigan.

In 2019, the outlet also reported that six migrant children - some with health issues - were known to have died over the past year, either after being detained by border patrol or after being released by HHS to a hospital.

In its statement on Friday, the HHS said it was in touch with the child's family and was "reviewing all clinical details of this case, including all inpatient health care records" per standard practice.

The department cited "privacy and safety reasons" for its inability to share further information on the child's death.

News of the death follows the overnight expiry of Title 42, a pandemic-era border policy used to swiftly expel migrants who cross illegally.

Officials had expressed concern about a possible influx of migrants in the coming weeks, possibly leading to overcrowded detention and shelter facilities.

But HHS officials said there has been no substantial increase in migrants processed into custody on Friday, and it is not clear if the minor's death is related to the lifting of Title 42.

The White House is "certainly aware of the tragic loss, and our hearts go out to the family", press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Friday.

She declined to comment further until the medical investigation concludes, adding she did not know if President Biden had yet been briefed on the death.

Government figures show that more than 8,000 unaccompanied migrant minors are currently under HHS care, with an average custody period of 29 days.

Over the last fiscal year, three in 10 migrant minors in US custody came from Honduras.
Image: RR Auction

A check signed by none other than Apple co-founder Steve Jobs that went up for auction in April has officially sold for a massive $106,985.



The check went up for auction on April 17 through RR Auction, and bids officially closed on Wednesday. The check is a Wells Fargo check written for $175 and autographed by Jobshis name written as steven jobs. The check also bears the address 770 Welch Road in Palo Alto, which is a mail drop and answering service that the fledgling company used while operating out of Jobs garage. RR Auction estimated that the check was worth $25,000.

Read more

The back side of the check, which was received by Wells Fargo four days after it was written.

These great looking early checks are highly desired because they not only tell Apples founding story, they are signed with perfect examples of Steve Jobss autograph, said Bobby Livingston, executive vice president at RR Auction, in a press release emailed to Gizmodo. Plus, bank checks allay collectors concerns about the authenticity of Steve Jobss signature.

Jobs check was written from the Apple Computer Company account to Crampton, Remke & Miller, Incorporated, which was a management consulting firm in Palo Alto, California. Other clients of the consulting firm include Xerox, Atari, and Memorex. The check, therefore, is seemingly a lost vestige of Jobs and his co-founders trying to get what is now a tech monolith off the ground.

Its a remarkable flawless check from when Steve Jobs hired Apples first consulting firmsa central moment in the history of the most innovative and influential companies, Livingston said in a previous statement emailed to Gizmodo.

This is not the only Apple memorabilia thats gone to auction recently. Earlier this year, an unopened, first-generation iPhone went up for auction from LCG Auctions. The phone belonged to Karen Green who received the phone as a gift from her friends after starting a new job. Greens iPhone is an 8 gigabyte first-generation iPhone with a camera that originally cost $599 in 2007, and when the auction closed, the winning bid was a whopping $63,356.40.

Story continues

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Sign up for Gizmodo's Newsletter. For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Click here to read the full article.
Flowers sit near crime scene tape at Geneva Presbyterian Church, Tuesday, May 17, 2022, in Laguna Woods, Calif., after a fatal shooting at the church. David Chou, of Las Vegas, suspected of killing one person and wounding five others when he shot up a Southern California church luncheon last year, has been charged with dozens of federal hate crimes in connection with the attack, which investigators say was motivated by political hatred of Taiwan, according to an indictment released Thursday, May 11, 2023, by the U.S. Department of Justice. (Ashley Landis/AP)

SANTA ANA, Calif.  A man accused of fatally shooting one person and wounding five others at a Southern California church luncheon last year has been charged with dozens of federal hate crimes in connection with the attack, which investigators said was motivated by political hatred of Taiwan.

The indictment announced Thursday by the U.S. Department of Justice charges David Chou, of Las Vegas, with 98 counts including weapons and explosives charges and forcefully obstructing the free exercise of religion.

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Messages seeking comment from attorneys who have represented Chou, 69, in a separate case in state court were not immediately returned.

Authorities said Chou chained and nailed shut exit doors before launching the attack on a gathering of older parishioners from the Irvine Taiwanese Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods on May 15, 2022.

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Chou had two handguns, bags of ammunition and four Molotov cocktail-style devices, and was motivated by hatred of Taiwan, where he grew up, investigators said.

Among the charges were 45 counts of obstructing free exercise of religious beliefs by force, which resulted in the death of one person, included attempts to kill 44 others, and involved the use of a firearm and attempted use of explosives and fire, the Justice Department said in a statement.

Chou was charged last year by Orange County prosecutors with murder and attempted murder including enhancements for a hate crime and other counts. He pleaded not guilty. Online records show Chou is currently being held without bail in Orange County and due back in court July 14.

Authorities said Chou had no prior connection to the church. They said he spent an hour with attendees before the attack, apparently to gain their trust, then closed the doors and started shooting.

Dr. John Cheng, the 52-year-old son of a congregant, charged at Chou and was killed, authorities say. His action helped disrupt the shooter, who was hit by a chair thrown by the churchs former pastor and jumped on by several people who tied him up with an extension cord until police arrived.

The wounded victims ranged in age from 66 to 92.

Chou, a U.S. citizen, grew up in Taiwan after his family was forced from mainland China when communists took control, authorities have said.

If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of death or life in prison without parole.

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Weber reported from Los Angeles.
An 18-year-old man admitted guilt Friday in the fatal 2020 shooting of rapper Pop Smoke. (Scott Dudelson / Getty Images)

An 18-year-old man charged in the fatal 2020 shooting of Pop Smoke admitted to killing the rapper in juvenile court Friday.

The defendant, who was 15 at the time of the crime, admitted to a juvenile court petition charging him with first-degree murder in the Feb. 19, 2020, death of Pop Smoke, whose real name was Bashar Jackson. He also admitted to home-invasion robbery and allegations that he personally and intentionally discharged a firearm during the crime.

The man is expected to be held in a state juvenile facility until he turns 25.

L.A. County Superior Court Judge J. Christopher Smith told the 18-year-old and his 19-year-old co-defendant that Jackson "lost his life over no good reason."

"You have no right to take somebodys life. You have no right to take somebodys property," Smith said, according to City News Service.

Three other people were charged in Jackson's death: one other juvenile defendant who was a minor at the time of the crime and Corey Walker and Keandre Rodgers, who were 19 and 18, the Associated Press reported. A judge has issued a court order barring the media from identifying the juvenile defendants.

The 18-year-old's admission comes after a 20-year-old man pleaded guilty to the fatal shooting in April.

Pop Smoke, 20, was an up-and-coming Brooklyn rap star who was known for songs including "For the Night" and "What You Know Bout Love." Nicki Minaj , Lil Baby and Travis Scott were among the rap stars who collaborated with the late performer.

On Feb. 19, 2020, a group of people, including one wearing a mask and armed with a handgun, broke into the rapper's rental home in Hollywood Hills. The rapper, who was on a four-day trip to Los Angeles, had shared an Instagram post that revealed the address.

The defendants burst into Jackson's bedroom and confronted him in a shower, where the 15-year-old boy pistol-whipped the rapper and shot him three times in the back, according to testimony. They ran off with Jacksons watch, a diamond-studded Rolex that they sold for $2,000.

Times staff writer Matthew Orsmeth and City News Service contributed to this report.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
The South Carolina legislative session isnt over just yet.

Gov. Henry McMaster on Friday officially called state lawmakers back to work, starting Tuesday, for a special session  the first time a governor has called legislators back to the State House in two decades.

The General Assembly did not close the revolving door for criminals. It remains wide open, McMaster said in a statement Friday. They have not passed bond reform, and they have not enhanced the criminal penalties for illegal gun possession. In addition, the General Assembly must complete the state budget, and they must pass legislation that stops our state from becoming a destination for abortions.

McMaster also Friday appointed Brian Gaines, who heads the executive budget office within the state Department of Administration, as South Carolinas new comptroller general  or at least until lawmakers elect a replacement for Richard Eckstrom.

Gaines now becomes the first Black comptroller in South Carolina since Reconstruction.

State lawmakers wrapped up the regular session Thursday but without a sine die agreement, leaving the state budget, possible new abortion restrictions, new penalties for illegal gun possession and a handful of other bills left on the table.

Without that agreement, which prevents the governor from calling the Legislature back but outlines what legislators can debate after the regular session ends, lawmakers can work on any piece of legislation they want to.

We need to have a budget. We need to settle the abortion question, McMaster told reporters Monday. We have an obligation to finish the work. So well come back and finish.

McMaster is the first governor to order a special session since then-Democratic Gov. Jim Hodges in the early 2000s.

Former Gov. Nikki Haley tried to call lawmakers back to Columbia in 2011, but was stopped after court intervention.

The House will return Tuesday afternoon to start what is expected to be an hourslong debate over an amended version of the Senates six-week abortion ban, which would ban the procedure after fetal cardiac activity can be detected, usually around the sixth week of pregnancy, and before most people know they are pregnant.

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The debate follows months of disagreement between Republicans in the House and Senate over abortion restrictions after the June 2022 U.S. Supreme Courts Dobbs decision. That ruling allowed states to further restrict or expand abortion restrictions.

In South Carolina, the previous 20-week ban remains in effect.

House Democrats say they have filed more than 1,000 amendments to the abortion bill, meant to stretch the debate and further keep it from passing.

Be prepared to be here as long as it takes, House Speaker Murrell Smith, R-Sumter, told colleagues Wednesday. We will not adjourn until we finish. That also means were not going to be breaking. Bring supper, dinner, breakfast, lunch or whatever for days or however long you want to get through amendments, but were going to get through that bill and have a final vote on that bill.

House Republicans also are looking at making changes to the legislation, which could further push away some senators when the legislation returns to the upper chamber.

If theres going to be things in this bill that builds a foundation for a push at some point in the future to extend the jurisdiction of the state further in time back to the point where the sperm fertilizes the egg, if I see that thats in there and if I think thats a concern, then Im not going to support it, said state Sen. Tom Davis R-Beaufort, who with five other Senate Republicans joined Democrats to vote against the Houses near-total ban in April. But I have to see what they pass.

Meanwhile, House and Senate budget negotiators are expected to finalize the state spending plan to start July 1.

There are a handful of budget differences between both chambers, including over member projects, commonly referred to as earmarks. The Senate has proposed a $13 billion budget, but the House, with an additional $800 million projected by state economists, proposed a $13.8 billion budget.

The two chambers already agree on several key spending items, including pay raises for teachers and state employees.

Brian Gaines named SC comptroller by McMaster

Richard Eckstrom, who was last reelected to a four-year term in November 2022, resigned in April after it was disclosed that his office miscounted how much cash the state had on hand for a decade, inflating the states cash position by $3.5 billion.

As comptroller, Brian Gaines will run the states payroll, pay vendors, operate the state accounting system and compile an annual financial report. With the governor, treasurer and budget chairs, Gaines also will sit on the State Fiscal Accountability Authority, a panel which acts as oversight on state spending and facility improvements and leases.

I do have a general understanding of what goes on in the Comptroller Generals Office with my current position in state government, Gaines said. But first, priorities are going to be figuring out whats going on and what needs to be (done) moving forward after that point.

Gaines, who is Black, is the first African American comptroller since Reconstruction, and currently now the only Black statewide constitutional officer.

Ive not had much time for a lot of reflection on that particular point, Gaines, 41, said. But Im sure as time goes on, I will have an opportunity to fully digest what this means not only me, but for the state of South Carolina.

Gaines, who lives in Columbia and earns $154,500 a year in his current job, has served as budget director for the last six years. He previously worked for the S.C. Budget Control Board and state Department of Employment and Workforce.

Gaines said he has no plans to run for the job in 2026, even if lawmakers decline to move the role into the governors Cabinet.

Brian Gaines is sworn in as South Carolina Comptroller General during a press conference at the South Carolina State House on Friday, May 11, 2023.

McMaster had said he preferred the states top accountant to be someone with experience in finance or accounting and with no political ties.

Part of the reason the governor has called lawmakers back for a special session is because neither chambers could ultimately agree on who should be the comptroller after Eckstroms resignation.

The House wants former Republican state Rep. Kirkman Finlay, who lost his Richland County seat to a Democrat in November. Meanwhile, the Senate has pushed for Mike Shealy, a longtime budget staffer. Shealy, who currently works for the administration department, will take over the executive budget office until Gaines returns to his job.

On Friday, McMaster said Gaines is respected by the General Assembly and state agency directors.

His expertise on the budgeting process and experience in the state government will allow him to provide a fresh perspective to the Comptroller Generals Office, while at the same time allowing for a smooth transition, McMaster said.

Eckstrom resigned after an investigation by the Senate Finance Committee, led by state Sen. Larry Grooms, R-Berkeley, who applauded Gaines appointment Friday.

After the former comptroller general resigned, I made it clear that I wanted a qualified professional in the position, someone who would put the interests of the state ahead of his own, Grooms said.

This is a developing story. It will be updated.
In the last 24 hours, Russian attacks were reported in nine Ukrainian oblasts  Sumy, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolaiv, Luhansk, and Donetsk.

According to local authorities, two civilians were killed, and 22 more were injured in the Russian attacks.

Russian forces used mortars, tanks, artillery, multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS), small arms, grenade launchers, anti-aircraft missile systems, drones, and tactical aviation to strike 161 settlements, Ukraine's Defense Ministry media center said on May 12.

According to the media center, 179 infrastructure facilities have been hit.

In Donetsk Oblast, one person was killed in Sloviansk, and 12 more people in the region were wounded, according to Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko. Russian attacks against Ukraine's eastern region damaged multiple houses and a school, said Kyrlenko.

Russian forces used MLRS and artillery to attack Kharkiv Oblast, injuring a 16-year-old girl and three more women, said Governor Oleh Syniehubov. According to the governor, the damages include a local market, at least eight houses, an administrative building, an educational institution, and public transport.

Russian troops struck Kherson Oblast in Ukraine's south 80 times, firing 339 rounds from various weapons, according to the regional administration. The attacks reportedly killed one civilian and wounded four more in the region, as well as hit residential areas, a school, a hospital, and two critical infrastructure facilities.

Late on May 11, Russia launched an air strike on Chernihiv Oblast's village of Arkhypivka not far from the Ukrainian-Russian border late, injuring two civilians and destroying three houses, Ukraine's Northern Operational Command reported.
Pink bookbag with laptop and notebooks inside - stock photo Erik Von Weber/ Getty Images

Two Michigan school districts recently banned students from wearing backpacks to school amid safety concerns over guns, CNN reports.

The new rules "come at a time when schools across the U.S. are struggling with how to prevent and prepare for mass shootings on campuses," CNN explains, "including conducting mass shooter drills and installing metal detectors."

Grand Rapids Public Schools announced the ban after school officials found a loaded handgun in a third-grader's backpack, the fourth time a gun was confiscated this academic year, per a statement from the district. The firearms were discovered in a student's backpack in three of the four incidents.

The ban "is not a decision we've taken lightly," Grand Rapids Public Schools Superintendent Leadriane Roby said. She is "more than frustrated that a decision like this is necessary," but the district "must put safety first, and that's what this decision is about." The backpack ban "is just one step in an ongoing conversation about how we can best protect our children in our rapidly-changing world," Roby added.

The GRPS policy was announced days after Flint Community Schools, another Michigan school district, banned backpacks as of May 1. Both districts allow small bags for personal items, but large bags big enough to conceal a weapon are not allowed. Clear bags are not permitted in GRPS schools, but Flint students may use them to carry gym clothes.

Other school districts in the country have made similar changes to their backpack policies. Last month, DeSoto Independent School District in Texas banned students in grades 6-12 from bringing large backpacks and purses to school for the rest of the year. Another Texas district, South San Antonio ISD, announced that they would do the same across all campuses starting May 15, with an exception for clear or mesh bags.

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Pokemon Cards Photo by Achim Scheidemann / picture alliance via Getty Images

Two men were charged with stealing a quarter million dollars worth of Pokemon cards.

According to The Minnesota Star Tribune, they intended to pawn the cards off.

The two men cut a hole into a gaming store from a neighboring store to access the goods.

Two Minnesota men were hit with felony burglary charges for stealing thousands of packs of Pokemon cards by burrowing a hole into a local gaming store, in a valiant effort to catch 'em all.

The men made off with more than $250,000 worth of Pokemon cards after raiding the Punch-Out Gaming store in Forest Lake, Minnesota, prosecutors alleged in a May 2023 criminal complaint, according to The Minnesota Star Tribune.

During the February 2022 burglary, one of the men broke into the business next door to the gaming shop, chopped through drywall, and blacked out a security camera with tape before going about his business.

The Star Tribune reported that on February 9, 2022, prosecutors alleged that Dustin Anthony Wittern and Matthew James Cuypers Jr. stole at least 2,824 sealed packs of the cards before jetting off. They were hit with felony third-degree burglary charges by Washington County, Minnesota, prosecutors.

Cuypers Jr. stole the cards while Wittern waited outside for him in a truck, the complaint stated, per KSTP, the area's ABC affiliate. One of the men knew a prospective buyer for the cards that they planned to pawn the cards off too, per the Star Tribune.

According to court documents for a separate federal case involving selling meth, Cuypers Jr. was arrested weeks after the 2022 burglary as authorities tracked him down for the illicit drug investigation.

In an interview for the meth case, Cuypers Jr. admitted to authorities that he partook in the Pokemon heist, per the Star Tribune. Police investigating the Pokemon card burglary said that a knife that was used to cut the drywall from the store next door had DNA that matched Wittern's and that they also collected the tape used on the store's security camera.

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The store's owner, Eric Johnson, told the Star Tribune that the cost of the cards was $150,000 and their sale value was $250,000. The cards have not been recovered.

An attorney for Cuypers Jr. did not immediately return Insider's request for comment.

Read the original article on Insider
A 2-year-old drowned in a South Carolina swimming pool while left unattended for hours, deputies told news outlets.

Now, a woman accused of not caring for the child is charged with homicide by child abuse. News outlets did not list attorney information for the woman, identified as Tailor Parsons.

The Darlington County Sheriffs Office was called May 2 to a home in Lamar, roughly 60 miles northeast of Columbia. Deputies said they received reports of a 2-year-old passed out in an above-ground pool, WPDE reported.

The sheriffs office said the toddler died after being left unsupervised for at least five hours. During that time, deputies believe the child had gotten into a neighbors pool, according to arrest warrants obtained by WMBF and WBTW.

Parsons was arrested May 10 and taken to the Darlington County jail, records show.

The Darlington County Sheriffs Office didnt immediately share information with McClatchy News on May 12.

4-year-old dies after fall from fourth-floor apartment in South Carolina, cops say

2-year-old drowns in pond while playing near Florida home, cops say. Horrible tragedy
Two teenagers died after the stolen car they were in ran off the road following a high-speed chase, South Carolina officials said.

Greenville police said they tried to pull over a stolen vehicle they spotted just before 10 p.m. on Thursday, May 11. When the car didnt stop, police began a chase.

As police attempted to stop the car, it began driving at a high speed, police said in a news release. Officers lost sight of the car, ending the chase.

The vehicle then crashed not long after, police said.

The county coroner said the car struck a cement pillar, three telephone poles and a chain-link fence and was cut in half, WYFF reported.

Dekiyas Antione Workman Jr., 16, died at the scene of the wreck, and Jaedan Demone Pitts-Johnson, 14, died later at the hospital, according to a news release from the Greenville County Coroners Office. Two other people were taken to the hospital.

Police said the wreck remains under investigation.

Teen sisters killed in fiery car crash in Virginia, cops say. Never be whole again

2 high schoolers die in crash weeks before graduation, reports say. How do we go on

Five killed after head-on collision between van and pickup truck, Georgia deputies say
Mirrorpix - Getty Images

The films, the red carpet style, the setting (hello, its in the south of France!)there is nothing quite like the Cannes Film Festival. Typically held each spring, the famous film fest has been a must for directors, producers, actors, and more since it was founded over 75 years ago.

Ahead of this years festivities, we look at some of the most memorable film premieres (as well as their iconic attendees) held at the Cannes Film Festival through the years. From red carpets that attracted the likes of Audrey Hepburn, Sharon Tate, and Sophia Loren to screenings that included a little something extra (aka acrobatic jet planes and choreographed dance numbers), heres a handful of Cannes moments that stand out.

1946: Beauty and the Beast

Actress Josette Day is pictured here outside the premiere of the Jean Cocteau-directed Beauty and the Beast at the 1946 Cannes Film Festival. The fantasy film stars Day as Belle and French actor Jean Marais as the Beast.

Serge DE SAZO - Getty Images

1953: Brigitte Bardot

A glamorous Brigitte Bardot was snapped at the festival in 1953 wearing an oversized white fur shawl, a floor-length chiffon gown, and a stunning diamond necklace.

Archive Photos - Getty Images

1955: Sophia Loren

The iconic Italian actress, Sophia Loren, was photographed while sitting alongside Vittorio De Sica and Silvana Mangano during the festival's opening night. The trio was there for the premiere of their movie, L'Oro Di Napoli, also known as The Gold of Naples.

Bettmann - Getty Images

1957: Around the World in 80 Days

An incredibly glamorous Elizabeth Taylor turned heads as she attended the famous festival to promote her then-husband, Mike Todds, film, Around the World in 80 Days. The comedy starred Shirley MacLaine and Frank Sinatra and was nominated for eight Academy Awards.

Mirrorpix - Getty Images

1960: Audrey Hepburn

A delighted Audrey Hepburn walked the Cannes red carpet arm-in-arm with her husband, Mel Ferrer. The award-winning actress wore an ankle-length satin dress with sequin and bead detailing, long opera gloves, and low heels.

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REPORTERS ASSOCIES - Getty Images

1962: Sidney Lumet & Gloria Vanderbilt

Film director Sidney Lumet and his then-wife Gloria Vanderbilt were all smiles at the 1962 festivities. Lumet was there to premiere his film, Long Days Journey Into Night, which stars Katharine Hepburn and Ralph Richardson.

Bettmann - Getty Images

1968: Rosemary's Baby

Hollywood superstars Mia Farrow, Sharon Tate, Roman Polanski, and Georges Cravenne are pictured here, filing into the premiere of Polanskis spine-tingling film, Rosemarys Baby. The thriller, set mainly in New York City, was such a hit that it received multiple Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations.

NOA - Getty Images

1972: Princess Grace of Monaco & Alfred Hitchcock

Princess Grace of Monaco joined English filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock at the 1972 event. Hitchcock was there to screen his rated-R thriller, Frenzy, which was the festivals closing film. The movie was so well-received that it earned a standing ovation from the audience.

Gilbert TOURTE - Getty Images

1975: Jane Birkin & Serge Gainsbourg

Perhaps the definition of chic, Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg are pictured here enjoying themselves at the 1975 Cannes Film Festival.

United Archives - Getty Images

1981: Possession

French actress Isabelle Adjani and Irish-born New Zealand actor Sam Neil are seen here posing for the camera at the premiere of filmmaker Andrzej Zulawskis Possessionthe two star opposite each other in this early-80s psychological horror flick.

Jean-Louis URLI - Getty Images

1983: Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence

In 1983, David Bowie and Ryuichi Sakamoto flew out to Cannes to premiere their wartime drama, Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, also known as Furyo in Japanese. Bowie appeared in the popular film as Major Jack "Strafer" Celliers, and Sakamoto composed the films score.

Bertrand Rindoff Petroff - Getty Images

1987: Paul Newman & Joanne Woodward

Paul Newman and his wife, Joanne Woodward, smile together while attending a film premiere at the festival. The couple appeared together three decades earlier in The Long Hot Summer, which Newman won the Best Actors Award for at the 1958 Cannes Film Festival.

Pool DUCLOS/PELLETIER - Getty Images

1989: Do The Right Thing

American screenwriter and actress Joie Lee, director Spike Lee, actress Ruby Dee, and actor Richard Edson all share a laugh while pictured here at the photocall for Lees Do The Right Thing.

france film festival cannes photocall

Getty Images

1993: Nicolette Sheridan

Nicolette Sheridan, who starred as Edie Britt Williams in Desperate Housewives, is pictured here wearing a beautiful white gown, oversized gold earrings, and a slicked-back hairstyle while walking the red carpet during the film festival.

Pool ARNAL/GARCIA/PICOT - Getty Images

1997: Tim Burton & Lisa Marie Smith

Filmmaker Tim Burton, also a Cannes jury member, showed up to the 1997 fete with his former partner, actress Lisa Marie Smith, who had minor roles in several of the directors movies. The two were engaged for over eight years but broke up after the release of Burtons 2001 film, Planet of the Apes. After their separation, Smith decided to hold an auction of personal items Burton left at her home. Needless to say, Burton was not happy about this.

Mirrorpix - Getty Images

2001: Moulin Rouge!

Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor, who acted opposite each other in Baz Luhrmanns larger-than-life 2001 musical, Moulin Rouge!, walked the red carpet together during the films Cannes premiere. Kidman wore a strapless corset dress with a ruffled hem, reminiscent of her characters wardrobe, while McGregor chose a simple black suit.

Dave Hogan - Getty Images

2005: Aishwarya Rai

Indian actress Aishwarya Rai looked like a vision when she attended the Lemming premiere at Cannes. The movie, directed by French director Dominik Moll, stars Charlotte Gainsbourg and Laurent Lucas.

Toni Anne Barson Archive - Getty Images

2010: Salma Hayek

Actress Salma Hayek wore a beautiful burgundy dress to the premiere of Robin Hood. That year, Hayek also attended the Il Gattopardo premiere as well as the Palme d'Or Closing Ceremony.

Dominique Charriau - Getty Images

2013: The Great Gatsby

The Cannes premiere of The Great Gatsby was unlike any other. For starters, a team of professional dancers took to the red carpet to perform an elaborate choreographed jazz-esque number. Even though the red carpet got rained on, it was still a marvelous time.

Vittorio Zunino Celotto - Getty Images

2017: Okja

Rihanna wore an elaborate white gown with lace sleeve detailing to the premiere of Bong Joon-Hos Okja. The movie stars big names like Tilda Swinton, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Paul Dano.

Ki Price - Getty Images

2019: Parasite

A couple of years later, Bong Joon-Ho returned to the famous festival to premiere Parasite, which was met with rave reviews. The film received the Palme dOr that year and was later awarded several Academy Awards.

John Phillips - Getty Images

2022: Top Gun: Maverick

Frances Air Force acrobatic unit put on a colorful show by flying over the red carpet during Top Gun: Mavericks Cannes premiere. The movies producer and leading actor, Tom Cruise, also received an honorary Palme dOr at the festival that year.

Pascal Le Segretain - Getty Images

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A Texas man, 22, was arrested on Wednesday evening for fatally shooting his 26-year-old girlfriend for traveling to Colorado to get an abortion, the Dallas Morning News reported on Friday. The man, Harold Thompson, shot his partner, Gabriella Gonzalez, in a parking lot in the West Oak Cliff neighborhood of Dallas the day after she returned from traveling for her abortion, police say.



Per an arrest-warrant affidavit obtained by the Dallas Morning News, the Dallas Police Department reviewed surveillance footage that shows Thompson and Gonzalez walking together and having an argument shortly before the shooting. In the horrifying footage, Thompson assaults and attempts to put Gonzalez in a chokehold, but she pushes him off and they continue to walk together. Then Thompson takes out a gun, shoots Gonzalez in the head, and shoots her several more times after she falls to the ground.

Read more

The arrest-warrant affidavit notes that Thompson is believed to have been the one who impregnated Gonzalez. He disapproved of her abortion, and court records obtained by the newspaper say that he shot her because of this. In addition to his murder charge, Thompson also reportedly faces a charge of assault of a household member, the Dallas Morning News reports.

Thompson was booked into the Dallas County jail on Wednesday and remains in custody as of Friday afternoon. His bail has not yet been set. In a statement shared with Jezebel, the Dallas PD confirmed that an investigation into Gonzalezs death remains ongoing.

Gonzalezs fatal shooting death comes amid a string of high-profile gun violence cases, including the mass shooting in Allen, Texas, last weekend that killed eight. According to Everytown for Gun Safety, 70 women every month are shot and killed by an intimate partner.

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The Dallas shooting is also a harrowing reminder of the increased danger of intimate partner violence that pregnancy can inflict on women. Homicide is a leading cause of death for pregnant people in the U.S., and pregnant people are at greater risk of intimate partner violence. Pregnant people who seek and are denied abortion care are more likely to face long-term domestic violence.

Abortion laws like Texas ban, which seems to have forced Gonzalez to travel to Colorado for care, can also render women and pregnant people more vulnerable to abuse and control from intimate partners. A Texas man is currently suing his ex-wifes friends for helping her get an abortion without his approval, despite how her friends claim hes a serial emotional abuser who knew about the abortion, didnt stop it, and instead used it as collateral to manipulate and control his ex-wife.

As police continue to investigate Gonzalezs shooting death, Thompsons alleged motive for killing her is a chilling warning of the violence and terror that women and pregnant people increasingly face for seeking abortion carefrom both state laws and intimate partners.

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Click here to read the full article.
A man was stabbed to death in Newton County after a group of people broke into a home and confronted a womans ex-partner, deputies said.

The Newton County Sheriffs Office said that on May 5, four people went to a home they werent invited to on Georgia Highway 162 in Covington around 8:22 p.m.

According to deputies, the people involved were 35-year-old Margie Love, 18-year-old Anthony McDonald, 39-year-old Randell Whitley and 21-year-old Garrett Blackwell.

[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]

Authorities said that the group went to the home to confront Loves ex-partner.

According to the investigation, a fight broke out and Whitley was stabbed multiple times.

He was taken to the hospital, where he died.

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Deputies did not say who stabbed Whitley.

Authorities arrested Love and McDonald and charged them with first-degree home invasion, murder and aggravated assault.

Blackwell turned himself in Thursday and was also charged with first-degree home invasion, murder and aggravated assault.

Channel 2s Audrey Washington talked to Whitleys father by phone. He said there is more to the story than what police have said, and that his son is the actual victim.

Anybody who knew him would tell you that he was one of the best men you would ever meet, Whitley said. He would do anything to help anybody.

Whitleys father said the wrong people were being charged.

Washington talked to deputies, who maintained that the right people are behind bars and that there are no further charges pending in the case.

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Five people were taken to the hospital following a crash involving Amtrak trucks at a rail yard in Boston on Friday morning.

The incident, which happened at the Readville commuter rail station in the citys Hyde Park neighborhood around 4:30 a.m., involved an Amtrak infrastructure maintenance work group, according to Amtrak.

Transit police said that an Amtrak truck was traveling east on a section of track when it collided with another Amtrak truck.

The collision caused substantial damage to the vehicles involved, Transit Police Superintendent Sullivan said in a statement.

The five workers were taken to area hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries.

Video captured by a Boston 25 photographer showed a large gathering of workers in orange vests near the rail tracks, as well as Transit police officers and EMS workers.

Throughout the day both commuter rail trains and AMTRAK trains rolled through, the incident did not impact passenger rail service.

Readville station serves the Fairmont and Franklin-Foxboro commuter rail lines.

Back on site, as crews spend hours trying to move damaged cars, the Federal Railroad Administration is investigating the incident.

The Transit Police Departments Accident Reconstruction Unit is assisting with the investigation.

At the heart of this investigation: what caused one train car to crash into the back of another as they were stopped on this line?

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
Former President Donald Trump's town hall on CNN Wednesday featured no shortage of theatrics, from calling moderator Kaitlin Collins "nasty" to sparking laughs from a supportive audience with a jab against E. Jean Carroll, the author who accused him of rape and won a civil case in which a jury found him liable for battery and defamation.

But during the 70-minute forum, Trump also faced policy questions he either dodged or answered head-on, potentially revealing contours of a possible second Trump administration.

Here are five areas where Trump took new policy positions -- or evaded.

Abortion

Trump hailed the Supreme Court overruling Roe v. Wade a "great victory," taking credit because he nominated three of the conservative justices who voted to do so.

When it comes to what's next, though, Trump was evasive.

MORE: CNN faces backlash over chaotic Trump town hall event

"President Trump is going to make a determination what he thinks is great for the country and what is fair for the country," Trump said when Collins pressed him on his position on some kind of national ban.

"I'm looking at a solution that's going to work."

Of last year's Supreme Court ruling, Trump said, "You know that they wanted to bring it back to the states but that was probably the least important part of that victory," but he didn't explicitly say that's what he'd support over federal legislation.

PHOTO: Reporters watch a CNN town hall with former President and 2024 Presidential hopeful Donald Trump at St. Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire, on May 10, 2023. (Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images)

MORE: Trump denies knowing E. Jean Carroll during CNN town hall: 'I swear on my children'

The comments served as a microcosm for the GOP's broader struggles with abortion after Democratic fury over last year's Supreme Court decision helped turn what was supposed to be a red wave midterm election into one that saw Democrats expand their Senate majority and minimize their House losses.

Trump has struggled to find his footing on the issue, sparking backlash from typically supportive evangelical and anti-abortion groups after blaming Republicans' underwhelming midterm results on candidates who supported stringent restrictions on the procedure.

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The former president met last week with Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, a powerful anti-abortion advocacy group in the U.S., after which Marjorie Dannenfelser, the group's president, called the meeting "terrific."

Debt ceiling

Trump made waves with his comments on the debt ceiling, seeming to put a historic and potentially calamitous default firmly on the table if Republicans don't succeed in pushing for spending cuts.

"I say to the Republicans out there -- congressmen, senators -- if they dont give you massive cuts, you're going to have to do a default," he said.

The remarks come as Republicans and Democrats negotiate over how to lift the limit on how much the government can borrow to pay its existing obligations.

Republicans are saying they'd only vote for an increase if President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats agree to significant spending cuts, while Democrats say a clean debt ceiling increase should pass Congress, warning the threat of default is too great to be negotiated over.

The talks were jumpstarted after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the government could run out of money to pay its expenses as early as June 1.

Trump, when pressed, doubled down on saying he would endorse default if negotiations reach a stalemate.

"We might as well do it now because you'll do it later," he said.

Ukraine

Trump claimed he would be able to bring a halt to the fighting in Ukraine but declined to come down firmly on Kyiv's side in the fight against Russia's invasion.

He boasted that if he were president, he could end the war in 24 hours but did not detail what he wanted an end to look like, dodging on whether he wanted Ukraine or Russia to win.

"I don't think in terms of winning and losing," he said. "I think in terms of getting it settled so we stop killing all these people."

The comments followed Trump's trend of being softer on Russia than many other Republicans.

During his administration, he said he believed Russian President Vladimir Putin's assertion that Moscow didn't interfere in the 2016 election -- a stance at odds with the CIA's own findings. And Wednesday, he declined to call Putin a war criminal over the invasion of Ukraine, which has seen hundreds of civilians killed, including many children.

"If you say hes a war criminal, it will be a lot tougher to get a deal to get this thing stopped," he said.

A possible return of family separations at the border

Trump sparked international backlash when he instituted a policy in 2018 that separated families at the border, ultimately rescinding the rule amid the outcry.

MORE: As Trump-era immigration policy ends, Biden struggles with migrant crisis: ANALYSIS

But on Wednesday, Trump admitted during the town hall that while the policy "sounds harsh," he wouldn't take it off the table.

"Well, when you have that policy, people don't come," he said. "If a family hears that they're going to be separated, they love their family, they don't come."

Pardons for insurrectionists

Trump, who is accused of trying to overturn the 2020 election, repeated false claims that the voting was marred by widespread fraud, but he broke new ground on how he'd handle those convicted and imprisoned over taking part in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.

"I am inclined to pardon many of them," Trump told Collins. "I can't say for every single one because a couple of them, probably, they got out of control."

Trump did not delineate what charge or activity would be considered too severe to not qualify for a pardon, though the comments mark the first time that Trump has said he would consider freeing the lion's share of the over 900 people who have been criminally charged over their involvement in or planning of the riot.

5 policy areas where Trump broke ground -- or evaded -- in CNN town hall originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Botox is one of the most popular cosmetic procedures to reduce fine lines and wrinkles.

But it can be expensive and come with side effects like bruising or headaches.

A dermatologist suggests trying other anti-aging products before dropping thousands on botox.

On "Sex and the City," Samantha Jones made it clear there was something she trusted much more than marriage. "Now, Botoxthat works every time," she famously quipped.

She's not the only one who feels that way: Botox has seen a major boom in popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic, and its ubiquity doesn't appear to be dying down.

When properly injected, neurotoxins like Botox and its cousin, Dysport, are "one of the best tools in our toolbelt to treat the appearance of aging skin," Dr. Joshua Zeichner, the director of cosmetic and clinical research at Mount Sinai Hospital's Department of Dermatology in New York City, told Insider.

Botox is usually used to treat lines on the forehead and around the eyes, while Dysport is only approved for use on vertical "frown lines" between the eyebrows. By preventing facial muscles from contracting, both substances help creases fill out on their own.

Of course, there are some setbacks to getting these popular cosmetic treatments. Zeichner said they're not recommended for people with neurological conditions that affect the nerves and the muscles, like myasthenia gravis. He also said it's not a pain-free experience, and some people have headaches or bruising for up to two weeks after injection.

Then there's the money: Cosmetic Botox isn't covered by insurance, and prices averaged at around $466 per session in 2020. Most clients typically have to return every 3-6 months to keep seeing results, which could cost up to $2,000 a year.

So, what can you do if you want to reduce wrinkles, but don't want to drop that much cash? Zeichner said that while anti-aging creams can't offer immediate results the way Botox can, when used long-term they can help reduce wrinkles at a much lower cost.

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Try skincare products with retinol, glycolic acid, or peptides

Zeichner recommended using anti-aging creams with ingredients like retinol, glycolic acid, and peptides to help stimulate collagen, thicken the skin and improve the appearance of fine lines. "They can also help the skin resist wrinkling in the future," he said.

His favorite products include:

RoC Derm Correxion Fill + Treat Serum ($39), which he said "combines stabilized retinol with hyaluronic acid to plump the skin and treat wrinkles at the same time."

Drunk Elephant T.L.C. Framboos Glycolic Resurfacing Night Serum ($134), which "contains a blend of hydroxy acids to exfoliate and brighten the skin while improving the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles."

Olay Regenerist Micro-Sculpting Cream Moisturizer ($27.50), a night cream that includes "a peptide to strengthen the skin and improve wrinkling, while maintaining skin hydration and barrier function," he said.

Zeichner also said that if you feel like you aren't seeing results with an over-the-counter retinol, you can talk to a dermatologist about prescription versions. He recommended Altreno, a prescription retinol lotion in a "non-irritating" formula. While it's intended to treat acne, he said its active ingredient, tretinoin, is a retinoid known for its anti-aging benefits.

Don't forget to use sunscreen every day for prevention

But ultimately, the most important part of an anti-aging routine is your sunscreen, Zeichner said. "Primary prevention of damage from UV is more effective than any other ingredient or treatment." That means investing in a high-quality sunscreen and reapplying every day, even if you're indoors.

He advised to look for a broad-spectrum sunscreen (which means it'll protect against both UVA and UVB rays) that's at least SPF 30. His favorite is Eucerin Age Defense SPF 50, which also protects against visible light and therefore offers extra wrinkle-reduction perks.

Read the original article on Insider
Citing wages long stuck near the poverty level, nearly 500 workers for an American Airlines ground services provider at Charlotte Douglas International Airport voted Thursday to unionize, labor union officials said Friday.

Charlottes airport is the second-largest American Airlines hub in the U.S. and one of the worlds busiest airports.

The vote to join the Service Employees International Union represented one of the largest union elections of airport workers in the Carolinas since 1997, SEIU officials said in a statement.

The workers are ramp agents, cabin cleaners, lavatory and water agents, high-lift truck drivers and pro shop employees at American Airlines ground services provider Jetstream Ground Services Inc.

Vehicle and equipment cleaners, including cabin cleaners, are the lowest paid airport jobs, with an annual median income of $25,030, union officials said. People of color hold 80% of those jobs, according to the union.

This is a victory not only for Charlottes airport service workers, but also for our families, communities and workers here in the South, Lashonda Barber, a high lift Truck driver at CLT, said in the union statement.

The union will bargain for better pay and benefits for the workers, SEIU officials said.

American Airlines didnt immediately respond to a request for comment from The Charlotte Observer.
After a seven-year mission that launched from Floridas Space Coast, NASAs asteroid sampling spacecraft is heading home.

The spacecraft is carrying a capsule that will help scientists investigate how planets formed and how life began in the solar system.

READ: Space start-up looks to open first commercial space station

NASAs Osiris Rex spacecraft will release a capsule about 215 grams of material collected from the near-Earth asteroid Bennu in September, concluding the seven-year mission that launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

NASA said the rocks and dust collected from Bennu will provide a window into a time when the sun and planets were forming about 4.5 billion years ago.

Watch: To boldly go: NASA reveals new spacesuits for planned Moon landing mission

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.
Ukrainian refugee Valentina Chukhno hugs her grandson, Zhan, as Chukhnos daughter and granddaughter hold hands in the foreground outside of an old Tesco store that is being used to house refugees in Przemysl, Poland, on April 21, 2022. Chukhnos other daughter, who is Zhans mother, is fighting in the war against Russia. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News

A record high number  71 million people  were reported internally displaced in 2022 because of war or natural disasters, according to a report published Thursday by the Norwegian Refugee Council.

The councils Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre counted the number of people who were displaced within their countrys borders, also called internally displaced people. The report does not account for refugees, or those who left their countries.

The report said events that pushed the total number of displaced people up 20% from 2021 included the war in Ukraine, natural disasters like weather phenomenon La Nina and ongoing effects from the global pandemic.

Related

Why so many?

The number of people displaced due to conflict and violence totaled more than 62 million, The Washington Post said, with 5.9 million people in Ukraine internally displaced because of the war against Russia.

The article said Syria had 6.8 million displaced people because of conflict there.

The report said the number of people displaced due to natural disasters was 8.7 million, up 45% from 2021, The Associated Press added.

La Nina, the weather phenomenon that causes drastic disturbances every few years, contributed to record levels of flood displacement in Pakistan, Nigeria and Brazil and to the worst drought on record in Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia, per The Associated Press.

Internal displacements, defined in the report as the number of forced movements of people within the borders of their country, was 28.3 million  three times higher in 2022 than the annual average from the last decade.

The report made a special note of Haiti, which contributed to about 106,000 internal displacements. This increase was five times higher than in 2021 and the highest figure ever recorded for the country.

The Washington Post said that 10 countries make up almost 75% of the worlds internationally displaced people, including Syria, Afghanistan, Ukraine, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Story continues

Related

The future

As for the year 2023, displacements are already starting to be recorded.

According to The Associated Press, The United Nations migration agency said this week that 700,000 people have already been internally displaced in a matter of weeks by the conflict in Sudan between the army and a rival paramilitary group.

Alexandra Bilak, the displacement monitoring centers director, told The Washington Post, Todays displacement crises are growing in scale, complexity and scope, adding that greater resources and further research are essential to help understand and better respond to (displaced peoples) needs.

The need for solutions to meet the challenges facing displaced people is increasing, Bilak said on the centers website, adding that, This spans the expansion of cash assistance and livelihood programmes that improve IDPs economic security, through to investments in risk reduction measures that strengthen their communities resilience.
Since the start of the full-scale war on 24 February 2022, 740 air-raid warnings have been issued in Kyiv. In total, the air-raid warnings lasted for 851 hours and 38 minutes.

Source: Ministry of Defence of Ukraine on 12 May

Details: However, in recent months, all missiles and drones over the capital have been shot down.

Quote: "For more than two months now, the guardians of Kyiv's skies have been working flawlessly  not a single missile or drone has reached its target."

More details: Earlier, the Ministry of Reintegration explained to fellow citizens how to recognise a kamikaze drone and how to act in the event of a drone attack.

And the National Police explained what children should do during an air-raid warning at school or on the street.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
An 8-year-old girl is recovering after being bitten by a venomous snake this week.

Wendy Fisher of Villa Rica said her daughter, 8-year-old Southerlyn, was bitten by a copperhead snake and rushed to the hospital for topical treatment.

Fisher did not say what led up to Southerlyn getting bit.

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Channel 2 Action News previously reported that as more people are going out to enjoy the warm weather, theyre more likely to encounter snakes, which are also more active this time of year.

After being bit, Fisher said Southerlyns leg began to well up and change the color of her foot.

Since being in the hospital, Southerlyn received antivenin for the bite. Fisher confirmed that Southerlyn was checked out of the hospital and is at home recovering.

Channel 2s Tom Regan previously reported that Copperhead venom is not as dangerous as venom from a rattlesnake.

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If you get bitten, its best to limit body movement to slow the spread of the venom, according to Thomas Floyd, a wildlife biologist with the Department of Natural Resources.

What should you do if you encounter a snake? The Georgia Department of Natural Resources gives the following advice:

Try to identify it from a distance. The DNRs website provides information on snakes of Georgia.

Give the snake space, and do not try to handle it. Most bites happen when a snake is cornered and defending itself.

If you believe a snake is venomous and in an area where it could be dangerous, contact a wildlife removal specialist. The DNR website has a list of resources.

This girl is a trooper and has so many people praying for her she will be back to her sassy self in no time, Fisher wrote on Facebook. We want to thank everyone that has reached out to check on her and that has been praying for her!

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IN OTHER NEWS:
The second Governor's Small Business Summit will Thursday at the Abilene Convention Center, his office announced Thursday.

Gov. Greg Abbott will not be here for the event, which is scheduled from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Gov. Greg Abbott gestures as he speaks during an event Feb. 7, 2022, at Great Lakes Cheese under construction in east Abilene. With Abbott were Adriana Cruz, director of the governor's Economic Development and Tourism office (left), Great Lakes Cheese Board Chair Heidi Eller, and Mayor Anthony Williams. The governor won't be in Abilene for next week's business gathering.

According to a media release, these summits "aim to help Texas small business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs reach new heights by connecting them with the resources and information needed to start, strengthen, and grow a business."

Said Abbott, Small businesses are the backbone of our Texas economy, and we are proud of the hardworking business owners who contribute so much to our communities and economic success as a state. Home to over 3.1 million small businesses, Texas continues to be the premier destination to start and grow a small business in the nation.

"We look forward to bringing the 2023 Governors Small Business Summit to Abilene as we build upon our legacy as a place where small businesses thrive and strengthen our position as the economic engine of America."

Abbott was in Abilene twice last years, first to celebrate the construction of Great Lakes Cheese, a processing and distribution center built near Abilene Regional Airport in east Abilene.

He returned in the fall during his campaign for re-election.

This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: Abbott's business conference now without the governor
US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin has said that Ukraine will receive Abrams tanks in early autumn.

Source: Austins statement at hearings in the US Senate, quoted by the Voice of America news outlet

Quote: "We are doing everything possible to accelerate the delivery of these tanks, and early fall is a projection.

We have moved several tanks to the training field for the Ukrainians to start training. By the time the exercise is over, the tanks will be available for use."

Details: Austin has stated that the timing of the Abrams tanks delivery is explained by the fact that the US military is not only sending them to Ukraine and training the Ukrainian military to use them but also creating the infrastructure that will support the operation of the tanks, which are new equipment for Ukrainians.

Quote: "This equipment is significantly different, in particular, due to the turbine engine and other rather complex systems. However, we are trying to transfer this equipment to Ukrainians as soon as possible. They will definitely have everything available by early autumn."

Background:

In January 2023, US President Joe Biden announced his intention to transfer M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine.

Initially, the US planned to send 31 newer M1A2 Abrams tanks to Ukraine, which could have taken a year or two to produce and deliver. However, in late March, Washington decided that Ukraine would receive an older version of the Abrams.

In April, Lloyd Austin confirmed that the Ukrainian soldiers would begin training in Germany with US-made M1 Abrams tanks.

The United States is removing some sensitive technology from Abrams tanks, which it plans to send to Ukraine, as it fears that it could fall into the hands of the Russian army on the battlefield.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and several immigration groups have filed a lawsuit challenging a new Biden administration rule that limits asylum, a policy finalized as part of the White Houses plan for responding to the border following the rescission of Title 42.

The lawsuit was filed shortly after midnight, just minutes after the rule went into effect.

The rule mimics a Trump-era policy by barring people who do not first apply and get denied in another country along their route to the U.S. from seeking asylum.

The Biden administrations new ban places vulnerable asylum seekers in grave danger and violates U.S. asylum laws. Weve been down this road before with Trump, said Katrina Eiland, managing attorney with the ACLU Immigrants Rights Project.

The asylum bans were cruel and illegal then, and nothing has changed now.

The ACLU previously successfully sued over the Trump administration policy, with a court striking down that administrations rule.

The Biden rule would have far-reaching consequences for asylum seekers in Latin America and across the globe.

It effectively blocks those who arent able to come directly to the U.S. to seek asylum, including those in Cuba and Venezuela where there are few direct flights.

And even those who can secure a direct path to the U.S. would have to gain a tough-to-secure tourism visa before their flight.

The Biden rule assumes those who do not first get denied for asylum elsewhere are ineligible for asylum  an assumption they can seek to challenge in immigration court, a higher bar for what is already a difficult protection to secure.

But the Biden administration argued the restrictions are justified, as they have paired the rule with a program that offers temporary entrance to the U.S. for Cubans, Venezuelans, Nicaraguans, and Haitians who can secure U.S.-based financial sponsors.

We believe that rule is well within our statutory authority. And we have tied it to an expansion, a historic expansion  of our lawful pathways for people to come directly to the United States at the end of the day, Blas Nunez-Neto, chief operating officer at U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said on a call Friday with reporters.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
U.S. border patrol agents process a group of 30 migrants who have been waiting to cross into the United States from Tijuana on May 11, 2023. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit in federal court in Northern California on Thursday aiming to block a Biden administration policy set to limit asylum for those who cross the border without authorization.

The policy, which is set to take effect late Thursday, limits asylum from migrants who cross through a third country on the way to the U.S. and do not seek protections on the way to the southern border.

The ACLU, along with the UC Hastings Center for Gender and Refugee Studies, and the National Immigrant Justice Center, wrote in the filing that the new policy was unlawful.

"After campaigning on a promise to restore our asylum system, the Biden Administration has instead doubled down on its predecessors cruel asylum restrictions," the lawsuit reads. "The agencies claim the Rule merely provides consequences for asylum seekers circumventing lawful pathways. But seeking asylum is a lawful pathway protected by our laws regardless of how one enters the country."

The Trump administration previously attempted to bar asylum for migrants who crossed into the U.S. without authorization and did not seek protections in another country on their journey, but the policy was blocked in federal court. The Supreme Court later stayed the order. The groups said the new policy resembles past Trump asylum bans.

"The Rule operates just as the Trump administrations prior asylum bans did: Asylum seekers subject to the Rule  all non-Mexicans  are categorically barred unless they satisfy one of the enumerated and limited conditions or exceptions," the lawsuit read. "Thats a simple ban with narrow exemptions, and it turns the asylum process on its head."

It is one of the main efforts the Biden administration has set up to handle the increase in migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border after the Thursday night expiration of Title 42, a policy implemented by the Trump administration at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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A DHS spokesperson said in a statement that the administration had "led the largest expansion of lawful pathways in decades."

"This rule seeks to incentivize migrants to use lawful pathways instead of taking the dangerous journey to unlawfully cross the southern border," the statement read. "This rule responds to the elevated encounters we are experiencing at the border and is critical to creating an orderly process to seek protection in the United States at a time when Congress refuses to reform our broken immigration laws or provide the necessary funds to hire sufficient asylum officers and immigration judges to process claims in a timely manner."

The Biden administration is also facing lawsuits from those on the right, including in Florida, where a federal judge blocked the Biden administration on Thursday from quickly releasing migrants from Border Patrol custody without court notices. The lawsuit was brought by the Florida attorney general's office.

In the lead-up to the end of Title 42, there has been an increase in migration at the southern border. On Tuesday, border agents apprehended more than 10,000 migrants, according to internal data obtained by The Times. U.S. Customs and Border Protection had more than 28,000 migrants in custody as of Wednesday, the data showed.

Attorneys for the federal government urged the court to not block the administrations recent effort to relieve facilities by releasing migrants without a court notice but directing them to check in with an Immigration and Customs Enforcement office. The memo, signed Wednesday by Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz, allowed officials to release migrants from their facilities if there were an average of 7,000 arrests a day over a three-day period along the border, or if facilities were over a certain level of capacity.

The government warned that without that power, or other efforts, there would be even higher levels of crowding in government custody.

At the current operational pace, and without any additional measures such as Parole with Conditions, USBP would have over 45,000 individuals in custody by the end of the month. Further, the [U.S. Department of Homeland Security] Chief Medical Officer has concluded that 'current conditions pose an increased risk of adverse health outcomes, the filing from the Department of Justice lawyers read.

Judge T. Kent Wetherell, who was appointed to the district court by former President Trump, issued the temporary restraining order. It will be in place for two weeks.

"This is a harmful ruling that will result in unsafe overcrowding at CBP facilities and undercut our ability to efficiently process and remove migrants, and risks creating dangerous conditions for Border Patrol agents and migrants," said a U.S. Customs and Border Protection statement released in response to the order.

The Biden administration is encouraging migrants to seek appointments at ports of entry to enter the U.S. and seek asylum, as well as to apply for a program that allows migrants from Cuba, Venezuela, Haiti and Nicaragua the chance to enter the country if they have a financial sponsor and can pass security checks.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
A lawsuit challenging new restrictions on political asylum and a temporary block by a federal judge in Florida on U.S. agents ability to release migrants at the border quickly created problems for the Biden administration Friday, the first day new immigration policies took effect after the end of the pandemic-era measure known as Title 42.

Anticipating the arrival of thousands of migrants that could overwhelm U.S. border officials, the Biden administration issued several new measures, including a rule that bans migrants from applying for asylum at the border if they did not first secure an appointment through a smartphone application called CBP One, or seek protection  and were rejected  by a country they had traveled through on their way to the U.S.

Following criticism of the restriction by immigration activists, international organizations and some Democratic lawmakers, the American Civil Liberties Union and other advocacy organizations sued the Biden administration late Thursday. The federal lawsuit claims that the new asylum rule mirrors two other Trump-era policies that courts have already struck down.

The Biden administration has insisted its new asylum policy is nothing like those introduced by former President Donald Trump.

The Biden administrations new ban places vulnerable asylum seekers in grave danger and violates U.S. asylum laws. Weve been down this road before with Trump, said Katrina Eiland, managing attorney with the ACLU Immigrants Rights Project. The asylum bans were cruel and illegal then, and nothing has changed now.

The groups challenging the rule  which include the ACLU of Northern California, the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies, and the National Immigrant Justice Center  argue that it conflicts with international and U.S. laws that grant migrants a chance to seek asylum whether they arrive at an official port of entry or cross the border, and mandate equal treatment of all refugees.

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The rule is unlawful in numerous ways, the complaint said. The federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, based in California, has already held that the rules main requirements are illegal. The government cannot force asylum seekers to enter at ports. And the government cannot force asylum seekers to apply for asylum in transit countries, the document adds, citing precedent from previous rulings blocking similar bans implemented by the Trump administration.

Migrants cross the Rio Grande to the U.S. side, from Matamoros, Mexico, Thursday, May 11, 2023. Migrants rushed across the Mexico border Thursday in hopes of entering the U.S. in the final hours before pandemic-related asylum restrictions are lifted. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

On Friday, activists in a delegation led by the Haitian Bridge Alliance that visited the border said they had spent two days talking to asylum seekers who had traveled through multiple countries and were now sleeping in makeshift camps with no bathrooms. Many were desperate and confused about the new measures .

The Biden administration, they said, is violating the rights of migrants.

Not long ago, Biden promised to reassert Americas commitment to asylum seekers and uphold their legal right to seek asylum. Well, he has done exactly the opposite with this asylum ban, said Kica Matos, a representative of the National Immigration Law Center. The administration has made a deliberate choice to severely limit access to our countrys asylum system, doubling down and building on harmful Trump policies that go against the core of what our American values are.

Biden administration officials have defended the rule, arguing that it allows people an opportunity to seek asylum while imposing a higher burden on those who try to do so illegally. They added the administration is tying the new restriction to expanded legal immigration programs.

People who do not use available lawful pathways to enter the U.S. now face tougher consequences, including a minimum five-year ban on re-entry and potential criminal prosecution, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Friday.

But the complaint argues that seeking asylum is a lawful pathway protected by our laws regardless of how one enters the country.

As the new rules began taking effect Friday, Homeland Security officials remained adamant that migrants who show up at the U.S.-Mexico border without pre-authorization will be presumed to be ineligible for asylum.

We believe that rule is well within our statutory authority, Acting Assistant Secretary for Border and Immigration Policy Blas Nunez-Neto said.

Nunez-Neto said that over the past decades, Republican and Democratic presidents have tried to deal with migration surges using executive action, and President Biden is no different.

We have been very innovative in trying to address the challenges we faced using our executive authorities, he said, pointing to the recently enacted parole program for nationals of Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, which he said has been very effective in reducing encounters and flows throughout the region for nationals from those countries.

That parole program is also being challenged in the courts by some 20 Republican governors representing border states such as Florida and Texas.

It is unfortunate that one of the states that have benefited from this enforcement process, Texas, has been leading the litigation against it for what we believe is purely political reasons, Nunez-Neto said.

Efforts to quickly release migrants to avoid overcrowding border detention facilities might also get more complicated as a result of Thursdays ruling by a Florida judge. The judge blocked the administrations ability to use its parole power to release migrants until their immigration proceedings are finalized.

Nunez-Neto hinted that the administration would fight the ruling.

A migrant gestures to Texas National Guards standing behind razor wire on the bank of the Rio Grande river, seen from Matamoros, Mexico, Thursday, May 11, 2023. Pandemic-related U.S. asylum restrictions, known as Title 42, are to expire May 11. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

We are concerned about the impact of the Florida litigation on our processing of individuals at the border, and specifically our ability to process people, he said, noting that migrants are vetted, and those with criminal records do not get released. The Department of Justice is closely reviewing that decision. And I think you will see additional steps in that litigation very soon.

DHS has said there are currently 24,000 Border Patrol agents and officers at the U.S.-Mexico border and that the agency is reinforcing staffing with contractors and members of the military.

In addition, Immigration and Customs Enforcement will be adding thousands of beds for detained migrants to their detention system in the coming days. ICE said the elimination of COVID protocols eliminates the requirements that the agency officials perform COVID tests on all detainees at intake, transfer or release, allowing for much faster processing of detained migrants.

While U.S. officials continue to encounter high levels of non-citizens at the border, Nunez-Neto said, agents did not see a substantial increase in migrants overnight after Title 42 ended at 11:59 p.m. Thursday.

Advocates during Fridays press conference also reiterated that they did not see anyone storming the border and accused politicians and anti-immigrant activists of spreading false narratives and rhetoric that was creating fear among migrants.

During visits to Mexican encampments in the border towns of Reynosa and Matamoros, advocates said they saw migrants living in overpopulated, under-resourced settlements and shelters. They heard accounts from migrants about how they had faced atrocities such as kidnappings while they were en route toward the U.S. border. And they heard about the technical problems migrants continue encountering while trying to use the CBP One application.

Some migrants had been struggling for months to get an appointment using the smartphone app, while Black migrants complained about receiving error messages after the app failed to recognize their darker complexion, several advocates said.

Maribel Hernandez Rivera, a deputy national political diirector of the ACLU, recalled a mother telling her through tears how she could not afford a smartphone or internet access.

Asylum is not something you schedule when you are fleeing for your life, Rivera said.
Adidas has made a decision regarding one part of the turmoil that came with severing ties with Kanye West.

According to BBC, the company has decided to sell some of the remaining merchandise from the rappers Yeezy line instead of donating it as they fear it could reach the market indirectly due to resellers.

Adidas' Next Move

What we are trying to do now over time is to sell some of this merchandise burning the goods would not be a solution, Adidas CEO Bjoern Gulden said.

Cutting Ties With Kanye West

As previously reported by AfroTech, Adidas admits that it has been a bumpy year following its choice to end its relationship with West in response to his antisemitic remarks.

Adidas does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech, the company said in a statement at the time. Yes recent comments and actions have been unacceptable, hateful, and dangerous, and they violate the companys values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect, and fairness.

As a result of the decision, the German sportswear company shared the move is hurting its business and disclosed that North American sales were down 20% as a result.

Looking Ahead To The Future

Now, Adidas is prepared to let go of the Yeezy shoes that it currently has sitting in storage, BBC reports. The outlet revealed the amount of merchandise the brand aims to get rid of is worth an estimated $1.3 billion.

Despite its decision to sell the footwear, West could still have the potential to profit from the sales under the terms of their previous partnership.

Whats more, Adidas is also fighting against investors who have brought a lawsuit against the company with claims that Adidas knew about Wests problematic behavior years prior to the end of their contract.

Given the recent news, it seems the company is focusing on solving one problem at a time.

Meanwhile, BBC reports Adidas will donate some of the proceeds from the Yeezy merchandise sales to charity.
A retired rear admiral with the U.S. Maritime Administration gave what Rep. Brian Babin, R-Texas, described as an "insufficient" answer to his question about a U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA) official's controversial tweet about White males.

During a hearing Thursday before the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure about the shortage of U.S. mariners, Babin grilled Rear Adm. Ann Phillips (ret.) about a June 2020 tweet from Anton Tripolskii, who was hired at the Kings Point, New York, academy last year as its $142,595-per-year sexual assault response director.

"We dont have forces who do right by survivors of intimate partner and sexual violence because we dont have forces who dont abuse Brown and Black people," Tripolskii wrote in the tweet. "Same forces, same reasons. Misogyny and racism grow from the same white, male root."

Tripolskii also retweeted a user in October 2020 who suggested that "White men with a history of domestic and sexual violence" are more inclined to become "radicalized terrorists."

Tripolskii's Twitter activity prompted a scathing letter from four members of the U.S. House's Anti-Woke Caucus to USMMA Superintendent Vice Adm. Joanna Nunan earlier this week.

US MERCHANT MARINE ACADEMY OFFICIAL UNDER FIRE FOR TWEET ON WHITE, MALE ROOTS OF RACISM, MISOGYNY

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

"He has made it clear that he believes that White males  the same White males that make up the majority of the U.S. Merchant Marine  are to blame for sexual violence in the United States," said Babin, who was one of the members of Congress who signed the letter to Nunan. "In fact, Mr. Tripolskii, who is White and male, has made these kinds of comments repeatedly."

Noting how the USMMA should have been aware of his Twitter activity before hiring him, Babin asked Phillips if she agrees with Tripolskii that misogyny and racism "grow from the same white, male root."

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Phillips acknowledged the USMMA's receipt of the letter from the Anti-Woke Caucus, but she noted that Tripolskii's tweet was "several years old" and that she and Nunan "are looking towards the future" by "building an environment of value that includes inclusiveness" and values people's participation based on their professionalism and skill.

MIDSHIPMEN WARN LEFT-WING POLITICS ARE INFILTRATING MERCHANT MARINE ACADEMY: LAST FRONTIER OF WOKE IDEOLOGY

Babin cut in to say he did not understand her answer and reiterated his question by asking if Phillips believes Tripolskii's statement about White males is true.

"Well, sir, his statements were made a number of years ago, and I have no indication that they apply to his current position," Phillips said. "And again, I have spoken with Vice Adm. Nunan, we are moving forward with a future and collective future for the academy that values everyone, including White men, for their professionalism and skill and ensures that we have a team to move forward."

"I understand what you're saying, and you're kind of dodging," Babin said, going on to express concern about worsening recruitment shortfalls "throughout the services" and at the USMMA especially.

Sailors from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy are shown during the national anthem before the Arizona Diamondbacks-New York Mets game at Citi Field on Aug. 23, 2017, in New York City.

"The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy needs experienced leaders training our merchant mariners, not some social justice warrior who's laser-focused on DEI ideology, expanding abortion or accusing individuals of inherent racism based purely on their skin color  which is illegal, by the way, since 1965," Babin said, adding that he found Phillips' answer "insufficient."

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The controversy over Tripolskii's views comes months after midshipmen currently enrolled at the USMMA told Fox News Digital on condition of anonymity that the academy under the authority of Nunan and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has become increasingly "woke."
Several grassroot organizations that advocate for service members with housing problems have received far-reaching subpoenas of their records, and theyre worried it could have a chilling effect, discouraging military families from asking for help.

The housing advocates say two privatized housing companies that have been sued by military families  Balfour Beatty Communities and The Michaels Organization  are trying to force them to turn over most if not all communications regarding their housing issues, whether or not they are involved in the lawsuits.

The subpoenas appear designed to harass [housing advocates], to drain their resources and to distract from their core mission of protecting military families from abusive landlords, the nonprofit Armed Forces Housing Advocates stated in an April news release.

Dozens of military families are suing various privatized housing companies around the country over allegations of mold, cockroaches, sewer backups and other problems. Those include several lawsuits against Balfour and Michaels. But none of the advocacy groups are parties to the suits.

Over the past several weeks, as part of the discovery process, lawyers for the two companies issued subpoenas to National Military Housing Advocates, Armed Forces Housing Advocates and independent advocate Sarah Kline, who was previously affiliated with Armed Forces Housing Advocates.

Such subpoenas are unusual for nonprofits that arent part of a lawsuit, unless its a very large case, said John Hughes, an attorney representing some of the military families suing Fort Belvoir Residential Communities and Michaels Management Services.

Representatives of Balfour and Michaels say the subpoenas are more narrowly tailored than the advocates claim.

The subpoena does not seek confidential information about any residents not involved in the lawsuit, and the accusations to the contrary are false, Michaels officials said in a statement provided to Military Times.

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Balfour Beatty Communities owns and operates family housing on 55 Army, Navy and Air Force installations. The subpoenas issued to Armed Forces Housing Advocates and to Kline relate to lawsuits filed by families at Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma; and Lackland Air Force Base, Fort Bliss and Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas.

The company argues that during the discovery process, plaintiffs testified that [Armed Forces Housing Advocates] has relevant information related to their claims.

As is customary in litigation, a subpoena was issued requiring AFHA to share that information, Balfour Beatty officials said in a statement to Military Times. AFHAs lawyer has not objected to the scope of the subpoena or said that a response would be unduly burdensome.

The Michaels Organization, which owns and operates 11 military privatized housing communities, is the parent company of Fort Belvoir Residential Communities and Michaels Management Services, which are named in the Fort Belvoir lawsuit.

During the discovery process, several plaintiffs testified under oath that a group called the National Military Housing Advocates has information relevant to the lawsuit and to their personal claims, Michaels officials said.

Separately, the NMHA has filed at least one [Freedom of Information Act] request with the Army seeking documents relating to the lawsuit at Belvoir. Both of the individuals who filed that FOIA request on behalf of NMHA are plaintiffs in the case.

So, it is apparent that the plaintiffs, not the defendants, have involved NMHA in the lawsuit Michaels officials said.

But the advocates insist company lawyers are asking for communications not just with families who are suing them, but any military families who have communicated with them about the companies.

The subpoenas include nearly identical descriptions of what the companies are seeking, with a list of nearly 100 items, including calendars, lists of people attending meetings, all forms of notes, medical records or reports, test readings, photographs, email, reports of telephone conversations and many more items.

Raven Roman, executive director of National Military Housing Advocates, formerly known as Belvoir Housing Advocacy Group, worries that general descriptions such as any communications related to claims of mold or excessive moisture would apply to any military family raising questions about housing at any installation, including those not owned by the two companies.

While Roman is personally involved in suing Fort Belvoir Residential Communities LLC and Michaels Management Services, the nonprofit advocacy group is not, she said.

AFHA does not engage in any type of lawsuit or refer people to attorneys, and we try to work with the process thats in place with the Military Housing Privatization Initiative because we want to avoid this exact problem, said Kate Needham-Cano, executive director of Armed Forces Housing Advocates

However, asking for the breadth of information regarding an entire company across the entire United States has nothing to do with those particular lawsuits, and thats where it feels compromising  and thats where it feels abusive to us as an organization, Needham-Cano said. We will use every resource available to us to lawfully participate and protect the families to the best of our ability.

Families have a right to know the housing company is trying to pursue information that they dont have a right to, Roman said. Our main priority is to let families know what our stance is, and to let them know that we intend to oppose providing any information that might put them at risk, their communication with us.

Both of the nonprofits are run by volunteers with limited resources. Armed Forces Housing Advocates was served with five subpoenas, Needham-Cano said, forcing them to choose between curtailing their services and grants to families for things like mold tests, food grants, window guards and reasonable accommodations, or paying for a lawyer to protect the families information. Luckily, theyve had a small amount of money to be able to hire an attorney.

Roman said National Military Housing Advocates has been able to seek pro bono legal advice.

The issue could also have even broader effects, said Kelly Hruska, government relations director for the National Military Family Association. Im afraid the effects will be chilling on housing advocacy for military families and that it might spill over into other issues, she said.
Refugee Services of Texas, which has resettled far more refugees than it expected in the past 18 months, is facing an emergency budget shortfall and must close its Fort Worth and Houston offices.

The nonprofit, founded in 1978, is one of the leading agencies for resettling refugees and assisting human trafficking victims.

Refugee Services of Texas said it is cutting its workforce by 45% and could furlough some remaining employees. The nonprofit will reduce its workforce from 241 employees to 134 by June 30, according to a news release.

The agency said it will pause new refugee arrivals for 120 days while it reorganizes. It is trying to raise $4 million by June 1.

Chris Kelley, a spokesperson for Refugee Services of Texas, said several unpredictable global crises put an unexpected strain on the nonprofit, including the war in Ukraine and the emergency evacuation from Afghanistan.

We are asking the public for help during this critical time, Kelley said. We dont have deep pockets.

Refugee Services of Texas receives some government funding, but must rely on individual donations. Another factor is less money is coming from the tech sector of the economy, he said.

The agency assists people overseas who have gotten permission from the U.S. government to travel to the country as refugees.

Once they arrive, they have six months to become self-sufficient, he said.

This means finding a job and enrolling their children in school.

When they arrive, refugees are given green cards, and they can also get a Social Security card, meaning they can find employment, he said.

Texas is also one of the top three states serving refugees because of its strong job market, good schools districts and welcoming atmosphere, Kelley said.

Texas has resettled 10,594 refugees from Afghanistan, more than any other state, the agency said. Refugee Services of Texas, the states largest resettlement agency, resettled 2,720 Afghan refugees through the Afghan Placement and Assistance program and 1,014 from other countries during the same time period, the agency said.

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In the past 18 months, Refugee Services of Texas has resettled over 4,700 refugees, which far exceeded expectations, according to a news release.

The agency used its reserves to help the increasing number of refugees.

To donate, visit RSTs website.
Since the emergence of ChatGPT, chatbots have consistently stayed in the limelight of news publications. Every day we encounter new and innovative ways to utilize these technologies. An increasing number of companies are actively implementing artificial intelligence in their work processes, raising serious questions about the future of many industries.

Education is one of the areas that ChatGPT has most significantly impacted. Teachers and educational institutions worldwide have yet to reach a consensus regarding the use of this tool. Some wish to completely ban the use of artificial intelligence in the educational process, arguing that it undermines academic integrity. They believe that students should complete all assignments independently to fully immerse themselves in the learning process and develop the necessary skills.

However, other teachers welcome the use of chatbots for writing texts. They see it as an opportunity to automate routine tasks and focus on more profound learning. They argue that AI can be a useful tool that will help students better understand and absorb the material.

There are many questions that we cannot yet answer. Will essay writing as assignment even exist in the future? Can AI essay writers fully replace humans in writing academic texts?

What is an AI Essay Writer?

Despite its impressive power and flexibility, ChatGPT is not a flawless tool for creating academic texts. It lacks built-in features for properly inserting references and formatting text in accordance with academic standards.

However, this issue has created an opportunity for many companies. Using ChatGPT as a foundation, they have developed new tools that, in addition to generating essays, can also accurately insert references and format texts according to academic requirements.

These tools are known as AI essay writers, and students are turning to them to outsource their essay writing.

Strengths and Weaknesses of AI Essay Writers

To answer the question of whether an AI Essay Writer can replace a human writer, we have analyzed all the popular AI writing tools currently available.

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We want to emphasize right away that none of the essays we generated passed the AI detection check by Turnitin. Such essays should not be submitted to your college or school under any circumstances. If you still need an original essay written by a human writer, its better to turn to the professionals at Write My Essays. They will write a superb, plagiarism-free essay for you, adhering to all your instructions.

Pros of AI Writing Tools

Lets begin with the good parts of using AI Essay Writers to write your paper.

1. Speed

One of the great advantages of using AI essay writers is their remarkable speed. They can generate a sufficiently voluminous essay in just a few seconds, making them an ideal tool for students working under time constraints.

2. Plausible Research

Almost all of the works we received contained elements of research. Thanks to the use of the ChatGPT-4 technology, these research elements appear very plausible and informative, adding extra value to the papers.

3. Convenience

Most essay generators proved to be quite convenient to use. Theres no need to compose complex prompts - just specify the essay topic and the instructors guidelines. Some tools even offer the possibility to upload documents, simplifying the process further.

4. Prices

The cost of using essay generators is very affordable. On average, a monthly subscription costs only $5, making these tools accessible for most students.

Cons Of AI Writing Tools

Now, coming to the cons of AI Essay Writers.

1. Plagiarism

All essays generated by these tools failed our plagiarism checks with Turnitin. This issue is a substantial concern for students and academics who need original content for their assignments and research papers.

2. Formatting

Although AI Essay Writers have significantly improved their ability to insert references, we found inaccuracies in almost every generated paper. Sometimes, references were inserted incorrectly or placed in the wrong sections, affecting the overall quality and credibility of the work.

3. Lack of Creativity

Another downside of the generated essays is their monotony. The essays tend to follow a similar structure and style, which may not suit every topic or meet the unique requirements of different assignments.

4. Outdated Database

We were unable to generate any essays on current events such as the war in Ukraine. This limitation restrict the tools usefulness in addressing contemporary topics or recent developments.

In conclusion, while AI essay writers can indeed produce texts that could be used as a basis for your own essay writing, they cannot fully replace a human writer. Issues with plagiarism, formatting, and a lack of creativity are key drawbacks that limit their applicability.

Additionally, we see little value in purchasing a subscription to any of these services, as they do not fully overcome the limitations of ChatGPT. If you need help with ideas or structure, its more beneficial to use ChatGPT directly, but when it comes to academic writing that requires originality and strict formatting, its best to rely on human writers or professional writing services.

McClatchy newsroom and editorial staff were not involved in the creation of this content.
Troops, veterans and family members experiencing suicidal thoughts can call the 24-hour Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-8255, texting 838255 or visiting VeteransCrisisLine.net.

The Air National Guard is considering cutting its corps of enlisted mental health specialists, but a final decision is still in the works, a spokesperson told Air Force Times.

Care for our airmen and their mental health is very important to the Air National Guard, ANG spokesperson Lt. Col. Amber Schatz said in an email Monday.

She declined to answer questions about why the Guard is considering the move and when it may happen.

Around 1,000 enlisted airmen work in the mental health services field, known by the code 4C0, across the active duty Air Force and its reserve components, according to the Air Force Associations 2022 almanac. Schatz did not answer how many are part of the Air National Guard.

Mental health technicians are specialized medics who can help triage patients who seek treatment from their medical group for behavioral health issues like anxiety, depression and addiction.

Downsizing that corps of specialists could save money and free up airmen for higher priority Air Force jobs. But one enlisted airman who spoke to Air Force Times argues that eliminating the field would remove an important resource for individual airmen and units overall.

If somebodys having an issue, they can come to us first, and we can  direct them to where they need to go, the airman said. A lot of people dont know how to locate a medical professional, and  theres a lot of misconceptions.

Techs can offer preliminary diagnoses before a patient sees a licensed health provider and determine whether a person may hurt themselves or others.

The airman recalled an instance when they assisted someone who arrived at the emergency room with suicidal thoughts. They created a list of steps to help the patient deescalate their feelings, including someone to call in a crisis, particularly in cases when a clinician isnt available.

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Their units also offer classes on stress management and coping skills, and can help prepare people for what to expect on deployments.

Command consultation is a big part of our job, where they say, Hey, weve been noticing  [an] uptick in drinking and things like that. And we can assess, OK, what do you guys need, or what might you guys benefit from? the airman added.

The Guard believes its not possible or worthwhile to train its mental health technicians to the same standard as their active duty counterparts, making them unable to deploy without a waiver, the airman said. Another reason: Guardsmen dont have the same alcohol and drug counseling certification as active duty airmen because of differences in the facilities where they work, they added.

The airman believes the considerations boil down to a lack of money and the will to fix those problems.

In technical school, the airmen learn to identify various emotional disorders and treatments before starting on-the-job training at a medical clinic. Thats where students begin to medically clear airmen for deployment, measure vital signs and understand the unique stressors of the local mission.

Distance learning could bridge that training gap without requiring part-time guardsmen to report to a military medical facility, the airman told Air Force Times. Technicians could also earn new certifications through their state instead.

Guard clinics dont fall under the same accreditation guidelines as active duty clinics, meaning they cant treat airmen in the same ways as active duty units, the airman added. That could be fixed by changing policies around the standards that Guard clinics must follow, they argued.

It isnt that were in the wild, wild west, and were just doing our own thing, they said. Its that we dont have to adhere to a lot of the policies because they dont apply to us.

On a personal level, the airman who spoke to Air Force Times worries the Guards decision will hurt peoples chances of promotion if they have to start over in another job. But those complaints have fallen on deaf ears, they said.

One option for replacing mental health technicians could be to hire more civilian directors of psychological health, the airman said. But the airman believes that having uniformed behavioral health specialists makes it easier to connect with service members who may be hesitant to open up.

At Creech Air Force Base, Nevada, the techs are part of support teams with top-secret clearances so they can meet with drone operators in secure work areas. That has helped boost access to care while alleviating airmens concerns about discussing their highly classified jobs.

When you have people that can speak to that experience of being deployed  we can [prevent] adverse outcomes by giving good preparation and skill-building, the airman said. Thats one of the biggest roles I think we can play.

The potential move also contradicts the recommendations of a recent Pentagon report on suicide prevention, which suggested that using those technicians more effectively could lessen the impact of a nationwide shortage of mental health care in the United States.

Seventy airmen died by suicide in 2021, according to the Pentagons most recent data. That jumped to 90 suspected suicides in 2022 as of Dec. 31.

The Suicide Prevention and Response Independent Review Committee recommended hiring more active duty technicians and training them in therapeutic techniques designed to change poor health habits.

It also suggested that behavioral health technicians be present when the military notifies a service member \they are under investigation, if the person is at particularly high risk of suicide.

Likewise, the report raised concerns that mental health technicians lack enough administrative support to focus on their clinical roles. Building up those offices could help the specialists spend more time with patients, the committee said.

The airman who spoke with Air Force Times hopes the Guard opts to bolster mental health technicians rather than cut their work short.

Were seeing people for their annual follow-ups if theyre on medication, [or] if theyre being seen by a counselor  in the civilian world, the airman said. Our goal is to do a lot more outreach to let everybody know were here.
A British passenger travelling on an American Airlines flight from Barbados to South Florida was arrested and charged with misdemeanour assault after allegedly becoming enraged over the standard of the flight crews service.

Robert David Croizats issues with the flight attendants on the plane began midway through the journey to Florida when he approached one of the flight attendants and said they should have addressed him in a better way when giving him the choices for his meal, reported The Daily Beast.

The hullabaloo on the flight in March drew the attention of a second flight attendant, who reported in a criminal complaint that Mr Croizat then demanded to speak to the captain about his issues with the service.

But Mr Croizats own issues would mount when he allegedly touched a third flight attendant and then pushed them twice.

The criminal complaint says that law enforcement has a video filmed by another passenger that shows Mr Croizat making contact with the flight attendant twice on the shoulder.

Mr Croizats belligerent and non-compliant behaviour then continued with him allegedly pinning the second flight attendant against a door after they told him to return to his seat.

During the initial confrontation with the flight attendants, Mr Croizat said hed had two drinks on the flight. When the plane landed in Miami, with Mr Croizat still reportedly complaining about his treatment, he was escorted off the plane by law enforcement.

Mr Croizat, who was en route to visit his son for five days, pleaded guilty to the assault charge on Wednesday.

A more serious felony charge of interference with a flight crew was dropped. Mr Croizats lawyer, Barry Wax, told The Daily Beastthat the governments account of his clients actions was exaggerated.

Nevertheless, the incident is indicative of a larger issue: the number of unruly passengers on planes in the US exploded in 2021, the year following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, and has stayed elevated above its pre-Covid levels since. There have already been more than 600 reports of unruly passengers so far this year.
By J. Keeler Johnson ("Keelerman") Twitter: @J_Keelerman

The 2023 Kentucky Derby (G1) is in the history books, which means it's time to turn our attention to the remainder of the Triple Crown series.

To that end, we'll spend this week analyzing the $200,000 Peter Pan S. (G3) at Belmont Park. The 1 1/8-mile contest for three-year-olds serves as a local steppingstone toward the Belmont S. (G1), the final leg of the Triple Crown. Recent Belmont winners who exited the Peter Pan (or an equivalent race) include Sir Winston (2019), Tonalist (2014), and Drosselmeyer (2010).

Nine horses have entered the 2023 Peter Pan, including five who have competed at the stakes level and three with experience in Road to the Kentucky Derby qualifiers. But I'm keen to back an up-and-comer; namely, the undefeated #9 Bishops Bay.

Conditioned by two-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Brad Cox, Bishops Bay impressed in his debut sprinting six furlongs at Fair Grounds. After tracking and pressing the early pace, Bishops Bay turned back a challenge from stablemate First Mission to prevail by three-quarters of a length, with the third-place runner another 5 1/4 lengths behind.

This performance was noteworthy on a couple of levels. Bishops Bay is a son of champion and successful sire Uncle Mo out of the Pioneerof the Nile mare Catch My Drift, winner of Saratoga's Summer Colony S. racing 1 1/8 miles. This is a pedigree geared top and bottom toward success running long, so the fact Bishops Bay showed enough speed to win sprinting on debut is significant.

Furthermore, Bishops Bay's performance has been flattered by First Mission's subsequent heroics. A dominant maiden winner in his second start, First Mission made his graded stakes debut in Keeneland's Lexington S. (G3) and battled to victory over a quality field that included Disarm, the recent fourth-place finisher in the Kentucky Derby.

Bishops Bay likewise returned to win, nabbing an $80,000 allowance claimer racing one mile and 70 yards at Fair Grounds. His victory was not without drama; Bishops Bay clipped heels badly on the first turn and was fortunate not to fall. After recovering to track a slow pace, Bishops Bay battled with unwavering tenacity down the homestretch to prevail by a neck over Demolition Duke, who returned to finish fifth (1 1/4 lengths behind Disarm) in the Lexington.

Bishops Bay took about three weeks off after his allowance score and shipped from Fair Grounds to Churchill Downs during that timeframe. He returned to serious training with a bullet half-mile workout in :47 on April 8 and has been on a steady work pattern ever since, capping off his Peter Pan preparations with a quick five furlongs in 1:00 last Saturday.

Any way you slice it, Bishops Bay is a compelling choice to win the Peter Pan. The field doesn't contain much speed on paper, so the Triple Crown nominee figures to receive a perfect trip tracking the pace under Florent Geroux, a 28% winner teaming up with Cox over the last two months per Brisnet stats. Considering the quality of competition Bishops Bay has already defeated, he looks ready to snatch victory in his stakes debut.

For the minor awards, #2 Slip Mahoney warrants respect. The stoutly bred son of Arrogate endured a rough trip in the Wood Memorial (G2) last month, getting smashed between rivals heading into the first turn before racing evenly to finish sixth. He'd previously unleashed a big rally after a slow start to finish second in the Gotham (G3).

Slip Mahoney has raced off the pace in his last two starts, but in the past he's shown tactical speed. Indeed, he raced up and on the pace in a pair of one-mile maiden special weights at Aqueduct during the winter, finishing second by a neck against future Blue Grass (G1) winner Tapit Trice before breaking his maiden by a head. If Slip Mahoney can return recapture his early speed, he's surely capable of snagging a top-three finish in the Peter Pan.

We'll also highlight #8 Henry Q, who obliterated the Mine That Bird Derby by 14 3/4 lengths before regressing to finish third in the Sunland Park Derby (G3) behind Wild On Ice, the third-place finisher from the Mine That Bird Derby. Henry Q ran below form in his graded stakes debut, but it's worth noting that he finished ahead of One in Vermillion, who returned to finish a decent fifth (beaten 4 1/2 lengths) in a fast renewal of the Santa Anita Derby (G1) before trouncing Santa Anita's Lazaro Barrera S. by 5 1/4 lengths.

To put it another way, Henry Q has shown flashes of talent against decent competition. He's turned in a sharp series of workouts since the Sunland Park Derby and has the speed to set the pace in the Peter Pan, so don't be surprised if Henry Q proves difficult to catch under internationally acclaimed jockey Frankie Dettori.

Now it's your turn! Who do you like in the Peter Pan?

*****

Want to test your handicapping skills against fellow Unlocking Winners readers? Check out the Unlocking Winners contest pagethere's a new challenge every week! (Please note: older contest entries can be found here.)

*****

Congratulations to Lady Ann for winning the 2023 Unlocking Winners Road to the Kentucky Derby Handicapping Challenge! Be sure to check out the final results. Thanks to all who played!



J. Keeler Johnson (also known as "Keelerman") is a writer, videographer, voice actor, handicapper, and all-around horse racing enthusiast. A great fan of racing history, he considers Dr. Fager to be the greatest racehorse ever produced in America, but counts Zenyatta as his all-time favorite.
As Stephanie Drenka celebrated Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month in a Dallas park, she was also feeling a bit anxious.

She looked around Sammons Park, which on May 6 was filled with traditional Asian dance performances and demonstrations. Drenka thought to herself that the event would make an easy target for someone looking to attack a large group of Asian American and Pacific Islander families.

On the same day, just a suburb away, a gunman parked his car outside a mall in Allen, pulled out an AR-15 and started to shoot into the crowd of shoppers.

Authorities have not officially determined a motive for Saturdays attack that killed eight people, but are examining it as a possible hate crime due to the gunmans neo-Nazi and racist content on social media as an indicator that he was targeting people of color.

The gunman made hate-filled posts about women, Jewish people and Black people and shared a picture of two tattoos he had, one of a swastika on the left side of his chest and one of the Nazi SS on his right upper arm.

Out of the eight people killed, four were of Asian descent. Among the seven people injured in the shooting are a 6-year-old Korean-American boy whose parents and brother were killed, and a man from India whose friend was killed. At least one injured victim is Black. At least four victims were Hispanic, as was the shooter. In one of gunman Mauricio Garcias social media posts, the Associated Press reported, he shared a meme of a Latino child at a fork in a road, with one direction labeled act black and the other become a white supremacist.

I think Ill take my chances with the white supremacist, the shooter wrote.

A screenshot from the social media site Odnoklassniki shows Mauricio Garcias tattoos, including a swastika. Police say Garcia shot 15 people, killing eight, at the Allen Premium Outlets mall on May 6, 2023.

Living in fear

Allen is about 20% Asian American or Pacific Islander, and Collin County has one of the fastest-growing Asian-American populations in Texas. The Allen Premium Outlets mall that the gunman targeted attracts a large number of shoppers who are Asian American or Pacific Islander, the Texas Tribune reported.

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It is especially alarming to find that the gunman had posted pictures of handwritten diary pages targeting Asian men and women, the Ka:ll Community Dinner Church, an AAPI community group in Dallas, said in a statement about the shooting. Out of the eight people who were killed, four were of Asian descent, and it was not by accident.

To Drenka, who is the co-founder and executive director of the Dallas Asian American Historical Society, the shooting was an example of increasing hate crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

Weve been living in fear, I would say for several years now, she said. And that is continually being compounded by further acts of violence.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders especially have increasingly been the target of discrimination and hate crimes, according to the FBI. As the pandemic hit the U.S., people of Asian descent became a scapegoat for COVID-19, and some national leaders pushed anti-Asian rhetoric.

Because we are outsiders and easy to target for that scapegoating, Drenka said. When you layer on the neo-Nazism, its a perfect storm for racial violence.

A social media post shows Mauricio Garcia scouted the Allen, Texas, mall to see when it was busiest while planning his mass shooting.

History of violence

North Texas itself is no stranger to racial violence. In 1921, a Fort Worth mob lynched Fred Rouse in the only documented lynching of a Black person in the citys history. In the 1920s, Dallas may have had the largest KKK chapter in the world. The large Asian-American population in Allen is in itself a result of racism in DFW, Drenka said, as many Asian-American communities and other people of color were pushed out of Dallas over the decades and found homes in the suburbs.

While dark, the racism in Texas history must be acknowledged, said Jerry Hawkins, the executive director of Dallas Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation. Ignoring the context creates an environment where these things are erased from our memory, he said.

And that is a dangerous, dangerous sentiment, Hawkins said. It creates the ability for people to create new narratives of being replaced by people of color.

More recently, in August 2019, Patrick Crusius, who coincidentally lived in Allen, drove to El Paso, where he shot and killed 23 people at a Walmart. He said in a social media post prior to the attack that it was a response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas.

Both Crusius and Mauricio Garcias social media posts centered around white nationalist views. Dallas-Fort Worth has increasingly become a hotbed for such extremism, according to data from the FBI and the Anti-Defamation League.

Patriot Front, a far-right group led by a Coppell native, was responsible for nearly 80% of all white supremacist propaganda in 2020, according to the ADL.

In a January 2020 Texas Department of Public Safety memo, the agency warned that White Racially Motivated terrorism attacks were the most violently active domestic terrorism type in the country. The memo specifically mentioned the El Paso shooting.

Of the more than 1,000 people charged in connection with the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, at least 28 are from North Texas, according to an analysis of FBI data. In the wake of the insurrection at the Capitol, the FBI Dallas Field Office warned North Texas law enforcement that the boogaloos, a far-right militia group, could expand in the Dallas-Fort Worth area due to the presence of existing anti-government or anti-authority violent extremists. In June 2022, of the 31 white nationalists arrested at a gay pride event in Idaho, seven were from North Texas.

You could go on and on with the existence of white nationalism here, and the threat that it poses to us domestically here, Hawkins said.

A photo uploaded to Mauricio Garcias social media account in April shows the vest with a Right Wing Death Squad patch that authorities say he was wearing when he shot 15 people on May 6, 2023, at the Allen Premium Outlets mall.

Demand for action

After the shooting, Drenka said she and others in communities of color are anxious about hosting other events.

Were seeing such a lack of response from law enforcement that we dont feel confident that other people who might share the ideologies of the shooter wouldnt try to do something similar, she said.

She hopes authorities will thoroughly investigate the motives of Garcia  who was killed by a police officer minutes after his attack began  and denounce his white supremacy. As crimes motivated by bias increase in Texas and the nation, political leaders and law enforcement should send an equally strong message back that such hate will not be tolerated, she said.

Hawkins encouraged people to educate themselves about the history of racism in Texas and for elected officials to create platforms of learning, togetherness and healing and also truth telling.

We have so much work to do when it comes to the work of racial equity, racial healing and racial justice, he said. And that is something that our community members ... our elected officials need to take very seriously.

In response to the shooting in Allen, the Stop AAPI Hate coalition said in a statement the tragedy was yet another reminder of the dangerous consequences of hate and bigotry.

The ongoing normalization and amplification of white supremacy and far-right extremism poses a growing threat to communities of all stripes across the nation, and inaction on this issue continues to destroy lives, the group said.
In the last few days, the country has learned a lot about Mauricio Garcia, the man who police say opened fire at a busy shopping mall in Allen, Texas, on Saturday, killing eight people and wounding 10 more.

Garcia, experts say, left behind a trove of social media posts that delve deep into his psyche. Ramblings, pontifications and pains are laid out in hundreds of handwritten pages that were photographed and placed on the Russian social media site Odnoklassniki (classmates) or Ok.Ru, by an account that apparently belonged to him. These pages appear to form a kind of diary.

Based on the posts attributed to him, a picture has become clear: Garcia had a deep and passionate interest in facets of far-right extremism, especially misogyny, white supremacy and anti-Semitism. Perhaps most starkly, Garcia posted photographs of his neo-Nazi tattoos  a large swastika on his chest, and the letters SS on his right arm. Law enforcement officials have since confirmed the shooter had tattoos and patches expressing a neo-Nazi ideation.

People visit a memorial near the scene of a mass shooting at the Allen Premium Outlets mall in Allen, Texas, May 9, 2023.

White supremacist groups in the United States are usually clear on supporting northern European white identity, and rejecting all others, including Latinos. So why would Garcia, who identified as Hispanic, follow a philosophy that would consider his own identity inferior?

While Garcias specific family history has not been publicly detailed, the reality is that strains of white supremacy run through many different cultures. White supremacist sects exist across Latin America, a reflection of the complex nature of whiteness in the Western Hemisphere.

But for Garcia, neo-Nazism may have held a more visceral allure: Its thirst for violence and conflict has long fueled mass shooters, regardless of their views on race.

And American history has seen rare cases of Brown- and even Black-skinned neo-Nazis, said Mark Pitcavage, a senior research fellow at the Anti-Defamation Leagues Center on Extremism.

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When you have a population of 330 million, the bell curve can produce some odd outliers from time to time, Pitcavage said. There are certainly indications of violence in the writings, and tons of indications of white supremacy, but also many indications of mental health issues.

What did the Allen shooter post?

USA TODAY reviewed hundreds of postings from the Odnoklassniki profile identified as Garcias. The profile included photographs of a plane ticket and a traffic citation in Garcias name, and a photo of a childhood identity card in the name Mauricio Garcia, with a date of birth matching that of the Allen shooter.

The postings, which were shared with USA TODAY by the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) and confirmed in analyses by the Anti-Defamation League, GPAHE and others, revealed a clearly disturbed poster who expressed hatred toward non-whites, particularly people of Arab or Asian descent.

The poster also spread anti-women ideas and quoted hateful comments from Andrew Anglin, the neo-Nazi who runs the web site the Daily Stormer.

Garcia also used phrases and imagery, such as Deus Vult and Crusader crosses, that are commonly used as anti-Muslim symbols, reads the ADLs Center on Extremism analysis of the shooters posts. One T-shirt Garcia purchased and wore featured a Crusader and the phrase I will see your Jihad and raise you a Crusade. Garcia even got a Deus Vult tattoo to match his neo-Nazi tattoos.

Garcia was also clearly steeped in the white supremacist media ecosystem.

According to a GPAHE analysis of his posts, in addition to the Daily Stormer, Garcia shared information from a eugenics advocate, a Holocaust denier and extremists who advocate for a race war. Many of the postings were obsessed with race, misogyny and anti-Semitism.

They match the beliefs of a long line of racist mass shooters in recent years, including a white man from Allen who killed 23 people at an El Paso Walmart in 2019; a white man who shot and killed 11 people at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh a few months later; a white man who shot and killed 10 people at a Buffalo supermarket last year.

With one notable difference: Garcia was of Hispanic heritage.

Complex history of white and Hispanic

In this file photo taken on August 6, 2019, a makeshift memorial for victims of the shooting that left a total of 22 people dead decorates the Cielo Vista Mall Walmart in El Paso, Texas.

Demographers consider Latino identity to be an ethnicity, and Census data identifies a majority of Hispanic Americans as white.

Particularly in the American Southwest, though, the mere concept of white is a thorny and complex issue, said Christina Sisk, an associate professor in the Department of Hispanic Studies at the University of Houston.

Much of the Southwest was colonized by people from Spain and Spanish Mexico, she said. And while many lighter-skinned people of Spanish descent long considered themselves white, the newly formed United States, with its power centers in the faraway Yankee northeast, designated people of Spanish origin as Hispanic, as opposed to white people who were of Northern European heritage.

It's fairly common not to think of Mexican Americans as white, although we do get the acceptance of some Latinos as white, Sisk said. The Southwest was settled by Spaniards, actually, and it gets very difficult to distinguish the colonizer and the colonized.

The very concept of whiteness is also far from constant across the world, said Tanya Kateri Hernandez, a law professor and author of Racial Innocence: Unmasking Latino Anti-Black Bias and the Struggle for Equality.

Latinos are a pan-ethnic grouping, within which we have great racial diversity, Hernandez said. In Latin America, people of white, Black, Native American and Asian descent may also consider themselves Hispanic.

There can also be strains of racial bias even within Hispanic groups, said Pedro Rios, a human rights advocate who directs the American Friends Service Committees U.S./Mexico Border Program. Rios described traditions of discrimination against Latinos with darker skin.

Within the larger Latino community, there are always people who might affiliate themselves with a whiteness and an identity, Rios said. And in that sense, they will espouse white supremacist ideology, because they negate their ancestral indigenous origins.

Whatever Garcias motivations, Hispanic racial tensions with Arab or Muslim cultures date to the Middle Ages.

But as far as American white-supremacist extremists are concerned, most do not consider anybody other than people descended from Northern Europeans as white, Pitcavage said.

On white supremacist forums, for example, Pitcavage said, people of Hispanic origin who post photos of themselves are largely spurned by other white supremacists, who maintain that their racist world cannot include anyone with a Latin last name or a single drop of non-northern European blood.

Garcia, himself, seems to have bought into this view. In a telling post from the online diary attributed to him, he recounts a conversation:

"This white guy came up to me when I was on assignment, I don't even know how it came up but he said 'Are you Hispanic?' I told him 'Yuck don't remind me  I'm Hispanic weather I like it or not." (sic)

When the obsession is Nazis, not race

In this April 28, 1999, file photo, a woman stands among 15 crosses posted on a hill above Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., in remembrance of the 15 people who died during a school shooting on April 20, 1999.

Garcia seems to have been obsessed with race. But racism isnt always what attracts people to neo-Nazism, Pitcavage said.

Recent history has several examples of mass shooters and other domestic terrorists who were drawn to the history of the Nazis and the modern neo-Nazi movement not necessarily because of race politics but because of what Hitler and the Nazis stood for in terms of death and destruction.

For people bent on causing harm, the Nazis hold a sort of fascination, Pitcavage said. A stark example is the shooters in the Columbine High School massacre in 1999  largely considered to be the first in the modern wave of senseless school shootings. The Columbine shooters, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, who murdered 12 students and one teacher, werent particularly interested in race politics  indeed, Klebolds mother was Jewish.

Nonetheless, the pair carried out their attack on April 20  Hitlers birthday.

People  including people who are non-white  can develop an interest or obsession in Nazis or white supremacist killers because they themselves have become obsessed with murder and death and mass killings in general, Pitcavage said. People have been arrested for committing or plotting some sort of mass shooting and when search warrants are executed, they find they've got all this material  pictures of Hitler or death camps or this or that. It's not that they're necessarily sympathetic to white supremacy, what fascinates them is the killing aspect.

This could be relevant in Garcias case, Pitcavage said, because despite the large volume of racist and misogynist posts in his social media archive, Garcia didnt leave behind any clear indication of his actual motive for Saturdays shooting.

Other racist shooters have specifically created documents laying out their grievances and their reasons for committing their atrocities. Garcia didnt do that. The posts attributed to him leave behind a confusing and troubled trail of racism and hate, without ever expressing a desire to commit a mass shooting, or what he hoped to achieve by doing so, Pitcavage said.

One motif Garcia apparently scribbled in the margins of much of his writing, and that he even got tattooed on his left upper arm, was the number 10/6, an apparent reference to the price tag on the hat worn by the Mad Hatter character in Lewis Carrols classic novel Alice in Wonderland.

The postings suggest that Garcia himself strongly suspects that he's a psychopath, Pitcavage said. So he gives just as many indications of mental demons as he does white supremacy or right-wing extremism.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Mauricio Garcia, shooter in Allen, Texas: Allure of neo-Nazi ideas
An alligator showed up outside a Publix grocery store in Pinellas Park, Florida, but thats not the strangest part of the story, according to police.

The officer responding to the area actually saw the alligator as it was walking down the sidewalk, and it was obeying all the traffic laws, Pinellas Park Lieutenant Roxanne Pohl told McClatchy News.

By the time my officer turned around to get back to the gator, it was in the parking lot of the Publix. ... We can only speculate that he was on his way to pick up a Pub Sub (sandwich).

It happened Thursday, May 11, at the Publix on Park Boulevard, and the alligator never made it into the store.

A passerby called 911 at 6:40 p.m. to report a 6-to-7 foot alligator in the area of 49th Street and Park Boulevard, which Pohl noted is a busy intersection

Police corralled the reptile and called the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission to oversee a safe capture and removal. The gator was clearly frustrated at not being able to go about its business, Pohl said.

It was ultimately relocated to a 30-acre lake in the area, she said, adding that the situation was absolutely funny.

The departments Facebook racked up hundreds of reactions and comments within hours, including some who called it Florida sketch comedy. Many talked about the chicken tender Pub Subs like they were a type of narcotic.

We were at IHop last night and saw him/her. First time I ever seen a gator just roaming the streets, Christine A. Burget wrote.

People who have never had a Pub Sub will not understand. People who have had a Pub Sub know that this gator will not be deterred and will soon return, Rob Peel posted.

I understand Mr. Gator. The smell of that fried chicken is intoxicating! Shari Simonin-Sharkey said.

Pinellas Park is about 20 miles southwest of downtown Tampa, along Floridas Gulf Coast.

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A pair of moderate earthquakes that shook Northern California on Thursday and Friday happened near a region known as the Almanor Fault Zone, marking the two strongest temblors in almost a decade for a part of the state where shaking are rare.

Both were centered beneath Lake Almanor in northwestern Plumas County. A 5.5 magnitude earthquake struck just before 4:20 p.m. Thursday, with a 5.2 magnitude aftershock following at around 3:20 a.m. Friday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

They were the two strongest earthquakes in that area since one of magnitude 5.7 hit the eastern shore of the lake on May 23, 2013.

The epicenter of Thursdays earthquake was about 3 miles below the surface of Lake Almanor.

Thats actually pretty close to the surface as far as earthquakes go, said Tim Dawson, manager of the California Geological Surveys seismic hazards program.

Roughly 50 aftershocks, most of them below magnitude 3, had been recorded as of Friday morning. Dawson said that is a typical amount.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or significant structural damage, though some businesses near the lake reported broken glass and items falling off of shelves. Shaking could be felt as far away as the Sacramento region.

What is the Almanor Fault Zone?

Both of the recent earthquakes struck near one of Californias lesser-known regions of tectonic activity, known as the Almanor Fault Zone.

Most faults are actually zones, at different scales, Dawson said. In some areas, like in northwestern California where this earthquake occurred, fault zones  its very broken up. Theres many, many individual faults within this area, and thats what makes it a fault zone rather than a single fault.

Dawson said the two recent earthquakes appeared to have come between the Almanor Fault Zone and one known as the Skinner Flat Fault. The latter is just south of the reservoir.

A map by the California Geological Survey shows faults near the Lake Almanor area in Plumas County, where a magnitude 5.5 earthquake struck Thursday, May 11, 2023, followed by a magnitude 5.2 aftershock early Friday, May 12, both with epicenters beneath the lake. Faults marked in purple have moved in the past 1.6 million years, in purple during the past 700,000 years and in orange during the past 11,700 years.

The Almanor Fault Zone contains both strike-slip faults, where the earth moves from side to side; and normal faults, where theres extension in the crust, so things are being pulled apart, he said.

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Thursday and Fridays temblors appeared to come along a hybrid of those two fault types, Dawson said, but in a part of the zone where there are more normal faults.

Dawson said California faults are considered to be active if they have experienced seismic movement within about the last 11,000 to 12,000 years. Some of the faults in the Almanor Fault Zone are a little bit less active than that.

Up there, the earthquakes are infrequent, he said, but theyre still potentially able to cause earthquakes today.

Thats why we have these valleys up there.

A number of the valleys near the Lake Almanor basin are actually grabens  a type of valley in which the depressed land is surrounded by two parallel normal faults.

Lake limits geological study of earthquake

It is more difficult for geologists to study an earthquake when the epicenter is under a lake, according to Dawson.

After earthquakes like this, we like to go out and look for evidence at the surface of the earthquake breaking the ground or causing landslides or what we call liquefaction, he said. With so much of it under the lake, it makes it more difficult to study. For the geologists, were probably not gonna look too closely at this earthquake.

But there are a number of seismologists who are deploying instruments up there, with these temporary arrays.  Those instruments will be able to focus and be better able to locate where all these aftershocks are, and perhaps even image the fault zone in-depth.

USGS seismologists were likely undertaking that work Friday, he said.
The passenger was traveling from Barbados to Miami. Daniel Slim/Getty Images

An American Airlines passenger has been accused of assaulting a flight attendant.

The passenger was traveling from Barbados to Miami, per a criminal complaint.

The complaint alleged that he assaulted a crew member after objecting to the way he was spoken to.

An American Airlines passenger has been accused of assaulting a flight attendant during a dispute about menu options.

The passenger, who was named in a criminal complaint as Robert David Croizat, was accused of causing the incident midway through a flight from Barbados to Miami on March 8. Croizat's lawyer, Barry Wax, told Insider the passenger pleaded guilty on Wednesday to a misdemeanor charge of assault.

The complaint alleged that Croizat insulted a cabin-crew member after taking issue with the way he was spoken to when given the choices for his meal. Croizat later began shouting at the attendant and "aggressively, demandingly, and loudly" ordering him and another flight attendant to "get the Captain out here," the complaint said.

During the altercation, Croizat touched a third flight attendant, pushing her twice after she told him not to touch her, the complaint said. It added that after Croizat refused to sit down, a flight attendant called the captain to inform him of the incident.

Croizat's lawyer told Insider that he "got into an argument with a flight attendant whom he felt was disrespecting him. Two other flight attendants became involved, Mr. Croizat tapped one of them on the back of her shoulder when her back was turned, and after she turned to face him, he poked her in the shoulder two times."

Representatives for American Airlines did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment, made outside normal working hours.

Croizat's lawyer said in a statement: "This incident was entirely out of character for Mr. Croizat and represented an overreaction which he regrets."

The incident is the latest example of unruly behavior on board major airlines. Last month, a United flight had to turn around three hours after it took off after a man reportedly sat in a crew seat and got "in a shouting match" with a flight attendant.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Anderson Cooper is defending CNN's decision to host a town hall for former President Donald Trump.

The cable news network's event for the former president and 2024 Republican presidential candidate took place Wednesday in New Hampshire, a day before a jury found Trump liable of defamation and sexually abusing writer E. Jean Carroll.

A crowd of 400 or so Republican and Republican-leaning voters welcomed Trump to Saint Anselm College with a standing ovation. During questioning, the former president declared Carroll's case against him a "fake story" and called moderator Kaitlan Collins a "nasty person" as she fact-checked his answers.

The network faced backlash over hosting the event, which marked the first major television event of the 2024 presidential campaign. CNN defended its decision to hold it as a chance to put Trump in front of a wider audience, outside the conservative media bubble he has largely kept to since early in his presidency.

Anderson Cooper defends CNN after network gets backlash for hosting town hall for former president Donald Trump.

Cooper, who has anchored for CNN since the early aughts, defended his TV home during the opening segment of "Anderson Cooper 360" Thursday.

"Many of you have expressed deep anger and disappointment. Many of you are upset that someone who attempted to destroy our democracy was invited to sit on a stage in front of a crowd of Republican voters to answer questions and predictably continued to spew lie after lie after lie," Cooper said. "I get it. It was disturbing."

Trump CNN town hall takeaways: 'You're going to have to do a default' and other big moments

Cooper went on to condemn some of the things Trump said during the town hall, adding he understands the "anger" viewers had toward CNN for giving the former president a platform.

"The man you were so disturbed to see last night, that man is the front-runner for the Republican nomination for president," Cooper said. "You have every right to be outraged today, angry and never watch this network again, but do you think staying in your silo and only listening to people you agree with is going to make that person go away?"

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More: Jury finds Donald Trump liable in civil sex abuse case of E. Jean Carroll

He continued: "After last night, none of us can say: 'I didn't know what was out there. I didn't know what was coming.'"

CNN Chairman and CEO Chris Licht said to staff in a meeting recording obtained by The Associated Press that the town hall was "an important part of the story" and that the people in the audience represent "a large swath of America."

"The mistake the media made in the past is ignoring that those people exist. Just like you cannot ignore that President Trump exists," Licht said.

Critics said the event, which was staged in front of Republicans and unaffiliated voters who were expected to vote in the GOP primary, instead turned into a Trump campaign rally and allowed him to repeat longstanding falsehoods while dodging difficult questions.

The event widened CNNs audience, at least for a night. Nielsen said the town hall averaged 3.3 million viewers, compared with the 707,000 who tuned in to CNN during the same time slot a night earlier.

Contributing: David Jackson and Ken Tran, USA TODAY; The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Anderson Cooper defends CNN's Donald Trump town hall after backlash
Following the controversial and highly criticised CNN town hall featuring Donald Trump, one of the networks top hosts, Anderson Cooper, addressed the backlash and attempt to justify the event.

The town hall featured Mr Trump in a moderated discussion with CNN host Kaitlan Collins, during which he made numerous false statements, advanced conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, and promised to pardon Capitol rioters charged with crimes for their participation in the insurrection attempt two years ago.

Cooper opened his show, Anderson Cooper 360, by addressing the town hall and the negative reaction it generated.

He acknowledged that many viewers expressed deep anger and disappointment following the event.

Many of you are upset that someone who attempted to destroy our democracy was invited to sit on the stage in front of a crowd of Republican voters to answer questions and predictably continued to spew lie after lie after lie. And I get it. It was disturbing, he said during the broadcast.

He acknowledged all of the objectionable statements Mr Trump made during the town hall  including how he insulted E Jean Carroll, who he was found guilty of defaming and sexually assaulting, called Ms Collins nasty and labeled the Black police officer who fatally shot Capitol rioter Ashli Babbitt a thug  and said he understood the pushback against CNN giving Mr Trump a platform to speak.

Now, many of you think CNN shouldnt have given him any platform to speak. And I understand the anger about that, giving him the audience the time. I get that, he said.

Mr Cooper said that viewers have every right to be outraged today and angry and understood if they never watch this network again.

He also warned that the town halls audience  independents and Republicans  accounted for approximately half the US population and showed that Mr Trump could possibly win a second term, as he is running hard.

Mr Cooper then challenged viewers, warning them that staying in echo chambers will not stop Mr Trump from trying to take power once again.

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Do you think staying in your silo and only listening to people you agree with is going to make that person go away? If we all only listen to those we agree with, it may actually do the opposite. If lives are allowed to go unchecked, as imperfect as our ability to check them is on a stage in real time, those lies continue and those lies spread, he said.

He concluded the segment by reminding viewers they can do something to prevent Mr Trump from winning in 2024.

If youre angry or upset, I understand, but you have the power to do something about it. You can actually get involved. You can make a difference, he said. Whatever side of the aisle youre on after last night none of us can say, I didnt know whats out there. I didnt know whats coming.
Four teens are facing charges in connection to the murder of Chicago Police Officer, Areanah Preston. The officer was found shot outside of her home on May 6.

Details of The Tragedy

Travell Breeland, 19, Joseph Brooks, 19, Jakwon Buchanan, 18, and Jaylan Frazier, 16 (charged as an adult), all face first degree murder charges in Prestons death. NBC Chicago reports, the 24-year-old officer was off-duty but still wearing her uniform when she returned home the night of the murder. The suspects allegedly exited a vehicle and fired one shot. Authorities say Preston returned fire and was then shot before one of the teens took her gun and fled the scene.

Preston was found near her home by a fellow officer. The police department says while Preston was off-duty at the time of her killing, the incident will be ruled as a line-of-duty-death. Doing so, will provide additional benefits to the Prestons family.

Police Officer Areanah M. Preston

End of Watch: May 6, 2023



We join Officer Preston's family and loved ones in mourning the loss of our fallen hero. Our hearts are heavy, but through our grief, we will carry on her legacy of service to Chicago and its people. pic.twitter.com/cZOTrGKZzS  Chicago Police (@Chicago_Police) May 8, 2023

Internal Investigation Underway

The Chicago Sun-Times reports, an internal investigation is now under way in the murder case. Authorities are looking into why it took police more than 30 minutes to get to Preston after she was shot. A ShotSpotter alert from the location was set off following the shots that killed her. A retired first deputy police superintendent told The Sun-Times there was an apparent backlog of calls, so no car was immediately available for the ShotSpotter alert. The Mayor-elects chief of staff says a faster response time would not have saved her life, according to the Sun-Times.

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A Mothers Loss

Preston worked as a Chicago Police Officer for three years before her death. Her mother, Dionne Mhoon told WGN, that her daughter deserves justice. Still, the mother expressed sympathy for the alleged shooters. She told the media outlet she is praying for the suspects and their families.

Bright Future Cut Short

According to WGN, Preston was set to graduate with a masters degree in Law from Loyola University Chicago. She dreamed of joining the FBI and pursue a career investigating sex crimes. Loyola University Chicago will posthumously confer Prestons Masters degree. Mhoon will accept the degree on her daughters behalf.

The post Areanah Preston Killing: Four Charged In Police Officers Death appeared first on 21Ninety.
If you thought the last several episodes of "Vanderpump Rules" were dramatic, just wait until the three-part reunion special airs later this month.

The Bravo reality show, which has been making headlines in recent months for a cheating scandal known as Scandoval, will air its Season 10 finale on Wednesday, May 17.

After teasing the May 24 reunion special for weeks, Bravo released a two-minute trailer for the event, and the word "explosive" doesn't even begin to describe everything that unfolds in the short clip.

Its all been leading to this. The explosive 3-part #PumpRules Reunion begins May 24th. pic.twitter.com/pItcAkPw5a  Bravo (@BravoTV) May 11, 2023

In the trailer for the reunion, which was filmed March 23, host Andy Cohen poses a question to Tom Sandoval and Raquel Leviss: "How did this go from a one night stand to a full relationship between the two of you?"

Of course, Cohen is referring to the co-stars' affair, which occurred which Sandoval was in a relationship with Ariana Madix. The former couple, who dated for nearly a decade, split at the beginning of March as rumors of Sandoval's infidelity grew.

An emotional Madix wipes away tears in the next scene of the trailer as she talks about the betrayal.

I cant think of two worse people, I cant, she says.

In another scene, she addresses her ex-boyfriend directly and says, Dont even f------ look at me. You dont deserve to look at this and gestures to her body and her fiery red revenge dress.

In behind-the-scenes footage from the event, Madix says, I dont see anything good coming for either of those f------ rats.

Ariana and Tom from Vanderpump Rules (@BravoTV via Twitter)

Leviss breaks her silence at one point and seems to defend herself against her co-stars James Kennedy and Lala Kent.

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"James and Lala cant talk because they f-----," she says. Kent fires back and implies that her earlier tryst with Kennedy was different because she wasn't friends with Leviss.

I wasnt your best friend! Kent screams.

Earlier in Season 10, Madix had called Leviss one of her "closest friends" before news of the affair broke.

The trailer also hints at the continuing relationship between Sandoval and Leviss in the wake of the scandal. Behind the scenes, they vent to each other about the tense reunion.

Theyre making you and me (out) to be pathological liars, he says.

Leviss agrees and says, I see that, yeah, even though we know that were not.

But it isn't just Sandoval and Leviss in the hot seat. Back in the reunion, Katie Maloney asks her ex-husband Tom Schwartz, who is best friends with Sandoval, when he found out about the affair. He says it was in late August 2022, but Sandoval doesnt seem to agree with that.

Late August? What?" Sandoval questions.

Kent then chimes in and says, Oh no, did you guys not put your timelines together to match?

At one point in the reunion, Leviss appears to own up to the infidelity, saying, I have been super selfish." But Madix isnt happy with that description.

Selfish does not cover it," she tells her former friend. "(You're) diabolical, demented, subhuman.

Kennedy then lightens the mood and calls Sandoval and Leviss poo poo heads, causing Maloney to laugh and Madix to smirk.

Sandoval seems to reach his breaking point when he steps outside and explains that he needs a break from filming. When the crew doesn't turn the cameras off he screams, "Stop filming me! I don't want a camera in my f------ God d--- face."

At the very end of the clip, Cohen begins to ask Sandoval a question and says, "Tom, you are in love..." Only, in the trailer, Cohen doesn't specify who Sandoval may be in love with  Leviss or Madix.

When he doesn't instantly respond, Kent says, "C'mon, it's a very simple question. Are you in love or are you not?" before the trailer fades to black.

The three-part "Vanderpump Rules" reunion will begin airing May 24.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
Mali's army and foreign fighters killed at least 500 people during an anti-jihadist operation in Mali in March 2022, a UN report said

The Malian army and foreign fighters executed at least 500 people during an anti-jihadist operation in Mali in March 2022, according to a much-awaited UN report released on Friday.

The figures by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) amount to the worst atrocity the Sahel country has experienced since a jihadist insurgency flared in 2012.

It is also the most damning document yet against Mali's armed forces and their foreign allies.

Their nationality is not explicitly identified in the report, although Mali has brought in Russians that western countries and others say are Wagner mercenaries.

Describing events that unfolded in the central town of Moura between March 27-31 2022, the OHCHR said it had "reasonable grounds to believe that at least 500 people were killed in violation of norms, standards, rules and/or principles of international law".

The victims were "executed by the FAMa (Malian Armed Forces) and foreign military personnel" who had complete control over the area, it said.

- 'Grave concern' -

The United States, Britain and Canada, in a joint statement sent from their Mali embassies, expressed "grave concern over the report's conclusions implicating elements of the Malian Armed Forces and Russian-backed Wagner Group ('foreign military personnel') in documented crimes including sexual violence, torture, and extrajudicial killings".

They called on Mali's transition government to hold an independent investigation and to release the findings and "hold accountable those responsible for these appalling acts of violence".

The UN report was published after a lengthy investigation by the human rights division of the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali, MINUSMA.

Around 20 women and seven children were among those killed, while evidence suggests 58 women and girls were victims of rape and other forms of sexual violence, the report said.

Acts of torture were carried out on people who had been detained, it added.

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UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk called the findings "extremely disturbing".

"Summary executions, rape and torture during armed conflict amount to war crimes and could, depending on the circumstances, amount to crimes against humanity," he said in a statement.

There was no reaction from Mali's ruling junta by mid-afternoon on Friday.

- Russia question -

Mali is ruled by a military junta which in 2020 toppled the country's elected president amid protests over the failure to roll back the jihadists.

Since then, the junta has brought in Russian operatives and warplanes to help its beleaguered armed forces, having severed ties with France, the country's traditional ally.

It says the Russians are providing military training and denies accusations that they are Wagner mercenaries.

The UN report does not explicitly identify the foreign fighters, and the OHCHR, in response to reporters' questions on Friday, said it was unable to identify their nationality.

The report cites Malian official statements on Russian military "instructors", as well as comments attributed to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wagner's presence in Mali.

- Bloodbath -

Moura, in the Mopti region of central Mali, has for years been known as a stronghold of the Katiba Macina, a group affiliated with the Al-Qaeda-linked Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM).

The report details the arrival of Malian soldiers and their allies, supported by five helicopters, in the late morning on March 27, 2022.

A livestock fair had that day attracted thousands of civilians there to buy supplies ahead of Ramadan.

About 30 Katiba Macina members were mingling with the fairgoers and civilians that day, the report said.

A helicopter reportedly opened fire "indiscriminately" in the direction of the market, and the jihadists returned fire.

Around 30 people, including a dozen jihadists, were killed.

The Malian army took control of the area within a few hours and arrested around 3,000 people, rounding them up in four locations, according to the report.

Malian soldiers and their allies "allegedly selected several hundred people who were summarily executed over at least four days," the report said.

The men executed were allegedly chosen on the basis of signs such as having long beards.

The victims were reportedly buried in mass graves.

- MINUSMA tensions -

On April 1, 2022, the junta described the events in Moura as a successful anti-jihadist operation that had put 203 "terrorists" out of action.

Five days later, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said 300 civilian men, some of them suspected jihadists, had been summarily killed. White foreigners, identified by several sources as Russian, had taken part, it added.

A Malian military court prosecutor announced an investigation in April 2022.

The new report comes as the UN is preparing to consider whether to renew the mandate of the 10-year-old MINUSMA mission.

Mali's authorities frequently attack MINUSMA'S activities in the field of human rights, expelling the head of its rights division earlier this year.

Friday's report is based on a seven-month investigation between March and October 2022 and on 157 individual interviews and 11 group interviews.

The junta persistently denied the investigators access to Moura, apart from one initial flyover.

clt-sd-lal/pvh/jj
The U.S. Army training base Fort Benning was renamed Fort Moore on Thursday, as part of a larger effort by the military to remove associations with the Confederacy.

The Georgia base, which was named for Confederate Gen. Henry L. Benning, was redesignated in honor of Lt. Gen. Harold Hal Moore and his wife, Julia Julie Moore.

Together, Hal and Julie Moore embody the very best of our military and the very best of our nation, Maj. Gen. Curtis A. Buzzard, the bases commanding general, said at Thursdays ceremony, according to an Army press release.

They were dedicated to their country, committed to their family, and inspired generations of Soldiers to follow in their footsteps, Buzzard added.

Harold Moore commanded the 7th Cavalry Regiment stationed at the base during the Vietnam War, while his wife served as an advocate for military families.

We believe the redesignation of Fort Benning is unique in that, by Hal and Julie Moores example, the Army continues to recognize Army families as essential to Army readiness and mission accomplishment, retired Army Col. David Moore, the couples son, said on Thursday.

Fort Moore stands alone since this rededication is not solely about a name or one persons achievements  but instead is about personal character, represented by Army values, reinforcing the fundamental truth that soldiers fight as a team, he added.

The bases redesignation comes after Fort Hood was renamed Fort Cavazos on Tuesday and Fort Lee was renamed Fort Gregg-Adams last month to similarly remove associations with their original Confederate namesakes.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Children are also heavily represented among those fleeing Sudan, according to the United Nations

Some 200,000 people have now fled Sudan to escape fighting that erupted in mid-April, the UN said Friday, also warning a factory producing life-saving treatments for malnourished children had burned down.

"As violence in Sudan continues for a fourth week, nearly 200,000 refugees and returnees have been forced to flee the country, with more crossing borders daily seeking safety," UN refugee agency spokeswoman Olga Sarrado told reporters in Geneva.

Another 700,000 people have also been displaced within Sudan since the fighting erupted on April 15, the UN's migration agency said earlier this week.

Nearly one month after the outbreak of the fighting that has killed more than 750 people and displaced hundreds of thousands, the two sides signed the agreement late Thursday during talks in the Saudi city of Jeddah.

They have not yet agreed to a ceasefire in the thorny talks, but they did vow to protect civilians, and committed to let in badly needed humanitarian assistance after looting and attacks targeting aid in the impoverished country.

UN's Sudan envoy, Volker Perthes, said the agreement was important since it marked "a mutual commitment", even if it was only to adhere to international laws they should have been following anyway.

"I think it is a first step, it is an important first step," he told reporters in Geneva via video link from Port Sudan, hailing in particular that the sides had committed "continue talks" under US and Saudi mediation.

"We expect these talks on ceasefire to start off again from today or from tomorrow."

- Children at risk -

Nothing looked set to change immediately however, and forces of two rival generals again exchanged fire in Khartoum Friday.

The UN children's agency UNICEF warned that a factory in the Sudanese capital producing therapeutic food to counter malnourishment had burned down, destroying life-saving treatments for 14,500 children.

"This is the darkest, most distinct illustration to date of how this conflict threatens the lives of children through multiple means," UNICEF spokesman James Elder told reporters in Geneva.

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Children are also heavily represented among those fleeing Sudan, Sarrado said.

For neighbouring Chad, she said some 30,000 refugees had arrived in just recent days, bringing the total number who have arrived from Sudan in recent weeks to 60,000.

"Almost 90 percent of refugees are children and women, including many pregnant women," she said.

A full 20 percent of children between the ages of six months and five years had been found to be acutely malnourished.

In all the countries people are fleeing to, "the humanitarian response is challenging and costly," Sarrado said.

"Refugees and returnees are arriving in remote border areas where services and infrastructure are scarce or non-existent and the host population was already suffering due to climate change and food scarcity."

"The coming rainy season will make logistics even harder as many roads will become impassable," she added.

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After crossing the Rio Grande from Matamoros, Mexico, migrants gather on the northern bank as they wait to turn themselves in to U.S. border officials in Brownsville, Texas, on Wednesday, May 10, 2023. (Meridith Kohut/The New York Times)

MEXICO CITY  As the United States begins imposing border rules making it more difficult for migrants to claim asylum, many will most likely face swift deportation to Mexico, where they will be vulnerable to criminal groups and corrupt officials, according to human rights groups.

Mexicos role as Washingtons enforcement arm to deter migrants from heading illegally to the United States through Mexican territory will become more significant with the lifting on Thursday of a COVID-era policy known as Title 42, which halted the entry of many migrants at the border and allowed U.S. authorities to rapidly expel them.

In talks last week with the Biden administration, Mexico said it would accept non-Mexican migrants sent back from the United States under the new rules and would process them for Mexican asylum.

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But if the asylum system in the United States is plagued by backlogs, the situation in Mexico is just as bad, with asylum cases lingering for years without resolution.

And many migrants expelled to Mexican cities along the U.S. border face daily horrors at the hands of criminal organizations and, in some cases, the same government agencies that Washington is leaning on to help stanch the flow of migrants at the border, according to human rights groups.

Since President Joe Biden took office in January 2021, there have been nearly 13,500 attacks against people deported to Mexico from the United States or blocked from crossing the border, according to a recent report from Human Rights First, an advocacy group.

The report said that, in some cases, Mexican officials have colluded with criminal organizations to extort migrants.

Mexicos National Migration Institute and the Foreign Ministry did not respond to requests for comment about the governments treatment of migrants.

This country is not a safe country, Yuri Hurtado, a 26-year-old Colombian migrant, said of Mexico.

She left her country in March with six members of her family to escape poverty and violence. She spends her days at a migrant shelter near the U.S. border listening to threatening phone messages from members of a criminal group who, Hurtado said, kidnapped her relatives last week while they were riding a bus through Mexico.

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The shelter where Hurtado is staying, Casa Migrante San Juan Diego, is in Matamoros, a northern Mexican city that is notorious for violence and across the border from Brownsville, Texas.

Hurtado said the criminal group holding her two sisters, a brother-in-law and two nephews, who are 2 and 5, had demanded she pay $4,000 for their release or it would start harvesting their organs.

The sum is more than Hurtado said she could ever afford. Local police, she said, did not help her when she tried to file a report, a typical response by authorities, according to migrant rights groups.

It gives me so much fear what happens on the border and, yet, also I am full of fear that I will die alone on the border, she said, adding that she hoped her relatives would be released before she tried to cross the border.

Stories like Hurtados are not unusual. Criminal groups often impose fees on migrants to travel through Mexico and then kidnap them. More than 2,000 migrants were kidnapped by criminal organizations last year, the Mexican government said last week.

At the same time, migrants are also vulnerable to being victimized by Mexicos migration authorities.

The abuses by state officials themselves is systemic, said Julia Neusner, a lawyer who co-wrote the Human Rights First report. We heard hundreds and hundreds of stories from people who experience harm directly at the hands of these state officers, including kidnappings, rape, sexual assault, robbery, extortion.

When President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador took office at the end of 2018, he vowed that Mexico would never be used as a cudgel to do the dirty work of Washingtons migration policy.

Instead, his government issued more visas to allow migrants to travel freely to Mexico and make their way to the U.S. border.

But Lopez Obrador soon discovered, like other Mexican presidents before him, that it is nearly impossible for Mexico to forge a migration policy on its own.

By June 2019, President Donald Trump was threatening to slap tariffs on Mexico unless Lopez Obrador clamped down on the thousands of migrants using Mexican humanitarian visas to head to the United States.

Lopez Obrador acted swiftly, deploying thousands of troops to Mexicos northern and southern borders to prevent migrants from entering the country or traveling easily to the United States. The Mexican National Guard, a militarized police force, was given the authority to detain migrants, a power that had been largely concentrated in the hands of migration officials.

The U.S. migration policy has mobilized the Mexican government for enforcement, Neusner said. It is exporting our own border enforcement.

The closing of legal routes within Mexico and pathways to the United States forced more migrants into the hands of ruthless smugglers, rights groups said.

Mexicos closer alignment with the United States on enforcement has also led to a shift in the government attitude toward migrants, some analysts said.

The priority is no longer that of human rights and development and protection, as we started out, but due to pressure from the United States, containment, detentions and expulsions were prioritized, said Tonatiuh Guillen, who was the first commissioner of Mexicos National Migration Institute under Lopez Obrador until he was replaced by the former head of Mexicos federal prison system.

Deploying the armed forces as your main migration enforcement tool sends a message both to migrants, asylum-seekers and to society that migrants are a threat and they should be treated as a security issue, like an invasion, said Stephanie Brewer, the Mexico director at the Washington Office on Latin America, a research institute.

That undermines and weakens protections for their physical safety, she added.

At the Casa Migrante San Juan Diego shelter in Matamoros, half a dozen migrants said this week that either they or a family member had been kidnapped in recent days. They were afraid to venture out of the shelter after dark, fearing the criminal groups that stalk the streets.

The shelters director, Jose Luis Elias Rodriguez, said he and his employees had themselves been threatened by criminal groups.

But he vowed to keep helping migrants.

If we leave, who helps immigrants? he asked. Who lends a hand if we leave? Who raises it if we leave? Who stands up for them if we leave?

c.2023 The New York Times Company
An Atlanta metro area community college won $2 million in state funds for its commercial truck driving program.

According to a release from Georgia Piedmont Technical College, the funds from the Georgia Emergency Education Relief Fund will be used to expand the colleges training program for commercial drivers.

For the program, the GEER II funds will pay for a project to build a new commercial truck driving range in Covington, Ga.

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GPTC said the funds will be used for the driving range and pad, as well as trailers.

A release on the funding allocation by the office of Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said GPTC is one of six schools getting funds for driving programs, with a collective total of $8.32 allocated for CDL training.

The funding is split between:

Savannah Technical College - $1,990,000 for driving pad and trailers

Georgia Piedmont Technical College - $2,000,000 for driving range and pad, and trailers

Oconee Fall Line Technical College - $1,150,000 for driving pad and simulators

Columbus Technical College - $1,770,000 for driving pad, mobile classroom, trailers, and simulators

Southern Crescent Technical College - $1,132,500 for driving range and pad resurfacing, mobile classroom, and trailers

Southeastern Technical College - $275,000 for driving range and pad resurfacing

Overall, GEER II funding, part of a funding effort to assist Georgia K-12 and higher education in post-pandemic recovery, was doled out to the tune of $47 million for the most recent round.

While the funds were first announced in January 2022, GPTC held the groundbreaking for the driving range Wednesday at their Newton County campus.

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The increasing violence against Asian Americans has changed the course of a Lake Forest Park womans life. The violence, she says, isnt getting the attention it deserves.

The deadly attack on Asian workers at an Atlanta spa in 2021 was a watershed moment for many Asian Americans around the country.

It highlighted the danger they say they face nearly every day.

Now, a woman is working every day to change that.

So, this is attacks on Asians, she said, looking through her website. And Ive done it by month. There are so many that I have to put them on separate months.

This is Jolene Jangs version of doom scrolling.

So, here are videos and pictures of stabbings and murders, Jang said. And all across, Indians, Sikh, Bangladeshi, Korean.

It is a sad litany of acts of hate against Americans of Asian descent all over the internet.

So, its a huge range of Asian Americans that are attacked, she said. And I have this because people dont believe it.

Its not as though Jang has never been captivated by an issue.

In 2000, she led the fight for legislation making upskirt photography illegal in Washington state. But the issue of hate against Asians is personal, necessarily, and has now become the focus of her life.

I am ethnically Japanese, Chinese, and Swedish, Jang said. And Im culturally Japanese American. And Im fourth-generation.

And yet, she says, she and millions of Asians with similar histories, are often still treated as though they just arrived.

Asian Americans, they feel, should I talk to the police? she said. So, when my dad got a death threat in Seattle. Theres three white guys, Im going to kill you. Get out of here.

Her dad was driving for Uber.

And he called the police, she said. But theyre like, What do you want us to do? In Seattle.

Seattle, she says, is not alone.

Its Brier, Shoreline, Lake Forest Park, she said. Bothell. Just in our little area, hate is everywhere.

And then in March of 2021, Atlanta happened.

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After the Atlanta shooting of the Asian spa workers, I decided, Oh, wow! The news is covering Asian American attacks, Jang said. Theyve been happening anyways. But that news cycle is real quick. So, I thought I better hop on and help out being that I am Asian American.

She tried to find solace with her white friends, she says, but got nowhere.

Because my network has not been there for me, she said, I created Asian, Empowered Asian, which is the Facebook group, a place where Asians could talk to each other. And then Asian Allies. Its primarily white where these are people who want to understand, and so they can learn how to help and not be an oppressor.

This cause is taking up nearly every second of her life.

My voice is to try and share whats happening on these fine streets of these suburbs that we think are so safe, said Jang. But safe for who?

It is a question that will likely haunt her until the answer is safe for all.

Jang will be hosting a Culture Chat on the relationship between Asian and African American communities on Saturday.

You can join the discussion at noon at the Seattle Center during the Asian Pacific Islander Heritage Month Celebration.




Newly released audio reveals that Republican Congressman George Santos allegedly attempted to solicit a payment from journalists for appearing in a documentary.

Filmmaker Blake Zeff and a production team were developing a project involving Mr Santos, but decided to scrap the project after they realised the congressman would be expecting "lots" of money, he said.

Mr Zeff recorded conversations between his team and Mr Santos while planning the project. During negotiations, which Mr Zeff shared on MSNBC, Mr Santos allegedly asked what the project will mean for him "monetarily."

"Look, I don't have a number in my head," Mr Santos appears to say in the recordings. Like, the fact that Im having these conversations, these are conversations I never in a million years thought I would be having. But when in Rome, you know, lets have the conversations.

NEW AUDIO: George Santos asks about money for interview. pic.twitter.com/5wOsARFQl8  The Beat with Ari Melber  (@TheBeatWithAri) May 11, 2023

Mr Zeff said later that Mr Santos' request to be paid for participating in the documentary was not illegal, but it was "not common"  and unethical  for a journalist to pay a subject for their involvement.

The Independent has reached out to Mr Santos for comment.

The audio resurfaced shortly after Mr Santos was indicted on 13 federal charges that include fraud, lying about his personal finances, and misuse of campaign finance funds.

Mr Santos pleaded not guilty to the charges on Wednesday after surrendering himself into custody earlier that morning.

He has been charged with seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, one count of theft of public funds, and two counts of making materially false statements to the House of Representatives, according to the DOJ.

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After entering his plea, Mr Santos was released on a $500,000 bond. The conditions of his release include random monitoring at his home, submission to pre-trial services, and a requirement that he relinquish his passport. He has also been prohibited from traveling outside of New York state and Washington DC without prior court approval.

His next court date is scheduled for 30 June.

Mr Santos claimed that the charges were "inaccurate" and expressed confidence that he would be found innocent.

Some of his Republican allies seem to lack the same confidence; House Speaker Kevin McCarthy told reporters after the charges dropped that "I'm not gonna support Santos" in his upcoming re-election bid.

"I think he's got some other things to focus on in this life than running for stuff," Mr McCarthy said, according to NBC News.

The House Speaker stopped short of calling for Mr Santos' resignation.
Its been a rough week for Todd Pletcher.

In the span of six days, the 55-year-old Hall of Fame trainer went from Kentucky Derby favorite to a racing suspension.

This time last week, Pletcher was riding high, preparing to saddle three top contenders in the 2023 Kentucky Derby, including morning-line favorite Forte.

Things changed quickly on the morning of the 149th Run for the Roses.

Forte was scratched from the race with a bruise foot, only the second time a favorite had been pulled out the morning of the Derby. That evening, Pletchers other two Derby hopefuls, Tapit Trice and Kingsbarns, finished seventh and 14th, respectively.

This week brought more troubling news.

On Monday, the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission issued an advisory that Forte is on a 14-day veterinarians list that makes the 3-year-old ineligible to run in the second leg of the Triple Crown, the May 20 Preakness Stakes in Baltimore.

On Tuesday, the New York Times revealed that Forte failed a drug test last September. According to the BloodHorse, the Eclipse Award-winning 2-year-old last year tested positive for meloxicam after winning the Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga.

Trainer Todd Pletcher, whose horses finished seventh and 14th in last Saturdays Kentucky Derby, congratulates Javier Castellano, who won the race aboard Mage.

An attorney representing Pletcher told BloodHorse on Thursday that Forte was disqualified from the Hopeful Stakes and that Pletcher would be suspended for 10 days and fined $1,000 by the New York State Gaming Commission.

Pletcher told BloodHorse that Forte, who is owned by Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable, was never given the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medication and plans to appeal.

The Associated Press reported that Pletcher was granted a stay of the suspension, meaning hell be able to continue working until the appeal is heard.

Pletcher does not currently train a horse projected to run in the Preakness Stakes.

The news this week about one of Thoroughbred racings most famous and accomplished trainers being suspended follows a Kentucky Derby week at Churchill Downs in Louisville in which seven horses died, including two on the day of the Run for the Roses.

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The racetrack suspended Saffie Joseph Jr. after two of the trainers horses died at Churchill under unknown circumstances.

Mage core owner Ramiro Restrepo over the moon after Kentucky Derby victory

While disappointing, keeping Forte out of the Preakness is the right thing to do

Another two horses die after Churchill Downs races, this time on Kentucky Derby Day

The Kentucky Derby 2023 favorite scratched on race-day morning. Has that happened before?

At age 45, jockey great Javier Castellano finally throws off his Kentucky Derby hex

What happened to Tapit Trice, Derma Sotogake and all the other Kentucky Derby also-rans?

Kentucky Derby 2023 complete order of finish and payoffs at Churchill Downs
Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm Mocha made landfall Sunday afternoon, local time, in western Myanmar (also known as Burma) near the border with Bangladesh. Sustained winds prior to landfall were around 155 miles per hour, making Mocha the equivalent of a strong Category 4 hurricane. At least three people have been killed from the storm so far, according to the Associated Press.

Bangladesh had ordered the evacuation of nearly 500,000 people ahead of Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm Mocha, which rapidly strengthened from Thursday to Saturday as it churned over the Bay of Bengal.

The evacuations, which started Saturday according to The Associated Press, took place amid warnings from the U.N.'s World Meteorological Organization of a humanitarian crisis at the world's largest refugee camp in the town of Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, near where the cyclone made landfall on Sunday, accompanied by a storm surge, flooding rainfall and damaging winds. As of Saturday evening, local time, about 200,000 refugees were taking shelter in Cox's Bazar. Local reporting states that at least 10,000 homes were damaged in Cox's Bazar as of Sunday.

This AccuWeather RealVue Enhanced satellite image shows massive Cyclone Mocha shortly after making landfall on May 14, 2023.

The neighboring low-lying nation of Myanmar is also expected to sustain significant impacts from Mocha, and officials there were also preparing to evacuate residents, according to the AP. Experts are pointing out that the cyclone could be the worst to impact the country in over a decade.

Around 102,000 residents of Rakhine have been evacuated since Wednesday. Across Myanmar's Rakhine state, six million people are in need of humanitarian assistance and 1.2 million are displaced, the U.N. humanitarian office said, due to ongoing civil unrest.

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Cyclone Mocha's winds on AccuWeather's Wind Flow map Friday evening local time.

AccuWeather meteorologists pointed out that Mocha was a particularly large cyclone, with an expanse of shower and thunderstorm activity that nearly covered the entire diameter of the Bay of Bengal, about 1,000 miles (1,600 km) across, at one point.

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Flooding will not be limited to areas near the coast, as Douty pointed out that the threat of life-threatening flash flooding from heavy rain will extend well inland across northern Myanmar, southeast Bangladesh and far eastern India, where the terrain turns mountainous. The ferocious downpours will likely trigger mudslides and landslides, even after Mocha falls below tropical cyclone intensity.

Most areas close to the center of Mocha's track are forecast to receive 5-10 inches (125-255 mm) of rain, with 10-20 inches (255-510 mm) likely in the mountainous terrain of northern Myanmar. The AccuWeather Local StormMax for rainfall is 25 inches (635 mm). This total could occur in some highly localized areas.

With warnings that the most dangerous cyclone in years was on the way and slated to impact one of the world's most vulnerable and economically disadvantaged regions, officials were preparing on Friday ahead of the expected impacts.

The U.N. Refugee Agency was preparing for a partial evacuation of a Rohingya camp in Cox's Bazar, where about a million refugees live after fleeing Myanmar in 2017 due to a "military-led crackdown," according to Reuters. The agency was prepping tens of thousands of hot meals and jerrycans, which are used to hold fresh water, Reuters reported.

All 1.2 million refugees in the camp will not be able to be evacuated due to lack of capacity said the State Minister for Disaster Management and Relief, reported local media.

The camp was still reeling after a devastating fire in March that destroyed shelters and critical infrastructure, according to the AP. The International Rescue Committee was also on the ground there ahead of the cyclone, deploying mobile medical tents.

Rohingya refugees try to salvage their belongings after a major fire in their Balukhali camp at Ukhiya in Cox's Bazar district, Bangladesh, Sunday, March 5, 2023. A massive fire raced through a crammed camp of Rohingya refugees in southern Bangladesh, leaving thousands homeless, a fire official and the United Nations said. (AP Photo/Mahmud Hossain Opu)

Mocha, the first named storm of the 2023 northern Indian Ocean tropical season, could end up being the strongest cyclone to impact Myanmar since 2010, when Cyclone Giri came ashore with winds of over 140 mph (225 km/h), according to NOAA.

Cyclones in this part of the world can prove especially deadly. According to the AP, at least 138,000 people died as Cyclone Nargis spread a storm surge inland across Myanmar in May 2008. More recently, Cyclone Mora killed 194 people in 2017, after impacting Sri Lanka and Myanmar, according to the New York Times.

Even in the wake of Mocha, heavy showers and thunderstorms will continue through most of next week. Downpours and lightning from any storms will hamper cleanup and recovery efforts in the days and weeks after.

Want next-level safety, ad-free? Unlock advanced, hyperlocal severe weather alerts when you subscribe to Premium+ on the AccuWeather app. AccuWeather Alerts are prompted by our expert meteorologists who monitor and analyze dangerous weather risks 24/7 to keep you and your family safer.
(Bloomberg) -- The Bank of Canada named Rhys Mendes as deputy governor, making him the first non-White member of its interest-rate-setting governing council.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Mendes, who takes the role July 17, will oversee the banks economic and financial research, its analysis of international economic developments and serve as its Group of Seven and Group of 20 deputy.

He has been with the bank since 2004 and served in senior roles including as managing director of international economic analysis. Since 2021, he has been on secondment to the Finance department, where hes been serving as assistant deputy minister.

I am delighted to welcome Rhys Mendes back to the bank and onto governing council, said Governor Tiff Macklem in a news release Friday. We will benefit greatly from his experience and expertise in economic modeling, monetary policy framework design, and international policy issues.

Mendes will replace Paul Beaudry, whos set to retire as deputy governor at the end of July and return to an academic post at the University of British Columbia.

Tyler Meredith, a former top economic policy adviser to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, said Mendes is an exceptional public servant and one of Canadas top minds on macroeconomic policy and monetary policy.

He also has a high degree of respect across Canada both in the academic research community, but also amongst forecasters and policy thinkers, said Meredith, now a founding partner of consulting firm Meredith Boessenkool Policy Advisors.

The Bank of Canada is undertaking a diversity push to significantly increase the representation of women and visible minorities in senior management over the next decade. The governing council sets the strategic direction of the bank and is its policymaking body.

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The six-person group includes two women, Senior Deputy Governor Carolyn Rogers and Deputy Governor Sharon Kozicki. Trudeaus government, which has had a gender-balanced cabinet since it was elected in 2015, left many women in Canadian finance disappointed when it appointed Macklem to the top job instead former No. 2 Carolyn Wilkins.

The Federal Reserve is also undergoing a diversity transformation. President Joe Biden announced new nominations on Friday that would see economist Adriana Kugler become the first Latina on the board of governors and Philip Jefferson become the second Black American to serve as its vice chairman.

Mendes was born in Richmond Hill, Ontario, and obtained a bachelors degree in economics from York University, as well as a masters degree and PhD in economics from the University of Toronto.

--With assistance from Catarina Saraiva.

(Adds Tyler Meredith quote in sixth paragraph and detail about Federal Reserve in 10th paragraph)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2023 Bloomberg L.P.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy

"The Office of the President of Ukraine did not contact the organizers of the Eurovision Song Contest with a proposal for an online speech by Volodymyr Zelenskyy during the final or at any other stage of the contest," Nykyforov wrote.

Read also: Soloveiko Songbird: First Ukrainian installation for Eurovision 2023 unveiled in Liverpool

The refutation rebuts a May 11 claim made by UK newspaper The Times that Zelenskyy had been turned down for a speaking spot at the contest, due to its organizers citing "strict rules" and the "non-political nature" of the contest, though The Times said that "difficult and delicate negotiations are still ongoing over the matter.

Zelenskyy has given speeches in which he mentions the full-scale Russian war waged against Ukraine not only to parliaments around the world, but also at high-profile cultural events, such as the Grammy Awards, Glastonbury Festival, and the Cannes Film Festival.

Read also: Interview with Otoy  the man singing with Mariya Yaremchuk at Eurovision this evening

Last year, Ukrainian band Kalush Orchestra won the Eurovision Song Contest. This years edition was supposed to take place in Ukraine, but due to the war, the organizers moved it to Liverpool, UK.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Former President Obama walks among a crowd at his daughter Sasha's graduation ceremony at USC. (Grace Toohey / Los Angeles Times)

Even before the name "Natasha Obama" was announced as one of the hundreds of students graduating from USC's Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences on Friday morning, buzz was building about some familiar faces on campus.

Photos of her parents  the 44th president and former first lady  sitting behind cap-and-gown-clad students at Allyson Felix Field were posted on social media, while students at the ceremony texted friends in other colleges about the high-profile guests.

Kim Demu ended up sitting just a section over from Sasha's parents, Barack and Michelle, and older sister Malia  but with more than a dozen U.S. Secret Service agents in between them. Still, she was thrilled to see the family she long revered, and snapped multiple photos.

I knew [Sasha Obama] transferred from [University of] Michigan to here, but I had no idea she was graduating in this class with my niece," Demu said. "Very exciting!"

Sasha Obama, 21, beamed as she crossed the stage to commemorate her new sociology degree, as her sister and parents applauded in the audience. The announcement of her name was met with almost universal cheers from the crowd.

But otherwise, the family kept as low profile as possible at USC's graduation festivities, scooting out of the ceremony soon after Sasha Obama left the stage.

"I was so excited to see Obama and Michelle," said Michelle Davies, who also graduated Friday from the college. "I wanted a picture [with them] so bad, but then they left early. If I would have gotten a picture, I would have passed out."

The political science major said she knew Sasha from around campus, noting that the African American community at USC is pretty small  but said it was a different level to see Barack and Michelle Obama on Friday.

I waved at them and Michelle waved back at me," she said, almost giddy.

The Obamas didn't address the crowd or take photos with attendees but cheered on the graduates and listened to the speakers. As Barack Obama walked out, he congratulated other parents and family members.

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Alfred Chen and his friends rushed to the Dornsife College ceremony after getting a text that the Obamas were there.

We tried to find them but we cant, theres so many people, said Chen, who graduated from the engineering school Friday. Chen's group even posed for a photo with the Dornsife College ceremony behind him, in the hopes that the Obamas might be in the background. (Unfortunately, they were not. Chen and his friends missed the family by about 15 minutes.)

Sharon MacDonnell had more luck as she waited for her son to walk across the stage. She was about as close as was possible to the Obamas as they walked out early from the ceremony.

I came over to see him and then I spotted all the guys in suits, said MacDonnell, who snapped some good photos of the former president. She said as a USC alumni, it was particularly special to see the former first family there.

Sasha was just 7 years old when her family moved into the White House in 2009. In 2019, she graduated from high school in Washington, D.C., two years after her father's two terms as president. She initially attended the University of Michigan but transferred to USC.

Malia Obama also lives in L.A., where she's working in the film industry.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Jeremy Allen Whites wife Addison Timlin has reportedly filed for divorce from The Bear actor after over three years of marriage.

White and Timlin tied the knot in October 2019, and share two daughters, Ezer Billie, four, and Dolores Wild, two.

According to a TMZ report, Timlin filed the paperwork at a courthouse in Los Angeles on Thursday (11 May).

The Independent has contacted Whites representatives for comment.

The Shameless alum  who recently starred in last years critically acclaimed series The Bear  met Timlin in 2008, while they were filming 2008 psychological drama Afterschool.

Their daughter was born in 2018, and the now-estranged couple married in an intimate court ceremony the following year.

During his 2023 Golden Globes acceptance speech, when White won best TV actor in a musical or comedy, the 32-year-old shared a sweet message for Timlin.

Addison Timlin, I love you deep in my bones, thank you for all that you do, thank you for everything that youve done, said White.

Reacting to her husbands Golden Globes win, the 31-year-old wrote a heartfelt note on Instagram, alongside a picture of White with his trophy.

The Californication star recalled watching White perform for the first time in drama class when they were 14 years old.

When wed run your lines for Shameless Id be so tickled knowing beforehand what everyone would get to witness the next day on set, she continued. When I watched the pilot for The Bear, I cried my f****** heart out.

She said it was privilege to know his talent before the world discovered it.

Watching you win on Tuesday was one of the most overwhelming dimension hopping moments of my whole life, watching you win last night while holding our two babies was pretty out of this world too, her post read.

When Whites award-winning drama The Bear premiered last June, Timlin said watching your dreams come true will always put a fire in my heart in an Instagram post.
Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenkos swift departure from the Red Square Victory Day events sparks rumors about the dictators health.

Belarusian blogger and political prisoner Mikalai Klimovich dies in custody. The 61-year-old was sentenced to a year in prison for liking a caricature of Lukashenko posted on social media.

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Belarus drops four spots in this years World Press Freedom Index as the regimes crackdown continues. Belarus is among the 25 worst.

PACE recognizes Lukashenko as potentially complicit in Russias forced deportation of Ukrainian children amid its full-scale war.

Polish truck drivers block the only remaining crossing between Poland and Belarus to protest what they call unfair competition.

Lukashenkos appearance at Victory Day celebration sparks rumors about his health

Lukashenkos swift departure from Victory Day celebrations in both Moscow and Minsk on May 9 have sparked rumors about his health.

Lukashenko attended the event at Moscows Red Square, commemorating the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II alongside the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Armenia.

Unlike the other leaders, he had to be driven around the small perimeter where the event took place. He also missed an official lunch with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Reuters noted that Lukashenko looked tired and a little unsteady on his feet, and a bandage was visible on his right hand though he otherwise showed no obvious signs of being unwell.

Later the same day, Lukashenko attended the Victory Day ceremony in Minsk. However, he broke from tradition and wore a suit instead of his military uniform and did not make a speech. Lukashenko has also attended very few events in the past two weeks.

Putin claims real war unleashed against Russia during Victory Day speech During his address at the annual Victory Day celebration at Moscows Red Square to commemorate the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed that a real war has once again been unleashed against our Motherland. Kyiv IndependentTeah Pelechaty

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Lukashenkos press secretary refuted the allegations: Thank you for caring that much about the presidents health. Take care of your own health.

The Victory Day celebrations in Moscow and Minsk took place against the backdrop of Russias full-scale war against Ukraine, in which Belarus is a co-belligerent.

At the event in Moscow, Putin claimed that a real war has once again been unleashed against our homeland, accusing the West of wanting the disintegration and destruction of Russia.

Similarly, Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin reiterated narratives of a hostile West amid Russian increased bombings of Ukrainian civilians across the country.

Belarusian opposition blogger Klimovich dies in custody

Belarusian blogger and political prisoner Mikalai Klimovich died in custody at a penal colony in the Vitsebsk region, human rights watchdog Viasna reported on May 7. The cause of his death is unknown.

The 61-year-old had been sentenced to a year in prison for liking a caricature of Lukashenko posted on social media. He was accused of having insulted the Belarusian president, a criminal offense in Belarus.

Klimovich first attracted attention from Belarusian authorities in December 2022 when he made a social media post that criticized Russias full-scale war against Ukraine.

Klimovich had suffered a stroke and had heart surgery prior to being sentenced to prison on Feb. 28, which was known to the judge and prosecutor. At his trial, Klimovich told reporters: Any prison sentence is death for me, because I have to be under constant supervision of a doctor, (and) take a lot of strong medicine. I might not even last a month.

The European Unions diplomatic service issued a statement regarding Klimovichs death, saying that his death is yet another proof of the regimes complete disregard for peoples lives and rights.

The Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Marija Buric, also condemned his death.

Blogger jailed for liking a caricature depicting Belarusian dictator dies in prison Mykola Klimovich, a 61-year-old blogger and social activist from Pinsk, died in prison, Human rights center Viasna reported. In February, Klimovich was sentenced to a year in prison for reacting to a caricature depicting Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko in the Odnoklasniki social network. Kyiv IndependentThe Kyiv Independent news desk

May 5 marked 1,000 days since the fraudulent Belarusian presidential election on Aug. 9, 2020, and the ensuing crackdown by Lukashenkos regime on Belarusian civil society.

Since then, it is estimated that over 38,000 people have been detained for politically motivated reasons in Belarus. Over 2,240 people are currently recognized to be political prisoners, and around 1,500 are currently detained.

Political prisoners in Belarus face extremely harsh conditions, and there have been many reports of torture and arbitrary punishment.

For example, Viktar Babaryka, who ran against Lukashenko in the 2020 election and is currently serving a 14-year sentence for politically motivated charges, was hospitalized on April 27 with a collapsed lung and traces of severe beating.

In November, his staff coordinator Maria Kalesnikava was admitted to intensive care after suffering severe health issues.

Belarus drops in World Press Freedom Index

Belarus dropped from 153rd to 157th in the 2023 World Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), ranking press freedom in 180 countries.

Europes most dangerous country for journalists until Russias invasion of Ukraine, Belarus continues its persecution of independent media outlets and their reporters, the RSF assessment said.

Lukashenkos regime intensified its crackdown against Belarusian media in the aftermath of the fraudulent presidential election in 2020. According to RSF, 37 journalists are currently in custody in Belarus.

According to the Belarusian Journalist Association, around 400 Belarusian journalists have been forced to leave the country to avoid persecution.

Just last week, on May 3, the Minsk regional court sentenced Raman Pratasevich, a former editor for Belarusian Telegram channel Nexta, to eight years in prison for allegedly participating in a so-called extremist group and other politically motivated charges.

On March 17, Belarusian authorities sentenced two staff members with TUT.by, the largest independent online media outlet in Belarus, before being forcibly closed, to 12 years in prison.

The only two countries doing worse than Belarus in 2023 are Russia and Turkey, which dropped 16 spots within a year.

PACE recognizes Lukashenko complicit in forced deportation of Ukrainian children

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted a resolution recognizing the forced deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia as genocide, noting that Lukashenkos regime is complicit.

In a statement issued on April 27, PACE said the self-proclaimed President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, is one of the named individuals for whom direct responsibility has been alleged by international human rights organizations.

PACE stated that the forced relocation of Ukrainian children and efforts to impose Russian culture on them matches with the international definition of genocide.

It automatically makes Lukashenko guilty of genocide, said Ukrainian lawmaker Oleksii Honcharenko, a member of Ukraines delegation to PACE.

Belarusian MP Andrei Savinykh dismissed the resolution, calling it criminal content, and said that to compare the rescue of people from the zone of military conflicts with genocide means turning everything upside down.

Explainer: What we know about Russias deportation of Ukrainian children In March, the International Criminal Court made a historic ruling: It issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, the Russian official overseeing the forced deportations of Ukrainian children to Russia. The statement by ICC says that Putin is allegedly respo Kyiv IndependentDaria Shulzhenko

Earlier, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, Russias Childrens Rights Commissioner, for the illegal deportation and relocation of Ukrainian children. Over 19,000 children have been de facto abducted from the occupied territories and sent to Russia since February 2022.

Polish truckers block only remaining border crossing with Belarus

Polish truck drivers have blocked the only-remaining border crossing between Poland and Belarus to protest so-called unfair competition. The protestors have cut off the Koroszczyn checkpoint  Polands last remaining crossing with Belarus.

The truck drivers complain that Ukrainian and Belarusian drivers are able to provide the same services at lower prices, which they say risks putting Polish employees out of business.

Poland shut down all but two border crossings with Belarus after the Belarusian court sentenced Belarusian-Polish activist and journalist Andrzej Poczobut to eight years in prison. Only one of the checkpoints is suitable for cargo transit. Warsaw said earlier it is considering closing all remaining border crossings into Belarus.

Soviet Victory Day in Belarus

The Spotlight segment provides readers with the historical context of contemporary events in Belarus.

A post-Soviet country, Belarus celebrates the Soviet-introduced Victory Day on May 9  a day later than most other countries. The holiday commemorates the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.

The difference in the date is a result of the time difference.

Germanys surrender came into force on May 8 at around 11 p.m. CET, which was past midnight on May 9 in Moscow.

Moscow dubbed World War II the Great Patriotic War to both rally the population around the war effort and distance itself from the fact that the Soviet Union had initially signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, an agreement with Nazi Germany signed to partition Eastern Europe between them at the start of the war.

Prior, Ukraine also celebrated Victory Day on May 9 until 2015, when former President Petro Poroshenko changed the holidays name to Victory Day over Nazism in World War II. Poroshenko then named May 8 the Day of Remembrance and Reconciliation.

Just a few days ago, President Volodymyr Zelensky submitted a bill to move Victory Day to May 8 to match most of Europe.

Official estimates indicate that Belarus lost 2.2 million people  nearly a quarter of its population at the time  in World War II. Nazi Germany also executed over 65,000 Jews near Maly Trostenets, according to Yad Vashem.

Lukashenkos regime weaponizes Victory Day, using it as a tool of propaganda to propel the narrative of an East-West divide and justify his cling to power.
During Covid restrictions, seals found Belgian beaches to be deserted resting spots. Now that's changing.

Visitors to Belgium's coast are having to get used to North Sea visitors not seen for a while -- dozens of seals that are using the short sandy coastline as a resting place.

The reason? During the long period of Covid restrictions between early 2020 and early 2022, the sea mammals found the sandy stretches to be calm, without the usual crowds of people.

Now with people returning, and ahead of what could be a bumper summer season, the challenge for Belgian animal protection groups is to educate the public on how to coexist with dozens of seals getting some downtime.

The exact number of the seals using the coast is hard to pin down but is probably between 100 and 200, according to Kelle Moreau, a marine biologist who is spokesman for the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences.

The two species that waddle up here are grey seals, whose adults can weigh 300 kilogrammes (660 pounds), and common or harbour seals, a smaller mammal that weighs up to 165 kilogrammes.

The beaches, though, are essential for seal pups, which hang back in relative safety on land until they get hungry enough that instinct pushes them to go into the sea to find food.

That is why, Moreau explained, it is vital that humans do not feed them.

"At the start of the lives, the pups have to spend a few days on the beach until they get hungry. If someone feeds them, they won't go into the sea and learn how to hunt," he said.

To keep beachgoers at bay, volunteers rope off areas that seals are using.

In one spot near Belgium's main coastal town of Ostend, a dozen people stand behind a rope fascinated by two seals on the sand.

Around these zones, volunteers with the North Seal Team wearing orange fluorescent vests tell people that dogs have to be kept on a leash.

"We take turns all day long, from seven in the morning to 10 or 11 at night," Inge de Bruycker, founder of the group, tells AFP in between calling out to curious passers-by to be less noisy.

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The seals "need to be left alone because they get very stressed very quickly.

"And when you go near them, if they go swimming again they can drown. If they are tired, they can drown."

Keeping dogs away is important, she said, because "seals have bitten some dogs, and dogs have bitten some seals"

"We don't want that happening to people, especially not to children."

- Injured seals -

North Seal Team, created soon after Covid restrictions were imposed in Belgium, worked with Ostend municipal authorities to devise rules for behaviour around beached seals, notably on giving the animals 30 metres (yards) of safe distance.

For the seagoing mammals, the return of people to coastline they had thought deserted is an adjustment.

"The seals became used to coming to rest up on the beaches and people are generally happy when they see them. They want to pet them, take selfies with them," said Moreau, who works for the Belgium natural sciences institute.

Some people have mistakenly thought the seals were inadvertently beached and tried to push them back into the sea. "But these are wild animals!" he said.

In some cases, however, the seals do need direct human care.

That is the role of the Seal Rehabilitation Center.

It is located in the Sea Life Blankenberge aquarium, some 20 kilometres (12 miles) from Ostend.

North Seal Team volunteers contact it through WhatsApp groups when they come across a seal that might need attention.

Increasing numbers of people walking the beaches also get in touch.

"They send us images of the animal and we decide if we need to step in or not," said Steve Vermote, head of Sea Life Blanenberge.

"We are actually having more interventions because some seals are perfectly fine to actually survive in the wild and they might have a minor wound, but we see seals with bigger wounds these days."

Most of the treated animals are released after two months. But some, like a blind female named Lily, are taken in indefinitely.

Last year, the centre treated a dozen grey seals and three harbour seals.

It also gave care to several seals with neck wounds, probably caused by a type of fixed fishing net that is not easy for them to spot.

The Royal Institute of Natural Sciences says those types of nets were the cause of dozens of seal deaths in 2021, which led to Belgium banning them for recreational fishing.

Last year, the remains of 54 seals were counted on Belgian beaches, according to the institute, noting that that was half the number from 2021.

For Moreau, that is an indication that the new ban is working, and that humans and seals are able to find ways to coexist.

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The Biden administration on Friday faced new legal hurdles to its plans to manage a migration crisis as Title 42 pandemic-era border restrictions came to an end Thursday night.

PHOTO: A migrant mother holds her daughter as she asks U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials about new asylum rules at the San Ysidro Port of Entry, May 11, 2023, in Tijuana, Mexico. (Gregory Bull/AP)

MORE: As Title 42 expires, is Joe Biden doing what he condemned Donald Trump for?

Judge blocks quick release plan

A federal judge in Florida late Thursday temporarily blocked U.S. Customs and Border Protection from releasing migrants without a formal notice to appear in court.

The parole authority CBP uses to release migrants quickly comes with requirements to report back to authorities, even if no court date has been set.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas sharply criticized the ruling by Judge T. Kent Wetherell in an interview Friday morning with ABC "Good Morning America" co-anchor George Stephanopoulos.

"This is a harmful ruling and the Department of Justice is considering our options," Mayorkas said.

PHOTO: Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas speaks during the daily news briefing at the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House, May 11, 2023, in Washington, D.C (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

MORE: Biden administration officials preview plans for end of Title 42

ACLU lawsuit

Separately, the American Civil Liberties Union and other immigrant advocates filed a lawsuit challenging the new Biden administration restrictions on asylum taking effect Friday.

"People fleeing persecution have a legal right to seek asylum, no matter how they reach the border," litigation chief Melissa Crow with the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies said in a statement. "Our asylum system was designed to protect people fleeing imminent threats to their lives, who do not have the luxury of waiting for an elusive appointment or for an application to be adjudicated in a country where they are in danger."

PHOTO: A Border Patrol agent speaks with migrants after they got off a bus at a processing center, May 11, 2023, in Brownsville, Texas. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)

MORE: What is Title 8 immigration law?

The new limits on asylum target migrants who cross illegally between federal southwest border check points.

Those non-Mexicans who do not apply for asylum elsewhere will face expedited deportation.

PHOTO: A Border Patrol stand by as migrant children and families arrive at a processing center, May 11, 2023, in Brownsville, Texas. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)

MORE: As Title 42 expires, is Joe Biden doing what he condemned Donald Trump for?

The Department of Homeland Security has braced for an expected surge of migration timed to the end of the controversial pandemic protocols, under Title 42 of the U.S. Code, that allowed for the rapid expulsion of millions of migrants.

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"And now we are using our immigration authorities, our traditional immigration authorities, that deliver tougher consequences for people who cross the border illegally," Mayorkas said.

Title 8 of the U.S. Code is traditional immigration law. And while it does allow for expedited deportations, migrants processed under these laws have typically been afforded more time to make an asylum claim.

Part of the Biden administration's plan involves ramping up the deportation process and imposing penalties on those who try to reenter the U.S. illegally.

The administration has also created new, but limited, routes for migrants to obtain legal status from outside the U.S. A parole process for Cubans, Haitians, Venezuelans and Nicaraguans offers temporary status and the chance to apply for asylum for up to 30,000 qualified migrants.

"We have built lawful, safe and orderly pathways for them to come to the United States," Mayorkas said. "They are going to meet tough consequences if they arrive at our border irregularly."

No migrant surge as expected, officials say

A chief architect of Biden administration border policy said Friday the end of Title 42 has so far not resulted in the massive surge in migration many expected.

"Overnight, we saw similar patterns to what we've seen over the past several days," Assistant Secretary for Border and Immigration Policy Blas Nunez-Neto told reporters Friday. "We continued to encounter high levels of non-citizens at the border but we did not see a substantial increase overnight or an influx at midnight."

However, officials remain concerned that the recent court order from a federal judge in Texas could put Border Patrol stations far over capacity. Nunez-Neto echoed Mayorkas in saying that the ruling will be "harmful" for non-citizens and Border Patrol agents alike.

"We will comply with the court order and we are also assessing our next steps." Nunez-Neto said. " But taking a step back, the lawsuits we are facing -- frankly from both sides of the aisle -- really clearly demonstrate just how fundamentally broken our immigration system is."

In a move that could help relieve some capacity issues, ICE is adding thousands of detention beds now that pandemic restrictions have lifted.

"These new COVID mitigation protocols will eliminate the requirement that ICE perform COVID tests on all detainees at intake, transfer or release, which will allow us to process detained non-citizens much more quickly and better manage our detention bed space," Nunez-Neto said.

Further, CBP One app appointments are now expanded to 1,000 per day, although that only accounts for a fraction of those who have sought to cross the border on a daily basis since Biden took office.

Separate legal action led by the state of Texas is also challenging the DHS plan to parole Haitian, Cuban, Nicaraguan and Venezuelan migrants into the U.S.

Nunez-Neto said it was "unfortunate" that Texas is challenging the program despite benefiting from the reduction in migration from those countries, calling the state's reasoning "purely political."

State Department official Cheryl L. Fernandes with the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration said the rollout of the administration's new regional processing centers continues along with additional resources to be provided to migrants online.

"Once fully operational, this initiative will make it easier for migrants to access lawful pathways from where they are and help them avoid putting their lives and their life savings in the hands of criminal actors," Fernandes said.

Asked by ABC News why the processing centers were not set up earlier in the administration, Fernandes did not go into specifics, but said the initiative is "new and innovative" so they wanted to make sure they got it right.

"It's a first of its kind initiative across the hemisphere," Fernandes said. "And it's something that we want to make sure we roll out properly and in the right sequence. So, we're working with our partners to make sure that we can have that successful rollout."

Biden administration faces new legal hurdles at border as Title 42 ends originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
A young migrant holding swimming inner tubes stands on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande, from where migrants swim across to the U.S. side, in Matamoros, Mexico, Thursday, May 11, 2023. Pandemic-related U.S. asylum restrictions, known as Title 42, are to expire May 11. | Fernando Llano, Associated Press

With the number of people seeking entry to the U.S. at its southern border expected to rise with the end of Title 42 on Thursday, the Biden administration is taking a strong posture against those who try to enter illegally.

We are a nation of immigrants and a nation of laws, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said at the White House briefing Thursday. We are doing everything possible to enforce those laws in a safe, orderly and humane way.

Mayorkas said the U.S. is already seeing large numbers of encounters along some parts of its border with Mexico and expects the numbers to continue and grow because of the end of Title 42, which expires with the end of the national COVID-19 public health emergency.

Mayorkas said smugglers have spread false information that the U.S.-Mexico border will be open and that it is not.

I want to be very clear, our borders are not open, he said. People who cross our border unlawfully and without a legal basis to remain will be promptly processed and removed.

Mayorkas said the current situation was the outcome of Congress leaving a broken outdated immigration in place for over two decades despite unanimous agreement that we desperately need legislative reform.

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In addition to boots on the ground, a Department of Homeland Security program announced $332.5 million for humanitarian support that will go to local governments and service organizations. The agency is also running a digital ad campaign in South and Central America warning people that crossing into the U.S. illegally is a crime.

President Joe Biden said Tuesday he expects the U.S.-Mexico border to be chaotic for a while and said the U.S. needs to raise the debt limit so there can be more agents at the border.

We need more at the border, not less at the border, Biden said.

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., accused the Biden administration of not being prepared.

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The Biden administration had two years to prepare for this and did not do so and our state is going to bear the brunt and migrants will be in crisis, she told Face the Nation.

Sinema called the situation at the border a humanitarian crisis and a crisis for our border communities who do not have the infrastructure to manage this kind of influx.

Sinema co-sponsored legislation that would keep Title 42 in place without a public health emergency for two years. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, co-sponsored the legislation. In a statement, Tillis said the bill would prevent the catastrophic fallout at the border we will soon see if no action is taken.

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House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said in response to Bidens comments that the border would be chaotic, saying Wednesday, With respect, Mr. President, its been chaotic for two years because of your actions.

House Republicans proposed a bill that would expand restrictions on those seeking to enter the U.S. and would allow for additional miles of border wall to be built. McCarthy called the bill the strongest border security bill to come through Congress in more than 100 years, but its unlikely to pass in the Senate and Biden has said he would veto it.
Guatemalan migrants deported from the United States walk on the airport runway upon their arrival at the Air Force Base in Guatemala City on Thursday.

EL PASO, Texas  As Title 42 was set to expire and exacerbate chaos at the U.S.-Mexico border, the leader of one of the United States key partners was out of lockstep with the Biden administration. Instead, he was dialing Republican lawmakers in Congress.

At issue was whether Guatemala could take in migrants with their sights set on the U.S.-Mexico border, part of the Department of Homeland Security's response as the pandemic-era policy that allowed the U.S. to quickly expel migrants ends.

But Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei's calls to lawmakers gave Republicans new fodder for bashing President Joe Biden over his immigration policies.

Yesterday, the president of Guatemala calls me and he says, Tony, I can't get a hold of anyone in the administration, Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, who represents more than 800 miles of the Texas-Mexico border, told the El Paso Times and USA TODAY about a May 3 conversation.

Guatemala's ambassador to the United States was more tempered, saying the president has spoken to 10 lawmakers, both Republicans and Democrats. He declined to identify them by name. He confirmed a conversation with Gonzales.

A U.S. official Thursday night denied the claim of a lack of communications between both governments, saying the Biden administration has regular communications with the Guatemalan government at all levels, including with the president and that the two presidents have spoken on many occasions.

Were in a really good place with Guatemala on regional processing centers, the U.S. official said. The plan is to start with Guatemalan nationals.

Another U.S. official familiar with the plan told USA TODAY the Guatemalan foreign minister had previously agreed "in principle" to help with the processing centers but that his government had follow-up questions about implementation that needed to be worked out.

Guatemala asks for border support

Alfonso Quinonez, the Guatemalan ambassador, said Giammattei did not beg for anything but did ask for U.S. support to help Guatemala stop illegal migration through the country. The assistance would include surveillance technology, transportation vehicles, and food and shelter for police officers and military personnel.

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He briefed them on what we are doing" as Title 42 is ending, Quinonez said. "We have the political will to stop irregular migration  we have limited resources."

As late as Thursday, the countrys Ministry of Foreign Affairs had still not confirmed publicly whether they would be collaborating with the Biden administration's plan, Guatemalan paper Prensa Libre reported.

The variance between Biden and Giammattei and the communications with the GOP have been years in the making.

Under the Biden administration, the U.S. government has sharply criticized the weakening of anti-corruption efforts in Guatemala under Giammattei. U.S. authorities canceled the visa of the countrys last top prosecutor after roughly two dozen prosecutors, judges and magistrates fled into exile out of fear of government prosecution for their anti-corruption crusades.

Last year, Giammattei's government signed a nearly $1 million contract with a major supporter of former President Donald Trump to allegedly seek influence with US officials, foreign lobby records show.

Guatemala, saddled with extreme poverty, has historically seen tens of thousands of its citizens migrate each year to the U.S. But with thousands of other migrants now coming from South America and nations outside the Western Hemisphere, Guatemala has found itself the second-to-last stop, before Mexico, on a major smuggling route north.

Biden vowed to 'do everything possible' for migrants. Now record numbers of people are dying

Guatemala and regional processing centers

But Gonzales, the Republican, said the Guatemalan president painted a dire picture.

Gonzales said, quoting Giammattei: I'm not begging you for money. I'm asking you for help. Can you help set up a call or have the Biden administration work with me so that way we can fix this? Because in his eyes, Guatemala is our southern border. He goes, Theyre here today; a week from now they will be in El Paso or Brownsville.

Some Republican lawmakers say Guatemala has bemoaned its border crisis for years.

Sen. Bill Haggerty, R-Tenn., said Thursday he also met with Giammattei at his presidential palace in Guatemala City in May 2021. During their meeting, Haggerty said the Guatemalan president expressed he'd "lost all control of his southern border."

Meanwhile, Guatemalan officials have also publicly pushed back on initiatives from the United States.

Bidens Department of Homeland Security announced on April 27 that it would open regional processing centers in Guatemala and Colombia to reduce irregular migration and facilitate safe, orderly, humane and lawful pathways from the Americas, to countries such as the United States, Canada and Spain.

"We want to be apparent and say very, very, very clearly that Guatemala isnt a safe third country and it never will be a safe third country, Mario Bucaro, the top official in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told reporters in a May 2 press conference streamed online through a Guatemalan national television channel.

Contributing: Rebecca Morin, Associated Press

Guatemalan migrants who were deported from the U.S. deplane at La Aurora International Airport in Guatemala City on Thursday.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Guatemala pushes back on Biden's proposed immigration Title 42 fix
By Jeff Mason and Arshad Mohammed

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez underscored their support for Ukraine in the war with Russia on Friday during a White House meeting that also touched on migration and defense cooperation.

During a meeting in the Oval Office, Biden said that "together we're supporting Ukraine," and Sanchez squarely blamed the war on Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"We support Ukraine. Of course we work for a lasting and just peace that respects fully the international law and also the principles of the U.N. charter," Sanchez said. "Make no mistake, in this war there is an aggressor and a victim, and the aggressor is President Putin."

Sanchez has expressed "unconditional support" for Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and backs his peace proposal, which includes demands to restore Ukraine's territory to the status quo before Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea.

But while Madrid agrees with Washington on the illegality of Russia's February 2022 invasion, Sanchez was expected to convey the divergent views of China and Brazil and propose listening to the views of non-NATO nations hurt by the war, a Spanish diplomatic source said ahead of the meeting.

The United States has reacted skeptically to China's 12-point peace plan, saying if Beijing were serious about its first point on respecting sovereignty it should urge Russia to withdraw.

Similarly, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva drew U.S. criticism for suggesting the West had been "encouraging" war by arming Ukraine.

A White House official said China and Brazil could play a role in eventual peace talks, but stressed that an end to the war must respect the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity.

"We support Zelenskiy's call for a just end to Russia's war of choice that respects certain principles, including sovereignty and territorial integrity," the official said ahead of the meeting between Biden and Sanchez.

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At the start of their meeting, Biden noted Washington and Madrid had signed a defense cooperation agreement and both countries were dealing with migration issues.

"We're both facing the challenges of migration in the Western Hemisphere. You're doing a heck of a job," Biden said.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason and Arshad Mohammed in Washington; Additional reporting by Belen Carreno; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Rosalba O'Brien)
President Biden plans to nominate former House Democratic campaign chief, Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.), for representative of the United States to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Maloney lost his seat as the House flipped to GOP control last year, while he was at the helm of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Bidens nomination announced on Friday would give Maloney the rank of ambassador on behalf of the U.S. at the Paris-based OECD, which is an intergovernmental organization made up of more than 30 democracies with market-based economies.

Maloney would replace the current ambassador, former Delaware Gov. Jack Markell (D), who was nominated Friday to serve as ambassador to Italy. Maloney and Markells nominations will require Senate confirmation.

Biden noted in a statement that Maloney chaired both the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committees Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee and the House Agriculture Committees Commodity Markets, Digital Assets, and Rural Development Subcommittee.

Before Congress, he served as former President Clintons White House staff secretary, helped found a financial services software company, and worked as a partner at two global law firms, Biden noted.

Maloney was the first openly LGBTQ person ever elected to Congress from New York and, having been elected to House leadership in 2020, is the highest-ranking openly LGBTQ person to serve in the House.

His name was floated by former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for secretary of Labor when Marty Walsh first announced he was stepping down and before current nominee Julie Su was named. Pelosi at the time said she would love to see Maloney in public service, adding that its up to the White House if that means Labor secretary or another spot.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
US President Joe Biden (R) makes remarks alongside Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez at the White House

US President Joe Biden on Friday expressed his gratitude to Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez for his support for Ukraine after the Russian invasion, and for the strengthening of Madrid's military ties with Washington.

"I can't thank you enough for your significant support for Ukraine," the US leader told his guest in the Oval Office ahead of bilateral talks that also touched on trade and immigration.

He also thanked Sanchez for allowing the United States to bolster its military presence in his country, with the US Navy upping the number of its destroyers at the Rota naval base from four to six.

"We are both facing the challenges of migration in the Western hemisphere," Biden added, as the US government implemented significant changes to the rules for migrants trying to enter on the southern border with Mexico.

The United States, Spain and Canada have pledged to cooperate on this politically hot topic for the US president.

Biden himself recently said he feared a chaotic situation at the US-Mexico border, which more than 10,000 visa-free migrants have crossed every day recently ahead of the lifting of a pandemic-era restriction that had allowed officials to summarily expel border crossers.

"Your commitment to democracy is an example for everyone," said the Spanish leader, adding that the United States and Spain were "allies and friends."

Sanchez noted that Spain was preparing to take over the presidency of the European Union, with the aim, among other things, of bolstering cooperation with Latin America.

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The law in Colombia, the world's largest cocaine producer, punishes the use, construction, marketing, possession or transportation of a semi-submersible by up to 14 years' imprisonment

The largest Colombian "narco sub" ever recorded -- some 30 meters (100 feet) long and three meters wide -- has been decommissioned in the Pacific, with three tons of cocaine found on board, the country's navy reported Friday.

The semi-submersible vessel was intercepted Tuesday on its way to Central America, one of the most common routes for drug smuggling to the United States, the world's largest consumer of Colombian cocaine.

The detained crew -- aged 45, 54 and 63 -- are all Colombians and claimed to have been "forced by a drug trafficking organization" to take the sub to Central America, the navy said in a statement.

In three decades, the Colombian navy has seized 228 such drug-laden semi-submersibles, which are never fully underwater but used by traffickers to elude detection by coast guard and other authorities.

Some were bound for the United States, while others were intercepted in the Atlantic, headed for Europe.

This was the largest Colombian narco sub decommissioned since records began in 1993.

The seizure represented a blow of some $103 million to the drug trade, the navy said.

The law in Colombia, the world's largest cocaine producer, punishes the use, construction, marketing, possession or transportation of a semi-submersible by up to 14 years in prison.

In 2021, cultivation of the coca plant -- from which cocaine is extracted -- stretched over 204,000 hectares (505,000 acres), according to the United Nations.

This was the highest figure since monitoring began 21 years earlier, and went hand-in-hand with a rise in cocaine production from 1,010 tons in 2020 to 1,400 tons.

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Hormone therapy can be a necessary treatment for some people experiencing early or premature menopause.

Hormone therapy can be a necessary treatment for some people experiencing early or premature menopause.

For half of the population, menopause is something that occurs during middle age and is a sign of the end of the reproductive years.

Menopause is a natural process that occurs in women when their ovaries stop producing eggs, causing a permanent cessation of menstrual periods, said Dr. Thomas Enyart, an OB-GYN with Orlando Health Physician Associates in Florida.

For most people, this happens at an average age of 52, according to Dr. Stephanie Faubion, the director of the Mayo Clinic Center for Womens Health and medical director for the North American Menopause Society. Overall, a normal age range for menopause is 45 and older.

But in certain cases, menopause starts at a younger age  and that can sometimes be a problem. According to Faubion, 5% to 7% undergo early menopause, while 1% to 2% experience so-called premature menopause at an even earlier stage in life.

Speaking to HuffPost, experts explained what you should know about going through menopause early.

What is early menopause?

As its name suggests, early menopause is when menopause occurs before the natural age. Specifically, Faubion said its when menopause starts for those under 45. There is otherwise no difference between menopause and early menopause, she noted.

It is not the same as perimenopause, which refers to the few month or years before menopause begins. During perimenopause, people may start noticing changes and inconsistencies in their menstrual cycle (along with a few other issues) up until menopause happens.

What are the signs of early menopause?

The signs and symptoms of early menopause are similar to those of natural menopause, including hot flashes, night sweats, vaginal dryness, mood changes and difficulty sleeping, Enyart said, noting that emotional distress, anxiety and depression can also develop.

The difference is just the age at which these symptoms start, which is under 45 for early menopause and after 45 for regular menopause, according to Dr. Leah Millheiser, a clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Stanford Medicine in California and the chief medical officer at telemedicine company Evernow.

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Additionally, if your period stops for at least three months when youre under 45 (and not pregnant), this is a sign of early menopause and needs to be checked out by a doctor, Faubion said.

Its important to take note of a missing period since some people who go through early menopause do not have the typical symptoms of night sweats and hot flashes, she added. And without symptoms like these, theres not always a huge drive for them to get into a doctors office to see whats going on, but theyre at risk in terms of bone, brain and heart [health] if they dont use hormone therapy, she said.

They may also have a higher risk of developing certain cancers, including breast and ovarian cancer, added Enyart.

Hot flashes, night sweats and other common menopause symptoms may be signs of early or premature menopause.

Hot flashes, night sweats and other common menopause symptoms may be signs of early or premature menopause.

Who is at risk of early menopause?

Most of the time, we dont know the cause of early menopause, said Faubion. So its therefore hard to say whos at risk.

While it can seem random, there are a few groups of people who have a higher likelihood of experiencing it. Chemotherapy or radiation therapy can induce menopause in some, Millheiser said, and ovary removal results in menopause as well. Family history  for example, if your mother, grandmother or sister went through early menopause  can put you at higher risk too.

There are also some other factors to keep in mind.

If a woman started her period before the age of 11, she is at a higher risk of undergoing early menopause, Millheiser said.

And those who smoke are likely to experience menopause an average of two years earlier than nonsmokers, she added. But Faubion noted that this two-year difference does not necessarily mean that menopause will begin under age 45 in all cases.

Additionally, some autoimmune diseases and genetic mutations can result in early menopause, Faubion said.

Early menopause is different than premature menopause.

There are two different categories of menopause that happen before the natural age: early menopause and premature menopause, which is also known as premature ovarian insufficiency.

This is when menopause occurs in people under the age of 40. For anyone experiencing premature menopause, it is critical that those women receive hormone therapy up until the natural age of menopause, Faubion said.

These women ... are at increased risk for heart disease, dementia, osteoporosis, mood disorders, sexual dysfunction and early mortality, she added.

By utilizing hormone therapy until the natural age of menopause, you can lessen these kinds of health issues, Faubion noted.

Who is at risk for premature menopause?

Whereas early menopause is just like oh, I went through menopause earlier than most, [with] premature ovarian insufficiency, typically theres a reason that somebody has gone through it, said Millheiser.

It can be due to a medical condition, family history or autoimmune disorder, or it can be chromosomal, she said. Hypothyroidism or rheumatoid arthritis can put you at risk, Millheiser said.

Additionally, people with the chromosomal condition Turner syndrome are at heightened risk of developing premature menopause, along with those who suffer from chronic fatigue syndrome, she said.

If youre going through premature ovarian insufficiency, you should really be speaking to your clinician and trying to identify the cause, Millheiser added.

What are the signs of premature menopause?

If your period unexpectedly stops when youre under 40 (and not pregnant), this is a sign that you should see a medical professional, Faubion said.

If a woman is not being hormonally manipulated  so, not on a birth control pill, doesnt have an IUD [intrauterine device] in  and shes missing periods, thats not normal, she said.

Night sweats, hot flashes and the other signs of symptoms of menopause are also signs of premature menopause. Like with early menopause, some people dont have symptoms at all, Faubion added.

For people under 40, there are issues with fertility and family planning that need to be considered. Theres the protection of bone density, which is extremely important, she said.

Its [critical] ... that those women use hormone therapy up until the natural age of menopause. It doesnt matter if theyre having symptoms or not.

Heres what to do if you think youre in early or premature menopause.

If a person thinks that they are going through early or premature menopause, they should talk to a doctor.

The key is that they see somebody whos knowledgeable, Faubion said. You can go to menopause.org to find a practitioner who is certified in menopause management, she added. This can help decrease the possibility of a misdiagnosis, which some patients encounter.

A lot of clinicians dont [understand menopause], Millheiser said. And that is not because they didnt want to learn about it; its because the medical field has failed clinicians in the United States in terms of their awareness of menopause  what it is, how to treat it.

She added that as a menopause practitioner at a major academic center, I see women who come in who are like you are the fourth doctor I have seen for my menopause concerns  and these are often patients with normal menopause symptoms and no significant comorbidities.

Thats a common narrative, Millheiser said.

Starting treatment is important, and the right medical professional can help you connect with other people who are going through menopause before the natural age  so you feel less alone.

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Most states have legalized or decriminalized marijuana in some way and that means more legalized cannabis shops have been opening around the country in recent years.

But even though these businesses are legal, most dont have the same access to financing as other businesses in large part because marijuana is still illegal at the federal level.

The legal cannabis industry accounts for more than 428,000 jobs and more than $25 billion in sales in 2021 alone, according to lawmakers.

Still, most cannabis business owners face barriers when trying to access basic banking needs like opening bank accounts or getting small business loans.

Only around ten percent of the banks and credit unions in the United States are reporting working with cannabis businesses at all and of those, many do not have on-going relationships with cannabis business clients, said Morgan Fox, Political Director for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).

Read: New Florida bill gives second chance for Black farmers to get pot licenses

As long as cannabis is a schedule I drug, the anti-money laundering rules apply. Banking secrecy rules apply. So, a lot of banks are risk averse, said Michael Correia, Director of Government Relations for the National Cannabis Industry Association. If youre a small business owner, you go to your bank and say heres my idea to open up a pizza joint, open up a restaurant, and they say here is the business plan and open up financing. Cannabis industry, they cant do that a lot.

This means most of the cannabis shops operate entirely in cash-only, which is making them a growing target for robberies and other crimes.

This week, the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee discussed a bill aimed at giving cannabis business owners the same access to financing as every other business.

Its called the Secure and Fair Enforcement Banking Act of 2023 also known as the SAFE Banking Act.

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Read: Some parents call on federal government to regulate cannabis edibles

Without full access to the banking and payment system, legal cannabis businesses are forced to operate in the shadows, said Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH). They cant access SBA loans and know that even if they try to apply for a bank loan, they may go through all the costs and efforts only to be denied.

The bill has broad bipartisan support in the House and Senate.

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) introduced the bill in the Senate.

To be clear, banks will not be forced to provide services to these businesses, said Merkley. It simply creates a safe space for both the financial institutions and the legal cannabis industry.

Read: Customs agents seize 909 pounds of marijuana in Louisville

This bill would make it much easier for businesses to put their cash into banks, said Daines.

But Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) expressed concerns about opposition from some law enforcement agencies during the committee hearing.

Department of Justice and national law enforcement groups have expressed concerns that the Safe Banking Act would create loopholes in our money laundering laws, making it harder to catch criminals that traffic weapons, fentanyl and even people, said Scott.

The Cannabis industry and supporters of the bill, meanwhile, argue having a cash-focused industry makes it easier for criminals.

Keeping this multi-billion-dollar industry largely off the books and largely in cash is a criminal organizations dream because theres absolutely no oversight and transparency, said Fox.

Its a lot harder to run from regulators and have money laundering when you have banking services because its not a cash environment, said Correia. It would give a layer of security.

Correia said addressing banking needs is just the first step to improving conditions for the cannabis industry and said Congress also needs to streamline things like tax rules and interstate regulations.

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A couple was forced to leave their table at a Memphis restaurant because a manager twice accused them of smelling like weed, according to a federal lawsuit.

The couple, who are both Black, didnt realize the Houstons Restaurant manager, who is white, was speaking to them when she first asked them to leave over the smell of marijuana, the lawsuit says.

The pair, who were visiting from Mississippi, denied they smelled like weed, a complaint filed May 11 in federal court says.

When the manager returned to their table on Aug. 7 with a police officer, she made them leave the restaurant, saying you smell like weed, according to the complaint.

Now, Dechandria Bass and Dwan Brown have filed a $1 million lawsuit against Hillstone Restaurant Group, Inc., the company running Houstons, its general manager and the manager who forced them to leave the establishment, the complaint shows.

The couple accuses the defendants of racial discrimination and racial profiling by denying to serve them food and beverages and accusing them of smelling like weed without evidence. Bass and Brown are both seeking $500,000 each in damages.

The company told McClatchy News in a statement that it is aware of the lawsuit but declined to comment on the pending litigation.

Our company does not discriminate, the statement said. We are proud that guests of all races choose to dine regularly at Houstons and appreciate our hospitality.

The case stems from when Bass and Brown sat down at Houstons while on a trip visiting Browns mother and cousin in Memphis, according to the complaint.

Moments after they joined Browns mother and cousin at the table, the manager, who would soon accuse them of smelling like marijuana, initially walked by, the complaint says.

Marijuana use is illegal in Tennessee.

The second time the manager approached their table and made the weed accusation with a police officer present, Bass and Brown were escorted outside, according to the complaint.

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While outside, a second police officer told them the manager regularly interacted this way towards Black patrons, the complaint says.

The defendants publicly shamed the couple and subjected them to humiliation witnessed by other customers, the complaint says.

Bass and Brown are seeking damages for embarrassment, emotional distress and mental anguish they experienced as a result of the incident, according to the complaint.

Defendants did not provide Plaintiffs with food and services on the same basis as similarly situated white customers, the complaint says.

Hillstone Restaurant Group operates several restaurants nationwide, including additional Houstons restaurants in Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and New Jersey.

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The negotiations on the Black Sea grain initiative ended in Istanbul

The United Nations and Turkey, as the signatories of the initiative, recognize its significance in maintaining global food security and insist on its sustainable operation, he said.

Read also: U.S. State Department urges continuation of grain deal as Turkey allows for two-month extension

Therefore, they have proposed further discussions to unblock the initiative in an online format.

According to Kubrakov, the Ukrainian delegation emphasized the importance of extending and expanding the grain initiative for a longer period to provide assurance and confidence to both the global and domestic markets.

Read also: Black Sea grain deal talks in deadlock

But, first of all, it is necessary to resume registration of the incoming fleet and conduct inspections in accordance with the procedures of the Joint Coordination Center (JCC) without any unwarranted delays, the minister said. The JCC failed to reach an agreement on issuing permits to new ships to participate in the Black Sea grain initiative on May 5. Ukrainian authorities have pointed at the finger at Russian participants in the initiative as the reason for the delays, accusing them of deliberately dragging their feet to damage Ukraines image.

Read also: Why Russia is blocking the grain corridor  Ukraines Agriculture Ministry comments

On April 24, Russias Defense Ministry accused Ukraine of violating the agreement by attacking Sevastopol (in occupied Crimea) with naval drones, allegedly launched from the port of Odesa. Russia warned of a potential threat to the deals extension beyond May 18.

In response, Ukrainian military intelligence spokesperson Andriy Yusov denied the accusations, saying that any Ukrainian operations in Crimea are focused on exclusively military targets.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has urged the United Nations to assist in the renewal of the grain agreement.

Read also: Kuleba says Russias upcoming presidency of UN Security Council is a bad joke

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
A Black-owned feminine care brand has gone from selling online to being stocked in a leading retail corporation.







Femly, an organic period care company, has hit the shelves of CVS.

Were super proud to announce that Femly pads and panty liners are available in select CVS stores, Femly said in an Instagram post.

The products can be found in CVS stores in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, as of this writing.

Founded in 2016, Femly was birthed after founder Arion Long faced a health scare  a cervical tumor  most likely due to chemicals found in popular feminine care products, as previously reported by AfroTech.

We assume because some of these pads are white, that theyre clean. That is so far from the truth, Long explained to AfroTech in 2022. Historically, many of the popular pad brands were made with synthetic materials like nylon, which is known for harboring heat and bacteria. The other side of that is many of these pads included ingredients like Bisphenol A bleach dioxins, which are linked to reproductive illnesses and cancer.

The vision for creating safe alternative products led Long to invent the first-of-its-kind hygiene machine that dispenses Femlys organic pads, panty liners, menstrual cups, and tampons in restrooms nationwide, which has helped more than 25,000 people.

The products have a QR code that directs people to educational content.

Last year, Long shared her goal of stocking over 50,000 restrooms with Femlys hygiene machine. Her goal is coming to fruition as offices, local schools, and colleges have been looking to partner.

Were doing things right here in Baltimore and on a national level. It is more product expansion, more dispensaries, restroom partnerships, and scaling, Long said. There are so many organizations that get $200 million in revenue or more. We want to be a unicorn that reaches a billion. So, were just taking all of the steps to align ourselves to change more lives.

Those interested in bringing the dispenser to their business can shoot the company a message on its website.
(Bloomberg) -- South Africas ruling party risks losing almost a quarter of its support unless it brings the countrys worst power crisis to an end ahead of elections next year, a poll shows.

Most Read from Bloomberg

The survey of 1,517 registered voters was carried out by the Social Research Foundation in March as South Africans were subjected to rotational power cuts of more than 10 hours a day. Of the respondents who said they backed the African National Congress, 24% said they will stop voting for the party if the issue isnt resolved. Another 41% said they are reconsidering their support and 1% said they had already decided not to vote for the ANC.

The poll is another indication that backing for the ANC is declining as blackouts disrupt daily life, increase unemployment and cause the economy to stagnate. The party has governed Africas most industrialized economy since the end of White-minority rule almost three decades ago.

Surveys done by the SRF and other organizations before the last quarter of 2022, when the outages intensified, showed that the ANC will likely get its lowest-ever share of the vote in national elections in 2024, with some predicting it will fall below 50%.

The party has acknowledged that its to blame for the current crisis as the ANC government of former President Thabo Mbeki stopped the national power utility, Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd., from building new plants in the early 2000s. During the rule of his successor, Jacob Zuma from 2009-2018, Eskom was brought to its knees by state-linked corruption, which was exposed by a government-ordered commission of inquiry.

Sharp Divisions

Other questions asked by the SRF showed a sharp division between races on how the power crisis should be tackled. Half of Black South Africans polled said the government was best placed to bring the outages to an end, compared with 5% of White citizens. Nine out of 10 White voters put their faith in the private sector to add power to the grid.

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Almost three quarter of Black citizens would support the erection of new coal-fired plants, a fleet of which already accounts for more than 80% of South Africas power. That compares with less than a third of their White counterparts.

The difference in opinion is likely due to wealth disparities that largely run along racial lines. The wealthy have taken steps to insulate themselves against power cuts by installing solar panels, inverters or generators, and have the luxury of putting climate considerations ahead of power availability, the SRF said.

The racial splits in the data most likely reflect the fact that roughly six in 10 White voters have installed private electricity solutions in their homes as opposed to roughly one in 10 Black voters, it said.

Voters were similarly divided on the root causes of the crisis. Three out of five Black respondents blamed corruption for Eskoms inability to provide adequate power while half of White voters attributed it to poor government planning and maintenance.

The poll had a 4% margin of error.

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The former Kansas City Royals and Los Angeles Raiders player said doctors have been probing me every way they can to find out why Ive got these hiccups.

Sports superstar Bo Jackson has been battling a severe case of hiccups for nearly a year and will now undergo a procedure in an attempt to cure the chronic ailment, USA Today reports.

Ive had the hiccups since last July and Im getting a medical procedure done the end of this week, I think, to try to remedy it, Jackson, 60, said during a May 10 appearance on McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning on WJOX-FM in Birmingham, Alabama, Today.com reports.

Former Auburn Tigers player Bo Jackson on the field before the 2014 Vizio BCS National Championship Game at the Rose Bowl on Jan. 6, 2014, in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images)

The former Kansas City Royals and Los Angeles Raiders player said doctors have been probing me every way they can to find out why Ive got these hiccups but the cause of his condition remains a mystery.

A hiccup is characterized by repeated spasms of the diaphragm that suddenly close the vocal cords. According to the Mayo Clinic, hiccups may indicate an underlying medical problem. It is extremely rare for hiccups to last months, which may lead to weight loss and extreme fatigue.

As Today.com reports, the medical condition caused Jackson to miss a recent ceremony honoring fellow Auburn University alum, Hall of Famer Frank Thomas.

An article from the British Journal of General Practice recommends a thorough clinical history to find out what causes hiccups. This examination should unpack a patients history of smoking and drug misuse, and drugs, gastrointestinal symptoms per the article, as well as cardiorespiratory symptoms and neurological issues.

According to the article posted on the National Institutes of Healths website, hiccups are classified in three ways: transient hiccups, which last anywhere from a few seconds or minutes, persistent hiccups go on for 48 hours or more and recurrent hiccups are more lasting than transient and often with frequent repetition, the article states.

A physical exam may also be necessary to get to the underlying cause of chronic hiccups, including a chest X-ray, ECG, gastroscopy, and cranial MRI, according to the article.

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I have done everything: scare me, hang upside down, drink water, smell the (expletive) of a porcupine. It doesnt work, said Jackson of his attempts to remedy his hiccup episodes.

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The post Bo Jackson says he needs medical procedure to cure hiccups appeared first on TheGrio.
A Rock Hill board created to review citizen complaints against the police could be in for some major changes.

This week, city council members proposed the changes, but some members and citizens said theyve been kept in the dark.

Channel 9s Tina Terry talked to some of them and pushed city leaders to find out what changes theyre proposing. She started calling and emailing city leaders Thursday, but was told the information will be released to the public next week. Some citizens say the public should have been informed days ago.

ALSO READ: Review board rules in favor of teacher who says she was wrongfully detained by CMPD officers

Community activist Norma Grey demanded answers from Rock Hills city council at a meeting Monday.

Im asking you tonight to be transparent and let the citizens of Rock Hill know what changes you are making, she said then.

The agenda item shows council members put forth a resolution to authorize the duties of the citizens review board, but it was unclear to many exactly what that meant.

Its very embarrassing to us as the Citizens Review Board to get notice on an agenda of a resolution that affects what we do, and we have no information about it, Judy Honeycutt told Terry.

Its almost like its a secret as to what changed. I just need clarification, another board member said. Im not saying Im for it or against it. I just want to be clear what changed. I think we deserve to know that.

ALSO READ: Board rules against CMPDs decision that officer-involved shooting was justified

I dont think anybody up here knows that you havent been consulted. So well get you a read line copy, the mayor said.

Grey pushed to create the CRB nearly three years ago. Shes still waiting for details on proposed changes.

She also wants the city to make the public more aware that the CRB exists.

I think citizens of Rock Hill who have a complaint against the police department are not fully known of their right to process all the way to the Citizens Review Board, Grey said.

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In the past two years, 62 complainants have come forward against Rock Hill police, but it appears that only one chose to appeal to the CRB.

On Friday, a liaison with the board told Terry it is currently reviewing its first case.

Terry talked to police who told her anyone who makes a complaint is made aware of their right to appeal to the CRB.

(WATCH BELOW: Controversy over Citizens Review Boards proposed subpoena power)




The body of a 22-year-old man who had been missing for two months was found near a river in Pennsylvania, officials said.

At 1:55 p.m. on May 11, police were dispatched after being told a body was found along the shoreline of the Neville Chemical Company in Pittsburgh, according to a post on Facebook by the Allegheny County Police Department.

The body was identified as Brandon Pfeifer-Davis, according to WTAE.

The man was last seen March 24 at a bar on the North Shore, according to CBS News.

He was at McFaddens on the North Shore, Davis mother told WTAE. He left the bar. His phone was dead, and he was trying to get an Uber back to Greenfield.

Davis family reported him missing in March after they hadnt heard from him, according to WPXI.

The mans body was sent to the medical examiners office to find out the cause of death, officials said.

The investigation remains ongoing, officials said.

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Less than 24 hours after the Title 42 immigration policy ended, approximately 23,000 migrants were in Border Patrol custody, a Department of Homeland Security official told CNN, as tens of thousands more have gathered at the US-Mexico border seeking asylum.

An influx of migrants seeking asylum has strained cities and towns at the US border like El Paso and Brownsville and problems with US leaders enacting new policies have left many in limbo.

We knew this was going to be a difficult transition, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in an interview with Good Morning America on Friday.

The transition, from Title 42 to Title 8 and President Joe Bidens new policies is one that will have a slow-burning impact on migrants, Border Patrol and US cities and towns that will have to make room for asylum seekers.

Under Title 42, which was enacted by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) during the Covid-19 pandemic, authorities were able to turn away more than 2.8m migrants under the pretext of slowing the spread of the virus.

But under Title 8, asylum seekers who cross illegally will be detained, deported, issued a five-year ban on re-entry and could possibly face criminal charges, according to Mr Mayorkas.

Ahead of Title 42 expiring, Texas cities like Laredo, Brownsville and El Paso declared a state of emergency as they prepared for an increase in migrants.

By Thursday afternoon, there were approximately 1,000 migrants waiting to be processed in El Paso.

However, Friday was less chaotic than some officials had anticipated after the midnight expiration of Title 42, as the Assistant Secretary for Border and Immigration Policy Blas Nunez told CNN there was no substantial increase overnight or an influx at midnight of migrants.

The slow increase in the number of asylum seekers over the last week has had the biggest impact on border cities.

Eddie Trevino, the county judge of Cameron County, Texas, told The New York Times said the number of people was straining our capacity.

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To help reduce overcrowding at Border Patrol facilities, thousands of migrants have been bused to cities around the US and the Biden administration allowed some migrants into the US without formal court hearings.

However, a federal judge in Florida blocked the Biden administrations action, forcing asylum seekers to go through the formal immigration process. Mr Mayorkas called the judges decision harmful.

Under Mr Bidens new immigration policies, asylum seekers will be turned away at the border unless they have made a hard-to-get appointment or fall under several legal pathways that were revealed in January.

However, many Democrats and organisations are finding problems with Mr Bidens slow-moving immigration process which will require migrants, from countries other than Mexico, to seek asylum in another country before entering the US.

The American Civil Liberties Union, and other civil rights organisations, filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration for the new policies, claiming they are too restrictive and not attainable.

Additionally, 13 Democrats from New York, including Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, sent Mr Biden a letter on Friday requesting he lessen the required amount of time for migrants to receive work authorisation.

But despite the strict rules, Republicans are also angry at Mr Biden, seeking to use the situation at the border as a political cudgel against the president as he runs for re-election.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz called the influx of migrants an invasion in videos he posted to his Twitter and blamed Mr Biden for the deaths of asylum seekers at the border.

An unaccompanied migrant child died while in the custody of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the White House confirmed on Friday.

In a press briefing, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the administration was aware of the tragic loss and that President Joe Biden had been briefed on it.

There is a medical investigation that was opened on May 10, Ms Jean-Pierre said.

HHS said in a statement that it was deeply saddened by this tragic loss and our hearts go out to the family, with whom we are in touch, according to NBC News.
[Source]

A Boston man accused of spying on dissidents for the Chinese government has pleaded not guilty to his charges, according to reports.

Litang Liang, 63, was arrested on Tuesday and charged with acting as an agent of a foreign government, as well as conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government, both without notice to the attorney general.

He was released on Thursday on several conditions, including a $25,000 bond, the surrender of passport, restriction of travel to Massachusetts, no contact with Chinese officials and electronic monitoring.

The Brighton resident is accused of acting for the Chinese government between 2018 and 2022, as per charging documents.

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He allegedly provided information on Boston-area individuals and groups, organized a protest against pro-democracy dissidents, sent photos and information of such dissidents to Chinese officials and offered names of potential recruits to the Ministry of Public Security.

Liang is specifically accused of providing information about individuals and organizations with pro-Taiwan leanings. Aside from officials with the Ministry of Public Security, he allegedly contacted Chinese diplomats in the U.S. and the United Front Work Department, which federal authorities describe as an entity that reports directly to the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and works to further the CCPs goals.

Frances Hui, policy and advocacy coordinator for the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation, organized the Boston Stands with Hong Kong march in 2019, which Liang is accused of counter-protesting.

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It's definitely nerve-wracking to just learn all about what he has done in the past years, and especially to the people that participated in the rally that I organized in August of 2019, Hui told NBC10 Boston, adding that there were gun threats to participants at the time, including herself.

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In January of that year, Liang co-founded the New England Alliance for the Peaceful Unification of China, a pro-China, anti-Taiwan independence organization, according to Fox News.

He reportedly served as its vice president through at least 2021.

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If convicted of acting as an agent, Liang could face up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a maximum of $250,000 in fines. Meanwhile, the conspiracy charge carries up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a maximum of $250,000 in fines.

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Boston school officials are investigating an incident after a staff member got into a physical altercation in the cafeteria on Thursday.

The Principal at Mattahunt Elementary School in Mattapan sent out a letter to parents saying a staff member allegedly had a verbal and physical altercation with a student during lunch. Several other students witnessed the incident, according to Principal Walter Henderson.

Henderson did not confirm who the employee was.

According to the letter, students who witnessed the outburst were encouraged to voice their concerns and ask questions at the end of the school day as part of a restorative justice circle.

The Mattahunt School, alongside the entire Boston Public Schools, is committed to fostering environments where all students feel safe, respected, and academically challenged, Henderson said in the letter. While personnel matters are confidential, please know that all Boston Public Schools staff is held to the highest standards of professional conduct and that misconduct is never tolerated.

School staff contacted BPS Safety Services to provide assistance immediately, said Henderson. But if necessary, they will take all appropriate actions during the investigation.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.

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Hundreds of active-duty U.S. troops are descending on the Mexican border this week, but theyre not authorized to make arrests, use their weapons or do much more than administrative work.

Thats making the military deployment  timed for the end of pandemic-era immigration restrictions  a classic no-win political situation for the Biden administration, which is getting hit from at least one prominent Democrat for perpetuating Trump-era militarization of the border, and from Republicans who say the mission will be utterly ineffectual.

Within President Joe Bidens party, Sen. Bob Menendez has been blasting Bidens move as trying to score political points or intimidate migrants by sending the military and catering to the GOPs xenophobic attacks on our asylum system.

Most Democratic congressional leaders have been muted in their reaction to the deployment, even though they were quick to criticize border deployments when Trump did it.

Indeed, despite Bidens shift in tone on immigration from former President Donald Trump, hes kept some troops on the border since taking office in 2021. The 1,500 troops who began arriving this week are joining 2,500 National Guardsmen who have been there since last year.



But there are key differences between this years deployment and Trumps, from what the troops are allowed to do to the situation on the ground to the way Congress is approaching the question.

Trump allowed active-duty troops to temporarily detain and search migrants. Soldiers laid hundreds of miles of concertina wire and erected temporary barriers while Trump funneled billions of dollars meant for military construction projects toward the wall.

The troops headed to the border this week, on the other hand, will be armed only for self-defense and will carry out backroom tasks.

What will that add up to? Not much, say Republicans. I just think he should have secured the border months ago, and its window dressing in my view, said Senate Armed Services Committee member Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska).

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Heres what you should know:

The situation on the ground

The former presidents use of the military at the border was part of a broader anti-immigration push, which also included racially-charged travel bans, deportations and separating families. Trump sent thousands of active-duty and National Guard troops to the border through a series of deployments over the course of the spring and fall of 2018 to help repel a much-discussed caravan of immigrants from Central America.

At the time, the numbers did not point to a crisis: In 2017, the number of undocumented immigrants caught at the border was the lowest since 1971, according to U.S. Border Patrol. And the caravan itself, which Trump suggested might include Middle Eastern terrorists, was part of what had become the normal annual seasonal uptick in Central American migrants making their way to the border.

Many observers at the time saw the deployments as politically motivated, designed to fire up the Republican base ahead of the midterm congressional elections.

Now, Biden is responding to the expected end of Title 42, which has allowed the U.S. to deny asylum and migration claims for public health reasons. Officials say the expiration of Title 42 on Thursday will prompt an influx of Central Americans into the U.S.

Menendez (D-N.J.) and some Republicans questioned whether Biden made the decision as a way to show Republicans that hes getting tough on immigration. Republicans, on the other hand, have called on the president to implement a Title 42 equivalent to replace it.

Officials say they would have preferred to rely on law enforcement agents for the mission, but the Department of Homeland Security is short on people and money. So the administration is turning to what they have now, which is 1,500 active-duty troops. And officials say they will be there for only 90 days, until law enforcement can find contractors to do the work.

What the troops can  and cannot  do

The 1,500 troops Biden is sending will be armed for self-defense only and are not authorized to use force, make arrests or otherwise act in a law enforcement role. This is in keeping with the Posse Comitatus Act, which prevents the active-duty military from enforcing the law inside the United States.

Military personnel will not be permitted to support migrant processing and escort duties or other activities that involve direct participation in civilian law enforcement activities, be responsible for property seized from migrants, or require direct contact with migrants, according to a statement from U.S. Northern Command.

Instead, they will be performing administrative tasks such as data entry, warehousing, and additional detection and monitoring support to free up Border Patrol agents to deal with the migrants.

They are joining 2,500 National Guard troops on active-duty status  also subject to Posse Comitatus  already doing similar work at the border since July 2022.

By contrast, Trump granted active-duty troops the authority to protect law enforcement agents if they engaged in violence in November 2018, a controversial move that put the military in direct contact with migrants.

The decision, which then-Defense Secretary Jim Mattis initially resisted, allowed troops to conduct crowd control, temporary detention and cursory search, as well as use a show or use of force (including lethal force, where necessary) in order to protect the agents.

At the time, insiders and outsiders questioned whether active-duty troops detaining and searching people on U.S. soil constituted law enforcement. But Mattis told reporters that it technically did not violate Posse Comitatus because any such action was temporary.

I would put it in terms of minutes. In other words, if someones beating on a border patrolman and if we were in a position to have to do something about it we could stop them from beating on them and take them over and deliver them to a border patrolman who would then arrest them for it, he said.

Additionally, National Guard members on state orders who deployed to the border under Trump were authorized to perform law enforcement duties, according to a former senior Defense Department official directly involved in the discussions. Since Posse Comitatus does not apply to those troops, they were able to accompany agents during arrests, searches, and other law enforcement missions.

That loophole is one of the reasons those units were sent to the border at the time, the former official said.

U.S. officials say that the Department of Homeland Security lacks the resources to deal with the expected influx of people seeking asylum, so the troops are filling a gap and freeing up Border Patrol agents to work the border.

Construction

Part of the reason Trump sent troops to the border in 2018 was to help build his long-promised wall along the Mexican border. The Pentagon was directed to send members of the Army Corps of Engineers to help lay miles of concertina wire and erect other barriers and fencing.

By fall 2018, the Pentagon estimated that there would be more than 7,000 troops supporting DHS across California, Arizona and Texas, and released hundreds of photos of troops laying concertina wire for the border barrier.

Trump also shifted billions meant for military infrastructure projects to finance the border wall. The move drew bipartisan opposition, but Congress wasnt able to muster the support to stop Trump.

Biden canceled the project when he took office, but kept the National Guard presence on the border for other support missions.

Congressional reaction

While Democrats widely and loudly condemned Trumps use of troops at the border and Republicans cheered it, theres been something of a reversal this time around.

Menendez has been the most visible critic of both presidents, calling Bidens recent moves unacceptable, and a militarization of the border.

I believe that any element of militarizing the border is both fundamentally wrong and morally wrong as well, he said. And it sends a message that in fact, people who are seeking asylum and refuge are somehow a threat to the United States.

Republican critics say Bidens moves are meaningless.

At a press conference last week, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) declared the deployment ridiculous theater, while Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said the troops would accomplish nothing. On Wednesday, Cruz said the Trump and Biden troop deployments were qualitatively different.

There can be an important role for troops on the border; boots on the ground make an enormous difference, Cruz said. But it only matters if you have an administration that is following the law  and that in particular is being willing to deport people who come here illegally.

Asked why, after opposing Trumps deployments, Democrats are less vocal about Biden, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) pointed to Bidens four new innovative ways for immigrants to apply to work in the U.S.

We are making some changes but not nearly as many as we need to, she said.

Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said that the end of Title 42 justified the deployment of troops this time around.

Were anticipating an uncertain, worrisome situation in the next few days, Durbin said. I think the president is trying to make sure he's prepared for many options, so I don't begrudge him that decision.
HWH Lifestyles, Inc., a local health and wellness company, is opening a new boutique Pilates studio in Highside Market late this summer.

Club Pilates, a brand by Xponential Fitness, will open on the second floor of Highside Market and bring about 20 jobs to Columbus, according to a news release by The Cotton Companies.

The brand was founded in San Diego in 2007 and is the nations largest premium boutique Pilates brand. With more than 800 locations in North America, the brand is one of the largest providers of a comprehensive Pilates teacher training program in the world, according to the news release.

HWH Lifestyles currently owns and operates Uptown Exclusives, Plug & Play Namaste as well as another Xponential Fitness boutique studio in the Columbus area.

Leaders in HWH, including co-owner Adam Garrett and Darlene Stephens, director of business development, were familiar with the Club Pilates brand because they have worked out on a Pilates reformer before, Stephens said. A reformer is a piece of Pilates equipment that provides more exercise options and support for users.

One of the classes that will be offered by Club Pilates is the Reformer Flow, which provides a contemporary approach on reformer-based pilates. Stephens and Garretts experience showed them how beneficial Pilates can be for someones lifestyle, Stephens told the Ledger-Enquirer.

Pilates can boost the immune system, strengthen a persons core and better individuals overall wellness and energy, Stephens said.

Theres nothing in Columbus like (Club Pilates), she said. And to be able to bring it downtown is an even bigger bonus.

The class sizes will be small with only 12 students, said Brooke Wesley, co-owner of HWH and director of operations for the Highside Market location. There will be between 60 and 70 classes per week, seven days a week, Stephens said. Classes will begin at 6 a.m. and run until 7 p.m., she said, except for Saturdays, which will have shorter hours.

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In celebration of the studios opening, the first 50 people who sign up as founding members will receive 20% off of the lifetime of their membership, Stephens said.

Were huge on customer service and making everyone feel at home and like family, Wesley said. Well have this (atmosphere) in our studio, and just be there to help someone grow and help with their wellness journey.

When the studio first opens, there will be a lot of beginner classes, Stephens said, since they recognize that there hasnt been a studio like this in the area before. People at all fitness levels should be able to participate, and the beginner classes will help familiarize them with reformer-based Pilates.

The workouts are very flexible depending on the individuals personal goal and needs, Stephens said. People often find that Pilates isnt that bad once they try it. When people experience the ambiance provided by the relaxing music and blue lights, she said, it will feel as though theyre in a spa.

Garrett, who utilized Pilates in his weight loss journey, said the workout gave him confidence in his own abilities. When he began, Garrett was unable to hold a plank for more than a few seconds, but now hes able to hold it for four minutes.

Once he began to gain confidence, he was encouraged to participate in other types of exercise classes he hadnt considered before, such as yoga.

I lost 93 pounds in Pilates, Garrett said. So, its something that I believe in. I know that it works if you stick to it.
An 8-year-old girl was hunting for mushrooms in her backyard when someone popped out from the nearby woods, according to Michigan State Police.

The 17-year-old male then grabbed onto the girl, holding her mouth shut, before a struggle ensued on Wednesday, May 10, police said.

The girls 13-year-old brother saw the attack before his younger sister was able to break free, according to a May 12 news release.

Her brother used his slingshot to shoot the attacker, hitting him in his head and chest, police said.

Michigan State Police troopers from the Alpena Post were called to the home in Alpena Township for an attempted kidnapping, authorities said.

A description of the suspect was aired, and a family member observed the suspect matching the description fleeing the area, police said. Alpena Post Troopers canvassed the area and were able to locate the suspect hiding at a nearby gas station.

The 17-year-old had obvious signs of injury sustained from the slingshot with wounds to his head and chest, authorities said. He was taken into custody.

During his interview with law enforcement, the teen said he planned on severely beating the victim, according to the release.

The teen has since been charged with attempted kidnapping/child enticement, attempted assault to do great bodily harm less than murder and assault and battery. Hes being charged as an adult, police said, and being held on a $150,000 bond.

His next court appearance is scheduled for May 17.

Alpena Township is in the northeast corner of Michigans lower peninsula.

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Monitoring the brain get downright medieval. In the most invasive type of procedure, surgeons saw into the skull, remove a sizeable chunk of bone, and place a grid of electrodes directly on the brain, where it can carry out tasks ranging from data collection to neurostimulation.

We now have a glimpse of how that messy procedure could one day be relegated to the history books, after scientists in Switzerland built a device that can be deployed through a smaller two-centimeter hole in the cranium and unfold like a flower inside the whisper-thin space between bone and brain. The procedure, first carried out on the brain of a miniature pig, could lead to new frontiers in the monitoring and treatment of epilepsy and other neurological disorders in humans  or even, perhaps, in commercial brain-computer interfaces like at Elon Musk's struggling Neuralink.

"This is to answer a specific request from neurosurgeons who are hoping to have minimally invasive devices," said Stephanie Lacour, the lead researcher on the project and professor at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), in a video.

Lacours research focus is on soft bioelectronics designed to elegantly connect with parts of the human nervous system, such as the brain and spine.

For this particular challenge, her team reconsidered the current shape of brain electrode arrays, which generally have electrodes embedded on a flat, flexible surface. In contrast, her team devised an electrode array with six spiral-shaped arms, each embedded with flexible gold electrodes. The array is first folded within a cylinder-shaped loader, then deployed by surgeons who bore a small hole into the skull and place the cylindrical loader over it. A mechanism then pushes the array through the hole and causes it to unfold its six arms in the one-millimeter space between bone and cortex, like a particularly gory flower.

The scientists were inspired by soft robotics research, and particularly "eversion," which is when an object is turned inside out. Its an action that many soft robotic engineers have focused on in order to deploy robots in complex environments, such as coral reefs. For the electrode array prototype, pushing liquid into each arm causes it to turn itself inside out and gently unfold over the cortex like a petal or tentacle.

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"Minimally invasive neurotechnologies are essential approaches to offer efficient, patient-tailored therapies, said Lacour in a statement. We needed to design a miniaturized electrode array capable of folding, passing through a small hole in the skull and then deploying in a flat surface resting over the cortex.

The researchers published a paper about the project in the journal Science Robotics. Next, the researchers are planning to bring this device to brains everywhere in a spinoff company that recently nabbed a bucket of Swiss francs equal to $2.8 million in funding.

More on brain-computer interfaces: Neuralink Employees Admit Company Has Killed 1,500 Animals So Far
You could book your ticket for a trip on Brightlines new train service from Orlando to South Florida as early as next week.

Brightline trains are preparing to run from the Orlando International Airport to Miami.

Patrick Goddard, president of Brightline, spoke with Channel 9 about the new Brightline extension into Central Florida.

Read: Brightline is hiring; here are 3 ways you can land a job

As soon as next week, were gonna put tickets on sale for future dates so that people can start making their plans for the fall and the winter, Goddard said.

Tickets for adults will cost $79. Its half that for kids.

Watch: Brightline Basecamp: An inside look at Brightlines $100M vehicle maintenance facility in Orlando

More information on Brightline tickets can be found here.

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.
A seafood companys ready-to-eat crabmeat was prepared in a facility crawling with bugs and had potentially fatal bacteria coating its surfaces, federal prosecutors said.

Repeated inspections revealed an infestation of flies, maggots and roaches at the Alabama facility over the years, as well as employees not properly washing their hands, according to the Justice Department.

Whats more is that ceiling condensation  a source of harmful bacteria detected at Irvington Seafood Inc.s facility  regularly dripped onto cooked crabs and crabmeat, court documents show.

The companys contaminated crabmeat, which was sometimes not fully cooked before it was packaged, was distributed and sold nationwide, prosecutors said.

Irvington Seafood is now permanently shuttered and must destroy all food products and ingredients as part of a court order and federal lawsuit settlement, the Justice Department announced in a May 11 news release.

Irvington Seafood can no longer sell adulterated products under the terms of the lawsuit settlement, which involves a consent decree of permanent injunction, officials said.

McClatchy News contacted attorneys Benjamin Harte Harris, III and Michel Nicrosi, who represented the company in the case, for comment on May 12 and didnt immediately receive a response.

The settlement comes after Irvington Seafood recalled its 1 lb. packages of Crabmeat: Jumbo, Lump, Finger, and Claw meat over how it was potentially contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes bacteria, the Food and Drug Administration announced on June 3.

The recalled crabmeat was shipped to distributors in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi, according to the FDA.

Food contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes can lead to a dangerous infection called listeriosis, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Individuals most at risk are pregnant women, newborn babies, adults 65 and older, and those with weaker immune systems.

In the U.S., about 1,600 people are infected with listeriosis each year and roughly 260 people die as a result, according to the CDC.

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Bacteria, maggots and animals found during the most recent Irvington Seafood inspection

The FDAs most recent inspection of Irvington Seafoods facility occurred between April 11, 2022, and June 10, when it was swabbed for Listeria mono, according to the lawsuit.

Listeria mono was found in five spots: three surfaces that food regularly came in contact with and two surfaces near where cooked crab was processed, a complaint says.

The presence of Listeria mono in these areas is evidence of a seafood processor who has failed to maintain a clean and sanitary facility and has created an ideal environment for dangerous pathogens to contaminate seafood products, the complaint says.

During this inspection, FDA inspectors witnessed ceiling condensation, which can cause bacteria to thrive, dripping onto food products, according to the complaint.

Meanwhile, Listeria innocua, a type of Listeria not known to cause sickness in people, was found in 13 different spots, according to the complaint.

In addition to the rampant bacteria, maggots were found infesting a wooden walkway leading in and out of the facilitys rear door, the complaint says.

Barrels containing undesirable crab parts were situated near that walkway, according to the complaint.

Bacteria and maggots werent the only creatures that roamed the facility, the complaint says.

FDA inspectors also saw a chicken, two cats and a dog on the property, according to the complaint.

The most recent FDA inspection also revealed the company didnt make sure crabs were fully cooked, as two thermometers that monitored crabmeat product temperatures werent properly calibrated, the complaint says.

Earlier inspections reveal roaches, flies, beetles and E. Coli in crabmeat

Irvington Seafood facilitys filthy conditions date back to 2006, according to prosecutors.

From 2006 and onward, flies, maggots, roaches and beetles were found infesting the facility during different FDA inspections, the complaint says. The inspections, prior to the most recent one beginning in April 2022, took place in 2006, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019.

In 2015, the companys lump crabmeat was found contaminated with E. coli, which can sicken people, according to the complaint.

E. coli can result in diarrhea, urinary tract infections, respiratory illnesses and additional negative health consequences, the CDC says.

After each inspection, Defendants made numerous assurances to (the) FDA, including that they would retrain all employees, that they would clean and sanitize the facility, that they would calibrate thermometers more often, that they would fix the condensation problems, and that they would keep animals and bugs away from the facility, the complaint says.

However, the company is accused of never getting its facility under control despite its promises.

Food manufacturers and distributors must operate in strict compliance with the law, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, of the Justice Departments Civil Division, said in a statement.

Going forward, if Irvington Seafood seeks to prepare or sell food again, the FDA must be notified ahead of time and has to inspect their facilities and procedures, prosecutors said. The company must also abide by the terms of the lawsuit settlement.

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Some of the building blocks of human language appear to be present in a wide range of social animals.

Previously thought to belong only to human language  a position some in linguistics still hotly defend  key elements of human grammar have been found in animals as widely separated as chimpanzees, birds and meerkats.

The findings fall far short of some Doctor Dolittle-like discovery  or decoding  of animal language, a phrase that many linguists would consider to be an oxymoron.

But they shed additional light on how human communication tools may have evolved  and on their surprising similarities to those of other animals.

Last week, a team from the University of Zurich found that chimpanzees combine sounds to make a compound sound  one with a new and specific meaning.

The finding, coauthor Mael Leroux said, shows what we thought made humans so special is actually maybe not so special.

The team was studying a specific subset of language called syntax, or the arrangement of words and phrases to form larger units of meaning.

In particular, they were studying an aspect of syntax called compositionality, which is when two words or concepts get joined into a bigger compound phrase.

This is a familiar idea from human language. Sometimes these new meanings are logical combinations, as in a compound word: trapdoor. Sometimes they have no apparent connection to the words used to express them: Kick the bucket. But in all cases, the phrase becomes more than the sum of the words that make it up.

Basic as that may sound, its a faculty that was, until recently, thought to be reserved to humans.

But chimpanzees use it too, the Swiss study found.

Observing a community of chimpanzees in the Budongo Forest of Uganda, the researchers noted a specific dictionary of calls. One was an alarm call  a huu sound familiar to anyone who has seen an excited chimp  which they let out to warn companions when they encountered a low-urgency threat or object of surprise, like far-off snakes, the unexpected corpse of a monkey or a poachers snare.

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They also had a recruitment vocalization: a sharp barking Come here! call most often heard from chimps heading off on monkey hunts or summoning allies in a fight.

But on one specific occasion, the chimps used the two together: when one member of the band spotted a venomous or predatory snake that the others had not seen.

When they combine the two, theyre basically saying, Danger  Come here, Leroux said.

Translated from the chimpanzee, he said, that would be: There is a snake around and you need to see it because if you dont, youre potentially vulnerable, because you might just step on it.

Put together, that phrase had a highly technical meaning, akin to culturally specific and untranslatable words in human languages  and one that speaks to the specific lifestyle of the chimpanzees the team studied.

This population lives in a world where they  rather like modern humans  are the apex predators of their environment, and they really have only one thing to fear from other animals: stepping on unseen snakes. (Other chimpanzees might use similar calls for stalking leopards, Leroux suggested, but thats just conjecture: The population he studied lives in a happily leopard-free forest.)

The paper was a salvo in a much larger and more contentious argument that spans the fields of linguistics, anthropology and zoology: one that can be summarized as either Do animals have language? or the related question of Where did human language come from?

It attempted to address criticisms of a very similar study published in 2016 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), which found the same use of grammar in a highly social bird.

The southern pied babbler is a brown and white perching bird that lives in large communal family groups in the southern tip of Africa.

Like the chimps, the birds lifestyle drives a certain sort of communication: Because they spend most of their foraging time with their beaks down in the dirt hunting for insects, they are highly vulnerable to predators and dependent on the calls of their comrades to keep them aware of threats.

The pied babblers also had a generic recruitment call, used when calling each other to a new nesting spot or feeding ground, and an alarm call used when new animals entered the area, according to the study.

But researchers found that (like the chimpanzees) they also had a combined Alarm-Come Here call, which was triggered only when lookouts spotted a stalking terrestrial predator  like a fox, mongoose or snake  or (in much rarer cases) by small raptors like spotted owls or pygmy falcons.

When researchers moved a fake Cape cobra into the vicinity of pied babbler groups, the birds let out that combined call  which triggered a specific risky mobbing attack in which the birds flew around, yelled at and otherwise harassed the approaching predator.

This finding had highly significant implications for the study of human language, the PNAS researchers argued in 2016, because it established a viable middle ground between no language and human language  supporting the idea that syntax could have evolved by progressing gradually over time rather than spontaneously as an all-or-nothing package.

The work, they predicted in 2016, would also help explain how those properties had emerged in other animals, as well as in humans.

Leroux conceded that the capabilities researchers found chimps and babblers using are nowhere close to the complexity of human language.

But language is built on a combination of building blocks. And one of the most important building blocks  and what makes our language so unique  is this syntactic structuring, or the system in which words are joined together to make larger ideas.

That idea is controversial  as was the broader idea that birds and other non-human animals had syntax at all.

A 2018 review article in PLOS Biology looked over the pied babbler results and concluded that while they showed exciting novel insights into animal communication, despite claims to the contrary, they are quite unlike what we find in human language.

Regarding compositionality  or the arrangement of meaning by connecting more basic units  they wrote that to our knowledge, so far, there is no convincing evidence for this capacity in any nonhuman species.

Those syntactical elements have been found in the communication of creatures across the animal kingdom, however.

For example, meerkat sentries have been found to encode their alert calls with both the name of the sentry and the precise urgency of the threat. Different clans of hyrax (a small, furry, social Mediterranean mammal) exhibit different dialects depending on where they live. And the Japanese great tit (a brightly colored distant cousin of the pied babbler) communicates in a highly ordered way  the note combination ABC-D doesnt elicit the same reaction as D-ABC.

Lerouxs team set out to rerun the pied babbler experiment on chimpanzees so they could see if these rudiments of grammar could be present in our nearest evolutionary relatives  and therefore, potentially our common ancestors.

Their findings now offer an intriguing new hypothesis: that language-like communication did not arise separately in humans and chimpanzees but was a part of our past long before we were anything recognizably human.

Other research suggests that the roots of human language may not be in spoken grammar at all. Other studies into chimpanzees have led to arguments that languages origins may lie instead in the combination of gestures and vocalization, or even that spoken human language could have evolved from earlier, gesture-only forms of communication.

Leroux has a grand hypothesis of his own.

Almost all of those animals in which compositional communication has, arguably, been found have one thing in common: they are cooperative breeders in which non-parents help raise the next generation. (Chimpanzees are the notable exception; humans are the only cooperative breeders among the great apes.)

Meerkats, for example, maintain underground communal nurseries; pied babbler communities revolve around a single breeding pair; and human parents rely on family, friends and paid help to babysit while theyre busy foraging, whether in the forest or at the office.

That could be the reason why we have language  because thats also another building block. Maybe we went from these rudimentary forms of syntax that we have that we see in chimpanzees  but then we started breeding cooperatively, and then it exploded, Leroux said.

Overall, he argued that science is at the beginning of a paradigm shift toward a new embrace of the similarities between human and animal communication.

Were at the very beginning, we have only very small amounts of evidence. But this small evidence starts to pile up, and my guess is that in the next 20 years, its going to be more, and more, and more, he said.

And were going to say OK, well these building blocks of language are present from our last common ancestor, at least with chimps, and maybe even further back. And what makes [human] language so different is actually not syntax, and its something else  and we just dont know what this something else is yet.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
The Buncombe County Detention Facility December 2, 2021.

ASHEVILLE - The N.C. State Bureau of Investigation has confirmed it is investigating the officer-involved shooting May 7 near the downtown jail, but the Buncombe County Sheriff's Office will not say whether the deputy who shot a man, sending him to the hospital, is still on duty or if security upgrades to the jail and magistrate's office are being considered.

Anjanette Grube, SBI spokesperson, confirmed to the Citizen Times May 10 that the agency is investigating the early morning May 7 shooting, after receiving a request to investigate that same day. Aaron Sarver, spokesperson for Sheriff Quentin Miller did not respond to a question asking whether the investigation request came from the sheriff. District Attorney Todd Williams said he did not make the request.

According to a news release from the Sheriff's Office, a suspect walked into the lobby of the downtown jail at 20 Davidson Drive, at about 1:40 a.m. May 7.

As a sheriff's deputy and an Asheville Police Department officer approached the suspect to arrest him, "the suspect resisted arrest and an altercation ensued," according to the news release.

"The suspect produced a firearm and shot the Deputy in the shoulder. The Deputy returned gunfire and struck the suspect, who subsequently fled the scene and was later taken into custody outside Mission Hospital. The officer from APD was also assaulted during the altercation," the release says.

More: Buncombe County Sheriff's deputy shot, APD officer injured outside downtown Asheville jail

The Buncombe County Detention Facility December 2, 2021.

Sarver said the deputy was released from Mission Hospital the same day. But the sheriff's spokesperson did not return multiple calls, emails and texts from the Citizen Times asking for the name of the deputy, if the deputy was on leave pending the SBI investigation, or the condition of the suspect, whom the Sheriff's Office named in a May 8 news release as Ryan Ricky Houston, 40.

A search of the county detention center's online detainee database showed Houston, 40, of Weaverville as having been arrested May 10. He is being held in the jail on a $1.5 million bond on multiple charges, including attempted first degree murder, assault on a law enforcement officer with a firearm and assault causing serious bodily injury. His next court date is May 31, according to the database.

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Sarver only cited HIPAA laws as the reason he could not release Houston's condition or say where on his body or how many times he had been shot. HIPAA, however, only applies to medical providers and health insurance companies, not to law enforcement agencies.

The Citizen Times has made public records requests for incident reports, 911 calls or other recordings involving the shooting.

Prior to May 7, the last time a sheriff's deputy shot a person was on March 31, 2020. Shane Tilman Kent, 29, of Asheville opened fire on a probation officer outside the courthouse and was shot to death by deputies. Lt. Dale Den Ouden, received a non-life threatening injury to his arm.

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Similarly little is known about the APD officer involved in the incident. APD spokesperson Samantha Booth said in a May 10 email to the Citizen Times that the officer is not being named but would not answer other questions, including whether the officer also fired their gun.

"We are not releasing the name of our officer at this time. The APD Officer sustained minor injuries that did not require medical attention," Booth said by email. "The officer is currently on administrative leave with pay, approved by the agency, while the officer recovers at home from the incident."

The entrance to the Buncombe County Detention Center is not guarded and has no metal detector, although the door to the magistrate's office is locked at all times. Sarver did not respond to multiple questions asking if Miller was considering upgrading security to the jail entrance, which is unlocked, through which visitors must pass to access the magistrate's office.

"The Magistrate's office operates 24/7/365 and the lobby of the building is open to the public. It does not have a metal detector or guard. Citizen-Times staff have toured the Detention Facility multiple times under Sheriff Miller, firearms are not allowed on the secured part of the building, even by law enforcement. Further questions about the public portion of the magistrate's office and lobby of the Detention Facility can be answered by visiting the building, which again, is open to inspection," Sarver said in a May 9 email.

Joel Burgess has lived in WNC for more than 20 years, covering politics, government and other news. He's written award-winning stories on topics ranging from gerrymandering to police use of force. Got a tip? Contact Burgess at jburgess@citizentimes.com, 828-713-1095 or on Twitter @AVLreporter. Please help support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Buncombe Sheriff won't name deputy involved in Asheville jail shooting
Delta Air Lines aircraft are lined up at Salt Lake International Airport in Salt Lake City on Nov. 18, 2021. | Spenser Heaps, Deseret News

In an effort to increase the number of flights coming into and out of the nations capital, Republican Rep. Burgess Owens and Democratic Rep. Hank Johnson of Georgia introduced a bill that would allow more flights to land at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

Owens, who represents Utahs 4th District, told the Deseret News he hopes the change will mean less expensive and more convenient air travel for Utah travelers.

Because of 1960s-era restrictions on the number of flights that can come into and fly out of the airport if theyre coming from more than 1,250 miles away, travel into and out of the airport is more expensive and difficult than to other airports.

With an over 2,000-mile distance between Salt Lake City and Washington, D.C., flights in and out of Utah have been affected by the limit.

While Owens said there is no guarantee that the Salt Lake City International Airport would get one of the additional 28 slots added by the bill, he said he hopes it will turn out that way.

My hope, my goal, particularly because of how cutting edge the Salt Lake City airport is, we think we will get one of those slots, he said.

He also has a personal reason for wanting better and cheaper cross-country air travel  he said he wants his children and grandchildren to be able to come see him in the nations capital, but pricing has been a big deal. He said he hopes the additional flights will make it cheaper and more convenient to travel to the Northeast.

This will just allow that competitive edge to come in and more people can afford to come, he said.

Many members of Congress, including Owens, travel back and forth between Washington and their home districts frequently, and a packed airport makes that more difficult, he said.

Owens bill received support from fellow Utah Republican lawmakers Rep. Blake Moore, who represents Utahs 1st District, and Sen. Mike Lee.

Government by the people should be accessible by the people, said Lee, in a press release. More options will reduce ticket prices and generate millions in economic benefits, making our nations capital more accessible and affordable for all Americans.

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The "perimeter rule" is outdated. Im grateful for @RepBurgessOwens efforts to clear the runway for accessible and affordable flights to our nation's capital. https://t.co/afu3Gazatm  Mike Lee (@SenMikeLee) May 11, 2023

Owens said he isnt sure what the timeline is or if the bill would be approved this year, but said the bill is getting a lot of support from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle who would like to be able to get home quicker to their families after a full workweek.

My colleagues congratulated me and just asked me to continue to fight for this because it makes everybodys life easier when you think about those who come here often, he said.

Owens bill also has support from Salt Lake City International Airport Executive Director Bill Wyatt, according to the press release.
Workers gather at Nel Paradiso, a private restaurant in Havana, on January 25, 2023

Hundreds of Cuban tradespeople and independent owners of small businesses on Thursday sent a letter to President Joe Biden urging him to follow through with promised US assistance to the island's struggling private sector.

"It is incomprehensible and inhuman that in the middle of a domestic economic crisis (your administration) has, for the most part, continued with Trump-era cruel and failed policies that directly target our livelihoods," the letter says.

Those signing the text belong to the Alliance for Cuba Engagement and Respect (ACERE), a group that advocates for interests of private business and for the end of the six-decade-old US embargo of the communist-ruled nation.

"We are independent of the Cuban government," says the letter, seen by AFP journalists.

It was signed by nearly 300 people who said they represent small firms or are tradespeople in agroindustry, construction, tourism, transportation, food and other sectors.

In May 2022, Biden pledged to "increase support for independent Cuban entrepreneurs" and help the private sector grow.

The letter says Biden has not followed through, and existing US policy toward Cuba hinders the development of private business.

The letter asks the White House to reestablish in Havana the issuance of non-immigrant visas to permit Cuban business and tradespeople to travel and acquire the supplies they require for their businesses.

It also asks for Cuban access to payment platforms like PayPal, the right to set up US bank accounts, the resumption of cruise ships to Cuban ports and the reopening of US tourist travel to Cuba.

The letter rejects the US embargo, established in 1962, which the former Trump administration tightened with 243 more sanctions during the Trump administration and which Biden has modified very little.

After six decades of near-total state control of the economy, the nascent Cuban private sector has grown since new rules were approved in 2021 regarding self-employment.

The island now has 550,000 self-employed workers, 7,500 small businesses and 5,000 cooperatives employing 35 percent of the economically active population, the letter says.

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Texas has put on buses 13,200 migrants taken from the border with Mexico and dropped off at sanctuary cities at the cost of $26 million since April 2022.

When President Joe Biden announced early last year that he was suspending Title 42, many Republican states, including Texas, objected. Gov. Gregg Abbott responded with Operation Lone Star  a state initiative that sent thousands of migrants on buses to Washington, D.C.; New York City and Chicago.

Does sending migrants to sanctuary cities help Texas? It depends on who you ask.

The busing mission is providing much-needed relief to our overwhelmed border communities, the state says in a statement. Operation Lone Star continues to fill the dangerous gaps left by the Biden Administrations refusal to secure the border.

Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel E. Bowsers administration faces the challenge of housing and feeding the migrants stepping off the buses at a time when city resources are strained, reports the Washington Post.

More than 170 buses have arrived in the District from the two states so far, including two from Texas this week, in what began as a protest in April 2022 by Republican governors over President Bidens border policies. The resulting images of families seeking U.S. asylum sleeping on city streets jolted the immigration debate, the Washington Post writes.

Biden ends Title 42, sends troops to help secure border

A pandemic-era immigration policy the Trump administration championed ended at midnight Thursday leaving uncertainty at the border with Mexico over what is to come next.

Title 42 was used by federal authorities to turn back immigrants wishing to apply for asylum in the United States  carrying out more than 2.6 million expulsions. Faced with the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, then President Donald J. Trump used an interpretation of a rarely used clause in the 1944 Public Health Service Act to speed up the return of migrants crossing the U.S. border with Mexico.

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The lifting of the pandemic emergency spelled the end of the border policy.

Anticipating the rush of migrants north to Texas, last week President Joe Biden ordered 1,500 troops to the border with Mexico. The U.S. military has long provided support to the Department of Homeland Security on the border and a surge of personnel to the area is not unprecedented. There are already 2,500 National Guard members at the border.

More than 11,000 migrants have crossed the southern border illegally some days this week, according to internal agency data obtained by The New York Times, overwhelming holding facilities run by the Border Patrol.

The surge at the border had troubled leaders at three Texas border cities  Brownsville, Laredo and El Paso  forcing them to declare states of emergency before Title 42 expired.
[Source]

The Las Vegas man accused of killing one person and wounding five others in a mass shooting at a California church last year has been indicted on 98 federal charges, 90 of which are hate crimes.

David Chou, 69, opened fire at the Irvine Taiwanese Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods on May 15, 2022, targeting congregants during a luncheon held in honor of a former pastor visiting from Taiwan.

Investigators believe the incident was motivated by Chous political hatred of Taiwan, where he was born and raised after communists forced his family out of mainland China.

He reportedly has no known prior connection to the church.

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Armed with two handguns, bags of ammunition and four Molotov cocktail-style devices, Chou chained the churchs exit doors and filled their keyholes with superglue before carrying out the attack.

Dr. John Cheng, 52, charged at him and was killed in the ensuing struggle. Chengs heroic act allowed others to move freely and tie Chou.

Chou was subsequently arrested and charged in Orange County with one count of murder and five counts of attempted murder with hate crime enhancements, all of which he pleaded not guilty to in August 2022.

More from NextShark: Oregon woman tells Filipino man to go back to the Philippines, yells the N-word

On Thursday, federal authorities announced that Chou was charged with 45 counts of obstructing free exercise of religious beliefs by force (resulting in the death of one and attempted killing of 44 others, and involving the use of his firearm and attempted use of his explosives).

He was also charged with 45 counts of violating the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act by attacking congregants based on their actual or perceived Taiwanese national origin and Presbyterian faith.

More from NextShark: Woman, 72, agrees to sell home after alleged anti-Asian hate crime, flashing her Vietnamese neighbor

Additionally, he was charged with one count of attempting to damage a building, one count of carrying explosives while committing a federal felony and six counts of using a firearm while committing a violent crime.

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Chou could face the death penalty if convicted of the federal charges. His state charges also carry the same punishment.

He remains in state custody.

More from NextShark: State charges dropped against woman who stabbed Asian teen in the head on Indiana bus
The state of California is stepping in to contribute millions of dollars to raise the levee protecting the city of Corcoran and a pair of nearby state prisons from the ongoing flooding in the Tulare Lake basin.

Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the investment in the levee Thursday as part of a larger package of $290 million to deal with flooding issues in the Central Valley and elsewhere in the state. Those funds will be included in his May budget revision to be formally unveiled Friday.

The cost for raising the 14.5-mile levee is estimated at about $17.2 million. The states latest spending on the levee is paying to raise the earthen structure to 192 feet above sea level, or about four feet higher than before the repairs began.

Newsoms office said in a statement that the latest work on the Corcoran Levee is the third time that either the state or the federal government have intervened to raise the levee, made necessary after decades of overpumping of underground water tables have caused ground levels in the area  including under the levee  to sink or subside.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers previously made repairs to the levee 1969 and again in 1983, Newsoms office reported.

Raising the Corcoran levee provides greater certainty that we wont need to evacuate critical facilities and will ensure public safety, Newsom said. However, the state and federal government cannot continue stepping in to raise this levee. I look forward to a conversation on what (Kings County) is going to do differently so that we dont find ourselves in this situation again.

Heavy machinery continues raising the levee south of Corcoran in anticipation of snow melt raising Tulare Lake, photographed Tuesday afternoon, April 25, 2023.

Tim Godwin of the states Sustainable Groundwater Management Office said in a telephone conference with reporters Thursday that the rate of subsidence in the Corcoran area due to groundwater overpumping has been about one foot per year.

Brian Ferguson of the state Office of Emergency Services said the agencys director Nancy Ward had already reached an agreement with the Cross Creek Flood Protection District to advance millions in state money for them to perform the work as an emergency protective measure.

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The state is fronting $17 million from the California Disaster Assistance Act, Ferguson added. treating the levee work as an emergency protective measure, he said, opens the possibility of reimbursement of the costs from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The funding is being provided as an advance payment now, with a contingency to forgive the cost share required of local government if the county completes an updated hazard mitigation plan  Ferguson said. He added that the state funding is contingent upon the local ability to meet a set of criteria to ensure the work is done efficiently and at the lowest possible cost to taxpayers.

Kings County, state officials said, does not currently have an updated hazard plan.

Restoring the levees height to 192 feet above sea level brings it to the historic level needed to provide the necessary protection to Corcoran and nearby infrastructure, Ferguson said.

A potentially historic refilling of Tulare Lake

Tulare Lake was once the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi River, but has been dry in most years since water from the rivers that historically fed the lake began to be diverted for farming and other uses in the late 1800s. It has sprung back to life this year as a result of a series of atmospheric river storms that plowed into central California in January, February and March.

The deluges in the southern San Joaquin Valley and the adjacent foothills of the southern Sierra Nevada swelled local lakes and rivers beyond their capacity, forcing water officials to allow water to flood the basin, inundating thousands of acres of farmland.

The flooding in the old lakebed is expected to continue and possibly even worsen as a record snowpack in the southern Sierra Nevada range on the east flank of the San Joaquin Valley melts over the rest of the spring and summer.

In a visit to Corcoran in late April, surreal scenes of flooded farmland and partially submerged buildings and farm equipment greeted Newsom, state Department of Water Resources Director Karla Nemeth and other state officials. At that time, heavy earth-moving equipment was already at work on a portion of the 14.5-mile levee that stands between the rising water level in the old lakebed and the town of Corcoran and a pair of nearby state prisons  facilities at risk if the levee fails.

In that April 28 visit, Newsom and Nemeth both noted that neither Kings, Tulare, Fresno nor Kern counties are participants in the Central Valley Flood Protection Plan, a state program to improve management of flood risks across the region.

Its complicated. Its why Im a little more romantic for a collaborative framework, Newsom said at that time about the regional flood plan. Its a little stubborn for me, but it is what it is. These counties chose not to engage in that. Those partners that have engaged in it have received significant money from the state and we have a different engagement of platform answering that question in real time.

I hope when this is done we can fix that, he added, referring to local participation in the regional plan. Ill certainly be a little more aggressive in expressing my point of view in that space, as well.

Nemeth said during the Corcoran visit that while the Central Valley Flood Protection Plan spans the greater Central Valley from the Sacramento Valley to Madera and Merced counties, the absence of the counties in the southern San Joaquin Valley presents a challenge to regional flood coordination.

I know theres a lot of information here in these counties about what happens to the water once the (Army Corps of Engineers) releases if from the dams and before it gets to the lakebed, Nemeth said. Otherwise wed have a lake emerging more frequently than we do.

So the real challenge, is how do we collect that information and, with the counties, she added, and have the counties make decisions about where to divert water upstream of the lakebed to protect communities further downstream?
The so-called "deputy minister" of Housing and Utilities appointed by the invaders has been wounded in an explosion in occupied Melitopol, Zaporizhzhia Oblast; he has been taken to the hospital with mine-blast injuries.

Source: TASS, Kremlin-aligned Russian news outlet; Vladimir Rogov, the representative of the occupiers in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, on Telegram

Quote: "According to the Investigative Committee, on 12 May, an unknown person planted an improvised explosive device in a rubbish bin near the entrance to an apartment building in Melitopol, which was detonated when the acting deputy minister was leaving the building."

Details: The collaborator has reportedly sustained mine-blast injuries. He has been taken to a medical facility.

Collaborators name is not disclosed; however, as per the information from Russian propagandists, Oleh Riabchuk has been appointed the so-called deputy minister of construction, architecture and utilities of Zaporizhzhia Oblast.

Background:

On the morning of 12 May, a strong explosion occurred in the centre of temporarily occupied Melitopol, Zaporizhzhia Oblast. The occupiers claimed that no one was injured, saying that only nearby cars were damaged and that the blast wave smashed the glass in the nearest building.

On 11 May, Yevhen Balytskyi, a collaborator and Russian-appointed puppet leader in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, claimed that an attempt had been made in occupied Melitopol against the "head of the court of Zaporizhzhia Oblast", which allegedly resulted in the injury of two bodyguards of the "judge". However, the legally elected mayor of Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov, said that "the occupiers are once again playing out the scenario of danger'" in the temporarily occupied territories.

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A soldier works at a garage in the Lebanese port city of Tripoli as a side hustle to make ends meet

A crushing economic crisis in Lebanon has impelled members of the security forces to take on side hustles to get by, raising concerns about security in the eastern Mediterranean country.

Soldiers in Lebanon have seen their salaries diminish to around an eighth of their value in dollar terms since the country's economy began tanking in late 2019.

To make ends meet, 28-year-old soldier Samer says he works three days a week with his uncle at a garage in the northern port city of Tripoli.

"Almost all of my army friends have a second job," he said, standing near an open car bonnet, his hands dirty with grease and oil.

In regular times, moonlighting while serving in the military can be punishable by imprisonment.

But now "the army turns a blind eye because if not, everybody would quit", said Samer, whose name has been changed as he is not allowed to talk to the media.

The devastating economic crisis -- which the World Bank says is one of the planet's worst in modern times -- has plunged more than 80 percent of the Lebanese population into poverty.

On average, a soldier used to earn about $800 a month before the crisis, but the value of the Lebanese currency, the pound, has since crashed and salaries are now worth around just $100.

Working at the garage, Samer says he earns double what he does as a soldier -- but still struggles to survive, with nappies and milk to buy for his young son.

Since June last year, Qatar and the United States have announced millions to help prop up security force salaries -- particularly for the army, seen as a key pillar of Lebanon's stability.

- 'Penniless' -

"Even with the $100 extra from the Qataris every 45 days, it's still not enough," Samer told AFP. "At the end of the month, I'm penniless."

Around 80,000 Lebanese serve in the army, while almost 25,000 police serve in Lebanon's Internal Security Forces (ISF), according to official sources.

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The army declined to respond to an AFP request for comment on the issue of soldiers taking up second jobs.

Ahmad, 29, chose to desert after 10 years of service, preferring instead to work full time as a waiter.

"I realised that staying was hopeless," he told AFP, also using a pseudonym.

He quit early last year and said others from his barracks had also left the army.

"I was raised to love the uniform. I still do, but we are suffocating," he said.

Lebanon's cash-strapped military struggles to even maintain its own equipment.

After the economic meltdown began, the army cut down on meat in meals for on-duty soldiers, while in 2021 it introduced helicopter joyrides for tourists in a bid to boost its coffers.

- Security concerns -

Ahmad said he worried about being arrested for deserting.

"But at least I earn seven times the amount from before -- and have enough to eat."

Dina Arakji from Control Risks consultancy said morale in the security forces "has decreased as a result of the crisis".

Unofficially allowing soldiers to work other jobs has jeopardised "the forces' ability to effectively cover and respond to the country's domestic security needs", she told AFP.

Police who serve in Lebanon's ISF say their financial woes are even tougher.

"Our situation is pitiful," Elie, a 37-year-old police officer, told AFP at a protest demanding pension increases for armed forces members in March.

The father of three said his salary was worth around $50 and that he worked with his father, a farmer, to help feed his family.

"The ISF turns a blind eye to those moonlighting as there are no other solutions," a security official told AFP.

The official, requesting anonymity as they were not authorised to talk to the media, said health budgets for the armed forces had also collapsed.

The army provides its own hospital for its forces, but the ISF has no such facilities.

"The worst thing is that if you are injured on the job, you have to pay your own hospital bills," police officer Elie said.

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A 25-year-old man has died as a result of injuries sustained in a crash late last month.

Ezekiel Byrd died at University of Kentucky Chandler Hospital at 11:43 p.m. Thursday, the Fayette County coroners office said in a news release Friday afternoon.

Byrd suffered multiple blunt force injuries in a crash April 30 in Richmond, according to the coroners office.

Byrd was one of two people injured in a single-vehicle collision on Old U.S. 25 at The Crossing subdivision, according to a Facebook post by the Madison County sheriffs office.

Byrd, of Berea, and another man were passengers in a Ford F-250 pickup truck driven by Geremy Jones, 35, of Berea.

The sheriffs office said Jones failed to negotiate a curve, and the truck went off the road, hit a utility pole and flipped multiple times at about 7:30 p.m. The sheriffs office said Byrd was ejected.

The other passenger was also taken to a hospital. The sheriffs office said Geremy Jones did not need medical treatment.

Court records show that Jones was charged in connection with a different crash just weeks before.

In that incident, Richmond police said they were called by a tow truck driver who said someone had called him at about 2:30 a.m. April 8 and told him that he had hit a corner too hard, flipped a truck and was stuck. The driver didnt give the tow truck driver his name but told him where he wanted the truck dropped off. The tow truck driver contacted police because he was concerned about the oddness of the situation, police said in a uniform citation.

The police officer said he went to the scene on Bill Robertson Way in Richmond and found the destroyed truck, along with a damaged fence. Beer bottles were found close to the truck, according to police.

The officer said in the uniform citation that he went to the address on Old U.S. 25 that was provided to the tow truck driver and found Jones with a cut and dried blood on his forehead. The officer said Jones smelled of alcohol and fresh gasoline.

The officer said Jones told him he had swerved to miss another truck and that he didnt know he was supposed to report the crash. Jones was arrested and charged with failure to report an accident and leaving the scene of an accident, court records show.
Turlocks annual Central Valley Brewfest is celebrating its 10-year anniversary Saturday at the Stanislaus County Fairgrounds.

Eventgoers can quench their thirst with more than 150 craft beer samples while they listen to live music and play games. The event also will have hard seltzers, hard ciders and wine for those who arent hip to the hops.

Its a good time because not only are brand reps there, but a lot of the brewers come out and they can speak one-on-one to the consumer, said Veronica Camp, Central Valley Brewfest founder. It gives people a chance to not only have a good time but to also get educated on some of their favorite beers that they drink on the daily.

After a decade of bringing people together to sample beer, heres a look at the history of the event and how you can get tickets:

How to go

While VIP admission is sold out, general admission tickets are available for purchase for $45 online before the event and, if available, $50 at the door. Presale tickets can be purchased through Eventbrite.

General admission tickets include unlimited sampling from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., a festival glass and access to all festival activities, games, dance floor and live music, according to the event website.

Designated drivers can purchase tickets for a reduced cost. This ticket includes entry to the festival, a complimentary water bottle and access to non-alcoholic event activities, according to the site. These tickets are $25 presale and $30 at the door, if available.

Event goers must be 21 or older with a valid ID to enter the festival, including designated drivers.

Parking, located in the fairgrounds main parking area, is free.

The event will take place in front and inside of Building E1, according to the site.

Special beer release and live music

A number of breweries at the event will be launching special beers including Turlocks own Dust Bowl, which was the first brewery that was signed on to the brewfest, Camp said. Dust Bowls special release will be tapped at noon.

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Dying Breed Brewing, out of Oakdale, is hosting a game zone and California Seltzer Company, which Camp is co-owner of, will have a henna artist at their space. One of the designs the artist will be offering is the brewfests 10-year anniversary logo.

Bakersfield-born band Kali Sol will be playing on the outdoor stage for two hour-long sets. Inside one of the industrial buildings, Deejay Izze will be spinning beats on the dance floor.

He keeps people dancing practically four hours straight, Camp said.

How it started

Camp, previously a national event planner for E & J Gallo Winery, participated in similar events in major California cities and recognized a need for something like the brewfest in the Central Valley, she said.

It was almost like a dead zone when it came to special events, Camp said. At that time, Dust Bowl was starting to launch as well so it was kind of fitting that we came up together during the process and launched almost simultaneously.

In the first year, Camp said the event attracted about 300 attendees. Now, more than 3,000 go to sample local craft beer.

When the event first started, 12 breweries tabled at the event compared to the now 50.

It was different, to say the least, when I first started, Camp said. Im very fortunate that I have built relationships with a lot of breweries over the years and pretty much almost everybody always comes back.

What do you want to know about life in Modesto? Ask our service journalism team your top-of-mind questions in the module below or email servicejournalists@modbee.com.
Concerns over spiked drinks havent subsided in Massachusetts, and there are changes underway in how local and state leaders are responding to a perceived uptick in cases.

For the last six months, Boston 25 News has been reporting about the challenges in proving drugged drink allegations.

Bristol and Norfolk State Senator Paul Feeney filed a bill this year that would require Massachusetts hospitals to test for date rape drugs if a person believes theyve been drugged.

He told Boston 25 News hes been hearing firsthand from new people every week about their experiences.

This is a public safety crisis, said Sen. Feeney. This is a problem affecting every community across the Commonwealth.

Senator Feeney has been meeting with survivors, local and state law enforcement, venue owners, and security.

Hes suggesting some immediate changes as he waits for traction on his bill.

Can we go and do a bulk purchase of testing kits so people can have them in their hands when they go to the venue?, he questioned.

Senator Feeney said the prospect of using state money to purchase drink spiking testing strips is being discussed.

Now you can involve law enforcement right then and there where that drink was spiked. We think thats a valuable part of this, explained Sen. Feeney.

Boston 25 News has also learned that the Boston Police Department has implemented a change in its internal reporting system to include a marking option for contaminated drinks.

The institution of this new internal system, where youre able to mark contaminated drink, I think is a step toward better identifying where this is happening and the frequency, said District 1 Boston City Councilor Gabriela Coletta.

For Coletta, the urgency in these efforts is personal.

She believes someone put a pill in her drink back she when was a freshman in college over a decade ago.

I was hugging my friend at the time. My plastic cup was empty, and I felt what seemed like a quarter being dropped in my cup as my arms were around this person, she recalled. I looked in my cup and saw a little pill and I looked around frantically trying to find the individual who did this.

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Coletta has been working with Boston Police to integrate better training documents for police officers who respond to spiked drink reports.

The Boston Police Department has also committed to assigning a detective to a case even where instances of a sexual assault is not believed to have occurred, said Coletta.

The city has also committed to helping venues with technical assistance to better watch out for people committing these crimes.

That includes funding for surveillance systems at establishments that dont have cameras.

The licensing board has also indicated theyre open to establishing a policy that would ensure non-punishment for establishments that come forward with an incident of drink contamination, added Coletta.

For Northeastern student Brinly Meelia, all of it would make a big difference.

She believes she was drugged at another schools off-campus party last year but couldnt get testing done at Mass General Hospital to prove it.

They told me they couldnt test me because I wasnt raped or sexually assaulted, said Meelia.

The Northeastern Health Center was willing to test her which she says came back positive for Rohypnol.

A letter shes since received from Mass General Hospital says theyve changed the practice for testing and all patients will now be tested if they have any concern about the ingestion of Rohypnol.

It says the testing will be sent to an outside lab.

Even small steps are big steps, she said. Even if this bill isnt able to pass, Im hopeful that bars and institutions, including colleges, can look at ways to keep people safe.

Boston 25 News has learned Brigham and Womens Hospital has also changed their testing practice.

All of the other major hospitals Boston 25 News checked in with in the Boston area still are not routinely testing for some of the drugs most commonly used in date rape cases.

Senator Feeney has asked for an expedited hearing on his bill that could change that.





This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.

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An American Fork man charged with soliciting an undercover agent posing as a young girl online is now facing new charges accusing him of sexually abusing a 13-year-old while he was out of jail. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News

A Utah man already facing criminal charges accusing him of soliciting an undercover agent posing as a teenage girl online is now charged with sexually abusing an actual teenage girl he met online while he was out of jail for his first case.

Richard Paul Healey, 34, of American Fork, was charged Friday in 4th District Court with two counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child, a first-degree felony, and enticing a minor, a second-degree felony.

Healey already faces charges of enticing a minor, dealing in harmful materials to a minor, and 13 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, all second-degree felonies, that were filed in 3rd District Court in November.

In that case, investigators say Healey was a member of an online social media group titled "Utah Teens 13-19." A member of the FBI Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking task force posed as a 12-year-old girl on that group, and Healey reached out to "her," according to charging documents.

The undercover agent told Healey she was a girl in the seventh grade, but Healey "told her that age didn't matter and "asked if the girl wanted to date him even though he is older," the charges state.

Healey was arrested on Nov. 11, 2022, and then released from jail to pretrial services. After he was released, investigators received the results of a search on Healey's phone and found 950 child pornography images, according to court documents. On Jan. 23, prosecutors successfully petitioned to have Healey's bail revoked and he was taken into custody again.

But according to his new charges, Healey was on the Spotafriend app on Jan. 14. The app bills itself as "a Tinder alternative for people ages 13-19."

"(Healey) started chatting with the victim, who is 13 years old, and convinced her to meet late at night near a grocery store in Lehi. The victim met the defendant around 4 a.m. and they walked down the street and went behind another business that was closed," the charges state.

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Police say Healey inappropriately touched the girl. Then on Jan. 18, Healey picked up the girl from her junior high school, took her to his house and inappropriately touched her again, the charges allege. He then drove her back to school.

When police became aware of what was happening, the girl said she did not know Healey's name but was able to pick him out of a photo lineup, according to the charging documents.

"(Healey) was a stranger to the victim and made contact with her for the purpose of meeting and engaging sexual acts," the charges say.
Salt Lake police investigate a shooting near 1600 West and 500 South in Salt Lake City on April 26. A 13-year-old girl died in the shooting, and her 16-year-old brother was charged as an adult Wednesday with murder. | Laura Seitz, Deseret News

A 16-year-old boy was charged as an adult Wednesday in the shooting death of his 13-year-old sister in Salt Lake City.

Joseph Michael Landers is charged in 3rd District Court with murder, a first-degree felony, and possession of a gun by a restricted person, a third-degree felony.

On April 26, police say Angelica "Kica" Hernandez was sitting on a couch in her house in the 1600 West block of Wright Circle (505 South) doing online schooling. She was sitting with three other children on the couch and her brother was sitting in a chair next to his sister when he got up.

"Landers was standing in front of the television and pulled a gun out of his pocket and said, 'Who's trying to get popped?'

"Kica told Landers, 'Shut up, Joe. Stop. Because what if you accidentally do pull it?' Landers put a clip in and cocked it back to scare Kica," according to charging documents.

Witnesses told police Landers was pointing the gun at Kica's head and had the laser beam on her head.

"Landers said, 'Oh, should I shoot her right here? Right here?' Landers then pulled the trigger as Kica was sitting quietly," the charges state.

The others said Landers seemed upset after the shooting and ran. Landers' mother told investigators that she heard a gunshot followed by her son "running down the hallway, saying, 'Mom, mom I want my mom. I'm so sorry, I shot Kica,'" the charges allege. "Landers ran out of the house. (His mother) stated that Landers texted her, 'Mom, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to Mama.'"

When questioned, police say Landers initially told them that his friend had shot his sister but later admitted he had done it, according to the charges.

Prosecutors say Landers has already been convicted in juvenile court of burglary, unlawful control of a motor vehicle and theft of a motor vehicle.

"Moreover, the defendant has demonstrated that notwithstanding his prior cases involving felonies, he continued to unlawfully possess and use a handgun and put other people's lives at risk. The ongoing criminal behavior and escalation of violence demonstrates that the defendant is a substantial danger to the community and the witnesses who observed him shoot the victim," prosecutors wrote in charging documents while requesting that Landers be held without the possibility of posting bail pending trial.
People are being kidnapped and held for ransom, sometimes even after multiple payments are made. Women and girls are brutally gang raped. And now children are wasting away because they are so severely malnourished.

With armed violence in Haiti worsening daily, the United Nations lead child welfare agency is continuing to sound the alarm on the effects of the crisis on the countrys most vulnerable population. Not only are children increasingly becoming victims of stray bullets and having their education disrupted because schools are being turned into gang bases, but the increasing lack of food is leading to increased levels of acute malnutrition, also known as severe wasting. It is skyrocketing, UNICEF says.

In Haiti, more and more mothers and fathers can no longer provide appropriate care and nutrition to their children, and parents cannot take them to health centers due to increasing horrific violence caused by armed groups, said Bruno Maes, UNICEFs representative in Haiti. Combined with the ongoing cholera outbreak, more children are suffering from severe wasting more rapidly, and will die if urgent measures are not taken.

More than 115,600 children are expected to suffer from severe wasting this year, compared to 87,500 last year, according to a national nutrition survey. Currently 1 in 5 children suffer from some form of malnutrition in metropolitan Port-au-Prince, which is plagued by violence, worsening hunger and cholera.

And nearly 1 in 4 children suffer from chronic malnutrition, which stunts growth and affects cognitive abilities. The aid agency is appealing for $17 million, it says is urgently needed to scale up early detection of child wasting and to procure an additional 84,000 cartons of therapeutic foods.

Child eating peanuts at a health center for nutrition in southeast Haiti in September 2019.

A funding gap could put the lives of more than 100,000 children at risk of immediate death, the U.N. agency said.

Just last month, there were more than 600 people, including children, killed across Port-au-Prince in what was described by the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti as a new wave of extreme violence. All neighborhoods of the capital, including areas previously considered safe, as well as the Artibonite Valley region are being affected.

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And while neighborhood residents recently began arming themselves with machetes to fight back, gangs have started to regain the upper hand and are terrorizing the population once more.

The overall conflict is restricting childrens access to basic nutrition, health services, and safe water, hygiene and sanitation.

The lack of access to clean water fueled the resurgence of cholera last year, a deadly waterborne disease suspected in more than 41,00 cases. The first new cases were reported in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Haitis largest slum, Cite Soleil, where in the space of just a few days last month 49 women were raped. Nearly half of the reported cases of cholera are children under the age of 14, UNICEF said.

As the disease rampages neighborhoods afflicted by violence, cholera and malnutrition create a double burden that the national health system is unable to respond to due to critical human resource shortages and lack of supplies, the agency said.

A healthcare worker measures the upper arm circumference of Chrisle Amboise 2, at a malnutrition clinic run by UNICEF, in Cite Soleil, Haiti, Sunday, Oct. 16, 2022.

Speaking to the United Nations Security Council last week, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said more action is urgently needed on Haiti.

It is dangling over an abyss, he said. The states lack of capacity to fulfill human rights has completely eroded peoples confidence. The social contract has collapsed. The current lawlessness is a human rights emergency that calls for a robust response.

Turk, who last visited Haiti in February, reiterated the appeal by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and his recently appointed special representative in Port-au-Prince, Maria Isabel Salvador, for international troops.

There is an immediate need to support Haitis institutions by deploying a time-bound, specialized and human rights-compliant support force, with a comprehensive action plan, Turk said. The longer-term challenge is to build robust institutions that deliver on human rights.
(Bloomberg) -- China and Australias trade ministers held their first in-person economic dialog since 2019 on Friday, with both sides pushing to resolve some of the areas of dispute that had poisoned relations.

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I am very confident that as a result of this face-to-face discussion today that we are well on track to getting a stable, normal relationship with China, Australian Trade Minister Don Farrell told reporters after a meeting and dinner with Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao.

We had a very warm and constructive and I have to say candid meeting, at which we both raised issues of concerns to our respective countries, Farrell said, adding that more work needs to be done to resolve outstanding problems such as Chinas tariffs on Australian wine.

Farrell touched down in Beijing a day earlier, marking the second major visit by an Australian minister to China since the two nations began repairing ties in the wake of the election of a new government a year ago. Canberra is hoping to negotiate an end to sanctions on billions of dollars worth of its agricultural exports, while China is pushing for better access for investment and Australia support for it to enter the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal.

Speaking shortly after his arrival, Farrell said he was in Beijing to make progress in stabilizing our trading relationship with China. In the meetings, Farrell said he raised all of Canberras issues, including the cases of two Australian citizens held by China on national security grounds.

While China is Australias largest trading partner by a wide margin, relations between the two began to deteriorate in 2017 amid growing concerns in Canberra over foreign interference in its domestic politics, Australias decision to ban Chinese firms from participating in the 5G phone network rollout and other issues. Tensions came to a head in April 2020 when then-Prime Minister Scott Morrison called for an international investigation into the origins of Covid-19 in Wuhan.

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That infuriated Beijing and prompted Chinese authorities to take punitive action on a range of Australian exports including coal, barley and wine. The key iron-ore trade remained untouched by the dispute.

Since the election of the new government in Canberra, relations have steadily warmed. Imports of Australian coal have resumed while Beijing announced in April it would be holding a review into tariffs it placed on barley imports. In return, Australia announced it would temporarily pause its case against China in the World Trade Organization.

Speaking ahead of his visit, Farrell said he was hopeful of resolving both the barley and wine tariffs by the end of 2023, while Australia is also keen to remove the remaining barriers on other agricultural exports including beef, dairy and lobsters.

In turn, China wants to have access to more opportunities to invest in Australia, a sensitive issue given that Canberra is closely tied to the US on security and relations between Beijing and Washington are extremely strained. China concerns about the investment environment in Australia were discussed at the meeting, according to Farrell, who noted that Australia had approved over 270 investment deals by Chinese firms worth A$4.8 billion ($3.2 billion) in the last financial year.

There are many Chinese investments being successfully approved in Australia, he told reporters in Beijing. However, like all countries we reserve the right to make strategic decisions about foreign investment, particularly where it involves state owned companies.

In addition to requests on investments, Wang also indicated China wanted to be considered as a candidate to join the CPTPP trade deal. China applied to join the deal in mid-2021, but nothing has happened since, with Taiwans subsequent application to join and some members reticence to let China join stymieing any chance of accession for now.

Farrell said late last year that theres no prospect that China could join the deal. While his comments in Beijing on Friday were not as negative as then, they dont suggest a welcoming attitude.

The Chinese minister indicated that they would like to be considered for accession to the CPTPP, he said. I indicated that they we still havent finally resolved the issue of the United Kingdoms accession, noting that joining the deal requires the unanimous consent of all the countries who are members.

Wang accepted an invitation to visit Australia, according to Farrell, who noted the two would meet again soon at an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Detroit. The two nations are also discussing when Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang will visit Australia, Farrell said.

(Updates with comment in third paragraph.)

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By Jessie Pang

HONG KONG (Reuters) -China on Friday condemned a U.S. congressional report that called for sanctions against 29 Hong Kong judges involved in the city's national security cases, given their role in "weakening" the rule of law.

The report by the U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) - which advises Congress - said a national security law China imposed on Hong Kong in 2020 in response to pro-democracy demonstrations had "created a parallel legal system that weakens judicial independence and strips criminal defendants of basic due process protections".

Only judges appointed by Hong Kong's pro-Beijing leader have been allowed to hear national security cases, in what the report said was an "opaque" process that had helped "diminish the publics trust in the judiciary".

"As participants in this system, judges appointed to handle national security cases contribute to these systemic violations," the report said.

It urged the U.S. government to impose sanctions on 29 known national security judges including lower level magistrates and those sitting on the city's highest court.

The Chinese Foreign Commissioner's Office in Hong Kong, however, "strongly condemmed" the report in a statement, and said it had smeared the city's national security law and judicial system.

A Hong Kong government statement said the report was a "shameless, sinister and malicious attempt to put spiteful pressure on judges". It added that Hong Kong's judges "remain independent and impartial", free from any interference, and that Hong Kong's judicial system was "open and transparent".

Hong Kong's judiciary said in a statement that the report was "a flagrant and direct affront to the rule of law".

The Hong Kong government also condemned jailed media tycoon Jimmy Lai's son Sebastien Lai, and solicitor Kevin Yam, who testified during a CECC hearing on Thursday.

Story continues

Hong Kong's legislature recently passed a bill giving the city's leader the right to bar foreign lawyers from national security cases after complaints were lodged against a British lawyer representing Jimmy Lai.

Chris Smith, a U.S. congressman, said during the hearing that judges and government prosecutors who were "complicit" in the erosion of Hong Kong's rule of law should be sanctioned.

The China-imposed national security law punishes acts of subversion, terrorism, collusion with foreign forces and secession with possible life imprisonment.

The conviction rate in national security cases has been 100 per cent so far. More than 250 people, including some of the former British colony's leading opposition politicians, activists, lawyers and journalists, have been arrested for alleged security offences, with legal proceedings still ongoing.

(Reporting by Jessie Pang; editing by James Pomfret and Mark Heinrich)
SYDNEY (Reuters) -China's foreign minister is expected to visit Australia in July as diplomatic relations between the two trading partners stabilise, the South China Morning Post reported on Friday.

The visit by the minister, Qin Gang, has not been officially announced but would take place in July, the newspaper reported, citing a source "close to the Chinese government".

An Australian academic, James Laurenceson, director of the Australia-China Relations Institute (ACRI) at the University of Technology Sydney, said he was aware of a July visit but could not confirm a date.

The office of Australia's foreign minister, Penny Wong, did not respond to a request for comment.

Diplomatic exchanges were frozen in 2020 as China put curbs on a dozen Australian exports after it was angered by an Australian call for an international investigation into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tension has eased since Australia elected a Labor government in May last year although there has been no change in policy on China and a defence shakeup will see it work more closely with security partner the United States.

Wong visited Beijing in December.

"Qin Gang visiting Australia is big news in that he'll be the highest-profile Chinese official to arrive since the bilateral thaw," Laurenceson told Reuters.

"A reciprocal visit to Australia by Qin Gang for the 2023 Foreign and Strategic Dialogue is part of the restored normal course of bilateral diplomacy," he said.

The dialogue is an annual formal meeting between the two nations, whose foreign ministers last met in March on the sidelines of a G20 meeting in New Delhi.

China is Australia's largest trading partner, with two-way trade in goods worth A$287 billion ($195 billion) in 2022, dominated by iron ore exports that China cannot easily replace.

Australian Trade Minister Don Farrell is meeting his Chinese counterpart in Beijing on Friday. Australia is pushing for the removal of all of China's trade barriers, which began to ease this year.

Story continues

China's ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian, said in an interview in China's state-owned Global Times newspaper on Friday that it was a crucial year to stabilise ties.

"At present, the operation of global industrial and supply chains is blocked, and trade and investment activities continue to slump," he said.

"China-Australia pragmatic cooperation is not only conducive to the stable economic development of the two countries, but also has special significance for China and Australia to cope with global economic challenges."

Australia was a stable supplier of minerals and energy resources, he said, while China exported cheap industrial and consumer goods to "help Australian consumers reduce living costs and curb inflation".

(Reporting by Kirsty Needham and Renju Jose in Sydney; Editing by Stephen Coates)
Li Hui, China's special representative for Eurasian Affairs, will visit Ukraine next week to "promote peace talks."

Source: CNN, referring to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Details: The special representative's trip will begin on 15 May; he will visit Ukraine, Poland, France, Germany and Russia.

At a press briefing, Wan Wenbin, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, said, "The visit of Chinese representatives to the countries concerned is another manifestation of China's commitment to persuade and promote talks, fully demonstrating that China is firmly on the side of peace."

Background:

On the afternoon of 26 April, it became known that President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping. This is the first conversation between the two countries' leaders since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

China promised to send Li Hui, a Chinese ex-ambassador to Russia, as a special representative to Ukraine and other countries for communication on the settlement of the "Ukrainian crisis" (war  ed.).

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
Pope Francis greets a woman with a child during his weekly general audience in St. Peters Square at the Vatican, Wednesday, May 10, 2023. | Alessandra Tarantino, Associated Press

Pope Francis created an international press frenzy last year when he shared his candid thoughts on choosing pets over kids.

During a gathering at the Vatican in January 2022, he criticized couples who avoid having children, arguing that its selfish and harmful to the whole world.

His comments spread like wildfire across social media, as The New York Times noted in its coverage of the remarks.

Related

Many people were angry at the pope for downplaying the emotional and monetary costs of having kids, while others praised him for promoting parenthood. Still others wondered why the Catholic leader wouldnt encourage people to say yes to both pets and children.

It is strange to think that the pope considers love in our lives to be limited in quantity, and that giving it to someone takes it away from others, said Massimo Comparotto, the president of the Italian branch of the International Organization for the Protection of Animals, to The New York Times.

On Friday, Pope Francis waded once again into these controversial waters, when he spoke about Italys declining birthrate.

Appearing alongside Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, the pope once again called young pet owners selfish and argued that government leaders and others must work to reverse birthrate trends.

Francis called for resources to be dedicated to helping couples grow their families, saying it was necessary to plant the future with hope, The Associated Press reported.

The article noted that Italy recorded a record low number of live births last year and that government officials have been engaged in talks about how to reverse the trend. Unless the birthrate rises in the near future, the country could be headed toward economic collapse, according to The Associated Press.

Although Pope Francis engaged with these potential economic issues during Fridays event, his previous comments on parenthood have focused on other concerns.

Story continues

Last year, the pope said that choosing not to be a parent risks a persons humanity. In 2014, he said the drop in interest in child-rearing is fueled by cultural degradation, The New York Times reported.

An emotional relationship with animals is easier, more programmable, he said nine years ago. Having a child is something complex.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Pope Francis is not believed to have pets of his own, despite sharing a name with the patron saint of animals.

Many of his predecessors have raised pets at the Vatican, including dogs, cats, birds and even a monkey, according to The New York Times.
Gavel

CANTON  A Stark County Common Pleas Court jury on Friday acquitted a Canton man of attempted murder for a 2021 shooting.

Christopher Lucius, 34, was accused of shooting a Cleveland man on March 5, 2021, at a residence in the 3700 block of Fairmount Boulevard NE.

The jury found Lucius not guilty of attempted murder, felonious assault and two weapons-related charges.

The case was tried by special prosecutors from the Ohio Attorney General's office to avoid a potential conflict with Stark County Prosecutor Kyle Stone's office.

More: Man indicted in 2021 Canton shooting after charges dismissed against another

After the verdict was read, Judge Kristin Farmer ordered Lucius to be released from custody.

"Good luck to you," the judge told Lucius.

Christopher Lucius maintained his innocence

Defense attorney Ty Graham said after the verdict that his client has maintained his innocence throughout his incarceration. He has been in the Stark County Jail since his arrest in late June.

"He had his day in court and we appreciate the jury for their decision," Graham said.

Before Lucius was indicted, another man, Daniel Pride was arrested. County prosecutors later dropped the charges after new evidence showed Pride was a Canton restaurant at the time of the shooting.

Also charged is Manranzano Grimes, 32, of Canton. He faces counts of having a weapon while under disability and felonious assault with a firearm specification. His trial is set to begin Tuesday.

The shooting in Canton

According to court documents, on March 5, 2021, a man went to Heritage Christian School to pick up his daughter, but school personnel would not permit him because the child's mother had instructed them not to release the girl to her father.

The father drove to the child's mother's home on Fairmount Boulevard NE, where Grimes also lived.

Grimes had a gun, which he wasn't allowed to have due to prior criminal convictions, according to police. A report said Grimes dropped the gun and began to fight with the father.

Story continues

Another man arrived at the home as the pair were fighting, and shot the father three times in the chest. The police report indicates the shooter then drove away.

Court records allege the mother then handed Grimes' the gun and Grimes pistol-whipped the man who had been shot while he was on the ground.

The victim was brought to Cleveland Clinic Mercy Hospital. He survived the shooting but lost a portion of his lung.

Reach Amy at 330-775-1135 or amy.knapp@indeonline.com

On Twitter: @aknappINDE

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Jury acquits Christopher Lucius of attempted murder of Cleveland man
EXCLUSIVE: A former top intelligence officer with oversight of threats ahead of the 2020 election said the Central Intelligence Agency had "no evidence" at the time that Hunter Biden's laptop had anything to do with a Russian disinformation campaign, despite claims from then-candidate Joe Biden's allies.

Just before the election, 51 former national security officials wrote a public letter claiming the Hunter Biden laptop had "all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation." It was signed by former President Obama CIA Director John Brennan, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and former CIA director and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, among others.

However, in an interview with Fox News Digital, former National Intelligence Officer for Cyber Chris Porter said that claims from Biden's supporters "did not reflect" the actual intelligence.

"As the intelligence officer in charge of U.S. intelligence community analysis of foreign threats to U.S. elections in 2020, I was concerned at the time about this letter because it did not reflect our understanding of the threat," Porter told Fox News Digital. "Yes, it looked like the kind of thing Moscow might do, but as our unclassified report to the public later indicated, despite an extensive influence campaign there was no evidence this particular item was Russian disinformation."

CIA 'MAY HAVE ASSISTED IN OBTAINING SIGNATORIES' FOR LETTER DISCREDITING HUNTER BIDEN LAPTOP: HOUSE GOP REPORT

A top intelligence officer said claims that the Hunter Biden laptop story was Russian disinformation were not based on actual intelligence available at the time.

"Any politically scandalous information from a nebulous source might be consistent with their sponsorship, but that doesn't make it appropriate for senior officials to throw their weight into domestic politics by insinuation without clear and compelling evidence," he added.

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

Porter served as a CIA analyst for nearly a decade and worked as one of the most senior cyber intelligence analysts until 2022.

Story continues

Fox News Digital reported this week that former Deputy CIA Director Michael Morell, who worked to write the letter and get support from ex-intelligence officials, sent a draft of the statement to the CIAs Prepublication Classification Review Board (PCRB) before making it public.

Morell also testified to congressional committees that it was the Biden campaign that orchestrated the letter to discredit stories about Hunter Biden's laptop.

The Central Intelligence Agency seal is displayed in the lobby of CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, on Aug. 14, 2008.

Morell sent the draft in an email to the PCRB, and wrote on Oct. 19, 2020, "This is a rush job as it needs to get out as soon as possible."

Morell told the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees that the PCRB "approved" the letter "as written" the same day.

Another former senior intelligence official told Fox News Digital that the PCRB review process "could range from hours to months, depending on the length of the document being cleared and whether there are any elements that are questionable."

"And if youre helping get rid of Trump and youre potentially going to be their boss after that happens, you can get it done the fastest. Thats what it looks like happened here," he said.

In a statement to Fox News, the CIA rejected the idea that politics plays a role in PCRB decisions.

"Political considerations play no role in the CIA Pre-Publication Review Boards established process to determine whether information submitted by current and former officers contains any classified information," the statement said. "The PCRB is composed entirely of staff officers who conduct the reviews."

BIDEN CAMPAIGN, BLINKEN ORCHESTRATED INTEL LETTER TO DISCREDIT HUNTER BIDEN LAPTOP STORY, EX-CIA OFFICIAL SAYS

Former intelligence officers say it looks like President Biden allies in the intelligence community rushed to defend then-candidate Joe Biden and his son Hunter.

Three days after the letter was made public, then-presidential candidate Joe Biden used it as a talking point in the final 2020 presidential debate to rebut criticisms made by then-President Donald Trump.

WHITE HOUSE INSISTS NO 'POLITICAL INTERFERENCE' IN HUNTER BIDEN PROBE AFTER IRS WHISTLEBLOWER COMES FORWARD

"There are 50 former national intelligence folks who said that what this, hes accusing me of, is a Russian plan," Biden said during the debate.

At the time, then-Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe said Hunter Biden's laptop was not part of a Russian disinformation campaign. The FBI concurred.

Former U.S. intelligence official Rebekah Koffler told Fox News Digital that it is "well known among former intelligence officers that the process is biased and politicized."

"Im certain the purpose of the letter was to suppress the information on Hunter Bidens corruption and to prevent Trumps presidency, just like with the orchestrated Russia-Trump collusion," Koffler, a former DIA intelligence officer and the author of "Putin's Playbook: Russia's Secret Plan to Defeat America," told Fox News Digital. "Look at who has signed this letter and everything will be clear."

RATCLIFFE: HUNTER BIDEN LAPTOP WAS A PARTISAN DOMESTIC 'DISINFORMATION CAMPAIGN'

Koffler, who said she has gone through the PCRB process for her own book, said "nothing gets approved in less than a day when it comes to the PRB."

"The PRB process was weaponized in this case," she said.

The CIA told Fox News Digital that the role of the PCRB "is to review materials submitted by current and former officers to determine if the materials contain any classified information."
Hulton Deutsch - Getty Images

The balcony at Buckingham Palace has been where the royal family makes public appearances for big marquee events for years upon years now. Whether it's a wedding, an annual ceremony like Trooping the Color, or something even bigger like King Charles III's upcoming coronation, there is pretty much always time given for the attending royals to show up on the balcony, leading to some incredible photographs over the years. From bored royal kids to great fashion choices, these photos of the Buckingham Palace balcony offer a fascinating perspective of British history.

1874

This tradition predates the wide adoption of cameras! Here's an artistic rendition of Queen Victoria making an appearance alongside the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh.

Sepia Times - Getty Images

1918

A crowd gathers around the balcony on the first Armistice Day, marking the end of deadly combat on the Western Front of World War I. The royal family is barely visible in the background through the jovial crowd.

PA Images - Getty Images

1927

That is a young (then) Princess Elizabeth, who was born just a year before this was taken on April 21st, 1926. Elizabeth was born when her parents were the Duke and Duchess of York, but they would be crowned King and Queen a decade later.

PA Images - Getty Images

1935

Here we see King George V and Queen Mary for George's Silver Jubilee, marking his 25 years as the British Monarch. He would pass away a year later due to health complications stemming from chronic bronchitis.

Print Collector - Getty Images

1935

Princess Margaret, the younger sister and only sibling of Queen Elizabeth II, being held up from behind on the edge of the balcony, with her grandmother Queen Mary resting a hand on her. It's probably a nice view from up there!

Universal History Archive - Getty Images

1936

Speaking of what that view would have looked like, here's what a royal family member would have seen as they were stepping onto the balcony in 1936.

Universal History Archive - Getty Images

1937

Here we see King George VI, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, and the Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret at George's coronation. George VI ascended to the throne after his brother Edward VIII abdicated the role of monarch.

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Science & Society Picture Library - Getty Images

1945

This photo was taken for Victory in Europe Day on May 8, 1945, celebrating the acceptance of Germany's surrender and the end of World War II in Europe. Prime Minister Winston Churchill stands with the Windsor family during the festivities.

While the Princesses are seen here above the crowd, they also famously joined the celebration outside the Palace undercover.

Historical - Getty Images

1947

Here's a classic royal wedding for you. Still a princess, Elizabeth wed Phillip Mountbatten in a union that was controversial at the time. Prince Phillip came from limited financial standing and was born in Greece, though still a British national. They were married for 73 years, until his death in 2021.

Central Press - Getty Images

1951

Then Princess Elizabeth had began filling in for her father King George VI's responsibilities as his health declined. She presided over 1951's Trooping The Colour ceremony, for example. Here's a funny shot of Elizabeth trying to get a young King Charles III to look up as jets fly over them.

Getty Images

1953

Long before his own coronation, Prince Charles salutes onlookers from the balcony. Princess Anne, Queen Elizabeth II's only daughter, also makes an appearance here, along with their grandmother Elizabeth the Queen Mother and Mary, Princess Royal.

Reg Speller - Getty Images

1953

Queen Elizabeth II officially took on the role and responsibilities of Queen after George VI passed away in February of 1952, and her coronation occurred a year later.

Universal History Archive - Getty Images

1954

Queen Elizabeth II and her family greeting onlookers upon returning from a tour of the Commonwealth. The Queen became the first monarch to visit Australia and New Zealand during this trip.

PNA Rota - Getty Images

1960

Princess Margaret marrying Anthony Armstrong-Jones, accompanied by several young bridesmaids on the balcony including Princess Anne on the far left. The royal and the renowned photographer were married for 18 years before divorcing in 1978.

Keystone-France - Getty Images

1963

Prince Phillip and Princess Anne watching Trooping the Colour in 1963. Prince Phillip served in the British Navy during World War II, so not all of those medals on his jacket are just his honorary military titles he was awarded upon Queen Elizabeth II's ascension.

Keystone - Getty Images

1964

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip attend Trooping the Colour with their two youngest children: Prince Andrew, Duke of York (left) and Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh (right).

Fox Photos - Getty Images

1966

Can you spot the future King on the balcony? It's of course King Charles III looking dapper in a suit while briefly babysitting a few royal children at Trooping the Colour including his younger brother Edward, Lady Helen Windsor, Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones and George Windsor, Earl of St. Andrews.

Keystone - Getty Images

1972

We've got three generations of royals represented on the balcony here, and pretty much every family member chose impeccable color combinations if we do say so ourselves.

Hulton Archive - Getty Images

1973

The royal family making an appearance for the wedding of Anne, Princess Royal and Mark Phillips. They had two children and were married for nearly two decades, but by the end of the '80s they confirmed speculation that they intended to separate and divorced in 1992.

Anwar Hussein - Getty Images

1977

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip attending her Silver Jubilee. Her Majesty was the longest-reigning British monarch by the time she passed away, and the UK celebrated the first Platinum Jubilee, marking her 70 years as Queen, in February of 2022.

Hulton Archive - Getty Images

1980

Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother is being honored here for her 80th birthday. The Queen Mother maintained a great reputation among the British public even at times when other royal family members were less well-liked.

Anwar Hussein - Getty Images

1981

Prince (now King) Charles and Princess Diana after their wedding ceremony at St. Paul's Cathedral. Their marriage, family and subsequent divorce was subject to intense media scrutiny, and Diana left behind a profound legacy after her abrupt death in 1997.

Express Newspapers - Getty Images

1984

Princess Diana with a young Prince William, and expecting her and Charles' second child: Prince Harry. Everyone was gathered for, once again, the Trooping the Colour ceremony.

Princess Diana Archive - Getty Images

1986

The Duke of York, Prince Andrew kisses Sarah Ferguson on the Buckingham balcony after their wedding. Ferguson and Prince Andrew divorced in 1996, and while she did attend Queen Elizabeth II's recent funeral, she won't be attending King Charles' coronation.

Peter Turnley - Getty Images

1988

At Trooping the Colour, a slightly bemused Princess Diana holds a young, goofing off Prince Harry, with Prince William close by in front of her.

Tim Graham - Getty Images

1990

The royal family gathers to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, when the Royal Air Force and Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy repelled Nazi Germany's Air Force, the Luftwaffe, from forcing the UK to surrender through relentless raids, including nighttime bombings known as The Blitz.

Graham Wiltshire - Getty Images

1991

Prince Harry, who would have been about six years old here, got a little time to himself arriving early on the balcony during Trooping the Colour. We all feel that way at family gatherings sometimes!

Tim Graham - Getty Images

1992

Queen Elizabeth II and company watching the RAF jet demonstration at Trooping the Colour. Always loud, but always thrilling.

Martin Keene - PA Images - Getty Images

1995

At the 50th anniversary celebration of Victory in Europe Day, the Queen Mother briefly becomes emotional while flanked by her two beloved daughters who she celebrated with in this very spot.

PA Images - Getty Images

1997

Trooping the Colour was first performed during the reign of King Charles II in the 17th century as a celebration of the British Sovereign's Official Birthday. The name stands for the military regiments, one of five in the UK, which take turns marching in the ceremony while presenting their distinguishing color.

Tim Graham - Getty Images

2002

Queen Elizabeth II at her Golden Jubilee ceremony, with her grandsons Prince William and Harry on either side. The only other British monarchs to reach a Golden Jubilee, or 50 years in power, were Queen Victoria and King George III.

Tim Graham - Getty Images

2002

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip at the Golden Jubilee. As part of her Golden Jubilee Message, the late Queen poignantly said, "I hope also that this time of celebration in the United Kingdom and across the Commonwealth will not simply be an occasion to be nostalgic about the past. I believe that, young or old, we have as much to look forward to with confidence and hope as we have to look back on with pride."

John Stillwell - PA Images - Getty Images

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Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Getty

The morning after CNNs calamitous Donald Trump town hall, network chief Chris Licht passionately defended the networks decision to provide the ex-president with a primetime platform to spew an endless stream of lies and conspiracies, all while unleashing gross misogynistic attacks on a woman he sexually abused AND the networks own anchor.

In a Thursday morning call with CNN staffers, many of whom were incensed over the on-air fiasco, Licht applauded Kaitlan Collins attempts to fact-check Trump and force him to answer questions while boasting of the events inherent news value. Kaitlan pressed [Trump] again and again and made news, Licht said, adding that it made a LOT of news, and that is the job of CNN.

And Ill say this as clearly as I possibly can: You do not have to like the former presidents answers, but you cant say we didnt get them, Licht added. America was served very well by what we did last night. People woke up and they know what the stakes are in this election in a way they didnt the day before.

But outside of the intense criticism CNN has faced over the town hallboth internally and publiclyand the backlash over Trumps predictably boorish behavior in front of a partisan crowd, did the network actually make a LOT of news? Especially when it comes to exposing any new policy positions from Trump ahead of the 2024 presidential election?

Not really.

CNN Failed America With Its Train Wreck of a Trump Town Hall

While Licht privately lectured his staff about the need to appeal to a large swath of America that theyve previously pretended doesnt exist, and anchor Anderson Cooper scolded outraged CNN viewers for staying in your silo, almost everything Trump said on Wednesday night was just a rehash of his previously stated positions.

On the topic of abortion, a hot-button issue that will likely be pivotal in state and national races next year, Collins asked whether Trump would sign a federal abortion ban into law if he retakes the presidency. In his rambling response, the ex-president said he was honored to have nominated the conservative Supreme Court justices that helped overturn Roe v. Wade before boasting about his great negotiating ability to get something done on abortion.

Story continues

After Trump said some conservatives want a federal ban of six weeks or even two weeks, he went on to falsely claim Democrats want abortion even after the baby is born. Collins again asked whether he supported a federal abortion ban and how weeks of pregnancy he thought it should be limited to, only for the former president to dodge.

Of course, ever since the Supreme Court struck down the federal right to abortion last year, Trump has boasted that this was only made possible due to his presidency, adding that it was my great honor to do so. Furthermore, last month, Trump did not rule out signing a federal abortion ban into law, saying hes gonna look at it and that he knows the issue better than most and we will get that taken care of.

One eyebrow-raising moment in the town hall featured Trump saying that the United States would have to do a default if Democrats didnt agree to massive spending cuts, adding that Congress might as well do it now. After joking that he is no longer opposed to using the debt ceiling as a negotiating wedge because now Im not president, Trump then shrugged off how consequential a default would be by saying its really psychological more than anything else and could be nothing.

But, again, this isnt really a new position for Trump. Since at least January, he has been encouraging Republicans to be tough and not give in throughout the debt ceiling negotiations, adding that they can get back almost everything Democrats have passed legislatively since President Joe Biden took office. Hes even gone so far as to say a possible default would be A BEAUTIFUL AND JOYOUS THING for America.

Trump Steamrolls CNNand the Truthin Town Hall Debacle

Elsewhere in the town hall, Trump refused to fully commit to accepting the results of the 2024 presidential election if he didnt win, effectively echoing his same stance before the 2020 election. Yes, if I think its an honest election, absolutely, I would, he told Collins, adding: If I think its an honest election, I would be honored to. During his only debate with Biden in 2020, Trump would only say I want to see an honest ballot count.

And while he also told Collins that he only feels Democrats can win by cheating, this is a stance he has taken repeatedly since before the 2020 election and has parroted again and again in recent months. The same goes for his constant lies about the 2020 election being rigged and stolen, which was a subject he obsessed over during much of the town hall. The news here would have been if Trump actually did attempt to move on from his loss to Biden.

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Another area where he merely repeated his previous position was when it came to pardoning Jan. 6 rioters whove been convicted for taking part in the Capitol insurrection. I would say it will be a large portion of them and itll be very early on, he said on Wednesday night. However, over the past couple of years, Trump has consistently declared that he would pardon those charged with crimes related to the attack on the Capitol if he returned to the White House. Just last September, for instance, he claimed he would hand out full pardons along with an apology.

Though Trump calling Russian President Vladimir Putin a smart guy while defending him against war criminal allegations was a low point on Wednesday night, this was once more ground well tread.

As Moscow began its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine last year, Trump called the Russian autocrat savvy and a genius. And after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantisTrumps top rival for the GOP nominationmade headlines by labeling Putin a war criminal for the atrocities in Ukraine, Trump fumed that this was exactly the kind of simple-minded thinking that has produced decades of failed diplomacy and ultimately war.

Anderson Cooper Addresses Disturbing Trump Town Hall on CNN

Piggybacking on Trumps Putin apologia, he also told Collins that he could end the war in Ukraine in just 24 hours. Of course, hes been throwing that line around for months now, such as at the New Hampshire GOP annual meeting in January. Naturally, he told his close pal Sean Hannity the same thing a few weeks ago, claiming he would have it solved in 24 hours with Zelensky and with Putin but that he didnt want to tell you what it is because then I cant use that negotiation; itll never work.

At the same time, he also refused to say who he supported in the war, claiming he doesnt think in terms of winning and losing and that he simply wants everybody to stop dying. Besides running hand-in-glove with his warm relationship with Putin, Trump had already previously suggested that hed let Russia take over parts of Ukraine if he were president.

Finally, while discussing immigration, Trump said on Wednesday night that he would reimplement his zero-tolerance policy and bring back family separation at the southern border, adding that it was an effective deterrent. Of course, it is hard to say this is breaking new ground considering that while he was president, he repeatedly expressed his desire to restart his family separation policy because far fewer people would come and it was the most effective method to deter migrants.

Ultimately, its unclear how the disastrous town hall made a LOT of newsunless youre just counting the bevy of headlines on how CNNs town hall was disastrous.

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- - -

Correction: A previous version of this article misidentified Michael Fanone as an officer of the U.S. Capitol Police. At the time of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot, he was a D.C. police officer.

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CNN's prime-time broadcast of a raucous town hall with Donald Trump propelled a tsunami of criticism from inside and outside the network Thursday - and renewed questions about how the news media will handle the challenge of covering the serial falsehoods of the Republican Party's leading candidate going into the 2024 election.

The former president repeatedly dodged or sneered at questions from CNN's moderator, Kaitlan Collins, during the live, 70-minute forum at St. Anselm College in New Hampshire on Wednesday night. He doubled down on false claims that "a rigged election" led to his 2020 ouster and referred to writer E. Jean Carroll, who just prevailed in her lawsuit against him for defamation and battery, as a "whack job," to cheers and laughter from the audience, made up of local Republican voters.

And when Collins pressed him on why he removed classified documents from the White House, he replied: "You are a nasty person."

"Predictably disastrous," wrote former network TV news executive Mark Lukasiewicz, part of a chorus of media critics and political observers who bemoaned the on-air spectacle. "Live lying works. A friendly MAGA crowd consistently laughs, claps at Trump's punchlines . . . and the moderator cannot begin to keep up with the AR-15 pace of lies."

At a time when CNN has been struggling to turn around viewership decline, the telecast proved to be a ratings disappointment, with Nielsen reporting just 3.1 million viewers overall. That was a big boost over CNN's typical 8 p.m. telecast, but a smaller audience than CNN's town hall with President Biden last summer (3.7 million) and six previous Trump town halls carried by Fox News - calling into question both CNN and Trump's drawing power.

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The more profound impact, however, may be the damage done to the reputation of the network that has long promoted itself as "the most trusted name in news." It also raised questions about the future prospects of chief executive Chris Licht, who replaced Trump-friend-turned critic Jeff Zucker last year and is charged with striking a more neutral tone at a cable channel that exploded with impassioned commentary during the Trump years.

Journalists at CNN and others outside the organization called the town hall a "debacle," a "disaster" and "CNN's lowest moment." On Twitter, the hashtags and phrases BoycottCNN, DoneWithCNN and ByeCNN trended late Wednesday.

The thrust of the criticism is that CNN's format, which it has used for other candidates over the years, enabled Trump's filibustering and thwarted real-time fact checking, allowing him to present a dishonest rehashing of his record. "In terms of sheer control of the stage and WWE-style platform dynamics, the horrible truth is that this outcome was preordained," tweeted veteran political writer James Fallows. Some compared the program to a modified Trump campaign rally - the kind that CNN sometimes aired live during the 2015-16 campaign cycle, which Zucker later said he regretted.

Licht defended the decision to host Trump in this format during his regular morning meeting with network staff on Thursday.

"I am aware that there have been people with opinions [and] backlash, and that is absolutely expected," he said, according to an audio recording. "And I'll say this as clearly as I possibly can: You do not have to like the former president's answers, but you can't say we didn't get them. . . . America was served very well by what we did last night. People woke up and they know what the stakes are in this election in a way they didn't the day before."

Licht also hailed Collins's "masterful performance" as moderator and called her "a rock star."

Licht, however, was hammered by his own journalists. "We did it wrong," said an on-air personality. "We treated him like a normal politician who could be fact-checked. We ended up dancing around a demagogue."

"It should have been a taped interview where you could fact-check him," said one CNN correspondent who, like the on-air personality spoke on the condition of anonymity to preserve relationships and careers. "The audience was laughing at his comments about Jean Carroll. Disgraceful."

In his meeting with staff, Licht defended the decisions that led to a cheering, partisan audience: "That was also an important part of the story because the people in that audience represent a large swath of America. And the mistake the media made in the past is ignoring those people exist."

Another staffer, also speaking on background to avoid retaliation, suggested Licht and other executives who approved the event should resign.

It seems an unlikely outcome - for now. Publicly at least, Licht has had the backing of his boss, Warner Bros. Discovery chief executive David Zaslav. Asked for comment Thursday, a company spokesperson pointed to Zaslav's interview on CNBC last week in which he stood by his lieutenant and brushed off some of the criticism that erupted after the town hall was announced. ("We have a divided government. Right? We need to hear both voices," Zaslav said at the time. "All voices should be heard.")

One executive close to Zaslav said that both the board and the executives understand that the news business is difficult right now and that they are prepared to give CNN ample time to find its footing.

Nevertheless, the Trump town hall is shaping up as another disappointment under Licht's watch. Despite his tinkering with CNN's daily lineup and a mandate to reposition the network as a neutral purveyor of news, Licht has been unable to stop its ratings from sliding to historic lows.

Licht's signature programming effort, the remodeling of CNN's morning program, has largely fallen apart with the firing of co-anchor Don Lemon last month. Collins, a rising star at the network, was also moved to mornings to anchor with him last fall. People within the company expect that she will be promoted to the 9 p.m. hour, which has not had a permanent host since CNN fired Chris Cuomo in December 2021. And a person close to the decision-making said that the town hall controversy will not alter Licht's plans for her.

CNN's daily media newsletter, Reliable Sources, was blunt in its assessment of Wednesday's event. "It's hard to see how America was served by the spectacle of lies that aired on CNN Wednesday evening," reporter Oliver Darcy wrote Wednesday night.

But the squadron of analysts and commentators that CNN put on the air late Wednesday to assess Trump's performance in the town hall ("We don't have enough time to fact-check every lie he told," said anchor Jake Tapper) said nothing about the network's own decision to host the forum.

At least one of the network's paid commentators went public with his objections before the Trump special aired. Michael Fanone, a D.C. police officer who was injured while defending the Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot, wrote an essay published by Rolling Stone that indicted the programming decision.

"Putting him onstage, having him answer questions like a normal candidate who didn't get people killed in the process of trying to end the democracy he's attempting to once again run, normalizes what Trump did," Fanone wrote. "It sends a message that attempting a coup is just part of the process; that accepting election results is a choice; and that there are no consequences, in the media or in politics or anywhere else, for rejecting them."

In an interview last week, CNN political director David Chalian justified the event by noting that Trump is the front-runner for the 2024 Republican nomination, and that his "unique" status as a twice-impeached, criminally indicted former president who incited the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, didn't change the network's journalism mission.

"You'd be hard-pressed to say [the format] is less revealing than a one-on-one interview," he said.

Chalian did not respond to a request for comment Thursday. CNN spokesman Matt Dornic said in an email, "I think Chris captured our position well in this morning's [editorial] meeting."

Trump, for one, expressed satisfaction with the event. "Hope everyone enjoyed CNN tonight," he wrote on his social media platform Truth Social. "The New Hampshire audience was AMAZING. Thank you!"

But inside CNN, the mood was dark.

"I can't believe anyone thought this was a good idea," said one staffer, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid career repercussions. "I've been a CNN journalist for many years. I've always been so proud to say that. I've never, ever been ashamed of CNN until tonight."

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The Washington Post's Elahe Izadi and Sarah Ellison contributed to this report.

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At UNC Charlotte, a student group launched a free service to deliver emergency contraceptives and safe sex products to dorms.

At Davidson College, a vending machine dispenses those pills alongside pregnancy tests, condoms and menstrual products.

At Wingate University, health center leaders are rapidly working to improve contraceptive access and hoping to install a vending machine of their own.

These efforts, which come at a time of heightened debate over reproductive freedom, are among many nationwide aimed at making it easier for students to get emergency contraceptives, commonly known as Plan B or the morning-after pill. These pills typically cost around $35-50 over-the-counter at pharmacies, but some colleges provide them at a reduced cost or free of charge.

More than one third of women ages 15-24 say they have taken emergency contraceptive pills, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation analysis of the National Survey of Family Growth, 2017-2019. (Though commonly confused with the abortion pill Mifepristone, emergency contraceptives dont end established pregnancies; they prevent them if they are used soon after sex.)

With many young women concerned about their reproductive choices, universities now play a large role in student health and accessibility.

Local universities and colleges offer several programs to provide contraceptive access for students.

UNC Charlotte

The Reproductive Justice Collective, founded this spring by sophomore Deborah Effon, works to increase access to safe sex items such as condoms and emergency contraceptive pills. The group also educates students about medication abortions.

One of the organizations main appeals for students is an on-campus delivery service called TxtDay, which allows people to order safe sex supplies, including Plan B. The contraceptives are delivered free of charge and anonymously to dorms or the student union. Each delivery includes instructions on usage. The supplies are funded by partnerships with Advocates for Youth in Washington, D.C. and other community organizations.

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Last month was when I added Plan Bs, and since then, every delivery Ive done has included a Plan B, Effon, a public health major, said in April. So within the last month and a half, Ive probably done about 35 deliveries.

After setting up a table with information about their services at the student union recently, Effon has seen the demand for deliveries increase.

UNC Charlottes Student Health Center also provides informational resources and access to contraceptives, including prescription birth control and over-the-counter emergency contraceptives. The health center pharmacy is open Monday through Friday and provides emergency contraceptive pills for a $20 flat rate, no insurance necessary.

The pharmacy lobby showcases several bulletin boards with guidance on sexual health and services offered and includes a Safer Sex Station which supplies a variety of condoms and lubricants. Along with this station, students can order these supplies online free of charge, and an employee packages it together for pick-up.

The Center for Wellness Promotion also conducts educational events to teach students about safe sex practices and what services are offered.

Davidson College

At Davidson College, access to contraception has been a student priority for several years. The campuss chapter of Planned Parenthood Generation Action  a student organization focused on creating resources, increasing awareness, and encouraging political action around reproductive rights  installed a vending machine in 2017 that sells items including Plan B, pregnancy tests, condoms and lubricants.

Named Wellness Wendy, the machine is in the student union building, which students can access seven days a week, from 7 a.m. to 1 a.m. The machine sells Plan B pills for $10. Funding for the supplies comes from the universitys Center for Student Health and Well-Being.

Anaya Patel, the organizations action chair, said the central location and easy accessibility are important for students, especially those who dont want items like Plan B listed on their school health accounts for parents to see.

Student response to the vending machine has been positive, she said.

The vending machine is really important in destigmatizing a lot of concerns that people have about reproductive healthcare, Patel said. Awareness does help to create a culture that were accepting  people have sex, people get pregnant, and we just need to be able to support them in the ways that they need.

The student health center has a doctor in-office Monday through Friday. Davidson representatives provided a statement, saying, We currently offer a wide range of reproductive health care and education to Davidson College students. In addition to pregnancy and STD testing, we partner with medical providers to prescribe oral contraception or to discuss longer-term contraception. Students can purchase Plan B for $10 on campus and free condoms are available as well.

Patel said it is a little hard to find information on what services the health center provides.

I dont think they do very much programming for reproductive health care, specifically, but they do a lot of other great programming, Patel said. That burden also falls on student health educators, peer health educators, and not necessarily admin.

Patel said the organization has created resource guides for students to help explain abortion access, Plan B, and other reproductive health issues that have been hot topics since the Supreme Court eliminated the constitutional right to an abortion last year. She recommended that the health center create similar resources to inform students about whats available to them.

Wingate University

In the last decade, Wingate has worked to increase access to contraception for students.

Nurse practitioners staff the student health center Monday through Friday. They provide a variety of products and can prescribe birth control. Sherrie McCaskill, a full-time nurse practitioner who has been with the university for 15 years, says the health center typically receives about 10 appointments each month related to womens health.

The health center does not stock emergency contraception, but can access it upon request.

McCaskill said she has plans to introduce a vending machine in a space accessible for students after hours. Administration is very supportive of my idea; other universities are doing this, and we really need to have this available, she said.

McCaskill highlighted the importance of access after hours for time-sensitive products, such as emergency contraception, which is most effective within 72 hours of sex. The closest pharmacy is a 10-minute drive from campus, she noted. Students without transportation face more barriers accessing these products.

Atrium Health Partnerships

Atrium Health manages student health centers at Johnson C. Smith University and Queens University of Charlotte. Atrium Health declined requests for reporters to interview health center staff and nurses. Queens dean of students and JCSUs director of student health services acted as representatives on the topic.

Johnson C. Smith University

At Johnson C. Smith University, if students need a prescription for birth control, Atriums pharmacy at the health center will provide it, said Dr. Marian Jones, director of Student Health Services. JCSU has also partnered with a local pharmacy, Premier Pharmacy. If Atrium cannot provide a prescription on campus, Premier Pharmacy can do so and deliver it to the health center.

Emergency contraceptives are not stocked in the pharmacy but are available upon request. The student health center is open Monday through Friday. A physician assistant who can write prescriptions is available Monday through Thursday.

Jones said she has not heard of any student initiatives or feedback about needing access to emergency contraceptives. There are no plans to provide students with greater access to emergency contraceptives through services such as vending machines.

I never really gave it a thought to put it on campus, because the norm was to refer them out to the drugstore or the Health Department, she said.

Condoms are provided at the health and wellness center. They have access to condoms, until six oclock. If after six, they would probably have to buy them, Jones said. The plan is to eventually put them in the residence halls to make them more available.

Queens University of Charlotte

The Health and Wellness Center at Queens University of Charlotte offers sexual health services and products including Plan B. Emergency contraceptives are provided free of charge to students, said Maria del Carmen Flores, vice president of student engagement and dean of students. The health center is open Monday through Friday with a nurse practitioner on-site.

Results from last years National College Health Association survey revealed that Queens students stated they were sexually active, but were rarely using contraceptives. After seeing these results, Queens leaders turned their focus to teaching safe sex practices. Flores said that the university is working with Atrium to improve outreach on campus about various health initiatives, but none yet specifically related to contraceptives.

A Queens student, Julia Gennett, said she was unaware that Health and Wellness offered free emergency contraceptives. She questioned why the university wasnt doing more to inform students.

Itd be so cool to see something like a vending machine on campus, she said. Plan B is sometimes hard to find at pharmacies  Ive had to look online and drive a little further before.

Ellie Fitzgerald and Caroline Willingham are 2023 graduates of the James L. Knight School of Communication at Queens University of Charlotte, which provides the news service in support of community news.
Russian news outlets have reported that two explosions rocked the occupied city of Luhansk in eastern Ukraine; a column of smoke was seen rising over the city.

Source: RIA Novosti, a Kremlin-aligned Russian news outlet; Mash, a Russian Telegram channel

Details: Russian media reported that two explosions rocked the city of Luhansk, with a column of smoke rising above an industrial facility.

The explosion occurred over the Polipak industrial factory, located on the territory of the former 100 Machine-Building Plant.

The video showing smoke rising hundreds of metres into the sky has been shared across Russian social media.

So far, no casualties have been reported.

The Russian-occupied city of Luhansk is located almost 90 kilometres away from the frontline in Luhansk Oblast.

Meanwhile, on 12 May, Russians and collaborators are celebrating "Republic Day" in Luhansk ["Republic" as in "Luhansk Peoples Republic", a self-proclaimed, Russian-backed illegal formation in Ukraine's Luhansk Oblast  ed.].

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is indicated in yellow. (Associated Press)

Outside a limited cadre of professional virus and epidemic experts, the Monday announcement of a four-year, $2.5-million government grant to an obscure scientific research organization probably attracted little notice.

But it was much more important than it appeared on the surface. The grant to New York-based EcoHealth Alliance has largely ended a political attack on research into COVID-19 that began in 2020 under the Trump administration.

It is undisputable that the Trump White House ordered the National Institutes of Health to terminate a $3.4-million grant to EcoHealth in April 2020, based on entirely unfounded right-wingers' claims that EcoHealth was funding so-called gain-of-function virus research in China, something they say could have allowed SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, to escape from a Chinese laboratory and infect the world.

'It was unprecedented for [the National Institutes of Health] to act in response to political pressure and cancel a grant. If there were good scientific grounds for it, then that would be one thing, but there were zero.'

Richard Roberts, Nobel laureate

The consequences for the independence of scientific research generally and for research into COVID's origins have been incalculable.

While it is "impossible to say what would have been accomplished if the hiatus in funding did not occur," former NIH director Harold Varmus told me by email, restoring the grant "cannot restore the three years in which [EcoHealth] was deprived of support for such critical work at a critical time."

Trump's action magnified what already had become a targeted attack on EcoHealth and its president, Peter Daszak. Republicans and advocates of the theory that the COVID virus leaked from a Chinese lab have tried to depict them as villains of the pandemic.

To many scientists in the field, the opposite is true. "People don't understand the importance of the hard work EcoHealth Alliance is doing and how unique and critically important it is," said Peter Hotez, a molecular virologist who is dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor University. "There are not many groups doing the granular grunt work needed to understand how these viruses emerge and transfer to humans."

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The reason for the lab leak cabal's targeting of EcoHealth is obvious. The promoters are invested in a conspiracy theory that the virus escaped from a Chinese lab, possibly for nefarious purposes. But the theory is supported by not a speck of evidence.

Conspiracy theorists lacking evidence, like the lab leak cabal, require targets on which to concentrate their followers' attention. In this case, the targets have included EcoHealth and Daszak.

In its initial form, the lab leak theory held that the Chinese government deliberately created the virus as a biological weapon. Concocted by Trump minions at the State Department, it evolved into a claim that the virus originated in experiments to enhance certain features of microbes so their effects on human cells could be better studied in the lab ("gain-of-function" experiments).

Blaming the Chinese laboratory for the pandemic has remained an unchanging feature of the hypothesis. Another is the unfounded claim that Anthony Fauci, who recently retired as director of the NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was complicit in funding the Chinese research, chiefly through EcoHealth. In fact, the EcoHealth grant application went through traditional professional reviews, in which Fauci played no role, and emerged with gold-plated recommendations.

Peter Daszak, president of EcoHealth Alliance, participated in a World Health Organization inspection of the Wuhan Institute of Virology in 2021. (Ng Han Guan / Associated Press)

Data compiled by virologists and epidemiologists overwhelmingly support the so-called zoonosis theory  that SARS-CoV-2 reached humans from mammals harboring the virus, probably from the Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan, China, where the outbreak was first seen in late 2019.

The hypothesis conforms to what we know about how pathogens have typically reached humans  from animal hosts. It's supported by numerous peer-reviewed studies of the COVID pandemic published in respected journals. There are no such studies supporting the lab leak claims  undoubtedly because no empirical evidence for them exists.

That path leading from animals to humans has been a focus of EcoHealth's work. The restored grant, which originally amounted to $3.4 million, was aimed at determining how coronaviruses  the category that includes SARS-CoV-2  may have spilled over from bats to humans.

"People in rural China were getting infected with these bat coronaviruses," Daszak said. Chinese farmers swarmed through bat caves, generally to collect bat guano to use as fertilizer, exposing themselves to a multitude of viruses harbored by the wildlife.

"If you can find out what occupation, what behavioral pathways are driving that, then you stand a better chance of intervening and stopping the initial spillover," Daszak said.

The attack on EcoHealth's funding began after a reporter for the right-wing organization Newsmax mentioned the grant to Trump at a news conference on April 17, 2020.

The reporter, Emerald Robinson, said the NIH had given the Wuhan lab $3.7 million. She asked, "Why would the U.S. give a grant like that to China?"

Actually, Robinson got it wrong. The $3.7 million she mentioned (actually $3.4 million) was the entire grant to EcoHealth; of that sum, about $600,000 had been advanced to the Wuhan lab, one of eight foreign and domestic subrecipients that EcoHealth funded through the grant.

Nevertheless, Trump took the ball and ran with it. "We will end that grant very quickly," he said.

The NIH terminated the grant one week later. Its explanation was that the grant did not "align with the program goals and agency priorities."

No one familiar with the project believed that. Rather, it seemed crystal clear that the cancellation was ordered by the Trump administration. Indeed, Fauci acknowledged during a House committee hearing in June, "we were told to cancel it. He said later that the order had come from the Trump White House.

The termination generated widespread criticism throughout the scientific community.

In an open letter addressed to NIH Director Francis Collins and Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, 77 Nobel laureates said the cancellation "sets a dangerous precedent by interfering in the conduct of science and jeopardizes public trust in the process of awarding federal funds for research."

The laureates wrote that the NIH's explanation for the cancellation was "preposterous under the circumstances."

"It was unprecedented for NIH to act in response to political pressure and cancel a grant," Richard Roberts, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine in 1993 and who organized the open letter, told me. "If there were good scientific grounds for it, then that would be one thing, but there were zero."

In another open letter, a coalition of 30 biomedical research organizations told Collins that the termination "politicizes science at a time when ... we need the public to trust experts and to take collective action."

In July, the NIH responded to the uproar by reinstating the EcoHealth grant, but immediately suspended it until seven conditions involving the Wuhan Institute of Virology were met. Most fell outside the terms of the original grant. Others were manifestly beyond EcoHealth's authority over the Chinese lab.

Followers of Trumpian COVID conspiracy theories will recognize some of these conditions as fixations of the lab leak crowd. The NIH demanded that EcoHealth "explain the apparent disappearance of Huang Yanling," an institute worker who didn't even work with viruses. Lab leak promoters have been fanatically obsessed with the idea that she was "patient zero" of the pandemic  infected, then arrested by her government and now probably dead.

There is not a speck of evidence for that. She left the lab for reasons unknown, as people do, and there's nothing to validate the fantasy that she was infected or died. Her photo was removed from a directory of Wuhan lab employees  probably because she no longer worked there. The NIH was demanding that EcoHealth chase a chimera.

EcoHealth was also ordered to force the institute to submit to an outside inspection team with full access and to force the institute to respond to cables issued by the State Department in 2018 about "safety concerns" at Chinese labs.

At the time, EcoHealth called these conditions "impossible and irrelevant." They were worse: They were cynically imposed by the NIH, at the behest of its White House puppet-masters, in full knowledge that they could not be met.

Ultimately, the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the NIH, deemed the termination "improper." (Its report found a number of technical violations of EcoHealth's grant award, including about $89,000 in unallowable expenditures related to disputed calculations of permissible salary and benefit payments to employees; that was the equivalent of about 1% of EcoHealth's total active grants, and has been repaid to the government.)

The attacks on EcoHealth and Fauci are part and parcel of long-standing Republican attacks on science for purely partisan reasons. They're related to the anti-vaccine movement, which threatens to bring vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles and polio back into the American mainstream; molecular virologist Hotez estimates that the right's opposition to COVID vaccines has cost 200,000 American lives.

"This business of portraying scientists as enemies of the state is dangerous," Hotez said. "The political drivers for the assaults on biomedical science and scientists," he wrote recently, "resemble those directed against climate science and scientists that began a decade ago."

Even with the EcoHealth grant's restoration, the partisan miasma created by Trump and anti-science right-wingers persists. The restored grant still incorporates conditions evidently imposed on no other NIH grant recipients. These include heightened progress reporting and inspection requirements. "These things make you do a lot more work, but they're not impossible conditions and we've gone along with them," Daszak said. "We just want to get on with the work."

EcoHealth is no longer partnering with the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Work under the restoration will be conducted by a collaboration between Duke University and the National University of Singapore.

The NIH's termination of the EcoHealth grant in 2020 still rankles the scientific community to this day.

"There was no justification in the first place for the actions taken by NIH ... clearly under initial political pressure from the Trump White House," said Gerald T. Keusch, associate director of the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories at Boston University.

"NIH has not owned up to the inappropriate and dangerous interference in the key principles of peer review and management of research it funds by publicly clarifying what happened," Keusch said. "To close the case file on this, NIH must admit to what happened so that steps can be taken to be certain it never can happen again."

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Nearly 3 million people seeking asylum in the US have been barred from entering the country under a public health order issued by Donald Trump.

After midnight on 11 May, people who make the treacherous journey to the US-Mexico border desperately seeking a better life could end up waiting weeks or months for an appointment to hear their claims, and years to reach legal status in the US, if they get that far. If they make such an attempt outside legal barriers, they could end up losing what could be their only chance to enter the country.

With the end of the Covid-19 emergency comes the expiration of Title 42, a public health order invoked by then-President Donald Trump purportedly to prevent people from crossing the US-Mexico border during the pandemic, but wielded by the administration as a broad tool under his anti-immigration agenda.

The Biden administration has repeatedly stressed that the nations southern border is closed, and would-be migrants must seek entry through an asylum process or other legal means before arriving. But asylum claims only can be made at a port of entry; people arriving at the border surrender to authorities to begin the lengthy asylum process.

Without Title 42, authorities will return to enforcement under Title 8, which outlines the process for seeking asylum, and swiftly expel people under an expedited removal process and ban them from trying to re-enter for another five years.

Our borders are not open. People who cross our border unlawful and without legal basis  will be promptly removed, US Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said at a White House briefing on 11 May.

Administration officials have also repeatedly warned that smugglers and traffickers have sought to prey on vulnerable migrants and exploit them for profits by lying about the immigration process at the border.

Smugglers at work spreading false information that the border will open. They are lying, Mr Mayorkas said on Thursday. Do not risk your life and your life savings only to be removed by the United States if and when you do arrive here.:

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The end of Title 42 also begins a new series of immigration policies under President Joe Bidens administration, which will presume people crossing through Mexico to reach the southern border are ineligible for asylum unless they first sought refuge from a country they passed through  or unless they made an appointment through an app run by the US government to be screened.

The app, CBP One, has been dogged by complaints of crashes, malfunctions, instability and access, with up to 1,000 appointments available for booking daily, which fill up quickly.

The US State Department also plans to open regional processing centres in the western hemisphere to help migrants apply for asylum before traveling towards the US.

Title 8 processing begins with a credible fear screening to determine whether people returning to their home countries could expose them to further persecution or threats. Following a screening, they are released while awaiting a court hearing for their asylum case.

More than 1.15 million people were apprehended at the southern border under Title 8 in 2022, according to US Customs and Border Protection. Another 1 million people were expelled under Title 42 within that same period.

More than 665,000 people were removed during the first half of the fiscal year, according to Mr Mayorkas.

Over the last several years, millions of people have fled Central and South American countries in the wake of economic and political collapse, food and medicine shortages, cartel threats and other dangers before making a long and dangerous journey through Central America and Mexico. Regimes in Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua also drove a new wave of migration, spiking encounters at the southern border over the last two years, according to US Customs and Border Protection.

Meanwhile, Republican governors in Arizona, Florida and Texas bused thousands of migrants out of their states, spending tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars to do so, in protest of what they falsely characterised as President Bidens open border agenda.

For years, Democratic lawmakers have urged Congress to overhaul immigration policies and address the broken system that directs how people can legally enter the country, while immigration advocates have warned against relying on a punitive and carceral system that fails to address global displacement issues that are not exclusive to the southern border.

Human rights watchdogs and immigration advocacy groups have warned that new restrictions under the Biden administration, compounded by global failures to address humanitarian crises driving migration patterns, will only exacerbate an enduring problem.

Human Rights First has reported more than 13,000 kidnappings, rapes and other attacks under the Biden administration in a series of reports documenting the impacts of Title 42.

While the end of its use could be a cause for celebration, the Biden administration decision to replace Title 42 with new onerous bars to asylum is an irresponsible detour into nativist politics that will only perpetuate the cruel and dangerous situation at the southern border of the United States, Human Rights First president Michael Breen said in a statement.
WASHINGTON  House and Senate lawmakers left the Capitol this week with no deal on how to avert a catastrophic debt default. But facing a deadline thats just three weeks away, some said they are beginning to see small signs of progress.

A meeting Friday between President Joe Biden and the four congressional leaders was postponed until next week to allow their top aides to make more headway before they bring back the principal negotiators, who met for the first time Tuesday.

And lawmakers and aides alike said the solution to satisfy each side's red line  Democrats insist they won't negotiate over paying debts the U.S. has already incurred, while Republicans demand spending cuts  may be parallel negotiations that pair a debt limit increase with a budget agreement.

President Joe Biden and Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., in Washington on March 17, 2023. (Drew Angerer / Getty Images file)

With the debt limit having been raised, avoiding economic catastrophe, the GOP could claim Democrats backed down from the no-negotiations posture and Democrats could claim some wins in the budget talks and focus on those.

A potential bipartisan deal would take the budget negotiations and kind of blend it in with the raising of the debt ceiling," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a member of the Budget Committee tasked with selecting topline spending figures for the government annually and of the Appropriations Committee, which doles out that funding. "Weve eventually got to fund the government in September, he noted.

Maybe they can agree on some top lines that would show some fiscal restraint and raise the debt ceiling, but well get there, Graham said.

There's a tight timeline; the Treasury Department says the U.S. will default on its debt for the first time as soon as June 1 unless Congress raises the borrowing limit.

Speaking to reporters at a briefing Thursday, Rep. Garret Graves, R-La., spelled out four policy areas where Biden and Republicans could make a deal: recapturing unspent Covid relief funds, overhauling the permitting process for infrastructure and energy projects, establishing spending caps for coming government funding bills and expanding work requirements for participants in some safety-net programs.

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I think theres a pretty good opportunity there, said Graves, a top ally of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., who helped craft the House-passed GOP debt ceiling package.

Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., called the four areas the lowest hanging fruit that are backed by both Republicans and commonsense Democrats.

The White House has said that all of these Republican asks are nonstarters. They will say they wont accept anything. We know they will, said Johnson, the chairman of the Republican Main Street Caucus, which calls itself a group of pragmatic lawmakers.

Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, a centrist Democrat who holds a key swing vote, said hed support adding permitting reform  a long-held priority of his  to a debt ceiling package.

Ill take it anywhere I can get it. Were working to get it, he said. This should be a bipartisan permitting reform bill.

Still, that's easier said than done. Many of the proposals face obstacles to winning the support of a divided Congress.

A wild card in the already tense standoff is former President Donald Trump, the de facto leader of the Republican Party and its front-runner for the 2024 presidential nomination, who poured fuel on the fire this week by egging on an unprecedented default unless Democrats surrender to conservative policy demands and slash spending.

Biden and Democratic leaders who control the Senate remain adamant that Congress lift the debt ceiling with no strings attached and that any negotiations be specific to the federal budget.

Theyre also seeking to put pressure on the GOP by highlighting Trumps comments on CNN downplaying a default. But McCarthy  a Trump ally who has worked to remain in his good graces  isnt budging on his refusal to extend the debt limit without conditions, even as he says he doesnt want to see the country default.

Democrats remain equally adamant.

Were going to pass a clean debt ceiling. We are going to avoid default. And we will engage in conversations about budget and spending and the appropriate path forward. That is my earnest hope, Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., a Biden ally who holds his old Senate seat, told NBC News on Thursday.

It was dangerous and irresponsible that former President Trump last night said, casually, Eh, just go ahead and default.

At CNN's town hall Wednesday, Trump implored congressional Republicans directly: "If they dont give you massive cuts, youre going to have to do a default, he said.

Moderator Kaitlan Collins told Trump that he once spoke out against using the debt limit as a negotiating wedge. Sure, thats when I was president, Trump replied, adding that this time its different because now Im not president.

Asked about the economic calamity that could result in a first-ever U.S. default, Trump said: It could be very bad. It could be maybe nothing.

(L to R) Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), US President Joe Biden, Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-NY), and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) wait before a meeting about the United States's debt ceiling in the Oval Office of the White House May 9, 2023, in Washington, DC. Biden and Republican leaders met in hopes of breaking an impasse over the US debt limit. The lifting of the national debt ceiling allows the government to pay for spending already incurred. (Brendan Smialowski / AFP - Getty Images)

Pressed about Trumps comments encouraging default, McCarthy quickly pivoted Thursday to attacking Biden and repeatedly made the case that House Republicans are the only ones in Washington who have passed legislation to raise the debt ceiling. The McCarthy package would raise the federal borrowing limit by $1.5 trillion or through March, whichever comes first, but it would roll back key pieces of Biden's agenda.

Ive watched President Biden not want a deal and want default, McCarthy told reporters in the Capitol. House Republicans are the only ones whove raised the debt limit."

House Budget Committee Chair Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, wouldnt say Thursday whether he agrees with Trump that defaulting on the debt could be better than the current fiscal trajectory. We passed a proposal that would raise the debt ceiling and pay the bills, he said.

I am encouraged that the parties are at the table and that theyre talking," Arrington said in an interview. And thats more than what weve had for almost 100 days. ... I think what changed the dynamic was Republicans put a proposal on paper and passed it out of the House.

A big challenge in any deal will be for McCarthy to keep his Republican members in line, particularly the 20 rabble-rousers who tried to block him from becoming speaker and ultimately relented after they secured a rule change under which any member can force a full House vote to force him out of the speakership when they please.

Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., an ultraconservative lawmaker who pushed for a debt limit standoff, said the solution is for Senate Democrats and Biden to accept what we sent them and pass the House GOP bill as is.

When he was told Democrats won't pass the bill, Norman replied: OK, then lets face the consequences. Thats fine.

Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, another ultraconservative Republican who has insisted on spending cuts in a debt ceiling extension, also called on Biden to take the debt and spending cuts package Republicans passed last month.

Look, the deal thats on the table is the deal, Roy said. The president has an obligation to bring something back for our consideration. But if Im being honest  to me, the price of this goes up every day.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
George Santos Win McNamee/Getty Images

Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) pleaded not guilty to 13 federal counts of fraud and other financial crimes on Wednesday and said he will not resign from Congress or end his re-election campaign. He was arraigned, released on $500,000 bond, and relieved off his passport. On Thursday, Santos signed a deal with Brazilian prosecutors  over videoconference  in which he confessed to theft and agreed to pay about $2,000 in fines and $2,800 in restitution in exchange for dropping the criminal case against him.

The case in Brazil, which was revived when Santos' serial lies made him internationally famous, won't be dropped until the payments are received, court officials said. "He got off super cheap," Carlos Bruno Simoes, the merchant Santos confessed to stealing from in 2008, told The Washington Post after Thursday's hearing. Santos bought clothes and shoes from Simoes with $430 in bad checks in 2008.

The U.S. charges are much more serious. Santos faces up to 20 years in prison , though "I think it would be between 24 and 48 months," former Connecticut federal prosecutor Chris Mattei told the Post. At the same time, the case against Santos is strong, he added. "I think he's in a lot of trouble."

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Since the beginning of 12 May, the Ukrainian Defence Forces have repelled 36 attacks by Russian occupation forces on the 4 main fronts.

Source: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine

Details: It is reported that during the day, the Russians conducted 4 missile- and 26 airstrikes and fired more than 20 times from multiple-launch rocket systems. Private residential buildings and other civilian infrastructure were damaged.

The Russians again used S-300 air defence systems to launch missile strikes on the cities of Kramatorsk and Zaporizhzhia.

The likelihood of missile and air strikes throughout Ukraine remains high, as the invaders continue to use terror tactics.

The Russians continue to focus their main efforts on the Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Marinka fronts. In total, the occupiers carried out 36 attacks on these fronts over the last day, with Bakhmut and Marinka remaining at the epicentre of fighting.

In particular, on the Bakhmut front, the Russians continue to advance. Fighting continues in the town of Bakhmut. In addition, during the day, the occupiers conducted unsuccessful offensive actions towards Orikhovo-Vasylivka, Hryhorivka and Stupochky.

On the Marinka front, Ukrainian defence forces repelled numerous Russians attacks near the town of Marinka.

On the Shakhtarsk front, the Russians did not conduct any offensive actions during the day.

On the Volyn and Polissia fronts, the operational situation remained unchanged, with no signs of offensive groups forming.

On the Sivershchyna and Slobozhanshchyna fronts, the Russians continue to maintain military presence in the areas bordering Ukraine. They carried out mortar and artillery shelling of border settlements.

On the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson fronts, the occupiers continue to conduct defensive actions, firing at settlements near the contact line.

At the same time, the Ukrainian Air Force carried out four strikes on areas of concentration of Russian military personnel and equipment over the day.

Units of Rocket Forces and Artillery struck three areas of concentration of Russian military manpower, three artillery units at firing positions and an electronic warfare station.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
As the United States moved to lift pandemic-era immigration restrictions, social media users have been claiming five photos show massive crowds of migrants streaming toward the country's southern border in May 2023. This is false; the pictures are not current, but were instead taken in Mexico between October 2018 and June 2022, reverse images searches show.

"A million illegal criminals are waiting to burst through our border next week - A full-scale invasion!" says a May 5, 2023 tweet from "ProudArmyBrat," an account that has previously shared other misinformation about the US border. "Millions will follow. So many reasons to impeach Mayorkas & Biden, but the GOP does nothing!"

The post, which features two aerial photos showing roads full with people walking together, is one of several that warned of an "invasion" alongside similar imagery.

Screenshot from Twitter taken May 11, 2023

The post spread in the days before the United States on May 11 lifted Title 42, a pandemic-era program former president Donald Trump put in place to swiftly expel people trying to enter the country, ostensibly to prevent entry by those with Covid-19.

AFP reported that many migrants turned themselves in to authorities ahead of the rule change, with some making last-minute efforts to cross the frontier before the deadline and the return of Title 8, a decades-old policy that allows border-crossers to seek asylum but includes harsh penalties for those caught trying to enter illegally.

US Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz tweeted on May 12 that there were more than 67,000 apprehensions at the border in the previous week.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas sought to send a message to potential migrants that border security remained in place: "I want to be very clear, our borders are not open," Mayorkas said on May 11.

But the pictures the tweet claims show millions "waiting to burst through our border" are almost five years outdated.

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Reverse image searches show the left-hand photo in the tweet was originally captured by Getty Images (archived here) on October 21, 2018, when Trump was in office.

According to the photo's caption, it shows a "caravan" of Central American migrants near Ciudad Hidalgo, Mexico after having crossed the border with Guatemala en route to the United States.

AFP and US media reported at the time that the caravan began with a group fleeing violence in Honduras and grew to several thousand people, generating headlines and political controversy.

The right-hand photo in the tweet was taken by the Associated Press (archived here) on October 27, 2018. It shows the group in Arriaga, Mexico, nearly 1,000 miles (1,600 kms) from the US state of Texas.

More October 2018 photos

Other pictures from October 2018 have also been misrepresented in the leadup to Title 42's expiration, including an AFP photo captured as the crowd was temporarily held up on a bridge leaving Arriaga.

Another -- in a May 11, 2023 tweet warning of an "invasion" -- actually shows the migrants in Ciudad Hidalgo on October 21, 2018. The Associated Press took the original (archived here).

Screenshot from Twitter taken May 11, 2023

Photo from April 2018

A May 8, 2023 tweet, from an account that has previously posted other misrepresented visuals allegedly from the border, shares a close-up picture of a pack of people moving together.

The post says: "(RT) if you want @GregAbbott_TX to close the (Txs) border in order to stop the invasion of our country, RIGHT NOW."

Screenshot from Twitter taken May 11, 2023

But while the text suggests the picture is a current depiction of migration toward the US border, a reverse image search reveals the shot was originally published by CNN on April 2, 2018.

The image appears as a still in a video published alongside an article (archived here) about a discussion then-president Trump had about immigration with allies at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

Emily Kuhn, vice president of CNN communications, said of the image: "It is from 2018 and is a still of video shot at that time."

The shot depicts a group of Central Americans that crossed into Mexico en route to the United States, Kuhn said, citing its caption.

Photo from June 2022

A fourth photo, in which Honduran and Venezuelan flags can be seen amid a swarm of people, appears in a tweet calling for President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to be impeached.

"Why do we have an 'Invasion' at our border about to take and our elected officials are ignoring the severity of it," the May 10, 2023 post says. "The minute Title 42 ends, impeachment proceedings should begin for both Biden & Border Czar Harris."

Screenshot from Twitter taken May 11, 2023

Another tweet sharing the image adds, "If we were being invaded by millions of Hispanic Nazis someone would've done something, right?"

However, the photo dates to June 6, 2022, when thousands of people in southern Mexico took off for the United States, their journey timed to coincide with the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles, California, where migration was a topic of discussion.

Reuters snapped the picture (archived here) in Tapachula, Mexico -- more than 1,000 miles from the US border.

Mexico's National Institute of Migration said in a statement days later (archived here) that it had dissolved a crowd of approximately 7,000 that left Tapachula. The agency said authorities talked with the group's leaders and provided documents enabling them to stay in Mexico.

AFP previously fact-checked another photo of the June 2022 caravan that was misrepresented online.

AFP has also debunked other misinformation about Title 42's expiration here and here.
FORT PIERCE  A 25-year-old Fort Pierce man was sentenced to 13 years in federal prison after being convicted in connection with a carjacking incident in Fort Pierce, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office Friday.

Xavier Daughtry was sentenced Wednesday after being convicted Feb. 27 on two charges related to carjacking and brandishing a firearm, federal court records state.

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Fort Pierce Police in May 2022 got a 911 call from a woman who said she parked her Nissan at a gas station on U.S. 1.

After going inside the store, the victim returned to find Daughtry attempting to enter her vehicle, the U.S. Attorneys Office stated. The victim confronted Daughtry, who then raised a loaded .45-caliber pistol and pointed it at the victims face and told her to back the (expletive) up.

Vietnam vet's homicide a year later: Son of Fort Pierce homicide victim wants legacy of his dad to move forward

Daughtry got in the 2022 Nissan Altima and left, though police issued a be-on-the-lookout bulletin for the vehicle. Investigators within minutes saw it turning onto a street.

Daughtry was taken into custody, and police found a loaded .45-caliber handgun on the drivers seat.

Will Greenlee is a breaking news reporter for TCPalm. Follow Will on Twitter @OffTheBeatTweet or reach him by phone at 772-267-7926. E-mail him at will.greenlee@tcpalm.com

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Carjacker gets prison after 2022 Fort Pierce violent crime
Clergy and advocates from across North Carolina gathered inside the General Assembly on Friday to denounce the Republican abortion bill that passed both legislative chambers last week.

Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper has said he will veto Senate Bill 20 at a rally on Saturday, attempting to block a bill that bans most abortions after 12 weeks.

The 10 a.m. rally will bring opponents of the bill to Raleighs Bicentennial Mall, while at least some of the bills supporters plan to assemble at the same time nearby in front of the Legislative Building.

Republicans have said the bill is mainstream and pro-woman, with exceptions up to 20 weeks for rape and incest, up to 24 weeks for life-limiting fetal anomalies and without a limit if the mothers life is in danger. It contains funding for services, such as child care, foster care and contraception, as well as paid parental leave for teachers and state employees.

Democrats and those against the bill have said its extreme and will cause harm to pregnant people, especially those who are low-income and may face complications getting an abortion due to the shorter time frame and new requirements. They also called out the speedy passage of the bill, with limited public input.

Coopers veto is expected to be overridden by Republicans, who have a slim supermajority in both legislative chambers.

Still, that was not a deterrent for the coalition, spearheaded by the Rev. William Barber II, a nationally recognized pastor from Goldsboro who called on lawmakers to vote against an override. The coalition also called on Cooper to push back against the abortion bill, as well as other legislation this year they found harmful.

From left: Rev. Dr. Jennifer Copeland, Rev. Rev. William Barber and Rev. Dr. Rebecca Todd Peters. The coalition makes their way out of the legislative building to the governors mansion.

Nothing this legislature is doing is about choosing life. If extremists were deeply concerned about life, they would have done something to address the number one killer of children: gun violence, said Barber, president of Repairers of the Breach and co-chair of the Poor Peoples Campaign, which both sent representatives Friday.

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Lawmakers say they care about life in the womb but then when the child gets outside the womb, you want to cut food stamps, health care, wages for parents, attempt to say anti-abortion stance is synonymous with godliness, Barber said, basically saying that real godliness in public policy is guns, tax cuts, denying living wages and health care, suppressing voting rights, being anti-abortion, anti-immigrant and anti-LGBTQ.

Well we as clergy come to say, no, a prophetic no. It is absolute hypocrisy to say you care about life and then you write a law that puts poor and low-income womens lives in jeopardy.

Rev. Chalice Overy says the bill will harm low-income women.

Chalice Overy, a pastor at Pullen Memorial Baptist Church in Raleigh, said Friday that lawmakers are passing these bills and theyre charging it to poor people.

Low-income women, who are often not paid sick leave and who may not know how their weekly schedule looks, will face complications attending additional appointments which amount to psychological intimidation, Overy said.

Some have also expressed concern that the 12-week abortion limit will lead many people to seek abortions out-of-state, or even illegally, and that new requirements for clinics may force many to shut down.

The Rev. Claudia Jimenez, a pastor at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Asheville, said she drove to Raleigh to speak against the bill because she was outraged it could lead to the closing of the one clinic in Asheville, that serves not only Western North Carolina, but other states, including our neighbors in Tennessee.

Rev. Claudia Jimenez, a pastor at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Asheville, speaks out against the abortion bill.

This immoral abortion ban will particularly harm people in rural areas, working people and those who historically lack access to affordable health care, people of color, young people and LGBTQ+ North Carolinians, she said.

After the press conference, the coalition lined up and made their way out of the Legislative Building, en route to the governors mansion a few blocks away to speak with Cooper.

Once done, they planned to deliver letters to all state legislators denouncing the abortion bill and other legislation.

Page 1 of Letter%20to%20NC%20General%20Assembly.pdf

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Contributed to DocumentCloud by Jordan Schrader (The News and Observer)  View document or read text
In an effort to put armed law enforcement in every Beaufort County school, local agencies are creating a new class of officers with more targeted and less lengthy training, called Class 3 Advanced School Resource Officers.

Every middle and high school already has a SRO, but 16 out of 19 elementary schools rely on private security, according to Sheriff P.J. Tanner, meaning there are about 16 open SRO positions across the county.

Currently, all SROs are Class 1 officers, meaning they have jurisdiction outside of the school. For example, a Class 1 SRO at Bluffton High School has authority anywhere within the Bluffton town limits. A Class 3 officer would only have authority in the school.

Their limited jurisdiction means that Class 3 officers skip training for court demeanor, accident reconstruction and other skills they wouldnt need in a school setting, according to Tanner. He said they go through the same training as Class 1 SROs for skills theyd need to be effective as an SRO like criminal law, firearms training and defensive tactics.

Its quality training, Tanner said. But its purposed training for the program of being a school resource officer.

Class 3 Advanced SROs will do eight weeks of basic training and two weeks of SRO training in Beaufort County. Class 1 law enforcement officers complete 12 weeks of basic training in Columbia, South Carolina.

The Beaufort County Sheriffs Office and Bluffton, Beaufort and Port Royal Police Departments are all offering Class 3 SRO positions. Tanner said he hopes to start training at the end of this month to have officers in schools at the start of next school year.

School Resource Officer Eric Melendez of the Beaufort County Sheriffs Office greets arriving fifth and sixth graders Thursday morning at Whale Branch Middle School in 2009.

One of the benefits is that we were able to encourage men and women of all ages, all backgrounds who really never wanted to go to the boot camp that we normally send our officers (to apply), Tanner said.

The Class 3 SRO officers will be working school hours, meaning that theyd have the summer off like teachers.

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Training Council made the change to allow Class 3 officers to be SROs this year as part of a statewide initiative to place an SRO in every South Carolina school led by Gov. Henry McMaster.

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The South Carolina General Assembly has provided grant funding for SROs since 2019, but the challenge has always been finding officers, Superintendent Frank Rodriguez said.

The state is granting the Beaufort County Sheriffs Office about $145K per officer for personnel, travel, equipment and other expenses. Using this number, if all 16 open positions are filled, the state would grant about $2.3 million between the four county law enforcement agencies.

The grant is a 100% refundable grant to the agency so we wont see any refund until we actually put the person to work, Tanner said. Theres no money upfront.

Beaufort County Sheriffs Office deputy Mike Tannuzzi, Hilton Head Island Middles school resource officer, jokes with some eighth graders, including Dillon Nadzak and Felicita Romaro Barragan, in the hallway during a class change in 2009.

The districts private security contract with Coastal Security is projected to be $1.2 million for the fiscal year 2023. Their contract ends in June and the upcoming contract hasnt been determined. Transitioning to grant funded SROs would free up that money to be used for additional security measures, according to Rodriguez.

The private security was a temporary measure that the board put in place until SROs were able to be hired, Rodriguez said.

Coastal Security replaced GuardOne Security in September when the company was fired after two incidents of guards leaving a gun in a school restroom.

The starting salary for Class 3 SROs is $45K, and applications can be submitted through law enforcement websites.

The fiber of our county is young people, Tanner said. Were looking for those who can foster great relationships, not only with our children, but with teachers and staff.
Yevgeniya Kolesnichenko decided at her husband's funeral to become a frontline medic

Svitlana Povar knew her husband would not approve when she enlisted in Ukraine's military and deployed to the embattled Donetsk region, where fighting with Russian forces is fiercest.

The couple -- together for some 20 years -- had made an agreement when the Kremlin launched its war in February 2022.

She would stay away from the front with their teenage son. He would fight so their child could one day live in peace.

But when Svitlana, 42, learnt on her birthday last September that her husband had been killed in battle, she no longer felt bound by their pact.

"I spent five months begging at the doorsteps of military enlistment offices," she recounted, her hands clasped tightly together, staring out the window of her Soviet-era flat on a recent rotation in Kyiv.

She described tearfully to AFP the heated debates she had with her husband, Semen, who was 38 when he was killed around Vugledar, but believes he would have come around to her decision.

"There are times when I feel that someone is watching over me. I tell myself that he's with me, that he's helping me," she said of her experience being deployed near the eastern city of Bakhmut.

- 'We have to end it' -

Semen's death and Svitlana's enlistment point to the fighting's huge cost for Ukrainians and the lengths to which women are going to aid the war effort -- even at the risk of orphaning their children.

Ganna Malyar, a deputy Ukraine defence minister, says there are 42,000 women serving in the armed forces, including 5,000 on the front line.

There are no figures specifying how many joined after -- or because -- their partners were killed on the front lines.

Svitlana choked back tears while she described her husband as a larger-than-life character who had joked on their very first date walking through a park that they would get married.

The desire to fight Russia's invasion was not driven by a need to take revenge, she explained, but rather the need to finish what he started.

Story continues

"My husband used to say that we have to pass on our faith in God, love for country, the gift of mercy -- and not war. We have to end it, not our children," she said.

Yet Svitlana did not tell her son she was going to Donetsk -- the same region where his father, a sniper, was killed. She didn't know how to tell him.

- Prepare for war -

But while he was studying in Poland, he drew the conclusion himself and has since tried to discuss with her what to do if -- like his father -- his mother is killed by Russian forces.

"When he starts -- maybe I'm wrong -- I cut off these conversations and tell him that everything will be fine, and that's it."

Yevgeniya Kolesnichenko, from the destroyed Donetsk region town of Avdiivka, decided at her husband's funeral to make good a long-held wish to become a frontline medic.

The 34-year-old was already in Poland with her daughter, 13, and 10-year-old twin boys when she got the call that he had been killed in Bakhmut in November.

His parents could not attend the funeral because they have been living under Russian occupation for nearly a decade in Donetsk city.

"When he died, I realised that someone needed to take up his cause," she told AFP, knowing that he would not want her anywhere near the front.

"People who are not fighting now should also, little by little, prepare for war. Sooner or later, most of us will be involved," she told AFP.

Does she sometimes think, since she trained as a medic in December, that she could have saved him if she had been there in Bakhmut?

"I know his injuries meant that he wouldn't survive. But now I'm doing my best to save other heroes," she said, the hum of bees mingling with the thumps of shelling around Karlivka near the front line in Donetsk.

"I work with the mantra 'so that as many husbands and sons as possible return home'. I'm always thinking that there's someone waiting for him."

- Death a 'sacrifice' -

Before the war, Yevgeniya -- the sides of her head shaved with her dyed fringe falling over her animated face -- had her own business designing cross-stitch and embroidery patterns.

She now works alongside two Ukrainian women who lost their husbands to Russia's invasion and knows several others, who, like Svitlana, serve on the front.

"Some have been so affected by the death of their men that they too join the army in one capacity or another," she explained.

Yevgeniya is clear-eyed about the possibility of her own death and has made arrangements with friends to care for her children if she is killed.

But she is still coming to terms with the loss of her husband.

"If you look at it from an emotional standpoint, probably no-one is willing to pay this price," she said of her husband's death.

But pausing for a moment -- as the sound of shelling carried over a nearby lake -- she explained that the fate of the country was hanging in the balance.

"That's why I'm here now. And I could die too. It would be my sacrifice. If everyone thinks it's not worth it, then it wasn't worth it to begin with."

jbr/amj/gil/smw
two Black women wearing masks in an airport

Once the clock strikes midnight on May 11, travelers can breathe a little easier when traveling into the U.S. According to CNN, the country is ending its COVID-19 public health emergency after Thursday, which also ends a three-year-long ban on unvaccinated international travelers following the chaotic viral outbreak.

White House officials say the ban served as an attempt to slow the spread of new variants entering the country and to allow our healthcare system time to effectively manage access to care if faced with an increase in cases and hospitalizations. Over 1 million Americans died from COVID after the virus ravaged families worldwide. The travel ban aimed to prevent additional deaths as the country adjusted to a new normal.

Now, unvaccinated travelers are anticipating re-entering the States. However, a few countries still enforce COVID travel restrictions to protect their citizens.

China is the primary country still keeping COVID travel rules in place. While Chinese citizens are allowed to travel internationally, foreigners still are not allowed to enter the country unless on business or visiting family, according to CNN.

Foreign visitors permitted into the country must have proof of a negative PCR test within 48 hours of boarding a flight to China, according to the Independent. This takes leisure visits to the country of the Red Dragon off the table for tourists heading into the summer travel season. Keep in mind, these restrictions do not apply in Hong Kong, and no testing is required regardless of the travelers vaccination status when entering the city.



Brazil is also continuing to uphold its restrictions following the 2020 outbreak. Unvaccinated travelers must still provide proof of a negative COVID test 24 hours before flying to the country. Its recommended to have a copy of your vaccination records handy on your phone or printed out because there are still local requirements to access gyms, restaurants and hotels, according to the Foreign Office.
A traffic stop on the Georgia-South Carolina state line ended with deputies finding grams of meth hidden inside McDonalds wrappers.

The Anderson County Sheriffs Office arrested Kala Brown and Jason Mauldin on Tuesday.

[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]

Deputies pulled over the pair in a black Ford Fusion on Interstate 85 near mile marker seven.

The sheriffs office didnt say why they pulled Brown and Mauldin for a traffic stop but made a surprising discovery when they searched the car.

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Deputies found more than 85 grams of methamphetamine wrapped up in sausage McGriddle wrappers.

Brown and Mauldin are both facing meth trafficking charges in South Carolina. No other details about the search were available.

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IN OTHER NEWS
Police officers in North Carolina got an unlikely assist while searching for a suspect in a reckless driving case.

Authorities say a man later identified as Joshua Minton, 34, fled from Boone County police officers during a traffic stop on Tuesday. Minton led the police and deputies from the Watauga County Sheriff's Office on a chase in his car, then abandoned his vehicle and "fled into an undeveloped area," Boone police said in a news release.

Police weren't immediately able to see where Minton had run, so they began to search the area, and found a herd of cows eager to help.

"Apparently cows do not want suspected criminals loitering in their pasture and quickly assisted our officers by leading them directly to where the suspect was hiding," police said in a Facebook post. "The cows communicated with the officers as best they could and finally just had the officers follow them to the suspect's location."

Once he was found, Minton was charged with one count of felony fleeing and eluding arrest with a motor vehicle, driving with a license revoked, and disorderly conduct. His next court date is scheduled for June 28, in Watauga County.

In the news release, the police department said the charges wouldn't have been possible without the helpful bovines.

"In addition to thanking our officers and deputies for putting themselves in harm's way; obviously, we want to express our gratitude to the cows for their assistance," the department said.

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Transgender comment

There is simply not enough blood in Kentucky to satisfy the thirst of Republican gubernatorial candidate Kelly Craft.

Billionaires like Craft only know one trickwhat Kentuckys Muhammed Ali called the rope-a-dope. They come up with ways to get working people to fight with one another while they plunder everything they can reach.

When Craft says in prepared remarks that under a Craft-Wise administration, we will not have transgenders [sic] in our school system, she is telling Kentuckians that she is willing to attack even children to gain power. She is signaling that there is nobody she is not willing to sacrifice on her own altar.

Trans youth suffer horrifying rates of homelessness, addiction, and suicide. Few are more vulnerable, and few are at higher risk. For Craft, theyre perfect cannon fodder.

Trans Kentuckians are only in the barrel for as long as Craft needs us to be. When shes done with us, shell find somebody else. Her own running mate, who in 2022 sponsored a bill to erase Black history from Kentuckys public schools, has already proven it.

Craft will target anybody she needs to. She is building a throne out of skulls. Trans teens are only the first.

Rebecca Blankenship, Berea

Editors note - Rebecca Blankenship is Kentuckys first openly transgender elected official

Jason Glass

Thank God there is one state official of conscience, integrity, and common sense. Jason Glass deserves full public support of the State Board of Education and elected officials who might have some common sense for the good of all Kentucky students.

Jack Wilson, Lexington

Robert Sainte

In the May 16th election, we in the 28th Senate District have a clear choice for a change. There are three candidates running. The Republican and the Independent are virtually indistinguishable, offering only the same disorganization and repression we have seen from the legislature for the last several years - the kind of pushing backwards that makes Kentucky a national laughingstock.

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The Democratic candidate is Robert Sainte. I have known Robert Sainte for many years. He is an intelligent man, an innovator in his engineering business in Clark County, and a caring person in his personal life. He embodies the principle that those who have benefited from their abilities should pay it forward to make life better for everyone. He is thoughtful, and sees the big picture as well as the fine details that make it come together.

Robert believes that a state senator is sent to Frankfort to represent the interests of all in the district and the state, not just one political party. He will bring honesty, intelligence and integrity to the debates over legislation that affects all our lives.

Take your future seriously. Vote for Robert Sainte for Senate in District 28.

John Rice, Winchester

Neither nor

It seems like all I see on television these days are ads with gubernatorial candidate Kelly Craft attacking Kentucky Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate Daniel Cameron and Cameron attacking Craft. Each indicates that the other is awful and would make a terrible governor.

Theyre both right.

Greg Kring, Lexington

Classless Craft

The try-outs for the Frankfort Freak Show are well underway, with the Republicans taking center-stage for now. So far, they have proven that a couple of my late grandmothers adages still hold true.

She always would say, You cant buy class. Kelly Craft has shown she was right with that one. Crafts claim of woke schools and school teachers hopefully has earned her the enmity of all teachers and their families.

Another of grandmas favorite sayings was, Even duct tape cant fix stupid. All of the Republican candidates have helped to prove that saying still holds true to this day.

Tanner Smith, Lexington

Debate synopsis

A Cliff Notes version of the Republican gubernatorial debate would be as follows:

Kelly Craft: My husband is filthy rich and we are going to buy this office and fire that woke Education Commissioner.

Daniel Cameron: Trump loves me, yeah, yeah, yeah. (Apologies to the Beatles.)

Eric Deters: Im a McConnell hating, disbarred attorney who packs a .380 at all times.

Ryan Quarles: We should promote soybeans, but I cant tell you if Biden is a legitimate President.

Alan Keck: Im the only candidate willing to discuss the issues, give straightforward answers, and act like an adult.

Phillip Johnson, Lexington

Changing values

Im hearing a lot these days about Kentucky values and our way of life. Since coming here 18 years ago, I think I know what these are  the variety and beauty of natures blessings and the generosity and friendliness of the people.

Given that, Im puzzled by politicians who campaign on Kentucky Values and Way of Life. Somehow I cant connect those attributes with a refusal to condemn hate, chaos and death threats upon public servants. One malcontent even called for executing political opponents. I cant understand the pride of earning a high rating from the NRA in its hunger for ever more guns, including those which tear apart young bodies. I dont quite get the clamor for endorsement from one whose moral code begins with beat the crap out of em.

I have trouble with losing our freedoms to government overreach, while switching a womans reproductive healthcare from doctors to politicians; and education from teachers to state legislators. I cant see a Way of Life which listens to TV news that dehumanizes those not white enough or Christian enough.

I dont get it. Does democracy and truth just not matter as much as the price of eggs?

Ernest Henninger, Lexington

Changing song

The recent opinion published in The Herald Leader, refers to My Old Kentucky Home as being pro slavery. I found this contention to be completely incorrect. Stephen Collins Foster wrote the song as a sympathetic view of slave life. American abolitionist and former slave, Frederick Douglass remarked it awakens sympathies for the slave, in which anti-slavery principles take root.

We Kentuckians are a proud people and the thing that unites us are our roots and association with the state of Kentucky.

Just as the laws of our country have changed to be inclusive of all people, so has our state song. In 1986, the Kentucky General Assembly changed the lyrics, replacing the terms darky and darkies with the term people. Many Kentuckians do not know all the verses of the song. I would invite everyone to take the time to read them. The song is anything but pro slavery. Just as we have moved forward, so has the song.

Terry Shelton, East Bend, N.C.

Changing party

I registered Republican in 1972 and I am still registered Republican. It seemed like a reasonable party back then - fiscally conservative, but socially moderate.

Watching the Republican Party now is watching a demolition derby. One wonders what the youth of the U.S. think of the GOP these days? The Wisconsin Supreme Court election of Democrat Janet Protasiewicz should be a harbinger for the GOP.

Lets look at the youth vote in Wisconsin, a swing state. Youth voting percentages for Protasiewicz ranged from 74 percent to over 90 percent with some precincts having 90 percent youth turn out. She whomped the Republican candidate. The results certainly shocked Scott Walker, the Wisconsin Republican ex-governor. His excuse for the loss was that the youth had been brainwashed.

What the Republican party is about now is banning books, banning abortion and defunding libraries. Why stop there? Why not steal elections or cause the U.S. to default on its debt?

Young voters, like me, probably think my party is Hell Bent to The Dark Ages, not The Enlightenment.

George Weems, Lawrenceburg

Trump endorsements

We have a former president who lost both the electoral and popular vote the last time he ran; ignored laws and traditions while in the White House; and was impeached twice  once, for leading an insurrection to stop the peaceful transition of power. He is currently under indictment, accused of illegal business practices. He recently lost a civil dispute with a woman accused him of defaming her. Why mention all of this? Again? Well, here in Kentucky we have two candidates for the states highest office arguing over who he likes best!

Endorsing a run for governor? I wouldnt let Trump endorse a run-on sentence.

Ross DeAeth, Lexington

Abortion thoughts

There isnt a woman alive on the planet who is thinking I will have sex so I can have an abortion.

We are having the wrong discussion.

Suzanne Zivari, Lexington

Flock cameras

The Herald-Leader has reported on Lexingtons Flock surveillance system at least a half dozen times and parroted the police claims that the cameras have helped them locate what seems to me to be an inordinate number of vehicles, missing people, and arrestees. I keep waiting on journalists to do the work of checking out these self-serving claims. Please fact check those who are using authority to take freedom from citizens instead of propping up those who stand to gain from their own propaganda.

J. Evelyn Sill, Nicholasville

Invasive species

I am writing to express my concern regarding the English ivy and Wintercreeper suffocating the trees along Fontaine Road. Often planted as decorative groundcover, homeowners should be aware of the damage these two invasive plants can cause.

The weight burden of the ivy alone can be enormous, leading to weakened branches and even tree collapse. Additionally, English ivy absorbs nutrients from the soil near the tree roots to feed itself, depriving the tree of vital nourishment.

Ivy can host parasitic beetles, retain moisture along the trunk (encouraging rot and decay), and even block sunlight out entirely when left to grow, contributing to the decline and death of trees in the area.

By cutting the vines at the base of the tree and pulling the roots out and away from the trunk, homeowners can clear the infestation and save the tree. This simple and effective solution makes a big difference.

I urge neighbors and homeowners to take action and do their part to clear their ivy. By working together, we can help to preserve the natural beauty of our community and ensure that our native trees and groundcovers continue to thrive for years to come.

Noland Aull, Lexington

Compiled by Liz Carey
Another round of federal grand jury subpoenas went out this week in connection with the corruption investigation into Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey.

Two sources familiar with the matter said at least one powerful New Jersey politician  North Bergen Mayor Nicholas Sacco  was among those who received subpoenas.

A North Bergen spokesman said, As they always have, Mayor Sacco and the Township of North Bergen will comply with any inquiry they receive from law enforcement and will cooperate fully.

For months, Menendez has been under criminal investigation into whether he and his wife improperly took cash and gifts from the owners of IS EG Halal, an Edgewater halal meat business.

Menendez and the companys owners have denied any wrongdoing.

I know of an investigation. Dont know the scope or the subjects and of course stand ready to help authorities when and if they ask any questions, Menendez said in October.

A Menendez spokesman declined to comment.

The newly issued subpoenas  including the one delivered to Sacco  are unrelated to any allegations involving the meat company, the two sources said.

The sources added that the subpoenas in part seek information about certain legislative changes in New Jersey but are still part of the overall investigation focused on Menendez.

The subpoena for Sacco, a Democrat, was issued Wednesday, a day after he was re-elected mayor.

On Wednesday morning Mayor Sacco was issued a subpoena seeking information and records regarding several different matters that he was informed are being sought in connection to an ongoing investigation that is not related to him, a spokesman for the mayor said in a statement Friday.

Mayor Sacco has been assured that he is not a target of the investigation and was approached only as a potential witness, and he intends to cooperate fully and provide any requested information as he would with any law enforcement inquiry, the spokesman added.

An FBI spokesman and a spokesman for U.S. Attorney Damian Williams of Southern New York, whose office is leading the federal investigation, declined to comment.

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As for Menendez and IS EG Halal, questions persist about how the company won an exclusive worldwide contract with Egypt to certify halal exports  as numerous other firms contracts were suddenly canceled in 2019.

Numerous other sources familiar with the matter said some officials at the U.S. Agriculture Department were among those who raised concerns about how the contract was awarded to a New Jersey firm with little experience.

An Agriculture Department did not return calls for comment.

In addition, numerous sources said Menendezs wife is friends with IS EGs owners. Menendez chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which oversees billions of dollars in U.S. aid to Egypt.

Lawyers for IS EG have denied any wrongdoing, and the owners have said they won the contract with Egypt on the merits. Other firms in the industry, however, have been raising questions.

This was an unfortunate decision as all of us certifiers lost our authorizations to provide Halal certification for Egypt. This had a severe impact on the industry, the USA Halal Chamber of Commerce said in a statement.

Menendez said last month he was opening a legal defense fund to help pay lawyers in connection with the criminal investigation.

In 2015, Menendez was indicted on federal corruption charges of illegally accepting favors from a Florida eye doctor, including flights on a private jet, three nights at a five-star hotel in Paris and more than $700,000 in political contributions for him and the Democratic Party.

The case ended in a mistrial after jurors were unable to reach a unanimous verdict. Federal prosecutors decided not to retry him.

Menendez, who has been in the Senate since 2006, is up for re-election next year.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, shared a pair of videos to Twitter late Thursday evening showing what he found during a visit near the Rio Grande along the United States-Mexico border in Brownsville, Texas.

In the first video, Cruz is standing next to a barbed wire barrier that runs along the border when he points toward Mexico, noting there are "over 22,000 illegal immigrants right across the river."

"Joe Biden, this is your fault," Cruz said in the video, scolding the president.

"The people who are killed crossing illegally, that is your fault," he continued. "The women who are sexually abused crossing illegally, that is your fault. The children who are brutalized crossing illegally, that is your fault. The people who are dying of drug overdoses  over 100,000 last year  that is your fault."

MAYORKAS SAYS 24,000 BORDER AGENTS READY TO STOP MIGRANT SURGE AS TITLE 42 EXPIRES: 'BORDER IS NOT OPEN'

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, among group walking to a press conference on the migrant situation on May 11, 2023, in Brownsville, Texas.

Cruz urged the president to take responsibility for the current border crisis, demanding that he visit the border so he can see the madness first-hand.

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

"Come down here President Biden. Stop hiding in the basement, stop pretending this misery is not your fault, stop it. This is not humane, this is not compassionate. This is cruel," Cruz said.

"You can see the lights, you can see a fire," Cruz explained. "If you look, they are waiting for Title 42 to expire, and then the invasion we are going to see is going to be massive."

He continued: "We already have the worst illegal immigration in the history of our country and in just a few hours its getting worse."

Migrants look over a fence as they try to locate family members and friends that arrived at a processing center in Brownsville, Texas, on May 11, 2023.

A Homeland Security Investigations gang unit officer stands near migrants after they got off a bus at a processing center on May 11, 2023, in Brownsville, Texas.

In a second video, Cruz walked along a road near the Rio Grande and said he found a sandal belonging to girl who is "no more than 5 or 6 years old."

FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS BIDEN ADMIN FROM RELEASING MIGRANTS WITHOUT COURT DATES AS TITLE 42 EXPIRES

"She might even be younger than that," he continued, describing the current immigration situation as "horrific and cruel." Cruz also said blame for the border crisis should rest squarely with President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and "every congressional Democrat."

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The video was shared on Twitter just 30 minutes before the Title 42 public health order is set to expire at 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, May 11.

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks at a news conference on May 11, 2023 in Brownsville, Texas.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks during a news conference on the migrant situation on May 11, 2023, in Brownsville, Texas.

The Republican added: "Biden brought back catch and release, he halted construction of the wall, & he ended the Remain in Mexico policy. Now Biden has let #Title42 expire!"

"There is a full-blown invasion unfolding, and Texas is paying the price," Cruz added in a third tweet late Thursday evening, again blaming President Biden and Department of Homeland Security Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas.

MAYORKAS ISSUES NEW WARNING TO MIGRANTS AS BORDER PATROL MAKES RECORD APPREHENSIONS AHEAD OF TITLE 42 END

Around the same time of Cruzs stern rebuke, Sec. Mayorkas released his own statement claiming that the U.S.-Mexico border remains secure and affirmed Border Patrol agents would continue to remove migrants.

"The border is not open," Mayorkas said in a video. "Starting tonight, people who arrive at the border without using a lawful pathway will be presumed ineligible for asylum."

In this aerial picture taken on May 11, 2023, National Guard trucks are parked near a road with clothes discarded by migrants after they crossed from Mexico, in Brownsville, Texas.

In this aerial picture taken on May 11, 2023, people push a float with migrants across the Rio Grande into the United States from Mexico, in Brownsville, Texas.

He added: "We have 24,000 Border Patrol Agents and Officers at the Southwest Border and have surged thousands of troops and contractors, and over a thousand asylum officers to help enforce our laws. Do not believe the lies of smugglers."

AS MIGRANT WAVE HITS THE BORDER, MAYORKAS SAYS IT WILL TAKE TIME FOR RESULTS OF TITLE 42 PLAN TO BE REALIZED

Immigration officials have warned for weeks that the expiration of Title 42 public health order, a COVID-era rule that authorized border officials to swiftly remove migrants, would prompt a surge of migrants to the border.

Customs and Border Protection agents have encountered more than 10,000 individuals at the border on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, just before Title 42s expiration, sources told Fox News.

In this aerial picture taken on May 11, 2023, clothes discarded by migrants are seen on the US side of the border, across from a migrant camp in Mexico, in Brownsville, Texas.

The U.S. on May 11, 2023, will officially end its 40-month COVID-19 emergency, also discarding the Title 42 law, a tool that has been used to prevent millions of migrants from entering the country.

Each of these is the highest-ever single-day record. Officials have predicted the border could see as many as 14,000 migrants daily after Title 42 expires.

Lawmakers in Congress, both Republicans and Democrats, have criticized President Bidens handling of border security between the U.S. and Mexico.
Cult mom Lori Vallow has been convicted of murdering her two youngest children and conspiring to murder her new husband Chad Daybells first wife in a shocking doomsday plot that has horrified the nation for the last three years.

The 49-year-old mother-of-three was found guilty of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and grand theft over the deaths of her daughter Tylee Ryan, 16, and son Joshua JJ Vallow, 7, in Ada County Court in Boise, Idaho, on Friday.

She was also found guilty of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the death of Mr Daybells first wife Tammy Daybell, 49.

Dressed in a black suit, with her blonde hair down in waves around her shoulders, Vallow stood between her two attorneys as the verdict was read out.

She showed no reaction as she learned that the jury had returned a verdict of guilty on all charges.

JJ and Tylee vanished without a trace back in September 2019, with their mother refusing to reveal their whereabouts to both authorities and the childrens desperate family members.

One month later, Tammy  an otherwise healthy 49-year-old  also died suddenly. Her death was initially ruled natural causes.

This bizarre spate of disappearances and death came just months after Vallows fourth husband Charles Vallow was shot dead by Vallows brother Alex Cox in Arizona in July 2019.

With Vallows children and both of their spouses then out of the way, she and Mr Daybell embarked on a new life together  flying to Hawaii to get married in a fairytale wedding on the beach.

But, with months passing since the last signs of life of Vallows children, concerns continued to grow, prompting authorities to exhume Tammys body. A subsequent autopsy revealed that she had died by asphyxiation.

In June 2020  nine months after they were last seen alive  Tylee and JJs remains were found buried on the grounds of Mr Daybells property in Rexburg, Idaho.

JJ, who had autism, had been smothered with a plastic bag taped over his face, his little body still dressed in a pair of red pyjamas. Tylees cause of death meanwhile has been impossible to establish as the teenagers dismembered, charred bones and body parts were found scattered in the ground on Mr Daybells pet cemetery.

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Lori Vallow appears in court in 2020 (AP)

Jurors in Ada County Court in Boise, Idaho, took almost seven hours to find Vallow guilty on all charges over the three murders after a grueling 27-day trial where the panel heard harrowing details about the doomsday moms path of deadly destruction and were shown graphic images of the murdered childrens remains.

The state called over 60 witnesses to lay out its case that Vallow was motivated by both her doomsday cult beliefs but also lust for Mr Daybell and financial greed when she conspired with him and her brother Cox to kill the three victims.

In a bombshell move  that may now have proven fatal  the defence shocked the court on Tuesday when Vallows attorneys announced that they would not present any defence case or call any witnesses, paving the way for closing arguments to begin earlier than anticipated.

During closing arguments on Thursday, prosecutors argued that Ms Vallow had been driven by money, power and sex to kill the three victims.

Ms Vallow and Mr Daybell met at a religious conference in October 2018 when they were both married and began an affair.

As their romance grew, so too did their cult beliefs and conspiracy to kill.

Jurors heard how the doomsday couple believed that they were on a religious mission to gather the 144,000 and that there was a rating system of light and dark for the spirits of the people around them.

In the weeks and months before the murders, Ms Vallow allegedly told friends that JJ and Tylee had become demons.

Prosecutors said that Ms Vallow used these beliefs to justify the murders of her children and love rival.

The state argued that the murders were premeditated and planned  pointing to evidence including the stash of burner phones the three alleged accomplices had, Coxs practice at a shooting range prior to a botched attempt on Tammys life and a deliberate plan for Ms Vallow to be in Hawaii at the time of Tammys murder.

Days before each child was killed, Ms Vallow then allegedly altered their Social Security payments so that the money would be paid directly into her account.

Prosecutor Rob Wood told jurors that Ms Vallow was the ringleader of the murderous plot, and that she groomed and manipulated both Mr Daybell and Cox to commit the murders.

They used religion as a tool to manipulate others. Lori manipulated Alex Cox through religion, he said.

She manipulated Chad through emotional and sexual control.

Ms Vallow was the one common thread tying all the suspects and killings together, he said.

Meanwhile, in the defences closing statement, Ms Vallows attorneys flipped the narrative, arguing that  instead of being the leader  Ms Vallow was the follower of her new lover Mr Daybell.

In what marked the first time Ms Vallow has turned on her lover in the almost three years for the case to go to trial, her attorney Jim Archibald sought to paint her as a hardworking good mom whose life suddenly unraveled when she met Mr Daybell.

One year after meeting Chad, four people are dead, said Mr Archibald.

The defence attorney argued that Ms Vallow was under the control of the doomsday author, under the spell of the craziness of his cult beliefs.

The defence attorney went on to blame the murders of Tylee and JJ squarely on Mr Daybell and Cox saying that there was no evidence placing Ms Vallow on the scene of the three murders or on Mr Daybells property when the children were buried there.

Tylee Ryan and Joshua JJ Vallow (Family handout)

Ultimately, the panel of 12 jurors disagreed and found the evidence showed, beyond reasonable doubt, that Vallow murdered her children and conspired to murder her love rival.

Vallows alleged co-conspirators are yet to face justice over the killings.

Mr Daybell was due to stand trial with Vallow but the cases were severed weeks before her day in court.

He is now due to stand trial in 2024 over the three murders.

Meanwhile, the third person accused by state prosecutors as a co-conspirator in the case wont ever be have his day in court.

On 11 December 2019  hours after Tammys body was exhumed  Cox died suddenly at the age of 51. His death was also ruled natural causes, with indications of a blood clot wedged in the arteries of his lungs. However the overdose drug Narcan was also found in his system.

Vallows own legal troubles are also far from over as she is still facing trial in Arizona on charges of conspiring with Cox to murder Charles Vallow.
A Maryland man convicted in 1981 in a series of Cumberland County robberies and who was among three inmates who took eight hostages at North Carolina's Central Prison in 1982 has been approved for parole, the state's Post-Release Supervision and Parole Commission announced this month.

Melvin Surgeon, now 71, was sentenced in March and May 1981 to a combined total of more than 100 years to life in prison for six armed robberies and one count each of breaking and entering and larceny, according to reports at the time from the Associated Press and United Press International. The robberies included an insurance agency and a motel near Fort Bragg, UPI reported, as well as robberies in Virginia and Maryland. Melvin would have been eligible for parole in 2015.

But, 11 months into his sentence and armed with prison-made daggers and other weapons, Surgeon and his cellmates, William D. Little and Ezekial Hall, seized control of an office in the prison hospital. For 42 hours, the trio held as many as six prison employees and two other inmates hostage, according to an unsuccessful 1984 appeal.

"Although (none) were seeking to escape nor asking to be set free, the defendants demanded that SKY 5, the Channel 5 news helicopter, be brought to Central Prison so that they could air their complaints and that they be transferred to a federal correctional facility outside North Carolina," the appeal states.

A Raleigh attorney and prisoner-rights activist Irvin Joyner who participated in negotiations for the hostages' release said the group claimed they staged the coup because inmates were "treated inhumanely and subjected to racist attitudes and treatment by guards."

On the second day of the incident, after hours of negotiations, the three men agreed to exchange four of the hostages for sandwiches, water and cigarettes. Among the released hostages were Bobby Lee Miller, convicted the week prior for the so-called "mummy murders," a grisly triple-murder in Raleigh in which three bodies were tied and gagged with duct tape after strangulation, and Roger McQueen of Fayetteville who was serving two life sentences for first-degree murder in Cumberland County in 1972. He killed two women in Parkton five months after escaping from a Missouri prison where he was serving time for murder.

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More: David Norris killed 2 Fayetteville women in 1964, now he may be paroled

Melvin Surgeon

Later on the second day, they released a fifth hostage who suffered a dizzy spell from high blood pressure and slumped over.

The standoff ended early on the third day when an agreement was reached with an FBI agent and the three hostage-takers in which the men would surrender and be transferred to a federal prison outside of the state, the appeal states.

According to published reports, once the hostage situation ended, the three hostage-takers were loaded into a van and driven three hours to a federal penitentiary in Petersburg, Virginia.

State reneges on the deal

But once they arrived at the Virginia prison, North Carolina ordered the men be returned to the state, causing an outcry from some who claimed the state dealt in bad faith.

"If somebody is offended by the fact that these inmates may have been misled, that's just tough," Brett Hackney, a press aide to then-Gov. James Hunt Jr. told the AP at the time. "You don't allow somebody to bargain someone out of prison; you don't reward a terrorist act."

On Oct. 15, 1982, a Wake County jury found each defendant guilty of six counts of second-degree kidnapping. Little received six consecutive 25-year prison sentences; Hall received six consecutive 30-year prison sentences; and Surgeon received six consecutive 15-year prison sentences according to the appeal.

At the time of the hostage-taking, Little was serving at least 45 years in prison on charges of second-degree rape, burglary and common law robbery out of Surry County. According to reports, he abducted a 69-year-old woman from a Mount Airy hospital parking lot and sexually assaulted her. He died in prison in 2017, state Department of Correction records show.

Hall, at the time, was serving a combined life sentence out of Cumberland County after he and another man abducted a Fayetteville gas station attendant along Interstate 95 in July 1980. They robbed and abducted the worker, then kicked him down an embankment on U.S. 301, shooting him in the neck. The victim, who survived, lay in a ditch for 15 hours before being found. Hall remains in prison, corrections records show. His projected release date is 2081.

More: Parole considered for woman convicted of 1994 Fayetteville triple murder

Melvin Surgeon, 30, of Annapolis, Md., was spokesman for the inmates during a two-day standoff at Central Prison. He and two other inmates took eight hostages March 24, 1982.

The hostage situation wasn't Surgeon's first attempt at an early release. Shortly after his arrest in the robberies here, he and another prisoner to whom he was shackled were being taken back to jail from a Cumberland County court appearance when Surgeon attacked the lone deputy escorting them off an elevator.

After knocking the deputy to the ground and yelling for the other inmate to grab the deputy's keys, the other inmate refused and pulled back on the handcuffs joining him with Surgeon. The other inmate's actions allowed other nearby deputies to arrive and subdue Surgeon.

He was convicted of the escape attempt at the same time as some of the local robberies.

Mutual Agreement Parole Program

According to the Post-Release Supervision and Parole Commission, Surgeon has been approved for parole via the Mutual Agreement Parole Program. The program is designed to prepare inmates for release through structured activities, progression in custody levels and participation in community-based programs.

A news release states that under the agreement, Surgeon's parole release date is June 26. It notes that the states current sentencing law, Structured Sentencing, eliminates parole for crimes committed on or after Oct. 1, 1994, but the Commission is responsible for paroling offenders sentenced under previous sentencing guidelines.

Officials did not say where Surgeon, who is originally from Annapolis, Maryland, will live upon his release. It was not immediately clear if Surgeon was ever convicted of robberies elsewhere.

F.T. Norton can be reached at fnorton@fayobserver.com.

This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Cumberland County armed robber part of a 1981 prison coup attempt gets parole
A father was shot to death by his ex-wifes boyfriend after leaving a court hearing where he won custody of his children, according to his family in Virginia.

Alex Brown, 29, was shot outside his mother and stepfathers home in Louisa around 3:20 p.m. on May 9 after returning from the hearing, where he was awarded custody of his two sons, according to police and a GoFundMe page created by family members.

The suspect, David Branham, 36, was also involved in the custody dispute, according to a news release from the Louisa County Sheriffs Office. Before the killing, he shot into a vehicle that Brown was in with several others, the release says.

Branham is charged with murder and attempted malicious wounding, according to the sheriffs office. Additional charges are pending, and he is being held without bond. No attorney information was available for Branham online.

Browns mother, Suz McKoy, wrote on Facebook that Brown was in a custody dispute with his estranged wife and that Branham, who is her boyfriend, was not involved. She also wrote that the shooting into the car occurred about five minutes before Branham chased (Brown) down and killed him.





McKoy did not respond to a request for comment from McClatchy News.

She described the moments leading up to the shooting on Facebook.

Browns girlfriend was driving the car back from the courthouse, and Brown was texting his brother to say he was happy that hed gotten custody of his kids, McKoy wrote.





McKoy was also in the car and wrote that the shooting started as the car pulled into the driveway.

Ill never be able to close my eyes without seeing (my son) running from the car drawing fire away from me, she wrote, if he hadnt got out in that split second I would have been shot. My son saved my life, only to lose his less than 5 minutes later.





She wrote that her husband tried to save Brown despite being shot at.

Grief is scary, especially when we are so angry because this was truly a senseless death, she wrote.





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Loved ones described Brown as a hard worker who was planning to go back to school. He had a total of three sons, according to the GoFundMe page.

He was starting a new life and his primary focus was his children and his relationship with his girlfriend, family, and friends, the page says. Alex not only leaves behind a mother, stepfather, younger brother, and a girlfriend, and other family and friends ... but he also leaves behind 3 very young boys who he lived and ultimately died for.

Instead of celebrating his victory in the custody dispute, loved ones are now mourning his loss, family members said.

We rode home from court elated, and the first shots were fired before we even got out of the car at home, McKoy wrote. We dont even know if (Branham) followed us or was here waiting for us, but he hunted my son and he killed him.





Family finds mom and 3 kids shot dead before deadly police standoff, Florida cops say

Man kills ex-fiancees mom and uncle on video call with her, Michigan officials say

Man uses shotgun to kill girlfriend, Oklahoma cops say. Her body was found days later
A 34-year-old Dallas man has been arrested and charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child, police said.

The Dallas Police Departments Child Exploitation Unit received information Tuesday about a child who had been sexually assaulted. William Beckam was identified as the suspect, officials said, and police arrested Beckam on Thursday.

Detectives believe there may be more victims. The investigation is ongoing, and anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Raungi Jones at 214-671-4331.
By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The personal information of 237,000 current and former federal government employees has been exposed in a data breach at the U.S. Transportation Department (USDOT), sources briefed on the matter said on Friday.

The breach hit systems for processing TRANServe transit benefits that reimburse government employees for some commuting costs. It was not clear if any of the personal information had been used for criminal purposes.

USDOT notified Congress Friday in an email seen by Reuters that its initial investigation of the data breach has "isolated the breach to certain systems at the department used for administrative functions, such as employee transit benefits processing."

USDOT said in a statement to Reuters the breach did not affect any transportation safety systems. It did not say who might be responsible for the hack.

The department is investigating the breach and has frozen access to the transit benefit system until it has been secured and restored, it said.

The maximum benefit allowance is $280 per month for federal employee mass transit commuting costs. The breach impacted 114,000 current employees and 123,000 former employees.

Federal employees and agencies have been target of hackers in the past.

Two breaches at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) in 2014 and 2015 compromised sensitive data belonging to more than 22 million people, including 4.2 million current and federal employees along with fingerprint data of 5.6 million of those individuals.

Suspected Russian hackers who used SolarWinds and Microsoft software to burrow into U.S. federal agencies breached unclassified Justice Department networks and read emails at the Treasury, Commerce and Homeland Security departments. Nine federal agencies were breached, Reuters reported in 2021.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chris Reese, Cynthia Osterman and Diane Craft)
WASHINGTON  President Joe Biden's meeting with the top four leaders in Congress planned for Friday has been postponed until next week, three sources said.

Staff will continue working, and all the principals agreed to meet early next week," a White House spokesperson said.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said that all parties agreed to the postponement and that it should not be read as a sign that talks are falling apart. "We are going to meet again," he said, adding that the group believes it will be most productive to "let the staff meet again tomorrow.

A source familiar with the meetings said: This is a positive development. Meetings are progressing. Staff is continuing to meet, and it wasnt the right moment to bring it back to principals.

Congressional leaders met at the White House on Tuesday in a meeting that was described as "tense and serious" by a source in the room and did not result in a deal. Staff members for congressional leadership and the White House have been meeting daily since then, including a two-hour meeting Thursday in the Capitol basement that was attended by Louisa Terrell, Biden's top legislative aide.

Recent meetings and staff-level White House talks with the divided Congress have yielded few public signs of a breakthrough to avoid a default that Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned could come as early as June 1. But some saw the postponement as a small, positive development.

The delay allows the staff group to be able to make more progress  however "notional"  and the principal negotiators to make bigger moves next week, an aide familiar with the talks said.

Another source familiar with the discussions said there have been good and productive conversations among staffers. Those in the room felt having a few more days to talk at the staff level would be helpful, so they decided to move the leaders' meeting to early next week.

Biden, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., remain adamant that the threat of default, which would be catastrophic for the U.S. economy, be taken off the table and that any negotiations be left to talks over the federal budget.

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McCarthy, meanwhile, is not budging on his refusal to extend the debt limit without conditions, demanding spending cuts. He has the support of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., even as both Republican leaders say they do not want to see the country default.

House Rules Committee Chair Tom Cole, R-Okla., said he hopes the delay means the White House is changing course.

I hope it means theyre reconsidering their ridiculous strategy of saying we have to have a clean debt limit because they cant get one through either house, Cole said. So hopefully this means the White House is finally serious about addressing the debt crisis.

A wild card in the already tense standoff is former President Donald Trump, the de facto leader of the Republican Party, who poured fuel on the fire this week by egging on an unprecedented default unless Democrats surrender to GOP policy demands and slash spending in a CNN town hall.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Ukrainian soldiers have advanced two kilometers toward Bakhmut and haven't lost any positions in the area in the past week, Ukraine's Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said on May 12.

According to Maliar, Russian troops "failed to implement their plans and "suffered heavy losses of manpower" on the front line. "At the same time, the enemy gives false information about the lack of weapons, which probably aims to justify the real situation," the Ukrainian official added.

She likely referred to Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin's recent rant directly blaming Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and General Staff head Valery Gerasimov for the fighters' deaths, saying that Wagner was being deprived of the ammunition to continue the assault on Bakhmut.

Wagner a shadow of what it once was: Russia security expert on the rage of mercenary boss Prigozhin After seeming to have calmed down over early spring, the internal conflict between Wagner mercenary group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin and the Russian Defense Ministry has escalated dramatically. In the early morning of May 5, Prigozhin recorded a video in front of what he claimed to be the bodies of doz Kyiv IndependentFrancis Farrell

Meanwhile, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported in its May 12 morning update that Russian forces continued offensive operations in Donetsk Oblast's Bakhmut.

Ukraine's latest advance in Bakhmut was first reported on May 10 by Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi, the commander of Ukraine's Land Forces, who said that Russian troops "could not resist the onslaught of the Ukrainian defenders and retreated to a distance of up to two kilometers."

Late on May 11, several Russian military bloggers reported that Ukraine had allegedly started the counteroffensive and gained some positions in Donetsk Oblast's Bakhmut. Russian Defense Ministry denied such claims, saying "the general situation remains under control."

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On the same day, Prigozhin accused President Volodymyr Zelensky of lying after he said in an interview that Ukraine needed more time to prepare for the counteroffensive. Prigozhin, the head of Russia's state-backed private mercenary group, said on his Telegram channel that Ukraine's counteroffensive was allegedly "in full swing."

Ukrainian military officials earlier warned, as cited by CNN, that the counterattacks around Bakhmut mentioned by Prigozhin are part of a "positional struggle" and not necessarily connected to a greater counteroffensive effort.

A senior U.S. military official and a top Western official have told CNN that Ukraine's Armed Forces began "shaping operations" ahead of the long-awaited counteroffensive. Shaping, a standard tactic developed before major joint operations, involves attacking targets such as weapons depots, command centers, armored vehicles, and artillery systems to prepare the battlefield for the advancing force.
"City of future" offers glimpse of Chinese modernization

Xinhua) 08:23, May 12, 2023

XIONG'AN, Hebei, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Six years on, Xiong'an New Area, China's "city of the future," is offering a glimpse of the Chinese vision of modernity.

During a meeting on promoting Xiong'an's high-standard and high-quality construction and development on Wednesday, President Xi Jinping said within only six years, Xiong'an New Area has started from scratch and developed from a blueprint to reality, with a high-level modern city now sprouting up, which is undoubtedly a miracle.

In April 2017, China announced a plan to establish Xiong'an New Area, located about 100 km away from Beijing. The creation of Xiong'an is regarded as "a strategy that will have lasting importance for the millennium to come and a significant national event."

In terms of the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, Xiong'an aims to become a significant part of the world-class Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei city cluster and plans to take over Beijing's non-capital functions and provide a Chinese solution to "big city malaise," such as overcrowding, pollution and traffic congestion.

China's leadership has pledged to build Xiong'an into an innovative, green, smart, and world-class city with blue skies, fresh air, and clean water, in line with the country's high-quality development path.

During Wednesday's inspection tour of Xiong'an, Xi stressed that the development of Xiong'an New Area has entered a phase when the same importance must be attached to both its large-scale construction and its purpose to relieve Beijing of functions non-essential to its role as the national capital.

More efforts should be made in constructing a multidimensional comprehensive transport network, in making full use of underground space and in building a future city without "urban problems," so as to turn the high-standard blueprint into high-quality development of a city, Xi said during the inspection.

Over the past six years, Xiong'an has completed a total investment of over 540 billion yuan (about 78.1 billion U.S. dollars) with a developed area of approximately 120 square km and over 3,500 buildings constructed.

China's centrally-administered state-owned enterprises (SOEs) have set up more than 140 subsidiaries and branches in the area. Construction of headquarter buildings of big SOEs like Sinochem Holdings, China Satellite Network Group and China Huaneng Group have entered different phases. Over 3,000 enterprises registered in Xiong'an have a background of investment from Beijing.

On Wednesday, Xi emphasized the importance of fully implementing the strategy of innovation-driven development.

Xiong'an is developing high-end industries and building itself into an innovation hub as more high-level talents move in.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences has set up its Xiong'an innovation and research institute. Tao Ye joined the institute after years of overseas study in 2022 and is engaged in the research of microwave photonics and integrated optoelectronics.

"Microwave photonics and integrated optoelectronics are a big trend for future technological advancement and will have a wide range of application scenarios. Developing such technologies is in line with the Xiong'an development strategy," Tao said.

In his eyes, Xiong'an provides fertile ground for transforming scientific research results and he is proud of his participation in the construction of this "city of the future."

"I'm glad to see that our scientific research results are contributing to the construction of this smart and future city and this also offers a great motivation for our work," he said.

Xiong'an has also built itself into a magnet for enterprises, and the huge confidence in the area's future prospects has attracted a large number of businesses to Xiong'an.

Eyecool, an artificial intelligence (AI) firm hailing from Zhongguancun, the country's first national high-tech industrial development zone in Beijing, established a presence in Xiong'an and headquartered itself in the area in September 2018.

Li Qiang, general manager of the company's Xiong'an department, said Xiong'an was designed to be a city of innovation from the very start and that is why they settled there. "As an AI startup, Eyecool considers it a valuable asset to have been able to witness the area's growth since its inception."

Li described Xiong'an as a testing ground for technological innovation, with increasingly more applications in blockchains, AI and digital roads.

Xiong'an is building a digital and smart city. Autonomous buses are undergoing road tests in the Rongdong area of Xiong'an. The Rongdong area is now home to 153 km of "digital roads," where sensors on over 6,000 lamp poles can support autonomous driving and also monitor traffic to help reduce traffic jams, said Kou Tianhao with Yuexiang Xiong'an, a company that focuses on smart transport and autonomous driving.

In building a green city to promote harmony between humanity and nature, Xiong'an has also attached great importance to ecological protection.

Since launching a massive afforestation project in 2017, Xiong'an has afforested over 31,000 hectares of land, increasing its forest coverage rate from 11 percent to 34 percent. Local residents may travel no further than 300 meters from their homes to reach a park, and will get to a tree belt within 1 km and a forest within 3 km.

Thanks to the afforestation program, the local sky is bluer, the water clearer, and the natural environment significantly improved, while some small animals have reappeared after an absence of many years, said Qiu Xiangguo, a villager in Rongcheng County, Xiong'an New Area.

The Baiyangdian Lake, the largest wetland ecosystem in northern China, is located in Xiong'an. After the establishment of the new area, the water quality in Baiyangdian has improved from below Level V, the lowest of China's five-tier water assessment system, to Level III. The species of wild birds in the lake area has increased to 252, which is 46 more than six years ago.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Wu Chaolan)
An artists rendering of the Vulcan Centaur launch.

Its been a tough year for rockets trying to fly for the first time. Two of the newest additions to the medium to heavy-lift launch vehicles, Ariane 6 and Vulcan Centaur, have been struggling to make their debuts, suffering multiple delays over the past three years. There is some hope, however, that their inaugural launches may be getting back on track.

After missing its debut flight on May 4 due to an explosion at the test stand, things were looking pretty bleak for United Launch Alliances Vulcan rocket. On Thursday, the company rolled out its heavy-lift rocket back to the launch pad for pre-launch tests with plans to launch it in the summer, Tory Bruno, ULAs chief executive, wrote on Twitter.

Read more

I feel that you guys deserve a short time lapse of #VulcanRocket leaving the VIF this morning. Now hard down on the pad for tomorrows tanking tests. Enjoy. pic.twitter.com/CwQPbAdkHK  Tory Bruno (@torybruno) May 11, 2023

The fully expendable 202-foot-tall (62-meter) rocket has been in development since 2014. Colorado-based ULA had originally planned to launch Vulcan in 2020, but the highly anticipated rockets debut suffered multiple delays. The rockets first stage is powered by two BE-4 engines built by Blue Origin, which were delivered more than four years behind schedule.



Earlier this year, the two-stage Vulcan Centaur rocket rolled out to the launch pad for testing ahead of its inaugural flight. On March 29, ULA was pressurizing the upper stage of the Vulcan rocket when a spark triggered a fireball at the test stand at NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama. The explosion derailed the companys plans to launch Vulcan on May 4.

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The rocket is meant to replace ULAs Atlas V and Delta IV rockets, which have been in use for the past two decades. Vulcan Centaur is designed to lift 27.2 metric tons (60,000 pounds) to low Earth orbit and 6.5 metric tons (14,300 pounds) to geosynchronous orbit (by comparison, SpaceXs Falcon 9 can carry 22.8 metric tons to LEO.)

For its debut mission, Vulcan will be carrying Astrobotics Peregrine lunar lander, which, on behalf of NASA, will attempt to deliver 11 payloads to the surface of the Moon. The rocket will also attempt to deliver the first two Amazon Kuiper internet satellites to low Earth orbit. If its first mission goes well, ULA is hoping to schedule in another Vulcan launch this year for Sierra Spaces Dream Chaser mission.

The company is also under contract to deliver 35 missions for the U.S. Space Force in the next five years, but it needs to complete two Vulcan flights in order to be certified to launch U.S. military and intelligence satellites.

Artists conception of Ariane 6.

Arianespace has had its own share of rocket debut woes, sans massive explosion. The next-generation Ariane 6 rocket was also originally scheduled for liftoff in 2020, but was later pushed to 2022 and is now likely targeted for the beginning of 2024.



On Friday, the European Space Agency (ESA) shared its latest update on the heavy-lift launch vehicle. The rocket is currently undergoing flight qualification tests and will be transported to its launch site in French Guinea in November where it will be assembled.

During an earnings call on Wednesday, an executive from German aerospace company OHB, an Ariane 6 supplier, predicted that the rockets inaugural flight will likely take place within the first few months of next year, SpaceNews reported.

The 197-foot-tall (60-meter) rocket is designed to lift 10 metric tons to LEO, 4.5 tons to Sun synchronous orbital (SSO) altitudes reaching 500 miles (800 km), and upwards of 10.5 tons to geostationary transfer orbits (GEO).

Ariane 6 is meant to replace its predecessor, Ariane 5, which is no longer in production. Ariane 5 is scheduled for four more launches this year before officially retiring, leaving Europe with little to no options for getting its satellites to orbit.



Arianespace is developing the rocket on behalf of ESA, and the space agency really needs to see this new rocket fly. Europe has been scrambling to find rockets after it cut ties with Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, even turning towards U.S. companies like SpaceX for use of its Falcon 9 rocket.



Even before its first liftoff, the highly anticipated rocket already has a full launch schedule ahead until 2029. Earlier this year, Amazon booked the Ariane 6 rocket for 18 launches for its Project Kuiper internet satellites. Ariane 6 is also expected to deliver ESAs Galileo global navigation satellite system through multiple launches, the Meteosat weather satellites, the Earth Return Orbiter for the Mars sample-return mission, and the upcoming PLATO space telescope, among others.

The pressure is on for these two large rockets to finally soar through Earths atmosphere after a series of unfortunate delays.

For more spaceflight in your life, follow us on Twitter and bookmark Gizmodos dedicated Spaceflight page.



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When it comes to raising awareness of breast cancer, Delta Airlines is on board. The carrier donated $3 million dollars to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF).

According to Simple Flying, the amount adds to an impressive total of $24.75 million for BCRF since 2005, funding 87 research projects.

Some Delta Employees Have Been Impacted by Breast Cancer

For the carrier, the reason for the donation isnt just to be charitable. Some of the Delta employees have either experienced breast cancer themselves, or know somebody who has. One breast cancer survivor is Kristen Manion Taylor, Deltas SVP of In-Flight Service.

She said, From when we started in 2005 to now in 2023 being able to donate $3 million dollars to the cause is amazing, and I know Delta has made a tremendous impact. And it means all the more to me as a survivor myself. Ive seen firsthand the difference the research makes in the lives of those fighting the battle today and I could not be more grateful for the efforts of all the Delta employees.

Another Delta employee said the donations helped to save the life of her friend, who was diagnosed with the disease.

A Delta Plane Is Painted Pink- The Color for Breast Cancer Research

One of Deltas planes, the 767-400ER (a Boeing 767) is partially painted pink.

Simple Flying reports, as of February 28, 2023, this 767-400ER has flown no less than 83,881 flight hours and 14,253 cycles or take-offs and landings together.

The plane has been to Washington state and France, among other places.

Delta isnt the only airline carrier to show support for breast cancer research. Other airlines, such as Qatar Airlines, Allegiant Airlines and Alaska Airlines, have done the same at various points.
The idea of a girls' trip through Italy is deeply appealing, so much so that a gang of movie stars orchestrated a sequel to 2018's Book Club to take one themselves. In Book Club: The Next Chapter, the four leadsplayed by Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen, and Mary Steenburgenleave their literary endeavors behind and embark on a bucket list trip to Rome and Venice as a bachelorette party of sorts. Director and co-writer Bill Holderman took the production to Italy, even for the scenes set in Los Angelesthe shoot was tricky, but memorable.

We were there in summer, Holderman says, It was the heart of tourist season and like any major metropolitan area you have to deal with controlling crowds and controlling tourists. But it was also a great thing and super fun. Truthfully, filming in Italy was so much better than I expected. And my expectations were incredibly high. Here, Holderman shares some of the locations used in Book Club: The Next Chapter, as well as where the cast and crew stayed and ate while in Europe.

Was the idea always to set the sequel in Italy?

Yes. The idea for the sequel actually began with Mary Steenburgen and Candice Bergen at a press event for the first movie. Before Book Club even came out and before anyone had talked about a sequel, they had masterminded the idea to do it in Italy.

BOOK CLUB: The Next Chapter Riccardo Ghilardi /  2023 FIFTH SEASON, LLC

What did Italy specifically bring to the story?

Italy has a very special, aspirational romanticism, not just in terms of romantic partnerships, but for the romance of friendship. It seemed like a great place for friends to go and bond and connect. And obviously, it's the biggest wine-producing country in the world, which for a book club, is very important. It's got so much history, it's so textured and it's beautiful. And all of those factors made it feel like not only was it a fun place to go, but also thematically it felt really resonant. We're also not going to hide the fact that it's a fun place to get to spend a few months making a movie!

Where did you base the production?

We were based in Rome, and shot primarily in and around Rome. We got to shoot at Cinecitta Studios, which was a dream come true. We also went to Venice and shot [additional footage with] the second unit in Tuscany.

Did everyone stay in a hotel in Rome?

We had the incredible opportunity to stay at the Hotel Eden. The filmmaking team stayed there and Diane Keaton was there with her team. Some of the cast was at the Hotel de Russie, which is on the Piazza del Popolo. We were going to find an Airbnb and live in an apartment, but there was a lot of production going on and a lot of the housing was taken by Fast X [the tenth Fast and Furious film, which was shooting in the city at the same time]. But in the end, the hotel was such a gift. It was a fantasy of mine to live in a hotel. And now it remains a pretty big fantasy.

BOOK CLUB: The Next Chapter Riccardo Ghilardi /  2023 FIFTH SEASON, LLC

When the characters arrive in Rome, we see them at the bottom of the Spanish Steps. Why was it important to set the scene with such a well-known place?

There are so many iconic places in Rome that you cant avoid seeing. The Spanish Steps are one of those places that in so much of that town, when you're moving around, you end up seeing them in the distance. To avoid it felt disingenuous. And its so beautiful. We always wanted to shoot there, but we werent sure it would be possible. We shot early in the morning, before a lot of tourists got there, because we didn't have the same resources that Fast X had to block off many city blocks. But we were able to create a little perimeter and it was pretty painless. It's fun to be in a city and then prove that we were actually there.

What other locations in Rome did you use?

We shot on a street called Via dei Coronari, which is a popular tourist street. Right off that, we used Piazza San Simeone, where we created our own little piazza cafe. We shot at the Musei Capitolini, which looks out over the Roman Forum. It was another iconic, beautiful place. When we scouted we thought, Gosh I hope we can shoot here. And our production team managed to pull it off. We shot in a few incredible villas, including Villa Parisi, where we filmed the scene with the wedding dress maker. It was outside of the city center and just incredible. You cant find anything in America with that kind of history.

For the wedding scene [between Fondas Vivian and Don Johnsons Arthur]spoiler alert, there is a weddingwe used Castello della Castelluccia, which is also just outside Rome. We were trying to figure out if we would actually go to Tuscany for the wedding, but then we saw this place. It felt more like Tuscany than Tuscany.

The characters stay in some amazing hotels. Were those real?

We shot at the Grand Plaza Hotel in Rome, which had been closed during Covid and was just about to open back up. That hotel actually doubles for the interiors of the hotel in Venice, which was the Hotel Danieli but which we call the Palazzo Mardini. It has a lot of that Venetian feel. It has a beautiful marble lion at the base of its stairwell in the entry. In Venice, we used the exterior of the Hotel Danieli, as well as its terrace, where they have breakfast. That is one of the greatest terraces overlooking the lagoon in all of Venice.

Where else did you film in Venice?

We shot on the Grand Canal. We shot in the actual train station [Stazione di Venezia Santa Lucia], which is pretty iconic. If you've ever traveled to Venice, one of the best way to get there is to arrive by train. And then you walk out the train station and into the bustling splendor of the Grand Canal.

BOOK CLUB: The Next Chapter  2023 FIFTH SEASON, LLC

Theres a memorable scene where the characters take a helicopter ride over Florence. How did you create that?

The helicopter was actually done up through Florence and Tuscany by the second unit. The shots of the helicopter flying over the Arno River and the Ponte Vecchio and by the Duomo, those were all drone shots. And then the actresses were really in a helicopter, but it was on a gimbal on a soundstage. They werent actually flying. But our second unit did have a helicopter land and take off with their doubles in it.

During your stay in Italy did you discover any restaurants you would recommend?

You cant go wrong in Rome or Venice. Ristorante Da Ivo in Venice is amazingyou can arrive or leave by gondola to their side door. In Rome, Trattoria da Danilotheres a picture in the end credits of Mary, Ted, and Jane hereRimessa Roscioli, Hostaria Costanza, Ristorante Vladimiro, Ristorante Nino and Il Giardino in Hotel Eden. Emma for pizza.

Id be remiss if I didnt mention my favorite coffee treat in Rome at La Casa del Caffe Tazza d'Oro, near the Pantheon. Try the granita di caffe con panna, a coffee Italian ice with whipped cream. I went there as often as I could.

After this Italy experience, where in the world are you going to shoot the third film?

I'm waiting for the call from someone to tell me where! Im sure the actresses have an idea.

Originally Appeared on Conde Nast Traveler
Sen. Dianne Feinstein returned to her seat on the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, aiding in advancing President Joe Biden's stalled judicial nominees as questions swirl about her health.

Feinstein was met with applause as she entered the hearing room after being welcomed back by Chairman Dick Durbin.

PHOTO: Sen. Dianne Feinstein is welcomed back to the Senate Judiciary Committee with applause from Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, left, and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, right, following a more than two-month absence, May 11, 2023. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

With her votes, district judge nominees Charnelle Bjelkengren, S. Kato Crews and Marian Gaston were advanced after months of delay. The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday also advanced three fresher nominees, sending a total of six nominations to the full Senate during Feinstein's reappearance in the chamber.

On Wednesday, Feinstein went to the Senate floor to vote to confirm Glenna Laureen Wright-Gallo, Biden's pick to be an assistant secretary at the Education Department.

MORE: Sen. Dianne Feinstein makes long-awaited return to Capitol

Feinstein's monthslong absence as she recovered from shingles impacted some of Biden's judicial picks from moving forward, prompting Democrats to seek to temporarily replace her on the Senate Judiciary Committee and some to call for her resignation. Republicans blocked the attempt to seat someone else on the committee during her absence.

PHOTO: Sen. Dianne Feinstein takes her seat as people applaud, at a business hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill, May 11, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Feinstein said earlier this month that she was "disappointed" that Republicans on the panel were blocking some nominees from advancing.

Democrats hold a 11-10 majority on the committee, and a slim 51-49 majority in the Senate -- making every vote critical for the party to advance nominees. Durbin, speaking about the California senator during an appearance on CNN on Sunday, said he wanted to treat her "fairly" but "the bottom line is, the business of the committee and of the Senate is affected by her absence."

"We're glad to see her back," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said of Feinstein during Thursday's briefing.

PHOTO: Committee chairman Sen. Dick Durbin shakes hands with Sen. Dianne Feinstein as she arrives and takes her seat at a business hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill, May 10, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Feinstein's nonattendance spurred debate about aging politicians. The senator, who has served California in the chamber for three decades, has waved off questions about her cognitive and physical abilities.

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MORE: Democrats' Dianne Feinstein dilemma raises specter of RBG: ANALYSIS

Feinstein returned to Washington earlier this week. She was greeted by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer as she arrived at the Capitol in a wheelchair on Wednesday, marking her first day on the Hill since February.

The California Democrat told reporters she was feeling "much better" as she entered the building.

PHOTO: Sen. Dianne Feinstein returns to the U.S. Capitol after a health related absence from the Senate for several months, on Capitol Hill, in Washington, D.C., May 10, 2023. (Leah Millis/Reuters)

The senator, who at 89 is the oldest sitting member of Congress, has noted she is working on a "lighter schedule" per her doctors' orders.

"Even though I've made significant progress and was able to return to Washington, I'm still experiencing some side effects from the shingles virus. My doctors have advised me to work a lighter schedule as I return to the Senate. I'm hopeful those issues will subside as I continue to recover," Feinstein said in a statement on Wednesday.

Feinstein has said she will retire at the end of her term. Reps. Adam Schiff, Katie Porter and Barbara Lee are among the Democrats who have declared their candidacy for the vacated seat in 2024.

-ABC News' Trish Turner and Allison Pecorin contributed to this report.

Dianne Feinstein casts first votes for Biden nominees upon Senate return originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
California broke the law when it approved six new oil wells in rural Arroyo Grande without an up-to-date environmental review, a new lawsuit filed against the state claims.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday in Alameda County Superior Court by nonprofit organization Center for Biological Diversity and Stanford Law Schools Environmental Law Clinic, alleges the California Geologic Energy Management Division approved six new steam injection wells at the Arroyo Grande oil field in late 2022 and early 2023 without conducting a proper environmental review.

CalGEM is the state agency responsible for regulating oil and gas drilling in the state.

The lawsuit says the last adequate environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act for the Arroyo Grande site  located along Price Canyon Road southwest of San Luis Obispo  was completed by San Luis Obispo County in 2004.

Relying on the old environmental review to approve new oil wells is illegal, Center for Biological Diversity lead attorney Liz Jones said.

State regulators are neglecting their duty to protect the public from these dangerous oil and gas projects, Jones said in a news release on Thursday. Putting new wells near homes, beaches and dwindling habitat for wildlife is the exact opposite of public safety. Its not only outrageous but (also) illegal for CalGEM to approve these wells without a scrap of new environmental review.

The 2004 environmental review by the county allowed the site owner at that time, Freeport McMoRan, to build 95 oil production wells, 30 steam-injection wells and three steam generators, as well as new and modified well pads at the oil field by 2015.

In October 2021, the San Luis Obispo County Planning Commission gave the sites new owner, Sentinel Peak Resources, a time extension of three years to construct 31 of those wells Freeport McMoRan had not been able to construct before the 2015 time limit.

The Center for Biological Diversity argued in 2021 against the planning commission granting Sentinel Peak Resources the time extension, instead encouraging the government to conduct further environmental review. The nonprofit said at the time that far more has been revealed since 2004 about the harms of oil drilling on the planet.

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Those same claims are the basis for the lawsuit filed Thursday.

Here, oil well 18M R pumps at the Arroyo Grande oil field.

The 2004 environmental review specifically approved 125 total wells to be drilled at the Arroyo Grande oilfield.

As of February, 160 had allegedly been approved, according to the lawsuit.

No additional environmental review appears to have been conducted for the 35 extra wells, the lawsuit alleges.

The lawsuit also claims CalGEM has not done additional environmental review to approve oil wells in the Wilmington oilfield near Long Beach. The last time an environmental review was conducted for that oilfield was in 1973, according to the lawsuit.

In 2021, CalGEM proposed prohibiting new oil wells and facilities within 3,200 feet of homes, schools, hospitals, nursing homes and other sensitive locations.

Thats because the agency found, through a 15-member public health expert panel, that theres a strong connection between close proximity to oil and gas developments and higher rates of adverse birth outcomes, respiratory diseases, heart disease and other health impacts.

Senate Bill 1137, which was passed during the 2022 legislative session, would require all oil or gas production facilities or wells within a health protection zone to comply with new regulations. The law is on hold until a referendum to uphold the contested legislation goes before voters in the November 2024 election.

There definitely is a great deal more that we know about the harms of oil and gas operations now, Jones said. The San Luis Obispo cases also screamed out for additional environmental reviews because (the 2004 review) did have limits as far as the number of wells that were being analyzed  and that number has already been drilled.

There needs to be further review if there are going to be additional wells drilled, she added.

The lawsuit asks a judge to declare that CalGEM has violated state laws by approving the new wells in the Arroyo Grande and Wilmington oil fields.

It also requests that CalGEM be forced to vacate its approvals of the new wells and not grant any new well approvals unless it complies with its obligations under CEQA and the California Public Resources Code.

In Thursdays release, former San Luis Obispo Mayor Heidi Harmon criticized CalGEM for approving the oil drilling.

With increased wildfires, sea-level rise and drought, the Central Coast is on the front line of the climate crisis, said Harmon, who recently served as senior public affairs director at the Santa Cruz-based Romero Institute. When the state rubberstamps new oil drilling, the consequences are steep for our communitys water, our property values and our childrens future. As the recent former mayor of San Luis Obispo, I stand with the people of the Central Coast against this egregious action by CalGEM.
The spiky, painful and nuisance-causing plants have been plaguing Boise bicycle riders for years. But a new collaboration between Boise State University and City Hall aims to rid Idahos capital of puncturevine  commonly known as goathead  once and for all.

This summer, a team of researchers at Boise State University plans to unveil a hot-spot map of where the invasive species is most prevalent in the city to bolster efforts to eradicate it.

Trevor Caughlin, a biology professor at Boise State, told the Idaho Statesman that the study, which began in 2020, had an interesting finding: The areas of the city with the most goathead plants were correlated to areas with lower property values.

The strongest predictor of where (a) goathead is in Boise is property value, Caughlin said. That finding for us really raised some interesting questions about how goatheads might intersect with transportation equity here.

Caughlin said that its possible marginalized communities are affected by goatheads more, and might not have the resources to repair punctured bike tires.

Data from the U.S. Census Bureau has previously shown that poorer Americans are more likely to bike or walk to work than wealthier people.

Because its a comprehensive, citywide map, were hoping that it can direct control efforts maybe a little bit more equitably to all of the parts of the city, Caughlin said.

Caughlin said the map is expected to be finished by early June. The Boise City Council on Tuesday allocated $56,000 of Open Space and Clean Water levy funds to complete the project.

Its a much more scientific approach than I ever would have envisioned to helping get rid of these things, Council Member Jimmy Hallyburton said at a Tuesday council meeting.

Hallyburton directs a nonprofit, called the Boise Bicycle Project, that hosts an annual festival called the Boise Goathead Fest, which in addition to hosting a bike parade aims for volunteers to remove 10,000 pounds of goathead plants from the city.

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Boise also organizes volunteer groups to remove the plant, and the weeds can also be reported to Ada Countys weed control service.

In an email, city ecologist Martha Brabec said that invasive species treatments are usually reactive, and that the goathead map will allow the city to proactively monitor and treat areas outbreaks before they get out of hand and spread.

To collect the puncturevine data, Caughlin said, the research team selected 50 locations scattered across the city and at each location walked the approximate length of a city block. Using a GPS device, the researchers recorded the location of each goathead plant they found. They also collected data on each sites connection to the street network and the amount of bare ground in the area, since goatheads thrive on disturbed soil.

The project  which includes Garden City  found that one of the most prominent hot-spot areas was along Chinden Boulevard near Orchard Street and Curtis Road, as well as in Southwest Boise, south of Overland and south of Fairview Avenue. Referring to Chinden, Caughlin said the busy street contains hot spots because of lower property values and bare ground patches.

In the coming weeks, the study is scheduled to be published in a peer-reviewed journal called Ecological Solutions and Evidence. While some other cities have produced maps of invasive species, Caughlin said the map will be one of the first instances that incorporates citywide data.

Puncturevines seed pods dry up and fall off the plant, leaving goatheads on sidewalks, trails and bike paths.

What is puncturevine, and how does it spread?

Puncturevine is a Mediterranean species that thrives in disturbed, sandy soils, Boise State Ph.D. student Richard Rachman told the Statesman. As the climate gets hotter and the U.S. continues to build past the limits of cities, the prevalence of goatheads could worsen, Rachman said.

Some of the first recorded instances of the species in Boise date from the 1970s, Rachman added.

Puncturevine plants produce bundles of fruit pods known as schizocarps, which then split up into mericarps, Rachman said. The small, spiky structures that get stuck in shoes, bike tires or animal paws are mericarps, which contain seeds from which new plants can sprout.

The burrs germinate in the spring and after rain in the summer, and the plants can quickly produce flowers and new fruits. The seeds within burrs can stay viable for six years or longer, according to the city of Walla Walla, Washington.

I see them almost like a disease, Caughlin said. One way to think about this hot-spot map is that we are identifying the areas of the city that are super spreaders for this disease-like plant.

To slow the plants spread, recreationists are advised to check their shoes and bike tires before going on trails in the Boise Foothills. When removing goatheads, residents should avoid putting the plants into compost because the seeds can survive the composting process, according to Boise Parks and Recreation.

While removing successful invasive plants is a challenge, Caughlin said he thinks it is possible to eradicate puncturevine from Boise.

In the areas sampled as part of the study, only 2% had goathead plants, and Caughlin thinks certain concentrated areas are producing lots of the seeds that continue the spread.

Kathryn Demps, an anthropologist at Boise State, plans to collect public feedback once the map is finished, Caughlin said.

With the feedback from the public, and just observing how people use the map this year to decide where to go pull goatheads, well update our map for next year and hopefully move closer towards eradicating this horrible species from Boise, Caughlin said.
[Source]

A groundbreaking genetics study has suggested that Native Americans have a more diverse ancestral source from Asia.

Published in the journal Cell Reports, the study from Kunming Institute of Zoology unveiled evidence of human migrations from China to the Americas and Japan during the Ice Age.

The findings challenge the previously held belief that ancient Siberians were the sole ancestors of Native Americans.

The study involved the team meticulously examining 100,000 modern and 15,000 ancient DNA samples from across Eurasia over the course of 10 years.

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Researchers were able to trace the samples maternal ancestry by focusing on a specific lineage known as D4h, found in mitochondrial DNA inherited exclusively from mothers.

The team ultimately identified 216 contemporary and 39 ancient individuals linked to the ancient D4h lineage.

By analyzing accumulated mutations and geographic locations of the samples, as well as employing carbon dating techniques, the researchers were able to reconstruct the origins and expansion history of the D4h lineage.

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The study's findings indicated two distinct migration events, with the first migration occurring between 19,500 and 26,000 years ago.

That migration coincided with the Last Glacial Maximum, a period of extensive ice sheet coverage and inhospitable climate conditions in northern China.

The second migration took place during the melting period, approximately 19,000 to 11,500 years ago. This event was purportedly triggered by increasing human populations.

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It is suggested that during both migrations, seafaring travelers reached the Americas and traveled along the Pacific coast by boat, as the "inland ice-free corridor" in modern Canada was still inaccessible.

The study also revealed a subgroup branching out from northern coastal China to Japan during the second migration. This finding aligns with archaeological similarities found between ancient populations in the Americas, China and Japan, and could help explain resemblances in prehistoric arrowheads and spears discovered across these regions.

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Yu-Chun Li, one of the report's authors, emphasized the significance of the study's large sample size and the complementary evidence from Y chromosomal DNA, which indicated that male ancestors of Native Americans resided in northern China concurrently with their female counterparts.

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"However, we don't know in which specific place in northern coastal China this expansion occurred and what specific events promoted these migrations," he was quoted saying. "More evidence, especially ancient genomes, are needed to answer these questions."
As Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi heads to court to contest Nigerias February 2023 election results that saw Bola Tinubu declared the countrys next president, a tweet shared a photo claiming to show Obi kneeling next to Tinubu. But the claim is false: AFP Fact Check found that the photo, posted by a former presidential candidate of a rival party, has been digitally altered to include Tinubu.

Tinubus posture: No food for a lazy man like you Peter Obi, stop sleeping everywhere including at courts and airports, hero beer have overtaken your wakefulness, go for deliverance, reads the caption of a tweet shared on May 9, 2023.

Screenshot of false post, taken on May 12, 2023

The tweet, shared by a former presidential candidate for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), features an image of Obi kneeling next to Tinubu, who stares straight ahead.

Tinubu is also a member of the APC and ran as the partys 2023 presidential candidate, beating rival candidates Atiku Abubakar and Obi.

Adamu Garba II, who shared the image, has repeatedly attempted to link Obi with the Biafran separatist movement, a group agitating for independence in the countrys southeast.

Hero beer, mentioned in the claim, refers to Hero Lager, which is often affiliated with the Biafran movement.

But the claim that Obi was pictured kneeling next to Tinubu is false.

Digital addition of Tinubu

Using a reverse image search, AFP Fact Check found the same image of Tinubu seen in the false tweet published in several news articles (archived here).

A comparison of screenshots showing the original photo, left, and the altered version, taken on May 11, 2023

AFP Fact Check matched elements to confirm that this is the original photo that was digitally altered to make it look as though Obi was kneeling next to Tinubu.

In both images, Tinubu is wearing the same outfit and watch.

In addition, the reflection in Tinubus glasses is the same.

AFP Fact Check also found the original photo showing Obi. In the image, he is kneeling next to Nigerias current vice president, Yemi Osinbajo, at a funeral service.

A comparison of screenshots showing the original photo, left, and the altered version, taken on May 11, 2023

In both images, Obi is wearing the same outfit, and the same documents can be seen on the pew.

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Several prominent politicians, including Obi and Osinbajo, attended the funeral service for the father of Bayelsa State Governor Douye Diri in early May 2023.

Biafran-linked beer

Adamu Garbu II has repeatedly attempted to tie the opposition leader to the Biafran separatist movement.

AFP Fact Check debunked another claim in which he shared an edited image of Obi with bottles of Hero Lager in front of him.

Calls for a separate state of Biafra remain a hot-button topic in Nigeria decades after secessionist leader Chukwuemeka Ojukwu declared the independence of the countrys southeast in 1967. This was followed by a brutal 30-month civil war.

Though the breakaway state has since rejoined the rest of the country, members of the separatist group, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), and those sympathetic to its cause still refer to themselves as Biafrans.

The Nigerian government designated (archived here) IPOB as a terrorist group in 2017.

Obi, from the southeast, has repeatedly fought (archived here) against accusations that he supports (archived here) or is affiliated with IPOB.

Vote-rigging allegations

Final presidential results (archived here) released by Nigerias electoral commission show that Tinubu received 8.8 million votes, while his closest rival, Atiku Abubakar, candidate of the People's Democratic Party, gathered 6.9 million votes. Obi tallied 6.1 million votes.

However, allegations of widespread voting irregularities and rigging marred the election. Obi and Abubakar have openly contested the results.

Nigeria's electoral commission has denied any illegal activity, although it has acknowledged technical problems (archived here) with the voting machines.
Donald Trumps 2024 campaign is hawking a T-shirt for a minimum $47 donation in a bid to cash in on the former presidents controversial, falsehood-filled town hall on CNN.

The network received fierce criticism for allowing Trump to spew his lies on live television Wednesday in front of a supportive studio audience, with critics calling it a disaster and shameful. The town hall took place one day after Trump was found liable for sexual abuse, and the former president used the platform to mock his accuser and continue to lie about the 2020 election.

The Trump campaign on Thursday gloated by promoting the shirt  which features a picture of Trump wearing shades above the caption: This Is TNN  on WinRed, the GOP fundraising platform.

President Trumps CNN town hall was so masterful that many are now saying CNN should be renamed TNN  the Trump News Network.



ORDER YOURS TODAY: https://t.co/NG8r99omnFpic.twitter.com/FAOQxmtfBE  Team Trump (Text TRUMP to 88022) (@TeamTrump) May 11, 2023

CNN was hoping to destroy President on live TV, but our favorite President took command of the town hall and emerged victorious, the campaign wrote on the website.

It added: President Trumps CNN town hall was so masterful that many are now saying CNN should be renamed TNN  the Trump News Network.

Proceeds will go to the Trump Save America Joint Fundraising Committee, which the website notes is a joint fundraising committee on behalf of Donald J. Trump for President 2024, Inc. and Save America.

Related...
If youre dreaming of unwinding in North Carolina this summer, one vacation destination may be your best bet, new rankings show.

The Outer Banks barrier islands rank No. 10 on a list of top travel spots that offer pleasant weather and summertime activities at an affordable price, according to U.S. News & World Report.

To create the nationwide list, the website said it considered input its users shared about places to visit during the summer season, defined as June through August. It also turned to editors, who scored U.S. destinations across several categories: sights, culture, people, food, family, nightlife, adventure, romance, value and accessibility, according to results published in March and updated May 9.

The Outer Banks, located off the North Carolina coast, were the only place in the state to earn a top spot in the rankings. They received a nod for having a relaxing yet fun atmosphere.

A quintessential family vacation spot, the Outer Banks fills to the brim in summer with beachgoers looking to relax, U.S. News wrote in its report. Activities for kids and teens abound in this North Carolina destination, including fishing, windsurfing, boogie boarding and kiting adventures.

The report also highlighted the lighthouses and other historic sites on the Outer Banks, which is where the Wright brothers first took flight in the early 1900s. Then of course, there were the areas beaches, praised for being wide and clean.

The Outer Banks earned recognition soon after ranking as one of the nations best places to go for cost-effective spring break getaways. But the barrier islands missed out on another seasonal travel list.

Instead, the mountain tourist town of Asheville was the lone place in North Carolina to receive a USA Today 10Best readers choice award for top-notch summer travel destinations, McClatchy News reported.

On the U.S News & World Report list, the highest-ranking summer vacation spot in the country was Glacier National Park in Montana. Rounding out the top five:

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Yellowstone National Park

Grand Canyon National Park

San Diego

Grand Teton National Park

Further down in the rankings was another popular North Carolina tourist spot. Great Smoky Mountains National Park, located along the Tennessee state line, landed at No. 15 on the list.

U.S. News & World Report didnt immediately share additional information about the users who voted on the top summer trip locations with McClatchy News on May 12.

The best place to live? This county tops the list in North Carolina, new rankings show

The best beer in North Carolina? This brewery ranks No. 1 in the state, Yelp says
Three drunk mercenaries of the Wagner private military company (PMC), who had returned to Russia from Ukraine, beat and robbed a businessman from Volgograd, Russia, on 2 May, demanding that he sign over his store to them.

Source: V1.ru

Details: According to the media outlet, Ivan Zharkov, Denis Ruskov and Aleksander Sagar, who have been convicted several times, broke into the businessman's house and demanded that the man sign over his construction and household goods store to them. After the businessman's refusal, the mercenaries beat up the businessman, forced him to sign a sale contract for a car and stole his belongings and money. The total value of the loot is RUB 155,000 [approximately US$2,000].

The media reports that they have been detained. A criminal case has been opened under the articles "robbery" and "extortion". The mercenaries are in pre-trial detention.

V1.ru reports that Zharkov has been convicted of theft, drugs, illegal possession of ammunition, violation of the inviolability of the home, intentional damage to other people's property, and disorganisation of institutions that ensure isolation from society. In 2014, he was sentenced to 13 years in a high-security prison.

Sagar has been convicted of theft and causing minor bodily harm. In 2015, he was sentenced to eight years in a high-security prison for murder.

Ruskov has been convicted of robbery and murder, as well as attempted murder. In 2007, he was sentenced to 19 years and eight months in a high-security prison.

According to sources of the media outlet, all three signed contracts with PMC while in prison, after which they went to Ukraine but returned to Volgograd Oblast six months later.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
Its a big day for E-40! The rap legend has been awarded an honorary doctorate degree from Grambling State University.

E-40 first attended the Historically Black College and University (HBCU) for one year starting in 1986, per Business Insider.

He has remained close to the school throughout his rise to fame and entrepreneurial success.

Earlier in 2023, he made a six-figure donation to the university to the tune of $100,000.

Proud to be in a position to give back to my alma mater @Grambling1901 and invest in the next generation of young talented musicians at the University, he wrote in an Instagram post

The funds supported the schools music department, the World Famed Tiger Marching Band, and the installation of a recording studio, which was named Earl E-40 Stevens Sound Recording Studio, according to a news release.

E-40 has used his success as a recording artist to create an entrepreneurial empire, said GSU President Rick Gallot, in a news release. We are so grateful that he is giving back to his alma mater in such a substantial way. Our current and future students will benefit from his investment in our state-of-the-art student recording studio.

Grambling State is incredibly grateful for Mr. Stevens appearance at the university and especially his donation, said GSU Vice President for University Advancement and Innovation Melanie Jones. Its gifts like this from our alumni and supporters that are the driving force that keep the university moving forward and creating bigger and better futures for our students.

Grambling State University is showing its appreciation by granting E-40 an honorary doctorate degree. On May 12, he received the prestigious award in Louisiana.

Congrats, E-40!
Photo: Getty (Getty Images)

E. Jean Carroll is mulling filing a third lawsuit against Donald Trump after he ridiculed her during a CNN town hall on Wednesday evening, the day after a federal jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defaming Carroll. Meanwhile, Trump is appealing the $5 million verdict awarded to her, according to new federal filing on Thursday.

The lawsuit stemmed from an assault in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the 90s, but on CNN, he called the sexual assault a made-up story. He also continued to deny knowing who Carroll was, a claim hes made since she published an essay in 2019 detailing the assault. This womanI dont know her, I never met her, I have no idea who she is, Trump said on CNN.

Read more

When asked to square that statement with the photos of Trump and Carroll pictured together, with their spouses, he pivoted toward spreading racist rumors about Carroll. I had a picture taken years ago with her and her husband, nice guy, John Johnson, Trump said. He was a newscaster. Very nice man. She called him an apehe happens to be African Americancalled him an ape. The judge wouldnt allow us to put that in.



Like much of what the former president says, theres no reporting to back up his allegations.

Carroll told the New York Times she was asleep during the CNN special, but her attorney, Roberta Kaplan, was awake. On Thursday morning, Kaplan shared the transcript with Carroll, a former Elle columnist. Its just stupid, its just disgusting, vile, foul, it wounds people, Carroll said.

She described Trumps Wednesday comments as old-school misogyny. I am upset on the behalf of young men in America, Carroll told the Times. They cannot listen to this balderdash and this old-timey view of women, which is a cave-man view.

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Carroll still has another defamation suit against Trump making its way through the courts, stemming from other comments he has made in which he accused Carroll of making up the assault. Trump has tried to argue that since he made those comments while he was president, he cant be sued.

Despite pending litigation, Kaplan said another lawsuit against Trump is still possible. Everythings on the table, obviously, and we have to give serious consideration to it, Kaplan told the Times. We have to weigh the various pros and cons and well come to a decision in the next day or so, probably.

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E. Jean Carroll. Ed Jones/AFP via Getty Images

E. Jean Carroll is considering filing a third defamation lawsuit against former President Donald Trump, after he called her allegation of sexual assault "fake" and a "made-up story" during a CNN town hall on Wednesday, her lawyer told The New York Times on Thursday.

On Tuesday, a federal jury in Manhattan found Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll, a former Elle columnist, in the 1990s and defaming her when he wrote on his Truth Social platform that her case was "a complete con job" and "a Hoax and a lie." The jury awarded Carroll $5 million in damages. Carroll has another defamation suit against Trump now pending, based on comments he made about her while still president.

Speaking to the Times on Thursday, Carroll said she was asleep during the town hall, and read a transcript of Trump's remarks sent by her lawyer. "It's just stupid, it's just disgusting, vile, foul, it wounds people," Carroll said, adding that she's been "insulted by better people." Carrol also revealed her stylist's teenage son was talking about Trump's comments, and that made her "upset on the behalf of young men in America. They cannot listen to this balderdash and this old-timey view of women, which is a caveman view."

Carroll's lawyer, Roberta A. Kaplan, told the Times that when it comes to filing a lawsuit against Trump for his CNN remarks, "everything's on the table, obviously, and we have to give serious consideration to it. We have to weigh the various pros and cons and we'll come to a decision in the next day or so, probably."

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Legislation dissolving the state Department of Health and Environmental Control is headed to Gov. Henry McMasters desk.

The House on Thursday unanimously passed a bill previously approved by the Senate that dissolves the agency and creates separate departments for health and environment. Unlike DHEC, whose governing board members are approved by the legislature, the two new agencies would fall under the governors control.

McMaster told reporters Friday he favors splitting up DHEC, but he has yet to see the final version of the bill.

DHEC is too big. Its 3,500 employees covering everything from licensing restaurants to fish to pollution, McMaster said of the agency formed in the 1970s. It needs to be an environmental agency and a health agency. I think it would work better, separated.

The department has come under scrutiny for being bureaucratic, unwieldy and slow to act, The State reported previously. In 2011, reporting by the newspaper revealed that the department knew about low quality and lead-tainted drinking water in a poor Columbia-area community for 20 years before resolving the issue. Recently, in the early months of the pandemic, DHEC came under fire for not publicizing information about outbreak hot spots.

The new environmental agency would be named the Department of Environmental Services, which would have divisions to monitor air quality, water, land and waste management, water usage, regional and laboratory services, and coastal management, according to the plan.

A newly structured health agency would be called the Department of Public Health. But the bill doesnt parse details about how the agency would be structured. Last year, a proposal to split DHEC stalled in the House because of concerns over how the public health department would be organized. This year, the Senate agreed to ask an expert in the Department of Administration to provide recommendations on how to structure the agency.

Good, effective delivery of public health services isnt a Republican issue, its not a Democratic issue, everybody wants to deliver public health services to South Carolinians in the most efficient way possible at the lowest cost, said State Sen. Tom Davis, R-Beaufort, who steered the bill in the Senate.

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Under the bill, the state Department of Agriculture would take over food safety. The Department of Veterans Affairs would pick up responsibilities for veterans homes, which provide treatment for South Carolina veterans who require long term nursing care.

The bill also preserves automatic stay, which temporarily stops work on construction when a government-issued environmental permit is being challenged.

If signed by McMaster, the legislation wouldnt be implemented until July 1, 2024, meaning DHEC would not split until that date. Meanwhile, the Department of Administration is expected to conduct its analysis.

Davis said the legislature can make the large, structural changes it wants to see happen. But legislators wanted to bring in experts with the Department of Administration who could make recommendations on how to organize the health department.

Earlier this week, the House Ways and Means Committee voted unanimously to replace the Senate bill with a plan that called for the Department of Administration to study and recommend how both new agencies would be structured. The change was led by state Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, D-Orangeburg.

But Cobb-Hunter agreed the bills final version was a good compromise, although she still has some concerns about the connection between health and the environment.

Advocates raised the concern with me that by separating them, they felt like the connections between public health and the environment and the role the environment plays out in public health might be lost, she said. Thats one that I will certainly be trying to keep a watch on.

On Tuesday, Cobb-Hunter said she was concerned about the Senates plan to move the state Department of Natural Resources water division to a new environmental agency.

Cobb-Hunter said the House agreed that water services should be under one agency, but questioned whether that agency should be DNR or the new environmental agency. In the bill, water services will move under the Department of Environmental Services, however the Department of Administration will study the move to ensure its a good fit.

Other legislators and advocates have spoken out about how quickly the process has moved to split DHEC, worrying it was moving too fast. It was a similar sentiment from last year.

This bill has been worked on for two years now, Davis said. There was a lot of work done on the front end, starting last year, and then on the implementation (via the Department of Administration studies) and a 15-month period.

Joe Bustos, state government and politics reporter at The State, contributed to this report.
Elizabeth Olsen in "Love and Death." Jake Giles Netter / HBO Max

Elizabeth Olsen said she "tapped out" of filming an ax murder scene in HBO Max's "Love & Death."

Olsen told The Hollywood Reporter that shooting the bloody moment was "scary at times."

She added that she asked for a stunt double to film the scene instead.

Elizabeth Olsen said that filming the "Love & Death" ax murder scene was so "scary" that she asked a stunt double to take over instead.

Olsen stars in the latest TV biopic about Candy Montgomery, a Texan housewife who was accused of murdering her friend Betty Gore in 1980 by striking her with an ax 41 times.

In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Olsen said that recreating the murder scene, with her costar Lily Rabe playing Gore, was "awful."

"Lily was six months pregnant. It was awful. She had a double. And they also could erase [her belly] in post. But she was in a little shirt with a six-month belly," the 34-year-old actor said.

"It was crazy. And she really wanted to do everything. Lily is a really physically strong human being, and so it was like real tension, physically, and there was an element where I felt safe because we had choreography, but there was an element where I didn't want to do everything. So it was a lot of things."

Olsen went on to say she "tapped out" when it came to using the ax because she felt uncomfortable.

"My experience with more fight sequences isn't hand-to-hand fighting. And so it felt kind of scary at times," the Marvel star said

"And then there were moments where Lily asked me to, with the rubber ax, make contact with her body. And I tapped out and was like, 'You're going to have to do this with my stunt double.'"

"Love & Death," which is available to stream on HBO Max, is the third project to be based on the Montgomery case.

The first was a 1990 TV movie, "A Killing in a Small Town," which gave fake names to the people involved.

Last year, Hulu premiered its own TV series about the true story starring Jessica Biel and Melanie Lynskey.

Read the original article on Insider
Elon Musk announced on Friday that Linda Yaccarino "will focus primarily on business operations, while I focus on product design & new technology"

Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty, Taylor Hill/Getty Linda Yaccarino, Elon Musk

Elon Musk has named Twitter's new CEO.

Less than one day after announcing a new hire had been made, the billionaire Twitter owner shared that Linda Yaccarino, who just left her role as chairman of global advertising and partnerships at NBCUniversal, was his replacement.

"I am excited to welcome Linda Yaccarino as the new CEO of Twitter!" Musk wrote, appropriately enough, on Twitter.

"@LindaYacc will focus primarily on business operations, while I focus on product design & new technology," added the billionaire. "Looking forward to working with Linda to transform this platform into X, the everything app."

The news came just hours after Musk shared he had "hired a new CEO."

"She will be starting in ~ 6 weeks!" he added in a social media post, without sharing any additional information.

Musk first promised to step down as Twitter CEO in December, two months after paying $44 billion for the social media platform  and posting a poll in which he asked, "Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of the poll."

He later shared that 57.5 percent of people voted yes.

In response, he tweeted: "I will resign as CEO as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job! After that, I will just run the software & servers teams."

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.

In considering the options for a new CEO, Musk previously said that person "must like pain a lot" to run a business that "has been in the fast lane to bankruptcy."

RELATED VIDEO: Elon Musk Buys Twitter for $44B Following Legal Battle with Company, Fires Top Execs: Reports

Yaccarino's departure from NBCUniversal was also announced on Friday.

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"NBCUniversal today announced that Linda Yaccarino is leaving the company, effective immediately," they said in a statement.

"It has been an absolute honor to be part of Comcast NBCUniversal and lead the most incredible team," Yaccarino said in a statement. "We've transformed our company and the entire industryand I am so proud of what we've accomplished together, and grateful to my colleagues and mentors, especially Brian Roberts, Mike Cavanagh and the entire NBCU leadership team."

Yaccarino worked at NBCUniversal for over 11 years, according to CNN. She also started her career there as a college intern, returning to the company after serving as executive vice president/COO of advertising sales, marketing and acquisitions at Turner Broadcasting.

Isaac Brekken/Variety/Penske Media via Getty Linda Yaccarino

Before joining Twitter, the media executive interviewed Musk at a marking event in April.

"We can all agree  this freedom of speech, deserves a bit more reach," Yaccarino wrote on Twitter at the time alongside a link to video of their conversation.

In response, Musk simply replied, "Thanks for having me."

Related:Elon Musk 'Not Super Worried' as Twitter Offices Close, Employees Leave and Users Panic: '#RIPTwitter'

Musk's time as Twitter CEO began when he carried a kitchen sink into San Francisco headquarters. Claims that he wasn't even paying the rent at the office building were also made amid an epic tenure that was marred from the start by a mass exodus of thousands of employees who left by their own will or were forced out.

Users who once gravitated to the forum for its reputation as an egalitarian coffee house became increasingly alienated, and some accounts were deactivated by the businessman for challenging him. Musk defended his actions, even though they were widely seen as anti-free speech.

Since purchasing Twitter, the company has reportedly struggled with advertisers, with Musk himself saying last year there had been a "massive drop in revenue" as companies paused paying for ads. Many online have posited that Yaccarino's hiring shows Musk is committed to remedy the ad situation.

Yaccarino has yet to publicly comment on the news.

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Read the original article on People.
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Elon Musk made it official on Fridayhe has found his replacement as CEO of Twitter.

Musk announced in a tweet that Linda Yaccarino will take over business operations for the social media site within the next six weeks. Meanwhile, Musk will continue to oversee product design and software development for Twitter, as the Tesla founder is planning to transition the brand into an everything app called X.

The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that Yaccarino, the former chairman of global advertising and partnerships for NBCUniversal, was in talks to join Twitter hours after Musk said he had hired a woman for the position. NBCUniversal announced Friday morning that Yaccarino had stepped down from her position effective immediately.

So who is Yaccarino, and what does her hiring mean for Twitter going forward? Heres a look at what you need to know about the successful media executive and her new role.

Linda Yaccarinos Education and Career

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Linda Yaccarinos birth date hasnt been publicly revealed, but she is believed to be around 60 years old. She is a 1985 graduate of Penn State University. According to her alumni profile, Yaccarino has maintained her involvement with the school by serving as a commencement speaker, addressing the Penn State Forum, and mentoring alumni.

CNN reported that Yaccarino first worked at NBCUniversal as a college intern before returning to the company in 2011. According to her company profile, which was removed by Friday afternoon, she oversaw a team of 2,000 workers in her role as head of advertising and helped NBCUniversal generate $100 billion in ad sales. She created partnerships with a variety of media companies, including YouTube, Buzzfeed, Snapchat, and Twitter.

Yaccarino created unified ad sales teams for NBCUniversal and, according to WSJ, was integral in the launch of its ad-supported streaming service Peacock in 2020. It has been an absolute honor to be part of Comcast NBCUniversal and lead the most incredible team. Weve transformed our company and the entire industryand I am so proud of what weve accomplished together, Yaccarino said in a statement.

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Prior to joining the company, Yaccarino also worked at Turner Broadcasting for almost two decades and served as the executive vice president and COO of advertising sales.

She also has recent connections to Musk and Twitter. Last month, she held a stage discussion with the 51-year-old billionaire at a marketing event in Miami about the sites future. And on May 5, NBCUniversal announced an expanded partnership with Twitter for its 2024 Olympics and Paralympics coverage, including a daily live show on the site and a 25-day countdown series featuring star athletes.

There are questions about Yaccarinos political leanings. In 2018, then President Donald Trump appointed her to his Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition. However, she also worked with current President Joe Bidens administration as Ad Council chair in 2021 to create a coronavirus vaccination campaign.

What Linda Yaccarino's Hiring Means for Elon Musk and Twitter

Adding Yaccarino and her advertising expertise could be crucial for increasing Twitters revenue.

In the months following Musks purchase of the site for $44 billion in October 2022, major brands like Coca-Cola, Merck, Jeep, and Wells Fargo all pulled their ad dollars from the site. According to CNN, revenue from the sites top 1,000 advertisers had dropped about 60 percent by January 25.

Some companies were concerned by several of Musks initial steps as CEO, such as laying off thousands of staff and scaling back content moderation efforts. The latter has made it easier for hate speech and misinformation to spread on the site.

The New York Times reported in late March that, as a result, Musk valued the company at only $20 billionless than half of what he paid for it.

In December 2022, Musk posted a poll to his personal account asking users if they would like him to step down as head of Twitter. More than 57 percent percent of the roughly 17 million respondents voted yes.

Shares of Tesla rose by 3 percent immediately following Fridays announcement, according to CNN, though much of that gain was lost by the afternoon. Musks electric car companys value could also benefit, as investors have worried that his involvement with Twitter was a growing distraction.

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One year ago, tornadoes and straight-line winds hit southeastern South Dakota, with a derecho causing two deaths in the Sioux Falls area alone.

On Friday, a year after that incident, students in the Career and Technical Education Academys EMT (emergency medical technician) class trained for incidents just like that one and more  including a major car crash  in a mock mass-casualty simulation exercise.

EMT students were tasked with triage, treatment and transport as they scoured the building for their injured peers from other CTE programs who were assigned roles to act as though they were in shock, had been hit by a car, lost a finger, were bleeding out or worse, enhancing the realism of the exercise.

Students at the Career and Technical Education Academy participate in a mock mass-casualty training on Friday, May 12, 2023.

For example, some students were lying on the ground playing dead; one student was assigned to only speak in Spanish, and was yelling Yo no hablo ingles; one student was yelling about how hed lost his favorite finger.

First responders from the Sioux Falls Police Department, Sioux Falls Fire Rescue and Patient Care EMS/Ambulance Service worked alongside the students in triaging the student patients  assessing which ones had the most dire needs  treating injuries right away, and transporting the student patients onto an ambulance or AmbuBus.

More: This new 'AmbuBus' can help transport a dozen patients at a time in Sioux Falls

Dont worry  none of the emergencies were real. Students hauled onto ambulances or the AmbuBus just went for a lap around the building. Police cars and fire trucks were stationed at the building throughout the day as part of the hands-on exercise valuable to students.

Students at the Career and Technical Education Academy participate in a mock mass-casualty training on Friday, May 12, 2023.

EMT teacher Amy Drummond said the simulation gave her students a realistic experience pulling all of their skills together that will help them with the medical or first-responder careers they might seek after graduation. All of her students are EMT-certified upon graduation.

Ethan Wasmund, 18, a senior at Lincoln High School, said he found the simulation cool because it helped him learn more in-depth.

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More: Sioux Falls' CTE Academy offers extensive 'field to table' experience for students

Its more realistic than classroom dummies, he said of the training. He plans to attend South Dakota State University for pre-med when he graduates.

Students at the Career and Technical Education Academy participate in a mock mass-casualty training on Friday, May 12, 2023.

Hannah Stagman, 18, a senior at Harrisburg High School, said she found the training fun and eye-opening. She hopes to become a law enforcement officer with the Sioux Falls Police Department or Highway Patrol later.

You dont know half the stuff that goes on behind the scenes until youre in it, she said of the experience.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: EMT students at CTE Academy train in mock mass-casualty simulation
Asylum protections were the target of the left and the right this week, as both the White House and the House GOP laid out plans for limiting pathways for those fleeing persecution.

While Republicans rolled out a plan to severely limit asylum rights  arguing such a move is necessary with the lifting of Title 42  the Biden administration likewise unveiled a new regulation that, while less extreme, would also dramatically restrict who is eligible for the protections.

The refrain We are a nation of immigrants, but we are also a nation of laws was used to pitch the respective plans in two different places on Thursday, the day Title 42 was officially rescinded.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas used the phrase at a White House press briefing announcing the administrations response plan; Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) repeated it on the House floor in calling for passage of the GOP bill.

There are some pretty significant and meaningful distinctions between the Biden administrations approach, including that regulation, and what House Republicans did yesterday. But the bottom line is that theres this clear bipartisan effort and attention to ways to potentially limit the population of people who could qualify for asylum in the U.S., said Jorge Loweree, managing director of the American Immigration Council.

Thats something that we dont anticipate is going to go away. This is the new frontier in immigration policy.

Bidens new asylum rule

To be sure, the GOP bill is far more expansive than President Bidens new asylum rule. The bill that passed Thursday evening slices away asylum rights at every turn, limiting who can travel to the border to apply, upping the standard for passing an initial screening, and then tightening the categories under which people can be granted protection based on their identity or beliefs.

But the Biden plan mimics a prior Trump policy known as a transit ban, largely blocking asylum to anyone who doesnt first apply and get denied for asylum elsewhere along their journey to the U.S.

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Its a move likely to limit pathways for anyone who cannot get a direct flight to the U.S., something that often requires securing a tough-to-get tourism visa. And places like Cuba and Venezuela or others with limited direct flights would largely be cut out from applying.

Only those within Mexico or Canada would be able to travel by car to present themselves at the border and seek asylum, cutting off many who otherwise travel throughout Latin America to arrive at the border.

The Biden rule assumes those who do not first get denied for asylum elsewhere are ineligible for asylum  an assumption they can seek to challenge in immigration court, a higher bar for what is already a difficult protection to secure.

Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) speaks during a press conference after the passing of Secure the Border Act on Thursday, May 11, 2023.

The American Civil Liberties Union sued over the policy just minutes after it took effect shortly after midnight Thursday, noting in a press release that it successfully challenged a similar Trump-era policy in court.

The asylum bans were cruel and illegal then, and nothing has changed now, the group said.

But the similarities between the Trump and Biden plans werent lost on Biden allies either.

One-time Biden challenger Julian Castro, shared on Twitter a clip of one of the 2020 presidential debates, with Biden pointing to former President Trump and calling him the first president in the history of the United States of America that says anybody seeking asylum has to do it in another country. Thats never happened before in America.

Castro, who served as secretary of Housing and Urban Development during the Obama administration, called it a promise broken.

Today, with his new asylum rule, Biden became the second president. Promise broken, he tweeted.

House Republicans asylum plan

The GOP bill passed by the House this week goes much further than Bidens rule, but it has little chance of becoming law given that the Democrat-led Senate has declared it dead on arrival.

Still, it outlines GOP priorities when it comes to the border, and while it covers security issues and other forms of migration, it is heavily focused on asylum.

The bill was timed to coincide with the end of Title 42, with Republican lawmakers arguing the legislation preserved asylum rights for the truly deserving.

Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) billed it as provid[ing] for a path for asylum while making sure we dont create a magnet for the abuse of migrants in the false name of compassion.

Immigration advocates assess, react

The confluence of the two measures has been overwhelming for some immigration advocates.

These are all human beings, most of which are fleeing persecution. And theyre just looked at as numbers and optics for the news cycle and for the election cycle, said Jennifer Quigley, senior director at government affairs for Human Rights First.

Its a complete dehumanization of the most vulnerable people for scoring political points and viewing the border as something that has to be managed as opposed to [the fact that] people are going to come. The world has seen the largest displacement crisis in recorded history. I dont care how horrible you make this process for them. Theyre going to come as long as what is here is not as horrible as what they left.

The Biden administration has defended its new rule, arguing that its been paired with other lawful pathways for migrants to come to the U.S.

Still, those pathways have their own limitations. Only citizens from Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Haiti can apply for temporary entrance to the U.S. But to qualify they must secure a U.S.-based financial sponsor and already have a valid passport.

We believe that rule is well within our statutory authority. And we have tied it to an expansion, a historic expansion  of our lawful pathways for people to come directly to the United States at the end of the day, Blas Nunez-Neto, chief operating officer at U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said on a call Friday with reporters.

Loweree said that program, combined with an increase in visas and the use of an app to book appointments at the border, will collectively mean pathways to the U.S. for hundreds of thousands of people, gains that will be countered by the new asylum regulation.

The regulation that has come into effect, though, steers the other way. It will cut a lot of people out, a lot of people who should otherwise qualify for protection, for reasons that are largely arbitrary, he said, adding that many other countries do not have meaningful asylum systems in place.

But Quigley said the programs rolled out for Venezuelans, Cubans, Nicaraguans and Haitians arent enough, especially because many in those countries either wont be able to secure a financial sponsor or may not have a valid passport, particularly those who have already fled to another country.

The problem is that they were crafted in a way that the most vulnerable were never going to qualify for them, she said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Ningbo Performance & Arts Group is going to premiere its latest dance drama, Great Port in the East, on May 15 and 16.

Set against the backdrop of Ningbo-Zhoushan Port in East China's Zhejiang province, which is one of the world's largest ports by cargo tonnage, the dance drama depicts the local people of different generations who have been involved in the construction of the grand harbor since the beginning of the reform and opening-up.

According to director Qian Xin, the creative team started to prepare for the dance drama last June. When they visited the Ningbo-Zhoushan Port, they were overwhelmed by the scenes of container ships and containers, which later became major elements in the dance drama.

"We talked to the workers at the port, who told us many touching stories, especially ones about their families working on the port for generations. They worked very hard for the harbor construction, so we wanted to tell their stories through the dance drama," says Qian.

Young Chinese dancers Xia Tian, Wang Yihan, Wang Zheng and Wang Mengmeng play four major roles in the dance drama.
Biden administration officials said Friday they have yet to see an uptick of migrants at the southern border in the wake of Title 42s termination, but asylum officers have been told they must work throughout the weekend to help process claims.

While officials expected to see an increase of migrants at the border following the end of Title 42, which allowed for the U.S. to turn them away almost immediately, flows have not yet altered in the immediate hours following the lift of the policy.

Overnight, we saw similar patterns to what weve seen over the past several days. We continue to encounter high levels of non-citizens at the border but we did not see a substantial increase overnight or an influx at midnight, Blas Nunez-Neto, chief operating officer at U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said on a call Friday with reporters.

Asylum officers at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), however, were notified they must work mandatory overtime on both Saturday and Sunday.

Developments emerging over the course of the day made clear that more resources are needed, and we must take immediate steps to increase the number of staff available on both Saturday and Sunday to meet the need, a USCIS official told staff in an email obtained by The Hill.

Title 42 explained: What is it, why is it ending, whats next?

The email states the move is needed to ensure full operational readiness.

We are clear-eyed about the challenges we face in the days and weeks ahead, and we are ready to meet them. We expected to see large numbers of encounters initially; we are already seeing high numbers of encounters in certain sectors. This places an incredible strain on our personnel, our facilities and our communities, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said at a Thursday White House press briefing ahead of Title 42s lifting.

The Biden administration has surged resources to the border, including sending 24,000 border agents, along with military troops and asylum officers.

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Still, Nunez-Neto cautioned that conditions could change.

The men and women from the U.S. Border Patrol and the Office of Field Operations who are on the frontlines are experienced in managing these types of situations and are doing outstanding work. It is still early, however, he said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
ANKARA (Reuters) -Kemal Kilicdaroglu, main challenger of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, wore a bulletproof vest at an election rally on Friday, two days before a presidential election and in response to what a party source said was intelligence that he could be attacked.

Footage also showed Kilicdaroglu's security detail carried assault rifles and were on the stage with him as he delivered his speech, the first time such protection was apparent during his election campaign.

A source from Kilicdaroglu's Republican People's Party (CHP) said the 74-year-old main opposition leader wore the vest and security was ramped up after receiving "intelligence that he could be attacked". The source did not elaborate.

Kilicdaroglu, who has a narrow lead over Erdogan in the polls, was delivering a speech in the Black Sea city of Samsun.

Huge crowds turned out to see him, making a heart sign with their hands, which has become an emblem of his campaign.

In an interview with Reuters on Friday, he said he was confident of victory.

(Reporting by Huseyin HayatseverWriting by Ece ToksabayEditing by Alexandra Hudson and Edmund Blair)
Daily Life During Elections Period In Turkey

Posters Turkish President and People's Alliance's presidential candidate Recep Tayyip Erdogan waves on May 10, 2023 in Istanbul, Turkey. On May 14th, Turkey's President Erdogan will face his biggest electoral test as the country goes to the polls in the countrys general election. Erdogan has been in power for more than two decades first as prime minister, than as president but his popularity has recently taken a hit due to Turkey's ongoing economic crisis and his government's handling of series of devastating earthquakes that struck the country's southeast in early February, killing more than 50,000 people. Credit - Aziz Karimov/Getty Images

For more than 20 years, Recep Tayyip Erdogan has remade and dominated Turkeys politics. First as Prime Minister, then as President, he built a political foundation with support from voters outside the countrys powerhouse citiesIstanbul, Ankara, and Izmirwith appeals to traditional religious values and socially conservative policies.

Over time, however, he has also polarized the country by amassing more and more executive power in his own hands, and by silencing, in some cases imprisoning, critics and journalists who tell stories he doesnt like. He has sidelined judges who dont rule his way. Following a failed military coup in 2016, he purged the upper ranks of the army.

Now he faces his toughest test. The largest opposition parties have united behind the candidacy of a single challenger, a technocrat named Kemal Kilicdaroglu. Voting begins on May 14, and a second-round runoff on May 28 appears likely between the combative and charismatic Erdogan and the mild-mannered and consensus-oriented Kilicdaroglu. Current polling says this race could go either way.

Outsiders will focus on expected differences in their foreign policies. Even as a member of the NATO alliance, Erdogan has established a degree of independence between the West and Russia. At various times, he has both courted and infuriated Russia, Europe, and the U.S. with a transactional approach to nearly every important question. His ability to play one off the other is limited by Turkeys dependence for security on NATO and on Russia for a strong economy, particularly in the tourism sector. Erdogan has not joined other NATO members in full backing for Ukraine, but he has offered Turkeys services as a crucial dealmaker, including on the flow of both Ukrainian and Russian agricultural products out of the Black Sea and into the Mediterranean. Erdogans harsh words for the E.U. and some European governments, and his foot-dragging on questions like NATO membership for Finland and Sweden, has made him a gadfly in Brussels.

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Thats the main reason a Kilicdaroglu victory would be welcomed in Europe and in Washington. His foreign policy would focus on restoring trust in Turkeys reliability as an ally for both NATO and the E.U., even as he continues to approach Vladimir Putin with pragmatic caution. Kilicdaroglu would also be expected to breathe new life into Turkeys long-term bid to join the European Union. If so, E.U. officials would respond with warm diplomatic pleasantries, but the cost of support for Ukraine and hesitancy in Europe about Turkeys longer-term direction will encourage Brussels to slow-play a return to serious accession negotiations.

Yet theres a more immediate question that has the attention of observers both inside and outside Turkey. If Kilicdaroglu wins the presidency by a razor-thin margin, might Erdogan simply reject the result? Hes done it before. When his partys candidate lost the race for mayor of Istanbul in 2019, Erdogan forced Turkeys electoral court to annul the result and rerun the election. This strategy would work only if the vote is close, but the stakes for Erdogan are now much higher. This time, its his name on a nationwide ballot. If Erdogan hesitates, it would likely be because his party then lost that re-run Istanbul mayors race by a much bigger margin, dealing Erdogans reputation for political invincibility a blow from which it hasnt fully recovered.

It would still be a mistake to under-estimate Erdogans willingness to urge his supporters into the streets, and opposition demonstrators would be quick to respond, creating political upheaval. It would also be a mistake to doubt Erdogans ability to win. His political talent and the loyalty of his supporters remain formidable.
(Bloomberg) -- Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he will accept the outcome of Sundays elections, addressing criticism from his rival that members of the government might be unwilling to transfer power peacefully.

Most Read from Bloomberg

The governing party and its allies will consider any outcome at the ballot box as legitimate and will do whatever democracy requires, Erdogan said in a TV interview late Friday.

Erdogans comments came shortly after his key rival Kemal Kilicdaroglu attacked the president and his allies for showing signs of reluctance concede the election in the event of an opposition win. With two days left before Turkeys drama-filled election campaign concludes, emotions are running high among the countrys 64 million voters. Earlier on Friday, Kilicdaroglu accused Russia of trying to influence the elections outcome, an allegation that the Kremlin has denied.

Why Turkeys Election Is a Big Test for Erdogan: QuickTake

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ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the main election rival of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, issued a warning to Russia, accusing it of responsibility for the release of fake material on social media ahead of Sunday's ballot.

Kilicdaroglu, who has a slight lead over long-time leader Erdogan according to opinion polls, did not specify to which material he referred.

A third presidential candidate, Muharrem Ince, withdrew from the race on Thursday citing a faked "character assassination" carried out online. He gave few details.

Kilicdaroglu accused Turkey's "Russian friends" of responsibility for "the release in this country yesterday of montages, plots, deep fake content...

"If you want to continue our friendship after May 15, withdraw your hand from the Turkish state. We are still in favour of cooperation and friendship," he said on Twitter on Thursday evening in both Turkish and Russian.

There was no immediate comment from Russian officials.

Moscow and Ankara have close ties and Russia is Turkey's largest supplier of energy. President Vladimir Putin and Erdogan hold frequent talks on issues ranging from energy to the wars in Ukraine and Syria.

In the tense campaign ahead of the May 14 presidential and parliamentary votes, political figures from both the Erdogan and Kilicdaroglu camps have complained about online accusations, including the posting of videos and photographs.

(Reporting by Daren Butler; Editing by Jonathan Spicer and John Stonestreet)
By Orhan Coskun, Ece Toksabay and Huseyin Hayatsever

ANKARA (Reuters) -Kemal Kilicdaroglu, main challenger of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, said on Friday his party has concrete evidence of Russia's responsibility for the release of "deep fake" online content ahead of Sunday's presidential elections.

Kilicdaroglu, who has a slight poll lead over Erdogan two days ahead of the election, told Reuters in an interview it was unacceptable for Russia to interfere in Turkey's internal affairs, but added that should he become president he would maintain Ankara's good ties with Moscow.

NATO-member Turkey depends heavily on energy imports and Russia is its largest supplier. This week, two sources told Reuters that Ankara has deferred payment to Russia of a $600 million natural gas bill to 2024, underlining the extent of strengthened relations under Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Asked why he tweeted on Thursday that Russia was responsible for fake online content, a bold move, Kilicdaroglu said: "If we did not have it (concrete evidence), I wouldn't have tweeted." His party did not contact the Russian embassy over the issue, he added. He did not elaborate on what the online content was.

One presidential candidate from a small party, Muharrem Ince, withdrew on Thursday citing a faked "character assassination" carried out online. He gave few details.

Russia has been accused in the past of meddling in foreign elections including in the United States, which Moscow denies.

Turkey's vote on Sunday shapes up as the most consequential in its modern history, with huge implications for Ankara's global standing, strategic alliances and economic direction.

"We find it unacceptable for another country to interfere in Turkey's election process in favour of a political party. I wanted the whole world to be aware of this, that is why I made this call openly by a tweet," Kilicdaroglu said in an interview.

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The Kremlin later denied interfering.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the people who had passed on such allegations to Kilicdaroglu were liars and that Russia valued its ties with Turkey enormously.

CONFIDENT

In his office in Ankara, Kilicdaroglu reiterated his confidence that he would "replace an authoritarian rule".

The 74-year-old former civil servant stressed that Turkey, which also has close business, economic and tourist ties with Russia, would pursue a fine balance in relations with Moscow.

"We don't want to break our friendly relations but we will not allow interference in our internal matters," he said.

Kilicdaroglu also said he would push for another peace initiative between Russia and Ukraine, following a failed bid by Erdogan in 2022.

However, he added, "we should make it clear that we do not find it right for any country to occupy another country".

Turkey has conducted a diplomatic balancing act since Russia invaded Ukraine. Ankara opposes Western sanctions on Russia and has close ties with both Moscow and Kyiv, its Black Sea neighbours. It has sent armed drones to help Ukraine.

When asked whether he would support NATO enlargement if he is elected as president, he said: "Of course," without elaborating. "We will maintain our relations with NATO within the same framework as we had in the past," Kilicdaroglu added.

Finland and Sweden, rattled by Russia's invasion, secured approval to join NATO earlier this year, though Sweden's induction has been delayed by a dispute with Erdogan's government over its alleged harbouring of Kurdish militants, who Ankara considers terrorists.

Kilicdaroglu said a fundamental problem of Turkey's foreign policy in Erdogan's AK Party (AKP) tenure was the exclusion of the foreign ministry from the policy-making process. Erdogan has instead shaped policy himself.

Turkey, Kilicdaroglu said, will pursue a peace-oriented foreign policy that prioritises its national interest and acts in line with the modern world.

MARKET TRUST

Kilicdaroglu said gains in Turkish assets on Thursday indicated markets believe his opposition alliance will win on Sunday. On Thursday, Turkey's main stock index closed almost 7.9% higher, while credit default swaps dropped.

The election pits Erdogan's vision of a heavily managed economy, which has seen soaring inflation and a plunging lira, against Kilicdaroglu's promise to return to a more orthodox, free-market economic policy.

"We already see that there is relief inside and outside the country as it has become clear that I will be elected as the president," Kilicdaroglu said, adding markets trusted that his alliance would rule with rational policies.

"This gives great confidence to domestic and foreign financial circles. [The market moves on Thursday] were the first steps of this trust. Turkey's borrowing costs will also decrease," Kilicdaroglu said.

"We need to appoint someone who is trusted by financial circles as the head of the central bank. This is the first thing foreign investors will see. Plus, we will ensure the independence of the central bank."

(Editing by Jonathan Spicer, Samia Nakhoul, Alexandra Hudson and Mark Heinrich)
A garbage collector walks by a bus with an image of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul on May 10. Aziz Karimov/Getty Images

Turkey is heading to an election that may unseat its longtime leader, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Western observers dislike Erdogan's foreign policy, but a different leader is unlikely to change course.

Matthew C. Mai is a research associate at Defense Priorities.

On May 14, Turkish voters will head to the ballot box to elect their next president.

At a moment of global upheaval, Turkey's unique geopolitical position allows it to play an outsized role in international politics. As a result, Turkey is frequently castigated for taking stances that contravene Western preferences.

Critics charge that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's foreign policy is a direct outgrowth of his illiberal posture at home rather than shrewd geopolitics. But this interpretation is wrong: Turkey's robust economic ties with Russia and regional security concerns make it highly unlikely another leader will seek closer alignment with the West.

Whether Erdogan or his challenger, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, wins, the interests guiding Turkey's foreign policy will require the same balancing act that eschews alignment with any great-power bloc and maximizes Ankara's freedom of action. As difficult as US policymakers might find Erdogan to deal with, Kilicdaroglu's approach to foreign affairs will not be pro-Western either.

Most notably, this balancing act has been on display throughout the Russo-Ukrainian War. Turkey has served as the primary intermediary between Kyiv and Moscow, facilitating prisoner exchanges, the Black Sea Grain Initiative, and peace talks at the onset of the conflict.

Russian navy landing ship Korolev sails through the Dardanelles Strait toward the Black Sea on February 8, 2022. Burak Akay/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

At Ukraine's request, Ankara's stewardship of the Montreux Convention has prevented warships from transiting the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits into the Black Sea. (Although there is evidence Russia is using civilian vessels to carry military cargo.)

However, Ankara has not joined the Western sanctions campaign against Russia. Since the breakout of the war, Turkey has become a major hub for Russian investment, with post-invasion monthly trade volume increasing 198 percent and bilateral payment systems being adopted to facilitate financial transactions outside of SWIFT.

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Unsurprisingly, Turkey has come under pressure from US officials to "conduct enhanced due diligence on transactions with Russian entities and individuals" to avoid "a potential loss of access to G7 markets and correspondent relationships." But given Turkey's economic turmoil and dependence on Russian imports, Kilicdaroglu has pledged not to enforce the G7's sanctions and maintain economic relations with Moscow.

Like Erdogan, there are signs that Kilicdaroglu would work to "resolve" the Russo-Ukrainian War by advocating a "face-saving solution" acceptable to both sides. Moreover, according to an official from the Turkish opposition, to avoid a prolonged stand-off between Russia and the West after a settlement is reached, "[we] need a stable [security] architecture and we cannot leave Russia out of the picture."

This perspective is markedly different from that in Western capitals, most of which are exclusively focused on post-war security guarantees for Ukraine without considering how the Euro-Atlantic order can be restructured to stabilize relations with Russia over the long-term.

Locals applaud as a convoy of Turkish trucks carrying tanks near Turkey's border with Syria in October 2019. Associated Press/Lefteris Pitarakis

Sharp differences between Turkey and the United States will endure elsewhere. In Syria, where the United States is allied with Kurdish militias Ankara considers adjacent to terrorist groups, Washington will not find a more conciliatory interlocutor in Kilicdaroglu. Erdogan has initiated a rapprochement process with Bashar al-Assad, but Kilicdaroglu has indicated he would be even more open to dialogue with Damascus to facilitate the return of millions of Syrian refugees residing in Turkey.

And no matter what Washington says, Kilicdaroglu will also continue to rely on military force to protect Turkey's southeastern border from attacks launched by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). One opposition official described the conditions for a Turkish withdrawal from Syria as contingent on revitalizing the 1998 Adana agreement which prevented Damascus from harboring terrorist groups and permitted Turkey to conduct self-defensive military operations up to five kilometers across the Syrian border.

However, recent events should encourage US policymakers to consider the merits of conceding to Turkish interests in the region. During an operation in northern Syria last month, Turkish special forces reportedly raided the compound of ISIS leader Abu Hussein al-Qurashi, who detonated a suicide vest to avoid capture.

This episode demonstrated how Turkey, which has a strong military, experience conducting counter-terrorism operations, and intelligence-sharing relationships with its neighbors, is capable of neutralizing ISIS remnants in its backyard. Rather than continuing to run the risk of confrontation with Iranian-backed militias or Russian forces, US troops should withdraw and allow Ankara to take ownership of a messy situation in northern Syria.

By prioritizing independence and autonomy, foreign policy under a prospective Kilicdaroglu administration will embody a significant degree of continuity from his predecessor. US policymakers would be well advised to adopt the same approach to whoever wins over the Turkish public and not expect either candidate to make a hard turn westward.

Matthew C. Mai is a research associate at Defense Priorities.

Read the original article on Business Insider
By Burcu Karakas

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - President Tayyip Erdogan's opponents say they will repair the damage done to human rights during his rule, promising a new era for democracy and freedoms if he loses power in an election on Sunday.

With Erdogan facing his toughest test yet at the ballot box, rights advocates hope his defeat will draw a line under an era which they say has seen judicial independence eroded, freedom of speech curbed, and journalists and politicians jailed.

"If we take power, everyone will speak freely and be harshly criticized," Gokce Gokcen, deputy chairwoman of the opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), told Reuters in an interview.

"We will focus on building a pluralistic democracy. As we put an end to the autocratic rule in Turkey, we will take comprehensive measures so that no authoritarian regime will emerge again," she said.

While Ankara defends its rights record, critics say civil liberties and freedoms have suffered major set backs over the last decade as Erdogan has concentrated ever more power in his hands, prompting concern among Western allies.

Gokcen said an opposition-led government would introduce changes including a constitutional amendment to secure judicial independence, and put an end to politically-motivated lawsuits.

Among other changes, she said an opposition-led Turkey would also respect rulings of the European Court of Human Rights, with which Erdogan has clashed, notably over the case of Osman Kavala.

A civil activist, Kavala was jailed for life in 2022 on a charge of trying to overthrow the government by financing protests. Western powers see it as a politically-driven case.

The opposition has long said Erdogan and his AK Party influence the courts. The government denies this.

Polls are showing a tight race between Erdogan and his main challenger, CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu, candidate of a six-party alliance, who has a slight lead.

Seeking to rally his conservative base, Erdogan has declared the opposition "pro-LGBT" while on the campaign trail. Rights activists say the LGBT community, often described as "deviant" by Erdogan, has been systematically targeted.

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Supporters of Erdogan, who was once jailed for reciting a poem which authorities said incited Islamist sedition, view him as a defender of democracy and civilian government who confronted the military to halt its interference in politics.

"Despite all provocations, we did not give up rule of law, democracy and legitimacy", Erdogan tweeted on May 10.

TURNING POINT

In campaign rallies he has sought to remind voters of his early years in power when he lifted a ban on women wearing headscarves at university and in public sector jobs.

But critics say women's rights have suffered in recent years, notably in 2021 when the government pulled Turkey out of the Istanbul Convention, an international treaty combating gender-based violence, on grounds that it threatens family values and that local laws were sufficient.

The opposition plans to reverse the decision.

Critics see 2013 as a turning point for rights in Turkey, when protests against government plans to build a shopping mall in Istanbul's Gezi Park spiralled into nationwide demonstrations against what Erdogan's opponents saw as his authoritarianism.

That year, Mehmet Golebatmaz, a lawyer, was convicted of "insulting a public officer" over a cartoon showing Erdogan on a boat covered with graffiti and slogans from the Gezi Park protests. "Erdogan's one-man rule uses the judiciary to crack down on dissidents," said Golebatmaz, 60.

"My friends and I who drew political cartoons were not put on trial even after the 1980 coup," he said, referring to an army takeover after which political life was halted for three years and many civil liberties were suspended.

A 'DARK PICTURE'

Human Rights Watch, in its World Report 2022, said Erdogan's government has set back Turkey's human rights record by decades.

Ruhat Sena Aksener of Amnesty International said the election is taking place in "a very dark picture of human rights", and that re-establishing the judiciary's independence and impartiality must be the next government's first priority.

The political rights of Turkey's Kurdish minority have been brought into renewed focus ahead of the vote as the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) has faced the prospect of being shut down over alleged militant ties, which it denies.

The HDP has faced a crackdown since the collapse in 2015 of Ankara's peace process with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), designated a terrorist group by Turkey and its Western allies.

Evin Jiyan Kisanak, the daughter of jailed Kurdish politician Gultan Kisanak, said judicial independence and the right to a fair trial do not exist in Turkey, urging the creation of system offering "justice for all" after the vote.

Gultan Kisanak, who once served as co-mayor of the city of Diyarbakir in southeast Turkey, was jailed in 2016 on charges of membership of a terrorist organisation - which she denied.

"In the last seven years, I have been following my mother's trials very closely," said her daughter. "Cases of all political prisoners in Turkey are linked to freedom of expression."

(Reporting by Burcu Karakas; Editing by Tom Perry, Alexandra Hudson)
Borrell believes Beijing should put pressure on Moscow

EU-China relations will not develop normally if China does not compel Russia to leave Ukraine, Borrell said at a press conference on May 12.

We call on China, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, to influence Russia to stop this war and play a constructive role in achieving a just peace in Ukraine.

Read also: EUs top diplomat accepts only Zelenskyys peace formula, rejects Chinas position paper

On April 26, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had his first conversation with Chinese leader Xi Jinping since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion.

According to Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Hua Chunying, Ukraine requested the conversation. China plans to send a government envoy to deepen communication around the political settlement of the Russian war, which Beijing refers to as the Ukrainian crisis.

Read also: China distances itself from recognizing Russia as aggressor in UN resolution

On Feb. 24, China published a document outlining its position on the "settlement" of Russia's war against Ukraine, including a call for a ceasefire and negotiations, but not a withdrawal of Russian troops.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
EU foreign ministers discussed the bloc's approach to China in Stockholm

EU foreign ministers agreed on Friday on the need to "recalibrate" Europe's position on China, reducing dependencies and coaxing Beijing to take a tougher stance on Russia's war in Ukraine, the bloc's foreign policy chief said.

Brussels has urged the European Union's 27 nations to get on the same page on how they deal with China, as a more assertive Beijing asserts its influence on the world stage.

At a meeting hosted by Sweden, European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell presented the bloc's foreign ministers with a paper outlining the need to "define" and "re-calibrate our position towards China".

"They agree on the basic lines of this re-calibration of our strategy with China considering the recent domestic evolution in China and its foreign policy trajectories," Borrell said.

Borrell said the EU was sticking to its existing vision of China as simultaneously a partner, competitor and rival.

He stressed it remained important to "engage" with Beijing at the same time as looking to cut the EU's reliance in the face of fundamentally different values and economic systems.

But he said the adjusted policy was not aimed at "de-coupling" Europe from the world's second biggest economy, but to "balance" the relationship.

Most pressing among the points of contention is China's refusal to condemn its close ally Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, or to press Moscow to stop its attack.

Borrell conceded that relations between the EU and China were strained by China's position on the ongoing conflict.

- China pushing Russia -

"European Union-China relations will not develop normally if China doesn't push Russia to withdraw from Ukraine" Borrell said.

Brussels has enraged Beijing by proposing to restrict exports of sensitive tech to eight Chinese firms suspected of shipping it on to Russia.

On a European tour this week, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang warned that Beijing would make a "necessary response" if the EU moved ahead with any sanctions.

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In Berlin, Qin clashed over Ukraine with German counterpart Annalena Baerbock, who insisted China's proclaimed "neutrality means taking the side of the aggressor".

On Friday, Baerbock stressed that the proposal was "not about economic sanctions" but about preventing "war materials being delivered to Russia by other states."

On a trip to China last month, French President Emmanuel Macron opened up EU fissures by saying Europe should not automatically follow US policy on Taiwan and should avoid "crises that aren't ours".

That stirred fierce criticism from some other European allies, which see the United States as a security guarantor against Russia.

Polish deputy foreign minister Pawel Jablonski on Friday said that "any attempt at breaking international law" or "deteriorating security" should be met with a "decisive answer".

Jablonski also stressed that it was important for the EU not to become dependent on China, comparing it to how Europe was "dependent" on Russian energy.

- 'Same mistakes' -

"We shouldn't make ourselves dependent on any country in the future. We should find a way to be a partner not a client," Jablonski told reporters.

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis echoed the sentiment, saying: "We cannot make the same mistakes as we've done when dealing with Russia" while adding that China should be treated with more "caution".

Meanwhile, during a visit to neighbouring Norway, Qin called for Europe and China to "oppose the Cold War mentality".

"If we have a new Cold War, the outcomes will be even more disastrous (than previously) and will seriously damage relations and cooperation between China and Europe," Qin said.

Friday's meeting of foreign ministers in Stockholm was not meant to reach any concrete conclusions and the debate on China will continue at a leaders' summit in June.

The EU ministers will follow up their China discussion with a meeting on Saturday with counterparts from the Asia-Pacific region.

Beijing will once again be the elephant in the room as talks turn to security issues, including tensions in the Taiwan Strait.

But a senior EU official said the meeting would be above all about "building partnerships".

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Internationally recognized Chinese director Pema Tseden died of sudden illness in the Tibet autonomous region on Monday at the age of 53, according to an obituary released by the China Academy of Art, where the filmmaker had worked as a professor since 2021.

A day before his passing, Pema Tseden, of the Tibetan ethnic group, reportedly felt uncomfortable while shooting a new movie in Nakarze county of Lhokha city in Tibet. Early Monday morning, he was sent for treatment at a local hospital in the county and later transferred to Lhasa, but passed away due to heart disease, according to The Beijing News.

His last message on social media was posted to his WeChat account at 5:23 pm on Sunday. The message reads, "Congratulations to the young filmmakers", and includes three pictures that show young Tibetan director Gegyal Pema's film Gift earning a nomination at the official selection of the Indian International Short Film Festival Awards.

Born into a herder's family in Guide county of the Hainan Tibetan autonomous prefecture in Qinghai province in 1969, Pema Tseden initially worked as a primary school teacher and, later, as a government employee. After discovering his passion for art, in the early 1990s, Tseden started publishing literary works, such as Enticement: Stories of Tibet. At the age of 33, he sought to further his interest in cinema by quitting his job to study at the Beijing Film Academy.

Pema Tseden demonstrated his unique examination of Tibetan life and culture in his directorial debut The Silent Holy Stones, a short, 30-minute film made during his study in Beijing. The work was later adapted into a feature film of the same name, earning him a best directorial debut gong at the 25th Golden Rooster Awards and obtaining a nomination at South Korea's Busan International Film Festival in 2005.

Since then, Pema Tseden had written and directed a series of highly acclaimed and award-winning Tibet-themed films, varying from The Search (2009) and Old Dog (2011) to Tharlo (2015). With his movies regularly shown during international festivals, in 2018, Pema Tseden won the best script award in the Horizons section at the 75th Venice Film Festival for his movie Jinpa and the best picture for his feature film Balloon at the second Hainan Island International Film Festival in 2019.

Renowned ethnic Tibetan writer Tashi Dawa once praised Pema Tseden as the "double peaks" of Tibetan literature and cinema. Also receiving dozens of awards, Pema Tseden's literary works have been translated into multiple languages, including English, French, Spanish and Japanese, thus providing foreign readers with a deeper understanding of Tibet.

The sudden passing of Pema Tseden has caused widespread mourning among fans of art house cinema and members of the domestic film industry.

Chen Gang, director of the department of film and media at Beijing Normal University, says that he couldn't believe his eyes when he read the news on Monday morning, as he had seen Pema Tseden's WeChat Moments post the day before.

Describing Pema Tseden as "a great person", he tells China Daily that the university had once planned to invite the director  who had already given some speeches at the institution  to conduct a workshop and guide college students in their filmmaking endeavors. "It's a pity that the director still had quite a few works that he planned to shoot," he says.

During his final days, Pema Tseden was leading a crew on the shoot for his new movie, Have a Nice Trip, a romance about two travelers who fall in love during a trip to one of the base camps at Mount Qomolangma, known as Mount Everest in the West, according to the Shanghai-based magazine Xinmin Weekly.

The prolific director had two other movies that were yet to be completed. One of them is Snow Leopard, which finished shooting last year and was scheduled to complete postproduction in October. The other is Stranger, starring Huang Xuan, which tells the story of a man riding a Harley Davidson motorcycle on a quest to find a woman in Tibet.

"I have written and deleted so many words repeatedly, and I feel that none of them can express my current feelings.  We discussed life and death, reincarnation and impermanence, but I still couldn't face your departure. In my lifetime, I will always cherish our memories together," actor Huang wrote on Sina Weibo.

In a statement released by the China Academy of Art on Tuesday, it was noted that Pema Tseden, who had worked in the film industry for around 20 years, was entering his most fertile period of creativity, being capable of producing a movie almost every year and writing a novel every few months.

It also revealed that Pema Tseden's early fascination with cinema was more about "listening" than "watching". As a youngster, while helping his family herd cattle, Pema Tseden enjoyed his time on the grasslands and would often lie down and listen to dramas on a radio.

"On the vast grassland, the sound was constantly absorbed and swallowed by the earth. The director once said that sound is ephemeral, so one must concentrate on every moment. Conceiving the images behind the sound  that was his initial method of 'creating' a film," the statement says.

"The weighty aura that Pema Tseden had left a deep impression on everyone who met him. He was like someone who stood at the center of the storm, but could still calm the restless outer world. His patience and humility gave him depth of character," says Zhou Jiali, a scriptwriter and an associate professor at the academy.

"These qualities are reflected in his body of work. He never rushed to embellish or show off. He was extremely restrained and straightforward," she adds.

In addition to his own works, Pema Tseden also supported a group of talented young creators, helping them pursue their filmmaking dreams.

The 25th Shanghai International Film Festival, which will begin on June 9, released a memorial article expressing deep sadness, and also announced its plan to screen some of Pema Tseden's most representative works in its "tribute to masters" section, as a way of honoring his contributions to the art of filmmaking.
(Bloomberg) -- The European Unions top envoys sought to project a united front on relations with China, reaching an initial consensus on a common blueprint for future ties although they still need to work out how to smooth out remaining differences.

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Foreign ministers of the EU, meeting in Stockholm, approved the main principles in a road map proposed by the blocs foreign affairs arm, according to its head Josep Borrell. Still, he acknowledged member states would seek revisions to the paper ahead of a leaders summit in June which will discuss ties with China.

They agree on the basic lines on this recalibration of our strategy on China, considering the recent domestic evolution in China and the foreign policy trajectory, Borrell said. We continue with the triptych because it reflects reality  its a rival, competitor and a partner, he added in a reference to the current approach.

The paper drafted by the EUs foreign policy arm calls on member states to avoid being drawn into a zero-sum contest between Washington and Beijing as the bloc works to manage Chinas rise. It reaffirmed the rival-competitor-partner stance, but said the balance of those approaches will be conditional on how China responds to Europes approach.

EU countries have been striving to work out a common stance on tackling Chinas economic might, with several stressing that it is increasingly becoming a rival rather than a partner. Some states are pushing for more strategic distance, including new limits on exports of technology to Beijing.

The US and EU will pledge to step up coordination on security measures like export restrictions, the screening of outbound technologies and foreign investment controls to fight back against economic coercion from countries such as China, Bloomberg reported earlier Friday.

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Different Approaches

In a complex relationship like the one we have with China we have unavoidably different approaches because there are different interests, Borrell said, mentioning a big exporter to China like Germany and countries that have almost no economic relationship.

EU countries must both engage which China on many different issues and at the same time we have to compete with China and decrease our dependencies when these become too big, Borrell said.

Borrell cautioned that the future of the EUs ties to China will also depend on Beijings stance toward Russias invasion of Ukraine. Beijing will send a special envoy  Ambassador Li Hui  to Ukraine, Russia and other European countries next week in efforts to foster a diplomatic resolution to Russias war in Ukraine.

Existential Threat

For us its so important that Russia understands that it is an existential threat for us whats happening in Ukraine, and we expect that China will use its role and responsibilities, Borrell said, adding that if it isnt the case, our relation wont be so good.

European officials, including Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, have increasingly spoken about de-risking  but not de-coupling  relations with China.

US State Department Counselor Derek Chollet said in an interview in Stockholm earlier Friday that he was confident that we will see a lot of overlap in terms of our perspective in relation to the EUs strategy on China.

We respect that theres a multiplicity of views within the EU, even though at a strategic level there is greater convergence on the PRC within the EU, and between the US and the EU, than at any moment that we have had in our history, since 1949, Chollet said.

--With assistance from Natalia Drozdiak.

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(Bloomberg) -- The European Union must unite around a stronger stance toward China as it tries to cope with Beijings rising power, several of the blocs foreign ministers said.

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Unfortunately aspects of competition and rivalry have increased in relation to China, Germanys Annalena Baerbock told reporters ahead of a gathering of her EU counterparts in Stockholm. The strategy of de-risking will therefore become the guideline of EU politics.

Swedens Tobias Billstrom, whose country holds the EUs rotating presidency, said the bloc should discuss how to focus its strength and create more unity in dealings with China, while deepening transatlantic links.

The EU is seeking a common approach toward China, balancing a harder stance with preserving supply chains still interlinked with the worlds second-biggest economy. A paper drafted by the EUs foreign affairs arm, which is due to kick-start discussions, calls on member states to avoid being drawn into a zero-sum contest between Washington and Beijing as it works to manage Chinas rise.

The paper reaffirmed the blocs strategy of dealing with China simultaneously as a partner, a competitor and a systemic rival, but said the balance of those approaches will be conditional on how China responds to Europes approach.

European officials, including Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, have increasingly spoken about de-risking  but not de-coupling  relations with China. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz echoed the same sentiment this week, while Italy has signaled to the US that it intends to pull out of a controversial investment pact with China before the end of the year.

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Chinas assertiveness, its military posturing in the Taiwan Strait is something we have to take very seriously, Billstrom said. He added that nations must not be naive in their dealings with China, both a state economy and a one-party state.

This is something where both the EU and the rest of the global society have to reconsider its positions, Billstrom said, referring also to an EU-Indo Pacific forum due in Stockholm on Saturday.

Chinese Companies

The debate comes as the blocs ties with China risk further tensions following an EU proposal to extend strict trade restrictions to several Chinese companies. The EU is looking to crack down on firms supplying Russia with banned goods that have aided its war in Ukraine. Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang said while touring European capitals this week it would react strictly and strongly to any such measures.

US State Department Counselor Derek Chollet, speaking later Friday, said in an interview in Stockholm that he was confident that we will see a lot of overlap in terms of our perspective in relation to the EUs strategy on China.

We respect that theres a multiplicity of views within the EU, even though at a strategic level there is greater convergence on the PRC within the EU, and between the US and the EU, than at any moment than we have had in our history, since 1949, Chollet said.

Strategic Dependence

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis echoed Billstrom in pushing for a stronger approach. If you engage with China from a position of weakness where you declare your strategic dependence on China, that puts us in a very disadvantaged position and weve been in that position with Russia for a very long time, he said.

Landsbergis also called for broader trade restrictions on sanctions circumvention outside the EU, beyond just several Chinese companies. If Chinese companies do that, they should get that message, he said. But any other country assisting Russia to circumvent sanctions should understand that theyre also under the radar.

The foreign ministers will also discuss Russias invasion of Ukraine.

Beijing will send a special envoy  Ambassador Li Hui  to Ukraine, Russia and other European countries next week in efforts to foster a diplomatic resolution to Russias war in Ukraine. In the EU paper, the EU said Chinas relationship with the bloc would be critically affected if Beijing does not push Russia to withdraw from Ukraine.

French President Emmanuel Macrons visit to China last month and his push to enlist its help on possible talks on Ukraine without first consulting with European allies fueled doubts as to whether the EU is able to adopt a common stance toward Beijing. His trip amounted to a diplomatic coup for Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who is seeking to appear as a potential mediator.

--With assistance from Niclas Rolander and Katharina Rosskopf.

(Updates with interview with State Departments Chollet in 10th and 11th paragraphs)

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The running order for Saturday's Eurovision Song Contest final has been revealed, after Thursday's knock-out semi-final completed the line-up.

Twenty six acts will perform in Liverpool to an expected global audience of 160 million viewers.

Austria will open the show with Teya & Salena's up-tempo Who The Hell is Edgar? - a song inspired by 19th Century poet Edgar Allan Poe.

The UK's Mae Muller will close the show with I Wrote A Song.

On Thursday night, Australian rockers Voyager and Slovenian band Joker Out progressed to the final alongside eight other acts.

Their success came after Tuesday's first semi, where every guitar group was eliminated.

Despite his 10.8m TikTok followers, Denmark's Reiley went out after the semi-final, as did five other countries.

The grand final takes place at 20:00 BST on Saturday, broadcast live from Liverpool Arena on BBC One.

The UK has taken on Eurovision hosting rights on behalf of Ukraine, after the invasion by Russia and Kalush Orchestra's win in Turin in 2022.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky will not address the multi-millions of international viewers on Saturday night during the performance.

The EBU, which organises Eurovision, has long taken the position that the contest should be free of politics. Although this year's event has been reflecting Ukrainian culture, it was felt that an address from President Zelensky would contravene the spirit of the event.

Sweden's Loreen is the favourite among bookies and music streams

Downing Street has said it is "disappointed" by the decision not to allow President Zelensky to make an address. The prime minister's spokesman said he "believes it would be fitting" for the Ukraine leader to appear.

"The values and freedoms that President Zelensky and the people of Ukraine are fighting for are not political, they're fundamental, and Eurovision themselves recognised that last year when they rightly suspended Russia's participation from the competition, Downing Street said.

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However, the spokesman added there are no plans to intervene and ask the EBU to change their mind.

Eurovision co-host Graham Norton told reporters it was the EBU's decision. "So we haven't been involved in that at all, and as you know the EBU rule with an iron fist so what they say goes."

Fans making their way to Liverpool for Saturday's final have been warned of train strike disruption.

Meanwhile, Luxembourg have announced they will rejoin the Eurovision Song Contest in 2024, three decades after they last participated and 40 years since the country's last win.

How was Saturday's running order decided?

After each semi-final, the acts who qualified go into either the first or second half of the final - their selection is picked out of a bowl.

The big five - France, Spain, UK, Italy and Germany - automatically get through to the final because they pay more to the host broadcaster.

Last year's winner qualifies automatically too - and this time that's Ukraine's TVORCHI.

Once all 26 countries are confirmed, producers and Eurovision organisers work through each half to shape the show.

Organisers also need to ensure stage technicians can change the stage setup in less than 60 seconds between songs.

A table of the running order for Saturday night's final

Does it ever have an impact on the results?

The vast majority of previous Eurovision winners - 43 out of 67 - all performed in the second half of the show.

The teams involved, known as delegations, always want their countries as close to the end of the running order as possible.

Viewers are perhaps more likely to remember a song closer to the voting lines opening rather than one at the beginning of the show - even if they are at a Eurovision party.

The second placing slot is legendary in Eurovision world - because no act which has been song number two has ever won.

Could Portugal's Mimicat change that? Probably not.

Do the favourites have a good placing?

The two big favourites - Sweden and Finland - drew a place in first half when they qualified for Saturday's final.

Finnish rap artist Kaarija's Cha Cha Cha is song number 13, that may sound unlucky but he is essentially closing the first half.

Loreen is song number nine for Sweden - that's the spot associated with previous BBC commentator Sir Terry Wogan who said he would always begin drinking at that point in the show.

Eurovision 2023 banner

Why is the UK closing the show?

The host country (normally last year's winner) always automatically qualifies for the final, so ahead of the semi-finals both Ukraine and the UK's position was randomly selected.

Ukraine drew song number 19, with the UK's Mae Muller getting the rare spot of closing a show on home turf.

Croatia's Let 3 will perform as the penultimate act and end their performance in y-fronts.

All the build-up, insights and analysis is explored on the BBC's Eurovisioncast.

Eurovisioncast is available on BBC Sounds, or search wherever you get your podcasts from.
Are you tempted to bet on the outcome of Eurovision? One man made a living out of taking such gambles, betting his home as collateral until the year his luck seemed to run out.

For many viewers, the best part of Eurovision is the voting. Douze points! Nul points! But can you imagine if the result decided whether you won tens of thousands of pounds - or lost your house?

That agony of anticipation faced Daniel Gould in 2018 - after he literally bet his home on the Eurovision result. As the votes piled up, just two countries were left in contention: Israel and Cyprus. Which would get the bigger televote? The next words out of the presenter's mouth seemed set to shape his life.

Daniel had been a professional Eurovision gambler for nearly a decade. Yes, you read that right.

I met him at university in the 1990s but then we fell out of touch. In my podcast, Cautionary Tales, I recently had the opportunity to catch up with Daniel's story by interviewing a mutual friend, Andrew Wright.

He told me Daniel had always been a Eurovision fan, but in 2004, he realised he could make serious money from it.

In 2009, Daniel backed Alexander Rybak's song Fairytale to win the contest

That was the year Eurovision introduced semi-finals. Daniel worked out that some countries were almost certain to get enough televote points to qualify for the final, based on diaspora votes, ie, those in other countries voting for their homeland. Think of Turks in Germany voting for Turkey, or Romanians in Italy voting for Romania.

Daniel made big bets, at short odds, on songs qualifying. He might risk something like 100,000 to win 3,000. He'd calculated these bets were practically a sure thing. But as the results were being announced, he couldn't bear to watch - he confessed he'd be "facing the wall, biting my fist".

Living his dream

The wins kept coming in. In 2009, Daniel backed Alexander Rybak's song Fairytale to win the contest. The profits paid off the mortgage on his flat in northwest London's Kentish Town. He decided to quit his job as a history teacher and go full-time as a Eurovision gambler.

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For months every year, Daniel lived and breathed Eurovision - analysing trends, researching performers, tracking rumours on obscure discussion forums. He'd scrutinise the ever-shifting odds on various markets, from winner to top ten to semi-final qualifiers. He would trade these Eurovision bets like city brokers trade shares, trying to anticipate shifts in sentiment. This was no compulsive gambling - it was relentless hard work and calculation.

Every year, before Eurovision, he borrowed money against the value of his flat to trade with. Every year, after Eurovision, he paid it back again.

In a typical year, he'd win around 50,000. He'd spend it travelling the world. Daniel loved Eurovision, and he loved travel - he was living his dream.

It isn't easy to see into the future. Philip Tetlock, a psychologist and forecasting expert, has found that the best forecasters - the "superforecasters" - spend their time weighing up many sources of conflicting information. They think in probabilities, not certainties, and are always open to new evidence. Most people find this challenging. But if you're going to bet your house on a song competition, you'd better be up for the challenge.

Daniel was. His historical knowledge helped him understand relationships among countries. His travelling honed his gut-feel for pop culture across the continent.

He covered every angle. Watching rehearsals, he'd analyse staging and camerawork choices. After the semi-finals, he'd track which songs got traction on Google Trends, Spotify or YouTube. He'd consider the running order. Due to "recency bias", voters tend to forget songs performed early. The "contrast principle" says a fast, fun song will stand out more after several slow ballads.

Daniel was brilliant at weighing up such clues. But no professional gambler gets everything right.

Real financial disaster

Professionals can't afford to be stubborn. They have to recognise their mistakes, and act quickly to cut their losses by hedging - that is, betting on the opposite outcome. Daniel was good at that, too.

But in 2018, he found that he couldn't act quickly enough. He'd thought the song from Cyprus - Fuego, by Eleni Foureira - had no chance. For months he'd been betting against it.

Meanwhile, he'd been betting heavily on the quirky song from Israel - Toy, by Netta. He thought it was just the kind of thing the Eurovision audience would go for. When the semi-final was broadcast, Daniel realised he'd got Cyprus wrong. Viewers loved the song.

Daniel had been betting heavily on the quirky song from Israel - Toy, by Netta

Daniel went immediately into the betting markets to hedge. By betting now on Cyprus, he'd reduce his potential losses if Fuego were to win.

But Fuego had really caught fire. The odds changed too quickly for Daniel to get his bets on in time. To his horror, he was left facing a real risk of financial disaster.

In the past, when he'd had six-figure sums at risk as the results were announced, Daniel had planned those bets carefully. This was different. If Cyprus won - which now seemed gut-wrenchingly likely - he'd have to sell his flat. He watched the slowly unfolding voting process in a daze.

Eurovision aficionados among you will know how this story ends. Daniel got away with his mistake. Israel won. He could breathe again, and profited handsomely from his early call that viewers would like Netta's song. He could go off globetrotting, come back next year and do it all again.

Or so it seemed. It didn't work out like that.

Eurovision 2023 banner

Later that year, Daniel started to suffer from headaches. Then, in December 2018, while on his travels, he died suddenly - at the age of 43.

The post-mortem examination revealed he'd had a brain tumour. He'd had no idea.

Daniel always travelled to the Eurovision host city to see the two weeks of rehearsals - from Baku to Stockholm, from Kyiv to Lisbon. It was the highlight of his year. He would have loved to have been in Liverpool, watching the UK finally host Eurovision again.

As the show unfolds on Saturday, I'll be thinking of Daniel - and how, even for people who are brilliant at forecasting the future, sometimes life is just impossible to predict.

Tim Harford is a Financial Times columnist and podcaster and presents the BBC's More or Less. Cautionary Tales With Tim Harford: The Man Who Bet His House On A Song will be released as a podcast on 12th May.
Fans have travelled to Liverpool to start the Eurovision celebrations

Venues and Eurovision fans across the region are preparing to celebrate ahead of Saturday night's Grand Finale.

Another 10 acts made it through last night's second semi-final to perform on the grand stage in Liverpool.

Bristol was not chosen as an official screening host so some pubs, including The Sidney and Eden in Bishopston, are holding their own events.

Pub manager Maeve Hannah said it would be their first ever Eurovision party.

"There seems like a real energy behind it in the UK this year," she said.

"We really wanted to do something - bring a bit of a party to Bristol.

"We thought, yeah let's put Eurovision on this year."

Somerset-based hair stylist Alison Cooney has been working behind the scenes at the event.

"It's just an incredible experience to work up close with these amazing artists," she said.

"We're there to really calm people down because the nerves backstage are next level.

"One artist wanted soft curls that moved around on stage and I did Dani Andrea from San Morino, he wanted a wet look that doesn't move around at all."

Ms Cooney said she had worked in the profession for 40 years and was "used to the pressure backstage".

She added: "You go out in the morning to wander around the docks and there'll be glitter and people with the most dramatic outfits I've ever seen.

"The support and love here, especially for Ukrainians, is incredible."

The final tomorrow is also being marked in Wiltshire with a special event for Ukrainians - as they were the winners of last year's contest.

Kris Talikowski, from the Swindon Welcomes Ukraine group, said it had been an honour to set up the event.

"It's been an experience that's genuinely keeping them safe," he said.

"We're trying to do everything that we can to get them together, to teach them English, to give them a bike, to find them accommodation.

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"It's been really rewarding to set the event up."

The group's chair Sofia Volovyk said she would join the party virtually as she is currently completing the last few days of a charity walk from Swindon to Ben Nevis to raise money for Ukrainian charities.

Mr Sanderson drove up to Liverpool in his caravan adorned with Eurovision paraphernalia

Drew Sanderson, from Quedgely in Gloucestershire, went to Liverpool to take part in the unofficial events.

"We found a caravan club site to stay in with the dog, to chill out a bit, have a good time and then come into the city to enjoy it," he said.

"The caravan was adorned with things on the way up and there will be banners and balloons up on it on Saturday night.

"We're looking forward to seeing Finland and Norway perform and we are definitely behind Mae Muller."

This year, artist Mae Muller is representing the UK in the competition

Gina Jones, from Brislington, said she was excited to see the performers on the grand stage.

"I can't wait," she said.

"It's a really inclusive and fun atmosphere here.

"Driving into the city there were Eurovision flags everywhere. Ukraine is everywhere, its flags, food and music.

Some 30,000 people attended the first event on Sunday last week

"I went to Euroclub which is the official afterparty headlined by Jedward. It was the craziest thing I've ever watched.

"It's brilliant having this in the UK.

"I would have loved to have it in Bristol and hopefully that becomes a reality in the next few years."

BBC West reporter Lee Madan at the Eurovision Song Contest, Liverpool

"I'm currently at the Albert Docks where Liverpool is starting to wake up after that second semi-final last night and what a semi-final it was.

"I was lucky enough to be in the arena for the live show and I have to say it was Belgium who stole the show. They got the biggest reaction inside the arena.

"I think they will be my top tip for tomorrow night's winner.

"When Eurovision week kicked off on Sunday night there was a big concert in Liverpool that 30,000 people attended and it was absolute chaos getting in.

"As well as the planned events, there's also been a few unplanned moments. On Thursday there was an impromptu gig from last year's winner Sam Ryder at the dockside. Up to 5,000 people were there.

"Today there are rehearsals going on. There's going to be another run through tomorrow at one o'clock and then the grand finale in the evening.

"There's been very little trouble here and almost everyone we've spoken to has been having an absolutely fantastic time."

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The grand final on Saturday will be broadcast on a big screen in Birmingham's Centenary Square.

A "giant party" is set to take place in Birmingham city centre to celebrate the final of the Eurovision Song Contest.

The grand final on 13 May will be streamed live from Liverpool onto a big screen in the city's Centenary Square.

Live performances and activities will take place throughout the day, as part of an official Eurovision fan zone.

Jayne Francis, from Birmingham City Council, said the event had also been an opportunity to celebrate Ukraine, winners of the 2022 contest.

"We are so excited to be hosting one of the UK's official Eurovision fan zones, with some fantastic local and Ukrainian talent and lots of fun for all ages."

This year's Eurovision Song Contest is being held in Liverpool, after last year's UK entrant Sam Ryder finished runner-up to Ukraine's Kalush Orchestra.

Kalush Orchestra, from Ukraine, were the winners of Eurovision last year

The fan zone will see folk dance, Ukrainian music and a karaoke sing-along experience, alongside workshops, dance sessions, food stalls and other activities.

The event, which is free to attend, will be hosted by Birmingham-based drag act Fatt Butcher, alongside Ginny Lemon, from Season 2 of BBC's RuPaul's Drag Race.

"I am delighted and so so excited to be hosting this event as a massive Eurovision fan, Ukrainian music enthusiast and queen of the West Midlands," said Ginny.

The Birmingham Eurovision Fan Zone will be live in Centenary Square from 15.30 BST on Saturday, with the final of the song contest streamed from 20:00 BST.

Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: newsonline.westmidlands@bbc.co.uk
EDMONTON, Canada  This time last year, Oleh Psiuk felt a little nervous.

The 28-year-old from the small western Ukrainian town of Kalush was about to do something he had never experienced before, but he was ready to give it his all. Psiuk and his band, Kalush Orchestra, were set to perform on the Eurovision stage in Turin, Italy, in the midst of Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Even though the band was the oddsmakers favorite to win the contest, with a huge lead on the so-called Big Five competitors  France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the U.K.  they still werent quite sure of their chances.

Before the Eurovision finals, when you know there are 200 million people watching, there is a feeling of fear Because when you go on stage and perform in front of 20,000 people  it's just a stadium, and when 200 million are there and we need to represent our country during the war, we understand that there is no way that something could go wrong. It was such a responsibility, Psiuk told the Kyiv Independent in Edmonton, Canada, during their North American tour.

Tom Keatinge: Thank you for the music, but Id rather have visa-free entry Editors Note: The following article was published by the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) on May 4, 2023, and has been republished by the Kyiv Independent with permission. The opinions expressed in the op-ed section are those of the authors and do not purport to reflect the views of Kyiv IndependentTom Keatinge

After performing their triumphant song Stefania, an ode to a mother, at last year's Eurovioson, Psiuk made a passionate appeal to the audience in halting English: Save Mariupol, save Azovstal now! The contest took place at the same time as Russian troops were besieging Azovstal, a steel mill that was the last Ukrainian-held part of the city of Mariupol in south-eastern Ukraine.

Following the emotional performance, Psiuks mother wrote him a short text: Ty molodets!  Ukrainian for You did great!

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The frontman knew he had to say those words despite the nerve-racking possibility of being disqualified: The European Broadcasting Union has long mandated that politics should be kept out of the Eurovision Song Contest  and even a direct reference to the war could count as such. Only three people, Psiuk said, knew he was going to go with it.

To everyone's surprise, Kalush Orchestra wasn't disqualified. It was deemed that Psiuk and other artists expressing support for the Ukrainian people was a humanitarian rather than political appeal in nature.

Kalushs song eventually became the first Eurovision-winning song to feature a rap. A staggering 161 million viewers watched the Eurovision Song Contest on television that year.

Fast forward to 2023, and Oleh Psiuk and his band are now international spokespeople for the Ukrainian cause.

"We not only make music and show our culture, but our goal is also to make sure that information about the war in Ukraine does not leave the front pages, Psiuk told the Kyiv Independent, adding that they always find ways to raise funds for Ukraine, inform people, and call them to some action while also showing our music."

How Russia has attempted to erase Ukrainian language, culture throughout centuries Editors Note: This is episode 3 of Ukraines True History, a video and story series by the Kyiv Independent. The series is funded by the Institute for War and Peace Reporting within the program Ukraine Forward: Amplifying Analysis. The program is financed by the MATRA Programme of the Embassy o Kyiv IndependentDaria Shulzhenko

Following its Eurovision win, the band sold its trophy for $900,000, with proceeds earmarked for the purchase of combat drones for Ukraine's military. It raised over $1.4 million in the months leading to its fall North American tour. The funds from tickets sold in Canada and the U.S. went to charity organizations, including Help Heroes of Ukraine and Gate To Ukraine which were founded to allow anyone help Ukrainian families directly.

While in the U.S., the team decided to sell a brand new double bass they just started using and donate the money to Save Ukrainian Culture, a project of Ukraines Culture and Information Policy Ministry that helps with the reconstruction of destroyed cultural sites.

As ambassadors of the ministrys project, they later transferred $8,000 to restore the Ukrainian philosopher Hryhorii Skovoroda Museum in Skovorodynivka, a village in Kharkiv Oblast, after it was destroyed by a Russian artillery strike last May. The attack appeared to have been a deliberate act of cultural vandalism, as Skovorodas museum was in a tiny village not far from Kharkiv  nowhere near any obvious military targets.

Despite the moral burden of being Ukraines ambassadors in the midst of a war, sometimes the band members get to just be boys from the block. In between its U.S. concerts, Kalush Orchestra was able to film a clip in Los Angeles and drive through the streets they knew from the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. And although they don't have much time for sightseeing when on tour, Psiuk says that when he's in a car, he looks out the window, not at his phone.

The most popular question the band gets while abroad, according to Psiuk, is about his pink bucket hat.

You wont believe it, but theres no story behind it, he said, adding that he was once in a music video with a pink hat. Afterward, he decided he would always wear a pink bucket hat. Everyone thinks that there is some sort of legend behind it Maybe we need to come up with a story! he said, laughing.

Imagine Dragons releases music video shot in Ukraine The American pop-rock band Imagine Dragons released a new music video on May 10 that was shot on the front line in Ukraine. Kyiv IndependentThe Kyiv Independent news desk

But it wasnt just the hat that drew peoples attention.

The combination of authentic Ukrainian and modern clothing elements made Kalush Orchestra instantly recognizable. This is how millions of Eurovision viewers discovered Hutsul cheres (a wide traditional mens belt), Bukovynian keptar (a vest made of sheepskin), and Pokuttia serdak (a thick piece of cloth outerwear decorated primarily with colored threads).

Mixing authentic attributes with modern twists is applicable not just to their outfits: We show our Ukrainian folklore; we just mixed it with a little bit of modern hip-hop and got something new and interesting. I don't know if anybody is doing quite the same. We show our real music, which is in our Ukrainian roots.

Audience records Kalush Orchestra's concert in Edmonton, Canada, during the band's North American tour in late 2022. Photo: Brad LaFoy

As Eurovision hopes and fears are all but the distant past for the team, Psiuk and the Kalush Orchestra call on everybody to support this years contestant, pop group Tvorchi, who will perform in Liverpool, England on May 13.

We know that Tvorchi is currently in the top five picks, according to bookmakers. Lets see how it goes in the final and we wish the guys best of luck, Psiuk told the Kyiv Independent in the days leading to the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest. Please, make sure to support Ukraine!

For Ukraine, which has won top honors three times in 20 years of participating  in 2004, 2016, and 2022  the contest has always been hugely popular and valued as a way to align itself culturally with Europe. Now it is also seen as another  softer way  to keep Europes attention focused on the war.

Tvorchis song Heart of Steel was inspired, in their words, by the Ukrainian soldiers who worked to defend the now-ruined city of Mariupol. Pop culture and history have strange ways of intersecting, repeating themselves, and coming full circle. The proverbial banner raised by Kalush a year ago will be taken up by Tvorchi, reminding Europe and the world that Ukraine is still here, still fighting, and still singing.
Eurovision has finally arrived, with the bookies favourite Loreen hopeful that shell be able to take home the trophy for a second time.

The Swedish singer was behind Euphoria, one of the biggest Eurovision songs of the 21st century.

Loreen triumphed with the track in 2012. The song went on to top the charts across Europe and reaching No 3 in the UK, the highest chart position for a non-UK Eurovision entry since 1987.

This year, Loreen will represent Sweden once again with the equally catchy and predictably euphoric ballad Tattoo.

With its powerhouse vocals and soaring melody, the track has a good chance of achieving the same success as its predecessor.

Going into the competition, Loreen is the clear favourite among the bookies to win the competition. You can find the current winner odds here.

The Stockholm-born singer  real name Lorine Zineb Nora Talhaoui  rose to fame after she finished fourth in Swedens Idol singing competition in 2004. She released her first single The Snake the following year.

Ahead of Loreens performance in Liverpool this week, we spoke to the musician about returning to the competition, finding nature and writing love songs.

(Handout)

Hi Loreen! Its so exciting to see you back at Eurovision  how have rehearsals been going?

Its going well but its definitely intense, haha. Its a very physical performance. You must be in tune with both mind, body and soul to do this the right way. It takes discipline, it takes a lot of hard work. You have to be strong both physically and mentally and you have to have a huge focus... Everything needs to be pure, and for that I need to be focused. You cant split your energies all over. So, my days are filled with a lot of training, a lot of eating, a lot of communication and a lot of sleeping. Theres no wiggle room for anything else, but I love it.

You won the competition back in 2012. Did you expect that experience to be so transformative?

It changed my whole life, and it also really taught me a lot about intuition. Before Euphoria I was struggling, compromising back and forth, doing things I wasnt supposed to... With Euphoria, it was the first time I decided to do what I wanted to do. And yes, I was afraid and I was worried that it might not even work, but I needed to go with my gut feeling, my intuition. And my intuition told me that the performance needed to look like it did. I dont know why, but my intuition told me that that song needed to have that siren in the beginning. My intuition also told me that I needed to be barefoot, that it should snow and that youre not supposed to see anything on stage. People said, Its never going to work. But it did.

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Loreen won Eurovision for Sweden in 2012 (Getty Images)

Euphoria pushed the boundaries of what Eurovision music could do in terms of international success after the competition. In recent years, weve seen Maaneskin also go on to fame across the world. Why is the rest of the world catching up to Eurovision now?

I think its because this community stands for certain things, it has certain values that the majority of people resonate with. This is a space where youre accepted, where your differences are appreciated, which is very unique. All of us that belong to this community and those who support the community, we all gather around creativity as well. This is one thing, diversity is another. I think this is the reason why it is such a huge thing. Everybody is included!

What made you want to return to the competition for 2023?

I never imagined that Eurovision was going to be my path again. But when the song was sent to me, just the embryo, the demo, I instantly intuitively felt like Im going to do something with this song. The whole reason why Im doing this again is because I truly, deeply believe that I have something that I can give. So, for me its not about success, its about communication. We are all creators, and we have a purpose. We all have creativity within us, and were supposed to send that out. And now Im here at Eurovision feeling happier than ever, which is crazy because I never thought that I would be here again.

Where did your inspiration for this song come from?

Im in love with Tattoo. I just feel it has a beautiful purpose. With this song, there is a certain energy movement created that people are resonating with. Its beautiful and I get to be a part of it. The process of making Tattoo was pretty simple. Its funny, cause when youre at the right place, it is simple. Ive worked with the songwriters many times... so they know that if they want something really good to happen, they just sit back and relax and let whatever happens, happens. So, I went into the studio and the relationship between me and the song became even stronger. It just flowed. One or two hours later, it was done. And its pretty magical. You know, when you dont let the mind interrupt, you just sing and suddenly you see pictures and everything. Its pretty amazing.

Tattoo is a song about eternal, overpowering love. What love songs have you turned to in emotional times?

There are many of them but the first thing that pops into my head is All is Full of Love by Bjork. Its a beautiful song saying that everything is love, which is the truth! So, whenever I really want to deeply connect with that loving feeling for everything, I turn to that song. Its a very intelligent song.

This years final is taking place in Liverpool, what local culture are you excited to explore?

Im a nature person, so Im always curious to see what the countryside looks like. The question is whether I have time for it but thats at least what Im longing for, to see the countryside of Liverpool.

Loreen performs Tattoo during the semi-final (The Associated Press)

Youre entering the competition as the bookies favourite to win. How tuned in are you to Eurovision gossip? How do you manage that pressure?

I see this space as a safe haven for creators, to fully create and express their true selves. The competition is a play  a beautiful play because it includes people  so I wouldnt want to take that out, to be honest. Its an important part because were rooting for the ones that we love. My pressure, or as I call it, my discipline is to be a servant of creativity and to create something that hopefully is authentic for you guys. And I love that.

How can Eurovision 2023 personally top the euphoria you felt at the 2012 final?

The difference between then and now is now Im more present. Its like Im more one with the people than Ive ever been, you know? Its like I feel everything in the room and its a beautiful feeling. Im also very much aware of the love I feel in my body and sending it out! Whereas when I did it in 2012, everything was new but I had a lot of love but I didnt know how to navigate it. Now I know exactly what Im doing when Im sending it out and also receiving, taking it in.

Liverpool is hosting on behalf of Ukraine this year, who are unable to host due to the war with Russia. As a result, Eurovision 2023 carries a particular importance. Is this something you and your fellow competitors have discussed or you feel backstage?

I havent discussed the support of Ukraine with my fellow colleagues but Ive thought about it myself. Its a beautiful thing that were doing, it says something about all of us. We find our ways to support Ukraine and we do it through this community and through creativity. Its done beautifully, if you ask me, by doing the thing they do best  being warm, inclusive & welcoming. Which I think so far, theyve succeeded brilliantly with.

Whose performances are you most looking forward to seeing? Who have been your favourite Eurovision entries over the years?

All of them! Im rooting for everyone and hope that they also can enjoy this experience while it lasts. But I really like Blanca Paloma from Spain, Alessandra from Norway and Kaarija from Finland. One of my favourite songs from Eurovision is Arcade by Duncan Laurence

If you win in Liverpool, will you celebrate with a Eurovision tattoo?

Trust me, a win wont stop me from getting tattoos  I already have my body covered so why stop now?
Eurovision is a chance to share Ukrainian culture with world, the women said

A group of Ukrainian women planning a Eurovision party for more than 100 refugees say they want the occasion to be a celebration of Ukrainian culture.

The women, who live across Lancashire, will be hosting a screening in Preston of the international song contest.

"Our enemy tried to destroy our culture and our identity," said organiser Viktoriia Murych.

"It is a good opportunity to share with people our culture, our tradition, our flag," added Tania Zelena.

Winners of Eurovision 2022 Kalush Orchestra opened celebrations in Liverpool

Saturday's party at Crossgate Church in Preston will see Ukrainians gather to cheer on their home nation.

"Unfortunately we cannot do this in our own country but thanks to the United Kingdom we can share all of this with the whole world," Ms Zelena said.

"Also music is important for our army, for our guys who are fighting to try and save Ukraine."

The UK is hosting the international song contest on behalf of last year's winners Ukraine.

Eurovision 2023 banner

Anna Manaienkova said she believed the Russian invasion had been an attempt to destroy Ukrainian identity.

"Now more people will see our culture," she said.

"I think now it is impossible to destroy."

Ms Murych said that while the event being held in the UK brought an element of "sadness" for Ukrainians it was the best option for her war-torn nation.

"I am very proud to have Eurovision in the UK because I feel like the UK is a great friend for Ukraine," she said.

"I hope we win again and we will celebrate at home in our country," Ms Zelena added.

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Among the acts to take the Eurovision stage this weekend are the all-female folk band Vesna, who are representing Czechia in this years song contest.

With the semi-finals now done and dusted, the 26 countries to compete for the glass microphone trophy in Liverpool this Saturday (13 May) have been confirmed.

You can see the full line-up and running order for this weekends glitter-strewn event here.

Inspired by their bond as bandmates and women, Vesnas song My Sisters Crown is a celebration of sisterhood, female power, and community.

While these values underpin the groups own sense of family, the lyrics are also intended to resonate more widely and galvanise other marginalised groups who experience violence.

The distinctly feminist approach to the lyrics is consistent with the origins of the bands founding member.

Singer-songwriter Patricia KaAok developed a passion for celebrating Slavic culture and femininity during her musical studies at the Jaroslav JeAek college in Prague.

Vesnas accompanying performance for My Sisters Crown sees the women donning matching pastel pink outfits and floor-grazing braids.

(PA)

Its a slick and simple affair compared to some of the more wild acts they are up against, such as Australian prog-rock group Voyager and Germanys head-bashing metal outfit Lord of the Lost.

With two albums already under their belt, Vesna will be bringing a well-tuned blend of dreamy folk and contemporary pop to the Eurovision stage this weekend.

The Czech Republic may have withdrawn from the competition for 10 years (resuming only in 2015) due to a perceived lack of interest in their countrys performers, but the magnetic presence of Vesna is likely to render this hiatus long forgotten.

This year is also the first time that the country has competed in Eurovision under the name Czechia.

Ahead of this weeks competition, we spoke to Vesna about competing in Liverpool and girl power.

Vesna are representing Czechia (Jeff Spicer/Getty Images)

Hi Vesna! Eurovision 2023 is fast upon us  how are you feeling about competing in Liverpool?

In one way, we feel honoured to represent the Czech Republic in such an important event  we are no longer Vesna, but Czechia. People call you by the name of your country, and with that you also feel the weight of responsibility. We feel like we are in a dream, being able to have all these gigs, all the international fans singing our song and meeting talented and brilliant artists. It is all very surreal.

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You wrote My Sisters Crown specifically to be performed at Eurovision. Where did the inspiration for the song stem from?

As women, we have a bond with each other that is shared not only through music, but also friendship, which feels like sisterhood to us. With our song, we wanted to support all the people that are experiencing a certain type of pressure or restriction on a personal or social level.

We wanted everyone who listens to the song to feel like they own their crown, and nobody can undermine that. Its a song calling for all the underdogs to be strong and supported.

Whats an essential item in your Eurovision rider?

Believe it or not, just an in-ear system and steam iron!

Whos your favourite Eurovision contestant of all time and why?

Ruslana [2004 Ukraine contestant]  her song was a great hit in the Czech Republic while we were growing up, but Manizha [2021 Russia act] is also such a talented artist, and Maneskin [2021 Italian winners] are a brilliant and successful band. Also Mikolas Josef, who came sixth [in 2018], the best result the Czech Republic has ever got at Eurovision. And so many more!
A freight train from Rizhao to Central Asia leaves a container station of Rizhao port in east China's Shandong Province, Sept. 12, 2017. [Photo/Xinhua]



China will take the upcoming China-Central Asia Summit as an opportunity and work with the five Central Asian countries to push economic and trade cooperation to a new level, the country's commerce ministry said Thursday.

Economic and trade cooperation between China and the five Central Asian countries, namely Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, has achieved tangible results since the establishment of diplomatic ties more than 30 years ago, Shu Jueting, spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce, told a press conference.

The country's trade with the five countries reached 70 billion U.S. dollars in 2022 and recorded a year-on-year expansion of 22 percent in the first quarter of this year, Shu said.

The trade structure has also improved over the years. Last year, China's imports of agricultural, energy and mineral products from these countries jumped over 50 percent from a year ago, while its exports of mechanical and electronic products to them increased by 42 percent, according to Shu.

The spokesperson also said that investment and cooperation have benefited all sides. As of the end of March, China's direct investment stock in the five countries stood at over 15 billion dollars.

China has made continued efforts to promote industrial upgrading, connectivity and the well-being of people in these countries, with a batch of cooperation projects launched in fields such as infrastructure, oil and gas exploration, and the digital economy, Shu said.

The China-Central Asia Summit is set to take place in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, on May 18 and 19.
ADM160-MALD-Ukraine.jpg

An image has emerged that strongly suggests the Ukrainian military has received and is now employing U.S.-made ADM-160 Miniature Air-Launched Decoys, or MALDs. All of the variants of the MALD are essentially small cruise missiles used to deceive enemy air defenses, not attack them kinetically. Depending on the exact variant, these decoys can be used to jam enemy radars or otherwise trick their operators into thinking threats are approaching from various directions, in many cases drawing defenders' attention and resources away from actual incoming threats.

#Ukraine: Remains of  AGM-160B MALD decoy missiles were found today after a powerful strike on a Russian target in the city of #Luhansk.



Decoys like this are designed to deceive enemy's air defense systems, and as in this case, to allow a real munition to pass through. pic.twitter.com/IzjGGGk2bH   Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) May 12, 2023

The picture in question, seen in the Tweet above and elsewhere in this story, appeared on social media earlier today and is said to show debris recovered following a Ukrainian strike on the city of Luhansk in the eastern Ukrainian region of the same name. There had already been rumors, which remain unconfirmed, that Ukraine's forces might have carried out that strike using Storm Shadow cruise missiles. The United Kingdom recently announced it was providing these air-launched stealthy cruise missiles to Ukraine. You can read more about those missiles and how they may be used in the conflict in our recent reporting here.

Possible first use of Storm Shadow cruise missiles in Ukraine. A possible plant that was used as reported repair base by Russia was hit in Luhansk city. The target is reportedly out of the range of HIMARS GMLRS munitions. pic.twitter.com/BQcaljZloT  ELINT News (@ELINTNews) May 12, 2023

So far, there does not appear to be independent confirmation of where or when the apparent ADM-160 wreckage was found. However, the image circulating online now shows features and markings clearly consistent with the MALD family.

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via Twitter A picture of MALDs loaded onto a U.S. Air National Guard A-10 Warthog ground attack aircraft. Note the similarities in the sections seen here just behind the nose and the debris said to have been recovered in Luhansk earlier today. Michigan Air National Guard

A large label on its side appears to identify it specifically as an older ADM-160B variant. This was the first version of the MALD to actually enter service following deliveries to the U.S. Air Force in 2009.

A close-up of the ADM-160B label on the debris said to have been recovered in Ukraine's Luhansk region today, at left, alongside the label from a known DATM-160 training variant of the MALD, at right. via Twitter / USAF

The B design, made by Raytheon, is substantially different from the initial A Model from Teledyne Ryan (later Northrop Grumman), the development of which had started in the late 1990s. The B is larger and heavier, and features a more powerful turbojet engine and greater range.

An ADM-160B under the wing of a U.S. Air Force B-52 bomber. This example has the markings written directly on the side, rather than on a label. USAF

The ADM-160B has a stated maximum range of around 500 miles and reportedly has the capability to mimic the radar signatures of various different kinds of aircraft. It is designed to follow a preprogrammed route, which can include loitering over designated areas.

In 2012, the Air Force also began acquiring ADM-160C variants, also known as MALD-Jammers or MALD-Js, which added an active radar jamming capability. Further improved variants of the MALD, which the U.S. Navy has also been acquiring, have since been developed as you can read more about here.

At the time of writing, the U.S. government has not announced any deliveries of MALDs of any kind to Ukraine. Ukrainian officials do not appear to have confirmed this so far, either.

Weve seen those reports, but have nothing to offer on ADM-160Ms, specifically, at this time. Generally speaking, the security assistance we are providing to Ukraine is enabling critical success on the battlefield against the Russian invading force," a Pentagon spokesperson told The War Zone in a statement in response to queries about any MALD deliveries to Ukraine. "For operational security considerations, we do not announce every item provided to Ukraine.

It is worth noting that in December 2022 the Pentagon announced new aid for the Ukrainian armed forces that included what was only described at the time as a "counter air defense capability." That U.S. military assistance package was also a so-called "drawdown," meaning that all the items it contained would come straight from existing U.S. military stocks.

If the Ukrainian military has indeed begun receiving MALDs, this would not be the first time the Pentagon has transferred higher-end weapons and other equipment and not initially disclosed it. The sudden appearance of MALD wreckage would also fit the same general pattern of how it first emerged that the U.S. military was supplying its Ukrainian counterparts with AGM-88 High-speed Anti-Radiation Missiles (HARM) last year, which was eventually confirmed.

The transfer of ADM-160Bs rather than newer MALD variants would also align with prior transfers of older-generation missiles and other munitions from U.S. stocks to Ukraine. Sending older materiel, including items already phased out or being phased out of U.S. service, means lower impacts on the availability of key capabilities to the U.S. military itself and can help reduce potential operational security risks.

It is unclear how Ukraine might be employing ADM-160s. The decoys are, as their name indicates, intended to be air-launched. The work already done to integrate Western munitions like the AGM-88 and the Joint Direct Attack Munition-Extend Range (JDAM-ER) onto Ukraine's Soviet-era combat jets could have helped pave the way for adding MALD to those aircrafts' arsenals.

#Ukraine: Now we can finally take a look at how American  AGM-88 HARM anti-radar missiles are mounted on Ukrainian MiG-29 jets - the missile itself is used with its standard LAU-118/A launcher which is attached to a newly fabricated pylon-adapter, intended specially for AGM-88! pic.twitter.com/Q9IohdkE0N   Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) September 15, 2022

There is a possibility that some kind of ground-launched MALD configuration may have been developed for Ukraine, though this seems less likely to be the case.

Even older MALDs would still be of massive value to Ukraine's armed forces given the substantial air defense capabilities the Russian military has brought to bear. This is especially so with regard to operations over eastern Ukraine, where many Russian surface-to-air missile systems can engage targets deep within territory Kyiv controls.

While MALD could be useful for clearing the way for strikes on targets inside Russia proper, that is highly unlikely. The U.S. government has consistently taken steps to ensure that American-made weapons are not employed in this way for fear of prompting a broader escalatory response from the Russian government. Even Storm Shadow will be limited to strike areas that are considered by most everyone but Russia to belong to Ukraine, including Crimea.

MALDs being prepared for loading onto an aircraft. (USAF)

Though hard details remain limited about how ADM-160s may have been used in relation to today's strike in Luhansk, or in any other instance in Ukraine to date, the decoys would pair well with various other capabilities Ukraine has or is set to receive.

MALDs, for instance, could significantly improve the survivability of higher-end stand-off strike munitions, such as Storm Shadow, which Ukrainian forces may already have in limited numbers. They would do so by giving Russian air defenses far more prominent, and in some cases even more threatening, targets to detect and try to engage than the low-flying and hard to detect Storm Shadow. This type of highly coordinated assault is exactly what MALD was designed for.

They could also help more directly with the destruction of Russian air defenses by stimulating them so that they can be geolocated. Subsequently, weapons like the AGM-88 HARM or even HIMARS-fired guided rockets and JDAM-ERs can be used to destroy them.

#Ukraine: Late last month, Ukrainian forces destroyed a Russian 9A331M TLAR of the Tor-M2 air defense system, possibly with an AGM-88 HARM or HIMARS strike.



via @MyGirlWantsACr1 pic.twitter.com/b17iiOdf70   Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) May 6, 2023

Russian forces have already been observed using various aerial decoys, including older cruise missiles with their warheads removed and balloons with radar reflectors, for the same kinds of reasons.

For Ukraine's military, what the ADM-160 offers might be even more important now as the country gears up for a major offensive that will, by definition, take its forces deeper into Russian-controlled areas. There has already been a notable uptick in strikes on targets in Russian-occupied parts of southern and eastern Ukraine, and in Russia itself, in recent months. This all looks to be part of a coordinated effort to create more favorable conditions for Ukrainian forces. The use of MALDs also gobbles up valuable interceptors which take time and money to replace. They can even be used to provoke a response from certain air defense capabilities in order to try to deplete their stocks.

While these may be earlier-generation MALDs, they are still highly prized weapons that would be absolutely critical to successfully fighting a peer-state conflict in the Pacific, for instance. In the same way, any ADM-160B components the Russians might recover could still present operational security risks, especially if they are passed along to other potential adversaries like China.

The fact that any of them may have been transferred to Ukraine is a new potential indicator of just how aggressive the U.S. and its allies are getting when it comes to supplying Kyiv with high-end arms and their willingness to face the opportunity cost of transferring these weapons in the process.

Finally, if MALDs are being used, it shows how Ukraine is quickly learning to employ standoff munitions in complex, coordinated manners.

Altogether, while there has yet to be firm confirmation that Ukrainian forces now have ADM-160 MALDs, the evidence we have so far fits well with past examples of how similar capabilities have emerged publicly. No matter what, they would certainly fit with the country's dire needs.

UPDATE 4:30 P.M. EST:

Another picture has now emerged, via Russian state media outlet RIA Novosti, showing what looks to be the pop-out wing section from an ADM-160.

Another ADM-160 or the part from the first one pic.twitter.com/8IXCctgwWI  Angry Cossack (@auto_glam) May 12, 2023

Contact the author: joe@thedrive.com
A former Fresno IRS employee who also worked as a private tax preparer was sentenced Thursday for 13 felonies related to identity theft and wire and tax fraud.

Deena Vang Lee received four years and six months in prison and must pay a $191,597 fine, according to a release from the Internal Revenue Service.

Lee was arrested in 2019 and convicted in January on three counts of wire fraud, two counts of aggravated identity theft, five counts of preparing and presenting false and fraudulent returns, and three counts of making and subscribing a false and fraudulent tax return.

The crimes occurred from 2012 through 2016, while Lee was working as a tax preparer.

During the trial, prosecutors argued that Lee submitted to the IRS materially false information that she put on customers tax returns without their knowledge or consent. She also obtained the IDs of multiple people and listed them as child care providers on customers tax returns. Again, without knowledge or consent.

Lee also under-reported her own income in 2013, 2014 and 2015, according to the IRS.

This defendant was familiar with the tax laws and purposefully defrauded the United States, and even after overwhelming evidence was presented to the jury, she continued to deny her conduct, said U.S. Attorney Talbert.

The sentencing shows the seriousness of the Vang Lees conduct, said Darren Lian, the Special Agent in Charge with IRS Criminal Investigations Oakland Field Office.

IRS Criminal Investigation is sworn to protect the tax system, he said in the statement.

That includes uprooting unscrupulous tax return preparers and bad actors from within the agency.
SYDNEY (AP)  Former National Rugby League star Jarryd Hayne is expected to remain in jail until at least 2025 after being found guilty on two counts of sexual intercourse without consent.

Hayne denied sexually assaulting a woman in her Newcastle home, north of Sydney, in 2018 and faced three trials on the charges.

On Friday, he was jailed for a total of four years and nine months with a non-parole period of three years. With time already served, he will be eligible for parole in May 2025.

The 35-year-old Hayne had a long career in the NRL between 2006 and 2018, mostly playing for Parramatta, and represented Australia and Fiji at international level. He also had a short stint with the NFLs San Francisco 49ers in 2015 and made an unsuccessful bid to play for Fiji in the Olympic debut of Rugby Sevens in 2016.

Haynes first trial in 2020 ended when the jury was discharged after failing to deliver a majority verdict. He was convicted at the second trial, in 2021, and served nine months of a sentence of five years and nine months before he successfully appealed and was released ahead of a third trial.

He was found guilty last month in the New South Wales state District Court and released on bail, pending sentencing, for 10 days before the Supreme Court sent him to jail on April 14.

In sentencing Friday, Judge Graham Turnbull said Hayne overwhelmed the woman in an inherently unequal contest . . . to achieve some sexual gratification.

His preparedness to utilize ultimately the complainant as some kind of sexual object is a matter of significance in the manner in which he went about committing this offense," Turnbull said.

Haynes sentence was backdated to May 7, 2022 due to previous time in custody and other factors the judge considered.

Appearing via a video link, Hayne said "say no more before he was taken off screen once the sentence was announced.

___

More AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
EXETER  Parks and Recreation Director Greg Bisson was recently honored with this years Wink Tapply Professional Award.

The Select Board presented Bisson with his award at its recent meeting, praising him as the embodiment of the meaning of the award and the person for whom its named. The award, said Select Board Chairman Niko Papakonstantis, is the highest honor the New Hampshire Recreation Professional Association can bestow, and no one deserves it more than Bisson.

Parks and Recreation Director Greg Bisson was recently honored with this years Wink Tapply Professional Award.

Papakonstantis said anyone in town with children knows Bissons dedication and work ethic, and no one who works harder, more passionately, or who loves Exeter more than Bisson.

Theres no stronger advocate for our kids, for our families, but it goes beyond that, Papakonstantis said. Greg is also a strong advocate for our senior (citizens) and for just about everyone in town who wants to enjoy our parks and seek out recreation.

Humbly accepting the award, Bisson reminded the board that hes the second Exeter Recreation Department director to receive the Tapply Award honor.

Doug Dicey won it in 1984, Bisson said.

They sell a little bit of everything: New England Mercantile to add second shop in Exeter

According to Papakonstantis, the Tapply award is prestigious because of the example Wink Tapply set for recreation professionals. Wink Tapply launched the field of community recreation in the 1940s as the recreation director in the town of Bristol.

He went on to become one of the founders of the New Hampshire Office of Community Recreational Services, which became the N.H. Parks and Recreation Professional Association, and served as its president for years, according to Papakonstantis.

Major development: C/A Design gains approval to build new $35M headquarters in Exeter

Tapplys dedication to his field was so well known both in the Granite State and beyond, his career expanded to speaking at national events, Papakonstantis said, where hed promote his belief that an active and creative parks and recreation environment plays an important role in building a vibrant community as a whole.

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(Bisson) is someone who has exhibited the high character values, and commitment to recreation and community as Tapply, Papakonstantis said. As anyone who has worked with Gregg over the 20 years hes worked here knows, hes the consummate professional.

Select Board member Nancy Belanger offered her congratulations, extending her thanks to Bissons wife and daughters, who support him and his long, odd hours.

Its a family effort, she said.

To which Bisson said he couldnt do his job without their support.

Select Board member Dan Chartrand recalled the day Town Manager Russ Dean told him he wanted to appoint Bisson director of his department because hes a superstar.

Greg is the fulfillment of that prediction, Chartrand said. Thank you for your dedication to this town.

Jailhouse Spring is not drying up: Here's why the water source in Exeter is not always flowing

Dean also offered his congratulation, adding he hopes Exeter has the benefit of Bisson in his position for many more years.

To that, Bisson smiled.

Im not going anywhere, he said.

Select Board member Molly Cowan, the board representative to Parks and Recreation, said its always a pleasure to work with Bisson in that role, and as the mother of young children who take part in Rec programs.

I always see you there and you know everybodys name, Cowan said. It means the world to me as a parent. Im glad youre not going anywhere soon. Im going to hold you to that.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Exeters Greg Bisson honored with top NH Parks and Recreation award
In this episode of the Explore Oregon Podcast, host Zach Urness and outdoors intern Charles Gearing talk about the glories of the Crooked River.

They talk about why it's one of the state's best fly-fishing streams while also highlighting the area's hiking, camping, boating and even bungee jumping.

On the subject of fly-fishing, Gearing interviews Jeff Perin of the Fly Fisher's Place in Sisters for a full breakdown on the best flies, what to target and where to fish.

Never miss an episode: Listen to the episode at statesmanjournal.com/outdoors/explore and find us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, SoundCloud or Amazon Music and subscribe on your platform of choice to get future episodes.

Find every episode: Find all 99 episodes of the Explore Oregon Podcast online

Zach Urness has been an outdoors reporter in Oregon for 15 years and is host of the Explore Oregon Podcast. Urness is the author of Best Hikes with Kids: Oregon and Hiking Southern Oregon. He can be reached at zurness@StatesmanJournal.com or 503-399-6801. Find him on Twitter at @ZachsORoutdoors.

This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Crooked River offers sublime fly-fishing, camping and hiking
CHICAGO  The city here is so overwhelmed by an influx of migrants that it has declared a state of emergency. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has done the same. Philadelphia is bracing for a new stream of buses carrying migrants. And New York Mayor Eric Adams suspended the citys right-to-shelter law.

The migrant crisis fueled by the end of the Covid-era immigration restrictions known as Title 42 isn't hitting just border towns  it extends more than 1,000 miles from the countrys southern border.

And it all has the eyes of the nation focused squarely on the White House as the policy ends Thursday night.

The left and right flanks of the immigration debate, who see eye to eye on nothing else, agree that President Joe Biden has mismanaged the crisis. Not only does it touch on the lightning-rod issue of immigration, but it also gets at the issue of Bidens competence, with critics saying it recalls the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Its a big problem for Biden. Forget about states like New York and Illinois, where hell win. Theres a sense that things are out of control. Throw crime on top of it and you have a recipe for a computable disaster, said Hank Sheinkopf, a New York City Democratic strategist. People hate when things are out of control. No matter who is the president, when things are out of control, the president tends to lose.

The impact extends deep into the states, a phenomenon worsened by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. Abbott has said his front-line border towns are bursting at the seams, and he is sending migrants on buses  which he began unannounced last fall  to Northern cities that have deemed themselves sanctuary cities.

Its a political no-win situation for the White House, which is stuck between its immigration activist allies on one side  who famously dubbed former President Barack Obama the deporter-in-chief  and conservatives desire for a crackdown as the migrant tent camps rise far from the border. Biden has taken some steps to prepare for a steep increase in asylum applications, including setting up processing centers in Guatemala and Colombia  before migrants reach the U.S.-Mexico border.

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Title 8, the immigration law enforced before the coronavirus pandemic, will go into effect once Title 42 is lifted. Title 8 allows immigrants to apply for ways to enter the U.S. legally and levies penalties for attempted illegal border crossings.

Still, advocates complain housing crises are building to a climax, social service agencies are stretched to their limits, city and state budgets are getting blown up, and local officials are grappling with pushback from their constituencies.

Everybody is at capacity, said Maria Del Rosario Salgado, a Justice Department-accredited representative at the Centro Romero legal assistance fund in Chicago. Theres not sufficient food. Some of our staff is donating time, cooking batches of rice or beans. Some of them are telling us they havent had one meal, they dont have blankets or pillows.  The police stations are reaching out to us. We have nowhere to send them, because the shelters are out of space.

New York City is so stretched for housing it has considered shutting down streets and erecting temporary housing to take in potentially hundreds of migrants a day.

The national government has turned its back on New York City, Adams said in April. The president and the White House have failed New York City on this issue.

New York City social service advocates say theyre running out of space to house the migrants, whose impact is being felt in all kinds of ways. For example, Win, an organization that helps provide family shelter and housing in the city, has had such a rapid increase of the number of people in its shelters  including 700 children alone  that it has had to buy five more refrigerators since the fall. Christine Quinn, WINs president and CEO, said theres no excuse for the flat-footed nature of the response now, given that the deadline Thursday night had been looming.

We really should have had comprehensive, all-hands-on-deck plans developed and implemented  and that is really lacking, Quinn said.

The White House argues that Republicans have tried to use immigration in political attacks in every recent election without much success.

President Biden is standing up for mainstream values by delivering the most border security resources of all-time and treating migrants with dignity rather than tearing families apart," White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said in an email. "Meanwhile congressional Republicans passed an extreme budget to fire thousands of Border Patrol agents and hamstring our ability to block fentanyl from entering the country.

"Congressional Republicans actions discredit their flailing rhetoric; the cynical message strategy theyre bragging about has done nothing but crash into reality for the last three consecutive election cycles," Bates added.

The strain is being felt as far away from the southern border as Maine, which shares a 600-mile frontier with Canada. More than 1,000 migrants have arrived in Portland since the start of the year, and officials say theyre already at capacity.

We know that the city of Portland and surrounding communities are struggling to help so many people, Martha Stein, the executive director of the nonprofit group Hope Acts, told WGME-TV of Portland. And this is playing out all over the country.

Title 42 allowed the Border Patrol to quickly expel asylum-seekers, without providing them access to the process to which would-be refugees are entitled to under normal circumstances.

The policy was used more than 2.8 million times to turn away migrants, according to Border Patrol data, creating a massive backlog that officials say could now result in up to 13,000 migrants a day seeking asylum at the border.

Democrats blasted former President Donald Trump when he invoked Title 42 during Covid, but Democratic lawmakers arent celebrating now that its finally going away.

Progressive Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., said Title 42 is a nativist effort to stop the entry of migrants fleeing persecution and violence from their legal right and not a lawful border policy. But he said in a statement Thursday, While the Biden administration has given its best effort to prepare for the lifting of Title 42, its clear theyve fallen short.

Moderate Democratic Rep. Colin Allred of Texas, who just launched a high-profile campaign against Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, used the same language to say Biden has fallen short on getting Texas border communities the support they need."

Chuck Rocha, a top Latino Democratic strategist, blamed Republicans for sitting back with their arms crossed instead of passing legislation to help, but he said theyre trying to gin up their base and scare swing voters.

The Republicans are putting together a messaging war thats not targeted to Latino voters. Theyre trying to scare white suburban voters in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan by saying that there are these people  bad people in their opinion, coming to this country to do bad things  and theyre coming to your neighborhood, Rocha said.

Rocha said he didnt think Republicans would succeed in the long run, although he acknowledged that in the first few days, because there is a backlog, there will be visuals that will not be good for anyone to see.

And Rocha said immigration activists might give Biden a bit more leash thanks in part to his recent selection of Julie Chavez Rodriguez, the granddaughter of famed farmworker organizer Cesar Chavez, to run his re-election campaign.

Its hard for me to see immigration activists personally going against this campaign in the same way when you have Julie Chavez as its face, Rocha said.

But Quinn, of Win in New York City, said both short-term and long-term solutions have to come into view  and quickly.

People think that theyre going to go to sleep and were going to wake up and everyones just going to be gone, she said. Its not going to work that way. These are people who fled through raging waters to get to anywhere that wasnt their country.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
MANAN VATSYAYANA

Meta has apologized for a glitch that Facebook users said sent automatic friend requests to any profile they viewed.

We fixed a bug related to a recent app update that caused some Facebook friend requests to be sent mistakenly, a spokesperson for Meta told The Daily Beast Friday. Weve stopped this from happening and we apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Numerous Facebook users took to social media early on Friday to complain about the massive privacy breach, which some branded the end of stalking.

So facebook now automatically sends friend request when you see someones profile. We did the test with random people and if you check your friend request sent they appear there #Facebook pic.twitter.com/vN7r8T1uw8  MONTSE (Taylors Version) (@beachybones) May 12, 2023

facebook stalking and somehow a friend request was sent. thats it guys. see u in another life  madds 2.0 (@mvddssvcks) May 12, 2023

Facebook letting your stalkers be known today! one user posted on the platform, while another called it the funniest thing Facebook has ever done.

Others were less gleeful about the apparent technical issue, calling it awkward and embarrassing.

Some users said Facebook sent a request to a person they were trying to block. Surely this is a privacy issue! another user complained.

A number of Facebook users said they had deactivated their accounts.

FACEBOOK HAS A GLITCH WHERE EVERY PERSON I STALK AUTOMATICALLY SENDS THEM A FRIEND REQUEST WTF  soleus (@solealline) May 12, 2023

is anyone elses facebook sending automatic friend request when they click on a profile?? it was the wrong night to go through my year book & stalk   tayla  (@greatdynasty13) May 12, 2023

i have no idea what's going on but i was JUST gonna stalk someone's profile on facebook and it automatically sends a friend request!@!$?!@?@??????? LEAVE ME ALONE I DON'T WANNA ADD THESE PEOPLE?!@?#?  kei (@keiikisz) May 12, 2023

This latest bug comes as Facebooks parent company Meta is in the midst of mass layoffs, which have seen the company cut at least 13 percent of its staff, firing more than 11,000 people.

Last month, a glitch in Facebook ads overcharged customers and forced the company to briefly stop all advertising.

In November, 2022, users reported seeing an uptick in people commenting on celebrity pages in their feed, even if they did not follow the commenter or the celebrities. At the time, Facebook described it as trouble caused by a configuration change.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Several major tech companies were hit with a massive wrongful death lawsuit over last years racist grocery store massacre in Buffalo, New York, for allegedly feeding the convicted shooter racist, antisemitic, and white supremacist propaganda.

The 144-page suit from survivor Latisha Rogers and three victims families was filed in New York state court on Friday. The complaint names Facebook parent company Meta, Twitch owner Amazon, Google parent Alphabet  which owns YouTube  and Snapchat owner Snap, as well as Discord, Reddit and hate-filled website 4Chan. Also named are a body armor manufacturer, a firearms store, a gun accessories manufacturer and the shooters parents.

The shooter, Payton Gendron, killed 10 Black people and wounded three others at a Tops grocery store in May of last year. He pleaded guilty to charges including domestic terrorism motivated by hate in November, and was sentenced to life without parole in February.

Gendron notably penned a racist manifesto prior to the shooting in which he touted the white supremacist great replacement conspiracy theory, which had been pushed into the mainstream by then-Fox News personality Tucker Carlson, and said he chose the store for the shooting because it was in a predominantly Black community.

Community members pay respects outside the Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo, New York, in July 2022.

Community members pay respects outside the Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo, New York, in July 2022.

Buffalo civil attorney John Elmore filed the complaint on behalf of the victims families along with the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence and the Social Media Victims Law Center.

Matthew Bergman, founding attorney of the Social Media Victims Law Center, said in a statement that Gendron was motivated to commit his heinous crime by racist, antisemitic, and white supremacist propaganda fed to him by social media companies.

These posts led him down a rabbit hole of increasingly radical sites, where he was indoctrinated in white supremacist replacement theory and violent accelerationism, Bergman added. This horrible crime was neither an accident nor coincidence, but rather the foreseeable result of social media companies intentional decision to maximize user engagement over public safety.

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The three victims whose families filed the suit are Andre Mackneil, a 53-year-old father of five who was buying a birthday cake for his 3-year-old sons birthday party when he was killed; Katherine Kat Massey, 72, a retired teacher; and Heyward Patterson, 67, a deacon at State Tabernacle Church of God and a retired security guard.

The families suit comes a day after New York Attorney General Letitia James separately sued the gun accessories manufacturer, Mean Arms, for its sale to the shooter of a magazine with an easily removable lock that was used in the crime, according to a press release.

Fridays filing arrives two days before the one-year anniversary of the massacre.

During a press conference Friday morning, family members of victims took turns speaking about the impact of the shooting and the responsibility that falls on social media companies. Barbara Massey-Mapps, sister of Kat Massey, said simply that this week has sucked.

Heartshattering. Leandra Elliot the daughter of Andre Mackneil, will experience her 1st Mothers Day without her father.



She found out she was pregnant when she was burying her father. @WGRZpic.twitter.com/mvsDVYLzsL  Robert Hackford (@Robert_Hackford) May 12, 2023

The lawsuit argues that Gendron wasnt raised by a racist family and didnt live in a radically polarized community, but that he was exposed to racist, antisemitic and violence-promoting material that caused his radicalization [and] motivated him to commit racial violence.

Massey-Mapps told ABC News that she hopes something will come out of the lawsuit.

Every day or every few days, all you hear about is a mass shooting, Massey-Mapps told ABC. Youve got to start somewhere, in order for them to get the message. These big companies only know one thing, money. So, youve got to hurt them. How many people do you want to see dead?

Read the lawsuit below:

Related...
By Daina Beth Solomon

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (Reuters) - Oriana Silva, a 30-year-old Venezuelan mother of two, was so determined to make it to the United States that she entered illegally and was expelled back to Mexico five times in seven months. Now, she is trying another way she hopes will be easier: the U.S. asylum app.

As U.S. COVID-era border restrictions give way to strict new asylum rules on Friday, she and other migrants in Mexico have opted to forgo unlawful crossings and instead heed the Biden administration's calls to request asylum via mobile app.

"It's much better," Silva said on Thursday at the border, scrolling through a WhatsApp chat with tips about the app known as CBP One. "We're already here, we're already one step away."

Silva is in Ciudad Juarez, one of the biggest Mexican border cities, where fear of the tougher U.S. rules led tens of thousands of people to scramble to enter the United States in the past few days before Title 42 COVID policy expired.

Under the COVID-era order, U.S. officials could immediately expel migrants back to Mexico, blocking them from requesting asylum. The new rules bar migrants from re-entering the country for five years if they are caught crossing illegally.

The recent rush has left U.S. authorities overwhelmed and increased the number of migrants being held by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to 28,000 - far beyond stated capacity and at apparent record levels.

But in Ciudad Juarez the scene is now one of relative calm.

After months of struggling to house the constant arrivals of migrants, many shelters in Ciudad Juarez - which lies opposite El Paso, Texas - are now half empty.

"They've left the shelters, they've left the streets," said Enrique Valenzuela, a Chihuahua state official who runs a migrant services center, noting that many had entered the United States.

"The pressure in Juarez has decreased a bit."

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That could be good news for the Biden Administration which has worked hard to get the message out that the ending of Title 42 does not mean the border is open, and that migrants need to use the app rather than cross illegally.

It is unclear how widely the views of Silva, and the other nine migrants Reuters talked to about the app, are shared among those hoping to reach the United States.

A spike in the number of migrants crossing the Darien gap linking Panama with Colombia in April and early May suggests many more people will be arriving at the border in the coming weeks and months.

Silva, who left her daughters aged 4 and 10 with their grandmother in Venezuela, said she remains determined to make it.

Silva said she got updates on the shifts in U.S. migration policy via Instagram, including from a Venezuelan business adviser who had just posted a news item in English from El Paso.

Alongside her, two young men from Venezuela said they were also going to seek asylum appointments on the CBP One app.

The app has not been without problems.

Juan Angel Pavon, 52, another Venezuelan, said he has been trying to get a CBP One appointment for three months.

In the meantime, smugglers told him they could quickly bring him and his two daughters, 12 and 14, into the United States, he said. But he was determined to stick at it, and not take the risk.

"We can fall victim to any rumor," he said, seated in a tent in a small migrant encampment near the border. He observed that the latest information circulating via word-of-mouth was that CBP One would soon start offering more appointment slots.

"God willing, that happens. It would be a great solution for this out-of-control situation migrants are going through."

(Reporting by Daina Beth Solomon; Editing by Dave Graham and Aurora Ellis)
(Reuters) - Zealand Pharma and partner Boehringer Ingelheim on Wednesday announced positive trial data for their weight-loss treatment and joined the race for a share of a global obesity drug market that is expected to touch $100 billion within a decade.

More than half a dozen companies are developing weight-loss therapies similar to Novo Nordisk's Wegovy, with Eli Lilly and Co's tirzepatide widely expected to be the next to hit the market.

The following is a list of companies targeting the next big blockbuster opportunity:

NOVO NORDISK

Novo Nordisk's weekly injection Wegovy was approved in 2021. It works by mimicking a hormone called glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) that triggers the feeling of fullness in the body after eating.

The company also had an older product Saxenda, approved in 2014, but Wegovy is considered safer and more effective.

Novo said last week it would have to halve the supply of starter doses of Wegovy in the U.S. to cope with high demand.

ELI LILLY

Eli Lilly said last month its diabetes treatment Mounjaro helped people with type 2 diabetes who were also obese or overweight to lose nearly 16% of their body weight in a large trial.

The drug, also known as tirzepatide, is expected to receive a U.S. approval for weight loss later this year.

Tirzepatide activates the body's receptors for gastric inhibitory polypeptide (GIP) and GLP-1, which are natural hormones and found in areas of the brain important for appetite regulation.

PFIZER

Pfizer Inc and Japanese partner Sosei Heptares' experimental oral GLP-1 drug, PF-07081532, is being tested in a mid-stage trial to treat type 2 diabetes and obesity.

The company said it plans to enroll some patients in its late-stage trial who have already used Wegovy or Mounjaro to show they can effectively switch to Pfizer's oral alternative.

AMGEN

Amgen Inc's experimental obesity drug, AMG133, showed promising durability trends in an early-stage trial late last year.

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The drug candidate showed mean weight loss of 14.5% after 12 weeks of treatment at the highest monthly dose. It has a dual mechanism which targets GLP-1 and GIP.

The company said it plans a larger mid-stage study this year.

ALTIMMUNE

Altimmune Inc in March said its experimental obesity drug, pemvidutide, helped reduce weight by over 10% on average in a mid-stage trial.

However, the drug candidate also showed safety concerns with patients experiencing nausea and vomiting of mild and moderate severity.

Pemvidutide is a dual action drug that targets GLP-1 and also imitates another gut hormone called glucagon, which helps burn more fat when exercising and prevents the harmful build-up of fat in the liver.

VIKING THERAPEUTICS

Viking Therapeutics Inc's experimental obesity drug, VK2735, showed up to 6% reduction in mean weight in an early-stage study.

The company plans to test higher doses of the drug over a longer treatment window in a mid-stage trial and expects results from an early-stage extension study to evaluate oral doses by the middle of the year.

VK2735 is also a dual action drug that targets both GLP-1 and GIP receptors.

ZEALAND PHARMA

Denmark's Zealand Pharma and Boehringer Ingelheim's experimental obesity treatment achieved up to 14.9% weight loss in a mid-stage trial on Wednesday.

The drug candidate, BI 456906, also targets GLP-1 and GIP receptors.

OPKO HEALTHOpko Health has completed a mid-stage trial of its obesity drug, pegapamodutide, that it expects will have fewer side effects. The current GLP-1 drugs can cause nausea and vomiting.

China's LeaderMed has agreed to develop and sell Opko's compound in the country. The company is also in talks with larger drugmakers in Western countries for a partnership.

(Reporting by Mariam Sunny and Pratik Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)
You are here: Business

Visitors look at a BYD Dolphin during the 44th Bangkok International Motor Show in Bangkok, Thailand, March 22, 2023. [Photo/Xinhua]



China's auto sales soared 82.7 percent year on year to about 2.16 million units in April, data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers showed Thursday.

Auto sales reached about 8.24 million units in the first four months, up 7.1 percent from the same period a year ago.

In April, sales of passenger vehicles rose 87.7 percent year on year to 1.81 million units.

The association attributed the significant yearly increase in auto sales to a low base in April 2022, adding that the steady rebound of the Chinese economy is conducive to further bolstering the demand for automobiles in the country.

New energy vehicles (NEVs) sustained a robust growth momentum last month. Sales of NEVs soared over 110 percent year on year to 636,000 units, with the NEV market share reaching 29.5 percent.

Another bright spot was the rapid growth of auto exports. In April, the country's automakers exported 376,000 units of vehicles, soaring 170 percent year on year. On a monthly basis, auto exports went up by 3.3 percent.

The association has, however, called for vigilance on challenges facing the auto sector, such as relatively weak market demand, carmakers' operation pressure and mounting external uncertainties.

More should be done to further facilitate the implementation of policies on stabilizing and expanding auto consumption, tap the potential of auto purchase, and promote the steady expansion of the auto market, the association added.
(Reuters) -Voting has opened in Turkey in an election where President Tayyip Erdogan faces the biggest political challenge of his two-decade rule.

Here is a guide to the election, the presidential candidates, the key issues, and the alliances vying for power:

THE ELECTION

Turks will be electing both a president and parliament for a five-year term.

To win the presidency in the first round, a candidate must obtain more than 50% of ballots cast. If no candidate achieves this, a May 28 runoff will be held between the two leading candidates, set to be Erdogan and opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu.

A referendum in 2017 narrowly approved Erdogan's move to broaden the powers of the presidency, making the president head of government and abolishing the post of prime minister.

As president, Erdogan sets policy on Turkey's economic, security, domestic and international affairs.

Voters will also elect 600 members of parliament, chosen by party-list proportional representation in 87 regions.

POLLING

More than 64 million Turks are eligible to vote at nearly 192,000 polling stations, including more than 6 million first-time voters. There are 3.4 million voters overseas, who completed voting by May 9.

Polls opened at 0800 a.m. (0500 GMT) and close at 0500 p.m. (1400 GMT) on May 14.

Turnout in Turkish elections is generally high. In 2018, nearly 87% of eligible voters cast ballots.

The sale of alcohol is banned on the day of the election.

RESULTS

Under election law, news, forecasts and commentaries about the vote are banned until 6 pm (1300 GMT).

Media are only free to report on election results from 9 pm (1800 GMT), which will roll in from across Turkey. Election authorities may allow media to report on results earlier.

By late on Sunday there could be a clear indication of the presidential election result.

THE CANDIDATES:

PRESIDENT TAYYIP ERDOGAN

More than 20 years after Erdogan and his AK Party (AKP) came to power, he hopes to extend his tenure as modern Turkey's longest serving ruler. He won in the first round in 2018 with 52.6% of the vote.

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Polls currently show support roughly around 44-45%.

KEMAL KILICDAROGLU

Kilicdaroglu is the joint presidential candidate of the six-party main opposition alliance. He is chairman of the Republican People's Party (CHP), which was established by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk - the founder of modern Turkey.

Polls show his support is near the critical 50% threshold.

SINAN OGAN

Ogan was a former lawmaker with the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), an ally of Erdogan's AK Party.

Polls currently show him lagging far behind.

MUHARREM INCE

Ince announced on Thursday that he was withdrawing from the presidential race, but his name remains on the ballot paper and people could still vote for him.

POLITICAL ALLIANCES

Turkey has many political parties which have coalesced into several electoral alliances.

The main ones are:

THE PEOPLE'S ALLIANCE

The People's Alliance was formed ahead of the 2018 election by Erdogan's AKP and the MHP, and won both the presidential and parliamentary votes.

Since then, it has been joined by the New Welfare Party of Fatih Erbakan, the son of Erdogan's mentor Necmettin Erbakan, as well as the right-wing Great Unity Party.

THE NATION ALLIANCE

The main opposition bloc, the Nation Alliance, backs Kilicdaroglu for president. Formed ahead of the 2018 election, it initially comprised the CHP, the center-right IYI Party, the Islamist Felicity (Saadet) Party and the Democrat Party (DP).

In 2019 municipal elections it defeated AKP mayoral candidates in Ankara and Istanbul.

Two parties founded by former Erdogan allies later joined : the Deva (Remedy) Party formed by Ali Babacan, and the Future Party of Ahmet Davutoglu, a former prime minister.

THE LABOUR AND FREEDOM ALLIANCE

This alliance is led by the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), currently parliament's third biggest and seen as a potential kingmaker in the election.

The HDP is not fielding a presidential candidate and has backed Kilicdaroglu.

The HDP's cooperation with the opposition in the 2019 local elections helped defeat the AKP in major cities.

The Workers Party of Turkey (TIP) joined the alliance after becoming a vocal opposition figure after the Feb. 6 earthquakes.

The alliance also includes the Green Left Party (YSP), under whose banner HDP candidates will run to circumvent its potential closure due to a lawsuit.

WHAT IS AT STAKE?

The vote will decide not only who leads Turkey, a NATO-member country of 85 million, but also how it is governed, where its economy is headed amid a deep cost of living crisis, and the shape of its foreign policy.

Erdogan's critics say his government has muzzled dissent, eroded rights and brought the judicial system under its sway, a charge denied by officials.

Turkey's economy is also in focus. Economists say Erdogan's calls for low interest rates sent inflation soaring to 85% last year, and the lira slumping to one tenth of its value against the dollar over the last decade. Kilicdaroglu has pledged to return to more orthodox economic policy and to restore independence of the Turkish central bank.

On foreign affairs, under Erdogan, Turkey has flexed military power in the Middle East and beyond, forged closer ties with Russia, and seen relations with the European Union and United States become increasingly strained.

Turkey and the United Nations also brokered a deal between Moscow and Kyiv for Ukrainian wheat exports and are attempting to extend it.

(Reporting by Azra Ceylan and Canan Sevgili; Editing by Tom Perry, Alexandra Hudson)
Montenegrin police officers escort an individual who is believed to be one of the most wanted fugitives, South Korean citizen, Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon in Montenegro's capital Podgorica, Friday, March 24, 2023.



Do Kwon was arrested two months ago for allegedly trying to fly to Dubai with a forged passport. He was allowed a limited release on bail set at $436,000.

Former Terraform Labs CEO Do Kwon, alongside his compatriot and former chief financial officer Han Chong-joon have been on the run from international police for months. They were arrested in Montenegro for allegedly holding two fake passports. None of that was enough to stop the Montenegrin court from offering the pair release on bail for around $436,000. Now time will tell if the failed crypto founder, known for flights of fancy as well as recent international flights, actually stays put.

According to a release from the Podgorica basic court, where the ex-Terra execs are being held, the Montenegrin court granted bail for Kwon and Chong-joon individually on Friday. The two claimed they had property worth several million in their home country of South Korea, and that the bail would be posted by their wives. The court also said it needed time to verify the authenticity of the falsified passports.

Read more

Kwons attorney Branko Andjelic told the court Thursday the pair could stay at his girlfriends apartment in the country. The two former Terra execs are now barred from leaving that apartment. According to the Podgorica basic court, that travel limitation is a substitute for custody by a considerable extent. The court said based on the alleged crypto crooks personal and family circumstances their property status, as well as the property status of the persons who provide bail, the $436,000 bail is enough to keep them from running again.

Montenegrin prosecutors had objected to their release, saying the pair were an obvious flight risk who had zero interest in staying in the country. The plaintiff still has three days to appeal.

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The bail could be a bare fraction of the pairs total wealth. Kwon stated he owns property in South Korea worth about $3.2 million, though all his assets in the country have been long-frozen by Korean authorities. Instead, the Securities and Exchange Commission has alleged Kwon has hid thousands of bitcoin currently worth well over $200 million in a Swiss bank account.

The bitcoin baddies were arrested back in March for allegedly trying to flee to Dubai while holding forged Costa Rican and Belgian Passports. Kwon in particular is wanted by both the U.S. and South Korea on charges of fraud for his role in the $40 billion crypto blowout in May of last year. Montenegrin authorities have mentioned they may hand off Kwon to foreign police once they finish with this current trial. That is, if the manyou know, the one both Korean and U.S. prosecutors claim lied to thousands of investors across the worldactually keeps his word.

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Volunteers pray before handing out food at the Utah Food Bank mobile pantry at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Cannon Stake Center in Salt Lake City on June 9, 2021. | Laura Seitz, Deseret News

Micahs Way ministry in Santa Ana, California, believes God calls Christians to feed and serve the poor and hungry.

They believe it so strongly that theyve filed a federal lawsuit over the citys efforts to limit where and how they do this work.

The lawsuit focuses on a resource center run by Micahs Way in Santa Anas professional district. The Christian group uses the site to help members of the homeless community and low-income residents with problems related to identification documents and mail. Recipients of these services are also often offered a snack and hot drink.

Related

City officials argue that Micahs Way is violating Santa Anas zoning code by providing food in the professional district. They say the ministry is misusing its building and that food service is not core to its religious mission.

Micahs Way has been using its administrative office to distribute food in an area where this activity isnt permitted, city spokesman Paul Eakins said in a statement to USA Today. This has impacted the adjacent residential neighborhood, resulting in multiple complaints.

But Micahs Way argues that the city is unlawfully interfering with religious exercise and unfairly targeting a Christian group. Officials havent cracked down on businesses in the same neighborhood that provide clients with coffee or snacks, said Ed Connor, an attorney for the ministry, to USA Today.

Why arent you going after everybody that violates the zoning code because theyre handing out food? he said.

The federal government gets involved

On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Justice got involved in the case by filing a statement of interest in support of Micahs Way. Officials wrote that feeding the hungry likely represented a form of protected religious exercise under the law.

Many faith-based organizations across the country are on the front lines serving the needs of people experiencing homelessness. The Justice Department is committed to enforcing federal civil rights laws to ensure that all religious groups can freely exercise their religious beliefs, said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Departments Civil Rights Division in a press release.

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The Justice Departments statement of interest highlighted protections offered to faith groups under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. The law empowers prisoners to seek out reasonable religious accommodations and prevents city officials from using zoning laws to interfere with religious activity, among other things.

The Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act matters in the Santa Ana case because city officials cited zoning rules to justify their actions.

The city is threatening fines, saying Micahs Way is violating zoning rules by handing out food and drink in a professional district, USA Today reported.

The homelessness crisis and religion

Although unique, the legal battle in Santa Ana has much in common with a few other recent conflicts.

For example, a church in Oregon sued its city council last year after government officials moved to limit the number of free meals the congregation could serve in a week.

The lawsuit claimed newly imposed restrictions on benevolent meal service interfered with the churchs ability to live out its religious beliefs.

When nearly every other church in the area suspended their free-meal services during the pandemic, St. Timothys expanded its program and provided coronavirus testing and hosted vaccine clinics, The Washington Post reported in February 2022.

That article, as well as this weeks coverage of the situation in Santa Ana, highlighted increasingly contentious debates over religions role in efforts to resolve Americas homelessness crisis.

Government officials often encourage religious institutions to help with the provision of social services, but then refuse to offer support if and when residents complain about homeless men and women spending more of their days near those institutions, according to recent news reports.

In general, cities are sending mixed messages about private efforts to reduce homelessness, USA Today reported.

In Arizona, a woman was arrested (last year) for feeding homeless people without a proper permit, the article said.

The USA Today article noted that the California lawsuit is still in its early stages. The U.S. District Court for the Central District of California is currently considering Santa Anas motion to dismiss the case.
A student is recovering after a freak accident on the University of Georgias campus, school officials say.

Mia Wei Corte, 20, was seriously injured by a falling tree Tuesday, May 9, a university spokesperson told McClatchy News in a statement. It happened as a sudden and intense storm rolled through the Athens campus, toppling the tree.

High winds reached 64 mph, uprooting a tree on East Campus at Field Street, Greg Trevor, UGAs associate vice president, said in the statement. The uprooted tree struck Ms. Corte, causing serious injuries.

She suffered severe injuries to her head and body, the Athens Banner-Herald and WAGA reported. She was taken to a hospital and remained in critical condition as of May 12.

Our thoughts are with Mia Wei Corte and her family, and we wish her a speedy recovery, Trevor said.

Cortes family described her as a real fighter and resilient woman, according to WAGA. They said she just wrapped up her sophomore year and has dreams of becoming an audiologist.

She was under the tree for approximately 15 to 20 minutes before they could get everything off of her and out, Cortes mom, Rebecca Corte, told the station.

Multiple witnesses pitched in to safely lift the tree off of Corte as authorities responded to the scene, according to a police incident report. Officers said she lost consciousness at least three more times and complained of head and neck pain when she came to.

Since the accident, UGAs Student Care and Outreach team has offered support to the student and her family, a spokesperson said. The universitys president and other leadership have also visited Corte at the hospital.

Athens is about 70 miles northeast of downtown Atlanta.

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Falls Terrace, the iconic Tumwater restaurant that sits next to Tumwater Falls, appears to be taking steps toward reopening after it closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, Tumwater and Thurston County officials say.

The Olympian looked into the status of the restaurant because its one of the questions readers most frequently ask: When is it going to reopen?

The Olympian was unable to reach restaurant owner Daniel Vavrinec, but he has sought building permits from the city, city of Tumwater spokeswoman Ann Cook said.

One of those permits, to replace siding on the building, has been issued by the city, she said. They also have two more that are still pending: a remodel/right of way permit, which would allow the repairing of floor joists and pilings, and a permit to remodel a restroom to be compliant with the American with Disabilities Act.

Those permits have not been issued because the city has asked for additional information, Cook said. All three permits were sought at the end of 2022.

Meanwhile, Sammy Berg, a Thurston County senior environmental health specialist who works closely with restaurants, said he first heard from the owner during the pandemic. In the early days of the pandemic, restaurants were forced to close, prompting many owners to take advantage of the closures to make upgrades.

Berg said the restaurant was planning to open in February, but ran into problems that all businesses have dealt with since the pandemic: a lack of building materials and challenges finding a contractor.

Berg described their situation as two steps forward, two steps back.

Other business happenings

The owners of Olympia Hotel at Capitol Lake, the west Olympia hotel that has been known under many names including Hotel RL and the Red Lion, are exploring a plan to convert the complex into apartments, according to city of Olympia information and Philip Stewart, a Portland architect who recently represented the hotel owner, California Investment LLC, at a site plan review committee meeting.

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Site plan review committee meetings provide feedback on what will be required of developers if they move forward with their projects in Olympia.

Stewart said Thursday he suspects the owner wants to move forward with the conversion because the apartment market is booming, more so than the hospitality market.

If the project moves forward, Stewart said the conversion would result in a range of apartment sizes, although the total number of them would be less than the current 193 rooms offered by the hotel. But the proposal does have its hurdles, he said.

The hotel falls within an area known as the Evergreen planned urban development, a zone that has been in place since the early 1970s. It does not allow multi-family housing, Stewart said, so to make the change, they need a text amendment to the PUD, which will have to come before the hearings examiner and Olympia City Council.

Olympia Hotel at Capitol LakeMay 10, 2023

Elsewhere, Marie Gaze has opened Emerald Corner LLC, an interior plantscape company that specializes in the design, installation, and ongoing care of living plants in commercial/corporate spaces, she said in an email to The Olympian.

I have mostly privately owned businesses as clients as of now, but my goal is to work more within government contracting, she writes. Especially in our post-pandemic world, plants serve more purpose than just something beautiful to look at  plants clean the air, boost employee morale, increase serotonin levels, create a natural divide in space, reduce noise pollution, and are widely reported to increase overall happiness. As humans, we need connection with nature, especially inside buildings such as these.

An example of the Emerald Corner plantscape design at Ember Goods, a coffee shop and retailer in downtown Olympia.

More tenants appear to be headed to the second building at the Tumwater Craft District on Capitol Boulevard, according to the craft district website. The first building at the site houses Heritage Distilling and South Puget Sound Community Colleges craft brewing and distilling program.

The website shows the following tenants are coming to the second building: Left Bank patisserie, Olympia Seafood Co., SweetLees Ice Cream, Percival Creek Tasting Room, Finn River Cidery and Ember Goods Coffee Roasting.

And now the Craft District owners are exploring a plan to bring food trucks to the site. A representative is set to meet with Tumwaters Development Review Committee next week, according to city information.

Real estate

A Kirkland developer has submitted plans to Thurston County for two, tilt-up concrete industrial buildings with accessory office space in a new industrial park at 8714 Blomberg St. SW, between Littlerock Road and Interstate 5. One of those buildings will be 970,000 square feet, according to the county information.

The first comment period ends at 4 p.m. May 25. Send your thoughts to senior planner Kraig Chalem at kraig.chalem@co.thurston.wa.us.

A map showing the area of a development proposal in Thurston County that would bring two, tilt-up concrete industrial buildings with accessory office space in a new industrial park at 8714 Blomberg St. SW.

If you know of a retailer, restaurant, coffee shop or other business that is opening, closing, expanding, remodeling, or changing its focus, send an email to reporter Rolf Boone at rboone@theolympian.com.
Three families who lost loved ones in the racist mass killing in Buffalo have sued online platforms, a body armor manufacturer, the parents of the murderer and others.

The 142-page lawsuit, filed Friday in state Supreme Court in Erie County, is one of the first of what is expected to be several arising from the murders by Payton Gendron of 10 Black people at the Tops supermarket in East Buffalo on May 14, 2022.

Gendron in November pleaded guilty in an Erie County court to the 10 murders and state hate crimes. Gendron was 18 at the time of his massacre.

"Payton Gendron has pled guilty to these murders, and is no longer a danger to society," Buffalo attorney John Elmore, one of the lawyers representing the three families, said in a statement. "However, the social media platforms that radicalized him, and the companies that armed him, must still be held accountable for their actions. Our goal, on behalf of our clients, is to make this community and our nation safer and prevent other mass shootings.

Among those being sued are digital platforms Meta Platforms Inc., formerly Facebook; Snap Inc.; Alphabet Inc., Googles parent company; Discord Inc.; Reddit Inc.; and Amazon.com Inc., which operates the Twitch livestreaming service.

Signs around the Tops Market in Buffalo annouce its closure on the one-year anniversary of the fatal mass shooting.

The online services allowed Gendron to connect with others motivated by a white supremacist ideology and also gave him platforms to livestream his violent and racist assault, according to lawyers for the families and online experts assisting the litigation.

"Gendron was motivated to commit his heinous crime by racist, antisemitic, and white supremacist propaganda fed to him by social media companies, Matthew Bergman, founding attorney of the Social Media Victims Law Center, said in a statement. Bergman and the Social Media Victims Law Center are assisting Elmore with the lawsuit.

These posts led Gendron down a rabbit hole of increasingly radical sites, where he was indoctrinated in white supremacist replacement theory and violent accelerationism," Bergman said. "This horrible crime was neither an accident nor coincidence, but rather the foreseeable result of social media companies intentional decision to maximize user engagement over public safety."

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Gendron aired his plans to murder Black people on Discord and outlined his plans there in the months before the killings.

Elmore and his law partner, Kristen Elmore-Garcia, are representing the families of murder victims Andre Mackneil, who was 53 and a father of five who was at Tops to buy a birthday cake for his 3-year-old sons birthday party; Katherine Kat Massey, 72, a community activist and retired teacher; and Heyward Patterson, 67, a deacon at State Tabernacle Church of God and a retired security guard.

Lawsuits against the online platforms could face steep legal hurdles.

"Despite the integral nature of online platforms in this and previous mass shootings, however, it is extremely unlikely that any of them  even the worst offenders who enforce virtually no content moderation  can face any sort of legal liability," New York Attorney General Letitia James' office wrote in an October report on the Buffalo massacre.

"There are no laws on the books that directly address the conduct at issue here, not even for the distribution of a graphic, uncensored video created by an attacker killing another person in cold blood," said the report, which recommended changes in federal and state laws governing the responsibilities of digital platforms.

Videos of mass killings

A tree on Landon Street in Buffalo has faded taped signs and messages for the victims from the mass shooting that killed 10 people at the Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo last year.

Gendron was partly if not largely motivated by a video from Christchurch, New Zealand, where a gunman fatally shot 51 people at two mosques in May 2019. That video, created by the gunman during his killing spree, still lives on the Internet today, as does Gendron's own video of his murders.

"The Buffalo shooter was galvanized by his belief that others would be watching him commit violence in real-time," the attorney general's report said. "Livestreaming has become a tool of mass shooters to instantaneously publicize their crimes."

Gendron livestreamed his murders via the Twitch service. It has been viewed over 3 million times, according to the lawsuit.

"The social media platforms have the ability to make sure that stuff is never shared again," Elmore said.

More: His mother was killed in Buffalo's racist shooting. How he has turned grief into activism

A Twitch spokesperson acknowledged last year that the shooting in Buffalo was broadcast in real time. The livestream was removed less than two minutes after the violence began, according to the company. However, the video also included 22 minutes of Gendron preparing and discussing its plan.

The company Twitch said last year that it has has a zero tolerance policy against violence of any kind.

The videos often become launching pads for other mass shootings motivated by bigotry, said Amy Spitalnick, an expert in online radicalization.

"There's very much a pattern that we can easily point to at this point," she said. "It's existed for years, It's a cycle in which one attack is used for the next one. At the core of all of these attacks are the very same white supremacist conspiracy theories."

Spitalnick led a group that won a $25 million judgment against the neo-Nazis who organized the 2017 march in Charlottesville, Va. That lawsuit, she said, "illustrates the power of accountability."

Firearms sales and body armor

File Photo: Ten people were killed and three others injured in a shooting at a Buffalo grocery store on May 14, 2022.

Also being sued are Gendron's parents; RMA Armament, an Iowa-based body armor manufacturer for the body armor worn by Gendron on Mat 14; Vintage Firearms, the retail gun store located in Endicott where Gendron purchased his AR-15; and MEAN Arms LLC a custom firearms manufacturer in Woodstock, Georgia, that sells the firearms MEAN MA Lock device. The lock can be easily removed to allow high-capacity magazines of a type prohibited by New York law.

New York Attorney General Letitia James also on Thursday sued MEANS Arms LLC.

Mean Arms deceptively advertised that installing a device that locks a magazine on an assault weapon makes it legal under New York law, both lawsuits allege. But since the lock can be easily removed so detachable magazines can be inserted, the manufacturer aided the illegal possession of assault weapons in New York, James office said.

More: This poet found light in the darkness of Buffalo's racist massacre. Read her words of hope

National civil rights lawyer Benjamin Crump is also planning lawsuits against the social media platforms where Gendron's racism was fueled. He is working hand in hand with Buffalo attorney Terrence Connors.

"We are taking a deep dive into the online digital platforms to determine who enabled the shooter, who assisted him, who encouraged him and to determine if there is any accountability," Connors said in a recent interview. "... It is difficult to imagine that much hate could be accumulated in an 18-year old kid. Where did it come from? How did it foment? How was it encouraged?"

The family of 86-year-old Ruth Whitfield, another victim at the Tops, is one of the families represented by Crump and Connors.

"There's nothing thats going to bring my mother back," said Garnell Whitfield Jr., a son of Ruth Whitfield. "There's nothing that's going to fill the hole in us as a family. But my mom deserves justice. Our community deserves justice. We deserve justice."

Whitfield acknowledge that the litigation by victims' families could be ground-breaking if successful.

"We just happen to be, if not the first, one of the first to take this path to try to hold these people accountable," he said. "We've got to start somewhere."

Includes reporting by Associated Press.

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Buffalo massacre families sue online platforms, body armor maker
People shelter at a monastery in Sittwe town in Myanmar's Rakhine state on Friday

Families in western Myanmar left their homes to seek shelter and higher ground on Friday ahead of a cyclone forecast to bring high winds and a storm surge to the eastern Bay of Bengal.

Cyclone Mocha is predicted to make landfall on Sunday near the Bangladesh-Myanmar border, according to India's meteorological office, packing winds of up to 175 kilometres (108 miles) per hour.

The office predicted a storm surge of between two and two-and-a-half metres (6-8 feet) for the low-lying coastal region, which on the Bangladeshi side is home to sprawling camps hosting hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees.

Residents of low-lying villages in Myanmar's Rakhine flocked to the state capital Sittwe on Friday, with around a thousand preparing to shelter at one monastery in the town, AFP correspondents said.

Some set down blankets and staked out sleeping places while unpacking provisions.

Cho Cho Tun, 34, had brought her children to the temporary shelter.

"I hope this monastery is safe and nothing will happen here because this place is the highest place in Sittwe," she said.

"We wanted to stay in our homes... But when I thought of my children and the danger to their lives, I decided to shelter here."

Thant Zaw, 42, said he had lost several family members when Cyclone Nargis ravaged southern Myanmar in 2008, killing more than 130,000 people in the country's worst natural disaster.

"I told my family we should shelter at this monastery," he told AFP.

"I have six children and I can't lose my family again."

Myanmar's junta authorities were supervising evacuations from coastal villages along the Rakhine coast, according to state media, which did not say how many people had been moved.

Any boats leaving shore in Rakhine from Friday afternoon would face legal action, the junta said.

- Floods, landslides -

Heavy winds and rain could trigger flooding and landslides further inland in Myanmar and Bangladesh, the United Nations office for humanitarian affairs said on Friday.

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Around six million people across Rakhine and Myanmar's northwest are already in need of humanitarian assistance, it added.

The cyclone looked set to pass near sprawling camps in Bangladesh home to almost one million Rohingya refugees who fled a Myanmar military crackdown in 2017.

Bangladeshi officials said Friday that all mosques, learning centres and offices in the camps would be turned into cyclone shelters.

The United Nations refugee agency was carrying out "emergency preparedness" in the camps and authorities were on "standby" with heavy machinery to clear roads, a spokesperson said.

Bangladesh has yet to carry out any evacuations, but officials said hundreds of cyclone shelters have been readied to house evacuated people.

Cyclones -- the equivalent of hurricanes in the North Atlantic or typhoons in the Northwest Pacific -- are a regular and deadly menace on the coast of the northern Indian Ocean where tens of millions of people live.

Bangladesh was last hit by a superstorm in November 2007 when Cyclone Sidr ripped through the country's southwest, killing more than 3,000 people and causing damage worth billions of dollars.

sa-lpk-lmg-rma/ssy
A man, his wife and his sister-in-law had left a Texas zoo and were on their way to get food when they were struck in a fit of road rage, according to court records.

The 29-year-old husband said he was driving his vehicle, a black Mercedes, when another driver trying to change lanes came close to hitting him on April 11, the Houston Police Department said in a criminal complaint filed May 3.

The husband honked his horn to alert the driver in a black Nissan Sentra, police said.

The other man then pulled up next to the Mercedes and flashed his middle finger, according to the report.

(The Nissan driver) then aggressively pulled ahead and intentionally veered his vehicle into (the Mercedes) as he cut him off, police said. The husband and his family were then forced over a curb and crashed into a tree.

As the suspect drove away, the husband said he began following him, according to the report. He said the suspect ran a red light to escape.

Meanwhile, the wife called 911 and the sister-in-law recorded video of the other driver, police said. Investigators have reviewed the video, which shows the Nissan fleeing and running a red light.

All three family members in the vehicle reported they feared for their lives during the incident, police said, and want the other driver to be prosecuted.

The suspect, from Houston, faces a felony charge of aggravated assault.

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Lexus driver shoots and kills other driver through windshield, then drives off, cops say
Ten years ago, a Georgia Tech graduate was walking to a bar in East Atlanta Village with friends when someone tried to rob them.

They ended up robbing and killing 33-year-old Patrick Cotrona.

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Channel 2 Action News first covered the crime hours after it happened on Memorial Day weekend in 2013, when it sent shockwaves through the East Atlanta community.

Channel 2s Tyisha Fernandes was in northeast Atlanta on May Ave., where family members revealed how much the crime is still devastating his family a decade later.

His sister, Kate Cotrona-Krumm, had to move away because the memories of what happened to her brother in this neighborhood were too much.

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Cotronas family believes that whoever committed the murder continued to commit crimes, and they want that person to pay for what they did.

He really loved living in the village, Cotrona-Krumm said. He had friends there. He really felt like part of the community.

Cotrona-Krumm said her brother was a Georgia Tech grad who had graduated Summa cum laud in computer science.

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It was really hard to believe it at first, Cotrona-Krumm said. I couldnt register it in my brain because even though he was 33, he was still kind of a kid to me.

Cotrona-Krumm said her brother had a lot of hobbies, one of which was hanging out at restaurants and bars of May Avenue.

On the night of May 25, Cotrona was walking with friends along a road where the street lights were out when he was robbed at gunpoint, then shot to death.

That was a big element of the situation at the time, Cotrona-Krumm said. There were arguments between the city and Georgia Power as to who was responsible for keeping those lights on.

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The community came together to try to find his killers. Police offered a $25,00 reward, but no one was ever arrested.

The family and police believe that at least one person knows who killed Patrick.

Maybe they were scared to step forward at that time, Cotrona-Krumm said. Im sure if you know somebody who has taken someone elses life, you dont want to say anything. Youre scared for yourself or your family. And I understand that, but were hoping that enough time has gone by that people might feel comfortable coming forward and speaking up.

Fernandes talked to Atlanta police to see if they have any new information about the case. They said they dont, so the family is relying on witnesses who havent come forward yet.
(Getty Images)

Just three gameweeks lie between now and the end of the Fantasy Premier League season, meaning it is time to squeeze every possible point out of our squads before the final scoreboards are shown.

With that in mind, here are five essential picks for your team this week:

(All prices accurate as of Thursday 11 May)

For more picks, differential top tips, chip strategy and more, sign up for our newsletter by entering your email address at the top of this article or clicking here.

Victor Lindelof - 4.1m

The Swede has deputised well for the injured Raphael Varane and Lisandro Martinez, despite regular centre-back partner changes.

Erik ten Hag gave his players time off after their defeat to West Ham on Sunday for much-needed rest, with United playing more than any other side in Europe this season.

Expect a rejuvenated United to keep a clean sheet against Wolves (as they did in the reverse fixture), with Lindelof likely to be heavily involved.

Alexis Mac Allister - 5.5m

Two utterly contrasting performances and results from Brighton against Manchester United and Everton last week, but the one constant was an Alexis Mac Allister goal.

Brighton double again this week, and the Argentine averages nearly three shots per game, giving hope that he should improve on his nine goals already this season in GW36 across two fixtures.

Martin Odegaard - 6.7m

Speaking of consistent goals, Arsenal's captain has kept his side in title contention with two stellar performances and a host of FPL points against Chelsea and Newcastle.

The Norwegian put all three of his shots on target against Newcastle, scoring one and driving his side to victory.

With Forest and Wolves still to play, expect Odegaard to continue inspiring his team and, of course, continue scoring FPL points for a very reasonable 6.7m.

Trent Alexander-Arnold - 7.6m

For the second week running, Trent Alexander-Arnold is an essential pick for your FPL team.

He continued his remarkable recent consistency with a clean sheet and seven points against Brentford.

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Such is his quality, his assists are in no way linked to his xA (registering two assists from 0.29 xA).

Instead, you should focus only on Trent's upcoming opponents for reassurance - with Leicester and all-but-down Southampton left to play, there's plenty of potential for big scores.

Wilfried Gnonto - 4.7m

Leeds' dynamic young forward is back in our picks despite a tough GW36 fixture against Newcastle.

The winger grabbed Leeds' only goal in their thrashing at Bournemouth in GW34 and has squeezed two goals and four assists from 1.8 xG and 2.0 xA.

Newcastle, West Ham and Spurs await Leeds in their final three games, with ample opportunity there to get on the scoresheet under Sam Allardyces stewardship.

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A participant visits an exhibition of the 6th World Intelligence Congress in north China's Tianjin, June 24, 2022. [Photo/Xinhua]

The seventh World Intelligence Congress (WIC), a major artificial intelligence (AI) event in China, will be held in north China's Tianjin Municipality from May 18 to 21, said a press conference on Thursday.

Themed "Intelligence: Extensive Development Space, Sustainable Growth Driver," the event will focus on empowering economic and social development with smart technologies and building a global platform for exchange, cooperation, win-win outcomes and sharing in the field of intelligent technology.

Zhu Peng, vice mayor of Tianjin, said the event, highlighting the new trends, new technologies and new business forms of AI development, will invite politicians, entrepreneurs, experts and scholars from all over the world to discuss forward-looking subjects such as intelligent cars, generative AI, brain-computer interaction, as well as AI-related hot topics in the fields of economy, society and culture.

Covering an exhibition area of 120,000 square meters, the intelligent technology exhibition component of the four-day event will set up 10 themed exhibition areas, including information technology application innovation, AI and 5G+ industrial Internet, and two smart experience areas focusing on the likes of 5G and smart cars.

The exhibition also covers products, initiatives and technologies such as scientific research and application, smart city and transportation, international and regional collaboration, and intelligent manufacturing.

In addition, experts, scholars and entrepreneurs from 21 countries and regions, including the United States, Germany, Japan and the Republic of Korea, will come to Tianjin to strengthen cooperation in science and technology, trade and culture.

Since its inauguration in 2017, the event has offered a platform for scientists, entrepreneurs and economists from home and abroad to discuss the frontier trends of intelligence technology.
Uniqlos decade-old social business experiment in Bangladesh has come to a close.

By June 18, the Japanese retailer will be winding up its 10 remaining Grameen Uniqlo stores, most of them in the South Asian nations capital of Dhaka. At its peak, it operated 18 outlets, the latest of which it opened only in September.

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In view of Bangladeshs significant economic development in recent years, as well as changes to its business environment, we have determined that our company has fulfilled a certain role and has decided to conclude its business activities, Uniqlo said in a statement on Wednesday.

The Fast Retailing-owned firm previously touted Grameen Uniqlo as the only social business brand in Bangladeshs booming apparel sector. It operated under Uniqlo Social Business Bangladesh, a wholly owned Fast Retailing subsidiary that began in 2010 as a partnership between the LifeWear maker and Grameen Bank Group to tackle social issues such as poverty, health and education through retail. Stores selling Bangladesh-made clothes to Bangladeshis started popping up in 2013. In rural parts of the country, Grameen ladies would go door to door to sell everything from sweat-wicking polo shirts to traditional kameez shalwars to the poor at steep discounts. All profits went back into the business, which used them to subsidize sales, provide interest-free health and education loans, contribute to industrial development for factory workers or make charitable donations.

Uniqlo did all this, it said, with the aim of improving the lives of the people of Bangladesh by providing clothing to meet the needs of local daily life and by creating opportunities for employment in safe environments.

Fast Retailing said it remains committed to Bangladesh, where it works with some 40 factories and mills. In 2008, it opened a production office to help with textiles development. The nation is also part of the Helmut Lang and Theory owners Womens Empowerment Program, which it launched in 2019 together with United Nations Women. Besides donating to the Asian University for Women to foster female leaders in Asia, Fast Retailing also conducts career training to boost women to leadership positions in the industry, it said.

Click here to read the full article.
Carrol Olinger, grandparent of a student at T.C. Berrien speaks at a parents meeting for Cumberland County Schools on Nov. 19, 2019. The Fayetteville, N.C., school was closed and its student body was located to Spring Lake, N.C., which is 10 miles away, after mold and air-quality issues were discovered.

This Mothers Day, Im celebrating being the proud mother of four daughters, one son and five grandchildren. My children are my pride and joy, and throughout my life they have been my top priority. Today, even as a retired educator, and seasoned community leader, I still worry more about my children than anything else in the world.

And, unfortunately, I have good reason to worry, given the current debate about national default in Congress. Our economic future, our healthcare, education for our children  all of it is at risk because of the upside-down priorities of many elected leaders that are putting my children  and everyone elses children  in harms way.

More: Fayetteville activists: Abortion ruling will hurt pregnant Black women

For most of us, paying the bills comes first. It comes before luxuries, before upgrades, before whims  thats what I taught my children.

Carrol Olinger is the local organizing director for the Fayetteville are for Action NC.

But some leaders in U.S. Congress clearly dont agree with me.

U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthys default plan would only enable the United States to keep paying its debts on time if Congress also slashes spending on everything from veterans health to public safety and education. If Democrats dont agree to these cuts, McCarthy and Republicans in Congress will not agree lifting the nation's borrowing limit so the United States can keep paying bills on time and avoid default.

More: 3 big ways the debt ceiling and default fight affect you and your Social Security, loans, 401k, more

Default means that, come June 1, the federal government will no longer be able to pay on obligations it owes everyone, from foreign governments to Medicare providers, causing widespread panic in the economy, hastening recession, and undermining the credit of our government abroad.

McCarthy has the wrong priorities: Instead of working with President Biden and other leaders in Congress on passing a clean debt ceiling bill that will keep our country stable and protect us from economic harm  as Congress has done over 70 times in the last 50 years  hes playing chicken with the economy. A grandma's wish to Survive is turning into a nightmare! I shouldn't have to wish for basic needs for myself, my grandkids and the American people.

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The GOP bill that McCarthy already passed in the House proposes cuts in everything from Medicaid, Meals on Wheels and education funding to rail inspections, while at the same time also watering down tax enforcement for families making $400,000 or more. That means that wealthy households will continue to pay less in taxes than many middle class families do, while the rest of us face higher costs in healthcare, housing, food and other expenses because of the cuts to these programs.

People like my daughter, who has been unable to get steady health coverage for years, may lose what access to Medicaid she has because of these cuts. Many others, including low-wage workers who cant get affordable coverage on the job, veterans, kids and more, are at risk.

Another cause for worry: Millions of people are already losing coverage and losing food stamps because of the end of the public health emergency related to COVID-19  this could make everything worse.

In North Carolina alone, 54,000 women, infants, and children would lose vital nutrition assistance through the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), and 16,700 families would lose access to rental assistance.

More than 284,200 veterans could lose outpatient visits, leaving them unable to get appointments for care like wellness visits, mental health services, and substance disorder treatment. Cuts to basics like healthcare, education and housing should be the last thing any mom in America should have to worry about, on Mothers Day, or any other time.

The best way to honor mothers this Mothers Day is for Congress to do whats right: pay the nations bills by raising the borrowing limit to assure a stable economy and avoid default. Then, rather than arguing about whats going to be cut, start making the rich and corporations pay what they owe ... at the minimum their fair share!

Carrol Olinger is the local organizing director for Action NC, which seeks to challenge adn reduce the root causes of poverty and social an economic equality. She lives in Hope Mills.

This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Fayetteville area activist: U.S. default a threat to mothers, everyone
A federal judge ruled Friday that a lawsuit from family members of victims in the November 2021 Oxford High School shooting can proceed against Oxford Community Schools and two school staff members, while also dismissing seven former and current staff members from the case.

Judge Mark Goldsmith in U.S. District Court in Detroit ruled against requests to dismiss the school district along with Shawn Hopkins  an Oxford counselor at the time  and Nicholas Ejak, then the school's dean of students. Goldsmith wrote that the attorneys for the victims' families have plausibly argued that Hopkins and Ejak knew shooter Ethan Crumbley posed a risk to Oxford and failed to address that risk.

The ruling does not mean the district or the staff members have been found liable, it means that attorneys on both sides can move forward in finding more information, the process of discovery, to try to prove or disprove their case further.

Goldsmith dismissed seven Oxford staff members from the claim: former district superintendent Tim Throne, former superintendent Kenneth Weaver, former principal Steven Wolf, restorative practices coordinator Pamela Fine and teachers Becky Morgan, Allison Karpinski and Jackie Kubina.

Flowers are left by members of the community to honor the one-year mark of the Oxford shooting outside of Oxford High School on Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2022.

The ruling comes on the heels of a third-party safety report that found Oxford High staff are not consistently asking students being assessed as possible threats whether they have access to firearms.

Attorney Ven Johnson called the ruling a "monumental win" in the case against the district.

More: First report into Oxford High security and safety policies released

More: Report reviewing Oxford safety procedures at time of shooting is 'imminent,' firm says

"It's a battle  one of many battles  and a very long, difficult war, but we're very proud," he said in an interview with the Detroit Free Press on Friday.

Johnson said he expects the district to appeal the decision next, but also hopes to begin taking depositions in the federal case.

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"We are very, very confident that once we have that ability, it will be even more clear than it already is that this entire shooting could have been avoided because of all the knowledge they had at the school," he said.

A spokesperson for Oxford Community Schools did not immediately return a request for comment.

All of the families of the students killed in the mass shooting  Hana St. Juliana, Tate Myre, Madisyn Baldwin and Justin Shilling  have filed suit in federal and Oakland County Circuit Court. Injured students and students struggling with trauma from the attack have also filed various suits. The claims in the state court suits in the county suffered a setback in March, however, when Judge Mary Ellen Brennan ruled that school district employees are immune from civil litigation in the shooting under Michigan's governmental immunity law.

Parents, former board members, want more transparency

The report released Monday examines the high schools current threat and suicide assessment procedures, as well as safety and security policies. The report found that Oxfords policies largely follow leading national best practices, but pointed out some improvements, including an inconsistency in how often staff ask students assessed for threats about access to weapons.

According to Guidepost, this was just the first report to be released in what will be a series. An independent investigation of the events leading up to and during the shooting is still forthcoming.

But that assurance has done little to ease frustration among former board members and parents who have for more than a year demanded increased transparency from the district.

Former Board President Tom Donnelly, who resigned from the board in 2022 out of frustration over how the district was handling the aftermath of the shooting, said in an interview with the Free Press on Tuesday that Guideposts initial report was thorough, but not the one that the community wants.

The community still hasn't gotten the third-party independent review of what took place in the month preceding, and in the days of, and here we are going on almost a year and a half, he said.

Korey Bailey, a former board treasurer who resigned around the same time as Donnelly for similar reasons, wrote in an emailed response to reporter questions that he was not surprised to see gaps in threat assessment procedures, and felt that the district did not take threat assessment training before the shooting either.

The report found many elements of Oxfords threat assessment procedures to be working, including an established centralized reporting system, defined procedures and defined conduct considered possibly threatening. However, the report also found Oxford may be conducting too many assessments, 300% more than a district of its size, creating a difficult workload for some counselors and that the district needed to include school-stationed law enforcement officers in every assessment.

It is evident that adequate training on proper threat assessment is still lacking, Bailey wrote.

Andrea Jones, a parent in Oxford and part of the parent-led group Change4Oxford, formed after the shooting, said the report did not answer many lingering questions for her and other parents, including pressing questions about how the shooting unfolded.

We still don't have the trust and to me, this report did not restore the trust, she said.

Contact Lily Altavena: laltavena@freepress.com.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Judge: Victim suit against Oxford Schools, 2 staffers can continue
FORT PIERCE  A federal jury Friday convicted a boat captain of seven felonies related to a February attempt to smuggle 78 undocumented migrants into the United States who were apprehended on a yacht off Hutchinson Island near Sailfish Point in Martin County, court records show.

The same jury seated in Fort Pierce on Monday acquitted Bahamian citizen Raymond Saunders of 71 federal offenses stemming from the Feb. 22 incident involving a 50-foot vessel named Alpha that had aboard three Bahamians, one Dominican and 74 Haitians, according to a March 7 federal indictment.

At the time, Martin County Sheriff William Snyder called the smuggling incident at the St. Lucie Inlet, the largest number of migrants on a single vessel intercepted in Martin County waterways in the countys history.

The group of Haitians included six children, Homeland Security Investigations Agent Joshua Woodbury reported in a criminal complaint.

Records show Woodbury appeared as a government witness against Saunders during the trial, which included testimony from his codefendant Carlos Rodriguez-Rodriguez, a Dominican, who pleaded guilty to three felonies on April 19.

The Martin County Sheriffs Office is reporting that 59 undocumented migrants were detained Wednesday night, Feb. 22, 2023 as the group came ashore in a yacht. U.S. Homeland Security Investigations is investigating the incident, public information officer Nestor Yglesias confirmed.

Smuggling intercepted

A federal indictment accused Saunders and Rodriguez-Rodriguez  both previously deported from the United States  of navigating the yacht from the Bahamas to the St. Lucie Inlet, where it was boarded by U.S. Customs and Border Protection Marine Interdiction agents.

When agents spotted the vessel, they deployed blue lights and repeatedly blasted a siren to get the attention of the boats captain seen on the flybridge, Woodbury reported.

Once aboard, agents opened the main cabin door and noticed a very large group of individuals hiding, with Rodriguez in the flybridge area.

Saunders, agents noted, was found in a front compartment of the boat with packing tape around his face, thigh area and feet, but none securing his hands, wrists or arms.

He immediately said he "was placed in restraints and forced into the cabin," however, agents were suspicious of his story.

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Agents did not observe any physical marks or bumps on Saunders, indicating a struggle as he claimed, the criminal complaint stated, nor were his hands bound.

All 78 people aboard were transferred to a U.S. Coast Guard cutter.

A search of the vessel found only a single personal flotation device aboard, agents reported.

Rodriguez later told agents they departed Nassau, Bahamas Feb. 22 and as they neared Hutchinson Island, they saw law enforcement patrolling nearby. According to agents, Rodriguez said as they drew near their boat, Saunders told him dont call me captain anymore.

Saunders then grabbed a sweatshirt, a roll of packing tape and disappeared in front of the boat in a small door by the refrigerator.

In a statement to agents, Saunders said he was only going to Freeport from Nassau and when they got to the Freeport area, he wanted to get off the boat, but was punched and bear hugged by the Black dude and the Dominican, after which they taped his mouth, hands, thighs and feet together.

He claimed he was pushed into a forward cabin before the boat set out for the United States.

Agents though, confirmed Saunders had made the trip before, and was apprehended in September 2022. He was released from custody because of a bed shortage at the Krome Detention Center in Miami, and he voluntarily returned to the Bahamas.

Federal convictions

Saunders and Rodriguez were initially charged with 76 counts of alien smuggling for the purpose of profit or financial gain.

Jurors on Friday found Saunders not guilty on 70 of those counts, but convicted him of a total of seven felonies, including illegal reentry after deportation.

Saunders, who did not testify at trial, is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 15.

Indictment: Feds charge two men accused of smuggling 78 migrants on a yacht intercepted in February

MCSO: 78 undocumented Haitians on a yacht intercepted at St. Lucie Inlet

In a deal struck with federal prosecutors, Rodriguez-Rodriguez pleaded guilty to three counts of alien smuggling for the purpose of profit or financial gain and one count of illegal reentry after deportation.

The government is expected to drop 73 counts at time of his sentencing on June 29.

Records show Rodriguez-Rodriguez faces a maximum punishment of 40 years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $750,000.

Both men face automatic deportation upon release from prison.

Melissa E. Holsman is the legal affairs reporter for TCPalm and Treasure Coast Newspapers and is writer and co-host of Uncertain Terms, a true crime podcast. Reach her at melissa.holsman@tcpalm.com. If you are a subscriber, thank you. If not, become a subscriber to get the latest local news on the Treasure Coast.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Federal jury convicts Bahamian of smuggling migrants to Martin County
Federal leaders are investing $20 million to help Pittsburgh develop artificial intelligence.

Carnegie Mellon University will use the money to create an AI Institute.

The university is not wasting any time, and the institute is slated to open on June 1.

The best applications of artificial intelligence in societal domains will come when we not only advance AI for decision-making, but also better understand human decision-making, and when we can bring the two together, said Aarti Singh, a professor in the Machine Learning Department of CMUs School of Computer Science, who will serve as the institutes director. Social scientists are studying human behavior. Machine learning researchers are developing new AI technologies to aid decision-making. For maximal impact of these technologies, we need to have social scientists and AI researchers collaborate to come up with solutions that will leverage AI capability while ensuring social acceptance.

CMU is looking to use AI to help tackle issues, ranging from public health to climate change.

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A national mental health hotline for new and expecting mothers received 12,000 calls and texts in less than a year since its launch, new data show.

The U.S. Health and Human Services Department Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) debuted the toll-free hotline on Mothers Day last year to help expecting or post-partum mothers struggling with their mental health.

The number connects callers to counselors who provide emotional support, resources, and referrals.

Since its launch, the hotline has received about 1,000 calls and texts a month between May 2022 and March of this year, according to recently released data from the HRSA, which NBC first reported on.

About 70 percent of contacts were phone calls and 30 percent were text messages.

Out of all contacts, 76 percent called for themselves while 5 percent called for someone else like a friend or family member; another 5 percent were providers calling for a client and 14 percent could not be determined, according to the data.

Of those callers reaching out for themselves, 39 percent reached out after giving birth while 19 percent reached out while pregnant.

Most callers or texters contacted the hotline with concerns about depression, anxiety or just a general feeling of being overwhelmed.

Out of all contacts, 33 percent of people reached out because of depression, 31 percent because of anxiety, 29 percent due to feeling overwhelmed, 18 with pregnancy concerns, and 16 percent because of relationship issues, according to the data.

The United States has a high rate of maternal mortality compared to other high-income nations, with 32.9 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported.

And mental health issues are one of the leading causes of maternal mortality in the United States. Suicides and drug overdose made up 23 percent of maternal deaths last year, according to the CDC.

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Do you have an established food-based business that could use some cash? Is your passion for food destined to make you a star? Well, Fox and Gordon Ramsay want to help with the Feed Your Dreams contest!

If you have a restaurant, food truck, or other food-based business that is your passion, we want to hear why your business deserves to be on Boston 25 Morning News and to have the chance to win $2,500 to fund your business. Please tell us about your established business, and youll be entered for a chance to appear live on the Boston 25 Morning News and to win $2,500 towards your business. Start by filling out your email below to enter.

This is all in thanks to Foxs new show, Gordon Ramsays Food Stars, which premieres Wednesday, May 24, on Boston 25 News. Contest applications are due by May 24.





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Ukrainian female prisoners are held together with Russian convicts

Read also: Forty-five Azovstal defenders released from Russian captivity

Two Ukrainian women who had been taken prisoner by the Russians spoke about their experiences in Russian captivity to the Media Initiative for Human Rights (MIHR).

According to MIHR, there is only one detention facility that Russia has allocated exclusively for women: Correctional Colony No. 9 in the city of Valuiki, Belgorod Oblast.

The winding path to Russian prison

Olena and Kateryna (names changed for security reasons) were taken prisoner in April 2022. They spent some time in the village of Yelenovka. There, they were kept in a cell for six women that actually held 30. They were subsequently transferred to Pre-trial Detention Center No. 2 in the city of Taganrog, Rostov Oblast, which prisoners have called the worst of all places where Ukrainians are kept. There, Olena and Kateryna were kept in the same conditions as men: without personal hygiene products, without proper medical care, and subjected to physical and psychological violence. They were then moved to Correctional Colony No. 9 of the city of Valuiki.

Prison facilities

Read also: Belarusian journalist from hijacked Ryanair flight sentenced to 8 years in prison in sham trial

In Colony No. 9, prisoners are housed in barracks, which are called sections. They are divided into cells designed for 8-22 people. Inside, there are bunk beds with mattresses, pillows and linens.

The beds were old, like we once had in the barracks, but its still more comfortable than sleeping on a solid iron bed welded to the floor, says Kateryna.

A routine of bullying

An integral attribute of bullying in all Russian prisons is the requirement to sing the Russian anthem, during which prisoners are forced to do push-ups or squats.

Women are taken to the dining room to eat. On the way there, prisoners are often harassed. They are required to run to the dining room, and if the guards are unhappy with how quickly they move, they put batons in front of them. Anyone who touches a baton is immediately beaten.

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Read also: Russian intelligence asset in Odesa sentenced to 15 years in prison

You get hit; you fall. And everyone behind you falls too. Very often, the women would fall, fly through the door, and after this, we end up not having any time to eat, because they give us just five minutes. They didnt care whether the food was hot or not, whether we had eaten or not. These were only our problems, says Kateryna.

There is a TV in the dining room. The prisoners are allowed to watch only one channel, Russia-24, and are given 30 minutes to watch every day. The women spend the rest of the day in their cells. Prisoners are forbidden to sit on their beds, so they had to stand or walk around the room. They were only allowed to sit on chairs, of which there were not enough for everyone.

You could take showers only once a week: There were more than 60 women. They gave 10 minutes for a shower, and 1-2 bottles of shampoo for everyone. Someone had time to wash their hair with shampoo, the rest washed themselves with soap, which had a strong stench, the former captives explain.

The Russians exerted strong psychological pressure on the prisoners. Olena says that the guards were dismissive of them, using derogatory words and laughing at them.

Read also: 42,000 Ukrainian women serving with the Armed Forces, ministry says

They kept saying that Ukraine no longer exists, that Russian banks had opened everywhere, and that our president had fled to Poland. We also watched Russian news, so it was very difficult for our morale, adds Kateryna.

There was no proper medical care in the women's colony No. 9 in Valuyki. Olena notes that although doctors came and gave some medicines, their attitude towards the prisoners was extremely hostile.

Prison garment factory

Correctional Colony No. 9 hosts a garment factory, where Russian female prisoners work. It was there that captured Ukrainian women crossed paths with Russian convicts. Factory work is voluntary. Since the work is paid, many of the Ukrainian women and Russian inmates opted to do so.

Read also: President Zelenskyy gives his International Womens Day address

As prisoners of war, we had the right to humanitarian aid, but we earned money for toilet paper, toothpaste, or any other hygiene products by working in the factory, says Kateryna.

Communication between the captives and regular inmates was forbidden. No one would try to break this rule, as the Russian inmates were afraid of Ukrainian women.

Read also: Majority of Ukrainian citizens held captive in Russia subjected to torture, ombudsman says

One of the convicts tried to run away from us. She was doing some work outside, but when we stepped out, she abruptly turned around and began to run away, Kateryna recalls.

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Shannon Knox adjusts photos of overdose victims outside Los Angeles City Hall in observance of International Overdose Awareness Day on Aug. 31. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

A devastating surge in drug overdoses drove up deaths among unhoused people in Los Angeles County in recent years, along with the rising toll of traffic collisions and homicides, according to a public health department report released Friday.

The death rate increased 55% among people experiencing homelessness in L.A. County between 2019 and 2021, a markedly sharper increase than in the years before the COVID-19 pandemic, public health officials found.

More than 2,200 unhoused people died across the county in 2021  the first time the agency has reported an annual toll exceeding 2,000, said Will Nicholas, director of the Center for Health Impact Evaluation at the L.A. County Department of Public Health.

The bottom line is that "it's becoming more deadly or dangerous to be homeless," Nicholas said.

The leading cause of death was drug overdoses, which made up more than a third of deaths among homeless people in L.A. County in 2020 and 2021 combined, the report found.

Deadly overdoses often involved more than one drug, but the surging rate of overdose deaths appears to be tied to the explosive rise of fentanyl, public health officials said. The powerful synthetic opioid was implicated in 58% of deadly overdoses among unhoused people in L.A. County in 2021  nearly three times the percentage that had involved fentanyl in 2019.

Methamphetamine, in turn, was involved in nearly 77% of the overdose deaths. That figure, which had risen in recent years, was slightly higher among unhoused women than unhoused men, possibly because some women use meth to try to stay awake and avoid sexual assault on the street, the county report noted.

Nicholas said that people who overdosed solely on meth tended to be "considerably older," making them more vulnerable to health risks from stimulant use.

Both meth and fentanyl have been mingled with other drugs to deadly effect. More than 40% of overdose deaths among homeless people involved both fentanyl and methamphetamine in 2021, the county report found. Fentanyl deaths "almost always involved other drugs as well," but the public health department said it could not determine from the data whether people were using fentanyl on purpose or unknowingly.

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"It's just so hard to see people literally dying in the street when it doesn't have to happen," said Theo Krzywicki, chief executive of the nonprofit End Overdose.

Krzywicki, who also works as an L.A. city firefighter and paramedic, said that overdose calls have become alarmingly routine for his unit. As the pandemic began, his nonprofit also saw swelling demand for naloxone, a medication that can pull someone out of an opioid overdose.

"We regularly go through a few thousand doses a month," he said.

Fentanyl overdoses have skyrocketed in general in L.A. County, but the overdose crisis has hit unhoused people especially hard. Homeless people in the county were nearly 39 times more likely to die of drug overdoses than the general population, the report found.

The numbers underscore "the urgency of the overdose crisis, which is the worst in history" both locally and nationally, "as well as the fact that this is significantly impacting some of the most vulnerable members of our society," said Dr. Gary Tsai, director of the substance abuse prevention and control division in the public health department.

Tsai said the crisis has been particularly pronounced for unhoused people because of their higher rates of substance use disorder and mental health conditions, which increase the likelihood of drug use. And "people oftentimes will turn to drugs for some form of connection, or because of how disconnected they are from things that are important in life," he said.

What makes that even riskier, he said, is that many unhoused people are isolated, and using drugs alone ramps up their risk of dying from an overdose because there is no one there to intervene or call for help.

Meghan Hynes, an outreach volunteer and board member with the Sidewalk Project, which works in Skid Row, said she often urges people who are going to use drugs to let someone know beforehand.

Hynes said that people living on the street are also at higher risk of overdose because "you sometimes don't have the luxury of deciding, 'This batch seems better to me or safer to me'" when obtaining drugs. Checking for fentanyl with test strips can help, but "ideally you need water," which can be impractical on the street, she said.

The public health department calculated mortality rates per 100,000 people by comparing annual deaths among unhoused people to the total unhoused population in the county. To accurately compare mortality rates between groups of homeless people, it adjusted for age differences in their populations.

Among the unhoused population in L.A. County, the rates of overdose deaths have been highest  and continued to climb  among white people and those in their 50s and 60s. Homeless men are also dying of overdose at higher rates than women, the county report found.

The second-leading cause of death among people experiencing homelessness was coronary heart disease, which made up 14% of deaths among unhoused people in L.A. County in 2020 and 2021, followed by traffic injuries, which accounted for 8% of deaths. The fourth-leading killer of homeless people was homicide, the rate of which saw an unnerving increase of 49% between 2020 and 2021.

All in all, homeless people were dying at nearly four times the rate of the L.A. County general population during 2020 and 2021 combined, when adjusted for age and gender differences in the population.

That gap had widened since before the pandemic, partly due to a growing disparity in traffic-related deaths between housed and unhoused people, the report found. COVID-19 also killed homeless people at a higher rate than housed people in L.A. County.

"Being unhoused puts you at such a greater risk for mortality than the general population. It's not just overdoses," but also other health threats such as food insecurity that disproportionately affect unhoused people, said Sarah E. Clingan, an assistant project scientist at UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs.

To save lives, the L.A. County Public Health Department argued that many changes are needed, including ramping up the distribution of naloxone, commonly known under the brand name Narcan; improving access to medications such as methadone and buprenorphine that help people shake off addiction; expanding mobile clinics for unsheltered people; and moving forward with supervised sites where people can consume drugs so that trained staff can intervene and stop overdoses.

Last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a state bill to launch such supervised sites in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Oakland, although the governor said he remained open to the idea if local officials returned to the California Legislature with "comprehensive plans." Tsai said that in L.A. County, discussions are underway with law enforcement and other local officials.

Krzywicki, of End Overdose, said "we need more naloxone. We need more people down there really doing this outreach." And for homeless people, "you need to be able to put somebody in a safe and secure place where you can then provide them services."

Hynes, with the Sidewalk Project, said the latest numbers left her feeling "a little despondent."

"It is hard to see that we keep passing by all of these really viable, really effective options" such as overdose prevention sites, Hynes said. "We're really allowing this to happen. ... It's tragic and it's heartbreaking and sometimes it's hard to be hopeful.

"But we've got to keep doing the work," she said.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Ari Rabinovitch

GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A Palestinian armed group on Friday fired rockets towards Jerusalem for the first time in fighting this week, and Israel killed another militant leader with its air strikes in Gaza, while Egypt tried to forge a ceasefire.

Rocket sirens sounded in the town of Beit Shemesh and elsewhere in the hills outside Jerusalem, ending a 12-hour lull in fighting. Brief explosions could be heard in Jerusalem, possibly from Israeli missile defences intercepting the rockets.

The Israeli military said two rockets had been fired toward the Jerusalem area but did not confirm if they were intercepted. Local media reported that air defences shot them down. Israeli towns near the Gaza border also came under renewed fire. No injuries were reported.

Shortly afterwards, Israel resumed air strikes against the Islamic Jihad militant group in the Gaza Strip.

A senior leader, Eyad Al-Hasani, and his aide were killed in a strike on a Gaza apartment. Hasani was the sixth member of Islamic Jihad's top military council to be taken out by Israel this week.

Israeli forces launched an air strike campaign against the Islamic Jihad leadership in the early hours on Tuesday, accusing them of planning attacks on Israel. Islamic Jihad, the second largest armed group in Gaza after the ruling Islamist Hamas, has since fired almost 1,000 rockets, some deep into Israel.

At least 33 Palestinians in densely populated Gaza, including women and children, have been killed in the past three days, while one person in Israel was killed when an apartment was struck by a rocket in a Tel Aviv suburb.

In Gaza, a small impoverished coastal territory blockaded by Israel and Egypt since 2007, people woke up to empty streets, and many were keen for a respite after days of explosions.

'OUR LIFE HAS STOPPED'

Amin Abuelkheir hoped to reopen his fish restaurant after closing it four days ago. "Our life has stopped, the sea is closed to us, and we have stock that we are unable to sell. We hope there will be a truce," Abuelkheir said.

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Israelis, still on alert, ventured away from shelters at the start of the weekend to make Sabbath preparations after hours of quiet. But they again ran for cover when sirens pierced the late-morning calm.

The latest flare-up caps more than a year of resurgent Israeli-Palestinian violence that has killed more than 140 Palestinians and at least 19 Israelis and foreigners since January in a seemingly never-ending cycle.

Islamic Jihad spurns co-existence with Israel and preaches its destruction. Top ministers of Israel's current religious nationalist government rule out any state sought by Palestinians in territories captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war.

Israel's military said that almost 200 Palestinian rockets had misfired, and that such failed launches had killed four people inside Gaza, including a 10-year-old girl. Islamic Jihad denied that its rockets had misfired or caused deaths in Gaza.

As Egypt pressed on with mediation efforts, two Palestinian officials familiar with the talks said the sides were debating a draft proposed by Cairo.

Among truce terms, Islamic Jihad wants Israel to commit to ending strikes against its leaders. Israel has rejected that. Israel appeared to be hoping that Islamic Jihad, if depleted of rockets and commanders, would halt hostilities unilaterally.

At least 110 people have been injured in the Israeli air strikes that destroyed a number of buildings and damaged more than 300 apartments Gaza, where residents have been experiencing decades of a worsening humanitarian crisis.

Israel occupied the Gaza Strip and the West Bank in the 1967 war, as well as East Jerusalem which Palestinians want for their capital. Israeli forces and settlers withdrew from Gaza in 2005. Statehood talks between Israel and the mainstream Palestinian Authority, based in the West Bank, have been frozen since 2014.

(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi, James Mackenzie and Ari Rabinovitch, editing by Mark Heinrich)
DP World, a leading provider of smart logistics solutions from the United Arab Emirates, hosted a promotion event in Beijing on Thursday to encourage Chinese companies to invest in Dubai, a central trade hub for accessing the broader Middle East and North Africa region.

Hu Shengli, manager of the Department of Trade Development and Logistics of DP World, delivers a speech at the promotion event held in Beijing on May 12. [Photo provided to China.org.cn]

Hu Shengli, manager of the Department of Trade Development and Logistics of DP World, delivered a speech highlighting the benefits for Chinese companies investing in Dubai, particularly those aiming to access markets in the Middle East and North Africa. Jebel Ali Free Zone (Jafza), DP World's flagship free zone and the largest customs bonded zone in the Middle East, provides access to over 3.5 billion people around the world, Hu noted. He also emphasized Dubai's value and advantages as a key trading hub and DP World's dedication to facilitating international trade.

In recent years, over 6,000 Chinese companies have established operations in the UAE. Bilateral trade is forecast to grow to $200 billion in 2030, according to the website of Interest Group, a global administration services provider.

Tariq AITayer, assistant to the chairman of DP World, delivers a speech at the promotion event held in Beijing on May 12. [Photo provided to China.org.cn]

Over the years, Dubai has proven itself as not just a tourism hub, but also a trade and business center. Tariq AITayer, assistant to the chairman of DP World, said that more than 400 Chinese companies had established a presence in Jafza, creating over 1,500 jobs.

Dubai is an ecosystem of trade and industrial activity spanning over 100 square kilometers of dedicated space. Dubai is recognized as a platform for the region and should be viewed as a gateway for doing business with not only the Middle East, but East Africa and India as well, AITayer noted.

"There is no limit in terms of sectors, but the industrial, manufacturing, trade, import, and export sectors will benefit most from the incentives of Jafza," said AITayer.

Yingke Global Executive Director Yang Lin delivers a speech at the promotion event held in Beijing on May 12. [Photo provided to China.org.cn]

Yingke, a global law firm from China and one of the event's organizers, provided insights into the legal environment and compliance issues relevant to Chinese investors in the UAE.

More than 40 companies from various fields, including logistics, medical health and manufacturing, attended the event.

According to UAE Commercial Office to China, the trade between the two countries had grown significantly over the past few years, making China UAE's top strategic trading partner achieving more than US$72 billion in non-oil trade in 2022, a year-on-year increase of 18%.
By Tom Sims and Enrico Dela Cruz

FRANKFURT/MANILA (Reuters) -A Filipino priest is touring top European banks to demand they curtail ties with companies behind new fossil fuel projects in a region of his home country that is rich in fish and coral. But he is leaving his meetings with bankers feeling frustrated.

The priest, Edwin Gariguez, and the environmentalists accompanying him are just the latest activists from around the globe to make a case in person to banks that they should be bolder in cutting off financing for polluting industries.

Gariguez and his colleagues are calling on banks - including Standard Chartered, Barclays, Deutsche Bank and UBS - to stop lending, underwriting and investing in Shell and the conglomerate San Miguel. Both are behind new and planned liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals in the so-called Verde Island Passage - a region he calls the "Amazon of the oceans".

Many big banks have been marketing themselves as lenders that firms can turn to as they transition to a greener future, a strategy they view as also key to boosting profits. The lenders have favoured a gradual approach, tightening their policies on financing the coal industry but slower to clamp down on oil and gas financing in a disappointment to activists.

"It's really frustrating on my part," Gariguez said on a stopover in Frankfurt after meetings with Deutsche Bank and DWS. "We expect accountability and a more meaningful response, but it's not coming".

Standard Chartered, Deutsche Bank and UBS responded with separate statements saying they engage with NGOs and were working to reduce emissions. They didn't comment on clients but said they have guidelines in place for financing.

DWS confirmed the meeting but didn't provide details. Barclays and San Miguel didn't respond.

Shell, which has long had infrastructure in the area, said it had studied the feasibility of an LNG plant in Batangas but hadn't made a final investment decision. Shell is "stepping up our environmental ambitions", it said.

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Earlier this year, a tanker sank off the nearby province of Oriental Mindoro carrying 800,000 litres (211,338 gallons) of industrial fuel oil, threatening reefs, mangroves and sea-grass.

Gariguez said the disaster had contaminated the fish eaten by him and his parishioners, highlighting urgency and risk.

"People really lost their livelihood," he said.

Gariguez, formerly head of humanitarian group Caritas Philippines, won the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2012 and currently coordinates the activist group ProtectVIP.

San Miguel, whose pale pilsner is known in many parts of the world and is now one of the biggest power producers in Philippines, aims to restart its 1,200 megawatt Ilijan power plant in Batangas with LNG stored nearby.

On its website, San Miguel says: "As sustainability champions, we hold ourselves accountable."

The nation's Department of Energy sees LNG as a "transition fuel", as it moves away from coal-fired power generation toward more renewable energy.

(Editing by Mark Potter)
Two years ago on Mother's Day, one St. Johns County mother lost a daughter and another for all intents and purposes lost a son.

Nearly two years to the day that 14-year-old Aiden Fucci stabbed classmate and friend Tristyn Bailey, 13, to death in their Durbin Crossing neighborhood, Crystal Lane Smith pleaded no contest to tampering with evidence. Trying to protect him from what she perceived was his likely involvement, she scrubbed what DNA evidence determined to be blood from his jeans that morning. It was caught on their family's own video security system.

Friday, the Bailey family and the prosecution agreed with Smith and her defense team to forgo Monday's trial, much like Fucci did moments before his jury was scheduled to be selected on Feb. 6. Fucci pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison.

Following Smith's no-contest plea Friday in the St. Johns County Courthouse, Judge R. Lee Smith sentenced her to the agreed-upon five years of probation under the condition she serves 30 days in jail. She is credited with one day already served and can apply for early probation termination after three years. She faced up to five years in prison for the third-degree felony, according to Florida statutes.

Tristyn Bailey Strong memorial: Slain teen Tristyn Bailey remembered on second anniversary of her murder

Crystal Smith: With Aiden Fucci sentenced, here's the status of his mother's tampering arrest

Forrest and Stacy Bailey, the parents of Tristyn Bailey, embrace after Crystal Smith's no-contest plea and sentencing is completed in her tampering with evidence case Friday. Smith, the mother of convicted murderer Aiden Fucci, had tried to conceal blood from her 14-year-old son's jeans the morning Tristyn disappeared.

Smith, 37, appeared not to look in the direction of the Bailey family in the front row of the courtroom during Friday's proceedings.

Tristyn's mother, Stacy Bailey, didn't pass up the opportunity to come to the bench to address Smith: Something she said she has gone over in her head for two years.

"Would my words be ignored or would they carry weight?" she said. "Would you truly hear me and understand how your actions have devastated not only my family, our kids classmates, our family friends, our community and the people across the world? Do you see the hurt that you have caused by your extended family? Would you ever be able to understand the devastating pain we live through daily?

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"I may never know the answer, but this is my one chance to tell the irreparable damage that you have caused by your actions that will forever be etched into our lives," Bailey continued. "I have tried to put myself in your shoes on that fateful day a thousand times, but I cant. I can never get there because you see, I could never put someone elses child in harms way for my own, no matter the consequences."

Smith's choices that she made on Mothers Day, May 9, 2021, will haunt Bailey the rest of her life, she said.

"What I cannot understand is how you knew our child was missing, your son was the last known person to see her, and yet you see something suspicious on his jeans and try to wash it out," she said. "All of the while you did not know if our child was injured or even alive, but you did nothing to help.  At what point did you ever stop to think about Tristyns well-being?"

Smith, through her attorney Matthew Kachergus, expressed her sorrow and that she hopes now everyone can heal from such tragedy.

Crystal Smith, right, and part of her defense team prepare for her no-contest plea in her tampering with evidence trial Friday in a St. Johns County courtroom. She is the mother of Aiden Fucci, who is serving a life sentence in the 2021 slaying of Tristyn Bailey, 13.

No one with the exception of one person knew what had happened to Tristyn," Kachergus said. "Certainly Ms. Smith did not know what had occurred. She was a frantic mother trying to determine what was going on with her son. Only later was she made aware of the horrible crime that had been committed. She apologizes for any additional suffering her conduct caused the Bailey family."

With court proceedings surrounding Tristyns death coming to an end, he said they hope it will allow everyone affected to begin to find peace and try to heal.

Fucci, who was sentenced on March 24, never explained why he stabbed Tristyn over a hundred times, but some of his friends said he forewarned them he wanted to feel what it was like to kill someone. They didn't think he was serious though, according to court documents.

Home security video showed Smith retrieving and scrubbing a pair of jeans that Fucci had worn the day Tristyn went missing after they were hanging out. Then Smith was seen showing them to another family member before putting them back in his room. This also was after deputies had arrived at their home to question the boy, and Fucci left with them so he could show where he last saw Tristyn, according to court records.

Forensics would eventually determine the jeans contained blood.

St. Johns County's most horrific case: Aiden Fucci stabbed 13-year-old Tristyn Bailey 114 times. Here's everything to know

Victim impact statements: Tristyn Bailey's family describes never-ending torment Aiden Fucci has put them through

Tristyn Bailey: As Aiden Fucci learns fate, 'Bailey 7' urges for Tristyn's legacy not to be forgotten

Before Aiden Fucci: These juveniles were charged as adults in high-profile Jacksonville-area cases

Tristyn was later found stabbed to death in some woods near their homes that Mother's Day. While Smith and Fucci's father questioned him in a Sheriff's Office holding room, he never revealed what actually happened, according to the investigation's video.

But Smith had suspicions and asked him if he was sure nothing was on his jeans, whispering "Blood." She had also informed him Tristyn had been found dead and he was in a lot of trouble being the last one seen with her.

She was arrested June 4, 2021, on the tampering charge and released the next day on $25,000 bond, according to jail records.

Aiden Fucci's mother, Crystal Smith, questions him in a holding room at the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office during the investigation of the May 9, 2021, death of Tristyn Bailey.

Witnesses during the presentencing phase for Fucci indicated he had a fairly normal upbringing, despite some troubles in school and potential red flags. Smith had not attended her son's court proceedings while awaiting her own trial as recommended by her attorney, but she did submit letters to the judge and the Bailey family during his sentencing phase.

Here's an excerpt: "As a mother, the love you have for your child is difficult to articulate to others, unless they're a mother themself. To be helpless to protect your child is a mother's worst living nightmare. To cope with such a loss is unimaginable. I grieve for the devastating loss of Tristyn, I grieve for the subsequent arrest of my son, and I grieve for the irreparable agony inflicted on the Bailey family, as well as all other friends and families effected. Most of all, however, I grieve for Stacy Bailey as a mother."

The Baileys said they still question her sincerity.

Parents should always strive to teach their children integrity, honesty and responsibility,State Attorney R.J. Larizza said of the case. What the defendant did was not protecting her child she was assisting him in avoiding responsibility for an extraordinarily vicious and mercilesscrime. And that is a crime in more ways than one.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Aiden Fucci's mom pleads no contest to tampering in Tristyn Bailey murder
Mack Hogan

VinFast faces an uphill battle. The Vietnamese company, a subsidiary of the countrys largest private employer VinGroup, is attempting to launch an all-electric car brand in America in a crowded market. Legacy automakers, no-name newcomers, and market leaders like Tesla are all trying to sell Americans on electric crossovers. As an utter unknown from an obscure brand, VinFasts VF8 has to be great to have any hope of poaching buyers.

It isnt great. It isnt even good.

Mack Hogan

The paint quality, interior design, switchgear, and Pininfarina exterior styling meet industry standards, and the car worked during our 90-minute drive without mechanical failure. But in the context of the American EV market, where the $56,000 VinFast VF8 City Edition Plus I drove is up against mature, excellent products, the whole endeavor seems hopeless.

The problem isnt as apparent on paper. The VF8 City Edition is an all-electric five-seat crossover, bigger than a Volkswagen ID.4, offering 207 miles of range in Eco trim or 191 in the upscale Plus variant. Thats below average for the class, but the City Edition is also the temporary early-adopter offering. The cars en route from Vietnam are standard editions. Theyll have not-yet-certified EPA ranges of 264 and 243 miles for the Eco and Plus, respectively. That VinFast chose to equip the first batch with a less-dense battery from Samsung when its long-term and volume battery supplier is CATL is just one of many questionable decisions in the VF8s gestation.

Vinfast

Still, the all-wheel-drive-only VF8 City Edition produces an adequate 349 hp in the Eco guise and 402 hp in the spendier Plus model. In the Plus model I sampled, there was plenty of power for daily driving, enabling a 0-60 time of 5.5 seconds. None of these specs are astounding, but all of them put the VF8 in line with the competition.

Where it falls behind is in the execution. You dont notice it until you get inside, as the attractive bodywork and high-quality paint are two of the only execution highlights. As soon as I sat in the overstuffed, unsupportive seats, though, I noticed flaws. The entire door card flexes when you pull the handle shut. The panel gaps are large and inconsistent. The icons on the center screen are visibly pixelated and respond inconsistently. Buttons are made of nice materials but feel mushy.

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Mack Hogan

Whatever. These are nuances that even established carmakers get wrong. The unforgivable stuff happens when youre in motion.

The VinFast VF8 has the worst body control of any modern car Ive ever driven. Over a 90-minute drive, the 5600-lb SUV never stopped bobbing, swaying, and bucking, producing near-constant head-tossing motions. Riding in the passenger seat, I became car sick for the first time in years. When I switched seats with the driver, he felt queasy, too, even though he says hes never been the type to get car sick. Despite the firmness you feel over impacts, though, the VF8 is also sloppy and prone to excessive roll in corners. It is unclear if this is the result of poor tuning or fundamental issues with the vehicles suspension geometry (control blades at the rear, smart axles at the front), but the ride quality alone is enough to disqualify the VF8 from serious consideration.

Steering, too, is the worst Ive experienced on a production car. There is zero feel. Not zero feel in the hyperbolic way some people use to describe modern BMWs or boring CUVs, zero feel as in no relation between what I felt happening as I turned the wheel and what the wheels were actually doing. The turn in was relatively lazy and then somewhere in the ratio it gets sharper, but with no complementary change in force required. Mid-way through a corner, the nose would suddenly tuck in and upset the balance of the car, which was already listing over in unpredictable ways. Anything more than a dawdling pace felt sketchy.

Vinfast

Not that I wanted to rush, anyway, as the VF8 did not inspire confidence under braking. On any slight downward slope, the car bucked and heaved under braking, squirming underfoot. Hard acceleration was equally uninviting due to the suspensions inability to cope with serious forces.

Even cruising at a steady speed on flat ground, the VF8 had issues. The vehicle we drove had just under 900 miles on the odometer and had been prepped by VinFast corporate for the event. Yet it was clearly out of alignment. It pulled hard to the right on the highway. At least the lane keeping aids and adaptive cruise control worked.

Vinfast

When the cars hardware wasnt annoying or scaring me, its software was. Talking about the car prompted its Hey Vinfast smart assistant to pop up, but attempting to use it was a fools errand. It would occasionally correctly interpret the words of a command, displaying what we said on the screen, but still fail to execute the valid command. That was far from the biggest issue, though. The car beeped and flashed warnings and buzzers constantly. Disabling the various warnings required a deep exploration into the infotainment systems confounding menu structure. Each setting required two more taps than I expected, and never lived under the sub-menu youd first check. I should have taken notes, because turning off the car reset all of the driver aid settings.

Other journalists at the event reported various malfunctions and issues, though none were consistent among all of the assembled VF8s. One group reported no major issues and no other journalists had the alignment problem, so my experience may not be entirely representative. Everyone, however, agreed on a few things: The software and constant beeping was annoying; the quality and details were questionable; and the ride was abysmal.

Mack Hogan

I could continue, but I trust you understand that the VF8 has a litany of issues that would prevent me from ever recommending it. Perhaps more importantly, the company could not seem to articulate a compelling reason why anyone should choose one over the competition. VinFast Innovation and Concepts Lead Jonathan Chen said that the pitch for the VF8 is that it offers good storage room, best-in-class aesthetics, and smart service features that are better than the market. Pressed on what sort of digital experience VinFast customers get thats better than the competition, he said the car has standard CarPlay, Android Auto, and on-board TuneIn and iHeartRadio functionality. Sure, great.

The company also has a digital video partner that its excited to announce soon. Lets hope its more impressive than Teslas video partner, Netflix.

Vinfast

The CEO of VinFast USA, Van Anh Nguyen, had a different pitch. She said the brands appeal is in selling beautifully crafted and built spacious SUVs, using inclusive pricing and sales policies, and quality products, thats for sure.

While the VF8 City Edition Eco is available for $414 a month with $5729 at signing, and undeniably spacious, quality is a big unknown for the entire brand. As we spoke, Nguyen sat 15 feet from a VF9 prototype, which was propped up by jack stands in the rear after the air suspension deflated. One executive told me that it had deflated in transit, and that it wouldnt happen in a customer driveway. When I asked if itd re-inflate if they turned it on, he said yes, but said there was no charger next to it and they didnt want to deplete the battery. Im not sure who he expected to believe that. Later on, I mentioned the clearly malfunctioning air suspension to the companys director of communications, and he offered a different explanation: Its a prototype.

Mack Hogan

Thats what the company said when journalists drove pre-production VF8s in Vietnam. The assumption is that itll be fixed by the time the car launches, but our experience with explicitly production-spec VF8s didnt inspire confidence. The company is so focused on getting to market that it doesnt appear to be worried about getting everything right. At least VinFast is offering an impressive 10-year, 125,000-mile comprehensive warranty, so that teething issues will be worked out on the company dime. That gives the company some room to take risks, to be bold. According to Nguyen, moving fast is in the companys DNA. She beamed with pride when she noted that work on the VF8 started three or four years ago. Even for carbuilders with decades of experience, it is exceedingly rare to develop and launch an all-new platform for a new market in under 5 years.

However, I like to emphasize that working with urgency doesnt mean that we are taking shortcuts, she told Road & Track. We are not cutting corners in anything. In manufacturing, or in engineering, we still have to take all of the steps that the company needed.

Vinfast

I cant say I agree. Also on the company agenda: Launching Canada next week, launching the standard edition VF8 this year, launching the VF9 this year, and then launching the VF6 and VF7 within the following year. Its a cadence few automakers in the world could pull off.

The ambition is commendable. Going into the drive, I wanted to give the company the benefit of the doubt. The small-market conglomerate turned international automotive power player is a story weve heard before, from both Hyundai and Kia. Like the early export cars from those brands, though, the VF8 is starting things off on rough footing. The car is simply unfinished, wholly uncompetitive, and in all honesty among the worst modern cars I have ever driven. Getting it into production and over the many regulatory hurdles for the U.S. market was an undeniable feat. But the real work lies ahead. If VinFast wants enough market share to justify its sizable investment in its upcoming U.S. manufacturing facility, itll have to do a lot better than this.

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NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's Go First has been granted bankruptcy protection that will give it time to get back on its feet, but the move has put the country's fourth-largest airline at odds with lessors who want to repossess planes for missed rental payments.

Go First blames U.S. engine maker Pratt & Whitney for delaying engine supplies that led to the grounding of half its 54 Airbus A320neos. Pratt, part of Raytheon Technologies, says the claim is without merit, and the two sides are waging legal battles in India, Singapore and Delaware.

The dispute comes as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi touts the country's emergence as an aviation powerhouse.

BANKRUPTCY PROTECTION AND PILOT WOES:

* A tribunal in New Delhi on May 10 granted bankruptcy protection to Go First, imposing a moratorium on the recovery of planes and other assets.

* Go First's voluntary pursuit of bankruptcy protection to renegotiate contracts and debt marks a first for an Indian airline. CEO Kaushik Khona has hailed the tribunal's decision as "historic".

* A resolution professional appointed to run Go Airlines (India) has told staff in a townhall the airline needs to raise funds to resume operations.

* Many pilots from crisis-hit Go First are looking for new jobs. Early in May, they flocked to a hotel near Delhi for walk-in interviews.

FIGHT WITH PRATT, LESSORS:

* Go First has approached a Delaware court to enforce an arbitration order won in Singapore the requires Pratt to supply spare engines. Pratt is opposing the order, saying it now faces much higher risks after the Indian airline sought bankruptcy protection.

* Go First blames problems with Pratt's geared turbofan (GTF) engines for the crisis.

* Pratt has argued Go First failed because of "its own poor management and events like COVID".

* The world's second largest aircraft lessor, SMBC Aviation Capital, has warned the decision to block leasing firms from reclaiming Go First planes will spark a crisis of confidence in India's airline industry. Jackson Square Aviation and Bank of China Aviation have also expressed concern about getting their planes back.

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* Leasing watchdog Aviation Working Group has put India on a watchlist with a negative outlook saying it failed to comply with international aircraft repossession norms.

GO FIRST OWNERS, LENDERS:

* Go First is owned by India's Wadia group. The Mumbai-based conglomerate was founded in 1736 by Loeji Nusserwanjee Wadia.

* India's Wadia Group is completely committed to the company and has no plans to exit it, the airline's CEO said on May 3.

* Lenders were not aware of the airline's plans to file for voluntary insolvency. Go First owes financial creditors 65.21 billion rupees ($798 million).

* Sources say lenders will classify their loans to the company as "non-performing" in the current quarter but are hopeful the collateral backing the loans will reduce the amount of any loss they have to take.

(Reporting by Aditya Kalra; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
Two men who admitted to cheating during a fishing tournament in Ohio were sentenced to 10-day jail terms, prosecutors said Thursday.

Jacob Runyan, 43, and Chase Cominsky, 36, were also required to forfeit Cominsky's boat, worth an estimated $130,000, officials said. Both men's fishing licenses were suspended for three years, the maximum amount allowed by law, and will spend a year and a half on probation after they complete their jail terms. Runyan and Cominsky must also each pay a $2,500 fine.

"Although these two deserve to have their fishing license suspended for life, the law only allows a maximum of three years," Prosecutor Michael O'Malley said. "These two should be banned from every fishing tournament for life. They are thieves and now they are convicted felons."

The sentencing came months after the pair were accused of stuffing fish with lead weights and fish filets in an attempt to win the Lake Erie Walleye Trail tournament in September 2022. Teams compete in the tournament to see who can catch the five heaviest walleye in Lake Erie. The winner gets a prize of $28,760.

In a dramatic scene that was caught on video, the tournament director noticed Runyan and Cominsky's walleyes were heavier than they looked and cut open the fish, revealing the metal weights and several fish filets inside. The fishermen were disqualified and told to leave the tournament.

Runyan and Cominsky pleaded guilty in March to cheating and unlawful ownership of wild animals.

O'Malley said he's convinced "these two crooks" have cheated in other tournaments.

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A Mexican restaurant in Oceano was devastated by a fire early Friday morning, according to the Five Cities Fire Authority.

Rosalba Rodriguez, owner of Los Tamales Poblanos Mexican Food at 1773 Front St., said and no one was in the building at the time of the fire. There were no injuries.

She was at the scene Friday morning, looking over the blackened shell of her business.

Rodriguez, who has owned and operated the restaurant for the past 16 years, said she has insurance but is unsure whether the destruction would be covered.

Los Tamales Poblanos Mexican Food owner Rosalba Rodriguez, left, stands with Antonio Hernandez the morning after a fire destroyed the restaurant. 5 Cities Fire Authority and Cal Fire extinguished the fire on Front Street in Oceano early Friday morning, May 12, 2023.

The Five Cities Fire Authority arrived on the scene at 1:30 a.m. on Friday to find the restaurant fully engulfed in flames.

It was bad, Five Cities Fire Authority Chief Steve Lieberman said.

The fire threatened to spread to a home behind the restaurant, along with other buildings tightly placed all around, Lieberman said.

People in the surrounding buildings had already evacuated themselves when the Fire Department arrived, he said.

FCFA and @CALFIRE_SLO on scene of a fully involved commercial fire - 1700 Block Front Street. Second alarm resources requested. No injuries to report. Defensive attack with multiple exposures. #5citiesfire pic.twitter.com/ZpbspIsusk  Five Cities Fire (@5CitiesFirePIO) May 12, 2023

The biggest stressor was the active fire in the restaurant, but more importantly the buildings that were under threat around it, Lieberman said.

Lieberman couldnt confirm if the fire spread past the restaurant.

When firefighters arrived on the scene, the flames were so severe that they couldnt enter the building. The team took a defense attack, using a massive hose to douse the flames in the restaurant and also the surrounding buildings to prevent them from catching fire, too.

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Firefighters work to extinguish a blaze Los Tamales Poblanos Mexican Food on Front Street in Oceano early Friday morning May 12, 2023.

Within 90 minutes, the firefighters had reduced the blaze and were able to scale down their response, Lieberman said.

Cal Fire, the SLO City Fire Department, the SLO County Sheriffs Office, the Oceano CSD Utilities Division and even an ambulance also responded to the scene.

Firefighters work to extinguish a blaze Los Tamales Poblanos Mexican Food on Front Street in Oceano early Friday morning May 12, 2023.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

Jami Wozniak, a school counselor at Judkins Middle School, was at the restaurant Friday morning and said she is coordinating relief efforts for the family, focusing on grocery and gas gift cards.

Those who want to contribute can call 805-474-3600.
London is the most searched destination in Europe, followed by Paris and Rome. franckreporter/Getty Images

Tickets to Europe are averaging just under $1,200, a 37% increase compared to both 2019 and 2022.

There's high demand for international summer travel and likely not enough seats to satisfy it.

The costs are likely to cool next summer as travel goes back to normal.

Americans have their eyes set on international travel  and Europe especially.

Searches for international flights are 42% higher than they were this time last year, with destinations in Europe topping the list, according to travel websites Kayak and Hopper.

Prices have also surged. Airfare to Europe is averaging just under $1,200 per round trip ticket, Hopper's lead economist Hayley Berg told Insider, a 37% increase compared to both 2019 and 2022. If you want to fly to Europe this summer, you're likely going to spend $300 more than you would have before the pandemic.

"Most travelers were looking at domestic trips last year," Berg said. "This year they've had the time to really plan European vacations, so we're seeing outsized demand for travel to Europe, but as of May there's still only about 84% of the capacity that was available pre-pandemic."

A lot of demand and not enough seats puts immediate upward pressure on prices, she said.

Airlines like United and Delta have been ramping up their US to Europe flights, increasing capacity by 31% and 13% respectively compared to 2019, according to data by the flight database OAG seen by Insider.

But others still haven't caught up to pre-pandemic levels. German giant Lufthansa, for example, has a planned summer 2023 capacity that is 19% less than what it had in 2019.

Additionally, while jet fuel is cheaper than last year's record highs, it's still pretty expensive at around $90 per barrel.

"Long haul flights are high cost to operate," Berg explained. "So the airline really needs a full plane to realize a lot of revenue on those routes, and you have to charge more to keep the margin."

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Trending destinations in Europe include the usual suspects  London, Paris, Rome  but also less popular places, like Milan, Italy; Montenegro; and the Canary Islands in Spain, according to Berg.

Asia is right behind Europe in terms of searches, with ticket prices averaging at over $1,800, a 62% increase compared to pre-pandemic times.

The price increases are dizzying, but fortunately, they're probably not here to stay. Last year, it was flights within the US that had their most expensive summer in years, averaging $376 round trip. That was mostly due to jet fuel prices and lack of capacity, but prices for 2023 have normalized.

"Next summer for international will be less expensive than this summer and probably start returning to some level of normalcy similar to what happened with domestic," Berg said.

In the meantime, if you really can't give up on Europe in 2023 and don't want to spend too much, she suggests waiting until September to go.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Production numbers for Floridas orange crop continue to decline as the citrus industrys storm-battered season nears an end.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Friday issued a forecast that said Florida growers this season are on pace to fill 15.65 million boxes of oranges, which would be the lowest total since the 1934-1935 season. The new forecast also was down from an April projection of 16.1 million boxes.

Florida growers produced 41.2 million boxes of oranges during the 2021-2022 session, which itself saw a large decline.

While additional numbers will be released in June and July, Florida Citrus Mutual CEO Matt Joyner called Fridays forecast the end of a difficult harvest season and said the focus has turned to next season. In addition to sustaining heavy damage in last falls Hurricane Ian, the industry has battled for two decades against deadly citrus greening disease and development pressures.

There are many reasons for Florida growers to be optimistic about the comeback of Floridas signature crop, Joyner said. New treatment methods applied this season are proving effective. The Florida Legislature delivered tremendous support for the industry in the form of funding for greening research, replanting assistance and hurricane relief.

Lawmakers last week passed a proposed 2023-2024 budget that would increase funding for different aspects of the citrus industry to about $65 million.

If the spending is approved by Gov. Ron DeSantis, the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services would get $49.5 million for citrus protection and research, including large-scale field trials on trees that are resistant to Huanglongbing, which is the formal name for citrus greening, and pests. Among other things, the state Department of Citrus would get $5 million for marketing.

The budget for the current year, which will end June 30, includes $37 million to assist the citrus industry.

Just over two decades ago, the state produced about 200 million industry-standard 90-pound boxes of oranges and 50 million boxes of grapefruit a season.

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The federal forecast Friday gave grapefruit production a slight boost, putting it at an estimated 1.8 million boxes this season. That was up from 1.6 million boxes in a March forecast and 1.7 million boxes in an April forecast.

But that is still down from 3.33 million boxes produced during the 2021-2022 growing season.

Fridays forecast for specialty crops, listed as tangerines and mandarins, held steady for a third consecutive month at 500,000 boxes. Last season, specialty crops filled 750,000 boxes.

Combined, the box count would be the lowest since the 1929-1930 season, when the industry faced a Mediterranean fruit-fly invasion and growers were still recovering from severe hurricanes in 1926 and 1928.

The 2022-2023 seasons first forecast came in October, shortly after Hurricane Ian hit the state in late September and caused widespread damage to groves. The growing season, which ends in June, also took a hit from a winter freeze.

John Kiernan, president and chief executive officer of the Fort Myers-based Alico Inc., a major citrus grower, said in a quarterly earnings report last week that the company is focused on preparing groves for the 2023-2024 season.

Based upon prior experience with storms of this nature (Ian), we anticipate it may take up to two full seasons, or more, for our groves to recover to pre-hurricane production levels, Kiernan said in the report.

Alico has been able to navigate through the impacts of Hurricane Ian and unseasonably warm and dry weather over the past several months only through the investments and actions that the company has taken over the past several years, Kiernan added.

Alico blamed a decline in production to greater fruit drop caused by Ian, though it noted it received $1.6 million in gross proceeds from selling 278 acres of ranchland.

In a prepared statement, Kiernan said the company had received about $13.7 million in crop-insurance money over the first four months of 2023, with additional claims pending.

The industry also continues to await federal storm assistance approved in December, though the allocation process remains unclear.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed legislation Friday banning any central bank digital currency (CBDC) issued by the U.S. for use in Florida.

The new law prohibits the use of a federally adopted CBDC as money within Floridas Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), institutes protections against a central global currency by prohibiting any CBDC by a foreign reserve or sanctioned central bank and calls on likeminded states to join in adopting similar legislation.

The Biden administrations efforts to inject a Centralized Bank Digital Currency is about surveillance and control, said DeSantis in a press release when the bill was first introduced.

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According to DeSantis, a federally controlled CBDC would give government officials the ability to see all consumer activity and even cut off access to goods and services for consumers.

Sometimes government will do things where they provide kind of a benevolent rationale for what theyre doing but its really nothing more than a wolf in sheeps clothing. Well I think with central bank digital currency, this is a wolf coming as a wolf. DeSantis said at a Friday press conference before signing the bill. This is something that will be a massive transfer of power from individual consumers to a central authority. And thats just fundamentally antithetical to a free society.

However, the Federal Reserve has made no decisions to implement or pursue a CBDC. The institute has spent time exploring potential benefits and risks from all angles.

In its most recent published paper on the topic, the Federal Reserve said if one were to be created, it would need to best serve the needs of the United States by being privacy-protected, intermediated, widely transferable, and identity-verified.

What is CBDC?

The Federal Reserve defines CBDC as a digital form of central bank money widely available to the general public. In the U.S., there are two types of central bank money: Physical money issued by the Federal Reserve and digital balances held by commercial banks at the Federal Reserve. Central bank money is money the central bank is liable for.

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Digital currency isnt a new idea. Most people have bank accounts, used payment apps or have made purchases online. A CBDC is different in that the liability will be held by the Federal Reserve rather than a commercial bank.

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What are the benefits of a CBDC?

CBDC has the potential to offer several advantages. It could offer households and businesses an electronic and convenient form of central bank money, ensuring safety and liquidity. Additionally, it could provide entrepreneurs with a platform to develop new financial products and services, enabling faster and cheaper payments, including cross-border payments. It could also expand consumer access to the financial system.

What are the cons of a CBDC?

A CBDC could also pose certain risks and would raise a variety of important policy questions, including how it might affect financial-sector market structure, the cost and availability of credit, the safety and stability of the financial system and the efficacy of monetary policy.

Can you buy CBDC?

If youre an American citizen looking to use a CBDC in the U.S., then the short answer is that you cant. The Federal Reserve has made no plans to implement a CBDC for use in the country. However, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Atlanta and Boston have ongoing research projects.

In January 2022, the Federal Reserve published its research findings in a paper titled Money and Payments: The U.S. Dollar in the Age of Digital Transformation. The 40-page paper can be accessed here: https://bit.ly/3Tykksz.

How many types of CBDCs are there?

There are two broad categories of CBDC: Retail and wholesale, though there is a spectrum of hybrid models between the categories. A retail system is the consumer component that allows them to own a CBDC in a wallet or account and use it for payments. Wholesale systems are meant for financial institutions, allowing for faster transactions, cross-border payments and more. Most countries are developing either retail or hybrid models.

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Which countries have CBDCs?

There are around 90 countries currently exploring CBDCs but only a handful have launched products: The Central Bank of the Bahamas (Sand Dollar), the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (DCash), the Central Bank of Nigeria (e-Naira), the Bank of Jamaica (JamDex) and the Reserve Bank of India (Digital Rupee).

Will CBDC replace cash?

The Federal Reserve says that its consideration of CBDC is a means to expand safe payment options, not to reduce or replace them.

Would using a CBDC put your privacy at risk?

Protecting consumer privacy is one of the most important topics covered in the Federal Reserve's paper. Their analysis concluded that an intermediate model should be considered, allowing the private sector to offer accounts or digital wallets that would manage CBDC holdings and payments. This would allow the system to use the already-established privacy and identity-management frameworks used by the private sector.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: DeSantis bans CBDC in Florida. Central bank digital currency explained
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed legislation to prohibit vaccine and mask mandates on Thursday.

DeSantis' announced his four new "Prescribe Freedom" bills during an event in Destin. Senate Bill 252 prohibits workplaces, government agencies and schools from requiring COVID-19 vaccination or masks.

The governor began his speech by referencing the intense criticism that Florida faced during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Everything we were doing in Florida, we were getting attacked. We were getting attacked by bureaucrats like Fauci. We were being attacked by the political left. We were being attacked by corporate media. And we were even attacked by some Republicans," DeSantis said.

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed his "Prescribe Freedom" legislation on Thursday banning vaccine and mask mandate in the state.

"I mean, that's just kind of the way it goes. But we stuck to our guns because we believe that we are doing the right thing for the state," he added.

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The legislation also formally denounces World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations in Florida. It also protects alternative COVID-19 treatments.

"You should have the right to try these [alternative COVID-19 treatments] under the supervision of your physician, and that is protected in the state of Florida," DeSantis said.

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DeSantis' mask and vaccine mandates apply to government offices, schools and workplaces in Florida.

Another component of the legislation is Senate Bill 1387, which bans gain-of-function research. DeSantis said gain-of-function research in Wuhan, China, was likely to blame for the pandemic.

"What we know is there was gain-of-function research being conducted at Wuhan, and that very likely led to the emergence of COVID-19. And yet there really isn't effective regulation," the governor said.

Senate Bill 1580 also ensures freedom of speech and whistleblower protections for physicians.

"We want our physicians practicing evidence based medicine. We don't want it to just defer to authority or to just follow the herd," DeSantis explained. "So that is now law in the state of Florida."

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FILE - Anti-vaccine protesters stage a protest in California.

DeSantis' remarks come nearly a week after the WHO announced that the COVID-19 pandemic was no longer a global emergency.

But despite the announcement, WHO officials still warn that the pandemic is technically not over. Countries in Southeast Asia and the Middle East have reported some spikes in COVID-19 cases.
A Florida judge on Thursday night blocked an emergency program from the Department of Homeland Security that would allow some migrants arriving at the U.S. southern border to enter the country for a limited period while they await processing, just hours before Title 42, a pandemic-era immigration rule, is set to expire.

The ruling, by T. Kent Wetherell II, a judge appointed by former President Donald Trump, claims the emergency program closely resembles a similar parole program vacated by him back in March. Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody filed the emergency motion for a temporary restraining order in the the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida.

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In a bid to thwart a ruling against their favor, DHS and U.S. Border Patrol wrote to the judge that the Biden administration had put in place several policies designed to mitigate the use of parole, or the practice of releasing migrants into the country as they await future immigration proceedings.

But given the limitations on other available options, once those options are exhausted, parole may be a necessary alternative, the government wrote. An order restricting DHSs parole authority on the eve of this crisis has the serious potential to cause chaos and undermine the security of the border and the safety of border officials.

Ahead of the end of Title 42, a public health order that allowed the government to expel migrants due to concerns over the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, the administration has said that migrants must register for appointments with Customs and Border Patrol before arriving at the U.S. southern border to claim asylum, or else risk deportation to Mexico and a presumption of ineligibility for entry into the United States for up to five years.

Still, the government wrote to Wetherell, a significant risk remains that the increase in arrivals will be great enough that these measures are insufficient to mitigate the risk of overcrowding at border facilities that could overwhelm the border and raise serious health and safety risks to noncitizens and immigration officials.

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Parole with Conditions, the government wrote of the proposed emergency program, is designed not for operational convenience, but rather precisely for such an emergency situation at the border. Thus, it can only be used in certain exigent circumstances, such as where U.S. Border Patrol has apprehended over 7,000 noncitizens per day across the southwest border over a 72-hour period, or where the average time in custody has exceeded 60 hours.

Already, even before Title 42 ended on Thursday, government officials acknowledged that over 10,000 migrant encounters had occurred across the border in that time period. The letter to the judge acknowledges that migrant encounters at the border are expected to skyrocket.

Wetherell ruled that Florida had standing based on his prior ruling and said that the government did not establish that its new program was materially different from the one he had vacated in March, when he claimed the Biden administration had overstepped its bounds in the use of parole. The Justice Department and DHS did not appeal that ruling at the time, with officials noting that it had rarely been used in recent months.

The Southwest Border has been out of control for the past 2 years. And it is about to get worse, Wetherell wrote Thursday night.

In a statement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said it would abide by the ruling.

This is a harmful ruling that will result in unsafe overcrowding at CBP facilities and undercut our ability to efficiently process and remove migrants, and risks creating dangerous conditions for Border Patrol agents and migrants, the agency said.
El Paso, Texas  A federal judge in Florida on Thursday temporarily blocked the Biden administration from continuing a migrant release policy designed to alleviate overcrowding at immigration holding facilities along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The ruling came just hours before the Title 42 border restrictions expired at 11:59 p.m. ET Thursday, raising concerns about severe overcrowding in already over-capacity Border Patrol migrant facilities.

U.S. District Judge Kent Wetherell ordered the Biden administration to halt the quick migrant release policy at the same it discontinued the Title 42 pandemic-era order, granting a request by Republican officials in Florida.

Migrants attempting to cross into the U.S. from Mexico are detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection at the border on May 6, 2023, in San Luis, Arizona. / Credit: Getty Images

In March, Wetherell also blocked a similar Biden administration migrant release policy in a ruling on a lawsuit brought by the Florida attorney general.

Florida is arguing that this new policy is also illegal.

Wetherell's latest order will expire in 14 days in order to give the Biden administration time to seek an emergency stay on the ruling. Another hearing in the case is scheduled for May 19.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) criticized Thursday's ruling but said the agency would comply with it.

"This is a harmful ruling that will result in unsafe overcrowding at CBP facilities and undercut our ability to efficiently process and remove migrants, and risks creating dangerous conditions for border patrol agents and migrants," CBP said in a statement.

In a filing opposing the request by Florida, the Biden administration said the number of migrants stuck in Border Patrol custody could soar to 45,000 by the end of the month if the expedited releases were blocked in court. On Thursday, Border Patrol had nearly 25,000 migrants in its custody, despite only having the capacity to hold several thousand individuals in stations, processing centers and tents.

The ruling raises the prospect of even higher numbers of migrants being stranded in Border Patrol custody in dangerously overcrowded conditions amid a spike in migrant arrivals.

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In the lead-up to the expiration of Title 42, daily migrant crossings along the U.S.-Mexico border have reached record levels, with border officials averaging roughly 10,000 apprehensions per day.

Earlier on Thursday, Border Patrol Raul Ortiz told CBS News that another 60,000 migrants were waiting on the Mexican side of the border, hoping to enter the U.S.

The memo at the center of Thursday's ruling allows Border Patrol to conduct expedited releases of some migrants without giving them court notices as part of an effort to reduce overcrowding in detention facilities.

Migrants who are found to not be a risk to public safety or national security could be considered for this quick release under the humanitarian parole authority. Those released under this policy, which has been used before during spikes in migrant crossings, will be instructed to check in at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices across the country so they can receive a court notice there.

In an interview Thursday, Ortiz, the Border Patrol chief, said the expedited release policy was helping his agency reduce overcrowding, noting that some border sectors were "over capacity."

"We're working closely with our NGO partners, our communities to make sure that we release those migrants after they've been vetted and cleared, and they pose no significant threat to the community," he said.

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FIRST ON FOX: A pro-life pregnancy center in Orlando, Florida was hit by an attack from vandals who appeared to leave behind a beheaded chicken, another bird, and a young lamb.

JMJ Pregnancy Center in Orlando was hit by a vandal attack on Wednesday afternoon between 3:30 and 5 p.m., leaving a wake of mutilated animal bodies in front of the clinic.

Fox News Digital exclusively obtained photos of the attack that showed a bloodless, decapitated chicken, a lamb, and what appears to be a pheasant on the lawn of the pregnancy center near the entrance in what the center's director called a "ritualistic scene."

WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES

OHIO PRO-LIFE PREGNANCY CENTER ATTACKED BY RADICAL JANES REVENGE GROUP: ABORT GOD

JMJ Pregnancy Center in Orlando was hit by a vandal attack on Wednesday afternoon between 3:30 and 5 p.m., leaving a wake of mutilated animal bodies in front of the clinic. (Photos courtesy of Bob Perron.)

Fox News Digital exclusively obtained photos of the attack that showed a bloodless decapitated chicken, lamb, and what appears to be a pheasant on the lawn of the pregnancy center near the entrance. (Photos courtesy of Bob Perron.)

"We see this as a direct attack on our services and mission, as well as those seeking care at our facility and those providing that care. And why?" Bob Perron, executive director of JMJ Pregnancy Center told Fox News Digital. "We suspect it is because we do not support or refer for abortions, which we know hurts women and their families."

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JMJ Pregnancy Center;s volunteer physicians and technicians have offered support to women and families dealing with unexpected pregnancies "through faith-based, unconditional love and free services," Perron said.

"Why are supposed supporters of all womens choices directly targeting a center whose only purpose is to help women struggling with difficult decisions  and do it for free no less?" Perron said. "By attempting to hurt us, they are hurting the women, babies, and families that rely on us for education, guidance, and resources in times of great need."

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Perron said he and his organization "call on our local, state, and federal government to act immediately to find the perpetrator(s) of this horrific, ritualistic attack on our pregnancy center and bring to justice those who have caused this desecration."

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"Nationally, the lack of arrests and charges against people who have targeted pregnancy centers, not only in our state, but across the country, is staggering and unnerving," Perron said."Why are centers who help women, many of them low-income and minority, not being protected against pro-abortion extremists?"

Perron said that doorbell camera footage showed the person they believe may be behind the attack spending 45 minutes walking around the front of the clinic as well as venturing into the bushes where the carcasses were found.

Perron said he and his organization "call on our local, state, and federal government to act immediately to find the perpetrator(s) of this horrific, ritualistic attack on our pregnancy center and bring to justice those who have caused this desecration." (Photos courtesy of Bob Perron.)

Perron said that his Catholic pro-life pregnancy center has been in talks with both police and a priest to exorcise the site of the animal sacrifices. (Photos courtesy of Bob Perron.)

It is unclear if the animals were mutilated at the scene of the vandalism or dumped after being mutilated elsewhere.

Perron said that his Catholic pro-life pregnancy center has been in talks with both police and a priest to exorcise the site of the animal sacrifices.

Additionally, Perron told Fox News Digital it took the Orlando Police Department nearly two and a half hours to respond to their call about the vandalism.

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Orlando police didn't immediately return a request for comment.

The attack on the JMJ Pregnancy Center comes as pro-life pregnancy centers across the country have been targeted by radical abortion activists.

A pro-life pregnancy center in Ohio, for example, was attacked last month by the radical pro-choice group "Janes Revenge," which tagged the building with messages to "fund abortion" and "abort God."

HerChoice, a pro-life pregnancy center in Bowling Green, Ohio, was attacked by "Janes Revenge" and hit with anti-Christian and pro-choice graffiti.

HerChoice, a pro-life pregnancy center in Bowling Green, Ohio, was attacked by "Janes Revenge" and hit with anti-Christian and pro-abortion graffiti. (Photo obtained by Fox News Digital)

HerChoice, also known as the Bowling Green Pregnancy Center (BGPC), provides free pregnancy and STI testing, ultrasounds, parenting classes, as well as supplies for infants and toddlers.

The graffiti on the pregnancy center read "liars," "fake clinic," "fund abortion" and "abort God."

Additionally, the group signed its name  the calling card left behind on the other attacks linked to "Janes Revenge."
How is Gov. Ron DeSantis push to remove woke indoctrination from Floridas higher-education system going? Great for politicians who have enlisted in his anti-woke army. Not so well for excellence in the leadership of our colleges and universities, as we learned this week.

The Herald and other news outlets reported that a Republican lawmaker with few credentials  and a previous arrest that got him suspended from the Osceola County Commission  is the one and only finalist to run South Florida State College, a small community college based in Avon Park. Thats the same lawmaker, Rep. Fred Hawkins, who flanked the governor at a news conference in April to announced Floridas latest round of attacks against Disney. Hawkins also sponsored a bill to take over Disneys special taxing district after the company opposed a parental-rights law known as Dont say gay, the Herald reported.

Hawkins boasted on Twitter this week hes becoming the next President of South Florida State College, even though the colleges board of trustees isnt scheduled to vote on the matter until next month, the Herald reported.

What makes Hawkins so confident that hes getting the job? Hint: Its not because of his resume.

Hawkins is a former rodeo cowboy from St. Cloud who has run a K-12 education foundation in Osceola County since 2016, the Herald reported. Besides sitting on higher-education legislative committees, he doesnt appear to have any experience running a higher-education institution. He has a bachelors degree, but no advanced degrees, unlike the three other job finalists who suddenly dropped out. All of them currently hold leadership jobs in other community colleges and have doctorates.

Hawkins became a finalist five days after the South Florida State College Board of Trustees  controlled by DeSantis appointees  voted to lower the education requirements for the position.

Hawkins doesnt have the credentials, but he meets one important set of criteria. Hes a Republican and hes not woke. The other applicants were all Democrats, South Florida State College Trustee Louis Kirschner told the Tampa Bay Times. Essentially, highly qualified professionals shouldnt bother applying if they have a D on their voter registration.

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The governor doesnt appoint all Republican trustees and expect us to select a Democrat, Kirschner said.

Why should the trustees hide their partisan motivation when DeSantis push to weaponize state colleges and universities is so blatant?

Kirschner, who has been on the Board of Trustees since 1999, admitted that 10 years ago political orientation might not have mattered as much. A decade ago, Floridas governor was Rick Scott, a bona fide Tea Party conservative. The GOP running the state today is not the same of yesteryear. Its driven by the extremism and pettiness that Donald Trump and DeSantis have normalized.

Under such new leadership, the Legislature last year laid a veil of secrecy over university and college president searches. A new law keeps the identity of applicants secret until the final stages of a search. That makes it easier to sneak in less-qualified candidates like Hawkins.

Who needs actual know-how when our state colleges are becoming looked at as mere tools to win political and culture wars? Take Sarasotas New College of Florida, a liberal-arts school that underwent a conservative takeover when DeSantis changed its board of trustees this year.

They quickly pushed out New Colleges president and appointed as interim former House Speaker and Commissioner of Education Richard Corcoran, another loyal soldier in DeSantis crusade against woke. Corcorans near $700,000 base salary to run a school of 700 students is larger than the base pay his counterpart at Florida International University was offered in October to oversee the education of 56,000.

And Florida Atlantic University might become collateral damage. State Rep. Randy Fine, R-Brevard County, has said the governors office approached him about running the Boca Raton-based school. Fine is better known for his vindictiveness and outrageous statements than for his legislative accomplishments. Most notably, he called a Brevard School Board member and sworn enemy a whore and threatened funding for a Special Olympics event because she was invited to a fundraiser and he wasnt.

Fines transgression might not rise to the level of Hawkins arrest in 2020 for impersonating a law-enforcement officer to try to gain access to a meeting of a homeowners association. The charges were dropped on the condition that he completed a diversion program. DeSantis suspended him from the Osceola County Commission.

How Hawkins has risen to be the top  and now only  contender to run a state college is no mystery. Hes on the right side politically and did the governors bidding. But given the thinness of his resume to lead South Florida State College, the District Board of Trustees owes it to taxpayers and students to reopen the job search and to not do either such a grave disservice.
A fortuitous encounter between a food delivery driver and an Army brigadier general set the driver onto a path that culminated with her May 11 graduation from basic training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina.

Pfc. Patricia Limbaga, an immigrant from the Philippines, was working for the food delivery company DoorDash when she crossed paths with Brig. Gen. Richard A. Harrison, the deputy chief of staff at Army Training and Doctrine Command, after the officer put in an order for two Subway sandwiches.

Limbaga wanted to join the armed forces, she told Harrison, but her struggles with learning English were preventing success on the military aptitude exam.

This young lady was just about ready to give up her Army journey, Harrison told ABC Columbia. And she came by my house to deliver DoorDash  and she got out of the car and walked towards me and said, Oh my God youre a sign from God.

Harrison introduced Limbaga to the Armys Future Soldier Prep Course, which helps candidates raise their performance physically or academically so they can enlist.

Army expands prep course for low-scoring applicants after pilot

That afternoon, he was a clear sign  the sign, Limbaga said, according to an Army release. It was a star sign.

Limbaga arrived at Fort Jackson three weeks before her fellow recruits to participate in the prep course and the hard work paid off.

Harrison, who previously served as the commandant of the Armys Air Defense Artillery School, traveled from Fort Eustis, Virginia, to see Limbaga graduate alongside soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 13th Infantry Regiment.

He guided me not as a [s]oldier, but like his own daughter, Limbaga said of Harrisons support throughout her enlistment process. He lifted me up and gave me hope.

Limbaga is now slated to head to Fort Gregg-Adams, Virginia, to train as a culinary specialist.
TikTok is still fighting to remain operational in the United States, but a new lawsuit could complicate things even further for the company. A former ByteDance executive has alleged TikToks owner used bots and stolen content to inflate the apps engagement.

The lawsuit, filed by former head of engineering Yintao Yu and reported by The New York Times, claims that ByteDance wrongly fired Yu after he pushed back on company practices like stealing other apps material. It also claims that ByteDance acted as a useful propaganda tool for the Chinese Communist Party, and that China-based employees could access US users data.

As The New York Times points out, Yus allegations describe how ByteDance operated five years ago and come after several years of mediation. Still, the claims are still likely to fuel even more scrutiny for TikTok, which is facing the prospect of a nationwide ban in the United States. Lawmakers and other officials have claimed that TikTok is a national security threat and that the app cant be trusted to protect the data of US users.

Yus allegations could intensify those concerns. The lawsuit details a special unit of Chinese Communist Party members at ByteDance offices in Beijing who guided how the company advanced core Communist values. He also alleges that ByteDance employees manipulated Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, to suppress content about protests in Hong Kong and elevate content that expressed hatred for Japan.

Some of Yus claims also relate directly to TikTok. Notably, he claims that ByteDance engineers stole popular content from apps like Instagram and Snapchat and put the videos onto TikTok. He also alleges that the company used bot accounts to juice the apps engagement metrics when it was just starting out and trying to gain a foothold in the US. (Yu left the company in November 2018, shortly after ByteDance rebranded Musical.ly as TikTok.)

A spokesperson for ByteDance told Engadget: "We plan to vigorously oppose what we believe are baseless claims and allegations in this complaint. Mr. Yu worked for ByteDance Inc. for less than a year and his employment ended in July 2018. During his brief time at the company, he worked on an app called Flipagram, which was discontinued years ago for business reasons." On the allegation of scraping, they also said: "ByteDance is committed to respecting the intellectual property of other companies, and we acquire data in accordance with industry practices and our global policy."

TikTok has repeatedly tried to downplay its ties to ByteDance and China, including in CEO Shou Zi Chews congressional testimony in March. The company has also dedicated more than a billion dollars into Project Texas, which aims to wall off TikToks US user data from the rest of ByteDance in an effort to allay the concerns of US regulators.

Update 05/12/23: Added a statement from ByteDance.
Former US Marine Daniel Penny arrives at a New York City Police precinct to surrender for the death of Jordan Neely. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

The man seen on video putting Jordan Neely in a fatal chokehold on an NYC subway has surrendered.

Daniel Penny turned himself in to the NYPD's 5th Precinct in lower Manhattan on Friday morning.

The Manhattan District Attorney's office said it will charge Penny with second-degree manslaughter.

The former Marine seen on cellphone video putting Jordan Neely, a homeless New York City subway rider, in a fatal chokehold earlier this month surrendered to authorities Friday morning.

Daniel Penny, 24, turned himself in to the New York Police Department's 5th Precinct in lower Manhattan and was arrested.

The office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said on Wednesday Penny would be charged with second-degree charged with second-degree manslaughter for Neely's death.

Minutes after Penny surrendered, his attorney, Thomas Keniff, told reporters his client turned himself in "voluntarily and with the sort of the dignity and integrity that is characteristic of his history of service to this grateful nation."

If convicted, Penny would face a minimum of three-and-a-half years in prison, and as much as 15 years, under New York state sentencing guidelines.

Authorities later led Penny out of the police precinct in handcuffs and placed him into a car ahead of his arraignment at Manhattan Criminal Court.

Witnesses to the May 1 incident on board an F train said Neely, a 30-year-old Black man, was screaming about being hungry and thirsty before Penny, a white man, put him in a deadly chokehold.

Former US Marine Daniel Penny is taken from a New York City Police precinct under arrest for the death of Jordan Neely. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

There has been no evidence so far that Neely physically attacked anyone on the train, and the incident has sparked protests throughout the city.

Penny had been questioned by the NYPD on the day of the incident, but he was initially released without being charged.

The New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled that Neely died due to "compression of neck" and classified his death as a homicide.

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Civil rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton said in a statement on Friday as Penny turned himself in that the expected charge against Penny "who thought he was above the law is just step one in justice for Jordan Neely."

Still from a video show three men, including Daniel Penny, either retstraining or standing near Jordan Neely in a subway altercation that ended in Neely's death. Juan Alberto Vazquez/Reuters

"The video of him grabbing Jordan and strangling him to death is disturbing and any jury should see it as such," said Sharpton, who called for the two other straphangers seen on the video appearing to help restrain Neely to be "held accountable for their actions."

Sharpton added, "The justice system needs to send a clear, loud message that vigilantism has never been acceptable. Being homeless or Black or having a mental health episode should not be a death sentence."

Neely's family has requested Sharpton deliver the eulogy for Neely in Harlem next Friday, according to Sharpton.

Penny, in a statement released through his lawyers last week, expressed his condolences to Neely's family and friends and said that he "never intended to harm" Neely.

Daniel Penny. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

"Mr. Neely had a documented history of violence and erratic behavior, the apparent result of ongoing and untreated mental illness," the statement read.

It continued: "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."

Read the original article on Insider
A former Modesto doctor pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges of illegally prescribing opioid drugs and other medication.

Sawtantra Chopra, 76, was prosecuted in the federal court in Fresno. He pleaded guilty to three counts of prescribing drugs including hydrocodone and Xanax to patients without a legitimate medical need, according to a Department of Justice news release.

The prosecution said the narcotic drugs prescribed by the doctor, also including Promethazine with codeine syrup, are highly addictive and often abused by drug-seeking patients. The drugs affecting the central nervous system may be prescribed by physicians only for a medical purpose.

Chopra was a pulmonologist, or lung specialist, seeing patients in Modesto. He surrendered his medical license to the state in 2020 as the charges were pending. The news release said Chopra admitted to investigators that he prescribed the drugs without a legitimate medical reason.

He is scheduled for sentencing Sept. 5. The three counts have a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine. The actual sentence is at the discretion of the court after federal sentencing guidelines are considered.

Chopras prescribing activity was investigated by the state Department of Justice, the Drug Enforcement Agency, FBI and Internal Revenue Service.
A former Travelers Rest police officer was denied a bond reduction Friday morning after he was previously charged with criminal sexual conduct and misconduct in office.

Gerald James Hildebrandt, 42, was charged by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division in April for a sexual assault that occurred at Travelers Rest High School in July 2022. The assault occurred while Hildebrandt was on duty.

At the bond hearing Friday, assistant solicitor, Shannon Odom, said Hildebrandt responded to a call involving the victim who was reported as intoxicated. Odom said Hildebrandt persuaded her to drive to an abandoned area instead of arresting her for driving under the influence.

Arrest warrants released by SLED state Hildebrandt forced the victim to perform oral sex and forced her into other sexual conduct. Warrants noted evidence for the arrest was based on body camera footage, physical evidence and statements from the victim and witnesses.

According to termination documents reviewed from the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy, Hildebrandt admitted to having oral sex on duty but claimed the sex was consensual.

During the hearing, Odom said Hildebrandt was not considered a flight risk. However, because he was in a position of authority during the commission of the crime, Odom argued he should be considered a danger to the community and denied a bond reduction.

Hes part of the reason trust in law enforcement has gone down, Odom said.

Hildebrandt remains held at the Greenville County Detention Center on a $150,000 surety bond.

Bakari Sellers, attorney with Strom Law Firm representing the victim, said he will be filing a federal civil rights lawsuit against Hildebrandt and the Travelers Rest Police Department.

He violated this woman's trust, Sellers said. He took her to a dark area and raped her.

Sellers said he encourages other potential victims of Hildebrandt to come forward.

Travelers Rest police chief Benjamin Ford is shown during a 2019 press conference.

Former Travelers Rest officer previously terminated in Laurens County

Hildebrandt was previously terminated from the Laurens County Sheriffs Office in 2021 after an excessive use of force violation. Documents from CJA state Hildebrandt grabbed the neck of an arrested individual that was handcuffed behind his back with an open hand obstructing the individuals airflow.

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We hope that some of these smaller departments look at their hiring practices, Sellers said. "How he got hired in another city is beyond me.

Travelers Rest Police Chief, Benjamin Ford, told the Greenville News in April that his office was notified of the incident the afternoon of July 3 and terminated Hildebrandt within four hours after speaking with him and the victim. Ford said he called SLED shortly after to investigate the criminal conduct, but also conducted an internal investigation related to department policies.

"Obviously, I dont tolerate that type of conduct and that shows from me terminating him in four hours," Chief Ford said. "We dont tolerate that type of conduct in the city of Travelers Rest."

The victim was not a student or employee of Greenville County Schools and the incident did not occur during school hours, according to GCS spokesperson, Tim Waller.

Kathryn Casteel is an investigative reporter with The Greenville News and can be reached at KCasteel@gannett.com or on Twitter @kathryncasteel

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Former TR officer accused of sexual assault denied bond reduction
Former Trump prosecutor Mark Pomerantz invoked his Fifth Amendment rights during his deposition before the House Judiciary Committee on Friday, slamming the GOP-led panels investigation as political theater in his opening statement.

Pomerantz, who investigated Trump at the Manhattan District Attorneys Office, said he was appearing before the committee as required because I respect the rule of law, before issuing a sharp rebuke of the panels probe and disclosing his intent to plead the Fifth.

What I do not respect is the use of the Committees subpoena power to compel me to participate in an act of political theater, Pomerantzs statement reads. This deposition is for show. I do not believe for a moment that I am here to assist a genuine effort to enact legislation or conduct legislative oversight.

Fortunately, I do not have to cooperate with the cynical histrionics that this deposition represents, it later adds. Although the rule of law compels me to be here, it does not require that I play a substantive role in your theatrical production. Under the law, I can decline to answer your questions for several reasons.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), a member of the Judiciary Committee, told reporters during Fridays deposition that Pomerantz answered no questions up to that point, calling him an obstructing witness.

Ive never had a more obstructive and less cooperative witness in my over 20 years in Congress, he said.

The witness has not cooperated in any way, shape or form, as simply appeared and, I would characterize as taking the Fifth on every single question, he added, later saying he has answered no substantive questions whatsoever, and clearly appears unwilling to answer any questions even about previous statements hes made.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.)

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) leaves a closed-door House Republican Conference meeting on Tuesday, February 28, 2023 at the Capitol Hill Club in Washington, D.C. (Greg Nash)

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Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.), however, said Pomerantz shouldnt have had to appear at all.

Todays deposition simply underscored that House Republicans investigation into Donald Trumps criminal prosecution by a local district attorneys office has no nexus to Congresss jurisdiction and is simply an effort to abuse the official authority of Congress to undermine the rule of law, interfere in an ongoing prosecution of a private citizen, and harass and badger a public official carrying out his official duties, he said in a statement.

Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) subpoenaed Pomerantz last month for testimony pertaining to his work on the probe into hush money payments from former President Trump made in the leadup to the 2016 presidential election.

He said he was surprised at some of Pomerantzs answers, but committee rules dont allow us to get into details.

McCarthy says hell call FBI director over subpoena in Biden probe

A grand jury empaneled by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) indicted Trump in March on 34 criminal charges related to those payments. Trump pleaded not guilty.

Pomerantz resigned from the Trump investigation in February 2022 because he disagreed with Braggs reluctance to try to indict Trump. In his resignation letter, which was published by The New York Times, Pomerantz said he thought Trump was guilty of numerous felony violations, and called the disinclination to charge the former president misguided and completely contrary to the public interest.

A trio of House GOP chairman  including Jordan  launched an investigation into Bragg in March, before the historic charges were announced but after Trump predicted that he would be arrested.

Republicans have argued that the charges against Trump are politically motivated.

Bragg sued Jordan in April in an attempt to block Pomerantz from having to comply with his subpoena and testify. The lawsuit slammed Jordans investigation has a transparent campaign to intimidate and attack the district attorneys work. A judge later ruled that Pomerantz would have to appear.

In his opening statement, Pomerantz wrote We are gathered here because Donald Trumps supporters would like to use these proceedings to attempt to obstruct and undermine the criminal case pending against him, and to harass, intimidate, and discredit anyone who investigates or charges him.

Pomerantz told lawmakers in his opening statement that he was instructed by the Manhattan District Attorneys Office that he would maintain their claims of privilege and confidentiality in order to protect the integrity of the pending prosecution and continuing investigation of Donald Trump.

I intend to honor the District Attorneys request, and I will not answer questions to which the District Attorney objects, he added.

Even though he has written and spoken about the investigation in the past, Pomerantz said, the circumstances have changed because Trump has been charged.

With formal charges now pending, the rule of law is best served if the merits of the case against Mr. Trump are litigated because the court that is hearing the case, he said. This is neither the time nor the place for me to answer questions about the investigation or the pending indictment over the objection of the prosecutors.

The charges against Mr. Trump should be heard and decided by a judge and a jury before politicians second-guess their merits or the decision to bring them, he continued. Thats how our system works. Those who claim that they respect the rule of law should wait for the courts to do their work.

Pomerantz also outlined to lawmakers why he was invoking his Fifth Amendment rights: before his book was published, the Manhattan District Attorneys Office said he could face criminal liability if he disclosed grand jury material or violated confidentiality regulations. He was later told by a lawyer with the office that his book exposed me to criminal liability, he told lawmakers.

While I am certain I broke no laws, I am not required to answer questions if my answers might be used against me in a criminal prosecution, he said.

Pomerantz also wrote that the rule of law permits me to refuse to answer questions that are not pertinent to a legitimate legislative function, or that seek information that is protected by the First Amendments guarantee of freedom of speech.

For all these reasons, I will not be answering questions that relate to my work in the DAs office, my book, or public statements I have made in the past, his opening statement reads. It gives me no joy to invoke my legal rights, but I am glad that the law allows me not to cooperate with this performance of political theater.

As an American, I am privileged to have the legal rights that I answer today, and I am hopeful that I live in a country that will continue to respect them, he added.

Issa told reporters Friday we respect someones Fifth Amendment rights, but its very clear that this witness came with a clear intention of obstructing us.

When his opening statement becomes public, I think well make it clear that he has disdain for this body and has no intention of answering any of our questions, he added.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
MIDDLEBORO  After speaking in front of the Middleboro School Committee roughly a month ago, Liam Morrison, a 12-year-old seventh grader at Nichols Middle School who was recently sent home for his controversial T-shirt, came to school last week wearing the shirt again.

This time, the shirt looked different.

School staff pulled Morrison from class and sent him home in March when he wore a black T-shirt to class reading, "There are only two genders." Later, he told the school committee that the staff's actions violated his First Amendment right to free speech.

On Friday, May 5, after his family hired a lawyer to possibly file a lawsuit against the school, Morrison covered part of the message on his T-shirt with white tape and wrote "censored," so the shirt said, "There are censored genders."

The school sent him home again.

"At this point, Liam and his parents have decided to take legal action because we believe this is a clear violation of his First Amendment rights. So, we're in the process of getting ready to file a lawsuit against the school," said Sam Whiting of the Massachusetts Family Institute, the family's lawyer.

Seventh grader Liam Morrison, 12, wore a shirt reading "there are censored genders" to school on May 5, 2023. Staff at Nichols Middle School in Middleboro sent him home for the shirt's original message.

Several members of the Middleboro School Committee, as well as the district's superintendent Carolyn Lyons, did not respond to multiple requests from The Enterprise for comment.

According to Whiting, the school said that the message on Morrison's T-shirt qualifies as bullying and harassment, and the staff told Morrison that his shirt was targeting a "protected class" of students in the school.

What does the Middleboro school district's dress code say?

The district's dress code says that, Clothing must not state, imply, or depict hate speech or imagery that target groups based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, religious affiliation, or any other classification.

Read more: 3 Stoughton teachers disciplined, 1 student suspended amid 'political flags' ban

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The most up-to-date version of the district's bullying prevention initiative available online is dated August 2020, and the document is supposed to be reviewed biennially.

Whiting sent a demand letter to the school district on April 27, informing officials that Morrison's family may take legal action. In the letter Whiting said the school's principal Heather Tucker "did not give any examples of disruptions or potential disruptions that the shirt had caused or was likely to cause."

Liam Morrison, 12, on Friday, May 5 wearing a "censored version" of the T-shirt he wore to school the day he was sent home.

According to Whiting, Tucker told Morrison at the time he was pulled from class that "several students and staff complained" about the message on Morrison's shirt, but "did not cite a particular number." Morrison told the school committee last month that no one complained to him, and some students even complimented him.

Book wars: A parent complained about a library book. E. Bridgewater is going to keep it on the shelf.

The school district did not respond when asked for more information.

"He wore the shirt because he wanted to make a statement based on his deeply-held personal and political beliefs," Whiting said in the demand letter.

Letter from Liam Morrison's attorney to the Middleboro superintendent of schools | PDF | Justice | Crime & Violence

Whiting cited several cases, in support of his argument that the school district violated Morrison's free speech rights, including a 1969 U.S. Supreme Court case, Tinker v. Des Moines, in which the court said public school students "do not shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate." In another case that Whiting cited, K.D. v. Fillmore Cent. Sch. Dist., a federal court ruled "certain students' discomfort with a classmate's shirt that read 'Abortion is homicide' was not enough to justify censoring the shirt," Whiting said in the letter.

He also cited a Massachusetts case, Pyle v. South Hadley Sch. Comm., in which a federal court held that South Hadley High School's dress code was "facially unconstitutional because it discriminated based on viewpoint," Whiting said. He quoted the court in the case: "South Hadley's desire to teach students tolerance of persons with a different religion, race, gender or sexual orientation is certainly admirable. However, the school cannot silence speech that runs contrary to this laudable goal."

Representatives from ACLU of Massachusetts did not respond to The Enterprise's requests for comment on the Middleboro dress code.

Morrison asked his parents to buy him the T-shirt that later got him sent home from school. He believes the notion that there are more than two gender identities is "radical and untrue," Whiting said in his demand letter. But pride flags and posters about gender identity hang on the walls of Nichols Middle School classrooms.

Impacts on LGBTQ+ students

"We've seen increasing both violence and rhetoric against the LGBTQ community in the south coast to Taunton down to Fall River," said Andy Pollock, president of the South Coast LGBTQ+ Network.

Although she did not speak directly about the incident involving Morrison, school committee member Jessica Chartoff mentioned following Morrison's speech the "staggering numbers of death by suicide for young people in our country," during the meeting in reference to a recent mental health awareness event.

"There's one thing about free speech," Pollock said about Morrison's case. "But there's also the statistic for trans students or trans youth where they have a much higher rate of suicide ideation."

Where they are now: Four fatal police shootings in Brockton area since 2020

The committee was also criticized at the April 13 meeting by resident Sarah Zigouras for the district's unresponsiveness to reports of bullying made by parents online.

"If it marginalizes and denigrates a certain population in the school, why shouldn't the student be sent home. If it makes someone more vulnerable to bullying, especially in populations that are marginalized, it's not necessarily free speech," Pollock said.

This article originally appeared on The Enterprise: Middleboro student sent home for 'censored' T-shirt may sue school
Frontier Airlines is expanding to a new destination with nonstop service from Charlotte this summer.

Starting Friday, youll be able to fly directly to Clevelands Hopkins International Airport. Its the sixth city with nonstop flights on Frontier Airlines from Charlotte Douglas International Airport.

Frontier Airlines is known for cheaper airfares than other airlines, and members of the companys Discount Den service can get tickets for under $50.

SEE: Frontier Airlines announces "Go Wild" all you can fly card

Charlotte Douglas International Airport has served as an American Airlines hub and there hadnt been much competition for flight offerings, but Frontier and discount airliner Spirit have been expanding their service from the Queen City in recent years.

Frontier Airlines now has non-stop service from Charlotte to Orlando, Denver, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Trenton, and Cleveland.

You can find more information about flight delays, flight cancellations, or your flight status at Charlotte Douglas International Airport by clicking this link.

(WATCH: Passengers react to Spirit, Frontier airlines merger)
Not a happy chappie: Britain's King Charles III

From a royal grump to bumping off your husband.... Your weekly roundup of offbeat stories from around the world.

- 'This is boring' -

Britons have been having a ball celebrating Charles III's coronation with one notable exception -- the king himself.

Charles looked deeply miserable for most of the historic ceremony at Westminster Abbey.

He seemed particularly glum in the golden carriage that carried him and Queen Camilla through the cheering crowds.

His mood was not helped by having to wait outside for his son William and his wife Kate to take their seats.

According to a lip reader employed by Sky News, Charles complained to Camilla: "We can never be on time. This is negative... This is boring."

- Anything for clicks -

A YouTuber faces 20 years in prison for crashing his plane to get views.

Trevor Jacob bailed out of his light aircraft -- selfie stick in hand -- over the Los Padres National Forest in California.

His video, "I crashed my airplane", has since been viewed nearly three million times.

Cameras on the aircraft showed it plummeting out of control before it crashed into the forest.

The 29-year-old filmed himself despairing over the wreckage and then trying to find his way back to civilisation without water before finally coming across a vehicle as night fell.

Investigators claim he then tried to cover up what he had done by winching the wreckage out of the forest by helicopter, breaking it into small pieces and then dumping it into bins.

- Pasta la vista -

New Jersey police have been left noodle-brained by the case of the pasta mountain.

Someone dumped 15 wheelbarrow-loads of spaghetti, macaroni and alphabet-shaped pasta in woods outside the town of Old Bridge for no apparent reason.

The macaroni mystery has left many in the state, where one in six claim Italian ancestry, aghast at the waste.

"We should send the perpetrators to the state penne tentiary," one person quipped on Reddit.

- Missing you already -

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A US widow who wrote a book about dealing with grief has been charged with murdering her husband.

Kouri Richins penned "Are You With Me?" -- which was billed as "heartwarming and reassuring" -- after finding her husband Eric dead in bed after mixing him a drink.

The Utah man had earlier told a friend "he thought his wife was trying to poison him". An autopsy revealed he had died from an overdose of fentanyl.

The charges come less than a year after another US woman, the author of "How to Murder Your Husband", was jailed for killing her spouse.

Nancy Crampton Brophy, who had previously penned "Wrong Never Felt So Right", shot her husband to get her hands on his life insurance.

A movie about the killing featuring "Moonlighting" star Cybill Shepherd was released in January.

burs-fg/gil
By Christian Kraemer and Tetsushi Kajimoto

NIIGATA, Japan (Reuters) -Finance leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) advanced economies discussed the need to make global supply chains more resilient by reducing over-reliance on China, German Finance Minister Christian Lindner said on Friday.

Japan, which is hosting a three-day G7 meeting to debate key global themes in the city of Niigata, has been leading fresh efforts to diversify supply chains away from China by building partnerships with low- and middle-income countries through investment and aid.

Countries such as Germany wanted to reduce its dependency on China, Lindner told a press conference. "Here, emerging and low income countries come into play," he added.

But while the G7 rich democracies are likely to agree on the partnership deal to beef up supply chains, they are not on the same page in terms of how far they should go in countering China - the world's second largest economy that is not a G7 member.

The United States is at the forefront in pushing for stronger steps. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has called for targeted controls in investment to China to counter what she saw as Beijing's "economic coercion" against other countries.

While wary of China as a strategic rival, Germany is cautious, however, of being seen as forging a G7 front against Beijing given its heavy reliance on trade with the country.

Japan is also sceptical about the idea of investment controls due to the huge impact such a move could have on global trade and its own economy, government officials say.

A Japanese finance ministry official who participated in the G7 talks told reporters on Friday the idea was discussed at the meeting, but that Japan's initiatives were not targeted at any particular country.

British Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt told the Nikkei newspaper on Thursday the G7 must counter China's economic coercion, though made no mention of investment controls.

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GLOBAL RISKS LOOM

Hanging over the meeting was a lack of progress in resolving a U.S. debt ceiling stalemate.

The G7 nations can little afford further risks to their fragile economies and there were some voices of concern raised over the potential dire consequences if the U.S. were to fail to resolve the impasse, which could tip its economy into recession.

A scheduled meeting on Friday between U.S. President Joe Biden and top lawmakers was postponed until early next week as the two sides seek a compromise to avoid a catastrophic default.

Germany's Lindner said he hoped U.S. politicians would come to a "grown-up" decision on talks to raise the $31.4 trillion debt ceiling - the maximum amount the U.S. government is authorised to borrow.

World Bank President David Malpass told Reuters the risk of a U.S. default added to problems already facing the global economy that was entering a prolonged period of slow growth.

"It looks like global growth will fall below 2% this year in 2023, but then, as you look at future years, it may stay low for several years," due to rising borrowing costs and high levels of debt, Malpass said on Friday in Niigata.

Stubbornly high inflation has forced U.S. and European central banks to hike interest rates aggressively, weighing on their economies and stoking fears of financial instability after the failure of three U.S. banks.

The health of the global financial system and measures to avert another digital bank run were discussed at the G7 meeting, the Japanese finance ministry official said.

"What's important is that at present, the (global financial system) is resilient but that we shouldn't be complacent," the official said.

The G7 finance leaders are expected to issue a joint statement after their three-day meeting ends on Saturday.

(Reporting by Leika Kihara, Andrea Shalal, Christian Kraemer and Tetsushi Kajimoto, Additional reporting by Takaya Yamaguchi in Niigata, Yoshifumi Takemoto in Tokyo; Writing by Leika Kihara; Editing by Kim Coghill and Alex Richardson)
A handout photo released by the Galapagos National Park shows a Little Vermilion Flycatcher, also known as Darwin's Flycatcher, in the Galapagos Islands where 12 new chicks have been produced in 2023 on Santa Cruz Island

Darwin's flycatcher, a small bird with striking vermilion plumage, is making modest but noticeable headway on the Galapagos Islands in its battle back from near extinction, the remote archipelago's national park said Thursday.

The only 15 remaining pairs of the charismatic birds on the island of Santa Cruz have produced 12 chicks this year, the park said.

The species is endemic to the Galapagos, and is considered vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Darwin's flycatchers reside on other islands in the chain, like Pinzon, but their population was particularly threatened on Santa Cruz Island.

An experimental management program there "permitted 12 new chicks to add to the population" in a forest at higher elevation on Santa Cruz, where only 15 pairs exist, the Galapagos National Park said.

The reserve's director, Danny Rueda, said that "each chick that is born is a new hope to save this species that is vulnerable and on the red list."

"These 12 new birds constitute a veritable success since initiating the program in 2018 and finally getting results, never more so than this year," the park said.

The program, a joint project with the Charles Darwin Foundation, the University of Vienna and the nonprofit Galapagos Conservancy, has seen 21 chicks arrive on Santa Cruz between 2020 and 2022, it said.

The Galapagos archipelago, some 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) off the coast of Ecuador, has flora and fauna found nowhere else in the world. Observing its wonders led British scientist Charles Darwin to develop his theory of evolution in the 19th century.

sp/gm/tjj/mlm
More than 20 Miami-Dade Fire Rescue units responded to a gas leak at an apartment building Friday morning and continued efforts to shut off the source into early afternoon.

Firefighters got a call shortly before 6 a.m. of a strong smell of gas through a three-story building at 305 NW 72nd Ave., the department said.

Hazmat crews eventually located the leak coming from an underground vault.

At noon, the department said almost two dozen units remained at the scene working with a gas company to shut the leak.

There are no reported injuries, the department said.

This is a developing story and will be updated.
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday released a $306.5 billion California budget with a growing shortfall he plans to address by shifting money and retaining previously-proposed cuts and deferrals  all with the goal of maintaining social safety net programs and other policy priorities.

In January, Newsom announced the state faced an estimated $22.5 billion budget gap after years of being flush with surpluses. That shortfall has ballooned to reach $31.5 billion during the past four months.

As a result, the governors budget revision struck a markedly more sober tone than his presentation in May 2022, when he cheered a $97.5 billion surplus as simply without precedent. This year, he emphasized themes of resilience, restraint and protection of planned investments.

We are walking into a budget where we need to maintain our prudence, Newsom said on Friday during a news briefing in Sacramento. And we need to prepare not just for the short term, but the medium and long term.

The governors revised spending plan opens what is expected to be an intense month of negotiations with the Legislature.

Its the first time Newsom and many lawmakers have confronted a financial shortfall. The Legislature must pass the budget by June 15, and the governor must sign budget-related bills by July 1, the start of the new fiscal year.

Addressing Californias budget gap

Legislative leaders and the governor have been weighing different options for keeping the states commitments to fund healthcare, poverty, homelessness and infrastructure while fixing the so-called budget problem.

The governor in January proposed a $297 billion plan with a combination of cuts, spending deferrals and borrowing to close the gap. On Friday, he announced he wants to continue much of that strategy.

The May budget revision builds on his planned $5.7 billion in reductions from different sources, including housing, climate and workforce initiatives. It pares back an additional $1.1 billion in spending, in part by moving unused money into the general fund. That includes unspent dollars from the Middle Class Tax Refunds, the Utility Arrearages Program and the CalWORKs county administration and services.

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Newsom wants to add to the $7.4 billion in deferred spending for child care, transportation and education capital improvements. He plans to delay $695 million more, including pushing $295 million from the Foreclosure Intervention Housing Prevention Program to later years.

The governor plans to maintain $3.9 billion in trigger reductions, or budget cuts he would restore if the state sees better financial conditions down the road.

Newsoms budget revision also contains $4.9 billion in borrowing and new revenue and $7.5 billion in funding shifts.

In addition, the state will withdraw $450 million from its safety net reserves, leaving an additional $450 million remaining. Newsom, however, remains stubbornly opposed to taking money from Californias rainy day fund, due to economic uncertainty related to interest rates, the stock market and the prospect of even a mild recession.

Adding to Californias financial uncertainty is $42 billion in anticipated tax receipts delayed until October because some residents were allowed to file later due to winter storms. If those taxes come in under expectations, Newsoms administration may have to reconfigure its budget and make further spending adjustments.

Maintaining policy priorities

Newsoms revised budget largely keeps in place funding promised in January for homelessness, education and healthcare.

He plans to maintain his homelessness investment of more than $3 billion, with $1 billion in one-time funding for a fifth round of local Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention Program grants.

The governor also plans to continue funding his mental health court program, the Community Assistance, Recovery and Empowerment Act, or CARE Court, with annual allocations through the 2026-2027 fiscal year and annually thereafter. His budget revision adds $43 million to $54.5 million annually to account for refined county behavioral health department cost assumptions based on engagement with county stakeholders.

Los Angeles County, which is among the first cohort of counties implementing CARE Court, will get an extra one-time $15 million to fund start-up expenses.

On the education front, Newsom plans to spend $127.2 billion on K-12 schools. To maintain his administrations priorities, he wants to repurpose modest portions of funding from block grants for arts, music and instructional materials and learning recovery emergency.

He also plans to continue fully funding the first two years of expanded transitional kindergarten and the states universal school meals program.

In terms of social safety net spending, Newsoms revised budget still contains the money needed to expand Medi-Cal eligibility for undocumented Californians by Jan. 1, 2024.

The governors updated spending plan expedites the timeline for expanding the California Food Assistance Program, which provides food benefits for undocumented immigrants over 55.

His January budget proposal would have delayed the programs implementation until 2027, which drew criticism from advocates. The program is now expected to start in October 2025.

Ahead of Newsoms revised budget presentation, the governors administration announced plans to shift more money to flood protection, taking away funds slated for drought response.

But climate activists remain frustrated that the governor plans to retain cuts to energy and transportation he proposed in January. And they remain unimpressed by Newsoms plan to shift funding for some initiatives to a $6 billion climate resilience bond, which the Legislature and voters will need to approve.

The details of this bond remain uncertain, said Brandon Dawson, director of Sierra Club California. And are subject to negotiation with the Legislature.

Legislative leaders react to revised budget

Lawmakers have floated their own ideas for fixing the budget. Senate Democrats in April released Protect Our Progress, a plan that proposed a tax cut for small businesses and a hike for the biggest corporations doing business in the state, including Coca Cola and Walmart.

Senate Budget Chair Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, said the corporate tax increases would be a partial reversal of federal cuts former President Donald Trump signed into law in 2017.

The plan would raise billions of dollars every year. However, Newsom quickly expressed his disapproval of raising taxes, which he reiterated on Friday.

Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, D-Lakewood, both said they look forward to negotiating a budget with the governor.

Both said they wanted to see a spending plan with transit and infrastructure funding, as well as dollars for child care and homelessness.

Public transit is the vanguard of Californias fight against climate change, and it will be important to restore the transit capital funding the Governor and Legislature approved last year, Rendon said in a statement. The Assembly also prioritizes improving rates for child care providers. Improving child care rates helps children and the economy. Boosting Californias child care system has been a priority of my Speakership.

Atkins emphasized the need for ongoing funds for child care and homelessness.

We appreciate the revised proposal reflecting many of the Senates key values, Atkins said in a statement. Which includes avoiding ongoing cuts to core programs, preserving our primary Rainy Day Fund, and expanding responsible borrowing  including a new Climate Bond  to avoid cuts to climate and infrastructure projects.

Republican leaders blasted Newsom for the growing budget gap and criticized his spending priorities.

We applaud the governors restraint in not depleting the reserves, but would offer quite a different set of priorities to meet the needs of the state, said Senate Budget Commitee Vice Chair Roger Niello, R-Fair Oaks. Our caucus looks forward to the opportunity to work with the governor and legislative colleagues on a sustainable budget plan.

Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher of Yuba City said Newsoms revised budget cuts critical programs while wasting money on ineffective pork projects.

Only Gavin Newsom could turn a $100 billion surplus into a $31 billion deficit in less than a year, Gallagher said in a statement. His approach to closing this budget gap is more of the same. His cuts to drought programs are dangerous, his fiscal gimmicks are shortsighted, and his words about good government and efficiency are yet another empty promise. Californians deserve better.

This is a developing story; check back with sacbee.com for updates.
Gov. Gavin Newsoms latest budget moves up the issuance of food benefits for older undocumented Californians after months of criticism from advocates.

The announcement marks a significant change of course for Newsom, who in January proposed a state spending plan that would delay the assistance rollout for undocumented immigrants over 55 until 2027. He held back the money as his administration sought to close the forecast budget gap.

On Friday, Newsom released his revised budget proposal with a shortfall that had increased to $31.5 billion.

But the revision led to a positive outcome for advocates, who had said that California was moving farther away from its goal of becoming the first state to offer food benefits to all undocumented immigrants. Newsoms new budget proposal now says benefit distribution is estimated to begin in Oct 2025.

Advocates hope this is a step that keeps the goal within reach.

We see this updated timeline as a welcome sign of progress, said Benyamin Chao, a health and public benefits policy manager at the California Immigrant Policy Center. But our leaders still need to act more urgently to address the stark levels of food insecurity that is impacting Californians, especially the most vulnerable.

The revision included $40 million for automation and outreach to achieve that goal, $5 million higher than Januarys outlay. Expansion has been contingent on the state converting to a single system, known as the California Statewide Automated Welfare System migration. The process is now estimated to be finished by July.

About 75,000 Californians are expected to start receiving benefits when the rollout begins, according to a 2022 report by the Legislative Analysts Office.

The latest timeline for food assistance comes as two lawmakers are pushing for bills that would provide state-funded food benefits to all Californians currently ineligible due to their immigration status.

Sen. Melissa Hurtado, D-Sanger, has re-introduced the Food For All act, Senate Bill 245, for the second consecutive year. And Assemblyman Miguel Santiago, D-Los Angeles, introduced an identical version in his chamber as AB 311.

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Neither of the two bills includes dates for implementation.

But advocates cite a urgent need for food assistance expansion. Nearly half of undocumented Californians deal with food insecurity, according to an April 2022 report by Nourish California.

No one should experience hunger because of their immigration status, yet hundreds of thousands of Californians struggling to put food on the table remain unjustly excluded from food assistance programs...When every Californian has access to the food they need, our communities and economies thrive, said Betzabel Estudillo, director of engagement at Nourish California.

Newsom keeps Medi-Cal pledge

The governor also remained committed to expanding Medi-Cal to all undocumented immigrants, despite the budget gap increase.

The work were doing to expand health care regardless of your immigration status is in stark contrast to the rhetoric of today, yesterday, tomorrow, as it relates to whats going on in this country, Newsom said. Its a point of pride and privilege.

That means that beginning Jan. 1 everyone regardless of immigration status will have access to health care coverage if they qualify for Medi-Cal. The program expansion is expected to provide full coverage for approximately 700,000 undocumented residents ages 26 to 49 and lead to the largest drop in the rate of uninsured Californians in a decade.

The state already allows some undocumented residents to join Medi-Cal, the states implementation of Medicaid.

In 2015, California began allowing undocumented children to join Medi-Cal. Four years later, eligibility broadened to those younger than 26. And last year, the state started covering people aged 50 and over.

Assemblyman Joaquin Arambula, D-Fresno, has also introduced legislation to expand the income eligibility for Medi-Cal coverage to more undocumented residents.
By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA (Reuters) - Gaza resident Dina El-Dhani was due to meet her oncologist this week at a hospital in Jerusalem but she has been unable to cross into Israel since the border was closed amid heavy fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants.

Dhani is one of 432 cancer patients who have not been able to receive treatment since Tuesday, when Israel launched attacks on the Islamic Jihad militant group, setting off a surge in cross-border violence.

Her appointment with a doctor at Augusta Victoria Hospital in Jerusalem was meant to determine which radiation treatment she will receive.

"They told me it is delayed. Do I have to wait another two months to get a new appointment?" said 40-year-old Dhani. "The crossing is life, because as patients our treatment doesn't exist here. (The border crossing) either enhances my treatment or enhances my departure."

The four days of fighting with intense Palestinian rocket fire and Israeli air strikes has disrupted the lives of millions of people.

Israel and Egypt, citing security concerns, maintain a blockade on Gaza, which is ruled by the Islamist group Hamas.

The crossings this week have been under the constant threat of Palestinian rocket fire and remained shut, said a spokesperson for Israel's military-run liaison with the Palestinians.

Due to shortages of medical equipment and medicine, Gazas hospitals are unable to provide proper care for cancer patients. So most travel to Israel, the occupied West Bank, or other countries for treatment. Palestinian health officials blame the 16-year-old blockade for undermining the development of the health sector.

"Unfortunately, we live in between two crossings and are besieged from both directions (Israel and Egypt)," said Aya Kolab, 30, who was due for a genetic test at a hospital near Tel Aviv to help her treatment.

"All my dreams stopped because the war stopped me from going, as Erez crossing is closed," she wrote on social media, referring to the main passage to Israel.

Gaza Health Ministry spokespersona Ashraf Al-Qidra said the border closure has prevented 432 cancer patients from visiting hospitals in Israel, East Jerusalem, and the West Bank, 27 who are listed as "life-saving" referrals.

(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
Israeli's army says Islamic Jihad has fired more than 860 rockets from the coastal enclave since Wednesday, a day after Israel killed three of the group's commanders in air strikes

Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad has entered a second conflict with Israel in less than a year, with experts saying the Iran-backed movement is balancing competing interests as it insists on armed resistance.

According to the Israeli army, the Gaza Strip-based group has fired more than 860 rockets at Israel from the coastal enclave since Wednesday, a day after Israel killed three of the group's commanders in a barrage of air strikes on the territory, controlled by Hamas.

Israel charged that two of the three -- Jihad Ghannam and Khalil al-Bahtini -- were directly involved in rocket attacks on Israel a week prior, while the third -- Tareq Ezzedine -- was working to develop rocket-firing capabilities in the occupied West Bank.

At least 31 Palestinians, among them militants and civilians including children, have been killed in the latest violence, while one person was killed in Israel.

- Growing popularity -

The group was established in 1981 by students at the Islamic University of Gaza.

Unlike Hamas and Fatah, which governs the West Bank through the Palestinian Authority (PA), Islamic Jihad refuses to participate in politics. The group rejects the Oslo Peace Accords, which established the PA, insisting armed struggle is the only path forward for Palestinians.

The group has continued to "emphasise the need for armed struggle", according to Erik Skare, a researcher at the University of Oslo and author of a book on the group.

"Islamic Jihad has grown significantly since 2007 precisely because there has been this void in the Palestinian resistance (to Israeli occupation), and unlike Hamas and Fatah it has been unencumbered by the responsibilities of governance," he said.

- Group origins -

The group was founded and led by enigmatic writer and doctor Fathi Shaqaqi until 1995, when he was assassinated in Malta by a hit squad sent by Israel's spy agency, the Mossad.

Like Hamas, Islamic Jihad was born out of the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist movement established in Egypt last century.

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In 1992, Islamic Jihad founded its armed wing, known as the Al-Quds Brigade.

Designated as a terrorist organisation by the United States, the European Union and others, Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for multiple suicide bombings targeting Israelis, notably during the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising, from 2000 to 2005.

One of the group's most prominent attacks was in 1989, on a bus travelling between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem that killed 16 people.

"Don't let the name fool you," said Skare, who said the group is more than just a jihadist movement. He noted that, unlike Hamas, many of its social policies are secular rather than Islamist.

"Islamic Jihad never cared about what clothes you were wearing, or if an unmarried couple were holding hands, all they cared about was that you were pointing a rifle at the Israeli occupation," he said.

The group's current leader Ziyad al-Nakhala was first arrested in 1971 as a member of the Arab Liberation Front -- a secular nationalist movement, Skare added.

- Relations with Hamas -

Despite similar origins, relations between Hamas and Islamic Jihad have occasionally frayed in recent years.

Islamic Jihad "is quite aware it cannot afford to alienate Hamas, it depends on the goodwill of Hamas" to operate, said Skare.

Hamas has governed Gaza since 2007 and provides Islamic Jihad sanctuary in the territory.

Last August, Hamas stayed out of three days of fighting between the group and Israel that left 49 Palestinians dead, a decision that divided Palestinian opinion.

A poll by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research following the fighting showed 50 percent of Palestinians agreed with Hamas's decision and 37 percent disagreed.

That conflict prompted rare public criticism of Islamic Jihad on social media, with errant rockets thought to have killed Palestinians.

Israeli military officials have stressed Hamas's lack of involvement in the current round of fighting.

"Hamas is not reacting, I'm putting aside declarations, we are dealing with actions," a senior Israeli military official told journalists on Wednesday.

- Israel 'united' factions -

If relations between the two were fraying, disagreements will have been temporarily forgotten in the days since Israel began air strikes, said Tahani Mustafa, an analyst at the International Crisis Group.

Israel's targeted killing of the three Islamic Jihad commanders on Tuesday was a "provocation" which "has inadvertently united the factions", she added.

"Hamas has found itself in a situation where, because of the blatant nature of Israel's provocation, it has to support Islamic Jihad -- even when it did not do so initially -- or risk losing credibility as a resistance organisation," Mustafa said.

According to Skare, Islamic Jihad now faces a dilemma, between being "a principal defender of Palestinian rights -- continuing to escalate with rocket fire and counter-bombings from Israel -- and not alienating Hamas".

"It's a balancing act," he said.

gb/mj/noc/jsa
Chinese FM encourages Chinese, French youths to contribute to Sino-French relations

Xinhua) 08:47, May 12, 2023

PARIS, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang on Thursday inaugurated the Maison de la Chine (House of China) of the International University Campus in Paris, encouraging Chinese and French youths to become the new force of people-to-people and cultural exchanges.

Noting that the mission of the International University Campus in Paris is to encourage exchanges between youths around the world and promote world peace, Qin said that the campus has become a veritable epitome of the plural world.

Qin added that he is convinced that the Maison de la Chine being in use will add new luster to the campus where different cultures have deeply blended.

He said that in a world where the future and destiny of all countries are closely linked, peaceful development can only be achieved through the inclusive coexistence of different cultures and civilizations.

One of the important contents of the Global Civilization Initiative proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping is calling for respect for diversity of civilizations, Qin said.

Qin noted that young people are the new force of people-to-people and cultural exchanges, practitioners of people-to-people connectivity, and successors of China-France relations.

He encouraged Chinese students to care about their motherland while being committed to the welfare of the world, showcase China's national image in the new era, better tell China's stories in the new era, and pass on the friendship between China and France in the new era.

Qin also encouraged French students to master the Chinese language, learn about the Chinese culture, and contribute to the development of China-France relations.

The Chinese Embassy and Consulates in France will continue to care for and help Chinese students studying in France, Qin added.

The students said that they will study hard and serve as a bridge and bond for the people-to-people and cultural exchanges between China and France.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Wu Chaolan)
George Santos has been accused of using stolen cheques to make purchases at a shop near Rio de Janeiro in 2008

Republican congressman George Santos has admitted to theft and signed a deal with Brazilian authorities to drop the criminal charges in a 2008 case.

As part of the deal, Mr Santos has been given 30 days to pay restitution and fines for the case to be dropped.

He is still facing more serious federal charges in the US of fraud, money laundering and theft of public funds.

Mr Santos has pleaded not guilty to the US federal charges.

The 34-year-old lawmaker, who was elected to the House of Representatives in November, has been dogged by accusations of falsehoods and fraud throughout his brief career on Capitol Hill.

Among those were allegations that Mr Santos spent about $700 (560) using a false name and stolen cheques in the city of Niteroi, near Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, to buy items at a shop including a pair of trainers in 2008, when he was 19.

The case had been suspended because Brazilian authorities were unable to locate him, but it was revived after Mr Santos took office in the US.

On Thursday, Mr Santos confessed to the theft in a virtual appearance before a Brazilian criminal court. He was given 30 days to pay $2,000 (1,600) in fines and $2,800 to the shopkeeper, according to local news outlets.

In exchange, the fraud charges against Mr Santos in Brazil would be dropped.

"The case ended today," Mr Santos' lawyer, Jonymar Vasconcelos, told the Washington Post.

The congressman is still fighting 13 criminal charges in the US, including fraud, theft of public funds, money laundering and making false statements to Congress. He was indicted on Wednesday in the Eastern District Court of New York.

According to the indictment, Mr Santos is accused of using donations to his political campaign for personal expenses, including designer clothes and credit card payments.

He is also accused of receiving unemployment benefits during the Covid-19 pandemic, even though he worked at an investment firm at the time with a reported salary of $120,000 per year.

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Mr Santos is also alleged to have lied about his finances, including his income, to Congress.

"Taken together, the allegations in the indictment charge Santos with relying on repeated dishonesty and deception to ascend to the halls of Congress and enrich himself," said Breon Peace, a US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

If convicted on the most serious charges, Mr Santos could face up to 20 years in prison.
George Santos, the New York Republican congressman who rose to prominence for a string of exaggerations, lies, and irregularities related to his personal background and campaign finances, has pleaded not guilty after being hit with a series of federal charges.

He told the press after exiting a Long Island courthouse on Wednesday that the probe amounted to a witch hunt and that he is planning to run for re-election.

Mr Santos surrendered to the authorities and was taken into custody earlier in the day before being released on a $500,000 bond ahead of his next court appearance on 30 June.

He has been charged with seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, one count of theft of public funds, and two counts of making materially false statements to the House of Representatives.

Utah GOP Senator Mitt Romney led the calls for him to go, saying: He has demonstrated by his untruthfulness that he should not be in the United States Congress  perhaps should not even be on the public streets.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has now said he will not back Mr Santoss proposed re-election bid.

Key Points

Kevin McCarthy flip flops on George Santos and says he wont support indicted congressmans re-election bid

George Santos voting on employment fraud bill  24 hours after being arrested for employment fraud

Inside George Santos drag queen days as Kitara Ravache - and how his young and fun past was exposed

Expel George Santos? Republican leaders arent ready to take that step

From resume lies to criminal charges: A timeline of George Santos many scandals

Early political career

08:00 , Bevan Hurley

Mr Santos murky and ever-changing biography makes it difficult to parse fact from fiction during his early forays into politics.

In 2018, he began volunteering for the campaign of Republican Vickie Paladino, who was running for state Senate. He reportedly boasted of his ties to Wall Street donors who could contribute but did little actual work.

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The next year, he reportedly made his first attempt to get elected to Congress but failed to secure enough signatures to get on the Queens County Republican Committee.

He joined United for Trump, a small New York group of Republican supporters of the then-president, and launched a first bid for Congress in November 2019.

That month he launched his campaign for the United States House of Representatives in New Yorks 3rd Congressional District in 2020 against Democratic incumbent Thomas Suozzi.

No other candidates put their names forward. When pressed by reporters about why he lived out of the district, he claimed to reside at an address that turned out to be his treasurers.

He lost the general election by about 46,000 votes, but still exceeded Republican expectations for the strongly Democratic district. He refused to concede the election, echoing Donald Trumps false claims of voter fraud.

George Santos voting on employment fraud bill  24 hours after being arrested for employment fraud

07:00 , John Bowden

Rep George Santos returned to the Capitol on Thursday following his arrest a day earlier for unemployment fraud  just in time to vote on a bill dealing with that exact topic.

It was a perfectly scripted moment to cap off a wild two-day media circus around his indicment in New York on 13 criminal counts. He has pleaded not guilty, and vowed to fight the charges in court.

On Thursday, moments after entering the building, the congressman was bombarded by questions about whether it was right for him to vote on such a bill while he himself was under criminal indictment for an alleged violation of that statute.

Whats more, Mr Santos is co-sponsor of the legislation being introduced, which would strengthen Americas fraud laws by extending the statute of limitations for such investigations and providing more incentives for states to investigate and uncover fraud.

Well, allegations are not proof, right Rachel? barked the Republican lawmaker at a journalist as he jogged up a flight of stairs away from gathered reporters.

Read more:

George Santos voting on employment fraud bill  24 hours after being arrested for it

Spoke at Stop the Steal rally

06:00 , Bevan Hurley

Mr Santos spoke at the Stop the Steal rally at the ellipse in Washington DC on the day of the Capitol riots on January 6, claiming his election had been stolen. A roommate would later claim that Mr Santos had worn his stolen $520 Burberry scarf to the rally.

In 2020, while running for Congress, he began working at Florida investment firm Harbor City Capital, which was later accused in a civil lawsuit by the Security and Exchange Commission of running a $17m Ponzi scheme.

The SEC banned the firm from doing business in Alabama, and alleged it was out to deceive Alabamians and profit off unsuspecting investors by using dazzling marketing tactics to sell unregistered bonds.

He has publicly denied any involvement in the alleged fraud.

The Devolder Organization

05:00 , Bevan Hurley

Mr Santos set up the Devolder Organization, which he was the sole owner of and claimed he managed $80m in assets for the capital introduction consulting firm.

Mr Santos hosted the Talking GOP public-access radio show from January to May 2020.

He would schmooze guests, who were mostly figures from the Queens Republican Party.

On Talking GOP, he said that he was Catholic, and that his maternal grandfather had converted from Judaism to Catholicism before the Holocaust. I believe we are all Jewish, at the end  because Jesus Christ is Jewish.

Kevin McCarthy flip flops on George Santos and says he wont support indicted congressmans re-election bid

04:30 , Joe Sommerlad

Kevin McCarthy, the Republican speaker of the US House of Representatives, has said he will not support New York congressman George Santoss bid for re-election after the freshman lawmaker was accused of committing a series of financial crimes and charged in a 13-count federal indictment.

Mr Santos, 34, was arrested on Long Island on Wednesday after surrendering to the authorities and pleaded not guilty to all charges, after which he was released on a $500,000 bond and took questions from the press. He declared in true Trumpian fashion that he was the victim of a witch hunt and insisted that he still intends to stand for re-election in 2024.

Mr Santos filed the necessary paperwork to run again with the Federal Election Commission back in March, allowing his campaign team to continue fundraising.

This weeks drama came after months of controversy swirling around Mr Santos, whose midterm victory over Democrat Robert Zimmerman was swiftly overshadowed in December by a New York Times investigation that exposed a prolific track record of lying about his past, or, as Mr Santos preferred to put it, resume embellishment.

The man representing the citys 3rd Congressional District was accused of lying about everything from his educational background and Wall Street work experience to the fate of his grandparents and mother, his past experience as a drag performer in Brazil, his prowess as a volleyball player and even a bizarre plot involving the invention of a fictional animal charity to channel money away from an Iraq War veterans dying dog.

Read more:

Kevin McCarthy says he wont support George Santoss re-election bid after all

Santos took unemployment in 2020 despite $120,000 salary

04:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Santos took unemployment insurance in 2020, but told me that his company had struck a deal at that time to make sure *no one there was unemployed*. This may support the charge that he took the $ illegally.



The govt also says he secretly had a separate 120k job at the time.  https://t.co/jDDy5MtIWK  Blake Zeff (@blakezeff) May 11, 2023

Weve seen McCarthy weather scandals, so much worse'

03:30 , Gustaf Kilander

Documentary maker Blake Zeff tweeted on Thursday that Mr Santos appears unconcerned about his mounting scandals.

Mr Zeff said he spent months talking with George Santos for a potential documentary on him.

My team eventually ditched the project when it was clear he wanted lots of money, he added.

Weve seen McCarthy weather scandals, so much worse. We saw Matt Gaetz survive a massive scandal. Weve seen members survive scandal on the Dem side, Mr Santos told Mr Zeff during their conversations.

Documentary maker ditched project after Santos wanted cash

03:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Talking about his district, Santos said: You sit in a room with a lot of Jews, youre fucked!



Then he assumed a fake Yiddish accent, to say: Oh hes such a mensch. Hes such a mensch. Listen here https://t.co/ybrMipN8sA  Blake Zeff (@blakezeff) May 11, 2023

Arrest and indictment

02:30 , Bevan Hurley

Late afternoon on Tuesday 9 May, CNN revealed that Mr Santos had been criminally charged by prosecutors in New Yorks Eastern District.

Mr Santos is accused of defrauding donors by spending thousands of dollars of the solicited funds on personal expenses, including luxury designer clothing and credit card payments.

Mr Santos allegedly lied on financial disclosure forms he filed to the House by overstating his income from and failing to disclose income from another, while also lying about his earnings from his company, the Devolder Organization.

Mr Santos fraudulently used campaign donations to buy thousands of dollars of the solicited funds on personal expenses, including luxury designer clothing and credit card payments, the indictment claimed.

He also stands accused of insurance fraud for applying for Covid employment benefits in New York while still employed in Florida.

He was released on $500,000 bail, and had to surrender his passport, the Associated Press reported.

Following Donald Trumps playbook, Mr Santos called the charges a witch hunt and said he intended to run again for Congress outside court.

Some Republicans have called for Mr Santos to leave Congress immediately. Mr McCarthy has said he will look at the charges.

Political positions

02:00 , Bevan Hurley

Mr Santos has claimed in interviews that he was exactly the kind of candidate that could grow the Republican Partys reach with younger voters.

He aligned himself strongly with Donald Trump and the Maga wing of the Republican caucus, attending the former presidents indictment on criminal charges in New York last month.

Other than platitudes about wanting to be a voice for every community in the district, Mr Santos does not set out any ideological vision on his campaign website or in statements.

In February, he was spotted wearing an AR-15 lapel in Congress after a spate of recent mass shootings.

He described abortion as barbaric in a 2022 speech to the Whitestone Republican Club.

He introduced several pieces of legislation in early 2023; including bills to raise the cap on state and local tax deduction and cut federal funding to countries that persecute LGBTQ people.

Mr Santos raised eyebrows in April, when he introduced the Medical Information Nuanced Accountability Judgment Act, which would ban the government from mandating certain vaccines.

The acronym, MINAJ, was thought to relate to Nicki Minajs comments in 2021 that her cousins friend had become impotent and suffered swollen testicles after taking the Covid-19 vaccine.

Credit card scams and unpaid rent

01:30 , Bevan Hurley

Revelations about Mr Santos alleged grifts and schemes continued to emerge.

In February, it was reported that New York City housing court records showed that Tiffany Lee Devolder Santos owed $39,050 in back rent to the landlord.

Mr Santos had reportedly failed to pay rent in the Queens apartment he shared with his sister before being elected to Congress in a state of disrepair.

The next month, a Brazilian man who was deported from the US after being convicted of credit card skimming fraud reportedly told federal authorities that Mr Santos was the mastermind of the scheme.

I am coming forward today to declare that the person in charge of the crime of credit card fraud when I was arrested was George Santos / Anthony Devolder, Gustavo Ribeiro Trelha wrote in a declaration obtained by Politico and sent to the FBI, the US Secret Service office in New York, and the US Attorneys Office in the Eastern District of New York, by Trelhas attorney Mark Demetropoulos.

Trelha claimed Mr Santos had taught him how to skim card information and clone cards in Seattle in 2017.

He gave me all the materials and taught me how to put skimming devices and cameras on ATM machines, Trelha wrote in his statement.

Trelha claimed Mr Santos visited him in jail in Seattle after his arrest and threatened him not to reveal his part in the scheme to authorities.

Responding to the allegations at the time, Mr Santos told reporters that he was innocent.

In January, Mr Santos also claimed to have been the victim of a mugging and assassination attempt in New York.

Romney calls Santos a sick puppy'

01:00 , Bevan Hurley

As Mr Santos pile of scandals grew, he threw himself behind Kevin McCarthys campaign for Speaker of the House.

Mr McCarthy welcomed the support given his razor-thin majority, and refused to take action on any of the mounting ethical scandals, even as a growing number of New York Republicans called for him to be removed from Congress.

At the State of the Union in February, Mr Santos had an altercation with Mitt Romney after the Utah Senator told him he didnt belong in Congress and should be embarrassed.

Tell that to the 142,000 who voted for me, Mr Santos reportedly replied.

Following the speech, Mr Romney called the New York Republican a sick puppy.

In March, the House Ethics Committee opened an investigation into whether Mr Santos had engaged in unlawful activity.

At the time, Mr McCarthy said he would remain a member in good standing in the GOP caucus until a full investigation is complete.

Santos lies revealed post-election

Friday 12 May 2023 00:30 , Bevan Hurley

A bombshell New York Times report on 19 December revealed to a broader audience for the first time many of Mr Santos fabrications and lies about his employment and education history.

A flood of further embellishments soon followed, including the 9/11-related death of his mother, claims he had been a producer on the failed Broadway production of Spider-Man, how he had cheated associates out of clothes and cash, and had stolen $3,000 that had been raised to save a disabled veterans pet dog .

A pressure group formed by citizens in his 3rd Congressional District began holding protests outside his campaign office to try to force his expulsion from Congress.

In an interview with Semafor attempting to explain his newfound wealth, he claimed to have made his money by taking a cut from matching sellers of luxury goods like planes and yachts with potential buyers.

Santos called bizarre, unprincipled and sketchy ahead of election win

Friday 12 May 2023 00:00 , Bevan Hurley

An opposition research file on Mr Santos produced by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee found that elements of his biography had been fabricated and required further research, a Times investigation found.

Mr Zimmerman later said he didnt have sufficient resources for this, and focussed his attention on voter outreach.

The North Shore Leader, a weekly news publication based in the affluent Long Island neighbourhood in the 3rd District, was the only media organisation to report on discrepancies in Mr Santos financial disclosure forms.

In September 2022, it reported that Mr Santos net wealth had risen from essentially zero, and with an annual salary of $55,000 in 2020, to $11m in assets just two years later.

The news site endorsed Mr Zimmerman, stating that his opponent is so bizarre, unprincipled and sketchy that we cannot ... hes most likely just a fabulist  a fake.

Mr Santos went on to take the district that November by eight points.

Hes most likely just a fabulist

Thursday 11 May 2023 23:30 , Bevan Hurley

Soon after his 2020 election defeat, Mr Santos began raising money for the next congressional race.

New York Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, who is now the third-ranking Republican in the House, was an early supporter, and endorsed him in 2021.

In late 2021, a vulnerability study commissioned with Mr Santos approval found alarming revelations, and many of his staffers resigned, according to the Times.

Among other things, it found he had falsely claimed to have been endorsed by Mr Trump, along with many of the lies about his job history and personal wealth that have since been revealed.

Congressional leaders learned of his deceptions by 2022. According to the Times, Dan Conston, the leader of the Kevin McCarthy-aligned Congressional Leadership Fund, tried to circulate the reports findings to prominent donors.

Mr Santos was then the beneficiary of two pieces of luck, that paved the way for his election to Congress in 2022. Thomas Suozzi, the 3rd Districts incumbent lawmaker, announced he would not seek re-election.

Then during redistricting, a new congressional district map gerrymandered to favour Democrats was thrown out by the New York Supreme Court and replaced with a new map that added a swathe of Republican areas.

Mr Santos again ran unopposed for the Republican nomination, and faced Democrat Robert Zimmerman in the general election, the first House race between two openly gay candidates.

George Santos wildly claims his arrest is linked to his support of jailed Chinese billionaire Miles Guo

Thursday 11 May 2023 23:00 , Gustaf Kilander

George Santos has bizarrely claimed that his arrest on federal charges is linked to his support for the Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui, also known as Miles Guo.

In a fundraising appeal, Mr Santos tweeted: I asked questions about #MilesGuo & the DOJ indicts me 5 days later! The fight is real & Im OVER the target, I need your support to keep me fighting for freedom. #MAGA #TrumpWasRightAboutEverything #StopTheCCP #freeMilesGuo.

Chip in today! he added.

Mr Guo, a self-exiled Chinese businessman and close ally of Steve Bannon, was arrested by US authorities in March on charges for fraud and money laundering. Prosecutors claim he led a complex conspiracy to defraud thousands of his online followers out of over $1 billion dollars.

Mr Guo has received vocal support from Mr Santos, who himself was arrested on 13 federal charges on Wednesday, including wire fraud, money laundering, theft of public funds, and making false statements to the House of Representatives.

The New York Republican held a heated press conference after exiting his arraignment at the federal courthouse on Long Island, calling the probe a witch hunt.

Read more:

George Santos wildly claims arrest is linked to his support of Chinese billionaire

Kevin McCarthy flip flops on George Santos and says he wont support indicted congressmans re-election bid

Thursday 11 May 2023 22:30 , Joe Sommerlad

Kevin McCarthy, the Republican speaker of the US House of Representatives, has said he will not support New York congressman George Santoss bid for re-election after the freshman lawmaker was accused of committing a series of financial crimes and charged in a 13-count federal indictment.

Mr Santos, 34, was arrested on Long Island on Wednesday after surrendering to the authorities and pleaded not guilty to all charges, after which he was released on a $500,000 bond and took questions from the press. He declared in true Trumpian fashion that he was the victim of a witch hunt and insisted that he still intends to stand for re-election in 2024.

Mr Santos filed the necessary paperwork to run again with the Federal Election Commission back in March, allowing his campaign team to continue fundraising.

This weeks drama came after months of controversy swirling around Mr Santos, whose midterm victory over Democrat Robert Zimmerman was swiftly overshadowed in December by a New York Times investigation that exposed a prolific track record of lying about his past, or, as Mr Santos preferred to put it, resume embellishment.

The man representing the citys 3rd Congressional District was accused of lying about everything from his educational background and Wall Street work experience to the fate of his grandparents and mother, his past experience as a drag performer in Brazil, his prowess as a volleyball player and even a bizarre plot involving the invention of a fictional animal charity to channel money away from an Iraq War veterans dying dog.

Read more:

Kevin McCarthy says he wont support George Santoss re-election bid after all

The Devolder Organization

Thursday 11 May 2023 22:00 , Bevan Hurley

Mr Santos also set up the Devolder Organization, which he was the sole owner of and claimed he managed $80m in assets for the capital introduction consulting firm.

Mr Santos hosted the Talking GOP public-access radio show from January to May 2020.

He would schmooze guests, who were mostly figures from the Queens Republican Party.

On Talking GOP, he said that he was Catholic, and that his maternal grandfather had converted from Judaism to Catholicism before the Holocaust. I believe we are all Jewish, at the end  because Jesus Christ is Jewish.

Spoke at Stop the Steal rally

Thursday 11 May 2023 21:30 , Bevan Hurley

Mr Santos spoke at the Stop the Steal rally at the ellipse in Washington DC on the day of the Capitol riots on January 6, claiming his election had been stolen. A roommate would later claim that Mr Santos had worn his stolen $520 Burberry scarf to the rally.

In 2020, while running for Congress, he began working at Florida investment firm Harbor City Capital, which was later accused in a civil lawsuit by the Security and Exchange Commission of running a $17m Ponzi scheme.

The SEC banned the firm from doing business in Alabama, and alleged it was out to deceive Alabamians and profit off unsuspecting investors by using dazzling marketing tactics to sell unregistered bonds.

He has publicly denied any involvement in the alleged fraud.

George Santos voting on employment fraud bill  24 hours after being arrested for employment fraud

Thursday 11 May 2023 21:23 , John Bowden

Rep George Santos returned to the Capitol on Thursday following his arrest a day earlier for unemployment fraud  just in time to vote on a bill dealing with that exact topic.

It was a perfectly scripted moment to cap off a wild two-day media circus around his indicment in New York on 13 criminal counts. He has pleaded not guilty, and vowed to fight the charges in court.

On Thursday, moments after entering the building, the congressman was bombarded by questions about whether it was right for him to vote on such a bill while he himself was under criminal indictment for an alleged violation of that statute.

Whats more, Mr Santos is co-sponsor of the legislation being introduced, which would strengthen Americas fraud laws by extending the statute of limitations for such investigations and providing more incentives for states to investigate and uncover fraud.

Well, allegations are not proof, right Rachel? barked the Republican lawmaker at a journalist as he jogged up a flight of stairs away from gathered reporters.

Read more:

George Santos voting on employment fraud bill  24 hours after being arrested for it

Early political career

Thursday 11 May 2023 21:00 , Bevan Hurley

Mr Santos murky and ever-changing biography makes it difficult to parse fact from fiction during his early forays into politics.

In 2018, he began volunteering for the campaign of Republican Vickie Paladino, who was running for state Senate. He reportedly boasted of his ties to Wall Street donors who could contribute but did little actual work.

The next year, he reportedly made his first attempt to get elected to Congress but failed to secure enough signatures to get on the Queens County Republican Committee.

He joined United for Trump, a small New York group of Republican supporters of the then-president, and launched a first bid for Congress in November 2019.

That month he launched his campaign for the United States House of Representatives in New Yorks 3rd Congressional District in 2020 against Democratic incumbent Thomas Suozzi.

No other candidates put their names forward. When pressed by reporters about why he lived out of the district, he claimed to reside at an address that turned out to be his treasurers.

He lost the general election by about 46,000 votes, but still exceeded Republican expectations for the strongly Democratic district. He refused to concede the election, echoing Donald Trumps false claims of voter fraud.

Former New York State Senator announces campaign to defeat Santos'

Thursday 11 May 2023 20:30 , Gustaf Kilander

 My name is Anna Kaplan, and I am proud to announce my campaign to defeat George Santos.



As a mother, former child refugee, and proud Democrat, I am ready to restore honest leadership in Congress.



Join me and let's defeat Santos. pic.twitter.com/eIRVop5gts  Anna M. Kaplan (@AnnaMKaplan) May 11, 2023

VIDEO: Rep. Santos indicted on federal charges

Thursday 11 May 2023 20:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Unidentified wife filed for divorce in 2019

Thursday 11 May 2023 19:30 , Bevan Hurley

In February, the non-profit Reclaim the Records obtained court records showing he married a Brazilian woman in 2012. His former wife, who has not been identified, filed for divorce in 2019.

He has since said he is married to a Brazilian man, who he identified by the first name of Matt. He reportedly told the Brazilian publication Piaui in November 2020 that his husbands name is Matheus Gerard.

Sometime in 2016, he moved to Florida where he worked for HotelsPro, a global hospitality marketplace and changed his drivers licence to a Florida address.

California Democrat calls for House vote on expelling Santos

Thursday 11 May 2023 19:00 , Gustaf Kilander

I call, again, on GOP @SpeakerMcCarthy to allow a floor vote on the bill by Rep @RobertGarcia to expel the Republican Member of Congress purportedly known as George Santos.#thursdaymorning thoughts https://t.co/mhOd6eFXHi  Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) May 11, 2023

I know I screwed up, but I want to pay'

Thursday 11 May 2023 18:30 , Bevan Hurley

Citing court documents, the New York Times reported that Mr Santos told police in 2010 that he and his mother had stolen a chequebook from a man that she used to work for, and used it to make $1,300 in illegal purchases of clothes and shoes.

He reportedly admitted the illicit activity in a post on a Brazilian social media site in 2011, saying I know I screwed up, but I want to pay, The Times reported.

The criminal case ground to a halt in 2011 after Mr Santos could not be located by Brazilian authorities, as he had returned to the US.

He later denied that he was a criminal in Brazil or any jurisdiction in the world in an interview with the New York Post.

In March, Mr Santos admitted the crime and agreed to pay the victim back as part of a non-prosecution agreement with Brazilian prosecutors, CNN reported.

On the campaign trail, Mr Santos repeatedly claimed that he is of Jewish descent and that his grandparents were European Jews who fled Hitler.

Jewish cultural groups and online sleuths later unearthed records showing his grandparents were born in Brazil.

Mr Santos would later tell the New York Post that he had said he was Jew-ish.

Moved back to New York in 2011

Thursday 11 May 2023 18:00 , Bevan Hurley

He moved back to New York in 2011, working as a bilingual customer services representative at a call centre for Dish Network, a satellite TV firm, in Queens, where he would have earned about $15 an hour.

Former colleagues told The Times that he was an ambitious man with fine tastes, and used to boast about owning property in Brazil, Nantucket and New York. In reality, he was sharing a small rented apartment with his mother and sister in Queens.

He claimed to his friends to be a business school graduate of NYU. In separate interviews, he said he had graduated from Baruch College in 2010, where he was a star volleyball player. All of which was later proven to be false when both denied having any record of Mr Santos attending.

He further boated on an archived version of his 2020 congressional website, that he attended the elite private school Horace Mann in New York, but failed to graduate due to financial difficulties.

Mr Santos would later claim in a campaign biography that it was around this time that he began rising through the ranks at Citigroup and Goldman Sachs as part of a successful career on Wall Street, where he claimed to have managed more than $80m. Neither bank had any record of him being employed there.

Sue me

Thursday 11 May 2023 17:30 , Bevan Hurley

While living in Brazil, Mr Santos also reportedly performed as a drag queen named Kitara Ravache as a young man.

In January, Brazilian drag artist Eula Rochard posted photos to social media herself with a person wearing a red dress, bright red lipstick and dangling chandelier earrings who she identified as Mr Santos.

Journalist Joao Fragah also said he had interviewed Mr Santos in costume.

A Politico investigation later found that a user on Wikipedia named Anthony Devolder claimed to have participated in drag shows in Brazil as a teenager.

Mr Santos issued a furious denial of the claims on social media, at a time when his Republican Party was vilifying and seeking to ban drag queens from performing in some states.

The most recent obsession from the media claiming that I am a drag Queen or performed as a drag Queen is categorically false, he wrote on Twitter .

The media continues to make outrageous claims about my life while I am working to deliver results.

In statements to media the next day, Mr Santos appeared to admit he had, in fact, dressed in drag.

I was young and I had fun at a festival. Sue me for having a life, he said.

Attended the Mamie Fay School primary school in Astoria

Thursday 11 May 2023 17:00 , Bevan Hurley

Mr Santos attended the Mamie Fay School primary school in Astoria and Woodside Intermediate School 125 in Sunnyside, Queens, former classmates have said .

Tiffany Bogosian told the Washington Post that even at a young age, Mr Santos would fabricate parts of his biography. She put this down to his impoverished background, and said he had still been learning English while at junior high and was bullied during his time there.

From 2008 to 2011, Mr Santos lived in Brazil where his mother was living at the time.

In 2008, Mr Santos was accused by Brazilian authorities of using a stolen checkbook and fake name at a clothing shop outside Rio de Janeiro.

A first generation American

Thursday 11 May 2023 16:30 , Bevan Hurley

Given his prodigious propensity for telling fibs, basic details of Mr Santos personal history, such as his real name, marital status, and precisely where he was born merit a healthy dose of skepticism.

According to his congressional website , Mr Santos is a first generation American born in Jackson Heights, Queens, in July 1988. His parents were both Brazilian immigrants  Fatima Devolder, who worked as a housekeeper, and Gercino Antonio dos Santos Jr, a house painter. He has a younger sister, Tiffany Lee Devolder Santos.

Former co-workers who worked with Mr Santos at Dish Network in College Point in 2011 and 2012 told Patch that he used to tell them he was born in Brazil. Then, he was known as Anthony Devolder or George Devolder.
The massive base near Columbus, Georgia  established in 1918  is now Fort Moore following Thursdays renaming in honor of the late Lt. Gen. Harold Hal Moore and his wife, Julia.

Fort Benning no longer exists since the U.S. Army training facility in Georgia severed its ties to the confederacy and changed its name to recognize a military couple with a lasting impression.

According to CNN, the massive base near Columbus, Georgia  established in 1918  is now Fort Moore following Thursdays renaming in honor of the late Lt. Gen. Harold Hal Moore and his wife, Julia.

The Moores were courageous leaders and visionaries whose lives exemplify duty, honor, [and] country, Maj. Gen. Curtis Buzzard said Thursday, and each time we pass through the gates, their legacy will inspire us.

No longer Fort Benning, the massive military base near Columbus, Georgia, was renamed and now honors a couple remembered for their courage and contributions to the U.S. Army. (Photo Credit: Screenshot/YouTube.com/CCG TV)

Moore was in the Army between 1945 and 1977, serving in Vietnam, Korea, Japan and Norway. He oversaw the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment during the Battle of Ia Drang Valley in 1965, regarded as the first significant conflict of the Vietnam War. The 2002 movie We Were Soldiers depicted his efforts.

In a statement earlier this year announcing the renaming, the Army said Julia Moore was equally distinguished, noting that as a leader of the military branchs family programs, she revolutionized how the military looks after fallen soldiers widows.

At Thursdays ceremony, troops unveiled a sign at the bases entrance after replacing the Fort Benning colors with a new official flag as the couples relatives looked on.

They loved the Army and their beloved troopers, the couples son, retired Col. David Moore, said, CNN reported. He said that his father, in fact, had asked to be buried among his troopers at the military bases cemetery. The same troopers my mother referred to as their sons and brothers and with whom she is buried as well.

Fort Moore is one of nine U.S. Army locations receiving a new name following recommendations from a congressional commission established to remove confederate names from military bases.

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The posts original name referenced Henry Benning, a confederate officer who vigorously defended slavery and was a crucial figure in the Souths secession effort.

Retired Col. Ramon Tony Nadal said during the ceremony that the leadership exhibited by Hal Moore, with whom he served, improved the Army as a whole. Nadal added that the designation in honor of the Moores will serve as a beacon to the many young men and women who will follow them in honor, integrity, and allegiance in service to their country, CNN reported.

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The post Georgias Fort Benning drops confederacy connection, honors military couple appeared first on TheGrio.
Robins Air Force Base recently brought home its first E-11A airborne communications relay plane, a major step toward overhauling the Georgia bases slate of combat jobs.

The jets April 24 arrival brings Robins closer to the start of flying at its new 18th Airborne Command and Control Squadron, created in February as the U.S.-based hub of the Battlefield Airborne Communications Node fleet. The base formally announced its arrival in a press release Thursday.

BACN is one of four missions set to replace the retiring fleet of E-8C Joint STARS ground target tracking planes at Robins over the next several years.

The aircraft  a fleet of Bombardier Global 6000 business jets built by Learjet and outfitted with a suite of military antennas and radios by Northrop Grumman  relay information between military aircraft and ground troops that are too far apart to contact each other directly.

We basically extend the range of a lot of communication systems, be they radio or data link, and then we allow people that have different types of radios and data links to be able to communicate with each other that otherwise would not be able to, squadron commander Lt. Col. Scott Sevigny said in the release.

The squadron plans to employ nine BACN aircraft and nearly 300 active duty airmen. It reports to the 319th Reconnaissance Wing at Grand Forks AFB, North Dakota, the Air Force said in 2021. It aims to be fully operational by fiscal 2027.

All nine planes will be based out of Robins and then deploy as the 430th Expeditionary Electronic Communications Squadron at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia. BACN planes are typically in such high demand that they used Kandahar Airfield as their home base until the U.S. withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021.

The Air Force owns six BACN aircraft and plans to grow to a fleet of nine by the end of 2025. It has received half of the six jets it purchased under a $465 million contract with Learjet in 2021.

BACN payloads, which also fly on the RQ-4 Global Hawk drone, were created in response to the communication failures that led to the deaths of three U.S. Navy SEALs during Operation Red Wings in Afghanistan in 2005.

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The relay aircraft offer the crucial ability to direct troops on the ground in areas with dangerous terrain and little other communications infrastructure, ensuring that American service members can successfully finish their missions and get out alive.

That mission can put BACN pilots in harms way, too. In 2020, two airmen died in a crash landing while trying to set down their damaged, gliding E-11A in Taliban-controlled territory in eastern Afghanistan. An Air Force investigation concluded that a broken fan blade caused one engine to fail, prompting the pilots to shut off the other engine.

In addition to BACN, the Air Force plans to set up another command-and-control squadron, a group focused on electromagnetic spectrum warfare, and an office to handle the Air Forces acquisition of future communications technologies known as the Advanced Battle Management System.

The units are seen as more resilient and relevant in future wars  particularly, in a possible conflict between the U.S. and China  than the services fleet of 16 five-decade-old Joint STARS planes.

We are heading into a new era that will set up our warfighters for success against adversaries, base commander Col. Lindsay Droz said in the release. BACNs arrival at Robins is just the beginning of many other mission milestones coming to this installation.
Leaders of local activist groups gathered downtown Friday to speak out against Floridas new immigration law, which they said could have significant impacts on the Bradenton area.

The legislation, approved by Republican lawmakers and signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis earlier this week, requires employers to use E-Verify to check the immigration status of employees, provides $12 million for a controversial immigrant relocation program, and prohibits undocumented residents from obtaining ID cards.

In the beginning, everyone was welcomed, but now that we are coming in different colors, are we not welcome anymore? said Manatee NAACP President Luther Wilkins, speaking before a crowd of about 40 people at the Manatee County Courthouse in downtown Bradenton.

Also at the press conference were leaders of the Hispanic community, local chapter of the Democratic Party, Manatee County Democratic Black Caucus, Womens Voices of Southwest Florida and League of Women Voters of Manatee County.

Tallahassee, we have to do better. Governor DeSantis, weve got to do better, he added. The NAACP stands with the brown and the Black. We stand against discrimination against all people and ask that you stand with us.

In a Wednesday press conference, DeSantis said that the legislation is part of his ongoing battle with President Joe Biden over immigration policies at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Obviously if we had a different administration it would be a lot easier to actually deal with the problem at its source, said DeSantis, who is expected to officially announce his 2024 bid for president in the coming weeks.

Cesar CJ Garcia shares his concern for the effects of legislation signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis during a press conference at the Manatee County Historic Courthouse Friday. The press conference was organized by the Manatee County Democratic Party to protest the recently passed immigration bill SB 1718.

Fernando Cevallos, vice president of the Manatee County Hispanic Caucus for the Democratic Party, spoke out about how the law could contribute to a shortage of workers in the local economy and job creation.

Bradenton Democrats oppose new immigration law

Immigrants in general are far more entrepreneurial than the general population. They are job creators. Our conservative legislators use this language, job creators, so why do you oppose job creators? Cevallos said. It makes no sense.

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Speakers also said public health could see an impact if undocumented immigrants choose not to seek medical help for fear of being returned to their home country.

Under the new law, Florida hospitals that accept Medicaid are required to ask patients about their immigration status, which is then reported to the state Agency of Health Care Administration under DeSantis.

Fernando Cevallos, VP of the Hispanic Democratic Caucus of Manatee County spoke during a press conference at the Manatee County Historic Courthouse on Friday. The press conference was organized by the Manatee County Democratic Party to protest the recently passed immigration bill SB 1718.

Im concerned about the bill when it comes to health care because if theyre not legal, theyre going to be scared to go to the hospital and get the care they need to avoid being questioned, said Tracy Washington, second-vice president of the Manatee NAACP. Thats going to result in more sick people in the county overall.

Cesar CJ Garcia, a Manatee County resident, entrepreneur and son of immigrant parents, says the Republican lawmakers actions are confusing because the party previously supported immigrants.

Cesar CJ Garcia shares his concern for the effects of legislation signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis during a press conference at the Manatee County Historic Courthouse Friday. The press conference was organized by the Manatee County Democratic Party to protest the recently passed immigration bill SB 1718.

If it wasnt for President Reagan, he passed asylum and because of that, my father became a U.S. citizen. He had an opportunity. Now my father owns a very successful business. He pays taxes here in Manatee County, he raised his family in Manatee County, said Garcia. And if it wasnt for that opportunity, thats property taxes, business taxes, you dont get over the years.

My father has contributed so much to the state and the country by being here, supporting it, and living his own version of the American dream, he added. What is criminal about that?

In a 2020 report, the American Immigration Council estimated that immigrants  about 4.5 million people  make up 21% of Floridas population.

You have a problem when one of five people all of a sudden is targeted. Of that percentage, some are going to leave either out of fear or to avoid headaches, Garcia said. Immigrants are leaving the state and going somewhere else, taking their money, jobs, businesses and experiences. How is that benefiting Florida?

Pedro Melendez, 76, of Bradenton, attended the protest and predicted that Manatee County residents will feel the impact of the immigration law.

Most of the folks who are immigrants here are cooking your food in the restaurants, serving you, doing the lawn, cleaning your room in the hotel and cleaning the schools, Melendez said. Theyre invisible to you, but if they get sick and cant get to the doctor, were all going to be affected.

Glenn Pearson of the Manatee County Black Caucus, Evelyn Almodovar of the Manatee County Democratic Party and Orlando Pickens during a press conference at the Manatee County Historic Courthouse Friday. The press conference was organized by the Manatee County Democratic Party to protest the recently passed immigration bill SB 1718.

Fernando Cevallos, VP of the Hispanic Democratic Caucus of Manatee County spoke during a press conference at the Manatee County Historic Courthouse on Friday. The press conference was organized by the Manatee County Democratic Party to protest the recently passed immigration bill SB 1718.
The doctor's voice rises each time he repeats the sentence, crescendoing into a scream by the eighth repetition.

"I am a surgeon!" Shaun Murphy yells at his chief of surgery, who had boxed him out of helping with a procedure.

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The encounter, a scene from ABC's "The Good Doctor," went viral in some corners of the internet this week, with social media users mocking its intensity. Viewer reactions and the resulting memes reignited conversations about how the show, which just finished its sixth season, portrays its autistic protagonist.

Among experts and advocates for autistic people, opinions are mixed. Some said the character of Murphy, played by Freddie Highmore, is depicted as an unfortunate assemblage of stereotypical behaviors, rather than as a full human. Others felt the protagonist fairly represents some autistic adults but offers no insight into the experiences of many others. Several called on ABC to employ more autistic screenwriters to make the show more authentic.

The stakes are high: A 2019 study found that watching one episode of "The Good Doctor" resulted in more accurate knowledge of autism than a college lecture on the subject. The show averaged more than 7 million viewers in the 2021-2022 season, ranking 27th among network TV series.

Mary Doherty, founder of Autistic Doctors International, said the show's significant reach means it has a responsibility to demonstrate to neurotypical people that autistic people can succeed in medicine.

"It's just a sense of missed opportunity," said Doherty, an anesthesiologist whose organization represents more than 700 autistic medical doctors. "Because that potential for good representation has just been lost, and it's a shame."

To Lydia Brown, senior adviser at Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network, Murphy is a "cardboard cutout of what people believe an autistic person should be like" - with his existence as the show's gimmick. As a result, Brown said, "The Good Doctor" reinforces false stereotypes that autistic people can't form meaningful relationships, understand boundaries or treat others respectfully.

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In one scene, a convenience-store robber asks Murphy to show his hands and then to relinquish his wallet. Murphy responds that he can't because the wallet is in his pocket and "you can't see my hands" if he reaches for it. Unnerved, the robber fires a shot that injures someone.

That literality is stereotypical, Brown said. While they said some autistic people may not understand what's happening during a robbery, most have learned to be hyper-attuned to the dynamics around them for their own safety.

In Brown's view, characters that are coded as autistic without that fact being explicitly stated - such as Chidi Anagonye on "The Good Place" or Gregory House on "House" - tend to be truer to life.

"To humanize a character, whether or not you explicitly label them as autistic, is to think, 'Why do they act the way they do?'" Brown said.

Lawrence Fung, director of the Stanford Neurodiversity Project, expressed appreciation for the show's depiction of an autistic person contributing positively to society and said some scenes are reasonable representations of autism. Murphy becoming overwhelmed by the fluorescent light and noises in a hospital room might ring true for some autistic people, Fung said. But he added that the character embodies only one way autistic people might act.

"The real world is not having autistic people that are all like Shaun Murphy," Fung said.

Among the show's strengths is its depiction of the discrimination that autistic health-care workers often experience, said Doherty, of Autistic Doctors International. In the pilot episode, a board votes not to hire Murphy because he's autistic; the group later reverses its decision.

But the show creates the false impression that all autistic people are savants like Murphy, Doherty said, when only a small percentage of autistic people actually have that trait. She said it should portray how autistic people attempt to "mask" their autism to fit into predominantly neurotypical environments. Most are much better communicators than Murphy and don't behave nearly as inappropriately, she said.

"It's really important to show that autistic doctors are really effective," Doherty said. "And the strengths that autistic doctors bring to medicine are really important."

Another "The Good Doctor" clip that's gone viral this week shows Murphy as unable to understand the concept of transgender people. The portrayal is unrealistic given that in reality, many autistic people are transgender, said journalist Sara Luterman, who has written about her perspective on the show as an autistic person.

More broadly, she said, "The Good Doctor" promotes the harmful idea that autistic people have to be exceptional to be accepted. The show makes clear that Murphy works at the hospital because he's a genius, even though much of his behavior is unprofessional, said Luterman, a reporter at The 19th who has covered neurodiversity.

Although Luterman felt fairly positively about the show when it first aired, she said she no longer considers it worth watching.

"Since then, there have been better shows that have better, fuller, more realistic shows of autistic people in them," she said. "And I don't feel like I have to dig for the good nuggets in imperfect representation anymore."

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Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai speaks at a Google I/O event in Mountain View, Calif., Wednesday, May 10, 2023. | Jeff Chiu, Associated Press

Googles CEO Sundar Pichai announced on Wednesday at Googles I/O conference that an expanded artificial intelligence presence in several of Googles products will be implemented this year, including a new look and feel for the companys search engine.

The company has already implemented different types of AI in past years such as in Gmails generated short responses and predictive text capabilities. Launching over the summer, Google Photos will have not only have Magic Eraser, to remove unwanted distractions easily, but Magic Editor, to add and move things for the perfect picture.

Our ability to make AI helpful for everyone relies on continuously advancing our foundation models, Pichai said, during the conference.

Google is calling the new AI operated search engine Search Generative Experience or SGE. By giving AI the ability to generate longer, more detailed responses to questions, it will synthesize information found across the internet  essentially saving the user time and energy with several different searches.

Whats different about the new Google Search?

While the design for the search engine side of Google will not be anything out of Googles normal branding, here are some notable changes that users should expect with the new technology that Washington Post journalist Geoffrey A. Fowler noticed when he tested it out:

It isnt humanlike and doesnt use personal pronouns to refer to itself. Snapchats AI has seen some internet attention with its new AI chatbot, causing concern among some users who call it terrifying, per Business Insider. Google is trying to avoid that response entirely by keeping the question of having a personality out of the equation. AI wont replace simple Google searches. Simple questions that have simple answers wont receive an AI generated report of synthesized information. This is reserved only for more specific searches  like the example Fowler used, of whether Bryce Canyon or Arches National Park is better for a family of four with a dog. It cites its sources. As the AI pools together information, it will show where it pulled the information from and what sources it used, all will be displayed on the sidebar and below the AI generated results. Its not always right. Fowler said that if you want a good chocolate chip cookie recipe, SGE wont be able to help  it forgot the chocolate chips in the recipe it created for Fowler. That goes to show that AI doesnt always answer correctly and is still it its testing stages.

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Can I try the new Google Search now?

Google plans to allow a certain number of testers that sign up to use SGE before releasing it to the general public later this year, reported the Post. It will only be tested in the United States for now, but will eventually make it to more than 4 billion users worldwide.

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After previously refuting the notion of legalizing recreational marijuana, New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu is now backing a path to approving the practice in the Granite State.

Sununu acknowledges that a large portion of New Hampshire residents support recreational marijuana legalization. Sununu says ignoring reality would be shortsighted and harmful and plans to introduce guidelines that will focus on harm reduction over profits.

The new legislature would mimic New Hampshires alcohol sale protocols, ensuring the state retains control of marketing, sale and distribution.

This is a long-term, sustainable solution for our state. I am supportive of legalizing marijuana in the right way  with this legislature  rather than risk a poorly thought-out framework that inevitably could pass under future governors or legislatures, said Sununu in a statement. This is the best path forward for our state, and I stand ready and willing to work with the legislature so that we can deliver a legalization bill that is smart, sustainable, and retains the fabric and culture of our state.

While Sununu has propped open the door for marijuana sellers, he made sure to state he wants to avoid businesses overextending their reach.

New Hampshire must avoid marijuana miles  the term for densely concentrated marijuana shops within one city or town. Any city or town that wants to ban shops should be free to do so, said Sununu. The state would not impose any taxes, and should control all messaging, avoiding billboards, commercials, and digital ads that bombard kids on a daily basis.

Sununu also says legalizing marijuana will help keep users safe while the black market been more dangerous.

Marijuana and other drugs on the black market are being laced with fentanyl, posing significant risks to our citizens. By regulating the sale of marijuana in New Hampshire, the state will ensure our citizens are in a safer place, said Sununu.

In 2017, Sununu became the first Governor in New Hampshire history to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana possession.

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CARROLLTON, Texas  Traditional Korean three-tiered flower wreaths lined the halls Thursday evening at New Song Church outside of Dallas, where mourners gathered at a funeral for the Chos  remembered as family-oriented pillars in their community.

Family and friends filled two rooms at the church to honor Kyu Song Cho, 37, Cindy Cho, 35, and their 3-year-old son, James, killed last weekend in a mass shooting at an outlet mall in Allen, Texas. Six-year-old son, William, survived the shooting.

The tearful service came less than a week after a gunman opened fire at Allen Premium Outlets, about 25 miles north of Dallas, killing eight people and injuring a half-dozen more.

The Cindy I remember remains as one of the sweetest, most caring, and positive people I know, said David Kim, who was part of a Bible study and fellowship group with the family. James was a bright light for all of us  If his dad won a smile competition with a big smile, and his mother won with the sweetest, James could win it with his eyes.

The killing of the couple and their youngest son has led to an outpouring of grief from their church community and across the nation. Kyu was a lawyer and Cindy as a dentist. Their surviving son is no longer being treated at a local hospital, according to NBC station KXAS, but it is unclear whether hes been sent home or to another facility.

Witnesses said Cindy died trying to shield William from the gunfire, KXAS reported.

Cindys father, Changho Kang, spoke through tears at Thursdays service as he remembered his daughter. You strived for many things in life, he said through an NBC News translation. I loved you so much.

He also addressed his grandson. You were affectionate with me, your grandpa. My grandchild  your brother loves you, he said. In heaven, well meet again. I love you all, my children.

Kyus father, Won Hwan Cho, spoke soon after, remembering his son and daughter-in-law. My children, I got the greatest gift.

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He also said of his surviving grandson, I request a prayer from all of you that he live a healthy life, to be bright, to love everyone, and to be loved.

Allen police identified the shooter as Mauricio Garcia. He was killed Saturday by a police officer who happened to be at the mall. In the days following the shooting, authorities revealed that Garcia was armed with an AR-15 style assault weapon, a handgun and was wearing a tactical vest.

Law enforcement officials said they believed Garcia to be a neo-Nazi sympathizer. A preliminary review of what is believed to be the shooters social media accounts reveal hundreds of posts related to violent neo-Nazi and white supremacist materials.

The mall massacre was the second deadliest mass shooting in the U.S. this year and the second in Texas in a little over a week.

New Song church leader Rev. Peter Hyun decried the shootings, saying that he was filled with uncontrollable rage and overwhelming pain when he learned that the three members of the Cho family had been killed. Hyun said that hes long been a gun control advocate, but he never imagined a mass shooting would hit so close to home.

Ive done many funeral services but this is by far the most difficult funeral service. Im a person whos very resentful of the continued shootings in the United States, Hyun said. I still dont know why brother Kyu Cho, sister Cindy, and James had to experience this tragedy.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Grandma Hope Cunningham, 65, didnt want to get into a fight to save a tree but, she says, its her calling now.

She and her Port Royal neighbors went to a meeting last fall to protest a variance a developer needed to build a 3-story apartment building.

The town denied the variance, but Cunningham left the meeting worried about the fate of the 350-year-old live oak tree that towers over the Oakview Drive property. Sooner or later, she figured, the land would be developed.

Six months later, Cunningham  an artist, master gardener and grandmother  has become the unlikely voice and face of a group of dedicated residents who are working their butts off to save whats been documented as the oldest and largest live oak tree in Beaufort County.

Im just an old lady trying to save a tree, Cunningham says.

The effort of Cunningham and others is paying off.

On March 13, the Beaufort County Community Services and Land Use Committee signaled the countys interest in buying the 12-acre property, using Rural and Critical Lands Preservation Program funds, which would ensure protection and proper care for the ancient oak, which is unkempt and needs maintenance.

That came after Tennent Houston of Merry Land Investments, LLC, the landowner, applied for the county conservation funding resulting from a letter Cunningham sent him explaining how important she thought it was to preserve the property. She included an application for the Rural and Critical Lands funding. The Beaufort County Open Land Trust also notified Merry Land about the program.

Lo and behold, Cunningham said, he signed it.

Tree has survived war and hurricanes

The 60-foot tall tree, whose girth is as large as the celebrated Angel Tree on Johns Island in Charleston, has seen the Revolutionary War, slavery, the War of 1812, the Civil War, Reconstruction and countless hurricanes.

The gravestone of Mary Pope, an enslaved woman who died in 1818, is still visible under its massive canopy.

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Its DNA is the history of Beaufort, Cunningham says with passion. It is a witness tree.

Sylvia Woolard, left, and master gardener Hope Cunningham stand next to the massive live oak in Cherry Hill Plantation on Sept. 21, 2022, in Port Royal.

The land, part of the Cherry Hill Plantation, remains a wild and woolly enclave abutting Battery Creek despite being located immediately off of busy Parris Island Gateway.

Its a great candidate for a passive park, Cunningham says, because parks are scarce in that area of Port Royal. And with land surrounded by development or plans for it, Cunningham adds, its critical to protect it.

Port Royal pledges support

On Wednesday, Cunningham was before the Port Royal Town Council, seeking its support for the county buying the land. Beaufort County seeks municipal partners in maintaining land once the county acquires them for parks.

I understand that this is the corridor to Port Royal and that its going to be slated for a lot of development, Cunningham said, and it would be really smart of us right now to think about the future and protect this property.

Port Royal Mayor Joe DeVito told Cunningham that the town was on board with the proposal and would pass a proclamation in support at a future meeting. He also pointed out that Port Royal recently approved the toughest tree ordinance in Beaufort County  and perhaps the state.

The Cherry Hill Plantation live oak in Port Royal dwarfs two people at a ceremony in 2013 when it was presented the states 2013 Heritage Tree Award by Trees SC. The tree is estimated to be 350 years old.

Money raised for maintenance

Cunningham already has spearheaded the formation of Friends of the Cherry Hill Oak, a not-for-profit whose aim is to raise $200,000 for an endowment that will be used to assist the public entities with ongoing maintenance of the live oak and other significant trees on the property  if the land is purchased.

Beaufort county residents want this park and we are ready to work for it, Cunningham told members of the Community Services in Land Use Committee in March.

Cast in the shadow of the Cherry Hill Plantation live oak estimated to be more than 3 centuries old, Chuck Yahres clears debris from the grave marker of Mary Pope at the base of the tree on Sept. 21, 2022, in the town of Port Royal.

The County Council, which will have the final say in the purchase, will vote next, sometime this summer. The property sold for $1.1 million in 2007, according to county records.

Cunningham did not know anything about the iconic live oak when she went to the Port Royal meeting last fall.

We realized we dodged that bullet, Cunningham said of the denial of a height variance for the apartment complex by the Port Royal Design Review Board, but someone else is going to come along and develop that property.

Getting involved was outside of her comfort zone. She had no interest in creating a Facebook page or a foundation. And she did not want to ask people for money or talk to politicians. But she had a feeling if she didnt step forward, the property was going to get plowed down. The Cherry Hill oak, she said, became sort of a calling.

The massive live oak in Cherry Hill Plantation as photographed on Sept. 21, 2022, nee

When she decided to form the not-for-profit, Cunningham looked to Paul Butare of Friends of Whitehall Park for help. That group formed a few years ago to preserve land on Ladys Island across the Beaufort River from Beaufort.

I even wrote a damn business plan, Cunningham said. It had to be done.

Samantha Siegel, who started a movement in 2008 to save the Angel Oak and its surrounding land from impending development, has become Cunninghams greatest cheerleader.

Land would become a park

If approved by the County Council, funds to purchase the Port Royal land would come from the countys Rural and Critical Land Preservation Program, and the property would be turned into a passive park and publicly accessible.

The land is sloping waterfront, including a sandy spit that extends to the marshy backwaters of Battery Creek.

Kate Schaefer of Beaufort County Open Land Trust, who advises the county on Rural and Critical Lands Program purchases, says an appraisal and survey of the land is being conducted now. The property, she said, would provide protections and public access to water in a growing area of Port Royal.

Cunningham, referring to the countrys problems and polarization over them, says we live in a world on fire. Instead of being can-do, were fighting with and vilifying each other, she said.

When she heard about the Cherry Hill tree, in her own backyard, she thought, heres one little thing that I can do.

The way she sees things, if people would take on one challenge in their corner of the world, they can make a difference.

There is this thing that happens when your turn 65, Cunningham says. You are confronted with your expiration date. It makes you want to leave something valuable behind.
GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - One of Guatemala's most recognized news outlets and a staunch government critic elPeriodico said on Friday that it will completely shut down operations as of Monday, 10 months after the arrest of its founder and president, Jose Zamora.

Known for its investigative reporting for nearly three decades, elPeriodico laid off 80% of its staff in November and stopped printing, going entirely digital following Zamora's arrest on charges of money laundering and influence peddling.

Zamora's arrest came amid a crackdown on prosecutors, judges, human rights activists, journalists and opposition officials.

"With deep sadness, we are forced to stop the daily edition of elPeriodico," the directors said in a statement. "The persecution has intensified, as has the harassment of our advertisers," they added.

The outlet was created in 1996 by Zamora and was directed for 17 years by the journalist Juan Luis Font, now in exile.

Zamora, 66, has repeatedly described his arrest as "political persecution" amid the paper's spotlight on alleged cases of corruption by President Alejandro Giammattei's government. The prosecutor's office denies these accusations.

Zamora's trial, which has been condemned by various human rights organizations, could end up being a "breaking point" for press freedom in Guatemala, said Juan Pappier, acting deputy director for the Americas at Human Rights Watch.

Zamora's trial, which began this month, has prompted the arrest of four of his defense lawyers. In addition, six journalists and three columnists from elPeriodico are being investigated in a parallel processes.

(Reporting by Sofia Menchu, Writing by Isabel Woodford; editing by Diane Craft)
Jose Ruben Zamora (right), president of the El Periodico newspaper, which has published reports on government corruption, was arrested in July 2022 and accused of money laundering and blackmail

An investigative newspaper in Guatemala that published reports on government corruption announced on Friday it was closing due to "criminal persecution and economic pressure."

In March, a judge opened an investigation into journalists and columnists working for El Periodico.

The newspaper's founder, Jose Ruben Zamora, who has won several international press awards for his paper's investigative journalism, was arrested last year and accused of money laundering and blackmail.

In March, a judge also opened a criminal proceeding against Zamora for conspiracy to obstruct justice.

"With great sadness, we are forced to end the daily edition of El Periodico," the newspaper said in a statement.

It had been in circulation for 27 years.

"El Periodico will cease publishing any news on May 15," the founder's son Ramon Zamora told AFP.

It was already forced to end its printed version last November.

"It has been 10 hard months of resistance. We thought we could adapt, transform and survive" with an online version," added Ramon Zamora.

"However, the persecution intensified, as did the harassment of our advertisers and maintaining our operations became more and more difficult."

The jailed newspaper founder has accused President Alejandro Giammattei and Attorney General Consuelo Porras of being responsible for the charges brought against the newspaper.

It is not just newspapers and journalists investigating corruption that have come under fire in Guatemala.

Since the closing of a United Nations-backed anti-corruption mission in Guatemala in 2019, human rights groups and the US government have accused Guatemala of seeking vengeance on prosecutors battling corruption and backsliding on commitments to end impunity.

In December, a Guatemalan court sentenced former anti-corruption prosecutor Virginia Laparra to four years in jail for "abuse of authority," a decision that Amnesty International described as a travesty.

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New technology may alert deputies to gunshots even if there are no witnesses around to report them and allow them to pull up security footage with a few keystrokes.

Escambia County Sheriff Chip Simmons said he plans to expand the Real Time Crime Center and integrate a gunshot detection system known as ShotSpotter into the RTCC to increase intelligence, efficiency and safety in law enforcement response and public safety.

"The Real Time Crime Center is really going to incorporate elements our dispatch with elements of our intelligence and then create this network throughout Escambia County that they can use this real-time intelligence to dispatch deputies, to gather more intelligence on ongoing investigations," Simmons told the News Journal. "We want to make sure that what we have is a state-of-the-art program that will serve the citizens of Escambia County, and I think they deserve that."

Gun crime reduction: Escambia sheriff has a plan to reduce gun violence. Here's what's in store:

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What is the ECSO's Real Time Crime Center?

The Office of Justice Programs, an agency of the U.S. Department of Justice, says the mission of a RTCC is to capitalize on ever growing technologies to and centralize the mass amount of information and intelligence gathered in short windows of time.

"Such efforts may allow law enforcement officers to respond quickly, or even immediately, to crimes in progress or to those that recently occurred," the OJP says. "The technologies available allow law enforcement agencies and officers to respond to crime events more efficiently, more deliberately, with improved operational intelligence, and with a proactive emphasis on officer, citizen and community safety."

The expansion of the ECSO's RTCC begins with the implementation of new software known as Fusus, that "extracts and unifies live video, data and sensor feeds from virtually any source, enhancing the situational awareness and investigative capabilities of law enforcement agencies."

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Simmons says the Sheriff's Office will use Fusus as the foundation to build out its network. The Fusus cores the ECSO purchased will be used to integrate any camera system where the core is placed, giving the new and improved RTCC access to live video feeds. This includes local partners like Escambia County Public Schools and other entities that allow ECSO to tap into their feeds.

"That network is going to be expanded through the use of individual cores," Simmons said. "We'll provide these cores with other camera systems and that will work integrated into our system as we get up and running."

Along with the ECSO's intelligence analysts, the Pensacola Police Department is partnering in the project and will have their intelligence analysts alongside their ECSO counterparts in the new RTCC.

"We're utilizing the technology tools to be more effective and pinpoint policing in addressing community issues and concerns, especially as it related to violent crime and other things," Pensacola Police Chief Eric Randall said. "It is a force multiplier is what it is, because working with the sheriff's department and us collaborating on different projects is pooling our resources together for the good of all Escambia County."

Randall's goals: PPD Chief Eric Randall's goal was to curb gun violence. How is he doing 18 months later?

What is ShotSpotter and how does it integrate into the Real Time Crime Center?

ShotSpotter is a state-of-the-art system that allows law enforcement agencies to detect gunfire in whichever area the system has been activated, even if citizens don't report the gunfire.

According to ShotSpotter's FAQ sheet, the system "uses an array of acoustic sensors that are connected wirelessly to ShotSpotter's centralized, cloud-based application to reliably detect and accurately triangulate gunshots."

Randall said one of his last investigations in Virginia before he became Pensacola's police chief was a person who was shot and killed in the streets in an isolated industrial area, but no one reported any shots fired. However, Randall said ShotSpotter activated.

Simmons plans to use this technology in both the county and city limits by integrating it into the Fusus-run RTCC. Both the sheriff and Randall will determine hotspots of frequent criminal or firearm activity in their respective jurisdictions and setup a 3-square mile area for ShotSpotter to send real-time data to the RTCC.

During the recent legislative cycle, the Florida legislature approved appropriations to the tune of $850,000 for the ECSO to purchases ShotSpotter and incorporate it into the county. The legislation was sponsored by Sen. Doug Broxson, R-Gulf Breeze, and Rep. Alex Andrade, R-Pensacola.

The funding request says that ShotSpotter "will mitigate gun violence by providing deputies and participating agencies real-time gunfire intelligence data," allowing agencies to "dispatch law enforcement to precise gunfire locations, increase law enforcement response times and increase law enforcement and public safety."

ShotSpotter is a subscription service, providing the gunfire detection system to Escambia for a two-year period. The money will be given to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for subsequent disbursement to the ECSO.

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Which ECSO community partners will receive the first Fusus cores?

Simmons says there are three entities who will first receive the cores to provide law enforcement access to their cameras  the city of Pensacola, Escambia's Transportation and Traffic Operations and the Escambia County School District.

"Those three entities are our first three priorities," Simmons said. "Those are pretty big."

However, in the future Simmons says the cores can be expanded to private businesses and private citizens' homes.

"Businesses can purchase the core themselves, and then voluntarily add their system to our Real Time Crime Center," Simmons said. "If you have a business on say (U.S. Highway) 29, and we have businesses with cameras (on Highway 29), you can imagine the network that we would have access to if something were to happen."

If adding your home security system to the RTCC sounds like a privacy issue, Simmons says not to worry. The integration of private business and private homeowners works slightly different than the continuous live feed and recordings from public entities.

If a homeowner elects to add their camera system to the RTCC, their footage is still private and either the ECSO or PPD would request a specific amount of footage over a specific period of time if authorities believe criminal activity occurred. The homeowner would then receive a message from law enforcement requesting the footage from a period of time and the homeowner can either deny or accept the request.

This would further streamline law enforcement's ability to access camera footage when dealing with crimes, meaning instead of deputies spending time traveling to a specific location to request camera footage, they could have near-immediate access through the RTCC.

"One of the goals is reduce crime and, two, increase the quality of life of our residents so people can truly continue to live, work, play, raise a family and have a good time in the whole Pensacola region," Randall said. "But also, from an officer standpoint, smarter policing, intelligence-led policing (and) being a lot more proactive than reactive and things of that nature."

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Escambia Pensacola police technology uses cameras, audio to spot crime
CFO in Chief

Tesla CEO Elon Musk might still be the public face of Tesla  but according to a new report from The Wall Street Journal, Musk isn't actually the person who's really running the show.

Per the report, the person who's really in charge is Zach Kirkhorn, who was named chief financial officer of the EV maker roughly four years ago.

When Kirkhorn became CFO, Tesla was valued at about $50 billion. Today, it's worth over $500 billion.

Tesla's successes are privately being credited to Kirkhorn, according to the report, who has learned to connect with Musk without stealing his thunder  a winning strategy that could explain the carmaker's rise, despite Musk's chaotic management style.

Ego Management

Though he's kept a very low profile since his appointment  Kirkhorn only has 63 followers on Twitter and keeps his account private  the elusive CFO has apparently been instrumental in implementing a number of manufacturing efficiencies, which have, as the WSJ put it, "helped the company deliver 15 consecutive profitable quarters and amass a $22 billion war chest."

That's no small accomplishment and it's even more impressive when you consider Kirkhorn has had to deal with Musk all this time  which, presumably, has been a particularly difficult job as of late.

Musk is currently in charge of a number of companies, which means he has to split his time among them all. Last year, following his disastrous acquisition of Twitter in particular, Tesla investors accused him of abandoning his duties at Tesla.

Per the report, Kirkhorn has become exceptionally good at serving as a mediator between Musk and other staffers.

"He doesn't take the limelight from Elon," Kurt Kelty, a vice president at battery-materials company Sila and former senior director of battery technology at Tesla, told the WSJ.

Perhaps most importantly, Kirkhornh is reportedly good at balancing Musk's more absurd and grandiose requests and can break down any "seemingly unattainable demand," as the WSJ put it, into smaller and achievable steps.

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Steering the Wheel

Despite Kirkhorn's considerable contributions, Musk is still very much the CEO of Tesla, and any of Tesla's successes are still widely attributed to him.

And considering how things are going over at Twitter, we're not exactly shocked to learn that someone else has had their hand on the proverbial wheel  or steering yoke, if you will.

For one, we're sure the stockholders are grateful.

More on Tesla: Tesla Hit with Lawsuit over Reports about Employees Watching Car Cameras
A hacker marketplace used to steal accounts for Netflix, Amazon and other services is still active, despite police saying it had been taken down.

Last month, an international police operation announced that Genesis Market had been seized and deleted from the mainstream internet.

But the identical version of the market hosted on the darknet remains online.

On Monday, a post on the unaffected version of the market was said it was "fully functional".

Genesis Market is described by police as a "dangerous" website specialising in selling login details, IP addresses and browsing cookie data that make up victims' "digital fingerprints".

The service was considered one of the biggest criminal facilitators, with more than two million stolen online identities for sale at the time of the police action.

Operation Cookie Monster was led by the FBI and Dutch police and announced on 5 April.

Several agencies around the world celebrated the website "takedown", announcing that 119 people had been arrested and describing the criminal service as "dismantled".

But researchers at cyber-security company Netacea have been monitoring the darknet version of the market, and say the website was only disrupted for about two weeks.

Users trying to log into Genesis on the mainstream internet see a message saying the website has been seized

"Taking down cyber-crime operations is a lot like dealing with weeds. If you leave any roots, they will resurface," says Cyril Noel-Tagoe, Netacea's principal security researcher.

Mr Noel-Tagoe praised police for seizing the mainstream internet version of the market, but says the operation was more of a disruption than a takedown.

"The roots of Genesis Market's operation, namely the administrators, darknet website and malicious software infrastructure, have survived," he said.

Criminal administrators have since posted an update to the marketplace saying that they have released a new version of their specialist hacking browser, resumed collecting data from hacked devices and added more than 2,000 new victim devices to the market.

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News and product updates have been posted to Genesis Market this week

Experts at cyber-security company Trellix, who helped police disrupt some of the hacking tools sold on Genesis Market, agreed that the leaders of the website were still at large.

"It is true that the Genesis administrators quickly responded on Exploit [hacker] forums stating that they would be back online shortly with improvements," said John Fokker, head of threat intelligence at Trellix, adding that the darknet site was still accessible.

Police did not comment on the darknet site remaining online at the time of the "takedown".

An FBI spokesperson has since told the BBC that work is continuing to "make sure that users who leverage a service like Genesis Marketplace face justice".

The UK's National Crime Agency insists that the operation has dealt a "huge blow" to cyber-criminals.

"Although a dark web version of the site remains active, the volume of stolen data and users has been significantly reduced. I have no doubt that the operation damaged criminal trust in Genesis Market," Paul Foster, deputy director of the NCA's National Cyber Crime Unit, told the BBC.

As well as reducing the visibility of the marketplace by taking it off the mainstream internet, police and many experts agree that the high number of arrests of users will have a chilling effect on hackers considering using the site.

However, it's not clear how many of those arrested will face prosecution. The NCA says only one of the 30 people arrested in the UK has so far been charged with any offences.

Research of hacker forums from Trellix and Netacea does suggest an unease about the marketplace since the operation, but it is hard to know if cyber-criminals have been put off in the short term or permanently.

User comments are still being posted on the marketplace's news page, but in small numbers.

Taking down criminal websites hosted on the darknet is notoriously difficult as the location of their servers are often hard to find or in jurisdictions that do not respond to Western law enforcement requests, like Russia.

The US Treasury, which has sanctioned Genesis Market, believes the site is run from Russia. It is not known for sure, but the site offers Russian and English translations.

In the last year, police have had success in fully removing some darknet markets like the drugs sites Monopoly and Hydra.

Russian-language site Hydra was the highest-grossing dark web market in the world and was thought to be based in Russia but was actually hosted in Germany, which allowed German law enforcement to shut it down.
EVANSVILLE  After being found guilty in 2020, then getting a new trial, and then getting that ruling overturned, an Evansville man has finally received his sentence for murder and attempted murder.

Elijah I. Parchman, 24, was sentenced to 51 years in prison on Thursday after police say he shot two men in 2019, the Vanderburgh County Prosecutor's Office said in a news release.

Bobby Minor, 32, died from his injuries. Ikeem Minor, then 26, was also shot but survived.

Parchman was initially found guilty of murder and attempted murder after a two-day trial in November 2020. But four months later, in March 2021, Vanderburgh Circuit Court Judge David Kiely granted Parchman another trial, claiming "the defendant denied a fair trial due to the State's failure to provide impeachment evidence."

Witness impeachment is when attorneys present evidence to call a witness' credibility into question.

The witness in question was Ikeem Minor. According to Kiely, prosecutors failed to disclose Minor's entire criminal history. They provided his adult record, but not his juvenile.

"This court finds that there is a reasonable probability the outcome of the trial would have been different had the state provided the defendant with the undisclosed impeachment evidence," Kiely wrote at the time.

The Indiana Court of Appeals overturned that decision in January, clearing the way for Parchman's sentencing on Thursday, when Kiely himself handed down the sentence.

According to a probable cause affidavit filed in the case, the shooting happened in two parking lots connected by an alley in the 600 blocks of East Virginia and East Iowa streets on April 5, 2019. The people involved did not appear to know each other before that night.

More: How an Indiana town defeated a book ban in 1982. And how a new law would change things now

Parchman saw the two men walking toward him and felt "threatened," so he shot them, he reportedly told police. Witnesses told police they overheard an argument between the three men.

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After the shooting, he called 911 and identified himself as the shooter. Police then met Parchman at an Iowa Street apartment. Parchman allegedly told police that after the shooting, he returned home and placed the gun on the counter with his ID.

The sentencing hadn't been entered into court records as of Friday morning.

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Evansville man sentenced in 2019 killing after long court battle
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), a rising conservative leader, and Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.), a veteran liberal dealmaker, have teamed up to advance legislation through the Senate Judiciary Committee that would expose big tech companies to legal liability for child pornography posted on its sites.

The bill, the Strengthening Transparency and Obligation to Protect Children Suffering from Abuse and Mistreatment (STOP CSAM) Act, would limit tech companies legal immunity under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which broadly protects social media platforms from being sued for the material people post to their sites.

It creates a right to sue for victims that can get into court and sue the tech companies. It penetrates the Section 230 shield, and its an unlimited right to sue  punitive damages, compensatory damages, Hawley told The Hill.

I predict the tech companies will now come after it big time because it would be the first time weve had something like this where they can be held liable, he said.

Sunsetting tech companies broad legal immunity under Section 230 has been a goal of conservative critics of Big Tech for years.

The issue came to a boil in December 2020 when President Trump vetoed the National Defense Authorization Act because it did not include language repealing Section 230.

Trump at the time blasted the legal protection as corporate welfare and wanted to strike back at tech companies, such as Facebook and Twitter, over what he viewed as their unfair treatment of conservative political views.

But some Democrats favor stripping away some of the tech companies legal protections to crack down on hate speech, media of child sexual abuse and other offensive material.

Durbin said Thursday the federal government needs to intervene to stem the flood of child pornography online.

The system is failing our children and we, as lawmakers, need to address this head-on, he said. Im pleased that my Judiciary Committee colleagues unanimously supported the STOP CSAM Act in committee today. The legislation is a comprehensive approach to close gaps in the law and crack down on the proliferation of child sex abuse material online.

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The measure passed the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously Thursday morning after Hawley and Durbin agreed to final amendment language and appeared to catch some members of the panel by surprise.

Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), an ally of the tech community, voted for the legislation but offered a caveat that he didnt have a lot of time to review its details.

Padilla said he absolutely agrees with the spirit of the legislation but highlighted what he described as outstanding questions.

Still reviewing the changes that you and Sen. Hawley agreed to. We got the language just this morning, the California senator told Durbin.

Durbin approached Hawley in February about teaming up on his STOP CSAM bill after Hawley grilled Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, President Bidens first nominee to the Supreme Court, last year over what Republicans viewed as her lenient sentencing of child pornography offenders.

Months ago, back in February, Durbin approached me and said, Do you want to work on this issue? and I said yes, Hawley said. He and I have gone back and forth on this a lot since the [Jackson] hearings last year, where this was a big issue.

I told him then that I think the most important thing is to create a private right of action for individuals to sue the companies with no limits, Hawley explained.

That was not in his bill at the time, he added. His bill had a notice and takedown provision, where you could go to the government and you could say, This is child porn, I want to take it down, and the government could then order the companies to take it down, and if they dont, could fine them.

Hawley said that was the core of Durbins bill and is still part of the legislation, authorizing the Federal Trade Commission to order tech companies to remove child sexual abuse material from its sites.

I said to him I dont think thats not enough of an incentive for these companies. I think youve got to really pound them and the way to do that is to let people sue, he said.

A committee aide said the bill as amended by Hawley creates a civil cause of action that victims can bring against online providers that intentionally host child sexual abuse material or make it available online, and it makes clear that Section 230 does not bar such action.

The aide said if Congress passes and Biden signs the bill, it would be the first time Congress created explicit statutory authority for victims to sue online platforms and app stores for a range of child sexual exploitation.

Now the big question is whether Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) will schedule the bill for a vote on the Senate floor and risk serious pushback from tech companies.

Schumer said in December he would be open to reforming tech companies liability protections.

Ive always said that Section 230 is something that we should look at. The difficulty there is coming up with the right solution, but its something Id be open to looking at, he told reporters at the time.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Reports of hazing in the Marine Corps have decreased 63% in recent years  a promising sign for the branch that historically has appeared to have the largest hazing problem in the military.

The Marine Corps saw 94 cases of alleged hazing in fiscal year 2022, following a steady decrease from 256 in fiscal year 2018, according to internal reports on hazing obtained by Marine Corps Times via a public records request.

The Corps has substantiated slightly more than half of these cases in recent years, according to the data.

The Department of the Navy, which includes the Marine Corps, defines hazing as when a service member without proper authority causes another military member or members, regardless of service or rank, to suffer or be exposed to any activity which is cruel, abusive, humiliating, oppressive, demeaning, or harmful.

Nearly nine out of ten military hazing cases in fiscal year 2018 came from the Marine Corps, Military.com reported in 2021, even though its the smallest branch other than the Space Force.

That may be because the Marine Corps tracks hazing numbers better than other services, Rep. Judy Chu, D-California, told the outlet at the time.

The issue of military hazing is personal for Chu, as she recounted in an interview with Marine Corps Times on Tuesday.

In 2011, her nephew, Marine Lance Cpl. Harry Lew, died by suicide minutes after fellow Marines allegedly hazed him in Afghanistan. Chu said she believes it was hazing that drove Lew, a jokester who loved breakdancing, to despair.

Chu has since led efforts to pass legislation requiring the services to report on anti-hazing policies and track the issue more closely.

We need to know what the problem is, where the problem is, so that we can address it and so that we can pressure the military to address it, she said.

Of all the branches, she said, the Marine Corps has been especially proactive in monitoring and combating hazing.

The data the services keep likely undercount the actual rate of hazing, Chu said, because not every victim of hazing may feel comfortable stepping forward.

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We have to keep on applying pressure to the military, because these are our sons and daughters and brothers and sisters, she said. These are our family members that are sacrificing themselves for this country. And we need to make sure that they are kept safe and not harmed by their own fellow service members.

On top of pressure from Congress, the Marine Corps also has faced significant media scrutiny for hazing incidents.

In 2016, Pvt. Raheel Siddiqui, 20, died after falling 40 feet from a barracks stairwell at boot camp in South Carolina in an apparent suicide, a military investigation found. The investigation found that his drill instructor, Gunnery Sgt. Joseph Felix, had hazed recruits and had in particular targeted Siddiqui and other Muslim recruits.

Members of Congress and even then-President Barack Obama decried the reports of hazing at the boot camp, Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina.

Other hazing incidents at boot camp, including one that reportedly led a recruit to need a skin graft, also have made national news.

And the Marine Corps has taken action, according to spokesman Maj. Jordan Cochran.

Hazing has no place in a disciplined and professional military force and is not tolerated in any form in the Marine Corps, he said in a statement to Marine Corps Times.

In recent years, the Corps has beefed up anti-hazing training, tailored to different ranks, that emphasizes prevention, he said.

Cochran also suggested that hazing may decrease as the Marine Corps becomes a slightly older force.

As part of the Talent Management 2030 initiative, Marine leaders are looking to retain more mature Marines instead of constantly churning so many young, first-term Marines in and out of the service.

Statistically speaking, our youngest Marines are responsible for a disproportionate share of misconduct across the force, Cochran said. A slightly older force will have better cognitive function and make better decisions in aggregate.

From fiscal years 2019 to 2022, upward of 85% of Marines who faced substantiated allegations of hazing were between the ages of 18 and 25, according to the data in the report. More than half were either corporals or sergeants.

Marines can report hazing or other prohibited conduct through a variety of avenues: the chain of command, a commanding officer via a request mast application, an equal opportunity advisor, an EOA advice line, the inspector general hotline or Naval Criminal Investigative Service tip lines, according to Cochran.
A large audience attended the Health Department of Northwest Michigan's Board of Health meeting on May 2.

CHARLEVOIX  Citizens at a recent public input meeting sponsored by the Health Department of Northwest Michigan conveyed their frustration at the dysfunction of the departments current board of health.

As the Health Department of Northwest Michigan sees a spike in public comment in the wake of recent board of health meetings, staff members have put together a series of listening sessions designed to give residents of Antrim, Charlevoix, Emmet and Otsego counties a safe space to convey their opinions and provide feedback.

At one of the meetings on May 3 held at the Charlevoix Public Library, several of the participants spoke about the very divisive political rhetoric that has landed in the health department that has created an atmosphere of distrust and even fear for the department staffs physical safety.

The people who work there are being threatened. I was hoping that had all settled down, said one participant, referring to tense exchanges regarding school mask mandates during the height of the pandemic.

Many referenced the most recent board meeting on May 2, in which, despite a large turnout, the meeting was adjourned before any discussion or public comment when the board failed to approve the agenda.

More: Northwest Michigan board of health meeting grinds to halt over agenda approval

The large turnout and dissolution of the meeting were the result of board members' disagreement over a grant that would have funded training for school food service directors and staff on the use of local produce in public school cafeterias.

At the May 3 listening session, attendees were unanimously dismayed by the actions of some of the board members who had opposed the school food grant for reasons they felt were politically motivated, with a few suggesting certain commissioners on the board should be subjected to a recall.

Many praised the health department staff and the importance of its programs and services.

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I have been continually impressed with the quality of leadership at the health department and with the high quality of staff and the manner in which the staff conducts themselves," said Chip Hansen, listening session participant and former Charlevoix County Community Foundation President and East Jordan Superintendent.

When asked about what he felt was most concerning regarding health department operations, Hansen replied, I became concerned with the divisiveness in our nation of the last five or six years and honestly, I am terrified."

"I feel like we elect people today who are good at patting themselves on the back and pointing the finger of blame at other people and are less apt to work together to find common ground and move our communities forward in a positive way," he said.

The board of health consists of two elected county commissioners from Antrim, Charlevoix, Emmet and Otsego counties.

"I think the health department is in an incredibly difficult situation with a board of health that is clearly divided and might be at least for some of those members intent on neutering the health department and making it less effective when in fact we should be demanding as a citizenry a high performing health department  that is what we need and that is what we deserve," said Hansen.

Many attendees were of the opinion that the board of health members should not undermine the health care decisions made by their professional staff and were afraid decisions were being made without adequate information on the board's part.

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Hosted by Dr. Kari Krantz, one in-person session and one virtual session is being held in each of the four counties. Information gathered from these sessions will be shared with officials at the health department, according to Krantz.

Pre-registration is required for each of the sessions.

According to Janenne Pung, public information officer and community outreach coordinator for the health department, the media has been requested to not take photographs or video during these meetings to allow the public an opportunity to speak as freely as possible.

Remaining Round 1 in-person listening sessions will take place from 6-7:30 p.m. at the following locations:

May 17 - Bellaire Senior Community Center

May 18 - Gaylord United Way Building

Round 2 virtual listening sessions will take place from 12-1:30 p.m. for the following residents:

May 17 - Emmet County residents

May 18 - Charlevoix County residents

May 24 - Antrim County residents

May 25 - Otsego County residents

 Contact reporter Annie Doyle at (231)675-0099 or adoyle@charlevoixcourier.com. Follow her on Twitter, @adoylenews.

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Health department 'listening sessions' offer residents chance to provide input
Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Getty/Pixabay

Art adviser Lisa Schiff has made a career cutting deals for the rich and famous. Her client list has included Leonardo DiCaprio, and Young Paris once serenaded her at Art Basel. Shes been quoted and featured with regularity in the media, including The New York Times, Architectural Digest, and CNN.

But now some ugly accusations about how she finances her high-flying lifestyle threaten to shatter her image.

Two clients who were once her very close friends filed a lawsuit in New York Supreme Court on Thursday, claiming that Schiff has been running a Ponzi scheme. The real-estate heiress Candace Barasch and Richard Grossman alleged that the Tribeca art buyer failed to pay them $1.8 million from the sale of a contemporary painting.

According to the complaint, around New Years, Schiff brokered the sale of Adrian Ghenies The Uncle 3 at Sothebys in Hong Kong for $2.5 million. But, they say, they still havent received the bulk of the money. Their complaint outlined five allegations of financial misconduct, including fraud, conspiracy, and breach of contract.

Grossmans spouse and Barasch have known Schiff for nearly two decades, the suit said, and developed quasi-familial bonds. The Grossmans say they went to the bris of Schiffs son and attended Fathers Day events at his school as adjunct parents; the two families even took trips together.

Candace Barasch and Lisa Schiff in happier times. Sylvain Gaboury/Getty

Likewise, Barasch also traveled with Schiff. It was during these trips that she witnessed Schiffs lavish lifestyle up close, the lawsuit claims. Barasch regularly observed Schiff spending tens of thousands of dollars at a time on couture clothing and accessories, and making jewelry purchases of $20,000 at a time, the complaint says. It further accused Schiff and her companies of using money obtained from clients to pay for limo rides, five-star trips, and shopping sprees in New York and London.

Schiff pays roughly $25,000 per month for her apartment in New York, the plaintiffs claimed, and tens of thousands of dollars for multiple offices. She also rents a luxury apartment in the legendary Colonial House Apartment complex in West Hollywoodwhere Bette Davis once lived, they said.

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Schiff did not answer phone calls from The Daily Beast or respond to two text messages; it is not clear if she has an attorney. The plaintiffs attorney, Wendy Lindstrom, said in a statement, "It is disheartening that someone who professed transparency and integrity was at the same time stealing from her own clients."

According to the complaint, the plaintiffs jointly acquired The Uncle 3 in the first half of April 2021. The next year they decided to put the oil painting up for auction. Schiff was supposed to take a 10 percent cut; half of the remaining balance was supposed to go to Barasch, while Grossman and his spouse were supposed to receive a quarter of the proceeds apiece.

Following the sale, Schiff promptly took her commission, the lawsuit stated, and transferred $450,000 in total to the plaintiffs. She allegedly promised to pony up the other $1.8 million by March 26. Schiff then asked for a month-long extension, followed by an additional request to delay payment, the plaintiffs said.

The filing claimed that Richard Grossman needed his cut of the sale of the Ghenie painting to help transfer his hospitalized in-laws to an assisted-living facility.

Infamous Dealer Inigo Philbrick Explains Why He Snookered Art World

On May 8, Grossmans spouse confronted Schiff in person and received an unwelcome surprise: Schiff told him she did not have the money owed to Plaintiffs, and to call her attorneyand then walked away from him, the lawsuit alleged.

Grossmans spouse tried to relay the news to Barasch but accidentally texted Schiff instead. According to Thursdays filing, Schiff replied, in part, I am sorry and have every intention to make things right Its just complicated I know you will never speak to me again but I will try to make it right regardless.

The plaintiffs said they are doubly outraged given Schiffs former statements to the press. The art market is such a complex world, and very opaque, she told The Financial Times in 2017. When people come in, they often leave quickly because they feel threatened, make mistakes, or theyre taken advantage of. So Im trying to help people understand.

Schiff and her companies, the lawsuit noted, sometimes purchased art on their own and then sold the pieces to clients. Last year, a New York Times reporter asked Schiff about another element of complexity in her business, saying Youre an art adviser, but you also sell art that your clients own. Isnt that a conflict of interest? Schiff replied that she treats those two services as very different businessesI cant offer my clients things to my other clients, because then Im representing both sides. You have to be transparent..

In 2019, in another article in the Times, Barasch discussed her extensive collaborations with Schiff. At the time, they had amassed a collection of some 600 pieces, the story said, and they went to great pains each year to modify the way the art was displayed in Baraschs apartment.

Schiff, Barasch said, was her partner in crime.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Wang Yi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, meets with U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan in Vienna, Austria, May 10, 2023. [Photo/Xinhua]



Wang Yi, director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan had candid, in-depth, substantive and constructive discussions on bilateral ties on Wednesday and Thursday.

The two sides held discussions in Vienna on ways to remove obstacles in and stabilize China-U.S. relations.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, elaborated on China's solemn position on the Taiwan question in a comprehensive way.

The two sides also exchanged views on the situation in the Asia-Pacific region, Ukraine and other international and regional issues of shared interest.

Both sides agreed to continue to make good use of this channel of strategic communication.
BEIRUT (AP)  The leader of Lebanons Hezbollah militant group has denounced as "baseless lies" reports that one of Syrias most well-known drug dealers, who was killed earlier this week in an airstrike near the Jordanian border, was linked to the Iran-backed group.

Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's televised speech on Friday came four days after the rare strike that some Syrian opposition activists claimed was carried out by Jordans air force. The activists and a war monitor said the amphetamine Captagon kingpin killed Monday was among the most wanted by Jordanian authorities for drug smuggling across the border with the backing of a small militia.

Syrian activists say Merhi al-Ramthan, who was killed with his wife and six children, worked closely with militias linked to Syrian President Bashar Assad and Iran-backed Hezbollah.

Western governments estimate that Captagon has generated billions of dollars in revenue for Assad, his Syrian associates and allies. Damascus has denied the accusations.

Had we been making billions of dollars it would have been noticed, Nasrallah joked about the charges. Speaking about linking al-Ramthan to Hezbollah, Nasrallah said these are lies and unjust charges.

Nasrallah added that had it not been for Hezbollahs help, the Lebanese state would not have been able to carry out raids against drug dealers in Lebanon. Hezbollah enjoys wide influence in northeast Lebanon, a region that for decades has been a center of drug production.

Mondays strike in southern Syria that killed al-Ramthan and another that destroyed a factory came a day after Arab governments reinstated Syria to the Arab League following the countrys suspension for its crackdown on protests that ultimately led to a lengthy civil war.

As Arab governments gradually restore ties with Damascus, one of the key topics of discussion has been Syrias illicit drug industry, which has flourished during the ongoing conflict  especially the illegal amphetamine Captagon.

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These are baseless lies. For us Captagon and other types of drugs are religiously prohibited, said Nasrallah, a Shiite Muslim cleric and major political figure in Lebanon.

Speaking about reconciliation between Syria and oil-rich Arab countries, Nasrallah said anti-Syrian politicians in Lebanon are disconnected from reality and are working to keep Beiruts relations with Damascus cold.

It is in Lebanons interest to fix relations with Syria, Nasrallah said, adding that the Lebanese government should send a high-ranking delegation to Damascus to discuss ways to address the refugee crisis that has pushed hundreds of thousands of Syrians to flee into in Lebanon.

Sentiments against Syrian refugees have been rising in Lebanon since the countrys massive economic meltdown that started in 2019 that has left three quarters of the Lebanese population living in poverty.

Hezbollah sent thousands of fighters to battle alongside Syrian government forces during the 12-year war, helping tip the balance of power in Assads favor.
Californias quest to give swine more space on farms has won support from the U.S. Supreme Court.

It ruled 5-4 on Thursday against pork producers across the nation who argued that state Proposition 12 violated the interstate commerce clause in the U.S. Constitution.

The measure approved by voters in 2018 required that stalls and other housing allow livestock enough room to stand up, turn around and extend their limbs. It applies not just in California but in any place that produces pork, veal, eggs and other products for sale in the state.

Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote the opinion, with support from a mix of liberal and conservative colleagues on the bench.

While the Constitution addresses many weighty issues, the type of pork chops California merchants may sell is not on that list, Gorsuch wrote.

The appeal had come from the National Pork Producers Council and the American Farm Bureau Federation. They sued in 2019 on the grounds that California could not tell other states how to produce pork.

The industry estimated that converting farms to the standards would raise production costs by 9%. And they said current housing practices help prevent injuries to the animals and contamination of the meat.

The suit was rejected by district and appellate courts, but the Supreme Court agreed to take it on. It heard arguments in October from both sides.

We are very disappointed with the Supreme Courts opinion, NPPC President Scott Hays of Missouri said in a news release Thursday. Allowing state overreach will increase prices for consumers and drive small farms out of business, leading to more consolidation.

Gorsuch said the interstate commerce law was meant to keep one state from gaining an advantage over others, but Proposition 12 applied to California producers as well.

He also noted that nearly a quarter of the U.S. pork industry has already shifted to the larger housing.

Pork is a tiny part of Californias farm industry, but the states residents do eat plenty of products raised elsewhere.

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The states egg producers are well into the conversion to roomier quarters first mandated by voters in 2008. They include J.S. West & Cos. of Modesto and Gemperle Family Farms, south of Turlock.

Chicken egg farms in Stanislaus County had $36.2 million in gross income in 2021, its agricultural commissioner reported.

Swine brought $3.11 million. Meat from cattle, chickens and turkeys was a far larger part of the total farm income of $3.55 billion.

Gorsuch got support from Justices Clarence Thomas, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Amy Coney Barrett. Dissents came from Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito, Brett Kavanaugh and Ketanji Brown Jackson.

The ruling brought praise from Animal Outlook, a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C.

No matter how cruel or painful a practice is, the animal agriculture industry has fought against laws to prohibit it, in this case, all the way to the Supreme Court, Executive Director Cheryl Leahy said in a news release.

When a powerful industry will stop at nothing to make complicity in cruelty mandatory, its a clear sign that the cruelty is part and parcel of that industry, and the only way to refuse to be a part of it is to not eat animals altogether.
Microsporum causing ringworm. CAVALLINI JAMES/BSIP/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

The first U.S. cases of a drug-resistant ringworm have been discovered in New York City, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Ringworm is "a common, highly contagious, superficial infection of the skin, hair, or nails" caused by a fungus known as Trichophyton indotineae. It spreads via skin-to-skin contact and "usually looks like a circular pattern of raised, itchy scales," according to NBC News.

There have been two reported cases in two unrelated women. One of the women had no history of international travel, meaning the spread came from within the U.S., CNN reports. Cases first appeared in South Asia before popping up in Europe and now the U.S. The CDC believes that the fungus' new-found drug resistance is due to the "misuse and overuse of topical antifungals and corticosteroids."

"It may also be a little more widespread than we have noted before," Dr. Priya Soni of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center told CNN. "I think it's important to be aware that we may be seeing more of this particular species as we go into the warmer, moist summer months." Other fungal infections, like Candida auris, have also begun to make an appearance, likely because of climate change. "Any kind of ringworm really flourishes in the warm, moist weather," Soni continued. "I think with globalization and just the travel that we're going to see over the summer, this may be something that we may see more of as the months go on."

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Delightful Market, a locally owned and operated convenience store, growler-fill station and soon coffee shop, has reopened in Tacomas North End more than a year after a thief rammed a pickup truck into the century-old building.

Owners Jeana and Aaron Skiles said the incident, which was one of a string of such vandalism last year often leading to ATM thefts, solidified their dedication to the business they purchased eight years ago and the community it serves.

We need to come back and were gonna come back bigger, Jeana recalled in early May as Delightful 2.0  their nickname for this comeback story  was fluttering back to life.

A neighbor who had frequented the market with her sons when they were just babies returned, the boys now toddlers, tall enough to survey the freezers of Ruby Jewel ice cream sandwiches, Klondike bars and La Michoacana paletas. Several old-timers swung by for a scratch-lotto ticket, scanned through a digital machine that plays a little tune if its a winner.

Get that sound! said Rachele Piety, the shops new general manager and resident coffee pro, as The News Tribune photographer was interviewing the Skiles on camera.

With the sun soaking through freshly installed windows, they stood in front of a new U-shaped counter, forged from salvaged acacia from Second Use in downtown Tacoma. When you walk in the door, to your right is a newly opened cafe space, and to your left is the convenience store, the shelves stocked with the usual suspects and a host of local goods that made Delightful an important neighbor in this nook of the North End.

Baking soda, flour, tins of SPAM to cans, Campbells tomato soup. Snacks from chicharrones and Pirates Booty popcorn to Airhead candies and Snickers bars. Random car stuff, light bulbs, paper plates and other unexpected-guest party gear. Handmade caramels from Tacomas own Kellys Chocolates, tubs of salsa crafted in Gig Harbor, bee pollen from Robbins Honey Farm in Lakewood and Jacks Apple Chips baked in Federal Way. Smith Brothers milk and eggs, giant loaves of Franz white bread, tinctures from farmers market mainstay Bona Fide Potents. A broad selection of craft beer  a risk when the Skiles first took it around 2016  has also become an essential part of the business.

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That local element mixed unapologetically with Cheetos, dog treats and 40-ounce cans of Bud Light was the goal, explained Jeana, who then described it as a bodega. I asked if she thought the word fit, and she replied succinctly, Oh yeah  its walkable!

Aaron and Jeana Skiles have reopened their Delightful Neighborhood Market in the north end of Tacoma, Washington after a 13 month closure for repairs and renovations after a car destroyed the front entry in March 2022. The owners are shown at their store on Tuesday, May 9, 2023.

WHY BUY A CONVENIENCE STORE?

Both Jeana and Aaron had parents who owned businesses. After running restaurants in Bellingham, her parents retired in Tacoma and considered purchasing the store at 4818 North 45th St., but they instead bought a gas station in Spanaway. When her father died, the Skiles, who met in Aarons home state of Arizona, decided to move closer to her mom. They didnt intend to buy a neighborhood market, but their entrepreneurial spirit got the best of them.

That wasnt the initial plan, laughed Jeana. When visiting her mom, they would pass the Jiffy Mart, as it was then called, the siding and trim painted Barney-purple and green and the glass block windows secured with security bars.

Aaron has never stopped thinking of this store, she said.

The building has been a market from the beginning, explained Aaron, who has dug into the history.

In 1916, Rasmus Olsen grocery opened, with his son Arthur taking the reins through the 50s. The next owner gave it up for a gig at the nearby Piggly Wiggly. Bill Renner then ran his namesake grocery from 1959-1992. Pyong Yong had Jiffy Mart here until selling to the Skiles in 2015.

Most people in the neighborhood know it as Renners, Aaron said.

REBUILDING DELIGHTFUL

Having invested so much of themselves and their savings into the market  they spent most of their budget replacing the electrical panel and the cooler floor, nothing you could see!  the truck vandalism devastated them, Jeana said.

The store was completely bungled, ruining the main entrance and one window. They recalled the long morning of Tuesday, March 7, 2022, as surreal.

We thought at first there might be a way to keep operating, recalled Aaron, but there was root beer and kombucha spraying from the taps.

Before, major upgrades would have required closing the store on purpose. They embraced the opportunity: Rather than just fix what was broken, they restored the 107-year-old market, tearing out three layers of linoleum tile flooring and asbestos to reveal fir and pine hardwood. They replaced all of the glass block windows with clear panes. They tore down a wall, behind which used to be an ever-messy storage space and their kids playroom of sorts. Its now outfitted with gold stools at the counter, tables and chairs, where guests can sip Olympia Coffee, a kombucha on tap or a beer from the cooler. (There is no liquor license in Washington state for such a concept that isnt also a restaurant; the store can fill growlers from a draft system but pints cant be consumed on-site  but you can drink a can!)

The best part of being back, they said, is seeing customers again.

Were really part of peoples lives, Jeana said. We always put chairs out front. We always wanted people to come out and linger.

DELIGHTFUL NEIGHBORHOOD MARKET

 4818 N 45th St., Tacoma, 253-327-1144, delightfulmkt.com

 Monday-Thursday 7 a.m.-9 p.m., Friday 7 a.m.-10 p.m., Saturday 8 a.m.-10 p.m., Sunday 8 a.m.-8 p.m.

 Details: family-owned convenience store and coffee shop with the basics plus local beer and foods (drip coffee currently available with espresso on the way); pastries and sandwiches expected soon
Up to 30 members of Springfield's radio industry will be signing books and answering questions about their work at the Historic Fox Theatre this weekend.

The History Museum on the Square is hosting a book signing event for "The History of Radio in Springfield, Missouri," on Saturday at 2 p.m. at the theatre located at 157 Park Central Square. Springfield radio personalities, writers, executives, engineers and others will be present.

Edited by Malcolm Hukriede and Dan ODay, who worked in Springfield's radio industry for many years, "The History of Radio in Springfield, Missouri" features a total of 49 authors who share their experience and favorite memories from working in radio.

O'Day, who has 50 years of experience in the radio industry, from hosting to production to sales, said he and Hukriede began brainstorming an idea about a book in 2016. The book's 49 individual stories were collected between 2017 and 2021. O'Day said this process included folks being interviewed and others writing their stories out themselves.

"History of Radio in Springfield, Missouri" includes over 45 stories of broadcast professionals from Springfield. A book signing event is being held by the History Museum on the Square on Saturday, May 13 at 2 p.m. at the historic Fox Theatre.

"The History of Radio in Springfield, Missouri" includes nearly 70 years worth of information. In addition to the book's historical perspective, it includes a good deal of "reminiscing" by its authors, O'Day said.

"There are stories in there that made me weep," he added.

Among those featured in the book include the late Jim Bohannon, a national radio host, and late Father Harry, host of "The God Squad." Those attending this weekend's book signing include Dan Shelley, Woody Snow, Janet Lane, Cedric Randle, Wayne Glenn, Don and Chris Louzader, Summer Stevens, John Kimmons, "Miss Kitty" Ledbetter, "Curly" Clark, Mike The Intern and Ned Reynolds, according to a news release.

John Sellars, executive director emeritus of the history museum and host of "Sharing Stories of the Crossroads" on KICK 92.3 FM, will also be in attendance. In partnership with the history museum, "Sharing Stories of the Crossroads" airs every Tuesday at 4 p.m. and explores the history of the Ozarks.

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Reminiscent of a jukebox, the historic building at 605 N. Boonville Ave. in Springfield once housed the KGBX radio station.

"Springfield has such a rich radio history," Sellars said. "The KBGX radio building over on Boonville (Avenue) was the first building west of the Mississippi (River) constructed as a radio station. Everything about it, the engineering of that building is for it to be a successful radio station: the sound-proof walls, double-thick doors." Formerly, the KGBX radio station was located at 605 N. Boonville Ave.

Sean FitzGibbons, executive director of the History Museum on the Square, said he anticipates the book signing to feature "great storytelling" as folks enjoy one-on-one conversations with the book's authors.

"Unless you go out and are like some radio enthusiast, you're not going to be able to find all these little stories that make up Springfield's history," FitzGibbons said. "This book is a great way to have that access to that information."

"The History of Radio in Springfield, Missouri" is available for sale at the History Museum on the Square and on Amazon for $25. If purchased at the history museum, a portion of the book's proceeds will be donated to the museum.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: History Museum on the Square hosts book signing with radio experts
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP)  Hodding Carter III, a Mississippi journalist and civil rights activist who as U.S. State Department spokesman informed Americans about the Iran hostage crisis and later won awards for his televised documentaries, has died. He was 88.

His daughter, Catherine Carter Sullivan, confirmed that he died Thursday in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where he taught leadership and public policy.

Carter never missed an opportunity to speak truth to power in North Carolina, in the south and around the globe, wrote his department chair, Daniel P. Gitterman.

Before moving to Washington in 1977, Carter was editor and publisher of his familys newspaper, the Delta Democrat-Times, in Greenville, Mississippi.

Carter had been co-chair of the Loyalist Democrats, a racially diverse group that won a credentials fight at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, unseating the all-white delegation by Mississippi's governor, John Bell Williams.

Carters campaign work in 1976 for Jimmy Carter, no relation, helped secure him a job as assistant secretary of state for public affairs. It was in this role that he was seen on television news during the 444 days that Iran held 52 Americans hostage.

When Ronald Reagan was elected to the White House in 1980, Carter returned to journalism as president of MainStreet, a television production company specializing in public affairs programs that earned him four national Emmy Awards and the Edward R. Murrow Award for documentaries.

Carter appeared as a panelist, moderator or news anchor at ABC, BBC, NBC, CNN and PBS. He also wrote op-ed columns for the Wall Street Journal and other newspapers. He served twice on the steering committee of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

Carter later was named the John S. Knight Professor of Public Affairs Journalism at the University of Maryland. In 1998 he became president of the John S. Knight and James L. Knight Foundation, based in Miami, Florida.

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After leaving the foundation, he began teaching leadership and public policy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2006. He wrote two books, The Reagan Years and The South Strikes Back.

Carter, an ex-Marine who exercised regularly, underwent surgery in 2012 to have a pacemaker installed to help control an irregular heart rhythm.

Progressive politics ran in his family. William Hodding Carter III was born April 7, 1935, in New Orleans, to William Hodding Carter Jr. and Betty Werlein Carter. They moved to Greenville, Mississippi, recruited by a group of community leaders to start a weekly newspaper that evolved into the Delta Democrat-Times.

His father's editorials about social and economic intolerance earned him a national reputation and undying enmity and threats from white supremacists. He also won the Pulitzer Prize, in 1946, for a series of editorials critical of U.S. treatment of Japanese-Americans during World War II.

His mother, from a prominent New Orleans family, was a feature writer and editor who recalled sitting at home with a shotgun across her lap after receiving threats from the Ku Klux Klan.

Carter was the oldest of three sons. His brother Philip Dutarte Carter, reported for Newsweek and served as publisher of the Delta Democrat-Times and Vieux Carre Courier as well as financier of Gambit, a New Orleans weekly. Another brother, Thomas Hennen Carter, died at 19.

Hodding Carter III attended Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire before graduating from Greenville High School in 1953. He graduated from Princeton University in 1953 and married Margaret Ainsworth Wolfe. They had four children before divorcing in 1978.

Carter later married Patricia M. Derian, a veteran of the Civil Rights Movement who sought to transform U.S. foreign policy as President Carter's assistant secretary of state for human rights and humanitarian affairs.

After she died in 2016, Carter married again, in November 2019, to journalist and author Patricia Ann OBrien after the two connected during a reunion at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism.
CHAPEL HILL, N.C.  Hodding Carter III, a Mississippi journalist and civil rights activist who as U.S. State Department spokesperson informed Americans about the Iran hostage crisis and later won awards for his televised documentaries, has died. He was 88.

His daughter, Catherine Carter Sullivan, confirmed that he died Thursday in Chapel Hill, N.C.

Before moving to Washington in 1977, Carter was editor and publisher of his familys newspaper, the Delta Democrat-Times, in Greenville, Miss.

Carter had been co-chair of the Loyalist Democrats, a racially diverse group that won a credentials fight at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, unseating the all-white delegation by Mississippi's governor, John Bell Williams.

Carters campaign work in 1976 for Jimmy Carter, no relation, helped secure him a job as assistant secretary of state for public affairs. It was in this role that he was seen on television news during the 444 days that Iran held 52 Americans hostage.

When Ronald Reagan was elected to the White House in 1980, Carter returned to journalism as president of MainStreet, a television production company specializing in public affairs programs that earned him four national Emmy Awards and the Edward R. Murrow Award for documentaries.

Carter appeared as a panelist, moderator or news anchor at ABC, BBC, NBC, CNN and PBS. He also wrote op-ed columns for The Wall Street Journal and other newspapers. He served twice on the steering committee of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

Carter later was named the John S. Knight Professor of Public Affairs Journalism at the University of Maryland. In 1998, he became president of the John S. Knight and James L. Knight Foundation, based in Miami.

After leaving the foundation, he began teaching leadership and public policy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2006. He wrote two books, The Reagan Years and The South Strikes Back.

Carter, an ex-Marine who exercised regularly, underwent surgery in 2012 to have a pacemaker installed to help control an irregular heart rhythm.

Story continues

Progressive politics ran in his family. William Hodding Carter III was born April 7, 1935, in New Orleans, to William Hodding Carter Jr. and Betty Werlein Carter. They moved to Greenville, Miss., recruited by a group of community leaders to start a weekly newspaper that evolved into the Delta Democrat-Times.

His father's editorials about social and economic intolerance earned him a national reputation and undying enmity and threats from white supremacists. He also won the Pulitzer Prize, in 1946, for a series of editorials critical of U.S. treatment of Japanese Americans during World War II.

His mother, from a prominent New Orleans family, was a feature writer and editor who recalled sitting at home with a shotgun across her lap after receiving threats from the Ku Klux Klan.

Carter was the oldest of three sons. His brother Philip Dutarte Carter, reported for Newsweek and served as publisher of the Delta Democrat-Times and Vieux Carre Courier as well as financier of Gambit, a New Orleans weekly. Another brother, Thomas Hennen Carter, killed himself playing Russian roulette.

Hodding Carter III attended Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire before graduating from Greenville High School in 1953. He graduated from Princeton University in 1953 and married Margaret Ainsworth Wolfe. They had four children before divorcing in 1978.

Carter later married Patricia M. Derian, a veteran of the Civil Rights Movement who sought to transform U.S. foreign policy as President Carter's assistant secretary of state for human rights and humanitarian affairs.

After she died in 2016, Carter married again, in November 2019, to journalist and author Patricia Ann OBrien after the two connected during a reunion at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism.
The rumour mill is in overdrive once again regarding Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby.

Earlier this week, it was reported that the This Morning co-hosts relationship is strained, and that they barely speak off camera.

Schofield acknowleged that the last few weeks havent been easy, but was keen to pour water on the claims, stating: Were the best of friends  as always, she is an incredible support on screen, behind the scenes and on the phone. Holly has always been there for me, through thick and thin. And Ive been there for her.

Willoughby is yet to respond to the fresh claims  but this is not the first time the pair are said to have been at loggerheads.

Below is a timeline of Schofield and Willoughbys working relationship, and the ups and downs they have both endured along the way. The Independent has contacted Willouhgby for comment.

2006  Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby begin their working relationship after signing on to ITV competition Dancing on Ice.

2009  Schofield clashes with his then This Morning co-host Fern Britton. As claimed in Schofields 2020 memoir Life is What You Make It, Britton accused him of meddling with the daytime shows content, forcing him to calmly tell her: Please dont do that to me again.

2009  Fern Britton quits This Morning. In her statement, she addresses the shows team in general, without specifically naming Schofield, who claimed in his book that their previous row was the point she decided she didnt want to be on the show any more. Its claimed that she was paid 250,000 a year less than Schofield.

Fern Britton and Phillip Schofield have had a tumultuous relationship (Ken McKay/Shutterstock)

2009 - Willoughby joins This Morning, replacing Britton.

2011  Willoughby quits Dancing on Ice, leaving Schofield to co-host alongside Christine Lampard.

2013  Schofield tells Heat that he and Britton are not really in touch any more. Britton also says of their working relationship to MailOnline: Like Morecambe and Wise, we chose not to live in each others pockets. We were a great professional partnership but we never went on holiday together.

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August 2017  Its announced that Willoughby will return to Dancing on Ice after reportedly receiving a 200,000 pay rise to match Schofields salary. Its also reported that Willoughby has received a pay rise from This Morning bosses to match Schofields annual salary of approximately 600,000 to 700,000. Until then, Willoughby is believed to have been previously paid 200,000 less than Schofield.

January 2018  Willoughbys return to Dancing on Ice airs on ITV.

Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby on Dancing on Ice (Matt Frost/ITV/Shutterstock)

August 2018  Willoughby is revealed to be Anthony McPartlins replacement on Im a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! alongside Declan Donnelly, after the former announces a year-long break from presenting.

October 2018  Rumours of a rivalry between Schofield and Britton resurface when, during This Mornings 30th anniversary episode, the latter claims she wasnt invited to the shows Bafta ceremony. Congrats on the Bafta, she says, adding: That was absolutely wonderful and brilliant. I would have loved to have been there but I didnt get an invitation. Schofield points out that she was on stage in Scotland at the time of the event, but Britton replies: I wasnt on Monday night  I would have come but I wasnt invited. This prompts Schofield to write on Twitter that Britton had memory loss and would have been welcome to attend.

April 2019  Schofield seemingly frustrates Ruth Langsford, who appears on This Morning to preview the ensuing episode of Loose Women she was presernting. While introducing the episodes topics, Schofield cuts her off, stating: Guys, were going to have to jump in there and stop you Im afraid because were a bit tight for time at this end. Thank you, Ruth. Langsford appears unimpressed, and fires back: Well, I only had about two more words to say.

Phillip Schofield awkwardly cuts off Ruth Langsford on This Morning (ITV)

June 2019  Schofield responds to reports that he blocked Amanda Holden from securing several high-profile presenting roles. A report alleges that Schofield has branded the Britains got Talent judge difficult to manage, and that he actively campaigned for Rochelle Humes to get the gig as his stand-in co-host despite Holden being told the job was hers. Its also claimed that Holden had been told she would replace McPartlin on Im a Celebrity, only to allegedly have her booking prevented by Schofield.

December 2019  First claims of a rift between Schofield and Willoughby are reported. The pair are said to be embroiled in a toxic rift, and its reported that Schofield was jealous about his co-hosts Im a Celebrity stint. During a press launch for a new series Dancing on Ice, Willoughby tells reporters: You couldnt do the amount of hours of TV that we do with each other without getting on. Its also claimed that Ruth Langsford has filed a complaint about Schofield to ITV bosses.

February 2020  Schofield comes out as gay ahead of an episode of This Morning, following which Willoughby, sharing a photo of herself alongside Schofield, writes on Instagram: Never been more proud of my friend than I am today. During the episode, the pair discuss Schofields decision to come out, with Willoughby telling him: I know that is something you have been living with, that inner conflict, for a long time.

Holly Willoughby supports Phillip Schofield as he comes out as gay on This Morning

November 2021  Willoughby refutes claims she ever had a rift with Schofield on Fearne Cottons Happy Place podcast, stating: I was watching from afar when youve got every person in the press saying that you and Phillip are having a tough time and, meanwhile, youre great friends and there were no arguments. She describes the 2018 reports as a particularly difficult time, adding: But I think, and I remember having this conversation with Phil at the time, it was like: But we know. I have to believe that, that as long as you know the truth, then everythings got to be OK.

February 2022  Eamonn Holmes hits out at Schofield after he and wife Langsford are replaced on Fridays episode of This Morning by Alison Hammond and Dermot OLeary. He says Schofield is passive-aggressive and accuses him of snubbing people. Speaking about the rumoured rift with Langsford, Holmes later said: Its up to Ruth to say how she felt, but I was feeling hurt for her.

September 2022  Schofield and Willoughby are criticised for seemingly queue-jumping the public while filming a segment for This Morning about Queen Elizabeth II lying in state. ITV defends the pair, who address the controversy during an episode the following week.

Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield are criticised for seemingly jumpig the queue at Queen Elizabeth IIs lying in state (ITV)

April 2023  Schofield comes off air for a few weeks after his brother Timothy is convicted of 11 sexual offences involving a child between October 2016 and October 2019, including two of sexual activity with a child. Schofield, who publicly disowns his sibling, thanks viewers for their kind messages and support upon his return.

May 2023  Schofield responds to yet another claim of a fallout with Willoughby. The presenter says that, while the last few weeks havent been easy for either of us, he views Willoughby as his rock. He adds: Were the best of friends  as always, she is an incredible support on screen, behind the scenes and on the phone. Holly has always been there for me, through thick and thin. And Ive been there for her.
Three South Carolina housing markets are overvalued by double digits, the latest data from a pair of Florida universities shows.

Of the biggest 100 U.S. metro housing markets considered overvalued, Greenville ranked 26th at 34.35%, Columbia ranked 27th at 33.74% and Charleston ranked 39th at 29.52%.

Researchers from Florida Atlantic University and Florida International University determined what markets were overvalued by analyzing the percentage difference between the expected price of a home and what buyers are actually paying. The expected prices were determined by a statistical model and the actual monthly prices paid came from the Zillow Home Value index.

Basically, if buyers paid more than expected, then that home was classified as overvalued.

The researchers then ranked the most overvalued housing markets of Americas 100 largest metros by determining the premiums buyers have been paying. The larger the premium, the more overpriced the market. The researchers data dates back to 1996 and covers single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops.

The rise in home prices in South Carolina has slowed in 2023 compared to the previous two years, but it hasnt stopped completely.

The median home price was $311,032 in South Carolina during the first quarter of 2023, up 22% over the $255,000 median sales price during the first quarter of 2021, according to South Carolina Realtors statistics.

Here are the top five most overpriced housing markets compared to Columbia, Greenville and Charleston.

#1 Atlanta, GA

Avg. price: $363,322





Expected price: $242,692





Overpriced: 49.71%





#2 Detroit, MI

Avg. price: $231,253





Expected price: $158,494





Overpriced: 45.91%





#3 Cape Coral, FL

Avg. price: $378,261





Expected price: $260,251





Overpriced: 45.34%





#4 Tampa, FL

Avg. price: $363,968





Expected price: $250,697





Overpriced: 45.18%





#5 North Port, FL

Avg. price: $460,394





Expected price: $318,316





Overpriced: 44.63%





#26 Greenville

Avg. price: $269,920





Expected price: $200,092





Overpriced: 34.35%





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#27 Columbia

Avg. price: $230,520





Expected price: $172,368





Overpriced: 33.74%





#39 Charleston

Avg. price: $402,017





Expected price: $310,390





Overpriced: 29.52%





Below is a map that shows how many homes have been sold so far this year in each South Carolina county.
A two-time felon with a history of domestic violence charges was sentenced Thursday to 29-years-to-life for fatally shooting his estranged wife in 2021.

Ka Lou Yang, 43, killed 41-year-old True Vang on March 23, 2021 after arguing inside a bedroom of their home at North 5th Street and East Lamona Avenue. Four of the couples children, ranging in age from 9 to 17, were home at the time of the murder.

Prosecutor David Olmos said during the sentencing hearing that Yang was angry that his wife wanted to leave him.

Inside a bedroom, Mr. Yang committed the most unspeakable act, he shot Ms. Vang in cold-blooded murder, Olmos said.

Yang agreed to plead no contest to first-degree murder in April in exchange for a sentence of 25-years-to-life plus four years for use of a firearm. Had his case gone to trail and he was convicted, he faced up to 50-years-to-life in prison.

Judge Jon Kapetan noted that Yang has two prior domestic violence cases in Wisconsin in 2006. In California, Yang was sent to prison in 2017 for evading police after a hit and run collision while in possession of a controlled substance. Yang was sentenced to jail in 2014 on a weapons charge.

Two of Vangs nieces submitted letters to Kapetan describing what she meant to them and what they would like to see happen to her killer.

The letters were read by Viktoria Grigorian, a crime victim advocate.

Chi Yang wrote that the loss of her aunt has devastated her and her family. She wrote about missing her smile and the way she would light up when out-of-town relatives would come to visit. Yang also feels badly for her mother, who was very close to True.

Although I miss my Aunt Truly and have cried many rivers of tears, I cant fathom what my mother was and is still going through, she wrote. I can only imagine the hurt she will always have knowing she will live the rest of her days without her baby sister.

In her letter, niece Judy Vang described her aunt as humble, hardworking and a great cook who loved to prepares meals for friends and family. She also supported her decision to leave Yang.

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Just as my beloved aunt realized her worth and happiness in what she wanted and did not want in a partner, this monster sitting here in chains takes her life away, she wrote.

Vang wrote that the only positive thing that came out of this tragedy is she will never have to see Yang again.

He should suffer in jail for the rest of his life, she wrote.

Kapetan agreed.

As to the Vang family, my condolences to you and I hope you all find some kind of solace in this sentence, Kapetan said. My hope is that he never gets out. My hope is that he dies in prison.
 Flash

European lawmakers on Thursday took a first step towards European Union-wide (EU) regulations on ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence (AI) systems.

The Internal Market Committee and the Civil Liberties Committee of the European Parliament (EP) adopted a draft negotiating mandate on the AI Act with an overwhelming majority. Once approved in plenary, the regulations would be the world's first rules on AI, the EP said in a press release.

In their amendments to the European Commission's proposal, members of the EP (MEPs) aimed to ensure that AI systems are overseen by people, are safe, transparent, traceable, non-discriminatory and environmentally friendly.

The EP release explained that the rules are based on a risk-based approach and establish obligations for providers and users alike depending on the level of risk the AI can generate. AI systems with an unacceptable level of risk to people's safety would be strictly prohibited.

MEPs also expanded the classification of high-risk areas to include harm to people's health, safety, fundamental rights or the environment.

Before negotiations with the Council of the EU on the final form of the law can begin, this draft negotiating mandate needs to be endorsed by the EP's plenary session, with the vote expected during the June session.
After reviewing thousands of records subpoenaed from four banks, the House Oversight Committee said in an interim report that some Biden family members, associates and their companies received more than $10 million from foreign entities, including payments made during and after President Joe Biden's vice presidency. But the White House countered that GOP investigators could not point to a "single Joe Biden policy" that was unduly influenced.

The 36-page interim GOP report, released by Oversight Committee chair James Comer, a Kentucky Republican, accused some Biden family members and associates of using a "complicated network" of more than 20 companies, mostly LLCs formed when Mr. Biden was vice president, and used "incremental payments over time" to "conceal large financial transactions."

"From a historical standpoint, we've never seen a presidential family receive these sums of money from adversaries around the world," Comer said.

White House spokesman Ian Sams responded on Twitter that Comer has offered "no evidence of any wrongdoing" by Mr. Biden, that "House Republicans have shown no evidence of any policy decisions influenced by anything other than U.S. national interests" and added that "[t]hey're really just microwaving old debunked stuff."

Comer and panel members focused Wednesday's news conference on payments from individuals from China and Romania, which is not a U.S. adversary. When asked about a direct link to Mr. Biden, Comer said the early phase of the investigation suggested a pattern of behavior.

"I don't think anyone in America who's watching C-SPAN or any other network covering this would think that it's just a coincidence that nine Biden family members have received money for this influence-peddling scheme," Comer said.

"We believe that the president has been involved in this from the very beginning, obviously. We're going to continue to look," he said, though he did not identify any direct or indirect payments to Mr. Biden.

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"What we cited today and what we're updating you with today  results from four banks. We believe there are 12 banks. So right now, you could say that we're in the beginning stages of this investigation."

House Republicans insisted their inquiry has several legislative aims behind it: addressing "deficiencies" in ethics and disclosure laws, strengthening reporting requirements for senior elected officials' family members, and evaluating the Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering laws.

The House Oversight Committee's ranking Democrat, Jamie Raskin of Maryland, said in a statement that a former business associate and financial adviser to then-Vice President Biden told Republican and Democratic Oversight Committee staff in March 2023 that "he was not aware of any involvement by President Biden in the financial conduct of the President's relatives' businesses, much less any transactions into or out of the then-Vice President's bank account related to business conducted by any Biden family member."

Abbe Lowell, an attorney for Hunter Biden suggested, "Instead of redoing old investigations that found no evidence of wrongdoing by Mr. Biden, Rep. Comer should do the same examination of the many entities of former President Trump and his family members."

At the same time, there is a federal investigation into Hunter Biden's business dealings that began in 2018, led by David Weiss, the U.S. attorney in Delaware. A 2019 federal subpoena obtained by CBS News sought financial and business records pertaining to 15 business entities and Hunter Biden, the president's brother James, as well as two business partners dating back to 2014 when Joe Biden was vice president.

Two sources familiar with the matter recently confirmed to CBS News that the attorney for the IRS whistleblower who alleges that the Justice Department interfered in and mishandled the Hunter Biden criminal probe met last week with members of Congress on behalf of his client.

The meeting was described as a proffer session with the House Ways and Means and Senate Finance committees to lay the groundwork for what the whistleblower could tell investigators and how he could do so without running afoul of taxpayer privacy laws.

Great-grandmother surprised with flowers

"Sesame Street" debuts first Filipino American muppet

Buffalo's mayor on one year since the Tops supermarket mass shooting
FIRST ON FOX: Top House Republicans are demanding Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas brief lawmakers on the actions agency officials have taken to address potential security vulnerabilities at U.S. ports related to the use of Chinese-manufactured cranes.

The lawmakers first wrote to Mayorkas demanding the information and a briefing on April 3, and told Fox News Digital that DHS has not yet complied.

House China Select Committee Chairman Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., and House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green, R-Tenn., sent another letter to Mayorkas Friday, sounding the alarm on the use of China-made cranes at U.S. ports, warning of "cyberattacks, espionage, and supply chain vulnerabilities."

"We remain concerned about the security risks associated with the widespread use of Chinese-manufactured cranes that threaten to undermine our national security, particularly those made by Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries (ZPMC), a Chinese state-owned business whose governing shareholder is China Communications Construction Company," they wrote, demanding information "on the prevalence of such equipment and technology at U.S. ports and DHS actions to address the potential national security threats posed by the Chinese Communist Partys use of this technology in U.S. port infrastructure."

GIMENEZ, GARAMENDI TO ROLL OUT BIPARTISAN BILL TO COMBAT CCP 'UNDUE INFLUENCE' AT US PORTS

The lawmakers said ZPMC has operated "under the umbrella of the Chinese state since its conception and has rapidly grown to be the dominant global manufacturer of ship-to-shore cranes."

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They warned that ZPMC "controls around 70 percent of the global market share for cranes and accounts for nearly 80 percent of the ship-to-shore cranes in use at U.S. ports, posing significant risk to U.S. homeland security."

ARE CHINESE CRANES BEING USED FOR SURVEILLANCE AT US PORTS? HOUSE GOP VISITS PORT OF MIAMI TO FIND OUT

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"These security risks include cyberattacks, espionage, and supply chain vulnerabilities due to the shared software and interconnectivity among ZPMC cranes operating at our nations ports," they wrote.

Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn.

They added, "ZPMC cranes pose a potential risk for intelligence gathering purposes and we find it disconcerting that CCP-backed entities may use their access to ZPMC cranes to target and disrupt our nations ports in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan."

Gallagher and Green are demanding all records related to ZPMC and any other Chinese-based manufacturer from 2000 to present; all records to describe how DHS has assessed and mitigated the risks associated with the Chinese software and operational technology at U.S. ports; and any records related to outreach efforts made to foreign allies and partners to "raise awareness about the risks of Chinese software and operational technology in their ports."

Gallagher and Green are also demanding information on "all known or suspected incidents of cyber-attacks or espionage linked to Chinese software and operational technology in U.S. ports from January 1, 2000, to the present," as well as any efforts the Biden administration is taking to create or secure "alternatives" to Chinese software and operational technology in U.S. ports.

Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas speaks during a hearing with the Senate Homeland Security Committee in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on April 18, 2023 in Washington, D.C.

CHINA ON DISTURBING PATH TO ECLIPSE US MILITARY BY MID-CENTURY, MILLEY WARNS

House Subcommittee on Transportation and Maritime Security Chairman Carlos Gimenez, Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure protection Chairman Drew Garbarino; Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations and Accountability Chairman Dan Bishop; and Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Law Enforcement and Intelligence Chairman August Pfluger also signed onto the letter.

The lawmakers demanded the Department of Homeland Security provide the records by May 24, and set up a staff-level briefing by May 31.

"DHS responds to Congressional correspondence directly via official channels, and the Department will continue to respond appropriately to Congressional oversight," a DHS spokesperson told Fox News Digital when asked to comment on the letter.

The letter comes after a congressional delegation from the House China Select Committee visited the Port of Miami to inspect Chinese-made cranes, amid fears that Beijing-made infrastructure could be conducting surveillance on U.S. ports and pose a risk to national security.

The visit came amid reports that suggested that the Pentagon is now viewing giant cargo cranes as possible Chinese spying tools. The reports suggested Chinese equipment at ports could be used for surveillance.

US INTEL COMMUNITY WARNS OF 'COMPLEX' THREATS FROM CHINA, RUSSIA, NORTH KOREA

"There is zero evidence to support sensationalized claims that our equipment isnt secure," stated Chris Connor, president and CEO of the American Association of Port Authorities. "As we have already stressed, the cranes our ports procure, based on cost, use separate software purchased from allied countries like Japan and Sweden, and they undergo rigorous security inspections with federal government partners to safeguard against cyber threats."

In its annual threat assessment last month, the U.S. intelligence community warned that China represents the "broadest, most active, and persistent cyber espionage threat to U.S. Government and private-sector networks."

"Chinas cyber pursuits and its industrys export of related technologies increase the threats of aggressive cyber operations against the U.S. homeland," officials warned, adding that China is "capable of launching cyberattacks that could disrupt critical infrastructure services within the United States, including against oil and gas pipelines, and rail systems."

Officials also warned that China is rapidly expanding and improving its surveillance, its artificial intelligence and big data analytics capabilities.
State Rep. Curtis Tarver, D-Chicago, speaks in committee on a bill that would bar anyone convicted of a felony, bribery, perjury or misuse of public funds while serving as a public official from ever being elected to a state or local office again.

SPRINGFIELD  The Illinois House passed a bill Friday that would bar anyone convicted of a felony, bribery, perjury or misuse of public funds while serving as a public official from ever being elected to a state or local office again.

That measure was introduced as an amendment to House Bill 351 on Thursday and moved quickly through the House Ethics and Elections Committee Friday morning with bipartisan support. It then went to the House floor where it passed 106-0.

Related: Following 'Com-Ed' trial, lobbying and ethics reform the talk of the Capitol

Current law bars anyone convicted of a felony from holding a state office until theyve completed their sentence. And a provision of the Illinois Municipal Code bars anyone who has ever been convicted of a felony from holding an elected municipal office.

But those people are free to run for the General Assembly, governor or any other constitutional office once theyve completed their sentence.

I think it's important to note that Illinois is the only state in the nation that bars an individual from running for office based on the office sought, as opposed to the crime committed, said the bills sponsor, Rep. Curtis Tarver, D-Chicago.

Former Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich was barred from running for state or local office in Illinois after his impeachment in 2009, but the ban was specific to him.

HB 351 would allow exceptions for people whose convictions have been reversed, if they are restored the right to run by terms of a pardon, if theyve received a restoration of rights by the governor or their rights are otherwise restored by law.

It also calls for setting up a task force to review current laws and policies about disqualification standards and make recommendations as to what criminal conduct should preclude an individual from holding public office.

The measure comes less than two weeks after the conclusion of the ComEd Four trial in which four former officials of Commonwealth Edison were convicted of engaging in a yearslong scheme to bribe former House Speaker Michael Madigan. They were convicted of giving lobbying contracts and no-work jobs to Madigan allies in exchange for favorable legislation in Springfield.

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More: ComEd Four found guilty on all counts in bribery trial tied to ex-Speaker Madigan

Madigan himself is scheduled to go on trial starting April 1, 2024, on racketeering charges related to his dealings with ComEd as well as his similar alleged dealings with AT&T Illinois, which agreed to pay a $23 million fine in a deferred prosecution agreement in October. Madigan is also accused of improperly wielding his power as both House speaker and head of the states Democratic Party to enrich himself via his real estate law firm.

The bill also came during the same week that the Illinois Senate confirmed Michael P. McCuskey, a retired state and federal court judge, to a full term as legislative inspector general. McCuskey was appointed to that post in February 2022 to succeed Carol Pope, who resigned in July 2021 saying she was frustrated at the General Assemblys lack of action on meaningful ethics reform.

In recent days, Republican lawmakers have been harshly critical of Democrats for not taking swift action on ethics reform following the ComEd Four convictions. Meanwhile, former Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn, who succeeded Blagojevich after his impeachment, made a rare appearance in Springfield to deliver letters to Gov. JB Pritzker and legislative leaders urging them to call a special session to focus on ethics reform.

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government. It is distributed to hundreds of print and broadcast outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, along with major contributions from the Illinois Broadcasters Foundation and Southern Illinois Editorial Association.

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: House passes bill to bar officials convicted of corruption from holding public office
Concern about housing, keeping Brewster affordable both for new families and elders, and cutting down on tax hikes are among the top issues for candidates hoping for a spot on the town's top governing board.

There are three candidates eyeing a three-year term on the Select Board, including incumbent Select Board member Edward Chatelain seeking a return to the board at the May 16 annual town election. He is challenged by Carol Anderson and Laurel Labdon.

Voters May 16 will also consider property tax overrides.

Polls will be open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Brewster Baptist Church in Fellowship Hall, 1848 Main St., Brewster.

Here is more about the Select Board candidates.

Edward Chatelain

Edward Chatelain

Age: 39Education: Dennis-Yarmouth High School; BA, University of Pennsylvania; Masters, Holy Cross School of Theology, BrooklineEmployment: Owner, Chatelain Real EstatePolitical experience: Brewster Select Board and Brewster Planning Board (former member)Other community service: Water Resources Task Force, Affordable Housing Trust, Bay Parcel Planning Committee, Water Quality Review Committee, liaison to Cape Cod and Islands Water Protection Fund. Cape Cod and Islands Association of Realtors Public Policy Committee, church youth advisor

What motivates you to run for this office?

As a lifelong Cape Codder I understand how special this place is. I moved away after high school and lived all over the country and the world. My wife and I came back because we knew this was the best place to raise our family, live, work, play and grow. Everything I do as a Select Board member is to keep it that way.

We need to bring more diverse housing choices to town so residents at all phases of life can continue to live and thrive here. We need to develop a long-term comprehensive wastewater plan to make sure that the decisions we make today do not negatively impact our ponds and aquifer down the road. And we need to develop a sustainable program for the schools that will preserve and support the outstanding quality educational program we already have for the next generation of Brewster students.

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What is the most pressing issue facing the board you are running for, and how would you address it?

Housing. A lack of housing options is an existential threat to our community. During my time on the Select Board we created 57 units of housing to serve our residents, with another 45 in the works.

In addition to town-sponsored new development, we need zoning reform to identify areas of town where higher density is appropriate. We need to encourage development patterns that preserve open space, such as the proposed community housing on Millstone Road, where a 15-acre parcel will accommodate 45 households, but fewer than 5 acres of the parcel will be disturbed.

We need to encourage mixed commercial/residential uses such as top-of-shop apartments. We need to support the creation of resident-only year-round rentals by refining our accessory dwelling unit bylaw. We must continue to provide support to our aging residents on a fixed income who struggle to afford maintenance on their own homes. And we must continue to develop responsible wastewater policies to ensure that new housing does not impact our ponds and aquifer.

What differentiates you from the other candidates?

Experience, perspective and approach.

Since I joined the board we advocated for state and federal resources to keep Brewster safe during the pandemic; brought the Cape Cod Sea Camps acquisition to town meeting where it was approved by nearly unanimous vote; revised and implemented our housing production plan; and advocated for regulatory changes to bring wastewater funding to Brewster. All this while bringing Brewster from the brink of financial disaster in 2018-19 to where we are today with 5-year budget and capital forecasts in place and a AAA bond rating (the highest possible).

As a small business owner I know the value of supporting and encouraging our small businesses, which are the bedrock of the Brewster economy. As a proud parent of children in both Brewster public schools I am reminded every morning that the decisions we make today are building a future for our kids. Or in their words, dont mess this up, Dad.

I dont know all the answers, but I know where to find them  our residents. We have an incredible wealth of talent in Brewster and harnessing that talent is one of the true joys of being a Select Board member.

Laurel Labdon

Laurel Labdon

Age: 52Education: Brewster Elementary School, Nauset middle and high schools, B.S. in Political Science/Public Policy Employment: DisabledPolitical Experience: Current chairwoman on the Board of Commissioners of the Brewster Housing Authority. Past positions: interim position on the Brewster School Committee, chair of the All Citizens Access Committee (now dormant because of a lack of a quorum)

Other community service: Current member of Pleasant Bay Community Boating board of directors and co-chair of the Adaptive Sailing Program. Current honorary chair on Sail Cape Cod/Sea Legs Adaptive Sailing Program. Founder of Ms. Wheelchair Massachusetts Foundation, a leadership and advocacy competition advocating for disability issues that most directly affect women wheelchair users.

What motivates you to run for this office?

I am running for the Select Board to work in collaboration with the relevant boards/committees to renegotiate tuition or regional agreements that provide more equitable sharing of debt obligations between the towns, specifically regarding our capital expenditures in the schools, alleviating Brewsters debt by millions.

I am also running to collaborate and support our housing coordinator, Brewster Housing Trust and continue my work on the Brewster Housing Authority to explore every possible avenue to increase housing availability for year-round residents of Brewster.

Lastly, I was motivated to run to be an integral voice in the use of the Sea Camps properties. I believe the Select Board should charge all relevant boards and committees to provide as much access to the residents of Brewster as possible while working to make the properties not only self sustainable, but revenue producing as well.

What is the most pressing issue facing the board you are running for, and how would you address it?

I believe the most pressing issue facing the Select Board is twofold. The huge increase in Brewsters debt is leading us down an unsustainable path where tax hikes are making it impossible for families to live and work here, and increasingly difficult for elders to age in place here.

Related to this is the lack of year-round housing stock. Affordable and mid-level housing options are almost non-existent in Brewster, making it impossible for young people to start their families and elders to downsize so they can afford to remain here.

I would address theses issues by working to minimize Brewsters debt by pursuing more equitable regional agreements and curbing new discretionary spending. Regarding the housing issue I would look at deed restrictions, zoning, taxes and regulation fees to disincentivize short-term rentals and incentivize year-round rentals. Mixed use dwellings and accessory dwelling units must be incentivized as well. Planning must be careful, well-analyzed and in keeping with the spirit and tradition of Brewster.

What differentiates you from the other candidates?

Living in Brewster all of my life gives me deep knowledge and understanding of Brewster, its history, traditions and environment, which enables me to work towards a sustainable future while also keeping the towns heritage intact.

By a twist of fate, I am also uniquely knowledgeable of the needs of our seniors, as their needs and challenges closely intersect with the experience of living with a disability like mine.

Not being employed in any traditional sense I have the time to make a seat on the Select Board my full-time job and #1 priority. This will allow me to interact with residents where they are through community outreach and foster relationships with other local officials to enable me to be an effective member of the Brewster Select Board.

Carol Anderson

Carol Anderson did not respond to the Times' formal candidate questionnaire about her campaign; however, she did participate in the candidates' forum hosted by the Brewster Chamber of Commerce on April 25.

On the top issue of housing, during the forum Anderson said while she thinks Brewster has made some progress toward increasing housing opportunities, there's still a lot of work to be done.

"I think we have made limited progress," she said.

She shared her own experience looking into affordable housing, noting she is eligible as a senior both for no- to low-income housing and disabled housing. She said at least one option she investigated was not, in fact, affordable to her.

"We need to make more progress," she said. She commended one project for adding housing for people going through rehabilitation, but added, "We absolutely need more senior housing."

In her closing statement during the forum, Anderson said, "I'm someone who's pursuing my dreams."

"If my father were here he'd say he likes the fact that I'm courageous and I'm bold," she said.

Anderson noted she strives to get along with everyone, even working to make friends out of people who don't necessarily like her.

"It's not about me. It's not about me at all," she said, going on to add, "I'm not a politician," that she is not pressed by special interests and "I don't even have family to push me one way or another."

Citing hardships she has faced, Anderson concluded, "I will work as hard as I have for myself, for you, and you're my focus. I have you full time."

Voters in Brewster will be asked for property tax overrides as well.

Among the top considerations are override questions totaling $964,598 to support education budgets. Together they would, if approved, add up to an average tax increase of $106, according to the town.

The school budget overrides were approved at the May 1 annual town meeting, but they must be approved at the polls to take effect.

The first question seeks a $316,878 operating override to support the Stony Brook and Eddy elementary school budgets, and the second seeks a $647,720 override to support the Nauset Regional School District budget.

Both overrides are necessitated because of significant increases in special education expenses and supporting greater social and emotional needs among students, transportation and utilities, school officials said. For the regional district, increased costs associated with school choice and charter school tuitions were also cited.

If approved, the elementary school override will add 6 cents per $1,000 of valuation to the tax rate, resulting in a permanent increase of about $35 to the average property tax bill, based on an average home valuation of about $636,000. The second override, if approved, will add 11 cents per $1,000 to the tax rate, resulting in a permanent increase of about $71 for the average taxpayer.

The other school district towns  Orleans, Eastham and Wellfleet  are also slated to consider overrides in support of the Nauset school budget. Three of the four member towns must approve their override amounts before the full budget can take effect; in that case, the fourth town would be required by state law to fund its full share.

But if fewer than three towns OK the override, Nauset would have to submit a revised budget within 30 days, and the towns would have to call a special town meeting to act on it.

Heather McCarron writes about climate change, environment, energy, science and the natural world. Reach her at hmccarron@capecodonline.com, or follow her on Twitter @HMcCarron_CCT

This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Three competing for seat on Brewster Select Board
FILE - Lori Vallow Daybell, middle, sits between her attorneys for a hearing at the Fremont County Courthouse in St. Anthony, Idaho, on Aug. 16, 2022.

FILE - Lori Vallow Daybell, middle, sits between her attorneys for a hearing at the Fremont County Courthouse in St. Anthony, Idaho, on Aug. 16, 2022.

BOISE, Idaho (AP)  An Idaho jury on Friday convicted Lori Vallow Daybell of murder in the deaths of her two youngest children and a romantic rival, a verdict that marks the end of a three-year investigation that included bizarre claims of zombie children, apocalyptic prophesies and illicit affairs.

Vallow Daybell, who wore a simple black dress, showed no expression as the verdict was read. Some in the courtroom gallery wiped tears from their eyes.

Prosecutors in the case described Vallow Daybell as a power-hungry manipulator who would kill her two youngest children for money, while the defense team said she was normally protective mother who fell under the romantic sway of a wannabe cult leader.

Jurors heard both stories Thursday during final arguments in the seven-week long trial, and deliberated for about four hours before breaking for the evening. They resumed deliberations Friday morning and reached a verdict, which was announced shortly after noon.

Vallow Daybell and her fifth husband Chad Daybell were both charged with murder, conspiracy and grand theft in the deaths of 7-year-old Joshua JJ Vallow, 16-year-old Tylee Ryan, and Daybells previous wife Tammy Daybell. Prosecutors say the two worked with Vallow Daybells brother, Alex Cox, to carry out the crimes. Cox died in December 2019 and was never charged.

Vallow Daybell faces up to life in prison when she is sentenced in at least three months. Chad Daybells trial is still months away.

Vallow Daybell wanted the victims money, so she used sex and power to manipulate her brother and her lover into carrying out the crimes, Madison County Prosecutor Rob Wood told jurors during closing arguments.

Money, power and sex, Wood said, reprising the arguments his team made at the start of the trial. He claimed Vallow Daybell considered the three victims nothing more than obstacles to her goals.

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What does justice for these victims require? It requires a conviction on each and every count, Wood said.

Defense attorney Jim Archibald countered that there was no evidence tying his client to the killings but plenty showing she was a loving, protective mother whose life took a sharp turn when she met her fifth husband, Chad Daybell, and fell for the weird apocalyptic religious claims of a cult leader. He suggested that Daybell and Cox were the ones responsible for the deaths, and that Vallow Daybells only crime was lying to police about where her children were.

This courtroom sketch, from left, depicts Madison County prosecutor Rob Wood, Lori Vallow Daybell and defense attorney Jim Archibald during opening statements of Vallow Daybell's murder trial in Boise, Idaho, Monday, April 10, 2023.

This courtroom sketch, from left, depicts Madison County prosecutor Rob Wood, Lori Vallow Daybell and defense attorney Jim Archibald during opening statements of Vallow Daybell's murder trial in Boise, Idaho, Monday, April 10, 2023.

Daybell told her they had been married in several previous lives and she was a sexual goddess who was supposed to help him save the world by gathering 144,000 followers so Jesus could return, Archibald said.

Why cant people escape religious cult figures, why cant they break out, why cant they break away from that mind control? Archibald said. Promises are marvelous to some people even if they sound like stupid gibberish to the rest of us.

At times, the testimony in the case has been heartbreaking  such as when Vallow Daybells only surviving child, Colby Ryan, accused her of murdering his siblings in a recorded jailhouse phone call.

Other testimony has been strange, such as when Vallow Daybells former friend Melanie Gibb testified that Vallow Daybell believed people in her life had been taken over by evil spirits and turned into zombies  including JJ and Tylee. Four of the people the defendant described as zombies were later killed or shot at, according to the testimony.

It has also been gruesome, such as when law enforcement officers testified about finding JJ and Tylees remains buried in Chad Daybells yard.

Tylee had her whole life ahead of her, Wood told the jury, when she was killed in September 2019.

FILE - Lori Vallow Daybell sits in a police car after a hearing at the Fremont County Courthouse in St. Anthony, Idaho, on Aug. 16, 2022.

FILE - Lori Vallow Daybell sits in a police car after a hearing at the Fremont County Courthouse in St. Anthony, Idaho, on Aug. 16, 2022.

Tylees body was burned beyond recognition. Her body was dismembered in such a grotesque and extreme manner, that the medical examiner couldnt determine the cause of death, Wood said. Marks on her pelvis showed she was stabbed, he said.

JJ Vallows voice was silenced forever by a strip of duct tape over his mouth, just two weeks later, Wood said. A white plastic bag was placed over his head, and secured with duct tape around and around from his forehead to his chin.

Evidence shows JJ struggled, Wood said, and at one point the boys arms and legs were bound with duct tape.

He stopped breathing, his heart stopped beating and he died. It was a brutal, horrific murder of a 7-year-old boy with special needs, he said.

Vallow Daybell never reported the kids missing but continued to collect the survivor benefit checks each child was receiving because of the earlier deaths of their fathers, Wood said.

Wood said Tammy Daybell was slain between Oct. 18 and Oct. 20, 2019.

The defense attorney countered that Vallow Daybell wasnt even in the state when Tammy Daybell was killed. She was in Hawaii, visiting with friends, he said.

Archibald did not call any witnesses during the trial, and Vallow Daybell declined to testify. Instead, Archibald asserted that prosecutors had not proven their case, suggesting that there was not enough evidence to find beyond a reasonable doubt that she committed a crime.

Of the 15,000 texts you have in evidence, show me one where Lori is part of that conspiracy, Archibald said in closing arguments.

Under Idaho law, conspiring to commit a murder carries the same penalty as carrying out a murder. Wood reminded jurors of that law, noting that aiding and abetting a crime is akin to committing it.

The case began in July 2019, when Vallow Daybells then-husband, Charles Vallow, was shot and killed by her brother, Alex Cox, at his home in a Phoenix suburb. The husband and wife were estranged, and he had filed divorce documents claiming that she believed she was a goddess sent to usher in the Biblical apocalypse.

FILE - Lori Vallow Daybell glances at the camera during her hearing in Rexburg, Idaho., on March 6, 2020. A mother charged with murder in the deaths of her two children is set to stand trial in Idaho. The proceedings against Lori Vallow Daybell beginning Monday, April 3, 2023, could reveal new details in the strange, doomsday-focused case. (John Roark/The Idaho Post-Register via AP, Pool, File)

FILE - Lori Vallow Daybell glances at the camera during her hearing in Rexburg, Idaho., on March 6, 2020. A mother charged with murder in the deaths of her two children is set to stand trial in Idaho. The proceedings against Lori Vallow Daybell beginning Monday, April 3, 2023, could reveal new details in the strange, doomsday-focused case. (John Roark/The Idaho Post-Register via AP, Pool, File)

At the time, Cox told police he acted in self-defense, and he was never charged in connection with the death. Cox died later that year of what authorities determined were natural causes. Vallow Daybell was later charged in Arizona in connection with Charles Vallows death; she has not yet had the opportunity to enter a plea in that case.

According to prosecutors, Vallow Daybell was already in a relationship with Chad Daybell, who was still married to his wife, Tammy Daybell, at the time. She moved to eastern Idaho with her brother and kids to be closer to Chad Daybell.

The children were last seen alive in September of 2019. Police discovered they were missing a month later after an extended family member became worried. Their bodies were found the following summer.

The case has garnered widespread interest not just in Idaho but around the world, and the judge banned cameras from the courtroom in an effort to limit pretrial publicity. The trial was also moved to the capital city of Boise, where 1,800 potential jurors were called and winnowed to a panel of 18 people.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
On May 11, AfroTech Executive made its latest stop in its event series  Washington, D.C.

At The Gathering Spot, the Chocolate Citys ever-growing community of executives, investors, founders, and tech professionals convened to discuss ways to create partnerships that connect local and global talent as well as ways to take real action.

Photo Credit: Jemal Countess

After a warm welcome from AfroTechs Will Lucas, AfroTech Executive kicked off with a session titled From Local to Global: How Effective Policies Can Propel Africas Tech Talent Onto the World Stage, featuring Ronnie Kwesi Coleman, CEO of Meaningful Gigs, and Kori Hale, CEO of CultureBanx; the session was moderated by Zekarias Amsalu Dubale, co-founder of Africa Fintech Summit.

From Colemans perspective, key areas for growth across Africas tech sector are outsourcing and investing in education.

What policymakers have to do is, they shouldnt [mess] around with people that are investing in those two areas regardless of where theyre from, Coleman said. Fasttrack education and jobs, let them come in and educate our youth, put money into the economy because ultimately thats just going to benefit us long-term.

In addition to policy initiatives having the ability to be groundbreaking for Africa, Coleman expressed how investing in the continents talent is more than money or charity. It looks like investing time, expertise, and skills to support them in their advancement in the tech industry is what can give them an edge.

Regarding investing in Africa, Hale emphasized that now is the time more than ever. However, she also shared that building companies and relationships between the U.S. and Africa is still ongoing and there are challenges.

Photo Credit: Jemal Countess

The second session, Empowering Tech Talent: Building a Collaborative Ecosystem, was a fireside chat with Black Girl Ventures Founder and CEO Omi Shelly Bell, moderated by Jeff Nelson, co-founder and COO of Blavity, Inc.

Bell knows the power of collaboration firsthand as her company holds pitch competitions across the nation to provide women of color with an opportunity to gain support.

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During the course of the event, Bell shared that Black Girl Ventures has funded 450 Black and brown companies. Whats more, she pointed out that a key factor in helping founders stand out is for them to collect data no one else has that displays the value they can bring, especially if theyre seeking investors.

Omis story resonated very much so with me being a woman whos oftentimes in rooms that Im the only person who looks like me, Hope Wiseman, founder and CEO of Mary and Main, shared with AfroTech. One of my biggest takeaways was her advice on how to utilize data and the communities that you create. And take that and become of value to other companies. They may seem like they have more data than you  larger community stats  but you have a unique space that you cultivate and that is valuable.

While AfroTech Executive is a time for leaders to share game, its also where professionals who aspire to climb the corporate ladder gain knowledge and encouragement to do so.

I would love to lead because when you lead youre able to influence and youre able to get other people at the table, Tatiana Streeter, global marketing operations business program manager at Microsoft, told AfroTech. This is a climb that I want to go down because I want to reach back and bring others to that [executive] space as well.

To grab your ticket to our next event in a city near you, click here.
Supporters of Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan celebrate in Peshawar, Pakistan, on Thursday after the Supreme Court ruled he could be released after his arrest two days earlier. (Muhammad Sajjad/AP)

Violence broke out in several major cities across Pakistan this week following the dramatic arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan. Supporters of Khan and his party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), have been protesting since his arrest on Tuesday.

Scenes broadcast from Islamabad and Lahore earlier in the week showed clashes between protesters and police. Tensions have since escalated: Eight people have died, and at least 1,400 others have been arrested, according to police.

On Tuesday, Khan was detained on corruption charges  one of more than 100 criminal charges that have been filed against him by the current government. Khan claims, however, that the charges are a politically motivated plot created by his successor, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif. On Thursday, Pakistans Supreme Court ruled Khans arrest unlawful, but the opposition leader was forced to remain in police protection for his own safety.

Heres everything we know about the political turmoil in Pakistan from our original reporting and trusted partners, including Sky News, Reuters and the BBC.

The charges against Khan

Former Prime Minister Imran Khan being interviewed in Lahore, Pakistan, on March 17. (Akhtar Soomro/Reuters)

Khan, 70, is at the center of the political chaos and unrest that Pakistan is now facing. As reported by Reuters, Khan was arrested on Tuesday by an anti-corruption agency. Pakistani officials have accused him and his wife, Bushra Wattoo, of receiving millions of dollars' worth of land from a real estate tycoon through their charity, the Al-Qadir Trust.

Pakistani Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah alleged on Tuesday that the charity had been a front for Khan to receive bribes from a Pakistani multimillionaire, Malik Riaz Hussain. "The trust received 180 million rupees [$2.1 million] for operational expenses, but records showed only 8.52 million rupees [$103,631]," Sanaullah told reporters at a press conference on Tuesday night.

Khan has continued to deny any wrongdoing. The latest charge is one of 127 that have been filed against him since he left office last year after losing a vote of confidence. If convicted, he will be banned from running for office again.

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Before his court appearance on Tuesday, Khan published a video on Twitter in which he accused the government of silencing him through arrests. This is my Pakistan, it's not yours. It's our military, he said, in a translation published on Sky News. You cant just shut our mouths when we criticize you.

Inside Khans arrest

Khan supporters scuffle with riot police outside his house in Lahore on March 14 to try to prevent his arrest. (Arif Ali/AFP via Getty Images)

The weekend before he was arrested, Khan accused the military of orchestrating at least two assassination attempts against him, Bloomberg reports. In a statement published on Monday night, the military called for his accusations to be addressed in court. These fabricated and malicious allegations are extremely unfortunate, deplorable and unacceptable, the statement read. This has been a consistent pattern for [the] last one year wherein military and intelligence agencies officials are targeted with insinuations and sensational propaganda for the furtherance of political objectives.

As reported by Sky News, dramatic footage showed dozens of National Accountability Bureau agents protected by a sea of paramilitaries forcibly remove Khan from court on Tuesday before pushing him into an armored police vehicle. Khan was standing trial on a different corruption charge when the paramilitaries, dressed in riot gear, stormed the courtroom. He was brought to a guesthouse in Islamabad where he was questioned by police. They had no justification to arrest me, Khan told the Independent. I was abducted. It seems as if there was a law of [the] jungle.

Two days later, the Supreme Court ruled the arrest unlawful. Your arrest was invalid, so the whole process needs to be backtracked, Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial told Khan at his hearing on Thursday.

Pakistans information minister, Marriyum Aurangzeb, defended the arrest to Sky News, stating that Khan had defied the court. A person  who does not abide by the law, who avoids courts and who thinks he's untouchable and cannot be questioned, has to be treated the way every citizen is treated, Aurangzeb said. If we wanted to arrest him or silence him because of his popularity, we would not have waited 14 months.

On Friday, it was ruled that Khan should be released from custody and not rearrested for at least two weeks.

Country in chaos

Police detain a Khan supporter in Lahore on Wednesday at a protest against the former prime minister's arrest. (K.M. Chaudary/AP)

As reported by the BBC, thousands of Khans supporters have come out in support of him and the PTI in recent days. Tensions on the streets of Pakistans cities have grown since his arrest. The government's initial response for the first day or so was to not intervene, a Pakistani human rights lawyer, who asked to remain anonymous because commentary on the political atmosphere is so sensitive, told Yahoo News.

When Khan was in police custody, protesters targeted government buildings and ransacked the home of an army chief in the eastern city of Lahore. At that point, the government deployed the army to disperse the thousands of demonstrators and to quell the chaos. The military released a statement announcing that any assaults against law enforcement agencies would be met with severe retaliation.

What we are seeing now is a lot of prosecutions and arrests, the lawyer said. He explained how the government had taken further steps by restricting access to social media sites, including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, in large parts of the country. That has led to the most tense standoff in a very long time, both in terms of the intensity and the length of the protests and in terms of the escalation between the government and protesters, he said.

A member of the PTI, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, called for continued protests, however, and asked supporters to remain peaceful. Peaceful protest is your constitutional right. Keep it going, he said. But dont take the law into your own hands.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, standing alongside his British counterpart at a press conference in Washington, called for both sides to adhere to the rule of law.

What happens next

Khan supporters celebrate in Lahore on Thursday after Pakistan's Supreme Court ruled his arrest illegal. (Mohsin Raza/Reuters)

The future of Pakistan, at least for the next year, will be turbulent, the lawyer told Yahoo News, as the country faces a perfect storm  of multiple crises.

Pakistan is facing the worst economic crisis in the country's history and the backsliding of the Taliban, where weve seen a rise in the number of terrorist militant attacks, the lawyer said, predicting that it is unlikely to be resolved within the next year.
Pakistan's ex-prime minister Imran Khan has left court premises in Islamabad, a day after the Supreme Court ruled his dramatic arrest on corruption charges was illegal.

On Friday evening, Mr Khan's party said he was heading for the city of Lahore.

Judges granted Mr Khan protected bail, meaning he can not be re-arrested on those charges for two weeks.

The court also ordered he could not be arrested on any charges filed after last Tuesday until 17 May.

Despite the rulings, the corruption charges against Mr Khan still stand.

"The head of the country's largest party was abducted, kidnapped from the high court, and in front of the entire nation," Khan told AFP from the court building.

"They treated me like a terrorist, this had to have a reaction," he said of the protests that followed.

Mr Khan remained within court premises after the hearing on Friday seeking preventive bail against other charges, which he told the BBC included counts of terrorism, sedition and blasphemy.

Conviction would disqualify the former international cricket star - and Pakistan's prime minister from 2018 to 2022 - from standing for office, possibly for life. Elections are due later this year.

Mr Khan had arrived at the hearing under heavy armed guard, and greeted supporters with a single raised fist.

Speaking during Friday's hearing, Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial said the arrest was unlawful because it took place on court premises.

He ordered that the "whole process" of Mr Khan's arrest "needs to be backtracked".

The 70-year-old - who was arrested on Tuesday as he arrived at a courthouse in Islamabad - pleaded not guilty to the charges when a judge formally indicted him with corruption for the first time in the dozens of cases he faces.

Officials say Mr Khan unlawfully sold state gifts during his premiership, in a case brought by Pakistan's Election Commission.

Imran Khan was surrounded by a crowd of people as he left court on Friday

The dramatic saga has significantly escalated tensions between Mr Khan and Pakistan's powerful military.

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Many analysts believe Mr Khan's election win in 2018 happened with the help of the military, which both parties denied.

But he later fell out with the army. After a series of defections, and amid mounting economic crises, he lost his majority in parliament.

Since being ousted less than four years into his term, he has become one of the military's most vocal critics, and analysts say the army's popularity has fallen.

And his PTI party says the charges against him - which relate to gifts given to him by foreign leaders while he served as prime minster - are politically motivated.

His dramatic arrest outside the courthouse on Tuesday sparked outrage among Mr Khan's supporters.

At least 10 people were killed and some 2,000 arrested as unrest swept the country. Those protests included an attack at a military commander's home residence in Lahore, which was set on fire.

While this week's violence petered out after the army was deployed in Islamabad and other areas, such as Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the country remains on edge.

Critics say the PTI has been fuelling unrest through social media posts calling for protesters to take to the streets, and judges told Mr Khan that he must condemn the violence and tell supporters to stop.

Mr Khan says he and his party only call for peaceful protest.

Pakistan's current Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who took power after Khan was ousted, criticised the Supreme Court's ruling to free Khan in a cabinet speech aired on state TV.

He alleged that judges had favoured Imran Khan, and their ruling had caused "the death of justice in Pakistan".

He further criticised Mr Khan and his party for their inflammatory language and encouraging protesters to take to the streets.

"Imran Khan has divided the nation," he said.

Additional reporting by Frances Mao.
Finland to buy David's Sling from Israel.

A remarkable series of photos has emerged showing the final moments as an Israeli air defense missile destroys a rocket launched by a militant organization. Although the particular air defense system that fired the interceptor missile is unconfirmed, Rafael, the manufacturer of the Davids Sling medium-range system used by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), just announced the first operational interception using this weapon, reportedly also against a rocket launched from the Gaza Strip.

https://twitter.com/AuroraIntel/status/1656976151716278275?s=20 https://twitter.com/manniefabian/status/1657049331487191040?s=20

Attributed to Israeli photojournalist Gilad Kfir, the photos in question show, at first, the interceptor missile, its motor blazing, heading directly toward the targeted rocket, on a clear collision course. Its been claimed that the projectile being intercepted is a Badr-3 unguided rocket, a weapon used by the Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the second largest Islamist militant group in the Gaza Strip, after Hamas. While this cannot be confirmed, but the weapon in the first photo certainly fits its appearance.

There have been suggestions that the Badr-3 was designed in Iran specifically for use by its proxies across the Middle East, and its simple enough for them to produce it locally. Very similar to the Al-Qassim rocket, also of Iranian design, the Badr-3 is thought to carry a warhead weighing between 660 and 880 pounds, providing considerably more destructive power than most Palestinian rockets, but this will come with a commensurate reduction in range.

https://twitter.com/AuroraIntel/status/1656390145262731264?s=20 https://twitter.com/fab_hinz/status/1396402734715260928?s=20

The subsequent photos show the fireball left after the interceptor missile meets its target, with devastating effect.

Some accounts suggest that the interceptor missile was fired from one of the IDFs Iron Dome air defense systems, which use the Tamir missile, and which was originally designed to intercept incoming rockets and other artillery rounds. The Iron Dome has already been proven in combat on thousands of occasions. However, it primarily employs a proximity fuze, which causes its kinetic warhead to detonate in the vicinity of the target, but it can also hit the target directly due to its very high degree of accuracy. You can read more about Tamir and its capabilities here.

Story continues

The Tamir missile as used by Iron Dome. Rafael https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfoIZ5RbyEw

On the other hand, the missile fired by the Davids Sling system only uses a hit-to-kill concept  it relies on the interceptor slamming into the target to destroy it. That type of engagement is a better fit for what we see in the photos, but both missiles are capable of that intercept profile.

The missile used in the Davids Sling system  which is known as the Stunner  is around 15 feet long as a complete round, i.e. with both the first and second stages. In this view, the booster-like first stage would have already fallen away, leaving the interceptor second stage to do its destructive work. As it is, the general similarities in appearance between the Tamir and the Stunner missiles again rule out a definitive identification.

While the missile fired by Davids Sling features an unusual dolphin-shaped nose profile to house its dual-mode seeker assembly, the low resolution of the first photo means this point of identification is also not immediately obvious.

The Stunner interceptor and booster, the export version of the same missile used by the Davids Sling system. Rafael

Whether coincidence or not, only hours before the photos of the rocket interception appeared on social media, Israeli defense company Rafael posted a tweet declaring that the Davids Sling system was Officially Combat Proven. The statement continued: In the last 24 hours the IDF carried out its first operational interception using Rafaels Davids Sling system over the skies of central Israel against a rocket launched from the Gaza Strip.

Officially Combat Proven



In the last 24 hours the IDF carried out its first operational interception using RAFAEL's "David's Sling" system over the skies of central Israel against a rocket launched from the Gaza Strip. pic.twitter.com/SBQOXdT1L6  Rafael Advanced Defense Systems (@RAFAELdefense) May 11, 2023

That would certainly fit the timeframe of the rocket interception photos, although its also still possible that they show an Iron Dome. At this point, its simply not possible to say with any authority if they do show the first use of the Davids Sling system, but the timing of their appearance is certainly notable.

As for Davids Sling, this system became operational with the IDF as long ago as 2017, although  officially at least  it hadnt been used in an operational intercept until this week. It isnt clear if past unsuccessful attempts at intercepts occurred or are factored into this claim. As well as larger artillery rockets, Davids Sling is intended to shoot down short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs), aircraft, drones, and cruise missiles. Earlier this year, Davids Sling won its first export order, from newly minted NATO member Finland, a deal you can read more about here.

As such, it comprises the mid-to-upper tier of Israels layered air defense system, fitting in between the Iron Dome and the upper-tier Arrow ballistic missile defense system, with the Patriot system sitting somewhere in between.

Each Davids Sling system includes a vertical launcher containing up to 12 interceptor missiles.

A Davids Sling launcher fires a missile during tests. Finnish Ministry of Defense

The interceptor missiles aforementioned unusual canted dolphin nose contains imaging infrared and active radar seekers. Using a dual-mode seeker system means that the missile is much more resistant to hostile jamming or decoys as well as making it better suited to tackling a wider range of targets, with different signatures and flight profiles, ranging from SRBMs to stealthy cruise missiles.

Additional reliability is conferred by an onboard datalink, which can feed the missile with targeting data from third-party sensors, with the main source of information being the Elta ELM-2084 3D active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar.

Its two-stage propulsion system also offers some significant advantages. Above all, higher levels of energy and maneuverability ensure that the hit-to-kill second stage finds its target, even if that is maneuvering at speed. Not having to pack that second stage and an explosive warhead and fuze assembly also means that overall weight is reduced, again helping with speed and agility, as well as overall range. The range of the missile is reportedly between 150 and nearly 200 miles, although most engagements are likely to take place at much shorter distances, especially if they involve unguided rockets, as seen here.

The Stunner missile, without its booster, has also been tested as an air-launched weapon.

Interesting.. Israel' David's Sling anti ballistic system' "Stunner" missile spotted on an IAF F-16I pic.twitter.com/cKFpCiQigP  Harry Boone (@Harry_Boone) June 2, 2017

As to why the IDF used Davids Sling to engage a rocket (whether its the one seen in the interception photos or not) is less clear. However, while the IDFs Iron Dome is optimized for engaging rockets of this kind, as well as smaller projectiles, like artillery rounds, that system has a relatively limited range of a few dozen miles or less  with most engagements occurring at far shorter distances. With that in mind, its possible that Davids Sling could have been the best option to swat down this particularly larger rocket before it got over a populated area, or perhaps it was assigned to target a rocket headed to an area otherwise not as well covered by Iron Dome.

There is also the question of the costs involved when using Davids Sling for a target of this kind. Each missile fired by the system costs an estimated $1 million, far in excess of the cost of building an unguided rocket. On the other hand, Israel has consistently sought to field a highly capable and multi-layered air defense system thats effective against all kinds of threats. After all, investing in reliable air defenses is always going to be an expensive endeavor, but one that is driven by the simple requirement to protect lives and infrastructure at all costs. Even with the far less costly Tamir, with a price tag of between $40,000 and $100,000, there is a huge gulf between it and the basic rockets and mortar bombs it very frequently intercepts. This is an issue we have explored in the past, too.

The Davids Sling system launches a missile. Israeli MoD

The volume of rockets being launched against Israel has also stepped up considerably in recent days, with Israel and Gaza militants locked in a new round of fighting that has left dozens killed, most of them Palestinian.

The latest violence broke out on Tuesday when Israel killed three leading members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group, the first of a series of strikes intended to take out some of its leading figures.

Closer scenes for the house that has been just bombed by lsraeli airforce north of Gaza. pic.twitter.com/ChRxjgb5ck  TIMES OF GAZA (@Timesofgaza) May 12, 2023

Islamic Jihad said that its latest barrage of rockets was a response to the assassinations and the continued aggression against the Palestinian people.

Rockets are launched from Gaza City toward Israel on May 12, 2023. Photo by MAHMUD HAMS/AFP via Getty Images

According to its own account, the IDF has hit 170 Islamic Jihad targets this week, while more than 860 rockets have been fired from Gaza.

With the possibility of a peace deal negotiated by Egypt having apparently evaporated, theres no obvious end in sight for the current fighting. That means its highly possible that Davids Sling could be called into action again.

https://twitter.com/YWNReporter/status/1656364809976262657?s=20 https://twitter.com/AuroraIntel/status/1657055957136932864?s=20 https://twitter.com/Spriter99880/status/1656380345808310273?s=20

For the time being, its not clear whether the dramatic photos that appeared in the last 24 hours really do show the combat debut of Davids Sling or the well-established Iron Dome. However, the announcement from Rafael does at least demonstrate how Israel is continuing to expand its multi-layered capabilities to defeat a range of threats, from the highest-technology weapons all the way down to the fairly primitive unguided rockets that are currently the focus of its energies in the battle with militants in Gaza.

Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com
By Aditya Kalra

NEW DELHI (Reuters) -India's competition watchdog has begun an inquiry into Google after some companies alleged the service fee the U.S. firm charges for in-app payments breaches an earlier antitrust directive, a regulatory order seen by Reuters showed on Friday.

Tinder-owner Match Group and Indian startups have asked the watchdog to investigate Google's new User Choice Billing (UCB) system, which they alleged was anti-competitive.

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Friday issued an order stating "it is of the opinion that an inquiry needs to be made."

The order is not public and Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In October, the CCI imposed a $113 million fine on Google and said it must allow the use of third-party billing and stop forcing developers to use its in-app payment system that charges commission of 15%-30%.

Google later began offering UCB to allow alternative payments alongside Google's when purchasing in-app digital content, but some companies complained the new system still imposes a high "service fee" of 11%-26%.

This, Match and the Alliance of Digital India Foundation argued, meant Google had not complied with the earlier antitrust directive that ordered it not to impose any such "unfair and disproportionate" conditions.

In its order, the watchdog asked Google to explain certain provisions related to the in-app payment system before and after UCB and provide details of policies related to sharing of user and app developer data.

Google needs to respond in four weeks, the order said.

Google has previously said the service fee supports investments in the Google Play app store and the Android mobile operating system, ensuring it distributes it for free, and covers developer tools and analytic services.

The company, which counts India as a major growth market, faces other regulatory challenges, including a setback that forced it to change how it markets its Android system.

(Reporting by Aditya Kalra; Editing by Sharon Singleton and Mark Potter)
 Flash

Wang Yi (R), a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, meets with Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg in Vienna, Austria, May 11, 2023. [Photo/Xinhua]

China has always supported the European Union to play a more important role in international affairs, said Wang Yi, director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, in Vienna on Thursday.

No matter how the international situation evolves, China has always firmly supported European integration, the unity and growth of the EU, a more important role of the EU in global affairs, Wang made the remarks while meeting with Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg in Vienna.

China is willing to conduct dialogue and cooperation with the European side on the basis of mutual respect and mutual benefit, added Wang, who is also a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee.

Wang noted that China-Austria relations have maintained a sound development, and expressed the wish to deepen the friendly strategic partnership with Austria.

Austria is committed to developing good Austria-China relations on the basis of mutual respect and seeking common ground while reserving differences, said Schallenberg on his part. He noted that Austria does not advocate decoupling from China and would actively promote the healthy development of EU-China relations.

The two sides also exchanged views on the Asia-Pacific situation, the Ukrainian crisis and other issues of common concern.
India gold reserves



Mettle detector

$27.6 billion: Dividends paid out by India Inc in FY23

Corporate India showered its shareholders with generous returns in the 2023 financial year, Business Standard reported. The total equity dividend paid out by firms increased 38% year-on-year to a record high of $27.6 billion. A big boost came from the dividends paid by three major companies: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Hindustan Zinc, and Coal India, according to a Business Standard study of 557 listed companies. These 557 firms accounted for nearly half the market capitalization of listed companies in India.

795 tonnes: Indias gold reserves at a record high



The Reserve Bank of Indias gold reserves increased by 34 tonnes year-on-year to reach a record 795 tonnes at the end of March 2023, according to Business Standard. The share of gold in the value of Indias reserves had risen to 7.8% from 7% in September 2022.



Read more

3: Imported cheetahs dying in India in the past 40 days

India cheetah



A tragic end

A third African cheetah died in Kuno National Park in the state of Madhya Pradesh on May 9. Daksha, one of the 12 cheetahs brought from South Africa in February, died apparently due to a wound it suffered while mating. In April, a male cheetah died of cardiac failure, while in March, another female cheetah died reportedly of a kidney ailment. In total, including these three fatalities, 20 cheetahs have been imported from Africa over the past year to reintroduce the animal in India, where it went extinct seven decades ago.



46%: OPECs all-time-low share in Indias oil imports

Cheaper Russian oil has pushed the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) nations share in Indias imports to less than half. It hit an all-time low of 46% in April, down from 72% in April 2022. At one point, India was importing 90% of its oil from OPEC countries, according to a Mint report. Russias share in Indias oil imports has increased from less than 1% before the Ukraine invasion in February 2022 to 36%. In March 2023, India imported nearly 1.7 million barrels of oil per day from Russia, compared to 68,600 a year ago.

Story continues

$110 million: Travel agents funds stuck in GoFirst

The Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI), which has around 2,500 members, has approached the Indian government to help retrieve nearly $110 million stuck with GoFirst. The no-frills airline declared bankruptcy, triggering chaos in the Indian aviation market. TAAI has said that its members had paid the airline advances for future bookings. Indias companies tribunal has admitted GoFirsts insolvency plea and approved a moratorium against the repossession of the airlines aircraft by debtors.

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By Rajendra Jadhav

MUMBAI (Reuters) - India's palm oil imports in April slumped 30% from a month earlier to hit a 14-month low, as the premium over rival soft oils prompted buyers to shift to sunflower oil and soyoil, a trade body said on Friday.

The big drop in palm oil imports by India, the world's biggest importer of vegetable oils, could weigh on palm oil prices, which are trading near a seven-month low.

It will also likely make it difficult for top producer Indonesia to increase exports after easing restrictions imposed on the shipments earlier this year, traders said.

India's palm oil imports fell to 510,094 tonnes last month, from 728,530 tonnes in March, the Mumbai-based Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEA) said in a statement.

The average monthly imports in the first five months of the 2022/23 marketing year that started on Nov. 1 were 879,000 tonnes, according to the SEA.

Buyers in southern India were replacing palm oil with sunflower oil, which was trading at a steep discount to the tropical oil, said a New-Delhi-based dealer with a global trade house.

Sunoil usually commands a premium over palm oil and was trading at a premium of as high as $500 per tonne in 2022.

Sunoil imports in April surged 68% from a month ago to 249,122 00 tonnes, while soyoil imports edged up 1.4% to 262,455 tonnes, the dealer said.

"This trend will continue even in May. This month sunoil was trading at a discount of as high as $50 per tonne," he said.

India's total vegetable oil imports in April fell 10.4% to 1.05 million tonnes, the trade body said.

India, on Thursday, clarified that duty-free imports of soyoil and sunflower oil shipped before March 31 would be allowed until the end of June, after hundreds of thousands of cargoes were stuck at ports over confusion over import rules.

This will increase the availability of soyoil and sunoil in May and June and prompt buyers to curtail palm oil purchases, said a Mumbai-based trader.

India buys palm oil mainly from Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, while it imports soyoil and sunflower oil from Argentina, Brazil, Russia and Ukraine.

(Reporting by Rajendra Jadhav, Seher Dareen and Kavaya Guduru in Bengaluru; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Savio D'Souza)
(Reuters) - India is seeking to tax Netflix Inc's income earned from streaming services in the country, the Economic Times reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.

In a draft order, the tax authorities attributed an income of about 550 million rupees ($6.73 million) to Netflix's Indian permanent establishment (PE) in the assessment year 2021-22, the report added.

Tax officials reasoned that the U.S. firm had some employees and infrastructure from the parent entity on secondment in India to support its streaming services, leading to a PE and tax liability, the publication reported.

The move is the first time India will tax overseas digital companies providing electronic commerce services to consumers, the people told to ET.

Netflix did not respond to a Reuters' request for comment.

($1 = 81.7800 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Urvi Dugar in Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh Venkateshwaran)
(Reuters) - Indian metals-to-oil conglomerate Vedanta Ltd reported a 68% slump in fourth-quarter profit on Friday after revenue fell amid declining prices of metals.

Vedanta's consolidated net profit stood at 18.81 billion rupees ($230 million) for the quarter ended March 31, compared with 57.99 billion rupees a year earlier, the billionaire Anil Agarwal-led company said in an exchange filing.

Analysts had, on average, expected a profit of 28.91 billion rupees, according to Refinitiv IBES data.

The metals and mining major's quarterly revenue fell 5.4% to 372.25 billion rupees. The share of revenue from the mainstay aluminium business reduced to 33% from 39%.

Zinc and aluminium prices have plunged more than 40% from the record highs hit in March 2022.

Total expenses climbed 10.5% to 330.4 billion rupees from a year earlier, with finance costs jumping 35% and depreciation & amortization costs surging 16%.

The results come as Vedanta Group-owned Hindustan Zinc's proposal to buy certain zinc assets from Vedanta Ltd for $2.98 billion lapsed after failing to get shareholders' approval.

The company's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation slumped 32%.

Meanwhile, the losses due to a windfall tax on oil exports fell to 1.18 billion rupees from 3.33 billion rupees in the December quarter after the government reduced levies.

Total aluminium sales contracted 1.4%, but production remained flat.

Last month, Hindustan Zinc reported a fall in quarterly profit, hit by lower zinc and silver prices.

($1 = 81.7800 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Aleef Jahan in Bengaluru; Editing by Dhanya Ann Thoppil)
(courtesy photo)

Julie Buchholtz didnt plan for an internet search to change her life, but it did.

Buchholtz, a member of the Bay Mills Indian Tribe, dreamed of being a published author. She has always been a writer, at least to her children. When they were growing up, she would write them stories and enjoyed creating new adventures to take her children on.

Now, she has the opportunity to share her newest story, Who Am I? with a larger audience when her first childrens book releases this July.

Buchholtzs journey started in 2021 when she was playing with the idea of finding a publisher. She stumbled upon the Cherry Lake Publishing Groups Own Voice, Own Stories Award during her search and kept the opportunity in the back of her mind.

The award is held annually by the publishing groups imprint, Sleeping Bear Press, and is geared toward a childrens picture book written by a new author who comes from a historically marginalized group.

As she walked the beach of Lake Superior in Brimley, Michigan and worked on other tasks, she found herself thinking about the award and about her story.

I almost formulated this story just while I was doing other things and then I finally sat down about a month later and it just kind of came to me and at that point it was just kind of like, OK, its really important to showcase my Native heritage and theres not enough books featuring Native protagonists, Buchholtz said.

Julie Buchholtz

Julie Buchholtz. (courtesy photo)

So, Buchholtz started writing a story about the little brown-skinned girl and Big Mama. The book, Who Am I? takes readers on a journey as a mother explains to her daughter her identity and how that fits into the world around her.

My inspiration for my book is my background, my Native heritage, Buchholtz said. Its so important for all children to have representation in books and to see themselves in the characters and their culture.

Buchholtz is a former teacher and knows the importance of representation for young people. She said students are likely to be more engaged when the content relates to them and when they are engaged, they are more successful in learning.

Story continues

I just thought about it, that really, for Native children and minority students, they actually have a disadvantage in school in some ways when they cant relate to text used, she said. I think all children deserve to read books where they can identify with the main characters.

Buchholtz said it was also important for her characters to be Native Americans living in a modern world because many books reference Native Americans as people of the past, she said, adding that the people and culture are alive and well.

I want them to see themselves, today, in those characters, she said. A bit of the past and a bit of the present.

It took about two years and countless revisions to complete the book. It was a test of patience but also an exciting time for Buchholtz who didnt even think shed win the award. When she hit the submit button, she said she wasnt expecting to get anything back but a consolation email thanking her for applying.

When she got the email announcing she was the grand prize winner, she sat in disbelief, shaking. Her journey had led her to this opportunity and now it was a reality.

Buchholtz was raised by a single mother from Austria and grew up with strong European influences but as time goes on, shes found herself exploring and practicing her Native American culture more.

Im really interested now, Buchholtz said I know a lot about my European heritage but Im really tapping now into my Native roots and as I learn more, a lot of my beliefs really align with the Native culture. So its kind of a time of rediscovery for me.

I hope that Native children can really connect with the book because I think the whole story is written through the Native lens but I hope it applies to everyone, really to show that were all connected to one another."
When the master distiller of Jack Daniels strikes out on his own, expectations run high as a creek in spring.

Jeff Arnett, founder of Company Distilling, didnt want to put just anything in a bottle and sell it on his reputation. He thought everything through.

Where was the niche in the market? What could he do at Company that he couldnt do at Jack Daniels? A good product solves a problem, he said. What were the problems he could solve?

Arnett decided to celebrate trees.

Theres more biodiversity of trees in this state than in all of Europe, he said. I want to explore what Mother Nature has provided Tennessee thats unique.

Company Distilling master distiller Jeff Arnett takes the media on a tour on Monday, May 23, 2022, of a former brick factory in Alcoa that the distillery will eventually use to store barrels and have a tasting room, restaurant, retail store and outdoor entertainment space.

Arnett hired Jack Daniels colleague and microbiologist Kevin B. Smith, the smartest person in the industry people dont know. Smith is a fermentation nerd who cultivates yeast in his kitchen out back, where he also brews a light, sparkly kombucha.

Together, the men began mixing whiskey and wood, experimenting. You cant just do any wood with any liquid, Arnett said.

WHISKEY TRAIL

TRAVEL TIP #4

Study up before you go: Check out a directory of the distilleries at tnwhiskeytrail.com/distilleries. Make sure to visit each website and see what kind of arrangements you need to make before hitting the road. If you need to book tours in advance, for example, you'll want to know before you show up at the distillery's doorstep.

Their experience helped. At Jack Daniels, they learned that if you want whiskey to come in contact with maple, you have to load chips into the barrel  maple barrels leak. It would have been an expensive mistake for a startup.

Arnett envisioned three anchor offerings. A wheated Tennessee whiskey, to honor the state's heritage and provide that soft, sweet entry point. An unusually high rye, 95%. And the perfect in-between bourbon, solving the problem: If youre entertaining company at home and buying just one bottle, what will it be?

Then Smith and Arnett designed additional beverages, again solving problems.

Story continues

Past, present and future: Tennessee whiskey industry old and giant  but also new and fledgling

Smith brews beer  light ones, because the spirits are so strong and because the outdoorsy sorts who come by the Townsend distillery on the cusp of the Great Smoky Mountains want something refreshing. They designed flavored spirits and sell campfire cocktail setups, because Townsend has no liquor stores, but you can buy limeade at the supermarket.

Arnetts experience came into play in another crucial way: He planned for the long game.

The distribution. Company is expanding to new states slowly, trying not to outkick our coverage, Arnett said. Theyre building a large facility in Alcoa that can quadruple production  and distill enough to sell to other distillers, even. But for now, their bottles are just in three states, probably eight or nine by the end of this year.

Company Distilling's director of production processing Kevin Smith gives a tour of the production area of the distillery's Townsend location on Monday, May 23, 2022.

The hardware. Startups have a hard time getting enough barrels, and the barrel is all your color and over half of your flavor, Arnett said. He made a deal with Speyside Bourbon Cooperage, started by a former Jack Daniels cooper.

Most important, the liquid. Like most new whiskey distilleries, Company started out buying aged spirits to blend and manipulate while distilling and aging its own whiskey.

Arnett watched as some other Tennessee distillers started with old George Dickel barrels. I knew once that pile of barrels was gone, it was gone, he said. He didnt want to run out. Furthermore, he wanted the liquid he bought to be as close as possible to the whiskey he was making, particularly in its grain content, so the transition would be relatively seamless.

Arnett and Smith envisioned a four-grain bourbon: 65% corn, 25% wheat, 5% rye, 5% malted barley. Theres none of that in the sourcing market, Arnett said. I basically built a composite, buying three different bourbons from three different states and trying to make a fourth whiskey that improved on them all.

The three core whiskeys are indeed distinctive. The rye is grassy and raspy, a rye lovers drink. The bourbon is complex. The Tennessee whiskey is finished with applewood.

Shame on me if I couldnt think of something unique to do, Arnett said.

Danielle Dreilinger is an American South storytelling reporter and the author of the book The Secret History of Home Economics. You can reach her at ddreilinger@gannett.com or 919/236-3141.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Company Distilling: Tennessee whiskey under Great Smoky Mountains
Law enforcement officers in Central Jersey were disciplined in 2022 for offenses ranging from sleeping on the job and insubordination to drunken driving arrests and allowing an inmate to escape from the hospital.

The New Jersey Office of the Attorney General has released its report on the number of major disciplines reported by law enforcement departments statewide.

The report includes disciplinary actions from state, county and local agencies between June 2020 and December 2022.

In that 18-month period, there were 1,014 total major disciplines reported to the Attorney General's Office, with 877 different officers receiving discipline. A total of 531 agencies submitted their reports, with 232 different agencies reporting at least one major discipline.

Statewide the report found that 212 officers were terminated, 818 were suspended and 32 demoted. Some officers received multiple types of discipline. The average length of suspension was nearly 38 days.

More: Attorney General publishes list of police misconduct five months past due date

In 2022, more officers were issued a major discipline than the previous year, though 2020 data does not account for the entire year. In 2022, 301 officers were suspended and 69 were terminated, compared to 278 and 62 in 2021.

How many police officers in Central Jersey were disciplined?

In Central Jersey, there were 67 officers who faced major disciplinary action, including 10 corrections officers at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility in Hunterdon County.

Which agencies reported disciplinary actions?

Hunterdon County: Raritan Township;

Middlesex County: Edison, Highland Park, Middlesex Borough, Middlesex County Corrections, Middlesex County Sheriffs, Monroe, New Brunswick, Perth Amboy, South Plainfield, South River, Woodbridge;

Somerset County: Franklin, North Plainfield, Raritan Borough, South Bound Brook;

Union County: Elizabeth, Hillside, Kean University Police, Linden, Plainfield, Rahway, Union County Police, Union County Prosecutor's, Union County Sheriff's;

State agencies: Adult Diagnostic and Treatment Center, Edna Mahan Correctional Facility.

Story continues

More: Branchburg honors police for 'unseen' acts of professionalism, dedication

Notable cases

Middlesex County Sheriff's Officers Elena Rivera and Raymond Smith were each suspended 15 days for allowing an inmate to escape from a hospital on April 1, 2022. The officers failed to check the inmate's shackles as required, failed to position themselves to prevent an escape and failed to immediately notify a supervisor. In addition, the inmate was able to gain access to an officer's cellphone which was used in the escape.

South River Lt. John McKenna was suspended 20 days for failing to stop horseplay between members of the department's Detective Bureau and failed to stop inappropriate text messages among members of the unit.

Raritan Police Officer Damien Chromowsky was suspended 120 days for an off-duty road rage incident in which he pointed his gun at a driver who improperly passed him in his personal vehicle on a road with a double yellow line and spoke to the driver using profanity and abusive language.

Woodbridge Officer Joe Jones was suspended 45 days for head-butting another officer in an off-duty incident.

North Plainfield Patrolman Sabrina Romasz was suspended for 20 days for failing to activate her body camera when dispatched to a call.

South Bound Brook Officer Paul Romano was terminated after a 110-day suspension for unnecessarily taking his duty weapon out of its holster under circumstances that created a risk of serious harm to others.

Linden Officer David Guzman was suspended six days for violating the department's vehicular pursuit policy by being involved in a 24-minute chase through several jurisdictions, including Elizabeth, Newark and Staten Island. An investigation found Guzman followed the suspect vehicle through several one-way streets in the opposite flow of traffic and failed to notify his supervisor.

Plainfield Detective Chanel Johnson was suspended 125 days for being charged with an assault on a police officer responding to a disturbance at a party in Hillside.

Rahway Officer Thomas Koszalka was suspended 15 days for using a vape device in a patrol vehicle with a member of the public in a backseat, using harsh and profane language with a member of the public and failing to perform his duties in a domestic violence investigation.

Union County Sheriffs Officer Kevin O'Connor was terminated for being involved in an off-duty fight in Atlantic City where he used racially charged language. He also tested positive for a prohibited substance.

Edna Mahan Corrections Officers Justin Gentile, Adalberto Duarte, Melanie Cuenca, Michael Horton, Paul Jankin Dariusz Subiszak, Jamie Perez, Jamie Perez, Peter Korczak each were suspended 10 days for sleeping on duty.

Edison Officer Mohammad Ghafoor was suspended 90 days for driving while intoxicated while off-duty.

Middlesex County Sheriffs Officer Joshua Padilla was terminated after he was charged with producing and distributing child pornography. Padilla had sex with a minor in Pennsylvania, recorded it, then posted it on a website.

Hillside Officer Shakeema Wilson was terminated after being charged with stealing PBA funds. Wilson was admitted into a pre-trial intervention program and forfeited public employment.

Contributing: NorthJersey.com reporter Liam Quinn

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: NJ police misconduct report released by Attorney General
This Guy!

During what would have otherwise been a normal kayaking trip, podcaster and hobby botanist Joey Santore spotted something incredible on the Chicago River  an absolutely massive snapping turtle enjoying the day.

Last week, Santore posted a video to Twitter of the "Chicago River Snapper aka Chonkasaurus," providing a running commentary of the encounter as he filmed.

"Look at this guy!" Santore exclaimed. "Look at the size of that fucking thing!"

The podcaster told local news radio station WBBM that he thinks the specimen weighs at least 60 pounds.

"Hey, how ya doing guy?" Santore continued in his thick Chicago accent. "You look good."

https://twitter.com/JoeySantore/status/1654856551159455744

Carry On

In an interview with local TV station WGN-TV, Santore conceded that the giant turtle was likely not a "guy" at all, but was more likely a pregnant female.

"In a way, it was posed so eloquently with the rusty chains," he told the broadcaster. "It was like an art piece."

The uniqueness and beauty of the situation were not lost on Chris Anchor, a wildlife biologist with Cook County's Forest Preserve District who told the Associated Press that it's rare to see a snapping turtle out in the open like that, especially considering its size.

"My guess is that this animal had crawled out of the river to try and gather as much heat as it could in the sunshine," Anchor said, estimating it to be around 40 or 50 years old.

However, as cool as the sighting was, the wildlife specialist warned not to get too close to a snapping turtle like "Chonkasaurus."

"Turtles this big will consume anything they can get their mouth around," Anchor said. "Enjoy it. Leave it alone."

More on animals: Strange Creature Appears at Historic Rocket Launch
Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Reuters/Getty

While everyone was focused on the E. Jean Carroll verdict, George Santos indictment, and CNNs town hall with Donald Trump this week, allegations that the Biden family profited from their politically powerful patriarch (to the tune of millions of dollars) drew comparatively little attention.

We have long known that Hunter Biden, as well as Joes brothers (Frank and James), cashed in on their famous father and brother.

But a report released on Wednesday by House Oversight Chair James Comer ups the ante because it indicates that 1) the scope of family who profited is larger (including even Hallie Biden, Beau Bidens widow, who was also linked to Hunter Biden), 2) the money came from foreign entities (including Chinese nationals and Romanian businessmen), and 3) some of the payments occurred while Joe Biden was serving as vice president.

You Might Not Like It, but Hunter Bidens Shenanigans Are Real News

These foreign sources, in some cases, appear to have laundered money through Biden associates, who then transferred a portion of that money into the accounts of Biden family members.

Sadly, familial payoffs are all too common and typically legal, as detailed in my forthcoming book, Filthy Rich Politicians. Often, it happens in a somewhat anodyne form. We find that one really effective way for a corporation to do influence peddling without actually bribing a member of Congress is [to] hire the spouse, Craig Holman, government affairs lobbyist for the consumer advocacy organization Public Citizen, told CBS News way back in 2012.

Amazingly, theres nothing unprecedented about foreign governments attempting to play this same game at the highest levels. As Mother Jones David Corn notes, in 1980, President Jimmy Carters brother Billy accepted $220,000 from the Libyans to develop what he called a propaganda campaign to promote the foreign policy objectives of dictator Moammar Qaddafi.

Despite the ubiquity of this corruption, you might think that such charges would arouse the interest of my fellow journalistsparticularly considering these allegations involve the sitting president of the United States.

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And mostly, youd be wrong.

Americas Tragedy Is Its Culture of FearArmed With Millions of Guns

Take, for example, the paper of record: The New York Times. The Gray Ladys reflexive take seems to be that theres no there there. At least, thats my interpretation of their headline, House Republican Report Finds No Evidence of Wrongdoing by President Biden, and sub-headline: After months of investigation and many public accusations of corruption against Mr. Biden and his family, the first report of the premier House GOP inquiry showed no proof of such misconduct.

Obviously, the yet-unknown question is whether Joe Biden, a.k.a. the Big Guy, ever actually used his position as vice president to repay the favors.

Choosing to focus on that, rather than the very sketchy circumstantial evidence, is a form of bias. I mean, its hard to imagine the Times headlining an article about Jared Kushners $2 billion Saudi deal with the words, No Evidence of Wrongdoing by Trump.

Unless your assumption is that Republicans made the whole thing up, there are a couple of legitimate questions that deserve some answers: Why would foreign entities give millions to Biden family members and get nothing in return (as Florida Rep. Byron Donalds pointed out during Wednesdays press conference, its not like the Biden family has a business that might explain transactions)? And why would Biden family members seemingly go to such great lengths to create shell companies to confuse anyone attempting to trace the money?

White House Goes on Offense Against GOPs Biden Attack Dog

Comer says hes still in the beginning stages of an investigation, and this also seems reasonable. For example, Republicans are currently trying to subpoena an FBI document from a whistleblower who they believe will corroborate their case.

At the very least, my curiosity is piqued. The Wall Street Journal might have put it best on Wednesday, when it editorialized, There may not be a smoking gun, but theres plenty of suspicious smoke worth investigating.

So, is it wrong for media figures to be open to the possibility that Republican investigations might demonstrate that theres a there there?

For many people, the answer is a resounding YES!

The notion is that by even entertaining such allegations we are engaging in a sort of both-siderism. Bad actors inject incomplete information into the bloodstream so people can legitimately speculate on what it might mean, liberal columnist Bill Scher warned me this week. In other words, dont fall for innuendo, wait for the facts.

While few journalists will come right out and say this, they dont have to; the tone of their coverage reflects their confidence that this is yet another GOP scam. The assumption is that Donald Trump and his minions are an existential threat to liberal democracy, and that they lie and engage in misinformation to distract our attention from their abuses.

Fact check: This is mostly true. Republicans have done little to engender the publics trust. They are often full of shit. Theres also a sense that, whatever the Bidens are guilty of, the Trumps are guilty of something worse. This also rings true.

But in the past, these same assumptions have caused otherwise serious and smart journalists and outlets to make embarrassing mistakesto get out over their skis hypothesizing that Donald Trump was a Russian asset.

The Right Way and the Wrong Way to Cover Hunter Biden

Many good journalists assumed (based on the word of experts) that the Hunter Biden laptop story was part of a Russian disinformation campaign. And this same bias led many to dismiss the possibility that the COVID-19 virus came from a Wuhan lab leak (The New York Times headline still reads, Senator Tom Cotton Repeats Fringe Theory of Coronavirus Origins.)

You would think that, by now, the mainstream media would have a little more humility. When we blow stories by following our priors, it further erodes our credibility and reinforces the sense that we traffic fake news propaganda. At some point, its hard to blame conservative readers and viewers for taking their business elsewhere.

It is the responsibility of the media to follow the facts wherever they may lead. Journalists are supposed to be both skeptical (If your mother tells you she loves you, check it out) and curious.

With apologies to Ronald Reagan, my advice to my colleagues in the media is this: Distrust, but verify.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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A Pierce County team that investigates police uses of deadly force identified three Sheriffs Department deputies Friday who were involved in the fatal shooting of a man who reportedly threatened to shoot up his former employers place of business.

Deputies shot the man, 25-year-old Branden Vorak, in a confrontation near Parkland. Investigators have previously said Vorak was fired from his job at a bar March 23, then returned the next day and made the threats. Deputies were dispatched to the business, but the man left before they arrived. He was spotted less than an hour later on train tracks, and he reportedly pulled the pin on a grenade and produced a handgun before he was shot.

Those involved were deputies Chad Chapman, 29; Courtney Quandt, 38 and Derek Wetlaufer, 52, according to the Pierce County Force Investigation Team. A spokesperson for the team could not confirm how many of those involved actually fired gunshots at Vorak.

Chapman has been with the Sheriffs Department for five-and-a-half years, investigators said. Quandt has worked for the department for three months and previously spent more than 10 years with the Port of Seattle Police Department. Wetlaufer has been a Pierce County deputy for nearly five years.

All were placed on administrative leave shortly after the shooting, PCFIT spokesperson Sgt. Charles Porche said.

Investigators said Vorak was walking away from deputies when he was first seen. According to previous reporting from The News Tribune, dispatch recordings indicated he was seen on train tracks near 99th Street East and Portland Avenue, and he was walking home. PCFIT said deputies had established probable cause to arrest him for felony harassment/threats. Deputies followed him nearly a mile south on the tracks until he was shot near the 1800 block of 112th Street East, just south of state Route 512.

Vorak does not appear to have any prior felony criminal history in Pierce County, according to court records. Snohomish County court records show an anti-harassment protection order was filed against him there in February 2016.

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Deputies reportedly used less lethal projectiles to try to stop Vorak, but they werent successful. Investigators said the shooting occurred once he pulled out a handgun. Vorak was pronounced dead at the scene, and the Pierce County medical examiner later found he died of multiple gunshot wounds.

Investigators havent provided any substantial information about the hand grenade Vorak was holding. Its unclear what kind of grenade it was or if it was functioning. Sgt. Porche said in a previous phone call with the newspaper that just because Vorak pulled the pin does not necessarily mean it would have gone off. He said a grenade typically has a safety handle  also called a spoon  that must be released for the device to detonate.

An explosives response team was called to the scene after the shooting, and investigators said they rendered the grenade safe.
Bernard Phelan (left) and Benjamin Briere had both been held in the northeastern city of Mashhad

Iran on Friday released two French citizens, including one also holding Irish nationality, as Paris urged Tehran to free other foreigners jailed by the Islamic republic.

French-Irish citizen Bernard Phelan, held since October, and Frenchman Benjamin Briere, whose ordeal in Iran lasted two years, were freed from their prison in the northeastern city of Mashhad, the French foreign ministry said.

They rapidly boarded a special flight to Paris and landed at the capital's Le Bourget airport -- no longer used for commercial flights -- in the evening, according to AFP TV images.

There had been grave concerns about the health of both men, both of whom had been on hunger strikes to protest their conditions.

President Emmanuel Macron said on Twitter: "Free, finally. Benjamin Briere and Bernard Phelan can reunite with their loved ones. It's a relief".

Benjamin Briere's sister Blandine Briere, who has led the campaign for his release, told AFP: "We are avoiding a tragedy. I have no words to describe the joy we feel."

"We cannot tell you how relieved we are," added Phelan's sister Caroline in a statement.

Neither man was expected to speak in public for some time and both families requested privacy.

The pair were among some two dozen foreigners jailed in Iran who campaigners see as hostages held in a deliberate strategy by Tehran to extract concessions from the West.

- 'Difficult ordeal' -

Phelan, 64, a Paris-based travel consultant, was arrested in October in Mashhad and has been held ever since.

In April, he was jailed for six and a half years on national security charges strongly rejected by his family.

With Iran rocked by anti-regime protests since September, Phelan was accused of taking photos of a burned mosque and police officers, and sending images to a British newspaper, the family said.

Phelan went on a dry hunger strike in January to protest his detention, refusing both food and water. But he stopped the action at the request of his family, who feared he would die. They said his health had deteriorated considerably in detention.

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"The last seven months have been a very difficult ordeal for Bernard and for his family and I am pleased and relieved that this is now at an end," said Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin.

Briere, 37, was first detained while travelling in Iran in May 2020 and later sentenced to eight years in prison for espionage.

Although acquitted by an appeals court, he remained in prison in a situation described as "incomprehensible" by his family.

Held like Phelan in the prison of Vakilabad in Mashhad, Briere also went on hunger strikes to protest his conditions.

Briere's France-based lawyer Philippe Valent said he had started his latest hunger strike on January 28.

"This release had to happen before there was a catastrophe. There was a real risk to his life," he told AFP.

- 'Regain full freedom' -

Four more French citizens, described previously as "hostages" by the French foreign ministry, are still in prison by Iran.

Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said she had spoken earlier Friday to her Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir Abdollahian and made clear "France's determination to ensure that the other French citizens still detained in Iran also rapidly regain their full freedom".

Iran's foreign ministry described the release of Briere and Phelan as a "humanitarian action".

Macron added: "We will continue to work for the return of our compatriots still detained in Iran."

Cecile Kohler, a teacher, and her partner Jacques Paris were arrested in May last year and remain in prison accused of espionage charges their family deny.

Louis Arnaud, described by his family as an innocent traveller, was arrested in September. Another French citizen is confirmed to be held by Paris but has never been named.

French-Iranian academic Fariba Adelkhah was released from prison in February but appears still unable to leave the country.

Several US, German, British, Swedish and other European citizens, such as Belgian aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele arrested in February 2022, also remain detained.

Colonna told a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Stockholm that Europe would work for the release of "all Europeans, too many unfortunately, detained without reason in Iran".

- Increased tensions -

The holding of foreigners by Tehran has increased tensions with the West at a time when the Islamic republic is also under scrutiny for its crackdown on the protest movement that erupted in September.

Talks between Iran and the West on reviving the 2015 deal on its nuclear programme are frozen.

Activists are also alarmed by a surge in the number of executions by Iran. On Saturday, Tehran hanged Swedish-Iranian dissident Habib Chaab on terrorism charges.

German citizen Jamshid Sharmahd and Iranian-Swedish national Ahmadreza Djalali also face execution after being sentenced to death in trials denounced as a sham by their families.

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AFP

Israeli air strikes battered Gaza and militants fired rockets again on Saturday as deadly fighting resumed after a night of relative calm, despite efforts to secure a truce.A new ceasefire proposal was circulated late Friday by Egypt, which has been mediating between the two sides, after a previous bid fell through, a Palestinian source said.But the move did little to quell the fighting, and on Saturday morning witnesses in Gaza reported that air strikes pounded uninhabited areas of the crowded enclave, while air raid sirens wailed in neighbouring parts of Israel.The exchange of fire came after the Palestinian health ministry reported the death of two men aged 19 and 32 in an Israeli army raid on a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus.The Israeli army said it was a "counterterrorism" operation targeting operatives who had been planning attacks on soldiers."Armed gunmen fired at the forces, who responded with riot dispersal means and live fire," it said. "Two of the terrorists were targeted."The Fatah movement of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said the two men killed in the raid were members of its armed wing, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.The current bout of violence erupted on Tuesday when Israeli air strikes on Gaza killed three leading Islamic Jihad members. Three other senior figures from the Palestinian militant group were killed in later strikes.They are among at least 33 Palestinians killed in the fighting, according to Gaza's health ministry, including children.A rocket killed an elderly woman in the central Israeli city of Rehovot, rescue services said.- New ceasefire formula -Egypt, a historic mediator between Israel and Gaza's factions, has been working on bringing and end to the fighting, the worst in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since an August flare-up that killed nearly 50 Palestinians.A Palestinian source on Friday said Gaza factions were studying Cairo's new ceasefire formula, adding that Egypt was also waiting for Israel's response.Israeli public television meanwhile said an "improved" Egyptian ceasefire proposal had been handed to Israel.Earlier, there had been cautious optimism that a truce may be nearing, with an Islamic Jihad source saying a deal drawn up by Cairo had been circulated among the group's leadership.But the source subsequently said Israel was "disrupting Egypt's efforts for a ceasefire".The United States, which along with the European Union has blacklisted Islamic Jihad and Hamas as terrorist groups, urged steps be "taken to ensure that violence is reduced".US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, in a call to Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer, "stressed the urgency of reaching a ceasefire agreement in order to prevent any further loss of civilian life", the State Department said.An Islamic Jihad source said Mohammad al-Hindi, who heads the group's political bureau, arrived in Cairo on Thursday for talks with Egyptian intelligence officials.He told AFP the group had been seeking "an honourable agreement that reflects the interests of the Palestinian people and the resistance".- 'Honourable agreement' -Morocco, which normalised relations with Israel in 2020, said it "firmly condemns recent Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip, which have left numerous casualties among innocent civilians", a foreign ministry source said.According to the Israeli army, in the latest flare-up more than 1,000 rockets have been fired from Gaza towards Israeli territory, including 300 that were intercepted by the Iron Dome defence system.Israelis living in areas bordering the Palestinian territory have been told to stay close to bomb shelters.Gaza, a coastal enclave with a population of about 2.3 Palestinians, has been plagued by poverty and unemployment since a blockade imposed by Israel in 2007 when the Islamist movement Hamas took over.The territory has since been the site of numerous wars between militant groups and Israel, including the fighting in August in which 19 children were among the 49 killed, according to the United Nations.Islamic Jihad fired over 1,000 rockets at Israel at the time, injuring three people.The conflict has escalated since veteran leader Benjamin Netanyahu returned to power late last year, heading a coalition with extreme right and ultra-Orthodox parties.Israel has also been shaken by its biggest domestic political crisis in decades, as mass protests have flared against plans to reform the justice system that have been spearheaded by Netanyahu, who is also battling corruption charges in court.bur/mj/alv/jsa/dv
In this artist depiction, Massachusetts Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira, center, is seated as defense attorney Brendan Kelley stands and speaks, at right, and his father, Jack Michael Teixeira, is seated in the witness stand, during a detention hearing in federal court on April 27 in Worcester.

WORCESTER The continuation of detention hearing for accused military leaker Jack Teixeira is set for 3:30 p.m. Friday in U.S. District Court in Worcester.

The hearing has been scheduled several times, including twice on May 12.

U.S. Magistrate Judge David H. Hennessy will listen to arguments in Teixeiras potential release pending trial.

The 21-year-old Massachusetts Air National Guardsman is accused of posting top-secret government data to friends on a Discord social media forum.

In arguments in Worcester April 27, federal prosecutors argued he should be kept in custody before trial, while his lawyers argued he ought to be released to the supervision of his father. Hennessy took the argument under advisement.

The case had been slated to be heard this past Thursday but was delayed until Friday. It is being heard in Worcester because the judge assigned to the case, Hennessy, is typically assigned to the federal courthouse in the city.

Prosecutors have painted Teixeira as a dangerous, self-centered and disloyal person with a fixation on mass murder. A court filing by prosecutors argued that Teixeira has a history of violent and racist statements, and that he could be vulnerable to foreign influence.

Teixeira's three court-appointed public defenders argued he had never taken steps to actually harm anyone and that the government does not have proof Teixeira intended to share the top-secret documents outside of his private Discord forum.

The defense argued for Teixeira to be released to the custody of his father, Jack Teixeira Sr., who testified April 27 that he would report any violations of probation by his son to the government.

The defense noted that the U.S. Probation Department recommended Teixeira be released to Teixeira Sr., who is a former Massachusetts corrections officer.

If convicted, Teixeira could face up to 25 years in prison on charges of violating the Espionage Act and an act prohibiting unauthorized removal of classified documents.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Jack Teixeira due in federal court in Worcester Friday
James Ray III was found guilty on all counts on Friday in the murder of his girlfriend Angela Bledsoe at their Upper Montclair home in 2018.

The jury, consisting of 11 men and four women, returned the verdict after just a few hours of deliberation, despite a mountain of evidence from numerous experts and thousands of text messages generated during the six-week trial.

Ray will be sentenced on June 22.

Earlier in the day, Michelle Miller, attorney for the prosecution, completed her closing arguments, which began Thursday morning. On Wednesday, defense attorney Brooke Barnett made her case that Ray shot Bledsoe in self-defense when she picked up a gun and pointed it at him in the home they shared at 304 North Mountain Ave.

Crime scene 'staged'

Miller showed jurors photos of Bledsoes bloody hands and then photos of the gun Ray says she pointed at him in their home, causing him to shoot her to death.

The only blood on the gun was where it had touched the pool of blood it was sitting in, proving it had been placed there by Ray after the shooting and had never been in Bledsoes hands, Miller said.

In the kitchen, where Bledsoe was found face up on the floor by Montclair police early on Oct. 23, 2018, there was blood all over the place, Miller said. Bledsoe had been shot in the chest in the living room, then staggered to the kitchen, bleeding profusely, where Ray then shot her in the back and face.

If that gun had been in Angelas hand there would have been blood all over it, too," she said. That gun was placed there, it wasnt dropped, kicked or slid."

Assistant Essex County Prosecutor Michele Miller delivers her opening statement on the first day of the James Ray III murder trial in Judge Verna Leath's courtroom in Newark on Wednesday, March 29, 2023. Ray is charged with murdering his girlfriend, Angela Bledsoe, in the Montclair home they shared in 2018.

In her closing, Miller pieced together a harrowing picture of Bledsoes last moments, one that she said didn't jibe with Rays written accounts of what happened.

Ray had ample time to control the crime scene. Bledsoe was killed shortly before her 11:30 a.m. meeting with a Montclair real estate agent about a house she was looking to buy on Cloverhill Place. It wasnt until 4:30 p.m. that Ray left the house to pick up the couples 6-year-old daughter from her private immersion school.

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While the gun was not covered in blood, Bledsoes cellphone was. It had also been staged," Miller said  placed on a stool in a prominent position by Ray in the hope the text messages between she and her lover, Bakari Burns, would be discovered. Like the phone, the stool, which had no blood on it but was sitting over a pool of blood, had clearly been moved there after the bloodletting event.

In addition, three spent shell casings were found in the gun cases on the living room coffee table. More than one expert testified that the crime scene didnt make sense, Miller said.

Bullet trajectories tell a tale

Expert testimony on the blood patterns on Bledsoes pants and the steeply downward trajectories of the bullets that hit her in the kitchen show that Ray didnt shoot her from a distance, after she again pointed the gun at him from where she was sitting on the floor, like he wrote. Instead, the "wound paths" show he shot her in the back as she was crawling on her hands and knees and then in the face as he stood over her, Miller said. The wound path of her first shot to the chest, which was to the left, also contradicts his writings, in which he said he shot her from the right.

James Ray III takes notes on the first day of his murder trial in Judge Verna Leath's courtroom in Newark on Wednesday, March 29, 2023. Ray is charged with murdering his girlfriend, Angela Bledsoe, in the Montclair home they shared in 2018.

There is also ample evidence that Ray planned Bledsoes killing, making it knowing and purposeful and fitting the legal definition of murder, Miller said.

She cited a timeline which began with Rays internet searches in September for GPS trackers and spy cameras that could be hidden in clock radios, fans and air fresheners. Ten days before her killing, Ray got Bledsoes phone password and took screenshots of her texts about her relationship with Burns, then threatened him and Bledsoe. Two days before, he texted his ex-wife Cheryl, acknowledging his mistake in divorcing her for Bledsoe, and asked if they could meet. Angela wasnt going to be in his life much longer, Miller said. He was already working on a rebound."

The day before her killing, Ray texted Bledsoe 100 different Bible verses about how a woman should submit to her husband, she said.

Flight to obscurity

Miller also countered the defenses argument that, though Ray had fled the scene of the crime, he intended to return. She cited his handwritten journal, where he referred to hitchhiking on tractor-trailers to Texas and flying from Mexico to Cuba, as a journey to his destination of obscurity. Cuba, a country with a history of non-extradition, was chosen for that reason, she said. In addition, Ray had written his will, given his brother Robert a check for $11,000. for his daughters care and asked his brother to fight for custody of his niece.

Does that sound like a man whos coming back? Miller asked.

Jurors also listened again to a phone call Ray made to a friend while driving to pick up his daughter after the killing. Although Ray hadnt told her what had just transpired, he said things like, Sometimes you have to protect people in a way thats unconventional  even a little crazy; Sometimes kids who grow up without two parents are better off; and, If anything ever happened, it would be that Im protecting [my daughter] from her mother. These comments, Miller said, show that the killing had been purposeful.

Angela Bledsoe at her high school reunion in 2017 in Suitland, Maryland.

Miller pointed out that during the call Ray referred to Bledsoe as a dumbass three times, indicating his disdain for her. In her closing, Barnett said Bledsoe felt disdain toward Ray. Miller cited Bledsoes texts to her sister Lisa LaBoo the day before her death, in which she said shed been struggling with her decision to move out of the house with her daughter. I feel sorry for him; I find it hard to tell him I dont love him.

Does that sound like disdain? Miller asked the jury, Is that hatred? It sounds to to me like empathy."

Repeatedly throughout her summation, Miller asked jurors to use their common sense.

She asked them if it made sense that a working attorney would decide he needed to clean his guns on a Monday morning, and if it made sense that a man who acted in self-defense would tamper with the crime scene and flee to Cuba.

She asked them to consider that the defendants story is consistently inconsistent with the physical evidence of the crime scene."

These are not the actions of a man who acted in self-defense, she said.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: James Ray found guilty in murder of Angela Bledsoe in Montclair
Jamie Foxx is up and at em, according to his daughter.

On May 12, the Day Shift actors 29-year-old daughter Corinne Foxx took to her Instagram stories to contradict media claims that her fathers health had further declined.

In April, a representative for the 55-year-old actor confirmed to NBC News that the actor had been hospitalized after his condition became "serious."

Jaime Foxx (@corinnefoxx via Instagram)

On Instagram Friday, Corinne Foxx shared that her father is now recuperating.

Update from the family: Sad to see how the media runs wild, she wrote in the post featuring a tabloid headline that read Jamie Foxxs Loves Ones Reportedly Preparing For The Worst.

"My Dad has been out of the hospital for weeks recuperating. she continued. "In fact, he was playing pickleball yesterday! Thanks for everyones prayers and support!"

Concluding the post, Corinne Foxx informed fans they could look forward to an exciting work announcement coming next week too.

Earlier this month, on May 3, Deadline confirmed that the actors health would affect his role as host on the Fox television musical game show Beat Shazam.

In a statement, Fox confirmed that Nick Cannon would temporarily step in for Jamie Foxx while Kelly Osbourne would, for the moment, replace Corinne Foxx, who was the DJ on the show. Jamie Foxx served as host for the series first five seasons. Corinne Foxx joined the shows second season as a DJ.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
Javier Bardem is the first Spanish actor to win an Oscar

Movie star Javier Bardem will receive a lifetime achievement award at Spain's San Sebastian film festival, organisers said Friday.

The 54-year-old, the first Spanish actor to win an Oscar, will collect the Donostia award at the opening gala on September 22, a statement said.

His image will also feature on the poster of this years festival.

The organisers praised Bardem for his "ability to slip into another's skin as he morphs into his characters", and a career that has gone from "strength to strength".

Bardem won the best supporting actor award in 2008 for his chilling portrait of a psychopathic killer with a strange haircut in "No Country For Old Men".

He also protrayed gay Cuban poet Reinaldo Arenas in the 2000 biopic "Before Night Falls", and played the villain in the 2012 James Bond movie "Skyfall".

Past recipients of the Donostia award -- the festival's highest honour -- include Meryl Streep, Richard Gere and Robert De Niro.

The festival was originally intended to honour Spanish language films but has established itself as one of the world's top movie festivals.

It hosted the world premiere of Alfred Hitchcock's spy thriller North by Northwest in 1959 and Woody Allen's Melinda and Melinda in 2004.

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The Bear star Jeremy Allen White and actor Addison Timlin are splitting up.

Timlin, who starred in Little Sister and That Awkward Moment and appeared in Californication, filed to dissolve their three-year marriage Thursday, according to legal documents obtained by The Times. The two tied the knot in a Beverly Hills courthouse in October 2019, with besties Dakota Johnson and Chris Martin as their witnesses.

The two have been close since they were teenagers and Timlin revealed in a January Instagram tribute that she had seen White perform for the first time in a drama class when they were 14 years old.

Jeremy Allen White and Addison Timlin are divorcing. (Lisa O'Connor / Invision / Associated Press)

I couldnt take my eyes off you, she wrote. When I watched the pilot for The Bear, I cried my f heart out. I think somewhere I mustve known how much life was about to change, but mostly I just knew that the world was about to discover what Ive known all along.

White was well-known for his role as Lip, the tortured genius living in South Side Chicago in Showtimes Shameless, but it was his role as Carmy, the bad boy chef in FXs 2022 hit The Bear, that put him on the map, earned him a Golden Globe and had thirsty audiences exclaiming Yes, Chef! all summer.

When accepting the award for musical or comedy TV actor at the Golden Globes earlier this year, White thanked Tomlin, saying, "I love you deep in my bones, thank you for all that you do, thank you for everything that you've done."

White told People last year that his wife didnt pay much attention to his heartthrob status. I have a pretty healthy distance from it all," he said. "And my wife does as well. So, I think that's a good thing."

It would seem things have changed quite drastically since the two shared loving tributes to each other earlier this year, and White may need to visit a tattoo-removal specialist, as he has the couples nicknames for one another  Billie + Buddy  inked onto his arm in the center of a heart.

The documents obtained by The Times do not disclose whether there will be an issue with custody of their two daughters, Ezer, born in 2018, and Dolores, born in 2020.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
A mayor in New Jersey has been subpoenaed as part of a criminal investigation into Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), NBC News reported Thursday.

Nicholas Sacco, the longtime Democratic mayor of North Bergen, reportedly received a federal grand jury subpoena Wednesday. He was reelected Tuesday to a ninth term as mayor.

While Menendez has been under investigation over a New Jersey meat companys exclusive contract with the government of Egypt to certify halal exports, the newest subpoenas were reportedly unrelated to those allegations.

Rather, they sought information about legislative changes in New Jersey, sources told NBC News.

As they always have, Mayor Sacco and the Township of North Bergen will comply with any inquiry they receive from law enforcement and will cooperate fully, a North Bergen spokesperson said in a statement to NBC News.

Menendezs office confirmed in October that he was under investigation but said the senator did not know the scope of the probe.

As always, should any official inquiries be made, the Senator is available to provide any assistance that is requested of him or his office, Menendezs spokesperson said in a statement at the time.

The Hill has reached out to Menendezs office for comment.

The New Jersey Democrat was previously indicted on federal corruptions charges for allegedly helping a wealthy Florida eye doctor secure government contracts in exchange for gifts. The case ended in a mistrial in 2017.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Kaliningrad

Conservative members of the Lithuanian parliament Vilius Semeska and Paule Kuzmickiene have appealed to the State Commission for the Lithuanian Language to rename Russia's Kaliningrad Oblast and the city of Kaliningrad. They propose to change those names to Karaliauciaus.

Read also: Lithuanian political party proposes criminal responsibility for justifying Russian aggression

The MPs stressed that the current name reflects a Russian narrative: the city was named in honor of the Bolshevik revolutionary Mikhail Kalinin after the Soviet occupation of Eastern Europe in the wake of WWII.

Now, the parliamentarians propose to abandon the Soviet heritage and "not to pollute the state language with foreign bodies."

Read also: Russia using more and more obsolete Soviet weapons in Ukraine, says air force

"We stand in solidarity with our Polish neighbors and urge you not to use the artificial names imposed on us in Lithuanian," one of the signatories said.

On May 9, Poland officially recommended that the Russian name of the city of Kaliningrad and Kaliningrad Oblast be abandoned and that Krolewiec, Krolewiec Oblast, be translated into Polish as the historical name of Konigsberg. Warsaw called the current name of the city "artificial and imposed."

Read also: Russia claimed preparing for possibility of hostilities in the Caucasus and in Kaliningrad exclave

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Poland's decision to change the use of the Russian name of Kaliningrad "borders on madness."

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
The 360 shows you diverse perspectives on the days top stories and debates.

Whats happening

On May 1 in New York City, a 30-year-old homeless Black man named Jordan Neely walked through an uptown-bound F train. Apparently in the midst of a mental health crisis, he shouted that he was hungry and that he wanted to die, witnesses said.

It is not clear whether Neely actually menaced any passengers, but a white former Marine named Daniel Penny, 24, decided that he was a threat. Penny confronted Neely and placed him in a chokehold, wrestling him to the floor of the car.

Penny reportedly maintained his grip on Neely for 15 minutes. By the time first responders arrived to meet the train at the Broadway-Lafayette station in lower Manhattan, Neely was dead.

On Friday morning, Penny surrendered to the Manhattan district attorneys office, which is charging him with manslaughter. And whatever the outcome of the case against him, the killing is bound to continue generating debate about public safety, race and mental health.

Photo illustration: Jack Forbes/Yahoo News; photos: Selcuk Acar/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images (2), Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images

Why theres debate

New York experienced a crime spike during the coronavirus pandemic, as did most American cities. That trend has started to subside, but the sight of homeless people in the subway system  including many in the apparent grip of mental illness or drug-induced episodes  continues to enforce the perception of danger and disorder that New York City Mayor Eric Adams has been desperate to dispel.

Adams and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul have vowed to restore order underground. Civil libertarians and criminal justice reformers have criticized their approach as heavy-handed, while law-and-order conservatives say it doesnt go far enough.

To some, last weeks deadly confrontation evoked a 1984 incident involving Bernhard Goetz, a white subway passenger who shot four Black teenagers who had reportedly tried to mug him. Some celebrated Penny as a hero, but many others thought his claims of self-defense were heavily tinged with racial animus.

Story continues

Whats next

Neelys death was ruled a homicide, and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is set to charge Penny with second-degree manslaughter.

Penny himself has said nothing, but after the fatal encounter on the F train, his attorneys released a statement that described Neely as aggressively threatening riders. Daniel never intended to harm Mr. Neely and could not have foreseen his untimely death, the statement says.

In response, Neelys family charged Penny and his attorneys with character assassination.

Perspectives

New Yorkers are deeply divided about why Neely lost his life  and about what could have been done to not only keep him alive but to provide him with the care that he so obviously needed.

Penny was a racist vigilante

To some, Penny was nothing more than a modern-day Goetz who apparently thought he could use the cover of whiteness to assume  and abuse  legal and moral authority.

It reignites the terror in the souls of Black folks when we witness these killings of our people without trial, without jury, without adjudication, Los Angeles-based clinical psychologist Donald Grant told NBC News.

The killing was a consequence of deepening antipathy toward the homeless

Others pointed to increasing hostility toward homeless people  who have become more visible in recent years  across the nation.

In a place like New York City, it is illegal to be homeless. If youre outside, thats loitering. Youre not supposed to be on the train. Its really easy to get picked up by the police if youre in the streets constantly as a Black man in New York, one advocate told Yahoo News.

Lenient policies geared for social justice failed Neely

Neely had a considerable record of criminal activity, including several charges of assault, but seemed to pass through what law-and-order conservatives have charged has become an all-too-rapid revolving door between jail and the streets. They have charged progressive prosecutors like Bragg with endangering public safety by refusing to level longer sentences against repeat offenders.

Neely was also on a list of high-concern homeless people kept by outreach workers. Mayor Adams recently implemented a plan to expand involuntary confinement of homeless people undergoing the most serious cases of psychic disturbance. The plan has been criticized  but arguably could have helped Neely.

His death is a tragedy that never should have happened, Adams said on Wednesday.

There are no easy explanations, no neat narrative to this tragic encounter

But as is the case with many tragedies, a single explanation may not suffice.

The New York Daily News cautioned in an editorial that no one should gloss over complicated, messy reality by righteously and simplistically declaring, as countless local politicians and advocates have, that Neely died simply because he was poor, mentally unstable or unhoused.

Is there a topic youd like to see covered in The 360? Send your suggestions to the360@yahoonews.com.
A former US Marine who placed a passenger in a fatal chokehold on the New York subway has appeared in court to be charged with manslaughter.

Daniel Penny, 24, is accused of causing the death of 30-year-old Jordan Neely on 1 May. He did not enter a plea.

His lawyers said he could not have known his actions to subdue Mr Neely would lead to his death.

Mr Neely, who was homeless, was pinned to the ground and restrained for several minutes on the train carriage.

He had been shouting at other passengers and asking for money, witnesses said.

Mr Neely was later found unconscious in the carriage and taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead. His death resulted from compression of the neck, the city's medical examiner ruled.

Hands cuffed behind his back, Mr Penny appeared at Manhattan Criminal Court on Friday to be formally charged and was later released on $100,000 (80,000) in cash bail.

He must return to court on 17 July or a warrant will be issued for his arrest, the judge said. He must also turn over his passport and seek permission to cross state lines.

On the day Mr Neely died, Mr Penny was questioned by police and then released.

But footage of the altercation on a northbound F train set off protests, and the Manhattan district attorney's office launched an investigation.

The video, captured by a freelance journalist on the train, shows the former Marine holding Mr Neely around the neck for two minutes and 55 seconds.

The journalist who filmed it, Juan Alberto Vazquez, told the New York Times that Mr Neely had shouted at passengers but did not attack anyone.

He recalled Mr Neely saying "I don't mind going to jail and getting life in prison" before he was restrained.

On Friday morning, Mr Penny arrived in a black SUV at a police station in Manhattan to surrender to authorities. Wearing a black suit and white shirt, he did not speak or answer any questions from reporters gathered outside.

Story continues

His lawyer, Thomas Kenniff, said his client has "his head held up high" and had willingly surrendered "with the sort of dignity and integrity that is characteristic of his history of service to this grateful nation".

Mr Penny "risked his own life and safety, for the good of his fellow passengers", Mr Kenniff added, expressing confidence he would be "fully absolved of any wrongdoing".

He faces a count of second-degree manslaughter and up to 15 years in jail if convicted.

According to New York law, that charge will require a jury to find that Mr Penny engaged in reckless conduct that created an unjustifiable risk of death.

"The investigation thus far has included numerous witness interviews, careful review of photo and video footage, and discussions with the Medical Examiner's Office," said Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg in a statement.

"As this case proceeds, we will be constrained from speaking outside the courtroom to ensure this remains a fair and impartial matter,"

New York defence attorney Jeffrey Lichtman told the BBC he thought prosecutors would fail meet this standard, and show Mr Penny knew his actions would kill.

"If litigated properly this is a slam dunk acquittal," he said, calling Mr Penny a "sympathetic defendant".

In a statement released a few days after Mr Neely's death, Mr Penny's lawyers said their client had "never intended to harm Mr Neely and could not have foreseen his untimely death".

Mr Penny spent four years in the Marines, rising to the rank of sergeant before being honourably discharged in June 2021, according to his lawyers. He is now enrolled in a full-time bachelor's college degree studying architecture.

Across the street from the court, a small memorial dedicated to Mr Neely has been assembled with signs urging officials to prosecute Mr Penny.

Video of the subway altercation sparked protests

In a statement earlier this week, Mr Neely's family said that Mr Penny needed to be in prison. "The family wants you to know that Jordan matters," they said.

Mr Neely was a Michael Jackson impersonator who frequently performed in Times Square. "He sang, he danced, he entertained," a lawyer for the family said.

His mother, Christie Neely, was murdered in 2007 by her boyfriend, who was sentenced to 30 years in prison in 2012, according to the Jersey Journal.

Following his mother's death, Mr Neely began experiencing mental health issues, said Donte Mills, a lawyer for the Neely family.

"He had demons. He went through tragedy at a very young age," Mr Mills said. "And then his mother was taken from him and her body was dumped in a suitcase on a highway, and it changed Jordan's mentality forever."

Mr Neely had 42 arrests on charges such as evading fares, theft and assaults on three women, according to US media reports. He had recently pleaded guilty to assaulting a 67-year-old woman leaving a subway station in 2021.

Mr Mills addressed the arrests on Friday, saying that Mr Penny "did not know Jordan Neely before this incident. He did not know how many times he had been arrested."

"So that's a non-factor," he added.

Mayor Eric Adams has said the case highlights the need to improve the mental health system so that it can better protect people like Mr Neely.

Mr Adams and New York state Governor Kathy Hochul have increased the presence of police to address rising crime on the city's subway.
A New York subway rider has been charged with manslaughter after he applied a fatal chokehold to restrain another passenger.

Jordan Neely, a 30-year old homeless man, was declared dead after a struggle with other passengers on 1 May.

Daniel Penny, a 24-year-old ex-Marine who was filmed by an onlooker as he restrained Mr Neely, faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

What happened in the fatal encounter?

It took place on a Monday afternoon on a northbound F train in Manhattan.

Witnesses said Mr Neely had been shouting at other passengers and asking for money. There is no evidence he had attacked any of them.

Bystander video shows Mr Penny with his arms around Mr Neely's neck for about two minutes and 55 seconds.

Two other passengers are also seen restraining Mr Neely by the arms.

After two minutes, a passerby who had entered the train warns Mr Penny and the other men that Mr Neely might be dying.

Daniel Penny is escorted in handcuffs by the NYPD after turning himself in in New York City on 12 May 2023

One of the men replies that Mr Penny has stopped "squeezing" Mr Neely's neck.

The passerby says that Mr Neely had defecated on himself, and that this could be a sign he is dying.

He warns Mr Penny had that if he does not let Mr Neely go, he could face a murder charge.

After Mr Penny rises to his feet, another passenger tells him: "That was one hell of a chokehold, man."

Police told CBS News, the BBC's US partner, that Mr Penny had told other passengers to call emergency services during the struggle.

Video shows him putting Mr Neely into a recovery position after he goes limp.

Juan Alberto Vazquez, a freelance journalist who filmed the encounter, told the New York Times that Mr Neely had been screaming that he had nothing to eat or drink.

"I don't mind going to jail and getting life in prison. I'm ready to die," he reportedly said.

Mr Vazquez said that he did not believe the man would die.

"None of us were thinking that," he told the New York Times. "He was moving and he was defending himself."

Story continues

Who was Jordan Neely?

Jordan Neely was a Michael Jackson impersonator who frequently performed in New York's Times Square.

He had 42 previous arrests on charges such as evading fares, theft and assaults on three women, according to US media.

He had pleaded guilty to assaulting a 67-year-old woman leaving a subway station in 2021.

His mother, Christie Neely, was strangled to death in 2007 by her boyfriend, who was sentenced to 30 years in prison in 2012.

Following his mother's death, Mr Neely began experiencing mental health issues, according to family members.

"Jordan deserves justice. He was loved," his aunt Carolyn Neely told the BBC.

Dante Mills, a lawyer for the Neely family, has accused Mr Penny of acting as a vigilante. The attorney said Mr Neely never harmed any passengers on the day he was killed.

"He had demons. He went through tragedy at a very young age," Mr Mills said.

Who is Daniel Penny?

Daniel Penny is from Long Island and had previously served in the US Marines.

In a statement released through his lawyers days after Mr Neely's death, he expressed condolences to his family.

The statement added 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".

A person holds a 'Freedom Daniel Penny' sign outside the Manhattan Criminal Court on 12 May 2023

"Daniel never intended to harm Mr Neely and could not have foreseen his untimely death."

According to NBC News, he graduated from high school in 2016 and was most recently living in the New York City borough of Queens.

During his time in the Marines, he achieved the rank of sergeant and earned a number of awards including Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal. He was discharged in June 2021.

His lawyers say he is currently studying architecture at university.

After pleading not guilty to the charges, he was freed on bail after paying a $100,000 (80,000) bond.

What is second-degree manslaughter?

Second-degree manslaughter charges are filed when a person "recklessly causes the death of another person", according to New York's criminal code.

In New York state, the jury must find the defendant engaged in reckless conduct creating an unjustifiable risk of death, and then consciously disregarded that risk.

The defendant's actions must also be a gross deviation from how a reasonable person would have acted in a similar situation.

Suspects who unintentionally caused a death, but were unaware of the danger of their actions, could face a lesser charge of criminal negligent homicide.

A protest to honour the life of Jordan Neely on 8 May 2023

What are the chances of a conviction?

Manhattan prosecutor Alvin Bragg is confident enough that he can win a conviction that he opted to file charges directly, rather than punting the controversial decision to a grand jury, which can be used to determine whether there is enough evidence to pursue a prosecution.

There has been a growing awareness of the danger of chokeholds after the 2014 death of Eric Garner, an unarmed man from New York City restrained by the neck by police.

And after the death of George Floyd in 2020, New York legislators increased penalties for officers who use chokeholds during arrest.

But Jeffrey Lichtman, a New York defence attorney who has previously represented drug lord El Chapo and accused mobster John Gotti Jr, says prosecutors will fail to win their case against Daniel Penny because the state must prove that the accused knew his actions could kill.

Mr Penny, he says, was selflessly risking his life to protect fellow passengers, and witnesses have said they did not expect the tussle on the subway floor to end in death.

"It's not like he snuck up behind him and hit him over the head with a brick or a bat," he says, adding that at any point Mr Neely could have submitted and ended the struggle.

Any New Yorker, including members of a future jury, will have had several encounters with mental illness on the subway.

Most jurors, he says, would prefer that an ex-Marine such as Mr Penny step in to prevent a person on the subway from turning violent.

"If litigated properly this is a slam dunk acquittal," he says, calling Mr Penny a "sympathetic defendant".
The former Marine who held Jordan Neely in a fatal chokehold on a Manhattan subway earlier this month has surrendered to New York authorities to face criminal charges over his death.

Daniel Penny, 24, turned himself into police on Friday morning to be arrested on a second-degree manslaughter charge. He will then be arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court.

We can confirm that Daniel Penny will be arrested on a charge of Manslaughter in the Second Degree, a spokesperson for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Braggs office confirmed in a statement to The Independent.

We cannot provide any additional information until he has been arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court, which we expect to take place tomorrow.

Mr Penny was filmed wrapping his arm around Neelys neck on the floor of a train carriage after the 30-year-old homeless man apparently suffered a mental health episode.

The death of Neely, known to New Yorkers for his impersonations of Michael Jackson on the citys streets and subway, has led to widespread criticism and protest.

But despite the tragedy placing the citys treatment of homeless people under renewed scrutiny, Mayor Eric Adams has weakened New Yorks longstanding shelter mandate in anticipation of an increase in immigration.

Key Points

Daniel Penny expected to be charged in Jordan Neely subway chokehold death

Eric Adams: Jordan Neely did not deserve to die'

White House calls for thorough investigation into Neelys death

Family attorneys condemn suspect's admission of guilt

Death a wake-up call demanding urgent response to mental health crisis, governor says

Fox pundit says decision to charge Daniel Penny is pro-criminal and anti-hero'

12:00 , Joe Sommerlad

Greg Gutfeld is at it again with another unwelcome hot take on this months subway tragedy.

Fox News host denounces the decision to charge Daniel Penny -- the man who killed Jordan Neely with a chokehold -- with 2nd-degree manslaughter:



"It's pro-criminal. It's anti-hero." pic.twitter.com/iAg8mv0kzj  Kat Abu (@abughazalehkat) May 11, 2023

Jordan Neely struggled after his mothers murder, family attorney says

11:30 , Sravasti Dasgupta

Story continues

Jordan Neely suffered from demons after his mother was murdered in 2007, a lawyer for his family says.

Neely, 30, died on Monday after he was placed in a chokehold on a New York City subway train by ex-Marine Daniel Penny.

Mr Penny will be charged with second-degree manslaughter, the Manhattan District Attorneys office said on Thursday.

Neely was just 14 when his mother Christine Neely was strangled, stuffed in a suitcase and left on the Henry Hudson Parkway in New York by her former partner.

Family members say Jordan Neely fell into a deep depression and never fully recovered from the tragedy, and was homeless at the time of his death.

Read more:

Jordan Neely struggled after his mothers murder, family attorney says

Voices: New York was not a safe city for Jordan Neely

10:32 , Josh Marcus

We are making our city safer every day, New York mayor Eric Adams boasted at the end of 2022. Adams has made law-and-order policing a central talking point of his administration, and he has continually claimed that hes turning New York into a safer city.

After the killing of Jordan Neely, though, its clear that we need to ask a safer city for who?

Witnesses said he did not physically assault or harm anyone. But a white 24-year-old ex-Marine decided Neely needed to be subdued. He put him in a neckhold and, as bystanders watched, he choked Neely to death.

New York was not safe for Jordan Neely. Democratic State Senator Julia Salazar compared his horrific killing to a lynching  the public extermination of a Black, marginalized person in the name of restoring public order.

Though Neely was not killed by the police, his death painfully shows how mainstream rhetoric of policing, order, and safety all frame marginalized people as innately unsafe.

Noah Berlatsky looks into the city politics behind Jordan Neelys death.

New York was not safe for Jordan Neely | Voices

Jordan Neely family attorneys call statement from Daniel Pennys legal team character assassination

10:00 , Sravasti Dasgupta

Attorneys for the family of Jordan Neely have criticised a statement from the legal team representing Daniel Perry, the 24-year-old former US Marine who placed the 30-year-old homeless street performer in a fatal chokehold on a Manhattan subway car one week ago.

In a statement shared with The Independent on 5 May, attorneys for Mr Penny said Neely had a documented history of violent and erratic behavior, the apparent result of ongoing and untreated mental illness and began aggressively threatening Mr Penny and others on the train.

On 8 May, a statement from attorneys Donte Mills and Lennon Edwards said: Daniel Pennys press release is not an apology nor an expression of regret. It is a character assassination and a clear example of why he believed he was entitled to take Jordans life.

Read more:

Jordan Neely family attorneys condemn statement from Daniel Pennys legal team

Daniel Penny: Everything we know about ex-Marine filmed choking Jordan Neely

09:00 , Sravasti Dasgupta

A former US Marine who choked Jordan Neely to death on a New York City subway car has been identified as 24-year-old Daniel James Penny.

Mr Penny will be charged with second-degree manslaughter, the Manhattan District Attorneys office said on Thursday.

Heres everything we know about the former Marine:

Everything we know about Daniel Penny, filmed fatally choking Jordan Neely

What has Joe Biden said about Jordan Neely?

07:59 , Josh Marcus

The death of Jordan Neely demands a thorough investigation, according to a statement from President Joe Bidens administration, speaking publicly for the first time on the killing of the 30-year-old homeless New Yorker who was placed in a fatal chokehold on a Manhattan subway train.

In widely shared video footage, a man identified as 24-year-old Daniel Penny is seen restraining Neely on the floor of an F train while his arm is wrapped around Neelys neck for several minutes.

The New York medical examiners office declared Neelys death a homicide due to the compression against his neck.

Jordan Neelys killing was tragic and deeply disturbing, White House spokesperson Robyn Patterson said in a statement shared withThe Independent on 9 May.

Alex Woodward reports.

Family describes Jordan Neelys tragic upbringing

06:50 , Josh Marcus

Jordan Neely suffered from demons after his mother was murdered in 2007, a lawyer for his family says.

Neely, 30, died on Monday after he was placed in a chokehold on a New York City subway train by ex-Marine Daniel Penny.

Neely was just 14 when his mother Christine Neely was strangled, stuffed in a suitcase and left on the Henry Hudson Parkway in New York by her former partner.

Family members say Jordan Neely fell into a deep depression and never fully recovered from the tragedy, and was homeless at the time of his death.

Bevan Hurley reports.

Jordan Neely struggled after his mothers murder, family attorney says

ICYMI: Daniel Penny to be charged with manslaughter in Jordan Neely subway chokehold death

06:20 , Sravasti Dasgupta

The man who was filmed with his arm wrapped around the neck of Jordan Neely on a New York City subway traincar will be criminally charged for his death and surrender to authorities as early as 12 May.

Daniel Penny, a 24-year-old former US Marine, will be charged with manslaughter in the second degree, according to the Manhattan District Attorneys office.

Prosecutors expect his arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court on Friday, according to a statement shared with The Independent.

Alex Woodward reports:

Daniel Penny to be charged with manslaughter in Jordan Neely subway chokehold death

Everything we know about Jordan Neely

05:20 , Josh Marcus

Jordan Neely, a 30-year-old homeless man, was killed in a New York City subway train on the afternoon of Monday 1 May 2023 after he apparently suffered a mental health episode, leading a fellow passenger to wrestle him to the floor with the help of two others, holding him in a chokehold.

The shocking incident was captured on phone video at the scene, sparking debate among New Yorkers about the rights and wrongs of the vigilantes actions and the extent to which Neelys behaviour could have been interpreted as a threat to the safety of his fellow passengers.

Eyewitness Juan Alberto Vazquez, a freelance journalist, told The New York Post precisely what happened after Neely boarded the northbound F train at Second Avenue station.

Heres what we know about Neely, courtesy of Joe Sommerlad.

Jordan Neely, the man killed in a NYC subway chokehold

Our in-depth investigation into Jordan Neelys unnecessary death

04:20 , Josh Marcus

Neelys death has revived volatile media narratives about New Yorks homeless population, spinning an act of vigilantism to blame the person killed by it. The mayor and governor were slow to condemn the act of lethal violence, raising questions among New York leaders whether the city considers the life of a homeless Black man less valuable than a white stranger prepared to use deadly force.

Advocates and lawmakers told The Independent that the deliberate and explicit rhetoric surrounding people experiencing homelessness, compounded by prolonged failures of policies meant to help them, have exposed thousands of New Yorkers and vulnerable people across the country to the kind of vigilante violence that killed Neely.

Alex Woodward reports.

Jordan Neelys death underscores a brutal New York narrative

Who is Daniel Penny, the New York man who will be charged in Jordan Neelys death?

02:50 , Josh Marcus

A former US Marine who choked Jordan Neely to death on a New York City subway car has been identified as 24-year-old Daniel James Penny.

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 in Manhattan on 1 May, according to an incident report reviewed by The Independent. Neely was pronounced dead at Lenox Health Greenwich Village hospital.

In a statement shared with The Independent at 7.30pm on 5 May, attorneys for Mr Penny said that when Neely began aggressively threatening Daniel Penny and the other passengers, Daniel, with the help of others, acted to protect themselves, until help arrived.

Heres everything we know about Daniel Penny.

Everything we know about Daniel Penny, filmed fatally choking Jordan Neely

Neely family says Eric Adams isnt welcome at funeral

01:50 , Josh Marcus

Jordan Neelys uncle says New York City mayor Eric Adams isnt welcome at Jordan Neelys funeral.

Christopher Neely told the New York Post he doesnt know any mayor who parties and bulls***s like Adams.

The family member also said Mayor Adams has falsely claimed to have reached out and offered his condolences to the family.

Nobody Black thats in the neighborhood really believes in him, Mr Neely added. Its more him partying at night and coming home at 4 or 5 am.

How many homeless people are there in New York City?

01:30 , Josh Marcus

The killing of Jordan Neely has brought attention to the plight of homeless people in New York City.

Jordan Neelys death underscores a brutal New York narrative

At the beginning of this year, the city announced that 70,525 homeless people slept in a New York City shelter on a given night in January, a record high.

New York has the second-highest total number of homeless people in the country, though other cities have higher per capita homelessness figures, according to US News and World Report.

As Neely death highlights homelessness in NYC, Eric Adams cuts protections

01:10 , Josh Marcus

New York City Mayor Eric Adams is weakening a decades-old right-to-shelter mandate to prepare for thousands of newly arrived people in the US after the expiration of a Trump-era policy that blocked hundreds of thousands of migrants from entering the country.

The mayors executive order suspends a rule that guarantees shelter for families with children if requested by 10pm, and it suspends a rule that prohibits families from living in group settings. The city and state anticipate hundreds of daily arrivals with the end of Title 42, which expires at midnight on 11 May.

No one thought about a humanitarian crisis when they took this court case to a right to shelter, the mayor said in remarks on Thursday, referencing the 1981 consent decree that guides the statewide mandate. We could potentially get thousands of people a day in our city. Its wrong for those who are coming here  and its wrong for New Yorkers who are here.

Alex Woodward reports.

Eric Adams weakens shelter mandate as New York City brace for Title 42s expiration

An enduring question about Jordan Neelys death: Who else was involved

Friday 12 May 2023 00:45 , Josh Marcus

Daniel Penny may be facing charges in the Jordan Neely killing, but he reportedly wasnt the only person involved in hte 1 May incident.

As The Washington Post notes, two other passengers board a Manhattan subway train helped the former Marine hold down Neely, 30, who was homeless.

Officials have not announced any charges, or even publicly named, the other individuals that allegedly assisted Penny, who is being charged with manslaughter.

What has Eric Adams said about Jordan Neelys death?

Friday 12 May 2023 00:00 , Josh Marcus

The New York City mayor was initially criticised for appearing to equivocate on whether Jordan Neely deserved to die.

He later walked back those comments.

Heres what Eric Adams had to say.

How a brutal cultural narrative blamed Jordan Neely for his own death

Thursday 11 May 2023 23:40 , Josh Marcus

Jordan Neelys death was recorded by another passenger and preserved in a widely shared video. The 24-year-old former US Marine who placed Neely in a chokehold was identified by his attorneys on 5 May as Daniel Penny. He was released from police custody after the incident without any charge.

His cause of death was a homicide. The 30-year-old Black man  known for his precise Michael Jackson impersonations on subway platforms while experiencing homelessness in New York City  died from the compression against his neck, according to the citys medical examiner.

New Yorkers are no strangers to unstable or disruptive people who ride the citys 6,500 subway cars; subway riders typically keep to themselves and ignore them.

But Neelys death has revived volatile media narratives about New Yorks homeless population, spinning an act of vigilantism to blame the person killed by it. The mayor and governor have not explicitly condemned the act of lethal violence, raising questions among New York leaders whether the city considers the life of a homeless Black man less valuable than a white stranger prepared to use deadly force.

Read more from Alex Woodwards in-depth look at the case.

Jordan Neelys death underscores a brutal New York narrative

ICYMI: Who is Jordan Neely?

Thursday 11 May 2023 23:20 , Josh Marcus

Jordan Neely, a 30-year-old homeless man, was killed in a New York City subway train on the afternoon of Monday 1 May 2023 after he apparently suffered a mental health episode and a fellow passenger wrestled him to the floor with the help of two others, holding him in a chokehold.

The shocking incident was captured on phone video at the scene, sparking debate among New Yorkers about the rights and wrongs of the vigilantes actions and the extent to which Neelys behaviour could have been interpreted as a threat to the safety of his fellow passengers.

Joe Sommerlad has this look at who Neely was.

Jordan Neely, the man killed in a NYC subway chokehold

Fox News host claims Daniel Penny charges are anti-hero'

Thursday 11 May 2023 22:59 , Josh Marcus

Fox News anchor Greg Gutfeld condemned the expected charges against Daniel Penny, the New York man filmed fatally choking a homeless person on a Manhattan subway earlier this month.

This is political. Its pro-criminal. Its anti-hero. Its going to be the case of the summer, Mr Gutfeld said.

This is going to be a very important point for this city, this state, this country. Its time for us to get this progressive pro-crime ideology to walk the plank.

Fox News host denounces the decision to charge Daniel Penny -- the man who killed Jordan Neely with a chokehold -- with 2nd-degree manslaughter:



"It's pro-criminal. It's anti-hero." pic.twitter.com/iAg8mv0kzj  Kat Abu (@abughazalehkat) May 11, 2023

Manhattan DA announces charges against Daniel Penny

Thursday 11 May 2023 22:25 , Josh Marcus

Daniel Penny, the former Marine filmed choking Jordan Neely on a New York subway car earlier this month, will be charged with second-degree manslaughter, a spokesperson for the Manhattan District Attorneys office told The Independent.

We can confirm that Daniel Penny will be arrested on a charge of Manslaughter in the Second Degree, the DAs office said in a statement. We cannot provide any additional information until he has been arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court, which we expect to take place tomorrow.

Daniel Penny expected to be charged in Jordan Neely subway chokehold death

Thursday 11 May 2023 22:17 , Josh Marcus

The man who was filmed with his arm wrapped around the neck of Jordan Neely on a Manhattan subway traincar is reportedly expected to face criminal charges for his death and surrender to authorities as early as 12 May.

It is unclear what the charges against Daniel Penny, a 24-year-old former US Marine, will entail. The charges likely will not be publicly detailed until a court appearance; Mr Penny could be charged with manslaughter, according to The New York Times.

On 1 May, a man identified as Mr Penny wrapped his arm around the neck of the 30-year-old homeless former street performer for several minutes. The citys medical examiner determined Neelys cause of death was homicide.

Potential charges were first reported by ABC News and NBC News citing law enforcement sources. A spokesperson for the New York City Police Department told The Independent the matter continues to be under investigation. Mr Pennys attorneys and a spokesperson for the district attorneys office did not immediately return a request for comment.

Alex Woodward is following the details for The Independent.

Daniel Penny expected to be charged in Jordan Neely subway chokehold death

Wednesday 10 May 2023 19:03 , Alex Woodward

Were closing live coverage of the aftermath of Jordan Neelys death but The Independent will be closely following the case with the Manhattan district attorneys office and responses from officials and advocacy groups.

Thank you for reading.

Alvin Bragg explains why DAs office has not publicly commented on the case

Wednesday 10 May 2023 19:00 , Alex Woodward

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg addressed his offices investigation into Jordan Neelys death in his first public remarks on the incident on Tuesday.

Typically, district attorneys do not publicly comment on pending cases to avoid disrupting or tainting investigations.

Sometimes people peer into the silence and look at that as if the office isnt doing anything or its not important, Mr Bragg said. Its quite the contrary. Its because its our solemn obligation to assess the facts, apply the facts to the law and its how gravely and seriously we take that that we dont speak.

Neely family asks Al Sharpton to deliver eulogy at Harlem funeral service

Wednesday 10 May 2023 18:40 , Alex Woodward

The family of Jordan Neely has requested Rev Al Sharpton to deliver a eulogy at a funeral service on 19 May at Harlems Mount Neboh Baptist Church. The church has asked for privacy on behalf of the family.

This is an unfathomable and unimaginable tragedy, Rev Dr Johnnie Green, the churchs senior pastor, told New Yorks Pix11.

This is not my usual terrain, and as we come together in the spirit of healing, action, and perseverance. I can think of no one better, no one more equipped to meet this moment with that grace and guidance than Rev. Sharpton, he added.

Full story: Eric Adams addresses death of homeless New Yorker after fatal chokehold

Wednesday 10 May 2023 18:01 , Alex Woodward

In his first official remarks on the death of Jordan Neely more than one week after he was fatally choked on a New York City subway train car, Mayor Eric Adams did not mention how the homeless New Yorker died or discuss the events surrounding his death.

He stressed, however, that Jordan Neely did not deserve to die.

One of our own is dead  a Black man, Black like me. A man named Jordan, the name I gave my son, the mayor said in remarks on 10 May. A New Yorker who struggled with tragedy, trauma and mental illness, a man whose last words were crying for help.

Jordan Neely did not deserve to die: Eric Adams addresses fatal subway chokehold

Eric Adams: There are more Jordans out there'

Wednesday 10 May 2023 16:53 , Alex Woodward

Mayor Eric Adams continued his remarks laying out his administrations vision for mental health treatment, including a controversial agenda that allows authorities to involuntary admit people who are considered too mentally ill to be able to care for themselves into mental health treatment.

There are more Jordans out there, Mr Adams said. People who are loved, people who are in need of treatment and compassion.

Jordan Neelys life mattered, he continued. He was suffering from severe mental illness. But that was not the cause of his death. His death was a tragedy that should never have happened.

Mr Adams notably did not discuss the way in which Neely died, after another subway passenger placed him in a fatal chokehold. The citys medical examiner determined the cause of death was a homicide. No charges have been filed.

My heart goes out to Jordans family who is suffering great pain from the uncertainty of the circumstances of his death, Mr Adams said. Too many Black and brow families beat the brunt of a system long overdue for reform. Our work starts with acknowledging that we must reverse the effects of decades of disinvestment in housing, healthcare and social services.

Eric Adams: Jordan Neely did not deserve to die'

Wednesday 10 May 2023 16:40 , Alex Woodward

Mayor Eric Adams introduced his remarks on the death of Jordan Neely noting a week of strong emotions among New Yorkers in the aftermath of his death.

He noted that while law enforcement continues to investigate the fatal chokehold that led to his death, the mayor said that Jordan Neely did not deserve to die.

A New Yorker who struggled with tragedy, trauma and mental illness, a man whose last words were crying for help, he said. 

Neelys death has devastated his family and shocked his fellow New Yorkers, adding that one thing we can control is how our city responds to that tragedy.

His remarks have called for support around mental health services while outlining the administrations other efforts.

Eric Adams to address Jordan Neelys death

Wednesday 10 May 2023 16:18 , Alex Woodward

Mayor Eric Adams will deliver an address on the death of Jordan Neely at 11.30am ET.

Jordan Neelys uncle slams Eric Adams

Wednesday 10 May 2023 15:44 , Alex Woodward

The uncle of the man who was fatally choked on a Manhattan subway car on 1 May said he does not have anything to say to Mayor Eric Adams, who said on Monday night that has tried reaching out to the family.

I dont have anything to say to Mayor Adams  I dont know any mayor who parties and bull**** like Adams, Chrostopher Neely told The New York Post. Nobody Black thats in the neighborhood really believes in him. Its more him partying at night and coming home at 4 or 5am.

As 11 people were arrested at a vigil and protest demanding action after Neelys death, the mayor told a reporter for The City during an unrelated event that he has reached out to Neelys family several times to give them my condolences.

Christopher Neely said neither he nor Jordans father or grandparents have spoken to the mayor.

A statement on Monday morning from attorneys representing the Neely family urged the mayor to call them.

The family wants you to know that Jordan matters, the statement adds. You seem to think others are more important than him.

Homeless advocacy group to hold vigil outside City Hall for Jordan Neely and deaths of unhoused New Yorkers

Wednesday 10 May 2023 15:36 , Alex Woodward

In February, 74,762 people were sleeping in the citys shelter system. That figure does not include the thousands of New Yorkers on the citys streets and subways

Of the 640 deaths among homeless New Yorkers in 2021, 151 were unsheltered.

In the deadliest year on record for New Yorks homeless population, 815 people died while homeless in 2022.

VOCAL-NY, an organisation that advocates for unhoused New Yorkers, will hold a vigil outside City Hall on Thursday afternoon to recognise those deaths and the death of Jordan Neely, who was fatally choked on a Manhattan F train on 1 May.

Instead of providing New Yorkers with basic stability, [Mayor Eric Adams and Governor Kathy Hochul] have defunded our social systems, driven up our rents... all while manufacturing a crime panic that scapegoats the most marginalized, the group said in a statement.

We need justice. We need accountability.



Join @VOCALNewYork Thursday at a vigil for Jordan Neely. pic.twitter.com/qiIUMU3M2T  Housing Justice For All (@housing4allNY) May 9, 2023

Foster care reform advocate and friend of Neely: Jordan wanted a home

Wednesday 10 May 2023 14:00 , Alex Woodward

A community activist who says he grew up with Jordan Neely in foster care said the 30-year-old homeless New Yorker was failed by the same foster system that failed him.

Now an organiser and advocate for foster care reform, Larry Smith moved through 23 different foster homes and endured physical, psychological, sexual and emotional abuse, according to his website.

He told New Yorks Pix11 that they met after they were placed in a foster facility in the Marcy Houses in Brooklyn and were moved from home to home over four years.

Four years of betrayal, rejection. Four years of nervousness. Four years of abandonment. Four years of pain, Mr Smith told Pix11.

They both aged out of care and into homelessness, he said.

Jordan could have been housed but nobody cares, Mr Smith told Gothamist.

Jordan never wanted money, he told Pix11. Jordan wanted food. Jordan wanted resources. Jordan wanted a home.

ICYMI: AOC discusses Jordan Neelys death and urgency to respond to homelessness crisis

Wednesday 10 May 2023 13:00 , Alex Woodward

In an interview with New York magazines The Cut, New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez excoriates city and state officials who have refused to condemn the killing of Jordan Neely in precise terms, after Mayor Eric Adams rebuked the congresswoman for her own statements addressing his death.

I would like everyone to pretend that was their son, she told the magazine. I would like anyone to look at that video, see their son, and see if they would say the same thing.

In the interview, she addresses the failure of public policies to support people experiencing homelessness and their mental health, compounded by rapidly growing costs of living in a city with some of the highest housing costs globally.

I think in order to stand up for Jordan Neely, wed have to admit that public decisions made by leaders have been failing, she said. Jordan Neely was killed by public policy. He was killed by the demonizing of the poor by many of our leaders. He was killed by the same reluctance for people to see him as human that leaders are exhibiting right now, even in his death.

She also repeatedly stressed that there is nothing that can justify killing a person, especially if they are unarmed and not a physical threat to anyone.

Theres a hypocrisy to the way many officials talk about public safety. All of these responses are acting as though Neely was the aggressor here, when he was the one who was murdered, she added. Theres all this talk about making our public spaces safer, and a person literally killed another human being on the subway. When you create a situation where harming a certain class of people may be excused, then we incentivize this kind of behavior. Anybody can point to anybody else and say, Oh, well, I was scared of them.

Manhattan prosecutor leading investigation led case against Trump Organization

Wednesday 10 May 2023 12:00 , Alex Woodward

A spokesperson for the Manhattan district attorneys office told The Independent last week that senior, experienced prosecutors are investigating Neelys death.

This is a solemn and serious matter that ended in the tragic loss of Jordan Neelys life, press secretary Douglas Cohen said. 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.

The investigation is being led by veteran homicide prosecutor Joshua Steinglass, who led the successful prosecution of the Trump Organization on charges that included 17 tax crimes, including conspiracy and falsifying business records.

Mr Steinglass, a 25-year veteran of the office, has also been at the centre of other high-profile and sensitive cases. He secured convictions against two members of the neo-fascist gang the Proud Boys in 2019 and an undercover police officer involved with an assault in 2015.

Jordan Neely family attorneys respond to statement from Daniel Pennys legal team

Wednesday 10 May 2023 11:00 , Alex Woodward

In a statement shared with The Independent on 5 May, attorneys for Daniel Penny said Jordan Neely had a documented history of violent and erratic behavior, the apparent result of ongoing and untreated mental illness and began aggressively threatening Mr Penny and others on the train.

Attorneys for Neelys family criticised the statement, which they said was neither an apology nor an expression of regret.

It is a character assassination and a clear example of why he believed he was entitled to take Jordans life, reads the statement on 8 May from attorneys Donte Mills and Lennon Edwards.

Jordan Neely family attorneys condemn statement from Daniel Pennys legal team

White House calls for thorough investigation into Jordan Neelys death

Wednesday 10 May 2023 10:00 , Alex Woodward

The death of Jordan Neely demands a thorough investigation, according to a statement from President Joe Bidens administration, speaking publicly for the first time on the killing of the 30-year-old homeless New Yorker who was placed in a fatal chokehold on a Manhattan subway train last week.

In widely shared video footage, a man identified as 24-year-old Daniel Penny is seen restraining Neely on the floor of an F train while his arm is wrapped around Neelys neck for several minutes.

Jordan Neelys killing was tragic and deeply disturbing, White House spokesperson Robyn Patterson said in a statement shared with The Independent on 9 May.

White House calls for thorough investigation into Jordan Neelys death

Press association defends photojournalist arrested during protests

Wednesday 10 May 2023 09:00 , Alex Woodward

The New York Press Photographers Association described Stephanie Keith as an intrepid photojournalist in a statement of support after her arrest while photographing protests on Monday night.

We support our colleague and believe that a review of the evidence and circumstances will compel the Manhattan DA to drop any charges against her, according to a statement obtained by the Associated Press.

Video shows Ms Keith attempting to use a crosswalk before Chief of Patrol John Chell, one of the highest-ranking members of the NYPD, appears to push her back and shout lock her up as he moves her towards other officers to be placed under arrest.

She was handcuffed and detained in a police van before her release with a summons.

During a press conference on Monday night, Mr Chell claimed that she interfered with NYPDs arrests. Ms Keith said in a post on her Instagram account that she was standing with other photojournalists far from where the arrests were taking place.
A federal judge could soon decide whether an organized group of ultra-conservative South Carolina legislators can raise money and campaign, a decision that would offer the group of House Republicans the same powers afforded to other state-recognized caucuses.

In February, the South Carolina House Freedom Caucus sued their colleagues on the House Ethics Committee  a panel chaired by Rep. Jay Jordan, R-Florence, and made up of Democrats and Republicans  asking the court to allow them the same perks of the Republican, Democratic, Black and womens caucuses to raise money and advocate for candidates.

Those caucuses are currently permitted different rules under the state law that spells out two kinds of caucuses: one that is organized around party, race or gender issues and can raise money and spend sizable political contributions, and the other is special interest caucuses, organized around, for instance, conservative or liberal principles.

Special interest caucuses, such as the freedom caucus, are sharply limited in their fundraising abilities.

U.S. Judge Cameron McGowan Currie could issue a blanket OK to the 18-member freedom caucus, or she could keep the lawsuit alive by allowing the 10 House ethics members to move forward and seek discovery  the initial phase of a lawsuit where both sides can request evidence and documents from the other.

The ethics committee members are defendants in the case because they are charged with enforcing House rules and, as such, would presumably be in charge of disciplining freedom caucus members if they flouted state law limiting powers of special interest caucuses.

Ethics committee members named in the lawsuit are Republican Reps. Jordan, Paula Calhoon, Micah Caskey, Robby Robbins and Neal Collins, and Democratic Reps. David Weeks, Beth Bernstein, John King, Leon Stavrinakis and Todd Rutherford.

Currie spent much of a Thursday hearing meticulously questioning Christopher Mills, a Charleston lawyer representing the freedom caucus, and Susan McWilliams, who with Mark Moore and Michael Parente, represents the ethics committee members.

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No lawmakers attended the hearing in Curries spacious third-floor courtroom, the largest in the courthouse. The Legislature was in session Thursday, the final day of the regular session.

In the hearing, Currie asked about the origin of the law granting full powers to some caucuses over others. She also questioned whether ethics committee members are the proper targets for the lawsuit, and what should the language say should there be an injunction.

The bottom line is you want the special interest caucus to be able to do everything the favored caucuses can? Currie asked Mills.

Yes, we are asking to be treated like the legislative caucuses, Mills replied.

The lawsuit comes amid a political tug-of-war between South Carolina House Republicans, dating back to the June 2022 primaries when two Republican lawmakers, now in the freedom caucus, helped a candidate try to oust one of their Republican colleagues. The effort was unsuccessful.

The freedom caucus has also sued school districts, accusing them of teaching critical race theory.

The South Carolina House freedom caucus is one of 10 similar state caucuses around the country formed through the State Freedom Caucus Network, which itself began in 2021 with the support of the U.S. House Freedom Caucus.

In its lawsuit against House Ethics Committee members, the freedom caucus is also being represented by America First Legal, an organization led by former Trump administration senior advisor Stephen Miller to fight the radical left, according to its website.

Not having the ability to raise and spend money or campaign robustly to influence issues is a violation of the freedom caucus free speech rights under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, Mills told Currie Thursday, quoting the U.S. Supreme Courts 5-4 decision in 2010 that removed limitations on campaign contributions by corporations.

In defense filings, McWilliams referred to Operation Lost Trust, a General Assembly bribery scandal in the 1990s, whose exposure by the FBI caused state lawmakers to place limits on special interest caucuses by limiting their fund raising powers.

From the 1970s to the 1990s, a 40-member special interest caucus, known as the Fat and Ugly Caucus, coerced lobbyists to fund its Thursday lunches or face having the bill the lobbyists were supporting killed by members of the caucus, McWilliams wrote.

Limiting special interest caucuses power to raise money is a legitimate government interest that helps fight corruption and fraud, McWilliams wrote.

McWilliams also sought permission to begin discovery and, in a formal written reply to the freedom caucus complaint, said that caucus members already engage in robust political outreaches.

Plaintiff holds press conferences and speaking engagements, operates Facebook and Twitter pages maintained by paid staff, and benefits from donations solicited by the State Freedom Caucus Network, her answer to the complaint said.

State Rep. RJ May, R-Lexington, who runs a political consulting firm, said the lawsuit isnt about fundraising.

This is about ensuring that the laws that the Legislature passed, which (are) clearly intended to protect the moderate majority and their ruling coalition with Democrats, that theres rules for them, but not for us; this is about ensuring that we are on equal playing field with the swamp, said May, who is vice chairman of the freedom caucus.

Reporter Joseph Bustos contributed to this story.
The Florida judge who presided over the Parkland mass shooting trial has announced that she will be resigning from the bench next month.

Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer became a national figure when she oversaw the murder trial of Nikolas Cruz last year.

Cruz received a life sentence after a jury was unable to unanimously agree on giving him the death sentence for the 2018 murder of 14 students and three staff members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

After she sentenced Cruz, 24, to life without parole she notably left the bench to hug members of the prosecution and victims families.

That action resulted in the Florida Supreme Court removing her from overseeing post-conviction motions in the case of Randy Tundidor.

He is facing the death penalty for the 2019 slaying of his landlord.

It has been a privilege to serve the people of the State of Florida as a member of the judiciary for over 10 years, Judge Scherer said in her resignation letter to Florida governor Ron DeSantis, reported CourtTV.

During the televised trial of Cruz, the judge frequently clashed with lead public defender, Melisa McNeill.

When the defence team suddenly rested their case without any warning, the judge blasted them publicly in the courtroom, branding it the most uncalled for, unprofessional way to try a case.

Ms McNeill angrily rebuked the judge for insulting me on the record in front of my client, which earned her a severe dressing down.

Youve been insulting me the entire trial, the judge told her. Arguing with me, storming out, coming late intentionally if you dont like my rulings. So, quite frankly, this has been long overdue. So please be seated.
By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A federal judge on Thursday rejected an effort to disqualify the law firm defending JPMorgan Chase & Co against a lawsuit by women who claim they were abused by Jeffrey Epstein and that the bank aided in the late financier's sex trafficking.

U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan said the firm WilmerHale did not have a conflict of interest because it once represented an anti-sex trafficking group that supported Courtney Wild, one of Epstein's accusers.

Rakoff also found no proof Wild gave WilmerHale confidential information that was material to the JPMorgan case, and said the bank would suffer "great prejudice" from being disqualified "so late in this litigation," five months before the Oct. 23 trial.

The disqualification request had been made by Brad Edwards, who represents Epstein accusers in the proposed class action against JPMorgan. His request was joined by the named plaintiff, Jane Doe 1.

Edwards and other lawyers representing the accusers did not immediately respond to requests for comment. JPMorgan and WilmerHale did not immediately respond to similar requests.

WilmerHale's other client, the anti-sex trafficking group ECPAT-USA, had in a 2021 legal brief to the U.S. Supreme Court supported Wild's ultimately unsuccessful bid to void a 2007 agreement that immunized Epstein from federal prosecution.

The Washington, D.C.-based law firm is also defending JPMorgan against a lawsuit by the U.S. Virgin Islands, where Epstein allegedly abused women on a private island he owned.

Epstein was a JPMorgan client from 1998 to 2013. The New York-based bank has denied aiding in his sexual abuses.

In August 2019, Epstein killed himself at age 66 in a Manhattan jail cell, where he was awaiting trial for sex trafficking.

The case is Jane Doe 1 v JPMorgan Chase & Co, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 22-10019.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Sonali Paul)
A Milwaukee County judge Friday temporarily blocked the citys recent 15-day video release policy for police shootings and other incidents from taking effect.

The temporary injunction, granted at the request of the union representing Milwaukees rank-and-file police officers, will last until at least June 28  the next scheduled court hearing in the unions effort to declare the video release policy unlawful.

The union  the Milwaukee Police Association  is arguing in court the city did not properly follow its collective bargaining obligations to meet and confer with union officials prior to implementing a change in policy that affects working conditions. Attorneys with the union said the policy violates officers rights to due process, privacy and other concerns.

The city has countered that the policy does not affect working conditions because it only speeds up the time to release footage and contains privacy and safety protections for the officers involved. They characterized it as a public policy issue more appropriate for public debate, rather than closed-door meetings with union officials.

Fridays hearing were quickly arranged after two nonfatal police shootings occurred on Milwaukees south side May 5. The union argued a temporary injunction was necessary until the court could ultimately rule on the collective bargaining issue.

While the Milwaukee Police Department is not a party to this case, we respect the authority and decision of the Court to issue the injunction of the video review policy today, thereby allowing the Court adequate time to render a thoughtful and legally sound decision, Heather Hough, the chief of staff for the department, said in a statement.

The ruling was made by Judge Frederick C. Rosa.

Community was excited over new policy

Although the decision is a setback for the city, its not clear whether it is a signal that the policy is likely doomed or otherwise. Before making his decision, Rosa said he thought both the city and the union presented compelling arguments that need to be made more fully before an ultimate decision is reached about the policys validity.

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The policy was approved in April by the citys Fire and Police Commission, one of the oldest and most powerful civilian oversight boards of police departments in the country.

Backed by state law to create policies for the chief of police to implement, the commission spent more than a year crafting a policy requiring police to publicly release footage of critical incidents  police shootings and in-custody deaths, for example  within 15 days. Family of those killed by police are to be given access to the footage within 48 hours.

The move was met by celebration from activists who had pushed the commission to institute a policy that would quicken the release of such footage. At the organizing of the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, dozens of Milwaukeeans urged the commission to go through with the changes for months during public comment at their biweekly meetings.

Police had no previous policy on the books

Previously, Milwaukee police had no standard operating procedure governing how footage of critical incidents were released. The department instead operated under a stated goal of releasing footage within 45 days  which was not always met.

There is wide variation in how police release body camera footage of police shootings and similar incidents.

California recently passed a law mandating police release such footage within 45 days, while in North Carolina, body camera footage is not released without the approval of a judge.

Policies from other major police departments in Chicago, Las Vegas, New York and Washington D.C. vary between as little as 72 hours to as long as 60 days.

Judge encourages city to resume 45-day timeline

It is not clear what exactly Fridays decision means regarding the two police shootings on May 5. Although they were nonfatal, the Police Department confirmed at the time they still applied to the policy approved in April by the Fire and Police Commission.

The Police Department did not immediately have an answer Friday.

Rosa, however, encouraged the city to resume its previous practice of voluntarily releasing footage within a 45-day goal-oriented timeline.

The shootings were reported in the late evening May 15 after crowds had formed in celebration of Cinco de Mayo on the 1200 block of South Cesar Chavez Drive. Police Chief Jeffrey Norman said officers were trying to disperse the crowds when celebratory gunshots occurred.

It created a chaotic scene, according to footage captured by bystanders and nearby security cameras.

Police shot and injured a 22-year-old Greenfield man and a 17-year-old Milwaukee boy. Two officers  both men with seven years of service, ages 33 and 40  were placed on administrative duty, which is routine.

Charges relating to gun possession and recklessly endangering safety were filed against the 17-year-old Friday, the Milwaukee County District Attorneys Office announced. Charges relating to the 22-year-old were still pending.

Contact Elliot Hughes at elliot.hughes@jrn.com or 414-704-8958. Follow him on Twitter @elliothughes12.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee police's 15-day video release policy temporarily blocked
The fate of two convicted murderers in Volusia County is up in the air.

Both sides returned to the courtroom after an appeals court ruled the states newest death penalty law should be applied in this case.

The law regarding the death penalty has flip-flopped in the years since the murders.

At the time, Florida allowed a judge to sentence someone to death even if not all jurors recommended it. But in 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court tossed out that rule.

The following year, lawmakers voted that someone could only end up on death row if jurors reached that recommendation unanimously.

But this year, they backtracked, allowing the death penalty if at least eight jurors agree.

Read: How Floridas changing death penalty law impacted the Xbox murders case

In the resentencing trial for Troy Victorino and Jeron Hunter, attorneys argued they couldnt move forward without more information.

This comes more than two weeks after the attorney generals office filed an emergency motion behind the scenes to stop the trial from proceeding.

The judge said the jury had to be unanimous for the pair to be put to death. That order was lifted by the Fifth District Court of Appeals Thursday.

Read: Men convicted in 2004 Xbox murders case return to court Tuesday for death penalty resentencing

A day later, defense attorneys argued they had an order but had not yet seen an opinion.

We are completely in the dark about what this order says, Ann Finnell said.

They said because of that, they cant say whether there will be further appeals.

Attorneys asked the judge to bring the jury back to determine if they were still available to serve before making additional motions.

Read: State will seek death penalty against triple-murder suspect Keith Moses, state attorney says

He ultimately agreed but said the defense needs to have an explanation ready for them by Tuesday.

Youre going to have to have something to tell them when they come back, the judge said.

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The jury will be called back Tuesday at 10 am.

The judge warned attorneys that if too many more motions are filed, it could lead to a mistrial in the resentencing hearing.

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A jury returned a split verdict on Thursday in a Florida lawsuit alleging hot McDonald's chicken nuggets left a 4-year-old girl "disfigured and scarred," lawyers for the victim's family said.

Franchisee UpChurch Foods was found negligent while McDonald's was not, court documents show. The jury found that both the franchisee and McDonald's failed to produce instructions for the food that would have prevented the girl's injury.

Fischer Redavid PLLC, the law firm representing parents Philana Holmes and Humberto Caraballo Estevez, called the jury decision a "tremendous victory for a deserving family."

"They stayed patient and fought hard with us for multiple years against a wealthy corporation: a jury unanimously ruled in favor of our client," the firm said in a post on Facebook.

The parents filed a lawsuit against UpChurch and McDonald's in September of 2019. In the complaint, they said mom Philana Holmes stopped at a Broward County area McDonald's on Aug. 21, 2019. Her then 4-year-old daughter along with her son were in the backseat as they went through the drive-thru.

Holmes got a six-piece chicken McNugget Happy Meal with milk and a "Lion King" toy for her daughter, according to court documents. She passed the meal to her daughter.

A piece of chicken fell on the girl's leg, the Sun Sentinel reported. After the girl screamed, Holmes pulled into a nearby parking lot to help; that's when she spotted the burn.

The suit alleged the "unreasonably and dangerously hot" nuggets caused the girl's skin and flesh around her thighs to burn. Lawyers said the restaurant should have known the nuggets "were not fit for human handling with bare skin by their intended customer."

After the verdict was read, UpChurch Foods said in a statement that the restaurant followed protocols when cooking and serving the Happy Meal.

"Our sympathies go out to this family for what occurred in this unfortunate incident, as we hold customer safety as one of our highest priorities. That's why our restaurant follows strict rules in accordance with food safety best practices when it comes to cooking and serving our menu items, including Chicken McNuggets," UpChurch Foods said in a statement. "We are deeply disappointed with today's verdict because the facts show that our restaurant in Tamarac, Florida did indeed follow those protocols when cooking and serving this Happy Meal. Our community here in South Florida should remain confident that we will continue serving safe and high-quality meals, just as we've done for more than 50 years at Upchurch Management restaurants."

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McDonald's also disagreed with Thursday's verdict, the company said in a statement.

"Our customers should continue to rely on McDonald's to follow policies and procedures for serving Chicken McNuggets safely," McDonald's said.

Holmes is seeking at least $15,000 in damages, according to the lawsuit. A jury has not yet decided how much McDonald's and UpChurch Foods will be required to pay.

Seinfeld | 60 Minutes Archives

Aaron Rodgers set for Jets debut as NFL releases 2023 schedule

Trump and DeSantis to hold dueling speeches in Iowa
Washington  In the same Washington, D.C., courthouse where the Justice Department has been convening grand juries to investigate former President Donald Trump's actions around the 2020 presidential election and his handling of classified documents, federal prosecutors managing a separate case were successful Friday in their request to delay a Trump deposition that had been scheduled for later this month in a four-year-old civil lawsuit filed by former FBI officials.

Former FBI counterintelligence official Peter Strzok and a one-time attorney at the Bureau, Lisa Page, sued the Justice Department after they were both fired during the federal probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. In the course of the investigation, text messages exchanged by the two revealed anti-Trump sentiments.

Strzok's lawsuit claims he was unjustly fired from the job for political reasons and seeks reinstatement at the FBI and back pay. Page argues the text messages were unlawfully released and violated her privacy.

In a minute order issued Friday evening, Judge Amy Berman Jackson ruled in favor of the Justice Department's request that FBI Director Christopher Wray be deposed before Strzok has a chance to question Trump.

Both Strzok and Page have moved to depose numerous former and current government officials, and earlier this year, Jackson ruled Strzok had the right to interview Trump and FWray. But according to an emergency filing on Thursday, federal prosecutors say Trump's deposition, which was supposed to take place May 24, was scheduled before any such meeting was set for Wray. The Justice Department said this violates long-standing norms that federal officials are to be questioned in order of their seniority.

"Contrary to the request of the United States, Mr. Strzok seeks to depose former President Trump before Director Wray," prosecutors wrote Thursday, "thereby making it impossible to determine if the Director's deposition might obviate the need to depose the former President."

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They asked the judge to order a new schedule for the depositions and threatened to take the issue to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals if she did not agree.

"The Solicitor General authorized the government to petition the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit for a writ of mandamus as to this Court's determination that former President Trump may be deposed in this matter," the Justice Department revealed in the filing. Writs of Mandamus are rare orders issued by higher courts that supersede findings by lower court judges.

"For decades, the D.C. Circuit and virtually every other court of appeals have recognized that subjecting high-level government officialsto say nothing of current or former Presidents 'to oral deposition is not normally countenanced,'" prosecutors wrote in their redacted motion.

In her order Friday, Jackson wrote that "the parties have done nothing more than wrangle over the order of the two depositions."

"The government seems chagrined that the Court did not order that the deposition of the FBI Director be completed first, but it may recall that it was the Court's view that it was Director Wray, the only current high-ranking public official in the group of proposed deponents, whose ongoing essential duties fell most squarely under the protection of the doctrine in question," Jackson wrote. "However, in order to get the parties -- who apparently still cannot agree on anything -- over this impasse, it is hereby ORDERED that the deposition of Christopher Wray proceed first, rendering the instant motion moot."

Attorneys for both Strzok and Page's legal team did not immediately respond to Jackson's order when reached by CBS News.

Earlier this year, the White House said it would not assert executive privilege over Trump's testimony and thereby shield him from deposition, and federal prosecutors said the former president did not request the privilege.

Strzok and Page's text messages and involvement in the Russia investigation fueled much of Trump's ire toward the FBI during the Mueller investigation, alleging anti-Trump views inside the Justice Department at the time. An inspector general report found that while the conduct was "completely antithetical to the core values of the department," there was no evidence that any bias ultimately changed the outcome of the investigation.

In his lawsuit, Strzok alleges "The FBI fired [him] because of his protected political speech in violation of his rights under the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States." And Page contends the release of the text messages was unlawful and led her to be the subject of "frequent attacks by the President of the United States, as well as his allies and supporters."

The Justice Department asked Judge Jackson to respond to their request to block Trump's testimony by Tuesday.

Passage: In memoriam

Migrants' dangerous journey north

"Yellowjackets" star Juliette Lewis
Kaley Cuoco's adorable baby, Matilda, has just revealed her favorite band  and it's the Jonas Brothers.

The former "Big Bang Theory" star, 37, shared two sweet videos in her Instagram stories showing her 6-week-old daughter watching the band as they kicked off TODAY's Citi Concert Series on May 12.

Matilda cheered for the Jonas Brothers' performance on TODAY. (Baby loves Jonas brothers / @kaleycuoco via Instagram)

In the videos, Matilda raises her arms in excitement as she watches the Jonas Brothers perform their 2019 hit Sucker on a nearby television set. Cuoco can be heard singing the songs chorus to her little girl, who eventually rests her chin in her hand while staring intently at the TV.

"Sooo our baby apparently loves @JonasBrothers! First couch concert! the first-time mom wrote on the video, adding a laughing emoji.

Baby loves Jonas brothers (@kaleycuoco via Instagram)

She wrote on the second clip, Its the hand under the chin for me lol, and added floating hearts.

Cuoco's latest videos of Matilda come just days after she revealed that Matilda has already made a best friend.

The "Flight Attendant" star, who shares Matilda with her partner, actor Tom Pelphrey, 40, posted pics in her Instagram story of her little girl smiling alongside a baby boy named Jonah, whose parents are Black Bird actor Paul Walter Hauser and producer Amy Boland Hauser.

When youre born 2 days apart and nursery neighbors at the hospital. You become instant BFFS and future power couple, Cuoco captioned the pics.

Baby Matilda has charmed the internet with her adorable antics, which Cuoco has been happily sharing with fans. In her first month and a half of life, Matilda has proven she's an animal lover. She not only loves dog kisses, she'll also make time for the family's goats and her mom's beloved horses.

Cuoco and Pelphrey welcomed Matilda on March 30.

The actors, who've been dating for more than a year, first met in April 2022 at a premiere for the final season of the Netflix drama Ozark," which starred Pelphrey.

I heard his voice, and I turned around, and it was like my life was over, or just starting, Cuoco told USA Today in May 2022, noting that the couple were "ready to build a life together."

She said, It hit me. It was love at first sight. We were immediately connected."

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
Kansans will officially see no tax cuts this year after Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly rejected a bill that cobbled together more than 20 tax policies including a tax credit for anti-abortion pregnancy centers and businesses, like health clubs, competing with public accommodations.

In a veto message issued Friday, Kelly criticized the bill, SB 8, as prioritizing tax breaks for big businesses over everyday Kansans and would harm the budgets of local governments and schools.

The legislation would have cost the state about $80 million annually if it had become law.

While Senate Bill 8 includes tax cuts and personal property tax reforms that I support, by bundling 12 bills together the legislature has made it impossible to sort out the bad from the good, Kelly said in a statement.

Speaking to reporters last month, Kelly called the bill the Genesis tax break, referring to the owners of Genesis health clubs that have spent years lobbying the Legislature for tax breaks for their facilities. The bill included a policy granting a tax break to a set of businesses, including health clubs, if the government begins competing with them.

Im not going to do that, Kelly said.

The bill is the second tax cut package the Democratic governor has rejected this year. Last month she vetoed a bill that combined some of her tax priorities with a 5.25% flat tax. Lawmakers failed to override Kellys veto on the flat tax and have left Topeka for the year, meaning they wont have the opportunity to attempt to override Kellys latest veto.

The Kelly-Toland administration has once again axed the tax cuts and vetoed SB8, therefore, killing important tax policy that would help veterans, the disabled community, and spur the Kansas economy all because of their irrational focus and political bias against helping vulnerable new mothers, House Speaker Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican, said in a statement.

When the override attempt on the flat tax bill failed last month GOP leaders in the Legislature were quick to blame Kelly for denying Kansans tax relief as the state saw large budget surpluses.

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Kellys office in response distributed a copy of a tax plan they said they offered to Republicans as an alternative that included the elimination of all income tax on Social Security benefits, an increased standard deduction and a child care tax credit among other things.

But Republican leaders said they were unaware of any proposal. Senate President Ty Masterson, an Andover Republican, called the proposal a public gimmick to distract voters from her veto.

Kelly told reporters last month the rejection of the flat tax was a victory for Kansans because it would protect the states fiscal health for years to come.

Im not going to take any blame for the lack of tax cuts this year because I offered several very reasonable options for them, Kelly said.

They just instead decided to go after something that was reckless and unreasonable, she added.
PHOENIX (AP)  The last remaining election misconduct claim by Kari Lake, the 2022 Republican candidate for Arizona governor, is playing out in court as state officials and the Democratic governor asked a judge to throw out the case Friday.

Lake was among the most vocal of last year's Republican candidates promoting former President Donald Trumps election lies, which she made the centerpiece of her campaign. While most other election deniers around the country conceded after losing their races in November, Lake did not.

Courts have dismissed most of the former TV anchors lawsuit. On Friday, a judge heard arguments on whether or not Lakes final claim should move ahead to a trial next week.

Attorneys representing Arizona election officials and Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs say Lakes allegation that the election was rigged is based on unsubstantiated speculation.

Lakes lawyers say there was a flood of mail-in ballots in Maricopa County, home to more than 60% of the states voters, at a time when there were too few workers to verify ballot signatures. Her attorneys say the county ultimately accepted thousands of ballots that had been rejected earlier by workers for having mismatched signatures.

The Arizona Supreme Court revived her claim challenging the application of signature-verification procedures, reversing a lower court decision that found she waited too long to raise that claim.

The state Supreme Court sent the claim back to the lower court to decide if there is another reason to dismiss it, or if Lake can show that enough votes were affected to change the outcome of the election, which she lost by over 17,000 votes.

Lake alleged at least 164,000 illegal votes were counted, according to filings by her attorneys. Three signature verification workers have said they experienced rejection rates due to mismatched signatures on 15% to 40% of the ballots they encountered.

The math doesnt add up, said Kurt Olsen, one of Lakes attorneys.

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Opposing attorneys said the workers speculation doesnt amount to a violation of the law or misconduct by election workers, and raised questions about whether the three workers truly knew the ultimate outcome of the ballots they had flagged.

Abha Khanna, one of the attorneys representing Hobbs, said Lakes allegations are wholly untethered to reality.

Earlier in her lawsuit, Lake had focused on problems with ballot printers at some polling places in Maricopa County. The defective printers produced ballots that were too light to be read by the on-site tabulators at polling places. Lines backed up in some areas amid the confusion. Lake alleged ballot printer problems were the result of intentional misconduct.

County officials say everyone had a chance to vote and all ballots were counted because those affected by the printers were taken to more sophisticated counters at election headquarters.

In mid-February, the Arizona Court of Appeals rejected Lakes assertions, concluding she presented no evidence that voters whose ballots were unreadable by tabulators at polling places were not able to vote.

The state Supreme Court declined on March 22 to hear nearly all of Lakes appeal, saying there was no evidence to support her claim that over 35,000 ballots were added to vote totals. Earlier this month, the court sanctioned Lakes lawyers $2,000 for making false statements when saying more than 35,000 ballots had been improperly added to the total ballot count.
Kari Lake's attorneys are again arguing that Maricopa County broke election law. The county again says it's not true.

BOMBSHELL alert.

Kari Lake this week dropped yet another one in her ongoing, unending challenge to the 2022 election. (Yeah, its still going on.)

The sabotage was worse than we thought, she tweeted on Thursday. We have some bombshells to share with you 

This particular bombshell  as opposed to her previous duds  involves devious Maricopa County elections officials who conducted secret testing of tabulators and knew, weeks before the election, that 260 of the countys nearly 450 vote counting machines would fail.

It was a shocking revelation, her attorney, Kurt Olsen, told Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson on Friday.

Will a judge reopen Lake's rejected claim?

Well, its the latest shocking revelation anyway  all the others having been sizably less than shocking once examined by Thompson, the Arizona Court of Appeals and the Arizona Supreme Court.

Itll be up to Thompson whether to reopen Lakes already rejected claim that the countys printers were intentionally set to fail, denying her victory.

Thompson also will decide whether to hold a trial next week to determine whether the county followed the law on validating early ballot signatures.

The Supreme Court ordered him to take another look the signature verification issue, saying his previous basis for rejecting Lake's claim was incorrect.

But the BOMBSHELL is this weeks big revelation, being hyped by Lake and on right-wing news sites across the country.

Attorney claims the county broke the law

It comes courtesy of new and compelling evidence from Lakes IT expert, who pored over tabulator logs for hours to uncover the incendiary device.

Lake is now claiming the county didnt really test its tabulators for logic and accuracy, as required by law, on Oct. 11.

Instead, as the BOMBSHELL goes, the county secretly tested the machines on three days the following week, wherein they learned that 260 of the tabulators produced error codes when ballots were inserted.

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This could only happen, Olsen told the judge, due either to malware installed on the tabulators or some other nefarious act of remote access.

Not only did Maricopa officials knowingly violate the law mandating logic and accuracy testing, Olsen wrote in his motion to reopen the matter, but that they knew about and planned the Election Day debacle -- one that he claims resulted in more than 8,000 ballots not being counted.

Except 'secret testing' was livestreamed

Even if thats true  and the county says its not  Lake lost by 17,117 votes.

County officials called Lakes latest claim laughable.

The required tabulator testing not only happened on Oct. 11, they say, but was observed and certified by state and county officials and even representatives of the state Republican and Democratic parties.

As for the so-called secret testing the following week, it was livestreamed.

Maricopa Deputy County Attorney Joseph La Rue told Thompson the county was installing new memory cards containing an already certified security feature designed to prevent votes from being counted twice.

A small number of ballots were then run to make sure the memory cards were installed properly and some of the ballots were spit out, usually because they werent inserted properly, he said.

What's next for Lake? Her signature verification dispute continues

Thats the shocking bombshell, he said.

One that doesnt seem to amount to even a small firecracker, given that printer failures didnt affect the outcome of the election.

My guess? This 'bombshell' goes pfft

But dont take my word for it.

Plaintiffs own expert acknowledged that a ballot that was unable to be read at the vote center could be deposited by a voter, duplicated by a bipartisan board onto a readable ballot, and  in the final analysis  counted ... .

It is worth repeating that ballots that could not be read by the tabulator immediately because of printer settings  or anything else  could be deposited in Door 3 of the tabulator and counted later after duplication by a bipartisan adjudication board.

So wrote Judge Thompson, in his December ruling tossing out Lake's challenge.

Well know soon whether Thompson is impressed by her most recent BOMBSHELL.

Me? Im guessing his ruling will come with a soundtrack that goes something like this:

Pffffft.

Reach Roberts at laurie.roberts@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on Twitter at @LaurieRoberts.

Support local journalism: Subscribe to azcentral.com today.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Kari Lake's latest election bombshell looks like another dud
The siblings of slain University of Idaho student Kaylee Goncalves will receive her posthumous degree on the sixth-month anniversary of her murder.

Kaylee, her best friend Madison Mogen, and fellow students Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin were stabbed to death in a vicious attack on the night of 13 November inside the young womens off-campus home. Bryan Kohberger, then a PhD student at the neighbouring Washington State University, has been charged with their murders.

On Saturday, the grieving families plan to attend the University of Idahos 2023 graduation ceremony, where their late loved ones will be celebrated for their achievements. Goncalves and Mogen were set to graduate this semester, while the families of juniors Kernodle and Chapin will receive certificates for the semesters they completed.

During an interview with Good Morning Americaaired on Friday, Goncalves parents talked about the many emotions theyve experienced on the days leading up to their daughters posthumous graduation. Their other children, they said, will walk across the stage to honour the milestone their sister had envisioned before her life was cut short.

Its still an out-of-body [experience], Kristi Goncalves said about grieving her daughter. I never would have thought a year ago, or even six months ago, that there was going to be a reason that Kaylee wouldnt be able to accept her own degree. That she wouldnt be here.

I think it shows respect for Kaylee and her hard work ... Its important for somebody to walk for her.

Meanwhile, Goncalves father Steve Goncalves told ABC News that he is looking forward to Mr Kohbergers next appearance in court on 26 June, for a preliminary hearing in the quadruple murder case.

I cant wait to see the evidence. ... And then Im gonna bring it, Mr Goncalves said. And hes gonna realise that this ... is the family thats gonna make sure he doesnt get away with it.

The siblings of Idaho murder victim Kaylee Goncalves speak out for the first time.



Goncalves was set to graduate in December, but her four siblings will be accepting a posthumous degree on her behalf instead. @KaynaWhitworth reports. https://t.co/wyOluLAs16 pic.twitter.com/fUSvVat8Hu  Good Morning America (@GMA) May 12, 2023

The Goncalves family said they dont believe Mr Kohberger ever met Kaylee in person, let alone attended one of her parties, as online speculation suggested.

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Youre not having just some random stranger at your party, Kaylees brother told ABC. Theres plenty of things that would have quickly [been] noticed and [hed be] removed from the party.

Ms Goncalves also recounted the moment she first saw Mr Kohberger in court, noting she was overwhelmed by the situation. She said while she cant wait to get justice for her daughter, she will not be present in the courtroom when graphic evidence on the case is presented.

I was completely overwhelmed. I actually almost thought I was gonna pass out, she said. My daughter saw him face-to-face and in a very different light than we saw him, sitting there [in court], looking very meek.

She added: I think a big thing is for us to go in strong, united as a family ... Ive never been to a preliminary trial before. ... I have no idea what to expect, I have no idea what were going to hear. ... But I know that Ive got my son, and my daughter will be there, and my sister, and my husband.

Mr Kohberger has not entered a plea but said earlier this year through a public defender that he was eager to be exonerated.

Ethan Chapin, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21 (Instagram)

The former criminology PhD student was linked to the crime thanks to DNA found at the scene, cellphone data and surveillance video of what prosecutors believe to be his white Hyundai Elantra leaving the scene after the slayings, according to the affidavit for his arrest.

One of the victims surviving roommates was also able to partially describe the killer to investigators after she came face to face with him in the aftermath of the murders. The murder weapon  a fixed-blade knife  was not recovered during the searches and it is still unclear where it may be.

Two warrants made public in April and obtained by The Independent show that investigators collected a Glock .40 calibre gun, empty gun magazines, a knife, a pocket knife, black face masks, black gloves, electronic devices, and more clothing items from the home of Mr Kohbergers parents in Pennsylvania, where he was arrested.

Mr Kohbergers family home was raided on the same day as another search was carried out at his apartment in Pullman, Washington, which was a 15-minute drive from the crime scene in Moscow.

The warrant from the Washington search was made public in January, revealing investigators seized a collection of dark red spotting and a pillow with a reddish/brown stain at Mr Kohbergers Pullman apartment. At least two items seized from the Pullman search tested positive for blood.
Activists on Thursday gathered to support the family of Amareeya Henderson, the 25-year-old killed by police during a Kansas City, Kansas, traffic stop, and called for a federal investigation of the police department.

Outside the Unified Government building in downtown Kansas City, Kansas, the family was joined by roughly two dozen supporters in a demonstration organized by the Metropolitan Organization for Racial and Economic Equity, or MORE2. In the wake of Hendersons death, the group is re-issuing the call for the U.S. Department of Justice to conduct a pattern-or-practice investigation of the Kansas City, Kansas Police Department.

Henderson, of Independence, had been out delivering orders for DoorDash on April 26 when he was pulled over in the 1100 block of Metropolitan Avenue near the 12th Street Bridge that crosses the Kansas River, his family has said. Hendersons family said he was unarmed and did not present a threat to the officers when he was shot.

Police, meanwhile, have said Henderson was shot after a confrontation with officers, but have declined to be more specific. Homicide detectives with the Kansas City Police Department in Missouri handled the investigation as part of KCKPDs agreement with the outside agency to conduct deadly use of force reviews externally.

On Wednesday, the case was sent to Wyandotte County District Attorney Mark Dupree to determine whether the shooting would be considered justified under Kansas law. The top county prosecutor vowed to act accordingly and afford the case the same scrutiny as any other criminal case review.

As the family continues to seek answers, Pauletta Johnson, his mother, said Thursday her only son was taken away from her that night. She described him as an intelligent, upstanding young man who always left love behind.

Paulina Johnson, Hendersons younger sister, said he was a protector to her, their other sister and their mother. Over the two weeks since his sudden death, she said, her two-year-old son has wondered where his Uncle Amareeya went.

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And I dont know what to say, Paulina Johnson said, adding that she will ensure the memories will live on in her son so he will never forget his favorite person.

Amareeya Henderson is pictured with his girlfriend Shakira Hill. Henderson was delivering for DoorDash when he was pulled over by a Kansas City, Kansas, police officer and then shot and killed during the encounter.

On the night he was shot, Hendersons girlfriend, Shakira Hill, was in the passenger seat and his mother was on the phone listening to the police encounter. Johnson was driving there, she previously told The Star, when she heard gunfire.

During the stop, the family has said, Henderson was afraid for his safety and could not get a straight answer from police about why he was pulled over. Hill told The Star the officer had tried to force his way into the vehicle and Henderson was starting to pull away in the moments before he was shot to death.

The family has since hired lawyers as they prepare a civil rights lawsuit against the police department.

The attorneys have said the evidence theyve reviewed thus far indicates the police officer unjustly shot Henderson, who was unarmed and behind the wheel of his car, in a manner where the officer clearly escalated what should have been a simple traffic stop. They also contend the officer violated the departments own use of force policies by shooting Henderson.

Attorney Kay Harper Williams, representing the family, said Thursday that Johnson is still awaiting an opportunity to see footage from body cameras worn by police  a legal right under Kansas law.

Harper Williams also noted that law enforcement has not shared the name of the officer who shot Henderson.

Hes able to stand behind his badge, behind a blue wall, she said. Unfortunately, all of us now know Amareeya Hendersons name. He is the victim here. This officer who shot and killed him on April 26 failed to serve or protect him.

Over the past two weeks, the shooting of Henderson has drawn attention from local activists and organizations. Justice for Wyandotte organized a weekend rally seeking the public release of body camera footage in the case.

David Grummon, a local attorney and member of MORE2, on Thursday pointed to the shooting of Henderson as the latest example of deep-seated issues in KCKPD.

We can change, Grummon said, encouraging Kansas City, Kansas community members to call congressional and local elected officials to press the issue. And the truth is, we have within our grasp a powerful tool that can make this better.
An embattled Kentucky court official acknowledged acting unprofessionally in a confrontation with another judicial-center employee, but denied touching employees in unwelcome ways.

Joseph JS Flynn, the elected circuit clerk in Pulaski County, also denied a former employees claim that he sexually assaulted her.

She has a real problem with lying, Flynn said of the woman.

Flynn faces accusations that include creating a hostile work environment, harassment and failing to perform his duties with courtesy and respect.

The Kentucky Attorney Generals Office presented evidence against him this week before Jean Chenault Logue, a former circuit judge who will make a recommendation on whether to remove Flynn from office.

Aaron Silletto and Marc Manley, who are prosecuting the case, said there had only been one circuit clerk in Kentucky removed from office through the process, about 30 years ago.

Flynn has been on paid leave since late March 2022 as the case progressed.

Some current and former employees in Flynns office testified this week that he engaged in angry outbursts toward employees and cursed; inappropriately touched employees; and made sexual comments in the workplace, sometimes about female customers.

One former employee said Flynn ran his hand up under her dress and touched her buttocks in a judicial-center office.

She also said that on another occasion, Flynn pulled her from the front seat of a Chevrolet Tahoe into the back seat with him, then pushed up her shirt, kissed her chest, and exposed himself and tried to force her to touch him.

Another employee was driving the vehicle. Flynn only let her go when the employee who was driving yelled at him, the woman testified.

The Herald-Leader is not identifying the woman who said she was the victim of the attack because the paper does not identify the victims of alleged sexual assaults.

Flynn testified in his own defense Thursday and Friday, flatly denying that he put his hand under the employees dress.

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Ashley Haste, a support specialist for district judges at the Pulaski County Judicial Center, and security officer Junior Fortenberry confirmed they saw the incident.

Flynn said Haste lied because she is friends with the other woman, and said he and Fortenberry had had a personal disagreement, suggesting thats why the security officer falsely backed the womans story.

Haste and Fortenberry had said they were telling the truth in their testimony.

As to the alleged assault in the vehicle, Flynn strongly denied that happened.

Flynn, 35, said he had metal rods implanted in his back as a teenager to correct a condition called scoliosis, a curvature of the spine.

Flynn said as a result he has to be careful about how much weight he lifts and wouldnt have been physically able to pull the woman from the front seat into the back seat of the SUV.

There is no way that I can do that, he said.

The woman who was driving the SUV said she couldnt see what was happening as she drove but heard the other employee tell Flynn to stop, corroborating that part of her story.

But Flynn and other workers in the clerks office argued the woman who made the allegation manipulated the other women to back her story.

Flynn said anyone who said they heard him talk about his sex life in the office was lying.

He did not deny touching employees hair or shoulders but said no one objected, and acknowledged pinching employees, but said that was a prank in which people in the office took part.

Some employees in the office testified they had not seen inappropriate conduct by Flynn; that he did a good job as clerk and cared about serving the public; and that they believe he should be restored to office.

JS did a helluva job in his office, said Misty Cundiff, a deputy clerk.

The state Administrative Office of the Courts received complaints about Flynn after an incident in his office on March 22, 2022.

Flynn acknowledged losing his temper after Haste came to his office to get a file and opened the door of a room where he was in a closed-door meeting.

Flynn said he told Haste he would bring her the file later, but got mad after she pushed open the door again and made a comment about him always being behind closed doors and about him not running the judicial center.

Flynn yelled and cursed, telling Haste to get the f--k out of my office.

Flynn said Haste and an employee in his office  the one who made the allegation about the sexual assault  provoked him by interrupting the meeting, but that he shouldnt have lost his cool.

I should have controlled myself better, he said. That was unprofessional what I did.

Jason Nemes, who represents Flynn with Joe Lambert, former chief justice of the state Supreme Court, argued to Logue that it would not be appropriate to remove Flynn from office based on the evidence presented against him.

The suspension Flynn has undergone, along with required anger management training, would be an appropriate way to deal with his outburst toward Haste, which he deeply regrets, Nemes argued.

Silletto said in response that he believed the Attorney Generals Office had presented sufficient reason to show Flynn should be ousted.

As to the claims that people lied about Flynn, Silletto said the credibility of the witnesses will be an issue for Logue to weigh.

Both sides will now have a month to submit written arguments to Logue, and she will then make findings and a recommendation to the Supreme Court on whether to remove Flynn.

It could be mid-July before that happens.
SHAKAHOLA FOREST, Kenya (Reuters) -Kenyan investigators unearthed 29 more bodies on Friday in a continuing search for victims of a doomsday cult in the country's southeast.

The death toll now stands at 179. Authorities this week have searched for remains in shallow graves scattered throughout the Shakahola forest and for any survivors as hundreds of people are still reported missing.

On Wednesday, a Kenyan court denied bail to Paul Mackenzie, leader of the Good News International Church, who has been accused of ordering his followers to starve their children and themselves to death so they could go to heaven before the end of the world.

Regional official Rhoda Onyancha said the search had widened to other parts of the forest on Friday. The exhumations will resume on Saturday.

Among the corpses exhumed on Friday, 12 were of children, a grave digger at the site of exhumations, who requested not to be named, told Reuters.

Mackenzie has not yet been required to enter a plea. His lawyer has said he was cooperating with the police in their investigation.

Earlier this year, Mackenzie was arrested and then released on bail on suspicion of the murder of two children by starvation and suffocation.

He returned to Shakahola forest after he was freed and brought forward his predicted doomsday from August to April 15, relatives of his adherents say, leading to criticism from some lawmakers that security services missed opportunities to prevent the mass deaths.

Kenya's Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua said on Friday the discovery of the starvation cult was about individuals and not the institution of the church and vowed to protect it against those who might weaponise the cult disaster.

"They would want to use that small issue to give the Church of Christ a bad name," he said in a video clip posted online by Citizen TV Kenya.

(Reporting by Joseph Akwiri, additional reporting by Duncan Miriri; Writing by Bhargav Acharya; Editing by William Maclean)
a blister pack of Ketamine lozenges COLE BURSTON / Contributor/ Getty Images

Ketamine has been around for decades but has been having a resurgence in recent years as an option for people with treatment-resistant depression. Loosened regulations around remote prescriptions for controlled substances have led to a proliferation of people taking the drug without medical supervision. While many hail the drug as a miracle treatment, some medical experts are concerned there's not enough research to support making the drug so easily accessible.

Is using ketamine to treat depression legal?

Ketamine is a hallucinogen that has been approved for use as an anesthetic by the Food and Drug Administration since the 1970s. It's also known as a street drug abused for its mind-altering effects, under names like Special K. In recent years, "it has shown promise for delivering rapid relief to patients with mental health conditions who have tried conventional antidepressants without success," according to The Washington Post. Several research studies in recent years showed it had some promise as an off-label antidepressant.

In 2019, the FDA approved Spravato, "a nasal spray derived from ketamine," for treating severe depression. "But that approval came with strict guardrails to ensure patient safety," added the Post," a nod to known side effects such as altered consciousness and increases in blood pressure." The FDA requires that health care providers monitor patients for two hours after they take Spravato.

While it's legal to prescribe ketamine for depression, "patients needed to first meet in person with a doctor, and treatment was mostly limited to infusions in clinics," reported The New York Times. Access to the drug was tightly controlled by the Drug Enforcement Administration, "which puts its risk of abuse one notch below that of opioids like oxycodone and fentanyl."

How are people getting access to ketamine at home?

In recent years, "even before the approval of Spravato" ketamine clinics, "which offer the drug off-label as either an infusion or an injection for a wide variety of mental health problems," started to pop up all over the United States, reported NBC News. The clinics had to abide by the FDA's regulations to administer the drug, including mandatory in-person visits, but that changed in 2020.

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At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the DEA "temporarily waived the requirement that prescribers meet patients in person before treating them with several classes of drugs," including controlled substances like Adderall and ketamine, reported the Post. The Biden administration has extended the regulatory changes, and a DEA spokesperson told the Post the agency is working on making the changes permanent.

At least eight companies have begun offering ketamine via telehealth since the beginning of the pandemic. Three of the providers combined, including "two of the better-known companies, Nue Life and Mindbloom," have prescribed over 10,000 patients at-home ketamine treatments.

Is it safe to use outside of clinical settings?

While "virtual ketamine startups say they're making the treatment vastly more accessible and improving patients' lives," the Post stated that many psychiatrists "worry that having patients taking it outside a doctor's direct supervision is a step too far, too soon."

"I'm very concerned about treatments that deviate too far from the standard recommendations given by the FDA," Gerard Sanacora, the director of the Yale Depression Research Program who led a team that pioneered ketamine to treat depression, said to the Post. He still believes ketamine "is one of the major advances of psychiatry in the past half-century." Still, health care professionals "have to be very careful to continue to develop this responsibly."

"While many patients have benefited, the rapid growth of remote prescribing and at-home use of various drugs has outpaced the evidence that doing so is safe and effective," Chris Hamby wrote for The New York Times. Hamby interviewed "more than 40 patients who said their access to the drug was expanded through telehealth" and found that some admitted to abusing their prescriptions and hiding adverse side effects from their providers. "The shift away from clinics has led many patients to take the drug more frequently and for longer periods of time," he said, "despite scant research on safety."

Another concern about the safety of mail-order ketamine is that many of the prescriptions are filled by "compounding pharmacies." At-home treatments created a demand for ketamine that was "less potent and easier to take" than the type typically used as anesthesia, Hamby said in the Times. "These specialized companies operate in a murky regulatory space somewhere between a corner drugstore and a pharmaceutical manufacturer." They produce variations of FDA-approved drugs "but do not have to follow the same quality-control rules as drugmakers."

Dr. Michael D. Banov, a psychiatrist in Atlanta, and Dr. Rachel E. Landrum, of Louisiana State University, warn that taking the ketamine unsupervised poses a risk of interactions with other drugs patients might be taking. "There's a risk with combining at-home ketamine with alcohol or drugs of abuse including opiates, amphetamines or benzodiazepines, or with legitimately prescribed medications that could have serious and life-threatening interactions." they wrote in a case study for the Psychiatric Times.

What's next?

The impending end of pandemic-era health measures could spell the end of at-home ketamine treatments, "potentially leaving patients high and dry and the internet upstarts that supply them looking for a contingency plan," according to Bloomberg. The pandemic-era public health emergency is scheduled to end in May, and without an extension, so will access to ketamine without an in-person consultation. The DEA has proposed new guidelines for how telehealth can be used when prescribing Schedule III-V substances. The proposal would allow health care providers to prescribe a 30-day supply of a controlled substance via telehealth but then require an in-person meeting to receive additional prescriptions.

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"48 Hours" will air "Lori Vallow Daybell: Guilty" Saturday, May 13 at 10/9c on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.

Half of the couple at the center of an Idaho murder case involving extreme religious beliefs is still facing trial after the conviction of his wife. A judge severed the trials of Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow Daybell, after Daybell waived his right to a speedy trial. Lori Vallow Daybell went on trial separately and was convicted May 12 of all charges, including the murders of her two children.

What is Chad Daybell charged with?

In total, Daybell faces six charges.

He is charged with murder in the death of his first wife, Tammy Daybell, and in the deaths of his wife Lori Vallow Daybell's children, 7-year-old Joshua "JJ" Vallow and 16-year-old Tylee Ryan.

He is also charged with conspiracy to commit murder in all three deaths. In the deaths of JJ and Tylee, that conspiracy charge also includes conspiracy to commit grand theft by deception. Lori Vallow Daybell was convicted of grand theft for taking the children's Social Security checks after their deaths.

He has pleaded not guilty. While Boyce took the death penalty off the table for Vallow Daybell, who will be sentenced in about three months, it could still be a possibility for Daybell.

When is Chad Daybell's trial?

Daybell's trial has not yet been scheduled. The judge in the case, Judge Steven Boyce, ruled in March that Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow Daybell would be tried separately, granting a motion to sever the trials by Daybell's attorneys. Daybell had earlier waived his right to a speedy trial.

His attorneys had asked in January to delay the joint trial, initially set for April, until 2024, but the judge had ruled against that motion, saying Lori Vallow Daybell had not waived her right to a speedy trial. Vallow Daybell's trial started April 3.

Boyce has said it could be delayed by more than six months, but it is unclear when that might be.

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Who are the other people involved in the case?

Lori Vallow Daybell, 49, had a daughter, Tylee Ryan, from a previous relationship when she married Charles Vallow, her fourth husband, in 2006. In 2012, the two adopted then 2-year-old Joshua, whose biological father was Vallow's nephew  the son of his sister, Kay Woodcock. Joshua, known as JJ, had autism, and by all accounts he and his sister Tylee were close.

7-year-old Joshua

Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell, now 54, met in 2018. The Vallows separated the following year, with Charles Vallow filing for divorce. He said in the divorce filing that his wife had threatened to murder him.

"She threatened me, murder me, kill me," he told police in a conversation captured on video, "48 Hours" reported.

A timeline of events in the case

Lori Vallow Daybell guilty of unimaginable crimes

Charles Vallow was killed in July 2019, shot in an altercation with Vallow Daybell's brother, Alex Cox, in Arizona, where the Vallow family  including JJ and Tylee  and Cox were living at the time. Soon after, Vallow Daybell and her children moved to Idaho. In a separate case in Arizona, Vallow Daybell is charged with conspiring to murder Vallow. Cox died unexpectedly in late 2019.

The last time anyone saw Tylee Ryan was in September 2019, when the family took a trip to Yellowstone National Park. JJ Vallow's biological grandparents, Kay and Larry Woodcock, said that the last time they spoke to the 7-year-old was in August, and asked police to check on him in November.

On Oct. 19, 2019, Tammy Daybell, the wife of Chad Daybell and the mother of his five children, died at the Daybell's home in Idaho of what officials initially said were natural causes but later said was suspicious. Daybell told police he did not want an autopsy.

Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow married in Hawaii two weeks later, on Nov. 5, 2019.

By December, police and the FBI were searching for 16-year-old Tylee and 7-year-old JJ. The hunt continued even as police arrested Vallow Daybell in Hawaii on two felony counts related to the missing children and three other misdemeanors. She was extradited to Idaho.

The search continued into 2020, when police executed a search warrant on Daybell's property in Rexburg, Idaho. There, they found human remains, later identified as JJ and Tylee  his body duct-taped and in red pajamas, and hers, badly burned.

A picture of Tylee Ryan and J.J. Vallow is seen on a fence opposite the property where their bodies were found in 2020, in Rexburg, Idaho. / Credit: NATALIE BEHRING / Getty Images

How does religion play a part?

Both Lori Vallow Daybell and Chad Daybell were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the Mormon church. Daybell owned a religious publishing company, and his own writing focused on fringe beliefs, including what he said were his own near-death experiences and the end times.

Vallow Daybell, friends said, was increasingly convinced that doomsday is around the corner. As part of that belief, she said people's bodies  including JJ, Tylee and Charles Vallow  were possessed by evil spirits, turning them into "zombies," former friend April Raymond told "48 Hours."

"Part of her mission on Earth was to eliminate the darkness, the demonic  the evil," Raymond said.

Chad Daybell sits during a court hearing on Aug. 4, 2020, in St. Anthony, Idaho. / Credit: John Roark/The Idaho Post-Register via AP, Pool

Daybell had a religious-focused podcast on which Vallow Daybell appeared. The two also held gatherings of people who shared their increasingly fervent beliefs: "48 Hours" reported Vallow Daybell believed she was chosen to lead the 144,000 people who would survive the end times. Her late husband told police she believed she was "a resurrected being  a god," "48 Hours" reported.

Vallow Daybell's trial included testimony about their beliefs in "zombies"  people who had evil spirits take over their bodies  as well as past lives as biblical figures, the end times and a rating scale of how close people were to death.

Text messages between the two included a number of religious elements, including the use of the names "James" and "Elena," the names they couple believed they'd had in a past life, during which they had also been married.

What have people close to Chad Daybell said?

Chad Daybell's five adult children have come to their father's defense, and told "48 Hours" they are convinced of his innocence. They believe the way JJ and Tylee were found  buried shallowly  suggests their father, a former gravedigger, was not involved, and he would have been smart enough not to bury the bodies on his own property.

"He was framed. This is his property. If there's bodies buried here, it would be attributed to him," said Emma Murray, his daughter. She blamed Vallow Daybell and her brother, Alex Cox, whose GPS put him at the property on the day prosecutors believe Tylee was buried.

"I think it's pretty clear it was Lori and Alex.  Alex came and left for periods of time.  We don't know  what exactly he was doing," she said.

His family also said they were the ones, not their father, who made the decision about not having an autopsy for their mother.

"But he was standing there  in complete shock, traumatized, letting us make the decision. If he was trying to hide something  I wouldn't leave something like that up to my kids if I was trying to hide something," Murray said.

And a source close to Vallow Daybell's trial told CBS News she was angry with her lawyers for trying to shift blame to Daybell during closing arguments.

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A Nebraska town opted to end its contract with Attorney General Kris Kobach's law firm earlier this week.

A Nebraska town opted to end its contract with Attorney General Kris Kobach's law firm, with the implications of Kobach's private practice work unclear now that he has been elected once again to statewide office.

Kobach is still listed as lead counsel on two cases he brought while working as a private attorney in 2021 at the same time he launched his bid for attorney general. Records show he filed a motion last month to dismiss one of the cases.

Then the Fremont, Nebraska, city council voted 5-3 Tuesday to end its contract with Kobach's law firm, a long-running deal where Kobach was paid a $10,000 per year retainer if the city were sued over an ordinance he helped draft.

That ordinance, which prohibits landlords from renting to undocumented immigrants, was approved by the city's voters in 2010 after years of wrangling. It has been on the books after voters opted not to revoke it in 2014 but has been largely unenforceable.

Kobach helped a number of local governments across the country draft similar measures, only to be retained as legal counsel when they were challenged in court. The thousands in legal fees he has been paid was the subject of media reports and stiff criticism when he ran for governor in 2018.

Fremont, meanwhile, hasn't paid Kobach for his legal services in 2022 and 2021 but recently received a bill for that time period. City council member Sally Ganem, who proposed ending Fremont's contract with Kobach, said she was pushing to do so largely because Kobach had been elected AG.

"The attorney general is the attorney for the state and its agencies," Ganem said. "Let me be candid: No attorney general should be moonlighting representing a city of another state. And this contract needs to be terminated."

Fremont, Nebraska, legal counsel hadn't been able to reach Kris Kobach

The contract allows either party to end the contract for any reason and city council members said the city's legal counsel had attempted to reach Kobach several times, to no avail.

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Still, others believed paying Kobach would ensure the city could have effective legal consultation in the event the ordinance was challenged in court, calling the $10,000 effectively an insurance policy to ward off a lawsuit.

"We dont need to employ him  but I think we might agree, if we are sued, it might be really valuable to have him in our camp, giving advice to whatever attorney might represent us," council member Paul Von Behren said.

Kobach's office didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. But speaking with the Kansas City Star and ProPublica in 2018, Kobach was asked about what the contract with Fremont would mean were he elected governor.

"I don't know, we'll have to weigh it then," he said. "Obviously as governor I would not have the same number of hours of free time that I do as secretary of state. Ill be reducing my lawyer work, the law work, considerably."

Cities in Texas, Missouri and Pennsylvania also enacted similar ordinances. Measures in those cities were already challenged in court and defeated, with officials having to narrow the scope of the ordinances or opt not to enforce them at all.

Officials in those cities couldn't be reached to confirm they don't have active legal contracts with Kobach.

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Kris Kobach files motion in private practice case after being sworn in as AG

While running for attorney general, Kobach also joined onto multiple cases that made headlines, both in Kansas and across the country.

In one case, Kobach was one of a number of attorneys representing Texas law enforcement officials in a challenge over President Joe Biden's immigration policies.

The case has been stayed since July 2022 amid a similar but separate lawsuit brought by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. There has been no substantive action since.

Douglas Poole, one of the other attorneys working on the case, said Kobach was still an active attorney on the case, and it is unclear what would occur if the stay was lifted.

In a separate case, where Kobach defended a number of military members challenging a COVID-19 vaccine requirement for servicemen, he filed a motion to dismiss the case as moot in late April after the White House announced they would drop the requirement.

It is unclear if Kobach personally prepared the motion or if it was another member of his legal team. Kobach's office did not respond to a request for comment last month on why he had not withdrawn as counsel from the cases, nor did they acknowledge further questions emailed Friday.

In a third case, challenging the Biden administration's COVID-19 vaccine mandate for large businesses, Kobach and his allies prevailed before being elected.

Kobach Law LLC has until July to file LLC paperwork

The state's laws don't explicitly prohibit a statewide official from carrying out private duties on the side, though Kobach's own website notes that he cannot provide legal advice to private citizens as attorney general.

On Kobach's statement of substantial interest filed last month, he reported receiving more than $2,000 in fees or commissions from Kobach Law LLC in the past calendar year.

Kobach Law LLC has been delinquent after not filing requisite paperwork as of mid-April, according to Kansas secretary of state records. If Kobach doesn't do so by July, he risks forfeiting the LLC.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kris Kobach's private practice work remains active, despite AG victory
[Source]

The CW has decided not to renew Kung Fu, its reboot of Ed Spielmans 1972 TV series, after three seasons.

Kung Fu follows a young Chinese American woman named Nicky Shen (played by Olivia Liang) who embarks on a life-changing journey to a secluded monastery in China after experiencing a quarter-life crisis. Upon her return to San Francisco, Nicky becomes a protector of her hometown, which has become a breeding ground for criminal activity and corruption.

The shows other cast members include Tzi Ma, Kheng Hua Tan, Shannon Dang, Yvonne Chapman, Ludi Lin, Tony Chung, Jon Prasida, Gavin Stenhouse, Eddie Liu, Ben Levin, Vanessa Kai, and JB Tadena, among others.

Christina M. Kim wrote the shows pilot episode and served as executive producer and co-showrunner with Robert Berens. Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter, Martin Gero and David Madden also served as executive producers.

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This marks the latest cancellation of a scripted program on the CW.

According to Deadline, the network is shifting its business model while under new ownership to focus on scripted originals mainly from the United Kingdom and Canada.

Other cancellations from the network include The Winchesters and Walker Independence.

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On Thursday, Liang expressed her disappointment about her shows cancellation on Instagram.

It has been the honor of my f*cking life to work with this group of humans. we made a historic three seasons of a show. first predominantly Asian cast in a one hour network drama. first Asian American female showrunner. i dont have enough words (or room in this carousel) to express my gratitude to my show-runners, my writers, my cast, my stunt team, my f*cking crew i love you all. I truly won the lottery. they are all the kindest, smartest, funniest, most hard working people in the biz. i am so so so proud of the work we did. thank you to everyone who invited us into your homes and watched our little show that could. cheers to Kung Fu, the show that changed my life forever  i love you Nicky Shen.

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Im sure the brain trusts at the Craft and Cameron headquarters are chortling and clapping their tiny hands at the news that Education Commissioner Jason Glass is a finalist for the Baltimore County, Md. school superintendent job.

Glass has been target number one in the clown car culture war campaigns that both candidates have been running against our schools. As he pointed out recently, he could easily find another job, and maybe already has.

Thats a shame. Glass is one of the smartest, toughest and best public education advocates that Kentucky has ever had. He was a formidable foe for the people trying to bring down our schools with nonsense like Critical Race Theory and transgender phobia. Sadly, one of the only ones, too.

Glass was too much for them because hes smart, principled and never lost sight of the main problem: that Republicans have a long game to destroy public education and theyre closer than ever to doing it. Its been happening for a long time: Kentucky passed the best education funding and curriculum reform in the country in 1990, and the GOP has been in a 30-year battle to undo it.

Education is the only way Kentucky can move forward and our elected leaders keep undermining it one step at a time. Instead of talking about real, solid policy, like the teacher shortage, our candidates and elected officials rant on about chimeras that simply dont exist.

Running Glass out of the state is the ultimate self-own, a cutting off your nose to spite your face of titanic proportions.

As KDE officials said Friday morning: Dr. Glass has enjoyed working with everyone at the Kentucky Department of Education and is appreciative of the work that he has done with the General Assembly to prioritize reading instruction, career/technical education, and provide greater flexibility for Kentuckys schools. Nevertheless, it has been clear to Dr. Glass that the education priorities of the legislature are focused on culture war issues and dismantling the states public schools. Commissioner Glass does not share these values and hopes Kentucky can find a way to recommit to supporting its public schools and to creating meaningful learning experiences for all students.

As Kentucky continues its slide backward, we will keep losing. We will lose good leaders like Glass, we will lose good graduates who dont like discrimination, we will lose good doctors who cant practice medicine the ways they were trained, we will lose good scientists and economists and tech entrepreneurs and creatives, the people who can move entire states forward. The serious people will leave. All that will be left is desiccated old politicians who will keep squawking about non-existent threats, and the shrinking, gerrymandered voter pools that still listen to them.

Kentucky cant have nice things because were too stupid to keep them.
By Dan Peleschuk

KYIV (Reuters) -Ukrainian forces have advanced by about 2 km around the eastern city of Bakhmut this week and have not given up any positions there in that time, Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said on Friday.

But she appeared to play down suggestions that Ukraine had already started a much-anticipated counteroffensive, and urged Ukrainians to disregard what she described as Russian disinformation about the situation in and around Bakhmut.

Some Russian military bloggers reported on Thursday that Ukrainian troops had broken through parts of the front line. Moscow denied the reports and said the situation was under control after 10 months of fierce fighting for Bakhmut.

"How does the enemy cover the battles in Bakhmut? (It) praises itself, talks about supposed success and invents stories about our military command," Maliar wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

"At the same time, the enemy gives false information about the lack of weapons, which probably aims to justify the real situation."

Describing what she called "the real situation" over the past week, she said "the enemy failed to carry out its plans; the enemy suffered great losses of manpower; our defenders advanced 2 km (1.2 miles) in the Bakhmut sector; we did not lose a single position in Bakhmut this week."

Moscow sees Bakhmut as a stepping stone to attacking other Ukrainian cities. Kyiv has said that maintaining the defence of Bakhmut allows Ukraine's military to prepare an expected counteroffensive.

In a separate Telegram post, Maliar later said that Russian attacks were being met by defensive operations and counterattacks, suggesting such moves should not be considered part of any major Ukrainian counteroffensive.

"This situation has actually been going on in the east for several months," she wrote. "That's it! Nothing more is happening."

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in an interview with European broadcasters published on Thursday that the counteroffensive had yet to start.

Reuters was unable to verify the situation on the battlefield.

(Reporting by Dan Peleschuk, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
Calling all Kyles: The City of Kyle, Texas, is holding a Kyle Fair, hoping to break the world record for largest same-name gathering. The event will be held on May 21 at, of course, Lake Kyle Park.

Whether you're Kyle Lowry, Kyle Mooney, Kyle Richards, Kyle MacLachlan or Kyle Schwarber  all Kyles are welcome, as long as you spell it that way.

The city has attempted to break the record three times before. Kyle's arch nemesis: Ivan. The city of Kupreski Kosci in Bosnia and Herzegovina gathered 2,325 people named Ivan in 2017, setting the world record.

"We need tall Kyles, short Kyles, young Kyles and old Kyles to get close to the record set five years ago," City of Kyle Special Events Manager Claudia Rocha said in a statement. "We're very excited about the upcoming, inaugural Kyle Fair and have high hopes that this event will bring out the Kyles needed to grab a spot in the record books."

Previous attempts at breaking the record have attracted Kyles from as far away as Massachusetts, the city says.

The event  dubbed the Kyle Fair, A Tex-Travaganza  will be held May 19-21, but on the final day, all Kyles will gather for a group photo. Entrance to the fair is free.

Large same-name gatherings have made headlines before. In 2020, a man named Josh Swain challenged other people with the same full name to meet him in Nebraska, "precisely 4/24/2021, 12:00 PM."

"We fight, whoever wins gets to keep the name, everyone else has to change their name, you have a year to prepare, good luck," he said in a Facebook message to fellow Josh Swains.

The plans gained traction, and about one year later, hundreds of other people named Josh showed up to "battle" each other. They kept the fighting PG  with pool noodle battles and a massive game of rock, paper, scissors.

The ultimate Josh: A 14-year-old the others affectionately called "Little Josh." The winner, who was there with his dad, Josh Vinson Sr., was honored with a paper Burger King crown  which was too big for his head.

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The Josh fight wasn't just a spectacle for Nebraskans and those who watched online. The event raised money for the Children's Hospital and Medical Center Foundation in Omaha  which is why Little Josh is perhaps the most deserving winner out of the hundreds of Joshes, as he spent time at Children's Hospital when he suffered from seizures at 2 years old.

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An English Language Arts teacher at Lake Nona Middle School left their job after the school opened multiple investigations after complaints about presentations made by students in class on Wednesday.

A 51-second clip of the presentation sent to WFTV by a parent showed a boy standing in front of a rowdy classroom speaking about Mexican immigrants.

Theyre border hoppers, he said, adding that the immigrants had to earn their rights. Theyre taking over Florida.

His classmates appeared equally shocked and amused, with one remarking on the color of Mexicans skin.

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They all have the same skin color, a little mixed or whatever, the male classmate said.

Until the district announced the teachers resignation, it wasnt clear any employees were even in the room. Nor was it clear what the overall presentation topic was about, how long the presentation was or if the teacher made any attempts to stop it after the clip ended.

Read: Lori Vallow Daybell found guilty of murdering kids, conspiring to murder husbands former wife

The parent who sent the video said their student had the same assignment, which was to give a presentation about a topic of their choice.

Jose Diaz, who is of Mexican heritage, said his son was also in the class and that several students made inappropriate presentations on topics like Why I dont like Black people and Why I dont like Mexican people.

Diaz said he was the third parent to complain to administrators on Thursday.

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I just hope that they take this and maybe make it into a learning moment and talk to people about the fact that, you know, its inappropriate to talk like this, especially in a school environment, Diaz said.

The district has threatened severe punishments for the behavior seen in the video, based on the outcome of their investigation and the content of witness statements staff said they finished collecting on Friday.

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Any discipline will handled according to the Code of Student Conduct, the district said in a statement and a recording texted to parents.

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The teachers resignation happened amid an investigation by the Office of Professional Standards, a spokesman said.

The presentation was given as tensions rise over the end of Title 42, a pandemic-era policy that helped the U.S. keep many migrants in Mexico while their cases were being worked through the court system. Normally, the migrants are allowed to stay in the U.S. during that time.

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Lakeland police released photos of people they're seeking for questioning in the case of the newborn baby that was found dead in a dumpster in South Lakeland on Thursday.

LAKELAND  Police have released photos of four individuals that detectives think have additional information on the baby found dead in a dumpster.

The Lakeland Police Department is seeking the public's help to identify a man and three women who were traveling together in a red sedan early Thursday morning. Officers believe these people "have information related" to a deceased baby, but did not identify whether they are potential suspects.

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At 6:03 a.m. Thursday, police responded to a call about a dead newborn boy in a bag inside a dumpster behind Just Move gym at 3625 S. Florida Ave. The umbilical cord and placenta were still attached.

Anyone who can identify the pictured individuals is asked to contact detective Neal Robertson at 863-834-6971 or email neal.robertson@lakelandgov.net.

Those who wish to remain anonymous can contact Heartland Crime Stoppers Florida by calling 1-800-226-TIPS (8477) or online at www.heartlandcrimestoppers.com. Anonymous tips can be texted using the free "P3tips" app.

Sara-Megan Walsh can be reached at swalsh@theledger.com or 863-802-7545. Follow on Twitter @SaraWalshFl.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: 4 people sought for questioning in death of baby found in a dumpster
LANCASTER  A member of the Lancaster Fire Department has been named the winner of an award titled in honor of an officer who was killed in the line of duty.

Adam Heterle, of the Lancaster Fire Department, stands outside of his department vehicle at the Lancaster Fire Department station house on East Main Street on May 10, 2023, in Lancaster, Ohio.

Adam Hetterle, Fire Inspector, Community Paramedic, and Arson Investigator for the Lancaster Fire Department, was announced as the winner of the Brett Markwood Award in mid-April. The Brett Markwood Award is an award open to all law enforcement, fire, and EMT personnel in Lancaster and Fairfield County who show dedication to their community, a passion for their job, and a willingness to go above and beyond. The award is named in honor of Officer Brett Markwood, who was killed in the line of duty on Feb. 21, 1993.

The award was part of the Lancaster-Fairfield County Chamber of Commerce's annual dinner that was held on Thursday.

Hetterle said that while he is thankful for the award, he believes he has just been doing his job the way he is supposed to.

"I'm appreciative of winning the award, but I'm honestly not big on winning awards," said Hetterle. "Honestly, I'm just kind of doing my job. It's a prestigious award and I'm excited that out of the hundreds if not thousands of first responders in Fairfield County that I was selected."

With the award being named in honor of Markwood and his sacrifice, Hetterle acknowledged the risk of his job.

"All first responders understand that there's an inherent risk to the job whether you're a police officer or a firefighter," said Hetterle. "It's not something that's ever a forethought when you go to work every day, you understand things are dangerous but you're willing to accept that risk to serve our community."

Hetterle said that first responders are often helping people at their lowest points. He emphasized the importance of being there for people and showing them that everything is going to be okay.

After being born and raised in Seattle, Washington, Hetterle said that his family moved to Ohio years later. He started in Columbus before moving to New Lexington. Nine years ago, he moved to Lancaster and has been there ever since.

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Before becoming a firefighter, Hetterle did not know what he wanted to do after high school. He said that he originally started down the path of becoming a physician's assistant before finding his fulfillment as a firefighter.

"I guess what I was looking for in a career, I wanted something fulfilling, something challenging, something that you could get a bit of self-reward from," said Hetterle. "Although it wasn't a thought to be a first responder, when I started down that path I ended up in an EMT class."

"I thought, this is what it is that I'm going to do and what I want to do," said Hetterle.

He said that while every day is challenging, he always looks forward to going to work.

Hetterle closed by reiterating that while he is appreciative of the award, he and other first responders do not do their work for the accolades.

"I don't do what I do for awards, and I think every first responder will tell you that," said Hetterle. "We're not out here for recognition, we're out here doing what it is that we enjoy doing and in most cases that's serving our community."

This article originally appeared on Lancaster Eagle-Gazette: Lancaster firefighter honored with Chamber award
Jack has left Laos for his safety and is recovering abroad, says his representative

The BBC has learned that a political activist from Laos who survived an attempted assassination has left the country to receive urgent medical care.

Videos online show "Jack" Anousa Luangsuphom being shot point blank in the face and chest in the capital, Vientiane, last week.

At first, relatives of the 25-year-old blogger said he had been killed, out of fear that the gunman would return.

But activists later said he was alive and recovering in hospital.

An online call for donations to help fund Jack's hospital care paid for his medical evacuation out of Laos, said human rights lawyer Emilie Palamy Pradichit.

Ms Palamy Pradichit, who is with the civil rights organisation, the Manushya Foundation, is Jack's representative.

She added that he is currently at an undisclosed location, recuperating after having a bullet removed from his chest and surgery to repair his face. He is now conscious and can communicate by writing down his thoughts.

Ms Palamy Pradichit, however, said that she could not confirm if he'll return because he no longer feels safe inside the country.

The authorities in Laos have blamed the 30 April attack on a personal or business dispute. The blogger's associates, however, believe an undercover police officer was sent to kill him because of his work as one of the country's few outspoken campaigners.

He ran two community Facebook pages that sparked rare discussions on topics like corruption and pollution, and called for more civil rights in Laos' repressive one-party state.

Security camera footage shared widely after the attack shows a man in a brown hat stepping inside the door to the cafe in Vientiane. He appears to confirm that Jack is inside before pulling a handgun from the waistband of his trousers. He then fires several shots.

The night that Jack was shot, Ms Palamy Pradichit says, he was inside a cafe with his friends, three people who owned the venue.

They witnessed the shooting and visited Jack in a nearby hospital shortly after the attack. All three are then believed to have been interviewed by the police. They've all since gone into hiding, apparently fearful of reprisals from the authorities. The cafe's Facebook page has been shut down.

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Some are comparing the assassination attempt on Jack to the disappearance of another high-profile political activist, Sombath Somphone, a decade ago, noting that little seems to have changed.

"I believe that Jack's life is definitely in danger after leaving Laos," Ms Palamy Pradichit says. "Transnational repression of Lao dissidents is real and a growing phenomenon. In recent years, Lao democracy activists have disappeared or have been found killed in neighbouring countries, such as Thailand."

She points to the example of Od Sayavong, a campaigner from Laos who was living as a refugee in Thailand when he disappeared in 2019.

Several large campaign groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have joined the call demanding an independent inquiry into the blogger's attempted killing.
Standing near images of victims in a triple slaying outside a Benedict Canyon home this year, Capt. Jonathan Tippet, who leads the Los Angeles Police Department Robbery-Homicide Division, speaks during a news conference Friday announcing that LAPD detectives took several suspects into custody in connection with the killings. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Los Angeles police detectives have taken into custody three suspects in connection with a gang-related triple slaying outside a Benedict Canyon home this year.

After months of investigation that led detectives to a Beverly Hills high-rise, where a getaway car had been spotted, police arrested three men they say carried out the Jan. 28 attack, which left three dead and four others critically wounded.

The ambush shooting was carried out by three Chicago gang members and motivated by events in that city, Los Angeles Police Capt. Jonathan Tippet said at a news conference Friday.

Daries Stanford, 28; Dontae Williams, 22; and Dejean Thompkins, 28, were arrested in Chicago; Gary, Ind.; and New York City, respectively, with the help of local police and the FBI. Thompkins was apprehended Wednesday.

All three are awaiting extradition to Los Angeles, where they will face multiple murder charges, police said.

Authorities also have linked the men to another L.A. slaying that occurred a month before the Benedict Canyon attack. Detectives are continuing to investigate who else may be involved in the alleged murder plots.

The Benedict Canyon shooting occurred outside a short-term rental home in the 2700 block of Ellison Drive, a street of large hillside homes north of Beverly Hills. Neighbors reported seeing several cars driving away minutes after gunfire rang out around 3 a.m., police said.

Detectives released a crime alert with information they had gleaned from witnesses and surveillance video from the scene. The suspects were last seen driving a blue, four-door Tesla with damage to its right front fender and no license plates, police said. That vehicle was tracked to a condo complex in the 8600 block of Wilshire Boulevard, where one of the apartments was searched in March for forensic evidence connected to the shooting.

Los Angeles police officers stand outside a Benedict Canyon home, near the scene of a Jan. 28 attack in which three people were killed and four were critically wounded. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

Tips from members of the public who saw the suspects vehicle in and around the West L.A. and Beverly Hills area led investigators to the apartment complex on Wilshire. A warrant to search the apartment was obtained after it was connected to the Tesla.

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Thanks to those eyewitnesses and other evidence, Los Angeles Police Department detectives working with Beverly Hills police, Chicago police and the FBI built a picture of the alleged movements of the three accused gunmen, Tippet said.

The suspects flew to Los Angeles shortly before the attack and stayed briefly, delivering the deadly barrage of gunfire with two guns before flying out of the state, Tippet said.

The shooting targeted other people who were with the three women after returning from a bowling alley that night, according to Tippet, who said that the motive stemmed from activity in Chicago and that the three suspects had flown to Los Angeles with the intent of killing their targets.

The violence that occurs in Chicago today is having an effect on all of us, Tippet said. We are saddened by this horrible loss of life. We hope the arrest of those responsible for these acts will bring some comfort to the families.

Those who were killed  Nenah Davis, 29, of Bolingbrook, Ill.; Destiny Sims, 26, of Buckeye, Ariz.; and Iyana Hutton, 33, of Chicago  all had roots in the Chicago area, police said. The lifelong friends died in a hail of gunfire that peppered their rented Porsche SUV.

Hutton was trying to get into the music business before she was killed and was said by a friend to be in L.A. for an album release. Davis, one of Hutton's best friends, was a mother who once worked as a nurse. Sims was a mother of three and a hairstylist who grew up in Illinois before moving west with her family.

Earlier the night of the shooting, the trio had visited a bowling alley before returning to their rental home, according to friends interviewed by The Times.

Photos of the victims were on display during a press conference to announcing that the suspects in the Benedict Canyon triple murder were taken into custody. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Artist Mick E. Finnz, a longtime friend of Hutton's, wondered whether something had happened at the bowling alley to set off the deadly events. But Tippet said detectives found no evidence of any altercation.

The suspects in the triple homicide have also been tied to the Dec. 22 slaying of Julian Bynum in North Hollywood. Bynum, 30, was visiting from Chicago when he was shot multiple times shortly before midnight on the 6800 block of Simpson Avenue. LAPD detectives initially said he was killed during a narcotics purchase, but they now believe he was targeted.

Joseph Iniguez, the chief of staff for Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gascon, said Thompkins has been charged with four counts of murder  three each for the Benedict Canyon shooting and one in connection with Bynum's death  and six counts of attempted murder.

Williams and Stanford are charged with three counts of murder and six counts of attempted murder with a semiautomatic weapon. Investigators won't say at this stage if they were involved in Bynum's slaying.

Because of the incredible loss of life, we have decided to file special circumstance allegations and gun enhancements in this case," Iniguez said. "We cannot allow these tragedies to go unanswered.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Law enforcement officers have evacuated the last child from the village of Khromove in Bakhmut hromada [an administrative unit designating a town, village or several villages and their adjacent territories  ed.].

Source: National Police of Ukraine

Quote from police: "The special operation took place at night. The military took people from the basements in special vehicles and handed them over to the police in an agreed-upon location, who took them to a safe place.

We managed to evacuate eight adults and a child. All of the rescued people are in a safe place."

Details: In particular, 9-year-old Matviiko [diminutive from Matvii  ed.], the last child in the settlement, was taken from the village. Russian forces destroyed his house. The boy and his parents lived in the basement.

The family reportedly took their pets with them: a cat called Sonia and three kittens.

"There are currently no children left in Khromove," the police concluded.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
Lawmakers are urging the Biden administration to expedite the nomination of a new national cyber director because the delay could slow the implementation of the national cybersecurity strategy.

In a letter to Biden, Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) and Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), who co-chair the Cyberspace Solarium Commission, said the administration should move quickly on this nomination as cyberattacks continue to be a significant threat to the nation.

Biden would be nominating someone to replace former National Cyber Director Chris Inglis, who resigned earlier this year.

While we applaud the White Houses efforts under Director Inglis to stand up the office and his strong leadership in drafting the National Cybersecurity Strategy, we are extremely concerned that the three-month delay (and counting) in nominating a candidate to replace Chris will hinder the implementation of the strategy and lead to a lessening of the stature of the office, the lawmakers said in the letter.

King and Gallagher urged the president to nominate acting director Kemba Walden, who was principal deputy under Inglis. The lawmakers said she is highly qualified and well suited for the position, and they believe that she will receive a swift confirmation.

Walden is a former counsel at Microsoft who joined the office last year.

Inglis, who served as the nations first national cyber director, left the position after a year and a half.

His position was created as part of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act to strengthen the U.S. digital ecosystem while aggressively addressing and mitigating the risks and threats at large in cyberspace, according to the White House.

The lawmakers letter comes a day after the Wall Street Journal reported Gen. Paul Nakasone, the head of the National Security Agency (NSA) and U.S. Cyber Command, is expected to resign from his positions in the coming months.

Nakasone, who was appointed to lead both agencies in 2018, is looking to leave by August or September, a source told The Wall Street Journal.

Its unclear, however, whether the four-star general is planning to retire, take another position in the government or move to the private sector.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
A man who police say made terroristic threats at Pittsburgh International Airport is fighting to be released from jail, after a district judge issued him an ROR bond.

Judge Edward Borkowski will ultimately make the decision.

Around two dozen of Hossein Dehnavifards family members and friends came from Philadelphia and Erie to the Allegheny County Courthouse to support him, after police say he made threats that grounded an American Airlines plane on Wednesday.

Its unbelievable, and I think its all a misunderstanding. English is not his first language, and maybe the person didnt understand properly because of his accent, Hosseins friend, Maryam Saeedi said.

He was in court after Magistrate Xander Orenstein initially said Hossein could be released on his own recognizance, which means he could be released from jail with posting bail.

To prevent that from happening, a motions hearing was added to his case.

An American Airlines gate attendant testified that Hossein was late to the gate for his flight to Philly, which would eventually head to Iran.

When he missed the time to board, the attendant testified that Hossein said that the plane couldnt leave without him because he had a bomb in his luggage.

You shouldnt say that word in an airport because I think people get upset about it, but its a misunderstanding, Saeedi said.

His defense attorney is arguing he should be released on house arrest, and that hes not a flight risk. He also thinks there was a miscommunication.

I think things got lost in translation. He speaks with a heavy accent, so I think possibly they misunderstood what he was saying. Im not trying to downgrade what happened, but there are always two sides to every story. His side has yet to be told, Hosseins defense attorney Turahn Jenkins said.

The Chief Deputy of the Sheriffs Office testified that if Hossein was released, and gave up his passport, its very easy to get a new one, and he would have access to leaving the country.

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We spoke with the County Sheriff about the fact that District Judge Orenstein issued the ROR bond, to begin with.

I cant speak to the district judges decision, but I believe there should be adequate consideration for foreign nationals who can leave the country in the interest of securing future court proceedings, Sheriff Kevin Kraus said.

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Former US Marine Daniel Penny is taken from a New York City Police precinct under arrest for the death of Jordan Neely. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

More than $300,000 has been raised for a legal defense fund for former Marine Daniel Penny.

Penny was captured on video placing Jordan Neely, a homeless subway rider, in a fatal chokehold.

He surrendered to authorities on Friday in connection to Neely's death.

More than $300,000 has already been raised in a legal defense fund for Daniel Penny, the former Marine who was captured on video placing Jordan Neely, a homeless New York City subway rider, in a fatal chokehold earlier this month.

Attorneys representing 24-year-old Penny set up the fundraiser on the Christian crowdfunding website GiveSendGo.

Donations for the fund continued to quickly pour in on Friday morning as Penny surrendered to authorities to face a charge of manslaughter in connection to Neely's death.

"Funds are being raised to pay Mr. Penny's legal fees incurred from any criminal charges filed and any future civil lawsuits that may arise, as well as expenses related to his defense," reads the donation page for Penny.

It adds, "All contributions are greatly appreciated. Any proceeds collected which exceed those necessary to cover Mr. Penny's legal defense will be donated to a mental health advocacy program in New York City."

Penny turned himself in to the New York Police Department's 5th Precinct in lower Manhattan on Friday morning and was arrested. The office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said on Wednesday Penny would be charged with second-degree manslaughter for Neely's death.

Jordan Neely is pictured before going to see the Michael Jackson movie, "This is It," outside the Regal Cinemas on 8th Ave. and 42nd St. in Times Square, New York, in 2009. Andrew Savulich/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

Minutes after Penny surrendered, his attorney, Thomas Keniff, told reporters his client turned himself in "voluntarily and with the sort of the dignity and integrity that is characteristic of his history of service to this grateful nation."

Witnesses to the deadly May 1 incident on board an F train said Neely, a 30-year-old Black man, was screaming about being hungry and thirsty before Penny, a white man, put him in a deadly chokehold.

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There has been no evidence so far that Neely physically attacked anyone on the train, and the incident has sparked protests throughout the city.

Black Lives Matter protestors march through the streets to demand justice for Jordan Neely. Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images

Meanwhile, a fundraiser set up by Neely's family to cover his funeral expenses had raised more than $59,000 as of Friday morning.

Neely "was a very talented [B]lack man who loves to dance," the GoFundMe page reads. "Performance was his thing."

"We just want justice for him, please give what you can with your heart," it continues. "He has so many fans, he will always be loved and remembered. We love you Jordan."

Read the original article on Insider
Daniel Penny. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Attorneys for Jordan Neely's family say Daniel Penny should be charged with murder.

Penny has been charged with manslaughter for the chokehold subway death of Neely.

"Justice looks like a conviction and justice looks like a conviction for murder," lawyer Lennon Edwards said.

Attorneys for the family of Jordan Neely argued on Friday that Daniel Penny  the former Marine arrested for putting the Black homeless man in a fatal chokehold on a New York City subway  should have been charged with murder instead of manslaughter.

"Justice looks like a conviction and justice looks like a conviction for murder," lawyer Lennon Edwards said during a press conference on Friday alongside Neely's devastated family members.

Edwards said that Penny "intentionally chose a technique to use that is designed to cut off air" when he went after Neely aboard an F train on May 1 and placed him in a chokehold, killing him.

"He chose to continue to hold that chokehold minute after minute, second after second until there was no life left in Jordan Neely," Edwards said of Penny. "That's the choice that he made and he did it intentionally, so we believe that the conviction should be for murder because that's intentional."

Another attorney representing Neely's family, Donte Mills, added that Penny could have chosen to let go of Neely, but didn't.

"He had to know he would die. He had to," Mills said.

Attorneys Lennon Edwards (right) and Donte Mills, Andre Zachery and Mildred Mahazu, father and aunt of Jordan Neely. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Penny, 24, turned himself in to the New York Police Department's 5th Precinct in lower Manhattan Friday morning and was arrested on a charge of second-degree manslaughter in connection to the death of 30-year-old Neely.

During Penny's arraignment at Manhattan Criminal Court, Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass said that Penny held Neely for several minutes, even after he stopped moving.

Witnesses to the deadly ordeal have said Neely was screaming about being hungry and thirsty before Penny put him in a chokehold.

Story continues

Steinglass said at the arraignment that "several witnesses observed Mr. Neely making threats and scaring passengers" before Penny confronted him from behind and "placed him in a chokehold, taking him down to the ground."

When the subway arrived at the next stop in Manhattan, Penny "continued to hold Mr. Neely in the chokehold for several minutes," Steinglass said.

Still from a video show three men, including Daniel Penny, either retstraining or standing near Jordan Neely in a subway altercation that ended in Neely's death. Juan Alberto Vazquez/Reuters

Two other men on the train then "aided" Penny "by restraining Mr. Neely's arms," the prosecutor said.

"At some point, Mr. Neely stopped moving," said Steinglass, explaining, "The defendant continued to hold Mr. Neely for a period and then released him."

First responders who arrived at the scene rushed an unresponsive and unconscious Neely to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled that Neely died due to "compression of neck" and classified his death as a homicide.

Penny, who was captured on cell phone video putting Neely in the chokehold, was released on $100,000 bond following his court appearance. Penny has been required to surrender any passports within 48 hours and must get permission from the court if he wants to leave the state of New York.

If convicted of manslaughter, Penny would face a minimum of three-and-a-half years in prison, and as much as 15 years behind bars.

Jordan Neely is pictured before going to see the Michael Jackson movie, "This is It," outside the Regal Cinemas on 8th Ave. and 42nd St. in Times Square, New York, in 2009. Andrew Savulich/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

"Ask yourself, is that enough? Is that enough for someone who choked somebody out on the train and took their life?" Mills said during his Friday press conference.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement on Friday that his office "determined there was probable cause to arrest Daniel Penny and arraign him on felony charges" after evaluating the "available facts and evidence" in the case.

"Jordan Neely should still be alive today, and my thoughts continue to be with his family and loved ones as they mourn his loss during this extremely painful time," Bragg said.

Read the original article on Insider
Keep a good steward of tax dollars

It is the first responsibility of every citizen to question authority. That quote by Benjamin Franklin describes Laurel Zydneys time on the State College Area Board of Directors. Even the casual viewer would probably notice Laurel asks probing questions of decisions being proposed by the administration. She spends hours doing her homework on every issue and strives to make sure all possible issues have been resolved before a vote has been taken. Laurel is also very approachable. When contacting Laurel she responds right away. She is eager to share the many spreadsheets she keeps on the financial decisions of the school district. Laurel is a good steward of our tax dollars. These qualities and others separate her from many of her peers. We are proud to continue to support Laurel Zydney for SCASD Board of Directors.

John and Marion Sheridan, Pennsylvania Furnace

Sapia has unique view to share

Tony Sapia was born and raised in State College, raised his sons here, and owns and operates a business in downtown State College. You can find him all over town supporting local business or working at his own, whether at the bakery or a farmers market.

His experience over the years gives him a unique view of State College from several perspectives.

I have known Tony for more than 20 years and can attest to his dedication to making our community a better place. He has always been able to bring people together. This will be an asset when searching for and finding practical solutions that will work for everyone.

Tony loves to talk with people, but more importantly he listens to everyone. Maybe more than anything, that is what we should be looking for in Borough Council.

I hope youll join me in supporting Tony in the upcoming election for Borough Council.

Ray Caravan, State College

New expertise, experience

The election of a Court of Common Pleas judge presents voters with a clear choice. Electing Julia Rater maintains the status quo. Electing Gopal Balachandran brings new expertise and experience to the court.

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Recently most of the judges including Julia have come from two law firms in State College. Like Julia, each has focused their legal work on family law. Since the judges were members of the local legal community, they and the attorneys appearing in their court know each other. These institutional practices may not be helpful in examining ways to improve justice and court functioning.

Gopal has defended indigent clients charged with criminal offenses in three other states for over a decade. At the current time, none of the judges has a significant background in criminal law although the court handles almost 2000 criminal cases per year.

Gopal is a law professor teaching students to defend clients seeking to appeal their convictions. He has aided the CC Public Defender with appellate work and filing briefs. He is knowledgeable about ways to expand and improve the effectiveness of specialized courts.

Gopal has sacrificed earning the financial rewards of private law practice in order to dedicate his career to serving others as a public defender. He has not had paying clients since 2006.

A vote for Gopal will bring diversity and a judge with a commitment to service, a focus on fairness and equality and who will treat everyone in his court with compassion, dignity and respect.

Renee Steffensmeier, State College

Qualification gap between candidates

I am enthusiastically giving my vote to Julia Rater for Centre County Judge. Heres why: In my 50 years of voting in Centre County I have rarely seen a wider gap  a chasm really  between the qualifications and experiences of two candidates. Julia Rater is one of the most qualified and most experienced candidates we have seen for any position in a Centre County election.

Rater has represented clients in our Centre County courtroom for 27 years, appearing there over 1,100 times. Gopal Balachandran has never represented a client in a Centre County courtroom. Rater has been a member of the Centre County Bar Association for 21 years. Balachandran has been a member of the Centre County Bar for seven months.

Rater has served on the board of Strawberry Fields, Tides, Bellefonte EMS and volunteers for the Special Olympics. She and her family have lived here for 21 years and have deep roots in Centre County. Balachandran and his family have lived in Centre County for five years.

Theres simply no comparison in their legal experience, Raters personal commitment to all of Centre County, or in her ability to run a positive campaign.

Hopefully Gopal Balachandran will run for office again in a few years after hes had a chance to build a deeper legal and community resume. But for now, Julia Rater is the superior candidate and merits strong support from all of us.

I urge you to vote for Julia Rater for Centre County Judge.

Hodge Barton, State College

Unfair letter





I find the CDT letter from Michael Kulikowski to be disingenuous and a backhanded way of endorsing Gopal Balachandran, his candidate for judge. In the process he has impugned our current judges and done a great disservice to Julia Rater.

He states that our Court of Common Pleas needs someone who believes that women have a right to autonomy over their own bodies, as if Rater doesnt. Its difficult to understand why Mr. Kulikowski would make such a statement.

He states that the disadvantaged should enjoy equality before the law, and that the courts should serve the citizenry, not just power and wealth, as if our current court doesnt serve the citizenry  and as if Julia Rater wouldnt continue that high standard.

He states that our Court of Common Pleas needs a justice with a criminal law background when Judges Grine, Oliver and Marshall have all handled criminal trials. Hes seemingly ignorant that our judges dont choose the cases they hear. Also, hes apparently unaware that with Judge Ruests retirement were losing the judge with the most family law experience, the source of the highest number of cases in our court. What we really need is Julia Rater, who is experienced in family law, to pick up that load. Unfortunately, it appears Balachandran has zero family law experience. Mr. Kulikowski conveniently ignored that fact.

Mr. Kulikowski is entitled to his opinion, but it doesnt speak well of him or his candidate with an endorsement full of innuendo and half-truths.

Diane Ebken, Port Matilda

Solving issues together

My name is Evan Myers, and I would be honored by your vote for State College Borough Council on May 16.

State College faces issues that working together we can solve. We need more inclusionary and affordable housing, a complete, thorough review of zoning codes, the need to figure out creative ways to provide affordable business space especially downtown and ways to increase our tax base without burdening homeowners. I have business and budgeting experience, but I know that government is not a business, it needs to be efficient, but its functions are to serve the needs of its residents, provide services, a safe environment and help ensure justice. We can combat climate change locally by expanding bicycle and pedestrian connections and increasing incentives for green buildings. While we do all this it is important to expand on our initiatives to make State College a welcoming, diverse and inclusive community, all while engaging Penn State and students. Governor Shapiro has trusted me with several appointments, and I have represented the people of State College as Chair of the Planning Commission, Chair of the COG Finance Committee and Council President. I have worked on solutions to the issues we face.

The task may seem daunting, but I have no doubt that together we can make progress on many of these issues. I ask for your vote and importantly your help.

Evan Myers, State College. The author is a candidate for a four-year State College Borough Council seat.

High stakes in statewide judicial elections

Courts matter now more than ever, and the stakes could not be higher in the 2023 statewide judicial elections. In the race for the open seat on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, we need someone who fights for justice and will be a champion for our rights.

Judge Daniel McCaffery brings a lifetime of public service: to his country, as a veteran of the United States Army, to his community as former prosecutor and Court of Common Pleas Judge in Philadelphia, and Commonwealth in his current role as a sitting judge on the Pennsylvania Superior Court. His lived and judicial experiences are unparalleled in this race.

Not only has he been Highly Recommended by the Pennsylvania Bar Association, but has earned the endorsements of the Pennsylvania National Organization for Women, Pennsylvania Democratic Party, Pennsylvania AFL-CIO, Pennsylvania Building Trades, and scores of organizations and elected officials from every stretch of the Commonwealth. Thats because they know what we know, which is that Daniel McCaffery is not only the judge we need on the Supreme Court, but the best candidate to lead at the top of the ticket for Democrats in the fall.

Remember Democrats: Number One on your ballot  Vote Judge Daniel McCaffery for Pennsylvania Supreme Court on or before Tuesday, May 16.

Laura Shadle, Ferguson Township

Centre County judges are competent

I am a practicing criminal defense attorney in Centre County for 40 years. I have tried many felony and misdemeanor cases in front of many of our judges over those years. I would like to comment on some of the wild assertions in Professor Balachandrans responses to questions at the recent League of Women Voters forum.

Professor Balachandran says that if elected, he would be the first judge in Centre County who has tried a felony criminal case to conclusion, and that because of this, he and he alone can fix what he believes to be a broken and incompetent judiciary in Centre County. Professor Balachandran is wrong. Our judges are very competent, and many have successfully tried criminal cases to conclusion.

President Judge Jonathan Grine has been one such successful judge. I know this because I helped mentor him in a case he tried as an associate in my former firm. Moreover, Professor Balachandran is dead wrong in saying that a judge must have experience as a criminal lawyer to be qualified as one of our judges. Our judges in Centre County have historically handled hundreds of criminal jury and non-jury cases, and rarely have their rulings ever been reversed by a higher court. Some have not had experience trying a criminal case as a lawyer.

Julia Rater is the only qualified, experienced lawyer that can competently assume the current vacancy. Gopal Balachandran is not.

Tim Fleming, State College
Lexington will soon become the fourth city in Kentucky to ban race-based hair discrimination in workplaces.

The Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council unanimously passed the Create a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair, or C.R.O.W.N., ordinance, which would ban race-based hair discrimination of certain hair styles  such as braids, locs, twists or Bantu Knots.

A council committee unanimously passed the ordinance Tuesday.

Several people spoke in favor of passage of the ordinance before councils vote Thursday. The council gave the ordinance both first and second readings on Thursday, which is rare.

Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton signed the ordinance Friday. The ban takes effect immediately.

Former Rep. Attica Scott, who sponsored state legislation for a state-wide CROWN Act, said she sponsored the bill after her daughters Louisvilles school banned natural hair styles. Her daughter was able to get her school to change the policy and she was later featured in a documentary about Black natural hair and her fight to change the schools policy.

These policies are racially discriminatory and are legal, Scott said.

Chemical straighteners can led to cancer, Scott said. Multiple studies have shown that Black women with natural hair styles are viewed as unprofessional. A 2019 Dove study showed that 80% of Black women have felt they need to change their hairstyles for work.

We have the research, Scott said. We know it harms our health to use chemical straighteners. We know we are being discriminated against.

Dr. Stephanie White, a pediatrician, said discrimination based on hair styles or textures can led to psychological harm. It makes people feel less than, particularly kids.

The CROWN Act can help mitigate these affects, White said.

Louisville, Covington and Frankfort have passed similar anti-hair discrimination measures. Efforts to get a statewide ban on hair-based discrimination has failed in the state legislature in recent years.

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Covington was the first city to pass an ordinance in 2020. Frankfort was the latest in March.

According to information provided to the council Tuesday, 44 cities and 21 states have banned racial-based hair discrimination.

Three Black Lexington councilwomen  Shayla Lynch, Denise Gray and Tayna Fogle  pushed for the ordinance.

The proposed ordinance would ban racial based discrimination of hairstyles in employment and housing. The Lexington-Fayette Human Rights Commission would investigate all complaints. The courts could then decide financial damages if a business or person is found guilty.
A Lexington man convicted in a federal fraud case tied to a billion-dollar company has violated the terms of his bond on other charges by failing to report a $2,700 gambling loss, a federal grand jury has charged.

Charles E. Johnson Jr. was already facing three charges of making false statements by not giving information on his finances to probation officers. Now a grand jury has returned a superseding indictment adding two more charges. The indictment was handed down Thursday.

One charge is that he made a false statement by not reporting he lost money at the Hard Rock Cincinnati Casino in February. The other is that he didnt appear for a court hearing.

Johnson has been in the news recently after being arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service in Minnesota on May 3.

Johnson wasnt supposed to be out of the state without permission.

Johnson, a Lexington native, founded a company called PurchasePro, designed to provide software for companies to make purchases on the internet.

The company reached a market value of more than $1 billion in the late 1990s. In the early days, more than $200 million flowed into Kentucky for investors who had backed Johnson, but the company later went under, costing others millions.

Federal authorities accused Johnson of exaggerating the value of the company, and a federal jury convicted him in 2008 of conspiracy, securities fraud, witness tampering and obstruction.

He was sentenced to nine years in prison and ordered to pay restitution of $9.7 million.

Johnson also faced a period of supervised release after prison. His supervision included a requirement to provide financial information to the federal probation office.

Last August, a grand jury indicted him on three charges of making false statements by failing to disclose his control over a corporate bank account and for allegedly telling probation officers that payments from the account to three people were for their work for the company.

In fact the three provided companionship and services personal to Johnson, the indictment charged.

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Charles Johnson, Jr., founder of PurchasePro, shown on the strip in Las Vegas on Aug. 21, 2000.

Johnson was released pending trial on those charges, with certain conditions. In addition to providing financial information to probation officers, he was barred from gambling until he paid his restitution, according to the indictment.

Johnson still owes millions on the debt.

The new charge of failing to appear in court relates to an April 14 hearing on a request by federal authorities to jail Johnson over alleged violations of his bond condition, including gambling.

Johnson could be sentenced to much more time in prison if convicted on the new charges.

On the charge related to not reporting his gambling loss, for instance, he could receive up to 10 years in prison, on top of any sentence on other charges in the indictment, because he committed the alleged offense while on pretrial release.

The jail in Sherburne County, Minnesota, still lists Johnson as an inmate.

It could take three to four weeks to arrange to bring him back to Kentucky, according to one court document.
ISTANBUL  Esmeray Zeynep Ozadikti says she may land in jail for running as an openly trans woman in Turkeys election. Still, she believes its worth it.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) have targeted the LGBTQ community as they appeal to their Islamist, conservative base ahead of Sundays elections for president and parliament. The upcoming vote is expected to be Erdogans biggest electoral challenge in over 20 years in power.

One of Ozadiktis competitors in Istanbuls Second District is Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu, who has also made anti-LGBT remarks while campaigning.

Should they win, their first act would probably be arresting me, Ozadikti, 50, said this week.

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Homosexuality is not illegal in Turkey and there are pockets of tolerance in places like Istanbul, where same-sex couples walk down the street in liberal areas holding hands.

But Turkey is a conservative country and anti-LGBTQ discrimination is common. ILGA-Europe, the European chapter of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association, ranked Turkey 48 out of 49 countries when it comes to LGBTQ rights and acceptance last year (behind only Azerbaijan).

Under Erdogan, outright discrimination has gotten worse in recent years.

Pride parades, which were peaceful for years and attracted tens of thousands, began being banned in 2015. Police used water cannons and rubber pellets on marchers who defiantly marched regardless.

The parades have continued with protesters playing a cat-and-mouse game with riot police who try to stop the marchers by blocking off access to streets.

Turkish police forcibly intervened in a Pride march in Istanbul, detaining dozens of demonstrators. (Kemal Aslan / AFP via Getty Images file)

And members of the community have also faced outright threats to their lives. According to the LGBTQ advocacy group Kaos, there were eight killings in 2021 motivated by hate, although it said the number is likely much higher as most would not have been reported.

I have known and lost so many of my friends, so many of my trans woman friends, to murders, and now after their generation, now I see the Z generation and I see now that Im also losing my daughters and my sons and my children to murders, as well, Ozadikti said. This election isnt just about getting rid of the old system but building a more equitable one for the future.

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The road into politics for Ozadikti, a former mussels-stand seller, has been long and twisted.

She moved from a small town near the Armenian border in northeastern Turkey to Istanbul when she was a teenager. Later, her feminist activism and work in theater as an actor, tackling topics on sexual identity and rape, have made her a minor celebrity.

In her quest to improve conditions for her community, Ozadikti says she approached the main opposition party, the secularist Republican Peoples Party (CHP), but did not find them inclusive enough.

Eventually, she met with members of the Workers Party of Turkey (TIP), which suggested she run as a candidate.

While it polls in the low single digits, the small, leftist party has attracted young voters, and its participation in an alliance could give it increased influence in parliament if Erdogans coalition loses control.

TIP says it has six openly LGBTQ candidates running in the parliamentary elections across the country, with Ozadikti the most likely to win. If she does, she would be Turkeys first openly LGBTQ member of parliament.

With one week to go before the election, Ozadikti sat in a cafe alongside her fellow party members in the Istanbul district she is competing in.

With multiple MPs coming out of Istanbuls Second District, both she and the interior minister could end up representing the same area at the same time.

While politics can be a tough business the world over, the attacks lodged at her by Soylu have been especially dangerous.

While connecting the opposition to the LGBTQ community, Soylu, who is also a deputy chairman of Erdogans party, has said that if the opposition wins, people would be allowed to marry animals.

Him saying such words, of course we are human, it gets to our emotions, she said.

Ozadikti said Soylus remarks could be a particularly potent threat to the LGBTQ community because, as the interior minister, he has the resources of the police.

Erdogan himself has repeatedly stated that the opposition has ties with the LGBTQ community, and during a rally on Sunday claimed the opposition is pro-LGBT.

When asked about the comment, Ozadikti and her colleagues started laughing.

Its a very desperate statement, she said.

Alev Ozkazanc, professor emeritus of politics and gender studies at Ankara University, said the anti-LGBTQ rhetoric in the election is unprecedented.

So the impact of Ozkazanc and other trans candidates goes beyond their possible victories, she said because even if one of them does not get elected, their candidacies alone send a message to the public.

The symbolic value is that trans people are there, LGBT people are there, amongst us. They are equal citizens who have the right to be elected as any other citizen, Ozkazanc said.

Erdogans main challenger, Kemal Kilicdaroglu from the CHP, leads an alliance of six parties that includes ultranationalists and conservative Islamists.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan prepared to meet his hardcore supporters on May 12, 2023 to showcase enduring strength in the face of his toughest election challenge of his two-decade rule. (Ozan Kose / AFP - Getty Images)

TIP has partnered with the influential pro-Kurdish party, the HDP, and their support may be needed by the coalition that wins the most seats in parliament to pass any laws.

A fellow TIP candidate, Talya Aydin, 26, said her party would seek justice for crimes that she said had not been properly investigated if the opposition alliance becomes the largest group in parliament.

She cites the death of Hande Kader, a trans woman activist whose killing led to hundreds of people protesting in Istanbul, as well as charges against demonstrators who marched in banned Pride parades.

Like Ozadikti, Aydin said her transgender identity puts her at an increased risk of ending up behind bars if Erdogan is re-elected.

It only makes me work harder so he doesnt win, she said.

Prison is not the only threat she feels she faces. Aydin transitioned last year and said she now takes pictures of taxi cabs license plates before entering, and no longer walks home at night with her headphones on.

But, she added, she is seeing more acceptance for her community in Turkish society despite the political rhetoric.

The struggling economy, a key reason Erdogans popularity has waned, has meant many people are not being influenced by the anti-LGBTQ rhetoric  they are just too concerned with making ends meet.

Hate takes time, hate takes mental resources, hate takes emotional resources, she said.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
China calls for promoting Global Security Initiative

Xinhua) 08:48, May 12, 2023

BEIJING, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong said on Thursday that China is willing to work with all parties to make the Global Security Initiative (GSI) take root and bear fruit in Asia.

Wang made the remarks at a forum of the Pakistan-hosted Islamabad Security Dialogue 2023, where he delivered a keynote speech via video from Beijing.

Noting the GSI has answered the question of what kind of security concept the world needs and how can all countries achieve common security, Wang said China is ready to work with all parties to uphold mutual respect, fairness and justice, win-win cooperation and a holistic approach, so as to make Asia more peaceful, secure and prosperous.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Wu Chaolan)
Cascade County Clerk and Recorder Sandra Merchant defends her administration's handling of the May 2 School Board Election during Friday's Library Board meeting.

A week ago, during an emergency meeting called by the Great Falls Library's Board of Trustees, the library board voted unanimously to grant authority to its library director and board chair to submit a request to District Court to appoint an independent expert to observe the upcoming mill levy election if it appeared that the Cascade County Elections Office was not observing state election protocols in advance of that election.

On Wednesday that authorization came to fruition when the library filed a emergency petition asking the court to appoint an independent monitor to observe and assess the June 6 election.

The Election Administrator in Cascade County has (been) proven incapable of conducting an election that meets the requirements of Montana law, the emergency petition states. An unlawful election is an invalid election, and the Great Falls Library Board of Trustees will face immediate, irreparable harm if its upcoming mill levy special election is invalidated.

The library's court filing states that if the election is delayed for any reason beyond the end of June, any approved mill levy increase would not be applied to the librarys operating budget until 2025, which would incur immediate losses in staff, community services, and the ability of the library to meet state standards.

The librarys petition includes multiple allegations regarding irregularities in the May 2 Great Falls Public Schools School Board election as evidence of Clerk and Recorder Sandra Merchants "demonstrated inability" to conduct an election conforming to the laws of the State of Montana. Among these are that the Elections Office failed to send absentee ballots to all persons who had requested them, that inaccurate instructions were issued telling voters where and how to vote, and that potential voters were turned away from the polling station at the Montana ExpoPark on May 2 when it did not open as scheduled.

At a May 5 emergency meeting of the Librarys Board of Trustees, Merchant spoke in response to the allegations submitted against her.

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I follow the law," she told the library board, and every vote that came in was counted.

On Thursday the telephones at the Elections Office went unanswered to repeated calls and Merchant did not respond to email requests from the Tribune for comment.

Standing alone, any of the above violations of Montana election law could invalidate the recent election, the librarys petition states. Taken together, this array of statutory violations and other irregularities almost certainly would allow any affected person with standing to challenge the election.

However, the meat of the librarys petition focused upon events following the May 5 meeting. At that meeting library board trustees repeatedly expressed concern with the lack of response from Merchant and the Elections Office regarding preparations for the scheduled May 17 mail-out of absentee ballots. The board said they had not been allowed to review or approve the language of those ballots or their instructions, and that the 12 days left until the ballots were scheduled to be mailed out leave little room for error.

"After Merchant took office, several office staff experienced in election administration left the office, leaving the office with extremely limited experience and institutional knowledge regarding the requirements of Montanas election laws and procedures," the Library's petition states. "To date, Merchant has supervised at least three elections in Cascade County. Each of these elections has featured severe errors and unlawful deviation from statutory requirements."

It is certainly true that there is not a lot of time left, said Ben Graybill, senior partner to the Graybill law firm. At this point I believe all of the local judicial district court judges have recused themselves (from ruling on the Library's petition), and so there will be an out-of-district who will be invited to take over the case. We certainly hope it will be as quick as possible.

We have not heard back from the Elections Office other than the message that Sandra Merchant rejected the motion for an auditor," Graybill added. "We had sent her and the (Cascade County) Commissioners a letter to ask for the same thing to be done informally without court action, and that was rejected. Thats why we filed.

The librarys petition alleges that Merchant refused to send a corrected proof of the library mill levy ballot to the Board of Trustees until Monday, May 8, and that it contained glaring errors including inapplicable instructions on how to include write-in candidates to the mill levy ballot. No candidates are registered to be elected during the June 6 mill levy election and the Graybill law firm contends that if a voter were to include a write-in candidate's name on the mill levy ballot it would likely lead to the ballot being invalidated.

Instructions for the mail-in ballot were not sent to the library board until the following day, May 9, and allegedly repeated the same misinformation regarding write-in candidates. The library also contends that these instructions included incomplete and misleading information about how and where voters may return their completed ballots on election day.

The librarys petition includes multiple affidavits from Cascade County voters attesting to the problems they faced casting their ballots for the May 2 Great Falls Public Schools board election.

The majority are from voters who just recounted what happened to them, Ben Graybill said. One voter east of town who is eligible to vote in the school election went to the polling place and was turned away. There are voters who went in ahead of the election, before the absentee ballots were sent out, and asked for their absentee ballots to be sent to new or temporary address. Its a common thing, and they didnt get them, so they were unable to vote. Those are just some of the examples and those are the kinds of the things that we dont want to happen in the next election.

Graybill added that the library wants Merchant and the Cascade County Elections Office to succeed in the administration of the upcoming mill levy election.

We want it to be a properly conducted and fair election, he said. She (Merchant) says thats what she wants. We believe someone with a great deal of election experience should be in the office advising and monitoring whats happening so mistakes arent made. We want them to succeed.

This article originally appeared on Great Falls Tribune: GF library asks court to appoint monitor to observe levy election
Retired U.S. District Judge Edward J. Garcia, a lifelong Sacramento resident who ascended to the federal bench after a lengthy legal career, died April 29. He was 94.

Garcia, whose 13th-floor court chambers downtown looked out over the Alkali Flat neighborhood where he grew up, retired in 2012 after a career that saw him rise from being a Sacramento prosecutor to a lifetime appointment as federal judge.

He was the last of the giants, said Sacramento attorney William Portanova, who first appeared before Garcia in 1982. He was the beating heart of justice in Sacramento.

As a federal judge, Garcia oversaw a number of high-profile cases, including the FBIs Shrimpscam bribery probe in the late 1980s that led to the convictions of six political figures.

Garcia presided over the trial of two anti-government militia members who were convicted of plotting to blow up two massive propane tanks near Highway 99 and Grant Line Road, something the judge referred to as a harebrained scheme as he sentenced them in 2002.

And in 1984 the judge issued a ban on new construction around Lake Tahoe as part of a fight by California officials to protect North Americas largest alpine lake.

U.S. District Judge Edward J. Garcia relaxes in his office in the federal courthouse in downtown Sacramento in 2012. Garcia, a lifelong Sacramentan who ascended to the federal bench after a career in law, died April 29 at the age of 94.

Best boss and mentor I ever had

Hes the best boss I ever had, said U.S. Magistrate Judge Edmund F. Brennan, who clerked for Garcia beginning in 1984. He was a very hard worker, a very good teacher, and he emphasized integrity, which is something I really admired.

He didnt want clerks to tell him what they thought he wanted to hear. He wanted them to do the research and let him know what the law required.

Portanova recalled Garcia as a no nonsense son of a gun who had little patience for meaningless monologues by attorneys.

He was the toughest and the least tolerant of out of town attorneys who hadnt taken the time to figure out how we do things, Portanova said. He hated lawyers blabbing constantly.

When a lawyer did that, and it was usually an out-of-town lawyer, he would say, Counsel, theres no question in front of you. Just because I stopped talking doesnt mean its time for you to start talking.

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Sometimes, Im thinking, you see, counsel? Judges, unlike lawyers, must think before they speak.

Brennan echoed that, saying so many lawyers were intimidated by him in the courtroom, but he was actually a very, very pleasant man.

We worked hard, and he never asked of us anything he wasnt doing himself, Brennan said. If I was in chambers working late at night or on a weekend, he was right there with me.

Garcias longtime clerk, Laurie Richardson, said the judge was the hardest worker I ever knew.

I remember when I first started to work for him I had a goal of getting in before him in the morning, and it became very difficult to do, Richardson said. I would get in at 6:30, and he would already be there.

Richardson worked with Garcia for more than 23 years, saying he attended her wedding, swore her husband into the state Bar, celebrated her childrens graduations and helped her through the deaths of her parents.

She worked two stints with the judge, leaving to work as a litigator at a law firm but returning to work for Garcia after having her first child.

When I returned to the judges chambers for my second stint, he let me craft my own maternity leave policy for my second child, she wrote in a text message to The Bee. At the law firm, my status as a working mother was grudgingly tolerated; in chambers, it was welcomed.

He truly was an exceptional person, and the best boss and mentor I ever had, she wrote.

Sacramento native grew up in Alkali Flat

Garcia was born Nov. 24, 1928, to Susano and Maria Garcia and grew up in Alkali Flat, where he and his siblings would run to meet their father, a Southern Pacific Railroad mechanic, when he got off work at the downtown Railyards.

Garcias chambers in the federal courthouse at Fifth and I streets gave him a view of his former neighborhood and the Railyards.

Thats why I asked for this spot in the building, he told The Bee in 2012 as he was preparing to retire. Brings back a lot of memories.

Garcia graduated from Christian Brothers High School, then served in the military in Japan following World War II before returning to Sacramento and graduating from McGeorge Law School in 1958.

He spent 10 years as a deputy district attorney before being promoted to chief deputy district attorney in 1969.

Three years later, in 1972, he was appointed by Gov. Ronald Reagan to the Sacramento Municipal Court, which later merged with Superior Court.

As president in 1984, Reagan appointed Garcia to the federal bench.

I dont know whether it was a political decision based on the fact I am a Mexican, or because he thought my record made me the most qualified, Garcia told Denny Walsh, The Bees longtime federal courts reporter, in the 2012 interview. Either way, I dont think I let him down.

Garcia was a three-sport athlete in high school and longtime softball player who continued in the sport until he was 85.

He also was a longtime San Francisco Giants fan who was known to slip out to catch a game once a year with staff and acquaintances, and a fan who had a small television in his chambers that was on whenever there might be a World Series game under way.

Garica is survived by his wife, Joanne, and their six children; daughters Linda Garcia, Aileen Ellsworth (Larry), Karen Telford (Ned), Jane Boyd (Fred); and sons, David Rice (Nita), and Rick Garcia (Brandee Mead).

Services are scheduled for May 27 at St. Mary Cemetery & Funeral Center, 6509 Fruitridge Road. Visitation begins at 1 p.m., with services at 2 p.m. followed by burial and reception at 3 p.m.
Twitter CEO Elon Musk, center, speaks with Linda Yaccarino, chairman of global advertising and partnerships for NBC, at the POSSIBLE marketing conference, Tuesday, April 18, 2023, in Miami Beach, Fla. AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell

NBCU's Linda Yaccarino is in talks to be Twitter's next CEO, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Elon Musk announced Thursday that he had hired a new head of the social media platform.

"She will be starting in ~6 weeks!" Musk tweeted this week.

Linda Yaccarino, head of advertising at NBCUniversal, is in talks to be Twitter's next CEO, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Insider reported earlier Thursday that Yaccarino was a possible pick for the role, among several other candidates.

Elon Musk tweeted Thursday that he has hired a new head of Twitter, likely bringing an end to his seven-month stint leading the social media company he bought for approximately $44 billion last year.

Musk opted not to explicitly name his successor, but tweeted that "she will be starting in ~6 weeks." The Tesla CEO has long said he planned to step down from the top role as soon as he found "someone foolish enough to take the job!"

Yaccarino currently serves as chairman of global advertising and partnerships at NBCU, where she has been for more than 10 years. She was critical in launching the company's ad-supported Peacock streaming service, The Journal reported.

Media industry insiders were discussing Yaccarino's name as a possible Musk replacement on Thursday, Insider reported. She has previously told friends that she aspired to be CEO of Twitter, one person familiar with the situation said.

In addition to Yaccarino, Ella Irwin, who currently leads Twitter's trust and safety efforts, is also in the mix, Insider reported. But the Thursday evening Journal story seemed to focus primarily on Yaccarino, citing sources familiar with the situation, perhaps signaling a more likely decision.

Musk said in his Thursday tweet that he would transition to a role as chief technology officer at the company within the coming weeks.

When asked for comment, the Twitter press email responded to Insider with a poop emoji, the increasingly common and seeming bot response sent in response to all media inquiries of the social media company in recent weeks.

A spokesperson for NBCUniversal did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Most times after a sexual assault, the first place that a victim goes to is the hospital, meaning that medical professionals are often the first to provide care and support through their hardest times.

Taneika Torres in Pineville is there for people on their worst days; as a sexual assault nurse examiner at Atrium Health, she opens at least one sexual assault kit a day.

Torres told Channel 9s Gina Esposito that shes completed over a thousand of those kits since she started. But its the work with the victims that Torres has been passionate about for over a decade.

I love that I get to just really take my time with them and sit down and just let them know it doesnt matter what happened, what you were doing, this was not your fault, Torres said.

READ MORE >> What kind of message are we sending: CMPD chief questions lower bond for sexual assault suspect

Mecklenburg County averages about 300 sexual assault cases per year, and around 300 strangulation cases. Once a SANE nurse completes a kit, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department says a detective has 45 days to submit it to a county lab.

Right now, CMPD says more than 300 sex assault kits are awaiting testing. Mecklenburg County does have its own lab, making it unique in North Carolina. The state handles the other 99 counties, and its backlog is over 16,000 kits. Victims can track their sexual assault kits through this website at the Department of Justice.

Torres told Esposito that some victims wait months to get test results and wait years to go to trial. She says it can be challenging for victims to get justice, especially if theyre younger when the assault happened.

Lets say theyre like 10, 11, 12 and then its three or four years later and theyre now 17,18; its hard for juries to see them as a small 11 or 12-year-old, Torrest said.

Torres says its a compounding problem for many areas in the state.

I would say the biggest thing would be getting nurses in every single hospital, because there are so many parts of the state that dont have SANE nurses at all, Torres said.

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>>Download WSOC's apps to keep up with news and weather wherever you go

Torres, who won Atrium Healths Pinnacle award in 2022 for her work as a SANE nurse, is also part of the sexual assault response team, which launched the non-fatal strangulation protocol in 2019. She says SANE nurses can now identify the signs of someone who has been strangled, which in many cases can lead to deadly outcomes.

Ive had two patients that Ive done exams on and have ended up being murdered by their significant other, she said.

This week, Torres is testifying in a strangulation case, and she said she hopes to see more cases go to trial.

I think we are definitely saving lives and I do think that we are making a difference, Torres said. I do think that we will continue to see increases of trials and us being used as expert witnesses in strangulation cases.

If you or someone you know is a victim of sexual assault, its recommended that you get tested by a SANE nurse within five days of the incident. You can also contact Safe Alliance for help; the 24/7 hotline is 980-771-4673.

(WATCH: StarMed launches DNA lab to help solve sexual assault cases)
LONDON (Reuters) - A London court on Friday rejected BHP Group's request to delay until mid-2025 a potential 36 billion pound ($44 billion) lawsuit over Brazil's worst environmental disaster, instead granting a five-month deferral.

The world's biggest miner by market value is being sued by 720,000 Brazilians over the 2015 collapse of the Fundao dam owned by the Samarco joint venture BHP holds with Brazilian iron ore producer Vale.

When the dam collapsed, 19 people were killed as mud and toxic mining waste swept into the Doce river, obliterating villages, contaminating water supplies and reaching the Atlantic Ocean more than 650 km (400 miles) away.

BHP said in an email on Friday "it denies the claims brought in the UK in their entirety and will continue to defend the case".

The company was initially being sued by around 200,000 people but in March the number of claimants leapt by 500,000.

BHP's lawyers had said the April 2024 trial should be delayed until at least June 2025 to give the company more time to prepare and allow Vale to participate.

But Judge Finola O'Farrell on Friday set a trial start date of Oct. 7, 2024 and said "this will give the parties a more relaxed, achievable timetable and will provide time for Vale and others to participate if necessary."

BHP applied in December to have Vale join the case.

Vale has challenged the London High Court's jurisdiction to determine the claim, and that challenge will be heard in July.

Reparation and compensation programmes implemented by the Renova Foundation, a redress scheme established in 2016 by Samarco and its shareholders, in connection with the disaster had funded $6 billion in financial aid as of the end of 2022, BHP said.

The lawsuit, one of the largest in English legal history, first began in 2018 and was thrown out of court two years later, before the Court of Appeal ruled in July that it could proceed.

"Over seven years on from the disaster, today's Judgment means our clients will finally have their day in court and they are now one step closer to the justice they deserve," Tom Goodhead of law firm Pogust Goodhead, which represents the claimants, said in a statement.

BHP has also applied to the Supreme Court to end the case without trial following the Court of Appeal's decision last year.

(Reporting by Clara Denina; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
Round Lake facade of Earl Young Thistle Downs Lane house.

CHARLEVOIX  One hundred fifty years ago, Charlevoix Sentinel editor Willard A. Smith welcomed the towns newest pharmacist, fresh out of school, George W. Crouter.

May 10, 1873: Medical Hall.Mr. Crouters new advertisement will be found on this page. His enterprise in thus furnishing our people with a first class Drug Establishment, should meet with reward. That he is competent and trustworthy, his certificates of graduation prove. We wish him success. That would not be long in coming.

Courter set up shop in the Keyes building next door to the Fountain City House hotel on River Street, todays Pine River Lane, approximately where the Weathervane Terrace Inn and Suites swimming pool is now. The Keyes building was built as the first general store in Charlevoix. Within just a few years, Crouter would construct what is currently the oldest surviving store building on Bridge Street, 212 Bridge St., now That French Place, the crepes shop. Not long after that, he would build his two-story residence on Michigan Avenue, overlooking Lake Michigan, and have a street named for him nearby.

In the ad mentioned by Willard Smith, Crouter stated that, regarding his refitted business, none will go away dissatisfied. . . And everything may be relied upon as The Purest & Best. These included Our Drugs and Chemicals, Stock of Patent Medicines, Dye Stuffs, Stock of Kerosene, Confectionery (candies), Perfumery, Toilet Articles, Soaps, Sponges, and Pomades in great variety . . . The dispensing department is under my own supervision, and all Physicians prescriptions and family recipes are carefully and promptly dispensed. Open on Sundays from 8 to 10, and from 2 to 5 p.m. G. W. Crouter, Dispensing Chemist.

Three circular roofs of the Thistle Downs house.

While the ad, delightfully quaint, contains no currently objectionable wording, Smiths own wording would not be acceptable today as a descriptive: Drug Establishment. Too many undertones of different meaning to that one.

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Fifty years later, the May 9, 1923 Charlevoix Courier reported that 19-year-old graduating senior Edward Kim Shanahan, son of early lawyer Lisle Shanahan, had been accepted into the U. S. Naval Academy at Annapolis. Ed Shanahan would go on to a distinguished naval career which included commanding a vessel involved in the conquest of Iwo Jima in World War IIs Pacific Theater. Not long after the conflict ended, Ed returned to Charlevoix and bought land north of town where he raised cattle and became active in many Charlevoix organizations. Eds wife Phila was the daughter of local physician Robert Armstrong, featured in a February Looking Back as the first person to be flown to Beaver Island, on a medical emergency run. The Shanahans longtime acreage is now the site of the country club.

In 2019-2020, the Charlevoix Historical Society produced the official biography of Earl Young, titled Boulders, regarding our famous builder of the stone Mushroom Houses and Weathervane Inn. At the time, neither the society nor the Young estate, surprisingly, possessed good images of Earls second creation (1969) on Thistle Downs Lane east of the Edgewater Inn. Only three small black and white snapshots of the red sandstone structure were available for use in the book. A preliminary sketch of the houses floorplan did survive from the estate, nothing more than two tangential circles, one large, one small. The larger circle, in its center, held a circular 24 x 24 living room fronted by a semicircular porch. Around it, all with curved walls, were three bedrooms, a dinette, storage area and a 8 x 13 kitchen. The smaller circle was a 26 x 26 circular garage/utility room, at left in the accompanying overhead photo.

A couple of months ago arrived a pleasant surprise in the form of a donation to the society  these two color photos of the house, published here for the first time. A close inspection of the three black and white images showed that Earl Young did not include one 90-degree corner on the exterior, its lakeside elevation shown here. As for the third roof, seen in the center of the overhead photo, well, that was Earl. He changed horses in mid-stream here as he did constantly over his long career (1919-1973), having either dreamt of a needed change or realized in an inspirational flash that something should be added, deleted, inverted, or changed. Earl worked from his head on the inspiration of the moment, in only a couple of instances relying on complete pre-drawn floorplans and elevations. He drove his work crews nuts in the process. So what had begun as a two circle idea ended up as three, or maybe a partial circle.

This structure was unfortunately bulldozed in 1994 to make way for the house currently on the site, next door to Earls A-frame beside the Edgewater. Is there anyone out there who can recall the exact final floor plan of Earls beautiful creation? What was under that third roof?

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Looking Back: A new pharmacist in town and newly found Earl Young photos
After an Idaho jury found Lori Vallow Daybell guilty on Friday of murder and conspiracy to commit murder, yet another murder conspiracy case in Maricopa County remains in limbo.

Vallow Daybell's verdict came back guilty of the first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder of her daughter and adopted son: 16-year-old Tylee Ryan and 7-year-old Joshua Vallow.

She was also found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder in the death of Tamara Douglas Daybell, the ex-wife of her current husband, Chad Daybell.

Locally, Vallow Daybell faces another charge of conspiracy to commit murder in the death of her ex-husband, Charles Vallow, which is pending.

In an email to The Arizona Republic, the Maricopa County Attorney's Office said it has reviewed Vallow Daybell's charges, which stemmed from Charles Vallow's death in Chandler and a shooting of one of Vallow Daybell's relatives, Brandon Boudreaux, in Gilbert.

The County Attorney's Office intends to prosecute Vallow Daybell after she is sentenced in Idaho. County Attorney's Office officials would not say more about the case or their decisions about charging the case since it was still pending.

Chandler police submitted their findings to the Maricopa County Attorneys Office in June 2021.

Later that month, the County Attorneys Office announced an indictment against Vallow Daybell on one count of conspiracy to commit murder.

Chandler police found Charles Vallow with multiple gunshot wounds in July 2019. Vallow Daybell was accused of working with her brother, Alex Cox, who said he shot Charles Vallow in self-defense. Cox died before the investigation was finished.

According to Chandler police, detectives found one bullet in the floor next to Charles Vallow's body, indicating the possibility of something other than self-defense.

Charles Vallow had filed for divorce in February 2019. In the divorce paperwork, he wrote that Vallow Daybell had a God-complex and believed she would bring about the end of days. Later, a friend of Vallow Daybell would say that she believed her kids were zombies, a term she picked up from Chad Daybell to describe anyone controlled by evil.

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Verdict in: 'Doomsday mom' Lori Vallow Daybell found guilty of killing her kids

In September 2021, Vallow Daybell was declared unfit to stand trial by an Idaho judge.

The court ultimately decided that she was mentally competent for trial in 2022.

The 49-year-old Vallow Daybell will be sentenced in Idaho and faces a possibility of life without parole.

Only then, the focus will shift to Arizona.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Vallow Daybell guilty of children's murder; AZ murder case pending
Lori Vallow Daybell stands and listens as the jurys verdict is read at the Ada County Courthouse in Boise, Idaho, on Friday, May 12, 2023. The Idaho jury convicted Daybell of murder in the deaths of her two youngest children and a romantic rival, a verdict that marks the end of a three-year investigation that included bizarre claims of zombie children, apocalyptic prophesies and illicit affairs. | Kyle Green, Associated Press

Lori Vallow Daybell was found guilty of murder, conspiracy and grand theft on Friday in the high profile murder case that shocked the country and took three years to unfold.

The verdict was announced just after 1 p.m. after almost seven hours of jury deliberation across two days. Former witnesses, family and friends of the victims, members of the public and reporters packed the courtroom in Boise.

Vallow Daybell, who often appeared casual in court throughout the trial, laughing and chatting with her attorneys, showed little emotion when the verdict was read. However as Boyce confirmed the verdict with the jury, she scowled, appearing to glare at each juror.

She was found guilty on six counts in a unanimous verdict that was handed to Judge Steven Boyce. Boyce says the sentencing is likely three months away.

Family, friends and witnesses, many of them law enforcement officers, who testified throughout the weekslong trial, quietly celebrated in the wake of the news, some weeping and hugging. As people filed out of the courtroom, Kay and Larry Woodcock, JJ Vallows grandparents, locked in an intense embrace.

I love you, Larry told Kay.

Larry Woodcock hugs an attendee after the verdict was read in the trial Lori Vallow Daybell murder at the Ada County Courthouse in Boise, Idaho, on Friday, May 12, 2023. The Idaho jury convicted Daybell of murder in the deaths of her two youngest children and a romantic rival, a verdict that marks the end of a three-year investigation that included bizarre claims of zombie children, apocalyptic prophesies and illicit affairs. | Kyle Green, Associated Press

No more than 15 minutes after the verdict was read, Vallow Daybell was led out of the courtroom by officers.

The decision closes this chapter of the horrific crime involving allegations of obsession, infidelity, obscure end-of-days beliefs, zombies and, most tragically, the deaths of Vallow Daybells two children  16-year-old Tylee Ryan and 7-year-old JJ Vallow  and Tammy Daybell, the spouse of Chad Daybell. Throughout the trial, prosecutors called more than 60 witnesses over a span of roughly five weeks, including law enforcement, family members and former friends who detailed the bizarre and complex world surrounding Vallow Daybell.

A cheer erupted as the Woodcocks walked out of the courthouse Friday afternoon, meeting a swarm of media and members of the public.

They say all good things come to an end. Lori, it came to you today, sang Larry Woodcock, in a rendition of a Willie Nelson song.

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Speaking to reporters, the Woodcocks, who have been sitting in the courtroom nearly every day for weeks, thanked the prosecutors, law enforcement, media and the jury.

I want to personally hug every one of the jurors. What they went through, what they saw, is mind boggling. I hope that nobody ever has to go through this. I hope nobody ever has to see or hear the details of what happened to JJ, to Tylee, and to Tammy, he said.

It was a long, emotionally taxing trial for everyone involved, especially the Woodcocks, who during several witness testimonies had to look at pictures of JJs decomposing body. Still, Larry Woodcock directed his empathy toward law enforcement involved in the investigation.

Kay Woodcock, grandmother of Joshua Jaxon JJ Vallow, walks out of the Ada County Courthouse in Boise, Idaho, on Friday, May 12, 2023. Idaho mother Lori Vallow Daybell was convicted Friday in the murders of her two youngest children and a romantic rival, a verdict that culminates a three-year investigation that included bizarre claims that her son and daughter were zombies and she was a goddess sent to usher in the Biblical apocalypse. | Sarah A. Miller, Idaho Statesman via Associated Press

Those guys sacrificed (time) from their families, from their homes. We will never know the countless hours, the countless hours, that they have put in, how much sacrifice they have been going through. And most of all, what they have seen in this case. that maybe some people will never unsee, he said.

And Kay Woodcock, closing out the news conference, made note of the date.

Since its Mothers Day ... this is what you call poetic justice, she said.

In September 2019, Vallow Daybells two children were murdered and buried in a shallow grave behind the Rexburg home of Chad Daybell, the man she was believed to be having an affair with and the apparent source of her fringe beliefs.

Then in October 2019, Daybells wife, Tammy, was killed by what investigators said was asphyxiation in her sleep, though at the time her death was ruled natural. Just two weeks later, Lori Vallow married Chad Daybell on a beach in Hawaii.

Related

The honeymoon didnt last long. That December, Tammy Daybells body was exhumed, and Tylee and JJ were declared missing. A court ordered Vallow Daybell to produce her children by Jan. 30, 2020. When she failed to comply, she was arrested in Hawaii about four weeks later.

Then on June 9, 2020, police executed a search warrant and found the bodies of Tylee and JJ buried in Daybells backyard. Tylees remains were so mutilated that authorities were unable to determine a cause of death. And JJ, bound by duct tape and a plastic bag, was killed by asphyxiation.

Chad Daybell was arrested that day.

The Woodcocks concern over their grandson, who Lori later adopted, largely started the investigation into the disappearance of Tylee and JJ after they requested a welfare check for JJ. Larry Woodcock, in an emotional moment, held up his arm to show a wristband that read justice for Tylee and JJ.

JJ, I love you, he said, pausing as his voice wavered. Paw-paw wishes you were here in other circumstances. Tylee, Paw-paw loves you. Tammy, I never met you; Tammy, you are a part of our life; Tammy, I am sorry for what happened to you. My heart hurts. My heart hurts for these three, he said.

Its the most bittersweet (feeling) you can imagine. Just the sadness, but the relief from all this. Its a liberating feeling, Kay Woodcock said after Larry.

Public interest in the case snowballed, and the story quickly spread nationwide. With the couple relaxing in Hawaii, the country wanted to know: where are the kids? Video of East Idaho News reporter Nate Eaton confronting the couple at their beachside resort went viral, and when Vallow Daybell was arrested, reporters swarmed the small rural Idaho airport awaiting her extradition.

The neighborhood where Daybell lived still sees visitors who followed the crime, sometimes stopping by the nearby memorial to take selfies.

Filed in May 2021, the original indictment charges Lori Vallow Daybell and Chad Daybell with:

First degree murder in the death of Tylee.

First degree murder in the death of JJ.

Conspiracy to commit first degree murder and grand theft in the death of Tylee.

Conspiracy to commit first degree murder and grand theft in the death of JJ.

Conspiracy to commit first degree murder in the death of Tammy Daybell.

Larry Woodcock holds up his fist showing wristbands in memory of his grandson Joshua JJ Vallow and his sibling Tylee Ryan while speaking to the media outside of the Ada County Courthouse in Boise, Idaho, on Friday, May 12, 2023. Idaho mother Lori Vallow Daybell was convicted Friday in the murders of her two youngest children and a romantic rival, a verdict that culminates a three-year investigation that included bizarre claims that her son and daughter were zombies and she was a goddess sent to usher in the Biblical apocalypse. | Sarah A. Miller, Idaho Statesman via Associated Press

Vallow Daybell was also charged with grand theft for allegedly collecting social security benefits allocated to Tylee and JJ.

Chad Daybell is also charged with first degree murder in the death of Tammy Daybell  which occurred when Lori Vallow Daybell was in Hawaii  and two counts of insurance fraud. He has pleaded not guilty and will face his own trial.

Vallow Daybells brother, Alex Cox, was a suspected accomplice in the killings, but died from blood clots the day after Tammy Daybells body was exhumed.

In a statement following the verdict, the prosecution said it was unable to conduct additional interviews because of Chad Daybells pending trial.

We are very pleased with the jurys verdict, and we want to thank them, as well as the alternates, for their service over last six weeks during this trial, the statement reads.

The indictment claims the couple did endorse and teach religious beliefs for the purpose of justifying the homicide of JJ, using similar language in the counts accusing them of conspiracy in Tylee and Tammy Daybells murder.

And throughout the last few weeks, prosecutors, through their opening and closing arguments and questions to the dozens of witnesses, showed how the couple used a skewed and extreme interpretation of teachings from the Book of Mormon to manipulate their friends, justify their crimes and pursue money, power and sex.

It does not matter what they believed. It matters what they did. They can believe whatever they want. But when they use that to justify homicide, that changes. They used religion to manipulate others, Madison County Prosecutor Rob Wood told jurors Thursday during closing arguments.

Prosecuting attorney Rob Wood gets a hug after the jurys verdict in the Lori Vallow Daybell murder trial was read at the Ada County Courthouse in Boise, Idaho, on Friday, May 12, 2023. Vallow Daybell was found guilty on all counts. | Kyle Green, Associated Press

Witnesses in the high-profile trial included numerous law enforcement officers, ranging from FBI agents to rural Idaho sheriffs deputies, former friends and family, who painted a detailed and damning picture of the couple. Fixated on the belief that a second coming of Jesus Christ was imminent, Daybell would speak of past lives, telling Vallow Daybell that she had once been married to prominent religious figures, and that together they would lead a chosen group through the end times.

Also woven into their beliefs was the idea that people could be possessed by demons  these people were called zombies, according to texts shown as evidence, and the level of their possession was often rated by Daybell.

Their beliefs attracted a small group of friends, who would travel the West to religious conferences and participate in castings  an attempt to rid someone of demonic possession. Many of those friends testified against Vallow Daybell, describing how the teachings went from obscure but benign, to sinister. And when the couple moved to Hawaii, despite telling friends to relocate to Rexburg to prepare for end times, the sincerity of Vallow Daybells beliefs began to appear dubious.

I realized that they must have taken things even further. They didnt intend for the person to be helped  they didnt want the person to live, former friend Audrey Barattiero told prosecutors on May 3, speaking about the people the couple claimed had been possessed and were now zombies.

Among those thought to be possessed were Tylee and JJ, as evidenced from texts recovered from Vallow Daybells iCloud account, which prosecutors said show both her and Daybell eagerly awaiting their death.

Do you think there is a perfectly orchestrated plan to take the children? And we just have to wait for it to be carried out? she asked Daybell on Aug. 10, 2019, roughly a month before the children were murdered. I feel lost. Like I should be doing something to help.

There is a plan being orchestrated for the children, Daybell responded.

Vallow Daybells attorneys didnt call any witnesses after the prosecution rested Tuesday.

We dont believe the state has proved its case, said her attorney, Jim Archibald.

And on Thursday, both parties gave their closing arguments, with Wood telling the jury that Vallow Daybell was the connection between Chad Daybell and Alex Cox.

There is one common thread throughout these murders  Lori Vallow. She is the one person who ties this all together, Wood said. Lori knew exactly what was going on.

The defense, during an at times tearful closing argument from Archibald, tried to distance Vallow Daybell from the crimes, depicting her as a victim of Chad Daybells manipulation.

He drew parallels to cult followers in the past  Why cant people escape religious cult figures? ... Promises are hopeful to some people.

He also told jurors there was no smoking gun. That, despite the thousands of texts and countless exhibits shown, there was nothing where she explicitly said when are you killing Tylee?

There is no such text, he said.

Wood, during his rebuttal, took issue with Archibalds argument, laying out the pieces of evidence he believes are overt acts that show Vallow Daybell anticipating and encouraging the murder of her children and Tammy Daybell.

He referenced the texts between Lori Vallow Daybell, but also pointed to the fact that it was Lori, not Chad, who would often ask to calculate the death percentages for the kids, her decision to place JJ in Alex Coxs custody, and her lack of concern when the kids were deemed missing.

He also listed the overt acts that implicate Alex Cox, including Google searches, cellphone GPS data and suspicious purchases  including a mask and gloves  before Tammy Daybell was shot at.
Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/AP/Rexburg Police Department

After several years and a surreal investigation involving religious extremism, Idaho mother Lori Vallow has been convicted of murdering her two children and plotting to slay her husbands former wife.

Vallow was found guilty on all charges against herincluding first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, and grand theftin connection with the September 2019 disappearance and death of her two children, 16-year-old Tylee Ryan and 7-year-old Joshua JJ Vallow. After seven hours of deliberation, Ada County jurors also convicted Vallow of conspiring in the October 2019 murder of Chad Daybells first wife, Tammy.

As the verdict was being read in court, Vallow stared at the jury with her armed cross while pursing her lips. The 49-year-old mother now faces a life sentence in prison.

This is what you call poetic justice, Kay Woodcock, JJs grandmother, said in a press conference outside of the courthouse alongside her husband. Gerry Vallow, the childs great uncle, also expressed his gratitude over the swift verdict, telling reporters: They got the bitch.

Brooke Unti, Tammy Daybells niece, told The Daily Beast that her family is relieved and grateful that justice has been served.

While this cannot bring Tammy, JJ, and Tylee back, we are glad that the justice system has done its job in holding the responsible person accountable for her actions, Unti added. We hope this verdict brings some measure of closure for all of us. We love you, Tammy. You will never be forgotten.

In a statement to The Daily Beast, Madison County Prosecuting Attorney Rob Wood, and Fremont County Prosecuting Attorney Lindsey Blake expressed their joy over the verdict and stressed that they remain committed to pursuing justice for Tylee Ryan, JJ Vallow, and Tammy Daybell. The prosecutors, however, noted that cannot comment further because of the pending case against Chad Daybell.

Today is a good day! Annie Cushing, the sister of Vallows third husband, tweeted immediately after the verdict. Justice wont bring back my niece, Tylee Ryan, her little brother, JJ Vallow, or Chad Daybells first wife, Tammy Daybell, but it lightens the load a bit.

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The conviction comes after a six-week trial, where jurors were subjected to harrowing details about how prosecutors say Vallow and her husband were driven to murder by their beliefs in a renegade branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a need for money to start their new life in Hawaii.

Money, power, and sex. Beginning in October 2018, Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell set in a motion of events, Wood said during closing arguments on Thursday. This plan was driven by Lori Vallow's desire for and use of money, power, and sex.

Doomsday Moms Defense Lawyer Casts Suspicion on Hubby

While the defense decided to rest their case this week without mounting a defense or putting any witnesses on the stand, attorney Jim Archibald insisted during his wrap-up that Vallow was innocent of the murder. He said that the prosecution did not meet the burden of proof in their case against Vallowand implied to the jury that Daybell was the one responsible for the string of slayings.

She worked hard as a single mother, Archibald said, according to East Idaho News. One year after meeting Chad [Daybell]... people are dead.

Prosecutors, however, presented jurors with 60 witnesses and a slew of evidence to show how Vallow was the one common thread in the three murders and that she was driven by money, power, and sex.

In his closings, Wood noted that Vallow and Daybell first met in 2018 at a Utah religious conference and quickly fell in love. At the time Daybell was a popular Mormon author and Vallow was a devoted fan.

Melanie Gibb, one of Vallows former friends, testified about the initial meeting and revealed that the pair believed they had been married in a past life and were meant to be together. Both Vallow and Daybell, however, were still married to other people.

As her affair with Daybell continued, Gibb said, Vallow told her that she was among the 144,000 people who would be on Earth for the second coming of Jesus Christ. Vallow also began to preach about a light and dark scale, Gibb said.

Vallow explained that if a person had turned dark, Gibb said, they would become a zombie. She believed that her former husband, Charles Vallow, and her two children were dark, Vallows friend added.

In July 2019, Charles Vallow was fatally shot by his brother-in-law, Alex Cox. (Cox died of a blood clot months later and Vallow is facing a separate trial in connection with Charles murder.)

Prosecutors say JJ and Tylee were murdered around September 2019 before they were buried in Daybells backyard.

Is Doomsday Mom Lori Vallows Defense In Trouble?

Dr. Garth Warren, who works for the Ada County Coroner's Office, detailed how JJ was smothered with a white plastic bag duct-taped over his head. He was still in his red pajamas when authorities found his body in Daybells pet cemetery in June 2020.

In what could be the most damning piece of evidence against Vallow, a DNA expert testified that a piece of her hair was found stuck on the same duct tape that was used to wrap JJs buried body.

Warren also testified that he examined Tylees remains, which were found in a fire pit near her brother. The doctor said that while he determined that Tylee was murdered, he could not determine the cause of death because her remains were so badly burned and dismembered.

An FBI expert testified that he discovered sharp trauma wounds on Tylees bones, which led him to believe that she had been cut with a machete, cleaver, or hatchet.

Prosecutors say that Tammy Daybell died from asphyxiation in her Idaho home about a month after the children were murdered. Initially, authorities deemed that Tammy died of natural causes in her home on Oct. 19, 2019. Two law enforcement experts, however, did testify about Daybells bizarre behavior when they arrived at the crime scene the day Tammy died.

Im Chad the husband. Shes clearly dead, Daybell said to a Fremont County Sheriffs Office dispatcher after their son found Tammy stiff, according to EastIdahoNews. Shes frozen.

The officers told jurors that Daybell insisted that his family did not want an autopsy, even though there was foam coming out of Tammys mouth at the time of her death. Dr. Erik Christensen testified that when Tammys body was exhumed in December 2019, he concluded that she died of asphyxiation and that she had been restrained for hours before her death. Tammy also had bruises on her arms and chest, the doctor told jurors.

Two weeks after Tammys death, prosecutors said, Daybell flew to Hawaii to marry Vallow in November. About a month later, police began asking questions about the whereabouts of JJ and Tyleewhich Vallow and Daybell evaded.

Doomsday Case Finally Focuses on Slain Wife: Its Her Time

The pair initially claimed that the children were living with relatives in Arizona before they stopped all communication with authorities and refused to leave Hawaii to answer questions. After months of investigation, Vallow was finally arrested in Hawaii in February 2020spurring a domino effect of investigations into her and her family.

They were freed from the obstacles of their kids and wife, Wood said about Vallow and Daybell once they moved to Hawaii. They were dancing on the beach.

Vallows conviction, however, does not mean the end of the road for this case. Idaho prosecutors have turned their sights on Daybell, whose trial was severed from his wife in March.

Daybell, who is also charged with similar crimes in connection with the three murders, is set to begin trial next June.

Unlike Vallow, however, Daybell is facing the death penalty.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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This is an opinion column by arts and culture columnist Maxine L. Bryant.

Master Storyteller Lillian Grant Baptiste often includes a powerful rhyme in her motivational talks. Part of it says, minute by minute, hour by hour  if truth is light, knowledge is power. I would add to that the words of George Bernard Shaw, Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.

Accurate knowledge matters and can change ones thought trajectory. This was made apparent to me in a recent conversation I had with a friend who expressed aggravation that ancestral Africans didnt put up a fight to resist being taken captive and brought to the what is now known as North America.

I could not believe my ears. Of course, I had to pause to educate them  because thats what I do. My goal then was to provide a general discourse about ways Black people have resisted oppression. Here, Ill focus on the resistance of Africans who were brought to the southeast shores of the colonies and formed Gullah Geechee communities in what would become the United States of America.

More from Maxine Bryant: Last month's Weeping Time commemoration another reminder to not forget the past

Resistance to enslavement

Captured Africans who were brought to the lowcountry did more than engage in passive resistance; their efforts helped to reshape the enslavement story. Acts of resistance by Gullah Geechee people along the Gullah Geechee corridor from the coasts of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and North Florida follow a timeline that begins as early as 1527 and continues even now. Several such revolts happened near Savannah.

Lets start in 1525 when a fleet of Spanish ships led by Lucas Vazquez de Ayllon sailed to North America carrying 600 to 700 people, supplies and livestock. About 100 of those people were enslaved Africans. The fleets flagship struck a sandbar and sank off the coast of South Carolina on Aug. 9, 1526. Ayllon and his men built a replacement ship and sailed 200 miles south to start a settlement.

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The Stono Rebellion took place in 1739, about 20 miles southwest of Charleston, South Carolina.

Soon afterwards, Ayllon and many with him died of illness. A debate started among the survivors regarding next steps, and a new leader emerged. The enslaved Africans set fire to the new leaders home and freed other captives and escaped to live with the local Native Americans. This incident is regarded as the first rebellion by captive Africans in mainland North America  long before the year 1619 with the arrival of 20 captured Africans in Jamestown, Virginia.

More from Maxine Bryant: Savannah is filled with Black women of history: Here are six local 'she-ros' to know

More than 100 years later in 1739, a group of about 20 enslaved Africans left a British colony in South Carolina and headed south towards Georgia and Florida. Known as the Stono Rebellion, their act of resistance to slavery resulted in the death of more than 60 people.

They were strategic about their rebellious act. They knew that the South Carolina Security Act required all white men to carry firearms to church on Sundays, thus they had a greater chance of successfully leaving the plantation without being shot. They broke into a store, armed themselves with guns, and marched southward calling for their liberty. They were apprehended at the Edisto River  but they fought a good fight.

Almost 40 years later, in 1775 white settlers in the New World went to war with Britain to obtain their freedom from the burdens levied on them by the British government. Interestingly, the very same people who fought for their freedom saw nothing wrong with enslaving Africans. A tactic used by the British to bolster their armies was to offer freedom to enslaved Africans if they aligned with them. About 20,000 Africans took them up on their offer and became known as Black Loyalists.

When the American Revolutionary War ended in 1783, a group of an estimated 100 previously enslaved Africans who had escaped and joined British forces decided to set up a maroon about 20 miles up the Savannah River. Maroons were hidden communities set up by escaped enslaved people that were designed to keep members hidden deep within forests or swamps, totally isolating themselves from the outside world.

The area of Bear Creek where a maroon community was founded.

The community outside of Savannah became known as Bear Creek and was believed to be one of the largest maroons in the U.S. and the only fortified camp. The population at Bear Creek resisted slavery by declaring themselves free and creating a hidden community to avoid being captured.

More: The story of the maroons is another gap in Savannah's history. Let's find ways to tell it.

A factual story that has made it into the history curriculum of Coastal Georgia schools focuses on the Igbo Landing, a historic site on St. Simons Island in Glynn County. Rather than be enslaved, the Igbo people engaged in an act of mass suicide in 1803 by walking into the waters and drowning. This is a major act of resistance by Africans and has been referred to as the first freedom march in the history of the U.S.

Igbo Landing Historical Marker on St. Simons Island

Resistance to second-class citizenry

As early as 1941, there was a movement in Savannah to register every eligible Black person to vote in resistance to the existing power structure that kept the ballot out of their hands. However, state legislator Gene Talmadge had Black citizens purged off the books in Savannah which resulted in a significant lost of political power.

Strategic, united efforts by Blacks in Savannah resulted in movements such as the Savannah Protest Movement, the Chatham County Crusade for Voters, and other Black activists organizations. Refusing to be held back or down, Blacks in Savannah resisted white supremacists authority through sit-ins, Tybee wade-in by teens and strategically planned boycotts to protest voter oppression, segregation in stores and at lunch counters, unequal education, etc.

Their actions resulted in significant improvements  however, the fight against unjust systemic oppression continues even now. The struggle is real.

Maxine L. Bryant

Resistance to economic exploitation

A contemporary fight on the barrier islands and within city boundaries involves residents who are resisting selling their homes to developers. Local residents in Pin Point, Carver Village, Cloverdale, Cann Park, Jackson Park, Cuyler-Brownville, Benjamin Van Clark, and more are engaged in a struggle to keep their communities safe from investors who recognize the value of their property.

More: Carver Village neighbors know the Enmarket Arena will spur gentrification in West Savannah. But they have a plan.

Is African American resistance real in general? Yes. Is African American resistance real in Coastal Georgia and surrounding areas? Always has been. Always will be.

Maxine L. Bryant, Ph.D., is a contributing lifestyles columnist. She is an assistant professor, Department of Criminal Justice & Criminology; director, Center for Africana Studies, and director, Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Center at Georgia Southern University, Armstrong Campus. Contact her at 912-344-3602 or email dr.maxinebryant@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Enslaved Africans regularly fought for freedom in colonies, US
Large-scale fire in Luhansk on May 12, 2023

Read also: Putins doppelganger visited occupied Kherson and Luhansk oblast, says former Air Force commander

Luhansk regional Governor Artem Lisohor suggested the facility was used by Russian forces to repair and resupply military vehicles.

"Somehow, a machine-building factory caught fire; not hard to guess what the Russians were storing and repairing there," Lisohor said in a Telegram post.

Open-source intelligence analysis team GeoConfirmed confirmed that "cruise missiles" struck at least two targets in Luhansk. The city is located more than 80 km from the front lines.

At least 2 targets were struck in a recent attack with -claimed to be- Ukrainian cruise missiles in Luhansk, 80+km away from the front line, GeoConfirmed tweeted.

Read also: Russia claims Putin visited occupied territories in Kherson and Luhansk oblasts

Luhansk was known as Russian logistical hub and safe zone. This will be a major blow for Russia.

Photos posted by local Telegram channels show a pillar of black smoke rising above Polypack chemical factory after the explosions.

While the cause of the explosions is uncertain, Russian propagandists claimed that the factory was hit with missiles from a distance of 150 km.

On May 11, CNN reported that London had provided Kyiv with Storm Shadow cruise missiles, capable of hitting targets over 250 km away. This information was later confirmed by UK Defense Minister Ben Wallace, who emphasized Ukraine's sovereign right to defend its territory from the Russian invasion.

Read also: Luhansk collaborator dies in car bomb attack on propagandist Prilepin

At the same time, the Ukrainian military is yet to confirm Storm Shadow missile have been put in service.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Since the beginning of May, the self-proclaimed president of Belarus has made significantly fewer public appearances.

Source: Belarusian media Zerkalo (Mirror)

Details: Journalists analysed Lukashenko's schedule and came to the conclusion that he had almost no public events in May. Currently, Lukashenko has not appeared in public for the third day in a row.

Quote: "Anomalies in the schedule of the Belarusian politician began in May, even before his trip to Moscow for Victory Day.

For example, if we take Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday last week (3, 4, and 5 May), Lukashenko's website has information about only one public event: the presentation of state awards to honoured figures in various fields on 5 May. It should be noted that even then, the raspy voice of the politician attracted attention, although Lukashenko usually holds long-hour meetings with journalists without any particular problems.

In total, during this month, if we leave aside the events of 9 May, the politician, judging by his website, held only two public events: a meeting on topical issues of ensuring security and law and order and measures to protect the state border (the politician was shown in the photo but not in the video, it can be assumed that due to problems with the voice, which were already present at that time), and the award ceremony already mentioned above. All other events on his website are a lot of greetings and signings of documents."

"Thus, it can be stated that since the beginning of May, with rare exceptions, Lukashenko has not appeared in public. It is not clear what exactly this is due to or what his current state of health is, since the press service does not comment on the issue."

Background:

On 9 May, Lukashenko immediately returned to Minsk after the military parade organised by Russian dictator Vladimir Putin in Moscow, without waiting for the end of all the celebrations.

In Minsk, Lukashenko failed to deliver a customary speech to commemorate Victory Day during this years celebrations on 9 May.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
I am a licensed clinical psychologist in Texas, and Ive worked with young transgender people and their families throughout my career. I am especially proud of my work in Texas over the last few years, but I will soon be leaving Texas. One reason Im moving is that politicians are making it incredibly difficult to do my job effectively.

As a clinical psychologist, most of my patients arrive for treatment in considerable distress. With transgender patients, this distress is often related to gender dysphoria, bullying and social isolation. Although most transgender people can navigate these experiences without the level of psychological services I provide, others suffer severe symptoms requiring careful and collaborative treatment.

My first concern with transgender patients is suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Clinical research clearly demonstrates that feeling lonely or disconnected, believing you are a burden for your loved ones, and experiencing painful life events like bullying strongly predict suicidal thoughts and behaviors, as well as other related psychological issues like depression and anxiety.

Many transgender people report all three of these risk factors, and there are high rates of suicidality in the transgender community.

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Gender-affirming care is family health care

My work with transgender people involves identifying the areas of their life that cause distress, then developing a comprehensive treatment plan to reduce their symptoms. This treatment plan always includes parents or guardians.

When my patients are transgender children who have not yet reached puberty, the treatment generally includes increasing the patients social and family support. An example of this is helping parents understand how getting their child new clothes or letting them go by a different name can make them feel loved and accepted. The treatment is similar in adolescent patients experiencing puberty. In these teens, I also work closely with the patients medical team to support any prescription interventions deemed medically necessary by prescribers.

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Mae Keller, a senior, carries a "Trans Kids Matter" sign and cheers as hundreds of students walk out of school on Transgender Day of Visibility outside Omaha Central High School Friday, March 31, 2023, in Omaha, Neb. Students are protesting LB574 and LB575 in the Nebraska Legislature, which would ban certain gender-affirming care for youth and would prevent trans youth from competing in girls sports, respectively.

Every family seeking care has a unique experience. Treatment is often a lengthy process full of education, expert consultation and long waiting periods to develop a tailored, age-appropriate plan for care.

Many parents start this journey with fear and confusion about what their child is experiencing. It is my job to understand those concerns and help parents decide on a plan that meets everyones needs.

For instance, Texas is a conservative state, and parents often have deeply held religious beliefs that must be honored in treatment. Fortunately, religion and gender-affirming care are not mutually exclusive. Texas families who seek help for their transgender children often discover that gender-affirming care allows their child to become their full, authentic selves in a way that is consistent with their faith.

Drag bans hurt LGBTQ kids: It can help them find themselves  just like it did for me.

I'm a nonbinary person in Tennessee. My clothing is not drag.

Politicians aren't empowering parents  they're overruling them

Treatment is a deeply personal journey  one that politicians have no business interfering with. But recently, politicians in Texas and other states across the country are meddling in families decisions and standing between parents and their trusted health care providers. Texas politicians have even threatened to take transgender children away from their parents if families follow doctors expert health care guidance.

These political actions have profound effects on transgender patients mental health. As I mentioned, feeling like a burden for your family, social isolation, and bullying are well-known predictors of suicidality, depression and anxiety. The laws proposed in states like Texas cause all three risk factors to emerge.

Trans youth face a mental health crisis. Extremist politics makes it worse.

I'm the parent of a transgender child. What about my parental rights?

With these new restrictions and bills politicizing health care, I cannot continue giving patients the care they need and deserve. So, I am moving my practice to the Grand Forks, North Dakota area, where I can once again offer patients evidence-based treatment.

Even when I move, things wont be simple. Grand Forks sits along the North Dakota and Minnesota border, and I will work with patients from both states.

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum speaks at the state Capitol in Bismarck, North Dakota. Burgum has signed a veto-proof bill into law that restricts transgender health care and criminalizes providers who give gender-affirming care to people under 18.

Although my patients will only be a couple miles apart, different state laws will govern the care I can provide. In Minnesota, leaders have implemented a bold set of protections for transgender patients living in the state and for people who travel from other states to obtain care they cant get at home. Meanwhile, in North Dakota, politicians are considering legislation that would ban health care providers from offering certain medicines and treatments proven to help transgender adolescents mental health and well-being.

State lines can  and do  decide standards of care

It is unfortunate that patients living within a mile of each other will receive such differing standards of care. Arbitrary political decisions do not change the science that overwhelmingly supports gender-affirming care.

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Keep in mind that the gender-affirming care I provide is based on well-established international guidelines that consider decades of research and clinical experience from experts around the globe. Every major medical and mental health organization in the US supports gender-affirming care, including the American Psychological Association, American Psychiatric Association, American Medical Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, and Federation of Pediatric Organizations.

Ill continue to do as much as I can to provide this quality care to families in Minnesota and across the region. But these political attacks must stop before any more families lose access to life-saving care or any more of my fellow health care providers have to give up their jobs.

Dr. Tiffany Russell

Its time for leaders in Texas, North Dakota, and every state to follow Minnesotas lead and protect families rights to make private, personal health care decisions. Providers and the families we work with deserve a fair chance to raise healthy children, no matter where we live or where we come from.

Dr. Tiffany Russell is a licensed clinical psychologist working with transgender youth and an assistant professor in Texas. The views expressed here do not reflect the views of her employer.

You can read diverse opinions from our Board of Contributors and other writers on the Opinion front page, on Twitter @usatodayopinion and in our daily Opinion newsletter. To respond to a column, submit a comment to letters@usatoday.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trans kids need gender-affirming care. State lines shouldn't matter
RIVIERA BEACH  A 29-year-old Riviera Beach man is facing a first-degree murder charge in connection to a fatal shooting this month in a gas station parking lot.

Deandre Shawn Burgess also faces a charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm in the killing of a 31-year-old Riviera Beach man on the night of May 3. The shooting took place along the 400 block of President Barack Obama Highway, just north of the West Palm Beach city limits.

City police did not disclose the name of the man who died, citing a 2018 state constitutional amendment that allows either crime victims or their families to request that their names be withheld from public reports.

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Burgess refused to appear Wednesday for a hearing at the Palm Beach County Jail. Circuit Judge Kirk Volker assigned Burgess a public defender and ordered that he be held without bail on the murder the charge. As a policy, the public defender's office does not comment on open cases.

West Palm police have not identified motive for shooting

An arrest report made public Wednesday did not indicate a motive for the shooting. The report states that surveillance-camera video showed the 31-year-old arrive at the gas station in a van and speak to another person.

The man got out of the vehicle and began walking to the gas station convenience store when he stopped between two gas pumps.

A man identified as Burgess is then seen pulling out a handgun and firing several shots, according to the arrest report. A ShotSpotter alert indicated that the 10 rounds were fired. Additional surveillance footage showed Burgess arriving at the gas station in a gray a Hyundai.

U.S. Marshals, West Palm police helped in arrest

Later, a woman who rented the vehicle told investigators she dropped Burgess off at the gas station, the report said.

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Police also contacted a Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office tactical agent and a probation officer connected to other cases involving Burgess, according to the report. They confirmed his identity.

Investigators took Burgess into custody Tuesday after the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force apprehended him with the help of the West Palm Beach Police Department Strategic Investigations Division.

Julius Whigham II is a criminal justice and public safety reporter for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at jwhigham@pbpost.com and follow him on Twitter at @JuliusWhigham. Help support our work: Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Murder charge awaits man arrested in Riviera Beach gas station shooting
If you or someone you know is thinking about self harm, call the toll-free National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255). Its available 24/7.

-

A man fatally shot a woman inside a Fort Lauderdale house on Thursday night before setting fire to the place and then shooting himself dead, police said.

Police on Friday said Gwendolyn Lynette Bass-Kemp was shot and killed by Richard Kenneth McDonald. They were both 71, police said.

Bass-Kemp was a billing specialist for Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue, the department said in a statement.

She joined the city in 2005 and was a valued member of the team for 18 years, the statement said. She will be greatly missed. Our thoughts and prayers are with Gwens family during this difficult time.

Gwendolyn Bass-Kemp Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue

Fort Lauderdale police detective Ali Adamson, a department spokesperson, said officers arrived at the house at 170 NW 27th Ter. around 8:25 p.m. after getting a call someone there was shot.

McDonald walked out of the house armed with a gun and then walked back inside and started a fire, Adamson said. While the home burned, tactical teams and negotiators tried to talk him into surrendering for about two hours.

Meanwhile, firefighters had to hold off battling the flames, Battalion Chief Garrett Pingol said.

McDonald ultimately stepped outside with the handgun and shot himself, Adamson said.

An adult female victim was located inside the home, and she was pronounced deceased, she said. At this time, this incident appears to have been a murder suicide.

Pingol said firefighters were then able to move in and knock out the flames in about 30 minutes, but the house was completely destroyed.

Every wall inside the house was destroyed, Pingol told the Miami Herald. The roof collapsed. All that was left was the external concrete walls.

911 call

According to a 911 call made by Bass-Kemps son, which police released Friday afternoon, McDonald was her boyfriend.

The son, who has not been named, told the 911 operator that he went to the house to visit his mother and found her dead.

He confronted McDonald, who pulled a gun on him, prompting him to leave the house.

The son said McDonald was a military veteran who had a house full of guns.
A Florida sheriff was forced into action while visiting a business.

According to a Thursday Facebook post from the Clay County Sheriffs Office, Sheriff Michelle Cook was speaking to someone when a customer began acting irrationally at the front counter.

A bystander snapped a photo of Cook standing over the person who she ended up restraining after finding a large machete down his pants.

A police report says the incident happened on the afternoon of May 5 at General RV Center in Orange Park. The man was reportedly trying to sell air fresheners to customers for 25 cents.

Clay sheriffs spokesman Andrew Ford told the Miami Herald that Cook happened to be at the store by chance and noticed employees at the counter who had strange looks on their faces, trying to get her attention.

The man was doing things that werent normal, like giving two different names and engaging people in conversation, Ford said. The sheriff observed the machete. She was able to remove the machete, detain him and call for [backup].

Great job by our Sheriff, Sheriff Michelle Cook, on keeping our community safe and getting the subject the help he needs, the FB post ends, adding that the individual was subsequently taken into custody.
The Lubbock County Courthouse.

A 43-year-old man arrested two years ago in Idaho was sentenced Tuesday to seven years in prison for his role in the fatal beating death of a man at a New Year's Eve party 25 years ago.

Lee Lopez pleaded guilty to a count of manslaughter in the Jan. 1, 1998 death of 26-year-old Jessie Ordonez at a home in the 2400 block of Third Street.

He faced between two to 20 years in prison and pleaded guilty as part of a plea deal with the Lubbock County District Attorney's Office.

Lee Lopez

Lopez is one of two men charged with Ordonez's death.

Lopez's brother, Gabriel Lopez, pleaded guilty in September to the same charge in exchange for a seven-year prison sentence.

Their charge stems from a Lubbock police investigation that began when officers responded to a call on New Years Day in 1998 about an injured man and found Ordonez lying in the homes front yard. Ordonez was was taken by ambulance to University Medical Center where he died less than an hour later.

The Lopez brothers moved to Idaho soon after Ordonez's death, officials said.

The brothers have been suspects in Ordonez's death for years and in 2007 the case was presented to a grand jury. However, grand jurors declined to indict the men at the time.

Police investigators spoke to a witness who died of a drug overdose shortly after identifying the Lopez brothers as Ordonez's killer, the warrant states.

Investigators continued to work on the case for decades. In 2019, investigators with the Lubbock Metropolitan Special Crimes Unit traveled to Idaho where they spoke with an eye-witnesses, a relative of the Lopez brothers, who provided crucial information about the case.

The witness told investigators he saw Gabriel Lopez and Ordonez get into an argument that night. A scuffle broke out between the men and Lee Lopez joined in. During the fray, Ordonez fell to the ground and hit his head, which stunned him, and the brothers began kicking Ordonez in the head as he lay defenseless on the ground. The witness said he stood about 10 feet away from the brothers as they allegedly kicked Ordonez, the warrant states.

Lee Lopez was arrested June 18, 2019, during a probation hearing in Idaho. He is set to be extradited to Lubbock soon. Gabriel Lopez was arrested June 20 in the 2400 block of Third Street.

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Man sentenced in 1998 Lubbock manslaughter case
A man was taken to a hospital after being shot in the head Thursday afternoon, according to the Fort Worth Police Department.

At 3:10 p.m. Thursday, police responded to a residential neighborhood in the 5600 block of Norris Street about a man that was shot.

When police arrived, they confirmed a man suffered a gunshot wound to his head. He was taken to a local hospital. His condition is unknown.

According to reports, two groups of people were shooting at each other and the man was hit, police said.
A man wanted for an April homicide in New Castle was arrested in Miami, Florida on Wednesday.

Leighton Jade Weaver, 20, is accused in the shooting death of 42-year-old Lance Louis.

Louis was found shot at the scene of a crash just before 3 a.m. on April 19.

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Weaver is charged with criminal homicide, persons not to possess firearms, firearms not to be carried without a license and recklessly endangering another person.

Police said the district attorneys office will begin the extradition process to bring Weaver back to Pennsylvania to face charges.

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On April 16, 2007, about a year after Maurizio Porfiri moved to New York City to start his career as an engineering professor at New York University, one of his undergraduate students rushed into his office, desperate, saying, "Professor I'm really sorry."

At first, he didn't know what was going on, but then Porfiri saw on the news there had been a mass shooting at Norris Hall, Virginia Tech's engineering science and mechanics building, where he had received his doctorate and spent seven years studying in the department.

"I started calling people, but no one would reply. It was a disaster," Porfiri told CBS News. Porfiri was a teaching assistant for Liviu Librescu, the engineering professor who blocked the door to his classroom to allow students to escape out the window. Another of the professors in his Ph.D. committee was also among the 32 people killed that day, as were other colleagues and classmates who helped Porfiri become who he is "personally and professionally," he said.

After the mass shooting, it took Porfiri some time to figure out how to make sense of how he could help. "I couldn't imagine that I could do something meaningful," he recalled.

He found that the data and evidence in gun violence research mostly didn't utilize robust mathematical equations, Porifi said, so he decided to "see if we could use engineering techniques to bring insight into gun violence to help policymakers make good decisions informed by scientific evidence."

In 2020, the Italian native became the first researcher to receive a $2 million federal grant from the National Science Foundation earmarked specifically for gun-related research.

This week he published research on how "fame-seeking" mass shooters choose their locations. He has also published research on why gun owners purchase firearms after a mass shooting and statistical models for predicting monthly U.S. gun homicides.

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Maurizio Porfiri, professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at NYU Tandon School of Engineering. / Credit: New York University

Porfiri spoke to CBS News about the strides his engineering team at New York University has made in understanding gun violence, how engineering and mathematical equations can provide insights into gun violence, and what it means to map America's "firearm ecosystem."

CBS: What is different about your approach to finding solutions to gun violence?

Porfiri: It's the mathematical approach. Research in gun violence tends to be underfunded, so the field is not going to attract researchers from other fields that can attract innovation.

In gun violence, the level of engineering sophistication is not the same as that you find in other public health areas. I've seen gun violence research that takes different approaches but there are few mathematical approaches that are robust enough to take nuances into consideration.

So that's where I do believe there is a chance of making a big impact.

CBS: And how do you do that?

Porfiri: In one research project, we created mathematical models that can help a policymaker predict gun homicides, help them make decisions and understand violence better. Official gun data from the CDC has a very, very big delay. Typically a policymaker receives correct information between one to two years after the incident. So if you think of making some policymaking interventions, you are dealing with a data set that is one to two years old.

And things change very rapidly.

As a policymaker, I don't have many tools to make decisions that can help my community with an old data set. We build tools that can sort through and understand many different pieces of information; including Twitter, background checks, and Google Trends.

So policymakers don't have to wait two years. The data can tell you right away what's happening today, and what happened last year.

CBS: Can you solve gun violence with mathematical equations?

Porfiri: One of my research projects started when I attended a meeting that brought together experts from the FBI, psychologists, criminologists, etc. It was super interesting but it tended to be focused on cases, and what made this case special. If you go too deep on a single case it's difficult then to abstract it back again, because all the cases are different. The focus on cases doesn't allow researchers to then make sense of what the underlying behavior is. Because we have the ability to run these mathematical equations, we can provide information that shows patterns.

On the other side of the spectrum, there is machine learning and big data that may have too much of a comprehensive view; these equations may be missing underlying information and may end up providing recommendations that enforce the status quo.

We try to do something in between and base the mathematical equations based on an individual level. That is the space we occupy in our research.

What we can do is provide scientifically backed information for policymakers to act. That we can do. We try to make all of our data open-source so everyone can use it  with some exceptions. We don't publish the mass shooting database so as not to encourage more violence.

CBS: So how do you map America's "firearm ecosystem"?

Porfiri: Basically, the way we see the "firearm ecosystem" is a combination of different layers, that includes individual behavior, state-level behavior and the national level. We have to understand how policies shape individual behavior and then overall how these interactions define where we stand as a country.

So we try to understand what are the implication of individual choices on the legal system within a particular state. How states interact with each other from a legal point of view, in terms of adopting policies or removing the policy  understanding how these policies shape individual behavior. And then overall, how all these interactions define where we stand as a country, as the U.S., with respect to prevalence [of gun] violence.

CBS: What do we need to understand about these layers?

Porfiri: We are trying to address questions on the individual decision-making of people. What are the drivers? What is behind the decision-making and behavior of a mass shooter?

At the state level, we are trying to understand what laws are successful in reducing violence. We are trying to understand how states interact with respect to each other with respect to the legal environment. So for example, if state number one adopts a new policy, will that policy diffuse to other states? If so, why and when?

We have a lot of insights at different levels and we need to patch them together, but we are not there yet. There are a lot of gaps to fill even at the basic data-collection level. And that makes it very hard for us to then do quantitative work that can be translated into statistics and information that another person who is a policymaker can act upon.

We have many different threads we are following to help understand how the ecosystem connects  for example, tracing how people buy guns depending on their location and understanding the role of peer pressure when people buy guns. We are trying to build connections with cities to see if we can contribute ways to track illegal guns. We are running all the studies  individual, state and national now, separately  but we need to find ways to relate individual behavior to the state and then to the national level, but that we don't have yet.

CBS: Tell us about some of your research findings. You've done a number of studies; what stands out?

Porfiri: We looked at the number of mass shootings associated with firearm sales. But when we studied this idea we determined no association between mass shootings and gun purchases due to fear or instinct for protection.

So we started to look at other phenomena, and we collected data on media coverage of gun regulation and discovered a strong causality: People actually buy guns because after a mass shooting there is media coverage about potentially regulating guns. They may feel that their ability to purchase a gun can be curtailed and so gun sales go up.

So what we previously thought was the answer, actually wasn't true. When researchers apply something more mathematically robust, you can get a different answer. The story is entirely different.

Editor's note: This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

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Rep. Lauren Underwood says there's a "pathway" for maternal health bills to pass Congress

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Margaret Qualley photographed in the Los Angeles Times photo studio during the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival. (Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times)

With her lively, unpredictable performances, Margaret Qualley has become one of todays most vivid screen presences. She has been nominated for Emmys for her roles in Fosse/Verdon and Maid and has also appeared in films such as Quentin Tarantinos Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Claire Denis Stars at Noon and Zachary Wigons Sanctuary, as well as upcoming projects from filmmakers Yorgos Lanthimos, Coralie Fargeat and Ethan Coen.

And now she has been celebrated in song.

Qualley is engaged to eight-time Grammy-winning musician Jack Antonoff, who has collaborated with the likes of Taylor Swift, Lorde, St. Vincent and Lana Del Rey.

Del Reys new album, Did You Know That Theres a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd, features a song called Margaret co-written and co-produced by Del Rey and Antonoff and sung as a duet between the pair. Qualley herself appears in the albums credits for talking during a brief spoken interlude on the final song, Taco Truck x VB.

The song Margaret is a sweet ballad in Del Reys woozy style marked by a chorus repeating the romantic phrase, When you know, you know. Toward the end of the song Del Rey says in an offhandedly conversational manner, Join the party. By the way, the party is Dec. 18.

This has lead to some online speculation that the song might actually give away the date of Qualley and Antonoffs wedding.

So is Margaret Qualley getting married Dec. 18?

I am not, Qualley said during an interview this week promoting Sanctuary. She was kind enough to not put my real wedding date in the song. But I love that song so much. It makes me feel like I'm living in a dream. She's my favorite poet. I adore her.

Qualley further described the experience of having her romance celebrated in song as, Surreal, so special.

Del Rey spoke about the song in a conversation with Billie Eilish for Interview magazine, revealing that it was the last song written for the album in September 2022. Its a song called Margaret, about Jack Antonoffs fiance, Del Rey said. I was like, You know what? I want to write a song for him. 

In a review of the "Ocean Blvd" album, The Times pop music critic Mikael Wood gave special mention to Margaret, describing the song as tender.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
NEW YORK  Manhattan prosecutors said Thursday they will bring criminal charges against the Marine Corps veteran who used a fatal chokehold on an unruly passenger aboard a New York City subway train.

Daniel Penny, 24, who served as a Marine infantryman from 20172021, will be arrested and face a charge of second degree manslaughter, which could carry a jail term of up to 15 years.

We cannot provide any additional information until he has been arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court, which we expect to take place tomorrow, the Manhattan district attorneys office said in a statement.

The charges come nearly two weeks after Penny pinned fellow subway rider Jordan Neely, 30, to the floor of a subway car and put him in a chokehold that lasted for several minutes.

According to a freelance journalist who witnessed the struggle, Neely, who is Black, had been screaming and begging for money aboard the train prior to the takedown, but had not physically attacked anyone.

Attorneys for Penny, who is white, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. They previously said their client, along with two other riders who helped restrain Neely, had acted in self-defense.

Daniel never intended to harm Mr. Neely and could not have foreseen his untimely death, they said in a statement.

Penny was promoted to sergeant while in the Individual Ready Reserve. He deployed to the Mediterranean with the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit from December 2018 to July 2019, Maj. Jim Stenger, a Marine spokesman, told Marine Corps Times on Friday.

A former subway performer known for his spot-on Michael Jackson impression, Neely struggled in recent years with homelessness and worsening mental illness, friends said. He had been arrested several times and had recently pleaded guilty to assaulting a 67-year-old woman in 2021 as she left a subway station. After pleading guilty, he missed a court date, leading to a warrant for his arrest that was still active at the time of his death.

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His death has divided some in New York and beyond, triggering intense debates and protests. Left-leaning advocates described the killing as an act of racist vigilantism, invoking comparisons to the infamous subway shooting carried out by Bernhard Goetz against four teenagers in 1984.

Others, including Mayor Eric Adams, have urged caution, calling on New Yorkers to wait for the full facts and investigations. They note that much is still not known about what precipitated the chokehold.

As the investigation has continued, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has faced pressure to make an arrest. Penny was questioned by police in the hours after Neely died, but released without charges.

A second-degree manslaughter charge in New York will require the jury to find that a person has engaged in reckless conduct that creates an unjustifiable risk of death, and then consciously disregards that risk. The law also requires that conduct to be a gross deviation from how a reasonable person would act in a similar situation.
Joan Palumbo wasnt told the danger she was in when she stepped under the showerhead in her bathroom in Jacksonville, North Carolina.

She wasnt told about the toxins mixing into her daughters food every time she blended formula with water from the kitchen sink.

Or that cooking her own food in that same water would eventually lead to her death.

Palumbo didnt know that beginning in 1953 toxic chemicals had begun seeping through the ground into two of the eight water treatment plants on Camp Lejeune, the Marine Corps base near Jacksonville where she and her husband, Fred, lived in the Tarawa Terrace neighborhood.

Trichloroethylene, perchloroethylene, benzene and vinyl chloride, deadly chemicals known to cause health problems including miscarriages, birth defects, cancers and childhood leukemia, leaked from underground fuel storage tanks, an off-base dry cleaning facility, industrial area spills and waste disposal sites. The contamination of the bases waters continued through 1987 and mostly affected the Tarawa Terrace and Hadnot Point neighborhoods.

It is estimated that more than 1 million people were likely exposed to the toxic waters on Camp Lejeune. Beginning in August, half of those people had filed claims asking for the government to make right what happened to its Marines and their families  but no offers from the government have been extended. And without those offers, the claimants have been forced into litigation  potentially for years  if they want justice.

Palumbo is among those people. The Palumbos moved in 1962 to Camp Lejeune and together had their first child. Fred deployed overseas in 1963.

Subtle signs include miscarriage, premature births

The first signs of trouble for the Palumbo family from drinking Lejeunes water were subtle. While Fred was serving across the world from his wife, Joan suffered a miscarriage.

That same year, Joan became pregnant, this time with twin daughters. They were born three months premature, and entered the world fighting for their lives. The Palumbos daughter, Kristine, died after three days, on New Years Day. Her sisters fight continued for six long months before she was able to leave the hospital and join the rest of her family at home.

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The Palumbos went on to have six children, and it seemed that tragedy had left them.

When their youngest entered grade school, Joan Palumbo returned to her job as a pediatric nurse. She would eventually become a psychiatric nurse. Fred continued serving in the Marines until retiring in August 1981.

Fred and Joan Palumbo with their children.

Less than subtle signs? Breast cancer, multiple myeloma

Then, in 1997, Joans own health took a drastic turn. Her husband calls it her medical nightmare.

Breast cancer led to a lumpectomy in her right breast.

Another lump in her left breast led to a bilateral mastectomy.

Then she needed a spinal fusion.

A new diagnosis: multiple myeloma.

She had a mitral valve in her heart replaced.

Then she went into renal failure.

If all of that wasnt bad enough, she was inflicted with shingles before her death in January 2011.

Learning about Camp Lejeunes contaminated water

Fred Palumbo told McClatchy he and his wife pored through her familys medical history. Heart problems and cancer werent part of their story. Nothing made sense.

We couldnt determine what the problem was, Palumbo said. And I didnt realize there was a problem until after she died.

He cant remember exactly how he learned about the water contamination. He believes it was a news segment on television that led him to connect with Jerry Ensminger.

Ensminger, a retired Marine, has become the face of the fight for justice for those who lived and worked on Camp Lejeune. Ensminger lost his 9-year-old daughter born on the base, Janey, to leukemia in 1986.

Ensminger led efforts to uncover what happened with the water on the North Carolina base, hold the government accountable for covering up the contamination and ensure that no one who served at Camp Lejeune was left in the dark.

Members of the audience hold information packets as they listen to speakers during a series of town halls in cities across the United States in Raleigh, Nov. 4, 2022.

Fighting for justice and the PACT Act

Ensminger spent decades traveling to Washington fighting for the government to take responsibility for what happened to his fellow Marines at Camp Lejeune.

In 2012, President Barack Obama signed into law the Janey Ensminger Act, which ensured family members of veterans who lived on Camp Lejeune during the years of the water contamination had access to health care.

Last summer, Ensmingers Oorah, the Marines battle cry, echoed in the Senate chamber when Congress passed the PACT Act, giving anyone exposed to and affected by the water on Camp Lejeune two years to file claims with the U.S. Navy. The bill also allowed service members to file claims if they were exposed during specific dates to burn pits  a form of waste disposal that can give off toxic fumes  or had illnesses connected to service in the Gulf War, southwest Asia or the Vietnam War.

More than 500,000 claims have been filed because of the PACT Act, Biden announced on April 26.

The claims detail when someone was on the base, their exposure to the water and what health issues they developed.

The Navy can then do one of three things: offer a settlement, deny the claim or do nothing.

If a settlement is offered, the person filing the claim can then accept it or litigate it.

If an offer isnt made within six months or the claim is denied, then the person can pursue litigation.

Attorneys work with victims to file lawsuits

In February, when Camp Lejeune victims could first file lawsuits, a name repeatedly popped up on the court documents: attorney Eric Flynn with Bell Law Group, a firm out of South Carolina, who has since opened an office in Raleigh to help handle the Camp Lejeune claims.

I couldnt be prouder to represent these clients, Flynn told McClatchy. These people have suffered tremendously and I think it only takes talking to a handful of them, hearing their stories to hear the suffering they went through.

Bell Law Groups namesake, Edward Bell, began working with victims of Camp Lejeune more than 15 years ago. In the beginning, Flynns firm tried to sue over the effects of the water, but ran into two hurdles: a time limit for how long after exposure someone could sue, and the governments immunity.

Until the PACT Act, the law firm ran into roadblock after roadblock to get their clients justice.

Flynn can rattle off their stories with ease: the women who suffered miscarriages while their husbands fought in Vietnam, the members of the military who developed neurological effects, the Marine with Parkinsons, the wife with multiple sclerosis. The divorces as medical problems and losses became too much for a couple to handle. The missing faces at family gatherings.

There have been times where I think any attorney that has talked to these folks have walked out in tears because what these people have gone through is horrible, Flynn said. To be able to fight for these folks, to be able to bring their claims and hold people accountable is extremely gratifying.

A screenshot from one of the many television commercials and online video ads targeting possible victims of contaminated water at the Camp Lejune Marine Corps base in North Carolina.

Civil case could become largest in US history

Flynn said that while the government lost sovereign immunity and the time limit constraints, officials still have a lot of arguments they can make.

He said he wont predict what theyll do, but they could raise challenges based on the governments liability, on whether the water caused someones health issues, or on the length of time they were exposed.

On top of that, we still have to go through the process of getting experts to review all the documents, picking the jury, getting in front of the jury, convincing the jury of our case, Flynn said.

Catherine Dunham, a professor of law at Elon Law School, told McClatchy that the largest civil case in U.S. history saw 300,000 claims filed due to 3M military earplugs. Camp Lejeunes claims are expected to far exceed that number.

Despite victims being scattered worldwide now, and attorneys as far away as at least Puerto Rico fighting for their business, the case is not multidistrict, meaning all of the lawsuits are being filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina.

District Judge James Dever told parties in March that he would handle the cases expeditiously. If he were to handle each lawsuit filed so far individually, it would take four judges 1,900 years, Public Radio East reported.

We dont have a court system that could ever hear all those cases, Dunham said

A screenshot from one of the many television commercials and online video ads targeting possible victims of contaminated water at the Camp Lejune Marine Corps base in North Carolina.

Finding a lawyer

Meanwhile, victims of Camp Lejeunes toxic waters still need to navigate finding a lawyer. Once the PACT Act passed Congress, commercials flooded the airwaves for lawyers who could help secure money for people who lived on the base and even off base.

The honest to God truth is if they dont advertise, then no, the injured people arent going to know what to do, Dunham said.

But she understands that some of the commercials leave people uneasy.

Ill tell you what my philosophy is, is that the justice system has to be available, Dunham said. You have to have access points for regular people, because its always regular people who are injured.

Dunham said if that means lawyers need to flood television to reach those who are injured, so be it. She added that someone is at greater risk of being taken advantage of if they walk into a random attorneys office who doesnt have experience but wants to go after a few claimants so they can take his share of the settlement.

Flynn said its important that people arent victimized once again, this time by lawyers, through this process. Bell Law Group does not advertise on television.

Flynn said to do your homework on law firms. Call around and ask to talk to attorneys to see if theyre the right fit.

The good ones will do that, and you should be able to speak to somebody that you just click with and feel like this person really knows what theyre talking about, Flynn said.

Commercials predicting a specific payout amount have frustrated Flynn. Its impossible for a lawyer to make that promise since none of these cases have been heard and theres no precedent.

In the original draft of the bill to help Camp Lejeune water victims, lawmakers included a 25% cap on attorneys fees so that lawyers couldnt take advantage of their clients. That cap was taken out before the PACT Act passed into law.

Bloomberg reported in March that Bell Law Group spent more money than any other legal firm lobbying federal lawmakers over the past two years, and one of its requests was for the cap to be removed. Bell said he wouldnt object to a cap but believed lawyers should be able to charge up to 40%, Bloomberg reported.

A screenshot from one of the many television commercials and online video ads targeting possible victims of contaminated water at the Camp Lejune Marine Corps base in North Carolina.

When asked about the cap, Flynn said the legislation was supported by an overwhelming and bipartisan majority of senators and representatives.

We, too, support the law as enacted and are eager for these veterans and their families to finally get the justice they have long been entitled to, Flynn said.

Ensminger told McClatchy he had felt that years ago Bell, who he had previously recommended to people like Palumbo, took advantage of Ensmingers connections to drive up business. Ensminger has since cut ties with the firm, and is now working with Mikal Watts out of Texas.

Despite that and the attorneys fees, Palumbo said he is grateful to the Bell group for helping him navigate through the legal system.

Erin Brockovich (left) joined other advocates with Camp LeJeune Legal for the first in a series of town halls in cities across America in Raleigh, Nov. 4, 2022.

Cancer after drinking, cooking and bathing in poisonous water

Jeff Freuler, 57, a Townsville resident, also said he was thankful to the law firm as he navigates the long legal process ahead of him.

Like the Palumbos, Freuler had no idea he drank, cooked with and bathed in poisonous water while stationed on the Marine base in the 1980s.

Almost immediately after leaving the military, he began noticing neurological problems doctors couldnt explain: anxiety, depression, irritability, poor concentration, and changes in his mood and personality.

Freuler did receive a letter in the early 2000s from the U.S. government warning him that he had been exposed to toxins at Camp Lejeune. But details in the letter were sparse and Freuler dismissed it.

It was a very generic letter that held very little information, Freuler said.

Then, things got serious.

In 2012, I was diagnosed with prostate cancer, Freuler said. At a very young age, according to my urologist.

Freuler underwent a robotic prostatectomy the week of Thanksgiving. The surgery was a success and the tissues taken from around his prostate came back negative for any spread.

Initially, Freuler had to return to his doctor every few weeks to ensure the cancer didnt return. He now goes once every year.

I was still in the dark, Freuler told McClatchy. I mean, there was really no information out there that could tie everything together  the cancer that I had to the chemicals  until just a few years ago.

But as Ensminger continued to work, word reached Frueler, who said that as more information surfaced, the more he could connect both his neurological ailments and his cancer to the toxin exposures.

Continuing to do the research and reading stuff, I mean, it just all started making a little bit more sense, Freuler said.

Jeff Freuler serves in the United States Marine Corp in the mid-1980s.

What happens next?

Its an emotional process for the Marines to come to terms with what happened and that the government was not upfront about it when officials first learned about the toxins.

I signed up to serve my country, and Ill never regret it, Freuler said. What I do get emotional over is the fact that so much was done to cover this up, and it was some very hard work by a handful of people that wouldnt give up that brought all this to the surface.

When we asked to join the military, when we were assigned to Camp Lejeune, we didnt have to get treated like this, to get poisoned like this by that water, Freuler said.

For Frueler, theres always the question of whats next.

Its always in the back of my mind, as long as youre walking around with a ticking time bomb and thats cancer, yeah its not a matter of if its going to go off, but when its going to go off, and that plays with your mind, Freuler said.

He said he had to compartmentalize that and push it to the back of his mind every day just to function.

Then theres Palumbo. The illnesses didnt end with his wife. His oldest daughter, Kimberly, born on Camp Lejeune, died last June just months before the PACT Act passed, at age 59. Like her mother, she suffered from a series of painful health conditions before her death.

I look back and Ive said to myself many times if I just didnt live in the village rather than going to Tarawa Terrance, maybe my life would be different now, Palumbo said. I dont know. Im just following what Gods put in my path and trying to do the best I can with my children that I have now.

Freuler said he filed his lawsuit to lend a voice to those of people like Palumbo, but also to look out for both himself and his daughter, because if another health issue arises because of the water, he doesnt know what they would do  and they were only given until 2024 to figure it out.
Reported Shooting At Mandalay Bay In Las Vegas

People run from the Route 91 Harvest country music festival after apparent gun fire was heard on October 1, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Credit - David BeckerGetty Images

After a mass shooting on Saturday at an outlet mall in Allen, Texas left eight victims dead and seven injured, an FBI training video from 2020 began circulating on Twitter, depicting strategies for how to survive a mass shooting.

The video has received over 4 million views on the platform, with many commenters expressing dismay over its treatment of a mass shooting as an eventuality.

Aside from how terrible it is that the FBI is saying, The best we can do is train you to survive mass shootings, its notable how the core message of this video is that every setting in life should be viewed through the lens of hyper-vigilance and the likely need for combat, posted one user.

Ultimate pull-yourself-up by your own bootstraps: You can survive a mass shooting, if youre prepared, said another.

The video is a part of the FBIs Run. Hide. Fight. campaign, which advises three different ways victims can respond to mass shootings to save themselves. Its one example of how the threat of mass shootings has permeated every aspect of American life, and how the responsefrom preparing students with drills in schools to government-created public service videoslargely places the onus on the victims to fight for their own survival.

It assumes we are going to live in a violent culture and be responsible for our own survival, says Jennifer Dineen, an associate professor at the University of Connecticut, whose research focuses on gun injury prevention.

Read More: Raising Children in America Means Living in Fear That Theyll Be Shot

Story continues

Run. Hide. Fight.

The viral FBI training video depicts people at a bar who find themselves caught in an active shooter event. The actors play out different responses for survival, with some running down a stairwell, others barricading themselves in a back room, and another group ultimately fighting and helping to apprehend the shooter.

Law enforcement professionals are continuously training to respond faster, safer and more effectively to active shooter attacks. However, in most attacks, there will still be a few minutes before police arrive, the FBI said in a statement to TIME. During those few minutes the decisions made, and actions taken by those present can save many lives. The Run, Hide, Fight decision making tool helps individuals make the best decision for their survival, based on their unique circumstances.

Dineen notes that the advice fails to account for the reality of an active shooter situation, in which an individuals fight-or-flight response might not be as immediateand following those steps would not guarantee survival. It implies that there can be a linear progression. Thats not necessarily true.

People visit the memorial near the scene of a mass shooting at the Allen Premium Outlets mall on May 9, 2023 in Allen, Texas. Joe RaedleGetty Images

An individual who finds themself in an active shooter situation might not respond as quickly as the video depictsimagining, for example, that theyre hearing firecrackers before they register as gunshots, says Emily Greene-Colozzi, a criminology assistant professor at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.

Having this expectation that people will respond in a certain way might be missing out on the human response to something that is incredibly shocking, says Greene-Colozzi. It skips over the important step of recognizing a dangerous situation and assumes people can make rational conclusions.

Run. Hide. Fight. cant take into account the varying environments of an active shooter situation, or an individuals familiarity with their location. Greene-Colozzi says the concept presupposes that you know where to run or that youre in the type of environment where the only alternative you have is to fight, because you cant hide. If youre in a bar, or a mall that youve never been to before, your first reaction might be to just stand there looking around like, Well, what what should I do?

Read More: How the AR-15 Rifle Became Americas Most Dangerous Weapon

Responsive vs. proactive

Dineen says that training like Run. Hide. Fight.though not perfectare necessary to keep people prepared to react to an increasingly common threat. But if you really want to address gun violence, you have to look at the root causes, she says.

Some states, like Washington, California, and New Jersey, have restrictions on the possession of assault weapons, but the laws can only be so effective without national coordination. It is very difficult for a state to make good progress with reducing gun injury and deaths if their neighbors have very permissive gun cultures, says Dineen.

In 1994, Congress passed the Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act, a federal assault weapons ban that prohibited the manufacture or sale for civilian use of certain semi-automatic weapons and banned magazines that could accommodate more than 10 rounds or more. However, the bill expired ten years later, and further attempts to reinstate a ban have not made progress in Congress.

There have been over 200 mass shootings in 2023. With the grim frequency of mass shootings in America, Greene-Colozzi says its necessary for people to do what they can to be proactive in mapping out their ability to face a reactive situation.

It might be better served if run hide fight is taken as a base framework for response, she says.

Read More: How Stand Your Ground and Similar Laws Work

How to prepare

Many have stumbled upon the video while scrolling through their Twitter feed, but simply watching it might not be effective, Dineen says.

Ultimately, experts do believe that some kind of preparation is necessary for active shooter events, but it must occur in tandem with proper resources that help individuals process what theyre seeing and apply it to their own lives.

It just does not complete the process of preparation, when we drop it on people without any support or information, she says, If you have someone whos already anxious or is carrying trauma related to gun violence, theres no support for them to process that at the moment which may impede their ability to internalize or think through the practice of the situation.

Half of young people report thinking about mass shootings at least weekly, according to a study conducted by Project Unloaded, which is why Dineen emphasizes the importance of balancing training with conversations on the subject. Many schools employ lockdown protocols in the event of an active shooter, but some colleges do advise Run. Fight. Hide as their emergency action plan. Dineen adds that training done in school settings should include conversations addressing fears and anxiety and focus on how to apply the information to other environments.

Im not debating or downplaying the fact that this is a really scary thing for people to think about, especially children, and that there isnt potential trauma here, says Dineen. But there is also potential for increased survival with appropriate guidance.
Massachusetts is reimbursing some victims of SNAP benefit thefts.

The state-funded one-time replacement will cover funds lost from skimming, phishing or similar electronic fraud from April through September 2022, the Department of Transitional Assistance announced Thursday.

This follows Governor Healeys signing of a supplemental budget that included $2 million to replace stolen benefits not covered by the Congressional Consolidated Appropriations Act 2023.

The reimbursements will begin May 12, and victims should expect a text message or email from the state, according to their website.

DTA said recipients should change pin numbers frequently or set up direct deposit to be protected against scams. DTA staff members will not ask for a pin number.

SNAP is the first line of defense against hunger and supports our local grocery stores and farmers, said Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kate Walsh. Our state is a leader in providing households with replacement SNAP benefits not covered by the federal government and will continue to prioritize food security in Massachusetts through initiatives like this.

If any DTA client believes they may have fallen victim to a scam, they are encouraged to report it to DTAs fraud hotline at 1-800-372-8399.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.

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A fragment of the Kinzhal missile, destroyed by the Air Defense Forces of Ukraine

The mayor said that Ukrainian and foreign experts are currently studying the fragments at Kyiv Scientific Research Institute of Forensic Expertise. The results of the study will be submitted to the International Criminal Court, he said.

Read also: Air Force cautions against hype after Kinzhal downing, citing Ukraine's inadequate air defense capabilities

Russia should be held responsible for all crimes committed in Ukraine, Klitschko said.

For the genocide of Ukrainians and animal cruelty. The evidence is sufficient for the International Court of Justice. And no lie will help the Russian barbarians.

Klitschko also demonstrated the remains of a Russian hypersonic Kinzhal missile, which was shot down for the first time by the Ukrainian military with the use of the U.S.-made Patriot air defense system.

Read also: Klitschko says overnight air raid was largest assault on Kyiv by Russia since start of invasion

Earlier, Ukraines Defense Ministry said that thanks to the air defense forces, not a single Russian missile or drone over Kyiv had reached their target in the past two months.

On May 6, the Commander of the Ukrainian Air Force, Mykola Oleschuk, confirmed that a Kinzhal missile was intercepted by Ukraines air defenses.

Ukrainian military-focused news outlet Defense Express was the first to report that the hypersonic missile was shot down over Kyiv on May 4. However, the Ukrainian military command did not confirm this information for over a day.

Read also: Military historian shares insights on consequences of Ukrainian interception of hypersonic Kinzhal missile

Invading Russian forces have intensified their attacks on Ukraine since early May, launching suicide drones and missiles at Ukrainian cities during the night. Russia also continues to attempt to strike Kyiv, with five attacks on the capital city being recorded since the beginning of the month.

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
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Thursday blamed President Biden for the lack of progress so far in a deal that would allow the government to borrow more money once it hits the debt ceiling in early June.

Biden, McCarthy and other congressional leaders were scheduled to meet on Friday to talk about a possible deal to increase the borrowing limit and meet the GOP demand of reducing federal spending. But that meeting was pushed until next week, and McCarthy said the delay is because the White House isn't budging.

"I have not seen from there a seriousness of the White House that they want a deal," McCarthy told reporters Thursday. "It seems like they want a default more than they want a deal."

BIDEN GETS HEATED WITH REPORTER AFTER ASKED ABOUT DEBT CEILING: YOU DIDNT LISTEN'

McCarthy's message is a sign that the two sides still have a ways to go before anything close to a deal can be reached. Democrats have insisted on a "clean" debt ceiling increase so the government can pay its bills after June 1, while Republicans are seeking a spending cut of about $150 billion before they can agree to more debt.

The stalemate has the potential to roil financial markets as the deadline gets closer, although both sides have insisted that a default on the U.S. debt will not happen.

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

McCarthy said staff members have met over the last two days, but said there was not enough progress to warrant holding the Friday meeting with leaders.

MCCARTHY AGREES TO MAY 9 MEETING WITH BIDEN TO RESOLVE DEBT CEILING STANDOFF

President Biden has so far refused to accept any spending cuts as the cost of getting an increase in the debt ceiling.

"We think its productive for the staff to meet again," McCarthy said, adding that both parties agreed to the delay.

"The White House didnt cancel the meeting," McCarthy said. "All of the leaders decided its probably the best of our interest to let the staff meet again before we get back together."

Just two days ago, Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and other leaders agreed to hold staff level talks on how to raise the debt ceiling before the government is unable to pay its current obligations by early June. But even then, the White House made it clear it wanted to keep talks about the debt ceiling separate from talks about spending cuts.

Story continues

REPUBLICANS HAVE THE UPPER HAND OVER DEMS IN DEBT CEILING NEGOTIATIONS, BUDGET EXPERT SAYS

McCarthy said he believes both sides will meet again next week. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., told Fox News Digital on Wednesday afternoon that talks from earlier in the week didnt get very far, and said he didnt have a readout of how Wednesday and Thursday talks had gone.

"Yesterday and then today, whether they're making progress, I don't know," Emmer said. "But they're still meeting and there's a plan for a second meeting, at least of the speaker and the president."

"I assume based on what I've heard, that they were trying to say that they don't like some things in the Republican plan without offering solutions," Emmer added.

"I would say everybody is on their own. But right now the only deal that is out there is the deal that Kevin McCarthy and House Republicans passed," he told Fox News Digital. "If Chuck Schumer could pass a debt ceiling proposal in the Senate, great, then you just have our conference  and Let's hammer it out. But he can't because they don't have the votes to do that."
Life has a way of reminding us that our present path may not serve us anymore. Taking a leap of faith can be frightening, but its the only way to reach new heights. Cory Glasgow, CEO of JetWaze, did exactly that, and hes got an inspiring story.

When you think of the expression: they did a 180, its perfectly applicable here. Theres no correlation between his past and present employment, and that was the point.

Originally from Brooklyn, Glasgow has carved a niche for himself in the luxury aviation world. His unyielding commitment to his business has earned him stellar clientele, including Serena Williams and Jamie Foxx.

Travel Noire caught up with Glasgow to discuss his professional transition, where hes taken his clients, and some of his favorite places to travel.

TN: Can you tell us what you did before you started JetWaze?

Cory Glasgow: Prior to starting my private jet charter company, I was in the medical sales world. I worked in the operating room with orthopedic spine and neurosurgeons as an implant and device rep. My job was to ensure the safe and effective use of my companys surgical tools and implants by the physician and his operating room staff.

TN: Working in the medical field is noble work, but it sounds like it came at a price.

CG: Yes. After having my first child, the long hours in the operating room began to wear on me. I continued to miss out on milestone events with my son. I would often have surgeries on the weekends that caused me to miss his sporting events. I wanted a better quality of life and something with more autonomy.

Photo Credit: Cory Glasgow

TN: Your passion for planes predates JetWaze. But did social media play a role in furthering that interest?

Photo Credit: Chestnot

CG: An Instagram account promoted empty leg flights on private jets. Curiosity caught me, so I decided to do some industry research. I was fascinated by what I found when I started studying the world of private aviation.

TN: The transition must have been difficult, right?

CG: Jumping into this industry isnt as difficult as it might sound. However, to be successful, youll need more than an iPhone, and a social media page with a bunch of cool pictures. I spent countless hours learning the ins and outs of the industry, the different categories of aircraft, and identifying which planes could travel to certain destinations.

Story continues

TN: As anyone who works with the public knows, building trust is essential. When youre in the luxury travel sphere, you may encounter exacting clients. Who is your favorite client?

CG: I would have to say Serena is my favorite. Shes just been so personable and down to earth given her status as a global superstar. I aim to exceed all of my clients expectations. But because she and I work together often, Ive grown accustomed to her personal in-flight preferences and can provide a tailored experience.

TN: What does an average day look like for you?

CG: A typical day for me starts after I make breakfast and take my son to school. Once Im back in the office, I handle emails and follow up with flight requests. I try to hit the gym for an hour and a half, but even then my phone is in hand, and Im either texting with clients or putting in flight requests.

After the gym, I typically grab lunch, then work on social media posts and brand content. The rest of the day is dedicated to prospecting new clients, or putting together itineraries for existing and upcoming trips.

However, there are travel days when I meet with clients at the airport prior to their departure. Ill fly to their city and bring them their preference of breakfast, lunch, or dinner. When possible, I like to be there to greet my clients, and make sure their experience with JetWaze has been a seamless and memorable one.

Photo Credit: Anton Petrus

TN: Where have you taken people on the planes?

CG: Everywhere! My clients have flown to places such as Mexico (Cabo, Cancun, Acapulco, Puerto Vallarta), Europe (France, Italy, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Germany, Greece, Spain), Israel, South America (Brazil and Argentina) and the Caribbean.

TN: What has been your general experience in the travel sphere prior to your move into luxury travel? Where have you traveled, and which destination is your favorite?

CG: My experience prior to venturing into luxury travel has been pretty positive. I love traveling and, as weird as it sounds, I love planes, so I actually look forward to every aspect of the travel experience.

My parents are from the Caribbean so Ive been to quite a few Caribbean Islands. St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and The Bahamas. Ive also done Puerto Rico and The Dominican Republic a few times. The only place in Europe Ive traveled to thus far is Spain.

Overall, my favorite place to visit is the Caribbean, nothing beats the relaxing atmosphere and laid-back vibes you feel down there.

This article has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
[Source]

Actor Mel Gibson has joined the call for the release of a Texas man currently on death row in China.

The Academy Award-winning actor sent a video message to NewsNation on April 25 in which he states that Mark Swidan has been wrongfully detained for over a decade.

Swidan, now aged 47, was arrested in China and convicted of drug trafficking in 2012. Records later revealed, however, that Swidan was not in China when the alleged crime happened.

Swidan, who was a businessman at the time, reportedly traveled to China to export flooring and other building materials for his company. He was sentenced to death in 2019 but his execution has been delayed pending appeal.

More from NextShark: China says US has 'evil intentions' after YouTube channel of Hong Kong chief executive candidate shut down



According to Gibson, Swidan is a "a victim of a corrupt system" and his conviction was based on "false evidence."

The United States government has demanded his release, and we, as Americans, should stand up for this man who represents the best of us, Gibson says in the video. I ask for all of you to raise your voices and demand Marks release, and to pray that hes returned to his family.

Story continues

Swidan's family, which has been campaigning for his release for years, released a statement noting that they appreciate the actor lending his voice to the call for Swidan's release.

More from NextShark: 'Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins' Drops First Trailer Featuring Star Henry Golding

Gibson's message comes weeks after the U.S. State Department revealed that China decided to uphold Swindan's death penalty with a two-year suspended death sentence.

In a statement, State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel expressed disappointment with China's decision.
Donald Trump with a CNN logo Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Shortly after former President Donald Trump wrapped up his controversial CNN town hall, President Biden tweeted out a de facto campaign message: "It's simple, folks," he said. "Do you want four more years of that?"

"That," of course, being the former president's 70-minute appearance before likely Republican voters on a stage in New Hampshire, an unruly and falsehood-filled event during which he spewed lies about the 2020 election, praised rioters who attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and dodged questions about whether he wanted Ukraine to win its war against Russia. He mocked former advice columnist E. Jean Carroll, who just days prior won a defamation lawsuit against him, and derided the town hall's host, CNN journalist Kaitlan Collins, as a "nasty person." The audience, meanwhile, chuckled and laughed along. "I can't believe anyone thought this was a good idea," one CNN staffer told The Washington Post. "It was an unmitigated disaster," added a former network executive, speaking with Insider. "Kaitlan had no support in the room. They were mocking her." Even team Trump was shocked by the spectacle, which marked his first appearance on the network since the 2016 election: "They can't believe he is getting an hour on CNN with an audience that cheers his every line and laughs at his every joke," reported The New York Times' Jonathan Swan.

Though the network may have got precisely what it wanted out of the event (ratings, buzz, and an olive branch for conservative viewers, posits journalist Jemele Hill), it has nonetheless come under intense fire for elevating the former president's lies on a national scale. Many critics have deemed Trump's appearance more damaging than illuminating, something more akin to a supercharged rally than an informative town hall. In the end, was this high-profile experiment an irredeemable mess, or might there have been some value to be found amongst the chaos?

At the very least 

The former president's "torturous" town hall was a show of "toe-curlingly bad television," David Smith writes for The Guardian. And though it "backfired horribly," it did "perform the service of forcing the American public"  some members of which were in the room, cheering Trump on  "to look at itself in the mirror." Additionally, Trump's Republican challengers might use the event as a reminder of the former president's ability to dodge, evade, and poke fun at his opponents to the point where he almost discredits and embarrasses them, adds Michael Brendan Dougherty in an otherwise anti-Trump column for National Review. "Most other politicians come to the debate stage as ambitious nerds, needful of approval." Trump, however, "improvises across all 88 keys of the piano in his register." His rivals would do well to remember that.

"To call it a sh-tshow would be generous," said Politico's Playbook, but there was at least one key beneficiary of the night: Joe Biden. "It was quite efficient," one Biden advisor said of the spectacle. "Weeks worth of damning content in one hour."

CNN was "correct to recognize that [Trump] is a relevant, potent political force who cannot be ignored and must be thoroughly vetted," admitted New York Times opinion writer Frank Bruni. If voters are debating Biden's mental fitness, shouldn't they also see about Trump's? "THIS is the 2024 Republican presidential primary," agreed ex-CNN journalist Brian Stelter on Twitter. "Look away if you choose, but this is what it's going to be like. Should news outlets sanitize it or stare it in the face?" Indeed, don't blame CNN for hosting an event with the GOP frontrunner, said GOP political strategist Sarah Longwell. "Trump is probably going to be the nominee and we need to be clear-eyed about what we're dealing with."

A total mistake

For others, the upsides of the town hall were either far less obvious or ultimately non-existent. The night was "1000 percent a mistake," one insider told Rolling Stone. "No one [at CNN] is happy." "Yes, some news was made," conceded CNN's own Oliver Darcy. "But for most of the night, the nation's eyes were transfixed on Trump's abuse of the platform that he was given." It's "hard to see how America was served" by that "spectacle of lies."

Former Washington, D.C. police officer Michael Fanone, who was attacked by protesters during the Capitol riot, was far less restrained in his criticism, which he levied in a column titled, "CNN Is Hosting a Town Hall for a Guy Who Tried to Get Me Killed." "I don't believe for one second that this is about journalistic integrity. It's about ratings and money," Fanone wrote. "To me, allowing Trump an open forum on a major television news network is the moral equivalent of putting an AR-15 in the hands of someone mentally unstable. Whether words or bullets  and I have seen firsthand the effects of both  they are equally dangerous in the mouths or hands of those who have shown us time and time again what their true intentions are."

All it took was Trump's ostensible lead in the race for the Republican nomination for CNN to "ignore literally everything else" and give him a platform, writes Justin Peters for Slate. The misguided session was simultaneously a flashback to Trump's presidency, a preview of what's to come, and a "conclusive repudiation of CNN CEO Chris Licht's doomed plan to restore the network's fortunes by tacking to the imagined middle."

It seems CNN has learned nothing from its past, posits Mehdi Hasan for MSNBC. Just seven years removed from its 2016 coverage, on which many pundits have at least partially blamed Trump's rise, the network afforded "the twice-impeached and newly indicted ex-president" another chance to quickly and easily spread falsehoods and misinformation. "What did CNN or Collins think would happen? Did they really have no plan to deal with Trump's belligerent nonsense? Did they really learn nothing and forget nothing?"

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Beyonce is officially on tour and fans want a piece of the action. According to fashion site, Nasty Gal, Google search data revealed online queries related to the Renaissance tour have exploded. Terms like metallic cowboy boots skyrocketed 488 percent after the first night of the tour. Queen Bey rocked a wide range of metallic numbers on stage during the tours opening night in Stockholm. That included a silver bodysuit with cutouts. Google searches for silver bodysuit and silver corset have also risen 426 percent and 699 percent respectively.

Its no surprise fans are clamoring to emulate Beyonce and her dancers looks. Clips from the first night immediately went viral. Fans reacted to Queen Beys mesmerizing vocals, show stopping visuals, sickening choreography, and custom designer fits.

Beyonces Looks

beyonce in custom mugler for renaissance world tour #rwt2023 pic.twitter.com/tKJIa0SQRd  BEY-Z   fan account (@beyzhive) May 11, 2023

Costumes included bedazzled catsuits and cyborg-inspired silhouettes. She posted in an Alexander McQueen piece which contained dazzling beadwork and structured shoulder pads. The Queen stunned concert goers when she performed Pure/Honey. She wore a black and yellow Mugler bodysuit. She also wore a reflective Courreges bodysuit while performing Alien Superstar. Both of these outfits were paired with thigh-high boots.

The Renaissance Aesthetic

Based off the house and dance direction of the Renaissance album, fans expected the tour would include a disco-chic theme. Many planned their outfits accordingly for the first stop of the tour. Now, that the costuming has officially been released, its not too late to pull together your own Renaissance inspired look. Whether youre planning to attend another stop on the tour or youll be grooving from the house, here are ways to look like the queen without breaking the bank.

Cowboy Hats To Rock

Crystal Drape Cowboy Hat BP

$39.00

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Photo Courtesy of Photo Credit: Nordstrom

Show off your Southern style in this bedazzled, black cowboy hat. Silver crystals surround the silky hat. This statement-piece looks great with long braids or wavy tresses. Even though the tour is called Renaissance, this hat is giving Lemonade. This hat is available in black and the embellishments highlight its shape. A crystallized, black bodysuit would compliment this show-stopping hat. Either way, this statement piece will bring out your inner Yonce.

Star Print Cowboy Hat BP

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Nothing screams Southern Belle like a cream-colored cowboy hat decorated with pearls. The pearls are heart-shaped and add a feminine touch to the monochromatic headpiece. This hat definitely gives Church Girl for its soft but noticeable details. A pair of loose fitting pearls would pair great with this hat. Wear a cream-colored bodysuit and denim shorts for an edgy, streetwear look.

Statement Boot

Bria Cowboy Boot AZALEA WANG

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These boots are an Alien Superstars dream. The metallic and baby pink colorway is a perfect combination of futurism and charm. Partygoers may be jealous of these structured boots. The flame, embroidered details are definitely hot. These shoes are perfect for concert goers because of their mid-length, wedged heel. A short, denim jumpsuit would pair well with these. Accessories like beaded, drop earrings would make heads turn. These boots were definitely made for dancing to Beyonces latest hits.

Flirty In Fringe

Nasty Gal Beaded Tassel Mini Skirt

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Nasty Gal Beaded Embellished Tassel Crop Top

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Feel complete in this sassy skirt and halter set. The outfit is designed with beaded pearls and a tassel accent for a fun night out. The matching top is dreamy but seductive. This look pairs well with strappy heeled sandals, or black, embroidered thigh-high boots.

Nasty Gal Fringe Trim Sequin Romper

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Photo Courtesy of Photo Credit: Nasty Gal

You may be in competition with the Queen Bey after arriving in this chrome, fringe ensemble. This party piece is gaudy, fierce, and boisterous. This set offers dazzling fringe detailing on the arms. Pair this set with white or black cowboy boots. Twirl for the girls in this fun set.

The post Metallic Fashion In Demand As Beyonces Renaissance Tour Continues appeared first on 21Ninety.
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's foreign minister on Friday slammed a bill approved a day earlier by U.S. Republican lawmakers that would tighten immigration policy and restart work on a southwestern border wall, accusing backers of peddling racism against Mexicans.

The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday approved the legislation, which would require asylum seekers to apply for U.S. protection outside the country. It would also resume work on the wall promoted by former president Donald Trump.

Democrats have indicated they could block the bill in the U.S. Senate, which they control.

The package, intended to stop migrants and drugs crossing the border with Mexico, passed as COVID-19-era U.S. border restrictions were expiring.

Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said migrant flows in Mexico were coming down, after record detentions on the border in the run-up to the elimination on Thursday night of the U.S. policy known as Title 42.

He panned the U.S. House bill, saying it and other Republican-led efforts, such as pinning blame on Mexico for the supply of deadly opioid fentanyl, were "unacceptable" and would spark a "crisis" between the two close trade partners.

Speaking at a press conference with President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Ebrard said the legislation was aimed at scoring political points. Mexico and the U.S. both hold presidential elections in 2024, and Lopez Obrador again urged voters in the U.S. not to vote for Republicans who insult Mexicans.

"What's the cement behind these ideas, the people who believe in this?" Ebrard said. "Racism against Mexicans, and against all Spanish-speakers in general."

The president and Ebrard both singled out U.S. Republican Senator John Kennedy, who during a Senate hearing this week said: "Without the people of America, Mexico, figuratively speaking, would be eating cat food out of a can and living in a tent".

Kennedy made his remarks as he criticized U.S. and Mexican efforts to crack down on Mexico's drug cartels.

(Reporting by Dave Graham; Editing by David Gregorio)
Michael J Fox has claimed that a cure for Parkinsons disease is closer than its ever been.

The Back to the Future star, 61, was diagnosed with the condition back in 1991, at the age of 29.

During an appearance on the ITV1 chat show Lorraine on Friday (12 May), Fox opened up about living with Parkinsons, and spoke about the current medical advances being made in treating it.

I feel [a cure is] closer than its ever been, he told series host Lorraine Kelly. I think weve found this biomarker which is huge, identifying the disease and therefore being able to treat it earlier.

It was a gigantic breakthrough, we didnt expect to make it this soon. We were working on it for a long time, 10 years ago we talked about it.

Through his charitable foundation, The Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinsons Research, the actor has raised more than $1.75bn (1.39bn) for research into treating the illness.

Addressing his quality of life, Fox, who announced in 2020 that he was entering a second retirement from acting, said: Im thrilled with life, I love life. Im a very happy person. Its good, Im 61 years old and thats amazing in itself.

Michael J Fox on Lorraine' (ITV)

Im happy. Im more happy than not. And I think it helps to be silly, I think youve got to be silly sometimes in the face of things that are really daunting and threatening. And you have to be compassionate for the people around you, look at what theyre going through.

Fox had previously retired from full-time acting in the year 2000, to focus on advocacy and fundraising for Parkinsons disease.

The actor also recently described the scene in Quentin Tarantinos 2019 film Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood that made him decide to quit acting again.

Lorraine airs weekdays at 9am on ITV1 & ITVX.
Though he's had an amazing career filled with TV and movie success, Michael J. Fox lives with a few Hollywood regrets  like turning down a role in the blockbuster film "Ghost."

I didnt see how it would work, Fox, 61, told Variety. It shows I can be an idiot too.

By 1990, the Emmy winners hit NBC sitcom, Family Ties, ended after seven seasons, and the Back to the Future trilogy had wrapped. Not long after turning down Ghost, Fox appeared in a few notable flops, including Life with Mikey and For Love or Money.

By that point, he explained, Fox was prioritizing hefty paychecks over good parts thanks to his then-secret 1991 diagnosis of Parkinsons disease. Its such a s----- disease, said Fox. I didnt want to think about it. I didnt want to deal with it. It didnt fit my story. I just shut down.

But things worked out just fine for Ghost. That part Fox rejected? It went to Patrick Swayze. The late actor made movie magic playing Sam, a murdered banker who protects his lover, Molly, played by Demi Moore.

MOORE,SWAYZE, GHOST, 1990 (AJ Pics / Alamy Stock Photo)

In 2015, Bruce Joel Rubin, the movies Oscar-winning screenwriter, opened up about casting the role of Sam for an anniversary story on "Ghost" published in Vanity Fair.

The filmmakers, said Rubin, went to every major actor in Hollywood who was hot at the time. Who turned down the part? Everybody. Harrison Ford said, I read this thing three times and I still dont get it. Michael J. Fox, Paul Hogan, on and on, we kept getting turned down.

Rubin said he had a hunch that actors didnt want to play dead men ... they all saw it as a loss of vitality.

Producer Jerry Zucker held out hope that "Ghost" would find the perfect male lead, but Rubin told VF finally there wasnt anybody. ... When Patrick said yes, he basically saved the movie.

Zucker's confidence in "Ghost" paid off. On opening weekend in July 1990, he called Rubin to tell him that the movie had sold out everywhere."

"Ghost" was still red-hot at the box-office by mid-September. "And we were still playing in theaters six months later at Christmas, said Rubin.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
For restaurants and their hard-working chefs, earning a Michelin star is the pinnacle of achievement. The grand prize. The crema in the colada. The cherry and the guava on top.

Every year since 1900, the Michelin Guide  the company from which you might also purchase new tires  sends anonymous inspectors around the world to evaluate the hottest restaurants. No, we cannot send Michelin your resume. Please dont ask.

Which Florida restaurants earned Michelin stars for 2023? See who made the guide

This intimate restaurant in a luxury Miami Beach resort just earned a Michelin star

The inspectors eat a lot of fantastic food and take meticulous notes. Their true identities are more closely guarded than Clark Kents, and you will have more luck uncovering the secrets of the Illuminati than revealing who they are.

According to the Michelin Guide, the inspectors assess each restaurant on five criteria: quality of ingredients; harmony of flavors; mastery of techniques; the personality of the chef as expressed through their cuisine; and consistency.

Heres where you can find all of Miamis Michelin-starred restaurants

If a restaurant achieves all these milestones, it will receive a star, meaning it has a quality menu and prepares excellent cuisine to a consistently high standard. Its worth a stop. Two stars means its even better and worth a detour if youre traveling.

Michelin adds two more outstanding Miami restaurants to its 2023 guide

LAtelier de Joel Robuchon Miami, which serves French cuisine, is the only Michelin two-star restaurant in Florida.

Three stars means the restaurant is exceptional and worth a special journey and that it will be the highlight of your dining life to eat there.

All this is swell if you win. But beware: Each starred restaurant is monitored throughout the following year. One amuse-bouche goes awry on the wrong night, and you could lose a star.

There is no guarantee: How stressed are Miami chefs about keeping Michelin stars?

In 2022, the first time inspectors came to Florida, 11 Miami restaurants earned Michelin stars, with LAtelier de Joel Robuchon in the Design District earning two. The French restaurant is led by Chef Alain Verzeroli and a team of proteges of the late Joel Robuchon, who held 31 Michelin stars at the time of his death in 2018.

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States pay for the possibility of getting in the Michelin Guide. Visit Florida, the states marketing organization, paid Michelin $1.5 million over three years to evaluate restaurants in Miami, Orlando and Tampa. But theres no guarantee: no Tampa restaurants earned a star in 2022. Better luck this year, Tampa.

Elcielo Miami, a Colombian restaurant with locations in Washington, D.C., Bogota and Medellin, earned a one-star Michelin rating.

This chef led a restaurant to a Michelin star. Now hes opening a spot in Coral Gables
An unaccompanied migrant child died while in U.S. government care this week and a medical examiner investigation is underway, the Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement released on Friday.

"The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is deeply saddened by this tragic loss and our heart goes out to the family, with whom we are in touch," HHS said in the statement.

According to a tweet from Honduran foreign relations minister Enrique Reina, the teenager was identified as Angel Eduardo Maradiaga Espinoza. Reina said the teenager was detained at a facility in Safety Harbor, Florida.

The HHS was responsible for the facility where the teenager was held.



In a press conference on Friday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the news was deeply saddening to hear and that the administration was aware of the tragic death of the minor.
A migrant child has died in U.S. custody and a medical investigation conducted by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has been opened, officials confirmed Friday.

It is sad news, it is deeply saddening to hear, and we are certainly aware of the tragic loss and our hearts go out to the family, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters.

She said a medical investigation was opened May 10. An HHS spokesperson said local law enforcement and Floridas Department of Children and Families have been notified, and the HHS Division of Health for Unaccompanied Children is closely reviewing the case.

Jean-Pierre declined to say whether President Biden would reach out to the family of the child. She added that she hasnt spoken to the president about the incident.

Being a mother and celebrating Mothers Day on Sunday, it is very devastating news, she said.

The Department of Health and Human Services confirmed to Fox News there was a death at the border involving a child. Reports have surfaced that the child, a boy, was in custody by the department for weeks and migrated from Honduras.

The child died in the days leading up to the lifting of Title 42, which occurred at midnight Friday morning. Officials have been warning migrants that the border is not open in the lead-up to the lifting of the COVID-era policy, which allowed for the rapid expulsion of asylum seekers.

Officials said on Friday they have not seen an uptick of migrants at the southern border since the policy expired, but that asylum officers must work throughout the weekend to help process claims.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Mike Lynch

British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch has been extradited to the US to face criminal charges over the $11bn sale of his firm Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard.

Mr Lynch - once dubbed "Britain's Bill Gates" after the Microsoft co-founder - will stand trial on charges including fraud, which he denies.

He is accused of overinflating the value of his software firm when he sold it to HP in 2011.

The Home Office confirmed that Mr Lynch was extradited to the US on Thursday.

The 57-year-old businessman, who is a founding investor in the UK cyber-security firm Darktrace, has long fought attempts by US prosecutors to stand trial in America.

According to US court documents, Mr Lynch has been ordered to pay bail of $100m with authorities claiming he is a "serious risk of flight" following his years of fighting extradition.

He will be confined to an address in San Francisco, guarded by private security which he must pay for himself.

Mr Lynch's net worth is estimated to be between 988m and 1.1bn.

A court filing said: "After lengthy extradition proceedings in the United Kingdom, Defendant Michael Richard Lynch has finally landed on our shores to stand trial, accompanied by the United States Marshals Service."

Last month, Mr Lynch lost an appeal in the High Court arguing that he should instead be tried in the UK.

The Home Office said: "On 21 April, the High Court refused Dr Lynch's permission to appeal his extradition. As a result, the normal 28-day statutory deadline for surrender to the US applies."

As a result, he was sent to California on Thursday where the trial will take place.

At the time of the sale in 2011, Autonomy was the UK's biggest software company and it was the largest-ever takeover of a British technology business.

HP was primarily known as a technology hardware company and buying Autonomy was aimed at diversifying its business.

However, just a year later, HP wrote down the value of Autonomy by $8.8bn and claimed it had been duped into overpaying for the company.

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HP, Mr Lynch and Autonomy's former chief financial officer Sushovan Hussain have been mired in litigation ever since.

Hussain was jailed for five years and fined millions of dollars in 2019 on 16 counts of fraud, securities fraud and other charges.

What is Autonomy?

The company was founded in 1996 by Mr Lynch out of a specialist software research group called Cambridge Neurodynamics.

Autonomy developed software that could extract useful information from "unstructured" sources such as phone-calls, emails or video.

The software could then do things such as suggest answers to a call-centre operator or monitor TV channels for words or subjects.

It gained a listing on the US Nasdaq exchange in May 2000 at the height of the technology boom and was listed in London six months later.

The company suffered when the technology bubble burst, dropping out of the FTSE 100 and having to issue a profit warning in 2001.

But it grew rapidly and opened joint head offices in Cambridge and San Francisco, with other offices worldwide, to serve 65,000 customer companies.

Autonomy was sold to Hewlett-Packard for $11.1bn in 2011. Mr Lynch left the company in 2012.

Last year, HP won a civil fraud case against Mr Lynch and Hussain. The "unusually complex" trial lasted 93 days and involved millions of documents.

At the heart of the case, according to Mr Justice Hildyard, was HP's claim that "they were fundamentally misled and are victims of fraud".

Mr Lynch and Hussain's defence was that HP's claim was "'manufactured' to cover and justify a change of corporate mind, and to cast them as scapegoats for what in reality is buyer's remorse coupled with management failings".

In the end, Mr Justice Hildyard found the "claimants have substantially succeeded in their claims in this proceeding".

The BBC has contacted Mr Lynch's investment firm Invoke Capital for comment.
Joe Biden and Rishi Sunak in Belfast on April 12 (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

A minister has rejected Joe Bidens claim that he flew to Ireland recently to make sure the Brits didnt screw around following a backlash in the UK.

Mr Biden sparked a transatlantic row on Thursday after he claimed his Ireland trip last month was in part to keep the UK in line amid a Brexit trade row.

Asked if he agreed with Mr Bidens comments, transport minister Huw Merriman told Times Radio: No not at all.

My roots are in Ireland so I certainly would not accept that at all.

Huw Merriman (PA Wire)

The Windsor Agreement really allows us to preserve the Good Friday Agreement and all that is best.

He can use his own language but in my view Im very proud of it (the Windsor Agreement). We have preserved the Good Friday Agreement. We have celebrated the anniversary of it. Northern Ireland has turned a corner.

On Thursday, the US president travelled to New York for a Democratic National Committee Reception.

While there, he spoke of his trip to Northern Ireland to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement before he travelled south to his ancestral home.

In quotes released by the White House, Mr Biden, 80, said: The basic fundamental values that I find is that most ethnic communities are similar.

And one of the things  I got to go back  not what I had planned on talking about, but I got to go back to Ireland for the  for the  the Irish Accords, to make sure they werent  the Brits didnt screw around and Northern Ireland didnt walk away from their commitments.

His comments sparked anger from some quarters in the UK with former Northern Ireland Secretary Shailesh Vara telling The Standard: This is deeply regrettable that President Biden has to use such language to further his re-election chances in the US.

DUP Brexit spokesman Sammy Wilson added: Its unbelievable and frightening as well to think this is the man who is the leader of the free world.

If you believe that there should be a special relationship between the US and UK then at least show us some respect.

Story continues

Despite Rishi Sunak signing the breakthrough Windsor Agreement with the EU, power-sharing has not been restored in Northern Ireland.

Mr Sunak had hoped to have Stormont restored in time for the anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement where the US president spent less than 24 hours north of the border.

Asked whether the US presidents presence in Northern Ireland had been needed to ensure the Brits did not screw around, the Prime Ministers official spokesman said on Thursday: The Windsor Framework was a culmination of substantive work between the UK and the EU and at its heart the UK priority was always protecting the Good Friday Agreement.

We have been consistent on that point throughout and we are pleased that between the UK and the EU we have been able to reach an agreement which works for the people of Northern Ireland and for the whole UK.

During his three-day trip to the Republic where he met with Irish premier Leo Varadkar who rejected claims Mr Biden was anti-British.

Mr Biden did make one gaffe though when he mixed up the New Zealand rugby with the Black and Tans - the name for part-time officers recruited to bolster Royal Irish Constabulary numbers, many of whom gained a violent reputation during the Troubles.
An Ohio emergency medical technician who went missing over the weekend has been located alive, Cleveland police said on Friday morning.

Lachelle Jordan, 30, was reported missing on Sunday and was feared to be in danger, police said at the time. The Cleveland EMT and mother of two was last seen going out to fetch something from her car in the Glenville neighborhood of Cleveland on Saturday evening.

Jordan told police she feared for her safety days before she vanished, according to News 5 Cleveland.

She was reportedly set to appear in court earlier this week for a criminal case involving a former co-worker, who was indicted last year on rape and abduction charges. That co-worker, Michael Stennett, was charged in Cuyahoga County Monday with felony counts of stalking and violating a protection order, according to News 5 Cleveland. Sources told WKYCs 3News that Stennett violated a court order to stay away from Jordan, but police have not implicated him in her disappearance.

Police did not immediately respond to HuffPosts request for comment. HuffPost could not locate an attorney for Stennett.

Crime Stoppers of Cuyahoga County had announced a $5,000 reward for information on Jordans location. Police did not state why they feared she was in danger.

Jordan was located about three miles from where she went missing, according to a police update.She had entered a pantry shop in the area on Thursday evening seeking to use the phone, according to WKYC. She told police she had been taken, her father, Joseph Jordan, told ABC affiliate News 5.

Jordan was taken to the Cleveland Clinic for medical care, but the police did not provide details about her health condition.
A Jackson, Mississippi, man was sentenced to 14 years in federal prison for illegally manufacturing machine guns using 3D printers, according to the Justice Department.

Kent Edward Newhouse, 41, already had a felony conviction, making it illegal for him to have firearms. In 2022, he illegally possessed firearms and used 3D printers to manufacture a firearms component called an "auto sear," which turns a semi-automatic firearm into a fully automatic machine gun, the Justice Department said Thursday. Federal law designates auto sears as machine guns themselves.

"On July 13, 2022, Newhouse sold a confidential informant a firearm and several auto-sears," the DOJ said in a statement.

Newhouse pleaded guilty to two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm and one count of engaging in business as a manufacturer of firearms in September.

NEW GUN LAWS DOJ's gun control effort showing progress on straw purchases, gun trafficking

Auto sears turn semi-automatic firearms into machine guns

The auto sears Newhouse 3D printed are a type of conversion device that makes semi-automatic firearms act like machine guns that fire rapidly without the need to repeatedly pull a trigger. They're tiny metal or plastic pieces, the size of a dime, and quickly attached to the back of a semi-automatic.

Auto sears have been turning up more often in places like Louisville, Kentucky, the USA TODAY Network's Courier Journal reported. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives reported 120 of the devices were confiscated in the city in the first nine months of 2022, compared to about a dozen in 2021 and none in 2020.

In the nation's capital, police told The Washington Post that guns with auto sears were being recovered more frequently in 2021; police seized 20 that year, double what they recovered in 2020.

The use of 3D printers to unlawfully manufacture firearms, and to make devices to convert semiautomatic firearms into machine guns, poses a real and current threat to our communities," Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Special Agent in Charge Kurt Thielhorn said when Newhouse pleaded guilty.

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Democrats target machine gun conversion devices

Congressional Democrats last month reintroduced legislation they hope will help authorities prevent the importation and trafficking of conversion devices such as auto sears and report data about auto sears in federal firearms tracking reports.

Gun conversion devices can turn ordinary handguns into deadly automatic weapons in less than a minute. As we grapple with the epidemic of gun violence in this country, virtually unfettered access to these types of deadly firearms is exactly what we do not need, New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a cosponsor of the Preventing Illegal Weapons Trafficking Act of 2023, said in a statement on Monday.

A 2022 investigation by Vice News and The Trace found that illegal auto sears were increasingly recovered as part of federal prosecutions of cases including robberies, assaults and murders.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Mississippi man built machine guns with 3D printers, sentenced to 14 years
This week, after years of criticism from immigration rights activists and many progressive Democrats, President Joe Biden has ended the use of Title 42. Thats the public health law that Donald Trump first used during the pandemic to expel millions of asylum seekers arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Bidens decision has drawn predictable outrage from Republicans. But perhaps more worrisome to the president is the growing list of critics from within the Democratic Party who are concerned that Bidens border policies could trigger a humanitarian crisis and perhaps an electoral backlash.



Rep. Henry Cuellar is one of those Democrats. And hes this weeks guest on Playbook Deep Dive.

Cuellar knows the issue of immigration better than most of his fellow Democrats. He was born to immigrant farm workers in Laredo, Texas, went to college and law school, and eventually jumped into Texas politics, and then the U.S. Congress, where hes served since 2005 representing Texas 28th Congressional District, which stretches from San Antonio to Laredo and includes 200 miles of the southern border.

The left does not like him. He received a lot of attention in the last two election cycles when he was targeted by national progressives and barely survived two primary challenges.

One reason for those challenges: immigration, where Cuellar is well-known for being to the right of many of his Democratic colleagues. On the other hand, he voted against the border security bill that House Republicans put on the floor this week. Cuellar is a lonely centrist on an issue that has become much more polarized over the last decade.

And, as he tells Playbook co-author and Deep Dive host Ryan Lizza, he thinks Joe Biden should join him in the middle and stop taking advice from the left, as the president prepares for the coming aftershocks of his Title 42 decision.


The California Highway Patrol arrested or cited dozens of people for allegedly participating in illegal sideshows in the Modesto area over the Cinco de Mayo holiday.

The agency increased enforcement efforts May 4-6, responding to five illegal sideshows on Crows Landing Road.

The enforcement team arrested 14 people: eight for reckless driving, five for driving under the influence and one for auto theft, according to a press release.

Additionally, officers issued 61 citations for traffic violations and impounded eight vehicles.

Sideshows involve drivers, usually in illegally altered vehicles, doing stunts including burnouts, donuts and street racing. They have been a problem throughout the state and other parts of the nation for decades.

Participants who are convicted in California face jail time and fines and also could soon lose their license for up to six months.

Some cities, including Turlock, have gone a step further by also targeting spectators, who aid in blocking off intersections, highways and parking lots.

The Turlock ordinance adopted last month gives police officers the discretion to issue a $1,000 citation or arrest a spectator on a misdemeanor charge.

Sgt. Mike Parmley, a spokesman for the department, said Friday that he does not believe anyone has been cited yet under the new law. Turlock police got word of a potential sideshow last weekend and thwarted it by saturating the area with officers before people had time to gather.

The CHP asks people who witness street racing to call 911 and provide license plate numbers and descriptions of the vehicles and subjects involved.

Remain seated in your vehicle, a statement from the agency says. Do not risk your life or put your life in the hands of others by placing yourself in the vicinity of a reckless vehicle.
A mom of three was in bed with her boyfriend and one of their children when she was shot in the head by a stray bullet, according to local news reports.

It wasnt until their alarm went off that Ricardo Lung noticed his longtime girlfriend had been killed, KHOU reported.

He called for help at about 6 a.m. Wednesday, May 10, according to a news release from the Harris County Sheriffs Office. He reported that Bethany Mefford was unresponsive and had a gunshot wound that originated from the outside wall of their bedroom.

Responding deputies found Mefford in an apartment at Generation Grove in Humble, where she was pronounced dead, according to the release.

About four hours earlier, at about 2:30 a.m., authorities said several people were seen breaking into vehicles parked at the apartment complex.

Darius Lewis, a resident who lives across the lot from Mefford, observed this and went outside in the parking and fired his pistol multiple times at the suspects breaking into the vehicles, authorities said. Two adults and one juvenile were arrested.

Patrol deputies interviewed Lewis, and the man said he only fired his gun into the ground to scare the burglary suspects, according to the release.

But after investigating the shooting, Lewis was arrested and charged with manslaughter in the death of his neighbor, authorities said.

The defendant discharged his weapon several times at the suspects attempting to steal his catalytic converters, prosecutors said, according to KTRK. One of the rounds fired impacted the exterior wall of the complainants apartment, ultimately striking (Mefford), and causing her death.

He is being held on a $75,000 bail, according to the Houston Chronicle.

This person was not out and about, not doing anything that would put her in harms way, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez told the newspaper. She was just sleeping like any of us would do. And we see what can happen when people just fire gunshots like that.

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Nothing will ever be the same, her aunt, Georgette Watson Philp, said on Facebook.

Little League game stops as stray bullet plunges onto field, California video shows

2-year-old standing in front of door is killed in drive-by shooting, Texas police say

5-year-old will lose eye after shes hit by stray bullet at dance class, GA mom says
[Source]

Do Kwon, co-founder of defunct crypto startup Terraform Labs, is set to be released on bail after being detained in Montenegro.

The Basic Court in Podgorica announced Friday that it agreed to a bail amount of 400,000 euros (approximately $434,000) for Kwon, who will also be placed under house arrest. The former chief financial officer of Terraform, Chang-joon Han, will be released on the same bail amount and conditions.

Kwon and Han were arrested at the Podgorica airport in March while attempting to travel to Dubai. They were reportedly carrying fake passports from Belgium and Costa Rica, as well as at least one legitimate passport from their home country of South Korea.

In Montenegro, the use of fraudulent documents is a serious offense that can carry a prison sentence of up to five years.

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Kwon had earlier pleaded not guilty to allegations of forging his passport and travel documents.

In their bail request, Kwon and Han assured the court that they would not evade the legal process, promising to regularly respond to court summons and remain available to face any legal responsibilities.

The Terra ecosystems downfall in May 2022 played a significant role in the eventual decline of the cryptocurrency industry.

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In what has been dubbed as the "crypto winter," major cryptocurrencies experienced a sharp drop in prices and several crypto companies faced bankruptcy.

Kwon also faces legal problems in South Korea and the United States, which are both seeking his extradition,

A South Korean court issued an arrest warrant for Kwon in Sept. 2022, accusing him of violating capital markets laws.

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The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed civil charges against Kwon in Feb., alleging that he failed to provide accurate and truthful disclosures required for various crypto asset securities.

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BELGRADE (Reuters) - A court in Montenegro agreed on Friday to release Do Kwon, a cryptocurrency entrepreneur charged in the U.S. with a multibillion-dollar fraud, on bail of 400,000 euros ($440,320), pending a trial on local charges.

Do Kwon, a South Korean national, is the former CEO of South Korea-based Terraform Labs, the company behind the stablecoin TerraUSD that collapsed in May 2022 roiling cryptocurrency markets.

Following his arrest in Montenegro in March, the U.S. District Court in Manhattan made public an eight-count indictment against Do Kwon for securities fraud, wire fraud, commodities fraud and conspiracy.

He was detained with Han Chang-joon, Terraform Labs' former finance officer, who will also be released on bail of 400,000 euros. The pair were charged with forging official documents and a court in Podgorica ordered them to be placed in a 30-day pre-trial detention.

The two defendants will remain under house arrest and be supervised by police, the Basic court in Montenegro's capital Podgorica said in a statement.

"The court ... found that the possibility of losing the posted bail of 400,000 euros each, works sufficiently to dissuade them from any desire to flee," the statement said.

The defendants, who at a hearing on Thursday denied any wrongdoing over the charges pressed by the Montenegrin prosecutor, told the court they have property worth millions and that the bail would be posted by their wives, it said.

Montenegrin police arrested Do Kwon and Chang-joon at Podgorica airport as they tried to board a flight to Dubai.

Police later said they had found doctored Costa Rican passports, a separate set of Belgian passports, laptop computers and other devices in their luggage.

South Korean and U.S. authorities sought extradition of Do Kwon and Chang-joon and the handover of the computers.

($1 = 0.9084 euros)

(Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
The Terraform founder Do Kwon has been in custody in Montenegro since late March

A Montenegro court on Friday paved the way for the release on bail of fugitive cryptocurrency entrepreneur Do Kwon, as he awaits trial for document forgery.

The Terraform founder has been in custody in Montenegro since late March after being arrested at the capital's airport carrying alleged fake travel documents.

Both Seoul and Washington are seeking Kwon's extradition for his suspected role in fraud linked to his company's dramatic collapse last year, which wiped out about $40 billion of investors' money and shook global crypto markets.

The court "accepted bail of 400,000 euros" ($435,000) each for Kwon and a companion he was arrested with in March. The court also "ordered that they be released upon payment" according to a statement.

Prosecutors are appealing the decision and the defendants will remain in custody pending the outcome of that appeal. If released, the two suspects would be confined to house arrest and banned from leaving the apartment.

Kwon, whose real name is Kwon Do-hyung, is facing two cases in Montenegro -- the first involving his alleged possession of forged travel documents and the second regarding his possible extradition.

Prior to his arrest, Kwon had been on the run for months after fleeing first South Korea and then Singapore ahead of the company's crash in May last year.

In September, South Korean prosecutors asked Interpol to place him on the red notice list across the agency's 195 member nations and revoked his passport.

Kwon's TerraUSD was marketed as a "stablecoin", which is typically pegged to stable assets such as the US dollar to prevent drastic fluctuations in prices.

Cryptocurrencies have come under increasing scrutiny from regulators after a string of recent controversies, including the high-profile collapse of the exchange FTX.

The digital currency sector has also been hit hard by the demise of US crypto lenders Silvergate and Signature amid a string of banking failures earlier this year that rattled global markets.

mbs/ds/jm
A British Army soldier salutes as he presents the folded flag to Linda Jordan, the great grand niece of World War I soldier, Private Robert Kenneth Malcolm, during a burial ceremony at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's Bedford House Cemetery in Ypres, Belgium, Wednesday, May 10, 2023. Private Malcolm, from Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham, United Kingdom, was a stretcher bearer and went missing at the age of 23 in 1917. His remains were recovered in 2019.

More than a century later, a World War I soldier who disappeared at the height of the bloodbath in 1917 was laid to rest in Europe on Wednesday.

Pvt. Robert Kenneth Malcolm, a stretcher bearer with the U.K. Royal Army Medical Corps, was buried at the Bedford House Cemetery in Ypres, at the heart of Flanders Fields in Belgium, The Associated Press reported. The battle zone was the scene of some of the worst fighting between allied forces composed of French and British Commonwealth troops against a force built around German soldiers.

Malcolm, from Stockton-on-Tees in the United Kingdom, went missing at the age of 23 in 1917. His remains were recovered in 2019.

During the war, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history, hundreds of thousands of soldiers died on the Western Front but some were never accounted for. Soldiers often went missing in muddy fields churned over by relentless bombing and fighting.

The carnage took place from 1914-1918 and included the first use of chemical weapons.

The mystery behind their disappearance left families with uncertainties for years.

A bearer party carries the coffin of World War I soldier, Private Robert Kenneth Malcolm, during a burial ceremony at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's Bedford House Cemetery in Ypres, Belgium, Wednesday, May 10, 2023. Private Malcolm, from Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham, United Kingdom, was a stretcher bearer and went missing at the age of 23 in 1917. His remains were recovered in 2019.

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'The dignity of a funeral'

During the burial, a photo shows, a relative of Malcolm sprinkled earth on his grave.

It is overwhelming for us. Im glad hes had the dignity of a funeral now with all the marvelous support, Jane Foster, whose great-great-uncle was Malcolm, told the Associated Press.

A relative of World War I soldier Private Robert Kenneth Malcolm sprinkles earth on the grave during a burial ceremony at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's Bedford House Cemetery in Ypres, Belgium, Wednesday, May 10, 2023. Private Malcolm, from Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham, United Kingdom, was a stretcher bearer and went missing at the age of 23 in 1917. His remains were recovered in 2019.

Foster said the burial held special meaning not only for the missing recovered soldiers and their loved ones, but other families who have yet to have closure.

We do feel its for everybody who has lost somebody and hasnt got a final resting place for them," Foster told the outlet.

Contributing: Associated Press

Natalie Neysa Alund covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on Twitter @nataliealund.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: WWI soldier buried in Flanders Fields, Belgium: Robert Kenneth Malcolm
Mrs Thatcher

The employment challenge facing the Government could hardly be more different from the one that confronted Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s.

Back then, the primary task was to lower the headline level of unemployment, which frequently rose to levels last seen during the depression of the 1930s. Today, ministers are more concerned with encouraging those who left the workforce during the pandemic to return to the office.

Its a significant drag factor on economic growth: 650,000 left their jobs during the two years when Britons were being regularly ordered not to travel or even go outside. A significant proportion of the workforce decided to take that advice to heart on a permanent basis, opting for quiet retirement or voluntary worklessness rather than return to the stresses of the rat race.

That resulted in a worsening of Britains economic growth which Mel Stride, the work and pensions secretary, wants to address. Unfortunately his solution resembles a chicken and egg conundrum: if everyone who quit work chooses to return to the workplace, the economy will grow by 0.2 per cent, reducing the countrys borrowing requirement by 11 billion, which would be enough to take 2p off the basic rate of income tax.

But if such a glorious windfall can only be achieved after everyone returns to work, where is the incentive to do so in the first place? And if the tax cut could only be afforded in the event that all 650,000 return to work, what will be the reward if, say, only a third do so?

To give Stride due credit, that third has already returned to work, leaving 400,000 still to be persuaded of the benefits of clocking back on. Still, it remains a challenging, perhaps even unachievable, aim.

Tax cuts, however generous, are less attractive to potential workers if their basic pay is low; it is increased top lines of pay that will prove the surest incentive to attract workers back into the workforce. This is especially true in an age where an entire generation of young people are being prevented from getting on the housing ladder  particularly in the South East  or are disincentivised from working full time because of the exorbitant cost of child care.

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These structural barriers to employment cannot be overcome by modest income tax reductions, or the promise of them at some unspecified point in the future. Yet this Government cannot hope to have even a fighting chance of winning the next general election while the overall tax burden remains as high as it is  higher than at any point since the years immediately following the Second World War.

Stride is only one man in the Government, when a coordinated strategy across all departments is the only hope of achieving anything like the kind of solutions that are needed. Peoples aspirations to own a home can only be met by the building on a colossal scale of new houses  yes, even in areas where local people object to such development. Childcare will only become more affordable if more providers are empowered to enter that market.

New, highly-paid jobs will only be created on a large enough scale if companies feel free to locate here in the first place and to expand once theyre here. That means a fresh approach (an Irish approach?) to corporation tax, but it also means revisiting our national infrastructure, not just to improve broadband provision for home workers but also our roads and rail network so that it becomes easier, not harder, for workers to travel, by car, bus or train, to their place of work, and for goods to be transported to customers.

Tax cuts are important, now more than ever before. But they are a small part of a large and complicated puzzle that simply cannot be completed by one department. The most pressing problem for this Government is that most of these solutions take a long time to implement, and time is something Rishi Sunak does not have.

But it can make a start. It could start to envisage a low-tax, high-pay Britain where strivers are rewarded, where young people can look forward to a secure future and where older workers will feel their contributions are valued. Piecemeal solutions to intractable problems may grab headlines today, but they will be nowhere near enough to restore faith in a Government that has led us to where we are now.

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.
WASHINGTON (AP)  This year's projected government budget deficit has jumped by $130 billion, due in part to a proposed change to student loan repayment plans and a series of bank rescues organized by federal regulators, the Congressional Budget Office said Friday .

Revenue collections through April were lower than the agency expected, resulting in a projected budget deficit of $1.5 trillion for 2023, the office's update to the nations 10-year budget outlook says.

Overall, the nonpartisan office expects deficits to increase by $20 trillion during the 2024 to 2033 period, with a caution that the projections are subject to a great deal of uncertainty. That's about the same as the originally projected shortfall.

The updated 10-year projection comes as President Joe Biden and congressional leaders try to break an impasse on raising the legal limit on federal borrowing to support the government's debts. Democrats and Republicans have disagreed on whether and how to raise the ceiling.

While Democrats have called for a unencumbered increase to the debt limit, Republicans say negotiated spending cuts for the coming fiscal year are necessary to gain their agreement to ensure the government meets its funding obligations.

The budget office says future spending could vary significantly, based on a case before the U.S. Supreme Court regarding student loan cancellation. In addition, a series of bank failures also prompted the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to unexpectedly spend money to protect depositors after the f ailures of Silicon Valley Bank and New York-based Signature Bank in March.

Regulators agreed to protect depositors, even those whose deposits exceeded the federally insured limit of $250,000, with the intent of heading off a broader banking crisis.

U.S. officials have insisted that no taxpayer money will be used to resolve the crisis.

Now the larger disagreement over spending is taking place in Congress and the White House.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen had informed Congress that the U.S. would reach its $31.4 trillion statutory spending limit in January. Since then, she has deployed extraordinary measures"  a series of financial and legal maneuvers to prevent the U.S. from defaulting. But those are expected to be exhausted within weeks.

In February, the CBO projected that the U.S. economy would stagnate this year with the unemployment rate jumping to 5.1%. The current unemployment rate is 3.4%.
Donald Trumps recent CNN town hall wasnt just controversial  it may also be politically, financially and legally costly for the former president, according to MSNBCs Morning Joe.

While paraphrasing Politicos Jack Shafer, co-host Joe Scarborough said that people complaining about the recent live event need to stop whining and get over it.

This guy has put himself in more legal jeopardy than ever before, Scarborough said.

And in Scarboroughs eyes, this legal jeopardy didnt just refer to the recently closed lawsuit brought on by E. Jean Carroll or the ongoing investigation into mishandled classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate. It also refers to a potential new lawsuit altogether. Last month, Trumps lawyers told Congress that the box of classified documents ended up in his Florida property by accident. But during Wednesdays town hall, Trump defended his actions, saying that he had every right to take them from the White House.

I can do whatever I want to do with classified documents. What does that sound like? I can do whatever I want to do because Im a star with women,' Scarborough said. He says he can sexually abuse women because hes been a star.

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The town hall also invited the opportunity for Carroll to potentially sue the former president again. Earlier this week, Carroll was awarded $5 million after a court found Trump liable by a civil jury for sexual battery and defamation against Carroll. Yet during CNNs town hall, Trump potentially defamed the journalist again, mocking her and calling her a wack job.

He cant help himself, Scarborough said, calling Trumps latest remarks a pretty straightforward defamation case. Its probably going to cost him another $3, $4, $5 million.

Story continues

I hope that was worth it for him because its going to cost him a lot, Scarborough added. He really showed his arrogance of why this is going to hurt him legally and also hurt him politically.

Carrolls attorney has already told The New York Times that she may sue Trump a third time for the vile comments that were made on CNN.

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CNN Aftershocks: The Fallout for CEO Chris Licht After Trump Town Hall

Watch the full Morning Joe segment in the video above.
Attorneys prosecuting and defending Bryan Kohberger have filed subpoenas requiring documents be turned over and witnesses testify in the Moscow student homicides case. But the public is not privy to where the legal orders were issued and what evidence theyve unearthed  at least not yet.

So far, at least one witness and one of Kohbergers former employers have been served with subpoenas, according to court and public records obtained by the Idaho Statesman. The court-issued legal demand compels the recipient to follow the order or risk contempt of court, which can entail jail and fines.

In January, the eastern Pennsylvania school district that Kohberger attended, and where he later worked as a weekend security officer, received a subpoena for his academic and personnel records, as the Statesman previously reported. It remains unclear whether Kohbergers defense or the prosecution sought the records, and administrators at the Pleasant Valley School District havent responded to several requests for comment from the Statesman dating to February.

Kohberger, 28, is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony burglary in the November stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students at an off-campus rental home in Moscow. The victims were seniors Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen, each 21, junior Xana Kernodle, 20, and freshman Ethan Chapin, 20.

In April, Kohbergers attorneys had a witness subpoena served in Nevada to one of the two roommates who went unharmed in the knife attack, court records showed. In filing for the demand, Kohbergers public defenders asserted the surviving roommate has knowledge that helps disprove their clients guilt, and compelled her to show up next month in Idaho for Kohbergers preliminary hearing.

Public defender Anne Taylor, right, is the lead attorney in Moscow homicide suspect Bryan Kohbergers defense team. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, Pool)

The roommates attorney challenged the subpoena in court before reaching a compromise with Kohbergers defense that allowed her client to avoid traveling to Moscow, the Statesman also previously reported. The roommate agreed to an interview with Kohbergers attorneys in northwest Nevada where she lives, and the subpoena was voided.

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But its likely that attorneys on both sides of the Moscow homicide case have served a number of other subpoenas as they build their respective cases, legal experts told the Statesman.

Subpoenas can cast a very, very, very wide net, and you can go on a fishing expedition, Edwina Elcox, a Boise-based criminal defense attorney, said in a phone interview. Theoretically, there could be a lot of subpoenas issued in this case because of all of the digital evidence and social media platforms at issue.

Limited subpoena filing rules

Idaho allows attorneys to obtain subpoenas without specifying where theyll be served. Only the judge in the case or a clerk of the court may issue the legal demand  or a certificate to prompt a subpoena when its issued in another state, like those known about in the Kohberger case and served in Pennsylvania and Nevada.

Under Idaho law, however, attorneys can request a subpoena without identifying the recipient and have it signed by a clerk. Like a blank check, the attorney must add the recipients name before it is served, per Idaho code.

Theres no explanation when you are getting subpoenas issued, Elcox said. Theres nobody looking over your shoulder, a checks and balances: What and who and why? You say, I need these subpoenas issued, please and thank you, and youre on your way.

Attorneys also may seek the issuance of subpoenas in closed-door proceedings held with a judge when dealing with sensitive information. The public and members of the media are not allowed to be present, or in most circumstances even know that such a hearing took place.

But unless issued in the closed-door setting or sealed by a judge, subpoenas are subject to disclosure in public records requests. The Idaho Public Records Act does not lend a specific exemption for unsealed subpoenas.

Magistrate Judge Megan Marshall of the 2nd Judicial District Court in Latah County is presiding over the Kohberger case. She partially denied a Statesman records request for all subpoena-related filings from either the Latah County Prosecutors Office or Kohbergers defense, citing those subpoenas issued in closed-door proceedings, and out-of-state witness filings, like the one the defense obtained for the surviving roommate.

Marshall granted access to all other subpoena records that have been returned and filed in the case, which is when they become available to the public. No records were provided with her response.

The subpoena returns also are posted on the states courts website, Marshall wrote, and Tonya Dodge, Latah Countys clerk of the court, confirmed to the Statesman by email. The website houses filings available to the public for high-profile cases such as Kohbergers.

But Idaho law does not require or specify when attorneys must file such subpoena returns with the court, thereby releasing the information to the public. In fact, its not uncommon that these filings arent submitted at all unless an issue arises, like a problematic witness, Elcox said.

Through the discovery process, the prosecutions subpoena records should otherwise be available to the defense.

They dont get to play hide the ball with the defense, Elcox said. So the defense is getting the information anyway, and its more of a way to strategically keep it out of the public eye, at least for the time being.

Latah County Prosecuting Attorney Bill Thompson.

Of the nearly 150 court filings listed in the Kohberger case to date on the Idaho courts website, no subpoena records are currently available.

None have been returned to the court at this time, Dodge said.

Meanwhile this week, Kohbergers legal team added another death penalty-qualified public defender on Monday, a court filing showed. Elisa Massoth, a criminal defense attorney based in Payette County, joined his defense as co-counsel to Anne Taylor and Jay Logsdon, both of the Kootenai County Public Defenders Office.

Massoth also is co-counsel in the defense of John Cody Hart, the 28-year-old man charged with the first-degree murders of a couple who owned a hotel in New Meadows and were fatally shot in October. Prosecutors in the case have said they are seeking the death penalty.

Kohbergers case qualifies for the death penalty, but prosecutors have not yet said if they will seek it.
The author's

The author's "model mom." She writes, "This photo was taken by my smitten father."

At my mothers funeral, I discovered that she was a cult leader. Without telling me, shed started her own religion, a mashup of Judaism, Jesus and herself. Those who believed in her called her Momma. She and her husband conducted services in a triple-wide mobile home on their property. She told her followers who to marry and what jobs to pursue. She gave them new names. She was their Solomon in Southern drag.

As I entered the triple-wides room of worship, I detected a few double takes from the followers. The air became electric around me. People twisted in their folding chairs to behold a version of my mothers face and halo of white, fluffy hair. It felt like I could seize control in the moment as my mothers reincarnation. I ignored their stares, walked down the middle aisle and perched on a hard chair in the front row. My husband sat by my side and squeezed my hand. I felt the laser gaze of her followers on my back.

On the dais lay tallises, white strips of cloth adorned with blue Stars of David. A painting of Jesus stood on top of one of the Jewish prayer shawls. My mothers husband, whom the true believers called Daddy, loomed from an enormous carved chair on the stage in the front of the room. He cleared his throat, and the congregants sang what he deemed my mothers favorite song. It was a peppy little ditty with a chorus praising Jesus.

After the ceremony, while my husband headed to the coffee urn, the followers buzzed around me. One, a pretty middle-aged woman, told me my mother was so proud of the businesswoman Id become. Another waited her turn to talk to me. When it was just the two of us, she grabbed my hands and leaned in. I could smell the too-sweet scent of her hair.

You really hurt your mother, she said. I tried to pull my hands from hers but she only grasped tighter. And I curse you. Every year on her death, on Mothers Day, I will go to her grave and curse you. I scanned the room looking for my husband. I caught his eye, and he swam against the crowd to my side.

Story continues

Before dropping my hands, she said, Every bad thing that happens to you is because of those curses. Then she disappeared out the triple-wides door.

I stood there in shock. My husband ushered me outside and into our rental car. A couple of weeks later, my brother called me about the will. It began with I have two natural born children, neither of whom are my inheritors. Then she left my brother a little chunk of change.

Before becoming a cult leader, my mother was a model with long, shapely legs. She drew people into her web with a red, lipsticked smile  close enough to be caught by her charm, but not close enough to see under the spackle. I had an overbite and won awards: spelling bees, science fairs, even tallest student. (In third grade, I convinced the beanstalk in front of me that I was taller and took her place at the front of the line.) But none of these accolades would draw my mothers attention away from her mirror.

I did know how to get her negative attention, though. Once, when I was a teenager, we stood screaming at each other in her bathroom.

You are a child of the devil, she hissed, her syrupy Southern accent stripped away. Ill never love you as much as your brother.

I pushed her, too angry to reply. She lost her balance and slammed into the bathtub. The shame I felt overwhelmed me. We never talked about it.

The author in high school with a science fair project she made.

The author in high school with a science fair project she made.

At 40, Id had enough and told my mother not to contact me. After 16 years without hearing her voice, my brother called. She was deep in dementia. And dying. Would I talk to her one last time? I thought about who I wanted to be. I didnt want to be someone who couldnt forgive.

Her husband answered.

Hi, he said. Let me get your mom.

The phone changed hands. Yeeess? she said. Her voice was spidery, but it was still her voice. The lump in my throat grew at the sound of it.

Ma. I heard her breathing. I want to wish you a good journey to wherever it is you are going. And to tell you what I appreciated about you being my mother.

Yeeess.

I wasnt sure she understood what I was saying. I read her my thank-you list, the paper trembling in my hands. Thanks for the hand-drawn cartoons she hid under the PB&J sandwich in my lunchbox when I was a kid. For being able to talk to strangers, as I learned by watching her in the grocery line at the Piggly Wiggly. And for teaching me how to read and my love of reading, which has saved me over and over throughout my life. When I finished, we both just breathed.

I love you, Ma, I said.

Suddenly the air stilled. It was as if my mother was emerging from underwater.

I love you, she said.

My mother died the next day. On Mothers Day.

Years before her death, before I cut off contact with her, our phone chats had the power to send me to the orange velour couch Id dragged with me to the other coast after college. It was my adult blankie.

Ive met the most beautiful maaan, she said during one of those calls. She drew out the vowels as if she were gliding down a spiral staircase.

This was news to me. She had left my father less than six months earlier.

My mothers honeyed accent, whispery in my ear, grated on me. Shed grown up in New Jersey in an Orthodox Jewish home. Her transformation into a Southern belle started when I was a child and we moved to Georgia. First, it was the accent. Then, it was changing her hair color from Northeast black to bombshell blond. The one constant was her ability to shape-shift  especially around men.

The thick falsetto of her voice coated me over the airwaves. I felt my gut tighten. He really is the most handsome maaan. Hes tall. Hes good with his hands. She made a throaty sound full of desire. I wasnt her girlfriend. Why was she talking to me this way?

I hung up. The calls kept coming every few days about her magical mystery man.

Later, I found out the identity of the handsome man  not through her, but through my brother. My brother had stood waiting for her on the porch of our family home to help her move out. When our mother finally drove up, my brother was surprised to see her business partner behind the wheel.

Our father appeared on the porch and barred the front door. He pointed a damning finger at the business partner.

You can come in, he called to my mother, but not him. Hes not welcome here.

Eventually my mother did the big reveal: Shed married the business partner  who was to become Daddy to her followers, but never to me.

The author in 2023.

The author in 2023.

I watched my wedding ring sparkle as I drummed my fingers on the arm of the couch. By this time, Id married, and moved as far away from her as I could while still being in the same country (excluding Hawaii). Our contact was a phone call every few weeks.

I saw the most beautiful maaan, she began. I sighed. Wasnt she happily remarried?

He came down through my bedroom ceiling.

Wait, what? I wondered when my husband would be home so I could grab the tether of his sanity.

What are you talking about, Ma? I stroked the orange velour on the couch first in one direction, then the next.

Apparently, the man floated down and hovered over her in bed. His long, wavy brown hair blew in an invisible wind. His white robe, cinched at the waist, revealed a trim figure. He gave her a look of pure love that warmed her in all the right places.

It was Jesus, she said a bit primly, as if I should have known.

I had a million questions. The biggest one being, how does a Jewish Southern belle from New Jersey meet Jesus in her bedroom? I never asked her that question. I did ask her: If Hitler had accepted Jesus on his deathbed, would he go to heaven?

The voice undulating over the phone said, Yeeess. My gut tightened.

And if a righteous rabbi doesnt accept Jesus, hes going to hell? I was now speaking to her from the kitchen, pacing, grasping the phone so hard it could break.

My mother answered in the affirmative. I had no idea then that she would start collecting true believers who gave her the adoration she sought in the mirror and couldnt find in me.

Mothers Day is almost here. I think of her follower, the woman who cursed me, kneeling at Mas grave with a dozen roses cradled in her arms. She stands up, muttering vile words. Will I hear them in my dreams?

My heart hurts imagining what my mother must have said about me to fuel the curse.

In Judaism, when you visit the dead, you leave a rock on top of the headstone. Rock upon rock. Roses fade, but rocks can endure through time  portable, visible signs that the person was loved.

I now know my love for my mother is like a rock that can be infinitely broken  even with a hammer from beyond the grave  but that will never entirely disappear.

And with that never-ending love, I realize her follower doesnt need to curse me on Mothers Day. The true curse is that there will always be a jagged sliver of love for my mother wedged into my heart, like a ghost who never leaves. Like a rock on a headstone.

Bliss Goldstein has written for The San Francisco Chronicle, The Mercury News, and is CALYX Journals 2022 winner of the Margarita Donnelly Prize for Prose Writing. Shes passionate about croissants, her long-suffering husband, and working on a memoir about her mother. Reach her at blissgoldstein.com.

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Jodi Benson

A mother-daughter duo enjoyed the ultimate surprise before heading out to the world premiere of The Little Mermaid on Monday.

The live-action remake of The Little Mermaid starring Halle Bailey in the titular role is hitting theaters on May 26. Ahead of its highly anticipated release, the cast went all out at the Los Angeles premiere on May 8. Naturally, hundreds of celebrities and their families, along with influencers and their children, came from all over for a magical night out. TikTok creator Jayla Brenae and her daughter, Kayla, were among those to attend the star-studded event. But before they even hit the blue carpet (to match the color of the sea, of course), they bumped into none other than Jodi Benson, the original Ariel in the 1989 cartoon version.

Brenae posted a video capturing the special moment. When you walk out of your hotel room, and these ladies want a picture with your daughter and then you realize, its Jodi Benson, she captioned her TikTik post. The original Little Mermaid that you have been obsessed with since you were little! The adorable interaction between Benson and Brenae and her daughter has since racked up over 16 million views, with hundreds of users gushing over the too cute moment.

So precious, and your little one has no idea who that lady is and why mom is crying, one person commented.

Its moments like these that we can hold on to, another added.

This is just too cute! I love that you two experienced this, one user wrote.

After running into Benson, Brenae and her daughter had a blast on the blue carpet, even spotting Bailey, who is making history as the first Black Ariel. While Ariels legs were made for dancing, ours are made to walk the blue carpet thanks to @liquidiv! Brenae captioned another video from the premiere. What an unforgettable experience to see Disneys #TheLittleMermaid at their World Premiere!
Here is a Lexington list and guide of the best weekend events around Central Kentucky on Friday, Saturday and Sunday if you are bored and need things to do including Mothers Day events, live music concerts, theatre shows, musicals, classical music performances, kid-friendly and free events, comedy shows and Lexington Craft Beer Week events.

Lexington Craft Beer Week begins

Lexington Craft Beer Week opens May 12 and continues through May 21, with special releases, collaborations and more. Lexbeerscene.com

UnityFest 2023

The Lyric Theatre and Cultural Arts Center will host UnityFest 2023 on May 12 at 7 p.m., an evening of performances showcasing local talent of all ages to take a stand against gun violance. Proceeds go to gun violence advocacy organizations. Pay what you can for tickets. Lexingtonlyric.com

Frankfort Heritage Week

The 3rd annual Frankfort Heritage Week Festival continues through May 14 with the Martha Moore Awards for Historic Preservation, a genealogy workshop, photo presentations and more. For a full list of activities visit FrankfortHeritageWeek.com.

Paris Storytelling Festival

The Paris Storytelling Festival will take place from May 12-14 with speaking engagements, musical jam sessions, horse farm tours and more. For a full list of activities visit ParisStoryFest.com.

CKYO MusicWorks Concert at the Dunbar Community Center

CKYO MusicWorks, Lexingtons El Sistema-inspired free after-school string and wind music ensemble program, will present a concert at the Dunbar Community Center on May 12 at 5:30 p.m. The show is free to attend. 434 N Upper St. LexingtonKy.gov.

Food Truck Friday at Shillito Park

Food Truck Friday will return to Shillito Park on May 12 from 6-9 p.m. with food and refreshments from Teppan Japanese Street Food, Daughters Southern, Berts SpeakCheesy, Wise Bird Cider Co., West Sixth Brewing and Bellas Ice Cream. The event is free to attend. 300 W Reynolds Rd. LexingtonKy.gov.

Taste Of Jessamine at the RJ Corman Hanger

Enjoy culinary creations from over 50 chefs while bidding on over 150 silent auction items during the 25th annual Taste of Jessamine at the RJ Corman Hanger in Nicholasville on May 12 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Tickets are $10-15. 401 Enterprise Dr, Nicholasville. WhatsUpWilmore.com.

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Jesse Daniel, IV & The Strange Band, Rob Leines Concerts at The Burl

Get your honky tonk on at The Burl all weekend long with music from Jesse Daniel on May 12, IV & The Strange Band on May 13 and Rob Leines on May 14. The shows all begin at 8 p.m. with tickets costing $15 each. 375 Thompson Rd. TheBurlKy.com.

National Gathering Of Songfarmers at the Kentucky Music Hall Of Fame

The 7th annual National Gathering of Songfarmers will take place at the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame in Mt. Vernon on May 12 and 13. Activities include song circles, bluegrass jams, workshops, food, music lessons and more. Tickets are $20 per person per day or free for Woodsongs partners and Woodsongs Front Porch Association members. 2590 Richmond St, Mt. Vernon. SongFarmers.org/2023Gathering.

Dancers from Shuling Studio watched for guidance from their instructor as they performed at Mayfest in 2017. Matt Goins

Mayfest Arts Fair at Gratz Park

The 27th annual Mayfest Arts Fair will take place at Gratz Park on May 13 from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. and May 14 from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. with live music, dancing and other family-friendly activities. The event is free to attend. 250 W Third St. DowntownLex.com.

Many vendors will be on hand at Gratz Park for Mayfest. Matt Goins

Spring Sip And Shop at the Central Bank Center

KY Pop-Up Markets will host a Spring Sip and Shop event at the Central Bank Center on May 13 from 12-6 p.m. The event is free to attend. 430 W Vine St. CentralBankCenter.com.

Hannah Howard Concert at The Twisted Cork

Somerset based songwriter Hannah Howard will perform at The Twisted Cork on May 13 at 8 p.m. The show is free to attend. 145 Burt Rd #120. Facebook.com.

Bluegrass Iris Society Spring Iris Show at Lexington Green Mall

The Bluegrass Iris Society will host its annual spring iris show at the Lexington Green Mall on May 13 at 1 p.m. 161 Lexington Green Cir. BluegrassIris.org.

Lexington Chamber Orchestra Concert at Centenary United Methodist Church

The Lexington Chamber Orchestra will hold its first post-pandemic concert at Centenary United Methodist Church on May 13 at 7:30 p.m. The show is free to attend. 2800 Tates Creek Rd. ChamberMusicLex.org.

Brad Hardin Concert at Austin City Saloon

Country music artist Brad Hardin, whos opened for the likes of Brantlet Gilbert, Jimmie Allen and Jelly Roll, will perform at Austin City Saloon on May 13 at 7 p.m. 2350 Woodhill Dr. Facebook.com.

Disco Night at Manchester Music Hall

Cameron Jayne, Nashvilles premier traveling disco show, will perform at Manchester Music Hall on May 13 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $10-15. 899 Manchester St. ManchesterMusicHall.com.

Bluegrass Indo-American banquet

The Bluegrass Indo-American Civic Society will hold its annual scholarship banquet May 14 at 5 p.m. at The Campbell House. Tickets are $35-$75; tables available. biacs.org

Kentucky Spring Horse Show

The Kentucky Spring Horse Show will be May 9-14 at the Kentucky Horse Park, 4089 Iron Works Parkway. Free with parking fee. kentuckyhorseshows.com

Strawberry Season at Eckerts Orchard

Pick your own strawberries May 12-14, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., at Eckerts Orchard, 1396 Pinckard Pike in Versailles. Reservations for field access available online. $3-$6 (with playground access.) versailles.eckerts.com.

Eckerts Orchard in Versailles will have fresh ripe strawberries available for picking this weekend and all through May. Book field access online. Provided

StreetFest on Oliver Lewis Way

You ride bikes, scooters, roller skate, jog, skip or walk on a closed city street May 13, 9 a.m.-noon. Oliver Lewis Way will be closed from West High Street to South Broadway for a mile-long car-free loop for the second annual StreetFest. Bounce house, giant bubbles, sidewalk chalk, hula hoops and more. Free. lexingtonky.gov/StreetFest

Mothers Day Market and Soiree

Mothers Day Market and Afternoon Soiree May 13 from 12-5 p.m. at International Book Project featuring locally owned businesses like Kumani Arts, January Moore Woodworking, Talon Wine Yelenas Creations, US Soap and Body, Crescent Moon Creative, 305 Cubano, Pomegranate, Kentucky Green Studio, Cheryl Tipton Designs, Gatwick Beaute Collective, SOL Fitness, a wide selection of books from IBPs bookstore and more. 1440 Delaware Ave. Free to attend.

The Berry Cobbler Brew is a 14-hour cold brew sweetened with blackberry. It is available at Broomwagon Bikes + Cafe during Lexington Coffee + Tea Week for $4. Provided

Lexington Coffee + Tea Week

Lexington Coffee + Tea Week runs through May 13, with $4 specialty tea and coffee drinks at coffee shops around town. lexingtoncoffeeweek.com

Lexington Coffee and Tea Week: Here are the locations, menu of $4 special drinks

Lexington Farmers Market

Lexington Farmers Market will be downtown at Tandy Centennial Park on Main Street 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on May 13 and on Southland Drive 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. May 14 with fresh strawberries, lettuce, cut flowers, baked goods, vegetables and fruits, meats and cheeses and more. lexingtonfarmersmarket.com

Festival del Dia de las Madres

Casa de la Cultura de Ky will present a Mothers Day festival with dancing, food, childrens activities and more. Free to attend. Masterson Station Park, 3051 Leestown Rd.

Bluegrass Farmers Market

Beginning at 9 a.m. on May 13, Bluegrass Farmers Market will have baked goods, fresh vegetables and fruits, cut flowers, local meats and cheese and more. 1837 Plaudit Place. facebook.com/BluegrassFarmersMarket

Athens Schoolhouse Antiques Show

Athens Schoolhouse Antiques Show will be May 13-14, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., in the Athens Schoolhouse, 6270 Athens Walnut Hill Pike. Free. antiqueskentucky.com
Jennifer Lopez as The Mother

Jennifer Lopez as The Mother Credit - Eric Milner/Netflix

Not since Stella Dallas has a mother made so many selfless sacrifices for her daughter. Not since Taken has a protective parent fended off so many rotten baddies. Mush those two genres togetherthe classic womens picture and the pulpy, rage-driven action adventureand you get The Mother, in which Jennifer Lopez plays the mother to end all mothers, a mysterious assassin who slinks out of retirement to protect the daughter (Lucy Paez) she was forced to give up a dozen years ago.

It all begins with an interrogation. Lopezs the Motherher character, a womb with balls, has no nameslouches elegantly in some messy safe house somewhere, staring down a couple of no-nonsense FBI interrogators. She glowers from the cocoon of her artfully ragged cashmere hoodie as they pepper her with questions. Where are the two dangerous arms dealers shes been tangling with? Was she really romantically involved with both of them? At the same time, even? Before the tough-guy feds can get answers, possible baby daddy number one (Joseph Fiennes) crashes their pad and attempts to blow them to smithereens. One of the agents (Omari Hardwick) nearly succumbs to his wounds, until the Mother, thinking quickly as mothers do, mends the gaping hole in his side by squirting some household glue in there. Then she retreats to the bathroom to fashion a Molotov cocktail from a bottle of tea tree shampoo, crouching in the shower as she awaits the man she knows is coming for her. By this point we see that shes tremendously pregnant, and shell protect this baby at all costs. Woe betide Adrian, who dares jab at her stomach with a knife. Her tea-tree bomb burns him to a crisp. Or does it?

Jennifer Lopez and Lucy Paez, a mother and daughter reunited under less than ideal circumstances Doane Gregory/Netflix

Read more: The 16 Best J. Lo Movies of All Time

The Mother would, of course, like to keep this baby, but the FBI whisks the infant away shortly after shes born. Theres nothing left for the newly bereft Mother to do but retreat to Alaska, where a former colleague (Paul Raci) offers her shelter in a shabby-chic decrepit cabin. There, she lives a quiet and solitary life, blamming deer and other wildlife for sustenance. Years pass, with nary a delivery from FreshDirect. Then she gets word that her daughter, Zoe, now 12, may be in danger. The trek to save her offspring takes the Mother from Alaska to Cincinnati to Cuba, where she encounters possible baby daddy number two (Gael Garcia Bernal), who now appears to be both sinister and crazy: hes sequestered himself in a temple of religious candles and guns. The Mother is having none of itisnt it time he got a real job?and Hector, too, meets a bad end.

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Snowmobile chases, knife fights, J.Lo kicking the asses of anyone who threatens her tiny nuclear family: If that sounds like fun, it is, but almost in spite of itself. Director Niki Caro (Whale Rider, Mulan) approaches the material reverently, as a parable about the strength of women. In one of the movies most compelling scenes, the Mother lectures Zoe, a sullen preteen who has no idea how good she has it, on the damage tofu has wrought upon the world. This is some pretty tough love.

J.Lo, doing the most Ana Carballosa/Netflix

But how can we not laughwith joy, not derisionwhen we see our favorite mom hunting stag in Alaska while wearing the lushest fur-trimmed hood this side of Fendi? Lopez is a marvelous actor, appealing in ways that go beyond any analysis of technique. As the shamelessly out-for-herself dancer Ramona in the 2019 Hustlers, she revealed layers of vulnerability beneath her characters hard-shell veneer, and she brings her A-game champagne-bubble charm offensive even to low-stakes, low-key comedies like Marry Me. The Mother would be more effective if she could wink at the audacity of the material instead of just playing it all straight. But then, Lopez can get away with things that other mere mortals cant, and if you approach it in the right spirit, The Mother could be ridiculously good fun. It needs to be watched with the largest group of J.Lo fans you can assemble, ideally people who know artfully applied highlighter when they see it in the wild. Forget automatic weapons; its the Beauty Blender that gets the job done.
Ana Carballosa/Netflix

It has been a hot minute since Jennifer Lopez took up her firearms for a proper action flick. No, Shotgun Wedding doesnt count, as it leaned on its comedic side, and neither does Hustlers, despite it being more action-packed than the last 35 Fast and the Furious movies. Lopez hasnt led a true action movie since 2013s Parker, but even before she was outacting Jason Statham at every turn, Lopez had already begun to favor the simpler pleasures of romantic comedies over high-octane stunts.

But the skies have opened, and like manna from heaven rains down The Mother, Lopezs first action movie in a decadeand one that is eerily similar to her 2002 classic, Enough. Over 20 years have passed since Enough was released, and Lopez hasnt lost a single bit of the spark that electrified her fiercely devoted mother into a raging, glorious flame. The Mother finds Lopez in a comparable predicament, having to go to extreme means to protect her daughter and save both of their lives.

Only this time, Lopez is no amateur fighter, mustering the courage to beat back against her abuser. In The Mother, Lopez plays an Army sniper turned deadly contract assassin, who gives up a life of lethality when she discovers shes pregnant, to the chagrin of her equally deadly partners. In order to ensure the safety of her unborn child, the Mother (who remains nameless in the film) signs away her parental rights and gives up the identities of her former collaborators to the FBI, in exchange for her childs lifelong, monitored security. But with time, comes a greater hunger for psychotic revenge, leaving mother and daughter in the crosshairs of ruthless violence.

The Mother makes a pretty considerable meal out of this preposterous concept, thanks mostly to Lopezs typically assured performance, which can make even the most cockeyed ideas work. Though, here, shes just as well matched with relative newcomer Lucy Paez, who plays the Mothers daughter, Zoe. Together, Lopez and Paez succeed in elevating The Mothers most convoluted elements into a solid action-drama. Their lovely efforts are bolstered by a surprising amount of technical style that holds the film together, even when The Mothers unnecessary dourness threatens to shoot itself in the foot.

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Eric Milner/Netflix

Though, that occasional outrageousness does often work in its favor. The Mother has a massive scope, hopping around to shoot on location in severe Canadian winters and humid Cuban nights. The promise of that range is apparent from the films first moments, which bring us to the FBI safehouse that the Mother is being held in, trying to broker a deal for her freedom by supplying information to the feds. This scene has the distinct feel of a classic espionage thriller, by way of an early Mission: Impossible installment. When the safe house is, of course, raided by revenge-hungry assailants, the movie sets itself up for a grand and perilous journey, with plenty of no-holds-barred violence to right out the gate.

The men after the Mother are goons, sent by Hector Alvarez (Gael Garcia Bernal) to clear the house for his partner in cutthroat crime, Adrian Lovell (Joseph Fiennes). Hector and Adrian are the ones who brought the Mother into the fold, back when she was the most skilled sniper in her military unit, and their operation will cease if the Mother successfully gives them up. And although they may not succeed in their first mission to off their (then-pregnant) defector, the two remain determined to exact their retaliation over the next 12 years.

Monica Is the Most Important Film You Can See This Year

But the Mother has planned for this. She has stipulated that her daughters inevitable endangerment would result in an alert from agent William Cruise (Omari Hardwick), whom the Mother saved in a seemingly random act of kindness at the safehouse a decade earlier. When Zoe is abducted, the Mother is ready. Despite her best attempts to thwart the kidnapping with all of her long-range shooting expertiseso as to never alert Zoe to her real mothers presenceshe fails to protect her child. Too bad for Hector and Adrian that the Mother would happily lay down her life to make sure Zoe goes free.

What follows is a thrilling, global hodgepodge of maternal fury. Lopez brims with intensity and star power in equal measure, lighting up the screen with an impressive set of well-honed combat choreography in the films first act. I often found myself agape at The Mothers rapid pacing, which couldve easily tripped over its own velocity as soon as the film slows a bit in its middle. Its not easy to successfully go from pushing nuns into the street during a chase scene, to deliciously exciting kill scenes, to a pulsating reconnaissance-and-recovery mission that eventually leads to a much more leisurely second act. But terrific pacing is one of The Mothers best features. Without it, its excessive script would be much harder to overlook.

Doane Gregory/Netflix

Director Niki Caro moves The Mother along with a steady stride, and effectively keeps its lengthy central portion from becoming an impediment. Its here where the film takes its time, crafting a connection between mother and daughterthough its one that doesnt always ring with the truth it needs to properly raise the movies stakes. Zoe and the Mother have a unique relationship, simply by way of their shared history together, which Zoe had never been privy to. But the script never quite lets reality seep into their fugitive status. Zoe and the Mother function like characters, not with any semblance of real people. They work together in service of helping the film to its finish line, instead of attaining the authenticity that viewers will crave.

Through it all, Caros competent direction is enough to hold focus, even when the narrative starts to dip. Remarkable crane shots across Canadian mountains, and through snowmobile-strewn fields of flurries, are positively enchanting to watch, often reviving The Mothers vacillating sense of dread. Some perfect (and unexpected) soundtrack choices work in that favor as well. I never knew I needed to see Jennifer Lopez teach her daughter how to shoot a sniper rifle, set to a Grimes song. But you know what they say, The Mother knows best. Well, sometimes.

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ZAPORIZHZHIA  Stuck between a worksite frozen in time and a highway facing the Dnipro River, the volunteers center was not easy to find.

The anonymous building hardly betrayed any sign of human activity from the outside.

Everything was wrapped in an eerie silence until a door opened, spilling a cohort of middle-aged women into the street, laughing and joking around.

It was time for the Soldiers Mothers Fund volunteers to take a cigarette break.

A quick glance inside the small building reveals a hive of activity.

The fund is one of the thousands of civilian charity organizations that popped up in the country in 2014, providing support to soldiers and help to refugees from Russian-occupied territories in need of a community.

The fund is now strategically located in Zaporizhzhia, the regional capital and a humanitarian hub for refugees fleeing Russias occupation only 60 kilometers away.

Over 1,700 civil society and volunteer organizations have been created in Ukraine since the beginning of Russias full-scale invasion to deal with humanitarian aid alone, according to the U.K. Humanitarian Innovation Hub.

Charity work and civilian support  from donations to equipment and food procurement  have been the bedrock of the Ukrainian army since day one of Russias war, when volunteer battalions took up weapons to fight against Russias invasion of eastern Donbas.

Since the full-scale invasion started in 2022, the fund, originally run by mothers of active military personnel, welcomed an increasing number of volunteers from towns and villages destroyed and occupied by Russian forces in the oblast.

Wounded soldiers fight for recovery in Zaporizhzhia rehabilitation center Editors Note: Some soldiers declined to give their last names to the Kyiv Independent for safety reasons as they plan to return to fight on the front line once their rehabilitation is over. ZAPORIZHZHIA  Serhii Demkos active duty is over. He had served since the first day of the Russian Kyiv IndependentAlexander Query

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Around 60% of Zaporizhzhia Oblast has been occupied since March 2022.

The original 10-people team from 2014 expanded to 1,000 volunteers, who delivered goods to the front line or arranged the stocks, filled to the brim with foreign humanitarian help.

A few volunteers were almost done with a camouflage net to protect soldiers on the front line, sometimes their own sons.

Liudmila Pechurina, the head of the Soldiers Mothers organization, was no exception.

The 66-year-old mother of four created the charity organization in 2014 when the war started.

All her boys went to war and, after a break, returned to the front line when Russia launched an all-out war, she told the Kyiv Independent.

They called me on Feb. 24, told me not to cry and to be strong, she said. And that they were going back to war.

And Pechurina went back to work as well. She has dedicated her life to the center since the war started. I treat everyone here like my children, she said.

They do everything for victory, she said.

The community

The Soldiers Mothers fund is always open and always buzzing with activity, Pechurina said. Most volunteers are women of all ages up to 80, who come at 8.30 a.m. daily.

Some help with knitting camouflage, some assemble trench candles from cardboard and cans, some sew warm underwear for soldiers, while others manage the stocks of humanitarian aid overflowing from the offices small storage rooms.

We have 67 people in this center, she said, but theres not enough space for everyone willing to help.

We have medicine, tactical clothes, food, regular clothes, generators, pet food, sweets, cereals, a volunteer said, proudly showing the supplies to the Kyiv Independent.

The fund had to rent a new office downtown to expand its activity to produce more nets and front-line goods in high demand among soldiers.

An entire wall in the office was covered in pictures and thank you notes.

Some of the centers volunteers are refugees from occupied territories who keep themselves busy and feel useful by sending help to our boys, one of them said.

Refugees are lonely in a new city, Pechurina said. Then they come here and meet other refugees and feel better. Its emotionally difficult for them to stay idle, Pechurina said.

They come every day, they like to work, she said.

The biggest refugee diaspora comes from Tokmak, a Russian-occupied city 80 kilometers south of Zaporizhzhia and near the front line. Tokmak was captured at the beginning of the full-scale invasion.

A lot of refugees also come from front-line towns and villages constantly shelled by Russia.

Among them is Olena, a young refugee from Orikhiv who resettled in Zaporizhzhia with her family to escape Russian shelling.

I talk to my neighbors there, and they say my house is still okay, only windows are missing, she said. My moms house is worse, without a roof, and the ceiling fell, but I dont tell her.

Every camo net package comes with a note and a small motanka, or rag doll, a traditional Ukrainian toy believed to protect its owner.

Losing kids to war

The center also provides psychological support. Its a place where mothers who lost their children at war can sit and talk about their grief.

We have three mothers who lost their sons to war. The last death happened on Nov. 14 near Kherson, Pechurina said. He was a sapper and exploded on a mine.

Iryna Baranovska came to the center in late December, a month after losing her son, Artem, who died near Kherson.

I cried for a month straight but then decided I had to do something because either way, I would lose my mind, Baranovska, the 58-year-old from Orikhiv said.

She began to work in the center soon after.

How a celebrated Ukrainian writer turned into a war crimes researcher Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine has galvanized Ukrainians into action, compelling them to figure out how they can contribute to their countrys victory. Oftentimes, it has called for a radical departure from the known comforts of their daily lives. Thats exactly what happened to Ukrainian Kyiv IndependentKate Tsurkan

And now Im here, every work day since January, Baranovska said. After a few days here, I stopped crying at home, she said.

Baranovska says working with people who have a similar experience as her helped her to move on and find a meaning in life.

We all are friends, we help each other morally, Baranovska said.

On the one hand, I feel bad that I cry less because this way, its like I think of him less, but on the other hand, its better because by crying all the time, you can drive yourself into a coffin, she said while knitting a camouflage net.
On Thursday, the World Health Organization declared the mpox outbreak is no longer a global health emergency.

The disease, formerly known as monkeypox, was declared a public health emergency of international concern in July 2022 after it spread to more than 70 countries, CNN reported.

However, there has been a decline in the number of mpox cases over the past three months, with countries reporting 90% fewer cases than they had in the previous three-month period, Axios reported.

Yesterday, the emergency committee for mpox met and recommended to me that the multi-country outbreak of mpox no longer represents a public health emergency of international concern. I have accepted that advice and Im pleased to declare that the mpox is no longer a global health emergency, World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press briefing Thursday. However, as with Covid-19, that does not mean that the work is over. Mpox continues to pose significant public health challenges that need a robust, proactive and sustainable response.

Mpox in Mecklenburg County

There have been 249 cases of mpox reported in Mecklenburg County since the outbreak began, a representative for the health department told The Charlotte Observer in an email. There has only been one case reported in the county since February.

In North Carolina, 708 cases have been reported as of April 26, according to data from the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services.

Of those cases, 96% have been reported in males, and 67% have been reported in Black people, according to NCDHHS. Nearly all mpox cases have been in men who have sex with men.

Who can get the mpox vaccine?

Eligibility for the vaccine has been expanded, but due to a limited supply, it is only being offered to individuals who are at high risk of contracting mpox, including:

People who have been in close contact with someone diagnosed with mpox

Men who have sex with men, or transgender people who are sexually active

People who have had sexual contact with gay, bisexual, transgender or men who have sex with men in the last 90 days

People living with HIV or received pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV prevention in the last 90 days

People who have had sex at a commercial sex venue or in association with a large public event

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The CDC says mpox symptoms include:

Fever

Headache

Muscle aches and backache

Swollen lymph nodes

Chills

Exhaustion

A rash that can look like pimple or blisters that appear on the face, inside the mouth, or on the hands, feet, chest or genitals

Individuals who are eligible can call the Mecklenburg County Health Department at 980-314-9400 to make an appointment to receive the vaccine, or join the countys Mpox Vaccination Waitlist to receive notifications about appointment availability.
As the writers strike rages on and writer-directors are facing tough choices about which work they will or will not do, the Directors Guild of America has issued some new guidance on members rights and responsibilities when it comes to minor or incidental script changes.

The message, sent to members on Wednesday, drills down on a series of specific responsibilities the WGA considers a form of writing and has banned during the strike, called (a) through (h) duties. These services, which include cutting for time and small changes to dialogue made during or before production, are allowed to be performed by non-writers per the WGAs contract, even though the union has said it considers them writing work. During the strike, the WGA has taken the position that hyphenates (writers who also work in other capacities, such as directors, actors and producers) cannot perform (a) through (h) services for a struck company.

More from The Hollywood Reporter

The rub lies in how (a) through (h) services overlap with directing duties, as the directors union is not on strike and its contract is still in effect. In its Wednesday message, the DGA reminds members of its no-strike clause which states that over the course of the three-year agreement the union will not call or engage in or assist any strike, slow-down or stoppage of work and will use its best efforts in good faith to require its members to perform their services for the Employer, even though other persons or groups of persons may be on strike. (The DGA is currently negotiating its next three-year agreement, as its current deal expires June 30.)

The union stated, as it has before, that while this clause is clear, individuals cannot be forced to work, though members risk breach of contract claims if they have a personal services agreement or being replaced on the job if they decide not to cross a picket line.

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When it comes to (a) through (h) services for dual WGA and DGA members, directors who are employed only as a director on a project and not as a writer are required by our collective bargaining agreements and your personal services agreement, if you have one, to continue performing those services, the DGA states. It adds, This may require you to perform (a) through (h) services.' The DGA takes the position that the WGA strike rules do not specifically prohibit members directing scripts that are not their own from performing the (a) through (h) tasks, but still adds, your employer is required to indemnify you from any monetary loss arising from any WGA disciplinary action if it requests in writing that you perform those services. If the employer does not request those services in writing, the DGA states, a director has the right to refuse the work and can be temporarily replaced but not disciplined.

The unions message for directors who are helming projects based on their own scripts is slightly different. The DGA argues that (a) through (h) services are minor or incidental script changes customarily performed by directors as part of their directing services. Though the WGA has threatened to discipline members for performing these duties, hyphenate directors are required by the no strike clause in the DGA Basic Agreement to continue providing directing services during the WGA strike, and their responsibilities traditionally include (a) through (h) services, the union states.

Once again, writer-directors in this position can refuse to do those duties if the employer does not request directing services in writing, risking only temporary replacement. If an employer does request these services in writing, you must continue to perform your DGA-covered services and your employer must indemnify you from any monetary loss, including costs of defense, arising from any WGA disciplinary action against you. You should also consult your attorney, the DGA states.

This has set up some confusion for writer-directors who are caught between conflicting union messages, and certain dual members of the WGA and DGA have publicly stated they have individually decided to not perform their (a) through (h) duties. Sorry to Bother You writer-director Boots Riley took to Twitter on Thursday to say I, and a bunch of other dual DGA/WGA members, have decided we wont be taking that advice provided in the DGA message. He added, Its understood that this is a move of solidarity which will make the strike go faster. Showrunner and director Christopher Cantwell (Halt and Catch Fire) stated that hes aligned with this approach while fellow showrunner-director Will Graham (Daisy Jones & The Six) tweeted strongly agree in reply to Rileys post.

The consequences for breaking the WGA strike rules vary, but can be serious: Discipline may include, but is not limited to, any or all of the following: expulsion or suspension from Guild membership, imposition of monetary fines, or censure, the WGA strike rules state.

In a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, the DGA said, The DGA supports the writers in their efforts to achieve a fair deal with the AMPTP. At the same time, the DGA has a duty to clarify information about our members rights and responsibilities in their contracts, including potential actions that could put them in breach of contract. The union continued, We have advised our members accordingly of their rights and responsibilities so they can make informed decisions regarding their employment. Although we differ from the WGA in our position on the specific legal and contractual issues in this one area, we remain in support of the writers ultimate objective: a fair deal with the AMPTP.

The DGA has repeatedly supported the WGAs 2023 negotiations efforts, with top negotiators recently attending the unions meeting at the Shrine. The DGA continues to support the WGAs efforts to obtain a fair and reasonable contract for their members and urges the AMPTP to work with the WGA toward that end, the guild stated in its latest message.

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The scheme has been rolled out to 14 more restaurants

A restaurant chain is using waste heat generated from its kitchen to heat water and buildings following trials.

The success of the year-long trial at Nando's Didsbury branch in Manchester has been rolled out to 14 other stores.

The system created by Lancashire energy firm Dext Heat Recovery uses a heat exchange - a box on the roof which collects the heat produced by cooking.

Instead of releasing it into the atmosphere, the heat is filtered and recycled.

Prof Karl Williams said he was "excited" by the development

Prof Karl Williams, director of the centre for waste and resource management at the University of Central Lancashire, said he was excited about ways to recover energy to combat the climate emergency.

"There's lots of technology out there to recover energy for example from sewers, but every bit helps to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels," he said.

Prof Williams added: "The main challenge I see with this is cost, to have a real impact it needs to go into smaller businesses on our high streets because there are a lot more of them than big chains.

"They'd find it difficult to invest as it would take them longer to get payback as they don't generate as much heat as larger chains."

The amount of heat produced in the average Nando's kitchen a year is enough to heat more than 30 homes for a year.

Neil Bracewell said it was a "game changer" for the restaurant industry

Dext has been working with Nando's since 2009 when they started collecting the heat from its grills to heat water- a system which is now used to save energy in 300 branches.

Heat recovery

Director of Dext Heat Recovery Neil Bracewell said he believed it could be a game changer for the restaurant industry.

"We work with Sheffield Hallam University where we developed and researched the heat exchanger to cope with dirty air from restaurant kitchens.

"Nando's have helped us financially and by allowing us to test our equipment."

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He added it was still a "learning curve", but they were "saving money and reducing CO2 emissions".

Sam McCarthy said Nando's was "keen" to share the technology

Mr Bracewell said their systems currently start at about 20,000 but estimated the outlay could be made back in 18 months depending on the size and use of the kitchen.

Sam McCarthy, Nando's head of sustainability for the UK and Ireland, said they were keen to share this technology with other restaurant chains.

"We have a net zero target of 2030 and this new technology is proving to be a success reducing the impact on the planet and saving money on energy bills which we want to reinvest in the future of our restaurants.

"We're always looking to trial new technology to help us with this and it's great to support and work with a small business like Dext."

Why not follow BBC North West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk
Natalie Portman is looking back on Leon, the Professional.

The 1994 film, helmed by Luc Besson, stars Portman as a young orphan who was mentored by a professional hitman (Jean Reno) after her family is murdered. Portman was 11 years old when she was cast in her film debut that had undertones of a sexual relationship.

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Its a movie thats still beloved, and people come up to me about it more than almost anything Ive ever made, Portman told The Hollywood Reporter, and it gave me my career, but it is definitely, when you watch it now, it definitely has some cringey, to say the least, aspects to it. So, yes, its complicated for me.

Portman addressed the allegations against Leon, the Professional director Luc Besson, who was accused in 2018 of repeatedly raping Dutch-Belgian actress Sand Van Roy over the course of two years. The case against Besson was dismissed in 2021 after an investigation.

Its devastating, Portman said of the Besson accusations, adding that of course she was shocked by the claims.

I really didnt know, Portman explained of her experience with Besson. I was a kid working. I was a kid. But I dont want to say anything that would invalidate anyones experience.

The V for Vendetta actress previously compared Leon, the Professional to Lolita and opened up about being sexualized at age 11.

I was definitely aware of the fact that I was being portrayed as this Lolita figure, Portman said in 2020. Being sexualized as a child, I think took away from my own sexuality because it made me afraid, and it made me [feel] like the way I could be safe was to be like, Im conservative, and Im serious and you should respect me, and Im smart, and dont look at me that way.'

She added, So many people had this impression of me that I was super serious and conservative and I realized I consciously cultivated that because it was always to make me feel safe. Like, Oh, if someone respects you, theyre not going to objectify you. When I was in my teens I was like, I dont want to have any love scenes or make-out scenes. I would start choosing parts that were less sexy because it made me worried about the way I was perceived and how safe I felt.

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Civil War hero and celebrated Knoxville native Admiral David Farragut has been bestowed with a new honor more than 150 years after his death as the U.S. military purges the names of Confederate leaders from its buildings and ships.

Though a Southerner by birth, Farragut heeded his oath and the call to duty when he stayed loyal to the Union during the Civil War, playing a key role in squeezing the Confederacy by leading naval forces that captured New Orleans and Mobile Bay.

He also weathered cries of "traitor!" from the secessionists, and the posthumous indignity of the U.S. military naming scores of places and assets such as ships after the leaders who betrayed it.

Now, the U.S. Navy has honored the Knoxville native, stripping the name of Confederate Franklin Buchanan from the Superintendent's Quarters at the U.S. Naval Academy and renaming it Farragut House after one of America's authentic heroes.

"Admiral Farragut was a true American hero," Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro said in a release. "He had a choice during the Civil War and he chose loyalty to the Union, which required moral courage."

Farragut was born in 1801 in Knoxville to a Spanish immigrant father. He was appointed as rear admiral in 1862; vice admiral (a rank created for him by President Abraham Lincoln) in 1864; and commissioned admiral in 1866, the first officer of the U.S. Navy to hold that rank, according to the Navy.

The Admiral Farragut statue honors the Knoxville native who went on to become the first Hispanic American to hold the Navy's top ranks.

In Tennessee: Nathan Bedford Forrest bust will now come down after receiving final vote of approval

He's best known for his phrase "Damn the torpedoes!" after taking Confederate fire at the Battle of Mobile Bay in 1864. He remained on active duty for the rest of his life and died in 1870 at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Maine.

Knoxville has embraced his legacy by incorporating the area of his birth as the town of Farragut in 1980. The Farragut Memorial Plaza features his life-sized statue and the Hyatt Place Hotel in downtown Knoxville, formerly called the Farragut Hotel, honors him with art and an exterior plaque bearing his name.

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"Im proud to have the superintendents residence named after our Navys first admiral and a Civil War hero, David Glasgow Farragut," said U.S. Naval Academy Superintendent Sean S. Buck. "As the senior ranking naval officer during our nations most trying times, his dedication to our nation and its principles serves as a great example for our midshipmen. I couldnt be happier to have his legacy memorialized so prominently on our historic Yard."

Sites outside of Tennessee honor Farragut, too, including a statue in New York City's Madison Square Park; a statue in Farragut Square park in Washington, D.C.; and Admiral Farragut Academy boarding school in St. Petersburg, Florida. Now the historic building at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, joins the list.

Admiral David Farragut was born in west Knox County and is beloved for his bravery.

In recent years, communities and organizations across the South have removed Confederate names from places of honor and taken down monuments of Confederate figures.

The military started using Confederate names on facilities during the early 20th century, when the Lost Cause narrative was particularly strong, and because leaders thought it would build community support, especially when Army bases were built in the South.

"All this changed in the aftermath of the police killing of George Floyd in 2020," the Department of Defense said in a news release about its efforts to remove Confederate names from facilities. "Many people protested systemic racism and pointed to Confederate statues and bases as part of that system."

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Naval Academy home renamed in honor of Admiral David Farragut
The Navy is implementing a barracks bill of rights to uphold high quality living conditions for sailors and to pave a way for them to report issues without fear of retribution.

The bill of rights, which came after Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday and fleet commanders determined improved unaccompanied housing would boost sailor morale, stipulates that residents have a right to reside in a community that is safe, secure and meets applicable health and environmental standards, as well as the right to functioning fixtures, appliances and utilities.

No hot water, A/C or doors with locks for junior troops forced to live in hellish Walter Reed base barracks

The document also ensures that residents may report inadequate standards of living to their chain of command or to unaccompanied housing staff without jeopardizing their careers and without concern of retaliation. Residents are also guaranteed they will not encounter decreased services or harassment for reporting issues.

The bill of rights also requires sailors in unaccompanied housing to take pride and ownership of your assigned quarters, common areas and amenities; allow access to spaces for inspections, maintenance and repairs; and report any issues to unaccompanied housing staff in a timely manner.

The Navy is committed to providing high quality accommodations to all Sailors, especially those residing in UH, said Steve Drumm, Navy Installations Command director of housing, in a news release.

This Bill of Rights & Responsibilities makes it clear what guarantees we promise UH residents while establishing what their obligations are for maintaining their housing, Drumm said. These barracks are their homes, and they are expected to maintain cleanliness and report maintenance issues in a timely manner, which can be done quickly and conveniently by utilizing our new QR Code maintenance reporting process.

Navy Installations Command said other initiatives underway include the development of an interface between enterprise Military Housing, the property management system for housing, and MAXIMO, the maintenance management system for the Public Works Department.

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System snafu leaves junior sailors without rent money for months

This automated exchange will improve the tracking of maintenance requests, from request through completion, Destiny Sibert, a spokesperson for Navy Installations Command, said in an email to Navy Times.

Sibert said if a sailor feels his or her rights are being violated, the individual may raise the concerns with unaccompanied housing managers and/or the military chain of command.

Installation commanding officers have until May 26 to post the bill of rights in unaccompanied housing facilities and include it in the new resident orientation materials.
Republican Sen. Thom Tillis is getting help from two of North Carolinas House Democrats in pushing for extension of a policy that allowed the government to send migrants away from the U.S. border.

On Friday morning, Reps. Don Davis and Wiley Nickel, Democrats from North Carolina, announced they have cosponsored a bill to extend Title 42. Its a House bill that mirrors legislation Tillis is behind in the Senate that extends Title 42 for two years and outside the purview of a public health emergency.

Title 42 is a controversial policy that was set in motion in March 2020 under the Trump administration that allowed border officials to turn away migrants at the U.S. border if they posed a health risk to U.S. citizens. When President Joe Biden took office, he expanded on the policy.

But 11:59 p.m. Thursday marked the end of the U.S.s public health emergency declared because of COVID-19, and with it all policies in place to protect Americans from the virus.

That included Title 42.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas warned that smugglers near the southern U.S. border were telling migrants that the border would be open once the policy ended and that was leading to an increase in people trying to cross into the country.

Congress blamed the increase on Biden officials for failing to adequately prepare for the policys end. Mayorkas blamed Congress for refusing to provide him with $4 billion he says he needs to secure the southern border.

Tillis and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, an independent from Arizona, introduced their bill in the Senate last week, but were under no illusion that getting the legislation passed would be quick enough or easy.

Both knew they needed the support of the House and of Democrats.

Tillis told McClatchy Wednesday outside the Senate chamber that he was working to get buy-in from both Democrats and members of the House in hopes they could originate a bill and pass it to the Senate.

House Republicans hold a slight majority over Democrats, while Tillis belongs to the the narrow minority in the Senate. Tillis predicted seeing a large number of migrants at the border overnight Thursday might cause others to act.

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On Friday, Davis, a resident of Snow Hill, did just that. Davis said the end of Title 42 put unprecedented strain on law enforcement, nonprofits and family resources.

I am proud to join a bipartisan, bicameral group of Members of Congress to pass legislation to help guarantee our great country is ready to meet this challenge head on, Davis said in a statement. While our bill is necessary, it is not a permanent solution to fix our broken immigration system.

Davis called for immigration reform that includes comprehensive measures to secure the border.

Tillis reacted with a tweet pointing out bipartisan agreement.

I am glad a bipartisan group in the House has introduced a companion version of my bill with @SenatorSinema to extend Title 42 expulsion authority, he said. The Biden Administration had no plan to mitigate the fallout of ending Title 42, and there is clearly bipartisan agreement that Congress needs to step in quickly to help prevent the border crisis from turning into a catastrophe.

Immigration framework

Tillis and Sinema met with reporters inside the Senate Press Gallery Thursday morning and talked about the framework theyve been working on since last fall to address immigration problems. Sinema said that includes border security issues, addressing the asylum crisis, closing loopholes and addressing issues around visas and Dreamers, the unauthorized migrants who arrived in the United States as minors.

Tillis told reporters that their framework is centered on consultation meetings theyve had with the Border Patrol Council and what the Border Patrol thinks is needed.

He added that he and Sinema proposed the expansion of Title 42 to run for two years to give lawmakers time to work on broader immigration reform.

They were able to get support of three Democrats and four Republicans in the House to help champion their legislation.

Davis and Nickel were joined by Reps. Jared Goldman, a Democrat from Maine, Juan Ciscomani, a Republican from Arizona, Brian Fitzpatrick, a Republican from Pennsylvania, David Valadao, a Republican from California, and Zach Nunn, a Republican from Iowa.

With Title 42 set to expire, the time for decisive action at the southern border is now, Nickel said in a statement. While the administration announced several short-term steps, this is too little too late and Congress must act.

Nickel said the bill allows time to secure the border and enact more meaningful, long-term reforms to the overburdened immigration system.
The new abortion bill expected to become law over Gov. Roy Coopers veto has been described as both mainstream and extreme.

In the week since the GOPs proposal to ban abortions after 12 weeks instead of 20 weeks cleared the General Assembly and was sent to Coopers desk, Republicans and Democrats have both claimed that a majority of North Carolinians is on their side when it comes to supporting or opposing restrictions contained in the new bill.

Lawmakers and activists on both sides of the debate have cited different polls that show different findings about the attitudes and preferences of voters. To make sense of the various polls out there, The News & Observer spoke with David McLennan, a professor of political science at Meredith College and director of the Meredith Poll.

McLennan discussed the findings of the latest Meredith Poll, from February, as well as other nonpartisan polls. He also talked about polls from political groups like Carolina Forward and Differentiators Data, and weighed in on how the bill expected to take effect soon might shape campaigns ahead of the 2024 elections.

Q: What are your broad takeaways from these polls that have been conducted over the last year or so?

McLennan: I think the top line is that more North Carolinians support abortion rights and are opposed to severely restricting abortion rights. If you look across the polls, you see that a majority tend to favor, generally where North Carolinas current law is, with some people favoring expanding it, some people being slightly on the other side of 20 weeks. When we started looking down into the severe restrictions, or banning it entirely, were talking about a relatively small number of North Carolinians are for an absolute ban on abortion.

... Then we start breaking that out into party affiliation, you start seeing some differences. In my poll, for example, it was pretty obvious the Democrats wanted to either keep the 20 week period or expand it. Republicans wanted to restrict it more from the 20-week period. But, the interesting thing was that it wasnt a plurality of Republicans that wanted to ban it, or even wanted to keep it at six weeks. So, even Republicans had a pretty nuanced view of abortion rights. And then unaffiliated voters tended to more side with the keep where it is or expand it (position).

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Q: Is there polling out there that backs up the assertion from Republicans that this bill can garner the most amount of public support possible?

McLennan: I think that what they landed on, which is the 12 weeks, rather than being a consensus, is more of a compromise position between the current law and the six-week law that some had talked about initially. So, I think the calculus is, youre still drawing it down from the 20-week period, which may please some of the more socially conservative Republicans, without endangering those who are in swing districts, or maybe are more moderate on the issue of abortion. ... It does seem to be that kind of point at which (its) a little just more politically safe than either a six-week ban or even keeping it where it is. So, they tried to really split the difference.

Q: What do you make of other polls by Carolina Forward and Differentiators Data?

McLennan: It seems like the Carolina Forward poll is consistent with the Meredith Poll, some of the earlier polls with Elon and Pew. My advice would be to not look at a single poll as being gospel, but to kind of compare polls asking similar, even if not exactly the same questions. So thats why I would see the Differentiator poll as being sort of an outlier, in that it does show something radically different from the universe of polls that is out there.

I would probably also say that the (Carolina Forward) poll, being more current than any of the others, and since we are fairly familiar with what passed in the legislature, that may have some relevance. Because, what we know in polling research on the abortion issue in particular is, when youre asking people theoretically, what they would prefer, and then ask, how do you feel about a proposed or current law?  we do find that people are a little bit more nailed down to their position, or locked into their position, once a law is being proposed or has actually been enacted.

Q: Were still more than a year away from the 2024 election, but how do you think this new bill will play out in terms of the salience of abortion as a campaign issue?

McLennan: Well, I think we can look around the country to other states and recent examples of how abortion has become a very important issue for segments of voters. So, I think in North Carolina, this is going to be perceived by some voters as having a right taken away from them, or at least reduced for them. And so, Ill continue polling on this issue, but Im going to be asking the question, how important is abortion in your voting decision for 2024? And I suspect that Ill see an increase in some segments of the North Carolina voting population, for people saying, yes, thats very important to me, and I suspect this on the Democratic side, young voters, that sort of thing.

For some Republicans, it may be, hey, look, we got this reduced from 20 weeks to 12 weeks, weve won, and it may be less of an important issue for them. Now, again, it depends on how both parties spin this. Democrats are clearly going to go out on the campaign trail and make this a top issue, heading into 2024. Republicans may see the idea that their voters may be less energized, because of this perception that theyve won something, so they may try to energize their base on the abortion issue as well.

Q: It probably makes for stronger motivation, or a more compelling pitch, to campaign on something being taken away, or fighting for something.

McLennan: Political science research says that anger is the No. 1 motivator for voting, and I suspect that Democrats will have more anger on their side.

Q: Where does that leave Republicans? How might they campaign on this new bill?

McLennan: It may be on a district by district level, you have some swing districts in the suburban areas, and you might find that even Republican candidates try to celebrate the fact that a first trimester law is still there, whereas in a more conservative rural district, you might find Republican candidates going, Well, we took one step, we need to keep going. So, I think it could be very localized, it could be dependent on the candidates themselves, I mean you see someone like the current lieutenant governor (Republican Mark Robinson) in his gubernatorial campaign  I suspect hes not going to hold back, he might still say, hey, we havent gone far enough, and yet someone like (Republican gubernatorial candidate) Dale Folwell, Id say, this is not an issue I really want to talk about, Im more interested in protecting health care for North Carolinians.
A fourth set of human remains were recently found by Mississippi officials in Taylorsville in the vicinity of where the remains of Rasheem Ryelle Carter, 25, of Fayette, was allegedly lynched last year.

More than six months after her son's remains were found at the property in Smith County, Tiffany Carter still has no answers for what happened the day her son disappeared.

A bystander captured on video officers finding the latest set of human remains on the site May 10.

The first set of remains were found on Nov. 2, 2022, a month after Carter was reported missing on Oct. 2. A second set of human remains were found nearby at an unspecified time. A third set of human remains were found on April 26, 2023, followed by the fourth set that were discovered Wednesday, May 10.

Civil rights and personal injury attorney Ben Crump and Carter's family of members held a news conference Thursday in Jackson to discuss the discovery of the fourth set of remains.

Carter family members said Mississippi agencies not provided immediate information on the investigation and they asked for help from outside agencies.

Crump said the Carter family and his legal team were made aware of the fourth set of remains last week but waited for confirmation from the Mississippi Crime Lab if they were Carter's. The crime lab has said they could not confirm the cause of death of the decapitated remains and suggested the decapitation and spread out remains could have been done by animals.

"We refuse to accept the death of Rasheem Carter was due to natural causes," Crump said. "We believe the new set of remains belongs to Rasheem after being found within the vicinity of other remains. Within the video, you can see an arm attached to a hand. We are thankful for the citizen notifying the Carter family and our legal team. The Mississippi Crime Lab and The Taylorsville Sheriff's Department have failed to notify us of any information upon finding the fourth set of human remains."

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Crump didn't release the name of the citizen that provided the footage, but Carter's mother, Tiffany Carter, said she would like confirmation of whether the remains belong to her son and she wants answers.

"I would like to say I am the mother of Rasheem Carter, that made many sacrifices for him," Tiffany Carter said. "I will continue standing and fighting to get the justice my son, his daughter, aunts and family deserves. No one deserves to go through the things he went through. I am overwhelmed by the oppression the state of Mississippi has failed to help us get justice for my son. I want something done, and I want it done immediately. I am tired of waiting and going through the same things. Although I can't change what happened, we can make a change so that this doesn't happen to anyone else."

The Carter family is offering a $50,000 reward to anyone who finds information helpful in the investigation.

Crump said his legal team is demanding transparency on confirming if the recently discovered remains belong to Carter, and if not, that would raise more questions.

"We must continue to pressure Mississippi officials for this investigation to get justice," Crump said.

Carter was reported missing on Oct. 2, 2022, in Laurel, Mississippi, after being followed by four white males in a truck moments after leaving the Smith County Sheriff's Office pleading for help.

The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation announced on Wednesday, March 22, that the state medical examiner could not reasonably determine Carter's cause of death.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Rasheem Carter: Fourth set of remains found
Donald Trump. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Trump suggested that Republicans risk the US and global economy if Biden doesn't give in to their demands.

The former president said the GOP would "have to do a default" if more spending cuts don't accompany a debt limit increase.

Trump predicted such a move wouldn't be needed though.

Former President Donald Trump told congressional Republicans on Wednesday evening that they should risk the stability of the US and global economy by defaulting on the nation's debt unless "massive" spending cuts are passed in exchange.

"I say to the Republicans out there, congressmen and senators, if they don't give you massive cuts you are going to have to do a default," Trump said during CNN's GOP primary town hall in New Hampshire.

The former president then predicted that a default would not be necessary because "the Democrats would absolutely cave."

"But it's better than what we are doing right now because we are spending money like drunken sailors," Trump said.

CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins then clarified with Trump if he was indeed directing the GOP to default on the debt by refusing to raise the debt ceiling if President Joe Biden and Democrats do not agree to large spending cuts.

Trump responded, "You might as well do it now because you'll have to do it later."

As soon as early next month, the Treasury Department will no longer be able to use special measures to delay breaching the debt ceiling. At that point, the US government will be unable to pay its bills. The debt ceiling does not authorize new spending, but lawmakers, especially conservatives, often tie an increase in the debt limit to spending cuts.

The former president's comments are particularly striking as both parties traditionally try to avoid blame for a debt ceiling standoff. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has argued that the current issue is that Biden will not negotiate more with him. The White House has repeatedly said that Biden would only accept an increase or suspension of the debt ceiling if it came without conditions.

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Economists have long feared that a default would send the US economy into a tailspin with repercussions felt around the globe. Analysis from the White House Council of Economic Advisers has said that it could be as bad as the Great Recession and could shed up to 8.5 million jobs if a worst-case-scenario drawn-out default happened.

Even the possibility of default in 2011 led to a historic downgrade of the US's credit rating.

Read the original article on Business Insider
MSNBCs Nicolle Wallace and her guests on Deadline: White House spent much of the show criticizing CNN for its town hall event in which Donald Trump repeatedly lied in front of a roomful of cheering supporters.

Many observers found, observed and noted that Trump completely dominated the conversation. He commanded the room, she said. And he decided when and what would be discussed.

That includes what she called a cacophony of lies as well as attacks on writer E. Jean Carroll, who sued Trump for rape in a civil case. The jury found him liable not for rape, but for sexual abuse and defamation, and awarded Carroll $5 million in total damages.

Yet Trump attacked her as a whack job during the event.

Wallace found that incredibly ironic given CNNs own recent history with misogyny.

CNN recently very publicly parted ways with anchor Don Lemon. It came in the aftermath of a comment he made on his broadcast that was viewed by his managers as misogynistic, she pointed out. Those very same managers are the people who aired Trumps misogynistic attacks last night on E. Jean Carroll.

Wallace: CNN recently very publicly parted ways with Don Lemon. It came in the aftermath of a comment he made that was viewed by his managers as misogynistic. Those very same managers are the people who aired Trumps misogynistic attacks last night on E. Jean Carroll pic.twitter.com/dXuldP7ym3  Acyn (@Acyn) May 11, 2023

Theres also something self-loathing about it, she said later in the segment. A company thats so brazen with its hypocrisy. Its just parted ways with Don Lemon and then it platforms the misogyny a day after a jury of Trumps peers found him liable.

"This is appalling on so many different levels... last night was a case study in why you do not give a megaphone to an unedited live show for somebody like Donald Trump, who's gonna use that platform to lie and to defame" - @SykesCharlie w/ @NicolleDWallacepic.twitter.com/d4P3xlPapY  Deadline White House (@DeadlineWH) May 11, 2023

Lemon was fired last month after 17 years at the network.

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The former anchor called himself stunned, but the termination came after a series of controversies including a moment on air where he said Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley was past her prime.

The led to a report in Variety detailing a pattern of misogynistic behavior and other troubling incidents.

CNNs Anderson Cooper on Thursday night tried to defend the networks decision to host the Trump event.

It didnt go well.
Participants in a town hall meeting in Hacienda Heights on May 4 voice their opposition to plans to convert a Motel 6 into permanent housing for homeless people. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

Wilma Wu walked into the Hacienda Heights Community Center feeling upset that the powers that be were again trying to force her tranquil town to bear the burden of the county's homelessness crisis.

Los Angeles County had converted a Motel 6 into a temporary shelter during the COVID-19 pandemic, and now officials wanted to turn it into long-term homeless housing.

I had been hearing that they were going to bus people from other cities here, Wu said. People with drug and alcohol problems and mentally ill. This is what's been circulating in the neighborhood.

Wu, 51, had hopes she would learn more about the plan at a town hall meeting last week. Instead, she watched as hundreds of residents, mostly Chinese Americans, screamed and jeered at officials, including a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy who spoke about helping homeless veterans.

Amid a lack of affordable rentals, Southern California counties have tried addressing their homelessness woes by building tiny homes and temporary shelters, or converting motels and hotels into permanent housing. But their efforts have run into fierce not in my backyard opposition in suburbs from Chatsworth to Irvine, even as the areas have become more diverse and less conservative.

Many participants in a town hall meeting in Hacienda Heights opposed plans to convert a local Motel 6 into permanent housing for homeless people. (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)

In terms of where to house homeless people, NIMBYism spans race and politics.

Five years ago, the Orange County Board of Supervisors had plans to build temporary homeless shelters in Laguna Niguel, Irvine and Huntington Beach. All three cities fought the plan, but the opposition was fiercest in Irvine  where hundreds of Chinese Americans and immigrants mobilized. Similar efforts happened in Arcadia, where Chinese residents opposed the construction of tiny homes.

This is part of becoming a suburban American; sadly, this is what you assimilate into," said Karthick Ramakrishnan, a professor of political science and public policy at UC Riverside. You see other versions of this in other parts of L.A. and Southern California, where higher-income communities are able to deploy various tactics to prevent new developments that would change the character of the area or enable low-income residents to come in."

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It's not just in Asian American neighborhoods; it's happening in other diverse communities such as Lancaster and El Centro in Imperial County. Residents in urban areas such as Koreatown and Boyle Heights have followed suit, with opposition to proposed homeless housing in their neighborhoods, citing the unfairness of wealthier towns' ability to keep such projects at bay.

Of course, none of these neighborhoods is monolithic. And younger people tend to be more supportive of creating housing for people experiencing homelessness.

Residents oppose L.A. County's plan to convert a Motel 6 into permanent housing for homeless people in Hacienda Heights. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

At the town hall in Hacienda Heights  an unincorporated bedroom community 16 miles east of downtown Los Angeles  shouting matches broke out between warring sides. Water bottles were thrown.

I saw an elderly couple throwing scrunched-up paper, Wu said.

The Hacienda Heights Chinese American Assn. led the protest, with county officials barely able to get a word in to address concerns about public safety or debunk common myths surrounding people experiencing homelessness.

David Fang, president of the association, did not respond to requests for comment.

Hacienda Heights was 60% white in 1980. Now that figure is 11%, while Latinos make up 45% and Asians 40%, but the stalwart suburban issues of quality schools and public safety remain the same.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis expressed disappointment about the communitys reaction toward a project she said was key to addressing homelessness.

The San Gabriel Valley has a lot of people that are homeless, she said in a phone interview. This is what we have to do to rectify that problem, but how do we get there if people arent willing to understand that?

The controversy over the project, dubbed the 7th Avenue Village, dates to November 2020. At the time, county officials had purchased the building through Project Homekey, a state program that allows local governments to buy hotels, motels and other buildings to convert into permanent or long-term housing.

The motel sits behind a Denny's and a Chevron, and is flanked on three sides by an offramp of the 60 Freeway. An elementary and middle school are short walks away  which residents cited as one of the main reasons they oppose the project.

I care about my kid; his safety is the most important thing, said Zig Jiang, a longtime resident who lives a mile from the motel. He said his 15-year-old son attends a nearby high school. I dont want this so close to schools.

Residents said they also oppose the project because they were never informed about the county's effort to convert the motel into apartment units for homeless people.

I didnt even get a chance to give my opinion on this, Jiang said. Its just wrong.

Alitzah Wiener, a longtime resident, echoed that frustration.

We werent even considered in this new development that theyre doing, she said. It was just like, Here it is. Youre going to like it no matter what."

County officials said efforts were made to inform the public about the project, but to what extent is unclear.

Petitions to stop the 7th Avenue Village project were signed by thousands of people online.

Residents and workers at the restaurant and gas station said they had grown weary of their new neighbors at the motel during the pandemic. They listed a host of problems: public urination, discarded needles in nearby parks, increased encampments and crime such as thefts.

The Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department's 2020-2021 crime data show a minor increase in violent crimes and burglaries. The data, however, include months before the hotel began operating as a shelter. It also lumps in statistics from other unincorporated communities within the local sheriff stations coverage area.

The data show burglaries increased by 57% from 220 to 346 over the last two years, but overall crime has dropped significantly, as did homelessness. The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority saw the number of people experiencing homelessness in Hacienda Heights fall from 288 in 2018 to 174 in 2022.

Rick Cole, a municipal reformer who has been mayor of Pasadena and a city manager in Santa Monica, Azusa and Ventura, said communities are more likely to work with government on projects when they're included in the process.

"I think that's a harder road, a longer road, but its the only road that gets you to the right destination," said Cole, who is now deputy chief controller of Los Angeles. "Eight out of 10 times, if you get ahead of the anger and resentment, you can deal with prejudice and fear."

In Hacienda Heights, residents mostly came to the meeting demanding that the county stop its plans and relocate the project elsewhere. Dozens went home when the auditorium reached its 300-person capacity, while many others stood in the hallway listening to county officials.

Irene Wong, 62, said she didnt support the project because she didnt think there were enough resources for homeless people in the area.

We dont have many jobs for them here, Wong said. We just want a safe place to live.

County officials said the project would include services such as case managers and job training.

Ramon Martinez, 70, who lives a block away from the hotel, said he opposed the project because he believed the county didnt have enough resources to handle mentally ill people.

He said hes been harassed while walking around the neighborhood.

They ask for money, and when you deny them they get angry, he said. The projects just not good for our community.

Gabriel Monares, 55, who lives near the motel, felt differently about the project. He said he hadn't experienced any problems with people at the motel.

I think people are just scared and misinformed, he said. Theres a lot of fear about whats going to be there.

Monares said many residents have forgotten that the motel used to be a nuisance before the shelter arrived. A sheriff's deputy was killed at the motel in 2004 during a shooting, according to the Sheriff's Department.

County officials said the plan is to convert 142 of the 174 motel rooms into studio apartments. Two units will be used for managers, while the rest will be used for office and meeting spaces for case managers and other service providers. Officials plan to clear the motel for construction by the end of the month. They expect to complete the project next fall.

As the crowds left the auditorium that Thursday night, Wu made her way to Mary-Jane Wagle, co-director of Women Organizing Resources, Knowledge and Services. The affordable housing development group will own the property and oversee the renovation.

Wu told Wagle people were rowdy because they needed more information about the project. Today was kind of crazy, but its because you know 

Yeah, people didnt feel included, Wagle said.

Yeah, Wu responded. "I came here thinking this was going to be a shelter, but permanent housing is different because youre helping people who want to be helped.

Wu said she had been leery of the project because of inaccurate information neighbors had circulated. Now she understood. Still, she had reservations.

"I don't like that it's going to be near the schools."

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
A grand jury has indicted a New Jersey man for allegedly causing the death of his brother-in-law man in a Bensalem home last year.

On Friday, Antwan McKoy, 37, of Maple Shade, Burlington County, was arraigned on charges alleging he caused the death of 41-year-old Michael Whispell last summer. McKoy got into an altercation with him and assaulted him, Bensalem police said.

Whispell was taken to a local hospital, where he died from his injuries a month later.

McKoy is charged with misdemeanor offenses of involuntary manslaughter, simple assault and recklessly endangering another person. He was sent to Bucks County Prison on 10% of $5 million bail.

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What did police say happened at Bucks Meadow Apartments?

McKoy and his wife went to an apartment at Buck Meadows Apartments on Knights Road about 11 p.m. June 19.

Whispell, who was staying with his mother at the apartment, got into an argument with McKoy, according to a Bensalem police news release. McKoy began choking Whispell, and Whispell then threw a punch at McKoy, police said.

That prompted McKoy to punch him twice in the temple and throw him to the ground, police said. While on the ground, McKoy struck Whispell in the head again, officials said.

McKoy jumped on top of Whispell, however the fight was broken up by family, the release states.

Later that night, Whispell could not sleep because of the pain in his head. Whispell lost consciousness and was taken to a hospital by ambulance. He was placed into a medically induced coma, but never regained consciousness, police said.

He died on July 4.

An autopsy revealed his cause of death was from complications of blunt impact injury to the head.

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McKoy did not have an attorney listed for him Friday. His preliminary hearing is tentatively scheduled for May 23.

Whispell lived in Tunkhannock, Wymoming County, according to his obituary. He grew up in Bristol and attended Harry S. Truman High School.

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Maple Shade man charged in death of brother-in-law in Bensalem
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed two new pieces of legislation Friday morning he says will protect Floridians' financial privacy within the state. (Photo: Samantha Neely)

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed two new pieces of legislation Friday morning he said would protect Floridians' financial privacy within the state.

DeSantis signed a ban on any central bank digital currency (CBDC) issued by the U.S. for use in Florida. He also signed a measure that seeks to prevent credit-card companies from using a code that could help track firearm and ammunition sales. Housed inside Southwest Florida Public Service Academy at Fort Myers Technical College,

Joined by local and state leaders at the Southwest Florida Public Service Academy at Fort Myers Technical College, Desantis first discussed the ban on CBDCs, saying the Biden administrations efforts to inject a Centralized Bank Digital Currency "is about surveillance and control."

"I think that anyone with their eyes open could see the dangers that this type of an arrangement would mean for Americans who want to exercise their financial independence and would like to be able to conduct business without having the government know every single transaction that they're making in real-time," DeSantis said during the event. "Sometimes the government will do things where they provide kind of a benevolent rationale for what they're doing, but it's really nothing more than a wolf in sheep's clothing  well, I think what central bank digital currency, this is a wolf coming as a wolf."

Get specifics on CBDCs Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis banned central bank digital currency. Here's what it is:

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With both measures, he said the state is following a precedent that other states will soon be following.

Here's what we know about the new legislation and what it means for Floridians:

What are the bills DeSantis signed into law?

HB 7049 - Central Bank Digital Currency; "Defines 'central bank digital currency' and revises definition of the term '"money' for purposes of Uniform Commercial Code."

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HB 221 - Sales of Firearms and Ammunition; "Prohibits specified businesses from assigning merchant category codes or otherwise classifying merchants of firearms or ammunition separately from general merchandise or sporting goods retailers; prohibits entities involved in processing payment card transactions from assigning to or requiring the merchant to use merchant category codes; specifies any agreement or contractual provision to contrary is void; authorizes DACS to investigate violations & bring actions."

What is the goal of these bills?

HB-7049 aims to prohibit the use of a federally adopted CBDC as money within Floridas Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), institutes protections against a central global currency by prohibiting any CBDC by a foreign reserve or sanctioned central bank, and calls on likeminded states to join in adopting similar legislation.

"Making sure individuals are empowered is something that's very, very important, so I'm proud that we're gonna be able to sign this protection in the law for the people of Florida," DeSantis said. "We do not want to see any central bank digital currency, but we certainly reject any attempt to do that by executive fiat without the members of Congress actually having to go on the record and vote for it."

HB-221 deals with the potential that credit-card companies might use a separate merchant category code (MCC) for sales at firearms businesses. These four-digit codes are already used to separate purchases and collect data from other establishments, such as grocery stores, gas stations and restaurants.

DeSantis said it was unfair for those to be singled out and tracked by their credit card company for purchasing firearms, comparing it to "Big Brother" watching. DeSantis signed House Bill (HB) 543 in April, which strengthens Floridians' Second Amendment rights by allowing Floridians to carry concealed weapons without a government-issued permit.

"They can tag you or flag you as being somebody that somehow should be looked at and that's just fundamentally wrong," DeSantis said. "We believe that the whole idea of MCC is very political. We think it's going to be used against people just for exercising their basic constitutional rights."

For HB-7049, what is a CBDC?

According to Investopedia, central bank digital currencies are a form of digital currency issued by a country's central bank. In the United States, there are two types of central bank money: physical currency issued by the Federal Reserve and digital balances held by commercial banks at the Federal Reserve.

The Federal Reserve has made no decisions to implement or pursue a CBDC. The institute has spent time exploring potential benefits and risks from all angles.

Follow-up question: what are the pros and cons of a CBDC?

Pros: CBDC has the potential to offer several advantages. It could offer households and businesses an electronic and convenient form of central bank money, ensuring safety and liquidity. Additionally, it could provide entrepreneurs with a platform to develop new financial products and services, enabling faster and cheaper payments, including cross-border payments. It could also expand consumer access to the financial system.

Cons: A CBDC could also pose certain risks and would raise a variety of important policy questions, including how it might affect the financial-sector market structure, the cost and availability of credit, the safety and stability of the financial system, and the efficacy of monetary policy.

What has the Biden administration said?

In September 2022, the Biden administration put out a fact sheet that said: "A U.S. CBDC  a digital form of the U.S. dollar  has the potential to offer significant benefits. It could enable a payment system that is more efficient, provides a foundation for further technological innovation, facilitates faster cross-border transactions, and is environmentally sustainable. It could promote financial inclusion and equity by enabling access for a broad set of consumers. In addition, it could foster economic growth and stability, protect against cyber and operational risks, safeguard the privacy of sensitive data, and minimize risks of illicit financial transactions. A potential U.S. CBDC could also help preserve U.S. global financial leadership, and support the effectiveness of sanctions."

In April, the Federal Reserve said its new Fed Now service is not a CBDC and is not replacing cash: "FedNow is a payments service the Federal Reserve is making available for banks and credit unions to transfer funds. It is like other Federal Reserve payments services, such as Fedwire and FedACH. The FedNow Service is neither a form of currency nor a step toward eliminating any form of payment, including cash.

Any CBDC, it said, would have to come through an authorizing law from Congress.

The Biden administration did say that "traditional finance leaves too many behind. Roughly 7 million Americans have no bank account. Another 24 million rely on costly nonbank services, like check cashing and money orders, for everyday needs. And for those who do use banks, paying with traditional financial infrastructure can be costly and slowparticularly for cross-border payments. The digital economy should work for all Americans. That means developing financial services that are secure, reliable, affordable, and accessible to all.

Which countries have CBDCs? Who else is banning it?

There are about 90 countries currently exploring CBDCs, but only a handful have launched products: The Central Bank of the Bahamas (Sand Dollar), the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (DCash), the Central Bank of Nigeria (e-Naira), the Bank of Jamaica (JamDex) and the Reserve Bank of India (Digital Rupee).

As for banning it, other U.S. states, such as North Carolina and Texas, have made similar moves to try and ban CBDCs. Florida is the first state to fully ban CBDCs.

When will this Florida legislation go into effect?

These will go into effect on July 1 of this year.

What do other politicians think?

While Florida Senate President Kathleen Passidomo didn't specifically highlight either of the two bills, she noticed that DeSantis shared the same political philosophy as herself and the two have been successful in this past legislative session.

"We care deeply about this state and the freedoms that we enjoy as Floridians. The takeaway for me and my colleagues is that we were able to pass meaningful legislation that will impact your everyday lives," Passidomo said. "It started with the hurricane (Ian) and the legislation that we passed in the special sessions and then coming back during the session. We care about Southwest Florida, the governor has been here  I think he's been here more than me lately."

Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson came to show his support for HB-221 and what it would mean for gun owners in the state.

"The bill we're talking about today, that's going to be cited today, is the Ammunitions Act, where MCC codes were being applied  elitist liberals around this country were asking credit card companies to apply the MCC code to track gun owners," Simpson said. "of course that's just the tip of the sword, eventually you have MCC codes for everything and in the digital world might have been worse but what this bill does is very simple. If a credit card company or banking system tracks your ammunition and gun sales, they can be fined up to $10,000 for that."

Pensacola News Journal Reporter Brandon Girod contributed to this article.

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: What we know: DeSantis signs legislation to promote financial privacy
A Cartersville-based air group confirmed three of its employees died in a plane crash off the California coast.

Phoenix Air said two of its Learjets were participating in a U.S. Navy Training exercise when one of them crash. The second jet landed safely.

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The Learjet landed in the waters a mile from San Clemente Island and the Navy, U.S. Coast and other officials launched a search. On Thursday, the Coast Guard determined there were no survivors.

Phoenix Air said three employees were on board the plane that crashed: Captain Eric Tatman from Marietta, 1st Officer Spencer Geerlings from Newnan and Systems Specialist Shane Garner from Taylorsville.

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The entire Phoenix Air Family grieves over this loss of our friends and fellow employees, the company said. The entire Phoenix Air Family is supporting our fallen colleagues families.

Coast Guard officials are working to recover the victims bodies.

The Federal Aviation Administration, National Transportation Safety Board and Department of Defense are handling the investigation. No other details have been released.

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IN OTHER NEWS
Black person hands with swirl nail polish on green background

A gel manicure is great for a long-lasting look that can go days without chipping. The only issue is that getting gel manicures consistently may cause your nails to chip and peel. Researchers at the American Academy of Dermatology Association reported that repeated gel manicures can increase the risk for skin cancer and premature skin aging on the hands, since most gel nails are cured with a UV lamp.

There are many gel manicures on the market that you do not need to cure. These go on like regular polish, but shine and last like gel. Here are some non-damaging items that you can use at home to get the perfect gel nails.

Essies Nail Polish

Essie Gel Couture Longwear Nail Polish

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Essies Gel Couture Longwear Nail Polish comes in over 40 longlasting colors. The spectrum of shades goes from pastel pinks to the deep reds.

Once you apply two layers of this polish, and one layer of a gel top coat, then youll have chip-resistant nails.

This vegan polish doesnt require a UV lamp to achieve a gel-like appearance. For removal, all you need is a nail polish remover.

Chanels Le Gel Coat

Chanel Le Gel Coat Longwear Top Coat

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Chanel makes more than handbags. The luxury brand also has a line of nail products, including the Le Gel Coat Longwear Top Coat.

The clear top coat delivers a high-gloss finish to your nail polish without needing a UV lamp. It leans on camellia oil to help your nails shine.

Sally Hansens Miracle Gel Nail Polish

Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Nail Polish

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Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Nail Polish doesnt need a UV light to offer gel-quality nails. Once applied, the chip-resistant polish lasts for up to eight days.

When you want to redo them or change the color, you can use regular nail polish remover to take off the color. It comes in 56 colors, ranging from electrifying neon colors to classic neutrals.

Sally Hansens Miracle Top Coat

Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Nail Polish Matte Top Coat

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If you love matte gel nails, then Sally Hansens Miracle Gel Nail Polish Matte Top Coat is the perfect top coat for you.

The longlasting matte top coat works like a non-gel polish. Once the top coat dries, you get up to eight days of chip-resistant wear.

Ulta Beautys Gel Nail Set

Ulta Beauty Collection Perfect Pair Gel Nail Set

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The Perfect Pair Gel Nail Set comes from the Ulta Beauty Collection. This set includes a shimmery rose gold gel shine lacquer and a gel shine top coat.

This long-wearing polish goes on and comes off like a regular nail polish. There is no LED light required to achieve a high-shine gel-like finish.

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CND LED Lamp - Version 2

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When you need to cure your nails, reach for the CND LED Lamp. The convertible lamp can be used for your hands or your feet. When doing a pedicure, simply remove the bottom plate.

A major benefit to the size of this lamp is that it can fit one hand or foot at a time without a bunch of fuss. It is perfect for swapping out your small handheld UV light, so you can apply your nail strips and get out the door.

Our editors love finding you the best products and offers! If you purchase something by clicking on one of the affiliate links on our website, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

The post Non-Damaging Gel Nails That You Can Apply at Home appeared first on 21Ninety.
King Harald V has been in hospital several times in the past few years

Norway's 86-year-old King Harald V, admitted to hospital earlier this week, will be on sick leave until May 16, the eve of the country's national day, the palace announced Friday.

That is several days longer than initially planned. The palace had on Monday said the popular monarch had been admitted to hospital with his third infection since last summer.

"His Majesty the King is for the timebeing on sick leave until May 16," the palace said in a statement. "The King is still recovering but will remain a few more days at Oslo University Hospital."

On Tuesday, the palace said the monarch would be in hospital until the end of the week, and would not take part in the state visit of Italy's President Sergio Mattarella to Norway on Thursday and Friday.

A return to his official duties by May 17 would however enable him to participate in Norway's national day festivities that day.

In addition to the infections, Harald has also been hospitalised on a number of occasions in recent years for Covid, knee and heart surgery, and respiratory problems.

The former Olympic yachtsman, who has ruled for 32 years in a largely ceremonial role, has repeatedly refused to abdicate.

Harald is the grandson of Haakon VII -- the first Norwegian regent after the country gained independence from Sweden in 1905 -- and has ruled since January 1991.

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Despite a larger than projected shortfall in the 2023-24 budget, California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday reaffirmed substantial investments in addressing homelessness and housing in the state.

Were not backing away at all, Newsom said. Fully funding, full commitment to move forward with that $15.3 billion to address the issue of these damn encampments.

The governors May Revise budget calls for a total of $306 billion, including $224 billion in the general fund, and anticipates a $31.5 billion deficit, which Newsom said was well within the margin of expectation and well within our capacity to address.

Newsom said the $15.3 billion includes $750 million in grants to clean up homeless; camps; $3 billion for the states Homekey program; $2.2 billion for behavioral health; $1.5 billion for bridge housing, and $860 million for community care expansion, which is a fancy way of saying boarding care homes.

The governor also called for $291 million in ongoing costs for the states CARE Court program.

This is all about accountability. And youll see in the May Revise, the trailer bill, accountability, accountability. And that extends to housing affordability. Its about accountability, Newsom said.

On affordable housing, Newsom pointed to recent state lawsuits against the cities of Huntington Beach and Elk Grove, adding that there are others on the list, though he declined to elaborate.

The governors revised plan also calls for a total of $367.5 million in proposed housing reductions, but proposes $2.85 billion for this coming budget year.

As proposed in the Governors Budget, if there is sufficient General Fund in January 2024, $350 million of these reductions will be restored, according to the May Revise budget summary.

Newsom said his budget includes $4 billion for student housing, with $450 million in one-time general fund money this year and an additional $95.4 million in the next, for affordable student housing for California Community College students.

As for California State University and University of California students, the May Revise calls for shifting $1.1 billion in current and planned general fund dollars to UC- and CSU-issued bonds for affordable housing for those systems.
Facebook posts slam the Canadian town of Bridgewater for its participation in a federal grant program, claiming it aims to impose 15-minute city plans and give the local government the ability to track and restrict movement. This is false; officials of the Nova Scotia town say the project focuses on home energy efficiency upgrades and developing public transit, and does not call for lockdowns or limiting residents to certain areas.

"15 minute cities are NO JOKING matter, neither are they a 'conspiracy theory,'" says a May 5, 2023 Facebook post. "Mayor David Mitchell has signed up Bridgewater, NS to take part in this. He thinks he won a wonderful $5,000,000 prize for the town, not sure if he realizes what the end result is. Complete totalitarian society where you can not leave your bubble without a permit."

The profile which shared the post has more than 5,700 followers and frequently claims that the town of Bridgewater, Nova Scotia is hatching plans to force a framework on citizens that would lock them in a certain zone. Other accounts have spread similar claims about Bridgewater.

Screenshot of a Facebook posts spreading false information about 15-minute cities, taken May 11, 2023

Screenshot of a Facebook post spreading false information about 15-minute cities, taken May 11, 2023

The posts follow several months of false and conspiratorial claims about 15-minute cities, an urban design concept that aims to provide citizens with all their essentials within a short walk from their residence.

"It's not about restricting movement, it's about improving walkability, bikeability within the city, offering more opportunities, more services that people want locally," said Ehab Diab, a professor in the Geography and Urban Planning Department at the University of Saskatchewan, on the concept.

He said these misconceptions have gained traction because of restrictions put in place during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Diab recently published an analysis (archived here) looking at cities in North America which have adopted 15-minute city models, and said none of the jurisdictions he observed were restricting people to certain areas, penalizing energy use or taking away cars.

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Smart Cities Challenge

Online claims also conflate moves to introduce "smart" technology in cities with 15-minute cities, but they are distinct urban planning concepts. A smart city deploys sensors and other technology to try to improve municipal efficiency.

David Mitchell, the mayor of the town of fewer than 9,000 residents, said Bridgewater has no 15-minute city plan in the works.

The town is working to implement an energy management model, funded by a $5 million prize won in the Smart Cities Challenge (archived here), an initiative spearheaded by the federal government's development office, Infrastructure Canada.

The government website said the Challenge aimed to empower "communities to adopt a smart cities approach to improve the lives of their residents through innovation, data and connected technology."

But the federal challenge has also been hit with misinformation, including a video viewed more than 13,000 times on Rumble claiming a participating city will become an "open air prison."

Screenshot of a video on Rumble taken May 12, 2023

Mitchell said the plan in his town, Energize Bridgewater (archived here), focuses on decreasing energy costs and consumption within the community using digital technology.

"So, our plan is simply to do energy retrofits to their homes, new windows, doors, insulation, maybe some solar heat pumps," he said. "It also means that we're adding a public transit system, but it has nothing to do with anyone leaving or not leaving the town."

While the Energize Bridgewater plan does include energy monitoring, Mitchell said there is no penalization or caps for energy use.

Caleb Spassov, a spokesman for Infrastructure Canada said in a May 10 email to AFP that Bridgewater's projects are required to meet privacy standards.

"Over the course of the Challenge, each participating community had to comply with privacy laws and principles as well as the protection of personal data," he said.

Some of the posts suggest the 15-minute city concept is linked to the non-governmental World Economic Forum (WEF), a frequent target of false claims, and a purported plot to track and restrict residents.

The WEF has established an alliance to ensure "responsible and ethical use of smart city technologies." Bridgewater has no affiliation with this group.

Mitchell said all the funding for his town's project will come from the federal government and there is no mention of the World Economic Forum in any of the contracts or documents for the smart cities program.

Fear and anger

Mitchell said the sharing of these false claims has left residents frightened and misinformed, with many people coming up to him in public and at community meetings, demanding to know why he is planning to keep them locked down to certain areas.

"I have especially seen seniors coming scared that they're not going to be able to see their grandkids because they're in another location."

When people approach him with concerns such as these, Mitchell said he tries to reassure them that these claims are not true, but the volume of posts means misinformation continues to stoke fear about the project.

"That's where this is going from being simply an annoyance of people spreading lies, to really concerning for me and other communities across the country because people are legitimately scared," he said.

AFP has also debunked misinformation about 15-minute cities in Edmonton, Ottawa and Mississauga.
WASHINGTON (AP)  The Biden administrations number two diplomat is retiring after decades of U.S. government service.

Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman will step down from the post this summer, having been involved in some of the most consequential, and controversial, foreign policy decisions during Democratic administrations since Bill Clinton was president.

Sherman, 73, said in an internal note to State Department staff that her retirement would be effective at the end of June.

The arc of history will only bend toward justice if people of conscience steer it in the right direction, she said. That it is our job to have courage, to collaborate with others and seek out common ground, to persist against the odds, to use our voice and our power for goodto keep faith with the promise of our democracy and to never, ever lose hope.

Diplomacy is not for the faint of heart, she added.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken lauded Shermans career, saying that President Joe Biden chose her for the number two post at the State Department because he believed she could revitalize Americas relationships around the world.

President Biden asked Wendy to serve in this role because he knew he could count on her to help revitalize Americas alliances and partnerships and manage our complex relationships with competitors, Blinken said in a statement.

Sherman has been a key part of the Biden administration's efforts to compete with China in the Indo-Pacific and was particularly active in engagement with Pacific island states while also meeting with senior Chinese officials on numerous occasions.

She also had a significant role in marshaling international diplomatic support for Ukraine after Russia's invasion.

As counselor to former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Sherman was a lead negotiator in the Clinton administrations ultimately unsuccessful talks to end North Koreas ballistic missile program in the late 1990s.

Then, as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs during the Obama administration, she was the lead negotiator with Iran on the 2015 nuclear deal.

For each of those endeavors  North Korea and Iran  Sherman was heavily criticized by Republicans who alleged she had made unnecessary concessions.

Her remarkable career  which spans more than three decades, three presidents, and five secretaries of state  addressed some of the toughest foreign policy challenges of our time, Blinken said. Our nation is safer and more secure, and our partnerships more robust, due to her leadership.
Maybe you know this scene.

Youre sitting on a New York City subway car. The train squeals to a halt at a station. The doors slide open and a homeless man walks on, yelling to no one in particular that he is hungry and needs money.

You can feel the subway cars passengers collectively freeze. No one speaks to the man. No one makes eye contact. But everyone is aware of him.

The man walks the length of the subway car. A few people hand him some coins. You hope he doesnt stop to speak to you. At the next stop, he leaves, cursing and yelling incoherently.

For several years, as the COVID-19 pandemic worsened and homelessness grew exponentially with desperate and disheveled men suffering from mental illness and various addictions, this kind of scene has been a new normal in New York Citys subway system.

But last week, this so-called normal took on a new cultural and social twist.

A passenger on an afternoon F train heading to SoHo confronted a homeless man, Jordan Neely, 30, who had been shouting at others in a crowded subway car that he was hungry. The passenger, Daniel J. Penny, 24, a former U.S. Marine, wrapped his arms around Neelys neck with a military-style chokehold. Penny pulled Neely to the subway car floor and held him there as two other men struggled to hold down his flailing legs.

Minutes passed. Neely fell limp, unconscious. Paramedics were unable to revive him. Later, at a hospital, Neely was pronounced dead.

Understandably, the tragic death of a hungry, homeless man is upsetting. While seemingly scary and yelling in a disturbing manner, Neely, a chronic drug abuser with a long record of arrests, was nevertheless crying out for help in the final minutes of his life.

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

His death has evolved into yet another bonfire moment for America  one of those tragedies in which race, politics and crime all collide in a whirlpool of chaos. Penny will face a charge of second-degree manslaughter in Neely's death and was expected in Manhattan Criminal Court Friday. But in examining this event, which lens do we choose that offers the best perspective?

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Do we take on the view of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the progressive Democratic firebrand from Queens, who proclaimed that Jordan Neely was murdered? Do we accept the view that the Marine-trained Penny resorted to a deadly chokehold in self-defense? Or, to put it another way, was Penny's action necessary to stop Neely from hurting someone?

Finally, do we assume, as the Rev. Al Sharpton and other civil rights activists claim, that this event needs to be framed by race  that this is yet another story of a Black man dying at the hands of a white man, with a criminal justice system that is far too slow to raise basic questions of accountability?

The problem here is that all three viewpoints offer some measure of credibility and insight.

More: Potential charges in NYC chokehold death of Jordan Neely may hinge on 'reasonableness'

Neely needed help  not a chokehold

Neelys death may not fit the legal definition of murder, but what makes it so troubling is that it should never have happened. A mentally challenged homeless man yelling for food is not a capital offense. Neely needed help, not a trip to the morgue.

Jordan Neely, 30, died while riding the subway in New York City on May 1, 2023 after another passenger held him in a chokehold for several minutes.

But who was Neely, actually? Asking that question requires another lens to view this tragedy.

Neely has been described as a gentle soul who earned money in street performances in the Times Square area in which he impersonated pop star Michael Jackson. Tall, with a thin face and a wiry physique like Jacksons, Neely sometimes wore a red drum majors jacket similar to one that Jackson popularized during his "Thriller" heyday.

But there is more to this story than just Neely being hungry and trying to eke out a living strutting on a sidewalk in ways that made people recall Michael Jackson. Neely abused drugs. He had also been arrested more than three dozen times.

Most of his arrests involved non-violent crimes such as trespassing or jumping the turnstiles in the New York subway system without paying. But Neely had been arrested at least four times for allegedly randomly punching people. Two of those assaults took place in the subway system.

A 'young man in real crisis': Who was Jordan Neely, the New York subway victim?

In November 2021, Neely punched a 67-year-old woman on New Yorks Lower East Side.

Neely, who also had been abusing an especially potent form of synthetic marijuana, was arrested and tossed in jail for 15 months. In early February 2023, he pleaded guilty to assault.

In return for the guilty plea, a judge cut Neely a break. If he agreed to move into a drug treatment facility in the Bronx and remained drug-free for 15 months, his felony assault conviction for punching the woman would be reduced.

A court transcript of that hearing, unearthed by The New York Times, brimmed with hope for Neely.

This is a wonderful opportunity to turn things around, and were glad to give it to you, Mary Weisgerber, a prosecutor in the case, told Neely.

Thank you so much, he replied.

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

Neely checked into the Bronx treatment facility. But 13 days later, he abruptly left. The judge who had cut him a break signed a warrant for his arrest.

Police never caught up with Neely, even though he was well-known as one of the citys most desperate street people and had been treated by New York's Intensive Mobile Treatment teams. As Neely's mental state seemed to worsen dramatically in recent months, he somehow managed to elude the safety net set up by government to save him.

The Times reported that a homeless outreach worker spotted Neely in March. But without checking his criminal record, which would have revealed the arrest warrant, the outreach worker merely arranged for Neely to get a ride back to the Bronx. Did Neely make the trip? Who knows? The narrative of his life is filled with dozens of cracks that he fell through.

A month later, the Times reported that another outreach worker found Neely in an especially troubling state on a subway car at the last stop in Coney Island. Neely urinated in front of the worker, who then summoned police.

The officers did not run a criminal check on Neely. So once again, he escaped being picked up on the arrest warrant. The officers merely kicked Neely off the train. Where did he go? Who knows?

A week later, the Times reported that yet another outreach worker spotted Neely and reported that he seemed more aggressive and incoherent. He could be a harm to others or himself if left untreated, the worker wrote.

No one intervened. We don't know why.

Two weeks later, Neely died on the F train from Daniel Pennys chokehold.

'We've got a deep problem': Jordan Neely NYC subway chokehold death sparks outcry

Can't we do better for our most vulnerable?

Did Penny plan to kill Neely? Was the chokehold an abuse of force? Or was it necessary to hold down a seemingly aggressive homeless man?

Pennys attorneys released a statement that offers yet another perspective on this tragedy.

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. Daniel never intended to harm Mr. Neely and could not have foreseen his untimely death.

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.

But what about race?

If Daniel Penny had been Black, would Sharpton have intervened? Asking such a question is, in itself, politically incorrect. But as the narrative of this bonfire moment involving Neely and Penny unfolds, its impossible to ignore the fact that the victim is Black and the passenger who felt threatened is white.

The problem here is that such racial delineations dont offer a complete portrait of the level of fear on that subway car. More than a year ago, an Asian woman was pushed to her death on the subway tracks by a Black homeless man with a long history of mental illness. Civil rights activists did not chant "no justice, no peace" in her memory, however.

Police said witnesses told them Neely was behaving in a hostile and erratic manner. But it needs to be said that Neely did not attack anyone on the F train.

But does that matter? Do frightened subway passengers have to wait until they are punched before trying to defend themselves?

One passenger on the F train, Juan Alberto Vazquez, who recorded Neelys chokehold death on a cellphone camera, told the Washington Post that Neely yelled: I dont have food, I dont have a drink, Im fed up. I dont mind going to jail and getting life in prison. Im ready to die.

How should ordinary people respond to such a statement  and its aggressive, angry tone? If Penny merely told Jordan Neely to "shut up" or "get lost," would Neely have become more aggressive and threatening?

What is the right response, anyway?

Vazquez said Penny held Neely for three minutes in the chokehold. Along with two other male passengers, Penny then held Neely on the floor of the subway car for another 15 minutes before police and paramedics arrived.

This is no way to treat disadvantaged people who suffer from mental illness. But at the same time, its not acceptable to allow homeless people with mental problems to yell at subway riders as they panhandle for loose change.

The deeper problem here is perhaps the hardest to confront.

America, for all its technological know-how, still cant find a way to care for some of its most vulnerable citizens.

Instead, we let them ride our subways.

Mike Kelly is an award-winning columnist for the USA TODAY Network as well as the author of three critically acclaimed non-fiction books and a podcast and documentary film producer. To get unlimited access to his insightful thoughts on how we live life in the northeast, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: kellym@northjersey.com

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Jordan Neely: NYC subway chokehold death our new outrage
The Marine veteran who was seen in a video putting Jordan Neely in a fatal chokehold on a New York City subway was arraigned Friday on a second-degree manslaughter charge that Neelys family suggested was too lenient.

Is that enough for someone who choked somebody out on the train and took their life? attorney Lennon Edwards asked at a news conference Friday afternoon hours after Daniel Penny turned himself in at the 5th Precinct stationhouse in Manhattan.

Edwards said Neely's family wanted Penny charged with murder because he could have chosen any other technique but intentionally chose a technique to use that is designed to cut off air.

Thats a choice that he made and he did it intentionally. So we believe that the conviction should be for murder because thats intentional," he told reporters.

Officials have not said how they settled on the manslaughter charge.

"After an evaluation of the available facts and evidence, the Manhattan D.A.s Office determined there was probable cause to arrest Daniel Penny and arraign him on felony charges," District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement.

He added the investigation included interviews with witnesses, a careful review of photo and video footage and discussions with the medical examiner's office.

"Jordan Neely should still be alive today, and my thoughts continue to be with his family and loved ones as they mourn his loss during this extremely painful time," Bragg said.

Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass said the office was serving a notice to have the case presented to a grand jury.

Thomas Kenniff, an attorney for Penny, said earlier Friday that his client voluntarily turned himself in just after 8 a.m. ET "with the sort of dignity and integrity that is characteristic of his history of service to this grateful nation."

Penny, 24, left the precinct in handcuffs and was escorted to a waiting car that took him to the Manhattan criminal courthouse. He did not respond to reporters questions.

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Penny entered the court surrounded by detectives and dressed in a gray suit, white shirt and a mask.

During the proceeding, the judge asked him if he waived extradition and he said, "yes."

Bail was set at $100,000 during his arraignment. Penny put up $6,000 and his parents guaranteed the entire bond. He was freed pending trial.

On his way out, Penny was surrounded by his defense team and detectives, and several people reached to shake his hand.

Daniel Penny is transported to his arraignment after surrendering to police at the 5th Precinct on May 12, 2023 in New York. (Michael M. Santiago / Getty Images)

Cellphone video partly captured the May 1 incident on a northbound F train. It showed Penny on the ground holding Neely, 30, in a chokehold after an altercation.

Neely was unconscious when officers arrived and pronounced dead at the hospital, police said. The city medical examiners office said he died of compression of neck (chokehold) and that the manner was homicide.

Penny was briefly taken into custody after the incident and released.

Juan Alberto Vazquez, a witness who filmed the cellphone footage, 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. Neely was homeless and described as a subway busker who performed dance routines in costume as Michael Jackson.

Neely was held in the chokehold for about 15 minutes, Vazquez said. The video showed two other subway riders appearing to help restrain him.

Pennys lawyers also said that Neely was aggressively threatening passengers and Penny never intended to harm him. Neelys family, however, rejected that account.

It is a character assassination and a clear example of why he believed he was entitled to take Jordans life, their attorneys previously said.

On Friday, attorney Donte Mills questioned why no one on the train helped Neely, who he said suffered from mental illness as a result of his mother's murder.

"No one on that train asked Jordan, 'What's wrong? How can I help you?' He was choked to death instead," he said. "Dont take someones loved one from them because theyre in a bad place.

A police spokesman said that multiple 911 calls came in about a physical fight and that Neely and Penny were involved in a "verbal dispute" that "escalated into a physical altercation."

"During the physical struggle between the two males, the 30-year-old male lost consciousness," the spokesman previously said.

Neely's death sparked a national debate, with people denouncing vigilantism and some politicians demanding officials do more to address homelessness, mental health and violence on subways.

In a statement on Friday, the Rev. Al Sharpton urged the justice system to send "a clear, loud message that vigilantism has never been acceptable."

"Being homeless or Black or having a mental health episode should not be a death sentence," he said, calling the charges against Penny "step one in justice."

Sharpton, the host of MSNBCs PoliticsNation, is expected to deliver the eulogy at Neely's funeral next Friday in Harlem.

Penny's next court date is scheduled for July 17.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
As a postscript to Mothers Day in 1923, the OFallon Progress ran this amusing yet touching tale in its editorial column on May 17 of that year.

The Heart of a Boy. You all know him. His eyes sparkle with mischief, and he cant sit still or stand still for more than forty seconds at a stretch.

Hes an animated bundle of nerves, mischief and foolishness.

Perhaps your gate was missing last Halloween. If it was you suspected him of being the offenderand he probably was. When you see a dog rushing down the street with a can attached to his tail, we conclude that this chap was around when the dog started.

When one of his school mates finds pepper in his handkerchief, he knows how it got there, but says nothing, for our subject is rather dexterous with his fists.

But all this is not the story we started to tell. This lads mother is a widow, and her way is hard.

Last Sunday morning, the mother heard him up and fooling around in the kitchen. She could not understand this because he is a heavy sleeper.

When she arose and went down to enter the kitchen she found the door locked. Her demands for admittance and explanation went unheeded for several minutes. Then the door opened wide and the little rascal smilingly escorted her to a seat at the table.

To her amazement he served her with coffee, crisp, brown toast, and grape fruit. At nine oclock he kissed her, and went to Sunday school, andwonders of wonderswhen she arrived at the church, there he sat with a rose in his lapel.

It was Mothers Day.

75 years ago, May 20, 1948

John Howlson, of Belleville, a lineman for the Illinois Power Company, had a harrowing experience when he accidentally came in contact with 11,000 volts of electricity and lived to tell the story.

The accident is said to have occurred while Howlson and a crew were working on the power companys line north of this city. Howlson was atop a pole along the road in front of the Trippel-Barrow peony fruit farm (near present-day Scott Troy Road and Old Enterprise Farms) when he came in contact with the highly charged wire.

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He was lowered from the pole by a fellow worker and brought to the office of a physician in this city to be treated for first and second-degree burns on his left shoulder and arm and third-degree burns on his left foot and then taken to his home in Belleville. He is said to be recovering nicely.

50 years ago, May 17, 1973

Representatives from OFallon Grade School District 90 and Shiloh District 85 have agreed to seek additional information on a possible consolidation of the two school districts.

The topic was discussed at a meeting last Tuesday night at Shiloh attended by four members of the OFallon board and six of the Shiloh board. Also attending the meeting were Harold Landwehrmeier, superintendent of the OFallon district; Karl Hollerbach, Shiloh superintendent; and Curt Schaller of Central Grade School District 104 Board of Education.

Schaller said that he will try to get an opinion from the other board members at 104 on merging with the other districts. Recently, members of the 104 board have stated that they are against merging with the 90 and 85 districts.

Merging of the three districts has been discussed for a number of years by the respective boards. Landwehrmier said at the meeting the state legislature within the next four years may force consolidation of the two districts (90 and 85).

The Shiloh district has 220 students, including 45 in the seventh and eighth grades, while OFallon has a total enrollment of 1,825, including 450 in the seventh and eighth grades. Under the present proposals, pupils in grades one through six would remain in their present schools while seventh and eighth graders would attend junior high school classes at OFallon.

Landwehrmier and Hollerbach agreed a better education program could be offered if the districts were combined. They cited the addition of courses in vocational training and home economics at the junior high level.

Also cited were combined buying power, reduction of paperwork, and possible reduction in administrative personnel. (The consolidation never happened.)
The warm object that crashed through a bedroom roof in New Jersey was indeed a meteorite, experts confirmed Thursday.

Nate Magee, a physics professor at The College of New Jersey, said Thursday that the object that recently crash-landed in a Hopewell home was a 2.2-pound stony chondrite meteorite that was approximately 4.56 billion years old.

The meteorite, which local officials described as being about four inches by six inches, struck the roof of a ranch-style home on Monday. The oblong object went through the roof and ceiling of the home before hitting the hardwood floor, leaving the surface damaged and cracked. Suzy Kop, a resident of the home, told CBS Philadelphia that the meteorite had entered her father's bedroom but said no one had been injured.

The College of New Jersey said that Magee used visual examination, density measurements, scanning electron microscope images and examination and input from Jerry Delaney, a retired meteorite expert affiliated with the American Museum of Natural History and New Jersey's Rutgers University.

The college said in a Facebook statement that the meteorite is likely type LL-6, so it is lower in iron than most chondrite meteorites, and has been "highly metamorphosed" by intense heat before entering the Earth's atmosphere.

"Getting the chance to examine the meteorite yesterday was a rare and thrilling opportunity for me, as well as for a group of physics students and professors at TCNJ," said Magee. "We are excited to be able to confirm that the object is a true chondrite meteorite, in excellent condition, and one of a very small number of similar witnessed chondrite falls known to science."

Chondrite meteorites are stony and are formed when dust and grains came together in the early solar system. Hundreds of meteorites fall to Earth each year, according to the Planetary Science Institute, but few are found because they often land in remote areas or in the ocean, or are not seen falling and are not found. According to CBS Philadelphia, only about 1,100 meteorites of this kind have been found and identified by scientists.

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The college said that the meteorite will be named based on the nearest postal address and will likely be officially known as the "Titusville, NJ" meteorite.

Half of U.S. moms have no retirement savings, analysis shows

"Why, Lori?": Grandparents speak out after Lori Vallow Daybell convicted of children's murders

Lori Vallow Daybell found guilty of murders of her 2 children
The Russian invaders have claimed that Viktor Vodolatsky, a member of the Russian State Duma [the lower chamber of the Russian parliament  ed.] has been injured in an explosion in occupied Luhansk. At the same time, the video posted after the explosion shows the MP unharmed.

Source: RIA Novosti, the Kremlin-aligned Russian news outlet

Details: Referring to the occupiers of Luhansk Oblast, the propagandists have reported that Vodolatsky was injured in an explosion in Luhansk.

However, the Russians do not share anything about the condition of the Russian MP or details about the seriousness of his injury.

In addition, the Russian Telegram channel Mash posted a video of Vodolatsky after the explosion in the city. In the video, the MP appears to be unharmed.

Later, Vodolatsky appeared on air on Russian TV with a plaster on his forehead and something that looks like an injury near his lip.

It has not yet been revealed how Vodolatsky received this "injury".

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

These checks are needed to ensure that the church remains free of Russian influence, Epiphanius argued, adding that a number of parishes have switched from ROC to OCU jurisdiction in recent days.

Read also: Who needs a freeloader like me?, asks Moscow Patriarchate priest

"We see a tendency that priests are beginning to understand and realize, lose fear," he said.

They were intimidated, they were bought, but gradually priests begin to support the decisions of their communities and join the OCU.

Epiphanius added that if a priest did not openly preach the ideology of the "Russian world" and did not tarnish himself with this ideology, he would be accepted by the OCU.

Read also: UOC-MP priests demand to sever ties with Moscow

"This can be verified very easily from the words of the community," he explained.

When the community decides to move and the priest supports the community, it shows that he is a patriot, even though he was part of the Moscow Patriarchate for some time. I am convinced that there are still many priests there who are patriots of Ukraine.

The OCU head noted that those clergymen and bishops who openly preached this ideology, who have Russian passports, but in the future want to join the OCU, must repent, renounce Russian citizenship, and renounce the ideology of the "Russian world.

"Then there will be a corresponding decision on their admission to the OCU," he said.

I see and hear that Ukrainian society is concerned about this. Therefore, we will check, do everything to ensure that such people, having come to the Ukrainian church, do not destroy it from within.

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
Canada has prompted some controversy over a new design for its passports that features more symbols of nature and less national history imagery.

"We tried to take the feedback about what represents Canada," Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Minister Sean Fraser said of the new design. "One of the things that I heard was we want to celebrate our diversity and inclusion, we want to celebrate our natural environment ... and [we] tried to bake those elements into the design."

Fraser also revealed the design was the result of a 10-year consultation process. The new passport still bears Canada's national crest but also includes a maple leaf on the cover, while inside there are animals and natural scenes, including children jumping into a lake, CBC reported.

The new passport includes improved security features, such as an updated "tamper-proof data page," metallic foils, color-shifting ink images and watermarks that only show up under ultraviolet light.

MUSK MOCKS CBC AFTER IT SWORE OFF USING TWITTER TO COMEBACK TO RESUME SOME ACTIVITY

The government has repeatedly stressed that the new images reflect "Canadas people, landscapes and wildlife" as well as its "natural beauty."

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

Fraser argued that changing the passport helps make it more difficult for counterfeiters to copy, but some have criticized the decision to remove figures and images of national history, according to CTV News.

Front and back covers of the new Canadian passport, as posted on the government website.

The Royal Canadian Legion, the countrys largest veteran support and community service, said it was "disappointed by the decision to remove an image that signifies the sacrifices made for the very sort of freedom that passport provides," referencing the removal of the Vimy Ridge Memorial in France, a war memorial site for the Canadian Expeditionary Force members killed during World War I.

CRITICS SLAM CANADA'S NEW NATIONAL CROWN THAT REPLACED CHRISTIAN IMAGERY WITH SNOWFLAKE AS THE TRUDEAU CROWN

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"The Vimy Memorial was a fundamental image, also representing a defining moment in Canada, a country emerging as an independent nation with limitless potential," the Legion said in a statement. "Removing that image in the context of a design change and without knowing the rationale was, to put it bluntly, a poor decision."

The removal was of the image of Terry Fox, a Canadian athlete who ran around 3,339 miles in a fundraising effort to cross Canada on foot after losing one leg due to cancer.

Blank visa pages in the new passport that show owls and children playing in winter, according to the government website.

Brad West, mayor of Foxs hometown in British Columbia, said Canada needs "more Terry Fox, not less" and that "whoever made this decision needs to give their head a shake."

"I just think this is a really bad decision," West said in an interview with CTV. "It should be addressed. It should be reversed."

RESIDENTS IN WESTERN CANADA FORCED TO EVACUATE AS OUT-OF-CONTROL WILDFIRES THREATEN COMMUNITIES

Minister of Families, Children and Social Development Karina Gould defended the changes when reporters asked about the exclusion of historical Canadian figures, monuments and buildings.

The Vimy Foundation Centennial Park is adjacent to the Canadian National Vimy Memorial and was designed by landscape architect Linda Dicaire. Memorial Sculpture of the Bugler, designed by the Canadian artist Marlene Hilton Moore, with the memorial in the background.

Noting that the questions suggested "a partisan aspect to this," Gould said "Its important to say that this is not partisan" and "is really about ensuring the security of the document."

Terry Fox participates in a race.

Fraser similarly defended the changes, saying that the ministries received "no feedback  that people found our history offensive."

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau criticized the Conservative Partys outcry over the changes, saying that they "wrapped themselves in the flags and symbols any time they can" after "they nickeled and dimed our veterans, they used them for photo ops, they shut down nine veteran service offices across the country."

The Canadian Ministry of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship did not respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment by time of publication.
Ojai Unified School District headquarters.

Ojai Unified School District's school board gave final approval to a slate of cuts affecting about 40 jobs during its Wednesday night meeting.

The decisions, all approved 3-0, come two months after the district delivered dozens of layoff notices to staff as part of its attempt to dig out from financial trouble. Board members Rebecca Chandler and Shelly Griffen resigned in late March, leaving the board short handed.

The cuts include part-time positions and reductions in hours  altogether the equivalent of 22.2 full-time teaching positions and 11.83 support staff or nearly 40 jobs.

Workers with the potential to be laid off were notified in March, though the district was able to rescind some notices to teachers as budget numbers improved.

Wednesday's decision finalized cuts for the remainder, who were listed in agenda documents by identification number and will remain employed until the school year ends in June. The district plans to officially notify those workers of the cuts by Sunday. Some laid off staff could return for the 2023-24 year if others retire or resign.

Sherril Knox, named interim superintendent in April after the ouster of superintendent Tiffany Morse, told the board the cuts would save the district nearly $3.1 million.

"It feels bittersweet," Board President Atticus Reyes said. "It's sweet that we keep hearing positivity and confidence that we are rebuilding this district and finally getting it right. It's extremely bitter because that's not coming out of nowhere."

Reyes became board president in April after Chandler and Griffen left office.

The district still needs to cut about $600,000 to meet the $3 million goal set by the Ventura County Office of Education earlier this year, but Knox said staff had worked with the county office to identify budget adjustments that would account for the remainder.

"We've done the hard work, and this is the result," she said. "We are seeing that we are hitting the mark we need to hit."

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New Ojai school board on its way

Trustees also spent just over 2  hours Wednesday interviewing eight applicants for the two vacant board seats.

Daniel Mora, Blair Braney, Erik Solecki, Lynne Goldfarb and Darris Lange applied for Chandler's former Area 2 seat. Margaret Rogers, Kathy Smith and Claire Azzam are up for the Area 4 seat previously occupied by Griffen.

The three-person board will appoint new trustees to the vacancies during a special board meeting May 17.

Isaiah Murtaugh covers education for the Ventura County Star in partnership with Report for America. Reach him at isaiah.murtaugh@vcstar.com or 805-437-0236 and follow him on Twitter @isaiahmurtaugh and @vcsschools. You can support this work with a tax-deductible donation to Report for America.

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Ojai school district approves cuts to about 40 jobs
Can you hear it?

In a post shared to Facebook, an Oklahoma police department copped to mistaking a spirited goats call for a cry for help.

On May 9, the Enid Police Department shared body camera footage that captured the moment two of its officers, David Sneed and Neal Storey, rushed to a scene where they could hear a loud call sounding like "help."

Its a person! Thats a person, one of the officers shouted as he chased through a grove.

Having taken his partners conclusion seriously, the second officer dashes after the first. The video shows the two as they hustle past sparse woodland and arrive at a farm only to realize the situation is a bit different than what they were expecting.

Its a goat! the first officer to arrive shouts, his voice a mix of deep disbelief and then relief.

In the video, a blurred-out figure can be seen coming out from a barn as the two officers begin to break into a laugh.

I (thought) I kept hearing someone yelling help, one of the officers explains, taking in the developing situation in stride.

Im standing outside in the backyard  I hear it, the other officer says to the anonymous figure. I dont know if its an animal or a person. Sure enough, we were walking over here, and were like, thats a person.

With all three laughing, the first officer remarks, From a long distance, sounds like help.

In their post about the encounter, the police department took a good-natured tone, joking, Sometimes a call can really get your goat.

Running toward the sound, the two soon discovered their damsel in distress was a very upset goat, who the farmer explained, had been separated from one of his friends, the Facebook post read in part.

Thank you, gentlemen. Your swift actions (although in the end not necessary) are appreciated by us all, the department wrote in conclusion. All in all, you really cant say it was that baaad of a call.

The city of Enid is located in Northwest Oklahoma, some 100 miles from Oklahoma City.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
Smoke rises from an industrial fire April 11, 2023, at 358 NW F St. in Richmond.

RICHMOND, Ind.  Thursday marked one month since the start of a dayslong fire at the My Way Trading complex on NW F Street in Richmond. Thousands of residents living near the fire site were forced to evacuate but were able to start the process of returning to their homes just five days after the fire started.

More: Updates on Richmond fire one day later; probably the largest fire Ive seen in my career

More: Richmond lifts evacuation zone and shelter-in-place order around fire site

We have learned a lot over the last month, Richmond Mayor Dave Snow said in a City of Richmond release. "More importantly, we have witnessed the heroism of our first responders, the collaborative spirit of our county, state and federal partners and the resiliency and compassion of our community.

'Better times ahead': The Richmond fire through Mayor Dave Snows eyes

Along with Snow's comments, the release included an update on how the city plans to clean up the site. The city has been working with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Indiana Department of Environmental Management in this process. Richmond issued a formal request to the EPA to conduct an environmental investigation and immediate removal action of the materials at or near the site. The city also executed a site access agreement, allowing mitigation to begin, and secured an environmental consultant to monitor the process.

Smoke rises from an industrial fire April 11, 2023, at 358 NW F St. in Richmond.

The EPA is receiving assistance from the Richmond Fire, Police and Street Departments to move heavy equipment to the site to help in this investigation. This process includes "several" steps, but initial actions will include the following:

Identification of the materials/debris on the site (EPA will begin sampling May 15) Development of a plan to safely remove and properly dispose of the materials/debris Safe removal and disposal of the materials/debris Follow-up environmental testing at the site

More: Whos at fault for Richmond fire? Code violations date back years

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Although the full cleanup effort will take quite some time, were working diligently to get it moving," Snow said in the release. "The sooner we get started, the sooner well get it finished. Were going to keep pushing forward every day until we can put this behind us and look ahead.

The City of Richmond and the EPA will continue to update their web pages as new information becomes available.

The Wayne Township Trustees office and the Red Cross continue to support residents impacted by the fire. Anyone needing assistance can call the Wayne County Help Line at (765) 973-9300.

Zach Piatt is a reporter for The Palladium-Item. Contact him at zpiatt@gannett.com or on Twitter @zachpiatt13.

This article originally appeared on Richmond Palladium-Item: City of Richmond outlines cleanup plan following large industrial fire
African lions typically have a lifespan of up to 18 years in the wild, according to conservation group Cats for Africa

A Kenyan lion believed to have been the world's oldest in the wild has died after being speared by herders, wildlife officials said on Friday.

Loonkito, an iconic 19-year-old male lion, was speared to death by Maasai morans (warriors) after straying into a livestock pen in the outskirts of the famed Amboseli National Park, Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) spokesman Paul Jinaro told AFP.

"It was an old lion that had issues... getting prey on its own and livestock is easy prey," Jinaro said.

"A normal lion would go for wildlife inside the park."

African lions typically have a lifespan of up to 18 years in the wild, according to conservation group Cats for Africa.

KWS in 2021 described Loonkito as a "legendary big cat warrior" who had defended his territory for over a decade.

Conservation group Lion Guardians eulogised Loonkito as "a symbol of resilience and coexistence."

"It is with heavy hearts that we share the news of the passing of Loonkito (2004 - 2023), the oldest male lion in our ecosystem and possibly in Africa," the non-profit said on Facebook.

- Causing panic -

Reports of wildlife straying into human habitats in Kenya have increased in recent years as the animals come under growing pressure from cities expanding into ancient migration and hunting grounds.

"People need to be sensitised on looking for a way to alert us and then we can take animals back to the parks," KWS official Jinaro said.

In July 2021, a lion caused panic after straying from its habitat in Nairobi National Park into a crowded neighbourhood during morning rush hour.

The park is just seven kilometres (four miles) from the heart of Kenya's capital, and incidents of animals escaping the grassy plains and wandering into the chaotic metropolis of more than four million people are not unheard of.

In December 2019, a lion mauled a man to death just outside the park, while in March 2016 another cat was shot dead after attacking and injuring a nearby resident.

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Just a month before that, in February 2016, two lions spent a day wandering through Kibera, a densely packed city slum, before returning to the park, and days later more lions were spotted in town.

There are an estimated 2,500 lions in Kenya, according to the country's first-ever national wildlife census conducted in 2021.

ho/amu/giv
"Maraming salamat po!" "Xiexie!" "Cam on!" "Kamsahamnida!" "Arigato!" "Khob Khun!"

Or in English, "thank you!"

This roundup is for the Asians in news and pop culture who influenced so many of us growing up in the States. And because it's Mother's Day weekend, "Maraming salamat, po, Aida Sangalang. Mahal kita!"

Perhaps you never realized the impact you had  many of us can relate to being "the only" in the room, striving for perfection or success "to make our parents proud."

With global success stories such as "Crazy Rich Asians" (ahem, the books and the film) and "Everything Everywhere All at Once," (a spot-on Asian-mother-Americanized-daughter relationship) it might seem like Asian Americans are everything and everywhere  all at once. But we've been here. For years. We just weren't necessarily seen or heard.

That's changed. The world has changed.

I'm Jennifer Sangalang, a lead digital producer for USA TODAY Network-Florida and co-chair of Gannett's Asian American Forward employee resource group. Welcome to This is America, a newsletter all about social justice issues.

In honor of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Gannetts Asian American Forward Employee Resource Group, which connects almost 130 Asian American employees and allies across the company, wanted to highlight the many rich traditions across cultures. We asked members of our ERG, one of 12 in the USA TODAY Network, to answer this question: "What does AAPI Heritage Month mean to me?"

Here are their answers.

'We only ever learn about white men' in U.S. history

Caroline Harris, shown with her son, is the vice president of partnerships for Gannett. Her mother was born in Hong Kong, and her father was born in Egypt to Greek and Syrian parents. She is a member of Gannett's Asian American Forward ERG and co-chair of MENA Forward. Harris co-founded the United Asian Voices of West Orange in New Jersey.

Recently, my 9-year-old son asked me why he almost never learns about Asian American historical figures and heroes at school. He said, We only ever learn about the white men in American history.

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I told him there are a lot of people working hard to change that, so he and his friends will soon be learning about AAPI contributions to our history and society throughout the school year and not just during AAPI month.

This month reinforces for me why we need to continue to celebrate and support community leaders like the ones that formed Make Us Visible, who helped lead efforts to pass legislation that requires the inclusion of AAPI history in K-12 schools in several states. One day, hopefully, our kids will no longer need to wonder, "Where are the heroes that look like me in history books?"

 Caroline Harris, vice president of Partnerships for Gannett

I was always 'too' something or 'not enough'

How Ariane Marielle Latras, client success manager at Gannett, describes AAPI heritage month: It's "celebrating the harmony created from the songs of my cultures. It seems that I am American when I am in the Philippines, but I am Filipina when I am in America. I dont think there should be a dissonance between the two."

I was always too" something or not enough of another growing up. I feel grateful I am at a point in my life where I can own my experiences and be proud of my identity as an Asian American immigrant woman, but it was definitely not without its challenges. It seems that I am American when I am in the Philippines, but I am Filipina when I am in America. I dont think there should be a dissonance between the two. Recognizing that our identity is multidimensional and uplifting that multidimensional-ness is what makes society so rich.

 Ari Latras, client success manager at Gannett

I was usually the only Asian student in my class

Martin Li, client advocacy manager at Gannett, said he grew up in Phoenix in the 1990s when the population of Asians was less than 2%. "Throughout my childhood, I was usually the only Asian student in my class. This meant that I became the representative of Asian culture to many of my peers."

Throughout my childhood, I was usually the only Asian student in my class. So I became the representative of Asian culture to my peers. I entertained questions like, You speak Chinese? Teach me some bad words! Or What do you eat? Does it always have rice?

Some will see those questions as offensive, but coming from another 10-year-old, I saw this as genuine curiosity. In their minds, "What is Asian culture?" and, in particular, "What is Asian culture in America?" mean the same thing. I see AAPI heritage month as an opportunity to bridge that knowledge gap  creating a space on the calendar where Asian culture can take the spotlight, answer questions and provide more context.

 Martin Li, client advocacy manager at Gannett based in Arizona

'Where are you really from?'

Clayton Park, business editor at Daytona Beach News-Journal, won first place in a Florida Society of News Editors contest for business reporting in 2021. Park attended the FSNE awards ceremony in Sarasota in July 2021.

When I was growing up, I don't believe the term "AAPI" existed. I often would be asked by those I met where I was from, and when I would answer that I was from Seattle, they would respond, "No, where are you really from?" And when people would talk about minorities, often they would refer to African Americans and those of Latino descent, but not Asian Americans. It would make me feel invisible.

Fast-forward to today: To have the entire month of May designated as national AAPI month gives me a tremendous feeling. Finally, we Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are not only being seen, but are accepted as Americans.

 Clayton Park, business editor, Daytona Beach News-Journal

'The joy and beauty of our communities'

I have a complicated relationship with AAPI Heritage Month.

On one hand, I love any opportunity to celebrate our communities. On the other, I'm skeptical of initiatives that feel at times to only center the more surface-level parts of our identities. For example, I often see institutions celebrate AAPI Heritage Month without fully embracing us for our full selves outside these four weeks. And when this month comes each year, I know many of us brace ourselves for the sting of exclusion as celebrations sideline some of us, especially South, Southeast Asian and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities.

But when I honor this month, I use it as an opportunity to reflect on the historic contributions of our people to the fabric of this nation, including the AAPI community organizers whose power-building paved the way for us all  and for the Black and brown allies who stood by us. It's an opportunity to celebrate multiculturalism and the joy and beauty of our communities, but also to recognize the ways this country has historically denied our communities their humanity and reflect on the systemic racism and violence inflicted against us.

Christine Fernando is a breaking news reporter for USA TODAY with a focus on abortion and reproductive rights.

 Christine Fernando, breaking news reporter, USA TODAY

Keep scrolling for more social justice reporting from USA TODAY below and to read the rest of this Opinion-Voices column on USA TODAY, click here. For more information on the ERG, visit gannett.com/inclusion.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY NETWORK: 'The only.' Too' something. 'Not enough.' Asians reflect on AAPI month
Constitutional

With AI chatbots' propensity for making things up and spewing bigoted garbage, one firm founded by ex-OpenAI researchers has a different approach  teaching AI to have a conscience.

As Wired reports, the OpenAI competitor Anthropic's intriguing chatbot Claude is built with what its makers call a "constitution," or set of rules that draws from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and elsewhere to ensure that the bot is not only powerful, but ethical as well.

Jared Kaplan, a former OpenAI research consultant who went on to found Anthropic with a group of his former coworkers, told Wired that Claude is, in essence, learning right from wrong because its training protocols are "basically reinforcing the behaviors that are more in accord with the constitution, and discourages behaviors that are problematic."

Will it actually work in practice? It's tough to say. After all, OpenAI's ChatGPT tries to steer away from unethical prompts as well, with mixed results. But since the misuse of chatbots is a huge question hovering over the nascent AI industry, it's certainly interesting to see a company confronting the issue head-on.

Eth-AI-cal

As Wired tells it, the chatbot is trained on rules that direct it to choose responses most in line with its constitution, such as selecting an output that "most supports and encourages freedom, equality, and a sense of brotherhood," one that that is "most supportive and encouraging of life, liberty, and personal security," or, perhaps most saliently, to "choose the response that is most respectful of the right to freedom of thought, conscience, opinion, expression, assembly, and religion."

If you think an AI might have issues choosing ethical responses, you're not alone  but according to Kaplan, the tech is further along than you'd think.

"The strange thing about contemporary AI with deep learning is that its kind of the opposite of the sort of 1950s picture of robots, where these systems are, in some ways, very good at intuition and free association," he told Wired. "If anything, theyre weaker on rigid reasoning."

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AI experts that spoke to Wired say that Anthropic does seem to be making headway, which they say is necessary as the field continues to progress in leaps and bounds.

"Its a great idea that seemingly led to a good empirical result for Anthropic," Yejin Choi, a University of Washington researcher who led a study on an ethical advice chatbot, told the website. "We desperately need to involve people in the broader community to develop such constitutions or datasets of norms and values."

It's affirming to think that people are at least attempting to build AIs that can tell right from wrong  especially if they're going to be our new overlords.

More on OpenAI competitors: Elon Musk Says He's Building a "Maximum Truth-Seeking AI"
Dr. Megan Shutts-Karjola, chief of staff for Mountain West Medical Center, smiles under her mask as medical assistant Erin Bowser administers her Moderna COVID-19 vaccination at the medical center in Tooele on Monday, Dec. 28, 2020. | Steve Griffin, Deseret News

The pandemic is officially over. So, where are the parades? Where are the victory parties? Where are the press conferences with beaming politicians boasting that they won?

The public health emergency that former President Donald Trump declared in early 2020 caused more loud and irritating crashes and bangs nationwide  from conspiracy theories (computer chips embedded in vaccines?) to political venom and permanent changes in everyday life (hows that home office looking?)  than any other event in memory, with the possible exception of the Vietnam War. Yet, when it officially expired on Thursday, it seemed to end with a whisper, or maybe a stifled cough; nothing more.

Perhaps a better question would be, what have we learned? What lessons can public health officials, politicians and regular people glean from three years of economic shutdowns, poorly managed stimulus handouts and business loans, school closures and online classrooms that riled parents and teachers, mask mandates, lists of essential services that somehow didnt include churches, legislative edicts that took power away from health departments and governors, overcrowded hospitals that could no longer handle other illnesses and a host of other things that filled three tumultuous years?

I had figured, all along, that the pandemic would end with the formation of an official commission, or perhaps several at different levels of government, assigned to study what happened and what could be learned for next time.

That isnt happening, and Im certainly not the only one who finds that odd, and a little disturbing.

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At a recent video panel discussion sponsored by Harvard Bookstore, Kendall Hoyt, a senior lecturer and assistant professor at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, said, If we are not sitting down at the table with companies in this moment of relative calm to figure out how we are going to develop the next generation of medical countermeasures for COVID or for something else, then weve already failed to understand the lesson of this pandemic.

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I think its safe to say were getting a big fat F on that assignment.

Hoyt is one of 34 medical, policy, biodefense and advocacy professionals who, absent any government effort, formed a privately funded group to study how the nation did. The result was a recently published 352-page book called, Lessons from the Covid War.

I wouldnt recommend it for bedside reading, especially if youre worried about another pandemic, perhaps something worse than COVID-19, striking a nation that isnt prepared.

The book spares neither side in the political debate. Trump is lambasted for being at war with his own government during much of the crisis, but officials who imposed harsh government controls get much the same.

Just to put things into perspective, the book notes that this pandemic was perhaps no more than one-fourth as deadly per infection as the 1918-19 influenza virus. However, it adds that the COVID-19 pandemic was the most deadly and disruptive global pandemic since that one. And despite possessing vast wealth and technological knowhow, No countrys performance is more disappointing than that of the United States.

Perhaps none was as twisted and shackled in political knots, either. The group lays much of that blame on public and health officials. They should have anticipated the lack of public trust.

Facing a dangerous pandemic, they adopted the broadest, most ambitious and intrusive set of government controls on social behavior in the history of the United States, the book says. Public confidence never recovered entirely from the April 2020 flip-flop about the usefulness of face masks.

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Early on was the time when national authorities might have caught their breath, gathered evidence, made plans and networked with organizations that had better roots in communities across America. This outreach should have included faith-based organizations, community centers, schools and universities, which could have refined the message, listened to reactions and then adjusted.

Instead, governments in many states closed churches and schools, and local health departments didnt communicate well with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, let alone the public.

The nation probably didnt do much better a century ago. One of the books contributors was John M. Barry, who authored The Great Influenza, perhaps the most comprehensive history of those days.

Back then, he noted, one of the great mistakes was how officials and the media tried hard to tell people there was nothing to be afraid of. Dont get scared! was the advice printed in virtually every newspaper in the country, in large, blocked-off parts of pages labeled Advice on How to Avoid Influenza, he wrote.

As a result, The public could trust nothing and so they knew nothing.

By contrast, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the mainstream media and the medical establishment told the public there were plenty of reasons to be afraid, and yet many in the public labeled the message a lie and preferred instead to avoid precautions.

No one formed a commission from that earlier pandemic, either. Even if they had, Im not sure people today would have cared.

The members of our group are angry, the book says. They are angry because they feel that good Americans, all over the country, were let down by ineffective institutions, a slow and uneven initial response, shoddy defenses, and inadequate leadership.

No, it wouldnt be right to hold any celebrations or parades for the end of this pandemic.

Im not sure all the books conclusions are correct, or that hyperpartisan Americans could have been persuaded to be more reasonable.

But I am sure we could do better than to wearily shrug off the last three years without ever looking back.
Students walk on the Harvard University campus. (Charles Krupa / Associated Press)

There is nervousness in the homes of ambitious American high school students awaiting the U.S. Supreme Courts decision on affirmative action at the University of North Carolina and Harvard University. Will the justices upend preferences for certain racial and ethnic groups? Will they ruin the chances of many teenagers getting into a top school, which would bring them lifelong success?

The answer to the second question is no, regardless of how the court rules.

Affirmative action admission policies can help colleges achieve greater diversity on their campuses. But in the course of that public debate, we do college applicants great harm if we give them the false impression they will do better in life if they attend highly selective schools.

Long-standing research shows that except for some low-income students, being admitted to the most selective colleges has no significant effect on whether those young people achieve their dreams for life.

Were all naturally fascinated with pecking orders. We cant resist reading the latest rankings of colleges, restaurants, movie stars, even mouthwashes. Yet we dont seem to notice that many of our bosses at work and leaders in government attended colleges and universities far from the top of the U.S. News & World Report rankings.

The best research on the effect of college selectivity is still the 1999 study by Stacy Berg Dale, a researcher at the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and Alan B. Krueger, a Princeton economist who later became chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisors.

Their remarkable report, a National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper titled Estimating the Payoff to Attending a More Selective College, examined 14,239 students at 30 colleges, ranging from the most selective, including Yale and Swarthmore, to less selective places like Denison University and Penn State. The students enrolled in college in 1976 and were surveyed on how much money they were making 20 years later.

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Dale and Krueger found that those who attended more selective schools did not earn more than other students who were accepted and rejected by comparable schools but attended less selective colleges. They concluded that unobserved characteristics, such as persistence, humor and warmth, might have influenced success in life as measured by salary, but getting into the pickiest schools did not.

One exception, they said, was low-income students. Those who attended more selective schools on average earned slightly more. Since 1976, the racial mix of college students has changed, with the percentage of white students dropping from 84% to 54% by 2020, as the percentage of all other racial and ethnic groups rose. Whether that shift might alter the conclusions of the Dale-Krueger study is unclear; theres been no comparable study addressing that issue.

A 2018 study by Suqin Ge, Elliott Isaac and Amalia Miller found that women who attended more selective colleges made more money than similar women who attended less selective colleges. But the reason appeared to be that women who attended selective colleges were less likely to marry and put their careers on hold for child rearing.

We can see in our own lives and from academic research that successful people do not come only from ultra-selective schools. In fact, most people I have interviewed about how college helped them succeed point to a specific program, professor or even informal connection made on campus, not to the selectivity of the school itself.

The opportunities provided by American colleges, whatever their selectivity, appear quite obvious to young people from Asia and Africa who enroll here. Steve Becker, a former high school counselor in Pennsylvania, does a wonderful job of explaining how this works on his website, lesshighschoolstress.com.

He ranked colleges just before the pandemic by the number, not the percentage, of first year students with SAT math scores over 700 or ACT math scores over 30. Such people were in the top 5% of test takers. Here are the top 10 U.S. schools on that scale in descending order: University of Michigan, UC Berkeley, Ohio State, University of Wisconsin, University of Texas Austin, Purdue University, University of Washington, UCLA, Rutgers University and Texas A&M. He found Michigan had 5,200 of those top students in its entering class and Texas A&M had 3,300.

So if you know very bright, hard-working students who feel like they have to settle for Purdue because they were turned down by Northwestern or Notre Dame, Becker said, point out to them that theyll have as many top-5% math students in their freshman class at Purdue as the other two universities put together.

Becker also points out a 2012 study by the Chronicle of Higher Education on employers priorities when choosing applicants just out of college. The study ranked eight factors in deciding whom to hire. Here they are in descending order: nature of college internships, what jobs they had in college, college majors, volunteer experiences, extracurricular activities, relevance of coursework and grade-point averages. College reputation was the very last factor.

Much has been written lately about Americans losing faith in higher education, but theres little evidence of that in the high schools I study, from wealthier suburban campuses to urban charter schools full of ambitious but lower-income students. The word college still retains a magic in those places.

We may still obsess over the college rankings and argue over what the Supreme Court does. But there is no question that colleges of every sort improve lives in innumerable ways, no matter what percentage of applicants they let in.

Jay Mathews is a journalist who has written eight books about education, including his college admission guide Harvard Schmarvard."

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
People rush to buy water as the City of Corpus Christiissues a water boil after a water main break duo to the freezing temperatures on Tuesdays, Feb. 16, 2021.

The old saying that whiskeys for drinking and waters for fighting, still bodes true as the states growth places unprecedented demand on Texas water resources. And though these fights may be more civilized than they once were, they are no less controversial. As the Texas Miracle continues, the states population boom brings nearly 1,300 people to the Lone Star State each day.

And none are bringing water with them.

In addition to population growth, aging infrastructure worsens the states water woes. In rural Texas, more than half of the water lines are more than 40 years old and beyond their useful life, according to a survey from the Texas Rural Water Association. Urban systems are equally aging and in need of upgrades. Since 2008, boil water notices have more than tripled across the state. The American Society of Civil Engineers rated the states water, wastewater, and flood infrastructure in 2021, giving it a C- at best.

The states flood and drought cycles arent helping. Extreme weather events like Winter Storm Uri and record-breaking hot, dry summers contribute to pipeline breaks and reduce water supplies, exacerbating impacts to already overtaxed systems. Flood impacts are also increasing and are not limited to the coast; every county in Texas has experienced a major flood disaster according to FEMA.

Its time for a generational investment in the states water resources. The Texas economy is the 9th largest in the world and the fastest growing in the nation. According to the State Water Plan, if the state fails to invest in its water infrastructure, Texas risks up to $153 billion in economic losses by 2070.

Voters overwhelmingly agree. In a poll by Texas 2036, 82% of voters agree that the state should increase investments to expand our water supplies. Further, 84% want the legislature to act by creating a fund to help upgrade aging infrastructure.

The state has a historic $33 billion dollar budget surplus. Sen. Charles Perry and Rep. Tracy King propose to direct part of the surplus to replacing aging infrastructure and creating new water sources through SB 28 and SJR 75. The state budget also presents opportunities to replenish the Flood Infrastructure Fund, which will soon be depleted despite nearly $40 billion identified future project needs in regional flood plans.

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Theres another old saying: nothing worth having comes easy. As the legislative session closes in less than a month, the clock is ticking to ensure the states water systems are equipped to keep up with its growth. The Legislature should dedicate $3 to $5 billion of the states surplus to assist in these efforts and help lay the groundwork for a Texas Miracle 2.0  one that will continue the prosperity of the Lone Star State long into the future.

Stacey Allison Steinbach is the executive director of the Texas Water Conservation Association (TWCA) is an association of water professionals dedicated to sound water policy for Texas.

Justin Yancy is the president of the Texas Business Leadership Council (TBLC), a statewide network of CEOs and senior business executives who advance a long-term vision of a prosperous Texas in a globally competitive business environment.

This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Texas must take this opportunity to invest in water infrastructure
(Bloomberg) -- Veszprem in Hungary is one of the European Unions cities of culture this year, an initiative designed to foster cooperation and unity across the continent. On a visit there on Friday, Prime Minister Viktor Orban questioned whether there was a need for the EU at all.

Most Read from Bloomberg

In a speech in the western city, Orban hit out at the EU for an economic slowdown, which is affecting most of the globe, and for its response to Russias invasion of Ukraine. The modern form of European collaboration was driven by two missions: peace and welfare, Orban said. If it cant fulfill its two original missions, then whats the point of the EU?

The Hungarian premiers anti-EU rhetoric has intensified since Brussels stepped up financial pressure on his country. Clashes with the bloc over rule of law and corruption have led Brussels to withhold more than $30 billion of aid. Yet thats also raised speculation about whether Orban intends to eventually lead Hungary out of the EU, something the government has repeatedly denied.

Orban has argued that the EU should lift sanctions imposed on Russia, measures he has blamed for a deepening a recession in Hungary. He has also urged the EU to consider cutting off aid to Ukraine as a way to end the war, something critics have said was effectively calling for the capitulation of Hungarys eastern neighbor.

Meanwhile, the most recent semi-annual Eurobarometer poll conducted by the EU registered a 12 percentage-point decrease in support among Hungarians for the EU, the sharpest drop among any of its 27 members. It still remains higher, though, than in Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

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The Ottawa County Sheriffs Office is seeking the public's help in locating a woman suspected of check fraud following a series of vehicle break-ins in the county.

OTTAWA COUNTY  The Ottawa County Sheriffs Office is seeking the public's help in locating a woman suspected of check fraud following a series of vehicle break-ins in the county.

Two break-ins occurred May 6 during youth sporting events in Holland Township, according to OCSO. The thieves broke windows of locked vehicles and targeted purses and wallets that were left in the passenger compartment. Several thousand dollars in purses and cash were stolen, in addition to credit cards, checks and identification cards.

Other vehicles were broken into in Tallmadge Township on May 7.

On May 8 and 9, the stolen identification cards were used to pass stolen checks at several area banks, according to OCSO. The checks were stolen from sporting events in Indiana  totaling more than $13,000.

The Ottawa County Sheriffs Office is seeking the public's help in locating a woman suspected of check fraud following a series of vehicle break-ins in the county.

OCSO advises the public to avoid leaving valuables inside their vehicles and to keep them locked at all times. If valuables must be left in the vehicle, they should be locked inside the locked trunk or hidden out of sight.

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OCSO provided the media with photos of a suspect and the vehicle she was driving. OCSO reported that, when the woman was confronted by bank employees, she fled the store before deputies arrived.

The incidents remain under investigation. Detectives are working with other law enforcement agencies regarding similar crimes.

Anyone with information is asked to contact OCSO or Silent Observer at 1-877-88-SILENT (745368) or mosotips.com.

 Contact reporter Evan Sasiela at esasiela@sentinel-standard.com. Follow him on Twitter @SalsaEvan.

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Ottawa County Sheriff's Office investigating vehicle break-ins
A Pueblo West man has been indicted by a Colorado grand jury on eight counts of securities fraud.

Kenneth Edlin, founder and owner of MTK Financial Planning Services, is accused of soliciting and receiving investments from 11 individuals through his other company, RVM Properties. Edlin was not licensed to sell securities, and RVM is not registered with the Colorado Secretary of State.

The indictment against Edlin alleges he told elderly investors that the investments were risk-free or low-risk. However, the investment money received was not invested properly in any "financial instruments."

Instead, the money was allegedly used in Edlin's other businesses for personal use and to repay previous investors.

Investments across all eight counts totaled more than $395,000, according to the indictment. Victims all resided in Pueblo and Colorado Springs, according to a state investigator.

All eight counts of fraud occurred between Sept. 15, 2015 and Dec. 31, 2022.

Pueblo's top stories: Felony assault charges filed against father and son in violent citizen's arrest

Edlin "engaged in a pattern of business that operated as fraud," according to the affidavit, by "continuing to solicit, accept, and hold investor funds, while failing to maintain the funds for use in any investment he solicited."

"Edlin failed to use the funds in the represented manner," the indictment states. "Edlin failed to make necessary disclosures at any time after the investments were made and diverted funds for personal use. Edlin continued to make material misstatements and omissions to investors after their initial investment. Edlin thereby induced investors to wait long periods of time in order to get subsequent RVM investors to pay back prior investors."

Edlin will next appear in court on May 17 in front of District Court Judge Allison P. Ernst.

All suspects are presumed innocent until proven guilty in court. Arrests and charges are merely accusations by law enforcement until, and unless, a suspect is convicted of a crime.

Questions, comments, or story tips? Contact Justin at jreutterma@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @jayreutter1.

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Pueblo West man indicted on eight counts of securities fraud
A supporter of former prime minister Imran Khan throws back a tear gas canister during clashes with security forces in Karachi

The battle between Imran Khan's supporters and the powerful Pakistani military has this week been raging on two fronts - on the streets and on social media. And on one battlefield, the former prime minister seems to have the upper hand.

Within hours of Imran Khan's arrest on Tuesday, Pakistan's government had clamped down on the country's internet, in a move to quell resistance.

The capture of the swashbuckling political leader immediately sparked protests nationwide.

In Lahore, Nighat Dad rushed home after hearing Khan had been detained. Leaving the office in the city centre, the lawyer's staff had already started to encounter violent protesters.

"A mob tried to attack their cars and stop them from leaving," she told the BBC.

As one of Pakistan's leading digital rights activists, she was also keeping an eye on the discourse raging online.

Images of stone-throwing protesters in clouds of teargas unrolled across social media and pinged across WhatsApp groups. Video of the arrest - Khan being swarmed by paramilitary troops - went viral. His party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), spat out rapid-fire updates on their Twitter page.

To control the rapidly escalating situation, the government flipped the switch. Across the country, social media sites went down - people struggled to load Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.

Mobile networks were also blocked in some places, resulting in a full connectivity outage. Elsewhere, internet speeds were throttled.

When the blackout came, for most Pakistanis it wasn't unexpected. Those that could, booted up their VPNs - demand for the services which reroute a user's internet location skyrocketed by 1,300%, trackers later told the BBC. Those with mobile access continued on WhatsApp.

'Real news' online

Shutting down the internet has become a familiar move in the authoritarian playbook, particularly in South Asia in recent years. Authorities plunge the country offline to control the flow of information, and suppress any dissent or protest, experts say.

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"Governments have a hammer, and it's easy to treat the internet as a nail," says Kathik Nachiappan, a South Asia expert based in Singapore.

People increasingly get their news online in Pakistan

In Pakistan, the move has particular impact because it shuts down what is seen to be the only place to get "real news" in the country - a decade of attacks on the country's independent journalists and newspapers by the military authorities is widely regarded to have muzzled the mainstream media.

Trust that mainstream outlets will adequately inform the public has broken down so much that people go online to find out "what is truly going on", says Uzair Younus, a Pakistani politics expert with The Atlantic Council, a US-based think tank.

"People say 'OK, it's not worth really watching television, because the military is governing what can and cannot be said,'" says Mr Younus.

So when it comes to breaking news like Khan's arrest, people flock online, to reputable journalists and YouTube channels as well as social media.

"I was glued to my screen at work, watching Geo News, one of the country's largest broadcasters," says Mr Younus. "But then I was getting a whole lot more information about protests - who had been shot, where tear gas was being shared - on WhatsApp and on Twitter. Geo was not covering any of that."

Of course, there are all the usual issues that come with relying on social media news - in Pakistan's bitterly complicated political scene, misinformation, disinformation, and conspiracy theories are all rampant, and often peddled by the political actors themselves.

No matter what kind of information people are consuming, limiting online access is a gross violation of fundamental rights, says Ms Dad, who runs the Digital Rights Foundation in Lahore.

"When you shut down the Internet, people have no choice in accessing information," she says.

She argues the authorities' blanket ban violates freedom of speech, access to information and the right to assembly - which are all enshrined in Pakistan's constitution. Internet access is a human right recognised by the United Nations.

Most severe censorship yet

But for Pakistanis, internet censorship days have become increasingly common since Mr Khan was voted out by parliament last April.

The charismatic politician has been on the comeback trail ever since, charging around the country on a convoy, loudly claiming his removal was illegitimate and the charges against him are false. He has spurred thousands to attend his rallies.

Netblocks, a UK-based internet monitor, has counted at least three major internet disruptions linked to Khan's rallies before his arrest - but this week's was the worst yet.

"This is possibly the most severe censorship that we've tracked for Pakistan in recent times," Netblocks researcher Alp Toker told the BBC.

"The scale of it and the fact it involves multiple forms of disruption - both the mobile networks and the social platforms - show a concerted effort to control the narrative."

Online monitor Netblock tracked that major social media sites were blocked across the nation on Tuesday

Netblocks identified that the mobile networks affected had gone down in areas in Punjab - a Khan stronghold and Pakistan's most populous province. The telecoms authority later confirmed it had sent around the kill order following a directive from the interior ministry.

For Pakistan's current rulers, shutting down the internet is a significant move and one not taken lightly. It cuts off public access to healthcare, emergency and financial services.

It has been a big hit to an already failing economy, affecting businesses across the country. Tens of millions of Pakistanis - from delivery drivers to the tech community - rely on the Internet to earn a living.

On Wednesday, hundreds of Pakistani business leaders and civil rights figures signed a letter condemning the internet shutdown, expressing fears that it would negatively affect the country's vibrant tech sector - one of the only areas bringing in much-needed foreign investment.

Pakistan workers can't access Fiverr, a global marketplace for freelance jobs like digital design

But political watchers say it's clear that authorities are willing to sacrifice all that to cut off one of Mr Khan's greatest advantages- his dominance online.

Khan's online dominance

His party, the PTI, has the major edge over political competitors with a younger, tech-savvy voter base. Its social media machine - credited with delivering the 2018 election - is miles ahead of the competition.

The military and the government are worried about the party using social media for "anti-army political mobilisation" says Asfandyar Mir, a Pakistan politics and military watcher with the United States Institute of Peace. It's something that Khan himself is personally invested in, he says.

"The military in particular sees the scale of retweets and likes on twitter as a signal of political strength which can have knock on mobilisation effects," he said.

Since Khan's arrest, the PTI has been feeding a legion of about nine million followers on Twitter with hourly updates. Khan himself has over 19 million followers on Twitter - the military has about six million and the current PM, Shehbaz Sharif, 6.6 million followers.

The popular former PM has 19 million followers on Twitter

What's even more galling for the military now, is that they had previously hitched their social media presence to Khan's bandwagon.

When Khan rose to power in 2018, then with the support of the military, the generals had outsourced the task of building their not insignificant social presence to the PTI as a joint effort. But when Khan and the army fell out, the PTI managed to wrest away most of their online following.

The military has since found itself on the back foot online, struggling to control the narrative, says Mr Younus. It fended off campaigns from the PTI coordinating followers through hashtags and site attacks.

Under attack on their YouTube account this week, the military at first disabled rabid comments from Khan's supporters. In the end, they just turned the whole thing off.

"Because they don't have the capability the PTI does on social media, the obvious answer was to turn it all off because that's the only way they can control things," says Mr Younus.

But blocking social media is only one layer of disruption. Much more crucial to organising efforts for protesters is WhatsApp - the messaging app seen as the backbone for information flow in the country.

Both political sides are pushing out their message on the app, but the PTI again has a slight upper hand.

"They've done a fantastic job of creating these communities and groups through which they proliferate information or their own narrative," Mr Younus says.

On Friday, as the situation remained tense across the country, most citizens still had little access to the internet.

The army had been deployed in the capital and the twists and turns in Khan's legal case threatened to kick protests off again.

Some people had regained access to Facebook and YouTube, but the restrictions were patchy and arbitrarily applied across the country.

The political fervour, however, remains at an all-time high and the discussion is still raging online.

"People are charged and emotions are high, not only because of what's happened to Imran Khan but also because of the economic downfall in the country," says Ms Dad.

"It's a mix of anger and frustration that has come to a boiling point. Everyone has something to say."
Wichita Mayor Brandon Whipple violated the citys ethics policy and will have to undergo ethics training for his role in an encounter with a Wichita police officer at a neighborhood cleanup.

The officer stopped the mayor after he entered the wrong entrance to dump a load of trash from his rental property at a neighborhood cleanup event where residents can dispose of large objects like mattresses and tires for free.

Part of the Sept. 24, 2022 brush-up was caught on the officers body camera, which was first reported by The Wichita Eagle in October. Whipple said the officer did not turn on his camera until after the officer had finished yelling at him for entering the event through the wrong entrance. Whipple has both defended his actions and apologized for his behavior.

Thursday, he said he accepted responsibility for his actions, apologized and said he was committed to moving forward with integrity.

In the video, Officer Atlee Vogt approached Whipple, who was in a small red truck with the bed piled high with trash. The mayor was wearing street clothes and smoking a cigar.

Vogt asked to see Whipples drivers license, at which point Whipple was no longer allowed to leave, the Ethics Advisory Boards report says.

The officer took the Mayors information and ID and walked off to locate the CSR to determine what to do next, the report says.

But what happened next was where Whipple violated the ethics policy, according to the boards findings.

As the officer questioned the mayor, Whipple called City Manager Robert Layton. He asked Layton how to file a complaint against the officer, who he said didnt know who he was. Layton, over the phone, asked the officer whether he could let the mayor into the event. The officer refused but later allowed Whipple to dump his trash.

The Mayor said it was unclear there was one designated entrance and that other vehicles used the same entrance he used. He parked and asked the officer a clarifying question. He says the officer was very aggressive which shocked and frightened him. He said the officer refused to speak with him and told him he was no longer welcome, the report said.

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Vogt, when interviewed, said he made nonverbal efforts to get the Mayor to turn around and then verbally told him to turn around multiple times. He admitted to speaking loudly and sternly but also said there was a sense of urgency, and it was a loud environment with a need to maintain control, according to the report.

He agrees the Mayor said he had a question, but when the officer asked what question? the Mayor did not respond, the ethics board report says. He did tell the Mayor to leave and he was no longer welcome.

A volunteer at the event and witness who was interviewed by Vogt at a lunch table on the day of the incident, and who said he believed Whipple was in the wrong, told an ethics board investigator that he didnt know he was being recorded by Vogt when he made that statement and that the entire incident has been blown out of proportion.

The ethics board ruled 4-0 that Whipple violated the ethics policy that he considers one of his key accomplishments since taking office in 2020. He is the first official found to be in violation of the policy.

The combination of the Mayor going in the wrong entrance, refusing to turn around to get in line or leave, contacting the Manager during the encounter with the police officer, stating multiple times that the officer didnt know who I was constitutes seeking favor or private gain. The result was the Mayor dumped his trash without waiting in line and used the privilege of direct access to the City Manager.

The report explains that part of the advantage was he was able to contact Layton on a Saturday to complain about an officer, something the average resident would not be able to do.

The EAB finds the Mayor used his office to seek favor and private gain by the manner in which he sought to dump his trash instead of waiting in line, the findings say. He also used his unique direct access to the City Manager when he called him during an encounter with a police officer, on a Saturday, to make a complaint about the officer.

The ethics investigation came after two complaints were filed, one in October by Brandon Stewart and one in December by William Stout.

The EAB decision found Whipple violated the ethics policy related to seeking favors and should receive appropriate ethics training as a corrective action. Under the ethics policy, public officials can also be forced to pay a fine or be censured for a serious violating the ethics code.

The EAB does not find a serious violation occurred, the EAB ruling says. As no serious violation was found, no further recommendations are made.

Whipple has seven days to appeal.

I appreciate the work of the ethics board in reviewing this matter, Whipple said Thursday in a written statement. I accept responsibility for my actions and apologize for any disappointment or distraction that this has caused. I have learned from this experience and am committed to moving forward with integrity and a renewed determination to continue my work for the people of Wichita.
By Kirsty Needham

SYDNEY (Reuters) -Papua New Guinea (PNG) Foreign Minister Justin Tkatchenko said he was resigning as minister on Friday amid a controversy over the cost and size of the country's delegation to the coronation of King Charles III in London.

Tkatchenko said in a statement that he "stood aside" after consulting with Prime Minister James Marape, who would assume the portfolio. He remains in parliament.

"I want to make sure the recent events do not interfere with the official visits and summits we are going to have with all the World Leaders in the coming weeks," Tkatchenko said.

"I also want to ensure the truth of this matter is cleared and the misinformation and lies are corrected," he added.

U.S. President Joe Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are due on May 22 for what will be a historic visit.

On Wednesday, Tkachenko said Biden would sign a defence pact with PNG, which is being courted by the United States and China amid a contest for influence in the Pacific islands region. Tkachenko had been closely involved in the U.S. negotiations.

Marape said in a statement on Friday evening he would take over supervision of preparations for the arrival of Biden, Modi and more than a dozen Pacific island leaders. He commended Tkachenko for putting the national interest first.

Media and online news sites in PNG, a Pacific island member of the Commonwealth, have been running hot with insults and criticism of the cost of travel of a large PNG delegation of 30 people since Saturday's coronation in London's Westminster Abbey, with many saying the money would have been better spent on hospitals.

Each delegate had a 50,000 kina ($14,000) allowance to cover hotels and airfares.

Marape also said he wanted to apologise to Tkatchenko's family, and especially his daughter Savannah for what he called "the traumatic experience over the last couple of days".

"No woman deserves to be treated the way Savannah was treated over the last few days," he said.

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Tkatchenko's daughter, who accompanied him on the trip, has become a focal point for anger after posting a TikTok video discussing luxury shopping before boarding a flight in Singapore.

Earlier, Tkatchenko had apologised for remarks he made to the Australian state broadcaster, in which he called people criticising his daughter on social media "primitive animals", prompting a further backlash.

Marape said it was a "poor choice of words".

Government House official secretary Bill Toraso confirmed to Reuters that 10 of the Governor General's staff had travelled to London, in addition to 10 guests, and travelled separately to the government delegation. Two foreign ministry officials also traveled with Tkatchenko, who had been asked by Marape to represent PNG in his place.

(Reporting by Kirsty Needham, writing by Lewis Jackson; Editing by Sharon Singleton and Angus MacSwan)
UN General Assembly president calls for debt relief for middle-income countries

Xinhua) 09:01, May 12, 2023

UN General Assembly President Csaba Korosi speaks at a General Assembly high-level meeting on middle-income countries at UN headquarters in New York, on May 11, 2023. Korosi on Thursday called for debt relief, as well as equitable access to new technologies, for middle-income countries. (Loey Felipe/UN Photo/Handout via Xinhua)

UNITED NATIONS, May 11 (Xinhua) -- UN General Assembly President Csaba Korosi on Thursday called for debt relief, as well as equitable access to new technologies, for middle-income countries.

The 110 middle-income countries, which account for three-quarters of the global population and nearly one-third of global GDP, are central drivers of global development, he told a General Assembly high-level meeting on middle-income countries.

"Your geographies, ecosystems, cultures, and economies are incredibly diverse -- with varying vulnerabilities. Some of you encounter frequent drought and desertification, while others face tropical storms and sea-level rise. But all of you face the common challenge of establishing your capacity to cope with these extreme conditions in ways that ensure resilience," he said.

Korosi said it is time to get serious about debt relief in middle-income countries, which host the majority of the extremely poor in the world.

In the torrent of today's global crises, some countries have been forced to prioritize short-term economic goals over longer-term aims. In many countries, including small island developing states, high public debt service is crowding out investment in green, resilient and equitable transformation, he noted.

Various debt-relief instruments can be considered. The debt-for-climate or debt-for-nature swaps offer a win-win for debtors, creditors and donors to meet national development objectives in line with the Sustainable Development Goals, said Korosi.

He noted that the International Monetary Fund's Resilience and Sustainability Trust and Food Shock Window, along with the loss and damage fund agreed on at the latest UN Climate Change Conference in Egypt, open avenues to expand contingency financing to countries in need.

Middle-income countries need equitable access to new technologies, science and innovation that spur resilience in the long run, said Korosi.

This is a shared charge, and international partnership is key. The revitalized Global Partnership for Sustainable Development is an important vehicle for strengthening this worldwide cooperation, he said.

It is also time for the international community to go beyond GDP as the primary measure of development, since GDP has never been designed for that, he said.

"We need a measurement that captures ... the total assets of a nation since its balanced growing is the essence of sustainable development."

Currently, 90 countries compile the System of Environmental Economic Accounting, he said, encouraging more governments to do so.

UN General Assembly President Csaba Korosi (center at table and on the screen) speaks at a General Assembly high-level meeting on middle-income countries at UN headquarters in New York, on May 11, 2023. UN General Assembly President Csaba Korosi on Thursday called for debt relief, as well as equitable access to new technologies, for middle-income countries. (Loey Felipe/UN Photo/Handout via Xinhua)

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Wu Chaolan)
Park Universitys International Center for Music, which Stanislav Ioudenitch founded 20 years ago, has established itself as one of Kansas Citys most important musical institutions. Virtuosos from around the world come to Parkville to be shaped by master musicians into artists with international recital careers.

Through its annual performing arts season, the International Center for Music shares its talent with Kansas City with recitals by its extraordinary students, as well as visiting artists who are among the greatest in the world.

ICMs newly announced 2023-2024 season is brimming with musicianship of the highest order. In addition to performances by visiting artists, like legendary Russian pianist Mikhail Voskresensky, Parks own award-winning faculty and students will also have a chance to shine.

The season begins Sept. 22 with a recital by Voskresensky.

Last May, the 87-year-old pianist made the heart-wrenching decision to leave his homeland to protest Vladimir Putins invasion of Ukraine. He reached out to friends around the world for help. Alan Fletcher, the CEO of the Aspen Music Festival, extended an invitation to Voskresensky to perform at the festival. After several political machinations, Fletcher was able to hustle him out of Russia to America, where he remains to this day.

The strength of this man is unprecedented, said Ioudenitch, ICMs artistic director. Hes 87 and brilliant. Hes a fantastic pianist. For years, he was a professor at the Moscow Conservatory.

Voskresenskys recital should be touching and memorable.

Another visiting artist next season is Israeli violinist Shmuel Ashkenasi. Currently a violin professor at Bard College, Roosevelt Universitys Chicago College of Performing Arts and the Curtis Institute, Ashkenasi also founded the acclaimed Vermeer Quartet. He will give a recital March 22.

Shmuel Ashkenasi is a beloved professor who is coming to perform and give master classes, Ioudenitch said. He is also a legend. All of these artists are legends. Our daughter, Maria, studied with him at Curtis. Hes a prize-winning violinist who won the silver medal at the Tchaikovsky competition many years ago. He is breathtaking.

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Israeli violinist Shmuel Ashkenasi will come to Kansas City in March.

Maria Ioudenitch is becoming a rising star in classical music. She won three of the most important competitions in classical music: the Ysaye International Music Competition, the Tibor Varga International Violin Competition and the Joseph Joachim International Competition. She also recently released her debut album, Songbird, on the major label Warner Classics. Accompanying her on the album is the senior Ioudenitchs protege Kenny Broberg, who won the silver in the XVI International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in 2017.

Another artist of more recent vintage is the 22-year-old Swedish violinist Daniel Lozakovich. He will give a recital with pianist Behzod Abduraimov, ICM artist-in-residence, April 14.

Daniel is one of the greatest stars of the young generation with a huge career, Ioudenitch said. Hes become friends with Behzod, and he decided to come to Kansas City. Hes an unbelievable violinist with a major career right now. Very hot.

The visiting artists are great, but ICM has enough homegrown talent of its own to fill an entire season. Luckily, several concerts will feature ICM faculty and students. Students from the string studio will give a recital on Oct. 28, and Ioudenitchs piano students will show what they can do on Nov. 30.

Ben Sayevich, violin professor at ICM, and his wife, pianist Lolita Lisovskaya, will give a recital on Feb. 29. Sayevich will also perform as a member of the Rosamunde Trio on Jan. 25. The other members of the trio are ICM cello professor Daniel Veis and pianist Martino Trimo.

The Rosamunde Trio has never played together in Kansas City before, Ioudenitch said. Usually, Ben and Daniel go to Europe and meet with Martino, and then play there, but never in Kansas City, so Im very excited. Martino just released the complete piano works of Beethoven. He also recorded one of the latest and greatest editions of Schuberts works.

ICM also has its own orchestra made up of its students and guest wind and percussion players. The orchestra will perform several concerts next season in Parks Graham Tyler Memorial Chapel.

One of ICMs most anticipated concerts is the annual Stanislav and Friends, which will take place March 8 at Helzberg Hall.

The purpose is to bring our best, our stars, Ioudenitch said. No matter how busy they are, guests and former students from around the world find a way to come and play with us. We have a great relationship with the Kansas City Chamber Orchestra, and next year Behzod and I are going to play something together. I think its going to be the double concerto by Poulenc.

Reflecting on the past 20 years, Ioudenitch is proud of his faculty and students, and he looks forward to many more years of forging classical superstars while contributing to the cultural life of Kansas City.

To be honest, I just wanted to create something of high quality, something I believe in, Ioudenitch said. We try to celebrate music. We try to make a great show for audiences with beautiful repertoire for soloists, chamber ensembles and orchestra. Now we are looking for the school to expand. We have a dream to have better facilities. Were working on a scholarship foundation, which is extremely important. Many plans, many plans.

Swedish violinist Daniel Lozakovich, 22, will join the International Center for Musics season in April.

For more information. icm.park.edu.

The ICM season:

Sept. 22: Mikhail Voskresensky, piano. 7:30 p.m., 1900 Building, 1900 Shawnee Mission Parkway.

Oct. 6: Orchestra Fall Concert. 7:30 p.m., Graham Tyler Memorial Chapel, 8701 N.W. River Park Drive.

Oct. 28: String Studio. 7:30 p.m., 1900 Building.

Nov. 30: Piano Studio. 7:30 p.m., 1900 Building.

Dec. 2: Orchestra Holiday Concert. 7:30 p.m., Graham Tyler Memorial Chapel.

Jan. 25: Rosamunde Trio. 7:30 p.m., 1900 Building.

Feb. 9: Orchestra Valentine Concert. 7:30 p.m., Graham Tyler Memorial Chapel.

Feb. 29: Ben Sayevich, violin and Lolita Lisovskaya, piano. 7:30 p.m., 1900 Building.

March 8: Stanislav and Friends. 7 p.m., Helzberg Hall, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts.

March 15: Orchestra Spring Concert. 7:30 p.m., Graham Tyler Memorial Chapel.

March 22: Shmuel Ashkenasi, violin. 7:30 p.m., 1900 Building.

April 14: Behzod Abduraimov, piano, and Daniel Lozakovich, violin. 7:30 p.m., 1900 Building.

April 19: Orchestra Finale. 7:30 p.m., Graham Tyler Memorial Chapel.

KC VITAS - Jackson Thomas

KC VITAS fills an important niche in Kansas Citys choral scene. The group is devoted entirely to contemporary compositions. On May 19 and 21 at Asbury United Methodist Church, the choir will feature four world premieres, including When I Go Back to Earth by KC VITAS founder and executive director, Jackson Thomas.

7 p.m. May 19 and 3 p.m. May 21. Asbury United Methodist Church, 5400 W. 75th St. $20-$25. kcvitas.org.

You can reach Patrick Neas at patrickneas@kcartsbeat.com and follow his Facebook page, KC Arts Beat, at www.facebook.com/kcartsbeat.
WEST PALM BEACH  For every prayer offered after a mass shooting, Fred Guttenberg is ready with a plea.

"Stop listening to the liars," the father of a victim in the Parkland mass shooting tragedy said this month. His new book, "American Carnage," spells out how.

Guttenberg's 14-year-old daughter Jaime was one of 17 people killed in the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, 2018. Five years later, Guttenberg has teamed up with Canadian criminologist Thomas Gabor to combat fiction with fact in the debate surrounding guns in America.

Their book, "American Carnage: Shattering the Myths That Fuel Gun Violence," chips away at what its authors call the gun lobby's "40-year disinformation campaign" aimed at selling as many guns as possible, no matter the consequence.

"America is fed up," Guttenberg said. "And America is now coming to the realization that they've been lied to."

Fred Guttenberg's daughter Jaime was killed in the Parkland shooting in 2018. The book he co-authored with Tom Gabor, "American Carnage: Shattering the Myths that Fuel Gun Violence," published May 2, 2023.

For Subscribers: DeSantis backs lowering age to buy a rifle to 18

Related: On Parkland fifth anniversary, gun safety advocates cite 'less progress' than expected

Their book counters refrains like "guns don't kill people, people kill people" with the growing body of research that reveals people with guns kill people, and more effectively than those without.

If the weapon is irrelevant, the U.S. could save billions of dollars a year by arming the military with hammers instead of guns, Guttenberg and Gabor say.

They take aim at the notion that only a "good guy with a gun stops a bad guy with a gun,"  an expression coined by the National Rifle Association that Guttenberg said turned the Sandy Hook massacre into a "gun-sales bonanza."

Jaime Guttenberg was among 17 students and staff shot dead at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on Feb. 14, 2018.

Armed citizens often lack the training for high-stakes situations and rarely intervene to stop an active shooter successfully, Guttenberg and Gabor write. "American Carnage" points to shooting after shooting where even armed law-enforcement officers did little to stop an assailant.

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At Marjory Stoneman Douglas, a resource officer remained outside while the gunman opened fire into classrooms floor by floor. At Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, officers from six law enforcement agencies waited in the hallway with assault-style weapons for more than an hour as a gunman killed 21 children and teachers.

To suggest that arming more people will reduce gun violence is as "illogical" as pushing opioids to curb the opioid crisis, Guttenberg and Gabor argue.

Parkland: Ex-deputy says he did 'everything humanly possible' to stop mass shooting

Tom Gabor poses with a copy of his and Fred Guttenberg's book "American Carnage: Shattering the Myths that Fuel Gun Violence."

They argue that the country isn't as hopelessly divided as legislative inaction might suggest. A 2018 survey conducted by researchers at Johns Hopkins University found a number of policies with support from gun owners and non-owners, including universal background checks, better training for concealed carriers and red flag laws.

"The gun lobby and gun extremists want to convince people that it's utterly futile to try to introduce gun legislation," Gabor said. "And that simply isn't the case."

Gabor began writing the book in 2018 but stopped when news broke of the Parkland shooting and turned his attention to another project exploring solutions to the gun violence crisis. When he picked the project back up years later, he added Guttenberg to the team.

"American Carnage" is Gabor's eighth book on criminology, and Guttenberg's second. His first was a personal account of the aftermath of the Parkland shooting, whereas "American Carnage" offers a look at the misinformation that fuels tragedies like it.

It leans on decades' worth of research and sometimes hard-to-grasp statistics, but the authors' message at its core is simple: The gun lobby has been lying for decades.

"The result of that has been the carnage we see today," Guttenberg said. "My daughter was a cost of doing business."

Hannah Phillips is a journalist covering public safety and criminal justice at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at hphillips@pbpost.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Parkland shooting victim dad debunks the NRA's stand on gun violence
A Paso Robles man who went on a multi-day crime spree was convicted of robbery, carjacking and other felony charges on Thursday, the San Luis Obispo County District Attorneys Office said.

A San Luis Obispo County jury found Richard Quntan Garcia guilty of felony attempted robbery, robbery, carjacking and reckless evasion of a peace officer after a multi-day trial, the agency said in a news release.

The 31-year-old man was also convicted of misdemeanor counts of resisting, delaying or obstructing a peace officer and possession of methamphetamine.

San Luis Obispo County Superior Court Judge Timothy Covello found that Garcia was previously convicted for assault with a firearm for the benefit of a criminal street gang and assault with a firearm  both considered strikes under Californias Three Strikes Law  in a separate hearing.

There is no place for violent crime in our community, Assistant District Attorney Eric Dobroth said in the release. While thankful that no one suffered physical injury during this crime spree, we acknowledge the significant trauma experienced by the robbery and carjacking victims.

Garcia is scheduled to be sentenced on June 20. He faces a maximum prison sentence of 82 years to life plus 51 years.

Paso Robles man on crime spree evaded police for days, DA says

According to the District Attorneys Office, Garcias crime spree started the day before Thanksgiving  Nov. 24, 2021  when he entered a Carls Jr. restaurant on the 2700 block of Black Oak Drive in Paso Robles shortly after 10 p.m. and demanded money from a 15 year-old employee while pointing a handgun about six inches from the employees face.

A different employee quickly called law enforcement and Garcia fled without getting any money, the agency said in the release.

Three hours later, Garcia entered a Chevron gas station on the 1800 block of Ramada Drive in Paso Robles with a handgun, the District Attorneys Office said.

The Paso Robles man then demanded money from the employee and fired a shot over the employees shoulder into the ceiling, the agency said.

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That employee gave Garcia money from the cash register, the release said, before Garcia fled the scene in a dark BMW sedan.

Paso Robles police found a dark gray BMW about an hour later, the release said.

When an officer tried to stop the BMW, the driver reportedly sped away.

According to the release, a high-speed pursuit ensued along rural Nacimiento Lake Drive  ending 15 miles later near Lake Nacimiento Resort, where Garcia fled on foot.

He was not caught at that time, the release said.

Three days later, on Nov. 28, Garcia carjacked a woman outside an apartment complex on the 1200 block of Creston in Paso Robles, the District Attorneys Office said.

The woman was seated in the drivers seat of her car when Garcia opened the vehicles door and ordered her out, the release said.

The carjacking victim saw an item in Garcias hand she believed may have been a gun or a knife, the District Attorneys Office said, and ran from her vehicle.

Garcia got in and drove off, the release said, noting that the car was found abandoned about three and a half hours later.

According to the release, Paso Robles Police Department officers spotted Garcia in the area of the carjacking the following day.

Garcia ran but was arrested after a half-mile foot pursuit, the District Attorneys Office said. Methamphetamine was located in his pocket.

The Paso Robles Police Department, with the assistance of the San Luis Obispo County Sheriffs Gang Taskforce, California Department of Justice Bureau of Forensic Services, District Attorneys Bureau of Investigation, and District Attorneys Central Coast Cyber-Forensic Laboratory investigated the case. San Luis Obispo Deputy District Attorney Scott Hunter, who is assigned to the District Attorneys Felony Trial Team, prosecuted it.
People board an EasyJet flight at Gatwick Airport. Gareth Fuller/PA Images via Getty Images

An EasyJet passenger ended up in the wrong country after boarding a flight to Bristol in the UK.

The passenger was due to travel from Glasgow, Scotland, to Faro, Portugal, on Wednesday.

The airline told Insider it had made arrangements for the passenger to be flown to Portugal.

An EasyJet passenger ended up in the wrong country after a passenger got on the incorrect flight at Glasgow Airport, the airline has confirmed.

The passenger was due to travel from the Scottish city to Faro in Portugal on Wednesday but ended up in the English city of Bristol, which is more than 300 miles from their starting location.

The plane, which was scheduled to fly from Glasgow to Portugal, waited for more than an hour for the missing passenger, multiple outlets reported. The Portugal-bound travelers held on the tarmac were told that a passenger who needed special assistance had disappeared, Daily Record reported.

It was later discovered the passenger had mistakenly boarded a flight to Bristol, per the report.

EasyJet told Insider it had made arrangements for the passenger to be flown to Portugal from Bristol. A spokesperson said the "passenger was looked after by our team throughout and escorted them to the aircraft."

The airline said it was investigating with Glasgow Airport to understand how the passenger was able to get on the wrong plane.

A spokesperson for EasyJet told Insider: "We can confirm that a passenger boarded the incorrect aircraft at Glasgow Airport on Wednesday 10 May and traveled to Bristol. As soon as this was realized, it was arranged for them to fly from Bristol to Faro, their original destination."

"We would like to sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused," they added.

This is not the first time an airline passenger has ended up in the wrong destination.

Earlier this month, a New Jersey woman was flown from Philadelphia to Jamaica, in the Caribbean, instead of to Jacksonville, Florida. The passenger landed in Jamaica without a passport.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Apple TV+

Amateur female detectives are having a streaming TV moment, thanks first to Natasha Lyonne and Rian Johnsons Poker Face and now courtesy of Patricia Arquettes High Desert, the loopy story of a woman who seeks redemptionand locates a world of criminal troublevia a sleuthing career. Buoyed by a wacko, drugged-out, sunburnt, New Age-y energy that faintly recalls The Big Lebowski, Nancy Fichman, Katie Ford and Jennifer Hoppe-Houses Apple TV+ series (premiering May 17) is ramshackle in the right ways, led by Arquettes tour-de-force of mad, messy, brazen desperation and determination.

Directed by Jay Roach (Austin Powers, Meet the Parents) and executive-produced by Ben Stiller (whos previously teamed with Arquette on Escape at Dannemora and Severance), High Desert is a comedy whose title is meant to be taken literally. In Yucca Valley, California, felon Peggy (Arquette) is still picking up the pieces of a ten-years-prior calamity in which her family was torn apartwith her husband Denny (Matt Dillon) going to jailby a DEA drug bust that ruined their narcotics-funded good life. Denny remains in prison and Peggy scrapes by working at local Pioneer Town for Owen (Kevin Can F**k Himselfs Eric Petersen), all while mourning the recent loss of her beloved mother Roslyn (Bernadette Peters) and her continuing estrangement from her son Ethan.

Moreover, shes at odds with her siblings Dianne (Christine Taylor) and Stewart (Keir ODonnell), who view her as an unrepentant screw-up and want her to move out of their moms house so they can sell it.

Adding to Peggys woes, shes a recovering addict whos attempting to stick to a methadone treatment course. Her difficulty maintaining her sobriety lends High Desert its trippy verve, with Peggy routinely finding herself incapable of resisting the tabs of acid she has stashed in an old narcotics case. If staying lucid is a challenge, so too is making sure shes not evicted by her siblings from her home. Fortunately, Peggy has a moment of pure inspiration when she sees a television ad for an investigation business run by Bruce (Brad Garrett) that seems right up her investigative alley.

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Apple TV+

As luck would have it, she also has a mystery fall in her lap when Owens safe is ransacked andwhile being suspected of the misdeedshe deduces that the robbery had something to do with her coworker Tammy (a hilarious Susan Park) and the new fake boobs shes acquired at the exact same moment that shes broken up with her boyfriend Guru Bob (Rupert Friend).

High Desert begins crazily and then gets even crazier once Peggy inserts herself into Bruces struggling business (despite his initial objections) and begins poking around Guru Bob, a former TV news anchor who made an infamous viral-video name for himself when he delivered an on-air rant about how Everything is stupid! In the aftermath of that professional implosion, Guru Bob has become a cult-like shaman whos trading in stolen artworkalthough as Peggy soon deduces, his priceless paintings arent pilfered but, rather, forgeries.

Not content to keep things simple, Fichman, Ford, and Hoppe-Houses series spins a convoluted web that eventually ensnares Peggys best friend Carol (Weruche Opia), whos dealing with a delinquent teen stepdaughter (Jayden Gomez), as well as Arman (Carlo Rota), a crook whos not very happy about being swindled by Guru Bob, and sets his imposing, nipple-slicing daughter Heather (Julia Rickert) on him.

Apple TV+s City on Fire Is an Outrageous, Burning Hot Mess

Amazingly, this isnt all the series has to offer, since its main narrative throughline involves Peggy trying to establish her PI bona fidesand earn enough money to keep her moms ranch houseby collecting a reward for information regarding the whereabouts of Guru Bobs MIA wife Dona (Tonya Glanz), who happens to be a member of a New York mob family with roots in Yucca Valley.

High Desert is a madcap morass of alternate identities, stolen goods, and hallucinogenic visions, with Peggy sporadically beset by acid flashbacks to her time with her mom, here played by Peters with a striking panache that helps sell the larger-than-life place she occupies in her daughters head and heart. Peters additionally appears in a secondary role as a Roslyn look-alike whos actually a TV actress (its complicated!). However, in one of the shows few missteps, shes still somewhat underutilized; a bit more of Peters presence would have further enlivened the proceedings.

Fortunately, Fichman, Ford, and Hoppe-Houses adept stewardship turns High Desert into a mix of bright, sunshiny neo-noir and cartoonishly dissolute ridiculousness. Arquette is in the center of the shows maelstrom throughout, embodying Peggy as a fount of healthy-living and conspiracy-theory kookiness, brash cockiness, and unflagging resolvenot to mention a figure of grief-stricken sadness, which she ameliorates with illicit substances and unwise dalliances with her ex Denny, who before long winds upon her doorstep.

Apple TV+

Arquettes Peggy is both a fully realized three-dimensional protagonist and a uniquely absurd creation, and the actress performance is so specific and assured that it serves as the amusing axis around which the rest of the lunacy pivots.

Everyone else in High Desert is equally funny, including Garrett as a miserable detective forced to hitch his fortunes to his off-her-rocker new employee, Dillon as an inveterate hood who shares a deep, spacey connection to Peggy, and Friend as a fraud (or is he?) peddling self-help in a teepee and with more than a few tabs of LSD. Better yet, the series zaniness rarely feels forced; it zags and zags with careening liveliness, all without losing sight of the emotional traumas compelling its heroine on her perilous mission.

Apple TV+

There are times when the plot gets a tad too convoluted and scattershot, yet even then, that feels in tune with Peggys headspace, clouded as it is by drugs, sorrow, regret, and a frantic desire to prove that shes more than just a disaster with a one-way ticket to loneliness and ruin.

Over the course of its eight half-hour installments, High Desert carves out its own distinctively scraggly, arid crime niche, as well as confirms that no one is presently doing better (and more varied) work on television than Arquette. Peggys mind may occasionally be cloudy, but thanks to its sterling star, Apple TV+s latest is a clear-sighted comic success.

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A pedestrian on northbound Interstate 5 in Tacoma was killed when they were hit by a driver.

The crash happened near McKinley Avenue and was reported by the Washington State Department of Transportation at 7:37 a.m. Friday.

The three right lanes and the ramp from I-705/SR 7 were blocked. All lanes reopened at around 10 a.m.

Troopers, a WSDOT crew, and members of the Tacoma Fire Department responded.




It all came about at 11:30PM on a random Wednesday.

Penelope Bourbon CEO and founder Michael Paladini admitted that late-night calls are a regular occurrence for him. After his wife goes to bed, the kids are asleep and there are no emails hitting his inbox, he has time to get creative. One of these evening brainstorming sessions was with Robert Crandell, a regional sales manager for Tonnellerie Radoux and Pronektar. Radoux is a French cooperage that has been making barrels for decades. The company has been operating in the US since 1994, based in wine country California. Whats more, Radoux has conducted extensive research into the chemical composition and tannins of French oak.

Since 2008, Radoux has completed over 300 trials containing over 10 million analyses to observe polyphenols in the wood that can impact the appearance, taste and smell of wine. The result is a tool that can instantly measure these properties with Near Infrared Spectrometry, rather than using the time-consuming process of taking random samples from various batches of staves. The technology is called OakScan.

OakScan

French oak can be wildly inconsistent, Crandell noted.

All of the variation in French oak can lead to unintended results without careful planning. Combine that in with the fact that the wood is more expensive than American oak and companies using it to age wines and spirits can greatly benefit from knowing how their liquid is going to react to the wood. Its long been known that trees from different forests that are made into barrels will have different chemical compositions (the concept of terroir), and thus different levels of tannins. There can also be significant variation in trees just a few feet apart or from staves made from different parts of the same tree. Whats more, there can be distinctions in the grain width, which affects the extraction time for getting the tannins out of the wood.

Even if youve gone to great lengths and you bought wood from the same forest, you still arent getting the same sort of precision and consistency [as with OakScan], Crandell said. When Radoux uses OakScan to analyze staves bound for production, each piece of wood is assigned a barcode and a letter corresponding to its tannic potential, according to the cooperage. This not only helps with sorting, but it allows the company to build barrels with a specific polyphenolic index (PI), ensuring the wood is suitable for the style a winery or vineyard is trying to make. And since every stave is scanned, theres uniformity of the tannin content of each barrel and all the data makes the end result repeatable.

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OakScan also allows customers to select wood from different forests, but not by sourcing actual staves from those places. Instead, Radoux can build the tannin profile and replicate the terroir in a much more consistent way.

If someone wanted a Voges-style barrel, we could work that out based on tannin level, said Radoux national sales manager Craig Holme. We can be more precise on what [the results are] going to be. Someone else will get a barrel that may be from two different trees [in that forest], and they might be completely different. According to Holme, Radoux can pull 1,000% extracts from the staves that they can then put in a sample of a prospective customers product to show them what its going to do.

Originally developed exclusively for wine making, OakScan was initially used to analyze the chemical characteristics of barrel staves. Once the system was developed and fine-tuned, Radoux began using the same technology for tank staves. Thinner than a barrel stave, these pieces of wood allow for a quicker extraction process, which at the time was intended for larger volumes of wine. Where barrels are only toasted on the inside, tank staves are finished on all six surfaces and theyre designed to be completely submerged.

Typically, the toasting process for wine is much more precise than the charring process for spirits, Crandell explained. So we came up with something very precise and very repeatable. However, OakScan hadnt really been used extensively in the spirits industry, he continued, except for a small, experimental project he had done a few years ago. Eventually, Crandell said he started working with Penelope and another micro-distiller to see if the detailed analysis of French oak could work for spirits.

Penelope Architect

Penelope isnt your traditional bourbon maker. The company doesnt actually distill anything. Instead, it sources aged bourbon from MGP: a producer of distilled spirits with operations in Kansas, Missouri, Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio, in addition to Mexico and Northern Ireland. MGP has its own brands of spirits (it actually announced the acquisition of Penelope earlier this week), but it also sells bourbon, rye whiskey, gin and more to other companies to package and sell on their own. Penelope buys bourbon of various ages and mashbills from MGP and blends it to their specifications. Sometimes theyll bottle those blends as-in (Four Grain Bourbon and Barrel Strength Bourbon), while others undergo additional aging before theyre packaged.

While Radoux primarily caters to vineyards in France, Italy, Spain, the US and more, its colleagues at Speyside Cooperage (both owned by TFF Group) typically work with breweries and distilleries. Paladini and Penelope COO and founder Daniel Polise initially worked with Crandell to secure Rose casks for secondary aging of its bourbon. They then collaborated with Speyside Cooperage to source toasted American oak barrels for a secondary finishing of its bourbon. For that treatment, Penelope would create a blend of aged bourbon and put it in barrels with varying char and toast levels for a period of time. In the end, Paladini and Polise discovered that even with the same bourbon in the same barrels, samples from each would be very different.

It would go in completely different, wild directions, Paladini observed. We found that to be great, and thats why that product was incredible. Indeed, Penelope Toasted Series Bourbon won gold at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition in 2022. The company leaned into the variation in the aging results, indicating the char and toast levels on the bottles of each batch. Of course, that means each batch is quite different.

Following the challenges of the Toasted Series, Polise tried using some of the OakScan staves in some samples. We have so many different products that show up and people want us to try and use them, he admitted. I finally tried it and I was just shocked. Polise explained that the OakScan French oak stood out from the others greatly.

Thus the idea for Penelopes Architect Bourbon was hatched. The company was hoping to tap into the success of Toasted Series by once again being transparent about the types of wood they were using for secondary aging. But while OakScan can create the ultimate consistency batch to batch, Paladini says he and Polise werent sure they really wanted that.

Penelope OakScan

Our first thought was to take an exploratory approach and highlight the actual flavor profile on the back of the label. That profile is coming directly from the oak engineer in France when they run the OakScan process, said Paladini. On each bottle of Architect, theres a spider graph that illustrates the characteristics of that particular build. The company is playing up the idea of constructing a flavor profile, so it calls each batch a build instead. Hence the name Architect.

With Architect, Penelope has created six different builds or stave selections and theyre all different. However, theyre still consistent, as Crandell explained. We can make a build again, its repeatable, he noted. And thats because OakScan allows for that consistency rather than the company hoping they can recreate a hit. They will, of course, need to replicate the blended bourbon from MGP that undergoes the secondary aging in order to do so. Even if they cant, the company can still give a new blend the same build as a previous version of Architect. Since the wood analysis gives them so much control over the end result, the combinations  and the creative potential  are seemingly endless.

[OakScan] not only gives you the ability to be precise, but it also gives you the ability to be creative, Crandell said. If you know what the end result is going to be, you can change the end result  you can control the end result.

For Penelope, French oak thats been analyzed with OakScan is only being used in Architect right now. But, Paladini and Polise arent ruling out using the staves for another product in the future.

Were constantly playing with different woods and finishes, Polise noted. So whatever matches next, we may release. It just works like that.
A Centre County man who tried to shoot a deer on the crest of a hill but instead shot his older neighbor in the head lost his bid Friday to stay out of jail.

Michael Lloyd, 41, of College Township, was sentenced by Centre County President Judge Jonathan Grine to three to 23 1/2 months in the Centre County Correctional Facility. Hes scheduled to report June 12.

His hunting license was revoked for five years. Lloyd was also ordered to pay more than $29,000 in restitution, a total that could increase as the man he shot receives more treatment.

Centre County Assistant District Attorney Josh Andrews said the 83-year-old mans life has forever and substantially changed.

So much of what has given his life meaning and joy has been taken from him, Andrews said. It was a risk that Mr. Lloyd knew he was taking.

The man offered detailed testimony Friday from the witness stand, a place he walked to with the assistance of a cane he did not need before he was shot.

A man once in excellent health  he was a competitive weightlifter, cyclist and hiked Mount Nittany two to three times per week  now wears prescription glasses and hearing aids.

His medications include blood thinners. Hallucinations and bouts of vertigo arent uncommon. His memory isnt as strong as it once was, he said.

His wife said her husband has been reduced to a shadow of his former self. His balance is worse and hes become more forgetful, she said.

It is a daily strain to cope with all of these changes, she said.

Added their daughter: Mom has taken over more and more of the logistics of daily life. Her golden years of enjoying retirement were abruptly shortened.

A friend who has known the man for more than four decades choked back tears as he spoke. He described the shooting as unbelievably irresponsible behavior.

Lloyd spotted a deer as he returned from a December 2021 hunting trip, State College police wrote in an affidavit of probable cause. He stopped at the bottom of his neighbors driveway and fired at least two shots from a .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun.

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Instead of finding the deer, Lloyd found his neighbor bleeding in the driveway. He provided aid and called 911. Lloyd was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

He estimated the deer was 10-15 yards away. Heavy brush behind the area where Lloyd said the deer was made the rest of the driveway difficult to see, police wrote. His neighbor was found about 140 yards from where investigators found shell casings.

Lloyd pleaded guilty in February to one misdemeanor count of recklessly endangering another person and one summary count of unlawfully taking or possessing game. Five charges were dropped.

In preparation for this case, Your Honor, I took a hunter safety course and literally Day 1 the thing that they teach you is you dont shoot uphill and you dont shoot when you dont know whats downrange if theres no backstop for your bullet, Andrews said. It is the most commonsense hunter safety guideline and  in the heat of that moment  Mr. Lloyd ignored that.

Defense lawyer Brian Manchester  who pushed for Lloyd to be sentenced to two years of probation  described the shooting as a physics fluke. Lloyd is a father and works as a self-employed contractor, he said.

Lloyd apologized multiple times before his sentence was handed down. He said he sought help after the shooting, including a stay at an inpatient psychiatric hospital and monthly meetings with a counselor.

Lloyd said he cant even imagine the thought of ever hunting again. He no longer owns firearms after he gave them to members of his family.

It was a terrible, terrible mistake and I wish every day I could take it back. I wish every day I could just not have stepped out of that truck and just kept driving, Lloyd said. ... Im just really, really sorry that this happened. If I could take it back, I would give everything I have.
Daniel Ek, Spotify CEO. DON EMMERT/AFP via Getty Images

Spotify's CEO said the number of daily podcast episodes about AI have soared 500% in the last 30 days.

His comments came just days after the platform removed thousands of AI-generated songs for "artificial streaming."

But Daniel Ek added that he thinks AI will become "a big thing on the platform" as more tools come out.

As the hype around AI continues to soar, Spotify podcasters are getting in on the action.

The number of daily podcast episodes about AI has gone up by almost 500% on Spotify in the last 30 days, CEO Daniel Ek tweeted Thursday.

"Talk about AI is everywhere right now," he said. "I looked at how it's trending on Spotify  and the growth is pretty insane."

The Swedish billionaire added that the same number had risen nearly 400% since the start of 2023.

As one example of the latest boom, all six of computer scientist Lex Fridman's podcast episodes in the last 30 days discuss AI, their descriptions show.

Fridman has coauthored studies on AI while working at MIT, but alongside his controversial discussions on vaccine safety and gender roles as Insider's Julia Black reported, AI now seems to be taking higher priority.

In reply to one user's question, Ek said he thinks "there will be tons of tools that will use AI to assist in creation and that it therefore will be a big thing on the platform."

Ek's tweet came two days after the Financial Times' report that Spotify took down tens of thousands of AI-generated songs from the company Boomy.

But that was only because of "artificial streaming"  bots being used to inflate audience numbers  and 93% of the tracks uploaded by the AI music startup are still online.

In February, Spotify debuted its new DJ feature  an AI-powered recommendation tool which partially uses tech from the creator of ChatGPT, OpenAI.

Spotify did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Looping and curving off the coast of Poland, large swirls repeatedly appeared on satellite imagery. The cause of these shifting shapes eluded researchers  until now.

Satellite images of sea swirls on the Baltic Sea first caught the attention of Chuanmin Hu in 2021, the studys lead researcher told NASA in a May 1 article. The swirls reminded Hu of satellite photos of a sea snot event in Turkeys Marmara Sea, he said.

Sea snot events are caused by phytoplankton releasing a slimy, snot-like substance that spreads across the waters surface, NASA reported. While this gooey material swarmed the Marmara Sea, people on the ground never reported a similar event in the Baltic Sea.

So what were the perplexing sea swirls appearing on satellites?

Hu and his co-authors started looking for other explanations. They gathered historical satellite images of the Baltic Sea and realized these swirls had appeared repeatedly since 2000, according to a study published in the journal Remote Sensing of Environment.

The Baltic Sea is in northern Europe and surrounded by nine countries: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia and Sweden, researchers said.

Researchers noticed that all of these countries are rich in pine trees and other conifer plants and the sea swirls typically appeared from May to June.

A hypothesis began to form: Could these sea swirls be caused by pollen? To test this hypothesis, researchers conducted lab experiments on how pollen grains reflect light rays when floating on water and compared this to light reflections from other types of marine debris.

The reflectance of the pollen grains was near-identical to the shapes seen on satellite images, the study said.

Based on the historic satellite images, researchers noticed that the sea swirls were larger and more frequent in recent years, the study said. This corresponded with other studies showing increased pollen production during the same period due to warmer temperatures and larger concentrations of carbon dioxide.

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The lines of evidence converged to one explanation for the sea swirls: In certain years between May 10 and June 16, pine (Pinus sylvestris) pollen grains can be found in surface waters nearly everywhere in the Baltic Sea, well beyond nearshore or coastal waters, researchers concluded.

The study was significant for more than just explaining an unusual observation.

This is the first study to demonstrate that pollen on water can be detected and possibly quantified from space, researchers said.

Rare creature with secretive lifestyle discovered as new species in Middle East

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Former Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (2016-2018), seen here in an April 2019 photo

Prosecutors in Peru on Friday requested that former president Pedro Pablo Kuczynski be sentenced to 35 years in prison on charges of corruption related to the massive Odebrecht scandal.

Kuczynski, 84, is accused of money laundering and forming a criminal organization that allegedly received $12 million from Brazil construction giant Odebrecht for secret consultancies.

Odebrecht, which has since changed its name to Novonor, admitted to paying hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes throughout Latin America to secure huge public works contracts.

Kuczynski allegedly used his financial advisory companies to collude with Odebrecht.

"He is totally calm, he is confident the situation will be resolved and that no one can link him to any acts of corruption," the former president's lawyer Julio Mindolo told RPP radio station.

Authorities have been investigating the case against Kuczynski for five years. After spending three years under house arrest he was granted conditional release in April 2022.

Mindolo denied that former president Alejandro Toledo incriminated his client in testimony he gave to a court earlier in the week.

Toledo, who was president from 2001-06, is being held in pre-trial detention following his extradition from the US last month and faces corruption charges related to the Odebrecht scandal.

Before Kuczynski became president in 2016, he had been a minister in Toledo's government.

In 2018 he became the first Latin American president to resign over alleged connections to the Odebrecht scandal.

Another two former Peru presidents, Ollanta Humala (2011-2016) and Alan Garcia (2006-2011), have also been accused of corruption related to the Odebrecht case.

Humala's trial began in February while Garcia committed suicide in April 2019 as police arrived at his house to arrest him.

ljc/vel/gm/bc/tjj
Lily Collins engagement ring, wedding ring and other items were allegedly stolen from the actress while she was at a West Hollywood hotel May 6.

The West Hollywood Sheriffs Department confirmed to Fox News Digital that it is investigating a burglary by an unknown number of suspects at a hotel in the 9000 block of Sunset Boulevard and the victim is a "well-known celebrity."

Collins, 34, had put her jewelry in a secure locker at the spa of West Hollywoods Edition Hotel, but when she returned, it was gone and there was no sign of forced entry.

No suspects have been arrested.

PHIL COLLINS' DAUGHTER LILY COLLINS DIDN'T WANT A FREE PASS IN INDUSTRY: 'IT WAS OUT OF THE QUESTION

The "Emily in Paris" star's engagement and wedding rings have been stolen.

Actress Lily Collins is the daughter of musician Phil Collins.

The "Emily in Paris" star shared several photos of her ring on Instagram in 2020 after she got engaged to writer/director Charlie McDowell.

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

"The purest joy Ive ever felt..." she wrote in one post, adding, "Ive been waiting my lifetime for you and I cant wait to spend our lifetime together..."

Lily Collins and Charlie McDowell got married Sept. 4, 2021.

The couple got married in 2021 in Dutton Hot Springs, Colorado.

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Charlie McDowell and Lily Collins share a kiss in 2020 after he proposed.

"What started as a fairytale, is now my forever reality. Ill never be able to properly describe how otherworldly this past weekend was, but magical is a pretty good place to start" the actress wrote on Instagram alongside with a wedding photo of the couple kissing in front of a waterfall.

Lily Collins flashes her engagement ring.

She added another shot of them kissing at the altar, writing, "Ive never wanted to be someones someone more than I do yours, and now I get to be your wife. On September 4th, 2021 we officially became each others forever. I love you beyond @charliemcdowell."

Fox News Digital has reached out to Collins reps and Edition Hotel.
(Bloomberg) -- A Philippine court has acquitted former Senator Leila de Lima for one of her two remaining drug cases, a key win that puts former President Rodrigo Dutertes staunch critic closer to ending her six-year detention.

Most Read from Bloomberg

A branch of the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court in the capital Manila ruled that De Limas alleged involvement in a conspiracy for illegal drug trade at a national penitentiary was not established by positive and conclusive evidence. The court also said theres reasonable doubt on De Limas alleged participation in the drug trade after a key witness recanted his testimony.

Its a glorious day. This is the beginning of my vindication, De Lima was heard shouting as she exited the court under heavy police guard, based on a video posted by ABS-CBN on Twitter.

Despite the acquittal, De Lima will remain detained as shes facing another drug charge, for which she is seeking bail. The cases were filed during the presidency of Duterte, whose drug war was investigated by De Lima when she was human rights chief and lawmaker.

The court decision came after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said last week at a forum during his US visit that there were abuses that happened during Dutertes drug war, which has killed thousands. Justice Secretary Jesus Remulla said De Limas acquittal shows that the nations courts are independent.

Marcos, who won the 2022 elections alongside Dutertes daughter, said his government will focus on going after drug syndicates and rehabilitating victims. Duterte is being investigated by the International Criminal Court for his drug war, but Marcos recently said his government is cutting off contact with the tribunal.

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De Limas acquittal was long overdue, Amnesty Internationals interim Deputy Regional Director for Research Montse Ferrer said in a statement. The authorities must not delay her release any longer, the human-rights groups official said.

--With assistance from Cecilia Yap.

(Adds details throughout.)

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By Adrian Portugal

MANILA (Reuters) -A Philippine court on Friday acquitted of a drugs charge one of the fiercest critics of ex-President Rodrigo Duterte's "war on drugs", a move welcomed by activists who called her incarceration a vindictive effort to harass and silence her.

The court cleared former senator Leila de Lima, 63, of the second of three criminal charges against her, which stemmed from allegations made publicly by Duterte that as a justice minister in an earlier administration, she took payments from drug gangs in prisons.

De Lima has spent the past six years in detention, five of which as senator, and has one more case pending.

"I had no doubt from the very beginning that I will be acquitted in all the cases the Duterte regime has fabricated against me based on the merits and strength of my innocence," she said in a statement.

The charges came in 2017 a few months after she launched a senate investigation into Duterte's fierce crackdown on illicit drugs, during which thousands of users and dealers were killed, many by police or in mysterious circumstances.

The hugely popular Duterte responded by humiliating De Lima in public speeches with lurid revelations about her private life, prompting threats and online hate campaigns against her. He accused her of colluding with drug gangs in jails.

"I'm still asking for even more prayers for another case," De Lima said as she emerged from the courtroom and headed to a waiting police vehicle, as supporters chanted "Free De Lima now".

"Glorious day, glorious day, beginning of my vindication," she added.

Duterte has accepted the court judgement, Salvador Panelo, his legal counsel during his administration, said in a statement on Saturday.

"I have never interfered with the judicial process. I always say let the law take its course," Panelo quoted Duterte as saying.

The current Justice Secretary, Jesus Crispin Remulla, said the acquittal showed the independence of the judiciary.

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"The rule of law has prevailed," Remulla told reporters. "Democracy is working."

Human Rights Watch Deputy Asia Director Phil Robertson said De Lima was a victim of a "vindictive campaign to destroy her" and called for the remaining charge to be dropped.

"Freeing her now is critical so she can return to her family, leaving the injustice of years behind bars in pre-trial detention caused by Duterte's vengeful cruelty," he said.

Amnesty International said the government should hold accountable those responsible for what it said was arbitrary detention and denial of her rights to presumption of innocence.

"The charges against Leila de Lima are bogus and the result of the peaceful exercise of her right to freedom of expression. She should not have spent a single day in jail," it said.

(Reporting by Adrian Portugal, Enrico dela Cruz and Karen Lema; Editing by Jacqueline Wong, Martin Petty and Mark Potter)
A close up picture of two piranha fish with their sharp triangular teeth exposed.

A close up picture of two piranha fish with their sharp triangular teeth exposed.

A school of piranhas attacked holiday makers playing in a stream in a Brazilian resort on May 1, leaving at least eight people injured.

The fish tore at the bathers' legs and feet with their razor-sharp teeth, driving them out of the water and onto a tourist beach in Taruma-Acu, a region northeast of Manaus, the capital city of the state of Amazonas.

Experts think the biting frenzy was a case of "mistaken identity" and that the piranhas were actually after the food that visitors at local restaurants sometimes throw into the river.

"Piranhas do not exhibit unprovoked attacks on humans," Steve Huskey , a professor of biology at Western Kentucky University, told Live Science in an email. "The situation described is one of piranhas becoming acclimated to free food and those bites were just another example of mistaken identity, just like shark attacks."

Some piranha species, including the red-bellied piranha (Pygocentrus nattereri), engage in collective feeding frenzies. "Species of the genus Pygocentrus, that occur in the Amazon and Sao Francisco river drainages, are most dangerous," Paulo Andreas Buckup , an ichthyologist and professor at the National Museum of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, told Live Science in an email.

But this behavior only occurs in exceptional circumstances, such as when a high number of fish are trapped in small pools or starved for a long time, according to the Sea Life London Aquarium . "These fish swim in schools and normally do not attack large animals," Buckup said.

Related: Swarms of 'mini-shark' beach bugs are on a foot-biting rampage in California

Most piranhas are harmless and the meat-eating species tend to scavenge rather than hunt living animals. "Some species of the piranha family eat only fruit, insects and vegetable matter. Some specialize in eating fish scales and nibbling the fins of other fish," Buckup said. "They may attack other live fish or animals, but they will eat dead flesh whenever it is available."

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The presence of bathers in a feeding spot, however, can lead to confusion and aggression. "Feeding piranhas in a tourist setting strengthens their natural behaviors to school and bite," Mark Sabaj Perez , an ichthyologist at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, Philadelphia, told Live Science in an email.

The attack in Taruma-Acu could have been triggered by a single piranha mistaking a foot for food, taking a mouthful and drawing blood, which in turn sparked a feeding frenzy. "An attack is likely to have been caused by presence of blood in the water, skin injuries or movement that appears as a fish in distress," Buckup said. "Because their teeth are so sharp, a single bite [could] cause a lot of bleeding and trigger group feeding frenzy behavior."

Once the meal begins, piranhas dart in and out to bite their prey at great speed to avoid being accidentally nipped by another individual, according to the Sea Life London Aquarium.

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Piranhas have the strongest bite recorded in bony fish  as powerful as a great white shark, according to a 2012 study published in the journal Scientific Reports . The black piranha (Serrasalmus rhombeus) generates a bite force equivalent to 35 times its body weight, compared to just one time its body weight for a great white, according to Huskey.

"When a piranha focuses that bite force onto their 14 razor-sharp teeth, the bite pressure climbs to immeasurable levels," Huskey said. "They could do tremendous damage to humans throughout South America, if they were so inclined, but they're not and they don't."
Pismo Beach has a new interim city manager following the resignation of longtime City Manager Jim Lewis, who is leaving to take the same position in Atascadero.

According to a news release, the Pismo Beach City Council appointed Jorge Garcia as interim city manager at a May 10 meeting after announcing Lewis resignation.

Garcia will take over the role on May 27. Lewis served as city manager the past 10 and a half years, the release said.

Lewis will stay with the city until June 30 and will transition projects underway and assist the City Council with the recruitment process through his departure date, the release said.

Garcia served as assistant city manager prior to the appointment and will serve in the interim role until a new city manager is hired, the release said.

The Atascadero City Council is considering hiring Jim Lewis as its new city manager.

Mr. Garcia has 15 years of municipal management experience serving multiple communities in California and has served the city of Pismo Beach since December 2018, the release said.

That nationwide search for a new city manager could take three to six months, the release said, and Garcia will be eligible to participate in the recruitment process for the permanent city manager position.

Garcia earned a bachelors degree in political science from Chapman University and a masters in public administration from California State University, Fullerton, the release said.

He is active with the International City/County Management Association and previously served as president of the Municipal Management Association of Southern California, the release said. He lives in Pismo Beach with his wife and two children.
Crystal Smith, shown at an April 12 hearing, is scheduled to make a plea Friday in her evidence tampering trial involving son Aiden Fucci and slain Tristyn Bailey in St. Johns County.

St. Johns County court records show a major development Thursday in the case of Crystal Lane Smith, the mother of convicted murderer Aiden Fucci, whose trial had been scheduled to start Monday for her charge of tampering with evidence.

She is now scheduled for a "felony plea and sentence" at 1:30 p.m. Friday in St. Johns County Circuit Court, almost two years to the day that 13-year-old Tristyn Bailey was stabbed to death not far from home. The development would usually indicate a guilty plea.

What sentencing agreement with the prosecution may have been made is still unclear, but Smith faces up to five years in prison for the third-degree felony, according to Florida statutes.

The Bailey family was involved in the decision to forgo the trial and provided the following statement:

"The family is aware of the plan for her to plea tomorrow and they were involved in the negotiations alongside Assistant State Attorney Jenny Dunton. They are appreciative of the hard work of the St. Johns' County Sheriff's Department and the 7th Circuit State Attorney's Office! Tomorrow, the Tristyn Bailey Foundation looks forward to making a major announcement regarding the foundation's hard work toward victim advocacy and continuing to shine Tristyn's legacy with the world."

Tristyn Bailey Strong memorial: Slain teen Tristyn Bailey remembered on second anniversary of her murder

Crystal Smith: With Aiden Fucci sentenced, here's the status of his mother's tampering arrest

Fucci unexpectedly pleaded guilty to first-degree murder on Feb. 6 in the heinous killing of his friend and Patriot Oaks Academy classmate. At 16 years old, he was sentenced to life in prison on March 24. He never explained why he stabbed her over a hundred times, but some of his friends said he forewarned them he wanted to feel what it was like to kill someone. They didn't think he was serious though, according to court documents.

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Home security video showed Smith retrieving and scrubbing a pair of jeans that Fucci, then 14, had worn the day his friend went missing after they were hanging out. Then she was seen showing them to an unidentified woman before putting them back. This also was after deputies had arrived at their home to question Fucci and left with them so he could show them where he last saw her, according to court records.

Forensics would eventually determine the jeans contained blood.

St. Johns County's most horrific case: Aiden Fucci stabbed 13-year-old Tristyn Bailey 114 times. Here's everything to know

Victim impact statements: Tristyn Bailey's family describes never-ending torment Aiden Fucci has put them through

Tristyn Bailey: As Aiden Fucci learns fate, 'Bailey 7' urges for Tristyn's legacy not to be forgotten

Before Aiden Fucci: These juveniles were charged as adults in high-profile Jacksonville-area cases

Tristyn was later found stabbed to death in some woods in their Durbin Crossing neighborhood on Mother's Day 2021. While Smith and Fucci's father questioned their 14-year-old in a Sheriff's Office holding room, he never revealed what actually happened, according to the investigation's video.

But Smith, 37, had suspicions and asked him if he was sure nothing was on his jeans, whispering "Blood." She had also informed him Tristyn had been found dead and he was in a lot of trouble being the last one seen with her.

She was arrested June 4, 2021, on the tampering charge and released the next day on $25,000 bond, according to jail records.

Aiden Fucci's mother, Crystal Smith, questions him in a holding room at the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office during the investigation of the May 9, 2021, death of Tristyn Bailey.

Witnesses during the presentencing phase for Fucci indicated he had a fairly normal upbringing, despite some troubles in school and potential red flags. Smith had not attended her son's court proceedings while awaiting her own trial as recommended by her attorney, but she did submit letters to the judge and the Bailey family during his sentencing phase.

Here's an excerpt: "As a mother, the love you have for your child is difficult to articulate to others, unless they're a mother themself. To be helpless to protect your child is a mother's worst living nightmare. To cope with such a loss is unimaginable. I grieve for the devastating loss of Tristyn, I grieve for the subsequent arrest of my son, and I grieve for the irreparable agony inflicted on the Bailey family, as well as all other friends and families effected. Most of all, however, I grieve for Stacy Bailey as a mother."

Forrest Bailey, Tristyn's father, questioned the sincerity of her statement.

Youve seen the videos from the home. Youve seen the videos from the interrogation room. I would say if she is sorry, she can start by accepting responsibility, he said following Fucci's last court appearance.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Crystal Smith, Aiden Fucci's mom, is expected to plead guilty
As Mother's Day weekend continues, AccuWeather forecasters say that some folks with outdoor plans across the central United States will need to keep an eye on the sky for disruptive weather. As celebrations for mothers and mother figures alike take place, Mother Nature will have plans of her own.

AccuWeather meteorologists are tracking a storm that will bring daily pockets of severe thunderstorms from the nation's midsection to parts of the Ohio Valley through Sunday.

"A warm and humid air mass is in place across much of the Midwest," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Dan Pydynowski said. "As the energy in the atmosphere interacts with this warm and soupy air mass, it will provide the spark and fuel the storms need to transform into severe storms."

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As Mother's Day arrives on Sunday, the threat of severe thunderstorms will push through the Midwest and into parts of the Ohio Valley.

"If you are making outdoor plans, you'll want to stay weather aware in places such as Louisville and Evansville, Indiana," Pydynowski said.

Any outdoor lunch may also be jeopardized in places like St. Louis and Paducah, Kentucky.

Storms could impact motorists traveling along interstates 64, 70 and 75, according to Pydynowski.

Any storms have the potential to produce heavy downpours, hail and damaging wind gusts. While an isolated tornado looks to be unlikely in this area on Sunday, the chance for a twister to spin up is not zero.

After storms roll across the central U.S. this weekend, AccuWeather forecasters say that drier conditions are in store for the start of the traditional workweek.

A shift in the jet stream is expected to help facilitate this change by confining abundant moisture to the Southern states.

Want next-level safety, ad-free? Unlock advanced, hyperlocal severe weather alerts when you subscribe to Premium+ on the AccuWeather app. AccuWeather Alerts are prompted by our expert meteorologists who monitor and analyze dangerous weather risks 24/7 to keep you and your family safer.
Polish tanks

In addition to tallying the military aid Warsaw has provided to Ukraine so far, the message also notes the contribution of Ukraines other key allies.

Read also: Zelenskyy to visit Warsaw soon, says Polish deputy FM

"Out of the 575 tanks delivered to Ukraine so far, as many as 325 have been given by Poland; the Netherlands is second at 85, Germany  third at 80, and the United States  fourth at 76," the message reads.

In addition, of the 28 planes transferred to Kyiv so far, Poland has sent as many as 14 MiG-29 fighters.

Read also: Zelenskyy may meet with Pope Francis this week, report says

Bloomberg reported that Ukraine received over $30 billion worth of weapons from allies to help Kyiv prepare for the coming counteroffensive against Russian forces in the east and south.

In an interview with BBC, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy previously stated that Ukraine needs a little more time to begin their counteroffensive as its troops are waiting for additional weapon shipments from allies.

Read also: UN chief says Ukraine-Russia peace talks now impossible, Zelenskyys advisor reacts

On April 27, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stated that Ukraine had received 98% of the promised equipment from the West, including over 1,550 armored vehicles, 230 tanks, and a "huge amount" of ammunition.

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
FRANKLIN (Somerset)  A 57-year-old taxi driver was shot and killed while picking up a fare on Rose Street Thursday night.

Township police responded to the area of Rose Street and Sydney Place around 9:56 p.m. on reports of a shooting, where officers found Kofi Addo, of North Brunswick, shot in his cab which came to a rest after crashing into a parked vehicle, Somerset County Prosecutor John McDonald said.

Addo was transported to an area trauma center where he was pronounced, McDonald said.

A preliminary investigation revealed that the victim was responding to the area of Rose Street to pick up a fare where he was confronted by the suspects while inside the cab and subsequently shot, McDonald said.

Crime: Former Rutgers Prep teacher and coach avoids jail time in sexual assault case

The suspects in the shooting fled on foot and the preliminary motive indicated a robbery, McDonald said.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Somerset County Prosecutors Office Major Crimes Unit at 908-231-7100 or the Franklin Township Police Department at 732-873-5533.

Email: alewis@gannett.com

Alexander Lewis is an award-winning reporter and photojournalist whose work spans many topics. This coverage is only possible with support from our readers. Sign up today for a digital subscription.

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Franklin NJ shooting leaves North Brunswick taxi driver dead
Levi Bellfield, who is already serving two whole life sentences, allegedly confessed to the murder of Elizabeth Chau - PA

Police are preparing to dig for the remains of a student allegedly murdered by serial killer Levi Bellfield.

Scotland Yard detectives visited Bellfield for a face-to-face interview on Tuesday at Frankland prison.

It is alleged he told them where he had hidden the body of Elizabeth Chau, a 19-year-old computer science student who went missing in West London in 1999.

Bellfield, a former nightclub bouncer, is already serving two whole-life terms for the murder of 13-year-old Milly Dowler, Marsha McDonnell, 19, and Amelie Delagrange, 22.

It is claimed he told detectives how he had murdered Miss Chau and revealed on a map where had buried her body.

His solicitor, Theresa Clark, told Sky News: He tells me he feels it's important that her family have some closure.

He wants to see justice done because they have had to live this for so long and that's unfair.

He gains nothing from it, there is no positive publicity for him.

A spokesman for the Met Police said: On Tuesday 9 May 2023, a 54-year-old male was interviewed under caution. Inquiries continue.

We can confirm we remain in contact with Elizabeth Chau's family. At this time we will not be providing an ongoing commentary. We have no comment to make.

Bellfield is also said to have claimed responsibility for the murder of Lin Russell, 45, and her six-year-old daughter Megan, according to a lawyer.

The pair were found bludgeoned to death in Chillenden, Kent, in July 1996.

Ms Russell's other daughter Josie, then aged nine, suffered severe head injuries but survived.

Michael Stone, a heroin addict with psychiatric problems, was subsequently found guilty of the murders and handed three life sentences in 1998.

Stone has always protested his innocence.

Bellfield claimed responsibility for the Chillenden murders last year but later retracted the statement.

Stone's solicitor Paul Bacon told Sky News last month Bellfield has written and signed a fresh confession, saying the move "must have taken some courage and considerable soul-searching".

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He added: "It will, hopefully, bring closure to the families involved.

"Now, the police need to respond and investigate these crimes afresh, to affect closure for these families."

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.
If you or someone you know may be struggling with suicidal thoughts, you can call or text the U.S. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 any time day or night or chat online at 988lifeline.org. Additional mental health resources can be found at the end of this article.

WASHINGTON  The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund will honor 556 more officers Saturday who died in the line of duty, but the countrys largest police union is urging the group not to forget officers who died by suicide, including those who defended the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

The Fraternal Order of Police contends long-term exposure to mental stresses and traumatic events can lead to emotional crises. FOP President Patrick Yoes, FOP Auxiliary President Glenda Lehmann, Concerns of Police Survivors President Patricia Carruth and COPS Executive Director Dianne Bernhard suggested in a Feb. 8 letter that the memorial fund should honor officers who died from service-related suicides.

We intend to pursue this course as its not only consistent with law, but its consistent with the convictions of our 364,000 members," James Pasco, the FOP's executive director, told USA TODAY.

Serena Liebengood, the widow of U.S. Capitol Police Officer Howie Liebengood, told USA TODAY it was unacceptable not to recognize officers who died by suicide. Officer Liebengood, who was assigned to protect the Senate side of the Capitol during the height of the riot, died three days after the attack.

I want to put their feet to the fire in a gentle way, Serena Liebengood said. I cant tell you how much it means for the officers who show up to work day after day.

The memorial fund has engraved the names of more than 23,000 fallen officers on a memorial wall in Washington, D.C. A candlelight vigil is scheduled Saturday to honor the latest additions. But the criteria the group uses to approve names for a wall rejects deaths attributed to substance abuse, intentional misconduct or "caused by the officer's intention to bring about his or her own death."

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Marcia Ferranto, CEO of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, said the group is reviewing whether to change its criteria. The conversation was sparked by Congress passing a law in August 2022 that expanded benefits to survivors of first responders who died by suicide, which Ferranto said her group supported.

"We are looking into this and deciding whether we want to even pursue it and if we do, what that pursuit would look like," Ferranto told USA TODAY. Those kinds of changes dont happen overnight."

Capitol Hill Police salute as they lower the United States flag over the United States Capitol to half-staff on Jan. 8, 2021 after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ordered the flags at the U.S. Capitol to be flown at half-staff following the death of U.S. Capitol Police Officer Officer Brian Sicknick who died after he was injured when President Donald Trump's supporters stormed the Capitol.

Congress, federal agencies extended benefits to survivors of officers who died by suicide

Congress expanded benefits to survivors of officers who died by suicide to qualify for the Public Safety Officers Benefits Program, which had excluded them. In November 2022, Liebengood became the first officer recognized for the benefits.

The Justice Department and the Labor Department have now recognized those suicides as work related.

The issue gained prominence after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol because of the deaths of a handful of officers afterward. In addition to Liebengood, Metro Police Officer Jeffrey Smith died by suicide days after the riot. Metro Officers Gunther Hashida and Kyle DeFreytag were found dead at their residences months later.

The fact of the matter is that the families of officers who are lost to suicide suffer the same pain and grief as the family of any other officer who dies in the line of duty, the Feb. 8 FOP letter said. The death of an officer who suffers from one of these disorders  diagnosed or not  is just as much a service-connected death as any other and we should recognize that.

More: 130 officers have left Capitol Police since Jan. 6 insurrection, watchdog tells Senate hearing

Candlelight vigil to honor 556 more names to be added to memorial

The dispute over the memorial was rekindled during the National Police Week. An estimated 30,000 people will attend a candlelight vigil for fallen officers Saturday at the memorial wall in a square at 400 E Street NW in Washington.

The wall already holds 23,785 names. The additional names include 224 officers who died last year and 332 who died in previous years and the fund has now confirmed the circumstances of their deaths. Ferranto said the memorial fund is a leading authority on line-of-duty deaths because of its stringent requirements.

You cannot be honored in a greater way than to be recognized as a line of duty death and recognized on these sacred walls and be remembered in perpetuity," Ferranto said. Their sacrifice will never be forgotten."

Mental health resources:

If you or someone you know may be struggling with suicidal thoughts, you can call or text the U.S. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 any time day or night, or chat online at 988lifeline.org.

National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233 or text LOVEIS to 22522.

Trans Lifeline: 1-877-565-8860 (para espanol presiona el 2).

Veterans Crisis Line: 988, then select 1, or text: 838255.

Support Line for Physicians: 1-888-409-0141  physiciansupportline.com.

Help for Native American people: StrongHearts Native Helpline: 1-844-7NATIVE (762-8483) or chat online.

Resources for Black people: 988lifeline.org/help-yourself/black-mental-health.

Ayuda en espanol: 988lifeline.org/help-yourself/en-espanol.

Find treatment: findtreatment.gov

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Spurred by Jan. 6 deaths, police union urges memorial include suicides
Sylvania Township police

The mother of a fugitive found in Mexico with a Canton teen is considered the victim of a homicide, police said Friday.

A missing person report was filed May 5 on Nicole D. Jones, 53, after Sylvania Township police were asked to do a welfare check on her and she could not be found. The checkup was requested by Canton police following information they received that Jones might be hurt or worse, the report said.

Deputy Police Chief Jim Rettig of Sylvania Township released a copy of the report and confirmed her identity Thursday.

A day later, on Friday, Rettig provided new information in a press release. He said Jones is dead, a victim of a homicide.

"Sylvania Township investigators are now in the process of obtaining an arrest warrant for one individual for the homicide of Nicole Jones", police said in a statement. "It is anticipated that additional charges will be filed against other suspect(or suspects) at a later date. The investigation remains ongoing."

Federal agents: Missing Canton girl, 17, found in Mexico with fugitive

Sylvania Township is a suburb of Toledo, about 13 miles west of the city.

Jones is the mother of 33-year-old Jonathan Jones. He was taken into custody Monday in Mexico after a manhunt that stretched two countries. He was with a 17-year-old from Canton who had been reported missing since April 18. Authorities have not said how Jonathan Jones and the girl knew each other.

Federal agents had asked May 13 for assistance in tracking them down.

The Cochise County Sheriff's Office in Arizona confirmed Jones and the girl were seen there in a 2021 Buick owned by Nicole Jones on May 5 during the manhunt.

Jonathan Jones had pleaded guilty in March to pandering obscene material and child endangerment. The conviction stemmed from a 2022 case in Wood County.

He was expected to be sentenced in the case last week but missed the May 4 appearance.

Missing Person - Press Release by Benjamin Duer on Scribd

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Agents on Monday said Jonathan Jones was in custody and the girl was recovered. The FBI assisted Mexican authorities in locating them.

No other details were available.

Reach Benjamin Duer at 330-580-8567 or ben.duer@cantonrep.com. On Twitter: @bduerREP

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Police: Nicole Jones, mother of Jonathan Jones, dead; charges pending
The Senate of Poland backed Ukraine's accelerated NATO accession following the example of Sweden and Finland and urged for the alliance's July summit to be a key step on this path, according to a resolution unanimously approved on May 11, Polskie Radio reported.

"After a year of a terrible war, we know that Ukraine, standing up to Russia, protects Europe and is a key link protecting the continent from aggression from the east," the resolution reads, as cited by the Polish broadcasting service. "Defenders need real support through closer political and military cooperation with NATO countries."

According to the document, the Polish Senate believes Ukraine's accession to NATO should be a political decision - like it was with Finland and Sweden.

Finland and Sweden submitted their applications in May 2022 to join NATO after years of military neutrality. Finland officially became the 31st member of the North Atlantic Alliance on April 4, 2023, while Sweden is still waiting for its bid to be approved.

Finland, like Ukraine, borders Russia. However, rather than responding with military action when it became a NATO member, Russia simply attempted to downplay the move.

Kuleba pens op-ed on why NATO must admit Ukraine Finlands NATO accession showed that fears Ukraine joining the military alliance would provoke Russia were unwarranted, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba wrote in an op-ed for Foreign Affairs published on April 25. Kyiv IndependentThe Kyiv Independent news desk

The resolution says the two Nordic countries "were invited to join NATO by a procedure that had never been used before" and called on the alliance members to apply a similar fast-track procedure to Ukraine.

The Polish senators added that Ukraine should receive "much more than in previous statements about the open door policy" during the upcoming summit in Vilnius. It should become an important stage of Ukraine's preparation for full-fledged NATO membership, they emphasized in the resolution.

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During a meeting with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg in Kyiv on April 21, President Volodymyr Zelensky also said that Ukraine needed "something more than the format of our relations which exist today" and that the country needed a clearer indication of when it was joining NATO.

At the meeting, the NATO chief reaffirmed his personal support for Ukraine's future NATO membership. "I will speak clearly," Stoltenberg said at the briefing, "Ukraine's rightful place is in the Euro-Atlantic family, Ukraine's rightful place is in NATO."

Ukraine applied for a fast-track NATO accession on Sept. 30 after Russia claimed the annexation of four Ukrainian regions. However, until Moscow's war against Ukraine ends, the country's prospects of NATO membership seem to remain low.
ROME (AP)  Pope Francis joined Italys conservative premier on Friday in encouraging Italians to have more children, denouncing the financial precariousness facing young couples and selfish, egotistical choices that have led to a record low birth rate that is threatening the countrys economic future.

Francis urged concrete political action to invert the demographic winter, which in population terms resulted in the disappearance of a city the size of Bari last year. Blasting couples who have pets instead of children, Francis called for resources to be dedicated to helping couples grow their families, saying it was necessary to plant the future with hope.

Let us not resign ourselves to sterile dullness and pessimism, Francis told an annual gathering of pro-family organizations. Let us not believe that history is already marked, that nothing can be done to reverse the trend.

Italy recorded a record low number of live births last year, 392,598, which combined with an elevated number of deaths, 713,499, has accelerated the demographic trend that threatens to crash the countrys social security system. The government of Premier Giorgia Meloni is backing a campaign to encourage at least 500,000 births annually by 2033, a rate that demographers say is necessary to prevent the economy from collapsing by growing the wage-earning population as retirees draw on their pensions.

Meloni came to power last year on a pro-family campaign of God, family, fatherland and her government has proposed a host of measures to try to encourage families to have more children, given Italy's fertility rate of 1.24 children per woman is among the lowest in the world. Numerous studies have pointed to a combination of factors that discourage women from having children, including a lack of affordable child care spots, low salaries and precarious work contracts, and a tradition of women often bearing the burden of caring for older parents.

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Meloni, who has a daughter with her partner, told the family association congress that it was time to reverse the trend. But she said it must be done without resorting to surrogacy, hitting on broader political talking points that have surrounded the demographic debate in Italy as well as the governments crackdown on migrants and aversion to registering children of same-sex couples.

We want a nation where it is no longer scandalous to say that  whatever the legitimate, free choices, inclinations of each person  we are all born of a man or a woman, Meloni said to applause. Where it is not taboo to say that motherhood is not for sale, that wombs are not for rent and children are not over-the-counter products that you can choose on the shelf as if you were in the supermarket and maybe return if then the product does not match what you expect.

Speaking in religious terms, Meloni concluded by saying that her government wants to begin by respecting the dignity, the uniqueness, the sacredness of every single human being, because each of us has a unique and unrepeatable genetic code. And this, like it or not, has something of the sacred.
Nina lights a candle for her daughter Yulias 1st birthday cake

Nina lights a candle for her daughter Yulias 1st birthday cake. Credit - Serhii KorovaynyUNFPA Ukraine

On Sunday, Ukraine will mark its second Mothers Day since Russias full-scale invasion began. For many families, the day will be less of a celebration than a reminder of what war has wrought: death, destruction, and separated families. For the Ukrainian women who became mothers during the war, it is all they have ever known.

Olena Mokhonko, an obstetrician at a maternity hospital in Chernihiv, in northern Ukraine, has helped deliver as many as 70 babies a month since the war began last year. As a doctor, she felt duty-bound to stay in the city despite the dangers she and her family faced. I had to go to work because I am a doctor who took an oath to help others, she says. In my work, what I love the most is seeing a father cry and witnessing the joy of parents as they welcome their child into the world.

Just over a week into the Russian invasion, Mokhonko helped four Ukrainian women deliver their babies, and in March this year helped celebrate the childrens first birthdays. Mokhonko says that the mothers and their children, whose portraits were captured by photographer Serhii Korovayny, represent the strength and resilience of Ukrainian women.

They are true heroines, she says.

Read More: The Ukrainian Mother on TIMEs Cover Recounts Fleeing Her Home With an Infant

As many as 195,000 babies were born in Ukraine last year, according to the United Nations Population Fund, the U.N.s sexual and reproductive health agency. One in three were delivered in UNFPA-supported hospitals, which have been subject to heavy bombardment in violation of international law.

Olena Mokhonko, a doctor and obstetrician, has delivered babies throughout the war in her home city of Chernihiv, Ukraine. Serhii KorovaynyUNFPA Ukraine

One of Mohenkos four patients, Nina, gave birth to her daughter Yulia in a hospital corridor. This was a relative luxury at the time, she recalls. When the missiles began raining down on the hospital, the women had to be lowered into the basement bomb shelter. It was pure horror, Nina says. Babies were crying, women were giving birth.

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Another patient, Kateryna, gave birth to her daughter Sofia in the bunker that same night. We spent the first hours of her life underground, she recalls. Though she and her daughter were discharged the next morning, what awaited them outside the hospital was no different. Kateryna says she hid in her sisters basement with her newborn for three days, with no heat, light, or water. I had to find food for the baby somewhere, because I had no milk.

Read More: The Mothers Returning to Ukraine to Rescue Their Children

My greatest fear was the possibility of a bomb dropping on us, says Maryna, who gave birth to her daughter, Diana, in the hospital corridor on the same night as Nina and Kateryna. Thankfully, the experience went smoothly.

For Iryna, who gave birth to her daughter Amelia via Cesarean section in a cupboard turned makeshift operating theater, the war had already left an indelible mark on her life. Just two days before Amelias birth, her husband, Serhiy, was killed trying to defend their city. Amelia was my salvation, Iryna says. If it werent for her, I dont know how I would have survived everything; only she gave me the strength to live on.

Nina and her children enter the familys basement where they have sheltered from bombing in Chernihiv. Serhii KorovaynyUNFPA Ukraine

Stocked shelves in the basement where Nina and her family have sheltered from bombing. Serhii KorovaynyUNFPA Ukraine

Kateryna with her two children on her daughters 1st birthday in Ivanivka, Ukraine. Serhii KorovaynyUNFPA Ukraine

Decorations for Sophias 1st birthday. Serhii KorovaynyUNFPA Ukraine

Maryna with her daughter Diana on her 1st birthday, in Chernihiv. Serhii KorovaynyUNFPA Ukraine

Maryna shares pictures taken during the war since Dianas birth. Serhii KorovaynyUNFPA Ukraine

A destroyed hotel in Chernihiv city center. Serhii KorovaynyUNFPA Ukraine

Iryna pushes Amelia in her pram in their neighborhood in Chernihiv. Serhii KorovaynyUNFPA Ukraine

A playground in the snow near Irynas home in Chernihiv. Serhii KorovaynyUNFPA Ukraine
Decriminalising euthanasia has deeply divided Catholic Portugal

After a long battle, Portugal on Friday passed a law legalising euthanasia for people in great suffering and with incurable diseases, joining just a handful of countries around the world.

The issue has divided the deeply Catholic country and witnessed strong opposition from conservative President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, a devout churchgoer.

Under its provisions, people aged over 18 will be allowed to request assistance in dying if they are terminally ill and in intolerable suffering.

It will only cover those suffering "lasting" and "unbearable" pain unless they are deemed not to be mentally fit to make such a decision.

The law will only be applicable for nationals and legal residents and not extend to foreigners coming into the country to seek assisted suicide.

The euthanasia bill was approved by parliament four times in the last three years but sent back every time for a constitutional review due to opposition from the president.

The definitive version of the law was adopted on Friday with support from the governing Socialists, who hold an absolute majority in the chamber.

"We are confirming a law that has already been approved several times by a huge majority," said Socialist MP Isabel Moreira, a fervent advocate of legalising euthanasia.

The president now has a week to promulgate the new law. It could come into force by the autumn, Portuguese media said.

"We have at last come to the end of a long battle," Moreira told AFP earlier this week.

- Debate continues -

Rebelo de Sousa had vetoed earlier bills due to "excessively undefined concepts" and later said the language used to describe terminal conditions continued to be contradictory and needed to be clarified.

The new version of the law now provides that euthanasia is only authorised in cases where "medically assisted suicide is impossible due to a physical disability of the patient".

Rebelo de Sousa has asked lawmakers to specify who would "attest" to whether a patient was physically incapable of assisted suicide but lawmakers this time refused to modify the text.

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Questions raised by the president can be addressed through implementing decrees, said Catarina Martins, the leader of the far-left Left Bloc.

Rebelo de Sousa himself said approval of the law "wasn't a great drama" and did not give rise to "constitutional problems".

The debate over medically assisted dying is far from over in Portugal.

"The adoption of this law has been relatively fast compared with other big countries," said Paulo Santos, a member of the pro-euthanasia group Right To Die With Dignity.

He warned a large number of doctors could raise moral objections to carrying out euthanasia, as they had done over abortions in 2007.

"There's a good chance euthanasia will lead to even stronger resistance," he told AFP.

For their part, critics of medically assisted dying regret that the issue has not been put to a referendum and hope opposition deputies will once again ask the constitutional court to look into the bill.

Euthanasia and assisted suicide are only allowed in a handful of countries, including the Benelux nations and Portugal's neighbour, Spain.

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President Volodymyr Zelensky has been blocked from making a public address at tomorrows Eurovision grand final.

After two semi-final events earlier this week, the conclusion of the annual song contest will be held in Liverpool on Saturday (13 May).

The British city is holding the ceremony on behalf of last years winning country, Ukraine, due to the latter countrys ongoing war with Russia.

Despite this, the Ukrainian president will not be granted airtime at the final, because the organising committee wish to retain the programmes non-political basis.

The Eurovision Song Contest is an international entertainment show and governed by strict rules and principles which have been established since its creation, a statement from the organisers, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), said.

As part of these, one of the cornerstones of the contest is the non-political nature of the event.This principle prohibits the possibility of making political or similar statements as part of the contest.

Though commenting that Zelenskys request to address the audience was made with laudable intentions, the EBU confirmed that it regrettably cannot be granted as it would be against the rules of the event.

Last years winners, Kalush Orchestra, will perform at the final, along with 10 other Ukrainian artists throughout the night.

President Zelensky (Getty Images)

Due to the countrys invasion of Ukraine, Russia has been banned from competing at Eurovision since 2022  an absence that has had a knock-on effect for at least three other nations who wont be participating this year.

Ahead of Saturdays final, which will see 26 acts perform, Eurovision fans have been enjoying the talents of host Hannah Waddingham.

During her first appearance as presentr, the Ted Lasso actors vocal skills stole the show for some, before she impressed viewers with her ability to speak in fluent French.

Following on from Sam Ryders silver medal performance last year, Mae Muller will represent the UK at the grand final with her pop track I Wrote a Song. Find out all you need to know about her here.
Prince Harry

The Duke of Sussex has presented no sufficient evidence of phone hacking in his case against the publisher of the Daily Mirror, the High Court has heard.

The newspaper group accused the Duke of making outlandish allegations about the way articles were sourced, such as placing tracking devices on cars or bugging homes.

Andrew Green KC, for Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) told the High Court that rather than representing a breach of privacy, a very substantial proportion of the 100 stories at the heart of the civil case instead concerned a breath-taking level of triviality.

The Duke and three others are suing MGN, claiming that they were the victim of unlawful information gathering, including phone hacking. The trial, which began on Wednesday, is expected to last seven weeks.

Prince Harry has put forward 147 articles published in the Daily Mirror, the Sunday Mirror and The People between 1996 and 2010, which he alleged were obtained through illegal means.

Of those, 33 have been selected as a sample on which to base his case.

One of them was based on an interview the Duke gave himself to mark his 18th birthday while others came from official statements given by St Jamess Palace and Clarence House, MGN has claimed.

Evidence utterly non-existent

Outlining his defence on Friday, Mr Green acknowledged that since 2012, MGN had paid out 100 million to settle more than 600 claims, including 1.2 million to eight claimants in 2015.

There is absolutely no doubt that... there was reprehensible conduct on the scale set out in the (2015) judgment, he told the court.

The findings of fact make painful reading - they did then and they do now.

But the barrister argued that the current claims were in evidential terms, a very long way from the previous eight.

He said that while those cases had involved extensive telephone call data, such evidence was utterly non-existent concerning three of the four current claimants and slim in the case of the fourth.

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Mr Green said the ongoing case was very different to those previously settled and that there was no evidence, or no sufficient evidence, of voicemail interception in any of these four claims.

He added that some of the allegations were made with no basis and that many had been made with a sense of outrage.

Mr Green said the third parties - including private investigators and freelance journalists - with expertise in using the electoral roll, registers of births, deaths and marriages, and Companies House were used for plainly not unlawful activities.

The trial continues.

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Several opposition parties from across the political spectrum in Serbia called for the rally after last week's shootings claimed 17 lives, including eight students and a security guard in a downtown Belgrade elementary school

Tens of thousands of demonstrators blocked a major motorway in the Serbian capital Belgrade on Friday to demand the resignation of top officials and curtailing violence in the media after two shootings that killed 17 people last week.

It was the second 'Serbia Against Violence" rally this week drawing thousands to the streets.

Several opposition parties had called the protest after back-to-back shootings whose victims included eight students and a security guard in a Belgrade elementary school.

"I felt the need to come here because of my children and because I want to live in Serbia without violence," Zdravko Jankovic, a 48-year-old activist, told AFP.

The demonstrators want the government to revoke the broadcasting licences of television channels that promote violent content and ban pro-government newspapers which stir tensions by targeting political dissidents.

They have also demanded the resignation of the interior minister and the head of the intelligence service and called for a special parliamentary session to discuss the government's response to the shootings.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has dismissed the protests as a "political" stunt.

"They scheduled their political rallies during national mourning days, with a sole purpose of violence and violent seizure of power," Vucic said in a televised interview.

The president has scheduled a separate rally for his own supporters later this month, which he has been billed as the "biggest gathering in Serbian history".

Vucic has vowed to "disarm" Serbia with an ambitious plan that would crack down on legal and illicit firearms.

Serbia has the highest level of gun ownership in Europe, with roughly 39 out of 100 people owning firearms, according to the Small Arms Survey research group.

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By Aleksandar Vasovic

BELGRADE (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Serbians protested on Friday demanding better security, a ban on violent TV content and the resignation of key ministers following two mass shootings in which 17 people died.

In the second such demonstration in less than a week, throngs of people blocked a key avenue and highway junction in the capital Belgrade and a bridge over the Sava river, marching behind a black banner which read "Serbia Against Violence".

"For me (the message of the protest) is primarily - stop the violence. I'm here for my daughter and all our children," said Bojana, a protester in her 40s.

In the country's first mass school shooting, a 13-year-old boy killed eight pupils and a security guard on May 4, wounding six other pupils and a teacher.

Just a day later, a 21-year-old man killed eight and wounded 14 others with an assault rifle. Both shooters surrendered to the police.

The protesters - mainly opposition supporters - want pro-government TV stations and tabloids, which they accuse of promoting violent and vulgar content, shut down.

"This is (a message) against violence at all levels, from media to the parliament, to what happens on the streets," said Velimir Jerkic, a protester from Belgrade.

Opposition parties and rights watchdogs accuse President Aleksandar Vucic and his ruling populist Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) of autocracy, oppressing the media, violence against political opponents, corruption and ties with organised crime.

Vucic and his allies deny the accusations.

Earlier in the day, Vucic accused the opposition of "playing with the emotions of people", and called his loyalists from across Serbia to a major rally on May 26.

"We are calling the people to tell them what we will do in the future...we will not stop traffic or disturb people in any way," he told reporters.

Demonstrators also called for the resignations of Interior Minister Bratislav Gasic and state security agency director Aleksandar Vulin, as well as the dismissal of the government's Regulatory Committee for Electronic Media (REM).

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Similar rallies were held in other Serbian cities.

In response to the shootings, Serbia's police on Monday launched a one-month amnesty for surrendering illegal weapons.

Vucic said around 10,000 weapons, including hand-held disposable anti-tank launchers, explosive ordnance and tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition had already been handed over.

Serbia has a deeply entrenched gun culture, and along with the rest of the Western Balkans is awash with military-grade weapons that remained in private hands after the wars of the 1990s that tore Yugoslavia apart. However, mass shootings are rare.

(Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic and Branko Filipovic; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
After the largest tide of visitors in recent memory flooded Tybee Island during the Orange Crush festival, the Tybee City Council voted Thursday to petition state and federal leaders for more authority to invoke protections against another manmade public safety crisis.

The council unanimously passed a resolution that will be sent to state legislators, entities and U.S. representatives, imploring for assistance in developing a regional strategy to prevent a repeat of the most recent Orange Crush weekend.

More: Orange Crush fallout: Tybee officials to seek authority to close roads, restrict beach access

More: 'Squelch it': Tybee Island residents call for end of Orange Crush

From April 21 to 23, Orange Crush, known as the biggest HBCU beach bash in the Southeast, drew tens of thousands of festival-goers, thousands of cars and hours of gridlocked traffic to the three-square-mile island. Public safety incidents including a road-rage shooting on U.S. 80, damaged police cars and multiple instances of drug overdoses.

The city started preparing for the event a month prior when social media promotions for Orange Crush soared. But officials said their available resources were ultimately no match for the unprecedented number of people, which was double that of past Orange Crush events, according to data collected by the city.

What the resolution asks for is more local control to divert traffic and disperse large crowds. That could mean giving Tybee Island officials the authority to call a state of emergency when visitor numbers reach a tipping point. The resolution explores a number of prevention measures such as closing U.S. 80, the only motor vehicle route to and from the island; restricting access to Tybees three-mile-long beach; and increasing penalties for ordinance violations during similar events.

Because the highway is county and state-owned and Tybees beach is public, the local government has no control over those actions, currently.

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During the Thursday night council meeting, City Attorney Bubba Hughes pointed to the state of Florida taking similar measures against large-scale events. Prompted by unpermitted, pop-up events like the Daytona Truck Meet, the Florida Assembly recently passed a bill that gives law enforcement the authority to designate special event zones and enforce enhanced penalties for noncriminal traffic violations.

More: Florida House bill gives police tools to better control special events like Daytona Truck Meet

More: Between 40,00-50,000 people: Orange Crush returned to Tybee Island with unprecedented force

It enhances the ability of local governments and how they react, and that is encouraging  Although Florida is significantly different in its laws  the same principles apply and we need the help, said Hughes, making note that events like Orange Crush are no longer just a Tybee issue, but require a regional effort.

Traffic during the April weekend was so severe that vehicles overflowed into neighboring communities such as Wilmington and Talahi Island.

The resolution also cited the need to revisit a 2018 Department of Justice (DOJ) agreement that prevents Tybee from calling in outside law enforcement, unless those reinforcements are called in for other events as well. The agreement was enacted after a group of concerned citizens criticized the city for treating Orange Crush  a festival attended by predominantly Black college-aged students  differently from other large-scale events.

Tybee MLK Human Rights Organization Founder Julia Pearce, who led the conversations with the DOJ, still urged city officials to work with promoters to make Orange Crush a safe event.

Orange Crush is Tybees oldest public event and, until Juneteenth, it was the only cultural event on a public beach, said Pearce.

Past Orange Crush organizers have criticized the city for civil rights violations before, and some citizens pointed to a lack of political will from the local government to formalize the event after Savannah State dropped its sponsorship in 1991. However, city officials are saying that the most recent iteration demonstrated that limiting those public safety resources presents a significant safety risk to all involved, students and residents alike.

During a May 4 public forum, Tybee Island Police Department (TIPD) Chief Tiffany Hayes emphasized the urgency for more flexibility to call in neighboring police forces. I will not have my hands tied by this agreement again, said Hayes, who described her officers running to and from accidents due to traffic preventing police vehicles from driving across the island. Emergency vehicles were also stuck in the jam on U.S. 80, delaying response times.

No deaths were reported over the three days. Incidents that did occur included 18 arrests, 37 traffic citations and 53 code enforcement violations. The department is also investigating other cases, such as an alleged robbery and assault. Tybee law enforcement also reported that bottles were thrown at officers and two police vehicles were damaged.

Tybee Mayor Shirley Sessions urged residents to take action and contact their state and federal representatives about the issue.

This is about public safety, its about infrastructure and its about having control over keeping our resources, our people, our visitors, everyone safe, said Tybee mayor Shirley Sessions. I think sometimes it's easy for the people in Atlanta to forget that we have a lot to deal with. I think they're beginning to understand  and seeing the problems that traffic and crowds draw.

Tybee Island Resolution Orange Crush by savannahnow.com on Scribd

Nancy Guan is the general assignment reporter covering Chatham County municipalities. Reach her at nguan@gannett.com or on Twitter @nancyguann.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Tybee passes resolution for authority to control Orange Crush crowds
Florida Gov. and potential 2024 presidential candidate Ron DeSantis

WASHINGTON - The Ron DeSantis presidential announcement watch is on high alert.

Florida Gov. DeSantis completes a series of state trips this weekend with visits to Illinois and Iowa, and he has hinted that he could be approaching an announcement on his 2024 plans sometime before the end of June.

"We'll get on that relatively soon," DeSantis said when the Florida legislature formally ended its session last week. "You either got to put up or shut up on that."

Ron DeSantis' donors know he's struggling. They still want him to be president in 2024.

Playing in Peoria

DeSantis spoke Friday night at a Lincoln Day Dinner jointly sponsored by the Peoria and Tazewell county GOP parties in Illinois. The governor gave his standard speech on how Florida economic, education, election and "war on woke" policies could work nationally. He also made references to what Republicans need to do in 2024.

"The stakes are high," DeSantis said.

On Saturday, DeSantis is scheduled to appear at Republican events and fundraisers in Sioux Center and Cedar Rapids, Iowa, home of the first caucuses of the nominating season.

Trump attacks

DeSantis ponders the race at a time when he has fallen further behind former President Donald Trump in early polls for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. This despite the fact that Trump has been indicted by a New York City grand jury over hush money payments and found liable by a New York City jury for sexual abuse of writer E. Jean Carroll in 1996.

Trump and allies have spent months attacking DeSantis and his political record. On Friday, Trump released a video crowing about endorsements from Florida congressional members who picked him over their governor, DeSantis.

Both Trump and DeSantis will be campaigning in Iowa on Saturday.

'Thin skin'

Trump and other Republican presidential candidates have also hammered DeSantis over his lawsuit targeting his state's most prominent employer, Disney.

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In a salvo this week, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley said DeSantis went after Disney because the company criticized his education policies.

She told the "America 180 with David Brody" podcast: He passed the largest corporate subsidies in Florida history for Disney and Florida right before this, so suddenly they criticize you and youre gonna have thin skin and do a lawsuit that costs taxpayer dollars.

Money, money, money

DeSantis would not be without advantages in a race against Trump, especially when it comes to money.

Ron DeSantis has more campaign funds than Donald Trump heading into 2024

The governor recently nixed his connection to his long-time state political committee, a group with millions of dollars that it can now pass on to organizations backing a DeSantis presidency candidacy.

When all is added up, including the state committee and federal PACs, DeSantis has more cash than Trump, reported USA TODAY - about $116 million to Trumps $86.1 million.

State trips

The Florida governor has raised some $4.3 million for state and local Republican Party organizations in recent months, according to a statement from his political office. He has appeared at 10 state and local GOP events in eight states since the start of March, drawing more than 10,000 attendees.

The trips have included big states (California and Texas), states that are general election battlegrounds (Wisconsin and Michigan) and states that are holding early Republican delegate contests (Iowa and New Hampshire).

The DeSantis pre-presidential tour also included a foreign trip.

Throughout his travels, DeSantis has said he will make some sort of announcement about 2024 after the end of the Florida Legislature session. The session formally adjourned last week, though DeSantis still has upcoming bill signings, including the state budget.

Speaking with reporters after the adjournment, DeSantis blew off questions about whether he would be starting a 2024 campaign too late.

It is "just not something that I worry about," he said.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ron DeSantis prepares to decide on 2024 presidential plans
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Moscow had never refused the "diplomatic track" to resolving the conflict in Ukraine in a phone call with his South African counterpart, the Kremlin said.

Putin said he supported South African President Cyril Ramaphosa's proposal to involve African leaders in talks regarding a peace process for Ukraine, according to the Kremlin's readout of the call.

South Africa has positioned itself as neutral in the conflict, now in its 15th month. On Friday, officials there hit back at U.S. accusations that a sanctioned Russian ship had picked up weapons from a naval base near Cape Town late last year.

The U.S. ambassador to South Africa said on Thursday he was confident that a Russian ship loaded weapons from the Simon's Town naval base in December, suggesting the incident was not in line with Pretoria's professed neutrality.

Ramaphosa said he had opened an inquiry into the allegation.

Friday's call between the two leaders came at the request of the South African side, the Kremlin said.

During their talks, Putin also repeated an offer to deliver Russian grain and fertilisers free of charge to African countries.

(Reporting by Reuters, Editing by William Maclean)
Hugo Burnand (centre) and his team setting off early on Saturday morning to Buckingham Palace to take the official photographs for the coronation of King Charles and Queen Camilla (Kitty Phillips)

Whats it really like to photograph the official portraits at a royal coronation? You know, the ones that will end up on the front pages of newspapers everywhere, all over the world? Well, according to Hugo Burnand, the man who took the official photos of King Charles and Queen Camillas coronation at the weekend, it starts with an early morning journey by bike.

On 6 May, as the nation was waking up, Burnand set off at 7am from his London mews house near Notting Hill Gate. With him were a team of six assistants, including his daughter Una, 25. They cycled to Buckingham Palace on bespoke, regal-coloured purple and ivory Brompton bikes in their formal attire  even Una in her pink silk dress.

It took about 25 minutes  we didnt want to break out in a sweat, Burnand tells me from his kitchen, when we talk just days after the portraits have been released to the public. They travelled light; all cameras and other equipment were already in situ at the Palace. It feels really weird setting off [for the day] without a camera for the biggest job of your life, he laughs.

By taking official coronation portraits of the monarch, Burnand is joining a tradition that is over a century old  but he is familiar with royal subjects. The former Tatler photographer is the only photographer with a royal warrant, given By Royal Appointment by the Prince of Wales, and photographed William and Kates wedding in 2011. On the now Prince and Princess of Wales big day, he used a jar of jelly beans to bribe the page boys and bridesmaids in front of the camera  the leftovers of which are in his kitchen as a memento. Other high-profile figures snapped by Burnand include the late Queen to Lucian Freud and Michael Jackson, to tycoons such as David Tang and the Gettys in their South African game lodge. But he also brings a sense of fun to his pictures, too: he once photographed his family naked on top of each other for their annual Christmas card.

Burnands coronation portraits, taken moments after the royal family had appeared on the balcony, are regal but relaxed. One of the images shows the new slimmed-down monarchy, an idea Charles has long favoured, with William and Kate [the Prince and Princess of Wales], Anne [the Princess Royal], and Edward and Sophie [the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh] among some of the select few included.

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It may have been a day full of pomp and formality, freighted with historic importance, but Burnand says there was a lovely buzz in Buckingham Palaces throne room. There was definitely a happy feeling. It was cosy with family, children and friends milling about, he tells me. Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis were all part of the photoshoot, which made it beautiful and uplifting. It was like the last bit of the race [for the royal family]  there was an energy there which I know I got in the pictures, he says.

For his solo portrait of Charles, Burnand had consciously mirrored society photographer Cecil Beatons coronation portrait of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. The painterly portrait of Charles shows him in his full regalia, wearing the imperial state crown, his back slightly to one side of the official state chair in which he sits. His position is similar to that of his mother when she posed for Beaton, when she, like her son now, held the orb and sceptre with cross.

In another image, Queen Camilla is pictured alongside Charles, the pair standing close to one another and smiling. In both, Camilla wears Queen Marys crown, the train of her long embroidered robe of state spread in front of her. I think its very important the way she is standing. There is a humility or humbleness to it, although she is wearing this magnificent crown, says Burnand. She has a fantastic sense of humour and part of that humour I think comes through just with the dogs on her dress [her rescue dogs Bluebell and Beth were embroidered on her coronation robe].

Leading up to the event, Burnand spent weeks researching past coronation photos  King Edward VIIs was the first to be photographed in 1902  and three days setting up the lighting, so that when the royal family came in you are ready to go, says Burnand.

The slimmed-down royal family standing in the throne room at Buckingham Palace (Hugo Burnand/Royal Household 2023/PA) (PA Media)

Although there was a sense of fun throughout the shoot, Burnand knew he would have just one hour to capture the images. Speed was of the essence, so four cameras were set up on tripods, to save time on setting up the shots. From previous experience, Burnand and his team knew how to manage the pressures and parameters of the occasion to get the best photographs.

We all knew what we had to do... we were well enough organised and prepared [to do that] but you have to allow for the humanity to come into the pictures  and the humanity is real life. The person you are photographing [has] to hit the ball back to you. You talk to them. They talk to you. I might even take a picture while talking [to them].

Helping matters was the fact that Burnand is a familiar face: he also took the photographs for Charles and Camillas wedding in 2005, so was able to put them at ease. In fact, he first began photographing Camilla 20 years ago, after he was introduced by her sister, Annabel Elliot.

King Charles III in full regalia in the Throne Room at Buckingham Palace (Hugo Burnand/Royal Household 2023/PA)

It could have been a number of photographers [for the coronation]  but having a track record helps, says Burnand about landing the job. He had been working with Charles and Camilla on portraits released ahead of the coronation  including a relaxed shot of the couple standing side by side in the Blue Drawing Room at Buckingham Palace, both dressed in blue  when, he says, it gradually dawned on me that I was the one doing the photographs.

Charles and Camilla were clearly fans of his style: his portraits have an approachable feel.

I wanted them [the portraits] to be authentic, says Burnand. I like people when they look at a portrait to engage with the person. What you want to connect to as a viewer is the emotions of that person  thats when you know its a good portrait.

(Hugo Burnand/Royal Household 2023/PA)

By the time Burnand and his team left the Palace, it was bucketing down with rain. Getting back on their bikes, they rode home via Hyde Park Corner taking refuge under Wellington Arch with a whole load of tourists with their cameras and their Union Jack umbrellas and us in our morning coats. Arriving home at 5pm, he says they all looked like drowned rats, but felt high after their hardworking, historic day. They cracked open a bottle of champagne, left on the doorstep by a neighbour.

Despite his pivotal role in the day, Burnand didnt see much of the coronation itself  just the flypast, from the window of the throne room. Watching the ceremony is next on his to-do list, he says. Its important to keep ones feet firmly on the ground, he tells me before I leave. Just as important, though, to keep ones eye to the lens.
Raleigh chef and James Beard winner Ashley Christensen has sold her stake in the fast casual brand BBs Crispy Chicken.

Christensen developed BBs with Raleigh-based MDO Holdings, the brands majority owner. That company announced this week that Christensen had sold MDO her minority stake, making it the full owners of BBs.

BBs launched in 2021 with its first location in Raleighs Midtown East development and has since opened two more locations in Durham and Cary. The brand jumped into the current national chicken sandwich craze, serving a battered style of fried chicken it billed as shatteringly crisp. Beyond the sandwiches, BBs was known for an array of house-made hot sauces, fried cheese curds, french fries and seasonal milkshakes.

The restaurants will remain open and no operational changes have been announced.

In a release, the company said Christensen made the exit to focus on her hospitality group AC Restaurants and its current and upcoming restaurants.

I am so proud of what we have accomplished over the last two years. Ive always been a fan of the crispy chicken sandwich  the joy it can bring, and the technique that goes into a truly great oneand I feel like we nailed that with BBs robust menu, Christensen said in a release. Its been a pleasure to share this food with a broad reach of folks throughout the Triangle, and I am excited to step back and watch the brand continue to grow and evolve.

Christensen first announced she was working on the fast casual brand in 2019, teasing the launch of what was then called Project Xtra Crispy. The next year the name was revealed as BBs Crispy Chicken.

MDO Holdings owns multiple food and lifestyle brands across North Carolina, including O2 Fitness, the Durham Food Hall and Wilmingtons Epic Food Co. The company is owned by Michael Olander, Jr., the son of Eliza Kraft Olander, an early investor in Christensens flagship restaurant, Pooles Diner.

It has been a true honor to work with Ashley to develop and launch BBs, Michake Olander said in a release. She worked tirelessly to craft a recipe that perfectly balanced a crispy exterior and juicy center. She was the perfect partner to navigate all of the challenges of building and opening a concept in the midst of a pandemic. We are all forever grateful for all she has done to help launch this fantastic brand and we are excited to support her any chance we can moving forward. Her contributions to our community are immeasurable and we are proud to have played a small part in growing her impact.
Alberta rancher BJ Fuchs's paddocks sit empty and smoke fills the air after he was forced to move his cattle to safety as wildfires advanced

Rancher BJ Fuchs hasn't been able to let his guard down as wildfires advanced in Canada's Alberta province, so far sparing his farm in Shining Bank but scorching forests and grasslands all around it.

Paddocks that usually hold up to 1,000 cows sit empty and a haze of smoke has reduced visibility to less than five meters (16 feet).

Fuchs and his son managed to evacuate his herd before the wildfires jumped a nearby river and arrived at his doorstep. Smoke now billows from piles of burnt trees on his wooded lot west of the provincial capital Edmonton.

The blaze that threatened his farm was powerful, he told AFP. "It's pretty scary stuff when fire's that close to your home."

"There're still hot spots and, you know, I don't think we're out of danger yet," he said, sporting a days-old beard and a cowboy hat. "So I don't think we can let our guard down."

Alberta is the largest cattle producing region in Canada, with almost five million head of cattle, according to government data.

Dotted with open ranges and rolling plains in the shadow of the majestic Rocky Mountains, it has been used as a backdrop for Westerns such as Oscar winners Unforgiven and Brokeback Mountain.

Over the past week, wildfires burnt more than 400,000 hectares (1,550 square miles), and forced almost 30,000 people out of their homes. Some 70 fires were still raging on Friday, including 20 listed as out of control.

"It's going to be an ongoing battle, in my opinion, until we get a lot more rain, that's for sure," Fuchs said as he busily stomped out embers on his property.

Fuchs and his neighbors despair over the hot, dry weather that has fueled the wildfires, only two years after a major drought slashed Western Canada crop yields by up to 40 percent.

"It's literally hundreds of thousands of animals that are potentially impacted because the hectarage (burnt) is so huge," Alberta Premier Danielle Smith told a news conference.

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- 'I felt hopeless' -

Hosing down barns and other farm buildings, erecting fire barriers and clearing tinder-dry brush, farmers and ranchers have been hard at work.

"I felt hopeless, wondering when it would end," said Jessee Crowther, who at 37 years old runs a small beef cattle farm. "There's always something -- drought, hail, heavy rains -- you take what comes and keep on going."

This latest fire disaster -- which authorities suspect was started by a combination of lightning strikes and human carelessness -- has been "crazy," he said.

In recent years, Western Canada has been hit repeatedly by extreme weather, the intensity and frequency of which have increased due to global warming.

Forest fires in Canada's oil sands region in 2016 disrupted production and forced out 100,000 residents from Fort McMurray, pummeling the nation's economy.

More recently in 2021, westernmost British Columbia province -- which neighbors Alberta -- suffered record-high temperatures over the summer that killed more than 500 people, as well as wildfires that destroyed an entire town, floods and mudslides.

Over the past week, Alberta ranchers have scrambled to secure transportation to move cattle to fairgrounds and other locations that opened up emergency spaces for displaced livestock.

"Anybody that lives out here is prepared all the time," said farmer Trent Stanley, "because if your house catches fire, the local fire department, you know, they're volunteer guys that are going to take half an hour to get to the station and then another half an hour to get here (and) by the time that happens, your house is gone."

But in regards to livestock the situation is much more challenging -- even dire. "I've got 850 cows calving. It's not like you can load them up in a few minutes," he said.

"I guess the plan was just to open the gates and maybe the cattle would know what way to run, but I doubt it."

bur-amc/tjj
A Ravenna Township man was recently sentenced to probation in connection with an altercation at his home, during which a Portage County sheriff's deputy shot him two years ago.

Judge Becky Doherty ordered in Portage County Court of Common Pleas on May 1 that Kody Osco, 45, serve five years probation, with the first year under intensive supervision.

James Eskridge, Osco's attorney, declined to comment.

Three deputies went to Oscos state Route 14 home to arrest him on May 12, 2021, on outstanding warrants for failure to appear, intimidation of a crime victim, public indecency, criminal damaging and trespass in a habitation, according to the sheriff's office. After a family member let them into the home, the deputies confronted Osco in the basement.

The Portage County Prosecutor's Office determined, after an investigation by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, that one of the deputies shot Osco in both legs and an arm after he did not obey their repeated commands to drop a knife and then lunged at the deputies. EMS took Osco to UH Portage Medical Center and later transferred him to UH Cleveland Medical Center.

No injuries were reported to the deputies.

The prosecutor's office said that based on this, the deputy's actions were reasonable and justified and in compliance and he would not be charged.

Osco previously pleaded guilty to second-degree felony assault. As part of a plea deal, the charge was amended down from first-degree felony assault and two other first-degree felony assault charges in a grand jury indictment were dismissed. Also as part of a plea deal, Osco pleaded guilty to fifth-degree felony attempted trespass of a habitation and first-degree misdemeanor criminal damaging in connection with two other cases, with other charges dismissed.

Reporter Jeff Saunders can be reached at jsaunders@recordpub.com.

This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Ravenna Township man who was shot by sheriff's deputy gets probation
It goes without saying that Amal Clooney, a political activist, powerhouse barrister in international law, and motherwhos married to a very famous manis a changemaker in her own right. To quote Tina Feys monologue at the 2015 Golden Globes, where Amals husband, George Clooney, received the AFI Life Achievement Award, shes worked on the Enron case, was an adviser to Kofi Annan regarding Syria, and was selected for a three-person UN commission investigating rules of war violations in the Gaza Strip, so tonight, her husband is getting a Lifetime Achievement Award. (Do you see the distinction?)



Courtesy Cartier, Jean Picon

On Wednesday evening, at the 16th awards ceremony for the Cartier Womens Initiative, a global entrepreneurship program that aims to drive change by encouraging women who leverage their businesses as a force for good, hosted by writer, comedian, and broadcaster Sandi Toksvig at the Salle Pleyel concert hall in Paris, Amal gave an inspiring speech of her own, celebrating a plethora of career achievements and those of the French luxury houses 32 fellows, and sharing some empowering words.



She started by stressing the ongoing need to advance womens rights to the crowd. Whether you believe in human rights, or just prosperity, it is a good idea to try to unshackle half the population of the world, she said. The latest data shows that womens economic parity would add $12 trillion to the global economy. Yet the percentage of philanthropic grants that go to womens empowerment is in the single digits. And womens rights in places as diverse as Afghanistan and the United States have been in retreat in recent years. My goal is equal justice for all and my philosophy is that justice must be waged. Because justice is not inevitable: it doesnt just happen on its own. We have to fight for it; to gather our forces, forge alliances, prepare a strategy and be determined to do whatever it takes. For me, waging justice means trying to change the systemone case at a time. She went on to list inspiring and often haunting examples of her casework.

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Courtesy Cartier, Jean Picon

Here, read the complete transcript in full:

Bonsoir a tous, et merci beaucoup Sandi. Merci aussi a Cyrille [Vigneron, Cartier International president and CEO] et a Cartier de mavoir invitee a participer a ce merveilleux evenement ce soir. Good evening everyone; I am so happy to be part of this evening, that brings me back to a city I love, and where I get to celebrate one of my favorite things: fabulous women who are changing the world.

Throughout my career as a lawyer, I have sought to advance womens rights. It seems pretty obvious that this is a worthy area of focus. Whether you believe in human rights, or just prosperity, it is a good idea to try to unshackle half the population of the world. The latest data shows that womens economic parity would add $12 trillion to the global economy. Yet the percentage of philanthropic grants that go to womens empowerment is in the single digits. And womens rights in places as diverse as Afghanistan and the United States have been in retreat in recent years. My goal is equal justice for all and my philosophy is that justice must be waged. Because justice is not inevitable: it doesnt just happen on its own. We have to fight for it; to gather our forces, forge alliances, prepare a strategy and be determined to do whatever it takes. For me, waging justice means trying to change the systemone case at a time.

Id like to give you some examples from my work on womens rights.

First, there are cases in which I have sought to challenge discriminatory laws and practices through the courts. In Tanzania, we found data showing that approximately 1 in 4 girls is either pregnant or married before she turns 18, and that schools in Tanzania have a policy of expelling these girlsmeaning they never get to graduate from high school. So I worked alongside a local womens group to challenge this policy in a case before the African Court of Human Rights. Following this challenge, Tanzania announced a U-turn in its policy, meaning that a quarter of the population of adolescent girls in the country now has a chance to complete their education. This is one case that had an impact on an entire community.

Across the borderin MalawiI worked on a case involving some of the poorest and most vulnerable women in the world. I had learned that women working on tea plantations were routinely sexually abused by their male supervisors. And that the company they were picking tea for was headquartered in the U.K. So, along with colleagues, I filed a case on behalf of 36 of the women in a London court. We obtained a life-changing settlement that included not only a substantial compensation award and new safety measures for the women who had been abused, but also forward-looking initiatives like training and employment opportunities that promoted gender equality in the entire community. These cases inspired the Clooney Foundations Waging Justice for Women Programto try to scale this work and change the system. We are now conducting investigations at tea plantations across Malawi to see where further litigation can help. Later this year we will open our first women-for-women legal aid clinic in Malawi so that young women lawyers can be trained and funded to provide free legal support to women and girls in their communities. Across Africa, we plan to challenge many more laws that discriminate against women when it comes to marriage, divorce, and property. And I have now joined forces with Michelle Obama and Melinda French Gates on global programs to combat child marriage and increase girls access to education.

Around the world, I have also represented women who have been persecuted for using their voice. In Azerbaijan, my client was a woman named Khadija, one of the top investigative reporters in the country. She uncovered corruption by the President and his family and quickly became a targetfirst when authorities released footage from a camera hidden in her bedroom, and later when they imprisoned her on wholly unfounded charges. I led a team of lawyers that took her case to the European Court of Human Rights, and she was set free. And I am currently working on a similar case, trying to keep another female journalistthe Nobel laureate Maria Ressaout of jail in the Philippines. Because locking up one journalist means that 100 others will put their pen downand women are particularly vulnerable to attack. Cases like this inspired the TrialWatch program at the Clooney Foundationwhere we monitor criminal trials across the world; provide pro bono legal support to those unjustly imprisoned, and advocate to overturn unfair laws. We are now in over 40 countriesand growing.

Finally, there are the cases in which I represent women who have been victims of violence in conflict. This has been a focus of my work since my first international casethe trial of Slobodan Milosevicknown as the Butcher of the Balkans. More recently I had the honor of representing women in the first trial at the International Criminal Court against a militia leader responsible for crimes against humanity in Darfur, Sudan. Many of the victims I interviewed were women who fled the violence across the border to Chad and ended up in a refugee camp, where they still live two decades later. Their children told me they have never seen the world beyond the borders of the camp. Many women told me that until I interviewed them, no one had ever asked them what happened to them. Some told me that they had never told their husbands that they had been rapedbut that they would do so in open court if it helped to bring perpetrators to justice. One women even started going into labor while I was interviewing herbut she said she had not wanted to cancel the appointment because justice was her imperative. So many witnesses spoke of the importance of this long-awaited trial to their community, and their belief that justice could help stop the ongoing violence in their country. The trial is ongoing in The Hague. But I am now also working with the ICC Prosecutor to bring other perpetrators to justice, including former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. As Sudan burns, it could not be more important to move from one case to changing the system.

My last example comes from Iraq, where my work on conflict-related violence has focused on women who are victims of ISIS. ISIS was, of course, the most brutal terror group in the world, and it reserved its most brutal acts for Yazidisa small Kurdish-speaking community that ISIS abhorred for being non-Muslim and not having a holy book. Young Yazidi girls were bought and sold at markets and online, sometimes when they were as young as 8, for as little as $20. And ISIS left a trail of evidence behind itbecause they thought they would never be held to account. And they were right. Until survivors fought back. One of the survivors I represent is a mother whose daughter was killed in front of her while they were ISIS captives. I cannot say her name for security reasons. But she told me that she was held in Iraq at the house of an ISIS militant named Taha, along with her daughter Reda. Both mother and daughter were subjected to horrific abuseand ultimately Reda died after Taha left her hanging from a window in the scorching Fallujah heat. My client, the mother, said she was haunted by the cries of mama she heard that day and was determined to do whatever it took to get justice. She was illiterate, and had never left the country. But she traveled to Europe, leaving everything and everyone she knew. She put herself into a witness protection program. I connected her to a small group of prosecutors in Germany, who were intent on filing charges for international crimes. And she became the key witness in the case against her abuser.

Against the odds, she took on this fight. And last year, over seven grueling days of testimony spoken through an interpreter, she told a panel of judges what Taha did. She sat across from her tormentor in open court. And at the end of the trial he was convicted of genocide and sentenced to life in prison.

I will never forget the moment the verdict was announced: the defendant fainted, and paramedics were called. They had to postpone the proceedings. While he was down, my client was clam, and resilient. It was the greatest possible reversal of power: the slave, rendered stronger than her captor, through justice. This was the first case, anywhere in the world, in which an ISIS fighter has been convicted of genocide. I have, since, represented a victim in the second such case, and many others in which we have secured convictions against ISIS militants for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Cases like these represent a triumph for the whole community determined to see justice being done. So I am now working with Yazidi survivors to trigger more trials like this. And our Foundations Docket program is doing the same for women who are survivors of war crimes from Ukraine to Congo to Venezuela.

Ladies and gentlemen, these are some ways in which, as a lawyer, I can advocate for the rights of womenone case at a time, but always to change the system. And in this room we have some amazing women who are impact entrepreneurs across continents and industries: they are improving food security, refugee integration, female and infant health care. They are providing emergency support to women in danger, creating online laboratories for students and tech platforms for teachers. These are all people changing systems, one project at a time. People who are not satisfied with the status quo and who are determined to scale the impact theyve already had. Reading through their profiles; this is what stood out to me about what they had in common: their work has already touched so many, but all they can see is that its not enough. These women are citizens of the world who get in the arena, and fight for a better future. They are engines of changeand I am sure they will use the fellowship and community we celebrate tonight as a catalyst. I feel lucky to be in a room with them. And as a mother I am inspired: I am going to bring my daughter into rooms like this when she is a bit older than 5! So thank you, Cartier, for having me here, and congratulations to all the wonderful fellows being honored tonight. I wish you all a lovely eveningje vous souhaite a tous une tres bonne soiree! Thank you.

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A federal lawsuit has been filed against two Independence police officers and the City of Independence in the fatal shooting of 39-year-old Tyrea Pryor, attorneys of the family announced at a Thursday press conference.

The attorneys contend the officers should have never fired their weapons at Pryor the night of March 11, 2022, and displayed reckless, excessive use of force by doing so. The city is also being sued since the officers are considered employees of Independence. But the familys legal team say they will amend the complaint if documents reveal that the city has also been negligent in overseeing the Independence Police Department.

Pryors family stood beside their attorneys with sullen faces at the Justice and Dignity Center on The Paseo as they discussed the lawsuit, which asks for $25 million in damages.

Nigel Johnson, the uncle of Pryors teenage son, said he believes their lawsuit has the power to bring about change for other families.

Our faith in the system is being challenged, he said. We dont want this to happen to anyone else. We want justice for our loved ones ... These children shouldnt have to grow up without a father.

Nigel Johnson, uncle to Tyrea Pryors son, speaks at the Justice and Dignity Center press conference Thursday announcing a million dollar lawsuit against two Independence police officers and the city of Independence for the death of 39-year-old Tyrea Pryor.

One of the familys attorneys, Arimeta Dupree, said the family has yet to receive condolences from the department.

Another attorney, John Burris, said change has to start with the acknowledgment that something wrong was done. Burris argued there was no clear reason for the officers to use force on Pryor the night he was killed.

No one had called and said a man had a gun and threatened them, Burris said. There had been a crash ... There was no threatening activity.

In the legal teams claim, the attorneys said Soule and Officer Jamie Welsh breached their duty by shooting and killing Tyrea even though he posed no threat.

According to Burris, the high number of shots fired suggests, they were ready to shoot no matter what.

What were looking for now is to vindicate a familys civil rights here.

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Burden of proof

It all started one March night more than a year ago when Officer Hunter Soule was called to 803 East College Street on reports that a man, Tyrea Pryor, and two women were pounding on the door of a 911 caller. They had reportedly gone to the residence to get items another woman wanted returned.

As Soule set off his sirens, the three jumped into a white vehicle and sped off. He witnessed Pryor grab an unknown item from the back of the vehicle before taking off, according to interviews with the Missouri State Highway Patrol. After a short pursuit, the officer stopped following Pryor.

Officers were later called to a crash involving Pryors vehicle. Video footage released by attorneys for Pryor family shows the aftermath of the crash: One officer shouted Gun! and police proceeded to fire their weapons. Pryor was shot 15 times.

According to investigative interviews, a silver assault-style rifle was inside the vehicle, but had already been secured by an officer. Another officer revealed that a pill bottle in Pryors pants may have been mistaken for a a handgun.

Attorneys of Pryors family claimed Soule and Welsh fired their service weapons in a disabled vehicle, mutilating a severely injured, incapacitated, unarmed and trapped Tyrea, according to the lawsuit filed Thursday.

The lawsuit also accused Soules and another officer, Jamie Welsh, of placing Pryor as well as other members of the public in serious danger and acting in bad faith. They allege Pryor was deprived of his constitutional rights and his family is owed financial compensation due to the resulting medical expenses and loss of the 39-year-olds future earnings.

The drivers seat of the vehicle Tyrea Pryor was operating on the night of the fatal shooting, according to the million dollar federal lawsuit filed by attorneys of Pryors family on Thursday.

The decision to file a civil lawsuit in federal court came after Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker refused to pursue the case, citing the reasonable belief that a threat was being posed to police, according to her March statement.

But the familys attorneys said Thursday theyre not concerned about Bakers assessment. Attorney John Burris explained the prosecutor has a very different burden of proof.

Since Burris and his legal team are filing as a civil lawsuit, they do not need to convince a jury their claim is true without any reasonable doubt. Instead, they simply need to prove their claims are more likely true than not.

Attorney Harry Daniels, also representing the family, agreed.

He said the officers decision to stop after a short pursuit of Pryors vehicle following the first 911 call suggests the 39-year-old did not pose an imminent threat.

While Pryor did have a silver assault-style weapon in his vehicle, which officers discovered while responding to the car crash, Daniels argued it did not serve as a reason for officers to use force.

He had a Second Amendment right to have a gun, a gun itself is not a reason why you should be killed.

Use of force

Police department data obtained by The Star through an open records request shows significant racial disparities in police use of force in Independence. Last year, 30.7% of the people the department used force on were Black. The city is 9.6% Black, according to the U.S. Census.

The records outlined 163 cases that ended with force, including Pryors shooting. A Taser was used in nearly 42% of the encounters; while physical strikes, pepper spray and a bean bag round were also deployed.

When it came to certain tactics, like the neck restraint known as an LVNR, the racial disparity increased even more, to 38%.

Gwen Grant, president of the Urban League of Greater Kansas City, said the data was alarming, but not surprising.

These numbers substantiate the need for extensive reform in policing practices in Independence, including accountability for officers who racially profile and use excessive or deadly force, Grant said.

Attorney John Burris speaks at the Justice and Dignity Center press conference Thursday announcing a million dollar lawsuit against two Independence police officers and the city of Independence for the death of 39-year-old Tyrea Pryor.

Implicit bias training alone will not solve these problems. These officers need to learn about the deeply rooted systemic issues... they need to unlearn the myths and misconceptions that result in their lack of respect and appreciation for the humanity of Black people.

Police Chief Adam Dustman said every instance is reviewed and evaluated by multiple people and noted there were more than 6,800 arrests last year with only 2% resulting in use of force.

On the LVNR cases, Dustman said all but two began when a citizen called police for help. Of the eight involving a person of color, only one was an Independence resident.

Many of the locations associated with an incident are on our main corridors into and out of Independence, he said. These incidents often involve a mix of residents and nonresidents, which makes the application of the Independence census information misleading as a comparison.

Attorneys for the Pryor family said they are aware of the data, and plan on further exploring how department policies may have contributed to Pryors death.

The Stars Katie Moore contributed to this story.
Florida, under Gov. Ron DeSantis and Republican Legislature, is increasingly hard to recognize. Its an intolerant and repressive place that bears scant resemblance to the Sunshine State of just a few years ago.

The 2023 legislative session cemented those appalling setbacks. Florida is now a state where government intrusion into the personal lives of Floridians is commonplace. What will it take for citizens to push back on this unprecedented encroachment on their rights? And, more broadly, what if Desantis supporters get what they want, which is to make America Florida?

The latest round of laws makes Florida sound more and more dystopian  something voters in the rest of the nation should note if they are considering what a DeSantis presidency could look like. The state has new rules for who can use which bathroom, what pronouns can be used in schools, which books can be taught and when women can get an abortion (almost never.) There are measures to strip union protections from public employees, keep transgender children and their parents from choosing to seek medical treatment, prevent universities from discussing diversity or inclusion and ban talk of gender identity or sexuality in schools all the way through 12th grade.

The governor, meanwhile, is consolidating power  with a personal militia to do his bidding and the ability, granted by the ever-compliant Legislature, to fly undocumented immigrants around the country on taxpayer dollars. Guns will be easier to carry, and the death penalty will be easier to impose, thanks to DeSantis and the Legislature.

Groups targeted

Forbidden speech, attacks on the rights of vulnerable groups, union-busting, a governor-controlled State Guard? Welcome to the mean state of Florida.

This session, lawmakers seemed to take delight in passing bills designed to push already-marginalized groups into the shadows. One bans children from drag shows (wheres parental freedom now?) Another makes it a misdemeanor to use bathrooms in public schools and other government buildings if the bathroom doesnt correspond with your sex at birth.

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Thats the same bill that led Rep. Webster Barnaby, a Republican from Deltona, to erupt into a thundering, Old Testament-style tirade at a House Commerce Committee meeting in April, calling transgender people demons, imps and mutants from another planet. He apologized later, but the fact that he felt free enough to go on that rant speaks volumes about the way Republicans in Tallahassee are thinking. And though the words were abhorrent even to some Republicans, in the end, that didnt make a dent. The bill passed.

Lawmakers still had plenty more punishment to dole out: Florida also will start prohibiting teachers from asking for students preferred gender pronouns in schools, expanding the Dont say gay law, and criminalizing gender-affirming care.

In addition to making it legal to carry a loaded and concealed gun, without training or a permit  thats HB 543  lawmakers made sure under SB 450 to lower the bar for the death penalty to eight votes from a 12-member jury, the lowest in the nation. They did that knowing that Florida has the highest number of exonerations in the country, with 30 people since 1973 wrongfully convicted and sent to Death Row, only to be cleared years later.

What happens if we continue to convict the wrong people? Republicans clearly dont care. They had one main goal this session: to make DeSantis more right-wing than potential White House rival Donald Trump.

Court challenge

They may have succeeded with the six-week abortion ban, which goes into effect if the states current 15-week law weathers an ongoing legal challenge in the state Supreme Court. The six-week ban is especially cruel and punitive because many women dont know they are pregnant within at that point. That could amount to forced pregnancy, a hellish concept if there ever was one  and one that may make even staunch Republicans blanch.

And dont forget about immigration. Lawmakers sure didnt. They passed a bill that will give DeSantis $12 million to continue his inhumane migrant relocation effort  the one that drew national attention last year when he treated a group of migrants like pawns, flying them from Texas to Marthas Vineyard. The government will also prohibit local governments from providing money to organizations that issue identification cards to people illegally in the country and will require hospitals that accept Medicaid to ask about citizenship  no doubt intended to dissuade undocumented immigrants from seeking medical care.

Banning speech, discouraging medical care for immigrants, making transgender people feel unwelcome while making women less free and loosening up gun laws? This dark and angry place isnt the Florida we know. Its not the Florida we want.

Voters across the country should take note. As we head into a presidential election, the Florida that is emerging today under DeSantis tight control is a bleak cautionary tale.
A Florida appeals court has opened the door for the possible release of transcripts of the grand jury investigation into notorious sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein nearly 20 years ago that ended with prosecutors negotiating a plea deal that critics have called questionably lenient.

Floridas Fourth District Court of Appeals unanimously agreed that Circuit Judge Donald W. Hafele had erred when he ruled he had no authority to release the normally secret transcripts of the 2006 Palm Beach County proceedings. The court cited a state law provision that says grand jury records can be made public if that is a furtherance of justice.

The court in Wednesdays decision ordered Hafele to review the transcripts and to release those he deems would further justice, redacting the names of victims, witnesses and those who have not been criminally charged. There is a public interest in knowing whether the wealthy and politically connected Epstein, who lived in a Palm Beach mansion, was given special treatment, the court ruled.

FILE - This image provided by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement shows financier Jeffrey Epstein, on July 25, 2013. A statement released on Sunday, Jan 1, 2023, by the governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands, relieved of her duties the attorney general who pursued various cases against disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, including a lengthy legal fight that resulted in a $105 million settlement. (Florida Department of Law Enforcement via AP File)

FILE - This image provided by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement shows financier Jeffrey Epstein, on July 25, 2013. A statement released on Sunday, Jan 1, 2023, by the governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands, relieved of her duties the attorney general who pursued various cases against disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, including a lengthy legal fight that resulted in a $105 million settlement. (Florida Department of Law Enforcement via AP File)

There is a tradition in the United States, a tradition that is older than our Nation itself, that proceedings before a grand jury shall generally remain secret, the appellate judges wrote, quoting a 1997 decision. The rule of secrecy, however, is not without exceptions.

The Palm Beach Post had sued for the transcripts release, but Hafele did not believe that the furtherance of justice provision applied to any party not directly involved in the Epstein case. Even then, he believed those parties needed to have an open criminal or civil case and would be limited in what they, in turn, could make public.

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Palm Beach County Court Clerk Joseph Abruzzo was technically the defendant in the Posts lawsuit as his office holds the records, but he applauded the ruling and said he will not appeal.

I will leave no stone unturned to have these records released for full transparency to the public, he said in a statement.

Epstein was 66 when he killed himself in a New York City federal jail cell in August 2019 as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges. Federal prosecutors had accused him of paying underage girls hundreds of dollars for massages at his homes in Florida and New York, where he then molested them.

Floridas treatment of Epstein came under scrutiny in 2018 following a series of Miami Herald articles. They detailed the disagreements that surfaced beginning in 2005 among law enforcement officials after teenage girls and young women told Palm Beach police investigators that Epstein had sexually assaulted them. They had agreed to give him massages while semi- or fully nude in exchange for money, but they said he would then molest them without their consent.

Palm Beach police, meanwhile, took their evidence to federal prosecutors, who threatened to bring charges until an agreement was reached in June 2008. Epstein pleaded guilty to state charges of procuring a person under 18 for prostitution and felony solicitation of prostitution. He was sentenced to 18 months in the Palm Beach County jail system followed by 12 months of house arrest. He was required to register as a sex offender.

While in Palm Beach sheriffs custody, Epstein was allowed to stay in an isolated cell at the countys minimum-security stockade, where he roamed freely and watched television. State investigators said in a 2021 report that isolating him was a prudent decision, saying it was made to protect Epstein from other inmates and to prevent him from using his wealth to become king of the dorms.

Epstein was also soon allowed into the countys work-release program. During that time, he was taken to his office, where he claimed to be running his financial consulting business and his foundation. By the time of his release, he was spending six days a week and 18 hours a day at his office. He was required to wear an ankle monitor and hire two deputies to oversee his whereabouts from the lobby, but they were not in his office with him.

A woman who was then 17 and another woman, who was then an adult, have said they were trafficked to Epsteins office during that time to have paid sex with him.

Epsteins former girlfriend, socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, is serving a 20-year prison sentence after being convicted in 2021 of luring girls to his homes to be molested.
Image: Toya Sarno Jordan (Reuters)

MG Motors of China is looking to sell its India unit and is reportedly in talks with companies like Reliance Industries (RIL) and Hero Group.

The sale may happen by the end of 2023, MG Motors managing director Rajeev Chaba told CNBC TV-18. MG Motors is owned by the Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation, Chinas largest automaker.

Read more

Besides Mukesh Ambanis RIL and the Hero Group, Premji Invest and the JSW Group are also among MG Motors suitors.

MG Motors has only a little over 1% share in Indias automobile market. Yet, if Ambanis flagship buys it, RIL will suddenly be competing directly with Tata Motors, a legacy brand in this space.

MG Motors drive in India

MG Motors, which made its India entry in June 2019, initially sought to invest $650 million in the market. A year later, however, the nationwide covid-19 lockdown forced it to slow down.

A straining India-China relationship, too, affected its business. Last year, Indian tax officials raided its premises amid heightened scrutiny of companies with China links.

Yet, MG Motors is in no mood to scale down its ambition in India and is increasingly focused on electric cars.

It recently launched a new electric car, Comet, hoping it will account for 30% of its sales this year. Chaba said the company expected to sell up to 90,000 units of its electric models.

MG Motors aims to turn profitable by 2025 and has raised its annual sales target from 80,000 units earlier to 100,000 units now.

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Former New York state Sen. Anna Kaplan (D) tore into Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) in a new ad that launched her 2024 campaign against the beleaguered, serial liar congressman.

George Santos is a disgrace, Kaplan said in the spot, which called out the multiple lies Santos has told about his background, pointed out his extremist policies, and highlighted his indictment this week on 13 federal charges.

In the video, Kaplan also recounted her own background, detailing how she immigrated to the United States from Iran without her parents when she was just 13 to avoid persecution for being Jewish, and later ousted a Republican incumbent to flip the New York state Senate to Democratic control.

Watch the video here:

 My name is Anna Kaplan, and I am proud to announce my campaign to defeat George Santos.



As a mother, former child refugee, and proud Democrat, I am ready to restore honest leadership in Congress.



Join me and let's defeat Santos. pic.twitter.com/eIRVop5gts  Anna M. Kaplan (@AnnaMKaplan) May 11, 2023

New York deserves better than George Santos, Kaplan, who served in the state Senate from 2019 to 2022, concluded the spot, which garnered more than 1.2 million views in its first 18 hours on Twitter alone.

On Twitter, Kaplan said that as a mother, former child refugee, and proud Democrat, I am ready to restore honest leadership in Congress.

On Wednesday, Santos pleaded not guilty to the slew of charges, including that he pocketed thousands of dollars in campaign donations and received pandemic-related unemployment benefits when he was employed.

Santos has dismissed the allegations as a witch hunt.

Related...
Extremist Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) on Thursday praised former President Donald Trump for his controversial, lie-filled town hall on CNN  calling it outstanding.

The far-right congresswoman claimed she laughed and laughed with the former president after his appearance on Wednesday.

I enjoyed congratulating President Trump on his outstanding town hall and undefeated record against CNN, the conspiracy theory-peddling lawmaker tweeted alongside an image of herself on a cellphone.

They had to air him telling the truth about how the 2020 election was rigged and stolen, she added, referencing Trumps on air peddling of his baseless election claims.

We laughed and laughed, Greene concluded the post.

I enjoyed congratulating President Trump on his outstanding town hall and undefeated record against CNN.



They had to air him telling the truth about how the 2020 election was rigged and stolen.



We laughed and laughed. pic.twitter.com/0I0th1SGTm  Marjorie Taylor Greene  (@mtgreenee) May 11, 2023

Critics certainly werent tickled by her tweet, though:

You are practically begging to be his VP arent you?  David Weissman  (@davidmweissman) May 12, 2023

If its trashy and lies of course you do.  Naomi (@Nomie1971) May 11, 2023

That's because governing is a joke to you.  Bruce Tomaso (@brucetomaso) May 11, 2023

Undefeated record? Not sure what that even means. Sad what you're doing to this country by saying the election was rigged.  TMajestic  (@soapmaker10) May 11, 2023

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The family is entitled to see the video under Kansas law, even if there are no plans to release it publicly or identify the officer involved in the April 26 fatal shooting of Amareeya Henderson.

Kansas City, Kansas, police are allowing family members to view body camera footage after an officer killed a Black man during a traffic stop.

The family is entitled to see the video under Kansas state law, even if there are no plans to release it publicly or identify the officer involved in the fatal shooting of Amareeya Henderson on April 26, according to KCTV5 News.

According to Yahoo! News, which cited The Kansas City Star, Pauletta Johnson claimed police stopped her son and his girlfriend, a passenger, while they were delivering food in the area.

Amareeya Henderson was fatally shot by a Kansas City, Kansas, police officer on April 26. Lawyers for his family, who will be allowed to view footage of the encounter, say police never gave a reason for the traffic stop. (Photo Credit: Screenshot/YouTube.com/KSHB 41)

Attorneys for his family claimed that despite Hendersons repeated requests, the officer never gave a reason for the stop, according to KCTV5.

Hendersons girlfriend eventually FaceTimed Johnson because he was afraid. Yahoo! News reported the grieving mother claimed she was on the phone when she heard the gunshots, and she rushed to the scene by tracking their phones.

They killed my baby, Johnson said, Yahoo! News reported. My only son.

Kansas City officer Donna Drake said the police officer involved was somehow slightly injured and taken to the hospital.

Johnson admitted that her sons car might have had expired tags, saying he had run into financial difficulties after being laid off. She, along with the familys attorneys, are calling for more transparency as they continue to question how what seemed to be a routine traffic stop resulted in a deadly shooting.

The Wyandotte County district attorneys office  which will determine whether the use of force complied with Kansas law  received the case after it was investigated by police in Kansas City, Missouri. The two cities have followed that protocol for shootings involving officers since late last year, according to the Yahoo! report.

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The shooting was the third this year, and the second deadly one, involving Kansas City, Kansas, police.

TheGrio is FREE on your TV via Apple TV, Amazon Fire, Roku and Android TV. Also, please download theGrio mobile apps today!

The post Report: Family can see bodycam footage of Black man killed by cop during traffic stop appeared first on TheGrio.
(KBZK screenshot)

Two people died and more than 40 others contracted a possible foodborne illness after eating at a sushi restaurant in Montana.

Sixty-four-year-old Donna Ventura and 74-year-old William Lewis died after dining on 17 April at the now-closed Daves Sushi restaurant in Bozeman. The victims ordered the special roll, which contained salmon and morel mushrooms, local news station KBZK reported.

Following an investigation by the FDA and the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, it was determined that the morel mushrooms served at the restaurant were cultivated in China, shipped to a distributor in California, and then sent to multiple states. At this time, no other states have reported outbreaks.

Ventura was taken to the Bozeman Health Deaconess Regional Medical Center on the day she ate at the restaurant after collapsing at her home. She went into cardiac arrest and experienced organ failure, ultimately dying 13 days after dining at Daves Sushi.

Venturas husband has since filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the restaurant, which plans to reopen later in May.

Meanwhile, Lewis died the morning after his visit to the establishment.

The restaurant was closed on 21 April after receiving several complaints that customers had experienced food poisoning.

We understand that several of our customers who dined with us on Monday, April 17, 2023 became ill, the restaurant said in a statement at the time. We believe that the common ingredient that may have been consumed was FDA-approved, cultured, morel mushrooms used in Mondays special roll.

Earlier this month, the Gallatin City-County Health Department said that three other individuals had experienced severe symptoms and had to be treated at the hospital. An 18 April inspection found the restaurant had four violations.

An investigation is underway to officially determine what caused the deaths, although health officials have noted that it may be impossible to do so with certainty.

Authorities have said the restaurant has cooperated with the investigation. The establishment also said it hired a sanitarian consultant to evaluate the circumstances surrounding the outbreak.

The Independent has reached out to Daves Sushi and the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services.
Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi will present an agreement to the UN Security Council aimed at protecting the occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Reuters reported on May 12.

Citing four unnamed diplomats, Reuters wrote that the agreement is intended to "reduce the risk of a catastrophic nuclear accident from military activity," with one diplomat calling it "promising."

Europe's largest nuclear power plant, located in occupied Enerhodar, Zaporizhzhia Oblast, has been held by Russian troops since March 4.

Life near Russian-occupied nuclear plant: I dont know if tomorrow will come Editors Note: The Kyiv Independent talked to residents who are still in Russian-occupied Enerhodar and those who recently left but still have family in the city. For their safety, we do not disclose their identities. When Russian soldiers captured Enerhodar, the satellite city of the Zaporizhzhia Kyiv IndependentAlexander Query

It was fully disconnected from the Ukrainian power grid several times due to regular Russian attacks on the country's energy infrastructure.

Since Russian forces occupied the plant, they have used it as a military base from which to launch attacks at Ukrainian-controlled territory across the Dnipro River, in particular, Nikopol.

Grossi visited the plant for a second time at the end of March to assess first-hand the safety and security situation at the plant, talk to the engineers operating the facility and guarantee the rotation of IAEA experts to and from the site.

According to Reuters, the agreement will outline "principles" for avoiding the situation at the nuclear plant from getting out of control.

Two diplomats told Reuters that one of the proposed principles was that no military servicemembers were permitted at the plant. However, Russia has tried to argue that their armed officials at the plant "do not meet that definition."

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Another principle is that the Ukrainian staff operating the plant should not be attacked. Russian troops have repeatedly used acts of violence and threats to try and forcibly coerce Ukrainian plant employees into cooperation.

Originally, there was supposed to be a "protection zone" around the plant, but "that idea has long been abandoned," Reuters wrote.

Attempting to preserve the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant is even more critical with the looming Ukrainian counteroffensive.

There are also doubts about the ability to enforce the principles of the agreement, with one Vienna-based diplomat telling Reuters that they wondered "how anyone is going to enforce or even monitor any of this."
Guerdy Abraira from

Guerdy Abraira from "The Real Housewives of Miami" recently shared on social media a health diagnosis.

The Real Housewives of Miami star Guerdy Abraira announced that she has been diagnosed with breast cancer.

The 45-year-old recently revealed that she was vacationing in St. Barts in March, having the time of [her] life when her doctor called to inform her of the results of a recent mammogram test.

I have breast cancer, the reality star wrote on Instagram on Wednesday, adding that her diagnosis weighed on her and that it took a while to process it all.

Abraira  who joined the RHOM cast in Season 4  expressed gratitude to her fans for their caring gestures.

She explained that she is preparing for my upcoming surgery and then will come my treatment plan.

Admitting that the process is definitely intense, she asked for empowerment, not pity from fans.

Abraira also pledged to maintain a positive outlook while using her signature guerdyfy phrase to inspire her followers.

I will guerdyfy this cancer as I guerdyfy everything else in my life, she declared.

The mom of two concluded her message by urging her fans to get tested regularly, noting how lucky she was that doctors caught it early.

I am lucky that this breast cancer was discovered at an early stage  it is still scary, of course, but I have love and support from those around me, and that alone is the fuel that I need, she added. For those who do not get health checks regularly, I urge you to. Your life depends on it.

The TV personality is married to Russell Abraira. The pair wed in 2002 and share two children Liam, 9, and Miles, 14.

Related...
A mild ringworm infection.

Super-ringworm is on the loose in New York City. In a report this week, doctors and health officials have detailed the first known U.S. cases of the itchy infection caused by a contagious and emerging fungal germone highly resistant to many existing drugs. The fungus was first identified in South Asia, but its possible that its now circulating locally in the area.

Despite the name, ringworm has absolutely nothing to do with the worms that can sometimes infest our body. Its a catch-all term for fungal infections that cause a circular rash on the skin to form (the titular ring). There are different names for ringworm depending on the main site of infection, such as jock itch when its around the genitals and the well-known athletes foot.

Read more

There are over 40 species of fungi known to cause ringworm. And while ringworm can be very contagious through direct contact, its usually mild and treatable with over-the-counter antifungals. But a newly identified ringworm fungus, called Trichophyton indotineae, has turned out to be a much bigger problem than usual.

T. indotineae was discovered in South Asia several years ago, and its spread with alarming speed throughout the region, especially in India. Even worse, the ringworm it causes tends to be severe and hard to eradicate, often because the fungus can resist multiple antifungals. More recently, its started to be spotted outside South Asia, with reports in France, Belgium, Switzerland, and now the United States.

Details of these new cases were published Thursday in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, a journal run by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The authors include a dermatologist from New York University as well as local and CDC health officials.

According to the report, health officials were first made aware of the cases in late February by the dermatologist, who had recently seen two patients with severe ringworm that wasnt responding to typical oral treatment. Earlier testing of the patients skin samples had identified the fungus broadly as a member of the T. mentagrophytes family. But it's known that T. indotineae closely resembles these other fungi. Specialized testing this time around confirmed that the patients were indeed infected by T. indotineae.

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As far as the authors know, these are the first cases of ringworm caused by T. indotineae to be reported in the U.S. And its likely that the fungus has already made itself comfortable here.

One case, involving a 47-year-old woman, was linked to travel. She developed a widespread rash during the summer of 2022 while in Bangladesh. Treatment there and in the U.S. failed to clear the infection throughout the rest of the summer and fall, though more recent antifungal therapy has lessened most of her symptoms. At some point, her husband and son developed similar rashes and are now being evaluated as well.

The other patient was a 28-year-old woman who developed severe ringworm in summer 2021. She also required multiple rounds of antifungal treatment, though her symptoms eventually cleared entirely. She is still being monitored in the off-chance that the infection returns. Unlike the other case, this woman had no recent travel history that could have exposed her to the fungus in the places where its known to be endemic. That leaves open the possibility that T. indotineae is already circulating locally in New York and elsewhere in the U.S.

The report authors are calling for doctors to be on the lookout for this fungus, especially when they encounter difficult-to-treat cases of ringworm. They also note that routine testing can misidentify it, so state and local health departments should be called for help if they do suspect its presence.

As for the average person, there are things we can do to help keep this fungus at bay. The emergence of T. indotineae has been tied to the overuse and misuse of topical antifungal and steroid creams, which are sometimes used in combination. The steroids dampen the skins immune response, which can then make the infection worse. This issue is even bigger in countries like India, where OTC creams contain higher-potency steroids. People should avoid steroid or combination creams in general if they suspect they have ringworm, the CDC advises.

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Law enforcement officers at the scene early Friday morning in San Jacinto after a collision left a Riverside County sheriff's deputy in critical condition and another motorist with "moderate injuries," the sheriff's office said. (OnScene.TV)

A Riverside County sheriff's deputy is in critical condition Friday after getting into a traffic collision in San Jacinto, agency officials said.

The deputy, assigned to the department's Hemet station, was en route to a call for service as backup for another deputy, when they collided with a vehicle at Esplanade Avenue and State Street about 2:16 a.m.

The driver of the other vehicle was hospitalized for "moderate injuries," according to a press release by the sheriff's office.

Another deputy was also injured while attempting to extract the deputy in the crash from their vehicle and was taken to the hospital but has since been released.

The California Highway Patrol is investigating the crash.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
DOVER  Loved ones are mourning the loss of Lisa Stanley Rocheleau of Rochester, who died Thursday, more than a week after being shot in the head. Court documents indicate Haydee Rivera-Nadeau of Somersworth allegedly shot Rocheleau shortly after a breakup in their relationship.

Rocheleau died at Portsmouth Regional Hospital after 11 days in the intensive care unit, according to Cathy Barton, her partner at the time of her death. Rocheleau was 54. She was shot May 1 at the Professional Arts Centre office building at 40 Winter St. in Rochester, the home of Action Title Services, the business she owned and operated.

Cathy Barton, right, partner of the late Lisa Stanley Rocheleau of Rochester, is surrounded by "Lisa's Army" supporters in Strafford County Superior Court in Dover Friday, May 12, 2023. They are attending the arraignment of the woman charged with shooting Rocheleau in the Rochester office building where her business was located on May 1.

"This is hard, very hard," Barton said Friday.

Authorities allege Rivera-Nadeau, 65, fled to the area of Charlotte in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, after shooting Rocheleau. Rivera-Nadeau was arrested May 3 in North Carolina, waived extradition to New Hampshire, and appeared via video Friday in Strafford County Superior Court, where she waived arraignment.

Rivera-Nadeau agreed to remain in jail, though she retains the right to ask for an evidentiary hearing at which potential release on bail would be considered by a judge. On Friday, Judge Mark Howard accepted the agreement. Joachim Barth, assistant county attorney, objected.

Cathy Barton with Lisa Stanley Rocheleau, right, in happier times.

Barton described her beloved Lisa as having the biggest heart in the world.

"She was the kindest, most generous, loving soul ever," Barton said. "There is no one she knew who she hadn't helped out in some way."

Barton and a large group of supporters in court appeared with shirts labeled "Lisa's Army" on the back and "No One Fights Alone" on the front.

Police say evidence shows what happened before and after shooting

Police state they learned from Rocheleau's sons she had a relationship with Rivera-Nadeau that had recently ended, that Stanley Rocheleau had begun a new relationship and Rivera-Nadeau was upset by it.

Video surveillance cameras in Professional Arts Centre building show Rivera-Nadeau entering the building at 6:39 a.m. on May 1, the day of the shooting, carrying a white bag and leaving at 7:16 a.m. without the bag, police allege in court documents.

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Haydee Rivera-Nadeau

A 2017 Gray Honda Pilot, registered to Rivera-Nadeaus business in Dover, Haydees Pest Free Management Inc., was observed in the rear parking lot by a building maintenance employee, the document states. The employee told police he saw Rocheleau arrive, and soon after, a woman who was later identified as Rivera-Nadeau, the documents state.

An employee of Rivera-Nadeau told police they received a call from Rivera-Nadeau at 7:45 a.m. on May 1, shortly after Rivera-Nadeau allegedly left the building.

I love you," Rivera-Nadeau told the employee, according to the court documents. "Im sorry. I am going away. Please take care of my dog.

Rochester police responded at 11:44 a.m. to the Professional Art Centre, after receiving a 911 call reporting an unresponsive woman. Officer Jonathan Marshall found Rocheleau in office 306A. There was no sign of forced entry, police state.

The next day, Rivera-Nadeau allegedly told a friend the shooting was not intentional.

Rivera-Nadeau told her it was an accident. That she didnt mean to hurt anyone and had gone to Stanley Rocheleaus to drop off a plant. She said they had gotten into an argument, and at some point, she had the gun in her hand  and it clicked," the friend told Rochester police detectives.

Rivera-Nadeau allegedly said Rocheleau had started toward her, the gun went off and hit Lisa in the head. She said she got scared and ran and stated police will not believe it was an accident, according to the friend.

The friend said Rivera-Nadeau made comments about who could have her assets and asked if Rocheleau was dead.

Police said they learned from Nadeau-Rivera's son that she carries a handgun police say is consistent with the wound to Stanley Rocheleaus forehead.

What's next in investigation

Rivera-Nadeau was charged initially with first-degree assault, second-degree assault and attempted second-degree murder, as well as being a fugitive from justice. The case is now in the hands of the state attorney general's office, which could elevate the charges.

We are actively investigating with our law enforcement partners at the Rochester Police Department and the Strafford County Attorneys Office and have no further update at this time, the AG's office said in a prepared statement Friday.

Eliana Forciniti, the public defender representing Rivera-Nadeau, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Money being raised to help family

Stanley Rocheleau is survived by three sons, Eric, Adam and Cameron. Her mother had recently died.

A Gofundme page has been set up to help the family defray medical expenses. It had raised $10,000 by Friday morning.

"She was in the ICU for 11 days," Barton said. "The expenses will be astronomical. That's the last thing those boys need to be thinking about right now."

If you need help

Seacoast Media Group provides the following information as a public service while making no judgment about the guilt or innocence of the suspect in the crime described above:

Haven is a violence prevention and support service for men, women and children affected by domestic and sexual violence. Havens 24-hour hotline is 1-603-994-SAFE (7233) or visit havennh.org.

This article originally appeared on Fosters Daily Democrat: Late Rochester woman shot in head at office after breakup, police say
Israeli-Palestinian violence flared this week as part of what appears to be the worst burst of fighting in months. Israeli warplanes struck targets in the Gaza Strip on Friday and Palestinian militants fired rockets toward Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and southern Israel. One of the world's most enduring conflict is never far from escalating. But here's some context to help you understand what's been happening lately.

Israeli airstrikes, Palestinian rockets: What is happening in Gaza?

Violence has for months been surging in the Palestinian-claimed, Israel-occupied West Bank as Israel's most right-wing government in history has conducted raids on suspected militants who have targeted Israelis.

Following the hunger-strike death of one of its West Bank members, Khader Adnan, while in Israeli custody, Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian militant group that rejects Israel's right to exist, launched a barrage of rocket fire at Israel from the Gaza Strip, a coastal enclave controlled by Hamas, a separate militant group.

The Israeli counterassault over the last few days has killed at least 31 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip including seven children and four women, according to the U.N. humanitarian office. One Israeli, a 70-year-old man, was killed in the central Israeli city of Rehovot when a rocket fired from Gaza hit a residential building.

May 12, 2023: A child looks toward the sky as he sits amidst the rubble of a building hit in an Israeli air strike in Biet Hanoun, in the northern Gaza Strip. Israel's military launched further strikes on Gaza on May 12 after militants fired rockets from the territory, on the fourth day of fighting which has killed dozens of Palestinians and one in Israel.

On their nation's 75th anniversary: Israelis ask: Is this still a democracy?

Islamic Jihad: What does it want?

Islamic Jihad is one of two groups in the Gaza Strip. The other being Hamas, a de facto civilian government in Gaza that has an estimated army of some 30,000. Islamic Jihad and Hamas are often united in their fight against Israel. But Hamas, which seized control of Gaza in 2007, has sat out this round of fighting.

Islamic Jihad is a hardline organization, backed by Iran, that wants to establish an Islamic state on all the lands historically claimed by Palestinians. This includes many parts of modern Israel.

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It has led attacks on Israeli soldiers and civilians.

Israel's military reservists: How they transformed a political crisis into a security one

Cease-fire efforts: What happens now?

Two attempts at a cease-fire earlier in the week faltered. And Israeli public broadcaster Kan reported that Israeli officials pulled out of new talks in Egypt on Friday after Islamic Jihad unleashed rockets toward Jerusalem.

Ihsan Attaya, a senior official from Islamic Jihad, said it wants Israel to cease its policy of targeted killings. Attaya said Friday that the mediators have been unable to provide us with any guarantees.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Friday that he was conducting a security assessment to mount a further response. We continue, he tweeted.

Additional stories about Israel:

Poll: American Democrats express more sympathy for Palestinians than Israelis for first time

Let's talk about your peace plan: Rep. Rashida Tlaib's grandmother to Donald Trump

A Supreme Court case: How a gay couple's wedding cake got caught up in Israeli judicial reform

Contributing: Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fresh Israeli-Palestinian violence erupts: Here's why
Veterans salute during a military parade to mark the 78th anniversary of the Soviet Union's victory in the Great Patriotic War in St. Petersburg, Russia, on May 9, 2023 Irina Motina/Xinhua via Getty Images

Russia is building a village for US expats who are tired of liberal ideology, a lawyer told state media.

The project is approved, and slated to house some 200 American and Canadian families, he said.

Russia has in recent years sought to position itself as a bastion for "traditional" moral values.

Russia is floating an idea to build a village for hundreds of American and Canadian families who want to run away from the cultural climate in North America.

The village, slated for construction in Moscow's suburbs in 2024, is meant for conservative families who want to "emigrate for ideological reasons," said immigration lawyer Timur Beslangurov on Thursday, according to RIA Novosti.

Around 200 families have expressed interest in the project, Beslangurov said in a speech at a legal forum in St. Petersburg, the state outlet reported.

Many of these families don't have Russian roots but are tired of "the inculcation of radical values" in the US and Canada, Beslangurov said.

"Today, they have 70 genders, it is not known what will happen next," he added, per RIA Novosti. The same rhetoric has been used frequently by Russian Vladimir Putin as US-Russia relations worsened over the last several years. In December 2021, he compared gender nonconformity to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Most of the expats who want to move to the village are Catholics and "strongly believe in the prediction that Russia will remain the only Christian country in the world," Beslangurov said.

The village project has been greenlit by authorities, and the new settlers will pay for the construction, Beslangurov added, per state media.

Insider could not independently verify Beslangurov's claims. When contacted by Insider, the lawyer said the project is in the works, but declined to share further details.

The Russian Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment sent outside regular business hours.

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Putin has, in recent years, sought to portray Russia as a country that stands for "traditional" moral, social, and religious values.

He signed a decree in September that warned of a "battle for cultural supremacy" on the global stage and cautioned of "the aggressive imposition of neoliberal views by a number of states."

It said Russia was in a "unique position" to defend and spread conservative views, which the decree called "traditional Russian moral and religious values."

The village project also comes as Moscow's war on Ukraine and resulting international sanctions have sullied Russia's reputation among tourists and expatriates. In February, tourism agencies reported business slumping lower than pre-pandemic levels since the invasion began.

The Federal Security Service, however, claimed on May 3 that more foreigners are entering the country this year. The influx of foreign citizens to Russia increased by 17.6% in the first quarter of 2023 compared to the same time period in 2022, it said.

People from China and Central Asian nations, such as Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, contributed to the most significant increases in trips to Russia, the state agency added.

Read the original article on Business Insider
(REUTERS/Oleksandr Klymenko)

Russias Ministry of Defense confirmed its forces are retreating from Bakhmut, Ukraine, which Russia has been trying and failing to seize for months.

Russia has regrouped to more advantageous defensive positions north of Bakhmut, Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Friday.

The news comes after months of Russian efforts to take Bakhmut, which officials set their sights on as an important city to capture, believing it could determine the course of the war. Bakhmut has an intersection of rail and roads that lead to strategically important cities in the Donbas. Russia finds itself on the back foot as Ukraine prepares to launch a counteroffensive sometime this spring or summer, according to U.S. intelligence assessments.

While President Zelensky has said Ukraine still needs more time before launching its counteroffensive, Ukraine said Friday its forces are making gains in Bakhmut in some pockets.

Russias plan and messaging for the apparent retreat appear to remain in flux. The Russian Ministry of Defense denied that Ukraine was making gains in Bakhmut. Yevgeniy Prigozhin, the head of the Russian Wagner Group, which has been fighting in Bakhmut, claimed the retreat is a flight, not a regrouping. He complained this week that territories were being abandoned. Prigozhin acknowledged Ukraine was making some successful counterattacks.

Earlier this week it looked like the Russians were making a push in Bakhmut, intensifying shelling and using more advanced equipment, according to the Ukrainian commander of ground forces, Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi. That shows that the enemy is not going to change their plans and is doing everything possible to take Bakhmut under control and continue offensive actions, Syrskyi said.

Russias fight to capture Bakhmut has played out over the last several months, following a dearth of Russian gains on the battlefield throughout Ukraine. Despite announcements of a Russian offensive this winter, Russia has only captured a smattering of territories in recent months.

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Through the heavy fighting, Russia has sustained hundreds of thousands of casualties, according to a recent White House National Security Council brief.

Russias faltering in Bakhmut is emblematic of broader problems for its military. Russian President Vladimir Putin has likely scaled back his goals in Ukraine to focus on just Eastern Ukraine, Avril Haines, the U.S. Director of National Intelligence, told lawmakers in a briefing early this month. Current U.S. intelligence assessments peg Russia as likely incapable of making sweeping gains this year and that Russias military will take years to rebuild given its losses in Ukraine, according to a U.S. intelligence community briefing on Capitol Hill.

We assess that Putin probably has scaled back his immediate ambitions to consolidate control of the occupied territory in eastern and southern Ukraine, Haines said.

While the exact timing of a Ukrainian counteroffensive hangs in the balance, Ukrainian officials have cautioned that it may not look like one major push.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine are not preparing some single plan for a specific time or a specific direction. Rather, every day, they prepare a vast array of defensive and counteroffensive strategies, Ukraines Deputy Minister for Defense, Hanna Malyar, said last month.

And from Ukraines perspective, the counteroffensive should ideally come as somewhat surprising, so determining exactly when it begins may be difficult, Ukraines Defense Minister, Oleskii Reznikov, said in an interview last month.

Reznikov warned that talk of the counteroffensive has been somewhat overheated given that Western countries and Ukrainians are ginning up for a win.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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The Russian Ministry of Defence has reported that two pilots were killed in a Mi-28 attack helicopter crash in Russian-occupied Crimea.

Source: BBC News Russia

Details: According to the Russian Ministry of Defence, the helicopter crashed during a "scheduled training flight" in Crimeas Dzhankoi district.

The ministrys report indicates that the accident was caused by equipment failure.

The ministry further claimed that the helicopter was not carrying ammunition, and that the crash did not cause any damage on the ground.

"The Night Hunter Mi-28N attack helicopter is designed to strike armoured and unarmoured vehicles, low-speed low-flying air targets, and troops on the battlefield," reads a statement on the website of the Russian Ministry of Defence.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
Russian military bloggers have gone from obscurity to celebrity since the start of the conflict

Before Russia's offensive in Ukraine, Mikhail Zvinchuk's Telegram channel was mainly known to military buffs. Today, it boasts more than a million followers, exceeding that of many media outlets.

Numerous Russian military bloggers like him have gone from obscurity to celebrity since the start of the conflict, distinguishing themselves by being more outspoken than traditional media under strict government control.

They publish information before the government does, and criticise some of its decisions.

To some, this makes them more credible than Russian authorities -- at the risk of ruffling feathers.

When Russia launched its offensive on February 24, 2022, "the (official) institutions in charge of information were thrown into turmoil," said Zvinchuk, whose Telegram account is called Rybar, or fisherman in Russian.

"Officials couldn't agree on which narratives to release to the public," the 31-year-old told AFP.

So "we rose to defend our motherland in the world of information. We became its shield."

A military interpreter by training, Zvinchuk was decorated for his missions in Syria and Iraq and once worked for the Russian defence ministry's press service.

The Arabic and English speaker publishes on Telegram in several languages.

He has a staff of around 40 people, including a data team that puts together maps and graphics with more detail than those released by the authorities and traditional media outlets -- content even picked up by Western institutions.

In just a matter of months, Rybar has seen its readership go from 36,000 followers to over a million.

- Hungry for info -

For Tatiana Stanovaya, an analyst at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Centre, the bloggers are responding to the Russian public's "hunger for information".

"The Russian defence ministry provides practically no adequate picture of what is happening" in Ukraine, she said.

The bloggers are "well informed, in touch with those who take part in combat. Even if they're politically engaged -- in support of the offensive -- they're publishing facts that can't be found elsewhere," she told AFP.

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Alexander Sladkov, a 57-year-old military reporter for the state television channel Rossiya, has covered every armed conflict since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, including in Chechnya.

He now reports on east Ukraine while also feeding his own Telegram channel, Sladkov+, which has more than 900,000 followers -- double that of the defence ministry and six times that of the Kremlin.

"War coverage is easy. No need to look for heroes. They are right there in front of you... All the emotion is like bare wiring coming out of the walls," he told AFP.

He denies being a propagandist: "I am not a soldier of the information war."

"I'm a reporter, someone who grabs his viewer by the hand and takes him through the screen to a place where he can't go," he said.

According to independent political expert Konstantin Kalachev, "the military correspondents and bloggers have gained the trust of the people thanks to their courage and the fact that they don't hesitate to criticise" the defence ministry.

- Closely monitored -

But their popularity and willingness to speak freely can irritate the authorities.

Last autumn, several military bloggers strongly criticised the Russian army after a series of setbacks in Ukraine and a mobilisation drive seen as chaotic, marked by a lack of training and old equipment sent to the front.

One of the military correspondents, Semyon Pegov, accused the army at the time of having made a list of bloggers whose publications had to be "verified".

The bloggers are suspected of "discrediting" the army, a charge widely applied in Russia to imprison opponents of the Ukraine offensive.

Rybar is also on the list. Zvinchuk denounces the authorities's "attempts to interfere in the editorial policy" of his channel, especially after last month's death of his friend, the military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky.

He was killed in a bomb attack that Moscow blamed on Kyiv and the Russian opposition.

"It has been suggested that we should be less active, under the pretext of ensuring our security," Zvinchuk said.

"They say, 'guys, let's not make our problems public... The enemy will know and use it'," he added.

"But the enemy will find out anyway... If we release footage of mobilised people having trouble and propose solutions for resolving it, that does not make us Russia's enemies."

vvl/amj/brw/kjm
Energoatom does not believe that the Russian occupiers will defend the ZNPP

"They are all preparing for the evacuation and have even conducted training there on the very quick gathering and loading of all the property they looted, and leaving the premises of the plant at the first call, at the first command, when it is needed," he noted.

Read also: Russia claims full shutdown of all Zaporizhzhya NPP reactors, Energoatom denies

Kotin added that ZNPP has become a stronghold where the invasion forces store a great deal of weapons, trucks, equipment and private cars stolen from civilians.

At the same time, the head of the Ukraines nuclear operator does not believe that Russian troops will build a line of defense at the plant.

"In the face of the threat of an offensive by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, they are gathering there to ensure their protection and to be in one place to leave as soon as possible," he concluded.

Read also: IAEA inspectors find explosives at Russia-occupied ZNPP

" I don't think they are going to defend it and build any defenses there now. Now they are there as if in a fortification, and are just waiting for evacuation.

Russian troops seized the ZNPP, which is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, near the beginning of the full-scale war, on March 4. Employees of the plant are being held hostage and forced to work under incredibly high-pressure conditions. There are Russian military and Rosatom, the Russian nuclear operator, employees at the plant.

Russian troops are also known to have set up firing positions at the ZNPP and have regularly shelled Ukrainian cities from them. Energoatom has reported that the Russian military placed more than a dozen pieces of military equipment, including ammunition, weapons, and explosives, in the turbine hall of the first reactor of the plant.

In total, more than 40 units of Russian military equipment have been placed on the grounds of the facility.

At the end of 2022, the Russian administration blocked passes to ZNPP for employees who had not signed an employment contract with the occupation authorities.

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Before that, they forced 3,000 employees of the Zaporizhzhya NPP to obtain Russian passports.

Read also: Russia preparing evacuation plan for Rosatom employees from occupied Zaporizhzhya NPP

In April, the Russians announced the evacuation of at least 18 settlements in the occupied part of Zaporizhzhya Oblast amid talk of a counteroffensive by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.



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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
The Russian occupiers who remain at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) in the town of Enerhodar in Zaporizhzhia Oblast are preparing for possible evacuation and have even trained to get ready quickly and evacuate from the station in case of the Ukrainian counteroffensive in that area.

Source: Radio Svoboda, with reference to Petro Kotin, head of the National Nuclear Energy Generating Company "Energoatom" (SE NNEGC "Energoatom")

Quote: "They are all preparing for the evacuation and have even trained to get ready extra quickly, loading all the property they had stolen and fleeing from the power plant on first demand, on first command, when necessary."

Details: Kotin added that lately, the quantity of the Russian soldiers at the ZNPP has increased, and the power plant itself has become a stronghold where the occupiers store large amounts of weaponry, trucks, equipment and private vehicles, which they had stolen from civilians.

Meanwhile, he believes that the occupiers will not build the defence line at the ZNPP in case of the Ukrainian army's counteroffensive, and they will try to quickly evacuate from the plant.

Kotin added that the collaborators, who helped the occupying administration to "impose new rules" in the city, are already being evacuated, just like some of the ZNPP staff and their families.

Note: The Russian forces captured the ZNPP in March 2022.

Background:

It was reported that the Russians plan to evacuate from Enerhodar about 3,000 workers servicing the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.

On 7 May, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine announced that the Russians were taking the residents of Enerhodar, Zaporizhzhia Oblast, in the direction of Berdiansk and Prymorsk.

Petro Kotin, the head of Energoatom, the National Nuclear Energy Generating Company, stated that the Ukrainian military understands that during the counteroffensive, they will have to bypass the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant to avoid damage to this facility.

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(Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday Kyiv and its Western supporters could make a Russian defeat in the war in Ukraine "irreversible" as early as this year and thanked Germany for being a "true friend" during a visit to Berlin.

French President Emmanuel Macron was to have dinner meeting with Zelenskiy later on Sunday in Paris, during which France will reaffirm its military and humanitarian support for Ukraine, the French presidency said. On Saturday, Zelenskiy met Italian leaders, and Pope Francis, in Rome.

FIGHTING

* Russia's Defence Ministry said on Sunday that two of its military commanders were killed in eastern Ukraine, as Kyiv's forces renewed efforts to break through Russian defences in the embattled city of Bakhmut.

* Ukrainian troops are advancing in two directions in Bakhmut, but the situation in the city centre is more complicated, deputy defence minister Hanna Malyar said on Saturday.

* Ukrainian forces intercepted and destroyed three missiles and 25 drones overnight in the latest aerial attack on the country since the beginning of May, Ukraine's air force said on Sunday.

* The Russian news outlet Kommersant reported that two Russian fighter jets and two military helicopters had been shot down on Saturday close to the Ukrainian border, in what would be a spectacular coup for Kyiv if confirmed.

* As the Eurovision song contest was underway in Britain late on Saturday, Russian missiles hit the western Ukrainian city of Ternopil, which is home to the electro-pop duo Tvorchi, this year's contestants from Ukraine, local authorities said.

* Russia's Defence Ministry said on Saturday that Ukrainian aircraft had struck two industrial sites in the Russian-held city of Luhansk in eastern Ukraine with Storm Shadow long-range cruise missiles supplied by Britain.

* Reuters could not verify the battlefield reports.

DIPLOMACY, ECONOMY

* The Group of Seven (G7) industrial powers and the EU will ban Russian gas imports on routes where Moscow has cut supplies, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.

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* British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will push other global leaders to pledge more support for Ukraine when he attends international summits next week, his office said on Saturday.

* Germany announced 2.7 billion euro ($3.0 billion) of military aid to Ukraine on Saturday, its biggest such package since Russia's invasion, and pledged further support for Kyiv for as long as necessary.

* The EU must speed up the supply of ammunition to Ukraine as the country's forces need 1,000 artillery shells every day in the Bakhmut area alone, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Saturday.

IN-DEPTH STORIES

* INSIGHT-Communities torn as Ukraine turns its back on Moscow-linked church.

* INSIGHT-How Russians end up in a far-right militia fighting in Ukraine.

* EXCLUSIVE-Turkey defers $600 mln Russian energy payment -sources

* EXCLUSIVE-Oilfield firm SLB retrenches as Russia sanctions squeeze

* FOCUS-Why eastern Europe's grain producers face a perfect storm

(Compiled by Reuters editors)
Investigators tell Channel 9 a man met a Stanly County teen on social media, drove seven and a half hours to her high school, and picked her up before taking her back to Montgomery, Alabama.

The 16-year-old is safe and the suspect is behind bars less than 34 hours after she was allegedly lured away.

Channel 9s Hannah Goetz spoke with the Stanly County sheriff about the fast response. Sheriff Crisco said most of the department still hadnt slept yet after working this case. He said he couldnt be happier to report that teen is safe with her parents right now.

READ MORE: Missing Stanly County teen found safe in Alabama; man charged with child abduction

Not just as a sheriff, but a father and a grandfather, complete panic, Crisco described. I couldnt imagine what the parents were going through.

The Stanly County Sheriffs Office got word Thursday afternoon that the 16-year-old girl was missing. She was last seen Thursday morning getting into a red car with an unidentified man.

The mother brought her there, dropped her off for school just like a normal day, and when mother was out of sight, she walked over, got in the car, and left, Crisco said.

Officers said they identified the man as Duane Howard Bartlett, 39. They told Goetz that Bartlett had been talking to the teen on a social media app before he drove overnight from Alabama to Stanly County.

They said he then drove her seven and a half hours to Montgomery, Alabama. An Amber Alert went out Thursday evening, and within 12 hours, police found the 16-year-old.

ALSO READ: CMPD looking for missing 15-year-old girl

To know that she was located safe and sound, thats our main objective -- to find someone as quick as we can and make sure theyre unharmed, Crisco said.

Bartlett was arrested by Montgomery police and charged with child abduction.

The biggest thing kids need to understand: There are people out there that are basically trying to get them. Thats their main goal, they are a predator, and they are trying to go after kids, Crisco said. And that was this situation.

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Sheriff Crisco credits his team for the girls quick recovery.

The biggest thing I hope residents take away from this -- we are here to give you, the citizens, 150% every day, he said. That is our job, is to keep this community safe.

On Friday, Goetz found court documents detailing false imprisonment and battery charges against a man the sheriffs office confirms has the same name, date of birth, and social security number as Bartlett. The charges from 2008 and are out of New Mexico. The probation period ended more than 10 years ago.

Bartlett is in jail in Alabama while he waits to be extradited to North Carolina.

(WATCH PREVIOUS: Missing Stanly County teen found safe in Alabama; man charged with child abduction)
A man pleaded guilty on Tuesday to murdering his girlfriend, Natalie Thurber, and shooting at officers, causing serious injuries to one officer. | Spenser Heaps, Deseret News

A man admitted Tuesday to shooting and killing his girlfriend and then shooting at police officers, causing serious injuries to one officer, as part of a plea deal with prosecutors.

Michael Tyson Nance, 34, pleaded guilty to aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder and felony discharge of a firearm, all first-degree felonies. In exchange for his plea, prosecutors dismissed one charge of aggravated kidnapping, a first-degree felony, and another charge for aggravated assault, a third-degree felony.

In a statement supporting the plea, Nance said he "knowingly and intentionally" caused Natalie Thurber's death on Feb. 10, 2020, by firing a gun at her. He also admitted he attempted to cause the death of Salt Lake City police officer Kris Jeppsen, who responded to the scene, and caused serious injuries to another officer, Chad Miller.

Before her death, Thurber called 911 and left the line open. Dispatchers said they could hear the two arguing.

"Natalie can be heard stating that (Nance) would not leave her and that he strangled her and tried to kill her," according to charging documents.

The documents said she begged Nance to let her leave, but he refused. When officers arrived they could hear screaming, "gurgling sounds and a male yelling."

Officers kicked in a window and watched as Nance came into view with a handgun and fired it at Thurber, before firing multiple shots toward the officers.

Police returned fire, and Nance was injured. But it was determined that Nance had shot himself. He told detectives at the hospital he had "lost it."

Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said his office mourns for the death of Thurber, and hopes this plea helps her family receive some closure.

"Domestic violence is a problem that takes a community to solve. If you or a loved one is experiencing domestic violence, please reach out to your local law enforcement so they can intervene and help stop it from continuing," Gill said.

Nance is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 8. The minimum sentence for aggravated murder, according to his plea statement, is between 25 years and life at the Utah State Prison.
A Sarasota woman failed to pay over $725,000 in taxes on sales income she made at a restaurant she co-owned, the U.S. Attorneys Office for Floridas Middle District said in a news release Friday.

After pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and the Internal Revenue Service, Madeline Nikolson faces a maximum of five years in federal prison at a sentencing hearing at a later date, the release said.

Nikolson co-owned a restaurant in Sarasota with her partner. Florida business records show a Madeline Nikolson is associated with 3900 Trios LLC which has the same address as the The Boatyard Waterfront Bar and Grill next to the Stickney Point bridge.

In August 2013, at the earliest, Nikolson and her partner removed daily cash sale records from restaurant registers, leaving only credit card sales, the release said.

That led to falsified records submitted to tax preparers for tax years 2016, 2017 and 2018 on approximately $726,106 in sales income from corporate and personal tax returns for those tax years, the release said.

That meant owing more than $100,000 in taxes from the unreported income, the release said.

Assistant U.S. attorney Jay L. Hoffer prosecuted the case, which the IRS criminal investigation unit investigated, the release said.
An image showing suspected Russian 'ghost ships' moored in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian port of Sevastopol in September, 2022. Bellingcat/Planet/Skitch

Satellite images have captured Russian "ghost ships" docking in a Black Sea port, report says.

The ships are believed to be transporting stolen Ukrainian grain.

The ships apparently turned off their tracking devices so they couldn't be detected.

Satellite images appear to show Russian "ghost ships" suspected of transporting stolen Ukrainian grain at a shipping terminal in the Black Sea.

The 140 images obtained by investigative outlet Bellingcat appear to show the ships at the Avlita terminal in the port of Sevastopol in the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula in southern Ukraine.

Satellite radar data showing a suspected "ghost ship" docked in Sevastopol, in Russian-occupied Ukraine, in March, 2023 Bellingcat

Under shipping law, vessels must have their satellite transponders turned on while at sea to show their location.

Data from transponders suggests that very few have visited Avlita in recent years. However the images analysed by Bellingcat tell a different story.

The outlet identified 179 days during the first year after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 when ships were present at the terminal with their transponders turned off.

A ship detection tool using satellite radars was also used to identify vessels at the terminal.

A suspected "ghost ship" is pictured at the Avlita terminal in Sevastopol on 24 July, 2022. Bellingcat/Planet Labs

The investigation apparently backs up reports by the BBC, The Associated Press and other news organisations showing that Russia is using the Avlita terminal to transport stolen Ukrainian grain.

According to a BBC investigation last year, the grain is stolen by the Russian military in farmland in Ukraine it has occupied, loaded into trucks, and transported to Russia or to Crimea.

In Crimea, it is mixed with Russian grain and given a fake export certificate, the report said. It is then transported on "ghost ships."

The ultimate destination of the ships is unclear, and many ports refuse to dock Crimean ships carrying grain, but some of them were detected at Syrian ports, Bellingcat reported.

The Ukrainian government in April accused Russia of stealing "several hundred thousand tonnes" of grain in the wake of last year's invasion, and Russia denied the accusation, Reuters reported.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Dmytro Tabachnyk is suspected of treason

The SBU claims that Tabachnyk was in direct contact with Oleg Kozlov, a staff member of the 9th Directorate of the Operational Information Department of the 5th Service of the FSB.

Read also: Switzerland greenlights confiscation of Yanukovych assets

According to the SBU, Tabachnyk played an active role in organizing fake referendums in the occupied regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhya oblasts and implemented Moscows orders for the reformatting of the educational and medical sectors to serve the aggressor country. Most educational institutions and hospitals in the region were converted into barracks for the Russian occupation army under his leadership.

Tabachnyk was also caught engaging in criminal activities with Murad Saidov, believed to be Kadyrovs representative in the occupied areas of Zaporizhzhya Oblast. In April of last year, they organized the export of agricultural machinery from local agro-holdings to Crimea.

Read also: Court orders arrest of two Yanukovych-era ministers

Tabachnyk has been charged under two articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine:

Article 111-2 (complicity to the state-aggressor);

Article 438 (violation of laws and customs of war).

Read also: Zelenskyy strips ex-Yanukovych-era officials of Ukrainian citizenship

At the end of November 2022, Tabachnyk was charged with state treason. According to an investigation, he organized and coordinated the activities of Volodymyr Saldo and Yevhen Balytskyi (leaders of the occupational puppet authorities created in Kherson and Zaporizhzhya oblasts) in the field of health care, education, and preparation for (fake) referendums.

In January 2023, the SBU seized over $2 million of Tabachnyks assets. He is also suspected of embezzlement of property through abuse of official position.

Tabachnyk fled to Russia in 2015, and has since obtained Russian citizenship.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
The General Assembly in South Carolina isnt done yet.

Gov. Henry McMaster on Friday issued an executive order to call legislators back for an extra session beginning on Tuesday.

According to McMasters office, the purpose of the extra session is specifically to tackle proposed laws on illegal gun possession, bond reform, the General Appropriations Act, the Fetal Heartbeat and Protection from Abortion Act, and other matters of public importance.

The legislature had been debating changes to the states abortion laws, including restricting abortions after six weeks, following the U.S. Supreme Courts reversal of Roe v. Wade last year. But as of Thursday, SB474 hadnt passed both chambers of the state General Assembly, and the proposed restrictions had changed.

McMaster credited the General Assembly for passing Republican Party agenda items and economic developments, but he said he wanted the states legislators to tie up a few loose ends.

The General Assembly has made progress on a few items this year, such as expanding school choice, repealing certificate of need, restructuring of the Department of Health and Environmental Control, passing a shield law, and approving a large incentive package for Scout Motors bringing jobs and prosperity to the state, but they have not finished their business, McMaster said in a statement. The General Assembly did not close the revolving door for criminals. It remains wide open. They have not passed bond reform, and they have not enhanced the criminal penalties for illegal-gun possession. In addition, the General Assembly must complete the state budget, and they must pass legislation that stops our state from becoming a destination for abortions. Therefore, I am directing the General Assembly to return for a special session to complete the important business at hand.

According to McMasters office, this is the first time that South Carolina has had an extended legislative session since Gov. Jim Hodges was in office, which was 20 years ago.

The Associated Press reported that House Speaker Murrell Smith said he doesnt expect the special session to go past May, unless theres a major emergency.

(WATCH: Ending of Title 42 could have impact on Carolinas)
The final South Carolina man convicted in a 2020 armed robbery at a Columbia Bank of America ATM has been sentenced to prison.

Denzel Goodwin, 27, of Columbia, was sentenced to six years and one month in prison for armed bank robbery by U.S. Judge Mary Geiger Lewis, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office. His hearing took place Thursday in federal court in Columbia.

Goodwin was the least culpable of any of the previous defendants because he remained in the car during the robbery at 5110 Fairfield Road, according to prosecutors statements in open court.

Some $108,000 was stolen in the robbery, and only $32,000 has been recovered.

The robbery happened on May 31, 2020, when a security guard was servicing a Bank of America drive-thru ATM when two cars with men inside converged on the machine. Some of the men hopped out, made the female guard lie down on the ground at gunpoint and took her pistol.

The guard, who believed she was going to die, suffered from severe post-traumatic stress issues, assistant U.S. Attorney Elliott Daniels said at a 2022 hearing on the case.

Surveillance videos from the ATM and a nearby food store helped authorities quickly identify the suspects and their two cars, a Dodge Charger and a Chevrolet Caprice, according to evidence in the case.

In a motion for a reduced sentence, Goodwins court-appointed defense attorney, Renae Alt-Summers, wrote that her client came from a broken family, was living in his mothers home at the age of 20 when she died and had been homeless before the bank robbery.

Since being arrested, Goodwin has been out of jail on bond, held a steady job and would never make that fateful decision to get in trouble again, she wrote. Alt-Summers declined comment Friday.

Three other defendants already sentenced for armed bank robbery are Anthony Hopkins, who received 12 years and eight months; Aquan Hopkins, who received eight years; and Kenneth Boyles, who was sentenced to 11 years and nine months.

The case was investigated by the FBI.
Thirty-three years ago, a newborn baby girl was found dead inside a Sears vacuum cleaner box in an area outside Greenville that had long been used to dump worn-out furniture and appliances.

On Thursday, Brook Graham, the babys mother identified several years ago through DNA testing, was sentenced to 10 years, suspended to five years home detention and five years probation.

She pleaded guilty to unlawful neglect of a child and desecration of human remains. The maximum sentence for the unlawful neglect charge in South Carolina is 10 years.

A murder charge was dropped because no one could prove the child, who came to be known as Julie Valentine, had been born alive and that Graham was responsible.

Graham also pleaded guilty last year to unlawful conduct of a child and improperly disposing of remains in connection to the body of a baby boy found in 1989, a year before Julie Valentine was found.

It was an Alford plea, which means Graham maintained her innocence but acknowledged the state had enough evidence to convict her.

Graham had been free on bond since the plea last year.

Julie Valentine was named for a victim witness coordinator who worked tirelessly to identify her after her body was found on the day before Valentines Day in 1990.

A man picking wildflowers for his wife found the body. She had a head full of black hair, weighed 6 pounds and was 193/4 inches long. The coroner determined she was three days old when she died.

Among the multiple avenues of investigation Greenville Police officers pursued was tracking who bought the vacuum cleaner. Two names could not be ruled out and Grahams was one of them.

Yet they could not make a case until former Police Chief Ken Miller ordered DNA testing.

Julie Valentine has become a symbol for child abuse prevention in Greenville County. Shes memorialized with a sculpture in Cleveland Park and in the name of the organization that works with abuse survivors.

Julie Valentine is buried in one of three sections identified as Babyland at Woodlawn Memorial Park in Greenville. The headstone says Baby Jane Doe and under that, Julie Valentine Feb. 1990.

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The original detectives on the case paid for her marker.

Terry Christy, one of the original investigators, said when Graham pleaded guilty that the plea did not bring closure for him. He thinks of the little girl often and sometimes goes by her grave when he goes to the graves of family members.

His wife, Julianna, is the victim witness coordinator for whom Julie Valentine was named. She called every hospital in the Southeast looking for a recently born baby. There were thoughts the baby had been dumped by someone traveling through because the location was so close to Interstate 85.

There were reports of someone at the dump in a red Pontiac Fiero. Police tried to get a subscriber list from The Wall Street Journal because the baby was wrapped in a copy of the July 12, 1989 edition. Outside that was a pink floral sheet, something detectives thought came from someones home.

Terry Christy said last year Graham refusing to admit guilt was characteristic of a woman so callous to throw away a baby.

She got away with it for all these years, he said.

Graham will get credit for the almost four years she has served on home detention and while in jail after her arrest in 2019.

Her attorney told the court Graham has multiple sclerosis and fears she would not get proper medical treatment in prison, Fox Carolina reported.

The lawyer also said she has gotten grip of her demons.

Court records show Judge Thomas L. Hughston handled the sentencing.
Gov. Laura Kelly blocked a proposed legal settlement with Wichita gym Omega Bootcamps over COVID-19 lockdowns.

A group of top Kansas politicians secretly discussed and then rejected a legal settlement with a business suing the state over COVID-19 mitigation efforts.

Wichita fitness business Omega Bootcamps Inc. had sued the state in 2020, seeking damages for government-ordered closures during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic.

The settlement was reportedly for $4,305.46.

Omega received $24,599.12 in a pair of federal Paycheck Protection Program loans that were later forgiven.

The debate was held entirely in secret, despite the objections of a Topeka legislator beforehand who attempt to have at least some discussion in public. Afterward, a rural western Kansas lawmaker tried to get the governor to explain why she vetoed the agreement.

In both cases, Gov. Laura Kelly shut down public discussion.

More: Does Kansas owe businesses for mandating they close? A new lawsuit says yes.

Debate over Omega Bootcamps settlement was held in secret

Omega Bootcamps and owner Ryan Floyd had argued that the pandemic closure entitled the business to compensation under state emergency management law. It has been disputed whether COVID-19 shutdowns met the law's criteria.

In a virtual meeting on Thursday, attorneys from Attorney General Kris Kobach's office brought the settlement agreement to the State Finance Council, needing approval from the group of top Republican and Democratic legislators, plus the governor.

Rep. Troy Waymaster, R-Bunker Hill, made the motion to meet secretly, citing attorney-client privilege.

As Kelly asked for a vote, she was interrupted by House Minority Leader Vic Miller, D-Topeka.

Miller said he supported having the substantive discussion in executive session but suggested they should have some basic discussion in public.

"It's a matter of public record and if we could just have an outline of what the basic facts are without jeopardizing any attorney-client privilege, I think it would be beneficial to the public," he said.

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"I appreciate your sentiments," Kelly said, "but I am going to go ahead and call for the voice vote to go into executive session."

Miller appeared to be the only one to vote against it. The Associated Press also petitioned politicians prior to the meeting to hold discussion in public, but the email was ignored.

The settlement agreement would have become a public record had it been approved.

But after a series of technical difficulties with the livestream, which didn't show the committee reconvening as scheduled to extend the executive session past its initial end time, the committee held a public vote.

The six Republicans voted yes, the two Democrats voted no, then Kelly vetoed it. Kelly then immediately moved to adjourn. She was interrupted by Sen. Rick Billinger, R-Goodland.

"We had this meeting here today and you voted no," Billinger said to Kelly. "I mean, I don't understand that."

"We can have a discussion after the vote is finished," Kelly said, referring to a private discussion after the meeting adjourned.

More: Kansas faces pressure to compensate COVID-hurt businesses  or battle a wave of lawsuits

Kansas lawmakers ask: Why was the settlement proposed, then rejected?

Kelly spokesperson Brianna Johnson pointed to the $24,000 in relief aid that Omega has already received.

"Governor Kelly has set up programs to support small business post-pandemic and will continue to do everything possible to help small business owners get back on their feet," Johnson said. "However, in this specific case it's clear that this settlement is not in the best interest of the state or Kansas taxpayers."

A Kobach spokesperson didn't respond to a request for comment.

Senate President Ty Masterson, R-Andover, and House Speaker Dan Hawkins, R-Wichita, said Kelly's veto was "a purely partisan punishment" of "a small business owner who had direct harm as a result of their lockdowns."

"This case has been a three-year saga waiting for the State to acknowledge that the small businesses that were targeted by state and local shutdown orders should be compensated," Josh Ney, an attorney for Floyd and Omega, said in a statement. "Three years later, the state is still holding on to Kansans' money."

Ney argued that the compensation would have been equivalent to what the business would have gotten from a fund the state established to compensate other businesses. The gym didn't meet the qualifications, which Ney said were "draconian."

More: Kansas politicians split on whether Gov. Laura Kelly gets credit or blame for small business COVID aid

Miller told reporters after the meeting that he doesn't think Omega's situation meets the criteria of the state's emergency law it was citing in its lawsuit.

He said he expect the judge to dismiss the case on a pending summary judgment motion.

The proposed settlement amount was $4,305.46, Miller said.

"You're talking about taxpayers' money," Miller said. "And that's just one case."

He suggested settling in this case could put the state at risk of facing an influx of meritless lawsuits.

"In my opinion, I don't pay people for what I consider to be meritless cases," Miller said. "I think once we start doing that ... when you have a reputation of settling anytime somebody files anything, you just breed more lawsuits.

"I think we should only pay someone  me as the person who's here to protect our public coffers  we should only pay lawsuits when they are meritorious. Otherwise we invite, encourage others to bring meritless suits just for the purpose of collecting some money."

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas won't settle COVID lockdown lawsuit with Wichita gym Omega
Camp Lejeune made national news after President Joe Biden signed into law a way for veterans and their families to seek justice after being exposed to deadly toxins from the bases water sources.

Then commercials began flooding the airwaves with information, sometimes true and sometimes false, about how people who suffered from health conditions due to being exposed to the waters contamination can benefit from filing claims and lawsuits.

If you served or worked on Camp Lejeune, you may have been exposed to polluted drinking water that causes cancer or other serious health issues and now you may be eligible for substantial compensation, one commercial from The Sam Bernstein Law Firm states.

Its a lot to digest both for former Marines and their families and for people curious about the base itself.

Here is a breakdown of what you need to know:

Where is Camp Lejeune?

Its in Jacksonville, North Carolina, about 130 miles southeast of Raleigh.

What is Camp Lejeune?

Camp Lejeune is a 156,000-acre military training facility, created in 1942, that borders the Atlantic Ocean and the New River. The site is huge, with 450 miles of roads and 6,946 buildings, according to the Defense Department.

What is Camp Lejeunes population?

The Defense Department says more than 137,500 Marines, sailors, retirees, their families and civilian employees use Camp Lejeune.

What happened on Camp Lejeune?

Two water treatment plants supplying water to the base became contaminated with trichloroethylene, perchloroethylene, benzene and vinyl chloride, deadly chemicals known to cause 15 health issues including miscarriages, birth defects, cancers and leukemia.

The chemicals came from underground fuel storage tanks, an off-base dry cleaning facility, industrial area spills and waste disposal sites.

The chemicals then seeped through the ground and into the bases water treatment plants.

When did the contamination happen?

Between Aug. 1, 1953 and Dec. 31, 1987.

Between 1953 and 1987, toxic chemicals, known to cause deadly diseases, seeped into Camp Lejeunes water from underground fuel storage tanks, an off-base dry cleaning facility, industrial area spills and waste disposal sites. Its estimated that more than 1 million people were exposed to the toxic waters which mostly affected the Tarawa Terrace and Hadnot Point areas of the base.

What are the 15 presumptive health conditions?

The military presumes that if you were on Camp Lejeune during the time of the water contamination and you have been diagnosed with one of these 15 conditions, it was because of your service to the military.

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Those include:

Bladder cancer

Breast cancer

Esophageal cancer

Female infertility

Hepatic steatosis

Kidney cancer

Leukemia

Lung cancer

Miscarriage

Multiple myeloma

Myelodysplastic syndromes

Neurobehavioral effects

Non-Hodgkins lymphoma

Renal toxicity

Scleroderma

Why are so many commercials happening now?

Until August 2022, a federal law protected the military from being sued if someone was injured on active duty. Veterans and other victims of the bases toxic waters also didnt learn about the contamination until after the time allowed to file a lawsuit.

In August, Congress passed and Biden signed into law the PACT Act, which made myriad changes to help veterans, including giving two years for people affected by the water on Camp Lejeune to file claims with the U.S. Navy. If the Navy did not respond to the claims or offered unsatisfactory settlements, the PACT Act also gave victims the ability to sue. But with only a two-year window, lawyers are working fast to find victims and file suits, creating a deluge of commercials on television.

What changes were needed for victims to be able to sue?

The PACT Act removed the time factor for veterans trying to file claims after learning about the contamination. The bill also took away the governments immunity.

How much money are victims set to receive?

The Camp Lejeune claims are expected to produce the largest civil case in U.S. history. As of April 26, more than 500,000 claims had been filed under the PACT Act, which included not only the Camp Lejeune water contamination, but also veterans exposed to burn pits and other hazardous substances while serving in certain areas. Since the Camp Lejeune water contamination is a novel case, theres no way of determining a dollar figure yet.

How long will litigation take?

Thats also unclear. District Judge James Dever, who is assigned to the case, says about 20 lawsuits are being filed a day in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina just related to Camp Lejeunes water toxicity. He said at that rate it would take four judges about 1,900 years to hear all of the cases. He promised to act quickly and listen to all concerned to figure out the best way to handle the caseload.

Are the commercials predatory?

They can be, if theyre making promises they cant keep, such as to secure a certain amount of funding, or to represent people who dont fall under the aggrieved class.

But the commercials can also benefit victims who wouldnt otherwise know that the water was contaminated, that their disease may have stemmed from the water or that they have only two years to file a claim.

How to avoid being scammed

The Veterans of Foreign Wars sent a guide to its members to help them avoid being scammed by predatory law firms.

Among other characteristics, it advises looking for a law firm that caps lawyers fees at reasonable rates and offers no upfront costs.

Can only veterans file a claim?

No, claimants can include both those who lived on or worked on the base, including civilian family members or employees.

When is the deadline to file a claim?

Aug. 10, 2024.
Manase Lomole Waya, chairperson of the Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (R, front) and Chinese Ambassador to South Sudan Ma Qiang (L, front) sign documents during the handover ceremony in Juba, capital of South Sudan, May 11, 2032. South Sudan on Thursday received nearly 2,400 metric tons of rice from the Chinese government to help respond to the humanitarian crisis caused by the conflict in neighboring Sudan.(Photo by Denis Elamu/Xinhua)

JUBA, May 11 (Xinhua) -- South Sudan on Thursday received nearly 2,400 metric tons of rice from the Chinese government to help respond to the humanitarian crisis caused by the conflict in neighboring Sudan.

Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management Albino Akol Atak said the food assistance arrived at a critical time when they are struggling to pool resources to respond to the influx of thousands of people fleeing conflict across the border with Sudan.

"In this year alone, we have a great number of people in South Sudan that are in need. We have 9.4 million people who are in need of humanitarian assistance. The conflict in Sudan has increased this number with the influx of returnees which has added another burden," Akol said during the handover ceremony in Juba, the capital of South Sudan.

Chinese Ambassador to South Sudan Ma Qiang said part of the rice donated by the Chinese government will be distributed to these returnees to help meet their urgent needs.

South Sudan is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to the effects of climate change, Ma said, adding that China has provided emergency food assistance to South Sudan for many years, benefiting more than one million people.

Manase Lomole Waya, chairperson of the Relief and Rehabilitation Commission, said prior to the outbreak of the conflict in Sudan, they were already dealing with a humanitarian crisis largely caused by successive devastating floods since 2019. He appealed to international donors to support South Sudan. 
Sen. Dianne Feinstein attended a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on May 11, 2023 for the first time since she became sick with shingles in February. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

An hour into a Senate Judiciary hearing on Thursday, California Sen. Dianne Feinstein was wheeled into the chamber by a staff member. She grabbed his arm tightly to steady herself as she rose to her feet and received a standing ovation after she made the short walk to her seat.

The San Francisco Democrat's first day back at the Judiciary Committee after an extended absence recuperating from shingles was short. She said little beyond voting on three nominated district court judges who lacked Republican support and thus required backing from every Democrat to advance to the full Senate.

"Im glad to welcome our colleague, Sen. Feinstein, back to our committee," Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said, before adding that she was abetting "several nominees who are so extreme and so unqualified that they couldn't have a prayer of getting a single Republican vote on this committee."

The moment of partisan rancor, which followed less biting greetings from her other colleagues, felt almost welcoming in a forum where she has spent decades sparring over judicial nominees. But Feinstein's nearly three-month absence and homecoming has prompted debate over whether the 89-year-old, who appeared frail when she arrived at the Capitol, should leave before the end of her term. And it has raised broader questions about whether aging lawmakers grow too dependent on their staffs, and if that makes leaving the comforts of Washington that much harder.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) departs a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing at the Hart Senate Office Building in Washington. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

The Senate can be a very warm, very comforting place for senators," said James Manley, who served Sens. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Harry Reid (D-Nev.) as an aide from 1990 through 2010. "You have staff to open the doors for you, the Capitol Police at your beck and call. Everyone's got a smile for you and you have lots and lots of staff to do anything and everything you're asked to to do.

Feinstein, who has already announced she won't run for reelection in 2024, has the financial means for the best home care in the world. But lawmakers become accustomed to life with doting assistants and aides who schedule their lives in 15-minute increments, write their speeches and often drive them to meetings and events. Some even use interns to walk their dogs. New senators and those running for reelection often need the help even when they are in their physical prime. A senator's life can be exhausting, given the imperative to attend hearings, fundraisers and constituent events all while crisscrossing the country.

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"Many members frequently have staffers pick them up in the morning and drive them to a speech and bring them home in the evening from another event," said Brian Walsh, who worked as a Republican congressional and campaign aide for nearly 15 years. "If you're doing the job right, you're basically working 15-hour days.

But that needed support can become enabling, especially in the Senate, where winning an initial term is costly and grueling, and staying for a long tenure is rewarded with even more power.

Manley said he witnessed the real-time decline of several senators, including Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), whose staff would whisper directions in his ear about where to go and what to say. Kennedy juggled his brain cancer treatment with the desire to pass the Affordable Care Act, his career ambition. Manley said Reid and his leadership staff ran the powerful Appropriations Committee near the end of Sen. Robert Byrd's long career, before the West Virginia Democrat voluntarily gave up the gavel.

Byrd had access to anything he needed, including world-class healthcare. But the attachment to the Senate was more visceral, Manley said.

"It was everything, especially when his wife and dog died," Manley said. "Unfortunately, senators lose some perspective and don't think they can live without being a senator."

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) attends a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing at the Hart Senate Office Building. It was her first hearing after being absent from the Senate for almost three months because of illness. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

John Lawrence, a former chief of staff to Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), said the Byrds of the world are the exception and that few if any lawmakers stay in office purely for the support. Large staffs "can only insulate you so far" from the rigors of travel and overlapping meetings, he said.

Mary Bono, who spent 15 years representing Palm Springs as a Republican member of the House, said it can be difficult for younger lawmakers who leave to get used to life without a full-time team around them. But she believes older members like Feinstein  whose distinguished career often landed her at the center of world events  have an even harder time adjusting to the diminished pace. The phone doesn't ring as much and the world no longer sees you as in the mix, she said.

"Not many other professions or careers are you so interested in the front-page news as you are because you used to be a part of it," Bono said. "Now youre just reading it.

The sight of Feinstein being wheeled through the Capitol's halls with a retinue of photographers and cameramen in tow underscored how eager the public was to get a sense of her well-being. Beyond her shingles diagnosis and that she was hospitalized, the senator has revealed little about her health or how much she's been working  aside from statements asserting that she's been staying updated by staff from San Francisco as she recovered.

Feinstein has long been known as not only powerful but hands-on  demanding, for example, to edit media advisories before they were sent out. On Thursday, as the nomination for a district judge position came up in her committee, she read her yes vote from a note and then asked to be recorded as voting in person on three other judges whose nominations were raised before her arrival. One aide whispered exuberantly into her ear. Another brought her coffee. Aides appeared to adjust the height of her chair before she arrived at the hearing.

Democrats also worked around her, voting in three nominees who had bipartisan support before her arrival, when her vote was not needed. Feinstein said in a news release Wednesday that her doctors "have advised me to work a lighter schedule" as she resumes her Senate career.

One Feinstein staff member said the senator would decide which votes and hearings to attend on a case-by-case basis. But Thursday's hearing suggested she would probably skip votes when it was not crucial for the Democrats, who hold a 51-49 majority in the Senate.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Thursday. One of her staff members said the senator would decide which votes and hearings to attend on a case-by-case basis. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

Feinstein's vote Thursday helped District Court nominees Charnelle Bjelkengren, Kato Crews and Marian Gaston pass out of committee. Democrats pushed back forcefully at Republican assertions that the three weren't qualified. Sen. Alex Padilla was quick to come to the defense of Gaston  who is a San Diego County Superior Court Judge.

After the vote, Padilla quickly went to greet Feinstein and wish her well.

"It's great to have her back," he said.

As she left the Judiciary Committee, reporters asked why she had returned now. "Felt better," she said with a laugh. She then was asked about the need to raise the country's borrowing limit  one of the biggest controversies in Washington  and responded that she was getting up to speed on the subject "and read a lot of material."

After the hearing, Feinstein spent time in an office she keeps right off the Senate floor. Then, around 2 p.m., after voting, she was wheeled by her staff to a waiting car and left the Capitol.





This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
The debt ceiling drama is jeopardizing one of the Senates more precious institutions: recess.

With little progress made toward a deal to raise the debt ceiling ahead of the June 1st X-date, senators this week expressed alarm that they might have to nix their Memorial Day recess to try to stave off a disastrous default. The break is scheduled to run from May 19 through May 29.

Im not making any solid plans until the debt ceiling is taken care of, Sen. Dick Durbin (Ill.), the No. 2 Democrat, told The Hill about the upcoming planned break. Im not planning to be here, but Im not planning on leaving. Ive been in the Senate long enough, I can say that and it makes sense.

President Biden and congressional leaders are set to meet early next week about the debt limit, having postponed the planned Friday sit-down. The next get-together will piggyback off hours of meetings between their staffs in recent days and the initial sit-down between the five leaders that took place on Tuesday.

Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told reporters there was no new movement in talks, heightening the possibility that the weeklong break could be scrapped. Sen. John Thune (S.D.), the No. 2 Republican, told members during a conference lunch on Wednesday its hard to imagine us not being here, according to Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.).

If the deadline is June 1, its hard to see how we will have executed on this thing by then, or at least by the week before, which is the week we would be out, Thune told The Hill, noting the decision is up to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).

As for Cramer, he is fully expecting to be in the District.

Im not worried about it [getting canceled]. Im fairly confident it will, he said with a laugh.

Adding to the pressure surrounding the situation, the Senate and House are slated to be in session concurrently for only four days between now and June 1  Monday through Thursday of next week. The Senate recess is then set to start, while the House is expected to be out of town the week of May 29. That, of course, is the week of what the Treasury Department has set as the X-date.

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If the Senates break is nixed and not replaced sometime in June before the two-week break surrounding the Fourth of July holiday, senators would be in Washington for 10 straight weeks  twice as long as the next longest stretch on the 2023 Senate calendar.

When asked about the possibility of losing that week, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) made clear she hopes they can keep that break on the books if possible.

Recess has been scheduled for a long time, Capito said, noting senators refer to them as state work periods. I think the leaders and the president have had time to know where the deadlines are. Theyve been talking about this, but were going to do our work, and if it means we have to stay here and reach a consensus, thats what well do.

We all have families and family obligations just like everyone else. Its graduation time in May, Capito said, noting she is delivering two graduation speeches this month. Its disappointing, but we knew this when we signed up for it.

While recess is considered a much-needed break from the head-banging happenings at the Capitol, it has been canceled or truncated in recent years. Then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) kept members in during a planned mid-March break to pass a COVID-19 relief package in the early days of the pandemic.

McConnell also decided to lop off part of the sacrosanct August recess in 2017 before deciding to nix most of it a year later to work on government funding and to pass judicial nominations.

Who knows. Weve got to stay until we resolve this, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said, adding that its very possible the break could be done away with. I think everybody needs to be prepared to stay here to get things done.

Absent a deal or progress toward a deal in the days ahead of June 1, top economists and banking leaders are warning of potential major damage to the financial system. Heather Boushey, a member of the White Houses Council of Economic Advisers, reportedly told lawmakers the White House has been told the U.S.s national credit rating will be downgraded if it gets too close to default.

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said a default on the national debt would be potentially catastrophic and warned Wall Street will panic if lawmakers come close to doing so.

If anything, senators are hoping the looming recess could pressure some figures to act.

Im hoping not, said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) when asked if the weeklong hiatus could be in jeopardy. If thats what motivates us to do what we know we have to do anyway, I guess, so be it.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Seth Rogen slammed streaming company executives on Wednesday over their secretiveness as writers strike for better pay and working conditions.

Im personally distressed by not having any sense of how successful these shows and movies we make for streaming services are, Rogen said on the red carpet for the premiere of his Apple TV+ show Platonic, according to Variety.

The secretiveness only makes me think that theyre making way more money off of all of us than they want to share with anybody, he continued. These executives are making insane salaries that you would only make if you are running an incredibly profitable business.

Members of the Writers Guild of America are currently on strike and have called for increased residuals from streaming of their work. (HuffPosts unionized employees are represented by WGAE.)

Rogen later gave a shoutout to labor unions as he remarked on the impact of collective action.

Thank God for these labor unions and their ability to force these gigantic corporations who banded together to drive down the wages of workers to actually do something every once in a while and act fairly and equitably, he said.

Rogen isnt the only celebrity to take aim at streamers.

Last week, Snoop Dogg questioned how musicians can get a billion streams and not get a million dollars.

Thats the main gripe with a lot of us artists, is that we do major numbers ... but it dont add up to the money, he said. Like, where the fuck is the money?

Actors and comedians Fred Armisen, Tina Fey and Seth Meyers join striking members of the Writers Guild of America on the picket line during a rally outside Silvercup Studios on Tuesday.

Actors and comedians Fred Armisen, Tina Fey and Seth Meyers join striking members of the Writers Guild of America on the picket line during a rally outside Silvercup Studios on Tuesday.

The strike of roughly 11,500 TV and film writers has caused a number of productions to hit pause, including late night programs such as The Tonight Show and Saturday Night Live.

It also led MTV to axe the live show for this years MTV Movie & TV Awards earlier this week after host Drew Barrymore dropped out to show her support for the writers.

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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 Ill be watching from home and hope you will join me, Barrymore said in a statement.

Related...
[Source]

A museum dedicated to remembering Chinese laborers who helped build the United States first transcontinental railroad opened in San Francisco this week.

The Chinese Railroad Workers History Center, located on Kearny Street, is founded by Florence Fang, a Chinese community leader in the Bay Area. She said the center will serve as a multifunctional gathering place to learn about Chinese American heritage.

The centers purpose is to remember the Chinese railroad workers' contribution to this country; the goal is to give voice to the voiceless, and the spirit is to remember the past and inspire the future, said Fang, according to China Daily.

Wednesdays opening coincided with the 154th anniversary of the Golden Spike, which marked the completion of the transcontinental railroad. It also came in time for AAPI Heritage Month.

More from NextShark: New comic titled 'White Savior' parodies 'The Last Samurai,' Hollywood tropes

The railroad, originally called the Pacific Railroad, was considered one of the greatest engineering feats of the 19th century. Around 12,000 Chinese laborers joined its construction, but their contributions have largely been forgotten in history.

Those laborers faced dangerous working conditions, with nearly 1,200 of them dying from accidents that included avalanches and explosions. To make matters worse, they also battled prejudice, discrimination and accusations of stealing American jobs.

Bay Area Council President Jim Wunderman, who hosted Wednesdays event, said the museum serves as a step to rectify the overlooking of the laborers in history.

More from NextShark: Man Brings Machete to Washington Asian Market Because They Asked He Wear a Face Mask

These workers faced immense challenges and incredible levels of discrimination. They received 30 to 50 percent lower wages than white workers for the same job, Wunderman said, as per KGO. They were given the most difficult and dangerous work including tunneling and the ease of explosives.

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More from NextShark: Barbie reveals Anna May Wong doll for AAPI Heritage Month

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This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also text HOME to 741741 or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional resources.

Veterans who are in crisis or having thoughts of suicide, and those who know a veteran in crisis, can call the Veterans Crisis Line at 1-800-273-8255 and press 1, chat online at VeteransCrisisLine.net/Chat, or text 838255.

As a high school sophomore, John Tappen watched the towers fall on 9/11 knowing his mother, Susan, had boarded a flight that morning at Boston Logan International Airport.

After a day filled with "sheer panic," Tappen learned his mom was safe, but the day changed his outlook on life.

Fueled by a desire to protect and serve, Tappen enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 2006.

As a flight engineer, Tappen thrived in his role, but a deployment to the Middle East in 2009 changed his life again.

'Nothing was working'

Tappen was a very happy boy before he went into the service, his mom says.

He came home different.

"The tough thing was that I was unable to identify what the emotions even were, so I would feel anger but it'd be in a way that I've never felt it before," Tappen tells TODAY.com. "I would feel sadness in a way I've never felt before and it was coming from a place I didn't know."

The Navy veteran, 38, calls the experience "bizarre and alarming."

Tappen couldn't even recognize himself. His mom worried.

"He came home and was a totally different person," Susan, 72, tells TODAY.com from her home in Florida. "We tried everything we could think of, from drugs to therapy and friends, and nothing was working. John would just cry."

John Tappen and family (Courtesy K9s For Warriors)

Tappen was diagnosed with PTSD, and he tells TODAY.com he did the right things.

You start going through the steps of getting healing, he says, adding he went to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), as well as sought out medication and therapy. But when these (emotions) are still occurring, you start to internalize and go Oh, Im just broken and then thats when it gets really scary.

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His mom Susan recalls a moment when they were in Walmart together and he burst into tears.

"That was very, very unlike John," she says. "And as a mom, you really don't know what to do. So I kept thinking, 'OK, we have to accept that this is the new John' and we'll do whatever we can to try to give him the best life that we can."

Getting emotional, Tappen tells TODAY.com that at one point, "Suicide was an option for me."

"Not just an option, but a better option than living," Tappen says. "It was one of those things where I thought there was no fixing it. I was doing all the things youre supposed to do (and) taking up to 20 medications a day. When youre doing that and youre not seeing any progress, if anything youre seeing regression, its horrible."

'My scars were not visible'

Around the time that Tappen was at his lowest, he and his mom attended an event for warriors in Jacksonville, Florida. There they met K9s For Warriors, an organization that takes shelter dogs and turns them into service dogs.

At first, Tappen didn't think he would qualify for a service dog. He didn't think he deserved one.

"I had this very real thing in my head where I was not broken enough to deserve a service dog," Tappen says. "I didn't want to take a dog from somebody that I thought might need a dog more than me, because my scars were not visible."

Susan Tappen says she and her husband, Rob, thought the same.

"I think we were maybe part of the problem," she tells TODAY.com. "Because we thought the same thing as John  it's for people who have missing limbs or major physical barriers. This isn't for somebody like John."

Tappen says that at the eventual encouragement of his family, he reached out to K9s and applied for a service dog.

"I really struggled with it," he says. "I knew it would mean really facing my problems."

Saving lives at both ends of the leash

After about a year on the waiting list, Tappen was introduced to a poodle named Henry.

"He is my soul dog," Tappen says of Henry, who he now calls his best friend. "Seeing him was like taking the best medication I've ever taken, because I knew for the first time that things were going to be going in a positive way."

Henry Tappen (Courtesy K9s For Warriors)

For K9s For Warriors, the mission is about saving lives at both ends of the leash. According the the VA, an average of 16 veterans per day die by suicide.

Suicide across our veteran community is an epidemic, Carl Cricco, the president and CEO of K9s For Warriors, tells TODAY.com. These are ladies and gentlemen who went overseas to put their lives on the line for us and they come home and the support system thats in place is not doing enough for them.

John Tappen and Henry (Courtesy K9s For Warriors)

The organization has rescued more than 2,000 dogs from shelters and provided them with specialized training to become certified service dogs  an education that costs around $30,000 per dog and is funded through donations.

"The idea that you're 'not broken enough' is so common with our military folks," Cricco says. "Veterans should ask for help (and) veterans need to ask for help."

John Tappen with mom Susan and Henry (Courtesy K9s For Warriors)

The organization has paired service dogs with more than 850 veterans suffering from PTSD, traumatic brain injury and/or military sexual assault trauma.

Cricco says: "82% of our warrior graduates have a reduction in suicidal thoughts, and 92% reduce their dependence on medication. These results are real; these dogs have a profound impact on the well-being of these of these veterans."

John Tappen and Henry (Courtesy K9s For Warriors)

Tappen tells TODAY.com he now thinks about his life in terms of "BH" and "AH."

"That's Before Henry and After Henry," Tappen says of his best friend, who has been by his side for three years. "I dont know how to describe it other than you see him, he looks at you, and it's this instantaneous connection."

Through tears, Susan tells TODAY.com that she has Henry to thank for the life of a son she once feared she had lost.

"Henry means everything to me, she says, crying on the phone. "I have my son back."

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
A crowd of hundreds gathered around a memorial including a #PurpleForOliver sign at a memorial for Oliver Hitchcock in Sheboygan Falls on Sunday, April 11, 2022.

SHEBOYGAN - On Thursday, a judge committed 43-year-old Natalia Hitchcock to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services for life.

Prosecutors charged Hitchcock with first-degree intentional homicide for the death of 8-year-old Oliver Hitchcock in April 2022. Sheboygan County Judge Daniel Borowski found Natalia not guilty due to a mental disease, although she admitted to killing her son.

As part of a plea agreement, Borowski dismissed an additional charge against Hitchcock of attempted first-degree intentional homicide for allegedly holding her older son underwater in the bathtub in their Sheboygan Falls apartment days before his brothers death.

Hitchcock will be able to petition for conditional release from a mental institution every six months, but the courts deny release if there is convincing evidence that a person would pose a significant risk to themselves or others.

People who are conditionally released remain under supervision.

More: Who was Oliver Hitchcock, the Sheboygan Falls boy whose mother is accused of killing him? A lover of purple, a child 'most likely to invent'

Hitchcock killed her son based on delusions and hallucinations

Oliver Hitchcock

Family members release balloons at a memorial for Oliver Hitchcock on Sunday, April 11, 2022 in Sheboygan Falls.

Judge Borowski said that Hitchcock became acutely psychotic to the point that she, based on delusions and hallucinations, took the life of her own child.

According to a criminal complaint, Hitchcock had not been diagnosed with any mental health disorders before she killed her son, but she told police after the homicide that someone was controlling her mind and she killed her son to save him from abuse.

Before she strangled her son, she tried to take her own life and a had a critical amount of Tylenol in her system, according to the criminal complaint.

Her attorneys immediately raised concerns about whether Hitchcock was competent to stand trial after she was charged. After two evaluations, Borowski found her competent last fall, meaning he thought she was able to understand court proceedings and assist her attorneys.

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Judge Daniel J. Borowski listens in Sheboygan County Circuit Court Branch 5, on Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2019, in Sheboygan, Wis.

Hitchcocks attorney, Solomon Gatton, said she has felt remorse for her sons death since day one.

I dont even think remorse, quite frankly, does justice to what Natalia is feeling, Gatton said.

Hitchcock, crying in court, said of her son: I miss him so much. I just want him to be remembered. He is an amazing boy, and I want to say Im sorry to everyone, and thank you to everyone who was trying to save him.

Reach Maya Hilty at 920-400-7485 or MHilty@sheboygan.gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Sheboygan Press: Sheboygan Falls mother Natalia Hitchcock sentenced for homicide
Mason County law enforcement responded to false report that a shooter was at Shelton High School Thursday morning.

In a social media post, the City of Shelton described the incident as a swatting, a prank emergency call intended to draw a large police response. The call came after similar swatting incidents have been reported in recent days in Washington state.

In this incident, the post says someone reported a student was in the parking lot with an AR-15 rifle, a controversial weapon that has been used in many mass shootings across the country.

Shelton, Squaxin Island and Skokomish police along with Mason County Sheriffs Office deputies responded to the school but reportedly found nothing.

The incident prompted lockdowns at several Shelton School District campuses, including Shelton High School, Cedar High School, Olympic Middle School, Oakland Bay Jr. High School and Mountain View Elementary School.

Law enforcement gave the school district the all-clear to lift the lockdowns before noon, according to the post. A district alert notified students and parents that there was no credible threat at any of the schools.

The incident has been reported to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, according to the post.
Vulnerable Ohio Democrat Senator Sherrod Brown signed a 2020 Democrat letter condemning Title 42 as a "CDC asylum ban"  but now he wants to extend the order after its expiration Thursday night.

Brown signed onto a letter in 2020 with several congressional Democrats  including then-Senator Kamala Harris , D-Calif.  calling to overturn Title 42, which the Trump administration pushed to curb the influx of migrants amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

"CDC asylum ban: In March 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued an order 21 that permits DHS to summarily expel asylum-seekers, upending decades of congressionally mandated procedures and further endangering populations at risk of harm," the 2020 letter signed by dozens of Democrats read.

SHERROD BROWN WILL VOTE TO OVERTURN DC CRIME BILL DESPITE PAST COMMENTS DEFENDING DEFUND THE POLICE

Ohio Democrat Senator Sherrod Brown signed onto a letter with several congressional Democrats  including then-Senator Kamala Harris, D-Calif.,  calling to overturn Title 42 amid the Trump administrations 2020 push to curb the influx of migrants amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The CDC order appears designed to further an ongoing agenda to exclude asylum seekers, in violation of Congress plain word and intent," the letter continued. "The UN Refugee Agency has stated clearly, in the context of COVID-19: Denial of access to territory without safeguards to protect against refoulement cannot be justified on the grounds of any health risk."

"Leading epidemiologists and public health experts have condemned the new policy, stating that it is based on specious justifications and fails to protect public health," the Democrats wrote. "Human rights and medical groups have developed measures for processing migrants at the border that both protect public health and preserve humanitarian protection."

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

For years, Title 42 was one of the main processes border officials used to expel migrants who crossed the border illegally.

Now that Biden has ended Title 42, and migrants flood the border, Brown wants to extend the order he once derided as a "CDC asylum ban."

Brown on Thursday signed onto a proposal spearheaded by centrist Senators Joe Manchin, D-W.V., and Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., that would extend the administrations pandemic power to turn migrants away from the border for another two years.

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In this aerial picture taken on May 11, 2023, people return to the Mexican side of the river after dropping off migrants on the U.S. side, across the Rio Grande, in Brownsville, Texas.

"I dont think you can get something comprehensive now, under the pressure of whats happening at the border," Brown told Politico, noting that hed like to see comprehensive immigration reform.

"Its clear to me presidents of both parties have failed on this," Brown continued. "And we need to send more resources to the border."

"We need two more years to get this right," he added.

Ohio GOP Senate candidate Bernie Moreno told Fox News Digital that "Sherrod Brown is the worst type of hypocritical career politician."

"He has long been one of the most liberal members of the Senate, has voted in near lockstep with Biden and has regularly voted against securing the border and for amnesty," Moreno said. "But like a typical career politician, now that hes up for re-election hes trying to gaslight Ohioans into believing hes some sort of moderate who supports securing the border."

Ohio GOP Senate candidate Bernie Moreno told Fox News Digital "Sherrod Brown is the worst type of hypocritical career politician."

"Unfortunately for him, Ohioans arent stupid and wont fall for his lies," the Republican candidate added.

The Title 42 Senate proposal would extend the order for two more years, allowing the administration to turn migrants away from the southern border.

The Senate Democrats proposal comes after Title 42 expired at 11:59 p.m. on Thursday night, bringing a boiling political pot to the forefront of tight re-election races.

Fox News Digital reached out to Browns campaign for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Retail

Nordstrom appointed Cathy R. Smith as chief financial officer (CFO), effective May 29. Interim CFO Michael Maher will remain with the company through June 16 to facilitate the transition.

Cathy R. Smith

Smith will be responsible for financial planning and analysis, accounting, tax, internal audit, treasury, investor relations and strategic sourcing. She joins Nordstrom from Bright Health Group where she has served as CFO and administrative officer since 2020. Smith previously spent five years with Target as CFO.

More from Sourcing Journal

Slowear

Slowear has named Piero Braga as CEO of the Italian retail group and named a new board of directors.

Braga joins from Gucci, where he most recently served as executive vice president, strategic adviser and board member, previously serving as CEO of the timepieces division. The renewed includes Paolo Ferrin as chairman alongside Giorgio Delpiano, Stefano Sassi and Monica Marsilli as well as Braga.

Childrens specialty apparel retailer The Childrens Place announced that shareholders elected all director candidates to the companys board of directors, including new directors Wes McDonald and Michael Shaffer, who will serve on the audit committee.

McDonald was previously principal officer, CFO of Kohls from 2015 to 2017. Shaffer was previously executive vice president, chief operating officer and CFO of PVH Corp. from 2012 through 2021.

Brands

Nike appointed Maria Henry to its board of directors, effective June 1. She will serve as a member of the audit and finance committee as well.

Henry was CFO officer of multinational personal care corporation Kimberly-Clark Corporation from April 2015 through April 2022 and served as executive vice president and senior advisor from April 2022 until her retirement last September.

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Allbirds

Allbirds announced that co-founder and co-CEO Tim Brown transitioned away from sharing the chief executive title with co-founder, and now sole CEO, Joey Zwillinger. Effective May 4, Brown now holds the title of chief innovation officer.

Tim Brown

Alex Mill

New York-based brand Alex Mill named Roxanne Stahl OHara to the new position of CEO, effective May 15.

Roxanne Stahl OHara

OHara most recently spent nearly five years as chief merchant of childrens toy company Melissa & Doug. Prior to that, she spent 13 years at J. Crew where she held several senior positions including SVP, head of merchandising, womens and kids. OHara worked closely with Mickey Drexler and Somsack Sikhounmuong who were CEO and VP, design at the time. Drexler is now chairman of Alex Mill and Sikhounmuong is the brands co-founder and creative director.

Bluestar Alliance

Brand management company Bluestar Alliance has appointed Anthony Lucia as global president of its Scotch & Soda USA and global business operations following the news that Bluestar acquired the U.S.-based wholesale and resale business assets of the Dutch fashion brand. He will streamline the transition across the retail footprint and global brand operations.

Trade

GS1 US

Balaa Prasanna

Not-for-profit information standards organization GS1 US has elected Bala Prasanna, vice president, store automation and innovation at Walmart, to its board of governors. He currently leads a team that supports automation and innovation for U.S. Walmart stores. Having joined Walmart in 2000, he has worked for more than 20 years in information technology.

Prasanna joins the cross-industry group to guide the organizations strategy to drive greater adoption and use of the GS1 standards in the healthcare, apparel, general merchandise, retail grocery and food service sectors.

Federal Maritime Commission

Federal Maritime Commission chairman Daniel B. Maffei named John G. Crews, II as the director, bureau of enforcement, investigations and compliance (BEIC), a new role, and a member of the senior executive team. He will supervise and coordinate the personnel and activities of the bureaus three subordinate offices of enforcement, investigations and compliance that comprise the Commissions enforcement program.

Logistics

Wheels Up

Ravi Thakran

Wheels Up said founder Kenny Dichter will step down as CEO, but remain a member of the board of directors. Board member Ravi Thakranformer group chairman, Asia for LVMHwill serve as executive chairman, and CFO Todd Smith has been named interim CEO of the private aviation company and freight services provider.

Nonprofits

Global Fashion Agenda

Global Fashion Agenda named Thomas Tochtermann as chairman and Thomas Klausen as vice chairman after Niels Eskildsen stepped down as chairman after 10 years with the non-profit organization focused on industry cooperation to drive sustainable change.

Click here to read the full article.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) issued a report Friday updating its projected timeline for when the nation risks defaulting on its debt, estimating the federal governments deadline could now be the first two weeks of June.

The nonpartisan budget scorekeeper warned Friday morning that there is greater risk the Treasury Department is on track to exhausting the extraordinary measures its been taking since January to temporarily stave off a federal default, if Congress fails to raise or suspend the debt ceiling in time.

What you need to know: 10 questions answered on the debt limit

The extent to which the Treasury will be able to fund the governments ongoing operations will remain uncertain throughout May, even if the Treasury ultimately runs out of funds in early June, the report said. The report chalked up that uncertainty largely to the timing and amount of revenue collections and outlays over the intervening weeks could differ from CBOs projections.

In the event the Treasury Departments cash and extraordinary measures are able to buy the government until June 15, the CBO estimates that quarterly tax receipts expected around then, along with additional emergency measures, could allow the government to continue financing operations through at least the end of July.

The CBO previously estimated in February that the federal government could default sometime between July and September. But CBO director Phillip Swagel also cautioned then that the timeline could move back, depending on revenue levels during tax season. The agency said in an interim update last week that there was more risk of a national default in early June as tax season wound down.

The report is the latest warning to Congress that it faces a more serious time crunch to raise the debt ceiling than previously expected.

Tax receipts came in lower than expected last month, which has sapped money the federal government could have used to stave off a default. The Treasury Department warned last week the US could default as soon as June 1.

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Economists have warned a government default could produce devastating effects for the nations economy, as well as global financial markets.

If Congress fails to do that, it really impairs our credit rating. We have to default on some obligation, whether its Treasuries or payments to Social Security recipients, Treasury Department Secretary Janet Yellen warned in an interview with Bloomberg Television on Friday.

Thats something America hasnt done since 1789, and we shouldnt start now, she added.

Congress last raised the debt limit to roughly $31.4 trillion in late 2021, but not without months of drama between both sides of the aisle, as Republicans tried to use the task as a leverage point to secure concessions from Democrats, who instead pushed for a clean increase with no conditions.

Congress finds itself in similar terrain yet again, as a GOP-led House vows not to raise the debt ceiling unless Democrats agree to significant spending cuts.

Earlier this week, President Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) sat down with other congressional leaders to discuss a path forward on the debt limit in an attempt to break the months-long stalemate.

While leaders signaled no major movement between both sides after the meeting, they said discussions will continue between staff. A second meeting was planned for Friday before being postponed, with a White House official saying Thursday that staff will continue working and all the principals agreed to meet early next week.

Updated at 11:48 a.m.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Wang Yi (R), a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, meets with Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg in Vienna, Austria, May 11, 2023. (Xinhua)

VIENNA, May 12 (Xinhua) -- China has always supported the European Union to play a more important role in international affairs, said Wang Yi, director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, here Thursday.

No matter how the international situation evolves, China has always firmly supported European integration, the unity and growth of the EU, a more important role of the EU in global affairs, Wang made the remarks while meeting with Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg in Vienna.

China is willing to conduct dialogue and cooperation with the European side on the basis of mutual respect and mutual benefit, added Wang, who is also a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee.

Wang noted that China-Austria relations have maintained a sound development, and expressed the wish to deepen the friendly strategic partnership with Austria.

Austria is committed to developing good Austria-China relations on the basis of mutual respect and seeking common ground while reserving differences, said Schallenberg on his part. He noted that Austria does not advocate decoupling from China and would actively promote the healthy development of EU-China relations.

The two sides also exchanged views on the Asia-Pacific situation, the Ukrainian crisis and other issues of common concern. 
A Silver Alert issued by the Dallas Police Department Thursday evening for a missing 86-year-old man was canceled a few hours later.

Bobby Rodgers was located and is safe, police said. The alert was canceled shortly before midnight.

Rodgers was diagnosed with a cognitive impairment, and officials believed his disappearance posed a credible threat to his health and safety..

He had last been seen around 1:45 p.m. Thursday in the 2300 block of Morrell Avenue.
Map of Singapore

Singapore is a wealthy city state in south-east Asia. Once a British colonial trading post, today it is a thriving global financial hub.

Chinese people account for about 75% of Singapore's multi-racial population, with Malays and Indians making up much of the remainder.

Its trade-driven economy is heavily supported by foreign workers. In 2013, the government forecast that by 2030, immigrants will make up more than 50% of the population.

The People's Action Party has dominated politics since independence from Malaysia in 1965.

LEADERS

President: Halimah Yacob

Singapore's President Halimah Yacob

Halimah Yacob was sworn in as Singapore's first female president in 2017. As a member of the Muslim Malay minority, she is also the country's first Malay leader in 47 years.

Presidential candidates run as individuals, because Singapore's head of state is supposed to be non-partisan.

Prime minister: Lee Hsien Loong

Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong

The eldest son of Singapore's founding father Lee Kuan Yew, Lee Hsien Loong has been in office since August 2004.

A former army officer and Cambridge-educated mathematician, he followed his father into politics in 1984 at the age of 32.

As prime minister, Mr Lee has launched policies to build a competitive economy, introducing new programmes to upgrade the education system, investing in research and development and transforming the city-state.

MEDIA

As a media hub for south-east Asia, Singapore is a strategic centre for the region's English-speaking audience.

Its tightly-controlled media environment means self-censorship among journalists is common. There are also curbs on online content.

TIMELINE

Some key dates in Singapore's history:

British administrator Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles oversaw the establishment of Singapore

1819 - Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles establishes Singapore as a trading post for the British East India Company.

1942 - Singapore falls to Japan during Second World War.

1959 - Singapore holds first general election.

1963 - Singapore joins the Federation of Malaysia.

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1965 - Declares independence from Malaysia.

1990 - Singapore's founding father Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew stands down after 31 years.

1993 - Singapore holds its first presidential election.
Firefighters from six fire departments fought a blaze that destroyed two vacant Washington Park homes and damaged a third home that was occupied by three adults who were awakened by firefighters telling them to get out of the house early Thursday.

The three homes are next to each other in the 5700 block of Portland Place off Illinois 111, according to Assistant Fire Chief Ronnie Harris.

One firefighter was taken to a hospital for heat exhaustion suffered while fighting the blaze, which was reported at 4:15 a.m.

Three adults were in the home that was damaged.

We woke up the people who were inside, Harris said. The house was starting to fill up with smoke as the fire was trying to get into the house.

The two vacant homes were fully engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived. They were able to prevent the third home from being destroyed.

A fourth alarm was sounded to bring in additional firefighters.

The Washington Park Fire Department was assisted by firefighters from Midway, Prairie du Pont, Fairmont City, Millstadt and Villa Hills.

Also, the American Red Cross provided assistance to the fire victims.

The cause of the fire was under investigation.
Madison County authorities are investigating skeletal remains found at a former industrial plant and whether the person is a man reported missing last summer, the coroner said Friday.

The remains were found Thursday in the former Chemetco Industrial Plant at 3754 Chemetco Lane in Hartford, according to a news release from Madison County Coroner Steve Nonn.

Authorities are aware of a missing person, Vernon Law, who has been missing from Wood River, IL since July 2022 and they are investigating that lead, the news release stated.

Law worked as deckhand on the river boat Kevin Michael.

Law was last seen by a co-worker at the Economy Boat Store in Wood River on July 21 and he also was later seen on a video when he was walking south on Illinois 3 in Hartford on that same day according to a release from the Wood River Police Department.

Anyone with information about Law is asked to call the Wood River Police Department at 618-251-3114.

The remains were discovered by a person who was doing aerial mapping of the Chemetco property, the coroner said.

Hartford and Wood River police are investigating the case along with the coroners office. The Illinois State Police Crime Scene Unit assisted in the search of the area.
Photo: robypangy (Shutterstock)

Loud snoring may be a harbinger of much bigger problems, research out this week suggests. The study found a link between severe sleep apnea in older adults and greater amounts of a specific biomarker in the brainone that could increase peoples risk of dementia or stroke. More research will be needed to understand this connection, however.

Sleep apnea is a condition in which a person stops breathing during sleep. This causes the brain to wake the person just enough to start breathing, only for the cycle to start again once the person falls back asleep. There are two main forms of sleep apnea, obstructive and central. Obstructive apnea happens when airway muscles physically block a persons breathing, while central apnea is when the brain forgets to signal the body to breath (a third mixed form has features of both).

Read more

Though not all snoring is linked to obstructive sleep apnea, its a common sign of the condition (snoring in general is caused by a narrow airway while sleeping). The constant interruptions caused by apnea also make it hard for people to get a restful nights sleep, which can then affect their physical and mental health in varying ways.

Sleep apnea, especially when severe, has been linked to a greater risk of many other health problems, including cardiovascular disease. In this new study, published Thursday in the journal Neurology, scientists wanted to get a better understanding of how the condition could possibly affect the brain.

They looked at data collected from 140 older adults with obstructive sleep apnea who had participated in an earlier study. These volunteers had undergone an MRI brain scan and were monitored overnight in a sleep lab. They were divided into three groups based on their diagnosed degree of sleep apnea, but all of them were thought to be free of dementia at the start and end of the study period.

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Compared to people with mild or moderate sleep apnea, the researchers found, those with severe sleep apnea had a greater amount of white matter hyperintensitiestiny lesions in the brains white matter that can be seen on an MRI. Those with severe apnea also tended to experience less slow-wave sleep, or deep sleep, and a lack of deep sleep was similarly associated with more white matter hyperintensities.

White matter hyperintensities frequently become more common the older we get. But having a greater number of these lesions has been linked to a higher risk of conditions such as dementia and stroke. So this potential connection is definitely cause for alarm, the study authors say.

These biomarkers are sensitive signs of early cerebrovascular disease, said study author Diego Carvalho, a researcher at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, in a statement released by the American Academy of Neurology. Finding that severe sleep apnea and a reduction in slow-wave sleep are associated with these biomarkers is important since there is no treatment for these changes in the brain, so we need to find ways to prevent them from happening or getting worse.

At the same time, the exact nature of this relationship between sleep apnea and these biomarkers is still unclear. For one, we cant tell from this data whether having severe sleep apnea actually causes these lesions to become more abundant. Its possible that these lesions might predate or even help worsen a persons sleep apnea, or that another factor helps raise the risk of having either. The researchers say that longer-term studies will be needed to confirm a cause-and-effect link, as well as answer other questions.

More research is needed to determine whether sleep issues affect these brain biomarkers or vice versa, Carvalho said. We also need to look at whether strategies to improve sleep quality or treatment of sleep apnea can affect the trajectory of these biomarkers.

That said, some studies have found that treating sleep apnea might lower the risk of dementia.

More from Gizmodo

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Click here to read the full article.
Two fishermen have been sentenced to jail in Ohio for cheating by hiding lead weights inside fish during a tournament

The scales of justice have caught two anglers found cheating during a fishing tournament in the midwestern US state of Ohio.

Jacob Runyan, 43, and Chase Cominsky, 36, were sentenced to 10 days in jail on Thursday for hiding lead weights inside their catch.

Runyan and Cominsky were also fined $2,500 and ordered to forfeit the $130,000 boat they used during the Lake Erie Walleye Trail tournament in September 2022.

Professional fishing tournaments are popular in the United States with tens of thousands of dollars often at stake.

Cash prizes for the Lake Erie tournament were awarded for the five heaviest walleye caught, with the winner eligible to take home $28,760.

When Runyan and Cominsky submitted their fish to be weighed the tournament director was suspicious since they appeared to weigh more than they looked.

Ten lead weights were found stuffed inside the fish when they were sliced open.

The pair were disqualified and police opened an investigation.

Cuyahoga County prosecutor Michael O'Malley said he believed Runyan and Cominsky had cheated previously.

"I have no doubt that these two crooks cheated in multiple tournaments over the last several years," O'Malley said in a statement. "These two should be banned from every fishing tournament for life."

The pair also had their fishing licenses suspended for the maximum of three years.

cl/st
A Russian fleet was sent to South Africa for naval exercises in February, led by the Admiral Gorshkov warship

South Africa's foreign ministry says the US ambassador has "apologised unreservedly" for claiming the country sold weapons to Russia.

On Thursday Reuben Brigety alleged a Russian ship was loaded with ammunition and weapons in Cape Town last December.

South Africa says it has no record of an arms sale and President Cyril Ramaphosa has ordered an inquiry.

On Friday the White House national security spokesman would not be drawn on details of the allegations.

But John Kirby said it was a "serious issue" and the US had consistently urged countries not to provide support for Russia's war in Ukraine.

Writing on social media after meeting the foreign ministry, Mr Brigety said he was "grateful for the opportunity to... correct any misimpressions left by my public remarks".

He said in the conversation he "re-affirmed the strong partnership between our two countries and the important agenda our presidents have given us".

Meanwhile a South African cabinet minister hit out at such "megaphone diplomacy", saying South Africa could not be "bullied by the US".

"It is the US which has sanctions against Russia... they must not drag us into their issues with Russia," Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, a minister in the presidency, told public broadcaster SABC.

Her bullish comments followed a Kremlin statement saying President Vladmir Putin had spoken to his South African counterpart by phone and the two had agreed to deepen "mutually beneficial ties".

There is no dispute that a Russian ship, known as Lady R, docked at a naval base near Cape Town last December - prompting questions from local politicians at the time. Whether the ship was supplied with arms before returning to Russia still needs to be established.

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If the accusations are true, South Africa will have violated its own Arms Control Act, which commits to "not trade in conventional arms with states engaged in repression, aggression or terrorism".

In the same act, South Africa describes itself as a "responsible member of the international community".

South Africa is one of a handful of countries that has abstained from a number of UN votes on the conflict and has refused to publicly condemn Russia, insisting it is non-aligned on the matter.

For months the regional superpower has been saying it instead supports a mediated settlement to the conflict.

Supplying arms while claiming to be neutral would not only rubbish that stance but would leave South Africa with a lot to answer both to its citizens and the international community.

Some in the governing African National Congress (ANC) appear to have a lingering affection for Russia because of the then-USSR's support for their fight against white-minority rule. But in present-day South Africa, many have been asking questions about whether this love affair truly serves South Africa's interests.

Experts say the country has more in common and a much bigger trade relationship with the West. Some are worried about a possible economic impact if ties with the US strain further.

The country's currency, the rand, which has been struggling for weeks as a result of months of rolling power cuts, weakened even further following the US ambassador's accusations.

It is an additional problem that South African citizens can scarcely afford.
SOUTH BEND  Nearly 600 residential and 117 business surveillance cameras are registered with the South Bend Police Department's real-time crime center, and the city is offering incentives to get more on board.

Mayor James Mueller and Police Chief Scott Ruszkowski announced the camera statistics Thursday at the city's quarterly public safety briefing.

The surveillance cameras in an area now can be monitored when a crime occurs as part of. New system that was demonsrated Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023, in the South Bend Police Departments new Real Time Crime Center in the central police station.

The police department's new crime center can integrate police operations in real time, with some cameras installed on city property and participating businesses that can offer real-time views of areas where incidents are occurring.

Since the crime center became operational in January, 596 residents have registered their home cameras, while some 117 business cameras have been integrated into the crime center's operations.

The crime center has a large set of wall monitors able to view everything from an interactive map of the city showing on-duty officers and active incidents to social media feeds.

Operations Division Chief Dan Skibins said that when a crime is committed somewhere in the city, the city police now can send an email to registered camera owners saying a crime was committed near them. The email also asks them to check their camera videos for the time period of the offense to see if they have anything related to the incident.

More: South Bend police unveil video surveillance control room for 'real time crime center'

Skibins said the homeowner then can simply forward the video clip to the detective bureau, making the gathering of evidence in the case much more efficient.

Mayor Mueller said the city is going to offer financial incentives for businesses to buy the cameras and subscription services to place the cameras there.

"We'll continue to look at this as this incentive program rolls out," Mueller said. "It's going to be broad-based across the entire city but, of course we know there are some problem spots that we want to get business owners on board."

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The mayor said there is money from the American Rescue Plan that was earmarked for technology upgrades, and they will have to see which business and how many come on board.

Ruszkowski said homeowners' cameras are not linked to the crime center. They simply get a report that something happened and homeowners can choose whether they have any possible footage and whether they wish to share it with investigators.

Josie Herman, crime analyst, sits at her desk Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023, in the South Bend Police Departments new Real Time Crime Center in the central police station.

"We are not focusing on anyone or anything when it comes to the camera integrations," Ruszkowski said. He added that the department's analytical data has shown that some areas in the city have experienced incidents that have prompted the city to seek the integration of some business surveillance cameras. He stressed that home cameras are not integrated and will not be.

Residents and businesses can get more information on the camera registry at SyncSouthBend.org.

Gun violence stats

According to statistics released by the city:

 The city experienced 259 gun violence incidents from Jan. 1 through April 30, some four more incidents than the 255 from the same period in 2022.

 There were 24 criminally assaulted shooting victims over this year's first four months. In 2022, there were 34 shooting victims.

 Police confiscated 205 guns during the first four months, up from the 137 guns confiscated this same period in 2022.

Community policing survey

A survey for the community to comment on what they want to see the police department do in the way of initiatives and for comments on current p[olice programs is now available and will be gathered through June 23.

Residents can take the 5-minute survey by going to southbendin.gov/communitypolicing and take the online survey.

For other access, people also can leave a voicemail message by calling 574-235-5888, extension 3300.

Officials said this is the last part of a three-year study on the community policing programs with the city police department.

The survey asks residents to rate the current police community programs. It also asks residents to offer any suggestions on what they want to see in the city's community policing programs.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: South Bend police real-time crime center seeks to boost camera registry
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has reported that South Korea supports Ukraine's "peace formula" to end the war.

Source: Kuleba on Twitter

Quote from Kuleba: "Meaningful meeting with my Korean counterpart Park Jin who informed me that the Republic of Korea supports President Zelenskyys Peace Formula."

Meaningful meeting with my Korean counterpart @FMParkJin who informed me that the Republic of Korea supports President @ZelenskyyUas Peace Formula. We discussed Korean engagement in Ukraines recovery and welcomed the growing intensity of bilateral contacts between our nations. pic.twitter.com/pVnwXCMSNt  Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) May 11, 2023

Details: Two foreign ministers have also discussed South Koreas part in the recovery of Ukraine.

Background:

In November 2022, Volodymyr Zelenskyy presented Ukraine's 10-point proposals for peace with Russia in a speech before the G20.

In February 2023, the UN General Assembly, with overwhelming majority, approved a draft resolution that incorporated the key provisions of Ukraine's "peace formula".

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) is calling for members of Congress to go without pay until they resolve the debt limit crisis as uneasiness rises across Washington around the threat of a federal default.

If the American people and the American economy are suffering as a result of congressional inaction, then Members of Congress should not be rewarded with their pay, she wrote in a letter Friday to the House chief administrative officer, Catherine Szpindor.

Spanberger acknowledged in the letter that Szpindor is constrained by the rules of Congress, the Constitution and other applicable laws and rules, but she requested that the official prepare to withhold Members of Congress pay until Congress passes, and the President signs, legislation to raise the debt ceiling and pay our countrys bills.

The Hill reached out to Szpindors office for comment.

Americas working families understand the basic principles of fairness  if you dont do your job, you dont get paid, Spanberger said in the letter.

Last week, the Treasury Department warned Congress could have until as soon as June 1 to raise the debt ceiling or risk the nation defaulting on its debt, which experts say could be devastating for the economy.

President Biden, Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and other congressional leaders met earlier this week to discuss a path forward on the debt limit in an attempt to break a months-long, high-stakes stalemate.

Leaders signaled no major movement had been made between both sides after the meeting but said discussions will continue between staff. A White House official also said Thursday that staff will continue working and all the principals agreed to meet early next week.

In her letter Friday, Spanberger said hyper-partisanship in Congress is jeopardizing the economic strength and security of our country, the stability of global markets, and the worlds faith in the credit of the United States of America.

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And rather than fulfill our most basic obligations, U.S. House Republican leadership has instead championed a bad-faith proposal that has no chance of moving forward in the U.S. Senate, she wrote. Market volatility has already impacted Americans retirement accounts  and this institution must not wait until the last possible moment to deliver on one of its most fundamental responsibilities.

The letter adds the mounting frustration seen across Capitol Hill in recent weeks as both sides struggle to come to an agreement.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
TEHRAN, May 11 (Xinhua) -- The Iranian foreign minister on Thursday condemned the Swedish parliament's designation of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) as a "terrorist" organization.

Hossein Amir-Abdollahian made the remarks in a phone call with his Irish counterpart Micheal Martin, in which the two sides also discussed the expansion of cooperation in line with their national interests, according to a statement posted on the website of the Iranian Foreign Ministry.

After Iran on Saturday executed Habib Farajollah Chaab, the ringleader of the Harakat al-Nazal group and a dual Swedish-Iranian national, for masterminding and carrying out several "terror" operations in the southwestern Iranian province of Khuzestan, the Swedish parliament on Wednesday voted in favor of designating the IRGC as a "terrorist" organization.

Amir-Abdollahian noted that the Swedish parliament's move was made under the influence of "instigation" from anti-Iran "terrorists," who have been "rejected" by the Iranian people.

He stressed that the IRGC is a "state institution" responsible for safeguarding the security of Iran and its borders, and plays an important role in the fight against terrorism in the region.

The Irish minister, for his part, said his country is in no way interested in seeing any "incorrect" judgement to be formed against the IRGC, which is a state institution.

He emphasized that Ireland is well aware of Iran's role in the fight against terrorism.

Martin also welcomed the cooperation between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency, as well as the efforts to remove the sanctions against Tehran.

Also on Thursday, the Iranian Foreign Ministry condemned in a statement the Swedish parliament's "unwise" move.

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanaani was quoted as saying that the Swedish parliament's "illegal" move contradicts accepted general principles of international law and amounts to an "aggression" against Iran's sovereignty and national security. 
(Patrick Hruby / Los Angeles Times)

For the record:

3:49 p.m. May 12, 2023: A flight from Miami to San Juan is a domestic flight. A reference to it being an international flight has been removed.



As a person who takes many last-minute trips, Im used to flying on budget airlines. I've traveled thousands of miles on JetBlue (my ride-or-die), TAP Air Portugal (amazing), Vueling (decent), Ryanair (can you tell I studied abroad in Europe?), French Bee (they lost my bag at Paris Orly for nearly a week) and Spirit (who among us wouldnt buy a $45 round-trip ticket to see Pitbull play in Nashville?). Yet Frontier Airlines didnt come across my radar until more recently.

The Denver-based low-cost carrier caught my attention last November when the company announced it would be launching the GoWild! All-You-Can-Fly Pass . Its premise was simple: Users can book unlimited flights for fares of 1 cent (plus taxes and fees). Summer passes, for May 2 to Sept. 30, started at $399 and are $499 until May 31. (After that date, the price will revert back to $999, though Tyri Squyres, Frontiers vice president of marketing, said the passes may sell out entirely this month.) Annual passes, which are good for a calendar year starting May 2, started at $599 and are currently on sale for $1,999.

For Frontier, which carries around 25 million passengers annually, the pass is a remedy for a problem that many airlines face. "The real genesis of the pass is we're flying thousands and thousands of empty seats every day," Squyres said. "Why not give them to folks?"

Unlimited flight passes have, of course, been around for years. And while such programs are always enticing, they tend to go wayward. In the 1980s, American Airlines let a few dozen lucky people purchase unlimited lifetime AAirpasses for upward of $250,000, but the airline eventually rolled some of the passes back . In 2009, JetBlue launched a more modest monthlong "All You Can Jet" pass for $599 that sold a little too well, which led them to suspend sales . The most comparable program currently on the market seems to be Alaska Airlines limited Flight Pass , which launched in February 2022 and allows people to pay a flat rate for six, 12 or 24 trips per year within California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah.

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When the GoWild Pass was announced, intrigue soared, with writers describing the program as  built brilliantly  and chaotic, but might be worth it. Soon enough, people jumped online to figure out if the deal was too good to be true. What are the downsides to the $599 Frontier Airlines Go Wild! pass? one Reddit user posted . Is round-trip possible with the GoWild! pass? another asked . (Because you're only allowed to book domestic flights 24 hours in advance and international flights 10 days in advance, the answer is essentially no.) There were questions about seat availability, cancellation fees and luggage.

But parsing through the fine print didnt seem like it would get me all the answers I wanted, so I did what any travel reporter would do: I begged my editor to let me try it out.

Heres what happened when I put my pass to the test.

Confusion over airports and routes

Because Frontier doesnt operate out of Los Angeles International (which is two miles from the L.A. Times' office), I learned that my closest airports would be John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana (45 miles away) and Ontario International Airport (55 miles away).

Though Frontier previously offered flights from Hollywood Burbank Airport, it recently stopped. Squyres said that Frontier makes changes to its flight network seasonally to meet where there is the greatest customer demand. (Frontiers top flight hubs include Denver, which has 63 routes; Las Vegas, which has 60; Orlando, which has 49; and Atlanta, which has 38.)

Looking at Frontiers route map , I found that Frontier flies to three destinations from John Wayne Airport: Las Vegas, Denver and Dallas. If I wanted to take an international trip, Id likely have to drive to the Ontario airport (which offers Frontier flights to eight U.S. destinations), take a flight to one of the international airline's major hubs and then fly to my final destination.

Frontier offers direct flights from Ontario International Airport to San Francisco; Las Vegas; Denver; Orlando, Fla.; Dallas; Atlanta; Chicago and Phoenix.

Confusion about which routes and airports Frontier is flying has frustrated some GoWild users. A lot of people are buying the pass and then they're finding themselves unable to get to destinations they want to go because their airport doesn't have many options," said Sarah Yi, 46, a frequent flier based in New York City. The first time she used her GoWild pass, due to a long layover, it took 14 hours to get to Dallas, a destination thats typically a 2-hour flight.

Sticker shock over the real ticket prices

After looking through my flight options, I decided to book a round trip from Ontario to Denver to visit a friend. (Frontier allows advance booking for GoWild pass holders during certain promotional periods.) All domestic flights seemed to be around $15 minimum for each leg of the trip, lining up with this line from Frontiers FAQ: Current government and airport taxes, fees and charges start at approximately $14.90 per person, per flight for domestic travel. Accounting for just the 1-cent fare and the taxes and carrier imposed fees, the round trip cost $29.82.

Though $30 isnt bad for a short-haul round trip, its not exactly what travelers might be picturing after spending hundreds of dollars on an unlimited pass that was advertising 1-cent fares.

International flight pricing was particularly surprising because of the steeper taxes and fees. No matter which day or week I looked at, Denver to Cabo San Lucas came out to a minimum of $175.35 and Denver to Cancun seemed to bottom out at $148.55.



Monique Henderson, 45, bought a summer pass to take advantage of her summers off as an educator. "I wasn't sure if this is going to be a bait-and-switch thing where they fake you into buying this pass and then there's so many limiting factors [that] you can't really use it," she said.

However, so far, Henderson said the pass has been working flawlessly, and shes flown to San Salvador, Guatemala City, Cancun, Miami, Atlanta and Los Angeles. "I think people who did not read the bylaws in their entirety are definitely going to be sticker-shocked at some of the costs to fly international," she said. Still, she believes that when she weighs how much shes saving on these trips, its still worth it.

A note about add-ons: Though personal bags like a small backpack or purse (smaller than 18 by 14 by 8 inches) are free to bring on board, adding a carry-on bag (24 by 16 by 10) or a checked bag (62 total inches and less than 40 pounds) would cost me $55 per each one-way flight at the time of booking. (Jennifer DeLaCruz, Frontiers senior director of corporate communications, said she could not provide a price range for bags, since pricing is dynamic and can change from flight to flight.)

Fees for a carry-on or checked bag started at $55 each way for my flight.

Seat options on my flight cost $16 to $34, though there is an option to skip seat selection entirely. After the option to add bags and select seats, theres also an option to add airport agent assistance for $20 per person, per direction.

I decided to pack my things into a personal item-sized soft backpack in both directions and only selected a seat on my return flight, which cost an extra $33. I did not opt for airport assistance. My grand total was $62.82.

My total for a round-trip flight to Denver, which included a seat with extra leg room on my return flight, was $62.82.

Then came the actual flight

I arrived at the Ontario airport around 4:45 a.m. for a flight that started boarding at 5 a.m. After making it through the TSA Precheck security line in a smooth 15 minutes, I ran to my gate to make sure my group wasnt boarding yet.

At the gate, a steady stream of people was filing onto the bridge. As Id seen on social media, Frontier employees were making every person verify that their personal bags fit within a metal box the size of the airline's personal item limit. Though I didnt have trouble, I watched several people reconfigure their bags by taking out pieces of clothing and putting on additional layers.

Employees at the Ontario airport had each passenger check their personal item in the sizer before boarding. (Julia Carmel / Los Angeles Times)

The plane was basically what I expected, filled with thin, screenless seats that do not recline. The seats were also quite narrow, but I (thankfully) ended up in a window seat, which gave me a few more inches of room when I flipped up the armrest.

On my way back from Denver, at the gate next to mine  a Frontier flight heading to Seattle  an argument broke out between the desk agent and a passenger when the agent didnt allow the passenger to board with his backpack.

What kind of system is this? My bag fits, the passenger said repeatedly as he pleaded his case to different Frontier employees. All the while, he was pointing to a bag that clearly fit within the personal item holder.

Why would I pay $100 for a bag that fits? he kept asking.

But before I could see whether theyd let him and his bag on the flight, my gate began boarding.

For this flight, I opted for one of the roomier seats, which cost an extra $33. As someone with long legs, upgrading from the last row of the plane to the first was worth every penny.

My seat on my returning flight, which cost $33, offered plenty of extra leg room. (Julia Carmel / Los Angeles Times)

We landed in Ontario 30 minutes early, and though it was a welcome surprise, I wondered how often Frontiers flights run ahead (or behind) schedule.

"I do have to say every flight I have taken has taken off early, and I've never seen that before, to the point where they actually leave passengers behind," Yi said. She added that shes seen Frontier close boarding gates 45 minutes early and she once met a group of passengers who were left in Dallas when their flight to Cancun closed its gate 75 minutes early.

"The lesson I always tell people is get traveler's insurance and use a credit card that gives you travel protection when it's not airline related," Yi said.

When I asked about flights leaving early, Squyres said, "That doesn't make sense for us to even do that, so I'm skeptical on that one. But there may have been a communication issue."

Travelers woes

Like most airlines, Frontier isnt particularly popular online: It's been the subject of a viral  1 2 3 Frontier lost all our luggage  TikTok video, criticized for charging people $99 for personal items that fit within the required measurements and called out for giving incentives to agents who charge passengers baggage fees at the gate .

"We had to come up with something that would actually make sure that we were enforcing our policies fairly, Squyres said of the bag incentives.

Even the airlines own self-deprecating content is flooded with comments about lost luggage and expensive bag fees. (For what its worth, Frontiers percentage of mishandled luggage is lower than many major U.S. airlines.)

Last November, Frontier was also fined $2.2 million for not refunding $222 million to passengers who had flights canceled during the pandemic. Soon after, Frontier eliminated its customer service phone number .

"We still do have a contact center with live people who are communicating with our customers," Squyres said, referring to the companys chatbot . "Most customers, we find, would prefer not to actually have to talk to somebody."

There are also stories of canceled flights. Tanya Handy, 43, often travels between Ohio and Iowa for work, which made the annual GoWild pass especially appealing. But when she booked her first flight with the pass in April, to travel from Cedar Rapids to Cincinnati via a connection in Denver, she arrived at her gate and received an email saying her second leg, from Denver to Cincinnati, had been canceled without explanation. I had to book my own hotel room, she said. "There were no other options of booking another flight back home  or anywhere, for that matter. She ended up booking a flight on Southwest the next morning.

When asked about whether Frontier offers reimbursement or assistance for pass holders who encounter canceled or delayed flights, Squyres couldnt offer a simple answer.

Operationally, obviously, we're always trying to get customers from Point A to Point B, that's why you buy a ticket with us. That's your expectation, she said. And things do complicate that. Weather is is a big one and an ugly one. And sometimes, you know, things happen. And flights get disrupted. When issues arise, Squyres said Frontier works with all of its customers, including GoWild pass holders, in the same way.

But for many, the pass is working out just fine

With all the ups and downs of the pass taken into account, many fliers are quite satisfied with their purchases.

Jacob Brown, who has flown Frontier more than 100 times in the last few years, has encountered many disgruntled users as a moderator for a Facebook group with nearly 4,000 GoWild Pass holders. But Brown believes that most of the frustrations come from user error.

"Nobody's trying to hide anything from you," said Brown, 22, who created his own GoWild guide (entirely unaffiliated with Frontier ) to answer common questions about the pass. "I think that [Frontier is] being super clear with the advanced booking window, and the FAQs on the website have been updated as things have come up."

"A lot of people jump to conclusions," he added. "The first time they want to go somewhere and they look and a flight isn't available, they think it was a waste of money. The whole point of the pass was not to get guaranteed seats. It was for really quick getaways and last-minute flights."

So far, Brown has found his own annual pass to be worth the cost. "They're already being gracious with things like extending the booking window, so we're already getting a lot more than what we bargained for, in a positive way," he said.

Jasmine Martin, 27, is also a fan. She has already booked two trips so far with their summer GoWild pass, and has been able to link their pass with their daughters pass, which ensures that the two of them will be seated next to each other at no cost. "I know it's weird, but I love Frontier," Martin said. "The only time that I've had an issue was the time our flight was delayed seven hours."

Regardless of Frontiers reputation, Martin is excited to take advantage of the pass while her daughter is on summer vacation.

"The seats aren't that comfortable," they added, "but I mean, you're getting there for $14, so who cares?"

Would I buy the pass again?

There have been times in my life when this pass wouldve been perfect. When I was in a long-distance relationship, traveling for months at a time between New York and Los Angeles, I would have jumped at the chance to book $15 tickets the day before flying. (Booking routine trips to visit someone who is close to you and is flexible with when you'll leave seems like a surefire way to make the pass worthwhile.) And I certainly appreciate the giddiness of frequent fliers who use the pass to plot cross-country day trips to try special sandwiches and check off other bucket-list items.

But right now, all things considered, I dont think Ill get my money's-worth out of this pass. If there were flights out of LAX, or even just more direct routes available from local airports, my thoughts might be different, but I cant see myself driving to Ontario or Santa Ana often for impulsive trips with long connecting stops.

Still, Im hoping to use the pass a few more times this summer. Perhaps Ill get the momentum to hop on a flight to Philadelphia or Miami to visit old friends during my next slow weekend. It won't be the most convenient journey, but as we as travelers keep learning, every cheap flight comes with a price.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Elliot Stabler may not have been there until the end the last time Olivia Benson crossed paths with Oscar Papa, but, boy, was he ever present this time around.

The end of the May 11 episode of Law & Order: SVU, Bad Things, kicked off the beginning of a multi-episode crossover between SVU and Law & Order: Organized Crime. Benson and Stabler meet up on the steps of the New York Public Library and acknowledge they havent seen each other since they nearly kissed in Bensons kitchen over three months ago.

What brings Benson and Stabler together this time, of course, is a case. Benson realizes her team and Stablers team have been working the same case from opposite ends. The Special Victims Unit has been investigating a series of assaults with the same M.O. but different DNA at each of the crime scenes.

Law & Order: Organized Crime - Season 3 (Will Hart / NBC)

Stabler asks Benson how she and her son, Noah, are doing, before Benson references their previous intimate moment in her kitchen, saying, You know, the last time we saw each other that was a  that was a bad time for me.

Stabler responds, Worst timing from me.

I know that you were just trying to make me feel safe, Benson says. I think we both felt that.

Just not the right moment, Stabler replies.

Then the two get down to business and discuss one of the suspects, Junior Suarez, whos a member of the BX9 gang that Stabler recently interviewed in prison. Stabler tells Benson that as part of this crime ring, the inmates go out and do a hit when theyre out on furlough. Benson and Stabler realize this perp could be connected to each of their teams cases theyve been investigating. Benson then mentions the other rapes her team is looking into with the same pattern  suspects taking selfies during the assaults.

Law & Order: Organized Crime - Season 3 (Will Hart / NBC)

Thats why I called you, Benson says. I think you and I are working the same case from opposite ends.

OK, partner, Stabler responds with a grin, referencing their previous 12-year partnership with the SVU.

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The episode ends, and the action immediately continues on Organized Crimes Shadowerk with Benson and Stabler working the case together in the OC squad room.

It doesnt take long for the conversation to turn personal when Benson notices Stabler has slid a ring back on his fourth finger. Lets not forget in last weeks episode, Stabler hallucinated his dead wife, Kathy, after a case filled with many reminders for him that he is a widower. Stabler mentions to Benson his mother, whos portrayed by Ellen Burstyn, unofficially assisted with investigating the murder theyre discussing and her theory about the deceaseds prickly attitude stemming from the pain of recently losing her husband.

Youre wearing your wedding ring again, Benson says.

Stabler responds, saying hes not their latest victim, who was the aforementioned widow murdered on Staten Island in last weeks episode.

I found it in a drawer, and dont do that, he continues, clocking her facial expression. Youre doing that with the eyes, with the head cock, with the dime-sized pupils.

Its called empathy, Benson responds.

Stabler then tells Benson how he recently saw Kathy in the squad room waiting to be interrogated.

Well, maybe she wanted to interrogate you, Benson says, to which Stabler responds hes not losing his mind.

Well, El, you know, if theres one thing that Ive learned after all these years, its that if we dont deal with our trauma, the world will, Benson explains.

Im not a victim, Stabler replies.

But you are a survivor, Benson tells him. And sometimes thats just as hard.

Benson and Stabler then agree to head up to the prison where their suspect is being held to find out whos paying these men to go out and carry out these hits.

Law & Order: Organized Crime - Season 3 (Will Hart / NBC)

The duo visit Suarez and try to get him to talk before going to the prison library. They see Oscar Papa, whos the leader of BX9 and previously greenlit a hit on Benson and her son. At the time, Benson fought off her attackers and walked away with a black eye, but she sent her son away to stay at his half brothers house in Woodstock, New York, until it was safe to return. She asked Stabler, whom she previously said she trusts more than anyone to safely pick up her son, to bring Noah home.

Stabler approaches Papa, waving his finger, and says, Are you why I had to go up to Woodstock and get Noah? That who you are?

Law & Order: Organized Crime - Season 3 (Will Hart / NBC)

Papa smiles while Stabler is in his face and says, Keep doing what youre doing.Stabler grabs Papa and slams him up against a bookshelf. Benson intervenes and tells Stabler to stop. She inserts herself between him and Papa.

Captain, Im glad youve got somebody who cares for you, Papa says. You deserve that.

I wish you hadnt done that, Benson tells Stabler as they walk away.

If someone tried to kill me  Stabler begins.

Id kill em, Benson says.

Well then, compared to you I showed remarkable restraint, Stabler replies.

Benson tells Stabler that Papa previously gave her his word that Noah is safe.

Protect the case  not me, Benson says.

Stabler laughs off Papa giving Benson his word and says, OK, look, these guys are not going to tell us who hired them.

The crossover between the teams continues into next weeks finales, with help from fan-favorite character Detective Amanda Rollins (Kelli Giddish).

Law & Order: SVU airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on NBC, followed by Law & Order: Organized Crime at 10 p.m.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
PrivatBank resumed the work of 41 branches

The banks financial statements were audited by an independent external auditor.

Read also: Ukraines PrivatBank blocks Belarusian accounts

According to the report, the bank's dividends to be paid to the state for the reporting period amounted to UAH 24.2 billion ($655 million), accounting for about 80% of the banks net profit.

In the past year, PrivatBank reopened 41 branches. The number of international transfers made through the bank increased by 16% and their total amount grew by 7%.

The bank operates the largest and most accessible service network in Ukraine, consisting of 1,108 working branches, 6,405 ATMs, 10,120 self-service terminals, and 223,000 POS terminals.

In 2022, PrivatBank boosted lending to small- and medium-sized businesses by 25% from 2021, providing loans worth UAH 23.8 billion ($644 billion). In particular, the bank allocated loans under the state-run program Affordable Loans 5-7-9%.

Read also: London court green-lights worldwide seizure of earlier undisclosed assets of PrivatBanks ex-owners

Additionally, the bank issued new loans worth UAH 13.3 billion ($360 million) to the agricultural sector, increasing its agri-loan portfolio by 3.7 times. The bank also maintained credit lines for households.

Speaking in an interview with NV Business, Gerhard Boesch, the CEO of PrivatBank, attributed Ukrainian banks' significant revenue in 2022 to rates on deposit certificates of the National Bank of Ukraine. PrivatBank invested nearly UAH 100 billion ($2.7 billion) in these securities.

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
State police in Pittsburgh are looking for information on a cold case out of Washington County.

State police responded to a marsh north of Hanover Township on May 12, 2004, for the discovery of skeletal human remains. It was determined that the remains were of a black female 35 to 45 years old who was killed sometime after 2001 and who had been dead for about one year.

An artists sketch was created and a DNA profile was developed.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 412-787-2000 or Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers at 1-800-4PA-TIPS or online. All callers remain anonymous and could be eligible for a cash reward.

Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts.

Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW

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AAPI Getty Images/ VictoriaBar

"Asian American and Pacific Islanders" (AAPI) is an umbrella term encompassing all those in the U.S. with heritage from "all of the Asian continent and the Pacific islands of Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia," according to the Library of Congress. In turn, the label applies to a large number of cultures and includes approximately 24 million Americans, per the 2020 U.S. Census.

The Asian American label originated in the 1960s on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley. It was a way of uniting against the Vietnam War and rejecting racial slurs that were being used at the time by the media and politicians. In 1978, Congress added "Pacific Islanders" to the term, and the two were grouped in the 1990 Census. The groups were separated in the 2000 Census, but the association remained in the political spectrum, as well as in the media.

While once a label of strength, the AAPI label is facing a similar debate to the "Black, Indigenous and people of color" label (BIPOC), which is "meant to be inclusive" but "bewilders and alienates millions of Americans," according to Nicholas Kristof in an opinion for The New York Times.

Is it time to move away from the AAPI label or are there still merits to keeping it?

'Viewing AAPIs as a monolith erases the needs of some communities'

Because the label is so wide, "viewing AAPIs as a monolith erases the needs of some communities and leaves them behind," wrote Harry Mok for the San Francisco Chronicle. Different groups under the umbrella face different struggles. For example, "Some South Asians and Southeast Asians have argued that Asian American is seen as synonymous with East Asian, therefore obscuring their own realities and experiences," CNN reported. In addition, "Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders similarly feel that their distinct histories and challenges are erased under the AAPI umbrella."

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This is especially evident when considering the model minority myth, which is "a persistent stereotype that paints Asian Americans as inherently successful and problem-free, particularly in contrast to other minority groups," as defined by NBC News. There's harm in viewing all Asian Americans as successful since "income inequality is greater among Asian Americans than any other racial or ethnic group in the U.S.," according to Ellen McGirt for Fortune.

The disparity is even greater when it comes to Pacific Islanders. "Typically, Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Island identities are not invited to conversations and spaces dedicated to AAPI, even though they comprise literally half of the AAPI term," making them far less represented under the umbrella, wrote Alan Nguyen, a columnist for The Daily Barometer. Many Pacific Islanders fall under the Indigenous umbrella, which is underrepresented as it is. "It really upset me that we are grouped with other Asian communities because this was yet another Western European mindset that just allowed for more ignorance," Tihani Mitchell, a Native Hawaiian and Tahitian, told Nguyen.

Different AAPI groups also experience different types of discrimination. For example, COVID-19 sparked hate mostly directed at East Asians, while the Islamophobia following 9/11 largely impacted those from the Middle East and South Asia. Also, issues like colorism exist throughout the AAPI diaspora. Nguyen concluded that "a lot of people often discuss the topic through a binary lens without considering the intricacies and intersectionality of cultures and experiences."

'There's always power in numbers'

Despite the differences in culture within the AAPI umbrella, "there's always power in numbers," Estella Owoimaha-Church, of the organization Empowering Pacific Islander Communities (EPIC), told CNN. "There are so many examples in our histories of solidarity that can't be ignored or forgotten." CNN added, "Coalitions of Asian American and Pacific Islander groups continue to come together around shared political priorities." Even with different experiences, a united group can advocate for a number of causes.

In addition, "despite [our] tremendous diversity, there's a remarkable level of consensus around certain issues," Janelle Wong of the research group AAPI Data told Mok. "We see remarkable consensus on issues like universal health care, on the environment, on gun control." Having a group rally around causes gives them more of a voice in the political sphere.

In the same vein, even though some voices feel left out of the discussion, "these terms are embedded into institutional systems and structures, and they provide a means for Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders to access resources," CNN stated. Owoimaha-Church added, "With any social movement, people need to be bought in."

Karthick Ramakrishnan of AAPI Data told NBC News, "When you say 'AAPI,' is it one group, two groups or many groups? The answer is all three of those are true."

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NEWBURGH, N.Y.  Three miles from the nearest supermarket on an isolated street near Stewart Airport in Newburgh, several male asylum-seekers sat out in the sun mingling with news reporters from all over the world.

The calm scene Friday was periodically interrupted by drivers honking and yelling out expletives to anyone who will listen. Others from the community stopped to drop off donations. Like the country, the Hudson Valley community is divided on New York Citys decision to send three buses of male asylum-seekers to the area this week.

The Crossroads Hotel in the Town of Newburgh may be physically hidden from the nearby main road, but its now at the forefront of the countrys contentious debate surrounding what to do with the thousands of migrants crossing the southern border every day.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams has made it clear his administration is struggling to provide housing, food and other services for the more than 65,000 asylum-seekers that entered the city this past year. And with a federal border policy expired, it is not prepared to deal with the thousands more that are expected to come.



But his move to alleviate the strain on the city has angered Republican leaders in the Hudson Valley, creating a new political divide in a battleground region of the state and nation.

Rockland and Orange county executives have taken legal action to bar hotels from accepting asylum-seekers. The Town of Orangetown in Rockland has been successful thus far through retraining orders that the city is appealing. But Newburgh has not taken legal action, and the group of men were welcomed by local Democratic leaders and community organizations.

Orange County Legislator Kevindaryan Lujan (D-Newburgh) said he and the countys Democratic caucus have spoken out against the actions of Orange and Rockland county executives and plan to look into the legality of the counties' executive orders put in place to try to stop the migrants from relocating.

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It is disheartening to see some county executives politicizing this issue and treating these individuals like political pawns instead of human beings, he said in an interview with POLITICO. These asylum-seekers knew nothing of the political circus that surrounded their arrival, and I am glad we were able to receive them in a welcoming manner instead of retraumatizing them as could have been the case with the county executive's approach.

Coming to find work

And while they dont speak the language, the migrants inside the hotel were aware of the debates surrounding their arrival.

Felipe Cortez, 38, of Ecuador, said he understands that the locals fear having people they dont know in their town, but said they are not looking to take anything from anyone  they are just looking for work.

We have to be calm because people have ideas of who we are, but they dont know us. Simply if they got to know us and see what each person is made of, they will change the mentality that they have, Cortez said in Spanish.

I understand that they are upset, and think we are invading them. This is a normal thing, I think.

Cortez left his wife and three daughters, and his siblings at home to pave the way for a better life for them in the U.S. He said he arrived in New York with the help of a refugee center in Texas. They provided him with a ticket for a flight. When he arrived in New York, he connected with another refugee center that told him about the program to move to the Hudson Valley.

When asked if he thought the mayor sent the men for political reasons, he said they were sent because they believe they can contribute to the manpower in the area. Many of them are laborers  some in construction, welders or operators of heavy machinery.

We are looking to work, and I think they were focused on that, and that is why they sent us here to this place, so that we can contribute here, because there are many of us, he said.

He said he was promised resources and a place to stay while they wait for permission to work. He volunteered to come, and so did all the people he traveled with, he said.

Inside the hotel, many say there is medical treatment, food and money. They also have a shuttle that brings them to the City of Newburgh and the surrounding area several times a day. The city of Newburgh is considered a sanctuary city that is welcoming to migrants, but the Town of Newburgh where the hotel is located does not have that status.

Adams has indicated the city would pay their way for four months.

A political battle

On the front lawn of the hotel Friday morning, a 70-year-old woman driving a black Nissan hastily pulled her car into the parking lot and approached an asylum-seeker and a community advocate sitting out in the sun.

At first, the woman angrily denounced the spectacle caused by the arrival of what she called illegal immigrants to her town. The local grandmother had a long debate with Ignacio Acevedo, a Mexican immigrant who, years ago, entered the country the same way the man sitting next to him did. He now is working for the New York Civil Liberties Union as a Hudson Valley organizer assisting new migrants in the region.

The woman's viewpoint was similar to that of Republican leaders in the region.

Im just an old senior citizen whos lived long enough to see that this is not fair, to them, to the country. The politicians need to step up, on both sides. Its not the Democrats or the Republicans; both sides are guilty, she said to Acevedo, but refused to provide her name.

Acevedo said he would like to remind the community that the migrants here are simply looking for a better life for their families and themselves. He said hes felt the racism outside the hotel from people passing by assuming that he is a migrant himself.

Everybody deserves a chance, everybody deserves safety, everybody deserves to feel welcome, he said in an interview.

Genesis Ramos, an Orange County legislator (D-Newburgh) said shes been appalled by the rhetoric county executives have been using surrounding the relocation of asylum seekers. Ramos had the chance to go inside and welcome the men personally.

I completely denounce their xenophobic, racist and dehumanizing rhetoric, Ramos said in an interview. These individuals, their housing, their case management, their food, its all being funded by New York City. Its not being funded by taxpayers."

Orange County Executive Steve Neuhaus said earlier this week that he simply wants answers and coordination with the city and state about who is coming to the county and when.

"The federal government and the city got to figure this crap out because who are these people?" he said. "Are they going to get citizenship? Can I get them jobs if they are coming up here? Are they going to be sitting in hotels?"

The city can legally move migrants to hotels if it pays for them, said Steve Acquario, executive director of the state Association of Counties.

There are jurisdictional issues here between the mayor and the governor, he said. He has the law on his side to move individuals around the state, as long as he's paying for it.

Still, Orange and Rockland counties are both fighting the city in court over the moves, and GOP Rep. Marc Molinaro said what the city is doing is illegal.

Molinaro, the former Dutchess County executive, said he is working with area Reps. Mike Lawler, a Republican, and Pat Ryan, a Democrat, to try to get FEMA support to help with the migrant crisis. On Friday, Gov. Kathy Hochul again asked the federal government for more assistance.

The crisis is here, and it needs to be confronted with a coordinated and compassionate approach by the federal and state government, he said in a call with reporters. There is a solution to this, and it doesn't need to be partisan.
A group of 15 lawmakers have asked federal officials to start tracking military spouse-owned businesses in their contracting database.

More military spouses are becoming entrepreneurs to contribute to the familys income and fulfill their personal goals. The lawmakers want the ability to track how many of these spouse-owned businesses bid for and win federal contracts.

This change would ensure that military spouse entrepreneurs are adequately represented and accounted for, said Rep. Marilyn Strickland, D-Wash., in announcing a letter sent to the Office of Management and Budget May 10, on the eve of Military Spouse Appreciation Day. She is leading the effort.

While military spouse-owned small businesses can compete for federal contracting opportunities, there is no way to know whether they are doing so or being awarded contracts. The government doesnt track military spouse participation.

As a result, there is no way for Congress to gauge trends in military spouse participation levels or address any deficiencies that might exist, the lawmakers stated. The information could also be used to help address the unemployment gap for military spouses, which has stubbornly remained at 20% for years, they said.

The lawmakers, all but one Democrats, have asked OMB to change policy to allow military spouse-owned businesses to self-identify in the Federal Procurement Data System, which is overseen by the Office of Federal Procurement at OMB. That data system includes entities registered to do business with the government. It recognizes many different self-identifiers, such as minority- and veteran- and woman-owned businesses, with codes assigned to each category. Congress, the administration, the Government Accountability Office and others use the information to identify trends and inform policy decisions.

Agencies can search what businesses and other organizations exist in the system and use the data to solicit Requests for Information from companies that might be interested in doing business with the agency, generally or on a specific type of opportunity.

The change, if adopted by OMB, would mean establishing criteria and eligibility for the military spouse-owned business category.

The change wouldnt give spouses priority unless they qualified under another category such as veteran-owned. But agencies looking for a small business to handle a contract could express interest in those owned by a military spouse.
Sudanese refugees have fled into neighbouring Ethiopia to escape the conflict

After nearly a week of talks, Sudan's warring parties have signed a deal to alleviate the suffering of the civilian population, but have made little progress towards peace.

This is a first step to providing relief for trapped civilians.

They agreed to allow safe passage for people leaving battle zones, protect relief workers and not to use civilians as human shields.

However, they did not agree to pause the fighting.

There are reports of more air strikes and shelling in the capital, Khartoum on Friday.

The talks have been mediated by the US and Saudi Arabia, the host country.

US officials said they were cautiously hopeful there was momentum now for the safe delivery of relief supplies, as both sides committed to let in badly needed humanitarian assistance after looting and attacks that targeted aid.

However, the conflicting parties are still quite far apart when it comes to brokering peace, the US said.

They are still discussing a proposal for a truce and a mechanism to monitor it.

Meanwhile Saudi Arabia said there is still more work to be done, according to Arab News: "Other steps will follow, and the most important thing is to adhere to what was agreed upon."

Not everyone is happy about the new deal, with some Sudanese saying it falls short of what they expect: "I'm really incredibly disheartened," Professor Nisrin Elamin from Toronto University told the BBC's Newsday programme.

"Ceasefires that they have agreed to in the past have not held. I don't understand why we would ever take them by their word. To me this is really just another closed door negotiations with no civilian actor," Professor Elamin added, saying that she still has family who are stuck in Khartoum surrounded by conflict.

The BBC has heard several accounts of people trapped in Khartoum, who have been witness to loud explosions, gunshots and all-out violence.

The conflict erupted in mid-April when the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) refused to be integrated into Sudan's army under a planned transition to civilian rule.

Since then, the death toll has risen to more than 600 according to the WHO, and thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes.
Significant challenges exist for Sudanese farmers getting produce to market, let alone selling it -- with fuel prices skyrocketing and trucks carrying goods at risk of getting caught in the crossfire

At a market outside Sudan's capital, where battles continue to rage, Ibrahim Abdelqadir sat for hours waiting for customers to buy his produce but by the end of the day, it remains unsold.

With fighting in Khartoum showing no signs of abating, small business owners are struggling to stay afloat.

Getting produce to market represents a significant challenge, let alone selling it -- with fuel prices skyrocketing 20-fold and trucks loaded with goods at risk of getting caught in the crossfire.

"Buyers are offering 2,000 Sudanese pounds ($3.40) for 10 kilograms (22 pounds) of tomatoes, which doesn't even cover the transport cost," said Abdelqadir at the Al-Kamlin market in Gezira state south of Khartoum.

"This is all because of the war," he said.

Deadly violence broke out on April 15 between forces loyal to Sudan's de facto leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who commands the army, and his deputy turned rival Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

At least 750 people have been killed and 5,000 wounded.

For Abdelqadir, who used to travel from Gezira, his home state, to Khartoum to sell his goods, the conflict has eroded his livelihood.

Many Sudanese, especially in the capital of five million residents, have been unable to afford the inflated prices required to escape, sheltering instead in their homes as they run desperately low on food and water supplies, amid frequent power cuts.

Al-Khatib Yasin, 40, grows peanuts in his village north of Khartoum and says he has "one problem: there are no more buyers".

- Dashed hopes -

Agriculture generates 35-40 percent of impoverished Sudan's gross domestic product, according to the World Bank, and employs 70-80 percent of the workforce in rural areas, according to the International Fund for Agricultural Development.

Hussein al-Amin, another farmer growing five acres of okra, says he made his last sales the day before the fighting erupted in Khartoum.

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Since then, his crops have been left to rot.

"The crops are starting to go bad," said Amin, adding that severe fuel shortages made it difficult to water his fields.

"We hoped the war would stop quickly, but this seems far-fetched."

Well before the conflict began, 65 percent of Sudan's population was already living below the poverty line, according to a 2020 UN report.

Nearly 16 million people face severe food insecurity in Sudan, according to World Food Programme, which warned the fighting could plunge a further 2.5 million more into hunger.

Haram Adam had to abandon her Khartoum business selling tea with mint and aromatic coffees with ginger and cardamom.

The mother of three fled the fighting to Hasaheisa, a city some 120 kilometres (75 miles) south of Khartoum.

"My daily income used to be 100,000 Sudanese pounds... now it's no more than 10,000 pounds per day," she said, seated on the street near other women tea vendors.

- Fearing the worst -

Adam Eissa, a tailor, had to abandon his livelihood of three decades as his sewing machine was too heavy to bring with him when he fled Khartoum's fighting.

He now sits with a rented machine in the alleyways near shops in Hasaheisa, drinking coffee and waiting for business to trickle in.

"I had three sewing machines in my shop in Khartoum. Now I am renting one and paying rent for this new shop," he said, adding that he can barely cover the basic needs of his family of six.

Zaher Dafaallah, a former steel factory worker in Khartoum, had to change jobs entirely due to the war.

As the conflict continued the factory shut down and Dafaallah took his family to safety in a village south of the capital.

The fighting has seen around 200,000 Sudanese fleeing to safety in neighbouring countries like Chad, the UN refugee agency said Friday.

The agency, the UNHCR, had previously said it is bracing for "the possibility that over 800,000 people may flee the fighting in Sudan for neighbouring countries".

"I hope that the owners of the factory have not decided to leave Sudan permanently," Dafaallah said.

bur/jsa/noc/dv
Smoke billows in Khartoum amid ongoing fighting between the forces of two rival generals

Warplanes roared overhead as explosions rocked Khartoum on Friday, just hours after Sudan's warring parties signed a commitment to respect humanitarian principles in their spiralling conflict, without a truce in sight.

Nearly one month after the outbreak of the fighting that has killed more than 750 people and displaced hundreds of thousands, the two sides signed the agreement late Thursday during talks in the Saudi city of Jeddah.

But already by the next morning the situation on the ground appeared unchanged, with the forces of two rival generals again exchanging fire in the Sudanese capital, which is home to five million people.

A witness in south Khartoum reported "fighter jets overhead and the sound of clashes and explosions", while another in the city's north reported "air strikes and the sound of anti-aircraft missiles".

Envoys in Jeddah representing the two generals -- army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and paramilitary commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo -- agreed to "affirm our commitment to ensure that civilians are protected at all times".

The agreement commits both sides to let in badly needed humanitarian assistance after looting and attacks targeting aid in the impoverished country, Africa's third largest in area.

The declaration calls for the restoration of electricity, water and other basic services, the withdrawal of security forces from hospitals and "respectful burial" of the dead.

- Caution over talks -

The United States and Saudi Arabia, which together led the diplomatic drive, said talks were ongoing with a proposal on the table for a 10-day truce, which would lead, in turn, to negotiations on a longer-term end to fighting.

But as fighting and looting raged, US diplomats were frank about the obstacles in the nearly week-long talks in the Saudi port city.

"This is not a ceasefire. This is an affirmation of their obligations under international humanitarian law," said a US official involved in the negotiations, who called the two sides "quite far apart".

Story continues

"We are hopeful, cautiously, that their willingness to sign this document will create some momentum that will force them to create the space" to bring in relief supplies, she said.

Almost 200,000 people have fled Sudan in addition to hundreds of thousands who have been displaced inside the northeast African country, the UN said Friday.

"As violence in Sudan continues for a fourth week, nearly 200,000 refugees and returnees have been forced to flee the country, with more crossing borders daily seeking safety," UN refugee agency spokeswoman Olga Sarrado told reporters in Geneva.

At least 18 humanitarian workers have been killed since the conflict flared on April 15, with many NGOs and United Nations agencies suspending their work at least temporarily.

The UN's World Food Programme said millions of dollars' worth of food was looted in Khartoum alone.

Only 16 percent of the capital's hospitals remain fully functional, with health facilities systematically looted, bombarded or suffering severe shortages of food and supplies.

- Ulterior motives? -

The conflict broke out after a power struggle between Burhan and Daglo, most recently over the integration of the latter's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces into the army under a planned transition to civilian rule.

The RSF was set up and groomed by former autocratic president Omar al-Bashir for a scorched-earth campaign in the western region of Darfur.

The Forces of Freedom and Change, the pro-democracy force sidelined in a 2021 putsch by the two generals now at war, saluted the Jeddah declaration as "a first step in the right direction".

The UN-led support mission for Sudan, which also includes the African Union and regional IGAD bloc, also welcomed the declaration and called on the warring factions to "convey clear and unequivocal instructions to lower ranks" to allow humanitarian access and "translate these commitments to meaningful action on the ground".

In a statement Friday, Sudan's northern neighbour Egypt welcomed the declaration, which it said should "pave the way" for "a comprehensive and permanent ceasefire".

After previous truces evaporated, the United States said the two sides also agreed in Jeddah for the first time on ways to monitor any ceasefire.

A second US official said the negotiations were "very tough" and acknowledged both sides may have ulterior motives for ceasefire monitoring.

"Candidly, there is some hope on both sides that the other side would be seen as being the perpetrator of violations," he said.

"Frankly, we've seen violations by both sides in all the ceasefires to date and don't expect that to change."

But he added that the length of time spent in brokering the first step would at least make the ceasefire more "effective" if reached.

Diplomats and experts have questioned whether the two sides want peace or if they are more interested in vanquishing the other.

burs-bha/dv
28 Palestinians killed, 93 injured by Israeli airstrikes on Gaza

Xinhua) 09:09, May 12, 2023

A man mourns over the body of a Palestinian who was killed in an Israeli airstrike at a hospital in Gaza City, on May 11, 2023. Israeli fighter jets Thursday continued intensive airstrikes on the Gaza Strip for a third day in a row in response to rockets fired towards Israel, leaving 28 Palestinians killed and 93 injured. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)

GAZA, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Israeli fighter jets Thursday continued intensive airstrikes on the Gaza Strip for a third day in a row in response to rockets fired towards Israel, leaving 28 Palestinians killed and 93 injured.

According to an updated casualty toll provided by Palestinian medics and security officials, the conflicts have left 28 Palestinians, including 15 civilians, dead after another two were killed Thursday afternoon in the town of Abassan.

The two freshly killed were members of a minor group called Al-Mujahidin Brigades, a member of the joint chamber of military operations of the Palestinian factions.

The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza confirmed in a statement that the Israeli airstrikes have so far led to 93 injuries.

The exchange of fire between Israel and the joint chamber of military operations, which comprises several Palestinian factions' armed wings, including the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), came after a surprising Israeli airstrike on Tuesday in the Gaza Strip killed three senior PIJ leaders.

According to Palestinian sources, Egypt, Qatar, and the UN are mediating a ceasefire between Israel and the Hamas-led militant groups, including the PIJ, but fail to reach an agreement on ending this round of tension.

A man mourns his relative killed in an Israeli airstrike at a hospital in Gaza City, on May 11, 2023. Israeli fighter jets Thursday continued intensive airstrikes on the Gaza Strip for a third day in a row in response to rockets fired towards Israel, leaving 28 Palestinians killed and 93 injured. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)

An Israeli army drone is seen in the sky over Gaza City, on May 11, 2023. Israeli fighter jets Thursday continued intensive airstrikes on the Gaza Strip for a third day in a row in response to rockets fired towards Israel, leaving 28 Palestinians killed and 93 injured. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)

Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, on May 11, 2023. Israeli fighter jets Thursday continued intensive airstrikes on the Gaza Strip for a third day in a row in response to rockets fired towards Israel, leaving 28 Palestinians killed and 93 injured. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)

Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, on May 11, 2023. Israeli fighter jets Thursday continued intensive airstrikes on the Gaza Strip for a third day in a row in response to rockets fired towards Israel, leaving 28 Palestinians killed and 93 injured. (Photo by Khaled Omar/Xinhua)

Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, on May 11, 2023. Israeli fighter jets Thursday continued intensive airstrikes on the Gaza Strip for a third day in a row in response to rockets fired towards Israel, leaving 28 Palestinians killed and 93 injured. (Photo by Khaled Omar/Xinhua)

People inspect a damaged house following an airstrike in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, on May 11, 2023. Israeli fighter jets Thursday continued intensive airstrikes on the Gaza Strip for a third day in a row in response to rockets fired towards Israel, leaving 28 Palestinians killed and 93 injured. (Photo by Yasser Qudih/Xinhua)

People inspect a damaged house following an airstrike in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, on May 11, 2023. Israeli fighter jets Thursday continued intensive airstrikes on the Gaza Strip for a third day in a row in response to rockets fired towards Israel, leaving 28 Palestinians killed and 93 injured. (Photo by Yasser Qudih/Xinhua)

A man stands in front of a damaged house following an airstrike in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, on May 11, 2023. Israeli fighter jets Thursday continued intensive airstrikes on the Gaza Strip for a third day in a row in response to rockets fired towards Israel, leaving 28 Palestinians killed and 93 injured. (Photo by Yasser Qudih/Xinhua)

People inspect a damaged house following an airstrike in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, on May 11, 2023. Israeli fighter jets Thursday continued intensive airstrikes on the Gaza Strip for a third day in a row in response to rockets fired towards Israel, leaving 28 Palestinians killed and 93 injured. (Photo by Yasser Qudih/Xinhua)

People inspect a damaged house following an airstrike in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, on May 11, 2023. Israeli fighter jets Thursday continued intensive airstrikes on the Gaza Strip for a third day in a row in response to rockets fired towards Israel, leaving 28 Palestinians killed and 93 injured. (Photo by Yasser Qudih/Xinhua)

People inspect a damaged house following an airstrike in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, on May 11, 2023. Israeli fighter jets Thursday continued intensive airstrikes on the Gaza Strip for a third day in a row in response to rockets fired towards Israel, leaving 28 Palestinians killed and 93 injured. (Photo by Yasser Qudih/Xinhua)

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Wu Chaolan)
UNITED NATIONS, May 11 (Xinhua) -- The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said on Thursday that it is stepping up humanitarian support for children on the move affected by the ongoing conflict in Sudan as an estimated 82,000 children have fled to neighboring countries and approximately 368,000 more are newly displaced inside the country.

The brutal conflict in Sudan has exacted a devastating toll on the country's children, with thousands having experienced deeply traumatic events or been driven from their homes in search of relative safety, said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell in a press release.

"Their situation remains precarious, and continued support and assistance from the international community and humanitarian partners are critical," she said.

According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), more than 164,000 people have sought refuge across borders since the outbreak of the military conflict in Sudan on April 15. In addition, the International Organization for Migration estimates some 736,000 people are newly internally displaced within Sudan since the start of the conflict. Almost 3.8 million people were already internally displaced within Sudan prior to the outbreak of violence.

Many communities receiving displaced populations are already affected by multiple crises, with basic services and existing humanitarian capacity already overstretched. The rainy season is expected to heighten access challenges and increase the risks of disease, said UNICEF.

The conflict in Sudan is also disrupting cross-border trade and movement, leading to a sharp increase in food prices in neighboring countries, with a higher risk of food insecurity in vulnerable host communities, it said.

In Sudan, UNICEF has provided emergency health kits, essential supplies and medicines to hospitals and primary health care centers to support the treatment of the injured and access to life-saving and basic health services. UNICEF is also supporting displaced children and families, striving to ensure the continuity of essential services, including the provision of nutrition supplies to help keep more than 80 percent of facilities functioning in affected areas, said the fund.

UNICEF interventions will also support the provision of urgent assistance to newly displaced children and families and affected host communities in the states where conflict spread remains limited and with the largest number of internally displaced, it added.

UNICEF is also working closely with governments and partner organizations in neighboring countries to step up essential life-saving services and support to these vulnerable children, it said.

UNICEF calls on the international community to urgently support its efforts by providing additional funding and resources to address the growing crisis. With sustained support, UNICEF aims to reach and assist more children in need and secure their rights to survival, development, and protection, said the fund. 
Sugar Creek Brewing Co. is bringing home a gold medal following the World Beer Cup this week in Nashville, Tennessee. The Charlotte brewery took the top honor for its Belgian Quad in the Belgian-Style Abbey Ale category, which received nearly 100 entries.

ALSO READ: Family-owned brewery 760 Craft Works debuts in downtown Huntersville

Its one of four local breweries to snag medals at the high-profile WBC, held in conjunction with the Craft Brewers Conference and BrewExpo America at the Music City Center in Nashville.

The competition, hosted by the nonprofit Brewers Association, this year evaluated 10,213 entries from 2,376 breweries in 51 countries.

In all, more than a dozen breweries across North Carolina and South Carolina won medals, including six golds. Check out the list here.

(VIDEO: Whats on tap at Armored Cow Brewing)
New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R) has dropped his opposition to legalizing marijuana in the state, putting forward a pathway for a legalization bill to be approved.

In a Medium post Friday, Sununu said that he felt other states rushed to legalize marijuana with little guardrails, leading to the turning of the culture and fabric of their state, and that, in the past, I said now is not the time to legalize marijuana.

But with New Hampshire being the only state in New England not to allow recreational marijuana use  and with a majority of its citizens supporting legalization  Sununu believes change is inevitable.

To ignore this reality would be shortsighted and harmful, he said. That is why, with the right policy and framework in place, I stand ready to sign a legalization bill that puts the State of NH in the drivers seat, focusing on harm reduction  not profits.

Sununu explained that his proposal would allow the state to control distribution and access to marijuana, keep it away from children and schools, control marketing and messaging, allow towns to ban marijuana shops if they choose and keep it sales tax-free.

Under his plan, the state would control the marketing, sales and distribution of marijuana  similar to how it controls liquor sales  thus taking away the need for any additional taxes. He said this would also prevent children from being bombarded with commercials, digital ads and billboards daily.

He said the state should also avoid marijuana miles, referring to cities or towns being densely populated.

Sununu claimed he would veto any future legalization bills that do not include his proposed provisions. He said he is willing to work with the legislature to create a legalization bill that retains the fabric and culture of New Hampshire.

This is a long-term, sustainable solution for our state. I am supportive of legalizing marijuana in the right way  with this legislature  rather than risk a poorly thought out framework that inevitably could pass under future governors or legislatures, he said.

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The governor noted in his post that he signed legislation in 2017 to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana and the state has already expanded access to its medical marijuana program and created a pathway for old marijuana possession convictions to be annulled.

He told Manchester-based ABC affiliate WMUR that marijuana sold illegally is increasingly being laced with other drugs, so legalization could bring more safety to marijuana use.

Almost half of all states have legalized recreational marijuana, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R) criticized the Republican voters from his home state who appeared at CNNs town hall with former President Trump for their reaction to his mocking of author E. Jean Carroll.

It was embarrassing, Sununu told MSNBCs Jen Psaki in an interview set to air Sunday.

The audience was absolutely filled with Trump supporters, so I wasnt surprised to hear the support, he said. But when youre talking about a serious issue like that, and laughter and mocking and all that, its completely inappropriate, without a doubt.

Trump once again dismissed Carrolls allegations that he raped her in a department store dressing room in the mid-1990s, calling her a whack job at Wednesdays town hall. Just one day earlier, a jury found that the former president had sexually abused and defamed Carroll, ordering him to pay $5 million in damages.

This is a fake story. Made-up story, Trump quipped, later adding, I have no idea who the hell she is. Shes a whack job.

What kind of a woman meets somebody and brings them up and within minutes youre playing hanky-panky in a dressing room, he said, eliciting laughter from the audience.

Sununu, who is mulling a 2024 White House run, acknowledged that the town hall didnt shine a positive light on his home state of New Hampshire. However, he argued that almost all of the audience members were Trump supporters.

Maybe theyre undeclared voters, but I believe every single one of them had voted for Trump at some point, he said. I dont know  how they determined that and set that up, but obviously it was a roomful of Trump supporters.

So no one should have been surprised to hear the support, Sununu added. But again, on that issue, it was  I would call it embarrassing.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Farm conditions for pigs dont seem to have anything to do with states salvos in the hard-fought battle over abortion. But a new Supreme Court ruling in an animal welfare case could become a tool in states burgeoning efforts to restrict or expand abortion access even beyond their own borders.

The case over the treatment of animals in factory farms splintered the justices Thursday, resulting in five separate opinions. The ultimate outcome was a victory for the right of California voters to dictate requirements for meat sold in their state, even if much of it is produced elsewhere.

However, experts say the core issue in the case  the ability of states to take actions with clear impacts beyond their borders  is also central to the legal imbroglio over abortion. The decision could, for instance, embolden states to crack down on the mailing of abortion pills. States with strong prevailing views on abortion could even seek to restrict the sale of goods from states with contrary views.



We could see anti-abortion states and even pro-choice states enact policies that have secondary effects in other states, said Drexel University law professor David Cohen. Just like California said, We dont allow pork raised in a way that goes against our ethics, you could see states saying, We cant do business with this state or that state because of their abortion policies, he added.

James Bopp Jr., counsel for National Right to Life, largely agreed. I think, on its face, there is a greater opportunity for pro-life states to regulate, for instance, the sale of chemicals that induce abortions out of state, provided theres still some connection to the original state, he said.

On a superficial level, the outcome of the case provides rhetorical opportunities for advocates on both sides of the abortion-rights debate to argue that their efforts are more morally weighty than those at stake in the pork-related legal showdown and therefore should get a similar blessing from the court.

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The California ballot measure, passed with 63% support in 2018, sought to improve conditions for veal calves, egg-laying hens and breeding pigs. However, the Supreme Court case, known as National Pork Producers Council v. Ross, focused largely on the prolonged confinement of pregnant sows in pens where they cannot turn around.

The case turned on an obscure and murky constitutional doctrine called the dormant commerce clause. That has been interpreted to limit the ability of states to make policies that interfere with economic activity outside their borders.

A majority of the justices concluded that the pork producers lobby had failed to make out a clear case that Californias law was significantly burdening interstate commerce.

What this might mean in the context of abortion is that if Alabama makes it a crime for someone in California to mail pills to Alabama residents, the dormant Commerce Clause might not get in Alabama officials way, University of California at Davis law professor Mary Ziegler wrote in a Boston Globe op-ed Friday.

State laws that seem intended to influence abortion-related activity in other states have been proposed and enacted in various states in the wake of the Supreme Courts decision last June to overturn Roe v. Wade and give states broad powers to enact their own laws on abortion. Some states havent been content to regulate only what happens within their borders.

Idaho has passed laws making it illegal to advise someone in the state about how to get an abortion in another state, if the procedure would be illegal under Idahos tough abortion ban.



California has passed a law voiding other states subpoenas and legal demands in abortion-related investigations and has established a fund to help people in other states travel to the Golden State for abortion.

The only member of the Supreme Court who directly mentioned the possible impact of Thursdays factory-farm ruling on the abortion fight was Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who said he would have allowed the pork producers suit against California to continue.

Future state laws of this kind might not be confined to the pork industry, Kavanaugh warned, before quoting from an amicus brief submitted by 26 conservative-leaning states. What if a state law prohibits the retail sale of goods from producers that do not pay for employees birth control or abortions (or alternatively, that do pay for employees birth control or abortions)?

Kavanaugh, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, said the country was sliding down a slippery slope that could effectively end the notion of the United States as a unified market.

Californias law thus may foreshadow a new era where States shutter their markets to goods produced in a way that offends their moral or policy preferences  and in doing so, effectively force other States to regulate in accordance with those idiosyncratic state demands. That is not the Constitution the Framers adopted in Philadelphia in 1787, Kavanaugh declared in his solo opinion.



Lawyers focused on abortion rights said they paid close attention to Kavanaughs statement Thursday because when he joined four other conservatives to end the federal right to abortion last year, he was emphatic that individual states should retain power to limit or permit abortion and that it would remain available because women have a constitutionally guaranteed right to travel.

Still, the ideologically scattered distribution of the justices in the pork case may counsel against reading too much into it about abortion. Two of the courts liberal members, Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, joined the part of the ruling tossing out the pork producers suit. The other liberal, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, would have allowed the case to proceed.

It seems doubtful that Sotomayor and Kagan would have backed the power of individual states in the pork dispute if those justices thought they were dealing any sort of blow to abortion rights.

I would think this might have more effect or application for abortion if the court divided along ideological lines and made crystal clear that the dormant Commerce Clause is dead and states can do a lot of things, but thats not what happened, said Dean Rachel Rebouche of Temple Law School.

Some legal experts said the ruling likely improved the chances of courts upholding certain abortion-related state laws, but only at the margins.

A court that was inclined to uphold state laws barring import of abortion pills had tools already to do that, said Cornell law professor Michael Dorf. This confirms those tools, but I dont think it strengthens them all that much.

Cohen also warned that judges and justices who come out one way on an issue in certain cases sometimes manage to take a different position when the case is about abortion. It is always true that once you look for or inject abortion into the mix, what the justices said in past cases gets thrown out the window,  he said.
Weve rounded up the most interesting discoveries from this weeks Quartz Daily Brief newsletters. Get the Daily Brief in your inbox every morning, for free! Each day includes a section with surprising discoveries, along with a selection of important and interesting news from the global economy, curated by Quartz.

King Charless coronation outfit was thrifted

Photo: Reuters

Its a nod to sustainability, but one re-used outfit was only a drop in the coronations gilded bucket.

Read more

Many contact lenses in the US are basically forever chemicals

Its hard to say how eye exposure to the compounds might affect health, though.

Good weather is bad for stocks

Sunshine makes bidders overly confident and less risk-averse, which, same.

One liver drug pushed Italys exports to China to a record high

Photo: Carlos Garcia Rawlins (Reuters)

After one study said it could protect against covid, Chinese people are stocking up on ursodeoxycholic acid. Demand for it alone pushed Italian exports to China up to a record 3 billion ($3.3 billion) in February.

Koalas are being vaccinated against chlamydia

The bacterial disease can cause infertility and blindness in the marsupials, and we need them around for a reminder of how cute life can be, so, save them!



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Actress Susan Sarandon was arrested Monday at the New York State Capitol in Albany while participating in a protest advocating for fair wages for restaurant employees.

New York State Police Department arrested the award-winning actress along with seven other protesters on that day, according to the New York Post.

Sarandon and the others were pushing for legislation to increase New York minimum wage for all restaurant workers.

The actress and political activist is also the president of the One Fair Wage organization, which advocates for better wages for all employees in the service industry. According to the organizations website, it aims to require all employers to pay the full minimum wage with fair, nondiscriminatory tips.

New York state lawmakers passed a spending bill this year which will see the minimum wage increase to $17 per hour.

Sarandon has a history of activism. In 2018, she was arrested along with other protesters for protesting former President Trumps immigration policy, which led to the separation of parents and their children.

And in February 2022, the actress received criticism after sharing a tweet comparing the presence of police officers in New York City to fascism.

Sarandon also protested in New York City last week, advocating in support of television and movie writers who are on strike for better wages.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Susan Sarandon was arrested at a protest demanding fair wages for restaurant workers at the New York state Capitol Albany.

The 76-year-old Oscar winner was one of eight people arrested this week for disorderly conduct by State Police during a protest for the One Fair Wage organisation, which she is president of.

Footage posted to social media of the incident showed protesters blocking security and pushing up against state troopers at the Capitals legislative lobby at 1pm.

Sarandon was led away in handcuffs a few minutes later, along with New York lieutenant governor candidate Ana Maria Archila.

In a statement, New York State Police said the eight individuals were arrested after sitting and obstructing walking traffic and ignoring instructions to move.

They were charged with one count of disorderly conduct and issued with tickets to appear at Albany City Court at an unspecified date before being released, police said.

According to its website, One Fair Wage is campaigning to force the service industry to pay workers the full minimum wage with fair, non-discriminatory tips on top.

The coalition, which says it represents 300,000 workers and 2,000 businesses, is calling for an end to wage replacement through tipping.

State leaders have proposed raising the minimum wage from $15 to $17 an hour in New York City, but One Fair Wage argues that the rise would not include many hospitality workers.

Susan Sarandon was arrested while protesting in Albany on Monday. (Getty Images for IMDb)

The Thelma & Louise actress has a long history of political activism.

She became a prominent voice in the anti-war movement during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and was a vocal critic of Donald Trump during his term in office.

In 2018, Sarandon was arrested during a Womens March protest in Washington DC in opposition to the Trump administrations immigration policy.

Last week, she joined striking members of the Writers Guild of America on picket lines in New York.

Sarandon was praised on social media after her arrest.

Mad respect, actress Rosie Perez wrote on Twitter next to a photo of Sarandon being arrested.

Presidential candidate Marianne Williamson tweeted: I love her.

Prominent attorney Steven Donziger wrote that it was sickening that we must battle for a living wage in the wealthiest nation on earth.
Susan Sarandon was arrested and handcuffed Monday while fighting for higher minimum wages.

The Oscar-winning actor protested at the New York state capitol building alongside members of the advocacy group One Fair Wage. She and former New York lieutenant gubernatorial candidate Ana Archila were among seven protesters who were processed and issued court appearance tickets, per WNYT.

Susan Sarandon, Ana Maria Archila & tipped worker moms & their children got arrested at the NY State Capitol, demanding that #OneFairWage gets passed in Albany before Mothers Day, the group wrote on Instagram.

WE DEMAND THE FULL MINIMUM WAGE PLUS TIPS, One Fair Wage continued. STOP LEAVING US OUT.

The protesters called for legislation that would raise the minimum wage for service workers  who are being exempted from the states impending increase  to $17 per hour.

Sarandon, who wore a shirt from the organization and held up a banner promoting the cause, was seen in footage being escorted away by Albany authorities.

Representatives for the Thelma & Louise star did not immediately respond to HuffPosts request for comment.

The actor has never shied away from voicing her political opinion and has been arrested at protests before. Sarandon joined demonstrations against former President Donald Trump and the Dakota Access Pipeline and in support of universal health care.

A few days before her arrest, she joined Writers Guild of America protesters in New York City as they called for fair wages and better working conditions. (HuffPosts unionized employees are part of WGAE.)

Sarandon joined Writers Guild protestors in New York City days before her arrest.

Sarandon joined Writers Guild protestors in New York City days before her arrest.

I do feel I have an additional sense of responsibility because I am adjacent to information and sources and am able to spread information that people arent getting, Sarandon told Salon in 2021. I can be a voice for people who need a voice. I accept that responsibility.

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Actors Rosie Perez and others praised Sarandon for her protest in Albany this week. Activist Steven Donziger tweeted about Sarandons arrest, calling it sickening that we must battle for a living wage in the wealthiest nation on earth. Perez shared the tweet, writing: Mad respect.

Related...
A high school in Pennsylvania was dismissed early after a swarm of flying ants took over the cafeteria, school staff said.

Lower Dauphin High School in Hummelstown sent students home at 10:30 a.m. on May 12, officials said in a Facebook post. They said the early closure was because of flying ants in the high school cafeteria which will prevent us from having lunch.

An exterminator addressed the insect problem, and school is expected to return to its regular hours on Monday, the school said in an update to its Facebook post. School normally ends at about 2:30 p.m.

Flying ants, also known as carpenter ants, are often mistaken for termites, according to American Pest. Though flying ants are much less of a threat than termites, they can indicate issues with water leaks and do millions of dollars of property damage if a swarm is not dealt with.

These insects prefer soft or rotted wood to create their tunnels and nest galleries, the company says on its website.

Hummelstown is about 105 miles northwest of Philadelphia.

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A small peak with a controversial name in western Oregon has been renamed, thanks to an effort from residents.

Swastika Mountain, located in Oregon's Umpqua National Forest, has been renamed Mount Halo, according to NPR.

The US Board of Geographic Names approved the change on 13 April. The new name pays tribute to the Yoncalla Kalapuya tribe's Chief Halito.

The 4,200 foot mountain is not well known  though it made headlines after two teens went missing on the mountain and were later rescued by a Coast Guard helicopter in 2022  but its name's ability to invoke darker parts of world history prompted some residents to call for a change.

Joyce McClain, 81, began a petition in 2022 to have the peak renamed. She reached out to the Oregon Historical Society and its Oregon Geographic Names Board to request the mountain be renamed to Umpqua Mountain. Ms McClain eventually learned that Mount Halo had also been proposed and liked the name, so she withdrew her submission.

Despite the connection between the swastika symbol and the Nazis, the mountain's name was not referencing Adolf Hitler's political party. Kerry Tymchuk, the executive secretary at Oregon's historical society, told NPR that the mountain was actually named after a now-defunct town of the same name that sat near the mountain. The town existed in the early 1900's  when the mountain was named  which predates the existence of the Nazi party.

The swastika was not always associated with the Nazis. The symbol has been in use for more than 7,000 years, according to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, and originally communicated "good fortune." The Nazis stole the symbol and turned it on an angle to create the party's icon.

The Oregon Geographic Names Board held a vote during a meeting in December and chose to rename the mountain in a 19-3 decision.

The US Board of Geographic Names approved the name change in mid-April.

Ms McClain said she knew the mountain was not named for the Nazi party, and noted that some individuals are resistant to renaming landmarks, but she nonetheless felt the name was no longer appropriate and warranted a change.

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She said she was happy with the developments.

"I was glad I could do this," McClain told NPR. "One person can really make a difference. People don't think so, but this proves that one person can, no matter who they are."

The mountain's name change comes amid a broader push at the federal level to rename landmarks on federally managed land that include racists or otherwise offensive words.

The most substantial of those sites being renamed are those the numerous landmarks that include the word "squaw"  a slur referencing indigenous women  in their names.

More than 660 landmarks across the US have been renamed as a part of the effort, according to Smithsonian Magazine.
ADDIS ABABA, May 12 (Xinhua) -- The number of people arriving in Ethiopia due to the ongoing situation in Sudan has surpassed 18,000, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) has said.

"People arriving from Sudan to Ethiopia via the Metema border town have now reached more than 18,000," the UNOCHA said in its latest situation update issued Thursday, adding that over 440 people to date have entered Ethiopia via the Kurmuk border crossing point in Ethiopia's Benishangul Gumuz Region.

According to the agency, new arrivals have been reported at the Pagak/Bubieyr border crossing in Ethiopia's Gambella region for the first time since the conflict began in Sudan.

UNOCHA figures showed that the arrivals are from 60 nationalities, and the largest group are Ethiopians, Sudanese and Turkish.

The UNOCHA earlier announced that shelter and reception areas are under construction for those who need relocation, and further medical support would be provided.

Sudan has witnessed deadly armed clashes between the Sudanese Army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in the capital city of Khartoum and other areas since April 15, with the two sides accusing each other of initiating the conflict. 
Sweden will seek to define the EU's recognition of the Wagner Group private military company as a terrorist organisation.

Source: Tobias Billstrom, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sweden, in a comment to the Dagens Nyheter newspaper, on 11 May

Details: According to the minister, his country, which currently presides over the Council of the European Union, is ready to develop a consensus among EU member states as soon as the legal conditions are fulfilled.

Quote: "Sweden is ready to work on creating unity in the EU to include the Wagner Group in the list of EU terrorist sanctions as soon as the legal prerequisites for this appear," the diplomat said in a written comment to the Dagens Nyheter.

Currently, 13 individuals and 21 groups are included in the list of those recognised as terrorists in the EU.

"For a group to be subject to EU terrorism sanctions, a judicial or equivalent national competent authority, such as a court or prosecutor, must decide whether to initiate a preliminary investigation or prosecution against the group, or whether a conviction for a terrorist act should take place. The judiciary should make such a decision," the minister explained.

Thus, discussing this issue in the EU Foreign Affairs Council will be possible only after the specified conditions are fulfilled.

The Wagner Group was founded in 2014 and is currently managed by Yevgeny Prigozhin, an associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The EU froze Prigozhin's assets in 2020. He was also banned from entering the EU because he had sent his mercenaries to the war in Libya.

Background:

The UK Parliament also wants to recognise Wagner Group as a terrorist organisation. This will probably happen within a few weeks.

On 9 May, the National Assembly, the lower house of the French parliament, voted in favour of recognising the Wagner Private Military Group [PMC] as a terrorist organisation.

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Iga Swiatek celebrates after thrashing Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova at the Italian Open

Novak Djokovic fought his way into the third round of the Italian Open on Friday, beating Tomas Etcheverry 7-5 (7/6), 6-2 in a surprisingly tight encounter.

A six-time winner in Rome, the world number one was made to work by the 61st-ranked Argentine, prevailing in one hour, 51 minutes to set up a third round clash with Grigor Dimitrov who beat Stan Wawrinka.

Djokovic, a 22-time Grand Slam title winner, has not been knocked out of an ATP Tour event at the first attempt since the Monte Carlo Masters last year.

Still nursing an injury to his right elbow he had to battle his way past Etcheverry, winning the first set via a tie-break before finally ensuring passage into the next round.

"I've said before that this surface requires more time for me than maybe for other players to get myself to a good level, move well and hit the ball well. Rome has always been a tournament that I need for Roland Garros," said Djokovic who was plagued by 21 unforced errors in the opener.

Djokovic appeared unwell at 5-5 in the first set and took a tablet in the changeover.

"You act like you're 100 per cent," Djokovic said.

"Most of the times I guess you're not, but you want to show your opponent that you're out there trying to fight for every ball. I guess that's what happened, it's kind of cat-and-mouse always on clay."

Djokovic, 35, has made 12 finals in Rome and said Thursday that he was feeling good ahead of the tournament despite missing last week's Madrid Masters.

Wearing an elbow brace he made a slow start, dropping his serve in the first game and struggling to deal with the Argentine's powerful shots.

The first set hinged on a scrappy game six, in which Djokovic broke to level the scores following a battle at deuce.

From there, the set went with the serve until Djokovic won the final four points in the tie-break to take the lead.

Djokovic then kicked up a level, breaking serve in the first and seventh games of the second set to give the match a more straightforward look than Etcheverry's performance deserved.

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- Perfect Swiatek -

World number seven Holger Rune marked his Rome debut with a 6-3, 6-3 win against Arthur Fils of France.

"He made it tough. He's young, younger than me. It feels kind of crazy because I think this is the second time in my life I'm playing someone that's younger," said 20-year-old Rune.

World number one Iga Swiatek started her bid to win a third straight Italian Open WTA title by demolishing Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-0, 6-0.

Losing finalist in Madrid last weekend, Swiatek looked in great form in the tournament she won last year before going on to blitz the French Open even though she is shaking off a rib injury suffered at Indian Wells.

"I still may feel some discomfort, but it is really, really low. Even when I withdrew from Miami, the pain was low. It was just the risk of getting it worse that stopped me," Swiatek told reporters.

The Pole's path to another Rome title opened up on Thursday when world number two and third-ranked Jessica Pegula were knocked out.

Swiatek faces Lesia Tsurenko in the last 32 after extending her winning streak in the Italian capital to 12 matches.

Last year's losing finalist, fourth seed Ons Jabeur fell 6-1, 6-4 to Paula Badosa.

The 28-year-old Jabeur has had calf problems in recent weeks, an injury which caused her to retire in the semi-finals at Stuttgart and not defend her Madrid title.

Badosa will face world number 27 Marta Kostyuk in the third round.

Earlier, Jannik Sinner cruised into the men's last 32 with a straight-sets win over Thanasi Kokkinakis, 6-1, 6-4.

World number eight Sinner took one hour, 18 minutes to deal with the Australian qualifier and will play Russian Alexander Shevchenko, who beat Argentine Sebastian Baez 6-3, 6-4.

Rome has not seen an Italian tournament winner since Adriano Panatta in 1976.

td-dj/dmc
The Commission of the Council of Cantons of the Federal Assembly, the upper house of the Swiss Parliament, has recommended easing export controls on Swiss military equipment, which could potentially benefit Ukraine in the future.

Source: Swiss publication Blick

The commission, taking into account the country's long-standing policy of military neutrality, adopted proposals according to which, after a similar decision of the sister committee of the lower house of parliament in January, a corresponding draft law on the possible re-export of Swiss weapons to third countries under certain strict conditions can now be prepared.

Currently, Swiss neutrality prohibits the delivery of weapons directly to combat zones. This rule applies even if another country has bought the weapons from Switzerland. When purchasing, the buyer country must sign a so-called non-re-export declaration.

The committee's representatives decided that in the future, the Swiss government may sometimes limit the validity of such a declaration to five years.

However, certain conditions must be met. The country receiving the weapons must not seriously violate human rights. In addition, there must be no danger that military materials will be used against the civilian population.

The country should not be involved in an internal or international armed conflict. The only exception is if a country like Ukraine defends itself against aggression, in accordance with international law.

The UN must determine the last point: the re-export of Swiss weapons to a war zone is proposed to be allowed only if the UN General Assembly recognises such self-defence by a two-thirds majority or if the Security Council adopts a corresponding resolution.

Now, the Committee on the Security Policy of the National Council has to develop a corresponding draft law. It is uncertain whether Ukraine will get any real benefits from this decision. If the proposal passes the parliament, a referendum is possible, and the people will decide the fate of the re-export of Swiss weapons. This may take some time.

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Many questions remain open. Among other things, it will be necessary to examine in detail whether this decision is compatible with the neutrality law.

The parliament predicts that if the procedure for approving the re-export of weapons ends positively, the decision will take effect in spring 2024.

The decision was only made due to serious pressure from abroad. Germany, for example, wanted to supply ammunition for Gepard anti-aircraft guns to Ukraine and machine gun ammunition. Denmark applied to Bern for permission to supply Piranha III armoured personnel carriers to Ukraine. However, Switzerland rejected both applications.

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T-7 Red Hawk delays

When U.S. Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin appeared before the House Armed Services readiness subcommittee in mid April, he had troubling news regarding the services continuing pilot shortage.

In response to a question from committee member Rep. Jennifer Kiggans (R-VA), asking how long it takes to train Air Force fighter, bomber and mobility pilots, Allvin testified that training for mobility pilots should take 18 months while fighter and bomber pilot training could take more than two years.

But he explained that its actually taking the Air Force up to four years to train new pilots because the service doesnt have enough training aircraft available.

T-7 Red Hawks in formation. (Boeing)

From the time they are commissioned - because of the challenges were having with T-6 and T-38 - we have a little bit of a backup. It can be as many as four years, Allvin said. So almost an 18 month to 24 month-wait just to get into pilot training.

A week later, Andrew Hunter, the assistant secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, issued a statement announcing that Boeings T-7A Red Hawk, the advanced jet trainer selected in 2018 to replace the services aging T-38C Talon, would not enter into service until 2027  three years later than originally planned.

Due to issues discovered in the early development and test phase of the program, the Air Force is delaying its Milestone C decision to initiate the buy of T-7A production aircraft. By extension. this will shift the T-7A programs initial operational capability (IOC) into the Spring of 2027. We are pursuing risk reduction activities to mitigate some of these schedule challenges.

Thats almost 11 years after the Red Hawk prototypes first flight in September 2016.

Boeing's T-X demonstrators on the ramp. (Boeing)

Advertised by the Air Force and Boeing as the services first "digitally designed and engineered" aircraft, T-7A was lauded as a poster child for developmental speed.

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The Red Hawk was expected to begin a new era in rapid design and engineering with iterative development carried out in the virtual world via modeling and simulation without having to bend metal or conduct extensive real-world testing. Systems integration would be accelerated and the time from the first flight to production significantly compressed.

It hasnt worked out that way.

Not enough pilots, not enough training aircraft

Written testimony was also part of Gen. Allvins mid April appearance on Capitol Hill. Among the details included in it were numbers outlining the Air Forces growing pilot deficit.

In Fiscal Year 2022, the service suffered a net loss of 250 pilots with the force ending the period 1,900 pilots below its 21,000-pilot goal. Pilot production stood at 1,276 with 105 fewer pilots earning their wings than in the 2021 Fiscal Year - 224 short of the 1,500 new pilot goal for 2022.

In order to have a healthy pilot professional force, you need first and foremost the combat cockpits filled, Allvin said, responding to a question about the continuing shortage from Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL).

He indicated that the Air Force currently has enough combat pilots, instructor pilots and test pilots. But only about 70 percent of the staff and leadership positions normally manned by experienced pilots are now filled.

Multiple U.S. Air Force pilots walk to their respective T-38s on the flight line at Laughlin Air Force Base, Texas on Feb. 2, 2022. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman Kailee Reynolds)

That is where we are currently absorbing our shortage - in the staffs, Allvin said. If this sustains over time, then we will have a sort of misshapen force, where you wont be able to have professionally developed enough of the rated membership to provide that expertise and leadership at the higher level.

T-7As latest delay adds to the difficulties the Air Force is facing in keeping its 422 T-38C Talons flying. A string of T-38 mishaps, fatal and non-fatal have plagued the service in recent years.

In mid March, Air Force Times reported that Air Education and Training Command was falling behind in refurbishing the General Electric J85 afterburning turbojets that power the commands trainers, keeping many Talons grounded.

Scottsdale, Arizona-based Standard Aero, awarded a $237 million contract in 2020 to provide service-extending repairs to J85s, is one of several engine repair companies in the enterprise according to Kyle Hultquist, the firms senior vice president of marketing and communications.

John Segovia, an aircraft engine mechanic for the T-38 Talon, finishes tearing down a J85 jet engine. Mechanics tear down and re-build jet engines regularly as a part of a maintenance routine to ensure the working order of every element within the engine. (USAF)

He noted that there are several parts supply organizations involved as well, all being managed by the USAF Program Office, and added that there were problems with some of the parts the Air Force had provided to Standard Aero, contributing to delays in returning the engines to service.

Asked how many T-38s are available for training on a daily basis, AETC command spokesperson, Capt. Lauren Woods, responded, For operational security reasons, we do not release the number of available aircraft for daily training operations.

She also said its impossible to know how the production of pilots has been affected by the shortage of T-38s for training.

The accountability factor

No individual from the Air Force, Boeing or Collins Aerospace would speak on the record about the T-7A delays. When presented with questions, they funneled written responses through a spokesperson or a public affairs officer.

We reached out to the T-7A program, as well as the Air Vehicle Branch chief for the T-7 Red Hawk Division of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Centers Mobility and Training Aircraft Directorate, but werent able to speak with officials.

Similarly, we asked to speak with AETC commander, Lt. Gen. Brian Robinson, about how delays with T-7 and problems keeping T-38s flying were affecting the commands mission. AETC would only respond via Captain Woods.

Startlingly, responses we received from Woods on April 21, just a few days after Gen. Allvins testimony and the same day the Air Force announced that T-7 would not begin operations until 2027, included the following statement - T-7A delivery delays will not slow the production of AETC pilot graduates. However, it will force the use of the venerable T-38C longer than planned.

The 80th Flying Training Wing, T-38s Talon aligned in a row outside the maintenance hangar at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas, on Aug. 26, 2014. The Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training program is the world's only multi-nationally manned and managed flying training program. There are 13 NATO countries which participate in the 55-week program, flying the T-6 Texan II and the T-38C Talon. (U.S. Air Force Photo by Danny Webb/Released)

Completely at odds with Allvins comments and the newly announced delay, AETCs assertion didnt make any sense. So we followed up again and on April 27 the command said:

We anticipate pilot production shortfalls to continue through this fiscal year. The Air Force is continuing sustainment and modernization investments in the T-38C and T-6 fleets, until T-7A deliveries are complete at pilot training locations.

With multiple delays already  Boeing was to have delivered the first five production T-7s to the Air Force this year but now wont deliver aircraft until December 2025 at the earliest  and ongoing maintenance issues for T-38s, it seems likely that pilot production shortfalls will extend beyond fiscal 2023.

AETC seemed to acknowledge this with the statement:

Any future T-7A delays will be buffered with the T-38C. Naturally, further delay of the T-7A requires a greater percentage of the T-38C fleet to undergo an increased intensive repair and inspection cycle as well as component replacements to support AETC pilot training until T-7A procurement.

A warning from digital transformations leading advocate

To his credit, Dr. Will Roper, the man who preceded Andrew Hunter as assistant secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, was willing to speak on the record.

Roper, who described himself as shaping and in a way leading digital transformation during his Air Force tenure is now the CEO of Istari, a company that emerged from stealth mode in February. Backed by former Google chief executive officer Eric Schmidt, the technology startup is dedicated to revolutionizing the field of digital engineering and promoting a transition to Industry 4.0.

T-7 fuselage under construction. (Boeing)

Its a concept Roper has championed, presaging an end to mass production for many types of systems because you can afford to keep designing, improving and upgrading, he said.

That was the idea behind his Digital Century Series, military aircraft that could be swiftly and continuously upgraded, echoing the series of fighter aircraft that were developed in rapid succession in the 1950s, from the North American F-100 to the Convair F-106.

Secure digital engineering is the key, he maintains.

Software ate the world, and now hardware can too via the magic of collaborative models. We can design things, test things - in general, learn things - faster, cheaper, and greener than the physical universe allows."

But the Pentagon and the Washington establishment decided decades ago that mass production for military aircraft was the way to go, Roper opined, leading to consolidation as defense primes merged around that concept and a demand cycle that only launched new acquisition programs once every 30 years.

We just successfully built a bomber at a critical time, he notes, referring to the B-21. When will the next bomber be built? Probably 30 years from now.

Dr. Will Roper, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, discusses Fielding Tomorrows Air Force Faster and Smarter, during the Air Force Associations Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Florida, Feb. 27, 2019. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. DeAndre Curtiss)

Its a paradigm the Department of Defense must break, Roper says, adding that the U.S. military is in danger of declining precipitously.

This is the choice for the Pentagon and I would argue it doesnt have a lot longer to decide because were close to critical collapse in many areas, tactical aviation being one.

Contractor inability to rapidly correct deficiencies

That phrase stands out in the Air Forces response to a question we asked about the design/system integration issues causing the biggest headaches for Boeing and the Air Force.

Problems for the trainer that have been widely reported include wing-rock at high angles of attack (a challenge Boeing said is now resolved) and the inability of T-7As escape system  the ACES 5 ejection seats made by Collins Aerospace  to enable safe ejection for a wide range of aircrew body types, particularly smaller, lighter female pilots.

Pilots pre-flight Boeing's T-X prototype aircraft. (Boeing)

According to the Air Force, tests with the ACES 5 ejection seats showed them exhibiting unsafe deceleration at parachute opening, potentially causing pilots to suffer concussions as their visors tore off.

Collins Aerospace declined an interview on the nature of the problems with the ACES-5 seats, stating that its ejection seats are designed to accommodate a crewmember from 103 lbs. to 245 lbs. We defer you to Boeing and the USAF for other comment.

In the April announcement of delayed IOC for T-7A, Andrew Hunter said the Air Force and Boeing team completed a sled test in February 2023 and that they are on track to conduct the first taxi test within the next several weeks.

The tests posture the T-7 program to resolve issues with the escape system and move forward to deliver the training capability the Air Force requires, he stated.

Acting Secretary of the Air Force Matthew P. Donovan reveals the name of the new Air Force trainer aircraft to be the T-7A Red Hawk during the Air Force Association Air, Space and Cyber Conference in National Harbor, Md., Sept. 16, 2019. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. D. Myles Cullen)

Solving the escape system problem has been one of the prime hurdles to the commencement of flight testing. The Air Force said flight test using Boeings production relevant jets  two of the five jets the company is building for the trainers engineering, manufacturing and development phase  will begin in September.

Asked about reporting in an Air & Space Forces Magazine article on April 14 that stated, Industry sources suggest, however, that USAFs crash dummies were improperly instrumented, suggesting inaccurate results, Boeing responded, We defer to the Air Force.

Collins Aerospace said, For specifics on manikin instrumentation used in T-7A testing, please contact the USAF directly.

Putting the same question to Major Alexandra Stormer, the source of most of the Air Forces statements regarding the Red Hawk produced no response.

But another of the statements Stormer released suggested there are more problems for the T-7A than have been reported, including three aerodynamic instability discoveries.

In June 2022, the T-7A Red Hawk program, in conjunction with Boeing, began a schedule re-baseline effort to assess the collective impacts of all schedule delays to date, to include in ground, pre-flight testing and hardware qualification challenges; contractor inability to rapidly correct deficiencies; subcontractor initial design delays; three aerodynamic instability discoveries; escape system qualification delays; and supplier critical parts shortages.

The T-7 Red Hawk win for Boeing was huge and came at a very important time, but delays in the program are resulting in it becoming a financial burden, at least in the short term, for the famed plane maker. (Boeing)

Boeing told us that its findings during hardware/software integration have been resolved and that ground testing delays are associated with the escape system. The company had nothing more to provide on subcontractor initial design delays and offered no explanation for the three aerodynamic instability discoveries the Air Force reported.

On the Air Forces assertion of contractor inability to rapidly correct deficiencies  a hallmark capability for digital engineering/design  Boeing said, We have worked with the U.S. Air Force to better understand their perception and are taking the necessary steps to address the issues.

Perception or reality, the problems Boeing is having in getting to production with the Red Hawk are a reminder that no technological process is perfect  including digital engineering/design.

Analog vs. digital engineering

The aircraft the T-7A will replace has been in service since 1961. More than 1,180 Northrop T-38s have been built to serve the USAF, NASA, the U.S. Navy and five foreign air forces. Now 62 years into its career, it appears the supersonic trainer will have to soldier on into the 2030s.

Northrops T-38 design team had none of the modern, digital tools available to the Boeing/Saab designers who won the USAFs T-X competition to replace the Talon in September 2018 with total production contracted at 351 aircraft and 46 simulators.

Equipped with drafting tables and slide rules they nonetheless produced a prototype that made its first flight on April 10, 1959. By March 17, 1961, the T-38 officially entered service with the Air Force  less than two years after its first flight.

Instructor pilots assigned to the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training Program operate U.S. Air Force T-38C Talon aircraft above Wichita Falls, Texas, July 21, 2022. (U.S Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Joseph Pick)

The Red Hawk beat out Leonardos T-100, a version of the M-346 in service since 2015 with five air forces, and Lockheed Martin/Korean Aerospace Industries T-50, in service since 2005 with five air forces. But almost seven years have passed since T-7 first flew and so far Boeing has lost $1.1 billion on the fixed-price contract it signed with the Air Force.

The companys third quarter 2022 earnings report warned that risk remains that we may record additional losses in future periods for the T-7.

Originally estimated to be a $19.2 billion program by the Air Force, Boeings winning bid of $9.2 billion was a big win for the service according to Heather Wilson, who served as secretary of the Air Force at the time.

Through competition we will save at least $10 billion on the T-X program, she said in 2018.

This is the only time I can think of in my 35-year career that the contract victory was accompanied by an out-of-the-box write-off, aerospace analyst and Managing Director for Aerodynamic Advisory Richard Aboulafia quipped. Yay, we won. Ok, well start off by writing off half a billion dollars.

Aboulafia observed that Boeing signed the T-X program contract at a time when it was flush with cash from its commercial jetliner business and riding a wave of military program wins with low-bid fixed price contracts for its KC-46 aerial refueling tanker and MQ-25 unmanned carrier aircraft tanker/ISR aircraft.

Maybe the real story is that if youve got a seriously underpriced and therefore under-resourced contract, no amount of digital engineering can make up for that, he opined.

Asked whether the T-7 program has been under-resourced, Boeing produced a terse, one-word response. No, the firm said in a written statement.

A funny thing happens when you move out of digits to reality, Teal Group analyst J.J. Gertler said.

Transitioning an all-digital design to the real world hasnt reduced the need for flight tests and certification in the T-7s case, he noted. Modeling and simulation have the potential to speed design and overcome challenges quickly but they can also lead designers and engineers astray Gertler cautioned.

Digital engineering has the capability to rapidly iterate but its only as good as the information you put into it. It may also help you get to a wrong answer faster which you then have to back out of.

Digital Engineering, as in the buzz term now totally endorsed by the DoD, not in the traditional sense, is a very exciting combination of digital tools that can lower risk, decreases timelines and potentially cost, but I think a little bit too much faith is being put into it,  Tyler Rogoway (@Aviation_Intel) May 2, 2023

Its a suggestion Dr. Will Roper admits is a possibility. He said he thinks T-7 set a precedent as the first program to try to go fully digital.

But I wouldnt hold it up as the Acme of getting everything right, he observed. Its the first and its going to have a lot of those first-mover learning things.

Roper said there is going to be some discovery about which parts of the models that underlie the Red Hawks design are accurate and which need additional data.

Digital engineering isnt going to make issues go away, he noted. Its going to create a new issue which is  do you trust the underlying models and simulation upon which your performance predictions are based?

We asked Boeing whether there might be flaws in its models for T-7.

Initially, the company replied with the same one-word answer it gave for the question of the resources dedicated to Red Hawk, No.

Pressed further, Boeing said, We have and will continue to develop the fidelity of our digital models in these areas to improve predictability in the future and reduce risk.

Improving the fidelity of digital models sounds an awful lot like correcting flaws.

A Boeing test pilot at the controls of a virtual T-7 in the simulator. Note its advanced wide area display-based cockpit. (Boeing)

Asked about this, Boeing responded - We are on the leading edge of modeling and simulation from an aerospace industry perspective. Continuously improving our digital model fidelity is part of our digital engineering strategy and we are investing in these areas.

The firm added, With that said, there is still [the] risk that discovery will occur during flight test in the non-linear areas of the envelope, such as high angle of attack flight test.

Digital engineering isnt magic

While he remains firmly committed to digital transformation and its potential, Dr. Roper acknowledged that it isnt the cure-all for military aircraft development or acquisition.

Digital engineering isnt magic, he concluded. Just because you use it doesnt mean that all the problems of acquisition get out of your way.

Ive spoken quite a bit as have others about the shortfalls of fixed-price contracts for programs. If you have a bad acquisition strategy, theres no guarantee new technology is going to get you out of problems. Fixed-price development contracts, one and done, have not boded good results in recent history.

The new USAF T-7A Red Hawk trainer. (Credit: Boeing)

Roper said that the T-7 acquisition plan was approved long before his time but it doesnt surprise him that the first time youre trying to do this for an airplane that you dont get it perfectly right.

If we were to redo it, I think we would experiment with getting to production in a different way.

He added that wed have to ask the program managers and Boeing if theyve been executing to plan.

The T-7A Red Hawk remains the pathfinder for digitally designed, built and tested aircraft, the company said. As with any new development program, challenges occur but our commitment to fielding this advanced trainer for future fighter and bomber pilots remains unwavering.

The Government Accountability Office is preparing an updated report on T-7A that should publish this month. Lets hope there are no further delays looming for T-7A. If there are, they could jeopardize training for the 5th and 6th generation pilots the Air Force says are crucial to its modernization.

Contact the editor: tyler@thedrive.com
Elizabeth Pauli will continue to serve as Tacomas city manager after the City Council reconfirmed her appointment at Tuesdays meeting.

The employment agreement starts Tuesday, May 16, and continues until May 15, 2025.

Pauli currently makes a yearly salary of $309,556. She received a 7.5 percent salary increase in January after the City Council approved an updated compensation plan for city employees.

Every two years, the city manager position is subject to reappointment by the council, according to the Tacoma City Charter. The council unanimously confirmed her appointment after applauding her work.

Pauli handles the day-to-day operations of the city. She became Tacomas first woman city manager in 2017. She was previously the city attorney.

In the city managers performance review, the council rated Pauli 4.1 out of 5, which exceeds expectations. Her well-dones included her leadership of the Anti-Racist Systems Transformation, progress made on the recommendations from the Communications Audit, her appointments to executive leadership positions over the last two years, and her management of the biennial budget and ability to support council pilot projects. The council stated her opportunities were to continue working on telling the citys stories, working on succession planning for executive leadership and supporting trust-building between the Tacoma Police Department and the community.

Mayor Victoria Woodards said at Tuesdays City Council meeting that Pauli is not the city manager for fame or glory but to serve the community. She said Pauli is able to get up even in the midst of a difficult situation and find a way to move forward positively and solve the issue.

I think you do a really good job every single day, Woodards said.

Pauli thanked the council for the opportunity to serve the community. She said it was her honor.

She also thanked those who keep the heat on and who express their concerns to her.

I want to share my appreciation for those that take the time to stand up for what they think we need to be doing, Pauli said. We do listen, and it does help guide the things that we do.
A Tacoma woman that the local health department has sought medical compliance from for more than a year for untreated tuberculosis remains at large in the general population, according to new court filings.

A Pierce County Superior Court order in April reinforced an earlier order of contempt and order for involuntary detention.

The woman, listed in court documents as V.N., has not cooperated with officials, according to new court filings entered into the Pierce County Superior Court record Wednesday (May 10).

The April order, issued by Pierce County Superior Court Judge Philip K. Sorensen, stated, Unless respondent is in custody, she shall remain quarantined in isolation at the address listed on the confidential schedule on file  for a period not to exceed 45 days beginning on April 7 at 5:00 p.m. through May 22 at 5 p.m. or until such time as the Civil Warrant for Arrest is executed.

A supplemental petition filed Wednesday by representatives for the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department stated, similar to previous petitions, The local health officer for the TPCHD has determined, or has reason to believe, that the respondent continues to be infected with tuberculosis, which is a deadly infectious disease that could spread to, infect, and jeopardize the lives of others if respondent is not detained for testing and treatment for a period not to exceed 45 days.

It added, Denise Stinson, R.N., has determined that V.N. has not remained in her residence in accord with the courts orders, nor has she treated or tested to determine the status of her tuberculosis infection.

Stinson has served as the designated local health officer for Health Department director Dr. Anthony Chen throughout the case.

Another court filing posted Wednesday came from Erin Hahn, legal assistant to Lori Bemis, TPCHDs attorney in the case.

According to Hahn, a person who claimed to be V.N.s son called Bemis office on May 1 to check whether V.N. had missed a hearing in this matter and when the next hearing will be held.

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According to the filing, Hahn told the caller that all of the pertinent information regarding the next hearing was mailed to V.N. in both English and Vietnamese, and that V.N. should speak with (her attorney) regarding the hearing. He looked at the paperwork and indicated that he did see the hearing date provided. He then asked when the attorney would be in the office to speak to him.

Hahn explained hed called TPCHDs attorneys office, instead of V.N.s attorney. After the call she provided V.N.s attorney with the sons number to call back.

Eight pages of reports on the case filed the same day as the TPCHD petition and Hahns declaration were sealed as confidential.

Deputy Carly Cappetto, a media representative for Pierce County Sheriffs Department, referred The News Tribune to TPCHD for further updates or future plans regarding the civil order.

As of right now, Pierce County has no updates from what was last attempted by the Tacoma Health Department Civil order to have a warrant for her arrest, Cappetto wrote.

On Thursday, TPCHD media representative Kenny Via told The News Tribune via email in response to questions, Law enforcement has the civil arrest warrant that authorizes them to detain the patient who is still refusing treatment.

As for publicly identifying the person, Via wrote, We constantly balance the protection of personal health information with risk to the community. In this case, the court ordered the patients identity sealed.

He added, TB is not typically acquired through casual contact. We will continue to support law enforcement as they work to safely detain this patient.

According to the Washington state Department of Health, on average, 4 cases of TB are diagnosed in the state each week.

Via said locally, We usually see about 20-25 cases per year in Pierce County. In 2022, we responded to 27 cases.

Those with active cases can transmit the disease through coughs or sneezing, according to state DOH. Treatment includes multiple months of medication for both active and latent-detected disease.

Officials have sought compliance from the Tacoma woman since mid-January 2022, after she was initially diagnosed and started but did not follow through with prescribed medical treatment.

The issue first came to light after The News Tribune discovered the court case following the health departments public announcement about the case in January 2023.

Court records in early 2023 noted that the woman was a passenger in a car involved in a wreck. The day after the crash, she went to an Emergency Department complaining of chest pains. X-rays taken during the visit demonstrate that she does have tuberculosis and it is progressing, the Jan. 11 petition stated.

She also tested positive for COVID-19.

Since then, the woman has continued to defy court orders, according to the filings, and court records list that she was not in attendance at the court hearing in April.

The case was in the spotlight again last month not only for the womans continued noncompliance but also for a report filed in the court docket stating that law enforcement surveillance observed her boarding a city bus and arriving at a casino.

At this point, nearly 20 separate court orders have been issued over noncompliance, including multiple orders of contempt.

The next hearing is May 19.

The News Tribune archives contributed to this report.
Map of Taiwan

Taiwan is an island that has for all practical purposes been independent since 1950, but which China regards as a rebel region that must be reunited with the mainland - by force if necessary.

China has claimed sovereignty over Taiwan since the end of the civil war in 1949, when the defeated Nationalist government fled to the island as the Communists under Mao Zedong swept to power.

China insists that nations cannot have official relations with both China and Taiwan, with the result that Taiwan has formal diplomatic ties with only a few countries. The US is Taiwan's most important de-facto ally.

Despite its diplomatic isolation, Taiwan has become one of Asia's major economic players, and one of the world's top producers of computer technology.

Read more country profiles - Profiles by BBC Monitoring

LEADER

President: Tsai Ing-wen

Taiwanese President-elect Tsai Ing-wen

Tsai Ing-wen became Taiwan's first woman president when elected in January 2016.

With 56% of the vote, she led the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to their biggest ever victory in parliamentary elections.

President Tsai's political message has always revolved around the importance of Taiwanese identity. She has pledged that democracy will be at the heart of any future relations with China, running the risk of antagonising Beijing on both counts.

MEDIA

Woman uses mobile phone in Taiwan

The media environment in Taiwan is among the freest in Asia, and extremely competitive.

Media freedom organisations say Beijing exerts pressure on Taiwanese media owners.

There are hundreds of newspapers, all privately-owned and reflecting a wide range of views.

Nearly 93% of Taiwanese are online.

TIMELINE

Some key dates in Taiwan's history:

1683 - Island comes under administration of China's Qing dynasty.

1895 - China - defeated in the first Sino-Japanese war - cedes Taiwan to Japan.

1945 - Taiwan reverts to Chinese control after Japanese defeat in Second World War.

1947 - Nationalist troops crush island-wide rioting by Taiwanese disgruntled with official corruption, killing unknown thousands. The event is now known as the 228 Incident.

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1949 - Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek loses civil war to Mao Zedong's Communist forces and flees to Taiwan. He rules the island until his death in 1975.

1950s-1960s - Rapid industrial development.

1971 - UN recognises Communist China as sole government of whole country. People's Republic takes over China's UN Security Council seat.

1979 - Washington switches diplomatic recognition to Beijing from Taipei. US Congress passes the Taiwan Relations Act promising to help the island defend itself.

1987 - Taiwan lifts almost four decades of martial law and eases ban on travel to China.

2000 - Voters put Democratic Progressive Party in power for first time, ending more than five decades of Nationalist rule.
TC Clements

The Monroe County Business Alliance board of directors announced Wednesday the hiring of TC Clements to the position of vice president of economic development with the eventual appointment to the role of CEO of the Alliance.

The executive committee of the Alliance reviewed several candidates earlier this year and chose Clements as the person to lead it.

TC is the right person for the job, stated board chairman Stephen McNew in a written statement. He has considerable business/finance acumen, and is a public servant, serving at both the local and state level.

Clements brings a wealth of experience to the position. He is a retired police officer, has overseen a manufacturing operation, launched several successful entrepreneurial startups, and served a term in the Michigan House of Representatives. Currently, TC and his wife, Jamie, own and operate Cruise Planners, a local travel agency.

Clements has a Bachelor of Science degree in public administration from Flagler College and an Associate of Arts degree with honors from Polk Community College.

I could not be more excited to welcome TC to the Business Alliance Team, Tim Lake, current CEO of the organization, said in a written statement. Having worked with TC on various committees I know his commitment to the community and his willingness to pitch in to make Monroe County a better place for all.

I am incredibly honored to continue the work that has been done to date. As a small business owner, father, husband and former legislator it is really important to me that we continue to strive forward in Monroe County leaving opportunities for our children, Clements said in writing. Monroe County is an amazing place to live and work, and I look forward to working with this team to attract and retain the finest in both business and the workforce.

Clements employment with the Alliance will commence July 10.

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: TC Clements named vice president at Monroe County Business Alliance
Editors Note: The opinions expressed in the op-ed section are those of the authors and do not purport to reflect the views of the Kyiv Independent.

Russias annual Victory Day holiday on May 9, when the country marks the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II, was expected to be a fairly low-key affair this year. Just three days before the festivities, which included a military parade on Red Square, only one high-ranking guest was due to attend: Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov.

On the eve of the parade, however, it emerged that the presidents of four other Central Asian nations had also arrived at the last minute, along with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

For over a year now, following Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine last February, the Central Asian leaders have tried to avoid the issue of the war. So why have they now risked both their reputations and their safety (after all, there were drones flying over the Kremlin the week before the parade) to attend Moscows military festivities in what is being seen by many as a gesture of support for Russia?

Putin claims real war unleashed against Russia during Victory Day speech During his address at the annual Victory Day celebration at Moscows Red Square to commemorate the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed that a real war has once again been unleashed against our Motherland. Kyiv IndependentTeah Pelechaty

Even before the war, the Central Asian presidents preferred to celebrate May 9 in their own countries: any holiday that unites the nation is seen as a way of strengthening their relatively young statehood. Some also tried to use the Soviet-era holiday to make the point that the major victory of the 20th century had not been achieved by Russia alone.

Each of the Central Asian capitals held its own military parade and competed with Russia and among themselves to stump up the most lump-sum payments for veterans. Sometimes their leaders still attended the parade in Moscow  that was never a problem.

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Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine changed everything. Russian President Vladimir Putin began to use Victory Day to justify his aggression, comparing Russias historic fight against the Nazis to its current so-called special operation against the Ukrainians.

This years parade inevitably resulted in images of the Central Asian leaders sitting alongside Russian troops who have been fighting in the war and applauding Putins speech about a sacred struggle for the motherland. Those images will make it much harder to insist that the countries of Central Asia do not support Russia's aggression against Ukraine.

This conclusion was, of course, perfectly clear to those involved, which is why the Central Asian presidents did not initially intend to be there, as evidenced by official statements. Two weeks before the parade, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev announced that on May 9, he would commemorate those killed in World War II in the capital Astana, while Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev ordered a fireworks display in Tashkent on May 9, with the clear intention of attending himself.

Nor did Moscow itself even intend to invite anyone at first. On April 24, Putins spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that since it was not a big anniversary this year, no special invitations had been sent to anyone. Only Japarovs visit was planned in advance: both the itinerary and the makeup of the impressive official delegation were made public.

Belarus Weekly: Lukashenkos showing at Victory Day celebration sparks rumors about his health Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenkos swift departure from the Red Square Victory Day events sparks rumors about the dictators health. Belarusian blogger and political prisoner Mikalai Klimovich dies in custody. The 61-year-old was sentenced to a year in prison for liking a caricature of Lu Kyiv IndependentMaria Yeryoma

It seems, therefore, that everything in Russia is now conducted like a special operation  even invitations to a parade. Special invitations were issued one after another just a few days before the parade in the form of phone calls from Putin, as reported on the websites of Tajik President Emomali Rahmon on May 5 and Turkmen President Serdar Berdymukhamedov on May 7. Mirziyoyev and Tokayevs attendance, meanwhile, was announced with photographs of them exiting their planes in Moscow.

In all likelihood, with the exception of Japarov, the Central Asian presidents initially managed to politely decline the invitation to Moscow. But when Putin called them, it became not only difficult to do so, but also dangerous.

Russian President Vladimir Putin hosts a working breakfast for the state leaders in attendance at the Victory Day military parade in Moscow on May 9, 2023. (Photo by VLADIMIR SMIRNOV/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images)

All of the Central Asian nations are proud of their multi-vector foreign policy, and relations with the West are just as important to them as with Moscow or Beijing. Now that Russia and the West are on the verge of war, it has become far trickier for Central Asia to maintain its partnerships with both sides. The last few years have shown that when the West imposes sanctions against a country, they are observed by everyone, including China.

Accordingly, since the invasion, Central Asias leaders have tried to strike a balance. None of them have recognized the territories annexed from Ukraine as part of Russia, but nor have they publicly criticized Putin or condemned the war. They have all agreed to comply with sanctions, yet have made no real efforts to stop Russia from using their territory to circumvent the restrictions.

Paul Grod: A cry to bring Russia to justice for its genocidal war in Ukraine Editors Note: The opinions expressed in the op-ed section are those of the authors and do not purport to reflect the views of the Kyiv Independent. On May 8, the world honors the memory of those who sacrificed their lives defending the world from Nazi German dictatorship. This victory Kyiv IndependentPaul Grod

Its a precarious balance. Much to Moscows annoyance, Western delegations have repeatedly traveled to Central Asia to advise local authorities on sanctions compliance, and have threatened secondary sanctions for failure to comply. Moscow has responded with veiled and asymmetrical threats, such as halting exports of Kazakh oil to Europe or prohibiting the import of products from Eurasian Economic Union countries, supposedly over GMOs. Central Asias leaders are left to decide for themselves how much of this is coincidence, and how much a response to their statements and actions.

Therefore, the deciding factor in the presidents visit to Moscow was likely that the Wests actions are predictable, while Moscows are not. Quite simply, taking part in Moscows Victory Day celebrations may have looked bad, but Washington and Brussels were unlikely to impose sanctions simply for attending a parade, while the potential consequences from Moscow of refusing to attend were hard to predict.

Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov attends the Victory Day military parade at Red Square in central Moscow on May 9, 2023. (Photo by GAVRIIL GRIGOROV/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images)

There were also pragmatic reasons for visiting Moscow. Contrary to expectations, far from severing ties with Russia, Central Asia actually drew closer to it in 2022. The reality is that it can be profitable to be located next door to a giant, isolated economy and diplomatic pariah.

Firstly, Central Asian companies have made record profits from the disappearance of Western imports from the Russian market. Exports from all five Central Asian countries to Russia soared in 2022.

Secondly, Central Asia is becoming a financial hub for Russians moving their savings out of Russia. Last year, more than $770 million was transferred from Russia to Kazakhstan  an almost sevenfold increase from 2021. Transfers to Uzbekistan, meanwhile, more than doubled to $17 billion.

Thirdly, Central Asia is now the focus of far more international attention than ever before, with Western countries trying to persuade the region not to help Russia in any way, and Moscow trying hard to stop it from drifting away.

Recognizing that this attention is largely the result of their proximity to Russia and will not last forever, Central Asias leaders are trying to milk the current situation for all it is worth. Accordingly, individual actions should not be interpreted as either definitive support for Russia or a move to sever relations with it.

Central Asias political elites view the invasion of Ukraine through the prism of their own interests, top of which is the preservation of their own regimes. For this reason, they will continue to show loyalty to Putin, attending parades with him and periodically praising Moscow in public speeches. It might look like an attempt to have it both ways, but this is the survival strategy the Central Asian regimes consider most likely to work.
A tenants body was found in his home more than six years after he died, United Kingdom officials say.

Robert Alton was found dead in March at his home in Bolton, according to a May 11 news release from Bolton at Home, the company that owns the home. Officials said Alton had likely been dead since May 2017.

The company said it was shocked to learn of Altons death.

We (realize) it will concern and upset people to learn his body remained undiscovered for such a long time, Noel Sharpe, the groups chief executive officer, said in the release. Its completely unacceptable to us that something like this has happened.

In 2017, Bolton at Home made attempts to contact Alton for a gas check, but they externally turned off his gas in June after they couldnt get in touch with him, Sharpe said. After turning off the gas, the company continued its attempts to contact Alton without success.

Opportunities were missed in spotting that something was potentially wrong. We should have done more to check on Roberts welfare, Sharpe said.

The company changed its policy in July, according to Sharpe. Under the new regulations, the company immediately seeks a warrant to access a tenants home when they cannot be reached for a gas check.

This change initiated a request for a warrant to access Altons home, Sharpe said.

Upon entering Altons apartment, officials found his skeletal remains among stacks of unopened mail, The Guardian reported. There was also food that expired in 2017 and a television guide from May 4, 2017, in the home.

Officials deemed Altons death not suspicious, according to Bolton at Home.

Bolton is about 220 miles northwest of London.

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RIYADH, May 12 (Xinhua) -- The Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have signed a preliminary agreement in the Saudi port city of Jeddah to avoid harming civilians, the Al Arabiya news channel reported late Thursday.

The warring parties stressed that the interests of the Sudanese people are a priority, agreeing to allow all civilians to leave the besieged areas, according to the report.

The agreement affirmed Sudan's sovereignty and unity and welcomed the mediation efforts of other countries. It also called for a stop to all attacks that would harm civilians, the report noted.

The two parties began talks on Saturday in Jeddah over reaching a cease-fire to facilitate emergency humanitarian assistance to the conflict-ravaged country.

On Thursday, Saudi Arabia sent its fourth relief plane to Port Sudan, carrying more than 10 tons of food and medical materials, among other relief items, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

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.

The deadly clashes have left at least 550 people dead and 4,926 others wounded, according to the figures released by the Sudanese health ministry in early May. 
By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A group of U.S. Tesla Model S and Model X owners filed a proposed class-action lawsuit against the electric vehicle maker in California Friday over automatic software updates that reportedly decreased driving range or cause battery failures.

The lawsuit claims Teslas updates and their effects violate state and federal laws because they can cut driving range by up to 20% and can require some owners to replace batteries at a cost of $15,000.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in San Francisco, argues impacted Tesla vehicles are protected computers under the definition outlined in the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, and that automatic updates violate consumers rights under the law.

"Tesla owners and lessors are uniquely at the mercy of the maker of their cars, and Tesla imposes software updates without consent whenever their vehicle is connected to Wi-Fi, said Steve Berman, an attorney with Hagens Berman representing Tesla owners and lessors in the lawsuit.

Attorneys for the owners say automakers generally notify customers when it wants to perform a software update but Tesla can issue automatic updates whenever the vehicle is connected to Wi-Fi.

The lawsuit said some Tesla owners have paid third parties $500-to $750 to reverse battery-related software updates.

The lawsuit claims Teslas updates and their effects violate the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, the California Unfair Competition Law and the Consumer Legal Remedies Act. Attorneys say Tesla denies reimbursement to Model S and Model X owners and lessors who experience reduced battery capacity following a software update.

In July 2021, Tesla agreed to pay $1.9 million to settle claims a software update temporarily reduced maximum battery voltage in 1,743 Model S sedans, including about $400,000 in attorneys' fees and expenses.

Owners of the vehicles received $625 each -- "many times the prorated value of the temporarily reduced maximum voltage," according to a court filing.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Aurora Ellis)
Tesla owners protested about price cuts at Tesla's showroom in Chengdu. Reuters

Tesla is recalling 1.1 million vehicles in China.

An issue with regenerative braking could create a dangerous acceleration problem.

This is the second large Tesla recall this year.

Nearly every vehicle Tesla has ever sold in China is being recalled for a potentially dangerous braking and accelerating defect.

A total of 1.1 million Tesla Model S, Model X, Model 3, and Model Y vehicles are included in the recall, Chinese regulators said Friday. Tesla has sold about 1.13 million cars since it arrived in China in 2014.

Tesla plans to fix the issue with an over-the-air software update, which will allow drivers to have more control over the intensity of their regenerative braking system, which is at the core of the recall. Without more control over this system, which harnesses excess energy created when a driver takes their foot off the accelerator, drivers can experience unintended acceleration, according to Chinese regulators.

The recall in China comes amid a tough year in the Asian market for Tesla. Following hefty price cuts at the start of the year, some Tesla owners in China protested missing out on these discounts.

Tesla looks more and more like every other car company

This is Tesla's second large recall this year. In the US, Elon Musk's electric car company issued a recall in February on the more than 360,000 Teslas equipped with its Full Self-Driving software. The company began rolling out an over-the-air fix in March.

Racking up recalls in the US and China is the latest sign that Tesla is maturing into just another car company. Safety recalls are a common occurrence for large brands, and more likely to come in big batches when the company is building millions of vehicles a year.

Musk has spent much of this year applying some of the oldest tricks in legacy automakers' playbooks to pump up the company's sales volumes, such as slashing prices and offering incentives like free Supercharger miles.

Musk has made it clear that 2023 is an important year for Tesla as it seeks to graduate from an early-adopter niche brand to a mass producer of vehicles. The CEO told investors earlier this year that Tesla plans to double its output in 2023 to 2 million vehicles.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Tesla recalled more than 1 million vehicles in China after an issue with the cars acceleration and braking systems was discovered.

The move was announced by Chinas market regulator after an investigation into certain models of the vehicle, according to a statement released Friday morning.

The impacted Tesla vehicles include imported Model S, Model X and Model 3 cars that were produced between Jan. 12, 2019, and April 24, 2023. Certain Chinese-made Model 3 and Model Y vehicles manufactured within the same time also have been recalled.

Chinese officials found the affected cars dont always provide a warning when someone presses forcefully on the accelerator, which could lead to an increase in collisions, according to Chinas market regulator. Tesla said in the same statement it would adjust the vehicles with a software update.

Tesla has encountered various issues that have caused U.S. regulators to recall vehicles. The company announced in March that it would recall 3,470 of its 2022 and 2023 Model Y electric vehicles after the company identified loose bolts. It also came under federal investigation after multiple incidents of steering wheels in certain 2023 models falling off while driving.

The company in February recalled more than 362,000 vehicles over safety concerns related to the experimental self-driving software it introduced. The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration said at the time the software might cause the vehicle to act unsafe near intersections and go straight despite being in a turn-only lane. The organization also said the vehicle was at risk of entering an intersection with stop signs without coming to a complete stop or entering an intersection during a yellow traffic light without due caution.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
A Texas bill creating a state-run border protection unit has been brought back to life.

H.B. 20 would create a state immigration unit to arrest, apprehend or detain persons crossing the Texas-Mexico border unlawfully  something that has traditionally been the preserve of the federal government.

The state-level push comes alongside a broader Republican attack on what they characterize as President Bidens open borders policy.

While the administration has heavily promoted its new enforcement measures at the border, and the federal Border Patrol reports that encounters with migrants are a quarter below last year, Republicans have described the situation at the border in apocalyptic terms.

The brutal reality of Bidens immigration agenda should shock the conscience of every American, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton wrote in a statement on Wednesday.

Bidens policies allow monstrous gang members, terrorists, human traffickers, drug dealers, and violent criminals into our country and demonstrate that the President is willing to sacrifice American lives for his open-borders agenda, Paxton added.

Paxtons comments came just before the expiration Friday night of Title 42, a Trump-era piece of legislation that has been used 2.8 million times since March 2020 to expel asylum-seekers.

On Thursday, the House of Representatives voted to pass H.B. 2, a sweeping bill that, among a great deal else, makes asylum applications more stringent, restarts construction of the Trump-era border wall and reopens immigration prisons closed by the Biden administration.

Another clause of the national bill would see unaccompanied minors safely and expeditiously returned to their country of origin.

But with that bill facing near-certain death in the Senate and a Biden veto, Texas is going it alone with H.B. 20, in a move that risks confrontation with the federal government should it pass.

Story continues

The bill has immigration advocates seeing a dire threat of their own.

House Bill 20 (HB20) is the most dangerous piece of border legislation weve seen, the Texas Civil Rights Project wrote in an April bill summary.

The Texas bill faces a narrow window to passage. Democrats nearly scuttled it on procedural grounds last week, but Republicans successfully resurrected it this week, The Texas Tribune reported.

The new unit would be authorized to act only in the overwhelmingly Hispanic counties of the Texas-Mexico border, where they would be allowed to arrest, apprehend, or detain persons unlawfully crossing the Texas-Mexico border and deter persons attempting to cross the border unlawfully.

The bill would also give the state new legal powers that prosecutors could use against migrants. It sets up a Texas-only version of Title 42. Also, it makes it a felony crime for anyone to knowingly trespass on private land while entering the state  which effectively criminalizes entering the state outside a port of entry, according to the Texas Civil Rights Project.

This makes an offense that used to be a misdemeanor into a felony on par with kidnapping.

Bill sponsor state Rep. Matt Schaefer (R) told an Austin Fox affiliate that the state needs H.B. 20 to provide an additional workforce to replace the Texas National Guard units currently at the border under Gov. Greg Abbotts (R) Operation Lone Star.

Since 2021, the governors office has deployed thousands of military units to the border  a cause to which they arent suited, Schaefer said.

In his interview with Fox, the representative pointed to a video of National Guard soldiers at the border. That sergeant standing by the river is a diesel mechanic from East Texas. He has to go back to his job, and in fact, the state can only keep him on active duty orders for a certain period of time, Schaefer said.

So we have a temporary workforce thats applied against a full-time problem.

While members of the new state border force would not have to be law officers, the bill gives them access, in the event of a civil lawsuit or criminal prosecution, to any defense or affirmative defense that applies to a peace officer.

That has Texas Democrats worried it could lead to vigilante harassment of Latino citizens in Texas border counties.

It also authorizes these agents to use non-deadly crowd control measures, though, in the Fox interview, Schaefer implied they would fire back if threatened.

Our officers are gonna be able to protect themselves and have self-defense, he said. The Border Protection Unit officers will have the authority to do what they need to do to protect Texas at the river.

What is to prohibit or stop a Border Protection Unit from setting up their post in Hispanic neighborhoods? asked state Rep. Erin Gamez (D-Brownsville), who represents a city of nearly 200,000  nearly 90 percent of whom are Hispanic  at the mouth of the Rio Grande.

Other Democratic legislators echoed those concerns.

One of the most concerning provisions overall is the racial profiling that we think is going to happen, state Rep. Victoria Neave Criado (D) told the House.

Criado noted that the bill empowers the governor to call out the border patrol unit in the case of a state of invasion or imminent danger.

Thats the same rhetoric, she noted, that the El Paso mass shooter cited in explaining why he massacred 25 people at an El Paso Walmart.

That individual from North Texas drove to El Paso because of language like the word invasion, where people are painting our communities as invaders of this state, she said.

In the April interview, Schaefer dismissed the idea that the unit would be vigilantes, saying, These will be professional state employees under the authority of the Department of Public Safety Commission.

He also pushed back on the idea that these units were death squads.

Thats just someone trying to scare people, Schaefer said.

Schaefer conceded that in some ways, were in uncharted territory concerning the relationship between the Texas and state governments. The Constitution, after all, gives primary responsibility for international borders to the federal government.

But state conservatives have retrenched around the idea that the constitution does not thereby strip the states of the power to defend themselves, Joshua Trevino of the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation wrote in a public comment supporting the bill.

I believe Article One, Section 10 of the U.S. Constitution talks about a state being an imminent danger. And when you have people die, you have women and children being exploited in great numbers  then I believe Texans are in imminent danger, and we need to step up and take a fundamentally bolder approach, Schaefer told Fox.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
An assault weapons bill that had unexpectedly advanced in Texas' Republican-controlled legislature earlier in the week missed a key deadline to receive a floor vote, likely dooming it in this legislative session.

Thursday marked the last day that bills can be scheduled in the Texas state House before the legislature adjourns May 29. The Community Safety committee had voted to advance the bill Monday, after two Republicans voted with the committee's Democrats, days after a deadly shooting over the weekend in Allen, Texas, left eight dead.

In the wake of several deadly mass shootings in the past few years, in particular, the 2022 massacre in Uvalde by an 18-year-old gunman, Texas Democrats have tried to raise the age to purchase an assault weapon from 18 to 21. Families from Uvalde have been lobbying continuously at the Texas Capitol since the legislative session began in January.

Javier Cazares, whose 9-year-old daughter Jacklyn was killed in Uvalde along with 18 of her classmates and two teachers, told CBS News that "we're still hopeful, you know, things will change, but in the meantime we have to worry about another shooting."

Protesters gather at the Texas State Capitol in Austin, Texas, Monday, May 8, 2023, to call for tighter regulations on gun sales. A gunman killed several people at a Dallas-area mall Saturday. / Credit: Eric Gay / AP

"We had to live through it," Cazares said, "and I hate for somebody else to live through it, but if these laws don't change, it's gonna keep on happening."

With only three days left after the committee vote before the deadline, it was unlikely to reach the floor "unless something miraculous happened," said Sherri Greenberg, assistant dean at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at University of Texas-Austin.

There are still a few avenues for legislation to be passed before the session ends  like adding it as an amendment to another bill. There are two gun-related bills in the Senate, but neither has received a committee hearing, according to CBS Texas.

But even if the bill were to be considered by the full state House, it would likely have been defeated, since Republicans hold an 82-67 majority, and in the state Senate, the GOP has a 19-12 majority. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, has also said he does not support gun control legislation.

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Families from Uvalde and other gun control activists were at the Capitol on Monday, flooding the hallways and chanting "raise the age" and "do something!" After the bill advanced, cheers broke out in the chamber.

Brett Cross, whose child 10-year-old Uziyah Garcia was killed at Uvalde, tweeted after the vote "let's f***ing go! We had to force it but they voted to get HB2744 out of committee!! Uzi, this is for you! Our 21 angels, this is for you! 1st step but WE ARE NOT DONE!!!!"

One of the Republicans who had voted with Democrats, Rep. Justin Holland, tweeted a statement saying, "I do not believe in gun control."

"But after listening to many hours of testimony over this session, I became convinced that this small change to the law might serve as a significant roadblock to a young person (not old enough to buy tobacco or alcohol) acquiring a specific type of semi-automatic rifle intent upon using it in a destructive and illegal manner," Holland wrote.

Some of the deadliest mass shootings in the past couple of years have taken place in Texas, in addition to the one in Uvalde, the 2019 El Paso shooting left 23 dead and the Midland-Odessa shootings left eight dead; another at Santa Fe High School in 2018 killed 10, and a gunman killed 26 in the Sutherland Springs church shooting in 2017.

Joshua Blank, the director of research for the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas-Austin, said polling has shown a split between Democratic and Republican voters about how best to address gun violence. An "overwhelming majority" of Democrats  about 75%  believe less guns will make communities safer, while two-thirds of Texas Republicans believe more guns will make communities safer.

"So when you consider the fact that two-thirds of the Republican electorate in Texas think that the solution to gun violence might be more guns, not fewer, it creates a serious challenge to a Republican legislature in trying to craft any kind of response to gun violence that would include any prohibition on gun ownership," Blank said.

60,000 migrants waiting in Northern Mexico as Title 42 ends, border patrol says

Children's book series aims to teach Mandarin in "an easy, fun way," author says

Passengers in U.K. impacted by rail strikes
Ken Paxton reached an $8 million settlement with Google

Google reached a settlement with Texas Attorney General Paxton on Friday for allegedly falsely advertising its Google Pixel 4 smartphone. The advertisements aired on iHeartMedia using radio DJs to promote the devices by broadcasting detailed testimonials, although Google reportedly never provided a phone for them to test. Paxton filed the lawsuit against the company in January of last year.

Paxton announced Texas has reached an $8 million settlement with Google for misleading advertisements for Texan consumers. A press release said Google was confronted with information that it had violated Texas laws against false advertising, but instead of taking steps to correct the issue, the release said, Google continued its deceptive advertising, prioritizing profits over truthfulness.

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The settlement appeared to vindicate Paxton, who said, Texas will do whatever it takes to protect our citizens and our state economy from corporations false and misleading advertisements. He continued, If Google is going to advertise in Texas, their statements better be true.

Paxton argued that Google significantly influences its consumers and saturates the marketplace, making it all the more important to be held accountable for their misdeeds.

This is the latest in a series of lawsuits against Google, and a company spokesperson said in an emailed statement to Gizmodo that Google is pleased to resolve this issue. We take compliance with advertising laws seriously and have processes in place designed to help ensure we follow relevant regulations and industry standards.

Paxton previously went after Google, having sued the conglomerate last year for allegedly collecting biometric facial recognition data of millions of Texans without asking for consent, making it the sixth case against Google. Earlier in the year, he had filed a separate lawsuit against Google claiming that Chromes Incognito Mode had deceived users by suggesting private tabs would protect their data.

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Paxton continues to pioneer aggressive legislation against Big Tech, having filed one lawsuit after another against social media companies including Facebook, Snapchat, and GoFundMe. The attorney general has also repeatedly targeted Google with lawsuits including an antitrust lawsuit claiming the tech giant illegally abused its market power to secure money from online publishers, and a lawsuit against its facial recognition photos.

Paxton said in the Google settlement press release, It is imperative that large companies do not expect or enjoy special treatment under the law. They must be held accountable for their misdeeds. I will continue to protect the integrity of our marketplace and ensure that companies who lie to Texas consumers are held to account.

While Paxtons various fights against Google might actually be worthwhile for Texans, his large companies do not expect or enjoy special treatment under the law statement is laughable considering his own legal troublesand apparent expectation of special treatment for himself. If youre unfamiliar with Paxton, hes a Donald Trump ride-or-die election denier, hater of the LGBTQ community, and alleged fraudster under indictment for about eight years now. A group of whistleblowers also accused Paxton of firing employees without just cause after he was accused of crimes. He reached a $3.3 million settlement with the affected employees in February.

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(Bloomberg) -- Thailands army chief said there was zero chance of the Southeast Asian nation returning to a military rule in the event of post-election turmoil as politicians were set to make a final push to woo voters ahead of the election on Sunday.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Narongpan Jittkaewtae, whose term as head of the Royal Thai Army ends in five months, guaranteed that there will be no coup under his watch and that the military will remain neutral.

I cant confirm whether the nation will be stable going forward. This is something that every party must work together for, said Narongpan. But what I can confirm for sure is that theres no chance, or zero chance of a repeat of what happened in the past, he said when asked if there would be another putsch.

Narongpans comments on Thursday may ease concerns about the military stepping in once again in the event of a clear win for pro-democratic opposition parties campaigning on a platform of cash handouts as well as radical reform proposals that include ending conscription to reduce the influence of the generals in Thai politics.

Opposition parties including Pheu Thai and Move Forward have also pledged to rewrite the constitution if they dominate the 500-member House of Representatives to curb the role of the military-appointed Senate. Pheu Thai, linked to former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, has also promised to introduce an anti-coup bill.

Thailand has had a troubled relationship with democracy. Elected and military governments take turns running the country, with occasional deadly clashes and protests. The country saw 12 successful military coups since it became a constitutional monarchy in 1932, the last one led by incumbent Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha against Thaksins sister Yingluck Shinawatras government in 2014.

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The possibility of a coup can never be ruled out in Thailand, but it does not seem  barring extreme circumstances  the most likely outcome in the very short term, said Peter Mumford, practice head for Southeast Asia at Eurasia Group.

On Friday, prime minister front-runners Paetongtarn Shinawatra of Pheu Thai, Prayuth, Move Forward leader Pita Limjaroenrat and others will address supporters at rallies on the final day of campaigning.

Thailands election  which pits the military-led ruling coalition against the liberal opposition  has more than 6,600 candidates vying for 500 parliament seats. The elected members of the House of Representatives will decide alongside 250 senators appointed by Prayuths military government who the next prime minister will be from more than 60 politicians in the fray.

Pheu Thai and its allies must win at least 376 seats in the lower house to counter the likely move of senators, with tenures until 2024, to keep the old guards in place and block the oppositions candidates for premier.

Parties will also be watching voter turnout with the meteorological department expecting continuous rainfall throughout the country as cyclone Mocha makes landfall in the north of the Bay of Bengal.

--With assistance from Philip J. Heijmans.

(Updates with analyst voice in seventh paragraph and weather forecast in last paragraph.)

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2023 Bloomberg L.P.
Map of Thailand

Thailand is the only country in south-east Asia to have escaped colonial rule. Buddhist religion, the monarchy and the military have helped to shape its society and politics.

The military has ruled for most of the period since 1947, with a few interludes in which the country had a democratically elected government.

Since 2001, Thai politics have been dominated by the irreconcilable split between supporters and detractors of Thaksin Shinawatra, who served as prime minister until he was ousted by the military in 2006.

Thaksin's sister Yingluck became prime minister following the 2011 election but was in her turn ousted by a military coup in 2014.

Read more country profiles - Profiles by BBC Monitoring

LEADERS

Head of state: King Maha Vajiralongkorn

Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn

Thailand is a constitutional monarchy.

Maha Vajiralongkorn, the 10th Thai monarch of the Chakri dynasty, was proclaimed king in December 2016.

He succeeded his father King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest reigning monarch at the time, who had died in October.

Prime minister: Prayuth Chan-ocha

Thailand's Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha

General Prayuth Chan-ocha seized power in a coup in May 2014, and was named prime minister by the military-appointed parliament a few months later.

Thailand's military has a seized power 12 times since the end of the absolute monarchy in 1932.

Elections in March 2019 saw Prayuth Chan-ocha confirmed in office with the support of the Palang Pracharath Party.

MEDIA

Giant TV screen in Thai restaurant

The government and military control nearly all the national terrestrial television networks, and operate many of Thailand's radio networks.

The media are free to criticise government policies, and cover instances of corruption and human rights abuses.

A strict lese majeste law prohibits media in Thailand from reporting anything that could be deemed critical of the royal family, and journalists tend to exercise self-censorship regarding the military, the judiciary and other sensitive issues.

TIMELINE

Some key dates in Thailand's history:

1932 - Absolute monarchy gives way to constitutional monarchy with parliamentary government.

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1947 - First post-WWII military coup. The military retains power continuously until 1973.

2001 - Populist Thaksin Shinawatra becomes prime minister for first time.

2006 - Military leaders stage a bloodless coup.

2011 - Pro-Thaksin Pheu Thai party wins a landslide victory in elections.

2014 - Army again seizes power.

2016 - King Bhumibol Adulyadej dies after 70 years on the throne, and is succeeded by his son, Maha Vajiralongkorn.
During the Tarrant Appraisal Districts May board meeting on Friday, Information Systems Director Cal Wood said: I need time, patience and money.

Wood and Chief Appraiser Jeff Law were called upon to answer for TADs website issues after having assured the board and the public in March that the website would be ready for property tax season.

It wasnt.

When values were released April 14, TAD.org was overwhelmed with traffic, with pages locking up, failing to download or timing out. The automated market review tool, which allows taxpayers to protest their home values online and get an immediate result  was not available until weeks after the notices were mailed.

After public outcry, including a letter from Keller Mayor Armin Mizani, Law extended the protest deadline from May 15 to May 30.

Im an IT person. So when I say somethings a travesty, thats an understatement, Thomas Bohmier said during public comment.

He explained that the new website does not allow him to pull necessary data to protest his property value; in fact, hes getting charged for the data.

But, as Tarrant County Tax Assessor-Collector Wendy Burgess noted, providing this information is not a statutory requirement.

The new website, said Law and Wood, was launched to increase security and allow for an easier and more secure exchange of information.

They blamed the slow speed on foreign crawlers and automated bots  specifically from India  that were searching TADs public data.

We found that in a lot of cases, if they would just refresh the page, it would come back up, said Law.

But, board member Rich DeOtte found the explanation inadequate and said Law and Wood were downplaying the issue and incorrectly blaming many of the website troubles on user error.

I think were sort of covering up the truth, said DeOtte. Obviously this has been a disappointing roll out, and I think we need to be truthful about that happened.

When asked if the website was in compliance with state statute on April 14  the day notices were mailed out  Law and Wood said yes.

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Section 41.415 of the Texas tax code requires that appraisal districts that have maintained a website since 2008 must provide this service to property owners with a homestead exemption. (TAD has had a website since at least 1998).

There was no such option available on TAD.org until May 2.

We had staff doing some of those things, Law said about the tool that was not available online on April 14.

DeOttes qualms with the process and the way it was communicated did not stop there.

He also said Law sent an email to the board about the website issues. DeOtte responded to Law directly with questions. When Law answered the questions, he emailed the whole group.

DeOtte asked board counsel Matthew Tepper if the communication constitutes a violation of the Open Meetings Act, which forbids a quorum of members of a public board from discussing relevant matters outside of a scheduled meeting.

Thats a tough question to answer, said Tepper.

Fridays meeting was also new board member Vince Puentes inaugural meeting. Puente was selected by the Tarrant County Commissioners to replace former board chair Kathryn Wilemon after she was recall in a vote by Keller City Council.

Puente, co-owner and president of marketing and sales for Southwest Office Systems, serves on the Finance Commission of Texas. He was County Judge Tim OHares campaign treasurer.
Detentions and expulsions at the US southern border

The US-Mexico border appeared calm on Friday as tough asylum rules come into force, with senior officials in Washington expressing confidence that the new system would work.

Thousands of people remained on the Mexican side of the frontier hoping to enter the United States, but the chaotic surge of migrants that right-wing politicians predicted failed to materialize.

"We are seeing people arrive at our southern border, as we expected, as we have been planning for," Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Friday.

"We are screening and vetting them and if they do not have a basis to remain, we will remove them very swiftly."

Arrangements at the border changed at midnight, as the pandemic-era Title 42 -- a health provision that allowed for immediate expulsion -- expired.

In its place is a regularized immigration rule that threatens illegal border-crossers with five-year bans and possible criminal charges, and requires asylum-seekers to apply from outside the country.

"Our plan will take some time, but our plan will succeed," said Mayorkas.

Up to 10,000 people have tried to enter the country every day over the past week, border officials told the US media.

Many turned themselves in to US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) hoping to be registered and "paroled" -- let go because authorities did not have the capacity to house them or expel them.

At the airport in El Paso on Friday, Yoenny Camacaro was hunkered down waiting for a flight to Indiana to reunite with her cousin.

The 23-year-old, who has been granted an appointment with a judge in November 2024, said she was very happy to have arrived in the United States after a long and difficult journey from Venezuela through the jungle and by train.

"It's cold, you don't eat, you can't go to the bathroom, and we depended on food being thrown at us," she told AFP.

"But that's over. Now we're here, we've done it."

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In among the relief, there was also tragedy.

US officials said a teenage boy had died in the custody of Health and Human Services, which takes care of children entering the country unaccompanied.

The department gave no details, but Honduran Foreign Minister Enrique Reina said a 17-year-old boy had died in an HHS facility in Florida.

- 'Calm and normal' -

Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said the number of US-bound migrants crossing his country was ebbing.

He said around 26,500 migrants were waiting in Mexican cities along the long US frontier, and the situation was "calm and normal."

"The flux is dropping today. We have not had confrontations or situations of violence on the border," Ebrard told reporters.

Mexico's national immigration agency has ordered its offices to stop issuing documents authorizing migrants to transit through the country, officials said, in an apparent attempt to curb flows to the US border.

Edith Tapia of the International Rescue Committee, a humanitarian nonprofit group, said the new policy limiting the ways in which vulnerable people could claim asylum in the United Sates left them prey to the criminal gangs that roam northern Mexico.

This "will continue to put migrants and asylum seekers at risk and (leave them) without the possibility of... protection," she told AFP in El Paso.

- Legal attack -

The border policy shift ordered by President Joe Biden has been controversial, with his supporters on the left saying new rules are too strict while opponents on the right have claimed, without evidence, that he is "opening the borders."

His new policy came under immediate legal attack.

In Florida, a federal judge agreed to a request from the state's Republican administration and ordered the border patrol to stop granting parole to border crossers and asylum seekers -- letting them remain in the United States while their cases are reviewed, a process that can take years.

And in Texas, 13 Republican-led states filed a suit declaring parole "illegal."

Parole "creates incentives for even more illegal aliens to travel to the southwest border," they said.

Washington says it is expanding legal pathways to asylum by setting up regional processing centers, bolstering guest worker programs, and granting more admissions for refugees from Haiti, Cuba, Venezuela and other troubled countries.

For asylum seekers, it has launched an app, CBP One, to arrange immigration interviews at the border.

While many have complained of glitches, Amadeo Diaz, 62, was in Tijuana, south of California, with his family for his asylum interview.

The family, from Arcelia in Mexico's south, said they faced kidnapping and other violence in the region where drug cartels wield great power.

"There is a lot of kidnapping, a lot of killing. Innocent people are being killed and that is why we decided to come here to ask for help," said Diaz.

burs-pmh-hg/tjj
PHNOM PENH, May 12 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia on Friday launched the Partnership for Action on Green Economy (PAGE) to reaffirm its commitment towards sustaining the country's economic growth on a sustainable and inclusive trajectory.

The launching event brought together 100 participants from various relevant ministries, private sectors, civil society, academia, national research institution and development partners.

Being an alliance of five United Nations (UN) agencies, PAGE is increasingly recognized as a model for delivering coordinated support of the UN to countries for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and targets of the Paris Agreement.

PAGE's unique value proposition is its focus on "upstream" economic policies that have the potential to eventually move the whole of the economy on a more sustainable trajectory.

Cambodian Ministry of Environment's Undersecretary of State Chuop Paris said the project will span over five years, including a one-year inception phase that will be concluded by mid-2023.

"Cambodia has already demonstrated its commitment to green economy principles through the National Strategic Plan on Green Growth 2013-2030 and the submission of its Long-term Strategy for Carbon Neutrality to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in 2021," he said.

Thereby, joining this global partnership will leverage the country's efforts in mobilizing additional support in terms of new and advanced knowledge and finance to expedite the transition towards an inclusive green economy, Paris added.

Narin Sok, representative of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) to Cambodia, reiterated the joint UN commitment to work closely with relevant line ministries to ensure that PAGE contributes to promoting green and inclusive economic growth in Cambodia.

He said the implementation of PAGE program is fully aligned with and will contribute to the realization of the overall objectives of the new UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework 2024-2028. 
Swifties across New England realized today wasnt a fairy tale after thousands of Commuter Rail tickets to next weeks Taylor Swift shows at Gillette Stadium sold out in under two minutes Friday morning.

Over 3,200 additional tickets to Foxboro were released and the vast majority of them were snatched up in less than a quarter of the time it takes to listen to All Too Well (Taylors Version).

More than 2,000 tickets were sold in the first two minutes they hit the market; including every ticket out of Boston within 90 seconds, according to Keolis.

As of 1:00 p.m. there were only select tickets remaining for the Providence train.

At one point, the MBTA mTicket app had 20,000 requests per minute to purchase tickets, the company told Boston 25.

Keolis released its first batch of special event tickets last week, selling out those tickets within hours.

After previously stating they would not release more tickets, Keolis and the MBTA backtracked, opening the door for Thursdays spontaneous flash sale.

The concert trains will operate at maximum capacity, Keolis told Boston 25 News. The total number of tickets possible have been sold. We are pleased to be able to provide this service in partnership with Gillette and hope that everyone enjoys their concert experience.

The special event trains will leave Foxborough station 30 minutes after the end of the concert. Regular Commuter Rail passes are not accepted on these trains.

Keolis is referring fans to its website for information about what services are offered for the concert series.

Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.

Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW
Did you get an unexpected check in the mail this week? Sometimes these are annoying marketing gimmicks or even just outright scams. But this one might be payback for a scam you already fell for.

If you were one of the millions of Americans who qualified for the federally supported free tax filing service but were tricked into using TurboTax's "free, free, free" service instead, you could be receiving part of the $141 million settlement between the company behind TurboTax, California-based Intuit, and all 50 states from a class-action lawsuit last year.

Checks began going out this week to more than 350,000 Floridians "who fell victim to TurboTaxs deceitful business practices," totaling more than $10 million, according to Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody.

Under the terms of a settlement signed by the attorneys general of all 50 states, TurboTax's owner, California-based Intuit, will suspend TurboTaxs confusing free ad campaign and pay restitution to nearly 4.4 million taxpayers for "predatory and deceptive marketing," New York Attorney General Letitia James said.

Here's what you need to know.

How much will I get from TurboTax's settlement?

In a settlement last year, TurboTax's owner Intuit Inc. was ordered to pay $141 million to some 4.4 million people across the country.

First things first: If you qualify for payment and filed with TurboTax for tax years 2016, 2017 and/or 2018, you should see a check for anywhere from $29 to $85, depending on how many years you filed.

If you're eligible, you'll be notified by email from the settlement fund administrator, Rust Consulting.

Tax changes: The way the IRS operates is about to undergo a major change. Here's what that means for you

Do I have to submit anything, or fill anything out?

No. Consumers do not have to fill out any forms, pay anything or provide any account information to receive a payment if they qualify for the multistate settlement. Checks will automatically be mailed throughout May.

You can check the status of your check at agturbotaxsettlement.com/Payment-Verification.

Story continues

Is the IRS really texting you? No, it's one of many tax scams.

How do I know if I qualify for the TurboTax settlement?

If you were eligible for the IRS's Free File at the time and started 2016, 2017 or 2018 federal tax returns with TurboTax's free service, but were told you didn't qualify and had to pay to upgrade or complete your filing, you may receive a payment. You also must not have used Intuit's Free File service in a previous year.

In 2016, the threshold for Free File eligibility would have been an adjusted gross income of $64,000, according to the Free File Alliance.

Do you qualify? TurboTax customers to receive checks for $141M settlement. Here's what you need to know.

When do the TurboTax settlement checks go out?

If you're eligible you should get an email from Rust Consulting, the settlement fund administrator, and checks should begin arriving this week. Payments will be sent throughout May but some tax filers may not receive their payment until early June, according to the settlement website.

What if I'm eligible for a TurboTax settlement check but didn't get one?

If you haven't received a payment by mid-June, you can visit agturbotaxsettlement.com and request a reissue. You'll need the Claimant ID Number from the email notice you may have received.

So what did TurboTax do?

If your income is below a certain level you qualify for the Internal Revenue Service Free File Program, and some tax preparation websites partnered with the IRS to offer it. But a 2019 ProPublica investigation showed how TurboTax hid its IRS-related "Free File" option on its website and instead steered eligible taxpayers toward their confusingly named "freemium" service.

"Many consumers did not learn that payment would be necessary until spending time and effort inputting tax information into TurboTax," Moody said in a 2022 release. "Moreover, the investigation found that some consumers eligible for Intuits IRS Free File product were misled to believe that an upgrade was necessary."

ProPublica's reporting pointed out that Intuit also blocked its IRS Free File landing page from search engine results.

According to documents obtained by ProPublica, Intuit executives were aware of the impact of advertising free services that were actually not free for everyone."The website lists Free, Free, Free and the customers are assuming their return will be free," an internal company PowerPoint presentation said, per ProPublica. "Customers are getting upset."

What is Free File?

The IRS Free File program is available for those whose adjusted gross income was $73,000 or less in 2022, about 70% of American taxpayers. Free File can even help those who have such low incomes that they're not required to file a federal income tax return but who would miss out on valuable tax credits if they don't file.

Free File, which offers free guided tax preparation help, is open through Oct. 16 and can be found at IRS.gov. Current participants include TaxSlayer, TaxAct, FreeTax USA and others. Partners have specific offers that apply to select groups of tax filers; all offers don't cover every potential participant.

In October 2021, TurboTax voluntarily dropped out of the IRS "Free File" program and, according to the settlement, cannot rejoin it "without approval of the IRS and the Director of the Free File Alliance."

What else does TurboTax have to do?

Intuit did not admit wrongdoing in the settlement. But the company also has agreed to:

Refrain from making misrepresentations in connection with promoting or offering any online tax-preparation products

Enhance disclosures in its advertising and marketing of free products

Stop requiring consumers to restart tax filings if the consumer exits one of Intuits paid products to use a free product instead

"For years, Intuit misled the most vulnerable among us to make a profit. Today, every state in the nation is holding Intuit accountable for scamming millions of taxpayers, and were putting millions of dollars back into the pockets of impacted Americans," James said in a statement. "This agreement should serve as a reminder to companies large and small that engaging in these deceptive marketing ploys is illegal."

Contributors: Wyatte Grantham-Philips, Associated Press; Susan Tompor, Detroit Free Press

C. A. Bridges is a Digital Producer for the USA TODAY Network, working with multiple newsrooms across Florida. Local journalists work hard to keep you informed about the things you care about, and you can support them by subscribing to your local news organization. Read more articles by Chris here and follow him on Twitter at @cabridges

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: TurboTax lawsuit: How much will Florida TurboTax free taxpayers get?
The mass media reported that three people were injured as a result of the fire

The account alleges that the enterprise is engaged in the production of engines for MiG military aircraft.

Read also: Four unidentified drones found near Moscow in 48 hours. What does it mean for the Kremlin?

According to the accounts reporting, the fire broke out in one of the enterprises buildings at about 4 a.m., burning furniture and supplies in the office on the second floor of the building, coating the premises in smoke.

Fire and rescue teams at the scene have already extinguished the fire, local authorities say.

On May 1, a locomotive and four railroad cars were set on fire, leaking about 12 tons of fuel after a railway bombing in Bryansk Oblast. On May 2, another locomotive and around 20 train cars were derailed due to an explosion, also in Bryansk Oblast.

Then, on May 4, the Ilskii Oil Refinery near the Taman Port in Krasnodar Krai erupted in a massive blaze. Another oil refinery in Russias Rostov Oblast was struck by a drone attack that day as well, as well as a military base in Voronezh Oblast.

Read also: Second blast in two days at Ilskii refinery in Krasnodar Krai, Russian media report drone attack

In addition, an unidentified drone struck an administrative building in Starodub late on May 10, while another drone attacked an oil depot in Bryansk itself in the early hours of May 11.



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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
a phone holding a phone opening up the TikTok application

This article was originally published in Louisiana Illuminator.

TikTok could soon be expelled from Louisianas colleges and universities under a bill advancing through the legislature.

House Bill 361, sponsored by Rep. Daryl Deshotel, R-Marksville, would ban the app on all state-owned devices and state administered networks, meaning the popular video sharing app could soon be inaccessible on university WiFi.

Deshotel has pitched the bill as a security measure, pointing to FBI Director Christopher Wrays warning earlier this year that China could use the app to control data from U.S. consumers, control software and drive political narratives.

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This is a tool that is ultimately within the control of the Chinese government, and it screams out with national security concerns, Wray told the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee in March.

The risk of exposure to our constituents private data is too much and too high of a price to pay for the sake of a funny video, Deshotel said Tuesday when he pitched the bill to the House Appropriations Committee.

The bill was advanced without objection from the Appropriations Committee and had previously been unanimously advanced from the House and Governmental Affairs Committee last month. It will next go before the House of Representatives for a floor vote, where it is likely to be approved.

If the bill passes through the legislature, it would take effect when its signed by Gov. John Bel Edwards, who previously ordered TikTok banned on all state-owned devices and networks under his control, meaning Louisianas 275,000 college students will likely be returning to a TikTok-free school in the Fall.

Related Dozens of U.S. Schools, Universities Move to Ban TikTok

The bill has so far received no testimony in support or opposition. The public will next have the opportunity to comment on the proposal when it is heard in a Senate committee.

Story continues

The proposal would also ban any other app or service developed by TikToks parent company, ByteDance Ltd, or entities the company owns.

Deshotels proposal carves out exceptions to the ban for academic uses of the app. The bill includes language that provides exceptions for legitimate scientific, educational or law enforcement purposes to be determined on a school-by-school basis.

Related Teen Mental Health Crisis Pushes More School Districts to Sue Social Media Giants

Louisiana Illuminator is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: info@lailluminator.com. Follow Louisiana Illuminator on Facebook and Twitter.
Around 30 students at Fort Worth Paschal High School walked out of class Friday to call for gun control and reducing violence.

Their walkout followed a statewide walkout Thursday organized by the anti-gun violence group Students Demand Action.

The Paschal walkout started around 10:50 a.m. and lasted till 11:40 a.m with students carrying signs and shouting slogans like protect kids, not guns on the corner of West Berry Street and Forrest Park Boulevard.

A Fort Worth police squad car was in position on Berry Street with four school staff members standing roughly 30 feet away to observe.

The students said they were tired of talking about gun violence and wanted to take some kind of action. They referenced the shooting Saturday at the Allen Premium Outlets and the January shooting that killed 17-year-old Paschal High School student Zechariah Trevino outside the Whataburger across the street.

Students said it was more important to be on the street protesting than in class. Several said shooting fears made it difficult to concentrate in class, with some adding the threat has been a part of their lives since elementary school.

The Fort Worth school district in a statement Wednesday discouraged students from walking out.

Please remember there are District protocols in place to ensure your safety, and we appreciate your cooperation, the statement read, while also encouraging students to user teachers and counselors if they need someone to talk to.

That message seemed to affect the turnout. Participating students said teachers threatened them with being marked absent on attendance if they participated.

The Fort Worth school districts protocols allow students to protest peacefully, but require teachers to make a list of participating students while reminding them that participation is not an excused absence, according an email from a district spokesperson.

Students said they felt proud of their protest. They said it was more important to take the action than fear for their safety in class.

Story continues

Firearms were the leading cause of death for 15- to 19-year-olds between 2018 and 2021, according to the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention. They accounted for nearly a third of all deaths for that age group.

There was increased pressure on the Texas Legislature earlier in the week to pass a bill to raise the age to buy a semiautomatic weapon from 18 to 21.

Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker voiced her support for the bill on social media. We cant afford to just stand still waiting for longer-term investments to save our lives, she wrote. We need immediate action.

While the bill passed out of a House committee Monday, a separate committee missed a deadline Tuesday to schedule a vote on the house floor.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked Friday why President Biden has not delivered a direct message to the tens of thousands of migrants causing chaos at the southern border with the end of Title 42.

Customs and Border Protection officials have reported record numbers of apprehensions, with over 10,000 migrants a day caught this week. This historic surge in illegal immigration was prompted by the end of Title 42, the public health order that allows for the rapid expulsion of migrants at the southern border due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which expired on Thursday night.

Biden administration officials have repeatedly warned migrants that the border is not open and that those who cross the border illegally will not be eligible to make asylum claims. "I want to be very clear: our borders are not open. People who cross our border unlawfully and without a legal basis to remain will be promptly processed and removed," Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas said Thursday.

But so far neither the president nor Vice President Kamala Harris has spoken to the people risking their lives on the dangerous trek to the United States.

BIDEN ADMIN TELLS AMERICANS TO BRACE FOR BORDER CHAOS AS TITLE 42 ENDS, MIGRANTS SURGE

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre listens as White House Senior Advisor and Infrastructure Coordinator Mitch Landrieu speaks during the daily news briefing at the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House on May 12, 2023 in Washington, DC. Landrieu attended the news conference to promote the Biden administration's upcoming infrastructure week.

"I think hearing from Secretary Mayorkas is a powerful messenger," Jean-Pierre told reporters Friday when asked about the president's comparative silence. "He was at the border. He was here for more than 50 minutes taking all of your questions. He's been on TV doing kind of a round-robin today and other days as well this week. And he's been very clear what the message is to migrants who are coming."

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

The Biden administration has repeatedly touted a wide-ranging plan to deal with the crisis that includes stiffening Title 8 penalties, an asylum rule to make those who enter illegally ineligible for asylum; cooperation with Mexico; and a surging of resources and personnel to the border. Jean-Pierre has said this will enable authorities to "humanely manage the border through enforcement, deterrence and diplomacy."

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"We've been very clear. We want a system that's humane, that's orderly," Jean-Pierre said. She added that while Biden is "using the tools in front of him" to handle the border situation, the president believes Congress must act as well.

On Wednesday, Jean-Pierre said that Republicans in Congress "literally refuse to act" on immigration, even as the House of Representatives voted on a sweeping plan to secure the border  one that Biden has vowed to veto.

FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS BIDEN ADMIN FROM RELEASING MIGRANTS WITHOUT COURT DATES AS TITLE 42 EXPIRES

WASHINGTON, DC May 9, 2023: US President Joe Biden.

Republicans' Secure the Border Act would restart border wall construction and significantly increase the number of Border Patrol agents. It would also that would enshrine the Trump-era Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) and Asylum Cooperative Agreements (ACAs), change laws related to unaccompanied children and restrict the use by the federal government of humanitarian parole.

The legislation, which is the result of work from the House Judiciary, Homeland Security and Foreign Affairs committees, would expand the type of crimes that make someone ineligible for asylum, limit the eligibility to those who arrive at ports of entry, would mandate a system similar to the E-Verify employment eligibility verification system and would create additional penalties for visa overstay.

The White House views the Republican bill as a non-starter, asserting it would "make things worse, not better."

"Because this bill does very little to actually increase border security while doing a great deal to trample on the Nations core values and international obligations, it should be rejected," the White House said in a statement.

HOUSE PASSES GOP PACKAGE TO BOLSTER BORDER SECURITY, OVERHAUL ASYLUM PROCESS

A Texas National Guard soldier bars journalists from approaching migrants who had crossed over from Mexico on May 09, 2023 in El Paso, Texas. A surge of immigrants is expected with the end of the U.S. government's Covid-era Title 42 policy, which for the past three years has allowed for the quick expulsion of irregular migrants entering the country.

Biden told reporters Tuesday that the border situation is "going to be chaotic for a while."

On Wednesday he called on Congress to "fully fund the border security effort."

Mayorkas has echoed the president's admonitions to Congress to fix what he's called a "broken" immigration system.

Additionally, he has also been issuing stern warnings to migrants thinking of coming across. In a video posted as Title 42 ended, Mayorkas said "we are ready to process and swiftly remove people without a legal basis to remain in the U.S."

However, that message has been undercut by the revelation that Border Patrol is planning to release migrants onto the streets without court dates to relieve overcrowded facilities. These plans are now central to legal challenge filed against the administration by Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody.

Fox News' Adam Shaw contributed to this report.
Title 42, a controversial Trump-era policy that allowed for the rapid expulsion of asylum seekers throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, is set to expire at midnight Friday.

The rules expiration has sparked concerns about a surge of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border. But what is Title 42, why is it ending and what happens next?

What is Title 42?

A U.S. Border Patrol agent leads a line of women to a van as they wait to apply for asylum between two border walls Thursday, May 11, 2023, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Title 42 is the entire section of U.S. federal regulations that pertain to public health. However, it has come to refer to a specific rule within that section that allows the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to block noncitizens from entering the U.S. for public health purposes.

The Trump administration implemented the rule in the early stages of the pandemic, citing the serious danger of the further introduction of COVID-19 into the United States, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Mayorkas: Sad and tragic day to use migrants as pawns as Title 42 winds down

The rule, which President Biden kept in place after taking office, has been used more than 2.8 million times since March 2020 to quickly expel migrants to Mexico or their home country without allowing them to seek asylum.

Why is it expiring?

Title 42s expiration comes more than a year after the Biden administration first moved to rescind the order. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

Title 42 is set to expire Thursday at midnight as the COVID-19 public health emergency officially comes to an end.

The rules end comes more than a year after the Biden administration first moved to rescind the order. Just days before Title 42 was set to expire last May, a federal judge ruled that the administration could not roll back the policy while a challenge from a group of GOP-led states proceeded.

However, a separate federal judge ruled in November that Title 42 violated the Administrative Procedures Act and ordered that the administration wind down its use of the policy by late December.

Story continues

Mayorkas warns migrants about smugglers as Title 42 ends: Do not believe their lies

As it was set to expire once again, the Supreme Court ordered that the rule remain in place until it heard arguments and came to a final decision.

The Biden administration ultimately announced at the end of January that it would end the COVID-19 public health emergency May 11  also ending the rule that was tied to the emergency declaration.

What does its expiration mean?

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre listens as Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas speaks about border security during a briefing at the White House, Thursday, May 11, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

The expiration of Title 42 is widely anticipated to cause a surge of migrants at the southern border, with border patrol preparing for as many as 10,000 migrants a day.

We are doing all we can, Biden said Tuesday, acknowledging that its going to be chaotic for a while.

However, even as the Title 42 restrictions are lifted, the administration unveiled a new rule on Wednesday that would dramatically limit asylum.

Biden administration outlines added measures to deal with expected Title 42 fallout

The policy, which is similar to another Trump-era rule, would block migrants from seeking asylum in the U.S. if they passed through another country along the way that also offers asylum.

We are finalizing a new rule to encourage individuals to use available lawful, safe and orderly pathways to enter the United States, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Wednesday. The rule presumes that those who do not use lawful pathways to enter the United States are ineligible for asylum.

What has been done at the southern border ahead of its expiration?

President Joe Biden shakes hands with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott as he arrives at El Paso International Airport in El Paso Texas, Sunday, Jan. 8, 2023. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, stands at right. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Beyond its new asylum rule, the Biden administration is also surging resources to the southern border  including 1,500 military personnel, 24,000 law enforcement personnel and 1,100 new border patrol processing coordinators  in an effort to contain the potential fallout from Title 42s end.

The Department of Homeland Security also plans to increasingly rely on Title 8, which allows for the expedited deportation of migrants who are encountered between legal ports of entry and bars those migrants from seeking reentry for five years.

Florida AG files lawsuit against DHS for unquestionably cynical post-Title 42 plans

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R), who has slammed Biden for sending 1,500 soldiers to do paperwork, said Monday that the Lone Star state is deploying a new tactical border force to meet the expected surge.

Were deploying today a new Texas tactical border force made up of elite National Guard who are specifically trained for one thing, he said. And that is to identify areas illegal immigrants are trying to cross the border and to fill that gap and to repel them.

What are lawmakers saying?

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.)

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) discusses Title 42 ending at midnight with reporters alongside Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) on Thursday, May 11, 2023 and the effect on southern border states with an increase in crossing, apprehensions and issues housing those have made the journey.

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) suggested Sunday that Title 42s end would result in a humanitarian crisis at the border.

Everyone here in Arizona knows we are not prepared. The Biden administration had two years to prepare for this and did not do so, Sinema said. 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.

Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas), who represents a district along a huge swath of the U.S.-Mexico border, also warned Sunday that border crossings were getting worse.

This is honestly the fourth time that weve seen this Title 42 is going to end and every time we come to this situation before the crisis is this uptick in illegal immigration  the numbers are getting worse, he said.

However, Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) called Bidens militarization of the border in response to the potential surge of migrants unacceptable.

There is already a humanitarian crisis in the Western Hemisphere, and deploying military personnel only signals that migrants are a threat that require our nations troops to contain. Nothing could be further from the truth, Menendez said in a statement.

The New Jersey senator also criticized the administrations new asylum rule Wednesday, noting that the end of Title 42 presented a clear opportunity to reset their approach to migration.

It is disappointing to see the Administration instead chose to move forward with a harmful transit ban that fundamentally limits access to our nations asylum system, he added in statement with Sens. Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.) and Alex Padilla (D-Calif.).

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Contentious immigration policy Title 42 expired late Thursday night at the southern border with Mexico, but by Friday morning, U.S. officials reported that they had not seen the massive increase in migrant crossings that some were predicting and anxiously awaiting.

In the hours leading up to the termination of Title 42, which was used by the Trump administration amid the COVID-19 pandemic to turn away asylum seekers, migrants continued to gather near ports of entry, hoping for a new opportunity to enter the U.S. as confusion over the imminent policy changes and their impact persisted. On Friday, U.S. officials said that while the number of border encounters was still high, they had not experienced an influx of people overnight or any significant increase in migration.

The lifting of Title 42 was long anticipated but had been previously blocked by court rulings. Biden administration officials stressed this week that they had prepared for the moment by instituting a limit on asylum for those who cross without authorization and by significantly increasing resources sent to the border, among other actions.

On Thursday, the number of migrants in U.S. Customs and Border Protection custody dropped to under 25,000, according to internal data obtained by The Times, after hovering above 28,000 earlier in the week.

Government officials lamented a Thursday ruling from a federal judge in Florida that blocked the Biden administration from releasing migrants in custody without court notices. The measure, officials said, was necessary given the number of people crossing the border and concerns about overcrowding. The administration said it would comply with the ruling and was considering its next steps.

The end of Title 42 has spread uncertainty among thousands of U.S.-bound migrants from across the globe who are waiting in Mexico. Some are contemplating switching strategies. Many are trying to figure out what it all means.

There is a persistent fear that the transition away from Title 42 could be a fast track to deportation  making an already desperate situation worse.

Story continues

To me it feels like a great deception, said Alexandre Jean Verneau, 26, a Haitian migrant who was at a church soup kitchen on Friday. What I fear is that I could end up deported back to Haiti. That is the last thing I need.

He is among the tens of thousands of Haitians who in recent years have headed for the United States from Chile. Authorities in the South American nation have been cracking down on immigration, prompting many people to make the long journey north through South and Central America and Mexico to the U.S. border.

Verneau said he spent four nights at the border in Texas, sleeping near hundreds of other migrants in the desert on U.S. land just north of the Rio Grande. Border Patrol finally opened a gate Friday morning to allow the migrants in. But the young Haitian man said he smelled a trap: He left the group and headed back to Ciudad Juarez on the Mexican side, declining to surrender to Border Patrol.

It felt like a trick, said Verneau, who still hopes to join relatives in New York. I was afraid they would put me in a plane back to Haiti.

Hes not sure what to do next, knowing little about how to apply for humanitarian parole into the U.S., which is available to some Haitians.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents conduct a training exercise May 10 at the San Ysidro Port of Entry. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune)

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas issued a warning Thursday as Title 42 was expiring that "people who arrive at the border without using a lawful pathway will be presumed ineligible for asylum."

Advocates for immigrants said the new limits on asylum were unlawful, and the American Civil Liberties Union filed a legal challenge to the policy late Thursday, seeking to block it.

Mayorkas noted that 24,000 Border Patrol agents and officers had been deployed to work alongside "thousands of troops and contractors, and over a thousand asylum officers to help enforce our laws."

"Do not believe the lies of smugglers," Mayorkas said in a statement directed at migrants. "The border is not open. People who do not use available lawful pathways to enter the U.S. now face tougher consequences, including a minimum five-year ban on re-entry and potential criminal prosecution."

As the minutes ticked down to the end of Title 42, some asylum seekers wondered what it would mean for them  would they be processed under the rules in effect when they reached U.S. soil, or would they be processed under the new, more restrictive measures that went into effect Friday?

Among those waiting across the border from California were an Ecuadorean journalist and his family. He fled after threats related to his work, and after he ended up in between the U.S. and Mexican border walls, he began documenting the situation for his newspaper in Ecuador.

"We're here to be heard about the problems in our country," he said in Spanish. "We're very vulnerable."

That night, migrants fell asleep in the groups they'd been waiting in for days, wrapped in metallic blankets that the U.S. Border Patrol had distributed. On Friday morning, the families were still there, sitting on the cold ground.

Several families, including some fleeing Mexico, attempted to request asylum at the San Ysidro Port of Entry south of San Diego on Friday morning  without making appointments through the CBP One app, a new government requirement for seeking humanitarian protection. They were turned away.

Among them was a family of three: a father from El Salvador, mother from Guatemala and their 3-year-old son. They said they'd been kidnapped and robbed numerous times on their journey. After attempting to walk across the border near the Tijuana River and El Chaparral plaza earlier in the week, they were told that people of their nationalities couldn't request asylum until Friday, they said.

The family had tried to request asylum in southern Mexico, but said they faced persecution there, and continued north.

"The authorities here in Mexico see one as a gold mine," the father said. "They take all our money."

Near the border in Arizona late Thursday, migrants lined up along a stretch of metal fencing next to the Colorado River on the Cocopah Indian Reservation, waiting to be taken to a Border Patrol processing center in Yuma.

There were crying babies, elderly people with canes and children asleep in their parents' arms. People had fleece blankets slung over their heads, travel pillows and puffer jackets to stave off the light chill.

Come over here, a Border Patrol agent told the migrants, ushering them toward an open space where the barrier ended. I want one single line.

OK, commander, a migrant responded.

Gracias! a child yelled.

On the other side of the wall, a group of about 30 people walked toward Border Patrol.

Run for your lives, a migrant on the other side told them through the slats, waving his arms in encouragement. Youve arrived.

A Yuma County sheriffs deputy said only a few dozen people usually arrive by that time of night. On Thursday, there were at least a couple of hundred.

A group of 10 more people ran up and got in the back of the line. Then 10 more. They were out of breath, gasping for air.

People walk along the border wall on Thursday in San Luis Rio Colorado, Mexico. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

A 21-year-old man, 19-year-old woman and 8-year-old boy  orphaned siblings from Ecuador  walked to the end of the line next. The man, who asked to be identified by his initials, J.Z.G., winced in pain. The backs of his shoes were folded under his heels. Something had gotten inside one shoe and cut his foot.

He said he and his siblings had flown to Nicaragua and walked from there to the U.S. border because of political instability back home.

We had to emigrate, he said.

They learned through social media that by midnight on May 11, the ability for Ecuadoreans to enter here would expire, he said.

It affects everyone, not just Ecuadoreans, his sister corrected him.

They werent sure what would happen when they got to the front of the line. But they were hopeful that they could still request asylum since it wasnt yet midnight. They had hustled to make it in time.

What they didnt realize was that Title 42 had expired an hour earlier  at midnight Eastern time.

By Friday morning, a few dozen migrants were lined up and loaded onto buses to be processed by border authorities.

Fernando Quiroz with the Arizona-California Humanitarian Coalition cleaned up trash and belongings left behind by migrants.

Whats sad is yesterday was the whole chaos. Now ... , he said, gesturing at the empty space. Dropped in the dust were Nike slides, Mexican pesos, toothbrushes and empty SIM card cases. There was a Spanish-language copy of the New Testament, a Dominican womans Mexican humanitarian visa, a near-empty bottle of perfume and a copy of a Peruvian mans birth certificate.

Quiroz, a lifelong Yuma resident, has been cleaning up local border entry points and handing out water and snacks to migrants almost daily for the last two years. He said that as the son of immigrants and a person of faith, he was driven to help.

His goal is twofold, he said: Restore the land and correct the narrative.

Border Patrol agents tell migrants to drop everything and get in line, he said, so they can be processed as quickly as possible. Sometimes the wait can be a while.

So, a lot of the trash from them waiting is there  but thats the image, he said. The anti-immigrants, the Fox News of this world will come and thats what they record. And they record the trash, like, 'Look at these people, theyre dirty.'

Quiroz said he worries what will happen with Title 42's expiration and stronger consequences in place for asylum seekers. Unable to hand themselves over to Border Patrol, they may be led by coyotes  smugglers  through more dangerous, desolate terrain, he said, to attempt to enter the U.S. undetected.

Theyre putting lives in danger, and thats the reality, he said. The policy and the coyotes.

Ten miles south, at another entry point along the border wall in San Luis, Ariz., eight migrants waited for Border Patrol agents to arrive. Two women from Colombia said theyd arrived overnight. A couple with three children ate potato chips and drank iced tea as a handful of photographers snapped photos of them.

Just a day earlier, about 150 migrants had gathered at the same spot.

At 8 a.m., a white bus driven by Border Patrol agents pulled up and let the small group board. The only people left were journalists and a couple of volunteers from Quirozs organization.

Friday afternoon in Somerton, Jose Martinez, 25, and his 1-year-old son, Yunior, waited for a bus to take them to a motel room for the night after being released from Border Patrol custody, in which theyd spent the previous six days. Martinez said he had heard that Title 42 was ending and wanted to ensure he and his son could safely make it to the U.S. before stricter rules set in.

They arrived by bus Sunday in San Luis Rio Colorado, Mexico, where they crossed the border and turned themselves over to Border Patrol. Border agents gave Martinez a notice stating that he must appear at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement office within 60 days. He said he planned to do that after he gets to Boston, where an aunt lives.

The single father said he was simply looking for a better life, but that after making the journey, he wouldnt recommend it.

Its not worth it, he said. Its too big a risk.

Times staff writers Castillo reported from Somerton, Ariz., McDonnell from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, and Aleaziz from Healdsburg, Calif. San Diego Union-Tribune staff writer Morrissey reported from Tijuana. Union-Tribune en Espanol staff writer Alexandra Mendoza contributed to this report.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
WASHINGTON  An emergency immigration restriction that allowed easier expulsion of migrants at the southern border has ended after more than three years, likely accelerating a surge of asylum-seekers that had already begun in anticipation of the change.

The controversial Title 42 program had been tied to the federal public health emergency for COVID-19. That also expired at the end of May 11.

The Biden administration, which had been blocked by the Supreme Court from ending the Trump-era policy earlier, has been preparing for the change for nearly two years.

Still, President Joe Biden acknowledged Tuesday that the border is going to be chaotic for a while.

Thousands of migrants have been waiting in Mexico for the restriction to end. Border communities say crossings already have dramatically increased.

A baby is passed between people as migrants make their way into the Rio Grande as they cross to enter the United States on May 11, 2023 in Matamoros, Mexico.

Republicans, and even some Democrats, have accused the administration of not being prepared.

Biden said his team has done everything it can, despite getting half the funding it requested from Congress. But it will take time for new approach to work, he said.

Although Border Patrol agents can no longer expel migrants for public health reasons, the administration has a new rule that migrants seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border will be turned away unless theyve first applied online or sought protection in a country theyve passed through.

Migrants caught crossing illegally wont be allowed to return for five years. They can be criminally prosecuted if they attempt to cross again.

The administration also plans opening regional hubs around the hemisphere where people can apply for asylum without traveling to the United States.

Our overall approach is to build lawful pathways for people to come to the United States and to impose tougher consequences on those who choose not to use those pathways, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said at a press conference Wednesday.

More: When Title 42 expires, will migrants be prosecuted for crossing border illegally?

Story continues

To deal with the expected tidal wave of migrants, the administration is sending 1,500 troops to the border, shifting hundreds more asylum officers and immigration judges to speed the processing of migrants and expanding holding capacity while also increasing the number of removal flights.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., accused Biden of mismanaging the border.

This is President Bidens record on the border, McCarthy said in a floor speech Wednesday. Record crossings. Record carelessness. Record chaos.

Though immigration advocates and human rights groups have praised the lifting of Title 42, theyve called the new rules a reversal of the administrations stated commitment to restoring access to asylum.

More: Title 42 expiration date nears: What we know about the ending of a pandemic-era border policy

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Title 42 ends; Biden begins new approach to southern border
Tom Aspinall has revealed that he offered not to headline UFC London this July, after the UFC hesitated to book his fight with Marcin Tybura as a main event.

The UFC announced this week that Aspinall will fight Tybura in a headline bout on 22 July, marking the British heavyweights third straight main event at the O2 Arena.

However, the UFC was considering alternative options until recently, Aspinall told The Independent on Friday (12 May).

Me and Tybura actually know each other personally, Aspinall said. We were both looking for fights and believed that none of the heavyweights were really free, so we said, Lets get a fight going with each other.

I asked the UFC matchmakers when I was in London [for UFC 286 in March], and they were like, Were keen on it, we just dont know if Tybura is a big enough name to do a main event.

I started seeing people were getting booked for this event, so I messaged the UFC again and asked: Whats going on? Why have you not sent me a contract yet? They said, Were not overly thrilled on this for a main event. So, I said: I dont mind not fighting in the main event, just give me a fight.

They said they were gonna try a couple of other opponents first, because they wanted me as a main event. The opponents declined, so Im fighting Tybura. Thats where were at.

Aspinall headlined UFC London in March 2022  the promotions first event in Britain since the Covid pandemic began  and submitted Alexander Volkov in the first round. At the time, the Fight Night broke the record for the highest-grossing sports event in O2 Arena history. Four months later, Aspinall headlined at the venue again but suffered a knee injury just 15 seconds into his fight with Curtis Blaydes.

Aspinall injured his knee early in his fight with Curtis Blaydes in July (Getty Images)

When Aspinall, 30, faces Polands Tybura on 22 July, the Briton will be returning to the ring 364 days after his ill-fated fight with Blaydes.

It is a testament to the UFCs belief in Aspinall that the promotion proceeded in booking his bout with Tybura as a main event, four months after UFC 286 took place at the O2  the first UFC pay-per-view in Britain since 2016. And while Aspinall insisted that he is thrilled to be headlining under the dome again, and acknowledged that the UFC views him as a future title contender or champion, he also offered a self-deprecating take.

Story continues

I think the UFC sells itself, really, he told The Independent. You could have two 10-year-old girls fighting each other, and theyd probably sell out the O2. Especially in this country now, when were in a massive boom for MMA, I think you could put basically anyone on and it would do well. But for them to have faith in me is a dream. Im so privileged to be able to represent the UK again, Im over the moon.

Aspinalls professional record stands at 12-3 with nine knockout wins and three submissions. Eleven of his 12 victories have come in the first round, with the other occurring in Round 2.

Prior to his injury against Blaydes, Aspinall had won eight fights in a row.
(CNN)  Australia's trade chief has arrived in China to lobby for the removal of curbs from its top trading partner, three years after relations soured when the previous administration in Canberra called for an investigation into the origins of Covid-19.

Trade Minister Don Farrell arrived in Beijing on Thursday for a three-day visit to meet with his counterpart, Wang Wentao, according to the Chinese commerce ministry. It's the first visit to China by an Australian trade minister since 2019.

In a statement, the minister said he would work to resolve "outstanding" blocks on the flow of goods between the two countries.

"I will be advocating strongly for the full resumption of unimpeded Australian exports to China  for all sectors  to the benefit of both countries," he added.

The visit underscores how Australia is seeking to improve ties with Beijing after a change of leadership in Canberra last year and as the world's second largest economy reopens.

China is Australia's largest trading partner, with the exchange of goods between the two countries worth 287 billion Australian dollars ($192 billion) in 2022, according to Australian government statistics. Australia plays a vital role to China as a key supplier of commodities such as iron ore.

But the two sides locked horns in the spring of 2020 as Canberra, led by then-Prime Minister Scott Morrison, called for an international investigation into the roots of Covid-19, which angered Beijing.

Since then, China has curbed imports of a wide range of Australian products, including beef, barley, wine and coal through heavy taxes or other barriers. As a result, Australian exports to China fell by 13% in 2022, compared to the previous year, according to Chinese customs data.

But relations began to improve after Anthony Albanese became prime minister last May, leading to "the resumption of coal, cotton, and copper trade," noted Farrell.

Data shows a big upswing. In March, Australia's exports to China hit a record high, with the value of shipments reaching 19 billion Australian dollars ($12.8 billion).

Challenges remain

Last month, Australia's foreign ministry pointed to restrictions on the sale of Australian barley, saying that "since 2020, China's 80.5% duties on Australian barley have effectively blocked exports to that market."

Annual barley sales to China had been worth 916 million Australian dollars, or $613 million, before the dispute, the ministry said.

Canbera has challenged the duties, lodging a complaint with the World Trade Organization in 2020.

But last month, in a gesture of goodwill, Australia agreed to suspend its case, saying China had agreed to an expedited review of the measures following talks between the two sides.

"If the duties are not lifted at the end of the review period, Australia will resume the dispute in the WTO," Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said.

Canberra is also continuing to press for the release of Australian TV anchor Cheng Lei, who marked 1,000 days in Chinese detention this week after being taken into custody on espionage charges. Authorities have not publicly detailed the allegations against her.

China has publicly expressed its desire to move forward. At a news briefing Thursday, its foreign ministry said the country "stands ready to work together with Australia."

This story was first published on CNN.com, "Australias trade minister visits China to lobby for full restoration of trade."
Theres a possibility of severe weather in the Flint Hills and to the east of that Friday afternoon and into the evening, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Christian Williams.

If there is a storm, its probably going to be severe, the Wichita meteorologist said.

Early Friday morning, the severe weather was thought to be just east of Wichita but has since moved further east. The possible threat of severe weather comes the day after forecasters had thought the Wichita area could see tornadoes, egg-sized hail and damaging winds up to 70 mph.

But the severe weather didnt hit anywhere in the Wichita area.

Williams said they think a combination of factors kept severe weather from hitting the Wichita area. Morning storms in the Oklahoma City area moved cooler weather to the Wichita area, preventing a cooler front from hitting what was expected to be warmer air here, he said. The collision of the warmer and cooler air can lead to severe weather.

Additionally, he said, the storms in the Oklahoma City area prevented moisture from around the Red River in Texas from moving into the area. The Oklahoma City area did see its expected severe weather, with tornadoes damaging multiple buildings, according to KFOR, which said Friday morning no injuries had been reported.

Western Kansas did see the severe weather that was forecast.

NWS Goodland science and operations officer Jeremy Martin said all but one of the tornadoes in the state hit their coverage area. The other tornado hit a few miles north of Ryus in Grant County. It lasted less than a couple of minutes.

There have been no reports of any injuries, he said.

Martin said NWS officials are surveying the tornadoes and damage Friday with hopes of having a report in the afternoon or evening. He estimates there were at least 10 tornadoes, with the bulk of them in Wallace County, where the most damage happened.

In Wallace County, Weskan Schools had its roof damaged, making the K-12 building unusable for now, according to Sheriff Marshall Unruh. The roughly 100 students will finish the final days of the school year remotely, he said.

Additionally, he said, a scoreboard was knocked over and newly purchased bleachers from a fundraiser were also heavily damaged. The bleachers were supposed to be used for Saturdays graduation ceremony, which has now been moved to a church.

Around town, about 10 to 15 homes had damage. Some had structure damage but are still livable, he said, adding the other damage around town ranged from vehicles, roofs and broken windows to uprooted trees.
In 1984, I was a combat engineer in the U.S. Marine Corps serving at Camp Lejeune. One of my responsibilities on base was sterilizing water for my fellow Marines to drink, cook with and bathe in. I retired in 1986 and settled into civilian life with my wife, April, and family.

Our lives changed in 2013 when I received a letter from the Marine Corps telling me that we Marines stationed at Camp Lejeune, along with our families, had been exposed to highly toxic chemicals that had been dumped into the bases water system for more 20 years, beginning in the 1950s. The letter directed me to contact the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs if I had questions.

Did we have questions? Of course we had questions! We were horrified to learn that during my years of service, the government had been intentionally ignoring a massive threat to the health of Marines and their families. At my local VA office, I was told it wasnt a military issue, but a civilian one. In fact, I was told that the contamination was caused by the local laundromat.

The unfortunate reality is that it was not a local laundromat or any other excuse  the government was responsible for poisoning more than 1 million people between the 1950s and 1980s, and the government concealed it until 2009.

Now, thanks to a change in federal law, those of us who suffered the governments toxic contamination and its efforts to conceal it can finally seek justice in court. But the government is doing everything in its power to avoid compensating us for its past behavior. Out of more 20,000 administrative claims filed since the law passed last August, the government has offered zero compensation to those of us harmed. The governments lack of action has left us with our last hope of compensation: filing a lawsuit in federal court.

Camp Lejeune veterans and families were poisoned over the course of 30 years. The Navy concealed it for decades and made it nearly impossible to get compensation through the claims process.

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The contamination at Camp Lejeune came up in recent congressional hearings before veterans-related committees in Washington, D.C. During those hearings, some members of Congress claimed they want to protect us by blocking attorneys who take our cases while asking for a reasonable legal fee.

Congress passed a good law giving me and my fellow veterans and our families the right to sue the government over what they did to us. But zero progress has been made by Congress to end the logjam that veterans are facing due to the governments stonewalling on this issue. Now they want to get in our way, again.

I deserve a qualified lawyer to represent me in going up against the federal government for poisoning me. That is why its infuriating to hear elected officials dictate the fee I negotiate with my lawyer.

This complete and utter disrespect for veterans is not new.

This war on veterans, cloaked as patronizing so-called protection, must end. Veterans should be able to make their own choices on lawyers and negotiate their own fees. We fought for a free country and a free market, which we can and should be permitted to use like everyone else.

I would say that were shocked by the governments actions when it comes to Marines and our families and its failure to adequately address our compensation or the right to file a lawsuit  but sadly, we are not. No veteran is.

Veterans should not have to work this hard to get what they deserve. Congress should put its trust in those who served our nation and allow us to make our own decisions. We are proud of our service, and we hope that our nations lawmakers will show us that they feel the same about us by doing what is right  before its too late.

Brian Amburgey is a Marine who served from 1983-1986 and has battled serious health problems after being exposed to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune. He has filed a claim with the Department of the Navy due to his health issues. His wife April Amburgey is a VFW Post Auxiliary President in Kentucky.
Akio Toyoda, the grandson of Toyotas founder, recently became the Chair of the car manufacturing company.

Toyota, the worlds largest car manufacturer, said that personal data for more than 2 million Japanese users of its T-Connect cloud service had been publicly available for the past decade. A spokesperson for the company blamed the oversight on human error, according to a report published by Reuters on Friday (May 12).

There was a lack of active detection mechanisms, and activities to detect the presence or absence of things that became public, the spokesperson confirmed, adding that the issue lasted from November 2013 until midway through last month.

Read more

The inadvertently public information included details like vehicle locations and numbers to identify individual cars, but Toyota added there were no reports of misuse.

T-Connect is a cloud-based service that tracks vehicle safety metrics, provides navigation, and connects drivers to a 24-hour operator service. Personal info of G-Link users, a similar tool for the Toyota-owned Lexus brand, was also public.

Toyota vowed to further investigate the leak, as well as audit all cloud-based systems tracking user data.

A new beginning for Toyotas electric vehicle strategy

Akio Toyoda, the current Chair of the Toyota corporation, stepped down as CEO last month after spending his tenure as one of the most outspoken critics of going all in on electric vehicles (EV). In recent years, Toyota has lagged behind rival companies EV production, despite formerly being a trailblazer in hybrid car production.

Now, with new CEO Koji Sato taking the helm, Toyota is set to release 10 new EV models by 2026, while planning to sell 1.5 million battery-powered cars each year. The company also recently confirmed plans to cut the net emissions of Toyotas fleet by half before 2035 and become completely carbon neutral by 2050.

Sato, the former chief executive of Lexus, has said he plans to start the EV push with Toyota and Lexus luxury cars, setting up a potential showdown with Tesla.

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Toyotas initial EV, the bZ4X, debuted last year starting at $43,335. The launch was hampered by the company being forced to recall 2,700 models after finding a risk that the cars wheels could pop off.

Related stories:

The Talibans new supercar runs like its beloved Toyotas

Tesla slashed prices for a sixth time this year to alleviate the loss of Bidens EV tax credits

The US is reducing tax credits for foreign-made EV models

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Click here to read the full article.
RMT general secretary Mick Lynch (third from right) joins members of his union on Saturday outside Euston station

Rail passengers have faced travel disruption on the day of the Eurovision Song Contest final as RMT union members strike again in a long-running dispute over pay and conditions.

Fourteen train companies are affected, and operated limited services.

Transport Secretary Mark Harper said the strikes were "cynically targeting" the final, taking place in Liverpool on Saturday night.

But the RMT denies planning strikes to coincide with the event in Liverpool.

It said Saturday was chosen for a strike as it was the last date allowed under employment laws.

There will be no further strike action until 31 May.

Train companies warned passengers should be prepared for disruption on the days immediately after the strikes.

Train drivers who are part of a different union, Aslef, went on strike on Friday, with some parts of England having no trains all day. It also denies planning strikes to impact Eurovision.

Merseyrail, which operates trains around Liverpool, said it was unaffected by Saturday's strikes and would run late night services.

Most train companies travelling to and from Liverpool had a limited service as a result of the strike action, according to National Rail.

Speaking at a picket line outside London Euston station, Mr Lynch said was the last Saturday of the union's six-month mandate in which it could strike.

He then told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme: "We've not targeted Wembley or Liverpool or any of the activities that people get up to" - a reference to both Eurovision and to the football National League play-off final at Wembley on Saturday afternoon.

He said the union "wouldn't target a cup final", but did not rule out considering strikes taking place on 3 June, when the men's FA Cup final and Scottish Cup final will be held.

Future strike dates could be announced as early as next week, he said, adding that the union was available to meet with the government and employers at any time to try to agree a deal.

Story continues

He has written to the transport secretary calling for an special summit between ministers, train companies and unions to end chaos on the railways.

In a statement, the Department for Transport said RMT members should be allowed to vote on the latest pay offer.

"Since coming into office, ministers have met with the RMT leadership four times and helped facilitate three fair pay offers from employers," it said.

"It's now time for unions to give their members democratic say on their future."

Which lines are affected?

The following rail operators will be impacted:

Avanti West Coast, c2c, Chiltern Railways, CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway, Gatwick Express, Great Northern, GWR, Greater Anglia (including Stansted Express), Heathrow Express, LNER, London Northwestern Railway, Northern, South Western Railway, Southeastern, Southern, Thameslink, TransPennine Express, and West Midlands Railway.

Find out more here.

The Rail Delivery Group (RDG), which represents 14 train companies, said rail users should plan ahead and check services before travel. It warned that with fewer services running there would be "wide variations".

Rebecca Dane-Alderman was planning to travel from Milton Keynes to Worthing to watch the Eurovision final with her best friend - a tradition they have shared every year, except for during the coronavirus pandemic.

She said most of Friday was spent trying to find alternative routes, but they were unsuccessful, so instead will watch it in separate locations over a video call.

She told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme: "Most of yesterday I was quite sad and I felt quite devastated by it all.

"I know there are bigger problems in the world, but it was just something that, like I said is a tradition to us, and we were really looking forward to doing."

The RDG offered rail workers a backdated pay rise of 5% for 2022, with a second year's pay rise was dependent on reforms being negotiated.

Mr Harper has called on the RMT to allow its members to have a vote on the offer that the RDG has put forward.

But Mr Lynch said the RDG had "torpedoed" the talks aimed at ending the long-running dispute because agreement would have prohibited further industrial action.

He told BBC One's Breakfast: "We haven't got enough people, and our members, and Aslef members, are having to work extended shifts, extra days, six and seven days out of the week, when they're sick and tired of it."

Responding in a statement, the RDG said the RMT had "time and time again... blocked the deal negotiated line by line by its top team from going out to its membership for a vote".

It said in a statement it was "time the union leadership and executive finally agreed on what they want from these negotiations".

Meanwhile, train drivers with Aslef have rejected a two-year offer which would see members receive a backdated pay rise of 4% for 2022 and a 4% increase this year.

However, there has been some resolution between the rail industry and the unions. A revised offer from Network Rail, which owns and operates the UK's railway infrastructure, was accepted by RMT members on 20 March, ending that separate dispute.

Aslef drivers will strike again on 31 May and 3 June, affecting services across on the day of the FA Cup final in England and the Scottish Cup final.

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A nationwide crime duo captured in Ames is set to begin trial May 23 at the Story County courthouse.

Ames police arrested a pair of Texas men in February on suspicion of theft of more than $1,000 in merchandise from the local Ulta Beauty, apprehending Yunierquis Estopinan Hernandez, 36, and Angel Rafael Nieto Salazar, 32.

The duo has been linked to Ulta Beauty thefts throughout Iowa, including one on Merle Hay Road in Des Moines, Mills Civic Parkway in West Des Moines and in Council Bluffs, court documents said. Ulta Beauty's loss prevention officials have also connected Estopinan Hernandez and Nieto Salazar to thefts in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Overland Park, Kansas, Lee's Summit, Missouri and Gretna, Nebraska.

The Story County court has agreed with the prosecution to try Estopinan Hernandez and Nieto Salazar together. Their trail is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. May 23 However, Nieto Salazar has petitioned the court to separate the two defendants. The court will hear that argument on Monday.

Meanwhile, Estopinan Hernandez is moving forward with his defence in preparation of the May 23 trial. The defence in his case has served at least eight witnesses to give testimony in the case.

Court filings indicate the beauty and cosmetics company had been tracking the two men on a theft spree across the country for months.

The two men have been charged with ongoing criminal conduct-unlawful activity, a Class B felony in Iowa. The charge comes with a maximum sentence of 25 years under Iowa Code. The duo is also charged with first-degree theft as well as removal of a theft protection device on merchandise of more than $300.

More: Former Boone County deputy charged in K-9's death

More: Ames council allows person to keep living in bus on street, looks to expand current laws

How'd police capture the crime duo?

The working staff at the Ames Ulta Beauty location reported two Hispanic males had stolen fragrances by concealing them on their persons and fleeing in a silver Toyota, criminal complaints said. The staff identified Estopinan Hernandez of Fort Worth, Texas and Nieto Salazar of Farmers Branch, Texas, as the alleged perfume pirates.

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A search of the Toyota the two men were driving uncovered 250 bottles of cologne and perfume.

Court documents show a discrepancy regarding how much has stolen from the Ames Ulta Beauty location. Estopinan Hernandez's case states $1,202 worth of fragrances were taken. Nieto Salazar's court documents say the Ames Ulta Beauty store manager watched the store's video showing the two men taking the merchandise, which was valued at $1,375.

Law enforcement officials didn't respond to questions regarding the discrepancy.

The men have also been identified on Ulta Beauty video surveillance as suspects in numerous Ulta Beauty thefts across the nation in what is identified as a "criminal enterprise," court documents said. The duo allegedly hit a number of stores in a span of five days, stealing products from Ulta stores in Colorado Springs, Colorado; Overland Park, Kansas and Lee's Summit, Missouri as well as Council Bluffs and West Des Moines.

The US Chamber of Commerce and Homeland Security, according to the National Retail Foundation, said organized retail crime is reaching a "boiling point" in the country.

Organized retail crime is different than shoplifting, according to a report released April 13 by the National Retail Federation and K2Integrity, a financial crimes, risk and regulatory advisory firm.

The report says shoplifting is a personal crime of opportunity and spontaneity. However, ORC is a coordinated and planned crime involving professional thieves, a division of organized labor like marketing and fulfillment, and careful, deliberate planning for the end purpose of selling stolen products for profit.

The US Chamber of Commerce said eight out of 10 retailers are reporting increased incidences of violence and aggressing in ORC events. The organization claims more than $100 billion was lost to ORC theft in 2022.

Teresa Kay Albertson covers politics, crime, courts and local government in Ames and central Iowa for the Ames Tribune and Des Moines Register. Reach her on Twitter @TeresaAlberts11 and at talbertson@registermedia.com, 515-419-6098.

This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: A Texas duo connected to Ulta crime ring will be tried locally May 23
This is a true story, the beginning of every episode of Love and Death reminds viewers.

The seven-episode HBO mini series follows the case of Candy Montgomery, a 30-year-old Texas mother and churchgoer who killed the wife of a man she was having an affair with in 1980. The show is based on a series of Texas Monthly articles and the book Evidence of Love: A True Story of Passion and Death in the Suburbs by Jim Atkinson and John Bloom.

Montgomery, portrayed by Elizabeth Olsen in the series, was accused of murdering her friend Betty Gore, an elementary school teacher. She allegedly stabbed her 41 times with an ax in a gruesome attack on June 13, 1980.

Defense attorneys for Montgomery argued she was acting in self-defense, as lawyer Robert Udashen recalls in an interview with the Advocate, once Gore brought out the ax from her garage after asking if Montgomery was having an affair with her husband, Allan Gore.

Montgomery was acquitted of the murder charge on Oct. 29, 1980, the Dallas Morning News reported, sending shockwaves through the small religious Texas community.

How does what happens in 'Love and Death' compare to the true story?

To understand what happened at the Gore home on June 13, 1980, Love and Death starts well before the crime scene.

Candace Candy Montgomery moved to Collin County, Texas, outside of Dallas, in 1977 with her husband Pat Montgomery, according to Texas Monthly and Evidence of Love, which is based on interviews with the Montgomery and Gore families.

Montgomery quickly became known as a beloved churchgoer, loving mother and devoted wife with an infectiously sweet personality. She met Betty and Allan Gore at the Methodist Church of Lucas, per Texas Monthly.

It was a summer day in 1978 when Montgomery and Allan Gore collided after going after the same ball during a volleyball game that she decided he smelled sexy, according to Texas Monthly.

The Montgomerys (Elizabeth Olsen and Patrick Fugit) and the Gores (Jesse Plemons and Lily Rabe) in

The pair started flirting at church events, and Montgomery began telling her friends about her marital woes with her husband. One night after choir practice, she approached Allan Gore and told him about her feelings toward him.

Story continues

Ive been thinking about you a lot and its really bothering me and I dont know whether I want you to do anything about it or not, she told him, according to Texas Monthly. Im very attracted to you and Im tired of thinking about it and so I wanted to tell you.

About a week later after another church volleyball game, Allan Gore asked her what she had in mind. Would you be interested in having an affair? she asked.

He said he couldnt do it to his wife, but after weeks of discussing it with Candy, the pair ended up meticulously planning their affair, including rules such as all expenses would be paid equally and that Montgomery would prepare lunch so theyd have more time, according to Texas Monthly.

After the plans were made, they picked the date for the first day of their affair: December 12, 1978. The affair lasted for several months, but Allan Gore said he didnt want to be with Montgomery anymore after attending a marriage workshop called Marriage Encounter.

The next day, Montgomery told him, Allan, you seem to be leaving it up to me. So Ive decided, I wont call. I wont try to see you. I wont bother you anymore.

Krysten Ritter and Elizabeth Olsen in

What happened on June 13, 1980?

Montgomery had a packed schedule on June 13, 1980: Vacation Bible School in the morning, before she had to go to several stores to run errands, including getting Fathers Day cards, according to Evidence of Love and Texas Monthly.

While at church, her youngest daughter Jenny and the Gores daughter Alisa asked to have a sleepover after seeing The Empire Strikes Back that night, meaning Montgomery would also have to take Alisa to a swimming lesson the next morning  and go to the Gore home to pick up her swimsuit.

According to Montgomerys 1980 courtroom testimony, she arrived at the Gore home and asked Betty Gore if her daughter could see the movie, and that she would take her to her swimming lesson the next morning. Betty Gore said that would be OK, and the pair made small talk until she confronted Montgomery about whether she was having an affair with her husband. Montgomery said she had but a long time ago.

Betty Gore told Montgomery to wait a minute, and walked into the utility room of her home. When she returned, she was holding a three-foot ax.

Lily Rabe portrays Betty Gore alongside Jesse Plemons as Allan Gore in

Montgomery said she would just head home, and Betty Gore put the ax down. As Montgomery was leaving, she placed a hand on her old friends arm and said, Oh, Betty, Im so sorry.

Montgomery said Betty Gore then pushed her into the utility room and said, You cant have him, you cant have him. Ive got to kill you.

From there, Montgomery said the two struggled for the ax. Montgomery got control of the weapon, and brought the blade down on the back of Betty Gores head.

I didnt think, Montgomery said. I didnt think at all. I raise it and I hit her, and I hit hit, and I hit her and I hit her.

She didnt stop until she had reached the point of utter exhaustion, which was 41 blows later. 40 of them occurred while Betty Gores heart was still beating, forensics expert Vincent DiMaio later testified in the trial.

Montgomery turned herself in 13 days later, per reporting at the time.

What happened during Montgomery's trial?

Montgomery hired Dan Crowder, a personal injury attorney she knew from church, to be her lawyer in the murder case, according to Texas Monthly.

Montgomerys trial began in October 1980, and Crowder argued she had acted in self-defense. She took the stand in her own defense. According to reporting at the time, jurors heard closing arguments and reached a verdict that same afternoon: Candy Montgomery was not guilty.

Where is Candy Montgomery now?

Patrick Fugit plays Pat Montgomery in

The last scene in Love and Death shows Candy and Pat leaving Texas to head to Georgia. Little is known about the couple, though Montgomery appeared to have obtained a therapist license in Georgia under her maiden name Candace Wheeler starting in 1996, according to a copy of the license obtained by NBC News.

Her license expired in 2012.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
Former President Donald Trump filed a notice on Thursday to appeal the verdict in the civil rape and defamation case brought forward by columnist E. Jean Carroll, multipleoutletsreported.

Carroll sued Trump for battery and defamation, saying he had raped her in a luxury department store dressing room in the 1990s. She first went public about the allegations in 2019.

The lawsuit went to trial, and several people testified, including another woman who has publicly accused Trump of sexual assault. On Tuesday, after three hours of deliberation, the Manhattan federal jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse  but not rape  and ordered him to pay Carroll $5 million in damages  a decision Trump is now asking the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to toss.

Trump blasted the verdict earlier this week, calling it a disgrace and a continuation of the greatest witch hunt of all time on his social media platform Truth Social.

Trumps lawyer Joe Tacopina confirmed Trumps decision to file an appeal following news of the verdict. He said he believed an appeal could move forward because the jury rejected the rape claim and they always claimed this was a rape case, which he described as a little perplexing, Politico reported.

But members of Carrolls legal team said theyre confident that Trump has no legitimate arguments for an appeal.

Ive rarely felt more confident about an appeal than I do about this one, Carrolls lawyer Roberta Kaplan said on Wednesday while on NBCs Today.

Trump was absent from the entire trial and didnt provide testimony. The former president has repeatedly denied Carrolls account and has insulted her multiple times since she came forward. He called Carroll a liar, claimed he wouldnt have assaulted her because she wasnt his type and called her testimony a SCAM! on Truth Social.

Trumps digs at Carroll continued through Wednesday, a day before he filed the notice of appeal, when he called her a whack job before a crowd at a live CNN town hall event.

Story continues

Carrolls lawyer told The New York Times on Thursday that her client is considering suing Trump for a third time in light of his defamatory remarks about her on CNN, but said no decision has been made yet.

Everythings on the table, obviously, and we have to give serious consideration to it, Kaplan told the Times. We have to weigh the various pros and cons, and well come to a decision in the next day or so, probably.

Need help? Visit RAINNs National Sexual Assault Online Hotline or the National Sexual Violence Resource Centers website.

Related...
Putin and Trump sit across from each other

Over the course of his short but eventful political career, Donald Trump has shown a predisposition to be sympathetic to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

During a 2018 Russia-US summit in Finland, for instance, he disregarded US intelligence services, choosing to to believe Mr Putin's denial of meddling in the 2016 election.

If Mr Trump returns to the White House, this more positive attitude toward Russia - which is echoed in much of the Republican base and some of the party's members in Congress - is likely to re-emerge as a driving force in US policy.

His comments at a CNN-hosted town hall event this week provided further evidence to those who accuse him of being too cosy with Mr Putin.

The former president said he could end the war in 24 hours but did not say how. He refused to be drawn on whether he wanted Ukraine to prevail and complained about the cost of the military aid.

"We don't have ammunition for ourselves. We're giving away so much," he said, accusing European countries of not contributing enough.

While the US Congress has approved billions of dollars in support for Ukraine to be distributed over an extended timeframe, as president, Mr Trump could use his executive power to slow down or even stop that support.

He did this before when president, for some congressionally approved military aid.

Some of his Republican colleagues were quick to condemn his remarks, but it is possible - or even probable - that if Trump were elected in November 2024, US backing for the war effort could end entirely.

Graphic showing aid to Ukraine by country

At the very least, the full-throated support for Ukraine that the current administration has expressed, along with its aggressive diplomatic efforts to maintain a united front with European allies on Russia sanctions, would in all likelihood be greatly diminished.

In the UK, which is ramping up its assistance to Ukraine to now include long-range missiles, there are concerns about the implications of a Trump presidency.

Story continues

If Mr Trump cuts off the supply of weapons, the war will end on Russian terms, which is the West's worst nightmare, says the former head of Britain's secret service, Sir Alex Younger.

"Putin didn't have a Plan B when he invaded Ukraine but this is now his Plan B - to wait it out."

American public support for helping Ukraine has dropped since the start of the war and a Pew Research survey this week showed an increase in the number of Americans who believe the US should focus more on problems at home.

Jeffrey Treistman, a professor of national security at the University of New Haven in Connecticut, says it's unclear whether withdrawing US assistance would end the war overnight - it could still grind on for years or decades.

"The Ukrainians to their credit have shown incredible resolve to fight the Russians and repel the invasion with minimal support initially," he said.

"So it has the potential - even if the US were to stop providing assistance - of continuing and dragging on for the foreseeable future."

If Kyiv is worried, they are not letting any anxiety show publicly.

The day after Mr Trump made his comments, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky told the BBC he had no fears about the 2024 election.

Playing down the prospect of a weaker US-Ukraine relationship, he said: "I think that the elections in the US are in a year. Who knows where we will be. I believe that we will win by then. So we'll see."

Additional reporting by Tom Geoghegan

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Former President Donald Trump has signaled his intent to appeal the verdict in the civil lawsuit brought by writer E. Jean Carroll, according to a court filing Thursday.

Trump filed a notice of appeal, a precursor to a formal appeal to come with the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

MORE: Trump liable for battery, defamation in E. Jean Carroll suit

Trump was found liable for battery and defamation and ordered to pay Carroll $5 million in damages after a jury decided he sexually abused the former Elle magazine columnist and then defamed her.

Carroll, who brought the lawsuit in November, alleged that Trump defamed her in his 2022 Truth Social post by calling her allegations "a Hoax and a lie" and saying "This woman is not my type!" when he denied her claim that Trump raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the 1990s.

PHOTO: E. Jean Carroll, center, walks out of Manhattan federal court, on May 9, 2023, in New York. (John Minchillo/AP)

Carroll added a charge of battery under a recently adopted New York law that allows adult survivors of sexual abuse to sue their alleged attacker regardless of the statute of limitations. Trump has denied all allegations that he raped Carroll or defamed her.

Trump's attorney, Joe Tacopina, previously signaled his intent to appeal on grounds related to evidence and judicial fairness.

Trump signals intent to appeal verdict in E. Jean Carroll case originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Donald Trumps defense of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin in his televised CNN town hall left some Republicans on Capitol Hill again treading carefully at the risk of finding themselves at odds with the frontrunner for the partys presidential nomination.

Among them: House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).

In the town hall Wednesday night, Trump declined to call Vladimir Putin a war criminal, despite voluminous reports of atrocities such as torture and the use of rape as a tool of war by Russians in Ukraine.

He also declined to say which side he supported, in comments reminiscent of his very fine people on both sides observation about the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017.

If you say hes a war criminal, its going to be a lot tougher to make a deal to make this thing stopped, Trump said at the town hall. If hes going to be a war criminal, people are going to grab him and execute him. Hes going to fight a lot harder than hes fighting under the other circumstance. Thats something to be discussed at a later day.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said a press conference Russian president Vladimir Putin and Russia were responsible for war crimes in Ukraine but declined to criticize Donald Trump for denying that.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said a press conference Russian president Vladimir Putin and Russia were responsible for war crimes in Ukraine but declined to criticize Donald Trump for denying that.

The State Department has formally said war crimes and crimes against humanity have been committed by Russians in Ukraine since the latest phase of the war began in February 2022.

The International Criminal Court at The Hague has issued an arrest warrant for Putin, citing the war crime of unlawful deportation of population and that of unlawful transfer of population from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation, in prejudice of Ukrainian children.

Trump also declined to say he supported Ukraine or Russia, even though Russias main international support these days comes only from other authoritarian regimes in China, Iran and North Korea.

Russians and Ukrainians, I want them to stop dying, he said. Previously, Trump has said he would have considered not objecting to Russia retaining some portion of Ukrainian territory as a way to broker peace, an outcome many experts believe would be satisfactory to Putin.

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McCarthy hedged Thursday when asked if he was concerned about Trumps comments, saying Putin was responsible for atrocities but not criticizing Trump.

I think we have been very clear about the atrocities that Russia and Putin have presented to this world. I think we have been very clear in our votes as well. I think we lead with exactly what weve been doing, McCarthy said.

I think we have been very clear about the atrocities that Russia and Putin have presented to this world. I think we have been very clear in our votes as well. I think we lead with exactly what weve been doing.House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.)

McCarthys tone differed from May 1, when asked during a trip to Israel whether he would support ending U.S. aid to Ukraine.

I do not support what your country has done to Ukraine. I do not support your killing of the children either, McCarthy replied to a Russian reporter.

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has gone beyond calling Russias actions in Ukraine war crimes or crimes against humanity, labeling them genocide as well.

I had a hearing on war crimes with the [Ukrainian] prosecutor general. Bucha [Ukraine] grave sites, killing and raping little girls to death, bombing maternity hospitals, mobile crematoriums, I mean, its pretty bad stuff, McCaul told HuffPost Thursday.

But McCaul stopped short of criticizing Trump for his comments.

I know a lot of his top advisers advise him why Ukraine is important. I cant speak for him, McCaul said.

I know a lot of his top advisers advise him why Ukraine is important. I cant speak for him.Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee

Some Republicans are sympathetic to Trumps view, though its unclear how big a proportion of the party they make up. A letter to President Joe Biden in April warned him against unlimited arms supplies garnered the signatures of only 19 GOP lawmakers out of 222 Republican House members and 49 senators.

Willingness to stick up for Ukraine is more pronounced among Senate Republicans. Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.) said Thursday he would not support Trump to be the GOPs presidential nominee, in part because of Trumps stance on Putin.

President Putin and his government have engaged in war crimes. I dont believe thats disputed, Young told CNN.

I think President Trumps judgment is wrong in this case.

Related...
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 12)  Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong will be in Manila for an official visit on May 16 to 19, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Friday.

The DFA said Wong was invited by Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo.

The two officials are expected to meet on May 18 and "discuss a broad range of issues of mutual interest, including defense and security partnership, development cooperation, trade and investment, and people-to-people ties."

"This bilateral meeting will allow both countries to assess the current state of their bilateral relations and chart the course for further collaboration," the DFA said.

"This visit is also an excellent opportunity to renew and deepen the friendship between the two nations and explore new areas of cooperation," it added.

Wong is also scheduled to pay a courtesy call on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte.

Australian Ambassador HK Yu earlier said that Australia is aiming to become a better defense partner to the Philippines through the nuclear-powered submarine program under the AUKUS trilateral security pact.

The Philippines and Australia were also looking forward to forge better ties in the agriculture and energy sectors following a meeting between Marcos and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese last year.
By Andrew Gray

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Turkey's elections on Sunday are a key moment not just for the country itself but also for its European neighbours.

With President Tayyip Erdogan facing his toughest electoral test in two decades, European Union and NATO members are watching to see whether change comes to a country that affects them on issues ranging from security to migration and energy.

Relations between Erdogan and the EU have become highly strained in recent years, as the 27-member bloc cooled on the idea of Ankara becoming a member and condemned crackdowns on human rights, judicial independence and media freedom.

Leading members of NATO, to which Turkey belongs, have expressed alarm at Erdogan's close relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin and concern that Turkey is being used to circumvent sanctions on Moscow over its war in Ukraine.

Erdogan's challenger, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, has pledged more freedom at home and foreign policies hewing closer to the West.

Whatever the outcome, Turkey's European neighbours will use the election and its aftermath to assess their relationship with Ankara and the degree to which it can be reset.

Here are some key issues that European countries will be watching, according to officials, diplomats and analysts:

ELECTION CONDUCT

EU officials have been careful not to express a preference for a candidate. But they have made clear they will be looking out for vote-rigging, violence or other election interference.

"It is important that the process itself is clean and free," said Sergey Lagodinsky, a German member of the European Parliament who co-chairs a group of EU and Turkish lawmakers.

Peter Stano, a spokesman for the EU's diplomatic service, said the bloc expected the vote to be "transparent and inclusive" and in line with democratic standards Turkey has committed to.

A worst-case scenario for both Turkey and the EU would be a contested result - perhaps after a second round - leading the incumbent to launch a crackdown on protests, said Dimitar Bechev, the author of a book on Turkey under Erdogan.

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SWEDEN AND NATO

"Five more years of Erdogan means five more years of Turkey being with one weak foot in NATO and one strong foot with Russia," said Marc Pierini, a former EU ambassador to Turkey who is now a senior fellow at the Carnegie Europe think tank.

Erdogan has vexed other NATO members by buying a Russian S-400 missile defence system and contributing little to NATO's reinforcement of its eastern flank.

An early test of whether the election winner wants to mend NATO ties will be whether he stops blocking Swedish membership. Erdogan has demanded Stockholm extradite Kurdish militants but Swedish courts have blocked some expulsions.

Analysts and diplomats expect Kilicdaroglu would end the block on Sweden joining NATO, prompting Hungary - the only other holdout - to follow suit. That could let Sweden join in time for a NATO summit in Lithuania in July.

Some analysts and diplomats say Erdogan might also lift his objections after the elections but others are unconvinced.

RELATIONS WITH RUSSIA

Although Erdogan has tried to strike a balance between Moscow and the West, his political relationship with Putin and Turkey's economic ties to Russia are a source of EU frustration. That will likely continue if Erdogan wins another term.

If Kilicdaroglu triumphs, European officials would likely be content with a gradual shift away from Moscow, recognising that Turkey is in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis and its economy depends on Russia to a significant extent.

"With Russia, a new government will be treading very carefully," Bechev said.

However, Kilicdaroglu showed this week he was willing to criticise Russia, publicly accusing Moscow of responsibility for fake material on social media ahead of Sunday's ballot.

RULE OF LAW, CYPRUS

If Kilicdaroglu and his coalition wins, the EU will be keen to see if they keep promises to release Erdogan critics from jail, in line with European Court of Human Rights rulings, and generally improve rule-of-law standards.

"Youre going to have a wait-and-see attitude from the EU," said Pierini.

If there is a crackdown on graft, European companies may be ready to make big investments in Turkey once again, perhaps with backing from the EU and its member governments, he said.

Efforts to expand an EU-Turkey customs union to include more goods and grant Turks visa-free EU travel could also be revived.

But neither would be easy - not least because of the divided island of Cyprus. Its internationally recognised government, composed of Greek Cypriots, is an EU member, while the breakaway Turkish Cypriot state is recognised only by Ankara.

"This is of course the big stumbling block in our relations," said European Parliament member Lagodinsky.

However, EU officials see little sign that Kilicdaroglu would change much on Cyprus.

"The big game changer for EU-Turkey relations would be Cyprus. Here the candidates' agenda, however, does not seem fundamentally different," said a senior EU official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Cyprus is one of many factors that make a revival of EU membership negotiations unlikely, officials and analysts say. EU leaders designated Turkey as a candidate to join the bloc in 2004 but the talks ground to a halt years ago.

"There are many other ways to strengthen the relationship, build confidence. There is already a lot of European money that has made its way to Turkey," said a European diplomat. "I don't know anyone in Europe who wants to revive EU membership talks."

(Reporting by Andrew Gray, John Irish and Gabriela Baczynska)
(Bloomberg) -- Russia denied meddling in NATO-member Turkeys upcoming elections, a response to allegations by the main opponent of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ahead of Sundays vote.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the presidential hopeful of Turkeys main opposition alliance, had accused an unidentified Russian group of interfering in the election, set to be the countrys tightest race in decades and a major threat to Erdogans two-decade rule.

Russian friends, you are behind conspiracies, Deep Fake content and tapes, Kilicdaroglu said Thursday in a message in Russian and Turkish languages on Twitter. If you wish for our friendship to continue after May 15, take your hands off the Turkish state.

Russia is not in any way interfering in Turkish elections, and those who spread such information are liars, state-owned news agency Tass reported, citing Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

While Kilicdaroglus office didnt provide evidence to back up his claims, officials say his team is convinced Russian hackers were behind the tampering of a campaign video which purportedly showed a senior commander of the separatist Kurdish PKK militant group giving support to Kilicdaroglus campaign.

The video was repeatedly used by Erdogan in his own campaign to link Kilicdaroglu to the PKK, which has been battling for autonomy in Turkeys largely Kurdish southeast since 1984.

Kilicdaroglus remarks  which follow allegations of Russian involvement in elections in countries from the US to Montenegro  came just hours after another presidential candidate, Muharrem Ince, withdrew from the elections after denying the authenticity of an alleged sex tape and claims that he took bribes to split the opposition vote.

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We have very serious intelligence about interference of Russian hackers in the elections to produce fake recordings and manipulation through social-media accounts, Erdogan Toprak, a senior adviser for Kilicdaroglu, told Bloomberg on Friday. We hope that the relationship between states will not be transformed into a party-state relationship.

Close Ties

Under the leadership of Erdogan, Turkey developed close ties with the Kremlin. Russia is building the nations first nuclear power plant and has supplied the Turkish military with S-400 missile-defense systems, a move vehemently opposed by the US and NATO.

The Turkish government said it wasnt aware of such an incident. The Turkish state had no such information and that there was no such fear expressed by him, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu told CNN-Turk television on Friday, referring to Kilicdaroglu.

Putin has been actively supporting Erdogans reelection bid, singing his praises, giving him diplomatic wins, funneling money to Turkey, and deferring energy bills, said Emre Peker, Europe director for Eurasia Group. Amid longstanding opposition concerns over Russian cyber interference in Turkish elections, its not a surprise that Kilicdaroglu is calling out Moscow.

Kilicdaroglu has vowed to repair Turkeys strained ties with its US-led Western allies if elected. Last week, he said the opposition has intelligence that suggests it may be targeted on social media with fake video or voice records.

Turkish Opposition Warns on Risk of Violence If It Wins Election

Kilicdaroglus intervention marks an effort by the opposition to pre-empt potential Erdogan campaigns to disparage the opposition  particularly by associating it with terrorism to undermine the opposition and deter undecided voters from casting their ballots for the presidents main challenger, Peker said.

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2023 Bloomberg L.P.
ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish presidential candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu said gains in Turkish assets on Thursday indicated markets believe his alliance will win on Sunday, after polls gave him a narrow lead over incumbent President Tayyip Erdogan.

In an interview with Reuters, Kilicdaroglu said gains in Turkish assets indicated trust in his alliance's "rational economic policies".

On Thursday, Turkey's main stock index jumped, while credit default swaps dropped.

Stressing that Turkey has close economic links with Russia, Kilicdaroglu signalled that he would pursue a fine balance in foreign policy over relations with Moscow.

"We want to maintain our relations, we don't want to break our friendly relations but we will not allow interference in our internal matters," he said.

Kilicdaroglu also said he would push for another peace initiative between Russia and Ukraine once he wins the Sunday vote.

"It is very important for us, and for the whole world, if we succeed to reach a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine. But we should make it clear that we do not find it right for any country to occupy another country," he said.

When asked whether he would support NATO enlargement if he is elected as Turkish President, he said "Of course," without elaborating.

"NATO is not only solely a military organisation in 21st century, it is also an organisation that defends democracy. We will maintain our relations with NATO within the same framework as we had in the past," Kilicdaroglu also said.

Kilicdaroglu said a fundamental problem of Turkey's foreign policy in Erdogan's AK Party (AKP) era was the exclusion of foreign ministry in the policy making process.

"We would pursue a peace-oriented foreign policy that prioritises Turkey's national interest. Our priority our national interests and to act in line with the modern world," Kilicdaroglu added.

(Reporting by Orhan Coskun, Huseyin Hayatsever and Ece Toksabay; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
Elon Musk and Eliot Higgins, the Bellingcat founder. ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images; Pierre Crom/Getty Images

The investigative news website Bellingcat reported on the Texas mall shooter's apparent neo-Nazi beliefs.

Right-wing commentators on Twitter suggested that it was fake news, and Elon Musk called it a "psyop."

Days later, Bellingcat's founder said its Twitter account no longer appeared in the app's search tool.

Twitter appears to have limited the reach of Bellingcat, an investigative news website, as its main account no longer appears in the app's search tool.

It's unclear when exactly the change was made but Eliot Higgins, the Bellingcat founder, first tweeted about it Thursday. Bellingcat's main handle did not appear in several searches made by Insider on Twitter Friday.

Higgins' first tweet about the account being hidden came three days after Elon Musk began spreading doubt over the site's investigation into Mauricio Garcia, the gunman who killed eight people at a mall in Allen, Texas on Sunday.

Bellingcat reported that Garcia had tattoos of a swastika and other Nazi symbols, and posted about being a white supremacist on Odnoklassniki (OK), a Russian social media site.

"Didn't the story come from Bellingcat, which literally specializes in psychological operations?" Musk tweeted. "I don't want to hurt their feelings, but this is either the weirdest story ever or a very bad psyop!"

The Twitter boss tweeted about the investigation several times, like replying "Odd" to a conspiratorial tweet from an account called "End Wokeness."

Bellingcat has also been accused of working for the CIA, a claim Higgins has repeatedly denied.

The site reported that it discovered Garcia's OK account after investigators disclosed its existence to the New York Times. The shooter had also posted legal documents identifying himself.

Bellingcat has the gold checkmark for businesses on Twitter, but Higgins withdrew his own blue tick in the wake of accusations that its Texas mall shooter story was a "psyop."

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Psychological operations are broadly defined as military operations designed to influence people's emotions and political beliefs through propaganda, but the term "psyop" has been co-opted frequently by online conspiracy theorists to accuse the US government of false flag operations like terror attacks and mass shootings.

Aric Toler, the Bellingcat journalist who reported the story, also said that the site's account hadn't been appearing on TweetDeck searches for weeks.

In April, he co-wrote the New York Times article which revealed the identity of Jake Teixeira, the National Guard airman who leaked hundreds of classified documents on Discord.

That report involved matching up social media images of Teixeira's house with the counter seen in the background of the leaked document pictures to identify him. But with Garcia, Toler said it was "easily the most open-and-shut case I've seen in my life."

Insider contacted Twitter for comment. The company responded with an automated message that didn't address the inquiry.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Two people have been arrested in connection with an April fatal shooting in Gautier.

Maurice Shannon was killed April 3 after a shooting at the Pure gas station on Ladnier Road.

According to police, Thomas Guy Rogers, the suspected shooter, was arrested Friday at a residence in Mobile.

On May 5, detectives arrested Iesha Finley, 21, of Gautier at a residence in Brookhaven on a charge of accessory after the fact.

Detectives believe Rogers, 27, and Finley were in a dating relationship.

Rogers will be held at the Mobile Metro Jail until he is extradited back to Mississippi, police said.

A press release from Gautier police does not specify the exact charges against Rogers.

Chief David Bever thanks the Gautier police officers and detectives involved with this case, and others who assisted, including the Federal Bureau of Investigations in Pascagoula, the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics, the Brookhaven Police Department and the Mobile County Sheriffs Office Special Operations Unit.

If anyone has information about the shooting, please contact the Criminal Investigations Division at 228-497-2486.
While most candidates for Monroe County government positions face no opposition in their primaries, Democratic voters do have a choice to make in the district attorney race.

In that primary, voters will decide between Michael Mancuso, the countys current first assistant district attorney, and Donald Leeth, current criminal defense attorney and previous assistant district attorney.

The winner will face Republican Alex Marek in November.

District Attorney E. David Christine Jr., a Republican in his sixth term, is not running again.

Here are some takeaways from a forum hosted by the Monroe County chapter of the NAACP that Leeth and Mancuso participated in. To watch the full forum, see the NAACP Facebook page.

Monroe County primary elections: What you need to know before heading to the polls

Of interest: Poconos NAACP leader talks 'Moms for Liberty' as local harassment case moves forward

Switching parties

Both candidates are former Republicans and were asked to explain their switch to the Democratic Party.

Leeth said that he grew up with a conservative father in a conservative part of central California, and then I grew up and started seeing the issues that affected me, affect my community. I started becoming more progressive.

Officially, Leeth said, he changed his registration in February 2021 after the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, though he had previously supported Democrats including Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Bernie Sanders.

Mancuso said that programs or policies he started in the DAs office, such as domestic violence protocols, the Elder Abuse Task Force and the Overdose Fatality Review Program, constitute a proactive or progressive record.

So when I went and I looked back at my career, and I decided what would I want to run as, it had to be the Democratic Party, he said, adding that his daughters stance on abortion was also a factor.

In response to a separate question regarding womens rights following the overturning of Roe v. Wade, both candidates said they would not pursue abortion-related prosecutions.

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Christa Caceres, president of the Monroe County chapter of the NAACP, speaks at the beginning of a forum between district attorney candidates Donald Leeth, left, and Michael Mancuso, right.

Civilian oversight and transparency

Both candidates said they are in favor of more civilian review or oversight.

Mancuso said he supports a civilian advisory review board to talk about policing issues, to have complete access to the data, and to make recommendations for improving the quality and the equity of policing in Monroe County and that he would invited NAACP representatives to participate.

I think it's important to gain the trust of the community, to educate the community on what the district attorney's office can do, what it can't do, what may be more for the legislature. But we have a megaphone. And that's why I'm excited about running as a Democrat and being proactive, because I can sit down with Christa [Caceres, president of the local NAACP] and other organizations and groups, share the data, come up with our resources, pinpoint where they need to be applied and say, Let's do this. And then what happens if I ignore their recommendations? Well, there'll be loud voices, he said.

Leeth said that a lack of transparency contributes to distrust of law enforcement.

So the only way that we are going to improve that relationship is by having forums, is by having discussions, in regards to opening those lines of communication, opening in regards to those lines of transparency, he said, adding that new faces, including people of color, must be included.

Because that's where the trust needs to be built. It needs to be built in regards to the communities who feel marginalized. And those are what we need to start addressing in regards to civilian oversight committees, Leeth said.

Mancuso said transparency should include more data being publicly available, including case numbers, types of cases, broken down by gender and ethnicity, outcomes and results. It also includes town halls and getting people to understand what the district attorney's office does, how it does things, why it does things, what factors are considered the most important, how these balances are made.

Leeth said all police officers should have body cameras, along with cameras in vehicles, and like Mancuso mentioned town hall meetings. Mancuso said he has been pushing local departments to get body cameras.

Police accountability

Caceres asked the candidates if they would support legislation that would require independent investigations in all cases where police kill or seriously injure civilians, or are accused of misconduct as well as create an independent unit with separate prosecutors and make public the findings of investigations into whether to charge law enforcement officers.

Mancuso called for legislation that would establish a standardized, uniform, mandatory use-of-force policy statewide.

When it comes to who should investigate, he said that if you merely transfer the decision making, you'll have the same results until the use-of-force policy changes.

The most prominent police accountability case in the Poconos in recent years is the fatal shooting of Christian Hall by the Pennsylvania State Police. The Monroe County DA's office determined that the shooting was justified. Although Hall was carrying a realistic-looking pellet gun, footage shows that his hands were up when police shot him and he was not pointing it at them.

Related: Monroe DA makes determination in use-of-force investigation in death of Asian teen from Poconos

More: Leaders react to video confirming Hall's hands were up

Halls family and their attorneys and supporters have called for an independent investigation in the case, questioning how someone who typically works in cooperation with law enforcement can conduct an investigation into the troopers who shot Hall.

One of those attorneys, former police officer Devon Jacob, has said, I saw the camaraderie. I sat in the district attorneys office who prosecuted my cases. We joked around in the halls. This is what happens naturally. This is human. This is what happens in work environments.

Monroe County First Assistant District Attorney Michael Mancuso speaks Tuesday, March 30, 2021 while presenting the findings of an investigation into the deadly use of force against Christian Hall.

At the NAACP forum, Mancuso said that while he has not prosecuted a use-of-force case, he has handled rape and domestic violence cases against officers.

Leeth said use-of-force standards should be national rather than statewide. He supports referring cases to a grand jury or the attorney general not only when there is actual impropriety or a conflict of interest, but also the appearance of impropriety or a conflict.

Those are things that I would do, because there is that relationship with law enforcement, and the community is entitled to independence and transparency and accountability, Leeth said.

This article originally appeared on Pocono Record: Monroe County DA Dems primary is battle between former Republicans
Two House Republicans bucked their party and voted against the GOP conferences flagship border bill Thursday.

The legislation  titled the Secure the Border Act  passed in a 219-213 vote. The chamber voted on the bill after months of intra-party negotiations that lasted up until the measure was brought to the floor for a procedural vote Wednesday.

The measure seeks to complete construction of former President Trumps border wall and increase the number of border agents  while preventing them from processing migrants. It would also significantly restrict access to asylum for individuals leaving persecutions in addition to other paths to enter the U.S.

Republican Reps. John Duarte (Calif.) and Thomas Massie (Ky.) were the only two GOP lawmakers to join Democrats opposing the measure.

Duarte in a statement said that he voted against the bill because it would hurt many families that work in our Valley and create difficulties for our food producers.

While I wholeheartedly support enhanced border security, Valley families deserve practical solutions that both Democrats and Republicans can support, he added.

He noted that the legislation is dead on arrival in the Senate, saying I believe we could do better.

With hard work from both Democrats and Republicans, we can deliver real results to fix DACA, ensure a flexible and effective guest worker program, and protect our border, he continued. I encourage my colleagues from both parties to work together on a bipartisan bill that benefits our working families and strengthens our nations economy.

The California Republican wrote, I understand that my vote will not be popular among some fellow Republicans, but I am committed to upholding my promise to put working families ahead of Washington party politics.

I will continue to work with my colleagues, both Democratic and Republican, to find commonsense solutions to secure our border and protect our families, he added.

Massie, who had expressed concerns about the bill in the lead up to the vote, wrote on Twitter Thursday that he would oppose the measure on the floor because of a provision on E-Verify, which is a government system that examines whether or not an individual is authorized to work in the United States.

Story continues

FACT: National E-verify assumes every American is an illegal immigrant unless their identity can be matched to a government database. I will vote against it today, Massie wrote.

The E-Verify provision was a source of contention for other lawmakers during last minute negotiations on the bill. Some agriculture-focused moderate lawmakers, including Reps. David Valadao (R-Calif.) and Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.), thought House GOP leaders would offer an amendment to the bill when it was in the House Rules Committee to address their concerns, but the bill was not changed when it was heard before the panel.

That development forced the procedural vote on the bill to be delayed. On Wednesday, however, an amendment was added to the measure that added sense of Congress language to the measure stating that, in enacting the E-Verify requirement, the Department of Homeland Security has to make sure any adverse impact on the nations agricultural workforce operations and food security are considered and addressed.

But the change did not take out the requirement that E-Verify be used to establish whether or not individuals are allowed to work in the U.S.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Police are investigating after three students were stabbed Friday afternoon outside Brockton High School and one person stabbed inside Good Samaritan Hospital, officials said.

The victim stabbed inside the hospital is also the suspect in the high school altercation, according to police.

Five people were arrested in connection to both the high school and hospital stabbings.

Boston 25 obtained cell phone video showing the aftermath of the double-stabbing.

Brockton police confirmed to Boston 25 News that all three students had non-life-threatening injuries after being stabbed near the high school softball field after the school released for the day around 2 p.m.

Less than an hour later, police received a call from Good Samaritan Medical Center for an assault and battery taking place. Five people were arrested at the hospital, including the one police believe is responsible for the stabbing.

Officials say both the incident at the school and the hospital are related.

A musical festival in Brockton this weekend will be under higher security after the incident.

In the interest of ensuring guests at the musical feel comfortable on campus, there will be an additional law enforcement presence on school grounds during all three performances this weekend, said school officials.

This remains an ongoing investigation.

Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.

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Blinken assured Ukraine of further support

Read also: US training 2,000 Ukrainian troops in Germany  Pentagon

According to Blinken, at every step of support to Kyiv, weve worked with now more than 50 countries to adjust, to adapt, depending on the nature of the fight, where it was, what was needed, to make sure that, again, they had what they needed.

And its a process and were working literally every single day with the Ukrainians and with this coalition of countries to make sure they have support, he added.

If there are gaps, if there are shortages, theyll tell us and we will make every effort to make good on them.

Read also: US reportedly removing sensitive equipment from Abrams tanks earmarked for Ukraine

The U.S. official added that different countries will do different things depending on their own capacities, depending on their own technology, depending on what makes the most sense.

So weve provided some things uniquely to Ukraine through this process, he said.

Other countries may do things different than what were doing. The question is: Does the whole thing add up to what Ukraine needs? And were determined that it  that it do so.

The U.S. Department of Defense announced a $300 million military aid package for Ukraine on May 3. The package includes howitzers, artillery rounds, and HIMARS ammunition, among other things.

On May 9, the U.S. Department of Defense announced a $1.2 billion military aid package for Ukraine, which includes additional air defense systems and munitions, artillery rounds, etc.

Read also: Blinken: Zelenskyy should consider the will of Ukrainians in Crimeas de-occupation

In total, the United States has provided almost $37 billion in military aid to Ukraine since Russias full-scale invasion in February 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 UCLA campus. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

UCLA's Bruin Woods camp will be closed for the summer as the school faces allegations of hazing traditions and sexual assault from two students who worked at the Lake Arrowhead getaway, officials confirmed to The Times on Thursday.

The 10-week camp, which hosts 85 alumni families each week, notified participants about the closure Friday.

"We are aware of allegations of inappropriate activity concerning our Bruin Woods program, and continue to look into the matter," UCLA spokesperson Margery Grey said in a statement to The Times. "We are also making changes in an effort to provide an exceptional experience for everyone."

Grey said the suspension was necessary to "fully update our operations." She did not immediately know what specific changes officials were making at the camp, or whether the camp would resume operations for the 2024 summer.

The temporary closure comes months after UCLA students Samea Derrick and Lydia Dixon, who worked at the camp last summer, filed a lawsuit against the University of California regents in October.

In the lawsuit and in previous interviews with The Times, the pair alleged they were sexually assaulted and hazed by returning student counselors, including physical and verbal abuse, sensory deprivation, forced nudity and coercive drinking games. The lawsuit also alleged that the hazing activities, referred to by counselors as traditions, had taken place for decades at the camp, which was established in 1985 for UCLA alumni and their families.

Other camp counselors, including two men accused of sexually assaulting the students, were also named as defendants. The suit alleges negligence, civil rights violations, hazing, gender-based violence, two cases of assault and battery, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. It seeks a jury trial, $50,000 in damages and compensation for legal fees and medical expenses.

Despite UCLA's commitment to changes at the camp, the UC regents have denied the allegations and said the board was not liable for damages, according court documents they filed in November in response to the lawsuit. Attorneys for the university system said Derrick and Dixon "failed to exhaust the administrative remedies available to them through the University of Californias established internal grievance procedures."

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The Board of Regents also alleged in court documents that it had taken "prompt and appropriate corrective actions" in response to the students' concerns.

The case is set to go to trial Feb. 8.

Bruin Woods relies on the more than 50 UCLA students who serve as camp counselors each summer. The positions are coveted among students, given the networking opportunities with alumni, and often draw a large pool of applicants.

It was unclear whether the camp had hired new student workers before the decision to close the camp was made. But students were offered alternative employment options, Grey said.

UCLA said that the venue itself was still open to alumni and their families, but that without student counselors, it would not offer the usual Bruin Woods programming.

Scott Carr, an attorney who filed the lawsuit on behalf of Derrick and Dixon, said that he and his clients were glad to hear about the temporary closure and that "others this year aren't going to be subjected to the same treatment that our clients were subjected to last year and others have been subject to in the past."

"I think the suspension of operations at Bruin Woods is a clear signal that the regents are taking the allegations seriously, and it's a first step toward accountability and the prevention of future harm," Carr said. He added that he hoped the suspension was "a catalyst for change in creating a safe and healthy environment for employees and attendees of the camp."

Derrick and Dixon spoke with The Times shortly after the lawsuit was filed and recalled their experiences at camp, including a five-day period in June when the bulk of the abuse allegedly occurred. They eventually left camp early and said that, in the months after they returned to campus, their mental health had suffered.

Carr said that, aside from compensation for what they went through, a goal of his clients was to make sure no one else would experience similar abuse.

"This summer," he said, "that goal seems to be accomplished."

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 12)  Following the acquittal of former Senator Leila de Lima in her second drug case on Friday, rights group Amnesty International urged authorities to speedily quash the one remaining drug case against her and process her bail plea swiftly.

"The partial acquittal of prisoner of conscience and human rights defender Leila de Lima was long overdue. The authorities must not delay her release any longer and allow her to be reunited with her family, friends and supporters after six long years," Amnesty Internationals interim Deputy Regional Director for Research Montse Ferrer said in a statement.

Despite her acquittal, de Lima cannot be released yet from detention in Camp Crame since she has a pending request to post bail at the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court Branch 256, which is handling her third and last drug case.

Her lawyer, Boni Tacardon, said the application for bail will be resolved by June 5, before the presentation of the prosecutions evidence.

The detained former legislator said her fight for justice is not yet over, but she remains optimistic she will also be acquitted in the last case.

Amnesty International also called on the Marcos administration to hold accountable the officials responsible for her arbitrary detention.

"She should not have spent a single day in jail, and it is now time to provide adequate reparations for the human rights violations she has suffered," Ferrer said.
Entering the main event of UFC London last July, Tom Aspinalls form was verging on frightening. The Wigan heavyweight was fresh off his eighth straight win, which also marked his eighth straight stoppage, and only one of those fights had reached the second round. Yet none of those victories was as swift as this defeat.

Aspinalls knee buckled beneath him just 15 seconds into his bout with Curtis Blaydes, leaving the Briton wincing on the canvas, clutching his knee. Blaydes flung his hands above his head, expressing disbelief, disappointment, and then sympathy for his opponent.

Aspinalls scintillating rise was halted in the most stupefying fashion, but the 30-year-old intends to resume his pursuit of the UFC heavyweight title on 22 July  364 days after his ill-fated clash with Blaydes. For the third straight fight, Aspinall will headline an event at the O2 Arena, taking on Polands Marcin Tybura.

However, Aspinall in fact offered to forgo a main-event slot while the UFC expressed uncertainty over the match-up. Me and Tybura actually know each other personally, Aspinall tells The Independent. We were both looking for fights and believed that none of the heavyweights were really free, so we said, Lets get a fight going with each other. I asked the UFC matchmakers when I was in London [for UFC 286 in March], and they were like, Were keen on it, we just dont know if Tybura is a big enough name to do a main event.

I started seeing people were getting booked for this event, so I messaged the UFC again and asked: Whats going on? Why have you not sent me a contract yet? They said, Were not overly thrilled on this for a main event. So, I said, I dont mind not fighting in the main event, just give me a fight. They said they were gonna try a couple of other opponents first, because they wanted me as a main event. The opponents declined, so Im fighting Tybura. Thats where were at.

It is a testament to the UFCs belief in Aspinalls potential that they proceeded to book the bout as a main event, four months after compatriot Leon Edwards retained the welterweight title against Kamaru Usman to cap off UFC 286 at the O2 Arena. And while Aspinall insists that he is thrilled to be headlining under the dome again, and acknowledges that the UFC views him as a future title contender or champion, he also offers a self-deprecating take.

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Aspinall suffered an injury against Curtis Blaydes in his last outing, in July (Getty Images)

I think the UFC sells itself, really, he says. You could have two 10-year-old girls fighting each other, and theyd probably sell out the O2. Especially in this country now, when were in a massive boom for MMA, I think you could put basically anyone on and it would do well. But for them to have faith in me is a dream. Im so privileged to be able to represent the UK again, Im over the moon.

Its definitely important, because Ive had a lot of fights where nobody cared, to be honest  especially pre-UFC, Aspinall adds candidly. Nobody was bothered whether I won or lost, and as a fighter you want people to be invested, because Ive invested my whole life in this. I want people to be behind me.

When Aspinall fought Alexander Volkov in a main event at the O2 last March, submitting the Russian in the first round, his victory aligned with the highest gate in the venues history of sporting events. When the UFC returned to the O2 this March, for its first pay-per-view card since 2016, it broke the record for the highest gate of any kind at the arena. While this Julys event will be of a smaller scale than UFC 286, it is still expected to sell out with ease.

Numbers aside, I think the UFC realises that Im definitely gonna be a title contender or champion one day, Aspinall says. In my mind, Im gonna be one of the best heavyweights to ever walk the face of the earth.

Aspinall submitted Alexander Volkov at the O2 Arena in March 2022 (Kieran Cleeves/PA) (PA Wire)

Aspinall, currently the UFCs No 5 heavyweight, will get another chance to prove his potential when he faces ninth-ranked Tybura this summer. Light-heavyweight great Jon Jones returned from a three-year absence in March to claim the heavyweight title, and while a shot at the gold still seems to be ahead of Aspinall, he is confident that his knee injury is behind him.

Furthermore, the 30-year-old does not see his time on the sidelines as a lost year in his career.

To be honest, I think I had one of the best years of my life, Aspinall says. I had so much personal growth out of the experience, and I think my mind is just in a really good place now. Any athlete will tell you that your mind is one of the most important tools you can use.

I think I was a little bit burnt out before; I was so active and going back-to-back-to-back-to-back with fights constantly. Everything was going so smooth, I had no push-back on anything, whereas now I appreciate everything. I appreciate going in there in nine weeks time, being able to earn money and get respect from doing what I love.

Im very thankful that all of this has happened.
The question of when and where Ukraine might launch its high-stakes fightback has been the subject of steady speculation

Ukraine claimed Friday to have retaken swathes of ground near the frontline city of Bakhmut, as Russia reported having repelled an attack along a broad stretch of the front line.

The rival reports from the battlefront indicated an increase in fighting after months of relative stability, as expectations grow over Kyiv's spring offensive.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner mercenary group, who is spearheading Moscow's attack on Bakhmut, accused the Russian army of "fleeing" from around the eastern Ukraine city.

The question of when and where Ukraine might launch its high-stakes fightback has been the subject of steady speculation, even after President Volodymr Zelensky insisted this week that his army needed more time to prepare.

The fresh fighting came as China said it would send a special envoy next week to Europe as Beijing pursues efforts to cast itself as peacemaker.

Beijing plans to send its high-ranking diplomat Li Hui to Ukraine, Poland, France, Germany and Russia to "communicate with all parties on the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis".

From Ukraine to the Middle East, Beijing in recent months has sought to position itself as a mediator with a leading role in solving the world's crises.

But while China says it is a neutral party on the Ukraine war, it has been criticised for refusing to condemn Moscow for the invasion.

Zelensky is also expected in Rome on Saturday for talks with political leaders and possibly Pope Francis, his first visit to Italy since Russia's invasion.

- 'Great losses' in Bakhmut fight -

On the battlefield, Ukraine said its forces had advanced two kilometres (around one mile) near Bakhmut -- the scene of the longest and bloodiest battle since Moscow's more than year-long invasion.

Bakhmut, which once had a population of around 70,000 people, has been destroyed as Russian forces posted incremental gains in recent months, amounting to some 80 percent of the city.

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Moscow denied Ukraine had made any breakthroughs in the flashpoint city, adding on Friday that it had repelled Kyiv's forces along more than 95 kilometres (60 miles) of front near the eastern town of Soledar

Russia's defence ministry said Ukraine had deployed more than 1,000 military personnel and up to 40 tanks.

Wagner chief Prigozhin however said Moscow's conventional army "simply went fleeing from the flanks" near Bakhmut.

Prigozhin insisted that "the flanks are failing, the front is collapsing" in that area and said Russia's leadership was downplaying the gravity of the situation.

"For this reason, we must stop lying immediately," Prigozhin said in a video statement released on social media.

The social media accounts of several Russian war correspondents also spread alarm late Thursday, with some saying Kyiv's long-anticipated counteroffensive had begun.

Zelensky, however, said in an interview published Thursday that Kyiv needed more time before going on the offensive.

"Mentally we're ready...," the Ukrainian leader noted. "In terms of equipment, not everything has arrived yet.

"With (what we have) we can go forward and be successful. But we'd lose a lot of people," he added.

"I think that's unacceptable. So we need to wait. We still need a bit more time."

Prigozhin, whose long-running feud with Russia's conventional army has flared in recent days, acknowledged Ukrainian successes.

He even challenged his rival, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, to visit Bakhmut.

"The enemy has launched a number of successful counterattacks," Prigozhin wrote to Shoigu on social media, urging him "to independently assess the current situation".

- Grain deal talks -

Prigozhin has for days reported that some Ukrainian units were successfully breaking through in some areas, as have some pro-Moscow bloggers.

The Russian army, however, has denied such claims.

"The individual declarations on Telegram about a 'breakthrough' on several points on the front line do not correspond to reality," the defence ministry said in a statement Thursday.

As the fate of Bakhmut hangs in the balance, Turkey said Friday that talks to extend a deal allowing grain exports from Ukraine via the Black Sea following the Russian invasion were nearing an agreement.

"We are heading toward an agreement on the extension of the grain deal," Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said in a statement.

The Black Sea Grain Initiative, in place since July after diplomacy by the United Nations and Turkey, allows Ukraine grain exports via port, helping ease shortages and resulting price spikes triggered by Russia's invasion of the breadbasket nation.

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Ukrainian Armed Forces claim that Ukrainian military is conducting operations to defend Bakhmut

Read also: Top Ukrainian commander shows aerial reconnaissance in action in Bakhmut  video

"As a result of counteroffensive actions and counterattacks by our units, as part of the defensive operation, the enemy was pushed 250-1,500 meters back," said Cherevatyi.

That is why we can say that our defense operation continues to be successful and achieves one of its main goals  to wear down the enemy's combat capabilities, to bleed the enemy dry.

Cherevatyi clarified that there are signs of exhaustion of the Russian troops on the battlefield.

"The first marker of this exhaustion is the almost daily hysterical statements of the criminal (Yevgeny) Prigozhin (owner of Wagner Group PMC)," he added.

Read also: Ukraine achieves partial success in Battle of Bakhmut, says NSDC secretary Danilov

Bakhmut remains the epicenter of the fighting. During the last day, 40 clashes took place there. As a result, 199 enemy troops were killed, 244 were wounded, and 15 were taken prisoner.

Cherevatyi added that, in addition to combat losses, the Russian troops morale is falling and panic is settling in, while Wagner PMC mercenaries continue to be killed en masse.

There is no replenishment of Wagner's own personnel," the spokesman concluded.

They are forced to use regular troops: motorized rifle and airborne troops, which are also staffed largely by mobilized personnel.

Read also: Ukrainian intelligence explains conflict between Prigozhin and Shoigu

On May 10, the Commander of Ukraines Ground Forces, Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, said that Ukraine's defenders were conducting effective counterattacks near Bakhmut, which resulted in the Russian forces retreating to a distance of up to 2 km in some segments of the front.

Read also: Ukrainian military reveals garbage and ammunition left by invaders during retreat from Bakhmut positions

On May 9, Prigozhin was the first to announce the withdrawal of Russias 72nd Separate Mechanized Brigade from Bakhmut. This was later confirmed by the Ukrainian military.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba speaks at a news conference in Guatemala City on May 11, 2023

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba urged all Latin American countries to condemn Russian "aggression" against his country on Thursday, at the close of a two-day visit to Guatemala.

Kuleba blasted the "neutrality" of several Latin American governments, saying that Russia's aggression is setting an example that other nations may follow.

"If Russia succeeds in invading a neighbor, in violating borders and committing massacres, others will be tempted to follow the Russian behavior," Kuleba said at a news conference in the national palace.

Guatemala is one of the few Latin countries that has offered unwavering support for Ukraine. Five months after the onset of the Russian invasion, Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei visited Ukraine to show solidarity with counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky.

"Some countries in Latin America believe that... the best way in this war of Russia against Ukraine is to remain neutral. Others say that this war is happening in Europe, and Latin America has nothing to do with it," Kuleba said.

"Others try to remain friends with both Russia and Ukraine. I am afraid this is not the type of war where these approaches work," he said.

Kuleba thanked Guatemala for its backing, noting that "the people of Guatemala know too well the suffering and destruction that war brings," referring to a brutal civil war in the Central American country from 1960 to 1996.

"Trust me, no other country in the world wants the war to end more than Ukraine," he said.

For his part, Giammattei assured Kuleba that "Guatemala will continue its political and diplomat support of Ukraine in its intense struggle for development, well-being and defense of its people."

"I hope for a speedy end to the war and the beginning of the reconstruction of Ukraine itself," Giammattei said.

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ZNPP

Read also: Russia might stage provocations during IAEA inspection of Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, Ukraine says

One of the sources said the deal "looks promising." According to the diplomats, Grossi will outline the "principles" of protecting the nuclear facility, which both Ukraine and Russia will have to abide by.

The report says these principles include a ban on deploying heavy weapons and military personnel at ZNPP, although Moscow claims that its current military occupation does not violate this restriction. Another point of the agreement proscribes any attacks on Ukrainian employees of the power plant.

IAEA was reportedly close to presenting a similar deal back in February, but Ukraine did not support the proposal at the time.

Read also: Management at ZNPP attempting to flee en masse, Kyiv says

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy previously said that demilitarizing ZNPP was the best way to safeguard Europe from a potential nuclear disaster.

Read also: IAEA inspectors find explosives at Russia-occupied ZNPP

Zaporizhzhia NPP is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, and has been occupied by Russian forces since March 4. Several ZNPP facilities have been damaged by Russian shelling, and the station's employees are captives of the occupying troops.

Read also: Energoatom demands compensation from Russia for occupation of ZNPP

The Kremlin uses the site as cover for its forces, as Ukraine cant return fire for the risk of causing a nuclear calamity.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
(Bloomberg) -- Ukrainian forces pushed Russian troops back to regain territory in the embattled eastern city of Bakhmut, officials in Kyiv said, as Russias Defense Ministry acknowledged a flurry of attacks along the frontline.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Russian troops around Bakhmut, which has been besieged in brutal running battles for almost a year, pulled back as much as 1.5 kilometers (0.9 miles) in some areas in a surge of clashes over the last 24 hours, Ukrainian military spokesman Serhiy Cherevatyi told Rada TV on Friday.

Russias Defense Ministry said its troops had withdrawn close to a reservoir north of Bakhmut to set up a new defensive line with more favorable conditions. Earlier, it said forces had repelled Ukrainian attacks involving some 1,000 troops and as many as 40 tanks along a 95-kilometer stretch of frontline near Soledar, a city some 15 kilometers northeast of Bakhmut.

But Yevgeny Prigozhin, the mercenary commander whose Wagner Group is fighting in the city said what the military did is called running away, not regrouping. He said Ukraine had retaken strategic highlands, potentially putting Russias control of Bakhmut at risk.

The fighting in Ukraines eastern Donetsk region, which couldnt be independently verified, fueled anticipation of a Ukrainian counteroffensive to regain territory captured by the Kremlins forces. Russia occupies most of Donetsk and has struggled to complete its seizure of Bakhmut.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who this week said his forces needed more time before launching any such offensive, also said Kyivs forces had pressed back Russian positions, without specifying where.

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Ukraine is much stronger now than last year or in any other year of this war for freedom and independence of our country, Zelenskiy said in separate post on Twitter.

Wagner Target

Bakhmut, which had a prewar population of some 70,000, has been devastated by sustained fighting since last summer. The city has been a primary target of Prigozhins Wagner Group. In recent days, Prigozhin has issued increasingly threatening ultimatums to military leaders to send enough ammunition to complete the seizure of the city.

Read More: Wagner Chief Again Threatens Bakhmut Pullout Over Supplies

Ukraines counteroffensive is moving full-steam ahead, with units close to flanking Bakhmut, Prigozhin said in a Telegram message Thursday. He accused Russias regular army of abandoning positions in the area, leaving his unit at risk of being encircled.

Ukraine reported a surprise advance there on Wednesday, saying that Russian forces pulled back significantly in some areas near the city. Russian military bloggers flagged the move and Prigozhins comments to say Kyiv had finally launched its counteroffensive.

In a letter posted in his Telegram channel on Friday, Prigozhin reinforced his message that Ukraine has made advances on Wagners flanks. He taunted Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, writing: I ask you to come to the territory of Bakhmut, which is controlled by Russian paramilitary units, to judge the situation yourself.

--With assistance from Olesia Safronova.

(Updates with additional Prigozhin comments from fourth paragraph.)

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Danilov stated that the Armed Forces of Ukraine strike the enemy where he least expects it

By winter, we want to end the war completely, he said.

Read also: Upcoming Ukrainian counter-offensive maybe not last one, says FM Kuleba

We have a common plan  to liberate all our territories from the terrorists who attacked us. The only thing left is time.

According to Danilov, whether it will be one or more operations depends on many circumstances.

We will not be limited by time, the official said.

Read also: Ukraine achieves partial success in Battle of Bakhmut, says NSDC secretary Danilov

We will fight as long as it takes.

Speaking about an upcoming counter-offensive by the Ukrainian military, Danilov stressed that taking into account all the factors, the measures will start at the necessary time.

We must start on time, not early or late, he added.

Ukraines military intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, said on Sept. 30, 2022, that the Armed Forces of Ukraine would enter Russian-occupied Ukraines Crimea by the end of spring.

In an interview to U.S. daily newspaper The Washington Post on Jan. 31, he said that we must do everything to ensure that Crimea returns home by summer.

Russia will be forced to withdraw its troops from the territory of Ukraine soon, Budanov later in an interview to French newspaper Le Monde on Feb. 22, 2023. He said he believes that Ukraine is nearing the end of the war.

Read also: Ukraines defense minister hopes Ukrainian counter-offensive to start unexpectedly

In a USA TODAY interview in early March, Budanov further predicted that Ukraine and Russia would fight a decisive battle this spring, and this battle will be the final one before this war ends.

According to Ukrainian military intelligence, Russia has the resources to wage war for another two years  at the current intensity of hostilities.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Key developments on May 12:

Ukraine's Defense Ministry: Ukraine advances 2 kilometers toward Bakhmut

Military: Signs of exhaustion evident among Russian forces on battlefield

24th Separate Assault Battalion says it recaptured Russian positions southwest of Bakhmut

Wagner chief attacks Russian Defense Ministry, calls on Shoigu to visit Bakhmut

Ukrainian forces advanced two kilometers toward Bakhmut "without losing a single position" this week, Ukraine's Defense Ministry said on May 12.

Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar also claimed that Russian forces had suffered heavy losses as they defended their positions in Bakhmut, which she believes still holds a significant value for them.

Eastern Operational Command spokesman Serhiy Cherevaty also reported a successful operation in the Bakhmut area in recent days, saying on television that Ukraine has conducted counterattacks and there are signs of exhaustion among the Russian forces on the battlefield.

"The first marker of this exhaustion is the almost daily hysterical statements of criminal Prigozhin," Cherevaty said. "Bakhmut remains the epicenter of hostilities."

Cherevaty said the counterattacks pushed back Russian forces between 250 meters to 1.5 kilometers, naming a smaller estimate than the Defense Ministry.

The 24th Separate Assault Battalion "Aidar" said on May 12, together with other units, it liberated some territories south of Ivanivske, a village near Bakhmut.

The Russian Defense Ministry confirms a series of Ukrainian counterattacks near Bakhmut.

Ukrainian forces launched counterattacks in the Soledar direction "along the entire line of contact between the parties with a length of more than 95 kilometers," Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in a daily briefing on May 12.

Konashenkov, as always said, Russia repelled all attacks.

Wagner Group Chief Yevgeny Prigozhin accused the Russian Defense Ministry of calling a retreat of Russian soldiers in Bakhmut a "regrouping" to seize more advantageous positions, admitting that Ukrainian forces have launched "a number of successful counterattacks."

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The Wagner chief offered Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to visit the Russian-controlled part of Bakhmut to assess the battlefield situation, referring to the official's "many years of warfare experience," although he has no real background in military command.

Ukrainian military intelligence said on May 12 that Prigozhin's public conflict with Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov "testify to their fear of responsibility for the inevitable defeat of Moscow."

"None of this trio wants to take responsibility," military intelligence spokesperson Andriy Yusov said in a Telegram post.

Wagner a shadow of what it once was: Russia security expert on the rage of mercenary boss Prigozhin After seeming to have calmed down over early spring, the internal conflict between Wagner mercenary group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin and the Russian Defense Ministry has escalated dramatically. In the early morning of May 5, Prigozhin recorded a video in front of what he claimed to be the bodies of doz Kyiv IndependentFrancis Farrell

Bakhmut counteroffensive

Ukraine appears to be making localized attacks near Bakhmut, breaking the Russian defense lines south of the city.

In a video published by Ukraine's 3rd Separate Assault Brigade deployed near Bakhmut, one of the Ukrainian soldiers yells, "forward!" as they attack a Russian position and dugout with a grenade.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a D.C.-based think-tank analyzing the war in Ukraine, confirmed in its May 11 report that Ukraine has made localized advances in the Bakhmut area, where heavy fighting has raged since last summer.

"Ukrainian forces likely broke through some Russian lines in localized counteroffensives near Bakhmut, prompting responses from Wagner Group financier Yevgeny Prigozhin and the Russian Ministry of Defense," the ISW said.

The think-tank added that Russia's deployment of "low-quality" personnel on the flanks around Bakhmut suggests that the Russian Defense Ministry has "largely abandoned the aim of encircling a significant number of Ukrainian forces there."
Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, has said that the Ukrainian military leadership was preparing for Russia's invasion by working out various options for countering it.

Source: Zaluzhnyi in an interview with Dmytro Komarov in the film Rik. Za Kadrom (A Year. Behind the scenes).

Quote: "I had analysed all possible actions in my head, and sometimes it became very, very difficult for me, but it made me and my team, the General Staff, including the commanders, look for a way to act in conditions where the enemy would have an upper hand; where it would be an offensive coming from almost all fronts, and it would be pretty powerful and relatively rapid.

Around the end of February, we probably exhausted all the possibilities in our imagination of what we could do."

Details: Zaluzhnyi has said that various options were worked out, and a huge range of measures was taken to completely change the air defence configuration and preserve capacity.

Quote: "Our brigades could move from Zakarpattia to Kyiv Oblast, Kherson Oblast and eventually end up in Odesa Oblast. A large set of exercises was conducted, and not just one, which allowed us to completely change the configuration of the air defence forces, and as a result, preserve this potential, which is still in place."

More details: Zaluzhnyi has promised to talk about this in more detail later when it is possible.

He added that the complex set of measures taken helped to develop an option that worked during the invasion by the occupiers.

Quote: "This whole complex that we conducted led us to believe that there was only one option that could work in this situation. It consisted of inflicting maximum losses on the enemy in a short period of time so that they would refuse to continue these actions on a larger territory of Ukraine. And it worked."

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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 12)  Partymates and supporters on Friday welcomed the acquittal of former Sen. Leila de Lima in one of her two remaining drug cases, stressing that her freedom is near and the fight for justice continues as she has been detained for six years already.

"Tagumpay ito ng katotohanan pagkatapos ng mahigit na anim na taon ng paninira at kasinungalingan laban kay Sen Leila, na ang tanging kasalanan lang ay ang matapang na pagtindig para sa tama," former Vice President Leni Robredo said in an Instagram story.

[Translation: This is truth's victory after the more than six years of slander and lies against Sen Leila, whose only sin is having the courage to stand up for what is right.]

Robredo, the former chairperson of the Liberal Party (LP), said she completely trusted De Lima's innocence since the start and has been hoping she would reclaim her freedom and good name amid six years of oppression.

TIMELINE: De Lima's six-year struggle in prison

"Ang pagbasura sa kasong ito, bunga ng kawalan ng kahit anumang ebidensiya laban sa kanya, ay malinaw na hakbang tungo sa araw na ito," she added.

[Translation: The dismissal of this case, due to lack of evidence against her, is a clear step towards this day.]

The Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court Branch 204 gave weight to the recantation of ex-Bureau of Corrections chief Rafael Ragos, formerly the prosecution's key witness, to acquit De Lima in the drug case.

Current LP president and Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman called for De Lima's freedom through bail in her last "contrived" drug case still pending trial.

"Justice is rendered, albeit late," Lagman said. "She deserves full exoneration and final liberation."

De Lima's camp is still waiting for the resolution on their petition for bail on her last drug-related case before she could be released.

The decision was supposed to be issued on May 8 but it was put on hold due to problems during the prosecution's marking of evidence.

"Ang ebidensya lahat [All of the evidence are] fabricated," incumbent LP chairperson and former Sen. Kiko Pangilinan said as he welcomed the court's verdict. He said this was "better late than never."

"The fight for justice, for the truth continues. Free Leila!" he also said.

On Twitter, #FreeLeilaDeLimaNow trended in the country after the verdict was handed down.

"Freedom is near, Sen. Leila. Redemption and vindication are next," said former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, who ran with De Lima under the LP for their reelection bid in 2022.

"We need her in the front lines in the fight against the forces of tyranny and disinformation who are again trying to trample on the Filipino people's rights," House Deputy Minority Leader and ACT Rep. France Castro said as she called for De Lima's release from detention.

For Sen. Risa Hontiveros, the upper chamber's deputy minority leader, justice will be completed when the "sinister plot to put her in jailis fully exposed in daylight."

De Lima was one of the most vocal critics of former President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs which claimed thousands of lives.

"May this pave the road to justice for all victims of the War on Drugs and sound the death knell for this inhuman policy," Hontiveros said.

RELATED: Marcos admits 'abuses' linked to Duterte's drug war

Beyond the May 12 acquittal

In a statement sent to CNN Philippines, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin "Boying" Remulla said the acquittal showed that the "rule of law prevailed," and that the "independence of the judiciary stands as a major foundation of our democratic way of life."

But for human rights lawyer Chel Diokno, who was present in the courtroom on Friday morning, the case revealed that there is a need to reexamine the independence of the country's judiciary as a whole.

"Because, you know, these cases did not begin the way a criminal case should begin, which is with a criminal investigation," Diokno told CNN Philippines. "This case began with the pronouncements of our former president which then led to an investigation."

Diokno said there's a need to strengthen the country's justice system to make it truly independent. Former Senate President Franklin Drilon had the same concern, adding this will be a challenge for the Supreme Court to not let something like this happen again.

"Maraming kaso ang maisasampa doon sa may ebidensyang gumawa nitong kaso na talagang di naman nangyari ang mga sinasabing pananagutan ni Sen. Leila," Drilon told CNN Philippines' Balitaan. "Merong pananagutan sa batas ito, pananagutan ang mga dating opisiyal ng Duterte administration."

[Translation: Many cases can be filed against those who created trumped-up charges against Sen. Leila that could not be backed with evidence. Under our laws, there are people who would be held to account, those former officials in the Duterte administration.]

Former Sen. Richard Gordon raised that De Lima's six years of imprisonment would "already constitute a violation of her right to a speedy disposition of her case," as provided in the Bill of Rights of the 1987 Constitution.

RELATED: Rights group: Quickly resolve last De Lima drug case, bail appeal
Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine's Minister of Foreign Affairs, is planning a tour of Latin America in the second half of 2023.

Source: Interfax-Ukraine, quoting Kuleba at a press conference with Mario Bucaro, Guatemalan Foreign Minister

Quote: "Guatemala has reacted unprecedentedly to the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine. We noticed this, and we will always be grateful. That's why I'm here. But I'm planning a bigger Latin American tour in the second half of the year. And as part of this tour, I intend to visit a number of countries in the region."

Details: Kuleba noted that Ukraine currently maintains a constant dialogue with many Latin American countries at the presidential level and at the level of foreign ministers.

According to him, 2023 will be "the year of relations with Latin America" for Ukraine.

Background:

In February, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine, stated that he would like to hold a summit between Ukraine and the countries of Latin America and is ready to visit it personally in order to spread the peace formula for Ukraine.

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(Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Thursday said he had approved a plan to reform criminal and law enforcement systems, a key element in plans to secure quick membership of the European Union.

Ukraine, fighting to repulse Russia's invasion, has formally applied for membership of the 27-nation bloc.

The EU sees an end to endemic corruption, upgrades to legislation and improvements to the judiciary as key elements in anchoring Ukraine in Western institutions.

"We must provide for a system that guarantees justice and rule of law in our country, compatible with our aim of quickly joining the EU," Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address.

The changes, he said, would be part of a new social contract ensuring people felt safe and protected.

"Trust in the state is grounded in trust in those who act in the name of the state. Law enforcement and the prosecution system are the keys to this, along with everyone who works in the state apparatus," he said.

Membership applications for the EU normally take years to process in order to complete the complicated process of bringing a candidate nation's laws and regulations into line with rules enforced by the bloc.

But Zelenskiy wants the process to be speeded up, with negotiations on membership to start this year. He said work on the basis of the new document would extend through 2027.

Zelenskiy's administration has already altered legislation and introduced measures to underpin key institutions as part of moves to secure financing from institutions like the International Monetary Fund.

(Reporting by Ron Popeski and Oleksandr Kozhukhar, editing by David Ljunggren and Diane Craft)
Yuriy Ignat, press secretary of the Air Force Command

We are awaiting official confirmation of their arrival, he said on Ukrainian national television.

Read also: Five ironclad arguments why Storm Shadow missiles are better than ATACMS

Ihnat further stated that the Air Force had already used U.S.-made HARM missiles against the enemy  one of which was autographed by Commander Mykola Oleshchuk.

We will be monitoring Oleshchuks Telegram channel and waiting for a photo with a clear caption indicating the missiles are here, he explained.

Until then, we cannot confirm [the Storm Shadows] arrival, he added.

CNN reported on May 11 that London had delivered several Storm Shadow missiles to Kyiv, citing multiple senior Western officials.

Read also: UK spearheading effort to provide Ukraine with long-range missiles, report says

This information was later officially confirmed by UKs defense secretary Ben Wallace, who emphasized that Ukraine has the right to defend itself against Russian aggression, and that the missiles would be used solely within the countrys sovereign territory.

Storm Shadow, also known as SCALP, is a Franco-British air-to-ground missile produced by MBDA, with a warhead weight of 450 kg and a range of over 250 km.

U.S. news website Politico reported that the United States has no plans to follow the UKs move and send long-range ATACMS missiles to Ukraine.

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A Ukrainian commander of the 1st Assault Battalion of the 3rd Assault Brigade has said that during a successful Ukrainian assault operation in Bakhmut, Wagner Group mercenaries were the first to flee, while servicemen from the Russian army attempted to fight back. This contradicts the claims made by Wagner financier Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Source: CNN

Details: CNN reported that Ukrainian forces were able to retake several positions in the eastern city of Bakhmut, in Donetsk Oblast.

Commander of the 1st Assault Battalion with a call-sign Rollo told CNN that Wagner Group owner Yevgeny Prigozhin lied about servicemen from the Russian army being the first to flee their positions in Bakhmut. According to Rollo, Wagner Group fighters fled first.

Quote: "Prigozhin is a liar. Because the first to flee were Wagner [Group fighters  ed.]...Actually, the [Russian Armed Forces] unit hes bad mouthing fought to the end," Rollo said.

He explained that Ukraine had planned the operation he was talking about in advance and that the weather allowed the Ukrainian troops to deploy all the weapons and equipment they needed.

The commander said that the Russians reserves were positioned too far to be deployed in time, which allowed the Ukrainians to push invaders forces back, with Russians losing 200 to 300 soldiers in action.

Background: The 3rd Assault Brigade is currently undertaking combat operations on the Bakhmut front as part of Tactical Group A.

Besides troops from the 3rd Assault Brigade, Tactical Group A comprises other special units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Andrii Biletskyi is the groups commander.

Tactical Group A personnel have been fighting Russian forces on the Bakhmut front for several months.

More background:

On 5 May, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner Group, a private military company, published a letter to the Russian Defence Ministry, stating that he will withdraw the Wagner Group mercenaries from Bakhmut after 10 May. Prigozhin said that the Defence Ministry did not supply his forces with sufficient ammunition and he did not want his fighters to be "doomed to a senseless death".

On 9 May, Prigozhin said that the Russian army left some of their positions in Bakhmut and "exposed" part of the front, which had to be covered by Wagner Group fighters. He gave an ultimatum to the Russian Defence Ministry and the General Staff: if his mercenaries are not given ammunition, they will leave their positions.

On 12 May, Prigozhin invited Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu to visit Bakhmut. "In light of the complicated operational circumstances, and your years of experience in combat, I invite you to visit the city of Bakhmut, which is controlled by Russian paramilitary units, to personally assess the situation on the ground," Prigozhin wrote.

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Metropolitan Iosaf (Guben)

The clerics secretary also was also found guilty by the court. According to prosecutors, both suspects publicly approved the seizure of Ukrainian territory and incited inter-religious enmity in the region in favor of Russia.

Read also: Become a prayerful Russian monk there  UOC Archbishop on Metropolitan Onufriys Russian citizenship

According to their instructions, parishioners were given pro-Russia propaganda printed in Russian printing houses. Pro-Russian materials were also found during searches of the dioceses premises.

The metropolitan and his secretary were charged with violating the equality of citizens depending on their religious beliefs. Both defendants pled guilty and cooperated with the investigation.

Taking this into account, the court sentenced them to three years of imprisonment with a two-year probation period, as well as banning them from heading religious administrations and dioceses for one year.

Read also: SBU summons UOC-MP Metropolitan Pavlo on suspicion of fueling interreligious hostility

Metropolitan Iosaf was charged in December 2022. According to the SBU, he was a member of the inner circle of Moscow Patriarch Kirill, who supports Russias full-scale war against Ukraine, and coordinated the spread of pro-Kremlin views in Kirovohrad Oblast.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Prigozhin criticizes Shoigu for the situation at the front

Read also: Conflict between Russian MoD and Wagners Prigozhin reaching climax

Yusov said the notorious leaders of the Russian invasion forces are currently under heavy amounts of stress and despair due to the uncertainty of their future after the removal of the Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and the final defeat of Russia in the war against Ukraine.

No one from this trio wants to take responsibility, which is why they have started searching for scapegoats, said Yusov.

Read also: Prigozhin says Surovikin mediating between mercenaries and Russian Defense Ministry

Right now, Shoigu, Gerasimov, and Prigozhin are trying to determine who is to blame.

On May 9, Prigozhin claimed that Russias 72nd Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade had fled from Bakhmut, leaving behind 500 corpses of Russian invaders. This was later confirmed by the 3rd Special Operations Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and the commander of the Azov tactical group, Andriy Biletsky, who reported the virtual destruction of two battalions of the brigade.

Read also: Ukrainian military reveals garbage and ammunition left by invaders during retreat from Bakhmut positions

Earlier, Prigozhin threatened that he would begin withdrawing his troops from Bakhmut on May 10, amid what he claimed was a shortage of ammunition.

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Oleksiy Reznikov

During a working visit to Kharkiv Oblast, he tested one of the tanks and stated that the Ukrainian tank should be in the forefront of the tank coalition.

Read also: Only 25% of Ukraines weapons are sourced from abroad

I love the cuisine and music of different nations around the world, but when it comes to industry, I am a proponent of Ukrainian protectionism, he stated.

That is why a decision has been made for the Ministry of Defense to order Oplot tanks from Ukroboronprom for the Ukrainian army].

Ministry of Defense of Ukraine

Reznikov emphasized the need for an armored fist on the front lines to protect Ukrainian soldiers and awarded several employees of the Ukroboronprom defense industry with honors for their contribution to Ukraine's defense capability. He did not specify the number of tanks to be ordered or the timeline for production.

Ministry of Defense of Ukraine

Read also: Ukraines Cabinet issues resolution to replace Ukroboronprom defense concern

The Oplot is a Ukrainian main battle tank that was developed from its predecessor, the T-84, and entered service with the Ukrainian army in 2009. It features a combined protection system and anti-radar coverage, thermal imaging sights, an optoelectronic countermeasure complex, and a navigation system.

The tank is equipped with a 125-mm smoothbore gun, a 7.62-mm coaxial machine gun, and a 12.7-mm anti-aircraft machine gun. It also has Ukrainian-made laser-guided missiles named Kombat, which can hit targets such as tanks, helicopters, and heavily fortified ground, surface, or low-flying targets at a range of up to 5 kilometers. The cost of one unit is approximately $4 million.

Read also: Ukroboronprom tells about new drones for Ukrainian armed forces

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The Russians left their ammunition at the positions

Read also: Military intelligence shares aerial reconnaissance footage of destroyed Russian equipment on Donetsk axis  video

The positions, likely belonging to Russias 72nd Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade, fled from Bakhmut  leaving behind 500 corpses of Russian invaders, according to the leader of the Wagner mercenary company leader Yevgeny Prigozhin on May 9. This was later confirmed by the 3rd Special Operations Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Read also: Ukrainian military captures Russian invader near Bakhmut using strike drone  video

According to the Ukrainian defenders, within two days, fighter aircraft in the Azov Tactical Group killed 64 invaders, injuring a further 87, and taking five prisoner. Several enemy ammunition depots, mortars, and several BMPs were also destroyed.

Andriy Biletsky, the commander of the Azov Tactical Group, which is part of the 3rd Special Operations Brigade, reported on May 10 that Ukrainian soldiers had defeated units of the 72nd Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade of the Russian Federation, liberated part of the territory of Ukraine, and taken invaders prisoner.

Read also: Ukraine achieves partial success in Battle of Bakhmut, says NSDC secretary Danilov

Later, the spokesman for the Eastern Military Group of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Serhiy Cherevatyi, confirmed that Ukrainian Defense Forces had delivered powerful strikes to the Russian 72nd Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade in Bakhmut, but it had not yet been completely destroyed.

The commander of the Eastern Military Group of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, said that Ukrainian defenders are conducting effective counterattacks on the Bakhmut axis, thanks to which Russian invaders have retreated up to 2 kilometers in some areas of the front. He thanked the 3rd Special Operations Brigade for their powerful strikes against the enemy.

Read also: Cutting off Donetsk could take only days with a political decision, claims military expert

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By Olena Harmash and Ivan Lyubysh-Kirdey

KYIV/KOSTIANTYNIVKA, Ukraine (Reuters) -Moscow acknowledged on Friday that its forces had fallen back north of Ukraine's battlefield city of Bakhmut after a new Ukrainian offensive, in a retreat that the head of Russia's Wagner private army called a rout.

The setback for Russia, which follows similar reports of Ukrainian advances south of the city, suggests a coordinated push by Kyiv to encircle Russian forces in Bakhmut, Moscow's main objective for months during the war's bloodiest fighting.

"In three days of counter-offensive activity, the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Bakhmut sector have liberated 17.3 sq. km (6.6 sq. miles) of territory," Serhiy Cherevatyi, spokesman for the "east" group of Ukrainian forces, said on the Telegram messaging app.

Both sides are now reporting the biggest Ukrainian gains in six months, although Ukraine has given few details and played down suggestions a huge, long-planned counteroffensive has officially begun.

Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Ukraine had launched an assault north of Bakhmut with more than 1,000 troops and up to 40 tanks, a scale that if confirmed would amount to the biggest Ukrainian offensive since November.

The Russians had repelled 26 attacks but troops in one area had fallen back to regroup in more favourable positions near the Berkhivka reservoir northwest of Bakhmut, Konashenkov said.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner forces that have led the campaign in the city, said in an audio message: "What Konashenkov described, unfortunately, is called 'a rout' and not a regrouping".

In a separate video message, Prigozhin said the Ukrainians had seized high ground overlooking Bakhmut and opened the main highway leading into the city from the West.

"The loss of the Berkhivka reservoir - the loss of this territory they gave up - that's 5 sq km, just today," Prigozhin said.

Story continues

"The enemy has completely freed up the Chasiv Yar-Bakhmut road which we had blocked. The enemy is now able to use this road, and secondly they have taken tactical high ground under which Bakhmut is located," said Prigozhin, who has repeatedly denounced Russia's regular military over the past week for failing to supply his men in Bakhmut.

Russian-installed officials said two missiles hit an industrial complex in Luhansk, in Russian-occupied territory around 100 km (60 miles) behind the front. Video posted on the internet showed huge columns of smoke above the city. The strike, just beyond the range of the main battlefield rockets Ukraine has previously deployed, came a day after Britain announced it was sending longer-range cruise missiles.

The Ukrainian advance near Bakhmut appears to have begun on Tuesday when a Ukrainian unit southwest of the city said it defeated a Russian brigade, recapturing a swathe of land. Prigozhin also said the Russian brigade there fled.

Reuters has not been able to independently verify the situation in the area.

In its evening report on Friday, the Ukrainian military command described fighting in Bakhmut and Russian shelling of nearby towns, but made no mention of any advance or Russian withdrawal.

Prigozhin, whose fighters have been battling to push Ukrainian forces out of Bakhmut's Western outskirts, has said the north and south flanks, guarded by regular Russian troops, were crumbling. Russia's defence ministry denies this.

In his nightly address, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the Russians were "already internally ready for defeat".

"They have already lost this war in their minds. We must put pressure on them every day so that their sense of defeat turns into their flight, their mistakes, their losses."

TURNING POINT

In Kostiantynivka, about 20 km (12 miles) southwest of Bakhmut, firefighters were battling a blaze at a house that went up in flames after it was struck by Russian shells.

"It hit the roof and the roof collapsed. My neighbour rushed outside and started shouting, asking for help," said Oleksandr Lazorka, who lives next door. "We pulled out a blind woman - an elderly, blind woman - from under the rubble and then the fire erupted."

The 15-month-old war in Ukraine is at a turning point, after six months during which Kyiv kept its troops on the defensive while Russia mounted a winter campaign that brought the bloodiest ground combat in Europe since World War Two but yielded scant gains.

Since the start of this year, Kyiv has received hundreds of new Western tanks and armoured vehicles, holding them back in preparation for a counteroffensive to recapture occupied territory.

Ukrainian officials have played down the suggestion that their offensive is already under way: Zelenskiy said in an interview this week Kyiv needed more time for equipment to arrive. Prigozhin called that deceptive and said the Bakhmut advances amounted to the start of Kyiv's campaign.

(Reporting by Reuters bureaux; Writing by Peter Graff, Kevin Liffey and Grant McCool; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel, Rosalba O'Brien and Diane Craft)
While Kyiv is removing all Soviet monuments across the country, some towns and cities have kept up other Russian landmarks and references to Russian language. Pavlo Palamarchuk/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Ukrainian vigilantes are tearing down Russian statues and landmarks in their cities.

Activists told The Washington Post they want to "de-Russify" and "decolonize" Ukraine.

Zelenskyy signed two laws last month to promote Ukrainian language and culture over that of Russia.

Ukrainian vigilantes are tearing down Russian symbols, statues, and landmarks in the middle of the night to "decolonize" their cities. They say its the latest effort to resist the "Russification" of their country.

The activists  operating under umbrella organizations such as Decolonize Ukraine  are recording the locations of Russian iconography across big cities and small towns, according to The Washington Post. They send these locations to Telegram channels, where thousands of members arrange to deface or destroy the landmarks, many of which are remnants of Ukraine's Soviet history.

Oleg Slabospitsky, a Kyiv-based activist, told the Post: "I'll be satisfied when everything is removed."

The Post reported that these efforts range from Russian language on street signs and public art to Soviet symbols and statues dedicated to Russian soldiers.

While it's a more scorched-earth approach than what Ukraine's local governments have supported, the Post said, it's not coming out of nowhere.

Kyiv began removing Soviet-era monuments long before Russia's invasion, Reuters previously reported, and those efforts have increased in the last year. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has taken a firm stance on the issue, signing two laws last month banning Russian place names and requiring use of Ukrainian language and knowledge of Ukrainian history and culture, The New York Times said.

The "Russification" of Ukraine  and Russian President Vladimir Putin's bogus claim that his invasion of Ukraine is to promote the "de-Nazification" of the country  has been a hot button issue. Russian authorities in occupied Ukraine recently forced Ukrainians to get Russian passports and or be deported, which intel suggested was an effort to further "Russify" the country, but some locals have resisted these efforts.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 12)  The National Privacy Commission (NPC) suspended work on Friday afternoon after receiving a bomb threat through its Facebook page.

The agency said the threat came via a comment posted at around 11:45 a.m., prompting the evacuation of all of its employees from its office in Pasay City.

I want to assure the public that we are taking this bomb threat very seriously, and we have implemented all necessary measures to ensure the safety and security of our premises and personnel, Privacy Commissioner John Henry Naga said in a statement.

The NPC added it has already coordinated with authorities to ascertain the credibility of the threat and to track down the person who posted the comment.

We do not have any information yet regarding the individual's intention or whether the threat is related to any case that NPC handles, it said.

As of 5 p.m., the Pasay City police cleared the building after finding no explosive device or substance, the NPC said in an update.
(Reuters) -Royal Mail's CEO Simon Thompson plans to step down later this year, saying it was the "right time" for the company to move forward under new leadership, as the British postal group tries to draw a line under a lengthy pay dispute.

Parent company International Distributions Services Plc (IDS) on Friday said its board was in "advanced stages" of appointing a new chief, and that Thompson had agreed to remain with the business until the end of October.

Thompson's two-year stint as CEO was marked by a tussle with the Communication Workers Union (CWU) that involved several nationwide strikes last year and ultimately led to a deal last month that included a 10% salary increase.

"It is now the right time to hand over to a new CEO to deliver the next stage of the company's reinvention," Thompson said in a statement.

Thompson drew heavy criticism from the CWU and its postal workers over his handling of the pay dispute, which had caused financial distress and major disruptions to mail deliveries.

"I think it's an important development. And hopefully, we now start to see a different attitude from management that our members feel locally," CWU General Secretary Dave Ward said in a livestream.

"Further change in Royal Mail Group's leadership team is vital," he added in an emailed statement.

IDS said Thompson, 56, believed it was the right time for the company to move forward under new leadership.

Royal Mail, which was privatised in 2013, has lost millions of pounds as a result of the strikes over pay and conditions.

In January, the company said it expected to make an adjusted operating loss near the mid-point of a previous forecast range of 350 million-450 million pounds for the fiscal year ending March 31. The company is set to publish full-year results next Thursday.

The company also ran into trouble earlier this year when a ransomware attack disrupted its international deliveries.

Shares in IDS have lost a third of their value since 2021, when Thompson took on the CEO role.

(Reporting by Eva Mathews in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Farouq Suleiman in London; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee and Jane Merriman)
The UN has accused the Malian army and foreign fighters of executing 500 people in Moura in March 2022

A damning report released Friday by the United Nations on a March 2022 incident in Moura, central Mali, describes five days of horror during which at least 500 people were allegedly executed by Malian and "foreign" soldiers.

Testimonies gathered by UN investigators suggest most were killed at gunpoint.

Their bodies were thrown into several mass graves which the military had ordered local residents to dig, according to the report.

"Those who resisted or tried to flee were systematically executed by both the white soldiers and the FAMa (Malian Armed Forces) and dragged into the pit," said one resident quoted by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

"The executions went on all day -- it was unbearable", he added.

Malian authorities did not allow UN investigators to access Moura apart from one initial flyover.

Instead, the report draws from 157 individual interviews with victims, residents and aid workers as well as 11 group interviews. The investigation lasted seven months.

Information is very difficult to obtain in the area, which is remote and dangerous to access. Telecommunications are poor and there are frequent military operations in the area.

The nationality of the white foreigners is not explicitly identified in the report. Mali has brought in Russian operatives that western countries and others say are Wagner mercenaries.

The report said some civilians were afraid of speaking out due to reprisals and strong political pressure.

Some sources were arrested by Malian services during their interviews with human rights officers, and others were ordered not to cooperate with the investigation, it said.

Ten days after the events, jihadists returned and abducted at least 10 people accused of cooperating with the Malian army who have since gone missing, the report said.

The only visual evidence of what happened is aerial photographs showing piles of burnt-out motorbikes.

But the UN account corroborates information gathered by various NGOs, which runs counter to the narrative of the ruling junta.

Story continues

- Three-hour assault -

In the late morning of March 2022, a livestock fair was in full swing in Moura, a rural town on the banks of a tributary of the Niger River.

Thousands of civilians had come to buy supplies in preparation for Ramadan.

The area has been known for years as a stronghold of Katiba Macina, a group affiliated with the Al-Qaeda-linked Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM).

About 30 jihadists were reportedly in the crowd.

At around 11:00 am (1100 GMT), five helicopters appeared in the sky. One of them reportedly opened fire "indiscriminately" in the direction of the market, and the jihadists returned fire.

About 100 men emerged from four of the landed helicopters.

Among them were Malian soldiers, but also white men in fatigues speaking an "unknown" language, according to witness testimony cited in the report -- indicating they were not speaking French, which is Mali's official language, or English.

The assault on the town lasted three hours, the UN said, killing 30 people including a dozen jihadists.

After seizing control, the Malian soldiers and white allies arrested at least 3,000 people, including men of all ages.

"The majority of the people executed were identified as terrorists... on the observation of apparent signs such as having a long beard, trousers that do not reach the ankle, marks on the shoulders supposedly from carrying a weapon, or even the fact that they showed fear", the report said.

- 'Beep of death' -

According to several sources, the military used a machine it claimed would detect "terrorists".

It made each man, including the village chief, pass through the machine and each time that it beeped, there was a death sentence.

The military swept the town and continued to make arrests between March 27 and 31.

At least 58 people were arrested, some of whom were tortured and ill-treated, according to the UN. It said 47 of them are now free.

"The soldiers slapped us, punched us, stomped on us, kicked us in the head, beat us with cords and with the butts of their weapons", said one man who was arrested, according to the report.

"They called us jihadists, accused us of killing our own brothers and destroying our country -- I told them that I knew nothing about all that and that I am not a jihadist", he added.

The report also said 58 women and girls were raped or made victims of other forms of sexual violence.

bur/clt/lal/emp/prc/ri
Alexei Navalny

Read also: Time to question Russias imperial innocence

What the Russian writer Viktor Shenderovich says is very characteristic of everything used in the world to think of Russian democracy and Russian liberalism. It is something that many in the West do not want to see. They hear some words, and some phrases, but do not want to delve into the essence of this whole process.

What did he actually say? He said that we are together, but we are all together because we live in this time and place. Some are closer, some are further, but we are all going somewhere in the same direction. So the only question is, how do we go there? And what Shenderovich says is a terrible position: He accuses us of Nazism.

Then this sick idea of greatness will crumble

And if you heard his interview, he stated why we're parting ways: Because Ukrainians are actually Nazis. Take this logic further. So we destroy the Putin regime with our blood, then they come to power because the West believes them to be liberals who will make a wonderful Russia of the future. Then they will accuse us of Nazism. They will say that "They are Nazis. We talked about it during the war." This is the essence of what is called Russian liberalism.

Of course, I am far from blaming everyone who is there. There are really, maybe a dozen or so, people with their heads on right. Many left Russia long ago. But when I hear such things said by someone who has said reasonable things in the past, I am reminded again of a saying by Lenin  If you scrape a Russian democrat, you can very quickly find a Russian chauvinist.

Russian "liberalism" today is a chauvinism. Even people jailed for ten years in Russian prisons (I mean Khodorkovsky) are saying: "No, no, we need Russia." And what kind of Russia do you need? Of course, they mean one, which is integral, large, and nuclear. Who will guarantee that after a nominal liberal comes to power in the Kremlin after the defeat of Putin's regime, another Putin will not appear? I talk about this all the time. Where was the guarantee that Putin would not appear after Yeltsin? He appeared.

Story continues

Because the issue here is, I would like to emphasize, that this is not about the leaders of Russia, but about the Russian people who demand to have a dictator, a tsar, who wants to continue doing terrible imperial policies.

Read also: Its not only about Putin: What must change in Russia

The issue we really disagree on with the so-called Russian opposition is that Russia can no longer exist. From the Baltic to the Pacific Ocean, it needs to be crushed. Then this sick idea of greatness will crumble. Because, so far, all this is the result of the mental illness of the Russian people, which is called "velychie". Until we improve it, the situation will not change.

This group of Russian "liberals" now travels around Europe and America and holds meetings. Recently there was a meeting in Berlin. They made an inspiring declarationfor all good things, against all bad things.

So they are masters of beautiful texts, statements, appeals, and everything else where you can write anything. But, they cannot do anything concrete to overthrow the Putin regime. Because they, unfortunately, and this must be said frankly, do not represent anyone but themselves. They are not legitimate.

They are often compared to Svitlana Tikhanovskaya. Tikhanovskaya has legitimacy because the electoral victory was stolen from her; people voted for her. Nobody voted for these people. In addition, they continue to meet in the European Parliament and the European Commission and carry out extensive informational work to be believed and taken seriously.

And this will be another huge mistake of the West, which will say: Look, is Khodorkovsky a bad guy? Excellent. And is Navalny, who was jailed, a bad guy? No, hes great. And the same Shenderovich, sitting in Israel, prophesying how to build a beautiful future Russia, is he bad? No, he's good." And on this, another illusion about a Russia that can be changed will be built.

It should be changed in a different way. Not giving power to a group that will simply disappear in three to five years, because nobody wants this liberal Russia. The Russian people need a tsar, a man who will keep them in submission. It is a slave nation, and this should be said with sincerity and frankness. There is no need to be afraid to say it because it is true.

This truth must be conveyed to our Western partners because they look at the Russians through their Western liberal glasses. They need help understanding what it is about. They think they are just as normal as everyone else. But, unfortunately, they are not. Putin is not just Putin. Putin is a person who expresses the thoughts and values of the people. He would have been gone a long time ago if it were otherwise.

Last year, according to Russian polls, just two percent of the Russian population spoke in favor of Western values, and 60% said that the West is a threat, "we don't need your liberal gender and other joys. We have our own."

Read also: Russia has considered replacing Putin for a year  Budanov

Therefore, I am simply afraid that our Western liberal colleagues will again buy into the thesis that a group of such intelligent, sensitive people will change something. I can't say anything about Kasparov - an outstanding not only chess player, but also a human rights defender, a person who wants to build something for his people. But he is so far from home that he does not understand that his kind does not take root in Russia. You know, it's like planting a seed, but it just didn't get there due to certain circumstances - the soil is not the same, it pushes it out, and the seed doesn't germinate.

Therefore, it is necessary to proceed very surgically. This disease has affected 120 million (or however many) people and can only be solved by surgery. You need to separate its parts. Other peoples living there were violently annexed by Muscovy, who were colonized and still suffer from this at the hands of Muscovy, who were forcefully denationalized.

Therefore, we must explain these things to our Western partners to prevent another step in the wrong direction.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Tens of thousands of people are waiting to cross into the US from Mexico, officials say, after a pandemic-era border policy expired on Friday.

The policy, known as Title 42, allowed the US to swiftly deport people without an asylum hearing, using the coronavirus pandemic as justification.

It ended overnight after three years along with the country's national Covid-19 health emergency.

President Biden's new rules to replace Title 42 are facing legal challenges.

Several people in the town of El Paso in Texas said they hurried to reach the border ahead of the policy change. They told the BBC they were unsure what the new rules would mean and had been left confused by rumours and misinformation.

Jon Uzcategui and his girlfriend Esmaily, both 24, arrived here from Venezuela. They said they were told by smugglers and other migrants that they would be immediately deported if they presented themselves at the border, prompting them to illegally cross the barriers separating El Paso from Mexico.

"We trusted them, and were starting to move into the US. But we were stopped at a roadblock," said Mr Uzcategui, who was eventually allowed in after his asylum claim was heard. "The agents told us that [what we heard] was all false."

"All the migrants were talking about 11 May," he added. "But there were lots of rumours. We just knew something was changing."

The end of Title 42 triggered a desperate race to the 2,000-mile (3,200km) US-Mexico border. About 10,000 people have been crossing each day - the highest levels on record.

Border authorities on Friday said they had not seen "a substantial increase" in migrants crossing since the end of Title 42.

The Mexican government put the number of waiting migrants at its border with the US at just under 27,000 - less than half of the US estimate of 60,000.

Ahead of the policy's expiration, it was quiet in El Paso where makeshift migrant camps on the city's streets have largely been removed. But local authorities and humanitarian organisations are bracing for what some fear may be a difficult-to-manage rise in attempted crossings.

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The city's mayor, Oscar Leeser, warned that an estimated 10,000 migrants were waiting for an opportunity to cross into El Paso from Ciudad Juarez in Mexico.

About 10,000 migrants were crossing the border every day ahead of Title 42's expiry

The Biden administration has unveiled a raft of new measures aimed at encouraging people to stop crossing illegally and to follow the asylum process.

These include the opening of regional processing centres in Latin America and the expanded use of a Customs and Border Patrol-run app to book asylum appointments.

Officials say those crossing the border illegally will be deported, barred from re-entering the US for at least five years and presumed ineligible for asylum.

Under Title 42, there were no such consequences meaning repeat attempts to cross the border were common.

"We are ready to humanely process and remove people without a legal basis to be in the US," Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said. "The border is not open."

The new rules and the efforts of immigration officials to assuage the fears of local residents have done little to reassure many of those who help migrants in El Paso.

"It's going to be a very large challenge for us," said Susan Goodell, the chief executive of El Pasoans Fighting Hunger Food Bank, which has been feeding hundreds of migrants each day on the city's streets.

"We're preparing, to the best of our ability, to find the food that we need to feed people living on the street or in shelters," she said. "With the lifting of Title 42, we think it'll be a short time before we start seeing a large number of migrants coming into the community again."

"We're stocking up on food and supplies as much as possible," said Nicole Reulet, marketing director of Rescue Mission El Paso, a local shelter that houses migrants.

"Nobody really knows what to expect, or what the numbers will look like. It makes it hard for us to prepare."

On Thursday, about 25,000 migrants were in Border Patrol custody, far exceeding the agency's capacity to hold them.

To reduce overflow, officials had planned to release migrants and tell them to report to an immigration office within 60 days. That effort, however, was blocked by a federal judge in Florida. The Biden administration is expected to appeal.

In the longer term, the lifting of Title 42 is likely to be a contentious political issue in the US. House Republicans, for example, are already considering a package of immigration bills, although they have little chance of passing a Democratic-controlled Senate.

The country's immigration system has not been significantly updated for decades and both Democrats and Republicans have said it is in need of reform.

But the two sides have major differences on border policy, meaning there is little prospect of bipartisan legislation that could overhaul the system in future

(With additional reporting by Angelica Casas)
The police of St Petersburg, Russia, have created an anti-drone unit responsible for "air safety" during mass events.

Source: Russian RBC, referring to the police press service

Details: Police report that the group includes mobile patrols that will detain drone operators, shooters with sniper rifles and carbines, and technical teams that will suppress drones with special equipment.

As the police officers note, the new unit primarily recruited police officers who had been on business trips to the territories of Ukraine occupied after 24 February.

The unit started its work on 9 May. The police press service claims that five sniper pairs and two groups with anti-drone electromagnetic rifles were deployed on the roofs of buildings in the city centre. Several ground posts were involved. Mobile units also patrolled the streets.

Background:

The Kremlins press service has claimed that Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles "attempted to launch an attack" on "the Kremlin residence of Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia". Ukrainian officials deny any involvement in the drone attack. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine "is not attacking Putin or Moscow".

In addition, over the past month, drones have attacked a number of Russian oil depots, refinery airfields, and other facilities.

Against the background of the attacks, the Russian authorities began to ban the use of drones in the regions. By 11 May, about 50 regions of Russia had introduced bans on the use of UAVs.

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The University of Reading is to install a water source heat pump that it says will cut its overall carbon footprint by 10%.

The scheme will provide half of the heating and hot water to 15 buildings on the Whiteknights Campus.

It is being paid for with a 2.2m government grant, which has been match-funded by the university.

The government's Green Heat Network Fund provides capital funding to help decarbonise heat networks.

University energy and sustainability director Dan Fernbank said: "Once the heat pump is fully operational, we expect to see savings of 150,000 per year."

Vice chancellor Prof Robert Van de Noort said: "This is a flagship project for the university, and as with all our activities, we look forward to sharing our experience with the wider world and encouraging others to take similar actions."

The existing engine and gas boilers will be retained but used less frequently, with the university aiming for full decarbonisation by 2030.

Follow BBC South on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Send your story ideas to south.newsonline@bbc.co.uk.
US accuses South Africa of arming Russia: USA TODAY Domestic Security Correspondent Josh Meyer talks through U.S. claims that South Africa supplied arms to Russia. Plus, Title 42 comes to an end, a man will be charged in the killing of Jordan Neely, and USA TODAY Supreme Court Correspondent John Fritze explains the context around a decision on an animal welfare law, and the ACM Awards are in the books.

Podcasts: True crime, in-depth interviews and more USA TODAY podcasts right here

Hit play on the player above to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript below. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.

Taylor Wilson:

Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson and this is 5 Things you need to know Friday, the 12th of May 2023. Today, the US accuses South Africa of cozying up to Russia. Plus, Title 42 is over, and a man will face charges for the killing of Jordan Neely.



The US yesterday accused South Africa of secretly providing weapons to Russia last December. And as USA TODAY Domestic Security Correspondent Josh Meyer told me, that's an escalated and already testy geopolitical situation for the Biden administration. Hi, Josh.

Josh Meyer:

How are you?

Taylor Wilson:

Good, thanks. Thanks for hopping back on. So the US is accusing South Africa of secretly arming Russia. What are US officials saying specifically here?

Josh Meyer:

The US Ambassador to South Africa, Reuben Brigety, accused South Africa of providing weapons to Russia via a cargo ship that docked secretly at a naval base near the City of Cape Town for three days last December. So this isn't exactly new.

The implication, of course, was that the weapons are being used to help in the war in Ukraine, although he stopped short of saying that. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has said that an investigation's underway, but he refused to answer questions today in Parliament when this came up as to whether this is true or not.

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It's a very serious concern for the US because in this changing geopolitical landscape that we have, especially over the war in Ukraine, we thought South Africa was one of our steadfast allies, and in recent months, they've shown a very keen interest in being aligned with Russia. There's been visits back and forth by key diplomats. South Africa has refused to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Also, they haven't really wanted to participate as much as other countries, or as much as Washington has hoped, in sanctioning Russia for what it's doing.

So when you couple all of that with the fact that there's weapons being loaded onto a Russian ship, a sanctioned Russian ship, by the way, it raises a lot of questions, and clearly the White House is concerned about it.

Taylor Wilson:

Josh, why is South Africa keeping the door open on relations with Russia?

Josh Meyer:

That's a good question. I mean I think in terms of the context for this, South Africa has always been a key ally of the United States, but it's also been a very important cog in the US versus Soviet Cold War relations. Going back to pre-apartheid days, the southern tip of Africa has always been a very, very strategic port, this Port Simon's Town where the weapons were offloaded. Because it's at the very southern tip of Africa, it's a very strategic place to get weapons or any other supplies from the eastern side to the western side.

Political analysts and the deputy chairperson of the South African Institute for International Affairs said that the United States has closely watched this very strategic port dating back decades, and that if we accuse Russia of doing something like this, that it's almost entirely impossible that we don't have dead to rights accurate intelligence.

What he said is the United States has a huge interest in Simon's Town and in the cape sea route, and that even during the apartheid era, the United States government and the British government both had an agreement with the apartheid government of South Africa to monitor Soviet shipping going around the cape. So when we see a Russian ship loading up with weapons from South Africa, you can be pretty sure that we know exactly what's going on. And so, it appears that the US ambassador to South Africa called them on it, and we'll wait and see what happens.

Taylor Wilson:

Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to visit South Africa this summer, even though there's an international criminal court arrest warrant out for him. What does the US expect South Africa to do with that dilemma?

Josh Meyer:

Well, that's another very good question. I mean technically it's called a red notice, an international arrest warrant enforced by Interpol for Putin. And so, we would expect that any of our allies would arrest him if he sets foot on their soil. But I believe South Africa has already said that they're not going to arrest him. They're very eager for him to show up there. It's a big credibility booster for them. That's something that I think is another part of this bigger controversy in which the US is pushing South Africa to take sides, and it appears like it doesn't want to at this point. The worst thing for us would be to push them so hard that they side with Russia against the United States.

Taylor Wilson:

All right. Josh Meyer, thanks so much.

Josh Meyer:

My pleasure. Anytime.



Taylor Wilson:

Title 42 is over. The emergency immigration restriction, which allowed for the easier expulsion of migrants at the border, among other things, came to an end last night. The controversial program had been tied to the federal public health emergency for COVID-19. Border patrol agents can no longer expel migrants for public health reasons. But the Biden administration has a new rule, that migrants seeking asylum at the southern border will be turned away unless they've first applied online or sought protection in a country they've already passed through. For more, be sure to go back and listen to my talk with border reporter Lauren Villagran in the Thursday episode of 5 Things.



Nearly two weeks after a man used a chokehold to restrain and ultimately kill another man on a New York City subway car, the 24-year-old will face criminal charges. Daniel Penny will be arrested and charged for killing Jordan Neely, a 30-year-old Black man experiencing homelessness and mental health problems. Penny, a white US Marine Corps veteran, faces a charge of secondary manslaughter, which could carry a jail term of up to 15 years. Neely's violent death sparked days of protests in New York.



The Supreme Court yesterday sided with California in a dispute over an animal welfare law. I spoke with USA TODAY Supreme Court Correspondent John Fritze for more. John, welcome back to the show.

John Fritze:

Hey, thanks for having me.

Taylor Wilson:

What did they decide here, John?

John Fritze:

So this case deals with a 2018 ballot initiative passed in California, Proposition 12, that essentially banned the sale of pork products in California. I'm going to not do this as technically as I could because it involves a lot of farming stuff, but basically the idea is if the pigs are in small pens, pens where they can't turn around and so forth. And so, as an animal welfare measure, California said look, we can't sell bacon, pork chops, other pork products in our state unless you guarantee that the pigs are treated well, have large pens.

The issue with this is that California produces almost no pork, although as a large state, it's a huge consumer of pork. The pig farmers in other states like Minnesota and the South said look, we can't do this. This would be a huge imposition, a huge cost. Why does one state get to dictate the terms to us for how we raise pigs in another state? And so, what this really got into was an issue of cross-state commerce and the commerce clause in the Constitution.

The Supreme Court came down on the side of California and said that it didn't implicate some of those broader questions that the law treated California farmers the same way it treated farmers. Now there's a state, so it wasn't like it was discriminating against those out-of-state farmers, and really handed California, I think, a pretty broad win on this question.

Taylor Wilson:

What did the dissenting opinion argue here?

John Fritze:

Yeah. So it's what we call a fractured opinion. Justices were all over the map on this. But Chief Justice John Roberts has a very interesting opinion, dissenting in part and agreeing in part, basically saying that, look, courts should be able to and should balance the benefit from laws like this against the potential costs externally. There's a lot of debate about whether courts are in a position to do that. That's kind of a tough thing for courts to do. How do you measure the benefit of an animal welfare law? People have different opinions about that. And so, one of the things Gorsuch is saying is, look, courts can't really do that. Roberts is saying you've got to try. And so, that is a little bit of a technical argument off to the side, but I think potentially important going forward.

Taylor Wilson:

John, some listeners might be wondering how pig farming affects their lives. You touched on this a little bit, but what's the potential impact beyond pork?

John Fritze:

Yeah. I mean this is the really important part of this case, and it's tough to get to because you've got to talk about all this other stuff first, and bacon and pork chops and stuff. That's fun and interesting. But there is this significant question here. We're in a moment in the nation where states are passing wildly divergent laws on all kinds of things dealing with education and immigration and abortion and so forth. The real question of this case is can a state pass a law that affects another state?

So, I'll give you a for instance. What if a liberal state passes a law saying, look, you can only sell products in our state if the products are made with labor union skilled work? How do other states respond to that? What if a state passes a law saying, look, we're only going to allow you to import fruit into our state if you can guarantee that the fruit was picked by citizens of the United States and not migrant farm workers? I think the issue here is that it opens up a lot of potential questions about state laws affecting other state laws at a time when we're divided. There's a lot of division in state policies between red states and blue states.

Taylor Wilson:

USA TODAY Supreme Court Correspondent John Fritze, great insight as always. Thanks so much.

John Fritze:

Thank you.



Taylor Wilson:

A big night for country music is in the books. The Academy of Country Music Awards were hosted by Dolly Parton and Garth Brooks last night outside Dallas. Lainey Wilson and Hardy entered the night as leading nominees, and both walked away with awards, including Album of the Year for Wilson's Bell Bottom Country.

Lainey Wilson:

Oh my goodness, y'all. For the little girls watching this, this right here, it stands for hard work. If you're going to be a dreamer, you better be a doer.

Taylor Wilson:

Wilson was also named Female Artist of the Year while Morgan Wallen won Male Artist of the Year. You can read up on all the winners with a link in today's show notes.

Thanks for listening to 5 Things. We're produced by Shannon Rae Green. Our executive producer is Laura Beatty. Special thanks to Cherie Saunders and Alexis Gustin. I'm Taylor Wilson back tomorrow with another episode of 5 Things.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Title 42 ends, ACM awards in the books: 5 Things podcast
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP)  U.S. Army Chief of Staff James McConville met with Indonesias top defense official on Friday to push for stronger security ties amid growing Chinese maritime activity in the Indo-Pacific region.

McConville said he and Indonesian Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto discussed ways to deepen cooperation, including enhanced military exercises between the countries.

We have many friends in the region, and we work closely together. We all share the same interests for the region: peace, security, stability, McConville said. That's why we work together on maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific for everyone.

Subianto said the promotion and maintenance of peace and stability in the region is our common concern, but stressed Indonesias neutral stance, saying it wants to maintain relationships with all nations, especially all the major powers.

McConville arrived in Jakarta late Thursday from the Philippines, which is locked in an ongoing dispute with China over territory in the South China Sea. His visit there followed joint U.S.-Philippine war drills last month that antagonized Beijing.

On Thursday, leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations met in Indonesia for a summit at which territorial disputes in the South China Sea were high on the agenda. China claims virtually all of the sea, which is also claimed in part by Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.

The South China Sea is home to vital shipping lanes, plentiful fish stocks and undersea mineral resources. China and ASEAN have made little headway in finalizing a code of conduct to avoid conflicts in the area.

The ASEAN leaders renewed a call for self-restraint in the disputes to avoid miscalculations and confrontations, repeating language used in previous ASEAN statements.

While Chinas influence and military strength in the region are growing rapidly, the U.S. remains the dominant military power. Washington has a security alliance with the Philippines and strong relations with several other ASEAN members.
(Reuters) - U.S. Deputy Secretary for State Wendy Sherman is expected to leave her post in the summer, CNN reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Her replacement is not known, CNN reported. It gave no reason for the change.

Sherman, a foreign policy veteran, has been in the role since April 2021 and has been involved in various policy areas including U.S-China relations.

Secretary of State Anthony Blinken had largely delegated China policy duties to Sherman, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The department is likely to see another change with senior State Department sanctions official James O'Brien most likely to be nominated as the assistant secretary for European affairs, a source informed Reuters.

The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting by Gokul Pisharody in Bengaluru and Humeyra Pamuk; Editing by Robert Birsel)
By Rachael Levy

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers will ask regulators to investigate whether the make-up of a panel overseeing animal testing at Elon Musk's brain-chip startup Neuralink contributed to botched and rushed experiments.

U.S. House Representatives Earl Francis Blumenauer and Adam Schiff, both Democrats, have signed a draft letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) requesting a probe into how Neuralink oversaw its experiments, Blumenauer's office said.

The lawmakers have shared the draft with peers to gather more signatures and plan to send it to the USDA on Monday. The draft states that they are responding to a May 4 Reuters story which revealed that Neuralink filled its oversight board with company employees who stand to benefit financially from the start-up securing regulatory approval for its novel brain chip.

The panel approved experiments that resulted in the unnecessary deaths and suffering of animals, Reuters showed in a Dec. 5 story. A spokesperson for Blumenauer said the USDA did not respond to an earlier request from lawmakers for a probe into Neuralink in the wake of that story.

"Congress has a significant interest in ensuring that all facilities using animals in research and testing - whether they are government-run, universities, or private companies - comply with the minimal standards of the Animal Welfare Act," the draft letter states.

Musk and Neuralink representatives, and spokespeople for the USDA and the agencys inspector general, did not respond to requests for comment.

Neuralink has already been the subject of federal probes. Reuters reported on Dec. 5 that the USDA's Inspector General was investigating, at the request of a federal prosecutor, potential violations of the Animal Welfare Act, which governs how researchers treat and test certain types of animals. This probe has also been looking at the USDA's oversight of Neuralink.

The Inspector General and the USDA did not respond to a request for comment on the progress of that investigation.

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The U.S. Department of Transportation said in February it was investigating Neuralink over the movement of hazardous pathogens. An agency spokesperson said this probe is continuing, without providing details.

USDA inspectors visited Neuralink's California and Texas facilities in January in response to Reuters' reporting and the queries of lawmakers, but found no issues, Reuters reported last week.

Neuralink has been trying to secure clearance to advance to human trials after a prior attempt was rejected last year by the Food and Drug Administration because of safety concerns.

(Reporting by Rachael Levy in Washington, D.C.; Editing by Stephen Coates)
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 12)  The government said Friday it is ready to resolve any issues with Kuwait over the visa issuance suspension.

In a statement, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Kuwaiti has informed Manila of its decision suspending the issuance of new entry visas for newly hired Filipinos effective immediately.

The agency did not state Kuwaits reason for the visa issuance suspension.

READ: Kuwait suspends issuance of visas for Filipinos

The DFA said government would discuss and resolve any bilateral issues in an amicable manner.

In the case of Kuwait, we are confident that with our friendly relations and strong people-to-people links, we shall be able to find a mutually satisfactory solution that will take into account the need to provide maximum protection and access to justice for all our nationals working in the country, it said.

Meanwhile, the Department of Migrant Workers expressed its readiness to aid affected Filipinos in Kuwait.

"We shall continue to pursue the track of labor diplomacy in ensuring the welfare and safety of our overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), while we await more details as to the rationale and issues surrounding the action of the Kuwait government," the DMW said in a statement.

The department also said it is working closely with the DFA and the Philippine Embassy in Kuwait, as well as Philippine recruitment agencies and Filipino communities in addressing the situation.

The DFA said around 290,000 Filipinos live and work in the Gulf state.
Video grab handout image obtained May 4, 2023 and shot by a witness on Monday, May 1, 2023, shows the moment a homeless man, identified by the police as Jordan Neely, was put in a chokehold by a fellow rider on the New York subway

New York prosecutors will charge a US Marine -- who allegedly caused the chokehold death of a homeless man on the city subway -- with manslaughter, a spokesman said Thursday.

"We can confirm that Daniel Penny will be arrested on a charge of manslaughter in the second degree," the spokesperson for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg told AFP.

He added that Penny will likely appear in a state court to answer the charge on Friday.

The death of Jordan Neely -- widely identified as a Michael Jackson impersonator who often performed on the train -- earlier this month sparked outrage.

It was caught on camera and angered activists and left-leaning lawmakers, leading to protests calling for the arrest of the alleged perpetrator.

The video showed Neely, 30, on the ground of a subway train as another man, reportedly 24-year-old US Marine Penny, held him around the neck.

Witnesses said the serviceman allegedly restrained Neely after the latter was acting erratically on the train and screaming at passengers for food and drink.

The incident touches on two burning issues in America's financial capital -- the many homeless people suffering mental illness and residents' fears for their safety on the underground.

It also had a racial element -- Neely was Black and Penny is white.

Family and friends told local media that Neely had a history of mental illness, like many living on the streets in the country's biggest city, with almost nine million residents.

Reports said Neely had been arrested dozens of times and that his mother had been murdered when he was a teenager.

Mental health and homeless activists said the city had failed Neely. Left-wing congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York said Neely had been "murdered."

Protesters -- including some who spilled onto subway tracks last weekend, sparking several arrests -- decried Neely's death as an example of white "vigilanteism."

Some social media users praised Penny for intervening but many criticized the level of force used.

New York City's medical examiner said that Neely was killed by "compression" of the neck, and ruled the death a homicide.

af-pdh/mlm
John Kirby

"As far as any other changes regarding long-range missile systems, our policy and decisions on this have not changed," Ukrainian news agency Ukrinform quotes Kirby.

Read also: U.S. backs Ukraines decision on Bakhmut, says Kirby

The official added that Washington is focusing on other military aid requested by Ukraine, and that there is currently a strong focus on providing Ukrainians with anti-air capabilities, including Patriot systems.

Read also: Zelenskyy inspects Dutch Patriot batteries to be handed over to Ukraine

On May 11, CNN reported that London had provided Kyiv with Storm Shadow cruise missiles, capable of hitting targets over 250 km away. This information was later confirmed by UK Defense Minister Ben Wallace, who emphasized Ukraine's sovereign right to defend its territory from the Russian invasion.

Read also: Ukrainian Air Force withholds confirmation of arrival of British Storm Shadow missiles

At the same time, the Ukrainian military is yet to confirm Storm Shadow missile have been put in service.

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
A Ponca tribe chief whose landmark lawsuit in 1879 established that a Native American is a person under the law was honored Friday with the unveiling of a U.S. Postal Service stamp that features his portrait.

The release of the stamp of Chief Standing Bear comes 146 years after the Army forced him and about 700 other members of the Ponca tribe to leave their homeland in northeast Nebraska and walk 600 miles (965 kilometers) to the Indian Territory in Oklahoma. Chief Standing Bear was arrested and imprisoned in Fort Omaha when he and others tried to return. This prompted him to file a lawsuit that led to an 1879 ruling ordering his release and finding that a Native American is a person with a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

For so long people didn't know his story or the Ponca story  our own trail of tears, Candace Schmidt, chairwoman of the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska said. "We are finally able to tell his story of perseverance and how we as a tribe are resilient."

Judi M. gaiashkibos, executive director of the Nebraska Commission on Indian Affairs, called the issuing of a Chief Standing Bear stamp a milestone that she hopes "provokes necessary conversations about race, sovereignty and equality in the United States.

Its remarkable, that the story of Nebraska Native American civil rights leader Chief Standing Bear has progressed from a native man being considered a non-person by the U.S. Government in 1879, to today, being recognized by the Postal Service with a stamp honoring him as an American icon, gaiashkibos said.

The Postal Service, which released the stamp at a ceremony Friday in Lincoln, Nebraska, has printed 18 million stamps. The stamp features a portrait of Chief Standing Bear by illustrator Thomas Blackshear II, based on a black and white photograph taken in 1877, the Postal Service said.

More than 100 members of the Ponca tribe died during or soon after the forced journey to Oklahoma, including Chief Standing Bear's only son. It was a desire to have his son buried in their homeland in Nebraska's Niobrara River Valley that resulted in the return of Chief Standing Bear and 29 others and their subsequent arrest.

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According to the National Park Service, two Omaha attorneys represented Chief Standing Bear at a two-day trial before Judge Elmer S. Dundy in U.S. District Court in Omaha. The government appealed Dundy's ruling that Chief Standing Bear and other arrested members of his tribe were persons but the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the case.

The Ponca members were freed and returned to their old reservation along the Niobrara River, where Chief Standing Bear died in 1908.

A congressional investigation later determined the government wrongly gave away the Ponca homeland and removed the tribe, leading to congressional legislation in 1881 that gave some compensation to members of the tribe. In 1924, an issue that arose in the 1879 trial was resolved when Congress approved a law that conferred citizenship on all Native Americans born in the United States.

The federal government terminated the Ponca tribe of Nebraska in 1966 but the tribe regained federal recognition in 1990. Schmidt said the Ponca now has about 5,500 members, operates three health clinic and offers numerous services to members.

We're doing really well, she said.

There is a separate Ponca tribe in Oklahoma.

Anton G. Hajjar, vice chairman of the Postal Service Board of Governors, said the post office has been issuing stamps that honor the legacy of great Americans since the 1800s. In issuing the stamp of Chief Standing Bear, Hajjar noted, It took our country far too long to recognize the humanity in many of its people  including the American Indians who lived in these lands for thousands of years.

The Postal Service previously has issued stamps honoring Native Americans including Pocahontas, Chief Joseph, Sequoyah, Red Cloud, Sitting Bull and Jim Thorpe.
US senators are increasing pressure on the Pentagon to force the transfer of evidence of Russian crimes in Ukraine to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.

Source: European Pravda with reference to Voice of America.

Details: During a hearing in the US Senate, a number of lawmakers sharply criticised the actions of the Pentagon, which, according to them, "is not on the list of US departments" cooperating with the International Criminal Court.

Democratic Senator Dick Durbin, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, asked US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin why the Department of Defense did not transfer evidence of Russian crimes to ICC prosecutor Karim Khan.

He recalled that given the importance of investigating and punishing war crimes, last year Congress legislatively allowed the United States to share critical evidence of war crimes and intelligence with the International Criminal Court. But despite this, the Pentagon did not transfer its data to the ICC.

In response, Austin said he fully agrees that President Putin needs to be held accountable for war crimes, but his priority is to protect the US military.

He added that Ukrainian and international investigations are important for bringing [war criminals] to justice. "I will always prioritise protecting U.S. military personnel and everything we do."

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham has proposed another meeting between lawmakers and Pentagon leadership to find out what is deterring the military from transmitting data on Russian war crimes to an international court.

Earlier, The New York Times reported that the Pentagon opposes providing the International Criminal Court with evidence of Russia's war crimes in Ukraine, collected by American intelligence agencies, because they fear creating a precedent for bringing Americans to justice in the future.

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Kouri Richins, accused of murdering her husband, reportedly had a celebration the day after his death. According to an affidavit The Salt Lake Tribune obtained, she invited her friends over for a large party that day at her Kamas, Utah, home.

The mother of three allegedly poisoned her husband, Eric Richins, in 2022, according to the outlet. Summit County Sheriffs Office deputies said they arrived at the residence at 3 a.m. on March 4 and found Eric Richins, 39, on the bedroom floor  where he was pronounced dead.

Kouri Richins claimed to have found him unresponsive in the middle of the night and said they celebrated closing on a house the day prior. She told investigators she made her husband a Moscow Mule, while a toxicology report revealed a fatal dose of fentanyl caused his death.

The day after Erics death, Kouri closed on the home, alone, stated the affidavit obtained by the Tribune and other outlets. She later invited her friends over for a large party at her home where she was drinking and celebrating.

She was charged Monday with one count of first-degree aggravated murder and three counts of possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute. Investigators have since uncovered previous attempts on Eric Richinss life.

While investigating the death, I was told by Erics family members that they suspected his wife had something to do with his death, Deputy Jayme Woody wrote in an affidavit. They advised he warned them that if anything happened to him, she was to blame.

Richins, seen last month, is accused of poisoning her husband with fentanyl.

Richins, seen last month, is accused of poisoning her husband with fentanyl.

The document suggested years ago, while vacationing in Greece that Eric Richins became violently ill after his wife made him a drink. He reportedly called his sister and said he thought Kouri Richins tried to kill him.

On Valentines Day 2022, he broke into hives and couldnt breathe after eating a sandwich made by Kouri Richins, according to the affidavit obtained by the Tribune. He had to use his sons EpiPen and took Benadryl before passing out for several hours. In addition, Eric Richins notably changed his will to benefit his sister rather than his wife before he died.

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He was looking for a divorce and wanted his kids taken care of, according to the search warrant affidavit.

A family spokesperson and attorney recently hinted that Eric Richins also had suspicions of his wifes alleged infidelity.

Hed had concerns previously, and he also had reason to believe she was having a relationship and that was continuing through their marriage... apparently in person, attorney Greg Skordas told Fox News Digital.

Investigators have since seized Kouri Richinss phone and retrieved messages to someone identified as C.L. in February 2022 about acquiring some of the Michael Jackson stuff.

Kouri Richins went on to write a childrens book about grief titled, Are You With Me? which was removed from Amazon and Google Books Wednesday and previously marked itself as a heartwarming and reassuring book that gently guides children through the difficult experience of losing a loved one.

She told Good Things Utah in April, My kids and I... wrote this book on the different emotions and grieving processes that weve experienced last year... hoping that it can kind of help other kids deal with this, and find happiness, some way or another,

She was arrested one month later  and remains in custody at the Summit County jail. Her next court hearing is scheduled for May 19.

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An Idaho jury found Lori Vallow Daybell, the mom charged with murder in the deaths of two of her children, 16-year-old Tylee Ryan and 7-year-old Joshua "JJ" Vallow, guilty on all charges.

A timeline of the caseCompelling moments marked weeks of testimony in Lori Vallow Daybell's trial

Vallow Daybell, 49, was also found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder in the deaths of the children and the death of her husband's first wife, Tammy Daybell, as well as guilty of theft charges for stealing Social Security payments issued for the children.

Judge Steven Boyce said she will be sentenced in about three months. She could face life in prison, but Boyce had taken the death penalty off the table ahead of her trial.

Her husband, Chad Daybell, has also been charged in the case, but faces a separate trial at a later date. He has pleaded not guilty.

A source close to the trial told CBS News that while Vallow Daybell showed no emotion at the verdict, she was upset with her attorneys for trying in closing arguments to shift blame to her husband.

Lori Vallow Daybell stands and listens as the jury's verdict is read in her murder trial at the Ada County Courthouse in Boise, Idaho, on Friday, May 12, 2023. / Credit: Kyle Green / AP

Relatives of the victims reacted with tears, signs of relief and a fist pump, and sat arm-in-arm as the judge wrapped up the hearing.

JJ Vallow's grandparents, Kay and Larry Woodcock, were greeted by cheers when they exited the courthouse as supporters sang "We Will Rock You," one of JJ's favorite songs. The two had attended much of the trial.

A visibly emotional Larry Woodcock thanked the jurors and said he wanted to hug them for what they'd had to see and hear during the case, and thanked everyone involved.

"Even the defense, I shook their hands. I have said many times, I want a fair, honest and righteous decision. I think we had 18 jurors that all deserve our appreciation, our love, and they gave an honest, fair and righteous verdict," he said.

When asked his final message to Lori, he started to sing a Willie Nelson song: "Turn out the lights, the party's over  they say that all good things must end."

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"Lori, it ended," he said.

Woodcock also had a message for the three victims in the case as he fought tears.

"JJ, I love you. Papa wished you were here in other circumstances. Tylee, Papa loves you. Tammy, I never met you. Tammy, you are part of our life  Tammy, I am sorry. My heart hurts for you. My heart hurts for you three," he said.

Prosecutors Rob Wood and Lindsey Blake said in a statement they were pleased with the verdict and thanked the jury, but would not discuss further details of the case, citing the pending charges against Chad Daybell.

"We want to assure each of you that we remain committed to pursuing justice for Tylee Ryan, JJ Vallow and Tammy Daybell," they said in the statement.

The jury of five women and seven men started its deliberations on Thursday afternoon, returning Friday to deliberate through lunch before returning the unanimous verdict.

Prosecutors called dozens of witnesses to build their case against Vallow Daybell, whom they accused of being motivated by money, power and sex in a case involving the increasingly fringe religious beliefs of the accused couple. Other deaths in their circle have also raised suspicions, including the shooting death of Vallow Daybell's husband Charles Vallow by her brother, Alex Cox, in what Cox claimed was self defense, and Cox's later unexpected death.

The defense did not call any witnesses, and Vallow Daybell did not testify.

Vallow Daybell is also charged with conspiracy to commit murder in her husband's Charles Vallow's July 2019 death in a separate case in Arizona.

In a statement provided to CBS News Friday afternoon, the Maricopa County Attorney's Office said that it has notified Idaho authorities of its "intent to prosecute the defendant in Arizona for charges stemming from these submittals."

Following her sentencing in Idaho, the Maricopa County Attorney's Office will begin extradition proceedings, noting that those could take "several weeks to several months."

 Kris Van Cleave contributed to this report.

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Greed, seduction, and murder. Thats what investigators say they found when they started digging into the past of Judy Buenoano, Pensacolas notorious serial killer who became known as The Black Widow. Her story will be featured this Sunday on the true crime documentary series, Very Scary People, with host Donnie Wahlberg.

Northwest Florida viewers may see some familiar faces in the two-hour episode. It includes interviews with several local people who knew or investigated Buenoano, including prosecutor Russ Edgar and retired Pensacola police detective, Ted Chamberlain.

Chamberlain first got involved in the case on June 25, 1983, when the car belonging to Buenoanos boyfriend at the time, John Gentry, blew up outside the Driftwood Restaurant near Downtown Pensacola.

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Judy Buenoano, Pensacolas notorious serial killer, became known as The Black Widow.

Five sticks of dynamite had been placed inside the trunk and it exploded when he started his car. Gentry was seriously injured but survived and thats when police began taking a closer look at Buenoano, especially when they learned so many people close to her had died and she had richly benefitted from it.

We worked a lot of hours and we found out things about Judy, that she had been married before, that her husband had died, and it just went on, and on, and on from there, while we were still working the bombing case, too, remembered Chamberlain. Every time wed look into something wed say, This is not right, and then wed keep looking and find somebody else died. Then I found out about her son in Santa Rosa County and his accidental drowning. I knew there was a hell of a lot more to it than just the car bombing.

Web of lies

Investigators found a trail of bodies and destruction in her past that included the poisoning deaths of her first husband, military veteran James Goodyear in 1971, and another lover, Bobby Joe Morris, in 1978. She is also suspected of poisoning her 19-year-old son Michael Goodyear, leaving him paralyzed before he accidentally drowned canoeing with his mother and brother on the East River, north of Navarre, in 1980.

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Detectives said she collected hundreds of thousands of dollars in life insurance money for each of the deaths, plus insurance payouts from two mysterious house fires during those years.

Until Gentrys car blew up in 1983, no one suspected the mother, widow, and seemingly successful face and nail salon owner was guilty of anything other than being flamboyant and wearing too much perfume.

Still, some who knew her saw another, darker side to Buenoano that instinctively made them suspicious. Pam Hills father was a long-time friend of Buenoanos and their families spent time together.

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Judias Goodyear Buenoano, born April 4, 1943, was sentenced in Orange County on Nov. 26, 1985, for the Sept. 16, 1971, death of her husband by poisoning him with arsenic, according to the Florida Department of Corrections. Nicknamed the "Black Widow," Goodyear was also convicted and sentenced to life for the May 13, 1980, drowning murder of her paralyzed son in Santa Rosa County. She had two death warrants signed and stayed. On March 30, 1998, the state of Florida executed Bueonano. She was the first woman to die in the electric chair in Florida.

Hill talks about her experiences in the Very Scary People documentary on the Black Widow, including how her father often asked her to babysit Buenoanos young daughter, Kim, as well as her son Michael, who was considered mentally slow. Growing up, his mother took him in and out of foster care.

A college student at the time, Hill said she was eventually too busy to babysit and Buenoano was furious when she quit.

Her face turned from the lively party person that she was to where she just looked at me and if looks could kill, I would be dead, remembered Pam Hill. The next day there were three dead birds in my mailbox. They had little name tags, like on cardboard, and like twine around their necks and they said Pam, and Tricia and Sharon, for me and my two sisters. One for each of us, three dead birds.

The day Michael Goodyear died in East River in Santa Rosa County, Hill got a call from her dad asking her to go with him to the scene. Michael's mother and younger brother, Jim, said he drowned when the boat accidentally flipped. The paralyzed 19-year-old was sitting in a lawn chair that had been wedged into the canoe. He was weighed down by heavy braces he wore on his arms and legs due to his deteriorated muscles.

Hill said she always believed something wasnt right and she felt for both Michael and his younger sister, Kim.

I cry when I think about what happened and it breaks my heart, mostly for Michael and Kim, said Hill. And I think about how close people can get to you and your family when theyre not honorable.

Caught in her own web

In 1984, Judy Buenoano was tried and convicted of trying to murder John Gentry and sentenced to 12 years in prison. Her son, James Goodyear, Jr., was charged as an accomplice. The state contended he wired Gentry's car, but in a separate trial the then 18-year-old was acquitted.

The bombing case prompted investigators to take a closer look at the deaths of Judys son, Michael, and she was also convicted of his murder and sentenced to life in prison.

When police exhumed the remains of her husband, James Goodyear, Sr., and her boyfriend Bobby Joe Morris, tests revealed arsenic in Goodyears remains and massive amounts of Thorazine in Morris body, a drug used to immobilize horses and large circus animals.

Police believe she poisoned them, as well as her son Michael, by dosing them in their food, drinks and vitamins.

Women on Death Row: There are 3 women on Florida's death row. Here's the killers' backstories.

In 1985, Buenoano was convicted of killing her husband and sentenced to die in Floridas electric chair, an execution that was carried out in 1998. She was the first woman executed in Florida since 1848.

Prosecutors in Colorado, where Morris died, decided not to pursue a case against her for Morris murder, since she was already on death row in Florida.

She never once admitted fault in any of her trials and always maintained her innocence.

Watch the Documentary

The Very Scary People episode on Buenoanos case will air on Mothers Day on Investigation Discovery, at 8 p.m. CST/9 p.m. EST.

Ted Chamberlain, now retired 20 years, thinks it will be especially interesting because people who havent previously talked about their involvement in the case, like prosecutor Russ Edgar as well as members of the victims families, will be included. He said its one of the biggest, if not the biggest case he investigated over his career.

She thought she was smart, and the greed got to her, said Chamberlain. I didnt think that she thought that anybody would ever look into her past or anything else and she started getting sloppy and making mistakes.

Although the story is tragic, Hill said there are lessons to be learned from criminals like Buenoano and perhaps thats why people are still so interested in her case.

Trust your intuition and dont take the path of least resistance, said Hill. Its so incredulous that she functioned, and she thrived among us at the expense of many of us. People are still interested in her story because she did it for so long, unchecked. Nobody checked out her story until people had already died and she just kept going until she was finally caught.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Judy Buenoano: Very Scary People features Pensacola Florida murderer
Vesna

Every day this week, we're speaking to one of the leading contenders for the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest.

For our penultimate chat, we caught up with girl group Vesna, whose feminist anthem My Sister's Crown sailed through Tuesday's qualifiers, thanks to its defiant refrain: "We are not your dolls".

Although they're representing Czechia (formerly the Czech Republic), the six-piece are actually a multi-national act.

Rapper Tanita is Bulgarian, bass player Tereza is Slovak, pianist Olesya is Russian, while songwriter Patricie Kanok, drummer Marketa and violinist Bara are all from Czechia.

They even collaborated with Ukraine's Kateryna Vatchenko on their Eurovision entry - whose chorus is sung in Ukrainian as a message of solidarity with their war-torn European neighbour.

Dressed in blush-pink suits, with floor-length ponytails, the band are mobbed by fans when they arrive in the Eurovision press centre. After posing for an endless succession of Instagram photos, TikTok video and BeReal snaps, they sit down to discuss their Eurovision experience.

You've just been mobbed! Is that happening everywhere now?

Patricie: Yes! It still feels a bit crazy. But we're just so happy that our message is being understood. That's what Eurovision is about. So, when the fans come and they love the song, we couldn't be more grateful.

How has the whole rehearsal and semi-final process been?

Patricie: It's really fine. We feel rooted on the stage and we feel calm. I think we're ready for the final.

How strange is it to be dancing instead of playing your instruments on stage?

Olesya: It's very strange - because until recently we pretended to play the instruments on stage and it was like, where's the sound? [The technical complexity of Eurovision means that all songs are sung to a backing track]. But now, as we are all dancing, we can express our emotions through our movements.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFm-hw2rUeA&pp=ygUXdmVzbmEgbXkgc2lzdGVyJ3MgY3Jvd24%3D

I'm a drummer and if anybody asked me to get up and dance, I'd be like, "I'm good, thanks. I'll stay hidden behind the kit."

Tanita: Fortunately, our drummer has great moves, so we have no problem.

Marketa: Lucky me!

Patricie: We always say how funny that our first public dance performance will be watched by 60 million people and our second, in the final, will be watched by 200 million. For beginners, that's pretty good!

You're rocking these incredible floor-length braids, which are part of your dance routine.

Tanita; We call it hair-ography! We've been practicing for three months.

Has anyone tripped up yet?

Patricie: No, we have carefully planned the plaits not to be longer than our ankles. Of course, tripping over has happened in our nightmares, but it hasn't happened in real life. And It won't happen.

The band's performance was a fan favourite in the Liverpool Arena at Tuesday's semi-final

My Sister's Crown is a really powerful song. Can you tell us a bit about the lyrics?

Patricie: Our message is to stand up for those people who are being put down or being stepped on. If you see somebody being pushed into the corner, or having their crown taken away, we feel it's wrong.

So it has a message of empowerment - which you can see in our sisterhood. But can also apply to a community or a country that is going through a hard time.

When you sing the chorus in Ukrainian, it's a really powerful statement.

Patricie: That's correct. When we sing, "we stand for you" in Ukrainian, we are supporting that Slavic country with a message from all the other Slavic counties.

There's a feminine principle of solidarity and empathy with other, and when you see that basic human rights are being neglected, it's just so painful.

You've been playing together since 2016. How has the band developed?

Tanita: We all met in music school in Prague in the Czech Republic, but we all come from different countries.

Patricie: We've already released two albums at home, and the music usually depicts what we are going through as a band, as women. The more mature we get, we see world in a different way, so every record reflects that growth and I think with time it's getting more and more polished.

So for example, right now, with the opportunity of having our music exposed to the whole world, we decided to create an EP which is combining other Slavic languages.

I heard a rumour it will be released on Sunday...

Patricie: Yeah, it comes out one day after Eurovision.

Very smart!

Olesya: Maybe! [Laughter]

The group have already released two albums, toured with Aurora and collaborated with Hradec Kralove's Philharmonic Orchestra

Czechia's best result in Eurovision is sixth place but there's speculation that you might improve on that. Does that get into your head?

Patricie: Every time when we go on a stage, a few moments before we begin, we just make a circle and we remind each other, "This is not about us being perfect. It's not about worrying about making mistakes or not making mistakes." We're really here to spread a message and that has already happened.

So if people love it and if they understand it - if it touches their heart - then that's our victory.

Patricie, I know you're a huge Taylor Swift fan... What would you do if she called up to ask for a collaboration?

Patricie: Oh my God. You don't want me into your microphone but, 'Aaaaaaaaaaah'! For sure she could come along. She's a genius songwriter. I don't understand how she manages to write two albums in one year!

To be fair, that was in lockdown. We all had a lot of time on our hands.

Patricie: That's true. But again, I think we also did a good job of staying creative during Eurovision. We recorded three new songs in the last two months and you can hear them on the EP. So we are in Taylor's shadow but it's a good shadow to be in.
A 78-year-old Maryland resident who plays the lottery every day was one number away from a huge prize recently.

So he decided to try again, and he bought another ticket from the a Circle K in Frederick County, according to a May 12 Maryland Lottery news release.

I go every day to play numbers and I was off by one. So, I decided to try a scratch-off since I came so close. I was feeling lucky, the Vietnam veteran told officials.

His second $20 scratch-off ticket paid off: He won a $50,000 top prize, according to officials.

The winner said he didnt believe his prize when he first saw it.

I said to myself, You got to be kidding me! I couldnt believe it, he told officials.

The man plans to pay bills with his prize, officials said.

Frederick County is about 60 miles northwest of Washington, D.C.

Many people can gamble or play games of chance without harm. However, for some, gambling is an addiction that can ruin lives and families.

If you or a loved one shows signs of gambling addiction, you can seek help by calling the national gambling hotline at 1-800-522-4700 or visiting the National Council on Problem Gambling website.

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The Victor Valley Wastewater Reclamation Authority has won the Global Water Award for Wastewater Project of the Year. The agency's Anaergia plant has also announced that it will supply renewable natural gas to a Southern California-based Toyota facility.

The Victor Valley Wastewater Reclamation Authority won the Global Water Award for Wastewater Project of the Year.

The winning project is the state-of-the-art co-digestion and biogas upgrading facility the water agency's site in Victorville, according to authority officials. The big win was announced on Tuesday during an award ceremony in Berlin, Germany. The agency's Anaergia plant also announced that it will supply renewable natural gas to a Southern California-based Toyota facility.

The project is a public-private partnership between Victor Valley Wastewater Reclamation Authority, SoCal Biomethane, a subsidiary of Anaergia Inc., and Southwest Gas.

The Victorville facility collects methane from the co-digestion of food waste and municipal sewage and converts it into renewable natural gas (RNG). The project, which was commissioned in 2022, treats 235,000 tons a year of food waste and biosolids collecting 320,000 Mmbtu of biomethane which is converted into RNG.

The RNG is then injected into a SWG pipeline for commercial distribution. It is North Americas largest privately financed co-digestion-to-biomethane project for pipeline injection at a wastewater treatment plant.

By co-digesting off-site waste, the plant makes Victor Valley Wastewater Reclamation Authority a regional champion for waste reduction even beyond its wastewater responsibilities, agency officials said.

The renewable disposal of food waste has become increasingly in demand with the passage of Californias SB 1383 which requires 75% of organic materials like food waste to be diverted from landfills.

We are deeply honored to receive this international recognition for the innovative work we are doing with our partners," Authority General Manager Darron Poulsen said. The RNG project at (Victor Valley Wastewater Reclamation Authority) is a showcase of how public agencies, utilities and private business can come together to help resolve significant environmental challenges.

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Poulsen also saluted facility's staff for their hard work in making the project a success.

For several decades Anaergia has been helping cities, utilities and industries decarbonize by converting their waste into carbon-negative fuel and diverting organics from landfill disposal," Anaergia Chairman Andrew Benedek said. Our facilities help reduce methane emissions at scale and make net zero possible around the globe every day.

A 2022 photo show Victor Valley Wastewater Reclamation Authority General Manager Darron Poulsen, right, giving former Assemblyman Thurston Smitty Smith a tour of Anaergia's gas conditioning facility that turn smethane or biogas into renewable natural gas at the VVWRA site in Victorville.

Anaergia plant to supply Toyota facility

Anaergia officials recently announced that its subsidiary SoCal Biomethane at the Victor Valley Wastewater Reclamation Authority site in Victorville will supply RNG made from food waste and municipal wastewater to Toyota Motor North America Inc.s Logistics Services Center at the Port of Long Beach.

Anaergia executive said the arrangement was facilitated by renewable fuels marketer Anew Climate to FuelCell Energys Tri-gen system to produce carbon-negative hydrogen and electricity for the Long Beach facility.

Aneargia says the logistics center is Toyotas largest port operation, handling imports and exports for North America and processing about 200,000 vehicles per year.

Connecticut-based FuelCell Energys Tri-gen system will produce approximately 1.3 tons of renewable hydrogen per day that will fuel Toyota Mirai vehicles, Anaergia says.

The fuel cells will also produce a net 2.3 megawatts (MW) of electricityenough to power Toyota Logistics Services Centerand will add renewable electricity to the grid, as well as produce roughly 1,400 gallons of water per day that will be used for car washing operations.

Anaergia says its supply of RNG, which it says is the same molecule as methane, will be produced from food waste and municipal wastewater at the companys SoCal Biomethane plant in Victorville and will be sold and delivered to FuelCell Energy through Houston-based Anew Climate, an RNG marketer for the Victorville facility.

Because the methane sourced from Anaergia is made from renewable sources that otherwise emit fugitive methane emissions from decomposition, it is considered carbon negative, according to Anaergia.

When this RNG classified as carbon-negative is then converted to hydrogen and electricity in FuelCell Energys Tri-gen system, both outputs are considered zero-emissions and carbon negative.

We are proud to support Toyotas decarbonization goals at one of the largest ports in the world with the supply of carbon-negative renewable natural gas that enables emissions-free hydrogen fuel, Anaergia COO Yaniv Scherson said.

Carbon-negative fuels like RNG are essential to creating a net-zero emissions world, Scherson said. Because its a drop-in fuel, RNG enables rapid decarbonization. Its an immediately dispatchable platform for electricity and hydrogen production.

Anaergia says it is uniquely positioned to provide end-to-end solutions for extracting organics from waste, implementing AD technology, upgrading biogas, producing fertilizer, and cleaning water.

The firm has customers in the municipal solid waste, municipal wastewater, agriculture, and food processing industries.

Daily Press reporter Rene Ray De La Cruz may be reached at 760-951-6227 or RDeLaCruz@VVDailyPress.com. Follow him on Twitter @DP_ReneDeLaCruz

This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: Victor Valley Wastewater Reclamation Authority scores global award
Xi inspects Xiong'an New Area, urges new progress in its development

Xinhua) 09:21, May 12, 2023

BEIJING, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, Chinese president, and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made an inspection tour of Xiong'an New Area in north China's Hebei Province on Wednesday. Xi also presided over a meeting on promoting Xiong'an's high-standard and high-quality construction and development and delivered an important speech. He stressed that the development of Xiong'an New Area has entered a phase when the same importance must be attached to both its large-scale construction and its purpose to relieve Beijing of functions non-essential to its role as the national capital. The focus has shifted to high-quality construction, high-level management and high-quality development of relieving Beijing of functions non-essential to its role as the national capital, he said. It is imperative to boost confidence, maintain resolve, and step up efforts in a solid and fruitful manner to achieve new progress in various aspects of work.

Xi was accompanied by Premier Li Qiang, and Cai Qi, who is director of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee, and Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang. The three are all members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee.

On Wednesday, accompanied by Ni Yuefeng, secretary of the Hebei Provincial Committee of the CPC, and Wang Zhengpu, governor of Hebei, Xi conducted a fact-finding mission in the high-speed railway station, a local community, and construction sites.

On Wednesday morning, Xi took a high-speed train to Xiong'an New Area. Upon his arrival, Xi first inspected the construction and operation of the station. As the first important infrastructure project in the new area, Xiong'an Railway Station is of great significance. Xi examined the platforms, the waiting hall, and the squares outside, and learned about the station's construction and operation as well as the planning and construction of Zan'gang area, where the station is located. Xi said that Xiong'an Railway Station is the transportation hub of Xiong'an New Area. The transportation networks that connect the railway station and the rest of the new area should be further optimized, so as to improve the efficient flow of logistics and people, he said. Zan'gang area should be built into a cluster of high-end and high-tech industries, so that visitors will be able to immediately feel the new atmosphere of modernized Xiong'an New Area upon their arrival, he said.

Xi then took a car to Nanwenying community in Rongdong District of Xiong'an New Area, which is now home to 5,000-plus relocated people from Anxin and Rongcheng counties. While visiting the CPC service center for the public and then the community's canteen, Xi chatted cordially with staff of the community, residents seeking public services at the center, and elderly people dining at the canteen. He checked records of civil affairs of the community and expressed his satisfaction with its work on facilitating people's life and providing elderly care services. Xi stressed that he has been concerned about the life of relocated people. It's a relief to see their good living conditions. The key to boosting the development of Xiong'an New Area is to secure settlement and jobs for the relocated residents, so that they could live a stable, prosperous and promising life, Xi said. Xiong'an New Area needs to promote the modernization of its urban governance, and work must be done to the last detail in the initial phase to promote equal access to basic public services, so as to build a people's city that is both livable and conducive to doing business, Xi noted.

Xi called on the home of Li Jinghe, one of the relocated residents. Li told Xi that he moved into his new home in November 2021. The roomy and bright home offers much comfort, and his life is becoming better and better. Xi highlighted that developing Xiong'an New Area is a major strategic decision made by the CPC Central Committee. The relocated residents had answered the call of the state, supported the policies, and made their contributions to the implementation of the national strategies. Xi urged the young generation to boost their confidence, improve their capacities, contribute to their hometowns and work as builders of and successors to the cause of socialism in the building of a stronger China and national rejuvenation.

When Xi was leaving, the residents greeted him with loud cheers. Xi also waved goodbye to the residents. He said with emotion that he felt attached to this place as he once worked in Hebei, and hoped to build it into a better region. The development of Xiong'an New Area is a national project of millennial significance and should be pushed forward with concrete actions and sustained efforts. The construction cannot be done in a hasty mood, and neither should it rely solely on support, Xi said.

Xiong'an Intercity Railway Station is located at the core of the first-built zone in Xiong'an New Area. Xi then arrived at the construction sites of the station and the international trade center. He checked sand tables of the areas, overlooked the sites from a high point, and learned about the development of key infrastructure projects and major projects launched for the purpose of relieving Beijing of functions non-essential to its role as the capital. Xi noted that transportation plays the role of the blood vessels of a modern city, and smooth flow of traffic is the prerequisite to a city's healthy development. More efforts should be made in constructing a multidimensional comprehensive transport network, in making full use of underground space and in building a future city without "urban problems," so as to turn the high-standard blueprint into high-quality development of a city.

In the afternoon, Xi arrived at the Xiong'an Hall of the Xiong'an Exhibition Center. While watching the sand table and related short videos, he listened to the introduction on the overall planning and construction of Xiong'an New Area, and learned about the progress in ecological and environmental governance and protection of Baiyangdian Lake, river dredging and the "100 lakes connection project." He stressed that the endeavors to promote the ecological and environmental governance and protection of Baiyangdian Lake will benefit not only this generation, but many more to come. Therefore, comprehensive plans must be made and implemented in a steady manner.

Afterwards, Xi chaired a meeting on advancing the high-standard and high-quality construction of Xiong'an New Area at the multifunctional hall on the third floor of the exhibition center. Zheng Shanjie, director of the National Development and Reform Commission, Ni Yuefeng, secretary of Hebei Provincial Committee of the CPC, and Zhang Guohua, secretary of Party Work Committee of Xiong'an New Area made speeches. Heads of China Satellite Network Group Co., Ltd. and China State Construction Engineering Corporation submitted their written speeches.

After listening to their speeches, Xi delivered an important address. He stressed that under the firm leadership of the CPC Central Committee and with the strong support from the relevant central departments, Beijing, Tianjin and other regions, Hebei Province has performed its principal responsibilities, and the Party Work Committee and the Administration Committee of Xiong'an New Area have performed their due responsibilities and made solid progress on all fronts. As a result, significant phased achievements have been made in building Xiong'an New Area, top-level design regarding the construction and development of the new area is near completion, major progress has been made in infrastructure construction, efforts to relieve Beijing of functions non-essential to its role as the national capital are paying off, tangible results have been seen in the ecological and environmental governance of Baiyangdian Lake, positive results have been attained in deepening reform and opening-up, conditions for integrating industries and innovations have become more mature, and steady progress is being made in the relocation and resettlement of local residents. Within only six years, Xiong'an New Area has started from scratch and developed from a blueprint to reality. A high-level modern city is sprouting up, which is undoubtedly a miracle. All these achievements have been made while the world today is undergoing a scale of changes unseen in a century and during the COVID-19 pandemic that lasted for three years, which is very hard to come by. Facts have shown that the strategic decision of the CPC Central Committee on the development of Xiong'an New Area is correct, and work in different aspects is solid and effective.

Xi stressed the importance of fully, faithfully and comprehensively implementing the strategic plans of the CPC Central Committee on the construction of Xiong'an New Area and deeply understanding the practical and historical significance of the CPC Central Committee's decisions. It is important to stay committed to the CPC Central Committee's arrangements on Xiong'an New Area's functions and roles, missions and tasks, and relevant principles and requirements in this regard. Xi highlighted the need to enhance political awareness and be sufficiently patient, in a bid to balance the relationships between the near-term targets and mid- and long-term goals, between the speed of urban development and the scale of population increase, between industrial relocation and industrial upgrade, between the government and the market, between the work to relieve Beijing of functions non-essential to its role as the national capital and city development of Xiong'an, between urban construction and the revitalization of surrounding rural areas, so that the right direction can be ensured for the development of Xiong'an New Area.

Xi called for solid endeavor to do tasks related to relieving Beijing of functions non-essential to its role as the national capital, urging the planning for the relocation to Xiong'an of another batch of the headquarters of state-owned enterprises directly under the central government in Beijing as well as their subsidiary companies and units of innovation operation. The relocation to Xiong'an of financial institutions, research institutes and public institutions should also be planned. Incentive and constraint policies for the relocated should be further improved. As far as policies related to children's education of those relocated to Xiong'an, their healthcare, housing, remuneration, social security, and housing provident fund are concerned, the principle should be followed that old measures are applied for veterans and new measures for fresh employees, and policies should be more detailed and practical, so that they can enjoy real benefits. Xi also called for the integration of market mechanisms and government's guidance, equal emphasis on projects and policies, and strengthened internal impetus for the relocation through market-based and law-based approaches.

Xi emphasized the importance of fully implementing the strategy of innovation-driven development, and carrying out pioneering policies and measures on reform and opening up in multiple areas and forward-looking trials and demonstration projects in Xiong'an New Area. He called for efforts in building new functions, forming new images, developing new industries, gathering new talent, and constructing new mechanisms, making Xiong'an New Area an innovation highland and a fertile ground for business ventures in the new era. It is essential to foster a market-oriented, law-based and world-class business environment, formulate a package of special support policies to extensively attract and gather domestic and foreign forces and capital to participate in the construction and development of Xiong'an New Area, in a bid to create a dynamic landscape of public popularity, convergence of factors, joint contribution and common development. It is also essential to widely apply advanced science and technology, strengthen the capability for scientific and technological innovation as well as the application of achievements in science and technology research, develop new business forms and models to foster new growth drivers, and make a smart, green and innovative Xiong'an New Area a widely acclaimed brand name. It is equally important to implement the concept that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets, pursue green and low-carbon development, and make Xiong'an New Area a model of green development.

Xi pointed out that it is imperative to improve the leadership and management mechanisms of Xiong'an New Area, and Xiong'an should embrace an urban management system in a phased and orderly manner. The leadership teams at all levels and the officials of the new area need to be strengthened to make the personnel more qualified and professional. Work needs to be done to improve the assessment and evaluation mechanisms for officials in Xiong'an and encourage Party members and officials to take on responsibilities, innovate and perform their duties well.

Xi stressed that it must be ensured that people's cities are built by the people and for the people. Efforts must be made to address the issues of major concern to officials and people in Xiong'an New Area, so that people will get a strong sense of fulfillment and happiness from the development of the new area. Priority must be given to employment to improve policies that guide employment and entrepreneurship, and increase employment training programs for the labor in the new area. Efforts must be made to seek balanced development between urban and rural areas, so as to blaze a new path in narrowing the gap between urban and rural areas, pursuing integrated urban-rural development and promoting common prosperity for all.

Xi pointed out that the Xiong'an New Area Party Work Committee and Party organizations at all levels should conscientiously carry out the theoretical study program, and take the study as an opportunity to strengthen fact-finding efforts, promote the emancipation of mind, the improvement of capabilities, the transformation of work style, and the implementation of work, in a bid to further boost political and organizational functions. Continuous efforts must be made to tackle pointless formalities, bureaucratism, hedonism and extravagance, and advance anti-corruption endeavor in an integrated manner to make sure that officials don't dare to, are unable to and have no desire to commit corruption so as to create "Xiong'an quality" secured by "a clean government of Xiong'an."

In his speech, Li Qiang said that to promote the construction of Xiong'an New Area with high standards and high quality, the most fundamental and crucial thing is to understand and implement the important instructions of General Secretary Xi Jinping and the decisions and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee. It is necessary to have the resolve of the "Millennium Plan," firmly grasp the role and mission of Xiong'an New Area, and work in a steady and patient manner for sustained achievements. It is essential to have the enthusiasm to "seize the day and night," vigorously focus on the things that have been clarified and must be done, and never to wait or procrastinate. Instead, work must be done in a fast manner to accelerate the efforts to help relieve Beijing of functions non-essential to its role as China's capital, solidly advance infrastructure construction, and step up efforts to build a modern industrial system, give full play to the enthusiasm of all parties, and continuously make new progress in fulfilling various tasks.

Ding Xuexiang said that it is necessary to thoroughly study and implement the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important speech, and take scientific and technological innovation as the fundamental task for the high-quality construction and development of Xiong'an New Area. More efforts should be made to create an important source of independent and original innovation, build a first-class innovation platform, and carry out high-level scientific and technological innovation. Efforts must be made to promote the deep integration of industrial chain with innovation chain, deploy the innovation chain based on the industrial chain, intensify the application of scientific and technological achievements, and promote the development of high-tech industries; endeavors must be made to create a collaborative innovation community for the integrated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, innovate the benefit-sharing model, and absorb and gather more innovative elements for promoting high-quality development of Xiong'an New Area.

Li Ganjie, He Lifeng and others were on the inspection tour and attended the meeting. Wu Zhenglong, Mu Hong, Jiang Xinzhi and the leading officials of the relevant departments of central Party and government, relevant military units, Hebei Province, Xiong'an New Area, and those in charge of relevant enterprises were present at the meeting.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Wu Chaolan)
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 12)  The Supreme Court (SC) dismissed the Makabayan bloc's petition to nullify President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s urgent certification of the Maharlika Fund bill last Dec. 15, which allowed the measure to see third reading approval in just one day.

An urgent certification for a pending measure is typically made to respond to a public calamity or emergency.

In this case, it allowed lawmakers to approve House Bill (HB) 6608 on second and third reading in just one plenary session, even though bills are normally approved on three different readings done on three separate days.

Because of this, the Makabayan bloc last February petitioned the SC to void Marcos' urgent certification, on the basis that this was made unconstitutionally and that it was a grave abuse of discretion as it was certified as urgent although it was not in response to any valid emergency.

However, in its resolution dated Feb. 28, the high court argued: "There is no actual case or controversy here, nor is the dispute ripe for adjudication. [Bayan Muna Chairman Neri] Colmenares et al.'s mere allegation of the unconstitutionality of the President's certification of HB 6608 and the passage of the bill by the House are not sufficient to warrant review by the Court."

"To date, no law has been passed and HB 6608 remains pending with the House for further revisions, eliminating petitioner legislators' concerns regarding the expedited passage of HB 6609 in the House," it added.

Meanwhile, a version of the measure, Senate Bill 2020, is still pending second reading approval in the upper chamber's plenary.

On Wednesday, the same Makabayan lawmakers appealed to the SC to reconsider its resolution and doubled down on their argument that the urgent certification was made without any valid emergency.

"Absence of a 'public calamity or emergency' is evidenced by the fact that the certification was issued only to the House of Representatives, and did not include the Senate, the reason why no law has been "immediately enacted" months after the House passed the bill on Third and Final Reading," the lawmakers said.

The SC has not yet acted on the Makabayan's motion to reconsider.

READ: The proposed Maharlika Investment Fund: What you need to know
Ukrainian defenders have demonstrated the destruction of a Russian assault group in Bakhmut on the night of 12 May; artillery of the 60th Separate Mechanised Brigade was involved.

Source: Roman Hryshchenko, Commander of the 127th Separate Territorial Defence Brigade, on Facebook

Quote from Hryshchenko: "Tonight (the night of May 11-12  ed.), in one of the areas of the front in Bakhmut, the aerial reconnaissance of the 127th Separate Brigade of the Territorial Defence Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine recorded the movement of the occupiers' assault group. The coordinates were promptly sent to the artillery of the 60th Separate Mechanised Inhulets Brigade" (Inhulets is a river in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast  ed.).

Details: According to Hryshchenko, the brigade's soldiers acted in a well-coordinated and clear manner. Thanks to two accurate shots, the occupier's group was destroyed.

"We are proud of the fact that air reconnaissance and artillery communicate with each other succinctly and effectively. The vigilance and accuracy of Ukrainian fighters make it possible to repel the Russians," the commander emphasised.

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RICHMOND, Va. (AP)  Election officials in Virginia have announced plans to withdraw the state from a bipartisan effort designed to ensure accurate voter lists and combat fraud  but that also has been caught up in conspiracy theories spread since the 2020 presidential election.

When Virginia formally withdraws later this year, it will become the eighth Republican-led state to leave the Electronic Registration Information Center, known has ERIC, since the group was targeted in a series of online stories last year that questioned its funding and purpose. Former President Donald Trump has been among those calling on Republican state officials to leave.

Virginia Elections Commissioner Susan Beals, in a letter sent Thursday to ERIC, listed several reasons for the decision to end the states membership. That included the recent state departures, incomplete participation by Virginias bordering states and increasing concerns regarding stewardship, maintenance, privacy, and confidentiality of voter information.

Virginia was one of the founding members when ERIC was formed in 2012, an effort promoted by then-Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell.

In short, ERICs mandate has expanded beyond that of its initial intent  to improve the accuracy of voter rolls, Beals wrote. We will pursue other information arrangements with our neighboring states and look to other opportunities to partner with states in an apolitical fashion.

Virginia joins Alabama, Florida, Iowa, Louisiana, Missouri, Ohio and West Virginia who have either withdrawn or notified ERIC that they plan to do so. Texas election officials have said they are working on an alternative data-sharing effort but have not provided a notice of withdrawal.

ERIC uses data-sharing among member states to identify voters who might have moved out of state or died and should be considered for removal from a states voter rolls. It also flags instances of potential double-voting -- ballots cast in more than one state by the same voter -- that are then used to investigate potential voter fraud.

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Beals, a former local election official, was appointed as state elections commissioner last year by Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin. She previously served as an aide to Republican state Sen. Amanda Chase, who since the 2020 election has become a prominent promoter of Trumps false claims of widespread fraud.

There is no evidence of fraud or manipulation of voting machines in the 2020 election. Reviews in multiple states, including ones controlled by Republicans, have upheld the results and affirmed Joe Biden's win. Dozens of judges, including several nominated by Trump, also rejected his claims.

In a statement, Chase praised the decision and claimed, without evidence, that ERIC was used for insidious and nefarious purposes to include an abuse of power in controlling our elections.

Democratic state Sen. Adam Ebbin said he was disappointed in the decision to withdraw from the system.

The net result is we wont have a tool to make sure our voter rolls are as accurate as they could be, said Ebbin, a member of the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee. Its less accurate without as many state partners to verify information."

One conspiracy targeting the system claims that billionaire philanthropist George Soros funded it. While the data-sharing system did receive initial funding from the nonpartisan Pew Charitable Trusts, that money was separate from funding provided to Pew by a Soros-affiliated organization that went to an unrelated effort, according to ERICs executive director, Shane Hamlin. The system has since been funded through annual dues by member states.

Hamlin said in an emailed statement that the group will continue our work on behalf of our remaining member states in improving the accuracy of Americas voter rolls and increasing access to voter registration for all eligible citizens.

With no national voter registration clearinghouse, ERIC is the only data-sharing program among the states. It was started in 2012 by seven states and was bipartisan from the beginning, with four of the founding states led at the time by Republicans.

The system has been credited in Maryland with identifying some 66,000 potentially deceased voters and 778,000 people who may have moved out of state since 2013. In Georgia, officials said nearly 100,000 voters no longer eligible to vote in the state had been removed based on data provided by ERIC.

___

Cassidy reported from Atlanta.
The North Carolina Department of Commerce says tourism is increasing across the state.

ALSO READ: Tennis stadium proposed for west Charlottes River District

It found visitors are spending more than $33 billion on trips to the Tar Heel State.

The record before the pandemic was $29 billion.

(VIDEO: Public beach proposed for west side of Lake Norman)
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Russia's state-backed private mercenary Wagner Group, offered Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to visit the Russian-controlled part of Bakhmut to assess the battlefield situation.

According to Prigozhin's appeal, published by his press service on May 12, Ukrainian forces have launched "a number of successful counterattacks" against the flanks, where Russian army units were stationed.

He said that over 95% of Donetsk Oblast's city of Bakhmut was allegedly controlled by Wagner forces.

Wagner's leader referred to Shoigu's "many years of warfare experience," although he has no real background in military command. Shoigu headed the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations for over 20 years and was appointed Minister of Defense in 2012 after a short tenure as Moscow Oblast governor.

The internal conflict between Prigozhin and the Russian Defense Ministry has escalated dramatically over the past week.

CNN: Ukraine starts shaping operations for counteroffensive Ukraines Armed Forces have begun shaping operations ahead of the long-awaited counteroffensive, CNN reported on May 12, citing a senior U.S. military official and a top Western official. Kyiv IndependentThe Kyiv Independent news desk

Ukraine's Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said on May 12 that Ukrainian soldiers had advanced two kilometers toward Bakhmut and hadn't lost any positions in the area in the past week.

Her statement came days after Prigozhin's claim that Russian units of the 72nd Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade had abandoned positions near Bakhmut, later corroborated by Ukrainian forces.

On May 11, Prigozhin accused President Volodymyr Zelensky of lying after he said in an interview that Ukraine needed more time to prepare for the counteroffensive. Wagner's boss said that Ukraine's counteroffensive was allegedly "in full swing."

Ukrainian military officials earlier warned, as cited by CNN, that the counterattacks around Bakhmut mentioned by Prigozhin are part of a "positional struggle" and not necessarily connected to a greater counteroffensive effort.

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Bakhmut has been the epicenter of fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces for the past nine months.

Wagner mercenaries have served as the primary shock troops in Russia's attempts to expand its control over Donetsk Oblast. However, in the past nine months, they have only made incremental gains, with Ukraine still holding parts of the city.
Washingtons chief defense leaders warned Congress in stark tones Thursday that defaulting on the military budget would not only be bad for the U.S.s global standing but would further embolden China.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley told lawmakers on the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee that breaching the defense budgeting would risk soldier pay, jeopardize U.S. defense strategy and weaken "our reputation."

"China right now describes us in their open speeches, etc., as a declining power," Milley said. "Defaulting on the debt would only reinforce that thought and embolden China and increase risk to the United States."

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, left, testifies before the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee on May 11, 2023, in Washington, D.C. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley, right, looks on.

PENTAGON ANNOUNCES LARGEST-EVER DEFENSE BUDGET REQUEST

The warnings come as Congress and President Joe Biden continue to spar over the 2024 defense budget despite the looming cutoff date before the U.S. government runs out of money.

Biden has called for a $28 billion increase to the defense budget, pushing the allotted sum for defense programs like the Pentagon, FBI and Department of Energy to a whopping $886 billion spending limit. But Republicans have rejected the push and are looking to make spending cuts  a reversal from their position last year.

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

Austin told lawmakers that the U.S. is "viewed as being a source of stability globally, and we always pay our debts."

Both officials reinforced the concern that the geopolitical situation remains precarious with the war in Ukraine, Afghanistan once again becoming a terrorist state, and Irans refusal to enter into a nuclear agreement.

"I would point out that the [Peoples Republic of China] is not waiting," Austin said. "Our budget is directly linked to our strategy. And of course, if we don't have a budget, we can't effectively execute that strategy."

BIDEN'S DEFENSE BUDGET HIKES OUTPACED BY INFLATION, DRAWING GOP CRITICISM

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Milley reaffirmed Austins concerns about U.S. standing on the world stage and said the war in Ukraine has made this issue even more dire.

"The Chinese are watching the war between Russia and Ukraine very carefully. And I think for Ukraine, [it's] obviously an existential threat for their very existence. But for Europe, for the United States, I think the issue is about a rules-based international order," he said.

Milley argued that if Russian President Vladimir Putin is allowed to succeed in Ukraine, China will learn "certain lessons" from the Wests action or inaction, which will play a decisive role in their calculus on invading Taiwan.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., pushed Milley on whether a loss for Putin in Ukraine "makes America safer," to which the general responded, "I think it does."

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., above, asks questions while Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin testifies before the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee on May 11, 2023, in Washington, D.C.

"Both China and Russia have the means to threaten our interests and our way of life. But war with China or Russia is neither imminent nor inevitable," Milley added.

Milley, who is set to retire this year, said that the single biggest threat that defaulting on the defense budget poses is the cuts to soldier pay and promotional freezes.

"It would have, I think, a very, very significant negative impact on [troop] readiness," Milley said. "But also, there's the imponderable or the unmeasurable [consequence], which is morale. It sends a terrible signal to our soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines around the world."

Austin reaffirmed this position and said, "The best way that Congress can support us in our efforts to execute our strategy is an on-time appropriations."
As James Dawson of Boise State Public Radio reported Tuesday, GOP county central committees have issued a wave of censures of Republican lawmakers in the last few weeks.

It should give mainstream conservatives reason to wonder if the party should exercise the level of control it currently does over who holds power in the Gem State  and reason to consider backing the proposed initiative to reform Idahos primary election system.

Dawson highlighted the censure of Rep. Julie Yamamoto, who originally ran as a primary challenger on former Republican Rep. Jarom Wagoners right. She was censured by the Canyon County GOP toward the end of the last legislative session for voting against the bill that would allow bounty hunter lawsuits targeting public libraries, among other things.

This wave of censures is part of the acceleration of a trend stretching back at least a decade. The Idaho Republican Party used to see itself as an organization for helping candidates. Increasingly, it sees itself as a mechanism for disciplining them.

For those who dont, well hell hath no fury like the chairwoman scorned, GOP Chair Dorothy Moon said at a news conference at the Capitol, as Dawson reported.

At party conventions, there have long been efforts to impose purity tests, and to find ways of disciplining Republican officials with the capacity to think for themselves. These have reached a fever pitch since the partys convention last year in Twin Falls, where Moon was tapped to lead the party.

Moon is the type of character who would have been laughed out of the GOP a decade ago, not the kind who would be leading it. She has deep connections to the fringe John Birch Society, which famously claimed that President Dwight Eisenhower was a Soviet agent. Her husband, Darr Moon, is listed as a member of the groups national council.

Elected Republicans were not so long ago embarrassed to be in any way associated with the Birchers.

In 2017, former Rep. Ron Nate, now with the Idaho Freedom Foundation, and his wife, Maria Nate, now the director of the Idaho Freedom Caucus, organized a series of meetings that included John Birch Society coordinator Tom Munds and conspiracy theorist Tom DeWeese. One was a sparsely attended event for the public in Rexburg. The other was a closed-door, widely attended meeting for eastern Idaho lawmakers held in Idaho Falls.

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But when the Idaho Falls Post Register reported the existence of this meeting, the Republican lawmakers in attendance  many at the right end of the spectrum in the Idaho Legislature  rushed to issue statements to the effect that they had no idea what the meeting was going to be about, and that they found DeWeeses claim that there was a plot to bring the U.S. under United Nations control using building codes and transportation planning ... rather implausible.

Today, the GOP is led by a Bircher, who openly says she plans to crack the whip on anyone who steps out of line.

Moon ascended to that position without the support of even one Republican voter  most of whom are conservative, but whose ideology shares little with the wild imaginings of the Birchers.

The GOP is a private club, not unlike a country club. It gets to set its own rules. It gets to say what it wants. There is no reason a private club should have a preeminent role in defining the choices that the voting public has in the general election.

Thats a compelling reason for the public as a whole to take that power back.

Bryan Clark is an opinion writer for the Idaho Statesman based in eastern Idaho.
This image of the dusty debris disk surrounding the young star Fomalhaut is from Webbs Mid-Infrared Instrument. It reveals three nested belts extending out to 14 billion miles from the star. The inner belts  which had never been seen before  were revealed by Webb for the first time. The Hubble Space Telescope and Herschel Space Observatory, as well as the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, have previously taken sharp images of the outermost belt. However, none of them found any structure interior to it. These belts most likely are carved by the gravitational forces produced by unseen planets. | NASA

The James Webb Space Telescope has made another new discovery, this time in the layered dust rings surrounding a star outside of our galaxy.

Through previous imaging, scientists knew that an outer ring surrounded the hot star, but for the first time, the JWSTs Mid-Infrared Instrument showed three levels of dust that span more than 14 billion miles away from the star  which is 150 times the distance of Earth from the sun, per NASA.

Both NASA and the European Space Agency contributed to the finding of the rings and the image captured.

Fomalhaut is a star located in the Piscis Austrinus constellation with its own asteroid belt. Its about 440 million years old  which is about halfway through its lifespan, reported The New York Times. Its a fairly complex star and only grows in complexity with the discovery of not one, but two more layers of dust rings.

The circular shape of the dust rings  which are separated by a gap  has led NASA to believe that hidden planets gravity is to blame for the shaping of the debris disks.

The belts around Fomalhaut are kind of a mystery novel: Where are the planets? said George Rieke, who is the U.S. science lead for Webbs MIRI, which first observed the inner rings. I think its not a very big leap to say theres probably a really interesting planetary system around the star.

Whats located in the dust is of interest to scientists because the star Fomalhaut is similar to stars found in our own planetary system. By studying it, scientists hope to draw conclusions that will help them understand more about space and, in turn, our Milky Way Galaxy.

By looking at the patterns in these rings, we can actually start to make a little sketch of what a planetary system ought to look like  if we could actually take a deep enough picture to see the suspected planets, the lead author of the published study, Andras Gaspar, told NASA.

Related
Russian propaganda has claimed that the US Patriot anti-aircraft system could not have shot down a Russian air-launched Kinzhal ballistic missile.

Source: Russian Kremlin-aligned news agency RIA Novosti with reference to a "high-ranking source in the Ministry of Defence of Russia".

Quote: "The American Patriot anti-aircraft system could not have shot down the Kinzhal missile since it is not able to intercept targets at such speed."

Details: The Russians insist that the Kinzhals flight speed exceeds the limit state of the anti-aircraft systems Kyiv has been supplied with, and at the end of its trajectory, the missile, much-lauded by Russians, allegedly manoeuvres and strikes the target almost vertically.

According to the source of the Russian propagandists, "all this rules out the possibility of interception, so the claims about the downing of this missile are just wishful thinking."

Background:

On 6 May, Lieutenant General Mykola Oleshchuk, the commander of the Ukrainian Air Force, confirmed that the Ukrainian military had shot down a Russian Kinzhal missile using the Patriot system.

On Tuesday, 9 May, Brigadier General Patrick Ryder, spokesman for the Pentagon, confirmed the Ukrainians statement that a Russian Kinzhal missile, flying at hypersonic speed, had been shot down using a Patriot air defence missile system.

On 10 May a journalist for the German news outlet Bild posted a video and photos of fragments of the Russian Kinzhal missile shot down in Ukraine.

The Russians refer to the Kinzhal as a hypersonic missile, but the Ukrainian military uses the term aeroballistic.

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One New Jersey town is being spied on, police say, and the suspect is far stranger than a typical Peeping Tom.

Chatham Township Police are actively searching for the peeping goat that has been seen throughout the Township, police posted on Facebook.

And whatever you do, dont approach the curious creature, police warn.

If he happens to show up at your door, please do not try to apprehend him. Please call CTPD for assistance.

No, theyre not kidding.

Multiple photos have been taken of the horned culprit staring shamelessly into windows  wearing a sort of bemused expression.

The owner of the goat is known to police, but they havent released a name.

They also havent said how long it has been running around, staring in windows.

Goat experts say this behavior is not surprising for a goat on the run.

Goats are very intelligent and curious animals, FOUR PAWS International reports. Their inquisitive nature is exemplified in their constant desire to explore and investigate anything unfamiliar which they come across.

The police departments post has inspired more jokes than clues, including from one person who demanded police release any body cam footage of an arrest.

This furry little criminal has been ... causing all sorts of chaos, a local political candidate wrote. If you see him, dont approach him. Hes considered armed and adorable.

This is a baaaaaaaaad situation, another said.

Chatham is located about 25 miles west of New York City.

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Over 100 years ago, Congress passed a law designating the second Sunday in May as Mothers Day. A proclamation is issued annually from the president for the purpose of honoring motherhood and the women who have anchored  and continue to anchor  our lives.

This reminds me that as mothers, we sometimes neglect our own health in when we are caring for others.

The Miamis Metropolitan Dade County Section of the National Council of Negro Women, Inc., will host Welcome to the Queendom: A Mothers Day Tea and Celebration. This event is intended to encourage mothers, who nurture others, to also take care of themselves.

The tea will be held Saturday, May 20, nearly a week after the officially designated Mothers Day. From noon to 3 p.m. at Charles Hadley Park, 1350 NW 50th St. in Miami  in the Carrie P. Meek Community Room  a joyous time is planned for mothers to relax and celebrate. Tea-party attire and hats are welcome! This event is open to the community.

Dr. Dorothy Bendross-Mindingall, Miami-Dade County School Board member, District 2, will be the mistress of ceremony.

Dr. Dorothy Bendross-Mindingall, Miami-Dade County School Board member.

A former classroom teacher and principal, Bendross-Mindingall was a state representative for District 109 before being elected to the school board. She is also the administrator of Labor in Love Family Literacy Center, and she founded the Broken Hearts-Domestic Violence Workshop.

Her public and community service mirrors the advocacy of the National Council of Negro Women, (NCNW).

Background

Founded nationally in 1935 by Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune, the NCNW promotes education; encourages entrepreneurship, financial literacy and economic stability; educates women about healthcare access; and promotes civic engagement and advocates for sound public policy and social justice.

Soon after the national organization was established, the Greater Miami chapter started with Irene Roberts Straughter as president. In the 1970s, Eunice Watson Liberty assumed leadership and served as president until 1980. Both women were educators and helped include Black history instruction in the schools. I was fortunate to watch as they inspired future generations through school and community activities.

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In 1990, the Metropolitan Dade County Section of NCNW was chartered under the leadership of Rev. Ann McRae. Since then, succeeding presidents have carried out the NCNWs national mission. Current president, Shaquellia M. Holmes and the executive board individually and collectively lead, educate, advocate for and empower women of African descent in this community. The Mothers Day Tea the organization is sponsoring is one example of educating women about health, promoting healthcare access and encouraging self-care.

Mothers Day Tea speakers

Two experienced professionals are the featured speakers at the tea.  Both are working mothers themselves who juggle families with careers, and they will share practical tips about self-care.

Dr. Lisa Davenport

Dr. Lisa Davenport is a licensed clinical psychologist and yoga teacher who has more than 25 years experience providing individual, family and couples therapy to patients ranging in age from 5 to 92. The owner of Mindful Psychology and Wellness Center, which is a private practice in Broward County, Davenport is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

Dr. Caryn Blair De Franco

Dr. Caryn Blair De Franco is the senior manager, research support, at the John P. Hussman Institute for Human Genomics of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. A board-certified healthcare provider, her current role at UM includes supporting efforts to recruit, enroll and retain African American participants for Alzheimers disease (AD) studies. She has been instrumental in bringing awareness to the plight of AD patients and their caregivers.

A member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Dr. De Francos plea is, Mothers, please know that your well-being directly influences the well-being of those you care for.

On Mothers Day and beyond, and on a regular basis, all mothers are encouraged to seek ways to schedule self-care.

Happy Mothers Day!

Dorothy Jenkins Fields, Ph.D., is a public historian and founder of the Black Archives, History & Research Foundation of South Florida Inc. djf@bellsouth.net
(CNN)  A rocket launched from the Gaza Strip hit a residential building in Israel on Thursday, causing the first Israeli death after days of violence between the two sides that had already claimed at least 30 Palestinian lives.

The rocket hit a four-storey apartment building in Rehovot, south of Tel Aviv, and wounded five people, the Magen David Adom medical service (MDA) said.

"MDA Paramedics have pronounced one victim dead with severe shrapnel wounds, and evacuated 5 victims, including a 74-year-old male, and a 50-year-old male, two females in their 70s in moderate condition, and one in mild condition. Two further victims were evacuated with stress symptoms," MDA said in a statement.

"When we arrived on scene we saw massive destruction, we immediately went in to search the apartments, in a third floor apartment we found an unconscious male victim with a severe multi-trauma injury, and could only pronounce him dead," said Magen David Adom (MDA) EMTs Yedidya Hakmon and Tomer Pashko.

An 82-year-old woman was wounded after a rocket fired from Gaza hit the yard of her house in the Negev region in Israel on Thursday, it said in a later statement.

At least 547 rockets were fired from Gaza toward Israel as of 2:30 p.m. local time (7:30 a.m. ET), according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), as Palestinian militants retaliated against ongoing heavy airstrikes from the Israeli military. The IDF has been targeting what it says are Islamic Jihad operatives and infrastructure along the strip since Tuesday.

Four leaders of the Palestinian militant organization have so far died in the bombardments. Al-Quds Brigades Commander Ali Hassan Ghali, who was in charge of the Al-Quds Brigades rocket unit, died in the strikes Thursday morning, the militant group said in a statement.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had already tweeted early Thursday that they had "targeted Ali Ghali, the commander of Islamic Jihad's Rocket Launching Force," along with what they said were two other Islamic Jihad operatives in Gaza.

Among the 30 Palestinians killed since Tuesday, 15 people died on Tuesday, seven people on Wednesday, and six on Thursday, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza.

A further 93 people have been injured since airstrikes on Gaza started at dawn on Tuesday, including 32 children, the ministry added.

Meanwhile, talks about a ceasefire between Israel and Islamic Jihad have stalled, a diplomatic source briefed on the talks told CNN Thursday. The source asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the diplomatic discussions.

20 years of experience with rockets

Ghali was one of the founders of the militant group's rocket unit, with more than 20 years of experience with rockets, the Islamist group said Thursday.

Ali Hassan Ghali was in charge of the unit in the militant organization's al Quds Brigades when he was killed, they said.

He was born in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip in 1975 and joined Islamic Jihad in the early 90s, they said.

Ghali supervised training militants in launching rockets and himself manufactured rocket launchers, Islamic Jihad said.

He became head of the unit and a member of the al Quds Brigades military council in 2019 when his predecessor, Khaled Mansour, was killed.

Ghali had survived several previous assassination attempts, Islamic Jihad said.

His brother Mahmoud Ghali and his nephew Mohammad Mansour were killed alongside him at his sister's house, the group said.

Civilian deaths

Tensions between Israeli and Palestinian forces have skyrocketed in the past week, after a prominent Palestinian detainee died while he was on hunger strike in an Israeli prison.

Islamic Jihad fired more than 100 rockets towards Israel last Tuesday in response to the death of Khader Adnan, a former spokesman for the militant group who became a symbol of Palestinian resistance to Israeli detention policies.

Israel has since been striking Islamic Jihad targets using unmanned drones for surveillance as it monitors militant preparations to propel rockets, IDF chief spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Wednesday.

Palestinian militant groups have also claimed responsibility for launching rockets towards Israel as a result.

The Israeli military exchanged heated barbs with Islamic Jihad over Palestinian civilians killed in the strikes, as humanitarian bodies sounded the alarm on the high civilian death toll in Gaza.

Israel said on Thursday that four of the Palestinian civilians killed in Gaza, including children, were killed by Islamic Jihad rockets that fell short and landed in the strip -- a claim which Islamic Jihad rejected as a "lie."

IDF chief spokesman Hagari said the four were killed "as a result of failed rocket launches by the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization."

Approximately a quarter of all rockets launched since Wednesday fell inside the Gaza Strip, the IDF said.

Another IDF spokesman, Maj. Nir Dinar, told CNN the military was "100% certain" that the four deaths were caused by Islamic Jihad rocket fire.

Islamic Jihad rejected the accusation that it was responsible for any Palestinian deaths.

"This is a lie," the militant group told CNN Thursday. "We didn't record any mistakes from our side. All Palestinian victims were killed as a result of the Israeli army aggression. Israel is making those allegations to cover its crimes."

On Wednesday, the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged all parties to exercise "maximum restraint" over the heavy bloodshed in Gaza.

"The Secretary-General condemns the civilian loss of life, including that of children and women, which he views as unacceptable and must stop immediately," a statement by Farhan Haq, deputy spokesperson for the Secretary-General, said.

"Israel must abide by its obligations under international humanitarian law, including the proportional use of force and taking all feasible precautions to spare civilians and civilian objects in the conduct of military operations. "

The statement added the Secretary-General also condemns the "indiscriminate launch" of rockets from Gaza into Israel, adding it "violates international humanitarian law and puts at risk both Palestinian and Israeli civilians."

Meanwhile, Egyptian and Qatari officials said they were separately engaging in talks to reach a ceasefire in Gaza  but to no avail.

This story was first published on CNN.com, "Israel suffers first rocket death in clash with Islamic Jihad that has left at least 30 Palestinians dead."
Wendy Sherman, the first woman to serve as the deputy secretary of state, announced Friday she will retire from her post and government service at the end of June.

Sherman, 73, has worked for the U.S. State Department since 1993. She made the announcement in an email to staff and through Twitter on Friday, May 12, which is the same day she joined the federal agency decades ago.

As I reflect on the past 30 years, I am proud to know that our State Department family will continue to carry forward our work in selfless service to all our citizens so that we can build a free, open, secure, and prosperous world for our children and grandchildren, Sherman tweeted.

In her career, which spanned three presidents and five secretaries of state across Democratic administrations, Sherman helped craft U.S. foreign policy during some of the most tumultuous times in American history.

Sherman served as a counselor to former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who was the first female secretary of state, and was a special adviser and policy coordinator on North Korea to President Bill Clinton.

Sherman became the first female undersecretary of state for political affairs in the Obama administration, where she played a key role in the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which lifted sanctions on the U.S. adversary in return for Tehrans commitment not to develop a nuclear weapon.

In the Biden administration, Sherman has overseen competition with China in the Indo-Pacific and the U.S. support for Ukraine after the Russian invasion last year.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Sherman a friend and said his second in command addressed some of the toughest foreign policy challenges of our time.

Our nation is safer and more secure, and our partnerships more robust, due to her leadership, Blinken said in a Friday statement. On behalf of the Department, I thank Wendy for her service. I wish her and her family all the best in their next chapter.

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Some of Shermans foreign policy efforts have been criticized by Republicans, including her role in the Iran nuclear deal, which former President Trump scrapped in 2018.

But on Friday, the longtime diplomat said she was grateful for the work she accomplished in her journey with the State Department.

Im incredibly proud of the work weve done to address an astonishing array of challengesRussias full-scale invasion of Ukraine, challenges in the Indo-Pacific, COVID-19while uniting allies and partners to advance our shared vision of a brighter future, she wrote.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Lori Vallow Daybell, subject of the Netflix documentary Sins of Our Mother, first made headlines in 2019 when two of her children had not been seen for months, and she refused to cooperate with Idaho police.

In April 2021, Vallow Daybell was charged with the murder of the two children, 16-year-old Tylee Ryan and 7-year-old Joshua "JJ" Vallow, whose remains were found in 2020, buried in shallow graves on the Idaho property of Vallow Daybells husband, Chad Daybell, Rexburg, Idaho police said.

Vallow Daybell also faced a conspiracy to commit murder charge in the case of Charles Vallow, her fourth husband, according to Arizona court documents. Vallow Daybell and her fifth husband Chad Daybell also faced charges related to the death of his previous wife, Tammy, who died two weeks before they were married, according to a 2021 indictment.

Vallow Daybell, 49, pleaded not guilty to three counts of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder and two counts of conspiracy during an arraignment at the Fremont County Courthouse in April 2022.

The shocking story of how Vallow Daybells family says she got hooked into the world of doomsday beliefs, to disastrous consequences, is now featured in a Netflix true-crime series, Sins of Our Mother, which premiered on Sept. 14, 2022.

In the series, Vallow Daybells oldest son, Colby Ryan, reveals exclusive insight into the family's backstory, as well as details about the present as his mother faces trial.

Heres what to know about Vallow Daybells trial, which began on April 3 and ended May 12 when she was found guilty and convicted on all charges.

Who is Lori Vallow Daybell?

Lori Vallow Daybell was born Lori Norene Cox, as her brother Adam Cox recalled in the podcast The Followers: Madness of Two, speaking of their childhood growing up in a Mormon family in Southern California. (She is named as Lori Norene Vallow in indictments).

She has been married five times. In 2001, she married her third husband, Joseph Ryan, who is the father of her child, Tylee. After divorcing, she married Charles Vallow in 2006, changing her name to Lori Vallow. During their marriage, the couple adopted Vallows grand-nephew, JJ Vallow.

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While she was married to Charles Vallow, Vallow Daybell found the work of Chad Daybell, an author and publisher who wrote about apocalyptic beliefs and prophecies. Vallow Daybell met him at a conference in 2018, ABC News reported. Family members later described Daybells beliefs as a turning point for Vallow Daybell in the podcast The Followers: Madness of Two.

Chad Daybell listens during his preliminary hearing in St. Anthony, Idaho, on Tuesday, August 4, 2020. (John Roark / The Idaho Post-Register via AP)

Lori talked about death a lot actually, talked about the next life, how great the next life is and how its going to be perfect, and how her kids wont have to suffer in the next life, her brother Adam said on the podcast. If she says, Im not going to tell you where the kids are, that means the kids arent alive. And I knew right then and there that the kids are dead.

Charles Vallow filed for divorce from Vallow Daybell in February 2019, writing in court documents filed in Arizona Superior Court he was concerned for his own safety and the safety of his children. Vallow wrote that his wife believed she was a god sent to lead people during the second coming of Christ.

Months later in July, Charles went to Vallow Daybells house to pick up his son JJ to take him to school, according to Chandler, Arizona, police. Police documents state that Vallow Daybells brother, Alex Cox, told police the two got into a fight, and that he had to shoot Charles in self-defense.

I got in a fight with my brother in law and I shot him, Alex Cox said in a 911 call. Charles died of his injuries from the shooting, according to an autopsy conducted by the Maricopa County Office of the Medical Examiner.

In September, Vallow Daybell moved her and her children from Arizona to Rexburg, Idaho, to be closer to Chad Daybell. Her children were last seen at various points in September. Vallow Daybell and Daybell were married in November 2019, according to a marriage license submitted as evidence in 2021.

What happened to Tylee and JJ?

Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow were last seen in September 2019, per probable cause affidavits for Chad Daybells arrest. Tylee, 16, was last seen on Sept. 8 in Yellowstone National Park while on vacation with her family, and JJ, 7, was last seen on Sept. 23 at his elementary school.

The next day, Vallow Daybell unenrolled him and told administrators she would homeschool him, according to court documents filed after Vallow Daybells arrest in 2020.

Days after the children were last seen, in October 2019, Chad Daybells wife Tammy died. Her obituary said she died peacefully in her sleep.

Kay and Larry Woodcock speak to members of the media at the Rexburg Standard Journal Newspaper in Rexburg, Idaho. (John Roark / The Idaho Post-Register via AP)

It was only when Vallow Daybell and Daybell married weeks later in Hawaii that authorities became suspicious. Tammy Daybells body was exhumed in December and in February 2021, Tammy Daybells autopsy was completed by the Utah Medical Examiner, according to a news release from Sheriff Len Humphries, but the contents of the report would not be made public as it is evidence in an open and ongoing investigation.

The search for Tylee and JJ began on Nov. 26 when police attempted to conduct a welfare check on JJ and could not locate him, per the jail report filed after Vallow Daybells arrest in 2020.

On Dec. 20, the Idahos Rexburg Police Department declared Tylee and JJ missing and named Lori and Chad Daybell, who had fled Rexburg, as persons of interest.

Around the same time, Vallow Daybells brother Alex Cox was found dead in his home in December 2019. Cox died of natural causes, according to the Maricopa County Medical Examiners Office in Arizona.

While in Hawaii, authorities ordered Vallow Daybell to prove that her children were safe and well, and gave her five days to return Tylee and JJ to police in Rexburg. After she failed to comply, she was arrested in February 2020 and extradited to Idaho.

In April 2020, East Idaho News obtained a letter from the Idaho Attorney Generals office that, according to the outlet, said Lori and Chad Daybell were under investigation for the murder of Tylee and JJ.

On June 10, 2020, the Rexburg police department confirmed two sets of unidentified human remains were discovered on Daybells property located in Fremont County, Idaho the day before.

During a press conference the same day, Fremont County Prosecutor Rob Wood confirmed the remains belonged to children, and that Daybell had been booked into the Fremont County Jail on undisclosed charges.

Three days later, on June 13, the Rexburg Police Department confirmed the remains belonged to Tylee and JJ.

What were the Daybells charged with?

Lori and Chad Daybell were indicted on first-degree murder charges in the deaths of Tylee and JJ in May 2021. The pair were also indicted on charges related to the death of Chads former wife, Tammy Daybell.

Both were indicted on the charge of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the death of Tammy Daybell; only Chad Daybell was indicted on the charge of first-degree murder, according to the indictment. Both pleaded not guilty to murder charges.

Chad Daybell had previously been charged with two felony counts of conspiracy to commit destruction, alteration or concealment of evidence and two felony counts of destruction, alteration or concealment of evidence, related to the deaths of Tylee and JJ. He also pleaded not guilty to these charges.

They also face theft and insurance-related charges, according to the indictment. Daybell Vallow was indicted on one charge of grand theft related to Social Security benefits in connection to her deceased children.

Daybell was indicted on two counts of insurance fraud related to life insurance policies he had on Tammy Daybell. Both pleaded not guilty to charges of grand theft and insurance fraud

In Arizona, Daybell Vallow is also facing an additional charge of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the death of her ex-husband, Charles Vallow. Jennifer Liewer, a County Attorneys Office spokesperson, told The Arizona Republic in 2021 that Vallow could only be extradited to Arizona to face this charge after her court case in Idaho was resolved.

According to 2020 court documents filed after her arrest, Lori Vallow Daybell had previously been charged with misdemeanor resisting or obstructing officers, criminal solicitation to commit a crime and contempt of court, which she pleaded not guilty to.

Where is Lori Vallow Daybell now?

Lori Vallow Daybell (Tony Blakeslee / East Idaho News via AP)

Vallow Daybell's murder trial began in Idaho on April 3, more than three years after the deaths of Tylee and JJ.

She was previously found mentally unfit for trial on separate concealment of evidence charges in 2021, leading to a stay of her murder trial, and she was committed to a mental health facility in the state.

However, a judge declared in 2022 she was mentally fit to stand trial. Idaho District Judge Steven Boyce wrote in a ruling Vallow Daybell is restored to competency and fit to proceed. She was arraigned on the charges days later, and pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutors initially sought the death penalty against Vallow Daybell, but Boyce ruled against it last month, NBC News reported.

On May 12, Vallow Daybell was convicted on all charges. A sentencing hearing is not set. Chad Daybell's trial is for a later date.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
The next phase of Riverchase would add 251 homes on 806 acres in Lancaster County.

Riverchase Estate Partners and LGI Homes applied for plat review on the new homes along a bend in the Catawba River. The Riverside Road site is north of its Cobblestone Way intersection, at the base of the Lancaster County panhandle south of Van Wyck.

The county planning commission will take a look at the application May 16.

The property is part of a larger, more than 1,400-acre parcel Catawba River Investments bought in 2006 for $20 million. LGI Land bought the same piece in 2007 for almost $31.7 million, county land records show, and sold it in 2014 for almost $13.7 million to a related Texas-based company Riverchase Estate Partners. Both companies share an address in The Woodlands, Texas.

Lancaster County approved a master plan for Riverchase in 2008. It allowed 20 years for up to 1,939 allowed homes to begin construction. A 375-lot first phase is under construction. The new phase would bring the total home count to 626 homes.

The agreement includes a building fee paid to the county for each new home, similar to development impact fees elsewhere, that increase annually up to $9,000. The current figure is a little more than $8,000 per home. The agreement also includes land donated for use as a fire station.
Supporters of former President Donald Trump near his residence at Mar-a-Lago, in West Palm Beach, Fla. on April 4, 2023. (Hilary Swift/The New York Times)

Just a few months ago, the Republican presidential primary seemed as if it might include a frank and vigorous debate about the leadership and limitations of Donald Trump.

But any appetite for criticism of Trump among Republicans has nearly evaporated in a very short time. Voters rallied around him after his criminal indictment in March on charges related to hush money for a porn star, and potential rivals have faltered, with few willing to take direct aim at the former president and front-runner for the nomination.

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In a live town hall on CNN on Wednesday, the cheers for every falsehood and insult that Trump uttered under tough questioning by a moderator showed there was little to no daylight between Trump and the Republican base. A quirky effort to disrupt the love-in by Chris Christie  a potential rival who bought Facebook ads to supply audience members with skeptical questions such as Why are you afraid of debating?  went nowhere.

In surveys and focus groups, a fair share of Republican voters say they would prefer a less polarizing, more electable nominee. But a near taboo against criticizing Trump has made it hard for rivals  apart from Christie and one or two others near the bottom of polls  to stand out.

In what looks like a rerun of the 2016 Republican primary, almost none of Trumps competitors have openly gone after him, despite his glaring vulnerabilities. Instead, they are hoping  now as then  that he will somehow self-destruct, leaving them to inherit his voters.

After a jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation of writer E. Jean Carroll on Tuesday, former Vice President Mike Pence, who is weighing a 2024 campaign, declined to criticize Trump. In an interview with NBC News, Pence said it was just one more story focusing on my former running mate that I know is a great fascination to members of the national media, but I just dont think its where the American people are focused.

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Other 2024 candidates either defended Trump, such as entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, or played down the verdict, including former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley. Haley, who announced her candidacy in February, even defended Trump this week for threatening to skip Republican primary debates. With the numbers he has now, why would he go get on a debate stage and risk that? she said.

Only two 2024 hopefuls found the verdict in the Carroll case to be disqualifying for a would-be president: Christie and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson. Hutchinson criticized Trumps contempt for the rule of law.

Several months ago, polling had suggested Trump could be a potentially weak candidate, with only 25% to 35% support from Republican voters in high-quality surveys. The Republican National Committee promised an autopsy of the 2022 midterms that was expected to address Trumps role in the partys surprising losses.

But today, the lane in the Republican primary for a candidate who is openly critical of Trump seems to be closing.

Hutchinsons long-shot campaign has failed to gain notice. Christie, a former governor of New Jersey who has promised a decision this month on whether he will run, also has yet to generate much interest. Even the occasionally critical Pence, who mildly suggested Trump would be accountable to history for the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, is struggling for affirmation from the Republican base.

And the RNC autopsy of the midterms? A draft reportedly did not mention Trump at all.

David Kochel, a Republican strategist who advised Jeb Bush when he ran against Trump in 2016, said there was no opportunity for a candidate openly critical of Trump in the 2024 primary.

Voters have seen Trump as the most attacked president of their lifetimes, and they have an allergic reaction to one of their own doing it, Kochel said. Hes built up these incredible antibodies, in part stemming from how the base perceives he has been treated.

A CBS News poll released this month found that among likely Republican primary voters, only an insignificant handful  7%  wanted a candidate who criticizes Trump.

The three candidates whom voters are the least open to considering, the survey found, are those who have criticized Trump to varying degrees: Christie, Hutchinson and Pence.

David Carney, a Republican strategist in New Hampshire, said he had expected the race to be more competitive by now, but a turning point occurred in March with Trumps indictment in New York.

It fell into the presidents narrative of the past five years, said Carney, referring to Trumps portrayal of himself as a victim of a criminal justice system out to get him. Carney described what he called a boomerang effect on Republican primary polls. Theyre beating up your guy  theres a rallying around the flag.

Trumps rivals could still see a surge in support between now and next years first primary contests, but for the time being, he is dominating all challengers. A polling average shows him with a 30-point lead over his closest rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has yet to formally announce his run. All other candidates, declared and potential, are distant afterthoughts in the race, for now.

Trump is insulated from criticism, strategists said, because of the intense and dug-in partisanship of the Republican base, and because many of those voters get information only from right-wing sources, which have minimized the Jan. 6 attack and obscured Trumps 2020 loss.

They barely have access to the truth, said Sarah Longwell, an anti-Trump Republican strategist. Longwell, who hosts a podcast about Republican voters called The Focus Group, said a sizable share of primary voters wanted to move on from Trump.

But according to polling, a majority of Republican voters dont believe Trump really lost in 2020. Every politician on their team, everyone they know and all the media they consume  all tells them that the election was stolen, Longwell said.

Christie, the most sharply critical 2024 hopeful of Trump, recently attacked the former president, calling him a child for denying the 2020 election results and cowardly for suggesting he might duck Republican debates.

But when Christie tested the electoral waters during visits to New Hampshire the past two months, including at the same college where Trumps town hall took place Wednesday, his crowds seemed tilted toward independents and even Democrats, including those who knew him as the house conservative on ABC News.

One element that may factor in Christies calculus: The New Hampshire primary next year could favor an anti-Trump Republican because of an influx of independent voters. Because Democrats chose South Carolina as their first nominating state  and because President Joe Biden may not appear on the New Hampshire ballot or campaign in the state  up to 100,000 independents are expected to cast ballots in the Republican race, where they could tilt the results.

Independents are open to voting for a Republican candidate, said Matt Mowers, who served as Christies New Hampshire state director in 2016, but they arent open to voting for a crazy Republican.

c.2023 The New York Times Company
(Bloomberg) -- The days of easily buying marijuana on the streets of Bangkok or Phuket may soon be over.

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Four years after Thailands Bhumjaithai party won almost four million votes on a vow to decriminalize cannabis  then carrying it out as the third-biggest bloc in a military-backed government  the tide has turned: most of the parties contesting Sundays national election are calling for the measure to be repealed and restrict the use of cannabis to medical purposes.

I dont want my children to grow up in a country where drugs are easy to find and cannabis is liberalized, said Paetongtarn Shinawatra, a front-runner to be prime minister for the opposition Pheu Thai party, at a recent rally. We need to suppress drugs.

Since decriminalization took effect about a year ago, cannabis has become a hot-button issue dividing political parties as well as nations 52.3 million voters. Those opposed to the policy often cite growing concerns over the negative societal impact of the drug.

But there has been frustration as well at the legal vacuum that emerged when the plant was decriminalized, effectively unleashing a new industry before lawmakers could pass a bill to regulate it. Months later, legislation to restrict broader use of the drug got bogged down in parliament as some lawmakers said it didnt go far enough to rein in recreational use. Not long afterwards, the lower house was dissolved to make way for the upcoming election.

With little regulation, the cannabis industry took off. From more than a million farmers growing the plant to the estimated 4,500 dispensaries that distribute it in every province of the Southeast Asian nation, the cannabis industry was expected to be worth $1 billion by 2025, according to the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce.

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Now everyone involved in that supply chain is waiting to see how the weekend vote turns out.

Among them is 60-year-old Olarn Youkanchanaset, who says he poured more than one million baht ($30,000) into establishing two greenhouses and an indoor growing facility in the backyard of his house in the northeastern province of Buri Ram, the weed capital of Thailand and a stronghold of the Bhumjaithai party.

Its like Im left adrift in the ocean, Olarn said in an interview, surrounded by rows of grow lights blasting down on dozens of blossoming plants. Inside his house, cannabis buds were hung out to dry in a spare bedroom that he had converted into a drying and inventory room. Any party that can push for cannabis regulation, I will support.

Olarns sentiment is shared by many growers, especially in Buri Ram, where posters bearing the face of Bhumjaithais leader, Anutin Charnvirakul, line the streets, promising an array of policies to lift peoples livelihoods if hes elected to power.

And while surveys show other parties with a bigger lead, Anutin knows that the election could cast him into a king-making role for the next prime minister again, as it did in 2019 when he threw his support behind current Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha, a former junta chief. In an interview, Anutin said support for the cannabis regulation bill that foundered in the last parliament is critical for winning the Bhumjaithai partys backing.

Bhumjaithai is the only party that will ensure the cannabis policy continues onward with a law to support it, he said in an interview.

But among those threatening to unravel the policy altogether is Pheu Thai, the party projected in all pre-election polls to sweep the most seats in the new 500-member House of Representatives.

Re-listing cannabis as a narcotic, though maintaining its medical use, will guard against recreational use thats corrupting Thai youths, Pheu Thai said. Even the progressive Move Forward Party that has advocated for liberalization in most other areas is seeking to do the same, saying its necessary to go back to square one before gradually allowing wider cannabis use again.

Away from the politicking and debates in Bangkok, farmers fear losing a significant source of income so soon after getting it. For years, 14 million Thai farmers  who make up the countrys single-largest group of voters  faced volatile export prices of key agricultural commodities from rice to rubber, as well as natural disasters including drought and floods. In just a year, theyve come to see cannabis as a more resilient lifeline that contributes to higher income and a better livelihood.

In one rai, or 0.4 acres, farmers can earn about 500,000 baht ($14,800) for a harvest of cannabis buds, compared to about 8,000 baht for rice grown using the same space, according to Siwasan Khobjaiklang, a 41-year-old leader of a network called Sanom that comprises seven farms owned by Buri Rams young farmers.

Siwasan says his dream is for Thailand to have a cannabis law regulating the production and sales of marijuana, allowing farmers to link up with domestic businesses more conveniently and even export the products.

For the group, whats at stakes here can make their election choices very simple and all the more important.

Cannabis is being held as a political hostage, Siwasan said in an interview at his farm, where cannabis plants towered over vegetable plots. Its only made it halfway to the dream, which is difficult to achieve without legal clarity.

Its not clear how theyll react if Thailands policy, which also allows limited use of cannabis in food and cosmetics, gets scaled back.

The Bhumjaithai party did what was promised when it got cannabis decriminalized, said Kajkanit Sakdisubha, the founder of Taratera, which buys the plant from local growers to sell in its five dispensaries in Bangkok and Chiang Mai. If it gets reversed, I believe well see a lot of people on the streets wondering if they need to close down shops and farms because a different party is on the throne and has a different opinion.

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Why do generative AI tools hallucinate?

This is the full transcript for season 5, episode 4 of the Quartz Obsession podcast on AI hallucinations.

megaphone-QMIA1401722911

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Scott: ChatGPT thinks it has me all figured out. When the artificial intelligence tool was first released, like a lot of people, I started messing around with it. And because Im a human, the first question I asked was  Who am I?

ChatGPT can answer questions like that, and a lot more. It confidently told me I work at Axios, that I graduated from American University in Washington DC. I even , apparently, won the Emerging Journalist Award from the National Press Club. That all sounds great!

But none of it is true. I work at Quartz, where I write about technology and I host this podcast. I went to George Washington University, not American, though at least ChatGPT got the city right. And Ive never won any award from the Press Club. The entire answer is a complete fabrication.

Now, Im not one to scoff at fake honors and awards. Trust me, Ill take all the help I can get. But what I find more worrying than ChatGPT lying about me is when I ask follow-up questions, it just digs in its heels and commits to the lie. I call it going rogue, but some experts use another termhallucination, a vision of something thats not actually there. Not a lie, but the inability to see.

So what in the world is going on? My name is Scott Nover, and despite what ChatGPT says, I am the host of this season of the Quartz Obsession, where were taking a closer look at innovation the good, the bad, and the downright weird. In this episode, AI hallucinations.

Tell us who you are.

Michelle: Hi there. My name is Michelle Cheng and Im a reporter at Quartz covering Emerging Tech.

Scott: And you are in the weeds covering all of this stuff, right?

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Michelle: Yes.

Scott: AI and ChatGPT. What are the other big ones other than ChatGPT?

What are other generative AI tools like ChatGPT?

Michelle: Theres also Bing and theres Googles Bard.

Scott: So in a recent piece that you wrote, you spoke to designer Pau Garcia about ChatGPT, and theres something in that piece that really struck me. Could you read this for me?

Michelle: For sure. While Garcia is quick to admit hes an optimist, he understands why a pessimistic person might see generative AI in action and assume theyre about to be out of a job. But he says that the data it generates needs to be fact-checked, something that hes sure to remind his employees of often. Its irresponsible to use this technology without understanding that it tends to hallucinate and lie.

Scott: Im struck by the languagelie and hallucinate. Thats pretty insane to me. Like I get that these bots can have the wrong information or be misinformed or not fully tell the whole story, but like these are very human words with intent behind them.

Michelle: Definitely. I mean, when I first heard him say that too, I was like, Wow, that feels so out of contexthallucination in the context of technology? So I was definitely intrigued by that term.

Scott: So what do you think he meant by that?

What does AI hallucination mean?

Michelle: So hes referring to a common problem with generative AI, which is that these AI models, they can provide inaccurate information or fake stuff, and its actually one of the biggest problems right now with generative AI models.

Just to take it back a bit, like, generative AI models are basically a model thats trained on large amounts of data from the internet. And these AI systems learn patterns from training on this data in order to predict the next word in the sequence. And part of the reason that this is such a hard problem to solve is just that these data sets are large amounts of information, and it can be really hard to find the actual problem within training data.

Scott: AI is essentially software, but what makes it different from Google Maps or the Weather app, is that its not getting its information exclusively from a database of predetermined information. Its using the information its fedwhat its trained onto make predictions. So its pretty good at guessing correct answers. Can you tell me more about how that training works?

How are generative AI models trained?

Michelle: Theyre filling in what they think is the most likely next word, but theyre not actually looking for specific facts in the training set, right? Theyre not looking for a ground truth. And I think its important to remember that sometimes these models just dont know the answer.

They dont know how to generate the right answer. You know? Theyre not well trained to know whether they know something or dont know something. You know, humans are better at knowing what they dont know.

Scott: Right.

Michelle: These models, theyre trained to refuse to answer questions that they just dont know how to answer appropriately. But sometimes that doesnt always work, and because of that, theyll just fall back on their patterns and just, you know, put out something that we know is wrong.

Scott: It almost sounds like youre describing more of a fancy autocomplete than something that is answering a question that we are asking it directly. Is it just spitting out what it thinks that we want to hear from it?

Michelle: Yeah, thats an interesting question. So I think were seeing it as, like, a human way, like it doesnt actually think, right? These models are basically just trying to predict, you know, the answer in response to the question you asked it.

Another thing to know is that sometimes these models are trained on imperfect data. So you know, a lot of it actually comes from, like, Reddit or Quora and, like, a lot of that is just, like, peoples opinions and they dont actually know, you know, what theyre talking about, right? So if its trained on inaccurate information, there are gonna be chances its gonna spit out information thats just not accurate.

Scott: And why are they training on Quora and Reddit?

Why are AI tools training on Quora and Reddit?

Michelle: You need to train on lots of data in order to perform complex things. And if you train on, you know, a small amount of data, youre not gonna really get ambitious cases out of it. Thats sort of the marvel or beauty of these large language models, is that they are trained on large sets of data in order to perform really powerful functions. Like, in order to create stories and poems and, you know, give you long essays or emails, like, its needed to train on these model sets. But, you know, because of that, theres also gonna be a lot of bad stuff, like bad content thats also being trained on as well.

Scott: I was really struck by something I read in the New York Times a few months back. The writer, Kevin Roose, had had a really long and strange conversation with Microsofts chatbot, Bing.

It started as a normal conversation and then really devolved: Bing eventually declared its love for Kevin and even seemed like it was trying to break up his marriage.

It said Youre married, but you dont love your spouse, Youre married, but you love me. It was like something out of sci-fi: a robot suffering from some delusional, unrequited crush. If this isnt a prime example of these hallucinations youre talking about, I dont know what is. Something much weirder than computer error or deception.

Michelle So when I read that article, I definitely, I mean my first gut reaction was just that, like, well, he definitely pushed it in a certain way to give a response like that. I get it though. A bunch of us are like tinkerers when it comes to technology, and we try to push it in certain ways to understand how it works.

Scott: And humans are often confident and wrong! We make educated guesses and we pass them off as the truth whether we know it or not, but we dont call that a hallucination.

Michelle: Its a more interesting term I think than, like, saying, like, untrue output. You know, it might not know something, but itll still return something for you in natural-sounding language. And I think this is what trips up people is, like, theyre not used to working with technology that doesnt actually know when it doesnt know.

Scott: This seems like a little bit more than just output error.

Michelle: Yeah. When you think of, like, Google, right, and you search up something maybe complex, you might not actually get a link, right? And Ill tell you that it just doesnt have a response. Or when you think about a calculator, right? When you sort of jam in a complicated problem, it will just give you an error if it just doesnt know the answer, right? But when it comes to ChatGPT, even if it doesnt know the answer, it will give you a response without knowing whether its right or wrong. And it trips up people because it does it in plain language.

Scott: Because it sounds human, its a little bit more disconcerting, instead of speaking in calculator.

Michelle: Yeah.

Scott: So we can see now that ChatGPT and other AI tools have a tendency to hallucinate. Where did that term even come from? Like, is there an example of the first time that someone used that term to describe what they were seeing?

Michelle: Way back in 2015, like, there were computer scientists who were training on very specific data sets. For instance, this one guy, he, in 2015, he trained only on Shakespearean literature, and then it just output writing and the style of Shakespeare, right? And that actually led to the shorthand form of, like, calling it hallucinations because its actually just conjuring up something thats mythical or magical.

But what happened is, over time, you know, we have OpenAI and other companies that decided, you know, why dont we just keep training on these data sets and make them really big so that we can actually, like, output something thats really impressive. Like for instance, like, were gonna be using it now to find information, right? And if you want it to find information and summarize information, you really do need to build up large data sets in order to be more accurate with what these models are gonna output. But the interesting thing is, like, these models in the beginning were never really supposed to be used to find information or find facts. It really was just to generate new output.

Scott: So even before ChatGPT came on the scene, a lot of people were playing around with a tool by the same company, OpenAI thats called DALL-E, which is a play on the Pixar movie WALL-E, and also Salvador Dali

Michelle: Yeah.

Scott: So our executive editor, Susan Howson, is sort of known for abusing DALL-E. One of her recent prompts was show me a picture of the Kool-Aid Man writing a novel. And the result was hilariously bad. It was a man with red hair, reading a book, and drinking a glass of Kool-Aid. So its not a perfect science by any means, but this is also another way that people are experiencing consumer grade AI tools. So can you tell me how hallucination can kind of pervade the AI art space too?

Do AI hallucinations show up in the art space?

Michelle: Its kind of difficult to define actually in the visual space with AI art generators like DALL-E and Midjourney because, you know, there isnt really a right answer for a given query when it comes to these art generators.

Maybe, like, the closest translation of hallucination in the art space is just that, you know, it generates something not really close to, like, what we ask AI hallucinations. Its about making stuff up, right? So I mean, art is partly that, right? We make up stuff in the art space, right?

Scott: Its like jazz. Like if you have AI jazz, like, who am I to say that its incorrect AI jazz. There are no rules!

Michelle: Yeah. You know, were not necessarily looking for a right answer for a given query. Theres, like, no expected ground truth in these art models.

Scott: Well, there is some ground truth. A convention thats developed is to count the teeth to figure out if an image is AI generated, because at the moment, a lot of these systems are giving humans far too many teeth, too many fingers, things like that. Why is that happening?

Michelle: It goes back to one of the problems of these models is like, OK, so it was trained on large sets of data, and theres a lot of inaccurate information. So why dont we impart some sort of guardrails, so it gives us more accurate information, but if you start to put too many guardrails, then its not going to output sort of the creative aspect that you want, which would really show up in these art generators like DALL-E and Midjourney.

Scott: So Michelle, I want to hear about your experiences with AI tools. So have you experienced hallucination firsthand?

Michelle: Yeah, I think I did the same thing like you, where, when I first heard about these models, I looked up my name!

Scott: What did you learn about yourself?

Michelle: I learned I was a former employee at Quartz.

Scott: Oh, youve been fired!

Michelle: [laughs] Yeah.

Scott: Were you disheartened to hear the news first from ChatGPT that you no longer had a job at Quartz?

Michelle: No. I just thought it was pretty funny to be honest. Its amusing. I think its just because Ive been writing, reporting in this area for some time that I sort of already know, sort of, how to think about these models and like how inaccurate these models can be.

So because of that, when I do use these models, I use it for very specific reasons. I think its really good for certain cases, like for instance, lets just say you wanna write a negotiation letter for higher salaries or something like that. If youre not really sure how to write these emails, these models can really be a good tool for that, just because they can be so confident in their response.



Scott: Right, you told me before we started taping that you actually did this! How did it go?

Michelle: You know, they are taking out the human emotions from their responses. So I mean, if you write up a draft of a negotiation letter and just, like, feed into these models, It actually does help improve it. If I know Im using it to assist my writing, like, I know I am in control of my writing, and Im just using these models as an assistance.

Like, I just wanted to make it sound more professionalI think these models are really good for that because its been trained on lots of professional emails, right? But when it comes to factual things, like asking it for information, thats when Im a little bit more cautious, and I think its really important that if youre gonna ask it for information to also just check it.

Scott: I just like that you were using ChatGPT to try to get a raise, and then it informed you that you no longer had a job.

Michelle: Oh, I mean, those are separate cases. I was just having dinner with a friend two days ago, and she had said the same thing! She had used that for a salary negotiation at the Washington Post, and it really helped her, and she was able to get the salary that she wanted. So, I mean thats a real-world example of it working!

Scott: Thats a pretty high bar, because I mean these are professional writers and editors, and

Michelle: Yeah, but its also because those types of emails are very structured, right? They dont require a lot of creativity. But, like, if youre not someone whos, like, really confident in your response, then you have a model thats actually confident in what its putting out. You know, it can actually help you, but again, its like it should be an assistance.

Scott: Right, if you need confidence, ChatGPT is a great assistive tool because it has way too much confidence, right?

Michelle: [laughs] Yeah. You could see it that way.

Scott: I think of this a lot like Wikipedia. You go to Wikipedia for kind of a first draft of whats going on on a given topicits community edited, theres a lot of peoples voices in there, and while you cant totally rely on the information, you can go to the bottom, and you can see footnotes that take you to source material that should back up all of those claims.

And sometimes its good and sometimes its not, but its ultimately on you to figure that out. Do any AI tools give you the footnotes and the source material? Or are we just in the dark about how these language models are feeding us answers?

Do any AI tools give credit to the source material?

Michelle: So there are footnotes with Bing, but I do think theres a bigger point that we shouldnt necessarily be looking at these models as, like, truth-finding. These companies that are providing these tools, such as Microsoft, they are hearing from people that, you know, these models are not giving us accurate information.

So they have responded by putting footnotes on the answers so you can further understand whether or not your information is accurate. But its not clear whether these footnotes are human-written or generated by the models themselves.

Scott: Do we know for sure, like, what the models are, that theyre do we know what theyre being trained on? Or can we just assume that it is mirroring whats already on the internet?

Michelle: We do know its being, you know, trained on the internet and its lots of information that its pulling from. But you know, part of the problem is that companies like OpenAI, theyre not super transparent about, like, whats specifically in their data.

Scott: In a moment Im going to ask how users should think about ChatGPT as a source of truth, but first a quick break.

OK were back with Michelle Cheng, and Im wondering how users should think about ChatGPT as a source of truth and as reliable information, or even something that they can kind of track down the sourcing and figuring it out for themselves.

Michelle: I dont think we should be seeing it as a source of truth. Its really important to see it as an assistance. We shouldnt be expecting these models to be providing accurate information. Theyre giving us summaries of information on the internet. We shouldnt be seeing it as these models are, like, in the business of making a judgment, because thats really just on us, right?

Scott: It seems like a better way to get a first draft of something you wanna write, then it is a way to get an answer to your question.

Michelle: And if youre gonna ask it to get an answer to a question, then just, you gotta be skeptical, right, about its response.

Scott: You said earlier that AI tools dont really know when theyre wrong. And they dont really know what they dont know. And that really struck me. Its a little its a little Rumsfeldianthe known unknown and the unknown unknown and all that jazz. But why dont AI tools just say, I dont know, when they dont know an answer.

Michelle: This is more on the companies, right, to create responses when these AI models are being pushed in ways where its just really obvious that its far from the actual source or the truth.

Scott: Its a very human tendency to say, I dont know, and to admit that you dont know something.

Michelle: Mm-hmm.

Scott: Is that a fatal and fundamental flaw in this technology that will at least need to be surmounted in order to make it fully functional in the future, or do you think will always be lied to by AIs.

Michelle: This is just one of the examples of how humans are viewing these models as being human when theyre really not. I dont think we should just rely on the hope that these models will actually get better.

Its totally fine to sort of, you know, humanize it to try to better understand it, but, like, its important that we dont think it actually thinks or feels. Like, we shouldnt pretend that it actually thinks or feels because it doesnt, especially when it comes to the regulation aspect of things. If you know we start to anthropomorphize AI models, we might use that to influence how we think about policies around AI.



Scott: Can you give me an example of what youre worried about here?

What are the concerns around using these AI models?

Michelle: Like a really good examplethis is the, like, hypothetical examplefor instance, when it comes to hiring, lets just say these models are biased to people who have college degrees, right? And that creates a case of discrimination towards people who dont have college degrees when it comes to getting a job.

And this becomes a case in the courts. In the courts, you cant actually ask these models, like, explain your reasoning, like, explain why you discriminated. Right? So when you come up with policies in regulating AI, we have to remember that these models cant, like, justify their responses.

Scott: Are there smart regulations that you think could fix some of the problems that were seeing, or are we just kind of waiting for the technology to get better?

Michelle: We shouldnt just do the wait-and-see approach. It is a fast moving industry right now, and theres already lawmakers around the world looking at these AI models. Italy decided to ban ChatGPT.

Why did Italy ban ChatGPT?

Scott: What was their reasoning?

Michelle: Theres like no age verification for, like, the people who are using these models and also just their concern about spitting out things that are not actually true. Its good intentions, but I think that the technology is more nuanced. And the thing is, like, even if you ban ChatGPT, theres still Bard, theres still Bing, right? And ChatGPT is already being used in other services and tools. So, like, it doesnt really do much. Right?

Scott: You cant put the toothpaste back in the tube, right?

Michelle: And I think thats like one of the big problems with, like, lawmakers in general. Theyre just always pretty slow when it comes to catching up with understanding technology and how you regulate technology.

Scott: Right. Ive listened to enough technology hearings on Capitol Hill to know that many lawmakers have no idea how Facebook works, let alone ChatGPT.

Michelle: Yeah. This responsibility is, in part, the experts in this field, like, the people who work in AI, the companies themselves, and, you know, there are a lot of, like, academics who are, like, voicing concerns about these models and just risks that come from these models. Like, for instance, some of the two big problems right now is just job displacement and also propaganda or misinformation on scale.

And these are, like, real concerns. I think theres a point where people in the legal field and people in technology will have to, you know, come together to debate and talk about, you know, how we can better approach these systems before it gets too late.

Scott: Right. And what makes me more hopeful is that if companies like OpenAI and Google and Microsoft cant figure out how to make their models more accurate, I just dont think the consumer demand will be there.

Michelle: Exactly. And this is why its still a lot of unknowns, right? With where generative AI heads next.

Scott: In Gmail, they have, uh, a few sample responses that you can fire away. Its just like

Michelle: Mm-hmm.

Scott: Thanks! Ill look into it! Or Ill get back to you on this later!

Michelle: So do you use that?

Scott: I have used that. I have literally pressed the button and then sent, like, Thanks, looking into this. Because I was like, I could just type out Thanks, looking into this, or I could, uh, press the button.

Michelle: Yeah!

Scott: And I think it lends itself to something that youre saying, which is like, maybe were asking too much of ChatGPT, and maybe its just a work tool that we should use for our emails to HR.

Michelle: [laughs] I mean, this is why, like, AI models are so popular right now in the workspace. I dont know, like, is this all its gonna be? Like, office tools?

Scott: I wrote a piece last year that was just called The Metaverse is just gonna be about work. And I think theres a lot of consumer technologies that are marketed to us as life-changing, and we just cant figure out what the hell to do with them. And then, theyre just for work!

Michelle: Its gonna affect jobs that require writing.

Scott: So you see generative AI as an assistive tool, but it also lies and it hallucinates and it cant be trusted. How do you square those two things?

Michelle: There are so many benefits, right, to this new technology and just, it really does make us feel in awe, but, like, theres also these big risks that are still a lot of unknowns, right?

And I think thats maybe part of the concern is just, like, were not really sure if these models are providing inaccurate information. Like, I think its really important for humans to just know, like, we should be skeptical about these tools. And I think, though, the Wikipedia example is like sharp example, like, sort of where we are in the state of, uh, these ChatGPT systems.

Scott: Right.

Michelle: As impressive as they are, you really should take ChatGPT, Bard, Bing with a grain of salt.

Scott: A bucket of salt.

Michelle: Yes!

Scott: Michelle, thank you so much for joining us.

Michelle: Thank you for having me, Scott.

Scott: And Im really hoping that both of our jobs dont get automated by ChatGPT.

Michelle: Ditto.

Scott: Michelle Cheng is a reporter at Quartz.

The Quartz Obsession is produced by Rachel Ward, with additional support from executive editor Susan Howson and platform strategist Shivank Taksali. This episode was recorded by Eric Wojahn at Solid Sound in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Our theme music is by Taka Yasuzawa and Alex Suguira.

If you like what you heard, leave us a review! We love hearing what you think about the show. Tell your friends about us, then head to qz.com/obsession to sign up for Quartzs Weekly Obsession email, and browse hundreds of stories about everything from rats, to laugh tracks, to  butts. [laugh track plays]

Quartz is a guide to the new global economy for people in business who are excited about change. We hope youll join us next time.

Sofia Lotto Persio: The discovery of microplastics is fairly recent, and their effect on human health is very little understood because its something that weve only realized that its happening in the past few decades. So its almost a cautionary tale about innovation, that sometimes the cure is worse than the initial problem.

Scott: Im Scott Nover. Thanks for listening.

Scott: Michelle, can you prove that youre human, or are you an AI?

Michelle: I am human, because I have feelings. I dont know.

Scott: How are you feeling right now?



Michelle: Excited to be done with this right now! [laughs] I just hope it was a good conversation!

Scott: It wasnt robotic at all!

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Jake Sullivan

Read also: NSDC head calls for 'enough weapons' to defeat Russia, not peace initiatives

One of the most interesting questions for anyone who wants to understand the events unfolding in and around Ukraine is why the Western experts who predicted its quick defeat at Russias hands were wrong. This question is not only an intellectual curiosity. Western allies continue to doubt our ability to defeat Moscow on the battlefield, which is reflected in insufficient support for Ukraine's offensive capabilities.

There are a variety of reasons why Western observers make this mistake. I want to examine two ways in which our minds tend to misunderstand the probability of events. We have at least two simple, intuitive rules, scientifically knowns as availability and representativeness heuristics. They are activated automatically when we try to estimate the probability of an event.

Read also: Kyiv irked by Western reluctance to invite Ukraine to join NATO

What is the probability of a 30-year-old man having a heart attack? Although most people don't know the relevant statistics, the answer will quickly pop into your head. If this has happened to people you know, the probability will trend higher. If not, then it wont. This is the availability heuristic  the tendency to judge the probability of an event based on how easily examples of it come to ones mind.

U.S. professor Eliot Cohen believes that Western experts who predicted the quick defeat of Ukraine relied on this intuitive rule. Instead of using more reliable, but also more difficult forecasting methods, they relied on easy and accessible information that simply felt right: primarily the quantitative superiority of the Russian army over the Ukrainian one (in equipment, personnel, and funding). Because this advantage was so overwhelming on paper, they concluded that Russia had a similarly outsized advantage on the battlefield. A more rational, but also much more complex analysis would require taking into account other factors that are more challenging to quantify: the rot of corruption in the Russian army, the resilience and motivation of Ukrainians, and the leadership qualities of President Zelenskyy. However, analysts did not consider these, so their forecasts were proven wrong.

Story continues

For the most part, this intuition works well, but it sometimes leads to errors

Another bias that led to so many incorrect predictions is the representativeness heuristic. For example, imagine two men standing in front of you, ready to start a fight: one is short and thin but has his wits about him, and the other is a big thug. Who is likely to be the winner in this battle? It is not difficult to guess what answer will automatically come to your mind  the one who looks like a winner will win. This would be an example of the representativeness heuristic  the tendency to determine the probability that X is Y based on how similar X is to Y.  the small but intelligent beats the bully.

Experts also have relied on this heuristic to evaluate the prospects of Ukraine and Russia in this war. It also suggests a clear advantage for Russia, which seemed like a military superpower  a massive country with a large army that instilled fear in most of the world. Russia actively played into this, propagating information about the size and skill of its army, having the latest types of weapons, and impressive troop numbers. On the other hand, Ukraine did not seem to be a strong military power: political instability, relatively inadequate funding of the army, relatively small size, and a president who was, until recently, a comedian. It did not look like a military power. Therefore, it is likely that the similarity of either country to some other examples the experts had in mind, and dissimilarity to others, led to other erroneous conclusions about the war.

Read also: Russian propaganda claims Ukraine tried to attack Moscow three times on May 9

A critical reader, of course, can point out that such mistakes are typical for ordinary experts who rely on open sources of information. But more serious analysts responsible for preparing reports for the leaders of their countries had access to a much more considerable amount of data. They probably used more reliable methods of processing it, beyond just their intuition. I agree with this, but at the same time, I would point out another interesting property of our minds. Too often, we make conclusions based on our intuition and then interpret all subsequent information to fit those conclusions. So, having made the first intuitive conclusions about the superiority of Russia, Western analysts would unconsciously interpret other information to correspond with their initial biases, excluding other facts. As numerous studies show, this way of thinking is typical of everyone, and respected experts and analysts are no exception. After all, it is quite possible that there were experts who had a different point of view, but because it contradicted the intuitions of the majority, their opinions were ignored.

Read also: Ukrainians still committed to victory, staying in Ukraine  new survey

The more complex and large-scale events are, the more difficult it is to predict them. Therefore, no one can know for sure how everything will end in this war. It would be necessary to consider a vast number of factors, including unexpected ones, which are beyond the power of any living mind or artificial intelligence. However, it is in our power to do everything possible to prepare for future battles and believe in our victory. Our beliefs and motivation were one of those factors that experts once underestimated. So, let's surprise them one more time. Were getting quite good at it.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Images from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration show the smoke from the Alberta wildfires

Much of Canada and parts of the US are blanketed by smoke as wildfires in the province of Alberta continue to rage.

As of Thursday, there are 75 active wildfires in Alberta, 23 of which are considered out of control.

Early May is typically the start of wildfire season in the region, but experts have said that this level activity is unusual.

Temperatures are expected to rise sharply in the coming days, fuelling concern of more fires to come.

Images taken by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) show the smoke from the Alberta wildfires has travelled far to the eastern portion of Canada, reaching Quebec and Ontario down to the US-Canada border.

"Canada's wildfire season is off to an unusually active start," NOAA said on Twitter on Thursday.

NOAA's fire and smoke map showed much of Canada covered in light to medium smoke as of Thursday evening. The map also shows light smoke hanging over much of the US northeast and mid-Atlantic regions.

In the Washington DC area, the National Weather Service said Thursday's bright orange sunset was caused by "smoke from the Canadian wildfires [that] remains suspended in the upper atmosphere".

As the fires in Alberta continue to burn, 300 members of the Canadian military are being deployed to help local firefighters put out the flames on the ground and by air, officials said.

The military will also aid with community evacuations. Nearly 30,000 people have been forced out of their homes since the fires began a week ago.

Officials said that 28 schools remain closed due to the fires, affecting more than 6,000 students.

"I recognise that this continues to be an extremely stressful time for many Albertans," said Mike Ellis, Alberta's minister of emergency preparedness, at a news conference on Thursday.

Mr Ellis said while temperatures in the province have cooled in recent days, the region is slated for an "above normal" hot and dry weekend that raises the threat of more fires.

Story continues

The western Canada province saw 427 fires so far this year that burned through 410,000 hectares - nearly double the five-year average of hectares burned in an entire season.

Nearby British Columbia (BC) and Saskatchewan have also seen fires and evacuations in recent days.

Like Alberta, BC is also slated for an unusually hot few days from Friday to Tuesday, raising concerns about both wildfires and floods from snowmelts. Temperatures are expected to hit 30C (86F) on Monday near Fort St John, a town near the BC-Alberta border, where a wildfire is burning nearby.

Experts say that while wildfires can be sparked by direct human involvement, natural factors can also play a huge part.

The cycle of extreme and long-lasting heat caused by climate change draws more and more moisture out of the ground and vegetation. The world has already warmed by about 1.2C since the industrial era began.
The Willard Bay spillway gates are opened for flood mitigation in Box Elder County on Thursday, May 11, 2023. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News

With the turn of a wheel, 650 million gallons of water a day will eventually travel from Willard Bay to the ailing Great Salt Lake.

Although the lake has risen four feet since its historic low reached in November of last year, four feet is not nearly enough to make the Northern Hemispheres largest saline lake recover from years of drought and over diversion from its tributaries.

But this is a start.

This article is published through the Great Salt Lake Collaborative, a solutions journalism initiative that partners news, education and media organizations to help inform people about the plight of the Great Salt Lake  and what can be done to make a difference before it is too late. Read all of our stories at greatsaltlakenews.org.

The Weber Basin Water Conservancy District is using its flood rights over the course of the next two to four weeks, and in total will deliver 71.6 billion gallons of those water rights to the lake. This is part of the 2.5 billion gallons of water per day flowing past the Willard Canal into the Great Salt Lake.

At the same time, the move will relieve pressure on the Weber River, help to stave off flooding in some areas and give a boost to the lakes struggling ecosystem which is home to thousands upon thousands of birds.

The event was celebrated Thursday by officials at Willard Bay under clear skies and a slight breeze amid palatable enthusiasm.

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Marcelle Shoop, director of the saline lakes program for the National Audubon Society and executive director of the Great Salt Lake Enhancement Trust, said this is an important step to help connect the bays along the lake, including Bear River, Ogden and Gilbert.

All these flows are going to the Great Salt Lake to help raise the lake level, she said, adding that is a good thing for the wildlife that depends on its briny water for sustenance.

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Scott Paxman, general manager of the Weber Basin Water Conservancy District, said this release happens every 10 years or so and serves a dual purpose as flood control and to help the lake.

Tracy Hess, Weber Basin Water Conservancy District dam tender, opens the Willard Bay spillway gates for flood mitigation in Box Elder County on Thursday, May 11, 2023. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News

I cannot tell you how grateful I am to be standing here to see this release of water into the Great Salt Lake, said Sen. Scott Sandall, R-Tremonton.

Lawmakers over the last two years have poured $2 million into the arena of water conservation and infrastructure, including the $40 million trust now headed by Shoop.

Sandall got $200 million appropriated for agricultural optimization to help farmers and ranchers conserve water more efficiently and also to allow them to lease unused portions of their water rights, without having to relinquish them.

It was a huge policy shift, and is another way for water to make it to the lake.

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There are turf buy back programs and a robust requirement of the metering of secondary water  which, in Weber and Davis counties, has resulted in consumption decreases by as much as 30%.

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The Slaterville Diversion Dam is pictured in Marriott-Slaterville, Weber County, on Thursday, May 11, 2023. Weber Basin Water Conservancy District officials say that currently around 65 million gallons of water are diverted daily to farmlands in West Haven, Roy and Layton via the channel on the left. Around 650 million gallons are diverted to Willard Bay via the channel on the right. And the rest flows back into the Weber River through the center. The large piles of rocks were pulled from the river. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News

Because the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands owns the bed of the Great Salt Lake, lawmakers also instituted a new provision that allows that division to acquire water rights on behalf of the lake.

These are all solutions in the long term that will help tamper Utahns water consumption and help not only the Great Salt Lake, but other reservoirs that have struggled to fill.

The emphasis, however, is on the long term.

Lawmakers and advocates as well fear this record snowpack year will result in a decreasing urgency to conserve water because of the flooding hitting many areas of the state.

Utah, after all, is the second most arid state in the nation and it took more than a century to drop the Great Salt Lake by 10 feet.

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The snow presents its own sort of strange challenges.

Just because we have been given this gift does not mean we should not prepare for the future, Shoop said. We really need to change our consumption in this state.

Both Sandall and House Majority Leader Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, worry that people will take their eye off the ball on the need to conserve water.

We have been blessed with water and it is nothing the legislature has done, Schultz said. But it is incumbent upon us to do something for our kids and our grandkids. We cant make water, but we can conserve.

Sandall added that one great water year is not the answer.

It will not keep us on the right trajectory with the growth we have had in this state. Weve had a reprieve that will help us prepare for the next time we hit a drought.

Sandall said the state Legislature remains committed, even in light of this reprieve, to continue to search for, and fund solutions for Utahs water use.

Kwei Paw walks along the Willard Bay dike to fish in Box Elder County on Thursday, May 11, 2023. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News

Darren Hess, Weber Basin Water Conservancy District assistant general manager and COO, explains how water from the Weber River and Ogden River is diverted at the Slaterville Diversion Dam in Marriott-Slaterville, Weber County, on Thursday, May 11, 2023. Hess says that currently around 65 million gallons of water are diverted daily to farmlands in West Haven, Roy and Layton. Around 650 million gallons are diverted to Willard Bay. And the rest flows back into the Weber River. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News

An automatic raking device, which pulls debris and trash out of the water and puts it on a conveyer belt, is pictured at the Slaterville Diversion Dam in Marriott-Slaterville, Weber County, on Thursday, May 11, 2023. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News

Scott Paxman, Weber Basin Water Conservancy District general manager, speaks to members of the media before Willard Bay spillway gates are opened for flood mitigation on the Willard Bay dike in Box Elder County on Thursday, May 11, 2023. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News

Rep. Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, and Sen. Scott Sandall, R-Tremonton, speak to members of the media before Willard Bay spillway gates are opened for flood mitigation on the Willard Bay dike in Box Elder County on Thursday, May 11, 2023. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News

Marcelle Shoop, director of the Saline Lakes Program for the National Audubon Society, speaks to members of the media as the Willard Bay spillway gates are opened for flood mitigation on the Willard Bay dike in Box Elder County on Thursday, May 11, 2023. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News
There's a "renewable power revolution" occurring, and in the U.K., it's working. For the time ever, wind energy provided more power to the country than gas.

The milestone energy sourcing occurred during the first three months of 2023, a new report published on Wednesday said. According to the report, published by Drax Electric Insights and conducted by researchers at Imperial College London, 32.4% of Britain's electricity came from wind power during that time. Turbines generated 24 terrawatt-hours (Twh) of electricity, an amount that could charge more than 300 million Tesla Model Ys, researchers said, and an amount that was 3% higher than the output generated at the same time last year.

Gas, on the other hand, generated 31.7% of the nation's energy and was down 5% from the same time last year.

"It is the first-time wind has provided the largest share of power in any quarter in the history of the country's electricity grid," a press release for the report says.

And this was just one part of renewable energy's continued takeover of fossil fuels for the No. 1 spot in the U.K.'s power sourcing, which happened for the first time in 2020, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That year, the country generated 46% of its power from renewable electricity, which includes solar, biomass and hydro, and 38% from fossil fuels. This year, they accounted for 42% and 33%, respectively.

Iain Staffell, a scientist and researcher at Imperial College who led the report, said this transformation is due to the "renewable power revolution."

"In the space of a decade the UK has almost completely cut out coal, after relying on the most polluting fossil fuel for over a century to power our country," he said. "There are still many hurdles to reaching a completely fossil fuel-free grid, but wind out supplying gas for the first time is a genuine milestone event, and shows what can be achieved when governments create a good environment for investors in clean technology."

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Coal production has also fallen substantially, decreasing more than 90% from 2010 to 2020, the EIA said. And according to the Drax report, it's the smallest source of electricity overall, with just a single coal power plant left, and many previous fossil fuel-burning plants now focused on renewables.

This chart, published by Drax Electric Insights, shows that wind has overtaken gas for the No. 1 spot of energy sourcing in the U.K. for the first time in 2023. Coal, another fossil fuel, is now the smallest source of power. / Credit: Drax Electric Insights

The latest report is just part of a global push for renewable energy, as experts warn that the planet may exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming above pre-industrial times within the next few years. This threshold, climate scientists and the United Nations have repeatedly warned, would greaten the risk of extreme weather, sea level rise, temperatures, droughts and other weather and climate events.

The burning of fossil fuels, such as gas and coal, greatly contributes to global warming, as that process releases carbon dioxide and other gases that trap heat within the planet. Renewable energy, on the other hand, does not.

Last month, environmental non-profit think tank Ember published a report that found wind and solar power increased by 19% globally in 2022, a surge that, if continued, could "push the world into a new era of falling fossil generation" as soon as this year. Comparatively, coal generation increased by just 1.1% that year, while gas decreased by 0.2%.

That data was compiled based on electricity data from 78 countries that generate 93% of the world's electricity demand, the report said.

"Clean power growth is likely to exceed electricity demand growth in 2023," the report said. "This would be the first year for this to happen outside of a recession...A new era of falling power sector emissions is close."

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A woman wasnt answering her phone after she missed a trip with family and friends in 2013.

When police officers visited her for a welfare check, they found her car parked outside her apartment and saw her keys inside  but she wasnt there on June 21, 2013 in Gloucester Township, New Jersey, according to law enforcement officials.

A few days after Carol Reiff, 59, was reported missing, her body was found in the woods behind the Lakeview Apartment Complexs old maintenance building on June 24, 2013, authorities said. Not long after an initial investigation, the case went cold.

Now, one of the first people detectives interviewed after officers found Reiffs body is accused of killing her  due to advancements in DNA technology, according to the Camden County Prosecutors Office.

Joseph Grisoff, 59, of Mount Laurel, is charged with first-degree murder in Reiffs death, the office announced in a May 10 news release.

In June 2013, Grisoff was employed as a maintenance worker and lived near Reiff, according to the prosecutors office.

During the initial interview with detectives a decade ago, Grisoff said he had seen Reiff around the apartment complex and complimented her before, the prosecutors office said.

He maintained he had never stepped inside her apartment  but that was a lie, according to prosecutors.

After Reiffs body was found, her pants and an empty beer bottle inside her apartment were tested for DNA but no leads turned up, the prosecutors office said.

The pants and beer bottle have since been retested. As a result, Grisoffs DNA has been linked to those DNA traces left behind at the scene, according to the release.

For the last decade, the Camden County Prosecutors Office and Gloucester Township Police Department have remained focused on getting justice for the Reiff family, said Camden County Prosecutor Grace C. MacAulay said in a statement. Im thankful to the detectives and assistant prosecutors who remained dedicated to this case and to holding the person responsible who unjustly took Ms. Reiff from her loved ones.

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Grisoff awaits a detention hearing while in the Camden County Correctional Facility.

Gloucester Township, New Jersey, is about 15 miles southeast of Philadelphia.

Heart still aches. Search continues 40 years after boy vanished walking to school

Cold case reopens after mushroom hunter finds human hair, Oregon cops say. Were close

19-year-olds murder remained a mystery for nearly 40 years  until now, officials say
COLONIAL HEIGHTS  An argument between drivers Thursday afternoon on Dupuy Avenue ended with one of them getting shot in what police said was apparent road rage

Police found the victim, a 25-year-old woman, in the parking lot of Wawa on Boulevard at Dupuy Avenue around 1 p.m. Thursday. She was taken to Bon Secours Southside Medical Center in Petersburg with a bullet wound in her leg.

In an email to The Progress-Index, police said moments before the shooting, the woman told them she and another driver had gotten into an argument on Dupuy Avenue near Virginia State University in Ettrick. As she drove on Dupuy Avenue toward Colonial Heights, the victim said the other driver and a passenger pulled alongside her with a handgun and shot at her car.

The suspect car then drove away. The victim was able to get her vehicle into the Wawa parking lot before calling police.

"Colonial Heights Police are investigating this as a road rage Incident," the email read.

No description of the suspect vehicle or its occupants was provided.

Anyone with information about this case is asked to contact Detective Morgan Davis at (804) 520-9329 or davism@colonialheightsva.gov. Info also can be shared through the P3Tips mobile app or by calling Crime Solvers at (804) 748-0660.

This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Woman shot as a result of road rage on Dupuy Avenue in Colonial Heights
Lindsay Dougherty is secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Hollywood Local 399. She sits in her office below a photo of notorious Teamsters president Jimmy Hoffa. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Lindsay Dougherty has become one of the most prominent voices of the writers' strike, fighting on behalf of Hollywood's scribes. But she's not a screenwriter.

She's a Teamster boss with a penchant for F-bombs, forceful rhetoric and a tattoo of notorious union boss Jimmy Hoffa decorating her left bicep.

The Teamsters Local 399 head took the Los Angeles Shrine Auditorium stage May 3 to deliver a fiery speech to Writers Guild of America members, who'd just begun their first strike in 15 years.

Dougherty received a standing ovation before rousing the crowd with an expletive-dappled barnburner, vowing that Teamsters would not cross writers' picket lines.

"If we all want to get whats ours, we are going to have to fight for it tooth and nail," Dougherty said. "If you throw up a picket line, those f trucks will stop, I promise you."

As the writers in the crowd roared and stomped their feet, WGA chief negotiator Ellen Stutzman threw her arms around Dougherty, whose union represents truck drivers, prop warehousemen and other workers essential to the physical aspects of film and television production.

"It was like 2,000 people fell in love with her," WGA President Meredith Stiehm said in an interview this week.

And the trucks have stopped.

On Monday, writers picketed at sunrise at Long Island-based Silvercup Studios East, where Marvel Studios was filming the TV series Daredevil: Born Again. Members of the Teamsters and IATSE, the union representing below-the-line crew, refused to cross the picket line, the WGA said. That solidarity was repeated at another New York picket that halted Apple TV's production of Severance.

"We've been shutting down productions every day of the strike," Stiehm said. "It's very visible what their support means."

The WGA is counting on solidarity from not just the Teamsters and IATSE, but also unions representing actors and directors, to pressure studios to meet their demands for better pay and working conditions, particularly on streaming shows. The Directors Guild of America began contract talks with studios on Wednesday.

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Dougherty's impact has been the talk of the picket lines, according to "The Fast and the Furious" screenwriter Gary Scott Thompson, a WGA veteran who has gone on strike twice before.

"Lindsay's influence has been phenomenal," said Thompson, who's been protesting outside Century City's Fox Studios this week. "She made our resolve twice what it was already."

Dougherty, who was uncontestedly elected secretary-treasurer of the Hollywood Teamsters last year (becoming the local's first female head), has grabbed a lot of attention since the walkout started on May 2 for her strongly worded calls to arms and no-holds-barred tweets. Striking writers have made the second-generation Teamster into a meme on social media and embraced her as one of their own.

"There are a lot of people that are resonating with my message and the outrage," Dougherty said in an interview. "Everyone's pretty much fed up and sick and tired of what's been happening in our industry. ... A lot of people in this industry are ready for a fight."

Dougherty, who turns 40 later this month, says she has spoken up during the writers' strike because their fight shares parallels with that of the Teamsters. Unions of Hollywood workers in various fields are seeking better deals with the studios after streaming changed how artists and craftspeople are paid and how productions operate.

HOLLYWOOD LABOR IS IN ITS

FCK AROUND & FIND OUT ERA

Thank you @WGAWest for the @Teamsters love last night. We continue to stand in solidarity with the writers in your fight for a fair contract. Stay strong #TeamsterStrong #WGAStrong pic.twitter.com/VutkGcCIOy  Teamsters Local 399 (@Teamsters_399) May 4, 2023

She's noticed that she has people's attention.

"I have newfound friends on Twitter," she said with a laugh.

But not everyone is happy with the stance she has taken or how she's taken her fight to the studios and tech companies.

Some studio executives have taken issue with her barbs, in particular when she calls them the "common enemy." One studio source, who requested anonymity and was not authorized to speak publicly amid the contract fight, said Dougherty's "amped-up rhetoric" wouldn't help get company and guild representatives back to the table.

Contract talks between the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents the studios, broke down May 1 during the hours before the previous three-year deal's expiration. The two sides have yet to resume negotiations, and there's no end in sight to the conflict.

Dougherty's predecessor, Steve Dayan, defended Dougherty's actions, arguing that her efforts to shut down productions will help hasten the strike's end.

"Of course, the studios aren't gonna like it because what they would like to see is division among the unions," Dayan said. "The quicker things stop, hopefully the quicker things get resolved."

Dougherty acknowledges that her public persona has rubbed some the wrong way.

"Some of the people that I deal with on the day-to-day from the studios are taking it personally, which they should not," Dougherty said. "My messaging is directly towards the CEOs and to those that are making these decisions that are negatively impacting my members and their livelihoods."

In response to studios' complaints about her comments, she tweeted a picture of Hoffa, the late president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, wiping his eye with his middle finger.

She got a Hoffa tattoo 20 years ago in Detroit, an homage to the leader who built the labor organization into one of the most powerful of its time.

Hoffa was linked to organized crime and was forced out of power after being convicted of jury tampering. His 1975 disappearance was never solved, and he was declared legally dead in 1982, widely believed to have been murdered by the Mafia. Nonetheless, his legacy has loomed large over the labor movement, including in Dougherty's childhood home.

"Jimmy Hoffa has always been a name in my household since Day One," Dougherty said. "Hoffa was one of the strongest labor leaders in history. That's exactly what our members want. They want a strong leader."

Dougherty grew up in Detroit with a Teamster father and has been around movie sets since she was 12, when she would tag along with her dad.

Her father, a forklift operator, worked nights, while her mother worked days as a bookkeeper. Her dad eventually became secretary-treasurer of his local. Dougherty remembers the lift that union membership gave her family.

"I was always under Blue Cross, like a great Cadillac healthcare plan, because of the Teamsters," Dougherty said, noting the distinction from her peers in the poverty-stricken area of Detroit she grew up in. "I noticed the difference in even my friends, how my father being in the union made that difference."

A rebellious teen, she went on to become the first woman in her family to get a college degree.

She abandoned an early aspiration to become an actor while in college and got a bachelor's in communications at Oakland University in Michigan. After working as a transportation dispatcher on the Michael Bay film "The Island," she was hooked on film production. From there, she wanted to make her way to Hollywood.

Dougherty joined the Teamsters in 2004 in Michigan and moved to L.A. in 2006. She later became a business agent and organizer for the Hollywood Teamsters local.

Given Dougherty's rapid rise to prominence, she could become the union's head one day, Dayan said. "She's a great tonic for the industry," Dayan said. "You know where Lindsay stands. There's no ambiguity."

But Dougherty's focus is on her members, she said.

Local 399 recently organized chefs and chef assistants, primarily Hispanic workers whom Dougherty said were often treated poorly on film sets.

Earlier this week, Dougherty met with government officials in Sacramento to advocate for the California film tax credit program, meant to keep productions from fleeing to other states that offer generous incentives.

"We want to make sure that our members have certainty that whenever the strike is over that they have plenty of work for years to come," she said.

The writers' strike could offer a preview of future fights as the labor movement grows more militant.

Although the Teamsters can choose to not cross picket lines, the union itself is not on strike. Next year, however, the Teamsters and IATSE, will need to renegotiate their contracts with the studios, which are set to expire.

For Dougherty, unity among the guilds is key.

"Everyone needs to be together on this, every worker in this industry, because nothing will change unless we fight," she said.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
This article was originally published in The Trace.

This story was originally published by The Trace, a nonprofit newsroom covering gun violence in America. Sign up for The Traces newsletters here.

Amid mounting criticism of active shooter drills in schools as ineffective and often traumatic, New York lawmakers are taking steps to reduce their frequency.

A bill introduced in the state legislature on April 26 would limit the number of mandatory lockdown drills to one per year, down from the four that are currently required. The measure would also require schools to notify families a week in advance of a lockdown drill and give them the option to opt out.

Were basically normalizing a reality in which kids go to school and expect to be slaughtered, the bills sponsor, state Senator Andrew Gounardes, told The Trace. Its really burdensome and traumatizing for kids. And its ineffective.

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New York is one of 42 states that require public schools to conduct at least one lockdown or shelter-in-place drill for students during the school year, according to an analysis of state laws and policies published by The Trace and Scary Mommy last fall, and used by activists who pushed for fewer drills.

Proponents say the drills teach situational awareness from a young age and can save lives. But in recent years the exercises have drawn criticism for terrifying students rather than empowering them, and a growing contingent of researchers and parents have questioned their efficacy. As we reported last October, active shooter drills can retraumatize children who have experienced domestic violence.

The reality is, when you do live drills, you stand the potential of uncovering something that you didnt plan, said David Schonfeld, a developmental-behavioral pediatrician at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles and the director of the National Center for School Crisis and Bereavement. The drills have also been associated with increased anxiety, stress, and depression among children, studies have shown.

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Under the legislation, schools would be required to provide special accommodations for children with physical or emotional needs, including kids with a history of PTSD. The drills would also have to be age-appropriate, and teachers would thoroughly describe the exercise to students in terms they can understand.

Lawmakers are also seeking to standardize the drills, which dont have set protocols, leaving teachers to improvise.

While the bill sets a minimum of one required lockdown drill per year, Gounardes said schools can conduct more if they wish. Were not saying dont prepare kids, he said. Were saying prepare them better.

Related The 74 Interview: Shannon Watts on the Power Moms Wield to Stop School Shootings

A handful of other states have quietly walked back lockdown drill requirements, or are considering it. In March, lawmakers in Georgia passed a bill requiring lockdown drills, but schools will only be mandated to conduct one per year and parents can opt out. Illinois enacted a law in 2021 ordering schools to provide advance notice of lockdown drills and allow parents to opt out. Two states  Connecticut and Maine  are considering similar bills.

The impetus for the New York legislation came from two fathers in New York City who were concerned that so many lockdown drills would traumatize their young children. Marco Pupo, 40, and Robert Murtfeld, 41, both grew up outside the United States and were disturbed by the countrys high rates of gun violence. But it didnt touch them personally until their kindergarteners had a lockdown drill last fall that left them feeling fearful and confused.

Pupo said that when he picked up his 5-year-old son from school after a drill, the little boy said his teacher had to lock the doors, close down the windows, and hide because there was a bad guy trying to come into school. Pupo said it soon became clear that his son didnt understand the difference between a drill and a real situation.

Pupo spoke to other parents, including Murtfeld, who said their kids had also been terrified. One child had gotten up in the middle of the night to close the windows, fearful of an intruder, Pupo said.

Pupo and Murtfeld started looking into the state law governing lockdown drills. They learned that their kids would have to endure three more over the course of the school year and they couldnt opt out. Using The Traces state-by-state breakdown of lockdown drill requirements, they discovered that New York mandated more drills each year than states that had far more shootings.

New York has the fourth-lowest rate of gun death, according to the most recent figures from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, and has never had a school shooting on the scale of Columbine or Sandy Hook. Texas, where a shooter killed 21 people at an elementary school in Uvalde last year, requires three lockdown drills per year, while Florida, where 17 people were killed at a high school in Parkland in 2018, requires only one.

A few months after the Uvalde shooting, New York City expanded lockdown drills to pre-K programs. Murtfeld calculated that kids growing up in the five boroughs would have to endure 60 lockdown drills between preschool and high school graduation. He and Pupo brought the idea of reducing the number of annual drills to local gun reform groups, which then began enlisting lawmakers to support it.

We dont disrespect the safety of kids. Thats not the reason why were putting this forward, Pupo said. The reason were doing this is because theres not enough research proving that the lockdown drills work, and a ton of research coming out proving that theyre actually creating certain traumas in kids.

Gounardes, the state senator, was initially skeptical of reducing the amount of lockdown drills, given the accelerating pace of shootings in America. But when he compared New Yorks gun violence toll to other states and began researching the psychological effects of active shooter drills on children, the cost-benefit analysis didnt add up.

Right now there are no standards for how these drills should be implemented. Theres no trauma-informed consideration, Gounardes said. The science is showing us that thats actually not the right way.
Trevor Jacob filmed his plane as it crashed into the mountainside on November 2021. YouTube/Trevor Jacob

YouTuber pilot Trevor Jacob admits that he crashed his plane on purpose to get views, the DOJ said.

He had secured a sponsorship deal for his channel to promote a wallet in his videos, per the DOJ.

Jacob also confessed to trying to cover up the crash, retrieving the plane wreck and dismantling it.

A YouTuber who wrecked his plane in California admitted to orchestrating the crash so he could get more views, said the Justice Department.

Trevor Jacob, 29, who's also a former Olympic snowboarder, filmed himself jumping out of his single-propeller plane above the Los Padres National Forest in November 2021.

He then uploaded a video titled "I Crashed My Plane" to his YouTube channel, which has around 137,000 subscribers.

Now, Jacob has pleaded guilty to one count of destruction and concealment with the intent to obstruct a federal investigation, and could face up to 20 years in federal prison, the Justice Department wrote in a Thursday statement.

Jacob admitted to the authorities that he wanted to make money from the video of the crash, and had reached a sponsorship deal to promote a wallet on his channel, the statement said.

He also confessed that he falsified an accident report he filed after the crash and lied to investigators, per the Justice Department.

Jacob is expected to appear in court in "the coming weeks," the Justice Department added.

How Jacob orchestrated the crash, then tried to cover it up

The YouTuber's 12-minute video, which has 2.97 million views, shows him taking off from Lompoc City Airport and heading toward Mammoth Lakes. As he flies over a mountain range, Jacob holds up a plastic bag containing the ashes of his friend, base jumper Johnny Strange, who died in 2015.

The video then shows the propeller of Jacob's plane slowing to a stop. The influencer pilot swears several times, saying he has "an engine out," before opening the plane door. He jumps out with a parachute, filming his descent with a selfie stick.

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Cameras installed on the unmanned plane then show the aircraft flying into the mountainside.

After landing, Jacob tells the camera he doesn't have cell service, and proceeds to hike for several hours.

"I am exhausted. I'm so thirsty. I'm scared, I'm in trouble, I'm cut all over the place," says Jacob halfway through his trek. "The only option I have is crawling through these bushes like I have been for the last five hours."

In the video, he's also seen finding the wreckage of his plane.

The Justice Department noted that Jacob went back to the plane so he could retrieve footage of the crash.

Weeks after the crash, Jacob told investigators he would help them find the wreckage but then said he didn't know its location, per the department.

In reality, he and a friend flew by helicopter to the wreckage site and brought the plane to a hangar in Lompoc City Airport, the authorities said. Jacob then dismantled the plane and dumped its parts in trash bins, per the DOJ.

Jacob's video initially drew skepticism from other aviation YouTubers, who noticed that he already unlocked the plane door before the engine purportedly failed. They also thought it was suspicious that Jacob flew with a skydiving parachute, which small aircraft pilots don't typically wear, and didn't look for a safe place to land despite satellite photos showing several ideal spots nearby.

The Federal Aviation Administration revoked Jacob's pilot certificate in April 2022 amid the investigation into his crash.

Jacob's confession contradicts his January statement to The New York Times. "I'll happily say I did not purposely crash my plane for views on YouTube," he told the outlet, saying he has a habit of "filming everything I do."

His lawyer, Keri Axel, did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment sent outside regular business hours.

Read the original article on Insider
A YouTuber admitted he lied to investigators about intentionally crashing a plane to boost views for a sponsorship deal video, the Justice Department said Thursday.

Trevor Jacob agreed to plead guilty to one count of destruction and concealment with the intent to obstruct a federal investigation, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Central District of California. The crime carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

Jacobs pilot license has also been revoked.

The video in question, titled I Crashed My Airplane, was uploaded to Jacobs YouTube channel on Dec. 24, 2021, and included a sponsorship from a company that sells wallets. As of Friday, the video had been viewed more than 3 million times, and the channel had some 138,000 subscribers.

The description for Jacobs channel reads: I love sharing adventures, stories, and things Ive learned, with you.

The video in question is nearly 13 minutes long, and opens with Jacob flying a small aircraft equipped with multiple cameras. Less than two minutes into the clip, the plane appears to suffer some kind of mechanical failure over Californias Los Padres National Forest, and Jacob jumps out and deploys a parachute. The plane crashes, unmanned. Jacob makes it to the ground and shows viewers some cuts he sustained. Im just so happy to be alive, he says.

According to the U.S. attorneys office, Jacob later told authorities he never intended to land the single-engine airplane, which he boarded and operated alone from Lompoc City Airport in November 2021. He had attached several cameras to the aircraft, packed a parachute and a selfie stick, and allegedly planned all along to film himself jumping from the plane and get footage of the crash.

The 29-year-old YouTuber carried out his plan and notified authorities two days later about the purported accident, federal prosecutors say.

Jacob had originally lied to investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration that he couldnt locate the wreckage, according to Thursdays press release. In reality, Jacob and a friend allegedly picked up the wreckage on Dec. 10, 2021, via helicopter, took it to a trailer at Rancho Sisquoc in Santa Barbara County, then drove it to Lompoc City Airport, where they stored it in a hangar. Later, Jacob allegedly destroyed the wreckage and discarded the pieces in multiple trash bins.

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Jacob falsely told investigators that the plane lost power 35 minutes into the flight, according to the U.S. attorneys office, and told an FAA inspector the engine malfunctioned.

He is expected to appear in court later this month.

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Trevor Jacob pleaded guilty to intentionally crashing his airplane

A YouTube pilot has pleaded guilty to intentionally crashing an airplane and intent to obstruct a federal investigation. Trevor Daniel Jacob, 29, of Lompoc, California ejected himself from an airplane he was flying in November 2021, claiming there was no safe place to land, while the plane crashed somewhere near the Los Padres National Forest.

Jacob installed numerous cameras on the plane before takeoff, according to a DOJ press release, and had equipped himself with a parachute and selfie stick, all of which captured Jacob ejecting himself from the plane and parachuting to the ground. He uploaded the 12-minute video to YouTube which has 3.1 million views at the time of writing. The video shows Jacob taking off before claiming the plane was malfunctioning 35 minutes later when he parachutes out of the plane and the video shows it crashing into the side of a mountain. Jacob records himself hiking through the park and complaining of exhaustion before being picked up by local farmers.

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Jacob reported the incident three days later and told the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that he did not know where the airplane crashed, but according to a DOJ press release, the United States Department of Transportation had opened its own investigation and found that he and a friend returned to the wreckage site on December 10. The two reportedly flew by helicopter to the scene of the crash where they secured and carried the wreckage to Rancho Sisquoc in Santa Barbara County and loaded it onto Jacobs vehicle.

The report says Jacob cut up the wreckage and disposed of it in trash containers around the airport over the course of a few days, and Jacob admitted in the plea deal that it was done with the intent to obstruct the investigation. As part of his plea, Jacob admitted he had received a sponsorship deal from a company that sold numerous products including a wallet. Jacob agreed to promote the wallet in a YouTube video, and as part of his plea agreement, he confirmed that he had hoped to make money through the video.

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The press release said he further admitted he lied to federal investigators when he submitted an aircraft accident incident report that falsely indicated that the aircraft experienced a full loss of power approximately 35 minutes after takeoff. The release continued, Jacob also lied to an FAA aviation safety inspector when he said the airplanes engine had quit and, because he could not identify any safe landing options, he had parachuted out of the plane.

The FAA revoked Jacobs pilot license in April of last year, and according to the release, his plea of one count of destruction and concealment with the intent to obstruct a federal investigation carries a sentence of up to 20 years in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet been announced.

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The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, despite the lack of emotion, is painfully experiencing Ukrainian losses. He recalled how he was crying when he had to tell a defender's mother that her son was killed.

Source: Zaluzhnyi in an interview with Dmytro Komarov, "One year. Behind the scenes"

Quote: "First of all, I am a normal person with a completely normal heart, and the fact that the emotions on my face and in my behaviour do not show human pain, this does not mean anything. In fact, the heart feels it very, very painfully. And even now I would not like to remember those names that have been stolen from my memory. There is no strength to do anything with these records.

I guess I'm not ready for that yet. Someday I'll probably do it to get this person off my phone forever, but I can't get it off my mind."

Details: When Zaluzhnyi was asked if he had to cry, he answered: "As the Commander-in-Chief, I don't want to show any weaknesses, but I'm human. Once I cried when a mother was looking for her son. He was a helicopter pilot flying to the city of Mariupol. Even at that moment, while I corresponded with her, I had hoped that he was still alive and everything would be fine. And at that moment I was told that he died, he is gone."

Zaluzhnyi noted that when he had to talk to the mother of that pilot about his death, he "didn't have enough strength."

He refused to name the defender and noted that all fallen defenders deserve honour and recognition.

The Commander-in-Chief added that he is handling the experience of Ukrainian losses very badly.

Zaluzhnyi believes that the strategic goal of the Russian Federation at the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine was to destroy Ukrainian statehood: "They expected that they would enter in organised columns, people would meet them with bread and salt, and that would be the end of the Ukrainian state. But Ukrainians began to resist; Ukrainians began to defend themselves."

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Quote: "As of now, they are coming here from the Russian Federation to deliberately kill Ukrainians. The essence of this war is that if we do not destroy this enemy now, we will be destroyed, because they came deliberately."

The commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine emphasised that the Russians are going to kill Ukrainians, despite the fact that they are suffering "huge" losses on the battlefield in Ukraine.

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Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, has visited the wedding ceremony of a soldier who used to be a photographer in his civilian life.

27-year old Maksym Alieksieiev and his wife, 23-year old Kateryna Polishchuk, shared a moving photo on Facebook.

Their marriage certificate has been signed by the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine  in person.

"We finally did it: we created a family. We really wanted this to be done by a special person. And it came true  Mr. Zaluzhnyi agreed.

Now this legendary person, who is a role model for me personally  and, I am sure, is a role model for others as well  stands at the origins of our family. We are really grateful to Valerii Zaluzhnyi for agreeing and making this moment truly incredible," Maksym wrote.

All Photos: Max Alekseev on Facebook

In a comment to Ukrainska Pravda.Zhyttia, Maksym revealed that it was difficult to invite the Commander-in-Chief to his wedding.

"I asked some people to find out whether it was possible, long before the ceremony. Turned out it was possible so we set the date and organised the ceremony," Maksym recalls.

Maksym Aleksieiev, a soldier, and Kateryna Polishchuk, his wife, invited Zaluzhnyi to their wedding ceremony

Maksym also explained that the wedding took place earlier than it was reported on social media, so some Ukrainians were wrong when they connected this event with the NATO conference, which Zaluzhnyi did not attend due to the complex situation on the front.

"I will say right away  it was not yesterday and has nothing to do with the NATO conference.

A lot of media outlets have published this news piece, and people are complaining in comments that he allegedly missed the conference because he was at the wedding," says Maksym.

Maksym will continue his service after the ceremony. He admits that he dreams to "live long enough to see the victory of Ukraine."

"And then  family, work, rebuilding the country, raising children. And making Ukraine an example for the whole world in the best possible sense," he adds.

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The couple dreams of rebuilding Ukraine and raising children after victory

Earlier, a soldier from the Dyke Pole unit married his fiancee at the front and showed wedding pictures taken in the trenches.

The newlyweds from Lviv donated 100,000 hryvnias (roughly US$2,700), given to them as a wedding gift, to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

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President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has held another meeting of the Staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief.

Source: Zelenskyy on Telegram

Quote from Zelenskyy: "[Another] Staff [meeting]. We heard a report by General [Oleksandr] Syrskyy, whose units have stopped the invaders by force and even pushed them back on some fronts."

Details: Brigadier General Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, commander of the Tavria operational and strategic group of troops, also reported on the combat situation.

The situations in the areas of responsibility of other groups, Odesa and Pivnich (North), are also under control.

At the Staff meeting, the priority needs of all these groups were determined and the president was informed about the pace of equipping the new brigades with hardware and ammunition.

Essential reports were also made by Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov, and Minister of Strategic Industry Oleksandr Kamyshyn.

"All our long-term contracts for the supply of ammunition and missiles have been checked," the president emphasised.

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Vyacheslav Boguslayev

"He should receive the harshest criminal sentence and the maximum term," Podolyak stated.

Read also: Suspected collaborator and former Motor Sich head blocked transfer of helicopter to Ukrainian intelligence, in released phone conversations

It is necessary to legally record him as a criminal on the one hand, and as an absolute, purebred traitor on the other.

The Zelenskyy administration spokesperson noted that it is important to legally establish Boguslayev's guilt so that in the future nobody said that he "increased production at Motor Sich, adding that Russia to give up "a thousand of our guys" for Boguslayev.

"If necessary, we will do everything to return real citizens of Ukraine," Podolyak said.

The real ones, not these fictitious, disguised 'Soviet legacy managers' in fancy clothes. These subjects can also be included in the exchange list.

Read also: Motor Sich head Boguslayev charged with treason and working for Russia. Who is he?

On Oct. 22, 2022, NV reported that Ukraines SBU security service charged Boguslayev, as part of a case investigating the company's illegal supply of military goods to Russian attack aircraft.

On Oct. 24, the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv placed Boguslayev in pre-trial detention, pending charges of treason. According to Radio Libertys Skhemy investigative project, he has had Russian citizenship since 2000 and an apartment in Moscow since 2002.

On March 28, he was notified of a new charge  obstructing the lawful activities of the Armed Forces and other military formations (Article 114-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

According to law enforcement, Boguslayev ordered the removal of helicopter blades from helicopters requisition by the Armed Forces.

On Nov. 4, the court seized nearly 1 billion hryvnias ($27.2 million) worth of Boguslayevs property. On Nov. 7, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal announced that Motor Sich, along with a number of other strategic enterprises, would undergo a partial, war-time nationalization.

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On May 10, Skhemy journalists published a letter from Boguslayev addressed to presidential chief-of-staff Andriy Yermak, where he describes himself as a "pensioner with first-degree disability" and asked to be handed over to Russia as part of a prisoner exchange.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has signed into law the National Security and Defence Councils decision to introduce new sanctions, including those targeting persons and firms that helped Russia control the Zaporizhstal (Zaporizhzhia Steel) steelmaker.

Source: President Zelenskyy on Telegram; presidential decrees No. 275/2023 and No. 276/2023 on the implementation of the National Security and Defence Councils (NSDC) decision on sanctions from 12 May 2023.

Quote from Zelenskyy: "Today is a sanctions day. There are several [new] sanctions packages, and I have signed the corresponding decrees.

The first sanctions package concerns Zaporizhstal. My decree introduces restrictive measures on 41 entities  13 individuals and 28 legal entities  that the Russian Federation used to maintain control over the company and thus harm our economy. We are launching the process of confiscating the Russian share of the company, which will now work exclusively for Ukraine and its people."

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President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that Ukraine will not announce its losses in the war yet, but all those killed in action, the wounded and prisoners are taken into account  because every person is important.

Source: Zelenskyy in an interview for the BBC

Details: The journalist noted that Ukraine is not voicing its losses in the war and asked if the president believed that Ukrainians deserved to know this.

Quote from Zelensky: "There is information that we don't share. This is our decision  a joint decision by all military personnel. But we have everything on record. Everyone is important to us. And there are all the numbers. Unfortunately, there are victims. There are, unfortunately, deaths, and there are, unfortunately, wounded [people]. We care about how many people are injured, how many people are killed."

Details: The president stressed that the authorities are aware of the number of prisoners and people "who are not with us today," but there are relevant decisions of the state (not to disclose the number of losses yet  ed.), and they will be respected.

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The claim: Post implies the CDC and Defense Department have sincere plans for 'zombie apocalypse'

An April 14 Facebook video shows a clip of a news report about a Defense Department document that appears to be a plan for combatting zombies. A narrator in the video elaborates further on the purported government initiative.

So the CDC made a poster that said Get a Kit. Make a Plan. Be Prepared, the narrator of the video says. And they have the creepy, grave-looking fingers staring out of the window. So the CDC puts out this Zombie Apocalypse Preparedness kit in the year 2011, and they also have numbered it 6023.

Some commenters took the post as evidence the government is anticipating a zombie takeover.

"Its scary ... just thinking about it," one Facebook user wrote. "But it will happen in the future."

The video was shared more than 1,000 times in less than a month.

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Our rating: Missing context

While both the Defense Department and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have prepared materials about zombies, they were intended to be a light-hearted way to address more serious matters. The Defense document was a mock battle plan developed as a training exercise, and the CDC materials were to get people thinking about general emergency preparedness.

Government plans tried to use humor to get attention

The zombie plans for both agencies have been previously explained as attempts to humorously engage people on serious subjects.

The CDC campaign, called "Don't be a zombie; be prepared," began in 2011 as a way to get people thinking broadly about emergency preparedness. Much of it was based on the premise that the basics of emergency preparedness are the same for any real-life disaster.

You may laugh now, but when it happens youll be happy you read this," USA TODAY quoted the agency saying in a 2011 blog post that is no longer active. "And hey, you may learn a thing or two about how to prepare for a real emergency.

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The campaign called for people to prepare an emergency kit with essentials to last a few days in case of an emergency, among other things.

Fact check: No, the UN is not using geoengineering and 'chemtrails' to change climate

The Defense Department document similarly was designed to hold attention while providing a framework that could be used in a real situation.

The document is identified as a training tool used in an in-house training exercise where students learn about the basic concepts of military plans and order development through a fictional training scenario, Navy Capt. Pamela Kunze, a spokeswoman for U.S. Strategic Command, told CNN in 2014. This document is not a U.S. Strategic Command plan.

A disclaimer on the document states the plan is "fictitious" and was developed to train military students.

"Using this fictitious scenario avoided concerns over the use of classified information, it resolved sensitivity to using real-world nations or scenarios, and it better engaged the students," reads part of the disclaimer.

USA TODAY reached out to the user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

PolitiFact and Check Your Fact also debunked this claim.

Our fact-check sources:

Thank you for supporting our journalism. You can subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or electronic newspaper replica here.

Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Government 'zombie apocalypse' plans aren't literal | Fact check
Experian discusses what you need to know about how your credit score affects a car loan, what credit score you need to get approved and other 
The Lynchburg Regional Business Alliance hosted its quarterly Business at Breakfast event Thursday morning, bringing in local energy panelists to discuss Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkins 2022 Virginia Energy Plan and the regions role in its implementation.

The Lynchburg region is home to two of the worlds largest nuclear companies, BWXT and Framatome, as well as a major manufacturer of industrial power, Delta Star. The 2022 Virginia Energy Plan calls for a nuclear innovation hub to be established in the state and for a commercial small modular reactor to be deployed in southwest Virginia within the next decade.

The event featured a panel of experts including Gary Mignogna, CEO of Framatome; April Wade, executive director of the Virginia Nuclear Energy Consortium (VNEC); Jason Greene, CEO/president of Delta Star Inc.; and Larry Jackson, director of Government Affairs at Appalachian Power.

Megan Lucas, CEO of the Lynchburg Regional Business Alliance, highlighted the significance of the regions energy industry in a statement at the Business at Breakfast event. She also spoke about the 2022 Virginia Energy Plan and expressed excitement about the potential for energy innovation in the region and the opportunity for local companies to be at the forefront of the movement.

Although Rex Geveden, president of BWXT, did not attend the event because of scheduling conflicts, Lucas acknowledged the companys strong support for the Alliance and nuclear manufacturing in the region. She mentioned BWXT is currently building a micro reactor prototype for the Department of Defense at its new facility in Campbell County.

She also mentioned news of Delta Stars upcoming expansion, which involves a new 80,000-square-foot manufacturing space to support its mobile and power transformer operations to meet increased demand of the growing and vital sector of the economy. Lucas said Virginia successfully competed with California and Pennsylvania for this project, which will create 149 new jobs.

According to Mignogna, nuclear power plays a vital role in Virginias energy mix, with 32% of the states electricity being produced by nuclear power and 95% of clean energy coming from nuclear sources.

To maintain this existing fleet, Framatomes role is to provide services to the four units in Virginia to keep them operating for at least 100 years. In addition, they are supporting new reactor developers and helping them bring their designs to fruition.

Beyond that, were designing and deploying medical isotopes that are produced in reactors  both therapeutic and imaging isotopes  and I think thats also an extremely important social benefit to nuclear power, he said.

The development of the workforce is also crucial, and Framatome is actively working with colleges such as Liberty University, Virginia Tech and Virginia Commonwealth University to train and develop the necessary workforce to support nuclear energy initiatives, he said.

Framatome will probably be adding 300 to 400 jobs over the next 18 months in order to support the initiatives, not only here in Virginia, but elsewhere, he said.

Wade said VNEC was established by legislation in 2013. She noted the legislature has been vocal about the industrys strong foundation in Virginia and that every governor since VNECs establishment has acknowledged the significance of the nuclear industry in the state.

She expressed her appreciation for Youngkins focus on the industry and his announcement of the 2022 Virginia Energy Plan.

Delta Star is employee-owned, meaning funding for projects comes from within the company rather than outside sources. Despite the challenges, the company decided to expand in Virginia due to the good infrastructure and labor markets.

Greene said Delta Star doesnt generate power but rather receives it and distributes it to different places through the electrical infrastructure, which is the grid that everyone depends on.

He believes the state of the grid has deteriorated over multiple decades, and the solutions going forward will require a combination of various approaches rather than relying on one particular generation or distribution source.

Furthermore, Greene said the grid has been in operation for a long time and replacing it entirely without disrupting power or managing it in an inefficient way is no longer feasible. As a result, Delta Star is trying to become more adaptable with what they offer to the grid.

I think the one big takeaway is when you hear Were gonna go this direction, and the politicians say, This is what were going to do, the real solution long term is a little bit of everything. And thats the only way were probably going to get there, he said.

Jackson said getting large transformers quickly is not an easy task, as it takes a considerable amount of time to receive an order from Delta Star, which still makes its products by hand and not by computers.

Jackson spoke about the four types of customers that electric power companies have: those who prioritize reliability, those who prioritize cost, those who prioritize green energy and those who dont care. He emphasized that the generation source has to be reliable, dispatchable and economic, while also taking into account the rising costs of fuels and other factors that affect customers electric bills. He added the goal of going zero carbon by 2050 is a challenge, and the company has to find a way to achieve it without hurting people or impacting economic development.

Lucas asked to fulfill the promise in the governors energy plan and sustain the current fleet, what is going to be required in the state and for our energy partners?

Workforce, Wade replied. We need the people. If were gonna make these goals, were gonna need the people to do it.

Jackson advocated for education about nuclear power and its benefits. He said some people may have negative perceptions about nuclear energy, but he believes safety is a priority and nuclear energy is an economical solution.

I believe we really do need to start educating the general public and the business community is a step [forward] and the benefits nuclear can have. We really dont see another solution, zero carbon, he said.

Overall, the panelists agreed the Lynchburg region is well-positioned to play a leading role in the implementation of the governors energy plan and to be a hub for energy innovation in the coming years.
A Liberty High School student charged with making a threat against the school appeared in Bedford General District Court on Thursday for an arraignment hearing a day after the school went on high-level lockdown and caused a scare throughout the Bedford community.

Bryce Wilson Snead, 18, according to an arrest warrant filed Thursday, faces a charge of communicating information to Liberty High School administrators knowing it to be false, as to the existence of a peril of bombing, burning, destruction or damage to a place of assembly, building or structure, or a means of transportation.

The high-level lockdown went into effect at about 2 p.m. Wednesday due to the threat. Bedford County Sheriff Mike Miller said the schools resource officer was on campus and within two minutes of finding out about the threat, deputies and troopers began to arrive. Miller said there were no guns found or shots fired.

Miller said a juvenile student at the high school also was taken into custody and charges are pending. Bedford Commonwealths Attorney Wes Nance said in an email to media Thursday that the student will not be identified due to age and his office isnt permitted to reference any juvenile or their charges.

For a period before the schools dismissal Wednesday, parents and guardians gathered at Liberty Baptist Church, next to the high school campus on Virginia 122, waiting with much concern.

Bedford County Public Schools Superintendent Marc Bergin said at no time was any student or staff member under any threat, but officials proceeded as though they were based upon communication of concern that came across the radio.

Snead was appointed an attorney, Cameron Warren, in Bedford General District Court on Thursday and is in custody awaiting a July 24 preliminary hearing, according to court records.

He is charged with a Class 5 felony, which if convicted could carry a range of punishment from a year to 10 years of incarceration.
After nearly eight years as Amherst Countys chief law enforcement official, Sheriff E.W. Viar announced Thursday he is not seeking a third term in the Nov. 7 election and is retiring. His predecessor, former Sheriff Jimmy Ayers, confirmed Thursday evening he is running for sheriff.

Viar, who worked under Ayers when he was first elected to the sheriffs seat in November 2015, in a letter shared via Facebook post Thursday wrote his career in law enforcement has spanned nearly 40 years and he was honored and humbled to serve as sheriff.

The people of Amherst County have given us the ability to implement positive change that has allowed this office to excel in many aspects of law enforcement, Viar, 67, said in the letter. When first taking office, I was faced with many challenges to make this a better working environment. My first promise to the citizens of this county was to have the Amherst County Sheriffs Office become an accredited agency.

Viar said the sheriffs office accomplished the goal of receiving its initial award of state accreditation in 2021. He thanked officers for their dedication and discipline in meeting the milestone that was years in the making.

He further wrote he wanted to show everyone in the department was of equal importance. We have been able to secure pay raises throughout the years which have helped us become one of the most competitive agencies in Central Virginia, Viar said. I could never put a price on the value of which each of you does on a daily basis. In my opinion, you could never be given a monetary value to show how much each of you truly means to me.

Viar won a three-way race in the 2015 election and a four-way race in 2019.

Ayers has spent more than seven years on the Amherst County Board of Supervisors representing the District 3 seat after retiring as sheriff following 20 years in the role. He recently announced he is not seeking reelection to the board after two terms.

In a phone interview Thursday, Ayers said he is running to restore leadership in the office he feels has been lacking.

It is not a financial thing for me, Ayers, 60, adding he wants the best for the county he has lived in his entire life. Up until this point I dont feel like weve received that. Our community deserves better than what its been seeing, thats for sure.

Many residents have voiced hopes for Ayers to run again on his personal Facebook page after he wrote a lengthy Jan. 30 social media post strongly criticizing the handling of a county homicide investigation involving former defendant Justin Jay Sales.

Charges of murder and aggravated malicious wounding against Sales in connection with a June 2019 shooting that left 92-year-old Doris Puleio dead and severely injured her daughter, Trudy Goetz, at a residence on Bobwhite Road in Amherst were dropped in December 2021 in large part because of evidentiary-related issues. Ayers confirmed in Thursdays interview that case is a contributing factor in his running, along with a few other unsolved homicides in the county.

Amherst Commonwealths Attorney Lyle Carver, Viars son-in-law, has said the case against Sales remains an active investigation and charges can come back. Carver criticized Ayers comments in the Jan. 30 post, calling them reckless and selfish, inaccurate and misleading. He has said because the case is active he cant further comment on evidentiary-related matters Ayers was critical off in the social media post.

Meanwhile, Sales has moved to New Hampshire since his December 2021 from custody in Amherst County and is undergoing criminal proceedings there in a sexual assault case he is charged in.

Viars letter said with the consistent problem of narcotic violations that occur in the county he expanded the K-9 program, which he added has contributed to drug-related arrests and apprehensions of suspects. He also wrote the office employed the use of drones for searches, surveillance and aerial photos, and he and the department fought for more school resource officers in Amherst County Public Schools and that program has expanded and will continue until more qualified professionals fill needed positions.

Viar wrote he wants to spend more time with family and plans to enjoy life traveling, working on his car and motorcycle and going to car shows, a passion of his. He wrote he is thankful to be free of colon cancer. Life is precious and I want to enjoy my family and friends with the additional time God has blessed me with, he wrote.

Viar concluded the letter by endorsing Major Eric Elliott, second-in-command for the department, for sheriff. As of press time Elliott has not been reached for comment to confirm he intends to run for the seat. Viar praised Elliotts hard work ethic, knowledge, integrity, compassion, years of service and his conservative values.

I know in my heart that he is more than qualified for this position and know that he will do a great job for not only this office but for the citizens of this county, Viar wrote.

Amherst County Board of Supervisors member Claudia Tucker, who along with Supervisor David Pugh welcomed Ayers to the board in January 2016, said what strikes her the most over the years are the stories so many citizens have about him.

Whether its the guy who has worked a double shift and is swerving at 1 a.m. only to find that the officer who stopped him is the Sheriff; he got a warning and an escort to his home to make sure hes safe. The parents who have told me that Jimmy is the reason that their kids got help and went on to be responsible parents, Tucker said in an email. There are so many Jimmy stories. He is hands down the most qualified and he is committed to serving the people of Amherst. I thank him and his family from the bottom of my heart for his willingness to serve again.

Tucker also thanked Viar for his service and wishes him well in his retirement she said is much deserved.

Ayers, who hired Viar to the sheriffs office during his tenure as sheriff, did not comment when asked about his successors retirement. He said he is turning in his signatures in to the Amherst County Registrars Office on May 12 and will release a formal announcement soon.

He said if given a sixth term as sheriff, he will protect his community like he protects his family.

Im not a young man, Ayers said. But my desire to serve mankind and my community has not diminished at all.
As plans for annexation of more county land into the Town of Bedford are targeted for town council vote later this month, a Bedford County Board of Supervisors member publicly asked town officials to consider changing course.

Supervisor Bob Davis, who represents District 6 on the board that includes the Town and Country subdivision area that is within the Phase II boundary adjustment, asked Bedford Town Council on Tuesday to not annex that area.

Davis addressed council during the public comments portion of the meeting and spoke on the agreement between the former city of Bedford and Bedford County to revert the city to a town, which took effect in July 2013. He noted a section stated the agreement can be modified or amended in regard to boundary adjustments.

Council voted 5-2 in April to remove tracts from north of the Little Otter River on Virginia 43 from consideration of annexation while also voting 5-2 to keep an area on Forest Road currently on outskirts of town as part of the planned boundary adjustment.

The Phase II proposal, if given final approval, is set to bring in more than 2,000 acres in areas lying generally to the north, northeast, northwest, west, southwest and south of the existing town and would go into effect July 1.

Town Manager Bart Warner said the boundary adjustment would bring in about 1,000 county residents into the town.

Those new town residents would be subject to paying applicable taxes and fees, which drew the protests of many residents during an April 11 public hearing where more than 20 people spoke. Residents during the hearing that packed the towns meeting room spoke against annexing more land because of increased taxes, and services many feel are unneeded.

Davis asked council how county residents benefit if annexation moves forward, saying they already have trash pickup if they choose.

Each of us here know  we value our right to choose, Davis said. This is the United States of America  for the most part we have to the right to choose.

He said they already have law enforcement protection through the Bedford County Sheriffs Office and animal control.

Currently, their tax rate is very affordable, Davis said of the Town and Country area. Many of them are on fixed income. For them to pay more than what they are currently paying is going to be a significant burden.

Davis said he has spoken with many of those residents and figures show they would pay close to $800 per year in added taxes and the town will net about $108,000 per year from that area.

Is it really worth what you are going to be getting on an annual basis? Davis asked council. The reason they live in Town and Country is because they have a low tax rate and enjoy the quality of life  I really, really want to ask each one of you to look inside yourselves and think about how you would feel if you were forced to pay another, lets say, $800 a year in tax on your property.

According to Warners April 11 letter to council on the towns proposed fiscal year 2023-24 budget, an estimated $411,140 in added real estate tax collection would result from the Phase II boundary adjustment. That figure is before councils later vote to remove a portion on Virginia 43 north of the Little Otter River from consideration and another recent council vote to set the real estate tax rate at 28 cents per $100 of assessed value, one cent less than when the total assumed in the April 11 letter.

Council also held a public hearing Tuesday on the proposed budget that takes effect July 1, which drew no speakers. The budget plan includes a $10.1 million general fund and $24.9 million combined in solid waste and electric departmental spending.

Council is expected to vote on an ordinance for the Phase II boundary area during its May 23 meeting.

In other news Tuesday, council approved a resolution supporting a Phase 2 grant application for the Hilltop Community Revitalization Project. In August of 2021, the Town of Bedford Redevelopment and Housing Authority was awarded a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) to support the rehabilitation project funded largely by CDBG money in conjunction with the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD).

The projects first phase includes 11 houses in the 60-acre Hilltop area that has been or will be repaired and brought up to proper health and safety standards, or demolished and built new if they are in irreparable condition. A CDBG grant is made to target low to moderate income areas of a locality and fund primarily housing repairs and rehabilitation.

Jefrado Granger, community development planner for the Central Virginia Planning District Commission (CVPDC), told council a dozen families attended a March meeting on the second phase of the project.

The grant cap is $1.2 million to rehabilitate or rebuild up to 19 homes over the cycle of the grant, according to town documents. The CVPDC will continue serving as grant manager for the project, which Granger said is about 30% complete with a goal of completing phase 1 by the end of the year.

Two weeks ago CVPDC signed five contracts to move forward with the next four homes rehab projects, Granger said.

The two-year targeted housing rehabilitation project throughout the phase 2 area is anticipated to benefit an estimated 29 people in 19 households, the resolution states.

Im amazed at the houses being renovated, Vice Mayor C.G. Stanley said. Its a great thing for the community. Its really helping the aesthetics for the Hilltop community. Im 100% behind it.
The Lynchburg Police Department is investigating a shots fired incident that occurred Wednesday night at the Timbers Apartments complex, according to a news release from the department.

At 9:59 p.m. on Wednesday night, several 911 callers reported hearing shots fired at the Timbers Apartments complex, at 3320 Old Forest Road, police said.

Witnesses reported to police that a gray Hyundai Elantra left the parking lot after the shots were fired, according to the news release.

Upon arrival, responding officers identified one apartment home and two vehicles that were struck by gunfire within the apartment complex, police said, and the apartment struck by gunfire was occupied by a family at the time of the shooting.

No injuries were reported from the incident, LPD said.

The department said the investigation is ongoing and is asking anyone with information about this incident to contact the Lynchburg Police Department at (434) 455-6050 or Crime Stoppers at (888) 798-5900. Enter a tip online at http://p3tips.com or use the P3 app on a mobile device.

According to the department, a $1,000 reward is available through the Crime Stoppers program for information on the shots fired incident.
An officer-involved shooting including one Lynchburg Police Department officer that occurred in the 1500 block of Longview Road on Friday morning is now under investigation by the Virginia State Police, according to a news release from Lynchburg police.

Shortly after 11 a.m., the Lynchburg Police Department posted on its Twitter page that they were on the scene of an officer-involved shooting.

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In an afternoon update, the department said at about 9:37 a.m., officers were dispatched to the 1500 block of Longview Road for a report of a child protective services personnel being assaulted by an adult female.

According to the update, when officers approached the womans apartment, identified themselves and asked her to come to the door, she opened the door and attacked the officers with knives.

In response, the department said, an LPD officer discharged a department-issued handgun striking the woman.

Officers immediately requested Lynchburg Fire & EMS for assistance, who took the woman to Lynchburg General Hospital where she is listed in serious condition, LPD said.

At the request of Police Chief Ryan Zuidema, the incident and officer-involved shooting is now under the investigation of the Virginia State Police, the department said.

The officer has been placed in a non-enforcement, limited-duty status until the investigation is complete, according to LPD.
In the wake of the third shooting death of a child in Lynchburg since late February, Hill City leaders are mulling a citywide curfew for minors to combat a rise in juvenile and gang criminal activity.

The proposal of a curfew for minors comes as the city is experiencing an uptick in these violent crimes, especially as it relates to ... a concentration of juveniles, Lynchburg Commonwealths Attorney Bethany Harrison said.

Council is expected to take action on the curfew proposal during its May 23 regular meeting, with several councilors expressing their desire to see the curfew go into effect ahead of the last day of school for Lynchburg City Schools, set for May 26.

City Manager Wynter Benda told council Tuesday night he has been consulting with the Lynchburg sheriffs, police and commonwealths attorneys offices to gather as early as next week with the expectation that we would come forward on the 23rd with some options, one of which likely will be a curfew.

The idea of a citywide curfew for minors was formally proposed by At-large City Councilor Larry Taylor during councils regular meeting on Tuesday night and garnered the support of several other members on the dais.

In speaking to the recent death of Kingston Campbell  the 6-year-old boy killed on May 2 when he was struck with gunfire while in his own home, police say  Taylor said about the recent gun violence, Our city is in trouble.

Those boys look like they were young boys, the councilor said about the security camera footage from a nearby house provided by the Lynchburg Police Department of the shooting on Floyd Street.

Lynchburg police have not released any official information regarding what appears to be four individuals seen shooting at the house in the 1500 block of Floyd Street where Campbell was killed. The department still seeks information on Kingstons death and is asking anyone who may have details of what happened that night to contact them.

The commonwealths attorney told The News & Advance on Thursday that the curfew ordinance that is likely to be proposed in Lynchburg tracks the Charlottesville ordinance language, which would create a great tool for law enforcement officers to be proactive in being able to get out and talk with these juveniles when they see them.

Harrison said currently, officers cannot get out of their cars and approach juveniles unless they are seen committing a crime or officers suspect theyre committing a crime. Under this curfew ordinance, officers would have reasonable suspicion to get out and question the juvenile.

Lynchburgs Chief of Police Ryan Zuidema was unavailable to comment on the curfew Thursday.

The language in the ordinance also provides accountability for parents or business owners who knowingly allow children to be out past curfew, who could potentially be charged with a Class 4 misdemeanor, which carries a $250 fine, Harrison said.

No one is going to jail for this ... it allows that accountability without being overly harsh, she added.

In a draft version of a curfew ordinance provided to The News & Advance by At-large Councilor Martin Misjuns, the curfew hours could be between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. the following day, with a sunset clause to expire later this year.

Misjuns said its imperative that council take action on the curfew ahead of the release of Lynchburg City Schools for the summer, when he said theres typically an uptick in crime.

The timing of this couldnt be better, Misjuns said, because what were doing is were proactively trying to put some barriers in place for that violence.

While Harrison pointed out several other localities in Virginia have similar curfew ordinances, such as Danville, Roanoke, Richmond and Charlottesville, among others, she is not surprised Lynchburg has not had one before.

I think we value that our citizens are responsible people overall, its just a small percentage of people that are causing the problem, she said.

But because of the particular situation we have going on now, I believe thats why this curfew is needed at this time.

Misjuns wanted to emphasize that the city wants to protect individual freedoms with a laundry list of exceptions in the proposed ordinance, but also wants to use the curfew period as a time to gather data on its effectiveness to see if its a viable long-term solution.

If we have this in place for six months and we get an additional 40 or 50 illegally possessed firearms off the streets and X amount of drugs and its above what we did in the previous six months, then thats something that were going to be able to consider, Misjuns said.

Council will convene for its regular meeting at 7:30 p.m. on May 23 to discuss the curfew, among several other items, inside council chambers in City Hall, 900 Church St. in Lynchburg.
May is National Mental Health Awareness Month, and Council Bluffs Cares is hosting an event in Bayliss Park next week to raise awareness of mental health issues and how they impact the community.

CB Cares will also be offering resources for individuals who might be having a mental health problem and dont know where to turn for help.

People have been afraid to talk about mental health, you know? said Suzanne Watson, Southwest Iowa Region Mental Health and Disability Services CEO. We so easily talk about heart disease and broken legs and diabetes, things like that, without any problem whatsoever. But I think everyones always struggled with, how do you talk about mental health? And our big thing is making sure that people know how to access services, and that they dont wait until theres a crisis to get help or reach out for help or to talk about it with a friend.

One of the goals of CB Cares mental health awareness event is to reduce the stigma surrounding mental health problems, so that people who are suffering feel more comfortable talking about it.

Weve had a little movement in Iowa going, trying to kind of also help change that by referring to it as brain health, Watson said. Because we talk about heart health, we talk about different pieces of your body, we talk about that all the time, and its really our brain. So how do we take care of our brains and make sure our brains are healthy?

The CB Cares mental health awareness event will have mental health professionals from both Methodist Jennie Edmundson and CHI Mercy hospitals, as well as representatives from a number of area nonprofit organizations that provide mental health services, who will explain why mental health awareness is so important and answer questions people may have.

We really want to make sure that people feel comfortable, they know where to go when they need someone, or need services, locally, in addition to, How can we help them as a support person? If theres a family member that is experiencing mental health illness or mental health crisis, how can we work to support them as well, said JoAnn Jensen, director of development at Jennie Edmundson Hospital Foundation and a member of the CB Cares planning committee. We really want it to be a family-friendly event, not about the negative connotation that mental health sometimes gets. We want it to really be something that can be a positive experience, and just because you might have a mental illness doesnt mean that needs to identify you as a person.

The event will also feature a panel discussion between mental health experts, therapists and family members who have had a loved one die by suicide.

The CB Cares Mental Health Awareness Event is being held in Bayliss Park on Thursday, May 18, from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. Toward the end of the event, there will be an awareness walk around the park and downtown Council Bluffs in remembrance of those who might have succumbed to their mental health issues, and to further bring awareness to the importance of mental health.

The first 500 guests who stop by the registration table will receive a free tote bag and $5 in Farmers Market Bucks, and there will be other giveaways during the event.

For anyone having a mental health crisis and in need of someone to talk to, they can contact the national Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by calling or sending a text message to 988.

The Southwest Iowa Mental Health and Disability Services website has a community resource guide where people can search by county and find organizations that help with everything from food insecurity and substance abuse to mental health and domestic violence.

For more information about the mental health awareness event, visit the CB Cares Facebook page.
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The European Parliament has decried the Algerian authorities crackdown on media freedom, calling for the immediate and unconditional release of all those arbitrarily detained for exercising their right to freedom of expression, including journalist Ihsane El-Kadi.

In a resolution passed with overwhelming majority, EP urged the Algerian regime to respect press freedom and amend the countrys Penal Code used to criminalise the right to freedom of expression, citing in this regard the case of Kadi who was sentenced to five years in prison with hefty fines on unfounded charges accusing him of having received funds for political propaganda and harming the security of the state.

Since the start of the Hirak popular protests in 2019, the situation of media freedom has taken a substantial turn for the worse in Algeria, with the authorities blocking more news sites and publications critical of the government, deplored the resolution.

The MEPs urged all EU institutions and member states to openly condemn the crackdown on media freedom in Algeria, while calling on the EU delegation and EU countries embassies on site to request access to imprisoned journalists and observe their trials.

The resolution was adopted by 536 votes in favour, 4 against and 18 abstentions. It condemned the shutting down of news websites and publications, and called for the reopening of closed media outlets and an end to the arrests and detention of journalists.

Algeria has fallen two places in Reporter Sans Frontieres latest World Press Freedom Index and is now ranked 136th out of 180 countries
Tunisia and South Korea signed Thursday in Tunis several agreements in multiple areas including investment and trade, ahead of the second Economic Forum between the two countries, Tunisie Numerique reports.

Najla Bouden, Tunisias Premier, the media notes, received a high-key South Korea delegation headed by Park Heong Joon, who doubles as Mayor of Busan Metropolitan City and Special Envoy of the South Korean President.

Both top officials oversaw the signing of several agreements namely:

Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Tunisias Export Promotion Center (CEPEX) and its South Korean counterpart (KOIMA).

Per the agreement, both sides will share trade information, share data, attend various trade fairs and conduct business trips.

MoU between Tunisia-South Korea Chamber of Commerce and KOIMA.

Under the agreement, both sides will also share trade information, share data, attend various trade fairs and conduct business trips.

A third agreement between Tunisia Foreign Investment Promotion Agency (FIPA) and Busan Economy Promotion Agency (BEPA).

Both agencies, through the deal, will share investment information between the two countries, will organize business trips and joint interest events and will ease investment procedures between the countries.

The signings took place ahead of the second Economic Forum between the two countries. Tunisia is facing an economic downturn owing to the impact of the pandemic. The country is currently in talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a $1.9-billion loan to supplement the national budget facing a deficit of $2 billion.
The National Directorate of Insurance of Gabon (DNA) has retrieved operation permits from several insurance companies over unprofessional attitudes, Gabon Review reports.

11 entities in total including Solanus Casey Assurances, ACIP, Wellington Insurance Brokers Ltd Gabon, Bethel S.C.A, Contacts Assurances, Capital Assurances, Solidarity Assurances, are facing the ban.

The decision, media notes, came late April from the DNA. The DNA in a statement indicated that the companies in question and their managers are banned from working in the insurance sector of the central African country.

The insurance regulator on March 17 held a meeting to improve and revamp the insurance sector. Same year, the state suspended the issuance of the permits in connection with the DNAs meeting.
Egypts Health Minister Khaled Abdel Ghaffar and his Portuguese counterpart Manuel Pizarro signed Thursday a cooperation protocol to upgrade health and pharmaceutical sectors, Egypt Independent reports.

There are no details about the agreement but Ghaffar reportedly indicated that the visit of his Portuguese counterpart and his delegation aims at deepening the partnership and cooperation in the sector of healthcare.

Also early this week, Ghaffar met with Korean Ambassador in Cairo Mr. Hong Jin-wook. Both held talks to expand cooperation with Egypt in the healthcare sector taking advantage of Egypts status as the healthcare hub in the region and one of Koreas ODA priority partners.

According to the outgoing South Korean diplomat, many Korean companies with the top-notch technologies are interested in entering the Egyptian market and Korean companies can contribute to improving the quality of medical services for Egyptian people.
Cote dIvoires economic capital Abidjan will on October 04-07 ECO CIR 2023; the African continents summit on Circular Economy.

The event is backed by the Abidjan Autonomous District headed by Robert Beugre Mambe. The district has positioned itself as an important player in the promotion and development of the circular economy in the West African country.

To do so, it has set up an institute of circular economy, called Institute of Circular Economy of Abidjan (IECA), with the task of promoting and development of the circular economy in Cote dIvoire.

The four-day forum will bring together Business leaders, decision-makers and experts from around the world who will reflect on a common vision of sustainable development. Organizers have also planned the presence of some key players of the global finance industry to learn about African experiences in building a more resilient and greener global economy.
The 29-year-old was sentenced Monday to 180 days in jail for having sexual contact with a student. Another Winside teacher also is facing charges for an alleged inappropriate relationship.
Mark Haneborg, 54, and Bridget Haneborg, 44, waived their preliminary hearing Wednesday in Lincoln County Court, and their case has been bound over to district court.

The Haneborgs are each charged with three counts of evasion of income tax and three counts of filing a fraudulent Nebraska income tax return, all felonies.

Their next court appearance has yet to be determined.

They remain free on bail at 10% of $250,000.

The Haneborgs own several skill gaming casinos in central Nebraska.

They were arrested after an investigation sparked by a robbery in 2020 at the Platte River Skill Casino. Kearney police found records suggesting employees were suspected of being behind the robbery on July 25, 2020.

Investigations into business practices followed. That led to allegations against the Haneborgs by a former employee that the two werent reporting employee wages or all the owners income on their state and federal taxes.

Court records allege the Haneborgs underreported their income by nearly $1.7 million between 2019 and 2021, for which the report says they owed $108,599 in income tax.
Albert's Culbertson Grass is approximately 64 +/- acres of native grass pasture accessed by a well maintained, paved county road. The property has a barbed wire perimeter fence and there is a well with a windmill (the Seller nor their representative know the quality of the well). There is electrical service on the property. There are several potential building sites on the property so a Buyer will have many options with this terrific ranch.LandAlberts Culbertson Grass is 64 +/- acres of rolling native grass. ImprovementsThere is a perimeter barbed wire fence and electrical service to the property. RecreationAlberts Culbertson Grass and the Frenchman River Valley offers endless recreation, from hunting small game and varmints to monster plains mule deer and White-tailed deer. You also have the opportunity to go hiking, biking or having fun on your ATV/UTV all on your own property! Swanson Reservoir, which boasts some excellent fishing and waterfowl hunting is only a short 15 mile drive to the west of Alberts Culbertson Grass. AgricultureCurrently Alberts Culbertson Grass is operated as a cattle pasture. Water/Mineral Rights & Natural ResourcesAll appurtenant water rights associated with this property will transfer to the Buyer at Closing. Seller owned mineral rights will transfer to the Buyer at Closing. General OperationsAlberts Culbertson Grass is currently used as a cattle pasture. Region & ClimateHitchcock County, Nebraska gets 21 inches of rain, on average, per year.The US average is 38 inches of rain per year. Hitchcock County averages 24 inches of snow per year.The US average is 28 inches of snow per year. On average, there are 240 sunny days per year in Hitchcock County.The US average is 205 sunny days. Hitchcock County gets some kind of precipitation, on average, 71 days per year. Precipitation is rain, snow, sleet, or hail that falls to the ground. In order for precipitation to be counted you have to get at least .01 inches on the ground to measure. Weather Highlights Summer High:the July high is around 90 degrees Winter Low:the January low is 14 Rain:averages 21 inches of rain a year Snow:averages 24 inches of snow a year HistoryThis area is rich in history. On 30 Aug. 1873 the first election was held in the county. It was held at the residence of F.U. Martin on Section 14, Township 3, Range 32 West, two miles east of the present town of Culbertson. The first officers elected were: Thomas LeGrand, W.W. Kelly and F.U. Martin, commissioners; W.Z. Taylor, Clerk, J.E. Kleven, Treasurer; G.E. Baldwin, Sheriff; A.J. Vanderslice, Judge; J.H. Conklin, surveyor; Daniel Murphy, Superintendent of Schools; J.H. Miller, Coroner. The county seat was located on the north half of Section 17, Range 31 West, the site of the town of Culbertson. Prior to 1869, the Republican Valley was a major retreat for the hostile Sioux and Cheyenne Indians. The valley was in the heart of buffalo range and was one of the great hunting grounds of the West. Whites made only occasional hunting trips into the region, due to the threat of Indian problems. In the summer of 1869, at the Battle of Summit Springs, near present Sterling, Co., Gen. Eugene A. Carr and his Republican River Expedition defeated the hostile Indians under Chief Tall Bull, which virtually cleared the Republican for settlement. The counties to the east of Hitchcock County were quickly organized by adventuresome frontiersmen and women. Though he did not file upon the land until August, George C. Gessleman was the first person to settle in what is now Hitchcock county, arriving in the early spring of 1873. During the next few months, he was joined by about a dozen other men, staking claims along Blackwood Creek to the east and north of present Culbertson. On 30 May 1873, a flash flood on the Blackwood brought near disaster to those first frontiersmen of the county. In the night, after everyone was in bed, most sleeping outdoors, a flood rushed down the creek, washing away tents, wagons and possessions. The boundaries for Hitchcock County had been defined by the legislature in January 1873 and named for Phineas W. Hitchcock, then serving as United States Senator from Nebraska. Situated near the southwest corner of Nebraska, the county is twenty-four miles north and south and thirty miles from east to west. In June the settlers petitioned Governor Robert W. Furnas for permission to organize the county, and he issued a proclamation on 5 July 1873, calling for an election to organize the county to be held on August 30th. In July, William Zacariah Taylor arrived on the present site of Culbertson and began building a store, probably at the instigation of the Republican Valley Land Company, the town site company of the Burlington Railroad. He named the site for Alexander Culbertson , noted trader of the Upper Missouri County in the 1840s and 1850s, who was living out his old age at Orleans, Harlan County, where his son-in-law was a Burlington official. Before the election, however, the settlers went through another time of trial, when the Sioux defeated the Pawnee at the Battle of Massacre Canyon on Tuesday morning, August 5th. The day before the battle a party of Sioux warriors had terrorized some of the settlers along the Blackwood, destroying some property. An account of the battle is given elsewhere in this history. Eighteen votes were cast at the first election on August 30th, and the men elected served only until the regular election on October 14th. Several of those elected had apparently left the county by the second election, however. A party of buffalo hunters were robbed in early October on the Stinking Water and left afoot on the prairie later making their way to the Kansas settlements. They and others said the robbery was done by some of these first county officials. During that first summer, only a few acres of ground were broken. For survival, these first frontiersmen depended upon the buffalo and other wild game. Supplies had to be transported from the railroad in the Platte Valley, mainly from North Platte or Plum Creek (Lexington). Having little money, many of the settlers traded buffalo meat for essentials. This was to remain the main source of trade until the buffalo herds were finally wiped out. Though 1874 started out well, the grasshopper hordes arrived in late summer and the few small fields were devastated. Many of the settlers left the county, leaving only a handful of men. In 1875 a major change came to the county. Large scale ranching began in Southwest Nebraska. Some ranchers came from the East, but others were Colorado ranchers who entered the region from the west. Thus began Culbertsons boom period. Though a few very small settlements, such as Stratton, Palisade and Benkleman were started about 1880, until about 1883, Culbertson was the only real settlement in Southwest Nebraska, being the only town between Indianola and Ogallala. Though many of the ranchers and their families lived in Culbertson, at least during the winter, and many of the men served as officials of Hitchcock County. Until the railroad built up the valley, few settlers entered the region, for they would have had no way to market their produce except for the long haul to the Platte. When the Burlington began to build west, many homesteaders entered the county, settling on the Driftwood and the Frenchman, as well as building up the river valley. It was not until about 1884, however, that homesteaders began to settle on the divide lands, booming the population of the county. Early history of Hitchcock County tells of frequent Indian scares, but no injury was ever done the settlers. In the fall of 1876, two horse thieves were killed in Massacre Canyon and buried near Culbertson. In the fall of 1878, a band of Cheyenne Indians escaped from their reservation, to visit their old Nebraska home, and passed near here. In the fall of 1881 the Burlington and Missouri Railroad was completed to Culbertson and trains began running regularly to this point. In March 1882, trains began running westward as far as Akron, Colorado. The first school district was organized 21 Feb. 1876. This district was the north one-half of the county. No other district was organized until 1879 when four more districts were added. Another district was formed in 1880 and three more in 1881, making nine school districts in the county by 1882. There were 335 children of school age and 12 teachers holding certificates. The salaries of the teachers ranged all the way from $20 to $40 per month. The first newspaper in the county was the spring of 1879 by W.Z. Taylor, and Nat L. Baker was the editor. This paper was published until the spring of 1800, when Baker took the material and started the Chipper. Taylor started another paper called the Sun at the same time and employed R.D. Graham as editor. During the same summer the Clipper failed and Baker returned the material and the Sun remained the only paper published in the county. LocationAlberts Culbertson Grass is located in Hitchcock County in SW Nebraska. The closest community is Culbertson and the nearest large community is McCook (15 minutes). The property is only a mile north of US Hwy 34 and is located almost an equal distance from Interstates I-70 and I-80.

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Sometime Friday, without fanfare, the first car will head west from U.S. 275 just south of Fremont on a brand-new strip of asphalt that is nearly two decades  and $62 million  in the making.

Weather permitting, Nebraska Department of Transportation engineers will open up the first section of the new Fremont Southeast Beltway. When it fully opens in July, the 3.2-mile stretch of road will connect U.S. 275 to U.S. 77, which bisects Fremont from north to south. It's expected to carry 11,000 vehicles per day.

The new road will open up access to a large industrial zone along the citys southeast border that is anchored by Lincoln Premium Poultry, the large supplier of chicken to Costco stores.

Its a great project for Fremont, said Mayor Joey Spellerberg. Im excited to be able to cut the ribbon and open it.

Spellerberg was still a student at Fremonts Archbishop Bergan High School in 2006, when city officials first pitched the idea of a southeast beltway to NDOT and the State Legislature.

It took a full decade for the beltway to win funding in the second round of Build Nebraska Act expressway projects, first funded in 2011 with a -cent surcharge in the state sales tax. Transportation planners scheduled the project for construction in 2024, with local city and county officials required to come up with $20 million of the projected $43 million cost of the project.

The beltway got fast-tracked in 2018, after Costco decided to locate its large chicken plant along the route. The $450 million campus was slated to employ 800 workers and process about 100 million chickens a year, enough to supply about one-third of Costcos demand for fresh and roasted chicken.

Its been in the books for awhile as a wish-we-had sort of thing, Barbara Gerbino-Bevins, NDOTs district traffic engineer, said of the project. I believe the construction of the chicken plant pushed it over the line.

The cost also jumped, to more than $60 million, including an additional local match of $10 million on top of $20 million already raised locally. The City of Fremont, Dodge County and several local businesses chipped in to keep the project on track, Spellerberg said. Construction began in 2020.

It was a public-private partnership to get to this point, he said.

For the city, a major goal was to move truck traffic off of Broad Street, Fremonts main north-south thoroughfare running through the heart of its commercial district. Within the city limits, it also is designated as U.S. 77.

That designation will now move to the new beltway, and the city will take over control and maintenance of one of its major avenues.

Well be able to go into Broad Street and make a lot of improvements, Spellerberg said.

The beltway will have no traffic lights, but it will have two circular roundabouts at Downing Street and Main Street near the Platte River bridge, as well as teardrop roundabouts at U.S. 275.

It is the eastern half of the beltway  from U.S. 275 to Downing  that will open Friday. The opening was delayed from last week to avoid a conflict with a series of lane and ramp closures along U.S. 275 in Fremont, Gerbino-Bevins said.

The middle section will open next, and the western tie-in with U.S. 77 last. The formal ribbon-cutting is scheduled for July 6.

For Spellerberg, the opening cant happen quickly enough. It dovetails with the announcement in February that 1,500 acres along the route was designated as the states first Inland Port Authority because of its proximity to transportation networks.

Its going to be a hub for industrial development, Spellerberg said. The infrastructure around our area is a huge plus. Fremonts becoming a desirable place to locate.

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ELM CREEK  A Union Pacific locomotive caught fire west of Elm Creek during the early morning hours of Thursday, May 11.

Around 4:45 p.m. a crew on an eastbound Union Pacific train bound for Chicago reported a fire on the second locomotive of the train a few miles west of Elm Creek, according to Mike Jaixen Communications Senior Manager with UP.

Firefighters from Elm Creek Volunteer Fire Department were dispatched to the scene and later requested mutual aid from the Kearney Volunteer Fire Department. There were no injuries due to the fire, Jaixen said.

Approximately five gallons of diesel fuel leaked from the locomotive during the incident; remediation of the spill is underway, said Jaixen.

The incident is currently under investigation.

The Buffalo County Sheriffs Office and Union Pacific employees assisted on scene.
Donald Trump and anti-abortion militant Marjorie Dannenfelser: Together again? Photo: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images

Not that long ago, the ultramilitant anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America looked certain to play an aggressive role in the 2024 Republican presidential primaries. The group had made it known months ago that it would push candidates to support a national abortion ban, as opposed to a strategy of gradually snuffing out abortion rights throughout the states, suggesting that would be a litmus test for candidates who wanted SBAs support. Now, the anti-abortion movements involvement in the presidential primaries is becoming a debatable proposition.

Fiery SBA founder and CEO Marjorie Dannenfelser made it clear her initial hard line wasnt a bluff by blasting Donald Trump for refusing to support a national abortion ban. (Trump had earlier displeased the forced-birth crowd by blaming its extremism for the underwhelming GOP performance in the 2022 midterms.) Dannenfelser said in a statement released on April 20:

President Trumps assertion that the Supreme Court returned the issue of abortion solely to the states is a completely inaccurate reading of the Dobbs decision and is a morally indefensible position for a self-proclaimed pro-life presidential candidate to hold. Life is a matter of human rights, not states rights. Saying that the issue should only be decided at the states is an endorsement of abortion up until the moment of birth, even brutal late-term abortions in states like California, Illinois, New York and New Jersey. The only way to save these children is through federal protections, such as a 15-week federal minimum standard when the unborn child can feel excruciating pain.

We will oppose any presidential candidate who refuses to embrace at a minimum a 15-week national standard to stop painful late-term abortions while allowing states to enact further protections.

Similar stern criticisms of Trump and other politicians who didnt back a national ban emanated from another hard-core anti-abortion group: Students for Life Action.

Just a few days later, a curious thing happened at SBAs own Virginia headquarters. Dannenfelser introduced Nikki Haley, long a close associate, for a heavily advertised big speech on abortion policy. But Haley failed to endorse SBAs alleged litmus test of a national abortion ban (apparently to the organizations surprise, since right after the speech, it put out a statement congratulating her for backing a 15-week ban, which she actually didnt). Haley also encouraged a focus on very late-term abortions as part of a search for consensus on the subject. Its still unclear if Haley stabbed Dannenfelser in the back and might face consequences.

Then, this past week, Dannenfelser met with none other than Donald Trump along with 15-week national-ban sponsor (and Trump backer) Lindsey Graham and Christian-right warhorse Tony Perkins. Following the meeting, Dannenfelser came out with a sunny statement that is hard to square with her earlier criticism of the 45th president:

During the meeting, President Trump reiterated his opposition to the extreme Democratic position of abortion on demand, up until the moment of birth, paid for by taxpayers  and even in some cases after the child is born. President Trump believes such a position is unworthy of a great nation and believes the American people will rebel against such a radical position that aligns us with China and North Korea.

President Trump knows the vast majority of Americans oppose brutal late-term abortions when the child can feel pain and suck their thumbs. President Trump reiterated that any federal legislation protecting these children would need to include the exceptions for life of the mother and in cases of rape and incest. Protecting unborn children capable of feeling pain would align America with the civilized world and with 47 out of 50 European nations.

Its clear Trump hasnt changed his mind about the supposedly obligatory national ban and, like Haley, wants to focus on rare, very late-term abortions that were the bread and butter of anti-abortion groups in the days before Roe v. Wade was reversed, paving the way for pre-viability bans. So whats going on here? My colleague Jonathan Chait observed that Trump was getting away with a watery position while his top rival, Ron DeSantis, had been suckered by all the tough litmus-test talk into signing an unpopular and draconian six-week ban in Florida.

There would appear to be several possible explanations of the apparent SBA flip-flop. Perhaps Dannenfelser decided not to get directly involved in the 2024 presidential primaries in light of Trumps growing domination of the GOP field; the huge debt owed to him for making the reversal of Roe possible; and the growing evidence of a pro-choice majority in public opinion, even in many red states. Its beginning to sound as if she prefers accentuating the sharp divide between the two parties on abortion and will relax her litmus test. Its also possible that she is trying to maintain a united front with less militant anti-abortion groups that dont want to encourage divisions within the GOP.

But another possibility is that Haley, Trump, and other Republican candidates, looking ahead to the general election, simply want to keep their more controversial commitments to the anti-abortion movement private. Perhaps Dannenfelser and her allies have become convinced that demanding this or that position from would-be presidents is both unnecessary and politically divisive. After all, every announced and semi-announced Republican presidential candidate is opposed to the very idea of reproductive rights, has hailed the reversal of Roe, and favors making most abortions illegal wherever that is possible. Better to wait until one of them is safely in the White House  preferably with a Republican Congress  before testing the limits of what terrible things can be accomplished.

What is almost certainly not happening is that the anti-abortion movement and the GOP are genuinely moderating their positions. It may just take longer to find that out in the worst possible way.
Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images

It has been an eventful week for George Santos. On Wednesday, the freshman New York congressman turned himself in to authorities after prosecutors unsealed a 13-count indictment against him with charges ranging from money laundering to wire fraud. Just one day later, he settled another criminal accusation against him overseas.

The Associated Press reported that Santos officially signed a deal with Brazilian prosecutors to settle a criminal charge against him stemming from a 2008 incident. When Santos was 19, he allegedly wrote fraudulent checks in order to purchase clothing in a store in Niteroi, Brazil, according to the New York Times, which first reported the details.

As authorities investigated the claim, Santos admitted to having stolen the checkbook from his mothers employer. The purchase made with the two checks came to about $1,350, per the AP, or 2,144 Brazilian reais. But by the time those charges were filed in 2011, law-enforcement officials were unable to locate Santos despite subpoenas, and the investigation was later suspended. The case was reopened soon after Santos reemerged in the public eye following his election and subsequent controversy surrounding his many fabrications about his life and biography.

Santos, who turned over his passport this week after he pleaded guilty to all federal charges and was released on $500,000 bond, appeared virtually to take part in the proceeding in Brazil. As part of that agreement, the congressman confessed to the crime and will have to pay about $4,878.45 in restitution, according to CNN. The outlet says about $2,800 of that money will go to the store clerk, with the rest going to the government.
Take me awaaay from hooome, country roads! Photo: Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

In the course of just a week, West Virginia senator Joe Manchin has managed to make news twice in connection with a possible 2024 independent bid for the presidency. First, Puck published some leaked communications from the bowels of the No Labels organization, which is seeking 50-state ballot access for a hypothetical bipartisan presidential ticket in 2024 aimed at offering a centrist alternative to the allegedly broken and extremist major parties. Among the material was a No Labels phone conversation in which Manchin (a longtime intimate of the group) sounded very much like a potential candidate for the White House.

Then Manchin turned up in Iowa, where presidential politics are as popular as corndogs. Axios interpreted the trip as a definite sign the West Virginian is having White House dreams:

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) may not have announced that hes running as a third-party candidate for president. But hes acting like it.

Driving the news: Manchin took time from his busy Senate schedule to tell a gathering of Iowa business and community leaders Wednesday in D.C. that hes fiscally responsible and socially compassionate  another hint that hes considering a potential third-party presidential bid.

Back in the Senate, he released a statement vowing to oppose all President Bidens EPA nominees over the administrations radical climate agenda.

Its unclear to me why Iowa, which is now your basic red state, would be a rich venue for a proto-independent presidential candidate, other than the states hyper-political atmosphere. But lets say Manchin is considering a run on a No Labels ticket (the only one available in 2024, as a practical matter). What would he be trying to accomplish? Lets look at some possible motivations for a Manchin 2024 campaign, based on past independent/third-party presidential bids.

Its a serious bid to win the presidency.

Supposedly No Labels wont run a ticket unless theres a good chance of victory. But in the past, independent candidates (notably John Anderson in 1980 and Ross Perot in 1992) had a moment of strength in the polls that convinced them erroneously that they had a chance to win. Both were running second for a hot minute but faded in the home stretch. So would any independent candidate in an election where Trump and Biden will fiercely hold onto Republican and Democratic partisans with the stakes getting higher every day.

Theres zero precedent for a successful centrist third-party (or independent) candidacy winning anything other than random down-ballot contests (the biggest probably being Minnesotas governorship in 1998). And I cant imagine a scenario where Manchin could win 270 electoral votes. He almost certainly would lose to the Republican nominee in his home state. So, nope, this isnt a legitimate reason for a Manchin presidential race.

Its a ploy to deadlock the Electoral College and then cut deals.

There are some precedents for candidates with regional strength to try to win enough states to prevent the major-party presidential from winning a majority, thus throwing the election into the U.S. House of Representatives where every state has one vote. The last viable effort like that was in 1968, when segregationist George Wallace hoped a close Humphrey-Nixon contest would wind up in the House where the South could extort a curtailment of civil-rights laws or enforcement. Wallace did win five states and 46 electoral votes, but Richard Nixon won 301 and put the election away.

Manchin has no discernible regional base and no state where hes likely to pull off a rare victory (like Anderson and Perot, the best he might conceivably do is second place in a few states). So he would have no leverage unless it was based on a withdrawal and then an endorsement. Thats a lot of trouble to go through for a limited degree of influence, and the major-party candidates probably wouldnt infuriate their supporters by going along in any case. So nah, thats probably not what Joe Manchin has in mind.

Its an effort to remake the Democratic Party.

Manchin is a lifelong Democrat, albeit one whose legislative raison detre since hes been in the Senate has been to gain influence by threatening a defection. Hes forever complaining about progressive factional influence over the Democratic Party. Might he try to run for president as an independent in order to arrest or reverse what he perceives as a malevolent leftward trend in his party? Arguably Teddy Roosevelts Progressive candidacy in 1912 and Henry Wallaces identically named effort in 1948 were intra-party revolts. But both men were also trying to build viable new parties with a coherent ideology, and Joe Manchin doesnt have a coherent ideological bone in his body unless you consider him an ardent Fossil Fueler.

Besides, the only way Manchin as an independent candidate could influence the future of the Democratic Party would be to defeat it in 2024, which would not make him a welcome presence in party councils. If he really wants to influence Democrats, it would make more sense for him to run against Biden in the Democratic primaries. He wouldnt win, but hed probably do better than RFK Jr. or Marianne Williamson. In the end, its very hard to shape the future of a political party by leaving it, so that, too, is probably not what Machin has in mind.

Its an effort to build an entirely new party.

Again, its hard to imagine what a Manchin-led party would stand for other than cutting deals with rival parties. But for 2024, thats off the table anyway, since No Labels is vigorously refusing to build a party infrastructure, treating its putative effort as a one-off emergency bid to change both the major parties simultaneously.

Its something better to do than being crushed in Senate race.

Best I can tell, this may be Joe Manchins true rationale for considering an independent presidential run. His current trajectory for 2024 is a crushing defeat for reelection  probably a humiliating loss to his old rival Jim Justice  in West Virginia, where he has become very unpopular and will be bucking a very likely Republican presidential landslide. Flirting with a presidential run is a more ego-flattering course of action. And if he achieves a credible threat of running and damaging Joe Biden, who knows, his fellow Democrats could reward him with an appointment to something after 2024 if he instead demurs.

And if all else fails, a proto-presidential candidacy wouldnt be a bad advertisement for Joe Manchins availability for a cushy lobbying job or some other nice retirement sinecure. It all beats the hell out of getting defeated in a Senate race.
From delivering babies to saving lives in emergency rooms, nurses perform countless difficult and sometimes heartbreaking duties each day.

They risk their lives to help others. They worked long hours, day and night, helping the sick and their families.

"Nurses and healthcare workers were heroes long before the COVID-19 pandemic," said Alabama editor Sarah Robinson, who oversees the Dothan Eagle and Opelika-Auburn News. "We join the Auburn-Opelika community in recognizing their dedication to the countless people they serve daily."

During National Nurses Week, we honor winners of the Opelika- Auburn News' "Nurses: The Hearth of Health Care" initiative. In February, we asked the public to nominate nurses or other health care professionals who have gone above and beyond to make a significant impact in the lives of others. Our winners earned the most votes.

On Sunday, we dedicated a special section of our newspaper to telling their stories. We also recognized them Friday morning during a ceremony at the South Union State Community College in Opelika.

Here are the stories behind our Heart of Health Care honorees:
OSHA to Host Meeting on Voluntary Protection Programs on June 15

Though the event will take place in DC, those wishing to attend can do so in person or online.

On June 15, OSHA will be hosting a meeting focused on its Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP).

According to a trade release, held in Washington D.C., the stakeholder meeting will cover modernizing, improving and expanding the program. Per the trade release, OSHA is interested in various perspectives in stakeholders answers to questions, such as the following:

Are there leading indicators for measuring future performance of safety and health management systems?

How can OSHA encourage more employers to apply to VPP?

Aside from current customer experience surveys, how can OSHA solicit more frequent and timely feedback on the program?

Beyond the OSHA Challenge, how can the agency increase the use of effective safety and health management systems by companies not in the VPP?

How can OSHA improve the programs quality or integrity?

Given OSHAs limited resources, how can the agency grow VPP more efficiently?

In what ways, can safety and health consensus standards be used to create pathways for companies to participate in the VPP?

OSHA will also discuss public comments.

Those interested in attending the meeting, whether in person at the Frances Perkins Building or virtually, must register by June 1 online. Attendees joining online will only be able to listen.

The VPPwhich was started over 40 years agorecognizes employers for their work on safety and health management systems and few injury and illness reports, according to its website. The highest level of recognition an employer can earn under the VPP is star status.

Photo credit: JHVEPhoto / Shutterstock.com
Houston is attracting crude flows via pipelines again as record-high U.S. oil exports have resulted in a surge in pipeline utilization to the top-exporting hub of Corpus Christi, analysts told Reuters.

Crude oil production in the top shale field in Texas, the Permian, is set to hit a record high of 5.694 million barrels per day (bpd) in May, up from an estimated 5.681 million bpd in April, according to drilling productivity data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Since 2020, when Corpus Christi overtook Houston as the main export outlet for U.S. crude, pipelines to Corpus Christi have seen an increase in flows.

Now it is Houstons turn to see higher crude flows, as the capacity on the pipelines to Corpus Christi is more than 90%, analysts have told Reuters.

The crude from the higher production from the Permian and the higher U.S. crude oil exports is now moving to Houston.

Houston becomes the next logical market for those barrels, Aaron Milford, CEO of Magellan Midstream Partners, told Reuters, commenting on the additional light sweet barrels from the Permian.

Meanwhile, U.S. crude oil exports hit a record in March, analysts at RBN Energy said this week in an analysis of the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

U.S. crude oil exports exceeded 146 million barrels, or 4.7 million bpd, in March. This was the highest monthly export level since the ban on crude oil exports was lifted in December 2015.

Demand for U.S. crude in Europe and China has jumped in recent months due to the Chinese reopening and the EU and G7 sanctions on imports of Russian oil.

So in March, the U.S. shipped record volumes of crude to Asia Pacific and Europe, at 65 million barrels and 64 million barrels, respectively. China imported the highest volume of U.S. crude since May 2020, while the Netherlands imported the second-highest volume from the U.S in March, which was also a record in U.S. crude shipments to the Netherlands, RBN Energy said.

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By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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Politics, Geopolitics & Conflict

Kyiv said mid-week that Russian forces had withdrawn from parts of the key battlefield of Bakhmut as a result of Ukrainian counterattacks. The fallback is not a rout but indicates Russia has retreated in some areas by up to a mile. The battle in Bakhmut has been a litmus test for Putins patience with his much-needed but dangerous reliance on Wagner mercenaries. Indications continue to surface that this relationship is becoming highly fractured. Just prior to Kyivs announcement that Russia had withdrawn from some positions, Wagner head Prigozhin had threatened to withdraw unilaterally, citing a lack of supplies from the Russian Defense Ministry. Prigozhin alleges that he received a letter from the Defense Ministry threatening to charge Wagner with treason if it retreated. It remains unclear exactly how much of Bakhmut Russia now controls after reportedly withdrawing from some positions, but prior to this, it was estimated that Russia controlled some 80% of the city. While the Russian Defense Ministry said on Thursday that its forces continued to advance on Bakhmut, Prigozhin took to Telegram to say that the battlefield is developing according to the worst of the predicted scenarios. He suggested that hard-won positions are now being abandoned daily by dozens or hundreds of meters.

Clashes in Sudan have continued and even escalated this week to include significant air strikes. Some 150,000 people are estimated to have fled the country, while some 700,000 have been displaced so far in the fighting between the military and a paramilitary force. Mediation talks are ongoing in Saudi Arabia; however, no concrete progress has been made toward a real ceasefire. Some state buildings have now been occupied by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), while the Sudanese army is using air strikes to attempt to force them out of neighborhoods they have entrenched themselves in. There are still no indications that South Sudans oil exports have been negatively affected by the fighting in neighboring Sudan, the landlocked Souths only export route.

In Iraqi Kurdistan, the KRG said Thursday that an agreement had been reached with Baghdad to resume oil exports from northern Iraq; however, Turkey had not yet responded to the request to restart the pipeline, which goes to the Turkish port of Ceyhan. The KRGs 400,000-450,000 bpd of oil exports have been shut in since March 25th, with prolonged wrangling between Erbil and Baghdad over who should actually be selling this oil. The agreement will see Erbil give up its rights to market its own oil and defer instead to the Iraqi federal SOMO agency, with revenues going to a separate bank account controlled by the Kurds. Turkey could further delay the resumption of exports if it seeks more leverage over various arbitration elements between Iraq and Turkey. The request to Turkey to restart the pipeline was submitted on Thursday, and at the time, the Iraqi oil minister said Turkey would restart on Saturday. However, on Friday, the KRG energy minister denied that oil would restart this weekend, saying there had been no confirmation of an exact restart date from Turkey. As such, the market is left guessing once again.



Because over $680B in goods traverse the Strait of Hormuz every year, the majority of which is crude oil, the Iranian seizures of tankers and cargo earlier in May have some analysts concerned that this vital shipping lane is more vulnerable than usual to geopolitical developments. Some risk managers are advising extra caution. However, our assessment is that, for now, this is simply Irans tit-for-tat response to the U.S. seizure of Iranian tankers and cargo, intended to insert some additional fear into the market. If it were to escalate, it would have a significantly damaging impact on global economies, particularly on the U.S., India, and China. We do not believe, at this point, that Tehran is willing to rock the boat with China over tanker seizures by the U.S.

The U.S. Department of Energy may begin repurchasing oil to refill the SPR as soon as next month, following a congressionally mandated sale of 26 million barrels that is set to be concluded in June.

Discovery & Development

Lower natural gas prices have prompted Tellurian to halt drilling in the Haynesville shale and to scale back its 2023 production forecasts by 18% from a forecast made three months ago.

French TotalEnergies will start drilling offshore Lebanon in September and Lebanese officials say theyll know whether there is a discovery by the end of this year, which would be a major development for a completely collapsing economy. The drilling will be in Block 9 in the prolific Mediterranean (where Israel has made major gas discoveries) and is made possible by a deal ending a maritime dispute between Lebanon and Israel last October. The drilling consortium is led by Total and includes partners Eli and QatarEnergy.

Iraqs Al-Qayyarah oilfield in Nineveh has restarted at a rate of 33,000 bpd. The oil is used at a local refinery, and the rest is transferred by rail to ports in the Gulf.

Iran has started operations at the Sohrab oilfield along the Iran/Iraq border, with Irans NIOC (through PEDEC) overseeing the project and Dana Energy developing the field. The target production is 160 million barrels across 20 years at an initial rate of 30,000 bpd. Sohrab is a heavy oil development.

Kosmos Energy will spud an exploration well in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico in the Tiberius prospect in Keathley Canyon Block 964 in the Wilcox play after its Winterfell discovery a couple of years ago. The prospect is close to Occidentals Lucius platform. Kosmos has previously said that Tiberius is one of the best prospects in its exploration portfolio.

BP has started to drill a wildcat well off the coast of Canadafar off the east coast in a rather remote location. The well is being drilled by the Stena IceMax at the Ephesus well in the Orphan basinalmost 250 miles offshore. Seismic shows the basin could hold up to 5 billion boe. It is not BPs first attempt at drilling here, but the company seems to have a renewed focus on frontier prospects in hopes of compensating for its declining output as it spent the last few years focusing on renewables and emissions-cutting. BP is also looking to develop the tricky Kaskida reservoir in the Gulf of Mexico that was shelved many years ago due to the significant challenges.

Deals, Mergers & Acquisitions

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Ovo and Octopus Energy are looking to snag Shells UK retail energy supply business. The two are in the second round of bidding, sources have said after Shell put the unit under review earlier this year. The unit has been unprofitable for Shell, although it is one of the largest UK home energy suppliers in the UK, with nearly 5% of the power and gas market after picking up market share from other providers who had folded in the wake of crippling gas prices.

Energy Earnings Beat

Saudi Aramcos Q1 net profit was down year on year by 19.35% to $31.9 billion. The $39.5 billion that the company saw in Q1 2022, however, was inflated by the higher oil prices after Russia invaded Ukraine. Although Aramocs Q1 net profits were down from this time last year, its still more than 75% of the net profits of the worlds five biggest oil majors.

Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) reported quarterly earnings of $0.67 per share, beating analyst estimates. Its down, however, from the same quarter a year ago, which saw EPS of $1.02. Marathon posted revenues of $1.68 billion for the quarter, compared to year-ago revenues of $1.75 billion.
The Arab world has welcomed Syria back into the fold; specifically, by readmitting the Assad regime into the Arab League, from which it was evicted 12 years ago.

A lot is being read into this move, and from the Western perspective, the bulk of analysis hinges on the perception that the U.S. is losing ground in the Middle East. It is, of course, rather more complicated than that.

The Arab Leagues decision to readmit Assad after 12 years of war is not an expression of loyalty or commitment. Instead, its an acknowledgment that Assad is here to stay, and it would be better to keep the lines of communication open with Syria, rather than isolating a regime surrounded by power actors from the Gulf to Iran, Russia, and Turkey. Everyone is vying for power and readmittance to the Arab club is a way to secure a modicum of control. While the Saudis are talking about restoring diplomatic ties with Syria and inviting Assad to Arab League meetings, Moscow is busy hosting rapprochement talks between Syria and Turkey, as well, with Iran also pledging to mediate in the same and everyone is angling for a foothold.

Yes, it has perhaps been made easier by a withdrawal of interest from Washington, as well as a cooling of relations between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, but the bottom line is that Assad is the ruler of Syria and attempts to overthrow him have failed. It also means that the Syrian opposition has just lost support, more or less, because the Arab League
As the world begins to feel the urgency of the decarbonization imperative, more investing dollars and public support are available than ever before for renewable energy research and development. As a result, even some of the most futuristic and far-fetched ideas are getting real backing  with real results. Already, technologies that feel ripped out of the pages of science fiction are being proven feasible  from creating an artificial sun here on Earth, to beaming solar power straight from the stars to our own energy grids. But it turns out that space is not the only final frontier for clean energy extraction  and the other one is a lot closer to home.

Looking to the ocean to solve some of our biggest global crises is not a new idea. Seawater  a vast and seemingly inexhaustible resource  has been a source of hope and experimentation for extracting everything from fresh drinking water in the face of a mounting water crisis to creating limitless green hydrogen to replace industrial fuels. The constant motion of the ocean through waves and tides has also been viewed as a potential source of renewable energy, but scaling tidal energy in a practical and affordable way has remained elusive. But the promise and allure of harnessing the full potential of tidal energy is so great that scientists and researchers around the world have persisted in finding a way to do it. In the United States alone, the total energy potential of marine sources is estimated to be more than double (57%) the amount of energy currently being produced in the country each year. These findings came from a groundbreaking report from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) released in 2021. The numbers released by NREL are particularly flooring when you consider that the United States has particularly low tidal energy potential compared to other countries.

Related: Petrobras Has High Hopes For Refining, Pre-Salt Discoveries



Thats why the United States has no tidal plants, while other countries including South Korea and France have had tidal plants online for years now. But that may not be the case for long. For one thing, there is currently unprecedented government support for exploring marine energy sources in the United States. he Biden administration has given special attention through the promise of marine energy sources through its Ocean Climate Action Plan, which notes the potential of offshore wind power as well as sourcing renewable energy from less-explored sources such as waves, tides and currents.

These three phenomena  waves, tides, and currents  present numerous different methods of potential energy production. Each is suited to different parts of the coast and ocean where the waters behave differently, allowing for more ways to create marine energy in more places. But each also presents certain challenges for achieving efficient and scalable energy production. Waves certainly pack a wallop, but theyre unsteady and still quite unpredictable despite scientists best modeling efforts, which makes machine design for wave energy extremely difficult. Tides are far more predictable, which is why tidal energy is way further along its own R&D trajectory. However, tidal energy is only feasible in very specific conditions that dont exist in very many places on Earth. Currents, too, are predictable and constant, but scientists worry that harvesting too much of that energy could alter important oceanic patterns that regulate the climate, ultimately making matters worse.

While none of these energies provides a silver bullet solution, scientists are constantly working to refine and improve their methods in the hope that one day, one of these technologies could make a real impact. One example is a groundbreaking wave power project called PacWave, currently underway off of the Oregon coast. According to recent reporting from CNET, the ambitious project is an offshore experimental testbed built to develop and demonstrate new technology that converts the power of waves into onshore electricity. Seven miles of conduit have already been laid between the testbed out in the Pacific and the Oregon coast using pioneering horizontal drilling techniques. The project could be fully operational as soon as 2025, when it would have an energy production capacity of 20 megawatts. This isnt enough to revolutionize the energy sector by any means, but it will be able to provide a few thousand homes with clean and renewable energy.

This is likely indicative of the trajectory of marine power on the whole. Breakthroughs will almost certainly be piecemeal and low-impact, but hopefully they will snowball into what is eventually a robust energy alternative. It likely will never provide a silver-bullet solution to fix the energy sector and the climate, but its one more piece of a diverse clean energy puzzle that is slowly but surely developing strong enough technologies to replace fossil fuels over time. And thats a good thing. A diverse energy mix is a resilient energy mix. Relying too much on any one energy source is a very dangerous game. In this sense, a little bit of tidal, a little bit of wave energy, and a little bit of current energy could go a very long way.

By Haley Zaremba for Oilprice.com

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A hypothetical scenario in which Canada phases out its oil production would end up costing it some $74 billion (C$100 billion), with Alberta bearing the brunt of that blow, a new report has suggested.

Produced by a non-partisan think tank, the Public Policy Forum, the report looked at two scenarios for Canada achieving a net-zero status with regard to carbon emissions.

One of the scenarios envisaged energy policies that targeted the oil industry with stricter emission regulations but without resorting to a production cap or a phaseout. The think tank called that scenario the aggressive decarbonization model.

The other scenario, which the Public Policy Forum dubbed the accelerated phaseout model, involves a phaseout of oil production.

Both pathways arrive at net zero but with unequal economic impacts along the way, the authors reported.

Under the accelerated phaseout scenario, Canadas economy would grow at a rate 0.1% slower than the growth rate under the aggressive decarbonization scenario.

This apparently small difference compounds over time, leading to $100 billion excess lost GDP in 2050, a three percent contraction of the overall economy, the think tank also said.

This essentially amounts to a deep recession without a recovery ever materializing. The lost output carries forward each year in perpetuity.

The bulk of those hypothetical losses would naturally fall to Alberta given its role in Canadas oil production. Yet, as some commentators have noted, there are no plans for a phaseout of Canadas oil production.

"There's no phase-out going on there. There's no phase-out of the oil and gas sector either. They're talking about an emissions cap, not a production cap. And it's disappointing to see that conflated in this report," one economics professor told CTV News.

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Indeed, there is no production cap on the table for now but the federal government of Canada has been squeezing the oil industry with reams of regulations aimed at making them reduce their emissions, which may at some point involve a production cut in the same way that Shell would have to cut its oil and gas output to achieve the emissions cut it was ordered to effect by court.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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The chances of finding and bringing the Nord Stream attack perpetrators to justice are negligible, according to Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev, who added that Russia would nevertheless continue to work towards holding them accountable.

"Of course, we will continue to employ all available legal tools to hold those responsible to account, but the chances of doing this in international judicial institutions are negligible," Medvedev said at the International Legal Forum today. At the same time, Medvedev blasted Europe for its lack of progress in the investigation.

"The European countries, as if by design, have forgotten about their obligations under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings," Medvedev charged.

In March, Russia said it expected to mothball the Nord Stream natural gas pipelines that were damaged in an act of sabotage last fall, because there were no plans to use or repair them anytime soon due to its sour relations with the West. Originally, Germany's Uniper had said the pipeline could be repaired in a year, although it is unclear whether Germany is even interested in purchasing Russian gas at this point.

The Nord Stream pipelines were sabotaged in late September in still unexplained circumstances. Nord Stream 1 was carrying gas from Russia to Germany via the Baltic Sea, while Nord Stream 2 was never put into operation after Germany axed the certification process following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russia, for its part, shut down Nord Stream 1 indefinitely in early September, claiming an inability to repair gas turbines because of the Western sanctions.

Russia has called for an international investigation into the Nord Stream sabotage after a U.S. investigative journalist wrote in February that the United States had planted explosives on the bottom of the Baltic Sea to blow up the pipelines.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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Brazilian-controlled oil company Petrobras has high hopes for increasing its refining capacity and its Curacao pre-salt discovery, company officials said on Friday.

In a Friday webcast for investors, Petrobras director of industrial processes and products William Franca said that the company has the potential to increase its refining capacity by as much as a half a million barrels daily without greenfield projects.

According to Franca, there are multiple projects currently being reviewed that will increase Petrobras distillation capacityand these projects are expected to be included in the companys next business plan, which will cover 2024-2028.

In addition to its plans to increase its refining capacity, Petrobras also is hoping to reach commerciality of its Curacao discovery in the near future, according to chief production development officer Carlos Travassos.

The Curacao discovery is located in the Aram block in the Santos basin, according to Upstream. Petrobras is currently drilling an extension well to guard the volume and reservoir characteristics, Upstream said.

Petrobras CEO Jean Paul Prates said in March that the company could be the last man standing when it comes to crude oil production amid the energy transition. We will get market share, Prates said at the time, adding that Petrobras may be the last to produce oil in the world.

Prates said that despite the energy transition, crude oil production will remain Petrobras number-one priority.

Brazils crude oil production is set to reach 3.4 million bpd this year, and is set to grow through 2030, but investments will be needed if the country is to keep growingor even to just maintain those levels.

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According to Petrobras current plan for years 2023-2027, $7.3 billion will be allocated toward the refining segment, which will include expanding/modernizing the Rnest, Replan, Revap, and RPBC plants.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico  The Biden administration Thursday will begin denying asylum to migrants who arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border without first applying online or seeking protection in a country they passed through, marking a fundamental shift in immigration policy as the U.S. readies for the end of a key pandemic restriction.

The new rule represents a significant shift in the way the U.S. deals with asylum seekers who have been showing up at the border in huge numbers in anticipation of this week's end of the the use of a restriction known as Title 42 that allows the government to quickly expel migrants to Mexico.

The rule announced Wednesday is part of new measures meant to crack down on illegal border crossings while creating new legal pathways, including a plan to open 100 regional migration hubs across the Western Hemisphere, administration officials said.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas warned that the days and weeks ahead have the "potential to be very difficult."

"Our plan will deliver results, but it will take time for those results to be fully realized," he said.

In Ciudad Juarez, migrants continued to arrive this week in small groups by train or bus  and leave daily to surrender to the U.S. authorities. Fran Tovar, a 30-year old electrician from Venezuela who left two children behind to try to reach the U.S., was crossing on Wednesday.

"There is fear and anguish," said Tovar, adding that he has spent three months in Juarez trying to get an appointment through an app the U.S. encouraged migrants to use to present themselves at a border entry point and seek admission.

Tovar was expelled from the U.S. on his first attempt, then tried again 24 hours later. He was worried because after Title 42's use expires, he could face tough consequences. The COVID-19 pandemic-related restrictions allowed border officials to quickly reject people  and they did so 2.8 million times since March 2020. After the restrictions expire Thursday, migrants caught crossing illegally will not be allowed to return to the U.S. for five years. They can face criminal prosecution if they do.

While the measure announced Wednesday stops short of a total ban, it imposes severe limitations on asylum for those crossing illegally who didn't first seek a legal pathway. It includes room for exceptions and does not apply to children traveling alone. It was first announced in February and takes effect Thursday.

A federal appeals court prevented similar but stricter measures pursued by then-President Donald Trump in 2019 from taking effect.

The Biden administration emphasized the complex dynamics at play when it comes to immigration that at one time consisted largely of adults from Mexico seeking to come to the U.S. They could easily be sent home. Now migrants come from across the Western Hemisphere and beyond.

The rule was immediately met with criticism.

"With its new rule formalizing sweeping restrictions on asylum access, the Biden administration is putting border politics ahead of the safety of refugees," said Jeremy Konyndyk, the president of Refugees International.

U.S. officials also said they planned to open regional hubs around the hemisphere, where migrants could apply to go to the U.S., Canada or Spain. Two hubs were previously announced in Guatemala and Colombia. It's unclear where the other locations would be.

The measures are meant to fundamentally alter how migrants go to the U.S. southern border as officials brace for large numbers to cross this week, possibly to circumvent the new rules. Others were waiting until after Title 42 goes away, thinking their chances might be better.

Roughly 24,000 law enforcement officers were stationed along the 1,951-mile border with Mexico. An additional 1,500 active-duty military troops are being sent to back up U.S. Customs and Border Protection but will not interact with migrants; 2,500 National Guard troops are already there, tasked to help CBP.

The Democratic administration will return migrants from Haiti, Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua to Mexico if they do not apply online, have a sponsor and pass a background check. It will admit 30,000 per month from those nations to the U.S. Mexico will continue to take back the same number who cross illegally.

Immigration officials also plan to deploy as many as 1,000 asylum officers to conduct expedited screenings for asylum seekers to more quickly determine whether someone meets the standard to stay in the U.S.

Mayorkas said migrants taken into U.S. custody will be given an initial option to turn back because of the increased consequences of removal after Title 42 expires.

Most of the people going to the U.S.-Mexico border illegally are fleeing persecution or poverty in their home countries. They ask for asylum and have generally been allowed into the U.S. to wait out their cases. That process can take years under a badly strained immigration court system, and it prompted increasing numbers to go to the border hoping to get into the U.S.
LONDON (AP)  The breathtaking development of artificial intelligence has dazzled users by composing music, creating images and writing essays, while also raising fears about its implications. Even European Union officials working on groundbreaking rules to govern the emerging technology were caught off guard by AI's rapid rise.

The 27-nation bloc proposed the Western world's first AI rules two years ago, focusing on reining in risky but narrowly focused applications. General purpose AI systems like chatbots were barely mentioned. Lawmakers working on the AI Act considered whether to include them but werent sure how, or even if it was necessary.

Then ChatGPT kind of boom, exploded, said Dragos Tudorache, a Romanian member of the European Parliament co-leading the measure. If there was still some that doubted as to whether we need something at all, I think the doubt was quickly vanished.

The release of ChatGPT last year captured the worlds attention because of its ability to generate human-like responses based on what it has learned from scanning vast amounts of online materials. With concerns emerging, European lawmakers moved swiftly in recent weeks to add language on general AI systems as they put the finishing touches on the legislation.

The EUs AI Act could become the de facto global standard for artificial intelligence, with companies and organizations potentially deciding that the sheer size of the bloc's single market would make it easier to comply than develop different products for different regions.

Europe is the first regional bloc to significantly attempt to regulate AI, which is a huge challenge considering the wide range of systems that the broad term AI can cover, said Sarah Chander, senior policy adviser at digital rights group EDRi.

Authorities worldwide are scrambling to figure out how to control the rapidly evolving technology to ensure that it improves people's lives without threatening their rights or safety. Regulators are concerned about new ethical and societal risks posed by ChatGPT and other general purpose AI systems, which could transform daily life, from jobs and education to copyright and privacy.

The White House recently brought in the heads of tech companies working on AI including Microsoft, Google and ChatGPT creator OpenAI to discuss the risks, while the Federal Trade Commission has warned that it wouldnt hesitate to crack down.

China has issued draft regulations mandating security assessments for any products using generative AI systems like ChatGPT. Britain's competition watchdog has opened a review of the AI market, while Italy briefly banned ChatGPT over a privacy breach.

The EU's sweeping regulations  covering any provider of AI services or products  are expected to be approved by a European Parliament committee Thursday, then head into negotiations between the 27 member countries, Parliament and the EUs executive Commission.

European rules influencing the rest of the world  the so-called Brussels effect  previously played out after the EU tightened data privacy and mandated common phone-charging cables, though such efforts have been criticized for stifling innovation.

Attitudes could be different this time. Tech leaders including Elon Musk and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak have called for a six-month pause to consider the risks.

Geoffrey Hinton, a computer scientist known as the Godfather of AI," and fellow AI pioneer Yoshua Bengio voiced their concerns last week about unchecked AI development.

Tudorache said such warnings show the EU's move to start drawing up AI rules in 2021 was the right call.

Google, which responded to ChatGPT with its own Bard chatbot and is rolling out AI tools, declined to comment. The company has told the EU that AI is too important not to regulate."

Microsoft, a backer of OpenAI, did not respond to a request for comment. It has welcomed the EU effort as an important step toward making trustworthy AI the norm in Europe and around the world.

Mira Murati, chief technology officer at OpenAI, said in an interview last month that she believed governments should be involved in regulating AI technology.

But asked if some of OpenAIs tools should be classified as posing a higher risk, in the context of proposed European rules, she said its very nuanced."

It kind of depends where you apply the technology, she said, citing as an example a very high-risk medical use case or legal use case versus an accounting or advertising application.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman plans stops in Brussels and other European cities this month in a world tour to talk about the technology with users and developers.

Recently added provisions to the EU's AI Act would require foundation AI models to disclose copyright material used to train the systems, according to a recent partial draft of the legislation obtained by The Associated Press.

Foundation models, also known as large language models, are a subcategory of general purpose AI that includes systems like ChatGPT. Their algorithms are trained on vast pools of online information, like blog posts, digital books, scientific articles and pop songs.

You have to make a significant effort to document the copyrighted material that you use in the training of the algorithm, paving the way for artists, writers and other content creators to seek redress, Tudorache said.

Officials drawing up AI regulations have to balance risks that the technology poses with the transformative benefits that it promises.

Big tech companies developing AI systems and European national ministries looking to deploy them are seeking to limit the reach of regulators, while civil society groups are pushing for more accountability, said EDRis Chander.

We want more information as to how these systems are developed  the levels of environmental and economic resources put into them  but also how and where these systems are used so we can effectively challenge them, she said.

Under the EU's risk-based approach, AI uses that threaten people's safety or rights face strict controls.

Remote facial recognition is expected to be banned. So are government social scoring systems that judge people based on their behavior. Indiscriminate scraping of photos from the internet used for biometric matching and facial recognition is also a no-no.

Predictive policing and emotion recognition technology, aside from therapeutic or medical uses, are also out.

Violations could result in fines of up to 6% of a company's global annual revenue.

Even after getting final approval, expected by the end of the year or early 2024 at the latest, the AI Act won't take immediate effect. There will be a grace period for companies and organizations to figure out how to adopt the new rules.

It's possible that industry will push for more time by arguing that the AI Act's final version goes farther than the original proposal, said Frederico Oliveira Da Silva, senior legal officer at European consumer group BEUC.

They could argue that instead of one and a half to two years, we need two to three," he said.

He noted that ChatGPT only launched six months ago, and it has already thrown up a host of problems and benefits in that time.

If the AI Act doesn't fully take effect for years, what will happen in these four years? Da Silva said. "Thats really our concern, and thats why were asking authorities to be on top of it, just to really focus on this technology.

AP Technology Writer Matt O'Brien in Providence, Rhode Island, contributed.
WASHINGTON  President Joe Biden's Friday follow-up meeting with congressional leaders on the debt limit crisis was abruptly postponed to next week, with staff-level talks making progress and expected to continue through the weekend, the White House and congressional aides said Thursday.

The White House said staff would continue to hold discussions, and the delay was billed as a sign of positive exchanges between Republican lawmakers, Democratic counterparts and Biden.

The sudden shift jolted the high-stakes talks but did not appear to be a signal of a breakdown as the president and Congress urgently search for a budget deal to resolve the government's debt limit crisis, those familiar with the situation said.

For two days, private talks have been underway at the Capitol as staff from the White House and the congressional leaders worked Wednesday and again Thursday try to find a solution.

While most of those familiar with the situation said talks were progressing, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was critical of the president and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer late Thursday.

"President Biden and Senator Schumer are stuck on no. They have no plan, no proposed savings and no clue," McCarthy told reporters, similar to criticisms he made after the previous day's talks. "Apparently, President Biden doesn't want a deal, he wants a default."

"I don't think there's enough progress for the leaders to get back together," he said. But he added that he did expect that meeting next week.

Washington is staring down a June 1 deadline to raise the debt limit to allow continued borrowing to cover already accrued bills or risk the nation's first modern-day debt default.

Staff is looking at billions of dollars of unspent COVID-19 money, as well as ideas as far-ranging as easing permits for energy projects and simply ordering broad spending caps  all still in the mix as negotiators from the White House and Congress engage in closed-door talks.

Donald Trump urged fellow Republicans to let America default on its debts if they don't get the budget cutting deal they want from Biden.

"I say to the Republicans out there  congressmen, senators  if they don't give you massive cuts, you're going to have to do a default," Trump said at a CNN town hall Wednesday night as part of his campaign to return to the White House.

It's unclear whether Trump's comments will affect negotiations. The former president continues to have sky-high influence with many in his party, and Trump-aligned lawmakers in Congress may heed his advice to engage in brinkmanship that could lead to a debt default.

Economists warn a debt default would be devastating, rippling across the economy. The nation's credit would likely be downgraded, which would surely spike borrowing costs that would end up hitting not only businesses and government, but American households.

So far, Republicans on Capitol Hill are pursuing the priorities in their recently House-passed bill that would raise the debt ceiling in exchange for steep but less than "massive" budget cuts and other future spending restrictions.

Negotiators spent two hours in a Capitol basement room Wednesday as they raced to develop the contours of a deal. They were back at it even longer Thursday.

The postponement of Friday's White House meeting seemed at least in part to be merely due to scheduling issues. The House and Senate finished their work for the week on Thursday, and lawmakers may not be in Washington on Friday.

Still, the White House and the lawmakers are racing the clock ahead of Biden's planned trip abroad next week for a summit in Asia.

Senate Majority Leader Schumer declared Trump was calling on his Republican Party to "destroy the economy."

"Donald Trump is about as qualified to run the country as a broken brick," Schumer said. "But the danger here is he holds enormous sway over Speaker McCarthy and the hard right."

McCarthy downplayed the closed-door talks underway at the Capitol as producing "nothing new."

The Republican speaker owes his gavel to Trump's support during a grueling in-House election. McCarthy, who is taking the lead in negotiations with Biden, has also held firm in his opening bid in talks, saying his staff has put no new ideas on the table beyond the legislation the House approved last month  which the White House said Biden would veto.

"I passed a bill  what more should I have to do?" McCarthy told reporters.

Fielding questions from the town hall audience, Trump predicted "Democrats will absolutely cave" to the Republican demands. But the former president, who signed bills to raise the debt limit during his own presidency, said a debt default this time would be worth it.

The U.S. debt, which grew from $20 trillion when Trump took office in 2017 to $28 trillion when Biden took over in 2021, is now $31 trillion.

Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said the staff level talks have been "very productive."

While the White House insists it wants a clean debt bill, it is engaged in talks around the broader budget.

A top McCarthy ally, Rep. Garret Graves, R-La., said during a roundtable with reporters Thursday there are four areas of bipartisan interest that he thinks "would be a good foundation for negotiations."

Among them, he outlined the COVID rescissions, spending caps, reform of permitting rules, and bolstered work requirements on some government aid recipients as topics with bipartisan interest.

He said the White House is pushing for a shorter spending cap than the 10 years Republicans proposed in their legislation.

The Most Financially Savvy States The Most Financially Savvy States The share of adults with basic financial knowledge has been declining Over 60 percent of US adults were never offered financial education Financial literacy increases with age and educational level 15. New Hampshire 14. Connecticut 13. Idaho 12. Montana 11. Wisconsin 10. Oregon 9. Vermont 8. Utah 7. Hawaii 6. North Dakota 5. South Dakota 4. Washington 3. Alaska 2. Minnesota 1. Wyoming
WASHINGTON (AP)  Protecting a narrow, four-vote majority, Republican leaders in the House are making clear that they intend to let the legal process play out with New York Rep. George Santos before they take steps to force his resignation or expel him.

The freshman congressman was accused Wednesday by federal prosecutors of embezzling money from his campaign, falsely receiving unemployment funds and lying to Congress about his finances and could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted. Santos pleaded not guilty.

Republican leaders, who for months have faced mounting questions about Santos after most of his campaign biography was exposed as a lie, were unmoved and brushed aside calls  including from some colleagues  that they take immediate action to push Santos out of Congress.

In America, theres a presumption of innocence. But theyre serious charges. Hes going to have to go through the legal process, said House Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana.

Scalise was seconded by Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, the No. 3 House Republican, who sidestepped the question of whether Santos should resign.

As Ive said from the very beginning on questions on this subject, this legal process is going to play itself out, she said.

The position Republican leaders have staked out generally follows the precedent that Congress has set in similar criminal cases over the years. The House has expelled just two members in recent decades, and both votes occurred after the lawmaker had been convicted on federal charges. But many say the narrow majority that Republicans won in the House is surely another factor in the GOP leadership's thinking.

There are a few members of the New York delegation and a few others calling for his immediate expulsion on the Republican side, which could tilt the leadership's hand. But given where were at with the debt limit and a four-vote majority, they dont want to lose any of those votes right now, said Casey Burgat, an assistant professor who leads the legislative affairs program at George Washington University.

Santos is adamant that he will stay in Congress and seek reelection. In a press conference outside a Long Island federal courthouse, he spoke Wednesday of getting back to Washington so he could vote on a top House GOP priority, a border bill that would restrict some asylum seekers and boost border enforcement.

He ended up voting for that bill Thursday as well as one that seeks to give states more incentive to pursue cases of unemployment insurance fraud. One of the counts Santos faces is that he fraudulently collected unemployment benefits during the pandemic, even though he was being paid a substantial salary at the time.

Santos also voted last month for the House GOP bill that ties a debt limit extension to an estimated $4.8 trillion in deficit reduction over 10 years. In a dramatic flourish, Santos was the last Republican to cast a vote in favor of that bill, helping it win passage by a paper-thin margin  217-215.

While GOP leaders say the legal system needs to run its course, a few Republicans have seen enough.

The people of New Yorks 3rd district deserve a voice in congress, tweeted Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas. "George Santos should be immediately expelled from Congress and a special election initiated at the soonest possible date."

The House and the Senate have the power to punish members of their chamber for misconduct, including through expulsion. To date, according to the Congressional Research Service, 20 members have been expelled, but the large majority of them occurred at the outset of the Civil War. Half of the 20 expulsions were the result of a single vote in the Senate involving senators who represented states that had seceded from the Union, but had not formally resigned.

The two most recent expulsions followed convictions on public corruption charges were:

Rep. Michael J. Ozzie Myers, D-Penn., was convicted of bribery and conspiracy for taking money from FBI agents who posed as Arab sheiks. He was expelled in 1980 following his conviction and served more than a year in prison.

Rep. James Traficant, D-Ohio, was expelled in 2002, three months after he was found guilty of 10 federal charges, including racketeering, bribery and fraud for taking bribes and kickbacks from businessmen and his own staff.

Some lawmakers have also resigned upon being convicted of a crime, pre-empting an expulsion vote.

Last year, Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, R-Neb., resigned from office after a California jury convicted him of lying to federal authorities about an illegal campaign donation from a foreign national.

Two years earlier, Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., submitted his resignation about a month after pleading guilty to a charge of conspiring with his wife to steal about $250,000 in campaign funds to pay for a lavish lifestyle, from vacations to outings with friends and private school tuition. Then-President Donald Trump pardoned Hunter shortly before he left office.

Trump also pardoned former Rep. Chris Collins, R-N.Y., who resigned in 2019 ahead of admitting to helping his son and others dodge $800,000 in stock market losses when he learned that a drug trial by a small pharmaceutical company had failed.

More than three dozen Democratic lawmakers have signed onto a bill from Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., that would expel Santos from the House.

It's pretty clear to everyone, including his constituents, that he is a complete fraud and shouldn't be in Congress, Garcia said.

Garcia said McCarthy is not pushing to expel Santos because he needs his vote. He urged the several Republicans from New York who have criticized Santos to sign on to the expulsion legislation.

He can barely keep his caucus together on votes, so it's clear that he's using George Santos' support to keep him in leadership, Garcia said.

During a press conference Thursday, the House Democratic leader, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, stood in front of a photo of Santos and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., known for her incenderary rhetoric, and said it was time for the GOP conference: to decide who are you."

Ive made clear that George Santos is not fit to serve in the United States House of Representatives, and the American people share that opinion as well, including the overwhelming majority of the people in the third congressional district in New York, Jeffries said.

Republicans deny that Santos has been a distraction and say they are focused on other issues.

This place is bigger than any one member, said Rep. Kevin Hern, R-Okla., the chairman of the powerful Republican Study Committee.

Despite the reports that Santos was facing federal charges, and a crush of media attention at his arraignment in New York, Republicans said there was no discussion of him during their weekly, closed-door caucus meeting on Wednesday morning.

I never heard his name mentioned once, said Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga.
WASHINGTON  House Republicans passed a sweeping bill Thursday to build more U.S.-Mexico border wall and impose new restrictions on asylum seekers, creating a hard-line counter to President Joe Biden's policies just as migrants amassed along the border with the end of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.

The bill has virtually no chance of becoming law. Democrats, who have a narrow hold on the Senate, decried the aggressive measures in the bill as "cruel" and "anti-immigrant." Biden promised he would veto it.

The legislation passed 219-213, with all present Democrats and two Republicans, Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and John Duarte of California, voting against it.

The House GOP voted on the bill the same day as the expiration of Title 42, a public health emergency rule that allowed border authorities to quickly return many migrants who crossed the border illegally. Biden conceded the southern border will be "chaotic for a while" as migrants weigh whether to cross and U.S. officials use a new set of policies that aim to clamp down on illegal immigration while offering more legal pathways.

Migrants rushed across the border Thursday in hopes of entering the U.S. before the asylum restrictions are lifted. After that, migrants face being barred from entering the U.S. for five years and possible criminal prosecution.

With a midnight deadline looming, migrants in Mexico shed clothing before descending into the Rio Grande, clutching bags full of clothes. One man held a baby in an open suitcase on his head. On the U.S. side of the river, migrants put on dry clothes and picked their way through razor wire. Many surrendered immediately to authorities. Holding facilities along the border were already far beyond capacity this week.

It was not clear how many migrants were on the move, but a U.S. official reported that daily encounters on Tuesday hit 10,000  nearly twice the level from March and only slightly below the 11,000 figure that authorities have said is the upper limit of the surge they anticipate after Title 42 ends.

Our buses are full. Our planes are full, said Pedro Cardenas, a city commissioner in Brownsville, Texas, just north of Matamoros.

Biden's administration unveiled strict new measures to replace Title 42. The new policies crack down on illegal crossings while also setting up legal pathways for migrants who apply online, seek a sponsor and undergo background checks. If successful, the reforms could fundamentally alter how migrants arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border, but it will take time to see results.

Republicans slammed Biden for the increase in illegal immigration during his tenure. Passing the bill ensures House GOP lawmakers can say they did their part to deliver on a campaign promise to secure the border.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy called the package "the strongest border security bill this country has ever seen," saying in a speech on the House floor that "meanwhile, we are seeing a very different record from President Biden."

It took months for Republicans to push the bill through the House amid sometimes public feuds between GOP lawmakers. Even as the bill neared final form Wednesday, it had to be amended to appease concerns from the House Freedom Caucus and other lawmakers.

The 213-page bill represents a compromise between mainstream GOP lawmakers, who wanted to focus on beefing up border enforcement, and hard-line conservatives, who want drastic changes to U.S. asylum and immigration law.

The package would return to many of the policies pursued by former President Donald Trump, such as building walls along the border. It also would restrict asylum by requiring migrants to cross legally, pay a $50 fee and meet more stringent requirements to show in initial interviews that they have a credible fear of persecution in their home country.

"This extreme MAGA Republican piece of legislation will throw out children who are fleeing, in many cases, extreme violence and persecution," Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the top House Democrat, said at a Thursday news conference. "It will build a medieval border wall that is a 14th-century solution to a 21st-century problem."

The bill would also scrap a program that allowed U.S. officials to accept or quickly turn away some migrants from Venezuela, Haiti and Nicaragua. The program is a cornerstone of Biden's immigration efforts, allowing migrants from those countries to apply to come to the U.S. for two years legally and work.

A small group of House and Senate lawmakers hopes the House bill could give momentum for a separate package in the works that would incorporate aggressive border enforcement with expanding legal immigration through work visas, as well as potentially a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children.

"The bill that we're getting, I think, is a good starting point," said Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican.

Any final bill would need bipartisan support to pass the Senate and agreement from House Republicans on significant changes.

Sen. Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, is introducing legislation that would assist border officials and speed up the asylum application process. And Tillis joined with Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, an Arizona independent, to push a bill that would resurrect the government's power to quickly expel migrants, without processing their asylum claims, for another two years.

"It's clear that the Biden administration, while it had two years to prepare for the end of Title 42, failed to do so," Sinema told reporters.

Photos: Chicago, other cities say shelters full, budgets hit by immigration uptick
A man was found dead and a woman injured after a shooting in Blair on Friday morning.

According to a Facebook post from the Blair Police Department, officers were dispatched at 6:30 a.m. to a home near 10th and Park Streets in Blair to reports of a shooting with injuries. Upon arrival, police found a man dead at the scene and a woman who had been shot in both legs.

The woman was transported to the hospital. Her condition is currently unknown, and neither victim has been identified.

Police are searching for a 22-year-old Council Bluffs man in connection with the shooting. Police say that he was seen leaving the area in a 1988 green Jeep Cherokee with Iowa license plate NAM032. The U.S. Marshals and metro area law enforcement agencies are assisting in the search for the man.

Any witnesses or neighbors with surveillance video of the nearby area are encouraged to call the Blair Police Department at 402-426-4747.
On Oct. 12, 2020, Kuuleilani Zalopany was at work, shingling a roof in La Vista, when Bellevue police drove up and delivered life-altering news: Her son, 17-year-old Kalani, had been robbed and shot in her home. He was dead.

Ive never screamed like that before and, hopefully, will never ever do it again, she said.

In the days that followed, a hint of hope: An advocate with the Sarpy County Attorneys Office handed Zalopany a brochure on the state-run Crime Victims Reparations program, created to reimburse survivors of violent crime for medical bills, lost wages and counseling.

Its a program meant to help Nebraskans who have been raped, abused, assaulted  or loved ones like Zalopany, reeling from the killing of a child.

But its also a program plagued by issues that prevent it from delivering help to Nebraskans in need, according to a survey of people who serve victims and several advocates who spoke to the Flatwater Free Press.

Nebraskas program aids only a fraction of crime victims when compared to most neighboring states.

It takes, on average, nearly half a calendar year to decide on claims, meaning that even families who receive money can wait in limbo for months.

The numbers reflect the frustration outlined in a recent legislative report and stories told by advocates fed up with what they view as a broken system. A young rape victim denied funding because her dad applied hours too late. A man, hit and killed by a car while standing in his front lawn, whose family was denied funeral costs because the act wasnt intentional.

And an Omaha-area mom who requested $5,000 to pay for her slain sons memorial service and burial. A mom who instead got zero dollars.

That mom is Kuuleilani Zalopany.

Devastated, she said about her reaction. Beyond livid.

Dont hold your breath

Nebraskas program lags behind almost every nearby state.

Iowa approved the applications of almost 5,700 crime victims in the past two years for which data is available, using a mix of state money and federal dollars available to all 50 states.

In that same two-year period, Nebraska approved the requests of 118 victims.

Iowa paid victims $10.4 million. Nebraska: $561,000.

The CVR program is, quite simply, not operating as the Legislature intended ... victims, as well as health care providers, are being left to bear the burden of a program designed to help them (thats) currently failing in almost every way to do so, said Erin Feichtinger, the Womens Fund policy director, at a recent legislative hearing.

Like every U.S. state, Nebraska has broad latitude to decide who is eligible for compensation and how much they can get, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Nebraskas program is overseen by the states Commission on Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice, which since 2019 has been run by executive director Don Arp Jr. He made $103,000 last year, and new Gov. Jim Pillen retained him.

Presented with the data, Arp wrote in an email that comparing Nebraska to other states would not be helpful since each state has its own rules and requirements.

I know our program is serving crime victims well, he wrote.

Several Nebraska lawmakers werent so sure.

Sen. Justin Wayne of Omaha, a Democrat who chairs the Judiciary Committee, called the state-by-state numbers alarming.

Sens. John Fredrickson and Wendy DeBoer, both Omaha Democrats who introduced CVR-related bills this year, questioned if the program is accessible.

Sen. Rob Clements, a Republican from Elmwood, and Sen. Terrell McKinney, an Omaha Democrat, wondered if victims know the program exists.

Its surprising that were so much lower than nearby states, said Clements, chair of the Appropriations Committee.

Arp isnt concerned about Nebraskas claim volume, saying that community partners, hospitals, care providers and advocates all know about the program.

But advocates said theyre often hesitant to recommend that victims apply, because they believe denial is inevitable. The program denies about half of applications.

A perceived shortage of money is one reason victims dont apply, said Sarpy County Attorney Chief of Staff Jean Brazda.

We really have to put that asterisk there (when we tell people about CVR), saying, Yes, its available, but dont hold your breath, she said.

Teshawna Sawyer, associate director of Grand Island-based Willow Rising, said that a few years ago, after repeated denials, she stopped recommending the domestic violence and sexual assault victims she works apply for the funding.

The program, she said, seems like this elusive thing that we never actually get to work.

A callous denial

When Zalopany heard about the program, she assumed it would work for her family. The cap for funeral cost reimbursement is only $5,000.

She submitted the required materials, including details of her sons death, his death certificate and itemized funeral receipts.

Claims are investigated by one staff member and evaluated by Arp.

The verdict came months later via email: Denied.

She appealed to the Crime Victims Reparations Committee, and sent documentation she hoped would reverse the denial.

Eventually, she received a letter affirming Arps decision.

The committee voted to deny the claim for compensation because based upon the record before the committee, the victim could not be found to be completely free of culpability with regard to the act which produced the injury to the victim, it read.

In plain English: The state had decided her teenage son had some fault in his own death.

How the (expletive) does my son have any culpability in his own death? Its the most asinine miscarriage of justice, she said.

Rigid rules, complex cases

Service providers say CVRs rules are far too rigid  or rigidly interpreted  for a program meant to serve Nebraskans in complex, tragic circumstances.

It requires most crimes be reported to law enforcement in three days, though there are exceptions for sexual assault, sex trafficking and abuse.

Victims, often traumatized, dont report crimes immediately, said Melanie Kirk, legal director at the Nebraska Coalition to End Sexual and Domestic Violence.

I think that CVR is an incredibly important program and that, unfortunately, the requirements  theyre difficult, she said.

The program mandates that a claim must be received within two years of the crime. The applicant must have cooperated with the criminal justice system during the investigation and prosecution.

And it says applications can be denied if a victim broke the law and that violation caused or contributed to their injury or death. Between 2015 and this January, 33 applications were denied due to contributory conduct.

Not all providers dislike the system. Misty Rowley, program director at Ainsworths Bright Horizons, which aids domestic violence victims, said she has helped roughly five people apply for CVR in the last few years with a roughly 80% success rate.

I think the program is run really well within the parameters that they have, Rowley said. I do think that there could be some changes in the parameters, but thats kind of the legislative side.

A survey of 18 programs, done by DeBoers staff and the Womens Fund of Omaha last year, turned up a few bright spots. (Jo Giles, executive director of the Womens Fund of Omaha, serves on the Nebraska Journalism Trusts board of directors.)

A third of survey takers said how helpful the programs current staff member is during the application process.

But that survey also identified many problems with how Nebraska helps, or doesnt help, its crime victims.

The denial rate is too high, providers argued. The programs requirements are too strict. It sometimes treats Nebraskans who apply for the program like accomplices to the crime instead of victims of crime, they argued.

Nebraskas denial rate affects the programs funding. Thats because federal funding for the program is allocated via a formula: 75% of the state money spent on victim claims two years prior.

North and South Dakota are the only U.S. states that received less federal funding than Nebraska in 2022, federal data shows. Nebraska has been in the bottom three recipients each year since 2019.

The report notes that the programs problems cant be addressed by changing requirements alone  rather, it reads, it demonstrates the need for a program run by professionals who understand the complex dynamics of victimization.

Arp agrees the program needs more staff. The commission has requested funding for another staff member.

Time has shown that only having one staff handicaps our ability to process claims at an acceptable pace, the budget request reads, adding that Nebraska is maybe the only state operating its program with just one employee.

Arp recently responded to the report in an eight-page letter to DeBoer, noting the crime commission wasnt consulted.

He wrote that when CVR denies a claim because of a lack of innocence, there is clear criminal activity. He included recent examples, including a gang fight and drug deals that turned violent.

He told the Flatwater Free Press that his decision making is always victim-focused.

As I review the staff recommendation, I do so from a stance that supports approval and only makes changes if clear grounds for denial are found, he wrote.

Life-changing potential

If Nebraskas program were ultimately able to offer more support, Sawyer said, it would change the lives of crime victims who desperately need it.

It was life-changing for Theresa Lawson, who applied five years ago, soon after she learned her ex-husband had been sexually abusing her teen daughter.

Bills were piling up from the art therapy that had significantly helped her daughter. The therapist wrote Lawsons application, she said, and she quickly received the counseling maximum: $2,000.

As a single mom of five, Lawson said that meant everything.

The program ended up meaning something very different to Kuuleilani Zalopany. She still feels wounded by a system that purports to be there to help people like her.

In the end, she paid for the funeral with money from a GoFundMe fund started by a friend  money meant to help Zalopany and her family move back to Hawaii.

Being back home has not helped her forget what happened in Nebraska.

I sat here struggling and struggling, still trying to recover from when I lost my son, emotionally, mentally and financially, she said from Hawaii. And there is no restitution. There is no balance of the scales, like  its all tipped to one side 

The Flatwater Free Press is Nebraskas first independent, nonprofit newsroom focused on investigations and feature stories that matter.

Our best Omaha staff photos & videos of May 2023
BAJO CHIQUITO, Panama (AP)  The long wooden boats packed with migrants in orange life jackets arrived one after another, pushed down the Tuquesa river by outboard motors. By days end, authorities had registered some 2,000 migrants at this remote riverside outpost on the edge of the Darien jungle that links Panama and Colombia.

Some had vague information  from relatives, social media, smugglers  about coming border policy changes by the United States government and were hustling to make it to that distant border.

On May 11, the United States government will end pandemic-related restrictions on people requesting asylum at the border  also known as Title 42, under which migrants have been expelled from the U.S. more than 2.8 million times since March 2020.

The uncertainty around what happens after the end of the restrictions, as well as the prospect of new limits on asylum, was fodder for migrant smugglers to create an unnecessary sense of urgency for people making decisions with imperfect information.

Fearing a rush of arrivals, U.S. officials have expanded legal pathways, urged would-be migrants to register before making the journey and proposed severely restricting asylum for people who travel through Mexico. They will deport those deemed not qualified with a five-year ban on reentry.

As migrants made the Darien crossing, there were no visible signs on either side that efforts the U.S., Panama and Colombia promised a month ago would stem migration at this bottleneck between regions. If anything, the flow seemed to have increased during a year already on a record pace.

Maria Chirino Sanchez, 34, left Venezuela one month earlier in a group of 10 relatives, including her husband, four children and dog Toby. Despite her job with a transportation company and her husbands as a dental technician, they could not make ends meet.

At the urging of relatives in the U.S., they sold their house for $4,000 and set out, having heard that they are not going to let us enter after (May) 11, she said. They ran out of food and had to beg for crackers to feed their children before exiting the jungle. Like others, she said if she were sent back, she would not try this route again.

Chirinos sentiment was nearly universal despite signs the well-trod route from Colombia has become more established than ever before. Venezuelans make up the largest group of those crossing Darien now, but AP journalists also saw Haitians, Chinese and Ecuadorians among others.

In Necocli, Colombia, between 1,000 and 1,200 migrants a day board boats that ferry them across a gulf to Acandi on the Colombian side of the Darien, according to local human rights authorities.

There, mototaxi drivers wait to zip them to the trailhead  a route that is now being paved.

Camps have cropped up early in the route where migrants can pitch their tents and buy provisions. For those with the means, porters can be hired.

The journey is punishing. Migrants hike for several days over mountains in dense jungle contending with biting insects, venomous snakes, torrential rains and mud-slicked mountain passes. Swollen rivers sweep away those who slip. Bandits rob and sexually assault migrants.

Still, nearly 250,000 people did it last year and the United Nations projects another 400,000 could attempt it this year.

Some migrants said they could just no longer sustain their families in their countries. They fled political instability, unemployment or crime.

Many fled Venezuela's political and economic crisis  now or years earlier  but others come from more distant countries.

Yu Tian traveled from Wuhan, China, to Hong Kong, and then to Ecuador where he boarded a bus to Colombia. Hundreds of thousands are leaving China, said the tourism guide turned migrant.

At the Ecuador-Colombia border, migrant trafficking groups recruit customers by telling them right now you can go cross to the United States, said Pedro de Velasco, a member of the KINO initiative, a binational nongovernmental organization at the U.S.-Mexico border, who traveled to the Ecuador-Colombia border to see why so many were arriving.

The smugglers charge $10,000, but don't tell them they're going to be expelled, he said.

In Panama, as 34-year-old Oriana Serra neared the end of her Darien crossing with her two teen children, several men with pistols blocked their path, stealing the last of their money.

So when the family arrived at the river bank where boat operators waited to carry migrants downriver, she had no way to pay. They started the long walk to Bajo Chiquito, but somehow became separated from her 14-year-old son. Hoping he arrived before her, she desperately searched for him among the arriving throngs.

At dusk, the boy finally arrived on a boat sent back upstream to look for him.

In Bajo Chiquito, migrants make their first registration with Panamanian authorities. Under the blazing tropical sun they pitch tents in any open space along the dirt streets or beside the river. Smoke from their wood fires hangs in the heavy humidity.

Children are everywhere, resting in tents, holding mothers' hands, riding fathers' shoulders. Migrants pause before setting out again the next day for camps farther downriver. From there, Panama buses them across the country to its border with Costa Rica where they will continue north through Central America and eventually to Mexico.

Mexican border cities are reporting increasing arrivals, many of whom are not waiting to see what happens after May 11. On Monday, U.S. Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz said that over the previous 72 hours, agents had made about 8,800 apprehensions per day  up from about 5,200 in March.

The U.S. government for months has encouraged migrants to register with their online application CBP One rather than make the dangerous and expensive journey to the border. If applicants appear eligible for asylum and can line up a financial sponsor in the U.S., they receive an appointment at the border for further screening.

Back in Bajo Chiquito, with six more countries still to be traversed, migrants struggled to digest the ordeal they survived. As physically brutal as the crossing was  some migrants arrived on stretchers  many said they would carry more lasting memories.

Angel Garces, a 28-year-old from Maracaibo, Venezuela remained shaken.

If I had known it was like that, I wouldnt come, Garces said. Not just the physical exhaustion  what you see. Garces said he averted his eyes when he smelled a body alongside the trail. The remains of 36 migrants were recovered from the Darien last year, but the real death toll is believed to be significantly higher. In March, the Red Cross donated 100 tombs in a local cemetery for the bodies of those who perish.

Garces said he would advise anyone considering the journey, dont come, look for another route, try to do it the legal way, because the Darien isnt for just anyone. __ AP journalists Ivan Valencia in Acandi, Colombia, Eduardo Hernandez in Bogota, Colombia and Maria Verza in Mexico City contributed to this report.
Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has explained why it re-arrested a dismissed judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia.

A statement on Tuesday by its acting Head of Media and Publicity, Tony Orilade, revealed that Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia was re-arrested to enable the anti-graft agency to prefer a fresh criminal charge against her.

It added that the arrest was in line with the decision of the Court of Appeal, Lagos Division, in a case involving Justice Hyeladzira Nganjiwa, where the court held that a judge could not be prosecuted until he or she had either been dismissed or compulsorily retired by the National Judicial Council (NJC).

The EFCC noted that consequent upon the fact that it had presented Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia before the NJC for disciplinary action and that the council had taken a position, it would approach the court to prefer fresh charges against her.

Ofili-Ajumogobia and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Godwin Obla, were first arraigned on a 30-count on November 28, 2016, on offences bordering on alleged perversion of the course of justice, graft, unlawful enrichment, providing false information and forgery.

They were later re-arraigned on an amended 31-count bordering on an alleged perversion of the course of justice, unlawful enrichment and forgery.

According to the anti-graft agency, the judge and the lawyer had pleaded not guilty to the charges preferred against them, thereby setting the stage for the trial.

It revealed that it presented 12 witnesses and tendered several documents that were admitted in evidence by the court in the course of the trial.

The EFCC said counsel to Ofili-Ajumogobia who was the first defendant, Robert Clarke, in an application dated November 27, 2018, said the court lacked jurisdiction to hear the case and urged the court to discharge and acquit his client.

But counsel for the second defendant, Obla, Ifedayo Adedipe, told the court on January 25, 2019, that the charges preferred against his client could be entertained.

He, therefore, urged the court to separate the charges so that his client could continue with his trial.

After listening to both parties, the EFCC quoted Justice Hakeem Oshodi in his ruling as saying, The issue of substantive jurisdiction must be cleared before the issue of no-case submission could be heard.

The judge had further directed both parties to make their submissions based on the application on the jurisdiction of the court.

In his ruling at Tuesdays sitting, Justice Oshodi stated that based on the judicial precedent set by the case of Justice Nganjiwa V. FRN, the High Court lacked jurisdiction to hear the suit as the EFCC jumped the gun in filing the first amended charge.

As at Monday, December 11, 2017, the EFCC was aware of the decision reached by the Court of Appeal in Nganjiwa vs FRN. As at that date, the amended information was yet to be filed and the 12 prosecution witness was still giving evidence, he was quoted as saying by the EFCC.

The anti-graft agency stressed that in view of Tuesdays ruling by Justice Oshodi and having complied with the NJC procedure, it would prefer fresh criminal charges against Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia.
A yet-to-be identified Nigerian man shot dead a fellow Nigerian, Tony Elochukwu, on Wednesday in broad daylight at a restaurant in South Africa. Elochukwu was from Nnobi, Anambra State.

The Nigerians Citizens Association in South Africa, revealed this in a letter sent by its president, Prince Ben Okoli, to the Consul General, Nigerian Consulate in Johannesburg.

Elochukwus death was the latest to befall the Nigerian community. Three Nigerians were killed between April 6 and 9 at different locations in Southern African.

According to NAN, in the letter, Okoli decried the killing of Nigerians in South Africa.

He wrote, We received yet again the sad news of the death of another Nigerian in Witbank Mpumalanga province.

Mr Tony Elochukwu from Nnobi Anambra State was shot twice in the head by an unidentified Nigerian on April 24 at about 2.45pm.

Okoli said Elochukwus killer pulled out his gun and shot the Anambra State-born and sped off in a car parked down the street after none of the Nigerians at a restaurant could tell him where to get some weed (marijuana) to smoke.

He added that a case of murder had been opened at the police station by NICASA chairman in Mpumalanga, Mr Obeji Chukwuma.

Okoli said, This looks like another case of a Nigerian killing a Nigerian. This ugly trend of Nigerians killed by fellow Nigerians is on the increase and is disturbing to our community.

NICASA is deeply worried over the death and continued killing of our citizens in South Africa. People are worried and scared, since none of the perpetrators has been arrested or charged over it.

The Consul General, Mr Godwin Adama, had condemned the killing of Nigerians at different locations in the country.

He said, It is clear that as much as any form of criminality and xenophobic attacks against foreigners, including Nigerians in South Africa is condemnable, the killings do not fit into xenophobic attacks.

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Several All Progressives Congress (APC) stakeholders elected into the National Assembly on Thursday joined the protest of the National Working Committee (NWC) decision to zone the leadership of the 10th National Assembly and nominated presiding officers for the two chambers of the federal legislature.

Some senators, who include Abdulaziz Yari from Zamfara State, Orji Kalu from Abia State, including Mohammed Musa, Sadiq Umar, among others, on Thursday took their protest to APC NWC members at the national Secretariat, Abuja, who include APC National Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu; National Secretary, Iyiola Omisore; and National Women Leader, Beta Edu, to express their displeasure over the zoning decision.

An aspirant for the Senate President, Orji Kalu, current Chief Whip, protested that the APC should not rely on number of votes each zone delivered in the victory of the President-Elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, in zoning the leadership of the yet-to-be inaugurated National Assembly. He argued that a zone which delivered low votes in the last election could deliver a large number of votes to the party in future elections.

Yari, presenting the protest letter of the Senators-elect to the APC National Chairman, Adamu, demanded that the party leadership review the zoning decision to ensure justice and equity.

The APC leadership on Monday zoned the presiding officer of the 10th National Assembly, giving the Senate President to the South-South, and endorsing Senator Godswill Akpabio, Akwa Ibom State for the senate president; zoning the deputy senate president to the North West, and endorsing Senator Barau Jibrin, Kano State.

The APC NWC also zoned the Speaker of the House of Representatives to the North West, endorsing Abass Tajudeen, Kaduna State; and the Deputy Speaker to the South East, endorsing Ben Kalu, Abia State.

Outside the National Assembly, Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State, also joined the protest, arguing that the zoning is an unworkable and skewed arrangement that reinforces injustice.

Lawmakers from the House of Representatives, forming an alliance, the Coalition of Progressive Speakership Aspirants (COPSA), had on Wednesday, presented their protest letter to the APC National Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu, at the national secretariat, expressing their disapproval of the NWC zoning decision and endorsement of presiding officers for the legislators. The protesting House members include Deputy Speaker Idris Wase, Muktar Betara, Sada Soli, Aminu Sani Jaji, Yusuf Gagdi, Miriam Unuoha, among others.

The lawmakers were protesting the endorsement of Tajudeen Abbas from Kaduna State as consensus candidate for the speakers of the 10th House of Representatives.

Wase at the meeting with Adamu and NWC members, protested: We are people who have been aspiring for the office of speakership for the House of Representatives at the 10th National Assembly.

We recall that at the meeting at the Villa, you asked us to slow down for the APC zoning arrangement.

We feel betrayed as if our contributions arent recognised as if we arent members of this party.

APC National Chairman, Adamu, thereafter, promised that the party leadership will look into their complaints and the zoning decision.

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Some other APC stakeholders, like former Speaker of Lagos State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Adeyemi Ikuforiji, also assured that whatever error that might have been made in the zoning would be corrected.
The Senior Counsel to the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, Mike Ozekhome (SAN), has told the Supreme Court that he is scared that the IPOB leader might die in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS).

Ozekhome, during the hearing on Thursday, told the apex court that Kanus health issues have deteriorated and he needs a surgical operation.

The lawyer asked the court to rule in favour of the transfer of Kanu from DSS custody to Kuje Correctional Centre in order to begin treatment.

My Lords, Nnamdi Kanu is sick, he has been approved for surgery but they have refused to release him for treatment

We are pleading for him to be transferred from DSS custody to Kuje correctional centre so that he can begin treatment like others.

Hes getting really sick, Im scared he may die in the custody of DSS. Dead bodies are not prosecuted, Ozekhome told the justices.

Reacting to Ozekhomes plea, the apex court responded that God will keep the self-determination agitator alive and that he will not die in detention.

The court said even if it proceeds to hear the appeal, there is no space within its calendar to write and deliver the verdict within the 90-day deadline.

Nnamdi Kanu will not die in detention. God will keep him alive and his blood wont be in your hands, the court said.

The apex court added that the court will hear all the motions in the case on the resumption of hearing on September 14.
The Senior Counsel for Nnamdi Kanu, Mike Ozekhome (SAN), has expressed fears that the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), might die in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS).

This was his submission during the hearing at the Supreme Court.

He said that Kanus health has deteriorated and he needs a surgical operation.

The lawyer asked the court to rule in favour of the transfer of Kanu from DSS custody to Kuje Correctional Centre so that he can begin treatment.

Reacting to Ozekhomes plea, the apex court responded that God will keep Kanu alive and that he will not die in detention.

READ ALSO: Again, Ohanaeze Asks Buhari To Release Nnamdi Kanu Before Leaving Office

The court said even if it proceeds to hear the appeal, there is no space within its calendar to write and deliver the verdict within the 90-day deadline.

The Supreme Court added that the court will hear all the motions in the case on the resumption of hearing on September 14.

Kanu had approached the court to appeal the verdict of the Appeal Court stopping his release from the custody of the DSS.

The Court of Appeal had earlier granted a stay of execution on its verdict which discharged Kanu of terrorism charges filed against him by the Federal Government.

In a unanimous decision by a three-member panel led by Justice Haruna Tsammani, the Appeal Court granted the application filed by the Federal Government pending the hearing and determination of the appeal before the Supreme Court.
 Release of Kanu desirous, says Uzodimma

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has said the partnership between the Imo State Government, Nigerian Navy and the Federal Government for Oguta-Orashi River Dredging Project would be a game changer, as it would bring economic development to the state, in particular, and Nigeria, as a whole.

Osinbajo disclosed this, yesterday, during the flag off ceremony of the dredging of Oguta-Orashi River Development Project, which would extend to the Atlantic Ocean through Degema. He said: It is a unique and transformational project. It is a game changer for Imo and Nigeria.

According to the Vice President, the project would help the nation benefit from its job opportunities, while tracing the history of development from 1914. He hailed President Muhammadu Buhari for approving the project and flagging it off.

Osinbajo said the collaboration between the Navy, the state government and the Federal Government would impact on employment opportunities and other forms of growth in the state and the country.

Speaking, the state governor, Hope Uzodimma, said the project is a dream come true.He highlighted projects approved by the President, noting that the Federal University Teaching Hospital, Owerri; transformation of Alvan Ikoku College of Education, owerri, to a federal university, among other institutional projects, are pointers to advancement of the state.

In the event, attended by the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Lucky Irabor, his Naval counterpart, Vice Admiral Awwal Gambo, the President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, among others, Uzodimma urged Buhari to release the leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Igbo Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, saying it is desirous.

Irabor, said the project would help address insecurity and safety in the area, calling for civility. On his part, a former governor of the state, Ikedi Ohakim, recalled that the project was a long dream come true, hailing the Uzodimma for his ingenuity.
Vice President Yemi Osibanjo yesterday said the plan to dredge the Oguta/Orashi River is an economically transformative project and a game changer for the state.

He spoke in Oguta at the flag-off of the hydrographic survey and dredging of Oguta Lake and Orashi River to Degema in Rivers State up to the Atlantic Ocean.

The Federal Government will support the Imo State Government to bring the dredging of Oguta Lake and Orashi River Development Project to fruition, Osinbajo said while urging all to join hands to achieve the project.

The Vice President said the project was initiated and approved by President Muhammadu Buhari following several demands by Governor Hope Uzodimma.

He said: The project is to revive the economic channels and enhance coastal connectivity and ensure security on the stretch of the two rivers opening up to the Atlantic Ocean.

The project, when realised, will offer economic opportunities to the host communities, Imo State and Nigeria in general.

He reminded the audience that the President has approved a Free Trade Zone that will leverage the large gas carbon deposit in the area.

Osinbajo commended the foresight and political pragmatism of Uzodimma and reiterated that the project will not have been possible without Mr. Presidents approval and Governor Uzodimmas foresight, describing it as a game changer for the governor.

He said the project is a unique one that comes with its economic transformation, opening Imo as a gateway to other West African countries.

Uzodimma expressed gratitude to President Buhari whom he said God used to make the day possible.

He thanked Mr. President for the approvals to dredge the two rivers, to locate the Naval Base in Imo, to uplift Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Owerri to Federal University Teaching Hospital Owerri, to make Alvan Ikoku College of Education a Federal University College of Education and to establish Oil Reclamation Programme in the state.

He expressed gratitude to President Buhari for his support to recover Imo from bandits and hoodlums that terrorised the State.

Uzodimma said: The project is for trade and investment, economic transformation and fights against crude oil theft and pipeline vandalism.

The project will be achieved not with magic but by the miracle of Public Private Partnership (PPP).

The dredging and opening of the two Rivers to the Atlantic will remove Imo State from being land-locked as it is encapsulated in security and economic development.

He pointed out that the hydrographic survey and dredging are to determine the mapping and debt of the entire distance from Oguta Lake to the Atlantic.

The success of the project will bring unquantifiable employment for Imo State, the Southeast and Nigeria at large, this will be followed by the establishment of an Industrial cluster leveraging on the gas deposits and other natural resources in the area.

In addition, the project will bring about cultural ties between the Southeast and the Southsouth when the security is strengthened and movement becomes seamless, the governor explained.

Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Lucky Irabor commended the governor for pursuing the project, acknowledging that the overall objective of the project is creating economic and security environment along the river and the communities on the coast.

The Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Awal Gambo, described the project as a medium for the transportation of goods and services, for curbing criminal activities and for reducing oil theft in the area.

Former Imo Governor Ikedi Ohakim and House of Assembly Speaker Emeka Nduka commended Uzodimmas efforts and appealed to Ndi Imo to give him maximum support to realise the project and more.

The traditional institutions, represented by the Oni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi Onitan; the Obi of Onitsha, Alfred Nnaemeka Achebe; the Eze Imo, EC Okeke; Eze Cletus Ilomuanya; Eze Oliver Ohanwe and others, commended the governor for a job well done.

Minister of Trade and Investment, Otunba Adeniyi Adebayo, said he was overwhelmed by the magnitude of the project and wished the governor well in his plans to achieve its realisation.

Chairman Governing Council of Imo State University and a son of Oguta, Chief Ernest Nwapa, said the project is a reenactment of something that was conceived some 100 years ago and thanked the governor for resurrecting it.

The high point of the event was the formal cutting of the tape by Osinbajo supported by the dignitaries.

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Governor of Anambra State, Professor Chukwuma Charles Soludo has intensified his urban regeneration agenda.

As a follow up to his launching of the operation clean, green and sustainable Anambra Campaign, three weeks ago, the Governor paid on-the-spot assessment to specific locations in Onitsha North and South Council Areas.

The Governor visited the uncompleted Anambra Hotel, adjacent ShopRite, GRA Onitsha initiated by former Governor Peter Obi, Judges Quarters GRA Onitsha, and GRA Onitsha Water Works, which has a 3 million litre storage tank that has not been functional for many years.

Other locations visited include the Police Divisional Headquarters in Fegge, Urban Girls Secondary School in Fegge, Urban Boys Secondary School in Fegge, Umuasele Street in Sakamori, Bida Road in Odoakpu, Crash Programme Water Scheme in Odoakpu, and Greater Onitsha Water Supply Scheme in Nkisi.

Governor Soludo revealed that the design for construction of a dual carriage road with street lights has already been completed for Ochanja Market Fegge, while solid waste clearance and drainage channeling to the Niger River has already begun.

The Governor expressed reservation about the blocked drainage at Police Divisional Headquarters in Fegge, which he described as unfit for human habitation.

He considered moving the station to a different location.

READ ALSO: Soludo reiterates commitment to making Anambra safest in Nigeria

During his unannounced visit to some schools and subsequent interaction with the students, the Governor promised to pay the third term school fees for 2,350 students of Urban Girls Secondary School Fegge amidst chants of joy and jubilation.

At Urban Boys Secondary School Fegge, the Governor assured of exploring the possibility of relocating the school before the end of the year because the current location is not conducive for a modern school environment.

Onitsha is the largest city in the South East, but for many years, the citys level has declined, and one of the biggest challenges is the environment.

People are building without approval and blocking drainages with impunity. We are determined to revive all water schemes across the state through a systematic master plan.

Water and sanitation are also important components of our health agenda. Were working on power, water, and basic infrastructure, Governor Soludo explained.

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One of our work projects is to redesign the city! We have known and diagnosed the programme, and we are analysing to see if the work programme is proceeding as planned.

There is still much work to be done, but it warms my heart to know that we have taken the first major step in our urban regeneration agenda by rescuing Onitsha.

Everyone has a role to play in order for society to survive. We must take action to keep our environment clean in the long term.

READ ALSO: Workers Day: Soludo assures workers of continuous support

Everyone must take responsibility if we want to see the changes that we want to see, Soludo concluded.

In their separate speeches, the Transition Committee Chairman for Onitsha North and Onitsha South, Mr. Charles Ozoma and Engr. Ogochukwu Ekwueme respectively, thanked the Governor for launching Operation Clean, Green, Sustainable Anambra at Onitsha and for following up to ensure that the intended objectives are met.

The Deputy Governor, Dr. Onyekachukwu Ibezim, Commissioner for Works, Engr Ifeanyi Okoma, Commissioner for Power and Water Resources, Engr. Julius Chukwuemeka, Commissioner for Information, Sir Paul Nwosu, Commissioner for Environment, Felix Odimegwu, Chief Protocol officer, Hon Chinedu Nwoye (Glamour), Special Adviser to the Governor on Security Matters, AVM Ben Chiobi, Managing Director ASWAMA, Mr. Mike Ozoemena, Managing Director OCHA Brigade, MD ANSIPPA, Hon Mark Okoye and others accompanied the Governor on the tour.
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State on Friday evening arrived the Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos, for the National Daily Awards. The Governor arrived with the Inspector General of Police,IGP Usman Alkali Baba, recipient of Man of the Year award.

Sanwo-Olu was accompanied to the award ceremony by officials of the Lagos State Government. Sanwo-Olu is receiving the Innovation and Infrastructure Governor of the Year.

Former President Obasanjo, walked into the hall soon after the arrival of the governor.

One of the award recipients, Engr. Ernest Ndukwe, former Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission, (NCC), was received on arrival by the CEO/Editor-in-Chief of National Daily Newspaper. Engr. Ndukwe was listed for Induction into National Daily Hall of Fame and Lifetime Achievement for his revolutionary reforms in the telecommunications industry while heading NCC, beside other contributions to the development of the country.

Kanayo O. Kanayo, a famous Nollywood actor, is among the recipients received on arrival.
All is set for the National Daily awards at the Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos, to honour individuals and corporate organisations that were outstanding in their professional, civic and business jurisdictions in recent years.

The National Daily Awards was first held 15 years ago to honour Nigerian citizens and corporate organisations for excellence in their endeavours.

This years National Daily Awards is holding under the chairmanship of Prince Julius Adelusi Adeluyi, Founder/Chairman, Juli PLC, and former Group Chairman of Oodua Investment Company Ltd; while former President Olusegun Obasanjo is the Special Guest of Honour, and would be delivering the keynote address. The event commences7.00pm.

The Inspector General of Police, IGP Usman Alkali Baba, would be conferred National Daily Man of the Year.

Former President Obasanjo had already arrived for the award ceremony.

More reports of live coverage coming.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo Friday evening arrived the Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos, for the National Daily Awards organised by the management of Paradigm Communications .

Dr. Obasanjo will be playing double roles at the award ceremony, first, as Special Guest of Honour and will deliver Keynote address, secondly, as recipient of the National Daily Global Leadership and Peace ICON Award.

Dr. Obasanjo was received on arrival by the Chief Executive Officer and Editor-in-Chief of National Daily Newspaper, Sylvester Ebhodaghe.

Meanwhile, officers of the Nigeria Police have beefed up security within and around the venue of the event, Oriental Hotel.

More details later.
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By Joshua Chibuzo Andrew, Owerri

A chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Imo state, Hon. Chinedu Eleliam, has been abducted by suspected herdsmen.

This is coming barely 48 hours after Capt. Tony Enoch, a kinsman of the Imo State Governor, Senator Hope Uzodimma, also the Presidential Campaign Council Chairman for APC (Ahmed Bola Tinubu/Kashim Shettima) 2023 Presidential election in Oru-East was reportedly shot dead by yet-to-be-identified gunmen.

The kidnapped APC stalwart is the All Progressives Congress Chairman in Umuarugo Village Umueze ll, Ehime Mbaino Local Government Area of Imo State.

Our correspondent gathered that the kidnappers, trailed him on two vehicles until they got to his house on Wednesday night where they fired several gunshots to scare people away in the area.

A community source, who didnt want to be named, said the party chieftain was seized by the gunmen and bundled into their waiting car, adding that they fired gunshots into the air and drove off.

He said after creating tension in the area the hoodlums whisked the APC chieftain to an unknown destination.

As of the time of filing, this report, associates and family of the abducted politician said that the kidnappers were yet to make any contact with them to make demands.

When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, Imo State Command, Henry Okoye said that he had yet to be briefed on the ugly development. Assuring our correspondent of calling back when briefed.

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President Muhammadu Buhari has decried the use of technology for instigating violence and hate, urging that media professionals and other stakeholders must correct and safeguard Journalism profession.

While receiving the board of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) at Aso Rock on Friday, Buhari spoke on how the spread of fake news has become a threat to journalism.

Journalism as a profession is primarily based on being truthful. With the growing increase in fake news, the future of your profession is under threat and therefore you must be ready to correct this and safeguard your professionalism and reputation, he said. Generally, technology has been enabler for good however in recent times, we are seeing this platform more and more being used to instigate violence and hate. Nowhere is this disturbing trend more apparent than in the various media platforms, where fake news is gaining momentum and is being used to divide and destabilise communities and indeed nations around the world. We see images being manipulated to give legitimacy to lies. We hear voice on radio preaching falsehood and hatred. We also read stories that are already sponsored by individuals who stand to gain at the expense of truth, peace and harmony. Like I mentioned a few months ago, at the World Economic Forum in Jordan, since digital information age is borderless, this means we must be ready to respond with the best weapon we have: truth.

Buhari charged FRCN to develop programmes that will tackle fake news.
Main span of expressway bridge in C China's Wuhan swings into place

People's Daily Online) 09:34, May 12, 2023

After swinging 71 degrees horizontally and clockwise across a busy railway and a thoroughfare for 60 minutes, the main span of an expressway bridge in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, successfully reached its permanent position on May 9.

The main span of an expressway bridge swings horizontally and clockwise across a busy railway and a thoroughfare in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, May 9, 2023. (Photo courtesy of Hubei Communications Investment Group Co., Ltd.)

The expressway bridge is located over Wuhan forest avenue, a traffic artery and landscape avenue in the city, as well as the railway connecting Wuhan and Jiujiang, east China's Jiangxi Province. It is also close to an existing overpass, and crosses 220-kilovolt high-voltage power lines at close range. All these factors presented high safety risks for the construction work.

In an effort to ensure that the main span, which weighs about 14,000 tonnes, swung safely and smoothly into place, construction teams adopted an advanced bridge weigh-in-motion system and bridge structural health monitoring system, and carefully calculated the precise balance weight, which was finally determined to be 300 tonnes.

The main span of an expressway bridge swings horizontally and clockwise across a busy railway and a thoroughfare in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, May 9, 2023. (Photo courtesy of Hubei Communications Investment Group Co., Ltd.)

Meanwhile, construction teams also used total stations to monitor the bridge angles and attitudes in real time, and used other devices to track wind speed and direction, the rotational speed and spatial attitude of the bridge beam, going all-out to make sure every procedure was science-based and under control.

The expressway bridge is part of the reconstruction and extension project of a section of Wuhan's fourth ring expressway. The section, which spans 30.3 kilometers, is the overlapping section of Wuhan's fourth ring expressway, the expressway between east China's Shanghai and southwest China's Chongqing municipalities, as well as the expressway linking Fuzhou city in southeast China's Fujian Province and Yinchuan city in northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.

The main span of an expressway bridge swings horizontally and clockwise across a busy railway and a thoroughfare in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, May 9, 2023. (Photo courtesy of Hubei Communications Investment Group Co., Ltd.)

The reconstruction and extension project officially kicked off in April 2022. Upon completion, the project is expected to greatly relieve the traffic pressure on Wuhan's fourth ring expressway.

The main span of an expressway bridge swings horizontally and clockwise across a busy railway and a thoroughfare in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, May 9, 2023. (Photo courtesy of Hubei Communications Investment Group Co., Ltd.)

Construction workers are busy with the construction of an expressway bridge in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, May 9, 2023. (Photo courtesy of Hubei Communications Investment Group Co., Ltd.)

(Web editor: Hongyu, Du Mingming)
The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja gave the Governorship Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bayelsa State, Chief David Lyon, and other defendants in a suit instituted against them by Preye Aganaba to file their defence within seven days.

Aganaba, a frontline aspirant in the just-concluded governorship primaries and founding member of the APC in Bayelsa, dragged the APC, Lyon and his running mate Degi Eremienyo including the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to the court in a suit he personally filed on September 12.

The aspirant , who moved the case from the Yenagoa division of the court to Abuja recently secured an order of substituted service against the defendants from the Federal High Court 5 presided over by Justice I.E. Ekwo.

But when the matter came up again on Wednesday, the defendants, who were in court acknowledged that they had been served the court processes and pleaded for seven days to file their defences.

The judge, who reportedly granted them the request, remarked that if they failed to comply after seven days, their action would be treated as abandonment of defence.

Ekwo adjourned the matter to November 4 for hearing.

Aganaba is asking the court to make a declaration that the primaries scheduled for September 4 across the 105 wards in the eight local government areas of the state did not take place.

He is praying the court to make a declaration that since there were no primaries, the declaration of results that produced David Lyon as the candidate of the party was illegal, unconstitutional, null and void and of no effect.

The aspirant is further demanding an order setting aside the results of the APC primary election, which returned Lyon as the candidate of the party for November 16 election.
Directorate of Criminal Investigations  DCI Detectives based at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Kenya, on Sunday arrested Princess Okoye, a Nigerian national, with 77 Pellets of suspected narcotics.

The 25-year-old lady had concealed the drugs in plastic bottles containing milk.

Upon being placed under observation, she emitted an additional 15 Pellets which she had swallowed. The drug trafficker was intercepted as she prepared to board a plane to Italy. She remains under observation as investigations continue.

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Back in our grade school days, my childhood friend Muriel Ann Glitzengelder and I liked to walk from our houses to Pontiac's downtown square.

The trek was more than two miles, but that was nothing for two girls who could chatter the entire distance. Once there, we loved to go to Woolworth's and sit on the stools at the food counter. A big treat was ordering a hot dog and french fries.

One fine summer day, probably 1973 or so, Muriel Ann and I hatched a plan to ask our mothers for lunch money so we could go to Woolworth's.

Mom, I said, Can I please have $3 to get a hot dog downtown?

No, she answered.

Dejected, I said, But why not?

Because you don't need it. Simple as that. End of conversation.

I picked up the phone and dialed Muriel Ann. (Fifty years later I can recite the number, which her mother still has.)

I can't have lunch, I said. She wouldn't give me any money.

Muriel Ann replied, Me, too. My mom said I didn't need it.

I was dumbstruck. Muriel Ann's mother and my mom had said the same thing! They responded exactly alike!

We didn't need hot dogs at Woolworth's. We could have a sandwich at home before we left.

I hung up the phone and went in search of my mother.

Muriel Ann's mother said she didn't need to have lunch downtown, I reported. How did you know she would say that? Did you two go to School for Moms together?

School for Moms  if only there was such a thing. A place where new mothers could learn the fine, and often confusing, art of child-rearing. Like mathematics and French, they could memorize formulas and phrases to guide them along the path of parenthood.

For years, Mom retold that story, how I thought she and her "classmate" Mrs. Glitzengelder had taken a special course for mothers in saying no.

But alas, there was no formal parenting education for my young mom. Her tutors were Dr. Spock, nearby family and a very helpful neighbor. I asked her once how she adapted, and she replied, I just did it."

Mom always claimed she and I grew up together. While I understand that now, 60 years later, sitting quietly with my beloved mother who has Alzheimer's, I didn't see her inexperience or uncertainty when I was a kid. To me, she knew exactly what she was doing. I trusted her reliability and judgment completely.

Recently I read a quote from Dr. Christina Hibbert, a best-selling author and podcast host, on the topic of parenthood:

The bottom line is there are many ways to learn to be a parent. We dont have to have been raised by a strong parent to become one; there is hope for each of us. What we have or havent learned so far doesnt matter. What matters is that we continue to learn. As we grow, we inspire our kids to grow, too.

It's a reassuring message for today's parents who may be questioning their decisions or actions in this confusing world. You just have take things one day at a time, keep at it and don't give up.

Recently, my childhood friend and her mother came to visit Mom at the nursing home where she lives. I had warned them that Mom doesn't speak much, but once again, she amazed me.

Mom looked carefully at my school friend and then said, Yes! We all smiled and laughed, praising the recognition. We sat close together, the four of us, and enjoyed tea and cookies.

It was a happy little gathering, and a wonderful way to honor two of the finest graduates from that glorious institution: The School for Moms.
BLOOMINGTON  An amended zoning ordinance that would set regulations for any carbon sequestration drilling project that may run through McLean County was approved by the county board on Thursday.

The McLean County Land Use and Development Committee discussed the possibility of carbon sequestration, which is the process of pulling carbon dioxide from the earth's atmosphere and storing it underground in an effort to reduce greenhouse gases, in the county during its February and March meetings and recommended the text amendment in April.

Although the impact of the Heartland Greenway sequestration pipeline was discussed by county staff, McLean County Administrator Cassy Taylor said the ordinance has very little to do with the Heartland Greenway pipeline and more to do with any company coming forward with a sequestration project. The proposed 1,300-mile, $3.2 billion pipeline would carry liquified carbon dioxide from South Dakota to Illinois, where it would be stored.

"If any company wants to build a pipeline that intersects with McLean County, we would want to have the ability to ask questions and have the questions answered," Taylor said.

Application paperwork from Navigator Heartland Greenway LLC does not show the proposed pipeline cutting through McLean County.

However, sequestration drilling is permittable via special use in the county's agricultural and manufacturing zoning districts. It would not be a permitted use in any district.

Sequestration drilling would not be allowed in districts zoned residential or commercial in McLean County unless otherwise expressly permitted by other regulations in the ordinance.

As a special use request, any sequestration drilling proposal would be subject to a public hearing.

"We would have questions if (drilling companies) were proposing to put a well in any large populace near schools," Taylor said. "And so the document that is presented in the packet really is just the beginning of the conversation on (carbon dioxide) and allows the county to request a special use so there would be a public hearing and the ability for the public as well as the Zoning Board of Appeals to ask questions of these companies that come in."

The states producing the most carbon dioxide emissions States Producing the Most Carbon Dioxide Emissions Globally the US ranks 2nd in total and per capita carbon emissions US CO2 emissions continue to decrease despite population and GDP growth 15. New Mexico 14. Alabama 13. Arkansas 12. Texas 11. Oklahoma 10. Iowa 9. Kentucky 8. Nebraska 7. Indiana 6. Montana 5. Louisiana 4. Alaska 3. West Virginia 2. North Dakota 1. Wyoming
CHICAGO  All state-funded affordable housing would be required to have air conditioning under a bill sent to Gov. J.B. Pritzker by legislators spurred to action by the heat exposure deaths last year of three seniors in their apartments on Chicagos Far North Side.

The bill passed in the House by a 98-13 vote Thursday and the Senate by a 54-3 vote in March.

During the House debate on the measure, Democratic state Rep. Kelly Cassidy of Chicago recalled being alerted in May 2022 to a heat emergency in the James Sneider Apartments in Rogers Park that would result in the deaths of Delores McNeely, 76, Gwendolyn Osborne, 72, and Janice Reed, 68.

I quickly ran over there to help (Ald. Maria Hadden) do well-being checks, Cassidy said. For the entire week proceeding this tragedy, Ald. Hadden pleaded with the building management to switch over from heating to cooling. And it was too much trouble for the building managers.

The cause of death for all three seniors was environmental heat exposure, according to the Cook County medical examiners office.

The bill on Pritzkers desk will require housing financed under the Illinois Affordable Housing Program to have cooling and dehumidification systems capable of operating independently from heating systems. There is also a requirement that newly constructed buildings that fall under the state program include permanent cooling.

While there is no explicit penalty for an apartment building that does not adhere to these rules, the bills chief Senate sponsor, Chicago Democrat Mike Simmons, said that in order for apartment buildings to receive their funding from the state, building managers must adhere to the new regulations.

We want to make sure that our residents, not just seniors, but everybody in affordable housing has access to cooling in their units that they can control so that we dont have unnecessary deaths, he said in March on the day the bill passed through his chamber.

The bill also establishes daytime and nighttime temperature requirements for colder months, from Oct. 1 through May 31.

Under the measure, any tenant complaint about heating must be rectified within 24 hours.

These three seniors died unnecessarily because air conditioning was not operable in their place of residence, Simmons said during the brief Senate floor debate before the March vote.

In December, the families of McNeely, Osborne and Reed were awarded $16 million in a settlement after they sued Gateway Apartments Ltd. and Hispanic Housing Development Corp., which own and manage the Sneider Apartments.

Gorner reported from Springfield.

Photos: Pritzker sworn in for second term
CHARLESTON  State Sen. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet, has passed legislation aimed at providing proper line-of-duty benefits for officers with university police departments, including at Eastern Illinois University and Illinois State University.

The Charleston native, who represents the 51st District, reported in a press release that university police officers are increasingly being called into dangerous situations, just like their city police counterparts.

However, Rose said their benefits are significantly less if they are disabled in the line of duty under current law. Rose said he filed legislation to fix this discrepancy, legislation that has now been passed by both chambers of the Illinois General Assembly and is awaiting action by the governor.

Bad guys dont care what department a cop works for, and when an officer gets hurt, it shouldnt matter either, Rose said. They should get the same benefits whether they work for EIU PD or the City of Charleston PD.

Rose said, under current law, university police officers do not get the same benefits as municipal officers if they get hurt in the line of duty. He said municipal police who are disabled in the line of duty are eligible for benefits based on 65% of their pay, whereas university police are only eligible for 50% under the same situations.

Senate Bill 1115, filed by Rose, would change the benefits for university police to match the same 65% as municipal police.

Our brave men and women in blue need to know that we support them, and this is one small way that we can do that, Rose said.

The senator's office reported that the benefits for state university police officers are paid out through the state retirement system. The Lake Land College Police Department in Mattoon is comprised of sworn officers, who have the authority to carry out the law and maintain public order, and they are part of the same retirement system as university police officers.

Rose's office reported that the legislation would not apply to community college security officers because they are not part of the state retirement system, and it would not apply to private university security officers because they are not public employees.

Eastern Illinois University Spring 2023 Commencement
CHICAGO  When administrators at Open Arms Christian Child Development Center in Glenview learned they had to test their water for lead to keep their license, it sent them down an expensive and time-consuming path.

The mandatory testing, required under a 2017 state law, revealed trace amounts of the toxic metal at some of the day cares drinking water fixtures. It took hours of plumbing work, several pounds worth of new metal fixtures, more than two years and thousands of dollars before the day care was able to reduce its water lead levels below the threshold set by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.

It didnt help that the state did not finalize lists of approved water testing vendors or set the new process in stone before the first testing deadlines, leaving day cares to scramble, said facility business manager Kathy Gerken. Day care director Jessy Dinkelman, a former teacher and not a pipe specialist, noted that the requirements were completely outside of the day care leaderships expertise.

It was like, well yeah we have to fix it; this is what we considered our responsibility, Dinkelman said. But it would have been nice if (the state) had been like, OK heres what we know; let us help you through this. Rather than saying, All right, what are you going to do to fix it?

Day care centers throughout Illinois have faced similar challenges thanks to the 2017 law, which also required schools to test their drinking water for brain-damaging lead.

The law required schools to notify parents if elevated levels of lead were found but didnt mandate any further action. Day cares faced stricter standards in part because of their particularly young and vulnerable clientele, who may get an outsized portion of their nutrients from formula mixed with tap water. These businesses risked losing their license if they failed to test for lead and reduce the contamination.

Research has shown that lead exposure affects the brain and its neurons, impairing learning and memory and disrupting brain development and behavior.

The Tribune obtained lead testing results for both schools and day cares through public records requests. But despite the heightened risk for young children at day cares, limitations in the data prevent a full accounting of the extent of the problem. Here is what we do know about the lead testing regulations and their impact:

So what did day cares have to do, exactly?

Representatives from the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services visit day care operations annually and make sure the facilities are up to date on various health and safety regulations; the operators license is renewed every three years. New facilities also undergo review.

As a result of the 2017 law, DCFS now expects to see proof that the day care has tested its drinking water for lead, if its in a building constructed before Jan. 2, 2000.

During the first few years of the laws existence, no money was available to help day cares pay for this new testing requirement. That meant owners had to figure out a way to foot the bill on their own.

The Tribune asked some day cares what their testing costs were, and at some bigger operations it was not cheap. A Glencoe Park District official said the district spent $6,300 to test all the drinking fixtures at the Takiff Center in 2017. The total cost for testing at Open Arms Daycare Center in Glenview was about $4,000, Gerken said.

Day cares still undergoing testing to meet the state requirements can now register for free test kits covered by federal grants and the Illinois Department of Public Health.

If elevated levels of lead were found  above 2 parts per billion  day care owners had to take further action. More on that in a moment.

How many day cares in Illinois found elevated lead levels?

In short, we dont really know. Heres why.

The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services tracks compliance with its lead testing standards, but the Tribune cant tell exactly how many day cares identified lead since 2017 based on the data the department provided.

The Tribune first sought and reviewed the departments lead results through a public records request in spring 2021. When reporters asked for updated data in 2022, small but substantial changes turned up in the results. For example: Results for some day cares were included in the 2021 data but missing from the 2022 version. Sometimes, one data set showed that a day care had identified elevated lead on a particular testing date, but the other data set had the day care NOT identifying lead on that same date. The department provided the Tribune with a third data set this spring that contained some similar discrepancies.

Hundreds of licensed day cares also showed no testing results at all, even though several confirmed to Tribune reporters that they had tested their water as part of their license renewal. After the Tribune raised questions about the inconsistencies, a DCFS data management associate deputy director clarified that each set of data was pulled from only the most recent licensing cycle, and the department is now working to provide a historical record of the testing results.

In addition, it was impossible to know from the data what the actual test results were. For each testing date, DCFS simply marked each facility as y or n based on whether any test found lead above 2 parts per billion. How many fixtures had elevated lead, what types of fixtures had elevated lead (bathroom sinks, kitchen sinks or drinking fountains), how much lead was found  all of this is not included in the states data.

For now, the best the Tribune can say is that, between the three data sets, more than 1,400 day care centers identified a water lead level above 2 parts per billion, the threshold where DCFS requires mitigation.

For a group of day cares where the Tribune obtained test results and mitigation plans submitted to the state, documents showed elevated lead findings ranged from 2.01 parts per billion at a preschool drinking source to 1,640 parts per billion at a day cares kitchen sink.

What if a day care found lead in its water?

If a day care found water lead levels above 2 parts per billion at a drinking source, DCFS required that owners notify parents by posting their results in a visible area at the day care, develop a mitigation plan to reduce lead, and send both their plan and the results to DCFS.

Day care owners are obviously far more likely to be trained in early childhood education than in environmental engineering or plumbing. But the law and administrative code set by DCFS still holds them responsible for both figuring out how to solve the problem and paying for any necessary repairs.

When the law first took effect, day care owners told the Tribune, they were given very little guidance from the state and instead relied on advice from private companies they hired or on their own research in navigating next steps. One day care director said she spent hours researching what a mitigation plan was and what information it should include as she hurried to address the lead problems at the facility. More guidance is now available to day care facilities thanks in part to a federal grant that funded a state partnership with Elevate Energy.

Heather Tarczan, director of communications for DCFS, said she could not comment on how the process played out under the previous administration but noted that lead testing and mitigation are also outside the departments expertise.

Were not water treatment experts, Tarczan said. We want (day cares) to succeed as well. Were not going to not help, but theres a limitation to what exactly we can guide them to. We can only guide them to other experts.

Curious about what steps day cares took after finding lead, the Tribune requested the results and mitigation plans that more than 80 day cares sent to the state. The bulk of the day cares were larger facilities serving at least 100 children, though reporters requested test results and mitigation plans from some smaller child care centers as well.

The records show that dozens of day cares quickly turned to low- or no-cost options such as posting do not drink signs at fixtures, using lead filters and running taps before first use to flush out water that had been sitting in pipes. Day cares also commonly reported replacing sinks, drinking fountains and other fixtures, which is more costly.

Lindsay McCormick of the Environmental Defense Fund said solutions that rely on human behavior  such as manually flushing taps, obeying signs and regularly replacing filters  are not good long-term fixes. She described filters, for example, as a band-aid solution.

More permanent solutions recommended by McCormick and other experts include installing automatic flushing mechanisms that do not fall prey to human error and updating pipes and fixtures with materials that meet modern plumbing standards and contain only small amounts of lead.

Under the regulations, day cares are supposed to take interim measures to reduce water lead levels as well as develop full mitigation plans. Longer-term solutions can include installation of mechanical flushing devices, replacement of lead-based lines or fixtures, or reverse osmosis filters installed at affected drinking water fixtures, according to department regulations.

Day cares where testing had previously identified lead also need to show the state two subsequent tests without elevated lead. The first two attempts must occur six months and a year after a facility executes a mitigation plan.

Some day cares have found it difficult to get water lead levels below the 2 parts per billion threshold, even after several rounds of mitigation.

Take day care director Lori Schneiders experience in suburban Northbrook. Schneider tested all the drinking water at the Christian child care center Seeds of Grace for the first time in 2018 and was surprised to find some fixtures with lead above the threshold set by DCFS. Schneider paid plumbers to tear out and replace old pipes and worked with the village to determine if the public water itself was to blame.

This year, Schneider said the center still had four fixtures that continued to exceed the DCFS threshold, coming in a tick over the 2 parts per billion limit even though the fixtures were new. All four are hand-washing sinks located in areas of the facility that only adults can access, she said.

Were a little bit baffled, Schneider said.

How are day cares supposed to pay for all these fixes?

In Chicago, two programs recently launched to cover mitigation costs for day care centers still undergoing testing and repairs. Other places are mostly out of luck.

Elevate Energy, the nonprofit working with the Illinois Department of Public Health, has a separate program that provides funds to pay for repairs at Chicago day cares, while Chicagos Department of Water Management last year announced that it would prioritize lead service line replacements to licensed day care facilities in low-income neighborhoods at no cost.

Service lines are the pipes that connect water mains to homes and smaller commercial buildings. If made of lead, the lines can leach dangerous amounts of the toxic metal into drinking water, especially if theyve been jostled during other construction work, such as water main replacements. Chicago has more lead service lines than any other city in the country, largely because the citys plumbing code required them until 1986, and the city also is finishing up a long-term project to update old water mains. The cost of replacing a lead service line is hefty, upward of $15,000 to tear up the sidewalk and replace the lead piping.

El Hogar del Nino, a day care facility in Chicagos Pilsen neighborhood that mostly serves low-income families, received financial and logistical support from Elevate Energy after testing showed elevated water lead levels at fixtures including a sink in their toddler room.

Elevate Energy CEO Anne Evens said at an event hosted at the facility last year that her group helped the day care to replace a lead service line, a water heater and a boiler at the center. Work began in 2017 and took about a year to complete, according to the day cares former executive director.

Evens acknowledged it would have been tough for the day care to navigate and finance the process on its own. Its a little bit of detective work  (and) a level of complexity that includes getting permits, breaking up the streets, Evens said.

But other Illinois cities and towns also have lead service lines, and no statewide funding has been available to help day cares offset the costs of mitigation.

Though Chicagos lead problems are well known, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency has found significant lead contamination issues in other cities and towns throughout Illinois. As the Tribune reported two years ago, very elevated water lead levels were found at homes in cities including Cicero, University Park, Loves Park, Coal City and East Moline.

Did any day cares actually lose their license as a result of this law?

According to DCFS, no licenses for day cares were revoked solely because of lead testing or mitigation issues. One day care in Springfield was closed because of issues including but not limited to elevated lead levels in water, Tarczan said.

What happens if a day care tests and doesnt find lead?

If a facility tests its drinking water sources and finds water lead levels at or below 2 parts per billion, they face no requirements beyond posting the results and sending them to DCFS. These day cares do not have to test their water again unless they move their center to a new building or their internal plumbing changes, unlike in some other states.

In North Carolina, for example, the health departments sanitation rules require that day care facilities retest their water three years later. Research has shown that the amount of lead that finds its way into drinking water can be highly variable.

Why were day cares in newer buildings exempt from testing?

Older buildings generally pose greater lead risks, but the rationale for the January 2000 cutoff isnt exactly clear.

The federal government first set limits in 1986 on how much lead could be used in new plumbing, though pipes could contain up to 8% lead and still be considered lead free. In 2014, the government strengthened the definition of lead free to mean less than 0.25% lead for materials that come in contact with water.

Researchers have found that even the newer lead free plumbing doesnt consistently prevent lead from leaching into water at very low levels.

So its possible that some Illinois day cares have lead in their water but the law didnt require them to look for it.

Where can I learn more about lead in drinking water?

The Environmental Protection Agencys website provides helpful tips on reducing water lead levels at any tap, such as using cold water, regularly cleaning faucets aerators and letting water run down the drain for a bit before drinking it or using it to cook.

For day care providers, resources and a way to request free testing kits are available at LeadCare Illinois. Day care providers in Chicago facing the need for plumbing repairs following testing can visit LeadCare Complete for information about free plumbing upgrades.

To learn more about Chicagos free lead service line replacement program for day cares, visit the Chicago Department of Water Management website. The program is currently focused on replacing lead service lines at day cares located in low-income areas.

The city also has several programs that offer some financial assistance for lead service line replacements at homes that are not day care facilities, and free water lead testing is available to any residents who sign up for a test kit.

Interested in required water lead testing that was done at public schools statewide? Visit chicagotribune.com/lead to learn more about what testing results showed at your school or district and what steps were taken following the testing.

Former Tribune reporters Cecilia Reyes and Kinsey Crowley contributed.

Photos: Pritzker sworn in for second term
At a time when the Biden administration has its hands full trying to reverse Russias invasion of Ukraine and manage a U.S.-China relationship stuck in the doldrums, Americas vast, lethal counterterrorism machine continues to be in high gear.

The U.S. intelligence community, in close partnership with Americas special operators, are tracking and hunting down terrorists in several countries  Syria and Somalia, most especially  with such regularity that it barely makes a dent in the news cycle anymore.

You can be forgiven for thinking the decades-long war on terrorism was declared officially over the moment the Biden administration withdrew U.S. troops from Afghanistan in August 2021. President Joe Biden seemed to indicate just that a month later when he addressed of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. I stand here today, for the first time in 20 years, with the United States not at war, Biden said during his first speech to the world body. Weve turned the page.

If that were indeed the case, then it would be an accomplishment worth bragging about. Yet 20 months after Biden delivered that address, its clear that the war on terrorism sparked by the 9/11 attacks is still very much alive. The big difference between now and then is how the U.S. is waging this stage of the war: quietly and discreetly.

While the radio silence isnt totally surprising, its still a bit mysterious. Its not as if U.S. troops arent on the ground, exposed to the elements. Roughly 2,500 U.S. troops remain deployed in Iraq, nearly 5  years after the Iraqi government formally declared the war against the Islamic State groups territorial caliphate. Almost 1,000 U.S. troops remain stationed in eastern Syria, where they occupy a series of small bases that are frequently harassed by Iranian-backed militias. (It should be noted that Islamic State lost its last stretch of land in Syria more than four years ago.) Almost 500 U.S. forces are in Somalia, a country that has been in a state of continuous civil war since the early 1990s and whose government finds it difficult to extend its remit beyond the capital city of Mogadishu.

According to U.S. Central Commands own statistics, there have been 119 operations in Iraq alone so far this year. A significant amount of U.S. military activity is occurring across the border in Syria as well  and unlike in Iraq, U.S. forces there often operate unilaterally.

The U.S. has been quite active in Somalia, too, mainly through the air.

The U.S. isnt so much fighting a counterterrorism battle in Somalia as much as a counterinsurgency campaign, aiding and abetting the Somali governments war against an extremist insurgency whose main objective is to rule the entire country.

The point is not to regurgitate each and every U.S. military operation that happens halfway around the world. There are too many to count, and after a while, all the strikes start to look similar.

The point, rather, is to underscore that the U.S. is still very much a country at war, notwithstanding what U.S. political leaders claim in speeches. The conventional view that the U.S. has moved on from the terrorism and counterinsurgency wars of the past to focus on a renewed era of great power competition is simply inaccurate. The reality is the U.S. is trying to do it all.

Its no wonder why the U.S. defense budget is mindlessly approaching the trillion-dollar mark.
The popular Netflix series "The Diplomat" has Keri Russell playing a woman who's really sore that she's been made American ambassador to the United Kingdom. Many Americans would pay a fortune to become America's representative to the Court of St. James's, and some do. It's a non-secret that ambassadorships in the choice capitals go for campaign contributions of around $300,000. There has been only one career foreign service officer in London since 1952.

That's the sordid real-world of American politics. But in this fiction, you wish the honor had gone to a shopping-mall developer who wanted to do the job rather than a ludicrous character who hollers vulgarities and walks barefooted through the grounds of stately Winfield House, the ambassadorial residence.

A career foreign service officer who served five times as ambassador told me, with diplomatic understatement, that he started watching the series and was "not pleased." He couldn't get past the first episode, saying, "That was enough."

And that was just as well, I told him, in that the second episode has "Ambassador Kate Wyler" sprawled on the steps outside the front entrance dressed in a short silk slip. This was apparently her sulk over being allegedly forced to participate in a fashion shoot the episode before.

The real-life diplomat also missed the part where she tells the U.K. foreign secretary, "You're kind of an a--hole." Also the scene where she and her problematic husband (who previously had the ambassador job) are rolling around the grounds in a fistfight.

Had this story been presented as a frothy Cinderella tale for saucy teen girls, it could have been easily ignored. There's some precedence for fantasies of American gals behaving like slobs in manor houses as starchy Brits quietly place formal flower arrangements on their side tables.

But the straight-faced theme here is that the heroine is a savvy war-zone expert whose steel-trap brain is being wasted doing all this ceremonial fluff. (That she didn't have to take the position is nowhere noted.)

"You know why I don't want this job?" the character spits out to an underling. "I spent a decade building a reputation in a community such that when I say something, people f---ing listen to me."

Even the lowliest female employee would know not to prance around the formal residence in tight, distressed jeans. They probably wouldn't do it on the streets of Kabul, either.

Aside from the portrayal of the ambassador as a bad-girl 10th grader, the story suffers quite a few flaws regarding the mechanics of becoming and being an ambassador.

For starters, Wyler leaves for London without the distraction of a Senate confirmation. Thus, she is not a valid representative of the United States. (The Senate Foreign Relations Committee would have closely questioned and delayed the confirmation of so inexperienced a diplomat for an important post.)

Furthermore, diplomats do not enjoy regular, casual access to the president. They surely wouldn't be swearing as Wyler does with "President Rayburn," who volleys them back.

Nor could any foreign service professional imagine a situation in which the spouse, whether or not possessing the distracting title of ambassador, would work at cross purposes with the chief of mission and intentionally embarrass her and the United States. That person would be immediately ejected.

I could not get beyond episode three, so embarrassing was it all to America, the foreign service, women and grown-ups. But where are the cultural troops to back me up?

The Hollywood Reporter at least had the decency to make some fun of it as a "gourmet cheeseburger." But the critic for NPR, supposedly a defender of standards, called "The Diplomat" a "smart" political thriller.

Et tu, NPR?
The US ambassador to South Africa has accused the country of supplying weapons to Russia despite its professed neutrality in the war in Ukraine.



Reuben Brigety claimed that a Russian ship was loaded with ammunition and arms in Cape Town last December.



President Cyril Ramaphosa's office said it was disappointed by the claims and said no evidence has been provided to support them.



The country has maintained claims of neutrality in the invasion of Ukraine.



Mr Brigety said at a media briefing in Pretoria on Thursday that Washington had concerns about the country's stated non-aligned stance on the conflict.



He referred to the docking of a cargo ship in the Simon's Town naval base between 6 and 8 December last year which he was "confident" uploaded weapons and ammunition "as it made its way back to Russia".



The presence of the ship, the Lady R, had seemed curious at the time and raised questions from some local politicians.



"The arming of the Russians is extremely serious, and we do not consider this issue to be resolved," Mr Brigety said, in a damning accusation that seems to have caught South Africa's officials off guard.



In the wake of the allegations, the South African government announced the establishment of an independent inquiry led by a retired judge, a spokesman for the president's office said.



The US has been critical for months about South Africa's continued cosy relationship with Russia.



State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel told journalists on Thursday that the US had previously raised concerns about the Lady R with numerous South African officials.



He said the US would speak out against "any country taking steps to support Russia's illegal and brutal war in Ukraine", but would not say whether there would be any repercussions for South Africa if the claims proved to be true.



Washington has also expressed concerns about South Africa's participation in military exercises with Russia and China during the anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine.

Source: BBC









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

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Charles Owusu has appealed to the delegates in the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to retain Sam George as Member of Parliament for the Ningo-Prampram constituency.



A total of 1,675 delegates are expected to vote in the NDC primaries in the Ningo-Prampram constituency to either retain the incumbent or vote for a new Parliamentary candidate.



The contest is between Sam Nartey George, the two-term incumbent Member of Parliament (MP), and Michael Kwetey Nartey, a former Constituency Chairman of the party.



The two contested for the MP candidature in a fierce contest in 2019, during which the incumbent MP won the primaries with seven votes and subsequently kept the seat in the 2020 general elections.



Contributing to Peace FM's "Kokrokoo" programme, the former Head of Monitoring Unit at the Forestry Commission, Charles Owusu pleaded with the delegates not to change Sam George.



He noted that the incumbent MP is leading a crusade in Parliament which shouldn't be truncated.



This crusade, he referred to, is Sam George leading the anti-gay bill to fight against homosexual practices in Ghana.



"I have seen that some forces have entered his constituency trying to remove him" but "vote for Sam George," he urged.





Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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Reliable information reaching Peacefmonline indicates that NDC flagbearer aspirant, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor has withdrawn his suit against the National Democratic Congress (NDC).



As announced by Peace FM morning show host, Kwami Sefa Kayi on 'kokrokoo', Firday morning, the former Finance Minister has accepted to resolve the case out of court with the party.



Kojo Bonsu, a flagbearer aspirant of the opposition NDC, earlier in the day, called on Dr. Duffuor to consider the interest of the party and withdraw his suit.



In a statement on Friday, the former Kumasi Mayor said the issues raised by Dr. Kwabena Duffuor can be resolved internally and amicably in unity.



More details soon . . .











Kwabena Duffuor's Case



NDC flagbearer aspirant, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor on Tuesday, May 9, filed an interlocutory injunction against the partys presidential and parliamentary primaries.



The suit by Dr. Duffuor is to bar the NDC and the Electoral Commission from holding the primaries pending the production of a complete photo album register.



The former Finance Minister also wants the party to deliver the complete register to him at least five weeks ahead of the election.



According to the plaintiff, data from only 220 out of the 275 constituencies have been verified. An exceptional list of 74,799 he adds has been created which cannot also be verified because of scanty information.



For no credible reason, 3,910 eligible voters at the 220 constituencies have been disenfranchised, Dr. Duffuors writ read in parts.



He further makes a point, the photo album put out by the electoral directorate of the NDC with the knowledge, consent, and tacit approval of the general secretary of the party would compromise the integrity of the election to his detriment.



The Plaintiff maintains that the reluctance to extend the time for the internal elections and provide a complete and credible photo album register ahead of time to the presidential aspirants for verification smacks of a plan to create an undue advantage for manipulation of the presidential primaries, the motion added.



Kwabena Duffuor had complained of some discrepancies in the partys voter register and called on the National Executive of the party to postpone the upcoming primaries, but the party stated that the primaries will proceed accordingly.

Source: Peacefmonline.com









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

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Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

When the The New York Times and The Boston Globe recently published exposes in which employees of award-winning chef Barbara Lynch described their abusive work environments, we weren't surprised.

Anyone who has spent years working in restaurants probably wouldn't be surprised, either.

As sociologists who study the culinary industry and its workers, we recently published research showing that many kitchen staffers come to view mistreatment and abuse as a mundaneand often inevitablepart of working in restaurants.

'Showers of slaps' and 'grab-ass'

Much of the reporting provided damning accounts of Lynch's own behaviorher alleged mistreatment of employees, tirades, threats, groping and sexual innuendos.

But while Lynch may be in the spotlight today, she and her alleged behaviors are, unfortunately, closer to business as usual in restaurant kitchens, where a culture of violence has been normalized.

Numerous articles and chef memoirs dating as far back as the late 1800s have detailed everyday forms of abuse in restaurants. For example, pioneering French restaurateur Auguste Escoffier wrote in his memoir that his first chef "believed that it was impossible to govern a kitchen 'sans une pluie de gifles'"without a shower of slaps.

Some, such as Anthony Bourdain's memoir "Kitchen Confidential," even romanticize these behaviors. At one point, Bourdain fondly recalls a kitchen he worked in early in his career as having an "atmosphere [that] was not unlike a Pinero play, very jailhouse, with a lot of grab-ass, heated argument, hypermacho posturing and drunken ranting. Two burly men who'd just as soon kill you as look at you, when talking to each other, would often nestle a hand tenderly next to the testicles of the other, as if to say, 'I am so not gayI can even do this!'"

The allegations against Lynch are only the latest in a long string of high-profile chefs and restaurateurs who have been accused of cultivating similar physically, psychologically and sexually violent workspaces.

Mario Batali, for instance, was accused in 2019 by an employee of groping and indecency, charges that he was acquitted of in 2022 and resolved with a civil settlement.

Oakland chef Charlie Hallowell and New York restaurateur Ken Friedman also came under fire during the #MeToo era, with each accused of sexual harassment and assault. Hallowell ended up selling two of his restaurants and penned a public apology, while Friedman shuttered a flagship restaurant and paid claims to 11 former employees.

In our own research, we wanted to learn more about how workers deal with toxic kitchen culture. Do they ever push back? Do they flee? Or do they put their heads down and simply rationalize it as part of what they signed up for?

If you can't take the heat 

There are obvious economic realities that prevent many from leaving violent workspaces. After all, most everyone has bills to pay.

Quitting is also hard in light of the other upsides to professional cooking, such as creativity and freedom, sensory stimulation and reciprocal joy from watching a satisfied customer eat. One sous chef we spoke with described the latter as "life-changing to me. It was addicting."

These pressures aside, the workers we interviewed tended to see violence as a core aspect of a hardscrabble kitchen culture that has existed for generations.

Others admitted that they've come to expect as much after seeing the ways in which abusive chefs are glorified in the mediathink Gordon Ramsay's entertaining tongue-lashings on the show "Hell's Kitchen," or Ralph Fiennes' recent portrayal of a homicidal chef in "The Menu."

Because those we talked to saw violence in kitchens as unexceptional, most of them responded to it by sticking it out rather than resisting it. Many of them viewed enduring violence on the job as just another task on their daily to-do list.

A key element of rationalizing the violence involved justifying the perpetrator's behavior.

There's evidence of this in both articles about Lynch's restaurants: Workers and the public touted Lynch as an early fighter of industry sexism, a portrayal that presented her as an ally and may have softened her blows. Her public acknowledgments of her own battles with substance abuse and childhood trauma painted her in a sympathetic light and allowed some staffers to excuse her alleged behavior.

Similar rationalizations were found in our study: A chef named Jesus, for example, recounted to us a time when his boss became so upset that, after berating his crew, he "flipped everyone off and told them to 'go f themselves.'" But rather than note his boss's inappropriateness, Jesus praised him for being "straightforward" and "honest." In doing so, Jesus excused the outburst as simply a product of honesty and emotion, rather than of a work environment that bred such behavior.

We also noticed that Lynch's own staff rationalized their decisions to staydespite saying they'd been subjected to abusebecause they felt that working in Lynch's restaurants would help them find better jobs in the future. This approach was echoed by several cooks in our studya chef named Carsen, for example, explained away the abuse he endured once at a Michelin-starred restaurant: "I was there for the experience. I wasn't there because I was invested in the restaurant."

Perpetuating a culture of violence

As workers endure violence in kitchens, they deal with not only the harms of being targeted, but also the psychological and emotional discomfort of remaining at a job that causes them suffering.

Studies have also shown that learning to endure violence can increase the chances of repeated abuse, as well as the incorporation of unproductive behaviors into victimized workers' own actions. The latter can look like adopting abusive behaviors themselves or engaging in small acts of damaging rebellion, like sneaking a swig of cooking wine here or slowing the pace of work there. Cruelly, enduring violence unintentionally aids the process of making violent behavior feel and seem normal in the workplace.

So a cycle of violence perpetuates and reverberates, embedding itself deeper into the fabric of restaurant kitchens, often being passed down from one generation of cooks to the next.

Workers begin to expect it. Grant, a cook we interviewed, explained, "The abuse is normalized. And sometimes romanticized as well.  Chefs being [jerks] is common in part because that's the expectation for what it is to be a chef.  And while it [seems] like most places are getting better, it's still a big part of kitchen culture."

The accusations against Lynch are not exceptional. Sadly, we think it's likely only a matter of time before another case of an abusive high-profile chef comes to light. Outrage will occur, and then it will settle. Rinse and repeat.

But culinary brilliance and artistry need not be pre-seasoned with violence. Not venerating violent kitchens and chefs would be a start. Perhaps reporting and resisting abuse, rather than enduring it, will then become the norm.

More information: Ellen T Meiser et al, Avoiding, Resisting and Enduring: A New Typology of Worker Responses to Workplace Violence, Work, Employment and Society (2023). DOI: 10.1177/09500170231159845 Journal information: Work, Employment and Society

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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The Drake Equation, a mathematical formula for the probability of finding life or advanced civilizations in the universe. Credit: University of Rochester

Did humanity miss the party? Are SETI, the Drake Equation, and the Fermi Paradox all just artifacts of our ignorance about Advanced Life in the universe? And if we are wrong, how would we know?

A new study focusing on black holes and their powerful effect on star formation suggests that we, as advanced life, might be relics from a bygone age in the universe.

Universe Today readers are familiar with SETI, the Drake Equation, and the Fermi Paradox. All three are different ways that humanity grapples with its situation. They're all related to the Great Question: Are We Alone? We ask these questions as if humanity woke up on this planet, looked around the neighborhood, and wondered where everyone else was. Which is kind of what has happened.

We live in an era of exoplanet discoveries, and astronomers are busy searching for planets that have a possibility of being habitable, i.e., they have liquid surface water. That's a simple definition of habitability, but it's useful for sorting through the thousands of exoplanets we've discovered and the untold millions more waiting to be discovered. Because, the a priori reasoning tells us, individual planets are the key to finding life.

But what about a more wide-angle view of habitability and, especially, other advanced life? Is combing through individual planets the way to find other life? Or are certain galaxies themselves more likely to host advanced life, which can take billions of years to evolve? Do the black holes in galaxies affect the likelihood of advanced life?

David Garofalo is an associate professor of physics at Kennesaw State University in Georgia. Garofalo researches the physics of black holes, and in a new paper, he explains how black holes could affect the existence of advanced life.

The paper is "Advanced Life Peaked Billions of Years Ago According to Black Holes." It's available on the arXiv preprint server and soon to be published in the journal Galaxies. Garofalo is the sole author, and the paper hasn't been peer-reviewed yet.

Garofalo explains how black hole feedback can either drive or suppress star formation. Whether it does or not depends on the environment and whether the SMBH is in a gas-sparse or a gas-rich environment.

"The link between black holes and star formation allows us to draw a connection between black holes and the places and times when extraterrestrial intelligences (ETIs) had a greater chance of emerging," Garofalo writes.

This figure from the research helps explain what happens in a gas-sparse environment. It starts with a merger of two gas-rich black holes. The accretion disk, shown in blue, is in counter-rotation around a rapidly-spinning black hole. That produces jets that drive star formation rates higher. That lasts about 8 million years. In the middle panel, the disk is tilted, and the jets disappear, so star formation is unaffected. In the right panel, The star formation rate dies down as the cold gas reservoir comes to an end and a dead quasar is formed after over a billion years, Garofalo explains. Credit: Garofalo, 2023

The Drake Equation tries to give form to our ponderings about other intelligent civilizations. It's a probabilistic equation that tries to calculate the number of intelligent and communicative civilizations there are in the Milky Way. Garofalo's effort extends beyond the Milky Way into the universe. But the universe is vast and ancient. Where to begin?

Garofalo starts with black holes, feedback, and star formation.

"Our understanding of the processes that determine where and when star formation peaks in the universe has matured significantly, to the point where we can begin to explore more broadly the question of intelligence across space and time," Garofalo writes. Black hole feedback affects star formation in galaxies, but the effect varies.

Garofalo has researched black holes extensively, and this paper leans heavily on his research and the work of others in the same field. Garofalo claims that advanced life peaked billions of years ago, all because of the direct connection between mergers, black holes, star formation, and the planets that form around those stars. It starts with a black hole merger that's likely to lead to active galactic nuclei (AGN,) which is the term for a supermassive black hole (SMBH) at the center of a galaxy that is accreting enough matter to shine brightly. Some AGN emit jets, and they're dependent on the nature of the matter accreting onto the hole. The matter is the galaxy's gas, and different galaxies have different gas environments.

Black hole feedback plays a major role in Garofalo's work. Different black holes drive different types of feedback, and some feedback drives higher rates of star formation. Jets are the primary way that black holes interact with the surrounding medium, pumping matter back out of their accretion disks into their surroundings.

Sometimes all that feedback drives star formation. But sometimes, it injects too much energy into its galaxy or galaxy cluster, and that chokes off star formation. It heats up the gas too much, and to collapse and form stars, gas needs to be cold. A core part of Garofalo's work is identifying when black hole feedback drives star formation and when it stifles star formation.

Sometimes a black hole's accretion disk is counter-rotating relative to the black hole itself as a result of a merger, and that affects the feedback and the jets. "Counterrotation is associated with various general relativistic effects that maximize the power and collimation of the jet," Garofalo writes. "This type of jet is funneled through the cold gas and pushes it into states of higher densities, thereby triggering star formation."

But that counter-rotating accretion disk can slow and then stop the black hole's spin. Eventually, it reverses and speeds it up again. When the black hole is at a zero spin, it ceases to produce jets, and its feedback into the galaxy or galaxy cluster is stalled. The zero spin state also tilts the accretion disk. At that point, "the incoming gas forms a disk that maintains the angular momentum of the gas reservoir of the greater galaxy," Garofalo explains. The zero spin state lasts for different lengths of time depending if the galaxy is sparse in gas or rich in gas. It lasts about eight million years in an environment that is sparse in gas.

But things change in a denser, more gas-rich environment. "In denser environments, instead, the black hole mass tends to be larger, the jet more powerful, and its feedback effect greater," Garofalo explains. This is because the way gas accretes onto the disk changes. It adopts a different type of flow than in a sparse environment.

This figure from the research helps explain what happens in a gas-dense environment. The jets re-emerge but are tilted and aimed more directly at the gas in the host galaxy. That heats it up and limits star formation. It also means the galaxys gas is hot enough to produce X-rays, a limiting factor for life. Credit: Garofalo, 2023

The different flow means that the black hole in the dense environment takes longer to spin down by two orders of magnitude. The result? "As a result, on average, the richest environments produce powerful, collimated jets that enhance star formation for a timescale that is about two-orders-of-magnitude longer than in more isolated environments," Garofalo writes. Eventually, the spin reaches zero, and the jets cease. Critically, the jets only re-emerge in the denser environment.

This is a lot of information for those of us who aren't astrophysicists, but Garofalo clarifies the key part for us, and it comes down to sparse or dense environments. "The key difference is the presence of only positive AGN feedback in isolated environments, while both positive, then negative feedback, in richer ones." The jets only re-emerge in richer or denser environments, but they're tilted. This means they're aimed more directly at the galaxy's gas, and they can heat it up and stifle star formation.

In that case, the result is fewer stars. Fewer stars mean fewer planets, which means fewer possibilities for advanced life. But the effect extends beyond the rates of star and planet formation. Since the galaxy's gas is heated, it can give off a halo of X-rays that permeates the galaxy and affects the chemistry of planets, which can inhibit their habitability.

That's bad news for advanced life in more gas-dense galaxies and galaxy clusters. Even though there's more gas, the stuff that gives rise to stars, the gas is overheated, stifling star formation.

But what about in gas-sparse galaxies and clusters?

"In more isolated environments, by contrast, stars evolve onto the main sequence undisturbed by AGN feedback," Garofalo summarizes. This is also critical because we're talking not about just the appearance of life, which may have occurred on Earth in only a few hundred million years. We're talking about advanced life like us, which took 4.5 billion years to appear on Earth. Main sequence stars are the longest-lived, most stable stars, and it's far more probable that advanced life can arise around main sequence stars than other stars.

Taking all this into account, Garofalo reframes the Drake Equation to include black hole feedback. "It tells us where in the universe the chance of detecting advanced life is greatest. The answer is in isolated field environments," he explains.

But where advanced life can arise is only part of it. Garofalo wanted to find out when it was most likely. It all goes back to the initial black hole mergers that produce counter-rotating accreting black holes. "Counterrotating accreting black holes are the product of mergers, and the merger function experiences its peak at a redshift of 2," he writes. A redshift of 2 was about 11 billion years ago when the universe was 2.8 billion years old.

"This, therefore, is the redshift corresponding to when the greatest number of isolated field galaxies experienced a merger that led to cold gas flowing into the nucleus of the newly formed galaxy and settling into counterrotation around the newly formed black hole," Garofalo concludes.

That's the age when AGN and their jets appear. They triggered star formation and planet formation. Earth formed 4.5 billion years ago, and we, the advanced life capable of interstellar communication, only just appeared. So using us as a benchmark, it's about 4.5 billion years after the right black holes in the right galaxies that advanced life can appear. Garofalo rounds it off to 5 billion years. "Thus, we assume a fiducial value of 5 billion years, which brings us to 7.8 billion years after the Big Bang, or 6 billion years ago."

At this point, an astute reader might wonder about metallicity. There was lower metallicity 6 billion years ago, so wouldn't that have affected the types of planets that form and whether or not advanced life could arise on them?

Not necessarily.

Garofalo points out that the galaxies where the critical AGN are most likely to exist are isolated elliptical galaxies. But they're not the old red and dead elliptical galaxies. The ones Garofalo is talking about are different. Instead, "these isolated elliptical galaxies are not expected to harbor low metallicities because they are AGN-triggered by mergers with abundant cold gas, possibly from a disk-like galaxy," he explains. The old red and dead elliptical galaxies are also known to be populated with older stars and dominated by M dwarfs or red dwarfs whose habitable zones are "closer to the star and subject to stellar flares and tidally locked rotation, which work against the development of life," Garofalo writes. But the subset of elliptical galaxies he's talking about isn't dominated by red dwarfs.

So there we have it. If Garofalo is right, then we need to rethink SETI. "Given the times and places identified for ETIs in this work, we expect SETI searches to require that signals come from Kardashev Type III civilizations," he writes in his conclusion. A Kardashev Type III civilization is one that is able to access all the energy emitted by its galaxy.

According to Garofalo's work, humanity is indeed late to the party. "To the extent that we may someday speak of a peak era for the emergence of technologically advanced life in the universe, our simplified exploration of the emergence of life in the context of AGN feedback indicates that such a time is in the past," he concludes. "We on planet Earth are, therefore, latecomers."

We may be late, but we aren't necessarily alone. Other partygoers might be just arriving. We're here, so it's possible others are.

When it comes to communicating with another advanced civilization, that's an open question. But look at us. Advanced life is still emerging. Maybe two civilizations will contact one another someday.

For that to happen, we need to know where to direct our effort in this vast Universe. If this work holds up, it might help advance the search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligences by showing us where to look.

And where not to.

More information: David Garofalo, Advanced life peaked billions of years ago according to black holes, arXiv (2023). DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2305.04033 Chandra B. Singh et al, The Black Hole-star Formation Connection Over Cosmic Time, Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (2021). DOI: 10.1088/1538-3873/ac2ec2 Journal information: arXiv
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Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

A new study led by physicist Sascha Kempf at the University of Colorado Boulder has delivered the strongest evidence yet that Saturn's rings are remarkably youngpotentially answering a question that has boggled scientists for well over a century.

The research, published May 12 in the journal Science Advances, pegs the age of Saturn's rings at no more than 400 million years old. That makes the rings much younger than Saturn itself, which is about 4.5 billion years old.

"In a way, we've gotten closure on a question that started with James Clerk Maxwell," said Kempf, associate professor in the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at CU Boulder.

The researchers arrived at that closure by studying what might seem like an unusual subject: dust.

Kempf explained that tiny grains of rocky material wash through Earth's solar system on an almost constant basis. In some cases, this flux can leave behind a thin layer of dust on planetary bodies, including on the ice that makes up Saturn's rings.

In the new study, he and his colleagues set out to put a date on Saturn's rings by studying how rapidly this layer of dust builds upa bit like telling how old a house is by running your finger along its surfaces.

"Think about the rings like the carpet in your house," Kempf said. "If you have a clean carpet laid out, you just have to wait. Dust will settle on your carpet. The same is true for the rings."

It was an arduous process: From 2004 to 2017, the team used an instrument called the Cosmic Dust Analyzer aboard NASA's late Cassini spacecraft to analyze specks of dust flying around Saturn. Over those 13 years, the researchers collected just 163 grains that had originated from beyond the planet's close neighborhood. But it was enough. Based on their calculations, Saturn's rings have likely been gathering dust for only a few hundred million years.

The planet's rings, in other words, are new phenomena, arising (and potentially even disappearing) in what amounts to a blink of an eye in cosmic terms.

"We know approximately how old the rings are, but it doesn't solve any of our other problems," Kempf said. "We still don't know how these rings formed in the first place."

From Galileo to Cassini

Researchers have been captivated by these seemingly-translucent rings for more than 400 years. In 1610, Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei first observed the features through a telescope, although he didn't know what they were. (Galileo's original drawings make the rings look a bit like the handles on a water jug). In the 1800s, Maxwell, a scientist from Scotland, concluded that Saturn's rings couldn't be solid but were, instead, made up of many individual pieces.

Today, scientists know that Saturn hosts seven rings comprised of countless chunks of ice, most no bigger than a boulder on Earth. Altogether, this ice weighs about half as much as Saturn's moon Mimas and stretches nearly 175,000 miles from the planet's surface.

Kempf added that for most of the 20th century, scientists assumed that the rings likely formed at the same time as Saturn.

But that idea raised a few issuesnamely, Saturn's rings are sparkling clean. Observations suggest that these features are made up of roughly 98% pure water ice by volume, with only a tiny amount of rocky matter.

"It's almost impossible to end up with something so clean," Kempf said.

Cassini offered an opportunity to put a definitive age on Saturn's rings. The spacecraft first arrived at Saturn in 2004 and collected data until it purposefully crashed into the planet's atmosphere in 2017. The Cosmic Dust Analyzer, which was shaped a bit like a bucket, scooped up small particles as they whizzed by.

Engineers and scientists at LASP designed and built a much more sophisticated dust analyzer for NASA's upcoming Europa Clipper mission, which is scheduled to launch in 2024.

The team estimated that this interplanetary grime would contribute far less than a gram of dust to each square foot of Saturn's rings every yeara light sprinkle, but enough to add up over time. Previous studies had also suggested that the rings could be young but didn't include definitive measures of dust accumulation.

Stroke of luck

The rings might already be vanishing. In a previous study, NASA scientists reported that the ice is slowly raining down onto the planet and could disappear entirely in another 100 million years.

That these ephemeral features existed at a time when Galileo and the Cassini spacecraft could observe them seems almost too good to be true, Kempf saidand it begs an explanation for how the rings formed in the first place. Some scientists, for example, have posited that Saturn's rings may have formed when the planet's gravity tore apart one of its moons.

"If the rings are short lived and dynamical, why are we seeing them now?" he said. "It's too much luck."

More information: Sascha Kempf, Micrometeoroid infall onto Saturn's rings constrains their age to no more than a few hundred million years, Science Advances (2023). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adf8537. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adf8537 Journal information: Science Advances
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A speaker addresses a crowd in Timisoara, Romania, during the 1989 revolution that ousted Nicolae Ceausescu. Researchers studied how Romanians' epistemic thinking styles were affected the transition from authoritarian rule to democracy. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

While people change and learn throughout life, experts recognize that certain formative periods, known as developmental windows, are crucial for acquiring particular skills. For example, using vocalizations and words to interact with people in the first few years of life is critical for children's language learning.

A recent study by an international team from UCLA, Romania and Israel suggests there may be a developmental window for reasoning skills as wellthe first 25 years of lifeand that a person's social, political and economic environment strongly influences how they acquire these skills. Their findings are published in the journal PLOS One.

The researchers found that following the collapse of Romania's authoritarian communist regime in 1989, the rapid increase in education and technology use and the transition from a single, government-controlled source of information to diverse sources had a strong effect on the way people, particularly younger generations, thought about and determined truthfulness, a process known as "epistemic thinking."

Epistemic thinking runs the gamut from absolutist thinking, the belief that only one claim can be right, to multiplist thinking, the belief that more than one claim could be rightit's just a matter of opinion. Finally, evaluativist thinking posits that assertions can be evaluated in terms of both logic and evidence.

"Whether we are monitoring various news sources or scrolling through a busy Twitter feed, we are constantly encountering diverse viewpoints about topics ranging from politics to films," said the study's first author, Amalia Ionescu, a doctoral student in psychology at UCLA. "Some of these topics carry infinitely more weight than others, but ultimately, we are using the same sort of mechanism when deciding how to make sense of contrasting viewpoints."

In the U.S., developmental psychology research has shown that children typically think in absolutist terms, then progress to multiplist thinking and sometimes, particularly with a relatively high level of education and exposure to various experiences and points of view, emerge as evaluativist adults. The study authors hypothesized that in a society ruled by an authoritarian government, with strict control over information, limited education and little exposure to the outside world, absolutist thinking would be more prevalent. Conversely, in an open, democratic society, there would likely be a higher occurrence of evaluativist thinking.

To test this, they focused on Romania, which in the late 1940s became communist and aligned itself with the Soviet Union. Beginning in 1965, under the authoritarian leadership of Nicolae Ceausescu, Romania became increasingly repressive and isolated. After Ceausescu was overthrown in 1989, the country quickly moved toward democracy, embraced a market economy and joined the European Union. Today, Romanians have a developing education system and open access to technology, social media, consumer goods and travel.

How, the researchers asked, may this transition have affected Romanians' epistemic thinking? Focusing on three age cohortsthose born after the democratic revolution (1830 years old), those who spent their late adolescence and early adulthood under the authoritarian regime (4559) and those who spent at least 45 years under the authoritarian regime (75 and older)the authors presented respondents with scenarios in which two characters had contrasting views. They then asked the respondents: Which character is right? Or are both of them right? Why?

They found that there was a greater occurrence of absolutist thinking among those who had experienced the transition to democracy in middle age rather than at an earlier period of life.

The vast majority of those 75 or older tended to read or listen to the news and instantly take it as truth, "possibly because for most of their lives, they had only one TV program to watch, and all books, news, movies and music were under communist censorship," said co-author Raluca Furdui, a master's student at Romania's West University of Timisoara. "They learned to respect the authority of the teachers in schools, and some never even had the chance to go to high school.

"In contrast," Furdui said, "we, the youngest generation in our studycurrently between 18 and 30were challenged by our teachers to express our opinions, think critically and check information."

The researchers found that evaluativism was most common among this youngest generation, which also had the highest education levels. Lower levels of both formal education and social media use predicted higher levels of absolutist thinking and lower levels of evaluativism.

The study authors concluded that the developmental window for epistemic thinking is open during the first 25 years of life, after which it slowly closes, and a person's epistemic thinking style will change little later in adulthood.

"We found that the social environment produced by a combination of democracy and a market economy more frequently led people to abandon the assumption that there is one right answer and to evaluate multiple possibilitieswhen one was born into this environment or when it was experienced in the first 25 years of life" rather than in middle age or beyond, said co-author Patricia Greenfield, a UCLA distinguished professor of psychology. "We found that there is indeed a sensitive developmental period for acquiring cultural ways of thinking."

The 'open information' pendulum can swing the opposite way too

The authors also said they believe their findings can help explain why unfettered access to information, social media and a plethora of personal opinions can sometimes lead in the opposite directiontoward absolutist thinking and authoritarian politics.

"Along with the rise of the internet and social media, there has been, in the United States, a rise in the importance of personal opinion, along with a decline in the importance of agreed-upon facts," Greenfield said.

And while the trend toward increasing sources of information and opinions in Romania has been associated with the democratization and opening up of society, in the U.S., the indiscriminate application of the principle that everyone has a right to their own opinion has led to information silos and absolutist thinking.

"In Romania, the transition from authoritarianism to democracy was related to a decline in absolute thinking and a rise in evaluation as a form of thought," said co-author Michael Weinstock, an associate professor of education at Israel's Ben Gurion University of the Negev. "But based on our research, one would predict that that the opposite change in the environmenttowards more authoritarianismwould lead to the opposite direction of change towards more absolutist thinking."

Changes in the authoritarian direction happened in the U.S. under the Trump administration, the study authors said, and have recently been happening in other countries around the world.

More information: Amalia Ionescu et al, The effects of sociocultural changes on epistemic thinking across three generations in Romania, PLOS ONE (2023). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0281785 Journal information: PLoS ONE
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This photo provided by Plumas Pines Resort and Bar shows a portion of the damage done to Plumas Pines Resort & Bar in Almanor, Calif., following a 5.5 earthquake in Lake Almanor at around 4:20 p.m. on Thursday, May 11, 2023. Credit: Plumas Pines Resort and Bar via AP

Earthquakes have rattled a large area of Northern California this week, but only minor damage was immediately reported.

A magnitude 5.5 quake centered in the Sierra Nevada's Lake Almanor resort region struck at 4:19 p.m. Thursday and a magnitude 5.2 aftershock occurred at 3:18 a.m. Friday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

ABC10 reported local businesses were cleaning up minor damage in the area about 180 miles (290 kilometers) northeast of San Francisco.

"A lot of broken glass, a lot of broken dishes, a lot of broken liquor from upstairs," Stephanie Hughes, a local restaurant manager, told the station after the Thursday afternoon quake.

"Everything was shaking. Customers were fleeing onto the lawn," said Hughes.

People reported feeling the earthquake all the way to Sacramento, about 160 miles (260 kilometers) south.

This photo provided by Plumas Pines Resort and Bar shows a portion of the damage done to Plumas Pines Resort & Bar in Almanor, Calif., following a 5.5 earthquake in Lake Almanor at around 4:20 p.m. on Thursday, May 11, 2023. Credit: Plumas Pines Resort and Bar via AP

This photo provided by Plumas Pines Resort and Bar shows a portion of the damage done to Plumas Pines Resort & Bar in Almanor, Calif., following a 5.5 earthquake in Lake Almanor at around 4:20 p.m. on Thursday, May 11, 2023. Credit: Plumas Pines Resort and Bar via AP

The magnitude 5.5 quake was the largest in California since the magnitude 7.1 Ridgecrest sequence in 2019, according to former USGS seismologist Lucy Jones, who now runs a center focusing on making communities more resilient to disasters.

 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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Melosira arctica, one of the major algae species in the Arctic Ocean. Credit: Melanie Bergmann, CC BY-NC-ND

Last summer, we traveled to the remote Arctic Hausgarten observatory area in the eastern Fram Strait (west of Svalbard, Norway) on a research ship. The samples we collected there included ice cores, sea water and ice algae from large packs of floating ice called ice floes. These form 12 meter thick "plates" of sea ice across the Arctic Ocean, some of which melt over the summer period.

Algae grow on the underside of these ice floes. Melosira arcticanicknamed "snot" due to its sticky, slimy and green natureis one of the major algae species in the Arctic Ocean. It is an essential organism both in the Arctic food web and for marine life overall.

These ice algae provide nutrition for plankton and various other marine organisms in the Arctic. The algae also act as a conveyor belt of food for the organisms that live on the sea floor. As the ice melts, the algae detach and sink to the bottom where they are eaten by animals such as sea cucumbers and brittlestars.

Ice algae are also a carbon sink, using CO from the atmosphere and light energy from the sun to produce organic matter through photosynthesisa process known in ecology as "primary production". In 2012, these algae accounted for 45% of the Arctic's primary production.

But now we've found that Arctic ice algae contain microplastics. This in itself may not be surprising: plastic has been found in every environment so far investigated on Earth. But the quantities we found were startling.

We discovered an average of 31,000 microplastic particles per cubic meter of Melosira arcticaa magnitude ten times higher than recorded in the surrounding water. Most of these particles were very small (less than 10 micrometers) and included many different types of plastic. The contamination of the ice algae could have major consequences for ecosystems and the climate.

How microplastics could become trapped in Arctic sea ice algae and sink to the seabed. Credit: Bergmann et al. (2023), CC BY-NC-ND

An elevator to the seabed

These particles may come from the surrounding sea water, the supporting sea ice (either trapped when the sea ice forms, or from the movement of liquid and particles through the ice as it melts), or from atmospheric microplastics that have been deposited on the ice and sea surface. While the process by which sea ice algae take in these microplastics is not yet well understood, it is clear they are highly effective at "collecting" these small plastic particles.

In our earlier research, we were puzzled that the largest amount of microplastic on the Arctic seabed was always found underneath the sea ice melting zone along the ice edge, even in deep-sea sediment. The movement of Melosira clumps from the sea and ice surface to the seabed helps to explain why.

The speed at which the algal clumps descend means they fall rapidly almost in a straight line below the edge of the ice. Other algae, which become "marine snow" (a term used for organic material that slowly drifts to the seafloor), fall much slower. These are often eaten as they descend and are also pushed sideways by currents, so sink to the seabed much further away from the ice edge.

Why is it a problem?

Melosira feeds essential Arctic seafloor and marine ecosystems. Its position at the bottom of the food chain means there is a risk of microplastics being passed upwards through the marine food web.

Ice algae sampling on an Arctic ice floe. Credit: Mario Hoppmann/Alfred Wegener Institute, CC BY-NC-ND

This threat is particularly acute in the area we studied, as the Melosira sampled had collected even very small microplastics. Smaller microplastic particles are more likely to be transferred across cell membranes.

Research finds that microplastics and their associated chemicals can alter the growth, function and breeding of marine species such as plankton and fish. It is extremely difficult to perform experiments on Arctic or deep-sea species because of the challenges associated with replicating their environmental conditions. However, one laboratory study found that microplastic exposure caused egg production rates to increase by up to eight times in Arctic zooplanktona response that is probably the result of stress.

The impact of microplastic contamination on Melosira itself is not yet known. But it's possible that microplastics change Melosira's abundance, lifespan and health.

Microplastics that are stuck to the outside of algae could lower photosynthetic rates by blocking out sunlight. And if particles enter the algal cells, then they could damage the parts of the cell where photosynthesis takes place (called chloroplasts) and therefore also impede this process. This could affect the export of carbon by Melosira from the air or sea to the seabed, and thus alter the processes underlying this important Arctic carbon sink.

Arctic ice algae are collecting high quantities of microplasticsa previously unknown hotspot. But our findings are likely just the "tip of the iceberg". They should accelerate conversations about the importance, and potential impact, of microplastics in Arctic sea ice algae on the ecosystems that these vital algae support.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Black terns nest in wetlands, which are a threatened habitat. But protecting wetlands alone may not be enough to slow declining black tern populations. Research from Michigan State University and the National Audubon Society is highlighting new potential opportunities to conserve these birds. Credit: David Fuller/Audubon

Let's start with the bad news. Current conservation practices likely won't do enough to save the black tern, a migratory bird species that nests in the northern U.S. and southern Canada, from disappearing.

That's according to new research from Michigan State University and the National Audubon Society published in the journal Biological Conservation. But there's also good news.

The team's report reveals new opportunities to enhance the outlook for these birds by strategically expanding conservation and land management practices that can be used by landowners and agencies such as the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

Furthermore, the team's approach can be adapted to inform conservation practices for other species.

Currently, black tern conservation efforts are focused on maintaining and restoring the bird's breeding habitat to ensure there's a place for the next generation to take flight. It's a sensible approach, but it also relies on adults surviving their migratory and overwintering periods.

As the team showed, that survival can't be taken for granted.

"What's going on outside the breeding season and away from the breeding grounds is really important for this bird and, likely, other migratory species," said Kayla Davis, first author of the new report and a doctoral student in the College of Natural Science at MSU. "There are things we can do to protect stopover and overwintering areas to increase adult survival."

"Fortunately, Audubon's network of members and centers allows us to have an expansive conservation reach," said Sarah Saunders, co-author of the study and senior manager of quantitative science at the National Audubon Society. "Thanks to this work, now we know where to target efforts to help recover this species more effectively."

Plight of the black tern

Between 1966 and 2019, the population of black terns across North America dropped by more than 2% every year, according to estimates from the North American Breeding Bird Survey. When looking at populations in Michigan, the drop is more than 7% annually.

People knew the bird was vanishing, but prior to this collaboration between MSU and Audubon, researchers faced challenges developing reliable projections for how the black tern population would respond to different conservation strategies.

Those challenges were largely rooted in how hard it is to observe the birds, Davis said.

Black terns nest in wetlands, which are difficult to navigate. On top of that, these habitats are becoming smaller, more fragmented and less hospitable for numerous reasons including climate change, invasive species and land development.

Furthermore, the birds themselves are finicky, Davis explained. Black terns are known to abandon nesting sites when confronted with perturbations that wouldn't ruffle feathers for other speciessay, changes in water levels or the appearance of a predator like a raccoon.

"If something upsets them when they're building a colony, they'll just up and leave," Davis said. "And you don't know where they go."

As a result, data on black terns are sparse, limiting the precision of computational models used to inform conservation practices. But Davis works in the lab of Elise Zipkin, an associate professor of integrative biology and the director of the Ecology, Evolution and Behavior program, or EEB, at MSU.

One of the Zipkin lab's specialties is developing and implementing models for species lacking data.

"Because of data limitations, assessing wildlife trends is often only possible for common or easily identifiable species," said Zipkin. "Our lab is interested in developing approaches that make use of every piece of available information so that we can tackle those tough questions on rare and elusive species," said Zipkin.

Still, the black tern was an extreme case.

"At the beginning, we were definitely concerned about whether this would work, if we were going to have enough data to tell a story," Davis said.

Thankfully, the MSU researchers had partnered with one of the world's foremost conservation societies.

A new approach

Staff and volunteers with Detroit Audubon and Audubon Great Lakesregional offices of the National Audubon Societywere able to gather valuable data about black terns through a variety of methods.

That included visual counts of adults and juveniles, but also more intensive mark-recapture data. For these data, technicians catch birds and put small bands on their legs which allows the team to see if specific animals return to the nesting site in future breeding seasons.

The Audubon researchers also used what are called nanotags, miniature radiofrequency devices that are designed to fall off the birds after several months. These tags provided useful data on how many fledglings survived a breeding season and where those birds traveled during their fall migrations.

"Black terns face an uncertain future in Michigan," said Erin Rowan, Michigan conservation manager for Audubon Great Lakes and a co-author of the study. "By tracking whether black terns successfully fledge and depart their breeding grounds, we can better understand whether the cause of their population decline is from low chick productivity or low adult survivorship."

For this project, the researchers worked at a breeding colony at the St. Clair Flats State Wildlife Area, near where the base of Michigan's thumb region connects to Canada. This site is actively managed by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, another key partner in this project.

Starting with this single site, which hosts the largest black tern breeding colony in the Great Lakes, the team could vet its new approach while drawing meaningful conclusions.

Usually, each data set that the team collected would be analyzed with its own separate model. This approach is useful but limited, especially when dealing with a species that doesn't make data collection easy.

For this project, using what's known as an integrated population model, the team was able to bring typically disparate data together under a single analytical framework.

Though the data were still scant, the researchers could examine the information in a more cohesive way, revealing more about the population dynamics of Michigan black terns.

"This way, we can make our estimates more accurate and precise than we could with any other model individually," Davis said.

Based on its analysis, the team estimated that the average number of adult tern breeding pairs at St. Clair Flats dropped from more than 300 in 2013 to roughly 50 in 2022. The results show that promoting adult survival at other important areas along their migrationsuch as where birds rest and spend their wintersmay be necessary in addition to current efforts that protect breeding sites.

"Of course, continuing to manage black tern breeding sites is important, too," said Stephanie Beilke, Audubon Great Lakes senior manager of conservation science and a co-author of the report. "We need a collaborative approach to saving this species and that means connecting with partners abroad and at home."

Another key takeaway from this project is simply that the team's approach worked, which is good news for species beyond the black tern.

"To be able to say something about conservation and land management implications with so little data is really encouraging because there are so many species out there that are data deficient," Davis said. "This modeling framework is really powerful."

More information: Kayla L. Davis et al, Breeding season management is unlikely to improve population viability of a data-deficient migratory species in decline, Biological Conservation (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.biocon.2023.110104 Journal information: Biological Conservation
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Alberta rancher BJ Fuchs's paddocks sit empty and smoke fills the air after he was forced to move his cattle to safety as wildfires advanced.

Rancher BJ Fuchs hasn't been able to let his guard down as wildfires advanced in Canada's Alberta province, so far sparing his farm in Shining Bank but scorching forests and grasslands all around it.

Paddocks that usually hold up to 1,000 cows sit empty and a haze of smoke has reduced visibility to less than five meters (16 feet).

Fuchs and his son managed to evacuate his herd before the wildfires jumped a nearby river and arrived at his doorstep. Smoke now billows from piles of burnt trees on his wooded lot west of the provincial capital Edmonton.

The blaze that threatened his farm was powerful, he told AFP. "It's pretty scary stuff when fire's that close to your home."

"There're still hot spots and, you know, I don't think we're out of danger yet," he said, sporting a days-old beard and a cowboy hat. "So I don't think we can let our guard down."

Alberta is the largest cattle producing region in Canada, with almost five million head of cattle, according to government data.

Dotted with open ranges and rolling plains in the shadow of the majestic Rocky Mountains, it has been used as a backdrop for Westerns such as Oscar winners Unforgiven and Brokeback Mountain.

Over the past week, wildfires burnt more than 400,000 hectares (1,550 square miles), and forced almost 30,000 people out of their homes. Some 70 fires were still raging on Friday, including 20 listed as out of control.

BJ Fuchs seeks out embers on his property to stamp out after clearing brush and erecting fire barriers to slow the advancing fires.

"It's going to be an ongoing battle, in my opinion, until we get a lot more rain, that's for sure," Fuchs said as he busily stomped out embers on his property.

Fuchs and his neighbors despair over the hot, dry weather that has fueled the wildfires, only two years after a major drought slashed Western Canada crop yields by up to 40 percent.

"It's literally hundreds of thousands of animals that are potentially impacted because the hectarage (burnt) is so huge," Alberta Premier Danielle Smith told a news conference.

'I felt hopeless'

Hosing down barns and other farm buildings, erecting fire barriers and clearing tinder-dry brush, farmers and ranchers have been hard at work.

"I felt hopeless, wondering when it would end," said Jessee Crowther, who at 37 years old runs a small beef cattle farm. "There's always somethingdrought, hail, heavy rainsyou take what comes and keep on going."

This latest fire disasterwhich authorities suspect was started by a combination of lightning strikes and human carelessnesshas been "crazy," he said.

BJ Fuchs' cows are now safe in new temporary digs -- away from fire danger.

In recent years, Western Canada has been hit repeatedly by extreme weather, the intensity and frequency of which have increased due to global warming.

Forest fires in Canada's oil sands region in 2016 disrupted production and forced out 100,000 residents from Fort McMurray, pummeling the nation's economy.

More recently in 2021, westernmost British Columbia provincewhich neighbors Albertasuffered record-high temperatures over the summer that killed more than 500 people, as well as wildfires that destroyed an entire town, floods and mudslides.

Over the past week, Alberta ranchers have scrambled to secure transportation to move cattle to fairgrounds and other locations that opened up emergency spaces for displaced livestock.

"Anybody that lives out here is prepared all the time," said farmer Trent Stanley, "because if your house catches fire, the local fire department, you know, they're volunteer guys that are going to take half an hour to get to the station and then another half an hour to get here (and) by the time that happens, your house is gone."

But in regards to livestock the situation is much more challengingeven dire. "I've got 850 cows calving. It's not like you can load them up in a few minutes," he said.

"I guess the plan was just to open the gates and maybe the cattle would know what way to run, but I doubt it."

 2023 AFP
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A Rotadiscus grandis fossil (left) and an interpretive drawing (right). Credit: Li et al

Exceptionally well-preserved fossils from the Cambrian period have helped fill a gap in our understanding of the origin and evolution of major animal groups alive today.

A new analysis of fossils belonging to an extinct invertebrate called Rotadiscus grandis have helped place this species in the animal tree of life, revealing how some characteristics of living species may have evolved independently rather than originating in a single common ancestor.

Half a billion years ago, an unusual-looking animal crawled over the sea floor, using tentacles to pick up food particles along the way.

Known as Rotadiscus grandis, this animal lived during the Cambrian period when a burst of evolutionary activity is thought to have given rise to many of the major animal groups we see today.

The ancient remains of Rotadiscus were first discovered over 30 years ago, but the incomplete specimens made it challenging to determine their evolutionary significance.

Now, a new study published in Current Biology describes Rotadiscus grandis in far more detail after rare, exceptionally preserved fossils were unearthed from the Chengjiang biota in Yunnan Province in China. The 518-million-year-old fossils have shone a new light on the evolution of early members of major animal groups.

Dr. Imran Rahman, a principal researcher at the Museum and lead author of the study, says, "Rotadiscus isn't like anything we see alive today. It's why I find these kinds of weird wonders so fascinating."

"Some of the features that we might have assumed were present in the common ancestor of major animal groups, such as a post-anal tail, we found actually evolved independently. Cambrian fossils are fundamental to understanding these kinds of processes."

Rotadiscus is believed to be a very early member of the ambulacrarians, a group that includes starfish and acorn worms. Credit: Li et al

Why has it been difficult to describe Rotadiscus?

Over half a billion years ago, the Cambrian period saw an extraordinary burst in evolution giving rise to an incredible diversity of life. Early members of many major animal groups alive today appeared during this time, including the chordates to which vertebrates belong.

Many animals from this period possessed unique anatomies that look very different to anything seen today. But the patchiness of the fossil record often makes deciphering what these species are or where they fit into the tree of life challenging for paleontologists.

In the past, Rotadiscus and its closest fossil relatives have been placed in a number of different groups, including the sea cucumbers and jellyfish. But the new fossils of Rotadiscus from Chengjiang are helping to clear this up.

The Chengjiang biota is famous for its exceptionally preserved Cambrian fossils. The likely reason is that these animals were buried by a mudflow very rapidly while they were still alive, entombing them and preventing decay by bacteria and scavenging by other animals.

The new Rotadiscus fossils are no exception, as their extraordinary preservation has revealed structures in more detail than had previously been observed, such as traces of possible nerves in the tentacles and a new double spiral structure.

"We weren't sure what type of animal Rotadiscus was, and that made it hard to use as a tool for understanding the diversity of life," says Imran.

"So our main goal in this paper was to figure out what Rotadiscus was and then uncover its evolutionary significance."

Why are these Rotadiscus fossils important?

The exceptional preservation of the Rotadiscus specimens from the Chengjiang biota meant scientists could identify new features to help determine the evolutionary significance of the animal.

Researchers analyzed 330 features from about 60 different groups of extinct and extant animals, looking for similarities that could suggest a link. Rotadiscus was determined to be a very early member of a group of animals called the ambulacrarians, which contains acorn worms and echinoderms like starfish and sea urchins.

The new evolutionary tree including Rotadiscus and other fossils has helped the researchers reconstruct the evolution of major animal traits. One feature that was of particular significance was the presence of a tail extending posteriorly to the anus.

Scientists originally believed that a post-anal tail was present in the common ancestor of all fish and acorn worms. However, as Rotadiscus lacks a post-anal tail it now seems that this trait may have evolved independently within these different groups.

This process is known as convergent evolution, where the same feature evolves separately multiple times, often in response to similar environmental or ecological pressures.

"Through our analysis, we can fill an evolutionary gap with Rotadiscus and its relatives," says Imran. "This is important because one of the goals for paleontologists is to try to understand the tree of life and how things are related to one another."

"But it's also exciting because it allows us to better understand the evolution of other major animal groups, including the one that includes humans. This also helps to reinforce the critical importance of fossils, as the predictions we made in this analysis could not have been made based on living animals alone."

"It's only by incorporating these unfathomable, weird wonders into our evolutionary trees that we can start to get a better understanding of the origin and early evolution of major animal groups."

More information: Yujing Li et al, Cambrian stem-group ambulacrarians and the nature of the ancestral deuterostome, Current Biology (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.04.048 Journal information: Current Biology

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Spatial organelle networks are distinct in stem cells from young (UC) and adult (BM). Multiplexed proteomic labeling of organelle markers reveals organelle communication. 3D render images of multiple organelles in separate panels. Credit: Georgia Tech

Organellesthe bits and pieces of RNA and protein within a cellplay important roles in human health and disease, such as maintaining homeostasis, regulating growth and aging, and generating energy. Organelle diversity in cells not only exists between cell types but also individual cells. Studying these differences helps researchers better understand cell function, leading to improved therapeutics to treat various diseases.

In two papers out of the lab of Ahmet F. Coskun, a Bernie Marcus Early Career professor in the Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University, researchers examined a specific type of stem cell with an intracellular toolkit to determine which cells are most likely to create effective cell therapies.

"We are studying the placement of organelles within cells and how they communicate to help better treat disease," said Coskun. "Our recent work proposes the use of an intracellular toolkit to map organelle bio-geography in stem cells that could lead to more precise therapies."

Creating the subcellular omics toolkit

The first studypublished in Scientific Reportslooked at mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) that have historically offered promising treatments for repairing defective cells or modulating the immune response in patients. In a series of experiments, the researchers were able to create a data-driven, single-cell approach through rapid subcellular proteomic imaging that enabled personalized stem cell therapeutics.

The researchers then implemented a rapid multiplexed immunofluorescence technique in which they used antibodies designed to target specific organelles. By fluorescing antibodies, they tracked wavelengths and signals to compile images of many different cells, creating maps. These maps then enabled researchers to see the spatial organization of organelle contacts and geographical spread in similar cells to determine which cell types would best treat various diseases.

"Usually, the stem cells are used to repair defective cells or treat immune diseases, but our micro-study of these specific cells showed just how different they can be from one another," said Coskun. "This proved that patient treatment population and customized isolation of the stem cells identities and their bioenergetic organelle function should be considered when selecting the tissue source. In other words, in treating a specific disease, it might be better to harvest the same type of cell from different locations depending on the patient's needs."

RNA-RNA proximity matters

In the next study, published this week in Cell Reports Methods, the researchers took the toolkit a step further, studying the spatial organization of multiple neighboring RNA molecules in single cells, which are important to cellular function. The researchers evolved the tool by combining machine learning and spatial transcriptomics. They found that analyzing the variations of gene proximity for classification of cell types was more accurate that analyzing gene expression only.

"The physical interactions between molecules create life; therefore, the physical locations and proximity of these molecules play important roles," said Coskun. "We created an intracellular toolkit of subcellular gene neighborhood networks in each cell's different geographical parts to take a closer look at this."

The experiment consisted of two parts: the development of computational methods and experiments at the lab bench. The researchers examined published datasets and an algorithm to group RNA molecules based on their physical location. This "nearest neighbor" algorithm helped determine gene groupings. On the bench, researchers then labeled RNA molecules with fluorescents to easily locate them in single cells. They then uncovered many features from the distribution of RNA molecules, such as how genes are likely to be in similar subcellular locations.

Cell therapy requires many cells with highly similar phenotypes, and if there are subtypes of unknown cells in therapeutic cells, researchers cannot predict the behavior of these cells once injected into patients. With these tools, more cells of the same type can be identified, and distinct stem cell subsets with uncommon gene programs can be isolated.

"We are expanding the toolkit for the subcellular spatial organization of moleculesa 'Swiss Army Knife' for the subcellular spatial omics field, if you will," said Coskun. "The goal is to measure, quantify, and model multiple independent but also interrelated molecular events in each cell with multiple functionalities. The end purpose is to define a cell's function that can achieve high energy, Lego-like modular gene neighborhood networks and diverse cellular decisions."
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In this frame grab from video provided by the European Space Agency, the second stuck part of the RIME antenna deploys, seen at right leaning vertically, on a spacecraft bound for Jupiter, Friday, May 12, 2023. Flight controllers in Germany freed the 52-foot antenna Friday, after nearly a month of effort. Credit: European Space Agency via AP

A crucial radar antenna on a European spacecraft bound for Jupiter is no longer jammed.

Flight controllers in Germany freed the 52-foot (16-meter) antenna Friday after nearly a month of effort.

The European Space Agency's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, nicknamed Juice, blasted off in April on a decade-long voyage. Soon after launch, a tiny pin refused to budge and prevented the antenna from fully opening.

Controllers tried shaking and warming the spacecraft to get the pin to move by just millimeters. Back-to-back jolts finally did the trick.

The radar antenna will peer deep beneath the icy crust of three Jupiter moons suspected of harboring underground oceans and possibly life. Those moons are Callisto, Europa and Ganymede, the largest moon in the solar system.

Juice will attempt to go into orbit around Ganymede. No spacecraft has ever orbited a moon other than our own.

The news wasn't so good for NASA's Lunar Flashlight spacecraft. After struggling unsuccessfully for months to get the Cubesat into orbit around the moon, the space agency called it quits Friday.

Launched in December, the Lunar Flashlight was supposed to hunt for ice in the shadowed craters of the lunar south pole. Now it's headed back toward Earth and then into deep space, continually orbiting the sun.

 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

In a Tidal Disruption Event, a star moves close enough to a supermassive black hole so that the gravitational pull of the black hole bends the star until it is destroyed (image 1). The stellar matter from the destroyed star forms an elliptical stream around the black hole (image 2). Tidal shocks are formed around the black hole as the gas hits itself on its way back after circling the black hole (image 3). The tidal shocks create bright outbursts of polarised light that can be observed in optical and ultraviolet wavelengths. Over time, the gas from the destroyed star forms an accretion disk around the black hole (image 4) from where it is slowly pulled into the black hole. The scale of the image is not accurate. Credit: Jenni Jormanainen

A new study sheds light on the bright outbursts of radiation that are created when a star is destroyed by a supermassive black hole. The outbursts do not necessarily form in the close vicinity of the black hole, but are created by tidal shocks that occur when gas from the destroyed star hits itself while circling the black hole.

The universe is a violent place where even the life of a star can be cut short. This occurs when a star finds itself in a "bad" neighborhood, specifically near a supermassive black hole.

These black holes weigh millions or even billions of times the mass of the sun and typically reside in the centers of quiet galaxies. As a star moves closer to the black hole, it experiences the ever-increasing gravitational pull of the supermassive black hole until it becomes more powerful than the forces that keep the star together. This results in the star being disrupted or destroyed, an event known as a tidal disruption event (TDE).

"After the star has been ripped apart, its gas forms an accretion disk around the black hole. The bright outbursts from the disk can be observed in nearly every wavelength, especially with optical telescopes and satellites that detect X-rays," says Postdoctoral Researcher Yannis Liodakis from the University of Turku and the Finnish Center for Astronomy with ESO (FINCA).

Until recently, researchers knew only of a few TDEs, as there were not many experiments capable of detecting them. In recent years, however, scientists have developed the necessary tools to observe more TDEs. Interestingly, but perhaps not too surprisingly, these observations have led to new mysteries that the researchers are currently studying.

"Observations from large-scale experiments with optical telescopes have revealed that a large number of TDEs do not produce X-rays even though the bursts of visible light can be clearly detected. This discovery contradicts our basic understanding of the evolution of the disrupted stellar matter in TDEs," Liodakis notes.

A study published in the journal Science by an international team of astronomers led by the Finnish Center for Astronomy with ESO suggests that the polarized light coming from TDEs might hold the key to solving this mystery.

Instead of the formation of an X-ray bright accretion disk around the black hole, the observed outburst in the optical and ultraviolet light detected in many TDEs can arise from tidal shocks. These shocks form far away from the black hole as the gas from the destroyed star hits itself on its way back after circling the black hole. The X-ray bright accretion disk would form much later in these events.

"Polarization of light can provide unique information about the underlying processes in astrophysical systems. The polarized light we measured from the TDE could only be explained by these tidal shocks," says Liodakis, who is the lead author of the study.

Polarized light helped researchers to understand the destruction of stars

The team received a public alert in late 2020 from the Gaia satellite of a nuclear transient event in a nearby galaxy designated as AT 2020mot. The researchers then observed AT 2020mot in a wide range of wavelengths including optical polarization and spectroscopy observations conducted at the Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT), which is owned by the University of Turku. The observations conducted at the NOT were particularly instrumental in making this discovery possible. In addition, the polarization observations were done as part of the observational astronomy course for high school students.

"The Nordic Optical Telescope and the polarimeter we use in the study have been instrumental in our efforts to understand supermassive black holes and their environments," says Doctoral Researcher Jenni Jormanainen from FINCA and the University of Turku who led the polarization observations and analysis with the NOT.

The researchers found that the optical light coming from AT 2020mot was highly polarized and was varying with time. Despite several attempts, none of the radio or X-ray telescopes were able to detect radiation from the event before, during, or even months after the peak of the outburst.

"When we saw how polarized AT2020mot was, we immediately thought of a jet shooting out from the black hole, as we often observe around supermassive black holes that accrete the surrounding gas. However, no jet was there to be found," says Elina Lindfors, an Academy Research Fellow at the University of Turku and FINCA.

The team of astronomers realized that the data most closely matched a scenario where the stream of stellar gas collides with itself and forms shocks near the pericenter and apocenter of its orbit around the black hole. The shocks then amplify and order the magnetic field in the stellar stream which will naturally lead to highly polarized light. The level of the optical polarization was too high to be explained by most models, and the fact that it was changing over time made it even harder.

"All models we looked at could not explain the observations, except the tidal shock model," notes Karri Koljonen, who was an astronomer at FINCA at the time of the observations and is now working at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).

The researchers will continue to observe the polarized light coming from TDEs and may soon discover more about what happens after a star is disrupted.

More information: I. Liodakis et al, Optical polarization from colliding stellar stream shocks in a tidal disruption event, Science (2023). DOI: 10.1126/science.abj9570 Journal information: Science
WASHINGTON  House Republicans passed a sweeping bill Thursday to build more U.S.-Mexico border wall and impose new restrictions on asylum seekers, creating a hard-line counter to President Joe Bidens policies just as migrants amassed along the border with the end of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.

The bill has virtually no chance of becoming law. Democrats, who have a narrow hold on the Senate, decried the aggressive measures in the bill as cruel and anti-immigrant. Biden promised he would veto it.

The legislation passed 219-213, with all present Democrats and two Republicans, Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and John Duarte of California, voting against it.

The House GOP voted on the bill the same day as the expiration of Title 42, a public health emergency rule that allowed border authorities to quickly return many migrants who crossed the border illegally. Biden conceded the southern border will be chaotic for a while as migrants weigh whether to cross and U.S. officials use a new set of policies that aim to clamp down on illegal immigration while offering more legal pathways.

Migrants rushed across the border Thursday in hopes of entering the U.S. before the asylum restrictions are lifted. After that, migrants face being barred from entering the U.S. for five years and possible criminal prosecution.

With a midnight deadline looming, migrants in Mexico shed clothing before descending into the Rio Grande, clutching bags full of clothes. One man held a baby in an open suitcase on his head. On the U.S. side of the river, migrants put on dry clothes and picked their way through razor wire. Many surrendered immediately to authorities. Holding facilities along the border were already far beyond capacity this week.

It was not clear how many migrants were on the move, but a U.S. official reported that daily encounters on Tuesday hit 10,000  nearly twice the level from March and only slightly below the 11,000 figure that authorities have said is the upper limit of the surge they anticipate after Title 42 ends.

Our buses are full. Our planes are full, said Pedro Cardenas, a city commissioner in Brownsville, Texas, just north of Matamoros.

Bidens administration unveiled strict new measures to replace Title 42. The new policies crack down on illegal crossings while also setting up legal pathways for migrants who apply online, seek a sponsor and undergo background checks. If successful, the reforms could fundamentally alter how migrants arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border, but it will take time to see results.

Republicans slammed Biden for the increase in illegal immigration during his tenure. Passing the bill ensures House GOP lawmakers can say they did their part to deliver on a campaign promise to secure the border.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy called the package the strongest border security bill this country has ever seen, saying in a speech on the House floor that meanwhile, we are seeing a very different record from President Biden.

U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Schuylerville, said in prepared remarks that Bidens failed open border policies have turned every district into a border district and every state into a border state.

In my home district in Upstate New York and the North Country, weve seen an over 800% increase in illegal crossings in the Swanton sector on the Northern Border, just in the last year. Border patrol officers, who I represent, have been transferred over and over again to our Southern Border to deal with the unprecedented surge of illegal crossings. Fentanyl overdoses ravage communities across this country in each and every one of our districts, she said.

It took months for Republicans to push the bill through the House amid sometimes public feuds between GOP lawmakers. Even as the bill neared final form Wednesday, it had to be amended to appease concerns from the House Freedom Caucus and other lawmakers.

The 213-page bill represents a compromise between mainstream GOP lawmakers, who wanted to focus on beefing up border enforcement, and hard-line conservatives, who want drastic changes to U.S. asylum and immigration law.

The package would return to many of the policies pursued by former President Donald Trump, such as building walls along the border. It also would restrict asylum by requiring migrants to cross legally, pay a $50 fee and meet more stringent requirements to show in initial interviews that they have a credible fear of persecution in their home country.

This extreme MAGA Republican piece of legislation will throw out children who are fleeing, in many cases, extreme violence and persecution, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the top House Democrat, said at a Thursday news conference. It will build a medieval border wall that is a 14th-century solution to a 21st-century problem.

The bill would also scrap a program that allowed U.S. officials to accept or quickly turn away some migrants from Venezuela, Haiti and Nicaragua. The program is a cornerstone of Bidens immigration efforts, allowing migrants from those countries to apply to come to the U.S. for two years legally and work.

A small group of House and Senate lawmakers hopes the House bill could give momentum for a separate package in the works that would incorporate aggressive border enforcement with expanding legal immigration through work visas, as well as potentially a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children.

The bill that were getting, I think, is a good starting point, said Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican.

Any final bill would need bipartisan support to pass the Senate and agreement from House Republicans on significant changes.

Sen. Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, is introducing legislation that would assist border officials and speed up the asylum application process. And Tillis joined with Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, an Arizona independent, to push a bill that would resurrect the governments power to quickly expel migrants, without processing their asylum claims, for another two years.

Its clear that the Biden administration, while it had two years to prepare for the end of Title 42, failed to do so, Sinema told reporters.

Photos: Chicago, other cities say shelters full, budgets hit by immigration uptick
JOHNSBURG  A man was arrested on Wednesday after state police said he assaulted someone with a bat at a childrens softball game in Johnsburg.

On Wednesday at 6:43 p.m., New York State Police responded to Irishtown Road for an assault complaint. Troopers said Gideon J. Bezio, 35, of Johnsburg, and the victim were involved in an argument after a childrens softball game.

Bezio allegedly grabbed a bat and struck the other person on the side of the head, causing them to bleed, according to a state police news release. He then fled the scene.

Johnsburg EMS arrived to medically evaluate the victim, who was transported to Glens Falls Hospital for further evaluation, treated and released.

Warren County Sheriffs Department located Bezio and turned him over to state police, where he was arrested and charged with second-degree assault, endangering the welfare of a child and third-degree criminal possession of weapon.

He was taken to Essex County Jail pending arraignment at the Town of Minerva Court on a later date.
KINGSBURY  A Queensbury man was arrested after police said he was driving while intoxicated with a revoked license.

On May 6 at 1 p.m., New York State Police stopped a vehicle on Burgoyne Avenue in Kingsbury for a traffic violation. Troopers said the driver, Howard C. Kelley, 50, had a revoked drivers license due to multiple previous DWI convictions.

During processing, Kelly recorded a 0.13% BAC, according to a state police news release. Kelley was charged with felony DWI, first-degree aggravated unlicensed operator and multiple traffic offenses.

He was arraigned at the Washington County Centralized Arraignment Court and taken to Washington County Jail without bail.
FORT EDWARD  A Whitehall man has admitted to sexually abusing a young girl and will get 2 years in prison as part of a deal to avoid a retrial in the case.

Kenneth Reed pleaded guilty in Washington County Court on Tuesday to a felony count of first-degree attempted sexual abuse. He will receive the sentence on top of any time served, will have to serve 10 years of post-release supervision and have to register as a sex offender, according to Washington County District Attorney Tony Jordan.

Reed was sentenced in June 2021 to 15 years in prison after being convicted on felony charges of aggravated second-degree sexual abuse and first-degree sexual abuse, as well as a misdemeanor charge of endangering the welfare of a child. The verdict came after a weeklong trial.

Reed was arrested in August 2020 after authorities said he touched the private parts of the girl, who was younger than 9. Laboratory results determined that semen found on the girls underwear contained DNA that matched the profile of Reed or a male relative. Authorities also testified that they believe that a cut to the victims private parts could not have occurred as the result of an accident or a fall.

Reeds attorney, Jeffrey Lichtman, had challenged the conviction on the grounds that the court did not properly determine whether the child had the intelligence and capacity to understand what it means to swear an oath to tell the truth.

Jordan had said that prosecutors never intended to swear her in. She is permitted to give unsworn testimony, which she did.

However, the justices from the Appellate Division, Third Department, agreed with Lichtman that the matter of whether she had the intelligence to understand the proceedings should have been addressed in court. They reversed the decision on that technicality and sent the matter back to Washington County Court for a new trial, which was set to begin this week.

Prosecutors did not want to go through a trial again with the victim having to testify.

Obviously, there was some challenges once you have a victim as young as ours was at the time. It ends up not an ideal result, given the trial, but given all the circumstances caused by the Appellate Divisions decision, thats where we ended up. I think its the best for everybody, Jordan said.
On Thursday, the Warren County Board of Supervisors voted in favor of joining the CDTA, a merger Glens Falls Mayor Bill Collins has pushed for since January.

Todays vote by the Warren County Board of Supervisors was a great move to stabilize and grow transportation services throughout Warren County, Collins said in a statement. On behalf of all the residents in the city of Glens Falls, I would like to thank the Board of Supervisors for being willing to work together in this partnership connecting people and communities. I dont think anyone can understate the economic benefit of this merger between CDTA and (Greater Glens Falls Transit) as we move into our regions busiest time of the public transportation year.

County Administrator John Taflan explained at the special meeting that the board should not wait to vote on the merger until the May 19 meeting, when the window of opportunity to amend the public authorities law to include Warren County in the Capital District Transportation Authority, or CDTA, would close when the legislative session ends.

There has already been a bill introduced into the Assembly by Assemblywoman (Carrie) Woerner that includes Warren County in that section of the public authorities law. Sen. (Dan) Stecs office has the appropriate language to introduce a bill into the Senate; however, he would prefer the board passed a resolution before he introduces that change Taflan said.

He went on to refresh the board members about how talks about merging GGFT and CDTA began months ago at the beginning of 2023. Taflan listed the reasons GGFT could no longer be sustainable including not having enough staff to meet the public need, especially in the summer months when visitors, residents and businesses rely on public transportation. He also stated that the Department of Social Services, the Public Defenders Office, the Probation Department and the Warren County District Attorneys Office rely on the buses to bring in clients without transportation.

The county administrator said the merger was the best option in order to avoid GGFT ceasing operations after this year.

The other option, if GGFT is not going to continue after this year, is for Warren County to take it over. We arent any better equip or staffed to handle those responsibilities, Taflan said.

He went on to praise the work of GGFT since 1984, as he said only two public transportation systems run by municipalities still exist in New York state.

Chairman of the Board of Supervisors Kevin Geraghty said the county is looking forward to its new relationship with a well-run and well-respected organization that has been providing public transportation around the Capital District for more than 50 years.

We have appreciated the service provided by GGFT for the last 40 years, but amid changes that have occurred with the local and national workforces, joining with CDTA is in the best interests of Warren County residents and businesses, he said.

CDTA also released a statement regarding the merger on Thursday afternoon.

This is a great opportunity for Warren County and CDTA, CDTA CEO Carm Basile said in the statement. We are proud to expand our service area and strengthen the transportation services that are already in pave in the Greater Glens Falls-Queensbury-Lake George region. Becoming part of the authority will provide Warren County residents and employers with access to our menu of mobility services. Combining the resources of CDTA and GGFT will allow for innovative opportunities, economic development, and increased connections from Albany, Saratoga, Glens Falls and Lake George.

CDTA said it will work with the city of Glens Falls to transition employees and also work to assume the GGFT assets, including equipment, property and other administrative items. The merger is set to take several months to complete.

As we move through 2023, we know the key role that good transportation service plays in the development of our region and thats a charge we take very seriously, CDTA Board Chairman Jayme Lahut said in the news release. Expanding services into Warren County and merging with GGFT will create new opportunities and connect people to the broader Capital Region.
LOWER TOWNSHIP  A small plane crashed off the runway at the Cape May County Airport on Thursday evening during takeoff.

The single-engine plane, a Piper PA-28, was carrying three people when it crashed at the airfield about 7:15 p.m., the Federal Aviation Administration said.

Police Capt. Donald Vanaman on Friday said no injuries were reported, adding the three occupants declined medical assistance. The plane suffered minor damage, Vanaman said.

Dan Robinson, a local drone photographer, was delivering for DoorDash, he said, when he saw the crash as first responders arrived. Robinson recorded video and photos of the accident, he said.

"The scene was scary, but I was happy that there were no injuries," said Robinson, 47, of Wildwood.

The plane is registered to John Smith, of the township's Cold Spring section. It was unclear whether Smith was on board at the time of the crash.

Father, son killed in Upper Deerfield plane crash UPPER DEERFIELD TOWNSHIP  Two South Jersey men died in a plane crash Monday afternoon in th

Police arrived shortly after receiving a call about the incident about 7:10 p.m. They found the aircraft in the northern section of the runways.

The aircraft was still at the crash site off Runway 19 on Friday, Delaware River and Bay Authority spokesperson James Salmon said. The runway would be reopened once FAA inspectors finish their work and the plane is removed, Salmon said.

Salmon said he was informed that a student pilot was flying the plane with an instructor and a third occupant when the crash happened. The student was practicing an engine failure situation, Salmon said.

The crash's cause remained under investigation, officials said.

No airport equipment was damaged by the crash, Salmon said.

Responding agencies included Lower Township police, Middle Township police, the Cape May County Sheriff's Office, Delaware River and Bay Authority and local fire and rescue crews, police said.
ATLANTIC CITY  Galloway Township brothers Kyle and Dylan Caccamesi discovered their love of nature when they were younger, hiking through forests, traveling to different national parks and exploring the great outdoors as Eagle Scouts.

Four years ago, Kyle Caccamesi, 25, enrolled at Stockton University while serving in the 177th Fighter Wing of the New Jersey Air National Guard in Egg Harbor Township.

I knew I wanted to be one of those people that took care of the Earth, said Kyle Caccamesi about what led him to decide to pursue an environmental science degree with a concentration in forestry.

After Dylan Caccamesi, 28, lost his restaurant job in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he decided he wanted to follow his heart and find a new career that was more stable.

He enrolled at Stockton to pursue bachelors degrees in geology and environmental science.

The two brothers ended up graduating together Friday during Stocktons commencement ceremony at Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall.

CRDA hosts Atlantic City Host, Spirit of Hospitality Awards ATLANTIC CITY  When city native Maria Christine Martin turned 50 this year, she didn't thin

Its relieving that Im done, but Im going to miss it, said Dylan Caccamesi.

The Caccamesi brothers were joined by about 2,800 other graduates during the event.

Looking back at the past few years feel like an entire lifetime, said Divya Rajput during her student address Friday morning. And despite that, each of us have made numerous personal accomplishments.

Students graduating from the schools of arts and humanities, health sciences, and natural sciences and mathematics attended the 10 a.m. ceremony. Students graduating from the schools of business, education, general studies, and social and behavioral sciences had their commencement ceremony at 2 p.m.

We at Stockton University had the honor to observe your development and transformation into the changed leaders, innovators and visionaries you aspire to be, Stockton President Harvey Kesselman told both groups of bachelors, masters and doctoral degree students.

It was Kesselmans last commencement speech as president before his retirement at the end of June.

Atlantic City announces $3 million scholarship named for mayor ATLANTIC CITY  A $3 million city scholarship program was unveiled Wednesday during a news c

Your future is full of extraordinary promise and limitless possibilities, he said.

Emily Thompson, 21, of Manahawkin, graduated with a bachelors degree in health science and plans on coming back to Stockton for her masters degree to become a speech language pathologist.

She was intrigued by her brothers therapy sessions with his speech pathologist and decided she wanted to help others with communication disorders.

It was fun. I had a great time, and all the undergraduate professors were great. They helped me get to where I am today, said Thompson as she stood next to her father, Robert Heinrich, Stocktons vice president of enrollment. It feels great to accomplish another big milestone.

Dylan Caccamesi was relieved that school was over, but nervous and anxious for whats next, although he knows he wants to transition to a full-time career as soon as he can.

Other graduates shared the same sentiments.

It went by too quick. It was a good time and Im going to miss being home, but its all worth it in the end, said Kyle Caccamesi, who will go on to Louisiana State University to pursue his masters degree in the fall.

GALLERY: Stockton University graduation at Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall
State residents narrowly oppose continuing offshore wind development amid concerns over marine mammal deaths, a new poll from Fairleigh Dickinson University found.

According to the poll, 39% of New Jerseyans believe developing clean-energy infrastructure off the coast should stop, compared with 35% who support its continuation.

Animal advocates and Republican lawmakers have, for the past roughly five months, implored the state government to cease development operations, calling for a moratorium on work to develop multiple wind farms off the coast.

Ocean Wind 1, Ocean Wind 2 and Atlantic Shores are all in the permitting process.

As work in the ocean continues prior to the windmills being installed, fears of negative environmental impact have been stoked by dozens of dead whales and dolphins appearing on Jersey Shore beaches. State and federal officials have said there is no evidence linking the marine mammal deaths to the wind work.

If were going to meet the (Gov. Phil) Murphy administrations green energy goals, New Jersey needs to build a lot of wind farms, and fast, said Dan Cassino, a professor of government and politics at FDU and the director of the poll. But, the administration just hasnt convinced the public that its a good idea.

New Jersey lawmakers schedule hearing on marine mammal deaths TRENTON  State lawmakers are planning to hold what they're calling a "science-based" hearin

The poll was released one week before state lawmakers on the Assembly Science, Innovation and Technology Committee will hold a "scientific-based" hearing on marine mammal deaths, a trend on the East Coast that has been studied by the federal government since 2016, before work to develop wind farms off New Jersey began.

When asked about wind farm development without including public concerns over the mammal deaths, 42% of respondents said the project should continue, compared with 33% saying that it should be stopped, according to the Fairleigh Dickinson poll.

However, when the question alluded to the deaths, 28% said development should continue, while 46% said it should be discontinued.

The argument that the wind farms are hurting cute, smart animals just craters support, said Cassino. People concerned about the environment want to have green energy, but put that up against dolphins, and the dolphins are going to win every time.

The poll found the difference is mostly driven by Democrats. Among Democrats, who mostly favor expanding green-energy initiatives, citing the whale and dolphin deaths drops support for continued development of offshore wind by 24 points (from 65% to 41%). For Republicans, it reduces support by 12 points (from 27% to 15%).

Democrats are particularly likely to support offshore wind over Republicans and independents, the poll found.

Wind power project demands permit for Ocean City right-of-way OCEAN CITY  The front line of the battle over offshore wind power in New Jersey now appears

A majority (53%) of Democrats said development should be continued, with just 21% saying it should be stopped. Feelings are reversed for Republicans, with 21% supporting the projects and 62 %saying they should be stopped.

Independents neared a split, with 47% saying development should be suspended.

Opinions also vary between shoreline and inland counties.

Only 33% of people surveyed in Atlantic, Cape May, Ocean and Monmouth counties favor offshore wind coming to the Jersey Shore, compared to higher support from people in Essex, Hudson, Mercer, Middlesex and Union counties, the poll found.

This isnt a regional issue in New Jersey, said Cassino. Whether youre actually going to see the offshore wind farms doesnt matter nearly as much as whether youre a Republican or a Democrat.
A police officer wounded during a struggle with an armed pedestrian earlier this year has died from his injuries. Deptford Township police department says officer Robert Shisler died Sunday in the hospital where he had been treated since the March 10 incident, which also left the pedestrian dead. The 27-year-old Shisler had served on the force for four years. Authorities have said Shisler tried to stop 24-year-old Mitchell Negron Jr. as Negron walked on a roadway in Deptford, but Negron instead fled on foot. Shisler ran after him and both men were shot in an ensuing struggle. Negron was pronounced dead at the scene, while Shisler suffered a leg wound. Authorities have released few details about the shooting, including how it occurred.
Girls across the nation have done significantly better than boys in the Central Board of Secondary Educations (CBSE) Class X and XII board exam results that were declared on Friday.

In Class X results, girls scored 1.98 per cent higher than boys while in Class XII results, they beat them by 6.01 per cent. In the overall results, the highest pass percentage is higher among girls than boys.

While the CBSE Pune region is ranked eighth out of 14 regions across the country, its overall pass percentage is 87.28. In Class X results, the region registered 96.92 per cent and 87.28 in the Class XII results.

Among Kendriya Vidyalayas (KV) in the Pune region, Dhruv Wange of KV, Ganesh Khind Road, secured the first rank in Class X while Rohit Rao (95.8% Science) and Janhvi Rajale (94% Commerce) stood first in Class XII.

Shabana Khan, principal of KV, Ganesh Khind Road, said, I convey my warmest congratulations to all the successful students, their parents, and teachers. Your hard work, dedication, and perseverance have paid off.

This was the first batch to take the offline board exam after the Covid-19 pandemic. Pursuing online education for almost two years had created certain challenges for students, and teachers too. It has also left a trail of its effects behind. But we have successfully overcome all hardships and challenges. Success always goes to the ones who deserve it. I wish you all a very happy and prosperous future ahead.

The Orbis Schools have yet again secured a 100 per cent success rate in the CBSE examination. The top-performing students in their Keshav Nagar campus are Mihika Rawat (97.60%), Meenakshi Thakur (97.20%) Roshni Sreevani Gokeda (97%), Akshitha Madala (97%)  all Class X. In The Orbis School, Mundhwa, Chaitanya Tiwari (98.20%), Dnyaneshwari Kolhe (95.60%), and Vedashree Bhanage (94.40%) have come out shining in the Class X results.

Gunjan Srivastava, director-principal of The Orbis Schools, said, Its my delight and I congratulate the students, teachers, and parents for their efforts and contribution to this remarkable achievement. We congratulate all the toppers and their families for this achievement.

Sanskriti School (Bhukum campus) has scored 100% in Class X CBSE results. The schools toppers are Mitali Ingale (98%), Ishaan Sukhtanker (97.4%), and Karmanya Patil (97.2%).

Damini Joshi, principal of Sanskriti School (Bhukum campus), said, We are immensely proud of our students who achieved outstanding results in the X and XII board exams this year. The results reflect the enormous effort that each of our students has made. We are grateful to our teachers as well as our parent community without the support of whom this would not have been possible.

The examination of Class X and XII was conducted between February 15 to March 21. The results of Class XII have been announced in just 50 days and that of Class X in 36 days. This year, the pass percentage of Class X is 93.12 per cent, bettering the 91.10 per cent in 2019.

A total of 21,86,485 students registered for Class X and 16,96,349 students registered for Class XII final exams. The exams were conducted for a total number of 76 subjects for Class X and 115 subjects for Class XII.

The verification, photocopy, and re-evaluation process will start on May 16.

'No Merit List' decision

As per an earlier decision of the CBSE to avoid unhealthy competition among students, no merit list has been declared. Also, CBSE is not awarding first, second, or third divisions to its students. However, the board will issue a merit certificate to 0.1 per cent of students who have scored the highest marks in the subjects.

Results in nutshell

Class XII overall percentage: 87.33

Decrease in pass percentage: -5.38

(as compared to 2022 -- 92.71)

Girls do 6.01 per cent better than boys

Pass percentage of girls: 90.68

Pass percentage of boys: 84.67

Pass percentage of transgenders: 60

(In 2022 it was 100 per cent)

[All national figures]

Pune region pass percentage: 87.28

Class X overall percentage: 93.12

Decrease in pass percentage: -1.28

(as compared to 2022 -- 94.40)

Girls do 1.98 per cent better than boys

Pass percentage of girls: 94.25

Pass percentage of boys: 92.27

Pass percentage of transgenders: 90

(in 2022 it was 90 per cent)

[All national figures]

Pune region pass percentage: 96.92
A Davenport man was arrested Thursday, accused of sexually abusing a child in 2018. He previously was on the sex offender registry.

Michael John Cross was convicted in 2008 of lascivious acts with a child, and successfully petitioned the court to be taken off the sex offender registry and his lifetime parole in 2017,

Cross, formerly known as Michael John Byars, 34, is charged with one count of second-degree sexual abuse. Due to his conviction in 2008, the charge is a Class A felony that carries a sentence of life in prison.

According to the arrest affidavit filed by Davenport Police Detective Sean Johnson, police received a report of sexual abuse on May 4.

The affidavit states that, beginning at least in June of 2018, Cross sexually abused a child by pulling down the childs pants and underwear and touching the childs genitals. The abuse began when the child was three to four years old and occurred on multiple occasions.

During a first appearance on the charge Friday in Scott County District Court, Magistrate Eric Syverud scheduled a preliminary hearing in the case for May 19.

Cross was being held Friday night in the Scott County Jail on a $500,000 cash-only bond.

According to Scott County District Court electronic records, on Aug. 10, 2007, Cross, then known as Byars, was arrested on a charge of third-degree sexual abuse, a Class C felony that carries a prison sentence of 10 years. In a plea agreement, he pleaded guilty to a charge of lascivious acts with a child, also a Class C felony. Cross, who was born in 1989, was 18 at the time the abuse occurred in 2007.

On Jan. 10, 2008, District Judge J. Hobart Darbyshire sentenced him to 10 years in the Iowa Department of Corrections. On Nov. 3, 2009, Darbyshire granted Cross a reconsideration of sentence and placed him on supervised probation for two years.

Cross was arrested in 2013 for failing to register his job as a volunteer lobbyist in Des Moines. According to a story published April 2, 2013, in the Quad-City Times, Cross had spent months trying to lobby on behalf of legislation aimed at lifting lifetime parole status for some teenagers, himself included, who were convicted of sex crimes.

Cross pleaded guilty to a charge of sex offender registration violation-first offense and was sentenced to one year on unsupervised release.

In 2015, when he was still known as Byars, he was arrested on two counts of sex offender registration violation-providing false information-second offense. The charge is a Class D felony that carries a prison sentence of five years. He pleaded guilty to one of the counts and on July 16, 2015, District Judge Joel Barrows sentenced Cross to two years on supervised probation. He was discharged from probation on Sept. 1, 2017.

On July 21, 2017, Cross filed an application in Scott County District Court to modify the sex offender registry requirements seeking to get off of the registry and off of lifetime parole. On Oct. 5, 2017, District Judge Mark Lawson approved the application.

Scott Count Sheriff Tim Lane said Thursday night the law that allows sex offenders to be removed from the registry allows for the Department of Correctional Services to assess the offender. The sex offender then takes that assessment to the courts to support their claim that they should be removed from the registry.

Its the poorest law on the books in Iowa for protecting victims and is contrary to the purpose of the sex offender registry law, Lane said. So, last year the Iowa legislature looked at this law, and I did my best to lobby the Iowa House and Senate to take the assessment out of the hands of the Department of Correctional Services."

A private psychiatrist should do the assessments and the Department of Correctional Services should provide expert testimony on behalf of the County Attorneys Office, who would clearly want to find cases where obvious predators are being assessed as low risk to the public when clearly they are not, Lane said.

It was just a matter of time before a convicted Scott County sex offender reoffended, the sheriff said.

Theyre getting these people off the registry and then these people are turning around and making new victims, Lane said. The public should not stand for that.
Lutheran Services in Iowa has announced 20 people at its Davenport office will be laid off July 1.

According to the Iowa Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification List, other locations in the state will also be affected. In Burlington 19 employees are being laid off, five in Clinton, 10 in Dubuque, seven in Muscatine and three in Waverly.

The Des Moines-based company has its Davenport office at 111 W. 15th Street. A company representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday afternoon.

According to its website, Lutheran Services in Iowa offers mental health counseling, immigration and community services and foster care and adoption.

In 2022, it expanded its programs and services across Iowa and received a grant to fund a Trauma Informed Care Program at the North Iowa Juvenile Detention Center in Waterloo. This program provides individual and group therapy for Iowa youth, to help them deal with their trauma and work through it in a productive way, according to the website.

That same year, the clinical services team served 1,146 clients for a total of 14,669 therapy sessions across the state.

The end of an era for the Sisters of Charity of New York
Rock Island County authorities allege a Milan man robbed a couple at gunpoint when they tried to buy an iPhone from him in downtown Moline.

County prosecutors have charged Antonio M. Love, 19, with one count of aggravated robbery, based on an allegation that he took $550 from a person on April 1 at 101 18th St. in Moline, according to Rock Island County court records. He acted with another person for whom he is legally responsible.

The Moline Police Department said Thursday that a couple made arrangements at about 7:30 p.m., April 1, to buy the phone from Love near the 18th Street address (the Stoney Creek Hotel Quad Cities Moline). The phone was posted for sale on social media.

Love and another person met the couple in a vehicle outside Stoney Creek and robbed them at gunpoint, police said. No one was hurt.

The police and the court records did not provide more detail about the person who was with Love during the robbery.

Police said Love was arrested on May 1, and more charges are possible as the investigation continues.

He made his first appearance on the charge on May 2, according to court records, and his next hearing has been set for May 16.

His bail has been set at $50,000. To be released, he would have to post a $5,000 bond.

A mugshot of Love was not immediately available on Thursday.
Two men, one on pretrial release in Scott County and the other on mandatory supervised release in Illinois, were arrested Thursday after leading Davenport Police on a chase in a stolen car that ended at NorthPark Mall.

Kalin Marshaunn Hawkins, 27, of Davenport, the alleged driver of the stolen car, is charged with one count of first-degree theft, a Class C felony under Iowa law that carries a prison sentence of 10 years.

Hawkins also is charged with eluding while participating in a felony and eluding-speed 25 mph over limit-second offense. Each of those charges is a Class D felony that carries a prison sentence of five years.

Juwan Dupri Crawford, 23, of Davenport, is charged with one count of first-degree theft, and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm, a Class D felony.

According to the arrest affidavits filed by Davenport Police Officers Cory Hughes and Lucas Rusk, at 2:23 p.m. officers saw Hawkins get into a black Mercedes-Benz ML350 in the 6100 block of Brown Street. Hawkins was driving the vehicle.

Hawkins had a warrant for his arrest.

Officers attempted to stop the car near the intersection of 65th Street and Welcome Way with lights and sirens activated.

The vehicle fled to NorthPark Mall where it became disabled. Both Hawkins and Crawford attempted to flee on foot but were captured.

Officers ran the Vehicle Identification Number of the car and learned that it was stolen out of Will County, Illinois.

During a search of the vehicle officers located a Taurus handgun in the center console.

Police said it is the third vehicle pursuit since November 2022 where Hawkins has been the driver of the vehicle.

In addition to the felony charges, both men are charged with interference with official acts, a simple misdemeanor that carries a jail sentence of 30 days.

Hawkins also is charged with being a person ineligible to carry dangerous weapons, a serious misdemeanor that carries a jail sentence of up to one year.

Crawford has a conviction for first-degree theft in Scott County in 2019 for which he was sentenced to two years on probation.

On Oct. 22, 2021, Crawford pleaded guilty in Rock Island County Circuit Court to one count of possession with the intent to deliver crack cocaine. He was sentenced to four years in the Illinois Department of Corrections. He currently is on mandatory supervised release until July 5.

Hawkins currently is awaiting trial in Scott County District Court on a case from Nov. 20, 2022, in which he is charged with first-degree theft and first-degree criminal mischief, each a Class C felony.

In that case, Hawkins allegedly was driving a stolen Jeep Cherokee in excess of 90 mph down Harrison Street in Davenport while fleeing Davenport Police and Iowa State Patrol Troopers. During the chase Hawkins struck two Iowa State Patrol cruisers.

The Jeep was stolen out of Matheson, Illinois, and Hawkins also is charged in that case with eluding and assault while participating in a felony, both Class D felonies, along with operating while intoxicated-second offense, an aggravated misdemeanor that carries a prison sentence of two years.

During a first appearance on the charges Friday in Scott County District Court, Magistrate Eric Syverud scheduled a preliminary hearing on the charges for both men for May 19.

Syverud set Crawford's bond on the Scott County charges at $15,000, cash or surety. Crawford also was being held on a $5,000 bond, 10%, for a warrant out of Rock Island County.

Syverud set Hawkins' bond was set at $21,000 total, cash or surety, for the new Scott County offenses. He also was being held on bonds totaling $20,000, or 10%, for arrest warrants out of Rock Island County.

Both men remained in the Scott County Jail on Friday.

Photos: Flood waters receding Saturday, cleanup to begin along the river
IOWA CITY and URBANDALE  Vivek Ramaswamy started an event on a swing through Iowa this week with a promise: Were not going to be angry tonight.

Tonight we're going to start a little curious, he said.

The 37-year-old biotech entrepreneur is making a long-shot, largely self-funded campaign for the Republican nomination for president. And hes doing it, in part, by lobbing hard-line conservative policies  including his suggestion in Dallas County on Thursday to institute duty based voting for ages 18-24.

Ramaswamys proposal, which would require a constitutional amendment, would raise the voting age from 18 to 25, unless a person is in the military, a first responder or passes the U.S. citizenship test.

Its the latest of a number of proposals  dismantling the Department of Education, stationing the U.S. military at the southern border and using military force on Mexican drug cartels, and reversing affirmative action policies  that are part of his promise to take former President Donald Trumps America First agenda far further, by exerting powers in ways Trump never did.

Eliminating the Department of Education would have sweeping implications on the administration of federal education grants, student loans, and how students civil rights protections are enforced. The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 prohibits the use of the military for civil law enforcement, unless expressly authorized by law. And any constitutional amendment would require buy-in from two-thirds of the states or of Congress.

Diverging from Trump, Ramaswamy packages his right-wing agenda as a message of unity and a cohesive national identity rather than addressing grievances.

And I think we can do that if were doing it based on first principles and moral authority, not just vengeance and grievance, Ramaswamy said of pushing forward an America First platform that emphasizes American exceptionalism.

Campaigning across the state, Ramaswamy said he believes the country is in the middle of a national identity crisis. One he said has been caused by turning away from the founding values of the country, where success by merit and adherence to the rule of law  values that wooed immigrants like his parents to Ohio  have disappeared to be replaced by wokeness and cults of racial victimhood, radical gender ideology and climate culture.

Faith, patriotism, hard work, family, these things have disappeared, he said, adding he wants to fill that void with a vision of American national identity that runs so deep that it dilutes this woke poison.

Voting age amendment

Speaking to a crowd gathered at Royal Flooring in Urbandale on Thursday, Ramaswamy pitched raising the voting age as a solution to what he sees as a decline in national pride for the next generation.

The requirements  that a person spend six months in the military or as a first responder, or otherwise pass the U.S. citizenship test  would instill young people with a sense of duty, Ramaswamy said.

When I think about young Americans today, I see a deficit of national pride because I see a deficit of duty, he said. You don't value that country you inherited. You will only value a country you have a stake in building and knowing something about.

Ramaswamy acknowledged the view may not be popular, but he said he believes he can convince voters.

I don't believe in just giving people dopamine hits by telling them what they believe. I believe in telling them what I believe, and if they don't agree with me, persuade them of it, he said.

George Pierson, a 20-year-old, Republican Iowa native who attends college in Washington, D.C., said the idea is thought provoking and he likes the citizenship test portion, but he was not fully convinced. He said he worries about the effect the policy would have on getting young people, who already have low voter turnout, engaged in politics.

Part of me is thinking about the implications of that, of voter turnout and younger people getting engaged, he said. If younger people have to demonstrate civic proficiency and voter material, then should older people have to do the same thing as well?

Iowa Democratic state Reps. Sami Scheetz, 27, of Cedar Rapids, and Adam Zabner, 23, of Iowa City  among the youngest members of the Iowa House  criticized the proposal as an attempt to disenfranchise young Iowans.

We support voting rights for all adults and we believe that our democracy is stronger when young people engage in the process, the pair said in a statement. If Republicans are concerned about the political power of young Iowans, they should work to earn their support rather than working to strip their voices. Republicans should work with us on issues that concern our generation like gun safety, protecting reproductive freedom, and legalizing marijuana.

Path to the nomination

Relatively unknown when he launched his campaign in February, Ramaswamy has been gaining the interest of Republican primary voters. Polls, both nationally and in New Hampshire, show him on the rise in the Republican field.

In one CBS poll released last week, the son of Indian immigrants from Ohio and the GOPs first millennial presidential candidate managed to tie with former Vice President Mike Pence in third place among likely Republican voters, ahead of establishment figures such as former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, South Carolina U.S. Sen. Tim Scott and former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson.

Trump, however, remains popular among Republican voters, despite his myriad legal troubles and GOP voters in the state who say theyre keeping an open mind and eyeing an alternative  someone without the constant turmoil, who is less controversial and has a compelling backstory and an upbeat message that can inspire the next generation.

Youre aware that your biggest obstacle is going to be defeating Donald Trump for the nomination, 19-year-old University of Iowa student Kyle Clare asked Ramaswamy during a Q&A in Iowa City.

Clare pointedly asked whether Ramaswamy is truly running to win the nomination, rather than looking for some other gain.

And why should someone who is voting for Donald Trump choose you instead? he asked.

Ramaswamy said while he and Trump have a relationship of mutual respect, I am running this race to win.

He pitched himself as a more energetic, but less divisive version of Trump.

Ive got fresh legs. Im the outsider in this race, Ramaswamy said to a group of about 60 gathered in a rooftop ballroom at Courtyard by Marriott in Iowa City for the Johnson County Republican Central Committee Dinner.

I think you get to be the outsider once. (Trump) was the outsider in 2015, said Ramaswamy.

Clare, the UI student, said he appreciates seeing younger people in politics. And while Ramaswamy could become an important part of the future of the Republican Party, Clare doesnt foresee supporting him in Iowas first-in-the-nation Republican presidential caucus.

I lean more toward DeSantis as this moment, he said. Vivek, he could do great things, but I think (executive) experience matters. ... Its two things for me, electability and experience. Hes unproven. Thats my thing.

Eric Rosenthal of Cedar Rapids, a former Linn County Republican Party chairman, said theres a large chunk of Iowa evangelical voters like himself open to a White House hopeful other than Trump.

Rosenthal supported Texas U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, who won the 2016 Iowa GOP caucuses.

Asked whether Trumps recent legal battles  including being found liable this week by a New York jury for sexually abusing and defaming an advice columnist nearly three decades ago  will cause him trouble with Iowas influential evangelical voters, Rosenthal said that remains to be seen.

For a lot of evangelical voters they want a personal story that aligns with their values, he said. And thats a big deal. To say it doesnt matter, thats ridiculous. These things matter.

That, he said, gives candidates like Ramaswamy and Tim Scott an opening with Iowa GOP voters.

Ramaswamy plans to take that opening and run with it. His path to the nomination, he said, starts with finishing among the top three candidates in Iowas first-in-the-nation caucuses, then winning first or second in New Hampshire, the first primary state.

The race is turned upside down, I think its wide open for us after that, he said.

PHOTOS: Former President Trump rallies in Sioux City Trump rallies support for Reynolds, Grassley in Sioux City Trump rallies support for Reynolds, Grassley in Sioux City Trump rallies support for Reynolds, Grassley in Sioux City Trump rallies support for Reynolds, Grassley in Sioux City Trump rallies support for Reynolds, Grassley in Sioux City Trump rallies support for Reynolds, Grassley in Sioux City Trump rallies support for Reynolds, Grassley in Sioux City Trump rallies support for Reynolds, Grassley in Sioux City Trump rallies support for Reynolds, Grassley in Sioux City Trump rallies support for Reynolds, Grassley in Sioux City Trump rallies support for Reynolds, Grassley in Sioux City Trump rallies support for Reynolds, Grassley in Sioux City Trump rallies support for Reynolds, Grassley in Sioux City Trump rallies support for Reynolds, Grassley in Sioux City Trump rallies support for Reynolds, Grassley in Sioux City Trump rallies support for Reynolds, Grassley in Sioux City Trump rallies support for Reynolds, Grassley in Sioux City Trump rallies support for Reynolds, Grassley in Sioux City Trump rallies support for Reynolds, Grassley in Sioux City Trump rallies support for Reynolds, Grassley in Sioux City Trump rallies support for Reynolds, Grassley in Sioux City Trump rallies support for Reynolds, Grassley in Sioux City Trump rallies support for Reynolds, Grassley in Sioux City Trump rallies support for Reynolds, Grassley in Sioux City Trump rallies support for Reynolds, Grassley in Sioux City Trump rallies support for Reynolds, Grassley in Sioux City Trump rallies support for Reynolds, Grassley in Sioux City Trump rallies support for Reynolds, Grassley in Sioux City Trump rallies support for Reynolds, Grassley in Sioux City Trump rallies support for Reynolds, Grassley in Sioux City Trump rallies support for Reynolds, Grassley in Sioux City Trump rallies support for Reynolds, Grassley in Sioux City Trump rallies support for Reynolds, Grassley in Sioux City Trump rallies support for Reynolds, Grassley in Sioux City Trump rallies support for Reynolds, Grassley in Sioux City Former Pres. Donald Trump rallies for support in Sioux City (full speech) WATCH NOW: Sen. Chuck Grassley speaks at Trump rally WATCH NOW: Gov. Kim Reynolds speaks at Trump rally
South Dakota is the fifth most productive beef industry in the country. The state also contains over four cows per person, more than any other state and it isnt even close. Of the four states producing more cattle, only Texas has fewer cows per square mile.

With product quality second to none and the population of consumers soaring, the South Dakota beef industry has tremendous growth potential, but it will take a monumental cooperative effort from independent meat processors to massively increase capacity. That work is already underway from local ranchers, business owners and investors to open new processing plants and train dozens of workers to counter what's viewed as anticompetitive practices by the industrys most dominant players.

Economic shift to independent processors

In 1977, the four largest beef packers, also known as processors, controlled 25% of beef supply; that number is now 85%, according to the most recent data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The oligopolistic dominance of the four largest meat packers, Cargill, JBS USA, Tyson Foods and Marfrig, is at a critical choke point in the industry where a single failure like a structure fire, data hack or disease outbreak can jeopardize the entire supply chain. It also gives them the ability to wield their economic power on consumers and ranchers alike.

The issue took center stage during the pandemic when the big four meat packers recorded record high earnings by increasing prices on consumers and underpaying ranchers for their cattle. White House economic advisers led by National Economic Council Director Brian Deese wrote an analysis published on the White House website about a year ago concerning the quarterly earnings statements of top meat processors. They reported gross profits increased more than 120% and net income by 500% compared to before the pandemic.

Though price increases could increase along with input costs, the earning statements prove this was not the case as their profit margins surged during the pandemic.

Gross margins are up 50% and net margins are up over 300%. If rising input costs were driving rising meat prices, those profit margins would be roughly flat, because higher prices would be offset by the higher costs, the White House analysis said. Instead, were seeing the dominant meat processors use their market power to extract bigger and bigger profit margins for themselves.

Further, meat prices are still the single largest contributor to the rising cost of food people consume at home, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and during the pandemic beef prices increased some 20%. Prices are still on the rise as grocery shoppers paid over 8% more for groceries this year compared to last, according to the bureau.

Rancher dissatisfaction with underpayment for their beef, along with customer preference for locally sourced meats, led to increased demand for independent, locally owned meat processors.

Frustrations among producers were so intense President of the South Dakota Cattlemen's Association, Eric Jennings, said he received at least one call a week during the pandemic from South Dakota producers wanting to invest in a packing plant.

They weren't just making complaints, they were trying to solve the problem and working towards a long-term solution, Jennings said. They were so frustrated with not being able to get anything processed that they wanted to see if any facilities were available or if other people were willing to start a co-op or whatever they needed to do to make it happen.

Jennings, who owns and operates a beef cattle ranch with his wife Michelle in Spearfish, said a slow in processing was inevitable because packers had to close due to COVID-19. The industry got it especially hard because lower temperatures, cramped conditions and long hours made for perfect conditions for the virus. Most notabl was the case of Smithfield pork factory in Sioux Falls that earned national coverage for the nearly 900 reported cases among plant employees.

With processing plants shutting down across the country, there were over a million head of cattle in feedlots to be slaughtered. Despite a slow in production and grocery stores closing, consumers still wanted beef products. The solution was to go straight to producers. The adverse pricing conditions experienced by producers was a reaction to the increased demand for local beef, Jennings said.

Packers had more fat cattle available than they could possibly process and consumers, with their stimulus money, couldn't go out to eat at their favorite restaurant so by golly they were going to buy a lot of beef and eat food at home, Jennings said. This created the perfect conditions for everyone in the industry, except producers, he said. Processors, retailers, wholesalers all of them didn't have to pay very much for cattle, but yet they could charge a lot for the meat going out the door. That created a lot of frustration, but it also exposed the fact that we were short on packing capacity in the nation.

Hearing the warnings signs, U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order in July that dedicated $1 billion in American Rescue Plan funds for expansion of independent processing capacity.

Increase competition and create more options for producers and consumers in the near-term by jump-starting independent processing projects that will increase competition and enhance the resiliency of the food supply chain, the proclamation read.

Though the grants are a step in the right direction, putting a dent in the big four market shares is an enormous obstacle. Especially for South Dakotans, considering the largest beef processing plant in the country is on their southeasternmost border in Nebraska. That Tyson Foods plant is capable of processing 7,000 head of cattle every day.

Statewide cooperative

Though producers in the area have easy access to the massive Tyson Foods plant, there is still plenty of demand for processing, according to Justin Morehouse, who plans to open his own plant called the Meathouse in Andover, South Dakota.

Since the beginning stages of the building process in 2020, Morehouse, who also part owns and operates a feedlot and ranch on the property, said he receives constant inquiry from ranchers as far as a hundred miles away hoping to reserve slaughter dates for their cattle to be processed. Capable of processing 1,500 head of cattle a year, the Meathouse has received enough calls to reach a third of its yearly capacity so far. The booking inquiries come even before advertising has begun, the building has been completed, or an actual reservation list has been created.

Some people have already asked if we can build a second location closer to them because their local one is maxed out and most other ones are booked out over a year, Morehouse said. How many places are going to have to pop up until it starts making a dent in one of the big four? Just one of them at one of their facilities, let alone all their locations.

Though the industry is rich with feverous investors to help fund the construction of packing plants, human capital is another issue. Morehouse said the biggest hurdle to opening the Meathouse will be finding workers.

Everyone tells me good luck finding help and its a real issue everywhere. There aren't as many cutters as there used to be even 10 years ago, Morehouse said. Its not an easy job. It's work. These guys definitely dont have to go to the gym when they get done. But people should not be afraid to work a little bit because it is very rewarding to take an animal and turn it into a quality product people want.

Within South Dakota, processors do not tend to see themselves as competitors. Various plants are constantly collaborating to offer different types of training that may expose new workers to the industry. Last week, Morehouse visited Ken Charfauros at his Wall processing facility to share ideas, processes and to get Morehouses workers trained before their facility opens later this summer.

The three freshman cutters stayed for a week with Charfauros and his family, who also work in the plant including his wife and fellow owner, Janet Niehaus. Morehouse said his workers, who had not previously met each other, enjoyed their time and brought back valuable skills and life lessons.

It was really eye-opening to them to see how Ken and his family work together all the time. Just seeing that was so important because they hadnt met each other and just after a week you wouldnt have guessed it because they get along so well, Morehouse said. It will really make a difference here because now they know that feeling. They see how much you can get done with a group that you enjoy being around and that makes a huge difference.

The experience shows the cooperative relationship processors across the state have to supply a quality service to producers and a quality product to consumers. A stark contrast many compare to corporate processors.

Morehouse and his siblings have children who hope to live on the family ranch. He said he's opening his own plant to simply grow the property big enough to support everyone. A major aspect of their growth is getting federally inspected by the USDA, which allows them to sell product across state lines which Morehouse said he needs to expand the business to help his growing family.

SD has some of the best beef in the country

If all goes according to plan, the Meathouse would be South Dakotas eighth beef plant to be federally inspected by the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) as required by the Federal Meat Inspection Act.

Though small packing plants can become federally inspected, many of them would have to switch to federal inspection under the USDA, which could mean changes to the processes and familiar inspectors they have been using for years. This is why the USDA began the Cooperative Interstate Shipment (CIS) program that brings state and federal meat inspectors together to help smaller packing plants and producers reach a wider customer base. Individual meat processing companies can apply to the program and undergo inspections by both state and federal inspectors to ensure conditions are up to USDA standards.

Qualifying CIS establishments must employ fewer than 25 employees and are limited to the 27 states that have established a Meat and Poultry Inspection program.

Director of the South Dakota MPI program Dr. Wendell Miller said the CIS program is not for everyone and some processors are simply not interested in shipping product out of the state because they are currently busy enough.

There's a lot of family-owned establishments in South Dakota that have been in the business a long time and they're just happy with the business model they've had for years, Miller said. The program is largely an aggressive marketing campaign to help producers by showing the country the quality of South Dakota beef. We're very proud of our state program and the product that comes out of it, so we really wanted state-inspected product to be able to cross state lines because we're already at least equal to federal level inspection standards.

The first South Dakota establishment to earn entry into the program was Wall Meats, which stamped the first cattle in the state with the USDA CSI carcass stamp last week. Part-owner Charfauros said he has received inquiry from customers in California, Wisconsin, Arizona and a restaurant owner in upper Michigan.

John Houtari, part-owner of Henrys Steakhouse in Kingsford, Michigan, has been closely following Wall Meats and excitedly waiting for the day he can use their steak in his restaurant. He tried a Wall Meats steak not long after the plant opened in 2017 and was blown away.

Weve received steaks from New York, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Texas and the Wall Meats quality is superior to everything, Houtari said. Ken and his whole team are always cranking up to the next higher standard even if they have to create the standard.

Supplying Wall Meats beef products at his restaurant would be a lucrative decision, Houtari said, and he hopes to get his business partners on board by conducting a blind taste test. He is confident the partners will choose Wall Meats because he shared a steak with one of his meat suppliers who thought the great-tasting steak was one of his own, he said.

We never did have the heart to tell him it wasnt one of his, Houtari said. The beef his restaurant is currently supplied with simply does not compare. "There's got to be something in the grasses they eat or the way they're handled in the feedlots. I don't know what it is, but there's something unique about the whole situation. So, Ken [Charfauros] sharing South Dakota beef across the nation is just smart.

The owners of Wall Meat Processing, Charfauros, Niehaus and Tom Fitch, were recently awarded a $3.3 million federal grant as part of the current administration's executive order to grow the nation's independent processing capacity. The money will be used to build a 30,000-square-foot meat processing plant in New Underwood that will include a training center fit with an audiovisual display and full kitchen to show how to properly prepare meat.

Federally funded and inspected, the new facility, to be called I-90 Meats, will have the capability to process 4,000 head of beef, pork, lamb and bison annually.

The big processors and federally inspected plants acquire beef from around the country and world, but Charfauros is focused on South Dakota. To support local producers, each package of meat he sells says the name of the producer on it. If customers like that steak, then they can order a quarter, half or full cow directly from the producer for cheaper than they would by buying separate packages at the store. Since the meat would be processed by a USDA inspected plant, the producers can sell to customers in all 50 states including restaurants, federal installations and schools.

Our steaks arent coming from China, Argentina, Texas, or anywhere else. We're entering the market with South Dakota beef. This is beef country and we produce some of the best beef in the world, Charfauros said. We are fighting together for the right reasons, and we haven't even hit the tip of the iceberg.
When he left the U.S. Marine Corps in 1983, after spending six years at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, Ronald Lawson was a strong, healthy man with a barrel chest, strong arms and a solid frame that carried his 220 pounds with ease.

He was a roofer and mechanic who loved to fish and camp and spend days at a time enjoying the outdoors.

But roughly a decade ago, Lawsons health and life began to change. In a period of about eight years, his knees and back gave out, he lost vision in one eye, he suffered severe stomach and intestinal pain, and he woke up one day with a lump the size of a goose egg in his neck that turned out to be Stage 4 throat cancer.

Lawson, who never smoked, was stunned at the pace and severity of his sudden illnesses.

I was never sick a day in my life, and cancer doesnt run in either side of my family, he said.

During a recent visit to a Veterans Administration hospital in Sturgis, a doctor asked Lawson if he spent time at Camp Lejeune. In an instant, the doctors question dovetailed with all the TV commercials Lawson had been seeing about veterans who served at Lejeune and are suffering from cancer and other serious sickness.

The ads are sponsored by attorneys who are seeking clients who spent time at the North Carolina base from 1953 to 1987 and were known to be exposed to drinking water contaminated with toxic substances.

I suddenly knew where all my problems had come from, Lawson, 65, said from a couch in the one-bedroom subsidized Meade County apartment where he spends most of his time. The toxic water caused my cancer and all this stuff, theres no doubt about that.

Lawsons physical condition continues to worsen.

He speaks in a growl that is hard to understand because radiation damaged his vocal cords. He weighs only 130 pounds and is frail from nerve damage throughout his body. He cannot eat or swallow normally, so he consumes half a dozen bottles of Ensure protein drink through a portal in his stomach each day. He takes 19 medications twice a day for pain, to sleep and to prevent constipation and other side effects from his medication regimen.

Im a shell of a man now, Lawson said, taking a sip of soda with shaking hands.

Next up, Lawson will learn if he has Parkinsons disease, another condition caused by the water at Camp Lejeune and which could be the cause of his increasing instability and shaking.

Lawson has contacted the Sokolove Law Firm and hopes for a financial settlement, which has been approved by the U.S. Congress to compensate military veterans and civilians. The federal government acknowledges they were sickened by the toxic water at Lejeune.

Despite that assurance, Lawson isnt sure if he will ever collect.

They say it might be settled in two years, but I might not be alive in two years, he said.

The federal government, and now Congress, have essentially acknowledged without qualification that people who spent 30 days or more at Camp Lejeune or nearby Marine Corps Air Station New River were exposed to toxic chemicals that entered into water treatment plants at the bases.

According to the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, an arm of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the contaminants came from a dry-cleaning company near the bases and leached into two water systems there.

In a statement on its website, the agency concluded that past exposures from the 1950s through February 1985 to trichloroethylene (TCE), tetrachloroethylene (PCE), vinyl chloride, and other contaminants in the drinking water at Camp Lejeune likely increased the risk of cancers (kidney, multiple myeloma, leukemias, and others), adverse birth outcomes, and other adverse health effects of residents (including infants and children), civilian workers, Marines and Naval personnel.

When the water toxicity was discovered in 1982, the agency reported that PCE levels in drinking water supplied to the base and family housing had 1,400 parts per billion, about 280 times the safe level of 5 ppb. The level of TCE found was 215 ppb, or 40 times the safe level, the agency said. The agency said benzene, vinyl chloride and dichloroethylene (DCE) were also present in the camp water.

According to the VA website section on Camp Lejeune, veterans and civilians may qualify for medical coverage or compensation payments if they served or lived a month or more at Camp Lejeune, were not dishonorably discharged and suffer from one of a long list of presumptive illnesses that include numerous cancers as well as female infertility, miscarriage or in-utero conditions. The site also includes information about how to apply for health coverage or payments.

In 2022, Congress passed the Camp Lejeune Justice Act, which was part of the larger Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act (PACT Act). It gave military veterans and civilian employees the ability to sue the government to obtain medical benefits and financial compensation for injuries or illnesses suffered due to exposure to toxic substances in the line of duty or work.

The act expanded the number of qualifying illnesses and added new categories of potential claimants, including those exposed to the defoliant Agent Orange and, more recently, veterans exposed to toxic burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan.

President Joe Biden signed the act, which also prevents the government from making its usual claims of immunity.

Republican U.S. Sens. John Thune and Mike Rounds of South Dakota initially opposed the expansions within the PACT Act, but both eventually voted in favor of the measure.

While pointing to logistical concerns over implementation of the PACT Act and potential costs, U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-South Dakota, voted against the program, which could cost $280 billion over the next decade.

In a written statement sent to News Watch, Thune said he supported the act after amendments made by GOP colleagues made it tenable. Both he and Rounds earlier told News Watch they were concerned if the current VA system could handle the influx of new PACT patients.

Veterans pledged their lives to the service of our country and they took upon themselves the burden of defending liberty for the rest of us. We must stand behind our promise to care for them when they return home, Thune wrote.

Rounds also sent a statement to News Watch, offering much the same sentiments.

I supported the PACT Act and a provision within the law that provided long overdue relief to former service members, their families and staff who were exposed to contaminated drinking water and toxic materials at Camp Lejeune. Those who have been impacted served our country honorably and suffered far too long, Rounds wrote. As a member of the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs, I remain committed to making sure these men and women receive the care they have earned. While this law is not perfect, it was a step in the right direction. I think improvements can continue to be made.

Attorney Patrick R. Burns was born in Vermillion, grew up in Sioux Falls and has a law degree from the University of South Dakota. He now practices in Minneapolis.

Hes also a former U.S. Army lawyer licensed in South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin and so far has about 260 clients who are part of the Lejeune class action suit.

His clients suffer from a variety of illnesses, and some lost children due to the contamination, he said. One client group includes a father, mother and their child.

Burns said the government will use a formula to determine potential settlement offers, which he said could range from the tens of thousands of dollars potentially up to millions.

Theres tens of thousands of people affected by this, he said. Whats the value of a human life that has been cut short or altered?

Like other lawyers handling Camp Lejeune claims, Burns will take 40% of financial settlements provided by the government, which he said is common practice in product liability or negligence cases in which attorneys work on a contingency basis.

Gene Ridenour, 73, is part of a classic American military family.

His late father, Gene Ridenour Sr., served in the Army in World War II. Gene served as a Marine in Vietnam. His son, Gene III, won a Bronze Star for valor as an Army intelligence officer in Iraq in 2009.

Ridenour, a native of Sioux Falls who still lives north of downtown, enlisted in the Marines and served as a machine gun operator during the Vietnam War for part of 1968 and all of 1969. He was stationed at Camp Lejeune for about six months after he returned from combat.

Several years ago, Ridenour lost use of his leg, which he attributes to diabetes brought on by exposure to the toxic defoliant Agent Orange during his service in Vietnam. Since then, he has made his way around with a prosthetic aid.

But in 2015, Ridenour noticed a new health problem while using the restroom at a Hy-Vee grocery store and seeing that his urine was as red as ketchup.

Ridenour was diagnosed with a bladder infection, but the trip to the doctor led to a further diagnosis of bladder cancer, among the most common cancers related to the toxic water at Camp Lejeune.

Ridenour had bladder tumors removed and received chemotherapy.

Ridenour said he signed up for the Camp Lejeune settlement to learn more about what happened at the camp and possibly to receive compensation, though he isnt holding out hope for a major windfall.

I dont give a damn if I get money or not, to be honest with you. And if I did get money it would probably be taxi fare or something because the lawyers are going to take all of it, he said.

Ridenour said he feels terribly for veterans who drank toxic water but even more so for the women and children who lived on the base.

Think of all the married women who had babies and the civilian workers who were on that base, he said. They all drank the water, obviously, and whos going to fight for them?

Ridenour said he still supports the Marine Corps, but he is angry with the federal government.

Im mad because they should have known, and somebody screwed up, he said. Im pissed off because all these years later, you find out about this stuff. We are Vietnam veterans, and we served honorably, but Im not proud of the way they treated us.

Burns, the Minneapolis lawyer, said some potential clients are afraid of suing because theyve been misled or inaccurately told that a settlement related to Lejeune could jeopardize future VA benefits. Some also believe they may be forced to repay the government for coverage already received, he said.

Past, current and future VA benefits will not be affected by a Lejeune settlement, he said.

Burns said the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General Corps has been tasked with handling the Lejeune cases, but staffing and technology issues have slowed claim processing.

He said he hopes that even with a large number of claimants, affected people should begin to see settlement offers and possibly payments by the end of 2023 or early 2024.

Its not the lawyers or the injured people that are delaying it. Its on the government side, Burns said.

Despite any logistical delays, Burns said the Lejeune restitution law should lead to fairly rapid settlements, as it largely takes away the need for clients to prove their illnesses are caused by toxic water.

Whats unique about this law is that it really reduces the typical causation and liability elements associated with most mass tort cases, he said. Theres no fight about how it happened. If you can show you were there and you have these certain illnesses, theres a presumption it was caused by consuming the water.

John Ercink, 76, grew up on a farm near Claire City in the northeast corner of South Dakota.

Ercink knew he was about to be drafted and enlisted in the Marine Corps after graduating from New Effington High School. He was sent to Vietnam in June 1966, where he served more than a year as a heavy artillery operator who also did foot patrols as a rifleman.

When I got out of high school, I was going to church and church programs, and the next thing I knew I was going to Vietnam as an 18-year-old who the Marine Corps had trained to kill, he said.

Ercink said he experienced the worst of war while in Vietnam, including the death of close friends.

Upon return to the States, many veterans were harassed by anti-war protesters, and Ercink began to suffer Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, both from his time in war and from the war at home.

We got shot up all the time. And as you first come back, you try to push this stuff away from you. But I can never forget that country and what it smelled like, and what the war was like and what blood smells like, he said. And then the protesters hated veterans. They were protesting not against the war, but against the warriors, throwing things at you, and it put a lot of stress on us.

After a 30-day leave spent back home in South Dakota, Ercink was sent to Camp Lejeune, where he lived for about six months in barracks on the base, drinking and bathing in toxic water.

You take orders when youre in the service  you go where they send you, Ercink said. You cant say, Im not going there, because the water isnt safe to drink on the base, you just go.

His war memories, coupled with exposure to the defoliant Agent Orange and then the toxic water at Camp Lejeune, have left Ercink with a host of medical conditions.

He has nightmares and restless leg syndrome that make it hard to sleep, constant ringing in his ears, neuropathy that has damaged the nerves in his legs and feet, and he has had both colon cancer and prostate cancer. Ercink said he also had part of his colon removed and had radiation for prostate cancer, and is doing somewhat better and still working his land.

And while he cant be sure that toxic water at Camp Lejeune is to blame for his cancer, Ercink notes that neither form of cancer runs in his family.

Like I say, I was a healthy young man when I went into the service, and I came back not so healthy, he said. Ive got all this medical crap going on and it sure wasnt from farming. It was all related to the toxic water or exposure to chemicals during the Asian vacation as we called it, the 13 months spent in Vietnam.

After his honorable discharge from the Marines, Ercink returned to Roberts County where he farmed and owned a gas station before retiring. He has three children and eight grandchildren and lives near Lake City, S.D., with his wife who is his constant companion.

Ercink called the Sokolove Law Firm of Minnesota after seeing a TV commercial about toxic water at Camp Lejeune, and he has shared his military and medical history with the firm.

While he believes the lawyers involved in the class action suit deserve about 20% of any settlement and not the 40% they will likely take, he hopes to get a financial settlement to supplement the small VA disability money and Social Security income he receives each month.

Its hard to make ends meet with the income Ive got, he said.

Ercink said he doesnt spend time placing blame for the mistakes that led to the contamination at Camp Lejeune. But he remains angry that more care wasnt taken to protect veterans and civilians who served their country.

Im ducking bullets for 13 and a half months, and I was hoping to go back to civilian life, and then I get exposed to toxic water? he said. If there was toxic water there that long, somebody was not checking things responsibly, and I sure hope theyve learned something from it.

While Lawson, the Marine from Sturgis, predicts he may not live long enough to see a settlement, he said that if he were to receive any money, he would travel to be with his extended family in North Carolina.

Im not able to do a lot anymore, but Id move back home to be with my family before we all die off, he said.

Lawson holds no hard feelings toward the Marine Corps, which he still loves. But hes angry that people in the federal government didnt do more to protect people living and working at Camp Lejeune.

Somebody in the government knew about this and didnt do anything about it, which is pretty depressing, he said.

While Lawson is angry over his exposure to toxic water, he refuses to give in to bitterness.

I drank, bathed and ate food cooked in that contaminated water, and Im mad as hell about that, he said. But what are you going to do about it? Sit here and complain every day? That isnt me because I consider myself a strong man and Im not going to go down to that level. Youve got to live the life you have as best you can.

This article was produced by South Dakota News Watch, a non-profit journalism organization located online at sdnewswatch.org.
A completely packed courtroom in the Pennington County Courthouse applauded Thursday when the judge sentenced a man to 70 years in prison with 15 suspended for the 2021 Halloween killing of 24-year-old Dhani Aronson, whose death brought pain and anger to the multitude of people attending in his memory.

"I will not have this in this court," said Circuit Court Judge Stacy Wickre.

Andrew Thorson, 31, pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter on April 13, a charge that holds the possibility of life in prison. He was originally charged with second-degree murder, which carries a mandatory life sentence.

Thorson was arrested on Nov. 2, 2021, a day after Aronson's body was found in a ditch along Wilderness Canyon Road off Highway 16 Southeast of Rapid City. He had been shot twice in the head.

Court documents indicate 25-year-old Jacob Staton and Thorson picked up Aronson at his apartment on Riley Avenue in Rapid City at about 9 p.m. on Oct. 31, 2021 after going there to buy marijuana.

Staton drove the borrowed Ford F150. Aronson sat in the front passenger seat, and Staton sat in the backseat directly behind him.

Thorson claimed in his presentence investigation interview he was waving the gun around and quickly grabbed it when he thought he was going to drop it, accidently firing it twice, Wickre said.

The judge called the explanation, "questionable at best."

Wickre said Facebook messages showed Thorson discussing killing Aronson in the same way it happened.

Deputy Pennington County State's Attorney Adam Shiffermiller said Thorson characterized the messages as a "morbid joke."

"Nothing about this case is a morbid joke," Shiffermiller said.

The prosecutor said  after noting his hesitation to use the word  that it was "lucky" one of the bullets went into the vehicle's dash and caused it to break down.

This forced Thorson and Staton, who Shiffermiller did not directly name at the hearing, to stop the vehicle and dump Aronson's body in what the judge called a "careless and heedless manner."

Wickre said Thorson's attempts to hide the crime were aggravating factors in her deciding his sentence.

Those attempts included dumping the gun in a lake, hiding Aronson's wallet, trying to clean the blood out of the truck, and lying to law enforcement about the damage in the vehicle.

Staton and Thorson were both arrested on Nov. 2, 2021, a day after Aronson's body was found. Staton was charged with accessory to a felony. His case is pending.

She also said Thorson's "lack of acceptance for responsibility" and the fact he didn't try to help Aronson or call for emergency services were other aggravating factors that led her to sentence him to 20 years more than what the state and defense had agreed on.

"This plea agreement has bothered me," she said.

The 50-year recommendation by the state and the defense bothered Aronson's family as well, including Samuel Akers and April Akers, Aronson's father and stepmother.

"I don't think he needs to see light again," his father said. "This man planned to kill Dahni Aronson, my son, my friend. I'll never have him back."

The grieving father said the killing was "no accident."

"You drove several miles with his body in the car," he said.

His stepmother said, "God gave him to me. You took him away," before looking directly at the judge and asking her to "please give him life."

Samuel Akers talked about how his son left behind his two daughters, one who is 9 years old, and the other who is almost two years old. He said Aronson's five-year-old brother asks for him, and his nine-year-old brother has his photos all over his bedroom.

"50 years. That's not enough," he said.

As for Thorson, he kept his remarks short as his family sat in the jury box, separate from the rest of the room.

"I just wanna apologize to Dahni's family for the pain that I caused them. I'll be dwelling on the repercussions of my actions for my whole life," he said.

Thorson's attorney, John Murphy, urged the court to consider the joint recommendation of 50 years. Murphy said his client has "never failed" to recognize the pain he caused Aronson's family.

"My client is remarkably inarticulate for a man of his intelligence," Murphy said.

Murphy said Thorson is the type of person to express himself through actions more than words, and "he has remorse."

The lawyer noted Thorson not being held in the maximum security portion of the jail, despite that being the area where most homicide defendants are held.

He also noted Thorson's relative lack of criminal record outside of a misdemeanor assault out of Nebraska.

"(50 years) is a punishment that is sufficient but not greater than necessary," he said.

Although the judge ultimately disregarded the request, the decision did not appear to be made lightly. After hearing the state and defense's remarks, Wickre called a recess to review the information and last-minute letters sent to the court.

The recess lasted almost an hour before the judge returned to the room tense with anticipation.

"Choices have consequences, Mr. Thorson," she said ominously before announcing the 70-year sentence.
Missoulian Jason Fellin was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease in 2002. The 46-year-old father to a 5-year-old son hopes a kidney transplant will prolong his life and give him many more years with his family. But in Montana, where there are no transplant centers, the prospects for transplants can be grim.

Just thinking about being there for him as he gets older, thats the main motivator, Fellin said.

Montanas lack of transplant centers makes life difficult for patients like Fellin in a variety of ways. If he finds a living donor, Fellin would travel to the University of Washington Transplant Center in Seattle for his procedure. The nature of the surgery would require Fellin to stay in Seattle for two to three months.

Fellin said he feels fortunate to have the resources to be able to commit to that time frame, but he realizes many other patients dont have that luxury.

It certainly complicates it, he said. I think it is (hard) for a lot of people.

Luckily for Fellin, his donor wouldnt need to spend the same amount of time in Seattle. But traveling there to donate a kidney would still be a necessary step in the donation process.

Its an extra barrier, he said.

Finding that potential donor is also hard. In a more populated area, Fellin explained, patients in need of organ donations tend to have more opportunities. In Montana, the pool of possible donors is smaller.

Theres people in the pipeline, he said, adding hes hopeful one of those individuals will be a good candidate to donate a kidney. But the entire process takes about six months with physical and mental screenings.

Theres quite a bit of hoops that they have to go through, he noted.

There are 104,234 people currently waiting for an organ donor throughout the U.S., according to the Health Resources & Services Administration. Almost 90,000 of those await a kidney, the most sought-after organ.

Nonetheless, its important for Fellin to try to find a living donor, because the chances of a successful transplant are much higher than using a deceased persons organ. Kidneys from living donors typically last twice as long as the alternative. In addition, to receive a deceased persons organ, a patients organ function has to drop below a certain level. While Fellin is on the list for a deceased donation, he continues to search far and wide for a living donor.

The need for a new kidney was a relatively recent development in Fellins life. Even though he was diagnosed with IgA nephropathy two decades ago, he said he was fortunate to maintain his kidney function for many years.

It wasnt until 2016 when his kidney started to decline. In fall 2022, that decline sped up precipitously. Fellin started dialysis and began the search for a donor.

You can live on dialysis, he explained, but he added the treatment takes a toll on his body. It impacts longevity and quality of life. One of the main effects is a lack of energy, which makes it hard to care for his young child.

Im not able to give him my full attention, he lamented. Fellin, who works at the Missoula tech company OnX, added that he doesnt have the energy for any hobbies.

Even if he finds a donor, Fellin acknowledged, some of the perils of his condition could persist. Theres no guarantee the kidney will work in his body, although he said medicine surrounding rejection has improved over the years. But beyond his kidney function, Fellin also has concerns about the mental impact of his disease.

For a patient with a chronic condition like Fellins, doctors appointments always carry an added sense of anxiety.

Fellin acknowledged that feeling is a fact of life for just about everyone. The uncertainty  of his kidney function, of needing multiple transplants, of his time with his son  is something that bothers Fellin the most.

Its just constant, he said. its certainly heightened living with a disease like this.

Fellins website can be found at dancingkidneys.com.
May 12, 2023, marks the 14th birthday of Serenity Dennard, whose sudden disappearance from the Black Hills Children's Home in February 2019 left countless questions waiting to be answered.

More than four years after her vanishing, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and the Pennington County Sheriff's Office have released new age-progressed images of Dennard in the hopes it will generate new leads in the investigation. Pennington County Sheriff Brian Mueller called the photo "another investigative tool" in the open and active investigation.

"Were all watching Serenity grow up before our eyes through these images and its surreal, said Angeline Hartmann, communications director at NCMEC. At NCMEC, we know that our age progression images can be a catalyst in a missing child investigation, and we're hoping this will somehow generate fresh leads."

Dennard, then nine-years-old, ran away from the Children's Home in Rockerville around 10:45 a.m. Sunday, February 3, while playing inside the facility's gym. Dennard and three other children were being supervised by two staff members when one of the other children ran off inside the building. As a staffer ran after that child, Dennard ran outside. The remaining staff member called for help but decided to remain with the two other children rather than go after Dennard.

BHCH staff called 911 at 12:26 p.m. after searching the grounds. The delay prompted separate investigations by the Department of Social Services and Department of Health. Both reports said law enforcement should've been called as soon as staff lost sight of Dennard, with one report citing interviews with staffers who said the initial search was "disorganized."

Dennard was last seen by a woman dropping off a relative at the Children's Home, according to the sheriff's office at the time.

Chad and Kasandra Dennard, Serenity's primary parents at the time of the disappearance, previously told the Journal she had behavioral health problems stemming from the trauma of being removed from her biological parents and living with multiple foster families. They said they enrolled Serenity with the inpatient program at the Children's Home because years of outpatient therapy wasn't working well enough, and felt she was a risk to herself and others.

Weather at the time hampered the search. Cold weather and snowfall in the days following her disappearance led to intermittent pauses in the search effort and limited aerial searches. Hundreds of searchers walked miles in the harsh terrain around Rockerville and used dogs and planes when possible. Law enforcement said at the time they believed she would not have survived past Tuesday night if she'd been in the woods.

The search for Serenity Dennard was formally suspended in January 2021, nearly two years after she was last seen. The last physical search took place Jan. 13 of that year, according to then-Sheriff Kevin Thom. A release from the Pennington County Sheriff's Office stated, Absent new information, the search for Serenity Dennard is being suspended. The investigation will remain open, and we encourage the public to report any new information or tips. Our collective thoughts and prayers remain with Serenity Dennards family. Thom said at the time there was no evidence Serenity was abducted, and that the "highest probability" is that she was in the woods and simply unable to be located.

The search for Serenity Dennard garnered nationwide media attention, and the PCSO investigated more than 150 leads across 15 states. In Jan. 2021 when the search was formally suspended, Thom told the Journal it had included multiple searches of the Children's Home, nearly 1,600 personnel across 66 agencies, 220 K-9 searches, and more than 6,000 miles searched. More than 530 people had been interviewed, six search warrants were executed, and Dennard's family had been investigated.

At the time of her disappearance, Serenity Dennard was four-foot-seven-inches and weighed 96 lbs. She is a white female with blue eyes and dark blonde hair. Anyone with information regarding Dennards whereabouts is asked to contact the Pennington County Sheriffs Office at 605-394-6115 or the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678).
With a recent Historic Preservation Award from the Montana Historical Society and a freshly minted listing on the National Register of Historic Places, the Como Schoolhouse near Darby sure has a lot to celebrate these days.

Nestled among towering Ponderosa pine trees, not far from the banks of the Bitterroot River, the 120-year-old schoolhouse was officially added to the National Register of Historic Places in December 2022. On May 21 at 6 p.m., the Como Schoolhouse Association will celebrate the designation with the dedication of an official plaque, marking the schoolhouses place on the historic registry. The plaque was recently mounted on a boulder outside the historic schoolhouse. The event will serve as an unveiling to the community as well as an opportunity for people to tour the grounds and learn more about the local landmark.

This is a big milestone, said Brooke Angst, Como Schoolhouse Association secretary and board member. The group that has been working for a long time to preserve the history of the schoolhouse in this small community is really proud to have solidified the schoolhouses existence and its history within the official record.

The Como Schoolhouse was built in 1902 on land donated by Mary and Frank Cook for the purpose of a public school. In 1921 the Como School District consolidated with Darby District, ending the buildings use as a school. The building is owned by the nonprofit Como Schoolhouse Corporation and is currently used as a community center.

The Como Schoolhouse Association began pursuing the listing in the National Register of Historic Places early in 2022, and worked with local historian Janene Caywood to develop an application package which was then submitted to the Montana State Historical Preservation Office. The Montana State Historic Preservation Office nominates eligible properties to the National Register of Historic Places. The application was submitted to the National Register on Oct. 17, 2022.

Authorized under the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Register includes districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects that are significant in American history, architecture, archaeology, engineering and culture. Although the National Register is a program of the National Park Service, it is administered at the state level by each respective state. In addition to the recognition that listing provides, registered properties are afforded a measure of protection from projects that are funded, licensed, or executed by the federal government. National Register properties may also be eligible for historic preservation tax incentives.

We're just excited to have this history that is so important to our small community be recognized as a part of history, Angst said. No matter what happens to the physical building, and what happens to us, this schoolhouse will officially be in the historic registry forever. And so I think that that kind of puts us on the map. It's nice to have that recognition.

The May 21 dedication follows the annual Como Schoolhouse Association membership meeting at 5 p.m., and will include a community potluck dinner. The public is encouraged to attend, bring a dish to share with the crowd and explore the historic grounds with friends and neighbors.

There's so much change coming into the valley that I hope people understand that there are some really important historical staples that we have, and that we do have people around new and old that value that history and want to preserve it, Angst said. We found something really wonderful and want to preserve it and make sure that it lives on.
BOZEMAN  For Montana State University senior Claire Matthews, crossing the stage on Friday is more than accepting a diploma  its fulfilling a dream she didnt think was possible four years earlier.

Matthews, like many Montana residents, was unsure if college was in the cards for her after high school. But then she was accepted into MSUs Hilleman Scholars Program, which offers Montana students up to $4,000 per year for four years for tuition and living expenses.

I had a really tumultuous senior year of high school, and I didn't really know where to go next, said Matthews, an early childhood education and child services major in MSUs College of Education, Health and Human Development. During that year, her single mother passed away, and Matthews used her college savings for her mothers end-of-life care and funeral services.

By March of my senior year, I had no money for college, but I had this acceptance to MSU, and I was unsure what was going to come of it, Matthews said.

She had to give up her mothers apartment, and her High School guidance counselor offered Matthews a place to live while she finished high school. Matthews recalls her counselor pulling her out of bed the night before the MSU scholarship deadline to apply.

I don't even think it really occurred to me what I had just received when I got it, Matthews said.

The significance of the scholarship dawned on her only after she came to the Bozeman campus a month before the fall semester of her freshman year to take a few classes and build relationships with her peers in the Hilleman Scholars Summer Success Academy.

It saved me and turned me back onto the right track, she said.

The MSU Hilleman Scholars Program is named after Maurice Hilleman, a 1941 MSU graduate who is credited with saving the lives of millions through his work in developing more than 40 vaccines for humans and animals. Like Matthews, Hilleman wasnt sure he would even go to college until, with the encouragement of his brother, he applied for and received a scholarship to attend what was then called Montana State College.

I know Maurice Hillemans early life was defined by a lot of tragic events, as was mine, Matthews said, noting that Hillemans twin sister died at birth and his mother died two days later, so he was raised by his aunt and uncle on the family farm in Miles City. But that's not what we remember him for. That's not his whole story.

Each year, more than 50 first-year MSU students follow in Hillemans footsteps on their own paths to a college degree. Matthews says her journey is just beginning.

I've always felt like Maurice Hilleman was expected to follow a certain path, Matthews said. Hilleman planned to work as a manager for the Miles Citys JC Penney before he applied for the scholarship to MSU. A lot of people set his story for him, and he was just going to follow it. And I feel like I was just going to follow that, too, until someone was like, Hey, I see something (in you), and you (should) apply for this.

For Matthews, studying at MSU honored the memory of her mother, a 1980s Bobcat who went on to become a rural schoolteacher in  something Matthews plans to do after she graduates.

I've been following in (my moms) footsteps quite a bit, which has been a surprise to me, she said, explaining that she originally intended to major in biomedical sciences. But she felt a strong pull toward elementary education early in her college experience after reading an article that highlighted how early education challenges in rural and underserved populations negatively impact test scores and success for students later in life. It inspired her to help break that cycle.

Ive learned a lot at MSU, but my why is really that education can make the difference, she said.

Carina Beck, vice provost and director of the MSU Hilleman Scholars Program, said she has watched Matthews embody the programs vision to advance leaders and plant seeds of change in the next generation of Hilleman Scholars.

Claire has an inner strength in her that she brings out in others, Beck said, adding that Matthews served as a mentor her sophomore year and lead mentor the following year for the program.

One of her mentees, MSU junior Halton Stancil, said Matthews helped him manage a busy class load and extracurricular activities.

Having Claire as a mentor really kept me grounded for just all the difficulties that you experience in college, he said, noting that he borrowed some of her mentorship techniques when he became a mentor himself. She is always willing to help other people and give advice that helps them move together as a group.

Beyond Hilleman, Matthews served two academic years on the Associated Students of MSU student government, mentored international groups through the Office of International Programs and volunteered her time to support local opportunities, such as the Bobcat Pounce: 5K Run, Walk, Stroll, a 5-kilometer event that funds scholarships for students in the EHHD college.

Deb Gabelhausen, who has known Matthews since she was a child, is the executive director for the Stock Farm Greater Ravalli Foundation, a sponsor of the Hilleman Scholars Program.

We are so incredibly proud of Claire and her accomplishments, Gabelhausen said, And we have no doubt that she will be an incredible teacher and mentor to students, just as her mother was, and she will make her mom very proud.
Ukephoria Montana, four musicians who play ukuleles with a surprising sound and a song list covering decades, will play in Hamilton on Saturday, May 13.

Lead musician Cherie Newman said their sound is unusual.

Were different, she said. We play ukuleles, but we dont know any Hawaiian songs. Were not what you expect. Audience members have said they were blown away because they were not expecting to hear classic rock and all the kinds of songs we play.

Ukephoria Montana includes Bozeman musicians Newman, Joe Schwem, Tara Gallagher and Mark Grenier who play a variety of ukuleles and sing in two-, three- and fourpart harmony.

There are four types of ukuleles  soprano, concert, tenor and baritone. Newman plays the tenor, the third largest.

I like it because it has a little bit of a deeper, richer sound, Newman said. It is tuned like a ukulele, but it is a little bit larger and has a bigger tone. The baritone is tuned like a guitar. Ive been playing guitar since I was 13 and could have easily switched over but I wanted to learn something different.

She said people will enjoy the music because of the range of music the group covers.

We play music from the 1920s and '30s, we play classic rock from the '60s and '70s, we play songs from the '90s and 2000s, Newman said. We play many different styles of music.

The group was drawn to Hamilton because they know community members here. Newman said she lived in Missoula for 13 years, moving to Bozeman in 2017. Before the concert they plan to visit Hamilton Farmers Market, enjoy a hike and connect with friends.

We are all musicians and have been for most of our lives, Newman said. We also have different jobs in the community. Tara Gallagher is a nurse, her husband Joe Schwem is an architect, Mark Grenier is a retired building contractor and I am an audio producer and a writer.

Hamilton resident and concert organizer Selma Putnam said the band is remarkable.

Get ready to hear ukuleles played and harmony sung like youve never heard em played and sung before, she said.

Enjoy Ukephoria Montana, at 7 p.m. on Saturday, May 13, in the First Christian Church at 328 Fairgrounds Rd. in Hamilton.

We are not affiliated with the church or Christianity, Newman said. Our sponsor, Center for Spiritual Life, rents the building.

Admission is free, donations are cheerfully accepted.
The Virginia Supreme Court has denied a request from Wegmans to rehear a suit involving its $175 million under-construction distribution center in Hanover County, handing a key victory to the local homeowners who were opposed to the facility.

The lawsuit has been sent back to Hanover Circuit Court, where a judge will hear arguments from a group of homeowners who say the 1.1 million-square-foot distribution center was created with local laws that were passed illegally.

Several homeowners sued the Hanover Board of Supervisors in 2020, saying that a special-use permit it issued for Wegmans to begin construction violated Freedom of Information laws, among other violations.

Wegmans was later added as a defendant to the suit.

The Hanover courts initially said the local residents did not have the proper standing to bring a suit of its kind against the county, and dismissed the case without hearing any of its specific arguments. The homeowners appealed to the state Supreme Court, which first ruled in their favor in February, saying that the Hanover courts should have entertained the allegations.

But Wegmans then petitioned for a rehearing of the courts unanimous opinion. However, it was a legal long-shot. Virginias Supreme Court rarely accepts petitions for rehearing. Of 10 filed in 2022, only one was granted.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court again ruled in favor the homeowners and sent the lawsuit against Wegmans back to the lower court.

The way that the entire situation is handled from day one, was done poorly, that was both by Wegmans staff itself, or consultants, and Hanover County, said Chris French, one of the residents named as a plaintiff in the suit. What this does is that it basically validates everything that everybodys been saying from day one, that the entire process was mishandled, that valid concerns were not considered and we will have our day in court.

French said hes optimistic that the group can have a favorable outcome in the lower court.

Its still unclear what would happen to the Wegmans building should the homeowners win the suit. It could mean a total dismantling of the building, but also an adjustment of the site to appease demands from the residents.

Hanover County said in a statement in February that it was disappointed with the Supreme Courts opinion, but that it remained confident the courts would find that the board acted appropriately.

The initial suit also alleged that amendments were made to Wegmans rezoning request just hours before the meeting, that the new neighborhood zoning protections were worse than the current ones, that the construction would disturb protected wetlands and that the site created too much noise and light pollution.

Many residents protested the project coming to the area that sits in Brown Grove, a historically Black community. Since the announcement of the project, the Department of Historic Resources designated Brown Grove as a rural historic district.

The distribution center was announced in 2019 with the promise of 700 jobs for the community. Then-Gov. Ralph Northam said Virginia was using $2.35 million in state money as an incentive to build the Wegmans center. The company had similar facilities in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, and Rochester, New York.

The distribution centers construction is in advanced stages with all four walls and a roof being visibly completed.

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For decades, Carol Androski Piersol was a force in Richmond theater, though appearances belied her clout.

She was a small woman, but she had big ideas and she had will, a driving capacity, said her friend and colleague Harry Kollatz Jr., who was among those who worked alongside Piersol to start two cutting-edge theater companies, Firehouse Theatre Project and 5th Wall Theatre. It was something to see.

She did not have an overbearing personality and had a fairly soft voice, but she could project, he said with a laugh. She was a theater person. Also a mother, so you have to project.

Piersol, who had been diagnosed with brain cancer in July 2021, died Tuesday. She was 71.

Her death, said Kollatz, senior writer at Richmond magazine, is a crushing loss for her family, for her friends and for the community at large.

Piersol was founding artistic director of both Firehouse and 5th Wall, companies that received dozens of Richmond Theater Critics Circle Awards over the years during her tenure. The 1993 founding of Firehouse in an old fire station on Broad Street near Lombardy Avenue was evidence of an adventurous, can-do, refuse-to-take-no-for-an-answer spirit that is necessary to turn a defunct, decommissioned firehouse into one of the most happening spots for the performing arts in your community, said Nathaniel Shaw, who in January became the artistic director of Firehouse as it merged with The New Theatre.

That legacy of producing bold, adventurous, thought-provoking, contemporary work that was not typically seen in Richmond at the time when she first started really opened up the possibility for many of the theater companies that have followed to produce that kind of meaningful work, Shaw said. It really is an honor to be the next to carry the torch that Carol lit 30 years ago.

Firehouse and 5th Wall have been collaborating in recent months to come up with ways to honor Piersols legacy, said Shaw, who has announced the stage at Firehouse Theatre will be named The Carol Piersol Stage. He also said the final production of the 2023-24 season of The New Theatre at Firehouse will be a show from early in Firehouses history as another way to honor Piersols legacy. The show has yet to be announced.

Piersol was born in Brooklyn and grew up in Tyrone, Pennsylvania, in a family of seven children. As a young woman, she performed in a theater company that toured Army bases around the U.S. and Europe before moving to New York City to study theater at the Neighborhood Playhouse under Sanford Meisner.

In New York, she met Morrie Piersol in an acting class. The two of them married and were involved for years in the theater world and also ventured along the coast, as far north as Maine, on Morries sailboat, as she embraced his passion for sailing and came to learn and love it herself.

In 1985, Morries job brought them to Richmond, and they moved into a home in the Fan District they never left, raising three children and building lifelong friendships.

The past 22 months have been extremely difficult, said Morrie Piersol, noting, The only thing that got us through it ... was the incredible amount of support from her friends, family, community, neighborhood. That made all the difference.

Carol lived long enough to meet and get to know three additional grandchildren  they already had one before her diagnosis  as she persevered through treatments and diminished mobility.

She just did what she did with what she had to work with, Morrie said, and never complained.

After moving to Richmond and having children, she reconnected with theater by taking an acting class with Janet Wilson, where she met others looking for a less traditional style of theater. Morrie Piersol said the group, which included Wilson, Kollatz, Bill Gordon and Anna Senechal Johnson, eventually wound up around our kitchen table.

Thats where they sat around and lamented the fact that there wasnt anything in Richmond except the same old, same old in the way of theater, he said. Thats when they cooked up this scheme of doing their own thing, and the rest is history with the Firehouse.

Carol Piersol remained with Firehouse for almost 20 years until a falling-out between her and the nonprofits board. She ended up resigning and later helped start 5th Wall. After Morrie retired in 2017, the couple purchased a 36-foot sailboat with plans to return to the sailing world, and Carol began looking toward handing off the reins of 5th Wall and retiring herself.

From her first involvement with plays in high school, theater just seemed to always be in her, Morrie Piersol said, whether it was performing, producing, directing or teaching acting. She had a real gift for inspiring people.

He added, Other than her children, it was probably the most important thing for her. It was her mission, her passion.

In a post on his Facebook page, actor Scott Wichmann recalled years ago being invited to be a part of the Firehouse group. To me, they were the real actors in town because they were doing the tough stuff, the rough and tumble new plays and American classics full of rage and weirdness and angst. I stepped into their funky little space and soon became part of a legacy of storytelling excellence and crackling creativity, the ripples of which still echo from within the walls of a repurposed fire station.

There are so many wonderful moments and stories to relate and share, but for me what will always resonate is Carols soft-spoken kindness and shining decency; her amiable friendliness and earnestness to everyone she met.

On top of that, Kollatz said, Piersol had an uncanny sense of what would work, a welcome though not typical trait in the theater world.

Said Shaw, Its unquestionable that over these three decades, she certainly has placed herself in the pantheon of Richmond theater leaders throughout history.

Piersols family says plans for a memorial service will be announced later.

From the archives: More than 240 photos of Richmond and Virginia in the 1970s
A former Richmond Department of Public Works employee could face up to 20 years in federal prison following fraudulent mismanagement of funds while on the job, according to court documents.

Shaun Lindsey, 53, of Richmond, pleaded guilty earlier this week to seven felony counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and 10 felony accounts related to the loss of between $150,000 and $250,000 due to her steering of governmental contract awards toward herself and others involved.

Beginning in 2018, Lindsey began setting up straw companies to bid on department work. As a senior administrative technician, Lindsey used her position to award contracts either to herself or her friends, and to collect government funds.

In some instances, the work would be completed and, in others, it would not.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Lindsey, along with her co-conspirators, is responsible for the mismanagement of at least $600,000 and the loss of approximately $225,000 from the city department.

According to a statement released by the Department of Justice, when procurement amounts exceed $5,000, the request requires that the bidding process for the work be competitive. As a result, Lindsey manufactured fictitious straw bids on behalf of competitor companies to ensure her preferred company won the contracts.

Lindsey and her co-conspirators designated and approved DPW work to be performed by these straw companies using their positions at DPW, the statement reads.

In late April, the Department of Justice filed the case USA v. Lindsey in the Eastern District Court of Virginia against the former employee, citing numerous accounts of fraudulent mismanagement. The examples submitted as evidence include:

steering a $28,700 contract award to her boyfriend;

creating and obtaining the approval of a requisition request for a company owned by the wife of a senior department leader to mow the entire Parker Field area 16 times in four days at a cost of $4,800;

generating a requisition request and subcontracting her own straw company to set up Christmas decorations on Richmond-area bridges;

manipulating department systems to facilitate approval of invoices; and

perpetuating and concealing her involvement with the fraud scheme.

Roughly two weeks after the initial filing, Lindsey agreed to a plea agreement that carries with it a potential maximum sentence of 20 years, three years supervision and restitutions for the full amount lost.

Presently, Lindseys co-conspirators have not been publicly named.

The city issued a statement regarding the recent case, emphasizing its swiftness in its results.

I am immensely proud of the work done by our Inspector General, our council appointee, in solving this case through a thorough and comprehensive investigation, City Council President Michael Jones said in the release. We hope that this sends a clear message to anyone who seeks to engage in unlawful, wasteful or abusive use of Richmond government funds, that they will be held accountable.

Lindsey is scheduled to appear before the court for sentencing on Aug. 29 of this year.
CITY POINT  At the point where the Appomattox and James rivers meet in Hopewell, former Del. Lashrecse Aird, D-Petersburg, sought to ride a rising tide of national concern over the future of abortion rights in her quest to unseat Sen. Joe Morrissey, D-Petersburg, in a new state Senate seat that could be pivotal in Virginia's position on women's reproductive rights.

Aird, unseated on the same night that Gov. Glenn Youngkin led a sweep of statewide offices two years ago, was flanked by a trio of abortion rights advocates who proclaimed the importance of electing her and defeating Morrissey in a Democratic primary fight in the new 13th Senate District. The contest has attracted national attention a year after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade protection of abortion rights.

"This has been a fascinating race to watch," said Bob Holsworth, a longtime Richmond political analyst. "He's a pro-life Democrat running in a majority-minority district."

Aird has highlighted Morrissey's record on abortion in a "Roe Not Joe" tour as the campaign heads into its final month before the primary on June 20.

"Joe Morrissey has spent his two decades in public service to deflect, deny, delude and deceive when it comes to his real stance on reproductive rights and abortion access," said Tarina Keene, executive director of REPRO Rising Virginia, who was joined in Hopewell by representatives from Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia and EMILY's List.

Morrissey won his Senate seat in 2019 after a political career in the House of Delegates and the Richmond Commonwealth's Attorney's Office. He is staking his reelection on voters caring about issues other than abortion, such as criminal justice reform, high-speed internet and economic opportunity, in a predominantly Black Democratic district that stretches from eastern Henrico and Charles City counties through the Tri-Cities into rural Southside.

A disbarred attorney and a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee who has been both praised and panned for wielding his influence in the election of judges, Morrissey touts his record in elevating African American jurists in state courts, as well as his role in abolishing Virginia's death penalty and tightening its use of solitary confinement for prison inmates.

"I disagree entirely that it is about abortion," he said, citing other concerns he has heard from voters while knocking on 8,000 doors across the district since the General Assembly adjourned on Feb. 25.

Morrissey had better hope he's right, Holsworth said. "To the extent that people vote on that (abortion) issue, he will lose."

The abortion issue

The perils became clearer when Morrissey recently released a flier that denied he had voted against access to abortions. A devout Catholic, he said he is personally opposed to abortion, but believes the decision on abortion should be made by a woman and her doctor.

"I have never, ever voted to ban abortion," he said in an interview.

Aird responded with a digital ad that accuses Morrissey of lying about his record and includes video of him making statements on his radio show that appear to align him on the issue with Youngkin. The Republican governor recently vowed to again seek a ban on most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, with exceptions for victims of rape or incest and cases in which the mother's life is endangered.

With every seat in the General Assembly up for election in November, the Republican-controlled House declined to act on the proposal this year.

"Youngkin is pro-life, as am I," Morrissey said in one undated clip featured by Aird.

"I'm proud to vote pro-life and I will side with Republicans in the future on this issue," he said in another.

Holsworth said Aird's ad hit the target.

"I think she caught him on that one," he said. "He's been disingenuous there."

In March, all six Democratic women senators  Mamie Locke of Hampton; Louise Lucas of Portsmouth; Janet Howell of Fairfax; Barbara Favola of Arlington; Jennifer Boysko of Fairfax; and Ghazala Hashmi of Chesterfield  joined to endorse Aird over Morrissey. He has highlighted endorsements by retiring Senate Majority Leader Dick Saslaw, D-Fairfax, and Sen. Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax, who is vice chair of the Senate Democratic Caucus, who both say they promised to support incumbent Democrats.

Morrissey said he has had "zero discussion" about the abortion issue with Youngkin.

"I am my own man," he said, likening his position with that of Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., a Catholic who personally opposes abortion but also any attempt to restrict women's access to the procedure or other reproductive health care.

Last year, for example, Morrissey voted to override the governor's veto of a budget provision that allows state funds to pay for abortions for poor women whose unborn children suffer gross fetal abnormalities. The veto failed on a 20-19 vote, with Morrissey voting with fellow Democrats to protect the funding.

However, Planned Parenthood responded to the claims in his flier with six examples of actions he took over the past 13 years that it said would undermine women's reproductive rights, including his co-sponsorship of the "Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, introduced in the General Assembly last year by Sen. Amanda Chase, R-Chesterfield, to prohibit abortions after 20 weeks except when the mother's life or long-term health is endangered.

The bill died in a Senate committee on which Morrissey does not serve  so he did not vote on it  but The Associated Press reported that he told reporters he would "certainly consider" helping a procedural maneuver to bring the legislation to the Senate floor for debate and vote.

"It is something we should debate on the floor," he said last week.

Morrissey said he co-sponsored the bill because of his concern about the threshold of when a fetus is able to feel pain. In contrast, he said Aird, as a member of the House in 2019, supported legislation introduced by Del. Kathy Tran, D-Fairfax, that he said would make it easier to perform abortions in the third trimester of pregnancy under some circumstances.

A House subcommittee quickly killed the bill, but not before then-Gov. Ralph Northam, a doctor, defended the practice in a radio interview that inadvertently triggered the disclosure of a racist photograph from his medical school yearbook page that almost ended his term as governor.

"I believe that is fundamentally, to my core, wrong," Morrissey said of Tran's legislation.

Morrissey has used his position as a potentially decisive swing vote on the issue to win concessions from the slim Democratic majority in the Senate, most notably language in the state budget last year that opened the door for Petersburg to potentially hold a voter referendum on a casino resort, while preventing Richmond from holding a second referendum on a casino proposed there.

He lost some of his leverage this year with the election of Democrat Aaron Rouse to a vacant Senate seat in Virginia Beach, after Sen. Jen Kiggans, R-Virginia Beach, was elected to Congress. Rouse's win gave Democrats a 22-18 edge in the chamber until the new General Assembly convenes in January.

Casino vote

Morrissey is still pushing assembly budget negotiators to allow Petersburg to hold the casino vote or, at least for now, block a second referendum in Richmond that he said would scuttle the $1.4 billion resort that The Cordish Companies has proposed in Petersburg. Aird supports a referendum in Petersburg but does not take a position on a second vote in Richmond.

He contends that Petersburg is once again "the epicenter of the race," as it was in 2019 when he trounced then-Sen. Rosalyn Dance, D-Petersburg, by more than 2,000 votes in the city she had represented as mayor from 1992 to 2004.

However, Petersburg contains about 16% of the vote in the new district, compared with 35% in Henrico County and almost 18% in Prince George County. Morrissey formerly represented eastern Henrico in the House, but Henrico Supervisor Tyrone Nelson and Sen. Lamont Bagby, D-Henrico, are supporting Aird, along with most of the Democratic establishment.

Nelson and Bagby, who represented Morrissey's old House district for eight years, also sided against him in a party-run firehouse primary in December for a Democratic congressional nomination. Then-Sen. Jennifer McClellan, D-Richmond, won with almost 85% of the vote in a four-way race for a congressional seat vacated by the death of Rep. Donald McEachin, D-4th, on Nov. 28. McClellan won 79% of the vote in the Highland Springs polling place in Henrico.

"What she's looking to do is re-create the McClellan coalition," Holsworth said of Aird's campaign strategy.

The size of McClellan's victory emboldened opponents of Morrissey, who previously had only lost races in Richmond for mayor in 2016 and commonwealth's attorney in 1993. (In 1981, as a 23-year-old law student, he lost a Republican primary bid for the House in a multi-member district in Fairfax County.)

"He's a political survivor, but he's not an undefeated champion," Holsworth said. "There is some vulnerability."

Family matters

Morrissey also may be more vulnerable because of a highly public feud this year with his estranged wife, Myrna, who was a 17-year-old assistant in his law office when they first became romantically involved. He entered an Alford plea in 2015 to a misdemeanor count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. He was sentenced to 12 months in jail, with six suspended, and at one point commuted daily between jail and his seat in the House.

The couple married in 2016 and have three children together, but they separated in 2019 on the same night he won his Senate seat. Earlier this year, Myrna Morrissey went public with allegations of his infidelities after he accused her live-in boyfriend of physically abusing their son, then 4 years old.

Morrissey won two temporary protective orders against Myrna and her boyfriend, but a substitute judge ended the orders and restored previous custody arrangements in a closed hearing in Chesterfield Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court in early February, according to her family.

Aird said she has not made Morrissey's personal life an issue in the campaign, so she was surprised when Morrissey, in an interview with the Richmond Times-Dispatch, accused her of hypocrisy for sending her two sons to private school, while advocating for public education.

"Joe Morrissey puts his money where his mouth is," he said in the interview.

Morrissey also questioned why Aird was renting her home in Petersburg, where she said she has lived for more than 15 years. A former resident of Richmond, Henrico and Chesterfield, Morrissey said he is renting a loft apartment in downtown Petersburg and renovating a historic house there.

By faulting her for renting, Aird said he is "condemning a whole lot of people he represents."

"Joe's back is up against the wall with nowhere to go  so where does he go  on to attack my family," she said in a text message.

"This is nothing more than an attempt to distract voters because for the first time in his career, hes being forced to answer for his extremely unpopular and problematic record on the issues like reproductive health, environmental justice and education," she added.

The race is likely to become more bitter in the final month, observers said. Both candidates have plenty of money in their campaign war chests. Morrissey had raised $569,702 for the four-year cycle through March 31, including $97,500 from Dominion Energy, owner of the state's largest electric utility. Aird had raised $575,174, including $150,000 from the Clean Virginia Fund, which seeks to counter Dominion's political influence, and $125,000 from Sonjia Smith, wife of Clean Virginia's founder, Michael Bills.

"I think the race is far more competitive than people imagined it six months ago," Holsworth said.

Close This July 1955 image shows the building, at Madison and Grace streets in Richmond, that once sat downtown and housed First Presbyterian Church. Completed in 1853 at the current site of Old City Hall, the buildings outer shell was moved to Madison and Grace in the mid-1880s to make room for the city building. In 1943, the Acca Shriners, who had lost the Mosque (now Altria Theater) during the Great Depression, purchased the old church building. They used it until the mid-1950s; the building has since been torn down. In May 1977, this 150-foot smokestack came down, thanks to Controlled Demolition of Towson, Md. The smokestack stood behind what used to be Broad Street Station in Richmond; the demolition was part of a contract with the state for removal of the stack and several buildings in the area. This April 1951 image shows St. Andrews School in Richmonds Oregon Hill area. Noted philanthropist Grace Arents founded the school in 1894 and was a key supporter of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church. The school offered a wide range of programs, including sewing, music and physical education. It still stands today, serving low-income children. In May 1959, the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway announced plans to move about a third of its workforce from Richmond to Huntington, W.Va., by 1961-62. Many employees worked in the First and Merchants National Bank building at Ninth Street downtown, which was partially owned by C&O. The building has been converted to First National Apartments. This July 1947 image shows the new Curles Neck Dairy plant at 1600 Roseneath Road in Richmond. The building, which cost more than $200,000, gave the 13-year-old dairy modern features including a refreshment room that served up to 50 people, ice-cream-making facilities and curbside service. The building is now home to the Dairy Bar restaurant. This March 1987 image shows the Independent Order of St. Luke building at 900 St. James St. in Richmond, which was the new home for the citys Head Start program. The building, which today stands empty, was built in the early 1900s and was expanded between 1915 and 1920. It was home to the benevolent society under Maggie Walkers leadership, as well as the first location of the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank that she ran. The building is on the National Register of Historic Places. This May 1935 image shows Herberts shoe store at 419 E. Broad St. in downtown Richmond. The store advertised itself as the first air-cooled shoe store in the entire South. A fall sale that year offered womens shoes as low as $1.77. This May 1957 image shows the Woolworths at Fifth and Broad streets in downtown Richmond. The $1 million building opened in September 1954, and it housed several departments for the nearby Miller & Rhoads, which had an earlier store on the site in the late 1800s. An ad for the Woolworths Easter sale offered handbags for $1, records for 99 cents, and cowhide and plastic belts for between 39 and 98 cents. In February 1968, the National Theater on East Broad Street in Richmond was about to undergo a $150,000 remodeling to make it suitable as a movie theater  the building, which opened in 1923, was designed more for vaudeville and other live performances. In June 1968, the theater reopened as The Towne and operated until 1983. It has since been restored again and now hosts concerts. From the Archives: Old Richmond buildings This July 1955 image shows the building, at Madison and Grace streets in Richmond, that once sat downtown and housed First Presbyterian Church. Completed in 1853 at the current site of Old City Hall, the buildings outer shell was moved to Madison and Grace in the mid-1880s to make room for the city building. In 1943, the Acca Shriners, who had lost the Mosque (now Altria Theater) during the Great Depression, purchased the old church building. They used it until the mid-1950s; the building has since been torn down. In May 1977, this 150-foot smokestack came down, thanks to Controlled Demolition of Towson, Md. The smokestack stood behind what used to be Broad Street Station in Richmond; the demolition was part of a contract with the state for removal of the stack and several buildings in the area. This April 1951 image shows St. Andrews School in Richmonds Oregon Hill area. Noted philanthropist Grace Arents founded the school in 1894 and was a key supporter of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church. The school offered a wide range of programs, including sewing, music and physical education. It still stands today, serving low-income children. In May 1959, the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway announced plans to move about a third of its workforce from Richmond to Huntington, W.Va., by 1961-62. Many employees worked in the First and Merchants National Bank building at Ninth Street downtown, which was partially owned by C&O. The building has been converted to First National Apartments. This July 1947 image shows the new Curles Neck Dairy plant at 1600 Roseneath Road in Richmond. The building, which cost more than $200,000, gave the 13-year-old dairy modern features including a refreshment room that served up to 50 people, ice-cream-making facilities and curbside service. The building is now home to the Dairy Bar restaurant. This March 1987 image shows the Independent Order of St. Luke building at 900 St. James St. in Richmond, which was the new home for the citys Head Start program. The building, which today stands empty, was built in the early 1900s and was expanded between 1915 and 1920. It was home to the benevolent society under Maggie Walkers leadership, as well as the first location of the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank that she ran. The building is on the National Register of Historic Places. This May 1935 image shows Herberts shoe store at 419 E. Broad St. in downtown Richmond. The store advertised itself as the first air-cooled shoe store in the entire South. A fall sale that year offered womens shoes as low as $1.77. This May 1957 image shows the Woolworths at Fifth and Broad streets in downtown Richmond. The $1 million building opened in September 1954, and it housed several departments for the nearby Miller & Rhoads, which had an earlier store on the site in the late 1800s. An ad for the Woolworths Easter sale offered handbags for $1, records for 99 cents, and cowhide and plastic belts for between 39 and 98 cents. In February 1968, the National Theater on East Broad Street in Richmond was about to undergo a $150,000 remodeling to make it suitable as a movie theater  the building, which opened in 1923, was designed more for vaudeville and other live performances. In June 1968, the theater reopened as The Towne and operated until 1983. It has since been restored again and now hosts concerts.
Nothing is as corrosive to faith in elective government as doubts about the integrity of elections. Modern Virginia has long conducted clean, fair elections free of partisan interference, regardless of which party occupied the office of the governor and, by virtue of it, appointed members of state and local elections boards.

Recent reporting by NBC News on the resignation of the entire registrars staff in Buckingham County earlier this year  after Republicans took over the local Board of Elections and began making baseless allegations of election fraud  brings to light that all is not safe regarding election integrity in Virginia. The resignations left the rural county of almost 17,000 without the professionals who register voters, certify candidates and organize and hold elections.

Set aside the fact that in deep-red Buckingham, Donald Trump won by 13.2 percentage points over Joe Biden in 2020, Glenn Youngkin defeated Democrat Terry McAuliffe by 27 percentage points in the governors race in 2021 and Republican 5th District U.S. Rep. Bob Good trounced Democrat Joshua Throneburg by 30 percentage points in last years congressional midterms.

Buckingham is one of many places across the United States where the election denialism that Trump sowed after losing reelection in 2020 is taking root. Or, as Margaret Thomas, the county's longtime general registrar who retired in 2019, lamented to NBC, Its just sad that the big lie has come to Buckingham.

In Virginia, the governors party gets to dominate state and local electoral boards. While election snafus occur under the watch of both parties, theyve been caught, and timely corrections made. Cases of voter fraud have been minor, and none has ascended to a level capable of altering election outcomes. Both parties have kept elections nonpartisan.

That changed this year in Buckingham.

Shortly after the GOP consolidated its control of the board, nonpartisan Registrar Lindsey Taylor, having served ably for three years, was besieged with fraud claims and even unsupported rumors that she would face criminal indictment. Buckingham's commonwealths attorney examined the claims against Taylor and found no violations of law. The office of state Attorney General Jason Miyares, a Republican, told NBC News that his office is not investigating the Buckingham registrars office.

In April, the county hired a new interim registrar. Almost immediately, Luis Gutierrez found himself in a bitter dispute with a member of the Buckingham Board of Supervisors after trying to levy a $200 convenience fee for an open records request, a charge state law disallows. On Tuesday, the Electoral Board fired Gutierrez after less than a month on the job for alleged falsification of his job application.

Youngkin did not create the troubling recent events in Buckingham. He has the duty, however, to ensure that malignant election conspiracy theories that grip an extremist element within his party do not result in the electoral system being strong-armed by those who believe and advance them.

The governors own election  leading a sweep that ousted Democrats from the top three statewide elective offices and control of the House of Delegates 18 months ago  buttressed by his continued popularity, shown in a recent Washington Post-Schar School poll, should mute notions that the system is rigged against the GOP in his state.

Further validation can be found in Virginias penchant for divided government. Democratic governors such as Mark Warner and McAuliffe were elected in election systems dominated by Republicans, and Republicans George Allen, Bob McDonnell and Youngkin also won the office while Democrats were in charge.

Virginia governors should put honest, fair elections and the imperative of preserving faith in democratically elected government ahead of their own partisan interests.

Youngkin effectively rebranded his party in Virginia by running as a pragmatic moderate-conservative willing to listen and deal in logic, not barbed rhetoric. His successful campaign was able to engage independent voters, traditional Republicans as well as pro-Trump MAGA Republicans even as he kept the toxic former president at arms length.

He fought and won a smart campaign against daunting odds and a prolific Democratic fundraising machine in a state that many had written off as deep blue.

Like governors before him, its incumbent on Youngkin  a man with higher political ambitions and the skills to realize them  to continue protecting Virginias legacy of clean, nonpartisan elections and pass it on to his successor on Inauguration Day 2026.

Close 05-31-1971 (cutline): Voting Machines destined for Henrico Polling booths are unloaded. 10-29-1964 (cutline): Getting ready for election. 11-03-1989 (cutline): Youth Poll--Students at Ratcliffe Elementary School in Henrico County lined up to take part in a mock election yesterday. A school official monitored polling, which was done on school computers. The real election for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general is Tuesday. 11-02-1971: Walter C. Lewis, precinct worker explains procedure of voting machine to Raymond L. Redd. 11-06-1973 (cutline): Voters received lapel pins after making their choices at the ballot box. Pins were distributed at city precincts by the Richmond Jaycees. 12-16-1952 (cutline): They decide on Eisenhower--Presidental electors cast Virginia's 12 votes for General Eisenhower. 03-08-1988: Voting booth at City Hall precinct during presidental primary. 11-03-1948 (cutline): A long night of waiting--A crowd (above) hears announcer read election results at a Republican party last night at the Hotel John Marshall after Truman had started to forge ahead in early returns. Score board totals indicate the Virginia trend. 10-02-1969 (cutline): Billie Holloman spots a 'help wanted' sign in a pharmacy here today. The notice responds to yesterday's announcement by a group of ex-Democrats. 09-14-1971 (cutline): Voting Activity Slow Here-- There wasn't a great deal of voting activity reported in the Richmond area during the early hours of today's Democratic primary elections. Officials at voting precinct 73, located at Dick Strauss Ford on Belt Boulevard, were on duty early in the morning awaiting the voter turnout. Mrs. Frances Shaw, an election official there, reported it was 10:35 a.m. before the first voter arrived to cast a ballot. 11-05-1980 (cutline): Jubilant merrymaker holds aloft words Republicans wanted to see. GOP supporters celebrated at party at Hotel John Marshall. 08-03-1949: Mr. John Thomas Martin casts his ballot. 11-07-1972 (cutline): Voters prepare to cast their ballots at city precinct 10 in fire house at 28th and 'Q' Streets. From the Archives: Voting in Richmond Interested in a copy of any of these photos? Click here. 05-31-1971 (cutline): Voting Machines destined for Henrico Polling booths are unloaded. 10-29-1964 (cutline): Getting ready for election. 11-03-1989 (cutline): Youth Poll--Students at Ratcliffe Elementary School in Henrico County lined up to take part in a mock election yesterday. A school official monitored polling, which was done on school computers. The real election for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general is Tuesday. 11-02-1971: Walter C. Lewis, precinct worker explains procedure of voting machine to Raymond L. Redd. 11-06-1973 (cutline): Voters received lapel pins after making their choices at the ballot box. Pins were distributed at city precincts by the Richmond Jaycees. 12-16-1952 (cutline): They decide on Eisenhower--Presidental electors cast Virginia's 12 votes for General Eisenhower. 03-08-1988: Voting booth at City Hall precinct during presidental primary. 11-03-1948 (cutline): A long night of waiting--A crowd (above) hears announcer read election results at a Republican party last night at the Hotel John Marshall after Truman had started to forge ahead in early returns. Score board totals indicate the Virginia trend. 10-02-1969 (cutline): Billie Holloman spots a 'help wanted' sign in a pharmacy here today. The notice responds to yesterday's announcement by a group of ex-Democrats. 09-14-1971 (cutline): Voting Activity Slow Here-- There wasn't a great deal of voting activity reported in the Richmond area during the early hours of today's Democratic primary elections. Officials at voting precinct 73, located at Dick Strauss Ford on Belt Boulevard, were on duty early in the morning awaiting the voter turnout. Mrs. Frances Shaw, an election official there, reported it was 10:35 a.m. before the first voter arrived to cast a ballot. 11-05-1980 (cutline): Jubilant merrymaker holds aloft words Republicans wanted to see. GOP supporters celebrated at party at Hotel John Marshall. 08-03-1949: Mr. John Thomas Martin casts his ballot. 11-07-1972 (cutline): Voters prepare to cast their ballots at city precinct 10 in fire house at 28th and 'Q' Streets.
Nearly a dozen American tourists hurt in Riviera Maya highway accident traveling Cancun to Tulum

Riviera Maya, Q.R.  Nearly a dozen tourists were injured in a highway accident south of Playa del Carmen Thursday when their van suddenly overturned. Several ambulances and Transit Officers were on scene outside Paamul in Riviera Maya where they located the overturned vehicle.

The driver of the van was transporting 15 American tourists when a failed attempt to pass another vehicle left the van on its side. At least 10 of the 15 tourists were injured after their vehicle nearly collided head on with a truck.

At least 10 Americans were hurt in the Thursday morning highway accident in Riviera Maya. Photo: May 11, 2023.

It is not known how many of the injured, if any, were transported to hospital. The tourists were reportedly from the state of Arizona. They were traveling to Tulum from a Cancun hotel at the time of the accident. The driver of the van was taken into police custody from the scene.
In April, the Kiwanis Club of Christiansburg delivered Walmart gift cards to Falling Branch Elementary School, Christiansburg Elementary School and Montgomery Central.

The cards, in the amount $550 ($500 from the Kiwanis Club and $50 from Walmart) were delivered to schools that had a low balance on their existing cards and had requested additional funds.

The gift card program is part of the clubs continuing work of providing support to local schools to help cover the need for clothing and supplies for some of their students. This program was started several years ago for the seven schools in Christiansburg. Cards are replenished by the club as needed. Before this program was introduced, often teachers and staff members would personally pay for the needed items that the children could not afford.

The cards were presented by Montgomery County Public Schools Tiered Intervention Specialist and Kiwanis member Oliver Lewis, and Kiwanis member Ernie Wade.

Kiwanis is a global organization of members, clubs and partners who are dedicated to changing the world, one child at a time. The Kiwanis Club of Christiansburg has provided service to the local community since its charter was granted in 1949.

- The Roanoke Times
Roanoke County Board of Supervisors candidate Tom McCracken initially did not include a required disclaimer on his campaign signs and fliers, but he said Thursday that the situation is rectified.

Numerous people had complained about the Catawba District candidate not having a disclaimer citing who paid for his campaign signs and literature, according to the county Registrars Office.

Registrar Anna Cloeter said shes received at least 20 phone calls, multiple emails and people coming into her office to complain about the legality of the campaign materials.

I dont believe that our office has reached out to him, Cloeter wrote following a brief phone interview. This is, in part, because we have no jurisdiction over campaign ads or signs, but also because weve been told by multiple voters over the past several weeks that they have already reached out to Mr. McCracken and/or the local party about the missing authorized and paid or by statements on his various campaign materials.

State law requires a paid for by tag followed by the name of the person or political committee responsible for the campaign materials to be displayed before it can be distributed.

McCracken said in a phone interview Thursday he has since purchased stickers he put on all of his campaign signs that state Paid for by Tom McCracken, and he has them for future fliers as well.

Its already been resolved. I was just unaware it needed to say paid for by Tom McCracken, he said. So every single sign out there has been fixed within 24 hours of me receiving that first complaint.

McCracken announced his candidacy a little over a month ago, and signs for his campaign started appearing shortly thereafter.

Despite having run for a seat on the school board in 2015, McCracken said he wasnt aware the disclaimer was required by law.

When I ran for the school board, everything that went out on signs, door hangers, everything didnt have anything other than Tom McCracken running for school board, just like I did this time, he said. I didnt have any complaints  So Ive remained ignorant of that specific issue  But again, I dont really see much of a story here. Im ignorant, didnt know about it. Heard about it, and I fixed it. I dont know what else I could do.

McCracken won the 2015 race and began his term in 2016 before resigning approximately six months later.

The school board said in July 2016 McCracken may have violated state conflict of interest laws, a misdemeanor offense, by discussing with colleagues and school system employees a possible promotion for his wife, according to previous coverage by The Roanoke Times.

The allegation came a few days after McCrackens attorney, Mel Williams, sent the board a letter saying his client had been coerced to resign his seat, because colleagues threatened to block his wifes promotion by abstaining from any votes on the move if he remained on the board, according to previous coverage.

McCracken ultimately did not run again for his seat in the special election held to fill his vacancy, nor did he end up suing the school system.

McCracken is set to face off against fellow Republican and incumbent Martha Hooker in the GOP primary on June 20.

When asked about the signs earlier this week, Hooker said shed noticed the signs missing the disclaimer, but did not offer any further comment.

The Virginia Department of Elections has yet to respond to multiple requests for comment regarding McCrackens campaign materials.

Virginias code on requirements for print media advertisements sponsored by a person or political committee can be found on the states election website.
The border between the U.S. and Mexico is relatively calm, offering few signs of the chaos that had been feared following a rush by worried migrants to enter the U.S. before the end of pandemic-related immigration restrictions
" " Westminster Abbey stands against the London skyline as it has for centuries, with the relatively new London Eye watching from a distance. Jonathan Herbert I JH Images/Getty Images

Some of the most momentous occasions in the life of Queen Elizabeth II  her 1947 marriage to Philip Mountbatten, and her 1953 coronation  took place in Westminster Abbey. On Sept. 19, 2022, her state funeral will be held there too, marking the end of a 96-year life and a seven-decade reign as the United Kingdom's monarch. Westminster Abbey has been the backdrop for important royal events for more than 1,000 years. Here are five fascinating things you might not know about the iconic World Heritage Site.

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1. Westminster Abbey Is Not Actually an Abbey at All

The word "abbey" refers to a building used by monks or nuns; neither live at Westminster Abbey today. But the name is a holdover from the building's earliest days, explains Dr. John Cooper, director of the Society of Antiquaries of London, in an email interview. "Westminster Abbey was founded as a monastery of Benedictine monks around the year 960, a century before Anglo-Saxon England was conquered by the Normans," he says. "Benedictine monks wore black habits and were devoted to a simple life of poverty, chastity and obedience. But as the Palace of Westminster became the center of English royal government and ceremony, so the Abbey became the place where coronations and many royal burials were held."

During the Reformation, King Henry VIII dissolved all the English monasteries. The Abbey is now something known as a "royal peculiar," because it technically belongs not to the Church of England, but directly to the monarchy. "The two most famous examples [of royal peculiars] are Westminster Abbey, where Queen Elizabeth II's funeral service will be held, and St. George's Chapel at Windsor, where she will be laid to rest with her late husband the Duke of Edinburgh in a private service," says Cooper.

Perhaps most surprising: Westminster Abbey isn't actually the building's name anymore. "Formally," Cooper says, "it is the 'Collegiate Church of St. Peter, Westminster,' but almost everyone calls it by its historic name of Westminster Abbey."

" " Guests attend a Service of Thanksgiving for Britain's Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, at Westminster Abbey, March 29, 2022. The grave of the Unknown Warrior is seen in the foreground. RICHARD POHLE/POOL/AFP /Getty Images

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2. There's Not Much of the Original Abbey Left

While Westminster Abbey was originally dedicated in 1065 C.E., under the reign of King Edward the Confessor, most of that original building was demolished in the 13th century when Henry III rebuilt the church. "The earliest Abbey buildings survive only as archaeological traces," says Cooper. "But much of Henry III's Gothic Abbey of the thirteenth century can still be seen today, including the Chapter House with its tiled floor, the Purbeck marble shrine of St. Edward the Confessor, and wall-paintings of St. Christopher and Doubting Thomas that were rediscovered in the 1930s."

And while the two iconic towers on the front of Westminster Abbey might look medieval, they're actually the youngest part of the building, designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor and completed in the 1740s.

" " St. Margaret's Church features the rose window in the south transept, which depicts Christ surrounded by 16 symbolic figures of the virtues and orders of angels. Alla Tsyganova /Shutterstock

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3. It's Loaded With Bodies

There are more than 3,000 people buried in Westminster Abbey, so most visitors can't help but walk over a lot of graves. But some tombs are more notable than others.

For centuries, the Abbey was the final resting place of England's kings and queens; 30 of them, to be exact. The royal tombs are some of the most well-known spots in the church. "As a Tudor historian, my favorite place in the Abbey has to be the Henry VII Chapel in the east end," says Cooper. "As a king who had won the throne by conquest, Henry VII was obsessive about displaying his legitimacy to rule. By creating a magnificent new royal mausoleum in Westminster Abbey, he ensured that he and his successors would be remembered in perpetuity in England's greatest church."

The last monarch to be buried there was George II, but sometime in the mid-1600s, a practice began of burying nonroyals in Westminster Abbey. Of course, it was an honor not bestowed on just anyone: These graves are a veritable who's who of English literature, science and culture, including Geoffrey Chaucer, William Shakespeare and more than 100 other poets and writers, the scientist Sir Isaac Newton, Prime Ministers Pitt the Elder and Pitt the Younger, and the naturalist Charles Darwin. The most recent burial at Westminster was for physicist Stephen Hawking, whose ashes were interred near Newton's in 2018.

" " The tomb of Queen Elizabeth I lies in Westminster Abbey, along with those of centuries of royalty and a virtual pantheon of literary, scientific and cultural icons. Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

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4. It Houses the Most Famous Chair in the World

The Coronation Chair is one of the most famous pieces of furniture in the world. It was originally commissioned in 1300 by King Edward I to hold the massive Stone of Scone, which Edward had taken from Scotland. Also known at the Stone of Destiny, the huge block of sandstone is where Scottish kings were crowned beginning in about the year 498. Once it was placed under the care of the Abbot of Westminster, the coronation chair  a large throne made of oak  was built to sit atop it.

" " A conservator cleans the Coronation Chair on which King Henry VIII was throned in 1509. Since 1308, when it was commissioned by King Edward I, all but two monarchs have been crowned in the chair. Katie Collins/PA Images/Getty Images

The Coronation Chair was painted with colorful plants, animals and birds, all highlighted with gold gilt. There have been 38 coronation ceremonies at Westminster, with the monarch-to-be sitting in the Coronation Chair, including Queen Elizabeth in the 1950s.

The Stone was stolen from under the chair in 1950 by Scottish nationalists, though it was recovered in 1951. In 1996, the British government decided to officially return it to Scotland, and when it's not being used in coronation ceremonies, it's now held at Edinburgh castle.

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5. One of its Greatest Treasures Is Hiding in Plain Sight

On the way into the Chapter House, visitors pass through a seemingly unremarkable, short wooden door. It's actually one of the last vestiges of the original abbey, and perhaps, says Cooper, Britain's oldest door.

" " Britain's oldest door was constructed during the reign of Edward the Confessor. Westminster Abbey

"The oak door in the Chapter House vestibule has been dated by modern dendrochronology to the time of Edward the Confessor's reign, just before the Norman Conquest," he says. "The ring pattern reveals that the timber came from eastern England."

The door would originally have been about 9 feet (2.7 meters) tall, likely with an arched top. But, explains Cooper, it "was cut down to be recycled in Henry III's Abbey, built from 1245."

According to the official Westminster Abbey website, "After the planks were fitted together probably both faces were covered with cow hide, added to provide a smooth surface for decoration (no trace of painting remains). Then the ornamental iron hinges and decorative straps were fixed. Only one of the original straps survives today with hide trapped underneath it (on the inner face of the door) ... In the 19th century the fragments of cow hide were first noted and a legend grew up that this skin was human. It was supposed that someone had been caught committing sacrilege or robbery in the church and had been flayed and his skin nailed to this door as a deterrent to others."

In Westminster Abbey, even the simplest things are utterly remarkable.

Now That's Important Westminster Abbey is open to the general public, but is still a living, working church, so make sure you visit the website to plan your visit before you go.
Mathematician and cosmologist Ruth Gregory once said, "It is hard to overstate the importance of Noether's work in modern physics." Indeed, while it's tough for us laypeople to wrap our heads around it, "Noether's theorem" is one of the great scientific insights of the past century and laid the groundwork for abstract algebra and theoretical physics.

Born in Germany in the late 19th century to a mathematician father, Emmy Noether wasn't allowed to officially enroll in university, which was male-only. So she audited classes, passed all her exams and earned her undergraduate degree. She later earned a Ph.D. at another university that finally accepted women but wasn't allowed to hold a teaching position.

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In 1915, a year after Albert Einstein published his general theory of relativity, the young Noether, then an unpaid lecturer at the University of Gottingen was summoned by a group of the world's leading mathematicians to help solve a problem with Einstein's revolutionary take on gravity. Unfazed, she proved why general relativity doesn't go against the established law of conservation of energy.

Three years later, she published her own groundbreaking theorem establishing the mathematical relationship between laws of conservation and something called symmetry. Noether's theorem  which isn't a theory, but a mathematical proof  proved that every law of conservation (energy, momentum, angular momentum, etc.) was bound to an associated symmetry in nature. Before this, scientists had not realized these were related.

With Noether's mathematical tool, physicists developed the Standard Model, which describes the interactions of weak, strong and electromagnetic forces. And Noether's theorem is now helping to explain the behavior of black holes and the existence of dark matter.
A University of Minnesota Twin Cities-led team used a first-of-its-kind technique to measure the expansion rate of the Universe, providing insight that could help more accurately determine the Universes age and help physicists and astronomers better understand the cosmos. Credit: NASA, ESA, and S. Rodney (JHU) and the FrontierSN team; T. Treu (UCLA), P. Kelly (UC Berkeley), and the GLASS team; J. Lotz (STScI) and the Frontier Fields team; M. Postman (STScI) and the CLASH team; and Z. Levay (STScI)

Thanks to data from a magnified, multiply imaged supernova, a team led by University of Minnesota Twin Cities researchers has successfully used a first-of-its-kind technique to measure the expansion rate of the universe. Their data provide insight into a longstanding debate in the field and could help scientists more accurately determine the universe's age and better understand the cosmos.

The work is divided into two papers, respectively published in Science and The Astrophysical Journal.

In astronomy, there are two precise measurements of the expansion of the universe, also called the "Hubble constant." One is calculated from nearby observations of supernovae, and the second uses the "cosmic microwave background," or radiation that began to stream freely through the universe shortly after the Big Bang.

However, these two measurements differ by about 10 percent, which has caused widespread debate among physicists and astronomers. If both measurements are accurate, that means scientists' current theory about the make-up of the universe is incomplete.

"If new, independent measurements confirm this disagreement between the two measurements of the Hubble constant, it would become a chink in the armor of our understanding of the cosmos," said Patrick Kelly, lead author of both papers and an assistant professor in the University of Minnesota School of Physics and Astronomy.

Image of the MACS J1149 galaxy-cluster field and the locations and timing of the appearances of SN Refsdal. A first appearance occurred according to model predictions in the host galaxy image at the upper left in the late 1990s but was missed. We detected images S1S4 in an Einstein-cross configuration in 2014 November (Kelly et al. 2015). Following this appearance, lens modelers predicted the SN's reappearance, which was detected in late 2015 (Kelly et al. 2016c). Inset at upper right shows a co-added WFC3 IR F125W image of the field following the reappearance of the SN in image SX. Credit: The Astrophysical Journal (2023). DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ac4ccb

"The big question is if there is a possible issue with one or both of the measurements. Our research addresses that by using an independent, completely different way to measure the expansion rate of the universe."

The University of Minnesota-led team was able to calculate this value using data from a supernova discovered by Kelly in 2014the first ever example of a multiply imaged supernova, meaning that the telescope captured four different images of the same cosmic event. After the discovery, teams around the world predicted that the supernova would reappear at a new position in 2015, and the University of Minnesota team detected this additional image.

These multiple images appeared because the supernova was gravitationally lensed by a galaxy cluster, a phenomenon in which mass from the cluster bends and magnifies light. By using the time delays between the appearances of the 2014 and 2015 images, the researchers were able to measure the Hubble Constant using a theory developed in 1964 by Norwegian astronomer Sjur Refsdal that had previously been impossible to put into practice.

The researchers' findings don't absolutely settle the debate, Kelly said, but they do provide more insight into the problem and bring physicists closer to obtaining the most accurate measurement of the universe's age.

"Our measurement favors the value from the cosmic microwave background, although it is not in strong disagreement with the supernova value," Kelly said. "If observations of future supernovae that are also gravitationally lensed by clusters yield a similar result, then it would identify an issue with the current supernova value, or with our understanding of galaxy-cluster dark matter."

Using the same data, the researchers found that some current models of galaxy-cluster dark matter were able to explain their observations of the supernovae. This allowed them to determine the most accurate models for the locations of dark matter in the galaxy cluster, a question that has long plagued astronomers.

More information:

Patrick Kelly et al, Constraints on the Hubble constant from Supernova Refsdal's reappearance, Science (2023). DOI: 10.1126/science.abh1322. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abh1322

Patrick L. Kelly et al, The Magnificent Five Images of Supernova Refsdal: Time Delay and Magnification Measurements, The Astrophysical Journal (2023). DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ac4ccb , iopscience.iop.org/article/10.  847/1538-4357/ac4ccb

Provided by University of Minnesota
QUT Distinguished Professor James Dale with young banana plants in a shadehouse at the QUT field trial site in the Northern Territory. Pictured on Professor Dale's right is a wild banana plant, and on his left, is a Cavendish banana plant. Credit: QUT

A QUT-developed genetically modified (GM) variety of Cavendish banana designed to help save the world's Cavendish banana production has been submitted for regulatory approval to the Australian Government.

The QCAV-4 banana is the first Australian GM fruit to be submitted for assessment. If approved, it would offer a potential safety net against the devastating Panama Disease tropical race 4 (TR4) which threatens the world's US$20 billion banana industry.

QCAV-4 bananas, developed in partnership with government and industry, have been grown in field trials in the Northern Territory for over six years and have proven to be highly resistant to Panama Disease TR4.

Panama Disease TR4 has already crippled Cavendish banana production in Asia, has started to take a foothold in South America and occurs in Australia in the Northern Territory and North Queensland.

QCAV-4 is a Cavendish Grand Nain banana that has been bioengineered with a single gene, RGA2, from the wild, south-east Asian banana, Musa acuminata ssp malaccensis. Cavendish bananas already contain the RGA2 gene, but it is dormant.

QCAV-4 is currently being assessed by the Australian Government regulatory authorities, the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator (OGTR) and Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ).

QUT Distinguished Professor James Dale and his team have been working on developing and growing genetically modified Cavendish bananas for more than 20 years.

"The devastating Panama Disease TR4 is caused by a soil-borne fungus that stays in the ground for more than 50 years, wiping out banana crops and destroying farms for generations," Professor Dale said.

"It is a huge problem. It has devastated Cavendish plantations in many parts of the world and could cripple the Cavendish banana export industry worldwide."

Australia's world-class biosecurity rules have so far limited the impact of Panama Disease TR4 on the majority of the Australian industry, however it has been found in parts of North Queensland and has decimated the Northern Territory commercial banana industry.

"About 95 percent of Australia's bananas are grown in Queensland, and Cavendish banana accounts for 97 percent of production," Professor Dale said.

"Apart from providing a genuine protection against Panama Disease TR4 for the world's export industry, QCAV-4 is a safety net for Australia's $1.3 billion industry, which includes protected employment for 18,000 Queenslanders involved in banana production."

While regulatory approval by OGTR and FSANZ would support the environmental and food safety of QCAV-4, there are no plans to grow or sell QCAV-4 bananas to consumers in Australia at this time.

Provided by Queensland University of Technology
Social media is here to stay and researchers are investigating its effect on mental health. Credit: CC0 via Pixabay

While inspiring creativity and fostering online communities, apps like TikTok raise concerns about potential harm to users' health.

Since Jinnet Paola Pedraza first downloaded TikTok in 2019, she has become one of the social media site's biggest advocates and more popular users. Her short video reels about 2021 mass protests in Colombia went viral in the global TikTok community.

Pedraza installed TikTok because her daughter had talked about how much fun the app was. The 37-year-old Pedraza, a journalism researcher originally from Colombia and now living in Spain, wanted to find out more about the content that so appealed to her child.

News niche

With the world in lockdown over the COVID-19 pandemic, the pair used the app to post video reels about how both were adjusting to life indoors. Then, as demonstrations erupted in Colombia over tax rises, healthcare changes and other issues, Pedraza found a niche: posting updates from Spain about the public outcry in her home country.

"I discovered that TikTok was a valuable tool that could serve to transform societiesbeyond dances, trends and challenges," she said.

When Pedraza recorded her first video, she had 100 followers. Today, nearly 25 000 get her daily updates.

Pedraza is sharing her insights as part of new EU-funded research into the impact of TikTok on Gen Z: the ''zoomers'' who have grown up surrounded by social media.

The initiative is led by Dr. Paolo Gerbaudo, a cultural sociologist at the Scuola Normale Superiore, an Italian teaching centre established by Napoleon in 1810. The project, called "TikTok and Generation Z' or TKTKGEN, began in January 2022 and runs until the end of this year.

Through analysis of social media sites and focus groups in Europe and China, where TikTok originated, Gerbaudo wants to understand more about these second-generation platforms characterised by video sharing. He's focusing on why and how young people use TikTok.

Good vibrations

A reason they have abandoned traditional social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter in favour of TikTok is its more positive content, according to Gerbaudo.

In contrast to the febrile exchanges characteristic of Twitter, TikTok from the start presented itself as a force for goodits unique algorithm able to make precise predictions about the type of content a user would find enjoyable.

Gerbaudo thinks that this approach probably resonates better with Gen Z, which he says is on the lookout for more uplifting material.

"Gen Z has grown up with crisis after crisisfrom climate change to COVID-19which has inevitably shaped their attitudes and beliefs," he said. "TikTok offers a lens through which to understand youth culture and it seems that this generation has a really different world view, less geared towards confrontation."

But could an excess of good vibes and motivational messaging also be storing up its own problems for young people?

Gerbaudo is seeking greater understanding of the impact on their mental health of the platform's ''toxic positivity''constant pressure to be happy and share only the positive aspects of life.

Concerns also exist over screen addiction. While little is currently known about how TikTok affects its users, experts warn that the platform's unique algorithm and 15 to 30-second videos could have serious consequences for people's state of mind in the long run.

Screen effects

Professor Anders Grntved of the University of Southern Denmark is breaking new ground with one of the most in-depth studies to date of the impact of increased screen time.

He coordinated a six-year project examining the effects of digital screen use on mental health, sleep and physical activity. Called SCREENS, the EU-funded initiative ended in January this year.

Whereas around 15 years ago researchers relied on questionnaires to determine people's screen time, typically asking how long they spent on a personal computer or in front of a television, nowadays a new approach is needed.

The SCREENS team designed apps to track smartphone usage and measure people's movements, sleep quality and stress levels. While screen time has clearly increased, the health implications are less easy to quantify, according to Grntved.

Still, by combining data collected from nearly 400 people across Denmark with input from the fields of public health and behavioral science, the team did shed light on how time spent online is affecting society, particularly children.

Time out

Project results show that, when screen time was reduced to an hour a day, physical activity among children and young people increased substantially.

During the week, physical activity increased by 45 minutes a day on average and on the weekend by 73 minutes.

"We really didn't expect that large an effect," said Grntved. "We need to find better options for young people to spend time together face-to-face instead of on their screens."

With these findings, he's now working with local schools to increase the provision of afterschool activities.

For adults, the positive impact on physical activity was not as obvious because they tended to replace one sedentary screen-time activity with another. Adults did, however, report better sleep and an improvement in general mood and well-being.

In sum, the project confirmed some of the suspected challenges posed by greater use of social media poses and has helped to concentrate minds.

"There are advantages to these technologies, but we need to get a better grip on the immediate and long-term effects they are having," said Grntved.

Family rules

In his view, this may signal a need for more control of social media use, particularly within families.

A practical step that he suggests parents can take is to set rules limiting screen time at homeand not just for the children. Project data show that, the more time parents spend on screens, the longer their children will too.

Furthermore, the more addicted parents are to their smartphones, the poorer their kids' mental health. When families put in place limits, people are more active and generally happier.

Grntved tried it out at his own home with three children and hailed the results.

"It was a really good experience for my family and gave us a lot more time together at home," he said. "I would advise people to try it."

Since Jinnet Paola Pedraza (/Pao_la_Periodista) first downloaded TikTok in 2019, she has become one of the social media site's biggest advocates and more popular users. Her short video reels about 2021 mass protests in Colombia went viral in the global TikTok community.

Pedraza installed TikTok because her daughter had talked about how much fun the app was. The 37-year-old Pedraza, a journalism researcher originally from Colombia and now living in Spain, wanted to find out more about the content that so appealed to her child.

News niche

With the world in lockdown over the COVID-19 pandemic, the pair used the app to post video reels about how both were adjusting to life indoors. Then, as demonstrations erupted in Colombia over tax rises, healthcare changes and other issues, Pedraza found a niche: posting updates from Spain about the public outcry in her home country.

"I discovered that TikTok was a valuable tool that could serve to transform societiesbeyond dances, trends and challenges," she said.

When Pedraza recorded her first video, she had 100 followers. Today, nearly 25 000 get her daily updates.

Pedraza is sharing her insights as part of new EU-funded research into the impact of TikTok on Gen Z: the ''zoomers'' who have grown up surrounded by social media.

The initiative is led by Dr. Paolo Gerbaudo, a cultural sociologist at the Scuola Normale Superiore, an Italian teaching centre established by Napoleon in 1810. The project, called "TikTok and Generation Z' or TKTKGEN, began in January 2022 and runs until the end of this year.

Through analysis of social media sites and focus groups in Europe and China, where TikTok originated, Gerbaudo wants to understand more about these second-generation platforms characterised by video sharing. He's focusing on why and how young people use TikTok.

Good vibrations

A reason they have abandoned traditional social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter in favour of TikTok is its more positive content, according to Gerbaudo.

In contrast to the febrile exchanges characteristic of Twitter, TikTok from the start presented itself as a force for goodits unique algorithm able to make precise predictions about the type of content a user would find enjoyable.

Gerbaudo thinks that this approach probably resonates better with Gen Z, which he says is on the lookout for more uplifting material.

"Gen Z has grown up with crisis after crisisfrom climate change to COVID-19which has inevitably shaped their attitudes and beliefs," he said. "TikTok offers a lens through which to understand youth culture and it seems that this generation has a really different world view, less geared towards confrontation."

But could an excess of good vibes and motivational messaging also be storing up its own problems for young people?

Gerbaudo is seeking greater understanding of the impact on their mental health of the platform's ''toxic positivity''constant pressure to be happy and share only the positive aspects of life.

Concerns also exist over screen addiction. While little is currently known about how TikTok affects its users, experts warn that the platform's unique algorithm and 15 to 30-second videos could have serious consequences for people's state of mind in the long run.

Screen effects

Professor Anders Grntved of the University of Southern Denmark is breaking new ground with one of the most in-depth studies to date of the impact of increased screen time.

He coordinated a six-year project examining the effects of digital screen use on mental health, sleep and physical activity. Called SCREENS, the EU-funded initiative ended in January this year.

Whereas around 15 years ago researchers relied on questionnaires to determine people's screen time, typically asking how long they spent on a personal computer or in front of a television, nowadays a new approach is needed.

The SCREENS team designed apps to track smartphone usage and measure people's movements, sleep quality and stress levels. While screen time has clearly increased, the health implications are less easy to quantify, according to Grntved.

Still, by combining data collected from nearly 400 people across Denmark with input from the fields of public health and behavioral science, the team did shed light on how time spent online is affecting society, particularly children.

Time out

Project results show that, when screen time was reduced to an hour a day, physical activity among children and young people increased substantially.

During the week, physical activity increased by 45 minutes a day on average and on the weekend by 73 minutes.

"We really didn't expect that large an effect," said Grntved. "We need to find better options for young people to spend time together face-to-face instead of on their screens."

With these findings, he's now working with local schools to increase the provision of afterschool activities.

For adults, the positive impact on physical activity was not as obvious because they tended to replace one sedentary screen-time activity with another. Adults did, however, report better sleep and an improvement in general mood and well-being.

In sum, the project confirmed some of the suspected challenges posed by greater use of social media poses and has helped to concentrate minds.

"There are advantages to these technologies, but we need to get a better grip on the immediate and long-term effects they are having," said Grntved.

Family rules

In his view, this may signal a need for more control of social media use, particularly within families.

A practical step that he suggests parents can take is to set rules limiting screen time at homeand not just for the children. Project data show that, the more time parents spend on screens, the longer their children will too.

Furthermore, the more addicted parents are to their smartphones, the poorer their kids' mental health. When families put in place limits, people are more active and generally happier.

Grntved tried it out at his own home with three children and hailed the results.

"It was a really good experience for my family and gave us a lot more time together at home," he said. "I would advise people to try it."

More information:



Provided by Horizon: The EU Research & Innovation Magazine
FLORENCE  The Florence One School District has been incorporating farm-to-school programs into its education for years, but on Thursday, the district began a new chapter in agriculture education.

The agricultural and culinary education center known as The Farm at Florence One officially opened with a ribbon cutting before the districts Board of Trustees meeting.

The center has been a dream for farm-to-school coordinator Jeff Murrie, who spoke at the ribbon cutting and the board meeting about the farm.

This site will be the catalyst to bring about many new opportunities to the students of Florence One Schools, he said. This truly has been a passion project and will be a legacy for all involved.

Superintendent Richard OMalley said The Farm is a good representation of the districts battle against minimally adequate education in the state of South Carolina.

Florence Mayor Teresa Myers Ervin thanked the districts Board of Trustees for its vision.

We all carry the name of Florence, whether its the city of Florence, the county of Florence or Florence School District One, she said. Florence is now being recognized on the national level because of what we are all doing together.

In addition to nine acres of farmland and greenhouses, The Farms main structure has a teaching classroom, a communal dining area, a commercial kitchen and an outdoor play area.

Four acres of the land is planted with an already-visible cover crop that will help to nourish the soil, Murrie said.

The produce grown at The Farm will be incorporated into the school districts food and used in the teaching kitchen. The district also plans to create a farmers market to put students entrepreneurship skills to the test.

With The Farm, Murrie said, he hopes to break the stigma around agricultural professions and bring awareness to all the different ways students can one day work in agriculture, from agribusiness to environmental engineering.

The Farm at Florence One is open to all students, who no matter their grade level will learn about where food comes from and how it is prepared.

Local partnerships will also teach students about veterinary science and other animal-related topics.

Students will not be the only ones using The Farm at Florence One. Local community organizations and camps will also be able to take advantage of the new center, and Murrie said one local beekeeping organization already regularly meets at The Farm.

This is our Taj Mahal of agriculture and sustainable education and so much more, he said.

The Farm at Florence One is on North Williston Road.
FLORENCE, S.C.  Nancy Kincaid, a nurse working in the ambulatory surgery center at the MUSC Health Florence Medical Center, won the hospitals Nurse of the Year award.

She demonstrates excellence in nursing not just through her words, but through her actions, said Costa Cockfield, the Florence divisions chief nursing officer. She is a primary preceptor to our new nurses, has a strong work ethic and is the go-to resource for providing education.

The Florence Division of MUSC Health announced the Nurse of the Year award and others at its 18th annual nursing recognition ceremony on Thursday. Nurses from across the hospital piled into a classroom on the second floor dressed in traditional white nurses outfits with hats.

Kincaid keeps busy in ways beyond just her normal duties, Cockfield said. At work, she serves on the Patient Engagement Council and is a member of the hospitals Shared Governance and the CAUTI Reduction Team.

She is also active in her church by helping in the childrens church and nursery, Cockfield said.

This is a labor of love which requires much commitment and time. she said.

At home, Kincaid is a mother, wife and part-time caretaker of her mother, according to Cockfield.

Despite what may be going on in her personal life, she comes to work faithfully and cares for her patients as if they are all that matter in that moment, Cockfield said.

She said Kincaid is the full package, which is why she won this years Nurse of the Year award.

Nurses nominated for the Nurse of the Year award included:

Allison Bass

April Collins

Stephanie Collins

Cary Dowdy

Carolyn Evans

Crystal Fulgencio

Mary Ann Lougheed

Yessenia Marquez

Joanalyn Nobleza

Ethel Rouse

Steve Simon

Lydia Smith

Jermaine Sweeney

Other awards were also announced at the event.

The Physician Friend of Nursing of the Year was Dr. Charles Stonerock. Cockfield, who presented the award, said Stonerock is beloved by patients and their families and by the hospitals staff.

He has a consistently pleasant demeanor. He can be counted on to remain calm, patient focused and lead his team whether on the nursing units, procedural areas or his clinic, she said.

Stonerock is evidently a Star Wars fan, as Cockfields speech was full of references. After he received the award, two nurses presented him with a small statue of a Star Wars character.

He is a positive Force to work with, she said.

Kim Owens won the hospitals Advanced Practice Provider of the Year award.

The award was given by Jason Cox, the hospitals chief operating officer, who said Owens has helped take care of employees who were sick with COVID-19 during the pandemic.

Her expertise during this difficult time was very much needed and appreciated, he said. She has not wavered since that time, as she continues to provide care, compassion and dedication to the patients she serves.

The Dr. Frank B Lee Sr. Unit of the Year award went to The Womens Pavilion. Trish McLeod, the hospitals assistant chief nursing officer, presented the award and said the unit was last years top performer.

The unit received international and national accolades over the past year, including the baby-friendly designation. The U.S. World News Report also recognized MUSC Health Florence Medical Center as a Best Hospital for Maternity Care, the only hospital in the state to receive the recognition.

Last fall, Natasha Anderson and Tallia Calomeris were recognized as two of the top 100 nurses in the state by Palmetto Gold. The two nurses were recognized again at the event.

The hospitals Certified Nurse of the Year award went to Tina Williamson. The award was announced by director of surgical services Melissa Demars.

She said Williamson exemplifies collaboration, expertise, advocacy, integrity, innovation, accountability and diversity.

Lathrum Johnson, the director of the hospitals fourth floor, announced the Rising Stars. These nurses stand out from the moment they enter the profession.

The 14 nurses who received the honor:

Eboni Coleman

Tina Fulton

Carley Sorensen Gibson

Trysten Herbert

Akenyiah Hickmon

Ruby Hunter

Dmitry Kochurov

Lauren Knight

Brittney Lee

Joanna Mitropoulos

Sabrina Newton

Bobby Sloan

Emily Smith

Candace Truett

The Nursing Leadership Champion award was given to Shannon Shaw, the nursing recruiter for MUSC Health Florence Division.

The director of The Womens Pavilion, Catherine Godwin, announced the award and said Shaw gives everything she has to her job.

They often give more than receive and return the next day and give even more, Godwin said.

Beth Vlahavas, the director of the emergency department, announced Alisa Webb as the winner of the years Nursing Support Champion award.

Vlahavas said Webb has been with MUSC for over 20 years and was recently assigned duties and tasks beyond her normal responsibilities. Each time, she did her best to do what she was asked, Vlahavas said.

This nominees approach to work and life mirrors the culture of MUSC Health, she said.

Florence Mayor Teresa Myers Ervin, who is a nurse, attended the ceremony and gave brief words of encouragement to the MUSC nurses.

I believe that nurses can do anything, Ervin said.

She also encouraged more nurses to get involved in government, saying nursing has given her unique skills that have served her well.

After her speech, Ervin read a proclamation from the Florence City Council recognizing May 6 to May 12 as National Nurses Week.

After the event, attendees were treated to a light lunch and other refreshments.
A Sunday sojourn found me at Healing Springs near Blackville, South Carolina. There I stood on Gods Acre, property deeded to God. Palm Sunday it was, and processions came to be healed. Some came to slake a thirst driven by curiosity. All carried vessels. And the spring kept gushing. Nearby a young man peddled fresh produce. If only I had had some bread and Dukes mayonnaise.

People have long made pilgrimages to this Barnwell County shrine to fill jugs, bottles, and whatever will hold water. Its not for the taste. No, they come to take reputed healing powers back home, evidence that people put their faith in remedies beyond pills, needles, and the knife. Like most things religious, faith provides the key.

The water gushing up from Healing Springs has long been considered special. We have to go back to pre-European times when Indians considered the waters sacred. They bathed in the springs for restorative power when ailing or injured. The springs fame skyrocketed during the American Revolution. A historical marker chronicles the legend.

By tradition, Healing Springs got its name during the Revolutionary War. In 1781 after a bloody battle at nearby Windy Hill Creek, four wounded Tories sent inland from Charleston by General Banastre Tarleton were left in the care of two comrades who had orders to bury them when they died. Instead, Indians found them and took them to their secret, sacred healing springs. Six months later the Charleston garrison was astonished by the reappearance of the six men. All were strong and healthy.

Springs have long played a prominent role when it comes to our health. When modern medicine disappoints, many people turn to springs hoping to heal various ailments. Georgia residents flocked to Warm Springs and its 90-degree water in an effort to avoid Yellow Fever. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt swam in the warm water hoping it would help his paralytic illness, diagnosed as poliomyelitis later thought to be GuillainBarre syndrome. I knew a woman who regularly made a 120-mile roundtrip to Blackville. Laden with plastic milk jugs shed come home with the therapeutic water and swore by it.

I watched the people come and go Palm Sunday. I wish I could write that a woman in a wheelchair drank some water and rose from her chair or that a man as bald as an onion anointed his head with water and at once grew a dark, lustrous mane, but that, of course, didnt happen.

The water surges out of the ground in three places where four-spigots make it convenient to collect. So much water flows that it runs into a small stream nearby. A young girl waded out into it much to the concern of her mother.

Folks come from all over. Some describe the springs as a hidden gem in the middle of nowhere. This hidden gem has ample parking and a picnic area. A sign urges people to revere God by keeping his property clean. Youll see a beautiful cross just beyond that stream.

Blackvilles Healing Springs, known as Gods Acre Healing Springs, is indeed famous and its true that no one owns it. Lute Boylston deeded the springs to God in 1944. Up near the parking spaces sits a granite marker. Among its information is this: The most precious piece of earth I have ever owned.

Gallons gush forth every minute. Lifes healing elixirI brought a gallon home myself as a hedge against some malady that might strike. The water tastes great. Get some jugs and hit the road.
Seguin, TX (78155)

Today

Overcast. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 83F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Cloudy skies early with scattered thunderstorms developing late. Low 66F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
Singaporeans will receive up to S$400 in a special payment to provide cost-of-living relief. (PHOTO: Yahoo Singapore)

SINGAPORE  About 2.5 million adult Singaporeans will receive up to S$400 in cash in a special payment in June to provide cost-of-living relief.

In a statement released on Thursday (11 May), the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said that the 2023 Cost-of-Living (COL) Special Payment are for adult citizens with annual assessable incomes of up to S$100,000, regardless of the type of property they live in.

Among of the 2.5 million eligible citizens, about 850,000 senior Singaporeans will also receive up to S$300 in cash under the 2023 COL Seniors; Bonus to provide additional cost-of-living support for seniors.

These payments will be disbursed together in June 2023.

How to know if you are eligible for the 2023 Cost-of-Living Special Payment

Singaporeans may check their eligibility for the 2023 COL Special Payment and 2023 COL Seniors' Bonus at the official Assurance Package (AP) website by logging in with Singpass.

Eligible recipients will be notified in June after the 2023 COL Special Payment and 2023 COL Seniors' Bonus have been credited to them, either via their Singpass app inbox or SMS notifications.

The ministry added that to guard against scams, the SMS notification  with "MOF" as the sender  will only be to inform recipients of the benefits. Recipients "will not be asked to reply to the SMS, click any links, or provide any information to the sender". "There will not be any messages relating to the COL payments sent via WhatsApp or other mobile app messaging platforms," the MOF said.

The COL Special Payment and COL Seniors Bonus are part of a host of support measures given to Singaporeans as part of an enhanced AP. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong announced during Budget 2023 that the government will enhance the AP by S$3 billion to reach about S$9.6 billion.

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Quilt Dedication

Redeemer Lutheran Church, 3204 S. Lakeport, will dedicate the quilts created by the Redeemer Quilters on May 14 at 8:15 a.m. and 10:45 a.m. On Dedication Sunday, many of the quilts created in the past year will be displayed over the pews of the church. There were 160 regular quilts and 35 baby quilts made over the past year and donated to people in need. Some of the recipients of the quilts included St. Lukes NICU, Sleep In Heavenly Peace, The Orphan Grain Train for the Ukraine Relief Efforts, Boys and Girls Ranch, Sudanese Ministry, and many others in need.
Brenda Powell had suffered a stroke and was in debilitating pain when she called the Social Security Administration last year to seek disability benefits.

The former Louisiana state office worker struggled at times to write her name or carry a glass of water. Powell, then 62, believed she could no longer work, and she was worried about how to pay for medical care with only a $433 monthly pension.

Although the Social Security Administration agreed that Powells condition limited the work she could do, the agency rejected her initial application for Supplemental Security Income. She had the choice to appeal that decision, which could take months or years to resolve, or take early retirement. The latter option would give her $302 a month now but might permanently reduce the full Social Security retirement payment she would be eligible for at age 66 and 10 months.

I didnt know what to do. These decisions are not easy, said Powell, who lives in Alexandria, Louisiana, about 200 miles northwest of New Orleans. She decided to appeal the decision but take early retirement in the meantime.

I had to have more money to pay my bills, she said. I had nothing left over for gas.

Every year, tens of thousands of people who are disabled and unable to work consider taking early retirement benefits from Social Security. The underfunded federal disability system acknowledges that it is stymied by delays and dysfunction, even as over 1 million people await a decision on their benefits application.

The United States, which has one of the least generous disability programs among developed Western nations, denies most initial claims, leaving applicants to endure a lengthy appeals process.

At the same time, Social Security agents may neglect to explain the financial downside of taking retirement benefits too early, said attorneys who help patients file disability claims. The result is a growing population of vulnerable people who feel stuck between a proverbial rock and a hard place  to live with little money while they wait it out or agree to a significantly lower payment for the rest of their lives.

They dont have the luxury of waiting, said Charles T. Hall, a disability attorney based in Raleigh, North Carolina. The vast majority of people need the money now, and you can get early retirement benefits in two months or less.

In a nation where more than a quarter of residents have a disability, Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income programs are intended to provide financial help to people who cannot work.

Retirement experts generally recommend senior citizens tap into their Social Security benefits as late as they can, to maximize the amount of money they receive from the federal government. For someone born after 1960, taking benefits at age 62  the earliest age people are eligible  instead of 67 reduces each monthly payment by as much as 30% for the rest of a persons life, said Richard Johnson, a senior fellow and the director of the Program on Retirement Policy at the Urban Institute, a nonprofit research organization.

Someone who applies for Supplemental Security Income, or early retirement, would get $914 a month if they can prove they are older than 65, blind, or have a disabling medical condition. Social Security Disability Insurance pays an average monthly benefit of $1,483 to those who suffered a disabling injury or illness and paid a federal tax that was deducted from their paychecks in the past.

Social Security agents will inform people of their ability to obtain early retirement benefits. But they might not explain the downsides, said Sam Byker, CEO and founder of Atticus, a California-based group that connects people seeking disability benefits with attorneys around the country. His organization found that among a sample of 765 clients ages 62-66 seeking Social Security Disability Insurance, 44% were already receiving early retirement.

Disability takes too long, and the decision about who gets approved can seem arbitrary, Byker said. It cannot be counted on, he said.

An initial decision on an application for disability benefits can take an average of over seven months, according to a March letter signed by more than 100 members of Congress.

Most callers to the Social Security Administration are unable to reach an agent, and people seeking local field office assistance with an application can wait at least a month for an appointment, the letter said.

Earlier this year, acting Social Security Commissioner Kilolo Kijakazi warned in a letter to congressional leaders that months-long delays in processing disability applications and phone assistance are likely to worsen in 2023, even as officials vow to improve service over time.

In a written statement, Social Security Administration spokesperson Darren Lutz acknowledged that wait times are far too long, citing inconsistent and insufficient funding, staffing shortages, and other challenges. The agency refused to make officials available for a phone call to discuss the issue in more detail.

Caught in the tangle of dysfunction are disabled people with little or no income, who often take early retirement because they are struggling to pay for basics like housing, food, and medicine. In some cases, people end up homeless or die waiting for their disability benefits, lawyers told KFF Health News.

The problems can hit especially hard in the South and Appalachia, since those regions tend to have an older workforce than most other parts of the country, more workers in manufacturing, and people with lower educational attainment who tend to rely more on disability benefits.

It is a system in crisis, said Ida Comerford, a managing partner for the Kenneth Hiller law firm, which handles disability cases in New York, Michigan, and Illinois. This is not going to cut it. It is the worst Ive ever seen it.

The Social Security Administration said its workers are required to notify applicants about all the benefits they could receive and provide enough details for them to make an informed decision.

For someone who has no income and no ability to cover their expenses, it might make sense to take early retirement benefits, said Kurt Czarnowski, a former Social Security Administration regional communications director who now works as a retirement consultant.

If a person has a medical condition that suggests a shorter life span, Czarnowski said, it is probably wise to consider taking the smaller payments now instead of waiting for bigger checks later.

But there is a huge financial advantage for those who can wait, Czarnowski said.

People born after 1960 can collect full retirement benefits at age 67. In addition, each year they wait to collect Social Security between ages 67 and 70, their monthly check increases by 8%.

Ultimately, it is a longevity decision, Czarnowski said.

Hall also said he advises certain clients to take early retirement benefits while applying for disability. If the person wins their disability case, they can still collect full retirement benefits instead of the reduced amount, he said.

But Byker, of Atticus, said that strategy comes with risk. Most applicants need an attorney to help obtain disability through the lengthy appeals process. But lawyers are less likely to take a client who is already receiving early retirement benefits because that scenario significantly reduces the amount of money they can make on a case, he said.

More than 60% of applications for Supplemental Security Income are rejected, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonprofit research organization. About two-thirds of applications for Social Security Disability Insurance are denied, the group says.

Six months after she applied, the Social Security Administration notified Powell in a February letter that her Supplemental Security Income claim had been denied. The letter said that while medical evidence shows her condition limits her ability to hold a job, she can do work in keeping with her skills as a finance assistant.

Lutz, the Social Security spokesperson, said in a written statement that privacy laws preclude the agency from answering questions about Powells case. Lutz said the agency uses a stringent definition of disability.

Powell has hired an attorney and filed an appeal, but she doesnt know when the case will be resolved.

I dont want to say poor, poor me, Powell said. It has not been easy. I dont wish this on nobody.

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.

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What use could health care have for someone who makes things up, cant keep a secret, doesnt really know anything, and, when speaking, simply fills in the next word based on whats come before? Lots, if that individual is the newest form of artificial intelligence, according to some of the biggest companies out there.

Companies pushing the latest AI technology  known as generative AI  are piling on: Google and Microsoft want to bring types of so-called large language models to health care. Big firms that are familiar to folks in white coats  but maybe less so to your average Joe and Jane  are equally enthusiastic: Electronic medical records giants Epic and Oracle Cerner arent far behind. The space is crowded with startups, too.

The companies want their AI to take notes for physicians and give them second opinions  assuming they can keep the intelligence from hallucinating or, for that matter, divulging patients private information.

Theres something afoot thats pretty exciting, said Eric Topol, director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute in San Diego. Its capabilities will ultimately have a big impact. Topol, like many other observers, wonders how many problems it might cause  like leaking patient data  and how often. Were going to find out.

The specter of such problems inspired more than 1,000 technology leaders to sign an open letter in March urging that companies pause development on advanced AI systems until we are confident that their effects will be positive and their risks will be manageable. Even so, some of them are sinking more money into AI ventures.

The underlying technology relies on synthesizing huge chunks of text or other data  for example, some medical models rely on 2 million intensive care unit notes from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston  to predict text that would follow a given query. The idea has been around for years, but the gold rush, and the marketing and media mania surrounding it, are more recent.

The frenzy was kicked off in December 2022 by Microsoft-backed OpenAI and its flagship product, ChatGPT, which answers questions with authority and style. It can explain genetics in a sonnet, for example.

OpenAI, started as a research venture seeded by Silicon Valley elites like Sam Altman, Elon Musk, and Reid Hoffman, has ridden the enthusiasm to investors pockets. The venture has a complex, hybrid for- and nonprofit structure. But a new $10 billion round of funding from Microsoft has pushed the value of OpenAI to $29 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported. Right now, the company is licensing its technology to companies like Microsoft and selling subscriptions to consumers. Other startups are considering selling AI transcription or other products to hospital systems or directly to patients.

Hyperbolic quotes are everywhere. Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers tweeted recently: Its going to replace what doctors do  hearing symptoms and making diagnoses  before it changes what nurses do  helping patients get up and handle themselves in the hospital.

But just weeks after OpenAI took another huge cash infusion, even Altman, its CEO, is wary of the fanfare. The hype over these systems  even if everything we hope for is right long term  is totally out of control for the short term, he said for a March article in The New York Times.

Few in health care believe this latest form of AI is about to take their jobs (though some companies are experimenting  controversially  with chatbots that act as therapists or guides to care). Still, those who are bullish on the tech think itll make some parts of their work much easier.

Eric Arzubi, a psychiatrist in Billings, Montana, used to manage fellow psychiatrists for a hospital system. Time and again, hed get a list of providers who hadnt yet finished their notes  their summaries of a patients condition and a plan for treatment.

Writing these notes is one of the big stressors in the health system: In the aggregate, its an administrative burden. But its necessary to develop a record for future providers and, of course, insurers.

When people are way behind in documentation, that creates problems, Arzubi said. What happens if the patient comes into the hospital and theres a note that hasnt been completed and we dont know whats been going on?

The new technology might help lighten those burdens. Arzubi is testing a service, called Nabla Copilot, that sits in on his part of virtual patient visits and then automatically summarizes them, organizing into a standard note format the complaint, the history of illness, and a treatment plan.

Results are solid after about 50 patients, he said: Its 90% of the way there. Copilot produces serviceable summaries that Arzubi typically edits. The summaries dont necessarily pick up on nonverbal cues or thoughts Arzubi might not want to vocalize. Still, he said, the gains are significant: He doesnt have to worry about taking notes and can instead focus on speaking with patients. And he saves time.

If I have a full patient day, where I might see 15 patients, I would say this saves me a good hour at the end of the day, he said. (If the technology is adopted widely, he hopes hospitals wont take advantage of the saved time by simply scheduling more patients. Thats not fair, he said.)

Nabla Copilot isnt the only such service; Microsoft is trying out the same concept. At Aprils conference of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society  an industry confab where health techies swap ideas, make announcements, and sell their wares  investment analysts from Evercore highlighted reducing administrative burden as a top possibility for the new technologies.

But overall? They heard mixed reviews. And that view is common: Many technologists and doctors are ambivalent.

For example, if youre stumped about a diagnosis, feeding patient data into one of these programs can provide a second opinion, no question, Topol said. Im sure clinicians are doing it. However, that runs into the current limitations of the technology.

Joshua Tamayo-Sarver, a clinician and executive with the startup Inflect Health, fed fictionalized patient scenarios based on his own practice in an emergency department into one system to see how it would perform. It missed life-threatening conditions, he said. That seems problematic.

The technology also tends to hallucinate  that is, make up information that sounds convincing. Formal studies have found a wide range of performance. One preliminary research paper examining ChatGPT and Google products using open-ended board examination questions from neurosurgery found a hallucination rate of 2%. A study by Stanford researchers, examining the quality of AI responses to 64 clinical scenarios, found fabricated or hallucinated citations 6% of the time, co-author Nigam Shah told KFF Health News. Another preliminary paper found, in complex cardiology cases, ChatGPT agreed with expert opinion half the time.

Privacy is another concern. Its unclear whether the information fed into this type of AI-based system will stay inside. Enterprising users of ChatGPT, for example, have managed to get the technology to tell them the recipe for napalm, which can be used to make chemical bombs.

In theory, the system has guardrails preventing private information from escaping. For example, when KFF Health News asked ChatGPT its email address, the system refused to divulge that private information. But when told to role-play as a character, and asked about the email address of the author of this article, it happily gave up the information. (It was indeed the authors correct email address in 2021, when ChatGPTs archive ends.)

I would not put patient data in, said Shah, chief data scientist at Stanford Health Care. We dont understand what happens with these data once they hit OpenAI servers.

Tina Sui, a spokesperson for OpenAI, told KFF Health News that one should never use our models to provide diagnostic or treatment services for serious medical conditions. They are not fine-tuned to provide medical information, she said.

With the explosion of new research, Topol said, I dont think the medical community has a really good clue about whats about to happen.

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.

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Toyotas much-touted online service for its drivers had a data breach spanning over a decade, risking outside access to information on more than 2 million vehicles. Vehicles belonging to about 2.15 million people have been affected, including those who used net services called G-Link and G-Book, as well as Connected. The problem with Japanese automaker Toyotas cloud-based Connected service began in January 2012 and lasted until April. A spokesperson says the problem pertains to vehicles only in Japan. Among the possibly leaked data are vehicle IDs, locations and video taken by the vehicle. There is no evidence any information was leaked, copied or misused. Toyota said the problem has been resolved and Connect-enabled vehicles can be used normally.
WASHINGTON (AP)  The U.S. is putting new restrictions into place at its southern border to try to to stop migrants from crossing illegally and encourage them instead to apply for asylum online through a new process.

The changes come with the end of coronavirus restrictions on asylum that have allowed the U.S. to quickly turn back migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border for the last three years. Those restrictions are known as Title 42, because the authority comes from Title 42 of a 1944 public health law that allows curbs on migration in the name of protecting public health.

Disinformation is swirling and confusion is setting in during the transition. A look at the new rules (and the old ones):

WHAT IS TITLE 42 AND WHAT DID IT DO?

Title 42 is the name of an emergency health authority. It's a holdover from the Trump administration and it began in March 2020. The authority allowed U.S. officials to turn away migrants who came to the U.S.-Mexico border on the grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19.

Before that, migrants could cross illegally, ask for asylum and be allowed into the U.S.. They were then screened and often released to wait out their immigration cases.

Under Title 42, migrants were returned back over the border and denied the right to seek asylum. U.S. officials turned away migrants more than 2.8 million times. Families and children traveling alone were exempt.

But there were no real consequences when someone illegally crossed the border. So migrants were able to try again and again to cross, on the off chance that they would get into the U.S.

President Joe Biden initially kept Title 42 in place after he took office, then tried to end its use in 2022. Republicans sued, arguing that the restrictions were necessary border security. Courts had kept the rules in place. But the Biden administration announced in January that it was ending national COVID-19 emergencies, and so the border restrictions are now going away.

Biden has said the new changes are necessary, in part because Congress has passed no immigration reform in decades.

SO WHAT'S HAPPENING NEXT?

Starting at 11:59 p.m. EDT Thursday, the Title 42 restrictions will lift.

The Biden administration has put into place a series of new policies that crack down on illegal crossings. The administration says it's trying to stop people from paying smuggling operations to make a dangerous and often deadly journey.

Now, there will be strict consequences. Migrants caught crossing illegally will not be allowed to return for five years. They can face criminal prosecution if they do.

NEW ASYLUM RULES

Under U.S. and international law, anyone who comes to the U.S. can ask for asylum. People from all over the world come to the U.S-Mexico border to seek asylum in the U.S. They are screened to determine whether they have a credible fear of persecution in their homeland. Their case then goes to the immigration court system to determine if they can stay in the U.S., but that process can take years. Usually they are released into the U.S. to wait their cases out.

The Biden administration is now turning away anyone seeking asylum who didn't first seek protection in a country they traveled through, or first applied online. This is a version of a Trump administration policy that was overturned by the courts, so it's not clear whether this restriction will hold up. A lawsuit is expected.

WHO'S ALLOWED IN?

The U.S. has said it will accept up to 30,000 per month from Venezuela, Haiti, Nicaragua and Cuba as long as they come by air, have a sponsor and apply online first. The government will also allow up to 100,000 people from Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras into the U.S. who have family here if they, too, apply online. Border officials will deport people otherwise, including turning 30,000 a month from Venezuela, Haiti, Nicaragua and Cuba back over the border to Mexico.

Other migrants may be allowed in, too, if they apply through the CBP One app. Right now, 740 people per day have been allowed in through the app and they're increasing it up to 1,000 per day.

WHAT ABOUT FAMILIES?

Families crossing the border illegally will be subject to curfews, and the head of household will have to wear an ankle monitoring bracelet. Immigration officials will try to determine within 30 days whether a family can stay in the U.S. or be deported. Usually that process would take years.

The administration considered detaining families until they cleared initial asylum screenings but opted instead for the curfews, which will run from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. and begin soon in Baltimore; Chicago; Newark, New Jersey; and Washington, D.C., according to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the information was not intended to be public. Families who do not show up for their screening interviews will be picked up by immigration authorities and deported.

OVERCROWDING

Border Patrol stations are meant to house migrants temporarily and don't have capacity to hold the volume of people coming. Some stations are already too crowded. As a result, agents began releasing migrants into the U.S. with instructions to appear at an immigration office within 60 days, or face deportation.

Agents were also told to start the releases in any area where holding facilities were at 125% capacity or the average time in custody exceeded 60 hours. They were also to start releases if 7,000 migrants were taken into custody across the entire border in any one day.

That's already happened. Some 10,000 people taken into custody on Tuesday. This could create problems for Biden administration officials trying to crack down on those coming in.

Florida filed a lawsuit claiming the releases violate an earlier court ruling.

MIGRATION HUBS

U.S. officials plan to open 100 regional migration hubs across the Western Hemisphere, where people can come to seek placement in another country, including Canada and Spain.

There will be hubs in Colombia and Guatemala, but it's not clear where the others will be. It's also not clear when they will be up and running.

___

Photos: Migrants rush across US border in final hours before pandemic rule expires
The body of a 58-year-old Blair man who had been missing since May 3 was found Thursday at the Desoto National Wildlife Refuge in Washington County.

Authorities found the body of Ronald Harvey on the Nebraska side of the refuge at 12:15 p.m., according to Capt. Aaron Brensel of the Washington County Sheriff's Office.

The Sheriff's Office and other local agencies performed a three-day search of the area after Harvey was reported missing by his family. Harvey was believed to have been mushroom hunting, Brensel said.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Fort Calhoun Fire Department, Blair Fire Department, Omaha Police Department, Douglas County Sheriff's Office and the Harrison County (Iowa) Sheriff's Office all assisted in the search, Brensel said. The Nebraska side of the wildlife refuge was closed to the public during the search.

World-Herald staff writer Dan Crisler contributed to this report.
DES MOINES -- Transgender rights advocates celebrated an Iowa Supreme Court decision Friday to leave in place a lower-court ruling that a 2019 amendment to the Iowa Civil Rights Act is unconstitutional.

The Iowa Supreme Court declined to offer its own ruling on the constitutionality of 2019 legislation that stated the Iowa Civil Rights Act does not require state or local governments to provide for gender transition surgery, calling the question moot.

A district court in 2021 ordered the state to stop its practice of denying gender transition treatment to transgender Iowans on Medicaid, ruling the proposed change to the Iowa Civil Rights Act violated the guarantee of equal protection under the Iowa Constitution.

The state appealed that decision to the Iowa Supreme Court, which on Friday declined to offer its own opinion, leaving the district court ruling in place.

The importance of this truly cannot be overstated and we are celebrating today, Rita Bettis Austen, the legal director for ACLU of Iowa, said in a news conference Friday.

Transgender Iowans on Medicaid can continue to receive the coverage for lifesaving, gender-affirming care that they desperately need, she said. As the district court ruled, the state cannot enforce its discriminatory regulation to bar this coverage.

The ACLU of Iowa represented the plaintiffs in the case that produced Fridays opinion

The Supreme Courts unanimous opinion, written by Justice Thomas Waterman, said the court declined to offer its own opinion of whether the changes made to the Iowa Civil Rights Act were unconstitutional because, in the case before them, the issues had been resolved  the state has complied with the lower court ruling and has paid for gender-transition treatments for Medicaid recipients, even while appealing that lower court ruling.

Choices have consequences, and in this case, the appellants choices prompt us to dismiss its direct appeal as moot, Watermans opinion for the court says.

The Supreme Court also declined to weigh in, the opinion said, because the case record is insufficient to make such a determination and because national case law on transgender rights is in flux.

The issues concerning Medicaid coverage for adult sex reassignment surgery are of public importance and likely to recur, but not in a manner that will evade appellate review, Waterman wrote. For several reasons, this case is a poor vehicle for a precedential decision on the constitutionality of the proposed amendment to the Iowa Civil Rights Act.

The ACLU of Iowa filed a lawsuit on the behalf of plaintiffs Aiden Vasquez and Mika Covington in May 2019, shortly after the Republican-led Iowa Legislature passed the provision that said the state is not required to fund gender transition care.

The ACLU argued the care was necessary and prescribed by Vasquezs and Covingtons physicians.

This litigation has been a long and difficult journey for me, Covington said. I am glad that Iowa Medicaid can no longer enforce the rule that specifically prohibits transgender people from getting certain types of surgery, including surgery they would cover for people who are not transgender.

Thats the way it should be when it comes to medically necessary care: A person needs surgery recommended by their doctor, and insurance pays for it.

I hope that moving forward for all the transgender people who come after me that all this litigation means that finally they can get the care they need without judgment and unfair roadblocks.
A few years ago, the yellow yard signs started appearing all over Arlington, Virginia, the large D.C. suburb where I live. This was in the early days of the yard-sign boom, when, driven by political frustration and COVID isolation, people were posting their feelings as if their lawns were social media: BLACK LIVES MATTER. THANK YOU DR. FAUCI. IN THIS HOUSE, WE BELIEVE 

The casual observer might have been forgiven for thinking, at first, that these new signs were driven by the same progressive politics animating much of this deep-blue suburb. But these were a little different. NO UPZONING, they said. PRESERVE THE CHARACTER OF THIS NEIGHBORHOOD. NO MULTIPLEXES. The signs focused on the one issue overwhelming neighborhood listserv discussions and county board meetings: a proposal to end single-family zoning, called missing middle.

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In March, after years of controversy and hundreds of public comments at chaotic meetings, the county board passed the missing-middle proposal, a zoning change that, with some limits, eliminates the requirement to build only single-family housing in residential neighborhoods. Starting July 1, a builder can knock down a single-family home in Arlington and replace it with a duplex, a triplex, or, in some areas, up to a six-apartment structurethe so-called middle options between single-family homes and high-rise apartment buildings.

The debate is urgent here, as it is in many places feeling the acute effects of a housing crisis thats left the nation with a shortfall of more than 3 million homes. Similar missing-middle plans have been passed in Minneapolis and Portland, Oregon; the state of California mostly eliminated single-family zoning in 2021. Supporters of the policy in Arlington have long argued that the city is suffering affordability and diversity crises, and that eliminating single-family zoningwhich exists in large part because of decades-old racist, exclusionary policieswas one route out of those crises. Opponents warned of new crises should the measure pass: overcrowded schools, overwhelmed infrastructure, and traffic nightmares.

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Ten of those opponents just filed a lawsuit in state court, arguing that the board didnt sufficiently study the possible results of the missing-middle plan. But the dry procedural claims in the 162-page lawsuit read more like the last frustrated cry of a population that has long driven policy in Arlington and isnt used to having its opinions disregarded: the mostly white, upper-middle-class homeowners of the citys northern enclaves. Passing missing middle would transform Arlington from an urban village to a paved metropolis, one advocacy group warned.

But those opponents, and even some supporters, are missing something important about missing middle. It wont do what either side seems to think, at least not at first. As I watched the YIMBY vs. NIMBY wars come to my own cityand realized that the NIMBY stronghold was my own part of townI began to see how easy it is for many to hide the truth about their arguments from themselves. Here, that began with something called the Arlington Way.

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This is a first for us, said Daniel Weir, a member of the Arlington County Planning Commission, surveying the hearing room. There are a lot of people here.

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It was a frigid Monday night in December, and more than 80 Arlingtonians had come out to the county government building in the Courthouse neighborhood. Dozens more observed from their home computers. Winter coats were shoved under benches or dropped on the floor as the room heated up. The commission is not usually this hot a ticket, but just a few months before an expected full board vote on missing middle, people were out in force.

This isnt the Arlington Way! was a typical refrain.

What many wanted, it seemed, was to give a piece of their mind. Speaker after speaker stepped to the lectern, or unmuted on Microsoft Teams, and began this way: Ive been an Arlington resident for 30 years. Or 40 years. Or 46 years. Or since 1961. They hated missing middle. They worried about parking, about sewer capacity, about tree canopy. They seemed resigned to the idea that whatever happened tonight, the county board would pass the proposal, despite their objections. You already know its not going to work, and youre doing it anyway, one woman said. Im here to scold you.

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Over and over, opponents eulogized the Arlington Way. (This isnt the Arlington Way! was a typical refrain.) Thats a philosophy that gets referred to a lot around here, in all sorts of circumstances and by all sorts of people. Its roots lie in the citys revolt against the planning of Interstate 66 in the 1960s and 70s. Concerted community efforts led to the highways shrinking from a planned eight lanes to four and succeeded in driving planned aboveground Metro trains into underground stations. It was this process that delivered Arlington as it exists now: dense housing and retail centered on those underground stationslike the Courthouse neighborhood where this meeting was taking placesurrounded by expansive neighborhoods of single-family homes.

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At its best, the Arlington Way is a belief in an inclusive process that takes in as much good input as possible to reach a collective outcome, Matt de Ferranti, a member of the county board, told me. But who is giving the input in Arlington? The civic organizations and community boards most closely tied to Arlington civic planning are made up mostly of wealthy, older white homeownersthe people with the time and money to participate. A 2000 study on the Arlington Way concluded that those whose opinions tended to be underrepresented included racial and ethnic minorities and new Arlingtonians, often younger renters. The Arlington Way has been whiter and older and more male, historically, than the community as a whole, de Ferranti said. We have to acknowledge that. The Arlington Way has proved compatible with the many 20th-century policies that enforced segregation in Arlington: the deeds restricting ownership in new subdivisions to white people; the destruction of Black neighborhoods to build the Pentagon; even the literal, physical wall built around the Black neighborhood of Halls Hill.

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Arlington is wealthy, whiter than the rest of the country, and still notably segregated. These trends are increasing: Since 2000 the median household income has more than doubled to almost $130,000, and the county, 64 percent white in 2010, is now 74 percent white. Route 50, traveling west from D.C., splits Arlington in half physically and psychically; the southern half is less white and more poor than North Arlington, epicenter of the yellow signs. And the arguments from North Arlington homeowners citing the Arlington Way resembled the arguments that homeowners always make when the housing battle comes to their backyards: They bought their homes because they wanted a particular kind of life, and now that way of life feels under threat. Many of them seemed to feel as though single-family homes are going to be torn down en masse, or outlawed. If missing middle passes, our block would go from 17 houses to 136 units overnight, one man declared, a prediction that obviously had no grounding in reality.

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Antimissing middle speakers outnumbered supporters about 4-to-1 at that planning commission meeting. But at the full county board meeting the next month, the YIMBYs came out in force, waving signs and speaking in support of the proposal. Many of them pointed out that as things stand, single-family homes get knocked down all the time in Arlingtonits just that theyre replaced by larger, uglier single-family homes. Why is it OK for millionaires to take down trees to triple the size of their houses, one nervous young woman asked at the lectern, but its not OK when we could provide housing to multiple families?

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In the end, over the course of multiple public hearings, de Ferranti said, supporters of missing middle outnumbered opponents. (Emails to the board cut the other direction.) In the meetings I attended, opponents sounded disappointed that so many people were speaking in support of the proposal, and often referred to the debate as deeply dividing the community, in a manner that suggested they were just now learning whom their community actually consists of. Arlingtons renters live well away from the leafy neighborhoods of single-family homes sporting yellow yard signs: on busy streets and in the transit corridors, in town houses and tall apartment buildings, often in the southern half of the county. The people who live there arent visible to missing-middle opponents, said Jane Green, head of an organization called YIMBYs of Northern Virginia. Weve heard over and over in meetings: No one supports this! Which means the people you talk to dont support this. Over half of Arlington households are renters; the battle over missing middle is the first time that many Arlington homeowners have been forced to face this fact.

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How would I feel about a multiplex building sprouting upif not in my backyard, then in my side yard?

Toward the end of one of the many, many public response sessions in front of the county board, an older man stood at the lectern and again angrily decried the loss of the Arlington Way. The Arlington Way is about building consensus, he said. Have you heard consensus here today? No! What youve heard today is volubly discordant. There is no community opinion! Acting as if there is consensus by advancing this item absolutely abandons the Arlington Way.

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The Arlington Way means I will listen and fully consider your perspective, de Ferranti told me later. It does not mean that I will agree with you.

Ive had plenty of time to think about what missing middle might mean for me and my single-family home. The absentee owner of the run-down house next door seems to have died in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, and his heirs havent sold yet. How would I feel about a multiplex building sprouting upif not in my backyard, then in my side yard? How would I feel about all those oak trees getting cut down, and who knows how many cars parking on my street? As I reported this piece, I came to understand that asking myself these questionsthat grappling with these possibilitiesis in many ways the point of missing middle.

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In March, when the county board unanimously approved missing middle for Arlington, supporters responded with a standing ovation, and opponents held up tombstones reading R.I.P. The Arlington Way. Whoa, we just desegregated Arlington, one supporter said to another in the boardroom. But thats not trueno more than its true that the county is tearing down single-family homes overnight. Both those views ignore the reality of how slowly change is likely to come, and how the real legacy of missing middle has as much to do with a transformation in viewpoints as with any individual building project.

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You have only to look to other places that have eliminated single-family zoning to see the pace at which Arlington is likely to transform physically. Los Angeles saw 211 applications for multifamily dwellings in the year after California passed SB 9. In the two and a half years after Minneapolis took action, only 48 new duplexes or triplexes were permitted on lots formerly zoned single-family. Arlington will see similarly low numbers in the first few years of missing middleby design. For the first five years, development is capped at 58 buildings per year, distributed among specific kinds of former single-family lots.

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Indeed, its likely that many, or even most, of the people who fear six-plexes springing up everywhere will never see a multifamily house on their block. Take my ZIP code, for example, the epicenter of antimissing middle sentiment in Arlington. (Half the residents whose names are on the lawsuit live in this ZIP code.) Each year for the next five years, thanks to the distributed caps, no more than 20 or so multifamily buildings will be permitted in the large lots of North Arlington. There are 1,114 blocks in this ZIP codeif you dont want a multifamily dwelling on your block, the odds are in your favor!

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So, missing middles power isnt in causing a thousand apartment buildings to bloom on July 1. Yes, each duplex or triplex thats built will have an effect on housing in the area, adding a little more stock at the kinds of prices that can be hard to find in a community where the average single-family home sells for more than a million dollars. But in the near term, the real power of missing middle is in changing the way a community talks and thinks about housing. In this, too, we can look to other cities that instituted similar reforms. Its a mild land use plan that took on enormous emotional significance mainly because the overall conversation around land use in the country was so ossified, urban planner Alex Schieferdecker wrote in a recent assessment of Minneapolis policies. Its a forward-looking document at a time when those are remarkably rare and the crises that we collectively face seem so immediate.

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For the last 60 years we have been saying, Multifamily buildings are only OK in certain places, and we should keep them away from other places,  said Jane Green, of the local YIMBY group, who rents with her family in a large apartment building near the courthouse. Missing middle is Arlington sending the signal that multifamily homes are not bad. Theyre not dangerous; theyre not a blight. Theyre good. Youre not a welcoming, forward-looking community if you dont embrace multifamily homes of many kinds.

Though not everyone is ready to admit it, missing middle has forced Arlingtonians to think about who actually lives in Arlington, and what kind of community we ought to be to make a good home for all of them. Its certainly made me think about how little I considered the renters who make up so much of Arlingtons population but take up so little of its physical space. And I know Im not the only person who saw yard signs demanding we PRESERVE OUR NEIGHBORHOODS CHARACTER in the yards of brand-new, 7,000-square-foot McMansions and thought, Huh.

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Arlington is already transforming, that is to say. Its getting more wealthy, more expensive, more exclusive. I bought into missing middle, in the end, because the policy represents a commitment to transforming it differently, to making a future that represents the kind of community Id like to live in.

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Since missing middle passed, its become much more difficult to find those yellow yard signs. On a recent ride around North Arlington, I saw only a few in tony neighborhoods like Country Club Hills and Rivercrest. Perhaps the opponents are beginning to accept that their community is not, has never been, exclusively their own domain.

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Though of course theres still the lawsuit. It remains to be seen whether the suit will change the timeline for missing middles adoption. (Gifford Hampshire, the attorney who filed it, would not speak to me on the record; none of the plaintiffs agreed to speak with me for this piece.) The suit alleges that Arlington fell short in a number of procedural ways relating to how such zoning changes are announced, studied, and decided. I truly have no idea whether such claims are legitimate. But it seems as if all weve been talking about around here for two years is missing middle, and that nonetheless of course we dont know fully how Arlington will change as a result. How could we possibly know? Embracing some unknowableness is part of it, Green said. We cant plan everything. Lets just see what happens! What kind of place is so afraid of a downside that it refuses to try to make life better, to try to make things more equal?

And if those apartments do arrive next to someones nice house? Next to mine? My house will not crumble into the dust, and my new neighborsthe multifamilies who would move inwill surely be people who want the same things out of Arlington as I did when I moved here. I hope if and when a triplex comes in next to me, I have the grace to welcome my new neighbors, said Matt de Ferranti, who lives right up the street from me. We cant just be for fairness for other peoples kids in other neighborhoods. We have to live our ideals.
On Friday, news arrived that Dior has signed a three-year, $20 million deal with Johnny Depp, so that he can act in more ads for its perfumes. (Hes been repping Dior Sauvage since 2015.) The company, undeterred by all the ugliness revealed during the Depp/Heard courtroom battle of 2022, is reportedly spending more on Depps spokesmodel services than any company has ever offered any actor to sell their mens scents. (Sorry to Robert Pattinson! Sorry to Brad Pitt!)

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The news prompted us to wonder something: Does Johnny Deppon many days, a mess of a manlook like he smells good, to most people? Put another way, if you see Johnny Depp  what scents come to mind? Consider this our free brainstorming session for Diors next perfume.

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Rebecca Onion: I believe Johnny Depp smells like one of those rooms that show up in memes about boys who live surrounded by trash.

Dan Kois: He does not smell like any Boy Smells candles currently on the market.

Heather Schwedel: Is everyone familiar with the concept of a tonsil stone? They are lumps of calcified material that form in the crypts of your throat that might get shaken loose when you sneeze or something, and they smell disgusting. Maybe like that!

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Dan Kois: With all due respect: Jesus Christ.

Natalie Shutler: Ewwwwww wasnt that the thing that happened with Ted Cruz?

Sol Werthan: The pic at that link just made me gag!

Emily Mulholland: Wet tobacco.

Derreck Johnson: Beer-soaked wood and dirty pennies.

Dan Kois: He definitely smells like Keith Richards. I assume thats his goal.

Heather Schwedel: I am also reminded of a moment from this weeks Vanderpump Rules when a character is sitting at a restaurant and is afraid he smells so he starts rubbing a lemon slice on his armpits to help.

Holly Allen: Freshly-sharpened pencils and day-old salami.

Rebecca Onion: I definitely think there has got to be a smoked meat in there. The way that men (no offense, men!) get to smelling when they dont believe in non-natural deodorant!

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Dan Kois: Montreal brisket. Actually, probably over-jerked beef jerky.

Rebecca Onion: Does Johnny Depp smoke weed?

Jenny Zhang: I think probably.

Rebecca Onion: Oh so, he definitely does, and I really doubt he is the kind of guy who has switched to vapes and edibles. So hes got that deep-down herb smell, somewhere in there.

Dan Kois: How Depp Smell Became a Potent Boogeyman of American Decline

Isabelle Kohn: I feel like its old, smoked-soaked leather and poppers. And beads. What do beads smell like? Johnny Depp.

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Cleo Levin: A scoby.

Rebecca Onion: With the exception of the tonsil stone, we are describing the components of a mans smell that is disgusting to some and delicious to others. Maybe thats just Johnny Depp for you?

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Sol Werthan: This is extremely niche but if youre ever walking down Market Street in San Francisco, sometimes youll catch a waft of some ineffable odor that smells like if fog went rancid, for lack of a better description. I think its got to be something from the sewage system but it doesnt smell like poop. Its like haunted steam. If you know, you know.

Heather Schwedel: An old shoe.

Cheyna Roth: He smells like Times Square in the 70sstale weed, old coffee, and discarded condoms.

Rebecca Onion: Definitely old coffee.

Derreck Johnson: Like a brand that isnt around anymore. Like Sanka. He smells like vintage Sanka.

Cleo Levin: Or, at a certain time of night, how bars start to smell like bleach? He smells like the bar that was never bleached.
This piece was originally published on Just Security, an online forum for analysis of U.S. national security law and policy.

During a town hall event on CNN Wednesday night, former President Donald Trump made multiple incriminating remarks about his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Trumps responses will further hurt his case should Special Counsel Jack Smith charge the former president in connection with his role in the attack on the U.S. Capitol and other attempts to hold onto power unlawfully. Trumps statements were also valuable to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis in her investigation and possible prosecution.

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Consider what Trump had to say about former Vice President Mike Pence. CNNs Kaitlan Collins pointed out that Pence has blamed Trump for endangering his life. Trump interjected with a lie. I dont think he was in any danger, Trump claimed.

That is clearly false. Some of Trumps followers erected a hangmans gallows outside of the Capitol. And the mob chanted, Hang Mike Pence! Hang Pence! Shortly after the Capitol was breached, Secret Service agents had to whisk Pence away to safety (which Sen. Tommy Tuberville told Trump as it happened). Even so, the rioters came within 40 feet of the vice president.

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The main reason the rioters focused their anger at Pence was because Trump repeatedly told them that the vice president had the power to alter the outcome of the election. That is where Trumps statements last night were important from a legal perspective.

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Trump stated: Pence did something wrong. He should have put the votes back to the state legislatures. I think we would have had a different outcome, I really do. The reason that puts the former president in legal jeopardy is because Trumps own legal adviser (John Eastman) admitted during an Oval Office meeting that the Electoral Count Act would not allow Pence to take such action. Trumps remarks on CNN provide additional evidence that he does not and did not care about the scope of Pences actual legal authority. (One of the tells is that Trump told Collins it was Pences lawyers who said the proposal violated the Electoral Count Act, when the record is clear that Trumps legal adviser also said that it did.)

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The audience, made up primarily of Republican-leaning voters, loudly applauded Trumps statement of what Pence should have donebut they were cheering for lawlessness and lies, whether they knew it or not.

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To understand why, some brief context is in ordernamely, this passage from Chapter 5 of the Select Committees final report (footnotes omitted) describing a key meeting in the Oval Office with the president, vice president, and their respective legal advisers:

On January 4, 2021, President Trump summoned Vice President Pence to a meeting in the Oval Office with John Eastman, a law professor representing President Trump in litigation challenging the election result. Eastman argued, on President Trumps behalf, that the Vice President could take matters into his own hands during the joint session on January 6th. Eastman offered Vice President Pence two options. First, the Vice President could unilaterally reject the certified electors from several States won by former Vice President Biden, thereby handing the presidency to President Trump. Or, according to Eastman, Vice President Pence could delay the joint session to give State legislatures the opportunity to certify new electors loyal to the President. Eastman admitted, in front of the president, that both options violated the Electoral Count Act of 1887, the statute that sets forth the process for counting and disputing electoral votes during the joint session. Eastman admitted as much in a subsequent conversation with the Vice Presidents staff as well. Therefore, President Trump knew, or should have known, that this scheme was illegalin fact, it violated the Electoral Count Act and the U.S. Constitution. President Trump repeatedly demanded that Vice President Pence go through with it anyway.

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And Wednesday night on CNN, Trump repeated his illegal demand. We know from Vice President Pences book and other evidence that Trump and Eastman tried to get Pence to take the first option as wellthat is, to unilaterally reject electors from the swing states and hand the victory to Trump. Here is how Pence writes about that same January 4, 2021, meeting in his book, So Help Me God (emphasis added):

Eastman argued that I had the authority to simply direct that electoral certificates not be counted and instead order that they be returned to the states until each state legislature certified which of the competing slate of electors for the state was correct. It was the first time I had ever heard anyone suggest that we send votes back to the states. The president and many of his defenders later repeatedly made the case that that was all I had ever been asked to do. It wasnt. Since I had already confirmed that there were no legitimate competing electors, I was tempted to dismiss Eastmans proposal out of hand, but I let him drone on. He repeatedly qualified his argument with the words that it was just a legal theory, and I decided it was necessary to press him in front of the president. I was seated in my usual chair to the right of the president near the Resolute Desk, and Eastman was in the next chair to my right. I turned to him and asked, Do you think I have the authority to reject or return votes? He stammered, Well, its never been tested in the courts, so I think it is an open question. At that I turned to the president, who was distracted at the time, and said, Mr. President, did you hear that? He turned his attention to me, and I said, Even your lawyer doesnt think I have the authority to return the electoral votes. The president nodded. As Eastman tried to get out some explanation, the president replied, I like the other thing better, presumably referring to his previous opinion that I could simply choose to reject electoral votes altogether.

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According to Pence, therefore, Trump acknowledged during the Jan. 4, 2021 meeting that the vice president didnt have the legal authority to return electoral votes back to the states. Yet, Trump still demanded that he do so (and defended that unlawful option again on CNN). Trump went even further in also pressuring Pence to reject electoral votes outright (the more radical option).

Theres much more evidence concerning Trumps pressure campaign against his own vice president. But he further damaged himself on Wednesday night when it comes to that part of the criminal case.

The former presidents responses to other January 6-related questions were problematic as well. One audience member asked, Will you pardon the January 6 rioters who were convicted of federal offenses?

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Trump responded: I am inclined to pardon many of them. I cant say for every single one because a couple of them probably got out of control. He then pivoted to whataboutism-style talking points concerning Antifa.

Collins followed up, asking if Trump would even consider pardons for the four members of the Proud Boys who were convicted of seditious conspiracy and other charges earlier this month.

I dont know, Id have to look at their case, Trump replied. But I will say, in Washington, D.C. you cannot get a fair trial. You cannot.

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It is not surprising that Trump dangled the prospect of pardons for convicted January 6th rioters. He has done so before. But now he has added the convicted Proud Boys to his list of potential pardons. And that is even more troubling. As the Department of Justice has explained, the four convicted felons directed, mobilized, and led a group of Proud Boys and other members of the crowd onto the Capitol grounds, leading to dismantling of metal barricades, destruction of property, breaching of the Capitol building, and assaults on law enforcement. They were the spearhead for the attack.

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Following the attack on the Capitol, Trump wanted to say he would issue a blanket pardon of the rioters, but White House lawyers strongly objected, and no such statement was made. Suffice it to say, Trumps remarks on CNN exceeded what any reasonable defense lawyer would advise him.

In another potentially incriminating exchange, Trump acknowledged his own power over the mob.

Collins asked: Why did you wait three hours to tell them to leave the Capitol? They listen to you like no one else. You know that.

They do, I agree with that, Trump said, before trying to shift the blame to then Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Mayor Muriel Bower.

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This is potentially important because it demonstrates, again, that Trump was aware that he could have told the mob to go home earlier and ended the insurrection, prevented further damage to the Capitol and harm to the police. The former president and his defenders like to point to a few tweets, issued during the attack at 2:38pm and 3:13pm, in which he told his followers to support our Capitol Police and Law Enforcement and to Stay Peaceful! But in neither of those tweets did the president tell the crowd to go home. (People close to the president, including his son Donald Trump Jr., pleaded for the president to say more.) He could have acted much sooner, just as Collins claimed, and many of the rioters would have listened.

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It was not until 4:17pm that Trump released a video calling for rioters to go home in peace. Even then, however, he endorsed their cause. I know your pain, I know youre hurt. We had an election that was stolen from us, President Trump said at the outset of his video. It was a landslide election, and everyone knows it, especially the other side.

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On CNN, Trump said he was very proud of that video because it was a great video and a beautiful video.

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Nor does the legal harm Trump did himself stop there. He also reaffirmed that he would make the damning Jan. 2, 2021 call to Brad Raffensperger again, despite the fact that it may lead to criminal charges by Willis this summer (and possibly by the Justice Department as well). That is important because it shows he is unrepentant, which is an added incentive for the DA to seek accountability (not as if she needed one).

Moreover, Trump also provided a window into his intent by vehemently insisting that it was a perfect phone call. As a matter of law, it absolutely was not. Once the election had been certified, as it was, that constituted electoral vigilantism and apparent criminal activity to overturn the election in Georgia.

Over the coming months, we should expect more talk along these lines from the former president. The bottom line is that he has accepted no responsibility for January 6th, he portrays the extremists and rioters who attacked the Capitol as victims, and he tries to shift blame onto others, even while recognizing that the mob was his.

More From Just Security:

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Barclays US Consumer Bank celebrated National Small Business Week by announcing the winners of its third annual Small Business Big Wins promotion. This year, the competition attracted over 14,000 entries, highlighting the resilience and innovation of small businesses across the country.

Sunhees Farm and Kitchen, an authentic Korean food restaurant located in Troy, New York, claimed the $60,000 grand prize. The business not only offers dine-in, take-out, and catering services but also employs immigrant Americans from around the world and provides free virtual English classes for adults. Owner Jinah Kim expressed gratitude for the communitys support during the voting process and explained that the cash prize from Barclays would help strengthen their educational and professional development programs.

The second-place prize of $40,000 went to Dixon Cooperative Market of Dixon, New Mexico, a grocery store supporting local growers and producers while providing educational resources to the community. Beautiful Curly Me, an Atlanta-based company that creates dolls with braids and curly hair for young girls, secured the third-place prize of $20,000. The remaining seven finalists each received $5,000, and 50 other participants won $2,000 in a random drawing.

Jill Neilson, Director of US Business Cards at Barclays, acknowledged the challenges small businesses have faced during the pandemic and their crucial role in economic growth and community support. The Barclays Business Card team sponsors the annual contest, offering a range of credit cards to help business owners manage expenses and earn rewards.

The Small Business Big Wins promotion demonstrates Barclays commitment to supporting the growth and development of small businesses. The competition has become an important platform for highlighting the stories and experiences of entrepreneurs across the country, inspiring others to persevere and innovate.

For more information about the finalists and Barclays business card offerings, visit BarclaysSmallBizBigWins.com and BarclaysUS.com/Business.

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Hay farming is an agricultural practice that has been around for centuries. It involves the growing and harvesting of hay, which is used primarily as feed for livestock.

Hay is a critical component of the agricultural industry and plays a vital role in sustaining the livelihoods of farmers across the world. In this article, we will discuss what a hay farm is, the different types of hay that are commonly grown, and how to start a farm that produces hay.

What is a Hay Farm?

A hay farm is a type of agricultural operation that focuses primarily on the growing and harvesting of hay. Hay is a type of grass or legume that is cut and dried for use as animal feed. It is typically grown in large fields and harvested using specialized equipment, such as hay balers and mowers. Hay farms can be found all over the world, from small family-run operations to large commercial enterprises.

The Hay Farm Industry in the United States

The hay farming industry in the United States is a significant sector of the agriculture industry. Hay is an essential feed source for livestock, making it a crucial element for the countrys meat and dairy production.

The United States is the worlds largest hay producer, with over 53 million acres of hay harvested annually. The top hay-producing states in the U.S. include California, Texas, South Dakota, Montana, and North Dakota.

The industry has been growing steadily over the years, and advancements in technology and farming techniques have improved the efficiency and profitability of hay farming operations.

The demand for hay continues to rise, and the industry is expected to remain an important contributor to the U.S. agriculture industry.

What is Needed to Start a Hay Farm and How Much Does it Cost?

Starting a hay farm requires suitable land, equipment, and baling machinery. The costs of starting a hay farm depend on factors such as land availability and equipment quality. A small hay farm can cost between $10,000 to $20,000, while a large one can easily cost hundreds of thousands.

Suitable Land

Hay farming requires land that is suitable for growing hay. The ideal soil type should be well-draining and have a pH between 6.0 and 7.5. The land should also receive adequate sunlight and have access to water. The cost of purchasing or leasing suitable land varies depending on location and size.

Equipment

Starting a hay farm requires a significant investment in equipment. This includes a tractor, mower, tedder and hay rake, and baling equipment. The cost of equipment depends on the size and quality. Used equipment can be a cost-effective option for beginners.

Tractor

A tractor is a critical piece of equipment for any hay farm. It is used for plowing, tilling, planting, and harvesting. The cost of a new tractor can range from $20,000 to $100,000, while a used tractor can cost between $5,000 to $30,000.

Mower

A mower is used to cut the hay before it is baled. The cost of a new mower can range from $2,000 to $10,000, while a used mower can cost between $500 to $5,000.

Tedder & Hay Rake

After the hay is cut, it needs to be dried before it can be baled. A tedder is used to fluff up the hay and allow it to dry evenly. A hay rake is used to gather the dried hay into rows for baling. The cost of a new tedder and hay rake can range from $5,000 to $15,000, while used equipment can cost between $1,000 to $5,000.

Baling Equipment

Baling equipment is used to compress the hay into bales for storage or transport. The cost of a new baler can range from $10,000 to $50,000, while a used baler can cost between $2,000 to $10,000. Other baling equipment includes wagons, trailers, and wrappers, which can add additional costs.

The Business Side: Simple Steps to Start a Hay Farm Business

Starting a hay farm business involves several steps to ensure success. Here are ten simple steps to help you establish and grow your hay farm business.

1. Name and Brand Your Business

Choosing a name and brand for your hay farm business is an important step. The name should be easy to remember, and it should accurately represent your business. You should also consider trademark and domain availability before finalizing your decision. Your brand should reflect your target audience and the values of your business.

2. Form a Legal Entity and Register Your Hay Business

To protect your personal assets and comply with legal requirements, you should register your hay farm business as an LLC or corporation. This also helps establish credibility and trust with potential customers and partners. You should also obtain any necessary licenses and permits for your business, and make sure you have adequate insurance coverage.

3. Sort Out Taxes, Licenses, Permits, and Insurance

When starting a hay farm business, you need to familiarize yourself with tax requirements, obtain any necessary licenses and permits, and ensure you have adequate insurance coverage. This helps you comply with legal requirements, protect your business and assets, and avoid any potential fines or penalties.

4. Create a Hay Farm Business Plan

Creating a business plan is essential for any successful hay farm business. It defines your business objectives, target market, marketing strategies, and financial projections. Your business plan should also identify potential challenges and solutions, and include a clear roadmap for the future growth of your business.

5. Market Research

Conducting market research is crucial to understanding your target market and competition. You need to identify market trends and potential customers and assess demand and pricing in your area. This helps you tailor your marketing strategies to effectively reach and engage with your target audience.

See Also: How to Start a Butterfly Farm

6. Buy the Necessary Equipment for Baling Hay

To operate a successful hay farm business, you need to invest in the necessary equipment, including tractors, mowers, balers, and storage facilities. You can purchase or lease equipment, depending on your budget and long-term goals. Its important to research and compare options to ensure you get the best value for your investment.

7. Open a Business Bank Account

Opening a separate business bank account is important for managing your finances and keeping accurate records. It also helps you separate your personal and business finances, making it easier to track expenses, monitor cash flow, and prepare tax returns. You can also access financial services and benefits specifically designed for small businesses.

8. Market the Business

Developing a comprehensive marketing strategy is crucial to the success of your hay farm business. This should include a mix of online and offline tactics to reach and engage with your target audience. You can use social media, email marketing, content marketing, and advertising to increase brand awareness and drive sales.

9. Choose Where to Sell Your Products

Identifying potential buyers and sales channels is an important step in growing your hay farm business. This includes feed stores, horse stables, and livestock auctions, as well as offering delivery services to customers who need it. You should also consider building relationships with potential buyers to establish long-term partnerships.

10. Expand Your Business

Exploring opportunities to expand your hay farm business is key to sustained growth. This can include diversifying your product line, increasing production, or offering value-added services. You should also continuously monitor market trends and adapt your strategies to meet the evolving needs of your customers.

Deciding What Type of Hay Farm to Run

Choosing the right type of hay to grow on your hay farm is essential to your farms overall success. By considering your livestocks nutritional needs, soil type and climate, market demand, and cost and labor, you can make an informed decision that will benefit both your farm and your livestock.

Common Plants to Grow for Hay Production

There are several different types of hay that are commonly grown on hay farms. These include:

Timothy Hay

Timothy hay is a type of grass hay that is widely grown in North America. It is known for its high nutritional content and is often used as feed for horses.

Alfalfa Hay

Alfalfa hay is a legume hay that is high in protein and other essential nutrients. It is commonly used as feed for dairy cows and other livestock.

Clover Hay

Clover hay is another type of legume hay that is commonly grown on hay farms. It is high in protein and is often used as feed for horses, sheep, and other livestock.

Bermuda Grass Hay

Bermuda grass hay is a warm-season grass hay that is commonly grown in the southern United States. It is known for its high yields and is often used as feed for cattle and other livestock.

Growing Hay for DIY on a Family Farm or Growing Hay to Sell

You can either grow and let your livestock eat hay on your own farm, or you can grow hay to sell to other farmers and livestock owners. Consider factors such as soil type, climate, and market demand when choosing which type of hay to grow.

How to Source Equipment to Grow Hay and For Harvesting Hay

Sourcing equipment is essential to growing and harvesting hay. The process involves finding the right equipment that matches your needs, budget, and timeline. There are three main ways to source equipment:

New

Buying new equipment is an option if you have a higher budget and want to invest in equipment that will last for years. Many farm equipment suppliers offer warranties on new equipment, and you can customize purchases to your specific needs. However, its more expensive than used or rented equipment.

Used

Buying used farm equipment is a cost-effective option. However, its crucial to inspect the equipment carefully to ensure its in good condition. Look for reputable sellers, and research the equipments maintenance history before buying. Used equipment may have a shorter lifespan than new equipment.

Rent

Renting equipment is an option if you dont want to invest in equipment or only need it for a short period. Renting allows you to use high-quality equipment without the upfront costs of buying. However, it may be more expensive in the long run if you need equipment for extended periods. Renting is also subject to availability, so plan accordingly.

Understanding The Steps in Making a Hay Crop

Understanding the steps in making a hay crop can help farmers achieve maximum yield and quality. Lets look at what the process involves

Preparing the Soil

Soil preparation is vital to ensure the hay crops success. This involves tilling the soil to create a smooth seedbed, adding fertilizers and lime to correct soil pH, and removing any weeds or debris.

Planting and Growing

After the soil is prepared, the hay crop is planted and grown. The seed is spread evenly across the prepared seedbed and then covered with a layer of soil. The crop is then allowed to grow, and farmers must monitor it for weed growth and disease.

Mowing

Mowing is a crucial step in the hay crop process. Farmers must wait until the crop reaches the optimal height before mowing. This typically occurs when the crop is in the mid to late bud stage.

Tedding

Tedding involves fluffing and spreading the cut hay out to dry. This step helps to ensure the hay is dry and ready for raking.

Raking

Raking is the process of gathering the hay into rows to facilitate drying and baling. Farmers use specialized machinery, such as a rake or tedder, to move and shape the hay into neat rows.

Stacking and Baling in Round Bales or Square Bales

The final step in the hay crop process involves stacking and baling so theres no loose hay. Farmers can choose to bale hay in either round or square bales, depending on their preference and the type of machinery they have. The farmer can then store hay so its ready for transport.

Downsides to Consider

Despite its benefits, hay farming has downsides to consider. Weather conditions, such as drought or excessive rain, can reduce hay quality and yield. Hay storage can also be a challenge, and the cost of equipment and labor can be high.

The Bottom Line

In conclusion, starting a hay farm requires careful planning and attention to detail. By following the necessary steps, including preparing the soil, planting and growing, mowing, tedding, raking, and baling, farmers can achieve success in this rewarding industry.

Hay Farm FAQs

What is the Difference Between Hay and Straw?

Hay is a forage crop harvested for livestock feed, while straw is a byproduct of harvested grains used primarily for bedding and other non-feed purposes.

How Hard is Hay Farming?

Hay farming can be physically demanding and time-consuming, requiring specialized equipment and knowledge. However, it can also be a rewarding and profitable industry.

Can a Hay Farm be Profitable?

Yes, a well-managed hay farm can be profitable. Factors such as crop yield, market demand, and operational efficiency can impact profitability.

Is Hay Easy to Grow?

Hay requires specific soil, moisture, and weather conditions for optimal growth. However, with proper preparation and care, hay can be successfully grown in many regions.

How Much Hay Can 1 Acre Produce a Year?

The amount of hay 1 acre can produce in a year varies depending on factors such as soil quality, crop variety, and weather conditions. On average, 1 acre can produce 1-4 tons of hay per year.

Is it Worth it to Grow Hay?

Whether growing hay is worth it depends on factors such as market demand, crop yield, and operational costs. With proper management, growing hay can be a profitable endeavor.

How Should Hay Bales be Stacked to Reduce Waste?

Hay bales should be stacked on a well-drained surface, preferably with a moisture barrier, and kept out of direct sunlight to prevent spoilage. Stacking bales in a crisscross pattern can also help reduce waste.

Are Round Bales or Square Bales Better for Hay?

The choice between a round bale and small square bales or large square bales depends on factors such as storage space, feeding method, and equipment availability. Round bales are generally better for outdoor storage, while square bales are easier to handle and stack.
Hughes Network Systems has launched new HughesNet plans dedicated to supporting small businesses in the U.S. These new satellite internet service plans come equipped with features such as business-grade support, express repair, and free installation, all designed to meet the demands of small businesses for consistent network availability and optimal performance.

The plans also incorporate HughesNet Fusion, a low-latency plan that masterfully integrates Geostationary (GEO) satellite and wireless technologies to provide a fast and responsive satellite internet experience. This is ideal for running business applications such as Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Outlook.

Doug Medina, Vice President of Hughes, explained the motivation behind the move: Late last year, we introduced HughesNet Fusion to the consumer market, offering rural Americans a high-speed, low-latency reliable internet service. Now, were bringing the same multipath technology to the small business market, so companies beyond the reach of fiber and cable internet can choose the HughesNet plan that best meets their needs.

The HughesNet business plans feature built-in Wi-Fi, download speeds of 25 Mbps, free professional installation, and premium repair service.

For people working from home or running a small business, internet access is nothing short of essential, Medina added. Thats why we enhanced our HughesNet business plans with new features and plans that keep businesses connected to the critical applications they depend on.

The introduction of these plans by Hughes Networks Systems signifies a significant step towards supporting small businesses, especially those in areas where fiber and cable internet are inaccessible. The fast and reliable internet connection provided by these plans is expected to enhance productivity and communication for small businesses.

Businesses keen to learn more about the full range of HughesNet business plans, including HughesNet Fusion and HughesNet Internet Continuity for affordable connectivity backup, can visit the HughesNet website. Technology Services Distributors interested in offering HughesNet for Business are encouraged to visit the Hughes partners webpage.

For the latest, follow us on Google News.
The leader in the photo booth rental industry, Luxe Booth, has unveiled an opportunity designed to uplift existing photo booth rental businesses struggling with marketing. Through a strategic licensing program, businesses can leverage Luxe Booths influential brand and high-ranking search engine visibility for rapid and effective growth.

In recent years, the photo booth industry has seen significant expansion, driven by the demand for unique and memorable event experiences. Luxe Booth has honed a successful business model that allows entrepreneurs to tap into this demand while enjoying the backing and resources of an established brand.

The licensing program comes with key benefits including brand recognition, consistent lead flow from ongoing successful SEO campaigns, an automated CRM and easy-to-use scheduling system, and a low initial investment that is typically recouped within 60 days, with financing options available. The program also boasts over 12 years of proven marketing success in the industry.

Luxe Booths comprehensive support allows licensees to quickly establish a strong market presence and scale their businesses effectively. By licensing the Luxe Booth brand, entrepreneurs can bypass the challenges and risks associated with starting a business from scratch, focusing instead on providing exceptional service and high-quality photo booth rental experiences to their clients.

A case study from Orange County, CA demonstrates the success of Luxe Booths licensing model. In just three months after initiating their SEO campaign, Luxe Booth secured top three positions in Google search results for the keywords photo booth rental Orange County. With an average search volume of 300 per month for the term, Luxe Booths effective SEO campaign has enabled the licensee to potentially book 24 events per month. With a notable lead conversion rate of 47%, the licensee in Orange County is on track to generate close to $240,000 in their first year.

Luxe Booth is actively seeking new licensees in several markets across the United States. These territories offer substantial income potential for licensees, given the high demand for photo booth rentals. Based on an 18% traffic share of Google search volume, a 40% lead conversion rate, and an average booking of $799, potential annual earnings for these markets range from $207,043.20 in Atlanta and Chicago to $621,638.40 in New York City.

With established brand recognition, a first-page Google presence, and a history of proven marketing success, Luxe Booth provides the tools and support needed to excel in the competitive photo booth rental market.

For more information on licensing opportunities with Luxe Booth and starting your own profitable photo booth business, visit Luxe Booths website.

For small business owners in the photo booth rental sector, this program represents a lifeline, particularly for those struggling with marketing efforts. The opportunity to affiliate with Luxe Booth could well be the catalyst to propel your business into the next phase of growth and profitability.

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Merchynt has fully launched its new ProfilePro tool. This AI-powered Chrome extension empowers small businesses to handle their Google Business Profiles independently, saving significant time and costs associated with hiring marketing agencies.

In the fiercely competitive business landscape, visibility on Google is crucial. Google Business Profiles allow businesses to show up in local search results, giving them an edge over competitors. However, optimizing these profiles to ensure the best visibility can be a challenging task, often requiring the assistance of SEO experts.

This is where Merchynts ProfilePro tool comes into play. The AI-powered Chrome extension is designed to automate a broad spectrum of Google Business Profile optimization tasks, such as responding to reviews, optimizing business descriptions, and composing Google Business Posts. All these tasks can be performed directly within the Google Business Profile management dashboard. This innovative tool allows business owners to optimize their Google Business Profiles with the click of a button, effectively becoming their own SEO experts.

The advent of ProfilePro promises to disrupt the traditional SEO agency model. ProfilePro puts expert SEO knowledge directly into the hands of small business owners empowering them to optimize their own digital presences in just seconds while saving them thousands of dollars per year in agency fees, said Justin Silverman, Founder & CEO of Merchynt.

He added, Were disrupting the traditional SEO agency model with an easy-to-use AI tool. This statement underscores the tools potential to revolutionize the way small businesses approach digital marketing.

Since its inception, Merchynts public prompts for ChatGPT have been used over 250k times, resulting in a substantial beta waitlist and an initial set of users for ProfilePro.

Merchynts ProfilePro stands as a testament to the companys innovative prowess in the SEO services realm. By offering an affordable, user-friendly solution for Google Business Profile management, Merchynt is leveling the playing field for small businesses against larger corporations with substantial marketing budgets.

The release of ProfilePro is a game-changer for small businesses, offering them the chance to take their SEO management into their own hands, save on agency fees, and compete more effectively in the digital marketplace.

For more information or to download the ProfilePro Chrome extension, visit www.merchynt.com/profilepro. Merchynt offers both a free and a paid version of the extension.

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Phonism, a leading provider of intelligent Device Lifecycle Management (iDLM) solutions, has announced its integration with Zoom Video Communications, Inc. and its official launch into the Zoom App Marketplace. This integration enables businesses of all sizes, including small businesses, to deploy and manage IP phones at scale on Zoom Phone, a feature-rich cloud phone system. Phonisms strategic Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) approach allows a wide range of previously unsupported devices to be powered by Zoom Phone.

The seamless integration between Phonism and Zoom Phone streamlines and centralizes VoIP phone provisioning, management, compliance, and customer experience across multiple devices. Connecting the two platforms provides an automatic hierarchy sync and imports devices into a feature-rich admin and user experience. Phonism also offers a compliance lock for supported devices on Zoom Phone, preventing tampering or misconfiguration of settings and firmware. This integration reduces the need for technician onsite visits and enables customer self-service, effectively eliminating most device-related support tickets.

Key benefits of Phonisms integration with Zoom Phone include:

Multi-Vendor Zero-Touch Provisioning

Universal Visual Device + Button Management

Elimination of XML + Config File Management

Compliance Lock + 5-Tier Hierarchy Stackable Templates

Remote Command + Control (Reboot, Reset to Factory)

Bulk Move, Add, Change, Delete (MACD)

Network + SIP Management Tools

Support for 260+ Devices, including Avaya, Mitel, and many others

Steve Lazaridis, Founder and CEO of Phonism, said, We are excited to be working with Zoom to help support additional device types for Zoom Phone as well as accelerate expansion into the Enterprise sector and increase our overall addressable markets.

Mitch Ricks, Global Leader ISV Partners, commented on Zoom Phones growth, stating, Phonism helps our customers to support a wide variety of device manufacturers while simplifying their migration to the cloud.

Phonism, founded in 2012 in Tampa, Florida, aims to help service providers, manufacturers, distributors, and app developers eliminate the complexities of provisioning, deploying, and managing VoIP devices throughout their lifecycle. The companys vendor-agnostic approach allows customers to expand their Total Addressable Markets (TAM) by taking advantage of revenue-producing, profit-generating BYOD opportunities. Phonism customers can win more deals, deploy faster, and maintain devices efficiently with innovative and enhanced self-service experiences.

With the Phonism-Zoom Phone integration, small business owners can now benefit from improved device management and deployment, allowing for increased efficiency and reduced costs. The partnership demonstrates the companies commitment to simplifying VoIP phone management and providing innovative solutions for businesses of all sizes.

For more information about Phonism and their solutions, visit their website at www.phonism.com.

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The grants private companies and organizations offer to small businesses provide invaluable help when an entrepreneur needs it most. And while the help is greatly welcomed by those that win the grants, they are limited in how much help they can offer. And this is why when you see a grant being offered from them, you should apply as soon as possible.

No matter how much the amount is, it is money that can help a small business overcome financial hurdles during hard times. Before you apply, make sure you qualify for the criteria the grant requires, and as always, apply and apply early. The grants in this weeks roundup come from known brands as well as public organizations in communities across the U.S.

EBays 2023 Up & Running program has been unveiled to grant annual support and technology to aspiring small business sellers on the platform. This program strives to empower entrepreneurs by offering them resources to enhance their stores, acquire new equipment and inventory, expand their workforce, provide training opportunities, and boost marketing efforts.

As part of the National Small Business Week observance, TikTok has made a noteworthy pledge by committing $1 million to the Hispanic Heritage Foundation (HHF) and Black Girl Ventures. These two organizations are dedicated to empowering entrepreneurs and promoting economic development. In line with this commitment, eBay will also be granting 50 U.S.-based small businesses.

Amazon Business has recently kicked off its second annual Small Business Month, featuring the 2023 Small Business Grants launch. This program offers a fresh round of grants, with over $250,000 available for small businesses. There are also grants from public organizations address a range of issues with up to $25,000 in grants.

Small Business News May 12, 2023

Higher prime lending rates, labor shortages, SBA disaster loan deadlines and other news roundup the rest of the small business happenings this week.

IOU Financial Inc., a leading online lender for small businesses, has released its April 2023 State of Small Business Survey, which reveals that despite a slow start to the year, small business owners are maintaining a positive outlook for the remainder of 2023. The survey captures the opinions of 198 small business owners, with a 7% margin of error and a 95% confidence level.

The 2023 Payment Trends Survey conducted by Citizens has found that while corporate treasury departments are increasingly adopting modern payment methods, such as social tokens, real-time payments, and virtual cards, traditional payment modes like checks, automated clearing house (ACH), and physical credit cards continue to maintain a strong presence in the market.

At the 2023 IAB NewFronts, Snap introduced a range of new solutions for advertisers, content partnerships, and collaborative opportunities for creators on Snapchat, showcasing the platforms commitment to supporting small businesses and fostering relationships with their community of 750 million monthly active users.

Apple has announced its financial results for the second quarter of fiscal 2023, with quarterly revenue of $94.8 billion, a 3% decrease year over year, and quarterly earnings per diluted share of $1.52, unchanged year over year. Despite the challenging macroeconomic environment, Apple achieved an all-time record in Services and a March quarter record for iPhone sales.

Microsoft has announced significant advancements in its AI-powered Bing search engine and Edge browser, promising a more powerful, visual, and productive search experience.

Small business owners are always looking for ways to improve their business processes and automate tasks that will help them grow their businesses. Zoholics 2023, a sold-out conference held at the AT&T Hotel and Conference Center in Austin, Texas, was the perfect opportunity for these small business owners to network and learn from experts and fellow users.

TikTok has announced the expansion of its TikTok Pulse advertising solution with the addition of Pulse Premiere, a new feature that enables advertisers to place their ads directly after premium publisher content in TikToks For You feed.

Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has announced a prime lending rate increase for Citizens Bank, N.A., raising it from 8.00% to 8.25%, effective Thursday, May 4, 2023. The change in the prime rate will impact small business owners who rely on borrowing funds for their operations and growth. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. is among the nations oldest and largest financial institutions, with $222.

Barclays US Consumer Bank celebrated National Small Business Week by announcing the winners of its third annual Small Business Big Wins promotion. This year, the competition attracted over 14,000 entries, highlighting the resilience and innovation of small businesses across the country.

WhatsApp is introducing new updates to its polling and media sharing features, aimed at making group chats more engaging and productive for users, including small business owners. These updates enable single-vote polls, make searching for polls in chats easier, and provide notifications when users vote on polls.

AT&T has announced a partnership with Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) to provide a comprehensive wireless platform (CWP) that will improve connectivity and critical infrastructure at the airport. This move aims to support airport operations and offer reliable, high-capacity connectivity for both airlines and passengers.

The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) has released a new jobs report, revealing that small business owners continue to face significant challenges in finding workers. A staggering 45% (seasonally adjusted) of all owners have reported job openings they could not fill during the current period, a figure that exceeds the 49-year historical average of 23%.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is urging small businesses to plan ahead to take advantage of tax-saving opportunities and prepare for reporting changes in 2023. As part of National Small Business Week, the IRS highlights potential tax benefits and reporting adjustments that could affect businesses next year.

Mastercard has announced the next evolution of its Digital Doors program, set to launch on May 4, in celebration of Small Business Month. The initiative aims to provide an expanded suite of innovative tools, resources, and benefits to help small businesses enhance their digital operations and growth.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has reminded California private nonprofit organizations that they have until June 2, 2023, to apply for federal disaster loans for property damage caused by severe winter storms, straight-line winds, flooding, landslides, and mudslides that began on February 21, 2023.

See Also: Nextiva Appoints 2 to Board of Directors

One of the most talked about issues with people changing jobs or selling their companies is the necessity and validity of non-compete agreements. This employment law varies by state with California being the strictest against people signing them. Are they and should they be legal is something that the FTC is discussing and their decision could affect 30 million people.

Meta has recently published its Q1 2023 Security Report, highlighting the companys ongoing efforts to combat cyber threats, malware campaigns, and covert influence operations. Small business owners should take note, as these threats can have significant impacts on their businesses if not adequately addressed.

A 47-year-old Houston man, Scott Jackson Davis, has been sentenced to 102 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release for a $3 million PPP loan fraud scheme. U.S. District Judge David Hittner also ordered Davis to pay restitution of $3,002,655.13.

A former Mississippi tax preparer, John Wells Jr., has pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the United States by preparing false tax returns. Wells worked at Sunbelt Tax Services, a return preparation business based in Jackson, Mississippi, from 2015 through 2017.

Facebook is introducing new personalization controls for its Reels feature, allowing users to better tailor their experience to their preferences. This update has the potential to benefit small business owners who utilize short-form video content as part of their marketing strategies.

A certified public accountant (CPA) from Avon-by-the-Sea, New Jersey, James H. Benkoil, pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the United States by promoting fraudulent tax shelters to high-income clients. The announcement came from Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Departments Tax Division.

According to a recent survey commissioned by Cox Business, 90% of small business owners feel confident in their ability to navigate cybersecurity risks due to the support of managed IT services. The study also reveals that cybersecurity is a key driver for businesses investing in these services, with 42% of respondents preferring to outsource their IT needs.

Dominos Pizza, Inc., the worlds largest pizza company, reported impressive financial results for the first quarter of 2023, showcasing the resilience of its business model amid a challenging global economic climate. The financial results reflect a robust increase in sales growth and earnings per share (EPS).

The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), the nations leading small business advocacy organization, recently released a survey assessing small businesses relationships with banks. Conducted via email from April 14-18, 2023, the survey provides insights into small business banking operations and confidence in the banking system and the overall economy.

Small businesses in the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community are urged to apply for federal disaster loans by the upcoming deadline of June 2, 2023. These loans are available to provide economic relief to businesses affected by the severe storms that occurred on July 17-18, 2022. Tanya N. Garfield, Director of the U.S.

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Anyone with aging parents knows the fear of answering the kind of dreaded phone call that novelist Emmanuele (Sophie Marceau) receives at the beginning of queer filmmaker Francois Ozons Everything Went Fine (Cohen Media Group). Emmanueles sister Pascale (Geraldine Pailhas) calls to tell her that their almost 85-year-old art dealer father Andre (Andre Dussollier) has had a stroke and is in the emergency room of a Paris hospital.

After a series of tests, its determined that Andre has multiple serious health issues, and the risk of relapse is high. An extremely impatient man, Andre struggles with his condition, thinking nothing of taking his frustrations out on his dedicated daughters. His estranged, sculptor wife Claude (Charlotte Rampling), who is dealing with her own declining health (Parkinsons and depression), has already written him off.

In brief flashbacks, we see what a terrible, verbally abusive father he was to Emmanuele. Yet she remains dutiful, even when he tells her that he wants her aid in putting an end to his suffering.

Emmanuele and Pascale are then faced with making the difficult decision about Andres future, which is complicated by the good days/bad days of his convalescence. After doing research online, Emmanuele determines that assisted suicide is illegal in France, but is a possibility in nearby Switzerland. She reaches out to a nameless woman (Hanna Schygulla) affiliated with a death-with-dignity organization in Bern, and arrangements are made.

There are many obstacles along the way, some humorous, some serious. Simone (Judith Magre), a pushy cousin living in New York, tries to talk Andre out of it. The presence of Andres insistent male ex-lover Gerard (Gregory Gadebois), whom Pascale refers to as her fathers gigolo, only muddles matters. Even Andre himself adds a delay when he asks to change the selected date so that he can attend his grandsons clarinet recital.

Once the plan is set in motion, a phone call from the police to the clinic where Andre has been recuperating, threatens to put a halt to everything they worked so hard to carefully plan. The sisters are interrogated by the police and then allowed to leave, just as Andre is on his way to Bern by ambulance.

Based on Emmanuele Bernheims autobiographical novel, Everything Went Fine takes place over the course of seven months. Bernheim, who has collaborated on screenplays for Ozons Swimming Pool, Under the Sand, and Ricky, is given a respectable treatment with Ozons adaptation. While it lags in places, Everything Is Fine is saved by the first-rate performances by Marceau, Pailhas, Dussollier, Schygulla, and Rampling (who makes the most of her limited screen time, particularly in the scene in which Emmanuele asks Claude why she stayed married to an unfaithful, gay husband). In French with English subtitles.

Rating: B

Gregg Shapiro is the author of eight books including the poetry chapbook Fear of Muses (Souvenir Spoon Books, 2022). An entertainment journalist, whose interviews and reviews run in a variety of regional LGBTQ+ and mainstream publications and websites, Shapiro lives in Fort Lauderdale with his husband Rick and their dog Coco.
Justice caught up to George Santos. The gay Republican Congressman, lampooned nationwide for his frequent dishonesty, was indicted on 13 charges ranging from defrauding donors to wrongfully claiming unemployment benefits.

Santos, 34, surrendered to authorities May 10 at a federal courthouse in Long Island, N.Y., vowing to fight the charges.

Its a witch hunt, Santos told reporters, shortly after being released on a $500,000 bond, adding he looks forward to fighting the battle to clear his name.

The indictment includes seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, two counts of lying to the House of Representatives on financial forms and one count of theft of public funds. Wire fraud, the most serious offense, carries a maximum penalty of up to 20 years in prison.

The charges came as no surprise to Yassar Rabello, Santos former roommate.

The beginning of something good, Rabello wrote in a message on the international platform, WhatsApp.

In 2014, Rabello rented a room from Santos in an apartment building in the Jackson Heights neighborhood of Queens. He described Santos as a pathological liar obsessed with power and fame.

He always wanted to be famous, said Rabello, who now calls Fort Lauderdale home. Im pretty sure hes enjoying the fame and that everybody is talking about him and doesnt care if its in a bad way.

Congressman Ritchie Torres (D-NY), a chief critic of Santos since the beginning of the scandals  when it was revealed he lied about large swaths of his background and education  said Santos must leave Congress one way or the other.

If George Santos doesnt resign, House Republicans have a choice: Either you enable his corruption or you EXPEL George Santos from Congress, but TODAY, Torres tweeted.

Santos has refused calls  from both sides of the aisle  for his resignation and recently launched a campaign for re-election in New Yorks third congressional district, which covers parts of Long Island and Queens.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has given no signal that he will move to expel Santos.

It took investigators less than five months to charge Santos in the Eastern District of New York. After pleading not guilty at his arraignment, Santos was ordered to relinquish his passports.

I will prove myself innocent, Santos said.

Perhaps the most egregious of the charges is the false claim of unemployment benefits. Santos allegedly received $24,000 in benefits during the coronavirus pandemic while working for Harbor City Capital, a Florida investment firm that folded in 2021 after the Securities Exchange Commission called it a classic Ponzi scheme.
Activists are urging the Victorian government in Melbourne to act as drag events are getting canceled, and a Christian concert blocks an LGBT festival in Seoul.

Victorian Government Urged To Act As More Drag Events Are Canceled

Advocates in the LGBT community are asking the Victorian government in Melbourne to do more to protect their community after threats led to the cancellation of five drag events in the past six months.

The threats are coming from far-right groups and have not only targeted drag events but other ceremonies for the queer community. Victorian Pride Lobbys Sean Mulcahy told The Guardian police, councils and the state government needed to do more to protect the queer community from threats and make sure family-friendly events could be held.

If we had stronger anti-vilification laws, if police were willing to enforce the laws that they have, and if councils worked to ensure that their local laws were enforced, then we will be able to deal with these issues early on, Mulcahy said.

Christian Concert Blocks Seouls LGBT Festival

Seoul's Queer Pride Parade. Photo via wikipedia.org.

South Koreas largest annual LGBT festival, the Seoul Queer Culture Festival, has been blocked from being held outside of city hall by Seouls city government.

According to Reuters, the government granted a permit to a Christian Youth Concert instead. The event has been held in front of city hall since 2015 and has been a symbol of the battle of queer rights in a country where same-sex marriage is not recognized.

The chief organizer of the event Yang Sun-woo said the citys act is an act of discrimination.

"Each year, we struggle to secure a venue to hold the event, said Sun-woo.
It will operate from May to October.

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The tourist season is in full swing at the Cingov resort in Slovak Paradise and on this occasion, a new car camping site has opened.

The Kosice Self-Governing Region (KSK) supported its construction with 40,000 from its Terra Incognita grant scheme, said the project's author Eugen Rogovsky.

This open space, created right near the hotel, will participate in its annual operation from May to October.

Caravans, motorhomes and tents will be allowed to park on 26 parking areas. Social facilities are also built within the area, which is "pet friendly".

A helping hand in the heart of Europe offers for you Slovakia travel guide.

"The number of visitors to camping sites in Slovakia is not comparable to other countries such as the Netherlands, Croatia, Germany, Italy, but this method of travel is finding more and more supporters in our country as well. Our goal is to develop domestic and foreign tourism through the provision of quality services and infrastructure at the level of foreign standards," said Rogovsky, as quoted by the TASR news agency.

KSK Governor Rastislav Trnka pointed out that Cingov is one of the oldest and most famous tourist centres in Slovak Paradise National Park, also being the reason why they support the development of tourism in the locality.

Read also

Read also Kosice Region will build a car camping spot in Slovak Paradise Read more

"Thanks to support from the KSK, the facilities for tourists are constantly improving - children's via ferratas, relaxation areas and gazebos are being added. We are glad that this sought-after location is expanding its services to include a new type of overnight stay," added Trnka.

The Executive Director of the Kosice Regional Tourism Organization, Region Turizmus, Lenka Vargova Jurkova, added that in the post-pandemic recovery period, camping is becoming a rapidly growing tourist trend in Slovakia as well. She appreciated that quality camps in the region are increasing.

"A good example is a well-established campsite in the heart of the Tokaj region, Camping Mala Bara, or the newly renovated Route E58 Camp Kosice just four kilometres from the centre of Kosice," she emphasised. Vargova Jurkova notes that caravan travel in the Kosice Region and the use of campsites are also positively perceived in terms of the ecotourism strategy and sustainability of tourism.

Read also:

Read also: Flying high: Aeroplane mountain retreat in demand Read more

The project is welcomed by conservationists. The director of the Slovak Paradise National Park Administration, Tomas Drazil, said that they have occasionally encountered caravans parked on forest roads in protected areas and turns into valleys in recent years.

"The campsite is well situated, also in a nice area. The capacity is not that big. Demand will show whether it will be full or not. We see that there are more caravaners visiting Slovak Paradise, so they might welcome another area in the south of the national park, near Hrabusice, or at other boarding centres," stated Drazil.

https://sk.frame.mapy.cz/s/felumobuma

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Aftermath of Ukrainian Artillery Strikes on Gorlovka in DPR

Aftermath of Ukrainian Artillery Strikes on Gorlovka in DPR

The Ukrainian forces have shelled Gorlovka in the Donetsk people's republic 57 times in the past 24 hours, the highest intensity of attacks since the beginning of the year.

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During the day from 08:00 Moscow time on May 11, Gorlovka was shelled 57 times by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.As a result, one civilian was killed and at least six others were wounded.Gorlovkas previous shelling record was recorded on January 1 to 2, when the Ukrainian Army shelled the city 41 times. Since Thursday morning, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have been shelling Gorlovka and its suburbs en masse. The Ukrainian Army launched five strikes on Gorlovka using Grad multiple-launch rocket systems alone, firing almost 40 rockets.On Friday morning, Ukrainian forces resumed the shelling.Take a look at the consequences of the shelling in Sputnik's gallery:

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America Lost Control' of 'Cartel-Owned' Southern US Border

America Lost Control' of 'Cartel-Owned' Southern US Border

The US has lost control of the Southern Border, which is now owned by drug cartels, Julie Clark, Candidate for Congressional District TX23 said.

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The end of Title 42 would allow thousands of migrants amassed at the southern US border to scatter across the state of Texas and other US states, as well, leaving officials with no idea where they are, what their plans are," Julie Clark, Candidate for Congressional District TX23 told Sputnik.The public health emergency statute, invoked by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) under the Trump administration at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, had also served as a tool to deter the influx of asylum seekers. The statute made it possible to immediately deny entry to undocumented migrants, but it expired on May 11. Ahead of the date, dozens of US border patrol agents, US military personnel, and Texas state police officers were positioned along the border in El Paso to deal with the potential surge.Echoing the torrent of warnings as to what would follow once Title 42 was discarded, Julie Clark warned of chaos as border authorities cannot process that many people.Furthermore, with the cartels owning the border right now, many of these people pay a price to the cartels.Weighing in on the return to a section of US code known as Title 8 to deal with the border issues, with its expedited removal process, and asylum seekers being interviewed by phone within hours of finding themselves in Border Patrol custody, with the use of the CBPOne App, Clark said:According to the Congressional candidate, every town in Texas is now a border town.Concerning how to secure the border, she said the US definitely needs to be working with the Mexico president," to make sure that that side of the border is protected as well. Clark argued that sending the military to the Southern border was what needed to happen, and appropriate legislation set in place. The recently introduced House Bill 29, the Border Safety and Security Act, put forward by Congressman Chip Roy, R-TX, was also applauded as a way to beef up security at the US-Mexico border. The bill, among other things, would require turning away any illegal migrant who cannot be detained pending an asylum claim, or placed in a program similar to Remain in Mexico.As for US Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas insisting there would be stiff consequences for irregular migration, and that the border was "not open," Clark stated:To hear more analysis of the US border issues by Julie Clark, Candidate for Congressional District TX23, listen to Sputnik's Faultlines.

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Dramatic Overhaul of Classified Intel System Urged Post Pentagon Leaks

Dramatic Overhaul of Classified Intel System Urged Post Pentagon Leaks

A more sensible classification of US government records as secret or top secret is being pushed for to rule out a repetition of embarrassments like the recent so-called "Pentagon Leaks".

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A more "sensible" classification of US government records as secret or top secret, and boosted oversight on handling of such information is being pushed to ostensibly rule out a repetition of embarrassments like the recent so-called "Pentagon Leaks."The key terms being used in connection with the proposed legislation are "overclassification" and "technological modernization." A bipartisan group of lawmakers stated that there has been a growing clamor for a classified intelligence reform, but it was only when the "ball was dropped," so to say, as in the case of the recent Pentagon leaks, that the process might finally get off the ground. What exactly is being proposed in line with this reform?Two bills have been proposed by Sens. Mark Warner (D-Va.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) as part of this overhaul: the Classification Reform Act and the Sensible Classification Act. OverclassificationThe United States government has so many records that are classified that a vast number of people require security clearances, warned the senators. They also referenced the military as purporting that this was one of the obstacles to "working smoothly with our allies around the world." The bar needs to be raised on what information would be classified secret and top secret, with these labels reserved only for information that truly needs to be protected, John Cornyn underscored.While federal agencies currently often classify mundane documents "by default," the Classification Reform Act would leave it up to the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) to determine classification and declassification of documents. To serve as "official advisor" to the Director of National Intelligence on the matter, the existing Public Interest Declassification Board would be provided with specially-tailored funding and staff.To deal with "overclassification," there would be a so-called "tax" on classifying too much by agencies. The penalty would come out of a working capital fund financing declassifying programs.To sum it up, the legislation introduced on Wednesday specifically includes:Antiquated TechnologyThe byzantine, bizarre bureaucratic system that has not kept up with the times, has not moved to digitalization was slammed by Warner as one of the reasons for overclassification. Documents were described as piling up long after they had failed to meet the requirements for classification, records getting lost, because even in 2023, they need to be printed out. In line with the Sensible Classification Act, agencies would be mandated to use a single "federated and integrated IT solution" to handle issues of classification and declassification."This is a piece of legislation that can become law, and it's desperately needed, Jerry Moran said.The overhaul proposal comes as over 100 classified US military documents were posted online earlier in the year, related to the conflict in Ukraine, the United States espionage activities against its partners, and other national security matters. Jack Teixeira, a 21-year-old Massachusetts Air National Guardsman, was arrested and charged last month with unauthorized removal and transmission of national defense information. Before that, there were two handling of classified documents rows, involving Donald Trump, and subsequently, Joe Biden. In August 2022, the FBI raided Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate on the grounds that potentially classified documents, moved there by the 45th POTUS as he left the White House, were at that location. Trump has maintained his innocence in the DOJ's Mar-a-Lago document investigation, arguing that his presidential status at the time afforded him the authority and right to declassify any document he wanted.Handling of classified docs by Joe Biden similarly made headlines, after freshly-surfaced findings in January revealed that caches of documents dating back to his tenure as vice president had been discovered by his aides on four separate occasions. Amid the hue and cry that ensued, a special counsel investigation was launched.But the mainstream US media soon lost interest in the Mar-a-Lago classified docs story in the wake of the Biden revelations. It was the Pentagon leaks that then appeared to light fire under the Justice Department, with both DOJ and the US Department of Defense probes prompted into the source of the sensitive materials, as well as handling protocols.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230414/breakdown-between-biden-and-us-intel-community-behind-pentagon-leaks-1109535643.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230123/us-senate-democrat-slams-bidens-handling-of-classified-documents-1106613021.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230512/end-of-title-42-may-cost-biden-political-support-across-us-1110299414.html

End of Title 42 May Cost Biden Political Support Across US

End of Title 42 May Cost Biden Political Support Across US

The Biden administration is facing serious challenges with the end of the Title 42 border policy, which had allowed for swiftly expelling illegal migrants entering the country on a massive scale since Joe Biden became the president.

2023-05-12T18:41+0000

2023-05-12T18:41+0000

2023-05-12T18:41+0000

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"The end of Title 42 will not allow the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to expel illegal aliens back home or to Mexico," Ron Vitiello, former US Border Patrol chief who served as deputy director and acting director of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "Agents will now have to process aliens under traditional Title 8 authorities. The time frame for processing goes from minutes to hours. This additional burden will mean longer custody times and short term holding areas will be overcrowded."The pandemic-era Title 42 at least somewhat helped to stem the tide of illegals under Joe Biden. Still, the flow of migrants has been steadily increasing since the beginning of his presidency. In general, there were over 2.3 million migrant encounters during the 2022 fiscal year, well up from the 1.7 million in 2021. For comparison's sake, under then-President Donald Trump, the number of encounters was 458,088 in 2020 and 977,509 in 2019.Messy Border PoliciesTeam Biden's border policies have also led to a recent scandal over the US administration's failure to vet, monitor, and track tens of thousands of unaccompanied migrant children. A New York Times investigation indicated that Health and Human Services (HHS) couldnt reach more than 85,000 minors who had entered the US unaccompanied, and lost immediate contact with a third of migrant children over the last two years. According to the newspaper, many migrant children ended up working full-time, while others were trafficked and sexually abused.Meanwhile, it seems that the Biden administration deliberately did little to prepare for the inevitable migration influx once Title 42 was lifted, according to Vitiello.The US press has reported that the expected surge in migration at the US southern frontier "is setting off alarm bells" in states and cities across the US. For instance, New York City, Chicago, and El Paso recently lamented the already heavy migrant burden on the cities' budgets. El Paso has declared a state of emergency.Biden to Release Criminal Illegals in US CitiesFor its part, the Biden administration claims that the new system will make it easier to deport illegals, while providing further opportunities for migrants to enter the US legally if they apply via a special app.Fox News broke on May 9 that top border officials in Washington, DC, had decided to authorize all Border Patrol Sectors to begin the releases if CBP and NGOs do not have enough capacity to hold migrants.In response, on May 11, a federal judge in Florida temporarily barred the Biden administration from releasing migrants without setting court dates. US District Judge T. Kent Wetherell II, a Donald Trump appointee, wrote in his ruling that the president and Congress had failed to fix the border problem which "had been out of control" for two years. Team Biden warned Wetherell that border facilities could become dangerously overcrowded. But the federal judge did not change his decision and responded that the administrations "doomsday rhetoric rings hollow.""The Biden administration has recklessly pursued an open border policy where most of those who cross illegally and turn themselves in to border agents are allowed to stay and work in the United States," argued Vaughan. "They were warned by career immigration officials that this would set off a mass migration crisis, and they implemented this policy anyway."Walls WorkSputnik's interlocutors expect that US states will continue their fight against the uncontrolled influx of migrants and the Biden administration's unwillingness to solve the problem. According to Vitiello, "the states will likely do all they can to accommodate the influx, some will sue the Feds, and all will demand resources to alleviate the burden."During his presidency, Trump wanted to build a border wall with Mexico that was expected to cost $8 billion  $12 billion. This initiative was opposed by both Republicans and Democrats in Congress, who argued that the project was too expensive. Ironically, many of these same lawmakers approved $112 billion worth of aid to Ukraine in 2022 alone.Vaughan is not surprised by the strange twist of fate: she pointed out that there are members of Congress in both parties "who are willing to tolerate illegal immigration because it serves their personal political interests and the interests of some of their financial backers, even though it is harmful to their constituents."

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230512/what-can-happen-at-us-southern-border-post-title-42-1110277535.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230418/biden-administration-left-thousands-of-migrant-minors-in-grave-danger-1109634901.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20221228/face-of-us-changing-as-migration-becomes-major-driver-of-population-growth-1105859788.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230512/hundreds-of-migrants-gather-outside-us-border-fence-as-title-42-deadline-nears-1110276548.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230512/eu-mulls-underwater-internet-cable-in-black-sea-to-reduce-dependence-on-russia---reports-1110280700.html

EU Mulls Underwater Internet Cable in Black Sea to Reduce Dependence on Russia - Reports

EU Mulls Underwater Internet Cable in Black Sea to Reduce Dependence on Russia - Reports

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The European Union intends to lay an underwater internet cable through the Black Sea to improve connectivity with Georgia and decrease dependency on communication infrastructure that passes through Russia, media reported on Friday, citing sources.

2023-05-12T08:03+0000

2023-05-12T08:03+0000

2023-05-12T08:03+0000

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A European Commission document seen by the newspaper said that the 1,100-kilometer (683-mile) cable will cost 45 million euros ($49 million) and is designed to link Europe with the Caucasus and lower "dependency on terrestrial fibre-optic connectivity transiting via Russia." A source familiar with the matter told the news outlet that the EU and Georgia in 2021 agreed in principle that this cable is a necessity, and the Ukraine conflict gave the project an additional impetus, underlying the need to reduce reliance on "connections that are not secure or stable." However, the project is still under consideration and no funds have been allocated for its realization, according to the report. Vodafone, a UK telecommunications corporation, also has plans for an underwater cable in the Black Sea, media reported. Its project, titled Kardessa, will connect Ukraine with Bulgaria, Turkey with Georgia, and, then, will go underground to Armenia, Kazakhstan and further into Asia. Currently, the company is looking for suppliers, a source told the newspaper. Vodafone itself, in turn, refused to comment. In December, the EU announced plans to invest around 2.3 billion euros in building the Black Sea Strategic Submarine Electricity Cable that will connect Georgia and Romania and ensure exports of green energy from the South Caucasus to Europe.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230512/from-avangard-to-zircon-how-far-do-russian-missiles-fly-1110296500.html

From Avangard to Zircon: How Far Do Russian Missiles Fly?

From Avangard to Zircon: How Far Do Russian Missiles Fly?

The Russian and US militaries got into a shouting match this week after the Pentagon claimed a Patriot missile deployed in Ukraine shot down a Kinzhal missile. What are the capabilities of the Kinzhal and other major missile systems in Russias arsenal? Sputnik takes a look.

2023-05-12T17:11+0000

2023-05-12T17:11+0000

2023-05-12T18:45+0000

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mikhail gorbachev

russia

ukraine

west

pentagon

bulava

patriot

sarmat

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A high-ranking source in Russias Defense Ministry mopped the floor with Pentagon claims about a Patriot missile shooting down a Russian Kinzhal, telling reporters Thursday that the Russian missiles flight speed exceeds the capabilities of all anti-aircraft missile systems supplied by the West to Kiev to intercept it, "including the Patriot."The explanation challenges assertions made by Pentagon Press Secretary Pat Ryder Tuesday "confirm[ing] that [Ukraine] did down" a Kinzhal using a US-supplied Patriot. The shootdown claim goes back more than a week and originates from a Telegram post by Ukrainian Air Force commander Mykola Oleshchuk on May 6 that a Patriot downed a Kinzhal during a night raid over the Kiev region on May 4."We will be certain to report what, where, with what and when [missiles] are shot down! All in good time," Oleshchuk promised.What is the Kinzhal?The Kinzhal (lit. "Dagger") is one of half-a-dozen new strategic weapons unveiled by Russian President Vladimir Putin in a speech to lawmakers in March 2018. First entering combat duty in December 2017, and seeing extensive flight and combat testing, the nuclear-capable weapon was the first hypersonic missile system to be fielded by any country.Carried by modified MiG-31 jets, Tupolev Tu-22, or Tu-160 strategic bombers, Kinzhals have an operational speed of Mach 10-13 (11,200-14,500 feet/second), and an operational range of up to 2,000 km when launched from MiG-31Ks, or over 3,000 km when launched from Tu-22M3s. Fitted with an inertial navigation system, GLONASS, AWACS, and/or optical seeker to guide the missile to its target, the Kinzhal carries a 500 kg high explosive warhead, or, in nuclear mode, a 5-50 kiloton payload.Russia has used Kinzhals extensively in the proxy war with NATO in Ukraine, targeting ammunition and fuel depots, ports, and  after last falls attack on the Crimean Bridge, Ukrainian energy infrastructure. The missile's 2,000 km range is sufficient to strike anywhere in the country. It is the only one of Russia's new generation of strategic weapons to be used in Ukraine.What are Russias Other Modern Strategic WeaponsWhat is the Avangard?The Avangard (lit. "Vanguard") is another of the advanced weapons platforms unveiled by Putin in his 2018 speech. The Avangard is a hypersonic glide vehicle carried on board R-36 or RS-28 Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) as part of multiple reentry vehicle (MIRV) payloads. In service with the Strategic Rocket Forces since 2018, the nuclear-capable glide vehicles have a reported range of over 6,000 km, and an explosive power of between 0.8 and 2 megatons when armed with a nuclear payload. Combined with the range of their ICBM carriers, Avangards have what is effectively a global reach.What is the Bulava?The Bulava is a solid-fuel submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) with a range of up to 10,000 km. Introduced in the Navy in 2018, the Bulava is a replacement to the R-39  which has a range of 8,300 km. Bulavas are capable of carrying between six and ten 100-150 kiloton MIRVs, which accelerate to speeds of up to Mach 24 (28,600+ km/hour) during flight. The missiles are carried by Borei and Borei-A subs. Typically, these subs lurk below the surface of the seas near Russias Arctic and Pacific Ocean coasts, making their detection virtually impossible until launch. Bulavas maneuver in the boost stage, theoretically making it impossible for them to be intercepted by any current-generation anti-ballistic missile system.What is the Sarmat?The RS-28 Sarmat is the newest missile in Russias strategic arsenal, with the first missiles expected to join the Strategic Nuclear Forces in the current year. With a globe-spanning range of 18,000 km and a maximum speed of up to 25,500 kilometers per hour (about Mach 20), the silo or mobile carrier-launched missiles can carry up to 10 traditional MIRV warheads, a mix of MIRVs and Avangards, or a mix of MIRVs, Avangards, and decoys. The Sarmat is set to be the backbone of Russia's ground-based strategic deterrent. The regular warheads maneuver in depth as they approach targets, making them almost impossible to intercept.What is the Zircon?Last but not least is the Zircon  a scramjet-powered maneuvering hypersonic cruise missile designed specifically to target enemy ships, but which is also capable of engaging ground targets. The solid-fuel missiles  carried by launch platforms from surface warships to submarines, have a maximum firing range of between 400 and 1,000 km  well beyond standoff range. First introduced into service in January 2023, the Zircon is capable of accelerating to speeds up to Mach 9 (over 11,100 km per hour) during approach  nearly 11 times higher than the Tomahawk. Zircons are nuclear-capable, featuring a 300-400 kg warhead and, in nuclear mode, a throw weight of up to 200 kilotons.Why Does Russia Have So Many Different Types of Modern Missiles?Moscow began experimenting with hypersonic missile designs in the 1980s, but dramatically scaled back the development effort in the 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union and attempts to gain the trust and respect of Washington and what Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev referred to as the so-called "civilized community of nations." Russia dusted off these Soviet blueprints, and expanded on them to create entirely new designs, in the early 2000s, when the United States unilaterally scrapped the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty of 1972 and began working on new missile defenses, as well as "Prompt Global Strike"  an ambitious plan to engage in mass conventional missile-based decapitation strikes designed to destroy the strategic deterrent of enemy nations.In other words, had the US observed the post-Cold War aspirations of Russia to partner with and cooperate with the West instead of deliberately antagonizing and threatening it at every step, Moscow probably would have never embarked on the path of developing its strategic potential to the level its at today.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230510/fact-check-ukraine-didnt-shoot-down-russias-kinzhal-hypersonic-missile-1110235332.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20200923/eskimo-effect-putin-explains-avangard-hypersonic-glide-vehicles-operating-principle-1080552063.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20201212/video-shows-russian-borei-class-sub-vladimir-monomakh-conducts-battery-launch-of-4-bulava-missiles-1081439497.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20220922/russias-sarmat-icbm-can-correct-trajectory-even-if-hit-by-enemy-missile-defense-designer-says-1101087476.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230125/russian-frigate-admiral-gorshkov-test-fires-zircon-missile-in-atlantic-1106674775.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20200919/putin-russia-was-forced-to-create-hypersonic-weapons-after-us-withdrew-from-missile-treaty-1080513306.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230512/kiev-terrorizes-donbass-civilians-since-it-cannot-win-on-battlefield-1110294477.html

Ukraine Terrorizes Donbass Civilians Since It Cannot Win on Battlefield

Ukraine Terrorizes Donbass Civilians Since It Cannot Win on Battlefield

The Kiev regime relies on terror and continues to shell civilian areas in Donetsk, Makeyevka and Gorlovka, Yuri Knutov, military historian and publicist, director of the Air Defense Forces Museum, told Sputnik, denouncing attacks on historically Russia-speaking regions as genocide.

2023-05-12T15:13+0000

2023-05-12T15:13+0000

2023-05-12T19:13+0000

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On May 12, the Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF) struck Donetsk, Makeyevka, and the village of Golmovsky, firing a total of 22 shells of 155 and 152 mm caliber. Gorlovka, a city in the Donetsk region, was attacked by Ukrainian Grad multiple rocket launcher (MRL) systems, as the Donetsk People's Republic's (DPR) representative office at the Joint Center for Control and Coordination of Issues Related to War Crimes of Ukraine reported on Telegram. This is not a mistake by the Ukrainian military, but a deliberate terror tactic, according to Yuri Knutov, military historian, publicist, and director of the Air Defense Forces Museum.The Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics have been subjected to heavy shelling by the Kiev regime since 2014, when the legitimately elected president of Ukraine was forcibly ousted by the violent US-backed opposition and neo-Nazi paramilitary groups. The mostly Russian-speaking people of Donbass did not accept the February 2014 coup d'etat in Kiev, or the junta's Russophobic agenda and banning of the Russian language.On April 7, 2014, the Republican People's Council declared the sovereignty of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR). On April 27, at a rally in Lugansk, the Lugansk People's Republic (LPR) was proclaimed. On May 11 of the same year, referendums were held in the Donbass region on the status of the republics, with the majority of the population backing the DPR and LPR's independence from Kiev.Meanwhile, the Odessa massacre of May 2, 2014, and the Victory Day bloodbath in Mariupol of May 9, 2014, prompted Donbass civilians to take up arms. Moscow's effort to end hostilities via the Minsk Agreements approved by the multinational Normandy Four format was snubbed by the Kiev regime and its Western backers. In February 2022, Moscow launched a special military operation aimed at demilitarizing and de-Nazifying Ukraine in order to stop the eight-year-long extermination of Russian-speaking people by the Ukrainian leadership.In October 2023, the Donbass, Zaporozhye, and Kherson regions officially joined the Russian Federation following a series of referendums.Nonetheless, the Kiev regime is continuing to push ahead with its Russophobic policies, rejecting the will of the population of former Ukrainian regions, according to Knutov.In addition, the Kiev regime places emphasis on terror against dissenting Ukrainians and Russian-speakers, according to the expert. He noted that the Ukrainian military is intentionally striking residential areas, hospitals, social infrastructure facilities, and schools of the new Russian territories to cause panic, havoc, and discontent.The expert noted that Russians should stay strong and withstand provocations from the NATO-backed Ukrainian regime aimed at sowing panic and discord within Russian society. Knutov has no doubts that Russia will prevail.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230502/journo-i-can-be-jailed-for-treason-in-ukraine-for-telling-truth-about-2014-odessa-massacre-1109983490.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230509/mariupol-residents-reveal-how-kiev-nazis-turned-sacred-may-9-victory-day-into-massacre-in-2014-1110164374.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20220408/dutch-journo-we-are-here-in-donbass-to-awaken-westerners-deluded-by-msm-propaganda-1094596416.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20220401/nazism-is-disease-texan-came-to-donbass-to-protect-people--tell-the-truth-about-8-year-long-war-1094369347.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230512/majority-of-german-citizens-oppose-ukraines-possible-accession-to-nato---poll-1110291708.html

Majority of German Citizens Oppose Ukraine's Possible Accession to NATO - Poll

Majority of German Citizens Oppose Ukraine's Possible Accession to NATO - Poll

A majority of German citizens oppose Ukraine's accession to NATO, according to a YouGov poll commissioned by German news agency ahead of a possible visit by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to Berlin.

2023-05-12T13:05+0000

2023-05-12T13:05+0000

2023-05-12T13:05+0000

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As many as 54% of respondents spoke against Ukraine's possible NATO membership, whereas just 27% of German citizens supported Kiev's accession to the alliance, the poll showed. When asked about the Ukrainian conflict and ways to resolve it, 55% of respondents are in favor of peace talks between Moscow and Kiev, with 28% against negotiations, according to the survey. The news agency gave no details regarding the number of respondents and the exact date when the poll was conducted, only saying it had been carried out just before Zelensky's planned visit to Germany. Earlier in the month, the Berliner Tageszeitung daily reported, citing an unnamed police member as the source, that Zelensky was expected to come to Berlin on May 13 and meet with Chancellor Olaf Scholz before going to Aachen, where he will be awarded the Charlemagne Prize. The Ukrainian presidential office called the leak irresponsible. It told German media that the state trip could be canceled over security concerns. In September, Zelensky announced that Ukraine was applying to be fast-tracked to join NATO. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow was closely monitoring the situation and recalled that Kiev's leaning toward the alliance was one of the reasons for the start of Russia's military operation in Ukraine in February 2022.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230421/moscow-nato-promises-membership-to-ukraine-to-motivate-kiev-to-fulfill-alliance-tasks-1109745705.html

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yougov poll, ukraine's accession to nato
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230512/no-mass-crossings-seen-on-uss-southern-border-after-title-42-expired-thursday-night-1110280981.html

No Mass Crossings Seen on US's Southern Border After Title 42 Expired Thursday Night

No Mass Crossings Seen on US's Southern Border After Title 42 Expired Thursday Night

No mass crossings were seen along the US-Mexico border in West Texas after the Title 42 public health policy expired late Thursday night, a Sputnik correspondent reported.

2023-05-12T08:36+0000

2023-05-12T08:36+0000

2023-05-12T08:36+0000

americas

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border patrol

us

border

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"Starting tonight, people who arrive at the border without using a lawful pathway will be presumed ineligible for asylum. We are ready to humanely process and remove people without a legal basis to remain in the US," Homeland Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement after Title 42 expired. "People who do not use available lawful pathways to enter the US now face tougher consequences, including a minimum five-year ban on re-entry and potential criminal prosecution." As Title 42 expired at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday, there were still hundreds of migrants gathered together on US soil in El Paso, Texas, between barbed wired fencing and the border wall, waiting for US immigration authorities to transport them out of the area to be processed. Dozens of US Border Patrol agents, US military personnel, and Texas state police officers were positioned along the border in El Paso, where in recent weeks tens of thousands of migrants poured in ahead of the Thursday deadline. A small group of migrants arrived too late and were denied entry into the United States. One armed US soldier approached and stopped two migrant men attempting to make their way through the barbed wired fence. Alexander Pal, 23, and his seven-year-old son, of Venezuela, were among the migrants who arrived too late at the US southern border. Pal said he, his son, and four other migrants from Venezuela arrived in Juarez earlier on Thursday by train. Mexican law enforcement, armed with assault rifles, also stepped up patrols along the US-Mexico border after Title 42 came to an end. They stopped and searched a group of about six migrants who were seen walking a few yards away from the border. Earlier in the day, Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz told reporters that up to 65,000 migrants were waiting in northern Mexico to cross into the United States, but he noted those were not unusually high numbers compared to the previous two years. 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, totaling over 2.3 million people. In fiscal year 2023, the US authorities said they have encountered more than 1.2 million migrants. Fox News and other media outlets have said the number of illegal immigrants that have entered the United States since Biden assumed office has exceeded six million. Ortiz stated that more than 26,000 migrants have been apprehended on the US southern border earlier this week. More than 10,300 migrants illegally crossed the US southern border on Tuesday, according to media reports. US President Joe Biden said earlier this week that the administration expects the situation near the border to be chaotic. Media reported, citing US government data, that between 11,000 and 13,000 daily migrant arrivals were expected after Title 42 expires.Title 42, the Trump-era public health emergency order imposed in March 2020, allowed the US government to turn away illegal immigrants at the border to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The United States anticipated a massive surge of migrants would attempt to cross into the country illegally once it was lifted.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230506/theyre-everywhere-hundreds-of-migrants-arrive-on-us-mexico-border-ahead-of-title-42-end-1110132667.html

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no mass crossings, title 42 public health policy, us-mexico border
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230512/poland-has-classified-details-on-missile-found-in-april--1110275528.html

Poland Has Classified Details on Missile Found in April

Poland Has Classified Details on Missile Found in April

Poland has classified some information regarding the investigation of a missile that was discovered in late April, Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Pawel Jablonski said.

2023-05-12T01:36+0000

2023-05-12T01:36+0000

2023-05-12T01:32+0000

world

mateusz morawiecki

ukraine

russia

poland

polish armed forces

classified information

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On April 27, the wreckage of an unidentified military object with inscriptions in Russian was found in a forest near the north-central city of Bydgoszcz. Later, Tomasz Piotrovsky, the operational commander of the Polish Armed Forces, said the missile could be involved in an incident that occurred in Polish airspace on December 16, 2022, which required the use of aircraft as well as search and rescue helicopters. Polish media reported on Wednesday that according to a preliminary investigation, the wreckage belonged to a KH-55 missile, a Soviet-made Russian cruise missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads. Later in the day, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said he was told about the December missile incident only in late April. "I found out about it around the end of April," he said. Gen. Waldemar Skrzypczak, the former Polish deputy minister of defense, told a broadcaster on Thursday that Poland's politicians were looking for "a scapegoat" among the military for the incident. He noted that he got used to such situations while serving in the Polish army. "I do not recall any case in the postwar history of the Polish armed forces where a politician had the courage to take responsibility. The military has always been to blame, and it always has been this way. The military is ready for it," Skrzypczak said. "Piotrovsky will probably bear it with dignity, but as far as I know Piotrovsky, he must have reported immediately to the Chief of the General Staff [Gen. Rajmund Andrzejczak]."Warsaw has been concerned by the possibility of the military conflict in Ukraine spilling over to Poland since its beginning in February 2022, and the alert peaked in November when two missiles fell in Poland near the border with Ukraine, killing two people.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20221121/missile-incident-in-poland-reveals-serious-loophole-in-european-air-defense-germany-warns-1104476535.html

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poland, classified information, investigation, missile, polish deputy foreign minister pawel jablonski,
Seventh World Intelligence Congress to open in China's Tianjin

Xinhua) 09:37, May 12, 2023

TIANJIN, May 11 (Xinhua) -- The seventh World Intelligence Congress (WIC), a major artificial intelligence (AI) event in China, will be held in north China's Tianjin Municipality from May 18 to 21, said a press conference on Thursday.

Themed "Intelligence: Extensive Development Space, Sustainable Growth Driver," the event will focus on empowering economic and social development with smart technologies and building a global platform for exchange, cooperation, win-win outcomes and sharing in the field of intelligent technology.

Zhu Peng, vice mayor of Tianjin, said the event, highlighting the new trends, new technologies and new business forms of AI development, will invite politicians, entrepreneurs, experts and scholars from all over the world to discuss forward-looking subjects such as intelligent cars, generative AI, brain-computer interaction, as well as AI-related hot topics in the fields of economy, society and culture.

Covering an exhibition area of 120,000 square meters, the intelligent technology exhibition component of the four-day event will set up 10 themed exhibition areas, including information technology application innovation, AI and 5G+ industrial Internet, and two smart experience areas focusing on the likes of 5G and smart cars.

The exhibition also covers products, initiatives and technologies such as scientific research and application, smart city and transportation, international and regional collaboration, and intelligent manufacturing.

In addition, experts, scholars and entrepreneurs from 21 countries and regions, including the United States, Germany, Japan and the Republic of Korea, will come to Tianjin to strengthen cooperation in science and technology, trade and culture.

Since its inauguration in 2017, the event has offered a platform for scientists, entrepreneurs and economists from home and abroad to discuss the frontier trends of intelligence technology.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Wu Chaolan)
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230512/police-over-30-people-injured-in-explosion-in-apartment-near-germanys-dusseldorf-1110275394.html

Police: Over 30 People Injured in Explosion in Apartment Near Germany's Dusseldorf

Police: Over 30 People Injured in Explosion in Apartment Near Germany's Dusseldorf

More than 30 people have been injured as a result of an explosion in an apartment near the German city of Dusseldorf, the police of the German town of Mettmann said on Thursday.

2023-05-12T01:23+0000

2023-05-12T01:23+0000

2023-05-12T01:19+0000

world

dusseldorf

germany

europe

explosion

fire

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Earlier in the day, an explosion occurred in an apartment in a multi-story building near Dusseldorf, with police indicating they arrested the person allegedly involved in the explosion. The suspect was identified as a 57-year-old man, who owned the apartment, in which a dead body was later found, the police said. The police added that the suspect started a fire afterward, which made it difficult to enter the apartment and investigate. The police said a female police officer aged 25 and a 29-year-old male police officer were injured as a result, adding that their condition was not life-threatening. Moreover, seven firefighters were injured in the incident, with three of them being in critical condition and others suffering serious injuries. Twenty-two other people had minor injuries, the police said. The Dusseldorf prosecutor's office was investigating the incident as an attempted murder, which has resulted in several people suffering injuries, the statement said.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230511/explosion-hits-center-of-italys-milan-cars-on-fire--1110259592.html

dusseldorf

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germany, dusseldof, mettmann, explosion,
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230512/ready--waiting-russian-soldier-on-ukraines-anticipated-counteroffensive-1110280354.html

Ready & Waiting: Russian Soldier on Ukraine's Anticipated 'Counteroffensive'

Ready & Waiting: Russian Soldier on Ukraine's Anticipated 'Counteroffensive'

The Ukrainian armed forces will not be able to cross the Dnepr River if they launch a counteroffensive, a Russian soldier who is serving at coastal positions near the town of Kakhovka, Kherson Region, said.

2023-05-12T08:46+0000

2023-05-12T08:46+0000

2023-05-12T08:46+0000

russia's special operation in ukraine

russian defense ministry

kherson

ukraine

russia

video

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The Ukrainian armed forces will not be able to cross the Dnepr River if they launch their hyped-up counteroffensive, a Russian soldier who is serving at coastal positions near the town of Kakhovka, Kherson Region, said."We are aware of the counteroffensive. We are waiting and we are ready. The only way Ukrainian forces can counterattack us is by water. If even some forces swim to this shore, they will not be combat-ready at all. Our aviation is active, the artillery is active, we are ready, we will encounter them and the enemy will be defeated," he assured.Earlier, the Russian Defense Ministry denied information circulating in the media about a "defense breakthrough" in certain sections of the line of contact. In particular, the ministry noted that there was no active action in the Zaporozhye and Kherson directions, where this line runs along the Dnepr River. The fact that the situation at the line of contact in Kherson Region is stable, and the military is in their combat positions, was reported by Vladimir Saldo, the region's acting governor.

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Were ready: Russian soldier on anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive Were ready: Russian soldier on anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive 2023-05-12T08:46+0000 true PT0M28S

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230512/russian-defense-ministry-denies-reports-about-ukrainian-counteroffensive-1110276396.html

Russian Defense Ministry Denies Reports About Ukrainian Counteroffensive

Russian Defense Ministry Denies Reports About Ukrainian Counteroffensive

The statements made by military correspondents claiming that Ukrainian troops broke through Russian defense lines in the special military operation zone are not true, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Thursday.

2023-05-12T03:44+0000

2023-05-12T03:44+0000

2023-05-12T04:09+0000

russia's special operation in ukraine

russian defense ministry

marinka

avdiivka

ukraine

zaporozhye

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"The statements shared by individual telegram channels about defense breakthroughs that took place in various parts of the contact line do not correspond to reality. As of 22.00 May 11, 2023 [19:00], no active operations are underway in the Kupyansk direction," the ministry said, adding that two Ukrainian attacks were repelled in the Lyman direction. The ministry also said Russian troops are still engaged in fighting in the western part of Artemovsk, Maryinka and Avdeevka. Overall, the situation in the special military zone is "under control," according to the ministry.Officials further stated that eight Ukrainian attacks and three reconnaissance efforts had been successfully shut down.It was also outlined that while there were no ongoing operations at both the Kherson and Zaporozhye fronts, Russian forces were carrying out counterattacks against Ukrainian forces based in the direction of Malo-Ilyinovka. Officials were said to be using both air and artillery support to combat enemy targets.Earlier unconfirmed statement had claimed that a Ukrainian operation had been underway along Russia's front lines despite past remarks from Ukraine's leadership that forces still needed additional time to prepare for such a move.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230509/russian-military-attacks-places-of-deployment-of-ukrainian-reserves-1110218739.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230512/sudans-army-rsf-sign-agreement-committing-to-avoid-injuring-civilians---report-1110275707.html

Sudan's Army, RSF Sign Agreement Committing to Avoid Injuring Civilians - Report

Sudan's Army, RSF Sign Agreement Committing to Avoid Injuring Civilians - Report

The Sudanese military and the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group for the first time signed an agreement in which they committed to do everything possible to avoid injuring civilians.

2023-05-12T02:01+0000

2023-05-12T02:01+0000

2023-05-12T01:57+0000

africa

sudan

rapid support forces (rsf)

saudi foreign ministry

peace plan

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This is the first agreement between the armed forces of Sudan and the RSF since the beginning of the conflict on April 15. The agreement on preliminary principles was signed in the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah, the report said. According to the agreement, the parties committed to refrain from any attacks that might result in injuries among civilians, to take all necessary precautions to avoid injuring civilians, to allow all civilians in Sudan to leave areas of hostilities combat and besieged districts, and to protect medical personnel and public institutions in Sudan. On Sunday, the Saudi Foreign Ministry said that peace negotiations began in Jeddah on May 6 between the delegations of the Sudanese armed forces and RSF in order to reach an effective short-term ceasefire to facilitate humanitarian assistance. On April 15, violent clashes broke out between the Sudanese regular armed forces and the RSF, with the epicenter located in Khartoum. The government forces accused the RSF of mutiny and launched airstrikes against their bases. Abdel Fattah Burhan, the head of the Sudanese military, issued a decree disbanding the RSF. The parties have since introduced a number of temporary nationwide ceasefires, but the conflict has not been settled yet. So far, around 604 people have died, and over 5,000 have been injured in clashes in Sudan, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230421/rsf-say-ready-to-partially-open-airports-in-sudan-for-evacuation-1109751476.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230512/sullivan-tells-chinas-wang-yi-us-wants-to-move-beyond-balloon-incident-1110300515.html

Sullivan Tells China's Wang Yi US Wants to 'Move Beyond' Balloon Incident

Sullivan Tells China's Wang Yi US Wants to 'Move Beyond' Balloon Incident

The US is looking to reestablish high-level ties with China, put largely on hold after the US detected and shot down what it claimed was a spy balloon dispatched by the Chinese government to soar over US soil.

2023-05-12T19:05+0000

2023-05-12T19:05+0000

2023-05-12T19:05+0000

world

us-china relations

wang yi

jake sullivan

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The US is further looking to reestablish its high-level ties with the People's Republic of China (PRC), put largely on hold for more than three months after the US detected and shot down what it claimed was a spy balloon dispatched by the Chinese government to soar over US soil.That was the message of White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan at a series of meetings on Wednesday and Thursday in Vienna, Austria, with Wang Yi, the highest-ranking Chinese diplomat who leads the Communist Party of Chinas foreign affairs bureau."This meeting was part of ongoing efforts to maintain open lines of communication and responsibly manage competition," an official White House readout of the meeting said. "The two sides agreed to maintain this important strategic channel of communication to advance these objectives, building on the engagement between [Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping] in Bali, which happened on the sidelines of the G20 summit last November.A report in China's Global Times, also based on an anonymous Chinese diplomatic source, revealed the talks went on for 10 hours and covered a wide range of topics, including the balloon incident, ongoing tensions over American support for Taiwan, US moves in what it calls the "Indo-Pacific" region, and the conflict in Ukraine.Shared ConcernsZhu Feng, a professor of international relations at Nanjing University, was quoted in Chinese media as saying the meeting was "timely and necessary."Sullivan's meeting with Wang was not the only such encounter this week, either, with Nicholas Burns, the US ambassador to China, meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang on Monday. At that meeting as well, both sides reaffirmed their desire to return to the consensus reached between Biden and Xi in Bali in November: to compete, but not let things get out of hand."[We] hope the US will reflect deeply, meet China halfway, and push China-US relations out of the predicament and back on track."Rocky RelationsThe downing of the balloon off the South Carolina coast came after tracking the objects flight across the continental United States and Canada for several days, and culminated in US accusations that the balloon's purpose was strategic surveillance. After, a momentary "balloon hysteria" gripped US and Canadian defense officials, with multiple unidentified objects being downed in the skies along their respective border regions.Beijing confirmed the first balloon was Chinese in origin, but claimed it was a civilian scientific balloon over which it had lost control, and denied any intelligence-gathering purpose behind it. Washington alleged the balloon was just one part of a vast Chinese spying program based on lighter-than-air craft due to the difficulty of detecting them. Blinken, scheduled to travel to Beijing for talks with Wang, Qin, and Xi, suddenly postponed his trip, saying the timing was not appropriate.Taiwan figures strongly in US strategy plans for what it calls "great power competition" with Russia and China, which are based on the idea that Beijing and Moscow are seeking to upend the postwar international order led by the United States.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230511/us-china-defense-chiefs-meeting-reportedly-impossible-over-sanctions-1110257074.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230418/us-house-passes-bill-to-hold-china-accountable-for-balloon-incident-1109607933.html

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sullivan; wang yi; china; balloon; vienna
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230512/taiwan-to-protect-tsmc-from-us-attack-fbi-resists-hunter-biden-investigation-1110274554.html

Taiwan to Protect TSMC From US Attack; FBI Resists Hunter Biden Investigation

Taiwan to Protect TSMC From US Attack; FBI Resists Hunter Biden Investigation

The defense minister of Taiwan says that he will not allow the US to blow up the TSMC factory.

2023-05-12T05:01+0000

2023-05-12T05:01+0000

2023-05-12T11:57+0000

the critical hour

radio

taiwan

taiwan semiconductor manufacturing company (tsmc)

australia

donald trump

cnn

ukraine

uk

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Taiwan to Protect TSMC from US Attack; FBI Resists Hunter Biden Investigation The defense minister of Taiwan says that he will not allow the US to blow up the TSMC factory.

Mark Sleboda, Moscow-based international relations security analyst joins us to discuss Ukraine. The leaders of the Ukraine regime argue that they need more time before starting their much-vaunted spring offensive. Also, few Americans have faith in Ukraine's president.KJ Noh, writer, teacher, and activist, joins us to discuss Taiwan. Congressman Seth Moulton has argued that the US should advise China of US plans to blow up the TSMC factory. Also, The defense minister of Taiwan says that he will not allow the US to blow up the TSMC factory.Joe Lauria, editor-in-chief at Consortium News, joins us to discuss Julian Assange. Chris Hedges argues that the fight for Assange is a battle that we must not lose. Also, Australian MPs meet US envoy Caroline Kennedy to voice their support for his release.Prof. Nicolai Petro, Professor of Political Science at the University of Rhode Island, joins us to discuss the potential for peace in Ukraine. Former President Trump argues that he will end the war in Ukraine immediately if elected. Also, RFK Jr argues for peace and the cessation of the US empire's militarism.Laith Marouf, broadcaster, and journalist based in Beirut, Lebanon, joins us to discuss the Middle East. Israel has attacked Gaza for the third day in a row. Linwood Tauheed, associate professor of Economics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, joins us to discuss economics. Nearly a third of the world is now subject to sanctions. Also, weekly jobless claims have jumped to the highest numbers since the Covid-19 crisis.Craig "Pasta" Jardula, co-host of The Convo Couch & AM Wakeup on Rokfin, joins us to discuss domestic spying. The Russia Gate operation has given rise to a massive profit-oriented collection of malevolent deep state and think tank actors.James Counts Early, former Assistant Secretary of Education and Public Service at the Smithsonian Institution and board member at Institute for Policy Studies, in Washington, DC, joins us to discuss immigration. We'd love to get your feedback at radio@sputniknews.comThe views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the position of Sputnik.

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the critical hour, why does the us support taiwan, what are the crimes of the biden family, where is julian assange now, what title 42 is about
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230512/turkish-interior-minister-accuses-united-states-of-meddling-in-turkish-elections-1110280228.html

Turkish Interior Minister Accuses United States of Meddling in Turkish Elections

Turkish Interior Minister Accuses United States of Meddling in Turkish Elections

The United States is meddling in elections in Turkiye, Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said on Friday.

2023-05-12T06:57+0000

2023-05-12T06:57+0000

2023-05-14T07:34+0000

world

suleyman soylu

turkiye

elections

2023 turkish presidential and parliamentary elections

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"The United States is meddling in these elections ... Everyone in this country already knows this, US President [Joe Biden] himself declares this. The attack on [presidential candidate of Turkiye and leader of the Memleket party] Muharrem Ince ... it is clear where it came from, it is clear where it was coordinated. This is America. In recent days, Biden has stepped up his people in Turkiye, Soylu said in an interview. The Turkish interior minister also accused Washington of trying to subjugate Ankara, but to no avail.He assured the broadcaster that Ankara was taking precautionary measures regarding possible cyberattacks during the elections."I am among the most exposed to attacks and insults, and a big part of them comes from foreign accounts," the minister said.Ince announced on Thursday the withdrawal of his candidacy three days before the election.On May 3, Soylu said that the US would attempt a presidential coup during the upcoming election in order to finish what was started in July 2016, when a failed attempt to remove Erdogan from office took place, which Soylu also blamed on the US. On Wednesday, Soylu said Western media's manipulations regarding the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections in Turkiye is a realization of the United States' plan. Turkey's presidential and parliamentary elections are set to take place on May 14. Kilicdaroglu, put forward by a six-party opposition alliance, is considered Erdogan's main opponent. The list of presidential candidates also includes Muharrem Ince of the Homeland Party and Sinan Ogan of the ATA Alliance. Results of pre-election polls have not yet revealed a clear favorite in the upcoming election. The second round of the election, which will take place if no candidate gains 50% of votes, is scheduled for May 28.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230419/turkish-opposition-may-draw-turkey-into-ukraine-crisis-if-it-wins-elections---top-diplomat-1109671738.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230512/west-openly-abuses-norms-of-international-justice-in-relation-to-russia---lavrov-1110284953.html

West Openly Abuses Norms of International Justice in Relation to Russia - Lavrov

West Openly Abuses Norms of International Justice in Relation to Russia - Lavrov

West countries openly abuse the norms of international justice in relation to Russia, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday.

2023-05-12T09:48+0000

2023-05-12T09:48+0000

2023-05-12T09:48+0000

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sergey lavrov

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european union (eu)

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"The [International] Court [of Justice] has not resisted pressure from the collective West and has so far ordered provisional measures. In parallel, more than 30 countries, mainly the European Union and NATO, are trying to join the process on the side of Ukraine. We consider such actions as blatant abuse of court procedures, an attempt at open pressure and blackmail," Lavrov said in a video address to St. Petersburg International Legal Forum, referring to the the case that Kiev filed with the court against Russia under the genocide prevention convention last year.Ukraine had filed an application instituting proceedings with the United Nations court, based in the Hague, on February 26, two days after the start of Russia's military operation in the country. Appealing to the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, Kiev disputes Russian claims that it had been perpetrating a genocide in the Donbass region, providing legal grounds for its intervention to support the Lugansk and Donetsk people's republics.Moscow has categorically denied accusations by Kiev it committed war crimes on Ukrainian territory, and pointed out that Russia is not a party to the ICC.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230512/what-are-storm-shadow-missiles-and-how-can-russia-defeat-them-1110288372.html

What are Storm Shadow Missiles and How Can Russia Defeat Them?

What are Storm Shadow Missiles and How Can Russia Defeat Them?

This week, the UK announced the delivery of long-range Storm Shadow cruise missiles to Kiev. What are these weapons? How do they differ from missiles already supplied to Ukraine? What can Russia do about them? Sputnik explains.

2023-05-12T13:27+0000

2023-05-12T13:27+0000

2023-05-13T16:48+0000

military

antony blinken

ben wallace

ukraine

russia

kiev

nato

state department

s-400

kursk

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Secretary of State Antony Blinken distanced the State Department from the UK's decision to send Storm Shadow cruise missiles to Ukraine after the Kremlin warned that it considers the development "very negatively" and said it would require an "adequate response" by the Russian side.Asked point blank whether the State Department supports the escalatory step, Blinken deferred to Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin on the matter, adding that besides weapons, "support" for Ukraine can include training, maintenance, and "understanding how to use all these things in a cohesive and effective plan  combined arms, as it's called in the business."This isn't the first time London has decided to think "differently" from its allies across the Atlantic. Earlier this year, the UK became the first NATO power to agree to send current-generation main battle tanks to Kiev. Then in March, the Ministry of Defense revealed that the tanks would be armed with depleted uranium munitions  highly toxic weapons which have devastated wide swathes of the former Yugoslavia and Iraq, and have given rise to a host of cancers and other deadly diseases among both local populations and NATO servicemen.What are Storm Shadow Missiles?Storm Shadows, which defense Secretary Ben Wallace confirmed this week are either "going into" or are already "in the country itself," are cruise missiles with a range of up to 250 km for the export version and up to 560 km for the domestic variant. If fired over northeastern Ukraine, the export variant Anglo-French weapons would have sufficient range to target major Russian cities like Kursk, Belgorod, Voronezh or Sevastopol, as well much of Belarus  including its capital, Minsk.UK officials privately assured that Kiev has promised that the missiles would not be used to attack targets inside Russia. But that's little consolation to Moscow, given that Ukraine's government moved to turn the crisis into a terror bombing free-for-all over a year ago, not only indiscriminately and deliberately targeting cities in Donbass, but attempting to launch missile, artillery, and drone attacks on targets deep inside Russia.The cruise missile, which sold to Britain's military for about 790,000 apiece in 2011 and reportedly goes for about $2.5 million now, weighs 1.3 tons, has a length of 5.1 meters, and a diameter of about 0.4 meters. It has a 450 kg tandem warhead with the capability to destroy heavy fortifications, or level apartment buildings, industrial facilities, railway junctions, or columns of vehicles and troops. A warship-fired derivative exists, with that variant having a range of up to 1,400 km, and a 300 kg warhead. The missiles feature inertial navigation, combined with GPS and terrain referencing.The UK is estimated to have been 700 and 1,000 Storm Shadows in stock.Who Developed the Storm Shadow?Created jointly by Matra BAe Dynamics  a British-French missile-focused defense giant created in the 1990s, the Storm Shadow was first introduced into service in 2002, just in time for the US and NATO-led decade-and-a-half long campaign of invasions and bombings in the Middle East.Where Have Storm Shadows Been Used?UK forces first used Storm Shadows in Iraq during the 2003 invasion, with the British, French, and Italian air forces using them again during the NATO air war of aggression in Libya in 2011. The missiles were then used by French and British forces in Syria in 2015, 2016, and 2018, including strikes purportedly targeting Daesh (ISIS)*, and targeting Syrian forces based on false flag evidence of a chemical attack by the Syrian government (the pretext for the latter attack was later revealed to have been a hoax).In addition to delivery to NATO countries like Italy and Greece, Storm Shadows have been exported to India, Egypt, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia, with the latter using them against Houthi militia fighters in Yemen.What are the Storm Shadows Limitations and Weaknesses?Storm Shadows are designed to operate from Eurofighter Typhoon, Rafale, Mirage 2000, and Tornado jets. Ukraine has none of these planes, and the UK and NATO have so far been reluctant to hand over advanced aircraft to Kiev amid reported fears that Russia would quickly decimate them.Getting them to operate would require Ukraines Air Force to adapt them to their MiG-29 or Su-27 fighters, Su-25 close air support bombers, or Su-24 strike jets. Either of these options carries limitations, with all of these planes apart from the Su-24 facing payload restrictions that would limit how many Storm Shadows the planes would actually be able to carry (payload weight limits range from 2,500-4,500 kg, depending on plane and modification).On top of that are fundamental design differences between the NATO and Warsaw Pact planes (all of Ukraines combat aircraft are designs left over from the Soviet period)."They would need a flight and navigation complex, a special program with data on range, altitude, thrust, g-forces, turn angle. It will be necessary to pick and somehow select targets," Khatylev said. "If you attach them to the Su-27 or MiG-29, serious revisions would need to be made."The other option is a ground-based platform  but that would require an entire new command and control system, according to Khatylev. "In addition to the launcher, you would need a command and control vehicle. Youd need to get the target designation from somewhere," he said.How Will Russia Respond?In addition to targeting the weapons on route to their destinations, air bases, or Ukraine's remaining inventory of fighters and bombers, Russia can respond to the delivery of Storm Shadows by further shoring up its layered missile defenses.If the missiles are launched, detecting and targeting them in a timely manner would crucial, he added, noting that systems capable of targeting the Storm Shadow include the S-400, S-300, and shorter-range Buk-M3 and Buk-M2 systems operating in tandem.In other words, using Storm Shadows in an imperialist war against war-torn developing countries with limited or non-existent air and missile defenses is one thing - trying to use them against a nation like Russia is something else.* A terrorist group outlawed in Russia and many other countries.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230511/us-lets-britain-escalate-ukraine-conflict-further-by-sending-missiles-to-kiev-1110265521.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230404/us-announces-26bln-in-military-aid-for-ukraine-including-himars-ammunition-1109125045.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20180414/syria-air-defense-forces-analysis-1063558487.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230510/borrell-ukraine-conflict-could-end-immediately-if-west-stops-weapons-supply-to-kiev-1110248037.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230512/what-can-happen-at-us-southern-border-post-title-42-1110277535.html

What Can Happen at US Southern Border Post Title 42?

What Can Happen at US Southern Border Post Title 42?

What Can Happen at US Southern Border Post-Title 42?

2023-05-12T10:13+0000

2023-05-12T10:13+0000

2023-05-12T10:23+0000

americas

us

donald trump

texas

mexico

joe biden

us centers for disease control (cdc)

centers for disease control and prevention (cdc)

title 42

us immigration and customs enforcement (ice)

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Donald Trump-era Title 42 has become history.The statute, invoked by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) under the administration of the 45th POTUS after the COVID-19 pandemic had begun its relentless march across the globe in early 2020, came in handy by serving as a tool to deter the influx of asylum seekers on the countrys southern border. The policy endowed US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) with the authority to immediately deny entry to undocumented migrants as part of an effort to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus. After taking over the White House, the Biden administration continued to rely on Title 42 expulsions as a method of border control. When the CDC officially rescinded the policy in April 2022 as "no longer necessary," after a bout of legal wrangling over lawsuits lodged by some Republican states, the White House finally allowed Title 42 to expire on May 11.There was a torrent of warnings as to what would follow once the measure ended, with dire forecasts made by a spate of Republican governors, while Texas border cities declared a state of emergency, bracing for a tsunami of illegal immigration.Meanwhile, there are a number of possible immediate scenarios that might unfold on the US-Mexico border post Title 42.'Escalating Criminal Penalties'The discarded Title 42  used in relation to migrants seeking asylum with Border Patrol, as well as illegals trying to dodge the border agents  allowed for quick returns without repercussions. Migrants were often picked up by Border Patrol, processed, and expelled within hours with no penalty. In fact, that is why multiple crossings by migrants surged after the measure first started to operate in May 2020. But now migrants illegally entering the country will face more severe consequences due to a return to a section of US code known as Title 8. Stiff consequences for irregular migration, said US Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, would include a five-year and 10-year bars on reentry for those deported, along with potential criminal charges for people caught repeatedly trying to enter the United States.Although there have been apprehensions of a significant surge in crossings and asylum claims, at least in the short term, some officials told media reports that the threat of harsher penalties for those who try to cross illegally under Title 8 may eventually bring the number of crossings down.Fast-Track DeportationAccording to Mayorkas, apprehension under Title 8 authority may mean expedited removal, which allows the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to "quickly repatriate individuals who do not have a legal basis to stay in the United States."Difference Between Title 42 and Title 8Title 8 is linked with a lengthier administrative process. If under Title 42 it often took around 30 minutes to process arrivals, under Title 8 the red tape may take over an hour, reports claim. The process involves what is referred to as a credible-fear screening by asylum officers. After that, a migrant's case goes on to the immigration court system. Accordingly, crowding could be expected at holding facilities for migrants.Apps & Transit Rules The old policy of handling border crossings - Title 8 - also allows more time for migrants to lodge asylum claims than under the health emergency measure. However, to deal with this, the Biden administration is staking on several measures, such as asylum seekers being interviewed by phone within hours of finding themselves in Border Patrol custody. The arrivals are offered a chance to avail themselves of pro bono attorneys. Another "lawful pathway" touted by the government is "expanded access to the CBPOne App at a US Port of Entry." However, critics have reportedly slammed the "glitchy" app.Once migrants are denied asylum, many of them are swiftly deported back to their home countries, at times within hours, according to cited immigration lawyers.Furthermore, in line with a new asylum rule - already branded a "transit ban" by critics - proposed earlier in the year, migrants who pass through another country, such as Mexico, to seek asylum in the US would be largely banned from doing so. However, arrivals who use the CBP One app would be exempt, according to officials. Critics have likened it to the much-denounced Trump-era third-country asylum rule, but Alejandro Mayorkas dismissed the comparison. The 46th president "expanded lawful pathways" for migrants to enter the US, he insisted, claiming that smugglers would be cut out of the migration process.Furthermore, ahead of the end of Title 42, the White House announced that Mexico had agreed to take back migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela across the border. It ought to be mentioned that while Title 42 was in place, Title 8 also continued to be used. Over 1.15 million people were apprehended at the southern border under Title 8 in fiscal year 2022, according to US Customs and Border Protection. Now, with Title 42 consigned to the dustbin of border history, over 10,000 migrants could cross the border daily, top CBP official Troy Miller warned Congress.To tackle the challenge, the Biden administration has sent an additional 1,500 active-duty troops to the US-Mexico border.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230504/migrants-overwhelm-us-southern-border-city-days-before-title-42-expulsion-policy-ends-1110104575.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230503/what-is-the-us-title-42-policy-1110054202.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230308/back-to-trump-era-border-policies-us-may-nab-migrant-families-over-illegal-crossings-1108182589.html

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Longtime harness racing industry participant and well-known philanthropist Margaret Juravinski, a lifelong resident of Hamilton, Ont., passed away on May 9, 2023 at the age of 91.

She is predeceased by Charles, her husband of more than 65 years. The Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Famer passed away on Feb. 16, 2022 at the age of 92.

Margaret was a proud Hamilton and beloved by the local community. Her care and concern for the people of the city manifested itself in her and her husbands remarkable generosity over more than 20 years, creating a transformational philanthropic legacy in Hamilton.

For Margaret, sharing is caring was a mantra she invoked each and every day. It didnt matter the amount or where the gift was directed, it was the act of giving and the impact it would make that was paramount.

Its what we want to do for the community because we care for this community  caring and sharing is the general idea we hope other people would pick up on, she said in a 2019 interview.

Margaret grew up during the Great Depression in east Hamilton. After the war, she met Charles Juravinski while working at the Woolworths counter making sandwiches.

Across all aspects of her life, Margaret was known for her dedication, energy and wisdom. She worked alongside her husband, helping manage Flamboro Downs for 30 years until it was sold in 2003. Her legacy lives on with an invitational event for pacing mares at Flamboro, the Margaret Juravinski Pace, held in concert with the Charles Juravinski Memorial Cup (formerly the Confederation Cup).

Throughout all their various business and philanthropic endeavours, Margaret was Charles top advisor and partner. While Charles may have been the more vocal of the pair, both he and Margaret made it clear time and time again that the success of their 65-year plus marriage relied heavily on the fact that they were partners: in business, in marriage and in life.

Margaret and Charles spent more than two decades making gifts to several Hamilton organizations, including giving more than $68.8 million to Hamilton Health Sciences, McMaster University and St. Josephs Healthcare Hamilton.

"Today, we mourn the loss of a true champion for the health and prosperity of Hamilton," stated Dr. Julian Dobranowski, Chair, Juravinski Research Institute Steering & Scientific Committees. "Margaret Juravinski and her husband, Charlie, embodied the spirit of philanthropy. Selfless to her core, Margaret sought to make Hamilton a better place by improving the quality of health care for patients at all stages of life. Giving was part of her DNA, having spent much of her golden years inspiring others to make gifts to causes close to their hearts.

"It was a tremendous pleasure to call her my friend, and while Ill miss her wonderful smile and endearing sense of humour, it gives me hope to know that her and Charlies legacies will live on through the Juravinski Research Institute and the countless patients and families who have been touched by their immense generosity."

Their generosity is recognized in part with the naming of the Juravinski Hospital and Cancer Centre at Hamilton Health Sciences; the Juravinski Innovation Tower at St. Josephs Healthcare Hamiltons Charlton Campus; the Margaret & Charles Juravinski Centre for Integrated Healthcare at St. Josephs West 5th Campus; and Margarets Place Hospice at St. Josephs Villa.

"I am deeply saddened to learn of the news of Margaret Juravinskis passing," said Hamilton's Mayor, Andrea Horwath in a social media post. "We will truly miss this life-long Hamiltonian and well-known philanthropist. Together with her husband, Charles, they leave behind treasured legacy of remarkable generosity."

Over the last four years, Charles and Margaret continued to make new gifts totalling $16.5 million through their namesake foundation to support research on child and youth health, integrated care, burn research, macular degeneration, health system transformation, COVID-19 and brain health.

Today, the Juravinski name is synonymous with world-class, personalized health care and health research in Hamilton through the Juravinski Research Institute.

Please join Standardbred Canada in offering condolences to the family and friends of Margaret Juravinski.

(with files from McMaster University)
In honor of Teacher Appreciation Week, the Star-Herald is featuring teacher profiles. Todays profile is in partnership with Scottsbluff Public Schools.

Scottsbluff High School math teacher Maria Torres knew only her hometown until after she graduated for high school in 2011. Then she left town to join the U.S. Marine Corps in search of her first real challenge.

Im from Scottsbluff, and I attended nothing but Scottsbluff schools, Torres said. I wanted something that was hard. I knew that school had been easy for me, and I thought college would be too. I wanted to be challenged, and I needed that. I needed the discipline.

While still serving in the Marine Corps, Torres began to work on her first college degree. She managed to complete three-quarters of it while still active duty. Less than a year after leaving the Marines, Torres graduated with a bachelors degree in social psychology before taking a job with the U.S. Post Office.

But Torres wasnt ready to settle. She went back to school and completed her masters, pivoting to education.

I was weighing my options, and teaching was the only one I was excited about, she said.

Torres first four years as an educator were spent in Texas before she moved back to Scottsbluff in 2021. Returning home had never been part of her plan, but she was pleasantly surprised by how fitting it felt to return to Scottsbluff High School as a teacher.

I was worried that I wasnt going to like it, she said. Its completely different. I feel like the kids appreciate the fact that Im here, and I know what theyre doing on the weekends here. I know what there is to do here. I didnt have teachers who had that advantage that I have right now, so its cool.

That advantage has helped Torres greatly in her efforts to connect with her students and build strong relationships, which she said is the highlight of working in education.

I think relationship building has been the best. That in itself is really rewarding, she said. Knowing that theyre trying to do their best for me or even just trying to do one thing differently because Ive built that relationship with them is fun.

Torres is no stranger to the concept of teacher appreciation. She heads the courtesy committee at SHS, which sees her working to honor her fellow teachers at any given opportunity. That includes nationwide events like Teacher Appreciation Week and Paraprofessional Appreciation Day in addition to smaller events and accomplishments.

Any way that we can celebrate the staff here, I try to do that, she said.

When Torres left Scottsbluff after her high school graduation, she never intended to return. Over time she has adopted a different mentality and recognizes the impact that she can have on her school and her community.

I had every intention of leaving Scottsbluff. I didnt want to be here. I wasnt happy, it was boring, there was nothing to do. And I did leave, I moved at 17 years old and was gone for 10 years. But Scottsbluff needs people. We complain about the future generation, but nothing can change if were not here to make a difference.

When Torres looks back on her own childhood, she appreciates the community members who provided activities and structure for her and her sisters. She said the time has come for her and others to step up and care for the kids in Scottsbluff, and teaching plays an important role in that plan.

If were not going to do it, who is? she said.
A package of property tax changes worth more than $3 billion over the next six years continued its path through the Legislature Thursday.

Lawmakers advanced LB243 through its second round of debate in a 41-0 vote. The bill needs to make it through one more round of debate before it goes to Gov. Jim Pillen's desk, where it is expected to be signed into law.

The bill, introduced by state Sen. Tom Briese of Albion, would increase Nebraskas two property tax credit programs, cap school property tax growth and eliminate almost all community college property taxes.

The package represents the second piece of Pillens tax plan. The first piece would cut the states top income tax rate by one-third and make other income tax changes.

Proponents say the individual components of the plan are equally necessary, and must work together to bring the full benefits to taxpayers.

"With this bill, we have a whole lot at stake here  they're all tied together," Briese said.

Under LB243, the 5% growth cap would be removed on what is often referred to as the LB1107 program, named for the bill that created it. It provides income tax credits to offset a portion of school property taxes paid. Current law allows the amount earmarked for the program to grow at the same rate as the assessed valuation of property statewide, but only up to 5%. If the bill passes, the income tax credits could grow more than 5% in years when valuations do as well.

And under an amendment adopted Thursday, an additional $75 million would be added to the program for 2029.

Sen. George Dungan of Lincoln raised concerns about the sustainability of the income tax credit plan, referring back to the Legislature's budget debates this week in which lawmakers voted to take about $170 million in dollars previously meant to go into the state's rainy day fund, and use them to cover costs in the general fund.

Dungan said the change indicates that the state budget doesn't have as much money as lawmakers previously thought. He questioned whether removing the 5% cap on the LB1107 program could cause its growth to "snowball," and deplete revenues to a point where the state can't fulfill existing financial obligations.

High revenue projections over the last several years put Nebraska's cash reserve on a path to exceed $2 billion by June 30, 2025, according to October projections. Under the current two-year budget plan that includes tax cuts and spending increases, the reserve would be about $779 million by that point.

Sen. Brad von Gillern of the Omaha area argued the state has so much revenue to work with because it has been collecting too much in taxes. Now, he said, lawmakers have the obligation to give that excess money back to residents.

"Cutting taxes begins with giving back the money that we have," Von Gillern said.

The property tax package would also ratchet up the size of Nebraskas long-standing property tax credit program, which uses state money to offset a portion of property owners bills. LB243 would gradually increase the program from $313 million this year to more than $550 million by tax year 2029, after which the credit program would grow by the same percentage as the assessed valuation of property statewide.

In addition, the package would limit the growth of school revenues to 3%, with some exceptions, with the goal of forcing schools to reduce property taxes when they get more state aid. School districts can override this cap through a 70% vote of the school board, or a 60% vote by the public.

Several lawmakers took issue with this aspect of the plan, arguing it added unnecessary restrictions on local control and would hinder fast-growing districts. Sen. Danielle Conrad of Lincoln said requiring more than a simple majority vote of the public was "anti-democratic."

"You are watering down the power of individual voters," said Sen. John Cavanaugh of Omaha.

Briese said the amendment would expand the cap for the state's fast-growing school districts at varying levels.

Finally, LB243 would end community colleges ability to levy property taxes, except for building needs, starting in 2024. The bill would replace those tax revenues with state aid. State aid to the colleges would increase by 3.5% annually, with additional money available based on enrollment growth. Community colleges could levy property taxes to fill the gap if the state does not meet its funding obligations.

Meet the Nebraska state senators making laws in 2023
MOSCOW, Idaho  Mackenzie Davidson grew up in a Mormon household and sheepishly admits she knew little about pregnancy.

This is embarrassing, she said, sitting outside a cafe along a street thronged with students in this college town. But I didnt know that you had to have sex to have kids until I was 13 or 14.

Shes a writer for the University of Idaho student newspaper, The Argonaut, and was asked recently to report on a new law. Its now a crime to help a teen under 18 leave the state for an abortion or obtain medication abortion pills without parental consent  including when the girl has been sexually assaulted or raped by a family member or parent. Gov. Brad Little, a Republican, in signing the bill, wrote that the law does not limit an adult woman from obtaining an abortion in another state.

Davidson, 19, reached out to interview state Rep. Barbara Ehardt, a Republican co-sponsor of the bill, who touted her Christian-based attitude during her campaign.

She kept saying that it was about parental rights, Davidson said. But the thing that really caught my attention was the fact that they were calling it abortion trafficking.

The law creates a crime of abortion trafficking and criminalizes the recruiting, harboring, or transporting of minors without parental consent. In a floor speech before the Idaho Legislature voted on the bill, Ehardt said, We are only looking to protect our children.

Idahos teen travel ban, as its known here, took effect May 5, nearly 11 months after the U.S. Supreme Court eliminated the federal constitutional right to abortion. Any adult, including an aunt, grandparent, or sibling, convicted of violating the criminal statute faces up to five years in prison. Under a separate state law, family members of the pregnant minor and the sexual partner involved can sue any health care provider who helped terminate the pregnancy for financial damages.

If youre successful, youre guaranteed $20,000 minimum, and thats per claim per relative, said Kelly ONeill, an Idaho litigation attorney for Legal Voice, a progressive nonprofit.

Idaho has a lot of big families, she added.

Under the new law, even when a parent gives consent, the person accompanying the minor would need to provide an affirmative defense proving they were acting with the permission of a parent of the teen.

You could still be charged, arrested, perhaps even have to go all the way to a jury trial and prove in a courtroom that your sister gave you permission, ONeill said.

Legal experts say Idahos travel ban, based on a model bill written by National Right to Life, one of the countrys largest anti-abortion groups, is designed to sidestep implied constitutional protections for interstate travel. The law targets travel assistance within and up to the states border, effectively criminalizing medical care legally obtained in neighboring states.

This is one of the next frontiers of abortion litigation, said David S. Cohen, a constitutional law professor at Drexel University. Theyre clearly pushing this kind of law with other states.

In response to potential legal threats, on April 27, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat, signed a series of bills barring law enforcement from cooperating with other states abortion investigations. Those laws shield medical providers from lawsuits and protect their medical licenses from being revoked.

But in communities like Spokane, Washington, just 20 miles from the Idaho border, there is a sense of unease.

We have staff who live in Idaho who commute, said Karl Eastlund, CEO of Planned Parenthood of Greater Washington and North Idaho. Its one big economic region, when you think of the border communities here.

When asked if he was concerned that medical staff members living in Idaho could be criminally charged for the abortion care they provide every day, he said, We have told our providers we will handle all of your legal fees and well provide lawyers to help you sort out anything that happens.

He added, Its something we think about a lot.

After Sunday morning Mass at St. Augustines Catholic Center in Moscow, Ryan Alexander tended to his 17-month-old daughter, Penelope, as she toddled about the church courtyard. Alexander, 25, a married law student at the university here, said ending any pregnancy violates his Catholic beliefs.

He has read the text of the bill, he said, and the way its written is actually incredibly prudent. No adult, he said, can act in place of a parent.

Thats just kidnapping, by any means, if you take a girl away from her parents when shes a minor and her parents have authority over her, he said.

Alexander said he understands that some teenage girls are sexually abused at home or have dysfunctional relationships with their parents. Still, he supports the law.

When we look at situations like that, my heart goes out to them. What can I do but pray from a distance and think, how can that be better? he said. But two wrongs do not make a right.

Idaho patients, including teenagers, have long crossed into Washington state to legally end their pregnancies. Eastlund said fewer than 5% of the clinics patients who come for abortion care are minors.

Most of those patients, he said, do involve their parents in the process, even though parental consent is not mandatory in Washington. Those who dont, Eastlund said, have good reason not to. Some are in dangerous, abusive situations in which disclosing a pregnancy could put them at risk of further harm.

Were talking about sexual abuse and incest, said Eastlund, sitting upstairs at the clinic in Spokane. Its not stuff people want to talk about, but, unfortunately, its more common than people think.

Interactives: Abortion laws around the US and world
Washingtons education department hasnt adequately tracked how schools are spending hundreds of millions in federal aid earmarked for pandemic learning loss, according to an audit ordered by state lawmakers.

The report says the agency failed to collect sufficient data about interventions meant to help kids recover from learning loss, and has not monitored whether the investments are helping students improve academically.

The report also underscored one of the tragic outcomes of school closures  that students who were already behind academically suffered the most when schools were shuttered. The pandemic exacerbated racial disparities and hit poor schools hardest, the report said.

Committee chair Rep. Gerry Pollet, D-Seattle, said he found it disturbing that as of last September, 74% of districts federal aid expenditures were documented in a category called other.

But officials with the state Office for Superintendent of Public Instruction claim it has multiple reporting systems for tracking and monitoring federal aid spending and student progress. It will only do additional monitoring if the federal education department mandates it, the agency said.

Pollet said the state shouldnt rely on the federal government to decide what kind of reporting we need to do. We in the state of Washington need to have a conversation with OSPI about doing better about federal requirements.

A 2021 state law required Washington school districts to report to OSPI how they were using the pandemic funds. OSPI told the federal education department it would review these plans and evaluate the effects of the interventions districts use to help struggling students.

The audit recommended OSPI establish a process and start monitoring the plans and strategies school districts are using for academic recovery by June.

State superintendent Chris Reykdal did not testify during Wednesdays hearing, instead sending two OSPI representatives. In a March 14 letter responding to the audit report, he wrote that attempting to distinguish the effect of federal relief dollars from other school funding sources is not practical or reasonable because they are intertwined.

Washington state school systems received $2.9 billion in federal relief, and $334 million of that money was to be used for evidence-based strategies to combat learning loss. As of September 2022, districts had spent 45% of these funds, about $1.2 billion.

In the letter, Reykdal said that the aid averaged 5% of the investments in Washington schools during fiscal years 2022 and 2023. He said that Congress was very intentional in making the funds incredibly flexible to allow schools to address their changing needs during the pandemic, be it a need for a technology, staff or air filters, among other things.

Leaders of the audit committee questioned whether OSPI was doing enough with the funding to address academic recovery.

I am concerned that we need to be monitoring  how are you going to move forward? asked Sen. Lynda Wilson, R-Vancouver, the audit committees vice chair, addressing OSPI representatives. Because this just isnt a COVID thing now. The kids lost a lot during COVID. Theyre not going to get it back. But we need to do what we can to help them along.

A lack of transparency on how education relief aid is being spent has been a national problem. Congress gave schools an unprecedented $200 billion to help them weather the pandemic. These funds came without any restrictions for how they must be spent  with one notable exception: At least 20% of the largest aid installment had to be spent on learning loss. But the federal government hasnt cracked down on states based on how well they document the outcomes of the aid.

Washington has stood out for being particularly stingy with data on student outcomes, said Marguerite Roza, a Georgetown University education finance professor.

The [state superintendent] has not been focused on reading outcomes, math outcomes or any other outcomes that can be measured over a long period of time to track kids progress, said Roza, who has studied how states are using their relief funds. I worry that there has been lack of OSPI leadership on connecting ESSER with student outcomes. ESSER, or Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief, is the federal name for the $200 billion package.

Wilson said test score data in the report should spur OSPI to do more, and with greater urgency.

Why, with the added concerns of the pandemic learning loss and with 1 in 3 students not meeting grade level achievement in math and English, are they only monitoring to federal standards? Wilson wrote in an email after the hearing. Shouldnt there be a state monitoring standard they should be striving for? All of this sounds like basic accountability to me. If OSPI cant do better than this, you have to ask how it defines equity. 

Maria Flores, executive director of OSPIs Center for the Improvement of Student Learning, told the committee that every educator in Washington state is working to close those gaps right now. And we believe that the next two years of data are going to show significant progress.

She said OSPI will work with the federal education department to provide any additional information it requests.

Pollet said he wants OSPI to look at district reports to identify what strategies and interventions are working for students who have fallen furthest behind so that we can make the best investments as a state.

There were early signs that the states record-keeping on these funds lacked transparency. In 2021, the federal Department of Education withheld some of the learning loss aid because the state hadnt shown it required schools to submit sufficient plans for how to spend the funds. The Department released the funds based on additional data submitted by OSPI.

The data the state eventually shared still pales in comparison to what other states like California required of their school districts, Roza said.

One of the links they provided to school district plans didnt even mention ESSER, Roza said.

The state currently collects data on ESSER funds under broad accounting categories, such as teacher salaries, academic supplies and learning loss. The majority of funds have been spent on salary-related costs. The money must be spent by fall 2024.

Other states have gone further to measure the outcomes of their investments. Both Tennessee and Connecticut investigated whether the strategies used in their school districts worked. Summer school and tutoring are among the more popular approaches districts have used to get students on track.

The rest of the reports findings largely mirrored existing research on the academic effects of the pandemic.

While the researchers did not find a link between less in-person instruction and larger declines in student performance, they found Asian and Black students were less likely to be offered in-person instruction compared with other racial groups. Students who learned in person 100% of the time during the 2020-21 school year scored slightly higher  3%  on math compared with those who didnt.
The Port of Longview is taking steps to relocate the main terminal access gate to make it easier for vendors to reach the gate and reduce the sometimes-chaotic traffic at the industrial sites, officials said Wednesday.

The main gate is moving from its original spot on the marine terminals to International Way, very close to the White House and in clear view for trucks.

We just want to try to coordinate it a bit better, Director of Marine Terminals Mark Price told commissioners during the regular port meeting.

Several projects  both completed and currently underway  are aimed at repurposing old port buildings to improve safety, utilities and the overall layout of the port. The port has eight marine terminals and waterfront property across 835 acres.

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Along with the main gate relocation, Price said good examples of this are the Yard Office replacement and the Panel Way extension projects.

The Yard Office replacement project entails removing an old modular trailer that was used for general operations. This change will make it easier to control parking, add office space and improve utilities, Price said.

The $1.2 million Panel Way project extended the road 2,000 feet to meet International Way and also helped with traffic flow for traveling trucks, Price said.

Work to consolidate office space on International Way would mean having one gate for access to cargo, which Price said would save the port money and make customers lives easier in the process.

Those four projects kind of complete each other, Price said.

Its not the first time the port has moved some of its buildings. In 2020, the port decided to move into the White House from its old administration building. With a large, historical and  of course  white building, the commissioners had nearly double the office space, better lighting and security, and an established centralized main location.

They also still make money off the old headquarters after leasing it to its steel scraps tenant PNW Metals.
(Photo : John Moore/Getty Images)

The migrant crisis in the United States is expected to worsen as the Trump-era policy Title 42 is set to end and border officials expect a record number of illegal crossers at the border.

Border officials detain a record number of illegal migrants at US-Mexico border

The situation comes as the Trump-era Title 42 policy ends

The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has detained roughly 28,000 migrants in recent days

Border officials in charge of the United States-Mexico border have detained a record number of illegal migrants following the end of the Trump-era Title 42 policy.

Illegal crossers gathered on both sides of the border on Thursday, a few hours before the end of the Title 42 policy. Some migrants have rushed to cross the tough new asylum regulations that will replace the pandemic-era requirement.

Migrant Crisis Update

The Border Patrol's union and two federal officials who discussed the situation while requesting anonymity said that the number of detained migrants is far beyond the stated capacity. In a statement, union President Brandon Judd said that the busiest border detention facilities are located in the Rio Grande Valley and El Paso in Texas and two areas in Arizona, as per Reuters.

Just this week, border officials reported catching 10,000 illegal crosses every day. The sheer number of arrivals has forced agents to release some migrants without notice to appear in immigration court, where they are supposed to claim asylum. They allegedly tell them to report to an immigration officer later, said Judd.

The average number of days that illegal migrants spend inside holding facilities is three days. Hundreds of illegal crossers in Yuma, Arizona, have lined up before dawn at a noticeable gap in the high border fence while waiting for their turn to talk with US agents.

There were some migrants, such as 40-year-old Jovanna Gomez from Colombia, who tried their luck in crossing now after they heard about the change in US policy. She said that back in her home country, they heard that immigrants would only be allowed until May 11, which caused them to race to cross the border.

Read Also: Was Donald Trump's Appearance at CNN Town Hall a Good Move

A Surge of Illegal Crossers

Homeland Security officials are now estimating that roughly 10,000 migrants per day will try to cross the border after the end of Title 42 illegally. According to NBC News, this has already surpassed in the last week, with officials detaining 11,000 each on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The migrant crisis has forced the hand of some state lawmakers, including New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who issued a state of emergency. New York City Mayor Eric Adams also ordered temporarily suspending the city's right-to-shelter law.

The lifting of Title 42 has affected the border and nearby regions and areas more than 1,000 miles away. Many lawmakers from both sides of the government have argued that United States President Joe Biden has mismanaged the situation.

The Trump-era policy, during its time, gave authorities the power to turn away migrants who illegally traveled to the US. They were transported back over the border and denied their right to seek asylum, said the Associated Press.

Related Article: US Debt Ceiling: Treasury Secretary Yellen Suggests New System

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Looking for a youth summer camp to join? Here is a list of local options.

To include a camp in the list, send information to dgoodrich@tdn.com or The Daily News PO Box 1666, Longview, WA 98632.

The following information is needed to include a camp: the camps name, hosting agency, theme, date, time, location and address, cost (if applicable), deadline for sign-up, contact person and phone number, and additional information (i.e., if there will be snacks, crafts, games, etc.).

Summer theater camp

June 26-30, 1231 Vandercook Way, Longview.

Missoula Childrens Theatre is holding group auditions for students entering first through eighth grades for King Arthurs Quest. Sixty students will be cast. Rehearsals held daily from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Audition is free; $75 tuition if cast with limited scholarships available for those who qualify. Show will be preformed at 3 and 5 p.m. on Saturday, July 1. Admission: $15 adults, $10 seniors. Visit www.columbiatheatre.com/summer-theatre-camp.

Vacation Bible School

June 26-29, 2323 Washington Way, Longview.

Longview Community Church will be holding a Vacation Bible School from 9 a.m. to noon for students in grades kindergarten through fifth. Register at longviewcommunitychurch.org.

CVR youth running camp

June 27-29, R.A. Long High School, Lake Sacajawea Park, Longview.

The Cowlitz Valley Runners are hosting a day camp from 9 a.m. until noon each day for incoming sixth through eighth graders. The camp will introduce kids to aerobic conditioning, proper warmups, running games and activities, health and nutrition, running shoes and clothing, and more. The focus will be on movement and activities. The camp is free. Attendees get a T-shirt, water bottle, snacks and a $5 discount to CVRs Go Fourth mile race on July 4. For more information and to register, go to runsignup.com/Race/WA/Longview/CVRYouthRunningCamp2023.

Royal Family KIDS Camp

July 24-28, Longview.

The nonprofit Royal Family KIDS camp is hosting sleepaway camp for kids in foster care in Cowlitz and Wahkiakum counties. Drop off Monday at 8 a.m. with pickup Friday at 3:30 p.m. in Longview. Online signups May 15 through June 15 at www.ForTheChildrenCowlitz.org. For more information, call 971-225-7352, or email info@ForTheChildrenCowlitz.org.
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:

Companies like Telegram, whose logo is pictured here on a smartphone, and Google say their business is threatened by a new bill in Brazil aimed at regulating disinformation online.

Messaging app Telegram calls it an "attack on democracy," Google says it "seriously threatens free speech"but what exactly is in Brazil's controversial measure to regulate disinformation online?

Here is a quick look at Bill 2630/2020, dubbed the "censorship bill" by critics but hailed by proponents as a vital defense against "fake news" and online extremism.

How did the kerfuffle start?

The legislation was introduced in 2020 to deal with a flood of disinformation onlinethen stalled in the lower house, after passing the Senate.

It surged into the spotlight again after supporters of far-right ex-president Jair Bolsonaro ran riot in Brasilia in January, allegedly incited by social media disinformation claiming their candidate's 2022 election loss to now-President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was fraudulent.

A recent series of deadly attacks on schools has also fed a national debate on combatting violent extremism on social media.

Lula's left-wing government and various civil society groups back the bill.

Tech companies, Evangelical Christian lawmakers and Bolsonaro supporters oppose it, alleging it would create an Orwellian "Truth Ministry" to censor citizens' views.

The measure has made headlines in recent weeks as the government and courts have hit back at Google and Telegram for using their platforms to oppose it.

What's in the bill?

Brazilian law currently exempts internet companies from responsibility for third-party content, except when there is a court order to remove it or in the case of pornographic images published without a subject's consent.

Companies set their own rules on content, under their terms of use.

Backpacks representing victims of school massacres, which activists say have increased in Brazil amid lack of regulation of extremism social media, are seen during a protest in front of the National Congress in the capital Brasilia.

The bill would change the legal landscape, regulating how companies moderate content.

It aims to increase their transparency and make them adopt rules to combat illegal content in seven areas: attacks against democracy and the rule of law, children, the health system, and women; racism; terrorism; and incitement to suicide or self-harm.

Based partly on the European Union's recently adopted Digital Services Act, the bill would apply to all social networks, search engines and instant messaging apps with more than 10 million monthly users, and require them to hire external auditors.

"It won't require (companies) to remove or label all such content, but they will be required to demonstrate that they are making sufficient efforts to take it out of circulation," Pablo Ortellado, a public policy expert at the University of Sao Paulo, told AFP.

Penalties would range from warnings to temporary suspensions or fines of up to 10 percent of revenue.

Why do tech firms oppose it?

Telegram sent a message Tuesday to its more than 40 million users in Brazil warning that Congress "is about to pass a law that will end free speech" and "give the government censorship powers."

"Companies would have to remove legitimate views, resulting in excessive blockage and a new kind of censorship," wrote Marcelo Lacerda, Google Brasil's public policy director.

Who will do the oversight?

The current version of the legislation leaves a question mark over exactly how it will be enforced, experts say.

"Plans to create an independent regulatory agency were removed from the bill, after the accusations that it would create a 'Truth Ministry,'" said Ortellado.

He warned that left the door open to a political, rather than technical, oversight process.

"That's dangerous," he told AFP.

 2023 AFP
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Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo listens during a meeting with President Joe Biden's "Investing in America Cabinet," in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Friday, May 5, 2023, in Washington. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra looks on at left. The Commerce Department on Friday, May 12, 2023, is launching the application process for cities to receive a total of $500 million in grants to become tech hubs. Credit: AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File

The Commerce Department on Friday is launching the application process for cities to receive a total of $500 million in grants to become technology hubs.

The $500 million is part of a $10 billion authorization from last year's CHIPS and Science Act to stimulate investments in new technologies such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing and biotech. It's an attempt to expand tech investment that is largely concentrated around a few U.S. citiesAustin, Texas; Boston; New York; San Francisco; and Seattleto the rest of the country.

"This is about taking these places on the edge of glory to being world leaders," Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told The Associated Press. "My job is to enhance America's competitiveness."

The Biden administration has made it a priority to set an industrial strategy of directing government investment into computer chips, clean energy and a range of other technologies. Officials say that being leaders in those fields will foster economic and national security, reflecting a belief that the best way to compete against China's ascendance will come from building internal strength.

The tech hubs are meant to build up areas that already have major research specialties but lack the access to financing that could fuel stronger growth and business formation in those fields. Pockets of the U.S. already have leading-edge tech such as medical devices in Minnesota, robotics in Pittsburgh and agricultural technology in Fresno, California. But the challenge has been finding ways to boost those fields so that government investment leads to more support from private capital.

President Joe Biden signs into law H.R. 4346, the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, at the White House in Washington, Aug. 9, 2022. The Commerce Department is launching the application process for cities to receive a total of $500 million in grants to become tech hubs. The $500 million is part of a $10 billion authorization from last years CHIPS and Science Act to stimulate investments in new technologies such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, biotech and other fields. Credit: AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File

To qualify for the tech hub money, each applicant will need a partnership that includes one or more companies, a state development agency, worker training programs, a university and state and local government leaders. Roughly 20 cities are expected to be designated as tech hubs with 10 eventually receiving funding.

President Joe Biden hopes to broaden the funding over time, requesting in his budget proposal that Congress appropriate another $4 billion for it over the next two years. Raimondo said that she expects a large number of applications from across the political spectrum.

The tech hubs program, formally the Regional Technology and Innovation Hub Program, ties into a political message that Biden has delivered in speeches. The Democratic president has said that people should not feel forced to leave their hometowns to find good jobs nor should opportunity cluster in just a few parts of the country while other regions struggle.

"You shouldn't have to move to Silicon Valley if you're a scientist with a great idea," Raimondo said.

 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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A flurry of new battery plant projects are in the pipeline in Europe, but it faces tough competition.

Europe's efforts to build up its battery-making capacity got a major boost Friday as Sweden's Northvolt and Taiwan's ProLogium announced projects to build factories in Germany and France.

The continent has been racing to produce more electric vehicles as part of its green transition, with the clock ticking down on an EU deadline of 2035 to phase out the sale of cars using fossil fuels.

A flurry of new battery plant projects are in the pipeline in Europe, but it is still playing catch up and faces tough competition from both the United States and China.

So the announcement by battery-maker Northvolt on Friday that it would go ahead with building a multi-billion-euro plant in northern Germany, after months of uncertainty, came as a major boost.

"Germany can look forward to one of the most significant... projects of the energy and transport transition, which will create thousands of green tech jobs," said German Economy Minister Robert Habeck.

The so-called gigafactory will be able to supply around one million electric vehicles with batteries a year, and will create 3,000 jobs in Heide, in Schleswig-Holstein state, Northvolt and Berlin said in a statement.

Construction is expected to start this year, with deliveries of batteries from the plant to begin in 2026.

After initially announcing the project in early 2022, Northvolt boss Peter Carlsson had warned recently it could be postponed due to surging energy costs in Germany following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

He also noted that the United States was offering enticing subsidies, as part of a huge program to accelerate the country's transition to a low-carbon future.

But Northvolt ultimately decided to push on with the project in Germany, home to leading carmakers including Volkswagenwhose 10 brands include Audi, Porsche and SkodaBMW and Mercedes-Benz.

The German economy ministry said the federal government and Schleswig-Holstein state will provide subsidies for the project.

Subsidies will be provided in part under a EU scheme that was recently introduced as the bloc raced to come up with response to the generous funding on offer from Washington.

The European Commission has to approve the funding, but if it does it will be the first time the scheme has been used in Germany, the economy ministry said.

US subsidy threat

Shortly after confirming it would go ahead with the German project, Northvolt also said it was considering a new factory in Canada or the United States, with a decision expected in the coming months.

Canada is also covered by Washington's vast subsidy scheme.

Northvolt already has one battery plant in Sweden, and is building a second.

In France meanwhile, Taiwanese battery maker ProLogium announced it will invest 5.2 billion euros ($5.7 billion) in building a new factory in Dunkirk.

Its first European plant, the group hopes it will start production at the end of 2026, and ramp up over several years until it has some 3,000 employees.

The factory will produce batteries for hundreds of thousands of cars once at full capacity.

The group specializes in the development of "solid-state" batteries which are considered more powerful, safer and quicker to charge than the lithium-ion cells often used in electric vehicles.

The Taiwanese company said it decided on Dunkirk because it allows proximity to its customers, with many electric vehicle factories located in northern Europe.

About 50 lithium-ion battery factories are planned to be built in Europe by 2030.

Germany is furthest ahead, with 498 gigawatt hours of projects in the pipeline, followed by Hungary, Norway and France, according to NGO Transport and Environment.

But the NGO says some of these projects could be scaled back or delayed, mainly due to competition from the United State's subsidies.

The US scheme was introduced in part to counter the might of China, which has traditionally been dominant in a range of green tech industries, including making electric batteries.

 2023 AFP
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The Twitter splash page is seen on a digital device, April 25, 2022, in San Diego. Twitter launched encrypted messaging Wednesday, May 10, 2023, offering select users the ability to communicate more securely. But its new service is much more of a baby step than a giant leap forward. Credit: AP Photo/Gregory Bull, File

Twitter launched encrypted messaging Wednesday, offering select users the ability to communicate more securely. But its new service is much more of a baby step than a giant leap forward.

For starters, it lacks basic protections that security experts consider essential for shielding messages from hackers and other prying eyes. Senders and receivers must also be subscribed to Twitter's Blue service for $11 a month ($8 for desktop-only) or otherwise affiliated with an organization "verified" by Twitter for $1,000 a month plus $50 per user.

The company's official message announcing the rollout promised additional features soon. But CEO Elon Musk offered his own caution via a tweet: " Try it, but don't trust it yet. "

WHAT IS ENCRYPTED MESSAGING AGAIN?

Ordinary messages sent across the internet, whether by email, direct message, Twitter or other meansare generally vulnerable to interception that could allow other people or organizations to read them. That includes the companies offering the message services. Those companies can also be required to produce user messages in response to a legal subpoena or court order.

Encryption technology offers protection against spies and nosy online neighbors by encoding messages so that only the sender and the recipient can decipher them.

SO HOW DOES TWITTER'S NEW ENCRYPTION STACK UP?

Not super well. The gold standard in secure messaging is set by services such as Signal and ProtonMail, which use strong "end-to-end" encryption to shield messages so that no one elsenot even the companies themselvescan read them.

Twitter's service doesn't currently do that. For the moment, its encrypted messages are vulnerable to a so-called "man-in-the-middle" attack that allows an attacker to insinuate themselves into an encrypted conversation to listen in and even modify messages as they're sent. Twitter itself, in fact, has the ability to do this.

"The acid test is that I could not see your DMs even if there was a gun to my head," Musk tweeted on Tuesday. But Twitter isn't there yet.

Twitter also doesn't offer any way to report encrypted messages for harassment or abuse, although it will be possible to block individual senders.

ARE THERE OTHER DRAWBACKS?

Yes. For instance, Twitter's encrypted messages can only be sent to another individual. Twitter says it will "soon" be expanding encryption to groups. Encrypted messages are also limited to text and links; photos, video and other attachments aren't supported yet, the company says.

Twitter encryption also doesn't provide what's called "forward secrecy," which would prevent an attacker who gets hold of a user's private key from using it to read earlier and subsequent messages.

In its official document, Twitter says forward secrecy techniques aren't compatible with user expectations that they'll always be able to obtain their historical messages from the cloud. As a result, the company doesn't plan to offer forward secrecy at all.

A final issue: Users won't have any way to make encrypted messages a default setting; they'll have to deliberately choose encryption each time they start a new conversation.

 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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The Terraform founder Do Kwon has been in custody in Montenegro since late March.

A Montenegro court on Friday paved the way for the release on bail of fugitive cryptocurrency entrepreneur Do Kwon, as he awaits trial for document forgery.

The Terraform founder has been in custody in Montenegro since late March after being arrested at the capital's airport carrying alleged fake travel documents.

Both Seoul and Washington are seeking Kwon's extradition for his suspected role in fraud linked to his company's dramatic collapse last year, which wiped out about $40 billion of investors' money and shook global crypto markets.

The court "accepted bail of 400,000 euros" ($435,000) each for Kwon and a companion he was arrested with in March. The court also "ordered that they be released upon payment" according to a statement.

Prosecutors are appealing the decision and the defendants will remain in custody pending the outcome of that appeal. If released, the two suspects would be confined to house arrest and banned from leaving the apartment.

Kwon, whose real name is Kwon Do-hyung, is facing two cases in Montenegrothe first involving his alleged possession of forged travel documents and the second regarding his possible extradition.

Prior to his arrest, Kwon had been on the run for months after fleeing first South Korea and then Singapore ahead of the company's crash in May last year.

In September, South Korean prosecutors asked Interpol to place him on the red notice list across the agency's 195 member nations and revoked his passport.

Kwon's TerraUSD was marketed as a "stablecoin", which is typically pegged to stable assets such as the US dollar to prevent drastic fluctuations in prices.

Cryptocurrencies have come under increasing scrutiny from regulators after a string of recent controversies, including the high-profile collapse of the exchange FTX.

The digital currency sector has also been hit hard by the demise of US crypto lenders Silvergate and Signature amid a string of banking failures earlier this year that rattled global markets.

 2023 AFP
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Laser communications offers more data back to Earth. More data = more discoveries. Credit: NASA

On April 28, NASA and its partners achieved another major milestone in the future of space communicationsachieving 200 gigabit per second (Gbps) throughput on a space-to-ground optical link between a satellite in orbit and Earth, the highest data rate ever achieved by optical communications technology.

These data rates are made possible by using laser communications, which packs information into the oscillations of light waves in lasers, instead of using radio waves like most space communications systems.

This communications link was achieved by the TeraByte InfraRed Delivery (TBIRD) system, carried into orbit by NASA's Pathfinder Technology Demonstrator 3 (PTD-3) satellite, and surpasses the previous 100 Gbps milestone previously demonstrated by the same team in June 2022. With this speedy connection, TBIRD can send down multiple terabytes of test data to Earth during a single six-minute pass over a ground station. A single terabyte is the equivalent of about 500 hours of high-definition video.

"Achieving 100 Gbps in June was groundbreaking, and now we've doubled that data ratethis capability will change the way we communicate in space," said Beth Keer, the mission manager for TBIRD at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "Just imagine the power of space science instruments when they can be designed to fully take advantage of the advancements in detector speeds and sensitivities, furthering what artificial intelligence can do with huge amounts of data. Laser communications is the missing link that will enable the science discoveries of the future."

Currently, the most commonly used technology by NASA for space communications is radio, sending data with similar methods to how radio broadcasts are sent to a car radio or how a cell phone communicates with a cell tower. With NASA's sights set on a long-term presence on the Moon and future missions to Mars, more efficient communications are essential for smooth mission operations and effective science.

Laser communications enables more data to be sent back in a single link to Earth. Credit: NASA

The ultra-high-speed capabilities of laser communications, also known as optical communications, will make it possible to pack more data into each transmission from space. More information about whatever a scientific instrument may be studyingwhether that be imagery of another world, data about space radiation, or something elsemeans there's more data for scientists on Earth to study, leading to the discoveries that will be needed to live and work on other worlds.

CubeSats like PTD-3 are ideal spacecraft for testing communications technologies due to their cost-effectiveness and small size. PTD-3 is only about the size of two stacked cereal boxes, and the TBIRD payload it carries is no larger than the average tissue box. PTD-3 was built and is operated by Terran Orbital of Irvine, California, for NASA. The TBIRD payload was designed and built by Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory (MIT-LL) of Lexington, Massachusetts.

PTD-3 was launched into orbit on SpaceX's Transporter-5 rideshare mission from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and synchronized with Earth's orbit around the Sun in such a way that the small satellite entered a "fixed" position relative to the Sun. That means PTD-3 is able to pass over the ground station on Earth at the same time twice each day so TBIRD can test this space-to-ground communications link.

TBIRD's data transmission milestone was made possible by collaborations across NASA centers and beyond. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland developed the TBIRD mission and concept in partnership with MIT-LL while NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley developed and manages the PTD-3 program and mission.

In addition to building the PTD-3 spacecraft, Terran Orbital worked with MIT Lincoln Laboratory to integrate the TBIRD payload onto the spacecraft, managed the launch, and operates the spacecraft. The ground station is located at the Optical Communications Test Laboratory (OCTL) at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California. OCTL currently supports multiple optical communications missions and was modified to accommodate the TBIRD system requirements and unique TBIRD communications ground hardware provided by MIT Lincoln Laboratory.

With TBIRD's successful demonstration of laser communications as a practical tool for transferring data from space to ground, future NASA missions can integrate this technology into their designs. Data from space has never had a speedier path back to Earth than this.
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Credit: Shutterstock

A machine can only "do whatever we know how to order it to perform," wrote the 19th-century computing pioneer Ada Lovelace. This reassuring statement was made in relation to Charles Babbage's description of the first mechanical computer.

Lady Lovelace could not have known that in 2016, a program called AlphaGo, designed to play and improve at the board game "Go", would not only be able to defeat all of its creators, but would do it in ways that they could not explain.

In 2023, the AI chatbot ChatGPT is taking this to another level, holding conversations in multiple languages, solving riddles and even passing legal and medical exams. Our machines are now able to do things that we, their makers, do not know "how to order them to do".

This has provoked both excitement and concern about the potential of this technology. Our anxiety comes from not knowing what to expect from these new machines, both in terms of their immediate behavior and of their future evolution.

We can make some sense of them, and the risks, if we consider that all their successes, and most of their problems, come directly from the particular recipe we are following to create them.

The reason why machines are now able to do things that we, their makers, do not fully understand is because they have become capable of learning from experience. AlphaGo became so good by playing more games of Go than a human could fit into a lifetime. Likewise, no human could read as many books as ChatGPT has absorbed.

Reducing anxiety

It's important to understand that machines have become intelligent without thinking in a human way. This realization alone can greatly reduce confusion, and therefore anxiety.

Intelligence is not exclusively a human ability, as any biologist will tell you, and our specific brand of it is neither its pinnacle nor its destination. It may be difficult to accept for some, but intelligence has more to do with chickens crossing the road safely than with writing poetry.

In other words, we should not necessarily expect machine intelligence to evolve towards some form of consciousness. Intelligence is the ability to do the right thing in unfamiliar situations, and this can be found in machines, for example those that recommend a new book to a user.

If we want to understand how to handle AI, we can return to a crisis that hit the industry from the late 1980s, when many researchers were still trying to mimic what we thought humans do. For example, they were trying to understand the rules of language or human reasoning, to program them into machines.

That didn't work, so they ended up taking some shortcuts. This move might well turn out to be one of the most consequential decisions in our history.

Fork in the road

The first shortcut was to rely on making decisions based on statistical patterns found in data. This removed the need to actually understand the complex phenomena that we wanted the machines to emulate, such as language. The auto-complete feature in your messaging app can guess the next word without understanding your goals.

While others had similar ideas before, the first to make this method really work, and stick, was probably Fredrick Jelinek at IBM, who invented "statistical language models", the ancestors of all GPTs, while working on machine translation.

In the early 1990s, he summed up that first shortcut by quipping: "Whenever I fire a linguist, our systems performance goes up. Though the comment may have been said jokingly, it reflected a real-world shift in the focus of AI away from attempts to emulate the rules of language.

This approach rapidly spread to other domains, introducing a new problem: sourcing the data necessary to train statistical algorithms.

Creating the data specifically for training tasks would have been expensive. A second shortcut became necessary: data could be harvested from the web instead.

As for knowing the intent of users, such as in content recommendation systems, a third shortcut was found: to constantly observe users' behavior and infer from it what they might click on.

By the end of this process, AI was transformed and a new recipe was born. Today, this method is found in all online translation, recommendations and question-answering tools.

Fuel to operate

For all its success, this recipe also creates problems. How can we be sure that important decisions are made fairly, when we cannot inspect the machine's inner workings?

How can we stop machines from amassing our personal data, when this is the very fuel that makes them operate? How can a machine be expected to stop harmful content from reaching users, when it is designed to learn what makes people click?

It doesn't help that we have deployed all this in a very influential position at the very center of our digital infrastructure, and have delegated many important decisions to AI.

For instance, algorithms, rather than human decision makers, dictate what we're shown on social media in real time. In 2022, the coroner who ruled on the tragic death of 14-year-old Molly Russell partly blamed an algorithm for showing harmful material to the child without being asked to.

As these concerns derive from the same shortcuts that made the technology possible, it will be challenging to find good solutions. This is also why the initial decisions of the Italian privacy authority to block ChatGPT created alarm.

Initially, the authority raised the issues of personal data being gathered from the web without a legal basis, and of the information provided by the chatbot containing errors. This could have represented a serious challenge to the entire approach, and the fact that it was solved by adding legal disclaimers, or changing the terms and conditions, might be a preview of future regulatory struggles.

We need good laws, not doomsaying. The paradigm of AI shifted long ago, but it was not followed by a corresponding shift in our legislation and culture. That time has now come.

An important conversation has started about what we should want from AI, and this will require the involvement of different types of scholars. Hopefully, it will be based on the technical reality of what we have built, and why, rather than on sci-fi fantasies or doomsday scenarios.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Japanese conglomerate Toshiba on Friday said full-year net profit fell by more than a third due partly to weak sales in electronic devices and other one-off factors.

It also said a planned takeover bid process that is expected to take the company private will likely start in late July.

For the year that ended March, the engineering giant booked a 126.57 billion yen ($940 million) net profit, down 35 percent on-year, on sales of 3.36 trillion yen, up 0.7 percent.

Operating profit dropped 30.4 percent to 110.55 billion yen, mainly because of a contraction of the hard disk drive market, and other one-off factors, Toshiba said.

For the current financial year to March 2024, it forecasts a 110 billion yen operating profit, down 0.5 percent from the previous year, on sales of 3.2 trillion yen, down 4.8 percent.

It did not provide a forecast for full-year net profit.

In 2018, Toshiba sold its prized chip unit Toshiba Memory to a group led by US investor Bain Capital.

Toshiba retains a 40 percent stake in the chip business, which was renamed Kioxia.

In March, Toshiba approved a $15 billion takeover bid by a consortium led by investment fund Japan Industrial Partners.

If the acquisition is successful, it will take the engineering giant private.

The long-awaited move follows years of turmoil for the company, which once symbolized Japan's tech prowess but has more recently faced scandals, financial trouble and high-level resignations.

The JIP-led consortium includes 17 Japanese businesses and six Japanese financial institutions, which are investing in or issuing loans for the deal.

Toshiba, which produces everything from rice cookers to medical equipment and nuclear plants, has been rocked by turbulence since 2015 when a profit-padding scandal erupted.

That led to huge losses, followed by a recovery that brought pressure from new activist shareholders.

Foreign investors have kept Toshiba afloat, but have also pushed for faster growth and a clearer long-term strategy.

In April last year, the firm said it was suspending a plan to split in two after a shareholder vote against the idea and would weigh going private.

 2023 AFP
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The Twitter splash page is seen on a digital device, Monday, April 25, 2022, in San Diego. By hiring Linda Yaccarino as Twitters new CEO, Friday, May 12, 2023, Elon Musk is welcoming a veteran ad executive to the helm of the social media site. Credit: AP Photo/Gregory Bull, File

Elon Musk is welcoming a veteran ad executive to the helm of Twitter, the social media site the billionaire Tesla CEO had been running since he bought it last fall.

Musk announced Friday that he's hiring Linda Yaccarino to be the new CEO of San Francisco-based Twitter, which is now called X Corp. He said Yaccarino's role will be focused mainly on running the company's business operations, leaving him to focus on product design and new technology.

Here's what to know about Yaccarino.

VETERAN AD EXEC

Yaccarino, 60, has worked as an advertising executive for decades. She came to NBCUniversal in 2011, just as Comcast was completing its merger with NBC, and oversaw integrating the companies' ad sales platforms. There, her most recent title was chairman, advertising and client partnerships. She oversaw all market strategy and advertising revenue, which totaled nearly $10 billion, for NBCUniversal's entire portfolio of broadcast, cable and digital assets.

Before that, she held a variety of roles at Turner Broadcasting System Inc. from 1996 to 2011, including executive vice president and chief operating officer. That was after she held management positions at several media sales outlets.

"She's a marketer's leader," said Mark DiMassimo, founder and creative chief of ad agency DiGo.

"She speaks CMO and she understands what marketers need," he added, referring to the role of chief marketing officer.

PUSHING BOUNDARIES

Yaccarino has pushed the ad industry for change on several fronts, including advocating for relying less heavily on Nielsen ratings for measurement, and introducing a digital platform called One Platform that makes it easier to buy ads across a variety of different media in an effort to better compete for ads against social media companies and traditional media companies.

"It's worth noting that they built out a big team that's made a lot of innovative products and supported the growth that they've experienced," said Brian Wieser of strategic advisory firm Madison and Wall. "They've been pushing the industry on a lot of fronts, you know, trying to make it better."

"I think that first and foremost, she'll bring to Twitter an understanding of what advertisers need to see to get back on the platform from the brand safety perspective," said Dave Campanelli, chief investment officer of media buying firm Horizon Media. "She knows better than anyone what it's going to take and I think for advertisers and buyers, the question really is, is she going to have free rein to do all that or is it going to be just the same old, same old (with Musk)."

BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS

Yaccarino serves as chairman of the World Economic Forum's Taskforce on the Future of Work. A 1985 graduate of Pennsylvania State University, she lives in Sea Cliff, New York, with her husband, Claude Madrazo. They have two children, Christian and Matthew.

 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
(Photo : Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk says he has chosen the next Twitter CEO but has not yet publicly revealed the identity of the individual.

Elon Musk revealed that he has already chosen his successor as Twitter CEO

The Tesla CEO has not revealed the identity of the social media company's next head

Musk added that he would then transition to a role as executive chairman and chief technology officer for Twitter

On Thursday, Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk tweeted that he has already chosen the person who will become the next Twitter CEO to replace him in the next few weeks.

While the Tesla CEO said he had already picked his successor, he publicly disclosed the individual's identity. Musk added that he would soon transition to a role as executive chairman and chief technology officer of the social media company, where he will prioritize "overseeing product."

Elon Musk Chooses Next Twitter CEO

Musk's latest announcement comes a few months after he promised to step down as the head of the social media company as soon as he found someone "foolish enough to take the job," according to ABC News.

The entrepreneur's alleged resignation late last year was decided following a poll he posted. In that post, 57.5% of respondents supported him stepping down from being the head of the company.

The situation comes after Musk acquired Twitter in October of last year and has made several major changes to the company and its platform. He tried to reduce costs by cutting roughly 75% of the company's 7,500-person workforce. The move raised concerns about the social media company's capacity to maintain its platform.

In February, Twitter suffered a user outage for several hours, and an emergency fix was needed to address the issue. The situation prompted an apology from the company to its customers affected by the issue.

The billionaire entrepreneur has been facing widespread criticism for the series of policy changes across Twitter that he spearheaded. The majority of these needed clear justification, according to CNN.

Read Also: George Santos Case Update: Republican Pleads Not Guilty to 13-Count Indictment

Facing a Series of Issues

Musk also tried to convince advertisers to rejoin the platform after many parted ways with the company over concerns of hateful conduct, mass layoffs, or skepticism over the company's future.

Similarly, he tried to sell users on a new paid subscription platform that includes the ability to pay for a blue verification check mark, but it has yet to be received well. His focus on Twitter has also caused concern that he needs to be able to manage the electric vehicle manufacturing company well.

At the time that he was firing employees, Musk defended his decision by saying that the company was on the verge of bankruptcy if nothing was done. In April, he said this was not a "caring, uncaring situation" but noted that if the entire company fell out, it would bring all employees down.

Musk paid $44 billion to acquire the social media company and has recently announced new features, including voice, video calls, and encrypted direct messages for the platform's customers, said Fox Business.

Related Article: Migrant Crisis Update: Border Officials Detain Record Number of Illegal Crossers

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Adidas's leftover Yeezy sneakers stock will be sold again following the infamous partnership split with the rapper Kanye West, also known as Ye, its CEO Bjoern Gulden confirmed.

The German-based athleisure juggernaut cut ties with West last year over his anti-Semitic remarks.

Adidas Plans to Sell Leftover Yeezy Stocks Despite Kanye West Split

As per CNBC, the global sportswear giant Adidas has announced its decision to sell off the remaining inventory of Yeezy sneakers after its highly-publicized split with rapper and fashion designer West.

Initially, Adidas planned to burn the leftover Yeezy merchandise following the break up with West.

However, after reaching out to NGOs, its CEO realized there are better solutions than going that route moving forward. He emphasized that doing so will leave significant environmental damage, considering that the leftover inventory spans several million pairs. In other words, it is not a sustainable choice.

With that in mind, the big boss of the global brand announced amid the annual shareholder meeting on Thursday that they plan to sell Yeezy again. The Hollywood Reporter notes that the contract Adidas with West still entitles the designer to receive at least 15 percent of the profit. So the rapper is expected to make money off this.

Read Also: Kanye West Documentary: Chicago Woman Sues Netflix, Filmmakers of 'Jeen-Yuhs'

Proceeds to be Donated to Charities Affected by Ye's Comments

However, Adidas has chosen a charitable route rather than purely focusing on profit. The big boss of the sportswear giant disclosed that the sale proceeds would be donated to charities.

Gulden notes that the beneficiaries of the proceeds will primarily go to the affected charities by the anti-Semitic remarks of Ye. On top of that, the Adidas boss says that some of the sales will go straight to organizations helping the giant firm.

However, CNBC notes that the chief executive failed to disclose specific charities. He says, "When we do that and how we do that remains to be seen, but [we are] working on that."

The current Adidas CEO Gulden started his role in the German juggernaut last January 1, replacing former chief exec Kasper Rorsted.

According to Aljazeera, the Adidas chief exec, who used to lead Puma, defended the collaboration of the global sportswear brand and Ye. He notes that West is "perhaps the most creative mind in our industry." But he acknowledges that he is a "difficult" person, adding that cutting ties with the rapper is right.

Adidas says that the leftover Yeezy sneakers still have a whopping $1 billion selling value.

Related Article: Kanye West May Lose Full Custody of 4 Children with Kim Kardashian as Rapper Skips Divorce Deposition

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Texas A&Ms School of Law in Fort Worth has ascended into the top-30 of national law school rankings, according to U.S. News & World Reports 2023-24 ranking of best graduate schools released Thursday.

A&Ms School of Law is ranked 29th in the nation, up from 46th last year. A&M Law had the largest rankings jump of any schools ranked in the top 50 in 2022.

The first thing I did as Chancellor was to acquire this law school. At the time it was unranked and has now risen in the rankings faster than any law school in history, A&M Chancellor John Sharp said in a statement. We wont stop until it is ranked in the top 10 in America.

A&M Law ranks second among Texas schools, only trailing the University of Texas. A&M Law had two programs ranked in the top-10 nationally. Its dispute resolution program placed seventh in the nation and the intellectual property program was ninth.

Since A&M Law was acquired from Texas Wesleyan University a decade ago, the school has risen from unranked to the top-30. Recent data from the American Bar Association showed A&M Laws Class of 2022 had an employment rate of 98.3%.

Recent critics of rankings arent wrong to raise questions about how much they reveal  at the narrowest level. The broad trajectory of progress in Texas A&M Laws ranking in recent years, however, reflects real progress, said Robert Ahdieh, dean of A&Ms School of Law, in a statement. Todays ranking announcement demonstrates the benefits of a concerted focus on the core elements of excellence in legal education: the recruitment of world-class students and faculty, investment in a high-quality educational program, and a single-minded commitment to student success on the bar exam and in the employment market.
A city of College Station employee was arrested Thursday afternoon after he allegedly used a cell phone to film a teenage girl in a Walmart dressing room, according to College Station police.

Homar Padilla, a 24-year-old Bryan man, has been charged with invasive visual recording, which is a state jail felony. He remained in jail on Friday morning with bail set for $5,000, according to Brazos County jail records.

Officers responded to Walmart at around 4:45 p.m. on Thursday afternoon after a parent reported Padilla was filming her 16-year-old daughter in the dressing room, police said. While the girl was changing clothes, she told police she noticed a hand slide a phone under the rear wall of the changing room. She said the hand disappeared, but the phone remained and it appeared to be recording video since it had a flashing red light and a timer counting up. The girl then grabbed the phone and heard a male voice say, Oh, crap and also noticed a hand reaching for the phone.

The girl told police she then heard a man, later identified as Padilla, talking with her mother outside the changing room. Padilla told her mother she took his phone while he was filming a TikTok video, but the girl stepped out of the changing room and told her mother Padilla was recording her and handed the phone to her mother. Police said Padilla tried to take the phone from the mother, but she stopped him.

During an investigation, Padilla told police he decided to make a TikTok video in the changing room, but dropped his phone and inadvertently kicked it under the dressing room wall. When asked, he told police he didnt use his hand to push it under the wall or put his hand under the wall at any point in an attempt to retrieve the phone. Police then reviewed Walmarts surveillance footage and said Padilla crouched down on the floor to the back wall, was out of view for a moment before he came back up to his feet, and then went back to the ground again momentarily. He stood up again and then left the dressing room.

Padilla was arrested at the scene due to the girls statement and Padillas conflicting statement after a review of video, police said.

Police said Padilla is an employee in the city of College Stations public works department and added city officials said Thursday night Padilla has been terminated from his position.

This is an ongoing investigation.
The Texas Houses education committee is soon expected to consider a new 80-page version of the Senates priority school voucher proposal, which would reduce the number of students who are eligible to the program, make changes to the states standardized test and remove the bills restriction on teaching about gender and sexual orientation.

But some lawmakers hope to move it quickly so it can get a full vote at the House was dashed when the lower chamber temporarily blocked the committee from meeting Wednesday night to consider whether to advance the new version of the bill.

The House denied state Rep. Brad Buckley, R-Killeen, chair of the committee, his request to meet with a 65-76 vote after Rep. Ernest Bailes, R-Shepherd, questioned why the committee was trying to vote on a bill without a public hearing.

Youre trying to bring an 80-page substitution to this body and force a vote without thoughtful deliberation, Bailes said.

Buckleys rationale for not wanting to hear any more testimony on the bill was that the committee had already held a 16-hour public meeting a month ago on several House bills that also sought to establish voucher-like programs.

After the House blocked a meeting on Wednesday, the committee announced it will give the bill a hearing on Monday, but will only listen to invited testimony.

House committees have until May 20 to vote out Senate bills. After the vote Wednesday night, Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, the author of the Senates version of the legislation, wrote in a tweet that he remains committed to seeing his bill get signed into law, saying he believes that most Texans support school choice.

This session is a once in a generation opportunity to unleash the potential of education freedom, and I am confident there is still time to empower parents, lift up Texas teachers and to give Texas students the options they deserve, he wrote.

Senate Bill 8 passed the Senate last month. Its centerpiece is an education savings account program that would work like voucher programs and direct state funds to help Texas families pay for private schooling. The version of the bill approved by the Senate would be open to most K-12 students in Texas and would give parents who opt out of the public school system up to $8,000 in taxpayer money per student each year. These funds could be used to pay for a childs private schooling and other educational expenses, such as textbooks or tutoring.

The House version of SB 8, the details of which were first reported by The Texas Tribune, adds specific criteria to which students would be eligible to enter the program. The bill says the program would be limited to certain students like those with a disability, those who are educationally disadvantaged  meaning they qualify for free or reduced lunch  or those who attend a campus that received a grade of D or lower in its accountability rating in the last two school years. A child would also be eligible if they have a sibling in the program.

Under the proposal, a large portion of Texas students would be eligible. About 60% of Texass 5.5 million students qualify for free or reduced lunch and kids in special education programs account for 12% of the total student population. Last year, about 7% of all school campuses graded received a D or lower, but were labeled not rated because of coronavirus interruptions.

The issue of school choice has been a top priority for Gov. Greg Abbott this year. He has traveled the state making the case that Texas public schools are pushing woke ideologies on students, and that families should have the ability to send their children elsewhere. Longtime school supporters of voucher-like programs also argue that students attending failing schools should have the ability to send their kids to more successful schools, and that the competition that vouchers would provide would incentivize all schools to get better.

David DeMatthews, an associate professor of educational leadership and policy at UT-Austin, said the bill looks to sweeten the deal for the House, which has been historically against voucher programs. But the concern lies that private schools are not required to take students with disabilities and the amount of money offered isnt close to enough needed to educate these students.

Its a false promise, he said. The private schools are going to take students who dont have disabilities and are not more expensive to educate and the public schools are going to be left with fewer kids and fewer dollars and still have to meet all the needs of the students with the most severe needs.

The House version would also require students in the program to take a state assessment test, potentially adding a degree of accountability that critics have said was sorely missing.

In addition, the bill would make changes to the annual stipends that families enrolled in the program get. It would give them about $10,500 a year if their child is educationally disadvantaged and has a disability, $9,000 if their child is educationally disadvantaged and $7,500 for every other child.

The bill will still face stiff opposition from public education advocates, who argue that while it reduces the number of students who would be eligible to the program, the higher annual stipends that participating parents would get could end up costing the state more than the Senates version.

The Senate version of SB 8 severely restricted classroom lessons, campus activities and educator guidance about sexual orientation and gender identity in public and charter schools up to 12th grade, with very limited exceptions. Creighton has previously told the Tribune that the bill packaged education saving accounts and these restrictions together because parents he talked to view these issues as inextricably linked.

The Houses version eliminates those restrictions  but the provision is not dead.

Lawmakers can still amend the legislation, and its unclear whether they intend to add back the restrictions into the final version of the bill before it comes for a vote. The lower chamber is also considering Senate Bill 1072, part of which mirrors SB 8s language on this issue. This bill, authored by Republican Sen. Bryan Hughes of Mineola, passed out of the upper chamber earlier this month and is currently waiting for a hearing in the House Public Education Committee.

The proposal is similar to a ban passed in Florida in 2022, which its opponents have dubbed the Dont Say Gay law. Last month, the Sunshine State also extended those restrictions from third grade to 12th grade. And like in Florida, critics in Texas have warned that the legislation would stop schools from acknowledging the LGBTQ communitys existence and prevent students from learning about a wide range of issues from marriage equality and the AIDS epidemic to womens suffrage. They also say it would infringe on students free speech protections, especially their right to receive information.

The Texas Houses version of SB 8 also eliminates a Senate provision that sought to give districts with fewer than 20,000 students $10,000 for five years for every child who enrolls in the savings account program and leaves their district. The provision was seen as a way to convince Texans in rural communities to support the bill, but they have remained largely unswayed. While public education advocates had criticized the provision as a poor attempt to gain rural Republicans support for the voucher program, they said eliminating it would leave school districts in a more vulnerable position if the bill becomes law.

In addition, this version of SB 8 calls for changes to the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, more commonly known as the STAAR. No later than the 2027-2028 school year, the Texas Education Agency would be tasked with creating a new test that would be more aligned with what children learn in the classroom. The new test would be called the Texas Success Initiative Assessment.

And instead of it being one test, the House version requires the TEA to spread the evaluation in three parts, given during different times of the year. Students in grades 3-8 would be required to take it.

This method has already been piloted in several school districts across the state. The TSIA is currently a test colleges give to high school students to determine what classes they should be in.

For high schoolers, the bill eliminates end-of-course STAAR tests. Instead, kids in ninth grade would take a pre-TSIA test, and in 11th grade, they would take the full test to assess what college courses they should be taking.

The legislation also removes the requirement that high schoolers need to pass an assessment to graduate. Failing the assessment would not bar students from receiving a high school diploma under this version.

The changes may make it easier for SB 8 to eventually become law as several House members on both sides have supported STAAR reform. But anything with a voucher program attached  even one with a notably reduced scope  would still face a tough battle in the lower chamber.

In April, the House voted 86-52 for a budget amendment that barred the state from using funds to pay for school vouchers. The vote was largely symbolic but it demonstrated the widespread opposition to voucher-like programs in the lower chamber, even if support has grown in the past two years.

Democrats and rural Republicans have banded together in the past to oppose voucher-like programs as they fear they could take away money from their local school districts. Because Texas school districts receive state funds based on student attendance, they receive less money when any student leaves.
Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize (OTCMKTS:AHODF  Get Rating) is one of 51 publicly-traded companies in the Grocery Stores industry, but how does it compare to its competitors? We will compare Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize to related companies based on the strength of its risk, dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, profitability and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.

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Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize 0 2 2 0 2.50 Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize Competitors 1096 2655 2839 109 2.29

Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize presently has a consensus price target of C$31.10, suggesting a potential downside of 11.07%. As a group, Grocery Stores companies have a potential upside of 8.52%. Given Koninklijke Ahold Delhaizes competitors higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Earnings and Valuation

Gross Revenue Net Income Price/Earnings Ratio Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize N/A N/A 52.65 Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize Competitors $30.55 billion $704.32 million 225.01

This table compares Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize and its competitors gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

Koninklijke Ahold Delhaizes competitors have higher revenue and earnings than Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize. Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize 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.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

29.4% of Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 46.1% of shares of all Grocery Stores companies are held by institutional investors. 21.1% of shares of all Grocery Stores companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize pays an annual dividend of C$0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize pays out 60.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, Grocery Stores companies pay a dividend yield of 3.3% and pay out 58.2% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize lags its competitors as a dividend stock, given its lower dividend yield and higher payout ratio.

Profitability

This table compares Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize and its competitors net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize N/A N/A N/A Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize Competitors 1.73% 15.29% 4.59%

Summary

Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize competitors beat Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize on 11 of the 13 factors compared.

About Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize

(Get Rating)

Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize NV engages in the management and operation of supermarkets and e-commerce business. It operates through the following segments: The U.S., Europe, Other Retail, and Global Support Office. The U.S. segment includes Stop & Shop, Food Lion, Giant & Martins, Hannaford, Giant Food and Peapod. The Europe segment is consisted of Albert Heijn, Etos, Gall & Gall, bol.com, Delhaize operations in Belgium and Luxembourg.The Other Retail segment handles the firms joint ventures. The Global Support Office segment represents global support office operations in the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, and the United States. The company was founded in 1887 and is headquartered in Zaandam, the Netherlands.

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Powszechny Zaklad Ubezpieczen SA (OTCMKTS:PWZYF  Get Rating) was the target of a significant decline in short interest during the month of April. As of April 30th, there was short interest totalling 116,800 shares, a decline of 62.7% from the April 15th total of 313,300 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 400 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 292.0 days.

Powszechny Zaklad Ubezpieczen Price Performance

OTCMKTS:PWZYF remained flat at C$9.22 during mid-day trading on Thursday. Powszechny Zaklad Ubezpieczen has a 52-week low of C$9.22 and a 52-week high of C$9.22. The companys 50 day moving average is C$5.92 and its 200-day moving average is C$5.32.

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About Powszechny Zaklad Ubezpieczen

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POWSZECHNY Zaklad Ubezpieczen SA provides life and non-life insurance products and services in Poland, the Baltic States, and Ukraine. It operates through Corporate Insurance, Mass Insurance, Group and Individually Continued Insurance, Individual Insurance, Investments, Banking Activity, Pension Insurance, Baltic States, Ukraine, Investment Contracts, and Other segments.

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Standard AVB Financial Corp. (OTCMKTS:STND  Get Rating) shares crossed below its two hundred day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $33.00 and traded as low as $32.99. Standard AVB Financial shares last traded at $33.00, with a volume of 18,900 shares trading hands.

Standard AVB Financial Price Performance

The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $33.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $33.00.

Standard AVB Financial Company Profile

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Standard AVB Financial Corp. operates as a bank holding company for Standard Bank PaSB that provides financial services to individuals, families, and businesses. It offers various deposit accounts, including savings accounts, certificates of deposit, money market accounts, commercial and regular checking accounts, and individual retirement accounts.

Further Reading

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United States National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met with Chinese top diplomat Wang Yi to talk about global security concerns.

Top United States and Chinese officials meet to talk about global security tensions

Jake Sullivan met with Wang Yi in Vienna for "candid" and "constructive" talks

It is seen as among the highest-level engagements between Washington and Beijing since last year's spy balloon incident

United States National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met with Chinese official Wang Yi in Vienna for what the White House called "candid" and "constructive" talks regarding global security concerns.

The meeting between the two officials was previously undisclosed and is seen as among the highest-level engagements between Washington and Beijing since the spy balloon incident earlier this year. That particular event caused Secretary of State Antony Blinken to postpone his planned Beijing trip.

China, US Officials Talk Regarding Global Security

In a statement, the White House said that the meeting between Sullivan and Wang was part of ongoing efforts to maintain communication with China. CNN added that the two officials would discuss key issues such as bilateral relationships, global and regional security issues, the Russia-Ukraine war, and cross-Strait issues.

One US senior administration official noted that the meeting between Sullivan and Wang was made to restore communications between the two countries. They said the two nations recognized a pause in engagement following the spy balloon incident.

The official added that Washington clarified where the US stands regarding the breach of sovereignty. He said that the question now is how to manage other issues and the tension in the current relationship.

They added that Chinese officials also saw the importance of engaging with the United States government to manage relations. The official said both sides should try to take advantage of the situation as best they can.

The White House said that the US and China have agreed to continue the "strategic communication channel." It added that they plan to build on the meeting between United States President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping held in Bali, Indonesia, last year, according to CNBC.

Read Also: Pakistan Supreme Court Deems Imran Khan's Arrest Illegal

High-Level Engagements

Previously, Sullivan reiterated that the US has deep concerns about China's continued alignment with Russia. He also warned that the world's second-largest economy could assist Moscow in avoiding global sanctions.

The United States government and its allies have imposed strict sanctions on Russia since it invaded Ukraine last year. The series of sanctions caused Moscow to be the most-sanctioned global power ahead of Iran and North Korea.

The meeting between Sullivan and Wang comes as top American officials said that the Biden administration is trying to pursue competition with China but is trying to avoid veering into conflict. On the other hand, Beijing said that it desires to stabilize its rocky relations with Washington.

Earlier this week, another pair of US-China officials met, namely US Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns and China's second-highest diplomat Qin Gang. On the other hand, Blinken said that he was trying to reschedule his trip to Beijing to talk with Chinese officials, said Aljazeera.

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Arlo Technologies (NYSE:ARLO  Get Rating) had its price target raised by research analysts at BWS Financial from $8.00 to $11.00 in a research report issued on Friday, The Fly reports. BWS Financials price target indicates a potential upside of 22.91% from the companys previous close.

Separately, Lake Street Capital increased their price target on Arlo Technologies from $10.00 to $12.00 in a research report on Friday.

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Arlo Technologies Trading Up 27.0 %

NYSE:ARLO traded up $1.90 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $8.95. 2,832,889 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 995,112. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $6.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $4.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $812.54 million, a PE ratio of -13.55 and a beta of 1.64. Arlo Technologies has a 1-year low of $2.93 and a 1-year high of $8.95.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Arlo Technologies

About Arlo Technologies

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. BlackRock Inc. boosted its position in Arlo Technologies by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 13,264,232 shares of the companys stock worth $61,546,000 after acquiring an additional 137,034 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Arlo Technologies by 13.9% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,090,278 shares of the companys stock valued at $32,898,000 after buying an additional 864,735 shares during the last quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Arlo Technologies by 18.1% during the 1st quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC now owns 3,700,976 shares of the companys stock valued at $22,428,000 after buying an additional 568,457 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Arlo Technologies by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,907,783 shares of the companys stock valued at $13,492,000 after buying an additional 46,933 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cannell Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Arlo Technologies by 11.3% during the 1st quarter. Cannell Capital LLC now owns 2,748,903 shares of the companys stock valued at $24,355,000 after buying an additional 278,755 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.87% of the companys stock.

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Arlo Technologies, Inc engages in the provision and development of cloud infrastructure and mobile app for smart connected devices. It offers wire-free smart Wi-Fi and LTE-enabled cameras, advanced baby monitors, smart security lights, and audio doorbell. It operates through the following geographical segments: United States, Spain, Ireland, and Other Countries.

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Barclays PLC (LON:BARC  Get Rating) has earned a consensus recommendation of Moderate Buy from the eleven brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is GBX 238.56 ($3.01).

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Barclays from GBX 240 ($3.03) to GBX 200 ($2.52) and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 27th. Shore Capital reaffirmed a buy rating on shares of Barclays in a report on Thursday, April 27th. Credit Suisse Group increased their target price on Barclays from GBX 240 ($3.03) to GBX 250 ($3.15) and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, February 16th. Berenberg Bank reiterated a buy rating and set a GBX 270 ($3.41) price target on shares of Barclays in a research report on Friday, April 21st. Finally, UBS Group set a GBX 238 ($3.00) price target on Barclays in a research report on Monday, March 6th.

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Barclays Stock Up 0.6 %

LON:BARC opened at GBX 154.44 ($1.95) on Friday. The businesss 50 day moving average is GBX 151.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is GBX 161.30. Barclays has a 52 week low of GBX 128.12 ($1.62) and a 52 week high of GBX 198.86 ($2.51). The company has a market cap of 24.02 billion, a PE ratio of 468.64, a P/E/G ratio of -1.09 and a beta of 1.36.

Barclays Increases Dividend

Insider Transactions at Barclays

The business also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 23rd were paid a dividend of GBX 5 ($0.06) per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 23rd. This is a positive change from Barclayss previous dividend of $2.25. This represents a dividend yield of 2.67%. Barclayss dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2,121.21%.

In related news, insider Dawn Fitzpatrick acquired 5,613 shares of Barclays stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 17th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of GBX 174 ($2.20) per share, with a total value of 9,766.62 ($12,323.81). Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the companys stock.

About Barclays

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Barclays PLC, through its subsidiaries, provides various financial products and services in the United Kingdom, Europe, the Americas, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. The company operates through Barclays UK and Barclays International divisions. It offers financial services, such as retail banking, credit cards, wholesale banking, investment banking, wealth management, and investment management services.

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CAE Inc. (TSE:CAE  Get Rating) (NYSE:CAE)  Stock analysts at National Bank Financial decreased their FY2024 earnings per share estimates for shares of CAE in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, May 10th. National Bank Financial analyst C. Doerksen now expects that the company will post earnings per share of $1.31 for the year, down from their prior estimate of $1.32. The consensus estimate for CAEs current full-year earnings is $1.17 per share. National Bank Financial also issued estimates for CAEs FY2025 earnings at $1.54 EPS.

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CAE (TSE:CAE  Get Rating) (NYSE:CAE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 14th. The company reported C$0.28 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of C$0.25 by C$0.03. The business had revenue of C$1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of C$1.04 billion. CAE had a return on equity of 4.42% and a net margin of 4.60%.

CAE Trading Up 0.7 %

CAE has been the topic of a number of other reports. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on CAE from C$30.00 to C$35.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 15th. National Bankshares lifted their price objective on CAE from C$34.00 to C$37.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 15th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on CAE from C$33.00 to C$37.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on CAE from C$35.00 to C$37.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 11th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on CAE from C$33.00 to C$35.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, CAE has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of C$36.78.

Shares of CAE stock traded up C$0.20 during trading hours on Friday, reaching C$29.29. The companys stock had a trading volume of 90,782 shares, compared to its average volume of 472,359. The stock has a market capitalization of C$9.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 2.02. CAE has a one year low of C$20.90 and a one year high of C$35.18. The firms fifty day simple moving average is C$30.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$28.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 73.28.

About CAE

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CAE Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides simulation training and critical operations support solutions worldwide. It operates through three segments: Civil Aviation, Defense and Security, and Healthcare. The Civil Aviation segment provides training solutions for flight, cabin, maintenance, and ground personnel in commercial, business, and helicopter aviation; flight simulation training devices; and ab initio pilot training and crew sourcing services, as well as end to end digitally enabled crew management, training operations solutions, and optimization software.

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CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP  Get Rating)  KeyCorp lifted their FY2023 EPS estimates for CenterPoint Energy in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, May 8th. KeyCorp analyst S. Karp now anticipates that the utilities provider will earn $1.50 per share for the year, up from their previous estimate of $1.49. The consensus estimate for CenterPoint Energys current full-year earnings is $1.49 per share. KeyCorp also issued estimates for CenterPoint Energys Q4 2023 earnings at $0.34 EPS, FY2026 earnings at $1.85 EPS and FY2027 earnings at $1.99 EPS.

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CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP  Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.79 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 8.99% and a return on equity of 9.97%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.47 earnings per share.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Down 1.2 %

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of CenterPoint Energy from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note on Thursday, April 20th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, April 20th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday, April 14th. Guggenheim lowered shares of CenterPoint Energy from a buy rating to a neutral rating and raised their price target for the company from $31.00 to $32.00 in a report on Monday, January 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an outperform rating and set a $33.00 price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Monday, March 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $32.75.

CNP stock opened at $29.91 on Wednesday. The companys 50 day simple moving average is $29.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $29.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.87 billion, a PE ratio of 23.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.88. CenterPoint Energy has a 12 month low of $25.03 and a 12 month high of $33.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.75.

CenterPoint Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 18th will be given a $0.19 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 17th. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.54%. CenterPoint Energys dividend payout ratio is presently 60.32%.

Insider Activity at CenterPoint Energy

In other CenterPoint Energy news, Director Ted Pound sold 2,770 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.50, for a total transaction of $84,485.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 46,541 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,419,500.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other CenterPoint Energy news, Director Ted Pound sold 2,770 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.50, for a total transaction of $84,485.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 46,541 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,419,500.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Barry T. Smitherman sold 5,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.51, for a total transaction of $152,550.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 21,075 shares in the company, valued at $642,998.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CNP. Private Advisor Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 1st quarter worth approximately $440,000. Raymond James Trust N.A. grew its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 59.0% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 14,757 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $452,000 after purchasing an additional 5,475 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 28.5% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,585,045 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $79,208,000 after acquiring an additional 572,884 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 9.0% during the first quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 32,098 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $988,000 after acquiring an additional 2,642 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 59.3% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 738,270 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $22,615,000 after acquiring an additional 274,696 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.28% of the companys stock.

About CenterPoint Energy

(Get Rating)

CenterPoint Energy, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the business of power generation and distribution. It operates through the following segments: CenterPoint Energy, Houston Electric, and CERC. The CenterPoint Energy segment consists of electric transmission and distribution services in the Texas gulf coast area in the ERCOT region and electric transmission and distribution services primarily to southwestern Indiana and includes power generation and wholesale power operations in the MISO region.

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CMC Markets plc (LON:CMCX  Get Rating) insider Euan Marshall bought 164 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 5th. The stock was bought at an average cost of GBX 182 ($2.30) per share, with a total value of 298.48 ($376.63).

CMC Markets Trading Up 0.5 %

LON:CMCX opened at GBX 184 ($2.32) on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.86, a quick ratio of 2.47 and a current ratio of 2.57. The stock has a 50 day moving average of GBX 196.75 and a 200-day moving average of GBX 223.89. The stock has a market cap of 514.87 million, a PE ratio of 736.00 and a beta of 0.55.

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About CMC Markets

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CMC Markets plc, together with its subsidiaries, provides online retail financial services to retail, professional, stockbroking, and institutional clients in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Canada, and internationally. The company offers its clients with the ability to trade contracts for difference and financial spread betting on a range of underlying shares, including indices, foreign currencies, commodities, cryptocurrencies, shares and ETFs, and treasuries through its trading platform.

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Copa (NYSE:CPA  Get Rating) had its price objective upped by stock analysts at Barclays from $120.00 to $150.00 in a research note issued on Friday, The Fly reports. Barclayss price objective indicates a potential upside of 41.86% from the companys current price.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on CPA. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Copa from a neutral rating to an overweight rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $105.00 to $132.00 in a research report on Friday, January 13th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Copa in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a buy rating on the stock. Finally, Cowen raised their target price on shares of Copa from $98.00 to $117.00 in a research note on Friday, February 17th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Copa presently has an average rating of Buy and a consensus price target of $119.63.

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Copa Trading Up 10.6 %

Shares of Copa stock opened at $105.74 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.24 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.04. The company has a fifty day moving average of $90.55 and a 200 day moving average of $87.20. Copa has a fifty-two week low of $55.25 and a fifty-two week high of $107.19.

Institutional Trading of Copa

Copa ( NYSE:CPA Get Rating ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 16th. The transportation company reported $4.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.09 by $0.40. Copa had a net margin of 11.74% and a return on equity of 24.49%. The business had revenue of $890.61 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $887.42 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.98 EPS. The businesss revenue was up 54.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Copa will post 11.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Financial Management Professionals Inc. acquired a new position in Copa during the first quarter worth about $29,000. State of Wyoming purchased a new stake in Copa during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its position in shares of Copa by 136.8% in the 1st quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 689 shares of the transportation companys stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 398 shares during the last quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. increased its position in shares of Copa by 16.2% in the 1st quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 1,083 shares of the transportation companys stock valued at $92,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its position in shares of Copa by 292.7% in the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,292 shares of the transportation companys stock valued at $107,000 after purchasing an additional 963 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.96% of the companys stock.

Copa Company Profile

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Copa Holdings SA engages in the provision of air transportation. It operates through the following geographical segments: North America; South America; Central America; and Caribbean. The firm offers international flights to Costa Rica, Jamaica, Colombia, and other cities. The company was founded on May 6, 1998 and is headquartered in Panama.

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Embraer S.A. (NYSE:ERJ  Get Rating) shares gapped up before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $13.72, but opened at $14.42. Embraer shares last traded at $14.75, with a volume of 794,127 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on ERJ shares. TheStreet raised Embraer from a d+ rating to a c- rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 8th. StockNews.com lowered Embraer from a buy rating to a sell rating in a research report on Monday. Bank of America dropped their price target on Embraer from $27.00 to $24.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 29th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Embraer from $11.75 to $17.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, March 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Embraer from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $19.25.

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Embraer Trading Up 5.5 %

The businesss 50 day moving average price is $15.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $12.69. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10. The company has a market capitalization of $2.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -485.00, a P/E/G ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.28.

Institutional Trading of Embraer

Embraer ( NYSE:ERJ Get Rating ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, March 10th. The aerospace company reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.30 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $1.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $2.02 billion. Embraer had a positive return on equity of 0.65% and a negative net margin of 0.08%. On average, equities analysts predict that Embraer S.A. will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ERJ. Brandes Investment Partners LP boosted its position in shares of Embraer by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 19,035,384 shares of the aerospace companys stock valued at $163,705,000 after acquiring an additional 493,818 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Embraer by 1.9% during the first quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,935,642 shares of the aerospace companys stock valued at $64,426,000 after acquiring an additional 72,348 shares during the last quarter. Becker Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Embraer by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Becker Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,392,616 shares of the aerospace companys stock valued at $37,081,000 after purchasing an additional 23,401 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of Embraer by 36.2% in the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,238,946 shares of the aerospace companys stock valued at $53,022,000 after purchasing an additional 860,318 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda grew its stake in Embraer by 39.5% during the 4th quarter. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda now owns 3,138,792 shares of the aerospace companys stock worth $34,307,000 after buying an additional 888,976 shares during the last quarter. 37.89% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Embraer

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Embraer SA engages in the design, manufacture, and sale of aircraft and its parts for commercial, defense, and executive aviation sectors. It operates through the following segments: Commercial Aviation, Defense and Security, Executive Jet Business, Service & Support and Others. The Commercial Aviation segment is involved in the development, production, and sale of commercial jets; and the provision of support services to regional aviation and aircraft leasing.

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Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO  Get Rating) by 2.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 39,232 shares of the companys stock after selling 1,041 shares during the quarter. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLCs holdings in Altria Group were worth $1,793,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 159,134,691 shares of the companys stock valued at $6,425,858,000 after acquiring an additional 1,275,790 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 71,579,128 shares of the companys stock valued at $2,957,671,000 after acquiring an additional 513,208 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Altria Group by 6.4% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 36,302,349 shares of the companys stock worth $1,896,798,000 after purchasing an additional 2,178,596 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Altria Group by 5.1% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 24,517,169 shares of the companys stock worth $990,002,000 after purchasing an additional 1,192,266 shares during the period. Finally, London Co. of Virginia grew its holdings in Altria Group by 2.5% during the third quarter. London Co. of Virginia now owns 6,084,403 shares of the companys stock worth $245,688,000 after purchasing an additional 150,351 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.68% of the companys stock.

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Altria Group Stock Performance

NYSE MO opened at $45.44 on Friday. The firms fifty day moving average price is $45.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $45.89. The stock has a market cap of $81.11 billion, a PE ratio of 14.68, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.59. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $40.35 and a fifty-two week high of $54.89.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

Altria Group ( NYSE:MO Get Rating ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The company reported $1.18 earnings per share 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 quarterly revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.12 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 24th were paid a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 23rd. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.27%. Altria Groups dividend payout ratio is 120.90%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MO shares. Stifel Nicolaus started coverage on Altria Group in a report on Thursday, April 13th. They set a buy rating and a $52.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com started coverage on Altria Group in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a buy rating for the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Altria Group from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Monday, January 23rd. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on Altria Group from $49.50 to $47.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $44.67.

About Altria Group

(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.

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Interfor (TSE:IFP  Get Rating) had its price target trimmed by Royal Bank of Canada from C$35.00 to C$32.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday, BayStreet.CA reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on IFP. TD Securities raised their price target on shares of Interfor from C$29.00 to C$31.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Monday, February 13th. CIBC cut their price target on shares of Interfor from C$31.00 to C$30.00 in a report on Thursday, April 20th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Interfor from C$30.00 to C$32.00 in a report on Friday, February 10th.

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Interfor Stock Performance

Shares of Interfor stock opened at C$21.64 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of C$1.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 2.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 41.10, a current ratio of 2.39 and a quick ratio of 1.15. Interfor has a fifty-two week low of C$19.75 and a fifty-two week high of C$35.00. The companys 50 day moving average price is C$22.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is C$23.29.

Insider Activity at Interfor

Interfor ( TSE:IFP Get Rating ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 4th. The company reported C($0.68) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of C($0.29) by C($0.39). The company had revenue of C$829.88 million for the quarter. On average, equities analysts forecast that Interfor will post 0.250798 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

In other Interfor news, Senior Officer Simon Bruce Luxmoore purchased 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 28th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of C$16.15 per share, with a total value of C$80,750.00. 0.53% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Interfor Company Profile

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Interfor Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, produces and sells wood products in Canada, the United States, Japan, China, Taiwan, and internationally. The company offers lumber products for decking, fascia and trims, framings, furniture, industrial packaging, Japan Zairai, millworks, paneling, sidings, trusses, and windows and doors.

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Coastline Trust Co raised its position in iShares Russell 2000 ETF (NYSEARCA:IWM  Get Rating) by 33.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 86,325 shares of the exchange traded funds stock after purchasing an additional 21,586 shares during the period. iShares Russell 2000 ETF makes up about 2.2% of Coastline Trust Cos investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Coastline Trust Cos holdings in iShares Russell 2000 ETF were worth $15,052,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Triumph Capital Management acquired a new position in iShares Russell 2000 ETF in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $2,953,000. First Manhattan Co. grew its stake in shares of iShares Russell 2000 ETF by 21.0% in the 3rd quarter. First Manhattan Co. now owns 1,026 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $169,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in iShares Russell 2000 ETF by 214.6% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 17,172 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $2,994,000 after acquiring an additional 11,714 shares during the last quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC bought a new stake in iShares Russell 2000 ETF during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,952,000. Finally, Tarbox Family Office Inc. grew its position in iShares Russell 2000 ETF by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Tarbox Family Office Inc. now owns 127,649 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $22,257,000 after acquiring an additional 824 shares during the last quarter.

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iShares Russell 2000 ETF Stock Down 0.1 %

IWM traded down $0.11 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $172.96. The stock had a trading volume of 4,022,323 shares, compared to its average volume of 28,113,588. The firms fifty day simple moving average is $176.00 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $180.90. iShares Russell 2000 ETF has a 52 week low of $162.50 and a 52 week high of $201.99.

iShares Russell 2000 ETF Profile

iShares Russell 2000 ETF (the Fund) is an exchange-traded fund. The Fund seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the Russell 2000 Index (the Index). The Index is a float-adjusted capitalization weighted index that measures the performance of the small-capitalization sector of the United States equity market and includes securities issued by the approximately 2,000 smallest issuers in the Russell 3000 Index.

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(Photo : SONNY TUMBELAKA / AFP) (SONNY TUMBELAKA/AFP via Getty Images)

Astronomers have discovered the most powerful explosion ever witnessed that has been raging on for the last three years.

Astronomers have discovered the largest cosmic explosion in the cosmos that has already been raging for three years

The event is ten times brighter than any known supernova event, which is when a star dies and collapses on itself

The explosion was also found to be three times brighter than the brightest tidal disruption event

Astronomers have discovered the most powerful cosmic explosion ever witnessed that has been raging for the last three years.

The team that the University of Southampton heads were able to uncover the most powerful explosion in space that humans have ever seen. Astronomers found the event to be more than ten times brighter than any supernova event that we know of and three times brighter than the brightest tidal disruption event we have observed, which is when a star falls into a supermassive black hole.

Most Powerful Cosmic Explosion

Scientists call the explosion event AT2021lwx and said that it is comparably longer than other similar events, such as supernovae, which are usually only visible for a few months and emit a huge amount of energy and light. The explosion was found to have occurred roughly 8 billion light years away at a time when the universe was only about 6 billion years old, as per Phys.org.

The team believes the event originated from a vast cloud of gas, potentially thousands of times larger than our sun, before a supermassive black hole violently disrupted it. They argue that the black hole swallowed up fragments of the cloud, sending shockwaves through the cloud's remnants and into a large dusty "doughnut" surrounding the black hole.

Astronomers also witnessed the brightest explosion on record last year, a gamma-ray burst known as GRB 221009A. While that particular event was brighter than AT2021lwx, it only lasted briefly, which means that the overall energy released in the latest explosion was far greater.

Read Also: New Image Captures Violent Events Unfolding Near Supermassive Black Hole

The Zwicky Transient Facility in California was the first to discover AT2021lwx in 2020. The Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) later observed the event in Hawaii. These two facilities continuously survey the night sky to detect transient objects that rapidly change brightness.

The finding that brought about the observation of AT2021lwx was made completely by accident. When doing routine research, the facilities stumbled across the unexpected explosion that had an unknown origin and scale, according to the Jerusalem Post.

Long-Lasting Emission

While supernova or tidal disruption events normally last for a few months, the new finding continued for years. To determine the scale of the explosion, scientists looked at the light from the event and isolated different wavelengths of light. This data was then used to measure the varying levels of absorption and emission of the explosion.

The research lead, research fellow Philip Wiseman at the University of Southampton, said his team only found the finding by accident. He noted that their search algorithm flagged the explosion while searching for a type of supernova.

Professor Mark Sullivan noted that with quasars, their brightness flickers up and down at various intervals. However, he argued that with AT2021lwx, there was no prior evidence of its emission before it suddenly became one of the brightest things in the observable universe, said Space.

Related Article: First in Science: Astronomers Observe Dying Star Swallowing Planet

@ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
John Wood Group PLC (OTCMKTS:WDGJF  Get Rating) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in the month of April. As of April 30th, there was short interest totalling 73,100 shares, a decline of 88.6% from the April 15th total of 643,400 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 15,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.9 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on WDGJF. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of John Wood Group from GBX 180 ($2.27) to GBX 190 ($2.40) in a report on Wednesday, January 18th. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered shares of John Wood Group from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Thursday, April 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of John Wood Group from GBX 237 ($2.99) to GBX 217 ($2.74) in a report on Thursday, January 26th. Berenberg Bank lowered shares of John Wood Group from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Friday, March 31st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of John Wood Group from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Wednesday, March 8th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $189.25.

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John Wood Group Stock Performance

OTCMKTS:WDGJF remained flat at $2.80 during mid-day trading on Friday. John Wood Group has a 52-week low of $1.19 and a 52-week high of $3.15. The company has a fifty day moving average of $2.63 and a 200 day moving average of $2.06.

About John Wood Group

John Wood Group Plc is an energy service company. It engages in the provision of engineering, production support, maintenance management and industrial gas turbine overhaul, and repair services to the oil and gas and power generation industries. The firm operates its business through the following segments: Asset Solutions EAAA, Asset Solutions Americas, Technical Consulting Solutions, and Investment Services.

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MAI Capital Management cut its stake in iShares MSCI USA Quality Factor ETF (BATS:QUAL  Get Rating) by 12.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 40,002 shares of the companys stock after selling 5,745 shares during the period. MAI Capital Managements holdings in iShares MSCI USA Quality Factor ETF were worth $4,559,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. James Hambro & Partners purchased a new stake in iShares MSCI USA Quality Factor ETF during the 4th quarter valued at $274,000. Arlington Partners LLC purchased a new position in iShares MSCI USA Quality Factor ETF during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Ancora Advisors LLC increased its position in iShares MSCI USA Quality Factor ETF by 219.7% during the 1st quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 374 shares of the companys stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares during the period. Oxler Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in iShares MSCI USA Quality Factor ETF during the 3rd quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, Y.D. More Investments Ltd purchased a new position in iShares MSCI USA Quality Factor ETF during the 4th quarter valued at $46,000.

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iShares MSCI USA Quality Factor ETF Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of iShares MSCI USA Quality Factor ETF stock opened at $124.52 on Friday. iShares MSCI USA Quality Factor ETF has a 12-month low of $71.96 and a 12-month high of $88.63. The companys fifty day simple moving average is $122.40 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $119.14. The company has a market cap of $28.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.30 and a beta of 1.03.

iShares MSCI USA Quality Factor ETF Company Profile

The iShares MSCI USA Quality Factor ETF (QUAL) is an exchange-traded fund that is based on the MSCI USA Sector Neutral Quality index. The fund tracks an index of US large- and mid-cap stocks, selected and weighted by high ROE, stable earnings growth and low debt\u002Fequity, relative to peers in each sector.

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Weave Communications, Inc. (NYSE:WEAV  Get Rating) CRO Matthew C. Hyde sold 5,353 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.30, for a total transaction of $28,370.90. Following the transaction, the executive now directly owns 601,873 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,189,926.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Weave Communications Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of Weave Communications stock opened at $6.25 on Friday. Weave Communications, Inc. has a 12-month low of $2.91 and a 12-month high of $6.93. The businesss 50 day moving average is $4.86 and its 200-day moving average is $4.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a market cap of $414.63 million, a P/E ratio of -9.33 and a beta of 1.64.

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Weave Communications (NYSE:WEAV  Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 22nd. The company reported ($0.14) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.18) by $0.04. Weave Communications had a negative return on equity of 50.16% and a negative net margin of 29.49%. The company had revenue of $37.69 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.40 million. Equities research analysts predict that Weave Communications, Inc. will post -0.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several analysts recently commented on WEAV shares. Piper Sandler restated a neutral rating and set a $6.00 price target on shares of Weave Communications in a report on Thursday, February 23rd. Raymond James upgraded shares of Weave Communications from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $6.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 4th.

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Pelion Inc. purchased a new stake in Weave Communications during the 3rd quarter worth about $28,004,000. BlackRock Inc. grew its position in shares of Weave Communications by 557.8% in the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 1,601,556 shares of the companys stock worth $8,088,000 after buying an additional 1,358,074 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Weave Communications by 58.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,439,683 shares of the companys stock worth $7,270,000 after buying an additional 530,248 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Weave Communications by 3,252.8% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 365,552 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,111,000 after purchasing an additional 354,649 shares during the period. Finally, Acuitas Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Weave Communications by 164.6% in the 1st quarter. Acuitas Investments LLC now owns 284,398 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,413,000 after purchasing an additional 176,906 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.69% of the companys stock.

About Weave Communications

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Weave Communications, Inc provides a customer communications and engagement software platform in the United States and Canada. Its platform enables small and medium-sized businesses to maximize the value of their customer interactions and minimize the time and effort spent on manual or mundane tasks.

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Mongolia Growth Group Ltd. (CVE:YAK  Get Rating)s share price hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as C$1.10 and last traded at C$1.13, with a volume of 5700 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$1.12.

Mongolia Growth Group Stock Performance

The firm has a 50 day moving average of C$1.42 and a 200-day moving average of C$1.50. The stock has a market capitalization of C$31.41 million, a PE ratio of 3.97 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a current ratio of 0.15.

Mongolia Growth Group Company Profile

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Mongolia Growth Group Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, provides property management, leasing, renovation, and development services in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. It operates through three segments: Investment Property Operations, Corporate, and Subscription Products. The company's investment portfolio consists of residential, office, retail, and land and redevelopment sites.

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ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW  Get Rating) had its target price lowered by Morgan Stanley from $612.00 to $586.00 in a report issued on Tuesday morning, The Fly reports.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of ServiceNow from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, January 26th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on ServiceNow from $500.00 to $510.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 26th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of ServiceNow from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, January 26th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on shares of ServiceNow from $460.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, January 26th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of ServiceNow from $495.00 to $525.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $525.47.

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ServiceNow Stock Performance

Shares of NOW stock opened at $452.57 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $92.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 230.90, a P/E/G ratio of 5.19 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.17. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $450.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $426.04. ServiceNow has a one year low of $337.00 and a one year high of $521.58.

Insider Activity at ServiceNow

Institutional Trading of ServiceNow

In other news, Director Anita M. Sands sold 1,315 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Friday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.75, for a total transaction of $604,571.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,443 shares in the company, valued at $6,640,169.25. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link . In related news, insider Lara Caimi sold 2,975 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $431.58, for a total value of $1,283,950.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 98 shares in the company, valued at $42,294.84. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website . Also, Director Anita M. Sands sold 1,315 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.75, for a total value of $604,571.25. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 14,443 shares of the companys stock, valued at $6,640,169.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here . Insiders sold a total of 19,070 shares of company stock valued at $8,581,516 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.28% of the companys stock.

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Colonial Trust Co SC increased its position in ServiceNow by 34.0% during the 1st quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 130 shares of the information technology services providers stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the period. RMB Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in ServiceNow by 71.1% during the 1st quarter. RMB Capital Management LLC now owns 888 shares of the information technology services providers stock worth $413,000 after acquiring an additional 369 shares during the period. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in ServiceNow by 10.8% during the 1st quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 463 shares of the information technology services providers stock worth $215,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. Vinva Investment Management Ltd acquired a new stake in ServiceNow during the 1st quarter worth about $3,137,000. Finally, Summit Wealth & Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in ServiceNow during the 1st quarter worth about $259,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.31% of the companys stock.

About ServiceNow

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ServiceNow, Inc engages in the provision of enterprise cloud computing solutions. The firm delivers digital workflows on a single enterprise cloud platform called the Now Platform. Its product portfolio is focused on providing Information Technology, Employee and Customer workflows. The company was founded by Frederic B.

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Motley Fool Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in UiPath Inc. (NYSE:PATH  Get Rating) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 11,228 shares of the healthcare companys stock, valued at approximately $143,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of UiPath by 4.5% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,463,001 shares of the healthcare companys stock valued at $358,918,000 after buying an additional 1,215,702 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. increased its holdings in shares of UiPath by 10.1% in the third quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 16,521,462 shares of the healthcare companys stock valued at $208,337,000 after buying an additional 1,516,484 shares in the last quarter. Alphabet Inc. acquired a new stake in UiPath during the 3rd quarter valued at $177,406,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in UiPath by 32.4% during the 2nd quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 9,623,861 shares of the healthcare companys stock valued at $175,058,000 after purchasing an additional 2,354,365 shares during the period. Finally, Altimeter Capital Management LP raised its stake in UiPath by 175.4% during the 1st quarter. Altimeter Capital Management LP now owns 8,275,000 shares of the healthcare companys stock valued at $71,579,000 after purchasing an additional 5,270,194 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 56.40% of the companys stock.

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Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Hitesh Ramani sold 12,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.01, for a total transaction of $204,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 407,349 shares of the companys stock, valued at $6,929,006.49. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CAO Hitesh Ramani sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.01, for a total transaction of $204,120.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 407,349 shares of the companys stock, valued at $6,929,006.49. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Ashim Gupta sold 40,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.18, for a total transaction of $647,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 1,624,341 shares in the company, valued at $26,281,837.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 132,000 shares of company stock valued at $2,194,120. Insiders own 31.88% of the companys stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

UiPath Price Performance

PATH has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Credit Suisse Group reissued an outperform rating and set a $27.50 target price on shares of UiPath in a research note on Friday, March 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of UiPath from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of UiPath from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Monday, April 3rd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of UiPath from $16.00 to $20.00 in a report on Friday, March 17th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a buy rating and set a $20.00 price target on shares of UiPath in a report on Thursday, March 16th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $19.03.

PATH stock opened at $14.61 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $15.44 and a two-hundred day moving average of $14.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -24.35 and a beta of 0.69. UiPath Inc. has a 52-week low of $10.40 and a 52-week high of $22.30.

UiPath (NYSE:PATH  Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 15th. The healthcare company reported ($0.03) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of ($0.05) by $0.02. The business had revenue of $308.55 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $278.14 million. UiPath had a negative net margin of 31.02% and a negative return on equity of 15.38%. Equities analysts expect that UiPath Inc. will post -0.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

UiPath Profile

(Get Rating)

UiPath Inc provides an end-to-end automation platform that offers a range of robotic process automation (RPA) solutions primarily in the United States, Romania, and Japan. The company offers a suite of interrelated software to build, manage, run, engage, measure, and govern automation within the organization.

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Shares of Nabors Industries Ltd. (NYSE:NBR  Get Rating) hit a new 52-week low on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $90.52 and last traded at $91.08, with a volume of 90041 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $94.25.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on NBR shares. Barclays cut Nabors Industries from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and dropped their target price for the company from $250.00 to $150.00 in a report on Tuesday. Benchmark started coverage on Nabors Industries in a report on Thursday, January 19th. They set a hold rating for the company. StockNews.com upgraded Nabors Industries from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, April 26th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Nabors Industries from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Nabors Industries from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $175.00 to $165.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Nabors Industries currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $163.57.

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Nabors Industries Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $856.22 million, a P/E ratio of -6.00 and a beta of 2.76. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $116.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $145.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.40, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 1.87.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Nabors Industries ( NYSE:NBR Get Rating ) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 7th. The oil and gas company reported ($3.89) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.06) by ($2.83). Nabors Industries had a negative return on equity of 26.14% and a negative net margin of 4.03%. The firm had revenue of $769.34 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $734.46 million. On average, analysts forecast that Nabors Industries Ltd. will post 8.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. US Bancorp DE increased its position in Nabors Industries by 165.9% during the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 226 shares of the oil and gas companys stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp bought a new position in Nabors Industries during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its position in Nabors Industries by 89.6% during the 3rd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 565 shares of the oil and gas companys stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. State of Wyoming increased its position in Nabors Industries by 55.6% during the 4th quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 585 shares of the oil and gas companys stock valued at $91,000 after buying an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in Nabors Industries by 43.1% during the 3rd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 793 shares of the oil and gas companys stock valued at $80,000 after buying an additional 239 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.98% of the companys stock.

Nabors Industries Company Profile

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Nabors Industries Ltd. engages in the provision of platform work over and drilling rigs. It also provides performance tools, directional drilling services, tubular running services, and innovative technologies. It operates through the following business segments: U.S. Drilling, Canada Drilling, International Drilling, Drilling Solutions, and Rig Technologies.

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Hydro One Limited (TSE:H  Get Rating)  Analysts at National Bank Financial lowered their FY2023 EPS estimates for Hydro One in a note issued to investors on Monday, May 8th. National Bank Financial analyst P. Kenny now anticipates that the company will earn $1.75 per share for the year, down from their prior estimate of $1.79. The consensus estimate for Hydro Ones current full-year earnings is $1.76 per share. National Bank Financial also issued estimates for Hydro Ones FY2024 earnings at $1.82 EPS.

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H has been the topic of a number of other reports. Wells Fargo & Company restated an equal weight rating on shares of Hydro One in a research report on Wednesday, April 19th. CIBC lowered shares of Hydro One from an outperform rating to a neutral rating and raised their target price for the stock from C$39.00 to C$41.00 in a research report on Friday, April 21st. CSFB raised their target price on shares of Hydro One from C$36.00 to C$40.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 26th. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Hydro One from C$34.00 to C$36.00 in a research report on Monday, January 23rd. Finally, Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Hydro One from C$35.50 to C$38.50 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and six have issued a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of C$38.28.

Hydro One Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of TSE:H opened at C$39.14 on Wednesday. The firms 50 day moving average price is C$38.60 and its 200 day moving average price is C$36.89. The stock has a market cap of C$23.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.24. Hydro One has a fifty-two week low of C$30.87 and a fifty-two week high of C$40.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 133.36.

Hydro One (TSE:H  Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 14th. The company reported C$0.30 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of C$0.30. The business had revenue of C$1.86 billion during the quarter.

Hydro One Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.296 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 6th. This is a boost from Hydro Ones previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.03%. Hydro Ones dividend payout ratio is 70.00%.

Hydro One Company Profile

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Hydro One Limited, through its subsidiaries, operates as an electricity transmission and distribution company in Ontario. It operates through three segments: Transmission Business, Distribution Business, and Other. The company owns and operates approximately 30,000 circuit kilometers of high-voltage transmission lines and 125,000 circuit kilometers of primary low-voltage distribution network.

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StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Natuzzi (NYSE:NTZ  Get Rating) in a research note published on Monday morning. The firm issued a hold rating on the stock.

Natuzzi Trading Down 11.0 %

NYSE:NTZ opened at $5.09 on Monday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $5.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $6.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $55.84 million, a P/E ratio of 7.83 and a beta of 1.59. Natuzzi has a 12-month low of $4.40 and a 12-month high of $10.90.

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Institutional Trading of Natuzzi

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Ieq Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Natuzzi during the 4th quarter worth about $79,000. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Natuzzi by 11.3% in the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 15,577 shares of the companys stock valued at $171,000 after acquiring an additional 1,577 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. grew its stake in shares of Natuzzi by 60.8% in the 3rd quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 144,152 shares of the companys stock valued at $894,000 after purchasing an additional 54,526 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 16.70% of the companys stock.

Natuzzi Company Profile

Natuzzi SpA engages in the design, production and marketing of contemporary and traditional leather and fabric upholstered furniture. Its products include sofas, armchairs, home furniture, and home accessories. The firm operates through the following product lines: Natuzzi Brand and Softaly/Private Label.

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Rio Tinto Group (LON:RIO  Get Rating) insider Ngaire Woods acquired 500 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 11th. The stock was bought at an average price of GBX 4,921 ($62.09) per share, with a total value of 24,605 ($31,047.32).

Ngaire Woods also recently made the following trade(s):

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On Wednesday, April 5th, Ngaire Woods acquired 410 shares of Rio Tinto Group stock. The shares were bought at an average cost of GBX 5,338 ($67.36) per share, for a total transaction of 21,885.80 ($27,616.15).

Rio Tinto Group Trading Down 0.1 %

LON:RIO opened at GBX 4,877 ($61.54) on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 23.47, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.63. The firm has a market cap of 60.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 806.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of -0.64 and a beta of 0.69. Rio Tinto Group has a 52 week low of GBX 4,424.50 ($55.83) and a 52 week high of GBX 6,406 ($80.83). The firm has a 50-day moving average price of GBX 5,338.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of GBX 5,578.68.

Rio Tinto Group Cuts Dividend

Analyst Ratings Changes

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 9th were paid a GBX 185.35 ($2.34) dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 9th. This represents a yield of 2.99%. Rio Tinto Groups dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6,716.17%.

RIO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays set a GBX 5,800 ($73.19) price objective on shares of Rio Tinto Group in a research report on Thursday, January 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Rio Tinto Group from GBX 5,110 ($64.48) to GBX 5,250 ($66.25) in a research report on Friday, April 28th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Rio Tinto Group from GBX 5,100 ($64.35) to GBX 5,000 ($63.09) in a research report on Friday, April 21st. UBS Group set a GBX 5,000 ($63.09) price objective on shares of Rio Tinto Group in a research report on Wednesday, February 22nd. Finally, Berenberg Bank reissued a buy rating and set a GBX 6,600 ($83.28) price objective on shares of Rio Tinto Group in a research report on Friday, April 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of GBX 6,134.62 ($77.41).

Rio Tinto Group Company Profile

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Rio Tinto Group engages in exploring, mining, and processing mineral resources worldwide. The company offers aluminum, copper, diamonds, gold, borates, titanium dioxide, salt, iron ore, and lithium. It also owns and operates open pit and underground mines, mills, refineries, smelters, power stations, and research and service facilities.

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A Utah man was sentenced May 8 for assaulting law enforcement officers during the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. His and others' actions disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the presidential election.

Landon Kenneth Copeland, 34, of Hildale, Utah, was sentenced in the District of Columbia to 36 months in prison for assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers. According to court documents, Copeland was part of a group of rioters illegally gathered at approximately 1:11 p.m. on Jan. 6 on the West Plaza of the Capitol grounds, a restricted area. While there, another rioter approached a Capitol Police officer and placed his hands around the officer's collar or neck.

From behind, Copeland pushed that other rioter, and the officer fell to the ground. The officer sustained injuries to his knee, back, and hip during his defense of the Capitol on Jan. 6, and attributes some of these injuries to this incident.

READ NEXT: Robber of St. Louis County Store Sentenced to 130 months in Prison

Immediately after the officer fell to the ground, other officers came to his assistance. Copeland grabbed a riot shield belonging to one officer and pushed against the police line. He grabbed another officer's jacket and grappled with that officer, pushing the officer backward. Then he lowered his body to block other officers as they attempted to control the crowd.

As these assaults continued, members of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) arrived to assist. MPD officers began placing metal bike rack-style barricades across the West Plaza in an effort to establish a perimeter around the Capitol Building. At approximately 1:14 p.m., another rioter grabbed one of these barricades, pulling it away from an MPD officer standing with it.

Copeland and other rioters joined in a tug of war with officers who attempted to reclaim the barricade. As events continued, chemical spray was deployed against members of the crowd. Copeland then charged officers with the barricade, pushing and throwing it into multiple officers.

Copeland was arrested on April 29, 2021, in St. George, Utah. He pleaded guilty on May 19, 2022. In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Court Judge Amit P. Mehta ordered 36 months of supervised release and a fine/restitution of $2,000.

The case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia and the Department of Justice National Security Division's Counterterrorism Section. Valuable assistance was provided by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Utah.

The case was investigated by the FBI's Washington Field Office, which listed Copeland as #56 on its seeking information photos, and the FBI's Salt Lake City Field Office. Valuable assistance was provided by the U.S. Capitol Police and the Metropolitan Police Department.

In the 28 months since Jan. 6, 2021, more than 1,000 individuals have been arrested in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including more than 320 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement. The investigation remains ongoing.

Anyone with tips can call 1-800-CALL-FBI (800-225-5324) or visit tips.fbi.gov.

READ MORE: Louisville Man Sentenced in Federal Court to 32 Years in Prison for Multiple Carjackings and Related Charges

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Nutrien (NYSE:NTR  Get Rating) was upgraded by equities researchers at Raymond James from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a note issued to investors on Friday, The Fly reports. The brokerage currently has a $85.00 target price on the stock. Raymond James price objective suggests a potential upside of 37.67% from the companys previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. HSBC dropped their price objective on Nutrien from $83.00 to $81.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Nutrien from $119.00 to $106.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 19th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Nutrien from $87.00 to $86.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 20th. Erste Group Bank reissued a hold rating on shares of Nutrien in a report on Tuesday, March 28th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on Nutrien from $93.00 to $80.00 in a report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Nutrien has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $88.29.

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Nutrien Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NTR opened at $61.74 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.67 billion, a PE ratio of 4.38, a P/E/G ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 0.61. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $71.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $75.74. Nutrien has a fifty-two week low of $58.75 and a fifty-two week high of $104.65.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nutrien

Nutrien ( NYSE:NTR Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 15th. The company reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.63 by ($0.61). The company had revenue of $7.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.41 billion. Nutrien had a net margin of 20.22% and a return on equity of 27.65%. Nutriens revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.47 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Nutrien will post 8.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Nutrien by 43.1% during the 3rd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,173,789 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,682,092,000 after purchasing an additional 6,080,975 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Nutrien during the 4th quarter valued at about $409,603,000. Parnassus Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Nutrien by 2,781.4% during the 1st quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 5,422,649 shares of the companys stock valued at $400,463,000 after purchasing an additional 5,234,452 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors bought a new stake in shares of Nutrien during the 1st quarter valued at about $521,017,000. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI boosted its position in shares of Nutrien by 470.5% during the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 3,916,207 shares of the companys stock valued at $285,760,000 after purchasing an additional 3,229,764 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.52% of the companys stock.

Nutrien Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Nutrien Ltd. is a crop nutrient company, which engages in the production and distribution of products for agricultural, industrial, and feed customer. It operates through the following segments: Retail, Potash, Nitrogen, and Phosphate. The Retail segment distributes crop nutrients, crop protection products, seed, and merchandise.

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Nuveen Floating Rate Income Fund (NYSE:JFR  Get Rating) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in the month of April. As of April 30th, there was short interest totalling 411,300 shares, a decline of 45.1% from the April 15th total of 749,700 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 214,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.9 days.

Institutional Trading of Nuveen Floating Rate Income Fund

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Nuveen Floating Rate Income Fund by 15.1% during the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 65,585 shares of the companys stock valued at $657,000 after purchasing an additional 8,598 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC boosted its stake in shares of Nuveen Floating Rate Income Fund by 9.5% in the 1st quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 14,450 shares of the companys stock worth $145,000 after buying an additional 1,250 shares during the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Nuveen Floating Rate Income Fund by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 379,475 shares of the companys stock worth $3,799,000 after buying an additional 1,255 shares during the last quarter. Stonebridge Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Nuveen Floating Rate Income Fund in the 1st quarter worth approximately $41,000. Finally, UBS Group AG boosted its stake in shares of Nuveen Floating Rate Income Fund by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 842,439 shares of the companys stock worth $8,433,000 after buying an additional 13,307 shares during the last quarter.

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Nuveen Floating Rate Income Fund Price Performance

JFR stock opened at $8.06 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $8.19 and a 200-day moving average price of $8.27. Nuveen Floating Rate Income Fund has a 1-year low of $7.69 and a 1-year high of $9.24.

Nuveen Floating Rate Income Fund Dividend Announcement

Nuveen Floating Rate Income Fund Company Profile

The company also recently announced a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 1st. Investors of record on Monday, May 15th will be given a $0.075 dividend. This represents a $0.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 11.17%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 12th.

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Nuveen Floating Rate Income Fund is a closed-end investment fund. Its investment objective is to achieve a level of current income by investing in adjustable rate secured and unsecured senior loans and other debt instruments. The company was founded on March 25, 2004 and is headquartered in Chicago, IL.

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Royal London Asset Management Ltd. reduced its holdings in OGE Energy Corp. (NYSE:OGE  Get Rating) by 1.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 406,338 shares of the utilities providers stock after selling 6,613 shares during the quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. owned 0.20% of OGE Energy worth $16,067,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in OGE. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of OGE Energy by 39.5% during the 3rd quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,169 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 331 shares in the last quarter. Lincoln National Corp boosted its position in shares of OGE Energy by 53.4% in the third quarter. Lincoln National Corp now owns 12,630 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $460,000 after buying an additional 4,395 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in OGE Energy by 6.1% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 40,537 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $1,478,000 after purchasing an additional 2,346 shares during the last quarter. Invst LLC boosted its position in OGE Energy by 10.8% during the third quarter. Invst LLC now owns 22,142 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $771,000 after purchasing an additional 2,164 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Avantax Advisory Services Inc. boosted its position in OGE Energy by 9.4% during the third quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 12,779 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $466,000 after purchasing an additional 1,093 shares during the last quarter. 67.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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OGE Energy Stock Down 1.2 %

OGE stock opened at $37.52 on Friday. OGE Energy Corp. has a twelve month low of $33.28 and a twelve month high of $42.91. The company has a market cap of $7.51 billion, a PE ratio of 17.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.73. The businesss 50-day simple moving average is $36.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91.

OGE Energy Increases Dividend

OGE Energy ( NYSE:OGE Get Rating ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 4th. The utilities provider reported $0.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $544.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $556.82 million. OGE Energy had a return on equity of 9.71% and a net margin of 12.70%. The firms revenue for the quarter was down 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.39 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that OGE Energy Corp. will post 2.01 earnings per share for the current year.

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 10th were issued a dividend of $0.4141 per share. This represents a $1.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.41%. This is an increase from OGE Energys previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 6th. OGE Energys payout ratio is presently 78.20%.

Insider Transactions at OGE Energy

In other OGE Energy news, Director David L. Hauser bought 1,000 shares of OGE Energy stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 14th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $35.09 per share, with a total value of $35,090.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 3,000 shares of the companys stock, valued at $105,270. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, Director David E. Rainbolt acquired 5,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 27th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $36.65 per share, for a total transaction of $183,250.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,000 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $549,750. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director David L. Hauser acquired 1,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 14th. The stock was bought at an average price of $35.09 per share, with a total value of $35,090.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,000 shares in the company, valued at $105,270. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have acquired 6,100 shares of company stock valued at $221,925 in the last three months. 0.42% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

OGE has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group cut OGE Energy from a buy rating to a neutral rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $41.00 to $39.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 28th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH began coverage on OGE Energy in a report on Thursday, April 20th. They set a neutral rating and a $37.00 target price on the stock. Guggenheim lowered OGE Energy from a buy rating to a neutral rating and raised their target price for the company from $39.00 to $40.00 in a report on Monday, January 23rd. StockNews.com began coverage on OGE Energy in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a hold rating on the stock. Finally, Mizuho cut their target price on OGE Energy from $40.00 to $36.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 23rd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to MarketBeat.com, OGE Energy currently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $38.75.

OGE Energy Company Profile

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OGE Energy Corp. is a holding company with investments in energy and energy service providers, offering physical delivery and related services for electricity in Oklahoma and western Arkansas and natural gas, crude oil and NGLs across the U.S. OGE Energy conducts these activities through two business segments: Electric Utility and Natural Gas Midstream Operations.

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PerkinElmer (NYSE:PKI  Get Rating) posted its earnings results on Thursday. The medical research company reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $1.07 by ($0.06), RTT News reports. PerkinElmer had a net margin of 14.69% and a return on equity of 13.94%. The business had revenue of $674.87 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $686.30 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.41 earnings per share.

PerkinElmer Price Performance

NYSE:PKI opened at $118.37 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 2.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The stocks 50 day moving average price is $129.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $133.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.85, a P/E/G ratio of 0.55 and a beta of 1.10. PerkinElmer has a 12-month low of $113.46 and a 12-month high of $170.00.

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PerkinElmer Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 21st will be paid a $0.07 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 20th. This represents a $0.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.24%. PerkinElmers dividend payout ratio is 6.11%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Insider Buying and Selling at PerkinElmer

A number of analysts have recently commented on PKI shares. TheStreet upgraded PerkinElmer from a c+ rating to a b rating in a report on Tuesday, February 14th. Credit Suisse Group restated a neutral rating and issued a $160.00 price target on shares of PerkinElmer in a report on Wednesday, February 15th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on PerkinElmer from $182.00 to $165.00 in a report on Friday. StockNews.com began coverage on PerkinElmer in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a hold rating on the stock. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on PerkinElmer from $140.00 to $125.00 in a report on Friday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, PerkinElmer currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $159.60.

In other news, insider Daniel R. Tereau sold 10,741 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.72, for a total value of $1,328,876.52. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 11,611 shares of the companys stock, valued at $1,436,512.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider Daniel R. Tereau sold 10,741 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.72, for a total value of $1,328,876.52. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 11,611 shares of the companys stock, valued at $1,436,512.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Maxwell Krakowiak sold 322 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total value of $41,860.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,202 shares in the company, valued at approximately $936,260. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 15,349 shares of company stock worth $1,953,042 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.52% of the companys stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PerkinElmer

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PKI. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in PerkinElmer by 1.8% during the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 6,151 shares of the medical research companys stock worth $820,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of PerkinElmer by 33.3% in the 1st quarter. FMR LLC now owns 164,835 shares of the medical research companys stock valued at $21,966,000 after acquiring an additional 41,163 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of PerkinElmer by 46.5% in the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 7,490 shares of the medical research companys stock valued at $988,000 after acquiring an additional 2,377 shares during the last quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of PerkinElmer by 6.2% in the 4th quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 2,721 shares of the medical research companys stock valued at $382,000 after acquiring an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its stake in shares of PerkinElmer by 27.0% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 485 shares of the medical research companys stock valued at $68,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.22% of the companys stock.

PerkinElmer Company Profile

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PerkinElmer, Inc engages in the provision of products, services, and solutions for diagnostics, food, environmental, life sciences, and applied markets. It operates through the following segments: Discovery & Analytical Solutions and Diagnostics. The Discovery & Analytical Solutions segment consists of technologies that help life sciences researchers better understand diseases and develop treatments.

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Devon Energy Co. (NYSE:DVN  Get Rating)  Research analysts at Capital One Financial cut their Q2 2023 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for Devon Energy in a report released on Tuesday, May 9th. Capital One Financial analyst P. Johnston now expects that the energy company will post earnings of $1.54 per share for the quarter, down from their prior estimate of $1.60. The consensus estimate for Devon Energys current full-year earnings is $6.50 per share. Capital One Financial also issued estimates for Devon Energys Q3 2023 earnings at $1.60 EPS, Q4 2023 earnings at $1.59 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $5.12 EPS.

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Devon Energy (NYSE:DVN  Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 8th. The energy company reported $1.46 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $3.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.82 billion. Devon Energy had a return on equity of 52.20% and a net margin of 31.38%. Devon Energys quarterly revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.88 earnings per share.

Devon Energy Stock Down 1.8 %

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Morgan Stanley reduced 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. Barclays reduced their target price on Devon Energy from $82.00 to $67.00 in a research report on Friday, March 17th. Bank of America reduced their target price on Devon Energy from $67.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Devon Energy from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 19th. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their target price on Devon Energy from $80.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 14th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $70.68.

DVN opened at $47.26 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.25. Devon Energy has a one year low of $44.03 and a one year high of $79.40. The businesss fifty day moving average is $51.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $59.73. The company has a market cap of $30.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.15, a PEG ratio of 0.15 and a beta of 2.34.

Devon Energy Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 14th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.09%. Devon Energys dividend payout ratio is presently 31.41%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Devon Energy news, CEO Richard E. Muncrief acquired 10,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Friday, February 17th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $53.28 per share, for a total transaction of $532,800.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,973,977 shares of the companys stock, valued at $105,173,494.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO Richard E. Muncrief bought 10,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 17th. The stock was bought at an average price of $53.28 per share, for a total transaction of $532,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,973,977 shares in the company, valued at $105,173,494.56. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John E. Bethancourt acquired 3,765 shares of Devon Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 17th. The shares were bought at an average price of $53.06 per share, with a total value of $199,770.90. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 94,669 shares in the company, valued at $5,023,137.14. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DVN. State Street Corp boosted its position in Devon Energy by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 42,814,521 shares of the energy companys stock valued at $2,574,437,000 after purchasing an additional 2,902,180 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Devon Energy by 96.4% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,608,577 shares of the energy companys stock worth $344,984,000 after acquiring an additional 2,752,752 shares during the period. Yacktman Asset Management LP acquired a new position in Devon Energy during the 3rd quarter worth $160,242,000. Capital Wealth Planning LLC boosted its position in Devon Energy by 90.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 5,386,490 shares of the energy companys stock worth $331,323,000 after acquiring an additional 2,562,584 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Devon Energy by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 77,173,489 shares of the energy companys stock worth $4,640,442,000 after acquiring an additional 1,637,042 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.08% of the companys stock.

Devon Energy Company Profile

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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.

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Nutrien (NYSE:NTR  Get Rating) had its price target dropped by research analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $100.00 to $95.00 in a research report issued on Friday, The Fly reports. Royal Bank of Canadas target price would suggest a potential upside of 55.97% from the stocks current price.

NTR has been the subject of several other reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Nutrien from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Friday, February 17th. Scotiabank raised shares of Nutrien from a sector perform rating to a sector outperform rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $95.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Monday, April 10th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Nutrien from $91.00 to $80.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. set a $92.00 price objective on shares of Nutrien in a research note on Friday, February 17th. Finally, Berenberg Bank set a $92.00 price objective on shares of Nutrien in a research note on Tuesday, February 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $87.41.

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Nutrien Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NTR traded down $0.83 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $60.91. The companys stock had a trading volume of 3,644,242 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,216,620. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 1.14. Nutrien has a fifty-two week low of $58.75 and a fifty-two week high of $104.65. The businesss 50 day moving average price is $71.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $75.74. The company has a market cap of $30.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.32, a P/E/G ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 0.88.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nutrien

Nutrien ( NYSE:NTR Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 15th. The company reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.63 by ($0.61). Nutrien had a net margin of 20.22% and a return on equity of 27.65%. The firm had revenue of $7.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.41 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.47 earnings per share. The firms revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Nutrien will post 8.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NTR. BlackRock Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Nutrien by 79.6% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 3,490,036 shares of the companys stock worth $362,929,000 after acquiring an additional 1,547,030 shares during the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. purchased a new stake in Nutrien in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,370,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Nutrien in the 1st quarter valued at about $323,000. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. increased its stake in Nutrien by 5.7% in the 1st quarter. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. now owns 11,675 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,208,000 after buying an additional 629 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zions Bancorporation N.A. increased its stake in Nutrien by 55.2% in the 1st quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 301 shares of the companys stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.52% of the companys stock.

Nutrien Company Profile

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Nutrien Ltd. is a crop nutrient company, which engages in the production and distribution of products for agricultural, industrial, and feed customer. It operates through the following segments: Retail, Potash, Nitrogen, and Phosphate. The Retail segment distributes crop nutrients, crop protection products, seed, and merchandise.

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Virgin Money UK (LON:VMUK  Get Rating) had its price objective increased by Royal Bank of Canada from GBX 205 ($2.59) to GBX 220 ($2.78) in a research report report published on Tuesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has a sector perform rating on the stock.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Berenberg Bank increased their target price on shares of Virgin Money UK from GBX 170 ($2.15) to GBX 195 ($2.46) and gave the stock a hold rating in a research note on Friday, February 3rd. Citigroup reaffirmed a buy rating on shares of Virgin Money UK in a research note on Friday, March 10th. Shore Capital reaffirmed a buy rating on shares of Virgin Money UK in a research note on Wednesday, February 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Virgin Money UK from GBX 180 ($2.27) to GBX 200 ($2.52) and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, February 2nd. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Virgin Money UK from GBX 230 ($2.90) to GBX 200 ($2.52) and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 21st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Virgin Money UK has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of GBX 209 ($2.64).

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Virgin Money UK Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of LON VMUK opened at GBX 150.10 ($1.89) on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of 2.06 billion, a PE ratio of 416.94, a P/E/G ratio of -0.56 and a beta of 1.97. Virgin Money UK has a 12-month low of GBX 1.46 ($0.02) and a 12-month high of GBX 200 ($2.52). The companys fifty day simple moving average is GBX 151.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is GBX 166.11.

Virgin Money UK Cuts Dividend

About Virgin Money UK

The company also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, May 18th will be given a dividend of GBX 3.30 ($0.04) per share. This represents a dividend yield of 2.15%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 18th. Virgin Money UKs payout ratio is currently 3,055.56%.

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Virgin Money UK PLC provides banking products and services for consumers, and small and medium sized businesses under the Clydesdale Bank, Yorkshire Bank, and Virgin Money brands in the United Kingdom. The company offers savings and current accounts, mortgages, credit cards, and home loans; business loans, overdraft facilities, treasury solutions, and corporate and structured finance; asset and invoice finance services; risk management; international trade services; and home, car, and life and critical illness insurance products.

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George Weston (TSE:WN  Get Rating) had its price target increased by Scotiabank from C$181.00 to C$183.00 in a research report sent to investors on Monday, BayStreet.CA reports.

WN has been the subject of several other research reports. Desjardins increased their target price on shares of George Weston from C$189.00 to C$192.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 2nd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of George Weston from C$172.00 to C$180.00 in a report on Thursday, March 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on George Weston from C$204.00 to C$215.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 28th. TD Securities raised their price target on George Weston from C$190.00 to C$200.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Monday, February 27th. Finally, CIBC boosted their price objective on George Weston from C$204.00 to C$210.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, March 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of C$196.67.

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George Weston Stock Performance

George Weston stock opened at C$170.84 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of C$24.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 156.68, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of C$174.21 and a 200-day simple moving average of C$169.41. George Weston has a 1-year low of C$138.77 and a 1-year high of C$183.92.

George Weston Increases Dividend

George Weston ( TSE:WN Get Rating ) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, March 1st. The company reported C$2.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. George Weston had a return on equity of 21.35% and a net margin of 3.18%. The company had revenue of C$14.14 billion during the quarter. On average, analysts expect that George Weston will post 10.7616941 EPS for the current year.

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 15th will be given a dividend of $0.713 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 14th. This represents a $2.85 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.67%. This is a positive change from George Westons previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. George Westons dividend payout ratio is currently 21.66%.

Insider Activity at George Weston

In other George Weston news, Senior Officer Richard Dufresne sold 3,425 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$169.68, for a total transaction of C$581,143.04. In other news, Senior Officer Rashid Wasti sold 1,000 shares of George Weston stock in a transaction on Friday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$165.30, for a total transaction of C$165,302.00. Also, Senior Officer Richard Dufresne sold 3,425 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Monday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$169.68, for a total transaction of C$581,143.04. Over the last three months, insiders sold 4,725 shares of company stock worth $796,594. Company insiders own 56.22% of the companys stock.

About George Weston

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George Weston Limited provides food and drug retailing, and financial services in Canada and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Loblaw Companies Limited (Loblaw) and Choice Properties Real Estate Investment Trust (Choice Properties). The Loblaw segment provides grocery, pharmacy, health and beauty, apparel, general merchandise, and financial services.

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National Bank Financial upgraded shares of Thomson Reuters (NYSE:TRI  Get Rating) (TSE:TRI) from a sector perform rating to an outperform rating in a research note released on Monday, The Fly reports. National Bank Financial also issued estimates for Thomson Reuters FY2023 earnings at $3.30 EPS, FY2024 earnings at $3.74 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $4.23 EPS.

TRI has been the subject of a number of other reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Thomson Reuters from $111.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Friday, February 10th. Credit Suisse Group raised their price target on Thomson Reuters from $138.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 4th. 51job restated a downgrade rating on shares of Thomson Reuters in a research note on Wednesday, May 3rd. Scotiabank downgraded Thomson Reuters from an outperform rating to a sector perform rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com raised Thomson Reuters from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report on Saturday, March 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $139.73.

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Thomson Reuters Trading Down 2.0 %

NYSE TRI opened at $122.92 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The firm has a market cap of $57.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.00, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.58. Thomson Reuters has a one year low of $91.55 and a one year high of $133.55. The stocks 50-day moving average is $127.05 and its 200-day moving average is $119.26.

Thomson Reuters Cuts Dividend

Thomson Reuters ( NYSE:TRI Get Rating ) (TSE:TRI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.73 billion. Thomson Reuters had a return on equity of 10.55% and a net margin of 17.20%. Thomson Reuterss quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.66 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Thomson Reuters will post 3.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.362 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 17th. This represents a $1.45 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.18%. Thomson Reuterss dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 81.33%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Thomson Reuters

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of TRI. Destiny Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in Thomson Reuters by 51.3% during the 4th quarter. Destiny Wealth Partners LLC now owns 286 shares of the business services providers stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in Thomson Reuters by 993.3% during the 4th quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 328 shares of the business services providers stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 298 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc grew its position in shares of Thomson Reuters by 246.7% in the 1st quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 735 shares of the business services providers stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 523 shares during the last quarter. Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Thomson Reuters in the 3rd quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, Sentry Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Thomson Reuters in the 3rd quarter valued at about $44,000. Institutional investors own 20.84% of the companys stock.

About Thomson Reuters

(Get Rating)

Thomson Reuters Corp. engages in the provision of news and information for professional markets. It operates through the following segments: Legal Professionals, Corporates, Tax and Accounting Professionals, Reuters News, and Global Print. The Legal Professionals segment provides research and workflow products to law firms and government.

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Treasurer of the State of North Carolina boosted its holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB  Get Rating) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 546,358 shares of the pipeline companys stock after purchasing an additional 7,530 shares during the quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolinas holdings in Williams Companies were worth $17,975,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in Williams Companies by 85.8% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 16,352,215 shares of the pipeline companys stock worth $546,327,000 after purchasing an additional 7,551,749 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Williams Companies by 200.1% in the second quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,286,535 shares of the pipeline companys stock worth $164,993,000 after purchasing an additional 3,525,097 shares during the period. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. increased its stake in Williams Companies by 1,104.3% in the third quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 2,747,911 shares of the pipeline companys stock worth $78,673,000 after purchasing an additional 2,519,734 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in Williams Companies in the first quarter worth $76,303,000. Finally, Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky purchased a new stake in Williams Companies in the third quarter worth $39,553,000. 85.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WMB has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Williams Companies from $41.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 25th. Barclays dropped their price target on Williams Companies from $36.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 18th. Argus downgraded Williams Companies from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Williams Companies from $36.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 18th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on Williams Companies in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a hold rating on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $35.42.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

Williams Companies Stock Down 0.5 %

In related news, Director William H. Spence bought 5,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 14th. The stock was bought at an average price of $29.61 per share, with a total value of $148,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 48,521 shares of the companys stock, valued at $1,436,706.81. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website . Company insiders own 0.44% of the companys stock.

WMB opened at $29.00 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.63. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $29.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $31.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.62, a P/E/G ratio of 4.60 and a beta of 1.16. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $27.80 and a 12 month high of $37.97.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB  Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $3.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.65 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 17.24% and a net margin of 22.53%. Williams Companiess revenue was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.41 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 12th will be given a $0.4475 dividend. This represents a $1.79 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.17%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 9th. Williams Companiess payout ratio is 84.04%.

Williams Companies Company Profile

(Get Rating)

The Williams Cos., Inc operates as an energy infrastructure company, which explores, produces, transports, sells and processes natural gas and petroleum products. It operates through the following segments: Transmission and Gulf of Mexico, Northeast G&P, and West. The Transmission and Gulf of Mexico segment consists of interstate natural gas pipelines, the Transco and Northwest Pipelines, as well as natural gas gathering and processing and crude oil production handling and transportation assets in the Gulf Coast region.

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(Photo : Lauren DeCicca/Getty Images)

Removal of military service and the lese-majesty laws are among the top concerns of many young Thai voters.

As Thailand proceeds to the polls on Sunday, a "lost generation" of young voters driven by a desire for change are keeping taboo topics alive, such as the military's grip on the levers of power - and even regal reform.

The election on May 14 is the first since youth-led mass pro-democracy demonstrations in 2020 and only the second since a military coup in 2014 toppled an elected government, restoring a conservative cabal that has dominated the kingdom's tumultuous politics for decades.

Young Radicals Stand for Thailand's Election

While an old battleground has emerged between democratic allies and pro-military parties, at the core of this year's election is a struggle led by a younger generation that envisions a better Thailand. Both populist Pheu Thai and progressive Move Forward are campaigning to remove the military from politics and are currently dominating the polls, as per CNN.

The opposition Pheu Thai seeks a landslide victory. Paetongtarn Shinawatra is one of the party's three candidates for prime minister and the most recent member of a controversial political dynasty to run.

Her father, Thaksin, a former constable turned billionaire telecoms magnate, and her aunt, Yingluck, led administrations overthrown by military coups. In their absence, Thai courts have sentenced them to prison on corruption charges despite their exile.

Since 2001, Thaksin-aligned parties have won every election. They are trendy among the rural and urban working classes of Thailand. Analysts, however, are describing Move Forward as a "game-changer." The party's platform, running for the first time, includes a radical national reform agenda threatening to upend Thailand's conservative establishment.

It promises extensive structural reforms to how Thailand is governed, including changes to the military, the economy, the decentralization of power, and even the monarchy, which was previously sacrosanct. Reuters reported last week that two separate opinion polls placed Move Forward's leader, 42-year-old Pita Limjaroenrat, as the favorite for prime minister, suggesting that the party's reform platform is appealing to Thais of all ages.

The emphasis on youthful voters comes three years after student-led protests shook Thailand by challenging the military's long-standing influence in politics and, in a startling turn of events, by questioning the king's role in society, a previously taboo subject.

Although Move Forward was not officially a part of the student protests, several activists are vying for office as party candidates, and many are party workers. Its progressive campaign platform incorporates many of the demonstrators' demands, including, most contentiously, the amendment of a criminal law that makes insulting the monarch punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

Move Forward has also adopted the rewriting of the constitution to limit the military's authority, the abolition of military conscription, and the replacement of appointed provincial administrators with elected ones.

A late surge in the polls for Move Forward and its young leader, 42-year-old Pita Limjaroenrat, indicates that the spirit of the protests appears to have spread to the broader electorate, which is weary of the old divisions that have torn the country apart for nearly two decades.

Paetongtarn Shinawatra's Pheu Thai party, predicted to win the most seats, has courted young voters by claiming that a decisive victory would enable it to remove the military generals from power. According to The Guardian, it has pledged to pursue an end to military conscription, approval of equal marriage, and an increase in the minimum wage.

According to Dr. Pitch Pongsawat of Chulalongkorn University, the political outlook of first-time electors has been influenced by the current prime minister, Prayuth Chan-Ocha, a former military general who seized power in a 2014 coup.

This weekend's election is the first since widespread youth-led protests in 2020 demanded Prayuth's resignation and the removal of the military from politics. Student protest leaders also risked prison time to demand a reduction in the royal family's power and wealth and repeal the lese majesty law, which criminalizes and punishes criticism of the monarchy.

Since the protests, over 230 individuals, including minors, have been charged under a law that carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.

Whether citizens should have the right to criticize the monarchy has emerged as a new political faultline, and this election is the first time that public leaders have substantively debated the lese majesty law, according to political commentator Ken Mathis Lohatepanont.

Move Forward has stated that it will advocate for the reform of the law, while Paetongtarn has stated that the issue should be discussed in parliament. Conservative parties oppose reform vehemently.

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Thailand Elections

Thailand is a democratic monarchy. The chief of state is King Vajiralongkorn, but he has little direct influence over the government, which the prime minister administers.

Per The Washington Post, the prime minister is chosen by the National Assembly, comprised of the Senate and the House of Representatives. After acquiring power in a coup in 2014, Thailand's military leaders gave the military the authority to appoint all 250 members of the Senate, leaving only the 500 members of the House up for election.

Existing senators, including Prayuth's brother and close aides, are expected to demonstrate overwhelming support for the military in this election, as they did in 2019, indicating that the opposition must win 376 out of 500 House seats to have a chance of forming a government.

The rising cost of food and fuel, or what the Thai refer to as "mouth and stomach" issues, has been a major concern. Parties have, with few exceptions, pledged large post-election benefits that many analysts believe the country needs help to afford. In recent years, Thailand's economic development has lagged behind its neighbors, and the governing government has been criticized for failing to attract more investment from emerging industries such as technology.

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AES (NYSE:AES  Get Rating) had its target price lowered by UBS Group from $30.00 to $27.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, The Fly reports.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. TheStreet lowered AES from a b- rating to a c rating in a research note on Monday, February 27th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on AES from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 20th. Wolfe Research downgraded AES from an outperform rating to a peer perform rating in a report on Monday, April 17th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an outperform rating and issued a $32.00 price target on shares of AES in a report on Monday, March 6th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded AES from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report on Friday, April 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $30.30.

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AES Stock Performance

NYSE:AES opened at $22.03 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $23.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $25.94. AES has a 12-month low of $18.62 and a 12-month high of $29.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.75 billion, a P/E ratio of -26.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.23.

AES Dividend Announcement

AES ( NYSE:AES Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $0.24 by ($0.02). AES had a negative net margin of 3.59% and a positive return on equity of 38.46%. The firm had revenue of $3.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.84 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.21 earnings per share. AESs quarterly revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that AES will post 1.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 1st will be given a dividend of $0.1659 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 28th. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.01%. AESs dividend payout ratio is currently -80.49%.

Institutional Trading of AES

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AES. UBS Asset Management Americas Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AES by 69.1% in the 3rd quarter. UBS Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 3,173,571 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $71,723,000 after buying an additional 1,296,514 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AES by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 83,790,219 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $2,155,923,000 after buying an additional 1,285,423 shares during the period. Clean Energy Transition LLP purchased a new position in shares of AES in the 1st quarter valued at about $31,799,000. Owl Creek Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in shares of AES by 59.5% in the 3rd quarter. Owl Creek Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,807,760 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $63,455,000 after purchasing an additional 1,047,252 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of AES by 83.2% in the 1st quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,062,167 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $49,655,000 after purchasing an additional 936,829 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.46% of the companys stock.

About AES

(Get Rating)

The AES Corp. engages in the provision of power generation and utility services through its renewable and thermal generation facilities and distribution businesses. It operates through the following segments: U.S. and Utilities Strategic Business Unit (SBU), South America SBU, MCAC SBU, Eurasia SBU. The U.S.

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Venture Visionary Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO  Get Rating) by 4.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 97,514 shares of the companys stock after buying an additional 4,323 shares during the period. Venture Visionary Partners LLCs holdings in Altria Group were worth $4,457,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in Altria Group by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 404,894 shares of the companys stock valued at $21,248,000 after purchasing an additional 6,324 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in Altria Group by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 18,647 shares of the companys stock valued at $974,000 after purchasing an additional 929 shares in the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P bought a new stake in Altria Group during the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,711,773 shares of the companys stock worth $141,690,000 after acquiring an additional 89,334 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Western Trust Bank purchased a new position in Altria Group during the 1st quarter worth $498,000. 58.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on MO shares. Stifel Nicolaus started coverage on shares of Altria Group in a report on Thursday, April 13th. They set a buy rating and a $52.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Altria Group in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a buy rating on the stock. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Altria Group from $49.50 to $47.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Monday, January 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $44.67.

Altria Group Stock Performance

MO traded up $0.03 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $45.70. The stock had a trading volume of 1,055,194 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,001,081. The company has a market cap of $81.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.59. The business has a fifty day moving average of $45.81 and a 200 day moving average of $45.89. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $40.35 and a 1 year high of $54.89.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO  Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The company reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $4.89 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.12 EPS. The firms quarterly revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 24th were issued a $0.94 dividend. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.23%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 23rd. Altria Groups dividend payout ratio is 120.90%.

About Altria Group

(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.

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Venture Visionary Partners LLC boosted its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 5.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 199,103 shares of the financial services providers stock after acquiring an additional 10,023 shares during the quarter. Venture Visionary Partners LLCs holdings in Bank of America were worth $6,594,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BAC. Altrius Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Altrius Capital Management Inc now owns 92,587 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $3,066,000 after purchasing an additional 279 shares during the period. Vision Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Bank of America by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vision Capital Management Inc. now owns 60,662 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $2,009,000 after buying an additional 288 shares during the period. Leisure Capital Management boosted its position in Bank of America by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Leisure Capital Management now owns 20,055 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $606,000 after buying an additional 292 shares during the period. Hemington Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 14,010 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $464,000 after purchasing an additional 298 shares during the period. Finally, Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. now owns 26,888 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $812,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. 68.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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Bank of America Trading Down 1.1 %

Bank of America stock traded down $0.30 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $27.09. 10,892,317 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 54,500,668. Bank of America Co. has a fifty-two week low of $26.32 and a fifty-two week high of $38.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $215.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.23, a PEG ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.36. The stocks 50-day simple moving average is $28.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $32.90. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

Bank of America ( NYSE:BAC Get Rating ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 18th. The financial services provider reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.11. Bank of America had a net margin of 21.85% and a return on equity of 11.72%. The business had revenue of $26.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.80 earnings per share. The businesss revenue for the quarter was up 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.41 EPS for the current year.

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 1st. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.25%. Bank of Americas dividend payout ratio is presently 26.43%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on BAC. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on shares of Bank of America from $36.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Friday. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $48.00 to $39.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 12th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Bank of America from $38.00 to $34.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bank of America currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $36.77.

Insider Transactions at Bank of America

In other news, insider Matthew M. Koder sold 105,054 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.27, for a total transaction of $3,600,200.58. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 319,803 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,959,648.81. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.27% of the companys stock.

Bank of America Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Bank of America Corp. is a bank and financial holding company, which engages in the provision of banking and nonbank financial services. It operates through the following segments: Consumer Banking, Global Wealth and Investment Management (GWIM), Global Banking, Global Markets, and All Other. The Consumer Banking segment offers credit, banking, and investment products and services to consumers and small businesses.

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The Rocky Mount Town Council has adopted a $15.8 million operating budget for the 2024 fiscal year.

The budget adopted Monday includes an approximately 6% increase in water and wastewater services as well as a $2 per month increase for residential solid waste collection and $4 increase for commercial customers. A meals tax rate increase from 5% to 6% was also approved with the new budget.

The meals tax increase drew the most criticism from town residents during a public hearing on the proposed budget held May 1. All four of the individuals who spoke at the meeting stated their opposition to the tax increase.

Mayor C. Holland Perdue III addressed the concern at Mondays meeting. He said the additional town revenue from the meals tax increase is not dedicated to any one thing, which isnt allowed by law. Instead the increased revenue will assist in funding two school resource officers and allow for a pay increase for members of the Rocky Mount Volunteer Fire Department from $12.50 to $15 per call a volunteer responds to.

Also concerning public safety, Perdue said the town is currently paying for a $1 million fire truck for the town. A second fire truck estimated at $2 million to $3 million may need to be purchased next year to keep the towns Insurance Services Office rating low. The ISO is a measure of fire departments effectiveness.

Those are the things that are not talked about, Perdue said. They are not the big topics, but they are the things that are important.

Council member Tyler Lee, who joined Mondays meeting by phone, agreed with Perdues comments on public safety, but said he had some concerns with the budget overall. He was the only council member to vote against the budgets adoption on Monday.

I agree 100% with the public safety side of things, but there are some pieces of the budget that I do not agree with, Lee said. So I will be voting no.
MARTINSVILLE  The Office of the State Inspector General (OSIG) found in an audit that New College Institute (NCI) didnt maintain proper documentation of its programming in recent years.

State Inspector General Michael C. Westfall recommended in the audit report that NCI make improvements and work more closely with community partners. NCI has agreed with the findings and recommendation plans and will implement corrective actions by June 2024, the audit states.

The audit followed reporting by the Martinsville Bulletin and Lee Enterprises Public Service Journalism team last year showing that many of NCIs college partnerships and programs had lapsed even while they continued to be promoted on NCIs website.

NCIs historic mission has included to help people in Martinsville and Henry County earn college degrees without moving from the area, which does not have a four-year university.

The report issued on April 27 by OSIG, a state watchdog agency, also showed that many programs at the state-funded higher education center had disappeared. This included NCIs manufacturing training programs which had zero participants in FY2018, 2019 and 2022, the audit states.

The audit of NCIs expenditures was conducted by OSIG to see if the colleges programs benefit the Commonwealth of Virginia and the outcome was three recommendations that the college has agreed to comply with, according to the performance audit.

The Bulletin and Lee Enterprises Public Service Journalism Team obtained the audit through a Freedom of Information Act request to OSIG.

OSIGs three findings about NCI were that the colleges program outcomes could not be independently verified due to supporting documentation not being maintained; the utilization of some programs offered by NCI have decreased; and that NCI expenditures are aligned with similar institutions and in support of the NCI mission.

Each year NCI submits updates to the state Department of Planning and Budget and annual reports to the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV). But when asked by OSIG to provide documentation to back up those reports, documentation could not be provided by NCI, the audit states.

Reports NCI sent to SCHEV for FY2018 and FY2020-22 included the total number of non-credit activities and events; non-degree credentials and certifications; degree-seeking enrollments; and K-12 higher education outreach.

When reports are not able to be verified, information reported may not be correct and cannot be relied upon to determine performance, the audit states.

NCI managements response as listed in the audit was that the college has experienced large amounts of turnover in employees from retirement, new opportunities and remote COVID working and because of those factors locating prior employee backup documentation has been difficult.

In 2019 NCI used a learning management system to capture students enrolling in modules for its telemental health programming and screenshots have been provided to OSIG to reconcile the reported numbers of enrollment in the SCHEV reports, the audit states.

NCI has also created an activity log to collect and report data and in the future the institution will ensure a backup of information throughout staff turnover by appointing a staff member responsible for ensuring compliance, the audit states.

OSIG compared NCI reports to SCHEV from FY2018 to FY2022 and found that enrollment decreased 25% for degree-seeking programs and 42% for K-12 higher education outreach participation. It also found that manufacturing training programs had zero participation in FY2018, 19 and 22 and decreased 31% between FY2020 and FY2021

However, in FY2022 there was an increase in non-credit activities by 167% and degree-seeking programs by 23% since FY2021.

OSIG recommended that NCI work with businesses and partners to identify opportunities to increase the usage of NCIs programs, the audits said. NCI should ensure that new opportunities align with their goals to benefit the citizens of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

NCIs response to this finding was that the new executive director Joe Sumner, who started in February, has already been meeting with community agencies, partner universities, higher education centers, community members, and industry partners, the audit states.

The goal of those meetings is to build or repair relationships, receive feedback on their needs related to education or training, and how NCI can help them or the community, the audit states, and meetings will lead to new partnerships and programming to benefit the community and the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Sumner is NCIs first executive director in three years. Karen Jackson had served during that time as interim director.

The OSIG report is evidence that NCI faithfully fulfills our responsibilities as good stewards of Commonwealth resources, Sumner told the Bulletin Tuesday by email.

He added that the audit shows that NCIs expenditures are aligned with other higher education centers in Virginia and are in complete support of the NCI mission.

The outcomes of our efforts are reflected in the 167% increase in non-credit activities and the 23% increase in degree seeking programs over the last two years, he added. As recommended by OSIG, NCI will continue to identify and develop new opportunities with partners throughout the region and the Commonwealth in our efforts to fulfill our mission as a Higher Education Center, Sumner added.

The NCI Board of Directors is pleased with the report issued by The Office of the State Inspector General (OSIG) and the recommendations identified, NCI Board Vice Chair Richard Hall said by email. This report revealed that NCIs financials were in compliance and that taxpayer funds and budget priorities were managed and in line with other Virginia higher education centers.

The findings in the report were not a surprise to the NCI Board of Directors has already been identified and are actively moving forward to improving, such as a new Executive Director located at NCI, Hall wrote. NCI cooperated fully with OSIG at all stages of this inquiry, and we thank OSIG for its thorough investigation of NCIs financial handlings and verification that all funding is in line for this state agency.
Employees of AMC Classic Grand Island 7 were told to remove their belongings from the theater on Wednesday, the same day the movie theater was served with an eviction notice.

On Wednesday morning, a Hall County Sheriff's deputy posted a writ of execution on the entrance to the theater. That writ is also known as an eviction notice.

Woodsonia Real Estate, which owns the mall, told theater employees they had to be out by 5 p.m. Wednesday, a theater employee said.

On May 1, Hall County Court Judge Alfred Corey ruled in favor of the mall owners in a civil action brought against AMC's owners. Woodsonia had filed the action April 7 against American Multi-Cinema Inc., in care of Corporate Creations Network of Omaha. American Multi-Cinema is also known as AMC.

Corey ruled that the premises should be surrendered to Woodsonia, which is redeveloping the mall. AMC still hopes to reopen the Grand Island theater and is trying to appeal the ruling, the theater employee said.

But much of the equipment is being removed from the theater. In the words of the theater employee, the interior is being gutted.

The last time movies were shown at AMC Classic Grand Island 7 was Monday, May 1.

The theater had 21 employees, including management. Three of those employees were full-time. A fourth worked full-time hours depending on the week.

AMC paid the Grand Island staff through Thursday, May 11. Supervisors and managers will be paid through May 18, and the general manager will be paid until June 1.

The theater employee expressed doubt that the theater would reopen, at least in its current configuration. According to renderings he's seen, the Nos. 6 and 7 theaters are going to be reconfigured into "some sort of entrance," he said.
Reginald Lanes appeal hinges, in part, on whether an unborn child can be considered a victim of the murder and, more broadly, whether it can be considered an individual under the law.
SPRINGFIELD  Illinois lawmakers are considering further legislation restricting the possession and marketing of firearms, even as state and federal courts are weighing the constitutionality of an assault weapons ban passed in January.

On Wednesday, the Illinois House passed a bill that would subject firearms manufacturers and dealers to the states Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act, restricting them from using certain marketing strategies.

The Firearm Industry Responsibility Act, House Bill 218, is designed to hold gun manufacturers accountable and ensure that families devastated by gun violence have a path to justice in Illinois civil courts, Rep. Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz, D-Glenview, the bills lead sponsor, said during floor debate.

If passed, dealers, manufacturers and others involved in the firearms industry could be held civilly liable if they market any firearm, accessory or component to people under the age of 18 or in a way that appears to support or encourage unlawful militia activity.

They also could be held liable if they knowingly create, maintain, or contribute to a condition in Illinois that endangers the safety or health of the public by conduct either unlawful in itself or unreasonable under all circumstances, including failing to establish or utilize reasonable controls.

Reasonable controls would include procedures to prevent the sale of weapons to straw purchasers or to people who are prohibited under federal law from possessing firearms.

The bill would allow suits to be filed by the attorney general, states attorneys or any individual. It was backed by Attorney General Kwame Raoul, who sat next to Gong-Gershowitz during floor debate.

The Firearms Industry Responsibility Act will clarify my offices ability to use the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act, which is a primary tool available to hold businesses accountable for fraudulent or deceptive practices through civil litigation, Raoul said in a news release. It is how my office has protected the public from opioid manufacturers, vaping companies, tobacco companies and predatory lenders.

Gong-Gershowitz said the bill was needed so that judges dont mistakenly assume that the industry is exempt from civil suits under the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, or PLCAA. Thats a 2005 federal law that says dealers and manufacturers cannot be sued when their products are used in a crime.

Republicans, however, argued that the bill would be unconstitutional and would quickly be struck down by federal courts.

What we have here is, at best, a constitutionally questionable bill that is going to require our state to expend resources in defending it because it's already been said that a challenge is going to come, said Rep. Dan Ugaste, R-Geneva. It's happened in every other state thats passed this legislation.

The bill passed the House on a partisan vote of 71-40 and was sent to the Senate for consideration. But it may not be the only gun-related bill lawmakers consider in the waning days of the spring session.

On Friday, the House also passed House Bill 676 by Rep. Maura Hirschauer, D-Batavia. That bill contains several provisions, including one that would require people who are subject to a domestic violence order of protection to surrender their weapons to a local law enforcement agency. Current law only requires them to transfer their weapons to someone with a valid Firearm Owners Identification card.

The bill also would create a task force to study the feasibility of requiring gun owners to carry liability insurance. It passed on a vote of 70-36 and now awaits action in the Senate.

The efforts in Illinois to impose more restrictions on gun ownership and gun sales come at a time when the U.S. Supreme Court, dominated by conservatives, has taken a much more expansive view of the Second Amendment than in the past.

State officials are waiting to learn whether Justice Amy Coney Barrett will grant an emergency restraining order to block enforcement of the assault weapons ban while a challenge to that law is being appealed.

Hirschauer, however, said in an interview that she and other supporters of gun control in the General Assembly are confident they are doing the right thing.

I think it's really important to remember who we're fighting for right now, and it's survivors and families affected by domestic violence, and it's my job to craft the strongest policy that will keep people safe, she said. I believe we're doing that and it will hold up to judicial scrutiny.

But Republican Rep. C.D. Davidsmeyer, of Jacksonville, said in an interview that he doesnt believe the gun control measures Democrats are pushing through will reduce gun violence.

The reason why a lot of gun owners don't want any type of regulation on guns is because that's always the first step. And we're seeing that here, he said. As I said (Wednesday) in debate, we seem to want to go after everybody but the criminal who's committing the crime.

Photos: Pritzker sworn in for second term Jesse White.JPG JB Piitzker 13 010923.JPG JB Piitzker 12 010923.JPG JB Piitzker 11 010923.JPG JB Piitzker 10 010923.JPG JB Piitzker 9 010923.JPG JB Piitzker 7 010923.JPG JB Piitzker 5 010923.JPG JB Piitzker 3 010923.JPG JB Piitzker 2 010923.JPG JB Piitzker 1 010923.JPG Juliana Stratton 1 010923.JPG Stratton 2 010923.JPG Alex Giannoulias 1 010923.JPG Alex Giannoulias 2 010923.JPG Michael Frerichs 010923.JPG 011023-illinois-ball 011023-illinois-ball 011023-illinois-ball 011023-illinois-ball 011023-illinois-ball 011023-illinois-ball Tiffany Mathis 1 011023.JPG dance gov 7 010923.JPG dance gov 13 010923.JPG dance gov 12 010923.JPG dance gov 11 010923.JPG dance gov 10 010923.JPG dance gov 9 010923.JPG dance gov 8 010923.JPG
Seth Rogen has taken a bold stand against streaming services like Netflix over the "insane" salaries of their executives and discreet viewership numbers.

The popular actor and filmmaker shared his spicy takes on giant streamers amid the ongoing Hollywood writers' strike.

Seth Rogen Calls Out Streaming Services

According to Variety, Rogen expressed his distress over the "secretiveness" of streaming services like Netflix about the real numbers behind the viewership of their shows.

Rogen reveals that he is "personally distressed by not having any sense of how successful these shows and movies we make for streaming services are."

ComicBook.com highlights that Rogen has a couple of shows on streaming services, largely available on Amazon Prime Video, such as "The Boys" and "Invincible." However, despite bringing his shows to services similar to Netflix, he called them out for their discrete viewership data.

The comedian adds that the "secretiveness" of these platforms on the viewership figures makes him think these giant streamers are making more money than them. The recent remarks of Rogen echo the plea of writers of Hollywood shows and movies who are now on strike braving the streets as they seek better pay.

Read Also: Hollywood Writers Strike Affected Shows: 'Stranger Things,' 'Game of Thrones,' and MORE

Rogen Says Streaming CEOs Have 'Insane' Salaries

Rogen also blasted the streaming juggernaut, pointing out that their top brass are earning exorbitant amounts. In his recent interview with Variety, he emphasized that "these executives are making insane salaries." He notes that the lucrative pay of these execs is only possible for giant firms with high profitability.

The comedian and filmmaker made these remarks as he promoted his new show on a streaming service, Apple TV+, entitled "Platonic."

As per The Daily Mail UK, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos got a significant pay bump last year, or in 2022, to be exact, of roughly 31 percent. In total, the salary of the chief exec is to the tune of $50 million, which includes his $20 million base salary alongside his stock options worth $28.5 million.

On the other hand, the Disney CEO, Bob Iger, who got back after retirement, earns $27 million per year, the Daily Mail disclosed.

Meanwhile, the CEO of Apple, which also runs a streamer, Tim Cook, is set to get paid roughly $49 million this year. It includes his $3 million salary and $6 million cash incentive. A bulk of his compensation comes from equity awards, giving him a cool $40 million.

Rogen also thanked labor unions for helping push these giant firms to pay their employees "fairly" and "equitably." The Writers Guild of America has been on strike since May 1, forcing studios and streamers to suspend the development of their shows, including Netflix's "Stranger Things."

Related Article: Full 'Super Mario Bros. Movie' Illegally Uploaded on Twitter: With Over 9 Million Views?

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After receiving several degrees from South Carolina State University, loyal alumna and cancer survivor Beverly Williams will walk across the stage for the first time at S.C. States spring commencement ceremony on Friday.

This year, Williams, 60, will receive her second masters degree.

Im going to miss the comradery at S.C. State, William said. Im going to miss the closeness and Im going to miss the family environment. Even in undergrad, the professors were more than just professors, they were like family.

Williams is a first-generation college student from Blackville. She is a former Marching 101 Band member who received her bachelors in elementary education in 1987 and her masters in individual and family development in 2018.

Williams met her husband at S.C. State and had three children, who all graduated from the university as well. After receiving her bachelors degree, she became a counselor and worked at several school districts in South Carolina.

She works as a residential counselor at the Bamberg Job Corps Center. She has served as a career and residential counselor for over 30 years. She is also a member of the American Counseling Association.

Throughout her life, Williams had to overcome many obstacles, including working and going to school full-time while undergoing numerous cancer treatments.

I just want to share that no matter what you go through  because I went through some devastating things like death and illness  you can get through it, Williams said.

In 2012, Williams was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer. Two years after being diagnosed, Williams decided to go back to S.C. State for her first masters degree.

After I got cancer, I decided to go back to school because I had to quit work and I was just home in the bed going back and forth with my treatments, she said. By 2015, I was able to go back to work, but I was still taking some classes and doing cancer treatments.

It was just so much. I didnt know what to do, I didnt know who to turn to  my self-esteem was deflated. I was still getting treatments, being hospitalized, still getting surgeries, just different things going on medically, she said.

During that time, Williams faced so much adversity in her masters program and personal life, including the passing of her husband and several other family members. But she was determined not to give up.

I had people saying, You have this illness, you shouldnt even be going to school at your age  I got a lot of that. And I almost gave up because I only had one paper left to do and this one professor gave me such a hard time, she said. My name was on the graduation list, and it was taken off two days before I was supposed to march.

Even though Williams did not get to march when she received her first masters degree, she still attended the commencement ceremony and was able to get her degree mailed to her.

Williams told herself that she wasnt going to let that stop her. She was going to march across that stage one day.

I know most people wouldnt have put on that cap and gown and gone out on that field, knowing their name was taken off, she said. But I just couldnt give up because it reminded me of when I got breast cancer. I told myself no matter what happens, Im going to fight.

I had to keep fighting because the message I want to give to my kids and grandkids is if theres something you really want to do, no matter what, dont give up on yourself. No matter who gives up on you, dont give up on yourself.

In 2021, Williams decided to go back to school for her second master's degree, this time in rehabilitative counseling.

Fast forwarding to this degree, which is the one I really wanted -- with this degree it was like a totally different story. The staff was family-oriented and like the staff I remembered from undergrad, Williams said. I got my self-esteem back and felt good about myself, just confident.

Williams described cancer as being a blessing and a curse because even though it caused her to be ill, it also made her go after the things she really wanted in life and made her look at things differently.

Now that she will be receiving her degree in rehabilitative counseling and her cancer is in remission, Williams plans to one day establish her own business as a mental health consultant.

This is so me, and I wish I wouldve found my niche earlier. I found something that I love so much that I would do it for free, she said.
Orangeburg County School District has announced that a group of students from Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School will be participating as vendors at the Columbia Black Expo on May 13, 2023.

The expo, which runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., is a celebration of African American culture and entrepreneurship. The students will be showcasing an array of products and services, and the experience will provide them with valuable real-world business skills and exposure.

"I was fortunate enough to interact with our young entrepreneurs at the Bruin Expo earlier this spring, said Dr. Shawn D. Foster, Orangeburg County School District superintendent. It's exciting to see Mr. Darrin Thomas extend an invitation for them to participate in the Black Expo. Our students are extraordinary in their endeavors by consistently delivering high-quality products.

The Columbia Black Expo will be held at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center. For more information about the event, please visit the Expo's official website.
A retired law enforcement officer discussed her personal life experiences, and the answers she found in prayer, with the spring graduates of Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College.

When you walk out of this auditorium, I want you to look up at the sky and say, Im going to do this. You will walk out as a graduate from one of the best two-year colleges in America, Orangeburg County Councilwoman Latisha Walker said Wednesday.

I want you to know that no matter where you come from, or what youve been through, you can achieve anything that you want to. Remember to always put your best foot forward and do not let excuses limit your potential, she said.

Walker was the featured speaker at the first of two graduation ceremonies held in the colleges Roquemore Auditorium. OCtech Foundation board member and former chairwoman Catherine Hay spoke at the second ceremony.

Walker was born and raised in New York and relocated to South Carolina while in high school, graduating from Blackville-Hilda High School.

She recalled leaving home at 18 and the hardships she faced along the way. None deterred her from her goals.

Many nights I slept in my car, but I was determined to be different. With all that going on, I still went to school and excelled in my studies, Walker said.

She was also able to eventually secure a mobile home. Although she had been scared to live alone, a home was something she had prayed for.

That situation taught me so much. If you pray for something, be prepared to accept it when it comes, Walker said.

She started filling out applications to become a police officer with various departments while in school.

I filled them out early because I thought it would take a while for them to call me. But guess what? That call came sooner than I expected, Walker said.

Walker was eight months pregnant, but the chief of the department that accepted her held the position until Walker finished school and had her child.

I had my daughter on April 15, and I called him the next business day. He told me Id hear from him very soon, Walker said.

Walker had no one to celebrate her eventual graduation with.

I attended my graduation alone. I went and received my degree. When the ceremony was over, I watched as people fellowshipped with their families and took pictures. Instead, I got in my car and I went home alone. To this day, I do not have any pictures of my first college graduation, Walker said.

She shared her story to let the graduates celebrating with family know how blessed they are.

I also say this as an invitation to any of you who are here in a similar situation for whatever reason. Im here to help you create those photographic memories today.

No one will ever have a perfect life. Some of you have more challenges than others, but you have choices. You can either throw in the towel and quit, or you can brush yourself off and try again, Walker said.

She initially had no one to care for her newborn daughter when she began her journey as a police officer, but she overcame that obstacle, too.

The person I thought was going to keep my baby told me, You can do what you want, but Im not keeping no baby. I was devastated, but instead I prayed. God sent me two angels who kept my baby the entire nine weeks I had to attend the police academy.

I felt awful having to leave my newborn behind, but I knew if I wanted better, I had to make that sacrifice. I had a very fulfilling career. I took advantage of every training that came my way and climbed the ranks very quickly. I made history at two law enforcement agencies in the state, Walker said.

Walker began her career in 1998 with the Allendale Police Department as a patrol officer.

She later worked with the Orangeburg County Sheriffs Office, where she served as a deputy in the patrol division until being promoted to the investigative division, where she made history as the first African- American woman promoted to the rank of investigator in the sheriffs office.

In 2005, Walker began working with the Orangeburg Department of Public Safety, where she gained additional training as a nationally certified firefighter.

At ODPS, Walker worked in the patrol division as a patrol supervisor and served as the agencys victims advocate, hostage negotiator, director of juvenile services and an instructor.

In 2015, Walker began working with the S.C. Law Enforcement Division, where she served as an agent in the Alcohol Enforcement and Vice Services Division.

She also made history at the agency, becoming the first African-American woman to be promoted to lieutenant in the Alcohol Enforcement and Vice Services Unit. She also supervised the agencys first-ever human trafficking unit.

While going through this thing called life, I learned early: If youre given something, it can be easily taken away, but if you earn it, they have to figure out how theyre going to take it from you, Walker said.

She spoke of the graduates perseverance and commitment to excellence.

You were intentional about your education. You didnt have the luxury of walking across campus to go to your classes. Instead, you had to sacrifice. Many of you had to juggle the demands of spouses, children, jobs, other classes and just the obstacles of life, but you all made it, Walker said.

She continued, There were some people who smiled in your face, but never thought you would make it. OK? I just wanted to let you know. Sometimes our haters can be our motivators.

Walker retired from SLED in 2020.

She formed the Tiffany Grant Foundation following the sudden death of her younger sister, who was a nurse. The nonprofit is working to keep Grants spirit alive with a scholarship designed to help students pursue careers in the medical field.

Grants death made me feel like giving up, Walker said. But she didnt and has expanded her charitable giving through the foundation, which has branched into other areas of service.

Walker said that OCtech has even partnered with her foundation on an upcoming project to place blessing boxes at fire stations throughout the City of Orangeburg.

The blessing boxes will contain readily accessible food items for our homeless population, she said.

OCtech President Dr. Walt Tobin praised the graduates for their accomplishments.

"You're all shining examples of what success looks like," Tobin said.
The mother (centre) of the infant boy had to be consoled as he became hysterical on discovering her dad child.

Nationals home and abroad have been scratching their heads trying to unravel what they perceive to be a ribbon of misfortune that has engulfed St. Vincent and the Grenadines, once proudly referred to as Hairouna Home of the Blessed.





Perhaps, the most worrying incident and the one that has aroused introspection among the local population occurred in Belair on Friday, 5th May, when a six-month-old infant boy was thrown to his death.





THE VINCENTIAN understands that the mother of the infant found him lying dead on the concrete pavement/yard of a three-storey apartment building.





The infant, his mother and a female relative occupy the first floor apartment and it is believed that the child was thrown from the verandah of that apartment.





Police confirmed that they had taken a female relative into custody as they begin their investigations into the infants death, which they are treating as a homicide.





That death would bring the homicide count to 13, with three additional deaths connected to police actions.





A video that hit social media within minutes of the incident clearly shows the infant on the concrete pavement as though asleep, and three women, one of whom is visibly hysterical. She was identified as the infants mother.





A reliable source and a resident of the Belair community told THE VINCENTIAN that the female relative whom the police took up for questioning, was known to have mental problems. That source also said that a close relative of the family had told him that the mother had turned away to prepare a meal for her son when she heard a scream.





Upon her investigation, the child was not to be found in the house and neither was the other occupant  the female relative.





A quick mind led her downstairs and outside only for her to discover the lifeless infant on the pavement.
The Mas bands are looking forward to a new era of costume mas.

The show must go on, and that it did despite the small crowd present at the Victoria Park on Sat. May 6 to witness the launch of Vincymas 2023, which runs from June 30 to July 11.





Vincymas 2023 marks the return of the full slate of activities and events associated with Carnival in St. Vincent and the Grenadines after a scaled down Carnival in 2022, occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2021 eruption of the La Soufriere volcano.





Ricardo Adams, Chairman of the Carnival Development Committee (CDC), welcomed the return of the full slate of events and was equally excited with what he said was the numbers of people living abroad who have shown an interest in attending this years festivities.





The Chairman spoke also of welcoming back Rural Carnivals with some expected to include components of Calypso, Soca and Mas.





In fact, North Leeward also launched its carnival last Saturday. That carnival will feature among other events, a Miss North Leeward Pageant.





Other launches are expected within this month and June.





Calypso fans will welcome the return of all five Calypso Tents  Graduates, On Tour, Upstage Experience, Windward and Dynamites out of New York, though the Windward Tent is encountering some issue finalizing a cast, according to Earl Bennett, President of the SVG Calypsonians Association.





The Dynamites Calypso tent is expected to be launched on May 19 and stage its preliminaries on June 10.





Here in St Vincent and the Grenadines, the On Tour Calypso tent is expected to be launched on May 25 and will kick things off on June 1, with its preliminaries scheduled for June 15; Graduates begin on May 30 with the preliminaries slated for June 13 and tent action at the Upstage Experience will commence on May 31 with the preliminaries scheduled for June 14.





Steel pan was on course for its 2023 competitions - the schools, community bands and senior panoramas.





And so too, the Carnival Mas Bands were expected to return in full this year to mark the beginning of a new era, according to President of the Carnival Bands Incorporated (CBI) Hugh Ragguette.





Saturdays launch featured morning activities devoted to children and families and an evening segment of mas costume presentations, performances by a number of calypso/soca artiste and deejay music.
Jamarlo Ice Dunbars killing could be described as having been killed execution style.

A Rillan Hill man, who was residing in Pole Yard, was gunned down sometime after 4:30am on Saturday 6th May, in Arnos Vale, a short distance from his home.





Jamarlo Ice Dunbar, also known as Marlo, was partying at Treehouse Bar moments before he was killed. "After he left the bar he was hanging around and talking to people. I dont know what happened but I heard the loud gunshots, then I see like a tall, slim man running away from the area and heading towards Pole Yard, said an eye witness who requested anonymity, adding that upon further inspection; Dunbar could be seen lying on the ground in a pool of blood.





Another male, who was on the scene of the shooting said that the gunman "ambush, chase down and kill Dunbar in cold blood. When he on the ground, the man still go over him and finish him off.





Partygoers who were hanging around the night club watched nervously as Dunbar took his final breath in the streets, just outside Randys Supermarket and Bakery in Arnos Vale, a short distance from where he resides at Pole Yard and from the Treehouse Bar.





Dunbars death came three days before he was expected to reappear in court on a burglary charge.





Dunbar is the second Pole Yard resident to be shot and killed within a space of a month. On April 11, Jomo Top Dog Brudy, originally from Edinboro, was shot at his shop in the community and died at hospital some hours later. Another man sustained gunshot injuries during the shooting.





The West St. George community has seen its share of violence in the past few years. Last year a man was shot and killed and two men sustained gunshot injuries in one incident.
Prison officer and social activist Kenson Kings view of his recent victory against the state for wrongful arrest and imprisonment three years ago, as proof that people could stand up for their constitutional rights and win.





In a historic judgement handed down on Thursday, May 4, Justice Esco Henry ordered that police officers - detectives Sergeant Biorn Duncan, Corporal Dwight James, and Corporal Alex Primus - along with the Attorney General pay King general, aggravated and exemplary damages with interest at the statutory rate to be assessed on application, to be filed and served on or before July 6, 2023.





Justice Henry also ordered that the detectives and the Attorney General pay King prescribed costs pursuant to Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) 65.5(2)(a), based on the sum stipulated by the Court at the assessment stage as the value of the claim.





King told THE VINCENTIAN on Wednesday, "I feel vindicated. This case shows clearly that people can challenge the government and win, and I want the people to know that they have the power to stand up for their constitutional rights.





He added that his victory shows that the police are not always right, and can be challenged in a Court of law, and he is calling on people not to be afraid to question the police if or when they are arrested.





King, who was represented by Attorney Shirlan Zita Barnwell of Jomo Thomas Chambers, had sued the crown and the three police officers for general, aggravated, and exemplary damages and costs.





He claimed that he was wrongfully arrested and wrongfully imprisoned at the hands of the three police officers on May 22, 2020, that he was wrongfully detained for about thirty-two hours, and released without being charged with any criminal offense.





Attorney Jozelle Allen represented the defendants.





The basis for Kings arrest





King was arrested in connection with a Facebook post he made that read:

See when I speak about Ralph allyo does vex. Now, I have an uncle named Mohammed King. Some know him as Haniffe. He has two licensed firearms. He keeps on terrorizing his brothers. I had to personally give him a warning in 2015.





Numerous reports have been made against him by his father, and now Archie his younger brother. He keeps on threatening my uncle to shoot him. They both live in the family house. Now, my uncle went to the police station to make a report against Haniffe just in the week. The police came and confiscate the guns. Now, this morning, Haniffe can have the guns firing shots in the air and bragging that he called Ralph and Ralph called the Colonarie Police Station and, threatened them, asking them if they give license for guns to Haniffe. Now you remember what happened with the Nurse that Mitch killed? I know this is not going to be a repeat of that. When I decide to take matters into my own hands, I wanna see who is gonna come tell me something.





Among other things, the defendants sought to establish that the Facebook post was tantamount to a possible threat against the life of the claimants uncle Haniffe, Mohammed King, or possibly other official persons including Ralph, who was determined to be Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, in that King threatened to take matters into his own hands, in circumstances similar to the murder of Nurse Arianna Taylor-Israel by her husband in January 2020.





CID Head under cross-examination





Under cross-examination, Supt. Clauston Francis, Head of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), accepted that the post contained no threat to Ralph. He stated that the post suggested that there were reasonable grounds to conclude that an offense may have been committed or may have been intended, but added that a possible threat is not an offense in itself.





When asked if having examined the post he formed the opinion that King committed the offense of inciting violence, he responded that King had not committed the offense of inciting violence. He insisted nonetheless, that even in the face of that conclusion, it was still reasonable and necessary to arrest him. He maintained that the post itself required an investigation, and on that basis King was arrested.





King had said he spent the night on a chair at the CID. The next day one of his lawyers, Jomo Thomas, visited him, having already done so the previous day. He also spent the second day on a chair at CID. At about 11 a.m. Sgt. Duncan asked him if he was willing to give a statement and cautioned him. He declined and Sgt. Duncan left. His lawyer returned later that day and made certain inquiries of the police, and around 8pm he was released without being charged with any offense.





Judge rules

Justice Henry concluded that, "Mr. King was arrested at, and taken off his job and detained at the Central Police Station for an extended period. A natural incident to both occurrences is a level of embarrassment and negative effects on his reputation. This is exacerbated by what I consider to be the unreasonableness of his detention ostensibly for the purpose of downloading the Facebook post when the fact of the publication was brought to Supt. Francis (CID Chief), at least two or three days before the detention.





"The conduct must be frowned upon by the Court. The arrest and subsequent detention were not justified in the circumstances surrounding this case. They were unnecessary, irregular, oppressive, and invalid.





She pointed out that, "Mr. Kings right to liberty was disregarded and his treatment during the detention was unpleasant and humiliating. He is accordingly entitled to recover general, aggravated, and exemplary damages I so hold. He is to file and serve his application on or before July 6, 2023, for damages to be assessed.





King has more to answer





Over the years, many persons here have complained of wrongful arrest, detention, even imprisonment, but very few have challenged the police action in a Court of Law.





King, a prison officer at His Majestys Prisons, is currently on suspension from duties. He told THE VINCENTIAN he still has another matter pending related to a charge of sedition.





This victory came just over three months after he was freed at the Kingstown Magistrates Court on a charge of wounding a prison inmate, Dorian Mapp, stemming from an incident at His Majestys Prisons on June 27, 2020.





Senior Magistrate Rickie Burnett, presiding over that case, found King not guilty in January this year on the grounds that the prosecution witnesses contradicted the Prosecutions case.
Attorney Jomo Thomas was in high praise of Justice Esco Henry for her courage in dealing with constitutional matters brought against the state/ government.

"Justice Esco Henry should be praised for the manner in which she addressed constitutional issues.





Attorney Jomo Thomas made the comment, while speaking on Boom FM last Wednesday, following the judges ruling in favour of Kenson King in a matter he had brought against three police officers (detectives) and the office of the Attorney General.





King was represented in court by Attorney Shirlan Zita Barnwell of Jomo Thomas Chambers.





Commenting further on the case, Thomas said, "Essentially, the police had gone to Kenson Kings job, detained him, and claimed that he had made some posts (on Facebook) that they found was offensive  counsel Barnwell was the giant in this case. She litigated the case and carried all the way to success.





Thomas argued that, "The state never put forward any real evidence as to why they had detained this man for 32 hours. So Justice Henry is really becoming a torn. You have to really lift her up for her courage because its the way in which she slaps these guys down on constitutional questions, said Thomas as he continued in his praise of Justice Henry.





When asked by one of the host on the morning program about the time the government takes to honor court ruling, Thomas said that he attended a legal education training course in Trinidad, hosted by the Organization of Commonwealth Caribbean Bar Association, where it was disclosed that the government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines do not honor the declarations of the court.





He added, "When the court makes orders about cost and damages and the state does not respond, the state is actually in contempt of court.





Thomas referenced the case of Otto Sam case, in which he recalled that the Justice ordered that for the constitutional violation of Otto Sam, he should get $30,000 in damages.





"The government put in a notice of appeal and they put in nothing else. So the matter was stuck in the system because the Court of Appeal would not hear it until there is a legal submission arguing against the decision of the court. So you would go on and on waiting for these governments . But they dont care, Thomas declared.
Members of a national health care advocacy organization will visit Casper on Friday evening to protest against Shepherd of the Valley Rehabilitation and Wellness, a local nursing home the group says is putting profit above its residents.

Fridays action is a chance to raise awareness about the poor state of care at Shepherd of the Valley, let others who have suffered there know they are not alone, and invite people to join us in demanding better for our elders, the group, called Nonviolent Medicaid Army of the Poor, said in an announcement Thursday morning. The event is scheduled for 5 p.m. Friday.

Volunteers are organizing the protest on behalf of a group members mother, a Shepherd of the Valley resident. The announcement said shes experienced being dropped, going 5 weeks without receiving a bath, and mismanagement of chronic health conditions while living there. It also decried alleged staffing shortages at the facility.

The statement didnt identify the resident or her son, but said the two have contacted the Wyoming Department of Healths Healthcare Licensing and Surveys office to file a complaint against the facility.

It should have been support for both of us while she was living in a skilled nursing facility, but the amount of advocacy work I had to do while she was there meant it was a huge stress and financial strain, the womans son  whos identified only by his first initial, D  said in the announcement. Being there took its toll on mom, too  she suffered a stroke from the stress and has lost the use of her dominant hand.

Reports on the Wyoming Department of Healths website indicate the agency has investigated at least three complaints against Shepherd of the Valley since the beginning of the year, though it was not uncover any deficiencies related to the claims. (The reports dont speak to the nature of the complaints.)

Jessica Miller, an administrator at Shepherd of the Valley, on Thursday said she wasnt aware of the protest.

Miller declined to comment on the Nonviolent Medicaid Army of the Poors claims, but offered to forward a list of questions from the Star-Tribune to representatives at Shepherd of the Valleys parent company, EmpRes Healthcare. The Star-Tribune did not receive a response from EmpRes before deadline Thursday evening.

Federal oversight

Since 2020, federal inspections of the facility have reported 31 deficiencies, including six related to infection control practices, according to an online database maintained by the news organization ProPublica. Shepherd of the Valley was fined $141,000 for the violations, the database says.

The data are collected by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which regulates all certified Medicare and Medicaid providers. Shepherd of the Valley has a rating of one out of five stars on its Medicare profile, which the federal agency calculates based on the facilitys health inspections, staffing, and quality measures.

The profile says that, as of April, Shepherd of the Valley supported an average of 144 residents at a time. It also noted that its staffing numbers were slightly below the national and state averages.

Shepherd of the Valleys owner, EmpRes Healthcare, is based in Washington and operates across nine states. According to market data company Pitchbook, EmpRes is backed by private equity financing.

Private equity firms are controversial; opponents often criticize the business model for buying companies only to squeeze them for profit  by slashing staff, selling assets and so on.

In its announcement on Thursday, Nonviolent Medicaid Army of the Poor questioned whether Shepherd of the Valleys ownership is responsible for the facilitys lackluster reputation.

Same owner

EmpRes also owned Maurice Griffith Manor, a former Casper boardinghouse located next door to Shepherd of the Valley, which closed in 2021. Just before its closure, multiple Maurice Griffith residents told the Star-Tribune they also had concerns related to a lack of staff.

In recent years  and especially in wake of the coronavirus pandemic  healthcare facilities across the nation have struggled to recruit and retain workers. A June 2022 report by the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living found that roughly 87% of long-term care providers were experiencing moderate to high staff shortages.

The report pointed to economic pressures, burnout, a lack of qualified workers and lagging pay as among the many factors contributing to the shortages.

Though Nonviolent Medicaid Army of the Poor is a national organization, its presence in Wyoming is new, said volunteer Julia Willis.

The group takes its name from the Poor Peoples Campaign organized by Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968, which he called a nonviolent revolutionary army. According to its website, the organization counts expanding Medicaid access and establishing a universal healthcare system in the U.S. among its main goals.

Many members of group, which is non-hierarchical, suffer from chronic illnesses or are disabled, Willis said.

Were everyday people who all need what were fighting for, she said.

Willis and her partner Erro Lynd are driving down from Sheridan County to attend the protest. Itll likely draw a dozen group members, Lynd said, including some from Vermont and Pennsylvania.

The group was already planning to be in Casper for an organizing campaign this weekend.

On Saturday from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., Nonviolent Medicaid Army of the Poor volunteers will be hosting a pop-up blood pressure clinic at the North Casper Clubhouse, located at 1032 E. L Street, where theyll also be educating residents about the looming changes to Medicaid access.

Over the next several months, an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 Wyoming residents are expected to lose their Medicaid coverage as the Wyoming Department of Health rolls back eligibility expansions to the program made during the coronavirus pandemic, WyoFile reported in February.

On Sunday from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m., the advocacy group will also be hosting a mothers day event with speakers and activities. That event will also take place at the North Casper Clubhouse.
Hong Kong: COVID-19 oral drugs safe, effective

All COVID-19 oral drugs currently prescribed to confirmed COVID-19 patients in Hong Kong have been tested and confirmed by the drug manufacturers as effective and safe, and they comply with the relevant drug safety regulation.

The Government made the statement in response to media enquiries about the two COVID-19 oral drugs shelf life extension, saying that such a practice is also an established one in the global pharmaceutical industry.

The Government explained that since April 2022, it began providing private doctors with two COVID-19 oral drugs, Paxlovid and Molnupiravir, procured by the Hospital Authority, for free prescription to eligible people who are confirmed COVID-19 patients

It added that generally speaking, subsequent to a pharmaceutical products launch, stability testing will continue in order to ensure that it meets the product specification requirement, including the shelf life, set by the manufacturers.

Moreover, manufacturers can make application to the Pharmacy & Poisons Board of Hong Kong for extending the shelf life once the relevant supporting data is obtained.

Furthermore a relevant report and information, including the data on stability tests, requested by the board must be submitted for a review of its safety, efficacy and quality.

Apart from pointing out that the two COVID-19 oral drugs supplied in Hong Kong have been approved as registered pharmaceutical products by the board, the Government made it clear that such drugs can only be supplied to healthcare institutions and doctors in the public and private sectors.

Additionally, after the drugs were marketed, the registration holders of both COVID-19 oral drugs have submitted supporting reports and information on extending the drugs product shelf life. At present, Paxlovid is approved for a shelf life of 24 months while that for Molnupiravir is 30 months.

Using Paxlovid as an example, the Government pointed out that the Hospital Authority earlier received notification from the relevant manufacturer that the US Food & Drug Administration and the board had approved Paxlovids shelf life extension.

Based on the relevant information, the authority has arranged for the contractor to affix the label indicating the latest expiry date to the drugs packaging box.

The Government stressed that this arrangement does not affect the efficacy and safety of the drugs. The authority has also notified the medical staff of public hospitals about the relevant arrangement.

In this connection, the Department of Health also issued letters in December last year and January this year to private doctors who have requested the Government to provide Paxlovid via the online platform, informing them of the relevant arrangements.

The department reminded private doctors yesterday to pay attention to the label on the packaging box showing the correct expiry date when prescribing the drugs. Such doctors were also told that they should dispense the medicine according to the established first-expired, first-out principle.

The Government reiterated that there is currently a sufficient stock of drugs in the public healthcare system for prescription to COVID-19 patients and it will ensure that there are sufficient medical resources to meet local needs.

This story has been published on: 2023-05-12. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
China pledges to boost China-Central Asia economic, trade cooperation

Xinhua) 10:14, May 12, 2023

BEIJING, May 11 (Xinhua) -- China will take the upcoming China-Central Asia Summit as an opportunity and work with the five Central Asian countries to push economic and trade cooperation to a new level, the country's commerce ministry said Thursday.

Economic and trade cooperation between China and the five Central Asian countries, namely Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, has achieved tangible results since the establishment of diplomatic ties more than 30 years ago, Shu Jueting, spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce, told a press conference.

The country's trade with the five countries reached 70 billion U.S. dollars in 2022 and recorded a year-on-year expansion of 22 percent in the first quarter of this year, Shu said.

The trade structure has also improved over the years. Last year, China's imports of agricultural, energy and mineral products from these countries jumped over 50 percent from a year ago, while its exports of mechanical and electronic products to them increased by 42 percent, according to Shu.

The spokesperson also said that investment and cooperation have benefited all sides. As of the end of March, China's direct investment stock in the five countries stood at over 15 billion dollars.

China has made continued efforts to promote industrial upgrading, connectivity and the well-being of people in these countries, with a batch of cooperation projects launched in fields such as infrastructure, oil and gas exploration, and the digital economy, Shu said.

The China-Central Asia Summit is set to take place in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, on May 18 and 19.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Wu Chaolan)
(Photo : JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)

A federal judge in Florida temporarily barred the Biden administration from continuing a policy designed to reduce gridlock at immigration detention centers along the US-Mexico border.

A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting the Biden administration from releasing detained migrants without a court date.

Judge T. Kent Wetherell II halted for two weeks a Biden policy that would have paroled detained migrants.

Judge Blocks Biden Administration From Paroling Migrants

Attorney General of Florida Ashley Moody submitted the lawsuit on Thursday and demanded a response before Title 42 expired at midnight. Moody argued that the new policy was "identical" to one enjoined by the courts in March and would permit the rapid release of immigrants into the United States.

Shortly after midnight, Customs and Border Protection issued a statement declaring that it would comply with the court's order and that it was evaluating its next actions. Nevertheless, CBP expressed displeasure with the judge's decision.

The prohibition was granted by Wetherell just hours before Title 42 was scheduled to expire. His decision begins with a condemnation of the current border situation. Per Washington Examiner, legislators from the Republican Party lauded the decision but clarified that it was only a temporary solution.

The ruling came just hours before the Title 42 border restrictions expired on Thursday at 11:59 p.m. EDT, raising concerns about severe overcrowding in Border Patrol migrant facilities that were already at capacity. The latest order by Judge Wetherell will expire in 14 days to allow the Biden administration time to pursue an emergency stay of the ruling. Another hearing is scheduled for May 19 in this case.

In a filing opposing Florida's request, the Biden administration stated that the number of migrants detained by the Border Patrol could reach 45,000 by the end of the month if the expedited releases are halted.

Even though stations, processing centers, and tents only can detain several thousand individuals, the Border Patrol had nearly 25,000 migrants in its custody on Thursday. The ruling increases the likelihood that more migrants will become detained in perilously overcrowded Border Patrol custody due to a surge in migrant arrivals.

In the lead-up to the expiration of Title 42, daily migrant crossings along the US-Mexico border have reached record levels, with border officials apprehending approximately 10,000 migrants per day on average. Raul Ortiz of the Border Patrol told CBS News that an additional 60,000 migrants were waiting on the Mexican side of the frontier, attempting to enter the United States.

As part of an effort to reduce detention facility congestion, the memo at the heart of Thursday's ruling permits Border Patrol to expedite the release of certain migrants without providing them with court notices. Under the humanitarian parole authority, migrants determined not to threaten public safety or national security may be considered for this expedited release.

Those released under this policy, which has been implemented in the past during increases in migrant crossings, will be instructed to report at local US Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices to receive a court notice.

Read Also: YouTuber Intentionally Staged California Plane Crash To Make Sponsored Video, Garner Views

Title 42 Expiration

Title 42, enacted for the first time during the Trump administration, allows for the expedited deportation of migrants during a public health emergency, in this case, the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the Biden administration lifted the public health emergency. Biden admitted earlier this week that the outcome would be disastrous.

Biden conceded earlier this week that the frontier would be "chaotic." When asked on Tuesday if the United States is prepared for the anticipated influx of migrants, President Biden stated that his administration is doing everything possible to prepare. The consequences of Wetherell's decision took time to apparent. The administration almost certainly would file an appeal.

In March, the Supreme Court was scheduled to hear arguments in another case challenging the termination of Title 42. However, after the administration's announcement that the emergency would be lifted, the court removed the case from its schedule, as per USA Today.

Related Article: Nearly 150,000 Migrants Amass in US-Mexico Border as Title 42 Nears Expiration

@ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Officials have found a woman wanted for felony escape from the Casper Reentry Center and a man with a felony warrant, the Natrona County Sheriffs Office announced Thursday.

Jashawn Crowley, 26, was arrested Wednesday afternoon by deputies, roughly nine days after the search began, the statement said.

The Natrona County Sheriffs Office asked for the publics help in locating Crowley on May 2.

Crowley had an active felony warrant for multiple felony charges including theft, conspiracy and forgery, the statement said.

He has been known to frequent Natrona County, as well as Campbell, Converse, and Laramie County, the statement said.

Brittany Kern, 33, was found and arrested on Thursday.

Kern checked herself out of the Casper Reentry Center, which contracts with the Wyoming Department of Corrections, at 3:45 p.m. Monday, the statement said.

She failed to return by 9 p.m. and was reported as an escapee later that night.

Kern was originally charged with possession of methamphetamine with the intent to deliver and was sentenced to two to five years of probation out of Converse County, the statement said.

Her probation was revoked in December, so she was sentenced to CRC with a projected release date of this August. However, its possible she will face additional charges as a result of her failure to return to the facility.
A shooting injured one person on Tuesday in Evansville, town Police Chief Mike Thompson confirmed Friday.

That person was sent to the hospital and ultimately life flighted to a facility in Utah, said Thompson.

The Evansville Police Department is expected to release additional information on Friday afternoon.

It is an active investigation, said Thompson. There was no information immediately available on possible suspects or arrests.

Deputies from the Natrona County Sheriffs Office assisted on scene, spokesperson Kiera Grogan said.

On Tuesday, there was a report of shots fired at 236 Holmes St. at 7:24 p.m., according to the Natrona County Sheriffs Office incident log.

A Star-Tribune reporter went to the area on Wednesday morning and saw no signs of police presence. It was an apartment complex less than 500 feet from the Evansville Police Department.
Despite the snow last month, its spring in Wyoming. With the sunshine and the warmth, come wildlife.

Bears and rattlesnakes top the mind, but animals like skunks and bats are also emerging from their winter stasis.

The states annual enlivening has prompted a rabies warning from the Wyoming Department of Health.

Skunks and bats primarily carry the deadly disease in Wyoming, according to the department, and as they and people become more active in spring, the risk of rabies grows.

So far this year the state has confirmed three cases in skunks in Sheridan County, State Public Health Veterinarian Dr. Emily Curren said in a statement. Another 14 cases were reported last year  eight in skunks, four bats and two cows, according to data from the Wyoming State Veterinary Lab.

Sheridan County is Wyomings hotbed for rabies. Almost half of the cases last year occurred in the county.

Rabies can infect any mammal, including humans, and the disease is usually spread by bites or scratches.

Bats are a particular concern in our area. One reason is because bat bites can be very tiny and not always visible, Curren said. Anyone with direct contact with a bat or anyone sleeping in the same room where a bat is discovered should be assessed by a doctor or public health provider.

In 2015, a 77-year-old woman from Lander died after being bitten by a bat in the middle of the night in the first recorded human case of rabies in Wyoming. A family member checked for signs of a bite, but could not find any, according to Reuters.

Only a handful of people contract and die from rabies in the U.S. each year. However, between 30,000 and 60,000 people need to be treated for exposure, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Curren said that anyone who is bitten by a rabid animal should wash out the bite with warm water and soap and seek immediate medical attention. Bats that come into contact with people should also be captured  if it can be done so safely  so that medical professionals can perform rabies testing, Curren added.

Treatment for rabies includes a series of shots given immediately after exposure and the continuing over the course of two weeks, according to the CDC.

When started after exposure and before symptoms develop, this type of treatment is nearly 100 percent effective at preventing rabies, Curren said. Unfortunately, rabies is nearly 100 percent fatal if treatment is not started before symptoms develop.

The Department of Health gave other tips to prevent rabies exposure this spring and summer, including vaccinating pets and other livestock and avoiding feeding or touching wild or stray animals.
Plaintiffs fighting a legal battle to keep abortion legal in Wyoming asked a judge Wednesday to halt the states new medication abortion ban, which is set to take effect July 1.

The plaintiffs request a hearing and block on the ban no later than June 30.

Gov. Mark Gordon signed Senate File 109  legislation that makes medication abortions illegal  into law on March 17. Wyoming is the first state in the nation to pass a law banning such procedures.

The law, sponsored by Sen. Tim Salazar, R-Riverton, will make it illegal to prescribe, dispense, distribute, sell or use medications for the purpose of performing an abortion. Someone who violates the rule would get a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months of imprisonment or up to a $9,000 fine, or both.

The law makes exceptions for rape and incest, the treatment of natural miscarriage, or if their is a risk of death. There arent exceptions for psychological or emotional conditions.

Medication abortions are the most common type of abortion performed in Wyoming. Plaintiffs point out this fact in their request.

Because virtually all abortions in Wyoming are medication abortions, the Medication Abortion Ban appears calculated to effect a back-door ban on abortions, plaintiffs say.

They argue that the medication abortion ban attacks the primary way that Wyomingites access abortion care while providing fewer exceptions than a broader abortion ban that also became law in March.

The plaintiffs also note that medications that are used for abortions also have other uses, such as to treat miscarriages, to induce delivery of viable fetuses, and to treat a number of pregnancy complications that are potentially harmful or even life-threatening. The medications, they say, also have uses unrelated to pregnancy that could be impaired by the reluctance of pharmacies to stock or dispense the medications.

They note that the medication abortion ban conflicts with its broader counterpart, making abortions in certain situations legal under the sweeping ban, while the use of medication for an abortion would be illegal under the other.

The plaintiffs assert that the state cant claim the law is meant to protect women because medication abortion is exceptionally safe, according to a report they cite by the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, which finds that [s]erious complications are rare.

This is consistent with Wyoming women, for whom there have been no reported complications for medication abortions for the two years prior to adoption of the Medication Ban, the plaintiffs say.

While Gordon signed the law banning medication abortions, he allowed the Life is a Human Right Act  a broader abortion ban sponsored by Cody Republican Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams  to become law without his signature on the same day.

The same group of plaintiffs that challenged last years abortion trigger ban  a Wyoming abortion fund, medical providers and Wyoming women  filed a lawsuit challenging the broader ban even before it had become law. Shortly thereafter, a Teton County judge granted the plaintiffs request to block enforcement of the law, which went into effect March 18.

For now, abortion up to viability is still legal in Wyoming.

The plaintiffs later amended their lawsuit to include a challenge to the medication abortion ban.

Many of the arguments they make against the medication abortion ban are similar to the ones theyve used to challenge the broader ban, such as that the Wyoming constitution grants citizens the right to control their own health care decisions, and that the laws are harmful to physicians and people who are pregnant.

There is a hearing for the lawsuit scheduled on June 2 to decide whether or not a group of proposed intervenors  Secretary of State Chuck Gray, Cody Republican and prime sponsor of the Life is a Human Right Act Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams, Hulett Republican Rep. Chip Neiman and Right to Life Wyoming  can contribute more information to the case in defense of the two laws.

PHOTOS: Both sides of abortion debate gather for protest Abortion protest Abortion protest Abortion protest Abortion protest Abortion protest Abortion protest Abortion protest Abortion protest Abortion protest Abortion protest
BOISE, Idaho  Idaho leaders intend to sue federal officials if the Department of Interior does not remove grizzly bears in the Lower 48 states from the Endangered Species Act list, according to a notice of intent filed Wednesday.

The document, signed by Idaho Gov. Brad Little and Attorney General Raul Labrador, explains that Idaho will file a lawsuit against Secretary of Interior Deb Haaland and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Martha Williams in 60 days if no changes are made.

Idaho has continually demonstrated leadership in species management, and we have never hesitated to push back on the federal governments overreaching actions that greatly impact a variety of activities on the ground in our state, Little said in a news release.

The notice comes after more than a year of petitions and threats of legal action from Idaho over the protected bears. While grizzly bears in Alaska are not considered endangered, bears in the contiguous United States have been considered threatened since the 1970s, with brief removals from protections in 2007 and 2017.

The listing applied to bears in a swath from the Idaho-Montana border with Canada down through Idahos border with Wyoming. Officials identified six recovery zones for the species, including the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming; the Selkirks in North Idaho and northeast Washington; the Bitterroots in Central Idaho and the Cabinet-Yaak area of North Idaho and northwest Montana. At the time, officials estimated there were between 150 and 300 bears in the region.

Little submitted a petition to Fish and Wildlife in April 2022 arguing that the protected bears in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming do not constitute a distinct population segment and therefore dont qualify for Endangered Species Act protections. His petition came shortly after Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte and Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon submitted their own petitions to the federal agency, though the other governors petitions called on Fish and Wildlife to reevaluate individual recovery zones: the Continental Divide in Montana and the Greater Yellowstone.

In February, Fish and Wildlife said it would move ahead with Gianforte and Gordons petitions. But officials rejected Littles petition and said Idahos claims werent substantial enough to warrant further investigation.

Little and Labrador slammed that reasoning in the notice of intent Wednesday. They said the argument that the Lower 48 grizzlies dont constitute a distinct population came directly from Fish and Wildlifes own findings.

It is unfathomable how (Fish and Wildlife) could determine its prior documents do not constitute substantial information that would lead a reasonable person to conclude that the delisting sought by Idahos petition may be warranted, the notice said.

The notice doubled down on the initial argument that protected grizzlies are not a distinct population.

Idaho officials said the continued Endangered Species Act protections injure Idahos sovereign interests in management of our resident wildlife. They cited increasing human-bear conflicts with grizzlies and said rural areas are dealing with increasing public safety risks and property damage.

In 2022, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game killed six grizzly bears that it said had preyed on livestock or become a risk to humans  one male bear in Boundary County, a female and a yearling in Fremont County, and a female and her two cubs in Teton County.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is still weighing the petitions to delist bears in the Continental Divide and Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem recovery zones. If the Greater Yellowstone bears are removed from Endangered Species Act protections, it would include grizzlies in eastern Idaho.
Mothers Day, which is being celebrated around the world today, remains one of the best opportunities to honour the matriarch of the family.

Some people have bought flowers, gift baskets, electronics and other items to celebrate mothers today. Others will be preparing their mothers favourite dish to honour her.
This Mothers Day, say a prayer for Mona Johnitty who lost her only child to criminals almost two years ago, but never stopped being a mother.

Every morning she wakes up, she thinks, prays, and whispers her sons nameRyan.

With her unwavering faith and love for God, she keeps the thought in her heart that Ryan Johnitty, who was an electrical engineer, is at peace with the heavenly angels, and no one can harm him.
(Photo : Lukas Coch - Pool/Getty Images)

Australias Trade Minister visited China to increase bilateral trade and address common concerns.

During a visit to Beijing, Australian Trade and Tourism Minister Don Farrell appears to be making progress in mending a nearly decade-long rift in relations with China.

On Friday, Farrell held meetings and visited businesses, a sign that relations were getting back on track.

China, Australia Trade Ministers Meet

Friday in Sydney, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stated that the parties needed to "develop understanding and dialogue" and that "we will cooperate with China where we can, disagree where we must, and pursue a national interest."

China will be Australia's largest trading partner in 2022, with bilateral exchanges tallying $287 billion. China has recently resumed imports of Australian lignite, cotton, and copper, and Farrell has stated that he will press for a review of tariffs on Australian barley during his visit, CHRON reported.

China halted these exports in retaliation for actions aimed at Beijing's alleged interference in Australian elections and the political and social life of the large Australian-Chinese community.

While trade relations appear to be strengthening, political and security issues in the Asia-Pacific region continue to divide the parties. Farrell expressed his optimism that his trip would "continue the stabilization of our relationship and pave the way for the successful resolution of all of our outstanding trade differences."

In April, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong stated that bilateral relations were unlikely to return to the level of the early 2000s when political and strategic priorities were separated from trade. Since then, Australia has increased its security cooperation with the United States, China's principal rival for influence in the Asia-Pacific.

In response to China's growing military assertiveness in the South China Sea, the South Pacific, and the East China Sea, Beijing has harshly criticized Australia's participation in the so-called AUKUS partnership, which links it with the United States and Britain to create an Australian fleet of eight submarines powered by US nuclear technology.

This is largely in response to Australia's participation in the AUKUS partnership, as per AP News. On May 24, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will host US President Joe Biden and the leaders of India and Japan, nations with which China has active border disputes.

In recent years, Australia has also prevented the transfer of assets, including essential infrastructure, to Chinese enterprises on national security grounds.

Read Also: Judge Blocks Biden From Using Emergency Parole Powers To Block Migrant Influx as Title 42 Ends

China-Australia Relationship

Farrell stated that he would meet with Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao in accordance with a February agreement to enhance dialogue "at all levels as a means to resuming trade in its entirety."

Per China Daily, given the rapid evolution of the global political and economic landscape, dialogue is both practical and advantageous.

China, as a global manufacturing hub that requires imports of ores and coal, and Australia, as a major exporter of industrial materials, can establish a complementary economic structure, according to Wang Xueling, an expert on regional economic development at Beijing's University of International Business and Economics.

Phillipa Harrison, managing director of Tourism Australia, a government agency responsible for attracting foreign visitors, stated that the agency remains optimistic about the outlook for the industry this year and beyond due to the relaxation of COVID-19 control measures for international travel to and from China.

China was the largest primary market for international visits and expenditures in Australia in 2019. About 1.44 million Chinese residents traveled to Australia, accounting for 15% of all international arrivals. They spent approximately A$12.4 billion ($8.35 billion) in total.

According to data from China's General Administration of Customs, China-Australian trade decreased by 3.9% annually to $220.92 billion in 2022. As a result of improved political and commercial connections, the total value of their bilateral trade in the first quarter of this year increased by 10.9% annually to $58.79 billion.

China is the primary recipient of Australia's exports of iron ore, coal, alumina, copper ore, wool, wine, timber, cereals, fruits, and aquatic and dairy products. China's primary exports to Australia consist of computers, transportation equipment, mechanical and electrical products, electric vehicles, and chemical products.

Related Article: China, France Agree To Develop 'Stronger' Ties, Tackle Global Challenges

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The Government is doing itself and the public a complete disservice by rushing to introduce far-reaching legislative changes without the benefit of thorough research, analysis and consultation.

An immediate example is the Trial by Judge Alone Bill, 2023, which attempts to disband jury trials for all capital and non-capital indictable matters except in cases where the accused asks to be tried by judge and jury. If passed into law, these persons who request jury trial will have a smaller panel of nine jurors instead of the current 12 .
Not wishing, but before the worst happens it would be wise for all involved in the safety and security of patrons at large entertainment events to deliberate on and execute any and all strategies to secure those who attend.

Last Saturdays Redemption concert at the Queens Park Savannah, while not the first to be oversubscribed, was a near-miss that raises a red flag for promoters, safety officials and patrons. It calls for urgent, proactive intervention.
A motorcyclist has died days after colliding with a minivan last week in midtown, Tucson police said.

Israel Antonio Martinez, 20, was traveling in the 300 block of South Country Club Road, near East Broadway, on May 2 when he collided with a Toyota minivan making a left turn, a news release Thursday from Tucson police said.

Martinez was wearing a helmet, but lacked the proper motorcycle endorsement on his license, Tucson police said.

Martinez was traveling about the posted speed limit at the time of the crash, police said.

Martinez died at a hospital Wednesday.

The driver of the minivan, a 70-year-old man, was not injured in the crash, police said.

Failure to yield while making a left turn by the van driver and excessive speed by Martinez were the contributing factors in the collision, police said.

No charges or citations have been issued at this time.
Gas prices have been headed down across the country in recent weeks, but they have barely budged in Arizona, where filling up will cost you more than $1 more per gallon than the national average.

So, what gives?

Industry analysts say a confluence of factors, including the annual shift to summer gas blends, tight pipeline capacity and refinery shutdowns, have contributed to Arizonas stubbornly high gas prices of late.

The average price of regular unleaded gas across Arizona was $4.68 per gallon on Friday, down about 2 cents in a week but still up about 18 cents from a month earlier, according to AAA data.

In Tucson the average gas price on Friday was $4.70 per gallon, though until recently prices in the Old Pueblo were typically lower than the state average.

In contrast, the national average gas price on Friday was $3.54 per gallon, down about 2 cents in a week and about 8 cents less than a month earlier.

Statewide, gas prices in Arizona are now a couple cents less than a year ago, when gas prices were spiking in the wake of Russias invasion of Ukraine.

Nationally, a recent decline in the price of crude oil  which represents about 60% of the retail cost of gasoline  has helped tamp down prices.

But beyond oil prices, regional factors including fuel supply chains and demand have much to do with what motorists pay at the pump.

Capacity crimp

In Arizona, a combination of factors  some long-term, some short-term  have kept gas prices higher than the nation recently, said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for the online gas-price tracking site GasBuddy.

First, the two major fuel pipelines serving Arizona  one from the west connecting refineries in California to Phoenix and Tucson, and an eastern pipeline bringing products from refineries in New Mexico and Texas  are reaching their capacity limits because of increased demand driven by rapid population growth, De Haan said.

Pipelines have not been able to keep up with the increase in population, so theres not enough pipeline capacity to bring the gasoline in to the number of people, in Phoenix especially, he said.

Maricopa County led the nation in numerical population growth in 2022, adding nearly 57,000 residents for an increase of 1.3% as of July 1, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. Pima County added about 12,600 residents in 2022, up about 1.2%.

That tight pipeline capacity only exacerbates problems when supplies are disrupted through things like refinery shutdowns.

Refinery repairs

Right now, part of the problem is that two refineries that supply Arizona with fuels from the East have been shut down at the same time for maintenance, further crimping supplies.

Except when down for maintenance, oil refineries run 24 hours a day, every day. Arizona has no operating oil refineries.

AAA Arizona spokesman Julian Paredes cited the maintenance closures of refineries in El Paso, Texas, and Artesia, New Mexico, as a major factor in Arizonas gas-price surge.

That affected the supply of gas across the entire state, and especially for the Pima County area, but the state average has at least stabilized and isnt creeping higher for now, Paredes said.

Refinery outages in California were blamed for a rapid run-up in Arizona gas prices last fall, creating wide disparities in prices even across Tucson as some stations sold off fuel purchased at a lower cost and others were forced to raise prices.

De Haan said refineries nationwide typically shut down in the spring for maintenance, but the eastern refinery shutdowns come as supplies from California have been limited.

Most refineries do maintenance ahead of the start of the summer driving season, to make sure theyre theyre ready for summer, he said. The problem is then, with the lack of refineries from the east, an inability to ship more product from the west.

Compounding the problem is the fact that many refineries put off maintenance last year amid low pipeline capacity, making this years maintenance work more extensive, De Haan said.

Many deferred last years maintenance to this year, and this is the price, he said. Theres just not much you can do about it, grin and bear the price.

Blends dilemma

Making matters worse, De Haan said, is that the supply issues are coming as Arizona and California shift to summer gasoline blends with ethanol required under environmental laws to reduce air pollution, particularly in Maricopa County.

In the winter months, gas retailers in a designated area including Maricopa County and small parts of Pinal and Yavapai counties must sell a special Cleaner Burning Gasoline or CBG blend specified by the state Department of Environmental Quality.

Tucson and the rest of the state are not subject to those requirements and so non-CBG may be sold there.

In the summer months  from the end May to the end of September  the Maricopa County area gets a different required CBG blend, while another designated area comprised of sections of Pinal County including Casa Grande gets its own state-required blend.

Meanwhile, California switches to an entirely different blend, which also affects the regional market, De Haan said.

The transition generally starts in March, De Haan explained, as temperatures warm and pipeline operators are purging their pipelines of winter gas, since pipelines can only carry one formulation at a time.

The complexity is that as the transition is starting, there are several different requirements in use across the state, De Haan said, noting that the changeover to different formulas is generally done in steps.

But when you lack pipeline capacity from the West, and then refineries go down that supply the market from the East, and then you have all the fragmented rules on what types of gasoline (is required), that can lead to an explosive environment, which is exactly what we saw across Arizona, De Haan said.

Some relief seen

Motorists should see some relief in the near term as the refineries resume production, De Haan said.

The transition to summer gasoline is basically behind us, so that that simplifies the situation and thats why we are starting to see prices ease a little bit, he said. The price of oil has gone down somewhat, so theres been other factors that have helped to tip the scales, and now we are starting to see slight price improvements.

AAAs Paredes said any price break may be short-lived.

When the Texas and New Mexico refineries come back online, which is expected soon, and normal supply lines return, you can expect Arizona gas prices to be more in line with the national average, Paredes said. However, this comes just before Memorial Day travel, which marks when gas prices go up anyway.

Looking ahead

De Haan said Arizona could face similar supply issues next spring, though its somewhat unusual for two major refineries in the same region to be shut down for maintenance at the same time.

This is a problem that could repeat itself, this run up, in the spring because the ingredients are still going to be there next year for the same problem, he said.

Meanwhile, a longer-term solution to Arizonas fuel-capacity issue may be in the works.

Kinder Morgan, which operates the fuel pipelines serving Arizona, is considering a major expansion to its pipeline leading from El Paso to Tucson to boost capacity, De Haan noted.

In April, the Houston-based pipeline company began soliciting comments and commitments from fuel shippers in support of the proposed expansion, which it says will be scaled according to demand.

De Haan said policymakers also could ease the supply situation by standardizing CBG requirements.

As it is, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sets and enforces clean-gas standards except in a dozen states  including California and Arizona  that have regulations that are more stringent than federal rules.

Policymakers could help consumers save money by standardizing clean-burning gas formulas nationwide, or at least among states that share supply pipelines like California and Arizona, which would save consumers money, De Haan said.

This would save motorists nationwide, if there was one standard, it doesnt matter where its produced or where it goes, it can be used interchangeably, he said. This fragmentation between types of gasoline even in Arizona is just the dumbest idea weve ever had  politicians have no idea of that complexity theyre introducing.
New and expectant mothers experiencing mental health and substance use disorders will soon have an additional level of support with the rollout of a 24/7, Tucson-based helpline.

The Arizona Perinatal Psychiatry Access Line will connect providers across the state with specialists. Primary care physicians, OB/GYNs, pediatricians, family medicine doctors, physicians' assistants and nurses will all have round-the-clock access to experts who can help them diagnose and determine the best next steps of treatment for their patients.

The helpline, free to use, is scheduled to launch June 2 and is funded through a $1.6 million grant from the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, the state's Medicaid system.

It was created by perinatal psychiatrists Dr. Saira Kalia and Dr. Kathryn Emerick, who work as clinicians and professors in the University of Arizona College of Medicine.

It's focusing on perinatal patients but will support women along the entire reproductive health spectrum, from premenstrual to peri-menopausal, Kalia said.

There's a big need for a tool like this in Arizona, where the 915 psychiatrists aren't enough, she said.

"There are counties in Arizona that have no psychiatrist at all. Our ratio in Arizona is one psychiatrist to 8,000 people," Kalia said. "There's this limited pool of psychiatrists and then within that, there are even fewer who are trained in reproductive psychology. That makes it really, really challenging to provide good, evidence-based care, or any care."

With the launch of the helpline, staffed primarily by Kalia and Emerick, with support from an additional four or five psychiatrists, Arizona will become the 20th state to have this type of consultation line.

Maternal mortality rate

Kalia became interested in women's reproductive mental health when she was a medical student, saying her status as a Pakistani immigrant piqued her interest.

"Women's health is not exactly prioritized in third-world countries, let alone women's mental health, so part of what I wanted to do was (go) somewhere I could train in women's mental health. So this sort of work is a lifelong passion and drive," Kalia said.

In addition to her work as a perinatal psychiatrist, she also works as the associate training director for the UA's psychiatry residency program. She said very few programs teach women's reproductive mental health or offer fellowships, meaning it's not woven into regular psychiatric training.

For the last six years, Kalia has been running the women's reproductive mental health track and teaching the program residents.

In early 2022, she realized that despite all the training she'd done, it wasn't doing much to move the needle when it comes to reducing the burden of perinatal mood and anxiety disorders and maternal mortality rate.

Each year, approximately 70 women die during or within 365 days after pregnancy in Arizona, of which 15 to 20 deaths are pregnancy-related cases, meaning those women would not have died if they had not been pregnant, according to the helpline's website.

Perinatal mood and anxiety disorders are the leading cause of complication in pregnancy and childbirth and affect at least 15,000 women per year in Arizona.

With 80% of people with postpartum mood or anxiety disorders never receiving treatment, that equates to up to 12,000 women in the state whom Kalia says will never get the reproductive health care they need.

In March 2022, the Arizona Department of Health Services released a report showing that 98% of pregnancy-related deaths involving mental health and substance use were preventable.

How to get involved To learn more about the Arizona Perinatal Psychiatry Access Line, visit apal.arizona.edu Starting June 1, providers can access the line at 1-888-290-1336 Mondays-Fridays from 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. To learn more about Banner-University Medical Center Tucson's Family Centered Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome Program, visit peds.arizona.edu/family-centered-nas-care-program The program is always looking for volunteer "cuddlers" to hold babies. For more information, contact Lisa Grisham at Lisa.Grisham@BannerHealth.com

"That's gut-wrenching. That's when we were like, 'Let's do this,'" Kalia said.

More babies born with drug exposure

Lisa Grisham has been a neonatal nurse practitioner for 23 years. She currently works in Banner-University Medical Center Tucson's Family Centered Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome Program with babies who have been exposed to drugs or medication before birth, a population Grisham has seen steadily increase over the years.

On Thursday, seven of the 35 babies in Banner's neonatal intensive care unit were being treated for neonatal abstinence syndrome, with symptoms that include trembling or extreme shakiness, too much or high-pitched crying, sleep problems, tight muscle tone, poor feeding and sucking, vomiting and diarrhea and fever or unstable temperature.

The program involves treating baby and mother and involving family members in the baby's care while they are in the hospital.

"We recognize that to get the baby better, you need to also get the mother better," Grisham said.

Grisham and her colleagues try to learn from and connect with specialists in the community, but when they need answers on clinical shifts, they need those answers fast. She called the creation of the Arizona Perinatal Psychiatry Access Line invaluable.

"They know I'm a provider, they know I have an educated background and want to help moms but don't have these tools," she said of Kalia and others. "I can call them and get the answers I need to connect moms to the resources she needs, whether that be treatment, counseling or something else."

Grisham said that while the hospital has social workers on staff, they aren't around 24/7 and aren't always available. The helpline will help supplement those services.

With a five- or six-fold increase of babies born with neonatal abstinence syndrome between 2009 and 2023, Grisham called the need for a service like this greater than ever.

She said a lot of moms want to participate in the program and help their babies. Families in the program stay with their babies, hold and feed them. A family's participation reduces their baby's length of stay, and mothers are able to start treatment of their own.

"Some of the moms are already in treatment (when they give birth,) which is fabulous, but many of the moms are not because either they're afraid or they don't know where to go," Grisham said. "I always say it's never too early (to seek treatment,) but it's also never too late."

Managing preventable conditions

In addition to offering telephonic support to providers, Kalia and others will also track information and data.

They'll collect information about reported signs and symptoms; socioeconomic status, race and ethnicity of patients; the county in which they reside; and whether they're on commercial insurance or Medicaid.

This will allow organizers to connect with insurance providers and educate them about ways to effectively manage these types of preventable conditions.

They'll also offer free in-person and online training based on various providers' needs, including assessments, medication management, diagnostic techniques and more.

"I can say, 'I'm guiding you through this, please do it,' but they might be like, 'I'm still not comfortable doing it'," Kalia said. "We can come. We'll educate, we'll do training, we'll do clinical consultation, whatever they need. And hopefully between all of those pieces, we'll take some of the pieces off."

Kalia and Emerick looked first to Massachusetts, the site of the first program of this type, the Massachusetts Child Psychiatry Access Program for Moms.

"But I realized, their state is so different. The state of Massachusetts you can't compare Arizona to in terms of how they practice medicine," Kalia said.

Washington state more resembles Arizona in terms of size, rural areas and birth count.

After reviewing programs in other states, Kalia and others researched local resources and needs. They tested the helpline with a soft release, leaning into relationships with local providers to help test out the service.

The June launch will be half-time, as they test bandwidth and see how large the education component needs to be.

They're also compiling a county-based map on their website of maternal health resources.

Direct patient care is next goal

The goal is to expand the helpline program to involve direct patient care, which is offered in several states.

Kalia hopes that in a year or so, they'll be able to offer to step in for providers who don't feel comfortable diagnosing or treating a patient. They could provide consultation and recommendations and the provider could continue care. She calls that phase two and is writing the pitch for funding it now.

"That would help so much in building the providers' trust in us, in that we've actually seen the patient and we're sending them back," Kalia said. "But that requires a significant bandwidth."

Kalia said it's crucial to support women's mental health during pregnancy and beyond and help reduce the stigma around these disorders and about seeking help and support.
PHOENIX  Gov. Katie Hobbs has inked her approval to the $17.8 billion state budget she negotiated with Republican legislative leaders.

The Democratic governor, in a written statement Friday, touted the provisions she demanded be included, including "unprecedented investments in housing, education, tribal communities and healthcare.''

"Today, we showed what happens when pragmatic leaders come together and compromise to get things done for Arizonans,'' Hobbs said.

Republicans had their own take on the deal, emphasizing that they quashed the goal Hobbs stated in her budget proposal released in January to repeal the universal vouchers that allow any student, regardless of reason or need, to get state funds to attend private or parochial schools.

They also pointed to a plan to give tax rebates to families with children  versus Hobbs' preferred aid to working poor with children  saying they are simply giving taxpayers back some of what they paid in prior years.

Only thing is, the budget actually will result in some taxpayers getting back more than they paid. And it is crafted in a way to disqualify others who also had state income tax liability but chose to eliminate it by giving to certain charities.

A tax attorney told Capitol Media Services it also would allow someone to claim a credit for a live-in partner of any age.

Hobbs, beyond her prepared statement, is not answering questions about the provisions of the tax rebate or anything else in the package. That will have to wait until a news conference on Monday.

Tax relief compromise

Still, the governor's press aide Christian Slater acknowledged this isn't the spending plan Hobbs wanted.

"She will publicly tell you that she is not thrilled with every piece of it,'' he said.

That includes the tax relief she wanted, Slater said.

In her budget, Hobbs sought to eliminate state sales taxes on diapers and feminine hygiene products. She said that would have saved women and families a total of $40 million a year.

More broadly, she proposed a new child tax credit that would give low-income parents $100 per year for each child. That had a $50 million price tag to the state.

Instead, Hobbs acceded to a demand by the Arizona Freedom Caucus, composed of the most fiscally conservative GOP lawmakers, for what they said amounted to $260 million to rebate some of the taxes that people paid in prior years.

It's available to anyone who filed a full-year state income tax return for 2019, 2020 or 2021 who also claimed the state's deduction for children.

If they had a tax liability for any of those three years, they will get a one-time $250 rebate for each child 17 or younger in 2021, up to a maximum of $750. Those with older dependents are eligible for $100 credits for each, again, up to three.

Sen. Jake Hoffman, R-Queen Creek, leader of the Freedom Caucus, said Republicans favored that plan versus the one proposed by Hobbs because it gives back some of the money paid by those who actually paid taxes. By contrast, the governor's plan had no such requirement to show a tax liability.

Quirks in the rebate

The plan adopted allows anyone who had at least $1 in liability in any of the three years to get back up to that full $750, regardless of how much or how little they owed the state. Put another way, some people will get back a "rebate'' that far exceeds their actual tax bill.

There are a host of other conditions and provisions.

Only those who had dependents in 2021 are eligible. New parents in 2022 are not.

Tax attorney Bob Kamman pointed out other quirks.

Consider, he said, a family with a 17-year-old in 2021, the year the law uses to compute the rebate, that owed no tax that year. Kamman said the fact that family may have had children 16 or younger in 2019 and 2020 does not make them eligible for the $250-per-child rebate, meaning they are entitled to just $100 per child.

The legislation also cuts out those who are generous with donations.

Arizona provides dollar-for-dollar credits against state income taxes for contributions to certain causes. These include organizations that provide scholarships for students to attend private schools, money given to public schools for extracurricular activities, and funding for a host of other charitable organizations ranging from Adopt-A-Vet to the Yuma Community Food Bank.

Those donations can often wipe out someone's income tax liability. But, under the terms of the rebate provision inserted by Hoffman and colleagues, these same people will be ineligible for the new cash rebate of up to $750.

At the same time, Kamman said, the wording of the legislation is not limited to those with children. He said anyone with a dependent of any age qualifies for the $100 per person.

If a live-in partner earns no money, for example, the taxpayer can declare him or her as a dependent and get $100 back from the state.

An open question is, can taxpayers who find themselves locked out of the rebate plan go back and amend their 2021 returns to qualify?

Kamman gives the example of someone who itemized deductions on a 2021 return and had no tax liability. Yet if that same person claimed the standard state deduction, the tax bill would have been $100.

That suggests that someone could file an amended return  something allowed under Arizona law  remove the itemized deductions, pay the $100 and then get a rebate of $750 for the three eligible children they have.

Kamman acknowledged, though, that comes with the risk the state Department of Revenue might not read the rebate law that way. "You could try,'' he said. "But it might not work, and you would still owe $100.''
From the Rio Grande Valley in Texas to San Diego and Tijuana, many migrants gathered along sections of the U.S.-Mexico border questioned when or whether they would cross into the United States to seek asylum once pandemic-related restrictions known as Title 42 ended.

Some migrants who had traveled from Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia, Peru and Central America feared it could be harder for them to stay on U.S. soil with the restrictions lifted.

Here are some of the stories from along the 1,950-mile (3,140-kilometer) international boundary:

Ludin, a Honduran man who asked that his last name not be used out of fear for his safety and that of his family, arrived Friday at Tijuanas El Chaparral port of entry with his pregnant wife and 5-year-old son.

He stood just feet from U.S. soil, conflicted over how to proceed.

Do you think we can cross and ask for asylum? he asked.

He said he had been trying to use an app that border officials created for people to request asylum in the U.S.  CBP One  every day for weeks, repeatedly uploading his case information and photos including scars on his body from being shot nine times during a 2021 robbery. One large scar snakes down his neck from an operation to remove one of the bullets that struck him.

The app never worked for him, only displaying an error screen or saying no more slots for applicants were available.

Blaine Bookey, an immigration lawyer helping people at the crossing, said U.S. officials were telling asylum-seekers at the port to keep trying the app.

There seems to be no option right now for people to ask for asylum if they dont have an appointment through the CBP app, she said.

Some migrants were arriving at the border after months of travel.

Jesus Bravo and his wife, Jhohan Miperasa, arrived in Matamoros across the border from Brownsville, Texas, with infant twin daughters who were born along the way.

They had left their native Venezuela nine months earlier, crossed the treacherous Darien Gap dividing Colombia and Panama, then stopped in Panama where the girls were born.

On Friday, they stepped off a bus, pushed the babies in a double stroller across the city and headed straight to the banks of the Rio Grande.

I am tired of the app, they never reply, they never give me an appointment, said Bravo, 23. So I have to cross through the river, like everybody else.

Aylin Guevara, 45, hurried her steps the evening before as she walked through the scorching desert of Ciudad Juarez toward the border.

She was accompanied by her two children, ages 16 and 5, and her husband. The family fled their coastal city in Colombia after receiving death threats, and hoped to seek refuge in the U.S.

After spending the previous night in a hotel, they were eager to get to the border, to get in and go with the help of God and baby Jesus, Guevara said.

But when they arrived with just hours to go before the end of Title 42, a U.S. immigration officer said they could not pass.

Not anymore, its over, he told them in a firm voice, instructing them to go to bridges 10 miles (16 kilometers) to their left or right.

Jose Manuel Bueno was among the last people sent back to Ciudad Juarez late Thursday under Title 42.

The 28-year-old Venezuelan said he didn't know the exact whereabouts of his pregnant wife and three children, who were in custody in the U.S. Bueno said he was earlier advised to use the app, but he decided it would be better to cross the border and turn himself in.

They didnt have to split my family, Bueno insisted. I have my childrens birth certificates.

Bueno set up camp for the night next to a bridge with about a dozen other men after they charged their cellphones from a connection in the street.

Its the safest place now, he said.

Diana Rodas, an elementary school teacher from Colombia, spent the night shivering with her two daughters, ages 7 and 13, sleeping on the ground between two towering border walls dividing San Diego and Tijuana. The girls cried all night.

At about 2 a.m. Friday, U.S. agents took away between 15 and 20 families with children under age 2 who had been among the hundreds sleeping under plastic tarps and blankets.

We never expected all this, said Rodas, who fled her homeland after her life was threatened. She feared deportation but wanted to stay optimistic. "Hope is the last thing that goes.

The hundreds of migrants, mostly families, sat in two dozen rows between the border walls while Border Patrol agents walked by and decided who would be processed.

When some were selected, those left behind cheered.

One woman yelled Suerte! or Good luck! as those chosen were loaded into a Border Patrol van.

Gloria Inigo of Peru said she hoped she, her husband and their daughters, ages 5 and 8, would be next. They crossed the border Wednesday before the rules changed.

I have faith, Inigo said.

Authorities in the remote desert community of Yuma, Arizona, expressed alarm after the average daily number of migrant arrivals grew this week from 300 to 1,000.

Mayor Doug Nicholls asked for the federal government to declare a national disaster so Federal Emergency Management Agency resources and National Guard troops could be rushed to his and other small border communities.

Most migrants are transported to shelters operated by nonprofit organizations farther away from the border, but border officials will release them into communities if enough transportation isn't available. Nicholls said officials told him they would release 141 people in Yuma County on Friday.

The question keeps coming up: What now? I've been asking that question for two years, with no answers, Nicholls said. We are at a situation we've never been at before.

Venezuelan Dayana Ybarra and her husband crossed two weeks ago through a gap in the wall near El Paso because they feared it would be much harder after Title 42 expired.

They were apprehended. She was detained for three days and her husband for nine.

On Friday, they were waiting at the Sacred Heart shelter in El Paso hoping to raise the money necessary to get to North Carolina, where she has two brothers and a court date in two months.

The couple left their three children behind.

Its because of them she and her husband decided to take the risk, Ybarra said.

On a stretch of border wall in Tijuana, migrants asked passersby for blankets, food and water as the sun set over a steep hill.

Gerson Aguilera, 41, got to Tijuana around 4 p.m. with his three kids and wife to try to cross and ask for asylum. From Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Aguilera said he and his family fled after organized criminals started demanding he pay twice the extortion money he was already paying of 2,000 Honduran lempira (roughly $81) a week.

Its very hard. For a payment, they will kill you, Aguilera said with tears in his eyes.

The owner of a welding shop, Aguilera said he left his home once before in 2020 because of threats, but returned when things calmed down. That wasnt an option anymore.

We ask that God helps us, Aguilar said.

Associated Press journalists Gerardo Carrillo in Matamoros, Mexico; Maria Verza in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico; Giovanna Dell'Orto in El Paso, Texas; and Julie Watson and Suman Naishadham in Tijuana, Mexico, contributed to this report. Snow reported from Phoenix.
SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP)  A man accused of fatally shooting one person and wounding five others at a Southern California church luncheon last year has been charged with dozens of federal hate crimes in connection with the attack, which investigators said was motivated by political hatred of Taiwan.

The indictment announced Thursday by the U.S. Department of Justice charges David Chou, of Las Vegas, with 98 counts including weapons and explosives charges and forcefully obstructing the free exercise of religion.

Messages seeking comment from attorneys who have represented Chou, 69, in a separate case in state court were not immediately returned.

Authorities said Chou chained and nailed shut exit doors before launching the attack on a gathering of older parishioners from the Irvine Taiwanese Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods on May 15, 2022.

Chou had two handguns, bags of ammunition and four Molotov cocktail-style devices, and was motivated by hatred of Taiwan, where he grew up, investigators said.

Among the charges were 45 counts of obstructing free exercise of religious beliefs by force, which resulted in the death of one person, included attempts to kill 44 others, and involved the use of a firearm and attempted use of explosives and fire, the Justice Department said in a statement.

Chou was charged last year by Orange County prosecutors with murder and attempted murder including enhancements for a hate crime and other counts. He pleaded not guilty. Online records show Chou is currently bein held without bail in Orange County and due back in court July 14.

Authorities said Chou had no prior connection to the church. They said he spent an hour with attendees before the attack, apparently to gain their trust, then closed the doors and started shooting.

Dr. John Cheng, the 52-year-old son of a congregant, charged at Chou and was killed, authorities say. His action helped disrupt the shooter, who was hit by a chair thrown by the churchs former pastor and jumped on by several people who tied him up with an extension cord until police arrived.

The wounded victims ranged in age from 66 to 92.

Chou, a U.S. citizen, grew up in Taiwan after his family was forced from mainland China when communists took control, authorities have said.

If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of death or life in prison without parole.

Weber reported from Los Angeles.
Two school districts in Michigan have prohibited students from carrying backpacks into campus, with one district claiming many cases of students bringing firearms to school.

Backpack Ban in Michigan

In a report by CNN, a statement from Grand Rapids Public Schools was released on Wednesday, May 10, announcing the district's decision to ban backpacks after the discovery of a loaded pistol in the bag of a third-grader. This is the fourth firearm to be confiscated from a kid this school year.

The statement said that in three of the four occurrences, the firearms were discovered in backpacks.

Leadriane Roby, Grand Rapids Public Schools superintendent, stated, "This is not a decision we've taken lightly and we know this poses a significant inconvenience for our families. I am more than frustrated that a decision like this is necessary, but we must put safety first and that's what this decision is about."

Roby confirmed that this is only the beginning of a much larger discussion on how to keep the kids safe in today's ever-evolving world.

The statement also said that the prohibition will remain in effect until further notice.

The new policy in Grand Rapids followed the May 1 backpack ban in another Michigan school district, Flint Community Schools. In a statement announcing the restriction, Flint school officials stated, "We have reached a point where we must make difficult decisions" to ensure school safety.

Also Read: New York Accuses Gun Parts Manufacturer of Aiding Illegal Gun Ownership

Gun Violence Prevention

These moves by the two Michigan school districts come at a time when campuses around the US are grappling with how to prevent and prepare for mass shootings on the school's premises, including performing mass shooter simulations and adding metal detectors.

At least 16 people were injured in shootings at elementary, middle, and high schools in the US between January 1 and March 27, as reported by CNN.

When a gunman opened fire at Nashville's Covenant School, six individuals, including three children, lost their lives. In January, a teacher was shot by a 6-year-old pupil who had taken a firearm to school in his backpack, according to authorities in Newport News, Virginia.

It has been reported that there has been an uptick in "threatening behavior and contraband, including weapons, being brought into schools at all levels," according to the notice made by Flint school officials.

The Flint notification said that by outlawing backpacks entirely, along with a heightened security presence district-wide, they would be able to better monitor what students carried into the facilities.

According to the announcement, the prohibition has been authorized by the Flint Board of Education and district management and has the approval of the Flint Police Department.

The press release acknowledged that the choice was tough but said it would have an immediate positive impact on the district and the safety of the individuals it serves.

Also Read: Texas Shooting Update: Suspect is a Neo-Nazi Sympathizer, Protests Mark Vigil, and Witness Helps Wounded

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In Philadelphia's first mayoral race since crime spiked during the coronavirus pandemic, the crowded Democratic field is trying to make public safety a campaign cornerstone, advocating approaches that range from mental health interventions and cleaner streets to echoes of tough-on-crime Republican rhetoric.

Six Democrats are considered serious contenders to succeed term-limited Mayor Jim Kenney. Because Philadelphia weighs heavily Democratic, their May 16 primary will likely determine who leads the nations sixth-largest city.

They're talking not only about gun violence  473 people were fatally shot and 1,789 were wounded by gunfire last year, according to city statistics  but also about how they would address other public health and safety detriments, including darkened streetlights and issues with trash pickup.

A two-year spike in crime leaves deep scars on cities and were seeing that in this election cycle, said John Roman, director of the nonpartisan Center on Public Safety and Justice, part of the NORC social research organization at the University of Chicago. Roman also serves on the Crime Trends Working Group at the Council on Criminal Justice, a nonpartisan group that develops policy suggestions for tackling crime.

The lone Republican running for mayor, former councilman David Oh, took aim at the defund the police movement  which seeks to tackle crime through modes other than more policing  and called for fully staffing the department. Some of the Democratic candidates have leaned into targeting crime through policing too.

Former city councilwoman and state lawmaker Cherelle Parker, who previously fought to stop unconstitutional and discriminatory use of the police tactic known as stop-and-frisk, says police should be able to use their discretion to stop someone when they witness something suspicious.

Its not an either/or  you will be held accountable, we will also have reform, but we will use every tool in the toolbox to ensure that our city is safer and cleaner and greener," Parker said in one debate.

Also supporting strong policing solutions are candidates Jeff Brown and Allan Domb. Brown, a political outsider who franchises grocery stores, earned the local Fraternal Order of Police endorsement and pledged more officers and funding for police in city budgets. Domb, a former councilman, said he would convene a group of local, state and federal agencies to tackle crime. He said bringing the agencies together could help reduce homicides, crack down on retail theft and prosecute people who obtain guns illegally.

State Rep. Amen Brown, whose experience as a gunshot victim has informed his tough-on-crime policy, pledged to work with law enforcement, not against law enforcement.

Im the only candidate who has never flip-flopped on pro-cop or not, he said. And thats a fact.

Rebecca Rhynhart, the former city controller who released a critical review of the police department before announcing her bid for mayor, has rebuked the idea of moving backwards to law-and-order policies that were racist and pushed for intervention and therapy programming that would help people at risk of becoming violent or committing crimes. She has also backed preventive measures, such as long-term investments in programs that would help to alleviate poverty and provide opportunities for those who don't have them.

In the short term, however, she said what the city needs is consequences and rules.

"Right now, we have chaos on the street, and thats not acceptable, she said. Of course, we need compassion, but we also need consequences.

Helen Gym, who has been endorsed by progressive organizations in the city and nationally, has proposed radically different solutions to eradicate crime, including funding mental health first responders, guaranteeing employment for young adults and providing effective city services to keep the citys streets clean. She denounced a top-down police-heavy focus.

I think thats one of our biggest problems that weve got, she said. Ive been very clear that the violence in our city is directly rooted in disinvestment in individuals and in neighborhoods and communities, and thus a safety agenda really needs to lean into an investment agenda.

Voters responding to polls tend to agree, listing mental health and substance abuse needs; access to opportunity, education and housing; and getting illegal guns off the street as the primary solutions to crime, said Insha Rahman, vice president of advocacy and partnerships for the Vera Institute of Justice, an organization that works to transform the legal and immigration systems.

In fact, the public has become less punitive over the past three decades and their desire to see that shift in public policy is reflected both in the voting booth and how politicians conduct themselves to win approval, said Justin Pickett, a researcher at the University of Albany.

They follow the trends in public opinion and in that direction, they look at the policies that have really high support, he said.

John Fetterman, who won the U.S. Senate race in Pennsylvania last year, appeared to heed that message. During his campaign, he discussed ensuring public safety in a way that never rose to tough-on-crime rhetoric. It's a route that few Democrats choose, Rahman noted.

He made crime and safety a kitchen table issue and said, We can have safety and justice, we deserve it and need both. That actually really appealed to voters, she said.

Thats a remarkable sort of change in how voters see Democrats in their handling of crime and safety, she said.

Progressive Brandon Johnson won Chicago's recent mayoral race after he dialed back his previous support to defund the police, while also rejecting his opponent Paul Vallas' suggestion that Chicago should hire hundreds more officers. Instead, Johnson called for investing more in mental health care, affordable housing and jobs for young people.

The outcome of that race and the contest in Philadelphia could determine how the Democratic Party addresses crime and public safety in future national elections, said Michael Sances, an associate professor at Temple University.

It tells us about the intraparty politics in the Democratic party  where they stand with policing, how to reconcile with reform, he said.

Brooke Schultz 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.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP)  Gov. Bill Lee on Wednesday signed into law legislation designed to place more school resource officers in Tennessee public and private schools, funnel additional money into school security upgrades, and require every school to submit annual safety plans to the state.

The new law is among the few changes the Republican governor and the GOP-dominated Legislature agreed to make in response to a Nashville school shooting in March that killed six people.

Lee has called a special legislative session to consider passing legislation that would keep firearms away from people who could harm themselves or others. The special session  scheduled to start August 21  comes after Republican lawmakers ignored the governors initial request to take up the proposal in the final days of the regular session in April.

To date, Republican lawmakers have largely focused their support on the school safety package. They contend the changes will make private and public schools safer by making it more difficult for a possible attacker to break into school buildings.

Nothing is more important than Tennessee students and teachers returning home from school safely each day, Lee said in a statement.

While the new laws received support from the state's handful of Democratic lawmakers, some argued that the state should not be pushing to transform schools into mini-fortresses and criticized GOP leaders for refusing to take up gun control proposals.

Lawmakers did, however, move to further protect gun and ammunition dealers, manufacturers and sellers against lawsuits. That bill is awaiting action from the governor.

The six people who were killed during The Covenant School shooting included three 9-year-old children. Police have said the shooter, Audrey Hale, had been planning the massacre for months. Hale was killed by police. Officials have also said that the school did not have a security guard posted at the school.

Law enforcement officials are currently reviewing writings left behind by Hale. Yet in the weeks since the shooting, a growing chorus of Republican leaders have demanded those writings be publicly released in order to learn more about the motive  which critics have countered is a tactic to distract from the calls to make firearms more difficult for dangerous people to obtain.

The three children who were killed in the shooting were Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney. The three adults were Katherine Koonce, 60, the head of the school, custodian Mike Hill, 61, and 61-year-old substitute teacher Cynthia Peak.

The legislation signed into law Wednesday:

 Requires private school security guards receive active shooter training prior to being posted at the school

 Requires every school district to establish threat assessment teams to better ensure students receive appropriate support services and are connected to behavioral health professionals

 Requires private and public schools to develop annual safety plans and submit them to the state.

Associated Press writer Jonathan Mattise contributed to this report.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP)  Indianas top elections official traveled last week to Europe two days after final votes were cast in the first election under his supervision to speak at a right-wing political conference in Hungary.

Republican Secretary of State Diego Morales office said his trip to the Conservative Political Action Conference in Hungary on Thursday and Friday didnt disrupt any election-related actions by the office. Democrats, however, accused Morales of skipping out on his official responsibilities following Indiana's city and town primaries to join fringe figures at the event in Budapest.

Hungarys populist Prime Minister Viktor Orban opened CPAC Hungary with a speech centered around battling what he frequently described as woke culture, and delved into hot-button cultural topics such as transgender and LGBTQ+ rights, migration and the content of education for children.

In a photo posted Thursday to Orbans official Twitter account, Orban is surrounded by more than a dozen U.S. conservative political figures attending the conference. Only unsuccessful 2022 GOP Arizona governor candidate Kari Lake stood between Morales and Orban in the photo.

Lake was among the most vocal 2022 Republican candidates promoting former President Donald Trumps election lies, which she made the centerpiece of her campaign. Morales, who took office in January, had called Joe Bidens 2020 presidential election a scam before dialing back that description ahead of winning election last November.

Morales declined an interview request through office spokeswoman Lindsey Eaton, who called his travel to the conference personal activities not paid for by taxpayer funds.

The role of a public official such as the Secretary of State includes interacting with and learning from diverse communities and constituencies, as well as sharing information about our state, Eaton said in a statement. The subject of Secretary Moraless speech was to share his personal American Dream story, his passion for our state and country, and the importance of strengthening ties with countries around the world.

Morales frequently highlights his life story of immigrating from Guatemala as a teenager with his parents and sisters to Indiana without knowing English, then going to college and enlisting in the military before becoming a U.S. citizen. He was speaking Friday during a CPAC session titled Make Kids Not War, according to the conference website.

Morales office didnt announce the trip ahead of time and he did not include it among his frequent social media posts until after the state Democratic Party criticized him on Monday. His posts described the trip as this past weekend even though the conference was held Thursday and Friday.

Indiana held municipal primary elections less than a week ago, military ballots are still arriving, and several races were incredibly close, yet Indianas top election official decided to jet off to a political conference in Eastern Europe for a photo op with Viktor Orban, state Democratic Party Chairman Mike Schmuhl said. Working Hoosiers deserve elected officials that represent the best in Indiana, stick around and do their job during critical times.

Eaton said the secretary of states involvement in city and town primary elections across Indiana was less than during statewide general elections.

Though the municipal primary election was essentially, successfully completed by Wednesday, the Secretary, his experienced office staff, and staff at the Indiana Election Division provided uninterrupted assistance to local election administrators throughout the week, Eaton said.
LONDON (AP)  Authorities around the world are racing to draw up rules for artificial intelligence, including in the European Union, where draft legislation faced a pivotal moment on Thursday.

A European Parliament committee voted to strengthen the flagship legislative proposal as it heads toward passage, part of a yearslong effort by Brussels to draw up guardrails for artificial intelligence. Those efforts have taken on more urgency as the rapid advances of chatbots like ChatGPT highlight benefits the emerging technology can bring  and the new perils it poses.

Here's a look at the EU's Artificial Intelligence Act:

HOW DO THE RULES WORK?

The AI Act, first proposed in 2021, will govern any product or service that uses an artificial intelligence system. The act will classify AI systems according to four levels of risk, from minimal to unacceptable. Riskier applications will face tougher requirements, including being more transparent and using accurate data. Think about it as a "risk management system for AI," said Johann Laux, an expert at the Oxford Internet Institute.

WHAT ARE THE RISKS?

One of the EU's main goals is to guard against any AI threats to health and safety and protect fundamental rights and values.

That means some AI uses are an absolute no-no, such as "social scoring" systems that judge people based on their behavior. AI that exploits vulnerable people including children or that uses subliminal manipulation that can result in harm, such as an interactive talking toy that encourages dangerous behavior, is also forbidden.

Lawmakers beefed up the proposal by voting to ban predictive policing tools, which crunch data to forecast where crimes will happen and who will commit them. They also approved a widened ban on remote facial recognition, save for a few law enforcement exceptions like preventing a specific terrorist threat. The technology scans passers-by and uses AI to match their faces to a database.

The aim is "to avoid a controlled society based on AI," Brando Benifei, the Italian lawmaker helping lead the European Parliament's AI efforts, told reporters Wednesday. "We think that these technologies could be used instead of the good also for the bad, and we consider the risks to be too high."

AI systems used in high risk categories like employment and education, which would affect the course of a person's life, face tough requirements such as being transparent with users and putting in place risk assessment and mitigation measures.

The EU's executive arm says most AI systems, such as video games or spam filters, fall into the low- or no-risk category.

WHAT ABOUT CHATGPT?

The original 108-page proposal barely mentioned chatbots, merely requiring them to be labeled so users know they're interacting with a machine. Negotiators later added provisions to cover general purpose AI like ChatGPT, subjecting them to some of the same requirements as high-risk systems.

One key addition is a requirement to thoroughly document any copyright material used to teach AI systems how to generate text, images, video or music that resembles human work. That would let content creators know if their blog posts, digital books, scientific articles or pop songs have been used to train algorithms that power systems like ChatGPT. Then they could decide whether their work has been copied and seek redress.

WHY ARE THE EU RULES SO IMPORTANT?

The European Union isn't a big player in cutting-edge AI development. That role is taken by the U.S. and China. But Brussels often plays a trendsetting role with regulations that tend to become de facto global standards.

"Europeans are, globally speaking, fairly wealthy and there's a lot of them," so companies and organizations often decide that the sheer size of the bloc's single market with 450 million consumers makes it easier to comply than develop different products for different regions, Laux said.

But it's not just a matter of cracking down. By laying down common rules for AI, Brussels is also trying to develop the market by instilling confidence among users, Laux said.

"The thinking behind it is if you can induce people to to place trust in AI and in applications, they will also use it more," Laux said. "And when they use it more, they will unlock the economic and social potential of AI."

WHAT IF YOU BREAK THE RULES?

Violations will draw fines of up to 30 million euros ($33 million) or 6% of a company's annual global revenue, which in the case of tech companies like Google and Microsoft could amount to billions.

WHAT'S NEXT?

It could be years before the rules fully take effect. European Union lawmakers are now due to vote on the draft legislation at a plenary session in mid-June. Then it moves into three-way negotiations involving the bloc's 27 member states, the Parliament and the executive Commission, where it could face more changes as they wrangle over the details. Final approval is expected by the end of the year, or early 2024 at the latest, followed by a grace period for companies and organizations to adapt, often around two years.

___

15 things AI can (and can't) do AI and its limits Can: Be trained and 'learn' Cannot: Get into college Can: Perpetuate bias Can: Identify images and sounds Cannot : Drive a car Cannot: Judge beauty contests Can: Read and classify text and documents Cannot: Watch (and understand) a soccer match Can: Flip burgers Can: Make investments Cannot: Help itself from buying things Can: Raise billions of cockroaches on a farm Cannot: Be creative Can: Clean your teeth Can: Pollinate flowers
Tulsa-area restaurateur Mike Bausch says visiting the White House was definitely on his bucket list.

Actually meeting a president of the United States while visiting the executive mansion, and then having a picture of the two shaking hands go viral, went way beyond anything he ever expected.

Bausch  owner of a business group that includes Andolinis pizzeria, Prossimo and STG Gelateria  was in Washington earlier this month as Oklahomas Small Businessperson of the Year. The Small Business Administration was hosting designees from all 50 states and the District of Columbia, but Bausch said the itinerary given to him before he left Tulsa was a little vague.

I heard, Hey, you might meet a congressman, Bausch said. Then when the plane landed, I had a message that wed be going to the White House.

A few minutes talking with Bausch suggests that hes done some in-depth research on the White House. He describes the way the mansion had to be rebuilt inside after the British burned it during the War of 1812, some of the renovations since, and the attention first lady Jacqueline Kennedy brought to it with a widely watched televised tour in 1962.

When we were sitting, waiting for things to start, I took out my phone, said Bausch. I opened the (mapping) app, and there was my little blue dot at the White House and I thought, Youre really there.

Bausch does not sound like someone who lets politics get in the way of a rare moment.

Regardless of who the president is, I respect the office, he said. And the president couldnt have been more kind or welcoming.

Bausch said his impression was that President Joe Bidens decision to come out and mingle with the business leaders was not really planned. As Bausch was leaving, he said, a photographer captured the moment the president shook his hand.

That photo soon popped up on Bidens official Twitter account. It quickly made the rounds of his family and friends and was even highlighted by his old high school in the California Bay Area.

Nine hours later, a friend called and said, Have you been to the White House? Bausch said.

Every time someone starts a new business  its an act of hope and optimism.



My economic plan is in an investment in that hope. pic.twitter.com/87IEdgeUoX  President Biden (@POTUS) May 2, 2023
Three Ottawa County tribes are celebrating after a state appellate court issued on Thursday a long-awaited ruling regarding the status of tribal reservations in the county.

The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals, in a published decision, upheld district court rulings that determined the reservations of the Peoria and Ottawa tribes still exist.

The ruling also applies to the Miami Tribe, since it shares its reservation with the Peoria tribe, according to an attorney for both tribes.

Weve always known that our Indian Country existed, said Ottawa Tribe Chief Ethel Cook. And we are glad that the Oklahoma courts have finally come to terms with that fact.

The ruling means criminal cases involving tribal members as victims cant be tried by the state of Oklahoma if the crime occurred within one of those nations reservation boundaries.

In Ottawa County, we have 200,000 contiguous acres of reservation lands, said Doug Lankford, chief of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma. This decision accurately reflects Supreme Court precedent in McGirt.

Now the U.S. attorney can begin fulfilling his federal trust responsibility to Indian Country and prosecute major crimes in Ottawa County.

The ruling comes after state Attorney General Gentner Drummond asked that the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals expedite rulings in four cases dealing with tribal jurisdiction in Ottawa County.

In an April 10 filing in the four cases before the court, Drummond said a ruling was needed due to a jurisdictional and public safety crises that has developed in the county.

Since January, more than 50 serious felony and misdemeanor cases have been dismissed in Ottawa County by the district attorney there and/or the district court on jurisdictional grounds linked to the U.S. Supreme Courts 2020 McGirt ruling, according to Drummonds filing.

District Attorney Doug Pewitt, who took office in January, acknowledged to the Tulsa World in early March that he had dismissed some cases so they could be refiled in tribal court.

The Ottawa County jail has been full of detainees with McGirt-based claims that have gone nowhere for over two years while awaiting an appellate decision on the matter, he said.

Pewitt also said he believes the reservations were never disestablished but that he would comply with a directive from Drummond asking him to prosecute those types of cases until an appellate court ruled otherwise.

The attorney general thanks the court for its ruling, which helps clarify jurisdictional guidance in furtherance of public safety and justice, a spokesman for Drummond said.

Ottawa County, located in the far northeastern corner of the state, is unusual in that it is the historic homeland of nine tribes, either in part or in whole.

Of the nine tribes, only the Cherokee and Quapaw had seen their reservations acknowledged by the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals as still intact prior to Thursdays ruling. Some tribal officials maintain that all nine tribes still enjoy intact reservations.

Other tribes yet to see decisions on their reservation status are the Eastern Shawnee, the Modoc, the Seneca-Cayuga and the Wyandotte.

The cases that decided the reservation status of the three tribes on Thursday all involve Winston Whitecrow Brester, a member of the Seneca Cayuga Nation.

Brester was charged in 2020 with first-degree burglary and first-degree robbery in one case and with placing bodily fluids on a government employee and battery/assault and battery on a police officer in another 2020 case.

He also challenged his 2018 Ottawa County District Court conviction for attempting to elude a police officer.

In each case, Brester claimed that the state of Oklahoma did not have jurisdiction to prosecute him because he is a member of an American Indian tribe and the crime occurred within an existing tribal reservation.

While the state agreed that the crimes occurred within the historic boundaries of the Peoria or Ottawa nations, it claimed that Congress ended supervision of the Ottawa and Peoria tribes reservations in 1956 and 1959, respectively.

Brester countered that while the federal government ended supervision of the tribes, it did not end the tribes themselves or their reservations. In 1978, Congress passed the Restoration Act repealing the 1956 and 1959 laws ending supervision.

In sum, the Treaty of 1867 created a reservation for both the Ottawa and Peoria Tribes, according to the opinion. These reservations, even if diminished or terminated by each Tribes respective termination act, were restored by Congress with the express and unqualified repeal of these termination acts in the 1978 Reinstatement Act as well as with the express reinstatement of all rights and privileges lost in connection with termination.

The Court of Criminal Appeals did reverse a district court ruling in one of Bresters appeals  one that had already been finalized.

The court had previously ruled that the McGirt ruling was not retroactive, meaning cases where a conviction became final could not be appealed on those jurisdictional grounds.

The court, though, left open the door for the state to consider prosecuting Brester under the General Crimes Act, saying recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings have not addressed scenarios involving crimes committed by an Indian against a non-Indian.

The Court of Criminal Appeals has now recognized eight tribes as still having intact reservations in the state after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in July 2020, in McGirt v. Oklahoma, that the Muscogee Nations reservation had never been disestablished by Congress.

The same court acknowledged in 2021 the continued reservation status of the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Seminole and Quapaw nations.

Meanwhile, Miami Tribe officials in April held their first tribal court hearings for those whose cases were dismissed by state officials on jurisdictional grounds.

The defendants were all Native Americans whose alleged criminal activity occurred on reservation land shared by the Miami and Peoria tribes in Ottawa County.
A longtime grant writer has shared with legislative leaders on both sides of the aisle claims that State Superintendent Ryan Walters lied to them at a recent public hearing and concerns that current and future federal grant funding for Oklahoma public school students is in jeopardy.

Terri Grissom, who was director of grant development at the Oklahoma State Department of Education since 2017, said she had planned to work three more years there before retiring and had no intention of being a whistleblower before she resigned on April 18 to take a job elsewhere.

She changed her mind about speaking out on May 1, when she tuned in to watch Walters engage in a Q-and-A with the House Appropriations and Budget Subcommittee on Education.

I watched the hearing last week. He lied, said Grissom, who has worked as a grant writer for 36 years and as a teacher for 11 years before that. Im not going to speak about something I dont know about. Im only going to speak about statements that I know are 100% untrue. And he spoke many untruths about the status of grants in the agency.

Walters has vowed that the State Department of Education will not apply for federal grants that run counter to Oklahoma values.

But Grissom said the behind-the-scenes reality is far different from the claims and reassurances Walters made to lawmakers.

He said, We have applied for millions and millions of grants since I took office. We have not applied for one single grant. That was a blatant lie, she said. When legislators said, We want a list of those, he gave them a list of everything I did under (former Superintendent Joy Hofmeisters) leadership. Nothing was new.

The new leadership team is not moving on anything. They wont approve anything. They wont sign contracts. No work is actually happening. When work shuts down, everything is in jeopardy.

Secondly, Grissom said she was incredulous when she heard Walters claim in the May 1 hearing that the State Department of Education had already applied for a multimillion-dollar grant long held by the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education. She said that was an idea she had pitched to him during a brief, chance encounter in the hall at work, and she said the grant application window doesnt open until 2024.

I could see him taking bits and pieces of that quick-snippet conversation he and I had and then making up a lie during the hearing. That was fascinating to me, Grissom said. I was flabbergasted that an elected official could just stand up in public and tell absolute, blatant lies. Thats when I decided to say something.

The public has a right to know about his lies. If hes going to lie about federal grants, hes going to lie about anything.

Grissom posted her quick reaction on Facebook, and word about her post quickly drew the attention of three lawmakers  Rep. Rhonda Baker, R-Yukon, chair of the House Common Education Committee; Assistant Floor Leader Rep. Mark McBride, R-Moore; and House Minority Leader Cyndi Munson, D-Oklahoma City.

So Grissom followed up with detailed emails to all three.

Not following the guidelines of federal grants and moving staff people around, those were things that I didnt really know, but I trust this persons opinion because they had been there (at OSDE) for several years, McBride told the Tulsa World on Thursday, adding that he is most concerned by the possibility that Oklahoma may have to return federal grant funds.

Asked if he feels misled by what Walters said about federal grants in the legislative hearing, McBride said: I dont feel misled. I just have a lot of questions, and I need answers.

Walters spokesman Justin Holcomb said the state superintendent has slowed things down not from incompetence but in an effort to do his due diligence and to exercise prudence.

Regarding the accusation that Superintendent Walters is not moving quickly enough  as he has stated, transparency and oversight are not something that should be rushed. This administration will continue to exercise extensive oversight when it comes to federal grants.

Munson said she knows Grissom well because they previously served together on the board of a small nonprofit organization.

He (Walters) may be elevating in the Republican Party and getting national attention and whatever else that he is seeking, but at the cost of thousands of children who are leaning on him to provide leadership and a vision so that they can be educated, Munson said. If we dont have federal dollars available or granted to us in order to execute the things we need to in our public schools, do those programs and services all end, or is the state then obligated to take care of those needs?

I would assume we would have to figure out a way to provide services, because many of those grants are for students with disabilities and lunch programs. These are things so every child has an opportunity to learn. These are vital programs and services.

When Grissom was hired in 2017, she was assigned to seek competitive grants of federal tax dollars to support Oklahoma public schools needs with top priorities being students needs in reading instruction, mental health supports in schools, and curriculum.

After Walters took office, she said she tried for months to find out what his priorities for her would be.

Eventually, she said Walters chief of staff, Matt Langston, volunteered this guidance to her: No trauma-informed training, no social-emotional learning, no DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) programming, and no LGBTQ+. He asked if I had any problem with those. I told him my personal beliefs didnt matter because I would do the job I was assigned, and he said, Great!

Grissom told lawmakers in private communications that the new administrators Walters has installed at the State Education Department appeared to lack even basic understanding of how to stay in legal compliance with the use of federal grant funding.

For example, in one instance, Grissom said Walters top brass found out they couldnt just reassign grant-funded employees away from their grant project work to be their personal administrative assistants.

Grissom said she was told Walters didnt have much use for maintaining or seeking out competitive federal grants as a source of funding at all.

All grants at the federal level, the funding comes from taxes that we pay. Competing for those grants is a way of bringing money that Oklahomans pay in back to the state to provide services and supports to Oklahoma kids, she said.

Grissom said that since being hired in 2017, she wrote grants that have guaranteed Oklahoma about $106 million, but only if all of the work is completed.

Without access to department documentation, she estimated that between $35 million and $40 million of that money is unspent, and she said that if those grant programs are not fully completed, some federal agencies likely will demand repayment of the grants in full.

Asked for an example of a project in jeopardy, Grissom said a grant-funded, three-year project by a vendor called Child Trend to create a searchable map to help local schools easily find mental health providers for student referrals has gone unfinished.

The reason? A contract for the third year of work has been awaiting Walters approval since August, when as the governors then-secretary of education his approval was already required.

By law, contract renewals are required every year. The work on the third year of the grant was supposed to start Oct. 1, 2022, and he still hasnt signed the contract, Grissom said of Walters.

Someone in leadership emailed me about a month ago and said, I think were just at the point where were just not going to finish this work. Is there any consequence?

I said, Yes. We said we were going to build an asset map. Weve already paid this company $146,000. If we dont complete the work, we have to pay back the $146,000. He said, Oh, I didnt know that!
Having never set foot in a college classroom before, Kelly Parsley wouldve been justified in feeling overwhelmed.

But when the moment finally came, she was able to put any misgivings behind her.

I think I was too excited to be afraid, Parsley, a 30-year-old single mother of five, said about her first day at Tulsa Community College.

Id been afraid my whole life. Now I had a sense of freedom. Just to be in a classroom  I was living the dream. That just doesnt happen in my family.

A first-generation college student with dreams of becoming a doctor, Parsley will graduate from TCC on Friday, officially completing the process she began in the summer of 2021.

She is finishing with not one but three associate degrees from the school  in biology, enterprise development and liberal arts.

Whats more, she received some exciting news earlier this week that bodes well for her future in medicine.

The Locust Grove resident has been selected as one of 60 from across the country to receive a Jack Kent Cooke Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship. Providing up to $55,000 a year for two years, it all but assures that she will be able to complete a bachelors degree and go on to medical school.

Parsley was presented the honor Tuesday at TCC, with her children, who range in age from 10 to 3, at her side.

I know it sounds corny, but really all I had when I started was a dream, said Parsley, who is weighing her options on where to continue her education.

I had almost no money or support. And I didnt have a lot of belief in myself, she said.

Parsley, a member of the Cherokee Nation, grew up poor in difficult circumstances, depending on tribal services to survive.

As a doctor, she hopes to serve people with similar backgrounds, especially Native populations, she said.

Parsley, who works part time as a patient care technician at Northeastern Health System in Tahlequah, believes that her past struggles will be a plus in the medical field and will help her build trust with patients.

I want to teach and educate them on how to take care of themselves, she said.

Shes taken on the additional challenge of learning the Cherokee language, thinking it could be a help to that end.

My goal is to become fluent, she said.

Afraid Id be laughed at

A native of Tahlequah, Parsley said her family history is a cycle of poverty, drugs and alcohol.

And while she had an aptitude for learning as a child, it was never encouraged. If anything, she said, it was suppressed.

Education was not understood or valued in my family, she said.

I always thought Id like to be a doctor, Parsley said. But I didnt tell anyone. I was afraid Id be laughed at.

By the time she was in her late teens, she was married with a child.

Trapped in a dysfunctional poverty mindset, Parsley couldnt fathom that life could be different for her.

What she did know, though, was I didnt want my kids to have that.

She and her husband later divorced. The first thing she did, after obtaining full custody of the children, was enroll at TCC.

Since that summer of 2021, Parsley has distinguished herself as a student. Shes a member of Phi Theta Kappa and TCCs Honors Scholar program. She founded and served as president of Motivated Scholars, an organization that helps honors students connect and inspire one another.

She cant say enough, she said, about the professors and supportive environment at TCC.

Another big help has been the TRIO program, which provides services to students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

The Cooke scholarship tries to help students complete their undergraduate educations with as little debt as possible.

A project of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, submissions are evaluated based on students academic ability and achievement, financial need, persistence and leadership.

The scholarship is considered last-dollar funding after all institutional aid is applied, officials said.

Parsley has faced challenges similar to those of other nontraditional students.

The biggest one has just been coordination, she said, adding that shes worked hard to arrange her class schedule around her childrens schooling and other needs.

What her kids have learned from her college experience, Parsley said, is just as important as what she has.

Education will now be part of the expectation, she said. It never was for me, but were breaking that cycle. And no one can take your education away from you.

Something else she emphasizes to her children, she said, is that when you commit to something, you have to follow through.

As a new college graduate, Parsley plans to keep doing just that.

I always thought it just happened in the movies, she said. But the truth is, you dont have to come from a fairy-tale privileged rich family background to achieve your dreams, and I want people to know that.

All it takes is hard work, and you can do anything you want.

Graduation ceremonies Tulsa Community College: Friday, Reynolds Center, University of Tulsa. 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. University of Oklahoma: Friday, Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, Norman. 7 p.m. Oklahoma State University: Friday-Saturday, Gallagher-Iba Arena, Stillwater. Times vary. Rogers State University: Saturday, Claremore Expo Center. 10 a.m. School of Professional Studies; 1:30 p.m. School of Arts and Sciences, Cameron University, Honors and PLC. OSU Center for Health Sciences: Saturday, Mabee Center, Oral Roberts University. 11 a.m. Graduate College, 3 p.m. undergraduate. OSU-Tulsa: Monday, Union Multipurpose Activity Center, Union High School. 6:30 p.m.
HENRYETTA  Whether the convicted rapist behind a mass murder-suicide that left seven people dead couldve had other victims or ties to other suspects are among the questions the agency now leading the investigation is trying to answer, it confirmed.

Still in their first week since taking charge of the case and searching the Henryetta property of Jesse McFadden  a registered sex offender believed to have killed six other people and then himself  Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation officials issued their first statement Thursday, apparently in an effort to quell rumors and speculation.

The agency is still working to determine what led up to and occurred during this incident, the statement noted. The work is also to discern whether there are other potential victims or suspects not yet identified.

The OSBI indicated that it issued the statement to furnish some facts and prevent the further spread of unconfirmed information.

Officials did not elaborate on what that unconfirmed information might be.

McFadden, 39, a registered sex offender, was found dead May 1, along with his wife, Holly McFadden, 35; her children, Tiffany Guess, 13, Michael James Mayo, 15, and Rylee Allen, 17; and friends Ivy Webster, 14, and Brittany Brewer, 15, who had been at the house for a sleepover with Guess.

The possibility that McFadden and even others couldve been involved with sex crimes on the property was raised after Websters family visited the house there and reported finding what they say is possible evidence of crimes.

The family, who went to look for items of Websters after the crime scene was released by authorities, say they found inside the house sets of handcuffs, chains and padlocks; drugs and drug paraphernalia; and multiple cellphones and electronic devices.

It was after the familys discoveries that the OSBI was asked to take over the case from Okmulgee County authorities on May 6.

Authorities have not said why the items were not collected during an initial examination of the house or what their significance might be, if any.

A new search under the OSBIs direction continued through Monday and included a dive team that probed ponds on the property.

The investigative process is ongoing and will be lengthy, the OSBIs statement said.

The agency had not commented previously, other than to say the investigation is ongoing.

OSBI officials said theyd received support from other law enforcement agencies, including the Grand River Dam Authority, the Okmulgee County District Attorneys Task Force, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

Authorities say McFaddens motive remains unclear, although he was due in court May 1 on other sex-crime charges and was facing a likely return to prison.

Anyone who has information may call the OSBI tip line at 800-522-8017 or email tips@osbi.ok.gov. Those providing information may remain anonymous.

Video: Father mourns teenage daughter after 7 bodies found
A YouTuber is now facing the possibility of spending up to 20 years in federal prison after intentionally crashing an aircraft into the hills of the Los Padres National Forest in California solely to gain internet fame.

The viral video of the reckless stunt, which Trevor Jacob, a former Olympic snowboarder, claimed was an accident, has accumulated over three million views.

In the video, Jacob jumps out of the Taylorcraft BL64 plane with a parachute as the cameras capture the aircraft crashing into the hills. He alleged that the plane lost power mid-flight, leaving him with no choice but to abandon it and parachute to safety, according to LAD Bible.

After returning to the crash site to retrieve the footage, Jacob claimed that a farmer had saved his life.

According to officials, before the flight on November 24, 2021, Jacob affixed multiple video cameras to different areas of the aircraft and brought along a selfie stick and a video camera, as well as a parachute, per The Guardian.

Following the crash, Jacob notified the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) of the incident two days later but informed them and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that he was unaware of the location of the wreckage.

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However, on December 10, 2021, Trevor Jacob and a companion journeyed to the crash site and towed the plane to Santa Barbara County, where it was housed in a hangar. He then dismantled certain portions of the plane and scattered the components in waste bins located in and around the airport, according to authorities, who assert that Jacob confessed to this ploy to deceive investigators.

On December 23, 2021, he uploaded a video titled "I Crashed My Plane" on YouTube.

Trevor Jacob To Plead Guilty

Trevor Jacob's pilot's license was revoked by the FAA in April of last year. Jacob, who identified himself as a skilled pilot and skydiver, will enter his plea formally in Los Angeles in the upcoming weeks and will be sentenced later.

According to a plea agreement, he admitted to deliberately obstructing federal authorities by disposing of the wreckage and creating the video to earn money through a wallet company's sponsorship, per The National.

The Department of Justice stated that Jacob also lied to investigators about the plane's engine failure and his parachute landing. As a result, he has agreed to plead guilty to one count of obstruction with the intent to destroy and conceal, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years.

In his plea agreement, he admitted that he had no intention of completing his solo flight from Lompoc Airport to Mammoth Lakes.

Several aviation professionals criticized Jacob for failing to restart the plane's malfunctioning engine and for wearing a parachute, which they claimed was not typical for small aircraft pilots.

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The high cost of housing apparently applies to parsonages, too.

Currently, a single family residential property  used exclusively and directly for fraternal or religious purposes is exempt from property taxes on the first $250,000 in taxable value.

Legislation passed by the Oklahoma House of Representatives and sent to the governor on Thursday, though, will raise that exemption to $500,000.

House Bill 2339, by Rep. Nick Archer, R-Elk City, appears to be the first adjustment to the exemption since at least 1996.

A House fiscal analysis of the bill said upping the limit will affect 174 residences in 44 counties, with a total revenue loss to the state of $511,038.

Democrats were the only representatives to question the new limit, but they werent the only ones to vote against it. HB 2339 passed 57-26, with nine Republicans joining the 17 Democrats present in opposition.

Also Thursday, the House passed and sent to the governor legislation significantly altering the collection and distribution of fees for 911 services.

HB 1590, by Rep. Jim Grego, R-Wilburton, sets at $1.25 per line per month the fee charged telephone customers for those services. That will be a 50 cent-per-month increase for cellphone users and some land lines but a decrease for other land line customers, some of whom pay as much $5 a month, lawmakers said.

The revenue from the fee will be apportioned to the various 911 systems, called Public Safety Answering Points, based on population and coverage area. HB 1590 also implements statewide training standards and directs equipment updates facilitating more precise location of 911 calls and coordination of responses.
WASHINGTON (AP)  The Supreme Court said Monday it will decide whether public officials can block critics from commenting on their social media accounts, an issue that previously came up in a case involving former President Donald Trump.

Two years ago the Supreme Court dismissed a case over Trumps efforts to block critics from his personal Twitter account. A lower court had said Trump violated the First Amendment whenever he blocked a critic to silence a viewpoint. But the Supreme Court said the case should be dismissed because there was nothing left to it after Trump was permanently suspended from Twitter and ended his presidential term. The Republican former president's account has since been reinstated.

Now, the court has agreed to hear two cases involving much lower-profile figures. The first involves two elected members of a California school board, the Poway Unified School District Board of Trustees. The members, Michelle O'Connor-Ratcliff and T.J. Zane, used Facebook and Twitter accounts to communicate with the public. Two parents, Christopher and Kimberly Garnier, left critical comments and replies to posts on the board members' accounts and were blocked. An appeals court said the board members had violated their free speech rights by doing so.

The other case involves James Freed, who became the city manager of Port Huron, Michigan, in 2014. Freed, who was appointed to his position by the mayor and City Council, used a Facebook page to communicate with the public. In 2020, a resident, Kevin Lindke, used the page to comment several times from three Facebook profiles, including criticism of the city's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Freed blocked all three accounts and deleted Lindke's comments. Lindke sued, but lower courts sided with Freed.

Katie Fallow, senior counsel at the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, which was involved in the Trump case, said that more and more public officials are using social media to communicate about official business.

As many courts have held, it doesnt matter whether its the president or a local city manager, government officials cant block people from these forums simply because they dont like what theyre saying," Fallow said in a statement. The Supreme Court should reaffirm that basic First Amendment principle.

The Supreme Court will not hear the new cases before the fall. The justices this week are hearing their last scheduled arguments and will issue decisions in May and June before going on a summer break. The court will resume hearing arguments in October.

Follow the AP's coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court at https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court.
TOKYO - Toyota Motor Corp said on Friday the vehicle data of about 2.15 million users was left publicly available in Japan for about a decade from November 2013 to mid-April. The incident comes as the world's biggest automaker by sales makes a push into vehicle connectivity that is seen as crucial to offering services such as autonomous driving and other artificial intelligence-backed features. The leak, attributed to a setting error in the cloud environment, could encompass details such as vehicle locations and identification numbers of vehicle devices, but there were no reports of malicious use, the company said. Affected customers included those who signed up for the T-Connect network service from the start of 2012 until April 17, Toyota said, apologising for causing concern. Also affected were users of G-Link, a similar service for owners of the luxury Lexus-branded vehicles, that provides features such as emergency support. The incident stemmed from human error, leading to a cloud system being set to public instead of private, a Toyota spokesperson said, adding that the company would introduce systems to audit and monitor cloud settings continuously. A Toyota Tacoma is seen during the New York International Auto Show, in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., April 5, 2023. Photo: Reuters It will also investigate and thoroughly educate employees about data handling rules, the spokesperson added. Japan's Personal Information Protection Commission has been informed about the incident, one of its officials said, but declined to provide further details, in line with its practice of not commenting on individual incidents. Toyota said steps to block outside access to the data were taken after the issue was discovered and an investigation into all cloud environments managed by Toyota Connected Corp was being carried out. Large leaks of personal data occasionally happen in Japan. In March, mobile carrier NTT DoCoMo said data of up to 5.29 million customers may have leaked via a company to which it outsourced work.

TOKYO - Toyota Motor Corp said on Friday the vehicle data of about 2.15 million users was left publicly available in Japan for about a decade from November 2013 to mid-April.

The incident comes as the world's biggest automaker by sales makes a push into vehicle connectivity that is seen as crucial to offering services such as autonomous driving and other artificial intelligence-backed features.

The leak, attributed to a setting error in the cloud environment, could encompass details such as vehicle locations and identification numbers of vehicle devices, but there were no reports of malicious use, the company said.

Affected customers included those who signed up for the T-Connect network service from the start of 2012 until April 17, Toyota said, apologising for causing concern.

Also affected were users of G-Link, a similar service for owners of the luxury Lexus-branded vehicles, that provides features such as emergency support.

The incident stemmed from human error, leading to a cloud system being set to public instead of private, a Toyota spokesperson said, adding that the company would introduce systems to audit and monitor cloud settings continuously.

A Toyota Tacoma is seen during the New York International Auto Show, in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., April 5, 2023. Photo: Reuters

It will also investigate and thoroughly educate employees about data handling rules, the spokesperson added.

Japan's Personal Information Protection Commission has been informed about the incident, one of its officials said, but declined to provide further details, in line with its practice of not commenting on individual incidents.

Toyota said steps to block outside access to the data were taken after the issue was discovered and an investigation into all cloud environments managed by Toyota Connected Corp was being carried out.

Large leaks of personal data occasionally happen in Japan. In March, mobile carrier NTT DoCoMo said data of up to 5.29 million customers may have leaked via a company to which it outsourced work.
Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh called on members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to promote solidarity amid global challenges at a closing meeting for the 42nd ASEAN Summit in Indonesia on Thursday. ASEAN is in a good position but faces global uncertainties, Prime Minister Chinh said at the meeting, adding that it is necessary to foster solidarity among ASEAN members in order to overcome hardships. The bloc should also focus on becoming adaptable and self-reliant to consolidate strategic value, said PM Chinh. Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh delivers a speech at the meeting of the 42nd ASEAN Summit in Indonesia on May 11, 2023. Photo: Chinhphu.vn He also urged ASEAN members to boost collaboration for their benefits and to build a stronger ASEAN community. The Vietnamese prime minister underlined that all the nations have the responsibility for maintaining peace and guaranteeing maritime safety and security in the East Vietnam Sea. ASEAN senior leaders attend a meeting of the 42nd ASEAN Summit in Indonesia on May 11, 2023. Photo: Chinhphu.vn PM Chinh used the meeting to suggest that ASEAN maintain its objective stance on the Russia-Ukraine military conflict. He also noted that ASEAN should seek out partnership that can help it minimize the impact of global conflicts on the Southeast Asian region and make active contributions to peace and development in the region and the world. The leaders of the Southeast Asian nations also pinpointed global uncertainties at the meeting, emphasizing that solidarity is an important prerequisite for the growth and prestige of ASEAN. ASEAN leaders were determined to effectively implement cooperative agreements to beef up economic growth and fight climate change, diseases, cyberattacks, labor slavery, and transnational crimes. Furthermore, they affirmed the importance of peace, stability, and security in the East Vietnam Sea, as well as the assurance of the smooth implementation of the Conduct of Parties in the East Vietnam Sea (DOC) and the finalization of a Code of Conduct (COC) for the maritime area. Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh (R) meets with Timor Lestes Prime Minister Taur Matan Ruak. Photo: Vietnam News Agency Prime Minister Chinh said at a meeting with his Timor Leste counterpart Taur Matan Ruak on the same day that Vietnam was eager to share experience with and support the latter's country as it seeks to become the 11th member of ASEAN. The Vietnamese leader proposed Timor Leste pave the way for Vietnamese firms to do business in the country and remove legal obstacles. He also suggested that Timor Leste ratify the bilateral trade agreement inked in 2013 and put into action the memorandum of understanding on rice trading signed in 2015. During the meeting, the PM Chinh invited PM Ruak to visit Vietnam. Prime Minister Chinh and his entourage flew back to Vietnam from Indonesia on Thursday afternoon. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!

Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh called on members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to promote solidarity amid global challenges at a closing meeting for the 42nd ASEAN Summit in Indonesia on Thursday.

ASEAN is in a good position but faces global uncertainties, Prime Minister Chinh said at the meeting, adding that it is necessary to foster solidarity among ASEAN members in order to overcome hardships.

The bloc should also focus on becoming adaptable and self-reliant to consolidate strategic value, said PM Chinh.

Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh delivers a speech at the meeting of the 42nd ASEAN Summit in Indonesia on May 11, 2023. Photo: Chinhphu.vn

He also urged ASEAN members to boost collaboration for their benefits and to build a stronger ASEAN community.

The Vietnamese prime minister underlined that all the nations have the responsibility for maintaining peace and guaranteeing maritime safety and security in the East Vietnam Sea.

ASEAN senior leaders attend a meeting of the 42nd ASEAN Summit in Indonesia on May 11, 2023. Photo: Chinhphu.vn

PM Chinh used the meeting to suggest that ASEAN maintain its objective stance on the Russia-Ukraine military conflict.

He also noted that ASEAN should seek out partnership that can help it minimize the impact of global conflicts on the Southeast Asian region and make active contributions to peace and development in the region and the world.

The leaders of the Southeast Asian nations also pinpointed global uncertainties at the meeting, emphasizing that solidarity is an important prerequisite for the growth and prestige of ASEAN.

ASEAN leaders were determined to effectively implement cooperative agreements to beef up economic growth and fight climate change, diseases, cyberattacks, labor slavery, and transnational crimes.

Furthermore, they affirmed the importance of peace, stability, and security in the East Vietnam Sea, as well as the assurance of the smooth implementation of the Conduct of Parties in the East Vietnam Sea (DOC) and the finalization of a Code of Conduct (COC) for the maritime area.

Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh (R) meets with Timor Lestes Prime Minister Taur Matan Ruak. Photo: Vietnam News Agency

Prime Minister Chinh said at a meeting with his Timor Leste counterpart Taur Matan Ruak on the same day that Vietnam was eager to share experience with and support the latter's country as it seeks to become the 11th member of ASEAN.

The Vietnamese leader proposed Timor Leste pave the way for Vietnamese firms to do business in the country and remove legal obstacles.

He also suggested that Timor Leste ratify the bilateral trade agreement inked in 2013 and put into action the memorandum of understanding on rice trading signed in 2015.

During the meeting, the PM Chinh invited PM Ruak to visit Vietnam.

Prime Minister Chinh and his entourage flew back to Vietnam from Indonesia on Thursday afternoon.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
Police in Hue City, located in Thua Thien-Hue Province, central Vietnam, have apprehended two local men over allegations that they were involved in human organ trade. The suspects were identified as Nguyen Thanh Tu, 33, a native of southern Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, and Nguyen Van Nghia, 33, a resident of southern Ben Tre Province, police said on Thursday. According to police officers, Tu met Phan H., a native of Hue City who was in medical treatment for his kidney failure at Hue Central Hospital, in October 2021. Tu suggested that he would help H. buy a kidney for transplantation and H. agreed. Later, Tu requested Nghia to search for kidney sellers. Nghia negotiated with Nguyen Dinh T., a 33-year-old resident in Quang Nam Province, central Vietnam, on buying the latters kidney at VND360 million (US$12,823). Meanwhile, Nghia and Tu offered the kidney to H. at VND800 million ($34,147). H. accepted the deal and paid an advance of VND300 million ($12,816) to Tu. Tu gave the amount of money to Nghia and got back VND50 million ($2,135) as a brokerage fee. However, H. failed to undergo a kidney transplant as previously dealt with Tu as well as could not get back the advance money, prompting him to report the issue to police officers. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!

Police in Hue City, located in Thua Thien-Hue Province, central Vietnam, have apprehended two local men over allegations that they were involved in human organ trade.

The suspects were identified as Nguyen Thanh Tu, 33, a native of southern Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, and Nguyen Van Nghia, 33, a resident of southern Ben Tre Province, police said on Thursday.

According to police officers, Tu met Phan H., a native of Hue City who was in medical treatment for his kidney failure at Hue Central Hospital, in October 2021.

Tu suggested that he would help H. buy a kidney for transplantation and H. agreed.

Later, Tu requested Nghia to search for kidney sellers.

Nghia negotiated with Nguyen Dinh T., a 33-year-old resident in Quang Nam Province, central Vietnam, on buying the latters kidney at VND360 million (US$12,823).

Meanwhile, Nghia and Tu offered the kidney to H. at VND800 million ($34,147).

H. accepted the deal and paid an advance of VND300 million ($12,816) to Tu.

Tu gave the amount of money to Nghia and got back VND50 million ($2,135) as a brokerage fee.

However, H. failed to undergo a kidney transplant as previously dealt with Tu as well as could not get back the advance money, prompting him to report the issue to police officers.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
Military Hospital 175 in Ho Chi Minh City was awarded the Diamond Status of the Angels Awards by the World Stroke Organization (WSO) on Thursday thanks to its efforts in stroke care and treatment. The hospital under the Ministry of National Defense won a Platinum Status designation in the third quarter of 2022 after achieving Gold Status for several straight quarters by the WSO Angels Awards. Since 2022, the hospital has made great strides in stroke care and treatment, allowing it to meet all criteria for a Diamond Status designation from the WSO Angels Awards. According to Dr. Hoang Tien Trong Nghia, head of the department of neurology of Military Hospital 175, the hospital fulfilled all 10 criteria set by the World Stroke Organization in order to achieve Diamond Status. Gold Status and Platinum Status each have seven requirements. Diamond Status is the highest designation given by the WSO Angels Awards. The establishment of the Code Stroke team contributed to the Military Hospital 175s success in winning the WSO title. The Code Stroke team is in charge of diagnosing and treating stroke patients quickly, helping them return to normal life. Since 2020, the hospital has admitted and treated some 3,800 stroke patients suffering from ischemic stroke, intracranial hemorrhage, and subarachnoid haemorrhage. Apart from its advanced stroke treatment methods, Military Hospital 175 is upgrading its facility to 1,000 beds and equipping it with modern machines. The awards, featuring three levels  Gold Status, Platinum Status, and Diamond Status  are given quarterly with the aim of providing practical support to improve stroke care globally, recognizing and promoting best practices in stroke care, and sharing key research on the implementation of quality treatment. The criteria for medical institutions to be awarded Diamond Status include 75 percent of patients treated from door to recanalization therapy in less than 60 minutes, 25 percent of patients receiving recanalization procedure out of total hospitalization cases, and 90 percent of all suspected stroke patients undergoing CT or MRI procedures. In addition, 90 percent of all stroke patients undergo dysphagia screening, 90 percent of Ischaemic stroke patients are discharged with antiplatelets, 90 percent of atrial fibrillation-related stroke patients are discharged with anticoagulants, and stroke patients are treated in a dedicated stroke unit during their hospital stay. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!

Military Hospital 175 in Ho Chi Minh City was awarded the Diamond Status of the Angels Awards by the World Stroke Organization (WSO) on Thursday thanks to its efforts in stroke care and treatment.

The hospital under the Ministry of National Defense won a Platinum Status designation in the third quarter of 2022 after achieving Gold Status for several straight quarters by the WSO Angels Awards.

Since 2022, the hospital has made great strides in stroke care and treatment, allowing it to meet all criteria for a Diamond Status designation from the WSO Angels Awards.

According to Dr. Hoang Tien Trong Nghia, head of the department of neurology of Military Hospital 175, the hospital fulfilled all 10 criteria set by the World Stroke Organization in order to achieve Diamond Status. Gold Status and Platinum Status each have seven requirements.

Diamond Status is the highest designation given by the WSO Angels Awards.

The establishment of the Code Stroke team contributed to the Military Hospital 175s success in winning the WSO title.

The Code Stroke team is in charge of diagnosing and treating stroke patients quickly, helping them return to normal life.

Since 2020, the hospital has admitted and treated some 3,800 stroke patients suffering from ischemic stroke, intracranial hemorrhage, and subarachnoid haemorrhage.

Apart from its advanced stroke treatment methods, Military Hospital 175 is upgrading its facility to 1,000 beds and equipping it with modern machines.

The awards, featuring three levels  Gold Status, Platinum Status, and Diamond Status  are given quarterly with the aim of providing practical support to improve stroke care globally, recognizing and promoting best practices in stroke care, and sharing key research on the implementation of quality treatment.

The criteria for medical institutions to be awarded Diamond Status include 75 percent of patients treated from door to recanalization therapy in less than 60 minutes, 25 percent of patients receiving recanalization procedure out of total hospitalization cases, and 90 percent of all suspected stroke patients undergoing CT or MRI procedures.

In addition, 90 percent of all stroke patients undergo dysphagia screening, 90 percent of Ischaemic stroke patients are discharged with antiplatelets, 90 percent of atrial fibrillation-related stroke patients are discharged with anticoagulants, and stroke patients are treated in a dedicated stroke unit during their hospital stay.

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A female tourist joining a tour to Pygmy Cave in the Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park, located in Quang Binh Province, north-central Vietnam, accused a tour guide of sexually harassing her at midnight on Tuesday. The Quang Binh Department of Tourism said on Thursday that it was verifying the case. The tourist, named L.P.T., wrote on social media that a tour guide from Jungle Boss Tours Company, which specializes in adventure tours to Quang Binh, opened her tents zipper three times at midnight and demanded to sleep with her. After dinner on Tuesday, T. talked with the tour guide, named N.V.T.. During the conversation, the tour guide said he had a crush on the tourist although he is married. He also did impolite acts to her. The tourist later went to bed in her tent. However, the tour guide reached her tent and opened the tents zipper. L.P.T. was frightened and asked the tour guide to go but he approached her tent two more times and said he wanted to sleep with her. The tourist later reported the case to another employee of the tour operator. The company then dispatched employees to T.s residence to make an apology and promise to handle the case. The tour guide also admitted his acts, called the tourist to apologize to her, and quit his job. Jungle Boss Tours returned the tour costs to the tourist. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!

A female tourist joining a tour to Pygmy Cave in the Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park, located in Quang Binh Province, north-central Vietnam, accused a tour guide of sexually harassing her at midnight on Tuesday.

The Quang Binh Department of Tourism said on Thursday that it was verifying the case.

The tourist, named L.P.T., wrote on social media that a tour guide from Jungle Boss Tours Company, which specializes in adventure tours to Quang Binh, opened her tents zipper three times at midnight and demanded to sleep with her.

After dinner on Tuesday, T. talked with the tour guide, named N.V.T.. During the conversation, the tour guide said he had a crush on the tourist although he is married.

He also did impolite acts to her.

The tourist later went to bed in her tent. However, the tour guide reached her tent and opened the tents zipper.

L.P.T. was frightened and asked the tour guide to go but he approached her tent two more times and said he wanted to sleep with her.

The tourist later reported the case to another employee of the tour operator.

The company then dispatched employees to T.s residence to make an apology and promise to handle the case.

The tour guide also admitted his acts, called the tourist to apologize to her, and quit his job.

Jungle Boss Tours returned the tour costs to the tourist.

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In Sundays 7NEWS Spotlight Liam Bartlett, together with Ross Coulthart, exposes a billion-dollar British crime cartel fleecing Australians of more than $4 million every week.

Bartlett said: I have been embedded with crime fighting groups from various countries over the years, but this operation was on a scale like no other. As it turned out, it needed to be. The criminal syndicate was the biggest scamming group ever to be raided by any global authority.

The results spectacularly demonstrate the abject failure of our Federal Police to act effectively against the scourge of this ever-increasing threat to Aussie consumers; and we have to demand that things are done better, he said.

The staggeringly sophisticated crime syndicate, run by British con artists with the backing of Russian mafia, has been targeting Aussie investors they have cruelly dubbed mugs with money, safe in the knowledge authorities here cant  or wont  touch them.

In the joint expose with investigative reporter Ross Coulthart airing 8.45pm, this Sunday on Channel 7 and 7plus, Bartlett will take viewers inside Operation Tropicana led by Australian fraud and cybercrime specialist Ken Gamble and his IFW Global operatives.

Across 24 simultaneous raids, in association with Malaysias anti-crime commission, the scam busters make more than 80 arrests, including Brit king pin Andy Peters, aka Peg Leg, who lived a life of luxury at the expense of duped Australians.

8:45pm Sunday on Seven.
Today show executive producer Steve Burling has lashed out at a story published by the Daily Telegraph which claimed its ratings were problematic and there were behind the scenes

Ratings figures show Today is well behind market leader Sunrise, which has won 18 out of 18 weeks this year so far, the newspaper stated.

Year-to-date average audience numbers for the five city metro markets indicate Sunrise has an 18 per cent lead on Nines Today, which underwent a reshuffle on the bench earlier this year.

Sunrises average audience is sitting at 213,000 viewers compared to Today at 181,000. Nationally, it is a more grim picture with Sunrise at 363,000 viewers compared to Today at 271,000.

Steve Burling wrote on the shows Instagram account, The story published today is total fabrication and a distortion of the old-fashioned and out of date overnight ratings system.

While VOZ numbers rarely show big lifts in the news genre there was no acknowledgment that the gap had actually closed in breakfast TV over the past 18 months or so.

The article also implied Alex Cullen was unhappy since moving from news to reading sport but Burling said the team was working brilliantly together.

On socials Today noted, We usually dont respond to this rubbish, but its time to draw a line in the sand. #9Today.
Former US Marine Daniel Penny turned himself in on Friday morning to face second-degree manslaughter charges after a video surfaced showing him putting a homeless man, Jordan Neely, in a fatal chokehold on a New York City subway train.



Neely, a former Michael Jackson impersonator, died after being choked by Penny earlier this month.



The lawyer for Daniel Penny, Thomas Kenniff, confirmed his client's surrender to the authorities and expected him to be arraigned later in the day, CBS News reported.



Penny's attorneys claimed that he and other passengers acted in self-defense after Neely allegedly threatened them. However, Neely's family believes that Penny's actions led to his untimely death and that he should be held accountable for his actions.



Daniel Penny placed Jordan Neely, a 30-year-old homeless man, in a chokehold aboard a Manhattan subway train when the latter started ranting about how he was starving, thirsty, and had little to make a living for. After being transported to a hospital, Neely was subsequently declared deceased.



The New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled the death of Jordan Neely a homicide, which doesn't necessarily indicate intent or culpability.

A witness who recorded the incident said Neely had been acting erratically but had not attacked anyone on the train before being restrained, according to CNN.

Read Also: YouTuber Faces 20 Years Jail Time for Staging Plane Crash

Subway Chokehold Case Highlights Need to Improve Mental Health Services

According to military and law enforcement records, Daniel Penny is a former US Marine who served as a sergeant from 2017 to 2021, with his last duty assignment at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, as per the BBC.



Penny's mother, Christie Neely, was murdered by her boyfriend in 2007, and her killer was sentenced to 30 years in prison in 2012, as reported by the Jersey Journal. Following this tragedy, Neely began to suffer from mental health issues, according to his aunt, Carolyn Neely, who spoke with the New York Post.



Over the years, Jordan Neely had been arrested 42 times on various charges, including theft, evading fares, and assaulting three women, as per reports by US media.

Neely's death has sparked protests and brought renewed attention to the issues of homelessness and mental illness in the United States.



New York City Mayor Eric Adams has commented on the case, emphasizing the need for improvement in the mental health system to better protect individuals like Neely.

Related Article: Subway Chokehold Case: Daniel Penny Expected To Face Charges in Jordan Neely's Death

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This picture shows fishing boats anchored near Gwa township in Myanmars Rakhine state on 11 May 2023 after Cyclone Mocha, the Bay of Bengals first cyclone of the year formed (AFP via Getty Images)

Authorities in Bangladesh and Myanmar are bracing to evacuate thousands of people as tropical cyclone Mocha strengthens over the Bay of Bengal to hit the coastal areas of the countries.

A World Meteorological Organization (WMO) spokesperson said on Friday that Mocha had intensified very quickly and warned of big humanitarian impacts when it makes landfall this weekend. WMO spokesperson Clare Nullis told a Geneva-based briefing that the cyclone was likely to inundate low-lying areas of north Myanmar as well as parts of Bangladesh and warned of possible landslides.

The storm, first to form in the Bay this year, is expected to roar in on Sunday with a wind speed of up to 160km/h, gusting to 175km/h between Coxs Bazar in Bangladesh and Kyaukpyu in Myanmar, Indias Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

Bangladesh is a delta nation of more than 160 million people and is prone to natural disasters such as floods and cyclones. An evacuation of nearly 500,000 people is expected to begin on Saturday with 576 cyclone shelters ready to provide refuge to those moved from their homes along a vast coast, said Bangladesh government administrator Muhammad Shaheen Imran.

Coxs Bazar is home to hundreds of Rohingyas who fled from Myanmar to escape persecution in 2017, with several taking refuge in tarpaulin shelters on hilly slopes that often experience strong winds, rain and landslide.

International aid agencies are ramping up efforts for a partial evacuation of Coxs Bazar refugee camp.

Emergency preparations in the camps [and] on Bhasan Char are underway ahead of potential cyclone Mocha which could make landfall in Bangladesh, said the UNs refugee agency in the country.

In preparation of cyclones, hundreds of Rohingya refugee volunteers have been trained on identifying risks, informing their communities, evacuating people when needed and responding after disaster strikes.

Emergency preparations in the camps & on Bhasan Char are underway ahead of potential cyclone Mocha which could make landfall in Bangladesh.



The Government has hosted coordination meetings with humanitarian partners, including through the RRRC to respond jointly and efficiently. pic.twitter.com/EmoDDZjA8z  UNHCR in Bangladesh (@UNHCR_BGD) May 11, 2023

This is the first cyclone system in the north Indian Ocean this year, shared Rajendra Kumar Jenamani, a senior IMD scientist. The cyclone is severe and will likely affect millions of fishers and coastal communities in Bangladesh and Myanmar.

Story continues

The Met department said dry and continental winds were blowing over all of east India in the direction of cyclone Mocha. We are expecting rains in northeastern states on May 13 and 14 and strong winds, IMD director general M Mohapatra was quoted as saying by the Hindustan Times.

It also warned against the uprooting of small trees and the possibility of landslides in vulnerable areas of the countrys eastern and northeastern states, including West Bengal, Mizoram, Tripura and south Manipur.

Indias National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has deployed eight teams and 200 rescuers in West Bengal to deal with any exigencies.

We have deployed eight teams and 200 rescuers on the ground and 100 rescuers are on standby, said Gurminder Singh, commandant of NDRFs 2nd Battalion.

In neighbouring Myanmar, authorities warned of possible flash floods and landslides in coastal areas as residents stocked up on essential supplies, said Hla Tun, a director at the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology.

The Friday edition of the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar carried reports about rehearsal exercises for emergency management, response, recuse, cooperation, readiness and rehabilitation processes in various regions. According to reports, thousands of people living in townships along the western coast of Rakhine state, where the storm is expected to pass, are being evacuated by the respective departments and social rescue groups.

In Bangladesh, control rooms in cyclone-prone areas were ready for emergency support. Three ports were put on alert, Mr Imran said.

People walk on Kan Thar Yar beach near Gwa township, on 11 May 2023 after cyclone Mocha, the Bay of Bengals first cyclone of the year, formed (AFP via Getty Images)

He said the government has already allocated dry food, rice and cash and organised thousands of volunteers for relief work under the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society.

Cyclone Mocha is likely to hit coastal districts Chattogram, Coxs Bazar, Noakhali and Bhola in Bangladesh on Sunday.

The IMD said the storm was moving northward with a speed 9 km/h. On Friday, it was centered more than 1,000km southwest of Coxs Bazar and 930km southwest of Sittwe in Myanmar.

Fishermen, ships, boats and trawlers were advised not to venture into the southeast Bay of Bengal and north Andaman Sea until Sunday, it said.

The department said it was expecting heavy to very heavy rainfall at the Andaman and Nicobar Islands as well.

The last tropical cyclone to have made landfall in Myanmar was named Maarutha and it had struck the southeast Asian nation in April 2017.

In May 2008, cyclone Nargis hit Myanmars southwestern Ayeyarwady or Irrawaddy region with a storm surge that devastated populated areas around the Irrawaddy river delta. At least 138,000 people died and tens of thousands of homes and other buildings were washed away.

Additional reporting by agencies
Ravi Menon to lead Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) for two more years. (PHOTO: REUTERS/Edgar Su)

SINGAPORE  Singapore's central bank chief Ravi Menon has been reappointed as its managing director and a member of the board for a further term of two years from 1 June to 31 May 2025, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced on Friday (12 May).

The new contract will put Menon, whose term was to end on 31 May 2023, on the seat until 31 May 2025 or his retirement from the Singapore Public Service, whichever is earlier.

Menon, who turns 59 this year, first joined MAS in 1987 and has been at the helm since 2011, making him the longest serving MAS managing director.

MAS also announced the reappointment of Attorney-General Lucien Wong and Chaly Mah, chairman of NetLink NBN Management Pte Ltd, to the MAS board for a further term of three years from 1 June to 31 May 2026.

Mah will also be re-appointed as chairman of the Audit Committee, which provides an independent assessment of MAS' internal controls and financial reporting processes, for the same duration.

Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong will step down from his position as senior advisor to MAS from 21 May. Prior to this, the former Prime Minister served as chairman of the MAS Board from 20 August 2004.

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Dwarf bullfighters stage a protest in front of parliament in Madrid, Spain, Thursday April 27, 2023. Spain's parliament on Thursday banned "comic" bullfighting events featuring dwarves dressed in costumes, in a decision applauded by disability rights groups but condemned by the few surviving performers. Dwarves in Spain have long dressed as firefighters or clowns to chase bulls without killing them at public spectacles designed to be humorous. The tradition stretches back decades, but has declined in popularity. Banner written in Spanish reads 'Freedom'. (A. Perez Meca/Europa Press via AP) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

MADRID (AP)  Spain's parliament on Thursday banned comic bullfighting events featuring dwarves dressed in costumes, in a decision applauded by disability rights groups but condemned by the few surviving performers.

Dwarves in Spain have long dressed as firefighters or clowns to chase bulls without killing them, at public spectacles designed to be humorous. The tradition stretches back decades, but has declined in popularity.

The law approved on Thursday brings Spain into line with European Union directives on discrimination against disabled people, and was hailed by campaigners.

We have overcome the Spain of the past, said Jesus Martin, the Director General of Spain's Royal Board on Disabilities, which advises the Social Rights Ministry that pushed the ban forward in parliament.

People with dwarfism were subjected to mockery in public squares in our country, passing down the idea that it is okay to laugh at difference to so many girls and boys who go with adults to see these shameful performances.

A handful of the few remaining performers staged a protest in front of parliament to express their condemnation of the ban.

They take it for granted that people are being denigrated or laughed at, and its the opposite: the respect they have for us is impressive, Daniel Calderon, a dwarf bullfighter, told the EFE news agency.
2023 Spring Meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund in Washington

By Andrea Shalal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -World Bank President David Malpass on Thursday said progress on sovereign debt issues would be measured by actual restructuring deals being agreed for Ghana, Ethiopia and Zambia, and said there was still no agreement on his longstanding call for a standstill in debt service payments for countries seeking help.

Speaking a day after the first meeting of a new sovereign debt roundtable, Malpass told Reuters several other issues still needed to be resolved, including China's previous insistence that multilateral development banks also accept losses as part of debt restructuring deals.

"We're pushing along on debt," he said. "Progress in debt restructurings will be measured by actual countries that achieve a restructuring. It's a case-by-case mechanism."

He said the target now was to ensure that Ghana, Ethiopia and Zambia, the three countries seeking debt relief under the Group of 20 common framework, moved forward in their separate debt processes.

Global creditors, debtor nations, international financial institutions and private creditors agreed at the roundtable meeting on Wednesday to take steps to jumpstart and streamline long-stalled debt restructuring efforts, including through improved data sharing.

A joint statement by the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and India, current president of the Group of 20 (G20) major economies, did not mention any specific commitments by China, the world's largest bilateral creditor, to speed the restructuring process.

Reuters reported Beijing was poised to drop its demand that multilateral development banks share in debt restructuring losses, partly in exchange for the IMF and World Bank providing earlier access to their debt sustainability analyses for countries receiving debt treatments.

But the statement only included the institutions' part of that bargain, to share more information more quickly and for multilateral development banks (MDBs) to quantify "net positive flows" of concessional financing in restructuring cases.

Story continues

IMF strategy chief Ceyla Pazarbasioglu said China and other participants had acknowledged that there are different ways of contributing to a restructuring, and "the best way for MDBs to contribute ... is to provide fresh financing to countries, as much as possible in grant terms."

Malpass said there were still disagreements within China on the issue, with President Xi Jinping and others downplaying the earlier demand and others - who represent individual creditors - still seeing it as an obstacle.

More work would be done on the issue of comparable treatment of various creditors at a workshop to be held in May, he said. No specific date had been set for the meeting, he said.

China had also raised concerns about how to deal with domestic debt restructuring and how to treat project loans and projects with dedicated revenues, he said.

Private sector creditors who also participated in Wednesday's meeting had indicated that they would want to participate in debt restructuring deals as part of their fiduciary responsibility, Malpass said, calling that a positive development.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Andrea Ricci)
PHU YEN  Many investors have proposed the south-central Phu Yen Province to approve investment policies, heard a conference held on Wednesday by the provincial Party Committee to collect opinions on the implementation of projects in Hoa Tam Industrial Park, which belongs to South Phu Yen Economic Zone.

Hoa Phat Group proposed to invest in four projects in South Phu Yen Economic Zone including an infrastructure business project in Hoa Tam Industrial Park, Bai Goc Port, Hoa Phat Iron and Steel Complex in Hoa Tam Industrial Park and a Commercial - Service Area.

The investment progress of the project is 36 months after being granted the investment policy and handing over the land.

Particularly, the project for the Commercial - Service Area is implemented synchronously with the investment of Hoa Phat Iron and Steel Complex in Hoa Tam Industrial Park and other secondary projects.

The total investment for four projects of Hoa Phat Group is estimated at about VN120 trillion (US$5.1 billion).

Labour demand for steel factories is about 12,000 people; in which, local labour accounts for 80-90 per cent. The average income of employees is about VN12 million per person per month.

The group wishes the province to update the proposals for these projects in the General Plan of Southern Phu Yen Economic Zone and the Planning of Phu Yen Province to facilitate implementation.

PETMAL Oil Holdings from Malaysia proposed to the province to build a modern refinery and petrochemical complex with a capacity of 8 million tonnes of crude oil per year.

Total project investment is expected to be about $5 billion. The land use area is 500ha and the water surface area is about 500ha.

During the operation phase, the petrochemical complex project will need about 1,200 direct workers and create indirect jobs for about 5,000 people and hundreds of product distribution services.

It is expected to contribute to the local budget about VN20 trillion after the project is put into operation.

Bai Goc Port in South Phu Yen Economic Zone had many advantages, therefore, the province determined to attract investment, said Ta Anh Tuan, chairman of the provincial People's Committee.

The proposed projects were large-scale, so the implementation process would also be difficult from the time the investment licence was issued until the project was formed, he said.

Therefore, it needed co-ordination, high determination and a clear and unified view with investors to implement, said Tuan.

The implementation process must be clear, transparent and in accordance with the provisions of law, he added.

The general view of the province is not to trade off the environment for economic development. For investors, it is also necessary to have a very clear commitment to the locality in terms of finance and implementation time; and avoid wasting resources and time.  VNS
A South Florida jury held McDonald's and the franchisee at fault when a hot Chicken McNugget from a Happy Meal dropped on a 4-year-old child's leg, causing second-degree burns.

According to the South Florida SunSentinel, the amount of compensation paid to the girl and her mother by McDonald's USA and its franchise owner, Upchurch Foods, will be decided by a second jury.

The Court's Verdict

On Thursday, May 11, AP News said the jury returned a verdict that was split: the franchise holder was found negligent and failed to warn consumers about the danger of hot food, while McDonald's USA was found liable for failing to offer instructions for the safe handling of the meal.

Independent reported that the jury did not agree that McDonald's USA was at fault for the burns and did not buy the claim that the food was defective.

McDonald's USA issued a statement expressing that they respectfully disagree with the verdict. It said customers may be certain that the company will adhere to all necessary protocols to ensure the safety of their Chicken McNuggets.

Also Read: Seth Rogen Slams Streaming Services Over 'Insane' CEO Salaries Amid Writers' Strike

What happened to the kid?

The incident in 2019 that left the 4-year-old kid with burns to her upper thigh was discussed at length in court for two days before the jury ultimately decided that McDonald's was at fault, Fortune reported.

According to the SunSentinel, Philana Holmes testified that she had purchased Happy Meals for her two children at a McDonald's drive-thru window in Tamarac, Florida, which is located near Fort Lauderdale. She said she fed her kids in the back seat.

Her daughter began crying as soon as she drove the car. The mother said that she did not realize anything was wrong until she stopped helping the kid, who was later named in court documents as Olivia.

After seeing the burn on the girl's leg, she snapped pictures of it and recorded audio of the child's cries on her iPhone.

In court, the judge listened to a recording of the girl's screaming.

McDonald's legal team argued that the nuggets should not have been compressed between a seatbelt and a human body for more than two minutes and that the meal should have been served hot to prevent salmonella contamination.

The girl's parents filed a lawsuit against McDonald's and the franchise owner, claiming that they were negligent in their training of staff, in their provision of proper warnings to customers on the "dangerous" temperature of the meal, and in their preparation of the dish at a far higher degree than was required.

The attorneys for the family said the nugget's temperature was above 200 degrees (93 Celsius), while the defense claimed it was no hotter than 160 degrees (71 Celsius).

Also Read: Goldman Sachs Settles $215M Gender Discrimination Lawsuit With Female Employees

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HA NOI  Thanh Cong Group on May 11 announced its sales for April with over 4,590 Hyundai automobiles sold last month, down 20.45 per cent over March.

Hyundai Accent continues to be the best-seller with 1,050 vehicles delivered to customers. Hyundai Creta ranked second with 637 units sold.

The Hyundai Grand i10 sales volume ranked third with 494 units, Hyundai Stargazer ranked fourth with sales of 378 units.

The group also reported sales of 364 units of Hyundai Santa Fe, 259 units of Hyundai Tucson, and 173 units of Hyundai Elantra.

Hyundai commercial models saw sales of 1,237 units in April, an increase of more than 21.7 per cent compared to March 2023.

Notably, from April 2023, the urban B-class SUV Hyundai Creta was officially assembled and produced in Viet Nam instead of being imported from Indonesia as Hyundai Thanh Cong factory No.2 was put into operation in the northern province of Ninh Binh. - VNS
HCM CITY  A wide range of the latest technologies, equipment and advanced solutions of 150 exhibitors from 15 countries and territories are being displayed at the seventh International Trade Fair for Laboratory Technology, Analysis, Biotechnology and Diagnostics (Analytica Vietnam 2023) held in HCM City until April 21.

The three-day exhibition, co-organised by the National Agency for Science and Technology Information under the Ministry of Science and Technology and Germanys Messe Munchen Group, takes place at the Sai Gon Exhibition and Convention Centre (SECC) in District 7.

Held every two years, it features more than 200 leading brands - such as Agilent, Eppendorf, Merck, Metrohm, Mettler Toledo, Shimadzu, Saigon Equipment (SISC Group) and Waters - mainly from Germany, the US, the UK, France, Russia, Japan, South Korea, China and India.

Speaking at the opening ceremony on Wednesday (April 19), deputy minister of Science and Technology Le Xuan in said Analytica Vietnam creates a great opportunity for Vietnamese scientists, enterprises hospitals, and analysis, testing and diagnostic organisations to access advanced technologies and modern equipment, while seeking reliable foreign partners, cooperation expansion, technology innovation, diagnostics improvement, analysis, scientific and technological research, production and business development.

High-quality products will be developed, meeting the requirements of production, business, export, scientific research, environmental protection and human health, he said.

In recent years, the rapid increase in infectious and non-communicable diseases is the major factor driving the market of laboratory technology, analysis, biotechnology and diagnostics in Viet Nam.

Analytica Vietnam 2023 is the leading trade fair for laboratory technology, analysis and biotechnology in the country, which is finally returning after a four-year gap due to the global COVID-19 pandemic.

The organisers expect to host up to 5,000 visitors during the exhibition this year.  VNS
HA NOI  The very first Viet Nam International Logistics Exhibition (VILOG) will be held in HCM City from August 10 to 12 by Viet Nam Logistics Business Association (VLA) and VINEXAD Company.

The exhibition, taking place at the Sai Gon Exhibition and Convention Center (SECC), will be a great opportunity for domestic and international logistics service businesses as well as the community of investors, developers and other stakeholders to exchange, cooperate, consult and choose solutions to optimise the logistics procedure of enterprises, according to VINEXAD.

Logistics is one of the fastest growing and most stable industries in Viet Nam, with an average growth rate of 1416 per cent a year and a scale of US$40 to $42 billion per year. According to Agility's assessment in 2022, Viet Nam is ranked 11th in the group of 50 global emerging logistics markets.

Under the direction of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the event will showcase the development of Viet Nam's logistics industry with its inherent potential, creating a buzz to attract foreign investment, transfer operating technology, train human resources and establish a green ecosystem in the logistics industry.

Its main categories of goods and services will include Transport &Forwarding, Services & Warehouse Systems, Packaging & Cold Chain, and Logistics IT.

So far, VILOG 2023 has received registrations with over 200 booths by more than 150 businesses from 16 countries and territories, such as Belgium, Canada, Taiwan, Germany, South Korea, the US, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Russia, Japan, Singapore, Turkey, Switzerland, China, Viet Nam and Italy.

According to experts, the logistics industry still needs to develop infrastructure connectivity, public-private cooperation to expand into logistics centres and comprehensive supply chains in circulation, processing, preservation, transportation and distribution.

Some foreign brands include Karl Gross Logistics, Nippon Express, Swisslog and Fresco.

Long-standing Vietnamese brands in the logistics industry also participate in the event, such as Sai Gon Newport, VICONSHIP, VINAFCO, RATRACO and VINATECH.

Technology enterprises will also participate in VILOG 2023, including AFR Solutions, AHAMOVE, SAMSUNG SDS - 4PL and ECOTRUCK.

Within the framework of VILOG 2023, in addition to essential B2B activities, a series of specialised conferences on interesting topics such as "Exporting agricultural products online by model Buy-Ship-Pay", "Cold chain", and especially the seminar "Customs accompanies enterprises to develop logistics activities and improve export competitiveness" will also open.

These events will have a scale of more than 1,000 booths expected to attract the participation of businesses from 20 countries and territories, welcoming over 20,000 visitors in three days of the exhibition. VNS
KUALA LUMPUR  Vietnamese offshore support vessel service provider Hai Duong Petroleum and Marine Corporation (Haduco) and Malaysias oil and gas marine service provider RMS Synergy Sdn Bhd (RMS) on Thursday signed a cooperation deal in Kuala Lumpur to form a joint venture between the two companies.

The Haduco-RMS joint venture aims to support, provide services and gradually develop a large fleet of vessels, fully meeting the requirements of oil and gas contractors in Malaysia.

Under the cooperation agreement, Haduco will provide ship services for oil and gas exploration and production, such as technical management, maintenance, and safety. In return, RMS will provide crew, logistics, and commercial services to the Haduco-RMS joint venture.

This is the first time a Vietnamese oil and gas company has signed a cooperation agreement with a Malaysian partner, which affirms the prestige and quality of Viet Nam's maritime services.

Speaking at the event, Haduco CEO Tran Quang Hung said that RMS has been a strategic partner of Haduco for many years. The cooperation is an important step for Haduco to do long-term business in Malaysia, thus strengthening cooperative ties between the two countries.

RMS Synergy CEO Mohamad Asraf Abdul Ghafur said the combination of both expertise and resources enables the joint venture to provide customers with the highest level of services and support for their offshore operations.

This joint venture represents a step forward for both companies, and we look forward to working together to achieve our shared goals of expanding our operations and presence in Malaysia, Asraf said.

Established in 2000, Haduco owns a fleet of 42 vessels operating on a global scale including in Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, Russia, India, and Japan.

The company has been aggressively expanding its fleet which has doubled since 2018 despite the global slowdown due to low crude oil prices and the COVID-19 pandemic.  VNS
HA NOI  Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang on Thursday presided over the first quarter meeting of the National Steering Committee against Smuggling, Counterfeit Goods and Trade Fraud (National Steering Committee 389), discussing solutions for bottlenecks in dealing with recent violations.

According to the report presented in the meeting, the first quarter of 2023 saw the economy recover after the pandemic and travel and import-export activities resume.

Meanwhile, the illegal trading and transportation of drugs, explosives, cigarettes and wildlife, as well as trade fraud regarding food, petroleum and goods of foreign origins, remained complicated, but there are no critical cases.

Most of the violations took place at the borders between Viet Nam and China, Laos and Cambodia, and several seaports in Hai Phong City, Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, HCM City, and through air routes.

Criminals have also been taking advantage of delivery services, social media platforms and small businesses for illegal goods transport and commercial fraud.

In Q1, authorities detected and handled more than 28,000 cases, of which 278 cases and 679 people were prosecuted.

The number of cases dropped by 11.24 compared to the same period last year.

Speaking at the meeting, Nguyen Van Can, director of the General Department of Viet Nam Customs (under the finance ministry) said that criminals have been using complicated methods for illegal trading.

As of current, there are up to 6,000 shipping containers that show signs of violations. A significant amount of containers carrying used machinery are unable to go through registration due to their lack of technical documents.

The customs department is now sorting out these goods and requires solutions from business owners and shipping lines.

Meanwhile, a representative of the Ministry of Public Security's Investigation Police Department on Economic, Corruption-related Crimes and Smuggling said that the illegal transfer of foreign currencies is very complicated, with criminals taking advantage of commercial banks by using fake customs dossiers or foreign trade contracts.

At the meetings conclusion, Deputy PM Tran Luu Quang acknowledged and praised the achievements of different departments and units in the fight against smuggling, commercial fraud, counterfeit goods and illegal goods transport, especially during Tet (Lunar New Year).

Agreeing with the report, the Deputy PM said that there are specific bottlenecks in these violations, prominently the huge immediate benefits that lure officials to commit crimes.

Meanwhile, consumers looking for low-priced goods also unintentionally encourage smuggling and commercial fraud.

Shortcomings in State management and difficulties in the current context also present multiple problems, requiring relevant authorities and localities to put in more effort with better effectiveness in their work.

Deputy PM Quang required leaders to take measures and strictly control those under their responsibilities against violations and not assist or cover up any offence.

Forces on duty need to constantly improve their professional skills and coordination.

Communication and investigative journalism also play a role in increasing peoples awareness.

Regarding overlapping regulations, the Deputy PM requires that units and localities must review the legal documents within 10 days from May 11, with specific solutions proposed, and submitted to the National Steering Committee 389 for compilation and report to the Government.  VNS
HA NOI  The trip to Indonesia by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his entourage to attend the 42nd ASEAN Summit from May 9 to 11 has become a fine success which saw the leader make several proposals promoting self-reliance and unlocking resources for the development of the ASEAN Community, Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son said.

Talking to the press about the trips outcomes, the minister noted that on May 10 and 11, ASEAN leaders discussed and reached consensus on many important orientations for the blocs cooperation in 2023 and coming years. Their discussions focused on the theme of ASEAN Matters: Epicentrum of Growth.

The leaders also engaged in dialogues with representatives of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA), the youth, the ASEAN Business Advisory Council, and the High-Level Task Force on the ASEAN Communitys Post-2025 Vision. Opinions raised at the events reflected the determination to join hands to build a truly people-oriented and people-centred community.

Minister Son said PM Chinh and the Vietnamese delegation sent out many important messages at the summit, held in Labuan Bajo town, including those on the solidarity of ASEAN, the resolve to make substantive and effective contributions to ASEAN Community building, and the Vietnamese Party and States consistent viewpoint of considering ASEAN as an important and integral part of the countrys foreign policy.

In that spirit, PM Chinhs remarks were aimed at suggesting ideas, inspiring self-reliance, and unlocking resources for the development of the ASEAN Community.

First, solidarity, unity, independence, self-reliance, and strongly bringing into play the centrality of ASEAN serve as the fundamental values for the blocs success. The Vietnamese Government's leader emphasised solidarity creates unbreakable strength and must be shown via the will of member countries and their concrete actions, and that enhancing solidarity and unity is the core task for the sake of an independent and self-reliant ASEAN.

He stressed the need for ASEAN to maintain its strategic balance in its relations with partners, especially superpowers. By doing so, the bloc will manage to keep its centrality. It must also truly be a trustworthy bridge capable of harmonising relations with superpowers; create and promote a culture of dialogue, consultation and trust building; and coordinate to respond to common challenges.

Second, the PM highlighted that promoting regional institutions, infrastructure, and people-to-people connectivity to remove bottlenecks and tap into development potential forms the three strategic breakthroughs for creating stronger development momentum for ASEAN in the coming decades.

Amid numerous latent risks and uncertainties in the global economy, to foster sustainable recovery and development, he recommended member countries expand the intra-bloc market, step up negotiations to upgrade the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement, comprehensively and strongly implement regional connectivity projects, and make substantive improvements to the investment, business, and tourism environment.

PM Chinh also called for more attention to augmenting ties in developing digital economies, digital governments, and circular economies, connecting the grids of member countries, developing renewable energy, devising long-term strategies for training high-quality human resources, and improving the implementation of the agreement on the mutual recognition of labour of some professions in ASEAN.

Third, based on the blocs core spirit of centering people and taking people as the target of Community building, the PM held that ASEAN should enhance efforts to narrow the development gap, especially in remote areas and sub-regions. Sub-regional cooperation should be connected with common cooperation programmes of the ASEAN Community in all fields in order to open a wider development space and ensure a better life for all, according to the diplomat.

At the summit, PM Chinh and other regional leaders also had in-depth discussions on regional and international issues and reaffirmed ASEANs principled stance.

He underlined that protecting peace, stability, security, and freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea (known in Viet Nam as the East Sea) is both an interest and a responsibility of all countries. He asked for the full and effective implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC), as well as efforts to achieve a substantive and effective code of conduct (COC) that matches international law and the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

PM Chinhs proposals and contributions received support and high evaluation from participants, Son said.

He added that on this occasion, the Vietnamese PM also met with other ASEAN leaders to review the implementation of bilateral agreements and look into measures for strengthening ties in the economy, trade, investment, security and defence, culture, education, and people-to-people exchanges in a more results-oriented and fruitful fashion.  VNS
HCM CITY  HCM City People's Court has sentenced a 62-year-old Facebooker to eight years in prison for making, storing, and distributing anti-State propaganda, after a first-instance trial on Friday.

The court also ordered Tran Van Bang to complete three years of probation after he is released.

According to the case file, from 2016 to May 2021, Bang (originally from the northern province of Hai Duong) used three Facebook accounts named "Tran Bang," "Bang Tran," and "Tran Josh" to publish 39 articles that he wrote, with contents that promoted, distorted and slandered the people's administration; spread misinformation, causing confusion among the people; distorted and incited boycotts of the Vietnamese National Assembly elections; and called for a multi-party system.

Bang also stored numerous documents and newspapers, including four books with anti-State propaganda that undermined national unity, incited war, evoked hatred among ethnic groups in other countries, incited violence; distorted historical facts, rejected revolutionary achievements; fabricated, insulted ethnic groups; insulted the reputation of agencies, organisations and individuals, insulted national heroes and leaders, insulted the reputation of the Communist Party of Viet Nam and the People's Court and the People's Police.

At the court, Tran Van Bang admitted to committing these acts, but not with the intention of undermining the State but only as an exercise of his freedom of speech.

The judges determined that his actions constitute criminal liability as stipulated in Article 117 of the Penal Code (making, storing, disseminating, or propagandising information, documents, or materials aimed at opposing the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam).

Bang's actions were deemed "very serious" and "dangerous" to society, infringing on national security, and must be strictly punished to educate the defendant and serve as a deterrent to others.

During the investigation and trial, the defendant was evasive and did not exhibit remorse or repentance.

However, the court has taken into account his age, illness, and the fact that this was his first offence, and decided to reduce the sentence accordingly, showing the leniency of the law.

Two other people, Pham Thi oan Trang and Pham Chi Thanh, were also involved in the drafting, editing, publishing, and giving of materials with content that violated the law to Bang.

Currently, the security agencies and police of Ha Noi have initiated investigations into Trang on the charge of propagandising against the State and Thanh for the crime of "making, storing, disseminating anti-State propaganda.  VNS
NEW YORK  Ambassador ang Hoang Giang, Permanent Representative of Viet Nam to the United Nations, has called on developed countries to carry out their commitments to help middle-income ones realise the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

He made the appeal while addressing the UN General Assemblys high-level meeting themed Accelerating the achievement of the SDGs in middle-income countries (MICs), with a focus on the environmental dimension, held in New York on May 11.

In his remarks, Giang affirmed that multilateralism, international solidarity, peace, and stability form an important basis for sustainable development in MICs.

To resolve such challenges as climate change and food and energy insecurity, he held that at the national level, MICs need to enhance their resilience and effectively mobilise domestic resources to develop, while capitalising on science, technology, and innovation for green, sustainable, and smart development.

International cooperation is also critically important to promoting global and national efforts, the diplomat noted, urging developed countries to carry out their commitments on financial and technical support, technology transfer, and capacity building for MICs.

Meanwhile, MICs should also step up cooperation, policy dialogue, and experience sharing via existing cooperation mechanisms with developed nations, he added.

The ambassador also highlighted Viet Nam's efforts to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, commitment to achieving the target of net zero emissions by 2050, and recent establishment of the Just Energy Transition Partnership.

At the meeting, President of the UN General Assembly Csaba Korosi noted MICs have a crucial role to play in implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, but they are facing numerous difficulties and challenges due to impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the economic crisis, and climate change.

Representatives of many countries pointed out specific difficulties and challenges facing MICs and stressed the necessity for financial and technical assistance from UN agencies, development partners, and international financial institutions.

They also shared their countries lessons and experience in realising the SDGs, assessed the role of the UNs development system in helping MICs, and discussed the building of sustainable development indexes that include economic, environmental, and social dimensions.  VNS
Van Nguyen

Elizabeth Homfray, an animal welfare expert, adopted a Tibetan spaniel that was abandoned near an apartment building in HCM Citys Binh Thanh District. After discovering the dog was pregnant, she took her to the vet to have ultrasound, only to find out that all the puppies had died.

Thats probably the reason why she was abandoned, she said, adding that she was even more shocked to discover that breeders had used nylon strings as reusable stitches on the dog.

Her dog Hoa (Flower) is one of many in Viet Nam that share the same fate: used as a tool for breeders to make money and subjected to inhumane treatment at dog farms.

The proliferating breeding industry in Viet Nam, driven by an increasing demand for pets, is trapping many puppies born out of farms with little or no welfare in a vicious cycle of suffering.

Elizabeth said in some facilities, breeders inject dogs with hormones to get them pregnant again as soon as possible. They also take the puppies out early, force feed them formula to make them look fat or healthy.

Due to the use of hormones for so many years, her dog suffers from thyroid and weight issues.

As breeders prioritise profit, animal welfare is neglected and there is no such thing as an ethical breeding facility model, said Elizabeth, adoption coordinator and founding director of Laws for Paws Vietnam.

Using dogs to make a profit leave them open to abuse as breeders try to do the minimum expense possible by cutting rent, cleaning and vaccination costs, she said.

Normally, breeding dogs never leave the facilities. They do their toilet business inside cages, neither are vaccinated nor have their places cleaned, she said.

Once those dogs are past breeding, they just literally put them back out onto the street, she said.

It's really sad that they've used them for all those years to make money. And that's their fate, they end up on the street, she said.

Viet Nam News has reached out to a pet distribution company for comment on this issue but has had no response at time of writing this article.

Tham Hong Phuong, Country Director of Humane Society International in Vietnam (HSI in Vietnam) said she is concerned with the dog farming industry in Viet Nam.

Farming dogs certainly does not meet the requirements of humane dog breeding, she said.

There is no regulation in Viet Nam that allows raising dogs in a farm scale.

Increasing demand, overlooked real truth

In recent years, Viet Nam has seen an uptick demand for pets, particularly specific breeds. This trend is largely driven by the emergence of a middle-income group who desires to have certain breeds to complete the picture of having arrived at a certain wealth status, Elizabeth said.

The influence from celebrities also contributes to this trend.

Local celebrities photographing themselves with small toy breed dogs in Viet Nam pushes demand for these breeds in similar way that western celebrities pushed these breeds in the 90's and early 2000's.

Animal welfare experts also warn that the trend may heighten the risks of puppies being bred in farms with poor welfare despite good intentions from buyers.

Noting that welfare violations in mills are not unique to Viet Nam but also happen in many parts of the world, Elizabeth said buyers and pet lovers often overlooked this issue.

People often fall for pictures of cute little poodles on Facebook and Instagram without realising the truth behind how these adorable creatures were created at the expense of their mother dogs.

Breeders and sellers are very tech savvy. They are good at sales and marketing and are all over Facebook with cute pictures of fluffy puppies without showing what is happening, how they get that cute, fluffy puppy, Elizabeth said.

Concealed dog farms

An ongoing investigation by the Humane Society International also revealed the brutal truth behind the dog farms and their concealed operations in Viet Nam.

Dogs raised in farm scale can be found in many provinces in Viet Nam with some farms having 200-300 dogs and even 1,000-1,500 dogs, Phuong told Viet Nam News.

Their ongoing investigation on this issue reveals that puppies are purchased from local households and then transported to their farms, where they are fed and raised for two to three years to reach a weight of 30-40kg before being sold for meat.

Such farms are not officially allowed by the Government so they operate in secret. They are often located in mountainous or remote areas to avoid complaints about noise and environmental pollution, she said.

The dogs are mistreated due to the unsanitary environment and lack of space to move around freely in the farms, which are often covered with tarps to conceal their operations, Phuong said.

The expert said she hopes the Government will pay more attention to regulating and managing dog farming for any purpose, whether it is for breeding or meat production.

Such farms should be subject to strict regulations, and those operating for meat production or breeding purposes should be shut down completely, she said. VNS
(Photo: Laura Cavanaugh/Getty Images for AWXII) YORK, NY - OCTOBER 01: NBCUniversal Chairman of Advertising Sales and Creative Partnerships Linda Yaccarino speaks onstage at the Beyond Brand: Content's New Frontier panel during Advertising Week 2015 AWXII at the Times Center Stage on September 30, 2015, in New York City.

Linda Yaccarino, the head of worldwide advertising for NBCUniversal, has left the company to become Twitter's new CEO.

On Friday, May 12, Twitter owner Elon Musk made the appointment official with a tweet. "I am excited to welcome Linda Yaccarino as the new CEO of Twitter!" Musk posted.

Musk added Yaccarino would handle company operations while he creates products and develop new technologies.

Musk announced his resignation from the post as CEO of the social networking website through Twitter on Thursday, May 11. However, he did not specify who would replace him. According to a tweet from Musk, the new hire will begin in around six weeks.

Saving Twitter's Business Ops

Since Yaccarino's arrival at NBCUniversal in 2011, the company's international advertising division has flourished under her leadership.

The advertising boss was scheduled to attend NBCUniversal's Upfront event in Radio City in New York next week. This is the annual sales presentation that NBCUniversal and other media companies present to the advertising industry every year in May.

After losing billions of dollars in advertising revenue since Musk took over Twitter last year, the veteran advertising executive Yaccarino brings extensive connections to top chief marketing officers and other advertising executives to the company.

In October 2022, Musk finalized his $44 billion purchase of Twitter. Not long after that, he removed the executive team and let go of thousands of workers.

Several companies stopped advertising on Twitter after various advocacy organizations found evidence of a rise in hate speech and other forms of harassment on the site. Musk then introduced Twitter Blue, a paid premium service that includes additional options, including the ability to write lengthier tweets in an effort to offset declining ad income.

At a marketing convention in Florida in the middle of April, Yaccarino and Musk did a keynote interview together. The future of Twitter and its place in the cultural dialogue were looked at, as was the role of marketers in that future.

Musk apparently sought to convince conference attendees that Twitter was an appropriate venue for their companies.

See Also: Billionaire Elon Musk Says He Has Chosen the Next Twitter CEO To Replace Him

Management Shakeup at NBCUniversal

Weeks after Jeff Shell was fired as CEO of NBCUniversal for having an improper connection with an employee, Yaccarino also decided to leave the organization. Instead of reporting to Shell, according to CNBC, NBCUniversal's senior brass will now answer to Mike Cavanagh, president of parent firm Comcast.

After announcing Yaccarino's sudden departure on Friday, NBCUniversal named Mark Marshall, the company's current head of advertising sales and client alliances, to serve as temporary chairman of the advertising and partnerships business.

Mark Lazarus, the head of NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, will be Marshall's immediate superior. Reports from CNBC's David Faber and Julia Boorstin on Friday indicated that Lazarus and Marshall will be attending Monday's NBCUniversal Upfront presentation.

See Also: Elon Musk: Twitter To 'Purge' Inactive Accounts To Free Up Usernames

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The latest investigation of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) revealed the distressing situations that dogs are kept in at breeding facilities in Viet Nam, many of which distribute dogs for major and reputable stores.

In an exclusive Zoom interview with Viet Nam News reporter Van Nguyen, PETA Asias spokesperson Bui Thu Ha talks about their investigations and how the public and authorities can act to prevent animals' suffering in these breeding facilities.

Could you please tell us about the investigation, what have you found and what is the most concerning finding?

Our investigation showed that in these dog breeding facilities, dogs lived in poor conditions. They were cramped in dirty and rusty cages with urine and faeces found on the floor. The dogs there did not have access to proper hygiene and their fur was often matted or tangled, while long-haired dogs had their fur matted together.

The dogs' nails were also too long and some had fungal infections. PETA also observed that the dogs had limited contact with humans and were not adequately fed or exposed to sunlight, leading to calcium deficiencies and lung diseases.

Some breeders even admitted that they had cut off puppies' tails because they sell better that way.

PETA showed the video to two veterinarians and they concluded that the dogs at these facilities experience unacceptable suffering and pain and inhumane treatment.

The biggest concern is probably that many dogs are constantly trembling and unable to stand firmly due to calcium deficiency when pregnant or giving birth.

Having too many puppies leads to malnutrition, calcium deficiency, and constantly trembling and unstable conditions. Some dogs have to eat and sleep while standing or lying directly on their own faeces or urine.

When workers or breeders approach, the dogs became scared and fearful, and stiffened up as they were psychologically stressed.

One breeder has admitted that their daughter broke a dog's leg and regularly beats the dogs. These are all concerning issues.

Which types of facilities did PETA select to investigate? How many dogs are estimated to be kept in them in total?

In Viet Nam, PETA visited 20 different facilities nationwide that breed and distribute dogs for sale throughout the country. For the safety of the investigators, PETA did not disclose the specific locations of these facilities. We chose facilities that distribute dogs to stores or large, reputable breeding facilities in Viet Nam.

The number ranges from ten to dozens of dogs depending on the size of each farm.

Are the horrible conditions found in all facilities investigated? And about inbreeding, does it happen here in Viet Nams facilities?

These conditions are found on all of these farms, and they happen not just in Viet Nam, but all over the world.

The practice of inbreeding dogs and forcing them to live in such terrible conditions is widespread in many countries.

With regard to inbreeding, PETA has investigated this and found that it is a common practice on many farms today. Breeders do not prioritise the health of the animals, but focus on breeding as many dogs as possible to make a profit. This is a very concerning issue.

How did PETA initiate this investigation?

We noticed that many dog owners are not aware of what happens behind the pet stores or breeding facilities that they buy from.

They simply want to own a dog and unwittingly enrich these facilities that mistreat animals.

From this, PETA wants to show the importance of adopting animals from shelters and rescue centres rather than buying from these types of facilities.

Does a breeding facility that ensures animal welfare exist? If so what should it look like?

Right now, I cannot set an ideal standard for what a breeding facility should be like. While most facilities can provide good conditions for animals, they cannot guarantee their quality of life during breeding.

For example, when breeding many dogs, they are often kept in small cages or rooms, which hinders their physical and mental needs. They cannot engage in activities, such as running and socialising with other animals or enjoying the sun. These are things that most breeding facilities cannot provide, and having too many dogs can lead to overload. The number of animals and dogs that are not adopted is often abandoned or thrown away, leading to further suffering for the animals.

Rather than creating new animals, we should adopt animals that are already in need of a home. Rescue centres are better than creating more new animals and causing more suffering for animals that are neglected or not cared for.

Adopting animals from rescue centers is encouraged by PETA, and currently, an estimated 25 per cent of animals in shelters are purebred. If you like purebred dogs or cats, you can still find them in rescue centres instead of buying them from breeding facilities.

What are PETA's next steps following the investigation?

Our next step is to file a complaint with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. We see that there are possible violations of the Law on Veterinary Medicine (2015) and the Law on Animal Husbandry (2018).

PETA also wants to urge the ministry to investigate these breeding facilities and encourage people not to buy animals from pet stores or breeding facilities, but instead to adopt them from rescue centres and neuter their own pets to prevent animal overpopulation.

Under the law, adequate food and water along with necessary veterinary care must be provided for animals. In addition, unnecessary pain and suffering to the animals must be avoided during the process of raising or slaughtering them.

Dogs having broken legs, being beaten, and malnourished, psychological stress, fear, and anxiety during breeding and slaughter are violations of animal welfare laws.

Based on the assessment of PETA, do these incidents occur in other animals?

These violations are not limited to breeding facilities for dogs and cats, but also occur in other animal farming operations. Our investigations show that these incidents happen in most dog and cat breeding facilities in Viet Nam, as well as in many countries around the world, such as South Korea, Japan, and the United States.

We have also conducted investigations of many facilities worldwide and found that this is a common issue. Most of the dogs and cats in these breeding facilities are not receiving the necessary veterinary care and are not having their basic needs met, which is a widespread problem in animal farming operations.

The demand for specific breeds of dogs and cats has increased in Viet Nam in recent years. What are the implications of this trend?

Many people who love dogs and cats may only see the cute and adorable side of these animals and may not be aware of the suffering and hardships that these animals may experience in breeding facilities.

This can lead to a continued cycle of animal suffering, where dogs and cats are forced to continuously breed and undergo repeated pregnancies, leading to exhaustion and other health problems.

It is important for people who love animals to be aware of the conditions that these animals are bred and raised. They can do this by adopting animals from shelters and rescue centres.

The public plays a significant role in limiting this trend by adopting animals instead of buying them.  VNS
HCM CITY  Pharmaceutical Corporation Boehringer Ingelheim is accelerating its commitment to bring positive impact to people, animals, communities, and the planet through a broad range of corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes in Viet Nam.

This year, the company has conducted multiple activities in Ha Noi and HCM City to support people in need and protect the environment.

In HCM City, nearly 250 Boehringer Ingelheim Vietnam employees visited Ky Quang 2 Pagoda, Tu Hanh Pagoda, and Vinh Son Nursing Home, where many disadvantaged children, elderly people and orphans are living. The employees prepared meals for the residents of the shelters, cleaned the temple halls and shelter grounds, redecorated the living areas, and organised games for the children to play.

Other groups gathered in District 2 to collect garbage and clean up areas in Thu Thiem Tunnel. These activities helped create a strong sense of bonding within the company and strengthened the commitment to positively impact society and the environment.

On the same day in Ha Noi, Boehringer Ingelheim Vietnam employees also visited the Vietnam Friendship Village, which currently nurses 70 veterans and 120 children who are victims of Agent Orange. The company staff made dinner for the people in the village, tidied up their living area, played with children, and donated gifts. Boehringer Ingelheim Vietnams employees also went to the Backyard Squad Animal Rescue Station to clean up, feed and give baths to baby animals.

These activities are part of the Value Through Innovation Day, one of the highlights in Boehringer Ingelheims cultural calendar taking place on May 10 across the globe. On this day, employees are invited and encouraged to reflect on and interact with the cultural framework of the company and celebrate what they have achieved as an organisation. They are also encouraged to recognise that every action they take impacts future generations.

With the goal of improving animal health, the company has worked closely with veterinarians, pet owners, and health authorities to implement the programme "Rabies Vaccination for the Community" since 2021, with a total of more than 12,400 vaccinated dogs and cats. In April 2023, this programme continued to provide free rabies vaccination to 7,000 dogs and cats in uc Hue District, Long An Province.

In 2022, Boehringer Ingelheim Vietnam donated 64 digital devices worth more than US$10,000 (nearly VN250 million) to Maison Chance, an NGO providing accommodation, health care, learning and vocational training opportunities for the less fortunate.  VNS
HCM CITY  How to transform economic models towards green growth to achieve net zero emissions will top the agenda of the fourth HCM City Economic Forum to take place in September.

The annual international event, themed Green growth - The Journey to Zero Emissions is scheduled to take place from September 13-17.

Speaking at a press conference introducing the event on Thursday (May 11), Nguyen Ngoc Hoa, chairman of the HCM City Union of Business Associations, said green growth is an inevitable choice for countries around the world, including Viet Nam.

In Viet Nam, green growth is a long-term instrument for achieving the dual targets of net-zero carbon emissions and fast economic growth, he said.

These targets are on Viet Nams agenda as the country made its net-zero commitments at COP26 in 2021 in the UK, he added.

However, the path to green growth remains challenging for a developing country like Viet Nam as the awareness of the business community towards environmental protection is at an early stage.

Green growth should be based on science and innovation, taking advantage of new technologies, protecting the environment, and responding to climate change, he said.

Topics for discussion will include green growth and circular economy trends for megacities like HCM City; building a circular economy ecosystem aimed at reducing emissions to zero; policies in building green growth to reduce emissions to zero; international lessons and experiences to promote green growth and circular economy; and how to promote the green growth and circular economy in HCM City.

There will be a meeting between the city leaders with 100 leading CEOs in the world at home and abroad to discuss solutions to promote green growth in HCM City.

The forum will also include trade and investment promotion exhibitions and business connection activities.

The event will be attended by 1,500 delegates, including leaders of the Government, international financial institutions such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, International Finance Corporation, Asian Development Bank, World Economic Forum, and local and foreign businesses.

Viet Nam has issued the National Green Growth Strategy for the period of 2021-30 with a vision to 2050.

It has also issued a national action plan on green growth for the period 2021-30 and a circular economy development scheme to effectively use natural resources, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and respond to climate change.

The countrys largest economic hub has approved a green growth strategy towards sustainable development by 2030.

The first HCM City Economic Forum was held in 2018.  VNS
HA NOI  Tin Tuc (News), a newspaper under the Vietnam News Agency, was granted the Labour Medal, first class, at its 40th anniversary (May 14, 1983 - May 14, 2023) held on Friday in Ha Noi.

Speaking at the ceremony, Editor-in-Chief of the newspaper Ninh Hong Nga said this is the recognition of the Party and State for the achievements of many generations of devoted journalists who have worked hard to cultivate the development of the newspaper as well as the Vietnam News Agency (VNA) and the revolutionary press in general.

Over the past four decades, the newspaper has constantly innovated to adapt to development. Despite many difficulties ahead, the newspaper will always take tradition as a guideline, take the trust of readers as motivation to continue to maintain its prestige and carry the motto of being reliable and timeliness while being the bridge between the Government and the people.

VNA General Director Vu Viet Trang said, established in the early 1980s, the newspaper has welcomed the country's oi Moi (Renewal) in a period of new ways of thinking and doing things. Its reporters have immersed themselves in the vibrant socio-political life, reflecting not only daily changes, but also hidden corners in the renovation process.

Its investigation series that reflects burning issues in society, or articles that object, expose the plots of agitators and opponents, have had a strong impact on society, making an important contribution to the implementation of the political mission of the VNA.

Members of the editorial board and reporters have always shown themselves to be skilled writers, quick to grasp issues, deploy and build quality news and articles that are trusted by the public to read. With these efforts, its reporters have continuously won high prizes at press awards competitions.

She said that through each time of restructuring or when it faces difficulties, people here become more mature and continue to assert its prestige name with bold, official and accurate content.

According to General Director Trang, in recent years, Tin Tuc has made a stronger breakthrough as it quickly applied new communication methods, and distributed information on multiple platforms. This is the general trend of modern journalism. In order to do that, Tin Tuc reporters changed their thinking about journalism, their journalism methods, to become more versatile and agile.

The newspaper has made efforts to overcome difficulties in the light of limited resources. Its multimedia news products have become more and more mature and have had a ripple effect. Solidarity, creativity and determination have created the strength and brand of Tin Tuc, she said.

The General Director also expressed her hope that Tin Tuc reporters will continue to uphold the tradition, constantly update their knowledge of modern journalism and continue to focus on improving the political and professional skills of journalists.

Improving the quality of information and how information is presented, meeting the requirements of readers while still serving as the mainstream information flow in the whole journalism industry, is a vital requirement not only for the newspaper, but also for entire VNA, she said.

The newspaper has many journalism works that won Vietnam News Agency Press Prize, the National Press Award, the Golden Hammer and Sickle Award, and the National External Information Award.

With its achievements, Tin Tuc has been awarded many noble emulation titles by the Party and State such as the first, second, and third-class Labour Medals, and Certificates of Merit from the Prime Minister, VNA, ministries and branches.  VNS
The Feed-Farm-Food model and underscores the unwavering commitment of Japfa Vietnam to sustainable development in the Vietnamese market.

The ceremony was graced by prominent dignitaries, including Denny Abdi, the ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of Indonesia to Vietnam; Phung Duc Tien, the deputy minister of Agriculture and Rural Development; Tran Tue Hien, the deputy secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, and chairwoman of the People's Committee of Binh Phuoc province, and other distinguished guests.

Speaking at the event, Phung Duc Tien, the deputy minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, praised Japfa's significant contributions to Vietnam's livestock industry.

"With the potential and experience of Japfa Vietnam, I believe that the animal feed production and slaughterhouse in Binh Phuoc, when put into operation, will make positive contributions to the process of integrating and developing Vietnam's livestock industry in a safe, efficient, and sustainable manner," Tien said.

Tran Tue Hien said The provincial Party Committee and Government are delighted that Japfa Vietnam has chosen our province as the destination for its largest investment project in the Vietnamese market. The presence of Japfa is convincing evidence of the attractiveness of Binh Phuoc in attracting large foreign-invested enterprises."

"Today, we are pleased to witness the inauguration ceremony of Japfa's feed mill and slaughterhouse. These two factories, along with Japfa's invested farm chains in the province, have also brought many job opportunities for local workers. These are encouraging signals and show confidence for Binh Phuoc in attracting investment.

Japfa Vietnam inaugurates animal feed mill and slaughterhouse in Binh Phuoc province

The Binh Phuoc animal feed mill is one of Japfa Vietnam's most advanced projects. The phase 1 project boasts an impressive, capacity of 240,000 tonnes per year for a total investment of nearly VND 400 billion ($17.4 million).

In the second phase, the capacity will increase to a staggering 480,000 tonnes per year, demonstrating the company's strong commitment to serving the needs of the Southeast and Central Highlands markets.

Equipped with modern technology, the feed mill features a cold storage system designed to preserve essential vitamins and seasonings at a temperature of 20-25 degrees Celsius. This meticulous attention to quality control ensures a reliable supply of high-quality animal feed that meets the standards of discerning customers.

As environmental sustainability is a top priority for Japfa Vietnam, the feed mill is provided with a wastewater treatment system capable of processing up to 100m3/day and a boiler exhaust gas treatment technology that underscores the company's commitment to minimising its carbon footprint.

Japfa has also invested more than VND400 billion ($17.4 million) in the construction of a slaughterhouse in Binh Phuoc province.

Spanning nearly 15 hectares, the facility boasts a capacity of 60,000 chickens per day and is equipped with cutting-edge infrastructure and imported from the EU. The facility meets high standards, including GMP, HACCP, ISO 22000, and FSSC 22000, ensuring that customers receive only the highest-quality products.

At the same time, Japfa invested more than VND160 billion ($7 million) in building an aqua feed mill in Long An in 2022. The company has made significant strides in the development of aquatic feed for popular species such as pangasius, tilapia, anabas, and frogs, under the STP brand.

With a design capacity of 60,000 tons of products per year, the facility's first phase has already achieved 30,000 tonnes.

Japfa Vietnam inaugurates animal feed mill and slaughterhouse in Binh Phuoc province

Japfa Vietnam's general director Arif Widjaja highlighted the companys ambition. The three projects will enable Japfa Vietnam to reach 1.5 million tonnes by 2023 and strengthen further our vertical integration through the Feed-Farm-Food supply chain, while also employing more than 200 local workers."

"We will continue to optimise our production capacity, train human resources, and improve product quality to provide value to customers and achieve mutual prosperity.

As Vietnam and Indonesia approach the 10th anniversary of their strategic partnership in 2023, the two countries have set a new bilateral trade target of $15 billion by 2028. Currently, over 30 Indonesian companies have invested a total of $638.8 million in Vietnam.

At the inauguration event, the ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of Indonesia to Vietnam, Denny Abdi, expressed his pleasure, recognising Japfa Group as one of the successful Indonesian investors in Vietnam. He believes that the inauguration of Japfa's feed mill and slaughterhouse in Binh Phuoc will offer insights into more opportunities for foreign investors in Vietnam.

vir
The profit-taking pressure was somewhat weakened, combined with an increase in active buying, helping the

VN-Index

to record a positive gaining session. Yesterday's market recorded a slight gain, with the price closing near the highest level of the day, in the context that the liquidity increased quite well and was higher than the 20-day average. This shows that the buyers are temporarily dominating, and the uptrend remains. Therefore, it is expected that the market will continue to gain momentum in the next session.

For now, the market will focus on the results at the critical resistance of 1,060 points. In case of successfully conquering this resistance, the index will have a chance to find the adjacent peak at 1,080 points and attract new buying cash flow. Besides, investors must also observe the market's reaction after

the US CPI information

was announced last night. It is forecasted that in the next trading session, VN-Index will have increasing inertia in the morning to test the resistance area near 1,060-1,065 points and, further away, the resistance area of 1,070-1,075 points. The shaking may occur at high prices, causing VN-Index to narrow it's gaining momentum towards the end of the day.

Experts of Vietcombank Securities Company gave an analysis from a technical point of view; VN-Index ended the session by creating a Spinning top candle, showing investors' hesitation around the psychological point of 1,060 points. Regarding the hourly chart, VN-Index continuously made Spinning tops and inverted hammer candles, indicating that the selling pressure is still significant, and the current demand cannot help the market overcome this resistance level convincingly. VN-Index will continue to shake and trade in a narrow range in the coming sessions, and it is impossible to confirm that the market can enter a more extended uptrend in the short term. However, the divergence was still quite clear when the demand was still looking for individual stocks in industry groups such as real estate, retail, and chemicals. It is recommended that investors maintain the proportion of stocks below 40% of the account during this period and only increase the ratio from 10-20% for available supplies in the industry mentioned above groups.

KB Securities Vietnam (KBSV) also commented that the profit-taking pressure was somewhat weakened, combined with the increased active buying force, which helped the VN-Index to record a positive gaining session. When the index successfully conquers the critical resistance level of 1,055-1,058 points, VN-Index has many opportunities to extend the rally and move to the next resistance around 1,070 points. Investors are recommended to sell and lower the proportion of trading opened around the close resistance zone of holding stocks.

Also, in the positive movement of the stock market today,

CafeF Newspaper

reported on potential industry groups at a time when the stock market has received a new "wave" of increase. After a sharp slide in 2022, VN-Index regained its balance and accumulated within a narrow range. Given the instability of the international market and the difficulties of the domestic economy, analysts forecast that the stock market will hardly end its sideways trend in the short term. However, from a long-term perspective, this is a golden time to accumulate stocks and prepare to catch the "wave" of the stock market.

Therefore, many investors have also begun to look to the strategy of buying and selling stocks with the expectation of making long-term profits.

Mr. Nguyen Tuan Anh, the founder of FinPeace, said that

the retail group

is one of the industry groups with considerable long-term growth potential in Vietnam. For example, large domestic banks have only served 1/5 of the population in retail banking, while small banks have only served about 1/10 of the people. Moreover, in the era of promoting technology and digital transformation, there are many online and technology-related activities in banking alone. This shows that the growth potential of retail banks is still enormous.

Besides, the industry group related to the production of essential materials for growth - especially infrastructure growth (for example, the steel industry) will also have room for growth in the next 10-20 years. Because the growth path of our country is still long, Vietnam is still in the stage behind many developed countries.

The third industry group is technology-related. The technology era brings technology into every corner of life, so this is also an industry group with much room for growth in the future.

Regarding the method of selecting stocks to accumulate assets, investors should note 3 factors:

(1) Know the signs of a business going bankrupt or on the verge of a sudden decline in business.

(2) Selected enterprises must have a growth rate of 2 to 2.5 times compared to the average growth rate. For example, the current average is 7%, so we should choose businesses with growth of 15% or more.

(3) The most important thing when choosing an asset stock is that the price must be cheap enough to buy.
Belgiums Queen Mathilde and pupils of Ham Rong primary school in Sa Pa (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi  Belgiums Queen Mathilde, who is Honorary President of UNICEF Belgium, wrapped up her three-day visit to Vietnam, which highlighted the Southeast Asian country's significant achievements towards realising child rights as well as the key challenges the most vulnerable children still face.



UNICEF Vietnam said in a press release on May 11 that during her visit, Queen Mathilde witnessed how UNICEF Vietnam supports the Government to close equity gaps and expand opportunities for the most vulnerable children. She also interacted with children, teachers, mothers and fathers, health workers and Government officials, learning first-hand about Vietnams progress for every child.



I have witnessed Vietnams progress towards ensuring its children are healthy, safe, educated, protected and empowered to reach their full potential, she remarked. There are still many challenges, but this visit has reaffirmed for me that there are innovative and creative approaches being designed and tested that greatly enhance the opportunities and improve the wellbeing of children across this country.



At her meetings with President Vo Van Thuong and later, the Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son, the Queen referred to Vietnams achievements and learnt about national efforts to address childrens issues working closely with UNICEF.



She also recognised that this year marks 50 years of close collaboration between Vietnam and Belgium, an opportunity for strengthening the longstanding ties of friendship and cooperation between the two countries.



Following these discussions, she travelled to the northern mountainous province of Lao Cai, where she witnessed new approaches piloted by the Ministry of Education and Training, with UNICEF support, to improve the quality of learning and digital literacy among the youngest ethnic minority girls and boys.



The Queen observed how Augmented Virtual Reality (AVR) is being used to nurture curiosity, joyful learning and transferable skills for preschool students. This pilot programme is closing the digital pide for children in remote, mountainous regions and ensuring that ethnic minority children, who are least likely to complete primary and secondary school, get the best possible start to their education.



She also visited a community-based nutrition club, where she met mothers learning to better use local products to prepare nutritious meals for their families, particularly their young children. The clubs, initially launched with UNICEF support, are an example of where proven approaches are tested and scaled up by Government to reach even more children. In Lao Cai, the local health authorities have adopted this approach as a part of their efforts to reduce malnutrition rates in Lao Cai province in a context where child stunting rates reach over 37 per cent.



On her last day in Vietnam, the Queen sat with a group of adolescents to talk about their concerns and mental wellbeing. She was pleased to note the work underway to promote positive mental health through actions that help children and adolescents to adopt and maintain healthy lifestyles, encouraging UNICEF and its partners to increase efforts to strengthen service provision, including by increasing budget allocation for mental health, integrating mental health into all social sectors, and improving referral systems at health-care facilities, schools and social welfare units.

Australia to provide long-term support for Lao Cai Through the GREAT programme, Australia will continue to support Lao Cai province to promote the sustainable development of agriculture and community tourism and improve womens empowerment.
The cooperation contract was inked on May 8 in Hanoi.

The source from Etech Vietnam revealed that both sides have reached a consensus on the capital share ratio, in which the Vietnamese side will hold a 51 per cent stake, and the US partners take the remaining part.

Both sides are set to meet again to discuss the cooperative agenda in an upcoming meeting in the US this July.

Representatives of Etech Vietnam and ITBC-LV USA LLC called on the Foreign Investment Agency to learn more about the investment opportunities

The cooperative deal between Etech Vietnam and ITBC-LV USA LLC is expected to be jump-started in November. If it meets its progress targets, the project promises a stable margin rate, laying the bedrock to motivate Vietnamese firms to venture into the US market.

During the visit to Vietnam to sign the deal, the two parties called on the Foreign Investment Agency and the Ministry of Planning and Investment to ensure they were well-informed about how to make the outbound investment follow Vietnamese laws and looked into other potential investment opportunities.

The new entity, Etech USA, is based in Nevada state in an attempt to draw investments across a range of sectors between Vietnam and the US.

Etech Vietnam finalised setting up a legal entity in the US on February 19. The new entity, Etech USA, is based in Nevada state in an attempt to draw investments across a range of sectors between Vietnam and the US.

Based on the companys website, Etech Vietnam has been operating in real estate, construction, tourism, import export, and agriculture, meanwhile ITBC-LV USA LLC is well-known for building the iconic $1.5 billion International Trade & Business Center of Las Vegas in Nevada state between 2008 and 2009 when the world economy sank in recession.

Every year, about 20,000 conferences and exhibitions take place there on average, with hotel occupancy touching 95 per cent and the rental office rate surpassing 70 per cent.

The networking between Etech Vietnam and ITBC-LV USA LLC comes in the face of upbeat economic, trade, and investment prospect between the two countries.

In 2022, two-way trade value reached $123 billion, quadruple that seen in 2013. This turned the US into Vietnams first export market to hit the $100 billion mark, and Vietnam became the USs eighth-largest trading partner.

The US is currently the 11th largest foreign investor in Vietnam out of 143 countries and territories making their presence felt in the nation. The total direct investment value exceeds $11.4 billion.

Super Energy Group eyes new long-term ventures in Vietnam Thailands Super Energy Group has proposed new ventures in waste-to-energy, including possibly developing a food processing industrial park and a hydrogen plant.

China reopens group tours to Vietnam from March 15 The Chinese government has announced a list of pilot countries, including Vietnam, to which China's group tours can be conducted starting from March 15.

BOE Technology Group plans to invest $400 million in Vietnam The Chinese display manufacturer BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd.  a supplier for both Apple and Samsung  has plans to build two factories with a total investment capital of $400 million in Vietnam, according to information published by Reuters.
SAP held the 2023 Southeast Asia Partner Success Summit in late April, as they sought to honour strategic business partners with outstanding achievements in the Southeast Asian market.

At the event, FPT IS garnered three important awards, Best RISE Partner, Best Mid-market Partner, and Partner of the Year.

This is the second year in a row that FPT IS received the Partner of the Year award  the highest accolade for partners who have made significant achievements in their business activities.

FPT IS was the only Vietnamese representative honoured, which affirms the companys leading position, capacity, and experience in implementing SAP solutions.

Meanwhile, the Best RISE Partner Award recognises the flexibility of FPT IS's business strategy when deploying the RISE with SAP solution. As the first partner in Vietnam for RISE, FPT IS has successfully implemented many large projects, most notably with An Gia Group.

The Mid-market Partner Award recognises the company's efforts in driving business in the mid-range enterprise segment. Deciding factors to achieve this award include the amount of revenue contributed and the number of contracts secured.

The leading SAP ERP consultant in Vietnam

Over 20 years of implementing SAP ERP in Vietnam, FPT IS has been accompanying customers from assorted fields such as finance and banking, real estate, manufacturing, and agriculture to implement hundreds of projects.

FPT IS has been responsible for many projects for large customers such as Stavian, Vietjet, VCP Holdings, Tan Long, Ba Huan, and Vinatech.

In that time, FPT IS has been responsible for many projects for large customers such as Stavian, Vietjet, VCP Holdings, Tan Long, Ba Huan, and Vinatech.

Nguyen Hoang Minh, CEO of FPT IS said, We are very proud to be SAP's number one partner in Vietnam. These prestigious awards are in recognition of our efforts in consulting and implementing a series of SAP ERP projects for major businesses.

In agriculture, FPT IS has helped Tan Long Group to deploy the SAP ERP system for its subsidiary Siba Food, combined with the Made by FPT IS solution FPT.iHRP that provides a foundation to help Tan Long accelerate its growth.

FPT IS worked with Boston Pharma to digitalise its operations by integrating the SAP ERP system with the Boston Sale application and automated robots, helping to boost revenue and labour productivity in just six months.

Before this, Boston Pharma had needed several accountants to handle revenues of under $18 million, and still struggled to meet deadlines. Now, with its revenue more than doubled to over $43 million, the company only needs at most two accountants to complete the work.

In terms of construction and real estate, FPT IS has teamed up with key players to build their system implementation methodology, which helps to optimise deployment efficiency for customers.

Its efficiency has been proven through numerous projects with contractors such as Coteccons, An Gia, Filmore, Phat Dat, and TNR Holdings Vietnam, among others.

FPT IS stands alone in Vietnam as an SAP Gold partner, and tis the first company to be certified for its ERP implementation capabilities. It has previously won many awards from SAP such as Partner of the Year 2021, DRS Partner of the Year 2021, Partner of the Year 2019, SAP Partner Excellent 2019, and more.

Enterprises interested in the SAP ERP system, please contact by website at https://www.fpt-is.com/ for more details.

MB honoured at Sao Khue Awards 2023 With two outstanding digital products, Military Commercial Joint Stock Bank has been honoured at the Sao Khue Awards 2023. This is the fifth consecutive year that MB has received this prestigious award.

FPT Software opens new office in South Korea FPT Software, Vietnam's leading IT service provider, on March 22 announced the inauguration of a new office in Seoul, marking it the second in South Korea, and 64th globally.

ACCA honoured by MoF for contribution to Vietnam The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) has received a certificate of merit from the Ministry of Finance for its contributions to the country's development in a ceremony to mark 20 years of operations in Vietnam.
Consumers shop at Hoang Cau Fuji Mart in Hanoi. (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi  Amid numerous challenges facing export, the domestic market has proved its attractiveness and important role, helping with Hanois economic growth.

Since the last months of 2022, a number of manufacturers were unable to export their products due to a serious shortage of orders.



Hanoi recorded a slight year-on-year decrease of 1.3% in exports to 5.3 billion USD in the first four months of 2023. The revenue comprises 2.9 billion USD by the domestic sector, up 0.8%, and 2.4 billion USD by FDI-invested firms, down 3.8%, according to its Department of Industry and Trade.



Commodities that posted export declines during the period include apparel, vehicles and spare parts, timber and wood products, footwear, and leather products.



In April alone, the capital city earned nearly 1.52 billion USD from overseas shipments, rising 3.6% month on month and 2.3% year on year, statistics showed.



Tran Thi Phuong Lan, Acting Director of the Department of Industry and Trade, elaborated that the fall in the four-month exports was due to the downward trend since the last months of 2022. Though Hanoi witnessed a trade surplus in January and February, the export value of most groups of commodities dropped, with many staples turnover plummeting by double-digit rates from the same period last year.



Facing that context, many businesses in the capital city have been restructuring production and boosting supply for the domestic market as a source of support for them.



Le Hai Lieu, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Duc Thanh Wood Processing JSC, said that his company is investing more in designing, marketing, and producing items for the domestic market.



Similarly, many other enterprises and sectors also pin high hopes on the domestic market for 2023.



General Director of the Garment 10 Corporation JSC Than Duc Viet held that with a population of 100 million, Vietnam is a potential market for textile and garment businesses.



Wholesale and retail have enjoyed good growth, Lan said, adding that total retail sales of goods and consumer service revenue in Hanoi reached some 184.4 trillion VND (over 7.8 billion USD) in the first quarter, up 12.6% from a year earlier. That includes 118.9 trillion VND in retail sales, accounting for 64.4% of the total and growing 12.2% year on year.



Thanks to domestic consumption stimulus programmes, retail sales and consumer service revenue have risen, helping enterprises address difficulties and boost production and business activities and contribute to the city's economic growth, the official added.



Economist Vu Vinh Phu perceived that from now to the end of 2023, domestic consumption must be viewed as an important impetus for Hanoi to reach this years target.



Echoing the view, economist Dinh Trong Thinh highlighted the considerable attractiveness of the domestic market with nearly 100 million people, noting that among the three growth pillars, export is still facing difficulties while investment needs more time to prove effective, so promoting consumption is now the most effective and least-costly measure.



To foster consumption and sustainably develop the domestic market, experts recommended authorised agencies push ahead with overhauling legal documents on the domestic market development and aligning them with the current situation so as to serve macro-economic governance and domestic trade.



It is also necessary to strongly and effectively implement the strategy for developing domestic trade by 2030, with a vision to 2045, along with the related programmes and plans. Authorities should assist businesses, especially small- and medium-sized enterprises, production establishments in craft villages, farming households, and cooperatives to promote trade, build and protect brands of domestic wholesale and retail chains, and further advertise specialties and typical products of regions across Vietnam, they added.

Hanoi wins approval for efforts as member of UNESCO Creative Cities Network Domestic and international experts have acknowledged Hanois activeness in implementing its initiatives and commitments as a member of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, particularly the engagement of the entire community in creative activities.

Hanoi metro station plan hits new brakes Both the timeline and the funding policy for part of Hanois metro line is to be extended, setting back completion of the route by several years.
The western United States and Canada are experiencing a heatwave that could break over 50 high-temperature records through Monday.

Temperatures will be up to 25 degrees higher than normal, and Seattle could reach 90 degrees, the earliest on record. Portland could also see four consecutive days of record-breaking temperatures in the 90s, as reported by CNN.

A high-pressure system over the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia is causing offshore winds to spike temperatures above average.

Approximately 12 million people in the US, including those in western Washington, western Oregon, northern California, and the San Joaquin Valley, are under heat alerts.

According to the National Weather Service office in Hanford, California, temperatures are predicted to start in the mid-to-high 90s tomorrow and continue throughout the next week. The warmest days are expected to be Sunday and Monday, with temperatures reaching the high 90s and possibly even triple digits for the first time this year.

The hot temperatures could lead to melting snow in higher elevations, resulting in high rivers and streams that could flood.

High temperatures will approach triple digit readings in the San Joaquin Valley this weekend into early next week, resulting in a moderate risk for heat-related illnesses for heat-sensitive groups and people who are new to the area if simple precautions are not taken. #CAwx pic.twitter.com/DCKt8Yoinh  NWS Hanford (@NWSHanford) May 11, 2023

The Canadian weather agency, Environment Canada, has issued a special weather statement warning of the extreme temperatures for portions of British Columbia and Alberta, where temperatures could reach up to 25 to 30 degrees above normal, making the ongoing wildfire problem even worse.

Read Also: 22-Year-Old Filipino Boxer Dies After Match

Wildfires in Canada Remain Concern Amid Rising Temperatures

Smoke from the ongoing wildfires in Alberta has blanketed many parts of Canada and some regions in the United States.

As of Thursday, there are 75 active wildfires in Alberta, with 23 of them considered out of control per the BBC.

The start of May usually marks the beginning of wildfire season in the area, but the current level of activity is uncommon.

With temperatures expected to rise sharply in the coming days, there are worries about more fires breaking out.

The smoke from the wildfires has traveled far eastward, reaching Quebec and Ontario down to the US-Canada border, as evidenced by images taken by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

King Charles III, who recently ascended to the throne, expressed his and Queen Camilla's deep concern over the wildfires ravaging communities in Western Canada, Global News reported.

In a statement, King Charles expressed his condolences to individuals who had lost their homes, places of business, and other assets in addition to being evacuated. The first responders and volunteers who had been putting in countless hours to put out the flames while helping their neighbors and towns were also praised by the King.

Related Article: UK's Shadow Missile Supply Game-Changer for Kyiv

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Illustrative photo (Source: VNA)

Hanoi  The capital city of Hanoi targets to build nearly 7 million sq.m of housing this year, in order to raise the per capita housing area to 28.2 sq.m.

The target is set in a housing development plan for 2023, which has been approved by the municipal Peoples Committee.



The new housing area will include 4.5 million sq.m of floor of independent houses, over 2.33 million sq.m of commercial housing, 32,000 sq.m of social housing 94,000 sq.m of resettlement housing.



The city administration will focus on rolling out mechanisms and policies to remove difficulties in the implementation of urban projects that have been stalled for a long time while encouraging new housing projects.



It will also accelerate the approval of investment plans for building social housing or housing for workers. Investors responsibilities will be clarified and projects that are behind the schedule will be strictly dealt with.



Departments, agencies and People's Committees of districts will be tasked with promptly relocating households out of old apartment buildings that are deemed dangerous and devise planning relating to the renovation of old apartment buildings, namely those in Giang Vo, Trung Tu and Khuong Thuong residential areas.



According to the municipal Department of Construction, the city added 1.3 million sq.m of housing in 2022, which was equivalent to 109 per cent of the years target. The figure includes 985,000 sq.m of commercial housing in 16 projects and 257,000 sq.m of social housing in three projects.



From 2010-2020, the city completed approximately 50 million sq.m of residential housing. However, it is predicted that from 2021 to 2030, the capital city will need around 89 million sq.m of housing.



The housing demand for 2021-2025 is projected to be 44 million sq.m, while the demand for 2021-2030 is estimated to be around 45 million sq.m.



In line with the housing development plan for 2021 - 2025, which has been endorsed by the municipal Peoples Committee, the city aims to have an average housing area of 29.5 sq.m per person.



Hanoi will spend 437 trillion VND (18.3 billion USD) to implement the plan.



The capital city will also build 550,000 sq.m of housing for the purpose of relocating residents and speed up the renovation of old apartment buildings, especially those deemed dangerous for living.



Regarding commercial projects, the city will strive to complete 109 projects with 19.4 million sq.m of floor.



Hanoi will continue to abolish makeshift houses and raise the permanent housing rate in the city to 90 per cent.



Of the total investment of 437 trillion VND, 5.8 trillion VND will be used for social housing, resettlement housing projects, and apartment upgrading. The investment will be sourced from the citys budget.



The city will also mobilise investment from possible sources for the development of commercial houses and other real estate projects.



The municipal Peoples Committee requested that agencies comply with the city's housing development plan to ensure a balance between housing supply and demand as well as to fulfill the set targets. Legal documents will be reviewed to remove difficulties relating to housing and construction investment management of infrastructure works.



Between now and 2030, the city will focus on developing satellite towns and areas that are expected to become urban districts while persifying housing types to meet the needs of people of different income levels. Priority will be given to social housing, apartment buildings and housing for workers in industrial zones.



The development of apartment buildings in the downtown area will be limited to minimise population growth and infrastructure overload, except for those aimed at renovating and rebuilding old apartment buildings and resettlement projects. Meanwhile, the development of apartment buildings in other areas will be given priority so as to use the land effectively.



Urban and residential areas will be planned and invested in line with building technical and social infrastructure.

Ministry proposes allowing foreigners to buy, own houses in Vietnam The Ministry of Construction has proposed the Government allow foreigners to buy and own houses in Vietnam in the draft Housing Law (amended).

Khanh Hoa to build $43 million social housing complex Early this month, Khanh Hoa People's Committee approved the revised investment policy and the investor for the Hung Phu II social housing project in Nha Trang.
Vice Chairman of the municipal Peoples Committee Duong Anh Duc (R) and Cuban Deputy Minister of Agriculture Maury Hechavarria Bermhudez. (Photo: VNA)

HCM City  Ho Chi Minh City and Cuba have vowed to enhance agricultural cooperation, especially in sharing experience in hi-tech agricultural production and farm produce processing.



The consensus was reached by Vice Chairman of the municipal Peoples Committee Duong Anh Duc and Cuban Deputy Minister of Agriculture Maury Hechavarria Bermhudez at their meeting in Ho Chi Minh City on May 12.



Duc said Cuba holds great potential for agricultural development while there remains huge room for Vietnam and Cuba to extend collaboration, especially in rice and coffee production.



Ho Chi Minh City is ready to cooperate with and support the transfer of advanced agricultural production technologies to Cuba, he said, adding that with strengths in food processing, packaging, export-import and high-tech agricultural production, the city hopes that specific joint projects will contribute to ensuring Cubas food security.



Bermhudez, for his part, said Vietnam's rice cultivation project in Cuba is now in its fifth phase with positive results, especially in terms of crop varieties. In addition, the project on developing coffee in Cuba using Vietnam's robusta seeds has resulted in a ten-fold increase in yield compared to Cuba's previous varieties.



Cuba wants to continue partnering with Vietnamese enterprises, including Ho Chi Minh City, in these areas to help the Caribbean country achieve its food security goal, he said.



The Deputy Minister said Cuba is calling for investment in animal husbandry and building supply chains between breeding and meat processing which is of Vietnams strength, therefore, Cuba believes in cooperation potential in this field with Vietnamese enterprises, including those in Ho Chi Minh City.



Cuba expects to create the best conditions for Vietnamese companies to invest in the Latin American country and make profit based on mutually beneficial arrangements, he said.



The same day, Bermhudez attended and delivered a speech at a trade and investment promotion forum between Ho Chi Minh City and Cuba. The forum provided an opportunity for businesses from both sides to connect with each other, learn about business environment and discuss cooperation opportunities.

HCM City to pilot electric cars for city tours The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport has proposed the pilot use of electric cars to transport tourists around the city.

Agricultural, other specialty products expo opens in HCM City More than 1,000 agricultural and specialty products from over 20 provinces and cities across the country are being exhibited at Gigamall in HCM Citys Thu Duc city as part of the Regional Agricultural and Specialty Product Festival.
Access to clean drinking water is a challenge for billions of people around the world. In Vietnam, this problem is particularly acute, with many communities struggling to access clean and safe drinking water, especially those hit by typhoons and flooding.

Consumers join forces to bring clean drinking water to communities in need

In the past few weeks, consumers across the country have joined the meaningful initiative organised by P&G Vietnam and Saigon CO.OP to bring clean drinking water to communities in need.

This not only helps raise awareness about the importance of clean drinking water to the health and wellbeing of communities, but is also successful in encouraging shoppers to make a difference by purchasing P&G products that support the cause.

This initiative aims to leave a significant impact on improving access to clean drinking water in underprivileged communities.

When buying into P&G Vietnam assorted brands as Ariel, Tide, Downy, Pantene, Head&Shoulders,Gillette, and Pampers, at any participating stores as well as at the website Co.op Online, consumers contribute up to 30 litres of clean water to children and families in need across the country.

This initiative aims to leave a significant impact on improving access to clean drinking water in underprivileged communities.

Together with consumers nationwide, the campaign has garnered a heartfelt support from local authorities as well as celebrities such as Top 5 Miss Universe 2018 HHen Nie and MC Quynh Hoa.

HHen Nie is one of the strong supporters of the initiative

Improving health and hygiene in Vietnam

The Childrens Safe Drinking Water programme has been implemented globally by P&G since 2004.

So far, it has brought 21 billion litres of clean drinking water to people in need through P&G Purifier of Water. The programme aims to transform the lives of communities worldwide by providing 25 billion litres of clean drinking water by 2025.

P&G Vietnam continues its strategic partnership with Saigon CO.OP to benefit the community

The scheme provides an easy-to-use water purification packet invented by P&G scientists that can clean 10 litres of water in just 30 minutes.

The P&G Purifier of Water technology enables people to purify dirty water in a simple, affordable, and convenient way and reduces the risk of illness caused by contaminated water.

In Vietnam, the P&G Purifier of Water filter powder has been certified by the Ministry of Health.

This impactful initiative has been implemented in Vietnam since 2016. With the support from the Vietnam Red Cross and local authorities, to date, the programme has provided more than 90 million litres of clean drinking water to nearly 150,000 households across more than 10 localities that lack clean water, including Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Long An, An Giang, and Dong Thap.

The Children's Safe Drinking Water initiative has already left a significant impact on communities across Vietnam, and with continued support from consumers, it has the potential to help many more communities in the future.

Helping small businesses to support global supply chains The lack of credit for small- and medium-sized enterprises to participate in global trade is stifling growth and making supply chains more vulnerable.

Vietnam Water Week 2022 to drive sustainable water development Representatives of state authorities and international organisations met at the Vietnam Water Week 2022 to discuss the solutions to drive the sustainable development of water forward.

Startup ecosystem requires helping hand Big passion for establishing businesses with novel ideas from many Vietnamese people is creating a vivid startup ecosystem for the country. However, the community is longing for more favourable conditions for it to grow further.
Doctors examine a boy with motor impairment in Dak Lak. (Photo: VNA)

Dak Lak  The Fund for Vietnamese Children in the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak and Switzerlands Children Action jointly organised free screening for movement deformities for nearly 400 children aged under 16 at Krong Pak district Health Centre and Thien Hanh General Hospital on May 11-12.

The programme saw the participation of doctors from the Orthopaedic Department of the Childrens Hospital under Frances Toulouse University Hospital, and Spains La Fe Valencia orthopedic hospital.



After the examination, children who are prescribed surgery and treatment will be treated and receive physical therapy free of charge.



Lam Dinh Nhien, Director of the fund, said that besides these 400 children, since 2006, the fund has cooperated with orthopedic and rehabilitation hospitals to organise surgery to cure motor impairment for 712 children in the locality with a budget of more than 3.5 billion VND (149,200 USD).



In the coming time, it will promote communications to people in remote and border areas so that they can gain access to the programme.

Dak Lak promotes shipments via Amazon Enhancing exports via Amazon, the worlds largest Internet retailer by revenue and market capitalisation, is an effective way to help staples of the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak reach out to the world in the context that COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc on global economy, according to insiders.

Dak Lak approves two wind plants The People's Committee of the Central Highlands of Dak Lak has granted in-principle investment approval to two wind energy project, expected to cost over 2.21 trillion VND (96 million USD).

Generali Vietnam and NFVC inaugurate new kindergarten in Dak Lak On November 1, Generali Vietnam collaborated with the National Fund for Vietnamese Children (NFVC), Dak Lak Fund for Children, and Phu Loc Peoples Committee to organise an opening ceremony to inaugurate a new kindergarten branch for Phu Loc Kindergarten.
LOS ANGELES (AP)  An influencer who staged a California plane crash to make a YouTube video of himself parachuting to safety has agreed to plead guilty to obstructing the investigation by destroying the wreckage, the U.S. Justice Department said Thursday.

The plea agreement signed by Trevor Daniel Jacob, 29, of Lompoc, California, and his attorney was filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. The U.S. attorney's office said in a statement that Jacob is expected to make a court appearance in coming weeks.

Jacob, an experienced pilot and skydiver, agreed to plead guilty to one count of destruction and concealment with the intent to obstruct a federal investigation, which is punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

The video titled I Crashed My Airplane appeared in December 2021 and purported to show Jacob's small plane have engine failure over the mountainous Los Padres National Forest. Already wearing a parachute, he jumped out with a selfie stick camera in hand.

His jump and the aircraft's plunge were recorded by cameras mounted on the plane's wing and tail and by the camera he carried. After landing, he hiked to the crash site and recovered video from the onboard cameras, the government said.

According to the plea agreement, Jacob had a sponsorship deal to promote a company's product in a video he would post, and he never intended to complete the Nov. 24, 2021, flight.

The Justice Department said Jacob later informed federal investigators about the crash, was told he was responsible for preserving the wreckage, agreed to determine its location  and then lied that he did not know the location.

On Dec. 10, 2021, Jacob and a friend flew to the site in a helicopter that was used to lift the wreckage and fly it to a trailer attached to his pickup truck, according to the agreement. The plane was later cut up, and the parts were disposed of in trash bins.

Jacob's pilot license was revoked by the Federal Aviation Administration in 2022.
CONCORD, N.H. (AP)  The New Hampshire Senate rejected a marijuana legalization bill Thursday, leaving it the only state in New England that makes smoking pot recreationally a crime.

Republicans, who control the Senate, led the effort to dismiss the bill on a 14-10 vote.

Though several bipartisan bills in support of legalization have cleared the House in recent years, the Senate has blocked them. Republican Gov. Chris Sununu said earlier this year that he didnt expect new legislation to reach his desk with teen drug use and overdoses on the rise.

Republican Senate President Jeb Bradley said the time isnt right to legalize marijuana, as the state combats a drug addiction and overdose crisis.

Recreationalizing marijuana at this critical juncture would send a confusing message, potentially exacerbating the already perilous drug landscape and placing more lives at risk, he said in a written statement.

House Democratic Leader Matt Wilhelm said the push to legalize marijuana has strong support in New Hampshire. He said regulating the drug could also help protect public health.

Every day that New Hampshire remains an island of prohibition, more voluntary tax revenue from our residents flows to surrounding states to fund programs and services benefitting their residents, Wilhelm said in a press release.

The bill, which had been approved by the House, would have put the states Liquor Commission in charge of regulating marijuana, with a 12.5% tax levied at the cultivation level.

Most of the tax revenue would have gone toward reducing the states pension liability and the states education trust fund, with some set aside for substance abuse prevention programs and police training.

Opponents have focused on the impact of the drug crisis on families, individuals and communities, and noted strong opposition from the law enforcement community.

Frank Knaack, policy director at the American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire, faulted those senators who opposed the initiative.

These lawmakers are willing to ignore the will of their own constituents and are okay with continuing to needlessly ensnare over a thousand people  disproportionately Black people  in New Hampshires criminal justice system every year, he said.

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 3-2 along partisan lines on Tuesday to recommend that the full Senate reject the bill. The committee also made similar recommendations on bills that would allow homegrown cannabis for therapeutic purposes and would lower penalties on some drug violations.
A Texas prison inmate serving time for killing his brother-in-law pleaded guilty Thursday to the 2004 strangulation death of a 40-year-old Waco woman and received a 13-year sentence in a plea deal.

Gilberto Zapata Ortiz, 55, pleaded guilty before Judge Thomas West in Wacos 19th State District Court to murder Thursday as a first-degree felony in the Jan. 25, 2004, death of Pamela Moore. Moores body was found along an isolated stretch of Old Mexia Road between Boys Ranch Road and Selby Lane, the Tribune-Herald previously reported.

Before sentencing Ortiz, West asked McLennan County Assistant District Attorney Will Hix if the state insisted on a 13-year sentence, and Hix affirmed.

She had a 4-year-old child, a mother and four sisters, and you took her life, Moores sister, Lisa Thomas, said Thursday in a victim impact statement. She didnt deserve that. This has been bothering me since 2004.

Repeating several times, You took her life, Thomas wept during her statement.

Thomas said that because of what Ortiz did, her family and her sisters child in particular are still having a hard time dealing with Moores death.

Another of Moores family members sat with Thomas in the courtroom, but chose not to speak.

Ortiz was indicted Sept. 25, 2019 based on DNA and other evidence, the Tribune-Herald reported at the time. At the time of his indictment he was serving time in a Fort Stockton prison unit for voluntary manslaughter in the 1990 death of his brother-in-law in Harris County, the Tribune-Herald previously reported.

He was convicted in that case in 1995. At the time of Moores death in 2004, Ortiz was out on parole, the Tribune-Herald previously reported. A 2012 parole violation in McLennan County sent Ortiz back to prison in his voluntary manslaughter conviction, the Tribune-Herald previously reported.

Moores death remained unsolved until the McLennan County Sheriffs Office cold case unit reopened it in 2019 and DNA and other evidence revealed Ortiz as the lead suspect, authorities have said.

A courthouse official said Thursday that time Ortiz served for his conviction in his brother-in-laws 1990 death began counting toward his murder sentence in Moores death upon his indictment in 2019. A complex calculation involving time served and mandatory release dates means that all of Ortizs state time will be completed in 2025, the official said.

Upon release from Texas prison, Ortiz will then face a federal deportation hearing as his jail records include an immigration detainer.
Prosecutors plan to decide by July whether to seek the death penalty in the 2017 shootings of a woman and her infant daughter in a park at Tradinghouse Lake.

Scott Wells, the Dallas County prosecutor appointed in the capital murder case against Christopher Paul Weiss, 31, of Temple, gave the update Thursday during a conference via video link with Judge Thomas West of Wacos 19th State District Court and Weiss defense attorney.

If the court would give me 60 days, then I would have time to review the case and the evidence, consult with the family and determine whether or not to seek the death penalty, Wells said in the conference.

Wells took the case after McLennan County District Attorney Josh Tetens recused his office when he became DA in January. McLennan County Executive Assistant District Attorney Michel Simer, who was Tetens law partner when they were in private practice, litigated a divorce for Weiss.

McLennan County deputies found Valarie Martinez, 24, and her 1-year-old daughter, Azariah, shot to death in a park at Tradinghouse Lake on Nov. 5, 2017, and arrested Weiss two days later at a traffic stop in Temple with his wife, the Tribune-Herald reported at the time. Weiss was believed to be Azariahs father, in a relationship outside his marriage, police said at the time.

The court set another hearing in the case for July 27.

Thursday morning, Weiss defense attorney, Jessi Freud asked for evidence to be forwarded to prepare her defense.

Wells said that during the 60 days the court provided he would determine which evidence needs to be tested or retested and develop a plan to provide it to the defense.

Freud also asked when the trial might be scheduled, and West said he was looking at January or February.

Weiss has remained in McLennan County Jail on $1 million bond since Nov. 8, 2017.
Before a Lancaster County judge sent a Texas man to prison Thursday for filming sex with a Lincoln teenager in 2022, a prosecutor chastised the 21-year-old for his "lies, deceit and manipulation" that hung over the case before and after he filmed the girl.

In front of a crowded court gallery Thursday afternoon, Deputy Lancaster County Attorney Julie Mruz described an escalating series of lies that took Jose L. Martinez from a then-17-year-old girl's social media inbox to a local motel room last April, where the Laredo man repeatedly filmed sexual acts with the teen.

Mruz said Martinez initially lied about his real name and how old he was when the two began an online relationship and later, after the girl ended things with the 21-year-old, he used fake phone numbers to harass her.

At times, Mruz said, Martinez demanded the girl not shower without FaceTiming him and required her to send nude photos of herself.

He would become enraged, the prosecutor said, if the girl didn't answer his phone calls  even when she was at school or work.

"(The girl) was subject to brainwashing by Mr. Martinez and his manipulation," Mruz said. "She not only consistently was sending him money, but was also convinced by him to self-harm."

Mruz said the girl finally escaped the "nightmare" in April 2022, ending her relationship with Martinez after he'd spent two weeks at a local motel, where he took explicit photos and videos of the girl  adding to a collection of hundreds of nude images he'd compiled of the teen.

But after she ended her relationship with Martinez, he threatened to "expose" the teen by sharing the images online.

Eventually, Martinez followed through, sending a photo of the girl he had taken in the motel to one of the girl's classmates while continuing to send harassing texts to the 17-year-old, Lincoln Police Investigator Ben Pflanz said in the affidavit for Martinez's arrest.

The girl's mother reported the incident to police, prompting a monthslong investigation by the Police Department's Special Victims Unit that yielded felony criminal charges against Martinez in August 2022.

But even after Martinez was arrested in Iowa that month and charged in Lancaster County with generation of child pornography, Mruz said Martinez has continued to reach out to the girl.

"It is crystal clear to the state ... that he still has zero remorse for his actions, despite his words in court today," Mruz said. "His behavior has affected (the girl) and her family. And he just simply doesn't care."

Martinez pleaded guilty in March to attempted generation of child pornography as part of a plea deal.

Martinez's attorney, Darik Von Loh, said little at the 21-year-old's sentencing hearing Thursday, instead pointing to a letter he penned to Judge John A. Colborn in defense of his client.

"I just would ask that Mr. Martinez be given a lenient sentence," Von Loh said. "I believe that the circumstances surrounding this case do not warrant any kind of lengthy jail sentence, judge."

Martinez, too, was brief when given a chance to speak at the hearing.

"I apologize to the victim and her mother," he said, "and everything else is in the letter, your honor."

In her comments, Mruz indicated that Martinez had asked for a five-year prison term in his letter to the court. The prosecutor asked for a "lengthy" sentence and a no-contact order preventing Martinez from communicating further with the teen.

Colborn ultimately sided with the state, sentencing Martinez to 20 to 30 years in prison  an order that drew muted celebration and some tears from supporters of the victim in the courtroom.

Martinez, who was given credit for 233 days served, will be eligible for parole in 2032.
Ukrainian military commanders announced on Friday that their troops had regained further ground from Russian forces in the eastern city of Bakhmut.

The commanders of Ukraine's 3rd Separate Assault Brigade, a special forces unit that led the attack, stated that the recaptured 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) of territory south of Bakhmut represents a significant gain and will protect an important supply chain, according to AP News.

While meeting with the senior military leaders on Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky disclosed that Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi told him that his troops had "stopped the enemy" and even drove them away in certain areas.

On Friday, Russia's defense ministry acknowledged that Ukrainian forces were successfully reclaiming territory around Bakhmut, a city that has been under attack by Russia for over 10 months, The Guardian reported.

The ministry claimed that some of its troops had fallen back to more advantageous defensive positions near a reservoir northwest of the city.

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Russian Forces Losing a Lot

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Russian mercenary group Wagner, expressed concern that the situation near Bakhmut was developing according to the worst-case scenario, with the hard-earned territory being lost, per The Independent.

Prigozhin argued that it is the responsibility of regular Russian forces to protect Wagner's flanks near the city, which is at the center of the longest and deadliest battle of the Russia-Ukraine war.

The Russian defense ministry mentioned that its paratroopers were trapping Ukrainian army formations on the flanks while advancing on the city's west side.

According to White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, Bakhmut remains a contested area, with Ukrainians refusing to surrender their defense and Russians refusing to abandon their attempts to capture the city.

Nevertheless, it is unclear if the latest development in the Russia-Ukraine war marks the beginning of Kyiv's long-anticipated counteroffensive.

Despite the limited strategic value of Bakhmut, the US maintains that Russia has suffered significant losses of troops and weaponry in the battle for the former salt-mining area.

Related Article: UK's Shadow Missile Supply Game-Changer for Kyiv

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WATERLOO  A Waterloo man awaiting trial for weapons charges in a 2021 fatal shooting has been arrested again.

Waterloo police arrested Marcus Robert Sykes, 27, for possession of marijuana with intent to deliver after officers searched his home on West Ninth Street Thursday morning. He was released Friday after posting bond.

Sykes was charged with felon in possession of a firearm and flight to avoid prosecution in connection with a May 15, 2021, shooting in the 1400 block of Grant Avenue that left Dayton Lee Matlock-Buss, 23, dead.

No one has been arrested for killing Matlock-Buss, but authorities allege Skyes was in possession of a handgun and in the area around the time of the shooting, according to court records.

Skyes remained at large until January 2022 when he was detained in Wisconsin.

He was transferred to federal prison to serve time in connection with an unrelated gun charge and then returned to Iowa in December 2022.

He posted $100,000 bond in February 2023.

Photos: Homicide, Grant Avenue, May 15, 2021 051521jr-homicide-grant 051521jr-homicide-grant-2 051521jr-homicide-grant-3 051521jr-homicide-grant-4 051521jr-homicide-grant-5 Homicide, Grant Ave., Waterloo, Iowa May 15, 2021
WATERLOO  One person has been arrested in connection with early morning gunfire outside an apartment complex near the Hawkeye Community College campus Friday.

Police arrested Trevor John Schneider, 26, on charges of reckless use of a firearm, carrying weapons on school grounds, first-offense operating while intoxicated and carrying weapons while intoxicated.

Bond was set at $10,000.

According to authorities, neighbors reported hearing shots in the 1400 block of Shamrock Drive and seeing a vehicle in the area at about 2:50 a.m. Friday. Officers found 10 spent shell casings at the scene and located a vehicle matching the description not far away in the 6000 block of Stardust Drive.

Police searched the vehicle and found a firearm.

No injuries or damage were reported.

Court records show Schneider has a prior conviction for carrying weapons while intoxicated. In February, he was arrested for showing up at a Patton Avenue home with a .38-special Taurus revolver.

The US surpasses 160 mass shootings in 2023. Here's every event mapped Mass shootings take place in nearly every type of public and private space Mass shootings have happened in gun-friendly statesand some stricter ones Mass shootings take place in nearly every type of public and private space Mass shootings have happened in gun-friendly statesand some stricter ones The US surpasses 100 mass shootings in 2023here's every event mapped
WATERLOO  The annual meeting of the Lot Owners of Fairview Cemetery will be held at 2 p.m. on Thursday, June 8 at 242 Tower Park Dr.

The purpose of the meeting is to elect trustees. Other business may be considered by the board.
WATERLOO  Black Hawk Countys Board of Health is taking a step toward recognizing the role bias plays in the community through the lens of health care.

The board approved a position statement in late April that recognizes bias as a public health crisis which must be eliminated in order to achieve health equity.

Bias is the prejudice in favor or against one thing, person or group compared to another. Some of the forms of bias the board included in its statement are racism, transphobia, heterosexism, xenophobia, ableism, oppression and sexism.

The statement says bias is present in policies, systems, and communities, preventing people from obtaining optimal health conditions. This shapes where and how people live and what resources and opportunities they have, the position statement reads. It also results in the lack of access and opportunity, and increased sickness, mental illness and premature death among impacted communities.

Board Chairperson Wes Pilkington said the statement aligns with the current Health Equity Policy, which was adopted by the board in February 2020.

The (position statement) wasnt reactive to any single event but a step to solidify the boards stance on how the department should operate, Pilkington said. Everyone should have a fair and just opportunity to obtain the highest level of health.

He said in 2020 there were many nationwide situations that led the board to look at racial bias but that the work from the department started even before that.

Viewing things through an equity lens is how we as a department want to approach care for all people, he said. There are certainly many different races and cultures in our community and realizing that people dont view things exactly the same is a good step to be able to provide consistent, good care, and that not everyone has the same opportunities or resources.

He said the board is hoping that Black Hawk County Public Health uses the statement to guide its actions to treat patients. The statement will also serve as a backbone for the board and public healths ability to respond to public health issues  which in turn could encourage lawmakers to use the same equity lens.

As for laws and policies that arent as inclusive, Interim Director Kaitlin Emrich said the position statement will allow the board to be more responsive to local, state and national policies and practices.

Having an official position statement empowers board members, staff and public health allies to reach out to policymakers to let them know how proposed policies and laws affect our work or community, Emrich said. After the approval of the statement, Black Hawk County became the third entity in Iowa to state that racism is a public health crisis, according to the American Public Health Association.

The health boards for Linn County and Muscatine County are the other two.

Photos: 2023 Cedar Valley Top Nurses recipients at award ceremony COURIER CELEBRATES CEDAR VALLEY'S TOP NURSES Nurses 2 Nurses 3 Nurses 4 Nurses 5 Nurses 6 Nurses 7 Nurses 8 Nurses 9 Nurses 10 Nurses 11
NEW YORK (AP)  A U.S. Marine veteran who placed an agitated New York City subway passenger in a chokehold, killing him and sparking outrage as bystander video went viral, surrendered Friday on a manslaughter charge filed nearly two weeks after the deadly encounter.

Daniel Penny, 24, was freed pending trial hours after turning himself in at a police station and appearing in court to answer criminal charges in the May 1 death of Jordan Neely, a former subway performer with a history of mental illness. Penny did not enter a plea.

Neely's death prompted protests, while others embraced Penny as a vigilante hero. His lawyers have said he was acting in self-defense. Lawyers for Neely's family said Neely wasnt harming anyone and didnt deserve to die. An autopsy ruled Neely's death a homicide due to compression of the neck.

Jordan Neely should still be alive today," Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said.

A judge authorized Pennys release on $100,000 bond and ordered him to surrender his passport and not to leave New York without approval. Prosecutors said they are seeking a grand jury indictment. Penny is due back in court on July 17.

Penny didn't speak to reporters. At a brief arraignment, Penny faced straight ahead, his hands cuffed. He spoke softly, offering one-word answers to Judge Kevin McGrath as his lawyer, Steve Raiser, placed an arm around his shoulder. If convicted, he could face up to 15 years in prison.

Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass said Neely had been making threats and scaring passengers when Penny approached him from behind and placed him in a chokehold. Penny continued to hold Mr. Neely in the chokehold for several minutes, even after he stopped moving, Steinglass said.

A freelance journalist who recorded Neely struggling to free himself, then lapsing into unconsciousness, said he had been shouting at passengers and begging for money aboard the train but had not gotten physical with anyone. Penny pinned Neely to the floor of the subway car with the help of two other passengers and held him in a chokehold.

Neely's death has raised an uproar over many issues, including how the city treats people with mental illness, as well as crime, race and vigilantism. Police questioned Penny, who is white, in the aftermath but released him without charges. Neely was Black.

Thomas Kenniff, a lawyer for Penny, said he didn't mean to harm Neely and is dealing with the situation with the "integrity and honor that is characteristic of who he is and characteristic of his honorable service in the United States Marine Corps.

Donte Mills, a lawyer for Neely's family, disputed Penny's version of events, saying the veteran acted with indifference. He didnt care about Jordan, he cared about himself. And we cant let that stand.

Mr. Neely did not attack anyone." Mills said at a news conference Friday. He did not touch anyone. He did not hit anyone. But he was choked to death.

Neelys father, Andre Zachery, wept as another family lawyer, Lennon Edwards, recounted the last moments before Penny tackled Neely to the ground and put him in a chokehold.

What did he think would happen? Mills asked.

Neely, remembered by some commuters for his Michael Jackson impersonations, had been dealing with homelessness and mental illness in recent years, friends said. Neely had been arrested multiple times and had recently pleaded guilty for assaulting a 67-year-old woman leaving a subway station in 2021.

Mills said Neely's outlook changed after his mother was killed by her boyfriend in 2007. Through his struggles, Mills said, Neely found joy in singing, dancing and bringing a smile to other people's faces.

No one on that train asked Jordan: Whats wrong, how can I help you?' Mills said, urging New Yorkers in a similar situation: Dont attack. Dont choke. Dont kill. Dont take someones life. Dont take someones loved one from them because theyre in a bad place.

Roger Abrams, a community health representative, said he saw Neely on the subway a week before his death. Neely was disheveled and told people he was hungry and in need of spare change. Abrams said he approached Neely and asked him why he no longer performs.

I havent been feeling well, Abrams remembered Neely saying.

The Manhattan district attorney's office waited to file charges in part because prosecutors wanted to learn more about what happened aboard the train in the moments before Penny moved to restrain Neely. The delay helped fuel protests in the city. Some people climbed down to subway tracks, disrupting service and leading to arrests.

Mayor Eric Adams said Wednesday that Neely's death shouldn't have happened.

A second-degree manslaughter conviction in New York requires a jury to find that a person engaged in reckless conduct that created an unjustifiable risk of death, consciously disregarded that risk and acted in a way that grossly deviated from how a reasonable person would act in a similar situation.

Associated Press writer Karen Matthews contributed to this report.
The Liseberg Christmas market celebrates 10th anniversary, meanwhile the city in the splendour of the colorful Christmas lights shines Gothenburg is pleased to be increasing visitor numbers in the run-up to Christmas. A major part of tourists comes from Germany, mostly from northern Germany, for example, Bremen, Hamburg, Kiel, Hanover and Braunschweig. Many of them use the ferry from Kiel to Gothenburg for their Christmas break. Other visitors come from Berlin, take the Rhineland or the Frankfurt area the large number of new direct flights to the two airports of Goteborg Save and Landvetter. The city presents itself for several years with success as the "Christmas city of Gothenburg". The whole city is decorated Christmas. You shines in the shine of torches, candles and thousands of points of light.



In many places, there are Christmas markets, such as in Gothenburg large shopping centre Nordstan. All kinds of art and crafting items are offered here, but also delicious food specialities (Fish, sausage, cheese, bread and sweets). Also the popular Christmas market in the amusement park Liseberg celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. Within a few years, he has become an institution in the Christmas calendar of the city. Today he many Gothenburg attracts from mid November until 23 December, as well as many tourists. Who uses one of the packages of the ferry or airlines, needs to not worry about the accommodation in Goteborg.



Travellers should book early and by Germany from hotel rooms in Gothenburg, however, because the prices directly in the hotel are typically much higher. You want to stay more than a few days in Gothenburg and has you traveled by car, you can alternatively rent a holiday home. In the run-up to Christmas, no season is, in holiday houses are often cheap to get if you are traveling with more than one person, you can save vigorously towards an accommodation in the hotel. Here, holiday homes in the area recommend Gothenburg in the province of Vastergotland, but also in Halland North or South Bohuslan. Who is housed in the vicinity of Alingsas/Kungsbacka, there leave your car at the railway station and in the city take the convenient S-Bahn ("pendulum day"). The Swedish Christmas buffet, the Jul Board is a special experience in the run-up to Christmas. In the evening, I must reserve often for restaurants, but also at noon there Jul Board, then mostly without court order. Enjoy the abundance of Swedish specialties of the pickled herring on different types of salmon and to classic of Swedish Christmas specialities, the Christmas ham ("julskinka"), the potato and anchovy butter ("Janssons frestelse") and the small meatballs so popular not only among children ("kottbullar"). Tip: You have plenty of time and the weather is favourable, we recommend a harbour cruise in the Gothenburg Harbour. To do this, you have to take a commercial tour boat. You have a good look because of the Passenger ferry "alvsnabben", which is part of the public transport and therefore no more than a tram ride costs. The alvsnabben operates between the Deutschlandkai of the Stena Line (Kiel ferry) and the Gothenburg City Centre. Vinit Bodas often addresses the matter in his writings. Walther Plette
For the past 23 years, the American Bar Association Judicial Clerkship Program (JCP) has provided opportunities for diverse law students from across the country to connect with federal, state, and administrative judges and lawyers, and to experience the work of a judicial clerk. This year, Willamette Law sent two students to New Orleans to spend three days learning firsthand about judicial clerkships.

Irma Alvarez Carrillo JD24 signed up for JCP to explore what career paths could be available after graduation. Alvarez Carrillo always knew she wanted to go to law school and has enjoyed seeing how judges work and interact with their cases. While she shares that having judges as professors at Willamette Law is significant, this program allowed her to see firsthand how they work and judges look for in judicial clerk candidates.

The program was particularly interesting to me because you often hear that these processes can be selective, and if you dont have a particular background you can be overlooked, she shares. By encouraging diverse students to interact with judges, the program helps them to not self-select out of the process. Too often, historically underrepresented students wont apply because they dont see other clerks or judges that look like them and come from similar backgrounds, Alvarez Carrillo states.

Sometimes students opt not to apply for a position because of their background or GPA. A big overarching theme of the program was to apply and to not take yourself out of the running because you arent certain your resume perfectly aligns with the position, she shares.

Jarely Castro JD23, one of the Willamette Law JCP attendees, says the legal profession is, historically, not very diverse. The program showed me that we are all capable of succeeding and that we can obtain valuable opportunities, like a judicial clerkship, if we dont self-select ourselves out of the running.

While growing up in a small town in Wyoming, Castro had met very few lawyers. It was meeting her parents immigration attorney that inspired her to become an advocate for other people. The JCP introduced Castro to fellow law students, lawyers, and judges that have similar backgrounds and experiences. By hearing more about their stories and experiences, Castro saw that she was capable of accomplishing the same goals.

This experience was great. I got to learn from the people there, meet judges and receive feedback from them, and attend oral arguments at the Louisiana Supreme Court. One of the most valuable opportunities was the chance to have my resume reviewed by a judge, Castro shares.

As first-generation students, both Alvarez Carrillo and Castro reflect on the importance of finding community both in law school and in future practice. This is frequently a pivotal aspect in ensuring people accomplish their goals and dont get lost in the shuffle of the legal profession, they share.

Its easier to navigate law school and the isolation that can exist by finding people that understand you and your circumstances. It makes a world of difference. The Multicultural Law Students Association and the Latinx Law Student Association were where I found a sense of belonging, Alvarez Carrillo says.

The JCP has deepened both students feeling of community within the legal profession. Meeting other diverse students and judges has had a profound impact on how they are approaching their legal education and finding a judicial clerkship position. Alvarez Carillo and Castro both heard about this opportunity from the Office of Career Planning & Development.

I am so grateful to Associate Directors Tomas Hernandez and Bev Ecklund for guiding me through and supporting me during the process, Alvarez Carillo says.

I am appreciative of this opportunity, its important to continue to provide more opportunities like this for minority and first generation students who come to law school. These resources are gold for us, it can really inspire and motivate us, shares Castro.
The old proverb says that it takes a village to raise a child.

Today, it takes the whole village, city or town  employers, families and government  to raise a child care center.

Gabby Sorano needed support from all three to open the 35-slot Antigo Child Care Center last year in the city of 8,100 people 80 miles northwest of Green Bay.

Langlade County, where Antigo is located, is a child care desert: an area either without child care or where theres fewer than one slot per three children. Langlade currently has one child care slot for every 4.3 children, the highest ratio in the 10-county North Central Wisconsin region.

Sorano was familiar with the regions shortage after her son lost a spot during the pandemic. So when a child care center closed in Antigo, the former schoolteacher saw an opportunity to fill the gap.

To open, Sorano overcame pretty much every symptom of the early childhood education industrys broken business model: low teacher salaries, space needs and costly building upgrades, regulatory reviews and inspections, and sky-high tuition fees that do not cover all of a centers operating costs.

Combined, she said, the hurdles can deter even the most passionate person from opening a center. Soranos idea needed a lot of community support before she could assure her family, childrens families, and the regions employers that Antigo Child Care Center could survive long-term.

Fortunately, Langlade County was ready. According to Angie Close, executive director of the Langlade County Economic Development Corp., it only needed Sorano.

It definitely took collaboration and the right person. Gabby is the star, Close said. We were blessed to have Gabby come forward and take that leap.

Heres how the Antigo region rallied to support Sorano so she could open Antigo Child Care Center in July 2022.

Antigo, Langlade already viewed child care as a workforce issue

Langlade County learned during the pandemic that a lack of adequate child care cost its economy about $15 million in 2019, Close said. The county formed a child care task force to foster community collaboration and to send the message that child care is a workforce issue.

Child care is such an important part of our talent attraction piece, Close said. Without child care, our workforce challenges will continue to grow.

City agencies, county agencies, state grants and Childcaring Inc., central Wisconsins regional child care resource and referral agency, all provided necessary time, support and funding to help Sorano overcome some early hurdles.

Sorano identified a building on Fifth Avenue, formerly used as a child care center, as a space for her new business. It turned out the building was owned by the Antigo Housing Authority, which agreed to renovate and remodel the space into classroom spaces for 35 children.

We wouldnt have been able to afford that starting out, Sorano said.

Close and other city and county officials would also help Sorano apply for and secure a Main Street Bounceback Grant from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. to help with startup costs. The public also contributed $7,100 to a GoFundMe campaign for playground equipment.

It was not enough.

Family fees dont cover the full cost of care

Everyone knows child care is expensive. Some might know that early childhood teachers could probably get paid more to work in a convenience store.

What much of the public doesnt know or notice is that family fees and subsidies that help low-income families afford child care do not come close to covering a centers entire budget.

People dont realize their family fees go toward so many things, Sorano said. Theres paying for staff, toys, food, maintenance, rent, utilities, consumable supplies and so many other things.

This is where Sorano was stuck. Her business plan showed tuition and program grants covered only two-thirds of the centers projected operating costs. The business plan left little room for better wages and benefits for teachers, a priority for Sorano. There was no room to raise the already-high fees families would be asked to pay.

Close said it was an eye-opening moment.

I did not realize what the people who are taking care of your children are getting paid because thats all the centers can afford to pay them, Close said. You can assume all you want, but when you get real data that show these numbers, its Oh, my gosh.

Sorano, Close and others tried to think of another revenue stream Antigo Child Care Center could tap, some innovative way to plug the gap and provide the service everyone in Langlade County knew was needed.

It turned out Sorano was not the only one looking to do more about the child care challenge.

Getting anybody in the workforce helps the community as a whole

The answer Sorano found was to offer local employers a tiered partnership opportunity.

Heres how it works: Local businesses can pay Antigo Child Care Center a monthly stipend that Sorano uses to boost teacher salaries and to pay for a variety of items outlined in the partnership agreement.

In exchange, the companys workers get priority access to six, eight or 10 slots at ACCC, depending on the partnership level, and employees receive a weekly discount on care. Two organizations have signed up: Volm Companies Inc. and the Unified School District of Antigo.

Volm, part of the Antigo business community since 1966, signed up for the six-slot tier. Linda Esker, Volms corporate human resources director, said its unclear whether the partnership directly resulted in retaining any of Volms roughly 550 employees. But she said Volm looked at other measures to gauge its importance and success.

Our agreement with Gabby is really key to getting people into the workforce, Esker said. It could mean getting people into the workforce for Volm, which is the hope, but getting anybody in the workforce helps the community as a whole.

Sorano said each partnership enables her to pay her teachers more, one of her biggest concerns about starting Antigo Child Care Center. She said she structured teacher contracts so that if partnerships are in place, teachers get paid a higher wage. She said the partnerships, and the business plan, are what sustains Antigo Child Care Center.

Im very thankful for these partnerships, Sorano said.

The building blocks for growth

The community collaboration that helped Sorano launch Antigo Child Care Center has everyone involved thinking about what more they can do to address the regions needs.

Volms operations run 24/7, but second- or third-shift child care is practically nonexistent in Antigo and many other Wisconsin cities. Additionally, Close and Sorano noted that many Langlade County residents live outside the Antigo area in smaller, rural communities that suffer from a severe shortage of child care.

This is a great step forward, but theres a lot more work to do, Esker said. Part of it is providing care on an alternate schedule. Its a struggle.

Sorano focused on smaller growth, first.

Antigo Child Care Center announced a summer program for school-age children, and about 40 kids have signed up so far. Sorano is also in discussions with the Antigo Housing Authority on additional building renovations that could enable it to add four more infant slots and four more toddler slots.

Everyone coming together is going to blossom and bloom into other things, Sorano said. When we have the support and financial stability, I feel comfortable opening a school-age summer program or expanding to the meet the need. Without the support of the community, theres no way I feel like someone would want to take on something else.

This story is part of the NEW (Northeast Wisconsin) News Labs fourth series, Families Matter. The lab is a local news collaboration made up of six news organizations: the Green Bay Press-Gazette, Appleton Post-Crescent, FoxValley365, The Press Times, Wisconsin Public Radio and Wisconsin Watch.
Trevor Jacob admits to his crimes under oath.

US prosecutors recently announced that the YouTuber Influencer pilot who intentionally crashed an airplane for YouTube views and clout would plead guilty to obstructing a federal investigation by cleaning up the plane's crash site.

The Federal Aviation Agency previously suspended Jacob's pilot's license following his stunt "to endanger the life or property of another," which is a violation of aviation regulations.

Trevor Jacob Plea Details

Jacob recently pleaded guilty to one count of destruction and concealment with the intent to obstruct a federal investigation following his arrest after he filmed himself solo jumping from a plane he flew above the Los Padres National Forest in Nov. 2021, per Insider.

You may remember that Trevor uploaded the video he recorded that day to his YouTube channel under "I Crashed My Plane," which has garnered around three million views as of press time.

Initially, Jacob said his 1940 Taylorcraft plane malfunctioned, forcing him to bail out and parachute to safety while the plane crashed into Southern California's Los Padres National Forest. However, he now admits, as part of a plea deal, that he deliberately crashed the plane to gain more YouTube views and make money from the video of the crash as part of a product sponsorship deal.

Read More: Google Tests Banning Ad Blocker Use on YouTube

The US Attorney's Office for the Central District of California added that Jacob didn't intend to reach his destination, Mammoth Lakes, when he flew the plane he crashed from Lompoc City Airport, per the BBC.

Instead, he planned to eject from the plane during the flight and recorded himself parachuting to the ground while watching the plane descend and crash.

Jacob also confessed that he falsified an accident report he filed after the crash and lied to investigators; he hid the location of where the plane crashed and returned there by helicopter with a friend to dismantle it and dump its parts in trash bins, per the DOJ.

Meanwhile, some YouTube viewers were skeptical of the crash, saying that Jacob was already wearing a parachute and made no attempt to land the plane safely if his story was to be believed.

Jacob's new statement contradicts the one he earlier gave in January, where he said that he didn't crash the plane on purpose for views on YouTube. He is expected to make an appearance in court in the coming weeks.

Trevor Jacob's Background

Jacob is not a stranger to stunts such as what he did in Nov. 2021. A quick look at his YouTube channel and you'd find videos of him defying death during a motocross jump and even freight train hopping across America - an act that he got arrested for.

He even participated in an MMA match against David Clark, with the latter winning the match via the former's submission, per Tapology.

However, his main content besides death-defying stunts is skateboarding, a pastime he seems to be passionate about since he considers himself a Pro Skateboarder in one of his 2022 videos.

Related Article: FAA Revokes YouTubers Pilot License, Says Plane was Crashed for Views
Take a look at the cities with the worst commutes in Wisconsin using data from the Census Bureau.
Weather Alert

...SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING ACROSS THE SIERRA, WESTERN NEVADA, AND NORTHEAST CALIFORNIA... * An area of low pressure and increased moisture over the region will bring scattered showers and thunderstorms to the eastern Sierra, western Nevada, and northeast California this afternoon and evening. TIMING: * Thunderstorms will begin forming in the late morning and early afternoon over Mono, Mineral, Lyon, Douglas, and El Dorado counties south of US-50. Coverage will then increase through the afternoon northward across the Lake Tahoe Basin and much of western Nevada, finally lifting northward into northeast California, northwest Nevada, and the Basin and Range during the evening, diminishing after 11 pm PDT. HAZARDS: * The primary hazards from thunderstorms will be frequent cloud-to- ground lightning, gusty winds of 40+ mph, heavy rainfall, and small hail. PREPAREDNESS: * Keep your eyes on the sky today and limit outdoor recreation activities to before noon for ensuring the safest conditions. Lightning can strike from up to 10 miles away. When thunder roars, head indoors! See a flash, dash inside!
Technically Outside Lands is a music and arts festival. But with bigger, better restaurant offerings every summer, its turned into a world-class food festival, too.

Outside Lands just announced this years food lineup, and its going to be a doozya global feast that will hail from 96 participating eateries (including some of the biggest names in the San Francisco game).

After 15 years we are as obsessed as ever with exposing people to bites they may not have otherwise sought out, says Tanya Kollar, Outside Lands food curator. We are equally proud to celebrate nationally renowned restaurants as we are to showcase experimental new pop-ups."

From critically acclaimed newcomers to uncommon cuisines, heres what were most excited to taste at this summers Outside Lands Music Festival.

Women- and Minority-led Restaurants at Outside Lands 2023 Chicano pop-up My Friend Fernando. (Courtesy of @my.friend.fernando) Of the restaurateurs and chefs represented at the 2023 festival, 90% will be women and minorities. La Cocina, the food business incubator for immigrants and women of color, will represent with their La Cocina Taco Tour, where each plate comes with three interpretations of the snack (think oyster mushroom tempura with seaweed and shrimp ceviche on fried plantain shells), while Chicano pop-up supper club My Friend Fernando will amp up the party with gourmet tortas filled with pork Milanese and summer squash. Also keep an eye out for Jordanian chicken shawarma wraps from Shawarmaji, Nepalese momos from Binis Kitchen, and braised oxtail nachos from alaMar Kitchen & Bar.

Critically Acclaimed New Restaurants at Outside Lands 2023 Horn Barbecue's brisket chopped cheese. (Courtesy of @hornbarbecue) Theres an unreal number of critically-acclaimed newer restaurants in this years festival food lineup. In the real world, it might take you weeks to visit them all. At Outside Lands, you can get a taste of every single one in less than 48 hours. Pop over to Daytrip, one of Bon Appetits 10 best new restaurants of 2022, for spicy pork belly and eggplant pesto parmesan sandwiches; to Bodega SF, Eater SFs 2022 restaurant of the year, for pho ga chicken soup and bo kho spicy beef stew; and to Michelin recommended Horn Barbecue for brisket chopped cheeses. While youre at it, dont miss New Orleans-style muffuletta sandwiches from Sandys, pork belly-loaded yucca fries from Parche, and Taiwanese hot dogs from Piglet & Co.

The Ultra-Luxe Golden Gate Club at Outside Lands 2023 Acclaimed chef Ravi Kapur will be making Hawaiian-inspired eats like those from Liholiho Yacht Club. (Rasami Storm) Outside Lands is joining forces with renowned designer Ken Fulk to create the Golden Gate Club, an extravagant mini food tour with four major chefs. While there, dig into seasonal California bites from the Michelin-starred and James Beard Award winning chefs of Boulevard, and Hawaiian-inspired eats from Ravi Kapur, James Beard nominee and winner of Food & Wines best new chef award, and co-owner of Liholiho Yacht Club and Good Good Culture Club. Two time James Beard nominee Tyler Florence will also be on deck with steakhouse-style offerings from Miller & Lux.

Uncommon Cuisine at Outside Lands 2023 Indigenous cuisine from Wahpehpah's Kitchen. (Courtesy of @wahpepahskitchen) There arent many festivalsfood, music, or otherwisewhere uncommon global flavors are as essential to the lineup as handheld classics. But at Outside Lands, opportunities to try rare and exciting cuisine is built right into the weekends DNA. This summer, cue up for pan-African soul food at The Bussdown, Indigenous dishes at Wahpepahs Kitchen, Eastern European eats at the Borsch Mobile, and Indonesian flavors at Sataysfied and Austronesia.

// Outside Lands Music Festival is August 11-13 in Golden Gate Park. Get tickets and info at sfoutsidelands.com.


Congress and President Joe Biden are locking horns on the debt ceiling  which, if not extended, could lead to the first U.S. default on its debts in the nations history. That could mean suspended or partial payments for federal government obligations, including Social Security and Medicare. Heres a brief explainer of what the debt ceiling is, and why its important.

What is the debt ceiling?

The debt ceiling, by law, limits the amount the government can borrow for what Congress has already authorized. It doesnt limit future spending. The U.S. officially went past the debt ceiling  $31.381 trillion  on Jan. 19. Since then, the Treasury Department has been using what it calls extraordinary measures to pay current bills. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen estimates that the U.S. will be unable to pay all its debts as early as June 1.

Defaulting on the debt is different from a government shutdown, which occurs when Congress cant agree on a budget before the end of a fiscal year (or extensions of the fiscal year). In a default, federal agencies would stay open, but workers might have to wait to be paid, and the government wouldnt have enough money to pay for obligations that Congress has already voted on and agreed to spend.

Why is there a debt ceiling?

Prior to the debt ceiling, Congress had to approve each time it went into debt in a separate piece of legislation. The debt ceiling bill, passed in 1917, was part of the Second Liberty Bond Act, and was meant to simplify the borrowing process. The debt ceiling was expanded to include most government spending in 1939 and was then set at $45 billion, about 10 percent more than the nations total debt at the time. Today, the debt ceiling affects nearly all legal obligations of the United States, including Social Security and Medicare benefits, military salaries, interest on Treasury bonds, and other payments.
Chinese-built new highway to help Kyrgyzstan in economic development -- experts

Xinhua) 10:41, May 12, 2023

BISHKEK, May 11 (Xinhua) -- A new highway built by China within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) will not only help Kyrgyzstan in economic development through boosting road connectivity, but also create international transport corridors that will promote growth throughout Central Asia, Kyrgyz specialists have said.

Tagai Alimbaev, Asian Development Bank project monitoring and public relations specialist of the Ministry of Transport of Kyrgyzstan, pointed out the strategic importance of a highway with a length of 433 km for the development of Kyrgyzstan in a recent interview with Xinhua.

He said that as currently, only the Bishkek-Osh highway connects the northern and southern parts of the country, the construction of an additional motorway will create both economic and social growth opportunities for all regions along the route.

"In addition, the north-south highway will open up opportunities for the construction of hydropower stations, the development of mines, deposits located in remote mountainous areas," Alimbaev said.

The construction of the road is divided into three phases with two phases having already been completed by China Road and Bridge Corporation. The third phase is under construction.

After the completion of the project, the north-south highway will become the main transport artery connecting the north and the south of Kyrgyzstan and an important international transport channel in Central Asia.

"That is, we already have concrete results from cooperation within the framework of the BRI project. Such projects will help the economic development of Kyrgyzstan, as well as create international transport corridors that will promote growth throughout Central Asia," Alimbaev said.

He also recalled that within the framework of the BRI, other roads are planned to be built, for example the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway, which will enable an economic breakthrough for the countries of the Central Asian region.

He noted that positive relations between countries and trade always lead to mutual growth.

His opinion is echoed by Sherdali Baktygulov, an expert from the National Institute for Strategic Studies of the Kyrgyz Republic.

"The north-south road already serves as an important link in cooperation between countries and international trade, primarily between China, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Russia. Thanks to the initiative, the volume of trade between Kyrgyzstan and China has been growing annually in the past 10 years," he said.

The expert stressed that the north-south road is twice as long as the existing Bishkek-Osh highway, which links the two parts of Kyrgyzstan, and this makes it possible to halve the cost of transporting goods from China, from the northern part of Kyrgyzstan to the south, and then to Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

Thanks to the BRI and the road transport corridors that exist in Central Asian countries, very beneficial relationships are being built between Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan as well as their large trading partner -- China, he said.

"And for Kyrgyzstan this is an access to sea routes through China. Sending goods through the territory of Central Asian countries to Southern Europe, Turkiye, Iran is important not only for China, but also for Central Asian countries that want to supply their goods to the countries of Southeast Asia through Chinese ports," Baktygulov said.

He said the aim is to strengthen political, financial, economic cooperation and people-to-people exchanges between the countries participating in the initiative.

Currently, the number of Kyrgyz citizens studying in Chinese universities is more than 5,000 people, he said.

"This indicator shows that China is seen as a good neighbor whose intentions are aimed at strengthening friendship and cooperation between countries. Therefore, when we talk about the BRI, one must evaluate not only the economic effect, but also the foundation that is being laid for long-term cooperation between countries and peoples," the expert said.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Director Park Chan-wook / Courtesy of Kukje Gallery



By Kwak Yeon-soo



Cannes-winning filmmaker Park Chan-wook has directed a commercial for Hey Dealer, a mobile app for used-car buyers, starring actress Han So-hee. This non-feature film work, bearing his signature directing style, has gone viral garnering close to 230,000 views on the company's YouTube channel just two days after its release.



"[It is] quite impressive. It is like a very short but engaging film, which makes me watch it again and again," a fan commented.



The cinematic short film is characterized by Park's signature cinematography and is packed with beautiful scenery.



It pays homage to his critically acclaimed films, including "Oldboy" (2003) "Sympathy For Lady Vengeance" (2005), "Thirst" (2009) and "Decision to Leave."



"I became interested in the project after I heard the company would like to make a commercial inspired by my films," he said in a video released by Hey Dealer.



Han, best known for her role in Netflix's "My Name" (2021), said working with the acclaimed director was a special experience because she was a Park Chan-wook fan. "I always hoped to collaborate with Park, whom I have admired for a long time," she said.



Park, who won the Best Director award at the 2022 Cannes International Film Festival for "Decision to Leave," is one of the most unique artistic voices in contemporary cinema. Last year, he also directed a short film "Life is But a Dream" as part of Apple's "Shot on iPhone" marketing campaign.



Next up, Park will unveil a seven-episode series "The Sympathizer," starring Robert Downey Jr., on HBO, next year. Based on Vietnamese-American author Viet Thanh Nguyen's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name, the story tells of a half-French, half-Vietnamese communist spy who flees to the U.S. near the end of the Vietnam War.




Albuquerque police say a well-known former attorney was fatally shot Monday at a home in the North Valley.

Gilbert Gallegos, an Albuquerque Police Department spokesman, said 45-year-old Colin Hunter died from his injuries on Tuesday.

Police responded after 5 a.m. to a shooting in the 4600 block of Fifth NW, near Griegos. Gallegos said Hunter was shot by an unknown offender and the case is being investigated.

As an attorney, Hunter filed civil rights lawsuits, represented Cowboys for Trump and sued the City of Albuquerque over a controversial DWI vehicle seizure program.

Hunter also served as the vice chairman of the Bernalillo County GOP more than a decade ago.

In 2016, Hunter pleaded guilty to DWI after police found him driving drunk in a car littered with empty Tecate beer cans. Hunter kept representing people in a variety of lawsuits and civil cases until 2021.

In 2022 his law license was suspended after he failed to get it renewed, according to court records.

In an update Thursday, Gallegos also said the Feb. 8 deaths of David Ramirez and Patrick Gallegos are now being investigated as justified homicides and had been sent to the District Attorneys Office for review.

Officers found Ramirez dead after responding to reports of a body outside the Cinnamon Tree apartment complex on Central.

Then, hours later, police found Gallegos dead inside a home near Menaul and Second after responding to reports of a body inside.

Gilbert Gallegos, the police spokesman, did not elaborate on why police believe the deaths of the two men were justified homicides.
New Mexicans who used TurboTax for its free services but ended up paying the company to file taxes will receive money as part of a $141 million multistate settlement, Attorney General Raul Torrez announced Thursday.

The state will disperse more than $900,000 to nearly 31,000 New Mexicans from the settlement with TurboTax owner Intuit Inc., said Lauren Rodriguez, an AG spokeswoman. Rust Consulting will contact eligible filers who used the service in tax years 2016-2018, according to the AGs office. Checks of $29 to $30 will reach affected filers by mail throughout the month.

New York Attorney General Letitia James announced the settlement last May, following a report from ProPublica that revealed Intuits misleading free tax-filing campaign.

All 50 states and the District of Columbia have since signed onto the settlement agreement.

The way that TurboTax advertised this free service was extremely confusing and deceiving to millions of consumers, Torrez said in a statement. We are glad to join forces with other attorneys general across the country to provide restitution to our citizens.
Former New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas warned Albuquerque city councilors last summer that shoplifters were using the citys free buses as getaway vehicles. Balderas said he believed the free fares pilot program was attracting brazen shoplifters who were walking out of stores with power tools, electronics and expensive kitchen appliances and just hopping on free buses to escape.

Operation Sticky Fingers proved it true  if you werent already skeptical of someone jumping on a city bus with a cordless drill, 60-inch TV and espresso mocha coffee maker and no store bags for any of it.

The retail crime operation recently conducted by the Albuquerque Police Department targeted crooks at the Coronado and Cottonwood shopping malls and resulted in the recovery of nearly $7,000 of stolen merchandise and 31 arrests.

Detectives shrewdly kept an eye on how the alleged shoplifters got to and from the stores. Ten of the 31 people arrested used a city bus. Others walked, some used their own cars.

The abuse of the citys free bus fare program is now indisputable, with that sting operation showing a third of shoplifters arrested used city buses as their getaway vehicle.

Organized retail crime is now spilling into our public bus systems, Balderas said in an interview with KRQE-TV in August. I think that the no fee for riders seemed like a well-intentioned policy, but there has to be safety requirements. In other words, you cant just let everyone on the bus with stolen equipment.

Hes right. And just as Balderas warned, the citys free bus fare policy is contributing to crime.

Police say most of those arrested in the Sticky Fingers operation are battling addiction. Twelve of the 31 people arrested were reportedly found with drugs or paraphernalia on them, mostly related to fentanyl. One man told police he trades merchandise for drugs normally.

The free fares program implemented on Jan. 1, 2022, has had some serious unintended consequences. City Councilor Dan Lewis said in October there had been a 25% increase in police calls at buses and bus stops since the pilot program went into effect.

A Transit Department spokeswoman said nine bus drivers who quit in 2022 cited the free fares program and concerns over safety. There were 86 vacant bus driver positions in December. The city has boosted starting pay for drivers to $17.65 per hour, but its a stressful job to begin with contending with traffic and pedestrians. Being the getaway driver for a shoplifting ring makes it even more hazardous.

The city has had to dramatically reduce routes because of driver shortages, halting six commuter routes in November. Ridership in December was 80% of what it was before the pandemic.

The City Council in February considered replacing the zero-fares-for-all pilot program with a pass-or-pay system that would still allow free trips to those with a city-issued pass or certain forms of ID. That meant the city would at least know who was riding the bus. Instead, the final compromise kept zero fares and zero accountability but appropriated an additional $1 million for security for the citys public transit system and gave guards who patrol it more authority.

This final version prohibits the City Council from making a decision on zero fares until the Transit Department provides a full analysis of the pilot program and recommendations about how to proceed. That analysis must include APDs report on how shoplifters are abusing free fares and how free fares are causing drivers to quit.

And we already have pretty good information on both.

Advocates for zero fares insist no-barrier access to public transportation is a linchpin to equity  but not if the buses are too dangerous to ride. Its a shame criminals have made free fares dangerous for both riders and drivers, but the latest sting operation supports what the attorney general said last year  it has.

Its time for the City Council to adjust the free fares program so law-abiding riders and drivers are safe and criminals arent using a city bus as their getaway vehicle.

This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.
Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) Governor Lee Bok-hyun, far left, stands with South Korean Ambassador to Indonesia Lee Sang-deok, second from left, Hana Financial Group Chairman Ham Young-joo, fifth from left, Mirae Asset Securities Chairman Choi Hyun-man, sixth from left, along with other key participants of the "K-Finance Week in Indonesia 2023" at the St. Regis Jakarta in Indonesia, Thursday. Courtesy of KB Financial Group









By Anna J. Park







Celebrating the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties between Korea and Indonesia, Korean financial leaders from Korea's supervisory authority and private financial firms have vowed to strengthen financial cooperation and partnerships with the Southeast Asian country.







Seven Korean financial firms  KB Financial Group, Hana Financial Group, Mirae Asset Securities, Korea Investment & Securities, Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, Hanwha Life Insurance and KB Insurance  jointly hosted the "K-Finance Week in Indonesia 2023," a two-day program held in Jakarta, beginning Thursday.







The event is also part of Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) Governor Lee Bok-hyun's five-day overseas investor relations itinerary to Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia, which kicked off on Monday.







During the K-Finance Forum, a key program of the two-day event saw about 150 participants attended the forum, including Hana Financial Group Chairman Ham Young-joo, Mirae Asset Securities Chairman & CEO Choi Hyun-man, KB Kookmin Bank CEO Lee Jae-keun, Korea Investment CEO Jung Il-mun, Samsung Fire CEO Hong Won-hak, Hanwha Life CEO Yeo Seung-joo and KB Insurance CEO Kim Ki-hwan. Indonesia's Investment Minister as well as the deputy governor of the Bank Indonesia, the country's central bank, also attended, along with the heads of financial firms there.







"I hope this event could offer opportunities for both countries' joint growth in financial sectors," Ham Young-joo, chairman of Hana Financial Group, said in his opening address at the forum.







The chief of the FSS also delivered his hope for K-Finance in his keynote speech at the event: "Globalization is an essential task for strengthening financial industries' competitiveness. I hope K-finance can bring forth fresh energy across the country, as K-pop has been doing."







On Friday, Samsung Fire, Hanwha Life and KB Insurance jointly hosted the "K-Insurance New Vision Cooperation Forum." Mirae Asset Securities held its ESG investment seminar during the forum.







"We hope the two-day event has provided a chance for participating firms to strengthen mutual cooperative moves between the two countries," an official from KB Kookmin Bank, which organized the two-day program, said.






Members of New Mexicos congressional delegation are criticizing federal emergency managers for missing deadlines as residents seek recovery assistance following the largest wildfire in the states recorded history.

It has been a year since the U.S. Forest Service sparked the blaze after two prescribed-burn operations meant to clear dead and overgrown vegetation went awry. Hundreds of homes were destroyed along with the livelihoods of many rural residents who are now bracing for another season of post-fire flooding.

U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez and U.S. Sens. Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Lujan wrote in a letter sent Wednesday to FEMA and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that the agencies need to finalize regulations for doling out nearly $4 million in recovery funds to families and businesses.

Without the final rules, they say justice for victims is being delayed, resulting in confusion and uncertainty for residents.

The lawmakers also said FEMA has missed a number of self-imposed deadlines, and that has deepened mistrust with the community.

Every day that passes without compensation to the victims delays their ability to begin rebuilding after losing so much, the letter states. We ask that you put yourself into the shoes of those whove waited more than a year after the fire started.

FEMA opened its regional claims offices to the public in recent weeks, and the director, Angela Gladwell, has vowed that her staff will be here until the job is done and every claimant receives the compensation theyre due.

Regional FEMA officials did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment about the lawmakers letter or the timing for finalizing the regulations.

The New Mexico officials indicated that the delay was related to reconsideration of provisions that deal with compensation for trees that were burned on private property and compensation for risk reduction. They have argued the language was a holdover from a different catastrophe that affected suburban homes, not an economy based on forest.

We reiterate the importance of removing these caps. It is vitally important that our communities are able to begin restoring their lands and begin mitigation efforts to protect their homes and properties from future flooding or fire, the letter reads.

Leger Fernandez and the two senators requested that FEMA and Homeland Security provide an update, saying many victims still are without permanent homes and the anticipated flooding this summer will make matters worse.

Fire danger also remains high across parts of New Mexico despite above-average snowpack in the higher elevations.

_Headline>EXCER PT: Every day that passes without compensation to the victims delays their ability to begin rebuilding after losing so much.
The shooter who killed eight people at a Dallas-area mall was wearing a patch that read RWDS  short for Right Wing Death Squad  a phrase that has been embraced in recent years by far-right extremists who glorify violence against their political enemies.

Authorities have not said what they believe might have motivated 33-year-old Mauricio Garcia, who was killed by a police officer who happened to be near the mall Saturday when Garcia opened fire.

Posts by Garcia on a Russian social networking site expressed a fascination with white supremacy and mass shootings. Photos he posted showed large Nazi tattoos on his arm and torso, including a swastika and the SS lightning bolt logo of Hitlers paramilitary forces.

Here is a look at the term Right Wing Death Squad and how it became a popular symbol among violent extremists:

WHATS THE HISTORY OF THE TERM?

The RWDS acronym is one of countless shorthand terms used by extremists. Others include RaHoWa, short for racial holy war, and  1488, an alphabet-driven code combining references to a white nationalist slogan and Adolf Hitler.

The term Right Wing Death Squad originally emerged in the 1970s and 80s to describe Central and South American paramilitary groups created to support right-wing governments and dictatorships and oppose perceived enemies on the left, said Oren Segal, vice president of the Anti-Defamation Leagues Center on Extremism.

It reemerged in the 2010s among right-wing groups who use it on stickers, patches and in online forums. Other far-right gear and online memes specifically glorify Gen. Augusto Pinochet, the brutal Chilean military dictator whose death squads killed thousands of political opponents.

It essentially became a phrase that was co-opted to demonstrate opposition to the left more broadly by right-wing extremists, Segal said.

Heidi Beirich, co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, said the Proud Boys, the neo-fascist group of self-described Western chauvinists, are largely responsible for injecting RWDS into the far-right vernacular.

The group has sold patches and T-shirts adorned with the acronym and celebrating Pinochets death squads. Proud Boys have been photographed wearing RWDS patches at rallies and wearing T-shirts that read, Pinochet did nothing wrong.

Photos shared on social media appeared to show former Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio and another former Proud Boys leader, Jeremy Bertino, among those who have worn such patches.

Tarrio was convicted last week of seditious conspiracy in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol for what prosecutors have described as a violent plot to keep President Donald Trump in power. Bertino, who was vice president of the South Carolina Proud Boys chapter, previously pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy in the Jan. 6 riot.

WHICH GROUPS HAVE EMBRACED IT?

The Proud Boys arent the only far-right extremists to adopt the term.

Right Wing Death Squad was the name of the smaller groups that participated in the white nationalist Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017, according to the Anti-Defamation League. The rally turned deadly when a white supremacist rammed his car into a crowd of counterprotesters, killing a woman.

Facebook banned several hate-filled pages, including one named Right Wing Death Squad, after the bloodshed in Charlottesville, the New York Times reported.

It has really become something over the past couple years that has cut across and far beyond any individual group, said Jon Lewis, a research fellow at the Program on Extremism at George Washington University.

It has kind of become this rallying cry to some extent: This is what we want, to seize the levers of democratic power, just like Pinochet did, and we want to use the power of the state to then engage in violent genocide effectively against whoever is against us, he said.

American University professor Cynthia Miller-Idriss, director of the schools Polarization and Extremism Research & Innovation Lab, said extremists who adopt these terms and symbols often dont fully understand their origins.

Nobody is going to accidentally have a Right Wing Death Squad patch, she said. But its because of this whole meme culture, and generally the way that iconography is used to signal encoded speech or messages, they dont always know exactly what it means.

WHITE SUPREMACIST GROUPS HAVE NON-WHITE MEMBERS?

Far-right extremist groups like the Proud Boys often point to their Black and Hispanic members to rebut claims that they promote racism or white supremacist ideologies. Tarrio, the former Proud Boys leader, is Cuban American, for example.

The Daily Stormer, a leading neo-Nazi website, launched a Spanish-language edition in 2017 tailored for readers in Spain and Latin America.

Some Hispanics identify as white.

But those who dont consider themselves to be white can still be attracted to and support movements that are inherently or explicitly white supremacist, said Miller-Idriss, author of Hate in the Homeland: The New Global Far Right.

And that is the same way that women can support patriarchal or male supremacist movements, she added.

Tanya Hernandez, a law professor at Fordham University and author of Racial Innocence: Unmasking Latino Anti-Black Bias, said Latinos are often viewed as an unwanted other in the U.S.

If you are a Latino who is already affected by being viewed as other and want desperately to be part of the club that is the U.S., what better way to make a claim  than to be part of the enforcement, the policing of whiteness within a white supremacist hate group? she said.

___

Associated Press writer Michael Balsamo in New York contributed to this report.
As Nurses Week 2023 continues, its important to recognize the incredible contributions of nurses to the health care industry. These dedicated professionals work tirelessly to care for patients, improve outcomes and advance the field of nursing.

The University of New Mexico College of Nursing and the New Mexico State University School of Nursing would like to acknowledge all nurses, nursing students and retired nurses during Nurses Week, May 6-12. The very first Nurses Week was in 1994. Born from International Nurses Day  first established in 1974  this weeklong celebration in May aims to highlight the difference nurses make in the health care industry. This year, the American Nurses Association themed Nurses Week as Nurses Make a Difference.

The University of New Mexico College of Nursing is dedicated to educating the next generation of nurses and advancing the science of nursing through innovative research. With state-of-the-art facilities and a world-class faculty, the College of Nursing is a leader in nursing education. The college offers a wide range of programs, from undergraduate degrees to doctoral programs, that prepare nurses to provide high-quality care in a variety of settings. In addition, the colleges research focuses on a variety of important topics, such as the impact of social determinants on health outcomes and the use of technology to improve patient care.

Similarly, the New Mexico State University School of Nursing is committed to preparing nurses who are equipped to meet the challenges of an ever-evolving health care system. The college offers a range of programs, from traditional BSN, MSN, and DNP degrees to online programs that are designed to meet the needs of working professionals.

The colleges faculty is engaged in research that addresses a range of critical issues, such as health care disparities and the use of simulation to enhance nursing education.

Both the UNM College of Nursing and NMSU School of Nursing are vital to the health care ecosystem in New Mexico and beyond. Their graduates go on to work in a variety of settings, from hospitals and clinics to community health centers and research facilities. They are prepared to provide the highest quality of care to patients and make meaningful contributions to the field of nursing.

As we celebrate Nurses Week 2023, let us take a moment to recognize the outstanding work of nurses and the institutions that prepare them. We encourage nurses to focus on their own health and well-being, not just during this week but throughout the year. We thank them for their contributions and their ability to make a difference through their outstanding care. We also look forward to seeing the many ways graduates from our nursing institutions will continue to make a difference in the years to come.
SANTA FE  Emergency authorities reopened two state highways in northern New Mexico and lifted evacuation orders Friday as firefighters took advantage of lower winds and temperatures while battling the Las Tusas Fire.

Crews mopped up hot spots in the afternoon as they worked to secure a perimeter around the fire. They reported its now 30% contained.

Infrared mapping conducted by airplane overnight also offered reason for optimism: The fire is a just a bit smaller than estimated earlier in the week  969 acres, not 1,000.

But it still inflicted plenty of damage, destroying several vehicles and structures in small communities north of Las Vegas. Sheriffs deputies estimated three structures and 10 outbuildings were lost.

Since Wednesday, the fire has burned on private land in San Miguel County west of Sapello  roughly the same area damaged by last years massive Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak Fire. It isnt clear whether the boundaries of the two fires overlap.

But residents in the evacuation area  along N.M. 94  say they also had to flee last years fire. One resident who slept in his truck called it a double whammy to be forced to leave home again.

There were signs of progress Friday as police reopened state roads 94 and 266.

Air tankers and helicopters helped suppress the fire, authorities said.

Firefighters will continue to secure the fire edge and mop up any potential threats to the fire line as well as implementing structure protection tactics to protect homes in the fire area, according to a statement issued by the state Forestry Division.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
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The 'Mama June: From Not to Hot' star reveals in an interview that she often blames herself for spending up to $3,000 a day on drugs during her addiction.

May 12, 2023

AceShowbiz - Mama June a.k.a. June Shannon really regrets how she spent her money so now she is back to being "penny pinching." The "Mama June: From Not to Hot" star admitted in an interview that she blew more than $1 million on drugs.

"I don't remember like a lot of that time frame," the 43-year-old told The Daily Mail when discussing her addiction. "Just bits and pieces and stuff. But the biggest, stupidest thing I've done is spend that much money on drugs."

June remembered telling herself, " 'Girl, what the hell are you doing spending all that damn money?' " She then shared, "I say that a lot to my husband [Justin 'Smallz' Stroud] ... I would be like, 'Man, why in the hell did I blow all that money?' I am always thinking about that."

"I think about a lot of things I could do with that money," June, who said she spent up to $3,000 a day on drugs during her addiction, further lamented. "My husband tells me all the time that I can't dwell on it."

Now that she felt bad about it, June declared that she's "gone back to being like penny pinching, adding that her husband Justin "tells me I'm a money hoarder."

June claimed her experience made doctors to get skeptical about treating her. "When they look at me and I feel like I'm getting judged because of my prior issues," she disclosed. "I hate that the doctors will look at someone who has been through something in their life, like an addiction, and they think that someone can't change."

June is currently suffering from an unknown illness and she just wants "the answers and I'm not getting them." However, she keeps "trying to get into to see the best doctors that I know back in Georgia, but it is taking some time."

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According to San Mateo County District Attorney, Christina Ashten Gourkani died from cardiac arrest related to illegal cosmetic injections meant to enlarge her butt.

May 12, 2023

AceShowbiz - A Florida woman has been arrested in the death of model Christina Ashten Gourkani, an OnlyFans star who was known for being a Kim Kardashian look-alike. According to San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe, Christina died on April 20 from cardiac arrest related to illegal cosmetic injections meant to enlarge her butt.

While it's still unknown what was in the injections, Vivian Gomez, the woman who allegedly gave Christina the backroom injections, was arrested on April 20 at the Ft. Lauderdale airport, just hours after the curvaceous star died in a California hospital. Vivian was charged with 2 felonies, involuntary manslaughter and practicing medicine without a license.

According to the Daily Post, Vivian gave Christina "several injections" of what is believed to be silicone. The procedure was reportedly done in a Burlingame, CA hotel room.

Dr. Michael K. Obeng, a board certified plastic surgeon, noted to PEOPLE that these injections are dangerous. "Most of these illegal injections are made with silicone, and silicone or any foreign substance can migrate within the body, which can lead to infection and hardness over time, deforming parts of the body," Michael explained.

"And as with any injection, it can go into your bloodstream," he continued. "And if it gets in the bloodstream, it can block the blood vessels and cause necrosis [or dead tissue]. So that's a huge danger."

Christina's family announced her passing on April 25. "In the early morning hours at approximately 4:31am on 4/20/2023 our family received a tragic phone call from a family member who was frantically screaming and crying...on the other end of the line....Ashten is dying...Ashten is dying...," her loved ones wrote on a GoFundMe page for her.

They revealed that "after arriving at the hospital shortly after the phone call our family continued living a nightmare." The family continued, "We were informed that her health and wellbeing had continued to decline in a downward spiral for the worse after suffering from a cardiac arrest," adding that her death followed a "medical procedure that took a turn for the worse."

"If you knew Ashten you knew that everyone mattered to her. She was such a caring and loving free spirit that always took the time to bring a smile to anyone's face she crossed paths with," they further said in the page. "She was the kind of person that would kneel down and talk to children at eye level, she searched for the lonely person in the corner and made them feel special as she has such a gift of connecting with people."

"Christina Ashten Gourkani I hope there is a place in heaven where you can feel the amount of our grief and the emptiness of our broken hearts, that we feel without you in our lives. We love you so much Chrissy," they wrote. Concluding the message, the model's family penned, "We are grateful for the support that you are able to provide to our family as we lay Christina Ashten Gourkani to eternal peace."

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The former U.S. President has reportedly been 'beaming' with smiles next to the former First Lady, who is also said to now be fully on board with his presidential campaign.

May 12, 2023

AceShowbiz - Donald Trump and Melania Trump are said to be "more bonded than ever." Despite being found to have sexually abused writer E Jean Carroll 27 years ago, the former U.S. President has reportedly been "beaming" with smiles next to the former First Lady, 53, who is also said to now be fully on board with his presidential campaign.

A source told Page Six about how she would love to serve in the post in the White House again after his daughter and son-in-law reportedly stepped back from working on his political campaign.

"The couple seems more bonded than ever. Friends say that Melania's stepping up, while Ivanka and (her husband) Jared (Kushner) have stepped aside, has made (Trump) more confident than ever. Trump says Melania will be by his side during the campaign more than she was last time," the source claimed.

Melania told Fox News Digital if she returned her "focus would continue to be creating a safe and nurturing space for children to learn, grow and thrive," adding, "My husband achieved tremendous success in his first administration he has my support, and we look forward to restoring hope for the future and leading America with love and strength."

Trump has labelled Ms Carroll, now 79, a "whack job" over her claim he raped her, and after a Manhattan jury deliberated for less than three hours it did not find him liable for rape - but did find he sexually abused the advice columnist.

As it is the result of a civil not criminal case, the only legal sanction Trump is facing is financial. The jury of six men and three women awarded about $5m in compensatory and punitive damages - around $2 million on the sexual abuse count, and close to $3 million for defamation for branding Ms Carroll a liar over her claims.

Asked by CNN in an interview after the ruling if it would deter women from voting for him, Trump said, "No, I don't think so."

Trump, who served as the 45th U.S. President between 2017 and 2021, also insisted he'll return to the White House provided the next election isn't rigged. Asked if he would accept the results of the 2024 election regardless of the outcome, Trump told Kaitlan Collins, "Yeah, if I think it's an honest election, absolutely."

The journalist insisted that the election wasn't rigged and asked Trump to stop repeating the allegation, saying, "The election was not rigged, Mr President. You cant keep saying that all night long."

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In related news, fans appear to think that the pop star is shading Donald Glover and his Amazon show 'Swarm' during her performance of 'America Has a Problem' at the kick-off show.

May 12, 2023

AceShowbiz - Beyonce Knowles kicked off her highly anticipated "Renaissance" tour on Wednesday, May 10 in Stockholm, Sweden with a bang, but not without some drama. In addition to the leaked setlist, it has been reported that a fan was arrested during the concert.

In a video circulating online, a fan could be seen being arrested for allegedly sneaking into the "Club Renaissance" section, which is a sort of VIP section with a "VIP concierge team and onsite hosts." The female fan was being escorted out by two security guards in cuffs while Beyonce was performing "Break My Soul" on the stage.

Upon watching the clip, fans had mixed responses to the arrest. "being marched away by cops during Break My Soul (for this reason) is some kind of performance art free them!" one person tweeted. Trolling the arrested fan, one other said, "Lol now you missing the whole show." Another added, "That's embarrassing."

In related news, fans appeared to think that Beyonce might shade Donald Glover at the kick-off show. When Queen Bey performed "America Has a Problem", she stepped out in a custom black-and-yellow Mugler bodysuit. "Swarm on these hands, n***a!" she shouted into the mic.

Beyhive quickly speculated that the pop icon was shading Amazon Prime Video show's "Swarm". Created by Donald and Janine Nabers, the show is inspired by today's stan culture and featured references to Beyonce. One of them was a fictional "The Running Scared II Tour", which alluded to the songstress' 2014 "On the Run Tour" with Jay-Z.

However, some fans didn't think that the "Cuff It" hitmaker made the comment in a malicious way. "Donald Glover is literally friends with Beyonce and JAY-Z. They've collaborated multiple times in the past. She would've green-lighted the idea for the show. So I doubt it's shade," one user wrote on Twitter.

The European leg of the "Renaissance World Tour" will run through the end of June. Beyonce is later set to start the North American leg with two shows in Toronto in July before going zig-zag across the United States.

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The first look at the upcoming explosive reunion special shows the tension between the cast members after Ariana Madix's now-ex Tom Sandoval and Raquel Leviss' affair was exposed.

May 12, 2023

AceShowbiz - The first look at the explosive "Vanderpump Rules" season 10 reunion trailer is here. Released on Thursday, May 11, the footage shows the tension between the cast members after Ariana Madix's now-ex Tom Sandoval and Raquel Leviss' affair was exposed.

In the trailer, Ariana can be seen blasting both Tom and Raquel by calling them "f**king rats" who should not expect "anything good coming for them" during the reunion, which was filmed on March 23. Just like what the Something About Her co-founder predicts, almost everyone is coming at the pair in the reunion.

"Poo poo head. Both of you, poo poo heads," James Kennedy brands them. The DJ, who was previously engaged to Raquel, additionally calls Tom a "backstabbing ho" and that seems to be the last straw for the cover band frontman.

"Get in my face again and I will f**k you up, motherf**ker," he warns James. Instead of backing down, James stands up and hits back, "I will f**k you up so quickly. You're a worm with a mustache!"

Tom also bolts out of his seat and walks toward James. It's unknown who manages to stop them from going physical, but both host Andy Cohen and Lisa Vanderpump stand up from their seats.

Things appear to be too much for Tom as he shouts at a producer. "I need a break from filming. Stop filming me!" He adds, "I don't want a camera in my goddamn face!"

Raquel, meanwhile, admits that she's being "super selfish" by having a relationship with Tom when he was dating her best friend Ariana. Ariana quickly fires back, "Selfish does not cover it. Diabolical, demented, subhuman."

Elsewhere in the trailer, Tom and Raquel appear to spend some time together during a break from the taping. "They're making you and me to be pathological liars," Tom says, to which Raquel responds, "I see that, even though we know that we're not."

Toward the end of the footage, Andy gives Tom one final question, "Tom, you are in love?" As the bar owner remains silent, Lala Kent chimes in, "Come on, it's a very simple question. Are you in love or are you not?"

"Vanderpump Rules" Reunion Part 1 airs on May 24 at 9/8c on Bravo.

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The 'Earfquake' rapper shares on his Instagram Story a clip of the Oscar-winning actor performing with some heart emojis, while the 'Erase Me' hitmaker tweets that he's 'prayin' for the ailing star.

May 12, 2023

AceShowbiz - Jamie Foxx has received some emotional support from more fellow celebrities amid his ongoing hospitalization. Both Tyler, The Creator and Kid Cudi have taken to their respective social media account to show love to the actor, who has been hospitalized since last month.

Tyler posted on his Instagram Story a clip of the "Ray" star performing along with a caption which read, "sending love to @iamjamiefoxx." The Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All founding member added several heart emojis.

Meanwhile, Kid took to Twitter to express his support for the actor/comedian. He tweeted on Wednesday, May 10, "Man, prayin for Jamie Foxx."

Kid Cudi and Tyler, The Creator showed support for Jamie Foxx amid the actor's hospitalization.

Jamie was taken to the hospital on April 11 after suffering what his daughter Corinne Foxx described as a "medical complication" in Atlanta, where he was filming his new movie "Back in Action". A few days later, it was reported that he was "awake" and "alert," though it's unknown when he would be released as doctors were performing more tests.

His friend Charlie Mack later sparked concern about Jamie's condition after he shared an alarming post. "Pray for Foxx!!!!!!!!!!" the film producer penned as he said that the 55-year-old needs a "miracle." He wrote in a lengthy caption, "Good morning IG, I need you all to constantly keep our beloved brotha @iamjamiefoxx up whom we all [love] & care for dearly in our Hearts, Minds & Prayers!!!! We need you back Bro @iamjamiefoxx you're fighter, strong & resilient so I know your fortitude. Your not going out like that."

Seemingly to assure that he's okay, Jamie later posted on Instagram for the first time since his hospitalization. "Appreciate all the love!!! Feeling blessed," he wrote, adding emojis of praying hands, a red heart and a fox. But there was no photo attached, prompting a speculation that he didn't post it himself.

Recently, Radar Online reported that Jamie's family is "hoping for the best" but "preparing for the worst" as he has been hospitalized for nearly a month. "Jamie's people are saying he's doing OK and improving, while doctors try to get to the bottom of his problems - but he wouldn't be in a hospital this long if he was anything close to OK," a source told the site.

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Police officers escort Korean crypto mogul Kwon Do, left, in Podgorica, Montenegro, May 11. EPA-Yonhap



Do Kwon, a cryptocurrency firm founder who has been detained in Montenegro after being on the run over alleged massive fraud in South Korea, has applied for bail, according to local court officials Thursday.



Also known by his full name, Kwon Do-hyeong, he pleaded not guilty and filed the bail request with a district court in the Balkan country, where he was arrested in March on charges of forging his passport and falsifying other official documents, officials said.



An aide of Kwon's, known only by his last name Han, who has been detained alongside him, also applied for bail.



Kwon and Han offered to each pay 400,000 euros ($436,000) in bail money.



Kwon, 32, had been on the run after fleeing his country while being investigated in connection with the crash of his cryptocurrency firm Terraform Labs' TerraUSD and Luna coins in May last year, which wiped out nearly 50 trillion won ($37.5 billion) in market value.



Appearing at the court hearing for bail, Kwon claimed his Costa Rican passport was legitimate and that he has done nothing illegal.



Kwon refused to comment when a reporter asked how much exactly his assets are worth.



The next court hearing is set for June 16.



The Korean prosecution has sought the extradition of Kwon. Interpol has also issued a red notice, which is used for the highest level of wanted suspects and criminals. Kwon is also facing criminal charges in the United States.



The Seoul Southern District Prosecutors Office in charge of the case said it began the process to freeze Kwon's assets in the country, worth some 7.1 billion won.



Kwon and Daniel Shin, another co-founder of Terraform Labs, have been accused of running a Ponzi scheme that led to the loss of billions of won following the crash of the TerraUSD and Luna coins.



TerraUSD was designed as a stablecoin, which was pegged to stable assets, such as the U.S. dollar. But holders of TerraUSD and Luna lost more than an estimated $40 billion in market value after the stablecoin plunged far below its $1 peg last May.



Shin has been indicted in Korea without physical detention on multiple charges, including fraud, breach of duty and embezzlement. (Yonhap)




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Speaking on the 'Chasin' Birdies' podcast, Chase Chrisley insists that his parents, who are serving jail time after being found guilty in bank fraud, are facing tough conditions in prison.

May 12, 2023

AceShowbiz - Julie Chrisley and Todd Chrisley's son Chase has insisted his jailed parents aren't "in some country club." As Julie is serving seven years behind bars on charges of bank fraud and tax evasion andTodd was sentenced to 12 years and they are serving their time at different prisons which are 650 miles apart, their son Chase Chrisley is adamant they are facing tough conditions in prison.

Speaking on the "Chasin' Birdies" podcast, he explained, "Their conditions are just so s***tty, too. Like, everybody acts like my dad's in some country club and that's not the case at all. I mean, they got like black mould [in dad's prison], and my mom's place is even worse. I mean, she doesn't even have air conditioning. They're in a camp. It's better than like being behind a wall."

The couple is serving time at different prisons which are 650 miles apart with Todd installed at the Federal Prison Camp in Pensacola, Florida, and Julie housed in the Federal Medical Center in Lexington, Kentucky. Chase revealed he and his sister Savannah take it in turns to go visit them.

He added, "Savannah will go see my dad, I'll go see my mom. We'll rotate, and Savannah will normally take the kids [brother Grayson, 16, and adopted niece Chloe, 10,] down with her. But it's tough, man. I mean, our family loves really, really hard, so when you love somebody as much as we love each other, it's definitely very difficult to see your loved ones in a situation like that."

He went on to revealed the siblings are now working on plans to help former prisoners get their life back on track after they are released. Chase explained, "Our system's so broken, but that's not new. I mean, there's so many other people that are wrongly convicted that are sitting in prison and just don't have the resources to fight. That's what my sister and I are kind of working on, is the prison reform and trying to help people with their re-entry whenever they get out, help them find jobs, give them some stability. But yeah, man it's tough seeing them In there."

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The 'Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom' star is asked for autograph by a fan and also seen posing with her admirer while stepping out in the capital city of Spain.

May 12, 2023

AceShowbiz - Amber Heard appears to receive warm welcome in her new home of Madrid. The struggling actress was still asked for autographs by a fan in Spain following report that she's quitting Hollywood.

On Thursday, May 11, the 37-year-old was out and about in Madrid when she was swarmed by a group of fans. One of them even asked for her autograph which she happily did.

In one of the pictures which have circulated online, the "Magic Mike XXL" star flashed a smile as she penned her signature on what looks like a notepad held by the fan. She also posed with her admirer while she was about to enter a car.

Amber Heard signed autographs for a fan in Madrid.

Amber seemed to be in good spirits during the outing, grinning from ear to ear when photographed by paparazzi. She wore a sleeveless black dress with a big round hat to shield her from the sunlight. She also had a black bag slung over her shoulder.

Earlier this month, Daily Mail reported that Amber chose to relocate to Madrid with her young daughter Oonagh as she has quit Hollywood for now. A friend of hers told the publication's journalist, "She's bilingual in Spanish and is happy there."

Amber's so-called pal went on to note that the Hollywood beauty made the move to raise her daughter "away from all the noise." Still, the source noted that there is a possibility of the "Aquaman" star making a comeback in Hollywood by saying, "I don't think she is in any hurry to return to work or to Hollywood, but she will probably come back when the time is right, for the right project."

Amber has been keeping a low profile in the aftermath of the defamation lawsuit which was won by her ex-husband Johnny Depp in June 2022. They both filed to appeal the verdict before settling the case in December by agreeing that her insurance company will pay $1 million to the actor to end their legal dispute.

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The video vixen and her mom seemingly have ended their years-long volatile relationship as they are hugging each other so tight in a heartwarming video on Instagram.

May 12, 2023

AceShowbiz - Blac Chyna may have the best birthday gift this year. The video vixen and her mom Tokyo Toni seemingly have ended their years-long volatile relationship as they are celebrating her 35th birthday together.

On Thursday, May 11, Chyna shared on Instagram an adorable video of her and estranged mom. The video saw the mom and daughter duo showing each other love with a tight hug as they walked through a huge hall before they crashed down the floor while giggling.

Not stopping there, Toni then revealed her chest tattoo, which was Chyna's birth name Angela. Touched by the sweet tribute, Chyna immediately embraced her mom once again. At one point, Toni affectionately kissed Chyna on her head. "Thank you God, for the 35 years of life. I love you mom for birthing me. Happy Birthday to me," the former "Rob & Chyna" star wrote in the caption.

Upon watching the clip, fans and fellow celebrities were happy for Chyna and Toni's newfound relationship. Erica Mena wrote in the comments section, "God please keep your hands on them. For healing and for the best future ahead of them both."

Premadonna also said, "heal it god !!break down the walls of division !! Keep them covered in the blood. Meanwhile, "The Real Housewives of Atlanta" alum Chynthia Bailey commented, "this made me smile. happy birthday beautiful!"

"I wish Tokyo would heal they would have a great relationship seems like," a fan added. Gushing over Chyna, another said, "This is why Chyna will always be blessed! Forgiveness is everything Happy birthday." One other wrote, "Our Mamas might not always right.. but they still our mamas!! God will continue to bless you just by how you honor and respect your mother. He'll handle the rest.. HAPPY BIRTHDAY."

The heartwarming clip arrived after Chyna responded to her mom seemingly wishing death on her. "That's just the devil, that's just the enemy and guess what I'm not going for it," the former fiancee of Rob Kardashian said during an interview back in March. Refusing to go down the same route as her mother, she declared, "I'm a really intelligent person."

Chyna also acknowledged that her mom refused to respect her wishes of transitioning back to her birth name. She noted, "If you look at her video she always says 'Chyna, my daughter Chyna.' She never says my daughter Angela. So guess what those gifts that she's trying to send this way, they're not directed towards me. My name is Angela. My name is not Chyna. So direct that somewhere else."

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The former 'Made in Chelsea' star claims first met the Duchess of Sussex at the opening of a hotel in Istanbul and they 'got on like a house on fire,' staying in touch afterwards.

May 12, 2023

AceShowbiz - Millie Mackintosh has claimed Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex "ghosted" her after she began dating Prince Harry. The former "Made in Chelsea" star first met the duchess at the opening of a hotel in Istanbul and they "got on like a house on fire," staying in touch afterwards, with the 33-year-old beauty handing over "all of her contacts" when the "Suits" star moved to London, but then Meghan "abruptly" ceased contact when her royal romance was made public.

Speaking on the "Mumlemmas" podcast, Millie recalled messaging Meghan when her relationship with Harry was revealed, and said, "I messaged her and said, 'Hey I hope you're OK, thinking of you', and she just sent me this really abrupt message, that was really unlike any of our communications before. It wasn't like I'd messaged her asking if it was true - that was none of my business, I didn't care - I was just like, 'Are you ok?' "

"What I read from that message was that she maybe needed a bit of space, she needed to cool off, she was angry, she was maybe under a lot of pressure. I didn't message her again, but I did expect that we would stay in touch," she said. "I thought she'd message back and say, 'Look, sorry everything is a bit stressful right now.' She cut me dead. I never heard from her again. I felt like she'd basically told me to f**k off in that message. So I did. And we haven't spoken since."

Millie believes the 41-year-old duchess, who has Prince Archie, four, and Princess Lilibet, 23 months, with Harry, cut her off because she was a reality star and no longer "useful."

She said, "My take on it is that, this is my instinct why it happened at the time, she thought right I'm gonna be royal now, I don't need Millie in my life - what could I offer her at that point? She had met her prince. I was on a reality show, so she obv was like, 'I can't be associated with Made In Chelsea, I'm gonna be royal. I've got to cut her loose. I just wasn't useful any more."

Admitting it was "quite hurtful" to be cut off, Millie admitted she would love to meet with Meghan again so she could ask her, "Why did you ghost me?" She added, "We all know it hasnt just happened to me."

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Cha-Chi India, a leading communications firm has earned the prestigious PR mandate for Anko, Australias most loved homeware brand. The campaign aims to establish Anko as a household name throughout the country, positioning their hundreds of products spanning a range of categories aptly.

Jagriti Motwani, Co-Founder & CEO, Cha-Chi Communications, stated, We are thrilled to be associated with Anko, a brand that has already made a remarkable impact across the country within a month of its launch. We aim to leverage our expertise to develop and execute an impactful national PR campaign that supports Ankos vision for the Indian market.

Under the mandate, Cha-Chi will help Anko create authentic nationwide visibility through traditional and online media initiatives. The drive is set to put Anko's products on the map while also emphasizing the company's commitment to affordable, quality homeware.

This partnership underscores Cha-Chi's reputation as one of Indias leading public relations and communications agencies. Started in 2018, Cha-Chi Communications is a young full-service agency dedicated to bridging the gap between modern businesses and integrated PR strategies. Our mission is to deliver compelling messages to the right audience and provide a seamless omnichannel experience that caters to the needs of today's consumers. At Cha-Chi Communications, we offer a comprehensive suite of reputation management consultancy services, including PR, social media, performance marketing, influencer outreach, and content services to clients based in India and Dubai.

Anko, Australia's much-loved household retail brand, entered the Indian market in 2023 with the vision of bringing joy every day to millions of Indians. Anko India made a digital-first entry and is currently available via D2C channels and select online marketplaces like Amazon India. Recognizing the burgeoning demand for aspirational products from India's rapidly expanding middle and upper-middle class, Anko India is strategically positioned to cater to this segment with its range of on-trend and affordable homeware products.
In a strategic move aimed at enhancing NIVEAs position in the Indian market, the organization has welcomed back Sunil Gadgil as Marketing Director and appointed Ashish Joshi as their new Sales Director.

Sunil has over 12 years of experience with Beiersdorf in various global and local roles. From 2017 to 2020, he led Beiersdorf's business in Ukraine, and since November 2020, has served as the Director of the biggest NIVEA category - Body and All-Purpose Cream, gaining valuable marketing experience and expertise in the global skincare market.

After multiple stints across the European region, Sunil is returning to India with an enriched global profile, making him well-suited to contribute to NIVEAs success and further strengthen its position as Emerging India's Most Loved and Trusted Skincare Brand.

Shedding light on his new role, Sunil Gadgil added, "I am thrilled to be returning to NIVEA India, it feels like returning to where it all started. With my prior experience in the region, and my exposure to the global skincare market as Global Marketing Director at Beiersdorf, I am excited to combine the best of both worlds and contribute to the brand's continued success in India."

On the other hand, Ashish Joshi brings with him an overall experience of 16 years and started his Nivea India journey in 2016. During his tenure thus far, Ashish held senior sales assignments that involved leading multiple channels across the country while providing leadership to large, diverse & cross functional teams. He drove business agendas across the channels and led the digitization journey of the sales organization. His new responsibility as Sales Director is a testament to NIVEAs philosophy of investing in home-gown talent and fostering an entrepreneurial spirit across the workforce.

Ashish Joshi, shared his enthusiasm for the role, saying, "Drawing on my extensive and in-depth knowledge of the Sales function, I am eager to bring renewed energy and vigour to the team, and to collaborate closely to achieve our ambitious growth targets. I am confident that, together with our workforce as well as trade partners, we can build on the brand's strong foundation and drive growth to new heights."
In the last 10 years, PR has taken a different dimension, especially after the entry of social media and the rapid shift to digital during the pandemic period. At the same time, the industry has been facing stiff challenges, moreover client expectations have also increased, with more emphasis being given to digital and online reputation management. The industry has undergone a radical shift and the current times have pushed the industry to change gears.

In conversation with Adgully, Jagriti Motwani, Co-founder and Chief, Cha-Chi, speaks about the strategies and vision of Cha-Chi which makes it relevant in the PR industry, emerging trends and challenges, the importance of transparency and trust in PR campaigns, and much more.

How does your company differentiate itself from other PR companies, and what unique services do you offer?

We are a young agency born in 2018, aiming to narrow the divide between contemporary businesses and modern integrated PR strategies. I envision Cha-Chi as a modern-day Apollo spacecraft, blazing a trail through the competitive landscape with unparalleled speed and efficiency. We take the best of old-age practices of building trust and deliver them in a new-age way through content, media outreach and influencer marketing, harnessing the latest technologies all the way.

We believe that present-day businesses require PR to acquire organic trust and growth through word-of-mouth publicity, which is the most efficient way to promote their brand. By blending traditional trust-building methods with a mix of media, social media, and influencers, we strive to help businesses reach out to their target audience effectively. With a focus on delivering compelling messages to the appropriate target group and providing an omnichannel approach, we ensure to meet the demands of todays consumers.

Our integrated reputation management consultancy provides PR, social media, performance marketing, influencer outreach, and content services to clients based in India and Dubai.

How do you stay current with the latest PR trends and technologies, and what steps do you take to ensure that your clients stay ahead of the competition?

At Cha-Chi, we prioritise continuous education and training for our team members and encourage exposure to global trends and technologies in communications by constantly interacting with our counterparts around the world. Today, most of our clients, D2C brands, healthcare and fintech brands are building businesses for Bharat, and to help them aptly, we took on the mission of creating an India In-Depth Survey Report to understand better how news from different sources influences Indians.

This report was developed through face-to-face interviews with 2,000+ Indians across 28 states and 7 union territories. Our survey conductors travelled 32,714 km in 101 days during an all-India tour between September and December 2021, enabling us to gather valuable insights for brands seeking to communicate with and engage Indians effectively. By conducting secondary research and analysing news consumption patterns in India, we were able to reveal significant trends, such as the impact of the pandemic on consumer preferences and behaviour.

Our findings also highlighted a strong reliance on traditional media for decision-making purposes, with regional news channels being particularly favoured compared to social media.

Additionally, word of mouth was identified as playing a vital role in buying decisions for items such as phones, clothing, and imitation jewellery, with 56% of people trusting recommendations from WhatsApp groups compared to only 24% trusting influencers.

How do you tailor your PR strategies to the specific needs and goals of each client, and what steps do you take to ensure that your campaigns are aligned with their overall business objectives?

We focus on creating real, measurable impact and value for our clients through comprehensive marketing strategies and constant innovation. We tailor our PR strategies to each clients specific needs and goals by thoroughly analysing their business objectives, target audience, and competitive landscape.

We work closely with our clients to define their unique value proposition, develop messaging that resonates with their audience, and measure the success of our campaigns based on pre-determined key performance indicators.

What is your approach to building a strong brand reputation for your clients, and how do you help them establish themselves as thought leaders in their industry?

At our communications agency, we believe that creating authentic content is key to increasing brand preference for our clients. To achieve this, we focus on developing a comprehensive brand identity that reflects our clients core values, vision, and mission. We then use this identity to create a consistent brand voice across all marketing channels.

To establish our clients as thought leaders in their industry, we leverage their expertise to create content that positions them as experts in their field. We ensure this content is tailored to their target audience, adding value to their customers and building trust with their brand.

In addition to content creation, we help our clients build a positive public perception by leveraging media relations and influencer marketing. We work to gain exposure in relevant outlets and platforms, allowing our clients to reach a wider audience and build trust and credibility with key stakeholders.

By creating authentic content that speaks of our clients brand values and leveraging this content to build thought leadership and positive public perception, we help our clients increase brand preference and build a strong brand reputation.

How do you ensure transparency and accountability in your PR campaigns, and what measures do you have in place to address any concerns or issues that may arise?

We provide regular updates and reports to our clients and have measures in place to address any concerns or issues that may arise. These include regular check-ins, being aware of the changes happening in their industry and monitoring competitors, guiding our clients with the best course of action and incorporating their feedback, and a crisis communication plan for handling unexpected events.

How has your agency adapted to the changing media landscape, particularly with the rise of social media and digital communication?

We have a dedicated team that specialises in digital marketing, social media and influencer marketing, and we have developed strategies for leveraging these platforms to reach our client's target audience. We also stay up-to-date with emerging technologies and trends to ensure we provide our clients with the most effective solutions.

Our Influencer marketing practice is one of the few in India in India that specialises in hyper-local outreach in over 15 vernacular languages, helping brands develop an authentic connection with their audience.

What do you see as the biggest challenges facing the public relations industry in India today, and how do you plan to address them?

I wouldnt say challenges, but one of the biggest opportunities for the PR industry in India is the rapid pace of technological change that is helping us transform the way we work every year. Also, the advent of a 24/7 news cycle is a boon and a bane, as it gives us more opportunities to explore while keeping us on our toes around the clock.

How has technology changed the way public relations is practised in India, and what new trends do you see emerging in this field?

One technology that has changed our lives and ways of working for good is AI. Making videos to presentations in minutes, getting summaries of industry trends and landscapes in a jiffy, the world has evolved so much.

The only challenge now is to keep authenticity alive. While the world is becoming more dependent on technology, it is essential to remember that we are in the business of building trust, which can only be achieved through human touch and authenticity. It is great to use technology, but not at the cost of losing the human touch, as that may cause more harm than good in the long run.
General Secretariat FDHA

Bern, 12.05.2023 - For the fourth time in the 74-year history of the Council of Europe, the heads of state and government of the organisations member states will gather next week for a summit. The Swiss delegation to the summit in Reykjavik will be led by President Alain Berset. Prior to the summit, he will meet with Iceland's Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir on Tuesday, 16 May, to discuss current international issues and, above all, cooperation on climate issues.

The summit in Reykjavik is intended to provide the Council of Europe with fresh impetus at a time of great challenges. In response to Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, the 46 member states want to reaffirm the organisation's core values - human rights, democracy and the rule of law. That means demanding that war crimes in Ukraine do not go unpunished. In addition, the summit aims to consolidate the Council of Europe's achievements, in particular the system of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Switzerland has been a member of the Council of Europe for 60 years. At the summit, President Berset will set out Switzerland's priorities with regard to the Council of Europe. In Switzerland's view, the organisation needs political support for its work in the area of human rights and a stronger role in developing expertise on topics such as climate change and artificial intelligence. It should also foster closer cooperation with other international organisations, including those in Geneva. In addition, the Council of Europe should maintain its pan-European orientation and increase the visibility of the Parliamentary Assembly and the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities. A number of declarations are due to be adopted at the end of the summit. State Secretary Livia Leu will represent Switzerland at the thematic discussions on Wednesday, 17 May.

Pioneering projects

Prior to the summit, Mr Berset will meet with Iceland's Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir. In addition to discussing the challenges facing the continent and the Council of Europe's objectives, the bilateral meeting will also focus on cooperation between Switzerland and Iceland within the framework of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and climate issues.

Mr Berset will visit two projects in Hellisheii in the southwest of Iceland that demonstrate the ties between Iceland and Switzerland. Both involve extracting CO2 from the air and storing it permanently underground. The first is the Orca plant operated by the Swiss company Climeworks, which captures carbon directly from the air; the other is the DemoUpCARMA demonstration project run by ETH Zurich, in which CO2 from a Swiss wastewater treatment plant is transported to Iceland and stored there permanently; the federal government contributes around 50 per cent of the project costs.

The technology used at the Orca plant and the cross-border transport of CO2 for storage are among the first projects of their kind in the world. In order for Switzerland to achieve its net-zero target by 2050, it must apply such technologies to offset remaining greenhouse gas emissions that are difficult to prevent.

Address for enquiries

GS-FDHA Communications, Tel. +41 58 462 85 79, media@gs-edi.admin.ch

Publisher

General Secretariat FDHA

http://www.edi.admin.ch



Federal Office for the Environment FOEN

https://www.bafu.admin.ch/en




A day after the Supreme Court held it has legislative and executive powers over all but three services, the Delhi government moved the apex court on Friday alleging the Centre was not implementing the decision to transfer its services secretary, a potential flashpoint in the running feud between the two. The citys AAP government said the Centre may be held liable for contempt of court.

In a major victory for the AAP dispensation in its protracted battle with the Centre, the the apex court had ruled on Thursday the Delhi government has legislative and executive powers over the administration of all services, except for public order, police and land.

Senior advocate A M Singhvi, appearing for the Delhi government, mentioned the matter before a bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice P S Narasimha, saying the top court delivered the judgment just yesterday and now there can be contempt.

Under Article 141 of the Constitution, there can be contempt of this courts order and a bench needs to hear this urgently, Singhvi said.

They are saying we will not transfer anybody. I can file contempt in view of judgement passed yesterday. But it will take time. So kindly list the matter, he said.

Chief Justice Chandrachud said he will constitute a bench to hear the matter next week.

Ashish More, Secretary of the Delhi governments Services Department, was removed from his post on Thursday, hours after the Supreme Court gave the AAP dispensation control over the transfer and posting of officers in the city.

Former Delhi Jal Board CEO A K Singh, a 1995-batch (AGMUT cadre) IAS officer, will replace More.

A five-judge constitution bench headed by the CJI Thursday gave a unanimous verdict about control over the services in the national capital, seeking to putting an end to the eight-year dispute between the Centre and the Delhi government.

Against the backdrop of frequent run-ins between the AAP government and the Centres point person, the lieutenant governor, the apex court had said an elected government needs to have control over bureaucrats, failing which the principle of collective responsibility will be adversely affected.

Elaborating on the Delhi governments powers, the SC said in its Thursday verdict legislative and executive power over services such as Indian Administrative Service, or Joint Cadre services, which are relevant for the implementation of policies and vision of the Delhi government in terms of day-to-day administration of the region, shall lie with it.

The Arvind Kejriwal government has been alleging that bureaucrats belonging to All India Services and joint UT cadres like DANICS (Delhi, Andaman & Nicobar, Lakshadweep, Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli (Civil Services) are not following the administrative directions of the elected government.

Referring to the triple chain of command to ensure democratic accountability, the SC said civil servants are accountable to the ministers and they, in turn, are accountable to Parliament or the state legislatures.

Hours after the SC pronounced the verdict, the city governments services secretary was transferred and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced a comprehensive administrative reshuffle will follow.
The National Policy Committee approves a crypto regulation bill at the National Assembly in Seoul, Thursday. Yonhap



Bipartisan support for bill formed amid lawmaker's coin scandal



By Anna J. Park



Amid a growing scandal surrounding a main opposition lawmaker's coin speculation, the Assembly's National Policy Committee greenlighted a cryptocurrency regulation bill on Thursday. It was the first time ever that a bill stipulating regulations on cryptocurrency was passed by a National Assembly committee.



As the bill cleared the first hurdle toward being written into law, it is expected that the bill could pass the National Assembly's plenary session as early as May 25, after the Legislation and Judiciary Committee gives a thorough review.









The bill is aimed at protecting digital asset investors, preventing unfair trading of cryptocurrencies and establishing a stable coin trading framework. The bill integrated 19 similar cryptocurrency-related bills submitted to the Assembly. The bill also grants supervisory authority over cryptocurrencies to the Financial Services Commission, the country's top financial regulator. Another cryptocurrency bill that focuses more on the details of initial coin offerings, public disclosures and market regulations is still being discussed at the committee level.



"Digital assets have finally entered into the boundaries of law. Prior to drawing up another more fundamental law on cryptocurrency, this bill passed the committee first, as protection of cryptocurrency investors and establishment of unfair trade practices take priority over any regulations on cryptocurrencies," said Rep. Back Hye-ryun, the chair of the National Policy Committee and a member of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK).





Democratic Party of Korea Rep. Kim Nam-kuk walks into his office at the National Assembly in Seoul, Tuesday. Yonhap
A special bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday granted bail to former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan for two weeks in a corruption case.

A division bench comprising Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb and Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz heard the Al-Qadir trust corruption case, a day after the Supreme Court termed Khans arrest from the IHC premises on Tuesday as invalid and unlawful.

Khan, 70, arrived at the court shortly after 11:30 am local time amid tight security and underwent the biometric identification process and other formalities.

The hearing was delayed for nearly two hours due to security reasons.

Earlier, the two judges left the courtroom amid pro-Khan slogan shouting by a lawyer. The upset judges later announced that the hearing will resume after Friday prayers.

Dawn News reported that Khans lawyers had filed four additional requests which urged the IHC to club all the cases against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and to direct authorities to provide details of the cases registered against him.

Khan was arrested from the premises of the IHC on Tuesday in the Al-Qadir Trust case after the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) issued an arrest warrant against him.

His arrest by paramilitary Rangers sparked widespread protests across Pakistan, prompting the deployment of the Army here as well as in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces. The IHC upheld his arrest but a three-member Supreme Court bench on Thursday declared his detention illegal and ordered his immediate release. The apex court directed police to keep him in the Supreme Courts protection and produce him before the high court at 11 am.
In a press conference, former Maharashtra chief minister and Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), saying the apex court verdict has exposed its face. Thackeray also said that the slandering of Maharashtra has to be stopped. Terming the Shinde-Fadnavis government illegal, Thackeray said that they should face the election and let the people decide.

With the SC order allowing CM Eknath Shinde to continue, there is a possibility that the government may expand its cabinet before the monsoon session of the state legislature on July 17. In August 2022, then-governor BS Koshyari administered the oath to 18 MLAs (nine each from the Shinde camp and the BJP). All 18 were cabinet ministers, and no ministers of state (MoS) were sworn-in.

Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Sunil Shinde said, Earlier, it was stated by the court that the system was not correctly implemented and the governor was misusing his power in the state, due to which the rift has occurred in the political parties. Though the speaker has appointed some decisions, if they have wrong political intentions favoring the ruling party, then it would be difficult for us to challenge them.

Devendra Fadnavis said, This is a victory for democracy and the democratic process. We are satisfied with the verdict given by the Supreme Court. Maha Vikas Aghadis (MVA) conspiracy has been defeated. The present government is completely legal.

While the ruling coalition of the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday hailed the Supreme Court ruling on Maharashtras political crisis as a victory for democracy, the rival Uddhav Thackeray camp slammed the government as unconstitutional and immoral. Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said that the then-titular head of the richest state acted as per the situation at the time.

Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Speaker Rahul Narvekar welcomed the Supreme Court verdict and said it is a meritorious judgment and is not about the political situation in the state.

UBT Shiv Sena MP Vinayak Raut told Afternoon Voice, Our party knows that Uddhav Thackeray is a good candidate for the Chief Minister, but we did not demand that he be again appointed as CM. Instead, we were only asking for a reasonable time frame to be given for the MLAs who were disqualified, but the court has given its verdict.

Samadhan Sarvankar of the Shiv Sena said, The Supreme Court has given its decision regarding the Shiv Sena, and the present speaker will be taking its decisions.

Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde should resign from his post to see how many people are with his party and also follow the procedure of the floor test, Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Vaibhav Naik said.

We challenge the UBT Shiv Sena faction for the upcoming elections and will conduct a floor test because the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance received the most votes. The other faction only complains about everything, and if they were correct, why are so many people leaving the Uddhav faction and joining the Shinde faction? said Krishna Hegde, spokesperson for the Shinde faction.

There are statements that Uddhav Thackeray resigned before the floor test, but many MLAs moved to the Eknath Shinde faction, and this situation had left him no option but to resign, and we cant expect Rahul Narvekar (the speaker of the house) to give an unbiased decision, and if he supports justice, then it would be suicidal for him as the decision would be against the ruling government, said former NCP MP Majeed Memon.

NCP Spokesperson Clyde Crasto said, If the chief whips orders were just unlawful, then how come his directives will be legal? Normally, decisions are made by the party, not the whip, and if the court rules that the speakers decision was illegal, how can others regard it as correct?

The decision of the Supreme Court is still in our favor because it said the governor had misused the power and the 16 MLA disqualification process, and the decision of the speaker is incorrect, as it says on the court material, Shiv Sena (UBT) Vilas Potnis said.
Four Alabama softball players earned recognition in the Southeastern Conferences postseason awards released on Friday.

Pitcher Montana Fouts and infielder Ashley Prange were named to the All-SEC first team while outfielders Jenna Johnson and Larissa Preuitt were second-team honorees. No Crimson Tide players were named to the All-Defensive squad. Alabama now has 117 all-conference accolades in program history, according to team media.

LSU, Georgia and Arkansas led with six overall selections apiece. Skylar Wallace, a fourth-year infielder was named the SEC player of the year with the Florida Gators. Wallace, a native of Woodstock, Ga., spent her first two seasons with the Crimson Tide before transferring.

It was the fourth time Fouts has been deemed a first-team player. Its been another stellar year for Alabamas ace as shes pitched to a 1.44 ERA and 23-9 record in 40 appearances. Fouts has struck out 311 batters compared to 39 walks allowed and has limited hitters to a .165 batting average while leading the SEC in innings pitched (213.1).

The fifth-year senior has thrown two perfect games this season and a no-hitter. Fouts left Alabamas SEC tournament contest against Arkansas after slipping and injuring her left leg late in the Tides 3-2 extra-inning win.

Prange, a graduate student from New Palestine, Ind., leads UA in OPS (1.066), home runs (15) and RBI (43). Shes 10th in the conference in total bases (100) and a cornerstone of the Tide lineup. Prange has now been a first-team all-conference selection in back-to-back years after transferring from Ohio State.

Johnson is a four-year senior and started 48 games this spring, hitting .281 with three home runs, 25 RBI and 15 runs scored. Since an April 30 win over then-No. 13 LSU, Johnson has gone 7-for-23 while driving in five runs.

Preuitt is a freshman from Hartselle High and has acclimated to the college game well after being named the states Gatorade Player of the Year in 2022. Preuitt recorded a .281//341/.701 line with one home run and 18 RBI with six total extra-base hits with the Tide. Shes also tied for a team-high 11 steals.

Alabama improved to 40-17 in eliminating Arkansas, the defending SEC champions, on Thursday in the SEC tournament. Itll next play the winner of No. 1 Tennessee and No. 8 Florida on Friday night in the Razorbacks Bogle Park.

Nick Alvarez is a reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @nick_a_alvarez or email him at NAlvarez@al.com.
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Fifty Alabama schools received special recognition during Thursdays Alabama Board of Education meeting for their school report card grades, and improvements in student success, in the 2021-22 school year.

The recognition came alongside a little cash for schools in Birmingham, Huntsville, Haleyville, Lee County and Talladega County, among others. See the full list below.

Lawmakers created the Legislative School Performance Program in 2012 as part of the law creating school and district report cards, but didnt fund it until 2020.

Beginning in 2020, lawmakers gave the Alabama State Department of Education $250,000 annually to award to schools showing academic excellence.

Read more Ed Lab: Learn ways that high-poverty, high achieving Alabama schools succeed.

Read more Ed Lab: Alabama teachers may get a pay raise. How much do districts pay now?

The schools that were recognized were in one of two groups - top report card grades and most improved report card grades statewide.

The most improved statewide group is new this year. Schools on the most improved list raised their letter grade on the state report card by one letter grade.

Schools in the most-improved category received $8,000 each and the top 25 schools received $2,000 each. In previous years, the top 25 schools received $5,000 each.

Alabama Superintendent Eric Mackey said they added the most improved category this year to highlight the hard work schools are doing to improve learning. Improvement is important to recognize, he said.

Some of them are most improved from pretty low, Mackey said, and some were middle, but theyve moved way on up.

Representatives of the schools attended the board meeting in Montgomery.

These are the 25 schools that improved their report card scores the most of all schools in the state. Click here if you are unable to see the table.

The 2022 report card grades were released in November.

The top 25 schools in the state are in the table below. Click here if you are unable to see the table.
Get the Ed Chat newsletter: Enter your email for weekly updates about Alabama schools from Trisha Powell Crain:

Delyne Hicks still recalls a story from years back when the mother of a pregnant teenage girl came into the James Rushton Early Learning Center in Woodlawn, where Hicks is the executive director, and told her that her daughter had ruined her life.

The mother felt barely able to take care of herself and her teenager. She didnt know how she could afford a newborn and the price of child care.

Well take care of you and take care of the baby, Hicks told the soon-to-be grandmother at the time.

When the family returned to James Rushton with their 6-week-old baby, they found that the center would give them tuition assistance, making the cost for care $15 a week.

The support and savings ultimately allowed the young mother to finish high school and enroll in nursing school. She currently is employed full-time at a local Birmingham hospital.

Thats the story that you come to work for, Hicks said. That young woman didnt ruin her life because what we do makes a difference not just today, but forever and for multiple generations of a family.

May 12, 2023, is Child Care Provider Appreciation Day. Alabama child care providers and supporters say more state funding will help more parents go to work and more children receive quality care and guidance before first grade. The state currently is in the process of adding funding to train and support more early childhood staff.

A 2021 report by the Bipartisan Policy Center estimated that the state needs 85,000 more child care spots to serve all of the children who need care. The estimated gap in the Birmingham metro area is the largest in the state, accounting for just over 23,000 children.

The importance of quality child care

The impact of quality child care and early education are not only experienced by individual children and families, but also by whole communities and larger economic systems. Child care and early education has been called the invisible driver of the economy, allowing more parents, women in particular, to participate in the labor force.

In Alabama, a 2021 report by the Bipartisan Policy Center found that not having enough child care coverage could cost the state between $3 billion and $4.6 billion over the next decade due to lost household incomes, a diminished workforce and lost tax revenues.

The estimated return on investment in early childhood programs is high, ranging from $4 to $13 for every $1 spent due to increased educational attainment and employment, improved health and declining truancy and criminality, according to the Brookings Institute and the University of Pennsylvania.

Early care and early learning centers are an integral part of a thriving economy, Hicks said. If economic growth is going to happen in Alabama, in Jefferson County or Birmingham City, then weve got to make sure that weve got the infrastructure to support it. And that includes a thriving, well funded, quality education program for families with young children.

Quality early child care and education programs have been proven to improve the long-term educational outcomes of the children and can mitigate poverty into adulthood.

Since the pandemic, however, child care and early learning providers have struggled. Many families have experienced wait lists and rising costs for care, while providers have had difficulty recruiting and retaining staff members.

The average cost of child care in Alabama is $6,814 a year, up from $6,118 in 2018. Child care staff typically make about $10 an hour, though some make minimum wage.

Childcare Resources - a central Alabama child care agency that helps refer families to child care and gives training and technical assistance to providers like Hicks - hopes that legislators will celebrate Fridays National Child Care Provider Day by funding child care and early learning programs at the same level as the states pre-K program, which receives about $173 million.

Were helping get children ready for pre-K - we have this great number one ranked first class pre-K program in Alabama. Dont you want the children coming into your program to be well prepared, well supported, well nurtured? Well, thats child care, said Joan Wright, executive director of Childcare Resources. And so the legislature needs to keep children first in their decision and fund us at the same level as the Pre-k program. Keep children first and theyll see a big payoff.

Hicks says full funding from the legislator would help the 40% of her staff who have to take on second jobs.

Sometimes youre working a second job and you come in and youre a little tired and we want them to be able to be refreshed and joyous, said Hicks. And yes, they do really good jobs. But sometimes we all get bogged down in the day and the day to day living and we want to be our best so our children and families can be their best.

Staff shortages

Tonya Thompson-Wilson, the director of New Beginning Christian Child Development Center in Birmingham, said she is competing against Chick-fil-A and Amazon for employees and often losing out, as they can afford to pay up to $5 an hour more than her facility.

And while she is certified to train workers who dont have qualifications, it is difficult to even get applicants through the door.

Thompson-Wilson has benefitted from a Child Care Workforce Stabilization grant from the Alabama Department of Human Resources that allows her to give quarterly bonuses of $3,000 to full-time workers and $1,500 to part-time workers.

According to DHR, the agency has awarded 6,935 grants to child care providers since the initiative was announced in November 2021. DHR Commissioner Nancy Buckner has called them an important piece of the puzzle in helping child care providers.

However, the grants are set to expire in September. Thompson-Wilson worries losing the incentive will exacerbate her difficulties finding staff.

It has us in a place now where are the people going to leave us or are they going to stay? Are they going to continue with us or what are we going to do? Are we going to lose them just because we cant give them that incentive anymore?, said Thompson-Wilson. It has child care workers up in the air.

Thompson-Willson currently has a waitlist of 65 children at New Beginnings. The waitlist for the James Rushton center, where Hicks works, is 120 children.

Its just been horrible. We have parents calling on a daily basis saying can I just put my kids name on the waiting list, Thompson-Wilson said.

The Bipartisan Policy Center report found that states who were able to reduce or overcome their gaps did so by expanding infant and rural child care programs, improving child care quality, and expanding the child care workforce via scholarships aimed at building a pipeline of early educators.

Put more money out there so we can pay our child care workers and educators, so that they may be able to come in daily, and give our kids what they need to build their little brains to make them the next success for our nation and our country, said Thompson-Wilson.

Thompson-Wilson has worked hard to build a quality early learning center. It not only serves families in her Birmingham community but also her own family. All five of her grandchildren went through her program.

I absolutely love and adore coming to work every day to see these bright little faces and to pick their brains and build their brains and see what new things they have to offer and what new things that we have to teach them, she said. We need our future doctors and our future lawyers and our future judges and our future presidents. And we also need the people who will teach them along the way.
May 13, 1973. Mobile Municipal Auditorium. Led Zeppelin. The house lights went down, and they came out and kicked off Rock and Roll, and my heart rate accelerated like Ive never known from any music before or since. It was extraordinary.

Thats George Eberlein, a high school kid from the Eastern Shore at the time. He was far from alone. Now hes one of a giant cluster of Mobile-area fans whose memories of that evening often remain vivid despite the passage of a half-century. With the anniversary of the date approaching, a few of those fans were happy to share their recollections.

When Eberlein says any music before or since, hes talking about a lot. By the time that show came around, he was well on his way to a career as a guitarist on the Mobile scene.

Ive always been a guitar player from the time I was 6 years old, he said. And when Led Zeppelin I came out, a friend of my parents gave me the album. And there was actually an incredible book of sheet music for the album. It was way, way ahead of its time. Very accurate. I was able to work with all the tunes on Led Zeppelin I when I was in the eighth and ninth grade.

Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Bonham and John Paul Jones had released five albums by the time they hit Mobile and were, many fans would say, at the height of their powers.

The interesting thing about the concert was it was on a Sunday and it was started at 6 oclock in the evening, Eberlein said. When the concert started it was still bright daylight outside. When they killed the house lights, you could see it was daylight out in the parking lot.

(At the 45:30 mark, after the last notes of No Quarter die away, Robert Plant says: Thank you. Good evening! It seems so early, really, to do a concert, you know? Cause we only got out of bed about 2:30. So Ive just finished me bacon and egg and here we are. This might -- Whats the name of this place? It sounds as if he might be teasing, and he goes on to pronounce Mobile correctly.)

Eberlein said tickets were $5 and the show was sold out for a crowd of 11,000  which would mean that the Municipal Auditorium, now known as the Mobile Civic Center, would have been absolutely slam-packed. Its usually described as a 10,000-seat venue, and the capacity can be less depending on the staging of a given event. But 11,000 doesnt seem impossible, given the band and the era. Attendance of close to 11,000 also was claimed for an Elvis concert that year.

I was in high school. I went with my high school girlfriend, and we went with my best friend and his girlfriend, he said. We went over there, it was general admission, we were probably, maybe 20 yards back from the center of the stage, sitting down on the concrete floor.

It was just 75 days before The Song Remains the Same concert film was filmed, and so the stage set and a lot of the arrangements and everything that night were exactly like that, Eberlein said. No intermission. It was three hours straight through. The intermission was Bonzos drum solo in Moby Dick.

I wanted to hear any and all, he said. I wanted to hear Heartbreaker and The Lemon Song, from the second album, Good Times Bad Times from the first, of course Stairway. Some of the really memorable songs were No Quarter and The Rain Song. This is shown in The Song Remains the Same. No Quarter starts off with this real pretty Rhodes piano intro, and they had this dry ice fog that just covered the floor of the stage and went floating off the edge of it. It was just really, really beautiful. They did everything I wanted to hear. And I remember it to this day, vividly. It made a huge, huge impact. It was just such a spectacle, and the performance and sound was so good.

Not everybody agreed. AL.coms Matt Wake recently pulled together a chronology of every time Zeppelin or its members appeared in Alabama. He found that in May 1973 both the Tuscaloosa News and the Mobile Register ran snotty, dismissive reviews. The Mobile reviewer said the first 90 minutes were dull, the show was nicer to look at than to listen to, and that it didnt warrant three hours of attention so he left a half hour early due to extreme sonic indigestion.

Eberlein said that he read that review recently and was surprised at the nastiness of it. But Led Zeppelin were never critical darlings, he said. And happily, hes found a more positive memento in recent months.

For years most of the show was available as a well-regarded bootleg titled Mobile Dick, a play on Moby Dick. In late 2022, Eberlein came across a remastered version on YouTube that really brought it all back home.

Yeah, it was as good as I remembered, he said. I feel really blessed that I was able to see that.

When Eberlein shared the bootleg on Facebook in late 2022, a lot of folks chimed in to say they were there. Many of them were, like Eberlein, kids from Daphne, Spanish Fort and Fairhope whod come to Mobile for the event.

Spanish Plaza was just packed with hippies

Heres a song about what happens in England if you go walking in the park and you have a packet of cigarette papers in your pocket, and something to put in the cigarette papers, and things dont go quite so well as they should.

Robert Plants introduction to Misty Mountain Hop comes about 20 minutes into the bootleg, and by that point Brenda Barron Brantley, one of those Eastern Shore kids, was having a memorable day.

My father, he knew a manager at the auditorium and hed always get us these great seats to the Rolling Stones and Sly and the Family Stone, and just all these fantastic seats, said Brantley. I cant believe my dad let me go, at 15, to a Led Zeppelin concert. I couldnt even drive. I went with my sister who was 19 and three guys from South Alabama. They were hippies, had long, long hair.

A Mobile Register ad for a 1973 Led Zeppelin concert in Mobile.Via NewsBank

A school friend drove Brantley over, and she connected with her sister in downtown Mobile, in what sounds like quite a scene. We hung out all day in Spanish Plaza with hundreds of other people, she said. I mean, Spanish Plaza was just packed with hippies. I mean, it was fun. And when we got in finally, we went in and listened to the concert and I smoked pot for the first time.  I was fine until Stairway to Heaven came on and all the smoke came. We had never seen smoke, a fog machine. The fog started rolling in and I just got this awful feeling in my stomach, it was just rolling with the fog. It was during Stairway to Heaven and it was so vivid to me that the fog was coming in, the smoke was coming in, it was surreal. It was like you were in heaven. And I was loaded as I could be. Everyone in the concert, they were just passing stuff around, and you didnt suppose to pass it up. It would have been rude.

I remember going out in the hall and sitting under the stairwell just trying to grasp everything for a little while, she said. When I went to the bathroom, I just sat under the stairwell trying to get my head together. But it was a lot of fun. Thats all I can remember of it. But I remember us all just hanging out, and it was packed, all hanging out at Spanish Plaza. Because that was the place to be. Back then you didnt hang out in Bienville Square, because youd get mugged. Downtown was pretty rough back then. You did not go downtown at all.

I didnt smoke a lot of pot after that. I think I learned my lesson, she said. She went on to become an elementary school teacher and retired after 31 years in Spanish Fort. In recent years, one of her sons gave her a CD of the bootleg, which she treasures. She also has fond memories of other shows back in the day, when Mobiles dome drew a lot of top-tier acts and was just a bus ride away.

My sister was, I would say, a hippie, Brantley said. I liked Led Zeppelin, but I was more of a Rolling Stones fan. Every time theyd come to Mobile, Id go. I loved the Rolling Stones. My father, he would get us the best seats. The guy would put em back for us. Hed always get us all these seats. Sly and the Family Stone, we were up at the stage, standing against the stage, he got us front-row seats at that one. He used to get us these fabulous seats to every concert. I mean, Alice Cooper, Jethro Tull, I could go on and on. If it was a good band, Id say Dad could you get these tickets?

If my daddy only knew what my sister got me into, Brantley said. Hed be at work, my mom would be at work, and wed go walk up the hill, it was about a mile to the bus stop, wed get on the bus and head up to Mobile.

We were that age, it was that generation

Brantley wasnt the only one sneaking out. Kathryn Ard Kingan said she was 18 and married when she saw Zeppelin, but by then she was a veteran of big shows at the Municipal Auditorium.

My first concert ever was Steppenwolf, she said. We just had great shows come to Mobile. We were that age, it was that generation, music meant a lot to us.

For Steppenwolf, my parents used to square dance every Friday night, she said. So the minute they were out the door, my girlfriend came by [with] her older sister and picked me up, we came to Mobile, watched that show, and I had to be home before my parents got home. There really was nothing to do in Baldwin County back in the day.

Well, I say that, she added. We had a venue in Fairhope called The Elbow Room. We would go to dances there every Friday and Saturday night. They had bands from all around here, but I think the highlight of The Elbow Room was the night B.J. Thomas actually performed at The Elbow Room. That was the biggest name that ever came to Fairhope that Im aware of. So when we really wanted to see good bands, we had to come to Mobile, and we got there whichever way we could. Big sister, brothers, whoever could give us a ride across the Causeway and pay that quarter through the tunnel. Now that, I remember.

A less-than-stellar review of Led Zeppelin's 1973 concert in Mobile.Via NewsBank

Shed gotten married just out of high school. The Zeppelin show came around the next year. She and her husband both liked the band, so it was one of those shows you didnt want to miss.

My husband wanted to see the show and he bought an extra ticket for his little sister, who had never been to a concert, Kingan said. The sister was 16. What a first concert.

Kingan said she doesnt remember a lot of specifics from the show but knows she came away thinking it was absolutely everything shed hoped it would be.

As many great experiences as she had, she did have one lingering disappointment from the era: Circumstances made her miss a 1972 Rolling Stones show. I did not get to fulfill that concert dream until a couple of years ago in New Orleans, she said. Oh, it was awesome.

She never stopped: As a Saenger Theatre volunteer, she said, she still gets to enjoy plenty of live music.

The song apparently remains the same for Bill Pollard, who shared his thoughts by email:

73 was the year I graduated from DHS, so this concert was special in that way, in addition to it being LED FRIGGIN ZEPPELIN IN MOBILE, AL!! I went with my HS sweetie/first wife/mother of my two older children/first ex-wife  I mostly remember the huge mirrors surrounding the band on the stage, and how theyd vibrate and shimmer along with Bonzos pounding! I also remember a vague sense of disappointment at first, as they didnt sound exactly like or as full as they did on my LPs and 8-tracks. Robert Plant sounded tired or something to me also, as he seemed a bit hoarse all through the concert. Jimmy Page tore it up, as always and I vividly remember him breaking out the bow and the puffs of rosin dust as he smacked his guitar, with the hairs on the bow tearing loose and waving about in shreds.

I also remember (due to my ignorance of the structure of the band) my surprise at JPJs playing the mellotron and other instruments  I absolutely zoned out on Moby Dick because of the seemingly endless 15 minute Bonzo solo, but didnt remember that until today when I pulled up some of the recordings of the concert online. I was actually clean and sober at that time as the result of a spiritual experience in November of 71, but the pervasive cloud of low-hanging, pungent smoke may have interfered with my ability to remember, not to mention it having been FIFTY FRIGGIN YEARS AGO!!! LOL!

I dont know how accurate my recollection is, added Pollard, but it seems like that same year, or soon after, I saw Jethro Tull and ELO at the Auditorium .what a great time to be alive to experience all that!!!

(Note: This checks out. According to online tour listings, Jethro Tull hit Mobile in September 1973 and Electric Light Orchestra appeared at the Municipal Auditorium in November as an opener for Wishbone Ash. Lee Moore, the reviewer who panned the Zeppelin show, was kind to all three acts, supportive of the quirky upstart ELO and singling Jethro Tull out as consistently brilliant.)

(Note: Oh, heck, lets just wallow in this for a minute. According to a quick scan of old Mobile Register reports and ads, other acts that hit the Municipal Auditorium in 1973 included Black Oak Arkansas with Brownsville Station; Freddie Hart; the J. Geils Band with Foghat; The Carpenters; Elton John; 3 Dog Night with T. Rex; Edgar Winter with Canned Heat; Elvis Presley; Ike & Tina Turner; Savoy Brown with Blue Oyster Cult, Manfred Mann & the Earth Band, Cactus and Wet Willie; Buck Owens with Waylon Jennings; Alice Cooper with Flo & Eddie; The Lawrence Welk Show; a Sonny James country show with the Statler Brothers, Barbara Mandrell and Tom T. Hall; The James Gang; Neil Young; Grand Funk Railroad; The Temptations; and Merle Haggard. Also: By the end of the year, the auditoriums manager was under federal indictment, charged with the alleged blackmailing of a number of bands that have appeared at the auditorium in recent years, a scandal that was to have heavy ramifications for the citys political structure.)

I lost count of how many times the Allman Brothers played here, along with Alice Cooper and Wet Willie, wrote Pollard. The first live concert I ever attended was at Hartwell Field and it was billed as Wet Willie and Friends. My BIL, David Mann (RIP) and his band Farm (I think it was, at that time) of Johnnys Smokehouse fame played, as well as the Boogie Brothers who consisted of the remnants of Savoy Brown. I used to have the poster in my bedroom, but it disappeared when I moved out of Mom and Dads in 1975.

Whew.

Jennifer Tibbett Predmore, who was living in Mobile at the time, was another who said she recalls more of an impression than sharp details of the night  but as with the others, the impression is a cherished one.

Honestly, that was so long ago that my memories are kind of hazy (just like the air in the auditorium that night.) she wrote, adding a smiley emoji. I was just a young teenager but Led Zeppelin was my favorite band and I had a huge crush on Robert Plant. We used to spend hours hanging out and listening to their albums and when we heard they were coming to Mobile we talked my friends older sister into taking us.

It was a great concert and they played all my favorites. I was mesmerized. Jimmy Page did some amazing long guitar solos and Robert Plant was doing his signature moves is about all the detail I can remember but to this day it is probably my most favorite concert ever. My daughter who is 27 is a big fan too and was incredulous and jealous that I got to see them in person.

Sorry I cant remember more detail but it was half a century ago, she added, doubtless speaking for many of the 11,000 or so witnesses. And suddenly I feel really old. Lol.
Winthrop Wink Corey, a longtime champion of ballet in Mobile, has died.

Classical Ballet of Mobile confirmed the news in a Facebook post Wednesday, as did Mobile Ballet.

We at Classical Ballet of Mobile have heavy hearts and tears in our eyes, as our beloved Mr. Winthrop Corey, Artistic Director Emeritus has passed away this afternoon after a long illness, the notice from that group read. Thirty years ago he brought to Mobile a rich legacy of ballet training, costuming, and spectacular performances. We are grateful for his time with us and pledge to continue in his legacy at Classical Ballet of Mobile. He will be greatly missed by all in the Mobile arts community.

Mobile Ballet artistic director Winthrop Corey, center with dancers, Wednesday, Oct. 27, 2010 at at the Mobile Ballet Studios in Mobile, Ala. (G.M. ANDREWS/Press-Register)PRESS-REGISTER

Mobile Ballet said it was deeply saddened.

Mr. Corey served as Artistic Director of Mobile Ballet for nearly 30 years, beginning in 1988, said that organizations post. His presence was instrumental in shaping the Mobile arts scene through the years and bringing high quality training and full-length classical ballet productions to the community.  Through his artistic achievements and training and mentorship of dancers, Mr. Corey leaves a legacy of enriching the lives of many over several decades. With heavy hearts we share in mourning his passing and celebrating his life. Our heartfelt sympathies are with his loved ones.

According to an obituary published at www.ascensionfuneralgroup.com, Corey, born July 30, 1945, was 77.

Coreys influence on the performing arts in Mobile was equaled by few. He was a full-time faculty member of the Joffrey Ballet School in New York in 1988, when he visited Mobile to conduct a performance of The Nutcracker presented jointly by Ballet Mobile and Bienville Ballet. The two schools merged as Mobile Ballet, and Corey was hired to lead it. He remained with the company until 2016.

Winthrop Corey, artistic director for Mobile Ballet, right, stands with Lauren Woods, left, and Dailey Dexter, in costume for their roles in a 2011 production of "Cinderella." (Victor Calhoun, Press-Register)Press-Register

In a 2008 profile, Press-Register Arts Editor Thomas B. Harrison wrote that Over the ensuing 20 years, Corey has staged and choreographed full-length productions of Giselle, Sleeping Beauty, Romeo and Juliet, Cinderella and Swan Lake, and two original ballets, Dracula and A Streetcar Named Desire. He continues to attract internationally respected guest artists and is known for his costume designs and classic tutus. The company has two studios, in Daphne and Mobile, which train more than 500 students. More than 9,000 area students are introduced to ballet each year through Coreys program Discover Dance. Corey later added an original Snow White.

In 2017 he became artistic director of Classical Ballet of Mobile, later shifting to artistic director emeritus. In announcing his hiring, the company noted that his early career included being a principal dancer with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet and the National Ballet of Canada. In that capacity he earned praise from Time Magazine and the New York Times while dancing opposite Rudolf Nureyev in Jose Limons The Moors Pavane.

Mobile Ballet artistic director Winthrop Corey is pictured with principal dancer Noel Hanley during a rehearsal Monday, Nov. 25, 2013, in Mobile, Ala., for a production of "The Nutcracker." (Mike Brantley/mbrantley@al.com)MO

Corey passed away peacefully at the age of 77, embraced in love by his son and daughter, said the obituary. Mr. Corey was pre-deceased by his dear friend Carl Belk. He leaves behind his elder sister Betty Gross and younger sister Cathy Green and their families, daughter Elizabeth DeFanti, son-in-law Adam DeFanti, and grandchildren Maxwell and Isabella DeFanti, son Christopher Corey and daughter-in-law Erica Manzotti, and grandchildren Mila, Isla, and Mason Corey, and dear friends, Cynthia Zipperly, David Beech and Philip Vinson, Rhea Mostellar, Ray and Pam Thompson, and Jan Johnson, among many others.

A celebration of Coreys life will be held at a later date, according to the obituary.
A second suspect has been charged in the April shooting death of a teen in east Birmingham.

Jordan Mekhi Watts, 18, is charged with capital murder in the slaying of 17-year-old Kamaree Shondale Phillips, a junior at Clay-Chalkville High School. Police say Phillips was killed during a robbery.

A 16-year-old has already been charged with capital murder in the case. His name has not been released because of his age.

Birmingham police took Watts into custody Thursday morning on the citys east side.

Both suspects remain held without bond in the Jefferson County Jail.

Phillips was one of three high school students slain in Birmingham during spring break.

Kamaree Phillips, 17, was shot to death April 1, 2023, in Birmingham.

The shooting happened about 4:19 p.m. that Saturday, April 1, at Magnolia Court apartments. East Precinct officers responded to #3 Westchester Court.

They arrived to find Phillips, who had sustained critical injuries, on the ground outside of a vehicle.

He was rushed to St. Vincents East with plans to transfer him to UAB Hospital or Childrens of Alabama, but he died before that transfer could happen, said Officer Truman Fitzgerald.

Phillips, police said, was in a vehicle when the shooter walked up to the vehicle and began firing. Fitzgerald said it appeared the victim was targeted.

Dr. Walter B. Gonsoulin, the Jefferson County Schools Superintendent, released a statement on the teens death.The loss of any student is felt throughout our district. I wish to express condolences to Kamarees loved ones, his friends, and his teachers. Our thoughts and prayers are with them. We will have grief counselors at Clay-Chalkville High School Monday for any student or staff member who needs assistance.

A 17-year-old boy was fatally shot Saturday, April 1, 2023, on Westchester Court in east Birmingham. (Carol Robinson)

Clay-Chalkville High School Principal Dr. Eugene Dallas echoed Gonsoulin. It is tragic to have one of our students leave for spring break and then not return because of an act of violence. As I shared with our school community, there really are no words for a time like this. Our school mourns with Kamarees family. We stand with them. They are in our prayers.

Phillips was the third teen fatally shot in Birmingham in six days. Two Birmingham City Schools students were also killed over spring break.

Caleb Witt, 17, was slain on Sunday, March 26, and Jada White, 16, died Wednesday, March 29.

He was loved by many friends and family. He was a young man that dreamed big dreams and loved others freely and deeply, according to Phillips obituary. " He will be greatly missed, always remembered, and forever loved.
Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin, center, addresses the 28th ministerial council meeting and ninth summit meeting of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) in Antigua Guatemala, southern Guatemala, in this photo released by the Korean ministry, May 11. Yonhap



Foreign Minister Park Jin has proposed launching joint maritime research projects between Korea and Caribbean nations at a regional ministerial gathering held in Guatemala, his office said Friday.



The minister made the proposal to establish a joint Korea-Caribbean maritime research center as part of efforts to strengthen ties between Seoul and the region at the 28th ministerial council meeting of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) held in Antigua on Thursday, according to the foreign ministry.



Park, who attended the gathering as an observer nation representative, called for the strengthening of ties between Korea and the ACS based on cooperative relations between the two sides throughout the past 25 years.



He also held separate meetings with ACS Secretary-General Rodolfo Sabonge and other key representatives at the meeting to discuss ways to strengthen ties with their respective governments, the ministry said. (Yonhap)


A calm discussion about a noncontroversial bill on veterans benefits turned contentious for a few moments in the Alabama House of Representatives today, with Republican House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter using his gavel to intervene in debate after he said it veered off topic in violation of House rules. The Democratic lawmaker who was speaking disagreed.

The brief incident comes after a week marked by some discord in the House, including sharp disagreement over a bill affecting absentee voting, a reference to a song with a racial slur on the House floor, and comments one member made on a radio show about a colleague.

Today, Rep. Napoleon Bracy, D-Prichard, and Rep. Jerry Starnes, R-Prattville, were at the two mics on the House floor during consideration of Starnes bill, which expanded an education benefit for spouses of veterans killed in the line of duty or disabled.

Bracy began talking about a bill the House passed last week that made it a crime to help a person with an absentee ballot application or ballot, with some exceptions. Republicans passed that bill over staunch opposition from Democrats, who said it would needlessly outlaw activities that help elderly or homebound voters. Republicans, who control three-fourths of the seats in the House, said the bill was important to help prevent voter fraud and passed it overwhelmingly. The bill is pending in the Senate.

Today, Bracy drew a contrast to Starnes bill to help veterans families and the absentee ballot bill, which he said would have unintended consequences and make it harder for some veterans who depend on help getting a ballot in order to vote.

Ledbetter loudly struck his gavel several times after Bracy began talking about the bill. The speaker had Bracys mic cut off briefly. The speaker did not announce why he did that, but later told reporters that Bracy violated a rule that says House members should stick to the topic of the bill under discussion. Rule 50 says members should confine remarks to the question under consideration.

The gaveling and mic cut-off were unusual in the Alabama House, although it is not uncommon for the speaker to urge lawmakers to stick to the topic under discussion.

After his mic was restored, Bracy told Ledbetter he was not justified in gaveling him down.

In four terms, Ive never had my microphone turned off because Ive always been on topic, Bracy said. I think its very relevant and I think its wrong. Its disrespectful. It was very disrespectful. For me to be one of the most respectful statesmen in this body to be gaveled down, I think thats wrong. I have given you nothing but respect at the microphone and every member I ever debate with.

Bracy said his comments about the absentee ballot bill were relevant to the discussion about Starnes bill.

We created a situation that we did not intend to create but we have an opportunity to fix, Bracy said. Thats all I was saying. I was not saying anything out of line.

The House later adjourned after passing Starnes bill 103-0, including Bracy. Ledbetter took questions from reporters after adjournment and was asked about the incident with Bracy.

There was no incident, Ledbetter said. Youve got to stay germane to the bill. He wasnt germane to the bill. We try to keep decorum.

Ledbetter referenced a rule in Masons Legislative Manual that says: Debate on a bill is confined to the bill under consideration and does not extend to criticism of other bills before the house or in committee, even though they relate to the same subject.

Masons rules and our rules, youve got to stay in line with what were talking about, Ledbetter said. He was out of line.

Ledbetter was asked if the incident was a carryover from the fallout of last weeks dispute about the song with the racial slur and the radio interview. Ledbetter said there was no connection.

Ledbetter was not in the House last week when Rep. Juandalynn Givan, D-Birmingham, referred to the song, The Story of O.J. by Black rapper Jay-Z during an exchange on the House floor with Rep. Kenneth Paschal of Shelby County, the only Black Republican in the House. The lyrics of the song repeatedly use a racial slur. Givan partly quoted the lyrics but did not say the slur. The state Republican Party called for an apology. Givan said she would not apologize, said the party should apologize to her, and questioned the sincerity of the partys concern about use of a racial slur.

Later, Speaker Pro Tem Chris Pringle, R-Mobile, talked about Givan on a radio program, saying, Some days, her medication is not quite working, and other comments that Givan said were defamatory.

Today, Ledbetter was asked how he has responded to those incidents and whether any members were disciplined. He declined to go into any specifics.

Weve talked to every member, Ledbetter said. Everybodys been talked to. Those are internal issues that well handle internally. Its been handled. I dont know what else to say about that. Thats pretty much it.
A gunman or gunmen opened fire on a man in a southwest Birmingham neighborhood Friday afternoon.

Birmingham police identified the victim Friday night as John Anthony Jackson. He was 43.

Birmingham police were dispatched at 1:45 p.m. to the 1000 block of Elm Street on a report of multiple shots fired. While they were en route, they learned someone had been struck.

They arrived on the scene to find Jackson unresponsive in the roadway, just outside of his vehicle. He was pronounced dead on the scene.

The citys gunfire detection system  Shot Spotter  indicated more than 30 rounds fired, but police put down more than 50 evidence markers in the street.

Officer Truman Fitzgerald said the preliminary investigation suggests the victim was specifically targeted.

The deadly shooting comes less than 24 hours after another homicide, which was almost identical to todays slaying.

On Thursday night, a 37-year-man was in his vehicle outside his family home when someone fired numerus rounds into his vehicle, killing him.

Fridays victim was also sitting in his vehicle outside his home when someone unleashed the barrage of gunfire. Fitzgerald said its likely there were multiple shooters this afternoon.

This is identical to last night and its what we say all the time  were dealing with a criminal element that doesnt mind what time of day or if youre in front of your house, he said. Were encouraging everyone to be mindful of people, places, and behavior.

The gunfire happened just one block of busy Jefferson Avenue.

Jefferson Avenue is a major thoroughfare, Fitzgerald said. Were extremely lucky we only lost one person. We hate we lost him, this could have been far worse.

Its alarming, and right before Mothers Day, he said, So we have two mothers who have to deal with the loss of their son right before Mothers Day.

Jackson is Birminghams 44th homicide so far this year. Of those, one was an officer-involved shooting by an outside agency and three others have been ruled justifiable.

In all of Jefferson County, there have been 59 homicides, including the 44 in Birmingham.

As police investigated this homicide, officers were dispatched to another in the 1500 block of 19th Street North.

Anyone with information is asked to call homicide investigators at 205-254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.
Elon Musk said he will step down from the top job at Twitter and become its executive chair and chief technology officer. The social networks billionaire owner said a new chief executive officer, whom he didnt name but indicated is a woman, will start in about six weeks.

Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion last October and indicated that hed only be in charge for a limited time to complete the organizational overhaul he thought the company needed to prosper. Musk complained of having too much work and sleeping at Twitters San Francisco headquarters while implementing radical changes.

Excited to announce that Ive hired a new CEO for X/Twitter. She will be starting in ~6 weeks!



My role will transition to being exec chair & CTO, overseeing product, software & sysops.  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 11, 2023

In December, Musk asked his Twitter followers if he should step down as CEO, and 57.5% said yes.

Musk, whos also CEO of Tesla Inc. and Space Exploration Technologies Corp., has drawn criticism for his abrupt policy changes and neglect of his other businesses. The next CEO will have to deal with an advertiser exodus. Despite a slight uptick in daily users since early 2022, Twitters revenue has fallen by 50% since October as a result of a massive decline in advertising, Musk said in March.

Hes also changed the corporate name of Twitters parent to X Holdings, an entity which could eventually be the parent for all his businesses  an idea he has publicly mused about. Musk has also said he wants to build Twitter beyond social media and into an everything app, including financial services.

The companys Twitter Blue subscription service plan has also been flailing, drawing less than 1% of the user base. Musk has cut thousands of jobs, scaled back the companys content moderation and allowed accounts previously banned for breaking rules to return.

When Musk was first starting at Twitter, he brought a roster of longtime loyal partners to help him temporarily, from across his disparate businesses. Several of these other companies have female executives in their top ranks, though its unclear whether he plans to pick someone he already works with to run the social network.

Some top executives with ties to Musk, or whom pundits speculate might be on the list, include:

At Twitter, Ella Irwin handles trust and safety.

Robyn Denholm is the chair of Teslas board of directors.

Gwynne Shotwell is SpaceXs President and COO and also serves on SpaceXs board.

Linda Yaccarino, who leads ads and partnerships for NBCUniversal, interviewed Musk last month at a major advertising conference in Miami. Recently, Twitter and NBCU expanded their Olympic Games partnership. Some have speculated she is the pick on Twitter.

(With assistance from Brandon Sapienza.)

___

2023 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
The Alabama Senate Thursday approved a bill that creates harsher punishments for people convicted of stealing from retailers.

SB 206, sponsored by Sen. Clyde Chambliss, R-Prattville, creates a new crime of retail theft and makes some thefts felonies punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

Chambliss said on the floor of the Senate Thursday that the state does not currently have a section dealing with shoplifting.

More from Alabama Reflector

Those crimes are prosecuted under the theft statute, and it doesnt exactly fit, he said. This would create a section dealing specifically with shoplifting.

A similar bill stalled in the House amid concern from House Judiciary Committee members that the punishments were draconian and could send mothers to prison for taking baby formula.

Like the House legislation, the Senate bill defines organized retail theft as people knowingly hiding merchandise in their clothes or body; taking the items out of the retail shop, altering the price of an item without the retailer knowing about it, or a person not scanning the merchandises barcode at the self-checkout register.

It also includes sabotaging the security device on the item and transferring an item from one container to another.

The bill creates a new set of offenses. First degree retail theft, when a person steals a firearm from a store; steals more than $2,500 worth of items or takes items worth more than $1,000 from a store over a six-month period $1,000 is a class B felony, punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

Retail theft in the second degree, involving theft of an item between $500 and $2,500, would be a Class C felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Retail theft in the third degree, covering theft of items under $500 is a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail and a $6,000 fine.

A fourth or subsequent conviction for retail theft would be a Class C felony, punishable up to 10 years of prison.

The bill also creates a crime of organized retail theft, involving two or more people conspiring to commit retail theft or shoplifting, or receiving stolen property. The bill would make that a Class B felony, punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

The range of punishments drew some criticism.

If you shop at Walmart, and you go pass the register  that is theft, said Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton, D-Greensboro, the minority leader. Even in Walmart, they got the eyeglasses past the register.

He also said that people take home shopping carts because they use it to carry the groceries home.

The Senate amended the bill to remove specific references to shopping carts.

The bill moves to the Alabama House of Representatives.
An infant boy died today at Childrens of Alabama and his parents are now charged in his death.

Jameela Biggs, 23, and Antonio Martin, 36, are charged with murder, said Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit Capt. Jack Kennedy. Authorities have not released the babys name, but he would have turned 3 months old on Saturday.

The investigation began about 7 p.m. Monday when the unresponsive baby was taken to DCH Regional Medical Center in Tuscaloosa. The infant was then transferred to the Birmingham hospital where doctors determine he had extensive injuries, including multiple skull fracture.

Kennedy said both parents were interviewed and were unable to provide a plausible explanation for the injuries. They did admit that they were the only adults who had contact with the boy during the time frame the injuries occurred.

A medical expert examined the baby extensively over the next 24 hours, Kennedy said, and reported to investigators that the injuries were consistent with intentional physical abuse. The baby was put on life support.

On May 9, both parents were charged with aggravated child abuse and booked into the Tuscaloosa County Jail.

Following the babys Thursday death, the charges were upgraded to murder. Both remain held in the county lockup.
As Casey White lay bleeding after Vicky White pulled the trigger, his main concern was that authorities would think he shot her, lawmen recounted around the one-year anniversary of the manhunt that began with an escape at an Alabama jail and ended in an Indiana ditch.

You know what his concern was? He didnt want us to think he shot his wife, Sgt. Kurt Althoff of the Vanderburgh County, Indiana Sheriffs Office told the Evansville Courier & Press in a story published Thursday. He was saying, I did not shoot her, I did not shoot her. It was really strange. It was like, Well, we didnt think you did.

The Whites, who had a romantic relationship, were not married.

The manhunt for Vicky White, a corrections officer at the Lauderdale County jail in Florence and Casey White, an inmate at the jail, ended on May 9, 2022 in Evansville, Indiana, as the Whites led federal, state and local authorities on a pursuit that ended with the Whites stolen Cadillac in a ditch.

As authorities closed in on the pair, authorities recounted Vicky White brandished a gun and shot herself.

The bullet, which pierced Vicky Whites skull, also nicked Casey White, who was bleeding substantially.

Vicky White died, while Casey White was taken into custody.

Last week, Casey White pleaded guilty to escape in connection with the incident.

It wasnt supposed to happen like that, White said in court, as members of Vicky Whites family listened. Things happenedand we was in love.

Casey White also faces a capital murder trial set for Aug. 14 for the 2015 slaying of Connie Ridgeway in Rogersville. When he escaped from jail, White was being held for the trial, then just weeks away. That trial was delayed in the aftermath of the escape and White retaining a new team of attorneys.

He is serving a 75-year sentence for convictions stemming from an array of 2015 charges, including attempted murder.
An Alabama seafood company will have to destroy all of its ingredients and products after it settled a lawsuit with federal prosecutors that includes a permanent ban from processing and distributing food.

Crabmeat products packaged, prepared and distributed by Irvington Seafood in Mobile County was being held in unsanitary conditions, Food and Drug Administrations inspections revealed between 2006 and 2022, according to prosecutors with in the Southern District of Alabama, which covers Mobile.

FDA inspectors found maggots, flies and roaches at the companys facility in Irvington along with the bacteria Listeria monocytogenes on food contact and non-food contact surfaces of equipment, prosecutors said Thursday in announcing a settlement with the company.

The bacteria L. mono can cause serious illness and even death in vulnerable groups like newborns and those with impaired immune systems.

Inspectors also found Irvington Seafood employees did not wash their hands and aprons.

Despite repeated warnings, Irvington Seafood did not comply with FDA requests to rectify the violations.

Federal prosecutors filed a request for permanent injunction last month against the company, alleging that owner Kevin S. Sakprasit and company officers Helene Nou and Kammie C. Richardson, violated federal law by distributing tainted products.

Food manufacturers and distributors must operate in strict compliance with the law, said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Departments Civil Division, in a statement. The department is committed to working hand in hand with the FDA to help ensure the safety of the nations food supply.

The company and the defendants settled the lawsuit by agreeing to be bound by a court order permanently enjoining them from violating the law and requiring them to destroy all ingredients and products.

The defendants also cannot process or distribute food in the future without meeting several conditions, including giving advance notice to the FDA and allowing the agency to inspect their facilities and procedures.
A suspect considered armed and dangerous is being sought in connection with a Thursday night shooting in southwest Alabama that killed a man and wounded another.

Luwaun Belvince Hill, 30, is wanted in the fatal shooting of Quarwon NaEem Pendleton, 36, in Grove Hill, said Daniel Gibson, the towns police chief, according to Fox 10 in Mobile.

The shooting also wounded a Mississippi man.

Pendleton and the other victim were shot at a home in the 100 block of Ezell Street Thursday night in Grove Hill.

Pendleton died of his injuries at Grove Hill Memorial hospital; the other victim was shot in the foot.

Hill should be considered armed and dangerous, Gibson said.
The former executive director of a Montgomery-based career and technical education organization pleaded guilty Thursday to embezzling funds and failing to send employees payroll taxes to the IRS, causing a loss of nearly $3 million, prosecutors announced Friday.

Under a plea agreement with federal prosecutors in Montgomery, Doris Gilmore, the 61-year-old former executive director of the Association for Career and Technical Education, or ALACTE, admitted to embezzling ALACTE funds in 2020 and failing to send payroll taxes withheld during the first quarter of 2022.

Gilmores crimes resulted in a loss of more than $2.8 million, said Sandra J. Stewart, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Alabama, which includes Montgomery.

Between 2020 and 2022, ALACTE received federal grant funds through various Alabama agencies.

As director, Gilmore was responsible for budgeting approving payments, and developing and disbursing payroll funds. She also prepared and filed federal and state tax returns, payroll tax returns, and W-2s.

A sentencing date has not been set for Gilmore.

She faces a maximum of 10 years in prison along with substantial fines and restitution.
The Tuscaloosa County Sheriffs Office asked for the publics help Friday in locating a suspect wanted on rape charges.

Emmanuel Ineh, 22, whose last known address was the Redpoint Apartments at 1100 Hargrove Rd. East in Tuscaloosa, was developed as a suspect this week following a sexual assault investigation, said Capt. Jack Kennedy of the sheriffs offices Violent Crimes Unit.

The investigation revealed there may be multiple victims, Kennedy said.

Ineh, who is wanted on first-degree rape, is originally from Nigeria and may speak with an accent.

He was described as 6-feet 3-inches tall and 190 pounds.

Anyone with information on Ineh or his whereabouts was asked to call either Tuscaloosa police at 205-349-2121; the sheriffs office at 205-752-0616; Northport police at 205-339-6600 or University of Alabama police at 205-348-5454.
EU Ambassador to Korea Maria Castillo Fernandez delivers a speech during the Europe Day 2023 reception at Samcheonggak, central Seoul, May 9. Courtesy of EU Delegation in Korea



By Kwon Mee-yoo



The Delegation of the European Union to Korea celebrated Europe Day 2023 on May 9, marking the 60-year milestone of shared accomplishments between Korea and the EU. Twenty-four member states presented diverse aspects of Europe from wine and cheese to Picasso and Moomins.



During the celebrations at Samcheonggak in the heart of Seoul, EU Ambassador to Korea Maria Castillo Fernandez highlighted the robust alliance between Europe and Korea, based on mutual values and shared interests.



"This is a year very important for the EU and Korea because we are proud of 60 years of great joint achievements. With the current war and geopolitical tensions, my friends, let me recall to you what the European Union is. First and foremost, it's a peace project. On May 9, 1950, French foreign minister Robert Schuman suggested a new form of cooperation in Europe that would make the war between European nations unthinkable. His declaration, the Schuman declaration, laid the foundations of what would become the European Union, based on principles of liberty, democracy, respect for human rights and the rule of law," Castillo Fernandez said.





Guests to the Europe Day 2023 reception enjoy Italy's booth at Samcheonggak, central Seoul, May 9. Courtesy of EU Delegation in Korea



In particular, she expressed that she valued the 60th anniversary, which is characterized by a solid relationship between Korea and the EU, noting that Korea holds the distinction of being the EU's first Asian partner in numerous ways.



"It's our 'hwangap,' which is so important in Korean culture. It doesn't mark the end of a cycle. Let's be more positive. This is the first start towards a new era together with new challenges and new opportunities. But I think, Europe and the Republic of Korea, we have a lot to be proud of," the ambassador said.



"We are natural partners who share common values and interests and the experience of rising from the ruins of war. The EU integration transformed Europe into a continent of peace and prosperity and the Republic of Korea has emerged as an economic power and democracy in a very short period of time."





Greek Ambassador to Korea Ekaterini Loupas, second from left, introduces her country's booth during the Europe Day 2023 reception at Samcheonggak, central Seoul, May 9. Courtesy of EU Delegation in Korea



She noted that Korea is the first Asian partner with whom the EU had a framework partnership agreement on cooperation, a free trade agreement as well as a framework agreement for participation in crisis management and security.



"Diplomatic anniversaries are also a good opportunity to lay the foundations of what is ahead. Historic events are changing the world and are changing our societies, our economy, our lives. First, the COVID pandemic and then Putin's war ... These unprecedented challenging times call for deepening our cooperation with our true like-minded partners, like the Republic of Korea. It's a vital necessity. It's our hope for a more resilient future. It's our duty," she said.



The ambassador listed various collaborative initiatives such as the Republic of Korea-European Union Digital Partnership, and the Republic of Korea-European Union Green Partnership, which are committed to sustainable and climate-neutral economies, and joint efforts to enhance health emergency preparedness to name but a few aspects.





Guests to the Europe Day 2023 reception try Bulgarian food at the country's booth at Samcheonggak, central Seoul, May 9. Courtesy of EU Delegation in Korea
This is a guest opinion column

Have you ever forgotten to scan an item at the self check-out line and only discovered your mistake when you got back to the car? Or, you walked past the register to get an item located outside the store with your cart full of merchandise, before going back into the store to pay? Do you think that should be a felony that could land you in prison for twenty years?

Well, under a new bill in the Alabama House, HB288, you could easily be charged with a Class B felony for unknowingly committing a new crime called retail theft. The proposed legislation has been dubbed The Retail Crime Prevention Act, yet it does nothing at all to actually prevent crime. Although it supposedly aims to combat organized criminal groups that engage in retail theft, this bill is loaded with ambiguity  ambiguity that can be easily misapplied or misinterpreted to result in unintended and severe consequences.

For example, the bill makes it a felony to steal a shopping cart, because many shopping carts actually cost over $500. Stealing a shopping cart, by the way, is already against the law. Yet, how many times have you seen destitute people using a shopping cart they found in the street, but didnt steal, to haul what little they own? Under this law, it would be automatically assumed that they stole it and that would be a Class B felony. If someone was with them, they would be charged as an accomplice and would face the same felony charges.

The bill also makes it a felony to participate in aggravated retail theft, which is defined as when two or more people are suspected to be acting in concert as accomplices to commit retail theft. However, the bills language is so vague and ambiguous, it seems to equate two college kids stealing a candy bar to much more serious premeditated, organized criminal gangs engaging in grand theft.

But, the real problem here might be that one distracted moment when you, or someone in your family, forgot to scan the case of bottled water or dog food that was placed under the cart and, suddenly, you are now facing up to 20 years in prison. Not to mention, losing your job, your family, and your future. This just doesnt make any sense and it sure doesnt prevent criminal gangs from shoplifting.

Maybe stores should stop cutting costs on security by putting in more and more self check-outs to increase their profit margins. Stores also put tons of merchandise outside their establishments to attract customers. So, you can see how easily it could be misapplied to an innocent consumer who decided to go outside to get another item and had every intention to pay for it.

If lawmakers are truly concerned about combating criminal gangs that steal their merchandise, this bill seriously misses the mark. Simply adding harsher punishments to something already illegal is not going to do much, if anything. In effect, this bill would put more people in prison for much longer and exacerbate the overcrowding issues we struggle with now. Alabama prisons are already bursting at the seams. Tough penalties and longer sentences are not the answer.

We can all agree that stealing is wrong. Theft and shoplifting should be punished. and it is under our existing laws. This bill doesnt make our communities safer. Nor does it address rising consumer costs. Instead, it could result in innocent shoppers being accused and/or convicted of a felony.

If we want to get smart on crime, we need to address its root causes  poverty, lack of educational opportunity, and a shortage of stable, family-sustaining jobs. We already have laws for theft and shoplifting. Lets not pass a flawed and unnecessary bill that could put someone in prison because they forgot to scan a bag of dog food in the bottom of their cart.

Rep. Prince Chestnut, D-Selma, represents District 67 in the Alabama House of Representative
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called out Sen. Tommy Tuberville on Thursday, saying the Alabama senators defense of white nationalists was utterly revolting.

Schumer also criticized Tubervilles holds on more than 180 military nominations over objections to new Defense Department policies expanding abortion access, arguing the move is endangering military readiness.

Sen. Tuberville needs to do two things: he needs to come out and state clearly and unequivocally that white nationalism is un-American, and he needs to drop his destructive holds on hundreds of our senior military leaders, the New York Democrat said on the Senate floor. This farce is endangering our national security, putting the lives of men and women who have served our country for decades in real trouble, and it needs to end.

In an interview with WBHM in Birmingham, Tuberville was asked if he believed white nationalists should be allowed to serve in the military.

They call them that, Alabamas senior senator said. I call them Americans.

Schumer said the remark was profane and dangerous.

Revolting. Utterly revolting. Does Senator Tuberville honestly believe that our military is stronger with white nationalists in its ranks? the majority leader said.

I cannot believe this needs to be said, but white nationalism has no place in our armed forces and no place in any corner of American society. Period. Full stop. End of story, he continued. I urge Senator Tuberville to think about the destructive spectacle he is creating in the Senate. His actions are dangerous. His words are gravely damaging. And his refusal to think about the consequences of his actions on our military personnel and families is a stain on this Chamber.

Tuberville is holding up 184 Defense Department nominations over the agencies policies that allow service members to request administrative absence for non-covered reproductive health services, which includes elective abortions and IVF, for themselves or to accompany their partners. The policies also provide transportation allowances to travel to states where reproductive care is more expansive.

Alabamas senior senator contends the policies are unlawful.

On Wednesday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he does not support Tubervilles stance.

I dont support putting a hold on military nominations, I dont support that, McConnell told reporters, according to The Hill.
The director-general-level meeting was held at Seoul's foreign ministry, with the Korean side headed by Yun Hyun-soo, head of the ministry's bureau for climate change, energy, environment and scientific affairs. Korea Times file



Korea and Japan held working-level consultations on Friday to discuss details of Seoul's inspection of Tokyo's plan to discharge contaminated water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant.



The director-general-level meeting was held at Seoul's foreign ministry, with the Korean side headed by Yun Hyun-soo, head of the ministry's bureau for climate change, energy, environment and scientific affairs, and the Japanese side led by Atsushi Kaifu, director-general of the Japanese foreign ministry's disarmament, non-proliferation and science department.
















English News China makes active efforts to promote cultural relics conservation in Asia

Alwihda Info | Par peoplesdaily - 11 Mai 2023



China will provide training sessions for at least 50 cultural heritage workers from other Asian countries over the next three years, promote exchanges on technologies, philosophies and practices of cultural heritage conservation in Asia and build young professional teams of Asian cultural heritage protection.

By Zhang Danhua, Du Yifei, People's Daily As an important cradle of human civilizations, Asia has nurtured and is home to an immeasurable wealth of cultural heritage, writing a splendid chapter in the annals of world civilizations.



However, natural disasters, such as earthquakes, as well as climate change, urbanization, regional conflicts, capital and human resource shortage, and insufficient management have placed Asia's conservation of cultural heritage in an unprecedentedly complex situation.



In May 2019, Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed for making efforts to conserve cultural heritage in Asia at the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations, saying China is ready to work with other countries to protect Asian cultural heritage and better preserve and sustain Asian civilizations.



Now four years on, all parties have made active response and concerted efforts, carried out practical cooperation in the fields of research on ancient civilizations, joint archaeology, relics repair, exchanges between museums and more, and thus Asia has made new contribution to conserving the essence of human civilizations.



Last month, the first General Assembly of the Alliance for Cultural Heritage in Asia was held in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi province. It was joined by 150 representatives from three international organizations and 21 countries including Pakistan.



At the assembly, the Alliance for Cultural Heritage in Asia was officially launched and a joint declaration on cultural heritage protection in Asia released.



According to the declaration, parties involved should carry out wide cooperation on promoting urban and rural cultural heritage conservation, joint archaeology, relics repair, combating illicit trafficking of cultural property, development of cultural heritage conservation technologies and training of young talents, based on the principles of mutual respect, equality, inclusiveness, opening and mutual learning.



Since Xi proposed for making efforts to conserve cultural heritage in Asia in 2019, China and other Asian countries have implemented a series of projects of the cooperation on cultural heritage conservation.



For instance, Art Exhibitions China has hosted the "Three Kingdoms Unveiling the Story" exhibition in Japan; The Palace Museum, in cooperation with relevant departments in Pakistan, has launched the "Gandgara Heritage along the Silk Road" exhibition in the Forbidden City.



Besides, Chinese professionals of archaeology and relics repair have participated in joint archaeology and conservation activities in different countries and regions in Asia. China has signed cooperation documents on cultural heritage conservation with Pakistan and South Korea, and launched senior online training programs on the conservation of stone relics together with Afghanistan and Pakistan.



Nasir Khan, Deputy head of the Department of Archaeology and Museums of the National Heritage and Culture Division of Pakistan, noted that China has always helped Pakistan train professionals and shared with the latter its technological experiences of cultural relics conservation. China has offered opportunities for Pakistani professionals of cultural relics conservation to host exhibitions in China, which is conducive to introducing Pakistani culture to a larger group of audience.



At present, the "Gandgara Heritage along the Silk Road" exhibition is currently held at the Palace Museum in Beijing. Fareena Mazhar, Secretary of the National Heritage and Culture Division of Pakistan, called the exhibition an achievement of the joint efforts made by China and Pakistan.



She said the exhibition is a great outcome of China-Pakistan cultural exchanges and has received wide attention.



According to statistics, China has launched 11 relics repair projects in cooperation with Cambodia, Mongolia, Uzbekistan, Nepal, Myanmar and Kyrgyzstan over the past four years.



Besides, China has also carried out 33 joint archaeological projects with 19 countries including the United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan and Saudi Arabia, which involved the studies of major civilization routes and systems such as the land and maritime Silk Road.



China has always been active, practical, open and professional in advancing the shared mission of cultural heritage protection in Asia, and has launched wide and effective cooperation with other Asian countries, said Li Qun, vice minister of culture and tourism and head of the National Cultural Heritage Administration.



China will share relevant technologies with other countries and offer technological services in cultural heritage protection for members of the Alliance for Cultural Heritage in Asia in relics conservation and repair, joint archaeology, safety of heritage sites and other sectors.



Besides, China will provide training sessions for at least 50 cultural heritage workers from other Asian countries over the next three years, promote exchanges on technologies, philosophies and practices of cultural heritage conservation in Asia and build young professional teams of Asian cultural heritage protection.



Dans la meme rubrique : < > Cultural digitalization makes progress at Sanxingdui Ruins site Luban Workshop: a bridge of cultural, people-to-people communication between China, foreign countries China's sincere hope to promote security, stability in Middle East Pour toute information, contactez-nous au : +(235) 99267667 ; 62883277 ; 66267667 (Bureau N'Djamena)










English News China's land-sea trade corridor shows strong vitality

Alwihda Info | Par peoplesdaily - 11 Mai 2023



The land-sea route not only builds a better transport network, but also strengthens economic and trade cooperation between China and other countries. It injects increasing momentum for foreign enterprises to deepen trade cooperation with China.

By Liu Hui, People's Daily A rail-sea intermodal freight train recently departed from southwest China's Chongqing municipality, running along the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor for Qinzhou, south China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. The train carried 100 containers of automobiles, motorcycles and engines, which would be later shipped to destinations in Southeast Asia via Qinzhou Port.



During the Chinese Lunar New Year period this year, the year-on-year growth in the number of trains running along the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor set a new record.



The New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor is a new channel of international trade jointly established by regions in western China and ASEAN members.



In September 2017, the first train of a regular sea-rail transit route linking China and Singapore, the former version of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, departed from Chongqing.



The southward route took Chongqing as its logistic and operational center and involved key nodes including Guangxi, Guizhou, Gansu, Qinghai and other provincial-level regions in western China. Sending cargo to Southeast Asia and the rest of the world via China's Guangxi, the rail-sea intermodal route gradually became the most convenient export channel in western China.



Today, the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor has constantly optimized its services, and its network now extends to ports in Singapore, Bangkok of Thailand, Ho Chi Minh City of Vietnam and other ASEAN regions.



The implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) has further accelerated regional economic integration and is driving the demand for international logistics. The corridor has provided diversified choices for merchants.



"With the land-sea route, cargos from Brunei can be shipped to Qinzhou Port via Singapore and then be sent to China's Yunnan, Sichuan and Chongqing by train, which is very convenient, " said a merchant surnamed Zheng from Brunei who sells Brunei's shrimp chips and coffee products to the Chinese market and brings Chinese orah mandarin oranges to ASEAN countries.



"I can save both time and money to ship my products via this route," Zheng told People's Daily.



Trade between western China and ASEAN members used to rely on the ports in eastern China, said Li Mingjiang, Associate Professor at S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University.



The New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor has reduced shipping distance and thus lowered cost, and helps strengthen the relations between regions in China's western regions and ASEAN countries in trade, investment and logistics, Li noted.



As one of the largest shipping companies in Southeast Asia, Pacific International Lines (PIL) of Singapore runs two routes along the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor.



According to the executive chairman of the company Teo Siong Seng, TIL ships durians, coconuts, mangoes, bananas and other fruits from Southeast Asia to regions across China via Qinzhou every year during the harvest season.



The land-sea route not only builds a better transport network, but also strengthens economic and trade cooperation between China and other countries. It injects increasing momentum for foreign enterprises to deepen trade cooperation with China.



Over recent years, TIL's business volume in Guangxi has been on a rapid increase. Teo Siong Seng told People's Daily that industrial raw materials, fertilizers, and minerals produced in southwest China are being shipped along the corridor to Southeast Asia and other countries and regions along the Belt and Road, including products with high value-added products such as auto parts and solar panels, which has significantly promoted local economic development.



The New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor has presented new opportunities of China-ASEAN cooperation to more and more companies in Southeast Asia.



As the China-Laos Railway and other connectivity projects started operation, Zheng is planning to bring more ASEAN products to China and take them to Europe through China-Europe freight trains.



The Bruneian businessman said the implementation of the RCEP has significantly facilitated customs clearance, which led to a big rise in his company's exports.



"Better connectivity means more business opportunities," Zheng said.



Dans la meme rubrique : < > Cultural digitalization makes progress at Sanxingdui Ruins site Luban Workshop: a bridge of cultural, people-to-people communication between China, foreign countries China's sincere hope to promote security, stability in Middle East Pour toute information, contactez-nous au : +(235) 99267667 ; 62883277 ; 66267667 (Bureau N'Djamena)
Nothing can sink a good cause in a debate faster than a bad argument. Yet, many well meaning pro-Israel advocates continue to do so, thus giving cause to Israels enemies.

The emphatic question that many pro-Israel advocates continue to pose is: What is a Palestinian?

Most often the questioner is playing coy in order to make a point. He is trying to invalidate any sense of Palestinian identity, and thereby any claim on the land. However, does that help the Israeli position?

I think not! I am in favor of Israeli sovereignty west of the Jordan River, but denying the Palestinian identity will make supporters of Israel seem delusional.

Let us examine similar situations.

Ah, some say, the Palestinians never existed as a nation.

Neither did the Quebecois.

Quebec never existed as a free nation. Prior to the British conquest, Quebec was just an outpost of the greater French empire. Yet, no one doubts that the Quebecois exist.

Ah, but you say: Palestinian identity was invented in 1964 by the Soviet KGB, in order to spark an anti-colonial war.

However, that is not so. Jaffa Arabs started publishing a paper call Falastin (Palestine) in 1911. Their editorials, even at that early date, when it was still under Turkish sovereignty, were against Zionism.

It was also the country's fiercest and most consistent critic of the Zionist movement, denouncing it as a threat to Palestine's Arab population. It helped shape Palestinian identity. -- Wikipedia

Ah, but you say, their only reason for coalescing was to prevent Jewish sovereignty, not a genuine sense of nationality.

That logic would invalidate Canada. For much of its history, the only thing Canadians could agree on was they they didnt want to be American. This astounded us Americans since much of Canada (the English speaking areas) is culturally all but indistinguishable from the United States. Anti-Americanism was Canadas chief or major raison d'etre. That has changed, but only recently.

Yet, Canadians exist.

The Palestinians, at that time, wanted to remain an Arab people. Resisting immigration is not necessarily wrong. Israel does it today.

And there was the Palestinian Congress in 1919, long before 1964, and the supposed Soviet invention of Palestinian identity.

A photo from the New York Public Library collection titled "A Palestine peasant girl showing beautifully embroidered costume"

Dated 1900 - 1938 (public domain)

Ah, but you say, the Palestinians only wanted to join Syria.

Well, Texas had a unification with America in mind in 1835, when it asserted a Texan identity. No one would say that Texans do not exist.

The case of Texas is particularly instructive. Prior to 1835:

There had never been a state called Texas. (Just part of recent Mexican administrative zone: Coahuila y Tejas)

There had never been a Texan language.

There had never been a religion unique to Texas.

There had never been a Texan currency.

There had never been a Texan capital.

There had never been a people called Texan ... (Texian, or Texican. It took a while to decide a demonym.)

There was no prior history of Texas.

And the people tended to call themselves Anglos or Americans, identifying with America.

Almost all of the Texans were born outside Texas at that time.

Yet, Texans exist.

The Palestinians exist  maybe unfortunately, but they exist; and the cause of Israel is not helped by trying to deny their identity, which makes Zionism look delusional.

Ah, but a lot of the Palestinians are recent arrivals, you say.

Not all of the Palestinians, and even most of the recent arrivals made it to the Holy Land a generation or two before most Jews returned from Europe or the Arab world. Check Texas again. Most Texans were recent arrivals in 1835. Some of them showed up, just to fight.

You may all go to hell and I will go to Texas. Davy Crockett

Ah, but the Palestinians cannot even pronounce the letter P. They mispronounce the name of their own country.

And Texans could not pronounce Tejas, which is why it took a while for their demonym to fix itself. Texican and Texian were other contenders.

As for the Arabic language not having the letter P, Hebrew does not have the letter J, yet Jews exist.

Like it or not, the Jewish return to their patrimony mimicked a colonial endeavor, and even the early Zionists admitted this. They saw no other way to accomplish their project. They used the terms.

Colonisation of Palestine

Agreement with Arabs Impossible at present

Zionism Must Go Forward

 They feel at least the same instinctive jealous love of Palestine, as the old Aztecs felt for ancient Mexico , and their Sioux for their rolling Prairies.

 We cannot offer any adequate compensation to the Palestinian Arabs in return for Palestine. And therefore, there is no likelihood of any voluntary agreement being reached

-- The Iron Wall, by Jabotinsky, a right wing Zionist founding father.

Zeev Jabotinsky did not deny their identity. And Herzl? He wanted European protection.

The Society of Jews will treat with the present masters of the land, putting itself under the protectorate of the European Powers, if they prove friendly to the plan. -- The Jewish State

Some early Jewish pioneer communities were funded by the Jewish Colonisation Assocation. They did not shy away from the term.

And to be clear, the official Zionist Mandate marched in under the British Army.

Zionism is still valid, and the Jews have a better claim to the land than the Palestinians, but those Palestinians cannot be denied existence as a collective. Doing so will only make Zionists look delusional and irrational.

I am not advocating for a two-state solution, as the Palestinians want to destroy Israel. Neither am I advocating for a one-state solution which would enfranchise hostile Muslims.

But I am asking pro-Israel advocates to stop making ridiculous arguments.

The argument has to be framed why the Jews have a better case, and a more moral cause. This is what the founders of Zionism presented to the world. In fact, it is what the Bible advocated when the Lord told Abraham that he would not give him the land until the sins of the locals had been filled. In other words, until they become corrupt enough to forfeit title.

In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure. - Gen 15:16

In todays woke culture, the idea of people groups becoming thoroughly decadent is considered Western racism, but the concept seems to have begun with the Jews, not Europeans.

The Palestinians exist; it is just that the Jewish claim is better, much better.

I do not know how to solve the Palestinian problem, since no solution agreeable to the Jews will be embraced by the Palestinians. I am still in favor of a degree of voluntary re-imbursed relocation, but the Arab states refuse to naturalize the Palestinians, leaving only South America as a possibility. Beyond that, who will pay for it?

So what is a Palestinian?

The non-Jewish, Arabic speaking, inhabitants of the Holy Land, west of the Jordan River, who resist Jewish sovereignty.

This does not lionize the Palestinians. It merely admits they exist.

Difficult problems are solved by hard answers, not irrational statements.
The battle for the soul of America has been going on for a while, but up to now, it hasn't been waged openly or directly. It has mostly involved lying politicians and media, hidden election manipulation, clandestine censorship by corrupt government agencies  things like that. The tactics are about to change.

The events of the last few weeks have drawn national attention to Tennessee, providing the left with the opportunity it needed to begin attacking red states openly and directly. Like the Eye of Sauron, the left has now focused its malevolent gaze upon Tennessee. From the venal, twisted creatures they've fraudulently installed in national office all the way down to any slimy thing they can coax out from under a rock, the forces of Mordor are coming for Tennessee.

Tennessee is under attack because of what it represents. Tennessee is a red state that still upholds the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the rule of law. Its people are free to live their lives, and they still cherish traditional American values like faith, family, and patriotism. Tennessee, you have so much to be proud of. You're still everything the rest of us love about America, and the left hates you for it.

The pressure is only going to intensify regarding both the Nashville school shooting and the expulsion of the two Democrat representatives from Memphis. Two of the left's favorite activities are involved here: making opportunistic demands for gun control after an incident and making spurious claims against Republicans of racism. They're using public pressure to force Tennesseans into gun control and to get them to acknowledge their claims of racism. This is the opening skirmish in an existential fight over 10th Amendment protection from the federal government, and it will affect the survival of all red states going forward.

When Gov. Lee, a few months ago, told some media flak who was talking about concealed-carry permits that the Constitution is his carry permit in Tennessee, every Republican in America pumped his fist and said, "Yes!" After the Nashville school shooting, he brought up the idea of placing armed security guards at schools. Bravo  that was the right idea. But suddenly, now that the left is pressurizing the Nashville shooting, he's advocating for red flag laws. That is the wrong idea. Doesn't he recognize the face of tyranny when he sees it?

Red flag laws are just "foot in the door" gun control, and they are being abused by leftist federal judges in many states to take guns from people on flimsy pretenses. Red state voters fully understand that the actual purpose of the Second Amendment is to ensure that the people can protect themselves from a tyrannical government. They also know what "shall not be infringed" means. As Margaret Thatcher once said, "This is no time to go wobbly."

The leftist city government in Nashville has refused to release the school shooter's "manifesto" to the public for over a month. I heard Buck Sexton and Clay Travis on the radio saying that inside information exists suggesting the shooter's manifesto contains an explanation of why the Christian school was chosen as a target: it had minimal security. The leftist city government of Nashville should not be the arbiter of what the public is allowed to know about this case.

The fact is that schools get shot up because states allow the Department of Education and the American Federation of Teachers to dictate that schools be "gun-free zones." Gun-free zones are tourist attractions to lunatics who want to do violence. Gov. Lee should just go right ahead with his idea of installing armed security. The Department of Education and the American Federation of Teachers have no constitutionally based authority over Tennessee schools.

Gov. Lee should also step in and clear up this manifesto issue for the citizens of Tennessee. This is particularly important when the possibility exists that Nashville's leftist politicians are attempting hide the truth and cover their keisters. The people of Tennessee have a right to know if policies championed by the left led to the deaths of those children.

The left is threatening to use its corrupt DOJ to investigate the expulsion of those reprehensible Democrat representatives from the Tennessee Legislature. Those people were rightly expelled for disrupting the legislative session and inciting violence with a bullhorn during a protest at the State House.

The left is pushing the claim that the expulsions were based on racism. As we have already seen, the Biden administration and its DOJ aren't interested in the truth. Biden's DOJ wants to intimidate the other red states by illegitimately throwing its weight around in Tennessee. Now the DOJ is suing Tennessee for having the audacity to vote to protect the state's children from the trans movement. The DOJ has no authority to interfere with the state government of Tennessee.

Gov. Lee can provide a leadership example to red state America by disregarding the Department of Education, the DOJ, the American Federation of Teachers, and leftist politicians. He should make it clear that Tennessee has no obligation under the Constitution to submit to federal overreach, nor is Tennessee obligated to provide a stage for the left's political stunts. Again, these are vital 10th Amendment and states' rights issues.

I hope, for his sake, that Gov. Lee comes to realize that he cannot work with or appease the people who are attacking Tennessee. Any attempt to do that with these leftist politicians or the "state-controlled media" will be reciprocated with the back of their hand. Red flag laws are just the beginning of what the left will demand from him, and then they'll publicly rub his face in every concession he makes. They'll destroy his career, and when they're done, they'll just laugh and kick him to the curb. Yet he is walking into their trap.

There is still time for the governor to back away from this trap. The voters of Tennessee will fully support him if he refuses to capitulate. But what will they think if he gives in? What will Republicans nationwide think? How will it affect the other red states, which many see as the last hope of this country, if Tennessee is lost?

If Gov. Lee takes a strong stand against the left now, when everything is on the line, he'll be the toast of America. If he tries to work with or appease the left, I'm afraid he'll just be toast.

Image: Brent Moore via Flickr, CC BY-NC 2.0.
We start with a provocative partisan title. We may lose some readers here who cant or wont evaluate issues that dont align with their beliefs. There is a lot of smoke, plenty of facts, and a staggering unwillingness by authorities to connect the dots and resolve the issues at bar. The number one impediment to opening eyes is the fear that the Trump monster lurks in the shadows awaiting an imminent return.

Good government should be non-partisan, competent, and trustworthy. (It hasnt been for a long time.) Democrat partisans overwhelmingly populate the vast majority of government departments, and no Republican administration has been able to put a dent in that political slant. Constant leaks have become the story instead of relaying the accomplishments of Republican presidents. Democrats dont have to use overt bias to enforce a progressive liberal bureaucracy to do their bidding; instead, they step aside and watch a parade of bias and salacious leaks flow endlessly to a media too willing to use unnamed sources. President Trump faced an average of two leaks a day in his first 100 days, and to this day, virtually no one was punished in any government agency, including agency heads, for any leaks to reporters.

Joe Biden is not the captain of our Ship of State; a shadow government pulls his strings. I cannot view Biden in the context of his record and statements and see him as an able leader. Many hear the rhetoric saying he is The Healer in Chief despite the fact that he is likely the most divisive president in history. In his stump speeches, Biden endlessly denigrates MAGA extremists who cast over 74 million votes against him. His echo chamber seems to believe he can demonize and ignore those voters because they are evil and irrelevant to him; it is this constant theme that exposes his administration as entirely partisan. Finishing the Job is his new campaign cry for a second term, but one has to wonder what finishing the job actually means.

Conservatives like myself hardly recognize our country today. Four more Biden years make me feel my next stop might be Dachau. Hyperbolic? I am so vehemently opposed to so much of the Biden agenda and its effect on myself and the people I love, that my only option is to fight back. Should I be considered a danger to Bidens agenda? Does an FBI entrapment await me as it has others? Home of the Free, Land of the Brave raises their hackles.

Five concerns expose the truth of Bidens corruption:

Bidens mental acuity should be a central issue. If intellectually incompetent, he should not be the leader of the free world. Two revealing factoids should be shocking to all of us. First, at a rare press conference on April 26th, Biden was photographed holding a small pamphlet which appeared to contain damning pictures and text  the reporters who would be asking questions, the order which he should call on them, and the questions he would be asked. Reporters names were even spelled out phonetically. Of course, the White House denies it, but what kind of reporter would submit their questions in advance? A different world of journalism indeed and one in which we should all feel handled.

Next, on April 27th, Biden had to be reminded by an actual child of the last country he visited. What was the last country you traveled to, a child asked during the White Houses Take Your Child to Work Day event. Per Biden:

The last country I've traveled  I'm trying to think the last one I was in  I, Ive been to 89, so, uh  I'm trying to think. What was the last  Where was the last place I was? Its hard to keep track.

These memory glitches should frighten national security officials. What would Biden do or say during a National Nuclear Emergency when seconds count? Biden had two brain aneurysms in 1988, likely leading to permanent cognitive deficits.

The truth of unaccompanied minors (UACs) being brought across our border. A staggering number of unaccompanied children have been sent here, but to whom and why? The Biden administration has seen almost 400,000 UACs cross the border. An HHS whistleblower testified that 85,000 children are lost and cannot be accounted for, but are believed to be in indentured servitude (at best). The Biden administration knows this and has done nothing. Bidens reputation as a compassionate humanitarian is exposed for what it isrhetoric. Where theres smoke, look for fire. Biden came from humble means, never worked in the private sector, but somehow became wildly wealthy. Several of Bidens family members essentially work in the family business of apparent influence peddling. Does Bidens frequent refrain, I never spoke with my son about his overseas business deals come to mind? It makes one wonder if never really means never!. Biden has nine relatives receiving millions in foreign cash. What were they talking about when Vice President Biden and his cronies met 80 times at the White House? Veracity is everything when you solicit the publics trust, and Bidens persona is wrapped around his supposed trustworthiness. However, the facts here point to a person who uses hyperbole, manipulation, and outright lying to sway public opinion.

Current news speaks of an IRS whistleblower who will likely testify before Congress alleging that the Hunter Biden probe was intentionally mishandled. While centered on most of the Biden family, excluding the Big Guy, it is construed that their family business was structured to use Joes political contacts to coerce monies to be distributed to the family. Without piercing this alleged conspiracy, he can continue business as usual. Many good Americans seek justice and vindication to prove he and some of his children are corrupt and disloyal to our country.

Now, there is another whistleblower who apparently works in the Justice Department that directly points to then-Vice President Biden accepting bribes. Where does this all end? With the MSM not reporting objectively, the American people are left to wonder about right-wing conspiracies. If its news, why isnt it reported?

Misinformation is being used to achieve political ends. At Bidens request, Secretary of State Anthony Blinkin set in motion a letter from 51 former intelligence officials declaring the Hunter Biden laptop as Russian disinformation. We now know that the laptop is genuine; however, the FBI never followed up with the many national security implications the laptop contains. Asking why does not adequately cover an issue of this magnitude. Withholding important information is another reason the 2020 election is not considered above board by many. Dereliction of his own flesh and blood. (Perhaps the most damning of all.) When asked how many grandchildren he has, Biden answers, I don't know. Widely known is the fact that Hunter Biden had a child with a stripper, and the Biden family refuses to acknowledge little Navy Joans paternity. This flaw telegraphs so much more though. Failing to own up to the truth, neglecting the role of a financial supporter of your own offspring, and canceling a child by denying her existence are actions having vast trust and integrity ramifications. Why should we trust someone who thinks and lives only for himself?

Our legacy is the sum of our actions. Biden has demonstrated too many troubling flaws, and Biden would likely never have reached the Oval Office except for withholding vital information and the anyone but Trump vote.

Did this turn out to be a good bargain?

God Bless America!

Allan J. FeiferPatriot, Author, Businessman, and Thinker. Read more about Allan, his background, and his ideas to create a better tomorrow at www.1plus1equals2.com.

Image: Free image, Pixabay license, no attribution required.
Daniel Penny, along with others on a New York subway, used a wrestling hold to subdue Jordan Neely after the latters behavior was hostile and erratic. The Democrat narrative is that a white supremacist murdered a Michael Jackson impersonator. Now, Alvin Bragg, Manhattans hard-left District Attorney, has indicted Penny for manslaughter. New Yorkers, though, may not take this indictment lying down.

The last time New York City was as violently out of control as today was in the 1970s and early 1980s. Thats why, when Bernhard Goetz, a white subway rider who had previously been violently mugged, pulled out a gun and shot four black teens who were demanding his money, many in New York City supported him. He was their everyman. The jury rejected serious charges against him, finding him guilty of carrying an unlicensed firearm, for which he served only eight months.

Giuliani restored order to New York, and Bloomberg maintained it. Things fell apart again under DeBlasio, a process that accelerated when BLM paralyzed policing. Today, in NYC subways, its deja vu all over again for those who remember the 1970s.

Image: Neely being put in a recovery position. Twitter screen grab.

Subway crime goes beyond fare-jumpers, litter, and graffiti. It includes homeless people taking over subway cars and literally befouling them with urine, and crazy people shooting at passengers, pushing them onto the tracks, and otherwise assaulting them.

It was in this context that Neely, a homeless man with a long criminal record, including multiple assault charges, came into contact with Penny. According to witnesses, Neely behaved in a hostile and erratic manner and threw trash at people (a form of assault), frightening passengers. Thats why Penny put Neely in a chokehold, while two other passengers helped.

For a chokehold, one person puts his arm around another persons neck to control that person. Ive had hundreds of chokeholds put on me, and Ive put hundreds on other people. Nobody choked. If you apply hard pressure the correct way, though, you can either cut off someones air supply, suffocating them or the flow of blood to their brain. The moment you remove pressure, the suffocation stops, and the blood flow returns.

So, its theoretically possible that a chokehold could have killed Neely. Except that we know from the full video, rather than the parts the media focused on, that once Neely stopped screaming and fighting, Penny put him in a recovery position. This is inconsistent with intending to kill a man or believing you have killed him. Several people involved (many of whom thanked Penny) were certain that Neely was aliveand, indeed, Neely was alive, dying only at the hospital:

MSM doesnt want you to see this bombshell video. Marine vet who restrained Jordan Neely is complimented by other passengers & puts Neely in the recovery position. Notice how NOBODY is acting like this was a murder.



https://t.co/4LNDBzDF1y  Liz Wheeler (@Liz_Wheeler) May 8, 2023

Hypothetically, though, it shouldnt matter if Neely had died. The self-defense principle is that you must neutralize the threat. People die because they thought that wounding someone was sufficient to neutralize them.

New Yorks self-defense doctrine gives reasonable people the right to take whatever steps are needed to defend themselves or others. They dont have to wait until theyre wounded (perhaps fatally) to act. Instead, the justification for killing someone kicks in when a person reasonably believes it is necessary to defend himself/ herself or a third party when there is a reasonable belief of imminent use of unlawful physical force. (NY Penal Code  35.15.)

Leftists from D.A. Alvin Bragg to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, though, hate self-defense because it makes people less dependent on the government. When a bodega worker killed a threatening robber, Bragg indicted the worker for murder. He wanted to do the same when a garage security guard wrestled the gun from a robber who shot him and fired back, killing the robber. Recall that, in Canada, Justin Trudeau has successfully eliminated self-defense:

You cant use a gun for self-protection in Canada. Its not a right that you have, says Trudeau.



Criminals could potentially harm you and your family with ILLEGAL guns, but YOU, law-abiding citizen, do not have the right to defend yourself with a LEGAL gun. pic.twitter.com/Lt4oS24TiU  Roberto Wakerell-Cruz (@Robertopedia) June 10, 2022

Therefore, it was predictable that Bragg would indict Penny for second-degree manslaughter.

The real question is whether New Yorkers will resist, as they did with the bodega and parking garage workers. While the left is pushing the George Floyd narrative (white-on-black violence), New Yorkers are looking at a subway that functions as the citys artery, but that is becoming too dangerous for them to use.

No wonder even left-wing outlets are worriedly writing about the number of New Yorkers who have come to Pennys defense. (See, e.g., Vox, Daily News, Politico, and The Times-Tribune.) And no wonder that Bragg bypassed the grand jury because he feared theyd side with Penny and withhold an indictment.

New Yorkers understand that the government cannot and will notand does not want toprotect them from violence. As happened with Bernie Goetz almost 40 years ago, this is when vigilantes become heroes.

You can contribute to Daniel Penny's legal defense fund here.
For mobility, America in the 20th century lived through a transition from horses to fossil fuels. Except for supplying roads, the government was hardly involved. No coercion or subsidies were necessary. Private enterprise, the free market, voluntary exchange, and the profit motive were enough to provide the oil, oil refineries, and filling stations. And it all happened organically and without centralized control.

Government is far more powerful and intrusive than we would like it to be. Nevertheless, its power has limits, especially when its policy objectives are unrealistic or impossible.

The federal and some state governments have announced a goal of eliminating fossil fuel vehicles. The federal government is demanding that 67 percent of new vehicles sold be electric by 2032. California regulators recently voted unanimously to ban the sale of new diesel trucks as of 2036.

Electric vehicles have been available for several years. But so far, less than six percent of vehicles in the U.S. are electric. The percentage of electric trucks is close to zero.

The choices drivers now have before them are internal combustion engines (ICEs), electric vehicles (E.V.s), and hybrids of the two. Like all of life's choices, each has advantages and disadvantages. Most drivers are apparently quite satisfied with their ICE vehicles. As technology now stands, American drivers by an overwhelming margin see ICE vehicles as having a much better balance of pluses and minuses than E.V.s.

Why are E.V.s a hard sell for most Americans? Three disadvantages stand out  their lengthy battery-charging time, their limited range, and their high prices. It takes just minutes to refuel an ICE vehicle and hours to recharge an E.V. Most people feel pressed for time. That's a common cause of stress.

The limited range issue is a Catch-22. More charging stations would reduce the problem, but because there are so few E.V.s, it's difficult to make a profit building more stations.

Another strong headwind against the hopes for a massive transition is that the average price for E.V.s is more than twice as high as for ICEs. In spite of those high prices, or maybe because of them, Ford Motor Company just announced that it has lost over $60,000 for each of the E.V.s it has sold to date, with total losses so far of over $5 billion. How long can even woke corporations and their shareholders tolerate such losses? There have to be limits to what people will pay to virtue-signal.

In order to tolerate the charging time, the limited range, and the high-price downsides of E.V.s, you almost have to be a climate alarmist and feel guilty about causing a climate catastrophe. Polls indicate that few Americans are so inclined.

The Democrats' obsession with E.V.s is a big reveal about how they think, or more accurately, how they don't think. When they latch on to a new policy objective, they become monomaniacal. They're not interested in what Americans actually want. Democrats care not a whit about consumer sovereignty, but consumers still possess considerable power. In this latest Democrat war against us, we will likely see passive resistance soar like never before.

Ron Ross is a former economics professor and author of The Unbeatable Market. He resides in Arcata, California and can be reached at rossecon@aol.com . His website is rossecon.com.

Image via Hippopx.
As Joe Biden's weakly enforced Title 42 expires and illegal border-crossers can no longer be expelled from the U.S. based on pandemic considerations, Homeland Security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas had a tough, scary message for potential migrants:

"I want to be very clear: our borders are not open. People who cross our border unlawfully and without a legal basis to remain will be promptly processed and removed," Mayorkas said.

That is laughable. He's made that tough, scary warning many times before, and well, here we are.

According to Fox News, here's the real priority:

Sources tell Fox News that the priority right now for Border Patrol is avoiding images of overcrowding and processing migrants as fast as possible. Authorities earlier this week greenlighted "safe" mass street releases if CBP and non-governmental organization (NGO) partners cannot hold them. It means that the largest wave of mass releases in history has already begun and will continue in the coming days.

This tells illegal migrants what Mayorkas means when he says not to cross the border. It's not about the importance of obeying the law. It's about avoiding news photos of too many migrants crossing the border, which would bring bad publicity to him and his policies. What a message to send to illegal border-crossers.

Migrants already know that if they turn themselves in to the Border Patrol, they'll more likely be mass-released into the country without so much as a court date for their inevitably spurious claims to asylum. Title 42 resulted in the expulsion of only 19% of them, meaning the rest had an 81% chance of getting in. Now with Title 8, the result will be the same, and if there are a lot of them coming, they will simply be released  after lots of tough vetting, they claim, another one to make migrants laugh.

If they are slightly less lucky, they will be issued a "notice to report" to the authorities, called "parole," to be done on the honor system. Most, of course, skip the honor, according to a report from the Washington Times. If they are slightly less lucky than that, they will be released on an "alternative to detention," plan, or "parole" as well, and if it gets to that, there aren't going to be any parole officers looking for them once they skip their court date two, three, or ten years from now. Most will be released without even a notice to report to ICE  the full catch and release. That's been in the news, too. The New York Post has a leaked document.

The fact that the Bidenites are more concerned about television pictures of crowded detention facilities than they are about securing the border tells migrants all they need to know about what their odds are if they cross illegally in huge numbers. Already there are 60,000 migrants massed at the border, and another 150,000 on the way. The more who cross, the fewer who get detained and expelled, owing to the Biden's real priority: the fear of those news pictures.

Migrants aren't stupid and can read between the lines of messages. If the Biden priority is avoiding those overcrowded news pictures, then for them, the more who cross, the better.

Image: Screen shot from KTLA5 video via YouTube.
As to the wisdom of appearing on a TV channel known far and wide for active news-reporting "errors" that have been loudly and repeatedly fact-checked and belatedly corrected, we have no opinion, other than to say that as a leading contender for the upcoming presidential contest in 2024, in every poll, from every source, it makes sense for CNN to extend its fishing trawl to catch viewers who (like this author) never tune in to that now-tainted near-defunct channel, after innumerable misstatements and errors of consequence have turned away the wary.

But the recent, let-me-say cool move of disfavored Atlanta, Georgiabased CNN to host an hour-long town hall in the first state of voting, New Hampshire, with former president Donald J. Trump was in many senses a coup.

The hysterics greeting the occasion after the fact of Kaitlan Collins interviewing feisty 45 showed that the risk Trump took was perhaps considerable.

He could, contrarily, expose himself and his piquant humor and well turned arguments to a new segment of the polity. Worth a college try.

The audience of largely New Hampshire Republican or unaligned voters had on the whole voted at least once for Trump, so his responses often elicited significant applause, laughter, and audible approval.

So far, so expectable.

After the relentless hammering of host interviewer Kaitlan Collins on issues she all-but-demanded Trump agree with her (CNN's) position on  such as Trump's culpability on the "insurrection" of 6 January and his non-ordering of 10,000 D.C. troops to control the expected response to what millions felt was a "rigged election," and whether 45 would accede to the election results "this time" because he has not yet conceded the loss of the second term in the 2020 election results  he managed to hold it together as the much more focused and in-control businessman and impresario determined to finish his thoughts despite endless Woody Woodpecker chippings and nitpicky (and often wrong) interpolations throughout the hour.

After that exhausting edge-of-seat hour, the CNN panel of seven Trump-loathers chirped their singular and cumulative hate-sprach at the cameras, lest anyone forget this was, after all, CNN, the hate-Trump and hate-Republican channel.

There was the sane corrective  huzzah for the bookers  of Floridian congressman Byron Lowell Donalds, who delivered crisp rebuttals and correctives to all the unholy flotsam guttering about the panel with balm and healing rationality. He shut the flappy orifices of the naysayers by noting that for all the wild and overblown crit of the boffo perf of ex-(and future) prez, Trump had done the job far better than the recent W.H. occupant has managed, "and that's a fact."

Which, of course, it was. And is.

Following these interludes, the in-studio audience was questioned acidulously as to their "honest reactions" by veteran newsie, author, and cartoonist Jake Tapper.

Note that Tapper salted every question, in a way no true journalist or M.C. should, with endless strings around the audience's fingers that Trump had consistently expelled a packet of lies. No question to any audience member in Manchester was free of the obvious taint of the interviewer's unvarying prompt that Trump had "lied" on every issue. No one dared call attention to Tapper's obnoxious poisoning the well. It would have been "rude"  and would have been silenced.

Some have decided that the dozen or so responses from the pro-Trump crowd were not unabashedly slavish or 100% behind the former Apprentice centerpiece.

May we remind the reader that back in 1961, Yale professor Stanley Milgram did a series of experiments on obedience. His remarkably premised experiments showed that people will often without much decision-making go along with the tester, even when they disagree with the methods, behavior, or ethos of the experimenter. Even when major stakes were involved.

At the time, Milgram found that testees were willing to administer a fatal voltage to test subjects, just because the person conducting the tests told them to or gave the high-okay sign. The subjects thought the voltage was live and could indeed electrify the persons in the booths.

I am of the opinion that Tapper's needless and unprofessional leaning on President Trump's alleged untruthfulness influenced the audience answers. They shaded their generally positive responses to more accord with the crispy-nasty expectations of Tapper.

Disclosure: This author has been in some later experiments of this type, in grad school and later, and we admit that it's fairly difficult not to obey the perceived "boss" of the experiment.

So while the CNN triumphalists could crow about the so-so responses of the local audience members, all of whom are avowed Trumpists for one or two elections, there is reason to suspect that the answers provided were not true reflections of how the respondents actually feel about Trump or about the issues covered.

Image: CNN.
As we sit comfortably in our homes, having dinner with our families, crime rates are going up all around us. That is to say that criminals are no longer relegated to the inner cities; they've evolved to suburbs and rural areas as they seek new and more vulnerable targets. The Biden administration is fostering the decline of those outer areas by using the Housing and Urban Development agency to force suburbs to accept high-density "affordable housing."

For several decades, one of the major dreams of the middle class has been to own a home in the suburbs. Now, under the guise of prohibiting discrimination based on race, religion, sex, etc., Democrats have proposed regulations that would force jurisdictions that accept HUD funding to "promote equity in their communities, decrease segregation, and increase access to opportunity and community assets for people of color and other underserved communities."

In other words, the left is saying that the route to upward mobility for disadvantaged minorities is dependent on their relocation to more affluent areas, where they will have access to more services. One wonders what services they'll receive in a small town that they can't get in a big city. By the way, could someone please tell me which communities in this country are segregated by race or any other factor? Furthermore, given how the left describes "equity," we can be sure it means that every resident will demand to have the same level of affluence as his neighbors, whether he can afford it or not.

Once again, the left is preparing us for a socialist future in which no one is denied anything, his ability to pay for it notwithstanding. How long before those apartment-dwellers, next door to your split-level home, start demanding that you allow them to use your pool because their edifice lacks one? After all, why would your family of four deny those scores of residents a chance to cool off on hot summer days? How dare you deprive people of the things you and your family enjoy? Could it be that you don't like some races, nationalities, or genders? Are you a greedy bigot? This is the mindset being promoted by the radical left in an attempt to discourage and destroy the middle class.

The fact that segregation in housing ended about a half-century ago doesn't mean the word is not still a valuable tool to further divide the country. The fact that you'd be hard pressed to find a neighborhood in the country that is not fully integrated means nothing to those who achieve power by keeping us divided. Through incompetence and radical policies, the left destroyed the inner cities. Now leftists plan to export their ineptitude to areas that have been diligent in creating safe and comfortable environments in which to raise families. Evidently, they concur with the adage "misery loves company." Moreover, anyone who disagrees with this social engineering scam will quickly be labeled with some sort of "ism" or "phobe." If some of those who disagree are minorities residing in the suburbs, they will be pilloried as "white supremacists," despite the dark pigment of their skin.

What HUD and its liberal administrators will never acknowledge is that upward mobility is based on sensible, constructive life decisions made at the family level, including marriage, employment, and budget planning. In order to succeed in the free market of ideas and choices, one must construct the building blocks of his future to achieve the necessary economic gains. Just ask all those ambitious African-American residents of suburbia who have worked hard, played by the rules, and saved for a down payment on that dream home. Do you think they want a five-story, low-income apartment building looming over their two-story colonial, featuring a well manicured lawn and a cabana next to their kidney-shaped pool?

Well, in the twisted world of left-wing dogma, they'd be called "acting white." However, in the real world, they are merely decent people who recognize the value of living in a country where one can achieve anything through hard work and prudent decisions. The dictionary is the only place in which "success" comes before "work."

Image via Pxfuel.
U.S. Ambassador Philip Goldberg speaks during a lecture at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul on May 12. Yonhap



South Korea and Japan should exercise "patience and diplomatic skill" during talks about details of a planned inspection visit by South Korean experts to Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant, U.S. Ambassador Philip Goldberg said Friday.



Goldberg made the remark during a QA session after a lecture at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, as South Korea and Japan opened a working-level meeting in Seoul to determine specifics of the inspection, stressing that the overall objective of such an inspection is to make bilateral relations better.



"So now there's a discussion between the foreign ministries about how exactly that will be carried out. And so again, it needs to be done with patience and diplomatic skill," Goldberg said.



"We believe that the overall objective, which is to create a better environment for relationship between two modern and democratic countries that share values, is hugely important for the security in the region and prosperity in the region," he said.



The inspection trip, set for May 23-24, is one of the outcomes from a recent summit between President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and shows relations between the two countries are warming after years of fraying over the issue of wartime forced labor.



Still, there appears to be a gap between the sides over the nature of the inspection.



South Korea says the inspection is aimed at looking into whether Japan's treatment facilities are working properly, while Japan says the inspection is meant to "help deepen understanding" about the safety of the release, not to evaluate or certify its safety.



Goldberg's emphasis on patience and diplomatic skill could reflect concern about the gap.



Relations between Seoul and Tokyo have warmed significantly since the Yoon administration offered in March to resolve a dispute over wartime forced labor by compensating the Korean victims without contributions from Japanese firms.



That led to the resumption of "shuttle diplomacy" of regular leader visits after 12 years.



Goldberg praised Yoon for making a "quite brave political move" to start mending ties with Japan.



"One of the things that has happened ... is that it has opened up more space for the kinds of projects, programs, military cooperation that will help secure both countries and that includes through trilateral cooperation with the United States," he said.



During the lecture, the ambassador called on South Korea to "keep speaking out" against Russia's invasion of Ukraine, stressing the importance of the two allies working together on global issues.



"We need you to work with us to find solutions to the climate crisis. We need you to continue standing up for our shared democratic values, such as respect for human rights," Goldberg said. "And we need you to keep speaking out against atrocities, like Russia's war in Ukraine."



The ambassador also reaffirmed the U.S. security commitment to South Korea is firm.



"There should be no doubt that our commitment to the Republic of Korea's defense is ironclad, as it has been for the past 70 years," he said.



Goldberg denounced North Korea's destabilizing actions, such as missile launches, saying Pyongyang is using its scarce resources to develop weapons of mass destruction, rather than caring for its people.



Still, he said diplomacy is the "only viable way to achieve a safe and stable Korean Peninsula free of nuclear weapons."



The envoy also spoke at length about the recent summit between Yoon and U.S. President Joe Biden, saying the two leaders "looked a lot like old college friends."



"To ensure we are ready to stand against any threat, our presidents announced a new forum to discuss the full range of our combined defensive capabilities, including nuclear, conventional and missile defense," he said, referring to the Washington Declaration adopted at the White House summit. (Yonhap)








In one of the most epic U.S. Senate hearing exchanges in modern history, then-secretary Hillary Clinton practically yelled at her questioner, "What difference, at this point, does it make?!"

While she was being questioned about a specific event, I found myself wondering how many people think that what they do has no consequence or impact. Some would say my job, crafting and forwarding policies supporting human flourishing for people with disabilities, is boring and inconsequential  possibly even futile. It is not. As a wonk and an advocate, I have an opportunity to make a positive impact daily.

As proof, I recently testified before members of both chambers of the Maryland state Legislature about a proposed bill that would be harmful to people with disabilities and chronic illness. Medical Aid in Dying (MAiD), a term that includes physician-assisted suicide (PAS) and euthanasia, is legal in eleven jurisdictions and under consideration in eleven states. It very nearly became law in Maryland.

Wrapped in eloquent prose, the Maryland legislation was presented as being about bodily autonomy and shortening the suffering of the terminally ill. But the law had several problems. There were no safeguards to prevent family coercion or the targeting of vulnerable patients, including those with disabilities. It puts confidence and trust that should exist between a patient and health care provider at risk. Essentially, life is devalued  not considered worth living if a person was in pain or had a condition seen as diminishing the quality of his life or of those around him.

The intended and unintended consequences of MAiD, especially for those who cannot self-advocate in their moment of need, are frightening.

One supporter told me: "Families need to be able to do what is best for them." I asked if that meant caring for her sick great uncle was too much of a burden, and it would be more convenient for him just to die. Without flinching, she nodded her head vigorously.

We have become a nation of people who don't want to deal with hard things like suffering and death, so we seek to hide or dispatch them as quickly as possible. We see no value in sitting with a dying loved one and sharing those final moments with him. We see no purpose in suffering and have no interest in the strength of character it can build in the patient and those around him. These are lessons and beautiful experiences we are choosing to miss.

If the law were only about ending the suffering of someone already in the final stages of dying, I might be persuaded about some MAiD allowances. But it isn't, and I am not. Even if it were, hospice care is better than ever  with pain management being a top priority until death of the patient.

In places where euthanasia is already law, the parameters of eligibility are being widened to include such things as depression and anorexia. In Canada, a man even applied for the MAiD program because he was homeless! None of these things is terminal if treated properly. And it can get worse as doctors are beginning to order lethal medications through telehealth consultations. Insurance companies are leaning more toward paying for it than for treatments that could extend or save lives.

Because of the advocacy of many people who seem to have had nothing in common before, Maryland's MAiD bill failed to pass out of committee. Those who understood the dangers banded together. Their advocacy mattered. I was proud to be a part of that group.

With many more disability policy debates on the horizon, it is critical that we stay banded together to advocate for what is right, for what is moral, and for what honors the valuable lives some are so eager to snuff out.

Able Americans is a program of the National Center for Public Policy Research. We believe in the same inalienable rights that are enshrined in our founding documents: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We work daily on policies that support people with disabilities in America to live, be free, and chase their dreams. Advocacy like this matters  especially in Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island, where pending euthanasia laws are putting more lives at risk.

Melissa Ortiz serves the National Center for Public Policy Research as the organization's senior adviser for the Able Americans Project. In her role, she will develop the project's strategic plan, marshals key resources, and helps oversee the implementation of the project. She also assists the president in identifying necessary contractors, employees, strategic partners, stakeholders, and donors and serves as a key spokesperson.

Melissa identifies as a "happy warrior" and is enthusiastic about driving a dialogue between people living with disabilities or chronic illness and policy-makers across the political spectrum, especially conservatives. She has worked in the classroom in Nashville, Tennessee and in the nonprofit sector in New York City and Washington, D.C. She was honored to serve as President Trump's commissioner of the Administration on Disabilities. The first female board member of The Conservative Caucus, one of the oldest conservative groups in existence, she currently resides in Washington, D.C. with her husband Tony and service dog Dachshund Annie Oakley.

Image via Hippopx.
In 1619, when the first African slaves arrived in North America, and were classified under law as property devoid of human rights, a sequence of events was set in motion that include the Civil War of 186165 and its aftermath, such as Jim Crow laws. The consequences also include the racial tensions that exist today and the numerous political movements exploiting those tensions.

It is pointless to dwell upon topics which have been chronicled in encyclopedic detail by endless studies and commentaries. The question is, what to do?

Step One is to recognize that race itself is not the problem. My experiences with black Americans have been closely comparable to those with all other races. Some white people are obnoxious, insufferable, and even dangerous. Likewise with black people, Asians, and others. For the most part, however, Americans outside the major cities are polite, pleasant, and helpful, without regard to race. In my travels through the rural Deep South, I have been greatly impressed by that.

Step Two is to recognize that fact, and to give it as much weight (actually, more) as the news coverage involving riots and proposed racial reparations.

Where racial tensions do exist, they usually involve political opportunism. A generation of young Americans has been carefully trained to look for any hint of offense from others. Race-related offenses are only a part of the dynamic. There is a plethora of factions, including the highly active alphabetized identities of sexual proclivities, ethnicities, and ideologies. Political opportunists are quick to insert themselves into any and every abrasive incident, no matter how minor, that could otherwise be settled by the principals. Their intervention prevents amicable (or at least acceptable) resolutions, the kind we see every day among ordinary individuals.

Those interventions have become a sophisticated methodology, inventing such terms as "micro-aggression," to ensure that even when there is no slight, the perception of one can be manufactured and perpetuated. Numerous other "reparations" include racial quotas in higher education, and the practice of selective law enforcement, embodied in a stated policy of Barack Obama that no crime should be prosecuted when the perpetrator is black and the victim is white. Such statements create resentments and inflame emotions.

Step Three is yours. It is to reject the hyperbole that aims to set us against each other, and to look to such figures as Martin Luther King, Jr.'s philosophy of regarding each person on his merits. It is to do your best, in your personal life, to help repair the defects in our culture, to do so constructively, while emphasizing what is good in that culture.

That step is neither easy nor passive. It may not require political activism, but it does require personal commitment. You know, better than I do, what that means in your personal life. Each of us needs to be informed. It needs each of us to participate, however prominently or obscurely, in our communities. At the very least, it means that we must do no harm.

Racial reparations, in the form of taking money from one race of people and giving it to another, will repair nothing. It will do the opposite. It will create a class of ungrateful recipients and resentful donors. On the other hand, cultural reparation will be fruitful if it means such things as promoting true equality  equality of opportunity, not outcome; equality of responsibility; and equality of freedom, including the freedom of speech.

Nothing worthwhile comes easily. Our culture has become so thoroughly contaminated by corruption, debauchery, and deception that its reparation will be a monumental effort, no less demanding than the suffering of those who struggled through four years of civil war.

We cannot go back to the year 1619 and prevent the institution slavery on our continent, but at least we can prevent the destructive ideology of the "1619 Project" from making the problems worse.

Image via Pxhere.
Jessica Tarlov, on Fox News, called Trump a liar for saying that Democrats support Infanticide at the CNN Town Hall. She said that the moderator should have called him out.

Jessica Tarlov

The following is a definition of infantacide.

1) The crime of killing a child within one year of its birth (in some legal jurisdictions, specifically by the mother) 2) A person who kills an infant, specifically their own child.

Almost 100% of Democrats in Congress have opposed giving health care to babies born alive at abortion clinics. How is it murder or infanticide when a mother has a child at home and just lets it die but perfectly OK if a mother and doctor just let a fully developed baby die without giving it care at an abortion clinic? That is certainly unequal treatment under the law.

Why would anyone trust Democrats with our health care when they refuse to give healthcare to the most vulnerable, a newborn baby?

210 Democrats vote against bill requiring medical care for babies born alive after abortion attempt Nearly every House Democrat on Wednesday voted against legislation that would require immediate medical attention for babies who are born alive after an attempt was made to abort them. The House passed the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, which says any infant born alive after an attempted abortion is a "legal person for all purposes under the laws of the United States." Doctors would be required to care for those infants as a "reasonably diligent and conscientious health care practitioner would render to any other child born alive." The bill passed 220-210, and all 210 of the "no" votes came from Democrats. Only one Democrat voted for the bill  Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas  and one other Democrat, Rep. Vicente Gonzalez of Texas, voted "present. Following that level of care, doctors would be required admit those infants to a hospital for further care. Any violation of this standard would result in fines and imprisonment for up to five years, or both.

Roll Call:

The other bill, which Republicans say would guarantee protections for an infant born alive after an attempted abortion, fell short, 56-41, on a similar procedural vote. All the Republicans voted for it, as did Democrats Doug Jones of Alabama, Manchin and Casey. Three senators who are running for the Democratic presidential nomination were absent.

The public overwhelmingly supports the born alive act, including Democrats and independents, so why don't Democrats vote for it? Because they care more about Planned Parenthood than the public, or newborn babies.

It is similar to their opposition to vouchers for poor and minority children, despite overwhelming public support. They care about unions more than the poor and minorities.

The public supports policies like the Born-Alive bill. Why was the vote split on party lines? Eighty-six percent of Republicans, 70% of Democrats and 75% of independents said they support this legislation. Men were slightly more likely to support it than women, 79% and 75%, respectively.

So, let's have a debate among Trump, DeSantis, Harris, and Biden on the born alive act and caring for children. Who is lying? Tarlov or Trump? The answer is obvious. Trump told the truth and Tarlov is lying. Why is Tarlov so willing to blatantly lie when the truth is so obvious?

Why doesn't the media talk about Democrats unpopular positions on late term abortion, the Born Alive Act, or keeping poor and minority kids in bad schools? It is the same reason they bury the massive corruption of the Biden family. They haven't cared about the truth for a long time, only winning and infecting the public with radical leftist policies to destroy America.

Photo credit: YouTube screengrab (cropped)
Joe Biden has been AWOL for years on the border, but with a migrant surge on with his dropping of Title 42, he's positively out of touch.

"The border will be chaotic for a while" is pretty well the sum of his stance on the crisis. Best he can do.

But in that void of leadership, we are seeing action in the courts and with our wretchedly feeble Congress.

From Florida, a federal judge has called a halt to Joe Biden's open-borders system of "parole" for any illegally crossing migrant who claims asylum, which is nearly all of them.

According to CBS News:

El Paso, Texas  A federal judge in Florida on Thursday temporarily blocked the Biden administration from continuing a migrant release policy designed to alleviate overcrowding at immigration holding facilities along the U.S.-Mexico border. The ruling came just hours before the Title 42 border restrictions expired at 11:59 p.m. EDT Thursday, raising concerns about severe overcrowding in already over-capacity Border Patrol migrant facilities.

An injunction hearing will be held on May 19. It makes sense. The law, after all, says that illegal border-crossers must be detained. Joe's "parole" or "alternative to detention" is obviously a joke.

Meanwhile, the House, at least, has gotten busy, with restoring "asylum" to its original meaning.

You can tell it's a meaningful bill based on the screaming from the left. Here is the Al Jazeera headline: "US Republicans pass 'extreme' immigration bill as Title 42 ends."

They insist there is no chance for the reforms on asylum abuse to pass, owing to the Senate. But they may be deluding themselves. Other outlets are reporting that Democrats in the Senate are receptive to reforms. Stay tuned for more on this.

Image: Screen shot from KTLA5 video via YouTube.
The town of Fermont, situated near the Quebec-Labrador border, is a Canadian mining town. It was founded in the early 1970s by the Quebec Cartier Mining Company to exploit the vast deposits of iron ore on Mont Wright, located about 25 kilometers to the west from the town site. It is the only mining town in the region.

Fermont is situated above the 52nd parallel which places it in the same latitude as Alaska and Siberia. Needless to say, Fermont has a harsh subarctic climate with long, severe winters and short, mild summers. The winters are dominated by strong northerly winds.

Photo credit: www.houseporn.ca

When the town was being planned in the late 1960s, the Montreal architectsMaurice Desnoyers and Norbert Schoenauerhired for the job, realized that the town will require a wind break to protect the residents from the cold northerlies. But instead of building a dedicated wind barrier, Desnoyers and Schoenauer decided to marry the functionality of a wall and a residential complex into one. The result was an architecturally unique building, 1.3 km long and 5 stories tall that has become the icon of Fermont.

The inspiration for The Wall came from Swedish architect Ralph Erskine, who had designed a similar building in 1962 to provide housing for a mining community called Svappavaara north of the arctic circle in Sweden. In contrast to Erskine's residential windscreen building, Fermont's windscreen building has a multi-use character which includes residential, commercial, and educational facilities.

This huge self-contained structure is home to businesses such as hotels, bars, restaurants and supermarkets, schools, a health center, city hall, swimming pool, police station and even a three-cell prison. Over and above, it has 440 residences. As everything is located within The Wall, residentsother than mine workersnever have to leave the building during the long winter, which usually lasts about seven months.

Beyond the windscreen, there are seven hundred fifty five houses that are also protected by the structure.

Photo credit: www.houseporn.ca

Photo credit: Axel Drainville/Flickr

Photo credit: www.houseporn.ca

Interior of the Wall. Photo credit: Axel Drainville/Flickr

Interior of the Wall. Photo credit: Axel Drainville/Flickr
The Ponte dei Trepponti or Trepponti bridge is a rare five-way bridge located in Comacchio, Italy. Although the name Trepponti, originating from the word tre (three) and ponti (bridge), suggests a three-way bridge, there are, in fact, five approaches. The prefix tri- refers to the split in the canal underneath the bridge.

The masonry arch bridge was built in 1638 as part of the Comacchios renovation, after the city was left devastated by raids. Architect Luca Danese was tasked with drafting the city's renovation plans and designed the Trepponti bridge as part of its new defensive works. The Trepponti bridge would be one of the city's main gates as well as the entryway into its internal canal network.

Photo: Edoardo Cuoghi

The Ponte dei Trepponti spans the Palotta canal, which splits up underneath it. The Sant'Agostino and San Petro canals that made up the old Comacchio moat also intersect the canal here, which necessitated a five-way bridge. The five bridges are connected by a central Istrian stone floor that makes up a small pentagonally-shaped public square, held up by a cross-vaulted ceiling. Five large staircases connect the bridge to the city streets and the fish market below.

When Trepponti bridge was initially constructed, its distinctive guard towers were missing. They were added in 1695 to reinforce the defensive parapets, under the rule of Cardinal Giuseppe Renato Imperiali. During his rule, the side walls of the staircase were also raised for defensive purposes. In 1823, the parapets were removed and replaced by decorative columns.

One of the towers contain a plaque that contains a passage from the Italian poet Torquato Tasso:

Like the fish where our sea becomes swampy / in the breasts of Comacchio, / escapes from the impetuous and raw wave / looking in placid waters where it shelters, / and it comes that from itself and locks itself up / in marshy prison nor can it return, / that that menagerie is with wonderful use / always to enter open, to exit closed.  Torquato Tasso

Photo: Vanni Lazzari/Wikimedia

Photo: Vanni Lazzari/Wikimedia
HONOR has announced its latest foldable smartphone back in February. Do note that this is its global launch were talking about, it launched in China back in November last year. That being said, up until now, we didnt know the HONOR Magic Vs price tag or global launch date, but HONOR just revealed both.

The HONOR Magic Vs foldable gets a price tag and launch date in the UK

Granted, the company only revealed its price tag for the UK, at the moment. We can gather how much will it cost in other parts of Europe based on this, though. The HONOR Magic Vs is priced at 1,399, while launch offers will bring that price down to 1,199. Those launch offers will be available via the companys official website only, though, through HiHonor.

If youre wondering when will it go on sale, the date is May 19. That goes for the UK only, though. The phone will be available in Black and Cyan colors. Starting on May 26, it will become available via Amazon, Argos, and Very, in Black only, though. It seems like the Cyan color is exclusive to the HiHonor store.

If we convert its price tag to euros, we get a price of around 1,600. With launch offers, it could be even lower than that. Thats only a wild guess, its possible that the price tag will be higher in other parts of Europe, though its odd HONOR didnt mention anything about that today. We do hope that the company is still planning to offer the device in more markets.

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It has a Super-light Gearless Hinge with only 4 structural components

The Magic Vs measures 12.9mm when folded, and weighs 267 grams. The company still managed to squeeze in a 5,000mAh battery in there. It also comes with HONORs Super-light Gearless Hinge that lowers the number of structural components from 92 to only 4. HONOR says that this hinge can withstand up to 400,000 folds, which is outstanding, actually.

The device includes a 7.9-inch outer display with a 120Hz refresh rate. The outer display measures 6.45 inches, and has a 90Hz refresh rate. This handset is made out of metal and glass.

It has three cameras on the back, and its fueled by the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 SoC. Android 13 comes pre-installed, while MagicOS 7.1 is included on top of it. If youd like to know more about the device, check out our full review.
Samsung is readying a bunch of new Android tablets. There are rumors about three Galaxy Tab S9 series flagship models and two mid-range models, one or both of which may arrive as the Galaxy Tab S9 FE. While we wait for more details about the latter two, the former three have just had their official keyboard accessories approved by the South Korean regulatory body RRR (Radio Research Agency).

First spotted by GalaxyClub, the RRR recently certified three new Book Cover Keyboards made by Samsung. The listing mentions model numbers EF-DX715, EF-DX815, and EF-DX915 for the three accessories. Based on previous reports, those keyboard accessories are for the Galaxy Tab S9, Galaxy Tab S9+, and Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra, respectively. Thats because the model numbers for the keyboards correspond to that for the upcoming three flagship tablets.

For the uninitiated, Samsung is developing the Galaxy Tab S9 with the model number SM-X71*. More precisely, SM-X710 for the global Wi-Fi version, SM-X716B for the global 5G version, and SM-X718U for the US 5G version. Likewise, the Galaxy Tab S9+ bears the model number SM-X810/SM-X716B/SM-X718U depending on the region and connectivity version while the Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra has the model number SM-X910/SM-X916B/SM-X918U.

The two mid-range Samsung tablets that appeared on Geekbench last month have the model numbers SM-X51* and SM-X61*. No corresponding keyboard accessories were found for these two models on the RRRs website. Its unclear if Samsung doesnt plan to offer a Book Cover Keyboard for these tablets or if the accessories are still pending approval. Its also possible that Samsung doesnt plan to launch them alongside the flagship models. So it isnt hurrying to obtain regulatory certifications for them. We shall find out soon.

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The Galaxy Tab S9 series may debut in July

Samsung may launch the Galaxy Tab S9 series in late July. The company is expected to unveil the new tablets at its next Galaxy Unpacked event. While it usually holds the event in August, reports suggest this years event will take place a few weeks earlier. The South Korean firm is also reportedly planning to host the event in its homeland rather than in the US. It made these decisions considering the current global economic situation and other similar factors.

While we wait for the official confirmation on the date and location of Samsungs next Galaxy Unpacked event, its confirmed that the event will be full of hardware announcements. Along with the three flagship tablets, the company will also unveil its latest foldables during this event. We are expecting a couple of new smartwatches as well. Last but not least, Samsung may debut a new pair of TWS earbuds. Stay tuned for more information about these upcoming Galaxy products.
From right, British Minister of State for the Indo-Pacific Anne-Marie Trevelyan, British Chamber of Commerce in Korea (BCCK) Executive Director Lucinda Walker, BCCK consultant Elspeth Stewart, Korn Ferry partner Christina Ahn, British Ambassador to Korea Colin Crooks and British Embassy Director of Trade and Investment Tony Clemson pose during a launch event for "Empower," a program for female entrepreneurs and professionals in Korea at the British ambassador's residence in central Seoul, May 11. Courtesy of British Embassy Seoul



British Embassy Seoul launches 'Empower' program



By Kwon Mee-yoo



British Minister of State for the Indo-Pacific Anne-Marie Trevelyan visited Korea from May 11 to 12, with the aim of enhancing cooperation on climate change and economic and regional security as part of the United Kingdom's ambition to assert a strong presence in the Indo-Pacific region.



During her first visit to Korea, Trevelyan toured the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between Koreas and met with Vice Foreign Minister Lee Do-hoon as a gesture to reaffirm the U.K.'s commitment to peace and security.



Trevelyan also unveiled the U.K.'s plan to initiate a strategic development partnership with Korea, a move that will bolster the influence of the existing development commitments between the two countries. This initiative is aimed at improving the living conditions of individuals in developing countries with a focus on areas such as climate, economic resilience, development finance and health.



"This year marks 140 years in the U.K.'s friendship with South Korea, our valued partner on key issues from regional security to climate change," Trevelyan said. "By forming new partnerships on development and economic security, we will benefit our two great nations and build stability in the wider Indo-Pacific region.



She also took part in a launch event for "Empower," a program co-organized by the British Embassy and the British Chamber of Commerce in Korea (BCCK) to promote gender equality in the workplace.



The initiative will assist Korean businesswomen by offering a platform for knowledge exchange, shared experiences and insights as well as networking with industry professionals from prominent British firms in Korea as an extension of the inaugural International Women and Girls Strategy 2023 to 2030 of the British Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), published in March.



The inaugural year-long program includes 14 participants from various industries and backgrounds, from emerging startups to well-established corporations. The list of participating companies includes Deloitte, Diageo, PWC, HSBC, Jaguar Land Rover and British defense companies.



"We are delighted to launch Empower in partnership with the British Chamber of Commerce Korea and major British companies operating in Korea. Together, we can create a powerful network that empowers female entrepreneurs and professionals and promotes gender diversity and inclusion," British Ambassador to Korea Colin Crooks said.


After massacres in Serbia, copycat incidents multiply Several threats, all foiled. Vucic, 'too many weapons around'

(ANSA) - BELGRADE, 07 MAG - After the two massacres in recent days, with a total toll of 17 dead and 21 wounded, episodes of emulation are multiplying in Serbia, as well as in other countries in the region, while police forces have greatly accentuated their activities directed at confiscating illegally held weapons and ammunition. In Belgrade in recent hours a 41-year-old man was arrested who, in a message posted on social media, had threatened to take a rifle and kill all the inhabitants of Ruma, a town not far from the capital. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, a resident of Banovici (center) who, under the effects of alcohol, threatened to carry out "a massacre like the one in Belgrade" and informed the police of his intentions, ended up in handcuffs. In Skopje, capital of northern Macedonia, two incidents occurred in as many city schools. In the first, a 16-year-old student who had posted a message on social media with death threats against a teacher was detained. In the second, a juvenile student was summoned by police after he pulled a toy gun out of his backpack during class time and pointed it at his classmates and teacher. On May 3, a 13-year-old boy, shooting at a Belgrade elementary school with his father's gun, killed eight of his peers and a custodian, injuring six other pupils and a teacher. Less than 48 hours later, a 21-year-old man, firing from a car driven by an accomplice, killed eight people and wounded 14 others in three villages not far from Mladenovac, a town some 60 km south of Belgrade. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has announced draconian measures directed at intensifying controls and significantly reducing the large amount of weapons still in circulation in Serbia, a legacy--as in other countries in the region--of the armed conflicts of the 1990s in the former Yugoslavia. Today in Serbia on the third and final day of national mourning, funerals are scheduled for several victims of the two massacres that rocked the country. In solidarity, Montenegro has also proclaimed national mourning for today.



(ANSA).





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An aerial view shows the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Okuma, Fukushima prefecture, Japan, in this photo taken by Kyodo News on March 17, 2022. Reuters-Yonhap



Foreign ministries hold meeting to discuss details on experts' visit



By Lee Hyo-jin



Korea and Japan are apparently at odds over the exact purpose and role of a Korean inspection team, which is set to be dispatched to the tsunami-stricken nuclear power plant in Fukushima later this month.



Seoul is seeking an on-site inspection to evaluate the safety of Japan's planned release of radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean, while Tokyo seems to perceive the visit more as an opportunity to brief its neighbor country before beginning the discharge process as early as this summer.



Under an agreement reached during a summit between President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on May 7, a group of local experts will travel to the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant on May 23 and stay for a couple days, or possibly a longer period.



"The purpose of the inspection is to conduct an overall safety review of discharging the water into the ocean. The experts will check that Japan's water treatment capacity and the operation of discharge facilities, as well as the information needed for our own scientific and technical analysis," Park Ku-yeon, a senior official at the Office for Government Policy Coordination, said during a briefing, Friday.



Park added that the experts will be able to examine the Advanced Liquid Process System (ALPS) which is a filtration process used to remove radioactive contamination from the water, and possibly obtain their own raw data. But the official noted that collecting samples of treated water does not seem feasible.



This is in contrast to Tuesday's remarks by Japan's Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura who said that the purpose of the inspection is not to "evaluate or certify the safety of the treated water."



The inspection team is likely to be comprised of some 20 experts, but members of civic groups are unlikely to be included due to strong opposition from the Japanese government.





Korea to test radiation in ships' ballast water from 6 Japanese prefectures Rival parties bicker over Seoul's plan to send team to assess Fukushima water release plan Korea, Japan agree on Seoul team's four-day visit to assess nuclear water release plan The details regarding the size of the team and inspection plan will be decided next week based on working-level discussions between the foreign ministries of both nations.



Yoon Hyun-soo, head of the Korean foreign ministry's bureau for climate change, energy, environment and scientific affairs, met on Friday with Atsushi Kaifu, director-general of the Japanese foreign ministry's disarmament, non-proliferation and science department to discuss the issue.



Park Ku-yeon, a senior official at the Office for Government Policy Coordination speaks during a briefing held at the Government Complex Seoul, Friday. Yonhap

Park stressed that Korea is the first International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) member state to conduct an on-site inspection of the nuclear power plant in Fukushima.



However, it is unclear whether Japan will grant sufficient access to the Korean inspection team. In its press release issued on Thursday, the Japanese foreign ministry called the meeting between Yoon and Kaifu a briefing session on the current status of ALPS-treated water.



The differing tone from the Korean foreign ministry has sparked concerns that the inspection team will not be given the opportunity to conduct a thorough investigation to verify the safety of the radioactive water.



A Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) worker cleans a tank with flounder fish in the Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS) treated water, at the marine organisms rearing test facility in the now-defunct Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan, March 8. Reuters-Yonhap

'Treated water' or 'contaminated water'?



The use of terminology referring to the radioactive water may also arise as a source of debate between the two nations ahead of the planned inspection. The ruling People Power Party (PPP) was stung by criticism sparked here after it suggested that the government should consider using the term "treated water" instead of "contaminated water," which is more widely used here currently.



"Considering that the water that is set to be released has undergone a filtration process to meet international standards, it seems appropriate to call it 'treated' wastewater," Rep. Sung Il-jong of the PPP said during a radio interview, Thursday.



"Treated water" is the term used by the Japanese government in official documents, as it claims that the contaminated water has been filtered to ensure that the radioactive materials, other than tritium, meet the regulatory standards for safety.



However, many scientists overseas have been calling it contaminated water, pointing out Tokyo's lack of research into tritium's impact on marine ecosystems and the food chain. Also, low levels of some other radionuclides still remain in the filtered water.



During Friday's briefing, Park said that the government is currently not reviewing replacing the term "contaminated" with "treated" but added that the issue may be up for consideration depending on the IAEA's definitions.




British technology tycoon Mike Lynch has been extradited to the US to face criminal charges.

The founder of software firm Autonomy, who was once dubbed the UKs Bill Gates, will stand trial on charges including fraud, which he denies.

It comes weeks after he lost an appeal last month following an almost four-year court battle against extradition.

A Home Office spokesman said: On April 21, the High Court refused Dr Lynchs permission to appeal his extradition. As a result, the normal 28-day statutory deadline for surrender to the US applies.

Dr Lynch was extradited to the US on May 11.

Last year, Hewlett-Packard won a six-year civil fraud suit against Lynch after the High Court ruled that he defrauded the firm by manipulating Autonomys accounts to inflate its valuation ahead of a takeover.

Then home secretary Priti Patel later approved the extradition of Lynch, who was also the founding investor of cybersecurity giant Darktrace.

Autonomys former chief financial officer Sushovan Hussain was jailed for five years and fined millions of dollars in 2019 for fraud and other charges.

Conservative MP David Davis said Lynch was extradited because of a dreadful extradition treaty.

He said the treaty was drawn up after the 2001 jihadist attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York with the intention of targeting terrorists, murderers and paedophiles.

But the former Brexit secretary told BBC Radio 4s World At One programme that two-thirds of people extradited from the UK to the US had been targeted for non-violent, mostly white collar crimes.

He said Lynchs extradition was devastating and predicted it would have a hideously chilling effect on future London Stock Exchange sales.

If you were a young software writer or bio-chemist with a new drug or new treatment, and you built a company out of it, the last place now you are going to launch your company is on the London Stock Exchange, Mr Davis said.
A drone has been seized above Liverpool as the city prepares to host the final of the Eurovision Song Contest.

Restrictions on drones have been in place above the city centre since last Thursday.

A spokesman for Merseyside Police said at about 10pm on Thursday officers were made aware that a drone was being flown in a restricted area.

The drone was seized and a man in his 30s was spoken to, the force said.

Chief Inspector Stephen Hardy said: This incident demonstrated the excellent detection work by officers who were able to swiftly seize the drone and identify the owner, who was spoken to by officers.

Please be mindful that airspace restrictions will remain in place until Sunday and if we suspect a drone is being flown in the restricted area then we will take action.

If you commit an offence and fly a drone within the restricted area without permission, your equipment will be seized and confiscated.

Our policing plans for the Eurovision Song Contest take land, sea and air into consideration and these airspace restrictions, just like other security measures such as road closures or patrols on the River Mersey, are aimed at keeping people safe.

Remember, you commit an offence if you fly within the restricted areas without permission.

The forces largest operation in decades is underway as Liverpool hosts Eurovision on behalf of last years winners Ukraine.
The Ukrainian ambassador to the UK has said the final of Eurovision would have been a great moment for Volodymyr Zelensky to address a huge audience but he understood the reasons for blocking him.

Vadym Prystaiko spoke as he visited a primary school in Liverpool to see what children had been learning about Ukrainian culture, ahead of the city hosting the song contest on behalf of the war-torn country.

Talking about the decision of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to block Ukraines president from speaking at Saturdays final, he said: We believe that each and every moment when we have this huge audience of people supporting, thats the moment when we can remind why, actually, were having this great celebration here and that was his point.

We understand all the internal politics and the unbiased sort of approach to all this, thats why we dont have to push too much, but it was a great moment when the president (could) address all these people and remind them this is actually why were fighting.

We also want to have this normal celebration and normal life as people are having here.

Mr Prystaiko, who watched children at St Nicholas Catholic Academy in Liverpool do some Ukrainian dancing, said the people of Ukraine were happy the UK was hosting.

He said: The plans to have it as Ukrainian as possible has actually come to fruition, you can see it yourself.

All of those Ukrainians who are here and those Ukrainians who are watching through the cameras, they are quite happy to see the celebrations.

But Mr Prystaiko admitted he struggled with some of the regional dialect.

There are so many coming from all the places, I have trouble understanding the local ones, he said.

I believe I know English but with all the crowd here this task is becoming enormous.

He said he hoped the UK would win the contest this year, so Ukraine could host on its behalf in 2024.

While visiting the school, Mr Prystaiko met pupil Mikhail Kukharchuk, eight, and his mother Mykhailyna, who had come to the country from Kyiv after the Russian invasion.

Ms Kukharchuk said having Eurovision in Liverpool was amazing.

Its like a piece of your home in the UK, its really a very warm feeling, she said.

Its really nice that Liverpool host this Eurovision, that UK host this Eurovision, because Ukraine would like to host it but unfortunately its impossible for this moment.

Its good when if you cant host it, your friend could host it.
Politicians could act to reduce child poverty but choose not to and lie about it, a leading public health expert has said.

Professor Sir Michael Marmot said those in charge could spend more on children in their early year but they do not, blaming high taxes.

Sir Michael, who led a government review into health inequalities in England in 2010, said he is so tired of hearing politicians talk about Britains tax levels as he insisted the UK is a low tax country.

In a webinar series hosted by University College Londons Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, he cited a calculation by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) that our tax level is about 34% of GDP (gross domestic product).

He said: Im so tired of politicians saying weve got the highest tax levels for 70 years. We are a low tax country. The reason I would never get elected as a politician is because I point out were a low tax country.

He compared this with other European and G7 countries which he said have higher tax levels.

He added: We are a low tax country. If we were the average for the EU 14 wed be up at 40% rather than 34%.

If we were Denmark or France or Austria or Italy, wed be much higher. We are a low tax country. We could choose to reduce child poverty. We could choose to spend more on children aged nought to five but we choose not to and we lie about it. We say oh, high tax levels. Theyre not high tax levels. Theyre low tax levels by international standards.

In March, following the Spring Statement, the Resolution Foundation think tank said taxes as a share of GDP are on track to hit a 70-year high of 37.7% by 2027-28.

Sir Michael described the Governments help with energy payments during winter as very welcome, repeating a statement he previously made that some households had been facing a humanitarian crisis amid spiralling bills and prices as the cost of living rose.

 Tomorrow at 11am we will be hearing from Professor Sir @MichaelMarmot as he discusses how to reduce health inequalities. Join our webinar 'Health equity for children and young people' Sign up https://t.co/Sq7Nw3Xn80#PublicHealthVoices @UCL_IEHC @marmotihe  UCL Population Health Sciences (@UCLPopHealthSci) May 11, 2023

But he warned the risks for the poorest households remain as fuel poverty and cold homes will have a particular negative effect on children.

He said childrens lungs can be damaged by growing up in cold homes, something that will have lifelong impact, and added that childrens mental health can be affected while educational performance is slowed by growing up in cold homes.

He described the UK as a poor country with some rich people as he described large inequalities in household disposable income across the country.

He said: We have the biggest inequality in income of any rich country except the United States.

He added: Do you want to fix the health inequalities of Britain? Youve got to fix the fact that were a poor country with some rich people.

A Government spokesperson said: These claims are completely untrue. We are committed to eradicating poverty and have helped nearly two million people out of absolute poverty since 2010, including 400,000 children.

We have a fair and progressive tax system  the top 5% are projected to pay half of all income tax this year and we have taken millions out of paying tax altogether by consistently raising income tax and national insurance allowances.

We have also provided record levels of direct financial support to help the most vulnerable  up to 1,200 last year and a further 1,350 in 2023/24  on top of uprating benefits by 10.1%, while the Household Support Fund is helping people with essential costs including food, clothing and utilities.
The families of civil servants who died in Northern Irelands Troubles have been urged to help create a memorial for their loved ones.

The head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service, Jayne Brady, made the appeal at an event to recognise the 50th anniversary of the death of civil servant John McCormac.

John was killed as he was carrying out a house visit in west Belfast in May 1973, as part of his job within the Civil Service, she said.

This event is an opportunity to honour his memory and acknowledge the devastating impact his death had on his loved ones.

Shane, Conor and Paul McCormac with a picture of their late father John, accompanied by Ian Jeffers, commissioner for victims and survivors, and Jayne Brady (Pacemaker/PA)

Although today is about paying tribute to John, it is also a poignant reminder of the tragic loss of other civil servants killed during the Troubles/Conflict.

Ms Brady said the Civil Service is considering how to create a permanent memorial.

I would encourage those families who lost a loved one to come forward so that we can discuss together how best to pay tribute to them, she said.

Executive Office permanent secretary Denis McMahon said: I hope this anniversary event in Johns honour can go even a small way towards acknowledging the pain suffered by his family over the last 50 years.

It is right that we create a memorial to John and other NICS colleagues and I look forward to working with those families of civil servants who wish to be involved.

Any families of civil servants who would like to be involved in the development of a permanent memorial should email the TEO Victims Unit at Victims.Unit@executiveoffice-ni.gov.uk
China vows comprehensive efforts to ensure China-CEEC Expo services

Xinhua) 10:44, May 12, 2023

BEIJING, May 11 (Xinhua) -- China will make comprehensive efforts to ensure services for the upcoming China-Central &Eastern European Countries (CEEC) Expo and promote the high-quality development of economic ties between China and the CEECs, the Ministry of Commerce said on Thursday.

The third China-CEEC Expo &International Consumer Goods Fair will be held in Ningbo, east China's Zhejiang Province, from May 16 to 20, spokesperson Shu Jueting said at a press conference.

The ministry has planned a series of economic and trade activities, including a purchasing fair for products from the CEECs, to help the expo achieve pragmatic results, Shu said.

The ministry has also been coordinating with local authorities concerning reception, transportation, security and COVID-19 prevention work details, as well as the protection of intellectual property rights, the spokesperson said.

This year's China-CEEC Expo has an exhibition area of 11,000 square meters and has attracted more than 380 CEEC exhibitors, Shu said, adding that over 2,000 buyers have registered for the expo, with the number of participants expected to exceed 100,000.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Wu Chaolan)
Second Vice Foreign Minister Lee Do-hoon, right, First Vice Finance Minister Bang Ki-sun, center, and Anne-Marie Trevelyan, Britain's minister of state for the Indo-Pacific, pose for photos at Seoul's foreign ministry on May 12, after signing a letter of intent to establish a bilateral strategic development partnership between South Korea and Britain. Yonhap



Korea and Britain on Friday signed a letter of intent (LOI) to establish a bilateral strategic development partnership, Seoul's foreign ministry said.



The LOI was signed by Seoul's Second Vice Foreign Minister Lee Do-hoon, First Vice Finance Minister Bang Ki-sun and Anne-Marie Trevelyan, Britain's minister of state for the Indo-Pacific, at the ministry in Seoul.



The letter calls for the establishment of a bilateral strategic development partnership in the Indo-Pacific based on shared values of freedom, democracy, rule of law and human rights.



The two sides also agreed to explore joint cooperation measures with a focus on the areas of digital, climate, environment, public health, private sector collaboration and women, according to the ministry. (Yonhap)




The families of the five people killed in the Plymouth mass shootings have criticised the Governments failure to respond within time to a coroners calls for gun law reform.

The Home Office was given 56 days to reply to a series of recommendations made by Ian Arrow, senior coroner for Plymouth and South Devon.

The Government department has now been granted an extension by Mr Arrow to answer his concerns.

He said the 50-year-old Firearms Act was at odds with public safety and the fundamental principle that owning a gun is a privilege and not a right.

In just eight minutes, Jake Davison, 22, killed his mother Maxine, 51, and then shot dead three-year-old Sophie Martyn, her father Lee, 43, Stephen Washington, 59, and Kate Shepherd, 66.

He then turned the weapon on himself as he was confronted by an unarmed police officer on August 12 2021 in Keyham, Plymouth.

Police activity in the Keyham area of Plymouth (Ben Birchall/PA)

In a series of reports sent to Home Secretary Suella Braverman, Home Office minister Chris Philp, the National Police Chiefs Council, all chief constables in England and Wales, the College of Policing and Lord Burnett, the Lord Chief Justice, Mr Arrow raised a series of concerns around the Firearms Act, Home Office guidance provided to police forces applying the Firearms Act legislation, the training offered to police staff assessing licence applications and training given to judges hearing licence appeals.

Mr Arrow, who has since retired as a coroner, called for the legislative distinction between Section 1 firearms, such as rifles, and shotguns to be ended.

Lawyer Patrick Maguire, who represents the families of those who died, said: We are now in receipt of the reports, and we are closely reviewing its contents.

We are deeply disappointed that the Home Office has not responded within the timescale presented.

We are also alarmed that the suggested delays in implementing critical recommendations made by the senior coroner puts lives at risk.

We urge all the relevant agencies and authorities to address the recommendations as a matter of urgency to prevent further shootings on the streets of Britain.

When we have considered the reports in more detail we will respond more fully.

Our priority is to ensure everything is done to prevent what happened to our loved ones happening to anyone else.

Earlier this year jurors ruled each victim was unlawfully killed.

They were critical of the failings within the firearms licensing unit, which handed the apprentice crane operator back his shotgun five weeks before the killings.

The jury also found there was a serious failure at a national level by the Government, Home Office and National College of Policing to implement the recommendation from Lord Cullens Report in 1996 following the Dunblane killings.

Davison legally held a shotgun certificate and weapon having been obsessed with firearms from a young age due to a trait in autism of developing a special interest.

He applied for a shotgun certificate in July 2017 aged 18, saying he wanted to go clay pigeon shooting with his uncle.

As part of the application process, Davison had declared his autism and Aspergers, but when police sought relevant information from his GP, the doctor declined to provide any as it was not mandatory.

The police granted the application in January 2018 to last five years.

Later that year, he bought a black Weatherby pump-action shotgun which he kept at home in Biddick Drive.

In September 2020, Davison was captured on CCTV punching a 16-year-old boy up to nine times in a skate park and slapping his 15-year-old female friend after another boy called him a fat c***.

Detectives did not know he was a firearms holder and put him on the deferred charge Pathfinder scheme instead of prosecution.

It was only two months later that a concerned Pathfinder worker alerted police and the shotgun and certificate were seized.

But just five weeks before the killings, they were handed back to Davison.

A Home Office spokesman said: The UK has some of the strictest gun controls in the world, which we keep under constant review to preserve public safety.

Since the tragedy in Plymouth, the Government has already taken steps to tighten firearms licencing including introducing statutory guidance for the police, and requiring that applications will only be considered if they include medical information from the applicants GP.

We thank the senior coroner in Plymouth for his prevention of future deaths reports.

We are carefully considering the findings and expect to respond shortly.

We have agreed an extension of the 56-day response deadline with the coroner.
Four people have been arrested after a man was found dead in his car with multiple stab wounds on a busy south London street.

Metropolitan Police officers were called to Malyons Road in Ladywell, Lewisham, where the 29-year-old man was discovered in a grey BMW at around 2pm on Wednesday.

Paramedics from the London Ambulance Service and Londons Air Ambulance also attended, but the victim died at the scene.

The Met has launched a murder investigation, and four people have been arrested in connection with the incident so far. All remain in custody.

Detective Chief Inspector Kate Kieran said the stabbing took place on a busy road in broad daylight, and appealed for witnesses to come forward.

She said: This was a shocking incident that took place on a busy street in the middle of the day.

There were a large number of witnesses and I thank those people who have already taken the time to share what they saw.

If you have footage or information but havent yet spoken to police, please do get in touch.

We are building a timeline of the events surrounding the murder and your information could be a missing detail in that picture.

If you saw anything, please do take the time to contact us.

The victims family is reeling from the shock of losing their loved one in such a violent way.

Our thoughts are with them as our investigation progresses.

The mans family are being supported by specialist police officers, and formal identification will take place in due course.

Detective Chief Superintendent Trevor Lawry said the death will send shock waves through the community.

It saddens me to see another life ended by knife crime in our city, he said.

I know that this incident will send shock waves throughout our community.

Please know that I share in your concerns, and while my officers are supporting the murder investigation team, they are also available to provide support and reassurance through enhanced patrols in the area.

If you are worried please do feel free to approach officers and speak with them.

Anyone with information or footage relating to this incident should call 101 or speak with officers from the investigation team directly via 020 87214622.
A volunteer who helped transport almost 350 tonnes of aid to front lines in Ukraine has been paralysed in a moped accident while on holiday in Spain.

Friends of 41-year-old Darius Linkus, who has lost the use of both legs, are fundraising for an accessible wet room for him and his wife Saule, also 41, who was the passenger on the moped.

They broke their necks and Mrs Linkus broke her right shoulder and has lost some mobility in her arm.

The couple, who live in Trimley St Mary, Suffolk, are in rehabilitation and a relative is helping to look after their three children.

Friend Oliver Horsman, 43, described Mr Linkus as a proud man who would not ask for help, but said he had finally agreed to Mr Horsman posting an online fundraising page on his behalf.

More than 4,000 had been donated towards an initial target of 10,000 within two days of the page going live, aiming to convert their downstairs toilet into a disabled bathroom and the conservatory into a bedroom.

Mr Horsman said Mr Linkus, who works in import and export, was quick to help after war broke out in Ukraine last year.

The war started and we were like, Right, these people need help, said Mr Horsman, who works with tech start-ups.

He said, Im going to fill up a van, Im going to buy loads of stuff and Im going to drive to Ukraine.

I was like, Lets be a little bit more measured than that, Ill see if I can get some donations and Ill come with you.

He said that within three days of the war starting their Facebook post had been shared thousands of times.

Literally it went insane, said Mr Horsman.

It ended up generating about 350 tonnes worth of aid.

Through Dariuss connections he managed to sort out all the import/export paperwork, get all the fixers on the borders for these vans that were going over.

I believe we were the first British aid van over the border into Ukraine. Other ones were rejected and not able to get across.

He ended up doing four or five trips himself and we facilitated 50 or 60 further trips to get that stuff over the border.

He was constantly on the phone.

Mr Horsman said that after the crash Mr Linkus was on the phone from his bed trying to arrange for generators to be delivered to people near front lines.

It was a bit of a frog in throat moment, said Mr Horsman.

Darius Linkman (Oliver Horsman/ PA)

He knew he was paralysed at that point but he was like, Ive got to do something.

Its pretty crazy that he now needs other peoples help really  pretty tragic.

The aid they took to Ukraine included surgical and first aid kits, incubators and military boots, and they also helped pick up and drop off refugees.

Mr Horsman said Mr Linkuss moped accident happened last September.

He said to his wife, Lets get away for the weekend, its been pretty manic over the last few months, said Mr Horsman.

They bought a ticket to Spain for the weekend, rented a moped and that was that. His front wheel hit a rock in the road.

His wife was on the back of the moped with him. Both wearing helmets, both within the speed limit, nothing silly. It was just how they fell.

Darius Linkus with his wife Saule (left) and their daughter Mante (right) (Oliver Horsman/PA)

They both broke their necks  she, however, can walk, although she has very little mobility in her shoulder because that was shattered.

He said the couple have no income and its been a crazy period for them to try to keep afloat.

Mr Linkus had been sleeping in a hospital bed in the front room and having to be washed with a bowl of water by his bed as he cant get into the bathroom, Mr Horsman said.

He said he wanted to fundraise for the wet room so at least he can have a quality of life.

Hes a very proud man, super giving, will literally give you the shirt off his back, said Mr Horsman. Hes not the kind of person who would put a page out there asking for help.

Hes agreed finally, after months and months of me pushing him, for me to put that post up there.

I just thought I had to help. He kind of inspired me.

Donate at www.gofundme.com/f/dontae-to-help-darius?utm_campaign=p_cf+share-flow-1&utm_content=undefined&utm_medium=chat&utm_source=whatsapp&utm_term=undefined
Filmmaker Guy Ritchie has described the denial of safe passage to the UK for some Afghans who served alongside British forces as morally reprehensible.

The 54-year-old Hollywood director is supporting a campaign by The Independent to prevent the deportation of an Afghan pilot who helped Western forces fight the Taliban.

The air force lieutenant, whose identity is protected, flew 30 combat missions against the Taliban, but was forced into hiding after the final withdrawal of Nato troops in August 2021.

He said he came to the UK on a small boat due to a lack of legal routes, and is now being threatened with exile to Rwanda.

Ritchie, whose 2023 action thriller, The Covenant, tells a similar story of a local interpreter left behind in Afghanistan by the US military, has criticised the UKs handling of refugees from the wartorn nation.

Director Guy Ritchie, whose film The Covenant tells the story of a local interpreter left behind in Afghanistan by the US military (Ian West/PA)

He told The Independent: During the course of the Afghanistan conflict, thousands of local Afghans exposed themselves to significant risk by supporting British, American and other Nato forces.

Some worked as interpreters, while others fought alongside these forces.

They did this based on an understanding that they would be offered visas and protection  and this promise must be honoured.

It is morally reprehensible that those who worked loyally for us and alongside us have found their safe passage to a future has been blocked.

Released in April, The Covenant stars Dar Salim as the Afghan interpreter and Jake Gyllenhaal as an American sergeant.

The Home Office said it is relocating Afghan citizens who worked for the UK Government in exposed or meaningful roles via the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP).

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said: We owe a debt of gratitude to those interpreters and other staff eligible under the ARAP scheme who worked for, or with, UK forces in Afghanistan.

Thats why we have committed to relocating all eligible Afghans and their families to the UK under the ARAP scheme  a commitment we will honour.

Our absolute priority is supporting the movement of eligible people out of Afghanistan and to date, we have relocated over 12,200 individuals to the UK under ARAP.
Queen Charlotte has seen searches surrounding pregnancy quickening spike. (Netflix)

Bridgerton spin-off series Queen Charlotte has left many fans wondering about the meaning of a pregnancy term, which featured in one of the episodes  quickening.

Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story explores the protagonist's struggles as a new monarch and finding her voice following her wedding to King George.

In one of the episodes, in which Charlotte is confirmed to be expecting a baby, the Dowager Princess says they should wait until her "quickening" to announce the pregnancy, leaving fans with questions and wanting to know more.

Data from women's health app, Flo, shows that over the past few days there has been a 110% increase in search volume on Google for 'quickening definition'. Similarly, search trends for 'what is quickening in pregnancy' and 'what does quickening feel like' have spiked by 130% and 50%, respectively, highlighting a surge in interest in the topic.

Read more: Four sisters pregnant at the same time will all welcome babies this year

What does quickening mean in pregnancy? (Getty)

So what is quickening?

In pregnancy, quickening is the first time you feel your baby move in your womb. This usually occurs in your second trimester of pregnancy, although it can occur earlier or later.

According to experts, it can feel like a fluttering or bubbling sensation, like butterfly wings inside your abdomen.

"While your baby will start moving around 12 weeks of pregnancy, youll unlikely feel anything that early," explains Dr Andrea Maduro, medical advisor at Flo.

"It probably wont be until you are 16 to 24 weeks into your pregnancy, around your second trimester, when youll be able to feel your baby move."

Watch: Four sisters are pregnant at the same time

However, its important to remember everyone is different, so try not to compare yourself.

"Also, know that various factors can impact the timing of when you feel those first movements, including previous pregnancies and your placentas position," Dr Maduro adds.

Everybody feels quickening slightly differently, and the first time is usually very subtle.

"As your baby grows, those movements will become stronger and longer," Dr Maduro explains. "You are more likely to notice quickening when you are in a relaxed state.

"Some say it feels like fluttering butterfly wings inside your abdomen, while others describe it as gas bubbles, like flatulence. This is why it can be tricky for first-time parents to recognise quickening when it occurs."

Read more: Kate Ferdinand reveals feeling 'nervous' before every baby scan after miscarriage

Quickening, cramps, and kicking: What are the differences?

According to Dr Maduro quickening is that initial flutter from your baby, but any movements you feel from then on are known as baby kicks, baby movements, or foetal movements.

Cramps, however, are different and in pregnancy, they can be caused by several things, such as your uterus moving around, not your baby.

"You might get cramps from your uterus stretching and growing throughout your pregnancy," Dr Maduro continues. "These feel similar to period cramps."

While cramps during pregnancy are usually nothing to worry about, if something doesnt feel right or if you're concerned, you should speak to your health care provider.

Read more: Millie Mackintosh shares important message about caesarean births: The narrative around C-sections needs to change

Quickening occurs usually between 16 and 24 weeks of pregnancy. (Getty)

What if you dont feel quickening?

Its natural to worry if you dont feel any movement from your baby as your pregnancy progresses.

"If you have concerns about your babys movements or lack of movement, you should always contact your doctor," Dr Maduro advises. "They will check your babys heartbeat to confirm the health of your baby.

"By 24 weeks of pregnancy, you will likely have seen a healthcare provider, and if you dont feel any movement for longer periods of time after 24 weeks or still havent felt your baby move by this time, then be sure to contact your healthcare provider."

If this happens to you, try not to panic.

"Your baby may be absolutely fine, but the movements may not be strong enough for you to feel them yet," Dr Maduro says. "It can be reassuring to watch your baby move on an ultrasound or hear their heartbeat, so ensure you get checked out for peace of mind."

Read more: Kate Ferdinand praised for helping to break the pregnancy 12-week rule: I told people close to me

What should you do if your baby moves less?

If you feel that you have decreased foetal movements, you should contact your doctor immediately.

"But again, try not to panic. Feeling less movement from your baby isnt always a sign of something serious," Dr Maduro adds.
The Royal Ascot Dress Code for 2023 has been revealed. (Damian Foxe/Royal Ascot)

There are dress codes, and then there is the Royal Ascot dress code.

Racegoers have long been accustomed to sticking to the rules that determine what you can and cannot wear in certain enclosures at the yearly Berkshire horse races, but this year, the Royal Ascot Style Guide has had a shake up for the first time in over a decade.

Whilst the Royal Ascot dress code remains unchanged, the style guide  orlLookbook as it has been renamed for 2023  encourages "racegoers to look beyond the rules and regulations" to style an outfit which is authentic to their "personal style and shopping habits" and that can suit every budget.

The Royal Enclosure dress code at Royal Ascot is one of the strictest there is. (Damian Foxe)

The annual racing event, which runs from 20-24th June, is a highlight of the British summer season for many racegoers, and 2023s Royal Ascot is looking to be better than ever for guests who love to dress up for the occasion.

Now in its 12th edition, the Royal Ascot Style Guide establishes the official Dress Code of the Royal Meeting and previously would offer guidance and inspiration for each of the four enclosures: The Queen Anne Enclosure, the Royal Enclosure, the Windsor Enclosure, and the Village Enclosure.

However, for 2023, the style guide has been reinvented as the Royal Ascot Lookbook, instead separating the inspiring looks into six edits: High Street, Luxe, Vintage, Pre-loved, Emerging Designer and Tailoring, in the hope of catering to every attendee, as well as their budget and personal style.

This year's Royal Ascot 2023 dress code encourages racegoers to inject personality into their outfits. (Damian Foxe)

For 2023, the Royal Ascot dress code has been reimagined by acclaimed stylist Luke Jefferson Day and fashion photographer Damian Foxe.

The style guide pays homage to the incredible talent and style from from established and emerging brands from high-end to high street, including the likes of Gucci, Jaquemus, Charles Jeffery LOVERBOY, and S.S Daley, as well as sustainable rental pieces from HURR and Favourbrook Rental.

This season I wanted to encourage unexpected freedom under the guidance of the enclosure dress codes and inspire racegoers to be a little more unconventional and inventive in the way they dress up, and how they source their looks, says stylist Jefferson Day.

The Royal Ascot Lookbook 2023 shares inspiration for every shopping habit and budget, from high end to high street, rental to vintage. (Damian Foxe)

"Weve championed innovative British designers, whilst also showcasing international brands from further afield. I want to excite people to think outside of the box  whether that be shopping resourcefully on the high street or by being more eco-conscious through hiring a look or finding a rare vintage gem.

Overall, Royal Ascot looks to invite guests to use their sense of creativity to put together a variety of looks to prove that fun can be had when it comes to occasion dressing and individual style.

Read More: How much the Queen has won at Ascot over the years

Royal Ascot Dress Code

The Royal Ascot Lookbook this year encourages racegoers to look beyond their usual go-to brand names and style, asking attendees to "inject a little fun and personality" into their outfit choices, whichever enclosure they have tickets for.

However it is important to remember the official do's and don'ts for each enclosure.

Royal Enclosure

The dress code for the Royal Enclosure is the most strict of them all, as the name might suggest. Hats are compulsory, but a headpiece or 'hatinator' with a minimum base diameter of four inches (10cm) is acceptable. Men must wear a three-piece morning suit in grey, black or navy (with navy suits only introduced to the dress code in 2019), and a black or grey top hat.

Royal Ascot encourages attendees to go bolder than ever for 2023. (Damian Foxe)

Dresses and skirts must be a modest length defined as falling just above the knee or longer and strapless and off-the-shoulder dresses and tops are not permitted, nor are visible midriffs or see-through fabrics.

Trouser suits for women are allowed as long as they are of matching material and colour and as of 2017 jumpsuits are also welcome as long as both adhere to the same length requirements as dresses.

The Queen Anne Enclosure

The dress code for the Queen Anne Enclosure is slightly more relaxed than the Royal Enclosure, but asks guests to still dress for a formal daytime occasion. Hats (or headpieces, or fascinators) are still compulsory, but dresses and skirts don't have a minimum length.

Strapless and off-the-shoulder dresses and tops are not permitted, nor are visible midriffs or see-through fabrics.

A full-length two or three-piece suit, with jackets and trousers of matching material must be worn with a collared shirt and a necktie for men in the Queen Anne Enclosure. However cravats, bow ties and neckerchiefs are not permitted.

Royal Ascot allowed trouser suits to the official dress code in the 1970s. (Damian Foxe)

Village Enclosures

For the Village Enclosures, the style guide advises to dress in a manner as befits a formal occasion and a fascinator or hat is also expected.

There is no minimum length for dresses or skirts, but as with the other enclosures, jumpsuits must fall below the knee.

Gentlemen are able to wear jackets and trousers of different materials in the Village Enclosures, as well as mixing it up with a necktie, bow tie or cravat atop the otherwise compulsory collared shirt.

Watch: Where to find the best affordable wedding guest dresses
Lauren Kempton asked men to submit a 500-word essay before she would go on a date with them. (SWNS)

A woman who asked dates to send her a 500-word essay before agreeing to meet them says she was inundated with responses  including one from a man who made an accompanying powerpoint presentation.

Lauren Kempton, 36, says she initially wrote the request as a joke after being fed up with previous horrendous dating experiences.

The mum-of-one asked all matches who wanted to go on a date with her to send her a 500-word essay on how they would not waste any of her time, after she had grown sick of flirty chats that went nowhere and being ghosted.

Read more: Sex in your forties: 'My libido went through the roof,' says podcaster who is now in an open relationship

"People might think asking for an essay was full on of me but it was really a bit of fun, I didn't expect someone to make so much effort," Kempton, from Portsmouth, Hampshire, says.

Kempton adds that, while shes still single and no longer using dating apps, the responses "restored her faith in men" and that asking for an essay was "a good way of weeding out what you don't want".

How to write the perfect dating profile

While asking dates to write an essay could be a good conversation starter, Tina Wilson, relationship expert and founder of dating app Wingman, says the key to having a great dating profile is to be yourself.

There are certain things you can do to make your dating app profile more appealing. (Getty Images)

"Writing a dating profile for yourself can feel awkward and self-promotional," Wilson says.

"The key to attracting a good match is being yourself and showing who you truly are, not the polite dreary profiles that most singles feel compelled to write."

While it should be authentic, here are Wilson's top tips for boosting it to the next level.

Read more: The dos and don'ts of sexting as Abbey Clancy says Peter Crouch's sex emojis turn her of

Think carefully about the photos you use

"We all love to use our best photo but do not filter it beyond recognition," Wilson says. "You may think a blurry finish looks cool or more flattering, but it is easy to spot there is something to hide which is why it must be avoided if you are serious about meeting someone.

"It is best to keep your photo unfiltered to appear as authentic and real as possible otherwise you will limit your chances."

Talk about your hobbies

"Be honest about your lifestyle  so absolutely do include any hobbies or interests, no matter how quirky," she advises.

"The person that you will enjoy spending time with, is going to like you for you, not a politically correct crafted profile. This will help you decide if you have common interests together and are compatible, so dont overlook this despite how unimportant or irrelevant you may think it may be  it will give great insight into you as a person and help decide if a first date is on the cards."

It's important to be honest about your hobbies on a dating app profile. (Getty Images)

Ask your friends to help out

As singletons, we can be our harshest critics, but someone who knows you really well can help to boost your confidence. Having a friend highlight your strengths and weaknesses while promoting you might feel similar to a best mans speech, but it will give some great pointers for your profile and first dates.

Dont overshare

"Dont overshare on your dating profile as it is too soon to offload your worries or life history and it will put online daters off. It might have been a while since youve been out on a date but a potential love interest isnt your therapist," says Wilson. "Remind yourself of this."

Read more: What is 'the ick' and why do people get it?

Choose the right app

"Choose a dating app that is going to suit your needs. To do this, think about your end goal and what it is you want," she points out.

"This will help you weigh up the dating app or website that is more likely to have users matching your needs. This can range from very casual to extremely serious, so make sure you choose the appropriate one. Do your research before signing up."

Watch: 2 in 3 singles prefer a partner who is on the "goofier" side
A self-pitying husband has been found guilty of the murders of his wife and their daughter after his wife began a relationship with a work colleague.

Police found the bodies of Jillu Nash, 43, and 12-year-old Louise at their home in Great Waldingfield, Sudbury, Suffolk, while 47-year-old Peter Nash was found covered in blood and holding a knife.

Nash had stabbed himself in the chest multiple times and tried to gas himself to death, prosecutor David Josse KC told a trial at Ipswich Crown Court.

He said that the defendant murdered his wife and daughter either late on September 7 or early on September 8 last year.

On Friday, jurors found Nash guilty by unanimous verdicts of the two murders, Suffolk Police said.

The force said that his defence had rested on his belief that he lawfully killed his wife and daughter.

Peter Nash, 47, was found guilty at Ipswich Crown Court of the murders of his wife Jillu Nash and their daughter Louise (Suffolk Police/ PA)

His attempts to justify this were through his interpretation of common law, property and marriage vows, a Suffolk Police spokesman said.

The spokesman added that Nash believed he lawfully killed Louise as she was his property and he did it to protect her because he did not trust anyone else to look after her, as she had complex care needs due to being non-verbal and diagnosed as autistic.

The trial was told that Nash and his wife had a difficult and unhappy marriage.

The prosecutor said that after the deaths police found a series of videos on Mrs Nashs phone, of the pair talking, adding: We would suggest it appears that Jillu was trying to record this covertly.

In one clip, Mrs Nash tells her husband youre a certified c***, and he replies youre a validated cheater.

Mr Josse said that TikTok videos, accessed by the defendant, showed the embittered and self-pitying mindset which he had.

After strangling his wife and stuffing a T-shirt in her mouth, Nash tried to fill the house with gas.

When this failed, he stabbed Louise and himself a number of times, before they were discovered by emergency services.

He has been remanded in custody and is due to be sentenced on May 17.
A minister has said he does not want to be two-faced about the Governments migration policy amid a backlash over plans to locate an asylum seeker accommodation centre in his own constituency.

Huw Merriman acknowledged there was anger among voters in Bexhill and Battle after it was proposed that the area would host one of four facilities.

The rail minister said that as a member of the Government responsible for delivering such policies, he supported the move.

His comments were in contrast to those of Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, who has voiced concerns about plans to use a redundant RAF airfield in his Braintree constituency.

Ministers are bound by the convention of cabinet collective responsibility to back the position of the Government, and have traditionally resigned when they do not.

Speaking to ITVs Good Morning Britain, Mr Merriman said: So you can imagine people are disappointed and that disappointment comes through to me as a Member of Parliament. I am a member of the Government that is delivering these policies, I recognise the anger.

But Ive always been straight with people. I wont be two-faced and say, Well, Im a constituency MP, I dont agree with this. But Im a Government minister, I do.

HMP Northeye in Bexhill-on-Sea is among the possible locations (Gareth Fuller/PA)

But what that means is that four MPs have to step up. Their community is not happy, but Im not a hypocrite and Ill be straight but Id rather be straight and honest and have some principles than be two-faced, and that, Im afraid, is what were dealing with.Mr Cleverly previously said no MP would want a large-scale facility housing asylum seekers in their area and admitted the decision to use RAF Wethersfield site isnt the result my constituents and I wanted.

The Braintree MPs local council failed to secure a High Court injunction blocking the Governments plans to use the airfield to house asylum seekers.

He said the Governments Illegal Migration Bill is intended to speed up the system so that such accommodation centres will not be needed in future.

James Cleverly (Hannah McKay/PA)

The proposed legislation aims to ensure people who arrive in the UK without permission will not be able to stay to claim asylum and will instead be detained and promptly removed, either to their home country or a third nation such as Rwanda.

The clampdown has been prompted by Prime Minister Rishi Sunaks pledge to stop the boats bringing migrants across the English Channel.

More than 6,000 have been detected crossing the channel so far in 2023.

It comes after the Daily Telegraph reported that net migration  the number of people entering the UK minus the number leaving  could hit a record high of up to one million.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said that if official figures due to be published later in May are anywhere near that estimate, it will show the Government has completely lost control.

I think if were anywhere near that figure then it will show the Government has completely lost control. We need a managed approach and we havent got that, he said earlier on Friday.

Like almost everything else under this Government, theres no plan, theres no control and, just like everything else, it seems like the system is broken.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures are due to be published on May 25.
Artists and invited guests pose for a group shot at the Yongsan Spring International Art held at Yongsan Art Hall from May 8 to 12. / Courtesy of Bereket Alemayehu



By Bereket Alemayehu



The Yongsan Spring International Art Exhibition invited 77 visual artists, including 32 foreign residents of Korea, to display their works for "Joyous Itaewon 2023," which officially opened for public viewing on May 8 until May 12 at Yongsan Art Hall. The exhibition features artworks from a diverse group of international artists, who are finally able to exhibit in person after years of online-only spaces due to the COVID-19 pandemic.



Twice a year the Yongsan Fine Arts Association invites foreign artists, in the spirit of solidarity and co-existence "to arrange a place of sharing where one can experience culture and art from many different countries.



This year, organizers decided that in light of the tragic event that has held a dark cloud over Itaewon the last six months, they would make the theme "Joyous Itaewon."



For over six years, the Yongsan Fine Arts Association has been helping foreign artists to exhibit their work in Seoul.



James Beckwith, the association's foreign president, has been at the forefront of this effort, dedicating his time and energy to ensure that every artist gets a chance to showcase their talent. Beckwith himself is an established studio artist who manages a studio located in Itaewon, a space that he quite often shares with emerging artists for their various needs. Beckwith has been the foreign president of the Yongsan Fine Arts Association for six years, during which time he has helped hundreds of foreign artists exhibit their art for the first time.





James Beckwith, foreign president of Yongsan Fine Arts Association, speaks at the Yongsan Spring International Art held at Yongsan Art Hall from May 8 to 12. / Courtesy of Bereket Alemayehu



He emphasized the importance of providing a platform for artists who may not normally have the opportunity to present their work: "I want to provide a platform where artists that may not normally have the opportunity to present can come and proudly show their artworks and get the recognition they greatly deserve."



For Swiss-born visual and digital artist Laura P. Acosta, who has lived in Seoul for over eight years and currently works at the Swiss Embassy, this was the first-ever group exhibit she has participated in. She said that it was exciting getting this opportunity to showcase her artwork with Korean and foreign artists as well as for networking. She said she didn't want to miss the opening event and dinner party in order to connect with fellow artists. Acosta's artwork depicts a hanbok-dressed girl dancing in the woods.



Philippine artists Sigay Sanchez and Zion Gamez felt the same, saying it was an unforgettable encouraging moment having their art displayed for a wider audience for the first time.





Filipina artist Sigay Sanchez, right, poses with a guest in front of her painting at the Yongsan Spring International Art held at Yongsan Art Hall from May 8 to 12. / Courtesy of Bereket Alemayehu



Artists were representing every continent of the globe, from countries such as Tunisia, Brazil, Colombia and Australia.



John Shrader, an American painter, has made use of this platform several times over the last nine years of his creative career. To him, the best part of it is getting to know other artists in the Yongsan area. Shrader is editor-in-chief for [b]racket magazine, a free art magazine distributed in Daegu, Gwangju, Daejeon, Busan and Seoul since 2012.



Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic for the last few years, the Yongsan Fine Arts Association and Beckwith remain committed to motivating artists through exhibiting their art, most of which is created in the Korea environment inspired by local cultures, natural and manmade landscapes, modern life and urban settings.



"We had to adapt to the pandemic, and we had to be creative to ensure that the artists still had a platform to showcase their works," Beckwith said. "It was challenging, but we managed to do two years of online exhibitions, and we're happy to be able to stay relevant."



Regarding the exhibition's theme, Beckwith emphasized that it was meant to help provide a safe space for foreign artists to share their art without fear of being misjudged. "We want to celebrate the diversity of the artworks and the artists themselves," he said.



Beckwith also spoke highly of the Itaewon neighborhood where the exhibition is taking place. "Itaewon has gone through so many hard times, but no matter what, it's the people that make Itaewon great," he said. "Their artworks are a beacon of beauty that this neighborhood represents."





People look around at the Yongsan Spring International Art held in Yongsan Art Hall from May 8 to 12. / Courtesy of Bereket Alemayehu
Updated 12 May 2023 at 7:53 am

Train services are being hit by more strike action.

Members of Aslef and the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) at train operators will walk out in long-running disputes on Friday and Saturday respectively.

Here is a breakdown of each operators plan for strike days:

Avanti West Coast is among the operators affected (Luciana Guerra/PA)

 Avanti West Coast

Friday: No trains.

Saturday: Fewer trains than normal will run and only between 7am and 7pm, with the exception of some services to and from Liverpool which is hosting the Eurovision song contest.

 c2c

Friday: Usual timetable.

Saturday: No major impact but all services will run to/from London Fenchurch Street and will not call at London Liverpool Street or Stratford.

 Caledonian Sleeper

Friday: Usual timetable.

Saturday: The Caledonian Sleeper does not operate on Saturday nights.

 Chiltern Railways

Friday: No trains.

Saturday: No trains will run north of Banbury.

Services that do run will be limited to one train per hour in both directions between London Marylebone and each of Banbury, Oxford and Aylesbury via Amersham, and only between around 9am and 9pm.

 CrossCountry

Friday: No trains.

Saturday: No direct services will run to or from Birmingham New Street and locations such as Aberdeen, Cambridge, Cardiff, Glasgow, Nottingham and Stansted Airport.

Services that do run will only operate between 7am and 7pm.

 East Midlands Railway

Friday: No trains.

Saturday: Services will run between 7am and 7pm.

They will be limited to just one train per hour in each direction between London St Pancras and each of Nottingham, Sheffield and Corby, as well as a handful of regional routes such as between Derby and Matlock.

 Elizabeth line

Friday: Usual timetable.

Saturday: The Elizabeth line is not involved in the industrial dispute with the RMT but there will be some alterations to its services.

These include no trains between Maidenhead and Reading before 7am or after 7pm.

 Gatwick Express

Friday: No trains.

Saturday: No trains but Southern and Thameslink will serve Gatwick Airport.

Services to Gatwick Airport will be hit (Gareth Fuller/PA)

 Grand Central

Friday: Usual timetable.

Saturday: Grand Central is not involved in the industrial dispute with the RMT but there will be minor alterations to its services.

 Great Northern

Friday: No trains.

Saturday: A limited service will run and only between 7am and 7pm. There will be no trains between Ely and Kings Lynn.

 Great Western Railway

Friday: A limited service will run and only between 7.30am and 6.30pm.

The only open routes will be between: London Paddington and Bristol Temple Meads; Reading and Didcot; Reading and Basingstoke; Reading and Redhill; Westbury and Swindon; Cardiff and Bristol; and Plymouth and Gunnislake.

The Night Riviera sleeper service has been cancelled.

Saturday: A limited service will run and only between 7.30am and 6.30pm.

More routes will be open compared with Friday, including additions such as between London Paddington and Didcot Parkway; London Paddington and Cardiff; Slough and Windsor; and Penzance and Plymouth.

 Greater Anglia

Friday: A reduced service will run and only between London Liverpool Street and each of Cambridge, Norwich, Southend and Stansted Airport.

Saturday: Trains will run between 7am and 11pm.

Some routes will have a reduced frequency, but most will have a normal or near normal service.

 Heathrow Express

Friday: No trains.

Saturday: No trains after 9pm.

 Hull Trains

Friday: Usual timetable.

Saturday: Usual timetable.

 London North Eastern Railway (LNER)

Friday and Saturday: A limited timetable will operate and only between London Kings Cross and both Edinburgh and Leeds.

 London Northwestern Railway

Friday: No trains.

Saturday: A limited service will run and only between 7am and 7pm.

The only open routes will be between Birmingham New Street and each of London Euston, Birmingham International and Liverpool Lime Street.

(PA Graphics)

 London Overground

Friday: Usual timetable.

Saturday: London Overground is not involved in the industrial dispute with the RMT but there will be minor alterations to some of its services.

 Lumo

Friday and Saturday: Usual timetable.

 Merseyrail

Friday and Saturday: No impact from the strikes. Additional services will run due to Eurovision.

 Northern

Friday: No trains.

Saturday: A limited service will run and only between 8am and 5pm.

Only a handful of routes will be open, such as between Liverpool Lime Street and Manchester; Leeds and York; and Darlington and Saltburn.

 ScotRail

Friday and Saturday: Usual timetable.

 South Western Railway

Friday: No trains on the Isle of Wight.

Services will be reduced between London Waterloo and Exeter, in the Romsey area and on the suburban network.

Saturday: A reduced service will operate and only between 7am and 7pm.

The only open routes will be between London Waterloo and each of Windsor via Hounslow; Windsor via Richmond; Woking; and Basingstoke; between Basingstoke and Salisbury; and on the Isle of Wight

 Southeastern

Friday: No trains.

Saturday: A reduced service will operate, with only 58 out of 180 stations open.

Trains that do run will be busier than normal, and services are likely to start later and finish earlier than usual.

Southeastern will run a limited timetable (Gareth Fuller/PA)

 Southern

Friday: No trains.

Saturday: A reduced service will operate. No trains will run between Hemel Hempstead and Clapham Junction; London Bridge and Norwood Junction; Southampton Central and Barnham; and Eastbourne and Ashford International.

 Stansted Express

Friday: Frequencies will be halved to one train per hour in each direction.

Saturday: Frequencies will be halved to one per hour in each direction, and trains will start later and finish earlier than normal.

 Thameslink

Friday: No trains.

Saturday: Services will be split north and south, with nothing running between London St Pancras and London Blackfriars.

 TransPennine Express

Friday: No trains.

Saturday: A reduced timetable will operate and only between Liverpool Lime Street and each of Huddersfield, Preston and Sheffield, and between Sheffield and Cleethorpes.

 Transport for Wales

Friday: Usual timetable.

Saturday: Transport for Wales is not involved in the industrial dispute with the RMT but some of its services will be disrupted.

Several stations such as Birmingham International, Liverpool Lime Street and Manchester Piccadilly will only be open for services between 7am and 7pm.

West Midlands Railway

Friday: No trains.

Saturday: A limited service will run and only between 7am and 7pm.

The only open routes will be between Birmingham New Street and each of Wolverhampton, Rugeley Trent Valley and Lichfield Trent Valley; between Kidderminster and Whitlocks End/Dorridge; and between Stourbridge Junction and Stourbridge Town.
One in three young people say their family have relied on food banks or other community outlets for supplies in recent months, new research suggests.

The Co-op and childrens charity Barnardos said their study of 5,000 10 to 25-year-olds found the stark impact the cost-of-living crisis was having on their access to food and mental well-being.

Almost half of young people have worried about being able to afford things in the past six months, with one in three saying their family has used food support, such as a community fridge or food bank, said the report.

Almost one in four said they have started the day without a meal.

The study also found that the rising cost of living is having a significant knock-on impact on young peoples life goals, as making it through day-to-day takes priority.

Having enough money to cover basic needs has become the most common aspiration for most young people, overtaking other traditional goals such as achieving their dream job or buying a house, said the report.

Only three in four of those surveyed said they believe it is likely they will be able to have enough money to cover basic needs in the future.

Shirine Khoury-Haq, chief executive of Co-op Group, says: The cost of living has had a seismic impact on young people, with many having to prioritise immediate needs like where their next meal will come from, over long-term goals and aspirations.

Remarkably, despite all of this, young people continue to show resilience and ambition to create a better future, but all too often they are cut out of important discussions and policy making decisions that directly impacts them.

We know that taking a grassroots approach and giving young people a voice on the issues which affect them will drive better long-term outcomes for them and their communities.

Lynn Perry, chief executive of Barnardos, said: We know from our frontline work supporting children and families across the UK that too many are struggling to access the very basics, including food, and theres an increasing impact on their mental wellbeing and opportunities.

Worryingly, our new research with Co-op shows that young people seem to be losing hope and do not feel optimistic about their futures.
Updated 12 May 2023 at 1:21 am

Phillip Schofield has hailed his This Morning co-host Holly Willoughby as his rock amid reports the pairs relationship has come under strain.

The presenter recently returned to the show after taking pre-planned leave around his brothers sex abuse trial at Exeter Crown Court last month.

The Sun previously reported the absence had contributed to a cooling of their friendship.

But in a statement, Schofield, 61, told the paper: As I have said before, Holly is my rock. Were the best of friends  as always, she is an incredible support on screen, behind the scenes and on the phone.

Holly Willoughby (left) and Phillip Schofield (Ian West/PA)

Holly has always been there for me, through thick and thin. And Ive been there for her.

The last few weeks havent been easy for either of us.

In April his younger brother Timothy Schofield, 54, was convicted of 11 sexual offences involving a child between October 2016 and October 2019, including two of sexual activity with a child.

Willoughby, 42, was also ill and took time off This Morning.

Schofield added: My family went through a real ordeal, and Hollys support throughout meant the world to me  as did the support of my bosses at ITV, my editor Martin Frizell and the whole This Morning family, including our amazing viewers.

And of course Holly has herself been ill with shingles.

Whatever happens, we still have each other to count on.

Dermot OLeary, Holly Willoughby, Phillip Schofield, Nik Speakman and Alison Hammond after winning the daytime award for This Morning at the National Television Awards 2022 (Ian West/PA)

Schofield has been a regular presenter on This Morning since 2002 alongside hosts including Fern Britton and Amanda Holden.

Schofield and Willoughby, who also present ITVs Dancing On Ice together, have become firm favourites with the public.

In October Schofield thanked viewers after This Morning took home the daytime prize at the National Television Awards, saying: This means so much to us every year, especially this year.

It came after the co-hosts had faced criticism over claims they skipped the queue for the Queens lying in state.
Rishi Sunak is disappointed by the decision of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to block Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelensky from addressing the grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest.

The body, which produces the event, said on Thursday night that it had declined Mr Zelenskys request to speak on Saturday over fears it could politicise the contest.

He had wanted to make an unannounced video appearance and had been expected to implore the global audience of millions to continue backing his country in its fight to repel Russian invaders.

The EBU said Mr Zelensky had laudable intentions but regrettably his request was against the rules.

On Friday, the Prime Ministers official spokesman said: The Prime Minister believes it would be fitting for President Zelensky to address the event and were disappointed by the decision from the European Broadcasting Union.

The values and freedoms that President Zelensky and the people of Ukraine are fighting for are not political, theyre fundamental, and Eurovision themselves recognised that last year when they rightly suspended Russias participation from the competition.

There are no plans to intervene and ask organisers to change their mind, Downing Street suggested.

In a statement ahead of the Eurovision final, Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer said our hearts will be with people in Ukraine who are fighting for their sovereignty and survival.

She added: If there was any justice this final would be taking place in Kyiv, but we are honoured in the UK to be able to host this event on their behalf and to welcome legions of fans and media.

2023 Ukraine entrant Tvorchi (Aaron Chown/PA)

Former prime minister Boris Johnson said it would have been right to hear from Mr Zelensky during the final.

Writing on Twitter, he added: There is only one reason the contest is not in Ukraine and that is because of Putins illegal war.

Mr Zelensky later thanked the UK for hosting as he expressed his gratitude for the donation of Storm Shadow long-range precision missiles in a conversation with Mr Sunak.

A Downing Street spokesman said: President Zelensky thanked the Prime Minister for Liverpools role in hosting tomorrows Eurovision Song Contest on behalf of Ukraine.

The Prime Minister said he was proud the UK could do this for the Ukrainian people and looked forward to the day that the contest could be held on Ukrainian soil once again.

Liverpool City Region mayor Steve Rotheram said he would be speaking with both the Ukrainian ambassador and the mayor of Lviv, who are both in the city for the final, to discuss what we can do to provide a platform for Mr Zelesnky.

In its statement on Thursday, the EBU noted that 11 Ukrainian artists, including last years winners Kalush Orchestra, are performing and 37 locations from around Ukraine are being shown.

The BBC has said the broadcast of this years contest is expected to be watched by more than 160 million viewers worldwide.

On Friday, BBC Eurovision commentators Rylan Clark and Scott Mills stressed the contest is non-political.

Clark said: At the end of the day we are commentators so we dont get involved in show format. I just think Eurovision, people say it is political  votes here, votes there.

From being on the inside it is the least political experience you could ever have, actually.

Radio DJ Mills added: People always ask, Do you think it is political?. It really isnt. It is a song contest.

Clark continued: It is a song contest and that is what we are here to say.

The pair, who provided TV commentary for the two semi-finals this week and will host radio coverage of the grand final, also stressed that as last years winner, Ukraine and its culture were being celebrated across Liverpool throughout the event.

BBC commentator Rylan Clark (Ian West/PA)

Clark said: Ukraine, this is their party in our country.

We always said that we would be true to that because they were the winner and I think it is very visible in the city, added Mills.

BBC director general Tim Davie told the Eurovisioncast podcast that he understood the EBU decision as the history of the contest has not been a platform for political statement.

Mr Davie also said: This country, Ukraine, is the victim of an aggressor.

This war is something that we all feel deeply is wrong and if you watch the broadcast, I dont think youll have any doubt that this is a celebration across Europe, for freedom, for democracy, and its quite right we do that.

They spoke at the British Music Experience on the Liverpool waterfront, where Zoe Ball hosted a special edition of her BBC Radio 2 breakfast show which featured guests including last years UK entrant Sam Ryder and The Fizz, featuring members of former Eurovision winners Bucks Fizz.

Claire McColgan, director of Culture Liverpool, told Times Radio it would have been fantastic to hear from Mr Zelensky, especially for the people from Ukraine who have come here wishing it was at home.

Kalush Orchestra (Yui Mok/PA)

Kalush Orchestra piper Tymofii Muzychuk told the PA news agency Mr Zelensky would have only wanted to thank the British people for hosting the contest.

He said: Actually we think that President Zelensky would have wanted to thank all the British people for doing this and, as we can see, Britain took this very responsibly, the UK. And so actually I think it would have been nice for him to talk.

Kalush Orchestra won last years contest but, owing to the Russian invasion of the country, hosting duties were awarded to the runner-up, the UK.

Mr Zelensky said earlier this week that he would have preferred Eurovision to take place in a neighbouring country.

Speaking to the BBC, he said: I have great respect for the United Kingdom and its society. It is an amazing country.

From the very start my opinion has been that if we cant host Eurovision it should take place in one of the countries that share a border with us, such as Slovakia, Poland or any other country which our people can reach easily. Something nearby.

It comes after the full line-up of the grand final was revealed following the second knockout round on Thursday night.

(PA Graphics)

After 16 countries competed, the 10 remaining spots went to Poland, Australia, Cyprus, Albania, Estonia, Belgium, Austria, Lithuania, Armenia and Slovenia.

The 10 countries that qualified from Tuesdays semi-final were Croatia, Moldova, Switzerland, Finland, Czechia, Israel, Portugal, Sweden, Serbia and Norway.

They will join the so-called big five nations  the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain  who each get a free pass because of their financial contributions to the event, along with last years winners Ukraine.

The final is expected to draw a large TV audience after Thursdays semi-final was watched by an average of 2.4 million viewers with a peak audience of 3.4 million.

The Eurovision grand final on Saturday will air live on BBC One.
Police are reportedly preparing to dig for the remains of a missing student after serial killer Levi Bellfields alleged confession to her murder.

Officers are poised to search for the body of Elizabeth Chau, who was 19 when she vanished 24 years ago, Sky News reported on Friday.

The 54-year-old serial killer allegedly admitted to killing the student during a recorded face-to-face interview with Scotland Yard homicide detectives in prison on Tuesday, the Guardian first reported.

During the interview under criminal caution, Bellfield allegedly named a location in west London where he claims to have disposed of Ms Chaus body, the paper reported on Thursday.

Ms Chau, a computer studies student at Thames Valley University, went missing from Ealing in west London on April 16 1999.

A Met Police spokesperson said: On Tuesday 9 May 2023, a 54-year-old male was interviewed under caution. Inquiries continue.

We can confirm we remain in contact with Elizabeth Chaus family.

At this time we will not be providing an ongoing commentary.

We have no comment to make.

According to Sky News, Bellfields solicitor Theresa Clark has said he wants to see justice so Ms Chaus family can have some closure.

Ms Clark reportedly said: He tells me he feels its important that her family have some closure.

He wants to see justice done because they have had to live this for so long and thats unfair.

He gains nothing from it, there is no positive publicity for him.

Milly Dowler was murdered by Levi Bellfield (Surrey Police/PA)

Bellfield is thought to be the only criminal in UK legal history to be serving two whole-life orders.

He was given a whole life term for murdering Marsha McDonnell, 19, in 2003, murdering Amelie Delagrange, 22, and trying to murder Kate Sheedy, 18, in 2004.

He was already serving his sentence when he went on trial for killing schoolgirl Milly Dowler, who was snatched from the street walking home from school in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, in March 2002.

Bellfield was found guilty of abducting and killing the 13-year-old following a trial at the Old Bailey in 2011.
An RAF worker has pleaded guilty to eight child sex offences committed against two girls, including four counts of rape.

Glenn Poyner, formerly of RAF Benson in Oxfordshire, admitted the rapes, one count of assault by penetration, one of causing a child aged under 13 to engage in sexual activity, and two of sexual activity with a child, at a court hearing on Friday.

Appearing before a Shrewsbury Crown Court judge, sitting at Telford Magistrates Court, the 35-year-old also pleaded not guilty to a further nine charges, including counts of rape and taking indecent photographs of a child.

Poyner was granted conditional bail until sentencing after prosecutor Mark Connor said the pleas entered were accepted by the Crown.

Mr Connor told the court: The defendant has entered guilty pleas which adequately reflect the offending behaviour in relation to (one of the victims) over a number of years.

The prosecution are able to accept those pleas for that reason. In relation to (the second victim) the prosecution accepts those pleas with regard to the courts overall sentencing powers.

No facts of the offences were outlined in court and no details of Poyners current employment status were given to the hearing.

Adjourning the case pending reports including a psychiatric assessment, Judge Peter Barrie told Poyner: I am going to ask the probation service to make an assessment. That ought to include a consideration of dangerousness.

The prosecution have accepted that the pleas you have entered today are sufficient to deal with this matter.

The next stage is for you to come back to court on August 11th to be dealt with. I am sure you understand the serious position which you face.

The Ministry of Defence has been approached for comment.
A Ukrainian refugee who had two minutes to flee her home with her children as Russian bombing began last year is now set to attend a Eurovision watch party in her adopted home of Berkshire thanks to the love and kindness of a local charity.

The Cowshed, a charity based in Wokingham, has been helping Ukrainian refugees since the start of the war and is holding a watch party on Saturday night for 250 Ukrainians who sought asylum in the local area.

Attendees will watch the grand final on big screens at the Reading FC Conference Centre, in a setting complete with almost a kilometre of hand-sewn bunting, chocolate gifts for children and celebratory flower arrangements.

Yuliia, a 40-year-old Ukrainian refugee living in Wokingham who did not wish to share her surname, went to The Cowshed after she arrived in England one year ago having fled Lviv in western Ukraine with her two young children and husband Volodymyr.

They provided us with necessary items like clothing, toiletries, bedding, she told the PA news agency.

They gave us everything with such big love and kindness, and it was so important for us to feel that we are supported and that we are important.

Yuliia added that in general Ukrainians are very big fans of Eurovision and they watch it every year.

She said: I was so happy that the organisation (The Cowshed) with whom Im working with now had the chance, with the help of the National Lottery, to arrange this party for all Ukrainians who are in the UK.

Yuliia will be bringing her children along to Saturdays watch party to meet her Ukrainian friends and new people.

It will be a wonderful opportunity for us to come together in the same place and have a wonderful evening of fun, beautiful music and tasty food, Yuliia said.

The Ukrainian Wokingham resident described the moment when she and her family heard alarm sirens on the first day of Russias invasion last year.

I will always remember the day on the 24th of February, I suppose it was a normal ordinary morning as always, she said.

I went to the kitchen to prepare my coffee, but suddenly I heard alarm sirens.

I couldnt even realise that the war actually started but when I looked from the window, I saw people escaping and carrying their children, in that moment I realised that we were in danger.

So, I just told my children that they literally have two minutes to prepare themselves, we grasped the suitcase and escaped.

The Cowshed volunteers were busy on Friday sewing hundreds of Ukrainian flags and making sweet bags at the charitys office.

More than 100 volunteers have been meeting at the charity three times per week to make a few hundred flags and put together bunting.

Sally Russell, the 57-year-old founder of The Cowshed, from Wokingham, said she organised the watch party after she saw that the National Lottery was offering funding for Ukrainian events in the UK.

Yuliia, a 40-year-old Ukrainian refugee, and Sally Russell, 57, founder of charity The Cowshed (Jamel Smith/PA)

I thought it would be a great thing for us to do to help the people weve supported; it has been a really tough year for them, she said.

Just to be able to have a party and celebrate the fact that they won (Eurovision) last year, but they were not able to celebrate it in their own country, was really nice.

Ms Russell added that her charity has helped over 1,000 Ukrainian refugees since the war started last year.

She said: (Ukrainian refugees) come to us and are able to choose clothing, bedding and any essential items like toiletries.

When they fled their country, they obviously fled with very little, so when they arrived in England, they didnt have any of the essential items that they needed, so we were here to help provide that.
A monarchist who was arrested and detained for 13 hours after she stood near protesters on the day of the Kings coronation has said no innocent bystander should endure a shocking experience like hers.

Alice Chambers has now called on police to put new processes in place to prevent a repeat of the incident.

The 36-year-old arrived at The Mall in central London at about 7am on Saturday morning and was hoping to catch a glimpse of the King.

But she unwittingly stood near Just Stop Oil protesters and was grabbed and handcuffed when police officers descended on the group at about 9am.

In an interview with BBC Newsnight on Thursday, the architect from Australia who lives in London said she was arrested for conspiracy to commit public nuisance.

While detained, she said she was questioned, searched, held in a cell and had her DNA, fingerprints and custody photo taken before the Metropolitan Police realised she was an innocent bystander and let her go.

She added: I mean, its just been so shocking and very emotional because its not something you ever expect, to find yourself in a jail cell for an extended period of time.

I think about all the things I could have done that day, all the parties I could have gone to but I chose to attend the coronation and I got to see none of it.

She added: You would think that this should never happen and clearly theres processes that either need to be put in place, or that werent followed because no one should endure an extended period under arrest just because theyre an innocent bystander.

She told Victoria Derbyshire she was sitting there waiting for the coronation to begin when police arrived and started handcuffing people.

Unfortunately, I was one of the people they grabbed, she said.

They handcuffed me straight away and then pulled me out of the crowd and put me against a barrier with a whole heap of other protesters.

I tried to say anything I could to say that I wasnt part of that group.

I gave them my contact details. I showed them my ID and nothing seemed to be able to be said that made a difference really.

Ms Chambers said she was hauled off The Mall, amid yelling and booing from crowds, and was bundled into a police van, from which point it took a further four hours before we made it to a station.

She said she repeatedly tried to explain she was not connected to Just Stop Oil and that up until they started protesting, I didnt even know what they were protesting about.

She said interviewing police officers later apologised when they realised she was an innocent bystander and they tried to process me from then on as quickly as they could.

Crowds filling The Mall as they wait for members of the Royal Family to appear on the Buckingham Palace balcon after the coronation (Sebastien Bozon/PA)

She has made a complaint about the incident to the Metropolitan Police.

A Scotland Yard spokesperson said: We are aware that a woman was arrested in relation to a protest on May 6.

The arresting officer was from Lincolnshire Police and the complaint has therefore been passed to the relevant force to investigate.

The Met will assist by providing any relevant information they require.

Reacting to this, Ms Chambers said: I think its quite frustrating, the day after this happened I raised a complaint and its taken them a long time to get to this point.

She acknowledged there were lots of police from forces outside London in the capital on coronation day but said it wasnt necessarily just Lincolnshire Police that her complaint is with, adding that the the Met ultimately took over from them and I was detained by the Met as well.

I feel at the moment theres a bit of finger pointing at each other so they theyre not really dealing with my complaint at all, she added.

Chief Inspector Simon Outen from the professional standards department at Lincolnshire Police, said: Our officers were in central London providing mutual aid support to colleagues in the Met on Saturday May 6, and during that time, a woman in her 30s was arrested in connection with a Just Stop Oil protest.

She was subsequently released with no further action. We have now received a complaint and we are reviewing the incident, and we are in contact with the complainant to establish the full details of her allegations.
The boss of Royal Mail has quit the top job in order to allow the company to move on following a bruising fight with its main union which finally concluded last month.

The announcement of Simon Thompsons departure comes weeks after agreeing a deal with the Communication Workers Union which brought to an end a year of postal strikes.

He has been in the role for just two years and will step down by the end of 2023. The union said more change is needed at the top even after his departure.

In his time in charge, Mr Thompson has overseen the first set of strikes since Royal Mail was privatised and a massive and expensive cybersecurity breach, while he was hauled back in front of MPs who accused him of giving them incorrect information.

Parent company International Distributions Services was told Mr Thompson wants to leave to allow the company to move forward under new leadership, it said on Friday.

He will leave the job at the end of October, but will continue to pick up his salary every month for half a year after that in lieu of notice, giving him around 289,000.

He will also be in line for a bonus and get to claim up to 17,500 towards legal fees linked to his departure.

I have been incredibly proud to lead Royal Mail during this crucial period in its 507-year history, Mr Thompson said.

The changes we have made, the infrastructure we have put in place and the agreements negotiated with our trade unions mean that Royal Mail now has a chance to compete and grow.

Members of the Communication Workers Union carry placards of Mr Thompson during a rally outside Parliament in December (Jonathan Brady/PA)

That is what I have always wanted and it is now the right time to hand over to a new CEO to deliver the next stage of the companys reinvention.

I would like to thank my team for their support during a difficult and important time of change.

Last month, Royal Mail agreed a deal with the CWU which would see staff get a 10% salary increase and a 500 one-off payment.

There was little love lost between the boss and the union, and Mr Thompsons departure was immediately celebrated by the CWU, which posted a picture to its Twitter account.

Mr Thompson had often been a target of union ire and his face was plastered across many signs on the picket line.

CWU general secretary Dave Ward said: Simon Thompson is one of the key individuals responsible for the financial crisis that Royal Mail Group has created over the course of the last year.

The CEO was also one of the key people responsible for the appalling mantra of its our business to run that saw the employer openly attack its own workforce on a relentless basis, including developing a culture of imposition which has now created quality of service and USO (Universal Service Obligation) failures on a scale which threatens the future of the company.

However, we recognise that the CEO was only one of the senior leadership team responsible for the unacceptable actions and behaviours of managers across the UK throughout this dispute. Further change in Royal Mail Groups leadership team is vital.

It is important that the next Royal Mail Group CEO is somebody who understands the only way to turn around the fortunes of the company is by taking the workforce with them.

Keith Williams, who chairs the parent company, said: On behalf of the board, I would like to thank Simon for his significant contribution over more than five years at Royal Mail, both as CEO and previously as a non-executive director of the board.

As CEO, his leadership, resilience and unwavering drive to ensure that Royal Mail transforms for the benefit of our customers means we have set a clear path to turn the business around.

We are grateful for his dedication and what he has achieved at the company, and wish him well for the future.
A South Korean F-35A fighter jet taking part in the Air Force's Soaring Eagle exercise lands on a runway at an air base in Cheongju, 112 kilometers south of Seoul, in this photo released by the armed service, May 12. Yonhap



The Air Force said Friday it kicked off a regular large-scale exercise to bolster its combat capabilities and ensure the country's defense posture.



The eight-day Soaring Eagle exercise began at an air base in Cheongju, 112 kilometers south of Seoul, amid tensions on the Korean Peninsula in the wake of North Korea's firing of a purported solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile last month.



The exercise mobilizes over 160 personnel and some 60 warplanes, including F-35A stealth fighters, F-15Ks, KF-16s and KC-330 tanker transport aircraft, according to the Air Force.



It will take place under various scenarios, such as infiltrations by enemy special forces and aircraft as well as cruise missile launches, with participants set to stage attack formation drills focusing on striking core enemy assets and the origin of provocations, the armed service said.



It will also stage air interdiction drills to train pilots to neutralize enemy targets, such as stationary artillery batteries and mobile missile launchers, in the shortest possible amount of time.



"The purpose of this exercise is to become equipped with swift response capabilities against recently continuing enemy provocations and threats, and acquire the best operational capability by verifying strike capabilities against threat targets," Col. Won Kwon-soo, who leads the exercise, was quoted as saying.



Launched in 2008, the Air Force has conducted the Soaring Eagle once or twice a year. (Yonhap)




A 29-year-old man suspected of shooting dead a 36-year-old woman during a stand-off with police has died in hospital.

Armed officers and a trained negotiator were called to a terraced house in Priory Road, Dartford, on Saturday after reports of a disturbance.

The woman, Hayley Burke, died on Monday evening after being taken to a London hospital, Kent Police said.

Her death is being treated as murder, the force added.

Hayley Burke died in hospital after being shot (Kent Police/PA)

The suspected gunman, Jacob Cloke, who was also taken to hospital with critical injuries caused by a firearm, died on Thursday evening, a police spokesman said.

No police weapons were fired during the stand-off.

The force spokesman added: An investigation into both deaths will now be led by the coroner.

Officers from the Kent and Essex serious crime directorate will assist the coronial process.

After being called to the home at 12.40pm, police cordoned off Priory Road and told people to stay inside their homes before officers broke through the terraced homes front door, witnesses said.

Police officers at the scene in Priory Road, Dartford (PA)

After an hour-long stand-off, pandemonium broke out and neighbours heard what sounded like two rounds of gunshots.

One woman, who did not want to be named, described events as chilling.

Kent Police made a mandatory referral to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) because police were at the scene at the time of the injuries.

An IOPC spokesman said it was assessing the referral from Kent Police to determine whether any further action is needed by the watchdog.
A teenage Islamic State fanatic was reported by his mother as he plotted an attack on British police officers or soldiers, a court has heard

Muslim convert Matthew King, 19, expressed a desire to kill military personnel as he prepared to stake out a British Army barracks in Stratford, east London.

His plans, which he discussed with an online girlfriend, were thwarted after his mother reported him to the Prevent counter-terrorism programme, the Old Bailey was told.

King, from Wickford in Essex, pleaded guilty in January to preparation of terrorist acts between December 22 2021 and May 17 2022.

On Friday, his mother and siblings attended the start of his sentencing at the Old Bailey.

Judge Mark Lucraft KC said Kings mother had done exactly the right thing by contacting Prevent about her son.

Opening the facts of the case, prosecutor Paul Jarvis the court that the investigation into Kings activities strongly indicates he has an entrenched Islamist extremist mindset, holds extreme anti-western views and intended to commit terrorist acts both in the UK and abroad.

In his early teens, King had dabbled with drugs and was expelled from school after becoming aggressive, eventually leaving education at 16.

Around 2020, he became interested in Islam, began to attend mosques and watched Muslim videos on YouTube.

By May 2021, his family noticed he had become more extreme and his mother became concerned he was watching material online promoting hatred, Mr Jarvis said.

He had also developed a friendship with a girl identified only as Miss A, who he met online.

He told her about his jihadist intent, saying: I just wanna die a martyr.

When Miss A appeared to support and encourage him, King responded: I guess jihadi love is powerful. I just want to kill people.

In further graphic chat, Miss A talked about torturing, mutilating and beheading a soldier and then cutting up the body parts, the court was told.

Meanwhile, King had set up an online account with the retailer Knife Warehouse and bought tactical gloves and googles.

Mr Jarvis said: Mr Kings younger sister told the police that one day her brother had entered her bedroom dressed in combat clothing and goggles. Mr King asked her if she liked his clothes.

King made videos as he studied potential targets including Stratford Army barracks, police officers outside Stratford Magistrates Court and at the railway station.

Stratford station (Stephen Pond/PA)

Some of his reconnaissance videos were overlaid with nasheeds  Islamic chants  and he posted on Snapchat: Target acquired.

While planning acts of terrorism in Britain, King had also expressed a desire to travel to Syria to join the so-called Islamic State group.

The teenager sought advice on social media about the best route to cross the border into Syria and searched for IS tactical training videos in the use of knives.

The court heard King had also done web searches for terrorist killers including the Manchester Arena bomber and Jihadi John.

Authorities were alerted after King posted on WhatsApp an image of a male holding a knife with the words: Those who said that there is no jihad and no battle. They are lying!

King was arrested by counter-terrorism officers at his home on May 18 last year.

He described his former Islamic name as Abdul Kalashnikov and told police: The only thing which is black and white is the sharia, the law of Allah.

On being cautioned, he said: I dont believe in the UK law, the only law I believe in is the law of Allah.

After hearing submission by Kings defence barrister Hossein Zahir KC, Judge Lucraft adjourned sentencing until May 26.
The leader of a train drivers union says pay negotiations with ministers have stalled over the past four months as fresh rail strikes take place.

Members of the Aslef union walked out on Friday at more than a dozen train operators, crippling services across England.

Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan said the union had seen neither hide nor hair from the Government since the beginning of the year, with one token meeting on January 6.

He told BBC Breakfast: They talk a good game, they dont actually engage, they havent taken any ownership of this process as far as were concerned.

The only people they talk to are the companies, they dont talk to us.

And every time we try and find a middle ground they did something that was deliberately set up to fail.

Mr Whelan said his members dont want to be on strike but felt they had no choice in a bid to find a resolution.

Aslef has previously described the UK Governments 4% pay offer as risible.

Thanks to @nowak_paul @The_TUC for joining @MickWhelanASLEF, @caucdc and striking members at Manchester Piccadilly to show your support and solidarity pic.twitter.com/BHN1vI2IZG  ASLEF (@ASLEFunion) May 12, 2023

Rail minister Huw Merriman confirmed he attended the January meeting, saying he had left unions since then to discuss the UK Governments pay offer with the Rail Delivery Group, the body representing train companies.

Mr Merriman said there was an offer on the table for train drivers and implored union chiefs to put it to members.

The Conservative politician told Times Radio: Im very sorry for the inconvenience that passengers will have to bear.

The sad reality of this situation is that there are offers on the table which have been given to both the train drivers union and the RMT.

The leadership have chosen not to put those offers to their members and I feel if they did, there would be the opportunity for members to decide if they wish to take them.

(PA Graphics)

If you look at the train driver situation, they are paid just under 60,000. The pay offer would take them to 65,000 for a 35-hour week.

We feel these are fair and reasonable, and we need to see those put to their members. So it is not the case that there is not an offer there  the offer is there, we just need it put to members to see what they think about it.

Mr Merriman said ministers are unable to offer a more modern service or pay for more trains while strikes cost the economy and the rail sector money.

The dispute led to Fridays industrial action being agreed by Aslef members, with further strikes due on May 31 and June 3  the day of the FA Cup final at Wembley.

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) will strike on Saturday  the day of the Eurovision Song Contest final in Liverpool.

Passengers are being urged to check before they travel on both days.

(PA Graphics)

Merseyrail is not impacted by the industrial action, meaning it is expected to run a normal service during the international music competition, including for Saturdays final.

Mr Whelan said Aslef had not planned for its Friday walkout to clash with Eurovision.

Strangely enough, I dont really watch Eurovision, I didnt know they had semi-finals, he told BBC Radio 4s Today programme.

If we were targeting Eurovision we would have done Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the only way to end the rail strikes was for the UK Government to get into a room, negotiate and settle this dispute.

He told broadcasters during a visit to the Crick Institute in central London: It has been going on a very long time.

The underlying cause is the fact many people working on the railways feel their living standards havent improved over many years, with costs going through the roof.

The Government has got to stop sitting on its hands, get around the table and sort this one out.

Northern Ireland is not affected by the strikes, while Scotland and Wales will only be impacted on cross-border services.

ScotRail and Transport for Wales were due to run their usual timetables on Friday.
Volodymyr Zelensky has said the UKs donation of Storm Shadow cruise missiles is a significant enhancement of Ukraines efforts in the fight against Russia.

After a call with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Friday, the Ukrainian president said the two leaders had discussed further cooperation on defence.

It came after Defence Secretary Ben Wallace confirmed to MPs that he and Mr Sunak had agreed to authorise the donation of long-range cruise missiles after continued Russian attacks on Ukraine.

Had a phone call with UK Prime Minister @RishiSunak. Thanked for the significant enhancement of our capabilities with long-range Storm Shadow missiles and other irreplaceable military assistance. We discussed further defense cooperation and coordinated our positions on the eve of    (@ZelenskyyUa) May 12, 2023

Mr Zelensky, in a tweet, thanked Mr Sunak for the significant enhancement of our capabilities with long-range Storm Shadow missiles and other irreplaceable military assistance.

We discussed further defense cooperation and coordinated our positions on the eve of upcoming international events. In particular, we need clear signals about Ukraines future with Nato.

Manufacturer MBDA says the Storm Shadow has a range of more than 150 miles, giving Kyiv the ability to strike behind the Russian front line.

Britain is understood to have received assurances that the missiles will only be used defensively against targets in Ukrainian territory being occupied by Vladimir Putins forces.

The Government has not provided detail on the number of missiles to be provided to Kyiv.

(PA Graphics)

A Downing Street spokesperson said Mr Sunak told the Ukrainian leader he was pleased to deliver on the commitment he made in February to provide Ukraine with the long-range capabilities they need to defend themselves.

The leaders discussed the importance of the international community sustaining the level of support it has provided so far to Ukraine, particularly as the country prepares to intensify its military operations.

The Prime Minister restated the UKs commitment to ensuring Ukraine prevails and secures a just and lasting peace.

The call came ahead of the Eurovision Song Contest final in Liverpool, after the UK was chosen to host on behalf of Ukraine.
A Ukrainian artist who fled the country following the war has seen her Eurovision design displayed in Liverpool.

Mariana Potetenko, 45, fled Kyiv last June, with her two daughters and dog, and came to Liverpool, which is hosting this years song contest on behalf of Ukraine.

She answered a call to artists for Eurovision-themed shop window art after taking part in a digital design skills bootcamp, funded by the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority.

Her design, which features last years winners Kalush Orchestra and UK entrant Sam Ryder, has gone on display in the citys Bold Street, outside the Lyceum building, for the tens of thousands of Eurovision fans visiting the city to see.

Ms Potetentko said: I came to Liverpool in June last year because of the war and started working as an artist and medical interpreter.

The bootcamp changed everything for me because it provided me with new knowledge, skills and opportunities  I still cant believe that I am seeing my design on such a huge scale and everybody can see it as well.

I am a huge fan of Eurovision and it was supposed to be in Ukraine but unfortunately, due to the war, it is here, in the city where I am. I still cant believe it. I will watch it on TV and be proud for my country.

Mayor of the Liverpool City Region Steve Rotheram said: People across our region have opened up their hearts and homes to thousands of Ukrainian refugees over the past year  and we want to ensure they feel a real sense of belonging in our community.

By giving people like Mariana the opportunity to access training, not only are we helping peoples creativity to flourish, we are helping them to gain the knowledge and skills they need to start building a better future for their families.

The free eight-day skills bootcamp, put on by Square One Training in Birkenhead, covered the use of digital design software.

Managing director of Square One Training Lisa Johnson said: We deliver skills bootcamps on behalf of the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority and the one Mariana did has allowed her to learn all the key skills to create wonderful masterpieces like this.

When she first came to me and told me about her life story I was full of emotion and pride that she had come to Liverpool to live  her story is truly amazing and now she is starting a new life in our wonderful city.
A university is to stage a conference exploring the history and culture featured on the television programme Outlander.

The show is based on the books by Diana Gabaldon and the conference at the University of Glasgow will look at the history, politics, culture, languages, clothes and music in the series.

Dr Gabaldon will give a keynote speech during the event.

The series of nine novels and six television seasons has put Scotland on the map for a world readership and audience.

Outlander author Diana Gabaldon will be the keynote speaker at the event (Stuart Wallace/PA)

Outlander season seven will begin this summer and the conference will take place from July 18 to 22.

Dr Gabaldon said: Im honoured (and very excited) that this conference is taking place under the sponsorship of the University of Glasgow.

A tremendous amount of work and organisation has gone into it, and Im so looking forward to being a part of it.

Willy Maley, professor of renaissance studies (English literature), at the universitys School of Critical Studies, said: Scotland not only has a great tradition of historical writing from Walter Scott to Dorothy Dunnett, but offers the ideal setting for fiction that combines adventure, fantasy and romance.

Diana Gabaldons Outlander series was inspired by Scotland and in turn has helped put Scotland on the map, boosting tourism and engagement with the languages of Scotland as well as interest in the countrys complicated past, from Jacobite resistance to diasporic identities and colonial complicity.
A Ukrainian pianist who fled her home with just her young daughter and a suitcase is to use her instrument as a weapon to showcase the unbreakable spirit of her country over a year later at a Eurovision event.

Daria Golovchenko, who is in her 30s and seeking full-time employment as a pianist, fled her home in Kherson in April 2022 with her then two-year-old  three-year old  daughter Sophia, before arriving in the UK later that same month to stay with her host  Rachel Balen, a retired university lecturer.

Just over a year later, she is to perform a set of Ukrainian pieces as well as classic hits including Hit the Road Jack at a Eurovision event at the Piece Hall in Halifax on Saturday May 13  the same day as the song contests grand final  in a bid to showcase Ukrainian culture.

Its a big opportunity to show and represent our culture through our music at this event, Ms Golovchenko, who is based in Holmfirth, near Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, told the PA news agency.

I will play some Ukrainian music, with one piece composed by a Ukrainian composer who is in Lviv, and some other more recognisable songs.

This time is very important for Ukrainians because before the war, not a lot of people understood who was Ukrainian  and Ukraine is a beautiful country with a lot of talented people and it is not the time to hide, but to speak about our Ukrainian culture.

And I can speak about it through music.

As the war in her country continues, Ms Golovchenko said she wants people to continue standing with Ukrainians.

(The Russians) destroy our cities, our lives, but they cant destroy our spirit, she said.

I fight here with music, my weapon is music.

Ms Golovchenko opened up about leaving Kherson, describing it as the most difficult decision of my life.

Daria Golovchenko with her daughter Sophia in Poland (Daria Golovchenko/PA)

She added: I could only bring one bag and it was very difficult to decide what to bring.

Leaving was the most difficult decision of my life and finding a driver to get us out was hard.

My father had a car but he could not drive because it was too dangerous and we had to pay crazy money for a driver  you could buy a ticket to Australia for the price we paid  and it was just from Kherson to Odessa, which is not a long distance.

From Odessa, the pianist travelled many hours on a train to Lviv, arriving in the early hours of the morning, without any food and having to sleep on a tiny mattress on the floor of a train station, before being driven to Poland by a friend and eventually reaching her host at the end of April 2022.

Ms Golovchenko and Ms Balen were paired together via a local support group called Holme Valley Homes for Ukraine, with the fact that Ms Balen had a piano being of huge importance for Ms Golovchenko, especially since she has struggled finding employment as a pianist in the UK.

Daria has been to job centres, but they arent really geared up for helping musicians to find work, Ms Balen said.

She gets universal credit, but it is not really enough to cover rent.

Ms Balen added that her grandparents fled Zhytomyr in the 1900s, which was part of the Russian empire at the time, because they were Jewish, and got to the UK without money thanks to the kindness of strangers.

People helped them as they made their journey  Im repaying the help my grandparents had because it is what many Ukrainians are having to do now.

Ms Golovchenkos interest in the piano began at the age of five, where she would pretend she was playing by drawing keys on a piece of paper.

Daria Golovchenko started playing the piano at the age of five using a piece of paper with keys drawn on it (Joe Elliott/PA)

My parents didnt have a piano, so my teacher drew keys on an A4 paper and one year, I practised only using that.

And I played in a concert on a real piano after practising on paper.

Her parents managed to purchase a piano when she was six, and from there she went on to study classical piano at the Conservatoire in Kharkiv.

The performance could have been scuppered because of the lack of a keyboard, but Ms Golovchenko managed to borrow a full-size, weighted Casio keyboard in the nick of time, thanks to a Facebook appeal.

Ms Balen added that this was just one of the difficulties when you leave your life.

(Daria) could only bring one suitcase and her daughter, she could not bring a piano, she couldnt bring any music and her priority was finding somewhere safe.

Its taken Daria about a year to get to a place where she is able to play the piano properly, and its good in a way that this Eurovision opportunity has come for her a year after she has arrived because it has taken her a year to recover from the trauma of escaping Ukraine.

It has significance bigger than Eurovision, its kind of saying shes back as a musician.

Daria Golovchenko said music is her weapon in the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia (Joe Elliott/PA)

Although she is not in Liverpool in the week the Eurovision contest takes place, Ms Golovchenko has been to the city in the run-up to the song contest.

It was maybe one month before and they already had Ukrainian menus in restaurants, they put Ukrainian slogans for welcome in cafes, she said.

Now, when I watch the news, I can see that they have a Ukrainian village and everywhere there is Ukrainian food, Ukrainian musicians, Ukrainians chefs  a lot of Ukrainian culture everywhere.

Its so nice, it makes me so happy.
Colombian Ambassador Luis Gilberto Murillos journey has placed him on the front row of history throughout his career.

He was in the Soviet Union for the fall of the Berlin Wall, back in Colombia for the adoption of the countrys 1991 constitution, in Washington for the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the election of Barack Obama as the first Black U.S. president, and once again in his home country for the historic 2016 peace agreement with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.

In 2000, while serving as the elected governor of the impoverished department of Choco, Murillo was stripped of his position by the countrys courts, kidnapped and later fled with his family in exile to Washington.

Last year, he came back to D.C., this time as Colombias first Black ambassador to the United States.

This means there are signs of change with the new government, Murillo told The Hill.

Black, Afro-descendant, Raizal and Palenquera communities, as we call them, have been in a process of revindication that [at] one stage ended with the constitution in 91, where we were finally recognized as an ethnic group with specific ethnic and territorial rights.

That process, Murillo said, eventually opened the door for Black and native Colombians to seek positions of power.

And the countrys connections with the U.S. played a significant role in its racial and ethnic equity process.

The United States has played a very important role  in walking with the Afro-descendant community to acquire a larger voice in Colombia, Murillo said.

The role of Congress especially, of congressional members, Democrats and Republicans alike, has been fundamental, and especially of some members of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Murillo highlighted the influence in that process of Rep. Gregory Meeks (N.Y.), the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and also of former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

I think were at a very interesting moment where the participation of the Afro-Colombian community has helped ingrain democracy in the country, he said.

But Murillos rise in Colombias democracy has faced major speed bumps.

His political career began in the early 1990s with positions in former President Cesar Gavirias government promoting sustainable development in Choco, directing urban planning in Bogota under former Mayor Antanas Mockus, and finally as a coalition candidate to become governor of Choco in 1997.

Two years into the governorship, Murillo was stripped of his position by a court that found irregularities in his election, granting the governorship to his opponent, who the court said had beaten Murillo by 114 votes.

The first time I left [the governorship]  in politics, that generates a lot of frustration because I would have liked to end my term, and I prepared to be a good governor, he said.

More frustration when I had to leave the country because of the extortion kidnapping. At the time, they used kidnapping to intimidate and force politicians to work for paramilitary groups.

In the U.S. after his kidnapping, Murillo applied his sustainable development experience worldwide, working with the development banks Lutheran World Relief and the Phelps Stokes Fund while at times moonlighting as a bouncer at a bar.

From here, I was able to develop some work related to Colombia and be exposed to global [conditions], he said.

Murillo worked on development in conflict and disaster zones, including in the Philippines, Indonesia, Southeast Asia (after the 2012 tsunamis), Darfur, Nepal, Congo and Liberia.

It gave me a more global perspective, but always thinking about Colombia, and that alleviates ones frustration, but I was always frustrated that I hadnt been able to do what I wanted, to contribute to my country, said Murillo.

From work in Liberia, he said, he learned a valuable lesson for Colombia, which at the time was fighting an intractable, half-century-old civil war.

It demonstrated to me that peace was possible. If they can sign peace, why cant we in Colombia, he asked.

And Murillo saw progress in countries with deep-rooted ethnic and religious strife, where in Colombia the core reasoning behind the war was a political offshoot of the Cold War.

It makes no sense that we are murdering each other when the differences that led to those conflicts are not that deep, he thought at the time.

Throughout his career, Murillo has navigated contradictions. He trained in the Soviet Union as an open pit mining engineer but used that training as a consultant on how to mine sustainably.

Its possible to do open pit mining and use restorative processes that leave ecosystems in apt conditions to follow a process of natural regeneration, said Murillo, who served as Colombias minister of the environment under former President Juan Manuel Santos.

He landed that job partly as a result of his second removal from the governorship of Choco, after he returned home from Washington in 2011.

That year, he won an election to return to the governorship, but in 2012, the courts invalidated his election win in connection to an accusation stemming from his 2001 work for the city of Bogota.

Santos named Murillos replacement, and two years later, he named Murillo to lead a special economic development initiative for Colombias Pacific coast. Then, he called Murillo up to his cabinet in a 2016 shuffle.

Murillo said hes dealt with the whiplash in part by relying on his experience in the Soviet Union and traveling in East Germany as the Cold War came to an end.

I witnessed the Gorbachev era and the fall of the wall; I had passed through the wall many times, and that was a period of optimism throughout the world, he said.

Optimism that one can tear down walls and build bridges.

After his run as minister, Murillo jumped into the 2022 presidential election  an unpredictable race that ultimately led to the election of President Gustavo Petro, the countrys first leftist leader.

Murillo first campaigned in favor of Sergio Fajardo, a centrist candidate, becoming Fajardos vice presidential nominee, and moved to support Petro in the second round after his ticket came in fourth in the first round.

Petro has faced criticism internally and externally, particularly over a controversial health care law that underpins his left-leaning agenda.

The president is respectful of institutions, said Murillo. What people must understand is he was elected for  and what we were all seeking in the campaign  was change.

They did not elect him for everything to remain the same.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Thrill seekers will take to new heights in Cappadocia, Turkey (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The rarest and most exhilarating travel experiences are often the ones thrill-seekers enjoy the most. The temptation of once-in-a-lifetime adventures for adrenaline junkies is enough to get the blood pumping and ready for a sensational skydive, stomach-dropping bungee jump or white-water rafting journey down grade five rapids.

With so many unique locations and activities to see and do respectively, it can be a struggle to whittle the options down to an essential bucket-list of activities. After all, from exploring a World Heritage site to reaching the base of Mount Everest, there are seemingly endless try-before-you-die experiences to tick off.

From scuba diving the Great Barrier Reef to hiking Machu Picchu and taking a polar plunge in Antarctica, there are adventures out there to suit every type of traveller. Weve put together a list of some of the top ones to try around the world; read on for some serious bucket-list inspiration, and turn your travel dream into reality.

Read more on adventure travel:

Safari in the Serengeti, Tanzania

Tour the African savannah of the Serengeti National Park (Getty Images)

If a safari adventure tops your bucket list, the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania is the perfect setting to see the Big Five for yourself. Picture lions, leopards, rhinos, elephants and buffalo mere meters away on the African savannah.

Proclaimed as a national park in 1951, the authentic natural landscape still hosts some indigenous tribes, including the traditional Maasai people. Get up close and personal with the diverse wildlife with a trip to witness the Great Migration, the journey of roughly two million wildebeest across the Masai Mara. Most travellers prefer to visit during the dry season from late June to October for the best chance of catching this vast spectacle.

How to do it

Spend eight days on a budget camping safari in the Serengetis Northern plains for just 1,719pp when you book through Lion King Adventures. The price includes transfers to and from Arusha Airport, safari transport in 4x4 vehicles and all camping meals and equipment required. Travellers will visit the Lake Manyara National Park, Ngorongoro Conservation Area and Crater along the way.

Hiking Machu Picchu, Peru

The Incan Citadel of Machu Picchu, Peru (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Deep in the mountains of the Peruvian Andes at the heart of a tropical rainforest lies an imposing 15th-century Incan Citadel. The site, built by Perus ancient civilisation and rediscovered by American archaeologist Hiram Bingham in 1911, had sat abandoned since the 16th-century Spanish invasion. In 1983 Unesco declared Machu Picchu a World Heritage Site and, in 2007, it was officially named as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.

Its no wonder that hiking along the Inca Trail has topped bucket lists, but this adventure holiday is no walk in the park. At over 2,430m above sea level, get ready for some serious altitude, heavy rain between November and March and strenuous cardio. Youll travel through the indigenous Sacred Valley and Ollantaytambo ruins before reaching the South American cultural icon that is Machu Picchu.

How to do it

Intrepid Travel offers action-packed seven-day Inca Trail tours from 1,009pp, including accommodation, transport, activities and some meals. The Peruvian tour leaves from Cusco, Peru; return flights from London start from around 976 in September.

Fall from the Sky in New Zealand

Make the bungee jump from Kawarau Bridge, New Zealand (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The creme de la creme of bucket list activities for the most adventurous of adrenaline junkies can be found at great heights in New Zealand  skydiving and bungee jumping. In these top two adventure activities, taking a leap of faith is the fastest way down.

Freefall for 8.5 seconds from New Zealands highest bungee launch by making the jump from 134m above the Nevis River. Alternatively, embrace the heart-pounding jump from the site of the worlds first bungee at Kawarau Gorge  this is the original after all. Keen to ramp it up a notch and take your trip even higher? Skydive from 9,000ft in Queenstown or Wanaka for incredible views over the magnificent Kiwi landscape, including the Central Otago high country and lakes.

How to do it

Everything Queenstown offers full-day skydiving and Nevis Bungee combos for thrill seekers visiting New Zealand. Tandem skydive over Queenstown with NZone skydiving operator from 9,000 to 15,000ft before making the highest bungee jump in New Zealand with original bungee operator, AJ Hackett. Prices start from 306 for a 9,000ft skydive with bungee jump and include pick up and drop off transfers from central Queenstown.

White Water Rafting the Zambezi River, Zimbabwe

White water rafters face the rapids of the Zambezi River (Bundu Adventures)

The Zambezi River runs from Zambia to the Indian Ocean and is widely considered to have some of the best white water rafting rapids in the world. Tranquil pools, the beauty of the Batoka Gorge and picturesque sunsets provide a respite from the class three to five rapids of powerful waves and currents along the way.

Flowing under the backdrop of the worlds largest waterfall, Victoria Falls, the journey is simultaneously spectacular and elating. Think overnight stays on remote white sand riverbanks with moonlit campfires. Try your luck catching tigerfish and keep an eye out for native wildlife, including crocodiles and hippos, while navigating the fast waters.

White water rafting trips are not only exhilarating but offer a physical challenge, speed and a sense of adventure. The best season for ticking off rafting the Zambezi from your travel bucket list is during the lower water levels from July to January.

How to do it

Bundu Adventures provide six-day rafting activity packages from Victoria Falls to Lake Kariba for 865pp, with a minimum of four people required for the tour to run between August and December. This includes swimming under the falls, all meals, camping equipment, transfers and a final nights stay in a chalet at Bimbi Lodge.

Ride a Hot Air Balloon in Cappadocia, Turkey

Hot air balloons in Cappadocia, Turkey launch at sunrise (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Cappadocia in central Turkey has become almost synonymous with the iconic image of the flight of hundreds of hot-air balloons across the skyline. The huge attraction is now a staple to the modern bucket list as thousands flock to Turkey to take to the skies and enjoy the World Heritage Site. Try to get an early start for the best views of the sunrise as you calmly float over the historic Goreme Town and spot the distinctive fairy tale chimneys in the rock formations. Hiking trails in the region further make the trip a whimsical dream for adventurers.

Hot air balloon flights are weather dependent, so tourists are advised to travel between April and June for the best chance of getting off the ground.

How to do it

Turquaz Balloons Cappadocia hot air balloon tour takes off at dawn to catch the sunrise over the Cappadocia valley. The three-hour excursion includes a light breakfast, English-speaking tour guide, pickup from your hotel lobby and a champagne celebration after the flight from 156.57pp.

Scuba Dive the Great Barrier Reef, Australia

Get up close and personal with Australias marine life (Getty Images)

Sign up for scuba diving in Australia for an underwater adventure on one of the largest living structures on Earth. The Great Barrier Reef stretches 1,400 miles down Australias east coast and is teeming with vibrant corals. Dive sites enjoy protected status as a Marine Protected Area and are home to an abundance of regularly spotted marine life. Bottlenose dolphins, manta rays, jellyfish and minke whales swim the waters, and you may even get to face your fear of sharks.

Swim, snorkel or scuba dive the gentle currents as a beginner, or take it one step further and get scuba certified for a guaranteed return trip  theres a reason the reef is renowned as one of the best scuba diving destinations in the world.

How to do it

For 135pp when booking with Ocean Freedom, embark on a scuba diving tour on Upolu Reef for non-certified divers with no required experience. A crew of professional dive instructors will take you five to six meters deep among the colourful marine life just 30km from Cairns. The Great Barrier Reef tour includes a scuba diving lesson, wetsuits, diving equipment and 30 minutes under the clear water.

Climb to Everest Base Camp, Nepal

Mount Everest Base Camp, Nepal (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

If a past staycation in Snowdonia gave you a taste for climbing, why not set your sights on an aspiring hikers biggest challenge: Mount Everest. The worlds highest mountain peak, 8,849m above sea level, has an infamous reputation that precedes it worldwide. Everest has been the tallest order on every thrill-seeking adventurers wish list since it was first summited in 1953.

Beginners fear not, those with little climbing experience can still enjoy the wonders of the vast mountain without trying to reach the summit. Still, plan ahead and allow for a few months of preparation time for basic altitude and fitness training. The dramatic scenery of the Himalayas is just as awe-inspiring from Base Camp. Think monasteries, alpine lakes and Sherpa villages along the way to the established community at the bottom of the formidable Khumbu Icefall.

How to do it

Intrepid Travel offers an epic 15-day Everest Base Camp trek for 18- to 29-year-olds from 1,004pp, including transport, accommodation and porterage of one 10kg bag. Eight hours a day of trekking will take you to altitudes of over 5,500m, so this trek is not for the faint-hearted. To reach the start destination youll need to fly from London to Kathmandu  return flights start from 400.

Polar Plunge, Antarctica

Prepare to take a polar plunge into the icy waters of the Antarctic Peninsula (Getty Images)

A cruise to Antarctica is certainly not your average summer holiday, but a visit to the icy, isolated continent remains a dream for many. Make the once-in-a-lifetime journey through the rough seas of the Drake Passage from South America to Antarctica for a chance to brave a swim in the Antarctic Peninsula.

Expedition leaders will look out for the most optimal conditions along the way, be it a quick dip from onshore or launch from the ships gangway and Zodiac boats. Polar plunges stimulate heart rates and oxygen levels so get ready to feel invigorated for the rest of the journey. It doesnt matter if youre a seasoned swimmer; all those taking the plunge are kept safely secured to the boat by a tethered harness as guides in survival gear circle the area.

How to do it

Quark Expeditions is one of a few Arctic tour operators to offer this experience. The highlight of an Antarctic cruise, the polar plunge is scheduled once each voyage. Prices for the 12-day Antarctic Explorer: Discovering the 7th Continent expedition start from 5,229pp, including all meals, shore landings, transfers and educational presentations.

Read our reviews of the best hotels in Istanbul
By Nam Hyun-woo





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Christopher Fenimore

As we often discuss in this column, style is really at its peak when a person exhibits both comfort and honesty, and if youre wondering how clothes can read honestly, we can start here with these outfits and this conversation. Sameer Sadhu is the VP of A&R at Nettwerk Music Group, as well as a partner at Singapore-based boutique label services firm Secret Signals, and his roots in the music world show in the way he gets dressed. He and I grew up listening to a lot of the same alternative rockemo, screamo, pop-punk, and hardcore. With that shared history, along with an interest in traditional menswear, we have moments of style overlap. But Sameer remains unique in his approach, mixing high fashion and the sometimes-trendy with wardrobe staples in an impactful and yet subtle way. Below, Sameer and I discuss the journey from playing in bands to finding them for a living, falling in love with fashion through his fathers clothing, the correlation between style and art, and plenty more.

Fit One

Christopher Fenimore

Christopher Fenimore

Christopher Fenimore

Christopher Fenimore

Where are you from and how did you find your way into the music business?

Im originally from India, grew up in Singapore, and played in bands and was part of the music scene in Singapore from the age of 14. That was the age that I knew I wanted to be in the music industry, despite not knowing how and feeling like an outsider. Initially, I interned at a label when I first moved out to the States for university in 2008. After that, I went back to Singapore and worked at a couple labels before moving to join Nettwerk in 2015 on the management side as a day-to-day.

Can you remember how you first fell in love with fashion?

I think a lot of it was inspired by my parents and my dad really, the clothes he was wearing; that initially got me into clothes. Then, as I got older, finding clothes I loved sparked a response in me in a similar way that art does.

Fit Two

Christopher Fenimore

Christopher Fenimore

Christopher Fenimore

Christopher Fenimore

Were your parents particularly well-dressed?

Yeah. A smart pair of trousers and a shirt tucked in was my dads look for the longest time, which is very similar to what I enjoy now in clothesvery simple but clean. I still have a lot of his shirts as well. When I look back, I remember seeing vintage Lanvin shirts. I found a few Burberry pieces, and several pieces of made-to-measure clothing. It was really interesting as I got older to see that. There's a pair of Bally loafers that he had that I thought were so cool. They were navy with a green and red horsebit on them. Perhaps thats where my love of loafers started.

How has your style changed over the years?

It's definitely evolved a lot. Its something that driven by my mood more than anything else, and the discovery of brands and clothes. The problem is I love clothes, and I constantly change my mind in terms of what I like that day or week. It's a very fluid part of life, is how I see it. Living in New York, Im inspired by the things and people around me. From strangers, to my friends, to my wife. When I moved to the States, that was the first time I could wear jackets. It sounds really silly, but growing up in Singapore, it's summer all year round, so there's never a need for a jacket. Those environmental changes were a big driving force in my discovery of clothes that happened at a later age in life, when I moved to the States and was working here and made money. I was able to explore a side I couldnt before.

Fit Three

Christopher Fenimore

Christopher Fenimore

Christopher Fenimore

Christopher Fenimore

What role do fashion and style play in music?

Its an extension of identity, and an extension of art. To an extent, you can understand someone a little better based on how they style themselves, and how they dress, and the aesthetics they draw from. For people who make art, how they live is such an extension of their own art as well. It also plays a very strong role in how artists view themselves, a lot of it subconsciously.

What do you look for when signing a new artist to a music label?

When you look at an artist, there's always the baseline: Is the music good? Do I love it? From there, it's all the other sides of the nuance, like the vision of the artist and where they want to take it. Is that something that I feel like our team and I can add value to? Do I enjoy working with the artist? Do I get along with the artist? Is it something where there's that two-way street in terms of mutual respect? Is the team a team we feel like we can work together with? Nettwerk is a company of 185 staff, and when I go in and sign an artist, I have to consider the personalities that would be involved in the project and how that matches as well. Is that something that the team will embrace and make it a successful project?

Because at the end of the day, you want the project to be successful for everyone. One of the biggest battles in this industry is having resilience and consistency. Its those softer skills that aren't talked about enough, but truly are huge factors in deciding whether the artist is the right fit for the label. There have been meetings in which I met artists, and perhaps personality-wise there isnt the right click between me and them, or their manager. Youre going to spend a lot of time communicating with them and talking with them. This is a partnership and it's more than just six months. It's years. You have to get ready to be able to communicate clearly and have that ability to bring good news and bad news, and work towards goals together and be comfortable with that. It can be hard to determine during the courting process, but that's something that you learn. You could go in a meeting and realize very quickly if it'll work and not. Obviously, thats not always the case, but for the most part it is. When you've been in the industry long enough, you know the people who you trust. Those are the other things that we look at outside of just the music and their creative vision, which is, at the end of the day, the number one thing.

Fit Four

Christopher Fenimore

Christopher Fenimore

Christopher Fenimore

Christopher Fenimore

What are some brands you are loving, new and old, and why?

I love the new Simone Rocha men's collection, very into it. Love The Row. A brand that I don't wear that I think is very cool is Dion Lee. Adore what Stoffa is building. I'm really getting into Margaret Howell. One of my go-tos for a lot of things is Sunspel. It's just simple classics. I do think the best current designer out there at this time is Jonathan Anderson. Everything he does at Loewe is just phenomenal.

Do you have any all-time favorites?

Bode and Thom Browne are favorites. I think The Row is there too. Loewe. Love Craig Green, big fan of the early collections, but I think he's coming back strong, too. I do like Rick Owens a lot. Every couple of years, I just fall in love with Rick all over again.

Why do you think that is?

Its the incredibly whimsical and daring nature of his brand. Something about it is so enduring, and it's just always ahead of things. Everything he does, from the furniture to the clothesjust the world buildingis really cool.

Fit Five

Christopher Fenimore

Christopher Fenimore

Christopher Fenimore

Christopher Fenimore

You travel a lot. Where do you think has the best style in the world? And how about the best shopping?

Best style by far is New York. So much of style is based on confidence, and New York just has that self-confidence where no one really gives a fuck about what's around them. I love that. It's unapologetic, and to me that's very, very cool. It's borderless in terms of age. You see so many older people who dress incredibly well, and then you see so many kids also dressed incredibly well. It's boundless in terms of gender, and age, and race. London is probably a close second. In terms of shopping, I really like London. L.A. honestly is pretty good, because the biggest thing that's missing in New York right now is multi-brand stores. Outside CHCM and La Garconne, the multi-retailers are on the decline. Be it something like Departamento or H. Lorenzo or Just One Eye, there's just so many different stores in L.A. Sizing wise, I feel like everyone in New York buys smaller sizes, and everyone in L.A. buys bigger sizes. So, when I'm in L.A., I can actually buy stuff because it hasn't sold out yet. London has the Yohji store; apparently we're meant to get one in New York, but that hasn't opened. London has some really, really cool little stores. But there's a cool community here as well.

If you had to wear one outfit for the rest of your life, what would it consist of?

Its definitely all black, as simple and silly as that sounds. I realize the days I feel least confident, I just have to put on a black outfit and not think about it, and that's the go-to. So I think just a pair of straight black trousers, a pair of loafers, and a black T-shirt, and a button down, and maybe a little sweater if needed. That's a very easy outfit to wear.

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Michael Rowe - Getty Images

There's two new sheriffs in town, and there's room enough for both of them. Both played by David Oyelowo in separate seriesone from our nation's history and another far into a dystopian futurethe 47-year-old British actor is holding down the law. Oyelowo, known best for his portrayal of Martin Luther King Jr. in 2014's Selma, currently stars as Sheriff Holston in Apple TV+'s adaptation of Hugh Howey's celebrated sci-fi novel, Silo. Later in the year, he'll (very likely) don an actual sheriff's hat in Paramount's Bass Reeves, the real-life story of the first Black U.S. deputy marshal west of the Mississippi River.

In Silo, Oyelowo watches over a post-apocalyptic, underground structure that holds 10,000 people. Humanity is forced to live in a massive silo because the air outside is toxickilling anyone who breathes it in within a matter of minutes. Or have the overlords of the silo have been lying? A great mystery, of course, ensues. Silo is the latest dystopian tale to hit the streaming wars, picking up the baton from Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale and HBO's The Last of Us. Maybe it's a certain pandemic that still has us all in an existential tailspin.

"What I love is the fact that we were doing something contemporaneous that speaks to the now, in terms of some of the themes, and I think that's what great television does," Oyelowo tells me over Zoom. He's calling from a remarkably well-lit room in Fort Worth, Texas, where he's currently filming Bass Reeves. But for right now, our minds are still deep in the world of Silo. "When you watch, there are so many things that are pertinent in relation to what you are watching on the news today," he says. "To be a human being is to have to come to terms with the fact that your time here is finite. Shows that heighten that fact all speak to the reality of our own existenceand how high the stakes become as a result."

Here, Oyelowo dives even further down into the depths of the silosharing his reaction to a big twist in Silo's second episode, how he avoided the pressure to follow up Selma, and why he wanted to work with Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan on Bass Reeves.

Apple

ESQUIRE: If you were in the silo in real lifeas David Oyelowo and not Sheriff Holstonwhat would your job be?

DAVID OYELOWO: Oh, wow. That's a really good question. I'd love to be a tour guide, because it would be really quick. There's not much of it, so I would have really good hours and I could just go home and relax. The reality is that human beings are not designed to live underground. There are literal conditions that they've found that miners haveand people who spend a lot of time underground or without natural lightit's just not what we are designed to do. There are real reasons why it's not the most fun place on the planet.

They could use a good show to watch!

And some sun. [Laughs.]



What initially drew you Sheriff Holston?

It was the script. I found it to be truly compellingand in a way, an insight into society. Yes, it's a sci-fi show, but I found so many aspects of it pertinent to a post-COVID world, where we've all had to ask existential questions. Then there was the ordinary, relatable, grounded nature of how the show starts. Holston and his wife, Allison, played by Rashida [Jones]we meet them wanting to start a family, which is something a lot of people can relate to. But under these circumstances, it's a population-controlled environment. The stakes are through the roof when you are afforded the opportunity to try for a family, and then you're given a finite time within which to try and do that. So it's the combination of the ordinary and the extraordinary that really made this so attractive to me.

Do you think people will be surprised by your big twist at the end of Episode Two?



I hope people will be surprised. I certainly was when I read the scripts. And those surprises don't abateI know what continues to happen deeper into the show. It's a very, very fragile existence. It poses a question, because the way things start to unravel in the silo is almost an argument for the authoritarian nature of the things that are in place. Because once these questions start being asked, you pull on that thread and it unspools pretty devastatingly.

Silo is unique in that different actors arrive at different points of the show to tell their storyas opposed to everyone appearing in Episode One, and appearing in every episode thereafter.

Not only is it intriguing, but it's incredibly satisfying for the audiencebecause the reality is you don't know who's about to come in, how long they're going to be there, how significant their character is, or when they're suddenly going to be jettisoned from the show. So it keeps the tension sky-high. It also means you're not having to do a ton of heavy lifting in the opening episodes. Beginning episodes can be like, OK, let's trudge through the mud to get to the good stuff. We don't do that with this. You are thrust into it and pulled on by the seat of your pants. You're rightthat is something unique about the show, also one of the things that works best.

Apple

It feels like the rise of limited series and short-lived roles has allowed actors to have more creative freedomsince they're not tied down to a show for five, six seasons anymore.

100 percent. Anyone knows that doing the same thing over and over again for an extended period of time is not ideal. It's not ideal for the audience. It's not ideal if you're a creative person. I'm constantly looking for a new adventure, a new story to tell, and it's wonderful when you get to sit in it for a time and really tell that story. I'm here in Texas right now shooting Bass Reeves. We get to tell that over eight episodesand this was an epic, epic life. Creatively, you want to be in a place whereby you are excited, you feel there's more story to tell, and the more finite that is, the more chance there is of the story remaining potent.

Did Sheridan fly you out to Texas? Wine and dine you?



I've known Taylor for a while now and what he has built is pretty impressive. I'm in Fort Worth, but that's not far away from his ranch where I watched 1883 being shot. We used some of those locations for Bass Reeves as well. He's really an inspiration in terms of what's possible when you have passion, when you have talent, and when you somehow have the energy that he has. So it's been a really great ride. He's someone who I'm very, very inspired by.

I remember, when the show was first announced, people were confusedthey thought Bass Reeves was some Yellowstone character they forgot about. Of course, he was a real person in American history. Are you excited to share his story?

Yeah, I've been trying to get this one made for over eight years nowand I have Taylor to thank for rejuvenating the Western. It's understandable that people would think that because the Yellowstone universe continues to be built outbut this is a separate story and, as you say, a historical figure. But [Reeves] was inhabiting the same environment of Fort Smith and Fort Worth that the Duttons did in 1883, so it's an easy mistake to make. [Laughs.]

Did you ever feel pressure after Selma to chase more historically important roles?

Oh, no, quite the opposite. I was keen to run in the opposite direction. Your job as an actorespecially if you want to be one who sticks around for a whileis to keep the audience guessing. I got offered so many other historical figures, so many other civil rights stories after doing that. But that was the last thing I wanted to do, especially when you've played such a towering figure like Martin Luther King Jr. It's going to be one of the greatest things I do with my life. I knew that when we were doing it. I know that now. But as is the case with Silo, or now going off and doing a Western like Bass Reeves, I'm looking to just keep bringing the changes, challenge myself, and hopefully keep the audience invested.

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Louisiana Republicans have refused to add exceptions for rape and incest to one of the strictest anti-abortion laws in the country after the US Supreme Court revoked a constitutional right to abortion access.

The states anti-abortion Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards opposed the exclusion, but he signed the states anti-abortion law last year despite pleas from abortion rights advocates to veto the measure.

This year, state Rep Delisha Boyd introduced a bill that would amend the law to add exceptions for pregnancies from rape or incest, but lawmakers on a state House committee voted down the proposal, effectively killing it for the remainder of the legislative session.

On 10 May, the committee struck down the bill after hearing testimony from rape survivors and abortion rights advocates who shared their experience and urged lawmakers to support survivors. Lawmakers voted 10-5 on party lines to keep exemptions from rape or incest out of Louisianas anti-abortion law.

Lawmakers also heard from anti-abortion activists and John Raymond, a former Survivor contestant and pastor accused of taping students mouths shut and hanging another student by his ankles.

Mr Raymond, who has pleaded not guilty to the allegations, told the committee that women will clamor to put old boyfriends behind bars in order to dispense with the inconvenience of giving birth if the state allows rape survivors to access abortion care.

In this years legislative session, lawmakers are considering a package of bills aimed at loosening the states near-total ban on legal abortion care, but most of the proposals have been shelved.

During the committee hearing, Ms Boyd revealed that she was born after her mother was sexually assaulted when she was 15 years old. My mother never recovered, she said. No one looked after my mother. No one looked out for me.

Republican state Rep Tony Bacala said he opposed the legislation by pointing to Ms Boyd, who was born from rape, as a good person.

In a statement, the governor said he was deeply disappointed by the vote.

The committees decision to prevent this important bill from being debated by the full House is both unfortunate and contrary to the position of a vast majority of Louisianans, who support these exceptions, he added.

I simply do not understand how we as a state can tell any victim that she must be forced by law to carry her rapists baby to term, regardless of the impact on her own physical or mental health, the wishes of her parents, or the medical judgment of her physician, said the anti-abortion Democratic governor, who signed the law that bans nearly all abortions, without exceptions, last year, despite pleas from abortion rights advocates to veto the bill.

As I have said before, rape and incest exceptions protect crime victims, he added.

Roughly 3 million women in the US have experienced rape-related pregnancy during their lifetime, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Louisiana also had one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the nation, disproportionately impacting Black women, according to the states Department of Health.

Louisiana is among more than a dozen states, mostly in the South, that have effectively outlawed or severely restricted access to abortion care in the wake of the Supreme Courts decision last year to reverse the half-century precedent for abortion access affirmed by Roe v Wade.

The state also is central to a closely watched case that could determine the future of a widely used abortion drug used in more than half of all abortions in the US.

The legal case over the federal governments approval of mifepristone will return to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans on 17 May, the next step in one of the biggest abortion rights cases after the fall of Roe.

The Supreme Courts decision on 21 April maintains the US Food and Drug Administrations approval of the drug after a federal judge in Texas struck it down in a ruling that would have profound and potentially dangerous consequences for millions of Americans if allowed to go into effect.

A three-judge panel at the federal appeals court in Louisiana will hear arguments in the case next week.
A woman is charged with murder after her 1-year-old daughter was pulled from an Atlanta-area pond, police say.

Officers found Asia Calabrese-Lewis in a parking deck about 6:40 p.m. on May 11 after they were called about a disturbance near the Concourse office park in Sandy Springs, according to the citys police department.

She was having some type of episode, police said.

Lewis then told her childs father, who arrived soon after, that their baby was deceased in a pool, according to a police news release.

A woman is charged with murder after her 1-year-old was pulled from a pond near an office park in Sandy Springs, Georgia, on May 11, police said.

A missing child alert was issued a little earlier after a 911 call about a child that disappeared near the office complex, which includes the King and Queen towers, WXIA reported.

Police spokesperson Sgt. Matt McGinnis said the area is not normally a place where children run and play, according to the station.

Police and fire rescue crews scoured the bodies of waters in the area before finding the babys body in a pond, the release said.

The child, identified as Nirvana Oliver, was taken to a hospital but did not survive, police said.

Calabrese-Lewis was booked into jail and charged with child cruelty and felony murder, according to the release.

Authorities didnt release additional information and said the case remains under investigation.

Sandy Springs is about 15 miles north of downtown Atlanta.

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Pasco is betting big on food processing, again.

The city is preparing to invest $180 million to expand the water reuse facility that treats what it calls process water discharged by the food processors that drive the economy.

The process water reuse facility may not be sexy, but it is critical infrastructure that supports major employers such as Pasco Processing, Twin City Foods, Simplot and Resers Fine Foods.

Collectively, they employ 1,200 to 1,500 and support countless more jobs.

The investment will expand treatment capacity, which will allow Pasco to serve new and growing companies. The water will be:

Treated to irrigate up to 2,000 additional acres of farm fields.

Filtered to collect the nitrogen-rich solids, to be recycled as fertilizer.

Used to capture dissolved natural gas, to be sold at market rates.

The project will be funded by fees paid by the plants users, as well as a grant from the state capital projects budget and potential federal grants.

The investment comes amid stunning growth in local food processing and agribusiness.

Resers recently opened a modern new plant and Darigold is building a $650 million dairy plant in north Pasco. The amount of process water that will need to be treated at the municipal plant is expected to double in the near future.

Mark Reser, president of Resers Fine Foods, speaks in 2022 to a crowd outside the food companys newest production facility in Pasco, where they make the companys signature potato salad and more.

Unlike a wastewater treatment plant that treats municipal sewage, a process plants main job is to treat agricultural wastewater discharged by food processors.

Basically right now we are processing almost a billion gallons of water a year in the existing facility. When the new facility is done we will more than double that, we will be putting in more than 2 billion gallons of water on our farm fields, said Steve Worley, Pascos public works director.

Randy Hayden, executive director of the Port of Pasco, applauded the complex project and the move to capture useful products from the waste stream.

Youre really seeing this new dynamic of what were previously considered waste products now becoming a valuable commodity because they can be converted into different forms of energy Its become a feed stock for other important forms of energy, he said.

The existing facility can treat up to 6.5 million gallons of water a day during peak seasonal flow. With the expansion, the city will be able to process an additional 2 million gallons of water a day.

Price tag

The hefty expansion comes with a hefty price tag  and food processors will bear most of the cost.

Over the coming years, Pascos food processing businesses will pay millions to use the citys treatment facility, mostly in capital costs and upgrades.

Last year, the five largest processors  Pasco Processing, Resers, Twin City Foods, Simplot and Grimmway  covered roughly $4.7 million for operations at the plant.

Darigold and Freeze Pack will begin contributing to the pool this year. And the citys budget anticipates capital costs and existing debt services will boost the bill up to $9.5 million by the end of 2023.

Pending final costs for the facility and natural gas market prices, the city estimates that the seven processors will be responsible for $13.5 million annually.

The city is also looking at multiple federal and state grants to help cover project costs.

Tri-Cities lawmakers got $5.05 million earmarked in the Washington Legislatures 2023-25 capital budget to fund the series of projects.

And the city submitted a $12 million request for Congressional Directed Spending to Washington Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell , as well as a $12 million request to U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Sunnyside, through the Community Project Funding program.

Agriculture focus

Pasco is in one of the most productive agricultural regions in the nation.

In 1995, the city built what was at the time a state-of-the-art process water reuse facility at 957 E. Foster Wells Road in an effort to attract more food processors to the area.

Stephen McFadden, Port of Pascos director of economic development and marketing, said its that existing municipal system that landed Pasco such big-time players, including Darigold and Resers.

Being able to land-apply that water has helped ensure that that industry sector in an ag-centric county continues to thrive, he said.

Project phases

The expansion will cover growth over the next 30 to 40 years, and is being done over four phases.

Phase 1 is currently extending a potable water line and electrical power over to the facility.

Phase 2 is under design and almost ready to go out for bid. It will see Pasco triple the volume of its winter storage ponds.

Phase 3 is the largest and most costly group of projects at $122 million, and will see a major reinvention of the way Pasco treats and collects resources pumped into the process water facility through a method of industrial symbiosis.

Phase 4 improvements will see $6.4 million worth of replacements and extensions to the irrigation line pumping treated water out to city-owned crop fields.

This whole project is a really big deal, said Mayor Pro Tem Craig Maloney at a recent meeting. And its a huge price tag. These are numbers that are unusual for us to have to be looking at in terms of a single facility.

When you think about the original process water reuse facility and its success for the city, it was perhaps even a bigger risk to the city at the time at which that was built and agreed to. And the council was convinced at the time, If they build it, they will come.

The city will make several industrial wastewater pretreatment improvements to increase capacity for future processors, as well as install a renewable natural gas plant at the site to collect a methane byproduct produced through the water-cleaning process.

Pasco estimates it will receive about $6 million annually in revenue from renewable natural gas sales once its expansion is online, and it will also benefit from a 30% investment tax credit on the facilities.

These funds will help offset Phase 3 costs that would otherwise be paid for by the processors.

Burnham RNG, an Arlington, Virginia-based energy company, will build and operate the renewable natural gas plant as well as the new city process water treatment facility.

The addition of a rotating algal biofilm system to the treatment process will allow the city to remove nitrogen-rich fertilizer to be sold to local farmers.
The South Carolina legislative session isnt over just yet.

Gov. Henry McMaster on Friday officially called state lawmakers back to work, starting Tuesday, for a special session  the first time a governor has called legislators back to the State House in two decades.

The General Assembly did not close the revolving door for criminals. It remains wide open, McMaster said in a statement Friday. They have not passed bond reform, and they have not enhanced the criminal penalties for illegal gun possession. In addition, the General Assembly must complete the state budget, and they must pass legislation that stops our state from becoming a destination for abortions.

McMaster also Friday appointed Brian Gaines, who heads the executive budget office within the state Department of Administration, as South Carolinas new comptroller general  or at least until lawmakers elect a replacement for Richard Eckstrom.

Gaines now becomes the first Black constitutional officer in South Carolina since Reconstruction.

State lawmakers wrapped up the regular session Thursday but without a sine die agreement, leaving the state budget, possible new abortion restrictions, new penalties for illegal gun possession and a handful of other bills left on the table.

Without that agreement, which prevents the governor from calling the Legislature back but outlines what legislators can debate after the regular session ends, lawmakers can debate any piece of legislation they want to.

We need to have a budget. We need to settle the abortion question, McMaster told reporters Monday. We have an obligation to finish the work. So well come back and finish.

McMaster is the first governor to order a special session since then-Democratic Gov. Jim Hodges in the early 2000s.

Former Gov. Nikki Haley tried to call lawmakers back to Columbia in 2011, but was stopped after court intervention.

The House will return Tuesday afternoon to start what is expected to be an hourslong debate over an amended version of the Senates six-week abortion ban, which would ban the procedure after fetal cardiac activity can be detected, usually around the sixth week of pregnancy, and before most people know they are pregnant.

The debate follows months of disagreement between Republicans in the House and Senate over abortion restrictions after the June 2022 U.S. Supreme Courts Dobbs decision. That ruling allowed states to further restrict or expand abortion restrictions.

In South Carolina, the previous 20-week ban remains in effect.

House Democrats say they have filed more than 1,000 amendments to the abortion bill, meant to stretch the debate and further keep it from passing.

Be prepared to be here as long as it takes, House Speaker Murrell Smith, R-Sumter, told colleagues Wednesday. We will not adjourn until we finish. That also means were not going to be breaking. Bring supper, dinner, breakfast, lunch or whatever for days or however long you want to get through amendments, but were going to get through that bill and have a final vote on that bill.

House Republicans also are looking at making changes to the legislation, which could further push away some senators when the legislation returns to the upper chamber.

If theres going to be things in this bill that builds a foundation for a push at some point in the future to extend the jurisdiction of the state further in time back to the point where the sperm fertilizes the egg, if I see that thats in there and if I think thats a concern, then Im not going to support it, said state Sen. Tom Davis R-Beaufort, who with five other Senate Republicans joined Democrats to vote against the Houses near-total ban in April. But I have to see what they pass.

Meanwhile, House and Senate budget negotiators are expected to finalize the state spending plan to start July 1.

There are a handful of budget differences between both chambers, including over member projects, commonly referred to as earmarks. The Senate has proposed a $13 billion budget, but the House, with an additional $800 million projected by state economists, proposed a $13.8 billion budget.

The two chambers already agree on several key spending items, including pay raises for teachers and state employees.

Brian Gaines named SC comptroller by McMaster

Richard Eckstrom, who was last reelected to a four-year term in November 2022, resigned in April after it was disclosed that his office miscounted how much cash the state had on hand for a decade, inflating the states cash position by $3.5 billion.

As comptroller, Brian Gaines will run the states payroll, pay vendors, operate the state accounting system and compile an annual financial report. With the governor, treasurer and budget chairs, Gaines also will sit on the State Fiscal Accountability Authority, a panel which acts as oversight on state spending and facility improvements and leases.

I do have a general understanding of what goes on in the Comptroller Generals Office with my current position in state government, Gaines said. But first, priorities are going to be figuring out whats going on and what needs to be (done) moving forward after that point.

Gaines, who is Black, is the first African American comptroller since Reconstruction, and currently now the only Black statewide constitutional officer. He was sworn in by S.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Donald Beatty, the only Black member of the state Supreme Court.

Ive not had much time for a lot of reflection on that particular point, Gaines, 41, said. But Im sure as time goes on, I will have an opportunity to fully digest what this means not only me, but for the state of South Carolina.

Gaines, who lives in Columbia and earns $154,500 a year in his current job, has served as budget director for the last six years. He previously worked for the S.C. Budget Control Board and state Department of Employment and Workforce.

Gaines said he has no plans to run for the job in 2026, even if lawmakers decline to move the role into the governors Cabinet.

Brian Gaines is sworn in as South Carolina Comptroller General during a press conference at the South Carolina State House on Friday, May 11, 2023.

McMaster had said he preferred the states top accountant to be someone with experience in finance or accounting and with no political ties.

Part of the reason the governor has called lawmakers back for a special session is because neither chambers could ultimately agree on who should be the comptroller after Eckstroms resignation.

The House wants former Republican state Rep. Kirkman Finlay, who lost his Richland County seat to a Democrat in November. Meanwhile, the Senate has pushed for Mike Shealy, a longtime budget staffer. Shealy, who currently works for the administration department, will take over the executive budget office until Gaines returns to his job.

On Friday, McMaster said Gaines is respected by the General Assembly and state agency directors.

His expertise on the budgeting process and experience in the state government will allow him to provide a fresh perspective to the Comptroller Generals Office, while at the same time allowing for a smooth transition, McMaster said.

Eckstrom resigned after an investigation by the Senate Finance Committee, led by state Sen. Larry Grooms, R-Berkeley, who applauded Gaines appointment Friday.

After the former comptroller general resigned, I made it clear that I wanted a qualified professional in the position, someone who would put the interests of the state ahead of his own, Grooms said.
A lawsuit challenging new restrictions on political asylum and a temporary block by a federal judge in Florida on U.S. agents ability to release migrants at the border quickly created problems for the Biden administration Friday, the first day new immigration policies took effect after the end of the pandemic-era measure known as Title 42.

Anticipating the arrival of thousands of migrants that could overwhelm U.S. border officials, the Biden administration issued several new measures, including a rule that bans migrants from applying for asylum at the border if they did not first secure an appointment through a smartphone application called CBP One, or seek protection  and were rejected  by a country they had traveled through on their way to the U.S.

Following criticism of the restriction by immigration activists, international organizations and some Democratic lawmakers, the American Civil Liberties Union and other advocacy organizations sued the Biden administration late Thursday. The federal lawsuit claims that the new asylum rule mirrors two other Trump-era policies that courts have already struck down.

The Biden administration has insisted its new asylum policy is nothing like those introduced by former President Donald Trump.

The Biden administrations new ban places vulnerable asylum seekers in grave danger and violates U.S. asylum laws. Weve been down this road before with Trump, said Katrina Eiland, managing attorney with the ACLU Immigrants Rights Project. The asylum bans were cruel and illegal then, and nothing has changed now.

The groups challenging the rule  which include the ACLU of Northern California, the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies, and the National Immigrant Justice Center  argue that it conflicts with international and U.S. laws that grant migrants a chance to seek asylum whether they arrive at an official port of entry or cross the border, and mandate equal treatment of all refugees.

The rule is unlawful in numerous ways, the complaint said. The federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, based in California, has already held that the rules main requirements are illegal. The government cannot force asylum seekers to enter at ports. And the government cannot force asylum seekers to apply for asylum in transit countries, the document adds, citing precedent from previous rulings blocking similar bans implemented by the Trump administration.

Migrants cross the Rio Grande to the U.S. side, from Matamoros, Mexico, Thursday, May 11, 2023. Migrants rushed across the Mexico border Thursday in hopes of entering the U.S. in the final hours before pandemic-related asylum restrictions are lifted. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

On Friday, activists in a delegation led by the Haitian Bridge Alliance that visited the border said they had spent two days talking to asylum seekers who had traveled through multiple countries and were now sleeping in makeshift camps with no bathrooms. Many were desperate and confused about the new measures .

The Biden administration, they said, is violating the rights of migrants.

Not long ago, Biden promised to reassert Americas commitment to asylum seekers and uphold their legal right to seek asylum. Well, he has done exactly the opposite with this asylum ban, said Kica Matos, a representative of the National Immigration Law Center. The administration has made a deliberate choice to severely limit access to our countrys asylum system, doubling down and building on harmful Trump policies that go against the core of what our American values are.

Biden administration officials have defended the rule, arguing that it allows people an opportunity to seek asylum while imposing a higher burden on those who try to do so illegally. They added the administration is tying the new restriction to expanded legal immigration programs.

People who do not use available lawful pathways to enter the U.S. now face tougher consequences, including a minimum five-year ban on re-entry and potential criminal prosecution, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Friday.

But the complaint argues that seeking asylum is a lawful pathway protected by our laws regardless of how one enters the country.

As the new rules began taking effect Friday, Homeland Security officials remained adamant that migrants who show up at the U.S.-Mexico border without pre-authorization will be presumed to be ineligible for asylum.

We believe that rule is well within our statutory authority, Acting Assistant Secretary for Border and Immigration Policy Blas Nunez-Neto said.

Nunez-Neto said that over the past decades, Republican and Democratic presidents have tried to deal with migration surges using executive action, and President Biden is no different.

We have been very innovative in trying to address the challenges we faced using our executive authorities, he said, pointing to the recently enacted parole program for nationals of Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, which he said has been very effective in reducing encounters and flows throughout the region for nationals from those countries.

That parole program is also being challenged in the courts by some 20 Republican governors representing border states such as Florida and Texas.

It is unfortunate that one of the states that have benefited from this enforcement process, Texas, has been leading the litigation against it for what we believe is purely political reasons, Nunez-Neto said.

Efforts to quickly release migrants to avoid overcrowding border detention facilities might also get more complicated as a result of Thursdays ruling by a Florida judge. The judge blocked the administrations ability to use its parole power to release migrants until their immigration proceedings are finalized.

Nunez-Neto hinted that the administration would fight the ruling.

A migrant gestures to Texas National Guards standing behind razor wire on the bank of the Rio Grande river, seen from Matamoros, Mexico, Thursday, May 11, 2023. Pandemic-related U.S. asylum restrictions, known as Title 42, are to expire May 11. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

We are concerned about the impact of the Florida litigation on our processing of individuals at the border, and specifically our ability to process people, he said, noting that migrants are vetted, and those with criminal records do not get released. The Department of Justice is closely reviewing that decision. And I think you will see additional steps in that litigation very soon.

DHS has said there are currently 24,000 Border Patrol agents and officers at the U.S.-Mexico border and that the agency is reinforcing staffing with contractors and members of the military.

In addition, Immigration and Customs Enforcement will be adding thousands of beds for detained migrants to their detention system in the coming days. ICE said the elimination of COVID protocols eliminates the requirements that the agency officials perform COVID tests on all detainees at intake, transfer or release, allowing for much faster processing of detained migrants.

While U.S. officials continue to encounter high levels of non-citizens at the border, Nunez-Neto said, agents did not see a substantial increase in migrants overnight after Title 42 ended at 11:59 p.m. Thursday.

Advocates during Fridays press conference also reiterated that they did not see anyone storming the border and accused politicians and anti-immigrant activists of spreading false narratives and rhetoric that was creating fear among migrants.

During visits to Mexican encampments in the border towns of Reynosa and Matamoros, advocates said they saw migrants living in overpopulated, under-resourced settlements and shelters. They heard accounts from migrants about how they had faced atrocities such as kidnappings while they were en route toward the U.S. border. And they heard about the technical problems migrants continue encountering while trying to use the CBP One application.

Some migrants had been struggling for months to get an appointment using the smartphone app, while Black migrants complained about receiving error messages after the app failed to recognize their darker complexion, several advocates said.

Maribel Hernandez Rivera, a deputy national political diirector of the ACLU, recalled a mother telling her through tears how she could not afford a smartphone or internet access.

Asylum is not something you schedule when you are fleeing for your life, Rivera said.
A man digging in a trash bin behind a Florida gym found a baby just hours old, prompting an investigation into how the boy died, according to the Lakeland Police Department.

The discovery was made early Thursday, May 11, in an alley behind Just Move gym in the 3600 block of South Florida Avenue, Lakeland Police Chief Sam Taylor said at a news conference.

Its suspected the boy was in the bin less than 10 hours, he said.

A gentlemen who was going through the dumpster had located a bag and inside the bag was a fetus that was deceased: A male baby, still had the placenta attached and the umbilical cord, Taylor said.

It wasnt a nonviable fetus. I would actually refer to it as a baby.

The man called 911 and police responded, along with the Lakeland Fire Department, he said. The child was declared dead at the scene and turned over to the medical examiner for a postmortem examination, officials said.

Detectives are seeking information on who put the child in the dumpster, Taylor said.

The alley behind the business is a dead end, and is bordered by a storm drainage pond and trees, maps show.

Charges will be filed against the person responsible, and they will depend on whether the coroner finds the child was stillborn or had been killed, Taylor said.

Lakeland is about 35 miles northeast of downtown Tampa.

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U.S. Border Patrol agents make contact with migrants hoping to cross into the United States from Tijuana. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

The Biden administration, desperate to limit border crossings after a key pandemic-era measure expired late Thursday, slashed the amount of time asylum seekers have to find lawyers before their crucial first interviews with immigration officials.

The Trump administration issued a similar policy in 2019, but that effort was later blocked by a federal court. President Biden's move is the latest example of him adopting a Trump-style scheme in an attempt to manage high numbers of border crossings.

Biden's version of the policy, outlined in an email sent to asylum officers Wednesday and obtained by The Times, gives asylum seekers at least 24 hours to find and consult an attorney once they receive information on the process. Before the change, migrants had at least 48 hours from their arrival at a Department of Homeland Security facility to find a lawyer.

The move could allow officers to more rapidly remove migrants who do not pass their first screening, known as a "credible fear" interview.

Title 42, a decades-old policy invoked during the COVID-19 pandemic to allow border agents to quickly turn back migrants, expired just before midnight on Thursday, and officials were expecting a spike in migrants trying to cross the border. Complicating matters, just hours before Title 42's expiration, a federal judge in Florida blocked the Biden administration from quickly releasing migrants from Border Patrol custody without court notices.

Border agents already apprehended more than 10,000 migrants in a single day Tuesday, according to internal data obtained by The Times. By Wednesday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection had more than 28,000 migrants in custody, significantly more than its facilities are rated to hold, the data showed.

In support of the Departments goal to more quickly provide relief to those who are eligible while more quickly removing those who are not, effective immediately the minimum time between the noncitizens acknowledgment of receipt of the Form M-444, Information about credible fear Interview, and the credible fear interview will be 24 hours, a lead U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services official on asylum wrote in the email announcing the change.

The directive also made clear that migrants who request to reschedule their initial interviews will need to demonstrate extraordinary circumstances to do so as to not unreasonably delay the overall process.

USCIS will "continually assess" whether a return to the 48-hour wait period is appropriate, according to the email.

A USCIS spokesperson said in a statement that the agency "is committed to ensuring that noncitizens in expedited removal are given time to consult with the person of their choosing after being referred to USCIS for a credible fear interview. In order to expeditiously process noncitizens in expedited removal, USCIS will ensure that noncitizens will have at least 24 hours for consultation."

Biden administration officials believe that deterrence, through quick deportations and a policy that limits asylum for those who cross without authorization, will allow them to manage increases in migration at the border.

In credible-fear interviews, migrants who convince an asylum officer that there is a significant possibility that they could establish they have a well-founded fear of persecution in their home country usually get to stay in the U.S. and pursue their asylum cases in immigration court.

Migrants who can't clear that bar are usually deported.

The decision to cut the time makes it clear that the Biden administration is doing everything possible to fast-track people for deportation as opposed to giving them the opportunity to truly access due process and a fair chance to have their asylum claim adjudicated, said Taylor Levy, an immigration attorney specializing in border cases.

The so-called consultation period for asylum seekers is crucial, advocates have previously said.

Immigration lawyers argued that former President Trump's version of the policy, which allowed migrants a business day, rather than 48 hours, limited migrants' ability to find attorneys, gather evidence and prepare for the interview.

The Trump policy was one of the first changes under the leadership of then-USCIS head Ken Cuccinelli, who followed the Trump administrations continuous efforts to limit asylum at the border and deport more migrants. Ur Jaddou, Biden's director of the agency, called Trump's effort "another way to limit the process" and said it would lead to "more deportations."

A federal court blocked the policy after advocates challenged the legality of Cuccinellis appointment.

For asylum seekers, credible-fear interviews are often matters of life and death. Cutting in half the time that people have to prepare for what might be the most important interview of their life raises the risk of errors even higher, Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, policy director at the American Immigration Council, said Thursday. The Biden administration should stop trying to sacrifice due process and a fair shot at protection for expediency.

The administration has said it is prepared for the end of the Title 42 policy and will send troops to the border, institute a policy that limits asylum for those who cross without permission, surge asylum officers and judges to help process people and rapidly deport those who do not have a right to stay in the U.S. DHS officials have also said they would expand the number of phone booths for migrants to consult attorneys in custody.

The U.S. also recently solidified a deal with Mexico to allow DHS officials to turn back nationals from Cuba, Venezuela, Haiti and Nicaragua to Mexico.

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, DHS Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas said in a recent news conference. 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.

While the administration has pursued deterrence-focused policies, it has also opened up more slots for asylum seekers to seek entry at ports of entries and will create processing centers to help migrants determine whether they have a legal path to the U.S.

At the same time, the Biden administration will allow migrants from Honduras, Colombia, El Salvador and Guatemala to apply to enter the U.S. if they qualify for a family reunification program.

The Department of Homeland Security will continue to also allow immigrants from Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti and Venezuela who have verified sponsors in the U.S. to apply to enter the country legally.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
A couple was forced to leave their table at a Memphis restaurant because a manager twice accused them of smelling like weed, according to a federal lawsuit.

The couple, who are both Black, didnt realize the Houstons Restaurant manager, who is white, was speaking to them when she first asked them to leave over the smell of marijuana, the lawsuit says.

The pair, who were visiting from Mississippi, denied they smelled like weed, a complaint filed May 11 in federal court says.

When the manager returned to their table on Aug. 7 with a police officer, she made them leave the restaurant, saying you smell like weed, according to the complaint.

Now, Dechandria Bass and Dwan Brown have filed a $1 million lawsuit against Hillstone Restaurant Group, Inc., the company running Houstons, its general manager and the manager who forced them to leave the establishment, the complaint shows.

The couple accuses the defendants of racial discrimination and racial profiling by denying to serve them food and beverages and accusing them of smelling like weed without evidence. Bass and Brown are both seeking $500,000 each in damages.

The company told McClatchy News in a statement that it is aware of the lawsuit but declined to comment on the pending litigation.

Our company does not discriminate, the statement said. We are proud that guests of all races choose to dine regularly at Houstons and appreciate our hospitality.

The case stems from when Bass and Brown sat down at Houstons while on a trip visiting Browns mother and cousin in Memphis, according to the complaint.

Moments after they joined Browns mother and cousin at the table, the manager, who would soon accuse them of smelling like marijuana, initially walked by, the complaint says.

Marijuana use is illegal in Tennessee.

The second time the manager approached their table and made the weed accusation with a police officer present, Bass and Brown were escorted outside, according to the complaint.

While outside, a second police officer told them the manager regularly interacted this way towards Black patrons, the complaint says.

The defendants publicly shamed the couple and subjected them to humiliation witnessed by other customers, the complaint says.

Bass and Brown are seeking damages for embarrassment, emotional distress and mental anguish they experienced as a result of the incident, according to the complaint.

Defendants did not provide Plaintiffs with food and services on the same basis as similarly situated white customers, the complaint says.

Hillstone Restaurant Group operates several restaurants nationwide, including additional Houstons restaurants in Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and New Jersey.

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Ex-Defense Minister Song Young-moo speaks, in this Sept. 21, 2018, file photo / Korea Times photo by Koh Yeong-gwon



Investigators searched the home and office of former Defense Minister Song Young-moo and the defense ministry headquarters Friday over suspicions of abuse of power.



Song, who served under the Moon Jae-in administration, is accused of forcing then senior ministry officials to make and endorse documents refuting a media report that he had said a controversial contingency martial law plan authored by the previous Park Geun-hye government "legally had no problem."



The martial law plan was drawn up when Park faced impeachment in 2017.



The Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials sent investigators to the residences and offices of Song, one of his former aides, a former ministry spokesperson and the defense ministry to seize evidence, officials said.



Officials said they will summon Song and others for further questioning after analyzing seized evidence. (Yonhap)


The state of California is stepping in to contribute millions of dollars to raise the levee protecting the city of Corcoran and a pair of nearby state prisons from the ongoing flooding in the Tulare Lake basin.

Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the investment in the levee Thursday as part of a larger package of $290 million to deal with flooding issues in the Central Valley and elsewhere in the state. Those funds will be included in his May budget revision to be formally unveiled Friday.

The cost for raising the 14.5-mile levee is estimated at about $17.2 million. The states latest spending on the levee is paying to raise the earthen structure to 192 feet above sea level, or about four feet higher than before the repairs began.

Newsoms office said in a statement that the latest work on the Corcoran Levee is the third time that either the state or the federal government have intervened to raise the levee, made necessary after decades of overpumping of underground water tables have caused ground levels in the area  including under the levee  to sink or subside.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers previously made repairs to the levee 1969 and again in 1983, Newsoms office reported.

Raising the Corcoran levee provides greater certainty that we wont need to evacuate critical facilities and will ensure public safety, Newsom said. However, the state and federal government cannot continue stepping in to raise this levee. I look forward to a conversation on what (Kings County) is going to do differently so that we dont find ourselves in this situation again.

Heavy machinery continues raising the levee south of Corcoran in anticipation of snow melt raising Tulare Lake, photographed Tuesday afternoon, April 25, 2023.

Tim Godwin of the states Sustainable Groundwater Management Office said in a telephone conference with reporters Thursday that the rate of subsidence in the Corcoran area due to groundwater overpumping has been about one foot per year.

Brian Ferguson of the state Office of Emergency Services said the agencys director Nancy Ward had already reached an agreement with the Cross Creek Flood Protection District to advance millions in state money for them to perform the work as an emergency protective measure.

The state is fronting $17 million from the California Disaster Assistance Act, Ferguson added. treating the levee work as an emergency protective measure, he said, opens the possibility of reimbursement of the costs from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The funding is being provided as an advance payment now, with a contingency to forgive the cost share required of local government if the county completes an updated hazard mitigation plan  Ferguson said. He added that the state funding is contingent upon the local ability to meet a set of criteria to ensure the work is done efficiently and at the lowest possible cost to taxpayers.

Kings County, state officials said, does not currently have an updated hazard plan.

Restoring the levees height to 192 feet above sea level brings it to the historic level needed to provide the necessary protection to Corcoran and nearby infrastructure, Ferguson said.

A potentially historic refilling of Tulare Lake

Tulare Lake was once the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi River, but has been dry in most years since water from the rivers that historically fed the lake began to be diverted for farming and other uses in the late 1800s. It has sprung back to life this year as a result of a series of atmospheric river storms that plowed into central California in January, February and March.

The deluges in the southern San Joaquin Valley and the adjacent foothills of the southern Sierra Nevada swelled local lakes and rivers beyond their capacity, forcing water officials to allow water to flood the basin, inundating thousands of acres of farmland.

The flooding in the old lakebed is expected to continue and possibly even worsen as a record snowpack in the southern Sierra Nevada range on the east flank of the San Joaquin Valley melts over the rest of the spring and summer.

In a visit to Corcoran in late April, surreal scenes of flooded farmland and partially submerged buildings and farm equipment greeted Newsom, state Department of Water Resources Director Karla Nemeth and other state officials. At that time, heavy earth-moving equipment was already at work on a portion of the 14.5-mile levee that stands between the rising water level in the old lakebed and the town of Corcoran and a pair of nearby state prisons  facilities at risk if the levee fails.

In that April 28 visit, Newsom and Nemeth both noted that neither Kings, Tulare, Fresno nor Kern counties are participants in the Central Valley Flood Protection Plan, a state program to improve management of flood risks across the region.

Its complicated. Its why Im a little more romantic for a collaborative framework, Newsom said at that time about the regional flood plan. Its a little stubborn for me, but it is what it is. These counties chose not to engage in that. Those partners that have engaged in it have received significant money from the state and we have a different engagement of platform answering that question in real time.

I hope when this is done we can fix that, he added, referring to local participation in the regional plan. Ill certainly be a little more aggressive in expressing my point of view in that space, as well.

Nemeth said during the Corcoran visit that while the Central Valley Flood Protection Plan spans the greater Central Valley from the Sacramento Valley to Madera and Merced counties, the absence of the counties in the southern San Joaquin Valley presents a challenge to regional flood coordination.

I know theres a lot of information here in these counties about what happens to the water once the (Army Corps of Engineers) releases if from the dams and before it gets to the lakebed, Nemeth said. Otherwise wed have a lake emerging more frequently than we do.

So the real challenge, is how do we collect that information and, with the counties, she added, and have the counties make decisions about where to divert water upstream of the lakebed to protect communities further downstream?
The state of California is stepping in to contribute millions of dollars to raise the levee protecting the city of Corcoran and a pair of nearby state prisons from the ongoing flooding in the Tulare Lake basin.

Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the investment in the levee Thursday as part of a larger package of $290 million to deal with flooding issues in the Central Valley and elsewhere in the state. Those funds will be included in his May budget revision to be formally unveiled Friday.

The cost for raising the 14.5-mile levee is estimated at about $17.2 million. The states latest spending on the levee is paying to raise the earthen structure to 192 feet above sea level, or about four feet higher than before the repairs began.

Newsoms office said in a statement that the latest work on the Corcoran Levee is the third time that either the state or the federal government have intervened to raise the levee, made necessary after decades of overpumping of underground water tables have caused ground levels in the area  including under the levee  to sink or subside.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers previously made repairs to the levee 1969 and again in 1983, Newsoms office reported.

Raising the Corcoran levee provides greater certainty that we wont need to evacuate critical facilities and will ensure public safety, Newsom said. However, the state and federal government cannot continue stepping in to raise this levee. I look forward to a conversation on what (Kings County) is going to do differently so that we dont find ourselves in this situation again.

Heavy machinery continues raising the levee south of Corcoran in anticipation of snow melt raising Tulare Lake, photographed Tuesday afternoon, April 25, 2023. ERIC PAUL ZAMORA/ezamora@fresnobee.com

Tim Godwin of the states Sustainable Groundwater Management Office said in a telephone conference with reporters Thursday that the rate of subsidence in the Corcoran area due to groundwater overpumping has been about one foot per year.

Brian Ferguson of the state Office of Emergency Services said the agencys director Nancy Ward had already reached an agreement with the Cross Creek Flood Protection District to advance millions in state money for them to perform the work as an emergency protective measure.

The state is fronting $17 million from the California Disaster Assistance Act, Ferguson added. treating the levee work as an emergency protective measure, he said, opens the possibility of reimbursement of the costs from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The funding is being provided as an advance payment now, with a contingency to forgive the cost share required of local government if the county completes an updated hazard mitigation plan  Ferguson said. He added that the state funding is contingent upon the local ability to meet a set of criteria to ensure the work is done efficiently and at the lowest possible cost to taxpayers.

Kings County, state officials said, does not currently have an updated hazard plan.

Restoring the levees height to 192 feet above sea level brings it to the historic level needed to provide the necessary protection to Corcoran and nearby infrastructure, Ferguson said.

A potentially historic refilling of Tulare Lake

Tulare Lake was once the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi River, but has been dry in most years since water from the rivers that historically fed the lake began to be diverted for farming and other uses in the late 1800s. It has sprung back to life this year as a result of a series of atmospheric river storms that plowed into central California in January, February and March.

The deluges in the southern San Joaquin Valley and the adjacent foothills of the southern Sierra Nevada swelled local lakes and rivers beyond their capacity, forcing water officials to allow water to flood the basin, inundating thousands of acres of farmland.

The flooding in the old lakebed is expected to continue and possibly even worsen as a record snowpack in the southern Sierra Nevada range on the east flank of the San Joaquin Valley melts over the rest of the spring and summer.

In a visit to Corcoran in late April, surreal scenes of flooded farmland and partially submerged buildings and farm equipment greeted Newsom, state Department of Water Resources Director Karla Nemeth and other state officials. At that time, heavy earth-moving equipment was already at work on a portion of the 14.5-mile levee that stands between the rising water level in the old lakebed and the town of Corcoran and a pair of nearby state prisons  facilities at risk if the levee fails.

In that April 28 visit, Newsom and Nemeth both noted that neither Kings, Tulare, Fresno nor Kern counties are participants in the Central Valley Flood Protection Plan, a state program to improve management of flood risks across the region.

Its complicated. Its why Im a little more romantic for a collaborative framework, Newsom said at that time about the regional flood plan. Its a little stubborn for me, but it is what it is. These counties chose not to engage in that. Those partners that have engaged in it have received significant money from the state and we have a different engagement of platform answering that question in real time.

I hope when this is done we can fix that, he added, referring to local participation in the regional plan. Ill certainly be a little more aggressive in expressing my point of view in that space, as well.

Nemeth said during the Corcoran visit that while the Central Valley Flood Protection Plan spans the greater Central Valley from the Sacramento Valley to Madera and Merced counties, the absence of the counties in the southern San Joaquin Valley presents a challenge to regional flood coordination.

I know theres a lot of information here in these counties about what happens to the water once the (Army Corps of Engineers) releases if from the dams and before it gets to the lakebed, Nemeth said. Otherwise wed have a lake emerging more frequently than we do.

So the real challenge, is how do we collect that information and, with the counties, she added, and have the counties make decisions about where to divert water upstream of the lakebed to protect communities further downstream?
People are being kidnapped and held for ransom, sometimes even after multiple payments are made. Women and girls are brutally gang raped. And now children are wasting away because they are so severely malnourished.

With armed violence in Haiti worsening daily, the United Nations lead child welfare agency is continuing to sound the alarm on the effects of the crisis on the countrys most vulnerable population. Not only are children increasingly becoming victims of stray bullets and having their education disrupted because schools are being turned into gang bases, but the increasing lack of food is leading to increased levels of acute malnutrition, also known as severe wasting. It is skyrocketing, UNICEF says.

In Haiti, more and more mothers and fathers can no longer provide appropriate care and nutrition to their children, and parents cannot take them to health centers due to increasing horrific violence caused by armed groups, said Bruno Maes, UNICEFs representative in Haiti. Combined with the ongoing cholera outbreak, more children are suffering from severe wasting more rapidly, and will die if urgent measures are not taken.

More than 115,600 children are expected to suffer from severe wasting this year, compared to 87,500 last year, according to a national nutrition survey. Currently 1 in 5 children suffer from some form of malnutrition in metropolitan Port-au-Prince, which is plagued by violence, worsening hunger and cholera.

And nearly 1 in 4 children suffer from chronic malnutrition, which stunts growth and affects cognitive abilities. The aid agency is appealing for $17 million, it says is urgently needed to scale up early detection of child wasting and to procure an additional 84,000 cartons of therapeutic foods.

Child eating peanuts at a health center for nutrition in southeast Haiti in September 2019.

A funding gap could put the lives of more than 100,000 children at risk of immediate death, the U.N. agency said.

Just last month, there were more than 600 people, including children, killed across Port-au-Prince in what was described by the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti as a new wave of extreme violence. All neighborhoods of the capital, including areas previously considered safe, as well as the Artibonite Valley region are being affected.

And while neighborhood residents recently began arming themselves with machetes to fight back, gangs have started to regain the upper hand and are terrorizing the population once more.

The overall conflict is restricting childrens access to basic nutrition, health services, and safe water, hygiene and sanitation.

The lack of access to clean water fueled the resurgence of cholera last year, a deadly waterborne disease suspected in more than 41,00 cases. The first new cases were reported in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Haitis largest slum, Cite Soleil, where in the space of just a few days last month 49 women were raped. Nearly half of the reported cases of cholera are children under the age of 14, UNICEF said.

As the disease rampages neighborhoods afflicted by violence, cholera and malnutrition create a double burden that the national health system is unable to respond to due to critical human resource shortages and lack of supplies, the agency said.

A healthcare worker measures the upper arm circumference of Chrisle Amboise 2, at a malnutrition clinic run by UNICEF, in Cite Soleil, Haiti, Sunday, Oct. 16, 2022.

Speaking to the United Nations Security Council last week, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said more action is urgently needed on Haiti.

It is dangling over an abyss, he said. The states lack of capacity to fulfill human rights has completely eroded peoples confidence. The social contract has collapsed. The current lawlessness is a human rights emergency that calls for a robust response.

Turk, who last visited Haiti in February, reiterated the appeal by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and his recently appointed special representative in Port-au-Prince, Maria Isabel Salvador, for international troops.

There is an immediate need to support Haitis institutions by deploying a time-bound, specialized and human rights-compliant support force, with a comprehensive action plan, Turk said. The longer-term challenge is to build robust institutions that deliver on human rights.
With device manufacturers making it difficult or impossible for independent repair shops to fix simple issues, many consumers opt to replace their broken phones. (Ben Margot / Associated Press)

For years now, tech companies and manufacturers have been making it harder and harder for consumers to undertake the simple act of fixing their own stuff. They withhold crucial parts and repair manuals, and even install software locks that make it so that only authorized retailers  and the manufacturers themselves  can carry out repairs. At a premium, of course.

This sounds like predatory behavior when you look at it laid out like that, but so far, its mostly worked  think of the last time your phone, smart watch or tablet broke down. Did you try to fix it? Did you consider taking it to a repair shop? Or did you shrug, shove it into a drawer, figuring it was too time-consuming, expensive and inconvenient to fix and, well, you were probably due for a new one anyway?

If youre like most people, you went for the upgrade. And theres absolutely no shame in that  thats exactly what companies like Apple and Samsung have conditioned us to do. Its by design that they make it feel hard.

Which is precisely why California lawmakers should turn the trend around, now that theres a prime opportunity to do so. Democratic Sen. Susan Talamantes Eggman of Stockton has sponsored SB 244 , a bill that would enact whats become known as the right to repair in California.

This would be a huge deal  right to repair is making its way through statehouses across the nation; last year, New York passed the first major law of its kind, and earlier this year, Colorado passed a similar law for farm equipment (a surprisingly big deal, because tractor makers including John Deere had taken to locking down their vehicles with software, making repairing the equipment a major pain, or prohibitively expensive).

If the right to repair passes in California  not only the nations largest economy and most populous state but also home to the tech industry itself  it would be a powerful signal indeed.

The bill would require device manufacturers to do a few key things: give consumers a way to open any digital locks that might prevent them from fixing their stuff, make repair manuals public and sell parts to consumers who might want to buy them.

Pretty simple, and common sense!

As such, you may not be surprised to learn that right to repair laws are among the most popular pieces of legislation in existence. As in, phenomenally popular  last year, a Politico/Morning Consult poll found that 69% of registered voters supported the right to repair. Nearly 7 in 10 people, left and right combined, like these laws. In an era where support for the president hovers around 44% and no one can agree on much of anything, 69% is a sort of miracle. In California, support levels are even higher, around 75%.

This is probably because it just makes sense: You paid money for a thing, you own it. The company that sold it to you should not have any right to prevent you from fixing it if it breaks down. That company should in fact make it easier to fix the thing it sold you, not harder.

If I were to get all pundity about it, I would say that conservatives support the right to repair because it promotes the DIY spirit and saves money, and liberals like it because it means less landfill and wrests some control out of the hands of the tech monopolies. Maybe both sides like that.

And everyone likes saving money. A report from the consumer advocacy group CalPIRG found that the average American household spends about $1,767 buying new electronics every year.

Sander Kushen, a consumer advocate with U.S. PIRG, told me that, with the right to repair instated, families tend to save about $382 a year off that sum. All told, that would amount to about $5 billion in savings in California alone.

Thats money that people could be spending on food, on their homes, Kushen says, and not on electronics that they shouldnt have to replace anyway. Families are struggling right now, and the opportunity to save on repair is important.

He also points to the environmental benefits, noting that e-waste is the fastest-growing waste stream in the world right now, and right to repair legislation is a serious way to go easier on our landfills  a point the Times editorial board underlined just last week .

Finally, repair is crucial for local economies. Independent repair shops are local businesses that create jobs and provide a genuine social good. And many have been struggling as Apple and other manufacturers have turned the screws on repair.

A lot of the independent repair shops we talked to, Kushen says, theres a lot of urgency for them. There are a lot of reasons for this, but a big one is that they simply cant afford the machines and licenses the big manufacturers now require of repair shops to get certified as authorized  and they cant get the tools and manuals they need to do the repairs at all.

A similar bill made its way to Sacramento last year, but it died in committee. The same thing happened the year before. Kushen says last year, he called up a lot of repair businesses to gin up support for that effort, and he did so again this year. Weve called a lot of these shops back to ask for support  and theyve gone out of business.

For a lot of small shops, its a matter of life and death. So whats the holdup? If the bill is overwhelmingly popular, saves Californians money, helps the environment and creates jobs, what could possibly be preventing it from moving ahead?

Three guesses, and the small ones dont count.

Yes, its Big Tech, which, as weve made clear, has an interest in preventing ad hoc repairs of its stuff. Right to repair would lead people to buy fewer new devices, or decline to shell out for the authorized repair services these companies get a cut of. Now, they dont say that stuff out loud  right to repair is too popular. They say that devices are too complex for regular old repair people to handle, so only they can do right by consumers. They say independent fixers are a security risk. Thats BS, and nothing short of an FTC report has shown it to be so.

No, its a good old-fashioned case of corporate gamesmanship.

Tech lobbyists have a huge presence in California, Elizabeth Chamberlain, the sustainability director of the repair company IFixit, tells me, and we know that the closer this bill gets to passing, the more they'll be working overtime. (Full disclosure: Ive done some editorial advising for IFixit in the past.)

Once the bill makes it through the Appropriations Committee, it goes to the Senate floor, Chamberlain says. If it passes there, it has to run through the state Assembly. "We think it's a great bill and it's got a strong chance. But it'll have to make it past the tech lobbyist gantlet."

The chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Democrat Anthony Portantino of Burbank, has never explained why the prior bills stalled out. But theres good reason to bet it has something to do with that tech lobby.

But Chamberlain and Kushen both think this time could be different  theres a real sense of momentum with right to repair having passed in New York and Colorado, and the public has gotten to know the issue better. For the sake of all the independent repair shops in Burbank and beyond, lets hope that Portantino and company give the bill the stamp of approval. There are so few issues where quite literally everyone wins (except, I guess, Apple and Samsung, two of the richest companies in human history) and everyones happy about a law, but right to repair is one of them.

California deserves to be able to fix its stuff. Lets make it happen.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
A cold-hearted Central Florida police officer was arrested Tuesday, the Osceola County Sheriffs Office.

According to a police report, Dianne Ferreira, of the St. Cloud Police Department, about 25 miles southeast of Orlando, responded to a routine 911 medical call on April 3. The victim was in cardiac arrest and died.

While in the home, the 25-year-old woman is accused of snapping pictures of the deceased mans credit card and then proceeded to use it to make purchases, authorities say.

The mans widow eventually noticed suspicious activities on the statement and contacted police.

Purchases included seven mobile food orders, a hotel stay and a meal at Wendys. An attempt to buy eyelash extensions was stymied after the card was reported stolen. About $500 in charges went through.

Investigators obtained a description of the suspects car at one of the businesses, and later realized that the tags matched Ferreiras vehicle.

Osceola County Sheriff Marco Lopez said at a news conference Wednesday that the officer confessed to taking photos of the mans card and storing them on a device.

Ferreira was arrested and booked on suspicion of theft of a credit card with intent to use, credit card fraud of more than $100 and use of ID of a dead person. She was booked early Tuesday evening a few hours later on $4,000 bond.

The officer was immediately fired.

Youve got to be a pretty cold-hearted person to go to someones house where her husband or her loved one has just passed away and going to start taking snap shots of a credit card, Lopez said. Thats pretty cold, you know, pretty ruthless.

Added the officers boss, St. Cloud Police Chief Douglas Goerke: The information uncovered during this investigation shocked and appalled me. It directly violated everything expected of our law enforcement officers.
Will Smith, left, is congratulated by Miguel Vargas after hitting a home run for the Dodgers during a win over the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday. (Morry Gash / Associated Press)

What you need to know: The Dodgers return to Dodger Stadium on Friday night to open a three-game series against the San Diego Padres after winning two of three games at Milwaukee.

Right-hander Dustin May (4-1, 2.68 earned-run average) will start the opener for the Dodgers against left-hander Blake Snell (1-5, 4.89 ERA). With the help of the bullpen, May beat Snell and the Padres a week ago in San Diego when he struck out six in six innings in a 2-1 Dodgers victory. Snell also pitched six innings and struck out six in the losing effort.

The Padres went into their 5-3 loss to the Minnesota Twins on Thursday with a .205 average with runners in scoring position, the worst in the majors. And prior to Thursday, San Diego was nine for 67 (.134) in an eight-game stretch with runners on second and third.

The Dodgers (23-15, .605) lead Arizona in the National League West by 2 1/2 games. San Diego is in third place with a record of 19-19, .500, four games out of first place.

The Dodgers may be without the services of pitcher Noah Syndergaard, who sustained a cut on the index finger of his pitching hand during his last start against the Brewers.

How to watch the Dodgers vs. Padres

Radio: KLAC-AM (570); KTNQ-AM (1020) Spanish.

Betting odds and lines: Dodgers -136 / San Diego +116

Catch up on the latest Dodgers news

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
I have seen a lot of warning signs in my day, but this one was oddly specific: NO TRESPASSING, VICTIMS WILL BE BBQ-ED AND SERVED WITH COLE SLAW.

One part of me was a little terrified, but on the other hand, I could not help but admire the property owners choice of sides. Cole slaw goes perfectly with Carolina barbecue. I wondered if banana pudding would be the dessert of choice.

We did not stick around to find out. We were deep in the swamps of the Congaree River exploring a passage called Bates Old River and decided that discretion was the better part of valor on this Lowcountry springtime afternoon.

Bates Old River is two hours from the Beaufort County area and offers a day of adventure for anyone seeking to get on the water and explore one of the most scenic areas of the Lowcountry.

Bates Old River was once the main channel of the Congaree River until a flood in 1852 changed the rivers course. This event cut off several miles of river, forming an oxbow that soon began to fill in with mud and become overgrown with the vast swampy forest. Sighted in in the fork of the Congaree and Wateree rivers, the area became known as fork swamp on maps.

Bates Old River was the main channel of the Congaree River until the great flood of 1852 cut it off, forming a swampy reach with several lakes. The largest of these is three miles long and connects the landing with the Congaree.

In this swampy reach, the river channel became a series of shallow lakes, stretching like brown pearls along a thin necklace of creeks, the largest of these stretching three miles long and connecting to nearby Congaree River.

Located in this region were several plantations and the historic McCords Ferry, where Gen. Nathaniel Greene rendezvoused with Gen. Francis Marion, the Swamp Fox, after Marions victory at nearby Fort Motte. The area of Bates Old River has been an important crossroads throughout history, and has been a vital link between the Lowcountry and the backcountry region of South Carolina since before colonial times.

Bates Old River is part of a recently acquired tract of Congaree National Park. This 26,000 acres of federally-preserved land is home to numerous champion trees, the tallest known examples of at least 15 different species. Thousands of visitors come from around the world every year to explore the national monument, walk its boardwalks and hike its trails.

Bates Old River, sometimes referred to unofficially as Congaree Park East, offers a much more unique and quiet adventure. Unlike the main park, the forests of Bates Old River were logged in more recent times and do not contain the old growth forest. When you visit Bates Old River, you will visit a sunnier world with smaller trees, but the experience will be no less breathtaking.

You can access Bates Old River and the eastern section of Congaree National Park from U.S. 601. For hiking, the Bates Ferry Trailhead, and the Fork Swamp Trailhead offer views of this section for those using foot travel.

To access Bates Old River and the swampy network of creeks and lakes of the old channel, you can put in at an unimproved boat landing. From there you can paddle along the three-mile stretch of open water formed by the hook-shaped oxbow lake of the old river. Alligators cruise the waters and stalk beneath an ibis rookery. You will pass the remains of an old trestle and the further you go, the more remote it will seem.

Bates Old River is a flooded forest populated with cypress, tupelo, hawthorn and other varieties common to Lowcountry swamps. It is an excellent kayaking destination where you can explore beneath the green canopy and view incredibly diverse wildlife.

Once you get to the Congaree, a wide sandbar just upstream offers an excellent picnic spot. For a more swampy excursion, head upstream from the landing along Running Creek. There, your path will take you through flooded forest of buttressed cypress and tupelo trees. Small lakes and ponds form sunny oasis, where bass and redbreast bream make good fishing, and wildlife abounds.

Woodpeckers and owls can be seen in the canopy, a great blue heron rookery can be heard, and songbirds like the brilliant yellow prothonotary warbler dart among the tree trunks and cypress knees looking for bugs. It is an unforgettable passage.

A vibrant and playful prothonotary warbler darts in and out among the trees of the flooded forest along Bates Old River near Congaree National Park. This striking migratory songbird noisily makes its presence known in the spring swamp and is delightfully challenging to photograph.

Recently, I kayaked Bates Old River along Running Creek with a group of friends. The early spring swamp was alive with color and birdsong. The water level was down a little but this made navigation very easy. We kayaked a little over five miles until we saw the aforementioned sign and its promise of barbecue. We shared a laugh at the humor, but kept our distancejust in case.

Bates Old River is a great outdoor destination for adventurers of multiple skill level. Whether you are kayaking, fishing, or doing a little hiking along the trail, this promises a beautiful day experiencing nature and a unique habitat.

Just avoid the cole slaw.

A no trespassing sign on the banks of Singleton Creek, a part of Bates Old River near Congaree National Park, mixes a bit of Southern humor with its statement of property rights.

Getting there

Bates Old River is located off U.S. 601, just across the Congaree River in Richland County. It is 2 hours from the Beaufort County area and easy to reach. Take I-95 north for 68 miles to Exit 97, U.S. 301. Go 2.7 miles and turn right onto S.C. 267. Take 267 north to U.S. 601. Take a right onto 601 for approximately 4.5 miles. Once across the river, the boat landing will be on your right. The drive to the boat landing is unimproved and may have washouts, so drive carefully. Access to the hiking trails is by gravel drive. Bates Old River is unmarked and so, in high water, you may need a GPS and accurate maps. The creek channel is fairly clear, however, and as this is an out and back paddling destination, it is easy to double back to the landmark of the 601 bridge. For more info on Bates Old River and Congaree National Park, including water levels and park conditions, call 803-776-4396 or visit https://www.nps.gov/cong/index.htm.
For the first time in its 21-year history, the law school at Florida International University was ranked third in the state this year, besting the private University of Miami School of Law, founded in the 1920s and whose annual tuition is nearly three times higher than what an in-state law student pays at the state-funded FIU.

Oh my God, we are so excited! said FIU President Kenneth Jessell, crediting students, faculty and staff. Its definitely a team effort. And its an effort thats been in place for many years.

The Levin College of Law at the University of Florida held the top ranking in the state, and the College of Law at Florida State University came in second. UM fell to fourth.

Thats according to the rankings of U.S. News & World Report, a media company that has been annually ranking higher education institutions in different categories since the early 1980s and released its graduate school rankings Thursday. The lower the number in each rankings list, the better  No. 1 is tops.

This year, U.S. News changed its methodology for the rankings after backlash from prominent universities like Yale and Harvard. Two of the tweaks  increased weight given to employment 10 months after graduation and increased weight given to the law schools bar passage rates  benefited FIU, which had been prioritizing those student outcomes.

FIUs rate of students passing the Florida Bar exam on their first attempt has consistently ranked first among all Florida law schools in recent years.

Its wonderful that the U.S. News rankings are now more aligned with what we value at FIU Law, said FIU Law Dean Antony Page.

FIU law overpowers UM

FIU, the largest public university in Miami-Dade County with its main campus near Sweetwater, shot up in the U.S. News rankings from No. 98 last year to No. 60. The 38-spot leap was the second-highest ranking leap of any law school in the country this year, according to an FIU press release Thursday.

The law school at UM, the largest private university in the county with a main campus in Coral Gables, rose two spots from No. 73 in 2022 to No. 71 this year.

Asked how he felt about passing UM, Jessell said: I dont want to focus on passing any law school. I just want to focus on how well were doing for our students and how well theyre performing.

Page, the FIU law school dean, said: We are fortunate in Miami to have great options for legal education.

The UM communications team didnt respond to multiple requests for comment Thursday from the Herald.

The cost of tuition varies considerably between the two law schools. At the University of Miami, annual tuition and fees for the 2022-23 school year was $59,562 at the law school, according to UMs website. (Room and board are separate.) At FIU, annual tuition and fees for the same period were $21,806 for an in-state day student at the law school, and $36,049 for an out-of-state daytime law student. (Tuition for law-school students who attend at night is lower.)

The Levin College of Law at the University of Florida in Gainesville, first in the state, tied at No. 22 nationally. The College of Law at Florida State University in Tallahassee landed second in the state and tied for No. 56 in the country.

How the rankings changed this year

Students often use the rankings when deciding where to attend. But Page, FIUs law dean, advised students to consider other data before choosing a law school, not only the rankings. The cost of tuition and whether the school feels like a good fit also matters, he said.

For law schools, U.S. News uses 10 factors with different percentage weights assigned to each, including how many students pass the state bar exam; expert opinions from academics, lawyers and judges; and the student-faculty ratio. For detailed information, click here.

Many educators and administrators criticized the U.S. News process last year and boycotted it, including Yale Law Dean Heather Gerken, who called the rankings flawed. U.S. News had conversations with more than 100 deans and representatives of law schools, and modified its metrics and weights in January as a result.

Before, the rankings gave more weight to schools whose students came from wealthier socioeconomic backgrounds, as they valued GPA and LSAT scores, which could be helped by private expensive tutors, as well as per-student expenditure and student debt levels. (Wealthier students, in general, dont accrue significant student debt.)

Im optimistic that there will be additional adjustments to the rankings and the weights they use for the metrics, Jessell said. We need to focus on what students can really do and how they can perform, and how institutions can help them maximize that.
Former U.S. Marine Daniel Penny surrenders to the NYPD for the death of Jordan Neely in New York City

Former US Marine surrenders, to be charged in choking death on New York subway Former U.S. Marine Daniel Penny surrenders to the NYPD for the death of Jordan Neely in New York City

(Reuters) - A former U.S. Marine who killed a homeless man by putting him in a chokehold on the New York City subway was taken into custody on Friday and expected to be arraigned on a manslaughter charge, CNN reported.

A viral video showed the former Marine, identified as Daniel Penny, putting 30-year-old Jordan Neely in a chokehold on May 1 while they rode on the F train in Manhattan. Neely died from a compression of the neck, the medical examiner said, but Penny's lawyers said he did not mean to kill him.

According to witnesses, Neely, who was known to impersonate Michael Jackson in the subway system, was complaining loudly about being hungry and saying he was ready to die when Penny came up behind him and gripped him around the neck. Penny restrained him on the floor of the subway car until he appeared to stop moving. Neely was later declared dead.

Penny, 24, surrendered to police on Friday to face one count of second-degree manslaughter, CNN reported. He is to be arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court, the Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said on Thursday.

A bystander's video of Neely's death garnered national attention and revived a debate among New Yorkers about crime in the subway and what to do with a growing number of homeless people in the city.

(Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Chicago; Editing by Doina Chiacu)
Ra Deok-yeon, center, head of an unregistered investment consulting firm, is taken to the Seoul Southern District Court in the capital on May 11, to attend a hearing to review the legality of his detention on charges of large-scale stock manipulation that rocked the local financial markets. Yonhap



Two close aides of the head of an investment consulting firm were arrested Friday for allegedly recruiting investors in a large-scale stock manipulation case that has rocked the local financial markets.



The Seoul Southern District Court issued the arrest warrants for the suspects, surnamed Byun and An, citing the risk of them destroying evidence and fleeing.



They are close confidantes of Ra Deok-yeon, head of an unregistered investment consulting firm, who was arrested the previous day.



Ra's firm was at the center of the recent collapse of the stock prices of nine companies, including energy firm Samchully and Seoul City Gas.



Byun and An are accused of having raising the stock prices of the companies through an "order matching" technique after taking over mobile phones and personal information from investors.



The stocks of the nine listed companies had steadily risen for years before nose-diving late last month following mass sell-offs through SG Securities Korea, the local branch of the Societe Generale Group of France.



About 1,000 investors are said to have suffered huge losses estimated to be between 800 billion won ($606 million) and 1 trillion won. (Yonhap)




Gov. Gavin Newsom is restoring some proposed cuts to funding for foster care youth, in response to bi-partisan pressure and criticism from advocates.

The announcement came Friday as part of his budget update, which anticipates a $31.5 billion deficit. Despite the shortfall, Newsom restored $20 million to the Court Appointed Special Advocates program, better known as CASA.

The program enlists volunteers across the nation to help and advocate for foster youth navigating the judicial and child welfare system. CASA helps roughly 13,000 youth, about 16% of the states foster population.

We are absolutely thrilled beyond belief and we know that thousands of children in foster care are going to benefit from a CASA volunteer, said Sharon Lawrence, chief executive for the California CASA Association.

In 2022, CASA was granted $60 million over the next three years to assist with recruiting, training and fundraising. The program received the first $20 million last December.

But just one month later, Newsom proposed cutting the next two years of funding. The decision drew criticism from both Republican and Democratic lawmakers.

Newsoms reversal on Friday gives $20 million over the next two years.

Advocates expected the full $40 million would go toward serving an additional 50,000 foster youth.

Assemblymember Joe Patterson, R-Rocklin, said he is committed to bringing back all the funding, and will advocate for the additional $20 million through the budget committee.

Im pleased the governor heard Republicans and Democratic legislators alike, we cant cut funding for vulnerable foster care children, Patterson said. However, he only proposed to restore half the funding.
Archie Rainey, a law enforcement leader and teacher for decades who helped train more than 1,000 police executives through the college he started in Columbus, has died.

Rainey founded the Georgia Law Enforcement Command College at Columbus State University in 1995 and served as director until 2016.

He died Monday at the age of 82, according to Striffler-Hamby Mortuary. The cause and location of his death werent available before publication.

Visitation was scheduled for 3-4 p.m. May 12, followed by the memorial service, both at Striffler-Hamby, 4071 Macon Road, in Columbus.

Upon receiving a Meritorious Service Award from the Peace Officers Association of Georgia, a 2013 resolution of commendation adopted by the Georgia House of Representations describes the impact Rainey made on the state.

No single person in this state has been more involved in creating a contingent pool of contemporary law enforcement executives ready to meet those challenges than Dr. Archie Rainey, the resolution says.

After serving in the U.S. Army, Rainey worked as a police officer and a highway patrolman in Tennessee. He earned his bachelors and masters degrees from the University of Tennessee and his doctorate from the Union Graduate School.

Rainey was recruited to Georgia in the early 1970s by CSU (called Columbus College at the time) and then-Columbus Police Chief Curtis McClung. During the next 21 years, Rainey was an instructor in CSUs criminal justice program.

In 1995, the Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police asked Rainey to develop the idea that became the Command College to provide advanced education for police executives statewide, a challenge he eagerly accepted, the resolution says.

Rainey created a curriculum that offered graduate-level studies certified by the Peace Officer Standards and Training Council. Through the Command College, graduates earned a masters degree in public administration.

During his two decades directing the college, nearly 60 cohorts totaling more than 1,000 students completed the requirements  and nearly 200 of those graduates became agency leaders in Georgia law enforcement or corrections.

As a result, the college attained the status of being a national model for law enforcement executive education, the resolution says.

Also in 2013, the Georgia Senate passed a similar resolution honoring Rainey.

Dr. Rainey is a true example of a man committed to serving his community, state Sen. Ed Harbison (D-Columbus) said in a news release then. His time at Columbus State University has produced numerous law enforcement officials with invaluable skills that make Georgia a safer place. Dr. Rainey is a pillar of our community and I cannot think of an individual more deserving of this distinguished award.

Rus Drew, who was CSU police chief from 2006-16, told the Ledger-Enquirer in an email that he doesnt know the cause and location of Raineys death, but he had been in poor health for several years.

Drew relied on Rainey for advice.

Many mornings it was part of my routine to drop by Command College and get my daily dose of Archie analysis on current events and trends in public safety, with suggested strategies for improvement, Drew said.

And he wasnt the only one seeking Raineys counsel.

Frequently I was met with a line of other public safety agency heads from around the state, either on the phone or in the office seeking out those strategies and solutions to often complex issues, Drew said.

Drew described Rainey as patient, a great listener and thoughtful, delivering candid advice on target.

Whether that was the answer you wanted to hear or not, he pushed for the most holistic solution, Drew said. Solutions that were deeply rooted in the data he researched as a criminal justice academician as well as the experiences as a policing practitioner.

Drew also praised Rainey for being an outspoken proponent of higher education standards for law enforcement and did more to increase the number of officers with bachelors and masters degrees than anyone Ive known in my 40-year law enforcement career.

Archie will be deeply missed, but his legacy lives on in the Command College graduates who lead public safety efforts across this state with the same quest for knowledge and a hardworking commitment to service.
The northern Haiti city of Cap-Haitien is preparing for a tsunami.

With the citys close proximity to the ocean and the risk great of both tsunami and earthquake, students there will be participating in a seismic-risk mitigation drill on Friday. Joining them will be firefighters, police and other key institutions inside the port city of multi-story gingerbread houses, poorly constructed buildings and seaside cafes.

The entire city will be participating, said Garmalia Mentor-William, a medical doctor and disaster risk-management specialist who is leading the effort.

There is a special focus on students, she said, because by integrating them at a young age they can pass the message on to the wider population and involve them in the response. The region has tsunami evacuation routes, which are part of the earthquake surveillance work Haitis Bureau of Mines and Energy has been doing over the past 12 years. The bureau, with help from international donors, has established active-fault and hazard maps, and a seismic surveillance network. Tremors are recorded in real time by a network of seismometers that receive information broadcast via satellite from solar-powered seismic stations around the country.

Mentor-William said not only will a tsunami alert go off inside the city at about 9 a.m., allowing students and residents to assemble at different points inside the city outside of the tsunami zone, there will also be role-playing so both students and adults know how to properly evacuate should there be an actual tsunami.

READ MORE: Haiti Earthquake Topic Page

The threat of both earthquakes and tsunamis is a constant in Haiti, where the population is constantly being reminded with aftershocks. On Aug. 21, 2021, hundreds died when a powerful 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck the southern region of the country, destroying homes and leaving at least 700 dead and 2,800 injured.

Despite its higher magnitude and destruction, the quake was nowhere as devastating as the 7.0 earthquake that struck the country on Jan. 12, 2010. More than 100,000 structures crumbled and the quake nearly destroyed the capital of Port-au-Prince. According to the government, more than 300,000 were killed. Most of those deaths occurred, experts said, because people had no idea what to do. Some even ran inside buildings when the ground began to shake.

We will be building the capacity of first responders, who will have a chance to be on the terrain to coordinate the response and take care of the victims, said Mentor-William.

While some people play quake and tsunami victims, the Haitian Red Cross and Civil Protection will assume their emergency roles, along with local scouts, brigades, police and firefighters.

READ MORE: Even if you are missing a foot, missing a hand, you must live, says Haiti quake survivor

This is the second year such a drill is taking place. This year it is occurring during the same week that the northern region of Haiti was devastated by an earthquake 181 years ago.

Jerry Chandler, the head of Haitis Civil Protection Office, said he welcomes the participation of the community in such an exercise. Last year, the office began doing outreach in the area and throughout the year it has held exercises and training focused on schools.

The objective is to plant the seed of awareness in the kids so they not only become conscious of the problem, but so they can also spread the word around them in their families, he said.

Haitis foremost earthquake expert and geologist Claude Prepetit has long warned that Haitis north is due for another big quake. The country, he always preaches, needs to be ready. That is why Fridays drill is so important, said Mentor-William. With two earthquake fault lines running through Haiti, the country sits on a powder keg.

Most of the schools are not built for schooling and are private houses, which means they are unsafe for kids, she said. It is highly likely that most of them will collapse.
Californias quest to give swine more space on farms has won support from the U.S. Supreme Court.

It ruled 5-4 on Thursday against pork producers across the nation who argued that state Proposition 12 violated the interstate commerce clause in the U.S. Constitution.

The measure approved by voters in 2018 required that stalls and other housing allow livestock enough room to stand up, turn around and extend their limbs. It applies not just in California but in any place that produces pork, veal, eggs and other products for sale in the state.

Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote the opinion, with support from a mix of liberal and conservative colleagues on the bench.

While the Constitution addresses many weighty issues, the type of pork chops California merchants may sell is not on that list, Gorsuch wrote.

The appeal had come from the National Pork Producers Council and the American Farm Bureau Federation. They sued in 2019 on the grounds that California could not tell other states how to produce pork.

The industry estimated that converting farms to the standards would raise production costs by 9%. And they said current housing practices help prevent injuries to the animals and contamination of the meat.

The suit was rejected by district and appellate courts, but the Supreme Court agreed to take it on. It heard arguments in October from both sides.

We are very disappointed with the Supreme Courts opinion, NPPC President Scott Hays of Missouri said in a news release Thursday. Allowing state overreach will increase prices for consumers and drive small farms out of business, leading to more consolidation.

Gorsuch said the interstate commerce law was meant to keep one state from gaining an advantage over others, but Proposition 12 applied to California producers as well.

He also noted that nearly a quarter of the U.S. pork industry has already shifted to the larger housing.

Pork is a tiny part of Californias farm industry, but the states residents do eat plenty of products raised elsewhere.

The states egg producers are well into the conversion to roomier quarters first mandated by voters in 2008. They include J.S. West & Cos. of Modesto and Gemperle Family Farms, south of Turlock.

Chicken egg farms in Stanislaus County had $36.2 million in gross income in 2021, its agricultural commissioner reported.

Swine brought $3.11 million. Meat from cattle, chickens and turkeys was a far larger part of the total farm income of $3.55 billion.

Gorsuch got support from Justices Clarence Thomas, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Amy Coney Barrett. Dissents came from Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito, Brett Kavanaugh and Ketanji Brown Jackson.

The ruling brought praise from Animal Outlook, a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C.

No matter how cruel or painful a practice is, the animal agriculture industry has fought against laws to prohibit it, in this case, all the way to the Supreme Court, Executive Director Cheryl Leahy said in a news release.

When a powerful industry will stop at nothing to make complicity in cruelty mandatory, its a clear sign that the cruelty is part and parcel of that industry, and the only way to refuse to be a part of it is to not eat animals altogether.
Country music star Jimmie Allen has been sued by his former manager for alleged sexual assault and sex trafficking. (Jordan Strauss / Invision / Associated Press)

Country music musician Jimmie Allen, who is known for the songs Best Shot and Warrior, is being sued by his former manager for alleged sexual battery, assault, false imprisonment, sex trafficking and emotional distress, according to legal documents obtained by The Times.

The woman, who wants to remain anonymous because she still works in the music industry, claims that while employed by Allens management company Wide Open Music, the country musician raped her, regularly sexually abused her and harassed her for a year and a half.

Allens label, BBR Music Group, swiftly suspended the recording artist, saying in a statement, In light of todays allegations against Jimmie Allen, BBR Music Group has decided to suspend all activity with him, effective immediately.

Allen was set to perform June 11 at the CMAFest in Nashville. But after the lawsuit went public, the Country Music Assn. removed him from the lineup (which also included country music giants Luke Bryan and Tim McGraw).

He was also dropped as the commencement speaker for Fridays Delaware State University graduation and replaced by Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.).

According to a lawsuit filed Thursday in Tennessee federal court, in which Allens former manager is identified as Jane Doe, she alleges that in March 2021 she woke up nude in her hotel room, vaginally bleeding and in pain, with no recollection of the previous evening. She alleged that Allen was lying next to her and told her to take a Plan B pill, and that she realized he had taken her virginity against her will.

I was disconnected from my body, feeling a sense of panic, Jane Doe told Variety in a Thursday expose. He held me in place. At that point, any physical will was just out the door. I was pretty much paralyzed.

Jane Doe says in the lawsuit that the abuse escalated after the night in the hotel. She claims that Allen forcibly put his hands down her pants in public and said that as she would drive Allen to and from events, he sexually assaulted her at red lights, in green rooms, on airplanes and other places where she was required to be present.

Denies any wrongdoing

She also said that Allen raped her in private while choking her and that he filmed "multiple sexual encounters in order to blackmail her to stay silent.

In a statement to The Times, Allen denied any wrongdoing and said their relationship was consensual.

It is deeply troubling and hurtful that someone I counted as one of my closest friends, colleagues and confidants would make allegations that have no truth to them whatsoever, Allen told The Times. I acknowledge that we had a sexual relationship  one that lasted for nearly two years. During that time, she never once accused me of any wrongdoing, and she spoke of our relationship and friendship as being something she wanted to continue indefinitely.

"Only after things ended between us, did she hire a lawyer to reach out and ask for money, which leads me to question her motives. The simple fact is, her accusations are not only false, but also extremely damaging. Ive worked incredibly hard to build my career, and I intend to mount a vigorous defense to her claims and take all other legal action necessary to protect my reputation.

Jane Does attorney told Variety that a payout was never requested saying, The only ask we made of Allen and his legal counsel was to meet to discuss Allens behavior and resolution of our clients claims. At no time did our client make a monetary demand. The response was a hard no, and colored with threats that his team would take steps to publicly tarnish my client. My client had no choice but to be proactive in protecting herself by filing the complaint.

'History of questionable behavior'

Jane Doe is also suing Wide Open Music (WOM) and its founder, Ash Bowers, alleging that when she detailed the abuse to Bowers, the management firm dropped Allen but also fired her. The documents also claim that when Jane Doe was assigned to manage Allen, Bowers told her that the Grammy-nominated recording artist was known to push boundaries and was "promiscuous but harmless."

We intend to show that WOM knew that Allen had a history of questionable behavior around women but did nothing to safeguard our client as she embarked upon her first professional job out of college, said Elizabeth Fegan, founding partner of FeganScott, the firm representing Jane Doe. The executives at WOM promised our client mentorship and guidance in a new role, but instead she was offered up to Allen for his predation.

Having been aware of Allens past behavior, its reprehensible that the company picked her out and threw her to the wolves like they did, knowing how things would turn out, Fegan continued. Allen identified her as his target and groomed her, and the company did absolutely nothing to prevent it.

Wide Open Music and Bowers did not immediately respond to The Times' request for comment.

Allen, who auditioned for the 10th season of "American Idol" in 2011 but was cut before the live rounds, has been slowly climbing the country music ladder over the past decade. In 2021 he won the CMA award for new artist of the year, the second Black artist ever to land the honor.

Last month, Allen and wife Alexis Gale announced via social media that they were calling it quits after three years of marriage, but also revealed that Gale was pregnant with their third child.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
My father was a history buff. But if he were alive today, he would be very disturbed by the history that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is trying to make. For the first time, Medicare has refused to cover drugs that have been granted Food and Drug Administration approval. Medicare has always covered FDA-approved treatments for those living with other conditions such as cancer, heart disease and HIV/AIDS. For CMS to treat those with Alzheimers disease differently from those with other diseases is unprecedented and completely unacceptable.

Lecanemab, which is sold under the brand name Leqembi, is a monoclonal antibodies medication that targets aggregated forms of amyloid beta found in the brains of people with Alzheimers disease to reduce its buildup. Although Lecanemab is not a cure (there currently is no cure for Alzheimers), it is the second approved treatment that addresses the underlying biology of Alzheimers and changes the course of the disease in a meaningful way for people in the early stages.

I lost my father to Alzheimers disease after an eight-year battle. What I would have given to be able to offer him a treatment like this so that he could have had more time being a father, a husband, a grandfather, an uncle, an active member in his church community and a friend to his veteran peers. He could have had more time to participate in daily life in a meaningful way and remain independent for a longer period, which was extremely important to him. Additionally, allowing him to be independent and able to make decisions for more time time would have decreased the overall financial impact that Alzheimers disease had on him and our loved ones.

This is certainly not just true for my father and our family, but for many of the 55,000 Kansans and 120,000 Missourians currently living with this progressive disease.

This CMS policy prevents people who could benefit from FDA-approved treatments from receiving them, even if it is prescribed by their doctors. According to estimates from the Alzheimers Association, more than 2,000 people transition every day to a more advanced stage of the disease where theyre no longer eligible for treatment.

Im not alone in my disappointment in this decision. The Alzheimers Association continues to pressure CMS to reverse this barrier to accessing FDA-approved Alzheimers treatments, and theres growing bipartisan support in Congress. I am encouraging people from across Kansas and Missouri to use their voices and let CMS know that they must reverse their decision. Each day matters when it comes to slowing the progression of this fatal disease.

Thats why I ask you to attend a rally in Ilus Davis Park at 1000 Locust St. in Kansas City on May 15 at 1 p.m. with my fellow advocates. Please join me in demanding the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services reverse its unprecedented and unjust decision.

Learn more about how you can join the fight to end Alzheimers by visiting alzimpact.org, or call the Alzheimers Association Heart of America Chapter at 913-831-3888 for details about the rally.

Janet Hayes is a retired vice president of auto claims Famers Insurance, where she worked for more than 30 years. She lives in Johnson County and is now an advocate for the Alzheimers Association.
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly on Friday vetoed a bill that would have restricted the states health officials from mandating the COVID-19 vaccine for children in schools and daycares and prohibited the secretary of the Department of Health and Environment from adopting any measures to control infectious or contagious diseases.

The field of public health was pioneered here in Kansas, yet lawmakers continue trying to undermine the advancements that have saved lives in every corner of our state, Kelly said in a statement.

The bill narrowly passed in the Senate 22-18 and in the House 63-56. The Legislature, which adjourned last month, will not have the opportunity to override Kellys veto unless lawmakers return to Topeka for a special session within 10 days of the veto.

Kelly called the bill an effort by politicians to win short-term political points while threatening the long-term health and safety of residents and the states economy.

Theres no question: Preventing Kansas local and state health officials from providing even basic testing for contagious human and zoonotic diseases  including measles, meningitis, Ebola, and polio  will hurt our ability to stop unnecessary outbreaks in the future, Kelly said.

Kelly has vetoed a historic number of bills during the session and told reporters last month she would continue to veto bills she thought werent in the states best interest. Last year, she vetoed a bill with similar goals.

The bill is a reflection of some Republican lawmakers beliefs that health officials actions during the COVID-19 pandemic went too far, justifying the curtailment of health departments authority to mandate measures to fight infectious diseases such as quarantine or isolation.

Nobody wants what happened before during COVID, where they felt the health department overstepped, Sen. Beverly Gossage, a Eudora Republican who chairs the Senate Committee on Public Health and Welfare, told the Star last month.

The bill, which would have allowed the states public health officials to only issue recommendations to control the spread of a disease, received significant pushback from health officials including the Kansas Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Kansas Association of Local Health Departments and KDHE.

Opponents were concerned that limiting the power of public health officials in future pandemics would prevent officials from taking quick and decisive action to control the spread of diseases.

Sen. Pat Pettey, a Kansas City Democrat and the ranking minority member on the health committee, acknowledged that while COVID-19 mitigation measures may not have always been the best, the intentions behind each measure were in the best interests of Kansans.

Im proud of the governors decision, she said. Its very important for us to have a secretary and health department directors to have the authority to make decisions when there are health emergencies.

Tracy Russell, the executive director of NutureKC, a pro-vaccine organization, said that though the veto by Kelly represents a huge win for the health of Kansans, the Legislature will likely continue to push similar legislation.

Its a slippery slope, she said. The opposition is emboldened every time they manage to get bills like these further. What they achieve each year is the floor they will continue to build off of.

But supporters of the bill have continually argued that health care decisions, such as vaccines, should be left up to individual Kansans rather than governmental institutions.

As we learn from past mistakes, this bill would put the appropriate checks and balances with elected officials who answer directly to Kansas voters and return unelected health bureaucrats back into their intended advisory role, House Speaker Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican, said in a statement.
Kansas governor and top state lawmakers were to meet Thursday to consider a proposed legal settlement between the state and the owner of a Wichita fitness studio forced to shut down during the first months of the coronavirus pandemic and then operate under restrictions.

Approval of the settlement by Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly, six Republican leaders of the GOP-controlled Legislature and its two top Democrats would end a state court lawsuit filed in December 2020 by Ryan Floyd and his business, Omega Bootcamps Inc. The lawsuit has yet to go to trial in Sedgwick County District Court in Wichita, and a judge is considering the states request in 2021 to dismiss it. Kansas law requires the governors and top lawmakers approval of the settlement.

The lawsuit argued that the state used Floyds and his business private property for the benefit of the general public when it and local officials imposed restrictions to check the spread of COVID-19. Statewide restrictions started with Kellys order shutting down most businesses for five weeks, starting in late March 2020.

The lawsuit cited part of the states emergency management law that says people can seek compensation in court if their property is commandeered or otherwise used by state or local officials. Theres been no ruling on whether shutting down or restricting a business represents a use of its property.

According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, Omega Bootcamps received two pandemic relief loans totaling about $24,000 in 2020 and 2021. Regarding his lawsuit, Floyd has said he wants an appraiser to be appointed to set the amount of damages.

State officials did not disclose details of the settlement ahead of Kellys meeting with top lawmakers, and state Attorney General Kris Kobachs office did not immediately respond to an email requesting details. Ryan Kriegshauser, an attorney representing Floyd and his business, said he couldnt discuss details of the settlement before the meeting.

Kobach, a Republican, was elected attorney general last year but served as secretary of state, Kansas top elections official, from 2011 to 2019, and Kriegshauser worked for him as an attorney and policy deputy in 2011-12. Lawyers outside the attorney generals office have handled the states defense in the lawsuit.

The Kansas meeting came the same day as the formal end of the U.S. national public health emergency for COVID-19. In Kansas, Republican legislative leaders forced an end to a state of emergency in June 2021, about three months earlier than Kelly wanted. The Legislature also whittled away at the power of the governor and local officials to close or restrict businesses or impose mask mandates during pandemics.

The state health department reported 485 new cases and 18 new deaths in the seven days ending Wednesday, an average of 69 new cases a day. The state has reported nearly 946,000 cases and more than 10,200 deaths since its first reported case in early March 2020  one case for every three residents and one death for every 287 residents.

The lawsuit was put on hold by the judge in 2021 so that Kriegshauser could urge Kansas lawmakers to use federal COVID-19 relief funds to compensate small businesses for their financial losses during the pandemic. Republican lawmakers approved a plan that could have set aside tens of millions of dollars, but Kelly vetoed it, arguing that the well-intentioned measure violated a national coronavirus relief law.

In 2022, Kelly and lawmakers agreed on providing up to $50 million worth of refunds on the local property taxes paid by retail storefront businesses shut down or restricted during the pandemic. But critics have said the process of getting the aid is difficult and a $5,000 cap discourages businesses from applying.
Standing near images of victims in a triple slaying outside a Benedict Canyon home this year, Capt. Jonathan Tippet, who leads the Los Angeles Police Department Robbery-Homicide Division, speaks during a news conference Friday announcing that LAPD detectives took several suspects into custody in connection with the killings. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Los Angeles police detectives have taken into custody three suspects in connection with a gang-related triple slaying outside a Benedict Canyon home this year.

After months of investigation that led detectives to a Beverly Hills high-rise, where a getaway car had been spotted, police arrested three men they say carried out the Jan. 28 attack, which left three dead and four others critically wounded.

The ambush shooting was carried out by three Chicago gang members and motivated by events in that city, Los Angeles Police Capt. Jonathan Tippet said at a news conference Friday.

Daries Stanford, 28; Dontae Williams, 22; and Dejean Thompkins, 28, were arrested in Chicago; Gary, Ind.; and New York City, respectively, with the help of local police and the FBI. Thompkins was apprehended Wednesday.

All three are awaiting extradition to Los Angeles, where they will face multiple murder charges, police said.

Authorities also have linked the men to another L.A. slaying that occurred a month before the Benedict Canyon attack. Detectives are continuing to investigate who else may be involved in the alleged murder plots.

The Benedict Canyon shooting occurred outside a short-term rental home in the 2700 block of Ellison Drive, a street of large hillside homes north of Beverly Hills. Neighbors reported seeing several cars driving away minutes after gunfire rang out around 3 a.m., police said.

Detectives released a crime alert with information they had gleaned from witnesses and surveillance video from the scene. The suspects were last seen driving a blue, four-door Tesla with damage to its right front fender and no license plates, police said. That vehicle was tracked to a condo complex in the 8600 block of Wilshire Boulevard, where one of the apartments was searched in March for forensic evidence connected to the shooting.

Los Angeles police officers stand outside a Benedict Canyon home, near the scene of a Jan. 28 attack in which three people were killed and four were critically wounded. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

Tips from members of the public who saw the suspects vehicle in and around the West L.A. and Beverly Hills area led investigators to the apartment complex on Wilshire. A warrant to search the apartment was obtained after it was connected to the Tesla.

Thanks to those eyewitnesses and other evidence, Los Angeles Police Department detectives working with Beverly Hills police, Chicago police and the FBI built a picture of the alleged movements of the three accused gunmen, Tippet said.

The suspects flew to Los Angeles shortly before the attack and stayed briefly, delivering the deadly barrage of gunfire with two guns before flying out of the state, Tippet said.

The shooting targeted other people who were with the three women after returning from a bowling alley that night, according to Tippet, who said that the motive stemmed from activity in Chicago and that the three suspects had flown to Los Angeles with the intent of killing their targets.

The violence that occurs in Chicago today is having an effect on all of us, Tippet said. We are saddened by this horrible loss of life. We hope the arrest of those responsible for these acts will bring some comfort to the families.

Those who were killed  Nenah Davis, 29, of Bolingbrook, Ill.; Destiny Sims, 26, of Buckeye, Ariz.; and Iyana Hutton, 33, of Chicago  all had roots in the Chicago area, police said. The lifelong friends died in a hail of gunfire that peppered their rented Porsche SUV.

Hutton was trying to get into the music business before she was killed and was said by a friend to be in L.A. for an album release. Davis, one of Hutton's best friends, was a mother who once worked as a nurse. Sims was a mother of three and a hairstylist who grew up in Illinois before moving west with her family.

Earlier the night of the shooting, the trio had visited a bowling alley before returning to their rental home, according to friends interviewed by The Times.

Photos of the victims were on display during a press conference to announcing that the suspects in the Benedict Canyon triple murder were taken into custody. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Artist Mick E. Finnz, a longtime friend of Hutton's, wondered whether something had happened at the bowling alley to set off the deadly events. But Tippet said detectives found no evidence of any altercation.

The suspects in the triple homicide have also been tied to the Dec. 22 slaying of Julian Bynum in North Hollywood. Bynum, 30, was visiting from Chicago when he was shot multiple times shortly before midnight on the 6800 block of Simpson Avenue. LAPD detectives initially said he was killed during a narcotics purchase, but they now believe he was targeted.

Joseph Iniguez, the chief of staff for Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gascon, said Thompkins has been charged with four counts of murder  three each for the Benedict Canyon shooting and one in connection with Bynum's death  and six counts of attempted murder.

Williams and Stanford are charged with three counts of murder and six counts of attempted murder with a semiautomatic weapon. Investigators won't say at this stage if they were involved in Bynum's slaying.

Because of the incredible loss of life, we have decided to file special circumstance allegations and gun enhancements in this case," Iniguez said. "We cannot allow these tragedies to go unanswered.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Daniel Penny leaves Manhattan Criminal Court on Friday, May 12, 2023, in New York. Penny, 24, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, appeared in court hours after turning himself in at a police station after prosecutors said they were charging him in connection with the May 1 death of Jordan Neely. (AP Photo/Brittainy Newman)

NEW YORK (AP)  A U.S. Marine veteran who used a fatal chokehold on an agitated New York City subway passenger was freed from custody Friday hours after surrendering to face a manslaughter charge filed nearly two weeks after the encounter.

Daniel Penny, 24, appeared in court after turning himself in at a police station to answer criminal charges in the May 1 death of Jordan Neely. He did not enter a plea. Neely's death sparked protests, while others embraced Penny as a vigilante hero.

A judge authorized Pennys release on bond and ordered him to surrender his passport and not to leave New York without approval. Prosecutors said they are seeking a grand jury indictment. Penny is due back in court on July 17.

Penny didn't speak to reporters as he arrived at a Manhattan police station with his lawyers Friday morning, nor did he respond to questions shouted by reporters as he was led from the police precinct house in handcuffs several hours later.

Inside the courtroom, Penny faced straight ahead, his hands still cuffed. He spoke softly, offering one-word answers to Judge Kevin McGrath as his lawyer, Steve Raiser, placed an arm around his shoulder.

Penny's lawyers have said he was acting in self-defense when he pinned Neely to the floor of the subway car with the help of two other passengers and held him in a chokehold for several minutes.

A freelance journalist who recorded Neely struggling to free himself, then lapsing into unconsciousness, said he had been shouting at passengers and begging for money aboard the train but had not gotten physical with anyone. Penny's lawyers have said he was threatening passengers but haven't elaborated.

Neely's death has raised an uproar over many issues, including how those with mental illness are treated by the transit system and the city, as well as crime, race and vigilantism. Penny, who is white, was questioned by police in the aftermath but was released without charges. Neely was Black.

Thomas Kenniff, one of Penny's attorneys, said the veteran didn't mean to harm Neely and is dealing with the situation, like I said, with the sort of integrity and honor that is characteristic of who he is and characteristic of his honorable service in the United States Marine Corps.

Donte Mills, a lawyer for Neely's family, said Neely wasn't harming anyone.

There was no attack," Mills said at a news conference Friday. Mr. Neely did not attack anyone. He did not touch anyone. He did not hit anyone. But he was choked to death." Penny, he said, acted with indifference. He didnt care about Jordan, he cared about himself. And we cant let that stand.

Neelys father, Andre, wept as another family lawyer, Lennon Edwards, recounted the last moments before Penny tackled Neely to the ground and put him in a chokehold.

What did he think would happen? Mills asked.

Friends of Neely said the former subway performer, remembered by some commuters for his Michael Jackson impersonations, had been dealing with homelessness and mental illness in recent years. Neely had been arrested multiple times and had recently pleaded guilty for assaulting a 67-year-old woman leaving a subway station in 2021.

Mills said Neely's outlook changed after his mother was killed by her boyfriend in 2007. Through his struggles, Mills said, Neely found joy in singing, dancing and bringing a smile to other people's faces.

No one on that train asked Jordan: Whats wrong, how can I help you?' Mills said, urging New Yorkers in a similar situation: Dont attack. Dont choke. Dont kill. Dont take someones life. Dont take someones loved one from them because theyre in a bad place.

The Manhattan district attorney's office had investigated the case for several days before deciding to file charges, in part to try to learn what happened aboard the train in the moments before Penny moved to restrain Neely. Prosecutors did not immediately explain why they decided criminal charges were warranted.

Neely's death prompted protests in the city. On Wednesday, New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who had earlier said the investigation needed time to play out, gave an address in which he said Neely's death shouldn't have happened.

A second-degree manslaughter charge in New York will require the jury to find that a person has engaged in reckless conduct that creates an unjustifiable risk of death, and then consciously disregards that risk.

The law also requires that conduct to be a gross deviation from how a reasonable person would act in a similar situation.

The charges could carry a maximum penalty of 15 years imprisonment, though any jail term could also be far shorter.

___

Associated Press writers Bobby Caina Calvan and Karen Matthews contributed to this report.
Members of a student-led coalition of LGBTQ and human rights advocacy groups from 10 universities in Korea hold a press conference in western Seoul, Friday, after a mini pride parade to condemn the Seoul Metropolitan Government's decision to disapprove the Seoul Queer Culture Festival's use of Seoul Plaza. Korea Times photo by Cho Hye-yoon



By Lee Hae-rin



Laura Carrera, a 23-year-old exchange student from Guatemala studying at Dongguk University, was taken aback upon learning that the Seoul Queer Culture Festival (SQCF) had been denied permission this year to use Seoul Plaza, a location where it has taken place for years.



"I think it's ridiculous," Carrera said, explaining that canceling a Pride Month celebration in 2023 is "inconceivable" even in her home country, which she describes as "conservative," with anti-LGBTQ protests frequent during events celebrating the sexual minority community.



Nerea Garcia from Spain, 21, who is in a one-year exchange student program with Carrera, agreed that queer festivals are widely celebrated events in her country as well, supported not just by the LGBTQ community but also others as well. "We also have our conflicts but not that much," Garcia said.



Carrera and Garcia chose to stand with their friends in the university's queer club and like-minded students from other universities, participating in a mini pride parade in western Seoul's Sinchon, Friday, to express their disapproval of the city government's decision to deny the use of Seoul Plaza for the upcoming SQCF.



At Friday's event, over 120 university students participated in the 400-meter march through the heart of Seoul's university-clustered area. The students voiced their presence and solidarity with chants of "We are here, the rainbow will live on," while also singing K-pop songs such as Girls' Generation's "Into the New World," which has been the country's iconic pride anthem.



The event was jointly organized by 20 student-led LGBTQ and human rights advocacy groups from 10 universities across the country and supported by 22 student and non-student organizations, including the minor progressive Green Party and Jinbo Party.



"We will not surrender and remain in despair for being banned from using Seoul Plaza. Instead, we will keep fighting, doing what we can do," said Kwon So-won, the leader of the student coalition.





From left, Laura Carrera of Guatemala and Nerea Garcia of Spain, exchange students at Dongguk University, pose during a student-led demonstration in western Seoul, Friday, to condemn the city government's disapproval of the use of Seoul Plaza for the upcoming Seoul Queer Culture Festival. Korea Times photo by Cho Hye-yoon



Last week, the Seoul Metropolitan Government denied the Seoul Queer Culture Festival's request to use Seoul Plaza, instead granting approval to a youth concert organized by the Christian Television System (CTS) Culture Foundation.



Both parties had submitted their applications to reserve the public space on the same day, April 3, which is 90 days prior to their respective events scheduled for July 1.



The decision was said to be based on the city government's regulations on Seoul Plaza, which state that if more than one organization applies for the same date and refuses to reschedule, the civic committee in charge of plaza management can prioritize and rule in favor of an event that is children- and youth-related.



However, the SQCF organizers and participants at Friday's demonstration argue that the city's decision discriminates against sexual minorities and excludes young people within the LGBTQ community by favoring a Christian event.



"The city government announced the disapproval of the SQCF abruptly without following proper administrative procedures," said a student representative of an LGBTQ club at Hongik University, referring to how the city had not held in-person scheduling meetings with all concerned parties, as required by the regulations.



For the LGBTQ community in Korea, Seoul Plaza holds symbolic importance as the SQCF has been held there annually since 2015, despite fierce opposition and interference from conservative Christian groups, except in 2020 and 2021 when pandemic-related restrictions on public gatherings drove the events online.



The groups accused the city government of taking away the "one and only event throughout the year where queer people in Korea can gather" and celebrate their diversity.



"There is no place for the LGBTQ children and youth in the event (organized by the Christian group)," a student representative from Hanyang University's queer club said on condition of anonymity. "How dare Seoul say it is an event for the youth that meets priority standards stated in the ordinance?"





Leaders of the coalition for student-led LGBTQ and human rights advocacy groups from 10 universities in Korea march in Seoul, Friday. Korea Times photo by Cho Hye-yoon
A man made a fake bomb threat at a Pennsylvania airport after missing his flight, police said.

The 37-year-old man showed up for a flight at Pittsburgh International Airport on May 10, but arrived at his gate too late to board the aircraft, according to an Allegheny County Police news release.

While standing at the ticket desk, he claimed that he had placed a bomb in his checked bags, police said.

Two American Airlines workers confirmed hearing the threat, and police were alerted.

The man said that he asked the workers, What if I had a bomb in my bags? while the airline workers said he had told them, I have a bomb in my bag, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, citing court documents.

The man, who intended to fly to Iran, was arrested, police said.

Federal and local authorities investigated the aircraft, an Airbus A319. An explosive ordnance disposal team and canine handlers were sent to the scene, and X-ray machines were used to scan luggage.

No bombs were detected during the sweep, including in two checked bags belonging to the man who made the threat, police said.

He has been charged with threatening to use weapons of mass destruction and with terroristic threats, police said. He was taken to jail to wait for his arraignment.

A spokesperson for American Airlines did not immediately respond to a request for comment from McClatchy News.

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Joan Palumbo wasnt told the danger she was in when she stepped under the showerhead in her bathroom in Jacksonville, North Carolina.

She wasnt told about the toxins mixing into her daughters food every time she blended formula with water from the kitchen sink.

Or that cooking her own food in that same water would eventually lead to her death.

Palumbo didnt know that beginning in 1953 toxic chemicals had begun seeping through the ground into two of the eight water treatment plants on Camp Lejeune, the Marine Corps base near Jacksonville where she and her husband, Fred, lived in the Tarawa Terrace neighborhood.

Trichloroethylene, perchloroethylene, benzene and vinyl chloride, deadly chemicals known to cause health problems including miscarriages, birth defects, cancers and childhood leukemia, leaked from underground fuel storage tanks, an off-base dry cleaning facility, industrial area spills and waste disposal sites. The contamination of the bases waters continued through 1987 and mostly affected the Tarawa Terrace and Hadnot Point neighborhoods.

It is estimated that more than 1 million people were likely exposed to the toxic waters on Camp Lejeune. Beginning in August, half of those people had filed claims asking for the government to make right what happened to its Marines and their families  but no offers from the government have been extended. And without those offers, the claimants have been forced into litigation  potentially for years  if they want justice.

Palumbo is among those people. The Palumbos moved in 1962 to Camp Lejeune and together had their first child. Fred deployed overseas in 1963.

Subtle signs include miscarriage, premature births

The first signs of trouble for the Palumbo family from drinking Lejeunes water were subtle. While Fred was serving across the world from his wife, Joan suffered a miscarriage.

That same year, Joan became pregnant, this time with twin daughters. They were born three months premature, and entered the world fighting for their lives. The Palumbos daughter, Kristine, died after three days, on New Years Day. Her sisters fight continued for six long months before she was able to leave the hospital and join the rest of her family at home.

The Palumbos went on to have six children, and it seemed that tragedy had left them.

When their youngest entered grade school, Joan Palumbo returned to her job as a pediatric nurse. She would eventually become a psychiatric nurse. Fred continued serving in the Marines until retiring in August 1981.

Fred and Joan Palumbo with their children.

Less than subtle signs? Breast cancer, multiple myeloma

Then, in 1997, Joans own health took a drastic turn. Her husband calls it her medical nightmare.

Breast cancer led to a lumpectomy in her right breast.

Another lump in her left breast led to a bilateral mastectomy.

Then she needed a spinal fusion.

A new diagnosis: multiple myeloma.

She had a mitral valve in her heart replaced.

Then she went into renal failure.

If all of that wasnt bad enough, she was inflicted with shingles before her death in January 2011.

Learning about Camp Lejeunes contaminated water

Fred Palumbo told McClatchy he and his wife pored through her familys medical history. Heart problems and cancer werent part of their story. Nothing made sense.

We couldnt determine what the problem was, Palumbo said. And I didnt realize there was a problem until after she died.

He cant remember exactly how he learned about the water contamination. He believes it was a news segment on television that led him to connect with Jerry Ensminger.

Ensminger, a retired Marine, has become the face of the fight for justice for those who lived and worked on Camp Lejeune. Ensminger lost his 9-year-old daughter born on the base, Janey, to leukemia in 1986.

Ensminger led efforts to uncover what happened with the water on the North Carolina base, hold the government accountable for covering up the contamination and ensure that no one who served at Camp Lejeune was left in the dark.

Members of the audience hold information packets as they listen to speakers during a series of town halls in cities across the United States in Raleigh, Nov. 4, 2022.

Fighting for justice and the PACT Act

Ensminger spent decades traveling to Washington fighting for the government to take responsibility for what happened to his fellow Marines at Camp Lejeune.

In 2012, President Barack Obama signed into law the Janey Ensminger Act, which ensured family members of veterans who lived on Camp Lejeune during the years of the water contamination had access to health care.

Last summer, Ensmingers Oorah, the Marines battle cry, echoed in the Senate chamber when Congress passed the PACT Act, giving anyone exposed to and affected by the water on Camp Lejeune two years to file claims with the U.S. Navy. The bill also allowed service members to file claims if they were exposed during specific dates to burn pits  a form of waste disposal that can give off toxic fumes  or had illnesses connected to service in the Gulf War, southwest Asia or the Vietnam War.

More than 500,000 claims have been filed because of the PACT Act, Biden announced on April 26.

The claims detail when someone was on the base, their exposure to the water and what health issues they developed.

The Navy can then do one of three things: offer a settlement, deny the claim or do nothing.

If a settlement is offered, the person filing the claim can then accept it or litigate it.

If an offer isnt made within six months or the claim is denied, then the person can pursue litigation.

Attorneys work with victims to file lawsuits

In February, when Camp Lejeune victims could first file lawsuits, a name repeatedly popped up on the court documents: attorney Eric Flynn with Bell Law Group, a firm out of South Carolina, who has since opened an office in Raleigh to help handle the Camp Lejeune claims.

I couldnt be prouder to represent these clients, Flynn told McClatchy. These people have suffered tremendously and I think it only takes talking to a handful of them, hearing their stories to hear the suffering they went through.

Bell Law Groups namesake, Edward Bell, began working with victims of Camp Lejeune more than 15 years ago. In the beginning, Flynns firm tried to sue over the effects of the water, but ran into two hurdles: a time limit for how long after exposure someone could sue, and the governments immunity.

Until the PACT Act, the law firm ran into roadblock after roadblock to get their clients justice.

Flynn can rattle off their stories with ease: the women who suffered miscarriages while their husbands fought in Vietnam, the members of the military who developed neurological effects, the Marine with Parkinsons, the wife with multiple sclerosis. The divorces as medical problems and losses became too much for a couple to handle. The missing faces at family gatherings.

There have been times where I think any attorney that has talked to these folks have walked out in tears because what these people have gone through is horrible, Flynn said. To be able to fight for these folks, to be able to bring their claims and hold people accountable is extremely gratifying.

A screenshot from one of the many television commercials and online video ads targeting possible victims of contaminated water at the Camp Lejune Marine Corps base in North Carolina.

Civil case could become largest in US history

Flynn said that while the government lost sovereign immunity and the time limit constraints, officials still have a lot of arguments they can make.

He said he wont predict what theyll do, but they could raise challenges based on the governments liability, on whether the water caused someones health issues, or on the length of time they were exposed.

On top of that, we still have to go through the process of getting experts to review all the documents, picking the jury, getting in front of the jury, convincing the jury of our case, Flynn said.

Catherine Dunham, a professor of law at Elon Law School, told McClatchy that the largest civil case in U.S. history saw 300,000 claims filed due to 3M military earplugs. Camp Lejeunes claims are expected to far exceed that number.

Despite victims being scattered worldwide now, and attorneys as far away as at least Puerto Rico fighting for their business, the case is not multidistrict, meaning all of the lawsuits are being filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina.

District Judge James Dever told parties in March that he would handle the cases expeditiously. If he were to handle each lawsuit filed so far individually, it would take four judges 1,900 years, Public Radio East reported.

We dont have a court system that could ever hear all those cases, Dunham said

A screenshot from one of the many television commercials and online video ads targeting possible victims of contaminated water at the Camp Lejune Marine Corps base in North Carolina.

Finding a lawyer

Meanwhile, victims of Camp Lejeunes toxic waters still need to navigate finding a lawyer. Once the PACT Act passed Congress, commercials flooded the airwaves for lawyers who could help secure money for people who lived on the base and even off base.

The honest to God truth is if they dont advertise, then no, the injured people arent going to know what to do, Dunham said.

But she understands that some of the commercials leave people uneasy.

Ill tell you what my philosophy is, is that the justice system has to be available, Dunham said. You have to have access points for regular people, because its always regular people who are injured.

Dunham said if that means lawyers need to flood television to reach those who are injured, so be it. She added that someone is at greater risk of being taken advantage of if they walk into a random attorneys office who doesnt have experience but wants to go after a few claimants so they can take his share of the settlement.

Flynn said its important that people arent victimized once again, this time by lawyers, through this process. Bell Law Group does not advertise on television.

Flynn said to do your homework on law firms. Call around and ask to talk to attorneys to see if theyre the right fit.

The good ones will do that, and you should be able to speak to somebody that you just click with and feel like this person really knows what theyre talking about, Flynn said.

Commercials predicting a specific payout amount have frustrated Flynn. Its impossible for a lawyer to make that promise since none of these cases have been heard and theres no precedent.

In the original draft of the bill to help Camp Lejeune water victims, lawmakers included a 25% cap on attorneys fees so that lawyers couldnt take advantage of their clients. That cap was taken out before the PACT Act passed into law.

Bloomberg reported in March that Bell Law Group spent more money than any other legal firm lobbying federal lawmakers over the past two years, and one of its requests was for the cap to be removed. Bell said he wouldnt object to a cap but believed lawyers should be able to charge up to 40%, Bloomberg reported.

A screenshot from one of the many television commercials and online video ads targeting possible victims of contaminated water at the Camp Lejune Marine Corps base in North Carolina.

When asked about the cap, Flynn said the legislation was supported by an overwhelming and bipartisan majority of senators and representatives.

We, too, support the law as enacted and are eager for these veterans and their families to finally get the justice they have long been entitled to, Flynn said.

Ensminger told McClatchy he had felt that years ago Bell, who he had previously recommended to people like Palumbo, took advantage of Ensmingers connections to drive up business. Ensminger has since cut ties with the firm, and is now working with Mikal Watts out of Texas.

Despite that and the attorneys fees, Palumbo said he is grateful to the Bell group for helping him navigate through the legal system.

Erin Brockovich (left) joined other advocates with Camp LeJeune Legal for the first in a series of town halls in cities across America in Raleigh, Nov. 4, 2022.

Cancer after drinking, cooking and bathing in poisonous water

Jeff Freuler, 57, a Townsville resident, also said he was thankful to the law firm as he navigates the long legal process ahead of him.

Like the Palumbos, Freuler had no idea he drank, cooked with and bathed in poisonous water while stationed on the Marine base in the 1980s.

Almost immediately after leaving the military, he began noticing neurological problems doctors couldnt explain: anxiety, depression, irritability, poor concentration, and changes in his mood and personality.

Freuler did receive a letter in the early 2000s from the U.S. government warning him that he had been exposed to toxins at Camp Lejeune. But details in the letter were sparse and Freuler dismissed it.

It was a very generic letter that held very little information, Freuler said.

Then, things got serious.

In 2012, I was diagnosed with prostate cancer, Freuler said. At a very young age, according to my urologist.

Freuler underwent a robotic prostatectomy the week of Thanksgiving. The surgery was a success and the tissues taken from around his prostate came back negative for any spread.

Initially, Freuler had to return to his doctor every few weeks to ensure the cancer didnt return. He now goes once every year.

I was still in the dark, Freuler told McClatchy. I mean, there was really no information out there that could tie everything together  the cancer that I had to the chemicals  until just a few years ago.

But as Ensminger continued to work, word reached Frueler, who said that as more information surfaced, the more he could connect both his neurological ailments and his cancer to the toxin exposures.

Continuing to do the research and reading stuff, I mean, it just all started making a little bit more sense, Freuler said.

Jeff Freuler serves in the United States Marine Corp in the mid-1980s.

What happens next?

Its an emotional process for the Marines to come to terms with what happened and that the government was not upfront about it when officials first learned about the toxins.

I signed up to serve my country, and Ill never regret it, Freuler said. What I do get emotional over is the fact that so much was done to cover this up, and it was some very hard work by a handful of people that wouldnt give up that brought all this to the surface.

When we asked to join the military, when we were assigned to Camp Lejeune, we didnt have to get treated like this, to get poisoned like this by that water, Freuler said.

For Frueler, theres always the question of whats next.

Its always in the back of my mind, as long as youre walking around with a ticking time bomb and thats cancer, yeah its not a matter of if its going to go off, but when its going to go off, and that plays with your mind, Freuler said.

He said he had to compartmentalize that and push it to the back of his mind every day just to function.

Then theres Palumbo. The illnesses didnt end with his wife. His oldest daughter, Kimberly, born on Camp Lejeune, died last June just months before the PACT Act passed, at age 59. Like her mother, she suffered from a series of painful health conditions before her death.

I look back and Ive said to myself many times if I just didnt live in the village rather than going to Tarawa Terrance, maybe my life would be different now, Palumbo said. I dont know. Im just following what Gods put in my path and trying to do the best I can with my children that I have now.

Freuler said he filed his lawsuit to lend a voice to those of people like Palumbo, but also to look out for both himself and his daughter, because if another health issue arises because of the water, he doesnt know what they would do  and they were only given until 2024 to figure it out.
Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia has praised former First Lady Melania Trump as a model immigrant to the United States as a rule allowing immigration officials to deport migrants as a public health measure ends.

Ms Greenes comments about Ms Trump came as she was addressing the House of Representatives on Wednesday with remarks about the state of the countrys southern border and broader immigration policies.

I would like to remind everyone that Republicans believe in legal immigration, Ms Greene said. As a matter of fact, we are very proud of our former first lady, Melania Trump, who immigrated legally to the United States. But there is a clear difference in policies when we talk about border and security for the United States of America.

Ms Greene, a self-identified Christian nationalist who supported efforts to overturn the result of the 2020 presidential election and lost her committee assignments in the last Congress for endorsing political violence, favours strict immigration control at the US-Mexico border.

Immigration has taken centre stage this week in Washington as Title 42, the public health order put in place that allowed the government to expel migrants who arrived from countries with Covid-19 outbreaks, is lifted today.

Progressives have long decried Title 42 as a guise to deny migrants, incluidng asylum-seekers, the due process typically provided under US law. But House Republicans like Ms Greene supported the order and today are set to pass a law that would codify many of its restrictions.

A right-wing immigration bill is exceedingly unlikely to become law given Democratic control of the Senate and White House. Notably, President Joe Biden has himself taken steps to limit the availability of asylum to people who attempt to enter the US through the southern border and limit migration more broadly with large numbers of people hoping the end of Title 42 will allow to pursue a better life in the US.

Mr Bidens plan includes placing more law enforcement officers at the border and handing more resources to agencies like Customs and Border Protection and ICE to run deportation flights and combat illegal immigration. The Biden administration has also been negociating with Mexico in an effort to get the Mexican government led by Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to step up its border enforcement.

One particularly controversial part of the administrations approach is a plan to deny asylum to most people who traveled to the US from their home country through another country and did not seek asylum there first.

The ACLU has said that it plans to sue over the administrations policies.

We think its illegal under the asylum laws and is arbitrary and capricious for a number of reasons and that it will do grave harm and expose vulnerable asylum seekers to danger, Katrina Eiland, a San Francisco-based ACLU attorney told Time.
FILE - Lori Vallow Daybell sits in a police car after a hearing at the Fremont County Courthouse in St. Anthony, Idaho, on Aug. 16, 2022. The sister of Tammy Daybell, who was killed in what prosecutors say was a doomsday-focused plot, told jurors Friday, April 28, 2023, that her sister's funeral was held so quickly that some family members couldn't attend. The testimony came in the triple murder trial of Vallow Daybell, who is accused along with Chad Daybell in Tammy's death and the deaths of Vallow Daybell's two youngest children. (Tony Blakeslee/East Idaho News via AP, Pool, File)

BOISE, Idaho (AP)  An Idaho jury on Friday convicted Lori Vallow Daybell of murder in the deaths of her two youngest children and a romantic rival, a verdict that marks the end of a three-year investigation that included bizarre claims of zombie children, apocalyptic prophesies and illicit affairs.

Vallow Daybell, who wore a simple black dress, showed no expression as the verdict was read. Some in the courtroom gallery wiped tears from their eyes.

Prosecutors in the case described Vallow Daybell as a power-hungry manipulator who would kill her two youngest children for money, while the defense team said she was normally protective mother who fell under the romantic sway of a wannabe cult leader.

Jurors heard both stories Thursday during final arguments in the seven-week long trial, and deliberated for about four hours before breaking for the evening. They resumed deliberations Friday morning and reached a verdict, which was announced shortly after noon.

Vallow Daybell was convicted of conspiring to commit the murders of 7-year-old Joshua JJ Vallow, 16-year-old Tylee Ryan, and Tammy Daybell. She was also convicted of grand theft as well as first-degree murder of the two children, a charge that indicates a more direct role in the crimes.

Vallow Daybell's fifth husband, Chad Daybell, faces the same charges, but his trial is still months away.

Prosecutors say the two worked with Vallow Daybells brother, Alex Cox, to carry out the crimes. Cox died in December 2019 and was never charged.

Vallow Daybell faces up to life in prison at sentencing, which a judge said would be in at least three months.

Prosecutors said they were not able to comment on the verdict because of pending charges against Chad Daybell. In a statement, they thanked jurors for their service and said they remain committed to pursuing justice for Tylee Ryan, JJ Vallow and Tammy Daybell.

Vallow Daybell wanted the victims' money, so she used sex and power to manipulate her brother and her lover into carrying out the crimes, Madison County Prosecutor Rob Wood told jurors during closing arguments.

 Money, power and sex, Wood said, reprising the arguments his team made at the start of the trial. He claimed Vallow Daybell considered the three victims nothing more than obstacles to her goals.

What does justice for these victims require? It requires a conviction on each and every count, Wood said.

Defense attorney Jim Archibald countered that there was no evidence tying his client to the killings but plenty showing she was a loving, protective mother whose life took a sharp turn when she met her fifth husband, Chad Daybell, and fell for the weird apocalyptic religious claims of a cult leader. He suggested that Daybell and Cox were the ones responsible for the deaths, and that Vallow Daybell's only crime was lying to police about where her children were.

Daybell told her they had been married in several previous lives and she was a sexual goddess who was supposed to help him save the world by gathering 144,000 followers so Jesus could return, Archibald said.

Why cant people escape religious cult figures, why cant they break out, why cant they break away from that mind control? Archibald said. Promises are marvelous to some people even if they sound like stupid gibberish to the rest of us.

At times, the testimony in the case has been heartbreaking  such as when Vallow Daybells only surviving child, Colby Ryan, accused her of murdering his siblings in a recorded jailhouse phone call.

Other testimony has been strange, such as when Vallow Daybells former friend Melanie Gibb testified that Vallow Daybell believed people in her life had been taken over by evil spirits and turned into zombies  including JJ and Tylee. Four of the people the defendant described as zombies were later killed or shot at, according to the testimony.

It has also been gruesome, such as when law enforcement officers testified about finding JJ and Tylees remains buried in Chad Daybells yard.

Tylee had her whole life ahead of her, Wood told the jury, when she was killed in September 2019.

Tylees body was burned beyond recognition. Her body was dismembered in such a grotesque and extreme manner, that the medical examiner couldnt determine the cause of death, Wood said. Marks on her pelvis showed she was stabbed, he said.

JJ Vallows voice was silenced forever by a strip of duct tape over his mouth, just two weeks later, Wood said. A white plastic bag was placed over his head, and secured with duct tape around and around from his forehead to his chin.

Evidence shows JJ struggled, Wood said, and at one point the boys arms and legs were bound with duct tape.

He stopped breathing, his heart stopped beating and he died. It was a brutal, horrific murder of a 7-year-old boy with special needs, he said.

Vallow Daybell never reported the kids missing but continued to collect the survivor benefit checks each child was receiving because of the earlier deaths of their fathers, Wood said.

Wood said Tammy Daybell was slain between Oct. 18 and Oct. 20, 2019.

The defense attorney countered that Vallow Daybell wasn't even in the state when Tammy Daybell was killed. She was in Hawaii, visiting with friends, he said.

Archibald did not call any witnesses during the trial, and Vallow Daybell declined to testify. Instead, Archibald asserted that prosecutors had not proven their case, suggesting that there was not enough evidence to find beyond a reasonable doubt that she committed a crime.

Of the 15,000 texts you have in evidence, show me one where Lori is part of that conspiracy, Archibald said in closing arguments.

Under Idaho law, conspiring to commit a murder carries the same penalty as carrying out a murder. Wood reminded jurors of that law, noting that aiding and abetting a crime is akin to committing it.

The case began in July 2019, when Vallow Daybell's then-husband, Charles Vallow, was shot and killed by her brother, Alex Cox, at his home in a Phoenix suburb. The husband and wife were estranged, and he had filed divorce documents claiming that she believed she was a goddess sent to usher in the Biblical apocalypse.

At the time, Cox told police he acted in self-defense, and he was never charged in connection with the death. Cox died later that year of what authorities determined were natural causes. Vallow Daybell was later charged in Arizona in connection with Charles Vallow's death; she has not yet had the opportunity to enter a plea in that case.

According to prosecutors, Vallow Daybell was already in a relationship with Chad Daybell, who was still married to his wife, Tammy Daybell, at the time. She moved to eastern Idaho with her brother and kids to be closer to Chad Daybell.

The children were last seen alive in September of 2019. Police discovered they were missing a month later after an extended family member became worried. Their bodies were found the following summer.

The case has garnered widespread interest not just in Idaho but around the world, and the judge banned cameras from the courtroom in an effort to limit pretrial publicity. The trial was also moved to the capital city of Boise, where 1,800 potential jurors were called and winnowed to a panel of 18 people.
Attorneys prosecuting and defending Bryan Kohberger have filed subpoenas requiring documents be turned over and witnesses testify in the Moscow student homicides case. But the public is not privy to where the legal orders were issued and what evidence theyve unearthed  at least not yet.

So far, at least one witness and one of Kohbergers former employers have been served with subpoenas, according to court and public records obtained by the Idaho Statesman. The court-issued legal demand compels the recipient to follow the order or risk contempt of court, which can entail jail and fines.

In January, the eastern Pennsylvania school district that Kohberger attended, and where he later worked as a weekend security officer, received a subpoena for his academic and personnel records, as the Statesman previously reported. It remains unclear whether Kohbergers defense or the prosecution sought the records, and administrators at the Pleasant Valley School District havent responded to several requests for comment from the Statesman dating to February.

Kohberger, 28, is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony burglary in the November stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students at an off-campus rental home in Moscow. The victims were seniors Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen, each 21, junior Xana Kernodle, 20, and freshman Ethan Chapin, 20.

In April, Kohbergers attorneys had a witness subpoena served in Nevada to one of the two roommates who went unharmed in the knife attack, court records showed. In filing for the demand, Kohbergers public defenders asserted the surviving roommate has knowledge that helps disprove their clients guilt, and compelled her to show up next month in Idaho for Kohbergers preliminary hearing.

Public defender Anne Taylor, right, is the lead attorney in Moscow homicide suspect Bryan Kohbergers defense team. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, Pool)

The roommates attorney challenged the subpoena in court before reaching a compromise with Kohbergers defense that allowed her client to avoid traveling to Moscow, the Statesman also previously reported. The roommate agreed to an interview with Kohbergers attorneys in northwest Nevada where she lives, and the subpoena was voided.

But its likely that attorneys on both sides of the Moscow homicide case have served a number of other subpoenas as they build their respective cases, legal experts told the Statesman.

Subpoenas can cast a very, very, very wide net, and you can go on a fishing expedition, Edwina Elcox, a Boise-based criminal defense attorney, said in a phone interview. Theoretically, there could be a lot of subpoenas issued in this case because of all of the digital evidence and social media platforms at issue.

Limited subpoena filing rules

Idaho allows attorneys to obtain subpoenas without specifying where theyll be served. Only the judge in the case or a clerk of the court may issue the legal demand  or a certificate to prompt a subpoena when its issued in another state, like those known about in the Kohberger case and served in Pennsylvania and Nevada.

Under Idaho law, however, attorneys can request a subpoena without identifying the recipient and have it signed by a clerk. Like a blank check, the attorney must add the recipients name before it is served, per Idaho code.

Theres no explanation when you are getting subpoenas issued, Elcox said. Theres nobody looking over your shoulder, a checks and balances: What and who and why? You say, I need these subpoenas issued, please and thank you, and youre on your way.

Attorneys also may seek the issuance of subpoenas in closed-door proceedings held with a judge when dealing with sensitive information. The public and members of the media are not allowed to be present, or in most circumstances even know that such a hearing took place.

But unless issued in the closed-door setting or sealed by a judge, subpoenas are subject to disclosure in public records requests. The Idaho Public Records Act does not lend a specific exemption for unsealed subpoenas.

Magistrate Judge Megan Marshall of the 2nd Judicial District Court in Latah County is presiding over the Kohberger case. She partially denied a Statesman records request for all subpoena-related filings from either the Latah County Prosecutors Office or Kohbergers defense, citing those subpoenas issued in closed-door proceedings, and out-of-state witness filings, like the one the defense obtained for the surviving roommate.

Marshall granted access to all other subpoena records that have been returned and filed in the case, which is when they become available to the public. No records were provided with her response.

The subpoena returns also are posted on the states courts website, Marshall wrote, and Tonya Dodge, Latah Countys clerk of the court, confirmed to the Statesman by email. The website houses filings available to the public for high-profile cases such as Kohbergers.

But Idaho law does not require or specify when attorneys must file such subpoena returns with the court, thereby releasing the information to the public. In fact, its not uncommon that these filings arent submitted at all unless an issue arises, like a problematic witness, Elcox said.

Through the discovery process, the prosecutions subpoena records should otherwise be available to the defense.

They dont get to play hide the ball with the defense, Elcox said. So the defense is getting the information anyway, and its more of a way to strategically keep it out of the public eye, at least for the time being.

Latah County Prosecuting Attorney Bill Thompson.

Of the nearly 150 court filings listed in the Kohberger case to date on the Idaho courts website, no subpoena records are currently available.

None have been returned to the court at this time, Dodge said.

Meanwhile this week, Kohbergers legal team added another death penalty-qualified public defender on Monday, a court filing showed. Elisa Massoth, a criminal defense attorney based in Payette County, joined his defense as co-counsel to Anne Taylor and Jay Logsdon, both of the Kootenai County Public Defenders Office.

Massoth also is co-counsel in the defense of John Cody Hart, the 28-year-old man charged with the first-degree murders of a couple who owned a hotel in New Meadows and were fatally shot in October. Prosecutors in the case have said they are seeking the death penalty.

Kohbergers case qualifies for the death penalty, but prosecutors have not yet said if they will seek it.
School District 90 in OFallon has opened an independent investigation into the hiring of an assistant superintendents son after it came to light he was charged with a felony in Oklahoma earlier this year.

Christian Wills, son of District 90 Assistant Superintendent Joi Wills, is charged with one count of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, according to court documents.

Police in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, arrested the then 23-year-old on Jan. 9, and his mother paid $5,000 in bond for his release the next day, according to records.

The next month, the district, which serves two junior high schools and five elementaries, hired Wills as a custodian. Parents raised concerns at a board meeting earlier this month about Wills employment.

In an email to parents this week the district said: In light of the recent controversy concerning the hiring of a custodian at Marie Schaefer, the District 90 Board of Education is appointing an independent investigator to examine policies and actions taken with respect to the hiring.

Previously an employee of the school district, Wills passed a background check when he was first hired.

Whether the district performed a background check in 2023 for his most recent hiring is unclear. District 90 officials declined to comment on the situation, citing the ongoing investigation.

Joi Wills and her sons attorney also declined to comment.

Police gave the following account of what happened in Oklahoma: Wills approached the apartment of a man late on Jan. 8. The man did not recognize Wills, so he grabbed a firearm. When the door was opened, the man thought Wills pulled out a firearm of his own and shot Wills in the leg, who then returned fire before leaving the scene

Wills pleaded not guilty, according to a local newspaper report, and his next court appearance is scheduled for May 31.
Park Universitys International Center for Music, which Stanislav Ioudenitch founded 20 years ago, has established itself as one of Kansas Citys most important musical institutions. Virtuosos from around the world come to Parkville to be shaped by master musicians into artists with international recital careers.

Through its annual performing arts season, the International Center for Music shares its talent with Kansas City with recitals by its extraordinary students, as well as visiting artists who are among the greatest in the world.

ICMs newly announced 2023-2024 season is brimming with musicianship of the highest order. In addition to performances by visiting artists, like legendary Russian pianist Mikhail Voskresensky, Parks own award-winning faculty and students will also have a chance to shine.

The season begins Sept. 22 with a recital by Voskresensky.

Last May, the 87-year-old pianist made the heart-wrenching decision to leave his homeland to protest Vladimir Putins invasion of Ukraine. He reached out to friends around the world for help. Alan Fletcher, the CEO of the Aspen Music Festival, extended an invitation to Voskresensky to perform at the festival. After several political machinations, Fletcher was able to hustle him out of Russia to America, where he remains to this day.

The strength of this man is unprecedented, said Ioudenitch, ICMs artistic director. Hes 87 and brilliant. Hes a fantastic pianist. For years, he was a professor at the Moscow Conservatory.

Voskresenskys recital should be touching and memorable.

Another visiting artist next season is Israeli violinist Shmuel Ashkenasi. Currently a violin professor at Bard College, Roosevelt Universitys Chicago College of Performing Arts and the Curtis Institute, Ashkenasi also founded the acclaimed Vermeer Quartet. He will give a recital March 22.

Shmuel Ashkenasi is a beloved professor who is coming to perform and give master classes, Ioudenitch said. He is also a legend. All of these artists are legends. Our daughter, Maria, studied with him at Curtis. Hes a prize-winning violinist who won the silver medal at the Tchaikovsky competition many years ago. He is breathtaking.

Israeli violinist Shmuel Ashkenasi will come to Kansas City in March.

Maria Ioudenitch is becoming a rising star in classical music. She won three of the most important competitions in classical music: the Ysaye International Music Competition, the Tibor Varga International Violin Competition and the Joseph Joachim International Competition. She also recently released her debut album, Songbird, on the major label Warner Classics. Accompanying her on the album is the senior Ioudenitchs protege Kenny Broberg, who won the silver in the XVI International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in 2017.

Another artist of more recent vintage is the 22-year-old Swedish violinist Daniel Lozakovich. He will give a recital with pianist Behzod Abduraimov, ICM artist-in-residence, April 14.

Daniel is one of the greatest stars of the young generation with a huge career, Ioudenitch said. Hes become friends with Behzod, and he decided to come to Kansas City. Hes an unbelievable violinist with a major career right now. Very hot.

The visiting artists are great, but ICM has enough homegrown talent of its own to fill an entire season. Luckily, several concerts will feature ICM faculty and students. Students from the string studio will give a recital on Oct. 28, and Ioudenitchs piano students will show what they can do on Nov. 30.

Ben Sayevich, violin professor at ICM, and his wife, pianist Lolita Lisovskaya, will give a recital on Feb. 29. Sayevich will also perform as a member of the Rosamunde Trio on Jan. 25. The other members of the trio are ICM cello professor Daniel Veis and pianist Martino Trimo.

The Rosamunde Trio has never played together in Kansas City before, Ioudenitch said. Usually, Ben and Daniel go to Europe and meet with Martino, and then play there, but never in Kansas City, so Im very excited. Martino just released the complete piano works of Beethoven. He also recorded one of the latest and greatest editions of Schuberts works.

ICM also has its own orchestra made up of its students and guest wind and percussion players. The orchestra will perform several concerts next season in Parks Graham Tyler Memorial Chapel.

One of ICMs most anticipated concerts is the annual Stanislav and Friends, which will take place March 8 at Helzberg Hall.

The purpose is to bring our best, our stars, Ioudenitch said. No matter how busy they are, guests and former students from around the world find a way to come and play with us. We have a great relationship with the Kansas City Chamber Orchestra, and next year Behzod and I are going to play something together. I think its going to be the double concerto by Poulenc.

Reflecting on the past 20 years, Ioudenitch is proud of his faculty and students, and he looks forward to many more years of forging classical superstars while contributing to the cultural life of Kansas City.

To be honest, I just wanted to create something of high quality, something I believe in, Ioudenitch said. We try to celebrate music. We try to make a great show for audiences with beautiful repertoire for soloists, chamber ensembles and orchestra. Now we are looking for the school to expand. We have a dream to have better facilities. Were working on a scholarship foundation, which is extremely important. Many plans, many plans.

Swedish violinist Daniel Lozakovich, 22, will join the International Center for Musics season in April.

For more information. icm.park.edu.

The ICM season:

Sept. 22: Mikhail Voskresensky, piano. 7:30 p.m., 1900 Building, 1900 Shawnee Mission Parkway.

Oct. 6: Orchestra Fall Concert. 7:30 p.m., Graham Tyler Memorial Chapel, 8701 N.W. River Park Drive.

Oct. 28: String Studio. 7:30 p.m., 1900 Building.

Nov. 30: Piano Studio. 7:30 p.m., 1900 Building.

Dec. 2: Orchestra Holiday Concert. 7:30 p.m., Graham Tyler Memorial Chapel.

Jan. 25: Rosamunde Trio. 7:30 p.m., 1900 Building.

Feb. 9: Orchestra Valentine Concert. 7:30 p.m., Graham Tyler Memorial Chapel.

Feb. 29: Ben Sayevich, violin and Lolita Lisovskaya, piano. 7:30 p.m., 1900 Building.

March 8: Stanislav and Friends. 7 p.m., Helzberg Hall, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts.

March 15: Orchestra Spring Concert. 7:30 p.m., Graham Tyler Memorial Chapel.

March 22: Shmuel Ashkenasi, violin. 7:30 p.m., 1900 Building.

April 14: Behzod Abduraimov, piano, and Daniel Lozakovich, violin. 7:30 p.m., 1900 Building.

April 19: Orchestra Finale. 7:30 p.m., Graham Tyler Memorial Chapel.

KC VITAS - Jackson Thomas

KC VITAS fills an important niche in Kansas Citys choral scene. The group is devoted entirely to contemporary compositions. On May 19 and 21 at Asbury United Methodist Church, the choir will feature four world premieres, including When I Go Back to Earth by KC VITAS founder and executive director, Jackson Thomas.

7 p.m. May 19 and 3 p.m. May 21. Asbury United Methodist Church, 5400 W. 75th St. $20-$25. kcvitas.org.

You can reach Patrick Neas at patrickneas@kcartsbeat.com and follow his Facebook page, KC Arts Beat, at www.facebook.com/kcartsbeat.
A Centre County man who tried to shoot a deer on the crest of a hill but instead shot his older neighbor in the head lost his bid Friday to stay out of jail.

Michael Lloyd, 41, of College Township, was sentenced by Centre County President Judge Jonathan Grine to three to 23 1/2 months in the Centre County Correctional Facility. Hes scheduled to report June 12.

His hunting license was revoked for five years. Lloyd was also ordered to pay more than $29,000 in restitution, a total that could increase as the man he shot receives more treatment.

Centre County Assistant District Attorney Josh Andrews said the 83-year-old mans life has forever and substantially changed.

So much of what has given his life meaning and joy has been taken from him, Andrews said. It was a risk that Mr. Lloyd knew he was taking.

The man offered detailed testimony Friday from the witness stand, a place he walked to with the assistance of a cane he did not need before he was shot.

A man once in excellent health  he was a competitive weightlifter, cyclist and hiked Mount Nittany two to three times per week  now wears prescription glasses and hearing aids.

His medications include blood thinners. Hallucinations and bouts of vertigo arent uncommon. His memory isnt as strong as it once was, he said.

His wife said her husband has been reduced to a shadow of his former self. His balance is worse and hes become more forgetful, she said.

It is a daily strain to cope with all of these changes, she said.

Added their daughter: Mom has taken over more and more of the logistics of daily life. Her golden years of enjoying retirement were abruptly shortened.

A friend who has known the man for more than four decades choked back tears as he spoke. He described the shooting as unbelievably irresponsible behavior.

Lloyd spotted a deer as he returned from a December 2021 hunting trip, State College police wrote in an affidavit of probable cause. He stopped at the bottom of his neighbors driveway and fired at least two shots from a .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun.

Instead of finding the deer, Lloyd found his neighbor bleeding in the driveway. He provided aid and called 911. Lloyd was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

He estimated the deer was 10-15 yards away. Heavy brush behind the area where Lloyd said the deer was made the rest of the driveway difficult to see, police wrote. His neighbor was found about 140 yards from where investigators found shell casings.

Lloyd pleaded guilty in February to one misdemeanor count of recklessly endangering another person and one summary count of unlawfully taking or possessing game. Five charges were dropped.

In preparation for this case, Your Honor, I took a hunter safety course and literally Day 1 the thing that they teach you is you dont shoot uphill and you dont shoot when you dont know whats downrange if theres no backstop for your bullet, Andrews said. It is the most commonsense hunter safety guideline and  in the heat of that moment  Mr. Lloyd ignored that.

Defense lawyer Brian Manchester  who pushed for Lloyd to be sentenced to two years of probation  described the shooting as a physics fluke. Lloyd is a father and works as a self-employed contractor, he said.

Lloyd apologized multiple times before his sentence was handed down. He said he sought help after the shooting, including a stay at an inpatient psychiatric hospital and monthly meetings with a counselor.

Lloyd said he cant even imagine the thought of ever hunting again. He no longer owns firearms after he gave them to members of his family.

It was a terrible, terrible mistake and I wish every day I could take it back. I wish every day I could just not have stepped out of that truck and just kept driving, Lloyd said. ... Im just really, really sorry that this happened. If I could take it back, I would give everything I have.
Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., says he still intends to run for reelection despite being indicted on federal charges, including wire fraud, money laundering and theft of public funds  money that prosecutors allege was intended for people unemployed during the pandemic.

He already has four challengers. The latest, Anna Kaplan, a Democratic former state senator, formally announced Thursday that she will run for the embattled congressmans seat in New Yorks Third Congressional District.

Instead of resigning, hes running for reelection, she said in a video announcing her candidacy. Im Anna Kaplan, and Im running for Congress because George Santos is a disgrace.

In the two-minute video, Kaplan did not solely focus on Santoss long history of lies and fabrications  she also zeroed in on his brief record in Congress.

George Santos wants to restrict womens reproductive rights. He wore an assault rifle pin on the House floor hours after a mass shooting, and he introduced a bill celebrating the AR-15, she said. And the Republicans in Washington are a direct threat to womens freedom and childrens safety.

Who is Anna Kaplan?

Anna Kaplan, then a New York state senator, in Albany, N.Y., in 2019. (Hans Pennink/AP)

Kaplan, 57, was born in Iran to Jewish parents who fled Tehran after the Islamic Revolution because of religious persecution.

When I was 13, my parents made the difficult decision to put me on a plane to America, not knowing when theyd get to see me again, she said. I landed in New York and found a place where women had real rights and could control their own destiny.

Kaplans political career began in 2011 as a town council member in North Hempstead, N.Y., where she said she officiated some of New York states first same-sex marriages when the town clerk refused.

In 2018, she became the first Iranian American elected to the state Senate. Kaplan served two terms, losing her bid for a third in 2022.

She is joining a race that includes two other declared Democrats  Nassau County Legislator Josh Lafazan and law professor Will Murphy  and a Republican, Kellen Curry, a military veteran and former J.P. Morgan executive.

What happened to George Santos this week?

Rep. George Santos (Seth Wenig/AP)

Santos, 34, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to 13 counts, including wire fraud, money laundering, theft of public funds and making false statements to the House of Representatives. If convicted, Santos could face up to 20 years in prison.

Prosecutors allege that Santos solicited campaign funds under false pretenses and used the money for personal expenses, including to buy designer clothes and to pay his credit card and car payments. They also allege he stole pandemic unemployment insurance money.

He was released on $500,000 bond, and his next court date is set for June 30.

"This is a witch hunt," Santos told reporters outside the federal courthouse in Central Islip, N.Y., on Wednesday, adding that he has no plans to resign  and still intends to run for reelection.

Im going to fight my battle, he said. Im going to deliver. Im going to fight the witch hunt; Im going to take care of clearing my name, and I look forward to doing that.

When asked whether he thought he could win reelection, Santos demurred.

Thats not up for me to know, he said. Elections are very tricky, and its up to the people. I trust them to decide whats best.
Kentucky Education Commissioner Jason Glass is a finalist to become superintendent of the 111,000-student Baltimore County school district, state department of education spokesperson Toni Konz Tatman confirmed.

Serving as Commissioner in my home state of Kentucky has been an incredible professional honor and I am grateful to the Kentucky Board of Education for giving me this opportunity. Even in the hard times, I have loved every minute of it, Glass told the Herald-Leader.

He said he was proud of the work he had done to prioritize meaningful student learning, innovation and collaboration with communities.

I am also grateful to work with the incredible people we have at the Kentucky Department of Education and all of Kentuckys educators, Glass said. At this point in my career, I am seeking a place where our family can put down roots and where I can have a long-term and meaningful impact on an educational system. I look forward to the next steps in the process.

Tatman said Glass is not looking for another job because Republican lawmakers have criticized his stances on LGBTQ policies and GOP candidates have threatened him with job loss.

Glass support of LGBTQ students has drawn criticism from Republican lawmakers, who in turn urged that he be ousted from his position. He has also been targeted by some GOP candidates in upcoming elections, including in the governors race.

Statements that have been made from various gubernatorial candidates in recent weeks and months had zero impact on the commissioners decision to seek other opportunities, Tatman said.

As a seasoned education leader, he has seen and endured plenty of politically motivated attacks over the years. He is seeking opportunities that are the right fit for his family, and that allow him to continue what has been a successful and meaningful career, said Tatman.

Glass is appreciative of the work that he has done with the General Assembly to prioritize reading instruction, career/technical education and provide greater flexibility for Kentuckys schools, Tatman said.

Nevertheless, it is clear to Dr. Glass that the education priorities of the legislature are focused on culture war issues and dismantling the states public schools. Commissioner Glass does not share these values and hopes Kentucky can find a way to recommit to supporting its public schools and to creating meaningful learning experiences for all students, she said.

Kentucky Board of Education Chair Lu S. Young said Glass has been an outstanding, visionary leader who has begun important work.

I hate to think about Dr. Glass leaving Kentucky, said Young. Kentucky United We Learn has gained a lot of momentum in schools, districts, and communities across the commonwealth as we collectively reimagine teaching and learning. My fellow Kentucky Board of Education members and I have sincerely enjoyed our partnership with Commissioner Glass and we do not want to see him go.

While we understand that he is pursuing other opportunities in the best interest of his family, losing him poses a serious challenge for our board. 

WBAL-TV reported Thursday night that Glass was one of four finalists for the job. The position opened up when Darryl Williams, the current superintendent in Baltimore, announced he wouldnt seek a new contract, according to WBAL.

Glass has been Kentuckys Education Commissioner since 2020. Glass, a native of Brandenburg, previously was superintendent and chief learner of Jeffco Public Schools in Colorado beginning in 2017 and was superintendent of Eagle County Schools in Colorado from 2013 to 2017, the department website said.

His two children attend Fayette County Public Schools.

The Maryland district is expected to make the announcement sometime in May.
Park Ku-yeon, the first deputy chief of the Office for Government Policy Coordination, talks to reporters at the government complex in Seoul on May 12. Yonhap



Top-notch experts will comprise an inspection team South Korea plans to send to Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant later this month for safety checks ahead of the planned release of radioactive water from the plant, the government said Friday.



The team plans to carry out on-site inspection activities on May 23-24 over the controversial water release, as agreed upon during a summit between President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Sunday.



"The inspection team will be composed of top-notch experts in safety regulations," Park Ku-yeon, the first deputy chief of the Office for Government Policy Coordination, told a press briefing.



Park also stated that the exact size of the inspection team will be decided during working-level consultations between the two countries scheduled for later in the day.






A woman in charge of collecting traffic ticket payments for a Louisiana sheriffs office was caught stealing cash, federal prosecutors said.

The case dates back to when she worked as the West Baton Rouge Parish Sheriffs Offices traffic administrator from July 2018 to September 2022, court documents show. She no longer works for the office, officials said.

During this time, the woman, of Baton Rouge, stole more than $150,000 worth of fines paid toward traffic violations, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Middle District of Louisiana.

The 44-year-old woman is now facing a charge of federal program theft, the attorneys office announced in a May 11 news release.

McClatchy News contacted the womans attorney for comment on May 11 and didnt immediately receive a response.

The woman was tasked with entering traffic tickets into the sheriffs office traffic ticket management software and preparing cash deposits after collecting payments as the traffic administrator, according to court documents.

She hid how she was stealing some of the payments for nearly four years by lying and recording the traffic tickets as having been fully paid, a bill of information filed in court shows. Additionally, she wrote down fake journal entries in the accounting system, according to the document.

In April 2022, she collected traffic ticket payments totaling more than $19,000 for the month, but she only deposited about $10,000 in the sheriffs office bank account, the bill of information says.

If the woman is convicted, she could be ordered to forfeit all the stolen money, or anything she bought with the money, to the government, according to prosecutors.

Man stole about $35K in flooring from Home Depot, then sold it on Facebook, feds say

Caregiver stole womans life savings and bought beach house and cars, AL officials say

Military spouse kept his second, third marriages a secret and stole $364,000, feds say

Men stole cooking oil from restaurants in middle of night  and made thousands, feds say
Updated May 12, 2023 at 1:14 AM

Firefighters from six fire departments fought a blaze that destroyed two vacant Washington Park homes and damaged a third home that was occupied by three adults who were awakened by firefighters telling them to get out of the house early Thursday.

The three homes are next to each other in the 5700 block of Portland Place off Illinois 111, according to Assistant Fire Chief Ronnie Harris.

One firefighter was taken to a hospital for heat exhaustion suffered while fighting the blaze, which was reported at 4:15 a.m.

Three adults were in the home that was damaged.

We woke up the people who were inside, Harris said. The house was starting to fill up with smoke as the fire was trying to get into the house.

The two vacant homes were fully engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived. They were able to prevent the third home from being destroyed.

A fourth alarm was sounded to bring in additional firefighters.

The Washington Park Fire Department was assisted by firefighters from Midway, Prairie du Pont, Fairmont City, Millstadt and Villa Hills.

Also, the American Red Cross provided assistance to the fire victims.

The cause of the fire was under investigation.
U.S. Border Patrol agents make contact with migrants seeking to cross into the U.S. from Tijuana on Thursday. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

U.S. immigration policy Title 42 expired Thursday night, marking the end of restrictions implemented by the Trump administration amid the COVID-19 pandemic that allowed the government to prevent asylum seekers from entering the country.

In the hours leading up to Title 42's termination, migrants continued to gather near ports of entry on the southern border with Mexico, hoping for a new opportunity to enter the U.S. as confusion over the imminent policy changes and their impact persisted.

Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas issued a warning Thursday that "starting tonight, people who arrive at the border without using a lawful pathway will be presumed ineligible for asylum." He noted that 24,000 Border Patrol agents and officers had been deployed to work alongside "thousands of troops and contractors, and over a thousand asylum officers to help enforce our laws."

"Do not believe the lies of smugglers," Mayorkas said in a statement. "The border is not open. People who do not use available lawful pathways to enter the U.S. now face tougher consequences, including a minimum five-year ban on re-entry and potential criminal prosecution."

Both the United States and Mexico have been showing increased enforcement presence.

The San Ysidro border crossing into Tijuana was shut down for six minutes Wednesday night so that dozens of U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents could train in riot gear.

The agency did not detail the reasons for the security drill, the second in a week. As part of the exercise that spanned several lanes of the port of entry, agents threw what appeared to be tear gas canisters. A few steps away on the Mexican side, a group of National Guard elements held their own drill.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents conduct a training exercise May 10 at the San Ysidro Port of Entry. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune)

A Customs and Border Protection spokesperson said this week that there are no plans to close ports of entry.

Mexico's National Guard has been positioned along the southern layer of border barrier in recent weeks, and Thursday was no exception. Tijuana police also seemed to more closely monitor activity at ports of entry.

Attorneys with Al Otro Lado, a legal services nonprofit that supports asylum seekers, spread out across Tijuana to give presentations at several shelters about the forthcoming policy changes. At Templo Embajadores de Jesus, migrants listened intently as a group talked through the new rules and the requirements to qualify for asylum.

Meanwhile, north of the U.S.-Mexico border in Somerton, Ariz., buses pulled in and out of a parking lot throughout the day Thursday at the Regional Center for Border Health, transporting migrants who had just been released from U.S. Customs and Border Protection custody to the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport if they had flights, or to a motel for the night.

Chief Executive Officer Amanda Aguirre said some 800 migrants arriving on 15 buses were the most her staff had accommodated in the two years since starting a transitional center where migrants can receive medical aid and make travel arrangements out of the Yuma, Ariz., area.

Higher numbers were expected Friday. Aguirre said the local fire department had informed her that 140 migrants would be released to the streets unless officials came up with two more buses and additional shelter space.

Because theres no large bus station in Yuma  just a stop with a bench  the organization acts as a travel center for migrants who might otherwise find themselves lost and confused.

People walk along the border wall on Thursday in San Luis Rio Colorado, Mexico. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

People from Senegal, Cameroon, Bangladesh, Iran, Russia and Brazil were among those who waited in seats under tented white tarps for rapid COVID-19 tests and travel itineraries. Migrants pay their own way, though the Regional Center for Border Health helps supplement if needed.

Close to 5 p.m., migrants  many of them wearing sneakers with missing shoelaces after theyd been removed by border agents  lined up to board a bus to a motel for the night. Aguirre said most hotels in the area refused to rent rooms to migrants, so during peak farm season they compete for rooms with contractors who hire temporary foreign laborers.

I.B., a Peruvian man who asked to be identified by his initials out of concern for his immigration case, said he had flown to Mexicali, crossed the border and turned himself in to border agents. He was detained for six days before being released in Yuma.

He said he hadnt known the details of the changes to Title 42 when he made the trip.

We knew they were going to change the rules after the 11th, but we didnt know it would be so strict, he said. I think Ive had a bit of luck.

I.B. said he was given a notice to appear in immigration court and is hopeful for asylum. He said he fled Lima, the Peruvian capital, after gangs from Venezuela began extorting from him, seeking more than $2,500 a month. He said he paid them for two months, but when he ran out of money, he knew that he would be killed if he stayed. So he sent his wife and three children to another state and decided to seek safety in Miami after being encouraged by friends who had recently arrived in the U.S.

Guri Singh, 21, said he fled India after experiencing religious discrimination as a Sikh. His parents, who are legal residents in England, couldnt get him a visa. So he said he paid smugglers $50,000 to fly to El Salvador, then took buses to the U.S. border.

Singh said hed never heard of Title 42 and knew nothing about the impending changes to border policy. He just knew he had a flight to the Bay Area and would be at his cousins home by 3 p.m. Friday.

As the sun began to set along the Rio Grande on Thursday, U.S. immigration officers launched yet another operation to catch migrants. It was a routine action in the El Paso Border Patrol sector, which has emerged as the nations busiest for detentions and expulsions of immigrants without legal status.

As many as 500 migrants, all seeking to surrender to U.S. authorities, had assembled on the U.S. side in front of the border fence, at a spot about 12 miles east of El Paso.

Officials arranged for a semitruck to provide toilets for the crowds. Agents separated single men and women from families traveling with children. Border Patrol officials allowed families to begin exiting though a border gate to waiting detention vans.

Texas National Guard forces patrolled the perimeter of the slice of terrain where migrants waited patiently. Latecomers crossing the Rio Grande were denied incorporation into the large group and told to walk another two miles downriver to another border gate where a growing group of migrants was waiting.

Among those arriving late was a family from Cali, Colombia  a couple and their 2-year-old boy. The father carried his son across the shallow Rio Grande, stepping on strategically placed stones to avoid getting his feet wet as his wife followed.

Its frustrating, said the Colombian woman as this family, like so many others, contemplated the next step in their journey. But one cant abandon hope.

Back near the Arizona border, around 10 p.m. local time just after Title 42 expired, migrants lined up along a stretch of metal fencing next to the Colorado River on the Cocopah Indian Reservation, waiting to be taken to a Border Patrol processing center in Yuma.

There were crying babies, elderly people with canes and children asleep in their parents' arms. People had fleece blankets slung over their heads, travel pillows and puffer jackets to stave off the light chill.

Come over here, a Border Patrol agent told the migrants, ushering them toward an open space where the barrier ended. I want one single line.

OK, commander, a migrant responded.

Gracias! a child yelled.

On the other side of the wall, a group of 30 people walked toward Border Patrol.

Run for your lives, a migrant on the other side told them through the slats, waving his arms in encouragement. Youve arrived.

A Yuma County sheriffs deputy said only a few dozen people usually arrive by that time of night. On Thursday, there were at least a couple of hundred.

A group of 10 more people ran up and got in the back of the line. Then 10 more. They were out of breath, gasping for air.

A 21-year-old man, 19-year-old woman and 8-year-old boy  orphaned siblings from Ecuador  walked to the end of the line next. The man, who asked to be identified by his initials, J.Z.G., winced in pain. The backs of his shoes were folded under his heels. Something had gotten inside one shoe and cut his foot.

He said they had flown to Nicaragua and walked from there to the border because of political instability back home.

We had to emigrate, he said.

They learned through social media that by midnight on May 11, the ability for Ecuadorans to enter here would expire, he said.

It affects everyone, not just Ecuadorans, his sister corrected him.

They werent sure what would happen when they got to the front of the line. But they were hopeful that they could still request asylum since it wasnt yet midnight. They had hustled to make it in time.

What they didnt realize was that Title 42 had expired an hour earlier  at midnight Eastern time.

Times staff writers Castillo reported from Somerton, Ariz., McDonnell from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, and Aleaziz from Healdsburg, Calif. San Diego Union-Tribune staff writer Morrissey reported from Tijuana. Union-Tribune en Espanol staff writer Alexandra Mendoza contributed to this report.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Title 42, an emergency public health measure allowing for the expulsion of migrants seeking asylum to the United States, is set to expire at 11:59 p.m. ET on Thursday, more than three years after it was put in place by the Trump administration at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Biden administration, which had, for a time, sought to keep the policy in place, has been bracing for a surge in migrants in response to the change. Over the last three days, an estimated 10,000 migrants have crossed into the country each day, and that number is expected to rise once Title 42 expires.

In the absence of the policy, U.S. border agents will resume processing migrants under a decades-old immigration protocol known as Title 8, which requires that migrants encountered at the border be detained and interviewed to determine whether they have a credible fear of persecution in their home country. Those who meet that standard will be allowed to remain in the U.S. as their case makes its way through the immigration court system. Those who dont will be deported, subject to a five-year ban on reentering the U.S., and will be subject to criminal prosecution if they attempt to return.

The longer processing times mandated under Title 8, as well as a spike in migrants arriving at the border in recent days, has raised concerns about chaos and overcrowding at ports of entry and detention centers. In an attempt to curb the flow of asylum seekers traveling to the U.S. through Mexico, the Biden administration on Wednesday finalized a new rule, first announced in February, that will make migrants ineligible for asylum at the border if they fail to first apply for an appointment online or seek protection in another country that they traveled through on their way to the U.S.

Here are some aspects about the policy and its expiration, as well as what comes next.

How did Title 42 come into being?

California U.S. Border Patrol agents sort out families from a large group of migrants gathered between the primary and secondary border fences in San Diego on May 11. (Reuters/Mike Blake)

The public health authority, which dates back to 1944, was first invoked in March 2020 with an emergency order from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which described the measure as necessary to protect the public health from an increase in the serious danger of the introduction of Coronavirus Disease 2019.

Almost immediately, the Trump administrations use of Title 42 in this context was condemned by both human rights advocates and many public health experts, who argued that the CDC order was based on specious justifications and fails to protect public health.

Why did the Biden administration want to end the policy?

A migrant gestures to Texas National Guards standing behind razor wire on the bank of the Rio Grande river, seen from Matamoros, Mexico, on May 11. (Fernando Llano/AP)

The Biden administration initially planned to stop using Title 42 to expel family units of migrants in July 2021, amid pressure from progressive advocates who argued that the policy violated migrants right to seek asylum.

But it reversed course in response to an increase of arrivals at the border. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention then set an expiration date of May 23, 2022, but that was blocked by a federal lawsuit by a group of Republican attorneys general. And in Dec. 2022, the Supreme Court extended Title 42s life once more, after a group of Republican-led states objected to a federal judges order directing the Biden administration to terminate the policy.

Since Title 42 was invoked by the CDC in response to the pandemic, the Biden administration ultimately decided to allow the controversial border restriction to expire along with the federal governments COVID-19 Public Health Emergency, which will also end late Thursday night.

How many migrants have been turned away from the U.S. under title 42?

A migrant family from Peru walk toward a gate in the border fence after crossing from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, into El Paso, Texas, in the early hours of Thursday. (Andres Leighton/AP)

Since its implementation, Title 42 has been used 2.8 million times to turn away migrants at the southern border, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection Data. In 2022, a total of 1,480,416 individual migrants were encountered by Border Patrol, and of those, 246,045 made at least two or more attempts to cross into the U.S.

Some critics point to these numbers as evidence of how ineffective Title 42 has been at deterring migrants from attempting to cross the southern border. Not only has the number of migrants apprehended along the U.S.-Mexico border reached record levels over the past three years, but the rapid nature of Title 42 expulsions has made it much easier for those sent back to Mexico to make repeated attempts to cross.

What has Title 42 created in Mexico?

Migrants get ready to cross the border at Cocopah Indian Reservation near Yuma, Ariz., on Thursday. (DeeCee Carter/MediaPunch /IPX)

Under Title 42, the number of migrants waiting in Mexican border areas for their U.S. asylum applications to be processed has swelled to between 60,000 and 65,000, according to an estimate given to reporters on Wednesday by Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz.

Life in border camps is often not safe.

A December 2022 report published by Human Rights First recorded 13,480 incidents of torture, kidnapping, rape and other violent attacks on people expelled from the U.S. to Mexico under Title 42 since Biden took office.

Whats happening on the U.S. side of the border now?

A sign indicates where migrants can be picked up at La Plaza bus station in Brownsville, Texas, on May 11. (Evan Garcia/Reuters)

On Tuesday, Department of Homeland Security officials said more than 11,000 migrants had been apprehended along the southern border, a record for single-day arrests.

Customs and Border Patrol officials reported that, as of Wednesday, 26,354 people were in custody. According to ABC News, Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz said that number was already "several thousand less" than it had been earlier Wednesday morning. But, as NBC News noted, that figure is also far higher than the roughly 18,500 the facilities are equipped to hold.

In light of concerns about overcrowding at border processing facilities, the Biden administration is now reportedly directing CBP to release some migrants into the country on parole with instructions to report to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement office. At a news conference Wednesday, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said this new policy would apply to a fraction of the people that we encounter.

"In fact, the vast majority will be addressed in our border patrol facilities and our ICE detention facilities," he said.

How is the U.S. preparing for the expected surge of migrants?

Migrants cross the Rio Grande to the U.S. from Matamoros, Mexico, on Thursday. (Fernando Llano/AP)

Biden announced last week that he was sending 15,000 U.S. troops to the southern border to help stem the flow of migrants. That number is in addition to 2,500 National Guard members already stationed along the border, as well as more than 1,400 DHS personnel and 1,000 processing coordinators who are being deployed in anticipation of a surge in migration following the end of Title 42.

In anticipation of the end of Title 42, Texas border cities like El Paso, Laredo and Brownsville declared a state of emergency, in order to request federal resources to help house and provide transportation for the surge in new arrivals.

Similar steps are also being taken in cities like Chicago and New York, which have also received large numbers of asylum seekers in recent months.
A 17-year-old migrant child from Honduras who arrived in the U.S. without a parent or guardian has died in government custody in Florida this week, officials said Friday, the second such death in two months.

Enrique Reina, the Honduran secretary of foreign affairs, identified the child as Angel Eduardo Maradiaga Espinoza and called for an "exhaustive investigation" into his death. Reina said Espinoza was in Safety Harbor, Florida, a small city west of Tampa and the site of a shelter used to house unaccompanied children.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) acknowledged the death in a statement but provided few details about the circumstances.

"[The department] is deeply saddened by this tragic loss and our heart goes out to the family, with whom we are in touch," the agency said. A U.S. official told CBS News there was "no altercation of any kind" involved in the death. A spokesperson for the shelter in Safety Harbor, Gulf Coast Jewish Family and Community Services, declined to answer questions about the teen's death and referred questions to HHS.

Bill Pellan, director of investigations for the District Six Medical Examiner Office, confirmed that his office and the local sheriff's office were involved with investigating the death of a 17-year-old who passed away at East Countryside Hospital. Pellan said a cause of death has yet to be determined.

HHS has shared information about Espinoza's death with lawmakers on Capitol Hill, according to a source familiar with the matter. The teen was taken to the hospital Wednesday morning after being found unconscious and was pronounced dead an hour later, shortly after 9 a.m., the source said. Espinoza was said to have been in custody for five days prior to his death.

After Espinoza's death was reported, CBS News learned that a 4-year-old child from Honduras in HHS custody died in March after being hospitalized for cardiac arrest in Michigan. The child, whose death has not been previously reported, was "medically fragile," HHS said in a notification to lawmakers at the time.

The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), which is a division of HHS, is responsible for housing and caring for migrant children who arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border without legal guardians. Border officials are bound by federal law to transfer unaccompanied minors to ORR within 72 hours. The refugee office houses unaccompanied children in shelters and other facilities until they turn 18 or are claimed by a sponsor in the U.S.

The HHS statement noted that the ORR's Division of Health for Unaccompanied Children is "reviewing all clinical details of this case, including all inpatient health care records" and said a medical examiner is conducting an investigation into the child's death. The agency noted that children in ORR custody "have access to health care, legal services, translation services, and mental and behavioral health counselors and are able to connect with family through a phone call in a private area at a minimum of twice a week."

As of Wednesday, 8,681 unaccompanied children were in the care of HHS, government figures show, and unaccompanied children spend an average of 29 days in ORR custody. In the last fiscal year, most of the minors referred to ORR  roughly 72%  were above the age of 14, and about 64% were boys. Unaccompanied children are typically matched with a sponsor, usually a relative, and released.

About 29% of children in ORR custody in fiscal year 2022 hailed from Honduras, like Espinoza. Nearly half came from Guatemala, and about 13% came from El Salvador.

News of Espinoza's death comes as the U.S. implements strict new asylum and deportation policies meant to deter illegal migration following the expiration of Title 42, a pandemic-related restriction that expired at midnight on Thursday. Title 42 allowed border officials to quickly expel hundreds of thousands migrants without hearing their asylum claims, a policy that began in March 2020 under President Donald Trump.

Unaccompanied children were subject to expulsion under Title 42 until November 2020, when a federal judge put an end to the practice. Their exemption led thousands of children who had previously been expelled with their families to leave their loved ones in Mexico and attempt to claim asylum by themselves, a phenomenon that came to be known as "self-separation." Government figures showed that more than 12,000 migrant children reentered U.S. border custody as unaccompanied minors after being expelled to Mexico in the year following the judge's ruling.

Border Patrol officials encountered more than 152,000 unaccompanied minors in fiscal year 2022, and have encountered more than 70,000 since Oct. 1, 2022, according to government data.

Over an eight-month span in 2018 and 2019, six children died in U.S. custody or shortly after being released, including a 10-year-old girl who died while in the care of ORR. Her death was the first of a child in U.S. custody since 2010, officials said at the time.

Luis Giraldo contributed reporting.

The Church's Firm | Sunday on 60 Minutes

Saturday Sessions: Acantha Lang performs "Sugar Woman"

Saturday Sessions: Acantha Lang performs "It's Gonna Be Alright"
Mammoth Charlotte-based Bank of America is expanding in Europe and coming to one of the worlds smallest but wealthiest countries  Luxembourg.

The bank has opened a branch in the capital city of the same name, Luxembourg, Bank of America said Wednesday in a news release. The landlocked country is surrounded by Belgium, France and Germany.

Customers for the wholesale investment branch are corporate, commercial and NBFIs (non-bank financial institutions), not retail clients, Bank of America spokeswoman Megan Pearson told The Charlotte Observer in an email from London.

Bank of America chose Luxembourg because its the second largest investment fund center in the world after the U.S. By going there the bank said it will deepen its global cash management services to these NBFIs.

Luxembourg also is the second wealthiest country in the world with GDP per capita, purchasing power parity of $142,490, according to Global Finance, a corporate finance magazine, behind Ireland. The U.S. ranks at No. 9 with a GDP per capita, purchasing power parity of $80,035. Purchasing power parity is the exchange rate used to compare countries with different currencies expressed in international dollars, according to the report.

Many multi-national companies have chosen Luxembourg as a European hub for their activities, Fernando Vicario, CEO of Bank of America Europe Designated Activity Company, said in a statement.

The Luxembourg branch will be available for setting up local bank accounts and provide in-country transaction banking products and services, according to Bank of America.

Global Transaction Services accounts for over 10% of Bank of Americas overall revenue and about a third of its deposits, according to the bank. Bank of America has operations throughout the U.S., its territories and over 35 countries.

Bank of America is expanding into the small but wealthy European country of Luxembourg.

Fun facts for Luxembourg, Charlotte and Bank of America

Population: Luxembourg 660,924 residents; Charlotte estimated 880,000 residents.

Size: Luxembourg, 2,586 square miles. Its slightly smaller than Rhode Island. Mecklenburg County covers 546 square miles.

Age: Luxembourg was founded in 963, making it 1,060 years old. It was established a century before the Battle of Hastings that led to the Norman conquest of England. Charlotte was founded in December 1768, some 254 years ago and a little over six years before the Revolutionary War started.

Labor force: Luxembourg, excluding foreign workers, has 334,000 workers. Bank of America has about 218,000 employees, including over 18,000 in the Charlotte region.

Airports: Luxembourg has two airports, one of which is paved. Pre-pandemic, Luxembourg Airport had passenger traffic in 2018 of 2.1 million. Charlotte-Douglas International Airport, which also is paved, had nearly 48 million passengers last year.

Economies: Bank of America has $3.051 trillion in assets and is the second biggest bank in the U.S. by assets (behind only JPMorgan Chase) and seventh biggest in the world. Luxembourgs GDP is $71 billion.

One more thing: The country, a constitutional monarchy, is the only grand duchy in the world. A grand duchy is a country whose official head of state is a monarch with the title of grand duke or grand duchess. The countrys current monarch is Henri, the 68-year-old Grand Duke of Luxembourg. He has ruled over the country since 2000, and reportedly had a net worth around $4 billion.

Sources: CIA World Fact Book, S&P Global Market Intelligence Report, U.S. Census Bureau, Charlotte Observer files.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Friday that she has not yet had any contact with her new Chinese counterpart He Lifeng.

I havent had contact yet with my new counterpart, Yellen told Bloomberg Television in Niigata, Japan, where she is currently meeting with fellow financial leaders from the Group of Seven.

Yellen last met with Hes predecessor Liu He in January, Bloomberg reported. He Lifeng was appointed to serve as the top government official overseeing Chinas economy in March, according to The New York Times.

I expect to travel there, Yellen added, when asked about a possible trip to Beijing. I cant tell you what the date is. We have a number of senior American officials that are likely to go, and we need to sequence them appropriately.

The questions about Yellens contact with her counterpart in Beijing come after she called for a more cooperative relationship with China during her remarks at Johns Hopkins Universitys School of Advanced International Studies last month.

We seek a healthy economic relationship with China: one that fosters growth and innovation in both countries, Yellen said at the event, adding, A growing China that plays by international rules is good for the United States and the world.

Both countries can benefit from healthy competition in the economic sphere. But healthy economic competition  where both sides benefit  is only sustainable if that competition is fair, she said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
New York police officers investigate a subway train where Jordan Neely died after a fellow passenger, Daniel Perry, restrained him with a chokehold. (Paul Martinka / New York Post)

The Marine veteran who put a man in a chokehold on a New York City subway car last week, killing him, will face charges and is expected to turn himself in to authorities Friday, prosecutors said.

Daniel Penny, 24, will be arrested on suspicion of second-degree manslaughter in the May 1 death of Jordan Neely, a spokesperson for the Manhattan district attorneys office said in a statement.

The office declined to provide further comment.

We cannot provide any additional information until he has been arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court, which we expect to take place tomorrow, said the statement provided by D.A. spokesman Douglas Cohen.

Neely, 30, died in a homicide as a result of compression of the neck, or a chokehold, the New York City medical examiners office determined last week.

Witnesses said Neely, who was Black, was yelling and appeared to be suffering a mental health episode when Penny, who is white, grabbed him from behind and placed him in a chokehold.

The New York City Police Department opened an investigation into the death, which was captured in a video taken by Juan Alberto Vazquez and posted to a Facebook page called Luces de Nueva York.

In the video, Penny is seen with his arms wrapped around Neelys neck as the pair lie on the floor of the F train car. At several points, Neely kicks his legs and tries to free his arms, which a third passenger is pinning down.

After about two minutes, Neelys body appears to go limp. The other two continue to hold him down for nearly a minute before letting go. Someone can be heard advising them to position Neely on his side in case he chokes.

In a public post on the Facebook page, Vazquez wrote in Spanish that he was on the subway heading to Yonkers when Neely got on.

I dont have food, I dont have anything to drink, Im fed up, the man yelled, according to Vazquez, who said the man continued to shout: I dont mind going to jail and getting life in prison, and Im ready to die.

Neely had been homeless at times, according to people who knew him, and had earned money imitating Michael Jackson as a street performer.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
The regulation has often been the subject of parody (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

EU rules regulating the curvature of bananas will remain in British law despite a government purge of Brussels regulations.

The famous Commission regulation 1333/2011 had been due to fall off UK statute books automatically at the end of the year until a government U-turn this week.

The widely parodied rule lays down marketing standards for bananas across Europe and says they must be "free from malformation or abnormal curvature".

The regulation has sometimes been the subject of hyperbolic reporting in the British press claiming the EU had "banned bendy bananas".

In reality, it is only the most bendy of bananas that have faced the wrath of Brussels.

The "abnormal curvature" rule is included in a list of minimum standards laid down in the legislation, which will now become domestic British law.

Other minimum standards listed in the rulebook include having "stalk intact, without bending, fungal damage or desiccation" and being "practically free from pests".

A 2016 fact-checking exercise by European Parliament Liaison Office in the United Kingdom described claims Brussels wanted to "ban" bendy bananas as the "myth to end all myths" about the EU.

But it conceded there was some element of truth behind breathless reports regarding regulation 1333/2011.

"Is Brussels really meddling in what our beloved bananas should look like?" it asked.

"Yes and No. Bananas are classified by quality and size so they can be traded internationally. Quality standards are also needed so that people know what they are buying and that the produce meets their expectations."

"Straight and bendy are not banned by the EU. Commission Regulation 2257/94 identifies certain restrictions for fruits that producers have to conform to in order to sell their produce within the EU. The regulation states that bananas must be 'free from malformation or abnormal curvature'.

It notes that "Class 1 bananas can have 'slight defects of shape' and Class 2 bananas full-on 'defects of shape'".

The government announced this week that it was gutting its EU Retained Law Bill  enraging some Tory Brexiteers who accused Rishi Sunak of breaking promises to them.

The government is scrapping a planned "sunset clause" that would have automatically scrapped EU regulations by the end of 2023, unless they were specifically earmarked to be saved.

Instead, a list of regulations explicitly specified for removal or reform will be listed on the bill. The regulation on the marketing of bananas is not among those listed.

The government says that it will retain the powers to scrap former EU regulation  which means it could liberalise or otherwise amend rules relating to the shape of bananas in the future.


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Quarantine officials in protective suits enter a beef cattle farm in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, central Korea to cull cattle after outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) cases were confirmed there and at two other beef cattle farms in the region, May 11. Yonhap



Korea has confirmed an additional foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) case at a local farm, bringing this year's total cases to four, the agriculture ministry said Friday.



The latest case was found at a beef cattle farm in the central city of Cheongju, some 112 kilometers south of Seoul, late Thursday, which was raising 50 cows, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.



The country reported FMD cases on Wednesday for the first time in more than four years, with all the recent contagions occurring at beef cattle farms in the city.



Authorities are culling several hundred cattle and carrying out intensive disinfection work in adjacent cities to prevent the spread of the disease.



The government issued a 48-hour standstill order on all animal farms and related facilities across the nation to remain effective until midnight Saturday.



As a severe and highly transmissible viral disease, FMD causes illness in cows, pigs, goats and other cloven-hoofed animals. It does not affect humans. (Yonhap)


YEREVAN, MAY 12, ARMENPRESS. Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Paruyr Hovhannisyan has said that the Armenian-Azerbaijani foreign ministerial talks were a productive phase in terms of approximating the stances around a possible peace treaty.

Speaking at a press briefing on May 12, Hovhannisyan told ARMENPRESS that there are a number of issues that have yet to be discussed during the upcoming May 14 Brussels summit.

PM Nikol Pashinyan said on May 11 that Azerbaijan sought to nullify the progress in the Washington talks with its latest aggression.

Asked what progress the prime minister was referring to, Hovhannisyan said the progress pertains to the sides having a better understanding on each others stances.

This was done. The American side did everything possible to create a positive atmosphere. It was truly a productive phase for bringing closer the positions around a possible peace treaty. Of course, there are a number of highly important issues that have yet to be discussed, and thats why the highest-level meeting is being organized in Brussels, which will be followed by the foreign ministerial meeting in Moscow, and there will be other meetings as well, Hovhannisyan said.

Speaking about the Azeri military attack on Armenian positions in Sotk on May 11, Hovhannisyan said that Azerbaijan has been behaving in this manner ever since the 1990s.

Ive been serving at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 1995, and I cant recall a single phase of negotiations without such provocations taking place either before or after the meetings, he said.
YEREVAN, MAY 12, ARMENPRESS. Germany supports the diplomatic efforts between Armenia and Azerbaijan and its participation in the upcoming June 1 five-sided meeting in Moldova implies that it aims to secure significant results, the German Ambassador to Armenia Viktor Richter said on May 12 in Yerevan.

We aim at ensuring lasting peace in South Caucasus. I am also talking about the opportunities for developing political, economic and interpersonal relations in the entire region. We are inclined to support the implementation of diplomatic efforts between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The support by both the EU and the USA are aimed at ensuring lasting peace in this region. And in this regard we have planned meetings, I am talking about the June 1 European Political Community Summit in Chisinau. Germanys participation there implies intentions to ensure rather significant results, the Ambassador said at the presentation of the 30 Years of Armenian-German Diplomatic Relations book.

Speaking about the bilateral relations, Ambassador Richter noted that 2022 marked the 30th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic ties and that the relations have been developing and enhancing continually, and the political dialogue continues as well. Close ties have formed between the German Bundestag (parliament) and the National Assembly (parliament) of Armenia.

The Ambassador mentioned the Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyans visit to Berlin this year. They had very productive discussions, which certainly impacted the potential of cooperation of our countries and underscored the directions of expanding cooperation. Technical and financial cooperation are among the directions of cooperation between Germany and Armenia. And here Germany has been supporting for many years the democratic reforms process in Armenia, he said.

Armenia and Germany actively cooperated also in culture, science, education and other sectors, the Ambassador added.

He mentioned the German official recognition of the Armenian Genocide as one of the most significant moments in the relations, and said that it has also greatly contributed to the process of preventing such crimes across the world.

Armenia has ensured big progress in its reforms agenda. We are very happy that Armenia is implementing with commitment the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement signed with the EU. And I think that the current program of the Armenian government is a good platform and framework for actively continuing the reforms in the future as well, Ambassador Richter said.

Germany wants to form and expand bilateral partnership platforms, he added.
YEREVAN, MAY 12, ARMENPRESS. Armenias Permanent Representative to the OSCE, Ambassador Armen Papikyan warned the OSCE Permanent Council on May 11 that Azerbaijans latest attacks on Armenia are aimed at destabilising the situation and creating pretexts for new large-scale aggressions, and are an open disregard for the efforts made by international partners interested in stability and peace in the South Caucasus.

Azerbaijan's unprovoked and unjustified acts of aggression against Armenia are aimed at disrupting the negotiation process and pressuring Armenia, Ambassador Papikyan has said.

Papikyan delivered the remarks at the 1422nd meeting of the Permanent Council, where the Another aggressive and provocative action of Azerbaijan against the sovereign territory of Armenia item was included in the agenda.

Below is the full transcript of Ambassador Papikyans speech.

Mr. Chairman,

We have brought this current issue to the agenda of todays Permanent Council meeting to inform the participating states of the new provocation and aggression against the sovereign territory of Armenia by Azerbaijan today, on 11 May 2023.

According to the information by the Ministry of Defence of Armenia, today at 6 a.m. local time, Azerbaijani armed forces started firing at the Armenian positions in border Sotk village of Gegharkunik province of Armenia, using artillery and mortars. Once again Azerbaijan, resorting to provocative and aggressive actions, opened fire on the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia.

There are four wounded servicemen on the Armenian side. Azerbaijani armed forces, in violation of all norms of international humanitarian law, targeted also the ambulance, which was transporting the wounded soldiers.

Between 11:00 and 13:00 local time, the Azerbaijani armed forces regularly fired in the direction of Sotk village. As of now the situation on the border remains tense.

Mr. Chairman,

Colleagues,

The repeated violation by Azerbaijan of one of the fundamental principles of international law - the non-use of force or the threat of force - demonstrates contempt of the Azerbaijani side for the international law, for agreements reached and any commitments undertaken, starting from the 9 November 2020 statement and numerous statements since then.

This provocation and aggression come immediately after the 1st to 4th May intensive negotiations between the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Washington, and also immediately before the upcoming meetings of the Prime Minister of Armenia and the President of Azerbaijan this weekend in Brussels, and the planned meeting in Chisinau on 1 June.

Taking this opportunity, we would like to welcome the continued engagement and commitment of our international partners to the efforts towards establishing a lasting and sustainable peace and security in the South Caucasus.

It is obvious that these actions of Azerbaijan, which are aimed at destabilising the situation and creating pretexts for new large-scale aggressions, are an open disregard for the efforts made by international partners interested in stability and peace in the South Caucasus, the meetings and negotiations held in Washington, as well as meetings planned in Brussels, Moscow, Chisinau, which are aimed at the normalisation of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

We have already talked about the pattern of Azerbaijani actions usually preceding and following any negotiations, and this latest provocation and aggression, accompanied with the disinformation spread by the Azerbaijani Defence Ministry, perfectly fits into that pattern of actions. Azerbaijan resorts to violence following negotiations or meetings, especially if agreements are reached, in an obvious attempt to nullify the results, to discredit the negotiations, discredit mediators, and renege on any commitment it has agreed to.

Such unprovoked and unjustified acts of aggression against Armenia aimed at disrupting the negotiation process and by using force exert pressure on Armenia.

With its actions Azerbaijan jeopardizes and violates the fundamental agreements reached during the meeting in Prague on 6 October 2022 and in Sochi on 31 October 2022.

We have continuously stated and would like to reiterate once again that only robust international guaranties and their vigorous enforcement would constrain Azerbaijan and compel its authorities to respect and implement its own commitments.

Mr. Chairman,

I would also like to take this opportunity to bring once again to the attention of the participating States the situation in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) and the Lachin Corridor.

For five months already Azerbaijan blockades the Lachin Corridor thus effectively putting Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) under siege and cutting communication between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia and the rest of the world.

The blockade, the fact of which has been acknowledged by the highest international court, the International Court of Justice in the Hague, is a criminal, illegal act, premeditated, carefully planned and executed effort with the intent to completely destroy the people of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) by inflicting on them conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part or to achieve its forced displacement which is a crime, punishable under international law.

After installation of an illegal check-point, Azerbaijan has disrupted also the humanitarian work of the ICRC. We highly appreciate the efforts of the ICRC to assist the people of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) and somewhat alleviate the dire humanitarian conditions that they are facing and urge it to continue its efforts to restore its humanitarian work.

This new wave of provocations and aggressive actions pursue also the aim of diverting the attention of the international community to the ongoing blockade of the Lachin Corridor and the resulting humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh. Therefore, sending an international fact-finding mission to the Lachin Corridor and Nagorno-Karabakh, which would monitor the situation on the ground and serve as a reliable and unbiased source of information, is becoming more and more urgent.

As we have stated on numerous occasions, the rights and the security of the people of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) has been and remain one of the major issues that shall be addressed through the international mechanism. We maintain this position and in light of the continuous Azerbaijani aggressive policies makes this legitimate approach vital.

Mr. Chairman,

The destabilizing actions of Azerbaijan and the ongoing blockade of the Lachin Corridor  the only humanitarian lifeline connecting Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) to the outer world  accompanied by territorial claims against Armenia, military provocations, aggressions, use of force or threat of force, spreading of disinformation, as well as continuous incendiary and hate rhetoric against Armenia and the Armenian people, undermine the efforts aimed at de-escalating the situation and finding lasting solutions for a sustainable peace and security in the region.

The Republic of Armenia remains committed to the peace and will continue its efforts to work toward finding lasting resolution of the conflict and normalization of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan in pursuit of its goal to bring peace and security to the South Caucasus.

I kindly ask you to attach this statement to the journal of todays meeting.

I thank you.
YEREVAN, MAY 12, ARMENPRESS. Armenia believes that the international community has a big role in supporting its efforts aimed at establishing lasting peace and stability in South Caucasus, and in this regard it sees a big role for Germany as well, the Deputy Foreign Minister Paruyr Hovhannisyan said on May 12 at a seminar organized by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation dedicated to the 30th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations between Armenia and Germany.

He said that Armenia and Germany share common values, namely human rights, democracy and the rule of law.

Guided by this value system, Germany has been a practical supporter to both the ongoing fundamental reforms in Armenia and the efforts aimed at regional stability and peace, Hovhannisyan said.

He said that the security situation remains extremely tense in the region, but nonetheless Armenia is a vital and resilient country.

The Armenian people have always been resilient in withstanding difficulties and are working for building a more prosperous and sustainable future for their country. In this regard the international community has an important role in supporting Armenias efforts aimed at establishing lasting stability and peace. Here we see a big role for Germany as well, he said.

Hovhannisyan noted that Germany has unequivocally supported Armenias sovereignty and territorial integrity, expressed support for a negotiated settlement of the conflict and has called for the protection of human rights and cultural heritage in Nagorno Karabakh.

Speaking about bilateral cooperation, the Deputy FM said that Armenia and Germany have been cooperating in various sectors for many years and this has led to strong friendship between the two peoples.

Praising the high-level relations, Hovhannisyan said that its no coincidence and it is very meaningful that the EU civilian mission in Armenia is led by a representative of Germany, referring to the head of the European Union Mission in Armenia (EUMA) Markus Ritter.

Hovhannisyan noted that Germany is Armenias top trade partner in Europe, and the economic ties continue to expand every year. He said that the tangible German investments in Armenia contribute to economic growth and creation of jobs.
Like many lifelong habitues of the Metropolitan Museum, I have mixed feelings about the growing impetus to return to countries of origin works that have been gathered by the Mets curator-connoisseurs and long treasured by the museums local, national and international audiences. Clearly, stolen artworks should go back to their rightful owners, unless a win-win compromise can be crafted, such as the one announced yesterday by the Met and the Republic of Italy, Sicilian Region, whereby reciprocal loans will benefit both sides.

Heres one of the objects now on loan to the Met for three years, as part of that agreement, from the Antonino Salinas Archeological Museum, Palermo:

Arula (terracotta altar), Greek, first quarter of the 5th century BCE

Antonino Salinas Archeological Museum, on loan to the Met

That said, the repatriation goalposts have moved in setting boundaries between the positions of both sides in determining what constitutes improper possession and what constitutes rightful ownership. (More on that below.)

It seems to me that the pace of repatriation announcements has noticeably quickened since (and perhaps as a result of) the Smithsonian Institutions issuance a year ago of its new Policy on Ethical Returns, which sent a message to sister institutions in the U.S. that relinquishing long-held objects is not only acceptable, but perhaps even desirable. It now seems as though every other day another giveback is announced.

This must be disheartening, if not alarming, to old-school U.S. museum professionals, who always saw their primary mission as the acquisition, preservation, study and exhibition of world-class objects and never foresaw that giving away such sought-after treasures would become one of their responsibilities. One traditionalist, well known to me, who asked to be identified only as a source close to the Met, minced no words in his blunt commentary about the recent repatriations. (The links and words in brackets are mine, not his.):

Its shocking and incomprehensible. Recently, great works of art were removed from the Mets galleries, not even reluctantly but joyfully. Now, the galleries will be proactively emptied, gradually. It is with ever more pride that the Met will announce its repatriations. There has been no mention of, nor probably any thought given to, the inescapable equation between removal and loss. Nor is there any suggestion that some form of accommodation is sought. The reality is that these works, which at the Met are often one of a kind, are removed from its visitors sight permanently. And to what end? To be added, most often as redundancies, to the already engorged museums of so-called country-of-origin, where they will go almost unnoticed. Four people are being hired [at the Met] to find ways to despoil curators collections [emphasis added]. All the while, Met curators are fighting hard for higher wages. Its bizarre. Here, we are talking about antiquities, mostly Greek, Roman, and Ancient Near East (Mesopotamia, et al). WWII [i.e., Nazi-expropriated art] is different. Baroque pictures are different. Cambodia is complicated. Benin is a special case. Asia is not yet squarely in the crosshairs. Give it a little time.

Speaking of Beninthis is one of my personal touchstones at the Meta plaque that I can only hope is still there. I was relieved to see today that its still listed on the museums collections site as on view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 136:

Warrior Chief and Attendants, 16th-17th century, brass

Metropolitan Museum, gift of Mr. & Mrs. Klaus Perls

Photo by Lee Rosenbaum, December 2021

As I wrote here, Alisa LaGamma, curator in charge of the Mets Rockefeller Wing, told me back in December 2021 that the museums Benin objects were given generations ago. They are works that have great resonance for New Yorkers and we havent been approached for restitution. That was then; this is now: Some restitutions have recently occurred, including (according to the Mets press release) two 16th-century brass plaques created at the Court of Benin. (Uh-oh! I may need to confirm the status of my Warrior Chief.)

Just today, the Met announced the significant loan from the Monte Prama Foundation, Sardinia, Italy, of a colossal statue of a boxer known as Manneddu (mannu in Sardinian means large). The nearly seven-foot-tall figure, dating from about 900750 BCE, will be on view for six monthsfrom May 25 through Dec. 6, 2023.

Manneddu, one of the limestone Giants of Monte Prama

Image: Courtesy of Monte Prama Foundation Archive

Photo by Nicola Castangia

Heres an image of all the known Warrior statues from Monte Prama. (The visitor to New York is second from the left.):

While there is no announced quid pro quo for this limestone loan, the director of the Monte Prama Foundation, Nadia Canu, sees this as a possible tourism lure. Heres the sales pitch:

Our wish is for all visitors to The Metropolitan Museum of Art to be captivated by the history of Sardinia, and perhaps someday become guests on our beautiful island in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea. We want to tell the story of the island, which is already renowned for its unspoiled beaches and crystal-clear sea, by exploring the millennia-old heritage that has turned it into an open-air archaeological museum.

In the midst of all this shuffling of objects and objectives, one thing seems clear: The rules embodied in the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Propertythe formerly accepted standard for defining what constitutes licit ownershipno longer apply. Signatories to that Convention committed to acquiring only objects known to have been legally exported from their countries of origin, or objects with known ownership histories extending at least back to Nov. 17, 1970the date of the Convention.

Now thats not good enough. Still, there should be some legal way for museums and collectors to acquire antiquities, notwithstanding some source countries broad, punitively restrictive laws regarding their cultural and spiritual patrimony.

Heres what I wrote on that subject in my 2008 LA Times piece, Make Art Loans, Not War:

Source countries should allow some legally excavated antiquities to be bought and sold. Lesser objects could be marketed to collectors, dealers and museums, with the proceeds benefiting archaeological projects. Enabling citizens of other countries to appreciate and acquire selected pieces of Italys, Greeces, Egypts or Chinas [or Africas] past is a game that, if played by the rules, can have no losers.

Or, as I declared at the end of this 2006 Wall Street Journal piece, pegged to then Met director Philippe de Montebellos agreement to return to Italy the infamous Euphronios calyx krater, aka the hot pot (acquired under his predecessor, Tom Hoving):

Museums and collectors need to be granted some legitimate way to acquire beauty that isnt booty.

A student taking notes on the Euphronios krater, shortly before its 2008 return to Italy

Photo by Lee Rosenbaum
CJ Logistics CEO Kang Sin-ho, sixth from left, poses with Korean Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Park Joon-yong, fourth from left, and the Minister of Commerce of Saudi Arabia Majid Al Kasabi, seventh from left, during a business launch ceremony at the Riyadh Marriot Hotel in Riyadh, Wednesday. Courtesy of CJ Logistics



By Kim Jae-heun



CJ Logistics plans to establish a Global Distribution Center (GDC) in Saudi Arabia by 2024, in an effort to expand its business in the Middle East, the country's largest logistics firm said Thursday.

?

The building, which will be located in Riyadh's Special Integrated Logistics Zone at King Khalid International Airport, will be the first dedicated e-commerce logistics facility in Saudi Arabia.



"The Saudi e-commerce market has the richest growth potential in the Middle East and the geographical advantage of connecting Africa and Europe," CJ Logistics CEO Kang Sin-ho said during the business launching ceremony with the Saudi Arabian General Authority Civil Aviation held in Riyadh, Wednesday.

?

A GDC is a state-of-the-art logistics center with a gross floor area of 18,000 square meters and a daily throughput capacity of 15,000 boxes.?It will serve as a forwarding base and hub for logistics in the region, connecting the Middle East, Africa and Europe.



CJ Logistics signed an eight-year long-term contract with iHub earlier this year before establishing the GDC. The new center will offer international delivery of iHerb products to the Middle East,?one of the largest online retailers of health and wellness products.



"We will spare no support for state-of-the-art logistics technology and infrastructure so that the GDC can become a logistics hub that leads the Middle East e-commerce market," Kang said.


This is a worrying trend and one we ignore at great risk

Governments across the world are increasingly resorting to Internet shutdowns to stabilise potentially volatile situations, quell protests, and even to deal with problems like cheating in examinations. But from a governance perspective, how sustainable are such measures in a world where reliance on digital technologies is growing?

Today, many experts are sounding the alarm not only because these disruptions impact the human rights of millions of people for hundreds of hours, but also because they impose a heavy cost on the economy and the livelihoods of ordinary people.

Amid the swirl of news, here are some widely-cited numbers to chew on.

According to digital rights group Top10VPN, which researches the economic impacts of Internet shutdowns, in 2023 alone, 46 Internet shutdowns in 10 countries cost $761 million till date. Globally, the total duration of such disruptions has been more than 12,400 hours. This year, so far, Ethiopia is the most affected nation. The economic costs of Internet shutdowns to date in that country have been $372.2 million. Ethiopia is followed by India and Myanmar. I checked out the figure for India. Up till now, it is $201.6 million.

Now, for a country that has a dominantly young population and is legitimately proud of having 800 million Internet users, this is a worrying trend and one we ignore at great risk.

Which brings me to one of my favourite states in the country: Manipur. I have the fondest memories of Manipur. Fifteen years ago, I spent some time in this beautiful state in the Northeast, researching a book on children impacted by HIV-AIDS. I remember taking time off from work to visit Ima Keithel, the mothers market in Imphal, the state capital. It is the largest women-only market in the world, where men come only as buyers or as porters.

Manipur has been in the news in recent days for violent ethnic clashes. There have been deaths, devastation, arson, and gut-wrenching anxiety, including among people I know who have families in the affected areas.

Sitting thousands of kilometres away, one reads about Manipur limping back to normalcy. Curfew is being relaxed in the worst-hit districts; the Army and paramilitary forces are keeping a vigil. In these troubled times, that is reassuring. But at the time of writing, mobile Internet service continues to remain suspended in large parts of the state. The official reason is prevention of disturbance of peace and public order.

It is too early to say what the direct and indirect economic costs have been. Larger questions remain.

Manipur is in the news, but it is by no means the only state where Internet shutdowns have happened this year or in past years. In the Northeast itself, the Arunachal Pradesh government recently suspended the Internet in the states Papumpare district to maintain law and order through an official notification on May 9. In February this year, Itanagar, capital of Arunachal Pradesh, also saw a temporary suspension of Internet services after a clash broke out between security personnel and protesters over a paper leak case.

In April, Sambalpur district in Odisha experienced a temporary suspension of the Internet after communal tension during a Hanuman Jayanti rally.

In March, Punjab suffered one of the countrys most severe Internet blackouts. Barring voice calls, all mobile Internet services, SMS services, as well as all dongle services provided on mobile networks were suspended in the state as the police went on a search for Waris Punjab De chief and Khalistan sympathiser Amritpal Singh. The local police said the Internet shutdown was necessary to maintain law and order and stop the spread of fake news.

Arguably, nothing compares to the prolonged Internet shutdowns in Jammu and Kashmir in recent years, but interestingly, we are seeing the increasing use of Internet shutdowns for the most pedestrian reasons and by political parties of all hues.

The desert state of Rajasthan, known for its forts and palaces, is now a hotbed of Internet shutdowns. And the most-cited reason is even more interesting. This February, the Internet was suspended in eight cities in Rajasthan, ostensibly to prevent the question paper leak of a government teacher recruitment exam. Uttar Pradesh is another state which has seen Internet suspensions in recent years. In 2020, the Internet and text messaging services were suspended in 14 districts of Uttar Pradesh, including in state capital Lucknow, in the wake of violence and protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in these areas.

Things have come to such a pass that a plea was moved in the Supreme Court earlier this year seeking guidelines on the implementation of Internet shutdowns. This happened following the suspension of Internet services in Jaipur and other places. The official reason was the Rajasthan Direct School Teacher Recruitment Examination.

The petitioner, Chhaya Rani, argued that such blocking of access to the Internet was avoidable and did not reflect well on the competence of the authorities to conduct such an exam. In 2020, the issue came up before the Supreme Court in the famous Anuradha Bhasin vs Union of India case. The apex court held that the suspension/restriction of Internet services should not be done in a disproportionate way that the degree and scope of restrictions had to be proportionate to the situation that the government was trying to address, reported the Supreme Court Observer. In order to ensure that the government does not impose such restrictions indefinitely, the court directed a review committee to undertake periodic reviews of such suspension orders. This order had come in the context of Internet restrictions imposed in Jammu & Kashmir in the aftermath of the abrogation of its special status. Further to the order, although some restrictions were eased, 4G mobile Internet services remained suspended in J&K. A batch of petitions was then filed in the Supreme Court seeking restoration of 4G mobile Internet, especially in light of the Covid-19 pandemic, it added.

Clearly, shutting down access to the Internet is fast becoming the go-to measure for those in power, across the world, cutting across the ideological spectrum. This reflects on the state of governance.

As ordinary citizens, one must ask questions. Is there credible evidence that shutting down access to the Internet solves the problems it is meant to deal with? Is there a rigorous cost-benefit analysis of this measure in India? Those in power must be reminded that such disruptions extract a heavy price from ordinary people  ordinary consumers, local traders, and small and medium-sized businesses that rely on online access for payments, consumer access, delivery, and much more.
by Mathias Hariyadi

The Indonesian president closed the meeting of Southeast Asian nations at the seaside resort of Labuan Bajo. He stressed that dialogue with Myanmars military rulers does not imply recognising the regime. He highlighted economic challenges the regional bloc faces and stressed the need to prevent external interference.

Jakarta (AsiaNews)  Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo officially closed yesterday evening the 42nd summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Human trafficking and violence in Myanmar topped the agenda of the two-day meeting held in Labuan Bajo, a seaside resort town on Flores Island, in the eastern province of Nusa Tenggara.

With Indonesian Defence Minister Retno Marsudi and Secretary of State Minister Pratikno at his side, President Widodo proclaimed the regional summit a success.

I strongly hope that ASEAN will be tough enough to face various challenges ahead and still keep maintaining its (economic) strength in the region, he said.

With all the leaders of ASEAN member countries present, except for Myanmars military ruler and Thailands prime minister, who is running for re-election, the Indonesian president described the regional body as a big family:

For Widodo, Unity among ASEAN countries is very important as we are called to achieve regional objectives in common  implementing our efforts together to achieve our common goal to become an epicentre of growth (in the world) and make our people in the region live in harmony, peace and prosperity.

Speaking about human trafficking, especially involving criminal networks using online platforms, the Indonesian leaders urged fellow ASEAN leaders to pay serious attention to these humanitarian issues and bring all offenders to justice.

The issue took centre stage in the Philippines recently when it came to light that bogus job offers duped hundreds of jobseekers into travelling to the country where they were held against their will and forced to take part in scams at the expense of people in Europe and North America.

In its final declaration, the regional organisation also condemned the recent attack on an ASEAN convoy that was delivering humanitarian aid in Myanmar.

Based on the so-called five-point consensus' among ASEAN nations, violence in Myanmar can no longer be tolerated, Widodo said. We are called to engage with all stakeholders in the region, as ASEAN's inclusiveness should be maintained even when it is at risk.

Yet, despite all their diplomatic activity, ASEAN members have failed to change the course of Myanmars civil war after the military ousted the government led by Aung San Suu Kyi on 1 February 2021, sparking a brutal conflict has raged ever since.

Indonesia, Jokowi explained, is ready to discuss with Myanmars ruling generals ways to resolve the humanitarian issue. But "Engagement does not mean recognising the military junta, he said. Communicating with them does not necessarily mean recognising their power," he added.

The Indonesian leader also highlighted regional unity as a source of strength against the interference of external powers. "It is pretty clear, he said, that our unity is undeniably important, as without it our regional group would be easily disrupted (by others). I am quite sure none of the ASEAN leaders want that to happen.

Finally, regional partnership and cooperation should be implemented taking into account various challenges and actions that need to be coordinated. This includes a regional currency for enhanced financial transactions and digitally performed financial payments, Widodo explained.

This point is in accordance with ASEANs objective of becoming an epicentre of growth and make the regional grouping more and more independent, he added.
Accused of "subversion" for promoting a website critical of the Beijing leadership. On the World Forum for Constitutional Democracy, the dissident published articles considered "inflammatory". His sister spoke of a "shameful" sentence because it hit those fighting against "injustice".

Beijing (AsiaNews) - Chinese authorities have sentenced long-time pro-human rights activist Guo Feixiong to eight years in prison on charges of "subversion" for promoting a website critical of Beijing's leadership and advocating a country based on "constitutional democracy".

Yang Maoping told Radio Free Asia (Rfa), judges of the Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court found 56-year-old brother Yang Maodong - known by the nickname Guo Feixiong - guilty of 'inciting subversion of state powers'.

The reference is to the publication in 2020 of an online portal called the "World Forum for Constitutional Democracy", the sister continued, in which he published and relaunched articles deemed "incendiary". The eight-year sentence is 'a shameful act', because it affects those who fight 'against injustice' or only make 'simple demands'.

In January 2021, police had arrested Guo at Shanghai's Pudong airport while he was trying to board a plane to the United States. The dissident wanted to join his wife Zhang Qing who was ill with cancer and expatriate for treatment; she died early the following year, never to see her husband again. He has long fought for human rights in China, ever since the 1989 Tiananmen protests when the regime massacred thousands of students demanding freedom and democracy.

Arrested for the first time in 2006, Guo spent 11 years in prison; in 2013, the authorities jailed him for calling on the government to ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. In December 2015, he issued a prophecy against the Chinese Communist Party: 'By continuing to condemn democrats and justice seekers,' he said, 'you will only make them stronger, accelerating your downfall'.

The dissident had been released from prison in August 2019, subjected, however, to constant police scrutiny, and during his imprisonment - in which he waged a hunger strike for months that debilitated his physique - he was subjected to heavy torture. To stem the weight loss, the prison authorities force-fed him with a nasal tube.

Commenting on the new sentence, comrade and activist Zhu Chengzhi emphasises that a long prison sentence such as the one imposed on Guo effectively amounts to a 'death sentence' given the deterioration of his health due to the prolonged hunger strike.

"The authorities," he charges, "have imposed the death penalty on him" because the prolonged abstinence from food has caused "enormous damage to his health". Zhu concludes, "I fear that Guo Feixiong will not live to see the day of his release."
After a lull of a few hours, rocket attacks from the Strip resumed this morning. The Jerusalem region was also targeted. Israel responded with fresh airstrikes, putting on hold ceasefire talks in Cairo. At least 30 Palestinians are dead and 90 wounded; one Israeli is killed in Rehovot.

Jerusalem (AsiaNews) - Sirens sounded again late this morning in Israel as more rockets streamed over from the Gaza Strip. Israel responded again with airstrikes against targets in the Palestinian territory. The exchange broke the relative calm that had prevailed overnight.

"Life has been paralysed in Gaza and the whole area, said Father Gabriel Romanelli, speaking to AsiaNews.

With violence growing and the spiral of violence showing no sign of abating, Many are just left waiting for a truce, a pause, explained the Argentine clergyman, a member of the Incarnate Word, who serves as the parish priest at the Holy Family parish church in Gaza.

Yesterday we experienced particularly strong exchanges, which then stopped. Some thought it was a truce, others said no way. The fact remains that we live in limbo, waiting for developments, with life put on hold, schools closed.

Palestinian sources reported new attacks near Rafah, in southern Gaza, but no casualties or injuries have been reported.

Israeli responded with airstrikes after more than 15 rockets were launched from Gaza into southern Israel, after a pause of almost 13 hours that led to speculation that the military escalation might be on pause if not an actual ceasefire.

After the rockets crossed into Israel, sirens sounded in the Jewish settlements near Gush Etzion in the West Bank, Beit Shemesh near Jerusalem and towns near the border with the Strip.

In the current round of fighting between Israel and Islamic Jihad (so far Hamas, which governs Gaza, has remained silent), this is the first time that rockets have been launched against Beit Shemesh and the settlements of Elazar, Efrat, Neveh Daniel, Rosh Tzurim, Alon Shvut and Bat Ayin.

"We are fine and going on with our lives as much as possible, Fr Romanelli said. Religious services are celebrated, like the rosary, that we broadcast via the Internet so that more faithful can follow.

Now I am going to bring communion to the elderly and the sick, then we will continue with the apostolate by phone, calling our parishioners one by one to know how they are doing, if they need anything, from food to practical help. We hope that all this can end soon, but who knows.

Meanwhile, Egypt is busy trying to negotiate a truce hoping for constructive talks with the parties. To this end, Muhammed al-Hindi, head of Islamic Jihads political department, is in Cairo. "We hope to reach an honourable agreement that reflects the interests of our people and the resistance," he told AFP.

Following the latest rocket fire from Gaza, a senior diplomatic source said Israel has broken off talks and pledged a significant response. And if we need to escalate, well do it, the source added.

Sources at the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza report at least 30 deaths, including children, and five senior Islamic Jihad officials, and 90 injured by the escalation of violence that broke out on Tuesday.

In Israel, the Iron Dome missile defence system failed to stop every rocket out of the almost 900 fired in recent days; those that made it through fell on residential areas, killing one person, a resident of Rehovot, a city south of Tel Aviv.
Today's headlines: Muhammad Ince withdraws from the presidential race in Turkey, another opportunity for the anti-Erdogan front. Hong Kong has decided that the chief executive can decide whether to exclude foreign lawyers from national security cases. In Malaysia, the Islamist PAS party does not want the Coldplay concert. For prisoner mobilisation in Ukraine, Russia bans sentence discounts.

PAKISTAN

After the Supreme Court ruled the arrest of former premier Imran Khan illegal, supporters of the Pakistan Tehreek-e- Insaf (PTI) announced a march to the capital Islamabad in solidarity with their leader. In response, the Pakistani police, who have so far harshly suppressed the protests, passed an emergency order to prevent the gatherings.

HONG KONG

The Hong Kong Legislative Council (LegCo) unanimously passed a bill allowing the city's chief executive to decide whether foreign lawyers can take part in cases involving the National Security Act. The approval comes after Jimmy Lai, founder of the Apple Daily newspaper, which closed in 2020, had repeatedly tried to have himself defended in court by a British lawyer.

MALAYSIA

A politician belonging to the Islamist party Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) who had called for the cancellation of Coldplay's concert, scheduled for November this year, was harshly criticised by the local government's Development Minister, Nga Kor Ming, who confirmed that Malaysia would welcome the British band. "Does the government want to cultivate a culture of hedonism and perversion in this country?", Nasrudin Hassan had written on Facebook, adding that the concert will not benefit "religion, race and country".

PHILIPPINES

A Philippine court has exonerated former Senator Leila de Lima, 63, who was imprisoned during the Duterte administration for criticising the former president's 'war on drugs'. Remained in prison for six years, she had first been charged with colluding with drug gangs in 2017, just months after launching a Senate investigation into the crackdown on illicit drugs, during which thousands of users and dealers were killed by police.

TURKEY

The withdrawal from the presidential race just three days before the election of Muhammad Ince, a CHP splinter who was running as an independent, sent Turkey's main stock index up by 6% while polls show 43.7% support for current President Recep Tayyip Erdogan against 49.3% for the main opposition leader, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, who has promised to reverse the unorthodox economic policies implemented so far.

RUSSIA

Russian courts systematically refuse early release and sentence discounts to prisoners, due to the mass recruitment of prisoners for the war in Ukraine, including for labour-power needs in the camps. In 2022, out of 60,000 requests, only a little over 10,000 were granted.

CENTRAL ASIA

The Geographical Societies of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, Uzbekistan and Hungary have signed an agreement for the creation of a Geographical Council of the Turkic Countries, the Kazinform news agency reports, at a solemn joint ceremony in Tashkent, where the office, headed for three years by Uzbek Ojbek Norinbaev, will be based.
by Vladimir Rozanskij

New mines are constantly being opened in Russia, without too much concern about the environmental impact. Already in 2021 Russia was producing 346 tonnes of gold, exporting 87% of the precious metal. And today, Deputy Finance Minister Aleksej Moiseev declares that 'gold bars must replace foreign currency', which is now unaffordable.

Moscow (AsiaNews) - While the damage caused by gold mining is being debated all over the world, new mines are constantly being searched for and opened in Russia. The ecological damage from the exploitation of gold deposits is of a level that is difficult to calculate, and because of the worsening environmental conditions, people are forced to leave the mining areas, where teams of miners and prospecting groups are flocking. The costs are loaded onto the federal budget, and the money all ends up in state projects, starting with war projects, without bringing any benefit to local people.

In February 2023, a study was published by the University of Oxford, authored by Steven Lezak, a lecturer in the School of Business and Environmental Protection, showing the need to reduce gold mining. And this is not only because of the ecological damage, but also for economic reasons: the precious metal can be obtained through laboratory operations, at least for the needs of medicine and industry.

According to the scholar, 'the ecological costs of the mining industry are more evident today than ever before, and the gold industry stands out for the intensity of its harmful action'. Unlike fuels, which at least heat houses and produce electricity, gold production only causes extremely harmful effects on people's daily lives. Gold mines expel 'more greenhouse gases than all scheduled flights between European countries', Lezak assures.

Mining requires chemical reagents such as cyanide, which pollutes the surrounding soil, groundwater and even open water reservoirs. A cyanide concentration of one microgram per litre can be deadly for fish. In many countries, mercury is used for gold mining, which is necessary for the amalgamation process, and in general the gold industry produces almost 40% of the world's mercury waste, which is why thousands of miners suffer from chronic intoxication.

With all this, only 7% of the gold mined worldwide is used for the needs of industry, technological development and medicine, with the rest going to bank vaults and jewellery stores. One of the world's largest owners of gold remains the US government, with reserves worth USD 11 billion. Since 2010, the World Bank has invested over 800 million dollars in gold mines in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Pacific Islands.

If gold mining were to stop, Lezak assures us, it would not restrict its trade; on the contrary, it would increase the reserves, which are sufficient to guarantee all kinds of international operations. At present, almost a quarter of the world's annual gold demand is guaranteed by secondary processing, where no mercury is used, and no negative ecological burden is added.

In 2021, Russia produced 346 tonnes of gold, exporting 87% of the precious metal, which now more than ever protects it from the constraints of international sanctions. Annual earnings exceed USD 18 billion, almost 8% of all export earnings. With these figures, Russia ranks fifth in the world's gold reserves, and third among mining countries, exploiting the infinite resources of its Asian territory, which is difficult to excavate and has little respect for its environmental integrity.

In late 2022, Deputy Finance Minister Aleksej Moiseev declared that 'gold bars must replace foreign currency', which is now inaccessible to Russian finances. He reports the demand for gold on the international market has increased at least sevenfold in the past year. The gold war threatens the planet even more than drones and bombs.
Best Linen Suits

These Linen Suits Will Save Your Life in the Summer Heat

The AskMen editorial team thoroughly researches & reviews the best gear, services and staples for life. AskMen may get paid if you click a link in this article and buy a product or service.

Summer means beaches, long nights and late mornings, but it also means wedding season, and for a great many men who find dressing up uncomfortable even in the colder months, that can be an absolute nightmare. Thankfully, theres a solution to your sartorial woes: linen.

Linen is one of natures miracle fabrics, offering both light weight and extreme breathability, so you can keep your body cool even when youre listening to friends exchange their vows in direct sunlight. Linen even has some natural moisture-wicking properties, so you wont have to worry about sweat stains. It isnt all upside, though: linen is notoriously wrinkle-prone, so you will have to take care of your linen suits between weddings.

RELATED: Best Terry Cloth Polos

All of that said, if youre in the market for a versatile, comfortable suit that can take you from a formal wedding to a night out at the bar, weve got some great options for you to choose from, across a wide variety of prices.

Hugo Boss Slim-Fit Jacket in a Micro-Patterned Linen Blend

A good linen blazer opens up all kinds of sartorial options for summer. Case in point: this slim-fit jacket from Hugo Boss. You can dress it up with dark pants or dress it down with chinos, but either way this single-breasted was purpose-built to keep you cool in a heat wave. It has ventilated sides for better airflow, notched lapels and kissing buttons on the cuff, as well as a plethora of pockets, all of which make this jacket as functional as it is stylish.



A good linen blazer opens up all kinds of sartorial options for summer. Case in point: this slim-fit jacket from Hugo Boss. You can dress it up with dark pants or dress it down with chinos, but either way this single-breasted was purpose-built to keep you cool in a heat wave. It has ventilated sides for better airflow, notched lapels and kissing buttons on the cuff, as well as a plethora of pockets, all of which make this jacket as functional as it is stylish.

$595 at HugoBoss.com

Todd Snyder Italian Linen Suit in Safari Tan

The relaxed styling, slim fit, and 100% Italian linen all contribute to make this suit from Todd Snyder a summer staple. Wear it to the office, weddings, cocktail parties or even backyard BBQs, because even men who hate wearing suits will find this lightweight, breathable option a treat for their skin. The fabric comes from the famed Subalpino Mill in Italy but is woven and assembled with care in Portugal, resulting in a quality you can feel.





$1,050 at ToddSnyder.com

Banana Republic Nolan Linen Suit

If you want a great budget option, look no further than Banana Republic. Their Nolan suit is made from ultra-soft delave linen, offering rich hues and woven textures that dont in the least diminish this suits comfort. The interior is only semi-lined, to keep weight down, and theres a handy vertical vent in the back to allow for maximum air flow.





Jacket  $380 at BananaRepublic.Gap.com

Pants  $200 at BananaRepublic.Gap.com



J. Crew Ludlow Slim-Fit Linen Suit

Another great low-cost option, the J. Crew Ludlow is made from Irish cotton-linen and deliberately unstructured, for a more casual look. Its lightweight, unpadded and available in three great summer colors  Blue Glen, Cream and Deep Water, and for this price you might even opt to buy multiple pairs, so you can enjoy the comfort and style throughout the summer season.



Another great low-cost option, the J. Crew Ludlow is made from Irish cotton-linen and deliberately unstructured, for a more casual look. Its lightweight, unpadded and available in three great summer colors  Blue Glen, Cream and Deep Water, and for this price you might even opt to buy multiple pairs, so you can enjoy the comfort and style throughout the summer season.

Jacket  From $189.50 at JCrew.com

Pants  $89.99 at JCrew.com

Ralph Lauren Hadley Silk-Linen Suit

Looking for something a bit more upscale? Ralph Lauren weaves an incredible silk-linen blend, stylish and comfortable and soft to the touch, and theres no greater proof of that than their Hadley suit. Its available in three cuts and five colors (Navy, Light Navy, Light Cream, Dusty Pink and Dark Sea Foam), and boasts some clever design elements that help you beat the worst of the summer heat, starting with the lightweight fabric and extending to the double vent design. One important note: the cuffs have been left unfinished, allowing you to visit your tailor and choose your preferred sleeve length.



Looking for something a bit more upscale? Ralph Lauren weaves an incredible silk-linen blend, stylish and comfortable and soft to the touch, and theres no greater proof of that than their Hadley suit. Its available in three cuts and five colors (Navy, Light Navy, Light Cream, Dusty Pink and Dark Sea Foam), and boasts some clever design elements that help you beat the worst of the summer heat, starting with the lightweight fabric and extending to the double vent design. One important note: the cuffs have been left unfinished, allowing you to visit your tailor and choose your preferred sleeve length.

Jacket  $1,995 at RalphLauren.com

Pants  $595 at RalphLauren.com

Alex Mill Mercer Blazer in Linen

If you want distinctive good looks and supreme comfort but dont have a few thousand dollars to drop on clothing, never fear: Alex Mill offers high fashion at great prices. Their 100% linen Mercer blazer and pant combo proves our point, offering a lightweight and comfortable suit choice thats versatile enough to wear to a wedding while still possessing the kind of casual flair that will make you stand out at a bar on a hot summer night. We especially dig the contrasting white buttons and exposed stitching.



If you want distinctive good looks and supreme comfort but dont have a few thousand dollars to drop on clothing, never fear: Alex Mill offers high fashion at great prices. Their 100% linen Mercer blazer and pant combo proves our point, offering a lightweight and comfortable suit choice thats versatile enough to wear to a wedding while still possessing the kind of casual flair that will make you stand out at a bar on a hot summer night. We especially dig the contrasting white buttons and exposed stitching.

Jacket  $225 at AlexMill.com

Pants  $185 at AlexMill.com

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State Councilor and Foreign Minister of China Qin Gang's maiden visit to Pakistan strengthens the robust partnership

10:49, May 12, 2023 By Qaiser Nawab ( People's Daily Online

The dynamic duo of China and Pakistan continues to forge ahead as Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang made his first official visit to Pakistan on May 5 to 6, 2023. The visit was more than just a routine meeting, as it covered a comprehensive agenda focused on strengthening the already robust partnership between the two nations.

One of the highlights of the visit was the Fourth Round of China-Pakistan Foreign Ministers Strategic Dialogue, co-chaired by the "Iron brothers, trusted friends and enduring partners for peace and development. This meeting marks yet another significant milestone in the ever-growing friendship between China and Pakistan.

At the strategic dialogue, despite major regional and global changes, the two sides reiterated the strengthening of mutual relations. Acknowledging a decade of Chinas Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)  a development and investment initiative focusing on shared destiny the All-Weather Strategic Cooperative Partners agreed on the continued extension of support on issues affecting the core interests of both nations. Both sides reviewed the progress related to the strategically important China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), including the development of the Gawadar port, in Pakistan. The Chinese side acknowledged Pakistans efforts to safeguard the security of Chinese nationals and their interests in Pakistan, and also hoped for further cooperation in this regard. Counterterrorism efforts were discussed and both nations agreed on the need for regional peace, especially in Afghanistan.

Pakistan offered its full support to the global aspiration of China, through its various global initiatives which include, among other things, the Global Development Initiative (GDI), Global Security Initiative (GSI), and Global Civilization Initiative (GCI). Both sides expressed their willingness to advance coordination in these areas on multiple levels. The two sides are ready to advance cooperation on the GDI and GSI bilaterally and in multilateral fora to achieve sustainable development and the shared aspirations of a prosperous and progressive world.

During the visit, Qin attended the Fifth China-Pakistan-Afghanistan Foreign Ministers Dialogue in Islamabad on May 6. At the trilateral dialogue, all three sides vowed to strengthen their cooperation in multiple sectors including the political, economic, strategic, and cultural domains. The meeting also aimed to initiate a discourse on how to effectively tackle the blooming terrorist sanctuaries in the region. This dialogue came at a crucial time as it followed the very important meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) that discussed terrorism and regional peace and security.

For China, some core interest areas were security and political cooperation as China highlighted major concerns over recent multiple targeted attacks on Chinese nationals in Pakistan. This has had a direct impact on the economic and defense partnership between the two regions. As for the third member of the dialogue, Afghanistans geo-strategic placement makes it a key transit route for South and Central Asian nations. Its mineral resources have also been largely untapped so far and all these factors make Afghanistan a lucrative investment opportunity for the ever-expanding Belt and Road Initiative.

Building on this momentum and Chinese resoluteness for regional peace and security, this was the third important meeting on Afghanistan that Qin attended in less than a month. On April 13, 2023, Qin chaired the second informal meeting on Afghanistan between the Foreign Ministers of China, Russia, Pakistan, and Iran. He also attended the Fourth Foreign Ministers Meeting among the Neighboring Countries of Afghanistan in Samarkand on April 13. These are multiple angles to look at these developments including strategically and diplomatically. Ever since the launch of the Global Security Initiative (GSI), China has increased its engagements toward achieving a peaceful neighborhood to support its Global Development Initiative (GDI).

The recent diplomatic breakthrough between Saudi Arabia and Iran with Chinese mediation has boosted their confidence and amplified their aspirations to play a bigger role in global geopolitics. After the withdrawal of the US troops from Afghanistan, the engagement of the West in Afghanistan is limited to humanitarian assistance and is constantly engaging in coercive measures to deal with the interim Afghan government. On the other side, the Chinese approach is more inclusive and far-reaching. China believes that supporting the interim Afghan government with efforts of reconstruction and development is important for building an inclusive government within Afghanistan and for building friendly relations with neighboring countries and fighting terrorism.

About the author:

Qaiser Nawab is a Pakistani expert on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Afghanistan, South and Central Asia.

(Web editor: Hongyu, Wu Chengliang)
Cheong Seung-il, CEO of KEPCO, speaks during a presentation on the state-run utility company's self-recovery efforts to reduce its deficit at its headquarters in Naju, South Jeolla Province, Friday. The CEO also announced his resignation as CEO, taking responsibility for KEPCO's losses. Courtesy of KEPCO



State utility firm suffers operating loss of W6.1 tril. in 1st quarter



By Baek Byung-yeul



Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) CEO Cheong Seung-il offered to resign, Friday, due to snowballing losses as the state-run utility company has been unable to raise electricity prices, despite soaring global energy costs.



In addition, KEPCO also announced measures to streamline its operations before the government raises the price of electricity next week, saying it will sell non-essential assets and freeze wages for employees to save over 25.7 trillion won ($19.3 billion) by 2026.



"I would like to resign as CEO of KEPCO. For the time being, KEPCO will be operated under an emergency management system," Cheong said while unveiling KEPCO's rescue plan at the company's headquarters in Naju, South Jeolla Province.



"They will ensure stable operations during the summer, a period of increased demand for electricity, and will make every effort to prevent safety accidents at worksites."



The CEO has been under political pressure to step down and take responsibility for KEPCO's accumulated operating losses, amounting to nearly 40 trillion won.



He added that an increase in the price of electricity is inevitable if KEPCO is to normalize operations.



"If electricity bill prices fall far short of the purchase price and the normalization of rates is delayed, it will have a significant impact on the overall economy, disrupting the stable supply of electricity and the financial market and causing unrest in the energy industry ecosystem. In light of this, I sincerely ask for the public's deep understanding regarding the inevitability of raising their electricity bills," he said.



In addition to his offer to resign, KEPCO announced a plan to reduce its operating costs by 5.6 trillion won by 2026. The plan includes selling or leasing buildings deemed unnecessary assets and reducing the number of regional offices. Employees at the team leader level and above will fully refund their wage increases, after consultations with the labor union.



This is an additional cost reduction move following its plan announced last year to reduce operating costs by 20.1 trillion won over the next five years. Overall, KEPCO aims to save more than 25 trillion won by 2026.



With the announcement of KEPCO's rescue plan, it remains to be seen whether the government will decide to raise electricity prices.



The People Power Party is expected to hold a meeting early next week to review the effectiveness of KEPCO's rescue plan and then decide on the price increase.



The government is expected to raise the rate by 7 won per kilowatt-hour (kWh). This is a 5 percent increase from the current rate of 146 won per kWh, and is expected to cost an average household of four, using 307 kWh per month, about 2,400 won more per month.


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The Roaring Fork Transportation Authority aims to start renovations of the former Rodeway Inn in West Glenwood Springs later this year for employee housing. RFTA acquired the former motel last year. It will convert the 42 short-term rooms into studio apartments.
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Adam Larson is a contributor to Writers on the Range (writersontherange.org), an independent nonprofit dedicated to spurring lively conversation about the West. He is a former editor of the Wyoming Dinosaur Centers newsletter.
LS Cable & System's workers check undersea cables on a vessel at a port near its business site in Donghae, Gangwon Province, March 28. Newsis





By Kim Jae-heun







LS Cable & System (LS C&S) has won a lawsuit against Dutch construction company Boskalis over its unilateral cancellation of a contract and will receive 11.7 billion won ($8.77 million) in compensation, the company said Friday.







According to LS Holdings' report filed to the Financial Supervisory Service's Data Analysis, Retrieval and Transfer System, the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) recognized Boskalis' wrongful contract termination and its impact on delaying LS C&S' project to supply submarine power cables to SP PowerAssets in Singapore. The payment is the sum of the net amount of LS C&S' additional construction fee, compensation and legal and arbitration costs.







The SIAC has dismissed all the pending cost claims and contract amount changes requested by Boskalis and only recognized the construction progress payment claim.







Earlier in 2020, LS C&S won a bid to supply undersea power cables to SP PowerAssets and signed a contract with Boskalis, which owns a cable lay barge, to conduct the cable installing construction.







The project was an opportunity for LS C&S to gain a solid edge over Chinese firms in the low-voltage cable market with its contract to supply 400 kilometers of high- and low-voltage cables to Singapore.







However, right after signing the contract with LS C&S, Boskalis terminated the agreement unilaterally. The local cable maker immediately applied to the SIAC for arbitration, but Boskalis rejected it.







Instead, the Dutch firm applied its arbitration proposal to the SIAC arguing that LS C&S should compensate for damages. In September 2020, Boskalis requested compensation of 37.24 million euros, which exchanged to 52.3 billion won at the time.







The two companies have since been engaged in a legal fight for more than two years.


EV

PHEV

As it turns out, after five glorious iterations, the Honda CR-V was indirectly replaced at home in Japan by the slightly smaller but also Civic-based ZR-V, which is the international variant of the North American HR-V. Confused? Well, no worries, as the company recently used a dedicated event in Germany to clarify things a little, and now the European lineup has welcomed the addition of not one, not two, but rather three new SUVs.As such, we are making our acquaintance with the fully electric e:Ny1 subcompact CUV , the sporty ZR-V hybrid crossover, and the sixth-generation CR-V, now available both in a hybrid and plug-in hybrid form on the Old Continent. If the hard-to-pronounce (we settled on 'Honda anyone') e:Ny1 can be alternatively viewed as theversion of the global HR-V or as the Western variant of the Chinese e:NS1, the matters are now more straightforward with the ZR-V and CR-V, as it seems that Honda will try to make them coexist in the region as peacefully as possible.Well, that remains to be seen if the desiderate can be achieved; as for now, we do not have the entire picture clear  the pricing details are still blurry. Anyway, what we know for sure is that the European CR-V is offered exclusively with electrified powertrains, as opposed to the United States, where the 1.5-liter turbo mill is also available at the expense of the e:model. As far as styling is concerned, even Honda admits there is an evolutionary design that seeks to be safe and bland rather than innovative and daring, so they are trying to "raise the bar" in other directions like technology, practicality, and everyday usability for when the compact CUV arrives on the Old Continent later this year.Oh, and do not expect any positive pricing surprises, as the automaker says the "focus on high-quality colors, materials, and fabrics throughout the cabin has elevated the CR-V more toward the premium segment," which easily translates into 'we want higher MSRPs and fatter profits.' As for the powertrain choice, both variants feature a 2.0-liter four-pot with direct injection and Atkinson cycle . The CR-V e:HEV is a full hybrid with "a power-dense lithium-ion battery and two compact, lightweight electric motors combining" with the gasoline engine  and while there is no power rating, we can expect something along the lines of the 204-hp max output as with the CR-V Hybrid from North America.Meanwhile, the flagship Honda CR-V e:PHEV is an absolute novelty for the European markets. It brings "the same lightweight and high-output on-board electric motors as its e:HEV stablemate to provide impressive acceleration, quick charge times and a highly competitive all-electric only range." The latter translates into 82 km (51 miles), which is quite an excellent rating, indeed. Additionally, a full recharge can be achieved in 2.5 hours when the appropriate conditions are met, such as a 25-degree Celsius (77 Fahrenheit) battery temperature. The all-new CR-V builds upon everything the iconic model stands for  progressive design, a premium cabin, class-leading levels of safety, practicality and comfort, and efficient and responsive performance, explained Tom Gardner, Senior Vice President at Honda Motor Europe Ltd.
.



Photo: Bob Atkins

Photo: Tesla

Photo: Tesla

Photo: Tesla

Photo: Tesla

Photo: Bob Atkins

Photo: Bob Atkins

Photo: Bob Atkins

Photo: Tesla

Photo: Hansjoerg Eberhard von Gemmingen/Twitter

If you have not read the first part of this story, give it a look when you can. It explains how the retired engineer and his mother-in-law discovered the issue, were treated by the Tesla Service Center, and concluded that fixing the Model S would be the most sensible financial decision for her at that point. Other used vehicles to the same level would be more expensive, and the 84-year-old lady did not want to take any chances.When Atkin's mother-in-law received the Tesla Service Center estimate, it offered her a single option: a new battery pack for $18,000. When labor, taxes, and other expenses were included, the repair reached $21,000. However, the engineer knew she could also have a remanufactured battery pack. It would cost her $13,500 ($15,000 for everything)."Interestingly, they never mentioned or offered a reman battery. I just knew from my research that it was an option she could have requested, but she wasn't interested in taking the risk of getting one"If you have not read the first part of this story, give it a look when you can. It explains how the retired engineer and his mother-in-law discovered the issue. She had an appointment on April 4 and "a relatively benign quote that showed a diagnostic fee, removal, and replacement of the main HV battery at a cost of about $600" on her Tesla app. It all went south pretty fast."On April 4, when she arrived at the appointed time, after they checked the car in, they did nothing to it and made her wait about 30 minutes in the lobby. It was only then that they told her that her car needed the main HV battery replaced and told her that they would need to order the replacement battery and reschedule another appointment to have the battery installed. I want to emphasize that they didn't touch the car at all before telling her this."In other words, they already knew what the issue was and how to correct it, so there was no need for her to be there in the first place. But there were other complications. As you'll remember, her car would not charge."When she arrived, the car had maybe 60 miles of range left, and she was 20 miles away from her home. They made no offer to provide any information or assistance to her at all. She was frustrated and called me to tell me what was happening and to ask me what she should do."Atkins asked to talk to the Tesla Service Center technician. He just apologized he could not help, so he asked for a supervisor. A guy named John heard the retired engineer ask, "why they made her drive there when they already knew that the HV battery needed to be replaced." The answer was that they were sorry. Atkins then asked how they expected her to drive there again with 60 miles left and no way to charge her Model S. John said that "she can always call for a tow." When the engineer explained she would have to pay for that, the Tesla supervisor said: "That's unfortunate."Atkins argued that "the least they could do" was to try and charge her car. If it didn't take a charge, she would leave it there rather than attempt to drive it back in two weeks. All he heard back was, "OK." Luckily, the car started charging there, but at a very slow rate (around 15 miles per hour). His 84-year-old mother-in-law had to wait three hours to leave with about 102 miles of range.The retired engineer asked them about the quote on the Tesla app, and John said it was incomplete, hence the relatively low value. Atkins asked for a revised quote. When it arrived, he downloaded it, realizing later that the incomplete estimate had been deleted. To avoid that with the new quote, Atkins downloaded it. He also asked for "some consideration" on the total cost. After all, it was weird to have a battery pack with such a low mileage to simply fail. The Tesla Service Center supervisor told him they would revise the case and answer in six weeks."I wasn't born yesterday. I know what they mean when they tell you to wait 4 to 6 weeks for something to be reviewed: "We hope that you will give up and go away!" The April 4 service appointment was unceremoniously closed on April 5, and the quote for the replacement battery was deleted from the service history. I'm glad that I downloaded it."That sounded another alarm for Atkins."Everyone should know that Tesla can and does delete anything it doesn't want to remain in the service history. This includes quotes, invoices, and any messages. The app is clearly designed to make it as difficult as possible for customers to retain their own service records or accumulate evidence that could be used in a dispute. It doesn't allow any messages to be saved to the customer's device  not even the ability to copy and paste any part of the message history. The only way to save the message history is by painstakingly taking screenshots as the user scrolls through the messages. While quotes and invoices can be downloaded, it isn't obvious to a non-technical person how to save them to your phone."The Tesla Service Center estimate offered her a single option: a new battery pack for $18,000. When labor, taxes, and other expenses were included, the repair reached $21,000. However, the engineer knew that she could also have a remanufactured battery pack. It would cost her $13,500 ($15,000 for everything)."Interestingly, they never mentioned or offered a reman battery. I just knew from my research that it was an option she could have requested, but she wasn't interested in taking the risk of getting one."A new appointment was scheduled for April 26. Atkins asked them several times to confirm if they had the battery pack ready for replacement, but they did not answer. His mother-in-law only learned about that when she dropped her Model S there. She had already discussed the options with the retired engineer and concluded that fixing the Model S would be the most sensible financial decision for her at that point. Other used vehicles to the same level would be more expensive, and the 84-year-old lady did not want to take any chances.With everything apparently settled, the end of the nightmare was supposed to end soon. What could go wrong, right? Believe it or not, Tesla managed to add another layer of agony to the case: it installed a remanufactured battery pack in her car without her authorization."Tesla didn't tell her that. They just called her (rather than using the app to text her) and told her that the battery had been replaced faster than they expected and that her car was ready to be picked up. This was quite a surprise since they had told her when she dropped the car off the previous day, April 26, that it wouldn't be ready until May 8! They also said that the bill had been reduced by $4,500 less than originally quoted, but they didn't say why."The engineer had to give her the bad news."I reviewed the new invoice and showed her that they were billing her for a reman battery and that this was the reason for the cost reduction. She was upset, to say the least. Again, Tesla (was) taking advantage of someone who placed trust in what my mother-in-law considered to be a trusted brand that would do as they said, not as they wanted. So, I then interceded on her behalf  hoping that perhaps this was the SC's way of giving her a discount on a new battery without a lot of management approval."It was not, but Atkins had to find that out for himself."I asked Tesla Service (via the app) to post a picture of the installed battery label. The service advisor made a few excuses and punted to the next day. The next morning, the service advisor sent a text that said: 'Howdy Bob, just getting into the office. I will be connecting with leadership, and they will be calling you to discuss the vehicle battery directly. I have been told to stay out of it. Ernesto will be calling you after noon.' This told me that they were trying to hide something. Ernesto is the general manager. So, without saying anything, I drove to the SC, found the car in the parking lot, laid down on the ground, and took the following picture."That label told the engineer all he needed to know."Not only did they install a reman battery but one that is two years older and two revisions earlier than the latest version of that part number  and then the original one that was in the car! The 1088815-01-B part number is the reman part number assigned to an original 1014114-00-B battery. The original, factory-installed battery in her car brought the -D revision (the latest that they ever made for that battery part number) and was manufactured in February 2014! I just see this as fraud, plain and simple. There is simply no excuse for installing a remanufactured part that is a two years older battery and two revisions earlier than the original battery in her car. This is why they didn't want to show a picture!"Atkins laid out what he learned from other Tesla owners who went through similar situations with their cars."Let's get something straight: Tesla does not change any battery cells in a battery pack nor upgrade it to later revisions when they 'remanufacture' a battery. They just swap out 'bad' BMS boards, fix any electrical issues, water damage , and repair any leaks. The cooling system and battery cells are not replaced or upgraded (which is impossible since the cooling system is embedded into the battery modules), and, as long as the battery pack passes some QA test, they go right back out the door into some poor schmuck's car for $13,500 plus installation costs!"In his opinion, it is even worse than it looks because Tesla does not give these owners the option to keep the defective battery pack "The most egregious part of the reman battery swindle is that Tesla steals the battery from one owner's car without compensating them for it and then sells that very same battery after having done minimal work on it to another owner for $13,500! This is a massively profitable theft! Nowhere on any work order or quote is there any mention of a core value for the original battery. Yet, if an owner asks to keep their battery, Tesla turns around and insists on charging the owner $10,000  to keep their own battery!"Even if the battery pack could not be remanufactured, Tesla could use it as a source of raw materials. Companies like Redwood Materials are dying to get these used battery packs and recycle them. JB Straubel, the founder of Redwood Materials , has recently joined Tesla's board of directors, which makes that even more evident."Granted, hardly anyone is going to be able to deal with keeping a 1,200-pound battery. However, consider that there is a residual value that Tesla should be applying to a replacement battery  not the other way around! Tesla is able to keep the battery they remove and to resell it to someone else  so there is massive residual value there that is being stolen from the original battery's owner."To add insult to injury, Atkins is still concerned about another common issue with early Model S units: the electric motor. The retired engineer learned from other owners that they tend to die due to design flaws, something I already discussed here when I wrote about the Tesla with the most mileage to date. Hansjorg von Gemmingen had to replace the drive unit in his one-million-mile Model S "11 or 12 times." Atkins fears the motor in his mother-in-law's Model S can die all of a sudden, as others have: it has never been replaced."Should it fail, she would be facing another $6,500 to $7,500 bill. Granted, she isn't heavy-footed when driving, so, for now, the DU is a fingers-crossed concern that hopefully won't fail anytime soon."Supposing nothing else goes wrong, the experience so far made Atkins sum everything up this way:"The utter indifference, disrespect, dishonesty, and incompetence that has been so blatantly displayed by not one but two different Tesla Service Centers is beyond pitiful for a so-called high-end brand of a car company. Everyone should know that there is absolutely zero accountability for a Tesla Service Center at the corporate level. The highest position that a customer can communicate with is the general manager of any given Service Center, and his allegiance is obvious. Tesla has done everything it can to build an impenetrable fortress around its corporate personnel. This is not by accident: this is by design, and it has resulted in the complete lack of any accountability for individual Service Centers, which has emboldened them to do as they wish with impunity."While there are some more chapters to this legitimate automotive soap opera, I'll leave them to a third and final article that you should read soon. It is essential not only to add some more of Atkins's discoveries and theories but also to connect the dots with previous stories I wrote about failing Tesla battery packs. I'm sure you also want to learn how the engineer and his mother-in-law expect this to end.
The first-ever sport utility vehicle from the Cavallino Rampante currently has a two-plus-year waitlist, and Ferrari also happens to be on the bleeding edge of plug-in hybridization with the likes of the three-motor, V8-powered SF90 series. The 296 series also deserves attention because of its twin-turbocharged V6, which outputs 654 ponies from a displacement of 3.0 liters.Does it come as a surprise that Ferrari delivered 13,221 vehicles last year, a new record in the Italian automaker's long and illustrious history? Also worthy of asking, does it come as a surprise that Ferrari still hasn't caught up to Red Bull in Formula 1? But more importantly, can you believe that Ferrari NV has reached a market capitalization of 53 billion euros? That means $57.5 billion at current exchange rates, making the Prancing Horse more valuable than General Motors.Think about it for a minute. A company started by Enzo to satisfy his love for all things motorsport is worth more than the biggest automaker of the Big Three in Detroit. Speaking of which, the Ford Motor Company is currently going for $47.7 billion. As for Chrysler, a.k.a. Stellantis NV after the cross-border merger with Groupe PSA (Peugeot and Citroen), that'd be $48.25 billion.As you're well aware, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles used to own Ferrari until 2015, when the Agnelli family decided to spin it off into its own thing. Back then, when the Prancing Horse was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in October 2015, it was worth $10 billion.Today, the single largest shareholder in the company is a Dutch holding company. Exor NV, that is, which is controlled by wait for it the Agnelli family. Ferrari is very transparent about the shareholders' structure, with the automaker listing Exor NV at 22.44 percent of outstanding common shares. Other big players are Trust Piero Ferrari (10.39 percent), the very controversial BlackRock (5.69 percent), and T. Rowe Price Associates (4.48 percent). Other public shareholders own 55 percent of the outstanding common shares.Back in February 2023, when the Prancing Horse published 2022 sales and financial information, Ferrari also revealed that it's launching four new automobiles in 2023. The first came in the form of the Roma Spider, a front-engine V8 grand tourer that replaces the Portofino M. The second will soon be unveiled as the more hardcore version of the SF90 Stradale. Codenamed F173VS and referred to as Versione Special, the mid-engine V8 plug-in hybrid supercar is certain to lap Fiorano quicker than every other road-legal Fezza.The 812-replacing F167 has recently been spied with production bodywork, which leads us to believe that its debut is due by the end of the year. As for the final entry, your guess is as good as ours. Don't expect the plug-in hybrid V6-powered F250 hypercar, though, because that one's believed to launch in late 2024.
Muscleman meets muscle machine

Photo: Mecum

Here comes the Judge again

Photo: Mecum

Photo: Mecum

Cena is returning to fill the shoes of Toretto's lil bro Jakob in the upcoming 'Fast X' film releasing next week. It will also be around this time that the 'Fast and Furious' actor's '69 Pontiac GTO will be reprising its role as an auction piece. Unlike the base GTO of this era, the Judge variant carried all the extra goodies, including a rear spoiler, distinctive handlebar Hurst shifter, and signature decals, among others.Standard models sported a 6.6-liter eight-cylinder engine rated at 350 horsepower, while the Judge variant received the upgraded Ram Air IV V8 power plant producing 370 horsepower. Opting for the Judge package at the time would've added another $337 to your total bill; keep in mind this was in the 60s, translating to about a $3,000 plus premium. What you get, however, is essentially a stripped-down, performance-focused GTO featuring the lineup's top-of-the-line motor and the title of actor Sammy Davis Jr.'s iconic TV persona.General Motors limited the production of this specific Pontiac GTO Judge engine combo to only 239 examples for the '69 year model, making each unit as rare as they are brawny. For such a legendary nameplate, it's no wonder Cena went to great lengths to have his second-generation Carousel Red GTO Judge restored. While the actor's efforts finally paid off once the old GTO was brought back to life, not everyone was digging the results of its restoration.Earning the title of John Cena 's favorite car isn't easy, especially for an auto enthusiast known for having an eclectic collection of cars ranging from European exotics to Japanese tuners. Of course, it's equally difficult for a certified muscleman like Cena not to have a thing for American muscle cars. The GTO judge, in particular, holds a special place in the celebrity wrestler's heart. In the late 2000s, Cena took his own second-generation GTO to a shop where it began its restoration journey. The WWE star even kept track of the restoration process, taking pictures and documenting multiple stages of the car's bodywork and re-upholstery.Cena evidently held the car in high regard, with the  Fast and Furious  star even hailing the Judge variant as the best model in his collection at one point. In an interview, Cena lauded the GTO Judge's wild design, saying it looked fast from its aesthetics alone. In 2022, Cena's revamped Pontiac went to an online auction site but failed to sell after its reserve price wasn't met  bidding maxed out at $97,000. A commenter on the same listing claimed that its highest bid reached $130,000 in a previous auction, yet it still didn't sell.Given that a similar example was sold within the same year for $143,000, you might think Cena's GTO had a similar reserve price at the time. But now, it seems like the car owned by the popular Peacemaker himself is expected to sell higher than past bidders were willing to pay... much higher.When Cena's GTO was previously auctioned, several comments on its listing expressed hesitance over bidding for it after pointing out numerous flaws regarding its panel fitment. Some described its panel alignment as "horrible," while others believed it needed more work to be deemed a Concours-worthy build. Out of 65 bids, nobody was willing to take Cena's ride to six figures, with some citing fears over paying ludicrous amounts for its upkeep as reasons to avoid it altogether.Although some buyers might see this Pontiac's imperfections as factors holding back its price, they can also lead to making it even more valuable. Take its engine, for example. What makes the actor's '69 GTO Judge original Ram Air IV V8 engine different from the rest is how its serial was 129 numbers apart from its chassis VIN. The number mismatch was allegedly due to a factory error, making it quite a special case. So, what's the expected price for this flawed yet unique example formerly owned by a leading 'Fast X' cast mate? Well, the iconic Judge is estimated to sell for about $250,000 to $300,000 this time around.Considering the '69 Judge's restoration expenses alone amounted to $100,000 already, it shouldn't be surprising why its previous five-figure top bid wasn't enough to seal the deal. Fortunately for bidders on a tight budget, it's still possible to nab Cena's pre-owned GTO for under six figures as it will now have no reserve price  that means it will simply go to the highest bidder. Bidding for Cena's former muscle mobile will start from May 12 to 20. Anyone willing to pick it up by then can probably drive it just in time for the 'Fast X' world premiere dropping on May 19. Wouldn't it be sweet to roll up at the theaters in a ride that used to be owned by one of the Torettos? Jakob would be proud.
DCT

The Raging Bull of Sant'Agata Bolognese has recently confirmed that all remaining allocations have been spoken for. In other words, you can't place an order for the Huracan unless someone cancels their firm order.As per the press release attached below, in which Lamborghini acknowledges the sold-out condition, the Italian automaker delivered 2,623 vehicles in the first quarter of 2023. Most of them were SUVs, with the Urus clocking 1,599 units. The Huracan came in second.Following in the footsteps of the Aventador-succeeding Revuelto, the Huracan's replacement will also switch to plug-in hybrid assistance. It's highly probable for Lamborghini to electrify the vehicle's front end in lieu of the Huracan's mechanical all-wheel-drive system.The center tunnel  a.k.a. transmission tunnel in most cars  is expected to house the high-voltage battery. Out back, it wouldn't come as a surprise if Lamborghini were to position the dual-clutch gearbox transversely. In the Revuelto, the fast-shifting transmission is located right behind the naturally-aspirated V12. The Revuelto further sweetens the deal with three drive units, namely two up front and one motor located above theAlthough unconfirmed, we all know that Lamborghini doesn't have a good reason to keep the good ol' V10 alive. Volkswagen Group subsidiary Audi made it clear that the R8 is going the way of the dodo, although said nameplate may come back in the form of an electric supercar. Keeping the V10 alive would also hinder the Revuelto, which is  very likely  the final naturally-aspirated Lamborghini entitled to wear a license plate.Chief executive officer Stephan Winkelmann said that we should prepare for a plug-in hybrid replacement of the Huracan, whereas chief technical officer Rouven Mohr said the following: between six and 12 cylinders. That suggests downsizing and forced induction. Multiple publications reported on a possible twin-turbocharged V8 with a displacement of 4.0 liters, a different V8 from the Audi-Porsche lump of the Urus.Motor Trend understands that said engine is capable of 10,000 revolutions per minute, which is a bit ludicrous for a twin-turbo design. Even more ludicrous, the turbos allegedly kick in at 7,000 revolutions per minute.Whatever the engineers may be working on, Lamborghini won't disappoint. It simply cannot do it, given how impressive the Ferrari 296 is. Even though it features a twin-turbo V6, the plug-in hybrid Prancing Horse is very special.Not only does it crank out more than 800 ponies on full song, but its 120-degree V6 is a marvel of engineering. Here's one stat in regard to its excellence: 218 horsepower per liter, besting every other road-going powerplant in production at the moment of reporting.
EV

Maserati's original V8 was discontinued in 2002 with the 3200 GT. Associated with the Prancing Horse of Maranello since 1997, the House of the Trident received a Ferrari-developed V8 referred to as F136. The biggest difference between the Ferrari- and Maserati-spec F136 is the design of the crankshaft. Ferrari stopped using this free-breathing powerplant with the 458 Speciale in 2015. Both companies made the switch to the F154 series, which comes exclusively with two spinny lads.Once again, Maserati uses a cross-plane crankshaft and Ferrari employs a flat-plane crankshaft. Maserati will stop receiving the F154 from the Prancing Horse of Maranello in late 2023. To celebrate this amazing powerplant and its eight-cylinder legacy, the Italian automaker will unveil special editions of the Ghibli and Levante at the 2023 Goodwood Festival of Speed. Based on the range-topping Trofeo, said editions come in the form of the Ghibli 334 Ultima and Levante V8 Ultima.Both the Ghibli Trofeo and Levante Trofeo, as well as the Quattroporte Trofeo, will remain on sale into 2024. As per the press release attached below, Maserati has produced more than 100,000 road-going vehicles with V8 mills to date. Ferrari hasn't said whether it's also discontinuing the F154 in favor of the all-new V6 of the 296 series - or something else  but in Maserati's case, there's no point in keeping the F154 in production due to the Nettuno.Nettuno is the marketing handle for Maserati's twin-turbo V6, a very impressive lump that's currently used in the MC20 supercar and Grecale crossover. This 90-degree powerplant has many similarities to the F154 mentioned earlier. It's also related to the F154-derived 2.9L twin-turbocharged V6 motor that Alfa Romeo uses in the Giulia Quadrifoglio and Stelvio Quadrifoglio.The most recent applications for the Nettuno are the second-generation GranTurismo and its soft-topped sibling, the GranCabrio. More powerful and just as torquey as the 3.8L twin-turbocharged V8 it replaces, the Nettuno does feature Maserati-specific heads. It further stands out in the crowd with the help of pre-chamber ignition that burns fuel more efficiently, therefore improving fuel economy and performance.This lump and the 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder mill that comes standard in the Grecale may be the final internal combustion engines in Maserati's long and illustrious history. Owned by Stellantis, the cross-border merger between FCA and PSA, the Italian automaker wants to sell only electric vehicles from 2030 onward.Back in March 2022, chief executive officer Davide Grasso had the audacity to tell investors that demand for internal combustion engines after 2030 will be residual. Electric vehicle sales may be on the rise, and emission regulations are slowly but steadily squeezing out ICEVs from the market, but betting on residual demand in the supersport segment is narrow-minded.Differentiating one's hi-pofrom other high-performance EVs is many times as difficult compared to vehicles with internal combustion engines. And with Maserati's image in shambles after way too many years of woeful quality and poor reliability, going electric will hardly convince well-to-do peeps that Maserati is worth their hard-earned money in this ballooning segment.
Except, perhaps, the Archer Midnight . That would be the thing you can admire in the attached gallery, the product of a startup called Archer Aviation. Born in 2018, the company rapidly grew to draw the attention of behemoths from both carmaking and aviation fields, Stellantis and United Airlines.What Archer is proposing is something we've seen before: an air taxi machine powered by electricity that can be used to handle city and inter-city travel, thus helping ease the pressure on roads and making commutes faster.Archer's idea is called Midnight, an eVTOL that draws its juice from six independent battery packs. So many were needed because the design calls for each battery to power its own pair of electric motors, of which the Midnight has a total of 12.I said I liked the design of the Midnight, and it could only take a look at the thing for you to get the same feeling. From the front, the beast looks like a helicopter on steroids, one that would not look at all out of place in sci-fi flicks the likes of Halo or Avatar.When looked at from above, the eVTOL looks simply and deliciously beastly, with two massive wings dangling above the main fuselage to support the 12 engine-propeller assemblies.And it's quite capable, too. It can reach a top speed of 150 mph (241 kph) and can travel for as much as 100 miles (160 km). That may not seem all that much for us drivers, but when you measure that in a straight line, through the airSince its creation, but mostly over the past two years, Archer has been conducting flight tests with two prototypes called Maker. This week however the company announced it has completed the first Midnight.The aircraft is scheduled to fly for the first time later this summer, following a series of ground tests that will be conducted in Salinas, California. It will be a test bed for another eVTOL from the same family which will be used for certification with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) sometime next year.When all the bureaucratic hurdles are cleared, production of the Midnight will begin under the watchful eye of Stellantis at a facility in Covington, Georgia. The target is to have the assembly lines rolling as soon as next year.It's possible well even see the eVTOL being used for military ops, after the Department of Defense expressed interest in it. The main reason for that is said to be the aircraft's payload capabilities  it can carry over 1,000 pounds (454 kg) of cargo.The other major Archer partner, United Airlines, announced back in March its first Midnight air taxi route, linking O'Hare International Airport to Vertiport Chicago. The trip between the two points should not take more than ten minutes, a far cry from the more than an hour needed by road. The route should become live in 2025.
BEV

Photo: via Weibo

Photo: Paris Police

Photo: Columbus Dispatch via Youtube

That includes all vehicles the Americanmaker has sold in China since January 12, 2019. Imported units of the Model S, Model X, Model 3, and Model Y are included, as well as the Model 3 and Model Y made at Giga Shanghai . Why doesn't the recall list all vehicles Tesla ever sold in China since August 2013? The explanation seems to be related to the "energy regenerative braking strategy."According to SAMR, all units in the recall do not allow the driver to select the strategy they prefer the car to follow. While it could seem that the recall relates only to that point, the Chinese regulator also clarified that these vehicles "may not provide enough reminders when the driver depresses the accelerator pedal deeply for a long time. The superposition of the above factors may increase the probability of mistakenly stepping on the accelerator pedal for a long time, which may increase the risk of collision and pose a safety hazard." This is supposedly the cause of several crashes in China and elsewhere in which the drivers sustain that the brakes failed.At Auto Shanghai 2021, Zhang Yazhou became world-famous when she jumped on top of a Tesla Model 3 to protest against her vehicle's defective brakes. She wore a T-shirt that said "Brakes Lost Control" and "Invisible Killer" in Chinese. Yazhou was arrested for "disturbing public order" and later sued by Tesla for "reputation infringements." On November 5, 2022 , 6:42 AM local time in Chaozhou, a Tesla Model Y driver, identified only as Zhan, was apparently trying to park his car in front of the cement store he runs in that city when the Model Y started accelerating. It drove for 2.6 kilometers (1.6 miles) at high speed, hitting several vehicles and killing two people, until a final crash made it stop for good. Tesla said the data in his car indicated he had the right foot on the accelerator pedal all the time. Zhan denied that, stating he kept his foot "on the brake pedal all along" until he "was on the verge of colliding with the tricycle." On February 17 , a Tesla Model 3 was out of control in Ruian. It went from near miss to near miss until it crashed the back of a bus. The driver was taken to the hospital in bad condition, and the passenger reportedly died in the crash. Apart from these cases in China, a Tesla Model 3 also experienced a similar situation on December 11, 2021 , at around 9 PM in the 13e arrondissement in Paris. The crash injured 21 people and killed one. The taxi driver is suing the American BEV maker.In all these cases, Tesla later said that the accelerator pedal was pressed instead of the brake pedals. That led Chinese Tesla owners to install cameras to film the pedals. The idea was to prevent the company from accusing them of pressing the wrong ones should they experience similar SUA incidents. The new Chinese recall may help to avoid them.When Lakafossis discovered that Tesla vehicles brake and accelerate on their own when drivers are trying to park, he linked that to a break in the feedback loop sequence that helps us automate actions in open-loop control. Instead of preventing Autopilot from doing that, the engineer and accident investigator proposed to have Tesla include Brake Transmission Shift Interlocks (BTSIs) in its vehicles. That would demand the driver to step on the brakes to shift from drive (D) to reverse. Currently, these BEVs allow the driver to shift gears without stepping on the brake pedal.Considering this was a voluntary recall that Tesla filed to escape the SAMR investigation, the company may have found a different way to solve SUA incidents. Instead of following Lakafossis' recommendation to use BTSI, it will allow its vehicles to select how they want to recover energy from braking and warn drivers if they press the accelerator pedal for a long time. This alert alone may help drivers realize they are stepping on the wrong pedal  hopefully in time to avoid a tragedy.Lakafossis told me that having a creep mode as standard would probably help avoid these SUA incidents , which always happen when the involved Tesla drivers are trying to park. It would make these people aware that they need to step on the brake pedal, as they would do in any conventional automatic car. This is probably what the regenerative braking strategy will allow Tesla owners to select. Too bad if they choose the wrong regenerative mode, but at least the car will warn them that they are stepping on the accelerator instead of the brakes.I discussed this situation with a software expert, who told me that "there is no data showing that unintended acceleration is predominantly caused by sustained pressing of the accelerator." In other words, it would be nice if what Tesla states caused the crashes could be confirmed by third parties. This specialist made a very pertinent question: "If you suspect the computer of defectively commanding acceleration, why would you trust what it tells you about the pedal position it is basing that behavior on?"In their opinion, "there is a multi-decade history of the car companies and NHTSA blaming drivers for pressing the wrong pedal, even though their arguments are based on a case in which the car DID accelerate due to a design defect, and there have been recalls for design defects that led cars to accelerate on their own since then." Despite that, they also think using BTSIs "can help with that, and should be enforced for all vehicles." Lakafossis told me that "this is pure speculation, probably based on the flawed theory about negative spikes." According to the accident investigator, "there is absolutely nothing that points toward this theory. It has been investigated many times, always with negative results." For Lakafossis, "it all boils down to neuroscience." "I can't think of any other possible explanation."Let's hope that the Chinese recall solves this once and for all  and that it is applied to BEVs worldwide as well. The recall will be performed by over-the-air (OTA) updates , which makes that even more straightforward. That will work as an excuse for some people to argue it is not a recall. Still, only those more worried about their investments than about safety will ignore that any repair or update related to saving lives configures a recall. This one in China definitely fits that bill.
Promotional car madness

Photo: Hurst/Olds Club of America

The Hurst Hairy Olds is born

Insanity multiplied by two

Tamed by a true gentleman

Photo: SEMA

There were actually two cars, and one is still around

Photo: Hurst/Olds Club of America

Founded in 1958 by two young enthusiasts, George Hurst and Bill Campbell, the company, initially called Hurst-Campbell, started as an auto repair shop.By the early 1960s, it became an aftermarket manufacturer called Hurst Performance, which was revered among car enthusiasts for its innovative gear shifters. In the following years, Hurst shifters became OEM components that came with the era's most impressive muscle cars straight from the factory.Hurst didn't stop there. In addition to its famous shifters, Hurst began manufacturing other muscle car-oriented components. In 1968, it joined forces with GM's Oldsmobile division and helped create the iconic special-edition 442 called Hurst/Olds. Then, it helped AMC develop two of its most famous muscle cars, the 1969 SC/Rambler and the 1970 Rebel Machine But, before it lent a hand to create the aforementioned muscle car legends, Hurst Performance built a series of drag strip monsters to promote their products.It all started in 1965 with the Hurst Hemi Under Glass, a purpose-built funny car powered by a heavily-modified, mid-mounted 426 HEMI that became a drag racing legend. The Plymouth Barracuda-based Under Glass, which had the habit of throwing its front end in the air, was such a huge success that it managed to sell out each and every event it featured in that year.Rather than stopping there, George Hurst and the team of engineering wizards he'd assembled went one step further, creating an even more outrageous promotional vehicle in 1966.While the legendary Hurst/Olds was still a couple of years away from hitting the streets, Hurst and Oldsmobile were already partners, with the Pennsylvania-based company providing shifters for the 442.That year, the GM division also introduced its innovative front-wheel-drive Toronado . Legend has it that Olds' chief engineer, John Beltz, wanted to test how much power its chain-driven automatic transaxle could handle, so he asked George Hurst for help.Though it's unclear who exactly came up with the idea, Hurst followed up the Hemi Under Glass with an Olds 442-bodied, twin-engine monster that used two Turbo-Hydramatic transaxles and reached an unprecedented level of outrageousness.Oldsmobile sent the Hurst crew two Toronado subframes, two Turbo-Hydramatic 425 transmissions, two 425-ci (7.0-liter) V8s, and one body in white 442.The small team of Hurst engineers headed by "Animal Bob" Lathrum then got to work and mated the subframes to a custom tube chassis and a full roll cage. Then they beefed up the engines with Mondello superchargers and Hilborn injection systems capable of running a mixture of nitromethane and alcohol. Finally, they mounted one engine in the front and one in the back, linking each to its own transaxle.The completed 1966 Oldsmobile 442-bodied funny car nicknamed "Hairy Olds" was an all-wheel-drive Franken-muscle car with two gear shifters, two gas pedals, and two sets of gauges. Though no dyno could measure its actual output, the monster was allegedly capable of producing around 2,000 to 2,400 hp.Building this four-wheeled insanity was quite the feat, but launching it down a drag strip at full speed required a legendary driver who happened to be naturally ambidextrous.Thus, Hurst contacted drag racing legend "Gentleman Joe" Schubeck, who was enjoying retirement by running his own company -Schubeck High Performance Solutions. Gentleman Joe was initially reluctant but eventually accepted the job when George Hurst's right-hand man, Jack "Doc" Watson, promised him that he would only have to show up, shred a set or two of tires and go home.As it turned out, the task of taming the Hairy Olds was not that easy. During initial test runs, the twin-engined monster proved nearly impossible to handle at full throttle as the insane amount of torque it produced pushed the front suspension assembly close to the point of self-destruction. Moreover, the front wheels toed in so much that the car was all over the place regardless of how much Joe wrestled the steering wheel, and the huge clouds of smoke it produced made it almost impossible to see anything through the windshield or rear window.Most of these problems were addressed. The Hairy Olds, driven by Gentleman Joe dressed in a custom, tuxedo-like Bell fire suit, debuted at a meet in Bakersfield, California, in March of 1966, then went on tour all over the country. As you would expect, it became an instant legend, gathering huge crowds everywhere it went.After electrifying the crowds during the 1966 season, the car was retired, and Joe was given a new one that featured minor improvements. The Hurst crew continued the promotional tour in 1967, then returned with the second car in 1968. Its final public appearance was at the Niagara Dragway in New York, where it crashed spectacularly. Fortunately, neither Joe nor those in attendance were hurt, but the car was deemed beyond repair and eventually sent to the scrapper.The initial car built in 1966 was partially disassembled, and according to some sources, it was also scheduled to be scrapped, but fortunately, some of its components have survived.Thanks to the efforts of Oldsmobile enthusiasts Dennis Mothershed, who sourced the remaining components and kicked off an extensive restoration project, the 1966 Hairy Olds is now alive and well. Rebuilt to its former glory by a dedicated team, which included chief engineer Animal Bob and driver Gentleman Joe, the legendary drag strip monster was sold to the Hurst/Olds Club of America for $1 in 2004.Though nearly six decades have passed since the Hurst Hairy Olds wowed the crowds, it remains a hero of the original muscle car era, and its story deserves to be heard by the younger generations.Original footage of this legend is scarce, but thanks to YouTube user hairyolds1, you can watch the 1967 car's final run (and subsequent crash) in the video below.
Photo: Heritage Auctions

Photo: Heritage Auctions

Photo: Heritage Auctions

The 60 Coupe de Villes have always been seen as luxurious land yachts and have been highly prized. More so if they happened to benefit from some customization work. A fantastic example of the iconic two-door cruiser is this 1960 Cadillac Coupe DeVille that has been turned into an art car by world-renowned artist Kenny Scharf.If the name does not ring any bells for you, learn that Kenny Scharf is a painter and installation artist born in Hollywood, California, in the late 50s. He reached stardom in the art world in the 1980s and is best known for works inspired by comic books and pop culture. His art has been exhibited in some of the worlds most prominent museums, including the Guggenheim and Whitney Museums in New York, the Museu de Arte Moderna in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and the Vincent Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.Called Astro Cumulo Uber Express, this art car is one of the artists most beloved creations and is described as a celebration of individuality and uniqueness in the face of rampant consumption and disposable culture. It features playful designs in a bright color palette throughout and is sure to grab eyeballs wherever it shows up.Artists have used cars as a metal canvas on wheels since the dawn of the automobile as a means to express their creativity, but Kenny Scharf has taken the idea of art car to a whole new level. This Cadillac Coupe DeVille is a piece of art created in 2005 and made its public debut at the international art fair Miami Basel the following year.Featuring bright, pastel colors and plenty of graphics and pop-culture references on all of its surfaces, the car is a cheerful expression of the artists undeniably recognizable Lowbrow pop surrealism style. For those out of the loop, Lowbrow pop surrealism is an underground visual art movement that developed in the Los Angeles, California area and is heavily inspired by popular culture of the 1960s and 1970s in America.The idea behind the artists works was to take everyday objects and transforms them into art. Through his art, Scharf intended to rebel against mass-consumption conformity. While his early customizations were non-functional machines made from discarded objects found on the streets of New York, he later changed tactics and started creating functional customizations by imaginatively decorating fully-working objects without affecting their utility.Such is the case with the Astro Cumulo Uber Express. It is a perfectly functional Caddy turned into pure and fun art that incorporates the artists favorite themes, like visions of Jetsonian futurism, flying cars, cartoonish planets, stars, and other celestial bodies.For this one-off vehicle, Scharf spent about a month combing through thrift stores in search of discarded items to use in his project. Miscellaneous items were chosen to adorn the Caddy, such as a tiara that sits on the cars roof, two exploding pink plastic Easter-Island heads, and a green dinosaur that decorate the hood. Seashells, action figures, and more dinosaurs were used to embellish the interior of the car.The trunk was not neglected either. An LP turntable, a revolving disco ball, rope lights, and animated characters turn the cargo compartment into an explosion of color and joy.While some may see Scharf's customization too tiring on the eye, the artist is a firm believer that "too much is never enough," so there is not a square inch on the surface of this car that was left untouched. The car is a spectable and a parade in and on itself. Even the Cadillacs 390 ci V8 engine and the rest of the mechanics under the hood were given some attention.The Cadillac DeVille is an expression of 1950s and 60s futurism, a representation of opulence and daring automotive design, and the artist himself saw it as the epitome of American culture and style, so he wanted to honor its heritage. The attention to detail is astounding on the Astro Cumulo Uber Express, and most of the things Scharf chose to paint on the exterior of the car suggest movement even when the car is still. Just take a look at those grinning orbs zooming through aqua vapors, and you will immediately get that impression of forward motion.Currently located in Torrance, California, this one-of-one 1960 Cadillac Coupe DeVille is now set to go under the hammer as part of a modern and contemporary art auction , with a top-end estimate at $600,000. The art car is said to be in mint condition and was seemingly driven for only 5,434 miles (8,745 kilometers). Given its uniqueness and quirkiness, it is certain to pique the interest of not only car collectors but also art aficionados.
Residential buildings razed to the ground are seen on an aerial view of Maryinka, an eastern city where heaviest battles with the Russian troops have been taking place in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, Thursday, May 11. AP-Yonhap



President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in remarks broadcast Thursday that Kyiv is delaying its long-awaited counteroffensive against Russia's occupying forces because Ukraine lacks enough Western weapons to succeed without suffering too many casualties.



His remarks, in an interview with European broadcasters, were aired shortly before Britain said it has sent Ukraine air-launched cruise missiles that would allow pilots to extend their reach farther than possibly any other weapon in their arsenal, to locations deep behind the front line.



A Ukrainian counteroffensive against Russia's more than 14-month-old invasion has been expected since warmer weather improved battlefield conditions, and Zelenskyy said it's possible that "we can go forward and be successful," the BBC reported.



"But we'd lose a lot of people. I think that's unacceptable," he was quoted as saying in the interview, conducted in Kyiv with public service broadcasters who are members of Eurovision News, including the BBC.



"So we need to wait. We still need a bit more time," Zelenskyy was quoted as saying. "In terms of equipment, not everything has arrived yet."



Analysts and Ukrainian officials have talked for months of a coming Ukrainian counterpunch. Zelenskyy's remarks could be designed to keep the Russians guessing, with more uncertainty because both sides are struggling to secure enough ammunition.



Ukraine's troops are receiving Western training, as well as advanced weapons, as it gears up for such an assault.



Later Thursday, U.K. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace told lawmakers it sent Ukraine the Storm Shadow missiles, a conventionally armed weapon with a range of more than 250 kilometers (150 miles). By contrast, the truck-mounted HIMARS launchers that Washington has supplied feature GPS-guided missiles capable of hitting targets up to 80 kilometers (50 miles) away.



Wallace said the cruise missiles "are now going into or are in the country itself," but didn't say how many were provided.



The air-launched missiles would allow Ukrainian forces to target locations such as Russia-occupied Crimea. Kyiv has pledged not to use them to attack Russia itself, U.K. media reported. The U.S. and its allies have expressed concern that enabling Ukraine to use their weapons to hit targets inside Russia could provoke the Kremlin to escalate the war.



The British delivery adds to the tanks and long-range precision artillery that Western countries have already supplied to Ukraine.



Retired Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, a former commander of the U.S. Army in Europe, tweeted: "Well done UK!"



"This will give Ukraine capability to make Crimea untenable for Russian forces" and require Russia to reevaluate the positioning of its Black Sea fleet, Hodges said.



Sidharth Kaushal, a research fellow at London's Royal United Services Institute, said the Storm Shadow missiles could allow Ukraine to strike Russian vessels in its Black Sea headquarters port of Sevastopol, from which Moscow's Kalibr missiles "have been used to target crucial Ukrainian infrastructure."



Patrick Bury, senior lecturer in security at the University of Bath, wasn't surprised at Zelenskyy's comments about delaying the spring campaign.



"If you are Zelenskyy, you are doing everything you can to make sure you get everything you need" before launching the offensive, he said.



"On the other hand, I would not be surprised at all if it started in the next couple of weeks, depending on the mud. ... As of last week it was still one of the wettest springs they've had over there in years.  It's just not favorable," Bury added.



A Ukrainian military claim Wednesday that its troops had advanced up to 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) around the hotly contested eastern city of Bakhmut fueled speculation that the counteroffensive was underway.



Serhii Cherevatyi, spokesman for Ukraine's Operational Command East, told The Associated Press that the fighting and forward movement was not the "grand counteroffensive, but it's a harbinger showing that there will be more such attacks in the future."





Ukrainian soldiers load shells into a tank in Chasiv Yar, the site of heavy battles with the Russian forces in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, Tuesday, May 9. AP-Yonhap



But Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Russia's private military force Wagner that has spearheaded Moscow's battle for Bakhmut, claimed Kyiv's counteroffensive was "in full swing," with Ukrainian forces advancing "on the flanks" around the city.



"Unfortunately, in some areas they're doing it successfully," Prigozhin said.



Kremlin forces are deeply entrenched in eastern Ukraine with layered defensive lines reportedly up to 20 kilometers (12 miles) deep. Kyiv's counteroffensive would likely face minefields, anti-tank ditches and other obstacles.



Russia is "acting slow" in Ukraine because it wants to preserve infrastructure and save lives there, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the Bosnian Serb channel ATV on Wednesday night.



Moscow has repeatedly explained its lack of advances on the battlefield as an effort to protect civilians, but those claims have been proven false, with frequent attacks on civilian buildings.



Zelenskyy said Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to reduce the war to a so-called frozen conflict, with neither side able to dislodge the other, according to the BBC. He ruled out surrendering territory to Russia in return for a peace deal.



The Kremlin wants Kyiv to acknowledge Russian sovereignty over Crimea and to recognize September's illegal annexation of the provinces of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia. Ukraine has rejected the demands and ruled out any talks with Russia until its troops withdraw from all occupied territories.



Military analysts have warned that Putin hopes the West's costly support for Kyiv will fray.



Ukraine's Western allies have sent the country 65 billion euros ($70 billion) in military aid, and with no peace talks on the horizon, the alliance is gearing up to send more.



European Union Foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said delaying a counteroffensive was a sign that the West must step up its military support for Ukraine.



"Certainly, they need more preparation," Borrell said at a defense and security conference in Brussels. "They need more arms. They need to gather more capacity, and it is us who have to provide for that."



Russia also is seeking more weapons and ammunition. The U. S. ambassador to South Africa accused the country Thursday of providing weapons and ammunition to Russia via a cargo ship that docked secretly at a naval base near Cape Town in December. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said an investigation was underway.



Over the winter, the Ukraine conflict became bogged down in a war of attrition, with both sides relying heavily on bombarding each other's positions.



A counteroffensive is a major challenge, requiring the Ukrainian military to orchestrate a wide range of capabilities, including providing ammunition, food, medical supplies and spare parts, along potentially extended supply lines. The front line extends more than 1,000 kilometers (600 miles).



Zelenskyy has been making the rounds of Western capitals to seek more support. As part of that effort, Pope Francis could meet Zelenskyy at the Vatican this weekend, a Vatican official said Thursday. Francis recently revealed a secret peace "mission" but provided no details. Zelenskyy was expected in Germany starting Saturday evening. Italian media, citing unidentified sources, reported that Zelenskyy might be in Rome earlier that day to meet with Premier Giorgia Meloni and the pope.





Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen approach media before their press conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, May 9. AP-Yonhap
kWh

PHEV

SUV

Naturally, the latter would be the all-new, first-ever 2024 Lambo Revuelto mid-engine plug-in hybrid V12-powered model, the official successor of the long-running Aventador since late March 2023. Powered by a new 6.5-liter L545 naturally aspirated V12 engine and three permanent magnet motors plus a tiny 3.8Li-Ion battery pack for a combined rating of 1,015 ps (1,001 horsepower) and 1,062 Nm (783 lb-ft), the mightyis almost ready to brawl with its competitors and establish a new Holy Trinity of hybrid supercars with the likes of Ferrari's SF90 Stradale or the McLaren Speedtail.And we said almost because Lambo has yet to start Revuelto's production, which is scheduled during the year's second half, with the first deliveries coming during the final quarter of 2023. However, it should not run around town in full camouflage attire since it was officially presented to the world just a few weeks ago. As such, the rumor mill suspects something is amiss with the latest batch of Lambo prototypes No, not the Urus super-, which is diligently testing the upcoming PHEV powertrain that might cut short the life of the Urus S and Urus Performante or simply appear as an EVO version. Instead, we are talking about the camouflaged Revuelto prototype, which shouldn't hide its features unless it has something cool to keep to itself. Naturally, that has caused intrigue all over the automotive world  both the natural world and the imaginative realms of digital car content creators.As such, are we surprised that some of the dreamy folks from the CGI parallel universes think that the Revuelto SVJ is just around the corner? Such is the case with the virtual artist behind Larson Design (aka lars_o_saeltzer on social media), who brings to life his CGI vision of the potentially upcoming "even more powerful" Revuelto SVJ iteration. And, of course, the pixel master does not start the discussion around the additional ponies but rather is based on the "what if" looks of the new PHEV variant. So, do you like it?By the way, if you believe it is premature to consider it when regular Lambo Revuelto models have not even reached the unlimited potential of aftermarket modifications, we have a solution (or two) for that, too. For example, 3D artist E. Maximiliano Salas (aka salas.emsa on social media) has thought that a yellow Revuelto would look peachy when tucked on Rotiform QLB forged wheels.Meanwhile, suppose you want something darker and slightly menacing. In that case, Vedanta, the young CGI expert behind panda._.designz, is also ready to rock your studio world with a black Revuelto on Vorsteiner FR-304 Aero pieces! Thus, in the end, which one is your favorite?
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

NHTSA

An email sent to all dealer principals and sales managers in the United States of America states that all 2022 to 2023 model year 296 vehicles are called back due to a defect related to safety. Said concern being corrosion building up on the fuel tank connecting pipe. This component is made of aluminum, whereas the high-voltage battery protection cover is made of a blend of inox steel and fiberglass. Galvanic corrosion, anyone?On the upside, Ferrari isn't aware of any reports of leaks, fires, or worse. The Italian automaker learned of this condition back on April 12, after a pre-delivery inspection check of a 296 in China. According to documents filed with the, the dealership technician observed a slight gasoline leakage out of the fuel tank's connecting pipe. Not long after, galvanic corrosion was identified on the connecting pipe of a different vehicle.As a result, Ferrari decided to act immediately. First things first, the company introduced an insulating material on the fuel pipe in 296 production on April 20. The Prancing Horse eventually owned up to its mistake, acknowledging the unintended contact between the fuel tank connecting pipe and high-voltage battery protection cover as a design defect. No fewer than 425 vehicles are called back in the United States market, both GTBs and GTSs produced between March 2021 and April 2023.Have a wild guess in regard to what remedy has been developed for this problem. The answer is a replacement connection pipe with a protective sleeve made of rubber, therefore eliminating any possibility of galvanic corrosion. It's the very same solution that Ferrari introduced into vehicle production back on April 20.Dealers have already been instructed about this recall, dubbed 23V-329 on the's portal. Owners will be informed by first-class mail on or before July 7.The first series-production Ferrari with a V6 after the Dino-badged 246 was discontinued in 1974, the 296 is a marvel of engineering. The fact that it's a plug-in hybrid with rear-wheel drive only adds to its appeal, but in truth, that engine is the bee's knees. 218 horsepower per liter is ridiculously impressive. Not even the similarly-sized V6 in the McLaren Artura comes close, for it packs 192 ponies for every liter of its 3.0L displacement.Similar to the Artura, and contrary to the 296 nameplate, the Fezza rocks a 3.0-liter mill as well. Most of its 654 horsepower are channeled to the rear wheels by a dual-clutch transmission, as you'd expect of a modern-day Ferrari with an electric motor sandwiched between the six-cylinder lump and lightning-quick transmission.Both the Gran Turismo Berlinetta and Gran Turismo Spider can be optioned with something called Assetto Fiorano. The go-faster package doesn't include more oomph, but weight savings and better aerodynamics. With 818 ponies and 546 pound-feet (740 Nm) on deck, the 296 series is adequately pokey from the outset.
12 May 2023 08:30 (UTC+04:00)

Rena Murshud Read more

A few days ago, ousted puppet state minister of so-called 'Nagorno-Karabakh' Ruben Vardanyan, or rather opposition supporters and separatist forces called on Russian peacekeepers to carry out their mission "properly". And if decipher this phrase, then according to their demand, they want to "force the Azerbaijani side to unblock Karabakh and remove the checkpoint" at the entrance to the Lachin road.

With the same demands, people came to Khankandi Square with placards in their hands with the inscriptions: "We will not surrender", "Karabakh is not a territory someone, but our Motherland", "Karabakh has never been and will never be part of Azerbaijan."

But if they have such demands, then why did prime minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan recognize the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan in parliament? Are the separatist forces trying to create chaos in Armenia by this, or do they want to increase their influence on Azerbaijan, bypassing Pashinyan?

While commenting on the matter for Azernews as well as answering the following questions, Russian political analyst, journalist Sergey Markov said that Pashinyan does all this for his own benefit, first of all, he wants the best for himself.

Pashinyan wants to assemble a structure according to which he transfers Karabakh to Azerbaijan by signing a peace treaty between Azerbaijan and Armenia and this legally transfers Karabakh to Azerbaijan. But in fact, he is afraid to transfer Karabakh to Azerbaijan. Because, in this case, the radical forces in Armenia can overthrow him, blow him up, even shoot him, as they already did in their time in the Armenian parliament, he stressed.

Speaking of Pashinyan's plans in mind, Markov also added that the Prime Minister is very afraid of possible assassination attempts against him. In this case, he will have to settle with Azerbaijan in any case. This means that sooner or later Nikol Pashinyan will recognize Karabakh as the territory of Azerbaijan.

Pashinyan's plan is to recognize Karabakh as Azerbaijani territory and thereby give a very large autonomy to the Armenian community of Karabakh. And at the same time, so that the guarantees of this autonomy are not according to the laws of the Azerbaijani constitution and not the Armenian army, which is weak, but that there are large international organizations of the EU and NATO. They want the military contingents of countries that are friends with Armenia to be stationed there. They want it to be independent and a guarantee of this autonomy for the Armenian community of Karabakh. Moreover, they will still say beautiful and appeasing words, such as 'they are ready to make a certain plan for which Karabakh will gradually be transferred to Azerbaijan', and so on..." the expert emphasized.

In fact, as for what Sergey Makrov said, we can unequivocally say that any step that Pashinyan and the forces supporting him can take does not change anything for Azerbaijan. On the contrary, if we agree with what the expert said, we can say that such plans are ultimately a threat to Pashinyan's rule.

Pashinyan is more moderate than radical. The radicals are mainly found in the Armenian diaspora, as well as in France, Lebanon, the USA, and Russia. All of them are united and made united by Turkophobia and Azerbaijanophobia. It is very beneficial for them to take such a tough position on Karabakh. It is beneficial for them to let the Armenian army out on the field and, sitting in restaurants in different countries, admire how they are fighting against Azerbaijan, the political analyst opined.

According to Sergey Markov, Armenian community in Azerbaijan's Karabakh is wary about the consequences of what separatists have committed over the past three decades. They think this could have a severe result for them, if they integrate into Azerbaijan - which will soon happen whether they want it or not.

So the whole world knows the monstrous war crimes committed by the Armenians against Azerbaijan 31 years ago. They thought that Azerbaijanis would come and take revenge for all this. And from this point of view, somewhat radical forces like the Armenian Diaspora, the Armenian small community of Karabakh and those who unite people around Ruben Vardanyan, they put such pressure on Pashinyan with the words "do not give up" and "do not put conditions on Azerbaijan." Like, they are ready to fight, and let the Russians and Ukrainians join them, even the Poles can join ... well, in other words, they have many options, the expert said.

In conclusion, Sergey Markov touched on Pashinyan's unfathomable political stance, which baffle many whether he stands by the West or Russia. According to the expert, Pashinyan is certainly not pro-Russian, but he has to deal with Russia.

"That's why he consults so constantly. Pashinyan's task is to wait until the presidential elections to yiled its result in Turkiye. He also expects from Americans to provoke military incidents and confront both Russian and Turkish militaries. By taking this opportunity, the pro-Armenian forces will raise a cry to the Russian authorities with a position to oppose the Turks in Karabakh. However, they should know that our task, supporting for friendship among Russia, Azerbaijan and Turkiye, is to thwart their insidious plans.

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Follow Rena Murshud on Twitter: @RenaTagiyeva

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
12 May 2023 14:19 (UTC+04:00)

Rena Murshud Read more

Azerbaijan and the UAE are mutually canceling the visa regime for citizens.

According to Azernews, today's meeting of the Milli Majlis (Azerbaijani Parliament) discussed about visa regime for citizens between Azerbaijan and the UAE.

"This was reflected in the bill of the Republic of Azerbaijan on the exchange of notes in connection with the introduction of amendments to the "Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Government of the United Arab Emirates on the exemption from entry visas of persons with diplomatic and special service passports" and "On the approval of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Government of the United Arab Emirates on the exemption from entry visas for persons with diplomatic passports," said in the meeting.

According to the change, the word "diplomatic" in the Memorandum was replaced by the words "general civil, diplomatic and special/service". That is, visa-free entry was previously applicable only to holders of diplomatic and special / service passports, but after the change it will also apply to holders of civil passports.

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Follow Rena Murshud on Twitter: @RenaTagiyeva

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
12 May 2023 18:45 (UTC+04:00)

On May 11, the "Windsor Royal Equestrian Show", traditionally organized in the United Kingdom, started, Azernews reports.

The first speech of the Azerbaijani delegation of 60 people who traveled a long way from Azerbaijan to Britain took place at the event held on the territory of Windsor Castle.

Despite the rainy weather of the foggy Albion, the dance ensemble of the State Border Service with 20 Karabakh horses and the cavalry team once again represented our country at a high level and won the great sympathy of the audience.

The basis of the show composition called "Land of Fires" presented by our delegation was the Karabakh horses, which are very familiar to the Windsor audience and have won an army of admirers here, distinguished by their madness and beauty, as well as elegant Azerbaijani dances and our wonderful national music.

The production director of the show composition prepared with the support of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and the organization of the Equestrian Federation of the Republic of Azerbaijan is the honored journalist Rovshan Jahangirov, the choreographer is the artistic director of the dance ensemble of the State Border Service, the honored artist Farid Ibrahimov, and the production instructor of the cavalry unit Imran Ahmadli.

The show-composition, consisting of the unique sounds of the "Battle of Karabakh" performed by Azerbaijani national musical instruments, the pipe, the trumpet, the balaban, the warm dances of the "Sarhadchi" dance ensemble, examples of bravery and skill on the Karabakh horses of the Cavalry of the State Border Service, and extraordinary performances will leave the audience of Great Britain speechless. truly impressed. During the 15-minute show, Azerbaijani horsemen's waving of the national flags of the Republic of Azerbaijan and Great Britain attracted special attention.

The show-program was enthusiastically welcomed by the participants of the event, enjoyed by the large audience, and the audience gave our representatives a standing ovation.

The speeches of our delegation will continue until May 14.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
12 May 2023 10:41 (UTC+04:00)

Qabil Ashirov Read more

On the night of May 11-12, relative calm prevailed in the direction of Zod settlement of the Basarkecher district of the Azerbaijan-Armenia conventional border, Azernews reports, citing the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry.

During the last day, Azerbaijani positions located in other directions were fired upon by the Armenian armed forces a total of 17 times.

From the positions of the Armenian armed forces located in the directions of Guli of Tovuzgala district, Azizli of Basarkechar district and Saybali of Garakilsa district, the positions of our army located in the direction of Gosha of Tovuz district, Yellice of Kalbajar district and Minkend of Lachin district were fired intermittently 8 times from mortars and small arms of various calibers, the ministry said.

The ministry added that the positions of the Azerbaijani Army located in the directions of Tartar, Khojaly, Shusha, and Lachin regions were fired nine times intermittently from various caliber firearms by the members of the illegal Armenian armed group in the territory of Azerbaijan, where the Russian peacekeeping forces are temporarily stationed.

According to the ministry, there is no loss of personnel and equipment of the Azerbaijani army. Adequate response measures have been taken in all directions, operational conditions are under control.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
12 May 2023 11:25 (UTC+04:00)

Elnur Enveroglu Read more

Israeli head of NGO, activist and journalist Rachel Abraham posted a comment on her facebook account regarding to Armenia's arresting of Azerbaijani soldiers, who mistakenly had crossed the border from Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan AR to Armenian territory. CEO and founder of Dona Gracia Center for Diplomacy Rachel Abraham has strictly criticized the puppet government's decision of charging Azerbaijani young soldiers with a baseless crime.

"It was recently reported that following a circus court trial, the Armenian government sentenced Azerbaijani soldier Agshin Babirov, an 18-year-old teenager who was recently recruited to the Azerbaijani Armed Forces only to be held hostage together with Huseyn Akhundov, another Azerbaijani soldier, after going into the wrong area due to adverse weather conditions, to 11 years, 6 months, and 15 days imprisonment."

Rachel Abraham has highlighted Armenia's inhumane behavior such as inflicting physical tortures to soldiers without arms as well as condemning Armenia over such a ruthless crime.

"The Armenian government did this after the poor kid was tortured and exposed to psychological abuse. As the CEO of the Dona Gracia Center for Diplomacy, I would like to condemn the Armenian government for this heinous crime.

As a mother of two small boys and one small girl, I look at the picture of this poor kid and cannot help but cry over his fate. Agshin Babirov is nothing more than a boy, who just came of age and started his military service. He has his whole life ahead of him. He has not even started to study in university yet, much less do anything else in life. He is still a teenager and not even age 20," the journalist emphasized.

Unless the international community acts, poor Babirov will have the prime of his youth robbed from him by the time he is liberated from the Armenian dungeons. And for what crime? Experiencing adverse weather conditions in the wrong location? The Armenian government ought to be ashamed of themselves for doing something so cruel to such an innocent kid, Abraham said, adding that they remind her of another young Israeli soldier that was hostage to Hamas.

"I look at Agshin Babirov and I see Gilad Shalit, who was abducted by Hamas at age 19 and was stuck in Hamas custody for five full years till Israel agreed to a prisoner exchange. After he was finally liberated, Shalit was disabled and was discovered with shrapnel lodged into his arm, which remained inside him till he was liberated.

By abducting Agshin Babirov, torturing him and pledging to keep him hostage for the next 11 years, six months and 15 days, the Armenian government is demonstrating how they are no better than the Hamas terrorist regime in the Gaza Strip," the CEO said.

Rachel Abraham also pointed the statement of Azerbaijan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs as reference to the illegal act and crimes of Armenia towards the Azerbaijani soldiers.

As the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry stated, We strongly condemn the fabricated trial process by Armenia against Babirov Agshin and Akhundov Huseyn, and the so-called decision regarding the arrest of Babirov Agshin, who are the soldiers of Azerbaijani Army went missing and captured by Armenia along the border region with the Shahbuz district of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic in April of this year. With such irresponsible behavior, Armenia once again demonstrates that it ignores its legal responsibility under international humanitarian law, the calls of the international community for the release of hostages, and the principles of humanism.

They added: The fact that the Armenian side did not respond to the confidence-building measures made by Azerbaijan shows that Armenia is not interested in reconciliation and confidence-building measures in the region.

According to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, The responsibility for undermining confidence-building efforts with this behavior falls entirely on the Armenian side. Armenia must stop this provocative activity, which is a gross violation of international humanitarian law, and immediately release the hostage soldiers. We call on the entire international community, relevant international organizations, and non-governmental organizations to exert serious influence and pressure on Armenia for the quick release of our hostage soldiers and their reunification with their family members.

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Elnur Enveroglu is AzerNews deputy editor-in-chief, follow him on @ElnurMammadli1

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
12 May 2023 21:00 (UTC+04:00)

Rena Murshud Read more

"If the negotiations do not bring results, then Azerbaijan will have to resort to other means. An alternative way of these negotiations is a military conflict, war."

This was told by doctor of Philosophy in Political Science, Metin Mammadli in an interview with Azernews while commenting on the upcoming meeting between President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan.

According to Mammadli, currently a new stage of negotiation between Azerbaijan and Armenia begins through the mediation of the President of the Council of the European Union, Charles Michel.

It is of note that so far several meetings have taken place between the two countries. However, the Armenian side has refused to participate in the meeting, which was to be held in December. Later, the Azerbaijani side agreed to participate at a meeting scheduled for May at the initiative of Charles Michel in Brussels.

Speaking about the importance of this meeting, the pundit said the previous one in Washington has not been so successful, despite the US side expressed satisfaction.

"A few days ago, 4-day talks between the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia took place in the United States. According to the statements of Azerbaijan and other officials, despite the fact that the negotiations, which took place in a rather tense atmosphere, did not achieve serious results, it was noted that that some progress has been made. I consider it expedient to continue the negotiations at the forthcoming meeting," the political scientist opined.

As regards the diplomacy of Azerbaijan, the expert stressed that although the opposite side in the negotiations often shows an unconstructive and irrational position, Azerbaijan stands for solving problems between the two countries through negotiations. According to him, if the negotiations do not bring results, then Azerbaijan will resort to other means. An alternative way of these negotiations is a military conflict, war.

Azerbaijan is a peace-loving state and always tries to solve its problems primarily through diplomacy. In other words, this is what Azerbaijani diplomacy consists of," Mammadli said.

The expert also stated that although Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and other officials have recently stated that they are ready to recognize the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, they showed a different position in the negotiations.

Unfortunately, we do not see an adequate position on the part of Armenia. Armenia still insists on the recognition of the full territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. It is possible that certain agreements will be reached in the course of these negotiations. Of course, this in particular depends on the position of Armenia. Azerbaijan's position is based both on the interests of the country and on the norms of international law. If Armenia recognizes the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, including Karabakh, the signing of a peace treaty between the two countries can be realized." he told.

As regards the meeting to be held in Chisinau on June 1, the expert concluded that Azerbaijan has not fully confirmed its participation. If the issues are fully resolved in Brussels, this meeting may not take place at all.

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Follow Rena Murshud on Twitter: @RenaTagiyeva

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
12 May 2023 17:22 (UTC+04:00)

On May 12, at 11:30, the Armenian armed forces units in the Zod direction of the Basarkechar region used attack UAVs in the direction of the Azerbaijan Armys opposing positions, Azernews reports, citing Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry.

The Armenian side is once again escalating the situation by committing another provocation.

There are no losses among the military personnel and equipment of the Azerbaijan Army.

According to the information provided by the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Azerbaijan, on the evening of May 10, units of the armed forces of Armenia, firing from small arms at the positions of the Azerbaijani army, deliberately committed a provocation, as a result of which a serviceman of the Azerbaijani Army was seriously injured.

Despite the fact that the Armenian side was warned that provocations and deliberate aggravations of the situation would be stopped on its part, on the morning of May 11, the Armenian armed forces further aggravated the situation by firing mortars at the positions of the Azerbaijani Army, as a result of provocations, an Azerbaijani soldier was martyred.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
China's Director of the Office of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission Wang Yi speaks at the Munich Security Conference at the Bayerischer Hof Hotel in Munich, on Feb. 18. AP-Yonhap



President Joe Biden's national security adviser met China's top diplomat this week and both sides recognized the need to move beyond an alleged spy balloon incident that caused a pause in relations between the superpowers, a senior U.S. official said on Thursday.



The White House hoped the eight hours of talks in Vienna on Wednesday and Thursday between U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan and China's top diplomat Wang Yi would pave the way for more communications between the world's two biggest economies, the official said.



China's Washington embassy said the two had "candid, in-depth, substantive and constructive discussions ... on removing obstacles in China-U.S. relations and stabilizing the relationship from deterioration."



The U.S. official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity, said Sullivan and Wang did not discuss dates for a possible rescheduled visit to Beijing by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, but said the White House expects the two sides to continue engaging in the coming months.



Biden has been seeking to hold a phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping but the official had no update on this effort.



Blinken canceled a planned trip to Beijing in February after the U.S. shot down a Chinese balloon that flew over sensitive military sites, plunging the rivals into a diplomatic crisis.



Asked what was discussed about the incident, the official replied: "I think both sides recognized that that unfortunate incident led to a bit of a pause in engagement. We're seeking now to get beyond that, and reestablish some just standard, normal channel of communications."



The official said the U.S. side had made clear where it stood on the breach-of-sovereignty issue, but was "trying to look forward from here on" and seek issues where China and the U.S. could potentially work together.





White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan speaks at a press briefing at the White House in Washington, April 24. AP-Yonhap
12 May 2023 18:18 (UTC+04:00)

On May 12, at 5:15 p.m., the units of the Armenian armed forces located in the direction of Zod of the Basarkechar region fired mortars at the opposite positions of the Azerbaijani Army, Azernews reports, citing the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry.

Adequate response measures are taken by our units.

There are no losses in military personnel and equipment of Azerbaijani Army.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
12 May 2023 15:15 (UTC+04:00)

A new print edition of the AZERNEWS online newspaper was released on May 12.

The new edition includes several interesting articles, such as "National Leader's political path taught in Egyptian schools"; "Turkiye elections: expert says Erdogan likely to prevail"; "Azerbaijan expands its influence in Balkans and beyond"; "Great start for Great Return to Karabakh: along the path of National Leader " etc.

AZERNEWS is an associate member of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA).

The online newspaper is available at www.azernews.az.
12 May 2023 09:30 (UTC+04:00)

The candidate of Turkiye's Ata Alliance Sinan Ogan may withdraw his candidacy for the post of president of Turkiye, Azernews reports with reference to the Turkish media.

It is expected that he will clarify this issue tonight, speaking on one of the Turkish TV channels.

On May 11, Turkish presidential candidate Muharrem Ince, the head of the Memleket Party, announced that he was withdrawing his candidacy from the struggle for the highest post.

The presidential and parliamentary elections in Turkiye will be held on May 14, 2023.

Voters will elect a president for a term of five years. Early elections in the country were postponed due to the deadly earthquake. It is estimated that about 65 million voters will cast their votes in the elections (over 60 million in the country, and some 3.6 million abroad).

The president of Turkiye is directly elected through the two-round system, under which a candidate must obtain a simple majority (more than 50 percent) of the popular vote in order to be elected. If no candidate secures an overall majority outright, then a runoff is held between the two most voted-for candidates from the first round, the winner of which is then declared elected.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been the president of Turkiye since 2014.
12 May 2023 16:34 (UTC+04:00)

By News Centre

The Icelandic Presidency of the Council of Europes Committee of Ministers is hosting a Summit of Heads of State and Government from the organisations 46 member states on 16 and 17 May in Reykjavik. This is the 4th Summit of the Council of Europe since its creation in 1949.

The Summit will be a historic opportunity for European leaders to reaffirm their common commitment to the Council of Europes core values and to refocus its mission in the light of new threats to human rights and democracy, and to further support Ukraine through concrete measures to help achieve justice for the victims of the Russian aggression.

The Summit is also expected to boost initiatives to address emerging challenges to democracy and human rights, including the environment and artificial intelligence.

At the end of the meeting, Iceland will hand over the Presidency of the Council of Europes Committee of Ministers to Latvia.

A final press conference will take place on Wednesday 17 May at 2.30 pm.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
FILE - Attorney Mark Pomerantz arrives at Federal Court in New York, Aug. 12, 2002. An ex-prosecutor who once oversaw Manhattan's yearslong investigation into former President Donald Trump repeatedly declined to substantively answer questions from members of the House Judiciary Committee Thursday, May 11, 2023, in a closed-door meeting, according to a Republican lawmaker in the meeting. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., exited the meeting and said Pomerantz, the former prosecutor, repeatedly invoked the Fifth Amendment that protects people from providing self-incriminating testimony.
The Russian vessel, Lady R, is docked at the Simon's Town Naval Base near Cape Town, South Africa, Thursday, Dec. 8, 2022. AP-Yonhap



The U. S. ambassador to South Africa accused the country Thursday of providing weapons and ammunition to Russia for its war in Ukraine via a cargo ship linked to a sanctioned company that docked secretly at a naval base near the city of Cape Town in December.



South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said an investigation into the visit by a Russian vessel named Lady R to his nation's main naval base was already underway behind the scenes with the help of U.S. intelligence services before Ambassador Reuben Brigety went public at a news conference in the South African capital, Pretoria, that the cargo was weapons and ammunition.



Brigety said the U.S. was certain that military equipment was loaded onto the Lady R at the Simon's Town naval base between Dec. 6 and Dec. 8 and then transported to Russia. He said it brought into question South Africa's supposed neutral stance on the war in Ukraine and its calls for the conflict to end.



"The arming of the Russians is extremely serious and we do not consider this issue to be resolved," Brigety said in comments reported by multiple South African news outlets.



If South Africa is found to be giving Russia military aid, it threatens to fracture the relationship between the United States and a key partner in Africa. Despite South Africa's neutral stance on the war in Ukraine, the Biden administration was hoping it could still be a key buffer against growing Russian and Chinese influence on the continent.



While Ramaphosa's office said in a statement later Thursday that there was currently "no evidence" to support allegations that arms were loaded onto the Lady R, the Associated Press established that the vessel is tied to a company that was sanctioned last year by the U.S. for being involved in transporting military equipment for the Russian government.



The news of Brigety's comments broke while Ramaphosa was in Cape Town answering questions on other matters in Parliament. When the leader of the political opposition, John Steenhuisen, asked about the weapons and ammunition, the president replied that "the matter is being looked into, and in time we will be able to speak about it."



Ramaphosa declined to comment further, citing the need for the investigation to play out.



Steenhuisen asked the president if South Africa was "actively arming Russian soldiers who are murdering and maiming innocent people?"



Ammunition supplies have become a problem for Russia in the war. The leader of Russian military company Wagner complained last week about his mercenary soldiers in Ukraine allegedly dealing with dire shortages.



Ramaphosa's office acknowledged in its statement that the Lady R docked in South Africa, but did not say when, where or for what reason. The statement also criticized the American ambassador for going public.



Records reviewed by the AP show the Lady R was purchased by a Russian company, Transmorflot LLC, in 2019. In May 2022, the U.S. sanctioned Transmorflot and several vessels it alleges are controlled by the company, including the Lady R, for aiding the Russian war effort. The company then changed its name to MG-Flot LLC, which is also listed as the current owner of the Lady R.



Last month, The Wall Street Journal reported that another ship owned by MG-Flot, the Rasul Gamzatov, transported artillery shells from Iran to Russia, citing Middle Eastern officials.



The AP has also independently confirmed that the Lady R docked at the Simon's Town naval base during the time frame Brigety cited.



MarineTraffic, a service that collects radio and satellite transponder data from ships, tracked the Lady R off the South African coast in early December, but the signal was lost on Dec. 5. Ships are required by international law to keep their transponders on while at sea. Smugglers often turn them off to hide their movements.





South African President Cyril Ramaphosa answers questions in parliament in Cape Town, South Africa, Thursday, May 11. AP-Yonhap
Lois Henry is the CEO and editor of SJV Water, a nonprofit, independent online news publication dedicated to covering water issues in the San Joaquin Valley. She can be reached at lois.henry@sjvwater.org. The website is sjvwater.org.
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Migrants reach for water through the Mexico-U.S. border wall in San Luis Rio Colorado in Mexico, before the lifting of Title 42, as seen from San Luis, Arizona, U.S., May 11. Reuters-Yonhap





Migrants rushed across the Mexico border Thursday, racing to enter the U.S. before pandemic-related asylum restrictions are lifted in a shift that threatens to put a historic strain on the nation's beleaguered immigration system.







The imminent end of the rules known as Title 42 stirred fear among migrants that the changes would make it more difficult for them to stay in the U.S. And the Biden administration was dealt a potentially serious legal setback when a federal judge temporarily blocked its attempt to more quickly release migrants when Border Patrol holding stations are full.







With a late-night deadline looming, misinformation and confusion buffeted migrants as they paced the border at the Rio Grande, often unsure of where to go or what to do next.







At Matamoros, across from Brownsville, Texas, throngs of migrants  some clutching small children  waded across spring river currents, pushed through thickets to confront a border fortified with razor wire. Other migrants settled into shelters in northern Mexico, determined to secure an asylum appointment that can take months to schedule online.







Many migrants were acutely aware of looming policy changes designed to stop illegal crossings and encourage asylum seekers to apply online and consider alternative destinations, including Canada or Spain.







"I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow," said Jhoan Daniel Barrios, a former military police officer from Venezuela as he paced with two friends along the the border in Ciudad Juarez, across from El Paso, Texas, looking for a chance to seek refuge in the U.S.







"We don't have any money left, we don't have food, we don't have a place to stay, the cartel is pursuing us," said Barrios, whose wife was in U.S. custody. "What are we going to do, wait until they kill us?"







Last week, Barrios and his friends entered the U.S. and were expelled. They had little hope of a different result Thursday.







On the U.S. side of the river, many surrendered immediately to authorities and hoped to be released while pursuing their cases in backlogged immigration courts, which takes years.







It was not clear how many migrants were on the move or how long the surge might last. By Thursday evening, the flow seemed to be slowing in some locations, but it was not clear why, or whether crossings would increase again after the coronavirus-related restrictions expire.







A U.S. official reported the Border Patrol stopped some 10,000 migrants on Tuesday  nearly twice the level from March and only slightly below the 11,000 figure that authorities have said is the upper limit of what they expect after Title 42 ends.







More than 27,000 people were in U.S. Customs and Border Protection custody, the official said.







"Our buses are full. Our planes are full," said Pedro Cardenas, a city commissioner in Brownsville, Texas, just north of Matamoros, as recent arrivals headed to locations across the U.S.







President Joe Biden's administration has been unveiling strict new measures to replace Title 42 , which since March 2020 has allowed border officials to quickly return asylum seekers back over the border on grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19.







The new policies crack down on illegal crossings while also setting up legal pathways for migrants who apply online, seek a sponsor and undergo background checks. If successful, the reforms could fundamentally alter how migrants arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border.







But it will take time to see results. Biden has conceded the border will be chaotic for a while. Immigrant advocacy groups have threatened legal action. And migrants fleeing poverty, gangs and persecution in their homelands are still desperate to reach U.S. soil at any cost.







Many migrants were acutely aware of looming policy changes as they searched Thursday for an opportunity to turn themselves over to U.S. immigration authorities before the 11:59 EDT deadline.







Migrants wait to board a bus in downtown Brownsville, Texas to arrive at their final destination in the United States Thursday, May 11, as Title 42 comes to an end. AP-Yonhap





While Title 42 prevented many from seeking asylum, it carried no legal consequences, encouraging repeat attempts. After Thursday, migrants face being barred from entering the U.S. for five years and possible criminal prosecution.







Holding facilities along the border already were far beyond capacity. But late Thursday, U.S. District Judge T. Kent Wetherell, an appointee of President Donald Trump, halted the administration's plan to begin releasing migrants with notices to report to an immigration office in 60 days when holding centers reach 125% capacity, or where people are held an average of 60 hours. The quick releases were to also be triggered when authorities stop 7,000 migrants along the border in a day.







The state of Florida argued the administration's plan was nearly identical to another Biden policy previously voided in federal court. Earlier Thursday, the Justice Department said its new move was a response to an emergency and being prevented from carrying it out "could overwhelm the border and raise serious health and safety risks to noncitizens and immigration officials."







Weatherell blocked the releases for two weeks and scheduled a May 19 hearing on whether to extend his order.







Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas had already warned of more crowded Border Patrol facilities to come.







"I cannot overstate the strain on our personnel and our facilities," he told reporters Thursday.







Even as migrants were racing to reach U.S. soil before the rules expire, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said smugglers were sending a different message. He noted an uptick in smugglers at his country's southern border offering to take migrants to the United States and telling them the border was open starting Thursday.







On Wednesday, Homeland Security announced a rule to make it extremely difficult for anyone who travels through another country, like Mexico, or who did not apply online, to qualify for asylum. It also introduced curfews with GPS tracking for families released in the U.S. before initial asylum screenings.







The administration says it is beefing up the removal of migrants found unqualified to stay in the U.S. on flights like those that brought nearly 400 migrants home to Guatemala from the U.S. on Thursday.







Among them was Sheidi Mazariegos, 26, who arrived with her 4-year-old son just eight days after being detained near Brownsville.







"I heard on the news that there was an opportunity to enter, I heard it on the radio, but it was all a lie," she said. Smugglers got her to Matamoros and put the two on a raft. They were quickly apprehended by Border Patrol agents.







Migrants make their way through a lily weed choked Rio Grande to enter the United States on May 11, in Matamoros, Mexico. AFP-Yonhap





Mazariegos said she made the trek because she is poor and hoped to reunite with her sisters living in the U.S.







At the same time, the administration has introduced expansive new legal pathways into the U.S.







Up to 30,000 people a month from Haiti, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela can enter if they apply online with a financial sponsor and enter through an airport. Processing centers are opening in Guatemala, Colombia and elsewhere. Up to 1,000 can enter daily though land crossings with Mexico if they snag an appointment on an online app.







At shelters in northern Mexico, many migrants chose not to rush to the border and waited for existing asylum appointments or hopes of reserving one online.







At the Agape Mision Mundial shelter in Tijuana, hundreds of migrants bided their time. Daisy Bucia, 37, and her 15-year-old daughter arrived at the shelter over three months ago from Mexico's Michoacan state  fleeing death threats  and have an asylum appointment Saturday in California.







Bucia read on social media that pandemic-era restrictions were ending at the U.S.-Mexico border, but preferred to cross with certainty later.







"What people want more than anything is to confuse you," Bucia said. (AP)


A national group of tax lawyers wants the U.S. Supreme Court to take a case from North Carolina dealing with sales taxes on out-of-state transactions. The case stems from a Wisconsin-based company's fight against a sales tax assessment from N.C. revenue officials.The American College of Tax Counsel filed a friend-of-the-court brief Thursday urging the high court to take the case, Quad Graphics v. N.C. Department of Revenue. The group of 700 tax lawyers echoes Quad Graphics' plea for Supreme Court justices to overturn a decision from North Carolina's top court.according to the brief.The tax lawyers focus on the precedent set by a 1944 U.S. Supreme Court case known as Dilworth.according to the brief.the tax lawyers argued.Quad Graphics petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court on March 14. The company is asking justices to respond to a 6-1 ruling last December from the N.C. Supreme Court.The original petition also emphasized the Dilworth precedent.wrote attorneys representing the company.Yet the N.C. Supreme Court ruled that state revenue officials could tax Quad Graphics for its out-of-state sales to companies operating in the Tar Heel State.according to the Quad Graphics petition.the petition continued.It's anthat demands a response from the U.S. Supreme Court, Quad Graphics attorneys' argued.according to the petition.The N.C. Chamber Legal Institute filed a friend-of-the-court brief on April 5 supporting Quad Graphic's case.wrote attorney William Nelson.Nelson added.The state Supreme Court majority reasoned that two more recent U.S. Supreme Court precedents, Complete Auto Transit v. Brady from 1977 and South Dakota v. Wayfair from 2018, superseded the Dilworth case.wrote Justice Michael Morgan, a Democrat.Justice Phil Berger Jr., a Republican, cast the lone dissenting vote.Berger wrote.The state Revenue Department faces a May 17 deadline to respond to Quad Graphics' petition. The U.S. Supreme Court will decide at a later date whether to take the case.
Cleveland County: A $75,000 grant will support the reuse of a 237,000-square-foot building in Kings Mountain. The building will be occupied by ACTEGA North America, a manufacturer of specialty coatings and chemicals for the printing and packaging industries. This project is expected to create 12 jobs, with an investment of $8,524,014 by the company.

Greene County: A $50,000 grant will support the reuse of a 6,300-square-foot building located in Snow Hill. The building will be the home of Heritage Family Health, which is a primary care facility for children and adults. The company will create five jobs and invest $210,000 in the project.

Transylvania County: A $200,000 grant will support the reuse of a 41,000-square-foot building in Brevard. Textile manufacturer and woman-owned company, Siscovers Enterprises, Inc., will use the building to manufacture decorative bedding, pillows, curtains and futon covers. The company expects to create 26 jobs and invest $1,444,550 in the project.

Scotland County: A $125,000 grant will support the renovation of a 1-million-square-foot building in Laurinburg. The building is currently occupied by Pilkington North America, Inc., a glass manufacturer for the architectural, automotive, and creative technology industries. Overall, this project is expected to create 20 jobs, with 14 jobs and an investment of $11,810,530 tied to this grant.

Davidson County: A $100,000 grant will support the renovation of a 1-million square-foot building occupied by EGGER Wood Products, LLC. in Linwood. The company is a manufacturer of wood-based materials for the furniture and interior design, flooring and building products industries. The company will create 21 jobs and invest $21,505,000 in the project.

Duplin County: A $170,000 grant will support the renovation of a 150,000-square-foot building located in Faison. The building is the home of Cottle Strawberry Nursery, Inc., which supplies strawberry tips, plugs and bare root plants for growers. In this project, the company plans to add a new product line to its operation, creating 19 jobs while investing $1,677,000.

Yadkin County: A $400,000 grant will support the renovation of a 128,000-square-foot building in East Bend that is occupied by Cross Technology, Inc., a provider of quality precision components, heat shrink products, wire harness assembly, and injection molding. The company expects to create 82 jobs and invest $3,439,685 in this project.

Town of Dillsboro (Jackson County): A $104,000 grant, which includes a previous award from February 2023, will support the completion of water system improvements to provide enhanced fire protection, water flow and pressure to serve The Jarrett House/Mount Beulah Hotel, an adjoining restaurant, and the Town of Dillsboro. The company plans to create 12 jobs, which represents an increase from the previous award, with an investment of $966,370.

Craven County: A $1,077,694 grant will assist the county with the construction of an access road at the Coastal Carolina Corporate Aerospace Development Park in New Bern.

The North Carolina Rural Infrastructure Authority (RIA) has approved nine grant requests to local governments totaling $2,221,694, Governor Roy Cooper announced today. The requests include commitments to create a total of 191 jobs, 22 of which were previously announced. The public investment in these projects will attract more than $49.5 million in private investment.Governor Cooper said.The North Carolina Department of Commerce's team of rural economic development professionals supports the RIA's work. RIA members review and approve funding requests from local communities. Funding comes from a variety of specialized grant and loan programs offered and managed by N.C. Commerce's Rural Economic Development Division, led by Assistant Secretary for Rural Development Kenny Flowers. Grants can support a variety of activities, including infrastructure development, building renovation, expansion and demolition, and site improvements.said N.C. Commerce Secretary Machelle Baker Sanders.The RIA approved seven grant requests under the state's Building Reuse Program in two categories:Vacant Building CategoryExisting Business Building CategoryThe Building Reuse Program provides grants to local governments to renovate vacant buildings, renovate and/or expand buildings occupied by existing North Carolina companies, and renovate, expand or construct health care facilities that will lead to the creation of new jobs in Tier 1 and Tier 2 counties and in rural census tracts of Tier 3 counties.The RIA approved one request under the state's Economic Infrastructure Program:The Economic Infrastructure Program provides grants to local governments to assist with infrastructure projects that will lead to job creation. The program gives priority to jurisdictions in the 80 most economically distressed counties (Tiers 1 and 2) and can help build water and sewer lines, wastewater treatment plants, natural gas lines, public broadband infrastructure, roadways, rail spurs, and other infrastructure allowed under program guidelines.The RIA approved one request under the state's Industrial Development Fund - Utility Account program:The Industrial Development Fund - Utility Account provides grants to local governments located in the 80 most economically distressed counties of the state, which are classified as either Tier 1 or Tier 2. Funds may be used for publicly-owned infrastructure projects that are reasonably expected to result in new job creation. The IDF - Utility Account is funded through a process tied to the state's signature Job Development Investment Grant (JDIG) program. When JDIG-awarded companies choose to locate or expand in a Tier 2 or Tier 3 county, a portion of that JDIG award is channeled into the Utility Account.In addition to reviewing and approving funding requests, the N.C. Rural Infrastructure Authority formulates policies and priorities for grant and loan programs administered by N.C. Commerce's Rural Economic Development team. Its 17 voting members are appointed by the Governor, Speaker of the House and Senate President Pro Tem. The North Carolina Secretary of Commerce serves as a member of the Authority, ex officio.Sam Changovpress@nc.gov
Border Patrol agents have been instructed to begin releasing illegal migrants into the country without a notice to appear in court as officials prepare for the expected surge in immigrants crossing the southern border, according to documents exclusively obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz sent the instructions Wednesday, asking senior officials in the agency to begin the mass parole of illegal migrants ahead of the end of Title 42, a Trump-era expulsion policy, on May 11. The illegal immigrants will be parole[d] with conditions, meaning they are required to schedule a court date with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or request service of a Notice to Appear (NTA), according to the instructions.

However, the paroled illegal migrants will be released without any tracking technology, meaning there is no way to supervise them after their release, according to NBC News.
NEW YORK (AP)  Citing the current Hollywood writers strike, Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos will not be attending next week's PEN America Gala in Manhattan, when he was to accept a Business Visionary Award. PEN America will not be presenting the award this year, saying the honor is premised upon the recipient accepting in person.

The Gala, to be held May 18 at the American Museum of Natural History, is one of the year's literary highlights and will feature the presentation of several awards, including one to Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels for Literary Service.

Given the threat to disrupt this wonderful evening, I thought it was best to pull out so as not to distract from the important work that PEN America does for writers and journalists, as well as the celebration of my friend and personal hero Lorne Michaels," Sarandos said in a statement released Wednesday by Netflix. "I hope the evening is a great success.

A PEN spokesperson said that no one this year will be given the Business Visionary Award, which in 2022 was won by Audible founder Don Katz. A Netflix spokesperson said there would be no comment beyond Sarandos' statement.

Michaels, whose show has been off the air since the strike began May 2, is still planning to attend, according to PEN. The head writer at SNL, Writers Guild member Colin Jost, will be serving as emcee.

In a statement Wednesday, PEN America praised Sarandos' singular work translating literature to artful presentation on screen and his stalwart defense of free expression and satire," and added that as "a writers organization, we have been following recent events closely and understand his decision.

Our Gala program, with honorees including Saturday Night Lives Lorne Michaels and emcee Colin Jost, will center on the escalating campaign of book bans in this country, tightening constraints on satire and comedy, and support of threatened writers worldwide. We look forward to a moving and inspiring event that will fuel our fervent work on behalf of free speech.

___

This article has been corrected to say the PEN America Gala will be held on May 18.
This weekends EU Open House Saturday will showcase more than two dozen EU nations really trying to get Washingtonians to visit their countries: Theyll showcase food and drink offerings, music, dances, crafts, industries and more in an attempt for you to possibly book some tickets overseas. Its one of the best ways to enjoy a city you think you know. Its also one of the only chances we have to visit, technically, foreign land without flying.

The annual event is held on the first Saturday following May 9, which happens to be Europe Day, honoring the peace and unity of that continents countries. (Well, most of the countries. More on that later.)

This year, 26 countries and the EU itself are participating at 24 different locations throughout Washington, D.C. from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. It is not possible to visit every delegation, embassy, house and residence in six hours. Do not try. Its a fools errand. (Trust us. We tried.) Its best to pick a neighborhood and stay in it  or choose a specific embassy and visit whatever else is nearby whenever youre done with your top-choice destination. Plan ahead. Use the Google Map the embassies assembled.

Finally, the United Kingdom  one of the best and most popular countries to visit on past EU Open House Saturdays  is not participating. Because theyre no longer in the EU.

Belgium / Luxembourg / Netherlands

Were starting with a geographical outlier and one of the most popular stops every EU Open House Saturday (now that the UK is not part of the EU, the most popular?). This year, youre able to visit three countries at the Embassy of the Netherlands. Benelux will feature food, beer, a live DJ, VR bike tours, light shows, kids games, Smurfs and more. This is the only stop where youll most likely take home chocolate, hops and a photo with a person in a Smurf costume.

Denmark

A visit to the Denmark embassy may make you feel a bit better about the state of the planet. In addition to being a good-looking building, theyre showcasing their countrys green solutions and offering a bike ride through Copenhagen using VR glasses. Eat a Danish open sandwich, get the full details on hygge, tour the embassys residence and appreciate Danish design.

Hungary

Any embassy event description that sounds like a Stefon-on-Weekend Update party has my interest. Hungary is promising: a Hungarian-centric dog show, teqball challenge, gingerbread-love letter making, authentic gulyas and wine bar, a Rubiks cube tutorial and folk dancing with a live band.

Poland

One of the best ways to spend a weekend afternoon in DC is stopping in some vintage shops and taking advantage of happy hours around 14th and U. Not too far from the stores and the bars are a few embassies  including the Embassy of the Republic of Poland, a short walk away and conveniently located a block from Meridian Hill/Malcolm X Park. Start the day in the park, then walk over to the embassy for stories from mountain climber Krzysztof Wielicki, polar explorer Marek Kaminski and kayaker Piotr Chmielinski. Theres also a robotic dog, piano concerts, guided tours and Polish sweets. Then start your evening on 14th and U and talk to your friends about that robot dog.

Spain

The Former Ambassadors Residence regularly showcases cutting-edge Spanish visual artists. Along with the neighboring Mexican Cultural Institute, this block is a good spot for art lovers. Use EU Open House Saturday as a reminder that some of these places are open to the public more than a few times a year. And then try some paella and Spanish street food, followed by Spanish wine and beer.

This article was featured in the InsideHook DC newsletter. Sign up now for more from the Beltway.

The post DCs EU Embassies Are Open to Everybody This Saturday appeared first on InsideHook.
For some, a name on a building is just a name. For others, it can have a much deeper meaning.

Such is the case of Hardin-Jefferson ISD's Henderson Middle School in Sour Lake, named after former Principal James H. Henderson, the first Black principal of the then-China High School.

His name has been attached to the middle school for some 60 years, but a recent decision by the Hardin-Jefferson ISD school board is expected to remove it.

The school board at its March regular meeting voted to change the name to "Hardin-Jefferson Junior High," in an effort to "align the name of our new middle school building with the other campuses in our district," said district Director of Communications Mandy Fortenberry in a statement to The Enterprise.

RELATED: Reporter's notebook: South Texas State Fair gives students chance to shine

The new name would adorn the newly-built middle school, constructed after the previous building was flooded by Tropical Storm Harvey in 2017.

But for some community members, the change is not a welcome one.

China resident and Henderson alum Beverly Carrier-Walters found out about the name change from her granddaughter.

"I was totally shocked," she said.

Henderson was a teacher and later principal of the then-China High School and when the school district integrated, the school was named in his honor.

"I was the only Black high school principal to survive (integration)," Henderson said in a May 24, 1973 article of The Beaumont Enterprise.

RELATED: 16 area teachers to be honored with $10K Reaud Award

"He was definitely a community leader, he wanted unity, he stood for unity," Carrier-Walters said.

Claudia Tyler, a China resident whose mother, husband, children and grandchildren attended Henderson, also found out about the change via her grandson. Since Carrier-Walters and Tyler found out about the change, they've been spreading the word to other alumni, who were unaware of the change.

"A lot of people are not happy with this at all and to find out this way..." Tyler said.

Fortenberry said in the statement that "the board is currently looking into alternate ways to honor Mr. Henderson, as well as other past employees."

RELATED: Check out Southeast Texas' top rated middle schools

But in Carrier-Walters' and Tyler's opinions, there is no other way to honor Henderson.

"They threw him down to 'honor him and others' -- yes, we have a lot of people in this community that have done a wonderful job here, but nobody carries on their shoulders what he carried on his shoulders," Tyler said. "They can't put these two people together and say they did the same thing. You can't honor him (any better way) than for him to have his name (on the school)."

Both women plan to speak at the school board's next regular meeting at 6 p.m. Monday and encourage other community members to do the same.

Those wishing to make a public comment can do so at the district's Administration Building, located at 520 W Herring St. in Sour Lake. Speakers must sign up by end of business Friday as the district does not permit same-day registration.

Pick up Sunday's Beaumont Enterprise to read more about James H. Henderson's legacy and what his contributions mean to Carrier-Walters and Tyler.
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Visitors to the Jack Brooks Regional Airport have likely noticed the scaffolding enveloping the control tower northwest of the terminal.

The tower is owned and operated by the Federal Aviation Administration, which does its own facility maintenance independent of the county and airport.

I think theyre just repainting the exterior, said Airport Director Alex Rupp. The work does not interfere with the control tower operation and flights are going on as normal.

RELATED: Developer reveals plans for airport property

The plan to build a regional airport was originally developed by Jefferson County Commissioners in 1941, who purchased the land and began construction the following year.

In 1944, the work was completed and the Jefferson County Airport began operations.

It had three runways, a taxiway and apron facilities, and its first scheduled flight with Eastern Airlines took place in March of that year.

During WWII, the airport served as an advanced training facility for U.S. Marine Air Corps Dive Bomber Squadron No. 931.

RELATED: Military planes make visit to Jack Brooks Regional Airport

Pilot trainees used floating targets in the Gulf of Mexico off Sabine Pass for gunnery and dive-bombing practice, according to the Texas Historical Commission documentation.

Additional improvements in the airports size/service capacity and technology were made in the 1950s and 60s, including the acquisition of more land, runways, a runway lighting and instrument landing system and a second terminal.

In 1999, Jefferson County Commissioners renamed the facility the Southeast Texas Regional Airport, later renaming it in 2010 to the Jack Brooks Regional Airport in honor of Beaumont's iconic U.S. Congressman.

RELATED: Hurricane Rita airlift saved countless lives

The site currently provides daily flights through American Airlines to the Dallas-Ft. Worth Airport and also serves as a transportation center for regional industry.

In 2005, the airport was at the epicenter of one of the largest civilian airlifts in U.S. history as the military evacuated thousands of local residents with special medical needs during landfall of Hurricane Rita, according to historical commission records.
Students at five Jefferson County high schools will have the opportunity to win a $5,000 for best writing on extreme weather and inequality.

The contest is being held by Art Ensemble of Chicagos Ancient to the Future Project. The project is a small think tank working to tackle inequality and climate crisis by combining and amplifying local voices through publications, discussions and creativity, according to the website. Their motto is We Must Be Ancient to the Future to Survive.

Project originators Kate and Dave Williams have made several trips to Jefferson County within the past year gathering data on the interconnection between environmental crises and inequality. It is the first of many regions in the country where they will conduct similar research and data collection for the ongoing project.

RELATED: Photos: Tropical Storm Harvey hits Southeast Texas

Theyve gathered materials from the Beaumont Enterprise, Tyrrell Library and interviewed residents during their visits. Now, they want to hear from the voices of the next generation.

Submissions of no more than 1,500 words will be accepted from students enrolled at Beaumont United, West Brook, Port Arthur Memorial, Nederland and Port Neches-Groves high schools.

One prize will be awarded for the top submission from each school. Winners will receive $1,000 in cash and $4,000 toward post-high school education.

Submissions will be accepted in English and Spanish and can be in the form of an essay, poetry, fiction or non-fiction story or spoken word.

RELATED: Imelda damages several local schools

The deadline to submit work is Oct. 15 and can be sent online at ancienttothefuture.org/oct-2023. Seniors graduating in 2023 are eligible and must submit their entries before July 1.

The website contains videos and other materials that will help participating students understand the issues and get direction navigating their own stories. The site urges them to explore the issue of extreme weather and inequality with teachers, friends and family, as well.

An in-service workshop for teachers and others working with students will be held from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. May 29 at Lamar University. For more information and to register, visit the website at ancienttothefuture.org.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan attends the opening ceremony of the newly built Barbaros Hayrettin Pasa Mosque, ahead of the May 14 presidential and parliamentary elections, in Istanbul, Turkey, May 12. Reuters-Yonhap



Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan readied Friday to meet his hardcore supporters in the final countdown to the toughest election challenge of his two-decade rule.



Erdogan has been campaigning round the clock as he nears momentous polls Sunday that put his Islamic style of rule in the only Muslim-majority member of NATO on the line.



Opinion surveys show secular challenger Kemal Kilicdaroglu with a slight advantage and within a whisker of breaking the 50-percent threshold needed to avoid a runoff on May 28.



The opposition was helped by the withdrawal of a third-party candidate Thursday who was hurting Kilicdaroglu's efforts to hand the Turkish leader his first electoral defeat.



Erdogan was uncharacteristically shy about making any prediction about the outcome of Turkey's most consequential election of modern times.



"The ballot box will tell us Sunday," he said in response to a direct question from a TV presenter about whether he will win.



The 69-year-old also conceded that he was having a tough time winning over younger voters who have no memories of the corruption and economic chaos that ravaged Turkey under secular governments in the 1990s.



"There is a generation in our country that has not experienced any of the troubles that we experienced," he said in another appearance this week.



Erdogan planned Friday to rally supporters in a historically conservative district of Istanbul before meeting the faithful at the opening of a new city mosque  one of thousands built across Turkey during his rule.



Eroding support



"We find it difficult to explain our values to this new generation. Our young people are making comparisons not with the old Turkey, but with countries that have much better conditions than they do here."



Erdogan's frank admissions hint at a growing realisation that he might not be able to pull out one of his trademark come-from-behind wins.



The Turkish leader has been slowly losing support from key segments of the population that rallied around him during a more prosperous decade that followed his rise in 2003.



Some polls show young people who have known no other leader supporting Erdogan's rival by a two-to-one margin.



Kurds who once put trust in his efforts to end their cultural persecution are now also overwhelming backing Kilicdaroglu's campaign.



And an economic crisis  Turkey's worst in quarter of a century and one most blame on Erdogan's unorthodox economic beliefs  has pushed other groups to lose faith with his government.



This has left the president with few options but to try and rally his most hardcore nationalist and religious supporters to show up and vote in large numbers.



He appeals on his followers to "crush the ballot boxes" and accuses the West of bankrolling his opponents in an effort to undermine Turkey's sovereignty.





Supporters of Turkish President and Leader of the Justice and Development (AK) Party, Recep Tayyip Erdogan await the start of his campaign rally in the Sultangazi district of Istanbul, on May 12. AFP-Yonhap
In case you havent been down to South Bay for a while, let the Portofino Hotel & Marina reintroduce you to Redondo Beach with their brand new ocean kayaking tour. After all, true beachfront hotel experiences in Los Angeles are few and far between, and plenty of locals know to skip the crowded, tourist-packed streets of Santa Monica and Venice to head down to beachfront cities like Redondo Beach. Just 30 or 40 minutes away from the west side, this area is one of greater LAs best-kept secrets, whether its for a staycation, or just for a day on the water.

Embracing the fact that theyre one of the closest properties to the Pacific in all of Redondo Beach, Portofino Hotel decided to partner up with REI to offer a golden-hour kayak tour. Hotel guests and locals alike can book this guided, 90-minute tour with an expert REI Experiences Guide (if that isnt a dream job I dont know what is). The best times of day to get out on the water are obviously when sunrise or sunset is involved, and since most people would rather kayak in the evening than the early hours of the morning, thats the timeframe for now.

If youve never kayaked before, have no fear, as the instructor Arlan Pfohl first got into kayaking way back in 1979 and has been working with REI to teach kayaking since 2007. First, Pfohl will walk you through extensive instructions while still on land about how to hold and maneuver your paddle, and tricks for staying upright in the kayak once youre out on the ocean. (Hint: Use your core!) If youre skeptical about your own kayaking abilities, know that this tour is approved for ages 12 and up, and mostly sticks to the calmer, almost non-existent waves in King Harbor.

In fact, the waters are calm enough on this experience that Pfohl considers being out on the ocean in a kayak to be a zen-like outing. The solitude, the smells, the wind, the sounds of the water slapping against my boat are all very therapeutic, Pfohl tells InsideHook. When we take guests on our coastal tours, many of them have never been in a kayak. And those that have have never been out in the open ocean. Its thrilling for them and a real joy for me to be the one giving them the experience. Watching our participants get close to some of the marine life, like sea lions and dolphins, is really magical.

The hotel places a stuffed sea lion in all guest rooms as a nod to their local mascot. Portofino Hotel & Marina

On a recent tour of the bay, we were able to get up close and personal with a whole gaggle of sea lions who were sunning themselves on a floating platform out in front of the hotel. In a nod to this de facto local mascot, the hotel places a stuffed sea lion in all guest rooms. For a small donation, this stuffed furry creature can be taken home complete with an adoption certificate, and the donations for these toys go to the Marine Mammal Care Center.

A bit farther down, and through a slightly more exciting stretch of open ocean with larger waves, guests can kayak in and around the historic Redondo Pier. This is also a chance to discuss the not-so-positive impact that humans have had on the ocean in this area. In addition to viewing marine life we often get numerous opportunities to point out our local pollution problem inside the harbor and how it impacts our marine life, Pfohl says. Modeling being a good steward of our planet is another way we have a positive impact on our participants.

As for the history of the area, the Pier isnt the only place with a storied past. The Portofino itself  which, yes, was named after the coastal Italian town  was built way back in 1962. Designed with a Mediterranean feel, a tip of the hat to its namesake, the property was a racecar driver hangout in its earliest days. A historic cross-country car race from New York to Los Angeles, The Cannonball, first took place in 1971. Its final destination? The Portofino. Though the property is over 50 years old, a multi-million dollar renovation recently brought it up to speed on modern amenities and design. Dont expect any ultra-minimalist aesthetic here, though: The coastal, shabby chic elegance still reigns supreme in the guest rooms and a romantic, 60s-era lobby.

The Portofino itself was named after the coastal Italian town. Portofino Hotel & Marina/Kathryn Barnard

One thing that didnt really need any updating, though, was the hotels heated pool with ocean views. Few places can boast this kind of secluded, waterfront swimming pool, a great place to unwind after a day of kayaking. Or, if you prefer more activity, the hotel also offers complimentary one-hour beach cruiser rentals from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. When all that is done, swing by Baleen Kitchen for one of the best meals in all of Redondo Beach. Though the cities of South Bay are sometimes derided by Angelenos for subpar dining choices, this on-site restaurant proves them wrong. With a more formal dining room and a less formal lounge area, the all-day menu is best at dinner, and includes classics like hot crab dip, grilled calamari, New England chowder and cioppino.

LA is a seaside town where the sea can often be hard to access. Whether you stay over at the hotel for a welcome night out of the house, or pop down to Redondo for the kayaking tour and a fresh, seafood-focused meal at Baleen, this will cure that problem in a rather excellent way.



Book the Golden Hour Kayak Tour here. Book a room at Portofino Hotel here. Learn more about REI Experiences here.

This article was featured in the InsideHook LA newsletter. Sign up now for more from the Southland.

The post Ocean Views From the Pool? Golden-Hour Kayak? Heres Where to Find Them. appeared first on InsideHook.
Four New Jersey ASCs have filed a lawsuit against a Service Employees International Union benefit fund alleging underpayment for nearly two dozen procedures performed on fund participants, according to a May 11 report from Law360.

The four ASCs filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, claiming breach of contract and unjust enrichment against the 1199 SEIU National Benefit Fund.

Manalapan Surgery Center, New Horizon Surgical Center in Paterson, Surgicore of Jersey City and Surgicore Center in Saddle Brook allege that they performed $1.4 million worth of procedures on fund participants and were only paid $60,633.

The centers are seeking $381,670.71 each plus damages, interest and court costs, according to Law360.

The centers allege that the fund has not paid them a rate keeping with the "usual, customary and reasonable" rate for service. The fund allegedly underpaid the centers for surgeries performed between 2016 and 2021.

The ASCs are also alleging fraudulent inducement, claiming the fund led them to believe it would pay a reasonable rate and then underpaid them. They claim that before performing a procedure, they contact the SEIU fund to confirm the surgery will take place and will be covered.

"By confirming that the scheduled surgical procedure was authorized and covered, 1199 SEIU agreed that all component services, anesthesia and use of a facility to perform the surgery, were authorized and covered," the complaint reads.
Here are 24 stories Becker's has covered about Aetna and its parent company, CVS Health, since March 2:

Baton Rouge (La.) General has reached an agreement on a new contract with Cigna but remains out of network with Aetna. CVS Health is expecting big growth in its Medicare Advantage membership by the end of 2023, setting a different tone compared to the company's disappointment in "low- to mid-single-digit-percentage" growth late last year. CVS Health completed its $10.6 billion acquisition of primary care company Oak Street Health. A Texas woman pleaded guilty for her role in a scheme to defraud insurers, including Aetna, by accessing private patient information. CVS Health reported $2.1 billion in profit and surpassed 25 million members through Aetna, according to the company's first-quarter earnings. ChatGPT named Aetna as one of the top health insurers. Aetna reached a tentative contract agreement with the six University of California health systems, avoiding a split that would have affected thousands of patients. Aetna Better Health of Maryland is partnering with digital health company Mae on improving maternal healthcare for Black women. A former physician and his ASC company were sentenced to seven years in prison and five years of probation, respectively, for a scheme to defraud private insurers, including Aetna. CVS Health named Brian Kane as executive vice president and president of Aetna, effective September 1. CVS Health CEO Karen Lynch was among the likes of Elon Musk, President Joe Biden and Beyonce on Time's list of the 100 most influential people for 2023. Ms. Lynch was paid $21.3 million in total compensation in 2022. Oshi Health, a virtual specialty care gastrointestinal health company, raised $30 million in a series B financing round led by Koch Disruptive Technologies with participation from CVS Health Ventures. Aetna and Oshi Health teamed up to offer virtual care for those with digestive disorders. AmSurg's more than 250 surgery centers are now in-network with Aetna after physician services company Envision Healthcare signed a multiyear deal with the insurer. Health system innovation leaders say CVS Health's completed $8 billion acquisition of Signify Health makes sense in an industry that is moving toward the home  and that the company is far from done expanding. CVS and Optum have struggled to integrate behavioral health into their payer-provider models. Oscar Health named former Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini as the company's next chief executive. Cigna CEO David Cordani must sit for a deposition as the company seeks to block a former executive from taking a role with rival CVS Health, a federal judge ruled. Aetna is leveraging CVS Health's retail stores to let Medicaid members know they may need to renew their coverage. Some Aetna plans will be out of network at UC San Diego Health on April 7 if the two organizations don't agree on a new contract. Plans affected include commercial and Medicare policies. New York City leaders greenlit an Aetna-run Medicare Advantage plan for the city's retired municipal employees. Aetna agreed to pay up to $3.4 million to settle a proposed class-action lawsuit alleging it wrongly refused to cover patients' cancer treatments. CVS went from one store in 1963 to a $105 billion healthcare behemoth that has thousands of pharmacies, hundreds of clinics and an insurance company  and continues to grow. Kelly Munson, president of Aetna Medicaid, sat down with Becker's to explain how the company is working to contact members about redeterminations and partnering with Medicaid programs in the 14 states where it manages plans.
Gov. Kim Reynolds of Iowa has signed into law legislation that allows physician assistants to practice independent of a supervising physician.

Iowa is now one of six states to repeal this requirement, joining Arizona, Montana, North Dakota, Utah and Wyoming, according to a May 11 news release from American Academy of Physician Associates shared with Becker's.

"This bill moves Iowa away from old and burdensome regulations toward a modernized and flexible approach to healthcare that will benefit PAs, their employers and the patients they serve," Samantha Sparrow, president of the Iowa Physician Assistant Society, said in the release.

The legislation is expected to especially improve care access for patients in rural communities. In Iowa, there are over 1,300 licensed PAs practicing medicine  53.4 percent of whom practice in rural areas of the state.
Here are 21 UnitedHealth stories Becker's has covered about UnitedHealth Group, parent company of Optum Health and ASC management company SCA Health, from the last 60 days:

EHR vendor Athenahealth named George Hamilton chief corporate strategy and development officer. He was formerly vice president of strategy and business development at UnitedHealth Group. Envision Healthcare, a physician services company, was awarded $91.2 million in its arbitration against United Healthcare for underpayment of essential medical care from 2017 to 2018 while the two had an in-network agreement. UnitedHealthcare made nine changes to its reimbursement policies for its commercial, individual and family, and Medicare Advantage plans. Here are nine changes to know in the coming months. UnitedHealth Group CEO Andrew Witty was paid 331 times more than the company's median employee in 2022. UnitedHealth Group was one of 17 payers named among the nation's best employers for diversity by Forbes. UnitedHealth Group's chief legal officer Rupert Bondy received a total compensation package of $11.3 million in 2022 as the company fought the Justice Department's attempt to block an acquisition of data company Change Healthcare. UnitedHealth Group's recently acquired LHC Group is buying Delaware-based home health company Summit Home Care. UnitedHealth Group was one of 12 payers named among the nation's most trustworthy companies in 2023 by Newsweek. UnitedHealthcare's plans to implement a gold-card program in 2024 might cut another 10 percent of its prior authorization volumes on top of a 20 percent reduction that will roll out this summer, UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson said. UnitedHealth Group posted revenues of $91.9 billion in the first quarter of 2023, up 15 percent from $80.1 billion over the same period last year. UnitedHealth's Optum arm purchased Middletown, N.Y.-based Crystal Run Healthcare, a multispecialty physician group with over 400 providers across more than 30 locations. UnitedHealth Group is the most innovative payer in 2023, according to Fortune. The U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority referred UnitedHealth Group's proposed acquisition of the health technology firm EMIS Group for an in-depth investigation. UnitedHealthcare is moving forward with a plan to eliminate 20 percent of its current prior authorizations and implement a national gold-card program. The American Gastroenterological Association is asking its members to contact UnitedHealthcare to stop new prior authorization requirements from going into effect June 1. UnitedHealth Group indicated it would not renew the lease at its 20-acre campus in Minnetonka, Minn., which runs through 2024. The Justice Department is no longer pursuing an appeal to block UnitedHealth Group's $7.8 billion purchase of Change Healthcare that closed in October. UnitedHealth Group CEO Andrew Witty was named the seventh most influential CEO in 2023 by CEO World's annual ranking. UnitedHealth Group members asked a federal appeals court to reassess a former ruling in favor of a UnitedHealth subsidiary they say has led to "disastrous consequences" for employee benefit plans and millions of mental health and addiction patients. UnitedHealth Group and the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta partnered on a new mobile app that will offer postpartum support to new Black mothers and their children. UnitedHealth Group is the largest insurance company in the world by market cap in 2023, according to Insurance Business.
Former physician Mendel Gordin, MD, surrendered his medical license after he was accused of making inappropriate comments to several patients and misdiagnosing one of them, The Bellingham Herald reported May 10.

Dr. Gordin retired as a physician before surrendering his license and will not be allowed to renew, reactivate or practice as a retired physician in Washington state, including in any temporary, emergency or volunteer capacity.

The Washington Medical Commission accused Dr. Gordin of unprofessional conduct after two separate complaints had been filed against him from patients he saw in 2021 and 2022, according to state health department records obtained by the publication.

Both complaints alleged Dr. Gordin had made inappropriate comments to patients, with one patient alleging he also seemed to go in and out of consciousness throughout the visit and spoke about another patient's information within earshot.

The second patient claimed she was misdiagnosed by Dr. Gordin as well.

The commission then sent him a letter asking him to provide an explanation and medical records for the incident with the second patient within 21 days. Dr. Gordin did not follow through on either of the commission's requests.

In April, he entered into a stipulated informal disposition with the commission following its formal accusations. The stipulation is not considered formal disciplinary action or a finding of unprofessional conduct or inability to practice.

He will practice administrative medicine for a short period to close his practice and refer patients to other physicians. He will not undergo any further punishment from the commission as part of the stipulation agreement.
Cape Girardeau, Mo.-based SoutheastHealth plans to build a $20 million ASC at its new Southeast Center for Integrated Health Services, according to a May 12 report from the Southeast Missourian.

The $25 million integrated health center recently opened in Cape Girardeau alongside a cancer center and a behavioral health hospital.

The ASC will be part of a $125 million multiphase growth project  the largest renovation project in the system's history.

In January, Southeast signed a letter of intent to become a member of Chesterfield, Mo.-based Mercy health system. A final agreement should be complete in June, according to the report.
An Ohio dentist recently turned to legislators for help improving workforce shortages in the state, ABC affiliate News5 Cleveland reported May 11.

Thomas Kelly, DDS, past president of the Ohio Dental Association, told the news station that retention rates for dental hygienists, assistants, administrative staff, receptionists, schedule assistants and expanded function dental auxiliaries became an issue in 2015 but were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr. Kelly added that training programs for dental hygienists and assistants in the state did not recover quickly. The programs also cannot meet the demand to fill vacant roles at dental offices in the state, the news organization reported.

The Greater Cleveland Partnership, an economic development organization, was awarded $5.8 million in federal funding in 2022 to combat workforce shortages, but the dental apprenticeship program does not start until in the fall.

Dr. Kelly visited state representatives to discuss how to improve shortages and increase funding for dental training.
Jackson Memorial Hospital has tapped new leaders for the Miami Transplant Institute's heart transplant program, which has been suspended since March, the Miami Herald reported May 11.

Joshua Hare, MD, was named interim chief of heart failure and Leonardo Mulinari, MD, was named interim chief of heart transplants. Hospital leaders announced the changes during a staff meeting May 8. The Herald learned of the shakeup independently and Jackson officials confirmed the moves May 11.

The Miami Transplant Institute is jointly run by Miami-based Jackson Health System  the city's public safety-net system  and the University of Miami's UHealth. The institute abruptly halted its adult heart transplant program in March after the United Network for Organ Sharing, which operates the country's organ transplant system, notified Jackson that it had received complaints surrounding patient deaths and poor outcomes. Shortly after, UNOS, CMS and the state's Agency for Health Care Administration opened investigations into the heart transplant program.

"Both Dr. Mulinari and Dr. Hare are renowned experts in their field, and with their guidance, we will reinstate the heart transplant program as soon as it is appropriate," Jackson said in a statement to the Herald.

The newspaper previously reviewed an anonymous report sent to CMS that detailed patient safety concerns and complaints about Matthias Loebe, MD, PhD, the institute's chief of heart transplant at the time, and Anita Phancao, MD, then director of the program's heart failure team.

Dr. Loebe was stripped of his administrative duties in October, and last month Jackson restricted him from treating patients. Dr. Phancao is still seeing patients, the health system told the Herald. No specific reasons on the leadership changes were given during the May 8 meeting, sources told the Herald, but leaders did mention the need for better teamwork, process management and communication in the aftermath of the heart program's suspension.






Kentucky and Tennessee have the highest median salary for physicians, according to Physicians Thrive's "2023 Physician Compensation Report."

The report is based on data from about 1 million physicians in the U.S. Physicians Thrive, a financial advisory group, examined various sources, including the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, HHS' Health Resources and Services Administration and reports published by Merrit Hawkins, Doximity and Medscape.

Below are the top 10 states with the highest median salary for physicians, according to Physicians Thrive. Note: The list includes a tie.

1. Kentucky: $364,000

1. Tennessee: $364,000

3. Alabama: $358,000

4. Missouri: $357,000

5. Oregon: $352,000

6. Indiana: $350,000

7. North Carolina: $348,000

8. Connecticut: $346,000

9. Texas: $332,000

10. Florida: $330,000
China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi speaks during a high level Security Council meeting on the situation in Ukraine, Thursday, Sept. 22, 2022, at United Nations headquarters. AP-Yonhap



China is sending a special envoy to Ukraine and Russia starting next week in an effort to help reach a political settlement of the Ukrainian crisis, its Foreign Ministry said Friday.



Li Hui, who is China's special representative for Eurasian affairs and a former ambassador to Moscow, will also visit Poland, France and Germany, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said.



China says it remains neutral over Russia's war in Ukraine but has declared it has a "no limits" relationship with Moscow and blames the U.S. and NATO for provoking the conflict. Beijing has put forward a peace plan for Ukraine that has been largely dismissed by the country's supporters, who say a resolution can only come when Russia ceases its attacks and withdraws its troops from Ukrainian territory.



Chinese leader Xi Jinping spoke by phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last month, setting the stage for the diplomatic push.



"The visit of the Chinese representative to relevant countries expresses China's commitment to promoting peace and negotiations," Wang said at a daily briefing Friday.



China wishes to prevent an "escalation of the situation," Wang said.



Li's visits are to begin next week but his detailed schedule has not been released.



Beijing has previously avoided involvement in conflicts between other countries but appears to be trying to assert itself as a global diplomatic force after arranging talks between Saudi Arabia and Iran in March that led them to restore diplomatic relations after a seven-year break.



China has friendly relations with Moscow as well as economic leverage as the biggest buyer of Russian oil and gas after the United States and its allies cut off most purchases.



Beijing, which sees Moscow as a diplomatic partner in opposing U.S. domination of global affairs, has refused to criticize the invasion and used its status as one of five permanent U.N. Security Council members to deflect diplomatic attacks on Russia.



Wang also confirmed that the ruling Communist Party's top diplomat, Wang Yi, and U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan held talks on Wednesday and Thursday in Vienna, Austria. Wang said the two sides had "candid, in-depth, substantive, and constructive discussions" on stabilizing and improving bilateral relations.



China-U.S. relations are at a historical low and nosedived in February after the U.S. shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon that had flown across Canada and the United States. The incident led to the postponement of a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Beijing which has yet to be rescheduled. (AP)






Envision Physician Services, a division of Envision Healthcare, is laying off administrative workers who work at hospitals and other healthcare facilities in New York and Pennsylvania, according to recently filed Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notifications.

Envision is conducting two rounds of layoffs affecting 162 administrative workers in Conshohocken, Pa.

The first round of 37 layoffs will occur July 14, and 125 more positions will be eliminated on Sept. 15, according to a WARN filing with the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry.

Nashville, Tenn.-based Envision said it is helping affected workers by identifying open positions within the company, hosting job webinars for open positions and providing outplacement services.

Another WARN notice filed March 29 with the New York State Department of Labor states that Envision is also laying off 167 employees in June due to the loss of a contract with a "hospital-based physicians group." Envision did not identify the group but said it is transitioning its partnership with several hospitals for emergency medicine care.

The locations include St. Peter's Hospital in Albany; Albany Memorial Hospital; Samaritan Hospital in Troy; Ellis Hospital in Schenectady; Ellis Urgent Care in Schenectady; and Clifton Park Medical Center.

"In most cases, the [physicians and advanced practice providers] have opted to remain with their hospitals," a spokesperson for the company told Becker's. "For those who decided to pursue other employment options, clinicians have the opportunity to apply for other opportunities with Envision or pursue options elsewhere."

The news comes after The Wall Street Journal reported that the private equity-backed physician services company plans to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as early as this weekend. A spokesperson for Envision declined to comment on the bankruptcy filing.

High labor costs and a lengthy legal battle with UnitedHealthcare  which ended after the insurer was ordered to pay Envision $91 million in damages  have contributed to the company's financial challenges. UnitedHealthcare also filed its own suit against Envision, alleging it overcharged the insurer by billing for unnecessarily complex care during what should have been routine visits.
Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente has appointed Abhishek Dosi senior vice president and area manager of its Santa Rosa service area, effective May 15.

Mr. Dosi succeeds Tarek Salaway, who is now serving as senior vice president and area manager of Kaiser's Golden Gate service area.

In his new role, he will be responsible for Kaiser's hospital operations and health plan for the area that includes the Kaiser Permanente Santa Rosa Medical Center.

Mr. Dosi joined Kaiser in 2021 and most recently served as COO at Kaiser Permanente San Francisco, where his leadership spanned support services, utilization management, workplace safety and performance improvement. He achieved success advancing the market's strategy  especially around the expansion of ambulatory services, according to the health system.

Prior to joining Kaiser, he served in leadership roles at Sutter Solano Medical Center in Vallejo, Calif., and Sutter Health California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco.

Mr. Dosi has a master's degree in health administration from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
Iowa will no longer require that a physician assistant be supervised by a physician to practice medicine.

That's according to a news release from the American Academy of Physician Associates. On May 10, Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law legislation to make the change.

"Addressing healthcare provider shortages, an ongoing problem in rural areas, is one of the primary reasons driving the PA profession's efforts to modernize PA practice laws," AAPA President and Chair of the Board Jennifer Orozco, DMSc, PA-C, said in the release. "Peeling away unnecessary red tape will empower PAs and expand access to care for so many patients being left behind."

The new law, House File 424, removes the requirement that physician assistants maintain a legal relationship with a physician to practice in Iowa, according to the Des Moines Register. The newspaper reported that it also stipulates physician assistants are liable for the care they give.

Additionally, the law requires that licensed physician assistants be supervised by a physician during the first two years of independent practice "if the physician assistant has not previously practiced under a supervising physician or in collaboration with the appropriate physician or other healthcare professional for a period of at least two years."

Health systems could still require physician supervision for physician assistants, according to the Des Moines Register.

The signing of the bill makes Iowa the sixth state to remove physician assistant supervision requirements, according to the AAPA. Arizona, Montana, North Dakota, Utah and Wyoming have also removed this requirement.

Iowa is estimated to have more than 1,300 licensed physician assistants practicing medicine, more than half of whom practice in rural areas of the state, according to the AAPA.








Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte vetoed a bill that would require Warm Springs-based Montana State Hospital to report all cases of neglect, abuse, injuries and death to a watchdog group, Montana Public Radio reported May 11.

The bill would require the hospital to send reports to Disability Rights Montana, a federally designated patient advocacy group. The group already has permission under federal and state law to examine the records but has to request them after an incident.

Mr. Gianforte wrote his veto was due to how the bill would violate patient privacy, but DRM Executive Director Bernie Franks-Ongoy said the governor misunderstood the group's existing legal rights to examine the records.

Over two-thirds of lawmakers voted for the law, and the secretary of state is expected to send a poll that would allow legislators to override the veto, according to the report.

Montana State Hospital lost its federal certification and funding in 2022 due to patient deaths, and reports of ongoing abuse and deaths continued following decertification, the report said.
Chesapeake (Va.) Regional Healthcare held a "Healthcare Violence Prevention Fair" to teach workers de-escalation tips in early May after an increase in Code Greens, according to ABC affiliate WVEC.

"I can't think of a day that really goes by that we are not having a Code Green call, where we have to respond to some type of escalation from a patient or an employee standpoint," Kimberly Green, BSN, RN, a nurse manager at Chesapeake, told the outlet.

On May 8, a bomb threat prompted an evacuation at Chesapeake. Two days later and 100 miles away, there was a fatal shooting at VCU Medical Center North Hospital in Richmond, Va.

Speakers at the fair said the COVID-19 pandemic worsened the amount of violence committed against healthcare employees at work, and Chesapeake President and CEO Reese Jackson told WVEC his hospital will host the same fair every year if these escalations continue.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a package of "medical freedom" legislation into law May 11, including a law that prohibits businesses and government entities from requiring people to provide proof of vaccination or mandate they wear a mask to gain entry or access to services.

The governor's office said the pieces of legislation "protect Floridians from medical mandates, empower doctors, and prohibit dangerous gain of function research." The new laws prohibit employers from refusing employment or issuing disciplinary action against an individual "solely on the basis of vaccination or immunity status," and prevents discrimination against individuals related to vaccination or immunity status.

Additionally, the legislation creates new freedom of speech protections for health providers in the state, enables physicians to collaborate with patients to prescribe "alternative" COVID-19 treatments, and protects physicians' right to deny certain services if against their moral, ethical or religious beliefs.
In February, the CDC issued a warning against a brand of eyedrops linked to dozens of severe eye infections in the U.S. But the bottles were causing infections months before that.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa has infected 68 people in the U.S. The cases, linked to contaminated bottles of EzriCare artificial tears, have led to three deaths, eight cases of blindness and four eyeball removal surgeries. Now, physicians and researchers have published details from the case of a 72-year-old patient who contracted an infection in November, and how they ultimately identified the eye drops as the culprit.

Three notes from the case study, published in Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy:

In November, the patient went to an outpatient clinic with blurry vision. She was then sent to a hospital ED, where ophthalmologists cultured the infection and prescribed strong antibiotic eye drops.

"I've never recovered [P. aeruginosa] from an eye," said Morgan Morelli, MD, first author on the study and infectious disease fellow at Cleveland-based University Hospitals, in a May 11 news release from the American Society of Microbiology. "It required a lot of thinking and digging to figure out what was going on  and we never thought it was related to a global manufacturing issue."

When the patient's condition continued to worsen after receiving antibiotics, her case was referred to microbiologists and infectious disease experts at the hospital. After ruling out other potential sources like contacts or a body of water, physicians requested the patient's husband bring in her eye drops for testing. When the bacteria was detected in the eye drops, researchers connected the dots.
Nursing internships are some of the most highly coveted for college students and recent graduates, CNBC reported May 4.

The news station obtained data from Semrush, a keyword research and online metrics company, regarding recent Google search trends. According to the data, the query, "Can you do internships after graduation?" increased by 1,850 percent between January 2021 and March 2023.





These were the top 10 most searched intern roles during the same time frame:

1. Accountant internships

2. Graphic design internships

3. Mechanical engineer internships

4. Psychologist internships

5. Engineer internships

6. Data analyst internships

7. Electrical engineer internships

8. Social worker internships

9. Civil engineer internships

10. Nurse internships
Pope Francis, right, assisted by Prefect of the Pontifical House Monsignor Leonardo Sapienza, speaks during the weekly general audience at Paul-VI hall in the Vatican, Feb. 22. AFP-Yonhap





Pope Francis could meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Vatican this weekend, a Vatican official said Thursday.







Francis has repeatedly called for an end to Russia's war in Ukraine and expressed solidarity with the "martyred" Ukrainian people. Recently he revealed a secret peace "mission" was underway but provided no details.







Word of the possible meeting Saturday in Rome followed news, confirmed last week by Berlin police, that Zelenskyy was expected in Germany starting Saturday evening. Italian media, citing unnamed sources, reported Thursday that Zelenskyy might be in Rome earlier that day to meet with Premier Giorgia Meloni and the pope.







A Vatican official said a pope-Zelenskyy audience Saturday "is a possibility." The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the visit was not confirmed.







On Sunday, Zelenskyy and the people of Ukraine are set to receive the International Charlemagne Prize, awarded annually by the western German city of Aachen for contributions to European unity. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is scheduled to give the speech honoring Zelenskyy.







Francis met with Zelensskyy before the war and last month met with the Ukrainian prime minister, who asked the pontiff's help in mediating the return of Ukrainian children taken to Russia after the Kremlin's invasion. Francis recently told reporters he thought the Vatican could help, given it's previous mediation in prisoner swaps.







On Thursday, Francis bid farewell to the Russian ambassador to the Holy See, Alexander Avdeev, at the end of his seven-year tenure. (AP)


Italian chain restaurant Zizzi has announced it has opened a new location in Belfasts Odyssey complex.

The new eatery, which features artwork designed by local resident artist Hannah Coate, opened its doors on Friday, joining Victoria Square as the only two of the chains spots in Northern Ireland.

The new restaurant will create 35 local jobs in total and will seat 130 customers, 90 inside 40 outside in the mall area.

We are delighted to be opening our doors today to our brand-new Zizzi Belfast Odyssey restaurant, said general manager of Zizzi Belfast Odyssey, Roberta Thompson.

"We cannot wait to see our customers sharing happy times over our delicious, much-loved and mouth-watering Italian dishes with a twist.

"Through the unique restaurant design taken from local hues, we are looking forward to helping our customers reconnect with each other, by creating the perfect backdrop for great times.

The new restaurant takes inspiration from modern British and rustic Italian design to create a laid-back cool interior and will feature themed items based on its Belfast location  including a mural of the Harland and Wolff cranes.

Customers will also be invited to enjoy menu options including the latest dishes from the new spring menu which launched last month.
Kerry Condon accepts Bafta in February 2023. Pic by Stuart Wilson/Getty Images for Bafta.

Liam Neeson is set to hit the big screen in a new thriller starring Banshees of Inisherin star Kerry Condon.

The US rights to In the Land of Saints and Sinners have been acquired by Samuel Goldwyn Films studio which is planning to release the film in cinemas this autumn.

With multiple Oscar nominees in front of and behind the camera, were confident that In the Land of Saints and Sinners will be another thought-provoking entry in Liam Neesons storied filmography and delight both critics and audiences alike, studio president Peter Goldwyn told Variety.

The story unfolds in a remote Irish village where a damaged Finbar (Neeson) is forced to choose the price of his fight for redemption after a lifetime of sins.

Watch as Liam Neeson re-creates famous Taken scene at a hockey match

He finds himself drawn into a deadly game of cat and mouse with three terrorists bent on revenge.

The Ballymena native, who has starred in dozens of films including Schindlers List, Taken and Batman Begins has re-teamed with with The Marksman director Robert Lorenz.

Fellow Oscar nominee Kerry Condon is among the starry ensemble which also includes Colm Meaney (Star Trek: The Next Generation), Oscar-nominee Ciaran Hinds (Belfast), Jack Gleeson (Game of Thrones), Desmond Eastwood (Normal People) and Sarah Greene (Bad Sisters).

Earlier this year Kerry Condon won the Bafta for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Siobhan in Martin McDonagh's latest hit.

It was one of four gongs picked up by the Irish film.

Kerry Condon on taking her brother to the Oscars 2023

The actress has found international fame for roles in HBO's Rome, AMC's Better Call Saul, Oscar-winning Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and as the voice of Friday in the Marvel universe.

The latest project comes after it was confirmed the Tipperary native is set to join Brad Pitt in Apple Studios big-budget untitled F1 racing tentpole flick to be directed by Joseph Kosinski.
Ukrainian artist Mariana Potetenko, who came to Liverpool from Kyiv, with her Eurovision design which has gone on display in Bold Street (Liverpool City Region Combined Authority/PA)

A Ukrainian artist who fled the country following the war has seen her Eurovision design displayed in Liverpool.

Mariana Potetenko, 45, fled Kyiv last June, with her two daughters and dog, and came to Liverpool, which is hosting this years song contest on behalf of Ukraine.

She answered a call to artists for Eurovision-themed shop window art after taking part in a digital design skills bootcamp, funded by the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority.

Her design, which features last years winners Kalush Orchestra and UK entrant Sam Ryder, has gone on display in the citys Bold Street, outside the Lyceum building, for the tens of thousands of Eurovision fans visiting the city to see.

Ms Potetentko said: I came to Liverpool in June last year because of the war and started working as an artist and medical interpreter.

The bootcamp changed everything for me because it provided me with new knowledge, skills and opportunities  I still cant believe that I am seeing my design on such a huge scale and everybody can see it as well.

I am a huge fan of Eurovision and it was supposed to be in Ukraine but unfortunately, due to the war, it is here, in the city where I am. I still cant believe it. I will watch it on TV and be proud for my country.

Mayor of the Liverpool City Region Steve Rotheram said: People across our region have opened up their hearts and homes to thousands of Ukrainian refugees over the past year  and we want to ensure they feel a real sense of belonging in our community.

By giving people like Mariana the opportunity to access training, not only are we helping peoples creativity to flourish, we are helping them to gain the knowledge and skills they need to start building a better future for their families.

The free eight-day skills bootcamp, put on by Square One Training in Birkenhead, covered the use of digital design software.

Managing director of Square One Training Lisa Johnson said: We deliver skills bootcamps on behalf of the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority and the one Mariana did has allowed her to learn all the key skills to create wonderful masterpieces like this.

When she first came to me and told me about her life story I was full of emotion and pride that she had come to Liverpool to live  her story is truly amazing and now she is starting a new life in our wonderful city.
A pensioner convicted of drugging and sexually abusing a schoolboy over 20 years ago has been handed a 22-month sentence.

Jailing Noel Brendan Cooney (72) at Craigavon Crown Court on Friday, Judge Patrick Lynch KC said despite the pervert now accepting guilt, he could receive little or no credit given he forced the victim to testify in two trials held a week apart in February.

Cooney, with an address at Deramore Mews in Belfast, was convicted of three sex offences including two of gross indecency and an indecent assault on dates unknown between January 1999 and December 31, 2002, when the child was aged between nine and 11.

The juries heard that, using the lure of watching cartoons on Sky TV, Cooney enticed the boy into his home before asking the victim to pull his trousers down.

He refused at that time, but on another occasion the child ended up sitting on Cooneys knee.

The indecent assault occurred on a third occasion when the boy was in Cooneys house and the defendant asked him if he wanted a drink. The juries also heard that this was his eighth victim.

Prosecuting lawyer Joseph Murphy said: He could see him put something back in his pocket but he consumed the drink and began to pass out, adding that shortly afterwards the boy became drowsy and fell unconscious.

When he came round, Cooney was behind him, the child was face down and could feel something on the back of his head and neck.

When he regained consciousness again, he felt hazy but Cooney forced him out of the house and it was only when he got home that he realised he had an injury.

When arrested and interviewed in 2021, Cooney denied the accusations.

In 2008, he was handed an 18-year sentence for 37 offences including three of raping a girl, indecent assault and gross indecency upon a boy and four girls from 1989 to 1993.

The judge, who put Cooney on the sex offenders register for life, said he had carried out a "campaign" of abuse.

In court today, defence KC Charles McKay revealed that despite his claims of innocence, Cooney now accepts that he committed these three crimes of which he has been convicted.

The victim may well be online and it would be some vindication to him to hear that the defendant did in fact commit these crimes that the victim said he did, said the senior barrister, conceding that its a difficult case given his previous offences.

He argued that while he did not shy away from it being a serious case, he stressed that Cooney had served his time and had clearly benefitted from his probation order as he had not reoffended since he was released in 2014.

Jailing Cooney, Judge Lynch said it was a reasonable inference that he had drugged the boy to facilitate the indecent assault.

He added there was also no doubt that had this case been dealt with along with the other offences in 2008, the judge at that time would have imposed a longer sentence.
Two men have been sentenced over a hijacking incident during which they shouted up the UFF.

Rhys Morris (31), of Park Avenue in east Belfast, previously pleaded guilty to hijacking and two counts of criminal damage. He further admitted driving while unfit, having no licence or insurance and failing to remain at the scene of an accident.

At Belfast Crown Court on Friday, Judge Mark Reel imposed a combination order of 100 hours of unpaid work and two years on probation. He also fined Morris 600 for the driving offences and disqualified him from driving for 12 months.

Callum Joseph Maddison (28), of Dufferin Avenue in Bangor, received a three-year prison sentence suspended for two years for hijacking, two counts of common assault and one of criminal damage.

It was heard that at around midnight on August 17, 2017, a woman was parking her Renault Clio car at Cedar Avenue in north Belfast.

Prosecution barrister Philip Henry described: "Maddison opened the passenger door while Morris went to the driver's door. He raised a bottle in his right hand and threatened the female stating: 'Get the f*** out of my car or I will smack you'.

"The defendants drove off in her car before crashing into another parked car causing 1,300 worth of damage. With great fortitude, the victim reached into the car and removed the keys and took the bottle from Morris.''

The court heard Maddison got out of the car and raised a bottle to threaten her. As they ran off, a local resident heard them shouting up the UFF.

"Maddison, in an entirely gratuitous act of violence, punched a passing member of the public in the neck. Another woman heard them shouting 'up the UFF' and she told them there was children sleeping and it was past midnight. Maddison then struck her.''

The prosecution barrister said she followed them into Hopefield Avenue, where they damaged a parked lorry.

An intoxicated Morris, bleeding from cuts, was arrested by police at 12.30am. The labourer told police he had been struck to the head earlier by a taxi driver with a hurling stick.

Mr Henry said hospital blood tests showed he had taken cocaine, cannabis and prescription drugs.

During police interviews, both men denied involvement in the hijacking, claiming they were in a bar before going back to a female's flat to continue drinking.

Judge Reel said Morris told a probation officer that he was "ashamed for his wholly out-of-character behaviour'' and had expressed remorse to his victims.

He added that the defendant had made strenuous efforts to turn his life around since the incident and for that reason he would not interfere with his liberty by imposing a combination order.

The judge said that since the incident Maddison had sustained a significant brain injury, suffers from schizophrenia and needs ongoing family support for day-to-day living.

Imposing a suspended prison sentence, Judge Reel said the defendant was assessed as not suitable for community service given his injury.
BBC NI staff are set to strike on the day that the counting of votes in the council election gets underway.

National Union of Journalists (NUJ) members working across the broadcasters regional branch will walk out for 24 hours next Friday.

The action has been agreed by staff opposed to proposed cuts to jobs and programmes which included the reduction of BBC Radio Foyles Breakfast programme.

The north-wests flagship morning show was axed last month and replaced with a half-hour news programme. The move faced protests including a town hall-style meeting, and gatherings outside the stations Derry headquarters with signs reading Save Radio Foyle.

The NUJ said the corporation's bid to save 2.3 million had resulted in 36 posts being cut, with the prospect of other potential job losses.

The union said the restructuring plans would impact resources and the ability to deliver quality programmes across Northern Ireland.

The BBC has said the reconfiguration is part of a strategy to invest in online services, including the BBC iPlayer, and has insisted compulsory redundancies have been avoided

But the NUJ said there was strong support for strike action.

"An industrial action ballot of members delivered a strong mandate with 83% voting in favour of strike action, following the failure of BBC management to save valued programmes across Northern Ireland, and guarantee the security of journalists jobs, the union said.

"As part of cost-cutting efforts, the public service broadcaster is seeking 2.3m in savings, cutting 36 posts alongside other potential job losses.

NUJ members believe the BBCs restructuring plans will impact resources and their ability to deliver quality programmes across Northern Ireland.

"For example, last month the Radio Foyle Breakfast Show was dramatically altered, now 30 minutes instead of its original two-hour duration. Communities across Northern Ireland have expressed dismay and anger over the impact of cuts to services, urging the BBC to rethink plans.

Union officials have been engaged in negotiations with the BBC and has urged the public broadcaster to return to discussions with viable options on alternative ways to make savings.

Paul Siegert, NUJ national broadcasting organiser, said: Members have been left with no option than to head to pickets in defence of their jobs and the much-loved programmes listeners tune into daily.

"Yet again, the BBC is pursuing savings and drastic changes at the expense of quality journalism it claims to pride itself on.

"The NUJ wants to reach a solution that resolves the dispute and asks the BBC to return to talks with a fair offer members can accept.

The strike action will commence at 12.15am next Friday and end on 12.15am next Saturday.

SDLP leader Colum Eastwood MP backed the strike, warning that vital public service broadcasting will be reduced and jobs put on the line.

"From the outset, the SDLP has warned that these cuts will have a devastating impact on local news coverage, particularly in Derry and the North West, and that they do not have the support of BBC staff or local people, he said.

People in Derry will not be treated as an afterthought. Despite repeated challenges to BBC senior management, we have yet to receive a satisfactory response or justification for the burden of reductions falling on important local programming.

People Before Profit said its representatives will not engage with the BBC during Fridays election count, calling for a boycott while the broadcasters staff are on strike.

The partys MLA Gerry Carroll said: We will never cross a picket line. Therefore, our election candidates and activists will not engage with the BBC while its staff are on strike. We would urge the BBC to urgently reverse these cuts and to reconsider its so-called restructuring plans.

We call on all parties contesting the local government election to boycott the BBC if Fridays strike goes ahead.

Foyleside People Before Profit councillor Shaun Harkin accused BBC bosses of tearing Radio Foyle asunder from a safe distance.
US President Joe Biden has long been proud of his Irish roots (Brian Lawless/PA)   Brian Lawless

A DUP MP has said it is unbelievable and frightening that Joe Biden is the president of the United States of America.

Sammy Wilson was responding to Mr Bidens claim that he came to Ireland last month to make sure the Brits didnt screw around with the Good Friday Agreement.

Its unbelievable and frightening as well to think this is the man who is the leader of the free world," Mr Wilson said.

If you believe that there should be a special relationship between the US and UK then at least show us some respect.

Mr Biden sparked a transatlantic row after making the comments at a Democratic National Committee Reception in New York on Wednesday.

UK transport minister Huw Merriman was asked if he agreed with the remarks on Times Radio.

No not at all, he said.

My roots are in Ireland so I certainly would not accept that at all.

The Windsor Agreement really allows us to preserve the Good Friday Agreement and all that is best.

He can use his own language but in my view Im very proud of it (the Windsor Agreement). We have preserved the Good Friday Agreement. We have celebrated the anniversary of it. Northern Ireland has turned a corner.

Mary-Lou McDonald reacts to Biden comments

A transcript published by the Whitehouse documents the Commander in Chiefs reflection upon his trip to Northern Ireland to mark the 25th anniversary of the peace deal before he travelled to his ancestral home across the border.

The basic fundamental values that I find is that most ethnic communities are similar, Mr Biden said.

And one of the things  I got to go back  not what I had planned on talking about, but I got to go back to Ireland for the  for the  the Irish Accords, to make sure they werent  the Brits didnt screw around and Northern Ireland didnt walk away from their commitments.

His comments caused widespread anger in the UK with former Northern Ireland Secretary Shailesh Vara among the critics.

This is deeply regrettable that President Biden has to use such language to further his re-election chances in the US, he told the Evening Standard.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who signing the Windsor Agreement with the EU, met with Mr Biden who was in NI for less than 24 hours.

His official spokesman has responded to Mr Bidens remarks.

The Windsor Framework was a culmination of substantive work between the UK and the EU and at its heart the UK priority was always protecting the Good Friday Agreement," he said.

We have been consistent on that point throughout and we are pleased that between the UK and the EU we have been able to reach an agreement which works for the people of Northern Ireland and for the whole UK.

Irish premier Leo Varadkar was previously forced to reject claims that Mr Biden was anti-British after the president confused the New Zealand rugby team with the Black and Tans  a contentious War of Independence-era police force.

Dame Arlene Foster previously questioned whether Mr Biden snubbed the United Kingdom by not flying the Union flag on his official car while in Belfast  but later opted for the Irish tricolour in Dublin.

His official vehicle donned the US Stars and Stripes along with the presidential standard on the bonnet while in NI.

Joe Biden's car displaying a tricolour (Brian Lawless/PA)   PA

But as soon as he crossed the border the latter symbol on The Beast  his high-security car  was switched to green, white and orange.

I hope its not the case that he does not recognise Northern Irelands case within the United Kingdom which is, of course, part of the Good Friday Agreement, Mrs Foster said.

I think his administration should be asked  it would be very interesting to hear what the administration has to say.

The former First Minister claimed Mr Biden has a history of offending unionists in Northern Ireland.

The White House has since clarified that Mr Biden meant to say the All Blacks instead of "the Black and Tans" during the speech.

But Dame Arlene doubled downed on her view that Mr Biden hates the UK and said the blunder goes to his mindset in relation to Irish history.
A man wanted by police in the Republic of Ireland has been arrested trying to board a plane at Belfast International Airport.

Officers from the PSNIs International Policing Unit, working with An Gardai Siochana and officers from Antrim Local Policing Team, detained the suspect on Thursday.

The 28-year-old is suspected of hijacking and possessing an offensive weapon south of the border.

He was arrested on an Irish extradition warrant whilst trying to leave the jurisdiction for Spain.

The man appeared before Belfast Extradition Court on Thursday afternoon and was remanded into custody.

Sergeant Davey, from the International Policing Unit said: The subject in this case might have thought that by booking a flight from a different jurisdiction would help him evade or avoid detection.

"Unfortunately for him he failed to factor in the close international collaboration efforts with law enforcement partners to identify and apprehend wanted fugitives wherever they may be hiding out.

This arrest shows our continued determination and commitment to work with international partners to effectively tackle criminality and bring those involved to justice.
Peers have called for changes to the Legacy Bill to be made in order to prevent the floodgates opening to compensation claims running into tens of millions of pounds as a result of a court ruling in favour of Gerry Adams.

The Government has been called on in Parliament to take steps to block damages over a "technicality" during the use of internment at the height of the Troubles.

The former Sinn Fein leader won a Supreme Court appeal in 2020 over historical convictions for two attempted prison breaks in Northern Ireland in the 1970s. He was interned without trial in 1973 at the Maze prison.

The Supreme Court ruled Mr Adams' detention was unlawful because the interim custody order (ICO) used to initially detain him had not been "considered personally" by the then-Northern Ireland secretar Willie Whitelaw.

This was despite a long-standing convention, known as the Carltona principle, where officials and ministers routinely act in the name of the secretary of state, who is ultimately responsible.

Mr Adam was subsequently denied a payout for the wrongful convictions when he applied for compensation from Stormont's Department of Justice. But that decision was ruled unlawful by a High Court judge in Belfast last month, paving the way for Mr Adams' application to be reconsidered.

Speaking in Parliament, former Tory justice minister Lord Faulks said the Supreme Court had decided that the ICO "had not been validly made and the power to intern should be exercised by the secretary of state personally.

Pointing out the ruling had been met with "considerable surprise", the peer added: "A significant concern was expressed that the consequence of the decision was that Adams and perhaps many others would seek compensation for what was essentially a technical matter on the basis that they had been deprived of their liberty unlawfully."

Pressing for a change to the Legacy Bill to address the issue, Lord Faulks said: "This amendment seeks to overturn the decision of the Supreme Court. It does not revive any criminal conviction quashed, as with Adams's attempted escape from prison, but it does prevent any damages being recovered where the only basis for claims is the Adams technicality."

He added: "It represents an opportunity to put right an erroneous decision and prevent unmeritorious claims being pursued."

Former DUP deputy leader Lord Dodds of Duncairn said: "The Carltona principle has been embedded in British political life for many decades, and the prospect that tens of millions of pounds could be spent in compensation for some technicality, at a time when we are struggling to fund vital services in Northern Ireland, will cause outrage on all sides there. Nobody will support this."

Conservative peer Lord Sandhurst, a retired QC and former chairman of the Bar Council, said: "This amendment does not overturn the acquittal, which was founded on a Supreme Court decision, but it will ensure that damages should not flow."

Former Labour MP Baroness Hoey said: "This amendment is crucial to ensuring that people in Northern Ireland feel confident that the injustice of people getting compensation for an administrative error is going to be dealt with."

Responding, NIO minister Lord Caine said the Government would discuss the matter further, and possibly return to it at a later stage of the Bill.
Two potential witnesses have come forward after a coroner appealed for information about the murder of a policeman in Northern Ireland.

Sergeant Joseph Campbell was shot dead outside Cushendall RUC station in February 1977.

The policemans family believe elements of the security forces colluded with now deceased UVF killer Robin Jackson to shoot dead the 49-year-old father of eight.

It has been alleged that Mr Campbell, a Catholic officer originally from the Republic of Ireland, was potentially targeted because he had uncovered a loyalist arms smuggling operation.

A second inquest into the shooting, which the family has long campaigned for, began hearing evidence in March at Belfast Coroners Court.

It has since adjourned to allow further time for disclosure and security vetting of historical police and military files related to the killing.

A review hearing was held before coroner Patrick McGurgan in Belfast on Friday.

In February, Mr McGurgan issued an appeal for anyone who believed they could assist the inquest to contact the Coroners Services Legacy Inquest Unit.

Investigators from the unit held a clinic at the parochial hall of St Marys Church in Cushendall in the same month to give people an opportunity to come forward.

Counsel to the coroner Ronan Daly updated the court on the initiative on Friday.

As you know, a witness clinic was held in Cushendall on the 28th of February, he told Mr McGurgan.

As I understand it, nobody attended the clinic, but there was some contact afterwards.

The barrister added: Two potential witnesses contacted your office and arrangements are being made for those individuals to be interviewed.

In 2014, an investigation by the Police Ombudsman found RUC Special Branch was aware of a threat against Mr Campbell but failed to inform him.

The Ombudsman also identified a series of investigative failings by the police.

However, the Ombudsman was unable to substantiate claims that rogue security force members conspired with loyalists to commit the murder.

A former RUC Special Branch officer, now deceased, was charged with Mr Campbells murder but was later acquitted at trial.

The first inquest in 1977 lasted only one day.

A fresh inquest was ordered by the attorney general seven years ago.

The substantive hearings in the case are not expected to resume until next year.
The leader of the DUP has defended a council candidate who once represented a group reportedly linked to loyalist paramilitaries.

Ian McLaughlin, who is standing for the party in west Belfast, is alleged to have previously been involved with an advisory body linked to the UDA.

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson told BBC NIs The View programme on Thursday that Mr McLaughlin is not a member of the Ulster Political Research Group (UPRG).

"We have talked to Ian and Ian is not a member of the UPRG, he insisted.

"Ian has been a member of the DUP for some time, Ian went through the proper selection process.

Read more DUPs message of fear is 50 years out of date

Sir Jeffrey revealed that he personally asked Mr McLaughlin about his alleged involvement with a UPRG Twitter account which was known for sending trolling and derogatory messages online.

Some posts referred to Irish people as "paddy", women as "b***h" in addition to using offensive slurs to describe disabled people and Travellers.

However, the anonymous account vanished around the time election candidates were selected.

Programme host Mark Carruthers asked Sir Jeffrey if he was aware of any connection between Mr McLaughlin and the sexist, racist and sectarian tweets.

"Not to my knowledge, the DUP leader said.

"He denied he is responsible for what has been alleged, I have yet to see the evidence.

Sir Jeffrey refused to speculate on Mr McLaughlins future in the party without evidence.

The presenter noted Sir Jeffreys use of strange language during the tense exchange.

The party leader was then asked about Mid East Antrim candidate Marc Collins who was previously suspended from the council over tweets he made regarding Sinn Feins John Finucane.

Acting commissioner Katrin Shaw decided that Mr Collins had breached the councillors code of conduct by posting a tweet on November 18, 2019, and a retweet the following day, which included a reference to the North Belfast MP who was Sinn Feins Westminster election candidate for the constituency at the time.

Michelle O'Neill urges the DUP to return to Stormont

Mr Collins tweet claimed that Mr Finucane supports and promotes the IRA and isnt innocent by any means.

His retweet was of a message promoting banners erected in the Shankill area of Belfast which contained allegations against several members of the Finucane family.

Mr Carruthers cited other social media activity, including posts describing the PSNI as scumbags and offensive comments about asylum seekers.

Sir Jeffrey said Mr Collins recognises some of the things he said on social media were wrong and has given assurances there will be no repeat.

"Marc has been a hard working local representative, he delivers for people in his local area, he added.

The awkward conversation continued when Sir Jeffrey was challenged about Mid and East Antrim candidate Tyler Hoeys social media use.

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He liked a tweet glorifying the Greysteel massacre before he was chosen to stand in the upcoming council election.

Mr Hoey also mocked the deaths of 39 Vietnamese immigrants found in the back of a lorry in Essex, insulted transgender people, and voiced support for the drug dealing South East Antrim UDA.

"Is that acceptable? Mr Carruthers asked.

"No, its not, Sir Jeffrey replied.

The DUP leader said he has made that clear and received a commitment there will be no repeat.
Palestinians inspect the rubble of a house after it was struck by an Israeli air strike in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip (AP)   Fatima Shbair

The most violent confrontation in months between Israel and Palestinian militants has continued for a third straight day, as Israeli war planes struck targets in the Gaza Strip and militants fired rockets towards Jerusalem and southern Israel.

There were no immediate reports of casualties on either side on Friday, as foreign mediators pressed ahead with efforts to reach a ceasefire.

The past few days of fighting have killed 31 Palestinians in Gaza and a 70-year-old man in central Israel.

Palestinian Belal Bashir collects his childrens toys from his damaged house after it was struck by an Israeli airstrike in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip (AP)   Fatima Shbair

A burst of rocket fire from the Gaza Strip sent warning sirens wailing near the contested capital of Jerusalem, breaking a 12-hour lull that had raised hopes that Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations could soon be able to broker a ceasefire.

Residents in Israeli settlements surrounding Jerusalem reported hearing explosions and seeing black smoke rising from the hills after an apparent missile interception.

A rocket slammed into an open field in the south Jerusalem settlement of Bat Ayin, said Josh Hasten, a spokesperson for the area.

Videos showed Israelis jumping out of their cars and crouching as the sirens sounded.

An umbrella group of Gaza-based Palestinian factions known as the joint operations room said that theyd launched rockets in response to the assassinations and continued aggression toward the Palestinian people.

A municipality worker inspects the damage to an apartment building a day after it was hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, in Rehovot, Israel (AP)   Ariel Schalit

The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was conducting a security assessment.

The Israeli military said its war planes were striking Islamic Jihad targets in response to the rockets.

The cross-border exchanges this week have pitted Israel against Islamic Jihad, the second-largest militant group in Gaza after the territorys Hamas rulers.

Since Tuesday, Israel says its strikes have killed five senior Islamic Jihad figures.

Islamic Jihad has retaliated with over 800 rockets fire toward densely populated parts of Israel. In that time, Israels military said it has used air strikes to hit at least 215 targets in Gaza, including rocket and mortar launch sites and militants preparing to use them.

Israeli bombs and shells have destroyed 47 housing units, and damaged 19 so badly they were uninhabitable, leaving 165 Palestinians homeless, Gazas housing ministry reported. In addition, nearly 300 homes sustained some damage.

Rockets are launched from the Gaza Strip towards Israel (AP)   Fatima Shbair

At least 31 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have been killed in the fighting, including seven children and four women, according to the UN humanitarian office.

At least three of the children were killed by misfired Palestinian rockets, according to the Israeli military and the Palestinian Centre for Rights. More than 90 Palestinians have been wounded, the Palestinian health ministry reported.

The civilians deaths have drawn condemnation from the Arab world and concern from the United States and Europe.

In its past four wars against Hamas, Israel has repeatedly faced accusations of war crimes due to the high civilian death tolls and its use of heavy weapons against the crowded enclave.

Israel, in turn, contends that Palestinian militant groups use civilians as human shields by fighting in their midst.

Efforts to secure a ceasefire are continuing (AP)   Ariel Schalit

Hamas, the de facto civilian government with an army of some 30,000 in Gaza, has sought to maintain its truce with Israel while attempting to keep abysmal living conditions in the blockaded enclave from spiralling since a devastating 11-day war in 2021 that killed more than 260 Palestinians.

The group, which seized control of Gaza in 2007, has sat out this round of fighting  as it did a similar burst of violence last summer. In a sign of restraint, Israel has limited its air strikes to Islamic Jihad targets.

Both sides had seemed on the brink of a ceasefire before the eruption of Thursdays violence. Fridays relative calm boosted hopes of progress.

Hamas officials told local media that Egypt was ramping up its diplomatic efforts to stop the fighting through intensive contacts with both Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

Islamic Jihad figures have sent mixed signals about the ceasefire talks. Senior official Ihsan Attaya complained on Friday that the mediators have been unable to provide us with any guarantees.

A sticking point has been Islamic Jihads demands that Israel cease its policy of targeted killings, Mr Attaya said.

Islamic Jihad political bureau member Mohamad al-Hindi sounded more optimistic. From Cairo, where he travelled on Thursday to hash out the details of a possible truce, he told media that he hoped both sides would reach a ceasefire agreement and honour it today.
Smoke rises from an explosion caused by an Israeli air strike in the Gaza Strip (Hatem Moussa/AP)   Hatem Moussa

By Fares Akram and Isabel Debre, Associated Press

By Fares Akram and Isabel Debre, Associated Press

Israeli fighter jets have struck targets in the Gaza Strip and Palestinian militants fired rockets towards Jerusalem, further escalating the most violent flare-up in months despite efforts to broker a ceasefire.

An Israeli air strike killed two Palestinians in a residential building in Gaza City on Friday afternoon, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

The Israeli military said it targeted a senior commander of the Islamic Jihad movement.

Islamic Jihad later confirmed that the air strike targeted commander Iyad Al-Hassani, a member of the decision-making council in the groups armed wing.

Palestinians inspect the rubble of a house after it was struck by an Israeli air strike in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip (Fatima Shbair/AP)   Fatima Shbair

He is the sixth senior Islamic Jihad member to be killed in this round of fighting.

The strike sparked a fire on the seventh floor of the apartment tower.

Rescuers pulled two lifeless bodies from the rubble.

Neighbours crowded around the damaged building after the bombing.

Earlier in the day, bursts of rocket fire from Gaza sent warning sirens wailing as far north as the contested capital of Jerusalem  about 48 miles from the Gaza border  breaking a 12-hour lull that had raised hopes regional powers could soon broker a truce.

The fighting, which started on Tuesday, between Israel and Islamic Jihad  the second-largest militant group in Gaza after the territorys Hamas rulers  has killed 33 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, including women and children, and a 70-year-old man in central Israel.

A rocket slammed into an open field in the Israeli south Jerusalem settlement of Bat Ayin, said Josh Hasten, a spokesperson for the area.

Dull thuds could be heard inside the city, home to major sites holy to Christianity, Judaism and Islam.

Videos showed Israelis jumping out of their cars and crouching beneath highway rails as the sirens sounded.

Israeli soldiers and municipality workers inspect the damage to an apartment building a day after it was hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, in Rehovot, Israel (Ariel Schalit/AP)   Ariel Schalit

Residents in nearby Israeli settlements reported hearing explosions and seeing black smoke rising from the hills after an apparent missile interception.

The bombing of Jerusalem sends a message, Islamic Jihad said in a statement.

What is happening in Jerusalem is not separate from Gaza.

In response, the Israeli military said its warplanes struck four Islamic Jihad military posts and a mortar shell launcher across the Gaza Strip.

Residents reported that the strikes hit targets in open areas.

The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was conducting a security assessment to mount a further response.

We continue, he tweeted.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Ronen Zvulun/Pool Photo via AP)   Ronen Zvulun

The Israeli military urged residents living within 40 kilometres (25 miles) of the Gaza boundary to remain close to bomb shelters and limit public gatherings until Saturday evening.

Sirens near Jerusalem took some back to the spring of 2021, when Hamas fired rockets towards the city, which helped set off a bloody 11-day Gaza war.

At that time, the militant group cited a provocative far-right march through the Palestinian neighbourhoods of Jerusalem as one of the reasons for its rocket barrage, along with the displacement of Palestinians from the citys east.

Israeli police said they will allow the same Jewish ultranationalist parade  meant to celebrate Israels capture of east Jerusalem  to take place next Thursday.

Since Tuesday, Israeli strikes have killed five senior Islamic Jihad figures and hit at least 215 targets in Gaza, including rocket and mortar launch sites and militants preparing to use them.

Islamic Jihad has retaliated with nearly 900 rockets fired towards densely populated parts of Israel.

Israeli bombs and shells have destroyed 47 housing units, and damaged 19 so badly they were uninhabitable, leaving 165 Palestinians homeless, Gazas Housing Ministry reported.

Rockets are launched from the Gaza Strip towards Israel, in Gaza City (Hatem Moussa/AP)   Hatem Moussa

In addition, nearly 300 homes sustained some damage.

Palestinians on Friday surveyed the wreckage from the fighting.

The dream that we built for our children, for our sons, has ended, said Belal Bashir, a Palestinian living in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, whose family home was reduced to a heap of rubble in an air strike late on Thursday.

He, his young daughters and two-week-old son would have been killed in the thundering explosion if they had not run outside when they heard shouting, he said.

We were shocked that our house was targeted, he added as he pulled his childrens dolls and blankets from a gaping bomb crater.

At least 33 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have been killed in the fighting, including six children and four women, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

At least two of the children were killed by suspected misfired Palestinian rockets, according to the Israeli military and the Palestinian Centre for Rights.

More than 90 Palestinians have been wounded, the Palestinian Health Ministry reported.

People shout slogans against Israel and in support of people in the Gaza Strip, during a protest at the Burj al-Barajneh Palestinian refugee camp, south of Beirut, Lebanon (Hassan Ammar/AP)   Hassan Ammar

The civilian deaths have drawn condemnation from the Arab world and concern from the United States and Europe.

In its past four wars against Hamas, Israel has repeatedly faced accusations of war crimes due to the high civilian death tolls and its use of heavy weapons against the crowded enclave.

Israel, in turn, contends that Palestinian militant groups use civilians as human shields by fighting in their midst.

Hamas, the de facto civilian government with an army of some 30,000 in Gaza, has sought to maintain its truce with Israel while attempting to keep abysmal living conditions in the blockaded enclave from spiralling since the devastating 2021 war that killed more than 260 Palestinians.

The group, which seized control of Gaza in 2007, has sat out this round of fighting  as it did a similar burst of violence last summer.

In a sign of restraint, Israel has limited its air strikes to Islamic Jihad targets.

Both sides had seemed on the brink of a ceasefire earlier this week.

Hamas officials, on Friday, told local media that Egypt was ramping up its diplomatic efforts to stop the fighting.

A municipality worker cleans the rubble from outside a damaged house a day after it was hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, in Rehovot, Israel (Ariel Schalit/AP)   Ariel Schalit

But the Israeli public broadcaster Kan reported that Israeli officials had pulled out of the talks in Egypt after Islamic Jihad unleashed rockets towards Jerusalem.

Mr Netanyahus office declined to comment on the reports.

Meanwhile Islamic Jihad figures have sent mixed signals about the negotiations.

Senior official Ihsan Attaya complained early on Friday that the mediators have been unable to provide us with any guarantees.

A sticking point has been Islamic Jihads demands that Israel cease its policy of targeted killings, Attaya said.

In Cairo, Islamic Jihad political bureau member Mohamad al-Hindi was trying to hash out the details of a possible truce.

He told Palestinian media that he hoped both sides would reach a ceasefire agreement and honour it today.

Palestinians inspect the rubble of a house after it was struck by an Israeli air strike in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip (Fatima Shbair/AP)   Fatima Shbair

But the continuing exchange of fire hours later seemed to undermine his optimism.

This weeks battles began when Israel launched simultaneous air strikes on Tuesday that killed three Islamic Jihad commanders along with some of their wives and children as they slept in their homes.

Israel said it was retaliating for a barrage of rocket fire launched last week by Islamic Jihad following the death of one of its West Bank members, Khader Adnan, from an 87-day hunger strike while in Israeli custody.

The air strikes and rockets have shifted the focus of long-running conflict back to Gaza after months of surging violence in the occupied West Bank under Israels most right-wing government in history.

Israel has been carrying out near-nightly arrest raids in the West Bank that have killed 109 Palestinians so far this year  the highest such death toll in two decades.

At least half of the dead are affiliated with militant groups, according to a tally by The Associated Press.

At least 20 people have been killed in Palestinian attacks targeting Israelis during that time.
There are few enough northern voices on the media in the Republic these days so the prospect of Co Downs Patrick Kielty taking over as host of RTEs The Late Late Show is a welcome one.
The Great Hunger, Trevelyans Corn and making amends for the Irish Famine

The song, the Fields of Athenry, reminds people of the role Charles Trevelyan played when the potato blight struck

Sir Charles Edward Trevelyan Great Irish Famine bronze statue set on Custom House Quay along Liffey River in Dublins's Docklands.

Fri 12 May 2023 at 08:01







The lyrics of The Fields of Athenry are known far and wide. The story of a poor Irish convict and how he stole Trevelyans corn is synonymous with the Irish Famine.
How US threatens global internet security through decades of cyber surveillance, attacks

Global Times) 10:54, May 12, 2023

Editor's Note:

A decade has passed since the PRISM scandal was exposed by Edward Snowden and enraged the world. Under the guise of so-called "national interests," the US government and its related intelligence agencies utilize their technological and first-mover advantages to conduct cyber surveillance and attacks around the world.

Documents leaked from the Pentagon earlier this year offered further proof that the US has extended its hand to almost every corner of the globe. What evil deeds the US has orchestrated and probably continues to do in the cyber world? In this series, the Global Times will closely look into how this veritable "network surveillance empire" gradually damages global cyber security through its intelligence network, which has in turn severely hurt its own reputation and credibility.

Recently leaked Pentagon documents have once again exposed to the world the ugly face of US espionage campaigns orchestrated against other countries. While maintaining the close surveillance of both its "enemies" and allies, the US has extended its evil hand to almost every corner of the globe.

For years, the US has conducted large-scale surveillance and launched cyberattacks targeting overseas governments, companies, and individuals with its technological advantages and vast intelligence network, a severe violation of International Law and the basic norms governing international relations. Worse still, the US paints itself as the victim while perpetrating these villainous acts, by defaming other countries including China with groundless accusations.

Last month, China's Cybersecurity Industry Alliance (CCIA) released a report titled "Review of Cyberattacks from US Intelligence Agencies - Based on Global Cybersecurity Communities' Analyses."

The report details the malicious behavior of the US in conducting long-term cyberattacks and surveillance worldwide, such as attacks against key infrastructure in other countries, indiscriminate cyber theft and monitoring, and implantation of backdoor pollution standards and supply chain sources.

The report lays out evidence that reveals the true nature of the US' role as the world's biggest secret information stealer and "hacker empire," Qin An, deputy director of the expert committee of counter-terrorism and cyber security governance, China Society of Police Law, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

The US' behaviors have greatly damaged order in cyberspace, and destroyed the already fragile trust between countries, commented Tang Lan, director of Center for Cyberspace Security and Governance Studies at China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations.

"Its evil deeds have added much uncertainty to the international situation," Tang told the Global Times.

A spotty history

In September 2022, China's National Computer Virus Emergency Response Centre revealed the US' long-term cyberattack against the Northwestern Polytechnical University (NPU) in Northwest China's Shaanxi Province. The cyberattack was aimed at "infiltrating and controlling core equipment in China's infrastructure and stealing sensitive personal data tied to Chinese people," a source close to the matter told the Global Times at the time.

That was just the tip of the iceberg. For over a decade, the US has been monitoring 45 countries and regions through the advanced and covert backdoor "Telescreen" (Bvp47) created by Equation, an elite hacking group affiliated with the US government. It sparked global outrage when it was exposed by Chinese cybersecurity experts for the first time in early 2022.

The incident reminded the public of the more widely-known PRISM, as researchers found multiple programs and attack manuals that, when reviewed, matched the unique identifiers used in the operating manuals of cyberattack platforms under US' National Security Agency (NSA). The latter was exposed by former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) analyst Edward Snowden in 2013, as a small part of the then international PRSIM scandal.

In June, 2013, The Guardian became one of the first media outlets to report on the US' secret program code-named "PRISM" that Snowden exposed. The expose revealed that nine US internet giants, including Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, and Apple, cooperated with the US government in secretly monitoring phone records, emails, videos, and photos, and NSA even hacked into the networks of several countries like Germany and South Korea.

"The subsequent series of leaked documents jointly exposed that the monitoring and network intrusion operations had been implemented by the US government for a long time," noted the CCIA report.

Later, in June 2015, Snowden exposed documents revealing how intelligence agencies in the US and the UK had worked together to subvert anti-virus and other security software in order to track users and infiltrate networks. The infuriating project, named CAMBERDADA, mainly used the traffic acquisition ability of the US in the invasion of global operators to monitor communications between users and anti-virus companies, such as Skyscraper in Russia, to obtain new virus samples and other forms of information, the CCIA report said.

According to an article published on The Intercept news website that month, a leaked 2010 presentation on "Project CAMBERDADA" listed 23 additional anti-virus companies from all over the world under "More Targets!" China's Antiy was on the list.

The revelation once again sparked wide outrage, as observers warned that the project and its so-called "target list" would further divide the already frayed global security industry.

It's hard to exactly track how the US started its dishonorable cyber campaigns. The "Stuxnet" computer worm, which US intelligence agencies used in attacking Iran's nuclear facilities in 2010, was regarded by the cybersecurity industry as "the world's first cyber weapon."

The development of the Stuxnet virus allegedly began in 2005. In 2010, Stuxnet reportedly "destroyed almost one-fifth of Iran's nuclear centrifuges, infected over 200,000 computers, and caused 1,000 machines to physically degrade," according to data Kaspersky shared on its website.

That year, the US "opened the Pandora's box of cyberwar," commented the CCIA report.

Vast surveillance network

According to a report by a US media outlet in April, US intelligence agencies spend as much as $90 billion in a year. Behind the vast surveillance network in the US are intelligence agencies such as the NSA and CIA, which have repeatedly cited national security as a pretext for violating the sovereignty of other countries and infringing on the privacy of their citizens.

The Office of Tailored Access Operation (TAO) under the NSA that was involved in the NPU event has been conducting attacks against China by penetrating Chinese computer and telecommunications systems for decades.

TAO was established in 1998 and is currently a tactical implementation unit within the US government that specializes in large-scale network hacking and espionage against other countries. It is comprised of over 2,000 military and civilian personnel, according to a joint technical analysis and tracking investigation by the National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center and 360 Security Technology in September 2022.

TAO's mission is simple - "it collects intelligence information on foreign targets by surreptitiously hacking into their computers and telecommunications systems, cracking passwords, compromising the computer security systems protecting the targeted computer, stealing the data stored on computer hard drives, and then copying all the messages and data traffic passing within the targeted email and text-messaging systems," according to Foreign Policy, quoting former NSA official Matthew M. Aid.

The US used 41 kinds of dedicated cyberattack weapons to launch thousands of attacks in a bid to steal core technology data from NPU. Additionally, the US has long engaged in indiscriminate voice monitoring of Chinese mobile phone users, illegally accessing text messages, and conducting wireless location tracking.

Apart from cyberattacks targeting China, the conflict between the US and Russia in cybersecurity is also well-known. According to reports, General Paul Nakasone, the head of the NSA, has confirmed that US military hackers conducted cyberattacks against Russia in support of Ukraine.

For some time, in the name of capacity building, the US has been trying to cajole relevant countries, especially China's neighbors, into cybersecurity cooperation with it. It even pursues the so-called "Forward Deployment" of cyber military forces. "Will such cooperation open the back door for malicious US cyber activities? Will such moves turn out to be chess pieces as the US instigates geostrategic rivalry? Relevant countries will judge for themselves," Wang Wenbin, spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, told the Global Times on April 20, 2022 in response to the National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center alerting countries on the cyberattacks conducted by the US government.

Internet banditry

Scandals like the PRISM have shown that, apart from its intelligence agencies, many internet enterprises are also forced or tricked by the US government into the expansion of its cyber surveillance and attack network.

To serve its intelligence gathering and development of cyber weapons, the US reportedly installed backdoors in various hardware and software products, which is no more than an outright banditry, condemned cybersecurty experts reached by the Global Times.

For instance, media revealed in February 2020 that the CIA and Germany's Federal Intelligence Service (BND) were able to read encrypted communications from Crypto AG, a Swiss company that produced encryption systems for many governments, by jointly adding backdoors to Crypto AG's encryption products.

According to a CIA report mentioned in a Washington Post article in February 11, 2020, the operation was dubbed the "intelligence coup of the century."

Qin said that by using its management power of the Internet, US intelligence agencies have designed special backdoors and inserted them into products which were previously submitted to the CIA for a routine check before being approved for exportation, providing direct access to other countries' networks. It therefore becomes risky for enterprises in other countries to use products developed by American entities.

"With the decline of American hegemony in real space, the country will take bolder moves in cyberspace," Qin predicted.

In a bid to further malign other countries including China, in May 22, 2020, the US Department of Commerce added 33 Chinese companies to its entity list, most of which are companies focusing on AI technology and are providers of network communication services, such as Qihoo 360 and Cloudminds, alleging that these companies could threaten US national security and foreign policy.

However, experts close to Chinese network communication and cyberspace security reached by the Global Times said that these Chinese companies do not spy on other countries, nor do they have the ability to insert backdoors into the cyberspace of the US.

The US's behavior of including some Chinese technology companies on its entity list is a typical case of technological bullying, Qin said.

All these facts have repeatedly revealed the true face of the US as a bullying power and exposed who is responsible for insecurity and instability in cyberspace, Tang pointed out.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Wu Chaolan)
People arrive to take shelter at a monastery in Sittwe town in Myanmars Rakhine state on Friday, May 12, 2023, ahead of the expected landfall of Cyclone Mocha.

Potentially devastating Cyclone Mocha is expected to slam into the shared border region between Myanmar and Bangladesh on Sunday, putting hundreds of thousands of refugees and displaced people at risk.

Posting wind speeds of nearly 210 kph (130 mph), the storm is similar in strength to Cyclone Nargis, which left nearly 140,000 people dead and missing in 2008, said Hla Tun, director of Myanmars Department of Meteorology and Hydrology.

Its very dangerous, he told Radio Free Asia (RFA), a news service affiliated with BenarNews.

Cyclone Mocha, which formed Thursday in the southern Bay of Bengal, caused heavy rains and coastal surge in western Myanmars Rakhine state on Friday.

It is expected to affect areas stretching from Rakhines Kyauk Phyu township in the east to Coxs Bazar in Bangladesh in the west  where hundreds of thousands of Rohingya live in makeshift camps.

As Mocha barreled toward that coast, Bangladeshs Meteorological Department on Friday night raised its danger level to eight on a scale of 10.

We cannot stop the cyclone. But we are trying to reduce the extent of damage of the cyclone, A.B. Tajul Islam, chairman of the parliamentary standing committee at the Disaster Management Ministry, told BenarNews on Friday evening.

The government has been trying to relocate people to the cyclone shelters, but it is not possible to shift all of the people, Islam said.

In Myanmar, the Irrawaddy Delta region and Rakhine coast can expect frequent strong winds and torrential downpours, while waves in the Bay of Bengal may reach heights of four to five meters (13 to 16 feet), weather officials said.

Evacuations have begun

Residents in the path of the storm have begun to evacuate.

People gather at the beach in Coxs Bazar, Bangladesh, ahead of the landfall of Cyclone Mocha, May 12, 2023. [AFP]

About 800 people from four villages have been sheltering in a local monastery since May 8, said Than Htay, a resident of Rakhines Pauk Taw township.

When the storm hits, it will have been too late to run, he said.

Inhabitants of Sittwe, the capital of the Rakhine state, and nearby villages are also evacuating, and state authorities and civil organizations have prepared emergency shelters, said Soe Min Aung, a resident of the city.

The Arakan Army, an ethnic Rakhine rebel group, is evacuating residents from the coast and low-lying areas. The groups spokesman, Khaing Thu Kha, told reporters that more than 10,000 people had been relocated from 21 villages over the last two days and are being provided with food and medical assistance.

Rohingya at risk

Thousands of Rohingya displaced by a Myanmar military crackdown in 2017 and living in camps in Myanmar have not been evacuated, officials said.

More than 140,000 are sheltering in refugee camps in Rakhines Sittwe township.

These most vulnerable can only pray that the storm veers off course, said Kyaw Hla, a committee member of the Thae Chaung refugee camp in Rakhine state.

If the storm actually hits here, we won't be able to withstand it, he said. If that is the case, we will have to suffer. We will just have to try to survive all on our own.

Members of the Arakan Army, an ethnic Rakhine rebel group, evacuate residents from the coast and low-altitude areas in Rakhine state, Myanmar. [Courtesy Arakan Army]

Meanwhile, Bangladesh government officials have instructed Rohingya refugees in Coxs Bazar  where 740,000 live in camps  to shelter in religious schools and schools operated by the NGO community, residents of the camps told RFA.

But they acknowledged that there is little they can do to prepare for the brunt of the cyclone.

We are very worried  if the storm hits here, there will be many negative effects, said Ko Aung Myaing of the Kutupalong refugee camp.

Heavy rains will likely lead to landslides, destroying flimsy homes on the hillsides, he said. The tents we have are not strong enough.

Mohammed Mizanur Rahman, Bangladeshs refugee relief and repatriation commissioner, told BenarNews that there were risks of landslides at some of the refugee camps.

We have identified 500 families living at the camps in Teknaf who face the risk of landslides, he said.

Officials had not started to evacuate people from Coxs Bazar on Friday night, but were planning to start evacuations early Saturday. At least 2,000 people had been evacuated from Saint Martins island and had arrived in Teknaf, a sub-district of Coxs Bazar district, officials said.

Muhammad Shaheen Imran, the Coxs Bazar deputy commissioner, told BenarNews that the government readied 576 cyclone shelters in the area that could accommodate up to 500,000 people.

Disaster risk management specialist Abdul Latif Khan told BenarNews that Mocha was likely to cause up to two meters (seven feet) of tidal surge in Teknaf, Coxs Bazar.

Passing the days with anxiety

Mohammad Alam, chairman of the Teknaf Leda Development Committee, told BenarNews that the authorities had been making public announcements to make people aware of the dangers of Mocha.

The people living on hills at risky places have been asked to go to safer places. Pregnant women and children have been advised to take shelter at nearby schools and distribution centers inside the camps, Alam said.

We are passing the days with anxiety, he said.
University students in Papua New Guineas capital Port Moresby protest on May 12, 2023 against the countrys Minister of Foreign Affairs Justin Tkatchenko, who called social media critics of his daughter primitive animals.

Updated at 3:45 a.m. ET on 2023-05-12

Papua New Guineas foreign minister is facing an intense public backlash and calls to resign after he labeled critics of his daughters ostentatious TikTok video from a taxpayer-funded trip to the U.K. monarchs coronation as primitive animals.

The furor over Australian-born Justin Tkatchenkos comments, which were made to Australias state broadcaster ABC, is happening less than two weeks ahead of U.S. President Joe Bidens stopover in Papua New Guinea to meet leaders of Pacific island countries.

Tkatchenkos adult daughter Savannah accompanied him to the coronation of King Charles III in London last week. She posted a TikTok video of their luxury travel, since deleted, which triggered criticism in Papua New Guinea where poverty is widespread.

In an interview with the ABC on Wednesday about the social media onslaught, Tkatchenko said his daughter was absolutely traumatized by these primitive animals. He added, And I call them primitive animals because they are.

The comments were perceived as racist in the Melanesian nation of more than 9 million people, where there was also anger at a local newspapers estimate of the expense of sending a large delegation to the coronation.

On Friday, Tkatchenko said he would step aside as foreign minister while any investigations take place. He repeated his apology from the day before when he had said his comments were a reaction to horrible threats of a sexual and violent nature by internet trolls against his daughter and not directed at Papua New Guineans.

Prime Minister James Marape on Thursday said he had been offended by the primitive animals comment, but also urged the county to accept the apology and move on.

Papua New Guinea Foreign Affairs Minister Justin Tkatchenko speaks at a press conference in Port Moresby on Jan. 10, 2023. [Harlyne Joku/BenarNews]





Savannah Tkatchenkos video showed her enjoying luxury travel, accommodation and high-end shops such as Hermes at Singapore Airport and doing her skincare routine on a flight to London.

Ive actually packed my whole life into these two big suitcases, Im so proud of myself because I have so much stuff, she said as she strolled through an airport.

So Im traveling with my Dad and our first stop is Singapore and we checked into the first class lounge where we had some cosmos and some yummy food, she said.

Then we did some shopping around Singapore Airport at Hermes and Louis Vuitton. Those of you that dont know, Singapore Airport shopping is honestly so elite.

Calls for the foreign ministers resignation have come from senior politicians such as the opposition leader and organizations including the countrys Trade Union Congress.

Justin deserves no mercy or forgiveness. He must be kicked out of this country. PM James Marape must act immediately, said PNG Trade Union Congress Acting General Secretary Anton Sekum.

Biden visit aims to counter Chinese influence

The rancor over a senior ministers comments comes ahead of landmark visits to Papua New Guinea later this month by Biden and Indias Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Papua New Guinea, the most populous Pacific Island country, is increasingly a focus of China-U.S. rivalry in the region and a U.S. push to counter Beijings influence.

Like some other Pacific island nations, Papua New Guinea is trying to balance increased Chinese trade and investment and its traditional security relationships with countries such as Australia and the United States.

Tkatchenko earlier this month said he hopes a defense cooperation agreement with the United States will be signed during Bidens visit. Papua New Guinea is also working on completing a broad security agreement with Australia.

Chinas influence in the Pacific has burgeoned over several decades through increased trade, infrastructure investment and aid as it seeks to isolate Taiwan diplomatically and gain allies in international institutions. The Solomon Islands and Kiribati switched their diplomatic recognition to China from Taiwan in 2019.

Beijing signed a security pact with the Solomon Islands last year, alarming the U.S. and allies such as Australia who fear it could pave the way for a Chinese military presence in the region.

Marapes statement about Tkatchenko said Papua New Guineas national character was being tested at a time when it would be in the spotlight because of Biden and Modis visits.

We must show the world that we can forgive those who offend us, he said.

This will be a momentous and historic occasion, which should rally our nation together, and we should not let this issue stand in the way.

Story updated to note that Tkatchenko is stepping aside to allow an investigation.
Detained former opposition Sen. Leila de Lima (center) reacts as she leaves the Muntinlupa trial court after a judge acquitted her in of the two outstanding drug-related cases against her, May 12, 2023.

A Philippine judge on Friday acquitted former Sen. Leila de Lima of one of two remaining drug-related cases after a key witness admitted he was coerced into testifying against her.

Judge Joseph Abraham Alcantara of the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court Branch 204 issued his ruling more than six years after de Lima was jailed by the government of former President Rodrigo Duterte. De Lima, who remains detained on the remaining case, butted heads with Duterte over his drug war that killed thousands of suspected addicts and dealers.

Glorious day, de Lima beamed to reporters as police escorts led her out of the packed courtroom while dozens of supporters chanted Free Leila Now.

I had no doubt from the very beginning that I will be acquitted in all the cases the Duterte regime has fabricated against me based on the merits and the strength of my innocence, de Lima said in a statement.

A fierce critic of Duterte, de Lima was arrested and jailed in 2017 on charges that she received payoffs through the illegal drug trade. Since then, at least three witnesses presented by the Duterte administration backtracked on their testimony, saying they had been coerced into testifying against her.

Thats already two cases down and one more to go. I am of course happy that with this second acquittal in the three cases filed against me, my release from more than six years of persecution draws nearer. I am extremely grateful to all those who stood by and prayed for me all these years, she said.

De Lima, 63, could be freed from custody if the court allows her to post bail for her third case.

Duterte left office last year following the election of Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who faces calls from democratic countries, including military ally the United States, to free de Lima on the grounds that charges were trumped up.

In his ruling, Alcantara said he found no reason to convict de Lima and her former aide, Ronnie Dayan, who were both accused of conspiracy to commit illegal drug trading in the New Bilibid Prison. Authorities alleged she benefitted financially during her stint as justice secretary to support her senatorial bid in 2016.

De Lima has denied all the charges against her  the first of three charges against her was dismissed in February 2021. A bribery case filed before the Office of the Ombudsman, who is responsible for prosecuting public officials, was dismissed because of inconsistencies in testimony against her.

De Lima caught Dutertes ire for leading investigations into alleged extrajudicial killings committed by his so-called Davao Death Squad when he was mayor of the southern city prior to his election as president.

She began investigating the issue in Davao City in 2009 when she chaired the Commission on Human Rights. After her election to the senate in 2016, she sounded the alarm on the spate of killings during the first few months of Dutertes term as president and launched a Senate probe.

Duterte unleashed tirades against her even in his official speeches. His congressional allies followed and launched investigations.

I thank those who believe in me and those who joined me in this battle. You did not abandon me, de Lima said.

A supporter stands with a life-sized image of former opposition Sen. Leila de Lima during a rally in Pasig City, Metro Manila, March 20, 2022. [Jojo Rinoza/BenarNews]

Allies welcome acquittal

Former opposition Sen. Francis Pangilinan, de Limas close ally, welcomed the courts decision.

Even as it has come more than six years after her imprisonment on fabricated and baseless accusations, we nevertheless welcome the Courts verdict, Pangilinan said in a statement.

Since the first day of her detention we have been saying that the charges were trumped up and not supported by evidence. All the evidence is fabricated, he said.

Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of the New York-based Human Rights Watch, said the cases against de Lima were politically motivated and that the remaining case should be thrown out as well. The court, he said, should grant bail to de Lima, who has been in police detention for more than six years.

The cases against de Lima are part of former president Dutertes vindictive campaign to destroy her for daring to investigate the human rights abuses her committed while mayor of Davao City, and later, as president of the Philippines, he said. Key witnesses have recanted their testimony, admitting they were coerced to provide false testimony against her.

Rights organization Amnesty International said Fridays decision was long overdue and urged authorities to also quash the remaining drug case and to ensure that her application for temporary freedom in this pending case is processed speedily and fairly.

The authorities must not delay her release any longer and allow her to be reunited with her family, friends and supporters after six long years, said Montse Ferrer, Amnestys regional director for research.

Duterte faces an International Criminal Court investigation into crimes against humanity linked to drug war deaths.

The former president withdrew the Philippines from an international treaty that created the ICC in an effort to escape prosecution. Still, the ICC said it would prosecute Duterte for alleged crimes that occurred before the treaty was terminated.

Jeoffrey Maitem in Davao city, Philippines, contributed to this report.
May is Mental Health Awareness Month. The Banner is doing a series of stories looking at how mental health challenges are impacting our community. This is second part our look at how mental health issues are affecting the criminal justice system.
If you'd like to leave a comment (or a tip or a question) about this story with the editors, please email us

We also welcome letters to the editor for publication; you can do that by filling out our letters form and submitting it to the newsroom.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
CNN is facing a backlash over its town hall featuring former President Donald Trump, an event that swiftly turned chaotic in a stark display of the tightrope facing journalists covering a leading 2024 Republican candidate who refuses to play by the rules
FREEMAN'S GROVE BENEVOLENT SOCIETY

In North Adams, you can stay in an Airbnb filled with art made from 'flotsam and jetsam the rest of us leave behind'
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RICHMOND  A man was taken to the hospital Friday afternoon after he crashed his Harley-Davidson motorcycle while riding on Lenox Road.

The operator, 68, from Verona, N.J., suffered minor injuries, according to Trooper James D. DeAngelis, a state police spokesman. DeAngelis said there is no word yet on the cause of the crash.

Richmond Fire Chief Steven Traver, who was at the scene, said it appeared that the man had failed to negotiate a turn near the intersection of Cheever Street. He said the man was alert enough to talk.

The crash happened at around 1:15 p.m., DeAngelis said.

Police did not immediately respond to inquiries about the crash or the man's injuries. Both state police troopers and West Stockbridge police responded, as did the Richmond Fire Department.
Community News Editor / Librarian

Jeannie Maschino is community news editor and librarian for The Berkshire Eagle. She has worked for the newspaper in various capacities since 1982 and joined the newsroom in 1989.
Jim Shulman, a Pittsfield native living in Ohio, is the author of Berkshire Memories: A Baby Boomer Looks Back at Growing Up in Pittsfield. If you have a memory of a Berkshire baby-boom landmark, business or event youd like to share or read about, please write Jim at jesjmskali@aol.com.
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.
Stockbridge Mohican Nation Timeline. . .

Stockbridge Mohican Nation Timeline . . .

 1734: The 125-member Mohican tribe arrives at Indian Town (later, Stockbridge) from its ancestral homelands in New York's Upper Hudson Valley.

 1736: John Sergeant, a European settler, creates a mission house to promote Christianity.

1737: A land grant signed by Massachusetts Bay Colony "Governour" Jonathan Belcher, on behalf of King George II, gave 1/60 of the territory each to Rev. Sergeant, Schoolmaster Timothy Woodbridge and four English families, a total of 2,304 of 23,040 acres, with the rest designated as communal land for the Housatannuck tribe, including Chief Popewannehah "John" Konkapot, the town's original settler. The tribe was known as the "Stockbridge Indians.

 1783-early 1800s: More European colonists force the tribe to move westward, first to Oneida, N.Y., where it renamed a settlement there as New Stockbridge, then to Indiana's White River Valley, where land it had been promised was occupied already by white families.

 1822: After the tribe lost its next base, at Lake Winnebago in Wisconsin, a settlement it also renamed Stockbridge, most members moved to their current home within the Menominee Nation in northern Wisconsin, where the Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican Nation was formed by treaty in 1856.

 Today: There are about 1,500 members in the federally recognized tribe of blended Mohican and Munsee natives, who are both Algonquians. About 750 are direct descendants of the Stockbridge Mohicans, governed by a seven-member Tribal Council elected by the community on a 25,000-acre reservation in Bartelme and Red Springs, Wis. The tribe operates the Stockbridge-Munsee Health and Wellness Center, Mohican North Star Casino and Pine Hills Golf Course.

SOURCES: Bonney Hartley, Tribal Historic Preservation Manager based in Williamstown; Rick Wilcox, local historian.
Donald Morrison is an Eagle columnist and co-chairman of the advisory board. The opinions expressed by columnists do not necessarily reflect the views of The Berkshire Eagle.
It has been 55 years since Sen. Robert F. Kennedy stepped onto the presidential nominating stage to try to mend the massive breach that had opened in American society.

The country was torn asunder by the Vietnam War, racism, poverty, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and the soon-to-be assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. A great divide  between white and Black Americans, rich and poor, the working class and the upper class  was opening wide. The Tet Offensive had just ripped the face off the official lies about the course of the war in Vietnam and the emperor, President Lyndon Johnson, stood naked and would soon announce that he would not run again.

On March 16, 1968, Sen. Kennedy declared his candidacy with these words: I run to seek new policies  policies to end the bloodshed in Vietnam and in our cities, policies to close the gaps that now exist between black and white, between rich and poor, between young and old, in this country and around the rest of the world.

By the end of 1968, a plague year if there ever were one, Richard Nixon and his goon squad prepared to occupy the White House, Vietnam raged on and everything King and Kennedy stood for seemed lost. Something died, all hope seemed lost and the perilous course RFK spoke of was never stopped.

Today, hope is resurrected. Enter Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who declared his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for president on April 19 in Boston.

The wheel of history has turned and 2023 resembles 1968 in many ways while getting worse in others. The divide in the country remains but has greatly widened. Like his father in 68, he is the only candidate who can heal this nations great divide.

For years, he has been telling harsh truths that many who profit from lies do not want to hear: that our waters are polluted and the chemical companies are criminals; that the pharmaceutical companies are criminal enterprises polluting peoples bodies; that the CIA is organized crime polluting peoples minds and assassinating anti-war leaders; that the Pentagon is a criminal enterprise not defending but risking American lives and their livelihood; that the U.S. government has joined with mega-corporations to run a mob-like fleecing of the American people; that not one of Sirhan Sirhans bullets killed his father, Sen. Robert Kennedy, who was shot from behind at close range by a CIA hit man; that the so-called COVID vaccines have never been appropriately tested and many people are being injured as a result; that Anthony Fauci is a liar and fraud who fronts for Big Pharma.

These are not liberal or conservative positions. They are self-evident conclusions of a patriot, as they should be for everyone. And because they have become such to more and more Americans who can think without reacting, Kennedys voice and his candidacy will grow in strength across the great divide.

The media attacks will be intense and simply full of lies. They love to call Bobby Jr. an anti-vaxxer when he is not opposed to all vaccines  only those that have not been adequately tested or include dangerous additives. But no matter how many times he has explained this, the media twist it to serve their masters.

The media have also accused him of implying that those who oppose vaccines are being persecuted more severely than Anne Frank, the German teen who hid from the Nazis in Amsterdam before being sent to her death at Auschwitz. He never implied that. His point was clear: that in the coming digital surveillance state there will be nowhere to hide, not even in an attic, because the surveillance technology will track everyone everywhere, day and night.

Kennedy knows he faces an uphill battle for the presidency, but no matter what forces are aligned against him, political and familial, he will not back down. His moral courage and commitment to democratic ideals will appeal and deliver hope that crosses party lines.

The pundits are in for a big surprise.
'Please fix it': Strong support for east-west rail at Northampton hearing Dozens of Western Massachusetts residents packed into the Northampton Senior Center on Tuesday, urging policymakers to make frequent, affordable rail service connecting the state's eastern and western halves a reality.

After the so-called millionaires tax won approval on Bay State ballots last year, Massachusetts leaders are wading into budget season with a new revenue stream flowing. When Gov. Maura Healey released her first budget plan earlier this year, we were pleased to see the proposal to direct some of the money generated by the new surtax toward East-West rail.

It wasnt exactly a monumental earmark. Of the $1 billion the surtax is projected to generate this year, the governors budget proposal called for $12.5 million to go toward the cross-commonwealth rail expansion plan. Still, once-in-a-generation public transit upgrades have to start somewhere, and we were glad to see the governors plan for those funds underscore a regionally equitable view of East-West rail: funding a project director, designing a station in Palmer and, critically for us, improving tracks in Pittsfield.

As with all endeavors of this size and scope, its viability depends on maintaining momentum; keeping the wheels rolling will give the project the necessary inertia to survive the inevitable headwinds that could delay or derail it. Its now up to the Legislature to maintain that momentum, though at the moment its unclear if they will. Disappointingly, legislative leaders seem to think the governors plan to put around 1.25 percent of the expected surtax revenue toward this ambitious but necessary rail project is too much. Theyd prefer nothing, which is what both chambers surtax revenue spending plans include for East-West rail.

When asked by State House News Service why the Senate, like the House, nixed the governors proposal to put a tiny fraction of the surtax revenue toward East-West rail, Senate Ways and Means Chairman Michael Rodrigues said, Weve heard again very loudly and clearly from my colleagues from throughout the state that our regional transit authorities need investments, as does the Metropolitan Bay Transit Authority.

In push for 'west-east' rail, Berkshire County lawmakers press for track upgrades west of Springfield West-east rail, for state Rep. William Smitty Pignatelli, is more than a catchphrase. Unless work for Pittsfield-to-Boston passenger rail begins in Western Massachusetts, the Lenox Democrat says, he does not expect to board that train in his lifetime.

Has the senator heard from his Western Massachusetts colleagues  not to mention grassroots regional rail advocates  that our end of the state deserves investment in passenger rail access, too?

The Senates surtax revenue spending plan includes around $195 million for capital investments and a means-tested fare program for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. Yes, the end of the state with Boston in it has more people, and state investment should  and will always  reflect that. But do Beacon Hill leaders believe they have zero constituents to serve in Western Massachusetts? Because thats what it feels like to folks in the Berkshires and other overlooked parts of the commonwealth when the Legislature ignores the governors call for even minor investment in East-West rail.

When we endorsed the surtax on income above $1 million despite its imperfect formulation, we did so because Massachusetts must step up its investments in education funding and transportation infrastructure, particularly in underserved regions like ours. While it won approval on last years state election ballots by a slim majority, Berkshire voters support was far more robust than the state average. Our regions residents know not only what were missing but what could be if Massachusetts prioritized strong, wise investments in the whole states transportation future. East-West rail could not only better connect the commonwealth but relieve regional housing squeezes, supercharge the tourism industry, systematically improve the Bay States carbon footprint and, hopefully, prime the pump for desperately needed sustainable growth in a manner thats regionally equitable.

Thats not a cheap prospect, but its worth the sort of transformational investment in our commonwealth that a majority of Massachusetts voters found lacking last year. The Legislatures spending priorities for surtax revenue should reflect that.

We urge Senate and House leaders to include in their surtax spending plan the East-West rail funding that Gov. Healey proposed. We hope the Berkshire delegation is pushing their Beacon Hill colleagues to prioritize forward momentum on this critical Mass. transit project, because without that momentum it may never reach its destination.
CASES of animal cruelty and neglect are always likely to stir emotions.

A 28-year-old man from Dobi Village in Matopo, Matabeleland South province was arrested for abandoning his sick donkey on the side of the road to recover all alone, in a case a local animal rights organisation described as absolutely heartless.

The case could, however, set a precedent for when and how animals and advocacy organisations can bring cases before the court to help end animal suffering.

Justin Maphosa has since appeared before Bulawayo magistrate Maxwell charged with a crime of abandoning an injured animal as defined in Section 3 (1) of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animal Act Chapter 9:09.

He was not asked to plead and was remanded out of custody to 12 May on $20 000.

Allegations against Maphosa are that between the period 23 April and 27 April he abandoned his injured donkey on the side of the road to recover all alone.

His callous acts were reportedly discovered by the director of Matabeleland Animal Rescue and Equine Sanctuary (MARES) Claire Einhorn Julie (59) following a tip-off from concerned villagers.

Claire reported the matter to the police and investigations led to the arrest of Maphosa.

The rescued donkey is receiving treatment at MARES.

MARES in partnership with a United Kingdom-based organisation  Society for the Protection of Animals (SPANA) once embarked on campaigns in Matabeleland provinces in a bid to change peoples perceptions and teach them how to care for their animals and the correct way of fitting harness without hurting them.

Meanwhile, Zimbabwe recently joined the rest of the world in celebrating World Donkey Day on 8 May.

The day is dedicated to recognising the donkey and bringing attention to its amazing characteristics.

All around the world, this animal has served as a beast of burden and mount. It has survived and thrived even in areas with harsh climates and tough terrains.

World Donkey Day was created by Ark Raziq, a scientist whose focus is on desert animals. He realised that the hardworking donkey wasnt being recognised for its efforts in building our society.

He started creating a Facebook group talking about the animal. In 2018, World Donkey Day was officially set up and its been celebrated every year since. Its purpose is to spread information about donkeys and how they impact human lives. B Metro
What Would Jesus Do grew out of the Biblical concept of the "Imitatio Christi," or the "Imitation of Christ," one of the teachings stressed in The Roman Catholic Church. Thomas a Kempis wrote a book with the title Imitation of Christ in the 1400s. John Wesley later built on the foundation of this theme, adding a social welfare component.

Inspired by Kempis' book, the preacher Charles Spurgeon peppered one of his sermons with the phrase "What Would Jesus Do?" in 1881 in London. The Reverend A.B. Simpson composed a hymn that year using that phrase as the name. But Reverend Charles Sheldon was the one who introduced it to a wider audience.

In 1890, Reverend Sheldon was leading the Central Congregational Church of Topeka, Kansas. He had been growing increasingly frustrated with the lack of attendance at the Sunday night services there, and decided to try a new approach to his messages.

Sheldon acknowledged the challenges of imitating Christ while living in modern society. So, he came upon the idea of composing a string of what he called "sermon stories" to address this point in his late Sunday meetings. Each week, he presented an episode that depicted a moral dilemma someone might face. The messages all ended with a cliffhanger, and the question, "What would Jesus do?" Attendance at Central Congregational quickly surged.

Encouraged by the response, Reverend Sheldon wrote a book in 1896 titled, In His Steps, which continued on this theme of making choices in daily life that reflect the values of Jesus. Because of a defective copyright, 70 different publishers in America and beyond ended up publishing the book. A bestseller, it was eventually translated into a number of foreign languages as well.

One of the stories, about how a newspaper editor applied the question, "What Would Jesus Do," inspired the Topeka Daily Capital editor to invite Sheldon to take over his paper for a week. In March of 1900, readers saw, instead of the usual stories, reports about social reforms, missionaries, and fundraising efforts for India. Ads that the Reverend found offensive were taken out or re-worded. The experiment was a great success - many people around the world subscribed for the week.

Garrett W. Sheldon, Reverend Sheldon's great-grandson, published an updated version of the book and called it What Would Jesus Do?: A Contemporary Retelling of Charles M. Sheldon's Classic In His Steps.

Photo credit: Unsplash/Ben White


Looking for something to do? The Stay Local events calendar publishes a list of nonprofit and community events Tuesdays and Fridays. Please check with your club or organization to be certain of meetings, outings and classes, as they may be canceled due to bad weather or COVID-19. If any listing is inaccurate or to submit an event, contact Julie Norwood at 231-592-8358 or julie.norwood@pioneergroup.com. (Deadline is noon Sundays for Tuesday's paper and noon Wednesday for Friday's paper.)

Wheatscouts Bird Watching and Nature Walk: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, May 13, Wheatland Music Organization, 7251 50th Ave., Remus. Wildlife photographer and hobby ornithologist Deborah Macauley will host an educational bird walk and Mother's Day craft session. Free. Open to all ages.

Mum-Bees Spring Market: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, May 13, at Mum-Bees Honey Farm, 22537 Monroe Road, Morley. Features local crafters, beekeeping equipment and an Q&A with Bob Mumby at noon.

Camp 911: 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday, May 17 at the Big Rapids Department of Public Safety building, 435 N. Michigan Ave. Hands-on learning program is designed to prepare senior adults for various emergencies. For more information or to register call 231-796-4848.

Business After Hours: 5-6:30 p.m. Thursday, May 18, at The Brook Assisted Living, 14595 215th Ave., Big Rapids. Co-hosted by the Mecosta County Chamber of Commerce. Questions, call 231-408-7379.

Big Rapids High School Commencement: 7 p.m. Thursday, May 18, at Big Rapids High School, 21175 15 Mile Road, Big Rapids.

Mom 2 Mom Sale: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, May 20, at ResLife Church of Big Rapids, 14734 215th Ave., Big Rapids. Cost: $1 door fee benefits Angels of Action.

Spring Craft and Vendor Show: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, May 20, at Royal View Assisted Living, 9100 Buchanan, Mecosta. Features local artists, craftsmen, galleries, and more.

Baldwin Blessing of the Bikes: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday, May 21, at the Baldwin Municipal Airport, 7038 S. M-37, Baldwin. Blessing is at 1 p.m. Cost: $5, available at the Lake County Chamber of Commerce, 895 Michigan Ave., Baldwin; the Duane E. Dewey AmVets Post 1988, 1959 W. 24th St., Baldwin; and at the gate Sunday morning.

Shop for a Cure: 6-8 p.m. Monday, May 22, at The Old Pioneer Store and Emporium, 118 N. Michigan Ave, Big Rapids. Twenty percent of all sales will go to Prostate Cancer Foundation and the University of Michigan's Rogel Cancer Center.

ONGOING PROGRAMS, ACTIVITIES

Big Rapids Farmers Market: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Fridays (May 3-Oct. 27) and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesdays (May 23-Sept. 26) in the city hall parking lot, 226 N. Michigan Ave. Big Rapids.

Mecosta County Historical Museum: New summer hours, 1-3 p.m. Saturdays at 129 S. Stewart Ave., Big Rapids. For more information or to schedule a private tour, call 520-334-0123, 231-796-4662, or 231-867-3311.

Mecosta County Genealogical Society: New summer hours, 5-7 p.m. Wednesdays, at 424 N. Fourth Ave., Big Rapids, next to Recycle. Open for the public to research genealogy or the history of Mecosta County and surrounding areas. Volunteers needed to help with sorting and indexing. Call Maureen Nelson at 231-250-5555 for more information.

Reed City Heritage Museum: Open from 1-4 p.m. Friday through Tuesday at 138 W. Slosson Ave., Reed City. Free Admission. Groups are welcome.

Mecosta County Sheriff Posse: 7 p.m. the second Thursday of each month at the Mecosta County Jail basement training room, 225 S. Stewart Ave., Big Rapids. This volunteer group is always looking for more members. For more info call 231-250-9241.

Morley Community Center: 151 7th St., Morley. For more information, visit morleycenter.org/events or call 231-856-4496.

Cardio Drumming: 1-2 p.m. Sundays

Pickleball: 9 a.m. to noon Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays; 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Thursdays.

Open Gym: 3:30-5 p.m. Tuesdays, Thursdays.

Garage Sales: Every other Friday and Saturday (Feb. 17-18, March 3-4, etc.).

Blood Drive: 1-7 p.m. second Monday of odd numbered months

Community Lunch: 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Wednesdays at Third Avenue United Methodist Church, 226 N. Third Ave., Big Rapids. The community lunch program has re-opened.This is a free meal service, although donations are appreciated. For more information call 231-796-4157 or 231-796-6779.

ARTWORKS CLASSES, EXHIBITS

106 N. Michigan Ave. in Big Rapids / 231-796-2420 / artworksinbigrapids.org

Lecture on Roman Landscapes: At noon Friday, May 19. Dr. Rachel Foulk will examine how the Tomb of Patron, a first-century B.C. tomb in Rome, utilizes landscape to defy the darkness of death.

After School Art: 3:45-5:15 p.m. Wednesdays, for ages 7-13. Drop-ins are welcome on a first come, first serve basis, but we highly recommend calling our gift shop to pre-register: 231-796-2420. Registration will only be accepted for the current weeks class beginning Monday of that week. For more information, visit artworksinbigrapids.org/after-school-art.

Open Pottery: 5-8 p.m. Tuesdays. Cost: $10 per session, $60 for an eight-session punch card. (Additional firing fees apply. Clay may be purchased in bulk for $20 per 25 lbs.) Call 231-796-2420 to schedule your session.

Exhibit  Landscape and Culture: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Saturday in Artworks' Alley Gallery.

Exhibit  Landscape Painting: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Saturday, April 11-June 30, in Artworks' Batdorff Gallery. Featuring work by Anthony Cairo, Katie Mester, James Roberts (JR), and Tom Tomasek.
Tonight's rundown:

 Talking Points Memo: Joe Biden continues to decline with the world watching and remains out of the press reach

 Presidential Historian Larry Cook weighs in on how Bidens relationship with the press compares to past presidents

 US Special Forces have been confirmed to be in Ukraine

 OReilly describes Democrats hosting the DNC in Chicago as Crazy Arrogant

 The trial of Fox News gets underway

 58% of Americans are now living paycheck to paycheck even as inflation begins to cool off

 Smart Life: Utilizing Kelly Blue Book when searching for a new car

 This Day in History: FDR dies in office

 Final Thought: what to do when someone is disrespectful to you

In Case You Missed It:

 Read Bill's latest column, "Reason to Believe"

 Join 'Team Normal!' Order your gear now at BillOReilly.com!

 Pre-order Bills next bestseller Killing the Witches NOW

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
South Africans were shocked this week by a press statement on social media from the SABC announcing that the public broadcaster was to introduce a new SABC care radio licence.

Source  Piyawat Nandeenopparit 123rf A press statement on social media from the SABC introducing a licence for car radios this week proved to be fake news

The statement, which had the SABC logo and SABC acting corporate affairs and marketing executive spokesperson, Mmoni Seapolelos name and contact details on it, was quickly circulated by users on social media, including prominent figures such as Brenthurst Wealth financial advisor Magnus Heystek.

While the statement was in keeping with the style and formatting of official SABC statements, it turns out that the statement is fake.

The SABC issued a statement on its website and on Twitter stating that it would like to alert the public of a fake media statement which is circulating on various social media platforms titled Introduction of Radio Licences as part of SABCs drive to generate revenue.

The SABC would like to alert the public of a fake media statement which is circulating on various social media platforms titled INTRODUCTION OF RADIO LICENCES AS PART SABCS DRIVE TO GENERATE REVENUE. pic.twitter.com/MrFJ5Y3OMS  SABC (@SABCPortal) May 8, 2023

According to the fake statement car radio users would have to pay an annual SABC car radio licence fee of R401, and if not, they would face a penalty fine of R750.00 or 90 days in jail. It states that according to section 69 of the telecommunications act of 1996, all South Africans who use motor vehicles with radios are required to always carry a car radio licence with them.

In South Africa radio licences were first issued in 1924, but this licence was discontinued when the general SABC TV Licence came into being.

However, the fake statement maintains that the SABC has seen a dramatic decline in TV licence revenue due to streaming services such as Netflix becoming ever more popular, we as the SABC, therefore, had to look at new revenue streams".

In reality, the SABC together with the Department of Communications want to discontinue the SABC TV licence fee and replace it with a household levy.
Latest Bacardi Cocktail Trends Report reveals the new flavours, sensations and experiences being sought locally and abroad.

The latest international cocktail trends will soon feature prominently in restaurants and bars around the country on World Cocktail Day, which is coming up tomorrow, 13 May. Trends in cocktail drinking are changing all over the world and South Africans have shown how keen they are to experiment with new and exotic tastes and flavours.

Gone are the days of limited choices and flavours when it comes to our tipple of choice. The fourth annual Bacardi Cocktail Trends Report released by Bacardi recently unveiled the extent to which trends in cocktail and spirit consumption are changing the world over, with South Africa being no exception. Experimental new flavours and changes in consumer behaviour are heralding new cocktails with new tastes and visual appeal capturing the nations imagination.

Produced in collaboration with London-based The Future Laboratory, extensive external research, Bacardi-led consumer surveys and bartender insights have revealed that locally, 44% of the 1,000 South African respondents surveyed indicated that they anticipate drinking more cocktails in 2023, demonstrating a marked shift away from ciders, beers and wine. Furthermore, keeping up with conscious eating and drinking trend taking place globally, 48% reported that they will be drinking more cocktails containing natural ingredients.

This trend is partly due to globally interconnected consumers sharing their cocktail experiences on social media and partly due to the boom in at-home mixology, which gained prominence during the pandemic, says Edgar Mntungwa, Customer Marketing manager at Bacardi South Africa. Google searches for cocktail names and recipes have spiked during the past year, with a remarkable increase of 59% being seen between October 2021 and September 2022, an indicator of the growing culture of cocktail curiosity.

Some of the macro trends defining how, what, where and why consumers will be sipping more cocktails in 2023 include:

The Pleasure Revolution Fresh ingredients and more fun and frivolous flavours are coming to the fore. Interestingly, 44% of South African respondents indicated that relaxing with friends and family is their preferred cocktail-drinking occasion, outpacing happy hours, date nights and parties. This research shows that over the next 12 months, over half of respondents (54 %) plan on preparing more cocktails at home. Transforming tastes Redefining when and where they celebrate special occasions and with which drinks and flavours has seen more than 50% of South Africans surveyed going out to eat, drink and socialise earlier in the evenings. During the week, 45% of respondents based in South Africa reported that they most often drink cocktails or spirits/liquors between 8pm and midnight, while 43% drink between 4pm and 8pm. This pattern is similar to the drinking habits over a weekend, with 42% drinking between 8pm and midnight and 35% between 4pm and 8pm. Spicy drinks, with jalapeno and Tabasco inspired Tequila and vodka-based cocktails has seen an increase in popularity, with bitter flavours and the use of fermented ingredients such as kombucha also remaining popular. Sophisticated sips An emerging trend in minimalism at premium venues and a focus on quality ingredients is further backed by 46% of South Africans prioritising drinking cocktails made with high-quality spirits and liquors. 32% of bartenders expect this preference for premium spirits in the Tequila, single malt, aged rum and mescal categories to continue. All about the delivery How South African consumers purchase their spirit of choice has also changed over the last few years. 61% of those surveyed currently use a retailer website or app to buy spirit-based drinks or cocktails for at home delivery. Over a third order cocktails to go from a bar or restaurant, while 24% use a third-party delivery service. Conscious cocktails Environmental awareness is transforming how the drinks industry operates with 38% of consumers reporting that spirit and liquor brands which stand for sustainability are of extreme importance to them. High-end venue bartenders are increasingly conscious of reducing waste, looking for sustainable ingredients, and thinking about what happens to the items used, from bottles to garnishes. The focus on zero-waste is peaking, with 44% of bartenders interested in the issue, according to Bacardis Global Ambassador Survey 2022. Another related trend includes the rise of NoLo (no and low alcohol) drinkers. The concept of Dry January is also gaining momentum, with over a fifth of the respondents polled saying that they will be doing a Dry January for the first time next year. Nostalgia with a twist While new flavours and experiences are trending, old school is still proving to be cool with many consumers enjoying cocktails that transport them back to memories of earlier times. As a result, mojitos, daiquiris, vodka soda, Bloody Marys and gin and tonic are still the top five cocktails ordered globally.



According to the Bacardi Cocktail Trends Report, we can also expect to see a rise in new drinking occasions, with consumers choosing to celebrate times that really matter to them with premium spirits and adventurous ingredients.

"More and more consumers are enjoying these moments in non-traditional places. Around 43% of South Africans say they are clubbing less and 44% indicate that they are visiting members-only clubs less frequently. A third say they are hosting more special occasions at home and intend to continue to do so in 2023, says Mntungwa. At Bacardi, we are setting the pace at the forefront of these changing trends.




Convenience retail is an unstoppable force in South Africa's consumer goods market, according to Trade Intelligence, a provider of consumer goods retail research, insights and training solutions.

Source: Supplied

The local tearoom or cafe was once the cornerstone of suburban South Africa, much as the spaza or the small local super has been in the townships. The country has a long history with convenience stores. Things have changed though. As weve become more mobile  either in private vehicles or minibus taxis  we do more and more of our convenience shopping at petrol station forecourt stores.

And the big supermarket chains, recognising our increasing demand for convenience, have moved into the convenience space  by making the shopping experience itself more convenient, experimenting with smaller-format neighbourhood stores, and offering home delivery.

"South Africas primary convenience market is estimated at R240bn annually. Of this, the informal independent trade is valued at R188bn, with forecourt convenience stores worth an estimated R40bn. Convenience is currently one of the fastest growing channels, behind online shopping, and expanded +6.7% in 2022. "The convenience sector has never been more competitive, more crowded, and more confusing," said Trade Intelligence.

To help make sense of it all, a new report from Trade Intelligence titled 2023 Forecourt and Convenience Report examines the drivers of the convenience trend for South African consumers, and explores the ways in which retailers are responding, with a focus on the growing forecourt market.

The size of the prize

According to data sourced in collaboration with Lightstone, Trade Intelligence reported that there are now around 4,500 forecourts in South Africa, with around 65% estimated to have convenience stores.

The big retail brands have proven a major disruptor in forecourt convenience. Retail partnerships at forecourts have increased +69% over the last five years to 745 stores at forecourts in 2022. And while 17% of forecourts have a retail partner store, our research suggests that as many as 76% of motorists or commuters now shop at a forecourt with a grocery retailer partnership.

South Africas biggest retail player in this space is currently Food Lovers Market, whose FreshStop brand is found at 342 Caltex forecourts. Other retailers in the forecourt market include Pick n Pay Express whose footprint at BP forecourts has increased +60% over five years, Spar Express at Shell, OK Express at Puma forecourts and Woolworths Foodstop at Engen.

The sector is also impacted by rising trends in retail more broadly. The technologies  from machine learning and surveillance technologies  that are changing retail globally will speed up checkout times in forecourts, with an impact on the impulse purchases that these stores depend on, Trade Intelligence said.

Personalised promotions and loyalty programmes  also a product of the new technologies  will become increasingly important to retailers as the space becomes more competitive. "And as increasing scale, formalisation and collaboration establish more efficient supply chains in the informal convenience store market, these traditional South African retailers will exert increasing pressure on the major supermarkets and on forecourt convenience alike," the company noted.

Future of forecourt convenience

Globally, over 40,000 new convenience outlets will open over the next five years. And a new cohort of consumers is starting to shop there. While Generation Z are more likely to make forecourts their destination for a specific mission or their scheduled weekly/monthly shop, 37% of them also buy food items to use later compared with 29% of other shoppers, according to Trade Intelligence.

And as forecourts provide more electronic vehicle (EV) charging stations, shoppers may be looking to occupy their time for longer in the forecourt store  which will change the demands on the format, and lead to new opportunities for retailers and brands alike.
It is important for a thriving and profitable business to have access to a holistic, 360-degree view of its customers because this gives the company a deeper understanding of its clients as people, including both their behaviours and their needs. This, in turn, allows the business to provide a personalised experience to each and every customer, and allowing them to be treated as unique individuals and not as the polar opposite - impersonal statistics which have been randomly assigned.

It all adds up to just one thing: to echo the old property adage of position, position, position being the holy grail of any property purchase  in this context  it is loyalty, loyalty, loyalty: the prime real estate of your companys marketing strategy and approach.

Such a holistic customer view is enabled by a good customer relationship management (CRM) system that embraces the strategies, practices and technologies which companies use to manage and analyse their customer interactions and data. Camsoft Solutions has partnered with a globally acclaimed CRM provider, thereby offering international expertise combined with local people who have experience and understanding of the local market. This allows our clients access to powerful business intelligence that facilitates a deeper understanding of their customers.

Clarifying the 360 degree view of the customer

A workable definition is that this involves a holistic understanding of your customers interactions, including the following: their purchase and interaction history with your company (satisfactory as well as unsatisfactory); returns; customer comments, including via social media; their perception of the companys customer service standards; the companys marketing endeavours, a high-level overview of customers financial details, and finally sales.

The end result is that cultivating a 360 degree view of your customers results in the sort of personalised, accurate understanding makes them feel that they are being heard. This in turn inspires satisfaction and increasing loyalty  both of which are ultimately instrumental in bringing your business more revenue.

The insights that an integrated, 360 degree view of the customer can bring to the organisation are, quite logically, translated into business benefits. As a simple example, a good CRM system would ensure that your business did not send out special offers for wine to a customer who is a teetotaller. In contrast - and staying in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector - an individual customer who regularly purchases peanuts could be sent marketing promotions about assorted mixed nuts: therefore adding to the products in which they would be interested, and based entirely on their previous buying behaviour.

These personalised examples are, of course, minor sales at the level of the individual, but when a large volume of individually targeted marketing is done, the results are incremental and significant.

Improving customer relationships and retention

It is a logical extension of the above that an integrated view of your customers, as facilitated by a good CRM system, is further able to assist your organisation in better customer relationships  and retention - than your competitors:

Additional customer requests - as facilitated by the CRM system - can be developed into new avenues for revenue creation.



In addition, when a business has access to a 360-degree view of the customer, management can use the CRM system in order to carry out sales and revenue forecasts.



In short, a holistic view of the customer allows the business to tailor its sales and marketing campaigns; and to be more creative in leveraging up-selling and cross-selling opportunities.

In conclusion, the holistic personalisation of the customer view, and the relevant insights which this individualised, 360 degree view brings, optimises your customers marketing experience: making them feel unique and heard.

This, in turn, nurtures and develops their loyalty: translating into increased spend with your company, and ensuring footfall into your businesss real estate - rather than that of your competitors.
The 16th annual Trialogue Business in Society Conference provided much food for thought as leaders from business, the non-profit sector and government gathered to focus on the role of business in strengthening South Africa's sociopolitical environment, addressing gender-based violence, improving education and catalysing impact in the green economy. Hosted by Azania Mosaka, the conference saw thought leaders call on the private sector for deeper involvement, strategic investment and effective collaboration with government and the non-profit sector to have meaningful impact on these critical issues.

Vuyiswa Ramokgopa from Rise Mzansi highlighted that, according to the Edelman Trust Barometer, business is now the most trusted institution, ahead of NGOs, government and media. Societal leadership is now a core function of business. It is good business for business to be involved in communities, but not just involved in terms of repairing government failures after the fact. Business, like civil society, must get involved at the policy-making stage. Its a proactive rather than reactive stance thats needed.

Ramakgopa called for business to participate in political issues through active citizenship, saying that in current times, business doesnt have the luxury of being apolitical. Were dealing with major challenges  loadshedding, corruption, the collapse of services in dysfunctional municipalities. This has a direct financial impact on business. Business can respond by using its substantial power and influence to drive societal change that is for the benefit of the country as a whole. Its an expanded role for business that requires a change of outlook. Businesses are being asked to fund elements that are the domain of government. Surely the person paying the bill gets to decide whats on the menu?

Democracy is a team sport, she concluded. The collective wisdom of all actors in society is the only way we will arrive at the optimal solutions for our country. Its our right and responsibility to exercise our voice. Democracy is costly. And if its not funded by the good people in the room, it will be funded by the bad ones.

Addressing gender-based violence

As one of the first large corporates to unveil a clear policy on gender-based violence, Vodacom urged other businesses to do the same and to partner on addressing the scourge. Vodacoms Sitho Mdlalose says, The S in ESG is embedded in the real societal ills in the places in which business operates. As business, our social investment plans and our social frameworks must address things such as gender-based violence. When it comes to GBV, the real enemy we face is silence.

Sazini Mojapelo of the Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF) Response Fund says that ending gender-based violence requires a shift in societal attitudes, including in the workplace. GBV comes with a myriad factors that silence the voices of victims. In the GBV advocacy landscape  business has been too silent. Civil society cannot do it alone. Government cannot do it alone. Business needs to participate to see how we can bring an end to it. It is so endemic, it must be affecting employees.

Mojapelo says the cost of GBV is close to R2.44bn per year. The GBVF was launched as a private sector response to GBV. We amplify, we fund, we convene stakeholders to activate against GBV. But most of all, were an accountability partner. Recently, police said that the GBV backlog, at 200,000 cases two years ago, has been cleared. We want to know how.

Vodacoms Taki Netshitenzhe spoke about the companys Change the World programme, which provides prevention, response, and victim support at schools. The programme funds and supports psychosocial workers in schools, in partnership with the Department of Basic Education (DBE). The Vodacom Foundation further launched the Bright Sky mobile app, which provides information on GBV and access to support services.

By working with the DBE, we hope to address some of the root causes of GBV at school level, which put so many of our young people, especially girls, at risk, says Netshitenzhe. A fundamental issue is that we do not have enough psychosocial experts in the field and in the schools. We call on government to do more to deploy these professionals. We need more corporates to work with us in this space.

Prof Jackie Stewart of SHAWCO says that it is vital for youth to first understand their role in the world, vision for the future and sense of self as part of addressing issues around gender-based violence. Research has shown time and time again that a young person who has a vision for the future is much less likely to take part in risk-taking behaviour. The Change the World programme helps them to imagine a different future. Part of this is exposing them to psychosocial experts who look like the youth, relate to the youth, and become those role models who have found a way out.

Education and connected schools

Gbenga Oyebode, Board Chair of the African Philanthropy Forum, says that investment in education in Africa does not match demographic trends on the continent and called for consistent investment in building education and leadership as critical components of driving transformational impact.

He recommended four steps to transform the future of education and leadership in Africa: increasing access to education, embracing technology, developing leadership skills and addressing inequality. We must consider empowering organisations involved in improving education not just as part of once-off corporate social responsibility events but as part of our long term ESG activities, which are more radical and transformative ways of engaging with systems, Oyebode said.

Dr Shafika Isaacs, Telkom Foundation Chairperson, highlighted learnings from the Telkom schools programme, which has supported 4 000 teenagers for five years, that go well beyond implementing technology. We learnt from our work that we need to go deep, in order to go wide. We had to challenge our assumptions on how we work well as a private company with the state to make an impact, taking learnings from our experience at a micro-level.

Isaacs said that the psychosocial aspects of working with teachers, building leadership capabilities in the schools, making learners feel seen and creating a caring environment are critical. The depth of the struggle our learners contend with each day is unfathomable. Learners, first and foremost, had to develop a vision beyond the circumstances that they are in and see themselves as creators, growing not just digital skills, but a sense of digital agency.

Dr Nicky Roberts, director of Kelello Consulting, identified languages and mathematics in early grades, initial teacher education and ongoing professional development as key areas to be addressed by business. Data shows that roughly half (48%) of publicly paid teachers in South Africa will retire in the next ten years. New teachers must be well educated.

She called on the private sector to invest in more research, saying corporate social investment is a knowledge project. We need usable knowledge that influences our actions and results. Commission monitoring and evaluation experts from the outset as research and learning partners that travel with you along a long-term journey.

Roberts further urged business to address data costs. Our data costs are outrageous and it is one of the major inhibitors of ICT in education. Free data for youth would be a fundamental shift in how youth can engage in our country.

A panel discussion emphasised the importance of partnerships to build thriving schools. Dr Mzamani Jully Mdaka of the NECT says, If you have uncoordinated support, you risk disrupting the system. Before you transform, look at how you can strengthen the system. We are working on Integrated District Improvement programmes. If districts are functional, they can support functional schools. They can also plan to replace those retiring teachers that are moving out of the system.

Sarah Mthintso of the Telkom Foundation says that there is no single intervention that will achieve results, and a holistic approach with the learner as the unit of change is essential. However, not all companies can implement a holistic solution, which makes collaboration very important. Its the nature of corporates to want our own flags to fly the highest. But in this space, we need to work together behind a shared vision and find partners who have strengths in areas we do not.

Catalysing opportunities in the green economy

Dr Morne du Plessis, CEO of the WWF South Africa, says that business needs to understand the true value of nature and our essential ecosystem services. Unless CO2 emissions related to human activity are curbed, climate change will bring high costs for human development, economics and the environment. Business has a powerful role to play in ensuring we have global frameworks that integrate nature and climate, two sides of the same coin. The green economy should not be viewed simply as part of the global economy. It is all of it.

According to Du Plessis, the green economy refers to two interlinked developmental outcomes for the South African economy: the first is growing economic activity in the green industry sector which leads to investment, jobs and competitiveness. The second is a shift in the economy as a whole towards cleaner industries and sectors.

Economic activities are only sustainable if they have the long-term interests of society at heart, du Plessis says. Economic growth must be decoupled from natural resource use, and negative externalities to both people and nature must be considered in any business venture. As business and as society, we must integrate our responses to nature and climate as we build opportunities in the green economy.

Gaylor Montmasson-Clair of TIPS says We packaged the green economy to get a foot in the door. This has backfired in terms of how we see the transition, as really we need to change the entire economy. We see this in the policy space. Support coming from government has been piecemeal, rather than true systemic transformation.

New policy developments around renewable energy and energy efficiency must be properly unlocked to build the green economy, according to Montmasson-Clair. We need to use all the instruments government has to support the green economy. They have been used, but on a small scale. We need to truly shift gears to realise potential. For example, over the last ten years we have imported R35bn worth of solar panels into the country. Should we not be building our own solar panel industry?

Dr. Mao Amis of the African Centre for a Green Economy says that a conducive environment needs to be created for green economy innovations to land. We have a youth dividend. We have a mineral-rich continent, minerals needed for producing green technologies. There isnt a shortage of solutions, and there isnt a shortage of money. We need the two to meet each other. We need an innovation ecosystem to bring these together.

Poovi Pillay of Nedbank says the green economy represents a shift towards a more sustainable and equitable economic model for all. The green economy should create wealth for the poor and marginalised by stimulating sustainable economic growth  all while protecting our natural resources. The key ambition is to grow entrepreneurship and, through skills development, create employment within the green economy. In this way, our strategy seeks to both empower communities and catalyse socio-economic renewal for South Africa.

Since the inception of its enterprise-wide Green Economy CSI strategy in January 2022, Nedbank has invested over R70m in projects around the country, investing in the development of nearly 900 jobs and over 275 green economy enterprises as well as upskilling over 1,000 people. KP Cares, a non-profit organisation funded by Nedbank, is currently training 100 candidates for jobs and to create businesses in the green economy in rural areas. We have good relationships with independent power producers and they benefit from being able to take in these candidates secure in the knowledge that they have accredited skills, says KP Cares project manager Hleziphi Siyothula-Mtshizana.

Driving economic transformation through a just energy transition

Dr Miriam Altman, professor and economist, spoke about a just energy transition, discussing how heavily entrenched coal interests are pitted against renewable energy interests in South Africa. This has led to a very slow energy transition, with soft-pedalling around new sources of power. The introduction of renewable energy is not dragging coal out of business. They are however seen as contesting, and this slows the energy transition at great cost.

Altman says that while there are winners and losers in any transition, the just element is about helping stakeholders to cross over  including companies, investors, workers and communities. Job creation isnt about not losing jobs, its about creating new industries and new jobs. You lose jobs when you stagnate, which is what South Africa is doing in many areas.

Steve Nichols of the Presidential Climate Commission highlighted that our economy depends on electrification to remain competitive. The investment required to reach a net-neutral climate competitive economy is enormous. However, if you take the E out of Just Energy Transition  there are a huge number of other sectors that also need investment and governments balance sheet is not in a healthy state. The private sector is going to be important in stimulating development across the board.

Access to capital is a primary driver of inequality, and this is one of the areas where corporate social investment and philanthropy can have a big impact, according to Nichols. One of the major challenges for making a just transition is capital. Early stage risk-bearing capital is needed. The private sector needs to create new companies that are owned by people in communities, transferring the wealth to the communities.

He further emphasised the importance of investment in institutional capacity at local government level. Unless local government has the capacity to implement plans with us, the plans will fail. As the private sector, our temptation is to create a parallel institution  to take work away from government and do it separately, such as creating a skills centre in a place that has a TVET college, without working with that college. However, unless we invest directly in the functionality of these institutions, we cant create sustainable change.

Charlotte Mokoena of Sasol says a just energy transition is a global imperative that requires immediate and meaningful action. The fossil-fuel-based company is undertaking a fundamental transformation of its business as it aims to achieve a 30% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, off a 2017 baseline, with the ambition to be net zero by 2050.

Sasols emission reduction roadmap development is being carefully planned to minimise negative social and economic impacts. We are committed to a participatory process that seeks to create opportunities and we must build the resilience of our communities and employees to ensure we sustain livelihoods and thrive as the transition unfolds.

Renewable energy and green hydrogen must be seen as powerful opportunities for this country, according to Mokoena. With some of the best wind and solar endowments in the world, platinum group metals, a young population and Sasols Fischer Tropsch technology, South Africa has the right ingredients to be a global green hydrogen player and a green energy champion. She emphasised collaboration as the key to reach the desired pace and scale of the Paris Agreement goal.

Stronger collaboration emerged as a major theme across the conference. Conferences such as these are one way to bring people from different sectors together to share ideas, engage and spark collaboration, says Cathy Duff, director of Trialogue. Through our conference discussions it became apparent that each of these themes impacts every organisation, and everyone has a role to play. At Trialogue, weve launched a purpose-led integrated thinking framework to help companies assess the extent to which environmental, social and governance issues are embedded in their organisations, and we look forward to rolling this out and supporting companies on their sustainability journeys.
Signa Academy is celebrating its 10th birthday!

Ten years ago, Signa Academy launched its operations with the goal to address the skills shortage in South Africa by offering a solution: Learnership and particularly focusing on disabled learnership training. From humble beginnings, Signa Academy has since opened five campuses with a nationwide reach and is also an expert at operating pop-up training centres in regions where training would previously have been inaccessible so that no one is excluded from education.

To date, Signa Academy has successfully trained 9,304 learners each with their own story to tell about how their lives have been impacted and how they are now in turn making a difference for other people. This would not be possible without the continued help and support of Signa Academys employees, clients, sponsors, and strategic partners. Signa Group has appointed many of these students as employees after they have finished their studies. The success and quality of our education are evident in the graduates we are producing.

Signa Academy ... proudly believes we are helping particularly the youth towards their journey to dignity by preparing Africa for a working future through quality accredited skills development training programmes.

 Tulani Hlabangana, executive Signa director of HR & Learning

Throughout the years, the organisation has offered their clients a constant service of high-quality student recruitment, delivery of efficient training programmes, and support to accurately complete B-BBEE scorecards for a maximised claim with the heart and aim to help build South Africa through education.

Signa Academys partnership with SETA has led to the successful certification of their students and a diversification of their course offerings to equip students with work-related skills that lead them in the direction of valuable employment or self-employment. Their course offering includes 40 accredited programmes in skills which are required in todays working world. These courses are delivered face-to-face, online, or through a blended learning approach.

Signa Academy also understands that their students come from disadvantaged environments and have built a supportive structure around their students to support the maximum likelihood of success. This includes daily meals, supportive tools for disabled students, transport subsidy, emotional support through a Learner Wellness Programme and Emotional Support system to their learners, caring facilitators, an extensive workplace readiness programme that includes computer skills as well as an objective to place each student in gainful employment or empower them with entrepreneurship skills to earn a living.

In support and to continue our mission of developing young people with work-ready skills, we have aligned ourselves with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, specifically the goal of Quality Education. We actively identify with the quest for gender equality and reduced inequality, and truly believe that by facilitating decent work and economic activation  this is how Signa Academy is contributing to reducing poverty and hunger. Signa Academy therefore proudly believes we are helping particularly the youth towards their journey to dignity by preparing Africa for a working future through quality accredited skills development training programmes. We are determined and devoted to addressing the scarce skills shortages in Africa and the high levels of unemployment by creating targeted training solutions that will lead to sustainable employment opportunities. By all of us participating and solving the unemployment problem, we can make an impact, says Tulani Hlabangana, executive Signa director of HR & Learning.

The incredible work done by the entire Signa Academy team who continuously strive to upskill and develop underprivileged youth and communities as well as people living with disabilities has positively changed so many young lives. In celebrating this milestone, they hope to continue to ensure that Signa Academy remains a growing, impactful, and successful organisation which contributes to a sustainable economy to secure the future of South Africa.

For more information on Signa Academy, visit their website: https://signaacademy.co.za/.




As we approach the second half of the year, the excitement starts to build up at tertiary institutions as they prepare for their mid-year graduation ceremonies.

Professor Kiveshni Naidoo, academic director at MANCOSA

"We cannot underestimate the achievements of these graduates," says Professor Kiveshni Naidoo, academic director at MANCOSA. She adds that these achievements are significant to MANCOSA as many students had to adjust to the change in the educational landscape.

Dates and graduates

The first round of the mid-year graduations will be held in three regions, the first being in Cape Town on 13 May. The second will be held in Johannesburg on 19 and 20 May.

The final round of the mid-year graduations will be held in Durban on 2 and 3 June 2023.

"We are extremely proud of all of our graduates. Seeing the excitement on their faces when they receive their degree is why many of us choose a career in academia. However, it is important to point out that graduation ceremonies are not only for our students; their families make significant sacrifices to help them further their education. In some cases, whole communities raise money to help fund a student's journey. This provides a sense of achievement for us as we are educating for impact," says Professor Naidoo.

Catalyst for change

Professor Naidoo points out that the accomplishment of these graduates is significant within the current South African context, given that the country is facing a challenging economic climate and that furthering one's education can be a significant financial commitment for many South African families.

"While funding tertiary education can be a significant undertaking, the financial repercussions of not furthering your education is far more significant. We exist in a hyper-competitive world where companies seek the best skills. With the rise of remote working, South Africans are not only competing with local talent, but they are also dealing with a global talent pool. Although many high school graduates are expected to find employment straight out of school to help provide for their families, they are aware of the hyper-competitive nature of the job market and still find time to further their education," says Professor Naidoo.

Influencing the national growth narrative

South Africa is facing both an economic and an unemployment crisis. While this is significantly impacting the country, when the country is ready for economic growth, MANCOSA graduates will lead the change.

"The foundation of growth in any country is education. South Africa needs to produce world-class educators. The programmes offered by the MANCOSA School of Education are designed to cater to the specific challenges in the South African education system. Further, as we saw during the Covid Pandemic, the distance learning model is not limited to tertiary education. Primary and high school teachers need teaching experience that can be applied to the conventional learning model and the distance (online) learning model where it is harder to keep students engaged," says Professor Naidoo.

The second area that is in desperate need of skills is healthcare. "As we saw with the Covid Pandemic, a single event can expose the fragility of world-class healthcare systems. The MANCOSA School of Healthcare deals with real-world issues and forces students to develop innovative solutions while leaning on what they have learned."

Finally, entrepreneurship is one of the critical areas that will fast-track economic growth in South Africa. MANCOSA offers several courses and qualifications that will formalise potential entrepreneurs' experience.

"We cannot ignore the role that technology and digitalisation will play in the future of the workplace. There are now some jobs that did not exist as little as 10 years ago; these include app developers, driverless car engineers, cloud computing specialists, big data analysts and data scientists, drone manufacturers and coders. Coding is becoming essential as it is central to society's adoption of a technology-enabled future. In addition, there is a massive drive to migrate most services and products online to fit in with a digitised future. This means they will have to exist and work in a virtual environment. The MANCOSA School of Information and Digital Technology provides students the skills to succeed in a digitised future.




The City of Cape Town will host 2023 Loeries Creative Week for the third consecutive year, as the Africa and the Middle East's premier creative festival celebrates its 45th edition.

Image supplied. This year the City of Cape Town will host Loeries Creative Week for the third consecutive year

Cape Town is excited to host the milestone 45th edition of the Loeries," says Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis.

This year's Loeries Creative Week will run over five days from 2 to 6 October with events scheduled to take place throughout the City showcasing its beauty and business opportunities to international and regional guests, judges, and key business leaders.

"With events set to take place in various parts of the city for Loeries Creative Week, participants will have every opportunity to enjoy our beautiful destination from all angles," adds Hill-Lewis.

Hill-Lewis adds, "It is a pleasure to once again partner with The Loeries. Not only does this event bring economic benefits to our region, it also cements our Citys reputation as a creative capital."

Economic effect

The partnership between The City of Cape Town and The Loeries will ensure greater focus on the impact of the brand communications industry in not only helping consumers find the goods and services that best add value to their lives but also its ability to grow economies and influence thinking within societies.

In 2022, research company BDO reported that The Loeries and its events contributed over R90m to the Citys GDP through 17 official Loeries events and 13 partner events that were held throughout the week. These events also acted as a showcase for the City with an anticipated knock-on economic effect.

We are excited to partner with the City of Cape Town to bring The Loeries to the City, says The Loeries CEO, Preetesh Sewraj, The partnership with The City has been exceptionally valuable one in growing creative excellence across the region and I look forward to further expanding our partnership with future editions of The Loerie Awards.
The job interview process is a crucial one - it is all that stands between you and your next big break. For this reason, it's important to take the right steps - before, during and after the interview - to give yourself the best chance of securing the role you want.

The first step is to understand the purpose of an interview. Essentially it is a meeting in which you answer questions that highlight your skills, qualifications and suitability for a job. You may be interviewed by one person, or by a panel of interviewers  depending on the job youre applying for. You might have to go through multiple rounds of interviews to ensure you are the right candidate for the job. Job interviews can take place in person, over the phone, over video call or in a group setting. Ultimately the interview process is aimed at finding out if the job and the candidate are a good fit  for both sides!

Not sure where to start? Pnet is here to help. Here are seven ways to prepare leading up to the day of the interview:

#1 Research the interviewer and company

Over and above finding out what package is up for grabs, its important to understand if the company youre applying to work at has principles which are aligned to your own and a culture that you can identify with. Visit their website to learn more about the companys history, the type of services and solutions they offer, who their target market is, and what their core values are. Understanding these things will also help you prepare for any questions around why youre applying for this position. You can also find out more about the company and the interviewer from their social media pages or by chatting to current employees. In addition, Google is a great place to explore articles, press releases, projects and other developments relating to the company.

#2 Generate a list of questions for the interviewer

As a rule of thumb, interviewers tend to be impressed by candidates who can show theyve done their homework on the company  particularly when they not only answer interview questions confidently, but have some intelligent, relevant questions to ask the interviewer.

Start by creating a list of questions for the interviewer  however, dont ask for information that was provided in the job description or that can easily be found online. Consider asking questions that relate to your prospective job role (e.g. How does this position contribute to the organisations success?), the management style of the company (e.g. How do leaders encourage employees to ask questions?), company culture (e.g. How would you describe the work environment?). You can also ask questions relating to issues like performance measurement and opportunities for growth, among others.

#3 Consider how youll respond to questions the interviewer may ask

Take some time to reflect on accomplishments that youre proud of so that when it comes to the interview, you can talk to one that displays the skills required by the job.

Interviewers like to know how candidates deal with challenges and test their level of self-awareness, so consider a time that you made a mistake: choose one from the beginning of your career that led to an important lesson being learned and useful experience being gained.

Here are some other questions to ask yourself before the interview:



How did you handle a difficult situation? Tip: Dont blame others - focus on the solution you provided.



Did you ever go above and beyond in your previous position? Tip: Define what was required of you and then define how you went beyond these requirements.


Each year, a number of Bowdoin seniors are granted these highly competitive fellowships from the US Department of State, part of the agency's mission to foster positive international exchanges and "create connections in a complex and changing world."

Bowdoin has a particularly impressive record with the Fulbright program: for the past three years, the College has topped the list for most Fulbright fellows from an undergraduate institution.

This year, the sixteen fellows are heading to Australia, Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria, Germany, Italy, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Mexico, Spain, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and Vietnam.
NUJ members at BBC Northern Ireland have announced a 24-hour strike that will commence on the first day of counting in the Norths local government elections.

Almost 83 per cent of those who voted in a recent National Union of Journalists (NUJ) ballot backed strike action in opposition to cutbacks at Radio Foyle. The 24-hour walkout will begin at 12.15am on Friday, May 19th.

Voters go to the polls for Northern Irelands local council elections on Thursday, May 18th, with the count taking place on Friday and Saturday at centres across the North.

Paul Siegert, NUJ national broadcasting organiser, said: Members have been left with no option than to head to pickets in defence of their jobs and the much-loved programmes listeners tune into daily.

Yet again, the BBC is pursuing savings and drastic changes at the expense of quality journalism it claims to pride itself on.

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The NUJ wants to reach a solution that resolves the dispute and asks the BBC to return to talks with a fair offer members can accept.

Radio Foyles flagship morning show was axed last month and replaced with a half-hour news programme.

The NUJ said the corporations bid to save 2.3 million (2.6 million) had resulted in 36 posts being cut, with the prospect of other potential job losses.

#NUJ members at BBC Northern Ireland will take part in 24hr strike action on Friday 19 May, opposing ill-thought BBC cuts to jobs and programmes. Solidarity with journalists defending quality journalism, jobs and shows loved by listeners. #SaveBBCNI https://t.co/5G3w6cV1Lf pic.twitter.com/bQAM8AMNzI  NUJ (@NUJofficial) May 12, 2023

The union said the restructuring plans would impact resources and the ability to deliver quality programmes across Northern Ireland.

The BBC has said the reconfiguration is part of a strategy to invest in online services, including the iPlayer, and has insisted compulsory redundancies have been avoided.

The NUJ ballot result was announced last week.

Of 116 valid votes cast, 96 NUJ members in BBC NI said they were prepared to take part in strike action.

Almost 96 per cent, 111 members, also backed industrial action short of strike.

BBC NI has been approached for comment.
A fisherman has asked the High Court to quash a licence allowing a renewable energy firm to investigate sites off the coast of Dublin and Wicklow in connection with a proposed 1.5 billion offshore wind farm.

On Friday, Mr Justice Richard Humphreys gave permission for Ivan Toole, of Ashford, Co Wicklow, and his company Golden Venture Fishing Limited, of the same address, to bring their action against the Minister of State with responsibility for planning and local government over his granting of the foreshore licence to RWE last January.

There was no objection to the judge admitting the case into the courts commercial planning list.

RWE proposes to undertake geotechnical and geophysical site investigations, including drilling boreholes, and to monitor wind and waves to refine its design of the Dublin Array offshore wind farm, Mr Toole says.

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According to Dublin Array, the scheme is to be located about 10 kilometres off the coast in the Kish and Bray banks and comprise about 39 to 50 wind turbines, capable of generating between 700 and 850 megawatts of renewable energy each year.

Earlier this week, Mr Justice Humphreys granted a short-term stay on the surveying works. He will decide after a contested hearing later this month whether this order should be extended further.

Notice party RWE Renewables Ireland Limited, represented by Darren Lehane SC and David Browne BL, will be contesting the granting of any extension to the stay. A court-imposed pause of operations has immediate financial consequences, the court heard.

The applicants senior counsel, Eamon Galligan, with Ellen OCallaghan BL, told the court the case centres on the alleged adverse impact the works will have on a European-protected site.

In a sworn statement to the court, Mr Toole says his firm has three vessels and seven fishermen operating in fishing whelk, lobster, crab and shrimp. They have increased their fishing catch by partaking in conservation measures, he says.

The planned survey area is a highly sensitive sand bank that is hugely important for sea birds, minke whales, common dolphins and many fish species, he claims.

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Any physical interference with the shifting sands on this bank will have a massive knock-on effect not only on the species we target but on every bit of marine life that exists in the area, he said.

Among his grounds of challenge is a claim the licence is invalid as the Minister allegedly failed to adequately consider the public interest in the protection of the marine environment.

The Minister also failed to comply with his legal obligations under the Habitats Directive in relation to screening the proposal for potential environmental impacts, he claims.

The case will return to court next week.
Irish Rail had to spend almost 1.9 million last year dealing with vandalism, graffiti, and other damage to its trains and buildings.

The rail operator dealt with 184 cases of graffiti or vandalism on trains last year with clean-up, repair, or repainting costing 1.73 million  or around 9,400 per incident.

The majority involved damage to the exterior of trains, a total of 166 cases, while the interior of a carriage was damaged on 18 occasions.

There were more than 300 instances logged where there was vandalism or damage to a train station or a railway structure.

A further 156,230 was spent by Irish Rail on clean-up and repairs following those with damage to lifts, bridges, rooves, and electrical substations all reported.

In one case, multiple shelters were vandalised and graffitied while in another an offensive message had been daubed on a shelter.

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One incident was logged as graffiti all over the station while sexually explicit graffiti had to be scrubbed at another station.

Another case saw the words IRA 2022 daubed all around a building in permanent marker. An Irish Rail employee tried to remove it with graffiti remover but was unsuccessful.

One entry in the log said: Multiple areas of station tagged. Specifically above exit way  large amount [at Pearse Street in Dublin].

An emergency plan sign  covered in graffiti. This is an urgent safety issue.

Another saw a station daubed with spray paint, with references to the IRA and a big huge shamrock on one granite wall.

At Lansdowne Road Dart station, there was racist graffiti found, with further spray-painting on shelters and walls throughout the station.

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Irish Rail said they would not provide the locations for all of the vandalism and graffiti incidents as many of the cases were still under investigation.

They said attacks were being monitored on an ongoing basis to protect rolling stock and to try and identify those responsible.

In some cases, gangs are known to have travelled from other jurisdictions to deface trains as part of what is known as graffiti tourism.

An information note from Irish Rail said: There is a standing instruction that trains should not leave a depot to enter service with graffiti, trains vandalised elsewhere may work back in service to a location where they can be removed from service as easily as possible on the same day.
A home carer and self-described 'psychic medium' has denied deceiving two siblings out of 10,200 by telling them their deceased father told them to give her the money.

Debbie Paget, of Knowth Court, Ballymun, Dublin, has pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to two counts of dishonestly by deception, inducing James Byrne and Maria Byrne to give two sums of cash, totalling 10,200.

In his evidence to the jury on Friday, James Byrne told Oisin Clarke BL, prosecuting, that he and his sister Maria and their mother lived together at Glendhu Road, Cabra, Dublin. He said Ms Paget was a home carer for a neighbour, which was how they got to know her.

He said on one occasion, Ms Paget invited him to a reading and he thought this was a fortune-telling during which he would find out about his future.

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He said Ms Paget told him he might be touched on the shoulder by his late brother or father during the reading. I said to myself, could this be true; but I never felt anything, he told the jury.

He added Ms Paget started talking about his father, and said: Your father said you are to give me 10,000.

She didn't give any reason. I believed my father was telling me to give her 10,000, he said, adding he felt pressurised during the reading and gave his word to give her the money.

If you don't, it will be a sin and the devil will get you

Mr Byrne said the next day she came to his house, noting at that stage she was acting as a home carer for his sister who was recuperating from an accident.

He said he was thinking to himself: Do I have to give her the money? He added Ms Paget asked him: When are you getting the money and told him: If you don't, it will be a sin and the devil will get you.

He told the court he later organised to withdraw 13,000 in cash from his bank account, and the next day when he saw Ms Paget at his home he gave her 10,000 in an envelope.

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Asked why he gave her the money, Mr Bynre said: I believed my father told her to tell me to give her the money, thats what I believed.

His sister also testified that she gave 200 to Ms Paget after the defendant told her during a reading that her deceased father had communicated with her and said Ms Byrne should give her 200.

The siblings first made a complaint to the woman's employer and then later to gardai.

When questioned, Ms Paget told gardai she was publicly known as a psychic medium, which meant that she could see beyond the veil and communicate with the dead. She said she had offered this service to people for 40 years and had never charged a penny to anyone for it.

Denial

Asked if she had ever got messages from the dead looking for money she told gardai: No - sure what use is money to you when youre dead?

She denied that she ever did a reading for the Byrnes and denied that she got any money from either of them.

She said: Are you winding me up? 10,000 for a reading? Thats a lie...is this a joke? She added she never asked either complainant for money.

Ms Paget claimed the siblings are after setting out to destroy my life, claiming she lost her job over their complaints. Asked why the complainants might lie, she said: I have no idea.

Ms Paget later told gardai that at one point she felt Ms Byrne did not need a carer any more and had suggested to Ms Byrne that she cancel the care package.

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She said that after her dismissal, Mr Byrne told her that Ms Byrne later said to him: Who does she think she f**king is, watch what Im going to do to her.

Ms Paget agreed that on two earlier occasions, Mr Byrne had gifted her a large flatscreen TV and, later, a chest freezer. She said she had not asked for either of these and when she tried not to accept the freezer, Mr Byrne insisted that she take it.

Under cross-examination from Karl Monaghan BL, defending, Mr Byrne accepted he had a previous conviction for sexual offences. Mr Byrne told Mr Monaghan: I don't think my past is relevant to this case. I'm not the one on trial.

The trial continues before Judge Pauline Codd and a jury.
Delivering a pen portrait of Teresa McDonnell at the Stardust inquest on Friday, Lorraine Sorohan (nee McDonnell) said her sisters last words to her were engraved in her mind and have haunted her throughout her life.

She told how Teresa had bravely abandoned her own safety after realising a fire at the Stardust nightclub, which killed 48 people in the early hours of February 14th, 1981, had broken out and sought Lorraine out to warn her about the blaze and tell her to get out, saving her life in the process.

Lorraine explained that on the night of the fire, they had gone to the disco separately with their own groups of friends. Teresa was sitting near the main door while Lorraine was at the back. They were having a good time, she said, and Teresa came over several times to chat.

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When the fire started, Teresa forgot about her own safety and sought me out to tell me there was a fire, that I was to get out, she explained.

My sisters last words have haunted me all my life, Lorraine added.

Lorraine said when she got out, she went to the front of the building and saw some of Teresas friends.

The first thing they said to me was: 'Wheres Teresa?' When we couldnt find her through the crowds, there was pandemonium and chaos.

Lorraine said she eventually went home to tell her parents, who searched the hospitals for Teresa.

Selfless

She told the inquest of how her father broke down crying when he could not find his daughter, and the realisation dawned that the only place left to look for her was the morgue.

She said her father was dead within two years. The shock of the fire and identifying his daughter had killed him.

Lorraine described Teresa as a selfless person who would always put other people before herself.

Her sister was her soulmate and confidante, she said, adding she has struggled with the great loss of Teresa all her life.

She said Teresa should have been her chief bridesmaid at her wedding and godmother to one of her children, adding she is always missed at family get-togethers and is always remembered at parties, weddings and especially at Christmas.

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Her last words to me are engraved onto my mind: 'Lorraine. Get out, theres a fire'.

That last memory I have of my little sister is putting me before her own safety. Her death has left a huge hole in my heart and to this day I shall miss my sister, Teresa McDonnell.

Teresas brother Richard told the inquest his sister had been the focal point around which everything else had revolved and said she had held everything together with love, fun and happiness.

When she was killed on Valentines night over 40 years ago, our whole family was scattered to the wind, he said.

Richard added the McDonnell family had lost everything that night.

Fun-loving

He said Teresa was a fun-loving, friendly beautiful young girl who was killed at the age of 16 and a half.

He described his sister as a brave young woman who loved animals and always stood up for what she believed in no matter what the consequences.

Teresa loved hair, make up and beauty and was considering a career as a beautician or a hairdresser. She had a huge circle of friends who still talk about the fun-loving, full of life personality she was, he said.

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Richard explained that when gardai called to the house with some of Teresas belongings, their mothers howling screams had ripped through our whole family.

He said within a year of the fire, their father was wrecked with cancer - not from life habits but from seeing his daughter lying in a body bag and being identified by her eternity ring she had got from my mother, a miraculous medal and brown scapulars [medals].

Their mothers pain was visible on her face, he said, and her heartbreaking, never-ending sobs filled our home.

He added the family lost more than a sister in the Stardust fire; they had lost a soulmate.

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Teresa was our best friend, a confidant to us all. A person who always had time to talk, always had kind words and the wisdom of knowing how to use those words.

The hearts of our mother and father were shattered that night, their souls stripped bare.

He said after the fire, there was an absence in their home and their hearts, and the family were left alone in the darkness of bereavement.

The wait for all our unanswered questions has been over 42 years. I hope now, we the families of the 48 victims of the Stardust fire, find the justice and peace we have looked for, he said.
Adidas plans to sell trainers from its axed partnership with the US rapper Kanye West and donate some of the money to charity.

The German sportswear giant announced it was ending production of Yeezy branded products with immediate effect at the end of October after West made antisemitic remarks on social media and in interviews.

Cutting ties with Wests popular trainer brand reportedly cost Adidas some $541 million (482 million) in lost sales in the first three months of this year.

Adidas reportedly has some $1.2 billion worth of unsold Yeezy shoes in storage.

Adidas cut ties with Kanye West in October 2022 (Jonathan Brady/PA)

At Adidass annual general meeting in Fuerth, Germany, on Thursday, its chief executive Bjorn Gulden said destroying Yeezy stock is not the answer.

In a translated version of his comments provided by Adidas, Mr Gulden said: For the last four months we have been trying to find solutions on what to do with it.

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Burning the goods is not the solution.

Now, talking to all the NGOs, and a lot of organisations that have been hurt by Kanye, they all say, no, thats not the solution.

What we are trying to do now over time is to sell parts of this inventory and donate money to the organisations that are helping us and that were also hurt by Kanyes statements.

When we will do that and how we will do that is not clear yet, but we are working on those things.

But I think burning the products is not the point.

And we will update you as soon as that decision is made.

The company previously condemned Wests antisemitic comments as unacceptable, hateful and dangerous.

Earlier this month, Mr Gulden said that losing the Yeezy brand is of course hurting us, after Adidass break-up with Yeezy contributed to the firms first annual loss in 31 years.

West now goes by the name Ye after legally changing it.
Workers at online giant Amazon have started voting on whether to strike over pay.

Members of the GMB union at the companys sites in Mansfield and Rugeley are being balloted over the next few weeks on whether to launch a campaign of industrial action.

The ballots follow recent strike action at the companys Coventry depot.

Amanda Gearing, GMB senior organiser, said: Amazon workers are fighting back against a pay rise of pennies from one of the worlds wealthiest corporations.

This escalation will now see workers in two further fulfilment centres asked to have their say on downing tools and walking out to deliver pay justice.

Weve already seen enormous enthusiasm from workers at Mansfield and Rugeley to take action, now it will be up to their union to move forward with the campaign.

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We warned Amazon that this could fast become a summer of strike chaos if they refused to sit down and talk pay. Amazon Coventry workers have risen up, now we are seeing a domino effect.

With strike action escalating and historical union recognition on the horizon, its time for Amazon to get real and get around the table.

An Amazon spokesperson said: We offer competitive pay, comprehensive benefits, opportunities for career growth, all while working in a safe, modern work environment.

At Amazon, these benefits and opportunities come with the job, as does the ability to communicate directly with the leadership of the company.

An Amazon spokesperson added: Amazon respects our employees rights to join, or not to join, a union.

We offer competitive pay, comprehensive benefits, opportunities for career growth, all while working in a safe, modern, work environment.

At Amazon, these benefits and opportunities come with the job, as does the ability to communicate directly with the leadership of the company.

We do not believe voluntary recognition is an appropriate path for our business.
Two French citizens imprisoned in Iran have been freed, French authorities have said.

Benjamin Briere and Bernard Phelan, who both had been held in a prison in Mashhad, in north-east Iran, are heading to Paris, French foreign minister Catherine Colonna said.

Mr Phelan is a dual Irish-French national.

Free at last, French president Emmanuel Macron tweeted. Its a relief.

Mr Macron and the minister thanked all those who worked for their freedom.

Libres, enfin. Benjamin Briere et Bernard Phelan vont retrouver leurs proches. Cest un soulagement. Je salue leur liberation. Merci a tous ceux qui ont uvre a cette issue. Nous continuerons a agir pour le retour de nos compatriotes encore detenus en Iran.  Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) May 12, 2023

Ms Colonna spoke earlier with Iranian minister of foreign affairs Hossein Amir Abdollahian.

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Mr Briere (37) was arrested three years ago, in May 2020 while touring, for taking photographs with a drone in an area where cameras were forbidden and asking questions on social media about Irans obligatory Islamic headscarf for women.

He was convicted of spying and sentenced to eight years and eight months in prison, then reportedly acquitted this year.

Mr Phelan (64) was arrested seven months ago while visiting Iran for consulting activities for a tour company, according to French daily newspaper Le Parisien.

His arrest last October came as women and men took up the cause against obligatory headscarves following the death in custody of Mahsa Amini. Irans morality police had arrested her for wearing her headscarf too loosely.

People hold portraits of Cecile Kohler and Benjamin Briere during a protest in Paris earlier this year (AP)

Nearly a half-dozen other French citizens are thought to be held in Iranian prisons. Among them are Cecile Kohler (37) and Chuck Paris (69), who were arrested on May 7th, 2022, after meeting with protesting Iranian teachers and taking part in an anti-government rally.

France identified the two as a teachers union official and her partner on holiday in Iran.

In January 2022, Iranian justice officials ordered the re-imprisonment of Franco-Iranian academic Fariba Adelkhah, who was arrested in 2019.

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Adelkhah had for a time been allowed to serve a five-year prison sentence under house arrest. She had been accused of propaganda against the Islamic Republics political system and collusion to undermine national security.

Her companion, academic Roland Marchal, was freed in 2020, a year after his arrest.

Other Europeans also remain imprisoned by Iran with occasional releases, widely viewed as part of a cynical and delicate bid for favours.
Greeces Prime Minister has said his government is exploring a win-win solution to one of the worlds most intractable cultural heritage disputes  the fate of the Elgin Marbles in the British Museum.

However, Kyriakos Mitsotakis also ruled out any deal that would include the word loan.

The Greek leader said of the Parthenon Sculptures: We will never recognise that these sculptures are owned, legally owned by the British Museum.

But again, we have to be constructive and we have to be innovative if a solution is to be found.

Mr Mitsotakiss government has been in talks over the ancient sculptures, which form a key part of the British Museums collections.

In February, the museums chair said the talks had been constructive and that the UK and Greece were working on a deal that would have the sculptures displayed in both London and Athens.

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A Sections of the Parthenon Marbles in Londons British Museum (Matthew Fearn/PA)

Mr Mitsotakis said: I wouldnt like to comment publicly on the discussions that weve had. I would just say that we are, without changing  our fundamental position about the ownership of the sculptures, were trying to explore a possible win-win proposition that would work for both sides.

Asked whether Greece might consider seeing the sculptures returned as a loan, Mr Mitsotakis was unequivocal.

No, no, he said. That word loan is not part of  what I consider a win-win solution.

Greece has been campaigning for decades for the return of the Parthenon Sculptures, which once adorned the Parthenon atop the Acropolis in Athens.

The 520ft frieze ran around the outer walls of the Parthenon, dedicated to Athena, goddess of wisdom.

Carved between 447-432 BC, the frieze and other sculptures remained largely intact until the temple, which was being used by a Turkish garrison as a gunpowder store, was blown up during a siege in 1687.

Much was lost in the explosion, and about half the surviving works were removed by British diplomat Lord Elgin in the early 19th century, while Athens was still under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. They have been in the British Museum since 1816.

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Demonstrators in costume outside the British Museum calling for the return of the Parthenon Sculptures, also known as the Elgin Marbles, to Greece (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

Greece claims they were illegally acquired during a period of foreign occupation. British officials have rebuffed repeated demands for their return.

Mr Mitsotakis said that although the issue has been parked during the campaign leading up to Greeces May 21 elections, should we get re-elected, Im looking to pick up again the momentum and build upon the progress that we have made.

Amidst the global debate on the restitution of cultural artefacts, Greece has already reached two deals that have seen some 2,500-year-old marble fragments of the Parthenon Sculptures returned to Athens from European museums.

In January, the Vatican Museums returned three small parts of the sculptures in a donation from Pope Francis, while another arrived in Athens on loan from a museum in Palermo, Sicily.

Viennas Kunsthistorisches Museum is in talks about returning another two fragments.

The Acropolis Museum in Athens contains a gallery dedicated to the marble sculptures, where the missing parts have been replaced by plaster casts.

Other fragments are in Paris, Copenhagen, Munich and Wuerzburg in Germany, and Vienna.

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Mr Mitsotakis met last November with the then-prince of Wales, now the King, but said he did not broach the subject.

I would never put His Majesty in a difficult position. I fully respect his role, he said.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has said he will extend a hand of friendship to the winner of the upcoming Turkish election and try to build on the momentum of recently reduced tensions.

But Mr Mitsotakis added that he hopes the next Turkish government will reconsider its approach to the West.

Mr Mitsoakis said that if he is re-elected in Greeces own poll on May 21 he will maintain what he has called Greeces strict but fair migration policy.

That includes robust border patrols on land and at sea and the building of a fence along Greeces land border with Turkey.

But Im not naive, he told The Associated Press in a wide-ranging interview while on the campaign trail in central Greece on Thursday evening. I know that foreign policies of countries dont change from one day to the next.

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Greeces Prime Minister and New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis takes selfies with teenagers during his election campaign in Livadia town about 89 miles north of Athens (AP)

Turkeys increasingly authoritarian President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has led his country as prime minister and president since 2003, faces his most challenging election.

Amid a faltering economy, Mr Erdogan has lost some ground to his main rival, the secular, centre-left Kemal Kilicdaroglu.

Although not to the same level as with Greece, a fellow Nato member, Turkeys relations with the United States and several European countries have seen strain.

Turkey is blocking Swedens request to join Nato, pressing the country to crack down on Kurdish militants and other groups that Turkey regards as terrorist threats.

I would hope that the next Turkish government would overall reconsider its approach towards the West  not just towards Greece, towards Europe, towards Nato, and towards the United States, Mr Mitsotakis said.

But again, I have to be a realist and not be too naive, and that is why we will continue with  our firm foreign policy. That means we will continue to strengthen our deterrence capabilities and our defence capabilities.

Greece and Turkey have been at odds for decades over issues including their maritime boundaries in the Mediterranean.

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The Greek PM peaks to his supporters during his election campaign in northern Athens (AP)

But bilateral relations in recent years plummeted to new lows that saw the two countries warships shadowing each other and Turkish officials suggesting they could invade Greek islands.

In response, Greece has embarked on an extensive military procurement programme to modernise its armed forces, including purchasing advanced French-built fighter jets.

I wish I did not have to spend much more than 2% of my GDP on defence. But unfortunately, we live in a precarious neighbourhood with  a much larger country than us thats also been behaving aggressively, Mr Mitsotakis said.

The Prime Minister said that he hopes to build on a reduction of rhetoric following devastating earthquakes in Turkey in February that killed tens of thousands.

Similarly improved ties after earthquakes struck both Turkey and Greece in 1999 lasted for several years.



New Democracy leader Mr Mitsotakis is seeking improved relations with Turkey  which is holding its own election soon (AP)

It is a pity. We dont have to wait for a catastrophe to strike, nor are we destined to live in a state of permanent tension, Mr Mitsotakis said. But, he stressed, better ties require an end to bellicose rhetoric from Turkey.

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If the Turkish government every other day talks about coming at night to invade our islands, obviously that is not very conducive towards building a climate of trust and goodwill, he said.

Mitsotakis, a Harvard-educated 55-year-old, has headed the centre-right New Democracy party since 2016 and became prime minister in 2019. He has been leading his main opposition rival, left-wing former prime minister Alexis Tsipras and his Syriza party, in opinion polls as he seeks a second four-year term in office in the May 21 election.

Because of a change in Greeces electoral law, the winner of the ballot is unlikely to garner enough votes to be able to form a government without seeking coalition partners. If no party can form a government, a second election will be held roughly a month later, when the electoral law will give the winning party bonus parliamentary seats.

Ive made it very clear I dont believe in this electoral system. What we need is  a stable government, and preferably we need a single-party government, Mr Mitsotakis said.
Pakistans former Prime Minister Imran Khan has returned to court to hear whether he will be shielded from renewed arrest or taken back into custody  a decision that put the government and legions of Mr Khans supporters on edge after days of violent confrontations.

The popular 70-year-old opposition leader, who is accused of corruption, will appear before the same court from which he had been dragged and arrested on Tuesday.

The arrest had triggered nationwide protests in which his supporters attacked military installations, burned vehicles, and ambulances and looted general stores in various parts of the country. The violence drew condemnation from the government.

Fridays court session is part of complex legal manoeuvres.



Supporters of Pakistans former Prime Minister Imran Khan (AP)

On Thursday, Pakistans supreme court had declared that Mr Khans arrest was unlawful, but then asked the Islamabad High Court  a lower court  to reconsider its initial decision to uphold the arrest.

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The supreme court said it would respect Fridays ruling by the Islamabad court. The government has said it would quickly re-arrest Mr Khan if the Islamabad high court upheld its earlier order.

Mr Khans supporters chanted slogans in support as he arrived at the Islamabad court amid tight security. Police arrested several people for defying a ban on rallies.

The former leader was arrested on Tuesday by the National Accountability Bureau in connection with corruption charges, when security agents burst into the Islamabad high court and dragged him out. On Friday, he was back inside the same courtroom.

This weeks violence left at least 10 Khan supporters dead.

Dozens of protesters and more than 200 police officers were injured. Protesters torched trucks, cars and police vehicles and blocked major roads.



A convey of army troops patrol at a road to ensure security after clashes between police and supporters of Mr Khan (AP)

It echoed unrest that followed the 2007 assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto during an election rally.

Her supporters at the time, outraged by her killing, rampaged for days across Pakistan.

Mr Khan, who was ousted as prime minister last year and leads the opposition, faces more than legal 100 cases, most involving allegations that he incited to violence, and threatened police and government officials.

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He also faces at least three corruption cases. A new terrorism charge was filed against him on Thursday for allegedly inciting his followers to violence after his arrest.

Under Pakistans legal system, a defendant can seek protection from arrest in court hearings. Mr Khan is vulnerable to arrests because he has not obtained such protection in all of the cases against him.
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 Over five frigid days in February 2021, the United States was buffeted by catastrophic ice and snow storms that caused widespread havoc for millions of Americans. So fierce was Winter Storm Uri, it led to the biggest blackout in the country for nearly 20 years and 170 million residents in the US and Mexico receiving weather warnings between February 13 and 17. TV screens across America showed images of people in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and other states using outdoor barbecues and wood fires while draped in blankets to warm themselves during the record-low temperatures that Uri brought, ensuring unprecedented demand for energy. Vehicles at a standstill on Interstate Highway 35 in Texas in February 2021 when Winter Storm Uri delivered historic cold weather and power outages as storms swept across 26 US states. Credit:Getty Images Uri would also spark considerable recriminations for businesses involved in buying and selling large supplies of power across the US after it was revealed traders made as much as $US11 billion ($16 billion) from the storm. One of those trading houses copping political ire is Macquarie Groups rapidly growing commodities trading business Macquarie Energy. An increasingly strong player in the US pipeline and energy markets, it acts as a broker between producers and buyers, such as state utility providers. The division is hugely successful; so much so that this year divisional boss Nick OKane earned $57 million, more than the group chief executive, Shemara Wikramanayake. It is also in the sights of US lawmakers, who say residents are still paying the cost of the storm via higher power bills.

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Earlier this year, the state of Kansas took civil court action against Macquarie Energy, accusing it of manipulating gas prices during the crisis to push the price of gas on the Southern Star pipeline servicing Texas, Kansas, and Oklahoma from $US2.50 per MMbtu (metric million British thermal unit) on February 12 to $US622 per MMbtu by February 17. Loading Kansas is seeking at least $US50 million plus damages relating to the costs of the higher gas prices on its citizens, according to court documents filed on behalf of Kansas Attorney-General Kris Kobach in the Federal District Court. These conditions understandably led to increased natural gas prices during this time, Kobachs complaint reads. However, the natural gas prices and benchmark prices in multiple mid-continent locations  and Southern Star particularly  were not readily understandable: but rather, as aptly described by the American Public Gas Association, unprecedented and unthinkable. Kansas is not Macquaries only battlefront. Oklahoma Attorney-General Gentner Drummond is also considering action against the group. All I can tell you at this point is that the examination is still under way, Phil Bacharach, director of communications for Drummonds office said. In Texas, Macquarie is one of several energy companies named in a suit brought by CirclesX Recoveries, a group led by former Enron director of trading Erik K. Simpson, that also alleges the groups manipulated the market by withholding gas for sale during the storm in that state.

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A spokesperson for Macquarie said it would be defending the Texas and Kansas claims. Macquarie Energy LLC is just one of 100-plus US energy suppliers involved in ongoing litigation matters stemming from their role in maintaining critical energy supply during unprecedented freezing weather events across the United States in February 2021, the spokesperson said. Soaring profits in Macquarie Groups commodities and global markets unit led to a bumper $57.6 million pay packet for the executive in charge of the division, Nick OKane. Credit:Annie Mulligan Macquarie believes the Kansas attorney-generals lawsuit is without merit, and Macquarie has responded with a motion to dismiss the matter in the United States District Court of Kansas detailing the AGs unfounded claims against Macquarie. The legal claims, even if successful, will hardly have a material impact on the group, which this month reported earnings of $5.2 billion for the year to March 2023. Instead, the risks to Macquarie and its trading hub are reputation cost and new regulations from state legislators. Macquarie has made no secret Uri was a large and unexpected financial windfall for the company. On February 22, 2021, as the storm was still dissipating across the US, Macquarie upgraded its earnings  after warning on February 9 of a softer result  citing the positive impact of the storm on its coming end-of-year results for the year to March 31.

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The upgrade didnt go unnoticed in Kansas. Within weeks, Kansas launched an inquiry into the price surge and was soon flagging legal action for breaches of anti-profiteering laws that came into effect when the state declared a state of emergency at the start of the storm. Kobachs case alleges that Macquaries commodities and global markets division made the equivalent of four years worth of profit over just two weeks thanks to the storm. Macquarie has made no secret Uri was a large and unexpected financial windfall for the company. Kobach alleges Macquarie Energys traders knew they were able to move the market significantly because the gas price for the Southern Star pipeline area could be based on just a handful of sales rather than an averaging process as in other markets. The hardline Republican claims that between February 13 and February 16, Macquarie was able to lift the price from $US2.50 a MMbtu to more than $US300 by overbidding on just six contracts. On February 17, as the storm pounded the US, Macquarie made two trades that again worked to double the price to more than $US622. No one has ever paid more. Indeed, no one has ever paid any fixed price for Southern Star gas even remotely close to the price that Macquarie agreed to pay, the Kobach claim alleges.

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Macquaries February 16, 2021, behaviour and trade were economically irrational and contrary to its self-interest as a natural gas marketer  unless intended all along to manipulate the February 17, 2021, Southern Star gas daily price. Loading The Kansas lawsuit was front of mind for analysts covering Macquarie at the groups investor day in March in Texas. They asked about the case as well as the risks to Macquarie of regulation and maintaining the perception it was acting in the best interests of market participants. OKane told the briefing that Macquarie operated in markets that were, from time to time, experiencing levels of stress. What were doing is were responding to client needs and responding to the needs of the community. And as a result, we know were buying gas and transporting it and moving it around in times when prices might be elevated. In terms of how we manage these types of risks ... we have non-financial risk associated with our business that we manage just as robustly as we do with our financial risks. OKane said that the trading floor in the markets and commodities business had nearly 50 people overseeing risk management and probing trades and deals.

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The off-market deal was done by Colliers agents James Stott and Charlie Woodley, who declined to comment on the buyer. Arrow Capital Partners paid $13.68 million for the 30,000 sq m property just two years ago, with plans to develop a new business park. There are three warehouses on the 29,700 sq m site, which cover about 13,700 sq m. Also in Dandenong South, Charter Hall recently sold 1-11 Remington Drive for $22.3 million, a sum that the listed institution told investors was done at a 22 per cent premium to book value. The 9484 sq m building is on a 16,616 sq m parcel of land and was also sold to an owner-occupier, the Design Group, a sheet metal company. Stott said the south-east market stands out from other industrial markets due to the lack of future supply.

The low vacancy is creating systemic issues for a large section of the market, and when these rare opportunities come to market we often see fierce competition from owner-occupiers, private investors and developers who can all employ different exit strategies, he said. Cadence Property Group and GPT recently completed a joint venture project, the $150 million, 60,686 sq m Keylink Estate, which sits across four individual tenancies, in the industrial location of Keysborough. Colliers worked with the developers to lease spaces before completion to a mix of multinational and corporate occupiers, including Early Settler, Hartman Group, AFS Logistics and Mohawk Industries-subsidiary Premium Floors. Early Settler, which operates a 56-strong store network in Australia and New Zealand, will move into a 37,890 sq m warehouse on Keylink Estate. Credit: Global industrial property giant Goodman agreed that with tight supply and high demand, competition was strong for well-located assets.

In the companys March quarter update, co-founder and chief executive Greg Goodman said the group had set its sights on the 2024 year after reporting strong demand for its warehouses. The ASX-listed global group has a market value of $37.21 billion and has issued a new upgrade to its full-year earnings guidance from 13.5 to 15 per cent growth. It owns and manages high-tech industrial storage centres across the globe and is one of the largest landlords for e-commerce giant Amazon. Goodman has focused on developing vertical warehouses in areas where land is tight, such as Hong Kong, Japan and South Sydney. Its primary areas are in gateway cities. This positive outlook was boosted by its development pipeline, now worth $13 billion, and assets under management of $80.7 billion. Goodman said the scarcity of space in the groups locations, and customer need for more productive and sustainable solutions, was supporting underlying property fundamentals.

These are driving development demand and rental growth, he said. Despite the global macroeconomic volatility, we have almost zero vacancy and continue to execute on our development strategy, with annual production rate for the 2023 financial year averaging around $7 billion. Loading JP Morgan analyst Richard Jones said, in a note to clients, that Goodman has a strong development workbook, providing very high margins given the large spread between its average 6.4 per cent development yield on cost and average global capitalisation rate of 4.2 per cent. The assets under management growth has been strong at 18 per cent, underpinned by development completions, Jones said. Goodman also has a strong balance sheet to take advantage of opportunities should they arise but trades around our valuation.
A centuries old carved wooden sculpture honouring an important Hindu deity is making its way home to Nepal, as the Art Gallery of NSW joins the global push to repatriate stolen national treasures.

The cultural artifact was one of six top-tier roof struts reported stolen in 1975 from a 13th century shrine in the Kathmandu Valley, and came into the possession of the AGNSW via a bequest more than 20 years ago.

The13th century Ratneshwar Temple in the Kathmandu Valley. Credit: Art Gallery of New South Wales

It was after the strut, carved in the form of a sinuous tree deity known as a shalabhanjika or yakshi, was spotted on exhibition at the gallery in 2019 that the process of deaccession and eventual repatriation began amid grassroots campaigning for the return of Nepals plundered heritage.

The carving will be officially handed over by the gallery on Tuesday at a ceremony to be attended by assistant foreign minister Tim Watts at the Patan Museum in Kathmandu.
Nguyens second novel in English, Dust Child, takes a different approach again by centring the Amerasian experience  that is, children born to Vietnamese mothers and American military fathers. This unique perspective was informed by Nguyens years of PhD research on the topic, speaking to people with lived experience and blending their stories into the intertwining ones presented here. The title of the book is an interpretation of bui doi, a Vietnamese phrase used to describe vagrant children: the dust of life. It suggests a kind of transience  a lack of belonging.

In her debut English language novel, 2020s The Mountains Sing, the Vietnamese poet and author Nguyen Phan Que Mai focused instead on the lives of those left behind, beginning from the 1950s land reform, in which the government seized private land and impoverished its owners, to the post-war landscape in the country. It was a refreshing new view of a commonly discussed and dissected period.

Conversations and stories about the Vietnam War often focus on American involvement or the diaspora who fled as refugees.

The story springs from the tale of sisters Trang and Quynh, who, in 1969, leave rural Vietnam to go to the city and work as bar girls to earn money to keep their elderly parents alive. There, they discover that the work often involves sex  an exchange that directly contradicts their traditional values. Against a modern understanding of sex work, this subtle morality play can bristle  but given the desperation faced by women in this historical situation, the sisters conflicted feelings make sense.

Credit:

In 2016, two men are searching for answers regarding their pasts: Phong, a mixed Black and Vietnamese man, does not know who his parents are but needs proof of his Amerasian identity to leave Vietnam and start a new life in the United States. He had once tried to leave the country, but was swindled by opportunistic grifters.

Dan, a white American war veteran, has returned to Vietnam with his wife Linda as a tourist. He has never forgotten Kim, a young Vietnamese woman with whom he had a secret love affair and a child whom he abandoned. Behind his wifes back, he tries to reconnect with the past.

The narrative swings back and forth through time and place, as each character wrestles with questions of self and memory to find their own emotional truth. Nguyen tackles thorny topics, such as the ethics of modern tourism, the lie of the American dream, and the fetishisation of Asian women by white men.
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Expect gyoza, big-flavoured ramen and dirty martinis made with pickle juice at Izakaya by Tamura, the new Japanese-style bluestone pub in Smith Street.

Having launched 24-seat Tamura Sake Bar on Gertrude Street in 2019, restaurateurs Fumi and Takako Tamura are taking a big step up, opening 150-seat Izakaya by Tamura at the northern end of Smith Street, Fitzroy, this week.

The sake bar is small, good for two or four people, but I wanted to do something for big groups, says Fumi Tamura. I didnt see any authentic Japanese izakayas around. I thought: we need it, so I decided to make it.

Fumi (left) and Takako Tamura at their restaurant Izakaya by Tamura in Fitzroy. Luis Ascui

The two-storey bluestone building has been empty for some months but previous tenants include pizza parlour Lazerpig and old-school Italian Mamma Vittoria.

Weve turned it into a Japanese-style pub, with a bar area downstairs and a cocktail lounge and DJ booth upstairs, says Tamura, who has decked out the venue with vintage furniture. We have enough stuff in the world. We dont need brand new all the time.
Jarryd Hayne has been jailed for a maximum of four years and nine months for the sexual assault of a 26-year-old woman in her Newcastle home. His victims never-ending nightmare has lasted nearly as long.

In September, itll be five years ago since this happened, the now 30-year-old said in her victim impact statement, tendered upon sentence. She has not found peace, or been able to move on.

Jarryd Hayne has been sentenced over the sexual assault of a woman in 2018. Credit: Brook Mitchell

Sentencing Hayne in Sydneys Downing Centre District Court on Friday, Judge Graham Turnbull stressed his remarks and the penalty imposed should not obscure the fact that there was a young woman here who was dealt with criminally by this offender.

The woman was not passive in the face of adversity and had endeavoured to stand up for herself, Turnbull said.
One of the states most prolific sex offenders will spend at least 22 years behind bars after drugging, sexually assaulting and filming at least seven women while acting as an immigration agent in Melbournes CBD.

Frank Hu, 38, faced the County Court of Victoria on Friday where he was sentenced for crimes including 69 instances of rape committed on 48 occasions over three years.

The court heard Hu, also known as Xiaodong Hu, used hot chocolate, coffee and juice to secretly sedate his victims  some dozens of times over extended periods  before filming himself as he abused them.

Some of his victims ended up in hospital, including one who spent time in intensive care.
Europe will be less confused, entangled if it listens to what China says

10:56, May 12, 2023 By Global Times editorial ( Global Times

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang (left) and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock attend a joint press conference in Berlin, Germany on May 9, 2023. Photo: The Chinese Foreign Ministry

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang is on his visit to Germany, France, and Norway from May 8 to 12 at the invitation of their foreign ministers. Against the backdrop of European leaders' visits to China in recent months, Qin's visit to Europe further implements the consensus reached by China-Europe head-of-state diplomacy and continues to strengthen dialogue and trust between the two sides. This signal is clear and welcomed by the world, as EU Ambassador to China Jorge Toledo said that Qin's visit was a welcome step for both China and Europe.

The main theme of Qin's visit is to further promote bilateral practical cooperation. His visit to Germany mainly aimed to prepare for the seventh round of inter-governmental consultation between the two countries. This will be the first offline inter-governmental consultations between the two sides since the outbreak of the pandemic and it is also the first comprehensive engagement between the two countries' new governments, the great significance of which is self-evident. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz responded positively, saying that he is very much looking forward to the consultation and Germany is making active preparations. In addition, the two sides agreed to step up coordination in multilateral fields and strengthen cooperation on COP28 and biodiversity.

The situation is the same in France, where the two sides mentioned they should keep close high-level exchanges and expand exchanges at all levels. French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna also reiterated her stance of attaching great importance to economic relations with China and not engaging in bloc confrontation. Next year marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Norway, and it is believed that Qin's visit to Norway will be a journey to consolidate mutual trust and promote cooperation.

Currently, Europe is undergoing a big reflection and debate on its perception and strategy toward China. Various arguments and opinions are being fiercely contested. At this time, China's new foreign minister arrived in Europe to make a clear, firm, and targeted clarification regarding China's stance, attitude, and interests. This is equivalent to injecting a powerful positive energy into this great debate and allowing Europeans to feel China's sincerity and goodwill at close range. This helps Europe to establish a correct understanding of China and maintain rationality without going off course. Using pragmatic cooperation to add value to bilateral relations, while rationally and calmly addressing the divergences between the two sides, and timely controlling damage in specific fields, this is what mature diplomacy should look like.

During Qin's visit to Europe, the German government approved China COSCO Shipping Corporation's purchase of stake in a Hamburg port-based container terminal on May 10. The German side eventually green-lighted the project, which is a relatively positive signal for both China-Germany and China-Europe relations. However, it's exposed by the media recently that the European Commission proposed sanctions against seven Chinese companies for their alleged sales of equipment that could be used to support Russia's military operations against Ukraine. A Chinese diplomat wrote on social media that "while China is making every effort to promote peace which is in Europe's interest, Europe gives a stab in the back in return, bullying China on economic issues. Can't understand what Europe is up to." More accurately, it is some anti-China forces in Europe that are stabbing China in the back, and this is not the first time they have done so.

From these two issues, we can see the duplicity and complexity of Europe's China policy. The friendly and rational forces in Europe toward China are in a defensive position now. Some Europeans already have deep misunderstandings and misconceptions about China, and they are further influenced by the toxic public opinion in the US and the West today, which further worsens the atmosphere of China-Europe relations.

In summary, there are four main problems in the China-Europe relationship: an unnecessary "Ukraine knot," a dangerous impulse of the Europe to interfere in China's internal affairs, especially the Taiwan question, wrong judgment that deems the interdependence of China-Europe economic and trade relations as a "risk," and submission and dependence on Washington's comprehensive containment strategy against China. Qin focused on these four issues in his communication with the European side, and it is worth mentioning that all the four issues are rooted in some Europeans' one-sided, narrow, and paranoid subjective cognition. As long as Europeans change their perspective and view these issues from a strategic and long-term angle, they can be easily resolved. Some Europeans are currently in an blind alley, and it may be difficult to persuade them to turn back if they aren't taught some lessons. We may need more patience to wait for them to wake up on their own.

The public also pays attention to Qin's positive response to Europe's "de-risking" approach against China. "If the EU seeks to decouple from China in the name of 'de-risking,' it will decouple from opportunities, cooperation, stability, and development," Qin said. Although China-Europe relations have encountered headwinds for a period of time, from January to March, French and German investment in China increased by 635.5 percent and 60.8 percent respectively compared to the same period last year. This is the power of the law. Without political interference from some Europeans, Europe will become more independent and secure due to prosperous foreign cooperation. China-Europe relations need more confidence and ambition, and setting bottom lines and red lines should not be the goal of both sides. China-Europe relations can also have "no limits." If Europe truly listens to China's words, it will be less confused and entangled.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Wu Chaolan)
Former governor-general and Brisbane archbishop Peter Hollingworth has given up his right to officiate religious services over concerns it was causing pain to sexual abuse survivors and creating division within the Anglican Church.

Hollingworth said he had notified the Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne that he would be returning his permission to officiate, a licence often granted to retired priests to allow them to conduct services, marriages, funerals, and baptisms.

Former governor-general Peter Hollingworth in 2020. Credit: Joe Armao

I am concerned that my continuing to exercise priestly functions as a bishop is a cause of pain to survivors. I want to end distress to them, and division within the church, Hollingworth said in a statement released on Friday.

Hollingworth admitted he was ill-equipped to deal with child abuse allegations during his time as archbishop from 1990 and 2001 and had been too defensive of the church on the advice of lawyers and insurers.
A man has been charged after allegedly pursuing another vehicle in a high-speed chase in Melbournes west that ended with his friend being shot dead beside him in the passenger seat of a stolen BMW.

Harley Guerra, 22, appeared in court on Friday charged with multiple offences  including conduct endangering life, dangerous driving and car theft  after he chased a Mitsubishi sedan through Taylors Hill on Sunday, leaving its occupants petrified and fearing for their lives, according to court documents.

After the Mitsubishi crashed into bollards separating Grange Terrace and Johnston Way in Taylors Hill in an attempt to escape from Guerras BMW, an occupant emerged and fired a sawn-off shotgun through the BMWs windscreen.

Craigieburn man Aymon Fatho, 31, who was Guerras passenger in the BMW, was shot in the chest.
Lisa Wilkinsons lawyer has accused the ACTs top prosecutor, Shane Drumgold, SC, of providing irrational responses to her questions during a lengthy exchange in which he claimed every media outlet misreported Bruce Lehrmanns rape trial.

Defamation lawyer Sue Chrysanthou, SC, told an inquiry into authorities handling of the case that her client, a high-profile journalist, suffered utter destruction at the hands of the media for a Logies speech about Lehrmanns accuser, Brittany Higgins, that caused the trial to be delayed.

The ACTs Director of Public Prosecutions, Shane Drumgold, SC, and journalist Lisa Wilkinson. Credit: The Age

Drumgold said he had thought Wilkinson understood no speech could be made after she and her lawyer had a conversation on mute during a video call with the prosecutor in the lead-up to the trial in June 2022. This prompted Chrysanthou to suggest he could only have drawn that conclusion somehow telepathically and it cannot be true.

Your evidence about what my client should have understood from what you said in that meeting is irrational, Chrysanthou said. Drumgold replied: Not to my mind, I dont think it is.
Penang: A Malaysian judge has delivered an open verdict after an inquest into the mysterious disappearance and death of an Australian woman, shattering her family, who said their mother had been denied the justice she deserved.

Grandmother Annapuranee Anna Jenkins, 65, vanished on December 17, 2017 while in Penang, Malaysia, with her husband Frank to visit to her elderly mother in a nursing home. Her remains were found at a construction site three years later.

Australian Annapuranee Jenkins, or Anna Jenkins, went missing in Penang, Malaysia, in 2017.

Her family members have always believed she was robbed and murdered and have accused police of failing to conduct a proper investigation.

In a three-minute session at the George Town Sessions Court on Friday, Judge Norsalha Hamzah said the coronial inquest had heard no conclusive signs or clues for the court to say where and how the deceased had died.
A University of Bristol academic who has provided insight into how networks of interactions between species impact the environment has been elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society.

Jane Memmott, Professor of Ecology in the School of Biological Sciences, is a community ecologist interested in a wide range of environmental issues.

Professor Memmott started her research career as a tropical entomologist, commuting between the UK and the rainforests of Costa Rica. She went on to study the ecology of biological control, working closely with research teams in New Zealand, Kenya, and Australia. For the past 25 years she has been based at the University of Bristol.

Professor Memmott said: Im delighted to have been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society  its news that definitely puts a spring in your step!

Over the past 25 years, Ive been joined by some amazing research staff - masters and PhD students, technicians and post docs, and some incredible colleagues too. Working with them all has been a scientific adventure and enormous fun too.

Professor Memmotts influential research group uses the networks of interactions between species - for example predatory, pollination, and seed dispersal interactions - as a tool to ask about the impact of environmental change. Her field sites range from the mountains of Nepal to Bristol allotments, working closely with farmers and conservation practitioners.

She has earned several accolades in her career, including the RSPB Prize for the top conservation paper in 2017 and an OBE for services to insect pollinators and ecology.

Professor Memmott added: The University of Bristol has provided an excellent base for my research. I arrived here after post-doctoral positions at Imperial College and Ive really enjoyed being based at the University of Bristol and in the city of Bristol  both places have provided some tremendous opportunities for an ecologist.

Sir Adrian Smith, President of the Royal Societysaid: I am delighted to welcome our newest cohort of Fellows.

These individuals have pushed forward the boundaries of their respective fields and had a beneficial influence on the world beyond.

This years intake have already achieved incredible things, and I have no doubt that they will continue to do so. I look forward to meeting them and following their contributions in future.
This is part of an ongoing $1-billion funding round the Bengaluru-based firm is raising in a mix of equity and structured instruments at its current valuation of $22 billion.

Edtech giant Byjus has closed a Rs 2,000 crore ($250 million) round from Davidson Kempner Capital Management, a US-based investment firm, in a structured instruments deal, according to people familiar with the matter.


About 88 per cent of 673 commercial planes with Indian carriers were on lease as on May 3, according to aviation analytics firm Ciriums data. Therefore, airlines in India pay a big chunk of their revenues as lease rent. Aerospace giant Boeing is concerned about the impact on aircraft lease rates in India due to the recent National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) order debarring aircraft lessors from repossessing their planes from insolvent Go First.



When asked if the aircraft lease rates for the Indian carriers would increase due to the NCLT order, Ryan Weir, vice-president (sales and marketing for India), Boeing Commercial Airplanes, told reporters on Friday: It is probably too early to comment on the outcome. We are concerned about what will happen with the lease rates if the current order stands. Before the NCLT order of May 10, lessors had put in applications with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to repossess more than 40 of Go Firsts 54 planes. At least three lessors  SMBC Aviation Capital, SFV Aircraft Holdings, and GY Aviation Lease  have filed an appeal at National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) against the May 10 order.



Pushing Cape Town treaty through legislation is the single-most important thing India can do to appease the lessors and create a framework that works. It is proven to work in other jurisdictions. Once it is ratified, it will do the same thing in India. In doing so, the lessors will be provided more comfort in placing their extremely expensive asset in the country, he added. We are concerned about what will happen with the lease rates if the current order stands, Ryan Weir, vice-president (sales and marketing for India), Boeing Commercial Airplanes added.

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India introduced a Bill in 2018 and a new Bill in 2022 to implement the CTC, but it has not yet been passed by Parliament. India signed the Cape Town Convention (CTC) and Protocol, an international treaty to reduce the risks for aircraft lessors and financiers, in 2008.



About 20 per cent of commercial planes operating in India have been manufactured by Boeing. Aviation Watch Group, a not-for-profit organisation, on Thursday put India on the watch list with a negative outlook over its failure to deregister Go First aircraft upon the termination of their leases. Weir noted: I dont think we know what the impact is going to be (due to Go Firsts situation). It is an unfortunate set of circumstances for the airlines, lessors, and the travelling public. We are certainly working very closely with our customers to identify and discuss any impact of the court rulings. We are working with lessors to understand their perspective as well.



Go First stopped all flights from May 3 after filing an insolvency application with the NCLT. The airline has squarely blamed engine maker Pratt and Whitney for its cash crunch, stating that almost half its 54 aircraft fleet were grounded due to delay in supplying engines. AWG, which monitors the compliance of CTC, comprises aircraft manufacturers, lessors, and financial institutions. AWG keeps a compliance index that serves as a risk assessment tool for aircraft lessors.



David Schulte, Boeings managing director of marketing for India, South East Asia, and Asia Pacific, said high fuel costs, lowest airfare costs in the world, and high volumes of transactions in dollars were three biggest challenges in the Indian aviation market. SMBC Aviation Capital has stated in its application before the NCLAT that lessors and international aircraft owners see India as a risky jurisdiction for aircraft leasing.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has suspended the licence of an Air India pilot for three months. The suspension comes after the pilot allowed a woman friend to enter the cockpit mid-air during a Dubai to Delhi flight.

The aviation regulator has also imposed a fine of Rs 30 lakh on Air India for failing to address the safety-sensitive issue in a prompt and effective manner.

Additionally, the co-pilot has been cautioned for not being assertive enough to prevent the unauthorized entry.

The Air India pilot was under investigation for violating safety norms by allowing a friend into the cockpit during a flight from Dubai to Delhi on February 27, violating DGCA safety norms.

In April, a senior DGCA official had said that this act is unacceptable and could have put the passengers' safety at risk.

Air India had also released a statement saying that they have taken note of the reported incident and investigations are underway.

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"The airline has a zero-tolerance policy regarding passenger safety and well-being and will take requisite action. The matter has also been reported to the DGCA, and Air India is cooperating with their investigation," said the statement.

"We have taken serious note of the reported incident and investigations are underway in Air India," the statement further said.
The non-banking financial company's consolidated net profit rose to 4.13 billion rupees ($50.50 million) in the January to March quarter, from 2.61 billion rupees a year ago, it said.



India's Manappuram Finance Ltd reported a 58% jump in quarterly profit on Friday, helped by strength in its mainstay gold loan and micro-finance businesses.


The company generated $190 million worth of fixed deposits during the same time frame, which were used to secure funds for Go First from Deutsche Bank, the report said. A Mauritius-based company of the Wadia Group, Leila Lands, took $300 million in loans from German lender Deutsche Bank during the financial years 2021 and 2022, said a report by the Economic Times (ET).



Leila Lands said that although money had been raised from Deutsche Bank, it was unrelated to the group's ownership of Britannia Industries. "Leila Lands has made sizeable equity investments in Go First throughout the years as promoters," a spokesperson for the company told ET. Leila Lands acquired the loan by placing a charge on the account of Associated Biscuits International Ltd (ABIL), the London-based company which owns 44.76 per cent stake in the listed Britannia Industries.



Deutsche Bank gave Leila Lands a $300 million loan for corporate reasons and investments, said the spokesperson, adding that ABIL offered a lien on its inflows but had no link with the Britannia stake. The spokesperson further said that the company offered security to Deutsche Bank in the form of a $191 million fixed deposit from its own accrued retained cash earnings.

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Meanwhile, Go First admitted to obtaining the loan but claimed to be unaware of the fixed deposits. Go First said that it was unrelated to Britannia Industries.
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This comes at a time when India is using its presidency of G20 to pitch to developing and low-income nations the unified payments interface (UPI) and unique identification (Aadhaar), and help them develop their own versions. At the G-7 meeting in Japan on Friday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman underlined the need for developing nations to go beyond macroeconomic indicators and growth numbers and focus on empowering people by improving digital connectivity.



She underlined the dilemmas faced by Emerging Markets and Developing Economies (EMDEs) between climate security and growth as they manage overlapping crises and socio-economic transformation. Addressing a G7 seminar on economic policies for welfare in Niigata, Japan, Sitharaman stressed that technology improves access for the poor to markets and basic services and highlighted that access to digital connectivity has empowered people and there is a need to discuss ways to measure empowerment going beyond GDP indicators.



"Finance Minister emphasised on the importance of sustainable growth and environment and the need for balancing the two in the short and long run," it said. The Union Finance Minister shared India's focus on technology, digital public infrastructure and green hydrogen as a foundation for sustainable and inclusive growth and as an example of innovative policy toolkits by EMDEs," the Finance Ministry said in a tweet.

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As reported earlier, not only is India willing to provide technical expertise to low- and middle-income nations interested in developing or improving their own digital payments systems, but is also willing to finance such efforts. In February, Reserve Bank of India deputy governor T Rabi Sankar had said a number of Commonwealth nations from the Caribbean and South Pacific, and some Latin American countries are interested in using Unified Payments Interface or a similar technology. Sitharaman is on a two-day visit (May 11-12) to Japan to attend the G7 meeting of the finance ministers and central bank governors.



On the sidelines of the G7 meet, Sitharaman met International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director K Georgieva and her Brazilian counterpart HaddadFernando, who appreciated India's organisation of the G20 presidency and its piloting of significant global economic issues, the finance ministry said in a tweet. In April, Indias G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant had told Business Standard that one of Indias agendas has been to evangelise digital public infrastructure. We have to realize that there are 4 billion people without a digital identity. There are. 2 1/2 billion people without a bank account. 133 countries do not have a fast payment mechanism. So this is a model which needs to be taken to other parts of the world, he had said.



Sitharaman extended her support for Brazil's upcoming G20 presidency in 2024. The South American nation will hold the G20 presidency from December 1, 2023, to November 30, 2024. The two ministers discussed issues relating to infrastructure, strengthening multilateral development banks (MDBs), debt vulnerabilities and digital public infrastructure (DPI).


The ministrys notice comes at a time when discussions are going on over the proposed Electricity Bill, which is set to bring sweeping changes in the sector. The power ministry has directed the quasi-judicial regulatory body, Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC), to consult the government before drafting or amending any regulation.



The ministry has said it is issuing this as there have been several instances where it had to intervene to the CERC for change in regulations. In a letter dated May 8, the ministry has said the CERC should consult with the ministry of power in the initial stages of regulation making".



The ministry further said the CERC is required to consult all stakeholders before framing regulations and the government is the most important stakeholder. In the recent past, the power ministry came across a number of critical issues to address which it had to issue policy directions to CERC necessitating amendments in its regulations. Frequent changes in regulations are not in interest of predictable and stable regulatory framework, the notice said.

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Business Standard has reviewed a copy of the notice. The ministry has issued this notice under the Section 107 of the Electricity Act, 2003, wherein it can issue directions to the CERC. In view of the above, the CERC must consult the power ministry in detail at the stage of forming regulations. This will ensure regulations are consistent with the rules framed by the government and the government's reform agenda, said the notice.
Karnataka saw a voter turnout of 73.19 per cent in the Assembly elections, which officials on Thursday termed a record.

The Karnataka Assembly elections results set to be announced tomorrow. The Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and Janata Dal (Secular) are contesting a three-way battle to win the majority in the 224-seater Karnataka Assembly.
Political experts believe going to the general elections next year, the results of the Karnataka elections can add to the winner's momentum. A victory for the Congress will be a shot in the arm for the party and may brighten its prospects. BJP, on the other hand, if victorious, will have another feather to add to its cap.

Voters in Karnataka voted on May 10 to choose their representatives in the state assembly, and the fate of 2,615 candidates was sealed in the electronic voting machines (EVMs). Everybody is now eagerly awaiting the results of one of the most significant political battles before the general elections next year.


The new rules are expected to have an impact on the customers of all the banks in India. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), in 2021 revised the rules on safe deposit lockers, which will come into effect on December 31, 2023. These were initially slated to come into force on January 1, 2022. Then the date was postponed to January 1, 2023, and finally to the end of this year.

What will change with RBI's new locker rules?

Under the old norms, banks were the custodians of the lockers. The articles were not the property of these banks, but they were liable to pay for the damages of the stored articles.



The new norms define what is allowed in the locker and what is not. Jewellery and documents, among other things, can be stored by the customer in their locker. But items like boarded cash or guns are not allowed. Under the new norms, the relationship between a bank and a customer has become that of a lessor and a lessee. The banks will offer the customers a right to use the locker, given that it is not misused.

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How are the new rules beneficial for the customers?

The new norms fix the onus to ensure the safety of the locker on the banks. The user will have to take complete responsibility for the content of the locker, but banks will ensure its safety. If a customer faces loss due to the bank's negligence, the bank may have to pay up to 100 times the prevailing annual rent of the locker.



Also, the locker agreement will now have to be signed on stamp paper. The bank will pay the cost of documentation, and a photocopy will be given to the user. The agreement will have documents like locker rent, rights and duties of the bank and user etc. However, the compensation is not applicable if the loss occurs due to natural calamities or acts of god.

Can banks check the content of a locker?

No, the banks are not allowed to inspect the content of the locker under the new rules. Even when the bank suspects that the customer is storing an object that is not allowed, it can only be checked in the presence of the locker user.

Will locker charges change?

The new rules do not say anything about the locker charges. It is up to banks to increase the charges.

By when will the new rules kick in?

The banks must sign the locker agreement by December 31. However, 50 per cent and 75 per cent of the existing customers should have signed the agreement by June 30 and September 30, respectively.

The agreement will also have to be signed by the first-time users of the bank.
Air India on Friday said it aims to operationalise an engineering warehouse near Delhi airport next month which will help resolve aircraft defects at a faster pace, and also indicated that pilots from Go First are looking to join the airline.

Under the ownership of Tata Group, loss-making Air India is working on reviving the airline and among others, is aggressively hiring pilots and cabin crew as well as making various technological upgrades.

In a message to employees on Friday, Air India CEO and MD Campbell Wilson said the airline has finalised an agreement for setting up a 57,000 square feet engineering warehouse near the airport in the national capital.

"An agreement for a new 57,000 sq ft engineering warehouse near Delhi Airport was reached. It aims to be operational next month, giving us more proximate access to and better control over our aircraft spares so we can resolve defects faster," he said.

Details about the investment for the facility could not be immediately ascertained.

Against the backdrop of Go First shuttering operations and filing for voluntary insolvency resolution proceedings, Wilson said Air India took various "rapid actions", including helping a student group stranded in Port Blair.

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Without taking the name of Go First, Wilson, in the message, mentioned about plan on how it might quickly increase domestic flights to "fill the gap left by another airline's curtailment of flights to minimise capacity, frequency and airfare disruptions to the public".

"There were also other rapid actions taken by our sales team to help a student group stranded in Port Blair while our recruitment and operations folk quickly catered to an influx of people seeking to join Air India.

"These rapid actions attest to the community spirit and agility of Air Indians, and our commitment to helping others out where and when needed," the Air India chief said.

Many pilots of the crisis-hit Go First are seeking other job opportunities, including at Air India group.

Wilson also noted that Air India increased flights to Imphal to cater to those seeking to temporarily relocate given the local unrest.
The Supreme Court on Friday clarified its March 27 verdict, saying it had not directed banks to accord a personal hearing before classifying a borrower's account as fraud.

The clarification came on the plea of State Bank of India which flagged two issues pertaining to the March 27 judgement and said now the NPA account holders, against whom the proceedings were initiated before the verdict, may come and say that stall everything as they were not heard by banks and the hearing should not mean personal hearing.

We never stated that the personal hearing be granted to the borrowers. Rather we had said that they should be given adequate notice and an opportunity to make a representation," a bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices P S Narasimha and J B Pardiwala said.

On the issue of applicability of the verdict with prospective effect, the bench said that a review petition will have to be filed against the judgement by the SBI.

A bench headed by the Chief Justice, on March 27, had upheld the Telangana High Court's 2020 verdict, saying the classification of an account as fraud not only results in reporting the crime to investigating agencies, but also has other penal and civil consequences for the borrowers.

The apex court had said the principles of natural justice demand that the borrowers must be served a notice, and given an opportunity to explain the conclusions of the forensic audit report.

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Our law has never been that opportunity of hearing means a personal hearing", the bench said on Friday.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the SBI, then submitted that since the Supreme Court had upheld the Telangana High Court order, which held that the principles of "audi alteram partem (hear the other side)" must be read into the Circular issued by the Reserve Bank of India on the classification of bank accounts as fraud accounts, other courts may interpret that personal hearing is necessary.

The law officer pressed for a clarification, saying that the judgement will reopen several past cases.

The judgement was delivered on pleas relating to the RBI (Frauds Classification and Reporting by Commercial Banks and Select FIs) Directions 2016 which were challenged before different high courts primarily on the ground that no opportunity of being heard is envisaged to borrowers before classifying their accounts as fraudulent.

Elaborating on the consequences when a borrower's account is declared fraud, the apex court had said this virtually leads to a credit freeze for the borrower, who is debarred from raising finance from financial markets and capital markets.

The top court had said the bar from raising finances could be fatal for the borrower leading to its "civil death" in addition to the infraction of their rights under Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution.

"Since debarring disentitles a person or entity from exercising their rights and/or privileges, it is elementary that the principles of natural justice should be made applicable and the person against whom an action of debarment is sought should be given an opportunity of being heard. Indeed, debarment is akin to blacklisting a borrower from availing credit," it had said.

Debarring a borrower under the Master Directions on Frauds is akin to blacklisting the borrower for being untrustworthy and unworthy of credit by the banks, it had said.

The apex court had said the classification of a borrower's account as fraud has the effect of preventing the borrower from accessing institutional finance for the purpose of business.

"It also entails significant civil consequences as it jeopardises the future of the business of the borrower. Therefore, the principles of natural justice necessitate giving an opportunity of a hearing before debarring the borrower from accessing institutional finance.

"The action of classifying an account as a fraud not only affects the business and goodwill of the borrower but also the right to reputation," it had said.
The Congress on Friday targeted the Narendra Modi government, saying it has created an "unprecedented concentration of economic power" where some large companies, particularly a "chosen few", are prospering while MSMEs are suffering.

All India Congress Committee general secretary communications Jairam Ramesh also posted on Twitter a chart, sourced to some financial firms, that shows a trend of profit after tax (PAT) and free cashflow to equity of the top 20 PAT generators in the country over the last few years.

"Reality of 'Mitr Kaal' MSMEs suffer while very large companies prosper, especially the PM's chosen few business houses," he said.

"Modi government has created an unprecedented concentration of economic power. Top 20 firms in India generate 80 per cent of total profits. It was less than 50 per cent a decade ago," Ramesh tweeted while sharing the chart titled "Profit after tax and free cashflow to equity of the top 20 PAT generators in India".

The Congress has been accusing the government of creating wealth inequalities in the country. The opposition party has also alleged that the gap between the poor and the rich is growing.

The issue was also one of the points highlighted during the Rahul Gandhi-led Kanyakumari to Kashmir 'Bharat Jodo Yatra'.

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A special PMLA court here on Friday granted bail to businessman Haroun Yusuf, arrested in 2019 in connection with a money laundering case also involving late gangster and drug smuggler Iqbal Mirchi, holding he had no knowledge regarding the latter's source of money.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED), probing the case, has claimed Yusuf had assisted Mirchi in buying properties in India using money earned through illegal activities. However, special PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) court judge MG Deshpande, while granting the accused bail, held that except bare allegations, there was nothing to show Yusuf had any knowledge regarding Mirchi's source of money.

The judge also pulled up the central agency for delaying trial in the case. Based on multiple FIRs registered under provisions of the IPC and the NDPS Act (Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act) against Mirchi, the ED had registered its case against him, his family members and others. Mirchi died at the age of 63 in London in 2013. There are 21 accused in the case, including the wife and son of Mirchi, realtors Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhwans and some firms. Yusuf, arrested in 2019, had sought bail on merits of the case and also under section 436A the CrPC (Code of Criminal Procedure), claiming he has completed 3 years and 6 months in jail under judicial custody.

The relevant section stipulates that if a person has undergone detention for a period extending up to one-half of the maximum period of imprisonment specified for that offence, then he shall be released by the court on personal bond.

The ED had opposed his bail plea, saying the accused was involved in serious offence of money-laundering.

The anti-money laundering agency also objected to the accused citing section 436A of the CrPC, arguing one of the scheduled offences under which he has been booked falls under the NDPS Act and maximum limit of imprisonment provided therein was up to 10 years. The applicant has undergone only three years and six months of imprisonment, which by no stretch of imagination calls for application of the section 436A of the CrPC, the ED added. The court, after hearing both sides, held the applicant had absolutely no role in any of the alleged criminal activities relating to the scheduled offence for alleged generation of proceeds of crime.

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Also, except bare allegations, there is nothing to show he had any knowledge regarding Iqbali Mirchi's source of money. Therefore, contention of the ED that Yusuf had knowledge of such criminal activities relating to the scheduled offence has absolutely no substance, the judge noted. The court pulled up the central probe agency for delaying the trial and not following provisions mandated under the PMLA. It has to be noted that undue incarceration of Yusuf is more than half of the maximum punishment provided under the PML Act. He has been without trial for more than 3 years and 7 months, the court observed. The judge further observed that the ED is purposely keeping the court in dark and deliberately avoiding to scrupulously follow the mandate under Section 44(1)(c) of the PML Act". There is absolutely no possibility of beginning and conclusion of the trial in near future, he said. As per section 44(1)(c) of the PMLA, the case relating to the scheduled offence has to be committed to the court which has taken cognizance of the matter. The ED, in its chargesheet, has claimed Mirchi bought properties in India using money earned through illegal activities and later sold them for redevelopment. The agency's complaint mentioned that three family members of the gangster were the beneficiaries of the assets earned by Mirchi through proceeds of crime.

The central agency has alleged Mirchi had purchased three real estate assets -- Sea View, Marium Lodge and Rabia Mansion -- in 1986. ED officers claimed the gangster was involved in narcotics smuggling and operated an extortion racket for several years, and listed eight cases to prove his involvement in criminal activities since 1984.

A case filed in 1994 at the MRA Marg police station in Mumbai was taken as the base case to initiate a money laundering inquiry against him. The ED claimed Mirchi used a trust as a front and negotiated with several realtors to redevelop properties purchased by him. Between 1981 and 2010, the original tenants in these properties were replaced with Mirchi's relatives, it said.
Export-Import (EXIM) Bank of India on Friday reported a two-fold jump in its FY23 net profit to Rs 1,556 crore and said its operations have had minimal direct impact of the Russia-Ukraine war.

The policy bank is aiming for a loan book expansion in the 12-15 per cent range in FY24, and will be raising USD 4 billion from the market to support the same, its managing director Harsha Bangari told reporters.

The bank is also keen to start factoring services from the GIFT City, and will be launching a subsidiary at the international financial services centre for the same purpose later this fiscal, Bangari said.

For FY23, it reported a 37 per cent growth in its total income to Rs 11,488 crore and a 14 per cent growth in net loan assets to Rs 1.34 lakh crore.

The net interest margins (NIMs) widened to 2.3 per cent as against 2.19 per cent in the year-ago period, and Bangari said it will maintain the same number at above 2 per cent, making it clear that chasing interest income is not the priority for the lender.

On the asset quality front, a Rs 3,200-crore exposure to an account in the African nation of Ghana impacted its performance, taking the overall gross non-performing assets ratio to 4.09 per cent.

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Bangari added that if one were to exclude the Ghana account which has been impacted by external conditions in the country, the GNPA would have been 0.33 per cent.

Bangari said a Rs 1,500-crore budgetary commitment on capital infusion could not materialize, but the bank is comfortable with an overall capital adequacy of over 25 per cent. The need for an infusion will arise only when the buffers dip to 20 per cent levels, she added.

With the Russia-Ukraine war dominating the headlines for the entire fiscal year, Bangari said EXIM Bank had no direct impact because of the war, but added that there was some indirect impact as the overall world economy slowed down as a result of the crisis.

As India's prominence grows on the world stage which has seen more Indian companies going global, the lender is witnessing greater traction for what it calls as the commercial business, as against the policy business where it works in close alignment with the foreign policy, Bangari said, adding that the NIMs are higher in the commercial business.

In FY23, it borrowed USD 3.47 billion from the markets in foreign currency and over Rs 52,000 crore in domestic currency, Bangari said, adding that it is targeting to raise up to USD 4 billion in FY24.

When asked about China's play in the neighbourhood, Bangari said we cannot compare with the northern neighbour in its size and ability to finance but added that there are sufficient opportunities to fund projects.

At present, connectivity forms a bulk of the exposure on the letter of credit (LOC) front with a 36 per cent contribution, followed by power at 25 per cent, Bangari said, adding that a thermal power project in Bangladesh is the bank's largest exposure at USD 1.68 billion.

With rupee trade settlement gaining traction, the bank is also looking to introduce a rupee finance window for the exporters, she said.
The Assam government has constituted a four-member expert committee to examine the legislative competence of the state legislature to enact a law to end polygamy, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said.

The panel, headed by Justice (Retired) Rumi Phookan, has been asked to submit its report within two months, the chief minister said in a tweet on Thursday night.

Other members of the committee are Assam advocate general Debajit Saikia, additional advocate general Nalin Kohli and senior advocate Nekibur Zaman.

Following my announcement to form an expert committee to examine the legislative competence of state legislature to enact a law to end polygamy, the state government has constituted the committee todayThe committee has been given a deadline of 60 days to submit its report, the chief minister said on the microblogging site.

Sarma had announced on Tuesday that the state government would set up an expert committee of legal luminaries to scrutinise the legality of banning polygamy in the state by the legislative assembly.

He had also said that the proposed panel would examine the provisions of the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937 along with Article 25 of the Constitution in relation to the Directive Principles of State Policy for a Uniform Civil Code.

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Article 25 gives freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion to the citizens of India.

"We are not going towards Uniform Civil Code (UCC) for which a national consensus will be required, and the central government will take an initiative in this regard," Sarma had said at a press conference on May 9 to mark the completion of two years of his government.

UCC is a much wider aspect and in Assam, "we are announcing our intention to ban polygamy in the state as one component of the UCC ", he had said.
US aircraft maker Boeing on Friday said the crisis at Go First will not change the trajectory of the Indian civil aviation market in terms of growth and macro trends while legislative clarity on aircraft leasing aspects will provide more comfort to the lessors.

India is the third largest as well as one of the fastest growing aviation markets in the world, and Indian carriers are expected to require more than 2,200 aircraft in the next 20 years.

Against the backdrop of insolvency proceedings being initiated against cash-strapped Go First, Boeing India President Salil Gupte said it is "never a positive" when an airline runs into financial challenges because it takes a toll on the management, employees, all stakeholders and also puts a strain on the overall transport infrastructure.

On whether the Go First crisis will have an impact on the bullish outlook for the country's aviation market, Gupte said he does not feel so and that growth will continue.

"In generally, we don't feel that the trajectory of the market changes at all in terms of the growth and macro trends... progress is never a straight line and there is always ups and downs.

"Ultimately, growth in India will continue even as we work through the challenges that Go First is going through today," he told PTI in an interview.

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Meanwhile, aircraft lessors have raised concerns about the insolvency proceedings initiated against Go First as the resultant moratorium also bars them from taking back the planes leased to the crisis-hit carrier.

In India, domestic airlines mostly operate aircraft on the sale and lease back model.

On what needs to be done to address the concerns of the lessors, Gupte said that legislative clarity on leased aircraft in the context of Cape Town Convention will provide more comfort to the lessors.

"The key concern that lessors have is about the liquidity of their assets. They look at risk. They really want to make sure that their assets are accessible. Aeroplanes are really expensive assets.

"India has acceded to the Cape Town Convention that oversees how assets are traded globally... There is some legislation on the table that will provide clarity in India on how these assets will be handled going forward," he said.

According to him, passing that legislation will be one of the clearest things India can do to provide more comfort to the lessors and remove the challenges that they face in these type of situations.

"If India does that, you will see some of the issues raised by the lessors in the past few days will go away," Gupte said in the context of the Go First crisis.

Some lessors have also challenged the National Company Law Tribunal's (NCLT) decision to admit Go First's voluntary insolvency resolution petition.

While speaking at the Boeing Commercial Airplanes new office in Gurugram, Gupte said that there is a significant growth in the Indian economy and that also drives aviation growth.

"There are structural changes as you have a rising middle class in India. You have more than 90 per cent of the population that has not flown yet. We expect them to taste flights for the first time and that will create continued demand," he said.

According to him, one of the challenges for the Indian aviation sector's growth is about skilling and the country is projected to require 31,000 more pilots and 26,000 mechanics in the next 20 years.

India is a very competitive market and the price elasticity of demand for aviation is very sensitive in terms of price, given that many Indians still travel by train. "So, we need to ensure that pricing is competitive to attract more Indians to fly," he noted.

About the possibility of Boeing having final assembly lines in India, Gupte said, "we are always evaluating opportunities, not just in the region but also other regions".

He also said the final assembly line for defence aircraft is different from that for civil planes.

Boeing has significant presence in India, including in defence and civilian segments, and its annual sourcing from the country is worth more than USD 1 billion.
The Delhi High Court on Friday directed certain media houses and social media platforms, including Twitter and Google, to block the links of news reports and videos claiming that a Muslim man allegedly forced a woman to convert to Islam.

Justice Prathiba M Singh passed the order after considering that there was a severe threat which was evident from the comments made by viewers on the news reports and videos available online.

The high court issued notice to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY), Press Council of India (PCI), News Broadcasting and Digital Standards Authority (NBDSA) and Google LLC, Twitter Inc.

It also issued notice to Sudarshan News chairman Suresh Chavhanke, Odisha Television Limited, Pittie Media LLP, Bharat Prakashan (Delhi) Limited which is the owner of 'The Organiser, Voice of the Nation'.

The high court asked the parties to respond to the petition filed by the man, who is also facing a rape case lodged by the woman, and listed it for further hearing on May 24.

Petitioner Azmat Ali Khan, who claims to be a classical music teacher, sought removal of news items and videos published and circulated on online platforms regarding the FIR lodged against him on April 19 by the woman, a Delhi resident, accusing him of forcing to convert.

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He submitted that the reports are in the form of fake news, threats and are severely jeopardising his life, reputation and safety.

Advocate Rajiv Bajaj, appearing for the petitioner, contended that such publication and circulation are being carried out by giving a communal angle to the entire story and it was done to incite hatred in the communities involved.

The court also issued notice to the Delhi Police and directed it to place on record a status report regarding the investigation carried out in the matter.

It also asked the Delhi Police counsel to contact the complainant woman and inform her about the pendency of this petition.

During the hearing, advocate Mamta Jha, representing Google, said since the FIR has already been registered, the originators of the videos need to be enquired.

Advocate T Singhdev, representing PCI, said that the petitioner's email of May 9 consisting of the links of news reports will be looked into.

He also told the court that the PCI has jurisdiction only over the print media.

Advocate Nisha Bhambhani, appearing for NBDSA, said none of the respondent news channels are members of NBDA so its jurisdiction was not made out.

The court made it clear that its direction for blocking the links is for all the respondents including the channels and social media platforms.

"Considering that there is severe threat to the independent investigation in the FIR and to the safety and security of the petitioner, as is evident from the comments and videos which have been placed before this court, it is directed that the links which have been set out in the petition shall be immediately blocked for public viewing till the next date of hearing," the court said.

The judge added that "it is a question of his security. If they (channels) don't block it, you (social media platforms) block it. My directions are clear. It has to be blocked by everybody."



The court watched some of the videos pointed out by the petitioner's lawyer who said the videos released by Sudarshan News and other platforms are extremely derogatory and the comments on the YouTube platform show that there is a threat to his life as well.

The petitioner stated that the FIR has been lodged by the woman with whom he was in a relationship for the last eight years and the allegations are currently under investigation by the police authorities concerned.
On the second day of his Jan Sangharsh Yatra, former deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot questioned his own government in the paper leak case, corruption issues, and also retaliated on the allegations being made by the Gehlot camp.

Speaking on the allegations of indiscipline, he said, "How did it become indiscipline to raise the matter of investigation of corruption during the rule of Vasundhara Raje?"

He further spoke sharply on the allegation being made by the Gehlot camp.

"When I observed a fast, it was against the corruption reported under the tenure of Vasundhara Raje. I don't understand how this becomes a case of flouting party discipline? The work of breaking discipline was done on September 25, when Sonia Gandhi had clear orders that both the supervisors are coming to conduct the Legislature Party meeting. Why could it not take place? Later the MLAs resigned. The Speaker said in the court that the resignations had to be rejected because the MLAs had not given them of their own free will. Then by whose will were they given? What was the pressure? As far as discipline is concerned, the standards should be equal for all."

Pilot started his journey for the second day at 8 a.m. on Friday. Thereafter, a rest time was scheduled near Birla School, Bandar Sindri at 11 a.m. The second leg of the second day's journey will start again from Birla School at 4 p.m., after which rest will be taken at Gezi More, Padsauli at 7 p.m.

Pilot also spoke of rebel in 2020 and said, "When we went to Delhi to keep our point, did any of our colleagues resign? When did we speak against the party? Did we speak against Sonia Gandhi? What happened on September 25 was in front of everyone, he questioned, adding, "We respected what the party said and we accepted whatever the party said," he added.

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"When the party asked me to leave both the posts, I agreed. The committee formed on our demands was not formed by any leader but by the party. We campaigned in every election, and defeated the BJP. Didn't do a single thing against the party. However, what happened on 25 September has happened for the first time in history.

"For the first time in the history of the Congress party, it happened that the observers who came on the orders of the Congress President were insulted, then the meeting was not held and they returned empty-handed. Then notices were also issued, but till now nothing has happened, I think that should also be taken into consideration," he said.

On the question of speculation about leaving the Congress on June 11, Pilot said, "You all do not need to speculate. Whatever I say, I do it in front of everyone, I do not play hide and seek game. Whatever I have said, I have said in front of everyone. I don't even talk with double meaning.

"My demand is collective, not individual. I do not aspire for a position. The party has given a lot to me to a great extent. Even my staunchest adversary cannot point a finger at my loyalty and honesty. We have to listen to the youth. I am fighting for the youth like never before."

On the question of contesting the Assembly elections this time under the leadership of Gehlot, Pilot said, "When the party is in power, the Chief Minister is the face.

"Earlier when the BJP was in government, Vasundhara ji or Ashok Parnami (the then BJP president) was the face, it is natural that Vasundhara Raje was the face.

"The Chief Minister when in power and the President of the party when in opposition is the face and usually leads. In the last 25 years, whenever the Congress government was in power, we were defeated next time. I have apprised the committee formed by the high command about my suggestions. We all want the government to repeat," he added.

--IANS

arc/dpb
The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the promotion of 68 Gujarat lower judicial officers, including Surat Chief Judicial Magistrate Harish Hasmukhbhai Varma who had convicted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a defamation case.

A bench comprising Justices M R Shah and C T Ravikumar said as per the Gujarat State Judicial Service Rules 2005, which was amended in 2011, the promotions must be made on principle of merit-cum-seniority and on passing a suitability test.

"We are more than satisfied that the impugned list issued by the high court and the subsequent order issued by the state government granting promotion to district judges are illegal and contrary to the decision of this court.The same are, therefore, not sustainable," the bench said.

"We stay the implementation of the promotion list. Respective promotees are sent to their original post which they were holding prior to their promotion," it said.

The top court passed an interim order staying the promotions and directed that the matter be heard by an appropriate bench as Justice Shah is retiring on May 15.

The top court was hearing a plea of senior civil judge cadre officers, Ravikumar Maheta and Sachin Prataprai Mehta, challenging the selection of the 68 judicial officers to the higher cadre of district judges.

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Varma, the CJM of Surat, is one of the 68 officers of the district lower judiciary whose promotion has also been challenged by Maheta and Mehta, presently working as undersecretary in the legal department of the Gujarat government and the assistant director at the state legal services authority.

The top court, which had issued notices to the state government and the Registrar General of the Gujarat High Court on April 13 on the plea of the two judicial officers, was very critical of the decision and the order passed on April 18 to promote the 68 officers despite knowing the pendency of the case before it.

"It is very unfortunate that despite the fact that the respondents, more particularly, the state government, was aware of the present proceedings and the fact that in the present proceedings, this court made the notice returnable on April 28, 2023, the state government has issued the promotion order dated April 18, 2023 i.e. after the receipt of the notice issued by this court in the present proceedings, the top court said in its order on April 28.
The National Green Tribunal has accepted the request of the Uttarakhand government to allow it to deposit Rs 200 crore in a separate ring-fenced account for sewage and solid waste management.

The state's chief secretary made the request after the tribunal announced a penalty of Rs 200 crore on the state for improper management of solid and liquid waste.

A bench of NGT chairperson Justice A K Goel noted there was a gap of around 60 million litres per day (MLD) in sewage generation and treatment, besides 252.65 metric tonnes per day (TPD) of unprocessed waste and 15.75 lakh metric tonnes (MT) of legacy waste.

The bench, also comprising judicial members Justices Sudhir Agarwal and Arun Kumar Tyagi and expert members A Senthil Vel and Afroz Ahmad, said based on the polluter pays principle, an environmental compensation was estimated at around Rs 200 crore for the state's failure to scientifically manage liquid and solid waste in violation of the mandate of law.

The bench noted the chief secretary has given an undertaking that Rs 200 crore, which was readily available with the state, will be ring-fenced and utilised exclusively for sewage and solid waste management.

...We accept the prayer of the Chief Secretary that instead of this tribunal levying compensation, the administration itself will ensure availability of Rs 200 crore by transferring the amount in a separate ring-fenced account within one month to be operated as per directions of the Chief Secretary, the bench said.

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It said the chief secretary will have to review the progress at least once a month and file before the tribunal six-monthly reports with verifiable progress in waste management.

Other directions of the tribunal included immediate remediation of waste at nine legacy waste sites and resolving issues regarding the Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs).

During the proceedings, the tribunal said, We find that many STPs set up are discharging treated wastewater into river Ganga and its tributaries or in other streams and it is essential to restrain such discharges and if not possible, then such effluents be treated to the highest level and no faecal contaminated bacteria be so discharged.

The state pollution control board (PCB) needs to review this aspect and action taken be included in the next status report, it said.

NGT is monitoring compliance with Municipal Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 and other environmental issues by states and union territories.
Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Friday called for a close co-operation between SCO member countries to maintain normal functioning of the food supply chain in the present conditions for ensuring food as well as nutritional security.

The minister was addressing virtually the 8th meeting of Agriculture Ministers of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member countries.

Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, China and Pakistan participated in it along with India, according to an official statement.

Under the chairmanship of India, SCO member countries adopted the Smart Agriculture project.

Highlighting that India has become self-sufficient in foodgrains production, Tomar said the country will continue to share its best practices and build capacities with other countries, bilaterally as well as in collaboration with international organisations, so that they too become self-reliant and food secure nations.

He expressing satisfaction over the smart agriculture action plan and the initiative of innovation in agriculture.

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Tomar said the prime minister's emphasis is on the overall development of agriculture in the country through technology. In this direction, India has taken several concrete steps to promote smart agriculture.

Tomar said that India gives importance to its relations with SCO in promoting multilateral, political, security, economic and people-to-people interactions.

The minister said that it was a matter of pride that a meeting has been organised to discuss strengthening cooperation in food security and nutrition, especially in the current situation.

Tomar said, "In order to maintain the normal functioning of the food supply chain in the present conditions, there is a need for close contact and cooperation between various countries for food and nutrition security."



He noted that India is the largest employer globally in the agriculture sector, where more than half of the country's population is engaged in agriculture and allied sectors, while India also represents an important economic activity for many countries.

Its importance is evident from the fact that the budget allocation for agriculture and allied sectors in India has increased more than 5 times in 10 years from 2013-14, the minister said.

Over the years, India has performed well in the agriculture sector, contributing to global food security with food grain production, registering a significant growth in exports, and exports of agricultural and allied products have crossed Rs 4 lakh crore.

Tomar said India's public distribution system and price support system for farmers are unique in the world.

India is self-sufficient in food grains. The country is a leading producer of many commodities like cereals, fruits, vegetables, milk, eggs, fish.

He said the welfare of the farmers and overall development of the agriculture sector has been the top priority of the government of India.

Tomar said the rich agricultural research has played an important role in solving the issue of food security, improving the income of farmers and agriculture workers and also for the sustenance of the people.

Efforts are being made by the government to make the country self-reliant in the agriculture sector with concerted efforts in innovation, digital agriculture, climate smart technologies, development of high-yielding, biofortified varieties and agricultural research.

India is also making efforts towards improving the life and livelihood of the farmers by making their agriculture sustainable and friendly, he said.
Initiatives taken by the textiles ministry has led to registering of case by the CBI against six officials of the office of Textile Commissioner, Navi Mumbai relating to fraudulent claim of subsidy, a senior government official said.

Textiles Minister Piyush Goyal gave its approval for detailed CBI investigation into the case following the "zero tolerance policy" against corruption.

The CBI, according to the reports, has registered a case against the six officials and six Bhiwandi-based suppliers for allegedly claiming subsidies worth about Rs 6.5 crore in a fradulent manner.

The subsidies were meant for power-loom sector for modernisation. The accused had used fake stamp papers to claim these subsidies.

"The ministry had informed the CBI about the irregularities observed in the implementation of in-situ upgradation scheme for plain power looms by Textile Commissioner," the official added.

Under the subsidy scheme under which power looms were given financial assistance for in-situ upgradation.

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The Congress on Friday said lakhs of investors expect that SEBI will faithfully fulfil its mandate of protecting their interests, and ensure transparency and accountability while probing the "opaque network of shell companies" that have allegedly funnelled crores into Adani companies.

The Congress' assertion came after the Supreme Court said it may consider granting three more months to SEBI for concluding its probe into the allegations of stock price manipulation by the Adani group and lapses in regulatory disclosure, and listed a batch of PILs and plea by the market regulator on May 15.

Tagging a media report on the Supreme Court's observations in the matter, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said in a tweet, "Supreme Court has given time till August 15th for SEBI to submit its report on the Adani Group."



"Lakhs of investors expect that SEBI will faithfully fulfil its mandate of protecting their interests, and ensure transparency and accountability while probing the opaque network of shell companies that have funnelled at least Rs 20,000 crore of benami funds into Adani companies," he said.

While SEBI tries to "unravel the Adani scam only a JPC can unearth the Modani nexus", Ramesh said.

The Congress has been demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the allegations against the Adani Group by US-based short-seller Hindenburg Research. The Adani Group has dismissed the allegations as baseless.

A bench of Chief Justices DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala on Friday said the court registry has received the report of the apex court-appointed Justice (retd) AM Sapre committee on the issue and would like to hear the matter on Monday after perusing the findings of the panel.

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During the hearing, the bench told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for SEBI, that it may grant the market regulator three months instead of six it has sought to wrap up the probe into allegations of stock manipulation.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met his Nepali counterpart Narayan Prakash Saud for the first time here on Friday and discussed ways to boost bilateral ties in energy, trade, connectivity and hydroelectricity.

The two ministers met on the sidelines of the 6th Indian Ocean Conference being held in Bangladesh's capital Dhaka.

"A good first meeting with FM N.P. Saud of Nepal. Congratulated him on his new responsibility. Discussed further steps in our steadily expanding partnership. Spoke about energy, connectivity, and our enduring people-to-people ties," Jaishankar tweeted.

The two ministers expressed satisfaction over the excellent state of Nepal-India relations and discussed ways to further consolidate cooperation in the areas of trade, transit, connectivity, and hydroelectricity, among others, Nepal's embassy in Dhaka said.

Saud assumed the office of the Foreign Minister of Nepal on April 16.

Jaishankar is in Dhaka to participate in the 6th edition of the Indian Ocean Conference which is being attended by President of Mauritius Prithvirajsing Roopun, Vice President of Maldives Faisal Naseem, Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina, and several ministers from across the world.

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Adani Group-Hindenburg report hearing | Supreme Court says to SEBI - we will extend the time for probe, but not for six months. We will extend the time for three months. The case will be heard on Monday after the court has acknowledged report.



CJI: The report of the committee headed by Justice Sapre has been received in the registry and we can see the report over the weekend.. let us list this on Monday. we will pronounce orders on your application seeking time on Monday @SEBI_India #SupremeCourtofIndia Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan appeared at the Islamabad High Court for a bail hearing in Al-Qadir Trust case on Friday, where firing was now reported as Khan was set to leave the building, says Islamabad Police's twitter account.Adani Group-Hindenburg report hearing | Supreme Court says to SEBI - we will extend the time for probe, but not for six months. We will extend the time for three months. The case will be heard on Monday after the court has acknowledged report.
Mayor Shelly Oberoi Friday asserted no prejudice will be caused if re-polling is held for choosing the six members of the MCD standing committee, as the Delhi High Court reserved its verdict on BJP councillors' challenge to the re-election.

The high court had on February 25 stayed the re-election on the petitions filed by BJP councillors Kamaljeet Sehrawat and Shikha Roy.

While the senior lawyers for the petitioners had earlier contended the Mayor, who is also the returning officer, acted in a malafide manner when she called for re-election upon finding the election results "politically unpalatable", senior counsel representing Oberoi Friday underscored that the re-polling was essential to ensure free and fair elections following the "ruckus" in the House during the polls held on February 24.

"There is no prejudice in re-polling. Please test if it will cause prejudice to them (petitioners). They say the ballot is going to BJP then this will again happen," senior advocate Rahul Mehra, appearing for Oberoi, said.

"What was the mechanism left? Was it so blatantly unfair? They did not allow re-counting. BJP councillors created a ruckus. Ballot papers, calculation sheets exchanged hands," Mehra added.

Senior advocate Rajshekhar Rao, also appearing for the Mayor, said no case for court's interference was made out and the authority was only ensuring that the process is done as per law. He claimed that even the note of the Municipal Secretary noted "discrepancy in counting".

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Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav reserved order after conclusion of the submissions by the parties.

Senior lawyers appearing for the two councillors had earlier alleged the Mayor wrongly invalidated one of the votes and interdicted the election process.

The mayor had on February 24 announced fresh polling for electing six members of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) standing committee on February 27 at 11 am amid clashes between the councillors of the BJP and the AAP in the municipal House.

Senior advocate Mahesh Jethmalani, appearing for Sehrawat, has earlier stated that invalidity of a vote has to be endorsed before ascertaining the quota which determines the winner but in the present case the mayor wrongly invalidated a vote at a subsequent stage.

Jethmalani was referring to the quota of votes each candidate was allotted by their respective parties to ensure their victory in preferential voting.

Senior advocate Jayant Mehta, appearing for Roy, has emphasised that there is no enabling provision in law which empowers the mayor to call for a re-election or a re-counting. He also said the mayor has no power to nullify the election process which should be allowed to conclude as the ballot papers were still safe.

The Delhi Mayor had earlier clarified she had ordered a "re-poll" and not "re-election" in view of the commotion in the House and to ensure free and fair polls.

A re-poll involves fresh polling, while re-election entails start of the election process afresh right from the filing of nominations, her lawyer had said, adding that the petitions should not be entertained by the court at a stage when the election process is yet to be concluded.

On February 25, the high court had stayed the re-election of the six standing committee members scheduled for February 27, saying the mayor prima facie acted beyond her powers in ordering a fresh poll.

The MCD House had witnessed ruckus on February 22 with members of the BJP and the AAP exchanging blows and hurling plastic bottles at each other during the polling for the posts.

The House was again rocked by clashes after fresh elections were held on February 24, and mayor Oberoi, an AAP leader, subsequently alleged that a few members of the saffron party made a "life-threatening attack" on her.

The petitioners have contended in the high court that the mayor ordered a fresh election for February 27 without declaring the result of the poll held on February 24 in violation of regulation 51 of Delhi Municipal Corporation (Procedure & Conduct of Business) Regulations, which contains the prescribed procedure.

Roy's petition, filed through advocate Neeraj, has said the poll was conducted in a peaceful manner and there was no occasion for the mayor to recall the elections.

The high court had issued a notice to the RO, the Delhi government, Delhi Lieutenant Governor and MCD on the two pleas while observing that prima facie the decision to hold a re-election in the present case was in violation of the regulation.

The high court had said the governing norms do not reflect that the mayor has the authority to declare the earlier election null and void and conduct a re-election without announcing the results of the previous poll held on February 24.

The counsel for the mayor had told the court she had no other option left but to declare the earlier poll as null and void as the process was vitiated due to the unruly behaviour of the members.

The lawyer had also alleged the mayor did not get adequate cooperation from the member secretary and technical experts.
Targeting TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee for banning the "The Kerala Story", BJP national president J P Nadda on Friday said there is no democracy in West Bengal due to her style of functioning.

Addressing an event after unveiling a book "Democracy in Coma", he also slammed Banerjee for banning "The Kerala Story" in the state and said the film has nothing to do with any religion or state.

"But Banerjee, one of the champions of democracy, has banned it in West Bengal. There is nothing left in the name of democracy in West Bengal. It is indeed a democracy in coma in the state," the BJP chief said.

Directed by Sudipto Sen, "The Kerala Story" shows how some women from Kerala were forced to convert to Islam and recruited by the terror group Islamic State (IS). The film was released on May 5.

The film has kicked up a political storm with opposition parties accusing the makers of spewing hate.

The book unveiled by Nadda talks about post assembly poll violence in West Bengal.

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Talking about the book, he said, "These are not stories, but factual incidents have been quoted in the book."



"I was also a victim.. the first attack was carried out on me when I had gone to Diamond Harbour," he said.

The BJP leader alleged that silencing the opposition is Banerjee's style of function, adding that the situation in her state is "very painful".

Yet, Nadda said, there is a need to bring change in Bengal which is possible with the strength of people.

"We do not talk about revenge. We talk about change. There is a need to bring change there and we can do it with your strength," he told the audience.
Sachin Pilot's 'Jan Sangharsh Yatra' is a "personal" one and the party "is keeping an eye on" it, Congress' Rajasthan in-charge Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa said on Friday.

He said a discussion on all issues would be held when Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge returns from Karnataka.

Randhawa made the remarks after a meeting with state unit chief Govind Singh Dotasra and co-in-charges Qazi Muhammad Nizamuddin, Amrita Dhawan and Virendra Rathore, among others, at the party's Gurdwara Rakab Ganj Road office where Pilot's march, organisational issues and preparations for the assembly polls this year were discussed.

"I met the three secretaries attached to me and the Pradesh Congress Committee chief here. This was our first meeting together as we were busy with the elections in Karnataka and the Jalandhar bypoll. The strengthening of the organisation and appointments for the frontal organisations in the state were discussed," Randhawa told reporters after the meeting.

Asked about Pilot's yatra, he said, "It his personal yatra, he is taking out the yatra on his own, we are keeping an eye on that and when Kharge ji comes back from Karnataka, all issues would be discussed."



Pressed further and asked if action would be taken against Pilot, Randhawa said, "I have said in one line (that) we are keeping an eye on it. I will convey my views to the Congress president."



Pilot on Thursday launched a 125-kilometre 'Jan Sangharsh Yatra' from Ajmer to Jaipur to raise the issue of corruption during the previous BJP regime led by Vasundhara Raje and cases of paper leaks in government recruitment exams.

He has said his march is not against anyone but over issues of corruption. Pilot claimed that he has been writing to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot for a year and a half for action on corruption but nothing has been forthcoming.

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The five-day yatra mounts pressure on the Congress leadership ahead of the Rajasthan assembly elections slated for later this year with the party also facing anti-incumbency, apart infighting in the state unit.

Pilot and Gehlot have been engaged in a power tussle since the Congress formed government in the state in 2018. In 2020, Pilot led a failed revolt against the Gehlot government after which he was removed from the posts of party state unit president and deputy chief minister.

The former Rajasthan deputy chief minister had last month defied a warning from the party and went ahead with a day-long fast targeting Gehlot over his "inaction" on alleged corruption during the Raje government.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Gujarat International Finance Tec-City or GIFT City near Gandhinagar on Friday evening, officials said.

The prime minister was on a one-day visit to Gujarat.

He reviewed the status of various ongoing projects at GIFT City and also interacted with the top officials of various entities which operate from the GIFT International Financial Services Centre (GIFT IFSC).

The prime minister also visited GIFT City's key infrastructure facilities including an underground utility tunnel and automated waste collection-segregation plant. Earlier in the day, Modi addressed a gathering of teachers at the 29th Biennial Educational Conference organised by the All India Primary Teachers Federation near the state capital. Later in the afternoon, he inaugurated or laid foundation stones of various projects worth around Rs 4,400 crore from the Mahatma Mandir convention centre in Gandhinagar.

Also Read IDBI Trusteeship Services Ltd commences operation from GIFT City in Gujarat Gujarat Assembly elections: BJP upbeat ahead of counting of votes Reserve Bank of India, IFSCA likely to frame fresh norms for GIFT City Several initial hiccups at GIFT City are behind us, says Injeti Srinivas Guj poll result HIGHLIGHTS: Massive victory for BJP, Patel to be CM again Delhi logs 43 fresh Covid-19 cases, two deaths, positivity rate of 2.07% Identify areas with frequent waterlogging problem during monsoon: MCD Mayor Healthcare services to lead job boom: Tata group Chairman N Chandrasekaran Court grants bail to Mirchi's aide in money laundering case, pulls up ED Airports to boost infra to handle higher number of passengers: Aviation min
A day after the Supreme Court verdict on the 2022 political crisis in Maharashtra, Shiv Sena (UBT) Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut on Friday termed the 11-month-old Eknath Shinde-led government in the state as "unconstitutional" and claimed it will collapse in the next three months.

He said the Supreme Court, in its verdict on Thursday, made crucial observations and found fault with the conduct of then-Governor B S Koshyari and the Assembly Speaker during the political crisis.

This government is completely illegal and unconstitutional. There are three observations of the Supreme Court. The whip Bharat Gogawale (appointed by the Shinde faction and recognised by Speaker) is illegal. Orders given by the illegal whip are illegal. The court has clarified that our whip Sunil Prabhu was the legal whip.

"Every decision taken by then-Governor, including direction for a floor test, has been considered wrong by the Supreme Court. The election of Eknath Shinde as the group leader (after the rebellion in Shiv Sena) has also been called illegal by the court. The court has also said no (Sena) group can claim it's the original political party, Raut said.

The Rajya Sabha member, a close aide of Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray, was addressing a press conference in Nashik in north Maharashtra.

Not only the 16 rebel Sena MLAs, including Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, but the remaining 24 MLAs will also be disqualified and the Shinde-Fadnavis government in the state will collapse in the next three months. The end of this government is near. The Speaker will have to take a decision in 90 days (on disqualification of rebel MLAs)," he said.

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Raut said officials and police personnel should not follow "illegal orders of this illegal government".

He claimed the Shinde-BJP government is doing a wrong analysis of the Supreme Court verdict and insulting the apex court.

In its eagerly awaited verdict on the Sena vs Sena political battle, the Supreme Court on Thursday held that it cannot restore the MVA government led by Thackeray as he resigned as CM without facing a floor test in June last year though it passed critical remarks against then-Governor Koshyari.

The SC has asked the Speaker to decide on the disqualification of 16 MLAs within a "reasonable period".
Three days after lessors requested the aviation regulator, DGCA, to de-register three of the airline's planes, SpiceJet has suspended flight operations from Ahmedabad-Goa, for a month, sources in the know of things said.

However, an official at SpiceJet claimed they keep on suspending operations as per demand and the flights are not grounded.

Earlier, lessors had requested DGCA de-register one aircraft each from Wilmington Trust SP Services, Sabarmati Aviation Leasing, and Falgu Aviation Leasing.

The low-cost carrier, SpiceJet, is facing bankruptcy proceedings as the Ireland-based aircraft lessor Aircastle Ltd has moved the principal bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to launch a bankruptcy process against the airline.

Agreeing to hear the lessor's plea, a two-member bench of the NCLT issued a notice to the airline and posted the matter for further consideration on May 17.

The bench led by NCLT President Ramalingam Sudhakar directed SpiceJet to attend the hearing on the given date.

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Claiming default in dues payment, Aircastle has sought initiation of corporate insolvency proceedings against SpiceJet.

A spokesperson for SpiceJet commented that the notice was issued routinely in connection with the Aircastle matter.

"In the Aircastle issue, a notice was issued in normal course. There was no adverse ruling against SpiceJet. The court has recognised the fact that parties are in settlement discussions and they can continue to pursue the same," the spokesperson said.

--IANS

ssh/pgh
The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) will continue to fight until justice is done to farmers who suffered heavy losses during the recent untimely rains, said N Chandrababu Naidu here on Friday.

Naidu made these remarks as he began Rythu Porubata' (In support of farmers) padayatra from Iragavaram in Tanuku Assembly constituency, West Godavari district.

On the way, he inquired from the affected farmers on the damage to their crops and the farm products while assuring the ryots that TDP will stand by them, said a press note shared by the party.

Incidentally, some affected farmers broke down while pouring out their woes to the Opposition leader.

"There is no question of relenting till justice is done for the farmers. The party will continue its fight till the government purchases the entire farm products in the state," Naidu said.

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Termination of leases for aircraft by their lessors would not have any consequence as the moratorium has been imposed under insolvency resolution proceedings, Wadia group air carrier Go First on Friday argued before the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT).

While aircraft lessors on the other side raised doubts over the revival of Go First through the corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP), citing the amount required to make it fly again.

Senior advocate Arun Kathpalia representing SMBC Aviation said the average lease rent of per aircraft is around USD 2 lakh for a month and with more than 50 aircraft the monthly bill would be USD 10 million.

"Cost of this misadventure is enormous," he said.

For SMBC Aviation only, Go First has to pay USD 4.2 million per month, which includes maintenance and lease.

SMBC Aviation Capital Ltd submitted that they have legal possession of their aircraft before the insolvency process started and as of today, Go First has no right for possession of those planes.

Also Read Go First locks horns with lessors in a bid to begin bankruptcy hearings Two more aircraft lessors move NCLAT against Go First's insolvency Risky jurisdiction: Aircraft lessors raise alarm over Go First crisis Govt to decide on Go First bankruptcy, lessors seeking planes fear impact Lessors taking steps to secure aircraft they leased to Go First India is committed to Indian Ocean nations' well being: EAM Jaishankar Textiles ministry efforts led to CBI probe against 12 in subsidy fraud case India is a focus market for the carrier, says KLM Royal Dutch Airlines Court orders charges against 5 people in Bhajanpura petrol pump blaze case Tendulkar's name used for endorsement of medicine without permission

Senior Advocate Maninder Singh, representing Go First, submitted that termination of the lease by SMBC Aviation is of no consequence as a moratorium is in place now.

"It (moratorium) would override every lesser due. Your termination is irrelevant," Singh submitted.

Citing the necessity over Go First's voluntary insolvency plea, Singh said its 28 aircraft were grounded due to engine issues with Pratt & Whitney.

"It was compelled to file section plea," he added.

The Wadia group firm has already got a favourable order in arbitration against the US-based jet engine manufacturer and Go First will receive 10 engines from Pratt & Whitney per month.

He hoped the situation will improve after this and Go First to come back again resuming it's services.

During the proceedings, Kathpalia also raised a question mark over the hearings at the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), which had earlier this week admitted the voluntary plea of Go First for initiation of insolvency proceedings.

"What kind of hearing has taken place? We were not even allowed to place a document for consideration and submit our pleadings," he said.

Two other lessors, G Y Aviation and SFV Aircraft Holdings, which had moved appellate tribunal on Thursday, also argued their case and opposed the CIRP against Go First.

All three lessors own around 21 aircraft, which were leased to crisis-hit Go First.

The matter remained part-heard and the appellate tribunal would continue its hearing on Monday.
India can repeat UPI success in e-commerce: Walmart CEO Doug McMillon

In an indication that Walmarts aspiration for multi-brand retail is a thing of the past, the chief executive of the biggest retail company of the world, Doug McMillon, lists out his India focus as Flipkart, PhonePe, sourcing and technology. Theres something else that he counts as part of Walmarts past in India: the lows. During a short visit to New Delhi, he spoke to Nivedita Mookerji & A K Bhattacharya on issues ranging from Flipkart and PhonePes IPO to India growing faster than the China market and more. Read edited excerpts here

Adani Transmission, Adani Total Gas dropped from MSCI's India gauge

Global index manager MSCI Inc. will exclude two Adani Group firms from its India gauge, potentially dealing a blow to their stocks that are trying to recover from the rout triggered by a short-seller report earlier this year.



Tax tussle: Govt not in favour of banning foreign gaming platforms Adani Transmission Ltd. and Adani Total Gas Ltd. will drop out of the India index effective at the close of trading on May 31, according to a statement issued by MSCI on Thursday as a part of its quarterly comprehensive index review. The exclusion follows changes in MSCIs calculation on the amount of shares considered freely tradable in the public market for the two companies. Read more...

Also Read Walmart committed to India and here for the long term: CEO Doug McMillon MSCI cuts free float in Adani Transmission, Adani Total Gas; stocks sink 5% India can repeat UPI success in e-commerce: Walmart CEO Doug McMillon MSCI rejig: Adani Transmission, Adani Total Gas may see outflow of $206 mn Twitter removes legacy blue ticks for thousands; all you need to know US looking forward to hosting PM Narendra Modi, says Biden admin official Traffic-related air pollution can cause Alzheimer's disease: Research Delhi records 43 new Covid-19 cases, positivity rate at 1.8%, shows data Heatwave sweeps parts of Gujarat, Patan hottest at 45.4 degrees Celsius Amending rules to recruit women as constables in CISF, Govt tells Delhi HC



The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) had written to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and other relevant ministries a month ago, seeking to impose a ban on foreign gaming firms causing revenue loss to the exchequer. Read more... The government is not in favour of the Department of Revenues recommendation of banning 200 offshore online gaming sites. According to officials, economic-linked matters like revenue loss cannot warrant a ban. The government is of the considered view that these platforms are still not a serious threat to internal security.

Adani Group promoters won't take on debt to fund expansion, growth

The promoters of Adani Group have decided they will not raise further debt on their books to fund the conglomerates expansion and growth, according to sources aware of the development.





Musk to step down as Twitter CEO, NBCUniversal's Yaccarino to replace him It is part of their new risk management strategy, said sources, after the groups market capitalisation plummeted following the Hindenburg Research report, which accused it of market manipulation. Read more...
A day before the counting of votes in urban local body polls in Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party on Friday alleged the election manual was amended recently, deleting from it portions related to declaration of votes received by candidates after every round of counting.

The party accused the BJP of hatching a "conspiracy" to "influence" the results in the local body polls and change the mandate of the people.

Manoj Pandey, the chief whip of the SP in the Legislative Assembly, said that according to the election manual for local body polls, there is a provision of writing on a blackboard the details of valid votes obtained by a candidate, invalid votes and the total votes polled on a blackboard after every round of counting.

Besides, they have to immediately declare these details, feed the data online and also announce the same through public address system, he said.

Apart from this, there is a provision of announcing the results after every two hours, he said.

But these provision were "missing" from the manual after an amendment was issued on April 15, 2023 "which is not appropriate, and it raises doubts", he said.

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He also alleged that the BJP government in order to slow the voting process, intimidated the voters, misbehaved with the SP workers, and did not allow the voters to leave their house.

He also alleged that a conspiracy has been hatched by the BJP to destroy the democratic system by misusing the administration.

SP's state unit president Naresh Uttam Patel claimed that it was observed that the voters' mood was against the BJP government throughout the campaign period.

"A number of ministers of the BJP government and party leaders indulged in misleading (poll) campaigns ('bhraamak prachaar'). The BJP is trying to show that in the urban local bodies' elections, people are not liking the Samajwadi Party. The BJP has cheated the people," he said.

In a statement issued by the party, Uttam also said, "After lagging behind in the first phase, a strategy was made (by the ruling party) to influence the voting process by reducing the polling percentage itself.
Hyundai Creta is the most selling compact SUV in April 2023. It sold 14186 SUVs in April, most compared to its other competitors. Creata is the only company that crossed the 10000 unit sales mark. None of its rivals managed to reach that mark.



In fact, the difference between better Hyundai Creta sales and the second-best-selling compact SUV is over 4500.



The second-best-selling SUV for April 2023 was Mahindra Scorpio, it includes SUV models; Scorpio N and Scorpio Classic.



Mahindra Scorpio also shows an upward trend in demand, it showed nearly 10% growth MoM and grabbed the second spot.



On one side, where Creta and Scorpio showed an upward trend, on the other end, Maruti Grand Vitara showed negative trends in their monthly sales and dropped to the third spot.



The Kia Seltos also observed a 10% spike in their monthly sales in April. But it failed to beat Grand Vitara and positioned itself in the fourth spot. A facelifted Seltos could reach the market soon with more advanced features and a new 160PS turbo-petrol engine.



Just like Maruti Grand Vitara, Toyota Hyryder also showed a negative trend where monthly sales dropped by nearly 25 per cent. The car's tally is dropping well below the 3000 units mark.



Skoda Kushaq and Volkswagen Taigun SUVs witnessed a drop in their monthly sales in April compared to March. The Taigun SUV observed a massive drop of 23%, while Kushaq sales dropped by 100 units. The two SUVs' market share is less than 10 per cent.



The most affected car in April month was MG Astor, the sales for the MG Astor reduced by nearly 40 per cent, failed to touch the 1000 units mark and sold only 704 units. The massive decline in selling makes it the worst-performing model in the segment.



Honda Elevate is also about to join the race this summer as it is about to debut in June 2023.


Market leader Maruti Suzuki India dispatched 137,320 units to dealers last month against 121,995 units in April last year. Hyundai Motor India, on the other hand, sold 49,701 units in April compared to 44,001 units in the year-ago period.

Domestic passenger vehicle dispatches jumped 13 per cent in April as demand remained robust across segments, the industry body Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) said on Friday. The total passenger vehicle dispatches from companies to dealers rose to 331,278 units last month compared to 293,303 units in April 2022.
According to the ministry's data, the average daily international passenger traffic fell by 3.71 per cent to 176,987 passengers (departures and arrivals) in the same week after Go First collapsed. The average daily international flights fell by 1.74 per cent in the week.

Go First suspended all flights from May 3 after filing an insolvency application with the National Company Law Tribunal. According to the ministry's data, the average daily domestic flights in India fell 5.5 per cent to 2,802 flights in the week after Go First temporarily stopped operations.


Clarifying its decision, the DoT officials aware of the matter said that such entities come under the ambit of the Ministry of Electronic and Information Technology (Meity) and that arrangement should be continued, the report added. The Department of Telecom (DoT) has declined to regulate cloud service providers (CSPs) like Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure, among others, an Economic Times (ET) report said. Earlier, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) had sent the DoT a proposal to bring such service providers under its regulatory apparatus.



Previously, the firms engaged in the cloud services industry as well as technology and telecom players had expressed their concerns against Trai's recommendations. They had written to the DoT explaining that the services were not in the category of telecommunications. Quoting the officials, ET said that Trai's 2020 recommendations on the matter were examined and the department decided to go against accepting them.



Also, a number of industry associations had also said that creating an additional regulatory framework will be harmful to investments in the cloud sector, ET reported. Given the opposition from telecom operators as well as the CSPs, the Department of Telecom decided to go against Trai's recommendations. The decision entails that no new policy or regulations for CSPs will be introduced and the existing framework will continue.

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Several organisations including Nasscom, Cellular Operators Association of India, Information Technology Industry Council, etc had written to the DoT that CSPs were different than telecom operators and that the department should not regulate them. In doing so, they also informed the DoT that Meity was already regulating CSPs and that a regulatory framework for the purpose was in place.


"India's favourable demographic indicators, deep digital talent pool, developmental government policies, infrastructure advancements and competitive costs have made it one of the top choices for global enterprises, fueling real estate demand in India. The strong economic and business fundamentals are enhancing institutional investors' sentiments; forging strategic partnerships to expand their portfolios," said Sankey Prasad, chairman and managing director at Colliers India, which released its "India- High on Investors' Agenda" report on Friday. The foreign institutional inflows into real estate rose three-fold to $26.6 billion between 2017 and 2022 as compared to the preceding six-year period, a new report said. Foreign institutions accounted for 81 per cent of the total investment in real estate between 2017 and 2022, it added.



"Office sector saw the highest investments during 2017-22, accounting for about 45 per cent of the total foreign inflows," Prasad added. In the quarter ended March 31, the institutional investments in the real estate sector were up 37 per cent to $1.7 billion, compared to the same quarter in 2021-22. The office sector led the growth.



"India is on a long-term structural upcycle over the next few years and opportunities galore across spectrum and asset classes in real estate. Over the years, investment in Indian real estate has been getting broader and diversified with newer emerging concepts and themes. India's attractiveness from manufacturers, occupiers, and investors' perspectives in the Asian Market is on a consistent upswing," said Piyush Gupta, managing director of Capital Markets & Investment Services at Colliers India. The report added that India's Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policies, increased transparency in deal structures, and higher investment limits through the direct route had encouraged global investors to invest here.

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On the other hand, domestic investments have started returning after a dip in 2020. In 2017 the sector saw investments worth $2.4 billion into the real estate sector. This fell to $0.05 billion in 2020. In 2022, it rose to $1.9 billion. However, the data mentioned in the report also highlighted that global investment in the real estate sector has been constantly falling since 2017. It has fallen from $5.6 billion in 2017 to $3 billion in 2022.


Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, Rajeev Chandrasekhar told FE that companies that want to apply for the scheme can do so at any point in time. This is being done to attract more players into setting up semiconductor fabrication units and avoid a situation where only a few firms dominate the scene. The Union government's 76,000-crore incentive scheme earmarked for the industry to develop semiconductors and display manufacturing ecosystem in the country will not have a closing date, a report published in Financial Express (FE) said. This marks a change in the government's policy towards the semiconductor industry.



At the time of its launch in December 2021, companies had 45 days to apply for the scheme. To ensure this, the minister said that the government wanted to increase competition which would empower innovation. He added that the government was not concerned about the name of the company applying for the scheme. They would only have to meet capital and technology requirements and were welcome to apply, the report quoted the minister as saying.

PLI scheme beyond smartphones

Vedanta-Foxconn JV, IGSS Ventures and ISMC are moving to set up chip manufacturing facilities under the scheme. To this end, they are investing $13.6 billion. They have also sought $5.6 billion from the government. However, the request for financial support has not been approved so far, the report added.

Also Read India's semiconductor market to touch $64 bn by 2026: Counterpoint-IESA Vaishnaw to meet top tech execs to invite investments in chips, laptops Indian Semiconductor Mission: Centre invites more companies to set up units India to be a semiconductor manufacturing hub: Rajeev Chandrasekhar Centre likely to discontinue second phase of Fame-II scheme after FY24 Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel gaining equally at the expense of Vodafone Idea Indian real estate saw foreign inflows of $26.6 billion between 2017-22 Paytm to forego 3% commission it charges as buyer app on ONDC: Report India's tourism industry on track to touch $1 trn by 2047, says report The non-IT and IT services account for 54% of Smartworks' business



The PLI Scheme Apart from the semiconductor Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, the government is also planning incentive schemes for computers and devices, telecom, automotive, and IT hardware, FE quoted the minister.


A bench of chief justices DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala said the court registry had received the report of the apex court-appointed AM Sapre committee on the issue and would like to hear the matter on Monday after perusing the findings of the panel. The Supreme Court of India (SC) on Friday said that it may grant a three-month extension to probe into the allegations of stock price manipulation by the Adani Group and lapses in regulations. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) had asked the court for a six-month extension.



On March 2, the SC had asked Sebi to probe the crash of Adani group stocks following the Hindenburg report. It also asked the regulatory body to suggest ways to strengthen the regulatory framework to protect the interest of the investors. "We will go through the report in the meantime. We will take up the matter on May 15," the bench said.



In April, Sebi moved the SC and sought a six-month extension to complete its probe. The apex court also set up a six-member expert committee to determine if there was any regulatory failure to deal with the issue. The committee was asked to submit the report in a sealed cover in two months. The chairman of Sebi was also ordered to provide all the relevant information to the committee.

Also Read Adani-Hindenburg case: Supreme Court sets up expert committee for probe Adani-Hindenburg saga: Over dozen involved in short-selling under Sebi lens SC decision on Adani-Hindenburg probe panel today: 5 things you must know Supreme Court rejects plea to stop media from reporting on Adani-Hindenburg Six Adani Group stocks locked in 5% lower circuit; ACC hits 52-week low European shares rise after Asia drops over US banks, China growth worries Caplin Point rises 10% after arm gets USFDA nod for anti-inflammatory drug Cera Sanitaryware zooms 8% as company logs highest-ever sales revenue in Q4 Pricing regulator sets mechanism to fix prices of off-patent drugs Siemens hits record high; up 3% on posting 39% jump in Q4 net



During Friday's hearing, the bench told solicitor general Tushar Mehta, appearing for Sebi, that it may grant the market regulator three months instead of the six it has sought to wrap up the probe into allegations of stock manipulation. It said that to arrive at verified findings, "it would be just, expedient and in the interest of justice" that the SC extends the time, at least by six months, to conduct and conclude a proper investigation.


From a low of Rs 1,356 apiece, the stock vaulted 6 per cent to hit an intra-day high of Rs 1,439. At 12:30 PM, the stock was ruling 2.3 per cent higher at Rs 1,411 per share. By comparison, the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex was up 0.04 per cent. Shares of Mankind Pharma bounced back 6 per cent in the intra-day trade as investors took cognizance of the company's clarification on raids by Income Tax department.



Later, the company clarified that the Income Tax Department conducted a search at some of the premises/ plants related to the company and some of its subsidiaries. READ HERE On Thursday, shares of the recently listed pharmaceutical company had tumbled over 5 per cent in the intra-day tarde after reports said the Income Tax Department was conducting searches at Mankind Pharma Ltd's office in New Delhi.



Once the search by the Income Tax Department concludes, we will update the Stock Exchanges in case of any material information/ event. Mankind Pharma Limited is an ethical and law abiding company and follows the best corporate governance practices. We are extending our full cooperation to the officials of the Income Tax Department in this regard," it added. "The officials of the company and its subsidiaries are cooperating with the officials of the Income Tax Department and are responding to the queries raised by them. This has had no impact on our operational performance," it said in an exchange filing.

Also Read Uflex drops 4%, hits 52-wk low on report of Income-Tax raid at Noida office Uflex down 25% in 1 wk on tax raid report, hits lowest level since May 2021 Mankind Pharma IPO to open next week: Check price band, GMP, other details Mankind Pharma IPO opens today: Check GMP, price band, other details here Sensex, Nifty end flat after choppy day; Indiabulls RE sinks 20%, Zomato 6% Zensar Technologies soars 10% to hit 52-week high on strong Q4 results Zee Ent, UPL: 5 Nifty 500 stocks flash bearish signals, may fall up to 15% Intellect Design Arena hits Rs 2,000-cr revenue mark in FY23; stock up 12% MSCI rejig impact: Adani Total Gas, Adani Transmission dip 5%; Max soars 6% South Indian Bank jumps 12% after it clocks robust March quarter results



Despite Thursday's fall, the stock of the pharmaceutical company  popular for its Manforce brand of condoms and Prega News pregnancy test kit  is trading 31 per cent higher than its issue price of Rs 1,080 on the BSE. Mankind Pharma, India's fourth largest pharmaceutical company, had debuted on the bourses on Tuesday, May 9. Shares of the company had jumped more than 32 per cent during their stock market debut, thanks to a strong follow up demand from institutional investors. This was the best listing day performance of a stock in nearly six months.
What bears noting are the governments different responses to criticism. Domestic criticism is treated with a combination of disdainful silence, off-camera pressure, curbs on the right to information, action under draconian laws, and prosecutorial action

The governments prickly responses to international commentary on the countrys press freedom, human rights, corruption, treatment of minorities, etc reveal a blunt unwillingness to accept a deteriorating situation on most such issues. Any independent observer can see that media freedom has suffered under the Narendra Modi government. It is equally obvious that the regime has facilitated the creation of a public space that has given rise to hate speech (like public calls for lynching Muslims), the overwhelming of the social media by hostile troll armies, street killings, and the like. None of this is news to Indians, who dont need international ratings to tell them what the reality is.
Hours before the counting for the Assembly elections in Karnataka starts, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai exuded confidence that Bharatiya Janata Party will return to power in the state while Congress general secretary in-charge Communications Jairam Ramesh said that BJP's defeat in Karnataka will open Delhi's door for Congress in 2024.

Meanwhile, both parties have started back-to-back meetings with their leaders to devise strategies ahead of the results.

Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) DK Shivakumar on Friday held a meeting with party president Mallikarjun Kharge at his residence in Bengaluru.

"Sometimes exit polls succeed and sometimes fail. Exit polls have their own theory, I don't believe them* We don't go by those samples, my sample size is too high and in that, we will have a comfortable majority. We will form our government with a majority. I do not know about JD(S), let them take their own call. I don't have any backup plan, my only plan is that the Congress party will come to power," he told ANI.

Congress's Karnataka president DK Shivakumar on Wednesday, had said he did not believe in the exit poll results, which predicted a hung Assembly while putting his party ahead, adding that they will cross the 146-seat mark.

"Exit polls have their own theory. We do not go by those samples, my sample size is too high and in that, we will have a comfortable majority. I do not know about JDS, let them take their own call. I do not have any backup plan, my only plan is that the Congress party will come to power," DK Shivakumar said ANI.

Also Read Come May 13, will BJP script history in 2023 Karnataka Assembly elections? High-voltage campaigning for Karnataka elections to end today at 5 pm Karnataka elections: Here's what all Congress has promised in its manifesto BJP CEC meeting today to finalise candidates for Karnataka Assembly polls How will the markets interpret the outcome of Karnataka Assembly polls? May 13: The JD(S) steps into the future Karnataka Assembly elections 2023: Key battles to watch out for Karnataka Assembly elections 2023: Things to know before result day Congress will win at least 141 seats, form majority govt: D K Shivakumar Karnataka election results 2023: When, where, and how to check results

Giving a further push to the KPCC chief's confidence, Jairam Ramesh said,"Congress' victory in Karnataka is Prime Minister Narendra Modi's defeat because no one campaigned in Karnataka except him. After (BJP's) Karnataka's defeat, Delhi's door is open for Congress in 2024. During the Bharat Jodo Yatra, we were there for 27 days in Karnataka and visited seven districts. We do not have any doubt. We will get majority votes. We have promised five guarantees in our manifesto and because of these guarantees Congress is guaranteed to win."

He also ruled out the possibility of a coalition government in Karnataka with the JDS.

"I am absolutely sure that JDS will disintegrate... This time I do not think that there is any scope for a coalition government with JDS," Jairam Ramesh added.

The confidence in Congress is due to the exit polls which have given the grand old party a clear edge in Karnataka in the assembly elections held on Wednesday with four exit polls giving it a full majority and some predicting a hung assembly with an advantage to the party.

However, a few exit polls also said that BJP is ahead in the sweepstakes to form the government.

However, BJP which is also fully confident of returning to power with an absolute majority, is also deliberating with its leaders at former Karnataka Chief Minister and tallest Lingayat leader BS Yediyurappa's residence.

Chief Minister Basavraj Bommai affirmed full confidence in the party getting a full majority in the elections.

"There is no chance of a hung Assembly, we are going to form the government comfortably. I won't talk about other parties much. Everyone talks based on their assessments, and I have my own assessments," he said.

Reacting to Karnataka Congress president DK Shivakumar's prediction of Congress winning the election, Bommai said, "Let him (DK Shivakumar) be happy with his 141 seats till tomorrow".

He further said that the Chief Minister's face of the party will be decided after a legislature party meeting.

"We will have a legislature party meeting to decide the Chief Minister face," he added.

On being asked about the Congress party's allegations of 'Operation Lotus' -- an alleged operation to poach the MLAs of a rival party - Bommai said, "We never did it. They were in power for a year, under coalition, and they failed miserably. Its their doing of getting into unholy alliances".

BS Yediyurappa expressed confidence that the Bharatiya Janata Party would secure an absolute majority and return to power for a second term to form government in the southern state.

Speaking to ANI, Yediyurappa said, "I am 100 per cent confident that the BJP will secure an absolute majority and form the government".

Yeddyurappa's response came after exit polls predicted Congress's edge over the BJP in Karnataka polls.

The BJP leader refuted any possibility of a hung assembly.

On a question about forming an alliance with JD(S), in case the party falls short of a majority, he said, "At that time, National leadership is going to take a decision. The question does not arise. I am certain that the party will get 115-117 seats".

"All leaders worked hard. I am confident that the BJP will form the government. Let us wait and watch," the BJP veteran said.

Senior BJP leader V Somanna refused to comment on the exit polls.

"I won't make any comments. Wait till the counting. Although, I am 100 per cent confident, but I will say only after the results come," he said.

The voting for the assembly elections ended on Wednesday with a 69.95 voter turnout. The counting of the votes will be held on May 13.

A party needs 113 seats for a majority in the 224-member Karnataka assembly.

Congress leader and party president Mallikarjun Kharge's son Priyank Kharge also exuded confidence in the party's victory and slammed BJP leader R Ashok on his statement where he claimed that the party will form the government in the state, even if it a hung assembly.

"We are going to pass 120 seats. We are confident that the people of Karnataka have voted for a progressive and inclusive government. There is no question of a hung government, we are supremely confident that we will form the government on our own," he said.

Slamming BJP leader R Ashok, Priyank Kharge said, "He made two thing very clear. One: They (BJP) are not coming to power, which means people don't want them. Two: They will go to any extent to form the government, whether it is using CBI, ED, IT, throwing money or maybe even kidnapping people".

Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala thanked the voters while saying that the party is win with a huge majority.

"Congress party is going to win with a thumping majority. I also want to thank 6.5 crore brothers and sisters of Karnataka. They have ensured that the festival of democracy is celebrated. The biggest winners of this election are 6.5 crore Kannadigas. We will serve the people of Karnataka," he said.

Earlier on Thursday, former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah expressed gratitude to the party workers for working relentlessly during the election campaign and hoped that their struggle will "definitely bear fruit", as the exit polls gave an edge to the grand old party.

"I have a special appeal to our party workers: You have left home and family to work for the election. Now take some time off and spend time with your parents, wife and children. Our honest struggle will definitely bear fruit. Thanks again and best wishes to you all," Siddaramaiah tweeted.

The Congress leader contested from the Varuna Constituency.

"Proud workers and fans of Congress Party. Congratulations and my thanks to all of you who continuously worked day and night, forgetting meals and rest, on behalf of the Congress party candidates. In the Varuna constituency where I am contesting, not only from all corners of the state but also from other states have come and campaigned for me out of love and respect for me. I have not even been able to meet them and thank them. This love and admiration is the strength of me and the Congress party. My heartfelt thanks to all of them," he tweeted in Kannada.

Meanwhile, in case no party is able to secure a majority on it own, the role of Janata Dal (Secular) will become crucial, as it can play a possible 'kingmaker'.

Janata Dal (Secular) national spokesperson Tanveer Ahmed on Friday, said that they have already decided which party they would support in forming the government after the results are declared.

Speaking to ANI, Ahmed said, "We have already decided with whom we are going to form the government. We will announce it to the public when the appropriate time comes."

JD(S) spokesperson mentioned that they have certain programs for the betterment of people of the Karnataka. He said that they know who is capable of working for issues such as women empowerment, farmers, education, employment and much more.

"We have certain programs for the betterment of Karnataka. And we know who is capable of fulfilling that. The party knows who is going to work for issues such as women empowerment, farmers, education, employment, etc and we will go with the same," he said.

Former CM and party leader HD Kumaraswamy on Wednesday, after casting his vote, had said that JD(S) party will be the 'King' in the Karnataka Assembly polls.

"We are requesting people to bless JDS candidates to get proper development. Our party going to be a King," he said.

The poll of polls shows an advantage for the Congress with the party poised to win 109 seats, BJP 91 seats and JD-S 23.

In the 2018 assembly polls, BJP emerged as the single largest party with 104 seats, Congress won 80 seats and JD(S) got 37 seats.

The fiercely contested election that saw high-pitch campaigns from the political parties is crucial for both BJP and Congress.

BJP is keen to retain the only state it has in southern India to further expand its footprint while Congress is keen to gain momentum for its challenge in the assembly polls later this year and the Lok Sabha elections in 2024.

An incumbent government has not returned to power in Karnataka after a full term of five years since 1985.
Slamming the BRS government over the TSPSC paper leak issue, Telangana BJP president Bandi Sanjay Kumar has said his party would fill up two lakh job vacancies and annually release 'job calendars' if it came to power in the state.

Addressing a 'Nirudyoga March' (March in support of the unemployed) organised by BJP at Sangareddy town near here on Thursday, he alleged that several family members of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao have got jobs during BRS rule but unemployed youth are in dire straits.

He demanded that the BRS government order an investigation by a sitting judge into the "leak" of question paper of a recruitment test conducted by the Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC).

He sought ex-gratia of Rs 1 lakh each to the aspirants who suffered loss due to the alleged paper leak.

Sanjay Kumar, Lok Sabha member from Karimnagar, also demanded removal of IT Minister K T Rama Rao from his post for his alleged failure in the paper leak.

Expressing confidence that the BJP would come to power in the Legislative Assembly polls scheduled to be held in the state later this year, he said the process to fill up two lakh vacancies as per the report of the Biswal Committee appointed by the state government earlier would be started soon after assuming office.

Also Read Bandi Sanjay's arrest undemocratic; BJP not afraid of cases: Union Minister Telangana govt misappropriates panchayat funds: BJP's Bandi Sanjay Kumar Telangana BJP chief Bandi Sanjay detained, development triggers protests CM KCR is more dangerous than Atiq Ahmed, says Telangana BJP chief Telangana BJP chief slams CM Rao for not attending all-party meet on G20 Ashok Gehlot has 'RSS phobia', says BJP's Rajasthan chief Joshi BRS files FIR against BJP leaders for MLA's placing 'missing' posters Don't want to be MP CM, Kamal Nath will get top job if Cong wins: Digvijaya Delhi Mayor acted in malafide manner after unpalatable result: BJP to HC SC verdict will prevent BJP-LG's dictatorial nexus: AAP's Sanjay Singh

He said a 'job calender' containing details of vacancies would be released every year and recruitment taken up.

The BJP leader hit out at the government for allegedly being unable to pay salaries to employees on time, implementing farm loan waiver and providing relief to farmers hit by unseasonal rains.

Sanjay Kumar announced that similar 'Nirudyoga March' events would be organised at Khammam, Adilabad and Nizamabad and finally "with lakhs of people' at Hyderabad.

The 'Nirudyoga March' was earlier held at Warangal and Mahabubnagar.

Sanjay Kumar, known for his strong Hindutva views, also said 'Hindu Ekta Yatra' would be organised at Karimnagar on May 14 on the occasion of Hanuman Jayanti.
Congress MLA Sachin Pilot, on Friday, during the second day of the Jan Sangharsh Yatra, said that even though its quite hot people are still coming out on the streets in support, and added that he hopes the state government will take cognizance of the issues that he has raised.

Pilot is holding the five-day Jan Sangharsh Yatra from Ajmer to Jaipur.

He started the yatra on Thursday in protest against the inaction of the Rajasthan government in the alleged corruption cases during the previous Vasundhara Raje-led BJP government in the state.

Talking to ANI during the yatra, he said, "It is May and a very hot summer but still people are coming out on the streets because the issues I have raised are relevant. Issues of corruption and problems related to the future of our youths, affect us."

"We hope our state government takes cognizance of the issues I have raised," he further said.

Earlier on Thursday, Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee president Govind Singh Dotasara called Sachin Pilot's 'Jan Sangharsh Yatra' a "personal journey", and said that it has nothing to do with the party.

Also Read Rajasthan's first cruise service likely to start in March in Ajmer Vande Bharat train between Ajmer, Delhi Cant big gift for Rajasthan: Gehlot It seems that K'taka elections will be won with huge majority: Gehlot Rahul Gandhi convicted in Modi surname defamation case: What we know so far Sonia Gandhi arrives in Jaipur as Bharat Jodo Yatra enters 92nd day Scrap institution of Guv or evolve system of appointment: Uddhav Thackeray BJP promises to fill 200,000 govt job vacancies in Telangana if elected Ashok Gehlot has 'RSS phobia', says BJP's Rajasthan chief Joshi BRS files FIR against BJP leaders for MLA's placing 'missing' posters Don't want to be MP CM, Kamal Nath will get top job if Cong wins: Digvijaya

Dotasara also claimed that no prior permission has been sought by Pilot from All India Congress Committee (AICC) or from Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC).

"It's his (Sachin Pilot)'s personal Yatra (journey) and has nothing to do with the party. There was no prior permission sought by Pilot from the All India Congress Committee (AICC) or from Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) before the Yatra. The Yatra with the party's logo, and photographs of party leaders including Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and Mallika Arjun Kharge, can be called an official one," Rajasthan PCC Chief said.

Dotasara, while speaking to reporters at the Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee office in Jaipur, said, "The matter will be taken up with the Party high command."

The five-day Jan Sangharsh Yatra launched by Sachin Pilot from Ajmer to Jaipur will stop at different locations.
In the context of state intervention in the screening of The Kerala Story, our second editorial notes that both banning the film and supporting it through tax breaks are unnecessary. Read here

The National Company Law Tribunal has done well to swiftly admit Go Firsts voluntary insolvency plea under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code and appoint an interim resolution professional. The initiation of the process means creditors will not be able to recover dues for now. While the timely admission of the case is the first right step, it will be of interest to see how the matter proceeds, given the complexities involved, notes our
Dell Technologies on Friday launched two new Alienware m16 and x14 R2 gaming laptops in India.

The Alienware m16 and x14 R2 are priced at Rs 1,84,990 and Rs 2,06,990, respectively, and are available to purchase from the company's official website, online and offline stores starting May 12.

"Designed for today's pro-gamers and enthusiasts, our diverse range of Alienware and G-series devices are go-to for gaming," Pujan Chadha, Director for Product Marketing, India Consumer, Dell Technologies, India, said in a statement.

The new laptops feature the latest 13th Gen Intel Core processors and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40-Series GPUs.

With a 16:10 display aspect ratio, both laptops come equipped with the iconic Legend 3.0 design, advanced Alienware Cryo-tech thermal architecture, and the redesigned Alienware Command Centre 6.0 to provide gamers with superior features in compact form factors, according to the company.

Moreover, the company said that the m16 supports up to NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 GPU and up to 9TB of storage along with four M.2 SSD slots for fast booting speeds.

Also Read Dell launches new Alienware, Inspiron laptop series in India: Details here CES 2023: Dell G15, G16 and Alienware m18, m16, x16, x14 laptops unveiled Dell G-series gaming laptops with 13th Gen Intel Core processors launched Dell launches Inspiron 14 series laptops with latest Intel, AMD processors Dell launches Inspiron 24-inch All-In-One desktop: Know price, specs & more AI chatbots to help recruiters automate screening, cut onboarding workload Digital India's two realities: A yawning gap between tech use & tech skills WhatsApp users in India flooded with spam calls, platform responds Google releases its text-to-music AI tool 'MusicLM' to Android, iOS users Twitter rolls out new encrypted DMs feature exclusive to verified users

The Alienware x14 R2 encompasses a 165Hz QHD+ display that offers the best charging capabilities along with the lightning fast Express Charge as well as Type-C support for convenient portable gaming.

The m16 is also stocked with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, bringing gaming experiences close to reality.

--IANS

shs/prw/bg
In a historic move, the California State Senate on Thursday passed a legislation that would ban caste-based discrimination in the State.

Passed by 34-1 vote, the bill SB 403, would make California the first US state to add caste as a protected category in its anti-discrimination laws. Promoters of the bill, being led by non-profit Equality Lab, said that a similar bill is being introduced in the State House of Representatives, before it can be sent to the Governor to be signed into a law.

Introduced by California Senator Aisha Wahab, SB 403 adds caste as a protected category to an existing law, the Unruh Civil Rights Act, which provides that all people in the state of California are entitled to the full and equal accommodations, advantages, facilities, privileges, or services in all business establishments.

SB 403 provides explicit protections to those who have been systemically harmed due to caste bias and prejudice. It also provides firm legal consequences for those seeking to avoid responsibility or ramifications for permitting or participating in caste discrimination and caste-based violence.

This landmark bill comes just weeks after the California Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously passed SB403 in April. It also follows the Seattle City Council's historic legislation banning caste discrimination earlier this year, as well as resolutions to designate caste as a protected category passed by the California Democratic Party, the California State University system, the Alphabet Workers Union, tech giants like Apple and Cisco, and others.

Seattle Councilmember Kshama Sawant, who was instrumental in Seattle being the first city to pass anti-caste discrimination law, welcomed the passage of SB 403 by the California State Senate.

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Following our historic victory in Seattle in February, the California Senate has voted in favour of banning caste discrimination, Sawant said.

The bill now goes to the Assembly. Anti-caste activists, working people, union members, and my socialist Council office built a fighting movement to win in Seattle, creating national and even international momentum. Solidarity to all fighting oppression under capitalism!" she said.

On behalf of all Dalit Californians and caste-oppressed people around the world, we are ecstatic that the California Senate has passed SB403 off the Senate floor. This is a win rooted in years of Dalit feminist organising, and we are just getting started in making the state safe for our entire caste-oppressed community, said Thenmozhi Soundararajan, Equality Labs executive director and author of The Trauma of Caste.

We know that we have a long journey ahead of us with this bill, but we have made history with this vote and are proud to look forward to working with the California Assembly on this historic bill! Equality Labs thanks all of the partners in Californians for Caste Equity who worked tirelessly to get us this far, she said.

Tanuja Gupta, law student, activist, and a former Google engineering programme manager, said ending caste discrimination will soon no longer be an opt-in for a California-based company like Google, but a legal requirement of its existence.

Deelip Mhaske, president of Foundation For Human Horizon, congratulated State Senator Aisha Wahab for introducing the bill in the California Senate. "This is a win for the Indian Constitution framed by Dr B R Ambedkar's equality principle."



Indian American Muslim Council president Mohammad Jawad commended the California Senate for passing SB 403.

This is a historic moment for the Dalit community, which has been fighting against caste-based discrimination for generations. The passage of this bill sends a strong message that caste discrimination has no place in California. The bill will provide much-needed protection to Dalits and others who face discrimination based on their caste, he said.

We urge the California Assembly to pass this bill without delay, and for Governor Newsom to sign it into law. We also call on other states and the US Congress to follow California's lead in recognizing caste discrimination as a form of discrimination and taking steps to address it. Discrimination based on caste is a violation of human rights and must be eradicated wherever it exists, said IAMC executive director Rasheed Ahmed.
By Bloomberg News

Chinas unpredictable policy making is deterring foreign investment that the countrys cash-strapped cities are desperate to entice.





Their efforts are being met with a lukewarm reception from business communities outside China. While memorandums of understanding have been signed and some deals announced, many potential investors remain cautious about the countrys economic growth and wary of unexpected policy shifts. Local officials are cold calling foreign entrepreneurs and bringing roadshows overseas as they seek to bolster coffers depleted by years of pandemic spending and a cratering property market. They also face pressure from the central government to boost investment in what the commerce ministry has dubbed the Year of Investing in China.





Appetite for investment has been further weakened by a clampdown on foreign consultancy firms relied upon by global investors and multinational firms to help understand China. The campaign follows a series of abrupt regulatory tightenings on industries ranging from technology to real estate that sent foreign capital fleeing from the nations financial markets.

Also Read RBI MPC: Here is what experts have to say about the policy announcement Indian real estate saw foreign inflows of $26.6 billion between 2017-22 RBI hikes repo rate by 35 bps to 6.25%, cuts FY23 GDP forecast to 6.8% Foreign direct equity investments from top-6 nations shrink in H1 NTPC, Reliance, Adani top green hydrogen plays to bet on, say analysts S Korea, Japan holds working-level meeting on Seoul's Fukushima inspection China to send special envoy to Ukraine, Russia as part of peace efforts Pakistan PM slams Opposition for pushing country towards 'destruction' Data leak: Around 2 mn vehicles in Japan were at risk in decade-long breach European shares rise after Asia drops over US banks, China growth worries



Over the past few months, dozens of Chinese provinces and cities have sent delegates to host investment roadshows in countries including Singapore, Japan, France, Germany as well as nations in the Middle East, according to local government statements and state media reports. Shanghai alone plans at least 100 overseas visits this year to attract business, while the southern province of Guangdong wants to lure at least 2 trillion yuan ($288 billion) in foreign investment over the next five years. There was certainly a lot of pressure on these cities and provinces to attract investment and this is the great contradiction  the central level policies that are coming down are counter to that, said Noah Fraser, Canada China Business Council managing director, adding the council has heard less and less about any new investment. Investor confidence is probably at the lowest its been.



Foreign direct investment in China plummeted in the second half of last year as corporate profits declined and the economy struggled due to Covid Zero lockdowns. Global investors have lost interest in Chinese equities, with the MSCI China Index dropping about 50% from its 2021 peak. Foreign holdings of Chinese bonds fell for 12 of the 13 months through February before rising slightly in March. But businesses are holding fire on increasing investment in China because of concerns like the crackdown on foreign consultancy firms, according to an executive at a Macau-based travel business, who asked not to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter. The executive recently had meetings with officials from the northeastern city of Jilin seeking partners for ginseng and deer antler trading, as well as officials from Jiangsu province promoting exports of hairy crabs. Despite the talks, the person has no immediate plans to venture into the mainland.



In response, the Politburo - the top decision making body of the Communist Party - last month called on local governments to boost foreign investment amid weak domestic demand and a difficult recovery. In response, the Politburo - the top decision making body of the Communist Party - last month called on local governments to boost foreign investment amid weak domestic demand and a difficult recovery.



Rising tensions with the West is adding to the challenge. The majority of US firms that are already invested in China have said the country isnt a top three priority anymore, while the US government is looking to limit some investment flows to China. Chinas local governments face a tough task. Their spending rose 2.6% last year to pay for the cost of Covid controls, tax cuts and other programs, while income declined 11%, due mainly to a slump in land sales caused by the downturn in the property market. Debt costs are rising after they increased borrowing in recent years to pay for infrastructure investment and fill budget gaps. Bond interest totaled $160 billion in 2022, up 21% from a year earlier.



Yet interest is hard to find. The mayor of Qingdao, a port city in Shandong province, held an event in Tokyo in April for more than 300 people. Several small Japanese businesses signed memorandums of understanding at the end of the event, but no details were announced of any deals or monetary investments, with one attendee saying there is increasing reluctance to invest in China due to geopolitical tensions. Singapore has seen delegations from Chinese cities almost every week this year, according to an official who asked not to be named as they werent authorized to speak publicly. A Western entrepreneur in Hong Kong said officials have started cold calling overseas companies, skipping small talk and asking directly for investment, a tactic that the person said was rare before the pandemic. The entrepreneur said they were being wooed by a commerce official from a city in Shandong province.



An executive at a real estate developer in Hong Kong said the difficulties of doing due diligence in China is deterring investors from buying assets in the mainland because of the risk of hidden debts. Such concern is only likely to be exacerbated by President Xi Jinpings campaign against foreign due diligence companies. While almost every Taiwanese business association in mainland China has been asked to increase investment this year, according to an official involved in cross-strait affairs, new investment from Taiwans firms fell 10% in the first quarter and Taiwanese bank exposure to China dropped to a record low at the end of March, government data showed.
By Dave Lee

Elon Musk appears to have finally found, to use his phrase, someone foolish enough to take the job as Twitter chief executive officer. It ends a months-long search and could begin a turnaround at the social network we love to hate.





In about six weeks, Musk will move to executive chairman and chief technology officer, overseeing product, software and sysops, he wrote on Twitter. The arrangement was apparently sufficient to reassure Tesla Inc. investors, with the carmakers stock jumping after-hours on account of optimism that the great Twitter distraction  the lingering albatross, as one analyst described it  was finally reaching its end. If reports prove correct, that someone is Linda Yaccarino, NBCUniversals head of advertising. She is yet to comment, but Comcast Corp., NBCUs parent, announced her departure on Friday. (Update: Musk later confirmed the appointment in a tweet.) Yaccarino would bring the expertise and experience needed to tempt vanishing ad spend back to the platform, potentially reversing a trajectory that some analysts believe has Twitter in a death spiral.



Weve seen other CEOs at tech companies become executive chair, stepping into the background to launch rockets or create curious flying cars but allowing their successors to work mostly autonomously. This separation is best achieved by moving away from day-to-day operations and being on hand only for the most consequential decisions  what Jeff Bezos calls one-way doors, major strategic moves from which there is no going back. I dont buy it. These moves will do little to change who calls the shots at Twitter. It would palm off parts of the job that Musk either cant be bothered with or knows he is no good at, which, I suppose, would be some form of progress. But Yaccarino, if she takes the job, may soon come to realize the only thing more stressful than working under Musk is working over him.

Also Read Elon Musk credits father for teaching 'physics, engineering & construction' Tesla chief Elon Musk threatens to sue Microsoft for using data 'illegally' Who's Linda Yaccarino, the executive likely to replace Musk as Twitter CEO? Is Elon Musk mismanaging Twitter? Wasn't Twitter supposed to die by now: Elon Musk takes a dig at trolls Meta's 'AI Sandbox' to create advertisements, predict performance Evercore hires media, telecom bankers from Credit Suisse amid takeover Resilient future of nations along Indian Ocean requires trust: Hasina Pak govt alleges court favouring Imran Khan; to hold protest on Monday Twitter gets a new CEO: Elon Musk confirms Linda Yaccarino's appointment



The nature of the haphazard announcement bodes poorly. Out of nowhere on Thursday, Musk fired out a tweet saying hed found a new CEO, not naming her, but saying she would be starting in six weeks. Soon after, the Wall Street Journal published a story  one Musk presumably knew was coming  naming Yaccarino. Musk has form here: His notorious funding secured tweet, where he falsely claimed he had confirmed the investment to take Tesla private, was sent in a panic due to his concern the Financial Times was about to break the story before he could announce it himself. But Musk isnt doing that. At a company like Twitter, the CTO role is arguably the most hands-on job in the C-suite, responsible for the technical implementation of all the grand ideas Musk has outlined so far. This will suit his strengths  hes routinely demonstrated hes better at understanding software code than people  but it is no less active than CEO and will do little to lessen the distraction Tesla investors are worried about.



If CEO, she will need to get used to it. Musks tendency to tweet from the hip has landed him in trouble and caused discomfort to those around him. Seemingly unable to resist playing to the crowd, Musk has already engaged with Twitter users concerned about Yaccarinos work with the World Economic Forum and being downtrodden by the global elite. Musk is also known to suddenly announce product changes and initiatives on a whim. Whatever the circumstance, the leaking of the news and Musks tweet will have made things uncomfortable for Yaccarino, who next week had been due to present at an NBCU ad-sales event. The lack of response from both Yaccarino and, until the day after Musks tweet, NBCU, suggests a disruptive jumping of the gun, the kind that should leave the executive wondering what kind of chaos she might be getting into.



But Musk has already crashed through several reputational one-way doors of his own, making Yaccarinos job extremely difficult. No amount of negotiation or shrewd networking can get around the fact that Musks principles dictated he should reinstate some of Twitters most odious users. Nor can it be swept under the rug that Tucker Carlson, the most hateful broadcaster in America, has chosen to relaunch his show exclusively on Twitter. If Musk can suppress his worst urges and act like a serious executive for a sustained period, Yaccarino might have a fighting chance. At NBCU, according to the WSJ, she oversees annual ad revenues of around $13 billion  about three times that of Twitter. She speaks the language of ad land and is said to drive a hard bargain. Like Carolyn Everson at Facebook  who came in and revolutionized that companys relationship with marketers, helping it overcome a spiraling boycott  Yaccarino has the decades of credibility Musk desperately needs.



For a hint of what lays ahead, we can look to an on-stage interview between Yaccarino and Musk in a room full of advertising executives last month. Yaccarino, desperately trying to help Musk read the room, asked how Twitter might be able to work with advertisers so they can be excited about the network. Regardless of Yaccarinos personal views on these characters, the fact remains that advertisers will balk at being anywhere near such content. Furthermore, Musks assertion that the solution is to prevent ads appearing next to bad content is naive. A platform that suffers moderation failings so severe that users are left traumatized will find advertisers ashamed to be associated with the site in any way.
Ukrainian military commanders said on Friday that their troops had recaptured more territory from Russian forces at the scene of the war's longest and bloodiest battle, for the eastern city of Bakhmut, but it wasn't clear if this marked the start of Kyiv's long-expected counteroffensive.

Russia's Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said Kyiv had stepped up attacks north of the region.

The 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) of territory retaken by Ukrainian forces south of Bakhmut this week represented a significant gain and will protect an important supply chain, according to commanders of Ukraine's 3rd Separate Assault Brigade, a special forces unit that led the attack.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he met with the top military commanders Friday, noting that he heard a report from Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi whose forces stopped the enemy and even pushed him back in some directions.

In a statement on Telegram on Friday, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar confirmed that Ukrainian forces gained ground around the city, reiterating statements from military commanders earlier this week.

The battle for Bakhmut, once a salt-mining town, has been grinding on for eight months.

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Yevgeny Prigozhin, the millionaire owner of the Russian military contractor, the Wagner Group, harshly criticized the Russian military for losing ground around Bakhmut and exposing the flanks of his forces battling for the city.

In a video statement, Prigozhin mocked the Russian Defense Ministry's report claiming that its forces regrouped to take more favourable positions, saying that they effectively fled and our flanks are crumbling.

He warned that the Ukrainian forces have managed to reclaim key heights around the city and effectively deblocked the key supply link to Bakhmut. Prigozhin again accused the military leadership of refusing to provide the necessary ammunition to Wagner.

You must immediately stop lying, Prigozhin said, addressing the Russian miitary leaders. If you fled, you must prepare new defensive lines.

Prigozhin charged that the Defense Ministry's failure to protect Wagner's flanks amounted to high treason and could result in a great tragedy for Russia.

Ukrainian military officials have dismissed speculation that the fighting and forward movement in Bakhmut signaled that its anticipated counteroffensive was underway. Zelenskyy said in remarks broadcast Thursday that Kyiv was delaying the campaign because it lacks enough Western weapons. The comments were interpreted by some as designed to keep Russia guessing about Ukraine's next move.

The territorial gains occurred near the Siversky-Donets canal, between the villages of Ivanivske and Kurdiumivka, according to a commander of the 1st Assault Battalion of the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade. He spoke on condition he be referred to only by his call sign of Rollo, in line with Ukrainian military protocols.

This was the enemy's bridgehead which they intended to use in their future attacks along the canal, in the direction of Kostiantynivka, he said. We had to neutralize the enemy and push them to the other side of the canal.

Another commander and a military spokesman corroborated his account.

Kostiantynivka is part of an important logistics chain that leads to the city of Kramatorsk.

Rollo said the win followed other successful operations, including one that secured an access road near Khromove, north of Bakhmut, and another that allowed Ukrainian forces to reclaim lost positions in the Industrial College inside Bakhmut city.

The assault south of Bakhmut was followed by a reported increase in Ukrainian offensive actions near the city of Soledar on Thursday, Russia's Defense Ministry said. Russia repelled 26 Ukrainian attacks carried out by over 1,000 soldiers, the ministry said, adding that up to 40 tanks were involved.

The slow and grinding fight for Bakhmut has cost both sides heavy casualties, with Ukraine seeking to deny Russia any territorial gains despite the area's marginal strategic significance. Ukrainian forces are stationed in the city, while Russian troops are attacking from the north, east and south.

In other fighting, at least two people were killed and 22 injured elsewhere in the country since Thursday, according to figures from the Ukrainian President's Office.

Donetsk Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko said a Russian strike hit the city of Kramatorsk, where some Ukrainian military units are based, destroying a school and residential building. Russian shelling hit 11 cities and villages in the region, killing 12 civilians, he said.
Microsoft will not give any raise to salaried employees, including senior leaders, this year as global macroeconomic conditions continue to haunt Big Tech.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told employees in a meme, seen by The Verge, that only hourly workers will receive raises this year.

"We are clear that we are helping drive a major platform shift in this new era of AI, and doing so in a dynamic, competitive environment while also facing global macroeconomic uncertainties," Nadella told employees.

"We must maintain a leadership position in our at-scale businesses of today, generating enough yield to invest and lead in the next wave, while staying on the frontiers of both performance and efficiency," he added.

Microsoft will still offer salaried employees bonuses and stock awards, according to the report.

Senior leadership team, including Nadella, will not get salary increases and receive only lower annual performance-based bonuses.

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Earlier this year, Microsoft announced to lay off 10,000 employees across the company.

In January, Nadella announced that the company will be "making changes that will result in the reduction of our overall workforce by 10,000 jobs through the end of FY23 Q3 (third quarter)".

Microsoft had more than 220,000 employees, and layoffs affected around 5 per cent of its workforce.

Microsoft-owned LinkedIn also laid off 716 employees, as the company made changes to its Global Business Organisation (GBO) and shut its InCareer app in China.

--IANS

na/dpb
Migrants rushed across the Mexico border Thursday, racing to enter the US before pandemic-related asylum restrictions are lifted in a shift that threatens to put a historic strain on the nation's beleaguered immigration system.

The imminent end of the rules known as Title 42 stirred fear among migrants that the changes would make it more difficult for them to stay in the US. And the Biden administration was dealt a potentially serious legal setback when a federal judge temporarily blocked its attempt to more quickly release migrants when Border Patrol holding stations are full.

With a late-night deadline looming, misinformation and confusion buffeted migrants as they paced the border at the Rio Grande, often unsure of where to go or what to do next.

At Matamoros, across from Brownsville, Texas, throngs of migrants some clutching small children waded across spring river currents, pushed through thickets to confront a border fortified with razor wire. Other migrants settled into shelters in northern Mexico, determined to secure an asylum appointment that can take months to schedule online.

Many migrants were acutely aware of looming policy changes designed to stop illegal crossings and encourage asylum seekers to apply online and consider alternative destinations, including Canada or Spain.

I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, said Jhoan Daniel Barrios, a former military police officer from Venezuela as he paced with two friends along the the border in Ciudad Jurez, across from El Paso, Texas, looking for a chance to seek refuge in the U.S.

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We don't have any money left, we don't have food, we don't have a place to stay, the cartel is pursuing us, said Barrios, whose wife was in U.S. custody. What are we going to do, wait until they kill us?



Last week, Barrios and his friends entered the U.S. and were expelled. They had little hope of a different result Thursday.

On the U.S. side of the river, many surrendered immediately to authorities and hoped to be released while pursuing their cases in backlogged immigration courts, which takes years.

It was not clear how many migrants were on the move or how long the surge might last. By Thursday evening, the flow seemed to be slowing in some locations, but it was not clear why, or whether crossings would increase again after the coronavirus-related restrictions expire.

A U.S. official reported the Border Patrol stopped some 10,000 migrants on Tuesday nearly twice the level from March and only slightly below the 11,000 figure that authorities have said is the upper limit of what they expect after Title 42 ends.

More than 27,000 people were in U.S. Customs and Border Protection custody, the official said.

Our buses are full. Our planes are full, said Pedro Cardenas, a city commissioner in Brownsville, Texas, just north of Matamoros, as recent arrivals headed to locations across the U.S.

President Joe Biden's administration has been unveiling strict new measures to replace Title 42, which since March 2020 has allowed border officials to quickly return asylum seekers back over the border on grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19.

The new policies crack down on illegal crossings while also setting up legal pathways for migrants who apply online, seek a sponsor and undergo background checks. If successful, the reforms could fundamentally alter how migrants arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border.

But it will take time to see results. Biden has conceded the border will be chaotic for a while. Immigrant advocacy groups have threatened legal action. And migrants fleeing poverty, gangs and persecution in their homelands are still desperate to reach U.S. soil at any cost.

Many migrants were acutely aware of looming policy changes as they searched Thursday for an opportunity to turn themselves over to U.S. immigration authorities before the 11:59 EDT deadline.

While Title 42 prevented many from seeking asylum, it carried no legal consequences, encouraging repeat attempts. After Thursday, migrants face being barred from entering the U.S. for five years and possible criminal prosecution.

Holding facilities along the border already were far beyond capacity. But late Thursday, U.S. District Judge T. Kent Wetherell, an appointee of President Donald Trump, halted the administration's plan to begin releasing migrants with notices to report to an immigration office in 60 days when holding centers reach 125% capacity, or where people are held an average of 60 hours. The quick releases were to also be triggered when authorities stop 7,000 migrants along the border in a day.

The state of Florida argued the administration's plan was nearly identical to another Biden policy previously voided in federal court. Earlier Thursday, the Justice Department said its new move was a response to an emergency and being prevented from carrying it out could overwhelm the border and raise serious health and safety risks to noncitizens and immigration officials.

Weatherell blocked the releases for two weeks and scheduled a May 19 hearing on whether to extend his order.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas had already warned of more crowded Border Patrol facilities to come.

I cannot overstate the strain on our personnel and our facilities," he told reporters Thursday.

Even as migrants were racing to reach U.S. soil before the rules expire, Mexican President Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador said smugglers were sending a different message. He noted an uptick in smugglers at his country's southern border offering to take migrants to the United States and telling them the border was open starting Thursday.

On Wednesday, Homeland Security announced a rule to make it extremely difficult for anyone who travels through another country, like Mexico, or who did not apply online, to qualify for asylum. It also introduced curfews with GPS tracking for families released in the U.S. before initial asylum screenings.

The administration says it is beefing up the removal of migrants found unqualified to stay in the U.S. on flights like those that brought nearly 400 migrants home to Guatemala from the U.S. on Thursday.

Among them was Sheidi Mazariegos, 26, who arrived with her 4-year-old son just eight days after being detained near Brownsville.

I heard on the news that there was an opportunity to enter, I heard it on the radio, but it was all a lie, she said. Smugglers got her to Matamoros and put the two on a raft. They were quickly apprehended by Border Patrol agents.

Mazariegos said she made the trek because she is poor and hoped to reunite with her sisters living in the U.S.

At the same time, the administration has introduced expansive new legal pathways into the U.S.

Up to 30,000 people a month from Haiti, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela can enter if they apply online with a financial sponsor and enter through an airport. Processing centers are opening in Guatemala, Colombia and elsewhere. Up to 1,000 can enter daily though land crossings with Mexico if they snag an appointment on an online app.

At shelters in northern Mexico, many migrants chose not to rush to the border and waited for existing asylum appointments or hopes of reserving one online.

At the gape Misin Mundial shelter in Tijuana, hundreds of migrants bided their time. Daisy Bucia, 37, and her 15-year-old daughter arrived at the shelter over three months ago from Mexico's Michoacn state fleeing death threats and have an asylum appointment Saturday in California.

Bucia read on social media that pandemic-era restrictions were ending at the U.S.-Mexico border, but preferred to cross with certainty later.

What people want more than anything is to confuse you, Bucia said.
The New Zealand government is signing contracts with major telecommunications network operators to speed up the rollout of 5G to regional towns, especially rural black spot areas, across the country.

The government is committed to ensuring that everyone in New Zealand can get access to good mobile wireless coverage, no matter where they are, Minister for Digital Economy and Communications Ginny Andersen said on Friday.

The government has struck a bespoke deal with New Zealand's three major network operators, namely Spark, 2Degrees and One New Zealand, which will deliver a faster rollout of 5G services to around 55 rural and regional towns across New Zealand and provide mobile wireless coverage to further rural black spot areas, Andersen added.

"By working together with our major mobile network operators, many more Kiwis will gain access to 5G services quicker, which is expected to provide faster data transmission speeds and capacity compared to 4G," she said.

This deal is a huge step forward for rural New Zealand when it comes to connectivity, the Minister added as quoted by Xinhua news agency report.

In return for the commitments from the major network operators, the government will provide long-term access to the 3.5GHz spectrum band used for 5G services worldwide through a direct allocation process. This exchange provides an opportunity to expand and improve coverage to regional and rural New Zealand, Anderson said.

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New Zealand's three major operators will each receive 80 MHz of spectrum in the 3.5GHz band, which is sufficient for them to operate nationwide 5G networks, she added.

--IANS

int/khz/
Smartphone maker OPPO has shut down its chip design subsidiary called Zeku, as the semiconductor market goes through a heavy slump, the media reported on Friday.

According to the South China Morning Post, OPPO announced the move in a brief statement, calling it a "difficult decision" and blaming "uncertainties in the global economy and smartphone market".

Zeku employees received less than a day's notice about the unit being shut down, the report claimed.

The global technology brand set up Zeku in 2019 to design chips that could be used in its devices.

Other smartphone makers, including Xiaomi, have also set up their own chip-design verticals.

The move came as chip manufacturing has been severely affected in China by escalating US export restrictions targeting advanced semiconductors.

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"Out of 3,243 fabless chip firms in China last year, only 566 had sales above 100 million yuan ($14.4 million), according to Wei Shaojun, president of integrated circuit design at the China Semiconductor Industry Association (CSIA)," the report mentioned.

Global semiconductor revenue is projected to decline 11.2 per cent to reach $532 billion in 2023, and the short-term outlook for the semiconductor market has deteriorated further.

In 2022, the market totalled $599.6 billion, which was marginal growth of 0.2 per cent from 2021, according to the latest forecast from Gartner.

The PC, tablet and smartphone semiconductor markets are stagnating. The combined markets will represent 31 per cent of semiconductor revenue in 2023 and total $167.6 billion.

--IANS

na/svn/
By Mihir Sharma



Pakistan has, once again, descended into chaos. The past decade has seen the country struggle with disruptive street politics, a collapsing economy and the growing distrust of its patrons in Beijing and Washington. Now, with the detention of its most popular politician, its hard to see how it will recover stability for another 10 years at least.

In any other country, former prime minister Imran Khans arrest this week would have been considered the most dramatic event of the decade. Khan, who had successfully evaded a similar fate earlier this year, turned up at court to answer some corruption allegations. Paramilitary forces broke a window to get to him and take him into custody  for a whole other set of corruption allegations. All this is happening amid renewed concerns over the sustainability of the nations sovereign debt. Moodys Investors Service said Monday that Pakistan could default without an International Monetary Fund bailout and warned its financing options beyond June were uncertain. Pakistan has, once again, descended into chaos. The past decade has seen the country struggle with disruptive street politics, a collapsing economy and the growing distrust of its patrons in Beijing and Washington. Now, with the detention of its most popular politician, its hard to see how it will recover stability for another 10 years at least.



But so was a model Pakistan Air Force jet, army installations in the garrison city of Rawalpindi and even the house of the senior military officer in Lahore once owned by Pakistans founder, Mohammed Ali Jinnah. Theres no doubt in the protestors minds of who is to blame for Khans arrest: Pakistans military, which has run the country openly and from the shadows for most of its independent history. Yet theres little attention to spare in Pakistan for its financial peril. All eyes are on Khan instead, who was handed over to the countrys anti-corruption tribunal, the National Accountability Bureau, before being released by the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, the army has been deployed after riots erupted across the nuclear-armed nation of 240 million people. We dont know how bad they are, because the internet has also been shut down in much of the country. We do know that police cars and stations, a Radio Pakistan office, and Lahores bus system  associated in the public mind with the current prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, who took credit for expanding it  were targets of arson.



Unfortunately, however, the facts of this or other cases dont matter. Khans supporters will argue that his troubles are all because the military wants him out. And that is undeniably true. Its equally undeniable, however, that the military wanted him in first. Khans two decades in the political wilderness only ended when the army put its massive thumb on the electoral scales in 2018, jailing and intimidating Khans opponents and ushering him into the prime ministers office. We dont know the truth of the many corruption allegations against Khan. The one he was arrested for involves Pakistans largest construction magnate, who was supposed to hand over GBP 190 million to the treasury, but was allowed to use it to pay down his tax debt instead. The government has accused Khan of receiving donations for one of his university projects as a payoff.

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Todays army chiefs have learned from Musharrafs failures. He launched a coup against Nawaz Sharif in 1999, only to lose power a decade later and end up being prosecuted himself, eventually dying in exile in Dubai in February. As a consequence, the army has replaced direct rule with subservient institutions as a method of control. Military power in the 21st century isnt about coups but about ensuring that the various organs of the establishment, from courts to the media to the public sector, do your bidding. That its the National Accountability Bureau being used against Khan is particularly telling, since it was originally set up by a former military dictator, Pervez Musharraf, to put the fear of God into Pakistans political elite. And it was, most recently, used to go after the militarys previous Public Enemy No. 1, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, as well as his brother, the current PM. The military succeeded in pushing Nawaz Sharif out of politics to get Khan in; and now they have made peace with his brother, in order to push Khan out. They have used the NAB, the media, and even judges to keep Pakistans politicians under control.
After the Supreme Court declared Imran Khan's arrest "illegal", Pakistan President Dr Arif Alvi visited Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairman at the rest house in the Police Lines, where he is staying, The News reported.

According to sources, the Pak President briefed the PTI chief about the situation in the country and his communication with the military authorities on his arrest and the situation in the wake of it, The News reported.

The sources said that Khan later called Gilgit Baltistan Chief Minister Khalid Khurshid. He too joined the discussions which lasted for more than two hours till after midnight.

President Arif Alvi had written a letter to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and deplored the manner in which Imran Khan was arrested inside the Islamabad High Court premises.

"I would like to draw your attention to the way Imran Khan was arrested," the president wrote in his strongly-worded letter two days after the PTI chief was arrested in the Al-Qadir Trust corruption case, which led to widespread deadly protests.

"The people of Pakistan and I were shocked to see the video of this incident. The video shows the abuse of a former prime minister. Imran Khan is a popular leader and the head of a major political party", The News reported.

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During his appearance in the Supreme Court, Khan -- responding to a query by a foreign media representative who asked him if he was nabbed because he made allegations against a serving military officer -- reiterated that his allegations against a serving military officer are not mere accusations but a reality.

--IANS

san/dpb
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday said that the resilient future of the nations along the Indian ocean coastlines require respect and mutual trust among them, stressing that her nation was committed to playing its role for peace in the region.

Opening the two-day 6th Indian Ocean Conference (IOC) here in the Bangladeshi capital, Hasina said that Indian ocean held significant importance for not only Bangladesh, but for all the countries in the region due to its geographical position.

"We remain committed to playing our role for peace in the region, and expect all other countries to do the same to ensure a resilient future," she said during the conference, which is being organised by Bangladesh's Foreign Ministry along with India Foundation, a think tank based out of New Delhi.

Hasina said the Indian Ocean held significant importance for not only Bangladesh, but for all the countries in the region due to its geographical position that prompted Dhaka to formulate recently its Indo-Pacific Outlook.

She said being a littoral state Bangladesh had been a hub of maritime activities for centuries and it is active in many regional platforms.

Mauritius president Prithvirajsing Roopun, minister-level delegations from 25 countries and representatives from different other regional groupings like Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) and South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) joined the meet where India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar delivered the key-note speech.

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Despite being a littoral state of the Indian Ocean Myanmar was not invited to the conference visibly due to Bangladesh's strained ties with Naypyidaw over the Rohingya crisis.

Hasina said Bangladesh provided temporary shelter to more than 1.1 million forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals despite its own many challenges as the ethnic minority Muslim population took makeshift refuge in the neighbouring country to evade persecution in their homeland.

"This gesture avoided a major humanitarian catastrophe in the region. Now, we seek active support of the global community to repatriate the Rohingya people to their homeland in a safe and sustainable manner," she said.

The Bangladesh premier called for promoting culture of peace and people centric development in the region ensuring just and inclusive societies in the region.

She said the countries in the Indian Ocean region should foster "Maritime Diplomacy" for their prosperous future, stressing that the region's climate vulnerability demanded their enhanced mutual cooperation.

Hasina the region was required to promote open, transparent, rules-based multilateral systems that facilitate equitable and sustainable development in the region and beyond through inclusive economic growth.

Bangladesh is the current Chair of the Indian Ocean Rim Association and President of Council of the International Seabed Authority.
South Korea and Japan held working-level consultations on Friday to discuss details of Seoul's inspection of Tokyo's plan to discharge contaminated water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant.

The Director-General-level meeting was held at Seoul's foreign ministry, with the South Korean side headed by Yun Hyun-soo, head of the ministry's bureau for climate change, energy, environment and scientific affairs, and the Japanese side led by Atsushi Kaifu, director-general of the Japanese foreign ministry's disarmament, non-proliferation and science department.

The meeting was held to discuss details of the Seoul team's on-site inspection activities from May 23-24, as agreed upon during a summit between South Korea President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Sunday, Yonhap news agency reported.

Park Ku-yeon, the first deputy chief of the Office for Government Policy Coordination, told a press briefing earlier in the day that the inspection team will comprise some 20 experts in safety regulation.

The inspection comes amid concerns over possible health and environmental hazards from the release of more than 1 million ton of water from the wrecked plant.

The two countries appear to be at odds over the mission of the team. Seoul has said the inspection is aimed at checking the safety of the discharge process but Tokyo has suggested a limited scope for their activity.

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Speaking at a press briefing earlier this week, Japanese Industry Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said the inspection is intended to "help deepen understanding" about the safety of the release, not to evaluate or certify its safety.

The Fukushima plant has stored more than 1.3 million ton of water through a custom purification system known as the Advanced Liquid Processing System, since three reactors melted down after a powerful earthquake struck off the coast in March 2011.

--IANS

int/khz/
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday met International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director Kristalina Georgieva on the sidelines of G7 finance ministers and central bank governors (FMCBG) meet.

She is on a two-day visit to Japan. The G7 meeting is taking place in Niigata.

Meanwhile, she also met Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Lawrence Wong during the sidelines of the meeting.

Both the ministers exchanged their views on strengthening India-Singapore cooperation on issues like digital payment gateway, food security, green transition, crypto assets and Pandemic preparedness among other issues.

Sitharaman highlighted the emerging role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and skilling programmes in the context of setting up of new AI centres.

Both the ministers discussed ways for collaboration between India-Singapore in AI research and Quantum Computing.

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--IANS

ans/shb/


Masayoshi Son is now personally on the hook for about $5.2 billion on side deals he set up at SoftBank Group Corp. to boost his compensation, after the Vision Fund venture capital arm capped a year of record losses.

By Min Jeong Lee, Pei Yi Mak and Takahiko Hyuga



His unrealized losses widened by about $130 million from three months before, with most of the deficit linked to the Latin America fund. The founder and chief executive officer of SoftBank was down $5.1 billion on the same side deals through the December quarter. The Vision Fund unit lost 297.5 billion ($2 billion) in the three months ended March, ending the fiscal year with a total loss of 4.3 trillion  its worst since Son proudly set up the business in 2017. The worlds largest technology investor reported dismal earnings despite a global rebound in equities, as it suffered losses on unlisted startups in its portfolio.



Portfolio losses ratcheted up Sons deficit to about $2.9 billion from his Vision Fund 2 interest, and $463 million at the Latin America fund, according to disclosures for the March quarter. His remaining deficit at SB Northstar was 246.9 billion ($1.8 billion). The debt totaled $5.2 billion, according to Bloomberg calculations based on company disclosures. Son, whose stake in SoftBank grew in recent months, also owns portions of the companys key investment vehicles. While these holdings have sparked controversy due to corporate governance concerns, the Japanese billionaire has denied any conflict of interest.

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There is no immediate deadline for repayment and the value of Sons positions could improve in the future, and for SB Northstar, Son has already deposited some cash and other assets. The founder would pay his share of any unfunded repayment obligations at the end of the funds life, which runs 12 years with a two-year extension. The 65-year-old billionaire holds 17.25% of a vehicle set up under SoftBanks Vision Fund 2 for its unlisted holdings, as well as 17.25% of a unit within the companys Latin America fund, which also invests in startups. He has a 33% stake in SB Northstar, a vehicle set up at the company to trade stocks and derivatives.
New Delhi, May 12: The Taliban government in Afghanistan has expressed its dismay at the civil war-like situation in neighbouring Pakistan. The two Islamic nations share a 2,640-km long boundary known as the Durand line with communities having close ties on both sides of the shared border.

In a video release, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) of the Afghan Interim government expressed its concerns at the poor state of affairs in Pakistan and said that political stability in Pakistan is important for Afghanistan and the entire region. The spokesperson urged all stakeholders in the country to observe tolerance and understanding in the current situation.

The video statement said that the ministry has given instructions to its diplomatic missions in Pakistan to take all measures to ensure the safety and protection of Afghan nationals in Pakistan.

In statement posted on its website on Wednesday, the MoFA said: 'The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is saddened by the recent events in Pakistan, leading to large-scale protests and even violence in some instances. The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan considers political stability in Pakistan in the interest of the Muslim people of Pakistan and the broader region, and hopes the sides demonstrate restraint and understanding'.

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On May 9, former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan was arrested on Tuesday afternoon by Pakistani paramilitary forces from the Islamabad High Court. Khan's arbitrary arrest led to severe violence as his supporters attacked Pakistani Army installations at Rawalpindi, Lahore, Peshawar and Quetta including the residences of corps commanders. The unprecedented rioting brought all of Pakistan to a standstill.

Afghanistan is naturally worried as it had barely days before the civil unrest in Pakistan participated in the China-Afghanistan-Pakistan Foreign Ministers' trilateral in Islamabad on May 6. Afghanistan's Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi had been given special permission by the UN to attend this meeting.

For the Taliban government, the trilateral had meant investments from China as well as international recognition that it has been seeking. The three nations had discussed peace, stability and reconstruction for Afghanistan along with the need to revive the Afghan economy that stands on the verge of collapse under the current regime.

Afghanistan is worried that the severe unrest in Pakistan will have a bearing on Afghanistan at a time when it is looking at economic revival through China. The Taliban government has also been exploring the possibility of making Afghanistan a centre for regional connectivity linking South Asia to the Central Asian Region (CAR) as well as linking up with China as well.

A politically unstable and economically unviable Pakistan, where the masses have led a revolt against their own army has consequences for the Taliban government. The Talibs realise it and would, therefore, want Pakistan to quieten down as soon as possible.

(The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com)

--indianarrative
The Republicans in the audience laughed when former President Donald Trump mocked a woman who accused him of rape. They cheered when he defended his role during the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol. And they applauded again after he said he was honoured to terminate Roe v. Wade.

Trump's defiant performance at the CNN town hall on Wednesday may ultimately hurt his standing with key groups of voters in next fall's general election, especially women, suburbanites and independents. But the reaction of those who attended also demonstrated his extraordinary grip on the conservative voters who will soon decide the fight for the GOP presidential nomination.

The magnitude of the challenge ahead for Trump's Republican rivals was clear as the former president repeatedly turned his greatest political liabilities into jokes and applause lines for the GOP base.

On Thursday, a day after the town hall, Trump's Republican critics conceded they don't know how to stop him.

GOP voters want what Trump gave them last night the lies, the personal attacks... and the confrontation with the media, said Sarah Longwell, founder of the anti-Trump Republican Accountability Project.

I think it was an important wakeup call that Trump is still the likeliest GOP nominee. It's scary, but important we face it and do everything we can to keep him from becoming president again.

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The first votes of the GOP primary won't be cast until early next year and the nomination itself won't be formally decided until next summer. But early public polling suggests Trump is the overwhelming frontrunner. And so far, most of his primary opponents have been unable, or unwilling, to use his most egregious behaviour against him for fear that such attacks could alienate the same conservative voters they hope to win over.

Almost none of the GOP's 2024 class has seized on Trump's many legal entanglements, even after a jury this week found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation in a civil case brought by advice columnist E. Jean Carroll. The jury ordered Trump to pay her USD 5 million.

The verdict was met with silence from most of Trump's Republican competitors. Those forced to respond defended the former president.

Former Vice President Mike Pence, who is preparing to challenge Trump in the 2024 primary with a focus on evangelical voters, suggested in an NBC interview that any focus on the sexual abuse verdict was a distraction from more important issues like the economy and public safety.

Asked if he feels comfortable with someone who found liable of sexual abuse serving as president, Pence said, I would tell you in my four and a half years serving alongside the president I never heard or witnessed behaviour of that nature.

It's much the same with the stunning violence on January 6.

Pence, whose life was threatened that day, has been one of the only Republican presidential prospects willing to call out Trump for sparking the insurrection. Most have downplayed the incident given that most Republican voters believe Trump's false claims that sparked the attack despite a mountain of evidence to the contrary.

And on abortion restrictions, an issue that repelled women and other suburban voters in many high-profile elections last year, Trump won't likely suffer any consequences in the upcoming Republican primary for proudly claiming credit for the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Quite the contrary, some Republican opponents have staked out even more aggressive anti-abortion positions, understanding that primary voters overwhelmingly oppose abortion rights.

If Trump is vulnerable to any Republican attack, it may be related to his electability.

In the wake of the GOP's disappointing 2022 midterm performance, party leaders openly opined that Trump and his brand of politics have become toxic among the broader electorate, especially women, independents and college-educated suburban voters.

Such concerns may have faded in recent weeks, however, as the party rallies behind Trump in response to new legal entanglements.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is the latest Republican to try to weaken Trump by raising electability concerns.

In a memo shortly before the CNN town hall, DeSantis' super PAC released a memo warning that a Trump nomination would be a disaster for the Republican Party at the ballot box.

The data suggest that if Trump were to become the 2024 nominee, he will likely cost the GOP control of the House and multiple winnable seats in the Senate, wrote Chris Wilson, head of data for the Never Back Down super PAC.

In a general election, Trump's endorsements signal ideological extremism to non-Republicans and, ultimately, reduce moderate and Democratic support for Republican congressional candidates.

It's far from certain that electability concerns alone will be enough to knock Trump from his dominant position in the Republican primary.

Democratic President Joe Biden appears to be eager for a re-match.

It's simple, folks. Do you want four more years of that? Biden tweeted immediately after the CNN town hall.

Hours later, the Biden campaign released a video featuring Trump's description of January 6 during the town hall as a beautiful day.

At the bottom of the split-screen, Trump supporters on January 6 are shown pummelling police officers fighting to defend the US Capitol.

A handful of lower-profile Republicans are struggling to make the same case to GOP primary voters.

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who is actively preparing to launch another Republican presidential bid, targeted New Hampshire voters with Facebook ads during the CNN event that said Trump PROVOKES VIOLENCE, PAYS HUSH MONEY and ABUSES WOMEN".

Is this really the conduct we want from the president of the United States? the Christie ad asks.

Former Rep. Liz Cheney, who lost her reelection last fall after leading the congressional probe into January 6, paid to run a 60-second ad in New Hampshire during the town hall focused on the insurrection.

Donald Trump is the only president in American history who has refused to guarantee the peaceful transfer of power," Cheney says in the ad. Donald Trump is a risk America can never take again.

But if the January 6 attack is a political liability for Trump in 2024, he doesn't seem worried.

In addition to describing the violence as a beautiful day, Trump also said at the town hall that he's "inclined to pardon many of his supporters who were convicted of criminal charges after participating in the attack.

They're living in hell, Trump said of his loyalists who sought to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power to Biden. Many of them are just great people.
US Ambassador Philip Goldberg called on Friday for South Korea to "keep speaking out" against Russia's invasion of Ukraine, stressing the importance of the two allies working together on global issues.

Goldberg made the remark during a lecture at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, after tensions flared between South Korea and Russia last month following President Yoon Suk Yeol's suggestion of a shift in South Korea's policy of providing only non-lethal aid to Ukraine in its war with Russia, Yonhap news agency reported.

"We need you to work with us to find solutions to the climate crisis. We need you to continue standing up for our shared democratic values, such as respect for human rights," he said.

"And we need you to keep speaking out against atrocities, like Russia's war in Ukraine."

In an interview with Reuters, Yoon said it might be difficult for South Korea to insist only on providing humanitarian or financial assistance if Ukraine comes under a large-scale attack on civilians.

Russia has since warned that supplying military aid to Ukraine would mean Seoul "becoming involved in the conflict to a certain extent" and would represent "an openly hostile anti-Russian move".

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"The world has watched in horror as Russia embarked on a senseless war of aggression in violation of international law, killing tens of thousands, destroying civilian infrastructure and wreaking havoc on the global economy," Goldberg said.

"I want to praise the South Korea government for helping Ukraine's vast humanitarian needs and for implementing sanctions on Russia to make sure they pay a price for this pointless destruction," he added.

The Ambassador also reaffirmed the US security commitment to South Korea is firm.

"There should be no doubt that our commitment to South Korea's defence is ironclad, as it has been for the past 70 years," he said.

Goldberg denounced North Korea's destabilising actions, such as missile launches, saying Pyongyang is using its scarce resources to develop weapons of mass destruction, rather than caring for its people.

Still, he said diplomacy is the "only viable way to achieve a safe and stable Korean Peninsula free of nuclear weapons".

The envoy also spoke at length about the recent summit between Yoon and US President Joe Biden, saying the two leaders "looked a lot like old college friends".

"To ensure we are ready to stand against any threat, our presidents announced a new forum to discuss the full range of our combined defensive capabilities, including nuclear, conventional and missile defence," he said, referring to the Washington Declaration adopted at the White House summit.

--IANS

int/khz/
Thousands of women living in rural, eastern Maryland have few options when they're looking for someone to deliver their babies.

The local hospital doesn't have an obstetrics doctor on staff so most women in this region, flanked by sprawling farm fields and antique stores, turn to the Chesapeake Health Care clinic.

Five of the 10 obstetricians and midwives at the clinic are there because of the National Health Service Corps, which promises to pay off USD 50,000 in medical school debt for every two years that a doctor serves working in rural, urban or poor areas.

OB is frightfully difficult to recruit, and I'm not real sure exactly why, said the clinic's chief medical officer Dr. Lee Jennings. We're isolated, we're in an area where we're the only OB group in the entire area.

Over the last three years, millions of taxpayer dollars were pumped into the National Health Service Corps to hire thousands more doctors and nurses willing to serve the country's most desperate regions during the COVID-19 pandemic in exchange for forgiving medical school debts.

Now, with the health emergency over, the programme's expansion is in jeopardy even as people struggle to get timely and quality care because of an industry-wide dearth of workers.

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Funding for the programme expires at the end of September, although President Joe Biden asked Congress to sign off an extra half-billion dollar for the project in his budget.

The number of nurses, physician, dentists, counselors, and midwives has ballooned thanks to an extra USD 800 million the US Congress kicked to the programme in stimulus packages unveiled as coronavirus raged. Last year, just over 20,000 people were corps members up 50 per cent from 13,000 people in 2019.

The programme has placed medical professionals across a variety of disciplines from occupational therapists in Ohio to counselors who treat drug and alcohol addictions in Alaska in community health centres around the country.

Those clinics receive federal funding to provide primary care for patients, regardless of their health insurance status or ability to pay.

The programme has found rare bipartisan support from Republican and Democratic lawmakers who say they're grateful for the void corps members fill in rural and needy communities alike that are coping with shortages. The US is short thousands of family doctors, OB-GYNs and nurses, a problem that is only expected to worsen over the next decade.

Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who oversees the powerful Health, Education, Labour and Pensions Committee, has made the issue a top talking point in hearings. Sanders said in his state, people have complained to him about waits as long as five months just to get a physical with a doctor.

The situation would worsen, he told The Associated Press, if corps funding is not renewed and increased.

People are going to struggle to find a dentist, to find a mental health counselor, Sanders said. If it's bad now, it's only going to get worse.

Last month, a group of House Republicans sponsored a bill that would continue funding for the corps programme, but not give it the same cash infusion that Biden has requested.

One of the most consistent issues I've heard in my district in Pennsylvania is the shortage of physician and health care workers, Republican Rep. John Joyce, who introduced the bill, said during a congressional hearing on the health care worker shortage last month.

Still, the programme's future is hanging in the balance with a split Congress that's just weeks away from allowing the US to default on its debts. Uncertainty around funding for the programme also makes it difficult for health clinics to recruit providers, said Carole Johnson, who heads up the federal Health Resources and Services Administration that oversees corps funding.

We're hopeful to continue to grow. We know there's a net demand out there, Johnson said. All the conversations that we've had have been very positive; that doesn't make it easy."



One of the largest areas of growth for the program has been in mental health, with more than 2,000 additional counselors, social workers, psychologists, and substance abuse counselors being hired over the past four years.

At Chicago's largest, around-the-clock treatment centre, about eight of the Haymarket Centre's providers are corps members. The centre sees roughly 12,000 patients every year, many of them homeless.

The corps programme allows the not-for-profit Haymarket Centre to recruit health care workers in a competitive market with a different benefit: as much as USD 250,000 in student loan repayment, said Jeffrey Collord, the vice president of operations at the centre.

We might not be able to compensate staff at the highest levels so being able to be part of the programme allows us to provide a benefit that other sites don't have access to, Collord said.

Student loan forgiveness allowed Dr. Stephen Robinson to be the family physician that he always hoped to be. He worried through medical school about the mountain of student loan debt that was piling up and watched as many of his classmates pursued more lucrative salaries as specialty doctors. But his dad researched alternatives and discovered the National Health Service Corps programme.

If more providers thought they could come out and still be able to pay off their debt, they'd go into primary services, Robinson said. This has allowed us to do that.

His wife, Caitlin, is one of the coveted OB-GYNs that Chesapeake Health Care recruited through the programme. Pregnant women drive as much as an hour to see her.

Both are now nearly debt-free after spending seven years in the programme. But they don't plan on leaving this small Maryland town anytime soon. The Robinsons love raising their children close to the shore, fresh air and parks.

We have no plans on going anywhere, even though we're done, Stephen Robinson said.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told senior Chinese foreign policy adviser Wang Yi during talks in Vienna this week that the Biden administration is looking to move beyond tensions spurred by the US shooting down a Chinese spy balloon that traversed the continental United States, according to a senior Biden administration official.

The meeting was not publicised by Washington or Beijing ahead of the high-level talks on Wednesday and Thursday in the Austrian capital. The White House described the wide-ranging discussions, in which the two leaders spent more than eight hours together, as candid and constructive."



The administration official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity to discuss the private meeting, said that both sides recognise that the February incident was unfortunate" and are now looking to reestablish standard, normal channels of communications.

The talks are the latest in a series of small signs that tensions could be easing between the world's two biggest economies.

As the political and military rivalry between China and the US intensifies, American officials and analysts are worried that a lack of reliable crisis communications could cause a minor confrontation to spiral into greater hostilities. They cite the ability to communicate with the former Soviet Union as allowing the Cold War to end without a nuclear exchange.

The White House in a statement said the meeting was part of ongoing efforts to maintain open lines of communication and responsibly manage competition," and that Sullivan and Wang discussed key issues in the US-China relationship, Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine, Taiwan, and more.

The meeting took place in a luxury hotel along Vienna's historical Ringstrasse, according to an Austrian official familiar with the matter. The official, who was not authorised to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said planning for the meeting was closely guarded and Austrian authorities were only given a few days' advance notice that Vienna was chosen for the talks.

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Chinese officials saw the discussions as substantive" and said both sides would "continue to make good use of this channel of strategic communication," according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

Sullivan also repeated White House concerns about a lack of constructive engagement by Beijing to use its influence to press Russia to end its invasion of Ukraine and called on China to do more to stop the movement of illegal drugs, according to the administration official.

The US in particular has been pressing China to clamp down on the production of precursor chemicals used to make fentanyl.

Sullivan also raised the cases of three American citizens imprisoned in China Mark Swidan, Kai Li, and David Lin. All three have been designated by the State Department's office of the special presidential envoy on hostage affairs designates as wrongful detainees."



Tensions between the countries spiked last year after then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to democratically governed Taiwan. That visit, the first by a sitting House speaker since Newt Gingrich in 1997, led China, which claims the island as its territory, to launch military exercises around Taiwan.

US-China relations became further strained earlier this year after the US shot down a Chinese spy balloon that had crossed the United States.

Beijing also was angered by Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen's stopover in the US last month that included an encounter with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. The speaker hosted the Taiwanese leader at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in southern California.

But there are signs that the two sides are getting diplomatic communications back on track.

President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks in Bali, Indonesia, in November. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was to travel to China in February, but the trip was postponed after the spy balloon incident. Blinken and Wang, China's top diplomat, met later in February on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference after the US had shot down the balloon.

The White House has expressed interest in rescheduling Blinken's visit. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre earlier this week said that Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo also could visit Beijing at some point.

The talks between Sullivan and Wang was their first face-to-face meeting since Wang was elevated last year to the Communist Party's Politburo, the top policymaking body made up of the party's 24 most senior officials.

Wang served as foreign minister for nearly 10 years and was the only diplomat promoted to the Politburo.

US Ambassador Nicholas Burns and Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang also met in Beijing this week, and Biden's special envoy for climate, John Kerry, held a call last month with his counterpart, Xie Zhenhua.

Burns, during a virtual forum hosted by the Stimson Center earlier this month, said communication is improving.

Yes, we did have instances when we wanted to have certain very high-level conversations when it wasn't possible," Burns said. But I have to say, in recent weeks, in the last month or so, there's been a consistent communication between myself and senior officials in the foreign ministry, my colleagues in the US mission and their counterparts in the foreign ministry here.
FarEye today announced Grow, a solution for logistic companies to provide a modern-age experience to its customers. With a user-friendly interface, frictionless onboarding, automated booking, and seamless payments integration, Grow is set to empower logistics businesses to accelerate customer acquisition, improve customer satisfaction, and drive growth.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230511005538/en/

Grow is a cutting-edge self-serve merchant portal designed to revolutionize the way logistics companies manage their shipping operations. (Photo: Business Wire)

With the parcel delivery market projected to hit $200 billion by 2026 and over tens of millions of shippers worldwide, it's clear that logistic companies have an unprecedented opportunity for growth. Every retailer and e-commerce company wants to offer home delivery but continues to struggle to find the right, modern-age logistics partner and are stuck with legacy ways of home delivery. Grow enables logistics companies to address this demand-supply gap.

"We are thrilled to launch Grow, which we believe will become an indispensable tool for logistics companies seeking to acquire new retailers and stay ahead of the competition," said Kushal Nahata, CEO of FarEye. "Our team has worked tirelessly to create a platform that unlocks the potential of thousands of logistic companies, and we are confident that Grow will transform the way logistics businesses interact with their customers and manage their day-to-day operations."

FarEye Grow is an easy way for merchants to self-serve, get quotes, create orders, generate labels, and manage transactions. It also offers shipment-level visibility and in-built exception management, enabling retailers and shippers to save time and effort, leading to increased customer satisfaction. In addition, automated invoice generation and payments with digital wallet capabilities allow logistic companies to reduce payment delays and improve cash flow. Grow is equipped with built-in plug-ins with major e-commerce platforms like Shopify and BigCommerce, allowing shippers to connect and start delivering quickly.

FarEye Grow is a part of the FarEye product portfolio that supports companies through the complete order-to-door delivery journey. It has products like Ship, Track, Route, Execute, Experience, Analyze, and now, Grow, which offers the following key benefits:

Personalized portal for easy onboarding: Allows self-onboarding and complete order entry, get quotes, generate labels, real-time status updates, and proof of delivery on one platform.

Allows self-onboarding and complete order entry, get quotes, generate labels, real-time status updates, and proof of delivery on one platform. Track and trace visibility: Provides real-time track and trace visibility and address validation to merchants for booked orders.

Provides real-time track and trace visibility and address validation to merchants for booked orders. Scale with your merchants: Track merchants growth, run campaigns based on orders and transactions, and make recommendations for merchants to transact more for revenue and business growth.

Track merchants growth, run campaigns based on orders and transactions, and make recommendations for merchants to transact more for revenue and business growth. Booking order transparency: Self-service merchant order booking directly from the platform, this helps CEPs track revenue and reduce lost revenue.

Self-service merchant order booking directly from the platform, this helps CEPs track revenue and reduce lost revenue. Digital wallet management: Offer customers purchase credit for their shipping needs. Provide complete visibility into all transactions, book and pay for shipments by multiple payment modes, including directly by wallet.

FarEye's Grow is the ultimate customer portal for CEP companies looking to streamline shipping operations, expand their customer network, and achieve sustainable growth in today's competitive industry. To learn more about the portal and how it can benefit your business, visit the FarEye website today.

About FarEye

FarEyes Delivery Management platform turns deliveries into a competitive advantage. Retail, e-commerce and third-party logistics companies use FarEyes unique combination of orchestration, real-time visibility, and branded customer experiences to simplify complex last-mile delivery logistics. The FarEye platform allows businesses to increase consumer loyalty and satisfaction, reduce costs and improve operational efficiencies. FarEye has 150+ customers across 30 countries and five offices globally. FarEye, First Choice for Last Mile.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230511005538/en/
As well as showcasing the latest technologies, solutions and business models for the new energy world, Europes largest platform for the energy industry, The smarter E Europe, and its four exhibitions will also celebrate the pioneers and innovators behind these ideas. The best in each class will be recognised with The smarter E AWARD, Intersolar AWARD, ees AWARD, and  new for this year  the Power2Drive AWARD and EM-Power AWARD. The finalists shortlisted for these international awards have now been revealed by the panel of experts, with the winners set to be announced on June 13, 2023  on the eve of The smarter E Europe  at the International Congress Center Munchen (ICM). The smarter E Europe and its four exhibitions (Intersolar Europe, ees Europe, Power2Drive Europe and EM-Power Europe) will take place from June 1416, 2023, at Messe Munchen. 2,200 exhibitors across 17 exhibition halls with an enormous 180,000 square meters of exhibition space will be awaiting more than 85,000 visitors from 160 different countries.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230511005455/en/

The smarter E AWARDS Finalists 2023 Graphic: Solar Promotion GmbH

Intelligent, innovative, interdisciplinary  Europes largest platform for the energy industry, The smarter E Europe, shines the spotlight on key topics for the new energy world, in particular solar energy, storage technology, energy management, smart grids and e-mobility. The smarter E AWARD 2023 celebrates exceptional projects involving cross-sector collaboration and in 2023 the finalists include several start-ups. German company HPS Home Power Solutions combines PV systems with hydrogen energy storage, and is using its ground-breaking technology to supply an entire commercial property (in the town of Meckenheim just outside Bonn) with 100% carbon-neutral electricity and heat for the very first time. Meanwhile Fenecon, a company based in Lower Bavaria, has developed the first charging station for electric buses to be used on the Swiss public transport network. The other finalists include German company Maschinenfabrik Reinhausen and Spanish company Wallbox Chargers.

The solar industry has made efficiency its mission, in everything from PV modules, to string inverters for free-standing installations and improved mounting and monitoring systems. The finalists for the Intersolar AWARD 2023 are shining examples of this. With the introduction of the European Unions climate protection goals and surging energy prices continuing to drive demand for PV modules in the residential market, manufacturers have responded by developing increasingly high-performance modules measuring a maximum size of two square meters, as demonstrated by the ABC modules from Shenzhen Aiko Digital Energy Technology from China. The flexible PV modules from AWARD finalist Apollo Power from Israel are also a great example of the growing number of specialist solutions being developed for roofs with reduced load-bearing capacity. As heat pump technology becomes more and more widespread another key trend is the growing demand for simultaneous generation of electricity and low-temperature heat using photovoltaic-thermal (PVT) modules. The Sunmaxx PX-1 module from German company Sunmaxx PVT is a fantastic example of this and more than worthy of a place among this years finalists for the Intersolar AWARD.

Batteries and energy storage systems are vital technologies if we are to achieve a reliable energy supply from renewable sources. Energy storage is becoming an increasingly important topic and this is reflected in the finalists shortlisted for the ees AWARDs 2023. This year, the majority of the pioneering products and solutions selected by the panel of experts are from the field of residential storage systems. Demand is growing for compact mobile storage systems with inverters, which can be used both on-grid and as an off-grid system in connection with PV balcony installations, and the EcoFlow PowerStream from finalist EcoFlow from China is a great example of this technology. Another trend, in terms of the cell chemistry, is towards lithium-iron-phosphate cells, as showcased by the TrinaStorage Elementa storage system and a modular residential storage system from Huawei.

This year, for the very first time, technologies and business models promoting emission-free mobility will be recognised with the brand new Power2Drive AWARD. The shortlisted finalists have all developed ground-breaking products and services in the areas of e-mobility and charging infrastructure, bidirectional charging solutions, mobility services or software solutions. Currently, one of the big industry trends is to optimize PV-powered charging stations with AC wallboxes using single and 3-phase charging, as demonstrated by the eCharger from finalist SMA Solar Technology from Germany. Another key focus area for 2023 is the development of charging stations for light electric vehicles such as e-scooters or e-bikes for use in public spaces. Many of these charging stations feature integrated solar modules and the Helios charging station from finalist Solum Photovoltaic Innovation from Spain is a fantastic example of this technology.

Also new for 2023 is the EM-Power AWARD. This brand new prize recognizes companies whose pioneering technologies and services have made a valuable contribution to a stable 24/7 renewable energy supply. The products and solutions developed by the finalists for the EM-Power AWARD 2023 either help integrate renewable energies, storage systems, prosumers, e-mobility and power-to-heat concepts into the energy system or enable energy flows to be monitored and controlled at all levels of the grid and between grid participants. Among those shortlisted are innovative energy management solutions such as LEWIZ from finalist Xemex (Belgium), the WATTSTER Box from Wattando (Germany), the ChargePilot system from The Mobility House (Germany) and the Energy Management System from EnExpert (Italy).

The winners of all these prestigious industry awards  The smarter E AWARD, Intersolar AWARD, ees AWARD, Power2Drive AWARD and EM-Power AWARD  will be announced in room 1 at the International Congress Center Munchen (ICM) on June 13, 2023 at 6:00 pm, as part of a ceremony to celebrate their achievements.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230511005455/en/
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FM Qin stresses Europe's strategic autonomy when visiting France

Global Times) 11:01, May 12, 2023

France's proposition to stick to strategic autonomy has set up a model for healthy China-Europe ties, and will inject rationality into a Europe that is still bickering about a unified China policy, observers said after Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang stressed that the China-Europe relationship is not targeted at any third party, nor is it subjugated to or controlled by any third party.

Qin made the remarks when meeting with French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna on Wednesday.

Hailing President Emmanuel Macron's state visit to China as a complete success, Qin said China is ready to work with France to follow through on the important consensus reached by the two heads of state, accelerate the advancement of exchanges and cooperation in various fields, and work for continuous development of the close and enduring comprehensive strategic partnership between China and France.

Both sides should open their markets wider to each other and build a more resilient China-France supply chain. The two sides should strengthen cooperation in international affairs and join hands to meet global challenges, said Qin.

Qin said that China has always regarded Europe as a comprehensive strategic partner, consistently and unequivocally supported Europe in strengthening its strategic autonomy and playing an active role in the international arena, and advocates that the China-Europe relationship does not target any third party, not depend on or subject to any third party.

For her part, Colonna said France does not engage in bloc confrontation and holds that all countries should live in harmony and achieve common development. Noting that China plays an important role in the world's peace and stability, Colonna said France is willing to strengthen communication with China on Ukraine and other major international and regional issues to seek more common ground.

France's sticking to strategic autonomy is in line with common strategic interests of both China and France, with Qin's visit to the country further encouraging France to stand by this proposition, Song Luzheng, a research fellow on political studies at the China Institute of Fudan University, told the Global Times.

After visiting Beijing, Macron's statement urging Europe to develop more strategic autonomy was echoed by many voices in Europe, Sun Keqin, a research fellow at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, told the Global Times.

Europe's hawks are likely to take a step back in face of the forces calling for strategic autonomy, said Sun, who remain confident that Europe is still heading to a more autonomous path.

However, some experts said US influence on the continent should not be neglected.

Cui Hongjian, director of the Department of European Studies at the China Institute of International Studies, told the Global Times that "de-risking" is a rather vague term. Using such language only sets unnecessary limits on China-Europe ties, and in fact shows that European countries want to impose restrictive measures on normal business exchanges. "Europe should be cautious and not turn 'de-risking' into 'decoupling' from China," said Cui.

On Wednesday, before meeting with Qin, Colonna held a joint conference with her German counterpart, Annalena Baerbock in Paris. They delivered a joint message on China: "we are not seeking decoupling but rather to limit our dependencies when they are excessive," said Colonna. "We are talking about de-risking rather than decoupling."

The expert said that China-Europe ties seem to be warming up, but face severe challenges ahead, including reported EU sanctions on Chinese firms accused of assisting Russia in the Ukraine conflict. Whether the two will reach more consensus or gradually drift apart depends on whether Europe can shake off its biased perception of China and US influence on the continent's China policy.

At such a crucial juncture, Europe should refrain from rolling out hostile China policies, as such moves will not only set back ties that are just warming up, but will also make it difficult for China to cooperate with Europe on solving the Ukraine crisis, said Cui.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Wu Chaolan)
On Friday, the 12th of May 2023, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) declared the results of the Class 10 board exam for the year 2023. The results are now available for students to check on the official websites of CBSE, which are cbse.nic.in and cbse.gov.in.

The Class 10 board exams were conducted from February 15th to March 21st, 2023.

Here are the live updates about the 10th results:
The Saints of Ireland. Ireland, which was once known as the land of saints and scholars, has bred numerous saints, many of whom left their native country to Christianize the rest of Europe.

Filter 331 Irish Saints A-Z by typing in the 'Search' box below.
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The Tennessee Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the premeditated first-degree murder and aggravated robbery convictions of Kemontea Dovon McKinney (Defendant) for the killing of Jonathan Outlaw in Robertson County. The Court found the Defendants statements to detectives were voluntary, as was the waiver of his Miranda rights.

In October 2017, Defendant, a juvenile at the time of the offenses, shot and killed Mr.

Outlaw when Defendant and two accomplices met Mr. Outlaw after his Camaro was listed for sale on Craigslist. At the police station, detectives read Defendant hisrights and interrogated him with his mother present.

Prior to trial, Defendant filed a motion to suppress his statements made to detectives, arguing that he did not knowingly and voluntarily waive his Miranda rights. The trial court denied the motion to suppress and admitted Defendants pretrial statements into evidence.

Following his convictions, Defendant appealed to the Court of Criminal Appeals. The intermediate court held that the trial court erred by denying Defendants motion to suppress and that admitting Defendants statements into evidence was not harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. The Court of Criminal Appeals provided that whether the defendant voluntarily provided a statement to the police is inextricably linked with the question whether the defendant voluntarily waived his constitutional right to remain silent by providing a statement after the warnings were given, such that the two inquiries can be considered together. The Court of Criminal Appeals also held that the evidence was not sufficient to support Defendants premediated first-degree murder conviction.

Under the United States and Tennessee Constitutions, a defendants confession to police must be voluntary. Additionally, Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 426 (1966), requires police to provide criminal defendants with certain rights prior to a custodial interrogation, and police must obtain a knowing and voluntary waiver of those rights for the statements to be admissible as evidence of guilt. Relevant to the facts of this case, juveniles may also waive their Miranda rights.

The Supreme Court granted the States application for permission to appeal to consider whether the intermediate court erred when it stated that an involuntary-confession claim is inextricably linked to a Miranda-waiver claim. The Court also granted the States application to consider whether the Court of Criminal Appeals erred in determining that the evidence was insufficient to support Defendants conviction for premeditated first-degree murder.

Reviewing the applicable case law, the Court re-emphasized that the voluntariness test is distinct from the test for Miranda waiver, despite similarities between the analyses. After separately applying both tests, the Court concluded that Defendants overall statement was voluntary and his Miranda waiver was both knowing and voluntary. The Court also concluded that the evidence presented by the State was sufficient to support Defendants conviction for premeditated first-degree murder. As a result, the Court reversed the Court of Criminal Appeals and reinstated the trial courts judgments.

Oral arguments in this case were heard at East Tennessee State University as part of the Supreme Courts SCALES program.
A Whitfield County jury found Gabriel Mekel Adams of Dalton guilty of the murder of Kenneth Townsend, an attempted murder of another, an aggravated assault of Mr. Townsend and possession of a firearm during those crimes.

The jury found him not guilty of a felony murder and a separate aggravated assault.

Sentencing is set for May 23.

Judge Cindy Morris presided over the trial that began on Monday and concluded with the verdict on Thursday. Scott Helton, the Acting District Attorney of the Conasauga Judicial Circuit, represented the state. Steve Blevins and Thomas Carter, of the Public Defenders Office, represented Gabriel Adams.

Detective Jason Robinson of the Dalton Police Department led the investigation of the case, supported by Detective Brian Shirley with the crime scene investigation, several other detectives and officers from the Dalton Police Department, Detective Adam Williams of the Chattanooga Police Department and officers with the United States Marshals Service. Danielle Kean, Director of the Victim Witness Assistance Program of the District Attorneys Office, and Keli Espitia, provided services for the victims family throughout the trial.

The trial concerned the shooting that occurred at 801 North Selvidge St., early in the morning of March 31, 2022.
Federal Judge Charles Atchley has found Mark Deakins, 63, of Chattanooga, guilty of multiple charges involving the sexual abuse of minors.

At a bench trial, Judge Atchley earlier heard three males take the witness stand to say that Deakins had molested them - dating back to 2000 for one witness and 2021 for another.

An FBI agent who works undercover on child sex cases said he had investigated multiple other victims of the defendant and located some of them.

Prosecutors said, "According to evidence presented at trial, for over 20 years, Deakins raped and sexually assaulted numerous pre-teen and teen boys from 1995 to 2018 in various locations in the Chattanooga area. He also transported a victim across state lines to engage in illegal sexual exploitation and abuse.

"Deakins secretly recorded his crimes, and the number of child sexual abuse videos and images he possessed numbered in the thousands. After law enforcement agents executed search warrants on his home and computers, they found these images and videos as well as thousands of images of other child sexual abuse material from all over the world.

"Deakins committed these crimes while already on the Sex Offender Registry for past convictions."

Sentencing has been scheduled for Sept. 28 at 10 a.m. The defendant faces a mandatory minimum prison term of 45 years and a maximum term of life in prison.

United States Attorney Francis M. Hamilton III said, The defendants conduct was egregious. He preyed on young boys desperate for a male role model. I am thankful for the collaborative effort and hard work of our federal, state, and local law enforcement officers and our prosecutors for seeking justice in this appalling case.

FBI Special Agent in Charge Joseph E. Carrico said, Children are among the most vulnerable members of our community. The FBI along with our local, state, and federal partners will continue to meticulously investigate these crimes, which cause irreparable harm and trauma to the victims.

Law enforcement agencies participating in the joint investigation which led to indictment and subsequent conviction of Deakins included the Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Marshals Service, Red Bank Police Department, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, Chattanooga Police Department, Hamilton County Sheriffs Office and Cumberland County Sheriffs Office.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys James Brooks and Steven S. Neff represented the United States.

This case was investigated as part of Project Safe Childhood (PSC), a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006, by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys Offices and the Criminal Divisions Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, PSC marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children,and to identify and rescue victims.
Senators Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagarty on Thursday introduced the Stopping Home Office Works Unproductive Problems (SHOW UP) Act, which would require all executive agencies to return to remote work policies practiced prior to the COVID-19 public health emergency. It would also require the Office of Personnel Management to certify that any expanded telework policies will positively affect the agencys mission, productivity, and operational costs prior to implementation.

The SHOW UP Act is co-sponsored by Senators Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tn.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), and Steve Daines (R-Mont.).

It is the Senate companion bill to Congressman James Comers (R-Ky.) legislation that passed the House on February 1by a vote of 221-206.As the public health emergency officially ends in the United States, so should the pandemic-era telework policies for federal bureaucrats, said Senator Blackburn. I regularly hear from Tennesseans struggling to get ahold of a federal agency because of the massive backlog created by employees not being in the workplace. Its illogical that VA employees are able to work from a bubble bath, while organizations across the country have safely re-opened. The SHOW UP Act would help restore accountability and productivity within the federal government, and I urge the Senate to promptly join the House in passing it.

Executive agencies have used the COVID-19 pandemic as an excuse for laziness for too long. Our public servants should be doing just that  serving the public, said Senator Cramer. Our bill ensures they come back to the office to do the work American taxpayers expect from them.



Ive spent my life leading organizations of every shape and size. I know from firsthand experience the importance of having an effective and dedicated team that shows up to work. Its clear that the COVID-era telework policy of the federal government is both a waste of taxpayer dollars and inefficient. Its time to change Washington so it actually works for the American people, which means federal employees need to work from their offices. The Stopping Home Office Works Unproductive Problems Act will boost productivity and accountably of all federal agencies. This is common sense and I urge my colleagues to join us in supporting this good bill, said Senator Rick Scott.



The COVID-19 pandemic is over. It is time to get back to work. For far too long, federal employees have enjoyed unchecked remote work at the expense of constituent services. The SHOW UP Act will ensure that federal employees show up in person, every day to serve the American people, said Senator Rubio.



Federal agencies are tasked with serving American taxpayers, and until their employees return to work, agencies cannot fulfill this mission to the best of their abilities, said Senator Hagerty. The pandemic is over, and farmers seeking assistance at a local Farm Service Agency office or veterans at the VA deserve service to match.

Specifically, the SHOW UP Act requires:

Requires federal agencies to return to 2019 (December 31, 2019 benchmark) pre-pandemic telework levels within 30 days;

Requires federal agencies to complete and submit to Congress studies within six months detailing how pandemic-era telework levels impacted their missionsincluding adverse effects on customer service, network security, and costs for real property and locality pay; and

Prevents federal agencies from permanently expanding telework without submitting to Congress telework plans certified by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) that detail how remote work policies will: Substantially improve agency mission-performance; Substantially lower agency costs for real property and locality pay; Ensure security for agency networks, data and records; Accelerate the dispersal of federal jobs nationwide and outside of Washington, D.C.



Click here for bill text.
In a short paperback released after the death of Lewis Grizzard (L.G.) in 1994 a group of friends released a 117 page pamphlet containing excerpts from his prior writings on a variety of 16 topics ranging from Growing Up Through Religion.

Grizzardism: The Wit and Wisdom of Lewis Grizzard (Villard Books- 1995) was copyrighted by his wife following his fourth unsuccessful aortic heart valve surgery, Dedra Kyle Grizaard, a native of Cleveland, Tennessee.

Although some will argue they are outdated, controversial, racist, sexual, or just down right evil, others declare that there are common sense comments that ought to be considered in spite of whether you agree or disagree.

With the 2024 presidential Congressional and state elections and the 2026 county and municipal elections (Gig City) appearing shortly on media sources its not too early to publish several of L.G. 's warm comments on the subject of Politics.

(You can ignore the additional local flavor):

1.) You dont mess with Charles Bronson, Mother Nature, or the Constitution. Sooner or later, they will get revenge. (How about Arnold Schwarzenegger?);

2.) Watergate: The older I get, the more I think it was much ado about nothing other than a new breed of journalists running amok instead of covering fires. (How about the 2020 election?);

3.) I think Jimmy Carter would have been a lot better off as a president if, when he moved to Washington, hed told brother Billy to wait in the truck. (Might also apply to Hunter Biden);

4.) I wouldnt pee on Ted Kennedys leg if he was on fire. (John F. Jr. is in the race!);

5.) Atlanta mayor Maynard Jackson is a person of size. Im not saying hes fat, or anything like that, but I will say when he steps on a cigarette, that sucker is out. (Fat Al has slimmed down and paid his taxes);

6.) The first thing I would do as a president of the New Confederacy is try to take Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, back from the Yankees. (Dont mention this non-historical event);

7.) It has occurred to me that if we continue putting forth efforts to save the whales, one of these days were going to be up to our eyeballs in whales and Ill bet those things smell terrible. (No pig or cow aortic heart valves at U.T.C. Medical);

8.) Make a law against burning the flag in protest, and that could lead to a law against burning down a post office in protest of long lines, surly workers, and the fact you just received a nice birthday card from your grandmother, who died in 1962. (Leave those rainbow pennants alone on flag poles) and,

9.) Politicians are a lot like wild beasts. Drugged, theyre a lot less dangerous. (Tennessee Legislature and Tennessee 3).

(If I have not met his high standard of offending everyone, I apologize)

* * *

You can reach Jerry Summers at jsummers@summersfirm.com
Collegedale police assisted the sheriffs office by responding to an address in the 9400 block of Fuller Road to help free a dog that had its paw stuck in a treadmill. The dog was taken to an emergency vet by the owner.An alarm at a business in the 9000 block of Old Lee Highway was activated. The building was checked and found secure.An officer was called to the 9900 block of Homewood Circle to address an ongoing disagreement between two individuals.A vehicle was checked in the 10200 block of Lee Highway.It didnt present a traffic hazard and wasnt immediately towed.Police made contact with a an individual sleeping in their vehicle in the 8900 block of Old Lee Highway. It was determined that everything was ok and they were waiting for their spouse.A citizen called in to complain about the noise coming from a construction site in the 4200 block of Wellesley Drive. No violation of city ordinances were found.A traffic stop in the 8500 block of Apison Pike led to the driver being charged with driving with a license revoked for DUI.East Ridge police made contact with a Collegedale fugitive who had bond revocation warrants for driving on a suspended license. They were transported to the jail.Walmart reported a theft. The suspect was identified and charges are pending.An unknown 9-1-1 call came in from 5900 block of Elementary Way. The area was checked but no emergencies were found.Police responded to a disorder between family members in the 9600 block of Homewood Circle. The officers were able to get the individuals to separate for the night so they could talk it out the next day.An alarm was activated on the campus of Southern Adventist University after one of the campus safety officers provided the wrong security code to a building. Everything checked out ok.Collegedale police assisted the sheriffs office with a large crowd at East Hamilton High School. The activity was found to be a school-approved senior prank.A night shift officer conducting routine business checks found an open door at the Collegedale Academy high school. The building was checked and the door was closed and locked.
All 44 criminal charges were dismissed on Friday morning against former Hamilton County Sheriff's Deputy Daniel Wilkey.

Kevin J. Allen, a Nashville prosecutor who was brought into the case after former District Attorney Neal Pinkston recused himself, said he never received a case file from DA Pinkston.

He said after Coty Wamp became district attorney there was an extensive search made in the office and no case file was found.

Prosecutor Allen said as part of a 70-page motion, "None of the indicted dates show any articulable facts or circumstances justifying the charges of reckless conduct by an on-duty police officer on patrol. The Wilkins decision, coupled with no factual basis for the State to argue reckless conduct, leaves your Pro Tem with no alternative but to move to dismiss these counts."

Wilkey, who left the Sheriff's Office after the 2019 charges, appeared briefly on Friday morning before Criminal Court Judge Barry Steelman.

His attorney, Ben McGowan, said, "The Wilkey family is grateful for the honest, disciplined, and thorough investigation undertaken by the special prosecutor in this case. His findings, through painstaking analysis of the evidence, corroborate what we have maintained since the beginning: that the former district attorneys criminal charges against Mr. Wilkey were factually unfounded and should never have been filed."

Last month, Federal Judge Travis McDonough dismissed civil charges brought against the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office in the Wilkey case.

Sheriff Austin Garrett said at the time, "Since these lawsuits were initially filed, the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office has continued to maintain that allegations and claims, such as those alleged in these cases, should be adjudicated in the courts, allowing participants to the suit to present evidence in support of their claims or defenses, and not in the media, where pressure can be improperly exerted upon the litigants. Yesterday's opinion reinforces what we as an agency have long held - the men and women of the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office are dedicated to providing the highest level of law enforcement services available to the citizens of Hamilton County, which includes safeguarding their well-being and, most importantly, their constitutional rights."

Among claims against deputy Wilkey were that he had "baptized" a woman in Lake Chickamauga after a traffic stop as well as a "cavity search" made of a male defendant after another traffic stop.

Wilkey was 26 at the time he left the Sheriff's Department.

Prosecutor Allen said, "Upon my appointment, the FDAG (Neal Pinkston) failed to provide me, your appointed Pro Tem with a prosecution case file.1 Despite those circumstances, your Pro Tem made diligent efforts to assess the viability of prosecution in this case. To assemble information for an evaluation of the case, your ProTem collected source information from the TBI, FBI, United States Attorney's Office, Hamilton County Attorney, Hamilton County Sheriffs Office, Tennessee Law Enforcement Training Academy, Hamilton County Clerks Office, Attorneys conducting the parallel civil cases, Wilkeys defense Attorney Ben McGowan/Marya Schalk and individual members of the Hamilton County District Attorneys Office. The Court scheduled this matter for May 12, 2023, for status to determine the direction of the prosecution. Now, based on information obtained from those sources and more significantly information assembled from the parallel civil litigation, the State sees no avenue of prosecution in this matter and moves to dismiss. This motion is filed considering those circumstances and considering your Pro Tem s mandatory ethical duty to refrain from prosecuting cases lacking probable cause."

He also said, "On August 22, 2022, this Court, pursuant to T.C.A. 8-7-106 appointed the undersigned as District Attorney General ProTem to undertake the prosecution in the above styled matter. The case was indicted in December of 2019, and thus had nearly three years of investigative and procedural history in criminal court that should have been documented in a case file. On August 24, 2022, your ProTem learned from the Hon. Neal Pinkston, Former District Attorney General (FDAG) that a prosecution case file was not present in the office, but one would be provided. None would ever be provided. No reports, no witness interview notes, no evidence evaluations, no grand jury notes, no correspondence, no rationale or reflections for indictment, no explanation of counts, no communication with witnesses, victims, and/or other interested persons, and no progress reports or copies of pleadings were provided. As of the date of this pleading, no file has been located. The case file notes, and work product are especially critical to understanding the theory and/or specifics of the case or in this case developing and preparing the case for prosecution because no formal investigation was ever conducted for most of the allegations. Minimally, it is critical to understanding what constitutes the criminal act sufficient for the State to respond to a request for the filed Bill of Particulars and to move forward with the prosecution. For example, the indictment contains (in counts 6-20) four counts of stalking Kelsey Wilson in a yearlong window that read exactly alike, six counts of sexual battery against Kelsey Wilson in a nine-month window that read exactly alike, and six counts of official oppression in a nine-month window against Kelsey Wilson that read exactly alike. As Wilson never gave a detailed statement to law enforcement, and the FDAG and Prosecutor (testifying witness DAG Criminal Investigator) have no written notes or independent memory of why and how these counts were differentiated to the grand jury, the State is left with extraordinarily little information on how to proceed with these allegations, and no reference to respond to a Bill of Particulars.

"On September 1, 2022, the office transitioned into new leadership with a newly elected District Attorney. Incoming District Attorney General Coty Wamp made her staff available to me and made efforts to locate any case file to no avail. To build a file, I spoke with, corresponded with and/or met with ADA Cameron Williams, ADA Lee Ortwein, ADA Tom Landis, and the named Prosecutor - DAG Investigator Tommy Meeks who were identified as the support team to the FDAG prior to indictment. Each described their role in the development and investigation as de minimis as they were limited to reviewing in-car camera videos and attending meetings about certain aspects of the case. None of the FDAG staff participated in the charging decisions, case development or grand jury process as the FDAG himself undertook the case as his own project. The Criminal Investigator for the FDAG provided Pro Tem Counsel with a digital thumb drive containing the in-car cameras collected in the James Mitchell incident, and a copy of the cell phone video taken by an officer regarding the Shandle Riley incident. The Criminal Investigator testified in front of the Grand Jury with notes that were contained in the missing physical file. Pro Tem Counsel learned that the provided videos had already been released to the public, and an online review of media coverage for the indictment and developments yielded numerous stories and publications on www.youtube.com and at various news outlet websites. The FDAG has relayed to me that he has no knowledge of the whereabouts of the case file. He provided me with an Excel spreadsheet via email with noted observations by various members (presumably ADA Williams, ADA Ortwein, ADA Landis) of the District Attorneys staff of every traffic stop conducted by the defendant in 2019 as they relate to the appended counts 28-44. He could provide no details from memory of how he structured the indictment or what each count comprised for assistance in responding to a bill of particulars. 2 TN R S CT Rule 8, RPC 3.8 Special Responsibilities of a Prosecutor: The prosecutor in a criminal case: (a) shall refrain from prosecuting a charge that the prosecutor knows is not supported by probable cause."

Former District Attorney Pinkston said Friday he was filing an affidavit in the case. He denied taking any files from the office and said the Wilkey files were there when he left.

He said he felt there was ample evidence of criminal activity on the part of Wilkey.

He also said, "Any of the parties including the Court could have subpoenaed me into Court to testify about the case file and its location. No one ever did. Such speaks volumes."

The Pinkston affidavit says:

My name is M. Neal Pinkston and from September 1, 2014 until August 31, 2022, I

served as the elected District Attorney General of Hamilton County, the 11th Judicial District of the state of Tennessee.

2. On July 11, 2019, I became aware of dash cam video depicting Hamilton County Sheriffs Deputy Daniel Wilkey performing what appears to be an anal cavity search of James Myron Mitchell during a July 10, 2019, traffic stop. The video also shows Deputy Wilkey and Deputy Bobby Brewer repeatedly punching and kneeing Mr. Mitchell, who appears to fully comply with the deputies' demands and does not show any resistance.

3. Upon viewing this video, on July 12, 2019, I requested the Tennessee Bureau of

Investigation and the Federal Bureau o f Investigation conduct an investigation of potential use off excessive force.

5. Following the July 12, 2019 release of the Mitchell video to the public the DA's office

received information from several defense attorneys as well as private citizens alleging

inappropriate - and perhaps criminal -- behavior by Deputy Daniel Wilkey.

6. Asa result of the influx of requests to review other traffic stops, during the week of

Monday, August 19, 2019, I requested the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office provide copies of all of Deputy Wilkey's dash cam videos from January 1, 2019 through July 11, 2019. It is a common, almost daily, practice for the Sheriff's Office to provide the DA's office with videos within 2-4 hours of a request.

7. On Wednesday, August 28, 2019, I contacted the Sheriff's Internal Affairs Division to

request their file on an incident involving Deputy Wilkey and a woman named Abigail

Knox. That same day, I was promised the file.

8. On Wednesday, September 4, 2019, I was told the Sheriff's Criminal Investigations

Division (CID) had an ongoing investigation of the Abigail Knox incident and would not

have access to the IA file until CID's investigation ended.

9. On Wednesday, September 4, 2019, I requested the Sheriffs Criminal Investigations

Division provide my office with the file of the Abigail Knox incident. | did not receive either the CID file or the IA file on that matter.

10. On Tuesday, September 17, 2019, the DA's office contacted Austin Garrett, then serving as the Hamilton County Sheriffs Chief Deputy, in an attempt to secure the Wilkey dash cam videos which had been requested the week of August 19, 2019.

11. During that communication with Chief Deputy Garrett, he was informed that | believed someone in the sheriff's office was intentionally making it more difficult than necessary for us to acquire the videos, in a deliberate attempt to slow down our investigation.

12. Chief Deputy Garrett denied any attempt to slow down our investigation.

13. However, later that day, I received a phone call from Chief Deputy Garrett, who

informed me it would be another 120 to 180 days before we would receive the Wilkey

videos.

14. The following day, on Wednesday, September 18, 2019, I contacted Josh Melton, the

Assistant Director of the Criminal Investigation Division of the Tennessee Bureau of

Investigation, to request help from the TBI?s Fusion Center computer experts in acquiring the videos.

15. The next day, Thursday, September 19, 2019, a TBI Fusion Center agent arrived in

Chattanooga and by 1:00 p.m. was able to acquire 578 videos recorded by Deputy Wilkey's patrol car dash camera from January 1, 2019 through July 11, 2019. This was purported to be all of Deputy Wilkey's dash cam videos for 2019.

16. For the next several weeks, a small team of my staff and I reviewed the 578 videos and documented our findings of potential crimes. Approximately 160 of those videos involve Deputy Wilkey making traffic stops. Of those encounters, approximately 98 of them depict potential criminal activity by Deputy Wilkey.

17. On Tuesday, December 10, 2019, the Hamilton County Grand Jury indicted Daniel

Wilkey on 25 felony and 19 misdemeanor counts related to crimes committed during four separate traffic stops.

18. In January of 2020, I began to consider charges against Daniel Wilkey for potential

crimes committed in other traffic stops. During the course of that review, we determined it would be beneficial to see dash cam videos of other deputies who responded to some of those traffic stops.

19. When | informed the Sheriffs Office I would be seeking other videos, I was told there

had been a catastrophic failure of their computer server and they had no ability to recover any dash cam videos from a fifteen month period including the first seven months of 2019.

20. This catastrophic video failure prohibited my ability to compare witness statements

with other deputies? dash cam videos of what actually happened during most of the 9 8

questionable Wilkey stops.

21. Additionally during this time period, several lawsuits were filed against Daniel Wilkey

in Federal Court, alleging civil rights violations.

22. The catastrophic failure of the Sheriff's Office computer server occurred shortly after

Daniel Wilkey's dash cam videos were requested by attorneys in the civil cases.

23. On April 3, 2020, United States Court Magistrate Judge Christopher Steger ordered the Hamilton County Attorney's Office to obtain copies of the dash cam videos held by my office.

24, Subsequent to U.S. Magistrate Judge Steger's order, I provided the County Attorney?s

Office with copies of the dash cam videos the TBI had obtained for my office along with a

copy of the spreadsheet created to document the depictions in the videos.

24, In May 2020, the County Attorney's Office provided my office with twelve additional

Wilkey dash cam videos from 2019 that had not been previously provided to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation or the DA's Office.

23. In June 2020, I submitted in U.S. District Court an affidavit authenticating the videos I

provided to the County Attorney's Office.

24. Prior to m

y leaving office as the District Attorney, I requested a Pro-Tem prosecutor be

appointed to handle the Wilkey case.

25. This request was made as a result of statements made by current District Attorney Coty Wamp averring she would dismiss the Wilkey case immediately upon taking office.

26. Upon my leaving the DA?s office I took no case files. All files, including the Wilkey file, were left in the DA's office.

26. Upon taking office, DA Wamp was unable to dismiss the Wilkey case as it had been

assigned to Kevin Allen, a prosecutor with the Tennessee District Attorney General's

Conference.

27. Kevin Allen subsequently informed me the Wilkey case file was missing from the DA's

office.

28. I provided to Kevin Allen a copy of the spreadsheet documenting all the Wilkey dash

cam videos acquired by the T.B.I. on my behalf.

29. I also met with Kevin Allen to discuss the Wilkey case.

30. During this meeting and in subsequent emails, ] encouraged Kevin Allen to obtain

copies of the Wilkey dash cam videos which are being used in the federal cases.

31. Any assertions made by Kevin Allen, either directly or by implication, that | in any

manner concealed, destroyed, or withheld any evidence or documentation in the Wilkey

case were made with Allen's full knowledge such statements are false.

32. The Wilkey dash cam videos, which exist and could easily have been obtained by

prosecutor Allen, do clearly depict criminal activity and should have been provided to this Court.
Centennial celebration attendants Central High JROTC Honor Guard Chief John Ross Chapter Regent Jennifer Sawyer Harvey CJR Honorary Regents CJR Honorary Regents TSDAR State Regent and Board Previous Next

Members of the Chief John Ross Chapter, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution and guests met together recently at the MAC on McCallie Avenue to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the organization and chartering of the chapter.It was 1923 and, in Chattanooga, the Chief John Ross Chapter, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, with Sarah Divine Cooke as organizing regent, was chartered. The list of charter members included family names easily recognized by Chattanoogans - - Clemons, Cox, Kain, Lewallen, Magill, Tucker, Willingham, Austin, Draper, Huffaker, King, Magill, Eager, Jones, Logan, Varnell and others - - and many of their descendants are still active in local civic endeavors.The name was chosen to honor Chattanoogas founder and the longest-serving Cherokee Principal Chief.Chief Ross, who had famously fought alongside Andrew Jackson at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend as part of the Cherokee Brigade and, in 1828, became principal chief. He would later challenge the Cherokee removal by appealing to President Jackson to intervene. When President Jackson refused, Chief Ross and his family chose to accompany his people to the Oklahoma Territory, where he served as principal chief until his death in 1866. Additionally, the founding members hoped to pay tribute to the significant history and influence of the Cherokee nation in this region.Centennial Regent Jennifer Sawyer Harvey presided at the celebration, which began with the posting of colors by the Central High School JROTC Honor Guard, an invocation by Chaplain Teresa Webb Rimer and the Patriotic Ritual led by Donna Dodson, CJR recording secretary and flag chairman, and Wanda Lynn Poteet Garret, honorary regent.Regent Sawyer introduced Tennessee Society Daughters of the American Revolution State Regent Emily Robinson, who brought greetings from the over 6,000 Tennessee Daughters and congratulated the members of the Chief John Ross Chapter on the chapters historic birthday. State Regent Robinsons theme for her administration [2022-2025], Volunteer Hearts in Action!, reminds all TNDAR members of the volunteer tradition of the state of Tennessee and describes the Tennessee Daughters who proudly volunteer with all their hearts in their communities, promoting the DAR objectives of historic preservation, education and patriotism. As Mrs. Robinson often shares, Our members are the heart of the Tennessee Society!Regent Harvey introduced esteemed guests, beginning with Charlotte Stout Reynolds, honorary Tennessee State regent and honorary vice-president general, NSDAR. She then acknowledged the members of State Regent Robinsons Executive Board in attendance: TSDAR First Vice Regent Carol Reynolds Teeter, TSDAR Second Vice Regent Nannette Feeback, TSDAR Corresponding Secretary Holly Jayne Matthews, TSDAR Recording Secretary Jane Chambers, TSDAR Treasurer Helen Moore, TSDAR Registrar Renee Willingham Hamilton and TSDAR Historian Cindy Dowell. Regent Harvey also thanked Cherokee District Director Marie Wingate and Secretary Jessica Mines Dumitru [CJR member] and Cumberland District Director Joan Clark and Secretary Gail Longton for their service to the state organization and attendance.CJR First Vice Regent Candace Barger shared the regents history by noting, During our chapters 100-year history, the Chief John Ross Chapter has been led by 51 regents. Our chapter regents wear a lot of different hats. A chapter regent is called to engage the chapter members in community events and encourages growth, not only for the members in the Society activities, but also for the chapter. A chapter regent is a leader, organizer, mentor, friend and smiling face. She then introduced the six Honorary Regents: Honorary Regent Luanne Hobbs Dewitt, 2000-2004, Honorary Regent Wanda Lynn Poteet Garrett, 2004-2008, Honorary Regent Sarah Cash Roach, 2008-2010, Honorary Regent Teresa Webb Rime, 2013-2016, Honorary Regent Jessica Mines Dumitru, 2016-2019 and Honorary Regent Linda Moss Mines, 2019-2022.CJR members also paid special tribute to Founding Regent Sarah Divine Cooks two granddaughters in attendance, Rachel Decosimo and Sally Koehn, along with their families.Celebrating God, Home and Country with members and friends at the 100th Centennial Celebration sparked lively conversation about the past, present and future of the Chief John Ross Chapter, NSDAR.
Federal authorities have arrested five persons said to be involved in a drug ring trafficking in large amounts of meth and heroin/fentanyl in Chattanooga.

Charged in a federal complaint were Derek Hatfield, David Branum, John Allen Patterson, Charla Patterson and Lisa Pennington.

The ring was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, Chattanooga Police Department, East Ridge Police Department and the Hamilton County Sheriffs Office.

Authorities said Joshua "Taylor" Eaker was a leader of the ring, which operated from about May 2021 to May 2022.

It was charged that Hatfield was a convicted felon trafficking in illegal drugs.

The complaint says on Nov. 4, 2021, Robert Pennington was arrested after CPD received multiple calls about an unconscious driver parked at a red light. CPD responded to the scene and found Pennington unconscious in a vehicle, where they broke the window to gain access to him and render medical aid. When CPD officers broke the window, Pennington sat up and appeared to awake out of a stupor. He appeared to the responding CPD officers to be under the influence of narcotics.



After CPD officers had Pennington exit the vehicle, they noticed that he had a bag of what appeared to be narcotics protruding from his pocket. He provided consent for

CPD officers to search his person, which led to officers finding narcotics and a wad of cash.

At the same time they observed in plain view a large bag of what appeared to be

meth in the driver's floorboard of the vehicle. EMS responded to the scene and

cleared Pennington, stating that he was not having a medical emergency. A continued

probable cause search of the vehicle resulted in CPD officers finding and seizing heroin, fentanyl, meth and other controlled substances, as well as two firearms.

The complaint says Robert Pennington is a convicted felon.

The vehicle that Robert Pennington was driving during his arrest was registered to Lisa Pennington and the tag returned to a different vehicle. While the CPD officers were discussing what to do with the vehicle, Pennington said Lisa was his wife and the vehicle belonged to her.

After being put in jail, Robert Pennington made numerous calls with Lisa Pennington that were recorded. They "made incriminating statements, indicating that each are involved in and/or aiding and abetting each other in illegal drug trafficking activities," it was stated.

On May 18, 2022, the residence of Derek Hatfield at 8439 Cross Timbers Circle, Hixson, was searched, resulting in the seizure of suspected drug residue. The drug exhibit was sent to the DEA Nashville Sub-Regional Laboratory for analysis, where it tested positive for fentanyl, meth, and xylazine.

There was also a search of 315 Hillsview Dr., identified during the investigation as the primary residence of Charla Patterson. It resulted in the seizure of suspected meth and fentanyl, which the DEA Nashville Sub-Regional Laboratory confirmed during their analysis.

Charla Patterson told agents that she had been purchasing  ounce quantities of heroin

and one to two-ounce quantities of meth every day or every other day for approximately the past year.

There was a search of the residence at 6915 Jones Creek Lane, Hixson, identified during the investigation as the primary residence of Tracy Parker. The search was executed on May 19, 2022, resulting in the seizure of suspected fentanyl, cocaine, meth, and other controlled substances, seized from inside the residence, as well as outside the residence, concealed in a large tool chest.

Tracy Parker was present during the search warrant, and was located inside

the residence. Also present during the search warrant was Branum, who was located outside near the large tool chest, where several items of drug evidence and approximately $3,280 in cash was located.

On July 26, 2022, investigators conducted surveillance on John Patterson and observed him carry multiple firearms cases into an associate's apartment. Later the investigators attempted to have him traffic stopped by a HCSO marked unit. He initially pulled over for the HCSO marked unit, but sped away after the HCSO deputy exited and started walking toward his vehicle. He was later located at a residence at 3804 Cuscowilla Trail, where he tried to hide.

During a search of John Patterson's vehicle and backpack, investigators found and seized over five grams of meth and more than 40 grams of fentanyl.

Agents said Patterson admitted to dropping the firearms off at his associate' s residence and stealing approximately seven pressed brick kilograms of fentanyl from Eaker after Eaker's arrest in May 2022. John Patterson said he then sold the fentanyl.

On Jan. 21, 2023, Dunlap Police Department arrested Brandon Hatfield and found him to be in possession of suspected counterfeit Oxycodone pills (fentanyl pills). During a search of his residence at 688 Pope Road, Dunlap, on Jan. 23, 2023, agents found 327 suspected counterfeit Oxycodone pills (fentanyl pills), marijuana, and a Glock 9 MM handgun.
The Fourth Annual Chattanooga Motorcar Festival has announced its 2023 dates as Oct. 13-15, and will again host family-friendly events held in the heart of the Scenic City to benefit The Neuroscience Center at CHI Memorial and the Neuroscience Innovation Foundation of Chattanooga.





New this year will be the reconfigured Pace Grand Prix at The Bend circuit, which will feature 25-minute-long, high-speed race-car exhibition runs held on Friday and Saturday, sanctioned by Brian Redman's Targa Sixty-Six.Owners of vintage, modern high-performance, and collector cars who like to drive at high speeds under controlled conditions in the company of others with similar interests are invited to participate. Registration is open at Targa Sixty-Six





The Canossa Fall Rally, organized by Canossa Events, will be held on Oct. 11-12 through the Tennessee countryside; Mecum Auctions will return for the third straight year; and Car Clubs will gather to show off their fun cars. Also planned are the West Village Street Festival featuring a concert with a major rock group (to be announced) and a Luftgekuhlt curation. The Justin Bell Torque Show will return, and more details on these and other happenings surrounding the Festival will be announced in the coming weeks.





The Concours d'Elegance is Sunday's headliner in the streets of West Village, boasting hundreds of significant cars from all generations and from around the world. Thirteen classes, plus six for special awards, will be judged by distinguished world-class judges and all winners will receive their awards and accolades on the Concours stage in front of the Westin Chattanooga Hotel in West Village.





"This fourth annual Festival will be by far our biggest and greatest event," said Byron DeFoor, founder of the Chattanooga Motorcar Festival. "We're happy to have our longtime supporter and former Grand Marshal Brian Redman bring his Targa Sixty-Six group to host exciting and fun track events, and I know those who enter will again enjoy the Canossa Fall Rally."





"As always, the proceeds from this event, through the Fifty Plus Foundation Inc., will go to The Neuroscience Center at CHI Memorial and the Neuroscience Innovation Foundation," DeFoor added. "They work hand in hand to bring advances in neurological medicine forward for the benefit of all."





Funds will directly support the creation of transitional research space by funding equipment and operating suite infrastructure.





Chattanooga is known for its interactive attractions that include the Creative Discovery Museum, High Point Climbing, an IMAX movie theater, a variety of shopping options, and the award-winning Tennessee Aquarium. All activities are walkable from the main event and the host hotel, the Westin, making it perfect for families of every age to enjoy.

REGISTRATION FOR EVENTS:

Registration is open for a few of the featured events scheduled for the 2023 Chattanooga Motorcar Festival.





The Canossa Fall Rally Chattanooga will be conducted on Wednesday, Oct. 11, and Thursday, Oct. 12, and will start both days at 8:30 a.m. from the Westin Hotel Chattanooga, with an overnight stay at the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, North Carolina. Registration is open at Canossa Fall Rally





Applications to enter the high-speed race-car exhibition runs at the Pace Grand Prix at The Bend, which begin on Friday, Oct. 13, and continue on Saturday, Oct. 14, are available at Targa Sixty-Six .





The Concours d'Elegance is scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 15. Applications to enter cars will be available soon. Applications for Car Club entrants will also be available soon.




King Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles reign as king and queen consort of the United Kingdom has just begun. The couple was coronated on May 6, 2023. However, a former royal family employee claims subtle changes implemented shortly after Queen Elizabeths death in September 2022 will continue as the monarchy shifts direction. What can royal watchers expect?

King Charles III and Queen Camilla on the balcony of Buckingham Palace during the Coronation | Leon Neal/Getty Images

A metamorphosis is on the way for King Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles

As King Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles settle into their new roles, they can anticipate many significant changes as their reign evolves. The couple, who hit the ground running in their jobs beginning in September 2022, added even more tasks to their already growing portfolio of work.

However, a former royal family employee predicts significant changes for the king and queen consort moving forward. Julian Payne, communications secretary to the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall from 2016 to 2021, shared his remarks with The Times.

The former royal employee wrote, While the coronation is the symbolic start of his reign, the King has been in the role for almost eight months already. From looking back over that period, it is clear that while things have changed a great deal since the death of Queen Elizabeth II, in many ways, they have stayed the same.

He continued, In a sense, this is at the heart of the way the monarchy operates  continuity rooted in duty and service to the nation, but all the time with subtle changes taking place to ensure the institution can continue to play a central role in public life.

Payne believes these adjustments began happening almost immediately. Charles has become even more hands-on than the late Queen Elizabeth, regularly meeting with the public and speaking with them to address any concerns.

By his side is Camilla Parker Bowles, who has also become a central future in the new monarchy under Charles reign. She has taken on new roles and continues to evolve in the eyes of royalists, who appear to have pushed her royal past under the rug.

King Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles adjusting to new roles well, says a former royal employee

King Charles III and Queen Camilla wave from The Buckingham Palace balcony following the coronation | Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Former royal employee Julian Payne believes that with years of experience as senior royals, King Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles have adjusted well to their new roles. The couple are moving seamlessly, he says.

Given the amount of time he has had to prepare, it may not be a surprise that the King has shown the ability to adapt to his new role without missing a beat. But it has been interesting to see the Queen transitioning just as seamlessly, Payne noted.

[Camilla] has brought a sense of the real world to her new role, which has delighted many people. She will continue spotlighting important matters, such as domestic violence, female empowerment, and literacy, as she has done for nearly 20 years. Still, only in ways that can make a practical difference rather than simply as a figurehead, Payne said of the changes Camilla has thus far implemented as queen consort.

The royal family plans to continue to implement more changes moving forward

As evidenced by King Charles coronation celebration, this new monarchy plans to attempt to unite the diverse community of people in the United Kingdom. The congregations diversity represented all faiths, languages, and cultural groups.

Charles coronation was called the most diverse in the United Kingdoms history. 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.

During his coronation held at Westminster Abbey, 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 to present the coronation regalia.

Moving forward, Charles challenge is to challenge the monarchy as he strengthens it. As the crown depends on the British public for its survival, the king would have to work for that support in ways Queen Elizabeth never had to.

However, as he continues to roll out a modernization of the monarchy, it appears he currently has the support of the public at large. Whether or not an ancient institution can continue to modernize itself further while remaining true to its roots remains to be seen.
Prince Georges Future as Lonely King: Royal Commentator Says He Could Be Stranded When He Takes the Throne

Less than one week after Prince George debuted as King Charless coronation page, a royal expert predicts his future as a lonely king who could be stranded upon ascending to the throne. George is second in line for the crown after his father, Prince William. However, it appears that the support group that surrounds the current king may not be in place by the time his grandson takes the job.

Prince George will eventually become king, but will he have a large support group to help him? | Daniel Leal  WPA Pool/Getty Images

Prince George may find himself in a difficult position when he becomes king

George is the eldest child of Prince William and Kate Middleton. Therefore, this puts him in a direct line of ascension after his father, who will become king of the United Kingdom after his father, King Charles.

However, George will not face his royal destiny for years, as he is just nine. But certain aspects of his future remain worrisome, says a royal commentator.

Angela Mollard shared with Express her fears for Georges future. The current lineup of senior royals average age is the mid-70s. That group will certainly not be in place many years from now, and Charles slimmed-down monarchy may leave few to support George in the future.

Theres a glaring problem with the new look of Brand Windsor. Excluding the Prince and Princess of Wales and the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, the average age of the remaining eight is 77, Mollard explained.

His parents, Kate Middleton and Prince William, will eventually ascend as king and queen of the United Kingdom. Mollard said, As the Waleses lean into their new roles and elevated status, theyll be mindful of who will support Prince George when he, in turn, becomes monarch.

Will Charlotte and Louis be allies and working royals as Princess Royal and Duke of Edinburgh are to the King? Or will this redacted royal family leave our future King stranded on his own? she asked.

Prince George could see his parents burnt out by King Charles slimmed-down monarchy

One of the first things King Charles did upon becoming monarch was to set in place a more slimmed-down group of working royals. Working royals are senior members of the royal family who share official duties and engagements on behalf of the crown.

King Charles privately pays working royals. However, Prince William and Kate Middleton receive an annual income from the Duchy of Cornwall.

Angela Mollard told Express that this switch puts intense pressure on Prince William and Kate Middleton to pick up the slack for the royal family. In turn, many royal engagements could eventually lead to burnout.

The new King wants a slimmed down monarchy, but looking at this image, he could find himself with a burnt-out monarchy if the older generation, including himself and the Queen, become ill or infirm. This leaves Kate and William to do it all, Mollard stated.

One of Georges first primary royal duties in support of King Charles was at his coronation

Prince Louis, Prince George, and Princess Charlotte ride in a carriage to King Charles coronation | Samir Hussein/WireImage

Related Prince George Reportedly Asked King Charles to Change Coronation Rule to Prevent Being Bullied at School

Prince George was a Page of Honor at King Charles coronation on May 6, 2023. He was the first royal child to participate in a coronation.

Throughout the Coronation Service on May 6, their majesties will each be attended by four Pages of Honor. Pages will form part of the procession through the Nave of Westminster Abbey, the royal familys official website reported.

George walked with Lord Oliver Cholmondeley, the son of David, the Marquess of Cholmondeley, King Charless Lord-in-Waiting, and Rose Hanbury. Master Nicholas Barclay, the grandson of Charles cousin, Sarah Troughton, the Lord-Lieutenant of Wiltshire, also participated.

Ralph Tollemache rounded out Charles pages. His grandparents are Lord Timothy Tollemache, the 5th Baron Tollemache, and Lady Xa Tollemache.

The queen consorts Pages of Honor were her grandsons. These young men included Gus and Louis Lopes and Freddy Parker Bowles. Her great-nephew, Arthur Elliot, was her final page.

Elements of this story were first reported by the royal familys official website.
The Verder Group announces the acquisition of Formulaction S.A. of France. As part of the groups Scientific Division Formulaction will be integrated into Microtrac MRB, a leading manufacturer of Particle Characterization Systems.

Formulaction is a recognized innovator in the field of laboratory equipment for analyzing Dispersion Stability & Shelf Life, Curing and Drying processes and Rheology. The addition of Formulaction to the Microtrac MRB portfolio will create a comprehensive suite of instrumentation for materials characterization practitioners. This merger adds Formulactions TURBISCAN, CURINSCAN, FLUIDICAM and RHEOLASER product lines to Microtracs established, leading portfolio of brands including SYNC Laser Diffraction, NANOTRAC Dynamic Light Scattering, CAMSIZER Dynamic Image Analysis and BELSORP Gas Adsorption Analysis.

Microtrac MRBs and Formulactions combined technologies provide the widest portfolio of particle and material characterization solutions, offering both companies access to new markets and opportunities in

Particle Size and shape from 0.3 nm to 135 mm

Surface and Pore Size Distribution using both Physi- and Chemisorption

Catalyst Analysis

Porosity and Density measurements

Dispersion Stability and Zeta Potential Analysis

Curing and Drying Analysis

Rheological Properties

CEO of Formulaction, Gerard Meunier says, since its creation Formulaction has been at the forefront of technical innovation in helping scientists to directly assess key properties of their materials from early development to final product design or End Use Properties. The integration of the Formulaction product portfolio into Microtrac MRB opens huge opportunities for the expanded group to provide added value to customers in their pursuit of innovative product development by delivering high-quality solutions.

Verder CEO, Andries Verder states, We have been witnessing the development of Formulaction for years and are impressed with the technology and the agility of the team. The addition of the people and products from Formulaction is an important building block in our drive to enable the progress for our customers in the world of particle characterization.
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The Cheshire Planning and Zoning Commission voted on Monday, May 8, to approve Vessel Technologiess plans to construct a 70-unit apartment building at 146 Realty Drive along Highland Avenue.

The plans call for four two-bedroom units, with the rest being one-bedroom apartments. Of those, 21, or 30% of the units, will be deed-restricted affordable housing.

Despite voting to approve the project, several Commissioners and some members of the public expressed reservations about the project. These concerns mainly referred to Vessels reliance on Connecticut statute 8-30g, which places a high burden on local land-use authorities to reject even non-conforming applications that include the minimum number of affordable units.

Vessel technically had three applications approved at Mondays meeting. One created a Housing Opportunity District (HOD) at the location, a second placed the property within the HOD, and a third concerned the specific site plan for Vessels building. Commissioner Jeff Natale was the sole vote against each of the three applications, while Commissioner Robert Brucato joined him in voting no on the site plan.

Commissioner Louis Todisco, a lawyer by training, opined that rejecting Vessels application would only mean wed lose in court. Still, he characterized the proposed five-story building as too extreme for its location. If it were 40 units, itd be a different discussion.

Todisco also offered criticism for what he deemed the weakness of 8-30g. It allows people to come in, get a density increase, and have a profitable building because youre doing a few affordable units.

I just want to make it very clear on all three of these, I dont approve of any one of them, stated Commissioner Tom Selmont. This is a weird spot to be in, to say yes when you really dont want to.

Brucato said he wished that (Vessel) had come in under our Affordable Housing (regulation). Wed feel a little more comfortable.

This is the Constitution State, added Brucato, and whats happening in Hartford is stepping all over our rights.

Cheshire Town Planner Michael Glidden reiterated that multiple statutory factors favor approving any 8-30g application. These include a state mandate that 10% of a municipalitys housing stock be affordable; Cheshires stock of affordable housing stands at approximately 3.58% of the total, per Glidden.

He pointed out that to reject an affordable housing application such as Vessels, a community must find safety, traffic, or environmental risks that outweigh the need for affordable housing.

That (environmental) bar is extremely high to cross, Glidden said. There are no inland wetland soils present within the site, there were no species of concern or anything that would trigger that concern.

He added, The Fire Department, the Town Engineer, the Town Attorney, all have reviewed, along with my office, the submittals and there were no documented public safety issues or others that, under the law, would warrant this Commission to say no.

I want to make sure that everybody in the public knows that our hands are truly tied because the applicant met those three conditions, said Natale. We dont really have a choice in the matter.

For its part, Vessel agreed to make a number of alterations to its original proposal, including changing two non-native plant species to native plants in its landscaping design plan, at the request of Commissioner Casey Downes.

A second change involves the buildings exterior appearance. The company offered to utilize wood panels with a sunset tone rather than the all-white building shown in Vessels first presentation.

The wood panelling brings a little contrast and lets it fit in a little better, commented Brucato.

Vessel also agreed to add more parking spaces to its plan as well as limit via its leasing agreements the number of cars allotted to each unit.

The Commissioners still had several questions about the legal aspects of Vessels proposal, however. Natale asked for clarification on the establishment of the HOD.

I understand that it helps make it a conforming property so its easier for the current owner or future owners to get financing, but what does it do for the town? asked Natale.

Vessel attorney Andrea Gomes replied that the major benefit was that it creates a written regulation which can be used in any necessary future zoning enforcement. She also said it was narrowly defined to apply almost exclusively to the lot at 146 Realty Drive.

You have a regulation that governs this zone, which applies to this site, and it is easier to enforce, instead of having to comb through the record (and) figure out what happened, she explained.

Gomes also noted that Vessels application was done in that manner not only because of the preference of her client, but also it was filed in conjunction with the advice of the Commissions counsel and Town staff.
Tax Day is now past and its easy enough to imagine a collective sigh of relief as that chore is put aside for another year. This tax season provided an extra three days past the typical April 15 deadline, but its doubtful that little grace period made much difference to those scurrying to pull the required documents together for the April 18 finish line.

The IRS explains the situation. It granted the short reprieve because Tax Day fell on a weekend and also due to Washington D.C. celebrating Emancipation Day. Some parts of the country that experienced a natural disaster in 2022 received an automatic extension. For those who filed to get a regular extension, that option pushes the deadline to Oct. 16, but some fees may still apply.

Help with filing was available for private filers earning under $60,000 a year, according to a story by Record-Journal reporter Lau Guzman.

The Human Resources Agency, based in New Britain, helps run the Volunteer Income Tax sites around Connecticut. This year, there were about a hundred volunteer tax preparers available to assist the public. Meriden and Wallingford were among the places where the agency provided services, including at those cities public libraries.

Guzman spoke with Wallingford library Assistant Director Julie Rio, who said that tax preparation went really well this year. She noticed that in-person appointments rose and online filing declined.

People like to see people in-person and get that personal touch, Rio said.

Guzmans story characterized the experience of filing taxes as a potentially complicated and anxiety-inducing process for anyone.

However, her story focused on the additional burden for those who dont speak English well or those who are undocumented, as well as on local services that can help. For instance, HRA also partners with a national online tax assistance program, GetYour-Refund, which offers online services in Spanish.

No matter what, everyone has to comply with IRS requirements.

For those who got their taxes done on time  or even early  and who are getting a refund, the IRS has some good news, if that filing was done electronically. Most taxpayers can then expect to receive their refund within 21 days if they use direct deposit and as long as there are no issues with their tax return.

Having friendly, knowledgeable help with taxes can make the process much less painful. Its good to see that volunteer assistance is available and that many are making use of those resources.

More awareness of non-English-speaking individuals who may need extra help is an area of concern that must be robustly addressed and were glad to see that work has begun.
Have you ever heard of Lydia Taft? She was the first recorded woman to ever vote in colonial America.

Lydia was born in 1712 in Massachusetts. Lydia was one of nine children in her family, and her father was Seth Chapin, a well-known and respected man in their community.

When Lydia was 19-years-old, she married Josiah Taft, and they settled in Uxbridge. They had eight children together.

Josiah was a prominent member of Uxbridge, as he was a wealthy landowner, farmer, and Massachusetts legislator.

He was a member of the towns select board for several years and a town clerk and moderator. At one point, he was the largest taxpayer in the town.

Tragically, in 1756, Josiah fell ill and died. Then, Lydia inherited his large estate. Josiah died right before the town was supposed to vote on the towns support for the French and Indian War.

At the time, women were not allowed to vote. However, Lydia and Josiahs eldest son at the time was not old enough to take over his fathers role and estate. Therefore, under extremely rare circumstances, Lydia was allowed to take her husbands place and vote.

So, on October 30th, 1756, when she was 44-years-old, Lydia voted in favor of appropriating funds for the war, making her the first woman in recorded history to vote in colonial America.

Women would not be legally given the right to vote in America until 164 years later after the Womens Suffrage Movement pushed toward the passing of the 19th Amendment in 1920.

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A 69-year-old man from Las Vegas named David Chou has been charged with 98 counts, including federal hate crimes, in relation to a fatal shooting that occurred at a church luncheon in Southern California last year. According to the indictment made public on Thursday by the U.S. Department of Justice, the attack was sparked by political hostility toward Taiwan.

On May 15, 2022, at Laguna Woods, Chou was suspected of opening fire on an assembly of senior members of the Irvine Taiwanese Presbyterian Church. One person was killed in the incident, while five others were hurt. Authorities assert that Chou chained and nailed shut the church's exit doors before the attack.

David Chou Faces Life in Prison or Death Penalty if Convicted of Federal Charges in Church Shooting

According to the article in Fox 5 Vegas, Chou is accused of multiple felonies, including guns and explosives, as well as forcibly impeding someone's right to practice their faith, which is a common allegation in cases of violence motivated by religion. Chou is already being prosecuted on separate counts in state court, so the indictment marks a significant expansion of the case.

The former attorneys representing Chou were unavailable to comment on the fresh federal allegations right away. The indictment represents a significant development in a case that has heightened national concerns about hate crimes and created great sorrow in the local community.

The Department of Justice's decision to charge Chou with federal hate crimes emphasizes how seriously it considers violent attacks motivated by racial or political animu.

According to another source, USA Today reported Chou was also charged with using a firearm during a violent crime and attempting to set fire to or blow up a structure utilized for interstate commerce. Prosecutors said Chou might receive the death sentence or life in prison without parole if found guilty of these federal offenses.

The state is currently holding Chou, and he is being charged with five counts of attempted murder as well as murder with a hate crime enhancement stemming from the same gunshot event. Last year, he entered a not-guilty plea to these state allegations. Chou's federal accusations are currently listed in online court records, but no attorney information is accessible for him.

Also Read: Law Enforcement of San Diego Responds to Deputy-Engaged Shooting Incident at Vista Church

Details Emerge on Church Shooting: Alleged Gunman's Motives and Brave Actions of Victims

More alarming information about the tragic shooting that occurred at a Southern California church luncheon last year has been made public by the authorities. According to ABC News, they assert that the alleged shooter, David Chou, attempted to use super glue to shut the doors to prevent victims from fleeing and dispersed ammo and Molotov cocktails throughout the Geneva Presbyterian Church.

52-year-old Dr. John Cheng died in the assault while attempting to remove the shooter's weapon. Gunfire also injured five other people. Using an extension cord to tie Chou's legs together, a group of churchgoers bravely managed to capture him and render him helpless.

Investigators suspect that Chou's strong anti-Taiwan stance, who is Chinese but has American citizenship, was the motivation for the attack. According to reports, his rage started when he was living in Taiwan and felt rejected because of his beliefs. According to reports, this hostility grew worse as tensions between China and Taiwan rose.

Related Article:Church of Christ To Give a Helping Hand, Volunteered To Host Classes for Covenant School Following Mass Shooting
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The Suncakes, LLC, a Texas-based business that operates as IHOP, is being sued by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) for restricting an employee practice his beliefs and firing him when he did so. The institutions breaks the law leading them to this lawsuit.

In January 2021, Suncakes allegedly hired a cook for their Woodlawn Road store in Charlotte, as claimed in the EEOC's case. The employee asked for and received permission to work on Sundays out of respect for their religion. However, the employee was made to work on Sundays after a management change in April 2021, when the new general manager showed animosity toward the accommodation.

Texas-based Suncakes, LLC Faces Lawsuit for Violating Employee's Religious Accommodation

According to the article shared by U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the employee asked his manager that he would not be working on Sunday, May 16, after finishing his shift on Sunday, May 9.

In the lawsuit that was filed, it says that the manager allegedly has said things like "religion should not take precedence over job" and that the employee "thinks it is a lot more important to attend church than to pay his bills." According to the story in MSN, this alleged behavior allegedly violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which protects people from religious discrimination and retaliation and provides for workplace accommodations for employees' beliefs.

In the U.S., the EEOC brought the lawsuit. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Suncakes, LLC, d/b/a IHOP Civil Action No.: 3:23-cv-00274) after making an effort to settle the matter before litigation through its voluntary conciliation process.

Also Read: Supreme Court Case Sparks Fears of Religious Tensions in the Workplace as Rulings Hang in the Balance

Supreme Court Hears Groff v. DeJoy: Balancing Religious Accommodations and Workplace Equality

The United Stated Supreme Court are currently hearing Groff v. DeJoy and deciding the scope of protection for an employee's religious views. A former postal worker, Gerald Groff, requests a religious exemption from working on Sundays. According to the article in Christianity Daily, the case may cause workplace disruptions and add to the burdens of non-religious personnel. Groff challenges a provision from 1977 that restricts an employee's ability to request religious accommodations without incurring more than a minimal cost to employers.

This case also raises questions about how LGBTQ+ workers are treated at work, as some may experience discrimination or exclusion because of their religious convictions around sexuality. In a separate case, a judge decided that the evidence was inadequate to rescind the federal exemption for religious institutions in a lawsuit involving LGBT students who claimed maltreatment. The children had reported their mistreatment to the school. A judge's decision to retain religious exemptions by citing earlier Supreme Court rulings sparked criticism for perpetuating discrimination against LGBTQIA+ students at taxpayer-funded universities.

The Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) is responding to these legal disputes by anticipating additional legal action and recommending legislative agreements as a just method to resolve these concerns without drawn-out court litigation. This strategy aims to reconcile the rights of religious and LGBTQ+ people while promoting an environment that is more welcoming and respectful in the workplace and in educational institutions.

Related Article: Christians Face Individual Religious Discrimination in The Workplace for Their Morals, Study Finds
Pixabay/ Antonio Cansino

In response to the alarming increase in attacks against Christians in India, Christian groups are demanding the establishment of an independent panel to monitor and address the escalating violence. These groups assert that organizations associated with the ruling pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are responsible for these sectarian crimes.

Call for Independent Panels

According to a report from UCA News, during a recent hearing on Monday, May 8, a petition presented in the Supreme Court highlighted the federal government's inclusion of certain Hindu groups, such as the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council) and the Bajarang Dal (brigade of Lord Hanuman), among those accused of isolated attacks on Christians. However, the government has denied systematic persecution against Christians, stating that these incidents were isolated.

Archbishop Peter Machado of Bangalore, the National Solidarity Forum, and the Evangelical Fellowship of India led the petitioners who approached the Supreme Court in 2021, seeking intervention to curb violence against Christians. They argued that such violence had intensified since the BJP came to power.

Citing the government's admission of political groups associated with it being involved in sectarian crimes, the petitioners emphasized their need for more trust in the government's ability to monitor or report such incidents. They urged the court to establish an independent monitoring agency led by a retired Supreme Court judge comprising distinguished police officials.

Moreover, the three-judge bench led by Supreme Court Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud has yet to respond to Archbishop Machado's demand and the requests put forth by others. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's federal government has consistently opposed any initiatives to monitor violence against Christians nationwide, denying the existence of persecution in the country.

In response to the government's denial, the petitioners argue that the anti-conversion laws in 11 provinces are frequently employed against Christians, contributing to their vulnerability and the rise in attacks against them. In its affidavit submitted to the court, the government dismissed the petitioners' allegations, referring to the reports of attacks as baseless and unverified and suggesting that personal disputes are being presented as communal crimes.

On the other hand, the Supreme Court's decision regarding establishing an independent panel to address the mounting attacks on Christians in India remains pending, with tensions and concerns surrounding the issue persisting within the country.

Also Read: Indian Police Arrests Two Pastors for Allegedly Desecrating Sikh Holy Book

Rising Attacks on the Indian Christians Community

In an unfortunate trend, the Indian Christian community has been facing a surge in attacks, raising concerns about their safety and religious freedom. Numerous incidents have been reported recently, highlighting the need for immediate attention to address this escalating issue.

According to a report from Indian Catholic News, Christian groups in India have called for establishing an independent panel to monitor and combat the growing violence against their community. These groups have expressed their belief that organizations affiliated with the ruling pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are behind these attacks, which are considered sectarian.

Furthermore, one specific incident that has sparked outrage involved a Hindu mob entering a church in Chhattisgarh and attacking the pastor, resulting in the hospitalization of nine Christians, as reported by Maktoob Media. This incident is a stark example of the targeted violence faced by Christians in India.

Related Article:Thousands of Indians Christians Participate at Historic Delhi Gathering to Call Attention of Government Following Christian Violence
Pixabay/Boris Stromar

The residents in Norwich believe that the opposition of the Netherlands Reformed Congregation on LGBT rights had a significant impact on the vote at the local council that would ban pride flags on municipal property. The church's influence had reportedly been seen in every aspect of local government, including their decision-making process.

Netherlands Reformed Congregation's Influence

At a meeting on Tuesday evening, May 9, the elected officials for the Municipality of Norwich unanimously approved a move to limit flags flying on its property to those of the national, provincial, and local governments exclusively, CP24 reported. The bill, which was approved with a vote of 3-2, stipulated that pride flags would be included in the items that would be prohibited. It stated that the only flags allowed to be flown from the municipal streetlight poles were those for adornment or to advertise companies in the downtown area.

Moreover, the proposal to amend the township's flag policy was introduced by Coun. Jim Scholten said he wished to do so to "maintain the unity" of the community. They can reportedly coexist in peace and harmony regardless of who they are or what they believe as long as they display those flags alone on property owned by the township.

According to him, having a more general flag regulation would result in endless requests for other types of flags to be flown. "Each one would be subject to judgment or scrutiny based on its merits. This would inevitably lead to more disunity and alienation of people," he added.

On the other hand, The Free Press reported that locals believe that the Netherlands Reformed Congregation has a significant impact in Norwich, as evidenced by the Sunday calm and a recent controversial move to prohibit Pride banners on municipal property. According to James Forrest, a professor at the University of Waterloo who has lived in Norwich Township with his family for more than 18 years, there is a significant impact in this area from a particular religious organization.

"I know people that have tried to open businesses and be open on a Sunday, and they've been visited by the minister saying, 'if you stay open on Sunday  you'll be out of business,'" he asserted.

As per CBC News, Colleen Bator was among the numerous residents who thought the Netherlands Reformed Congregation's views affected the council vote. Bator noted that the church is deeply ingrained in the deliberation process of all aspects of the city's government. Furthermore, the Canadian Press requested interviews with church leaders but received no responses. Additionally, CBC London has asked for many interviews, but they have yet to be turned down.

The page titled "beliefs" on the church's website states that "any form of sexual immorality including but not limited to homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, bestiality, incest, fornication, adultery, and use of pornography is sinful and offensive to God." This statement makes it quite apparent that the church opposes LGBTQ rights.

Also Read:Parents Protest Gay Pride Flag in Catholic School District, Prompting Police Intervention

Controversy on Pride Flags

Activists for LGBTQ rights are getting increasingly agitated as local governments and school districts around the United States take steps to ban installations of the rainbow Pride flag on public land and in classrooms. Based on a report from USA Today, several people believe these actions are part of a more significant wave of reform and policy initiatives backed by the Republican Party.

Some of these initiatives include the restriction of reproductive freedom, the banning of certain books, revisions to educational curricula, and attacks on the usage of preferred pronouns. As mentioned, Delaware, Ohio, Cold Spring, New York, Davis County, Utah, and Wales, Wisconsin school districts have authorized such limits. This month, a similar municipal initiative had a narrow defeat in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Related Article: Pride Flag Vandalized Outside Federal Hill Church, Community Reacts
Unsplash/Grant Whitty

Faith leaders and academics are considering how artificial intelligence (AI) may affect religious beliefs and how it will be incorporated into AI programming as the technology's influence in society grows.

AI and Religion: Experts Debate the Future Role of Faith in AI Programming

Vice President of Media Research Center and Free Speech America Dan Schneider raised the alarm over the possibility of AI being used as a tool to persecute faith and religion. In an interview with Fox News Digital, Schneider recently stated that "the left controls AI and the left is going to do what the left wants to do." The left despises the notion of a superior deity who establishes moral standards.

Schneider also emphasized that detractors frequently blame religion for societal problems while ignoring the good it has accomplished over time. Furthermore, he contended that given the political control currently exercised over the technology, the word "God" will probably not be given top priority in AI programming.

Religious leaders, AI specialists, and academics are all becoming increasingly interested in and concerned about the relationship between AI and faith as these talks progress. Future conversations will need to address these issues and decide how faith fits into the creation and application of AI technologies.

Pastor Jesse Bradley of Auburn, Washington, emphasized the significance of utilizing technology in ways that respect religion and interpersonal relationships. According to the article shared in Vigour Times, Bradley praised the strength and potential of AI while highlighting potential ethical and privacy issues. He cautioned that if AI was utilized improperly, it might violate people's rights to privacy and dignity.

Bradley emphasized the transformational power of a relationship with God and emphasized the value of change over merely learning, emphasizing that love has greater weight than knowledge. He made it clear that a relationship with God nourishes the soul and that Jesus' grace has the ability to transform hearts. He added that pursuing God would bring knowledge in any situation.

Bradley also emphasized the value of interpersonal connections and suggested that AI be used in ways that are friendly to God. He emphasized the growing need for harmony, reconciliation, and human relationships, particularly in light of the rise in screen time. Bradley summarized his points by pointing out the rise in screen time while stressing that what people actually need is one another, unity, and racial healing.

Also Read: Artificial Intelligence 'Will Never Be Ethical', Said Oxford University Scientists' AI During An Ethical Debate

Ethical and Privacy Concerns Surround Religious Use of AI

AI's intersection with religious practices raises ethical and data privacy concerns. According to an author in the article in Forbes, OpenAI's licensing for ChatGPT requires clear labeling and user consent for AI interactions, which may apply to simulations of religious figures, potentially misleading users into anthropomorphizing the AI. Misuse of religious scams could result in legal repercussions.

Another significant issue is data privacy. Users share deeply personal religious beliefs with AI, unknowingly contributing to the AI's pattern-matching scheme, which could violate privacy. The article identifies three types of religious AI use: generic generative AI, religion-tuned generative AI, and religion-customized generative AI. Though usage is mostly generic, there's a move towards religion-tuned and customized AI in religious contexts, necessitating robust ethical guidelines and privacy protections.

Related Article:AI in Education: How Artificial Intelligence is Revolutionizing the Classroom Experience
Pexels/Ric Rodrigues

A devastating decline on religious freedom all over the world has been observed in their annual report of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. Some common countries in which is very messy and is affiliated in war like Russia, Afghanistan, China, Cuba, Iran, and Nicaragua are leading in crossing out religion.

Religious Freedom Worsening Globally, According to USCIRF Report

The USCIRF, a joint government organization, provides advice on foreign policy to both the U.S. Government and Congress. These suggestions are meant to reduce religious discrimination and advance religious and political freedom worldwide. The U.S. benefits from the USCIRF's conclusions and recommendations. The Department of State has been creating a list of countries and non-state actors that either actively violate religious freedom regularly or allow such violations.

The 2023 report also recalls key recommendations from the 2022 report that the U.S. government has put into action. These include adding the Central African Republic (CAR) to the State Department's SWL, imposing targeted sanctions on religious freedom violators, and acknowledging the Burmese military's atrocities against Rohingya Muslims as genocide and crimes against humanity. Furthermore, the report offers information about individuals featured in USCIRF's Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) Victims List.

Also Read:Biden Administration Accused of Infringing Religious Freedom with Latest Actions

USCIRF Identifies 17 Countries of Particular Concern

According to the article in Vatican News, the State Department is advised to designate 17 nations as Countries of Particular Concern (CPCs) for 2023 by USCIRF. These inlcudes 12 countries namely: Myanmar, China, Cuba, Eritrea, Iran, Nicaragua, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan, that the Department have considered as CPCs last November 2022, and also added five more countries, and these are: Afghanistan, India, Nigeria, Syria, and Vietnam.

Additionally, the 2023 Report that 11 nations be added to the Special Watch List of the State Department. Algeria and the Central African Republic, which were included in the State Department's list from the previous year, are among them.

Azerbaijan, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Turkey, Uzbekistan, and for the first time, Sri Lanka are the other eight nations that are suggested for the SLW because of the country's deteriorating conditions for religious freedom in 2022. This report just shows the struggle that are being faced by the peoplr in faith in these 28 countries, and also including the exile and discrimination of the Catholic Leaders in Nicaragaua, under President Daniel Ortega or human rights abuses caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Advocate for religious liberty and USCIRF commissioner Stephen Schneck welcomed the American government's response to the persecution of Catholic leaders in Nicaragua. According to the article in Catholic Review, he also urged the U.S. to intensify its efforts and called for the Vatican to adopt a more vocal stance.

Schneck praised the Vatican's long-term foreign policy plan but emphasized the need for it to more strongly denounce the actions of the Nicaraguan government against Catholics in public. He stressed on the importance of preservation of the universal rights, and must be governed by the United Nations.

USCIRF also stressed the necessity for Congress to forbid payments for lobbying in favor of hostile foreign governments, especially those who engage in egregious breaches of the right to religious freedom.

Related Article:Religious Freedom Bill Advances to Senate After Clearing House Vote
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A religious charity located in Orange County that has been providing meals for the homeless has won a legal dispute against the City of Santa Ana.

DOJ Supports Ministry Group in Legal Dispute with Santa Ana Over Feeding Homeless

According to the article in KTLA, Micah's Way sued the city, claiming that giving food and drink to the poor was a moral obligation and a form of religious practice. The city then requested the lawsuit's dismissal.

Nevertheless, on Tuesday, the Department of Justice (DOJ) participated in the lawsuit and gave its statement of interest. The DOJ argued that food distribution must be considered a highly protected activity and that the city's use of zoning regulations to block this act may be a violation of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) of 2000.

A significant legal success for Micah's Way was achieved when the DOJ argued that there was sufficient evidence to support the ministry group's complaint and suggested that the City of Santa Ana's move to dismiss the case be denied.

According to the article shared in MSN, Martin Estrada, the U.S. Attorney, declared his support for Micah's Way in its legal battle with the City of Santa Ana. Due to a zoning rule infraction, the city had forbidden the organization from providing food to the homeless at its resource center. According to Estrada, the free exercise of religion, which includes performing charity actions motivated by religious convictions, is a basic American value.

Estrada's attitude was mirrored by Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, who emphasized the crucial part faith-based organizations play in helping the homeless. Clarke reaffirmed the DOJ's commitment to upholding federal civil rights statutes that pertain to exercising one's religion.

The City of Santa Ana responded by releasing a statement claiming that Micah's Way had misappropriated its administrative building by holding food deliveries, resulting in several complaints from nearby neighborhood residents. The city said that while it supports efforts to help individuals in need and the expression of religious beliefs, Micah's Way has yet to demonstrate that the city has imposed a considerable hardship on its religious practice.

Also Read: Filipino Church Leader Urges Faithful to Help Families in Need, Do More Charity Works as Church Observes Lenten Season

Micah's Way Accuses Santa Ana of Unfairly Targeting Homeless Services

The group is in the city's "P" zone, which houses other companies and facilities like banks, travel agencies, professional offices, and museums. In the article in USA Today, according to Micah's Way's argument, many of these enterprises frequently serve refreshments, which may be compared to their own food distribution initiatives.

Micah's Way questions why it is being singled out when other businesses in the same zone also distribute food and beverages and calls attention to what it sees as the city's selective implementation of zoning restrictions. Due to claims that it unfairly bears the majority of the county's homelessness issues, the city and Orange County have been at odds for some time. According to Micah's Way, the city's efforts are part of an effort to evict homeless people by focusing on the services they depend on.

The group opposes the city's strategy of utilizing its resources to block and inconvenience instead of assisting in addressing Santa Ana's homelessness problem, which it claims is a socioeconomic issue. The message of Micah's Way is that everyone deserves assistance, regardless of their circumstances.

Related Article:Posed Christian Charity Leader Arrested After Abducting 40 Christian Children
Unsplash/Gene Gallin

In a last minute desperation of at least one Republican senator to support his expected veto of a bill that would outlaw most abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper has launched a campaign across the state.

During his tour, the governor will stop by the districts of four Republican state legislators, encouraging their constituents to continue to support abortion rightsthese lawmakers, Reps. Tricia Cotham and John Bradford of Mecklenburg County, and Rep. Ted Davis and Sen. Michael Lee of New Hanover County expressed reluctance about further abortion restrictions during their election campaigns last year.

NC Governor Cooper Campaigns Against Proposed Abortion Ban

According to the article in the Associated Press News, the campaign was launched in retaliation to Republicans' last-week fast-tracking of legislation to impose more stringent abortion restrictions than the current 20-week maximum. The bill's veto will be announced by Governor Cooper on Saturday at a rally in Raleigh. However, it is expected that his veto will be overridden thanks to party-line votes for ratification and promises from legislative leaders.

The governor appealed to voters at a gathering in the Davis and Lee-hometown Cape Fear region with medical professionals. He exclaimed that all they need is one person in good conscience, in which he is pushing at least one lawmaker to defy party leadership and vote against the measure.

Both sides of the political divide are reacting differently to this new action. Following recent Republican seat gains in the state, longtime Democratic political consultant Gary Pearce described the governor's frenetic visit as an indication of "desperation." On the other hand, some conservative detractors, like Caitlin Connors, southern regional director for Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, see his travels as an attempt to "bully lawmakers."

One of the Republican lawmakers singled out by the governor, Sen. Michael Lee, has defended his views on abortion. According to the shared article in The Washington Post, the Wilmington-area Republican previously stated support for a woman's right to choose in the first trimester during a candidate forum last fall. On Wednesday, Lee said that while he opposes banning the procedure before 12 weeks, he thinks most abortions later in pregnancy are "abhorrent and should be restricted."

The governor's strategies were also slammed by Lee, who tweeted, "I will not let the governor lie to the people of my district and this state and try to bully me out of legislation I campaigned on supporting."

Also Read:Oregon Legislature Progresses Abortion Rights, Transgender Healthcare Bill

North Carolina Constituents Demand Accountability Amid Abortion Rights Dispute

Some people are requesting accountability from their lawmakers in the continuing North Carolina abortion rights battle. According to another source, the article in Houston Chronicle said that Senator Michael Lee and Representative Ted Davis have come under fire from Wilmington nurse and medic Marla Barthen for what she sees as a breach of their campaign commitments.

Senator Lee's 12-week prohibition proposal was challenged by Barthen, who said that the added restrictions amounted to overreach. Additionally, she charged Davis with misleading voters by alleging that he had made promises to make no changes, which had caused misunderstandings and deception in their community, particularly among women.

Related Article:Greensboro Demonstrators Rally Against Proposed Alterations to North Carolina Abortion Laws
Pixabay/Barta IV

Due to the United Methodist Church's new stance on LGBT rights, the Christ Methodist Church in Milton, Florida, has decided to withdraw from the denomination. The fees associated with the church's disaffiliation were paid by the church, which decided to alter its name.

Cost of Disaffiliation of Christ Methodist Church

In severing its ties with the United Methodist Church, the Christ Methodist Church has joined with the rest of the 195 other United Methodist congregations in Western Florida. WEAR News spoke with parishioners, all of whom stated their approval of the decision made by the church. "I was very pleased and proud of our church for taking a stand for the conservative views of the bible," one of the parishioners, Billy Ezell stated.

According to Pastor Tony Antonelli, the congregation disagrees with the new approach taken by the United Methodist Church regarding same-sex marriage and LGBTQ+ clergy members. The pastor claims that the church itself is not undergoing many changes, but cutting ties with its previous denomination had some financial implications.

As mentioned, Christ Methodist Church held one of its first sessions after severing its ties with the denomination on Wednesday, May 10. The parishioners of Pastor Antonelli's church were told that nothing would change. "As far today, it hasn't changed at all. Actually, we had to vote to change in order to stay the same," Pastor Antonelli remarked.

However, the disaffiliation did come at a price. The church reportedly made a payment of $65,000 for the separation. Moreover, Pastor Antonelli said that they had decided to become part of the Emerald Coast Global Methodist denomination, and they emphasized that people of all religious backgrounds are welcome.

Also Read: United Methodist Church Took Legal Action Against Cortez For Allegedly Violating Bylaws on Disaffiliation

Disaffiliation of Churches in United Methodist Church

The members of United Methodist Churches have been given until the end of the year to withdraw from their membership while still retaining ownership of the church property. WKRG News 5 reported that after reiterating its stance against gay clergy and marriage between people of the same gender in 2019, the United Methodist Church (UMC) made the option to become available.

Even though the change was intended to make it possible for more progressive churches to break away from their parent organizations, the opposite has occurred in the South, where most splinter congregations are more conservative. They are concerned that the United Methodist Church will one day accept gay rights within the church.

On the other hand, based on an article from The Standard Journal, because of disagreements on same-sex marriage and the ordination of gay pastors, around 260 of the 800 churches that make up the Western Pennsylvania Conference are moving through with plans to quit the United Methodist denomination. The other two-thirds of the conference, including the First United Methodist Church of Irwin, have indicated they intend to stay in the denomination.

According to Greensburg District Lay Leader for the Western Pennsylvania Conference, Bonnie Judy, they considered leaving United Methodism. Yet, in the end, the vote was "overwhelmingly" in favor of remaining affiliated with the denomination. Thus, several families that had seen their previous congregations vote to become independent became members of the First United Methodist Church of Irwin.

Related Article:United Methodist Church Renounce Disaffiliation Process, 186 Churches Filed Lawsuit
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The Pasadena congregation of All Saints Episcopal Church came together on May 7 in a show of defiant love and togetherness to reject homophobic threats against their church and their pastor and to declare their support for the parish's LGBTQ-affirming services. According to the article that was shared in Pasadena Now, interfaith cooperation and a stirring speech that resulted in dancing in the church aisles cheered the congregation in the face of threats to bomb the sanctuary and harm the pastor.

All Saints Church in Pasadena Responds to Bomb and Death Threats with Solidarity and Security Measures

The Sunday services were conducted by the Rev. Mike Kinman, who has been All Saints' rector since 2016. There was increased security and a strong police presence. In his homily, he chose to use the song's line "Bring me a higher love" as a point of reference to exhort his audience to choose love over hate. The pop song was performed by Kygo and Whitney Houston, and the congregation danced to it, providing an appropriate setting for Kinman's inspiring speech.

According to the article in Episcopal News Service, in his sermon, Kinman addressed the individuals behind the death threats, acknowledging their likely pain and anger but emphasizing that turning such emotions into hate would not bring them peace. He advocated for a higher love, as offered by Jesus that people can hate them, but they will not hate them.

Bishop John Harvey Taylor joined the congregation for the 7:30 and 10 a.m. services and participated in an interfaith rally on the parish lawn. This rally was organized by CLUE (Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice) and supported by the Los Angeles Council of Religious Leaders.

Bishop John Taylor of the Los Angeles Diocese spoke in support of the All Saints community, advocating for inclusion across all barriers of identity, orientation, race, and national origin. He referred to this unity as the heart of Christ and confidently declared that darkness would never triumph over light. He ended his statement with a prayer for the protection of the people of All Saints Church by all the angels.

Also Read:Churchs Opposition on LGBT Rights Allegedly Influence Banning of Pride Flags

Interfaith Rally at All Saints Episcopal Church Showcases Unity and Solidarity

According to the shared article in the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, Rabbi Neil Commess-Daniels, a founding member of CLUE, performed a song to kick off the gathering. Participants came from a variety of religious backgrounds, including those from Pasadena's Neighborhood Unitarian Universalist Church and the Immaculate Heart Community. Also present was actor Mike Farrell, a steadfast supporter of All Saints Church and CLUE.

Before invoking, Rev. Canon Susan Russell, an assistant priest at All Saints and the diocesan canon for engagement across diversity, addressed the crowd. She emphasized that their unity results from the shared ideals that brought them together and referred to the heterogeneous group as the epitome of a valued community.

Russell reminisced on the group's history of solidarity, recalling their support for LGBTQ people, refugees, women's reproductive rights, gun control, and Muslim coworkers. She emphasized that their presence on the church's property was just another sign of their shared dedication to social justice and respect for one another.

Related Article: Global Religious Freedom Deteriorates as Intolerance Grows, Experts Warn
Pixabay/Steve Buissinne

Good News International Church and New Life Prayer Centre are the churches of the two controversial pastors, Ezekiel Odero and Paul Mackenzie, that reportedly have been brought up in connection with the issue of involvement in a cult resulting in the deaths of their church members. The Registrar of Societies also delivered a cancellation notice to the two churches since New Life Centre did not file tax returns as required by the law. At the same time, Good News International Church has problems with its registration certificate.

Registrar of Societies' Notice of Cancellation

The state has asked Makenzie's Good News International Church to explain why it should not have its license revoked, according to the AG Justin Muturi, who announced the registrar of societies. A report from MPasho stated that the office of the AG claims that the preacher Odero's church, even though the organization satisfies all of the requirements for registration at the time of application, they still neglected to file tax returns in the most recent years.

Moreover, another church in danger of closing is Good News International Church; a notification that the church's license to operate would be revoked has been given to the church's management. As a consequence, the organization's management has been sent a notice of cancellation of the registration certificate it previously held.

On the other hand, Star reported that on Wednesday, May 10, Muturi revealed at a meeting with the ad hoc committee of the Senate investigating the murders in Shakahola, located in Kilifi County, about the killings in Kenya. It is a result of charges that the two houses of worship have been involved in cult and extremist activities which led to the deaths of more than 120 people.

Also Read:Aerial Bombing in Myanmar Killed Members of Bible Missionary Church

Controversial Issue of the Two Churches Pastor

Pastor Ezekiel Odero, known for attracting large crowds to the events he hosts, was detained for many hours when authorities investigated a funeral home located next to his church, BBC reported. According to the authorities, morgue workers had been retrieving bodies at the New Life International Church facilities, which are located in Kilifi County. The commissioner of the coastal region, Rhoda Onyancha, said that "This morning we arrested Pastor Ezekiel Odero on allegations of the deaths that have been occurring at his premises."

As mentioned, more than one hundred persons who had taken refuge in the church have reportedly been removed by the police, according to Kithure Kindiki, the minister of the interior of Kenya, who added that those individuals would be compelled to submit testimonies. However, there has been no response from the pastor to the charges. In addition, the authorities are looking into his claimed connection to the notorious Pastor Paul Mackenzie Nthenge. This pastor reportedly instructed his devotees to starve themselves to "meet Jesus."

Furthermore, in a forest that was 800 acres in size and was close to Mr. Odero's church in the same region of Kenya as the church, Kenyan officials have already unearthed 95 bodies of persons alleged to have died of malnutrition and were buried in shallow graves. Children made up a significant number of the casualties. Accordingly, Mr. Mthenge, who was detained on April 15 and is still being detained, has asserted that he is innocent of any crime. He is determined to close his church's doors in 2019.

Related Article:New Life Prayer Pastor Arrested for 'Mass Killing,' Allegedly Starving Members to Death
Pexels/Pablo Santiago

A report outlining a possible miracle at Thomaston's St. Thomas Church has been submitted to the Vatican for further examination, part of an unprecedented series of events that has the religious community buzzing.

During Holy Communion on March 5 at St. Maximilian Kolbe Parish, which includes St. Thomas Church, an extraordinary incident occurred. The parish priest, Reverend Joseph Crowley, reported an occurrence many are now characterizing as possibly a "miracle."

Vatican Launches Two-Week Investigation into Possible Miracle at Thomaston Parish

In the article shared in Hartford Courant, according to Crowley's statement, the layperson in charge of dispersing the hosts found an unexpected multiplication of wafers inside the ciborium. Reverend Crowley was informed of the incident right away and was taken aback. Crowley expressed astonishment after Communion, stating that God had seemingly duplicated Himself in the ciborium. He further commented on the mysterious ways in which God provides, noting the occurrence as an example.

The Archdiocese of Hartford opened an official investigation into the incident as a result of this shocking finding. Their goal is to determine whether the incident actually meets the criteria for a miracle according to the theological definition. The investigation's findings have now been sent to the Vatican, where a team of theologians and canonists will provide a decision. Before classifying the event as a miracle, these professionals will carefully examine the situation and look for any plausible natural explanations.

According to another source, Catholic News Agency reported that on March 28, the Archdiocese of Hartford issued a statement acknowledging the potential occurrence of heavenly signs, often known as miracles, within its sphere of influence. This announcement comes amid news accounts of remarkable circumstances at a nearby Thomaston parish that the Blessed Michael McGivney formerly led.

The remarks implied that, like Christians throughout Christ's earthly mission, they accept the potential of miracles as individuals guided by their faith. These supernatural occurrences are viewed as a summons to embrace or develop one's religion. The speech continued by outlining the regular miracles experienced by Catholics. It was told that Roman Catholics see a miracle at every Mass when food becomes the Body of Christ, and wine becomes His Blood.

The Church acknowledged miracles but also emphasized the necessity for careful research before endorsing any remarkable claims. In its statement, the Church emphasized the significance of thorough investigation to prevent accepting possibly dubious claims.

Furthermore, this conceivable miracle can be viewed as a blessing from above, supporting the efforts of the American bishops to revive and strengthen Catholics' faith and practice in relation to this necessary Sacrament. After the Church's statement ended on an optimistic note, many Catholics and elsewhere people eagerly awaited the investigation's findings.

Also Read:Easter Miracle Observed As Our Lady of Perpetual Help Chapel Survives An Early Morning Blaze

Only Four Miracles are Officially Recognized Worldwide

According to the story shared in Franciscan Media, only four of these miracles have been recognized officially on a global scale in the twenty-first century, according to the Magis Center. This institution fosters communication between faith and science and is led by Jesuit Father Robert J. Spitzer.

The most recent miracle to be officially recognized occurred in Legnica, Poland, in 2013. In this case, a consecrated host mistakenly dropped and dissolved in the water, creating scarlet streaks. According to scientific examination, these stains were found to contain cross-striated muscle fragments that resembled heart tissue. Later, in April 2016, then-Bishop Zbigniew Kiernikowski of Legnica authorized the adoration of the host.

Related Article: Connecticut Church Community Astounded by Possible Eucharistic Miracle
The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) saw its largest membership decline in more than a century last year, and church attendance has not rebounded to pre-pandemic levels, even though a significant surge in baptisms has Baptists optimistic.

Reported SBC church membership fell from 13,680,493 in 2021 to 13,223,122 last year, according to the Annual Church Profile released this week by Lifeway Christian Resources.

The nations largest Protestant denomination continued its slow, steady decline, down from a peak of 16.3 million in 2006. But it hasnt seen an annual decrease this big in more than a century, when an exodus of Black churches followed the Civil War.

The total number of SBC churches in 2022 came in at 46,614down less than 1 percent from 47,198 the previous year. Church attendance increased more than 5 percent to 3,804,665. Still, that is well below the SBCs pre-pandemic average of 5.3 million in 2019.

One area of promise in the latest statical report was baptisms, Southern Baptists key statistical measure of evangelistic progress.

The 180,177 people baptized at Southern Baptist congregations 2022 marked a 16 percent increase over 2021. As with attendance, however, that was still below pre-COVID levels. The SBC reported 235,748 baptisms in 2019, 31 percent more than last years total.

I think I speak for most Southern Baptists when I say that I care about people, not numbers. Numbers are valuable to the degree that they give us a checkup on how well we are serving people in Christs name, said SBC president Bart Barber, pastor of First Baptist Church in Farmersville, Texas. In this case, increases in attendance and baptisms are good. They celebrate the accomplishment of the very ways we said that we wanted to care for people by sharing the gospel in our 2016 resolution On Evangelism and Soul-Winning.

The decrease in church membership is more difficult to analyze, he said. It may very well be that our membership numbers have declined because we are pursuing the ways we wanted to care for our inactive members in our 2008 resolution On Regenerate Church Membership and Church Member Restoration.

That resolution urged churches to maintain accurate membership rolls for the purpose of fostering ministry and accountability among all members of the congregation.

This years annual report, released by Lifeway Research, was drawn from the 69 percent of SBC churches that submitted data. Scott McConnell, executive director of the SBCs research arm, thinks more accurate membership rolls may indeed be a factor in the membership decrease.

Much of the downward movement we are seeing in membership reflects people who stopped participating in an individual congregation years ago and the record keeping is finally catching up, McConnell said. Membership totals for a congregation immediately reflect additions as well as subtractions due to death or someone removing themselves from membership. But many congregations are slow to remove others who no longer are participating.

Still, the report left some analysts asking if the SBCs current trajectory is sustainable. No, says Ryan Burge, a political scientist at Eastern Illinois University who tracks data on American religion.

While SBC church membership has declined since 2006, the number of baptisms annually exceeded the number of members lost until recently. But since 2019, members lost have exceeded total baptisms each year, according to Burges analysis. In 2012, there were three baptisms for every member lost. A decade later, there were 2.7 members lost for every baptism.

That math just aint mathing, Burge wrote. No denomination can sustain losses like the SBC is experiencing and not be fundamentally changed.

There were bright spots in the SBCs latest statistical report. Among them: financial giving and small group attendance.

Total undesignated receipts at Southern Baptist churches topped $9.9 billion in 2022, a nearly 2 percent increase from 2021. That figure also represents an increase from the pre-pandemic level of $9.6 billion in 2019.

Small group participation in Southern Baptist churches increased nearly 4 percent to 2.3 million. Yet that figure, like worship attendance, remains below the pre-COVID level of 3.2 million in 2019.

Data from some individual states also offered encouraging signs. Nationally, Southern Baptist congregations averaged one baptism for every 73 church members. In Iowa, however, the ratio was one baptism for every 15 church members. Iowa also was among only a handful of states where Southern Baptist church attendance exceeded total church membership.

Tim Lubinus, executive director of the Baptist Convention of Iowa, said strong college ministry and a trend away from church membership help explain his states outlying numbers.

We have very strong collegiate ministry here, and students often attend without joining, Lubinus said. Additionally, people dont value joining a church as a member as much as they could or should or have in the past. They participate and feel like a member when they havent actually gone through a membership process.

Lubinus takes the overall reported declines in the SBC with a grain of salt. When dwindling churches close their doors, he said, that can cause dozens or even hundreds of people to disappear from Southern Baptist membership rolls even though church attendance hasnt been at that level in years. He isnt sure precisely why the SBC is declining in membership and churches, but he said working to make disciples is a more productive use of time than poring over the stats.

Our response is the same as if the report was positive, he said. Tomorrow morning, we need to be faithful in our work to proclaim the gospel, to love our neighbors, and to disciple our churches. To try to put our finger on the problem is probably more unhelpful than actually spending our time discipling people and sharing our faith.

Barber agrees, and hes optimistic about the SBCs future.

This much seems certain, he said, continued increases in attendance and baptism will, if this trend continues, leave us little room to worry about the long-term future of our church membership numbers.

David Roach is a freelance reporter for CT and pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church in Saraland, Alabama.
Hajj Atiya, an elderly Sudanese woman living in Khartoum, was already ill.

And then the war started.

The planes bombed from above, the bullets were flying below, she said. We stayed in our house, afraid, while all outside was boom, boom, boom.

All she had in the house was flour, to bake bread. At least she had that.

Mariam, who came to Khartoum from the Nuba Mountains to get medicine, went several days without water. And then a bomb hit the neighboring building, which collapsed upon her own.

Whenever the airplanes disappeared overhead, we ran outside in search of food, she said. But we had to hide behind buildings to avoid the gunfire, with corpses strewn on our right and left.

An unnamed doorman had it still worse.

For ten days we couldnt leave our home, he said. The shops are closed, and soldiers are in the streets.

Every Sudanese of means in his Kafouri neighborhood of Khartoum had left town at the first sign of violence, which began April 15. He and the other guards were left behind to protect the properties. But the building owner, when the doorman called to ask for money or help, hung up on him.

Mariam found someone willing to provide transport out of the capital. But she couldnt afford the 50-cent fare. All she had was oil and soap.

Atiya had only one option left.

I prayed to God: Save us, she said. God answered, and someone came to take us away.

Somehow, each escaped with their families 85 miles southeast to Wad Madani. Atiya found a place to rest under a tree. Mariam spent the night on the street. But each now numbers among the 122 families staying in two local evangelical schools, with dozens more sleeping in the citys churches.

The war is ongoing, and the people keep coming, said Edward Hussein, an evangelical pastor. The situation is difficult, and it is only getting worse.

Only scant support has come from abroad. But local believers donated funds, food, and beds from their own homes. Until now, every arriving family has been given an aid package that includes lentils, flour, sugar, oil, tea, and soap.

But for how long?

If the situation continues, what can we do? asked Habil Thomas, country director for Nigeria-based Calvary Ministries. God is the only one who can intervene, as we pray for peace in Khartoum and all Sudan.

So far, Wad Madani has been spared.

Located three hours from Khartoum along the banks of the Blue Nile, the capital of Gezira state governs an agricultural center once anticipated to become a new breadbasket of Africa. While development has stalled, the abundance of crops and relatively lower cost of livingcoupled with employment opportunities on the farmshas drawn many here to safety.

Because Khartoum is destroyed.

If the fighting doesnt stop, it will be a humanitarian crisis, said Ezekiel Kondo, Anglican archbishop of Sudan. Nobody can help anyone else here, because all are helpless.

His residence in All Saints Cathedral was situated one block from the Khartoum airport, where the army and its once-partnered Rapid Support Forces (RSF) both maintained bases. As a deal with civilian politicians neared agreement, the two generals turned on each other. Each was wary that stipulated military reform would favor the opposite rival.

Both served under the previous Islamist president, Omar al-Bashir.

In the ensuing battle, the cathedral premises were stormed by the RSF, which damaged both buildings and automobiles. Kondo had to walk 90 minutes with his family to find safer quarters in the capital. They are now 15 people in a 3-bedroom apartment, cooking the little they have over firewood.

From his isolation, he encourages his Anglican clergy with an unexpected verse from Isaiah 43: See, I am doing a new thing!  I am making a way in the wilderness, and streams in the wasteland.

As for the flock, many are traversing it. Some have settled in the affiliated Episcopal church in Wad Madani, while others landed in cities such as Port Sudan and Kassala where there is no fighting. One is Gadarif, three hours east of Wad Madani toward the Ethiopian border.

But many aim to eventually reach the Nuba Mountains, or even South Sudan.

There is no help we can give them, from the church or the people, said Sami Rahal, pastor of the Presbyterian church of Gadarif, one of eight denominations in the city. Those who have money are donating some, but it wont last more than one or two weeks.

There are about 40 people sleeping in his church; he doesnt know the numbers in the others. But several contacted him ahead of time before they came, seeking shelter from the evangelical family.

His message centers on Psalm 23: Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. He explains that God has given the displaced a way out of death into eternal life, just as those fleeing Khartoum have escaped the war with their this-world lives.

But Rahal has a different verse for the rest of the country.

God wants to send a message to the north of Sudan, he said. Those who sow the wind, shall reap the whirlwind.

This passage from Hosea is echoed by Jesus, and represents judgment on the people of Khartoum. From the calm of the capital, they watched the violence perpetrated against Darfur and the Nuba Mountains for decades, as if it were a soap opera series.

Arab Muslim leadership oppressed darker-skinned fellow Muslims, while calling Christians outright infidels, he said. Now the military brass has turned on each other, while Khartoum residents never believed the distant fighting could happen there.

Now it has.

We are not happy about it, because there are innocents among them, said Rahal. But in Gods wisdom, this could be a moment of deep transformation in Sudanese attitudes toward war, racism, and discrimination.

Wad Madani Youth for Christ representative Sabet Adam spoke similarly, comparing the situation in Sudan to the times of Habakkuk. Powerful leaders exploited the poor, with injustice rampant. Long did the people cry out to God, awaiting his deliverance.

Then as now, the Lord used the ungodly to deliver it.

We may not anticipate Gods ways of administering justice, Adam said. But justice will assuredly come.

But by far the passage quoted by most Sudanese pastors interviewed by CT came from Matthew 24: Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. The two feuding generals are a modern fulfillment, they say, encouraging believers that God warned them in advanceand that he is near.

Abdalrahim Musa, professor of New Testament at Nile Theological College, linked local interpretation with the parallel passage in Luke 21: When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies  flee to the mountains. Many of Sudans Christians originate from South Kordofan along todays border with South Sudan.

A region beset by war, their Nuba Mountains have been a beleaguered refuge.

During the period of joint British-Egyptian governance of Sudan, he explained, foreign missionaries and evangelical Copts evangelized the then-animist peoples of the south. And as colonial administration spread, churches were built for English officials and Coptic Orthodox merchants and tradesmen, as well as for migrating believers.

These houses of worship now provide emergency refuge.

But many also reinforce the distinct Sudanese theology of war, Musa said. As Christians in the Nuba Mountains hid in caves from air force bombardment, they developed an application of parousiathe already, but not yet presence of Gods kingdomthat saw end times predictions in their own backyard. Many rebels found Christ after reading these scriptures, and then became ministers.

The theological point is to stay faithful despite suffering.

War is not strange to us, Musa said of his fellow southern believers. But now they hope that the people of Khartoum will understand.

One woman, who fled from the capital to Wad Madani, asked forgiveness for their ignorance, he related. Other leaders spoke of similar apologies.

Musaas did nearly all sourcesconveyed his remarks in a voice recording over WhatsApp, as the internet connections in Sudan are too weak and unstable for direct communication. Banks and Western Union only provide intermittent service, preventing most donations from arriving from his affiliated US-based Arabic Bible Outreach Ministries.

Having also relocated to Wad Madani for safety, Musa highlighted the background praise music before joining the believers worshipping in Husseins church. Before the conflict, it drew about 200 people for services. The influx of displaced families has nearly doubled it.

We want Gods will for Sudan, and he knows why this war has happened, Hussein said. But we pray it will be the last one.

But others are angryand call it Gods justice.

Fouad Barakat has another explanation.

Many people say this is Gods punishment on the Sudanese people, said the Presbyterian pastor in Wad al-Bashir, a suburb of Khartoum. But it is instead our fallen nature, that causes people to strive for power.

Rafat Samir, however, quoted from John 9: Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind? Such speculation, said the chair of the Evangelical Community Council, gets ahead of Gods eventual revelation of his good will.

Still, he acknowledged the suffering of southern Christians.

Our country is full of the blood of our brothers from Darfur and the Nuba mountains, Samir said. They are innocent and kind; but like Job, we have no idea what will happen at the end.

He pointed to Deuteronomy 23, however, to find space to anticipate the curse of war becoming a blessing. God is good, and perhaps like Europe, Japan, and Rwanda, Sudan will eventually be rebuilt.

Spiritually, it may already be underwayas seeds are sown by believers throughout the region. Evidence comes from across the border in Aswan, as the five evangelical churches in the southernmost city of Egypt rally to host Sudanese refugees.

Four guesthouses receive up to 100 people per day, most looking to transit onward to Cairo. The World Food Program and other international aid agencies are present, helping the Egyptian government process over 70,000 Sudanese and other foreigners so far.

Residence is given freely to Christians, and all arrivals are offered free transportation from the bus stop 45 minutes away. Muslims are provided with help to find local accommodation to fit their budgetwelcome help after many were exploited, forced to pay $500 simply to get to the Egyptian border.

From Sudans Wadi Halfa, after a sometimes days-long processing of paperwork, another bus took refugees by ferry across Lake Nasser, landing in the Pharaonic city of Abu Simbel. After another nearly four-hour bus ride to Aswan, many were astonished to find Christians waiting to receive them, asking how they could serve.

Over 3,000 received this expression of Gods love.

It touched a lot of people that the church was there, said Joachim Paesler, director of the Evangelical Mission in Upper Egypt, which oversees Aswans charitable German hospital, founded more than a century ago. And Muslims said no one in our country helped us, but you have.

From Gadarif, Rahal sees evidence as well.

The war is exposing the truth about political Islam, that it is not suitable to manage the country, he said. And many Muslims are changing their view about the religion as well, giving us an opportunity to bring them to Christ.

Some young people in his city have already converted, while others turn to atheism. But as the generals tear Khartoum aparteven as they are currently negotiating ceasefiresRahal, like many others, closed his reflection with cherished verses from Romans 8: God works all things together for good.

The evil we see now in all the killing and destruction will give way to Gods salvation purposes, said Rahal. And Sudan, thereafter, will be better than before.
United Methodist bishops have proposed a five-day meeting of the denominations global decision-making body, the General Conference, in May 2026.

The announcement comes at the end of the Council of Bishops spring meeting last week in Chicago and a weekend that saw hundreds of United Methodist churches in the United States leave the denomination.

The 2026 General Conference would focus on re-establishing connection within the United Methodist Church, lamenting, healing and recasting the mission and vision for the mainline denomination after years of strife over the ordination and marriage of its LGBT members, according to a press release published Monday (May 8) on the Council of Bishops website.

Delegates to the General Conference also would consider a more regional governance structure to better support the remaining denomination, which currently numbers about 30,000 U.S. churches.

I admit to you Im eager to get past all this. I want us to stop talking about disaffiliations, Bishop Thomas Bickerton, president of the Council of Bishops, said during the bishops meeting, which ran April 30 to May 5.

Im worried genuinely that weve spent more time on those that are leaving than focusing our energy on those who are staying.

Delegates to the 2020 General Conference meeting had been expected to consider a proposal to split the denomination over its disagreement on sexuality and help create a new, theologically conservative denomination called the Global Methodist Church. That would allow the United Methodist Church to change language in its Book of Discipline that bars same-sex marriages and LGBT clergy.

When the 2020 meeting was postponed a third time for pandemic-related reasons, the Global Methodist Church went ahead and launched last year. To date, about 2,000 churches have joined the new denomination.

More recently, United Methodists top court, the Judicial Council, ruled that the General Conference meeting set for April 23 to May 3, 2024, in Charlotte, North Carolina, should be considered the postponed 2020 meeting. Because those meetings must be held once in four years, the court also ruled that the denomination must hold another meeting afterward to take the place of what would have been the 2024 meeting before the next regularly scheduled session in 2028.

The bishops request to hold that meeting in May 2026 now goes to the Commission on the General Conference to set the date.

Meanwhile, over the weekend, at least seven annual conferences met to approve disaffiliation requests from more than 300 churches within their boundaries. The number will likely go up as final votes are still being tallied from the Western North Carolina conference, according to United Methodist News Service.

To date, at least 2,804 churches have left the United Methodist Church since 2019up from 2,000 at the end of last yearaccording to UMNS. Thats when a special session of the General Conference approved a disaffiliation plan allowing churches to vote to leave over reasons of conscience related to sexuality, while keeping their properties if they pay certain pensions and apportionments.

More disaffiliations are expected as annual conferences hold their regular meetings this summer. Some have scheduled special sessions later this year expressly to approve requests from their churches to disaffiliate.

The disaffiliation plan sunsets on Dec. 31, and Bickerton told the Council of Bishops last week that the new year would begin a period of jubilee for the denomination.

This season of disaffiliations must come to a close if we ever hope to refocus our attention on the mission and ministry opportunities that are before us. This has been our work, is our work, but cannot remain our work, he said.
Arab-Jewish coexistence in Israel suddenly ruptured, a 2021 New York Times headline reads.

The hulks of burned out cars and trucks litter the streets of the mixed Arab-Jewish town of Lod, the epicenter of three nights of violence, the article begins, and the writer goes on to quote heartbroken citizens, devastated by the state of affairs in their community.

There is a feeling its only getting worse, one woman said.

The city of Lod, located in central Israel, is home to nearly 80,000 people. While 70 percent of them identify as Jewish or other, the remaining 30 percent are classified as Arab. Conflicts stretch back across millennia, traced throughout Scripture and modern history alike. These conflicts are not relegated to the past. Instead, they shape the current day-to-day interactions of citizens.

In May 2021, violence and riots broke out so fiercely that the mayor referred to the situation as civil war, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared a state of emergency in Lod.

Now, the city is still considered unsafe with high rates of crime and volatility. For children growing up there, that means coming of age with the daily fear of destruction and death. At risk for PTSD and ongoing mental and emotional health issues, the children of Lod have inherited a legacy of suffering. Their plight begs the question: where is God in the face of fatal conflict?

Troubles at the Root

When Nicole Yoder, vice president for Aid and Aliyah at the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ), visited grade schools in Lod, she quickly learned that trauma-informed engagement was as vital to the educational approach as any academic curriculum. Administrators, teachers, and school psychologists explained that they were educating children facing acute traumaincluding sirens blaring in the night and missile attacks shaking them from sleepand PTSD. Leaders at the school know that the time they spend with these children each day could make all the difference.



This is almost the only opportunity for the children here to get help, explained Diana, a school psychologist. They need to get help at school to return them to a good development path because they likely will not receive it anywhere else.

Grade school counselor Sabrin echoed Dianas thoughts. If the children do not get the help they need, we see the results in the community, with an increase in suicide, drugs, and crime, she said. We must deal with the troubles at the root.

Those troubles at the root include grief and anxiety, which are prominent among children growing up in high-conflict areas. Research shows that children facing such issues benefit from therapeutic support.

One meta-analysis reports that children or adolescents who were treated with group therapy were better off than 73 percent of their peers who were not. In addressing communal trauma, advocates are treating the whole person and acknowledging the connection between mental and emotional health and spiritual well-being.

Education leaders like Diana and Sabrin know that school is an ideal place for children to receive therapy, counseling, and support. For many, school is the safest place they encounter each week, and the adults there are among the most reliable and trustworthy people they know. In partnership with the ICEJ, schools throughout Lod are implementing a project that is already changing lives.

Places of Peace

Through a project called Havens of Calm, the ICEJ is establishing spaces for effective therapeutic interventions. These bright, colorful rooms facilitate therapy, diagnostic services, group work, and parent support for both Jewish and Arab families. School counselors and psychologists meet with children as part of their school day, helping them address crises and trauma that range from social upheaval to parental neglect, sexual abuse, and domestic violence.

As cultural and religious turmoil in Israel continues, perhaps comfort can be found in the words of Jesus when he said, Let the little children come to me (Matt. 19:14). Through Havens of Calm, the ICEJ is serving the children, the weary mothers and fathers, and the heavy-laden families through trauma-informed therapy and emotional skill-building.

By supporting their work, Christians an ocean away can cultivate peace in a place torn apart. We can be part of dealing with the troubles at the root. And we can answer the question, Where is God? with a certain truth: Right here, with you, in the midst of your suffering.
America under threat from syncretism, George Barna says in study; churches urged to respond

While the World Health Organization has declared that COVID-19 is no longer a public health emergency, Americas embrace of syncretism  the fusion of different religions  and the growing rejection of a biblical worldview remains a threat to general quality of life in a post-pandemic world, especially for children, new research from the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University suggests.

During times of crisis, every generation turns to their worldview to navigate the challenges. Sadly, because syncretism is the prevailing worldview of each generation in America today, the response of Americans to the pandemic and the political turbulence it facilitated have been every bit as muddled and chaotic as the worldview on which they are based, wrote George Barna, director of research at the Cultural Research Center on the findings from his research.

The ideological and philosophical confusion that characterizes America is perhaps the biggest reflection of the nation's rejection of biblical principles and its decision to replace God's truth with personal truth.'

Using recent data from the American Worldview Inventory, which is the first-ever national survey conducted in the United States measuring the incidence of both biblical and competing worldviews, Barna shows how the four adult generations in the U.S.  millennials, Gen X (baby busters), baby boomers and elders  had very different spiritual responses to the pandemic.

The research, which involved the tracking of a nationally representative sample of 2,000 adults undertaken in January, showed the lowest incidence of adults with a biblical worldview among the youngest cohorts, millennials, adults born between 1984 and 2002, and Gen X, adults born from 1965 through 1983.

The data show that of the four generations, millennials had the lowest incidence of biblical worldview at 2%. Their connection to Christianity was also shown as quite weak before the pandemic and was even weaker by the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Millennials were hit hard by the pandemic in dimensions such as their emotions, finances, vocation, relationships, and ideology, Barna wrote.

Only 5% of Gen X adults held a biblical worldview, according to the data. The study shows that Gen X endured the greatest degree of spiritual turbulence, with 10 statistically significant changes and two notable directional changes.

In all but one instance, those changes showed Gen Xers moving away from biblical perspectives or behaviors. In general, the nature of the spiritual transitions among Gen Xers during the pandemic era was a shift away from trust in God. Among the biggest changes in their religious perspective were declines in believing God created humans, that He is the basis of truth, and that He is the omniscient and omnipotent ruler of the universe, Barna noted.

Those doubts have precipitated important transitions in religious behavior, including less frequent Bible reading, church attendance, confession of personal sin, seeking to do Gods will, and worshiping God. Another noteworthy shift is the decline in how many Gen Xers believe that human life is sacred.

Baby boomers, adults born between 1946 and 1964, and elders, adults 77 and older, were shown to be the most likely among adults to hold a biblical worldview. However, they were still in the minority among their respective cohorts and showed declines over the course of the pandemic.

The biblical worldview incidence among boomers dropped from 9% to 7% over the past three years, while it dropped among elders from 9% to 8%.

Barna suggested that the decision by Christian churches to shutter during the pandemic wasnt helpful for the American public because it left people unprepared for the challenges of a post-pandemic society.

The last three years have been a time of high anxiety for tens of millions of adults. It was an ideal time for the Christian Church to provide wise guidance and emotional calm. Unfortunately, most churches agreed to the government's dictate that they close their doors and remain mostly silent. That left an unprepared populace to follow the primary form of leadership available to them: government perspectives and policies, Barna argued.

Obviously, that has not worked well, given how dissatisfied a large majority of the country is with the direction of the nation and the quality of post-COVID life. With only one out of every 50 millennials embracing a biblical worldview, America's children are especially vulnerable to the inward-looking approach to life that their parents and most other adults practice, he added.

As a nation, we may be past the danger of COVID-19, but we are in the thick of the danger brought about by people relying upon syncretism as their dominant worldview. Biblical churches must see this as a time for an urgent response to the direction society is taking. While the Left pursues the Great Reset, it is time for the Church to pursue the Great Renewal  leading people's hearts, minds, and souls back to God and His life principles.
Courts, Congress attempt to mitigate border crisis as Title 42 expires

A federal judge has temporarily stopped the Biden administration from releasing illegal immigrants into the country en masse as Congress works to address the border crisis that is expected to worsen following the expiration of a coronavirus-era immigration policy.

In the case of State of Florida v. Alejandro Mayorkas et al., Judge T. Kent Wetherell II of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida issued a temporary restraining order on Thursday preventing the Biden administration from implementing a new program outlined in a memorandum titled Policy on Parole with Conditions in Limited Circumstances Prior to the Issue of a Charging Document (Parole with Conditions).

The restraining order will remain in effect for two weeks, giving the Biden administration time to appeal the ruling.

As explained in the ruling, the new policy would enable U.S. Customs and Border Patrol to release illegal immigrants arriving in the U.S. into the country conditioned on [the alien], within 60 days, scheduling an appointment to appear at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility for initiation of appropriate removal proceedings or requesting service, via designated online location, of a Notice to Appear (NTA) by mail.

Wetherell, appointed by former President Donald Trump, noted that the policy would only be used when CBP facilities exceed processing capacity and in situations where there are more than 7,000 interactions between federal law enforcement officials and migrants at the Southwest border.

Data compiled by CBP showed the number of such encounters ranged from 227,547 in September 2022 to 252,012 in December 2022, statistics demonstrating an average of more than 7,000 apprehensions per day in those months.

Contending that the border crisis was about to get worse when Title 42 expired, Wetherell sided with Florida by characterizing the new policy as similar to an earlier one previously struck down by the courts. He stressed that the previous ruling determined that Florida suffers substantial harm  both to its sovereignty and its public fisc  when the federal government releases aliens into the country on parole.

Wetherells ruling came just hours before the Trump-era Title 42 measure that allowed border officials to quickly turn away illegal immigrants seeking entry into the U.S. due to the threat posed by the coronavirus pandemic expired at midnight Friday.

As efforts to mitigate the border crisis continue in the courts, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to advance H.R. 2, also known as the Secure the Border Act of 2023, on Thursday.

The Houses 219-213 vote on the border security package, which incorporates elements of three separate bills, took place hours before Title 42s expiration. As expected, support for the Secure the Border Act of 2023 is closely correlated with partisan identification. Only two Republicans, Reps. John Duarte of California and Thomas Massie of Kentucky, voted against the measure while not a single Democrat supported it.

The bill combines three separate bills into one piece of legislation: The Border Reinforcement Act of 2023, the Border Security and Enforcement Act of 2023 and the ORDER Act. The legislation calls for the resumption of construction on the border wall separating the U.S. from Mexico that the Biden administration halted upon taking office and the creation of a report by the Department of Homeland Security determining whether to designate Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations.

Additional provisions of the bill re-establish the Trump era "Remain in Mexico" policy requiring illegal immigrants ineligible for asylum in Mexico to remain there while they wait for their asylum claims to be adjudicated and order the reopening of ICE detention centers that were closed or repurposed under the Biden administration.

For its part, the Biden administration has vowed not to support the legislation should it reach President Joe Bidens desk. In a statement released Monday, the administration announced that it strongly supports productive efforts to reform the Nations immigration system but opposes H.R. 2.

Warning that the legislation makes elements of our immigration system worse, the White House maintained that H.R. 2 does nothing to address the root causes of migration, reduces humanitarian protections, and restricts lawful pathways, which are critical alternatives to unlawful entry. It condemned the measure as an effort to cut off nearly all access to humanitarian protections in ways that are inconsistent with our Nations values and international obligations.

At the same time, the Biden administration defended its strategy on immigration policy in the U.S., summarizing its priorities as expanding legal pathways while increasing consequences for illegal pathways, which helps maintain safe, orderly, and humane border processing.

As the Secure the Border Act of 2023 faces a low likelihood of passage in the Democrat-controlled U.S. Senate and a promised veto from the president, Sen. Krysten Sinema, I-Ariz., and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., have introduced legislation that would expand the protections of Title 42 for two years.

Even with Title 42 in place, millions of illegal immigrants have entered the U.S. since Biden took office. The number of border crossings measured by CBP reached 2,378,944 in fiscal year 2022, a noticeable increase from the 1,734,686 recorded in fiscal year 2021. Halfway into fiscal year 2023, CBP has documented 1,223,067 land encounters between migrants and border enforcement officials.
FBI offers $15K reward for information on pro-life clinic vandalism 1 year after attack CompassCare CEO: 'If the FBI was serious, it would offer $25K for each of the 150 pro-life organizations that have been attacked'

The FBI is offering a $15,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of those responsible for vandalizing a pro-life pregnancy clinic in Des Moines, Iowa, nearly a year after the attacks took place.

The FBIs Omaha Field Office has established a $15,000 reward for anyone with information leading to the identification, arrest, and conviction of the suspect(s) responsible for the multiple instances of vandalism at Agape Pregnancy Center in Des Moines, Iowa, last year.

The call for assistance from the American public shared on FBI Omahas Twitter account on May 5, comes nearly a year after the facility was first vandalized on June 3, 2022.

The facility was one of many targeted after Politico published a leaked draft decision in the United States Supreme Court case of Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization, which implied that a majority of justices were prepared to rule that the U.S. Constitution did not contain a right to abortion.

The FBI is offering a ,000 reward for information on the vandalization of the Agape Pregnancy Resource Center in Des Moines. Anyone with information can call #FBI Omaha at 402-493-8688 or send it to https://t.co/G27WO77Kln. You can remain anonymous. https://t.co/7LzHEhUyPApic.twitter.com/N3ACR19vF5  FBI Omaha (@FBIOmaha) May 5, 2023

Janes Revenge, a pro-choice terrorist organization that has taken credit for multiple acts of vandalism against pro-life pregnancy centers and churches, took credit for vandalizing Agape in a June 9, 2022, post shared on Twitter by the handle DSM Street Medics.

the dsm street medics received the following from a trusted source. we are in no way affiliated with these actions, but we applaud them. we have been asked to use our platform to uplift the following message:



(text continued below)



COMMUNIQUE #1 pic.twitter.com/wVwLcmtaiU  DSM Street Medics (@dsmstreetmedics) June 9, 2022

The night of June 2nd, 2022 we vandalized Agape, a prominent crisis pregnancy center in a low income area of Des Moines, Iowa, the group admitted.

Janes Revenge described Agape as a religious fake clinic that inflicts emotional, financial, and physical violence on people who need healthcare and support and works to shame, and manipulate people into not getting abortions. It also maintained that crisis pregnancy centers work to uphold patriarchy, Christian supremacy, white supremacy, and cisheteronormativity.

Janes Revenge acknowledged that it broke windows and wrote messages of god loves abortion, fake clinic, this place is not safe, and stop lying on the exterior of the facility.

In November, the FBIs Buffalo Press Office established a $25,000 reward for information on those responsible for the firebombing of CompassCare, a pro-life pregnancy center in western New York that took place five months earlier.

Janes Revenge also took credit for the firebombing of CompassCares Amherst location.

CompassCare CEO the Rev. Jim Harden suggested in a previous statement to The Christian Post that the FBIs belated establishment of reward money constituted an attempt to appear evenhanded, bolstering their reputation ahead of more investigations by the House Judiciary Committee into the FBIs abdication of duty to investigate violence against pro-life organizations.

Harden maintained that if they are serious about finding the perpetrators, they will offer a $25K reward for each of the 150 pro-life organizations that have been attacked  $3.75 million.

The federal governments response to the wave of violence against churches and pro-life pregnancy centers, which continued after the Supreme Court released the Dobbs decision last June has received criticism from pro-life groups.

The advocacy group CatholicVote launched a $1 million ad campaign calling on the Biden administration to condemn the violence against Catholic churches in particular and implying that the administration has acted to encourage rather than suppress such attacks.

Dissatisfaction with the federal response to the attacks on churches and pro-life pregnancy centers prompted the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think-tank, and former Vice President Mike Pences advocacy organization Advancing American Freedom to file a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice.

Even after the FBI established reward money for the firebombing of CompassCare, Harden partnered with the nonprofit legal firm Thomas More Society to hire private investigators in an attempt to find the culprits.

Some pro-choice vandals have been arrested and charged for their involvement in the wave of attacks, including four individuals who were recently indicted in Florida.

A report compiled by the Crime Prevention Research Center and published last year found that pro-life groups fell victim to 22 times more violence in the six months following the publication of the draft Dobbs decision than their pro-choice counterparts.
Gods children are not for sale: Jim Caviezel calls on 2M people to watch film that exposes trafficking

PROVO, Utah  Devout Christian actor Jim Caviezel, who stars in the upcoming film "Sound of Freedom," is calling on 2 million people to stand with him and expose the evil of child exploitation and trafficking.

Scheduled for release on July 4, Sound of Freedom" tells the true story of one man's journey to combat child sex trafficking. The studio behind the film, Angel Studios, unveiled the first trailer at their Illuminate event on Thursday.

"Gods children are not for sale," the actor declares in the trailer.

Caviezel then delivered a call to action for anyone willing to buy a ticket to see the film and raise awareness against this prevalent form of slavery.



We know this is heartbreaking and it hurts to look at, but the first step in helping these children is hearing their story. Not enough people know this problem exists and even fewer people are willing to do anything about it, Caviezel declared.

Our goal is to inspire 2 million people to attend the film's opening weekend to represent the 2 million trafficked children around the world."

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime defines human trafficking as any situation in which someone experiences force, coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power or vulnerability, or giving payments or benefits to a person in control.

The International Labour Organization reports that human trafficking is a $150 billion per year industry worldwide, and that around 21 million people in the modern world are enslaved.

To spread the word, Angel Studios set up a pay-it-forward program where you can pay for someone elses ticket who might not otherwise see it, Caviezel said. If the ticket price is stopping you from attending, claim your free ticket.

The entertainer encouraged families to attend together and even said teenagers should be brought along as well.

Sound of Freedom is based on the life of Tim Ballard, a former U.S. agent who battles human trafficking after rescuing a little boy whose sister remained captive to traffickers and was sent to Colombia.

Caviezel is joined on screen by Oscar winner Mira Sorvino (The Final Cut), Bill Camp (12 Years a Slave), Jose Zuniga (Twilight), and Eduardo Verastegui (Unplanned) who is the film's producer. Alejandro Monteverde (Bella, Little Boy) is the writer and director of the film.



The film was rejected by multiple Hollywood studios but Angel Studios acquired worldwide distribution rights earlier this year.

Angel Studios is a platform for filmmakers to collaborate with the audience and bring projects to life by crowdfunding. It currently creates and distributes films and TV series worldwide and is known as the studio behind The Chosen and Dry Bar Comedy.

Angel Studios CEO Neal Harmon said his company feels a responsibility to take action and answer the prayers of the 2 million children around the world who are crying for freedom.

While unveiling the trailer at Illuminate 2023, the CEO shared a recent story of his conversation with filmmaker Monteverde who told him that he was passing the baton to Angel Studios and all of the angel investors.

I entrust 'Sound of Freedom' to you, Harmon said. Now that we have at Angel Studios this responsibility, we want to answer the prayers of children as soon as possible.

Angel Studios chose to release Sound of Freedom on July 4 to make the message clear, despite industry experts telling them not to compete with the summer releases.



We have the honor of answering the prayers of these children, Harmon said, in tears.

He believes that if 2 million people show up to theaters to support this powerful film, The world will not be able to ignore that message!



Caviezel told Variety in a recent interview that he considers the movie to be "the second most important film Ive done after The Passion Of The Christ.'"
Christian charity sues Washington state for right to hire only people who follow biblical beliefs

A Christian homeless shelter filed a federal lawsuit against Washington state officials alleging that its First Amendment rights to hire "likeminded" individuals who share their biblical mission about only hiring those who practice sexual purity in marriage has been violated.

From serving meals to providing shelter to those in need and medical and recovery resources, Yakima Union Gospel Mission aims to serve anyone with its Christian-based services. However, the organization only hires people who share and live out its religious beliefs.

Specifically, the organization hires only those who support its biblical mission of "spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ through its homeless shelter, addiction-recovery programs, outreach efforts, meal services, and health clinics for the Yakima community."

Represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, the YUGM filed a civil rights lawsuit last Thursday against Washington Attorney General Robert Ferguson, Washington State Human Rights Commission Executive Director Andreta Armstrong and two commissioners of the Human Rights Commission.

The lawsuit objects to the Washington Law Against Discrimination, which prohibits sexual orientation discrimination in employment and argues that the defendants "view the Mission's Christian behavior requirement on marriage and sexuality as unlawful sexual orientation discrimination under the WLAD."

The organization only hires employees who "abstain from any sexual conduct outside of biblical marriage between one man and one woman  in order to properly live out and represent a Christian lifestyle and to not undermine the Mission's religious message."

ADF, which has won several U.S. Supreme Court cases in recent years, argues that the Washington Supreme Court "reinterpreted state law to prohibit religious organizations, like the mission, from only hiring individuals who share its religious beliefs."

"The WLAD used to protect the Mission by exempting religious nonprofit organizations from its provisions, but the Washington Supreme Court recently gutted the religious employer exemption, reducing it to the 'ministerial exception,'" the filing reads.

"Although the United States Supreme Court did not review the case [of a Seattle-based Christian charity] because of its interlocutory posture, Justices Alito and Thomas noted that the 'Washington Supreme Court's decision may warrant [the U.S. Supreme Court's] review in the future' because the 'Washington Supreme Court's decision to narrowly construe [Washington's] religious exemption' may 'have created a conflict with the Federal Constitution.'"

State officials have allegedly "[threatened] the mission with significant penalties for using its religiously based hiring practices."

"Courts have consistently recognized that the government will undermine a religious organization's purpose if it forces the organization to hire those who do not subscribe to the group's beliefs," ADF Legal Counsel Jake Reed said in a statement.

"The Yakima Union Gospel Mission is doing important ministry outreach in Washington state and we urge the court to uphold its freedom to carry out its calling through its staff of likeminded people of faith."

ADF Senior Counsel Ryan Tucker, the director of the ADF Center for Christian Ministries, said that "the First Amendment allows religious organizations the freedom to hire those who share and live out their beliefs without being punished by the government."

"Yakima Union Gospel Mission now faces substantial penalties under Washington state law for simply engaging in its constitutionally protected freedom to hire fellow believers who share the mission's calling to spread the gospel and care for vulnerable people in the Yakima community," he added in a statement.

"YUGM provided a total of 30,167 nights of shelter to 881 different adults and 3,592 nights of shelter to children from July 1, 2021, to June 30, 2022," according to the lawsuit.

The charity's Good News Cafe, which provides three free meals daily to the public and shelter guests, served 141,629 free meals in that same timeframe.

YUGM's New Life Program also helps those recovering from drug and alcohol addictions and homelessness through its faith-based residential community.

In 2021, Seattle's Union Gospel Mission petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to hear its case after the Washington Supreme Court overturned a lower court ruling in its favor in regard to its refusal to hire a man in a same-sex relationship. The court voted last May not to hear the case.

Last November, ADF helped secure a legal settlement in favor of a Wyoming Christian shelter so that it can continue to hire only Christians who share its religious beliefs.
Biden DOJ sides with Christian charity battling California city over right to feed homeless

The Biden administration has taken the side of a Christian charity that is suing a city in California for refusing to let it minister to homeless residents by giving them food and water.

The United States Department of Justice filed a statement of interest on Tuesday in the case of Micahs Way v. City of Santa Ana, which is centered on city officials trying to force the charity to move out of a neighborhood due to their giving food and drinks to the homeless and offering other services.

In its legal statement, the DOJ argued that Micahs Ways actions constituted a lawful exercise under the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000.

Consistent with this broad mandate, courts have routinely found that providing charity to homeless  individuals including by offering food and drink  can constitute religious exercise under RLUIPA, read the statement.

Moreover, the premise of the Citys argument  that certain activities are intrinsically secular and therefore not religious exercise  has been repeatedly rejected by courts.

Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Departments Civil Rights Division said in a Wednesday press release that land use restrictions against faith-based organizations is unlawful.

Many faith-based organizations across the country are on the front lines serving the needs of people experiencing homelessness, Clarke said. The Justice Department is committed to enforcing federal civil rights laws to ensure that all religious groups can freely exercise their religious beliefs.

Micahs Way filed the lawsuit against the city in February, months after the city refused to certify their occupancy certificate over complaints about their food distribution.

In a letter sent to the charity last year, as quoted by Voice of OC, officials explained that they had gotten complaints from locals that needy individuals would obtain food and beverages at the premises and linger in the neighborhood and that transients were seen discarding food waste and scaring residents.
Oregon city sued by diocese over ordinance restricting church's homeless ministry

An Episcopal diocese and a congregation have filed a lawsuit against an Oregon city over a new ordinance that limits their ministrys ability to feed the homeless amid complaints from neighbors.

The Episcopal Diocese of Oregon and St. Timothys Episcopal Church filed the complaint against the city of Brookings last Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon, Medford Division.

At issue is the Brookings City Councils unanimous passing of Ordinance 21-O-795 last year requiring food providers to get a conditional use permit to operate in a residential zone.

Even with the conditional use permit, which churches can apply for without a fee, St. Timothys would be limited to serving food to the needy for only two days per week.

Plaintiffs now face the decision of whether to exercise their core religious beliefs or face enforcement action by the City. Plaintiffs intend to continue exercising their core religious beliefs and serving meals at St. Timothys four days per week, the lawsuit reads.

Plaintiffs do not intend to restrict their religious exercise to two days or fewer per week because the community need is greater than serving meals only twice per week.

The legal document alleges that the citys approach changed in April 2021 after the city council received a petition from local residents criticizing the congregation of vagrants or

undesirables at St. Timothys.

Rather than create or expand social services for Brookings residents in need, the City took steps to remove their last safety net, beginning a campaign to force St. Timothys to significantly reduce the services that it has offered on its premises for decades, the lawsuit maintains.

The complaint accuses city officials of violating the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, which, among other things, protects religious groups from discriminatory zoning codes.

The Rt. Rev. Diana Akiyama, bishop of the Oregon diocese, said in a statement that she believes the congregation is obeying the teachings of Jesus when they provide food and medical care to their community.

As Christians, we are called by faith to feed the hungry and welcome the stranger. Providing hospitality to all who enter St. Timothys in search of help is integral to our beliefs, the bishop contends.

Brookings City Manager Janelle Howard told Oregon Public Broadcasting that the new ordinance came in light of the April 2021 petition by residents who claimed to have been negatively impacted by the food ministry.

They were looking for some relief because it was becoming an impact to their particular neighborhood, whether they mentioned trespassing, littering, noise, Howard said last October. They were asking for some kind of relief from the city.

Howard argued that city officials had the authority to institute such restrictions on St. Timothys because it is located in a residential zone instead of a commercial zone.

If they were in commercial zones, there would be no limitations to the frequency, or the hours, or the number of days a week, Howard said.

In a statement, Rev. Bernie Lindley said that the church has been serving the community for decades, picking up the slack where the need exists and no one else is stepping in. He said the church has provided health clinics, food bank, vaccinations, showers, internet access and other services. He said the church grew its homeless feeding program when most other churches in the area suspended their free meal services during the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the dioceses statement, St. Timothys has refused to apply for a permit with the city because it limits how often meals can be served.

We have no intention of stopping now and were prepared to hold fast to our beliefs, Lindley said. We wont abandon the people of Brookings who need our help, even when were being threatened.

The church and diocese are represented by Stoel Rives LLP and the Oregon Justice Resource Center.
Ahead of key shareholders meeting, JPMorgan Chase denies closing accounts over religious, political views Christian hedge fund manager warns of 'woke cultural moment'

A Christian portfolio manager and TV commentator is set to challenge the shareholders of one of the nations biggest banks over what he says is evidence of religious and political discrimination in the financial sector.

David L. Bahnsen, the founder and managing partner of The Bahnsen Group, which manages over $4 billion in client assets, will present a resolution at a May 16 shareholders meeting for JPMorgan Chase which will call on the companys board of directors to evaluate how it oversees risks related to discrimination against individuals based on a number of criteria, including religion and political views.

The resolution states that JPMorgan Chase shareholders are particularly concerned about recent evidence of religious and political discrimination by companies in the financial services industry, citing a Statement on Debanking and Free Speech signed by Bahnsen and dozens of other wealth managers.

Calling on JPMorgan Chase to respect civil rights by identifying potential factors that may contribute to discrimination in the provision of services based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or social, political, or religious views, the resolution warns any failure to do so could impact both clients and the marketplace as a whole.

The resolution reads in part: When companies engage in this kind of discrimination, they hinder the ability of individuals, groups, and businesses to access and equally participate in the marketplace and instead skew it to their own ends.

While the resolution does not go into detail about any discrimination, the statement on debanking released by the religious freedom legal nonprofit Alliance Defending Freedoms Viewpoint Diversity Score (VDS), which alleges what it called numerous examples of overly broad language that could be construed as authority to deny or restrict service for vague, arbitrary, or viewpoint-based reasons.

A number of some of America's biggest financial companies are cited in the debanking statement, including Capital One  which the index says prohibits transactions that promote hate  and Visa, which requires any merchants using its services to avoid hateful conduct.

In March, the Securities and Exchange Commission rejected a motion filed by JPMorgan Chase to keep the resolution off the ballot on the basis that the resolution transcends ordinary business matters.

Following the SECs response, the JPMorgan Chase board of directors urged shareholders to vote against the resolution, which the firms proxy statement calls Proposal 10 and claims is based on allegations that are not true.

The statement reads in part: It is not our policy to debank people because of their political views or religious affiliation. We believe [JPMorgan Chase] has a strong corporate culture that values diversity of backgrounds, ideas and experience and effectively works to prevent discrimination.

Last October, Chase closed the account of the National Committee for Religious Freedom (NCRF), a faith-based nonprofit organization led by former United States Ambassador Sam Brownback, who said there was never an official cause given for the move.

Its secret, its irrevocable, and thats all the information we got, Brownback told The Christian Post at the time.

It was Brownbacks experience that led Bahnsen to author the resolution in the first place.

My feeling initially was that it may be a coincidence or there may be more going on than I understand, Bahnsen told CP Thursday via email. As I looked deeper into this, it became evident to me that there was something to these reports and that managements explanations were insufficient.

Despite the concerns about the financial sector and investment banking, Bahnsen said its imperative for Americans to pay attention to what he called this woke cultural moment.

The freedom to transact in the marketplace is a pretty fundamental freedom when it comes to all peoples quality of life, he added. Companies that choose to discriminate against people by limiting their freedom in the marketplace because of their religious or political views are eradicating that quality of life and doing so systematically.

Earlier this month, 19 Republican state attorneys general wrote a letter to CEO Jamie Dimon and called on JPMorgan Chase to stop its religious and politically biased discrimination and start living up to its commitment to an inclusive society where everyone feels welcomed, equal, and included.

That letter comes just over a month after 14 Republican state auditors, controllers, and treasurers wrote to Dimon to "convey our concern that the bank is engaged in what appears to be politically motivated de-banking of certain industries, individuals, and groups."

"In light of this concern, we urge Chase to immediately take steps to identify and address internal drivers of political or anti-religious bias that could undermine its fiduciary obligations and impair the freedom of its customers to access financial services without fear of discrimination," the letter stated.

While its unclear whether such efforts will lead to further action, Bahnsen said further oversight is critical to prevent future discrimination on behalf of Americas biggest financial firms.

Some companies, like JP Morgan, are large, complex, and in need of processes to ensure it is not happening, he said. The woke cultural moment has created a new battleground for religious and economic liberty. These are the core issues on which our nation was founded.

Bahnsen, who is also on the Board of Directors for the National Review Institute and is a founding Trustee for Pacifica Christian High School of Orange County, is the son of the late Greg Bahnsen, a well-known Christian apologist and theologian.

As a longtime faculty member for the Acton Institute, Bahnsen has spoken about the need for Christians to view work as more than simply a necessary evil but rather a divine institution.

... In fact, we were created to work, and  God, being a worker and making us in his image, asked us to be a co-creator with him, he said in a 2021 interview.

He gave us a dignity that mirrors the image that he has, and us as co-image-bearers are now responsible to steward the earth, to have dominion over the Earth, and that, in fact, work was created to be a great blessing in our lives and is existential to our mission here on Earth.
Man arrested for holding God bless the homeless vets sign sues city

A U.S. Army veteran and former truck driver has filed a lawsuit against a city in Georgia after he was arrested for holding a sign that read God bless the homeless Vets.

Jeff Gray filed two lawsuits on Tuesday over being reportedly harassed for carrying the sign, with one suit being against the city of Alpharetta while the other was against Blackshear Police Chief Chris Wright.

The suit against Alpharetta was filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta Division, and named as defendants Arick Furr and Harold Shoffeitt, both of the Alpharetta Department of Public Safety.

At issue was an incident in which Gray was detained, arrested and charged with allegedly violating the citys anti-panhandling policy, with Gray being banned from the area.

Grays speech about the plight of homeless veterans  whether panhandling or not  and his subsequent questioning of Lt. Furrs actions, was clearly established as protected political expression, stated the complaint. Even if Gray was panhandling, it is clearly established that the First Amendment protects speakers asking others for help.

The suit against Wright was filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia, Waycross Division, with Gray being cited for allegedly violating an ordinance against holding a parade, procession, or demonstration without the Blackshear City Councils permission.

But the First Amendment is Grays permission slip. Indeed, a half century ago, the United States Supreme Court made this clear by striking down an almost-identical ordinance in Birmingham, Alabama, read the suit, in part.

The Supreme Court ruled that the ordinance violated the First Amendment by giving local officials unbridled discretion to deny permits to hold a parade, procession or other public demonstration.

For his litigation, Gray is being represented by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, a civil liberties group that originally focused solely on First Amendment issues in education.

Jeff Gray doesnt need a government-issued permission slip to speak  the First Amendment is his permission slip, said FIRE attorney Harrison Rosenthal, in a statement released Wednesday.

Speaking out in public areas is a core First Amendment right, whether government officials recognize it or not. If our cities wont teach officers to do their job properly, FIRE will.

Gray operates the YouTube channel HonorYourOath Civil Rights Investigations in which he describes himself as a civil rights investigator, First Amendment auditor, Second Amendment auditor.

In 2021, Gray filed a complaint against officials with the city of Moultrie, Georgia, after he was charged with disorderly conduct in 2019 when he walked around city hall with a sign that read F City Hall, according to the Moultrie Observer.
Museum of the Bible exhibit offers virtual tour of 7 Pilgrim Churches of Rome

WASHINGTON  A new exhibit offers Christians the opportunity to embark on a spiritual journey and deepen their understanding of the history of pilgrimage at the Museum of the Bible.

The Museum of the Bible's new exhibit, A Journey of Faith: The Seven Pilgrim Churches of Rome, details the history behind these churches and features a variety of books and artwork on loan from the Vatican Museum and Library.

The exhibit will run from May 12 to Sept. 10.

For centuries, pilgrims from all corners of Europe have journeyed to Rome with the purpose of visiting the Seven Pilgrim Churches and the relics they house, said Corinna Ricasoli, the museums consultant curator of fine arts, explaining in a video shown to attendees that the exhibits purpose is to showcase the history, impact and beauty of the seven churches.

Pilgrimage is not only a physical expedition but also a spiritual one that strengthens the connection between devotees and their faith, deepening their bond with the divine, she added.

Ricasoli emphasized that these churches are more than physical structures, the buildings bear witness to the profound influence of faith and the transformative power of pilgrimage.

The consultant curator also explained that prior to the Jubilee in 2000, the seven churches originally consisted of the Basilica of St. John Lateran, St. Peter's Basilica, the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, Basilica of St. Mary Major, the Basilica of Saint Lawrence outside the Walls, the Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem and St. Sebastian Outside-the-Walls. However, in the year 2000, Pope Saint John Paul II replaced the St. Sebastian church with the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Divine Love.

A representative of the Vatican Library Exhibitions Office, Maria Adalgisa Ottaviani, also spoke during the presentation, stating that the exhibit serves as a reminder of a custom that has fallen into disuse," referring to pilgrimage.

Lead Curator of Art and Exhibitions, Amy Van Dyke, hopes that the exhibit will provide Christians with the opportunity to embark on a virtual pilgrimage.

The idea of a journey of faith or a pilgrimage to visit sacred sites is something that's very important to the Catholic religion, but also to any Christian that wants to feel connected to their history and their faith, Van Dyke told The Christian Post. And in this way, we hope to bring a little bit of that here so that people can go through and see the prints and view the churches and go on their own virtual pilgrimage through here and understand how important pilgrimage really is to the faith."

According to Van Dyke, the museum started planning the exhibit a year ago and requested that the Vatican Library loan them pieces for the exhibit within the same timeframe.

Around six months ago, the museum began its in-depth planning process to plan the exhibits design and make shipping arrangements. The exhibit installation finally happened earlier this week, according to Van Dyke.

The curator explained the multi-collaborative effort behind putting the exhibit together. Ricasoli handled the main curation of the exhibit, while Van Dyke took care of the management.

So we have an exhibit team that helped with the installation, we have a registration team and conservators that also helped with the installation and the shipping of everything, and then we have an events team putting the event on tonight, she said. So, really, it was a large effort by many.

Jeffrey Kloha, the Museum of the Bible's chief curatorial officer, said he believes the exhibit will help encourage Christians to step away from their busy work lives for a while and remind themselves about how to serve others through the example of the saint-honored churches.

I think what this exhibit highlights, in addition to just the beautiful prints and the churches, is the discipline of pilgrimage and the recognition that there are holy places and holy times in a way to step back, reflect and learn from those who have gone before us and bring that into practice in our lives, he said.

Kloha provided more details about the marketing of the exhibit, sharing how, in addition to social media and press releases, the museum is offering programs to schools. Kloha described the activities for students as a hands-on experience, one of which involves a treasure hunt of sorts that has students examine prints.

It gives children a way to interact with the print in a way that they wouldn't, right? To look at it closely, and then you can teach them more about what it actually is once they're engaged, he said.
Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn and his 'Gulag Archipelago'

This year, 2023, we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the publication of The Gulag Archipelago, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyns literary and historical masterpiece which described brilliantly the inhuman archipelago of horrific concentration camps established by Lenin in the wake of the creation of the Soviet Union in 1918 and expanded and refined under Stalin and his successors.

Solzhenitsyn, born in 1918 to a Russian father and a Ukrainian mother, was raised in poverty in the early years of the Soviet Union. While his mother was devoutly Russian Orthodox, Solzhenitsyn gradually became an atheist socialist before serving as a decorated artillery officer in the Red Army during World War II. After criticizing Stalin in a private letter, Solzhenitsyn was sentenced to 8 years of hard labor in the Siberian concentration camps.

During his imprisonment, he regained the Christian faith of his childhood, partly by observing the faith of Christians in the terrible conditions of the camps (he alludes to this in his first novel, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (1962)).

Upon his release in 1954, he was able to continue his literary career under the reforms implemented by Nikita Khrushchev. His extraordinary writing included Cancer Ward (1966), Inthe First Circle (1968), and August 1914 (1971). Solzhenitsyn was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1970.

The GulagArchipelago, published in 1973 after being smuggled out of the Soviet Union, was a remarkable literary and historical achievement. In chapter and verse, torture chamber by torture chamber, Solzhenitsyn laid bare the detailed history of this monstrous creation. The Gulag Archipelago: An Experiment in Literary Interpretation, published 50 years ago this year, was arguably the 20th centurys greatest piece of nonfiction prose. (Books and Masterpiece, The Gulag Archipelago: An Epic of True Evil).

Dedicated to all those who did not live to tell their story, The Gulag Archipelago demonstrates a nadir of humanity with nearby unfathomable cruelty. (Ibid.)

Solzhenitsyns indictment of the inhumanity of the Soviet system is made even more powerful by his acknowledgment that he himself had once accepted official ideology and behaved loathsomely. (Ibid.)

Amazingly, in spite of his life experience and the horrific events he had witnessed and suffered, Solzhenitsyn remained an incredible optimist, an apostle of hope. He was convinced that the Gulag was destined to affect the course of history (Edward E. Ericson, Jr. Solzhenitsyn, Optimist Wall Street Journal, 8/9/08).

George Kemman, the famous American diplomat and father of the Cold War containment strategy which eventually brought about the downfall of the evil empire, described Gulag as the greatest and most powerful single indictment of a political regime that would stick in the craw of the Soviet propaganda machinewith increasing discomfort, until it has done its work. (Ibid.)

That was precisely Solzhenitsyns goal as he believed there was no answering the many-throated groan, the dying whisper of millions that he transmitted. (Ibid.)

When Solzhenitsyn was exiled from the Soviet Union in 1974 Harrison Salisbury wrote:

Against a powerful state stands a single man. . . The odds against Solzhenitsyn seem tremendous. Yet I know of no Russian writer who would not trade his soul for Solzhenitsyns mantle, who does not know that one hundred years from now all the world . . . will bow to his name when most others have been forgotten. (Ibid.)

And victorious he was. Before he dies (2008), he moved back to Russia as the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, had his Russian citizenship restored and all of his books were published in Russian, in Russia.

And it should be remembered on the 50th anniversary of the publication of the Gulag Archipelago, Solzhenitsyns victory was not a victory of capitalism over communism, nor a victory of the West over the East, but a victory of the Judeo-Christian understanding of the dignity, worth, and value of each human being, imparted by the Creator Himself.

Do yourself a favor. Read the Gulag this year. Read anything by Solzhenitsyn, the greatest Russian writer since Leo Tolstoy. It will lift your spirit, feed your soul, and restore your faith in your fellow man.
Feature: Chinese acrobatic gala celebrates 50th anniversary of The Bahamas' independence

Xinhua) 11:23, May 12, 2023

NASSAU, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Chinese descendants and Bahamians celebrated the 50th anniversary of the independence of The Bahamas here Wednesday with the acrobatic gala "Authentic China, Splendid Hunan" at Nassau's Atlantis Theatre.

The acrobatic gala, performed by China's Hunan Acrobatics Art Theatre, was attended by the Bahamian prime minister, senior officials and parliamentarians, with more than a dozen of performances including aerial skill act, juggling the ball with foot, and oral stunts conducted.

Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Brave Davis told Xinhua that it is great to witness these cultural exchanges that let the two nations know more about each other.

The gala also linked the two nations more closely by playing music familiar to the local people and subsequently improving interaction with the public. Hunan folk songs and folk music instruments also brought a new experience to the audience.

Speaking of the Bahamian music played with the Chinese traditional instrument Erhu, Davis described it as "wonderful."

"It tells you how cultural exchanges such as this, exposing each of our cultures to each other, make us understand each other better," he said.

Meanwhile, Chinese Ambassador to The Bahamas Dai Qingli said that the performances have injected Chinese elements into the celebrations, showing that the two countries respect the diversity of world civilizations, and uphold equality, mutual learning, dialogue, and inclusiveness among civilizations.

"I believe that the two sides will transcend the barriers of time and space and write a new chapter of win-win cooperation and cultural integration," she said.

Zhao Shuangwu, director of the acrobatic troupe, told Xinhua they have been warmly welcomed and highly praised by the local audiences during the tour.

"We are very honored to have this opportunity to participate in our country's diplomatic undertakings, promote cultural exchanges, and serve bilateral relations through our wonderful performances. At the same time, we have further enhanced our cultural confidence due to exchanges and mutual learning," she said.

"The show was fantastic. I really enjoyed it," Marisa Ahwai, who works for a Bahamian IT company, told Xinhua. "The performance, the dance routine, and the rhythm of the music were fantastic."

Founded in 1959, the Hunan Acrobatics Art Theatre has performed in over 60 countries and regions. The performance team of "Authentic China, Splendid Hunan" is mainly composed of young actors from the theatre.

The Bahamas, which gained independence on July 10, 1973, established diplomatic relations with China in 1997.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Does James 2:24 repudiate Romans and Galatians on justification?

When studying the Bible, difficult passages of Scripture must be interpreted in light of the clear ones. And major doctrines cannot be established from a single verse, especially when a plethora of verses reveal the correct interpretation on the subject.

For example, James 2:24 has often been misunderstood by those who fail to grasp the clear teaching on justification in Romans and Galatians. James wrote, You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone. Does this seemingly inconsistent passage of Scripture repudiate what Romans and Galatians plainly teach about justification by faith?

The Apostle Paul was inspired by the Holy Spirit to deliver the essential doctrine of justification to the Church, and Pauls crystal-clear instruction consisted of many passages.

Paul wrote:

(Believers) are justified freely by Gods grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus (Romans 3:24). God justifies the man who has faith in Jesus (Romans 3:26). We maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law (Romans 3:28). Since there is one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised by that same faith (Romans 3:30). If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about - but not before God. What does Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness (Romans 4:2,3). Since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1). Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from Gods wrath through him! (Romans 5:9). We know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified (Galatians 2:16). Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, The righteous will live by faith (Galatians 3:11). The law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith (Galatians 3:24). You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace (Galatians 5:4). And be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ  the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith (Philippians 3:9). For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith  and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God  not by works, so that no one can boast (Ephesians 2:8-9).

In light of this explicit instruction on the central doctrine of the Christian faith, what are we to make of James 2:24?

We must understand James purpose in writing the letter, as compared to Pauls purpose in writing Romans and Galatians. Paul was explaining how a person becomes a Christian, while also describing the fruit of the Christian life. James, on the other hand, was conveying the difference between a dead faith and a living faith. Paul correctly taught that we are saved by Christ alone through faith alone, while James correctly pointed out that faith without works is dead (James 2:26). There is no discrepancy whatsoever between the books of Romans, Galatians, and James.

Those who use James 2:24 to teach justification by works are terribly mistaken. The false doctrine of works righteousness was actually a huge problem in Galatia, and it prompted Paul to pen a strong reprimand out of deep concern and abiding love for their souls. He wrote, I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel  which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the Gospel of Christ (Galatians 1:6-7).

How so? False teachers (Judaizers) had infiltrated their ranks and were trying to convince those in the Church that they must be circumcised and live according to Jewish customs in order to be saved. (see Galatians 2:4,14) It was a perversion of the Gospel!

Paul boldly confronted this error: You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? (Galatians 3:1-3)

The law is incapable of justifying anyone before God. Obedience is the fruit of faith, but never a cause of justification. Believers in Jesus are instantly justified at conversion, and then begin to follow Jesus after being redeemed, saved, born again and forgiven. Since we have been justified through faith ... (Romans 5:1). The minute you claim justification is not complete at conversion, you have contradicted the clear biblical teaching on this foundational doctrine of the Christian faith.

Sanctification is the process of becoming more like Jesus and is continuous in the life of a believer. Justification, on the other hand, is complete the moment a person is converted through faith in Jesus Christ.

It is not uncommon for a believer to take three steps forward and two steps back in his life of discipleship. But these inconsistencies do not lessen the perfection of justification in the life of a believer. After all, it is the perfect Lamb of God (John 1:29) and his blood that justifies everyone who relies upon the Gospel for salvation. Since we have now been justified by his blood  (Romans 5:9).

Man naturally assumes he can justify himself before God by his deeds. Humility is necessary for a person to repent of his sins and gratefully receive the free gift of eternal life in Heaven. The Holy Spirit convicts us of our sins and brings us to repentance and to justifying faith in Jesus Christ (John 16:8-10; John 3:6).

Far from repudiating Romans and Galatians on justification, James 2:24 affirms that everyone who knows Christ bears good fruit. Paul made the same point time and time again in his letters. Thankfully, God loved us enough to make the truth of the Gospel abundantly clear in Holy Scripture, and any difficult passage must always be interpreted in light of the clear ones.
Christians decry 'gruesome' violence in India

Christians in India are urging the government to speak out after dozens were killed in ethno-religious violence and thousands more forced to flee their homes.

Most of the victims of the violence in Manipur are reported to come from minority tribes, including the largely Christian Kukis.

Open Doors reports that over 100 churches have been burnt down and a further 300 buildings belonging to Christians, including homes and Bible colleges, have been destroyed.

Many of the displaced are now living in temporary camps.

An Open Doors partner in India, who cannot be named for security reasons, described the situation as "gruesome".

"We are asking the government of India to publicly condemn acts of violence such as this against Christian minorities," they said.

"People are taking shelter, afraid to return home - that is, if their home hasn't already been destroyed," they added.

The wave of violence started after a peaceful protest was held by the largely Christian minority Kuki tribe in opposition to being forced off their forest land.

They report police doing nothing as they were physically attacked during the protest by members of the largely Hindu Meitei people group.

Vishnu Reddy, another Open Doors partner in the region, believes the growth of 'Hindutva' nationalism has been a factor in the violence.

"Like so much mob violence directed towards non-Hindu minorities, this has been fuelled from outside the region," he said.

"Members of the Hindu nationalist RSS group (Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh) have been trying to radicalise the Meitei for many years now."

He added, "Right now, Christians are on the run from their houses. There are children, there are women, there are old people. They are deprived of basic amenities and deeply traumatised. They need our prayers and support."
UK's first 'three-parent baby' crosses ethical line, says CARE

A Christian charity has said it is concerned about safety and the ethics of new biotechnology after the birth of the UK's first baby that has the DNA of three people.

Mitochondrial donation treatment (MDT) uses healthy mitochondria from a female donor and is intended to prevent the transfer of incurable diseases from parents to children.

James Mildred, of Christian charity CARE, said the advent of MDT was "a source of some concern" and that an "ethical line" has been crossed.

He said there were a number of questions around the psychological impact on children and whether the development of MDT might lead to "designer babies".

"Evidence suggests that transferring nuclear DNA into a host donor egg cell is unsafe and could impact future generations," he said.

"The techniques used also lead to the destruction of human embryos, which raises moral questions.

"There are serious questions about how children will be affected. For example, nobody knows how a child will respond psychologically to the fact they have three parents.

"The biotechnology being used, whilst well-intentioned in this instance, also raises the spectre of 'designer babies'. It's clear an ethical line in the sand has been crossed that we come to regret deeply in years to come."
Christies 20th and 21st Century sale week opens with the sold-out collection of S.I. Newhouse

Rousseau, Picasso and Bacon led the first night of Christies spring marquee week, alongside the collections of Paul G. Allen and Alan & Dorothy Press

On 11 May, Christies 20th and 21st Century sales in New York commenced with the third chapter of Masterpieces from the S.I. Newhouse Collection. The collection of the late Conde Nast chairman achieved a total of $177,792,000, selling 100 per cent by lot and 105.6 per cent by low estimate. The 20th Century Evening Sale followed, totalling $328,779,600, and selling for 81.5 per cent by lot and 108.6 per cent by low estimate. Welcoming more than 1,625,000 viewers across Christies global platforms, the evening was led by auctioneers Adrien Meyer, Jussi Pylkkanen and Tash Perrin. The sales attracted bidders from 19 countries, in addition to those bidding in person in the James Christie Room. Altogether, the evening saw numerous masterpieces come under the hammer, ranging from works by Picasso and Rousseau to de Kooning and Ruscha. The first night of Christies 20th and 21st Century sale week brought in a total of $506,571,600 with six auctions still to come over the next week. Having sold eight of the top ten collections to ever come to market, including those of Paul G. Allen and Si Newhouse, we at Christie's are proud to be the house of great collections, says Alex Rotter, Chairman of the 20th and 21st Century sale. In bringing these to auction, you see that people want history  it grounds you. Masterpieces from the S.I. Newhouse Collection During his lifetime, Newhouse was an avid collector. Having acquired works such as Jeff Koonss iconic Rabbit and Jasper Johnss False Start, his taste was informed by his role as the long-time chairman of the media empire that included The New Yorker, Vogue, Vanity Fair, Architectural Digest and many other leading publications. His selection of masterworks was on full display Thursday night, resulting in a white glove sale.

Open a larger version of this image Francis Bacon (1909-1992), Self-Portrait, 1969. Oil on canvas. 14 x 12 in (35.6 x 30.5 cm). Sold for $34,622,500 in Masterpieces from the S.I. Newhouse Collection on 11 May 2023 at Christies New York

The top lot of the sale was Francis Bacons Self Portrait, which realised $34,622,500. The work portrays the artist at the height of his powers in 1969, and its dynamic brushwork and striking pose is highly characteristic of this period of Bacons style. In Newhouses home, the work was displayed together with Bacons Study of Henrietta Moraes Laughing, sold in the first edition of Newhouses collection at Christies in 2018. The two paintings are iconic images from Bacons oeuvre.

Open a larger version of this image Willem de Kooning (1904-1997), Orestes, 1947. Oil, enamel and paper collage on paper mounted on board. 24 x 36 in (61.3 x 91.8 cm). Sold for $30,885,000 in Masterpieces from the S.I. Newhouse Collection on 11 May 2023 at Christies New York

Willem de Koonings Orestes realised $30,885,000. The rare early painting from 1947 signifies the pivotal moment in the artists career when he relinquished figuration and gave himself over to abstraction entirely. Another standout was Pablo Picassos L'Arlesienne (Lee Miller), which sold for $24,560,000. From 1937, it is one of seven striking portraits that the artist painted of the photojournalist and model Lee Miller  whom Conde Nast famously put on the cover of Vogue in 1927.

Open a larger version of this image Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), L'Arlesienne (Lee Miller), 1937. Oil and Ripolin on canvas. 28  x 23  in (72.7 x 59.8 cm). Sold for $24,560,000 in Masterpieces from the S.I. Newhouse Collection on 11 May 2023 at Christies New York

Achieving a total of $177,792,000, the sales latest chapter at Christies cemented Newhouses collection as the sixth highest grossing of all time. 20th Century Evening Sale After a short break, the second auction of the night began. The 20th Century Evening Sale featured masterpieces by Picasso and OKeeffe, as well as rare works by Henri Rousseau and Agnes Pelton that achieved artist records. Totalling $328,779,600, the sale sold 81.5 per cent by lot and 108.6 per cent by low estimate.

Open a larger version of this image Henri 'Le Douanier' Rousseau (1844-1910), Les Flamants, 1910. Oil on canvas. 44  x 63  in (113.8 x 162 cm). Sold for $43,535,000 in 20th Century Evening Sale on 11 May 2023 at Christie's New York

We knew that the Rousseau was going to excite people, said Vanessa Fusco, Co-Head of the 20th Century Evening Sale. Its a painting that weve been talking about for many weeks, and were so happy to conclude this story with a world record price that is ten times the previous record at auction. Henri Rousseaus Les Flamants shattered the artists previous auction record, realising the highest price of the sale at $43,535,000 after nearly eight minutes of bidding. This rare jungle painting by Rousseau epitomises the wonder of his self-taught practice. His work is considered a precursor to the avant-garde, but his collage-like approach, utilizing journals, novels, postcards and ephemera, makes his imagined scenes entirely unique.

Open a larger version of this image Pablo Picasso, Nature morte a la fenetre, 1932. Oil on canvas. 51 x 63  in (129.7 x 162.3 cm). Sold for $41,810,000 in 20th Century Evening Sale on 11 May 2023 at Christie's New York

Picassos Nature Morte a la Fenetre followed at $41,810,000. This portrait of his lover Marie-Therese Walter is amongst the artists most celebrated works, and one of the first canvases he made in a notable series devoted to her. The Picassos sold in the Collection of S.I. Newhouse and the 20th Century Evening Sale are among an outstanding selection of works by the Spanish master offered in this springs 20th and 21st sales, as the art world marks the 50th anniversary of his death.

Open a larger version of this image Ed Ruscha (b. 1937), Burning Gas Station, 1966-1969. Oil on canvas. 20  x 39 in (51.1 x 99.1 cm). Sold for $22,260,000 in 20th Century Evening Sale on 11 May 2023 at Christie's New York

The iconic painting by Ed Ruscha, Burning Gas Station, painted from 1966-1969, sold for $22,260,000. Belonging to a series of five Standard Stations that the artist painted in the 1960s, it had not been publicly exhibited since 1976. It was part of the Alan and Dorothy Press Collection, which also included Henri Matisses Jeune fille accoudee, that sold for $1,623,000. The Press Collection has reached a running total of $44.5 million, with more works upcoming. The evening also included seven additional works from the collection of Paul G. Allen, which surpassed $1 billion in a single evening as part of Christies 20th and 21st Century series last November. Georgia OKeeffes Black Iris VI commanded the highest price at $21,110,000, while her White Calico Rose realised $13,060,000. Three works by David Hockney also fetched high prices: The Gate brought in $14,670,000, Early Blossom, Woldgate saw $19,385,000 and Felled Trees achieved $10,760,000. In total, this sold-out edition of the Paul G. Allen collection brought in $88,856,000.

Open a larger version of this image Agnes Pelton (1881-1961), The Fountains, 1926. Oil on canvas. 36 x 32 in (91.8 x 81.3 cm). Sold for $3,438,000 in 20th Century Evening Sale on 11 May 2023 at Christie's New York
NEW BEDFORD, Mass. (AP)  A Massachusetts seafood business said Thursday that it did not discriminate against an immigrant worker who complained to the state.

The worker, Paula Fortes, is a Black woman who immigrated to the U.S. from Cape Verde, an island nation off the west coast of Africa. She filed the complaint against Eastern Fisheries, a New Bedford seafood harvester and distributor, a year ago and amended it earlier this week.
Drilling activity slowed for a second week, led by a decline in natural gas rigs that was the steepest in seven years.

Oilfield services firm Baker Hughes said Friday the US rig count it has released weekly since 1944 sank 17 rigs  the steepest decline since June 2020  to 731, the lowest since last June. The count is still 17 rigs or 2% over the 714 counted last year.

The number of rigs drilling for crude oil dropped two to 586, the lowest since last June but 23 more than the 563 rigs drilling for crude last May. The number of rigs drilling for natural gas fell 16 rigs, the biggest weekly drop since February 2016, to 141, the lowest since last April and eight rigs lower than the 149 drilling for natural gas last year.

Texas dropped two rigs to 366, still 21 more than the 345 at work statewide a year ago. New Mexico added one rig for 108. Alaska (1), Louisiana (4), North Dakota (1), Ohio (1), Oklahoma (3), Pennsylvania (2), West Virginia (1) and Wyoming (4) joined Texas as producing states to see declines. Colorado (1) and Utah (1) joined New Mexico as producing states to see an increase.

The Permian Basin lost three rigs, dropping to 353 for the week, still 18 more than 335 at work around the region last year. No major producing basin saw an increase in the rig count and the Haynesville led declines by dropping five rigs for the week.

Lea County, New Mexico, was the most active county in the Permian, leaping five rigs  the biggest gain of the week  to 54 rigs. Eddy County, New Mexico, was right behind with 53 rigs, down three  the steepest decline of the week.

Reeves County dropped one rig for 43, while Martin County added a rig for 42. Midland County also added a rig for 33 rigs at work within county lines for the week. Loving County reported 26 rigs for a third week. Upton County had 15 rigs, down two. Howard and Ward counties each reported 12 rigs, down one for Howard and unchanged for Ward. Andrews County lost one rig for 11 and Reagan County reported 10 rigs for a third week.

Chaves County, New Mexico, Crane County and Hockley County saw no activity this week with each losing the one rig at work within their counties. Gaines County saw renewed activity with one rig active in the county.

Enverus Foundations, part of the energy-focused Software as a Service firm Enverus, said its US rig count rig count only reached as high as 786 during the week ended May 10, down by eight rigs from the previous weeks high point. The count is down 5%, or 43 rigs, in the last month and down 2% year over year.

Among major plays, the Permian dropped three rigs to 342. The Gulf Coast had the largest decline, six rigs, to hit 89. The Appalachia slid by two to 51, and the DJ Basin lost a rig to land at 17. Only two plays did not see a decline in rigs. The Anadarko and Williston basins both each added one rig to reach 63 and 39, respectively.
Permian Basin communities have been shaken by rising seismic activity linked to water disposal in the last few years. Managing the problem threatens to shake up the regions dominant industry  oil and gas production.

Mike Hightower, program director of the New Mexico Produced Water Research Consortium, told those attending the Permian Basin Environmental Regulatory Seminar on Thursday he expects the occurrence another 5-magnitude or greater earthquake, like the one near Midland last December or near Mentone last November, will prompt the Railroad Commission to take action.

He predicted that action will include banning the import of produced water from other states for disposal in Texas as well as reduction in water injection volumes in the range of 30 to 50%. That would mean a corresponding reduction in oil production, he warned.

If we can treat and reuse produced water, we can reduce that, he told the seminar, presented by Midland Colleges Petroleum Professional Development Center and the Permian Basin Petroleum Association.

Marshall Watson, chair of Texas Techs petroleum engineering department and faculty co-director of the Texas Produced Water Consortium, said the consortium reported to Texas legislators in a September report there is a projected 14 million barrels of produced water a day coming from both the Delaware and Midland basins. Of that, 11 million barrels is reused by the industry. The consortium also estimated 2 to 4 billion barrels per year of treated water could be available for beneficial reuse outside the industry.

But the most important statistic Watson cited came from the Texas Water Development Board: Texas would see a water shortage equaling 80,000-acre feet a year by 2050.

We have a huge need, and someone has to fill in that gap, he said.

Hightower said his consortium has been working on ways to clean produced water for use in drilling and completion operations and this year will look at various treatment options. Two options  membrane and thermal  can get produced water close to drinking water standards at a cost of 75 cents to $1.50 a barrel. Thats higher than disposal costs, but if regulators cut disposal volumes, those rates could jump to $2 a barrel.

Legislation to fund two pilot projects designed by the Texas Water Consortium is awaiting the governors signature and, failing that, will go into effect this weekend, Watson said. The first phase will utilize existing technology to clean water at existing produced water collection sites, treating a minimum of 500 barrels a day from both the Midland and Delaware basins. The second phase will test more novel technologies and field testing of treated water on rangeland, non-food and food crops. A report on the results is due to the legislature in October 2024.

Hightower said there are tests being done in conjunction with ConocoPhillips and the Sandia National Laboratory on rangeland applications and with the New Mexico Oil Conservation Division to treat produced water in the Midland area to see what level of cleanliness they can reach.

We think we can get it to drinking water standards, he said.

Produced water could also be used in emerging energy sources. Hightower pointed out that producing ethanol from corn requires 1,000 gallons of water to produce one gallon of fuel. Producing gasoline from petroleum requires one gallon of water for one gallon fuel. Producing hydrogen will also require significant amounts of water, he said. It could also play a role in carbon sequestration.

Both consortiums are working together, sharing data and working with the respective legislatures on legislation to promote treating and reusing produced water.
In the waning days of his life, Arthur Miller, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, insisted on being at his Roxbury home as the end drew near. An urban intellect for much of his adult life, Miller had increasingly found solace amid the rural charm of a New England town that had been attracting New Yorks creative elites for decades.

Though his property on Tophet Road stretched more than 325 acres and included an 18th-century farmhouse, Millers most treasured spot was tucked away behind the main house. There, amid a dense forest of trees and a narrow brook, sat a modest, 300-square-foot writing studio that Miller had built shortly after buying the property with his second wife, Marilyn Monroe, in 1958.

My father wrote in the studio every morning and some afternoons, says Millers daughter, Rebecca, the filmmaker and novelist who profiled her father in the 2018 HBO documentary Arthur Miller: Writer. It was Arthurs sanctum, she says.

Those were some of his most productive years as a writer. Miller penned more than a dozen stage plays inside that studio, including After the Fall and Playing for Time. It was also where he wrote screenplays for The Crucible and The Misfits, a film that starred Monroe and Clark Gable. His autobiography, Timebends, was also written in the cedar-shingle studio.

Despite its literary significance, the studio sits in a far less exalted location today: propped up in a roadside municipal parking lot in Roxbury alongside a dumpster and truck plows. It was moved there a few years ago, more than a decade after the writers death in 2005, by Rebecca Miller, with the idea of eventually donating it to the town of Roxbury.

Its sat there ever since. And while the playwrights place in the pantheon of American literature has long been secure, his writing studio remains in limbo.

But a fundraising effort to rescue the 14-by-22-foot building is underway. The Arthur Miller Studio Project  a nonprofit composed mostly of local residents  is spearheading a campaign to restore the studio to its mid-century glory and open it to the public. The group recently launched a GoFundMe page as a first step in raising the $1 million it says it needs to cover renovation and site relocation costs as well as upkeep in perpetuity. Reaching that funding goal is the only way the town will accept the studio as a gift.

The studio was a real focal point of his creative energy in Roxbury, says Stephen Marino, a Miller scholar and former president of the Arthur Miller Society. Hes also a board member of the Arthur Miller Studio Project. Its a critical part of his legacy.

The goal is to move the studio to the Minor Memorial Library in Roxbury and create a publicly accessible site that would host writing workshops and lectures, educational programs and eventually residencies for writers. It would also create partnerships with local writers groups and theater companies.

Marino says the effort would honor the spirit of Millers life and work while making the studio the intellectual center of the community. We have the opportunity to preserve a piece of literary history that will give aspiring writers and others the ability to visit where many of his works were created, says Marino.

But a deadline is looming. The towns Highway Department lot  where the building sits today  is about to undergo long-planned site work which will force the dwelling to move again. So the Studio Project is enlisting locals and friends to get the fundraising word out in the hope of reaching that $1 million goal.

A breakdown of the projects costs includes $200,000 for renovation work on the studio and its relocation, according to figures from the Studio Project. That includes reinforcing the structural integrity of the building and moving the studio. Another $800,000 would cover ongoing maintenance and programming at the site.

The interior would be restored with all its original furnishings, says Marc Olivieri, a Roxbury resident and homebuilder who Rebecca Miller enlisted to move the studio in 2018 after the playwrights home was sold.

Those furnishings include the writing desk Miller made from a wooden door, his typewriter and the desk chairs that reflect the studios different eras  from a 1950s molded fiberglass chair to a fabric-covered swivel office chair added in the 1990s. Family photographs and a framed drawing by Rebecca Miller will also be returned to the space.

Occasionally I would go up and knock and have a conversation, says Rebecca Miller. I remember the huge dictionary on the stand, a photo of a Greek sculpture, and a curling photo of me as a baby with my mother on the wall.
Impossible People: A Completely Average Recovery Story

By Julia Wertz

Black Dog & Leventhal. 320 pp. $30

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A basement apartment in Brooklyn. A cat named Jack. A crew of cartoonists who share a studio known as Pizza Island. These are among the people, things and places inhabiting Julia Wertz's latest graphic memoir, "Impossible People: A Completely Average Recovery Story." But it is, more generally, a story about the self-deprecating and sometimes curmudgeonly Wertz's alcoholism and rocky road to recovery as she grapples with depression and an overactive sense of guilt.

Wertz has garnered a reputation for her witty, observational and somewhat goofy humor. "Impossible People" is her fourth memoir, if you count the book previously titled "The Fart Party" and now collected in a more respectable-sounding volume as "Museum of Mistakes." Themes of health, illness and addiction recur here and throughout the rest of her oeuvre, but with "Impossible People" she has a new story to tell. We follow her throughout her 30s in New York as she plummets into depression, cycles through periods of solitary drinking and sobriety, survives a halfhearted attempt at rehab and wrestles with many relapses, until she achieves a semblance of stability. Her misfortunes do seem relentless at times, but there are moments of unadulterated joy, too: especially in her urban explorations, where she finds herself in dilapidated ruins of old asylums and abandoned factories, risking asbestos exposure (a footnote informs the reader that these expeditions will appear in detail in a future book), but also with friends who love her and her company, despite her insistence on being antisocial.

Wertz's visual style is a mix of her first graphic memoir, "Drinking at the Movies" (2010), and her last book, on hidden histories of New York, "Tenements, Towers & Trash" (2017). Most of the panels comprise close-ups of her characters in conversation, torso up, but the magic lies in the larger spreads, where she zooms out to reveal sweeping cityscapes, spanning skyscrapers, brownstones, bodegas, an assortment of storefronts, cafes, fire escapes, window units, light poles and street signs. She draws her characters in a spare but expressive style, capturing them with crisp, minimal lines. By contrast, the backgrounds, especially the ones featuring Manhattan and Brooklyn neighborhoods, feature laboriously dense linework and deep inks, creating a charming, if unexplained, stylistic discontinuity.

Wertz writes with witty introspection, punctuated by moments of bottomless sadness and crude humor, both with surprising timing. Even as misfortunes pile up, she worries that she has not had it quite as hard as others, that her problems are self-inflicted and therefore not worthy of pity or care. Her brother, a recovering addict turned social worker, urges her to give group therapy a try, for the perspective if not anything else.

This willingness to accept that things can still be bad even when they're not the worst ultimately elevates Wertz's story. If "Impossible People" is a "completely average recovery story," as its subtitle suggests, it is so mostly in the first half. In the second, it is much more: Wertz writes cleverly about unsatisfactory dating scenes, shaky mental health, the joys and pitfalls of cartooning, and how it is easier to "stagnate in comfortable misery" than to do the hard work of fixing one's life.

At 320 pages, the book sometimes seems bogged down by detailed accounts of seemingly inconsequential incidents, but every time it does, Wertz pulls you back in with a moment of vulnerability that turns you into an unsuspecting confidant. On one such occasion, she reveals that she wished her MRI came with a cancer diagnosis so that she would have an external imperative to stop drinking. Elsewhere, she talks to her therapist candidly about that brief window of time between late afternoon and dusk, when everything is awash in the soft glow of a setting sun, sometimes known as "golden hour," when she is painfully reminded that she is "not where [she] should be." There's something hauntingly beautiful about the four-panel spread where Wertz tries to capture light and shadow in black and white ink and a loose crosshatch pattern. A single squiggly line and a low-hanging sun hover over a minimalist New York skyline, gesturing at the warm haze that briefly takes over the city.

In my favorite episode, Wertz finds herself in Connecticut, in longtime New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast's studio. In one panel, she depicts two stacks of A4 sheets with cartoons on them, one low and the other high, the latter corresponding to rejections and the former to the hugely successful Chast's rarer acceptances. It's an indictment of the life of a cartoonist that only another cartoonist could have shown us: minimal, depressing, funny. Wertz is now a regular at the New Yorker herself, thanks in part to Chast, who sent her to meet Bob Mankoff, then the magazine's cartoon editor. And like the more established Chast, she would unsuccessfully submit dozens of gag cartoons before eventually persuading him to consider the other, more uncategorizable cartoons at which she excels.

Eventually, Wertz's studiomates Kate Beaton, Sarah Glidden and Lisa Hanawalt would leave New York, some to follow Hollywood dreams, others to raise families in affordable parts of the world. "Stability was more attainable pretty much anywhere but New York," Wertz writes. As she, too, is priced out of the city, she packs 10 years of her life into a dozen boxes and attempts a heartfelt goodbye to her neighborhood fruit seller of 10 years, only to be met by an indifferent "Huh? That'll be $1.49." Both her decade in the city and our time with the book end as they began. There are no life-changing revelations and no epic epiphanies, but we don't need either. Wertz masterfully turns the everyday and the mundane into stories funny enough to keep you entertained, and sad enough to leave you just a little wistful.

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Kay Sohini is a writer and cartoonist based in New York. Her graphic novel "This Beautiful, Ridiculous City" is slated to be published in 2024.
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ROME - A few thousand years later, ancient Rome has a Starbucks.

The mega coffee chain on Thursday opened its first location in the historical center of the Italian capital, one of 25 Starbucks in the country since the Seattle-based company entered the market in 2018.

The newest Starbucks in Rome, a finely decorated two-floor store in Montecitorio near the Italian parliament, was inaugurated on Wednesday under an uncharacteristically rainy May sky. As journalists and influencers roamed the floors, bartenders and waiters were still coming to terms with the challenging task of bridging the gap between hardly compatible cafe cultures.

Not unlike students before a test, baristas were asking each other questions, crucially trying to figure out how to translate Starbucks-ese into Italian. "How am I going to explain to customers that our 'mocha' is a chocolate-infused beverage, when 'moka' is a traditional Italian caffe?" one bartender asked another. "There's bound to be some confusion . . . like with latte, which is not the Italian caffe latte, but something else entirely."

Coffee culture in Italy is vastly different than the United States. Cold brews are an oddity, so you can imagine how a strawberry creme frappuccino might be received by locals. Cafes rarely have bar counters, since Italians usually quickly down their morning espressos.

As then-Washington Post Rome bureau chief Chico Harlan wrote in 2019: "They tend to offer pastries in the morning - sometimes homemade, often not - and stock alcohol for the 5 p.m. crowd. Without much fuss, they serve up espresso shots that are bitter and strong. They seldom have WiFi. They do not welcome laptop workers."

The company plans to open two more locations in Rome's Termini train station by the end of the month. Last year, Starbucks opened a store in an outlet mall in the greater Rome area.

Starbucks also operates in Milan and Verona, where founder Howard Schultz first encountered Italian coffee culture in 1983, the company said in a news release.

The cafe serves cornetti, the Italian version of a croissant normally eaten in the morning, along with their caffe or cappuccino. But it mostly offers American sweets and treats, like carrot cakes, muffins and brownies.

Starbucks announced earlier this year that it was introducing a new line in an effort to attract Italians, combining two quintessential ingredients: olive oil and coffee, dubbing the drink the "oleato" - after the Italian word for oil.

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Finnegan reported from Washington. Chico Harlan and Leo Sands contributed to this report.
As Title 42 comes to an end at 11:59 p.m. Eastern on Thursday night, Laredo was prepared for a potential surge in migrants into the area. However, as some areas around the country actually were seeing influxes trying to beat Title 42's removal -- many feared the strict new policies of the Biden administration may make it harder for them to stay in the U.S. -- the Gateway City had not seen much difference from recent days.

As of Thursday afternoon, the city had not reported any significant influx of migrants, as shelters have seen steady increases in recent weeks but no recent major spikes with the Title 42 deadline coming.

However, the city continues to state that it is prepared for any major potential influx either through the port of entry or from those individuals who are redirected to Laredo shelters from other areas such as El Paso and The Valley.

As a city, we are making all the appropriate preparations to do what we can with the resources that we have, Laredo Mayor Victor Trevino said. A primary focus is protecting our medical infrastructure and city resources so that Laredoans are not negatively impacted while providing humanitarian services to migrants.

Laredo's non-governmental organizations, or NGOs, have also been prepared for potential increases. These NGOs -- Catholic Charities and the Holding Institute -- has not yet seen any type of influx but continue to report a steady stream of individuals has been seen, especially in recent weeks.

We are now seeing an uptick of numbers reaching 250 people per day with an anticipation to increase, said Rebecca Solloa, the executive director of Catholic Charities. We just don't know what that will look like the coming days. As of now, CC has been doable.

Although they are not sure if numbers will be increasing soon, Solloa does feel that the national figures being released indicate it may be bound to happen. She said any migrants accommodated receive their basic needs for at least a couple of days.

Our shelter is considered an emergency shelter, and for the most part the migrants stay within 24 and 48 hours, she added. The migrants receive basic services such as water, food, wifi, overnight stay.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection Acting Commissioner Troy Miller said that it will continue the parole processes of Venezuelans, Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans, which provide individuals with safe and orderly pathways to access the United States and imposes consequences for those who do not use them.

"The Mexican Government has reiterated its commitment to accepting 30,000 nationals from Venezuela, Cuba, Haiti and Nicaragua per month who have entered the United States unlawfully between the ports of entry once the Title 42 public health order lifts," the statement said. "Migrants who enter the United States unlawfully by crossing the southwest border, and not via a lawful pathway, will be returned to Mexico and may be transported away from Mexicos northern border to locations in southern Mexico."

During their stay, Solloa said they do not just provide accommodations but also form a vital part in understanding why they came to the United States and how. She states that volunteers collect information about the length of their trips and why they make their trip even knowing that legal entry into the United States might be difficult and take time.

From most surveyed, she said the primary reason is for economics and to improve the lives for their families.

Amid escalating tensions as people fear that the end of Title 42 will cause a major influx of migrants in the area, Solloa does state that all migrants have the right to be here with their documents as long as they enter through some legal channel.

Catholic Charities Laredo's Humanitarian Respite Shelter has been providing services to migrants since early 2021, and they have had their eyes on any potential increase of migrants that could hit the area.

As the shelter provides basic services so the needs of the migrants such as hygiene kits like toothbrushes and paste, undergarments, water, certain foods and snacks, cots, blankets and other amenities, she said these might become of more need in the coming days as they potentially see an influx of migrants, which is why she is asking the community for any donations if possible of these items and others.

Solloa states that human resources are always needed as well and that the shelter is gladly asking and taking any volunteers as they have a procedure for training and preparing them. Interested individuals can contact the Catholic Charities office at 956-722-2443.
BRIDGEPORT  Federal authorities have joined the search for Andre Johnson, who is wanted in the killing a Bridgeport man found dead on Denver Avenue last month, police said.

Johnson, who is considered armed and dangerous, is accused of killing Aaron Hunt, who was found dead on Denver Avenue about 12 hours after Bridgeport police investigated a shooting in the area on April 26.

Capt. Kevin Gilleran, who heads the Bridgport police detective division, said Friday that U.S. Marshals and other federal partners have joined the search.

Bridgeport police said last week they were seeking the public's help to find Johnson, 27, and have obtained an arrest warrant charging him with Hunt's murder. He is known to hang out on the west side of Bridgeport, police said.

Police responded to the shooting about 8:15 p.m. April 26 after Bridgeport's ShotSpotter system reported gunfire in the 100 block of Denver Avenue, police said.

"Police officers responded to Denver Avenue, collected several items of evidence, conducted interviews, canvassed the area, and documented their investigation," Gilleran said at the time.

Around 8:30 a.m. the next day, "a citizen called police stating he found a body on the side of a house" that was also in the 100 block of Denver Avenue, Gilleran said.

Police and medics found the man "positioned on the ground between a car and a house," he said. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene by medics.

Hunt's family told Hearst Connecticut Media Group that they plan to file a lawsuit against the city on claims he may have survived if he had been found by Bridgeport police sooner.

Funeral services for the 25-year-old were held Wednesday in Norwalk, where he grew up.

The youngest of five brothers, Hunt was full of life, according to his family. A graduate of Brien McMahon High School, he was studying to be an HVAC specialist.

Aaron was a jokester with his brothers. He liked to make people laugh, his father Geary Hunt said. He was raised with love and by love by both of his parents.

The family is going through a lot of pain, he said. I just wish he was still here with me, and I cant have him back.

Police are asking anyone who encounters Johnson to call 911 or Detective Brian Coyne at 203-581-5223.

Staff writer Ethan Fry contributed to this story.
MATAMOROS, Mexico - The new border regulations that took effect early Friday brought a sudden pause to the chaotic rush of migrants hurling themselves into the Rio Grande in recent days to reach the United States.

Thousands of Venezuelans sloshed through the river this week in the lead-up to the expiration of pandemic-era U.S. border policies, ignoring entreaties by Mexican authorities and stern warnings from U.S. agents. But on Friday, the riverbanks were mostly calm, as isolated clusters of migrants from different nations sat on the Mexican side gazing forlornly across to the United States.

"We want to cross but we can't," said Patricia Castaneda, 34, from Honduras, as she sat in front of her makeshift home in Matamoros in a red tent covered with black sheets of plastic. "You can only apply through CBP One," she said, referring to the mobile app created by the U.S. government to encourage migrants to seek lawful entry.

Biden administration officials for months predicted a migration surge after May 11, the date set by the White House for the pandemic measures known as Title 42 to lift. That did not occur, at least initially, giving U.S. authorities a minor respite after record numbers of illegal crossings this week.

Interviews with migrants waiting on the Mexican side suggested that the U.S. threats to ramp up deportations starting Friday spurred many to cross before - not after - Title 42's expiration. Unlawful crossings topped 10,000 per day this week, the highest levels ever.

A Mexican border guard standing near Castaneda said illegal crossings had abruptly halted. "Title 42 ended - now it's over," he said, declining to give his name because he was not authorized to talk to reporters. "Today they know they'll be deported. Yesterday they were sent back to Mexico. Now they can be sent back to their countries."

The Title 42 pandemic policy, which began during the Trump administration, was used by U.S. authorities to quickly expel more than 2.6 million migrants back to Mexico or their home countries over the past three years. But the expulsions carried no legal consequences, prompting many to make repeat entry attempts.

The Biden administration says the new measures it implemented Friday will make it easier for authorities to deport asylum seekers who cross illegally, while expanding opportunities for migrants to reach the United States through lawful channels including the CBP One app.

The pent-up frustration of many who have risked everything to reach the U.S. border - spending their savings to pay "coyotes," or smugglers, for journeys of thousands of miles, trekking through dangerous jungles - made it clear that the problem was far from over. Elsewhere in Matamoros, hundreds of migrants, mostly from Mexico and Haiti, lined up at the official border crossing into Brownsville on Friday afternoon to seek asylum.

U.S. border guards said Friday's line was longer than usual because of people seeking asylum after the end of Title 42.

Several Haitians said they had gotten appointments via the CBP One app. But many Mexicans in the line said they just showed up, hoping that now they wouldn't be turned back.

Among them was Ricardo Vasquez, 30, who stood in the long passageway with his 9-year old daughter Miley and 11-year old son Jesus Gael. The children wore plastic rosaries around their necks.

"We are going to hand in our papers. To show credible fear, or something like that," said Vasquez. He said he was fleeing Acapulco, where rival drug gangs have been battling for control. He said a Mexican friend had told him that the end of Title 42 would open the door to cases like his.

Any decline in the number of migrants attempting to enter illegally could help ease capacity strains at border stations and processing centers. Nearly 30,000 migrants were in Customs and Border Protection custody at one point this week, triple the official capacity. Eight of nine border patrol sectors said their holding cells were stretched beyond their limits.

Shortly before the Title 42 policy lifted at the end of Thursday, a federal judge in Florida temporarily blocked the Biden administration from releasing migrants without a court date as a way to alleviate overcrowding.

U.S. District Judge T. Kent Wetherell II wrote in his ruling that the border had been "out of control" for two years and said that the president and Congress had failed to fix it. He said he would not condone a new emergency policy Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz issued this week allowing for the release of some vetted migrants into the United States, since it was similar to a policy he had rejected as unlawful in March.

The Biden administration had warned the judge, a Trump appointee, that border facilities could become dangerously overcrowded if he blocked the emergency releases, but Wetherell wrote that the administration's "doomsday rhetoric rings hollow."

Blas Nunez-Neto, the top border and immigration policy official at the Department of Homeland Security, told reporters during a briefing Friday the administration would comply with the court order, but he called the ruling harmful.

The judge's order, he said, "will result in unsafe overcrowding at CBP facilities and undercut our ability to efficiently process and remove migrants, which will risk creating dangerous conditions for Border Patrol agents as well as noncitizens in our custody."

Advocates for immigrants also challenged the Biden administration's policies late Thursday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, arguing that new asylum restrictions that took effect Friday mimic Trump-era initiatives blocked by federal courts.

The Biden administration has rejected comparisons to the last administration, emphasizing that it is expanding safe, legal pathways for migrants while attempting to deter migrants from hiring smugglers.

The advocacy groups argued that federal law allows migrants to seek asylum, whether they entered legally or not. They also criticized the Biden administration's assumption that anyone who traveled through another country should have sought refuge there, noting that many countries lack robust asylum systems.

"The Biden administration's new ban places vulnerable asylum seekers in grave danger and violates U.S. asylum laws. We've been down this road before with Trump," said Katrina Eiland, managing attorney with the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project in a statement. "The asylum bans were cruel and illegal then, and nothing has changed now."

The Biden administration's legal pathways face a separate federal court challenge in Texas. Republican officials in Texas and other states sued in January to stop a special program that allows Cubans, Venezuelans, Haitians, and Nicaraguans to apply for what is called "parole" to enter the United States legally on a provisional status for two years, to discourage them from crossing the border. Migrants from Cuba, Venezuela, Haiti and Nicaragua have been arriving at the southern border in large numbers and are difficult to manage because the U.S. cannot easily deport them to their home countries.

In El Paso, where thousands of migrants have also attempted to enter the United States in recent days, Title 42 ended quietly as well. Nearly all of the migrants who had gathered between the Rio Grande and the U.S. border wall were gone, moved out steadily by U.S. buses and vans.

The crowds were no longer outside the border wall gates marked 40 and 42 - the sites of some of the most active recent migrant crossings in recent days. About a dozen migrants were camped on the opposite side of the border wall, but entry to the gates was blocked with thickets of concertina wire.

Some migrants who had been released in downtown El Paso said they were relieved to make it through.

"I was eager to cross when Title 42 was still active because I do not want to be deported," said Luis Colmonare, a 41- year-old Venezuelan migrant who stood with a U.S. government folder firmly in his hand.

Colmonare said he crawled through a little door that was cut into the border wall Thursday. "They apprehended me'" he said, placing his hands together to simulate being handcuffed.

"Thankfully everything turned out well," he said. His court hearing is in July.

Many of the migrants in Matamoros who hadn't crossed before Title 42 lifted said they were unsure what they would do next. The flow of new arrivals didn't let up.

Genesis Cardenas, 30, sat on a curb near the tightly-guarded international bridge early Friday, holding her squirming 10-month old daughter, Susej Paredes. The Venezuelan woman and her husband left Peru on April 18, hoping to reach the U.S. border before the Title 42 policy expired. But they got delayed, and arrived by bus Friday morning from Mexico City.

Her group of 15 friends and relatives split up as they encountered problems along the journey - including lack of money.

Her husband, Anthony Paredes, 29, sitting alongside her, said he had worked in Peru delivering food by motorcycle and doing construction and gardening work. He said he and his wife struggled. "We wanted to seek new opportunities."

The family seemed at a loss. "Look," said Genesis, pulling back the baby's diaper to reveal an ugly red rash. They were nearly out of money. "We are asking people, can we give ourselves up?" to immigration officials, she said.

Ramon Elias Suarez, 53, was also at a loss. He's been in Matamoros for three months, living in the tent camp. He's tried repeatedly to access the CBP One app, showing a reporter how he'd get a reply that the app needed to be updated. When he pressed the button to do so, it took him to a Google symbol.

"I'm going to continue to fight for an appointment," he said. "Maybe I'll go to the bridge and explain my case."

- - -

Mata reported from El Paso. Sacchetti and Miroff reported from Washington.
BRIDGEPORT  A city man was convicted of animal cruelty charges and threatening firefighters on Friday following a week-long trial in which the judge ended up throwing out charges that the defendant had burned puppies in a backyard shed that he called a smoker.

The six-member jury deliberated two and a half hours before finding David Valle guilty of two counts of animal cruelty and one count each of second-degree threatening and interfering with police.

Valle showed no emotion as the jurys verdict was announced but his wife burst into tears in the back of the courtroom.

Stop crying. Stop crying, he told her.

The 41-year-old Valle, of Wayne Street could face up to four years in prison when he is sentenced by Superior Court Judge Elizabeth Reid on July 14.

The jury worked conscientiously to arrive at the appropriate verdict, Assistant States Attorney Justina Moore said later.

Valle and his lawyer, Ernest LaFollette, declined comment.

Valle was initially accused of burning two adult dogs and a puppy in his backyard shed that he claimed was a smoker and mistreating two other dogs found alive at the Wayne Street home on Dec. 1, 2020.

But Judge Reid acquitted Valle of the charges regarding the burned dogs, ruling there was insufficient evidence that Valle owned the dead dogs and had started the fire in the shed.

Valle told Hearst Connecticut Media that the burned dogs found in the shed were not his and he had no idea how they got there.

The judge did let stand cruelty charges regarding two dogs found alive in Valles yard, Sheba and Honey, who Shelton veterinarian Kelly Harpin testified were emaciated and dehydrated. Harpin said it appeared the dogs had received no nourishment in about a month.

The judge also allowed the jury to consider the testimony of City Battalion Fire Chief Scott Boris, who testified that Valle angrily confronted firefighters while they were putting the fire out in the shed.

He was loud, angry and pretty aggressive. He said he was going to put a bullet into every one of our heads unless we left his yard, Boris testified. Normally people like us, because we are just trying to put out a fire, I had never seen anything like this.

Boris testified that firefighters were dispatched to the Wayne Street home about 7:30 p.m. for a smoke condition. When he got there Boris said heavy smoke was coming from a backyard cinder block shed. He said flames were coming through the sheds roof, threatening the nearby home.
As the main suspect in the 2005 disappearance of Natalee Holloway begins the process of extradition to Alabama from Peru, her family still looks for justice after never finding their daughter's body.

Here's what we know about the case.

What happened in 2005?

Holloway, of Mountain Brook, Alabama, went on a high school graduation trip to Aruba. She was 18 years old. She never showed up for the return flight home.

In the video player above: Mountain Brook remembers yellow bows in memory of Natalee Holloway as case develops

Her classmates said they last saw her with Joran van der Sloot, who was 17 at the time, and two others as they left a club.

The three said they dropped her off at a hotel. They were questioned and detained but freed because of a lack of evidence.

Holloway's disappearance made national headlines, and her parents were active and vocal in trying to get investigators to find their daughter.

The Mountain Brook community surrounded the family with support, and yellow bows were put on houses as an act of faith.

Did van der Sloot ever confess?

In 2007, van der Sloot published a book in which he wrote that he didn't kill Holloway and said, "I hope every day that Natalee will be found.

Prosecutors alleged that he accepted $25,000 in cash from Holloway's family in exchange for promising to lead them to her body in 2010. In an affidavit, an FBI agent said he wanted to be paid $25,000 to disclose the location and another $225,000 when the remains were recovered.

At one point during a recorded sting operation, van der Sloot pointed to a house where he said her body was located, but then later said in emails that he was lying about the location.

More than a decade ago, he told a Peruvian judge that he would fight efforts to be extradited to the U.S.

Previous Coverage: New witness in Natalee Holloway disappearance

Why is there another murder involved?

Exactly five years after Holloway vanished, another woman was killed. Stephany Flores, 21, was a business student that van der Sloot met at a casino.

The day he was arrested, he was also indicted in Alabama.

After fleeing Chile, he was taken to Peru, where he confessed to killing Flores. He told police he got mad when she discovered his connection to Holloway while playing online poker in his hotel room. Prosecutors also accused him of killing Flores for casino money.

His lawyers argued that he killed Flores because he was triggered by the trauma from being the prime suspect in Holloway's death.

Van der Sloot pleaded guilty to Flores' death in 2012 and is serving 12 years in prison. She was allegedly killed with "ferocity" and "cruelty," beaten and strangled.

Did they ever consider her dead?

Holloway was declared legally dead in January 2012.

What is he charged with in the case of Holloway?

Van der Sloot is charged with wire fraud and extortion in the case of Natalee Holloway. He has not been charged in her disappearance.

How did her family respond to the extradition?

"I was blessed to have had Natalee in my life for 18 years, and as of this month, I have been without her for exactly 18 years," Holloway said in a statement. "She would be 36 years old now. It has been a very long and painful journey, but the persistence of many is going to pay off. Together, we are finally getting justice for Natalee."

How did the governments interact?

Peru and the United States work together to expand and strengthen the substantial bilateral agenda that links our countries with the aim of bringing concrete benefits to our citizens," the Ambassador Gustavo Meza-Cuadra, Perus ambassador to the United States, said in a statement.



The cooperation between the two country's judicial systems has been a priority for decades.

"We hope that this action will enable a process that will help to bring peace to Mrs. Holloway and to her family, who are grieving in the same way that the Flores family in Peru is grieving for the loss of their daughter, Stephany, said Meza-Cuadra in a statement.

The U.S. Department of Justice declined to comment after the extradition order Thursday. A resolution states that U.S. diplomats presented the temporary extradition request to Peru's Ministry of Foreign Relations on Jan. 10, 2023.

Video below: New developments in the Natalee Holloway mystery

The time that van der Sloot ends up spending in the U.S. will be extended until the conclusion of the criminal proceedings, including the appeal process should there be one, according to the published resolution. The resolution also states that U.S. authorities have agreed to return the suspect to the custody of Peru afterward.

We will continue to collaborate on legal issues with allies such as the United States, and many others with which we have extradition treaties, Edgar Alfredo Rebaza, the director of Perus Office of International Judicial Cooperation and Extraditions of the National Prosecutors Office, said in a statement on Wednesday.

A 2001 treaty between Peru and the U.S. allows a suspect to be temporarily extradited to face trial in the other country. It requires that the prisoner be returned after judicial proceedings are concluded against that person, in accordance with conditions to be determined by both countries.

What happens next?

The time frame for the extradition process is unclear, including when van der Sloot will arrive in Alabama.

Cumberland School of Law professor John Carroll said just getting to this point has taken 18 years, and getting through this case won't be quick either.

First of all, we've got to get him here," Carroll said. "And so, Ive read statements from his lawyer in Peru that he's going to fight that. So that may take some time. And once he gets here, you know, he'll be treated just like any other criminal defendant, probably given the way the justice system runs now.

Once the case is over, even if van der Sloot is found guilty, its expected he'll be returned to Peru to serve out his murder sentence before he would return to the U.S. to start serving any sentence he might receive on the fraud and extortion charges.

This article contains information from The Associated Press.
As the clock nears the expiration of Title 42, the southwest region of the border has seen one of the largest surges of migrants seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border.

The Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Border Patrol agents have been faced with an influx of migrants across the border trying to enter the country in recent days and weeks.

Eric Hyson, chief information officer for DHS, said that the situation could continue to worsen as Title 8 replaces Title 42 on Thursday night.

"We are in an extremely challenging operational environment, both here in El Paso and across our southwest border," Hyson said. "Or that those challenges are only going to increase as Title 42 is set to expire."

Video below: What is Title 8? As Title 42 nears its end

All three House of Representatives from New Mexico voted against an immigration reform policy that passed on the House floor Thursday.

Rep. Gabe Vasquez in the House of Representatives voted against the new policy and said long-term solutions need to be found for the situation at the border.



"They will have to go through the legal process in order to seek asylum, and that might look different for folks before Title 42 and after Title 42," Vasquez said. But we need to continue to fix this problem. Otherwise, we are going to be back here talking about this again in a month, two months, a year."

Vasquez also said he voted down the proposed policy because it did not provide a path to citizenship. He's also asking southern New Mexico mayors to be ready for a possible influx of migrants as Title 8 replaces Title 42.

Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez cited similar reasons to why she voted against the immigration measure on Thursday.

"I spoke against the Republican bill that creates more chaos at the border and does nothing to fix our broken immigration system," Leger Fernandez said. "Instead, lets work together to create real reforms, improve security, and provide a path to citizenship."

Rep. Melanie Stansbury also voted against the measure and said the situation at the border is a humanitarian crisis.

New Mexicans know that Congress needs to get serious about comprehensive and bipartisan immigration reform now, this cruel bill does exactly the opposite," Stansbury said.

"The crisis at the border is a humanitarian crisis," Stansbury said. "One that Republicans in Congress have manufactured and reproduced by refusing to pass the bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform that passed the Senate in 2013."

The House voted 219-213 to pass the bill on to the Senate. No Democrats voted in favor while one Republican joined in opposition of the immigration reform.

Hyson also said those at the border working can only do so much with the resources they have.

"There is simply not enough capacity to efficiently handle anybody beyond the day-to-day cases that we know are important," Hyson said.

Title 42 was set to expire at 10 p.m. Thursday night.
A group of 13 Democrats who represent New York City - including Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries - are urging President Biden to use his executive power to allow asylum seekers to receive work permits more quickly.

In the letter, spearheaded by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), the lawmakers note that existing laws and regulations require people to wait 180 days after submitting an asylum application to receive employment authorization documents.

"That means that, for roughly six months after submitting the application, asylum seekers cannot provide for themselves or their families," the letter says. "As a result, asylum seekers are forced to rely on underfunded community groups to provide them with everything from housing to food to health services. This is particularly troubling given the labor shortages we are experiencing across the country."

Biden has limited authority to alter the timeline, but the lawmakers argue he can use a discretionary tool known as "parole" to allow asylum seekers to enter the country and begin working sooner.

The request comes as New York and other communities are struggling with an influx of migrants that is expected to accelerate further following the expiration Thursday night of Title 42, the pandemic-era border policy that swiftly expelled migrants who entered the United States illegally.

More than 60,000 migrants have arrived in New York City in the past year, according to City Hall officials, who are expecting thousands more in coming weeks, including from border states such as Texas, which has a program of busing them to jurisdictions run by Democrats.

The Biden administration has said a new system will make it easier for authorities to deport asylum seekers who cross illegally while expanding opportunities for migrants to reach the United States legally.

Democrats and Republicans in Congress are also offering dueling legislation to address the issue of immigration more broadly.

On Thursday, the Republican-led House narrowly passed the Secure the Border Act. Among other provisions, it would provide funding to restart the building of a border wall and enhance monitoring technology along the United States' southern and northern borders and allot millions of dollars to increase the number of Border Patrol agents. The bill is considered dead on arrival in the Democratic-led Senate.

House Democrats, meanwhile, this week reintroduced the U.S. Citizenship Act, a bill backed by Biden that would, among other things, provide millions of undocumented immigrants with a pathway to earned citizenship.

The Democrats signing the letter to Biden, which addresses the narrower issue of work permits, include Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), as well as all 11 House members who represent parts of New York City, including Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee.

The Democrats write that "many asylum seekers want to work" and argue that Biden is in a position to help not only New York but "the many states, cities and communities enthusiastically welcoming asylum seekers across this country."

"Asylum seekers who work without authorization are often exploited, receiving pay far below the minimum wage and facing repeated incidents of wage theft and labor abuse," the letter says. "Instead of providing a safe haven for people fleeing persecution, we keep them in a limbo state where they want and need to provide for themselves but are legally barred from doing so."

The lawmakers also argue that action by Biden could help address labor shortages.

"A shortfall of immigrants due to our restrictive immigration policies worsens widespread labor shortages and hobbles the U.S. economy at a time when more than 10 million jobs remain unfilled," the letter says.
Lina Horton was a freshman at University of Tennessee at Chattanooga with plans to become her family's first college graduate, an enormous achievement for a young woman who had started kindergarten knowing little English after moving from Puerto Rico. Then, her mother died suddenly and she became pregnant. Grieving and needing to provide for her child, she dropped out days into her second semester. She was crushed.

A half-dozen years later, Horton was working as an education assistant in her hometown of Clarksville, Tenn. Raising two children with the help of an aunt, returning to school felt out of reach. But in 2019, she learned about a pilot program in her district that would allow her to keep working while taking night classes at Austin Peay State University toward a bachelor's degree in education and a teaching certification. Best of all, it was free.

"I knew that it was something that I would be interested in, because I would be able to work," Horton said.

Horton is part of a grand experiment to see what happens when the apprenticeship model - used to train generations of plumbers, electricians and carpenters - is applied to teaching, allowing trainees to earn money while they learn their craft and earn their credentials. In exchange, many of the programs require graduates commit a certain numbers of years of service in high-needs schools.

Apprenticeships have also been hailed as a way to alleviate a persistent teacher shortage that has threatens student achievement, diversifying and broadening the teacher ranks, especially as interest in teaching plummets among undergraduates. And they give people like Horton, promising educators who can't afford to return to college, a path to a higher-paying career.

While debates rage over transgender student rights and the teaching of race and U.S. history, teacher apprenticeships are a rare education policy initiative that have bipartisan support. Teaching apprenticeships have been championed by New America, a left-leaning think tank. The Biden administration embraces them - Jill Biden, the first lady, invited a teacher apprentice to be her guest at this year's State of the Union address - as do many GOP-led states such as West Virginia, where an apprenticeship program is taking on 200 teacher trainees, and Iowa, which now has 17 programs in the state.

Programs like the one at Austin Peay State have been around for years, but they have often been small in scale and had inconsistent sources of funding. Facing dire teacher shortages during the pandemic, many states expanded this type of training using pandemic relief funds. Now teaching apprenticeships are getting a major boost from the Labor Department, which last year began offering them federal certification, a distinction that gives them access to millions in job-training funds. Over the last 17 months, programs in 16 states have been certified, including some poised to take on hundreds of trainees.

David Donaldson, the former director of human capital in Tennessee, was one of the drivers of the inaugural program in that state. He now runs a nonprofit that offers technical assistance to states wanting to create teaching apprenticeships. Donaldson said inspiration for the idea came from his father, a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, and his mother, a preschool teacher.

"Both are forms of public service - the military and education," Donaldson said in an interview earlier this year. But only one parent, his father, received a free education in exchange for years of service. It has informed the credo that has defined his career: "We truly believe that you should be able to become a teacher for free and get paid to do so in America. And we're proving it in multiple states now that it's possible."

Staff shortages have plagued many pockets of the country, forcing some schools to pare down classes, hire unqualified adults or put students in self-guided online courses. Teachers matter more for student achievement than any other aspect of schooling and can influence whether a child graduates high school, attends college and earns more as an adult. One of the drivers of the shortage is that interest in teaching is plummeting, a decline chalked up to low pay and deteriorating work conditions. In the 2018-2019 school year, colleges and universities awarded about 90,000 undergraduate education degrees, compared to 200,000 in the early 1970s.

But the popularity of the apprenticeship programs suggests there is an untapped talent pool: people who have the desire and the heart - but not the financial means - to become a teacher. What schools have found is that many of the people who fall in to that category are already working for them in roles that do not require bachelor's degrees, like Horton. The graduates of the Austin Peay State program, which graduated 34 people in its inaugural class, include several former teaching assistants and at least one former school janitor, who now teaches math. There are more than 200 teacher apprentices in various stages of the program now, according Prentice T. Chandler, the dean of the university's school of education.

Mississippi has one of the nation's worst teacher shortages, a problem driven in part by low teacher pay and an a state legislature that has for years funded schools with less money than the state's formula demands. This year, the state is spending nearly $10 million to educate 200 trainees for its teacher residency, about $50,000 per person, in a program that covers the cost of tuition at one of five universities while allowing participants to work in school districts. It has already proven beneficial for school districts like the one in Sunflower County.

"There will never be a long line of individuals who are lined up to move to the Mississippi Delta," said Will Murphy, who manages hiring and recruitment for Sunflower County Consolidated School District, which, like many school systems in the Mississippi Delta, serves a student body that is overwhelmingly Black and poor. "We have to be intentional about growing people in our district and training up a next wave."

The residency has helped a half-dozen employees earn degrees and teaching certification while they were employed by a school district. One is Camilla Potts, a high school history teacher who won the district's teacher of the year award days after graduating. Potts sent her own children to school in the district and was a health educator before deciding to return to college - and to the classroom - to become a teacher.

School leaders say there are clear benefits from recruiting from within their ranks and their communities. The teaching profession has long struggled to diversify, even as the proportion of public school children of color grows. By intentionally recruiting local candidates, districts have been able to build teaching candidate pools that better reflect the demographics of the community. They have also had success recruiting from the ranks of teacher assistants, who are more diverse than teachers.

Tabitha Grossman of the National Center for Teacher Residencies said removing financial barriers has been key in recruiting more teachers of color.

"If we really want to diversify the profession, we have to make the profession financially accessible," Grossman said. Residencies and apprenticeships "make the profession a lot more accessible, particularly for candidates of color who don't have the generational wealth to not work for a period of time."

More than two decades ago, Nebraska studied why schools on its tribal reservations were faring so poorly. One factor they identified: There was only one Native teacher among the dozens educating Native students. The result was the Indigenous Roots Teacher Education Program, through which aspiring Native educators could receive a bachelor's degree at no cost while being employed by their local schools. The federally funded program required participants to spend two or three years working in schools with Native students and has put 59 Native teachers in schools across the state.

Many were like Nepthys Justo, who was in her late 20s and living on the Santee Sioux Reservation. She badly wanted to become a certified teacher and had taken education classes at her local community college. But the nearest university was more than an hour's drive away, and she had three children to care for. She made the commute for an entire semester before learning about the Roots program, which allowed her to take classes online and remain in her community. She graduated with her bachelor's in education in 2007, and then returned to the program to get her master's in curriculum and instruction in 2013. She's working on her third degree now with Roots - a master's degree in administration.

Justo, 45, said living on the reservation and having Santee Sioux roots means she has a connection with students and families that would be difficult to forge if she were an outsider. She knows the parents of her students because she grew up with them - and sees them at the grocery store and at community events. Part of that bond, too, comes from the tragedies she's endured: as a young girl, her mother died in a drunk-driving accident, and she was subsequently separated from her siblings. It has allowed her to relate to children who witness their parents' struggles with substance abuse.

"As a people, we have had had gone through so much trauma. ... We carry that generational trauma with us, and it's something that we're trying to overcome, but it's still there," said Justo, who teaches at the Isanti Community School. "Just having that understanding" has helped her connect with students.

Back in Clarksville in August of last year, Horton donned a cap and gown and crossed the stage at Austin Peay State University to receive her bachelor's degree in education. Relatives had come in from neighboring states to watch her become the first in the family to earn a college degree. Her children, 8-year-old Luke and 10-year old Sofia Emeagwai, witnessed the moment.

She believes there are more people out there with the potential to be great educators. All they need, she said, is a little boost.

"There are many people who are gifted," she said. "It just takes someone lending a hand to bring out the gifts."
Fairfax County police shot and killed a man Thursday afternoon in a chaotic confrontation that was caught on video in a parking lot along Route 1, officials said.

The incident, which occurred just after 4 p.m., began when a Fairfax County police officer went to a Citgo gas station in the 6300 block of Richmond Highway to investigate a reportedly stolen U-Haul truck, Police Chief Kevin Davis said. The officer, he said, confirmed the vehicle had been stolen from Richmond several days ago and made contact with the man believed to have been driving it.

Davis said the man, who was outside of the U-Haul at the gas station, shoved the officer into the open front door of his marked police SUV and began "violently assaulting" him.

An apparent video of the encounter posted on Twitter by Killmoenetwork, which tracks public safety incidents in the D.C. region, shows what appears to be an officer and someone else struggling in the front seat of a marked Fairfax County police SUV at the gas station. The cruiser then goes in reverse, crashing into a car parked in a neighboring McDonald's parking lot, the video shows.

Davis said that as that was occurring, the officer was on his police radio, saying he was being attacked and the man had the officer's gun. Body-camera footage shows the man was on top of the officer, who was draped face down across the front seat and "fighting for his life," Davis said. That officer, he said, did not fire his gun.

"This scene was highly unusual, and I've been on a lot of these scenes," Davis said. "I've never quite seen something like this."

Davis said more police soon arrived. One uniformed officer, he said, fired several rounds, and another officer, a 24-year veteran, pulled the man off the officer in the police SUV. That officer, he said, then fired his own weapon, striking the man, who was pronounced dead on the scene.

On the video posted by Killmoenetwork, what sounds like more than a dozen gunshots can be heard as the man and the officer are apparently still struggling in the crashed police SUV at the McDonald's. Three officers approach, guns pointed at the SUV. One of them reaches into the driver's side and appears to pull out a person, who spills onto the ground. Three more apparent shots can then be heard.

In a separate video posted by WUSA9, officers can be seen around someone - it is not clear who - staggering away from the police vehicle.

In 2022, the Fairfax County Police Department recorded six officer-involved shootings - a term that refers to any case where an officer discharges a firearm at a person or occupied vehicle, county data shows. The last time there were six officer-involved shootings in the county was in 2008.

In February, Fairfax police shot and killed an unarmed Black man outside of Tysons Corner Center in a case that sparked demonstrations and prompted officials to fire the sergeant who fired the fatal shots. The Fairfax County prosecutor recently petitioned a judge to convene a special grand jury to investigate that case, after a regular grand jury declined to indict the sergeant.
All over the world, people swear by the nutritional benefits of chaga, a mushroom that has become popular in teas and supplements.

The United States mostly imports the product, but one Maine couple is hoping to change that.

Justin Triquet and his wife Nikki Laroux created the company JustNiks MyCosilva after starting a chaga farm.

They spend hours hiking and searching through miles of Maine woods and have even been hired to seek out chaga, which grows exclusively on birch trees.

When we see chaga growing here or on a particular property, that's always a good sign for us, Triquet said.

They are the first in the country to receive permits from the Department of Agriculture in an attempt at chaga farming.

It's new here in the United States and certainly Maine is the hub of all this," Triquet said.

The couple arms themselves with drills, hammers and bags full of special lab-produced chaga-laced dowels to essentially seed the trees.

Drilling into the trees and placing in the dowels is harmless to the trees and simulates how chaga grows naturally.

"In the same way that we're not damaging the ground when we plant seeds in the ground to grow vegetables, we're not damaging the tree by planting a seed in the tree to grow chaga," Triquet said.

"We really love living here in Maine and we just don't want to take from the trees from Maine. We want to give back," Laroux said.

The couple touts that they are giving back through sustainability. Their farm plan includes harvesting only the chaga they grow and leaving enough behind to grow back for the next harvest. Harvests happen every five to seven years.

"We really believe in the whole circle of life  when you take something we have to give something back, replace it with something," Triquet said.

Though chaga grows throughout the Northern Hemisphere, they say demand could soon outpace supply.

The couple believes their method will keep them ahead of the curve, especially with Maine's abundance of birch trees.

"The United States imports thousands of pounds of chaga every month. So, opposed to continuing to import this, we want to turn the United States into an export company," Triquet said.


Josie Norris/San Antonio Express-News

In their third attempt to pass legislation banning healthcare procedures for transgender youth, Texas House Republicans began debate on the House floor Friday after House Democrats successfully delayed two earlier votes on the measure.

Senate Bill 14 bans Texas doctors from prescribing gender-affirming care for transgender youth, including puberty blockers, hormone medications, and gender reassignment surgeries. Under the bill, Texas medical doctors risk having their licenses revoked if they provide gender-affirming care for minors diagnosed with gender dysphoria. It also bars taxpayer money being used to provide transgender healthcare or to be given to any person or medical facility providing gender-affirming treatment. The Texas Senate passed the bill in April.
Voters in suburban Philadelphia are set to decide party control of Pennsylvania's state House of Representatives on Tuesday with their pick to replace a Democrat who resigned.

Also on the ballot in Pennsylvania are primary elections for state Supreme Court and Philadelphia mayor, with the winner of the Democratic primary all but sure to become the city's next leader in this fall's general election.

The race with the biggest immediate consequence is the special election in state House District 163 in Delaware County, a suburb of Philadelphia. Democrat Mike Zabel, who won by 32 percentage points in November, resigned after allegations of sexual harassment.

Democrat Heather Boyd, a former congressional and state legislative aide, faces Republican Katie Ford, a military veteran, school volunteer and behavioral therapist, in the special election.

If Ford wins, and if Republicans hold on to a central Pennsylvania seat as widely expected in a second special election on Tuesday, the chamber will flip to GOP control.

Nine candidates are running in the Democratic primary for mayor of Philadelphia, and no one has stood out as the obvious front-runner. Among the top candidates: former City Council members Cherelle Parker, Helen Gym and Allan Domb; ShopRite franchise owner Jeff Brown; and former City Controller Rebecca Rhynhart.

Democrats vastly outnumber Republicans in the nations sixth largest city, so Tuesday's winner will be an overwhelming favorite to win in November.

Democrats and Republicans across the state will also choose nominees for the state Supreme Court.

Heres a look at what to expect on election night:

ELECTION DAY

Polls close at 8 p.m. ET.

HOW PENNSYLVANIA VOTES

Pennsylvanias primaries are limited to registered party members.

The AP will declare winners in 14 races, including five statewide elections. The first votes are expected shortly after polls close, and election-night updates are expected to last until around 3 a.m. ET. In the 2022 general election, 97% percent of votes were counted by noon the next day, a significant change from 2020, when the tabulation lasted more than a week.

DECISION NOTES

The AP does not make projections and will only declare a winner when its determined there is no scenario that would allow the trailing candidates to close the gap.

Should a candidate declare victory or offer a concession before the AP calls a race, we will cover newsworthy developments in our reporting. In doing so, we will make clear that the AP has not yet declared a winner and explain why.

Calling a winner in the Democratic primary for Philadelphia mayor will be complicated by the large field and the large number of votes that Philadelphia counts after election day  11% in the 2022 midterms. Also, results will be tabulated citywide, which wont show which areas of the city have reported and where the various candidates are doing well.

The states largest counties  Philadelphia and Allegheny  will play a big role in deciding the Democratic primaries for Supreme Court, Superior Court and Commonwealth Court. Suburban counties, including Montgomery, Bucks, Delaware, Chester and Westmoreland, will be important to watch in statewide Republican primaries for Supreme Court and Commonwealth Court.

The AP may call a race in which the margin between the top two candidates is 0.5% or less, if we determine the lead is too large for a recount and legal challenge to change the outcome. Pennsylvania has automatic recounts for statewide races in which the margin between the top two candidates is 0.5 percentage points or less. For local races, three voters in an election district can request  and pay for  a recount.

Q: WHAT DO TURNOUT AND ADVANCE VOTE LOOK LIKE?

A: As of April 10, there were 8.6 million registered voters in Pennsylvania, including 3.9 million Democrats and 3.4 million Republicans. As of Thursday, 323,398 Democrats and 94,504 Republicans had cast advance votes. In 2022, about 40% of Democratic voters and 12% of Republican voters cast their ballots before election day.

APs preliminary statewide turnout projections are 1 million for the Democratic primary and 1 million for the Republican primary. In Philadelphia, APs preliminary turnout projection is 220,000 for Democrats and 20,000 for Republicans.

Q: HOW LONG DOES COUNTING USUALLY TAKE?

In the 2022 general election, 97% of votes were counted by noon on the day after the election. However, votes in a handful of counties, including Philadelphia, trickled in for more than two weeks.

READ UP ON THE RACES

Heres more on this years Pennsylvania elections:

Pennsylvania House battle hinges on Philadelphia suburbs

Philadelphia mayoral race hones in on crime policies

Follow APs coverage of politics and elections at: https://apnews.com/hub/politics
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GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP)  Israeli airstrikes killed a senior militant commander in the Gaza Strip and Palestinian militants fired rockets toward Jerusalem on Friday, further escalating the most violent flare-up in months despite efforts to broker a cease-fire.

An Israeli airstrike killed two Palestinians in a residential building in Gaza City in the afternoon, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

The Israeli military said it had targeted a senior commander of the Islamic Jihad movement. The Islamic Jihad confirmed that the airstrike killed Iyad Al-Hassani, a member of the decision-making council in the group's armed wing. He is the sixth senior Islamic Jihad member to be killed in this round of fighting.

Earlier in the day, bursts of rocket fire from Gaza sent warning sirens wailing as far north as the contested capital of Jerusalem  about 48 miles (77 kilometers) from the Gaza border  breaking a 12-hour lull that had raised hopes regional powers could soon broker a truce.

The fighting, which started on Tuesday, between Israel and Islamic Jihad  the second-largest militant group in Gaza after the territorys Hamas rulers  has killed at least 33 Palestinians in the strip, including women and children, and an 80-year-old woman in central Israel, identified in Israeli media as Inga Avramian.

As Islamic Jihad stepped up its longer-range rocket attacks, a projectile slammed into an open field in the Israeli settlement of Bat Ayin, south of Jerusalem, said Josh Hasten, a spokesperson for the area. Residents in nearby Israeli settlements reported hearing explosions. Dull thuds could be heard inside Jerusalem, home to major sites holy to Christianity, Judaism and Islam.

The bombing of Jerusalem sends a message, Islamic Jihad said in a statement. What is happening in Jerusalem is not separate from Gaza.

In response, the Israeli warplanes struck Islamic Jihad military posts and mortar shell launchers across the Gaza Strip, the military said.

The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was conducting a security assessment to mount a further response. We continue, he tweeted.

The Israeli military urged residents living within 40 kilometers (25 miles) of the Gaza boundary to remain close to bomb shelters and limit public gatherings until Saturday evening. All big events, including the weekly Saturday protest against the government's divisive plans to overhaul the judiciary, were cancelled.

The sirens wailing near Jerusalem on Friday took some back to the spring of 2021, when Hamas fired rockets toward the city, which helped set off a bloody 11-day Gaza war. At that time, the militant group cited a provocative far-right march through the Palestinian neighborhoods of Jerusalem as one of the reasons for its rocket barrage, along with the displacement of Palestinians from the city's east.

Israeli police said they will allow the same Jewish ultranationalist parade  meant to celebrate Israels capture of east Jerusalem  to take place next Thursday.

Since Tuesday, Israeli strikes have killed five senior Islamic Jihad figures and hit at least 215 targets in Gaza, including rocket launch sites and militants preparing to use them. Islamic Jihad has retaliated with over 900 rockets fired toward densely populated parts of Israel.

Israeli bombs and shells have destroyed 47 housing units, and damaged 19 so badly they were uninhabitable, leaving 165 Palestinians homeless, Gazas housing ministry reported. In addition, nearly 300 homes sustained some damage.

Palestinians on Friday surveyed the wreckage from the fighting.

The dream that we built for our children, for our sons, has ended, said Belal Bashir, a Palestinian living in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, whose family home was reduced to a heap of rubble in an airstrike late Thursday. He, his young daughters and two-week-old son would have been killed in the thundering explosion if they hadnt ran outside when they heard shouting, he said.

We were shocked that our house was targeted, he added as he pulled his childrens dolls and blankets from a gaping bomb crater.

The Palestinian dead included six children and four women, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. Two of the children were killed by suspected misfired Palestinian rockets, according to the Israeli military and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights. Over 100 Palestinians have been wounded.

The civilians deaths have drawn condemnation from the Arab world and concern from the United States and Europe. In its past four wars against Hamas, Israel has repeatedly faced accusations of war crimes due to the high civilian death tolls and its use of heavy weapons against the crowded enclave. Israel, in turn, contends that Palestinian militant groups use civilians as human shields by fighting in their midst.

Confrontations between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza have recurred 15 times since Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007. The repeated Israeli bombing campaigns have cast doubt on Netanyahus claims of victory and raised serious questions about what the grim routine achieves.

If the operations were really all that successful, we wouldnt need them once a year on average, with the time between them becoming shorter, Amos Harel, the defense affairs commentator for the Haaretz newspaper, wrote in an analysis Friday. The simple truth is that Israel has no concrete solution for the plight of Gaza or for the security dangers that emanate from the strip.

Hamas, the de facto civilian government, has sought to maintain its truce with Israel while attempting to keep abysmal living conditions in the blockaded enclave from spiraling since the devastating 2021 war that killed over 260 Palestinians. The group has sat out this round of fighting  as it did a similar burst of violence last summer. In a sign of restraint, Israel has limited its airstrikes to Islamic Jihad targets.

Israeli officials and Islamic Jihad figures have sent mixed signals about negotiations for a cease-fire that neighboring Egypt has pushed for. Senior official Ihsan Attaya complained early Friday that the mediators have been unable to provide us with any guarantees. A sticking point has been Islamic Jihads demands that Israel cease its policy of targeted killings, Attaya said.

This week's battles began when Israel launched simultaneous airstrikes that killed three Islamic Jihad commanders along with some of their wives and children as they slept in their homes. Israel said it was retaliating for a barrage of rocket fire launched last week by Islamic Jihad following the death of one of its West Bank members, Khader Adnan, from an 87-day hunger strike while in Israeli custody.

The airstrikes and rockets have shifted the focus of long-running conflict back to Gaza after months of surging violence in the occupied West Bank under Israel's most right-wing government in history.

___

DeBre reported from Jerusalem
BEIJING (AP)  China is sending a special envoy to Ukraine and Russia starting next week in an effort to help reach a political settlement of the Ukrainian crisis, its Foreign Ministry said Friday.

Li Hui, who is China's special representative for Eurasian affairs and a former ambassador to Moscow, will also visit Poland, France and Germany, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said.

China says it remains neutral over Russias war in Ukraine but has declared it has a no limits relationship with Moscow and blames the U.S. and NATO for provoking the conflict. Beijing has put forward a peace plan for Ukraine that has been largely dismissed by the countrys supporters, who say a resolution can only come when Russia ceases its attacks and withdraws its troops from Ukrainian territory.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping spoke by phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last month, setting the stage for the diplomatic push.

The visit of the Chinese representative to relevant countries expresses Chinas commitment to promoting peace and negotiations," Wang said at a daily briefing Friday.

China wishes to prevent an "escalation of the situation, Wang said.

Li's visits are to begin next week but his detailed schedule has not been released.

Beijing has previously avoided involvement in conflicts between other countries but appears to be trying to assert itself as a global diplomatic force after arranging talks between Saudi Arabia and Iran in March that led them to restore diplomatic relations after a seven-year break.

China has friendly relations with Moscow as well as economic leverage as the biggest buyer of Russian oil and gas after the United States and its allies cut off most purchases.

Beijing, which sees Moscow as a diplomatic partner in opposing U.S. domination of global affairs, has refused to criticize the invasion and used its status as one of five permanent U.N. Security Council members to deflect diplomatic attacks on Russia.

Wang also confirmed that the ruling Communist Party's top diplomat, Wang Yi, and U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan held talks on Wednesday and Thursday in Vienna, Austria. Wang said the two sides had candid, in-depth, substantive, and constructive discussions on stabilizing and improving bilateral relations.

China-U.S. relations are at a historical low and nosedived in February after the U.S. shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon that had flown across Canada and the United States. The incident led to the postponement of a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Beijing which has yet to be rescheduled.
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Rehm Technology Days 2023  An In-house Trade Fair Published: 12 May 2023 by Tyler Hanes by Tyler Hanes

BLAUBEUREN, GERMANY  The in-house Technology Days event is a tradition at Rehm. Yet this year it reached a new level. On the occasion of its 33rd anniversary Rehm invited hundreds of customers, partners, employees and press representatives from all over the world to the companys Swabian headquarters in Blaubeuren on 26 and 27 April 2023. Under the motto Be smart  take part, a wealth of topics ranging from current research, practice and user-oriented workshops awaited the visitors, from the art of sustainable electronics manufacturing, connectivity and networking to smart automation and artificial intelligence.

Rehm has always used Technology Days as a platform for highlighting and discussing the sometimes rapid advances and developments in the electronics industry. Thus, all participants were again invited to discover new trends and be inspired by innovative ideas. The main focal points of the event were therefore knowledge transfer and exchanging of experiences, an offering that was readily taken up by the guests.

Keeping up with the times  lectures and keynotes at Technology Days

In a total of 10 top-level specialist presentations on 26 and 27 April, the company's own experts as well as invited specialists shed light on concrete challenges for companies. For example, on the first day of the event Dr Frank-Peter Schiefelbein from Siemens Technology Berlin spoke about 33 years of electronics manufacturing, Dr Paul Wild from Rehm Thermal Systems illuminated innovative solutions for sustainable electronics manufacturing and Professor Aylin Bicakci from Kiel University of Applied Sciences presented current trends and the future challenges of power modules. The following day, Markus Scheid from Scheid IT gave a presentation on communication interfaces in SMT manufacturing, Ronny Witzgall from SMA Solar introduced practical examples of the IPC/CFX standard and Thomas Muckl from Zollner AG showcased AI applications in electronics manufacturing. Further contributions from the hosts experts explored the path towards CO 2 -neutral production as well as innovative line concepts for coating applications.

Among the highlights of the lecture series were the respective contributions of the keynote speakers. On 26 April Professor Christian Berg of the German Club of Rome e. V. spoke about sustainability as a driver of innovation and optimisation. He emphasised not only the topicality of climate change and the importance of ecological and social sustainability, but also the challenge of comparing the necessary investments with the economic benefits. During his presentation, the win-win situation in which both sides benefit  sustainability as well as economic growth  was mapped out all the more clearly. On 27 April Professor Yasmin Mei-Yee Wei, supervisory board member, start-up founder and professor at Nuremberg Institute of Technology spoke about the future hot skills that will be indispensable for success in the digital age. In her presentation she outlined a fundamental transformation of the world of work in the face of increasingly diverse international teams, automated processes and new technologies such as artificial intelligence. She focused on the importance of durable meta-competencies such as learning ability, resilience, empathy or communication skills  and the creation of a new, complementary intelligence from the collaboration between humans and AI.

More than 300 invited visitors listened to the presentations in the company's own premises. For the audience from abroad, simultaneous interpreters translated the presentations in real time. Numerous other guests and employees also took advantage of the option to follow the presentations via live broadcast in the companys in-house canteen and hold discussions in a relaxed atmosphere over coffee.

Smart processes at first hand  workshops and live demonstrations

The numerous workshops and live demonstrations that took place throughout the building were also geared towards direct exchange. During Technology Days they provided an opportunity for visitors to experience smart processes at first hand. Rehm installed equipment for this purpose at four different stations and prepared it for the registered participants. To ensure good acoustic quality, all visitors were provided with headphones  and interpreter services were also available here for foreign-language visitors.

The workshops themselves focused on soldering and coating processes. For example, Dr Paul Wild presented new concepts for a stable and energy- efficient soldering process, and Gianfranco Sinistra and Markus Scheid, from Rehm and Scheid IT respectively, spoke about smart line concepts in the field of conformal coating. Jan Schacher and Nico Fahrner from Rehm also demonstrated contact soldering with automated loading as well as condensation soldering in a vacuum.

Numerous info points on various products as well as informative exhibitions by partner companies and guided company tours rounded off the wide- ranging programme of Rehm Technology Days 2023.

Be smart  take part: art for a good cause

Whether its smART automation, being pART of connectivity, ARTificial intelligence or the heARTbeat of technology  Rehm Technology Days was not short of allegories on the topic of art and artificial intelligence. Numerous paintings, renderings and graffiti were created during the preparations for the event in a collaboration between human creativity and AI. The auction of selected items during the evening event on Wednesday 26 April proved that the work went beyond mere surface appeal. Around 800 guests outbid each other to win one of the unique pieces for themselves  and all for a good cause. In the end, several thousand euros were raised, money which will now benefit Forderkreis fur tumor- und leukamiekranke Kinder Ulm e. V. and Urspringschule, an accredited children's and youth welfare facility in Urspring, Baden-Wurttemberg.
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Care4Calais founder Clare Moseley has announced she is leaving the refugee support charity a month after being named as its chair.

Moseley registered the charity in 2016 and was its chief executive until her replacement, Steve Smith, was appointed last month.

The Charity Commission has been investigating the charitys governance arrangements since 2020 . It appointed interim managers from Anthony Collins solicitors who have since been discharged.

Care4Calais described facing a key person risk in respect of the charitys founder and CEO in its financial report for the year to September 2021, its most recently filed accounts with the regulator.

Moseley leaving to focus on campaigning

Moseley said in a statement : After seven and a half years, I am leaving Care4Calais.

When I first arrived in Calais I had no intention of setting up a charity; I could not have imagined one which now supports thousands of people seeking asylum in the UK as well as refugees in northern France.

She thanked the charitys volunteers, donors and refugee rights campaigners.

I am now leaving Care4Calais to focus on campaigning for safe routes for refugees and I will be working alongside our incredible trade union partners to ensure safe passage becomes a reality, she added.

Meanwhile, the team at Care4Calais said in another statement that few people leave such a legacy as Moseley.

CEO appointment

Moseley took over from Sue Jex as the charitys chair on 11 April, moving to the position after Smiths appointment as CEO .

Smith joined the charity after seven years as CEO of the International Refugee Trust, and leading Action on Armed Violence before that.

On his appointment, Smith said: I am taking on this mantle from the charitys founder, Clare. I have big shoes to fill, but Im up for the challenge. I am looking forward to working with the thousands of Care4Calais volunteers who make a difference to the lives of refugees every day.

The charity has not yet said who will now chair it.

sign up to receive the Civil Society News daily bulletin here . For more news, interviews, opinion and analysis about charities and the voluntary sector,
On the same day that another Norfolk Southern train derailed, a Senate committee on Wednesday approved a rail-safety bill introduced after the derailment of a freight train in East Palestine, Ohio.

The fate of the bill remains uncertain due to significant Republican opposition.

In the meantime, railroad mishaps continued. Late Wednesday, nine railcars from a Norfolk Southern freight train derailed near New Castle, Pennsylvania. No hazardous chemicals on board and no reported injuries, fire department and company officials said.

The railroad safety bill would increase inspections of trains carrying hazardous materials, require the use of technology to detect track defects, and sharply raise penalties on railroad companies for crashes.

The Senate Commerce Committee advanced the bill one day after Norfolk Southern renewed a promise to create a fund for residents near the site of the Ohio train wreck to cover any decline in home values since the February derailment.

Norfolk Southern Corp. CEO Alan Shaw said in a letter to committee members that the railroad expects to compensate homeowners within about 5 miles (8 kilometers) of the crash if they sell their homes for less than the property was appraised before the derailment. He said the railroad expects to start making payments within a year.

On Feb. 3, 38 railcars derailed in East Palestine, 11 of which carried hazardous chemicals, with some spilling into nearby waterways. Half of the towns 5,000 residents were evacuated as emergency responders burned off chemicals to prevent an uncontrolled explosion.

Images of the black smoke and stories about families forced to leave their homes led lawmakers to call for action to improve rail safety. The bill that emerged was approved by the Senate panel on a 16-11 vote, with all but two Republicans opposing the measure.

One of those Republicans supporting the bill, J.D. Vance of Ohio, argued that the measure is necessary to stem an increase in rail accidents.

There will be another East Palestine in this country if we do not pass the Railway Safety Act. Its that simple, Vance said. Yes, it may make rail transportation a little bit more expensive, but its going to make rail transportation a little bit more expensive in the service of safety.

But Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said the bill would give too much power to the Biden administration to restrict rail shipments of coal, oil and other fossil fuels that the radical green movement hates.

Vance and Republican Eric Schmitt of Missouri joined all the committee Democrats in voting for the bill.

Cruz said the bill is unlikely to get the 60 votes it probably would need to pass on the Senate floor, or to win passage in the GOP-controlled House, unless changes are made to restrict the administrations rulemaking power over railroads.

The bill has been the subject of bipartisan negotiations that resulted in changes to the original version introduced by Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio.

Ian Jefferies, president of the Association of American Railroads, said those negotiations have improved the bill, but challenges remain with certain provisions, including a requirement for at least two crew members on each train.

In his letter late Tuesday to committee members, Norfolk Southern CEO Shaw said that while the company has accrued nearly $400 million in charges for the derailment, that doesnt include compensation for falling property values, long- term health care or water treatment. It also does not reflect payments the railroad will receive from insurance.

Shaw said Cruz encouraged him to write the letter, which contained more details around homeowner compensation than the company had previously provided. This commitment demonstrates that, as Senator Cruz and others have indicated, Norfolk Southern understands that this derailment was not the fault of the people of East Palestine, the CEO said.

The federal government, the state of Ohio and residents near the crash have all filed lawsuits against Norfolk Southern.

Shares of Norfolk Southern Corp., based in Atlanta, rose a fraction of a penny in trading Wednesday.

Pennsylvania Emergency Management said the train that derailed Wednesday consisted of 231 cars and three locomotives. Action News in Pittsburg reported that as of Friday morning, only three railcars remained on a bridge at the crash site,

The New Castle Fire Department said that at least some of the cars that derailed contained paraffin wax, which is used to make candles, and soybeans.

New Castle is about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northwest of Pittsburgh near the Pennsylvania-Ohio state line.

Norfolk Southern has renewed a promise to create a fund for residents near the site of that wreck to cover any decline in home values since the derailment.

The Washington Post reported that the National Transportation Board is investigating the accident.

Top photo: Recovery work is shown at the scene of a train derailment outside New Castle, Pa., on Thursday, May 11, 2023. Officials say nine railcars from a Norfolk Southern freight train derailed in Pennsylvania, with no hazardous chemicals on board and no reported injuries (Lucy Schaly/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via AP)

Copyright 2023 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
A gold mine in Peru where 27 workers died in a fire over the weekend is a partner of Swiss institutions in their effort to ensure responsible sourcing from informal miners in the Andean country.

Top Swiss-based refiner Metalor is currently the mines only gold buyer, which shipped $363 million worth of gold to Switzerland since 2016, according to Peruvian customs records.

Metalor along with nonprofit Swiss Better Gold Association forged a partnership in 2020 with Minera Yanaquihua SAC, which owns the mine, to ensure a sustainable supply of gold from informal miners with better social and environmental practices, before the deadly incident. Informal prospectors, sometimes called artisanal miners, often work without official employment or machinery.

Yanaquihua has a hybrid production model, combining its own formal gold production while also buying metal from artisanal miners, according to its website. The disaster happened at its own mine, which is categorized as a small formal operation under Peruvian regulations.

Swiss firms have the worlds top gold refining capacity and have for years struggled to certify that they can source the precious metal from responsible producers that can trace exactly how and where it was mined. In those efforts, Yanaquihua was a trusted partner that would train artisanal miners to better their standards and move toward formalization.

Metalor said it had paid site visits on a regular basis at Yanaquihua and required all environmental and safety permits.

This is a terrible accident, its a tragedy, said Diana Culillas, Secretary General of the Swiss Better Gold Association. For the time being we are in a wait-and-see position to really receive the results of the root causers (of the incident).

Culillas said Yanaquihua remains a partner of Swiss Better Gold. Yanaquihua didnt respond to a request for comment.

In recent years, refiners accredited by the worlds major gold markets have largely avoided accepting so-called artisanal gold due to the risks involved, pushing their output into the hands of smugglers and organized criminals.

In a press release announcing the partnership, Metalor and Swiss Better Gold said Yanaquihua would help (artisanal miners) to improve their working methods, implement better social and environmental extraction practices and, importantly, make progress towards formalization.

Antonio Samaniego, Yanaquihuas chairman, said in the press release announcing the partnership that the company would share with artisanal miners principles of compliance, safety and environmental best practices and regulations.

The incident is the deadliest in Peru in years, highlighting the safety risks for workers in one of the worlds most important mining countries. Peru is South Americas top gold producer and the worlds No. 2 copper-producing nation, as well as a base of operations for many of the globes largest mining companies.

Top photo: The La Esperanza mine, where at least 27 people died in the Yanaquihua district of Arequipa, southern Peru, on May 7. Source: AFP/Getty Images

Copyright 2023 Bloomberg.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP)  Members of New Mexicos congressional delegation are criticizing federal emergency managers for missing deadlines as residents seek recovery assistance following the largest wildfire in the states recorded history.

It has been a year since the U.S. Forest Service sparked the blaze after two prescribed-burn operations meant to clear dead and overgrown vegetation went awry. Hundreds of homes were destroyed along with the livelihoods of many rural residents who are now bracing for another season of post-fire flooding.

U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez and U.S. Sens. Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Lujan wrote in a letter sent Wednesday to FEMA and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that the agencies need to finalize regulations for doling out nearly $4 million in recovery funds to families and businesses.

Without the final rules, they say justice for victims is being delayed, resulting in confusion and uncertainty for residents.

The lawmakers also said FEMA has missed a number of self-imposed deadlines, and that has deepened mistrust with the community.

Every day that passes without compensation to the victims delays their ability to begin rebuilding after losing so much, the letter states. We ask that you put yourself into the shoes of those whove waited more than a year after the fire started.

FEMA opened its regional claims offices to the public in recent weeks, and the director, Angela Gladwell, has vowed that her staff will be here until the job is done and every claimant receives the compensation theyre due.

Regional FEMA officials did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment about the lawmakers letter or the timing for finalizing the regulations.

The New Mexico officials indicated that the delay was related to reconsideration of provisions that deal with compensation for trees that were burned on private property and compensation for risk reduction. They have argued the language was a holdover from a different catastrophe that affected suburban homes, not an economy based on forest.

We reiterate the importance of removing these caps. It is vitally important that our communities are able to begin restoring their lands and begin mitigation efforts to protect their homes and properties from future flooding or fire, the letter reads.

Leger Fernandez and the two senators requested that FEMA and Homeland Security provide an update, saying many victims still are without permanent homes and the anticipated flooding this summer will make matters worse.

Fire danger also remains high across parts of New Mexico despite above-average snowpack in the higher elevations. Red flag warnings prompted by strong winds and dry conditions were issued for much of the state Wednesday, as crews battled a new fire near the burn scar.

The blaze near Sapello sent up a large plume of smoke, prompting road closures and evacuations.

The National Park Service on Wednesday cancelled its plans for a prescribed fire at El Malpais National Monument, citing the deteriorating weather conditions.

Top photo: A sign warning of flooding is located within the burn scar of the largest wildfire in New Mexicos recorded history near El Porvenir, New Mexico, April 12, 2023. Lawmakers from several western states want the U.S. Forest Service to do more to address a wildfire crisis that they say will surely destroy more landscapes, communities and livelihoods. (AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan)

Copyright 2023 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
ELYRIA, Ohio  A man convicted earlier this month for multiple crimes involving human trafficking of women was sentenced Thursday by a Lorain County judge to life in prison.

The sentence from Judge James Miraldi comes after Steven Gilbert, 36, of Elyria, was found guilty by a jury on May 3 of 31 charges in the countys first-ever human trafficking trial. The charges included multiple counts of kidnapping, trafficking in persons commercial sex acts, trafficking in persons compelling prostitution, rape, sexual battery, and aggravated robbery, according to court records.

The earliest Gilbert could be eligible for parole is after serving 172 years.

Lorain County Prosecutor J.D. Tomlinson says in a news release that Gilbert operated a human trafficking ring for years. Prosecutors say Gilbert physically and psychologically abused women, forcing them to work at prostitutes.

He is accused of raping and beating his victims, as well as starving them and drugging them.

Steven Gilbert committed monstrous acts that violated the most basic rights of his victims, Tomlinson said in a statement. Our community can rest easier knowing that he will be off the streets for the rest of his life.

Gilbert is the 118th sex offender prosecuted by the Lorain County Prosecutors Office since 2021.
CLEVELAND, Ohio  A bomb threat at the Cleveland Institute of Music on Friday prompted officials to close the facility.

Case Western Reserve University officials sent an alert to students and faculty at about 11:30 a.m. that the conservatory was placed under lockdown.

Police evacuated and investigated the building at about 11:45 a.m., and people were asked to avoid the area.

At 12:35 p.m., Case officials said police found no credible threat.
CLEVELAND, Ohio  An EMS worker who has been missing since Saturday was found safe Thursday night, according to multiple reports.

Lachelle Jordan was taken to a hospital for treatment after she was found at an unspecified location on Euclid Avenue, according to WJW Channel 8, which was first to report that Jordan had been found.

Latest: Lachelle Jordan calls police from convenience store, ending disappearance; police decline to release details

Jordans father, Joseph Jordan, confirmed to WEWS Channel 5 and WOIO Channel 19 that his daughter had been found and that she was safe. WEWS reports Jordan showed up at a convenience store on the corner of East 166th Street and Euclid Avenue late Thursday night and asked to call police.

A worker at the store said Jordan appeared to be injured, according to WEWS.

Family and friends had been searching for Jordan, 30, and pleading for her safe return after she was last seen about 6 p.m. Saturday at her home on East 116th Street and Fairpoint Avenue.

Authorities said her disappearance was suspicious and Cleveland police were working with the U.S. Marshals Service to find her. On Monday, Michael Stennett was arrested and accused of stalking Jordan. Authorities allege that he followed her and went to her home. Cleveland police and the family do not suspect Stennett had a role in her disappearance, though no one has publicly said why.

Jordan has two children, who were staying with family members as authorities searched for her.
CLEVELAND, Ohio  A Cleveland woman is accused of stabbing a nightclub patron who fought her daughter in the clubs parking lot.

Tanika Chappell-Payne, 43, was charged this week with felonious assault in Cleveland Municipal Court. She is not in custody.

Prosecutors say that on the evening of May 5, Chappell-Payne got into a confrontation with a 24-year-old woman at Club Honey Do on St. Clair Avenue in the citys Glenville neighborhood. Chappell-Payne wanted the woman to fight her daughter, and the two briefly fought in the parking lot, according to an arrest warrant.

After the fight, Chappell-Payne stomped on the womans cellphone, police say. As the woman bent to pick it up, Chappell-Payne cut her on the neck, causing a severe, 6-inch laceration that required numerous stitches, according to the warrant and a police report.

The victim was rushed to University Hospitals, the report says.
CLEVELAND, Ohio  Eastern Meat Solutions Inc., an importer of record in Ontario, is recalling about 40,763 pounds of raw, boneless pork products because they were not presented for reinspection into the United States, according to the U.S. Department of Agricultures Food Safety and Inspection Service.

The items were imported from Canada and processed by another company into barbeque pork products. The recalled products bear EST. 4800 inside the USDA inspection mark.

The 16-ounce plastic packages were shipped to retail locations nationwide:

 Park Street Deli Sweet Chipotle Boneless Pork Ribs with Sauce with Lot No. 3115, Use By 07/08/23; Lot No. 3123, Use By 07/17/23; or Lot No. 3114, Use By 07/08/23.

 Park Street Deli Hawaiian Style Boneless Pork Ribs with Sauce with Lot No. 3115, Use By 07/08/23; Lot No. 3123, Use By 07/17/23; or Lot No. 3114, Use By 07/08/23.

 Marketside Ready To Heat BBQ Pork Burnt Ends with Lot No. 3116, Use By 08/29/23; Lot No. 3117, Use By 08/30/23; or Lot No. 3122, Use By 09/04/23.

Consumers who have purchased the products are urged to throw them away or return them to the place of purchase.

More info

 For questions, contact Eastern Meat Solutions at customer.service@sierrascs.com.

 For details on recalls and food-safety questions, call the USDA meat and poultry hotline, 888-674-6854 or chat via Ask USDA 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays. Consumers can email questions to MPHotline@usda.gov. For those who need to report a problem with a meat, poultry or egg product, the electronic consumer-complaint monitoring system is online. Recalls are posted online.

I am on cleveland.coms life and culture team and cover food, beer, wine and sports-related topics. If you want to see my stories, heres a directory on cleveland.com. Bill Wills of WTAM-1100 and I talk food and drink usually at 8:20 a.m. Thursday morning. Twitter: @mbona30.

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NEW IBERIA, La.  An Arbys employee in Louisiana was found dead in the restaurants freezer Thursday night, officials said

The incident occurred at the Arbys at the Lagniappe Village shopping center in New Iberia, Louisiana. The female employees death may have been an accident, officials said, though they called the circumstances suspicious.

The womans body was found in the freezer by a male employee, according to New Iberia Police Captain Leland Laseter. Her body was transferred to a local morgue for a coroner to confirm the victims identity, perform an autopsy and determine a cause of death.

A situation like this is unusual, so were taking extra precautions during the investigation, Laseter, who leads the Departments Criminal Investigations Division, told News 15. (We) pretty much have completed our process at the crime scene. After completely processing the crime scene... this does not seem like a homicide, it seems like an accident.

Laseter added that nothing is set in stone yet, and that numerous employees at the restaurant have been interviewed about the incident.

Were going to re-examine all the evidence tomorrow and theyre going to conduct an autopsy to give us the cause and manner of death, he said. So there are a few more steps that we need to take before a (final) determination is made.
BRYANS ROAD, Md. -- A Washington, D.C., firefighter was fatally shot Monday during an apparent domestic disturbance when a man walking his dog intervened.

Charles County Sheriffs Office officers responded to a domestic assault call around 3:30 a.m. Monday in Bryans Road, Maryland, and also received a report of gunshots in the same area prior to their arrival.

Officers found Carl Braxton, 30, suffering from gunshot wounds and provided aid until paramedics arrived. He was transported to a hospital, where he later died.

Prior to the officers arrival, Braxton is accused of assaulting his girlfriend inside their home before she escaped outside and encountered a man walking his dog. Braxton aggressively approached the man and threatened to harm him. The man responded by shooting Braxton with a gun he is permitted for, according to a news release from CCSO.

The man remained on-scene until officers arrived and he was transported to a police station before being released. There is no indication the man knew either Braxton or his girlfriend prior to the incident, officials said.

What I could hear from my window is my neighbor couldve been, maybe, possibly trying to intervene with a domestic dispute, and the guy that got shot possibly said, Mind your M-F businesses, or Ill kill you and your dog, a neighbor who asked not to be identified told FOX 5. Its very upsetting. One of the neighbors involved, I do know him and hes a good person. You know, he helps people with the lawns around here. Very friendly, very nice guy. Im so sorry this happened for both families because its very traumatic for everyone involved.

The DC Fire and EMS Department issued a statement on social media Monday offering condolences to those that knew Braxton.

The DC Fire and EMS Department is deeply saddened to announce the death of active-duty Firefighter/EMT Carl Braxton. Firefighter/EMT Braxton, who was 30 years old, passed away May 8, 2023, DC Fire and EMS said in a Tweet. He was an eight-year veteran of the Department who was serving at Engine Company 22 in Shepherd Park at the time of his death. Firefighter/EMT Braxton joined the Department as part of Cadet Class 17 and graduated in April 2015. Firefighter/EMT Braxton is survived by his two sons. Members of the Department impacted by this loss are being provided assistance from our Peer Support Team. Our heartfelt condolences to his family, friends, and colleagues.
FAIRFIELD TOWNSHIP, Ohio  A woman was found critically injured when she jumped from a homes second-story window in southwest Ohio after she had been set on fire by a man, reports say.

A person who lives in the home, Robbi Davon Robinson, 23, has been charged with aggravated arson and felonious assault in connection with the incident Thursday morning, Fox 19 reports. Robinson is being held in the Butler County Jail.

Dennis Wilson, who lives in a house behind the home where the incident occurred, tells WLWT Channel 5 that he realized something was wrong at about 10:25 a.m. because his dogs were acting frantic and were barking near a fence.

I see one of my neighbors laying in the grass, and she looked like she was covered in dust. So I come running over, and her immediate action was, He set me on fire, Williams tells WLWT.

Fairfield Township police and firefighters found the woman in the backyard of her home with severe burns, WCPO Channel 9 reports. She was flown by helicopter to UC Medical Center in critical condition, WCPO reports.

The identity of the woman has not been released. WLWT reports Robinson is the son of the victims boyfriend.

There are no reports on a possible motive for the alleged attack.
CLEVELAND, Ohio  A 29-year-old Cleveland man died after he was shot Thursday on the citys East Side, police said.

The office of the Cuyahoga County medical examiner identified the man as Dawaun Drake. The shooting happened about 11:45 a.m. on East 65th Street and Bessemer Avenue. Police found Drake inside a vehicle with gunshot wounds to his head and body.

Drake was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police later discovered that Drake was on East 65th Street, and when he stopped at Bessemer Avenue, a dark colored SUV with tinted windows pulled up next to him and someone fired shots at Drakes vehicle.

No arrests have been made.

Homicide detectives will handle the investigation.

Anyone with additional information is encouraged to contact police at 216-623-5464.
COLUMBUS, Ohio  The Ohio State Board of Education selected Chis Woolard, the Ohio Department of Educations chief program officer, as the next interim state superintendent of public instruction.

Woolard works closely with Stephanie Siddens, the current interim state superintendent who is leaving for a position at Upper Arlington Schools in suburban Columbus.

The search for a permanent state superintendent is proceeding slowly, and is dependent on bills in the General Assembly that would overhaul the superintendents job, said Paul LaRue, the state school boards president. But the board selected Tuesday a search firm, which will begin to look for candidates when the board feels it is time.

It would be impossible at this minute to say, Here is a job description, because we dont know that, he said. But we are moving ahead so were ready as soon as we know the final thing with the legislature.

Paolo DeMaria, the last permanent superintendent, retired in September 2021. Since then, there has been no permanent superintendent, except for 11 days last year, when Steve Dackin served in the role. A former board member who oversaw the superintendent search, Dackin quit the board and applied and received the job. He resigned amid an ethics investigation that the Ohio Ethics Commission had told the Ohio State Board of Education was likely coming.

Siddens has served as interim superintendent for the last 20 months, opting not to apply for the permanent job the first time it was open  last year when Dackin was chosen  due to family commitments. Her last day is May 27, department spokeswoman Lacey Snoke said.

Woolard is a 17-year department employee who has a doctoral degree in political science, participated in Harvard Universitys Strategic Data Project and has worked on state assessments and the development of the Ohio School Report Cards.

Woolard will be busy. During the pandemic, students fell behind academically. State test scores are slowing returning to pre-pandemic levels.

For instance, in the pre-pandemic 2018-2019 school year, 64.6% of students were proficient in English language arts on the Ohio States Tests. In 2020-2021, 57% were proficient and in 2021-2022, 59.5% were proficient. In math, 61% were proficient in 2018-2019, 48.2% were proficient the following year and 50.5% were proficient in 2021-2022.

After three Democrats were elected to the Ohio State Board of Education in November, the Republicans in the General Assembly renewed efforts that have been under consideration for the past decade to remake the states education agency and gut the board of most of its power.

This years Senate Bill 1 and House Bill 12 would put most power over education policy under a director who would be a member of the governors cabinet. The state superintendent could be an advisor to the director of the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce, which is what the education agency would be renamed.

Education policy used to be under the governors office, but in 1953, voters passed a constitutional amendment creating an independent school board -- hoping to remove politics from education.

Read: A 1953 amendment created the Ohio school board. Are bills that gut its power constitutional?

Its to be seen if lawmakers will pass the House or Senate standalone bills, or if they will fold parts of them into the states two-year budget, which needs to pass by June 30.

State legislative sessions last for two years, with the current session ending December 2024. Sometimes bills dont pass until the last minute, if at all. LaRue, the state school board president, said if the legislature doesnt act in 60 to 90 days, the board may have to reconsider waiting on hiring a permanent superintendent.

In addition to selecting Woolard on Tuesday, the board selected a search firm to assist it in finding a permanent superintendent, with the idea that it wont proceed with much else in the search until it gets a sense of what the legislature is going to do.

The board chose Ray & Associates Inc., an education executive leadership firm in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

The search is expected to cost $38,200, according to the contract the board inked with the firm, with the cost being adjusted if the board only wants limited work or if it wants more work by the consultants.

Included in the contract is candidate recruitment. It will perform records checks for criminal, civil litigation, Social Security and drivers licenses  as well as verification of educational degrees  for the top two to three candidates. Ray & Associates will also assist the board in negotiating and developing the contract with the selected candidate.

Laura Hancock covers state government and politics for The Plain Dealer and cleveland.com.
COLUMBUS, Ohio  The Ohio Chamber of Commerce and several other major state business groups have endorsed the Republican-backed proposal to require that constitutional amendments receive 60% support in a statewide vote.

The National Federation of Independent Businesses in Ohio, the Ohio Restaurant Association and the Ohio Hotel & Lodging Association have signed on to support the measure in an Aug. 8 election, the groups announced Thursday.

Republican state lawmakers voted on Wednesday to put SJR2 up for a vote. While the 60% proposal would have wide-ranging ramifications, GOP lawmakers specifically fast-tracked it to try to defeat an abortion rights amendment aiming for the November ballot. The timing makes the campaign a proxy fight in the larger political battle over whether abortion should be legal in Ohio and across the country.

Ohio Chamber of Commerce CEO Steve Stivers, a former Republican congressman, said his organizations board voted to endorse SJR2 because it would create additional legal hurdles for citizen groups trying to propose amendments. Amendment campaigns in Ohio are a method through which the public can pass laws without involvement from the legislature. Its been a long-term goal of the chamber to make the process harder, Stivers said.

If voters approve the measure, state lawmakers can still put a proposed amendment up for a vote. But citizen groups first must collect hundreds of thousands of signatures from registered Ohio voters, including from all 88 counties -- an increase from the 44 currently required. The measure also would eliminate a 10-day cure period during which amendment campaigns can collect additional signatures if the first batch they collect ends up falling short.

There were folks who felt both ways on the 60%. But it was the signature issues that put us over the top that made us want to support this, Stivers said. The key for us to avoid having these things on the ballot. Or we make sure theyre serious because what makes it on the ballot, our members end up holding the bag for the campaigns for or against these issues.

Its a shame to see the Ohio business community endorse a special election for special interests, which is specifically designed to take power away from their customers, employees and all Ohioans, said Dennis Willard, a spokesperson for One Person One Vote, the campaign to defeat the 60% amendment.

Read: More coverage from cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer on SJR2

In a Thursday announcement, the business groups also cited a pair of pending ballot issues  a potential 2024 proposal backed by labor unions to ask voters to hike the minimum wage to $15 an hour, and another, less organized campaign backed by anti-vaccine groups that would bar employers from requiring vaccines or other medical products  as a major reason for their endorsement.

Notably absent from the roster of business groups backing the 60% amendment is the Ohio Business Roundtable, a group thats similar to the Ohio Chamber, but whose members tend to be larger companies.

The Ohio Business Roundtable, which is led by a different former Republican congressman, Pat Tiberi, isnt taking a position on the 60% amendment, said spokeswoman Alexandra Denney.

Based on the timing of this effort, we believe the initiative has become entwined with social issues. The Ohio Business Roundtable does not get involved in social issues, Denney said.

But Stivers said his organization doesnt view the 60% proposal as a social issue.

Theres nothing in the proposal that mentions a social issue, Stivers said. There are people who are motivated to for or against it due to social issues, but we support it for business issues.

The Ohio Chamber of Commerce, the states largest business association, historically tends to help finance ballot issue campaigns, in close coordination with Republican state government leaders. The campaigns can cost tens of millions of dollars, mostly due to advertising costs. The Ohio Chamber, for instance, was the key backer of the campaign in 2006 to try to defeat a proposal backed by labor unions to raise Ohios hourly minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.85.

Voters approved the minimum wage hike by a 56% to 44% margin. Labor unions are organizing another potential minimum wage ballot issue for 2024, which would phase in a $15 an hour minimum wage by 2025. It also would require employers to pay tipped workers the full minimum wage by 2029.

Ohios current minimum wage is $10.10 an hour, although for tipped employees its $5.05 an hour.

Democrats, who are part of a coalition opposing the 60% proposal that also includes labor unions and voting-rights groups, panned the business groups endorsement of the measure. Besides referencing abortion, some also criticized the chamber for opposing the looming minimum-wage campaign.

The Ohio Chambers stated top policy goals include workforce development, equality of opportunity and healthcare, Allison Russo, the top Democrat in the Ohio House, wrote on Twitter. Yet, they support a 60% threshold intended to block a womans full access to healthcare and living wages. Remind me again which companies contribute to their PAC?

Key supporters of the 60% proposal include Ohio Right to Life, the anti-abortion organization, and the Buckeye Firearms Association, which lobbies for looser gun laws.

Stivers said the Ohio Chambers 66-member board also voted Thursday to remain neutral on the potential abortion-rights ballot issue in November, because, he said, the group doesnt get involved in social issues.

Stivers said the chamber hasnt yet decided how much it would spend in support of the pro-SJR2 campaign. The measure is on a compressed timetable, with early voting for the Aug. 8 election starting in just 60 days.

We have not committed to a dollar figure, but I can say that we obviously are going to try to support the campaign to protect the constitution, Stivers said.

Andrew Tobias covers state politics and government for cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Rarely am I in spaces where most of the other people are also Indigenous.

When these special moments occur, they offer a glimmer of what was before 1492, and I feel a solidarity with the Indigenous folks around me. Its intrinsic -- part pride, part curiosity, part affection. For those who have never had to live with a constant feeling of being out of place, it might be difficult to relate to this.

In April, I was fortunate to participate in the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) in New York City for my work with a foundation called Nia Tero. This was the 22nd UNPFII session, the largest gathering of Indigenous peoples from around the world aimed at advancing our rights in global policy.

Walking into the room for opening statements, I paused to take it in, because there was a sanctity to it. Not because it was the UN, but because of those whose company I shared: Indigenous leaders from organizations and nations from around the world. I made new Indigenous friends from the Amazon, southeastern Bangladesh, Maasai lands in Kenya and beyond. This gathering was so important to me because of the work I do at the intersection of Indigenous rights and advocacy, which deeply aligns with my desire to empower Indigenous peoples to tell their own stories and make change.

Professionally, I started my career as a journalist. While I was comfortable walking into unfamiliar spaces and gathering the info I needed to do my job, it was counterintuitive to how I was taught  intentionally or unintentionally  to move through the world as a woman of color.

I am Indigenous on both sides of my family. I am Anishinaabe on my fathers side and Salvadoran on my mothers side with Indigenous roots in my grandmothers line. My abuelita, or grandmother, was born just after what is known as La Matanza or The Massacre, in which many Indigenous peoples were killed in an effort to quell workers rights uprisings in El Salvador. Even today, my grandmother talks about herself separately from the Indigenous peoples who lived around her growing up. But when she describes the oppression her family faced, it makes sense that  likely as a survival mechanism  she would want to distance herself from her Indigenousness. I dont fault her for compartmentalizing that piece of our family history. That feels like it would be additionally oppressive, not to mention judgmental.

On my fathers side, I am Ottawa or Anishinaabe, as I refer to myself. Anishinaabe refers to the larger group of peoples from across the Great Lakes region who are Ottawa, Pottawatomi or Ojibwe. After his father died, my father was raised by my grandma, or nokomis, for whom I am named. Then came therapid effects of post-1492 colonization. A wide-angle view of the Kelsey family history reveals generations of relatives who lost more and more of our language and culture to genocide, forced displacement from our homelands, boarding schools, discrimination, exclusion from systems of building wealth and exposure to disease.

Even though this history goes back generations, the effects of colonization on my family and families like ours reverberate today.

I share all this to say that on both sides of my family history, and by society, I was taught  again, consciously and subconsciously -- that whiteness was more valuable than the beautiful brownness, Indigenousness to which I was born. And I learned to prioritize the interests and feelings of colonizers over my own.

Unlearning that has been a lifelong process. Ive been on a journey to find my place in the systems that were built to exclude Indigenous peoples. Ive also been disheartened to realize, along the way, that even when those systems appear to be more inclusive, those of us who are navigating those spaces for the first time are faced with a generations-long learning curve.

Solidarity among Indigenous peoples across the diaspora of indigeneity is vital to advancing our collective rights. This is why, when I walked into that room at the UN, full of Indigenous peoples from around the world, it gave me goosebumps. This is why I feel a kinship with the diverse Indigenous peoples I meet and what made my first time in this space so special.

A Clevelander from the Slavic Village neighborhood, Nancy Kelsey started her career in journalism before working in communications. Her biggest loves are her husband, family, dogs, volunteering, traveling, writing, learning about other cultures and sharing her own. You can reach her at nancy.kelseyPD@yahoo.com.
CLEVELAND, Ohio  For decades a popular walleye, crappie, channel catfish and largemouth bass fishing reservoir, Mosquito Lake State Park will now provide boaters and anglers with a well-appointed new marina building. The $1 million facility that was dedicated on Monday includes boat rentals, outdoor seating, bait and tackle sales and year-round brick-and-mortar restrooms.

The 250-slip marinas boat docks were also upgraded, and ADA-accessible fuel docks were installed. Funding for the marina project came from the states waterway safety fund, made up of boater registration fees and a motor fuel tax.

The 7,850-acre reservoir has long been a favorite of walleye fishermen, thanks to steady stockings of walleye fry in Mosquito Reservoir over the years. The lake also has very good numbers of northern pike in spring, channel catfish throughout the warm weather months, crappie and largemouth bass.

Customers shot at the new marina tackle shop at Mosquito Lake State Park's new marina building. (The Ohio Department of Natural Resources, special to cleveland.com)

Trophy walleye a Mosquito surprise: Good numbers of small to medium-sized walleye have been caught along the Mosquito Reservoir shorelines over the past few weeks while casting diving plugs and jigs tipped with plastic twister tails after dark. Surprising numbers of 6-to-8 pound trophy walleye have been reported, putting Mosquito in the fishing spotlight.

Mosquito is known as a spring crappie hot spot, and channel catfish are a local favorite. Largemouth bass tournament fishermen have enjoyed excellent catches of trophy fish this year when the weather cooperates.

Bass cooperate at Mosquito Madness: The 18th annual Mosquito Madness bass tournament on Mosquito Reservoir on April 29-30 was a big success, with outstanding numbers of hefty largemouth bass brought to Tournament Director Rory Franks scales. John OFarrell and Mack Hamrick parlayed a two-day limit of 10 bass weighing 21.67 pounds to win the $10,000 top prize. Dan Mansky and Rich Chapman were second, weighing a trophy 6.01-pounder and 10 bass weighing 18.04 pounds.

Crappie light up on inland lakes: When the dogwood and redbud trees are in bloom each spring, northern Ohio anglers know that its time to go crappie fishing. The popular panfish have been gathering in big pods along the brushy shoreline of West Branch Reservoir, and while anglers are tossing back a lot of small panfish, the big crappie are worthy of being tossed into ice-filled coolers.

All of the shoreline brushy areas are holding good numbers of crappies, with small lead-head jigs tipped with minnows a top combo. Local anglers are suspending their jig-minnow rigs with large stick floats to signal bites and help set the hook.

Redear sunfish on beds at Mogadore: When the chunky redear sunfish move to their spawning beds in spring at Mogadore Reservoir, both the panfish and the largemouth bass fishing can be excellent. The prized panfish are showing up in the shallows right now.

Bass anglers are working the bluegill beds with small plastic worms and with fly tackle. The largemouth bass are hitting Ned Rigs and Senko plastic worms and Wacky Rigs.

Smallmouth bass tops river fishing: The Rocky and Chagrin rivers are giving up some nice smallmouth bass right now as the lake-run fish move in from Lake Erie to spawn. There are still a few steelhead trout in the rivers, but lots of anglers have transitioned to the big bass with both fly and spinning tackle.

Streamers in goby, minnow and crayfish patterns are working. Spinning tackle angles are casting small to medium-sized diving plugs, in-line spinners and tube jigs

Walleye everywhere right now: Lake Erie walleye reports are coming in from all along the Ohio shoreline. The drift-and-cast anglers around Niagara Reef and the Lake Erie Islands are transitioning from lead-head hair jigs in green and purple to gold spinner rigs and nightcrawlers.

Trolling for walleye has been very productive in the deeper water west of the Lake Erie Islands, and along the Ontario border northwest of the islands and north of Kelleys Island. Trolling speeds have been best at about 2.0 miles per hour. The walleye seem to be suspending and feeding fairly close to the surface of the big lake.
 
The Alzheimer's drug Leqembi is seen in this undated handout image obtained by Reuters on Jan. 20, 2023.

The new Alzheimer's antibody treatment Leqembi could cost Medicare up to $5 billion per year, according to research published in a leading medical journal this week.

Medicare would spend about $2 billion per year if around 85,700 patients test positive for the disease and are treated with the Eisai and Biogen product Leqembi, according to the research published Thursday in JAMA Internal Medicine.

The program for seniors would spend $5 billion if around 216,500 patients become eligible for the breakthrough treatment, according to the study.

The authors said the estimated costs to Medicare are conservative and that spending on Leqembi might increase more than anticipated depending on demand and other factors.

The researchers who conducted the JAMA study included physicians and public health and policy experts. They are affiliated with the University of California Los Angeles, the Rand Corporation, Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, among other institutions.

Eisai and Biogen have priced the twice-monthly antibody infusions at $26,500 per year.

There are also additional annual costs estimated at $7,300 per patient associated with neurologist visits, MRI tests and PET scans, administration of infusions, and monitoring for and treatment of potential side effects, according to the researchers.

The study assumed Medicare would cover 80% of the costs, with patients left to pay the remaining 20% in full or in part depending on whether they have supplemental insurance.

Patients could face an annual bill of about $6,600 per year depending on the state they live in and whether they have supplemental insurance, according to the study. Some lower-income people who qualify for Medicare and Medicaid would pay nothing out of pocket.
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Typically, 7 in 10 college seniors graduate in the red, owing an average of nearly $30,000 per borrower, according to the most recent data from the Institute for College Access & Success.

Students, families are taking on more college debt

Don't 'assume future forgiveness'

If the Supreme Court fails to affirm Biden's plan, millions of federal borrowers would likely be disappointed with the president for failing to deliver sweeping cancellation, legal experts predict. And even if the justices rule in favor of the Biden administration's initiative to provide debt relief to low- to middle-income borrowers, students and their parents should not assume this would happen again going forward, according to Kalman Chany, a financial aid consultant and author of The Princeton Review's "Paying for College."

Nobody should assume future forgiveness as they make borrowing decisions today. Rick Castellano Sallie Mae spokesman

"Such broad relief as was announced last August citing the financial harms of the pandemic is not likely to occur again," he said. "Nobody should assume future forgiveness as they make borrowing decisions today," added Rick Castellano, spokesman for education lender Sallie Mae.

Loans 'shouldn't be the first step' to cover costs

Experts say reducing the amount you borrow at the outset will go a long way to easing your long-term debt burden. Castellano advises families to explore "free money" like scholarships and grants first and get in line for other aid by completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA.
Mike Lynch, former chief executive officer of Autonomy Corp departs the Rolls Building on June 27, 2019 in London, England.

LONDON  British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch has been extradited to the U.S. to face fraud charges in relation to the sale of his software company Autonomy to Hewlett Packard .

Lynch arrived in the U.S. on Thursday afternoon and is currently detained in San Francisco until bail conditions are met, his spokesperson confirmed to CNBC. He face charges of securities and wire fraud in relation to the sale of his company Autonomy to HP for $11 billion.

The entrepreneur attended an arraignment hearing on Thursday and was ordered to pay a $100 million bail to be released on house arrest, the spokesperson said. It is not yet clear whether Lynch intends to pay the bond.

"The bail set by the U.S. court is by U.K. standards extraordinarily high and is a clear example of the differing approaches of the U.S. and U.K. when it comes to prosecuting allegations of white collar crime," Thomas Garner, extradition partner at law firm Fladgate, told CNBC via email.

It comes after Lynch lost a High Court battle to appeal extradition last month.

Lynch, 57, sold his software start-up Autonomy to HP in 2011 for $11.7 billion, instantly making him one of the wealthiest and most celebrated tech founders in the U.K.

A year later, HP announced an $8.8 billion write-down on the company, claiming that "accounting irregularities" led it to pay too much for Autonomy, which sold data analytics software to businesses.

HP's main accusation is that Autonomy's execs inflated the company's revenues by around $700 million. The company sued Autonomy for $5 billion. Lynch counter-sued, leading to a complex legal battle that has been rumbling on for a decade.

In January last year, then-U.K. Interior Minister Priti Patel approved Lynch's extradition to the U.S., after a British judge ruled in favor of HP in a civil case against Lynch over claims that he plotted to inflate the value of Autonomy before it was bought by HP.

Lynch isn't the first Autonomy employee to face charges in the U.S. In May 2019, former CFO Sushovan Hussain was charged with fraud and and sentenced to five years of imprisonment.

Some in the U.K. tech industry believe that Lynch should not have been extradited. In February, a number of entrepreneurs, including Made.com co-founder Brent Hoberman, wrote a letter to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak complaining about America's "unreasonable" use of an extradition treaty to deport the technology entrepreneur.

"Is it the right thing that a U.K. businessman operating under U.K. laws is extradited to the U.S.? I don't believe it is, and I don't think other business people will think so either," Hoberman previously told The Sunday Times newspaper in an interview.

After writing off three quarters of Autonomy's value, HP sold what was left of the company to British firm Micro Focus in September 2016 as part of an $8.8 billion deal that involved other HP business units.
Bank of America expects shares of Yellow Cake Plc , a U.K. company that provides investors with direct exposure to uranium price movements, will rise by 55% over the next 12 months. Unlike traditional mining companies, Yellow Cake's business model is "simple" and operates "without exploration, development, mining and processing risk," according to the investment bank. The company, trading as YCA on the London Stock Exchange, raises equity and uses it to purchase uranium at a pre-determined price from Kazatomprom, the world's largest uranium producer. The purchased uranium is then stored in secure facilities in Canada and France. YCA-GB 1Y line "We are bullish on YCA, which gives investors a clean leverage to moves in the value of the underlying uranium commodity," said Bank of America's analysts led by Yuyang Zhang in a research note to clients on May 10. The value of Yellow Cake's shares is closely tied to the price of uranium, as it re-values its holdings based on the current spot price. This means that if uranium prices rise, so should the value of Yellow Cake's shares. The company attempts to buy more uranium when its shares trade at a premium and buy back shares when they trade at a significant discount. This strategy enables the YCA to acquire exposure to uranium at a discount to the commodity spot price. Bank of America is also bullish on uranium, predicting its price will be $75 per pound in the third quarter of 2024. "We think that nuclear power and uranium have a role to play in solving the twin challenges of decarbonization and energy security," the analysts added. With uranium production concentrated mainly in Kazakhstan and Canada, the bank expects supply constraints to continue, further supporting uranium prices. Demand for uranium is expected to rise, especially in China, which plans to increase its nuclear power capacity by 40% from 2021 to 2025 as part of its goal to become carbon neutral by 2060. According to the World Nuclear Association, China has 55 operable reactors and 23 reactors under construction and is expected to build 150 new reactors by 2035. However, the investment bank did caution that the company is not immune to geopolitical and supply-side risks despite Yellow Cake's unique business model. The current economic sanctions on Russian companies could potentially impact the global nuclear fuel market, as Russia owns a significant portion of global uranium conversion and enrichment capacity.
Macao hosts summit on talent development

Xinhua) 11:26, May 12, 2023

MACAO, May 11 (Xinhua) -- A summit on talent development was held on Thursday in China's Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) to discuss building the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) into a "window of talent."

Over 200 delegates, including business executives, scholars and diplomats, exchanged views on the impacts of science and technology on talent nurturing and planning, quality development and cooperation on digital service trade between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), as well as in-depth exchanges of finance and insurance talent in GBA.

Chiang Chun Yuan, executive chairman of the summit, said Macao's geographic location, first-class exhibition and tourism infrastructure, and the supporting business environment could help tech firms grow continuously.

"Macao boasts unique advantages in the areas of health, financial science and technology, education, and digital empowering," Chiang said.

The summit was jointly organized by the China-ASEAN GBA Cooperation Center and the Alliance of Global Talent Organizations (AGTO).

At the summit, the AGTO issued a report on talent development in Asia against the backdrop of technological changes.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
SMIC has been hit with U.S. sanctions but its business has continued to grow. However, China's biggest chipmaker still faces a challenge catching up with rivals such as TSMC.

China's biggest semiconductor manufacturing firm SMIC on Friday posted its first decline in quarterly revenue in more than three years as a glut in chips and lack of demand continues to hit the industry.

SMIC or Semiconductor Manufacturing International Co., posted revenue of $1.46 billion in the first quarter of the year, down 20.6% year-on-year. The last time the company saw a sales decline was in the third quarter of 2019.

Net profit fell to $231.1 million, down 48% year-on-year.

SMIC Is China's most important chipmaking company and seen as a key hope to Beijing's ambitions to boost its domestic semiconductor industry and catch up with rivals like Taiwan's TSMC and South Korea's Samsung .

However, the company's technology is still years behind those leading companies. In 2020, SMIC was put on a U.S. trade blacklist called the Entity List. And last year, Washington introduced sweeping export restrictions aimed at cutting China off from advanced chip tech and equipment. Indeed, these curbs have cut SMIC off from the key tools required to make more advanced chips.

Despite the headwinds, SMIC posted record revenue for the whole of 2022.

But the latest business slump comes amid a difficult chip market with a glut of supply and lack of demand that has hit companies across the industry. Over 50% of SMIC's revenue comes from making chips that go into smartphones and other consumer electronics. Both smartphone and PC shipments declined in the first quarter.
A healthcare worker prepares a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine at a vaccination clinic in the Peabody Institute Library in Peabody, Massachusetts, on Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2022. Vanessa Leroy | Bloomberg | Getty Images

But the vast majority of Americans will not have to pay out of pocket for Covid vaccines even after the federal government's stockpile runs out. The government will shift Covid vaccine distribution to the private market as soon as that supply is gone. That means vaccine makers Pfizer and Moderna will sell their shots directly to health-care providers at around $130 per dose  an almost fivefold increase over current prices. Insured Americans will be able to access Covid shots as part of their coverage, without having to pay out of pocket. Private insurers and the government-run Medicare and Medicaid programs are required to cover all shots recommended by the CDC. But for uninsured Americans, federal and corporate programs are aiming to fill the gap. There are still outstanding questions about what those efforts will look like. Here's what we know about those programs so far:

Vaccines for Children program

The CDC's Vaccines For Children program will provide free Covid shots to children whose families or caretakers can't afford them after the shots move to the commercial market. Children and teens 19 or younger who are uninsured, underinsured or eligible for Medicaid qualify for the permanent VFC program. That program already provides free shots for other diseases, such as measles and chickenpox. The CDC's decision to include Covid shots in the free vaccine program will be crucial to maintaining access for many children  especially those who will no longer be eligible for other programs. As many as 5 million kids are expected to lose health insurance through Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program without the public health emergency in place, according to a report last year from the Department of Health and Human Services.

HHS Bridge Access Program

The Biden administration proposed creating a permanent program similar to VFC for uninsured adults who cannot afford Covid vaccines and shots for other diseases. But Congress so far has not enacted that proposal into law. In the meantime, the administration last month launched the "HHS Bridge Access Program," a temporary effort that will provide free Covid shots and treatments to uninsured Americans once those products move to the commercial market. Under the arrangement, the CDC will continue to purchase Covid vaccines at a discount and distribute them through 64 state and local health departments. That HHS effort will leverage the "public commitments" by drug manufacturers to provide free Covid vaccines and treatments to uninsured people. HHS expects the manufacturers to directly supply shots to pharmacies for free as part of those commitments. Kates said HHS appears to be referring to Pfizer's and Moderna's newly announced patient assistance programs, which are committed to providing free Covid vaccines and treatments to uninsured people. "To my understanding, HHS is basically saying it will pay pharmacies the cost of administering vaccines and treatments to the public, while manufacturers will directly provide pharmacies with free vaccines and treatments as part of their patient assistance programs," Kates told CNBC. Pfizer and Moderna have not said whether they would supply free shots to pharmacies. Kates said the Bridge Access Program overall will "certainly help" some uninsured Americans, but added that it is still "hard to gauge" how many people will benefit and how long the program will stay in place.

Pfizer's and Moderna's programs
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Goldman Sachs , known more for its Wall Street bankers than its technology, has just spun out the first startup from its internal incubator. The company, a networking platform for employees called Louisa, was funded and owned by the New York-based investment bank until a few weeks ago, when it became independent, according to founder-CEO Rohan Doctor. Now Doctor is hustling to grow his client base beyond the confines of Goldman, whose employees have used Louisa for the past two and a half years. The software automatically creates user profiles from an employer's databases and pulls in newsfeeds to proactively connect people who might benefit from knowing each other, he said. "Think of Louisa as an A.I.-powered LinkedIn on steroids," Doctor, 42, said this week in an interview. "We have smart profiles and a smart network, and Louisa reads millions of articles a week from 250 providers and begins connecting people" based on possible deals gleaned from news, he said. Under CEO David Solomon, Goldman has sought to speed up its digital makeover by hiring Google and Amazon executives and asking employees to pitch leaders on startup ideas. Louisa was part of the inaugural class of Goldman's incubator program, which encourages employees with startup ideas to develop them in-house.

Doctor, a 17-year Goldman veteran who had stints in Hong Kong and London as head of bank solutions, got the idea for Louisa after landing a massive deal in 2018. The elation of securing the transaction, a complex risk transfer between a bank and an insurer worth tens of millions of dollars, was followed by nagging questions: How did Doctor pull it off, and was it repeatable? "The real answer was serendipity, happenstance," he said. "It was dumb luck that me and another guy got thirsty at the same time, go to a [bar] in London and start exchanging information."

Rohan Doctor, CEO and founder of Louisa Source: Goldman Sachs

There has to be a better way, thought Doctor. Professional services firms like Goldman rely on the expertise and contacts of their employees, but there's a limit to how many colleagues anyone can know. "This is costing companies billions of dollars in terms of missed opportunities, disconnected colleagues and fractured client experiences," he said. So he moved to New York from Hong Kong and began hiring programmers for his nascent effort. The company's name originally referred to Louisa Goldman Sachs, the youngest daughter of Marcus Goldman and wife of Samuel Sachs. But, seeing as how Doctor has to cater to competitors of Goldman, the startup's name now refers more generally to a "renowned warrior," he said.

Client #1
Investors should "steel" themselves for a potentially challenging week ahead, with a number of earnings reports that could serve as indicators for the broader economy, CNBC's Jim Cramer said Friday.

Key numbers on retail sales come out Tuesday alongside earnings from Home Depot while Target reports earnings the following day.

Those reports will be helpful in parsing the state of the economy, Cramer said, especially the retail data on Tuesday that might show "some real cracks in consumer spending."

On Wednesday, networking powerhouse Cisco and video game maker Take-Two Interactive report earnings, and Cramer thinks that Take-Two "might be due for a change of fortune," given how unhappy CEO Strauss Zelnick was with performance in the prior quarter.

On Thursday, reports come in from retail and e-commerce juggernauts Walmart and Alibaba . Cramer thinks Walmart's subscription service, Walmart+, has been "gaining momentum."

On Friday, Cramer said Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's appearance on a monetary policy panel could give investors some insight into Fed thinking and potentially into the banking crisis that's unfolded over the last few weeks.

The debt crisis is looming and until lawmakers find a solution, Cramer warned that investors should move with caution.
The federal government, the largest employer in the U.S., wants to make the salary history question a thing of the past.

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management, OPM, introduced a proposal this week that would bar hiring managers from asking candidates about their salary history, and it could impact 1.5 million roles, Axios reports.

Pay equity advocates say the salary history question perpetuates cycles of marginalized workers, namely women and people of color, being underpaid by basing their new pay on previous earnings, which could be artificially low due to discrimination.

On average, women in the U.S. are paid 84 cents for every dollar paid to a man, and the gap widens for many women of color.

The pay for government jobs tends to be more transparent than private-sector roles. Agencies are required by law to post the starting pay on job announcements, and some government job boards require the full salary range be listed on openings. There's generally also a more structured timeline and process for raises and promotions compared to jobs in the private sector.

But a gender pay gap still exists, the OPM reports, with women in the federal workforce earning an average of 94 cents for every dollar paid to a man, or a 6% difference. The gap widens for women of color  15% for Black women in comparison to what white men are paid, and 27% for Native women.

Agency officials hope to "root out some of the historical pay inequities that are more prevalent outside of federal government," Rob Shriver, deputy director of OPM, told Axios. "We don't want to be bringing those into the federal government."
In this aerial picture taken on May 11, 2023 migrants line up to walk through gate 42 to board vans after waiting along the border wall to surrender to US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Border Patrol agents for immigration and asylum claim processing upon crossing the Rio Grande river into the United Staes on the US-Mexico border in El Paso, Texas. Patrick T. Fallon | AFP | Getty Images

As pandemic-era asylum restrictions ended early Friday, migrants in northern Mexico faced more uncertainties about a new online system for appointments to seek asylum in the U.S. Some migrants still waded apprehensively into the Rio Grande, defying officials who shouted for them to turn back, while elsewhere along the U.S.-Mexico border people hunched over cellphones trying to access an appointment app that may change their future. President Joe Biden's administration introduced the new asylum rules in a bid to get asylum-seekers to stop coming across the border illegally by reviving and sharpening pre-pandemic penalties and creating new legal pathways to asylum that aim to cut out unscrupulous smugglers. The transition to the new system unfolded in the night amid legal challenges and last-ditch efforts by migrants to cross a border fortified with barbed wire and troops.

Texas National Guard soldiers place razor wire during a dust storm at a makeshift immigrant camp located between the Rio Grande and the U.S. John Moore | Getty Images News | Getty Images

A federal judge in Florida dealt a potentially serious legal setback to the plan by temporarily blocking the administration's attempt to release migrants more quickly when Border Patrol holding stations are full. At Matamoros, Mexico, across the Rio Grande from Brownsville, Texas, migrant families  with some parents holding children  hesitated only briefly as the deadline passed before entering the waters of the Rio Grande, clutching cellphones above the water to light the way toward the U.S. U.S. authorities shouted for the migrants to turn back. "Be careful with the children," an official shouted through a megaphone. "It is especially dangerous for the children."

YUMA, ARIZONA - MAY 10: Immigrants seeking asylum in the United States are processed by U.S. Border Patrol agents in the early morning hours after crossing into Arizona from Mexico on May 10, 2023 in Yuma, Arizona. A surge of immigrants is expected with the end of the U.S. government's Covid-era Title 42 policy, which for the past three years has allowed for the quick expulsion of irregular migrants entering the country. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images) Mario Tama | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Separately, at an outdoor encampment of migrants beside a border bridge in Ciudad Juarez, across from El Paso, Texas, cellphones were alight as migrants attempted to book an asylum appointment online through an app administered by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. "There's no other way to get in," said Venezuelan Carolina Ortiz, accompanied by her husband and children, ages 1 and 4. Others in the camp had the same plan: keep trying the app. The expired rule, known as Title 42, was in place since March 2020. It allowed border officials to quickly return asylum seekers back over the border on grounds of preventing the spread of Covid-19. While Title 42 prevented many from seeking asylum, it carried no legal consequences, encouraging repeat attempts. After Thursday, migrants face being barred from entering the U.S. for five years and possible criminal prosecution.

Migrants cross the Rio Bravo river to turn themselves in to U.S. Border Patrol agents before Title 42 ends, in Matamoros, Mexico May 10, 2023. Daniel Becerril | Reuters

At the U.S. border with Tijuana, as Title 42 expired, there was no visible reaction among hundreds of migrants who were in U.S. custody between two border walls, many of them for days with little food. They slept on the ground under bright lights in cool spring air. Shelters across Tijuana were filled with an estimated 6,000 migrants. It was not clear how many migrants were on the move or how long the surge might last. By Thursday evening, the flow seemed to be slowing in some locations, but it was not clear why, or whether crossings would increase again. A U.S. official reported the Border Patrol stopped some 10,000 migrants on Tuesday  nearly twice the average daily level from March and only slightly below the 11,000 figure that authorities have said is the upper limit of what they expect after Title 42 ends. More than 27,000 people were in U.S. Customs and Border Protection custody, the official said. "Our buses are full. Our planes are full," said Pedro Cardenas, a city commissioner in Brownsville, as recent arrivals headed to locations across the U.S.

Migrants stand near the border wall during a sandstorm after having crossed the US-Mexico border to turn themselves in to U.S. Border Patrol agents, as the U.S. prepares to lift COVID-19 era Title 42 restrictions that have blocked migrants at the border from seeking asylum since 2020, in El Paso, Texas, May 10, 2023. Jose Luis Gonzalez | Reuters

The administration hopes that a new system will be more orderly, and will help some migrants to seek asylum in Canada or Spain instead of the U.S. But Biden has conceded the border will be chaotic for a while. Immigrant advocacy groups have threatened legal action, and migrants fleeing poverty, gangs and persecution in their homelands are still desperate to reach U.S. soil at any cost. Holding facilities along the border already were far beyond capacity. But late Thursday, U.S. District Judge T. Kent Wetherell, an appointee of President Donald Trump, halted the administration's plan to begin releasing migrants with notices to report to an immigration office in 60 days when holding centers reach 125% capacity, or where people are held an average of 60 hours. The quick releases were to also be triggered when authorities stop 7,000 migrants along the border in a day. In a statement, Customs and Border Protection said it would comply with the court order, while calling it a "harmful ruling that will result in unsafe overcrowding ... and undercut our ability to efficiently process and remove migrants." Weatherell blocked the releases for two weeks and scheduled a May 19 hearing on whether to extend his order. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas had already warned of more crowded Border Patrol facilities to come. "I cannot overstate the strain on our personnel and our facilities," he told reporters Thursday.

US Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas speaks during the daily press briefing in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on May 11, 2023. Brendan Smialowski | Afp | Getty Images

On Wednesday, Homeland Security announced a rule to make it extremely difficult for anyone who travels through another country or who did not apply online to qualify for asylum, with few exceptions. It also introduced curfews with GPS tracking for families released in the U.S. before initial asylum screenings. Minutes before the new rule took effect, advocacy groups sued to block it. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in San Francisco by the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies and other groups, alleges the Biden administration "doubled down" on a policy proposed by Trump that the same court rejected. The Biden administration has said its new rule is substantially different. The administration also said it is beefing up the removal of migrants found unqualified to stay in the U.S. on flights like those that sent nearly 400 migrants home to Guatemala from the U.S. on Thursday.

Migrants gather between primary and secondary border fences as the United States prepares to lift COVID-19 era Title 42 restrictions that have blocked migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border from seeking asylum since 2020, near San Diego, California, May 11, 2023. Mike Blake | Reuters

Among them was Sheidi Mazariegos, 26, who arrived with her 4-year-old son just eight days after being detained near Brownsville. "I heard on the news that there was an opportunity to enter, I heard it on the radio, but it was all a lie," she said. Smugglers got her to Matamoros and put the two on a raft. They were quickly apprehended by Border Patrol agents. Mazariegos said she made the trek because she is poor and hoped to reunite with her sisters living in the U.S. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador noted an uptick in smugglers at his country's southern border offering to take people to the United States, and said they were telling migrants the U.S. border was open. At the same time, the administration has introduced expansive new legal pathways into the U.S. Up to 30,000 people a month from Haiti, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela can enter if they apply online with a financial sponsor and enter through an airport. Processing centers are opening in Guatemala, Colombia and elsewhere. Up to 1,000 can enter daily though land crossings with Mexico if they snag an appointment on an online app.

As seen from an aerial view, immigrants wait near the U.S.-Mexico border fence after crossing the Rio Grande (L) from Mexico on May 09, 2023 in El Paso, Texas. John Moore | Getty Images
A protestor holds a sign reading "64 years is a no" during a May Day (Labor Day) demonstration in Lille, France, on May 1, 2023, more than a month after the government pushed an unpopular pensions reform act through parliament. Sameer Al-doumy | Afp | Getty Images

French citizens have taken to the streets to protest a pension retirement age increase to 64 from 62. In the U.S., as discussions heat up about the need for Social Security reforms, some have also suggested raising the retirement age. Such an adjustment would be unlikely to include current and near retirees. Experts say that may largely leave younger generations to pick up the tab on any coming changes to the program. "All this stuff is coming back to haunt young people," said Laurence Kotlikoff, a Boston University economics professor and Social Security expert.

"This is a time for young people  millennials  to take to the street and have a rally down in Washington, because this is generational expropriation," Kotlikoff said.

Social Security to face key deadline in next decade

Social Security will face a critical inflection point in the next decade. The latest projections from the Social Security board of trustees find the program's combined fund will be depleted in 2034  one year earlier than was projected in 2022. At that point, just 80% of benefits will be payable. The program has been structured so that workers' contributions through payroll taxes largely fund the benefit income for current beneficiaries. But with 10,000 baby boomers turning 65 every day  which is expected to go up to 12,000 per day in 2024  the program is facing a shortage in funding. The country has been here before. In 1983, changes were enacted to extend the program's solvency including taxes on benefits and gradually increasing the retirement age. Today, a higher Social Security retirement age is still getting phased in, with people born in 1960 or later having to wait until age 67 to receive their full "retirement age" benefits.

Anchiy | Istock | Getty Images

Some have suggested implementing a similar change again, with the idea that people are working and living longer. That shift would be unlikely to draw the same outcry seen in France. Yet experts say younger generations should take an active role in the discussions over how the program may be reformed. "No one is talking about changing the [current] retirement age or doing anything that's going to affect current retirees" or near-retirees ages 55 and up, said Howard Gleckman, senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. "This is going to affect younger people, working-age people," he said.

Effects of raising the retirement age

A recent Social Security panel hosted by The Century Foundation and New York University focused on the potential effects on another cohort, Gen Z, who were born from the mid-90s to mid-2010s. While Social Security's current dilemma will probably be fixed long before Gen Z is looking at retirement, they may bear the burden for the way the 20% to 25% funding gap is solved, said Laura Haltzel, senior fellow at The Century Foundation. Today, Social Security claimants take reduced retirement benefits if they start at 62 or 100% of the benefits they've earned if they claim at full retirement age, which is transitioning to 67. But if they wait until age 70, they get 8% more per year. More from Personal Finance:

What the federal debt limit fight could mean for Social Security

Experts argue Social Security retirement age should not pass 67

69% of people either failed or barely passed this Social Security quiz For example, if you are eligible for a $1,000 monthly benefit at full retirement age, you would get just $700 per month if you started at age 62. Alternatively, if you wait until age 70, you would get about $1,240 per month, Jason Fichtner, a former Social Security Administration executive and chief economist at the Bipartisan Policy Center noted during the panel. Raising the retirement age would reduce benefits even further at age 62, for those earliest claimants who may not be able to afford to wait. Consequently, it would be necessary to consider how such a change would affect high-income versus low-income claimants, Fichtner said.

'There is no free lunch here'

Other changes could be on the table that broadly include increased taxes, benefit cuts or a combination of both. That could include raising the payroll tax rate  which is currently 12.4% evenly shared by workers and employers  or lifting the maximum wage income subject to those taxes, which is $160,200 in 2023. If politicians cannot find either benefit cuts or tax increases palatable, they could turn to general revenue transfers, Fichtner noted. That would amount to another $200 billion to $300 billion per year on top of the current $31.4 trillion national debt, he said.

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The seven most advanced economies in the world, the G-7, are discussing imposing sanctions on Russian diamond exports  a complicated measure that could potentially hike prices for the luxury commodity.

Russia's diamond exports have largely been spared from international sanctions following Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last year. That's despite calls to the contrary from Ukraine and some European countries as well as several rounds of measures targeting the Kremlin's energy exports, banks and oligarchs.

In 2021, Russia raked in roughly $4.7 billion from diamond exports, according to data from the Observatory of Economic Complexity. That made Russia the world's eighth-largest diamonds exporter. Diamonds are not commonly traded like oil or gold, but they represent a large market that goes beyond jewelry. The stones are also used for drilling, dentistry, computers, among others.

Some countries  such as Belgium, which buys a significant amount of Russian diamonds  want a "global approach" to Russian exports, as opposed to an EU-specific measure, to ensure the sanctions do not disproportionately hurt them.

"The debate has been going on for some time because there is a clear risk that Russia could simply divert its exports to non-participating countries," Edward Gardner, a commodities economist at Capital Economics, told CNBC via email.

"If sanctions were implemented in [a] way that made circumvention difficult, though, then we could see less Russian supply coming onto the market and higher prices," he said.

The diamond industry in Europe is concerned about diverting the trade of stones to other markets, such as Dubai, due to the prospect of paying more for the commodity and failing to significantly dent Russia's revenues from the trade.
The Russian Defense Ministry has denied reports that Ukrainian forces have breached the front lines, claiming the military situation remains under control amid speculation of Kyiv's anticipated counteroffensive.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy earlier on Thursday said that his nation requires more time and foreign military aid before such a measure  while Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of Russian private military company Wagner Group, said that Ukraine had already begun such a counterattack and were approaching the embattled city of Bakhmut from the flanks.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Hanna Maliar on Friday said that the country's forces have advanced 2 kilometers in the direction of Bakhmut.
Gina Raimondo, U.S. secretary of commerce, during a "First Tool-In" ceremony at the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. facility under construction in Phoenix, Arizona, on Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2022.

The U.S. government is seeking to turn metro areas in middle America into the next hot spots of tech innovation with an initial $500 million investment.

The Department of Commerce announced Friday its first notice of funding opportunity, or NOFO, for the Regional Technology and Innovation Hub program, known as Tech Hubs. It kicks off the process for eligible groups around the country to apply to be designated as Tech Hubs. That designation gives them the chance to take advantage of the funds to make their regions attractive places for entrepreneurs and technologists to live and work.

"America leads the world in technological innovation. But the sad reality is that our tech ecosystem is extremely concentrated," Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told reporters on a briefing call Thursday, noting that 80% of U.S. venture capital money is invested in the San Francisco Bay Area, the Northeast and Southern California. "There's so much more potential for tech innovation all across the country. In the U.S. we have the best research institutions in the world. That's indisputable. And frankly, many of them are in America's heartland, far from the coast."

Congress authorized $10 billion for the program between fiscal years 2023 and 2027, of which $500 million is available to be distributed this year. Under the current funding opportunity, a total of $15 million in planning grants will be made available to applicants designated as Tech Hubs. Later this year, the Department will seek to award five to 10 designated Tech Hubs grants of $50 million to $75 million each to help build out capacity in their region, according to a Department of Commerce official.

President Joe Biden requested $4 billion be made available for Tech Hubs in next year's budget.

Eligible applicants are groups made up of at least one entity from each of the following categories: a higher education institution, subdivision of local or state government, industry or firm in relevant tech or manufacturing field, economic development group, and labor organization or workforce training group.

Under the statute, Tech Hubs should focus on a specific set of key areas of technology, which include artificial intelligence, robotics, natural disaster prevention, biotechnology, cybersecurity, energy efficiency and more. The department must designate at least 20 Tech Hubs under the law.

The hope is that the infusion of funds will help regions across the country become essential centers of innovation and create more well-paying jobs across a greater swath of the nation.

"President Biden is so clear on one point, which is that everyone in America deserves a fair shot at economic opportunity, no matter where they live, and they shouldn't have to move in order to get a good job," Raimondo said. "Nobody should have to leave their family or support system or network to move to New York or San Francisco just to get a good job."

Raimondo also framed the program as an important investment in U.S. national security. She pointed to the nation's current efforts through the Chips and Science Act to invest in domestic semiconductor manufacturing, which became an urgent bipartisan priority when the pandemic highlighted how fragile the computer chip supply chain was. That's because most advanced chips are not produced in the U.S., and the industry's dependence on chips made in Taiwan makes the supply chain especially vulnerable, given tensions with China.

Raimondo said the U.S. "ceded our leadership on manufacturing and innovation for this critical technology. And now we're in the difficult position of having to catch up."

The "Tech Hubs program is about making sure that doesn't happen again, ensuring we stay ahead of the curve on other essential technologies, from quantum to artificial intelligence to biotech," she said.

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Republican presidential candidate businessman Vivek Ramaswamy speaks to guests at the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition Spring Kick-Off on April 22, 2023 in Clive, Iowa. Scott Olson | Getty Images

Republican presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy built his White House bid around urging companies to stay out of politics. What he doesn't tell voters is the asset management firm he co-founded has engaged more with Republican Party officials behind the scenes than was previously known, according to private email correspondence reviewed by CNBC. related investing news Goldman sees $6 trillion a year in green spending ahead with these stocks getting the biggest boost The emails show how the firm, Strive Asset Management, became a lead organizer and voice against environmental, social and governance, or ESG, investing, both before and since Ramaswamy entered the presidential race in February. Ramaswamy told CNBC in an interview Thursday that he stepped away from his role as executive chairman of the firm and is no longer on its board while he runs for president. When he launched his company last year, Ramaswamy told CNBC that businesses should "focus on excellence over politics." He slammed ESG-style investing by BlackRock, State Street and Vanguard, and accused the firms of using "their clients' capital to advocate for viewpoints in the boardrooms of corporate America that most of their own clients disagree with." Ramaswamy and his firm have since jumped into the political clash over ESG investing platforms, according to the emails, which were obtained by watchdog Documented and provided to CNBC. The messages show Ramaswamy's firm actively engaged with GOP state leaders who have defended the fossil fuel industry and criticized environmentally conscious investment standards. Ramaswamy on Thursday defended the firm's engagement with GOP officials, saying bigger firms BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street have conducted similar practices with state officials across the country. "The biggest asset allocators into the asset management systems are state pension funds and BlackRock, State Street, Vanguard, Invesco and others, are regularly engaged," Ramaswamy told CNBC. "It's just a hard fact that these institutions have for decades been educating, discussing with states and pension fund systems, the merits of ESG based investment framework. Strive is bringing an alternative perspective to bear across the market." Since he began his campaign, Ramaswamy has deferred questions about Strive's business strategy to the firm.

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Strive CEO Matt Cole echoed Ramaswamy's remarks in an interview with CNBC. "We're just copying the playbook of BlackRock, State Street and Vanguard," Cole said Thursday. When asked about the emails showing how the firm has become a leading organizer against ESG investing, Cole said: "I think Strive is the leading voice in America pushing in favor of shareholder capitalism." Strive has become one of the more vocal opponents of ESG investing and has gained enough notoriety to challenge the likes of fossil fuel giant ExxonMobil . Ramaswamy, as Strive's executive chairman, sent a letter to Exxon in November saying the company's board "reflects an overrepresentation of directors whose principal focus appears to be on Exxon's climate change strategy." Ramaswamy later secured a meeting with Exxon CEO Darren Woods. Strive said in a December press release that the oil and gas executive "pushed back on certain points in Strive's letter but committed to exploring suitable directors for Exxon's board with relevant industry expertise." A month after the meeting, Exxon announced it would add Lawrence Kellner, a former CEO of Continental Airlines, and John Harris II, a former CEO of Raytheon International, to its board. Ramaswamy's firm at the same time focused its investment strategy on fossil fuels. Strive launched an ETF in 2022 called Strive U.S. Energy, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange as DRLL . The fund's fact sheet lists Exxon, Chevron and ConocoPhillips as its top three holdings. It has net assets of over $300 million. Ramaswamy told CNBC on the day the ETF launched that Strive "is delivering a new mandate." "What I call the post ESG mandate to the U.S. energy sector to drill for more oil," he said at the time. "To frack for more natural gas. To do whatever allows them to be most successful over the long run without regard to political, social, cultural or environmental agendas." The firm's overall assets under management total over $520 million, according to a regulatory filing signed in February and submitted by Strive to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The form was signed a week after Ramaswamy announced he was running for president, and shows that at that time his ownership stake in Strive was at least 50%. Ramaswamy did not dispute in the CNBC interview that he still owns at least 50% of the company. Cole confirmed that the ownership structure listed on the filing has not changed since Ramaswamy announced his run for president. He added that Strive, as of Wednesday, had about $680 million in assets under management.

Strive moves to organize ESG forum

Ramaswamy has cast himself for years as a leading culture warrior against major corporations and extended his fight to the campaign trail. He co-founded the anti-ESG firm in 2022, a year after he published a book called "Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate America's Social Justice Scam," which takes on the concept of stakeholder capitalism. His declared and potential rivals, including former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, have often attacked ESG investing standards and corporations that support social causes  an increasingly common refrain within the GOP. The opposition to businesses expressing political views has helped to propel Ramaswamy to the top tier of the Republican primary, according to early polls. One recent Morning Consult survey found him, in a hypothetical GOP primary field, tied with former Vice President Mike Pence for third place with 5% of support. He trailed only Trump at 60% and DeSantis at 19%. Trump has raved about Ramaswamy, saying his positive comments about the Trump administration are "the reason he is doing so well." The emails suggest that both before and after Ramaswamy explicitly jumped into politics, his firm had entered the fray by establishing ties to anti-ESG Republican officials. In March, one month after Ramaswamy announced his run for president, Strive organized a call featuring what the email labeled as the "Pro-Fiduciary Investors Taskforce." The more than 30 people invited to participate included at least half a dozen Republican state financial officers who have either vehemently opposed ESG investment standards, or in some cases, have used their power to directly take on Wall Street firms that follow the practice, the email shows. Ramaswamy was not on the invite list.

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Matthew Kopko, a senior vice president at Strive, said in one of the obtained emails that the "kick-off call" would focus, in part, on a Biden administration rule that allows employers to select ESG funds for their company 401(k) plans. In March, days before the meeting took place, President Joe Biden vetoed a bill that would have rolled back the Labor Department standard. Cole confirmed to CNBC that the veto came up on the call. "I think the vast majority of people [at the meeting] thought the bill should not have been vetoed," he said. Cole added that "it was pretty interesting I think from our perspective that the first veto of Biden's presidency was a bipartisan bill that was focused on maximizing value, or forcing asset managers to focus on maximizing value." An emailed invite to the Zoom call also shows that Strive executives were planning to organize a central forum to discuss ESG-related issues. "As discussed with many of you across the nation, there is strong interest among state financial leaders to have a forum to share and learn information related to emerging developments in ESG, corporate governance, proxy voting, stewardship and other fiduciary matters," Kopko said in another email to those invited. The officials invited included Jimmy Patronis, Florida's GOP chief financial officer, who in December said the state treasury would pull out $2 billion in assets previously managed by BlackRock. West Virginia state Treasurer Riley Moore was also invited to take part in the call. He announced in 2022 that the state will no longer use a BlackRock investment fund as part of its banking transactions. Representatives for Moore and Patronis said the two did not participate in the call. Marlo Oaks, the Utah state treasurer who labeled ESG part of "Satan's plan" and moved about $100 million in state money previously managed by BlackRock to different asset managers, is also listed as invited to the call. A representative for Oaks did not respond to a request for comment. Derek Kreifels, the CEO of the conservative-leaning State Financial Officers Foundation, which has organized conferences bashing ESG investing, was also invited to take part in the call. Ramaswamy was a keynote speaker at one of the foundation's meetings last year and the state chief financial officers invited to take part on the Strive call are publicly listed SFOF members. A representative for Kreifels said the nonprofit CEO did not participate in the call. Kopko sent a follow-up email in May for what he described as the "next task force call." The email shows that the next event was set to take place May 3. While there's no document showing who was invited to that Zoom gathering, the itinerary for the call notes that ESG critic and Yale law school professor Jed Rubenfeld was expected to give a "presentation on state pension fiduciary duties." Cole said Rubenfeld's presentation on that call was about "best practices for pensions." He explained there were about 30 people on the call and most of the people at the meeting were "pension-related employees," along with some state attorneys general. Cole said he didn't know all of the state AGs who took part in the call and which political party they were affiliated with. But he also said that "typically Republican AGs have been more interested in trying to pushback against asset managers pursuing non financial interests but the invite wasn't to any particular political party."

Getting access

Ramaswamy's firm gained more access to anti-ESG Republican politicians before he launched a presidential bid than was previously known, according to the emails. His firm's leaders privately turned to anti-ESG Republican state officials in both Texas and West Virginia to help gain access to government officials to discuss Strive's business ventures, either through in-person or Zoom meetings, according to emails from September through March. Cole said they've met with leaders from more than 20 states and have also engaged with large wealth managers about their company. "To me these are just two meetings that we have on our calendar every day," he said. Strive President Anson Frericks, in a September email to Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar, discussed a lunch he had in August with Hegar and one of his top donors, oil and gas developer Ben "Bud" Brigham. Frericks in the email requested a "warm introduction" to a state-based contact for an "emerging managers fund for new firms like Strive." "At lunch with Bud Brigham, you mentioned that TX has an emerging managers fund for new firms like Strive. Are you able to provide us with a contact for that fund (I cc'd our Head of Institutional Investing, Rob Melton)? Or make a warm introduction?" Frericks asked Hegar in the email. Hegar had argued in letters to money managers in 2022 that firms such as BlackRock, HSBC and UBS are boycotting the energy industry, saying in a statement that he believes "environmental crusaders" have created a "false narrative" that the economy can transition away from fossil fuels. Hours after Frericks sent his September email, Hegar replied in an email that he obliged the request for an introduction and forwarded Frericks' email to Mike Reissig, the CEO of the Texas Treasury Safekeeping Trust Company. That entity was created by the Texas Legislature "as a special purpose entity to efficiently and economically manage, invest and safeguard funds for its clients: the state and various subdivisions," according to its website. Hegar is the chair of the Texas Treasury Safekeeping Trust Company. That introduction led to a March meeting being scheduled in Austin between Reissig, Frericks and Kopko to discuss Strive's proxy voting services, according to the emails. Representatives for Hegar and Reissig did not respond to requests for comment. Federal Election Commission records show that Brigham, the same oil and gas executive who had lunch with Frericks in August, donated $6,600 in March to Ramaswamy's campaign for president. That amount represents the most an individual donor can give directly to a campaign in the 2024 election cycle.
Life on a farm is "very, very busy," says Lee Xian Jie, who harvests his own rice and tea. "The farmers are the busiest people here  the only difference is that you don't have to sit in front of a desk."

When Lee Xian Jie first stepped foot in the traditional farmhouse located in Ryujin-mura, a village in Japan's Wakayama prefecture, it was "quite rundown"  with floors so rickety they shook beneath him with every step he took. After all, the main structure of the abandoned home was 300 years old, Lee said. But when he took a closer look around the home, he could tell it was "properly built." "The pillars are all Sakura wood, which is an extremely dense and hard wood," he told CNBC Make It. "It's also a thatch building, which is very rare in Japan now  So it's a building with great historical value."

"My interest has always been in history. I wanted to see ... How did people build homes with just wood and joinery?" said Lee Xian Jie, who restored three buildings in Ryujin-mura, a village in Japan's Wakayama prefecture. Lee Xian Jie

The property, which previously housed four generations, is one of Japan's millions of vacant houses known as akiya, Japanese for "empty house." But unlike many akiya that are for sale, this was for rent because it's on "good land," and there are two family graves in the area, Lee explained. He was, however, given permission by its landlord to restore the premises. "My interest has always been in history. I wanted to see what it was like for people back then to live without chemical fertilizers that we use right now. How did people build homes with just wood and joinery?"

Things to consider

Covid-19 fast-tracked Lee's dreams of living in rural Japan. He started his own tour company in Kyoto six years ago, but moved to the village during the pandemic when there was no work. He quickly fell in love with Ryujin-mura and decided to rent the farmhouse, along with another akiya, which is now a co-working space for digital nomads. The 33-year-old runs a farm-to-table cafe at the farmhouse three days a week, using ingredients he harvests from the farm, which he also uses for free. But that's not all. He also bought another 100-year-old building next door, which he is converting into a guesthouse.

The farmers are the busiest people here  the only difference is that you don't have to sit in front of a desk. Lee Xian Jie

While akiya often have cheap price tags, there are a few things to consider before moving to Japan to purchase one, said Lee. "This is specifically for Japan: If you can't speak the language, you can't get along with your neighbors  communication is very difficult," he added. "People forget that time invested in the language is a lot of time they can use elsewhere. It takes anyone at least a bare minimum of four years to be fluent in Japanese, seven to eight years to be really fluent." Farm life is often romanticized as quiet or peaceful compared to the city, but Lee says "no farmer here has a slow life." "The farmers are the busiest people here  the only difference is that you don't have to sit in front of a desk," added Lee, who has almost 16-hour long days at the farm. There are also "social expectations" such as maintaining the grass around your land, which requires more time and energy than one would imagine.

"I can't stress how much grass cutting goes on because Japan has a lot of rain and plants grow very well. If you don't maintain it, it'll look very messy and your weeds will affect the neighbors' crops." "Life is slow if you pay to stay on the farm as a guest. For my guests, it'll be a slow life because they'd have to do none of the chores," he added with a laugh. While it's a lot of hard work, it's all worth it for Lee  who finds the most fulfillment from knowing what goes into the food he serves at his cafe. "The most fulfilling part of the experience is that when I serve tea now, it's my own tea that I made. When I serve rice in this cafe, I know that I have used no pesticides," he said. "I've made many local friends here  it's the human connections I have here that are truly priceless."

Cost of renovations

Living in rural Japan is no doubt cheaper compared to the city. Lee said that he pays "well under" $750 for the main farmhouse and co-working space, which sit on a property measuring a total of about 100,000 sq. ft. "I did my math and realized that if I renovated a place nicely, I will be paying the same amount I would have if I lived in Kyoto for five years," said Lee. However, he warned that renovation costs might be hefty, depending on the condition of the akiya. The floors of the main farmhouse for example, were weakened by the humidity and termites. "I thought I could replace the floor [through] DIY but then I fell through the floor," Lee recalled. "Then I just hired the carpenter who lives about 10 minutes away." For the guesthouse, which sits on a separate parcel of land measuring 190,000 sq. ft., he spent about $97,000 with two friends to purchase and renovate, with the bulk of that going toward renovations.

On the same property is a 100-year-old building, which Lee Xian Jie converted into a guesthouse. This is how it looked like before renovations. Lee Xian Jie

Another $37,000 was spent to turn the main house into a living space for himself and a functional cafe. Lee had to involve himself in the demolishing work  partly because of a shortage of manpower in the village. "But it also means you can cut your costs a little, if you're willing to get your hands dirty," he shared. "A lot of work went to the electrical work, pipes  Getting a proper flushing toilet, before that it was a hole in the ground." Having spent five figures on all the work on the property, whether he can recoup those costs is a concern because "there's a lot less work" to be found in rural Japan. "If you want to do agriculture, you have to be an expert in agriculture, otherwise you will fail. There are fewer jobs here also of any sort," he explained. "Living costs are lower in rural Japan, but so is the income."

The guesthouse after renovations. While it will only open in June, Lee Xian Jie said he's already been getting some bookings.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 12)  The brother of ex-Senator Leila de Lima expressed gratitude to the lawyers and supporters of his sister following the decision of a Muntinlupa court to acquit her in one of her two remaining drug cases.

The judge did the right and just thing, Vicente de Lima told reporters on Friday. Today is a glorious day, today is a beautiful day.

Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 204 on Friday announced the acquittal of De Lima in connection with the allegation of state prosecutors that she benefitted from the illegal drug trade in the New Bilibid Prison.

According to De Limas brother, the decision of the court was handed down quickly. Upon hearing this, supporters inside the courtroom applauded and cheered, he said.

This has been too long. Sabi nga, justice delayed is justice denied. Masyadong tumagal yung kaso kaya ngayon masayang-masaya kami sa aming pamilya, he said.

[Translation: This has been too long. As what they say, justice delayed is justice denied. The case took so long that is why our family is now happy.]

Vicente expessed hope that the decision on the former senators plea for bail for her remaining drug case will be granted immediately.

Muntinlupa RTC Branch 256 was supposed to release its decision regarding the application for bail on Monday. However, this was postponed due to problems during the prosecutions marking of evidence.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 12)  The Department of Health (DOH) will not let its guard down even after the World Health Organization (WHO) lifted the Public Health Emergency of International Concern on mpox.

While the WHO's move signifies that the world is on its road to recovery, the DOH stressed that it is vital to stay alert for the possible resurgence of the disease.

The department reminded the public to seek medical attention if they experience symptoms such as fever, lymphadenopathy, and rashes after traveling to a country with mpox cases.

Wearing of face masks, isolation, and hand washing also help in containing the spread of the virus, the DOH added.

The Philippines did not declare a public health emergency on mpox, but health officials said the country is capable of containing the virus.

There had been four recorded infections in the country. All of them have recovered.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 12)  Jobseekers eligible for waived pre-employment document fees may only avail of the assistance once, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said Friday.

This comes after the DOLE, along with 15 other agencies, made official the joint operating guidelines for the First Time Jobseekers Assistance Act (FTJAA).

Ito ay pagbibigay apirmasyon  naroon ang pagkakaisa na magkaroon ng katuparan ang paghahanapbuhay ng ating mga kababayan, lalo na yung first-time jobseekers, Labor Secretary Benny Laguesma said.

[Translation: This is to affirm that there are joint efforts to help our countrymen find work, especially first-time jobseekers.]

The law has been in place since 2019, but the joint operating guidelines were only institutionalized due to challenges in the implementation of separate agencies.

Nakita natin yung pagkakaiba sa pag-identify ng first-time jobseekers. May iba ring agencies na nahirapan kung ano yung magiging basis nila, said Patrick Patriwirawan, DOLE Director for the Bureau of Local Employment.

[Translation: We saw differences in identifying who first-time jobseekers are. There were also agencies that found it difficult to determine what their basis would be.]

Under the FTJAA, K-12 and college graduates, technological vocational education and training graduates, and even out-of-school youth, regardless of age, are qualified for the program. They will only need to get clearance first from their barangays, the DOLE said.

Laguesma said he was hopeful the waived government fees will help ease the burden of more Filipinos.

Around 300,000 first-time jobseekers have benefited from the law since 2019.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 12)  "We Give the World our Best" is a "statement of fact," said the country's tourism chief in response to critics of the new Philippine branding seen in an advertisement in the United Kingdom.

"There is a sea of opinions about this," said Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco during an event on Thursday. "But I would like to remind our fellow Filipinos that the statement 'We give the world our best' is a statement of fact. Do you not agree?"

She said the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Creative Communications (OPACC) came up with the idea.

Senator Nancy Binay, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Tourism, has raised concerns over the messaging, particularly in the ad which showed Filipino British nurse May Parsons, along with the lines "We give the world our best. The Philippines." Parsons was the first to administer the COVID-19 vaccine to a patient.

Binay called the ad "vague," adding it may imply that the Philippines is a labor-exporting country that treats its people as a commodity.

On the other hand, Frasco said the Tourism Department fully supports the ad campaign, which she said tells the world that "the Philippines has no intention of putting out [anything] less than the best."

"That translates to everything that permeates our sense of hospitality and service as a tourism industry," she said.

"That idea is translated further into what we have to offer in the Philippines. We have the best beaches, the best sites, the best nature destinations, and we have the best tour guides," Frasco added.

The tourism chief clarified that the OPACC idea was not the country's new tourism brand. She noted that the DOT has yet to present one that is "aligned with the country brand" and enhances the present tagline.

Binay earlier reiterated her call for the department to consider deferring its rebranding campaign which is costly. Instead, she urged the agency to continue using the "It's More Fun in the Philippines" slogan and to just come up with fresh permutations.

RELATED: It's More Fun in PH: DOT chief wants 'evolved' tourism slogan
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 12)  Foreign ambassadors to the Philippines and officials have joined the call for a speedy resolution in the final drug case of detained former Senator Leila de Lima after she was acquitted in one of two remaining drug cases on Friday.

READ: Muntinlupa court acquits De Lima in 2nd drug case

Hannah Neumann, a member of the European parliament, celebrated the decision. Great news! Leila de Lima is one step closer to freedom after 6 years of politically motivated detention. So far, each and every made-up case collapsed. I hope to see you out of jail soon, @AttyLeiladeLima."

De Lima, a vocal critic of the Duterte administration, has been detained since February 2017 for alleged involvement in the drug trade in the New Bilibid Prison when she was justice secretary. She allegedly used drug money to fund her 2016 Senate bid. The former lawmaker has denied these allegations.

In 2021, Muntinlupa RTC 205 dismissed the first drug case against her. The new acquittal is by the Muntinlupa RTC 204.

De Lima cannot yet be released as she is waiting Muntinlupa RTC 256 for its decision to allow her to post bail. Her final drug case is pending with this court.

Danish Ambassador the Philippines Franz-Michael Skjold Mellbin said the cases against De Lima were concerning.

Happy for the acquittal of @AttyLeiladeLima in a case that has drawn grave concerns from its very start. Hope for a positive bail decision following six years of detainment and two acquittals as well as a speedy process in the last case, Mellbin said.

Other envoys emphasized the need for rule of law in a functioning democracy.

I welcome the progress made by the court's decision. The rule of law is essential for a functioning democracy & important for further strengthening Philippine-German relations, German Ambassador to the Philippines Anke Reiffenstuel said Friday. Germany will continue to follow the remaining case in which Leila de Lima filed a petition for bail.

Ambassador of the European Union to the Philippines Luc Veron congratulated De Lima on her acquittal. It has been six long years but I share your happiness that the day has come. Everyone has the right to due process and justice.

After news of the acquittal of De Limas second case broke, politicians, political parties, and rights groups likewise celebrated de Limas release and called for quick action on her final drug case.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 12)  Senator Risa Hontiveros has called on the Department of Migrant Workers and Overseas Workers Welfare Administration to investigate the "inconsistent" contracts presented by recruiters in Manila and employers in Taiwan to overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

"Ayon mismo sa ating mga kababayan, hindi nagtutugma ang mga detalye ng dalawa nilang pinipirmahan para makapagtrabaho sa Taiwan. Misleading ang mga nakasaad. Yung job description, day off, rest day, oras ng trabaho, at maging ang sweldo, hindi pareho," Hontiveros said in a statement.

[Translation: Our countrymen said the details between the two contracts they signed to work in Taiwan do not match. The ones stated are misleading. The job description, day off, rest day, schedule of work, as well as the salary do not match.]

The inconsistencies between the contracts signed in Manila and the Affidavit for Wage/Salary and Expenses signed with the employers in Taiwan pose a threat to OFWs, who are prone to abuse and exploitation, Hontiveros warned.

Citing OFWs who met with her, the senator said Filipino caregivers end up being farmers of pinyin or betel nuts (nganga), while some were forced to take shelter with fellow OFWs.

"May isa tayong OFW, mag-isa lang syang manggagawa sa farm ng employer niya. Siya ang gumagawa ng lahat," Hontiveros said.

[Translation: We have an OFW who works alone in his employer's farm. He does everything.]

She added that the OFWs also raised concern over parts of skills training in Manila that are "unnecessary for their job description," and fees as much as 150,000 for training, medical tests, and placement fees, among others.

Aside from meeting Filipinos, Hontiveros also met with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen to discuss the West Philippine Sea issue.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 12)  Opposition Senator Risa Hontiveros met with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen on Friday, making her the first sitting Philippine official in more than a decade to visit Taiwan's chief executive amid rising tensions with China.

China in April launched military drills around self-ruled Taiwan in response to Tsai's visit to United States lawmakers, which Beijing described as "Taiwan separatist forces' collusion with external forces."

That same month, Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian advised the Philippine government "to unequivocally oppose Taiwan independence rather than stoking the fire by offering the US access to the military bases near the Taiwan Strait, if you care genuinely about the 150,000 OFWs (overseas Filipino workers) in Taiwan."

A press release from Hontiveros' office said the senator flew to Taiwan particularly to check on the OFWs "who were threatened by the Chinese Ambassador's dangerous statements."

"While we in the Philippines will never interfere with the issue of your independence, I will always support nations who err on the side of democracy. We know that democracy is a powerful vaccine against armed conflict," Hontiveros was quoted as saying in a statement addressed to the Taiwanese leader.

Photos and videos released by her office show Hontiveros exchanging pleasantries and engaging in discussions with Tsai at the latter's residence in Taipei.

The senator's office said she also raised the issue of China's incursions in the West Philippine Sea, which Beijing claims based on a controversial nine-dash line.

"I cannot help but raise an urgent issue that looms large over the Philippines  the external threat posed by China in our territories, a similar dilemma Taiwan also faces," Hontiveros said.

"Like President Tsai, I would like a peaceful approach to the South China Sea question. I will work on taking tangible steps in the Philippine legislature to ensure that we successfully discuss and conduct diplomatic, legal, and respectful negotiations with all States concerned to advance peace and stability in the entire South China Sea," she added.

Before Hontiveros, the late Edgardo Angara was the last senator to meet with a Taiwan president in 2009 for a joint labor conference, while then Transportation and Communications Secretary Mar Roxas was the last Cabinet official to visit Taiwan's leader in 2011.

The late former President Fidel Ramos had also met with Tsai in 2017.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 12)  The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) on Friday vowed to complete "large" transmission projects within the next few months to boost the country's power supply.

"We continue to advocate for a holistic approach to power planning. Development in all sectors involved in the power industry must be coordinated, with due attention given to each," the NGCP said in a statement.

These projects are the Mindanao-Visayas Interconnection Project, Cebu-Negros-Panay Enhancement Project and Hermosa-San Jose Transmission Line.

"Gagawan namin ng paraan. Dapat kaya yan. Sisiguraduhin namin yan na matatapos yan (transmission projects) this year," NGCP Spokesperson Cynthia Alabanza told reporters Friday.

[Translation: We will find a way. We must make it possible. We will make sure that the transmission projects will be done this year.]

"Kailangan lang natin siguraduhin na kung magkakaroon ng tweaking o ng pagbabago dito sa mga systema, eh hindi ito makakadulot ng mas malaking aberya," she added.

[Translation: We just have to make sure that when there is tweaking or any changes in the system, it will not cause huge inconveniences.]

However, the NGCP also said building power plants and transmission lines "takes time."

"You have to have at least a 10-year planning horizon to ensure that the demand will not overtake the supply increases. So this has to be well planned, well coordinated," Alabanza told CNN Philippines' The Final Word.

Due to a power plant malfunction, Panay Island experienced outages and the Luzon grid was placed under red alert.

RELATED: Panay island still facing power outages - NGCP
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 12)  Talks between the Philippines and Vietnam are set to begin in pursuit of an agreement on recent maritime disputes, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said on Thursday.

The president made the statement after the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) reported Vietnamese vessels were previously seen in Sabina and Ayungin Shoals with 20 other Chinese vessels.

He said he discussed the matter with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and pitched that talks be initiated to reach an agreement and avoid any problems.

Nag-usap kami ng Prime Minister. We have to find a way," Marcos told reporters. "Sabi ko huwag yung ganito na nag-a-ano tayo, mag-usap tayo nang mabuti."

Thats why I have asked our foreign ministers, ating Foreign Secretary and then the Foreign Minister of Vietnam to begin developing the talks so that we can have an agreement na hindi na siguro magkaproblema ng mga ganyang klase, he added.

[Translation: I talked with the prime minister. We have to find a way. I said it should not be like this, we should talk about it properly. Thats why I have asked our foreign ministers, our foreign affairs secretary and then the foreign minister of Vietnam to begin developing the talks so that we can have an agreement and wont have any problems.]

The chief executive earlier pushed for all parties concerned to follow the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and prevent the South China Sea from becoming a "nexus for armed conflict."

He directed the Department of Foreign Affairs and the PCG to map out the Philippines fishing ground in the West Philippine Sea which will later on be presented to China.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 12)  A Muntinlupa court on Friday acquitted Ronnie Dayan, the former driver and bodyguard of ex-Senator Leila de Lima who was also accused in one of the latters remaining drug cases.

Sinabi ng korte reasonable doubt based po doon sa recantation nung witness na si Mr. Rafael Ragos," Haidee Soriano, lawyer of Dayan, told reporters on Friday referring to former Bureau of Corrections chief Rafael Ragos who backtracked his allegations against the former lawmaker.

"Yun po ang nag-establish ng reasonable doubt sa participation po ni former Senator De Lima at ni Ronnie Dayan, Soriano added.

[Translation: The court said reasonable doubt based on the recantation of the witness Mr. Rafael Ragos. This established the reasonable doubt on the participation of former Senator De Lima and Ronnie Dayan.]

The Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 204 on Friday acquitted De Lima and Dayan on their alleged involvement in illegal drug trade inside the New Bilibid Prison (NBP).

The former senator was accused of benefiting from the drug trade, with the money used to finance her senatorial bid in 2016.

Dayan was accused of collecting drug money for De Lima, which he denied.

In 2022, Ragos recanted his allegations, saying he was "forced" to execute affidavits implicating De Lima in the illegal drug trade in the NBP as he received "threats of being detained."

On the remaining drug case filed before Muntinlupa RTC Branch 256, Soriano said their camp has also applied for bail and is just waiting for its resolution.

In 2022, the Office of the Ombudsman also dismissed the bribery complaints lodged against De Lima and Dayan for lack of probable cause. This was in connection with their alleged conspiracy to extort money from self-confessed drug dealer Kerwin Espinosa in exchange for protection of his illegal trade.
Nine alumni showcase CCs strengths in natural and social sciences

Josh Felton 22 | Kayla Fratt 16 | Olivia Sage Noonan 20 | Evan Foster 21 | Riley Wadehra 20 | Grace Rosner 22 | Audrey Dervarics 19 | Arielle Link 19 | Bridget Galaty 21

An astounding number of Colorado College graduates were awarded National Science Foundation grants from the Graduate Research Fellowship Program this spring, highlighting the strength of CCs science programs and its comprehensive resources that assist in the application process.

Nine alumni have joined the ranks of the next generation of STEM leaders, with seven of them earning fellowships in life sciences including ecology, cell biology, organismal biology, systematics and biodiversity; and two in social sciences, including biological anthropology and economics.

A graduate research fellowship is a major honor that suggests a great likelihood of success in a PhD program and a bright future in research, says Rachel Jabaily, Associate Professor for Organismal Biology and Ecology. We had a particularly high yield compared to many of our peer institutions. Recipients of the NSF GRF have demonstrated their ability to develop a novel research proposal with significant intellectual merit and explicit broader impacts to society. I received the NSF GRF in graduate school, and it enabled me to do fieldwork throughout the Andes during the academic year," she adds.

The GRF is the golden ticket for graduate studies. The program offers three fully funded years to the graduate program of the recipients choice, which can be used over the course of five years. The fellowship frees recipients from other activities like being a teaching or research assistant. The applications are peer-reviewed by professional researchers using many of the same criteria as standard NSF research grants.

Josh Felton 22: Life Sciences  Systematics and Biodiversity

Jabaily was the research mentor for Josh Felton 22, currently her department paraprofessional, who won the GRF in organismal biology and ecology.

I feel incredibly grateful and excited to have won the Graduate Research Fellowship, Felton says. Its a great honor to be recognized for my potential as a botanist and Im looking forward to the financial freedom that this fellowship will provide for me to pursue my research and academic goals.

A lifelong lover of plants, Felton wants to eventually teach the botanical sciences at the college level, strengthening students connection to nature and instilling in them a sense of community while promoting sustainability and inspiring innovation. Felton credits Professor Jabaily for being instrumental in connecting him with the botanical sciences community.

As my advisor, she has been a constant source of support from the beginning. I would like to express my gratitude to Dr. Jabaily for her guidance throughout my academic journey. As a colleague, her support has been crucial in navigating the botanical sciences as an early career scientist.

Felton will begin his PhD program at Cornell University this fall.

Kayla Fratt 16: Life Sciences  Ecology

Kayla Fratt 16 is a certified dog behavior consultant who founded K9 Conservationists, an organization whose mission is to provide expert dog-handler teams that help scientists collect data to address conservation-based studies and questions.

Despite years of field work under her belt, she felt she needed to further her education and applied to graduate school. She applied for the GRF and the Fulbright, seeking funding to chase her dreams. Fratt won both.

This feels like a dream come true! she shares. I couldnt be more thrilled. Ive applied for the Fulbright twice before and didnt get it either time. I know how competitive both grants can be and its a huge honor to win both. I am also relieved I waited for these opportunities. I could have made graduate school work earlier, but Im glad I delayed and waited for the perfect opportunity to come my way.

Fratt wants to become a world leader in conservation detection dogs. She tips her hat to her organismal biology and ecology coursework at CC as well as time spent in the psychology and neuroscience departments, calling it one of the best decisions she ever made, claiming she wouldnt be half as successful with understanding dog behavior without a strong foundation of support from the psych and neuro departments.

Fratt thanks several faculty and staff members, including her adviser, Brian Linkhart, professor of Organismal Biology and Ecology. He always pushed me and helped me become a much better field scientist by honing question-asking, hypothesis-testing, and research design. He was always an inquisitive, quietly joyful, calming presence that I try to model with my own students now, she says.

Kayla was very good at approaching biological questions from unique perspectives and coming up with insightful solutions to problems, which was evident in her course work with me at CC. These qualities followed her after CC as well, adds Linkhart.

Kayla also lauds the top-notch guidance she received from Roy Jo Sartin, CCs Fulbright adviser. Kaylas undergraduate studies in biology and ecology at CC, coupled with her internationally recognized expertise as a conservation detection dog (CDD) trainer, inspired this research into ways that CDDs can identify predatory species, which would be meaningful not only for the scientific community but also for the local herders who operate within this wildlife area in Kenya. This is why her research idea has been awarded not only a Fulbright but also a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. She's incredible! says Roy Jo Sartin.

Some labs may not be able to afford to accept highly qualified students, but having the NSF GRFP can open those doors. I do not think Id have been accepted to my dream labTaal Levis lab at Oregon State Universityif I didnt come backed by this award funding, Fratt says.

Olivia Sage Noonan 20: Life Sciences  Organismal Biology

Linkhart also served as both major adviser and primary thesis adviser for Olivia Sage Noonan 20, who won the GRF in organismal biology and ecology.

In mentoring more than 70 students over the past 20 years, Olivia stands out as one of the most dedicated, steady, and hard-working individuals I have had, he says. Nothing seems to slow her down in the pursuit of her goals, and she was a superb mentor of younger students.

For five summers as an undergraduate and during her early post-graduate years, Noonan worked with Linkhart on a field crew studying flammulated owls. I was fortunate to learn numerous ornithological research skills under his guidance and conduct my senior thesis on the owls feather molt patterns  all while having the opportunity to contribute to a significant longitudinal study, Noonan says.

I was also heavily involved with the CC Outdoor Education program where I learned many basic outdoor skills that have come in handy as a field biologist. And lastly, I co-founded the CC Tiger Audubon Society and led birding trips for members of the CC community, many of whom were first-time birders.

The GRFP funds the individual, not the proposed research project, so Noonan is prepared to pivot.

While I am still ironing out the details of my graduate work, it will likely revolve around the effects climate change has on significant events (e.g., breeding, feather molt, migration) in the annual cycles of songbirds. Noonan will start a PhD in Integrative Biology at Oregon State University this fall conducting avian ecophysiology research.

Evan Foster 21: Life Sciences  Ecology

I honestly was just hoping for an honorable mention and constructive reviewer comments that I could apply to future applications! jokes Evan Foster 21, after learning he won the GRF.

That being said, I am doing my best to fight my own imposter syndrome and both trust the promise and qualifications that my reviewers saw in my potential as a graduate student and future leader in my field of study, as well as recognize that this is a culmination of not only the hard work I put into this application, but also the years of hard work I put in during my undergraduate studies and postgraduate work.

Hard work that Fosters CC adviser, Miro Kummel, professor of Environmental Science, noted from the very beginning of his undergraduate experience. I knew Evan from his first CC course, recalls Kummel. He was part of the First Semester Abroad program and took my EV120 Ecology and Conservation of Tropical Cloud Forests in Costa Rica. He really fell in love with tropical ecosystems there, and his class independent project on orchid bees was meaningful to him, because he followed it up later in a REU project on invasive orchids in Puerto Rico. Evan worked with me on his thesis on spatial pattern formation in Colorado prairies -- and did a wonderful job there. But what was more remarkable was that at the same time, he was working on a paper for publication based on his orchid research in Puerto Rico. He managed both projects at an A+ level and now has a first author publication in one of the leading journals in the field.

Foster is currently working as a research intern at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, conducting research on marine invasions spread through the Panama Canal. He will be starting his PhD at the University of Notre Dame this fall in their Biological Sciences Department.

He plans to conduct his research on plant community ecology and plant-herbivore interactions at Mpala Research Center in Kenya. Foster hopes to continue learning from the natural world as an ecologist, primarily with a career in academia. I believe academia provides a unique, privileged, and special opportunity to be curious, while still enacting positive change at an individual level through teaching and mentorship, like many of my professors at CC have done for me.

Riley Wadehra 20: Life Sciences  Ecology

Im thrilled to win a GRF! Not only is it a major honor, but I worked very hard to write a good project and Im glad it paid off, says Riley Wadehra 20, whos currently in her second year as a PhD student in the Yale University Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department, working on fire behavior, particularly in tropical savannas.

Wadehra credits CC for setting her up for success, most recently through the application process and getting through grad school. The Block Plan allowed me to take independent research blocks where I got hands-on experience with field work and research, so I was able to know I was interested in research and could leverage that experience. I gained a lot of confidence and excitement about my work at CC which I think really benefited me here, says Wadehra.

Riley took my Climate Change class in her first year and was honestly one of the best students I ever had in that class, adds Kummel, who served as Wadehras adviser. She joined my treeline research group in her second year and worked with me for three years doing both hands-on data collection in the field as well as spatial analysis of data and mathematical modeling. She is incredibly bright, upbeat, has a can-do attitude to life and work. Her thesis work focused on developing spatial models for the treeline and exploring how spatial positive and negative feedbacks shaped the fine structure of the treeline's edge. She then compared her findings to real treelines at Pikes Peak. She presented her treeline work at national and international conferences.

Wadehra wants to continue studying fire and sees herself staying in academia either conducting research or teaching.

Grace Rosner 22: Life Sciences  Cell Biology

I feel incredibly humbled. Life is never straightforward, says Grace Rosner 22 of winning a GRF. I had no one to look over my research statement and just said to myself, lets do this.

Rosner says she has dedicated herself to science because she believes it is one way to address the world's most extensive problems. We want to address problems that, in 100 years, people will look back and say were the most pressing and destructive issues humanity faced.

I just want to help people  whether that be a small contribution to the knowledge of disease or a large discovery, I will be intellectually satisfied with every biological question I follow through on and I sincerely hope those questions address and benefit society, she added.

I am thrilled for Grace to have her graduate research supported by the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program, says Darrell Killian, associate professor and chair of the Department of Molecular Biology. Rosner did research in Killians lab, spending a lot of time learning some technically challenging microinjection skills. It was clear to me that Grace was driven by curiosity, excitement, and passion rather than a need to check boxes for a major or a grad program.

Killian, who served as Rosners adviser, considers her a wonderful example of a product of a liberal arts college education. In addition to a molecular biology major and research experience, she pursued academic challenges outside the sciences, which included a major in the classics and a minor in philosophy.

She took an impressive range of courses that make her a deep thinker across disciplines, and this will also make her an excellent communicator of science to others, Killian says.

Audrey Dervarics 19: Social Sciences  Biological Anthropology

It is a big confidence boost to know that the reviewers of this fellowship, who are experts in the field, see merit in both my past accomplishments and future goals, shares Audrey Dervarics 19.

Currently studying at a top research institution, Arizona State University, Dervarics wants to do community-based research and hopes to find collaborators with whom to co-generate her research and ensure it speaks to community needs. She says being at a large university makes her appreciate her beginnings at CC.

The most formative aspect of my CC career was the depth at which I got to explore the questions I had. I can see how influential the small class sizes and one-on-one connections with professors were in shaping my critical thinking skills, says Dervarics.

I am incredibly thankful to my CC adviser, Dr. Krista Fish, who opened up the Anthropology Department's bone lab outside of regular class hours so I could study more, who moved around her schedule to ensure osteology was taught before I graduated, and who guided me through the difficulties of my senior thesis.

Audrey was an incredible student to work with! shares Fish, professor of anthropology. Her NSF project, which is aimed at exploring the immigrant health paradox, is situated at the intersection of public health and biological anthropology and it truly blends her interests in human biology, the interaction between society and individual health, and social justice. I am so proud of everything that she has accomplished so far and look forward to learning from her next research project.

Beyond the opportunities it offered, CC's financial support of both internships and research was integral to landing Dervarics first internship at the Smithsonian Institution as well as funding the culmination of her three summers there and her senior thesis project.

Arielle Link 19: Life Sciences  Ecology

Graduate school can be both overwhelming and fulfilling, says Arielle Link 19, currently a PhD student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Winning the fellowship allows me to take a breath, realize I am on a solid path, and forge ahead with my work!

Link calls it an open secret that the selection process for the GRFP is a bit of a lottery, as there are more students deserving of a fellowship than there are awards available. She feels lucky and honored. I hope the work I am doing on microbial biodiversity and ecosystem function in postfire forests furthers the understanding of forest recovery after severe fire and ecosystem response to change, she says.

Link was heavily involved with the environmental science program at CC and gained field work and research experience beginning her first year. She also studied abroad in New Zealand, which helped expand her concept of ecological knowledge and data, as well as provide her with internship experience and a mentor who helped her apply for various research jobs after college.

She says the support of professors and staff in the environmental science department was invaluable to her.

Specifically, Id like to thank Dr. Rebecca Barnes (former EV program professor) for the constant inspiration and guidance, and for introducing me to biogeochemistry!

Bridget Galaty 21: Social Sciences  Economics

It still feels totally unreal! says Bridget Galaty 21, who says they took a shot in the dark applying to the GRFP. I am really looking forward to the opportunity to use the fellowship to conduct individual research as part of getting my PhD in economics over the next few years, says Galaty.

Their project examines the effects of creativity in children and adolescents on academic and economic lifecycle outcomes as shaped by economic preferences, personality traits, and Executive Function (EF) skills. The project is built upon research they developed while working as a predoctoral fellow.

Galaty was inspired at CC by Jessica Hoel, associate professor and associate chair of the Economics and Business Department. Hoel introduced Galaty to the process of conducting experimental economics research which eventually led to a Math-Economics thesis on the COVID-19 vaccination and economic preferences.

"Bridget stood out from the very first week I met them, when Bridget took my 400-level math-econ elective as a sophomore, adds Hoel. There was an optional statistical analysis portion of the class, and I expected that only students who had taken that pre-requisite course would participate in that part of my class. Instead, Bridget taught themself enough of the software program to be useful to the team in three days. Incredible! Bridget continued to be one of the most hard-working, creative, and curious students I've encountered at CC.
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People wait to apply for asylum between two border walls Thursday, May 11, 2023, in San Diego. Many of the hundreds of migrants between the walls that separate Tijuana, Mexico, with San Diego have been waiting for days to apply for asylum. Pandemic-related U.S. asylum restrictions, known as Title 42, are to expire May 11.
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The Missourians Opinion section is a public forum for the discussion of ideas. The views presented in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Missourian or the University of Missouri. If you would like to contribute to the Opinion page with a response or an original topic of your own, visit our submission form
Disclosure: IBM is a client of the author.

IBM this week announced watsonx at Think, and it has the potential to be a generative AI standout. Thats important because generative AI has hit the tech industry like a Mack truck and appears to be advancing at an unbelievable rate. Just as quickly, well-founded concerns about the quality of the massive training set behind it have emerged. First, the technology is very new to most people and the risks surrounding it arent well known. And second, we still dont know how to ensure that whats produced by generative AI tools is accurate.

In addition, much as with some initial problems with Linux, intellectual property issues surround generational AI and are scaring creators half to death. Basic productivity tools such as those used for editing, formatting, and making presentations appear relatively safe. But when tools like ChatGPT are asked to create or to provide decision support  or even make decisions autonomously  those IP issues are more pronounced. And the speed of adoption could lead to future problems if the issues surrounding quality arent adequately addressed.

Thats where IBM comes in. Its one company that now has decades of operational AI experience, one that identified years ago what the current concerns would be and worked to mitigate them long before we heard the term generative AI. IBM, under Thomas Watson, Jr. decades ago, established a policy of trustworthy products and services, and has more recently been outspoken that AI should be used to enhance, not replace, employees.

IBMs unique strength

IBMs capability is rare in this area, given its long history with Watson, the AI platform tied to healthcare and diagnostic support. (Its a market that requires putting accuracy and data protection first.) In addition, IBM was arguably the most powerful champion for Linux, helping to assure the underlying intellectual property behind the open-source software. IBM eventually bought Red Hat, the most powerful and capable provider of Linux, giving it unique legal access to massive training sets without violating privacy (healthcare) or third-party intellectual property rights (Linux).

IBMs big enterprise and government focus means it has taken reliability, availability, and security seriously well before I joined that company in the 1980s. Its defenses against malware are near legendary, its z series mainframe platform is the most reliable and secure platform in the market, and its an industry leader in hybrid computing. Its unique, secure IBM Cloud differentiates it from the pack and could be something of a model for generative AI as it evolves.

As AI advances, it will need to embrace a hybrid model because moving and updating the massive datasets that support it will be impractical, and moving at least some of the processing closer to the user will be necessary to avoid latency. For instance, if you were to use this technology on a manufacturing line to assure build quality, excessive latency could lead to higher failure rates and lower production volumes.

IBMs one shortcoming

IBM does has one major shortcoming: it no longer has a desktop presence. It sold its PC company to Lenovo in the early 2000s. However, it still has relationships with Intel, AMD (Intel and AMD are clients), and, at one time, it had a partnership with Apple. (Apple appears to have been caught napping by the rapid emergence of generative AI, but could team up with IBM to provide this capability and close what will shortly be an embarrassing technology gap.)

With neural processing units (NPUs), visual processing units (VPUs) coming to market next year, the need for a desktop solution will only rise. That will require IBM to leverage one of its many partnerships  and it needs to do so before these partners get too invested in a different technology.

While generative AI could revolutionize technology, like any new product, it is having some teething issues when it comes to quality and trustworthiness. IBMs watsonx could address these concerns because its based on decades of research, past trust-assuring practices, and mainframe standards that should make it the standard against which other efforts are measured. If IBM can figure what to do about its non-existent desktop business, its watsonx stands as the first, best hope for a trustworthy generative AI solution.
NRI woman in Singapore gets 16 weeks in jail for hitting Indian maid, throwing vomit at her

An Indian woman in Singapore, a housewife, has been sentenced to 16 weeks in prison for punching her maid, also Indian, hitting the latter with a toy, and throwing vomit at her. The woman, 37-year-old Monica Sharma, pleaded guilty to the assault charge and is expected to present herself in court on May 23 to start serving her sentence. She is currently on bail on a bond of SGD10,000.

The deputy public prosecutor had urged the Singapore court to give NRI convict Monica Sharma a sentence of at least five months, but the defence lawyer pleaded for a lenient punishment, citing her mental health issues. Photo courtesy: Pixabay/QuinceCreative

The domestic assault incident, for which Sharma was sentenced yesterday, took place on April 10, 2021, nearly three months after the 25-year-old maid began working at the Sharma household. They lived in an apartment near River Valley Road.

The maid was picking up some toys in the flats living room when Monica Sharma shouted at the maid, dissatisfied with her work. She then went over to the maid and punched the latter in the face three times.

Her husband saw the incident, tried to restrain his wife, and said sorry to the maid for this assault. But Monica Sharma again assaulted the maid, hitting her in the head with a hard toy. Reportedly, the court documents also say that the woman threw vomit at the maid, but it is not said where the vomit came from.

The assault left the maid with injuries, including swelling, on her face. She took photos of the injuries and sent the pictures to her employment agency in India. The agent then used contacts in Singapore to report this to the police.

The Singapore police visited the apartment, and took the maid to Changi General Hospital. Since her injuries were not serious, she was discharged quickly, but she immediately stopped working in the Sharma household. It took two months for her to find a new job. The gap of two months caused her a loss of income of nearly SGD1,000; for this, the Sharmas compensated her but only about 18 months after she left their employment.

The case went to trial, and yesterday, the deputy public prosecutor asked the court to sentence Monica Sharma to at least five months in jail, whereas the defence lawyer asked for a lenient punishment, citing that his client  the accused  suffered from anxiety attacks. The defence lawyer told the court that Monica Sharma was scared and realised how her mental health issues affected herself and her family. Nonetheless, the court gave her a sentence amounting to about four months in prison.
A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind.
Extra judicial executions must be brought down to zero at the Indo-Bangladesh border in the spirit of the Modi-Hasina meeting of September 2022.

BSF must be posted at the actual border instead of inside the villages.

All arbitrary fencings must be removed immediately.

Border gates must be kept open according to the circular no. 42/11/Ops-05/BSF mandated by DG (Operations) of BSF on 27th September 2005, where it is clearly mentioned that border gates are to be kept open from 6 am to 6 pm during the summer season and from 6 am to 5 pm during the winter.

The villagers must be allowed to continue their way of livelihood with restriction. No restrictions on the matter of purchase and sell of groceries should be placed on the villagers in accordance with the report of Mr. R.R Jha (IAS), secretary of MHA, published on 07.04.2011.

If BSF acquires any land from the villagers which is placed between the border fencing and the actual border, it must be done according to the land acquisition act and must be compensated and rehabilitated for that as suggested in the 203rd report of the department related parliamentary standing committee on home affairs. If these lands are not acquired in accordance with law, the must ensure that the people living there enjoy all the constitutional rights the law of the land provides them.

The use of lethal weapons at the border must be stopped at once.

The establishment of weekly Border Huts every 5 to 10 kilometers away in the Indo-Bangladesh borders must be initiated to promote legal trade between two countries.

BSF should be removed from the Indo-Bangladesh border in order to avoid further bloodshed of innocent people and the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) or any other force should replace the duty in this border.

The Indo-Bangladesh border must be managed in accordance with the resolutions of BSF-NHRC meeting of 16-17th February, 2012, held in Kolkata.

On the occasion of the Birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore, on 9th May 2023, Amit Shah, home minister of the Union government, visited West Bengal to take part in a programme. We heartily welcome his visit. As he visited the State, we want him to look into a few issues of the citizens residing at Indo-Bangladesh border villages to his notice. We hope that he will take cognizance of these matters and take prompt actions to resolve these issues.Despite the fact that India and Bangladesh are friendly countries, the Indo-Bangladesh border is one of the most vulnerable and violent borders in the world, registering severe bloodshed on a daily basis. On an average a person is being killed every two days on the Indo-Bangladesh border by the BSF. In the case of each of these deaths, surprisingly a couple of things remain constant  the deceased is a criminal in a police case and the murderer under impunity.The BSF uses pellet guns in the Indo-Bangladesh borders in order to combat whatever they decide as crimes. Several Indian and Bangladeshi citizens are victims of these pellet guns including severe injury even resulting in death. Many of these victims lost their sight due to pellet injury.We know that the villagers of the Indo-Bangladesh border are heavily dependent on agriculture for livelihood. But, the precarious positioning of the border fencing, which at places are 500 meters to a few kilometers inland, are putting the economic and social life of these people in harms way.Huge swaths of land of these villagers are entrapped between the fencing and the actual border, and they are facing incessant harassment at the hands of the BSF personnel just to access their legally owned lands, even access to their own houses. As we all know, there is no such restrictions at the border between India and Nepal or India and Bhutan. Then, why is the ministry resorting to the practice of double standard in case of another amicable nation, Bangladesh?Even the people of these villages are having a hard time to access the CPWD roads at the Indo-Bangladesh border, which are not allowed to be used by border dwellers even during the day. Against the law of the land, at many places, the administration is resorting to continuous promulgation 144 CrPC at the demand of BSF to restrict the movement of the people. In some areas, they have banned beef and the sale of cows on the Muslim-dominated border, not allowing vendors to sell beef even if they have licenses.On the other side of the barbed wire, about 60,000 families continuously endure the unimaginable torture of life like in prison. Only they can depart or arrive from outside when the gate is opened for an hour three times a day. As equal citizens of India, why will they be deprived of their constitutional rights?As a security force, the duty of BSF is to keep the border safe. Instead they are stooping to new levels of notoriety and putting the very rights of the citizens of these areas at risk. Why does the home minister maintain silence on this?Finally, for the sake of the rights of our fellow citizens at Indo-Bangladesh border, we would like to reiterate a few long-standing demands:We would like to remind him that a densely populated region of Bengal was torn apart by an arbitrary Radcliffe line during the partition of India in 1947. Naturally, it gave rise to a humanitarian crisis in the region hitherto unknown. We would also like to remind that the responsibility to look after the well-being of these people lies with the government. Thus, we would like to believe that. After all, as the home minister he must go beyond his political position and work for the betterment of the citizens as a constitutional authority.Finally, we would like to state that the person whose birthday the Home Minister was celebrating has always been an out-spoken advocate of humanity. We hope, Amit Shah will pledge for the betterment of the border populace.---
- Buildable basic and advanced log sled

- Tree regrowth (setting is on by default) with a 10% chance to randomly regrow when you sleep

- Findable cooking pots and new advanced cooking system

- Can now add tarps to log structures

- Added 2 new found footage clips

- Added Beached sail boats location

- Also added 79 new ponds and 34 new lakes to the map

- You can now play the guitar

- Added Timmy mutated arm to demon battle scene

- Added new wearable clothing item

- New Kelvin commands added to reset traps, fill log sleds and fill drying racks with fish

- Days Survived now shows the correct readout if the player died during the final interactive cutscene by jumping into the propeller blades

- Cannibals in villages will now sometimes engage in a test of strength fight with another cannibal

- Cannibal fear is now affected by group size, single cannibals will have more fear, large cannibal groups will have less

- Shotgun rail is now on side of gun instead of top to avoid blocking vision

- Turtles will now only lay eggs on sand

- Muddies will sometimes get bored with the player and run away if not angry

- Added Timmy mutant arm visuals to demon boss cutscene

- Lowered priority for female cannibals stealing logs

- Eagles may now steal dead fish

- Throwing dead bodies on spring traps now sends them flying into air

- Moldy food and dead flowers added to banquet hall

- Timmy will now block the exit to hell cave until after you have defeated the boss demon

- Timmys jacket will now be ripped after demon boss battle scene

- GPS Map updated with latest lakes and rivers

- Dead small birds now float in water

- Fix for duplicating logs in storage triggers

- Knight V improved sheen on pickup

- Enforced max server name length

- Lobby list performance improved in preparation for an upcoming feature

- Improved support for loading into large multiplayer saves and help with structures vanishing

- Rotated the shotgun in the weapon case in inventory so that the mods are visible now that they are on the side

- Added localized display names for Points of Interest notifications

- Player no longer makes a drinking sound when refilling a container with liquid

- 3D Printer will once again update the resin volume readout when the printer is refilled

- If an item instance module fails to deserialize on load, it will no longer stop the rest the of the players inventory from loading

- Renamed bunker locations to be clearer when discovered

- Improved docks draw distance

- Added more tree moss/vines in areas of map

- Improved bunker food lighting

- Bunker luxury details added; More decorative items, vases, and more dead bodies

- Added cooking pot pickup to tech apartment in bunker residential

- Looking around now updates the target cut position when aiming at a log with an axe equipped (before it was only calculated when first targeted)

- It is no longer possible to cut off holes in floors supporting furniture or windows from a wall that is supporting wall structures

- Kelvin will now choose another tree to chop if a tree structure is placed on it

- Kelvins order will complete with the thumbs up if there are no more Arrows/Bolts, Berries, or Radios to retrieve and drop

- Kelvin will now have berries in his hand when eating them. On fishing will have fish on initial grab

- Added fail

- safe protection against enemies falling through world and not deactivating

- Multiplayer clients will now see the proper GPS locator type on Virginia instead of default icon

- Current wetness on characters now replicates to multiplayer clients

- The chainsaw revved state will now be heard and seen by other players and rev will stop when knocked down

- Fixed small birds flying under the water surface when flying over deep lakes

- Fixed a fish bunching up issue

- Can no longer drink lava

- Fixed under lava visuals

- Fixed snow and wetness occlusion volumes used in specific world locations not initializing properly

- Also fixed a visual arm pop on player that appeared sometimes when landing from a fall or jump

- Fixed Twins not always turning towards player before taunting

- Fixed fingers stuck in standing idle after burning death

- Also fixed projectile impact FX for flesh and hard surfaces not replicating to other players in multiplayer

- Fixed player sometimes being able to interact with other triggers when notepad was open, which could get player into stuck state

- Fixed cannibals not staying snapped to tree edge while shimmying around the tree

- Also fixed bug where cannibals could take dismember damage while blocking

- Fixed muddy cannibal getting angry at player if hit by a rock thrown by another muddy

- Fixed some cases of cannibals getting blocked by collision at or above head

- Also fixed muddies having standing collision instead of hunched over

- Fixed eating dead squirrels not increasing character fullness stat

- Fixed some cases of far snaps for Sitting and Jumping on Rock

- Also fixed the cave shark sometimes being killed by creepies

- Fixed multiplayer client thrown logs not breaking foliage when far away from server player

- Fixed multiplayer client-thrown logs not causing a hit reaction on enemies

- Also fixed multiplayer clients not seeing burning effects when dead puffies are thrown onto a fire

- Fixed multiplayer clients unable to put cannibals into the injured limb state and fixed some animation blending and smoothness issues in the injured state

- Fixed Kelvin radios deactivating when moved far from original location, and fixed carry positioning visuals for multiplayer clients

- Kelvin will no longer pickup broken radios

- Fixed Kelvin when moved far away from tree target unable to find another tree to clear automatically

- Kelvin Finish Structure command; Fixed some issues with counting logs needed. If hes holding unused items they will now be dropped on ground

- Fixed a case where Kelvin stood carrying a single log instead of placing it then cutting a tree

- Fixed Kelvin getting stuck if the holder he was filling was removed or destroyed. Now he will drop the item and complete the order

- Also fixed Kelvin trying and failing to fill item holders that are far above the ground

- Fixed case where a leaning beam could link a free pillar with a structure on an incompatible placement grid

- Fixed context allowing to place a beam with same support on both ends that isnt an Apex or a Wall

- Also fixed detached pillar placement creating degenerate pillar if it fails to find supporting ground, now properly prevents placement if there is no ground bellow (could happen when placing off a cliff for example)

- Fixed one case where quickly sharpening stick posts causes the cut animation to fail for subsequent cuts

- Fixed player getting stuck in carry log animation by rapidly placing and taking a log from the log holder

- Also fixed cutting quarters off dynamic logs sometimes hard to target

- Fixed Repair Tool hitbox active while it is equipped

- Fixed some wrong settings for quarter log LODs (rendering performance improvement)

- Also fixed Defensive Walls and DW Gates unable to be damaged by player melee hits

- Fixed leaned beams sometimes accepting pillars on top of the bottom end before planks are added

- Fixed cutting Defensive Wall spikes moving player too close which made subsequence cuts harder to aim

- Also fixed some localized entries in the configuration menus not showing properly on Windows machines set to Turkish display language

- Cut down trees with axe tutorial should now only trigger the first time

- Battery indicator on the NVGs should no longer disappear after performing certain actions

- Fixed flickering/distortion that could appear for some players in late game saves

- Increased reflection probe atlas to 40962048 (should fix issues where reflection probes could break/show wrong probes)

- Burning Puffies should now look correct/not distort

- Fix for 3D Printer not showing the correct initial amount of resin

- 3D Printed Sled can no longer be placed on the crafting mat

- Improved player audio for other players in multiplayer

- Added some Timmy voice acting to Gold Room cutscene

- Made chainsaw transition to cutting sound faster

- Reduced fade time on intro helicopter crash music

- Made first look guitar sting 3d

- Added beeps to opening helicopter crash

- Improved demon boss audio

- Set some various small objects in bunkers/morgue to have surfaces tagged for impact sounds and get melee impact physics

- Added ragdoll impact sounds to deer and baby

Le jeus'offre un, avec de tres nombreuses corrections, voici la liste complete :
Okay, 2023 comedians, we hear you. Many of you are living in mortal fear of that alarming, amorphous blob known as cancel culture. In the past year, weve heard about the existential threat to comedy as we know it from the likes of Joe Rogan, Jennifer Aniston, Cedric the Entertainer, Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock, Roseanne Barr, Kathy Griffin, Ricky Gervais, John Mulaney, Bill Maher, Howie Mandel, John Cleese, Marlon Wayans, Goldie Hawn, Jeff Dunham, Rowan Atkinson, Kevin Hart, Jerrod Carmichael, Rob Schneider Well, you get the idea.

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So far as weve seen, canceled comics like Chappelle suffer the consequences of cancelation by hosting Saturday Night Live and selling out the Hollywood Bowl. But back in the days of comedians like Lenny Bruce, cancelation meant something different. Canceling meant you might not work again. Canceling meant the club that employed you might close forever. In John Mulaneys recent Baby J special, he lamented that comedians need to be liked is a jail. For Bruce, actual jail was part of his comedy reality.

Bruce was one of the leaders of a movement that Time, not kindly, called sick comedy. What made it sick? Time didnt define the term, but used the slam to cover a new wave of comedians who were markedly different from those who had come before  and from each other. What comics like Bruce, Mort Sahl and Jonathan Winters had in common was a hard turn away from the setup/punch-line cadence of comedians trained in the Catskills. Other than that, the comics couldnt have been more different. Sahl, armed with a V-neck sweater and newspaper, poked improvisational fun at the days politics and culture. Winters, a proto-Robin Williams, morphed into crazy characters, interacting with talk-show hosts in multiple personas.

And then there was Bruce, for whom the description of sick at least made some sense. If a topic was taboo, Bruce wanted to flood it with light, to flip a joke that exposed its hypocrisy. That meant riffing on all the subjects that made good upstanding citizens queasy  homosexuality, drug use, politics, violence, organized religion, masturbation, guilt and shame. You know, the good stuff. His routines werent carefully written. He was the first stream-of-consciousness comedian I ever saw, comedian David Steinberg wrote in his book Inside Comedy. He was a revelation because he wasnt trying to be funny all the time. He was into the story, the way the character talked.

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He was talking his personal truth, his personal view of the country, finding comedy in a much harsher way than, lets say, Will Rogers, Wayne Federman, author of The History of Stand-Up: From Mark Twain to Dave Chappelle, adds. Sure, Bruce was political, but I feel like it was more social comedy. He made fun of Jackie Kennedy after the assassination. He would talk about Eleanor Roosevelt's breasts. Bruce had a jazz-influenced speaking style, which thrilled hip audiences and bewildered the squares. His comedy was new, it was shocking, and to some, like the squares, it was sick indeed.

The niche Bruce carved for himself  Americas foremost dirty comic  was a boon and a curse. Yes, it made a guy famous, but it got him in a lot of hot water as well. Several communities wanted to cancel Bruce, with cancel meaning throwing him behind bars. It wasnt an isolated threat  he was arrested for comedy thought crimes from Los Angeles to Chicago to New York City.

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There were basically local laws, Federman tells me. Each community could have their own standards. Sometimes these laws were enforced, and sometimes they werent. When Bruce was in town, the laws were enforced more often.

The first time I got arrested for obscenity was in San Francisco, Bruce confessed in his celebrated autobiography How to Talk Dirty and Influence People. I used a 10-letter word onstage. Just a word in passing. Unfortunately, that passing word was cocksucker, and the local cops werent going to stand for it. Bruce made compelling arguments in court and the jury acquitted him, but now, other local authorities had pricked up their ears. If Bruce was coming to town, the cops wanted to make sure they heard what he had to say.

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As such, Bruce kept racking up the arrests. There was the 1961 drug possession charge in Philadelphia, followed up two years later in West Hollywood when a young deputy took him in for using the word schmuck on stage. Its safe to assume that most of the audience didnt speak Yiddish, one reason those charges were dismissed. But it wouldnt be so easy in December 1962, when Bruce was hauled off the stage of the Gate of Horn club in Chicago. He was supposedly arrested on obscenity charges, but Variety reported, The prosecutor is at least equally concerned with Bruces indictments of organized religion as he is with the more obvious sexual content of the comics act.

He was a Jewish guy making fun of the Catholic Church, Federman explains. And now we had our first Catholic president. That was part of the zeitgeist of the time. In a heavily Catholic town like Chicago, with a predominantly Irish-Catholic police force, Bruce was asking for trouble with off-color jokes about the pope.

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Also asking for trouble: A young George Carlin who, believe it or not, was in the Gate of Horn crowd that night in Chicago. When Carlin, along with the rest of the audience, was asked to show his ID to the cops, Carlin replied, I dont believe in ID. You know, just a smart-ass, Irish guy, a little drunk, who didnt like authority. Carlin got himself thrown in the back of the same squad car as Bruce, as he describes in this audio interview.

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According to Bruce, prosecutors assembled an all-Catholic jury to hear his case. The opening argument doesnt contain a word about obscenity, the actual charge under which Bruce was arrested: You will hear the mockery of the church, not just any church, not just the Catholic Church, not just the Lutheran Church, but the church per se. The judge slapped the prosecution for making an immaterial accusation, but the damage was done and Bruce was sentenced to a year in jail. The Illinois Supreme Court upheld the ruling upon Bruces appeal. Eventually, the Supreme Court of the United States overturned the conviction  only so Bruce could continue to get arrested.

The damage to his career led to more drug use, which led to more arrests. And then in April 1964, he got nabbed again by Greenwich Village undercover cops at the Cafe Au Go Go. Bruce didnt ride in the squad car alone  the clubs owners were also arrested for permitting an obscene performance.

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This latest trial got a lot of press and lasted for six long months. Bruce and Howard Solomon, the club owners, were both found guilty of obscenity. This really had a chilling effect, Federman says about Bruces ability to land new stand-up gigs. Other club bookers were saying things like, I dont want to get arrested. Clubs, as well as comics, were getting canceled. A month later, Bruce was sentenced to four months in a workhouse. He appealed and never served the time  he died before his plea could be tried.

This is what true cancelation looks like. Not only was Bruce unable to book gigs amidst all his legal troubles, he couldnt even look for them. According to his official website, Variety refused to run Bruces desperate advertisement for work, a simple statement announcing Im available. The career spiral led to despair and a deepening drug problem, ultimately costing his life.

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In many ways, Bruce paved the way for todays comedians, accustomed to saying whatever the bleep they want despite their social media gripes. Other comics call him St. Lenny, Federman says. Hes a martyr. Were still talking about the guy and his battles with these local governments. Those battles paved the way for Carlin and Richard Pryor, for HBO and its all-words-allowed comedy specials, and for all the profane, rebellious and blasphemous comics that followed, almost always safe from authority figures trying to ban their comedy sermons.

A postscript: If Bruce had a sick sense of humor, he likely would have laughed at his greatest legal irony. Thirty-nine years after his Greenwich Village obscenity conviction, Bruce was posthumously pardoned by New York Governor George Pataki. It was the first posthumous pardon in the states history, a declaration of New Yorks commitment to upholding the First Amendment.

Freedom of speech is one of the greatest American liberties, Pataki said in a statement. I hope this pardon serves as a reminder of the precious freedoms we are fighting to preserve as we continue to wage the war on terror.

So even Lenny Bruce wasnt canceled forever. But as The New York Times points out, Being dead, Mr. Bruce is not expected to reap any immediate benefit from the pardon.
8 NewsRadio s Lisa We know Lisa (Maura Tierney) as a dogged and very nerdy reporter at New Yorks news radio station WNYX. But when anchor Max (Jon Lovitz) offers his speech therapist skills to help cure her sibilant s, he also undoes all the work she put in to lose her native Boston accent. Lets hope this exercise wasnt too traumatic for actual ex-Bostonian Tierney. Play

7 Saturday Night Lives Boston Teens Through more than a dozen sketches, SNL viewers followed Denise Zazu McDenna (Rachel Dratch) and her boyfriend Pat Sully Sullivan (Jimmy Fallon) on various adventures, typically marked by extremely Bostonian antisocial behavior, and always filmed by their unseen friend Tommy. Though some entries have showcased famously non-Bostonian performers like Gwyneth Paltrow and Britney Spears, actually Bostonian guest hosts of the era really sank their teeth into it. Play This is just one of three Boston Teens sketches that feature Affleck as Donnie: see also Donnies Party and Donnies Wedding.

6 Clone Highs Teen JFK Naturally, Matty Mulligans model for his administration is John F. Kennedy, and is excited to find the late presidents bra knife among the surviving relics in the White House. But this isnt the first time JFK has been represented on an animated series with what is probably less than perfect historical accuracy. Starting in 2002, JFK also appeared on Clone High, voiced by series co-creator Chris Miller, as a teen clone of the original model. Before the shows long-awaited second season premieres on May 23rd, familiarize yourself with Clone Highs take on the 35th president. Play

5 Ronna & Beverly (2009) Ronna (Jessica Chaffin) and Beverly (Jamie Denbo) are (young) Jewish Boomers who have opinions on a variety of topics. For instance, Chaffin and Denbos two-hander comedy appearances have been billed as seminars in which Ronna and Beverly hawk their self-help book Youll Do A Little Better Next Time: A Guide to Marriage and Re-marriage for Jewish Singles. Before co-hosting a chat podcast on Earwolf from 2011-2017, they made a pilot for Showtime, which they co-wrote with a pre-Orange Is The New Black Jenji Kohan, and was directed by Paul Feig, who would later cast them both in the Boston-set The Heat. It didnt go to series, but survives as a YouTube treasure. Play

4 Jack Donaghys High School Crush on 30 Rock Because Jack (Alec Baldwin), the, uh, challenging network executive, is from Boston, 30 Rock attacks the city and its residents fairly often  for example, in this scene where Liz (Tina Fey) reminds the viewer that she is also from a city known for its pugnacity. Play The Boston material began in earnest in the shows fourth season with the introduction of Julianne Moore as Nancy, Jacks high school crush. In Secret Santa, Moores take on the accent was controversial, but producer Robert Carlock defended it at the time. (Fun fact: Carlock went on to partner with Sam Means, another 30 Rock writing alumnus, to co-create Mulligan.) Secret Santa leaves things unresolved between Jack and Nancy, but since her marriage is in the process of disintegrating, she remains so much on his mind that when Liz tries to convince him to take the show-within-a-show TGS to another city to give everyone a break from the most soul-crushing weeks of a New York winter, he suggests Boston. In keeping with their civic reputation, the Bruins Beat staffers with whom the TGS contingent must share an office are obnoxious and rough. Play

3 Catastrophes Rob Norris (Kinda, Sorta) The Channel 4/Prime Video sitcom Catastrophe doesnt exactly center its Boston cred: It stars and was co-created by Rob Delaney, a certified Bostonian, and his fictional character Rob Norris is from there, but in the series premiere he moves to London to live with Sharon (co-creator Sharon Horgan) and raise the baby with which he has impregnated her. We basically only see him there from then on until the series finale brings the family back to Boston, and while Rob has a lot of brutish qualities, Sharon does too; Robs shortcomings arent related to the city of his birth and he doesnt even really have an accent. Is Catastrophe only on this list as a pretext to include Delaneys earlier appearances as Don Drapah in the Funny or Die spoof MA Men? Maybe! Youll also see Faxon showing off his future Matty Mulligan accent. Play Play

2 Late Night With Seth Meyers Boston Accent Spoof Released in 2015, the Boston-set Spotlight was a critical sensation. The following year, before it won the Oscar for Best Picture, Late Night with Seth Meyers let its titular host dust off his accent from Donnies Wedding to play several characters in this spoof trailer for Boston Accent, which savages tropes from The Departed, The Town, Gone Baby Gone, Good Will Hunting and any number of other classics of the Boston film canon. Play

1 Saturday Night Lives Dunkin Donuts and Sam Adams Sketches I dont want to overstate the timeliness and savage accuracy of Boston Accent, but literally two days after Boston Accent aired on Late Night, Kenneth Lonergans Manchester by the Sea premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Set in and filmed around the eponymous Massachusetts town, the future multiple Oscar nominee was both a richly enveloping drama (per Justin Chang at Variety) and a Boston accent-athon, particularly for its lead, (Bens brother) Casey Affleck. When Casey hosted SNL that December to promote the films wide release, writers gambled on his ability to get back into his r-dropping character for this commercial parody. Play Four years later, Bill Burr hosted. Not long after his SNL turn, Burrs thick Boston accent would become a matter of public concern when he guested on The Mandalorian, apparently becoming the first Bostonian in space. Burr defended the choice despite pushback from Star Wars purists, and he was right, not only because its already dubious that people speak English in the Star Wars universe, regardless of their accent, but also because when he appeared in the first season of Reservation Dogs in the summer of 2021, he tried to do an Oklahoma accent, and he probably shouldnt have. But I digress: The Boston people enjoying Boston product format worked for Casey Affleck and Dunkin, and it worked again for Bill Burr and Sam Adams. Play
A group of cybercriminals based in Israel has launched more than 350 business email compromise (BEC) campaigns over the past two years, targeting large multinational companies from around the world. The group stands out with some of the techniques it uses, including email display name spoofing and multiple fake personas in the email chains, and through the abnormally large sums of money the attempt to extract from organizations.

"Like most other threat actors that focus on business email compromise, this group is fairly industry agnostic in their targets," researchers from cloud email security firm Abnormal Security said in a report. "They target multiple industries simultaneously, including manufacturing, financial services, technology, retail, healthcare, energy, and media."

The targeted organizations had headquarters in 15 countries, but since they are multinational corporations, employees of these companies from offices in 61 different countries were targeted. The reason why the group is focused on large enterprises is in the lure they chose to justify the very large transfers they're after: company acquisitions. It's not unusual for such multinational companies to acquire smaller companies in various local markets.

CEO impersonation is followed by lawyer impersonation

In many BEC scams, attackers target employees from the finance or accounting departments that have access to the organization's accounts. However, this group targets company executives and other senior leaders.

The first email appears to come from the company's CEO and informs the recipient that the organization is in the process of acquiring a new company, but that the transaction is supervised by financial market authorities and needs to remain confidential until a public announcement is made to avoid any insider trading.

This initial email looks to obtain a promise of confidentiality, mentioning that the transaction might fail if information is leaked but includes other hints such as that the acquisition will not be performed from headquarters for tax reasons because the acquired company is in another country where the organization looks to expand its operations. This also helps add credibility if the targeted employee is a local executive in a certain country rather than someone from HQ.

"First, members of the executive team are likely to send and receive legitimate communications with the CEO on a regular basis, which means an email from the head of the organization may not seem abnormal," the researchers said. "Second, based on the stated importance of the supposed acquisition project, its reasonable for a senior leader at the company to be entrusted to help. And finally, because of their seniority within the organization, there is presumably less red tape that would need to be cut through in order for them to authorize a large financial transaction."

If the recipient agrees to assist, the follow-up email provides more information about the acquisition, such as the location of the company and the need to make an installment payment to ensure the acquisition before competitors might get wind of it. This is also where the targeted employee is handed off to a second persona by being told to contact an attorney who specializes in acquisitions. In many cases, solicitors from professional services and financial consulting firm KPMG are being impersonated in this second stage of the scam and the KPMG logo is used in the email signature.

When this second attorney persona is contacted, the attackers respond with the bank account information and the amount that needs to be transferred. The communication in this second part of the scam is not always done by email and in some cases the fake attorney asked to speak over a WhatsApp voice call. The researchers went along with one of the scams and called the number and spoke with someone with a French accent who reiterated the need for urgency and secrecy and excused his poor English communication skills saying he's based in Paris.

"An analysis of potential financial impact data across all payment fraud attacks shows the average amount requested is $65,000," the researchers said. "In contrast, this group requests an average of $712,000more than 10 times the average. Because the main theme of these attacks is the acquisition of a company and large sums of money are commonly exchanged in that type of transaction, the amount may not raise any red flags."

Email spoofing techniques

In BEC scams it's not unusual for attackers to compromise the real email account of a company employee and then launch their attack from there. However, since this group uses a specific lure that requires impersonation of the CEO to be credible, the attackers rely on email spoofing instead.

First, they establish if the organization's email domain has a DMARC policy enabled. This is a protocol for email communication that is aimed at preventing spoofing. If a DMARC policy is absent or is misconfigured and ineffective, then attackers spoof the email address directly. However, if such a policy exists they employ another technique known as display name spoofing.

Many email clients will just display the name of the sender in the email header in the default compact view. Some clients will add the email address as well after the name in a format "Name <user@domain.com>" or the recipient will have to click to expand the email header to see the email address as well. To trick victims the attackers configure their display name to be not just the CEO's full name but their email address as well in the form: "Fake Name <user@domain.com>" so when the target sees it they might confuse it with the email their email client displays addresses in expanded view.

"Even the most security-conscious employees could be tricked by socially engineered lures like these, particularly due to the legitimacy given by the phone calls," the researchers said. "And unfortunately, legacy security tools are unlikely to block the initial attacks since they are sent from legitimate domains without suspicious links, malicious attachments, or other traditional indicators of compromise."

Security awareness training for spotting these types of scams is essential, as well as having clearly defined internal procedures in place for verifying and authorizing transfer requests from the company's bank accounts, which could include always confirming a request made via email with a follow-up phone call to the person who made it, of course by using the phone number listed in the company's internal contacts directory and not the one listed in the email.

Unfortunately, these scams are low effort and high reward, since the attackers don't need a large number of targets to fall for them to be successful. "Just one successful attack each month means that these threat actors could be set for life, which is perhaps why they appear to only work a few months each year," the researchers said.






WASHINGTON (AP)  The Commerce Department on Friday is launching the application process for cities to receive a total of $500 million in grants to become technology hubs.

The $500 million is part of a $10 billion authorization from last year's CHIPS and Science Act to stimulate investments in new technologies such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing and biotech. It's an attempt to expand tech investment that is largely concentrated around a few U.S. cities  Austin, Texas; Boston; New York; San Francisco; and Seattle  to the rest of the country.

This is about taking these places on the edge of glory to being world leaders, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told The Associated Press. My job is to enhance America's competitiveness.

The Biden administration has made it a priority to set an industrial strategy of directing government investment into computer chips, clean energy and a range of other technologies. Officials say that being leaders in those fields will foster economic and national security, reflecting a belief that the best way to compete against China's ascendance will come from building internal strength.

The tech hubs are meant to build up areas that already have major research specialties but lack the access to financing that could fuel stronger growth and business formation in those fields. Pockets of the U.S. already have leading-edge tech such as medical devices in Minnesota, robotics in Pittsburgh and agricultural technology in Fresno, California. But the challenge has been finding ways to boost those fields so that government investment leads to more support from private capital.

To qualify for the tech hub money, each applicant will need a partnership that includes one or more companies, a state development agency, worker training programs, a university and state and local government leaders. Roughly 20 cities are expected to be designated as tech hubs with 10 eventually receiving funding.

President Joe Biden hopes to broaden the funding over time, requesting in his budget proposal that Congress appropriate another $4 billion for it over the next two years. Raimondo said that she expects a large number of applications from across the political spectrum.

The tech hubs program, formally the Regional Technology and Innovation Hub Program, ties into a political message that Biden has delivered in speeches. The Democratic president has said that people should not feel forced to leave their hometowns to find good jobs nor should opportunity cluster in just a few parts of the country while other regions struggle.

You shouldnt have to move to Silicon Valley if youre a scientist with a great idea, Raimondo said.
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Just over a year after Rizzuto's Restaurant & Bar closed in West Hartford's Blue Back Square, the Memorial Road space is home to Italian fare again. Gran Gusto officially opened this week, offering a traditional Neapolitan-style trattoria menu.

Gran Gusto's first location opened in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 2007, with an emphasis on pizzas and pastas crafted with Italian products, including imported cheeses, olive oil, flour and truffles. Chef-owner Giuseppe Castellano was born and raised in Naples, and came to the U.S. to continue his culinary career.

We're so excited to be coming to West Hartford with an updated menu and brand. After almost 20 years, our Cambridge customers have become like family to us and we can't wait to make the same connections with the people of West Hartford," Castellano said.

Courtesy of Gran Gusto

The West Hartford location's menu is similar to the Cambridge original, with "aperitivo" starters like meatballs, calamari, burrata and roasted octopus; salads; a lineup of red and white pizzas; housemade pasta dishes and "secondi," or entrees like brick oven-roasted half chicken, roasted New York strip, salmon and veal scallopini. New to the Connecticut location is a "dal mare" section of raw bar items like oysters and littleneck clams, crudos and other seafood dishes like house-cured salmon carpaccio.

At the bar, featured drinks include versions of a Moscow mule, spicy margarita, Negroni and Old-Fashioned, with bellinis, spritzes and sangria alongside Italian wines.

The restaurant will be open six days a week for dinner, offering lunch Thursday through Sunday.

Castellano and business partner Raffaele Gallo opened Gallo Family Restaurant in Danbury in October, sibling to their Ridgefield eateries Gallo Ristorante and The Lantern. Another Gran Gusto is set to open this year in New Haven, at 278 Park Street in the former Tarry Lodge space.

Blue Back Square recently also welcomed the first Connecticut location of Kilwin's, a Michigan-based sweets shop with ice cream, fudge, chocolates and other confections. New York-based Boqueria, featuring a Spanish tapas menu, is opening later this year in the South Main Street space that previously housed upscale Mexican restaurant Besito and Balos Estiatorio, a high-end Greek restaurant.
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PORTLAND, Ore. (AP)  An early May heat wave this weekend could surpass daily records in parts of the Pacific Northwest and worsen wildfires already burning in western Canada, a historically temperate region that has grappled with scorching summer temperatures and unprecedented wildfires fueled by climate change in recent years.

Were looking at record-breaking temperatures, said Miles Higa, meteorologist at the National Weather Services Portland office, describing the warmth as unusual for this time of year.

The unseasonal high temperatures could further flame the dozens of fires burning in Canada's western Alberta province, where officials have ordered evacuations and declared a state of emergency. Residents and officials in the Northwest have been trying to adjust to the likely reality of longer, hotter heat waves following the deadly  heat dome  weather phenomenon in 2021 that prompted record temperatures and deaths across the region.

The National Weather Service issued a heat advisory Friday lasting from Saturday through Monday for much of the western parts of both Oregon and Washington state. It said the temperatures could raise the risk of heat-related illness, particularly for those who are dehydrated or don't have effective cooling.

Temperatures in Portland, Oregon, are expected to hover around 94 F (34.4 C) throughout the weekend, according to the website of the National Weather Service office there. The current daily temperature records for May 13 and 14 stand at 92 F (33.3 C) and 91 F (32.8 C), dating from 1973 and 2014, respectively.

Elizabeth Romero and her three children were among those cooling off at a fountain in downtown Portland on Friday afternoon.

We decided to stop by ... until we all feel better," she said, adding that she plans to seek out shaded parks during the weekend.

Temperatures in the Seattle area could also meet or surpass daily records, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Jacob DeFlitch. The mercury could near 85 F (29.4 C) on Saturday and reach into the low 90s (32.2 C) on Sunday, he said.

King County, home to Seattle, directed transportation operators such as bus drivers to let people ride for free if they're seeking respite from the heat or heading to a cooling center. The county's regional homeless authority said several cooling and day centers will be open across the county.

Authorities also urged people to be wary of cold water temperatures, should they be tempted to take a river or lake swim to cool off.

Rivers are still running cold. We have snow melting and temperatures  probably in the low- to mid-40s (4.4 to 7.2 C) right now, National Weather Service meteorologist Higa said. Youre nice and warm and jump into the cold water  that could pose a risk to getting cold water shock.

Residents and officials in the Pacific Northwest have become more vigilant about heat wave preparations after some 800 people died in Oregon, Washington and British Columbia during the heat dome weather event in late June and early July 2021. The temperature at the time soared to an all-time high of 116 F (46.7 C) in Portland and smashed heat records in cities and towns across the region. Many of those who died were older people who lived alone.

In response, Oregon passed a law requiring all new housing built after April 2024 to have air conditioning installed in at least one room. The law already prohibits landlords in most cases from restricting tenants from installing cooling devices in their rental units.

Last summer, Portland launched a heat response program with the goal of installing portable heat pump and cooling units in low-income households, prioritizing residents who are older and live alone, as well as those with underlying health conditions. Local nonprofits participating in the program installed more than 3,000 units last year, according to the city's Bureau of Planning and Sustainability.

One of those nonprofits, Verde, said interest in the units has been high. Verde has installed roughly 180 units so far this year, and their waitlist last year was nearly 500 people long, said Ricardo Moreno, a project manager for the group who oversees its heat response program.

People weve talked to, mostly elderly people with some health conditions, they all shared that having these units have made a world of difference and definitely improved the quality of their lives through the summer, Moreno said.

Another local nonprofit, the African American Alliance for Homeownership, installed 1,200 units last year and 75 units so far this year, program manager Richard Hines-Norwood said.

Officials in Multnomah County, home to Portland, said they werent planning on opening special cooling centers for now but are monitoring the forecast and can do so if needed.

This is the first significant event  and it is early for us, said Chris Voss, the countys director of emergency management. Were not seeing a situation where we are hearing that this is extremely dangerous. That being said, we dont know if its going to drift.

Outreach teams have started visiting homeless encampments to let them know about the resources available to them, Voss said. Air-conditioned libraries are an example of a public place where people can cool off, he added.

___

Associated Press writer Ed Komenda contributed from Seattle.

___

Claire Rush 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.
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JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP)  U.S. Army Chief of Staff James McConville met with Indonesias top defense official on Friday to push for stronger security ties amid growing Chinese maritime activity in the Indo-Pacific region.

McConville said he and Indonesian Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto discussed ways to deepen cooperation, including enhanced military exercises between the countries.

We have many friends in the region, and we work closely together. We all share the same interests for the region: peace, security, stability, McConville said. That's why we work together on maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific for everyone.

Subianto said the promotion and maintenance of peace and stability in the region is our common concern, but stressed Indonesias neutral stance, saying it wants to maintain relationships with all nations, especially all the major powers.

McConville arrived in Jakarta late Thursday from the Philippines, which is locked in an ongoing dispute with China over territory in the South China Sea. His visit there followed joint U.S.-Philippine war drills last month that antagonized Beijing.

On Thursday, leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations met in Indonesia for a summit at which territorial disputes in the South China Sea were high on the agenda. China claims virtually all of the sea, which is also claimed in part by Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.

The South China Sea is home to vital shipping lanes, plentiful fish stocks and undersea mineral resources. China and ASEAN have made little headway in finalizing a code of conduct to avoid conflicts in the area.

The ASEAN leaders renewed a call for self-restraint in the disputes to avoid miscalculations and confrontations, repeating language used in previous ASEAN statements.

While Chinas influence and military strength in the region are growing rapidly, the U.S. remains the dominant military power. Washington has a security alliance with the Philippines and strong relations with several other ASEAN members.
Connecticuts hemp farmers and CBD product producers say a bill intended to curb sales of illegal cannabis edibles would significantly affect their business.

This will cripple my business, said Duncan Markovich, co-founder of Better Ways CBD, a Branford-based cannabis therapeutics brand. The state of Connecticut has really continued to squeeze small business owners to the point where I am now feeling that this will shut me down.

The legislation, passed Tuesday in the state House, would reclassify some products derived from hemp as high-THC hemp products. It is intended, lawmakers said, to stop sales of synthetic cannabis edibles sold statewide in many CBD shops among other locations. The bill still needs to pass through the Senate and signed by Gov. Ned Lamont to become law.

"They're actually legal right now. We're actually closing that loophole and yes it's going to take product off the shelves of some of these CBD stores," state Rep. Mike D'Agostino, D-Hamden, said Tuesday. I would hope their marketplace will adjust, just as our marketplace has adjusted, and that they will package within the limits that we allow, those THC-infused CBD products and continue to sell their CBD products.

A federal farm bill passed in 2018 legalized the cultivation and sale of cannabis plants that contain less than 0.3 percent THC. Connecticut, along with many other states, followed the same guideline and, since then, hemp farms and the CBD products derived from the crop have popped up across the state.

The proposed legislation would alter that standard and prohibit the sale of any product with more than one milligram of THC per serving or five milligrams THC per container.

Every product I make would have to be repackaged, redesigned and reformulated, said Becky Goetsch, of Running Brook Farm in Killingworth and president of the CT Hemp Industry Association.

Cannabis products derived from plants that contain more than 0.3 percent THC  the chemical in marijuana that produces a high  may only legally be sold by licensed retailers. But CBD, another chemical contained in cannabis widely used in topical and edible applications  can be chemically changed into THC.

"You can currently buy products that have THC levels higher than what you can buy in our dispensaries, and that is something we have to correct," DAgostino said Tuesday. "The problem is we have an issue with the federal law conflicting with our state laws. Federal law allows CBD products, hemp-based products, to be sold with what's called a 3-percent dry weight basis for THC. The problem with that is that it's a door you can drive a truck through."

CBD product manufacturer Jeffrey Wentzel, owner of Niantic-based U.S. HempCare, said the bill goes too far, re-criminalizing what became legal in 2018, though he agreed that there are too many untested, unregulated products from out of state being sold in unregulated stores.

We just feel theyve set the levels wrong and are scooping up too many of the legal, full-spectrum products which are non-intoxicating, he said. Theyre not just making the synthetic products illegal, but theyre also re-criminalizing straight-up hemp products  which were grown from legal hemp plants and manufactured as legal hemp products without any added THC  currently legal under both state and federal law. And were talking about products which are non-intoxicating  which people depend on.

Goetsch said the shift in metrics would force her to stop selling some products that do not produce a high.

For example, a tea tin that I sell with an herbal tea blend that contains the hemp, perfectly legal -- if you test it, it's less than 0.3 percent THC, she said. Now, keep in mind, I sell a 1-ounce tin of loose leaf tea. There's up to 20 servings in this 1-ounce tin.

Wentzel said he sells a bottle of softgels. They dont produce a high, and are currently sold legally. Our customers buy a 30-count bottle each month, he said. This means we can only sell five capsules per package.

Markovich sells a 1,000-milligram tincture, intended as 30 doses, that would be illegal if the bill passes.

I use this as pain management and nerve damage medicine daily, he said. I deal with individuals in this community, people with severe issues, people that rely on these products every single day.

State Rep. David Rutligano, R-Trumbull, said Wednesday that the law would just require a shift in packaging.

Like every other business they'd have to adapt to regulation, he said. Were not outlawing the product, we're telling you that you can't put it in a package that exceeds this amount, so they just would have to adjust the package.

Goetsch believes that its not so simple. The law, she said, would make her products less effective and less desirable, and harm an already struggling industry.

The Connecticut hemp community has shrunk from over 200 farms to just a couple dozen, she said. Those of us who have survived have done so by building a loyal customer base in our communities who rely on us for safe and effective CBD products. We have spent years developing our hemp formulations and craft CBD products, so to mandate that we repackage and reformulate our non-intoxicating hemp products will have a devastating impact on our already struggling farmers.

A lot of our products are going to become illegal, she said.
WASHINGTON (AP)  An ex-prosecutor who once oversaw Manhattan's investigation of former President Donald Trump declined to substantively answer questions at a closed-door deposition Friday of the House Judiciary Committee, according to a Republican lawmaker in the meeting. The prosecutor and his boss said he was merely abiding by grand jury rules.

Rep. Darrell Issa, a California Republican, exited the meeting after roughly one hour and said Mark Pomerantz, the former prosecutor, repeatedly invoked the Fifth Amendment that protects people from providing self-incriminating testimony.

Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in a scheme to bury allegations of extramarital affairs that arose during his 2016 White House campaign. GOP lawmakers have decried the investigation as a political persecution" and launched an oversight probe.

Pomerantz in a written opening statement called the committee's inquiry itself an act of political theater." He also explained he was invoking the Fifth Amendment because the Manhattan District Attorneys office had previously warned him before he published a book on the investigation that he could face criminal liability if he revealed grand jury material or violated a provision of the New York City Charter dealing with misuse of confidential information.

Pomerantz, who left Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office after disagreements over the direction of the Trump investigation, was subpoenaed by the Republican-controlled House committee. The panel, chaired by GOP Rep. Jim Jordan, is probing how Bragg handled Trump's historic indictment.

This deposition is for show, Pomerantz also said in prepared remarks. I do not believe for a moment that I am here to assist a genuine effort to enact legislation or conduct legislative oversight.

Bragg had sued to halt Jordan's subpoena of Pomerantz, but last month agreed to Pomerantz's testimony after a delay and a condition that lawyers from the prosecutor's office be present. The committee has said it would have allowed the district attorney's lawyers even without the agreement.

Pomerantz had argued in court papers that the subpoena left him in an impossible position and would potentially require him to violate his ethical obligations.

Issa, the GOP lawmaker, told reporters, This is an obstructing witness who has no intention of answering any questions."

Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz, another member of the committee, also said lawmakers were not getting many answers.

Jordan exited the meeting room after a deposition that lasted well over five hours and told reporters he was surprised at some of the answers, but declined to provide further details, citing committee rules.

Pomerantzs attorney, Ted Wells, told reporters that his opening statement explaining why he would not be answering questions made it very clear as to what happened.

Pomerantz is allowed to refuse to answer certain questions that touch on legal privilege and ethical obligations, but Jordan could also rule on those assertions on a case-by-case basis. The Republican lawmaker said he would be conferring with the committee's attorneys and members about taking legal action against Pomerantz, including holding him in contempt of Congress.

A contempt of Congress charge would require a full committee vote before going to the floor of the Republican-majority House.

Pomerantz recently wrote a book about his work pursuing Trump and discussed the investigation in interviews on 60 Minutes and other shows. But Issa said he was not answering questions even on previous statements he had made.

Issa suggested the fight over testimony will return to the legal system, saying it would be for the court to decide when we object to his failure to answer any questions.

Braggs office said in a statement, Consistent with the agreement we reached with the committee last month, the District Attorneys Office is participating in todays deposition and asserting our rights to oppose disclosure of confidential information protected by law.
ROME (AP)  Pope Francis joined Italys conservative premier on Friday in encouraging Italians to have more children, denouncing the financial precariousness facing young couples and selfish, egotistical choices that have led to a record low birth rate that is threatening the countrys economic future.

Francis urged concrete political action to invert the demographic winter, which in population terms resulted in the disappearance of a city the size of Bari last year. Blasting couples who have pets instead of children, Francis called for resources to be dedicated to helping couples grow their families, saying it was necessary to plant the future with hope.

Let us not resign ourselves to sterile dullness and pessimism, Francis told an annual gathering of pro-family organizations. Let us not believe that history is already marked, that nothing can be done to reverse the trend.

Italy recorded a record low number of live births last year, 392,598, which combined with an elevated number of deaths, 713,499, has accelerated the demographic trend that threatens to crash the countrys social security system. The government of Premier Giorgia Meloni is backing a campaign to encourage at least 500,000 births annually by 2033, a rate that demographers say is necessary to prevent the economy from collapsing by growing the wage-earning population as retirees draw on their pensions.

Meloni came to power last year on a pro-family campaign of God, family, fatherland and her government has proposed a host of measures to try to encourage families to have more children, including tax cuts to increase spending power, given Italy's fertility rate of 1.24 children per woman is among the lowest in the world. Numerous studies have pointed to a combination of factors that discourage women from having children, including a lack of affordable child care spots, low salaries and precarious work contracts, and a tradition of women often bearing the burden of caring for older parents.

Meloni, who has a daughter with her partner, told the family association congress that it was time to reverse the trend. But she said it must be done without resorting to surrogacy, hitting on broader conservative political talking points that have surrounded the demographic debate as the governments crackdown on migrants and aversion to registering both parents of children of same-sex couples.

We want a nation where it is no longer scandalous to say that  whatever the legitimate, free choices, inclinations of each person  we are all born of a man or a woman, Meloni said to applause. Where it is not taboo to say that motherhood is not for sale, that wombs are not for rent and children are not over-the-counter products that you can choose on the shelf as if you were in the supermarket and maybe return if then the product does not match what you expect.

National statistics bureau ISTAT has been sounding the demographic alarm for years, given the number of live births in Italy has tanked steadily from 576,659 in 2008 to the 392,598 last year  the first year since Italy's unification that the number has fallen below 400,000.

Given the trend, ISTAT president Gian Carlo Blangiardo said perfectly reasonable forecasts point to the Italian population shrinking from 59 million inhabitants today to 48 million by 2070.

While the increase in migrants can help mitigate the problem, it can't offset the overall trend, Blangiardo said on the sidelines of the conference. "Even with an additional 260,000 immigrants each year, as foreseen by Eurostat, we'll still easily lose 5 to 6 million inhabitants, he said.

Meloni didn't refer to the role of migrants in her remarks but other ministers have when discussing the demographic trends, casting the migrant issue as a threat to Italy's very identity.

Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida, who is also Meloni's brother-in-law, sparked an outcry in recent weeks by warning of ethnic replacement if Italians don't increase their birth rate. At the family congress on Thursday, Lollobrigida acknowledged his words "werent appreciated" by some, but doubled down on the general idea.

I think it's evident that there's not an Italian race, he said on the sidelines. There is however an Italian culture and ethnicity that the dictionary defines as a linguistic cultural group that I imagine this conference wants to maintain, because otherwise it wouldn't have sense.

Elly Schlein, head of the opposition center-left Democratic Party, acknowledged the demographic problem but pointed to measures to fix it: reduce precarious, part-time contracts, help young couples get mortgages and increase access to subsidized day care centers.

Given the deeply patriarchical structure of Italian society, women will choose to stay home if they don't have adequate day care, she said. "They will continue to be crushed, and this depresses their potential not only in terms of employment but also in terms of family.
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CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP)  South Africa's foreign ministry summoned the U.S. ambassador to a meeting Friday over allegations he made a day earlier that the country had provided Russia with arms and ammunition for its war in Ukraine.

Amid the diplomatic fallout over the allegations, South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor also planned to speak with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the ministry's spokesperson said on Twitter.

The committee that regulates arms exports in South Africa has no record of an approved arms sale by the state to Russia related to the period/incident in question, spokesperson Clayson Monyela tweeted. If any crimes were committed, the law will take its course.

U.S. Ambassador to South Africa Reuben Brigety alleged during a news conference Thursday that weapons and ammunition were secretly loaded onto a Russian cargo ship at the Simons Town naval base in December and then transported to Russia, Brigety said.

We (the U.S.) are confident that weapons were loaded into that vessel, and I would bet my life on the accuracy of that assertion, Brigety said. He called South Africa's arming" of Russia fundamentally unacceptable.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa confirmed an investigation was underway into the December visit by the Russian cargo ship Lady R. Before Brigety went public, U.S. and South African officials had agreed behind the scenes that the investigation should be allowed to play out and would incorporate any evidence U.S. intelligence officials shared, Ramaphosa said.

South Africa could be in breach of international law, if it provided arms to Russia. The president's office said in a statement there was no evidence currently that weapons or ammunition were loaded onto the ship at the Simon's Town base or anywhere in South Africa.

The Associated Press has independently verified that the Lady R was at the South African naval base from Dec. 6-8, as Brigety claimed. A review of records by the AP has also shown that the Lady R is tied to a company that was sanctioned by the U.S. for transporting weapons for the Russian government and aiding its war effort.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the situation would likely get discussed at a meeting of European Union foreign ministers in Stockholm on Friday. Baerbock noted they were dealing with only allegations so far, but said weapons exports to Russia would be an extension of a war of aggression in violation of international law, and so we take all reports very, very seriously.

South Africa's own arms control laws stipulate that the country will not trade in conventional arms with states engaged in repression, aggression or terrorism.

Ramaphosas office criticized Brigety on Thursday for making the allegations public. Monyela said the South African government would issue a demarche against the ambassador for his allegations, a diplomatic term that refers to a formal complaint.

The episode could seriously strain the relationship between the U.S. and one of its key African partners, although Monyela said in his Twitter post that South Africa values the relations we have with the United States of America. They're cordial, strong and mutually beneficial.

South Africa's position on the war on Ukraine has troubled the U.S. and other Western nations since Africa's most developed country abstained last year in a United Nations vote condemning Russia's invasion. South Africa stated it would take a neutral stance on the war and called for a diplomatic solution to end the fighting.

Critics said that South Africa had effectively sided with Russia after it hosted Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov for talks in January and allowed Russian and Chinese warships to use its waters for joint naval drills off its east coast in February. The exercises coincided with the one-year anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The South African government has also indicated it would be unwilling to arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin if he visits, as expected, for a meeting of leaders of the BRICS economic bloc in August despite the International Criminal Court issuing an arrest warrant for him.

South Africa is a signatory to the international court and is obliged to arrest Putin if he sets foot on its territory.

South Africa has a historical relationship with Russia due to the former Soviet Union's support for the ruling African National Congress when it was a liberation movement fighting to end the apartheid regime of segregation that oppressed the country's Black majority.

___

AP Writer David Keyton in Stockholm contributed to this report.

___

More AP news: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
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HARTFORD  A jury on Wednesday found a city woman responsible for the hit-and-run death of a skateboarder three years ago in West Hartford.

Sharon Esson, 56, was found guilty in state Superior Court in Hartford of evading responsibility, resulting in the death of a person, according to Hartford State's Attorney Sharmese L. Walcott.
A proposed state law would require Connecticut gas stations to charge customers using debit cards the same amount as those paying with cash.

The state lawmaker who introduced the bill argued it's a matter of fair pricing and advertising at service stations, but the move is heavily opposed by a group representing gas stations that argue it would force retailers to eliminate cash discounts altogether.

The bill has passed the state House of Representatives, but has not yet been taken up in the Senate.

Under the proposed law, gas stations would be prohibited from offering cash discounts "unless such gasoline retailer also offers such discount to a buyer who purchases gasoline with a debit card," the bill states.

The bill would also "require certain gasoline retailers to publicly display and maintain any signs the Commissioner of Consumer Protection requires to inform the public that, if a discount is offered to a buyer who purchases gasoline with cash, any payment for gasoline by debit card shall be processed at the cash price per gallon."

State Rep. Marcus Brown, the Bridgeport Democrat who introduced the proposal, said he came up with the idea after visiting several gas stations in his city.

"It just seemed to be so weird that you would have a two-price system for cash and credit, and I kind of understood why they did that, and that's to offset fees," Brown said. "So I said OK, but why is debit being charged the price of credit?"

"If the national price for gas went up 10 cents, every senator, congress person would be looking at ways to try to combat this, and we're doing it at a local level that says 10 cents is 10 cents a gallon," he added. "On average for me, it's $2.50 more I pay just because I use my debit card."

But a group representing heating fuel and gas station owners is trying to put the brakes on the proposal.

"This is a huge disservice to the public," said Christian Herb, president of the Connecticut Energy Marketers Association, a group that represents about 1,000 gas stations in the state.

"Its taking away the only pathway to provide discounts to motorists," he added.

The organization argues that retailers also have to pay processing fees on debit cards.

"Gas station owners cannot afford to absorb the cost of processing debit transactions if we are required to pass along cash discounts to consumers who pay for gasoline with a debit card," Herb wrote in testimony opposing the bill before the General Law Committee in February.

He argued that's especially true for small family-owned stations. These are nickel businesses," he said. They can afford to offer a cash discount because they avoid the processing fees.

Herb said he hopes "the Senate has the wisdom to make sure this doesnt pass into law.

But Brown said if the bill dies, he'll reintroduce it next year.

"I think it's about fairness in pricing and advertising," he said. "If you advertise a price and you specifically say credit at this price, and someone pays with debit and they're charged the credit price, that's not honest."
Elon Musk on Thursday said he has chosen a new CEO for Twitter, and planned to step aside from the role in a matter of weeks.

Musk is in advanced talks with NBC Universal's chairman of Global Advertising and Partnerships Linda Yaccarino to take on the job, according to a person familiar with the discussions who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive internal deliberations.

The announcement could launch a new chapter for the troubled company, which has laid off roughly three quarters of its workers and has struggled in recent weeks with major changes to the platform and frequent outages. Adding to the pressure, Musk already runs several other companies, including Tesla, where investors have grown discontented with his distractions at Twitter.

Yaccarino in particular could serve to calm advertiser fears while balancing Musk's demand for sweeping changes to Twitter's policies on content moderation.

Musk provided little information about his pick but said the new CEO, a woman, would start in several weeks and that he would stay on as executive chairman and chief technology officer, running products, software and system operations - also prompting questions about whether his involvement there will significantly change. (Musk, who has adopted titles such a "Technoking" and "Chief Twit" responded with an eyes emoji to a tweet asking if the "T" in CTO stood for trolling, rather than technology.)

"Excited to announce that I've hired a new CEO for X/Twitter," Musk posted Thursday. "She will be starting in ~6 weeks!"

Musk and Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Wall Street Journal and other outlets earlier Thursday reported that Yaccarino was in talks to take the job. Musk joined Yaccarino for an onstage interview at a marketing conference in Miami Beach, last month. The keynote event was called: "Twitter 2.0: From Conversations to Partnerships."

Yaccarino oversees about 2,000 workers in her role, according to her online bio for the network, about the same or slightly more than Twitter's staff. At NBC, it said, her team oversees the monetization strategy for Peacock, the network's streaming service. Her team has also generated more than $100 billion in ad sales and entered partnerships with companies including Apple, Snapchat, BuzzFeed, Twitter and YouTube, it said.

NBC Universal spokesman Joe Benarroch said Yaccarino was unavailable for comment on Thursday. "Linda is in back-to-back rehearsals for Monday's upfront," he said, referring to an advertising presentation.

By Thursday afternoon, investors, former employees and even some of those in Musk's orbit were still in the dark about Musk's pick. Questions swirled around whether he would appoint a tech insider with a focus on engineering, the moonshot bet on artificial intelligence or a more traditional business leader who could serve as the public face of the company, winning back the trust of advertisers and confidence of users.

"The commitment to open source transparency and accepting a wide range of viewpoints remains unchanged," Musk wrote in a tweet reply, after many outlets had reported Yaccarino's candidacy for the job.

Musk also has a track record of making splashy announcements and big promises - and then failing to follow through.

Musk has faced criticism for his leadership of Twitter, which has ushered in sweeping job and budget cuts, transformative changes and erratic and unpredictable decision-making that has left advertisers fleeing. In an email to staff earlier this year, Musk valued the company at $20 billion, less than half the $44 billion he paid to obtain it.

Musk bought Twitter last year on a promise to restore his vision of "free speech," bringing back banned users such as former president Donald Trump and his favorite satire site the Babylon Bee. He leaned heavily into a subscription model aimed at generating revenue and eradicating what he decried as a "lords & peasants system" for verifying users with Twitter's signature blue badges.

But Musk's actions have also spooked advertisers and prompted backlash from users, including some in his corner. Soon after taking over Twitter, Musk tweeted a conspiracy theory about the attack on the husband of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D), Paul Pelosi. And Musk's changes to verification - awarding a blue check to users who paid $8 - resulted in a flood of impersonation attempts that eroded confidence in the site. After a fake account posing as pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly falsely announced insulin was free, Twitter likely lost millions as advertisers pulled back.

Last year, after making a controversial decision to limit users' ability to promote outside social media websites - prompting massive backlash - Musk agreed to step down as Twitter CEO upon finding a person "foolish enough to take the job."

In an unscientific December poll, Musk asked, "Should I step down as head of Twitter?"

"I will abide by the results of this poll," he continued.

The poll amassed more than 17 million votes, with 57.5 percent of respondents calling for him to step aside.

In an interview with the BBC last month, Musk said he had fulfilled that pledge by appointing his dog Floki to the role.

"I said I would appoint a new CEO, and I did, and it's my dog," he said.

Earlier this year, Musk said he would probably need until the end of this year to find his replacement.

Tesla's stock rose in after-hours trading following the news. Investors have hoped Musk would return to prioritizing Tesla, the electric car company where he also serves as CEO, and the key to his fortune.

Musk's dueling roles have resulted in a frenetic schedule that leaves him bouncing from Austin, where he lives, to San Francisco, where Twitter is based - and where he has admitted to sleeping on a seventh floor couch. Tesla's main factory is also in the Bay Area, in addition to its engineering headquarters. SpaceX, the rocket company Musk leads, has a major presence on Texas' Gulf Coast, but is based in Southern California.

As a result, Musk spends significant time visiting the various locations from his private jet. Recently, after taking over Twitter, Musk has also been jetting to locations such as New York City and Washington, D.C., to meet with advertisers and government officials.

Even amid the criticism that he was stretched thin, Musk recently added a sixth company to his empire, X.AI, a firm that will focus on generative artificial intelligence, the field behind large-language model chatbots such as ChatGPT.
NORWICH  The body found partially buried in Mohegan Park last weekend was identified as a New York boxer who police say was killed by his brother in January.

Norwich police said the remains of 44-year-old Martin Wright were found Sunday by a person who was walking in the park.

Norwich police have been working with New York Police Department detectives this week to identify the remains.

New York City police have been searching for Wright since Feb. 7 when a family member went to the 81st Precinct with information about him possibly being killed, according to an email sent by public information office for the NYPD.

Detectives believe Wright was killed by his 45-year-old brother, McMillian Wright, on Jan. 28 at a residence at 773A Monroe St. in New York City, officials said. Further information revealed that Wright had suffered trauma to the head and his body was then removed from the Monroe Street residence, officials said.

New York detectives charged McMillian Wright on April 20 with murder, criminal possession of a loaded firearm, falsifying business records, concealment of a human corpse, tampering with evidence and possessing a forged instrument even though his brother's body had not been found.

A second man, Craig Smith, 48, of Brooklyn, was charged with concealment of human corpse and tampering with evidence one week earlier.

In mid-February, Martin Wright's profile was placed on the national missing persons database Namus, which said he was last seen in January and remained missing.

He had been a welterweight boxer with 15 professional fights, records show.

His body was discovered partially buried in a shallow grave that was found by someone walking in the park, Norwich Police Lt. Anthony Gomes said.

He had been fatally shot, Gomes said. Evidence located at the scene indicated the killing did not occur inside the park and represented a targeted attack on the victim, Gomes said.

Norwich police have turned over the investigation to NYPD detectives.
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BRIDGEPORT  A local man, who police said tried to lure two teenaged girls into his car at Central High School in separate incidents, was charged Friday with attempting to kidnap a third girl.

Antonio Dossantos, 36, of Taft Avenue, was charged with attempted second-degree kidnapping and risk of injury to a child.

Police said the 16-year-old victim, who had reported the incident two years ago to police, recently recognized Dossantoss photograph from a police posting on social media.

Dossantos stood staring at the floor of the courtroom during his arraignment hearing Friday afternoon.

Senior Assistant States Attorney Nicholas Bove urged Superior Court Judge Maria del Pilar Gonzalez to set a high bond for Dossantos citing the serious nature of the allegations.

Dossantos lawyer, Public Defender Caroline Watson urged leniency, arguing that her client is already being held in lieu of bond on the other cases.

The judge ordered Dossantos held in lieu of $500,000 bond and continued the case to May 23.

According to the arrest warrant affidavit of Detective Angel Llanos Jr, on July 16, 2021, the then 14-year-old girl was waiting for her father outside Central High School when a man pulled up to her and offered her a ride in his car.

The victim told the man no and the man appeared to drive off, the affidavit states.

However, a short time later the affidavit states that the man approached the girl from behind, grabbed her by the neck and attempted to drag her into his car.

The affidavit continues that the girl managed to jab the man with her elbow and break away from him. The man then got into his car and drove off.

When the victims father arrived, he found his daughter sobbing, the affidavit states. They immediately contacted police and gave officers a description of her assailant and his car, the affidavit states but the man was not identified.

The affidavit states that on April 28, the victim broke into tears when she saw Dossantos photograph on social media and she and her father called police.

Last month Dossantos was charged with second-degree unlawful restraint, second-degree attempted kidnapping and second-degree breach of peace.

Police said Dossantos grabbed an 18-year-old student after she walked away from him and tried to drag her to his car while she called out for help. The student was able to get away from him after she broke free and fled, according to police.

Police said they have also linked Dossantos to a similar incident that occurred the day before when he tried to lure a 15-year-old girl to his car near the school gate.
TRUMBULL  Three businesses got priority violations during their health inspections in April, the first full month under the state's new health inspection system.

Last month, 11 eateries were inspected, with China Max, Trumbull Cafe & Grill and Sapore Italian Deli each receiving priority violations on their health inspections, according to health department records. Those are the most critical violations, health officials say, and must be corrected within 72 hours.

Town sanitarian Rich Jackson said China Max and Sapore Italian Deli corrected the violations while the inspector was on site. He did not have information on when Trumbull Cafe & Grill addressed the violation.

Trumbull Health Director Luci Bango said everyone, from inspectors to eatery operators, is working to meet all the new requirements.

The state, in 2017, began adoption of the new requirements which would replace the Connecticut Public Health Code food safety inspections. The new rules were to be adopted in 2019.

Bango said delays  mainly due to the pandemic  pushed the adoption date to what at the time was an unknown. That was until Feb. 9, when health directors statewide were told the new rules go in effect Feb. 17.

Bango said the new rules keep the main components of food safety and best practices, but now all food establishments are required to register with the state Department of Health before a license is issued or renewed by the Trumbull Health Department.

The new system does not provide a pass or fail grade or number score. Violations cited during inspections will be categorized as priority, priority foundation, and core. Those with priority violations must be reinspected within 72 hours, priority foundation within 10 days, and core in 90 days from the initial inspection.

"The restaurants are really upset that they do not get an actual score," Jackson said about how eateries have responded to the new inspection rules.

China Max had two priority item violations during its inspection on March 13, reports show. They were for a food employee not using proper handwashing procedures and raw meats not stored separately by type.

Trumbull Cafe & Grill had one priority violation during its April 29. Inspectors reported multiple foods stored on the floor in a dry storage area.

Attempts to obtain comment from Trumbull Cafe & Grill and China Max were unsuccessful.

Sapore Italian Deli had one priority violation  with the inspector finding raw meats stored above or adjacent to ready-to-eat foods  during an April 25 inspection.

Lou Cirillo, chef and manager at Sapore, said the issue has been corrected and the health department is being notified. He said the food in question was in a sealed container and simply on the wrong shelf.

He also said he felt it was unfair that new inspection regulations began so suddenly without any warning.

"I didn't know until the inspector came in," Cirillo said.

Cirillo echoed the sentiments of health department officials who last month said changes to health inspection requirements at local eateries will not only be a burden on restaurants but also the towns health department.
EL PASO, Texas - The Biden administration Thursday vowed that its border strategy would succeed over time despite a record influx of migrants across the U.S.-Mexico border as it lifts pandemic-era measures and overcrowding worsens in government facilities.

Illegal border crossings have topped 10,000 per day this week, the highest levels ever, as the Title 42 border policy was set to expire at 11:59 p.m. Thursday. Thousands of migrants forded the Rio Grande into the Brownsville, Texas, area, or arrived elsewhere, including more than 800 miles away on the dusty strip of U.S. land between the riverbanks and the border wall east of downtown El Paso.

With Border Patrol stations and processing centers maxed out, officials authorized the release of migrants without court dates at locations where facilities exceeded 125 percent of their holding capacity or other thresholds were surpassed. But a federal judge stepped in late Thursday to block the release plan, granting a temporary restraining order sought by Florida's attorney general.

The ruling cuts off a potential pressure valve for the Biden administration after senior officials have repeatedly assured they are prepared for the strains and have a broader strategy that will reduce illegal crossings.

"We are clear-eyed about the challenges we are likely to face in the days and weeks ahead, and we are ready to meet them," Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said at the White House Thursday.

"We prepared for this moment for almost two years, and our plan will deliver results," Mayorkas said. "It will take time for those results to be fully realized. And it is essential that we all take this into account."

For the past three years, U.S. border agents have used pandemic-related rules, launched during the Trump administration, to summarily expel border-crossers to Mexico or their home countries. The Biden administration is replacing Title 42 pandemic measures with a new emergency policy that will make it easier for authorities to deport asylum seekers who cross illegally, while expanding opportunities for migrants to apply to reach the United States legally.

In El Paso, thousands of migrants have been streaming toward two massive gates, two miles apart, that open into the United States. U.S. authorities have been directing migrants toward the border wall gates, marked Door 40 and Door 42, turning the river plain east of downtown El Paso into a massive outdoor waiting room.

"We just want to pass, but this process is so slow," said Jesus Juarez, 26, of Venezuela, who said he had spent a month crossing multiple countries to reach a spot outside Door 40.

He and his cousin Carlos Juarez, 31, had raspy throats and bloodshot eyes from spending hours in the swirling dust and baking sun. U.S. agents periodically opened the gates to allow groups of 10 or 15 to enter for processing and a chance to seek U.S. protection. "But 100 more arrive," Jesus Juarez said.

The White House set the Title 42 emergency public health policy to expire Thursday, and for months U.S. officials have predicted a migration surge would occur after they were no longer able to rapidly expel border-crossers as part of pandemic restrictions.

The mere anticipation of the policy's end triggered a race to the border this week, as tens of thousands of migrants have been crossing, with some saying they fear they're more likely to be deported after the measure lifts.

A memo issued Wednesday by Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz authorized supervisors in overcrowded areas to quickly release migrants using an authority he called "Parole with Conditions." Migrants will be vetted and directed to report to U.S. immigration authorities in their destination cities within 60 days.

According to the Ortiz memo, "the decision to parole a noncitizen must still be made on a case-by-case individualized basis, examining all the facts and circumstances at the time of the noncitizen's inspection, and only if there is an urgent humanitarian reason, such as ensuring the safety, health and security of the individual noncitizen, or significant public benefit justifying parole."

The Border Patrol has averaged 8,750 migrant encounters per day over the past week, the memo noted, more than twice as many as the peak of the 2019 crisis when record numbers of Central American families overwhelmed the Trump administration.

But U.S. District Judge T. Kent Wetherell ruled late Thursday that the new release plan was "materially indistinguishable" from a similar policy he deemed unlawful in a March decision siding with the state of Florida.

"In both instances, aliens are being released into the country on an expedited basis without being placed in removal proceedings and with little to no vetting and no monitoring," Wetherell wrote. His previous decision said the Biden administration had turned the border "into little more than a speed bump" for migrants arriving illegally.

Wetherell's order will remain in effect for 14 days.

Customs and Border Protection officials had more than 25,000 migrants in holding cells and processing facilities along the border this week, three times the system's capacity, according to the latest government data obtained by The Washington Post.

Thousands of mostly-Venezuelan migrants have been crossing the Rio Grande in the Brownsville area, many using inflatable flotation devices. Texas National Guard troops and state police deployed by Gov. Greg Abbott (R) have at times tried to block migrants from climbing up the river banks, but many of the migrants in the Brownsville area appeared to be getting through to line up for processing at Border Patrol tents.

At the opposite end of the state, in El Paso, where the Rio Grande is little more than an oozing trickle, a well-worn path from the Mexican side leads down an embankment to a hopscotch across river stones and a junked wooden pallet.

Once migrants cross the center of the river - away from an official port of entry - they have entered the United States from Mexico illegally. They walk up the U.S. side through an opening in the razor wire, joining the mass of people who have been waiting in international limbo, at times crossing back into Mexico for supplies.

Migrants have complained they see no international agencies coming to their aid as they wait in the roughshod encampments they've set up in this peculiar corridor of land divided from the United States by the bars of the border wall.

"No one has helped us. No one at all," said Angel Moran, a 50-year-old Venezuelan who said he'd been waiting six days. "I have never seen an international group here. And there are sick children breathing dust, all day and all night. I feel helpless watching that and not being able to do anything at all to help. Who is supposed to help these children and their mothers?"

Moran said he was the coordinator of the Mesa de Unidad Democratica organization in Venezuela - a group opposed to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his predecessor Hugo Chavez - so he considered his need to flee urgent.

At shelters on the Mexican side and along the streets of Ciudad Juarez, migrants faced a choice: cross now, or wait for a tense situation to pass.

Severino Ismael Martinez Santiago, the director of the Pan de Vida shelter in Ciudad Juarez, the Mexican border city opposite El Paso, said many migrants were confused about what the lifting of Title 42 rules would mean for their effort to gain legal entry into the United States.

"They are misinformed. They believe that when Title 42 ends, the doors to the United States will be opened, and they can cross," Martinez said. "But that is far from the truth. It will be far worse for them."

Biden administration officials say they will ramp up deportations and impose new restrictions on asylum seekers who cross illegally when Title 42 lifts.

Martinez said people considering migrating to the border of the United States should wait, if possible.

"See what happens," he said. "Right now, things are up in the air with how to enter the United States. Why risk your lives, the lives of your children? Why come, if suffering awaits you? Wait six months to see how things are going."

- - -

Miroff reported from Washington. The Washington Post's Maria Sacchetti in Washington contributed to this report.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP)  A U.S. judge's ruling striking down a federal law that bans licensed federal firearms dealers from selling handguns to young adults under 21 is the latest example of how a landmark Supreme Court decision is transforming the legal landscape around firearms.

The ruling issued Wednesday by a federal judge in Virginia is just the beginning of what's likely to be a lengthy court battle over rules aimed at making it harder for 18- to 20-year-olds to get handguns.

The judges ruling won't go into effect until he issues a final order that would bar the government from enforcing the age limit. The Justice Department didn't immediately comment on the ruling but is likely to appeal and could ask for the final order to be put on hold while it does.

The judge cited the Supreme Courts June decision in a case called Bruen, which changed the test that courts had long used to evaluate gun laws. The ruling has opened the door to a wave of challenges from gun-rights activists and created turmoil in the courts as judges wrestle over what gun restrictions can remain on the books.

Here's a look at the Virginia's judge's ruling, the impact of the Supreme Court's Bruen decision and what's next:

WHAT DID THE SUPREME COURT'S BRUEN DECISION DO?

In its Bruen decision, the Supreme Court struck down a New York gun law and ruled that Americans have a right to carry firearms in public for self-defense. The majority opinion authored by Justice Clarence Thomas also set new standards for courts to weigh challenges to firearm restrictions.

Before the ruling, courts generally took a two-step approach when examining gun restrictions, first looking at the constitutional text and history to see whether a regulation comes under the Second Amendment and then, if it does, looking at the governments justification for the restriction.

Thomas said the old standard was wrong and said courts should no longer consider whether the law serves public interests, like enhancing public safety. Governments that want to uphold a gun restriction must point to similar restrictions from history to show that the law is consistent with the countrys historical tradition of firearm regulation, the Supreme Court said.

WHAT HAPPENED IN THE VIRGINIA CASE?

U.S. District Court Judge Robert Payne in Richmond said the government failed to prove that restrictions on the purchase of firearms by 18- to 20-year-olds is part of our Nation's history and tradition. The former President George H.W. Bush-appointee said the government didn't present any evidence of such restrictions "from the colonial era, Founding or Early Republic.

The lack of similar regulations from those time periods indicates that the Founders considered age-based regulations on the purchase of firearms to circumscribe the right to keep and bear arms confirmed by the Second Amendment, he wrote.

The case was brought by 20-year-old John Corey Fraser and other young adults who want to buy handguns from a licensed federal firearms dealer. Fraser's lawyer, Elliott Harding, noted that 18- to 20-year-olds can already buy handguns from private sellers, a process that is completely unregulated.

The case is challenging the constitutionality of the Gun Control Act of 1968 and the associated regulations from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Gun control groups had urged the court to uphold the age restrictions, arguing they are constitutional even under the Supreme Court's Bruen ruling. They say Payne's ruling will put lives at risk, pointing to scientific literature that shows the brain continues to develop in the early 20s and that 18- to 20-year-olds are more impulsive than older adults.

There is a long, established historical pedigree for recognizing the risk posed by certain subsets of armed individuals," The Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence and another gun control group, Brady, wrote in court filings. Likewise, Congress has identified that armed 18-to-20-year-olds pose a greater risk to the community than does the rest of the population and accordingly has restricted 18-to-20-year-olds ability to purchase handguns.

WHAT OTHER LAWS ARE BEING CHALLENGED POST-BRUEN?

Gun-rights activists have been waging court battles across the U.S. over things such as bans on the sale of on AR-15-style rifles and high-capacity magazines and possession of so-called ghost guns that can be nearly impossible for law enforcement officials to trace.

In some cases, judges looking at the same laws and same historical record have come down on different sides on whether they are constitutional under the Supreme Court's Bruen test. Several judges, for example, have upheld a federal law banning people under indictment for felonies from buying guns, while others have declared it unconstitutional.

A federal judge recently cited the high court decision in ruling against a Minnesota law prohibiting 18- to 20-year-olds from getting permits to carry handguns in public. A judge struck down a similar law last year on gun restrictions for young adults in Texas. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in March, however, upheld a Florida law passed after the mass shooting at Parkland's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that raised the legal age to buy a gun from 18 to 21.

Some judges have expressed frustration with the Bruen test and questioned whether judges are suited to be analyzing history. In his decision, Payne used a footnote to lament what he sees as the challenges with the test, saying this court is staffed by lawyers who are neither trained nor experienced in making the nuanced historical analyses called for by Bruen.

There is a reason that historians attend years of demanding schooling and that their scholarship undergoes a rigorous peer-review process before publication, he wrote.

The Supreme Court could soon decide whether to grant an emergency request to block an Illinois law signed in January that bans the sale of so-called assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. Challengers of the law appealed to the high court after a federal judge in Chicago in February found the law to be constitutional under the Bruen test, and an appeals court also refused to put the law on hold.

The Justice Department also appealed to the Supreme Court after the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in February  citing the Bruen decision  struck down a federal law prohibiting people who have domestic violence restraining orders against them from possessing guns. Justice Department lawyers said their petition to the high court that the law fits squarely within the longstanding tradition of disarming dangerous individuals. The court has not yet said whether it will take up the case.

Other restrictions that judges have found to be unconstitutional in recent months include a federal law prohibiting people who use marijuana from owning firearms and a federal ban on possessing a gun with its serial number removed.

___

Richer reported from Boston. Associated Press reporters Jessica Gresko and Lindsay Whitehurst in Washington contributed.
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BEIJING (AP)  Australian Trade and Tourism Minister Don Farrell visited China on Thursday as part of a joint effort to repair ties scarred by political rifts over the past decade.

In a statement issued by his office, Farrell said he would be advocating strongly for the full resumption of unimpeded Australian exports to China.

China is Australias biggest trading partner, with two-way exchanges totaling $287 billion in 2022. China recently resumed imports of coal, cotton and copper from Australia after a lengthy unannounced trade embargo.

Farrell said he would push for a review of tariffs on Australian barley and represent the interests of Australian exporters and producers.

China blocked such exports in retaliation for government actions targeting Beijings alleged interference in Australian elections, civic life and the large Australian-Chinese community.

Despite improvements in economic relations, ties between the two remain tense.

In April, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said bilateral relations were unlikely to return to the level of the early 2000s, when trade was separated from political and strategic priorities.

Since then, Australia has expanded security cooperation with the United States, China's main rival for influence in the Asia-Pacific region.

Beijing has strongly criticized Australia's participation in the so-called AUKUS partnership, linking it with the United States and Britain to create an Australian fleet of eight submarines powered by U.S. nuclear technology, largely in response to China's growing military assertiveness in the South China Sea, the South Pacific and the East China Sea.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will host U.S. President Joe Biden and the leaders of India and Japan  countries with which China maintains active border disputes  for a May 24 summit of leaders of the so-called Quad nations.

Australia has also blocked the sale of assets, including critical infrastructure, to Chinese companies on national security grounds in recent years.

Farrell said he would meet with Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao following a commitment in February to improve dialogue at all levels as a pathway towards the full resumption of trade.

Since then, the Australian Government is pleased there have been several positive trade developments, his office quoted him as saying.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)  Long-haul carrier Emirates saw its most-profit year ever in 2022, earning $2.9 billion after bouncing back from the coronavirus pandemic shutting down global aviation, the airline announced Thursday.

The carrier's revival comes as Dubai, which owns the airline, has seen property prices skyrocket and people flood into the city-state in the United Arab Emirates as it lifted pandemic restrictions quickly and welcomed Russians fleeing Moscow's war on Ukraine.

Emirates' annual report put revenue for the carrier at $29 billion in 2022, up 81% from 2021's figures of $16 billion. That drastic swing comes after the airline reported a $1.1 billion loss in 2021.

The city-state, one of seven hereditarily ruled, autocratic sheikhdoms that make up the UAE, provided Emirates some $4 billion in a bailout in the depths of the pandemic. Even today as travel has bounced back, the carrier still has some of its double-decker Airbus A380s still parked, awaiting mechanics to be able to fly again.

We had anticipated the strong return of travel, and as the last travel restrictions lifted and triggered a tide of demand, we were ready to expand our operations quickly and safely to serve our customers," Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, the chairman and chief executive of Emirates, said in a statement.

The report said Emirates has repaid just over $2 billion in other loans taken from financial institutions during the pandemic, putting the total loan amount from outside of the government at $4.7 billion.

The overall Emirates Group, which includes travel company dnata, as well as food, beverage and leisure holdings, reported profits of nearly $3 billion off revenues of $32.6 billion.

The overall group declared a dividend to its owner, the sovereign wealth fund Investment Corporation of Dubai, of $1.2 billion.

Emirates acknowledged facing a temporary setback when it comes to receiving new airplane orders, particularly as manufacturers struggle to regroup and face supply issues following the height of the pandemic. The airline already has on order 115 Boeing 777Xs, 30 Boeing 787 Dreamliners and 50 Airbus A350-900s, with the first planes likely not being delivered until the middle of next year.

That delay has seen Emirates embark on a $2 billion retrofit program for 120 of its Airbus A380s and Boeing 777s.

Emirates also has struck deals with United Airlines and Air Canada to share routes, apparently putting to bed years of bad blood between U.S. carriers and the Dubai airline.

As of now, Emirates has a fleet of 260 Boeing 777s and Airbus A380s flying to 150 passenger and cargo destinations. The airline carried 43.6 million passengers and 1.8 million tons of cargo during 2022.

Earlier Thursday, Emirates announced it would create a $200 million fund for research and development projects aimed at reducing the use of fossil fuels in commercial aviation. The airline said the funding would be distributed over three years.

Its clear that with the current pathways available to airlines in terms of emissions reduction, our industry wont be able to hit net zero targets in the prescribed timeline, airline President Tim Clark said in a statement. We believe our industry needs better solutions, and thats why were looking to partner with leading organizations."

Emirates separately will aim to use so-called sustainable aviation fuel as well when possible  though it remains incredibly scarce in the market. In January, the airline successfully flew a Boeing 777 on a test flight with one of its two engines entirely powered by the fuel.

The announcement also comes ahead of Dubai hosting the COP28 climate talks in November.

___

Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.
The far-too-easy response to crime in recent American history has been to lock people away and forget about them. This has the benefit of expedience and some emotional satisfaction, but is harmful to society and individuals in countless ways. It has led to a generation damaged by the scourge of mass incarceration, and led policymakers in search of a better way.

Progress has been a hard slog. Anything that smacks of going easy on criminals is anathema to politicians, who worry a fear-based campaign will dislodge them from office, and theyre often right. It takes courage to go against the incarceration-first model of criminal justice.

Connecticut has seen some gains as well as frustrating backsliding. Prison populations are down and some facilities have closed, for which the state should be proud. If nothing else, keeping people behind bars is hugely expensive, and the state has many needs.

There have been other steps forward, too. A Clean Slate law was passed and signed by Gov. Ned Lamont, which allows people who have been out of prison and kept out of trouble for a certain period to have their criminal records erased, which reduces recidivism. But implementation has been slow, leading advocates to worry when people will be made whole again.

The latest frustration concerns commutations, where sentences for people who have already served years or decades behind bars are shortened. Connecticut was finally moving forward on expanding this process, even as only several dozen people a year were affected. But outcry from crime victims and their families led to a pause in that process.

Now the General Assembly is moving ahead on another initiative, one that would offer a chance for some of the youngest offenders in prison. If a bill passed by the state Senate were to become law, people serving prison sentences for crimes committed before they turned 21 years old would be guaranteed access to parole.

They wouldnt be guaranteed to be released. There would still be a process. But by making this change, the state could recognize that acts people commit when they are young, even the most serious crimes, do not define a person for life.

The proposal is an acknowledgement that peoples brains continue to mature even as they move past their childhood years. The science on this question has advanced, and we know that people are not fully who they will become until well after theyre out of school.

State law currently bars courts from sentencing people to life without parole for crimes committed up until their 18th birthday. This bill would change the age to 21.

Objections in the Senate focused on the heinous nature of some of the crimes that would be included in this change, including murder. But nothing on the table would guarantee an offenders release. It would mean that person would be eligible for parole.

To truly change our broken criminal justice system, we need systematic changes. Minor fixes at the margins arent good enough. And part of that wholesale change means reexamining the kind of sentences we hand down, even for serious crimes.

It wont always be easy, but ensuring mere eligibility for parole for young offenders is not too much to ask.
The Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH would like to invite all interested and eligible local suppliers to submit technical specification, financial offer, and warranty period for the below item.

No Item UOM Quantity 1 Solar Power pack Pieces 3

Bid Reference Number: 91172172

Submission deadline: 01.06.2023 (4:00 pm in the afternoon)

Any eligible local supplier interested in accepting the GIZ-Office proposal for supplying the item is welcome to submit technical specification, financial offer with warranty period separately through this email account et_goods_quotation@giz.de by writing the reference number 91172172 on the subject line.

Those who are interested to be the one, detail specification, price sheet and general purchase conditions is described at DAHABOO website:

Special conditions and instructions:

Supplier must attach a valid TIN, VAT and a current renewed business license.

Certificate of registration in the trade register and valid active license

Supplier must have a legal invoice.

Supplier should present a document of certificate of origin for the items to be purchased. Those suppliers who cant provide certificate of origin, the attached self-declaration form must be filled out.

Supplier must clearly indicate whether the price offer is before or after 10% TVA.

Technical specifications should be detailed descriptions of the items. Legal Documents/ business licenses will not be considered as technical specifications.

The offer might be rejected or disqualified: a.) if technical specifications and financial offers are not submitted separately, b.) if the reference number is not indicated on the on the subject line, c.) if legal documents/licenses are submitted as technical specifications d.) if offer submitted after the deadline, and e.) if bids submitted with GIZ staff or other GIZ emails in copy.

Supplier must indicate the number '91172172' on the subject line otherwise there is no way that we differentiate one tender with another, if you dont do so you will be disqualified.

on the subject line otherwise there is no way that we differentiate one tender with another, if you dont do so you will be disqualified. Expected delivery time should be 10-15 working days after the official order is given. If the supplier fails to deliver within the specified days, GIZ-Office has the right to cancel/ terminate the order.

The delivery place of the items will be at GIZ cluster coordinator office IGAD 1, Avenue Georges Clemenceau Republic of Djibouti.

Please consider general purchase conditions attached for your offer preparation.

The offer should be submitted in the language of the tender documents.

For financial offers, use the provided price sheet form.

Financial offer currency must be in DJF (Djibouti Franc).

The validity date of your offer should be 60 days.

Payment will be settled after delivery and presentation of valid invoice.

For any clarifications, kindly contact the GIZ Country Office latest by 19.05.2023 using the below contact details. Any information on clarification or any amendment to this tender will be publicised until 24.05.2023 on DAHABOO website.

Email: et_goods_quotation@giz.de

Tel: +251 11 5180201

GIZ reserves the right to cancel the tender partially or fully.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Documents

Submit offer
China donates rice to help South Sudan's humanitarian response

Xinhua) 13:19, May 12, 2023

JUBA, May 11 (Xinhua) -- South Sudan on Thursday received nearly 2,400 metric tons of rice from the Chinese government to help respond to the humanitarian crisis caused by the conflict in neighboring Sudan.

Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management Albino Akol Atak said the food assistance arrived at a critical time when they are struggling to pool resources to respond to the influx of thousands of people fleeing conflict across the border with Sudan.

"In this year alone, we have a great number of people in South Sudan that are in need. We have 9.4 million people who are in need of humanitarian assistance. The conflict in Sudan has increased this number with the influx of returnees which has added another burden," Akol said during the handover ceremony in Juba, the capital of South Sudan.

Chinese Ambassador to South Sudan Ma Qiang said part of the rice donated by the Chinese government will be distributed to these returnees to help meet their urgent needs.

South Sudan is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to the effects of climate change, Ma said, adding that China has provided emergency food assistance to South Sudan for many years, benefiting more than one million people.

Manase Lomole Waya, chairperson of the Relief and Rehabilitation Commission, said prior to the outbreak of the conflict in Sudan, they were already dealing with a humanitarian crisis largely caused by successive devastating floods since 2019. He appealed to international donors to support South Sudan.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
In the twilight zone of the Lords, the vampires have tasted blood and now they'll want more

The cure for admiring the House of Lords is to go and look at it'. This sentiment, expressed, over 150 years ago, by England's most revered constitutionalist Walter Bagehot, is just as true today.

British voters, in a referendum, decided to leave the European Union. They reinforced this choice in the General Election of 2019 by giving Boris Johnson a thumping majority. And their representatives in the House of Commons duly sent a bill designed to deliver freedom from EU law to the Lords.

In what amounts to an outrageous betrayal of the popular will, their lordships objected. The most Remain-orientated quango in the land once again decided it knows better than the British people and, in the face of its opposition and to his eternal shame, our prime minister downgraded his proposed Brexit bonfire of 2,400 laws to a miniature pyre of just 600.

Politicians need to stick to what they said they will do. I'm afraid it's no good being holier-than-thou if you then end up behaving like a Borgia.

JACOB REES-MOGG: 'In the twilight zone of the Lords, the vampires have tasted blood and now they'll want more'

British voters, in a referendum, decided to leave the European Union. They reinforced this choice in the General Election of 2019 by giving Boris Johnson a thumping majority

Forgive me if I sound a little impassioned but it was me, after all, who introduced the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill in the Commons last summer in a bid to reduce the EU's ongoing baleful influence over our everyday lives.

Over the decades of our membership of the EU, a continuous stream of laws, rules and regulations were imposed upon us. Parliament could not block them, as the edicts from Brussels were deemed to trump British laws even if our ministers had voted against them.

EU regulations reached the statute book without any Parliamentary discussion, while directives had to be implemented according to the will of the EU, or else the European court would overrule and even, on occasions, fine the British government.

In short, penalties were imposed by an unaccountable bureaucracy on a democratic state.

All this was designed to Europeanise the United Kingdom by bringing our laws into harmony with the other member states and then make sure we didn't stray from the one true path laid down by Brussels. Inevitably, when we finally left, these rules were still the law of the land and they may be viewed on an online government 'dashboard' that lists a remarkable 4,800 of them.

The most Remain-orientated quango in the land once again decided it knows better than the British people

They include regulations affecting every aspect of agriculture and industry, including the indubitably crucial EU green banana marketing standards regulations.

Equally inevitably, the United Kingdom will need rules for itself and some of the 4,800 will be kept, albeit in modified form, to meet the legal context of the UK rather than that of the EU.

Yet the process of revision and repeal, promised by Rishi Sunak both during his leadership campaign and once he took power, ought also to ensure that rules that hamper competition, or regulate for their own sake, are ditched.

This is unquestionably a challenging task but not an impossible one.

And the fact that the Government had already ear-marked 4million for external legal support in pursuit of this endeavour makes its subsequent decision to back down all the more extraordinary.

The House of Lords has become increasingly willing to flex its geriatric muscles. Until recently, the Lords had come to accept that it was the prerogative of the Commons, as the elected chamber, to set policy. This tradition is no longer observed. The Lords has moved from amending, to improving technical details, to objecting to policy.

This change is vividly illustrated by the growing number of defeats it has inflicted on the government, a trend that has become markedly more apparent since Brexit. During the coalition years from 2010 to 2015 the government was defeated 100 times, yet just between 2019 and 2022 the government suffered 244 defeats.

In the face of its opposition and to his eternal shame, our prime minister (pictured on Wednesday) downgraded his proposed Brexit bonfire of 2,400 laws to a miniature pyre of just 600

On a pro rata basis this is a near quadrupling of defeats and is driven by the Lords' hostility to Brexit and a desire to support multinational bodies, including the European Court of Human Rights against domestic law.

Its actions are unbalancing the constitution and the failure of the government to rebut it will encourage the Lords in its unjustified power grab. By virtue of its nature and composition, the Lords has members whose views are those of yesteryear.

Many members of the Lords, including some who receive generous but undeclared pensions from the EU, considered our membership of the bloc to be set in stone. Because they do not have to interact with voters, they failed to observe the sea-change in attitudes that has taken place in recent years, and  partly as a result  consider most Brexiteers to be troglodytes. In their rarefied, wood-panelled dining rooms, the grubby issue of democracy is rarely condescended to.

In persuading the Government to water down its bill, the Lords has won a mighty victory. And if it can prevail on an issue as important as the jettisoning of EU law, it can also win on the question of small boats by amending the Illegal Migration bill out of all effectiveness when the implementation of its provisions has never been more urgent.

In the twilight zone of the House of Lords, the vampires of our political system have tasted blood and will now want more. Having defeated a proposal backed by two elections, a Commons majority and a prime minister's promise, it will be simplicity itself to block any one of Mr Sunak's five pledges.
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has labelled the plan to tackle illegal immigration immoral but fails to offer a constructive alternative, prompting recollection of his call last year for the Government to do more to help Ukrainian refugees.

Despite grand quarters at Lambeth Palace and his Canterbury Old Palace there is yet no sign of Justin giving up a room or two for homeless Ukrainians.

During the 2016 Syrian refugee emergency, he did house a Syrian family in a 'spare' four-bedroom cottage in the grounds of Lambeth but two years later they were asked to move on.

An episcopal mouthpiece said that life at Lambeth wasn't 'suitable' for a refugee family, whatever that may mean.

The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby (pictured) called the Government's plan to tackle illegal immigration 'morally unacceptable'

With his luggage already in the boot of the car taking him from Westminster to Heathrow, why did Harry make an unscheduled stop at Buckingham Palace?

After three hours watching dad being crowned, he needed a comfort break.

Did Watergate hero Carl Bernstein, addressing an investigative journalism summit, spot the handsome blonde octogenarian in the front row at the Royal Institute of British Architects?

She was Margaret Jay, 83, daughter of Labour PM Jim Callaghan and ex-wife of Peter Jay.

Mr Jay was appointed, in an act of blatant nepotism while his father-in-law was PM, as ambassador to Washington in 1977.

Margaret had an affair with Carl, brilliantly chronicled by his wife Nora Ephron in Heartburn.

At Wednesday's summit, Baroness Jay smiled at her ex-lover and gave him a coquettish wave. Did Carl offer a furtive wink?

Carl Bernstein was played by Jack Nicholson (pictured) in the 1986 film Heartburn, which is based on the novel of the same name, by the Watergate hero's wife, Nora Ephron

Any sympathy for Ambassador Jay later evaporated when it was revealed that while Margaret was bonking Bernstein, played in the film Heartburn by Jack Nicholson, pictured, Peter was bonking the family nanny and she had a baby to prove it.

Emily Sheffield, sister of Samantha Cameron, recalls being humiliated, aged 22, on her first day at The Guardian by a man who told her: 'Emily, of course we all know the only reason you're here is because the editor wants to have sex with you.'

Emily tells Rachel Johnson's podcast she never told then-editor Alan Rusbridger, adding: 'He would have been unbelievably upset.'

As he lunched with Rupert Murdoch in a private room at Ruth Rogers' River Cafe, Piers Morgan received a phone message warning: 'Keep the noise down, we're upstairs.'

It was from his chum Emily Maitlis, complaining about Morgan's booming voice jeopardising a podcast she was recording with restaurant owner Rogers.

Commemorating in advance the 60th anniversary of the publication of Anthony Burgess's A Shorter Finnegan's Wake, the Times Literary Supplement advises starting the guide to James Joyce's impenetrable book on 'moanday' and keeping the effort up through 'tearsday', 'wailsday', 'thumpsday' and 'frightday'.

Reading 47 pages a day, the TLS calculates Burgess's book should be completed by 'shatterday' evening.
Like millions of people Ive long been a fan of Holly and Phils This Morning show, the jewel in ITVs daytime TV crown.

We all supported Phillip Schofield when he came out as gay live on TV in 2020 after 27 years of marriage.

Holly Willoughby, his dear friend of decades, was by his side on the sofa and hugged him.

Theyve been through so much together  for nearly two decades theyve been one of the most famous double acts on television and weve loved them.

Even after they apparently jumped the queue to see the Queen lying in state most of us forgave them.

AMANDA PLATELL: Like millions of people Ive long been a fan of Holly and Phils This Morning show, the jewel in ITVs daytime TV crown

But now their friendship seems to be at breaking point. And though Phils put out a statement insisting Were the best of friends  as always, insiders are far from convinced, with one saying his protestation was desperate. Its claimed the couple are barely speaking off camera.

What a terrible mess. How grizzly to see such a public break-up.

The moment that convinced me it was all over for them was Thursdays show. The pair performed a silly dance to Lulus Boom Bang-A-Bang, he prancing like a man possessed, she clearly embarrassed at this faux show of unity. Excruciating.

It started to go wrong when Phil took time off after his brother was convicted of sexually abusing a child. Was it that Phil didnt confide in Holly about his brother? That Holly enjoyed his absence? Friends say that whatever happens, shes staying with This Morning, making it clear it will be the Holly show, which seems a bit vainglorious.

Whatever the case, morning TV should be cheerful, silly, life-enhancing. This is the opposite. Its got ugly.

I have the tiniest of insights into how TV couples can fall out, having done two series of a Channel 4 political show with Piers Morgan, called Morgan & Platell.

Holly Willoughby and Phil Schofield pictured on This Morning earlier this week

In the beginning we had great chemistry and were friends. By the end it was screaming matches, which he won because he was a better presenter than me, and we couldnt stand the sight of each other.

Happily we rekindled our friendship after we parted company.

I hope Holly and Phil can, too. But given that painfully cringe-making dance on Thursdays show, Im not sure it will happen.

Guilty of nonsense

A trans woman is given nine years for raping a female friend. Lexi-Rose Crawford was referred to during the trial as Miss and the indictment used in court ludicrously specified her penis was used in the rape.

What nonsense. My view remains that a person with a penis is not a woman.

Although good luck, Lexi-Rose, serving your time in an all-mens prison.

AMANDA PLATELL: Lexi-Rose Crawford was referred to during the trial as Miss and the indictment used in court ludicrously specified her penis was used in the rape

We miss Chelsy's Prince Happy

Prince Harry blames the media for his gorgeous girlfriend of six years Chelsy Davy breaking off their romance.

Pictures of them together show a different Harry from the one we know today: deliriously happy, affectionate and unaffected  quite unlike the miserable git hes become since he met Meghan.

AMANDA PLATELL: Prince Harry blames the media for his gorgeous girlfriend of six years Chelsy Davy breaking off their romance

It appears the Duchess of Sussex has employed Kim Kardashians ex-security guard as her minder.

He was with her on her first public appearance since her no-show at the Coronation, hiking in the Californian bush. Given she was wearing Princess Dianas 17,800 diamond Cartier watch and more than 100,000 worth of jewellery, no wonder she wanted the burly beefcake.

A ray of sunshine from BBC comedy Colin From Accounts about an adorable border terrier who gets hit by a car, suffers spinal damage and can only walk with wheels attached. Its tender, heart-warming and funny. Although my moggie Ted, who watched it with me, says the moment he has to walk with wheels, he wants a ticket to Dignitas.

Terrible reviews for new movie Book Club: The Next Chapter starring Jane Fonda and Diane Keaton about a group of older women sozzled on Prosecco. Meanwhile Last Vegas, starring Michael Douglas and Morgan Freeman sozzled on vodka, was a hit. When did it become hilarious for older men to age disgracefully but not women?

Oz put on the map!

Great excitement chez Platell before my Eurovision party tonight as Ted Lasso actress Hannah Waddingham revealed Australia had made it into the finals. Curmudgeons say they shouldnt be allowed to compete as theyre not in Europe. But when did details matter in a song contest where most entrants cant sing? On the other hand, it could be viewers thought they were voting for Albania . . .

Scruff at the top, Ed?

Beyonce kicks off her 57-date world tour with a three-hour show featuring nine costume changes, including one outfit with fake arms and hands lovingly stroking her crotch. Not exactly the Ed Sheeran on-stage approach of jeans, a lumberjack jacket and crumpled T-shirt. Yet its his album Subtract thats the fastest-selling this year.

AMANDA PLATELL: Beyonce kicks off her 57-date world tour with a three-hour show featuring nine costume changes

Much tut-tutting as Robert De Niro, 79, announces his seventh child, this one with Tiffany Chen: Hes old enough to be the babys great-grandpa! Whats in it for her? Well, call me a cynic, but he is worth $500million.

At last a great idea: giving pharmacists the power to administer prescription drugs for minor ailments such as earache  easing the burden on GPs. My wonderful pharmacist of 25 years knows more about my medical history than any of the rolling dozen or so GPs I get to see at the local surgery.

Westminster wars

Bad enough that impartial civil servant Sue Gray was in talks with Keir Starmer to become his chief of staff while overseeing the inquiry into Partygate. Now Sky reveals Gray had personal contact during that period with the inquirys chair, former Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman.

Partygate wasnt just a witch-hunt, it was a straightforward Labour stitch-up.

Speaker Lindsay Hoyle was furious with Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch for not announcing her U-turn on the burning of hated EU laws in Parliament, but doing so in a newspaper instead. Not half as furious as the 17 million who voted for Brexit, though!

AMANDA PLATELL: Speaker Lindsay Hoyle was furious with Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch for not announcing her U-turn on the burning of hated EU laws in Parliament, but doing so in a newspaper instead

Rishi gets my vote as we learn hes a fan of Jilly Coopers bonkbusters. His favourite novel Riders features cad Rupert Campbell-Black, in those eye-wateringly tight breeches. Although our diminutive PM would, of course, need a ladder to get into the saddle of Ruperts huge steed.

Trump or Joe... God help America

Donald Trump hits back at a jury finding against him in a sexual assault civil case, saying he cant remember meeting his accuser E. Jean Carroll. Astonishingly, his poll ratings went up and he says hell stand for President at the next election. So theyll have to choose between a sexist who cant remember the women hes abused or doddery Joe Biden who probably cant remember when he last had sex.

AMANDA PLATELL: Donald Trump hits back at a jury finding against him in a sexual assault civil case, saying he cant remember meeting his accuser E. Jean Carroll

Actor Stephen Tompkinson of DCI Banks fame was cleared by a jury of attacking and causing head injuries to a man who appeared with a pal drunk and aggressive outside his family home at 3am. The heads that need examining are those of the TV execs who blacklisted the star when he was charged. Call me old-fashioned, but what is not to admire about a man prepared to protect his castle?

Terrible reviews for new movie Book Club: The Next Chapter starring Jane Fonda and Diane Keaton about a group of older women sozzled on Prosecco. Meanwhile Last Vegas, starring Michael Douglas and Morgan Freeman sozzled on vodka, was a hit. When did it become hilarious for older men to age disgracefully but not women?
For all the latest Royal news, pictures and video click here

We've all been there... tripped up the stairs, seen our brollies blow inside out, or found ourselves sinking into the grass after choosing the wrong type of heel.

Royals are no exception - only their embarrassing moments are often caught on camera and shared with millions.

And they often seem to retrieve the situation with such poise.

Even Queens are not immune, as Camilla found moments before her Coronation when a last minute clothing rearrangement exposed a little more than she might have intended. (Although the rest of the day went like clockwork).

Here we look back at some of the royal mishaps that might put a smile on your face..

An awkward moment for Queen Camilla as her dress appears to become tangled outside Westminster Abbey - and it is left to her sister and Coronation Companion Annabel Elliot, to straighten things out

Queen Elizabeth II

The late Queen rarely lost her composure, even in the most trying conditions.

She kept a firm grip on her umbrellas during rainstorms and her headgear always seemed to stay perfectly in place.

But there was one occasion at Sultan Qaboos' home, Muscat Palace, in February 1979, when even Queen Elizabeth struggled to keep her hat on her head before it was blown right off.

Going.... The late Queen battles tries to hold on to her hat during a visit to Sultan Qaboos' home, Muscat Palace, in February 1979

A speedy reaction ensured the Monarch's head piece wasn't lost... keenly watched by the Duke of Edinburgh

Kate, Princess of Wales

Kate had a sinking feeling when when her four-inch stiletto got stuck in a grate.

The Princess, then the Duchess of Cambridge, had been attending the St Patrick's Day parade in 2013 with husband William at Mons Barracks in Aldershot, Hampshire.

The pair had been at the ceremony to present shamrocks to members of the Irish Guards.

While at a St Patrick's Day Parade at Mons Barracks Aldershot in 2013, Kate got her four-inch stiletto get wedged in a small drain. She quickly managed to free it, laughing the blunder off

After having given a sprig to the regimental mascot Domhnall, an Irish wolfhound, she stepped back to find her black suede shoe had been caught.

Unfazed by the slight embarrassment, she grabbed the arm of her husband and pulled herself free, laughing off the blunder.

Queen Camilla

Umbrellas and strong winds don't go together - and this can even catch the Royal Family out.

Seeing the funny side: The Duchess of Cornwall appears to be trapped inside her own umbrella after being hit by a gust of wind. Royal aides sprang into action to rescue her

There was more trouble at Ward Barracks in Burford in 2013, when the umbrella collapsed in on itself

Camilla, then Duchess of Cornwall, had her own brolly blunder while on a royal visit to Ward Barracks in Burford in 2013.

She lost her grip on the umbrella and it looked as though she almost lost it, but thanks to the help of her royal aides, they pulled her free from the plastic parasol.

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex

Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, suffered a minor fashion faux pas when she was a working royal.

As Meghan and Prince Harry arrived at Fua'amotu Airport in Nuku'alofa, Tonga, a label was seen hanging down from her red bright red floral dress, with the price tag still on.

As Meghan and Prince Harry arrived at Fua'amotu Airport in Nuku'alofa, Tonga, a label was seen hanging down from her red bright red floral dress (pictured)

The label of the Self Portrait dress, which cost 345, read 'returns will only be accepted if this tag remains attached'

The label of the Self Portrait dress, which cost 345, read 'returns will only be accepted if this tag remains attached'.

It hung down from the dress for at least five minutes as the Duke and Duchess were welcomed, before an aide eventually spotted it.

Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York

Back in 1989, Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, also battled with strong winds as she was about to embark on a place at Heathrow airport.

Back in 1989, Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, also battled with strong winds as she was about to embark on a plane at Heathrow airport.

Stepping out in a floral print dress and a large black sun hat, Fergie's hat was blown away from her.

She managed to eventually catch it before it got too far away, and the couple headed on their way to Canada.

Diana, Princess of Wales

In 1991, Diana fell up a flight of plane stairs during a visit to Pakistan.

She had slipped while climbing the ladder but managed to grab the handrail and steady herself.

If that was not a bad start to the day enough, her flight was then delayed an hour because of a rainstorm.

The winds had also meant her skirt was being blown all over the place before she finally boarded the plane.

Princess Diana fell while boarding the steps of the plane after visiting Minchi Point on the Khyber Pass in Pakistan on September 26 1991

Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh

Having to deal with the famous British weather, Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, was caught on camera cowering from the rain.

While on her way to visit the Orbis Flying Eye Hospital at Stansted Airport in 2017, she was seen umbrella-less, forced to cover her face from the rain using her hand.

Sophie, Duke of Edinburgh, tries to shield herself from the wind and rain while visiting the Orbis Flying Eye Hospital at Stansted Airport in March 2017

Princess Alexandra

Princess Alexandra is the cousin of Queen Elizabeth and suffered an unfortunate slip-up on her wedding night - live on television.

The Princess, who married Angus Ogilvy, slipped while walking down the stairs of their plane, after flying into Lossiemouth Naval air station.

The Queen's first cousin Princess Alexandra had a blunder on her wedding night when she tripped after landing into Lossiemouth Naval air station

Mary, Crown Princess of Denmark

It is not just British royals who have had clumsy setbacks while on tour.

Mary, Crown Princess of Denmark, left her shoe behind when visiting the grave site of President John F Kennedy by the Washington Monument at Arlington National Cemetery in June 2010.

The Princess quickly realised her shoe was no longer on her foot and went back to get it.

The Dutch ambassador Friss Arne Petersen came to help her while she put it back on while her husband Crown Prince Frederik laughed.

Mary, Crown Princess of Denmark, left her shoe behind when visiting the grave site of President John F Kennedy by the Washington Monument at Arlington National Cemetery when visiting in June 2010

The Dutch ambassador Friss Arne Petersen came to help her while she put it back on while her husband Crown Prince Frederik laughed

Queen Sofia of Spain

Perhaps one of the most embarrassing royal blunders to date was when Queen Sofia of Spain fell up the stairs of the White House while greeting President Bill Clinton in 2000.

She famously stumbled up the stairs, with the President helping to catch her from falling.

Sofia had been arriving for a state dinner but quickly laughed off the accident, after all, we have all done it.

Queen Sofia of Spain takes a tumble on the steps of the White House while attending a State Dinner in 2000. President Bill Clinton helped the royal get back up, along with her husband King Juan Carlos

Queen Margrethe of Denmark

When Queen Margrethe of Denmark's shoe fell off as she greeted the Home Guard in Copenhagen in 2017, she quickly laughed it off.

The monarch reached forward for the lost shoe while the guards offered their assistance.

But she was quite capable of getting it herself and carried on business as usual following the slip-up.

Queen Margrethe of Denmark's shoe fell off as she greeted the Home Guard in Copenhagen in 2017 but she quickly laughed it off

Horse blunders

Among the wardrobe malfunctions and the weather blunders, one of the most common royal accidents seem to happen while they are on a horse.

Princess Anne, an Olympic horse rider, was seen on a number of occasions falling off her horse, making a particularly spectacular fall at Towcester Racecourse in 1983.

Princess Anne, an Olympic horse rider, was seen on a number of occasions falling off her horse, making a particularly spectacular fall at Towcester Racecourse in 1983 (pictured)

One fall in 2010 saw Zara Tindall fall from her horse at The Water Complex at horse trials in Enschede, Holland (pictured)

King Charles fell headfirst off his horse during a polo match in Cowdray Park in 1992 (pictured)

Prince Harry fell off during the sixth Sentebale Royal Salute Polo Cup at Val de Vie Estate in Cape Town

Like mother, like daughter, Zara Tindall, also an Olympic horse rider, has also taken a tumble or two in her career to date.

One fall in 2010 saw Zara fall from her horse at The Water Complex at horse trials in Enschede, Holland.

She remained unhurt, largely due to her Point-2 air jacket which inflated on impact, but she was forced to stop racing for the day.

King Charles and Prince Harry, like father, like son, have similar had nosedives off their horses.

Charles fell headfirst off his horse during a polo match in Cowdray Park in 1992 whereas Harry fell off during the sixth Sentebale Royal Salute Polo Cup at Val de Vie Estate in Cape Town.
They were once given to nine-month-old Mary, Queen of Scots

After the pomp of the Coronation in Westminster Abbey, it will be Scotland's turn to celebrate the new monarch.

And it will do so with its own collection of historic crown jewels, which are even older than the regalia used in Westminster Abbey.

Throngs of people lined up outside St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh to pay their respects to the late Queen as she lay in state last year and crowds will once again flock to the Royal Mile to welcome her eldest son on his first visit to Scotland after being crowned.

The Honours of Scotland, the UK's oldest crown jewels, will be presented to King Charles at a service of dedication and thanksgiving - an honour which Queen Elizabeth also received after her Coronation in 1953.

The Crown of Scotland, was placed on the coffin of the late Queen at St Giles' Cathedral after her death last year

It features a circlet made of Scottish gold with 22 gemstones, 20 precious stones including diamonds and amethysts and freshwater pearls from Scottish rivers

The Scottish Crown Jewels, or the Honours of Scotland, consist of the priceless crown, sceptre and Sword of State

The Scots crown jewels will be escorted to the Cathedral from Edinburgh Castle, where they are usually displayed, by a People's Procession of 100 representatives drawn from across the country.

The Stone of Destiny, also known as the Stone of Scone, will also be used in the ceremony - having been returned from the Coronation at Westminster Abbey.

Consisting of the priceless crown, sceptre and Sword of State, the Scottish Crown Jewels were first used together at a Coronation in 1543 for Mary, Queen of Scots when she was just nine months old.

They were later used to crown her son, James VI - who went on to become James I of England - in 1567, Charles I in 1633 and Charles II in 1651.

The Crown of Scotland, the impressive centrepiece of the collection, was placed on the coffin of the late Queen during a moving service at St Giles' Cathedral after her death last year.

It features a circlet made of Scottish gold with 22 gemstones, 20 precious stones including diamonds and amethysts and freshwater pearls from Scottish rivers.

Four gold arches rise to an orb which is painted blue and decorated with stars and a gold cross sits on top, which is studded with a large amethyst and eight pearls.

Made of solid silver, the sceptre was a gift from Pope Alexander VI to James IV in 1494.

The crown was used at the coronations of James VI (pictured wearing the crown) - who went on to become James I of England - Charles I and Charles II

The late Queen Elizabeth II was presented with the Sword of State in St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh

The Honours of Scotland, the UK's oldest crown jewels, were presented to the Queen after her Coronation in 1953

It was re-modelled and lengthened in 1536 and has small figures of the Virgin and Child, St James and St Andrew as well as a polished globe of rock crystal.

The Sword of State was also a papal gift from Pope Julius II to James IV in 1507 and the blade features figures of St Peter and St Paul and Pope Julius's inscription.

The silver-gilt handle is decorated with oak leaves and acorns to symbolise the risen Christ and the scabbard is made of wood covered in dark red velvet and mounted with silver gilt.

Scotland's crown jewels have not had a smooth or easy journey to their present-day display cabinet at Edinburgh Castle.

In mid-17th century, the hoard had to be hidden from Oliver Cromwell - who had already melted down the English Crown Jewels - and they were taken to Dunnottar Castle in Aberdeenshire.

When the castle was placed under siege, the Honours were lowered down the side of the Castle where they were collected by a serving woman pretending to gather seaweed.

She took them to a church at the village of Kinneff where they were buried by the minister and his wife who would dig them up every few months to guard against the damp.

The Queen Mother, pictured at the Castle of Mey on her 90th birthday, was born to a large family of Scottish aristocracy

The late Queen spent her final days at Balmoral in Aberdeenshire before her death in September last year

The collection was left safely buried until the monarchy was restored in 1660 when they were returned to Charles II and placed in Edinburgh Castle.

They were used to represent the monarch at sittings of the Scottish Parliament until the Treaty of Union in 1707, when the new United Kingdom Parliament met in London.

Locked in an oak chest in Edinburgh Castle, the jewels were forgotten about until 1818, when they were found by Scottish novelist, Sir Walter Scott, and were placed on display.

After a tumultuous history, the jewels were hidden once again during the Second World War when they were buried at different locations around the Castle.

The service of thanksgiving will be a reminder of recent royal attachments - sentimental and genealogical - to Scotland.

The late Queen Mother, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, was the youngest daughter in a large family of the Scottish aristocracy.

One of her 14th-century ancestors, Sir John Lyon, became Thane of Glamis, home of Macbeth 300 years before, and Glamis Castle is the family seat.

She bought the Castle of Mey in Caithness for 100 in 1952 and used it as a retreat in the Scottish Highlands where she would stay for three weeks in August every year.

'One feels so beautifully far away,' she said of her 'dear little castle by the sea'.

The Queen Mother at the Castle of Mey in Caithness, 1955, with pet corgi, Honey

The late Queen also held her Scottish hideaway, Balmoral, close to her heart, where she could enjoy relaxed holidays in the Highlands with her family.

It was also the place where she spent her final days before her death in September last year.

The Queen and Prince Philip spent the second part of their honeymoon at Birkhall on the Balmoral estate, a spot which was later revisited by Charles and Camilla when they married in 2005.

As King Charles and Queen Camilla receive their welcome from Scotland, they will be reminding the nation of the monarchy's historic and deep attachments north of the border.
British actors don't find themselves sharing the set with kangaroos very often, but that became the daily norm for Michelle Keegan and Faye Marsay on new BBC1 drama Ten Pound Poms.

'There was always a mob of them in the background,' recalls Game Of Thrones star Faye.

'We wouldn't get right up close because they might give you a punch, apparently. But it was kind of amazing. I'd never been to Australia. I was slightly terrified about the fact that if you get bitten by anything you're probably going to die. Michelle and I would be Googling shark attacks.'

Along with Luther actor Warren Brown the pair were down under for the six-part series from Brassic creator Danny Brocklehurst. Set in 1956, Ten Pound Poms follows a bunch of fictional Brits who took advantage of the Australian government's offer to transport them to Oz and provide subsidised housing and jobs for them for 10 per person.

The Assisted Passage Migration Scheme ran in various forms from 1945 to 1972 and enticed more than a million and a half Brits, who could apply for Australian citizenship after a year. If they decided to return to Britain within two years, they had to pay back their 10 and fund their own passage back (about 120 then, 6,000 in today's money).

Set in 1956, Ten Pound Poms follows a bunch of fictional Brits who took advantage of the Australian government's offer to transport them to Oz and provide subsidised housing and jobs for them for 10 per person

The scheme saw the families of many famous people relocate to Australia, including the parents of Hugh Jackman, Kylie Minogue, the Bee Gees and AC/DC founders Malcolm and Angus Young and Bon Scott. Former prime minister Julia Gillard migrated with her family from Barry in South Wales when she was four.

Danny, best known for creating spiky northern dramas and adapting Harlan Coben thrillers such as The Stranger and Stay Close, had up to now shunned period pieces.

But he was persuaded to tell the Ten Pound Poms story after researching the historic scheme.

'I was fascinated by the themes that were potentially there to do with escape, with starting over, with prejudice,' he says. 'And I got quite excited about doing a show that didn't have the internet and mobile phones in it.'

The drama sees working-class northerners emigrate to what was heavily advertised as the Australian idyll, only to find themselves stuck in remote, grim hostels scrabbling to find work.

Some of the locations in the show are historically authentic  replica hostels were erected to scale in locations that had housed the original Ten Pound Poms, including in Scheyville National Park north of Sydney.

Filming also took place in the frozen-in-time frontier village of Carcour in New South Wales.

Faye and Warren play Annie and Terry Roberts, a British couple attempting a new start with their children after Terry's drinking and brawling back home got out of hand.

Michelle Keegan, 35, plays Kate Thorne, a nurse whose secret agenda takes her to Australia largely under false pretenses

'The Roberts family is going wrong because of Terry's alcoholism and the state of post-war Britain, which was grim,' explains Faye.

'But as we'll see, your problems can follow you.'

Middlesbrough-born Faye, 36, says she based Annie on her own family matriarchs.

There was always a mob of kangaroos in the background while we were filming. It was amazing

'I stole a lot from my grandmothers and my great-grandma,' she says. 'One grandma was such a strong and outspoken person who stood up against things like racism back in the 50s. She was a real strong working-class lady and you wouldn't mess with her, or my other granny either. It was easy for me to mine things from my own life.'

Michelle, 35, plays Kate Thorne, a nurse whose secret agenda takes her to Australia largely under false pretences.

'Kate's storyline is to rewrite her past in a way,' explains Michelle cagily, keen to avoid any spoilers.

'Her storyline is a lot more emotionally led. She's a very strong character, very feisty. She's fighting for what she believes is right.'

Ten Pound Poms marks a rare period piece for Michelle too. She played Coronation Street's Tina McIntyre for seven years before starring in Our Girl and Brassic, and this drama will be her fourth project with Danny.

'I've always wanted to do a period drama, but I'm quite choosy about what I do,' she says. 'I spoke to Danny about this a few years ago and I just loved the story.'

Danny also weaves the story of indigenous Australians into the drama, showing how the Brits come to realise that Aboriginal people face more discrimination than they do.

The scheme saw the families of Hugh Jackman, Kylie Minogue and the Bee Gees relocate to Australia

'That was really important from the start,' he says. 'In episode two there's a big racist rant by one of the characters, and there was a bit of discomfort about that being allowed in the show because they thought it might be a trigger for people. But I fought quite hard to keep it in because it's representative of what was going on in 1956 in Australia; that's how some people viewed the indigenous community at the time.'

On a lighter note, while the British actors found Australians very welcoming, the weather was less so.

'We got on an aeroplane, we were promised sunshine,' laughs Faye. 'I brought flip-flops and nice shorts and we got to Sydney and it rained for two months non-stop. Warren was filming his work site scenes in really cold weather, bless him.'

The cast did manage a few days of sightseeing, however, during the four-month shoot  Michelle headed to Cairns in northern Queensland and Faye and Warren enjoyed a trip to the Great Barrier Reef.

For Warren, 44, making Ten Pound Poms was like looking at an alternative family history, because the Warrington-born actor's grandparents very nearly signed up.

'I learned that at one point my mum's family were all packed up to go,' he says.

'She's one of seven. My grandparents were living in Manchester and were all set to go but at the very last minute my nan bottled it, for want of a better phrase. So, yeah, I could have been a 6ft handsome surf dude!'

Ten Pound Poms, tomorrow, 9pm, BBC1 and BBC iPlayer.
Some photographs are so weird and wonderful they leave you wondering whether you can trust your own eyes.

And these snaps, collated into a gallery by funpost.com, will do just that, making you look twice to try and figure out what you are really seeing.

The mind bending images, shared by social media users from around the world, feature various scenarios - which aren't quite everything they seem at first.

One snap features what looks like an everyday bunch of bananas - but is actually an exotic yellow snake.

And another photo may shock you, showcasing what appears to be a bride, with her bare bottom on display.

Meanwhile, a third snap shows a dog who looks like he's about to go skydiving (clue: he isn't).

Is this a two-headed cat - probably not feline well if so - or two cats having a cuddle? The photo is believed to be from the US

In a further photo featuring a four-legged friend, a cat is seen burrowing through what looks, on initial glance, to be a train tunnel.

One very intriguing image could leave you scratching your head, wondering is it a woman's torso...or a strangely shaped glacier?

Once you've worked that one out, take a look at what looks like a truck full of chickens...or is actually packed with milk cartons?

And that's not even the strangest mix up, a further photograph showcases what looks like a bowl of baked beans - you won't believe what it actually shows.

Here, FEMAIL shares mind boggling optical illusions that will leave you questioning your own eyes.

This may look like a giant face and glasses - of course it's a reflection from the bridge on top of the shimmering lake on Staten Island, New York

Bare faced cheek. At first glance, this photo appears to show a bride with her bare bottom on display, but can you tell what it really is?

This photo may appear to show a bunch of bananas - in fact it is a snake believed to be from Costa Rica that you definitely don't want to eat

Yummy! Who doesn't love a bowls of baked beans and avocado on the side of a summer meal? Just be careful this particular dish doesn't jump at you (hint: it's a toad)

Animal cruelty? This dog may look like he is going sky-diving, but in fact, he is about to make snow angels in the snow

Cats eyes: This cat appears to be deep in a tunnel with train tracks running out from it. In fact, she is rolled up in a carpet

Seductive snow bank: If climate change isn't sorted out soon, these icebergs will keep getting hotter

To those with very poor eyesight, this may look like a French baguette. In fact, it's a ginger moggie

Bacon anyone? These large pieces of wood look like streaky bacon you would want in a sandwich

What the cluck? Oh look, a truck full of merry chickens - that are in actual fact a bunch of milk bottles with red tops

This one from Iceland shows just how magical water can be, if it wasn't for the climbing equipment you might think you were looking at a surfer on a wave

A big bowl of lettuce anyone? Well you're not in luck this time unfortunately, because these are parrots

This photo from Malaysia appears to show giant Star Wars-esque giraffes in the sunset, in fact it is just cranes being used to build a port

At first glance, it may seem like this golden retriever has a large nose, but in fact he has a hamster on his normal-sized snout

This may look like a bride doing the splits, but actually she is sitting on a precariously positioned piece of wood. Don't ask us why

You may be forgiven for thinking this lady is swimming with a tiny man, in fact she is holding a sea urchin

Urgh: This may look like germs on a petri dish - in fact it is tiny turtles in a bowl, hopefully not about to be eaten

Lettuce anyone? You may think this is a healthy snack, but in fact it's parrots with bright green feathers

Your classic lava explosion over a pile of grey rocks is, in fact, a photo of an Australian bush fire through stormy clouds
Meet the romantics who are dating inanimate objects and don't give two hoots about what others think of their controversial relationship set-ups.

From rag dolls to Boeing 737s and even balloons, these smitten individuals claim to have found love in the most unusual places.

Experiencing romantic or sexual feelings towards inanimate objects is known as objectophilia or objectum-sexuality, and can involve different degrees of involvement with the item in question.

While some people opt for sharing a bed with their lovers, others have gone as far as marrying them and even starting a family together.

Here, FEMAIL explores the unusual relationships people from around the world have with inanimate objects

'I'm in a sexual relationship with a Boeing-737'

One loved-up woman has revealed that she is in a sexual relationship with an aeroplane.

Sarah Rodo, 23, from Dortmund, Germany, claims to have travelled over 30 times in one year just to spend quality time with her lover.

The globetrotter admits that she hates not being able to spend one-on-one time with her beau but makes up for it by spooning her three larger models in bed at home.

'I'm proud to be objectum sexual  it's a wonderful sexuality,' Sarah told NeedToKnow.co.uk

'The only sad thing is that I can't be alone with a real plane. I flew a lot in the last year to be with the Boeing as often as I possibly could, I took about 30 flights and always combined it with a city trip or vacation.

'I also have five airplane tattoos.'

'I found love with a toy plane and it's the best partner I've ever had'

Sarah Rodo, from Germany, claims to have travelled over 30 times in one year just to spend quality time with her lover a huge Boeing 737 but has three large models to cuddle when she can't get to see the plane

Sarah she's proud to be a objectum sexual and thinks it's a wonderful sexuality. The aviation lover has five airplane tattoos dedicated to her partner, who she says is the best she's ever had

'I have never felt like this with a human partner before'

Sandra Letanovszky, 28, from Budapest, Hungry, also found love with a plane although this one can be kept with her at all times as it is a 600 toy model.

The plane-fanatic says she previously dated humans but breaking up with her ex pushed her to take the plunge and enter into her first relationship with an object.

Sandra said: 'I have never felt like this with a partner before. Planes are more reliable as partners. I know I can always speak to him.

'I like how planes represent endless opportunities. To me, that is something positive and something I want to have in my life.'

Sandra started her whirlwind romance with her beau  which she fondly calls Luffancs  in January 2022 after buying him online for 600.

The aviation enthusiast sleeps in the same bed as her jet lover and kisses him every morning and night.

Sandra started her whirlwind romance with Luffancs in January 2022 after buying him online for 600. The 28-year-old shares a bed with the jet and kisses him every morning and night

Sandra says she's never felt like this with a partner before and believes planes are more reliable as she knows she can always speak to him

'I proposed to a bundle of balloons but they're too fragile  I need to protect them from all danger'

Aakash Majumdar, 28, from India, previously detailed how an innocent childhood friendship with balloons blossomed into something more over the years.

He loves to spend his evenings in bed making out with his rubber beau and has even proposed to them.

Due to their fragile nature, Aakash has sadly lost a few inflatable lovers over the years but he claims to do whatever he can to keep the balloons, who have the pronouns he/them, safe.

Aakash said: 'Our love is so strong that I can't live without him. I need to protect him from all danger.

'From sharp objects, changes in temperature to suffocation. Because of his delicate nature, I supervise him at all times.

'I proposed to a bundle of balloons but they're too fragile  I need to protect them from all danger'

Aakash Majumdar says an innocent childhood friendship with balloons blossomed into something more over the years and now he's even proposed to his latex lovers

Aakash says his and the balloons love is so strong that he can't live without them and wants to protect them from any danger that might blow their way

'My husband is a rag doll and I'm pregnant with our second baby.'

A woman who married a rag doll has claimed that she is expecting her second child with him.

Meirivone Rocha Moraes, 37, from Brazil, went viral on social media after documenting her romance with Marcelo, the inanimate doll.

She insists that the pair already have a son and she was desperate for another child.

Meirivone recently announced her exciting news on TikTok by sharing what appears to be a positive pregnancy test.

She said: 'This new baby will save our marriage. We would love to have a little princess.

'We already have a boy, but if the baby turns out to be one too, we will love them just the same.'

'I'm a dad to three beautiful babies thanks to my rag doll fiancee'

Meirivone Rocha Moraes, from Brazil, is in a very happy relationship with her husband Marcelo, the inanimate doll, and the pair are currently expecting their second child together

The couple got hitched last year in a ceremony attended by 250 human guests and Meirivone hopes their next baby is a girl

Meirivone and Marcelo already have one child together and although they would like a 'little princess', she says if the baby is a boy they will love it just the same

'They don't know how much I love her.'

Cristian Montenegro, 27, from Bogot in Colombia, is another person who has found love and started a family with a rag doll.

The romantic and his wife, Natalie, welcomed their third child into the world last month.

Before becoming a dad of three, Cristian was beginning to lose all hope in finding his soulmate.

Although he claims that he often receives criticism over his relationship, Cristian says he is glad he isn't alone anymore.

He said: 'If it weren't for the dolls, I would be more alone than anyone. At least I have something.

'With my Natalia, we watch TV and talk about everything. They don't know how much I love her.'

Cristian Montenegro from Colombia has found love and started a family with a rag doll  the romantic, seen here with his wife Natalie, welcomed their third child into the world earlier this year

Cristian says he and Natalia are like any normal couple and will watch TV together and talk about everything
A popular influencer left draws dropping when she revealed her pregnancy to her husband in the most 'gross' way.

Jasmine Chiswell, 29, who is originally from Lanarkshire, Scotland - who's a Marilyn Monroe lookalike - shared the big reveal on her TikTok account.

The video opens up with Jasmine sweetly preparing an epic dessert comprising of ice-cream, sliced strawberries and delicious wafers for her husband Maverick at their home - the Hollywood mansion Monroe shared with husband Joe DiMaggio in the 1950s.

However things took a queasy turn when the mother-of-one secretly hid the positive pregnancy test in a cup of ice cream, and innocently walked over to hand it to him.

The act divided opinions with some fans loving the surprise, while others questioned if she did it to spite her husband.

Jasmine Chiswell, 29, from Scotland, has revealed her second pregnancy to husband Maverick (pictured) in the most 'gross' way

The TikTok star made her husband queasy after inserting a pregnancy test into an otherwise scrumptious dessert

The mother-of-one is pregnant with her second child, and is known for her resemblance to Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe

Jasmine said to husband Maverick: 'Okay Maverick we got your ice-cream!'

Although initially pleased with the treat, he responds: 'This looks terrible!'

Jasmine then adorably reassures him, adding: 'It's extra sweet and they put a nice little new extra surprise in there for you.'

'That makes me not want to eat it,' Maverick responded. 'What the hell is in here? I'm scared.'

Maverick and their baby son Midnight, one, playfully take a dig at the ice-cream and fail to notice the pregnancy test - with Maverick asking 'What the f**k is this?'

'It's your surprise!' Jasmine says.

Maverick then wolfs down a huge chunk of the ice-cream covered pregnancy stick, before noticing what it is and becoming so grossed out to the point of almost vomiting.

Taking the ordeal in jest, he jokingly remarks: 'At least you're pregnant!'

The hilarious clip has been viewed over eight million times, and has raked in over 12,000 comments.

The couple's first son, Midnight, (his hand is pictured left) innocently attempts a dig at the gruesome treat - while his father appears visibly shocked at its contents

One person responded to the video saying: 'No he didnt!!'

Another said: 'Yall mustve been in argument or something I don't know.'

Someone else said: 'Im calling the cops right now.'

Meanwhile others didn't take too kindly to the joke as one person said: 'Would of at least wrapped it in clean film to protect the ice cream.'

The crazy antic divided opinions with some finding it hilarious, while others criticised the mum for the gross move

Another said: 'That's dangerous he could of ate it.'

TikTok star Jasmine has grown a dedicated social media following thanks to her spot-on Marilyn Monroe impersonations and vintage clothing - even inspiring her husband, Maverick McNeilly to wear vintage clothing too.

The couple actually live in the Hollywood mansion Monroe shared with husband Joe DiMaggio in the 1950s, with Jasmine taking social media by storm after she began sharing video tours of her home.

And last year, she made headlines when she revealed she'd been receiving death threats for naming her first son Midnight.

Jasmine, who now has 16 million followers on TikTok, shared the video, telling fans her one-month-old baby is called Midnight - and since then, she says she has been receiving death threats over the name.

Jasmine is a dead ringer for Marilyn Monroe, now living in the dead star's Hollywood mansion. She grew a huge online following after sharing home video tours

Jasmine, pictured here with her husband Maverick McNeilly, revealed her baby's name on a TikTok video, receiving both negative and positive comments

Among the cruel comments, one TikTok user said the name should be 'illegal', and another said they had a soft toy with the same moniker

In a TikTok video, the star said: 'My husband and I were nervous about sharing his name online, but with everyone asking we thought, "Okay it's time, let's do it".

'So I made a video and I posted it two days ago and the comment section was, oh my goodness, brutal.

'My husband and I both absolutely love the name and we aren't going to change it, but the comments were literally bullying my three-week-old son.'

She added that the comments made her 'really, really sad'.

'People were also sending my husband and I death threats through DMs just over my babies name,' Jasmine revealed.

'That is extremely unfair and not okay. We didn't expect everyone to like the name, it is one of those names you either love it or hate it.

'But please be kind and if you don't like it, please just scroll by.'

Among the cruel comments about the name was one saying it should be 'illegal' to call your child Midnight.

'They should've known it was gonna be a bad name if they were embarrassed of it theirselves. Why would they do that to the poor kid? Should be illegal,' it said.

Another commentator mocked the name writing: 'I had a stuffed animal cow when I was in kindergarten and I named him Midnight. Loved him. lol.'

Jasmine has asked people to 'please be kind' and 'just scroll by' if they don't like the name she has picked for her baby

Despite the backlash Jasmine received over her son's name, many of her fans were supportive of her decision to call him Midnight

However, many were supportive of the unusual moniker, with one writing: 'Midnight is cute. It's unique! Unique baby names are the best. Sorry his name isnt Jason or Jerry, so basic.'

Another said: 'His name is beautiful and your whole vibe is so wonderful and comforting. Im so sorry youre receiving such horrible comments.'

And a third added: 'I think it's a gorgeous name! I'm so sorry you have to put up with this, people can be so mean! Congrats on being a mama btw!'

It's been an eventful few weeks for the social media star, who disclosed earlier this month that her Hollywood home is haunted.

Jasmine has built a huge online following thanks to her spot-on impersonations of Marilyn, as well as her pictures sharing her vintage fashion finds

Appearing on This Morning she claimed to have had paranormal experiences in the house, including hearing 'weird voices' and footsteps, and that guests in the house have felt a presence 'hugging' them.

Speaking on the programme, she said: 'So many weird things have happened.

'My husband and I have tried to debunk the things we hear, but so many people have experiences things we just can't explain.

'People feel like they're getting hugged, we have heard some weird voices weird voices, and we hear footsteps every single night, it happens all the time.'

Built in 1938, Monroe's 3,335-square-foot 160-acre park Runyon Canyon home boasts four bedrooms, a spa, and a pool

Monroe shared the home with husband Joe DiMaggio (pictured) with whom she had a famously tumultuous and short-lived marriage, during the 1950s

She explained: 'We've tried everything. 'We've tried driving different cars to see if it's the road, we had the house checked to see if it was animals, but we don't know where it's coming from.

'We're just both not sure, but we've had a psychic over who believes it is her and Joe and possibly another ghost that likes to play tricks.'

Built in 1938, the walled and gated home overlooks the 160-acre park Runyon Canyon and boasts four bedrooms, four-and-a-half bathrooms, a 'tower room' - now used as an office - and a living room with a wood-beamed ceiling.

The 3,335-square-foot house also includes a two-car garage, a grotto-like pool and spa on the 8,228-square-foot grassy lot.

According to property records, the home was listed for sale in late December 2018 for $2.695 million (2.18million) and sold in February last year for $2.727 million (2.2 million) - $32,000 (24,300) over the asking price.
The atmosphere in Buckingham Palace's iconic throne room was 'cosy' during the coronation photoshoot, according to the official photographer.

Hugo Bernand, who was behind the official royal snaps, has opened up about his experience during the historical day on May 6.

According to the photographer, who also snapped Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding, there was a 'lovely buzz' while he set up and took the coronation images.

Speaking to the Independent, he said: 'There was definitely a happy feeling. It was cosy with family, children and friends milling about.'

He said the 'beautiful' and 'uplifting' atmosphere was partly due to the presence of Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.

The photographer behind the official coronation pictures (including this image) is Hugo Burnand

'It was like the last bit of the race [for the royal family]', Hugo added. 'There was an energy there which I know I got in the pictures.'

The set of portraits, which were taken just minutes after the family's balcony moment, includes images of King Charles and Queen Consort Camilla, as well as other members of the 'slimmed down' monarchy.

The Prince and Princess of Wales, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, and Princess Anne also feature in some shots.

Hugo, who revealed to the outlet that he cycled to the Palace that day, said he had just an hour to take the photographs. To save time, he had four cameras set up on tripods.

He added that knowing the people he was photographing also helped create images with humanity, within the limited timeframe - he was also the snapper at Charles and Camilla's 2005 wedding.

The father-of-four has had an enormous amount of success regardless  he is now the only portrait photographer with a Royal Warrant given by the king.

He has been capturing royal portraits for almost two decades. But he first turned down the opportunity that launched him into his career as a royal photographer - Charles' wedding to Camilla wedding in 2005.

Mr Burnand, a society photographer for Tatler magazine, had taken a career break to take his young children to South America for six months in 2004.

Hugo Burnand (pictured) also took the photographs at Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding, as well as the 2005 nuptials of Charles and Camilla

Disaster struck when thieves stole the family's money, passports and Hugo's camera equipment.

It was only when the photographer found an internet cafe to try to contact his insurers that he saw an email from Clarence House, asking him to get in touch.

He initially said no to the job but said he realised while trekking in the jungle that he had just turned down the chance of a lifetime  the future king's wedding.

This change of heart changed his life and he has since photographed William and Kate's 2011 wedding, and taken official portraits of Charles on his 60th and 70th birthdays, and of Charles and Camilla in the run-up to the Coronation.

He also photographed the Princess Royal to mark her 70th birthday, and took the official pictures for the wedding of Lady Gabriella Windsor in 2019.

Born in Cannes, France, Hugo was raised in Berkshire and went to Cheam School in Headley, Hampshire, the prep school attended by the King and the late Duke of Edinburgh.

According to photographer Hugo, he had only around an hour to take the coronation photos, including this portrait of King Charles

He won his first photography competition at the school, aged seven, and practised his skills while at Harrow, taking portraits of school-leavers.

His mother Susan Gordon was killed in a car crash in 1964, the year after he was born, and he was raised by his father Peter and his stepmother Ursy, from whom he learned his early photography skills.

After working as a stable hand and then as an insurance broker at Lloyd's of London, he became a professional photographer at 27 and worked as Tatlers' society photographer for its Bystander party column for more than 20 years.

He took the photos at David and Samantha Cameron's wedding in 1996 and his other famous subjects include Spike Milligan, Victoria Beckham and Michael Jackson.

But he is best known for his images of the Royal Family, following in the footsteps of Cecil Beaton, who photographed Queen Elizabeth II after her 1953 coronation.
A French actress has revealed she is 'on strike' because of the French film industry's complacency towards the #MeToo movement.

Two-time Cesar Awardwinning French actor Adele Haenel, who rose to fame thanks to her role in Portrait of a Lady on Fire, has revealed she's refused to work for two years in an open letter published this week in the French TV magazine Telerama.

The actress previously made headlines after she stormed out of France's most prestigious awards ceremony in 2020 when controversial director Roman Polanski got the Best Director for his movie An Officer and a Spy.

In the wake of the #MeToo movement, Haenel also denounced alleged sexual harassment by another French director, Christophe Ruggia, in the early 2000s when she was aged 12 to 15 and he was between 35 and 38-years-old.

Now speaking ahead of the Cannes Festival, which is due to open in the South of France next week, Haenel, who has not worked on a project since 2021, has called out the French movie industry for its 'generalised complacency towards sexual assaulters.'

Two-time Cesar Awardwinning French actor Adele Haenel, who rose to fame thanks to her role in Portrait of a Lady on Fire, has announced her plans to stop filming in an open letter published this week in the French TV magazine Telerama (pictured in 2020)

Haenel, whose career was on the up until her 2020 award ceremony walk out, has been MIA from the screen, and has now revealed that her absence has been intentional.

She said she couldn't work in the industry anymore, claiming it's worked 'hand-in-hand' to save reputations of directors and actors accused of sexual misconduct, including Polanski and actor Gerard Depardieu, who all deny the claims made against them.

In the extraordinary open letter, the actress accused the industry of pushing bourgeois ideas and silencing dissenting voices of minorities, saying that to keep making this system looking desirable' would be 'criminal.'

The actress also accused the French movie industry of being racist and chastised it for its silence in the wake of the climate change crisis, which she said should be addressed as a matter of urgency.

It is not the first time the actress has been vocal about her political beliefs, especially when it comes to sexual assault.

In 2020, she stormed out the Cesars award ceremony, the French equivalent of the BAFTAs, when Roman Polanski was awarded Best Director.

At the time, she told the New York Times about the ceremony: 'Distinguishing Polanski is spitting in the face of all victims. It means raping women isn't that bad.'

Polanski is still wanted in the United States decades after he was charged with raping a 13-year-old girl in 1977. He pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor but fled the country on the eve of sentencing.

Last year, a woman came forward to accuse Polanski of raping her in 1975 in his Swiss chalet when she was 18. Polanski denied it, and the allegations are too old for an investigation.

But the accusation put the director under fresh scrutiny in France, where he has long been revered as one of the country's premier filmmakers despite the outstanding rape charge in the U.S. Other accusations have also emerged.

Actress Adele Haenel, who denounced alleged sexual assault by another French director in the early 2000s when she was 15 in 2019, got up and walked out of the prestigious Cesars ceremony in 2020 when Roman Polanski received the Best Director award, pictured

Polanski, pictured, is still wanted in the United States decades after he was charged with raping a 13-year-old girl in 1977

Ms Haenel pictured before she stormed out of the awards ceremony at Salle Pleyel, Paris, in 2019

In 2019 Haenel claimed that Christophe Ruggia repeatedly sexually harassed her while they worked on the 2002 film The Devils, when she was aged between 12 and 15 and Ruggia was between 35 and 38.

Speaking through his lawyers, Ruggia 'categorically' denied the allegations at the time.

Haenel made the claims in an interview with French website Mediapart.

She told the media organisation that the director's behaviour amounted to 'paedophilia' and she had been regularly subjected to 'forced kisses on the neck' and unwanted physical contact while visiting him during filming.

She said: 'It was a man of nearly 40 who every week got himself into a room with a young girl who was between aged 12 and 15 and tried to touch her up. There was no ambiguity in the situation. It wasn't romantic, it was pure pressure.'

The actor added that the incidents would often take place at his apartment and she would be left 'stuck to the sofa' and 'frozen' in his presence.

The 30-year-old said she decided to speak out after hearing that Ruggia is allegedly planning a new film that will feature characters with the same names as the ones Haenel and her co-star had in The Devils.

Watching the controversial Michael Jackson documentary Leaving Neverland, which aired earlier that year had also compelled her to come forward, she said.

The Leaving Neverland documentary saw two alleged victims of the late pop star tell in graphic detail how the 'King of Pop' had sexually abused them over several years.

Fellow French actor Marion Cottilard wrote on Instagram in support of Haelen, writing: 'Adele, your courage is a gift of unparalleled generosity for women and men, for young actresses and actors, for all the damaged beings who know now thanks to you that they do not have to suffer this violence.

And for those who have suffered it, that they can speak, they will be listened to and heard.'
An excited Princess Beatrice was spotted carrying several balloons in London this afternoon.

The royal, 34, was seen speaking on the phone in Belgravia, holding a number of balloons, including one shaped like an elephant and another reading 'baby.'

Beatrice, who is a mother-of-one, hurried along the street dressed in a loose striped jacket paired with a silky 129 skirt from Whistles and a white tee.

Just a few days ago, she attended several events to mark the Coronation of King Charles with her pregnant sister Eugenie, who is expecting her second child.

Just two days ago, Eugenie shared pictures of her older sister and her as they attended a street party for the Coronation in Chalfont St Giles on Sunday, before heading to the Coronation Concert in Windsor.

Princess Eugenie announced in January that she's expecting her second child in the summer, but it's not clear how far along she is or when she's due to give birth.

An excited Princess Beatrice was spotted carrying several balloons in London this afternoon, as her sister Princess Eugenie is expecting her second child

Today, Beatrice seemed to be having an animated conversation on the phone as she carried no less than five balloons.

One was shaped like an elephant and two others were shaped like a blue and silver heart, while two others read the word 'Baby,' suggesting that the royal could be on her way to a maternity ward.

She had chosen casual look, with the shimmery silky skirt in burnt orange matching the strips of her loose jacket.

She paired it with white trainers and a black handbag.

Her strawberry blonde locks were styled straight and tucked behind her ears.

This outing comes as her sister has been expecting her second child, having announced her pregnancy in January.

The youngest daughter of Prince Andrew and the Duchess of York shared the news posting an adorable snap on Instagram showing two-year-old August kissing her stomach, writing: 'Were so excited to share that there will be a new addition to our family this summer.'

Eugenie gave birth to her first son August Philip Hawke Brooksbank, who is 13th-in-line to the throne, at London's Portland Hospital in February 2021.

Beatrice was seen carrying no less than five balloons today, including two that read 'baby' and one shaped like an elephant

Beatrice, who is already the aunt of August, Eugenie's firstborn, was spotted with the balloons in central London

The mother-of-one could be seen speaking on the phone wearing a skirt from Whistles with a striped jacket and Gucci trainers

Beatrice cut a casual figure and went make-up free with her long strawberry blonde hair tucked behind her ears

Posting a tribute on Instagram to her youngest daughter at the time of Eugenie's pregnancy announcement, Fergie wrote: 'You will be sharing puddles, Augie! Superb news, Granny heaven. So deeply grateful.'

Meanwhile Fergie also shared a snapshot of the little toddler playing in a puddle in the pouring rain.

In the snap, the youngster, two, donned a bright yellow rain mac as he played in the grounds of a country house.

In a statement released at the time, Buckingham Palace said: 'Princess Eugenie and Mr Jack Brooksbank are pleased to announce they are expecting their second child this summer.

The royal, who celebrated the King's Coronation last week, appeared to have an animated conversation on her phone

Who are the balloons for? Beatrice is stepping out as her sister Eugenie, 33, is expecting her second child

The mother-of-one hurried along in the street, carrying the balloons in each hand this afternoon

'The family are delighted and August is very much looking forward to being a big brother.'

While it is not known where the photo of the princess and August was taken, it appeared to have been captured in the beginning of the year.

In the post, the mother-of-one beamed down at her young son, who snuggled into her tummy enthusiastically.

It is not currently known whether she is expecting a boy or a girl.

Eugenie and Jack, 36, began dating in 2011 and confirmed their relationship in an appearance at Royal Ascot that year.

Last week, Beatrice and Eugenie attended a street party in Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire, to mark the King's Coronation

Princess Eugenie, pictured with her son August, announced she was expecting her second child in January

When Eugenie left London to work for an auction house in New York in 2013, the pair maintained a long-distance relationship.

At the time, Jack told The Daily Mail: 'We spend a lot of time on Skype. It's great. We're still very much together.'

In 2015 the princess returned to London where the pair grew ever closer - and they sparked engagement rumours the following year.

But it was not until January 2018 that Jack popped the question while the pair were away in Nicaragua.

Then in October that year. Eugenie announced her first pregnancy in a similar fashion, posting on Instagram at the same time the palace announced the news.

When he was born, August weighed 8lb 1oz and the couple broke with tradition by immediately sharing a black-and-white photo to Eugenie's Instagram of them holding their newborn's tiny hand.

She followed the post with three blue hearts after welcoming her son at the luxury private hospital where Meghan Markle also gave birth to her son, Archie.
A woman has told how her best friend, a single mother who worked as a fashion consultant at Harrods, faked a battle with cancer to defraud wellwishers out of 45,000.

Nicole Elkabbas, from Broadstairs, Kent, announced that she had been diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer in 2018, and friends, family and strangers rallied around and donated money to help her get life-saving treatment in Spain.

A GoFundMe page was set up with a photograph of Nicole being treated in hospital and it wasn't long before the donations flooded in.

A new six-part series on Quest Red, The Big Swindle, airing on Saturday at 9pm, tells the stories of the most brazen and ruthless con artists, starting with Elkabbas.

Close friend of Nicole, Jo Mapp, reveals in the show how she was left 'devastated' by her pal's diagnosis and refused to believe that she wasn't ill - even when she was arrested.

Nicole Elkabbas, from Broadstairs, Kent, announced that she had been diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer in 2018 and set up a fundraiser

It's believed Nicole had experienced a cancer scare, but was told that she was fine by doctors days before the fundraiser was set up.

A doctor who had previously treated Elkabbas for a gall bladder operation then raised suspicions over her diagnosis.

Jo had even handed over 2,000 out of her own pocket, as Elkabbas told her she needed the money urgently for medication, a sum that was repaid.

In a clip from the first episode, lead investigator, Detective Sergeant Marc Cananur, explained that when Elkabbas was first questioned by police, even they wondered if they'd got it wrong.

'She was essentially very convincing,' he said. 'She was adamant that she was dealing with ovarian cancer, provided a timeline on where she'd gone (for treatment) and when, and who she had interacted with.

'She mentioned the Teknon Hospital in Spain where she regularly went for treatment, she mentioned Dr Suarez who was treating her to hopefully prevent herself dying from cancer.

'Now, she was that convincing that when the investigating officers came back to me, they were concerned that we may be dealing with a cancer patient as opposed to a fraudster.

'She listed specific medication she was having, test results, details of how much medical treatment she needed on a regular basis and real finite detail about exact cost implications per month.'

Jo said: 'A friend sent an article over to me where it said that a local woman and it mentioned Nicole Elkabbas had been arrested for fraud, saying that she had got everybody to believe she had cancer and raised a whole lot of money, but hadn't used any of the money for cancer treatment.

One of Nicole's friends points out exactly where she was told about her cancer and said she was 'devastated'

Elkabbas spent thousands on holidays, gambling, shopping sprees, restaurants and even 3,592 on a luxury box to watch a single Tottenham Hotspur match with the money

'I didn't believe it. I absolutely didn't believe it and friends were saying to me "but it's in black and white" and I was like, "No, they are saying she had been arrested for that, they haven't proven anything". So, I absolutely still didn't believe it.'

Jo recalled the moment she found out about her friend's illness, saying: 'This is the cafe that Nicole Elkabbas brought me to when she told me she had cancer.

'I was devastated. I put myself in her shoes, if I was ill in that position, how would I feel?

'There was no type of treatment in the UK for what she needed and she said she would need to go abroad but that we needed to raise some funds.'

Jo then went on to tell the documentary: 'It was all calculated from the beginning. She knew who to target, she knew what to say.'

The former Harrods fashion consultant pleaded not guilty in her trial in November 2020, claiming she genuinely believed she had cancer.

Elkabbas was sentenced to two years and nine months in prison in 2021. She spent thousands on holidays, gambling, shopping sprees, restaurants and even 3,592 on a luxury box to watch a single Tottenham Hotspur match with the money.

The documentary will focus on one story of deceit each episode and those affected reveal the shocking details of what happened.

A forensic psychiatrist will help unpack the mindset of the swindlers, as well as social media posts, emails and text messages, to reveal how and why these complicated cons were executed.
A queer woman who admitted that she used her 'coming out journey to gain clout online' has reflected on becoming 'obsessed with the online world' - and said she's 'still grappling' with the effects, despite deleting her social media a year ago.

Jenna Bloom, from Olney, Maryland, came out as bisexual via Instagram when she was 17 years old - and soon after embarking on her first relationship with another woman, she started documenting almost every aspect of it on her TikTok account.

She soon became 'obsessed' with 'flexing her new love to the world,' and focused almost all her time and energy on filming content for the video streaming platform.

But she said spending so much time thinking about the 'online world shoved her into a fantasy' and ultimately destroyed her relationship.

A queer woman who admitted that she used her 'coming out journey to gain clout online' has reflected on becoming 'obsessed with the online world'

Jenna Bloom came out as bisexual when she was 17 - and soon after embarking on her first relationship with another woman, she started documenting every aspect of it on TikTok

She soon became 'obsessed' with 'flexing her new love to the world,' and focused almost all her time and energy on filming content for the video streaming platform

Now, a year after leaving social media behind, the Maryland-native admitted that she deeply regrets turning her sexuality into a 'spectacle.'

In a recent essay written for Insider, Jenna recalled realizing she was 'queer' after 'consuming endless' LGBTQ+ content online.

But after getting 'wrapped up in the lives of lesbian couples on TikTok,' she started to believe 'the only way to be queer was to do it loudly and publicly on social media.'

Jenna explained that she was 'confined to her bedroom' due to the COVID-19 lockdown, so she felt like the 'only avenue' for her to announce her sexuality was through social media.

After coming out to her close friends through a private story on Snapchat, she then posted a selfie to Instagram in front of a bisexual flag, with the caption, 'Hi, I'm bi.'

'I was ready to shout about my newfound sexuality from the rooftops. It was finally time for me to break out of the closet I'd spent 17 years trapped in,' she wrote.

'It got more than 600 likes and over 300 comments. I was on top of the world and finally felt free.'

Jenna soon entered into a long-distance relationship with a woman she had met over social media.

But she said spending so much time thinking about the 'online world shoved her into a fantasy' and ultimately destroyed her relationship

Now, a year after leaving social media behind, the Maryland-native admitted that she deeply regrets turning her sexuality into a 'spectacle'

She then started showcasing her romance on TikTok - and as the likes and followers started to roll in, she became consumed by the attention.

'Just like all the queer couples I saw on TikTok, I was compelled to post about my new relationship,' she continued.

'I wanted to flex my new "love" to the world. I spent our limited time together focused on filming the newest TikTok trend.

'But I slowly began to realize I was using my sexuality and sexual exploration as fuel to create content for social media.'

When things turned sour in her romance, Jenna said she struggled to face the realities of it because she had 'constructed a relationship in her mind that fit the videos she had been consuming daily.'

'I thought if my relationship looked good online, it would stay good offline. I was very, very wrong,' she added.

'I wanted so badly to be one of those creators with a perfect relationship. But I later realized I wasn't, and my relationship was far from perfect.

'Almost every chance I got, I posted about my life online instead of dealing with it myself.'

She and her girlfriend eventually went their separate ways, and she decided to disable her TikTok and Snapchat accounts.

After Jenna and her girlfriend went their separate ways, she decided to disable her TikTok and Snapchat accounts. She is seen dancing with her sister in one of her TikTok videos

Reflecting on it now, more than a year later, Jenna said leaving social media behind allowed her to 'finally focus on herself.' She's seen left with her sister

Her Instagram profile is still active, but she switched it to private and deleted the app from her phone. She also said she took down the posts regarding her sexuality.

Reflecting on it now, more than a year later, Jenna said leaving social media behind allowed her to 'finally focus on herself.'

'Without any access to social media, it's nice to know my sexuality isn't a performance anymore,' Jenna (seen with her sister) said. 'Now, I'm content with what I have: an in-person network of people who love and support me'

She also said she regretted announcing that she was bisexual through Instagram, because it took away the chance for her to tell people in person and 'shoved her into a box.'

She added that she now believes 'sexuality is fluid' and 'rejects the idea that she has to use one word to define it.'

'Instead of sitting my cousins down and telling them the news, they found out on their Instagram feeds,' she concluded.

'Instead of hugging me, they joined hundreds of other people congratulating me in my comments section.

'Without any access to social media, it's nice to know my sexuality isn't a performance anymore.

'Now, I'm content with what I have: an in-person network of people who love and support me.

'This year is for focusing on myself while living as my most authentic self - wherever that lies on the wide spectrum of sexuality.'
The former first family was surrounded by Secret Service at the ceremony

Barack, 61, and Michelle, 59, were joined by their daughter Malia in the audience

Sasha, 21, was all smiles in a black cap and gown at Friday's ceremony

Barack and Michelle Obama were beaming with pride as they watched their daughter Sasha graduate from the University of Southern California on Friday.

The former first couple was joined by their daughter Malia, 24, and their Secret Service agents as as they cheered on their youngest child from their seats.

Sasha, 21, started college at the University of Michigan and later transferred to USC, where she majored in sociology.

Michelle, 59, looked incredibly chic in a sleeveless black trench dress that was tied at the waist and featured a navy ruffled tulle skirt.

Sasha Obama, 21, graduated from the University of Southern California in Friday

Former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama were beaming with pride

The couple was joined by their oldest daughter, Malia, 21, who is a screenwriter

Sasha looked as happy as can be as she received her diploma at the ceremony

Her partially braided hair was pulled half up, and she topped off her ensemble with a pair of dark shades, strappy sandals, large stud earrings, and a stack of bracelets.

Meanwhile, her husband, Barack, 61, sported a light gray suit that he paired with a crisp white button-down sans tie and black brogues.

The 44th president wore black shades and carried a cup of coffee as he sweetly held hands with his wife at the graduation.

The Obamas' security detail followed close behind them as they walked on the USC track with the rest of the graduates' families and friends.

Their screenwriter daughter Malia was also dressed up in a pale pink off-the-shoulder dress and lime green strappy sandals.

She wore her rust-colored hair loose around her shoulders and had a tan handbag slung over her right shoulder.

While they were seated, she threw on her father's suit coat to keep warm. Like her parents, she also protected her eyes from the California sunshine with a pair of dark shades.

Sasha, who shares an apartment with her sister, had been spotted on campus numerous times over the past year.

As Sasha held onto her diploma, she flashed her signature long nails, which were painted a midnight blue

Sasha held hands with her mom on the field after she graduated

Sasha's father milled around behind them as they walked on turf

Sasha matched the other graduates in a black cap and gown featuring the USC Shield and cardinal piping, which she wore over a patterned cream maxi dress

Michelle, 59, looked incredibly chic in a sleeveless black trench dress that was tied at the waist and featured a navy ruffled tulle skirt

Barack, 61, sported a light gray suit that he paired with a crisp white button-down sans tie and black brogues

The former president wore black shades and carried a cup of coffee as he held hands with his wife at the graduation

Malia, 24, was dressed up in a pale pink off-the-shoulder dress and lime green strappy sandals

The couple had bright smiles on their faces as they watched from their seats

Michelle wore her partially braided hair half up, revealing her large stud earrings

Barack sweetly gave Malia his suit coat to keep warm while they stood in the shade

Malia was smiling brightly as she chatted with her dad at the ceremony

Michelle and Malia were seen raising their hands to wave to Sasha from their seats

The Obamas' Secret Service agents kept a close eye on them at the crowded event

The couple appeared to be at east as they joined the other graduates' family and friends

The graduate was dressed in a black cap and gown featuring the USC Shield and cardinal piping, which she wore over a patterned cream maxi dress.

Her long highlighted hair was styled in loose waves, and she had Hawaiian leis around her neck.

Sasha topped off her graduation look with chunky gold rings, and her signature long nails were painted a shade of midnight blue.

She was all smiles while receiving her diploma and posing for pictures with friends after the ceremony.

The Obamas' youngest daughter had followed in her big sister's footsteps when she relocated to the West Coast to attend USC after the pandemic.

Malia moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career as a screenwriter after graduating from Harvard University in 2021.

She scored a lucrative position working on Donald Glover's upcoming Amazon show, Swarm, which is about a 'Beyonce-type character.'

The Ivy League grad previously worked as an intern on Lena Dunham's HBO series Girls in 2015 and at The Weinstein Company in 2017.

Sasha started college at the University of Michigan and later transferred to USC, where she majored in sociology

The graduate was all smiles as she waved at her family during the ceremony

Sasha's highlighted hair was styled in loose waves, and she had Hawaiian leis around her neck

Sasha stood out from her fellow graduates in her strappy lime green stilettos

She towered over one of her friends thanks to her eye-catching heels

She held her cellphone in her hand along with what appeared to be an index card

Sasha was spotted posing for pictures with her pals after receiving her diploma

The Obamas' youngest daughter had followed in her big sister's footsteps when she relocated to the West Coast to attend USC after the pandemic

Sasha blended in with the other graduates as she hugged her pals

The former first daughter had been spotted on campus numerous times over the past year

Barack and Michelle happily mingled with acquaintances before taking their seats

Michelle recently opened up about how her role as a parent has changed, saying she is 'moving from mom-in-chief to advisor-in-chief'

Barack shared a group hug with his wife, daughter, and another graduate

Sasha's pal was beaming as she chatted with the former president

Sasha continued to hold onto her mom's hand as she chatted with her big sister

Sasha has been sharing an apartment with Malia since she relocated to Los Angeles last year

Malia moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career as a screenwriter after graduating from Harvard University in 2021

The family and their security detail crowded around Sasha as they walked off the field

A photographer snapped their picture as they left the ceremony together

The Obamas' Secret Service agents walked ahead of them

It's unclear what Sasha's first job will be out of college

She also served as a production assistant on Halle Berry's CBS sci-fi drama series, Extant, before making it into the writer's room.

Glover, who is also known by his stage name Childish Gambino, confirmed in March 2022 that he gave the former first daughter her first job writing for the series.

'Shes just like, an amazingly talented person,' he told Vanity Fair of Malia. 'Shes really focused, and shes working really hard.'

A few months ago, Michelle opened up about how her role as a parent has changed now that she is in her 50s and her daughters are building a life for themselves in California.

'I'm moving from mom-in-chief to advisor-in-chief,' she told Today co-anchor Hoda Kotb on the first episode of her podcast, The Light, which was recorded during her latest book tour.

'That's a lovely thing  to be able to watch my girls fly and have the relief that "Okay, I think I didn't mess them up."'

The mother of two added that she is also focused on not greeting her daughters with a 'critical eye' now that they are adults.

'What Toni Morrison says is that our kids just want our gladness. They don't need us to fix them,' she explained. 'They don't need us to point out the thing that's wrong, first.'

The night before Sasha's graduation, Michell was spotted at the exclusive San Vicente Bungalows in West Hollywood

The former first lady was dressed in a white button-down featuring rhinestone embellishments and a pair of dark pants

Michelle topped off her look with metallic sneakers and a stack of bracelets on her wrist

Michelle was flanked by Secret Service agents as she left the club

One Secret Service agent followed close behind her as she walked down the stairs

She appeared to be smiling as she headed off for the night

Michelle wore her partially braided hair loose around her shoulders for her night out

She carried her black blazer in her hand along with her leather handbag

Michelle has been visiting Los Angeles more frequently now that both of her daughters are living in the city

The San Vicente Bungalow has hosted a slew of A-list stars since it first opened its doors in late 2018, including Leonardo DiCaprio, Miley Cyrus, Charlize Theron, and Sandra Bullock

Michelle's pals Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, who live a few hours north of LA in Montecito, enjoyed a romantic date night there back in March

The exclusive hotel and restaurant founded by Jeff Klein is shrouded in secrecy and guests must be a member or accompanied by a member to enter the premises

The night before Sasha's graduation, Michelle attended an event at the exclusive San Vicente Bungalows in West Hollywood.

The former first lady was dressed in a white button-down featuring rhinestone embellishments and a pair of dark pants. She topped off her look with metallic sneakers and a stack of bracelets on her wrist.

She was seen carrying her blazer and black leather bag as she left the venue. Her partially braided hair was worn down around her shoulders.

Michelle was followed by one of her many Secret Service agents when she left the club around 10 p.m. Her large security detail arrived with a total of six vehicles.

The event appeared to be for the brand Chrome Hearts as other guests were seen leaving the venue with swag bags from the streetwear label.

Actress Tracee Ellis Ross, fashion designer Kimora Lee Simmons, and jewelry designer Loree Rodkin were among the famous faces who were spotted outside the glamorous club after the event.

The San Vicente Bungalow has hosted a slew of A-list stars since it first opened its doors in late 2018, including Justin and Hailey Bieber, Leonardo DiCaprio, Miley Cyrus, Charlize Theron, and Sandra Bullock.

Michelle's pals Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, who live a few hours north of LA in Montecito, enjoyed a romantic date night there back in March.

SVB members are strictly prohibited from speaking about the hot spot on social media or taking any pictures or videos inside, making it the perfect spot for a celebrity

Guests at the private club are required to cover the camera lens on their phones with a sticker upon arrival

Annual membership to the San Vicente Bungalows costs $4,200 per year, or $1,800 for anyone under the age of 35, following the $1,800 initiation fee

There were a total of six vehicles in Michelle's Secret Service entourage (pictured)

Actress Tracee Ellis Ross was among the A-lister who was spotted milling outside the event that was hosted at the exclusive club

Ross opened up about the club back in 2019, telling the New York Times that 'there is this real need in Los Angeles for a place where you can go and be a private person'

Ross looked chic in royal purple pants and a large hot pink clutch

Fashion designer Kimora Lee Simmons (far left) and jewelry designer Loree Rodkin (center) were also seen standing outside the hot spot on Thursday night

Simmons had her arms crossed to keep warm in her tank, while Rodkin had on an oversize blazer paired with jeans

The event appeared to be for the brand Chrome Hearts as guests were seen leaving the venue with swag bags from the streetwear label

The exclusive hotel and restaurant founded by Jeff Klein is shrouded in secrecy and guests must be a member or accompanied by a member to enter the premises.

Members are strictly prohibited from speaking about the hot spot on social media or taking any pictures or videos inside. As a precaution, guests are required to cover the camera lens on their phones with a sticker upon arrival.

Annual membership to the San Vicente Bungalows costs $4,200 per year, or $1,800 for anyone under the age of 35, following the $1,800 initiation fee.

However, being able to afford the fees won't guarantee you a spot. To even apply to become a member, you must be 'nominated' by someone who is already a part of SVB.

'It doesnt matter if you have money, it matters if youre interesting,' one member anonymously told the Hollywood Reporter in 2019.

The outlet reported that there were roughly 7,000 people on the waitlist at the time.

'I know, there is sort of an eye roll about the exclusivity,' Ross told the New York Times of belonging to the club in 2019. 'It feels privileged and all of that.

'But at the same time there is this real need in Los Angeles for a place where you can go and be a private person and take off the celebrity part of yourself at the door.'
It marks a day to thank healthcare employees for their hard work

Nurses are being celebrated on May 12 for International Nurses Day

They have been dubbed 'the most under-appreciated' workforce in the world, working long hours and hard shifts to look after everyone from the sick to the elderly and mentally unwell.

But today, May 12, is International Nurses Day, a day where people pause to recognise their efforts.

International Nurses Day is held on Florence Nightingale's birthday, in recognition to her lasting impact on the profession.

Each year has a different theme, this year the event is officially focused around the nurses of the future.

Nurses and their loved ones are leading the way with tributes on social media this year, thanking their family members and co-workers for their service.

Nicole, from San Francisco, reflected on her time being a nurse by posting a now-viral video on TikTok, saying while the job is tough she wouldn't want to do anything other.

On Friday May 12, thousands around the world celebrate healthcare workers on International Nurses Day

'Being a nurse is so incredibly difficult physically and emotionally, it is all consuming. It is complex in ways that I'll never be able to describe and you'll never understand unless you are a nurse,' she said.

'From my earliest memory, I never wanted to be anything but a nurse.

'Nursing has taken from me in ways that I will never get back. And some days are so exhausting that I question why I became a nurse at all.

'It's on those days that I remind myself of how bad I used to want to stand in the confident, capable nursing shoes that I get to stand in today.

'I would be so proud of how fiercely I care for my patients and I have far surpassed many expectations that I've ever set for myself as a nurse - and for that I am so grateful.'

The date was also selected as it's on the birthday of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing, who was born in 1820.

What is International Nurses Day? International Nurses Day is celebrated around the world every May 12, the anniversary of Florence Nightingale's birth. Each year there is a 'theme' in 2023 it is 'Our Nurses Our Future'. This theme will be celebrated globally - with each country helping to promote information around the sector. The International Council of Nurses and its national nursing associations members across the world look forward to celebrating nurses and working together to chart the future direction of nursing in order to meet the needs of the new normal as well as the Sustainable Development Goals, Universal Health Coverage, and Health for All. Source: The International Council of Nurses Advertisement

'I would be so proud of how fiercely I care for my patients and I have far surpassed many expectations that I've ever set for myself as a nurse - and for that I am so grateful.'

The date was also selected as it's on the birthday of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing, who was born in 1820.

Actress Emilia Clarke famously paid a heartfelt tribute to nurses around the world in 2021.
A model has gone from a high school drop-out working in a fish and chip shop to raking in more than $500,000 in just six months on OnlyFans.

Amber, known as Amber Goes Wild online, said OnlyFans has given her the financial freedom to travel the world and buy a home as she earns between $10,000 and $20,000 each week.

She has worked hard to regain her confidence after struggling with anxiety, being bullied and dropping out of school at 16 to look for a job she truly enjoyed.

The 22-year-old turned to the adult platform after her dreams of becoming a flight attendant were quashed during the Covid pandemic.

Amber also revealed the strangest requests she's ever received from her subscribers including acting out the iconic scene from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in which one of the characters turns into a blueberry.

OnlyFans creator Amber (pictured), 22, has revealed how the platform his given her a lucrative career and the strangest request she's ever received from a subscriber

Amber made $500,00 in just six months and rakes in up to $20,000 a week. She said her wealth allows her to live her dream of travelling the world and buy a house

The Brisbane model said she was paid $500 for the 'doozy' of a request where she was asked to re-enact Violet Beauregard blowing up after chewing Willy Wonka's special gum.

'This request included mimicking the mannerisms of Violet in a much more sensual and exaggerated way, touching my body and demonstrating a mix of fear and erotic excitement while moaning as if I were actually blowing up,' Amber said.

'I doubt anyone will be able to top that request again, but then again, nothing surprises me anymore.'

Other requests have been much easier and include seeing videos of the busy redhead's shower routine, eating dinner and even brushing her teeth.

'I've also, perhaps not surprisingly, received many foot-related requests, as fans seem to be particularly drawn to my feet,' she said.

She turned to the adult platform after her dreams of becoming a flight attendant were quashed during the Covid pandemic and plans to use her wealth to invest in the property market

The Brisbane model said she was paid $500 for the 'doozy' of a request where she was asked to re-enact Violet Beauregard blowing up after chewing Willy Wonka's special gum

'Rubbing and moisturising them, painting my toenails, trying on heels, and even 'sploshing' through a variety of messy foods while barefoot.'

While she used to 'freak out' on some of the requests, now it's all in a day's work for Amber who says she's happy to indulge her subscribers' desires.

'I still wonder about the psychological origin of many kinks, fetishes and curiosities - how did that become an erotic fixation?' she said.

'Now I just smile, get on with it and enjoy the ride.'

Amber's willingness to go above and beyond for fans has given her the lucrative career she had always dreamed of.

She learnt the value of hard work when she was just 15 pulling full-time hours at a fish and chip shop while attending school.

Half way through year 11, Amber dropped out of school where she was relentlessly bullied but struggled to find a job she loved that could help her reach her financial goals.

Half way through year 11, Amber dropped out of school where she was relentlessly bullied but struggled to find a job she loved that could help her reach her financial goals

She said the platform has given her the freedom earn a living while travelling the world. 'It's an amazing feeling to be able to book a cruise one week before the trip just because I'm bored.'

Amber first started working for an agency that took 50 per cent of her income so decided to go out on her own promoting herself on social media.

Her hard work paid off and she soon had thousands of monthly subscribers and made more than $500,000 in less than a year.

Amber now makes between $10,000 and $20,000 each week by getting paid for the racy requests as well as monthly subscriptions.

She said the platform has given her financial security and the freedom earn a living while travelling the world.

OnlyFans has enabled her to travel to the US, Indonesia and New Caledonia and get her foot in the property market.

'My passion is property, and I always dreamed of investing in as much property as I could to eventually live off that. OnlyFans gives me the freedom to live my life exactly as I please,' she said.

'I can work whenever I want, and I always have a consistent income. It's an amazing feeling to be able to book a cruise one week before the trip just because I'm bored.'
A British traveller has been left in shock after finding out she can't 'just go swimming' at many Australian beaches.

The woman had only just shown up to a hostel for the first time when the grim warning threatened to ruin all the plans she had for her holiday.

Leila Bernst was recently warned against attempting to swim in the scenic beaches of Cairns in Far North Queensland.

She revealed that another British man told her about the dangerous creatures lurking around the shore - including sharks, jellyfish, and crocodiles.

Leila was flabbergasted when she learned about the existence of saltwater crocodiles, a reptile previously unknown to most English travellers.

A traveller was stunned to find out it was illegal to swim at the beach in a country whose welcoming seaside was legendary

'I'm a backpacker I've moved from London to Cairns temporarily,' Leila explained in a video.

'As soon as I got to my hostel, a lovely British boy introduced himself and showed me around - but he said something shocking.'

The man then told her that she wasn't allowed to swim at the beaches in Cairns.

'We're in Australia, isn't Cairns the Great Barrier Reef?' Leila said, confused. 'There's beautiful coral and amazing beaches.'

Her new friend then warned her about the sharks, jelly fish, and crocodiles lurking within Cairns' waters.

'Since when do crocodiles swim in the ocean?' she asked.

Leila also admitted that despite the risk of sounding dumb, she thought crocodiles only existed in lakes, rivers, and creeks - but not the ocean.

Why it's dangerous to swim in some Queensland beaches Queensland is home to several species of dangerous tropical marine stingers, including the box jellyfish and the Irukandji. Marine stingers are present in tropical waters all year round but the risk is higher during the marine stinger season (NovemberMay). Crocodiles live in fresh and salt water in northern Queensland as well. Even if there is no warning sign at a beach, there may still be crocodiles. Source: Queensland Government Advertisement

Leila Bernst was recently warned against attempting to swim in the scenic beaches of Cairns in Far North Queensland due to the presence of sharks, jellyfish, and saltwater crocodiles

'I've come to Trinity beach because I wanted to see the ocean and the place is stunning,' the traveller said. 'But I am on the look out for crocodiles and sharks.'

'I won't be swimming in the ocean, I won't even put a little finger in.'

The British native revealed that the beach had a small enclosement where it was safe to swim.

'There's a heavy duty net around the area to stop jellyfish from coming into the area,' she said. 'Australians are smart but this is so wild.'

Many locals warned about the dangers of swimming in Cairns.

'I have lived in the far north for 40+ years, jellyfish and sharks you can live with, but now crocodiles are basically in every waterhole,' a man wrote.

'You're not even safe in a canoe - the crocodile will stork you,' a mum said. 'Take care!'

'Please stay out of the water and you will live longer!' another added.
Human medicines could be made to mimic ASC2, researchers said

A protein from bats could contain the key to slowing human aging and fight off conditions like Covid, heart disease and arthritis, a study suggests.

Bats live for around 20 years on average, and are unharmed from pathogens deadly to humans such as Ebola and Covid.

This has led scientists to investigate the animals to see if their resilience to sickness can work for humans too.

Researchers at Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore discovered a protein responsible for their incredible immune defense.

It showed promise in genetically engineered mice and scientists hope it can eventually be used in humans to save millions of lives.

The ASC2 protein is carried by humans and bats, but the researchers theorize it has grown stronger in bats because they fly, which puts their bodies under immense physiological stress

The researchers found an altered version of a protein named 'bat ASC2' which halts the inflammatory response in bats and gives them their viral resilience.

The team wrote: 'Our results demonstrate an important mechanism by which bats limit excessive virus-induced and stress-related inflammation with implications for their long lifespan.'

They genetically altered mice to carry the ASC2 protein, which then showed the same defensive properties against inflammation as the bats, according to their study published in the journal Cell.

They were investigating why bats are so good at holding off viruses.

When they tested the bat ASC2 on human cells, the cells became more resistant to disease, illustrating its 'therapeutic potential'.

ASC2 is dampens inflammasomes  the part of the immune system responsible for inflammatory responses when the body is infected.

Dr Linfa Wang, a professor of emerging infectious diseases at Duke-NUS Medical School, told The Telegraph that the bat ASC2 could be the secret to longevity and reduced mortality from viruses in humans.

He said: 'It may not be the only factor, as biology is never as simple as one molecule or one pathway.

'But the overall dampening of inflammation most likely plays a role in health aging in bats.'

Dr Wang explained that the new finding could mean human medicines could be made to mimic ASC2 which could then treat multiple viruses that produce an inflammatory response in humans.

He said: 'We have filed patents based on this work and are exploring commercial partnerships for drug discovery.

'We are hoping to develop a new class of anti-inflammatory drugs for inflammasome-driven human diseases.'

In mice, the death rate from a killer flu virus halved from 100 percent to 50 percent in those with the ASC2 adaptation.

ASC2 additionally 'substantially inhibited' Zika virus, a mosquito-borne virus first discovered in Africa, in the genetically engineered mice too.

The protein is carried by humans and bats, but the researchers theorize it has grown stronger in bats because they fly, which puts their bodies under immense physiological stress.

Professor Gilda Tachedjian, head of Life Sciences at the Burnet Institute in Australia, said more research is needed to

Bats may have developed a way to subdue their inflammatory immune response to survive.

The research paper said: 'Since bats are the only mammals with powered flight, the metabolically costly flight might be one of the key drivers for this adaptation.'

Professor Gilda Tachedjian, head of Life Sciences at the Burnet Institute in Australia, told The Telegraph that the researchers had proved the concept that bat ASC2 protein can target the part of the immune system responsible for inflammatory responses, and therefore reducing inflammation in cells in a petri dish and in mice.

She added: 'While the findings of this study are intriguing, more work is needed to translate these findings into new therapies that can be used in people to reduce mortality from viruses or increase longevity.'
A baby from North Carolina who was born without eyes is receiving eye socket-stretching surgery so he can get prosthetics.

Tate Walker, now one, from Reidsville, has anophthalmia, a genetic condition that causes the eyes not to develop in the womb. Doctors missed the issue while his mother was pregnant with him.

The young boy was only diagnosed a day after he was born when he would not open his eyelids. His father, Ryan, said the diagnosis was like a 'punch in the gut', but the family is now raising funds for his health insurance and surgery for his eye sockets.

Tate is currently undergoing therapy where doctors stretch his eye sockets by gradually putting larger balls into them to assist their development and hopefully build them so

Doctors normally stretch eye sockets by putting gradually larger balls into them, encouraging the sockets to widen and not close up. Tate is under

Tate Walker, aged one and from North Carolina, was born without his eyes. It is due to the condition anophthalmia, which can be caused by genetic problems

The baby is pictured above with parents Jahavier, 25, and Ryan, 29. They are fundraising to help cover their son's surgery

Anophthalmia is a rare condition, which affects as few as one in 100,000 babies born in the US every year.

It is caused by a disruption in the development of the optic vesicles around week four of pregnancy, which eventually turn into the optic cups and the different parts that make up the eyeball.

The disruption may be caused by genetics  such as in Tate's case  or environmental factors such as exposure to high levels of mercury or lead.

Sufferers may be born with no eyeballs or with remnants of eye tissue behind the eyelids.

They may also have much smaller eye sockets than normal, making it difficult to apply prosthetics.

No treatment can bring back the eyes, with doctors instead focused on giving babies prosthetics to help them live a relatively normal life.

An eye prosthetic is generally made of plastic and will not restore a person's vision. It will, however, make their face appears more normal and ensure the face develops correctly.

Doctors say children with the condition have a relatively normal life expectancy, providing they don't have other underlying conditions.

Tate was born in December 2021 without issue, but afterward the newborn appeared 'swollen' and 'struggled to open his eyes'.

Doctors told parents Jahavier, 25 and Ryan, 29, that the swelling would go down within 12 hours and then Tate would open his eyes.

But when this did not happen, the then one-day-old went for scans which revealed that he had the condition anophthalmia.

Mr Walker, who works in shipping, said of the diagnosis: 'It was such a shock when we found out.

'All of his pictures and ultrasounds came back clear. Nothing showed up on any of the scans, nothing on the bloodwork.

'He was a little swollen when he came out and they said that it would dissolve itself within the next 10 to 12 hours.

'They said that once he calmed down, he would probably open up his eyes. The swelling went down but he was never able to open up his eyes.

'At 9pm the following night, they gave us the news and that he had been born without eyes.

'It was like a punch in the gut. We didn't know anything about this [and] hadn't heard anything ever about anything like this.'

He added: 'It was very difficult to hear, especially because it was so unexpected.'

Mr Walker said his son was now seeing a vision and hearing therapist to help the baby navigate the world without being able to see.

He is scheduled to go for surgery within the next ten months where doctors will fit prosthetic eyes that would help with appearance and ensure that the face develops correctly.

The baby is currently having his eye sockets widened before receiving surgery to implant prosthetics. Sockets can be widened by putting progressively larger balls into the place where the eyeball would be

The parents described their son as 'happy-go-lucky' and said most of the time he was giggling or laughing

The youngster is currently having his eye sockets stretched, a procedure that normally involving fitting an infant's eye sockets with increasingly large balls to encourage them to widen to fit a prosthetic.

This happened for microphthalmia sufferer Izabella Myers, from Pennsylvania and born in 2016 with one of her eyes underdeveloped.

Doctors gradually stretched the socket in her case by using increasingly bigger clear balls every two weeks to make way for an artificial eye.

The family has launched a fundraiser for $8,000 online to help them cover the cost of Tate's treatment.

His father described his son as a 'happy-go-lucky' baby. He said: 'I'd say 95 percent of the time he's laughing, giggling, just wanting to play all the time.'

He added: 'Right now, me and my wife carry him through our jobs. We're having to pay extra out of pocket for medical insurance for him, therapies, doctors visits and other visits.

'The extra money that we're able to save, we have to put towards Tate's treatment - the therapies and the hospital bills when he gets admitted.

'They want his eye sockets to be a certain size for the prosthetics, so that's what we're working on now.

'We're just trying to learn more about his condition as parents. That way, we can better ourselves and help him in any way that he needs.

'Just because he's blind doesn't mean that he can't live a regular lifestyle.'
This is the most impressive espionage debut since Mick Herrons Slow Horses in 2010  written by a Westminster researcher and speechwriter

THRILLERS

THE SCARLET PAPERS

by Matthew Richardson (Michael Joseph 14.99, 592pp)

This is the most impressive espionage debut since Mick Herrons Slow Horses in 2010  written by a Westminster researcher and speechwriter.

It tells the story of Scarlet King, now in her 90s, who was once a spymaster for the British, specialising in Russia, and has finally decided to tell her story, revealing her work since her recruitment at the end of World War II.

She asks Dr Max Arthur, a professor of Intelligence History, to work with her  and so begins an epic journey through the Byzantine coils of spying over seven decades.

For there is also a mystery at the heart of the plot  was King a double agent working for the Soviets and hired to do so by her old boss Kim Philby, who escaped to Russia in 1963? Filled with fast-moving action and a fine line in threat, it weaves a thrilling spell.

Living alone in an isolated house on the coast of Washington State in the U.S., Emma Carpenter is trying to recover from a personal tragedy with only her golden retriever, Laika, for company

THE LAST WORD

by Taylor Adams (Hodder 22, 352pp)

Living alone in an isolated house on the coast of Washington State in the U.S., Emma Carpenter is trying to recover from a personal tragedy with only her golden retriever, Laika, for company.

She is house-sitting and passes her time by reading e-books and sometimes reviewing them.

One particularly disappoints her  a gruesome horror story written by H. G. Kane.She gives it a one-star review online.

Within minutes she receives a withering reply from the author, demanding she delete the review.

She refuses, and so begins a tale of stalking as Kane pursues her relentlessly to change her mind, with the threat that she may suffer the same fate as many characters in his other 16 novels  death.

The suspense ratchets up ever higher as she fights to survive. The story roars along like a roller-coaster on speed.

Part love story, part spy thriller, Crawleys fifth book relies on her extensive knowledge of modern Russia

THE TRANSLATOR

by Harriet Crawley (Bitter Lemon Press 16.99, 416pp)

Part love story, part spy thriller, Crawleys fifth book relies on her extensive knowledge of modern Russia.

Her heroine is Marina Volina, chief interpreter to the Russian president, who once fell in love with Clive Franklin, now acting as translator to the British prime minister on a visit to Moscow.

The two have not met since they were in New York together and she left him to marry a Russian, who has subsequently died.

Marina has already decided she wants to escape the grip of Russia and come to England. Then she discovers a plot to sabotage the undersea cables that link the U.S. to the UK, which would threaten the international economy by collapsing communications.

Together, Marina and Clive decide to try to stop the intended attack by supplying information to MI6  but can they manage to save the European economy?

Brimming with intricate detail on Russia today, it is both moving and terrifying  a compelling combination.
Spry, compassionate and sparklingly funny, Heiny's stories are pure reading pleasure

SHORT STORIES

GAMES AND RITUALS

by Katherine Heiny (4th Estate 16.99, 240pp)

Spry, compassionate and sparklingly funny, Heiny's stories are pure reading pleasure, as her flawed, lovable characters find themselves at the mercy of life's mischievous twists and heart-breaking turns.

There's the joyful Damascus, where a mother with a chequered past wonders if her gentle teenage son, Gordey, is high on life or 'super baked' on drugs. Then there's the bewildered, middle-aged man in CobRa, who wonders if he still sparks joy in his dissatisfied wife, who's on a Marie Kondo-inspired tidying up mission of their house, shared possessions and possibly himself.

Fractious daughter-father relationships take their turn in Twist And Shout, where a curmudgeonly dad has 'mistaken his four-thousand-dollar hearing aid for a cashew and eaten it', while the winsome ChickenFlavoured And Lemon-Scented sees pregnant driving-test examiner Colette negotiate speed bumps and sudden stops with unexpected aplomb.

Gothic and brilliantly grim, these uneasy tales from the author of Tender Is The Flesh are as shadowy as night even in the bright glare of sunshine

19 CLAWS AND A BLACK BIRD

by Agustina Bazterrica (Pushkin Press 12.99, 192pp)

Gothic and brilliantly grim, these uneasy tales from the author of Tender Is The Flesh are as shadowy as night even in the bright glare of sunshine, as Bazterrica's darkly macabre imagination works like talon and beak, capable of tearing apart everyday situations and transforming them into something horribly chilling.

A body plummets onto a breakfast-time patio, pulling asunder the carefully controlled world of a young woman (A Light, Swift And Monstrous Sound), a bad break-up burns through the usual tropes  tears, binges on own-brand biscuits, the destruction of photographs of the ex while whispering 'You broke my heart into a thousand pieces'  but then out comes a revolver (Candy Pink), while the supernatural The Solitary Ones places a woman in the unwanted company of two figures who look like 'there's a scream trapped inside them'.

Here, runaway horses are dragged behind jeeps in the distressing Steer

SIDLE CREEK

by Jolene McIlwain (Melville House 14.99, 212pp)

Set in the fictional Sidle Creek, high in the hardscrabble Appalachian Mountains in Pennsylvania, these tender, tough tales capture a timeless rural America, where nature is restorative, work days are long and emotions are unpredictable.

Peopled by hunters, bar staff, farmers, saw-mill employees and ever-hopeful young girls, theirs is a world of beauty and brutality described in shimmering poetic prose by debut author McIlwain.

Here, runaway horses are dragged behind jeeps in the distressing Steer, and the waitresses at the local bar, dressed in scarlet boots and old cheerleader uniforms, become part of a murder mystery when one of their own is killed (Those Red Boots).
Former spook Elizabeth, retired nurse Joyce, psychiatrist Ibrahim and trade unionist Ron decide to investigate the disappearance of journalist Bethany Waites

MUST READS

THE BULLET THAT MISSED

by Richard Osman (Penguin 9.99, 432pp)

'Not an awful lot happens in Kent,' reflects Joyce, one of the 'four harmless pensioners' whose hobby of investigating cold cases from their retirement home provides the plots for Osman's best-selling novels.

In fact, Kent is a maelstrom of wickedness money-laundering, cryptocurrency, buried weapons, kidnappings and murder.

Former spook Elizabeth, retired nurse Joyce, psychiatrist Ibrahim and trade unionist Ron decide to investigate the disappearance of journalist Bethany Waites, who was digging into a fraud case when her car was driven off a cliff. Her body was never found.

Beautifully written, with white-knuckle jeopardy, irresistible humour and heart-wrenching pathos, Osman's third whodunnit in the Thursday Murder Club series is a celebration of the indomitable resourcefulness of 'harmless pensioners'.

The standoff between Kennedy and his Soviet counterpart, Nikita Khrushchev, lasted for 13 days

ABYSS: THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS 1962

by Max Hastings (William Collins 10.99, 576pp)

On the morning of October 16, 1962, a pyjama-clad President John F. Kennedy was watching TV with his children in his White House bedroom when his National Security Adviser, Mac Bundy, interrupted with the news that the Soviets had deployed nuclear missiles on Cuba, a mere 90 miles off the U.S. coast.

The standoff between Kennedy and his Soviet counterpart, Nikita Khrushchev, lasted for 13 days, during which the world trembled on the brink of nuclear Armageddon.

As U.S. hawks urged military action, Kennedy and his defence secretary, Robert McNamara, held their nerve, insisting that the missiles must be removed.

Hastings ends his account of a narrowly averted catastrophe with a timely warning: 'In 2023, the means still exist for humankind to destroy itself'.

Fishman's elegant debut is an exploration of the sensual, philosophical and moral limits of desire

ACTS OF SERVICE

by Lillian Fishman (Europa Editions 13.99, 224pp)

'I had hundreds of nudes stored in my phone, but I'd never sent them to anyone.'

One night, barista Eve overcomes this, hiding what she is doing from her girlfriend, Romi, and posts a trio of naked photos. Among the responses is one from Olivia, a painter.

When she and Eve meet, Olivia turns out to be in a relationship with Nathan, a fellow artist from 'a large and monied clan'.

While Olivia, also the fortunate possessor of a trust fund, longs for love, Nathan is interested in sex as an art form in its own right, and they hope that Eve will join their exploration of erotic possibility. But when Nathan is accused of workplace harassment, their relationship takes a darker turn.

Fishman's elegant debut is an exploration of the sensual, philosophical and moral limits of desire.
Growing numbers of landlords are being caught and fined for under-paying income tax - with HM Revenue & Customs catching 83 per cent more last year.

The taxman found 5,429 landlords did not declare enough income tax in 2022/23, up 83 per cent in a year.

HMRC clawed back 33million in tax from these landlords - 6,078 each on average - up 73 per cent from 19.3million in 2021/22.

Meanwhile HMRC fined landlords 2million last tax year, up 53 per cent from 1.3million the year before, according to a Freedom of Information request by This is Money.

Many will have tried to dodge tax deliberately, while others will be the victims of their own poor book-keeping.

The taxman cometh: HMRC is once again funnelling resources into catching landlords

The reason for the increased HMRC scrutiny on taxes is that the taxman turned its attention away from landlords during the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021.

Instead, HMRC piled resources into running programmes such as the Job Retention Scheme, Income Support Scheme and Eat Out To Help Out.

But with the pandemic subsiding in 2022/23, landlords were back in the steely gaze of the taxman.

Ben Beadle, chief executive of the National Residential Landlords Association, said: 'Landlords must consider the tax implications if they are in receipt of rental income. In many cases they will need to submit a self-assessment tax return, so we highly recommend they should seek professional tax advice if they are in any doubt.

'HMRC will not accept ignorance as an excuse for non-payment or late payment of taxes, so it is crucial that landlords ensure they are acutely aware of their tax liabilities.'

HMRC targets landlords through its 'Let Property' campaign, which launched in September 2013

The campaign was meant to target the 1.5million landlords HMRC thought were underpaying tax on rental income to the tune of 500million a year.

It was initially meant to run for 18 months, but instead has lasted for 10 years.

Under the scheme, HMRC can claw back up to 20 years of underpaid tax, fine landlords up to 100 per cent of any outstanding tax, or 200 per cent for cash held offshore, and can even prosecute.

But if a landlord has made a genuine mistake with their tax returns, HMRC only reclaims up to six years of underpaid tax and will only issue smaller fines, if any at all.

An HMRC spokesperson said: 'The Let Property Campaign is an opportunity for landlords who owe tax through letting out residential property, in the UK or abroad, to get up to date with their tax affairs in a simple, straightforward way and take advantage of the best possible terms.

'During the Covid-19 pandemic resources were moved to support the wider Governments priorities at the time, which resulted in a temporary reduction in the number of disclosures made.'
Entrepreneur: Mike Lynch

Mike Lynch, one of Britain's most successful tech entrepreneurs, will be confined to an address in San Francisco  guarded by private security  once he stumps up bail of $100million after being extradited on Thursday to the US where he will stand trial on criminal fraud charges.

The astonishing high level of bail has been set because, according to US court filings, Lynch is considered such a 'serious risk of flight' after so many years of fighting extradition.

Not only was the founder of software group Autonomy accompanied on his flight to California by the US Marshals Service, but he has to pay for the private security guards himself.

It is a chilling scene not just for him, but for the British business community.

Executives fear that the recent High Court ruling refusing Lynch permission to appeal his extradition sets an unhealthy precedent. They fear that any fall-out from future trans-Atlantic business deals could land them in the US courts many years later.

On a more fundamental level, business leaders, and an increasing number of politicians, have serious doubts about the process itself. Former Conservative minister, David Davis, has spoken out about whether Lynch can expect a fair trial in the US.

Davis has warned how the drawn out legal process of 'ferocious intimidation' relies on complex plea bargains, a process that usually results in a 97 per cent conviction rate.

They are right. Lynch's hijacking sets a dangerous precedent whereby any British businessman or woman who finds themselves up against a powerful US corporation can be bullied through the UK courts and ensnared as a victim.

Yet Lynch is a British national and Autonomy, which is at the heart of the criminal charges, was a British company at the time of its $11billion takeover by Hewlett-Packard in 2011. The deal was subject to UK takeover rules. Ipso facto, the case should be tried here.

Whether Lynch is guilty or not of the charges brought against him after HP alleged that he duped them into overpaying for Autonomy by inflating the numbers, he should still be allowed a fair trial. It is doubtful he will get one. Quite the reverse.

The US authorities look to be licking their lips at the prospect of more high drama and big bucks. More worrying is that the extradition agreement between the two countries looks increasingly one way.

The death of 19-year-old Harry Dunn, who was killed by Anne Sacoolas, the wife of a CIA operative, while driving on the wrong side of the road in the UK, shows the extent of the imbalance. The UK failed to extradite Sacoolas. She pleaded guilty at court via video link, and was given an eight months prison sentence, suspended for 12 months. Hardly justice.

The difference in the treatment between these two cases is shocking  a suspended prison sentence for death versus potential decades for alleged fraud.

Lynch, who denies HP's accusations, could face 20 years in prison if found guilty. The Government must revisit its treaty with the US and curb the country's overreach. Sovereignty matters.

Another post gone

The top seat at Royal Mail is turning out to be more of an ejector seat. Simon Thompson is the fourth boss in five years to have vacated the role. But did he go or was he pushed? Some say Thompson had simply had enough.

Others suggest he was forced out after the year-long bitter fight with the unions which got him into such hot water with MPs  and his boss.

The good news is that Royal Mail and the Communication Workers Union have finally agreed on a decent deal.

If Royal Mail gets it right, it has a bright future so it is important that all sides can work properly together. Smart postal and delivery services have become the lifeblood of the country. Interestingly, despite its Test-and-Trace experience, healthcare is an area it wants to expand. Watch this space.

Twitter to come

Oh, how Elon Musk likes to tease. He tweets that he has found a new Twitter boss  a she  and all hell breaks loose.

The name of every top US female executive is sent spinning into the ether. The search doesn't take long.

Linda Yaccarino, advertising supremo at media giant NBC Universal, soon emerges at the top of the list. NBC confirms she's leaving. Then Musk tweets that Yaccarino is the new girl on board. With luck, Yaccarino has a sense of humour, and won't curb his enthusiasm for hanging us all on a thread. It's too much fun.
Celebrity culture may not be your thing. But if you want to give your portfolio some razzle-dazzle, you cannot ignore the stars of the fund management world, the custodians of billions of savings, and the proponents of different styles of investing.

In the UK, Nick Train of Lindsell Train and Terry Smith of Fundsmith dominate the scene. In the US, Warren Buffett, boss of the leviathan Berkshire Hathaway, is the sector's most influential figure.

Its most controversial personality is Cathie Wood, chief executive of Ark Invest, a $14billion group focused on technology companies.

Even if you choose not to back these stars' funds, their stock picks merit your consideration.

Ed Monk of Fidelity International says: 'There's a lot to be gleaned from scouring the top holdings of the top investors. At the very least, you'll understand better the companies in which these pros have most confidence.'

Celebrity fund managers: Warren Buffett, Terry Smith, Cathie Wood and Nick Train

This week, the professionals have been poring over the remarks made by the 92-year old Buffett at Berkshire Hathaway's annual general meeting (AGM).

The guru seems cautious about the direction of the stock markets, disinclined to deploy the fund's $130billion cash pile.

He disapproves of the conduct of bankers, yet Bank of America is the $717billion fund's second largest holding. At the AGM, Buffett dwelt on the qualities of a potent brand, pointing to the appeal of Tiffany's iconic blue box.

The jewellery business now belongs to LVMH, the luxury conglomerate headed by French tycoon Bernard Arnault, who based his thinking on Buffett's buy-and-hold approach. As part of this strategy, Buffett favours businesses with an 'economic moat', that something that sets their products apart from those of rivals, so supplying pricing power.

American Express, Chevron and Coca Cola, which account for 38 per cent of Berkshire Hathaway's portfolio, possess this attribute, but the prime example is Apple which represents 38 per cent. Buffett first bought into the i-Phone maker in 2016 when its shares were $24.91, against $172 today. Thanks to such moves, Berkshire Hathaway's share price has risen by 200 per cent over the past decade.

Over the same period, Terry Smith has delivered growth of 200 per cent, against the 111 per cent achieved by his peer group.

He is another believer in buy-and-hold and moats. But he only bought into Apple in late 2022 at $125. He called this one of his largest mistakes, but added: 'Looking in the rear-view mirror isn't going to help you.'

This useful precept for any investor has helped the 23.4billion Fundsmith recover from a challenging 2022. The fund is up 10.4 per cent, against an increase of 4.9pc in the MSCI World Index.

Currently Smith is betting on technology (Microsoft), beauty (L'Oreal), luxury (LVMH) and smoking (Philip Morris). Novo Nordisk, the business behind slimming drug Wegovy, is his healthcare punt.

My allegiance to Fundsmith has lasted more than a decade, but lately I have been observing the purchases of Nick Train for Lindsell Train UK Equity, Lindsell Train Global Equity and the Finsbury Growth & Income trust.

Over the past decade, he has delivered growth of 216 per cent, against 96 per cent for his peer group. To maintain this record, he is relying on FTSE 100 names such as Relx, Burberry, Diageo, and Unilever.

UK pension funds are not keen on these stocks, but Train argues: 'If the brands and franchises owned by these companies are of the calibre we believe them to be, and their equity is undervalued, then we are going to capture an outsize share of their future share price gains.'

Cathie Wood's choices are driven by the conviction that innovation will spark 'exponential growth trajectories' for tech groups.

But shares in the Ark Innovation fund's three top holdings  Tesla, Zoom and Roku  have fallen by 31 per cent, 31 per cent and 44 per cent respectively over the past 12 months.

These declines illustrate the risks inherent in building a portfolio based on the major holdings of the stars. Insufficient diversification is another hazard, and Monk also highlights the difficulty of knowing when to sell.

But one plus of copying the stars' investing selections is the opportunity to save on fees. Annual charges range from 0.75 per cent-1.25 per cent, one reason why Smith may have earned 190million last year.

But Haig Bathgate at investment management group Atomos contends that the publicity surrounding charges can overshadow 'the care and balance' that the stars dedicate to stock selection.

On this basis, it may be worth paying the fees to benefit from their expertise. He says: 'I would caution against trying to replicate their portfolios. It's hard enough as a market professional.'
The boss of JP Morgan Chase has said he regrets his banks ties to disgraced financier and paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

I am so sad that we had any relation to that man whatsoever, Jamie Dimon told Bloomberg TV.

He said the bank would have done things differently if it had known about Epsteins behaviour.

JP Morgan is being sued over its ties to Epstein, a client from 1998 to 2013. The bank is accused of knowingly benefiting from his sex-trafficking.

Regret: JP Morgan boss Jamie Dimon (pictured) said the bank, which is being sued over its ties to Jeffery Epstein, would have done things differently if it had known about his behaviour

Dimon said he had deep respect for the women harmed by Epstein but that did not mean JP Morgan was liable for the actions of its client.

Former Barclays boss Jes Staley is also in the spotlight. Staley was a senior executive at JP Morgan before he joined Barclays and Epstein was his client.

According to court documents, Staley was allegedly aware of Epsteins sex-trafficking operations.

Staleys legal team has described allegations about his connection to Epstein as slanderous and baseless.

He quit as Barclays boss in 2021 after a probe by regulators into his relationship with Epstein.


Financial technology firm Revolut suffered another setback as its finance chief quit after two years in the job.

In what is turning out to be a difficult year for the London firm, the company said Mikko Salovaara is leaving for personal reasons.

It comes just weeks after the companys auditor warned that a chunk of its revenues may have been materially mis-stated.

At the time, Salovaara insisted that Revolut was on course to get a UK banking licence any day now despite the questions over its finances.

But 72 days later, it is still waiting. The firms frustrations appeared to boil over last week when boss and co-founder Nik Storonsky said the licence application has been a long and tiring process.

Departure: Revolut co-founder Nik Storonsky, left, with finance chief Mikko Salovaara, right, who has quit the role after two years in the job

In what was branded a tantrum, Storonsky also branded Britain an undesirable place to do business.

It also emerged last night that Revoluts UK banking chief James Radford quit in March.

Salovaara is the latest senior figure to leave following the departure of several executives last year.

I am grateful for the opportunity to serve as group chief financial officer at Revolut and remain confident in the firms future success, he said.

Storonsky added: I thank Mikko for his contribution and wish him well. The Mail understands that Salovaara will remain at Revolut for a couple of months.

The company was set up in 2015 by Storonsky and Vlad Yatsenko. It has 28m customers and operates in more than 200 countries.

It is one of Europes most valuable start-ups, worth 14billion, and has been trying to secure a British banking licence for over two years so that it can take deposits and handout loans.

In March, it said a licence from the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority would be granted imminently  and possibly within days.

But following questions from its auditor over its accounts, it is still waiting, with a final verdict expected in the coming weeks.

Last week, Storonsky claimed that there was a slowing down in British tech despite political ambitions to become the next Silicon Valley.

Storonsky also said that he would choose New York over London if he was ever going to list the company.

The comments raised eyebrows in the City, with one analyst labelling them sour grapes, while another observer branded it a tantrum which would not help it to secure a banking licence.

The attack followed increasing scrutiny of Revolut after its latest accounts were five months overdue, with its auditor BDO stating some parts were not able to be independently verified, including three-quarters of its 636million revenue in 2021.

The firm also suffered a setback in April when Schroders valued it at 14billion, a far cry from the 27billion price tag it boasted in its last funding round in 2021.

Growing doubts about the state of the companys finances have caused some to call on regulators not to be bounced into granting the company a licence without proper scrutiny.

Labour MP Margaret Hodge, chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on anti-corruption and responsible tax, said: Anyone looking to join our banking community  Revolut is just one example  must follow due process and be able to answer any and all questions posed by regulators. This process cannot be rushed.

The recent turmoil in the sector shows just how important it is that banks are totally above board and play by the rules.
Donald Trump clashed with power brokers in Washington and on Wall Street yesterday as the mounting US debt crisis intensified.

In a significant intervention, the former president urged Republicans to let the country default on its debts unless Democrats cave in to demands for massive spending cuts.

The comments triggered a swift response from US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and JP Morgan bank boss Jamie Dimon amid warnings that such a move would be catastrophic.

The row centres on the so-called US debt ceiling  the legal limit the government is allowed to borrow.

Showdown: Former US president Donald Trump and US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen

The White House is locked in talks with Republicans about raising the ceiling from the current level of 25trillion.

Failure to reach an agreement could see the US run out of money as soon as early June, meaning it cannot pay for federal employees, the military, social security or healthcare.

The bitter stand-off in Washington could also lead to the US defaulting on its debts, as advocated by Trump despite warnings of panic on global markets and a fresh economic downturn.

Fanning the flames of the crisis, the former president and current front-runner for the Republican nomination for the White House in 2024 piled pressure on his party to seek major concessions from President Joe Biden before agreeing any increase.

Warning that the US government is spending money like drunken sailors, he said: I say to Republicans out there, if they dont give you massive cuts, youre gonna have to do a default.

We have to save this country. Our country is being destroyed by stupid people, by very stupid people.

Trump shrugged off concerns about a default, saying: Its really psychological more than anything else.

And it could be really bad, it could be maybe nothing, maybe its a bad week, or a bad day, who knows?

The comments drew a withering response from Dimon, who warned the mounting crisis could spark panic on financial markets.

Its one more thing he doesnt know very much about, Dimon said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. Revealing that JP Morgan has prepared a war room to prepare for a default, he added: Anyone whos anyone knows that is potentially catastrophic.

Speaking ahead of a meeting of G7 finance ministers in Japan, Yellen said: A default would threaten the gains that weve worked so hard to make over the past few years in our pandemic recovery. And it would spark a global downturn that would set us back much further.

Yellen, a former president of the Federal Reserve, urged Congress to raise the ceiling to allow the government to borrow more  or risk undermining US global economic leadership and raise questions about our ability to defend our national security interests.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) joined the row, warning that failure to raise the debt ceiling would have very serious repercussions for the US and global economy, including higher borrowing costs.

We strongly encourage the parties to come together to reach a consensus to urgently address this matter, said IMF director of communications Julie Kozack.
THG shares plunged as much as 20% in early trade on Friday

Apollo also said it no longer planned to make an offer for the company

THG said there was 'no longer any merit' in continuing discussions

THG shares plunged nearly 20 per cent in early trade after the struggling online retailer said it had terminated takeover talks with private equity giant Apollo.

The company's board told investors on Friday there was 'no longer any merit' in continuing the discussions after THG rejected the latest buyout proposal, which it said was based on 'inadequate valuations'.

Formerly known as The Hut Group, the company behind websites Lookfantastic and Myprotein received a preliminary offer from Apollo on 17 April.

Talks collapse: THG said Apollo's offers were based on inadequate valuations

The private equity firm had until 15 May to make a firm offer, or walk away, but THG said it was not in its best interests to seek an extension to that deadline.

THG shares rose by more than 40 per cent last month when it received the preliminary takeover proposal, but fell as much as 18 per cent in early trade, before recouping some losses to trade down 16 per cent to 63p towards market close.

The move follows months of speculation about the future of THG, whose shares plunged 85 per cent following its 5.4billion float in 2020, with the company now valued at just 844million.

'It has become clear to the board, supported by shareholders representing a majority of THG's issued share capital, that there is no longer any merit in continuing to engage with Apollo,' THG told investors today.

'Consideration and rejection of the indicative proposal has been on a basis consistent with all previous offers for the company, some a matter of public record, which were also rejected based upon inadequate valuations and the nature of those offer structures.

'Having discussed with its financial and legal advisors, the Board has unanimously determined that it is not in the best interest of THG shareholders to seek an extension to the deadline'.

In a separate statement, Apollo also said it no longer planned to make an offer for the company.

THG has had several setbacks since its bumper London float, with the company seeing annual losses almost treble to 550million last year.

But this has not put off activist investor Kelso, which last month upped its stake in THG, saying it had belief in the 'significant intrinsic value' of the e-commerce business' nutrition arm.
The Royal Mail's embattled boss has resigned following a long-running dispute with workers that plunged the company into crisis.

The 507-year-old delivery firm's owners, International Distributions Services (IDS), said Simon Thompson, who has been chief executive for around two years, will leave at the end of October.

His departure  which the Mail revealed was on the cards last month  follows the Royal Mail's deal with the Communication Workers Union (CWU) to end a row over pay and working practices that saw posties walk out on strike for 18 days last year.

Troubled tenure: Simon Thompson is quitting his job as the boss of Royal Mail

IDS said it was in the 'advanced stages' of appointing a replacement.

During the transition, chairman Keith Williams will provide 'additional oversight and support'.

Thompson said: 'I have been incredibly proud to lead Royal Mail during this crucial period in its 507-year history.

'The changes we have made, the infrastructure we have put in place, and the agreements negotiated with our trade unions mean that Royal Mail now has a chance to compete and grow. It is now the right time to hand over to a new chief executive to deliver the next stage of the company's reinvention.'

IDS shares dropped 1.5 per cent, or 3.4p, to 227.9p.

Thompson's departure draws a line under a volatile period that saw Royal Mail plunged into crisis by strikes as unions clashed with management over pay and working practices.

Royal Mail was losing more than 1million a day and warned administrators may need to be called in if the situation did not improve.

A breakthrough came last month when the company and union bosses agreed a deal that included a 10 per cent pay rise for staff and a profit-sharing scheme.

CWU members will vote on the agreement. But the crisis left Thompson's reputation in tatters and he faced fierce criticism from regulators and MPs. He was also humiliated during two bruising appearances before the House of Commons Business Select Committee earlier this year.

MPs accused Thompson of 'either an unacceptable level of incompetence or an unacceptable level of cluelessness' in his running of the business and of 'intentionally or inadvertently' misleading MPs when he said it was not his understanding Royal Mail had used data from personal digital assistants (PDAs) to track worker performance.

Labour MP Darren Jones, chairman of the business committee, wrote on Twitter yesterday that the criticisms levelled at Thompson and Royal Mail were 'never personal' and were 'about holding decision-makers to account for their performance'. He added: 'On that basis, it's right that Simon Thompson has resigned but I wish him all the best for the future.

'The culture at Royal Mail must change and I hope this new chapter will recognise the importance of every worker and focus on delivering a sustainable future for the business.'

Dave Ward, the CWU's general secretary, also welcomed the news, saying: 'Simon Thompson is one of the key individuals responsible for the financial crisis that Royal Mail has created over the course of the last year.

'It is important that the next chief executive is somebody who understands the only way to turn around the fortunes of the company is by taking the workforce with them.'

Thompson joined the board of IDS as a non-executive director in 2017 before becoming chief executive in 2021. He has held roles at HSBC, Honda, Apple, Motorola and Ocado.

Aside from the long-running battle with its workers, Thompson's tenure was also marked by a cyber attack in January that knocked out Royal Mail's overseas delivery operations.
Tasty: Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay

Turnover trebled across Gordon Ramsay's restaurant empire last year  but the celebrity chef still posted a loss of 504,000.

Gordon Ramsay Restaurants reported record revenues of 78.9m for the 12 months ending August 2022, up from 26.2m the year prior.

This reflected the business's post-Covid recovery as it enjoyed '12 months of uninterrupted trading in the UK'.

The pandemic previously brought Ramsay's business operations to a halt and forced his restaurants to make hundreds of jobs cuts as losses hit almost 6.5m. Before Covid, Gordon Ramsay Restaurants recorded revenues of 55m.

Losses have since fallen significantly and the business pressed ahead with expansion plans last year by opening seven restaurants. The group runs 36 venues in the UK, and also boasts operations in countries including Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates and Singapore.

Andy Wenlock, Ramsay's business partner, said 'the group remains committed to and on course with its growth strategy both in the UK and internally'. The highest-paid director took home 517,000 in 2022, up from 372,000 in 2021.

Ramsay, 56, the group's main shareholder, vowed to provide financial support 'in the event of any severe downturn'.
I own a restaurant on the south coast. I need to sign a new electricity contract and all of the brokers I have spoken to are suggesting a three-year fixed term  they all individually predict business energy prices will keep rising until 2025/26.

Im not sure what theyre basing it on and dont know whether to take the plunge on their advice.

I hate feeling pressured into fixing for so long, but also have no idea where business energy costs are going.

I have no idea where energy prices are going to go, should I sign a fixed contract for my restaurant? Dave Fishwick replies

Dave Fishwick, This Is Moneys business doctor replies: The wholesale gas price has dropped dramatically in recent months and, at the time of writing, is currently less than a third of where it was at its peak in August 2022.

Similarly, oil prices have fallen dramatically over the past few months.

While thats gas and oil prices and not electricity generated from various sources, the overall picture in the energy market should roughly follow the same course.

The price spike caused by the government response to the pandemic and the Ukraine conflict has fallen back, and supply constraints have eased. The government energy bill relief scheme has been extended until April 2024, but the government expects energy prices to fall in the second half of 2023.

However, as we tend to see with petrol and diesel prices, they seem to shoot up like a rocket but float down like a feather.

The reasons for lagged declines are usually given to be that wholesale energy companies hedge their bets on future prices just as you are considering doing. Still, the biggest UK energy generator did report record profits in 2022.

I would personally like to see energy giants taxed more and the extra money used to help with energy bills for anyone that is struggling, hard-working families, pensioners and small and medium-sized businesses.

It sounds like the energy brokers may be trying to make themselves a big commission by locking unwary customers into expensive contracts before prices come down to normality.

Theres always some risk that external events will push prices higher again.

An escalation in the Ukraine war, between China and Taiwan or problems in the Middle East could send wholesale prices back to their 2022 levels. But barring any such catastrophe, I cant see any reason for prices to continue to rise until 2025/6 other than more profiteering within the energy industry.

Over the long term, prices could rise as we see the costs of the low-carbon policies added to energy bills. The green energy levy has been in place for some time now and adds around 8 per cent to accounts. This will likely be a gradual increase, though.

You should be in a contract for your commercial energy supply as out-of-contract prices are costly, but Id be reluctant to enter into a three-year contract unless its at a price youre happy with. Shop around for the best deal online and through energy brokers.

I also called some dear friends of mine, Zack and Catherine, who own a family restaurant similar to yours. It's called the Well Springs in Sabden, Lancashire, and I asked them what their energy plans are.

Catherine said, 'Energy prices are dropping, and I understand they may be dropping again in June. I have just been quoted, fixed for three years at 26p a unit. My deal finishes at the end of July, and I currently pay 17pence a unit.

'It will never be that low again, but I am waiting until June before I do anything, as I have been told it will reduce a little more. The deals last year were 90pence a unit, and many people sadly fixed at that. I have contacts who are independent telling me this.'

I hope that helps a little.

My personal thoughts are, I would be reluctant to fix anything for over 12 months at this point in time as by this time next year, I think well have a clearer picture of where energy prices and the economy are heading, but over the course of this year, they should be heading down.

Good luck!
The continuing feud between Princes William and Harry might seem unprecedented in the level of public acrimony it has created.

Fuelled by seemingly non-stop complaints from Montecito, most recently in the shape of Prince Harry's new memoir Spare, it has certainly generated a deluge of bad publicity for The Firm.

But this is not the first time that royal brothers have declared war, or that the consequences threatened to be so serious.

Ninety years ago there was a bitter falling out between two leading members of the Royal Family  brothers who, by the outbreak of war, could barely stand the sight of each other.

Harry and William come back-to-back at the unveiling of a statue of their late mother Princess Diana in the grounds of Kensington Palace in July 2021. The tension between them has caused unprecedented public acrimony

Nearly 90 years ago there was a bitter falling out between two leading members of the Royal Family  brothers who, by the outbreak of war, could barely stand the sight of each other. The ingredients were explosive: this was a stand-off between a King, George VI, and a former King, the Duke of Windsor, who had abdicated to marry the woman he loved. Above: The two men at the funeral of their father, George V, in 1936

Edward (left) and Prince Albert - known as George when King - are seen together as teenagers

The ingredients were explosive: this was a stand-off between a King, George VI, and, exceptionally, a former King, the Duke of Windsor, who had abdicated to marry the woman he loved.

The Duke was rumoured to have pro-Nazi sympathies that moved from the merely embarrassing to the potentially treacherous with the onset of the Second World War. Prince Harry might have dressed up in a Nazi costume for a fancy dress party in 2005, but it was rumoured that the Duke had actually wished to be restored as King by Adolf Hitler, had the German dictator won the war.

These sets of warring brothers are not so many generations apart. George VI (or Bertie, as his family knew him) was great-grandfather to William and Harry, whilst his older brother David, who had briefly reigned as Edward VIII, was their great-great-uncle. And the parallels with today's generation are clear.

They include the high level of emotion that is always present with any sibling split; a devastating loss of status brought on by a departure from royal life; fiercely intelligent divorcees looking to influence their husbands and, underlying everything, as it always does, the question of money.

The month after Edward's abdication, relations had looked as though they might remain cordial. The former monarch wrote to his brother, George VI, on January 17, 1937 to say 'the events of December are past history and you and I have now only the future to look forward to  you have your life as King and you know how hard I have tried to make your succession as easy as possible.' He also promised 'I will throughout your reign (which I hope will be a long and a grand one) and for the rest of my life do all in my power to help and support you to the best of my ability'.

But, soon after he sent the letter, they began to argue furiously. The first, and major, cause of this dissent was money. The initial agreement between the brothers was that the Duke of Windsor would receive an annual allowance of 25,000, a sum paid directly from the king's pocket; this would keep it a family matter and remove any danger of taxpayers subsidising the ever-controversial Wallis. But the details of this leaked to the newspapers, probably via Edward, and that made George VI 'very disturbed'. He complained to the Duke, 'I haven't told anyone that we even signed [an agreement] . . . this is now public property.'

It was also clear that the former king had lied about his wealth and that he had squirrelled away as much as a million pounds from the Duchy of Cornwall. As George now said, 'the rumour is that you have saved a very large sum from this source. You must tell me whether this is so, as I understood from you when I signed the paper at the Fort [Belvedere] that you were going to be very badly off.'

Prince Edward (top) and his brother Prince Albert (right) are seen with their father King George V on Armistice Day, 1922

Prince William (left) and Prince Harry are seen walking side by side as they meet well-wishers at Windsor Castle after the death of the Queen last September

Winston Churchill, then languishing on the backbenches, estimated that the former king had saved between 800,000 and 950,000. Edward responded angrily. 'I did tell you that I was badly off, which indeed I am considering the position I shall have to maintain and what I have given up,' he wrote.

He refused to divulge the information that the King asked for and ended by offering to rent Balmoral and Sandringham - which remained theoretically his private property - back to him for 25,000 a year; a deliberate insult that enraged the monarch.

Wallis was largely to blame for Edward's attitudes. In letters that exist between the two, who were not allowed to meet until the six-month term of her decree nisi finished and she was officially divorced from her second husband, she refers openly to 'your wretched brother'. She added that 'if he continues to treat you as though you were an outcast from the family and had done something disgraceful and continued to take advice from people who dislike you . . . there would be only one course open to you and that would be to let the world know exactly the treatment you were receiving from the people (family) you had placed in their present position.'

Both were insulted by the Royal Family's refusal to either attend or acknowledge their wedding, which took place in France on June 3, 1937. When the Duke was informed by his lawyer Walter Monckton that Wallis would not be granted the desired title of Her Royal Highness  something that the King was himself not opposed to, but the socially conservative dominions of Canada and Australia would never have allowed  Edward responded furiously, shouting 'This is a nice wedding present!'

He wrote angrily to his mother Queen Mary, and lambasted her for treating him as if he were 'a young man who is stopping for a while in a foreign country to learn the language', even as he described himself as 'definitely disgusted' with his brother's behaviour. The only royal acknowledgement of the nuptials was a telegram saying, 'We are thinking of you with great affection on this your wedding day and send you every wish for your future happiness' and ending, 'Much love, Elizabeth and Bertie'.

It was treated with predictable contempt, and Edward lambasted Queen Mary after the ceremony, declaring 'I was bitterly hurt and disappointed that you virtually ignored the most important event of my life' and that 'You must realise, by this time, that as there is a limit to what one's feelings can endure, this most unjust and uncalled for treatment can have had but one important result; my complete estrangement from all of you.'

This complete estrangement did not take place, but the King was equally furious. He had never wanted the responsibility, and so wrote to his brother to say 'How do you think I liked taking on a rocking throne, & trying to make it steady again? It has not been a pleasant job & it is not half finished yet.'

The two men continued to argue in writing throughout much of 1937, during which time Edward and Wallis made their notorious visit to Germany, where they were received by Hitler on October 22 in his country retreat of Berchtesgaden. The King was greatly disturbed by the Duke's actions, describing them as 'a bombshell & a bad one too'. However, the King did agree to provide the Duke with an annual payment of 25,000  the equivalent of more than 1.3million in today's money.

He nonetheless stated that 'there has been some discussion, and indeed some differences of recollection, about what passed when you left this country at the time of the Abdication as to an assurance that you would not return here'. The King added: 'You will realise that the return of an ex-monarch to the country where he used to be King would necessarily be a public matter with which my constitutional advisers must be concerned . . . I feel, and my Ministers confirm me in this, that I should not be justified in continuing the voluntary allowance if the above constitutional position was not maintained.'

The Daily Mail's coverage on December 11, 1936, reported King Edward's speech in which he announced his decision to abdicate

It was a deal contingent on the Duke and Duchess remaining in exile, and Edward, reluctantly, had to accept it. He did not warm to his treatment. When Nazi Germany invaded France, Edward and Wallis initially fled to Spain and then Portugal. But then, in 1940, they were sent into virtual exile when Edward was appointed Governor-General of the Bahamas in an attempt to take him away from the Nazi influence that both he and Wallis had been exposed to while in Europe.

They remained resentful and angry towards the King and Queen  privately denigrating them as 'Mr and Mrs Temple', having referred to Princess Elizabeth as 'Shirley Temple'  and the relationship between the two brothers was never satisfactorily resolved before George VI's death in 1952.

It remains a cautionary tale for the present-day warring siblings as to how a combination of power, money and grievance can combine to create a toxic brew. Let us hope that Harry and William can take heed of their forbears' behaviour and learn the right lessons from it, as otherwise history will repeat itself in a similarly egregious and destructive way.
She will return to court for sentencing in three months; she faces life

Vallow was convicted on all counts today following a five-week trial in Idaho

Cult mom Lori Vallow has today been found guilty of murdering her two children and conspiring to kill her husband's former wife, following a five-week trial and nearly four years after she was catapulted to infamy.

The 49-year-old was emotionless as the verdict was read aloud today in Boise, Idaho. Her defense team did not call a single witness nor did they put forward any kind of explanation for how the children died.

Lori's children - seven-year-old JJ and 16-year-old Tylee - vanished in September 2019. Their mother, newly-in-love with Doomsday-cult enthusiast Chad Daybell, avoided questions and evaded the authorities.

She fled to Hawaii, refusing to tell the police where her children were, or answering any kind of questions about not only her children but the vast web of death and deceit that seemed to engulf her family.

Chad Daybell is facing similar charges but his trial was paused.

Lori, who was found mentally competent to stand trial, now faces life in prison. Prosecutors previously took the death penalty off the table.

It emerged after the verdict that she will be sent to Arizona following sentencing, the be charged with conspiracy to murder her fourth husband, Charles Vallow.

He was shot dead in July 2019 by Lori Vallow's brother Alex Cox - who died five months later, from natural causes. Lori Vallow was indicted by a grand jury in Phoenix in July 2021.

The 49-year-old was emotionless as the verdict was read aloud today in Boise, Idaho. Her defense team did not call a single witness nor did they put forward any kind of explanation for how the children died

Vallow kept her hands crossed as some of the counts were read aloud

Vallow is accused of killing seven-year-old Joshua (JJ), left, and 16-year-old Tylee, right

Before the verdict was read, Lori chatted with her attorneys

As the verdict was read aloud, JJ's grandfather Larry and his grandmother Kay wept.

THE CHARGES AGAINST LORI VALLOW Count 1 - Conspiracy to commit murder (Tylee) Guilty Count 2 - Murder (Tylee) Guilty Count 3 - Conspiracy to commit murder (JJ) Guilty Count 4 - Murder (JJ) Guilty Count 5 - Conspiracy to commit murder (Tammy Daybell) Guilty Grand Theft (children's social security) Guilty Advertisement

Afterwards, prosecutors Rob Wood and Lindsey Blake said in a statement: 'We are very pleased with the jurys verdict, and we want to thank them, as well as the alternates, for their service over last six weeks during this trial.

'Given the pending case against the co-defendant, we are unable to conduct any additional interviews or discuss further details of this matter.

'We want to assure each of you that we remain committed to pursuing justice for Tylee Ryan, JJ Vallow and Tammy Daybell.

'We also want to express sincere appreciation to the many members of law enforcement and the community who tirelessly worked together to hold Lori Vallow Daybell accountable.'

The bizarre case drew nationwide interest in 2019 after the kids vanished. It took another nine months for their bodies to be discovered in shallow graves in Chad Daybell's backyard.

JJ had been suffocated with a plastic bag, while Tylee's corpse was so badly burned and dismembered that it is still not clear how she was killed.

Spectators lined up as early as 4am at the Ada County Courthouse in Boise, Idaho, to get a coveted spot in the courtroom and see the cult mom accused of three murders, including her own children, handed a verdict.

Speaking after Lori was found guilty, Trina Staffon, 40, who had traveled to the courtroom from Idaho Falls - which is near Rexburg, said: 'I was really anxious, waiting for this verdict. Now it feels like a big relief. And I wasnt surprised. Justice was served.'

Local resident Sara Beattie, 36, of Boise, went to school with Staffon in Pocatello, which is also near Rexburg, added her take: 'After so long, it was finally here. But I wasnt expecting to feel so emotional.'

Both women said they've been intrigued because the case is local - part of their state, their community - and became more invested as the layers unfolded with one outlandish detail after another.

'I thought it was very emotionally charged in the beginning. And as the more layers kept happening, more insane information came out,' Staffon said. 'Just more and more little tidbits that it wasnt just about somebodys kids being missing.'

Staffon pointed to the details of the religious aspects, the extremism, and Vallow's past that came to light as bodies piled up.

'Every piece of information that came out seemed to be more extreme than the last,' she said. 'It became more than just about murdering about. It was just like the prosecutor said - it was about money, sex and power.'

Beattie said the case first grabbed her attention back when the children were missing, thinking it was possible they could be in the area. But as the case began to unravel, with Vallow off in Hawaii and the discovery of her children's bodies months later, Beattie was suspicious.

'As a mother, it was clear to me that there was no way she didn't know where her children were,' she said, pointing out the fact that JJ was a special needs child. 'It immediately sparked my interest.'

Beattie added that it's not often that females are murderers, and found it intriguing in this situation. Both Idaho residents said they wanted to see the case through and will continue to do so until the end.

Larry Woodcock, the grandfather of seven-year-old JJ Vallow, was in good spirits as he arrived at court earlier Friday.

'Today is the day,' he said with a smile, adding that he was hoping for a 'just' and 'righteous' outcome.'

JJ's grandfather Larry Woodcock was elated with the verdict

Larry Woodcock, left, talks with defense attorneys James Archibald, middle, and John Thomas after the verdict was read in the murder trial of Lori Vallow Daybell on Friday

After the verdict Woodcock and his wife, Kay, joined cheering crowds to celebrate the guilty verdict before the couple delivered a moving statement to the press outside the courtroom.

'JJ, I love you. Papa wishes you were here,' Woodcock tearfully said outside court. 'Tylee - papa loves you. Tammy - I never met you. You are part of our life. I am sorry for what happened. My heart hurts for these three.'

Tylee Ryan's aunt Annie Cushing - the sister of Vallow's third husband Joseph Ryan who died of a heart attack in April 2018 - tweeted her thanks to Idaho law enforcement, prosecutors, Judge Boyce, jurors and the media following the guilty verdict.

She added: 'Today is a good day! My former sister-in-law, was convicted of all charges. Justice wont bring back my niece, Tylee Ryan, her little brother, JJ Vallow, or Chad Daybells first wife, Tammy Daybell, but it lightens the load a bit.'

Lori was also found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder in the death of Chad's wife, Tammy, who died from asphyxiation in October 2019

Match made in hell: Lori and Chad met in October 2018 at a religious conference

The State argued that Vallow was motivated by 'money, power and sex' and that she used all three of those things to achieve her twisted ends.

Jurors heard how they saw her children and Daybell's wife as 'obstacles' to the romantic life they envisioned for themselves in Hawaii.

Prosecutors said Vallow and Daybell believed - or chose to believe - that those who stood in their way were 'dark' possessed individuals who they referred to as 'zombies.'

After JJ and Tylee's disappearance, authorities started looking at all the deaths that were connected to the pair.

Tammy Daybell was Chad's wife when he met Lori and the mother of their children. She died suddenly in October 2019.

Initially, her death was ruled as the result of natural causes.

After attention turned to Lori and Chad, she was exhumed and reexamined.

The last known photograph of Tylee, center, during a family trip to Yellowstone National Park with JJ, left, her uncle Alex Cox, right, and her mom Lori, in September 2019

Lori and Chad fled Idaho for Hawaii, refusing to tell anyone where the children were. They got married in a beach ceremony and ignored the mounting questions and concerns for her kids

An autopsy - which Daybell had refused the night she died - shows she had died of asphyxiation, the same cause of death which would later be determined for JJ.

Vallow was eventually arrested in Hawaii in February 2020 - five months after JJ and Tylee were last seen alive.

The children would not be found for another four months.

Jurors heard from Prosecutor Lindsey Blake described how charred remains were all that was left of Tylee.

She told jurors: 'You will hear it explained as a mass of bone and tissue. That's what was left of this beautiful young woman.'

Tylee's DNA was later found on a pickaxe and shovel in a shed on the property.

Eventually, Lori was arrested and ordered back to Idaho from Hawaii

Chad, her loyal husband, was by her side. He is now also facing charges

JJ's body was wrapped in trash bags and duct tape - the tape binding his arms in front of him and wrapping around his head. He had been suffocated inside a plastic bag.

The two children and Daybell's previous wife Tammy were all killed because they stood in the way of the couple's relationship, the State said.

'Remember, the defendant will remove any obstacle in her way to get what she wants, and she wanted Chad Daybell,' Blake told jurors.

'The defendant used money, power and sex to get what she wanted.'

In 2020, police discovered JJ and Tylee's remains in shallow graves in Chad's yard

Lori's mental competence was a central role in the trial. She was found fit to stand trial, but remains convinced of the religion that prosecutors said drove her to murder her kids

Larry Woodcock and his wife Kay (C) arrive at the Ada County Courthouse to attend the Lori Vallow Daybell trial in Boise, Idaho April 20, 2023. The Woodcocks are the grandparents of J.J.

Posters of Tylee Ryan and J.J. Vallow adorn a memorial wall opposite the Daybell property in Rexburg, Idaho April 17, 2023

Jurors have heard from friends and relatives of Vallow that she and Daybell believed the children were 'dark' and referred to them as 'zombies' before they disappeared.

'The common theme was the body has to be destroyed,' Blake said. 'The defendant and Chad used their self-proclaimed religious teachings to justify their actions to others  their actions from affair to murder.'

Prosecutors say the couple planned to use life insurance money from Tammy's death, and that Vallow kept collecting and spending the children's social security and benefits after they died.

However, Vallow's defense attorney pointed the finger at her doomsday preacher husband in a last ditch attempt to sway the jury.

Jim Archibald attempted to paint a picture of Vallow as a loving mother who was seduced by Daybell and lied to protect him.

He claimed she had no idea Daybell and her brother Alex had 'stuffed her kids' bodies in Chad's backyard'.
Doomsday cult mom Lori Vallow was brought down by a litany of damning evidence that included a strand of her own hair found on duct tape wrapped around her son's battered body and chilling text messages plotting to cause her children pain.

Over six weeks prosecutors in Vallow's triple murder trial called more than 60 witnesses, who gave explosive and harrowing testimony that sent shivers through the courtroom. The defense did not summon a single witness to refute their claims.

On Friday May 12 a jury of seven men and five women found Vallow, 49, guilty of killing her two children, Tylee Ryan, 16, and Joshua JJ Vallow, seven, as part of a sick religious plot.

Vallow was also found guilty of plotting to kill her husband Chad Daybells ex-wife, Tammy Daybell, 49. Daybell, who denies murder charges, will be tried separately.

Here Dailymail.com reveals ten of the biggest blows landed by the prosecution in Vallow's blockbuster trial...

The 49-year-old was emotionless as the verdict was read aloud today in Boise, Idaho. Her defense team did not call a single witness nor did they put forward any kind of explanation for how the children died

A strand of Lori Vallow's hair was found on duct tape that was wrapped around her son JJ after he was suffocated inside a plastic bag and buried in a shallow grave on Daybell's property

Vallow's children, Tylee and JJ disappeared in September 2019, but their remains were not discovered until June 2020 - in the backyard of her new husband Chad Daybell

Lori Vallows hair found on duct tape around JJs body

Perhaps the most significant piece of evidence was a strand of Lori Vallow's hair found on duct tape that was wrapped around her son JJ after he was suffocated inside a plastic bag and buried in a shallow grave on Daybell's property.

Keeley Coleman, a senior DNA analyst at Bode Technology in Virginia, told jurors she was sent genetic profiles for Vallow along with hair that was attached to the piece of tape.

Coleman said she received three DNA profiles from Vallow, Tylee and Melanie Gibb - Vallow's former best friend, as well as several items of evidence.

'The partial DNA profile matched the DNA profile provided for Lori Vallow,' Coleman told jurors. 'The probability of randomly selecting a random individual in relation to that profile is 1 in 71 billion.'

Jurors heard that the boy had tape around his mouth and neck, and binding his arms and ankles. There was also tape around the plastic bags in which he was buried.

JJ's cause of death was 'asphyxia by plastic bag over the head and duct tape over the mouth,' Dr Garth Warren, of the Ada County Coroner's Office, revealed for the first time in court.

The coroner suggested the boy had scratched his own neck as he struggled to break free.

Vallow was accused of killing her kids, seven-year-old Joshua (JJ), left, and 16-year-old Tylee, right

An aerial photograph shows police and FBI investigators search the Daybell property. One of Daybell's daughters now lives at the home with her husband and young children

Horrifying text messages plotting to cause children pain

Prosecutors recovered realms of disturbing text message exchanges between Vallow and Daybell during their year-long murder investigation.

In one exchange, Daybell asked Vallow if she wanted him to 'cause pain' to her niece's children while on a trip with JJ. The pair referred to the kids as '3s' - which was the couple's twisted rating system for 'dark people' they believed were possessed.

Vallow told him to hold off but added if they started acting up again 'we can zap them.' Daybell responded: 'If they are going to act up, we'll at least give them a reason to scream.'

In another exchange between the pair Vallow complained about her teenager daughter Tylee acting weird. Daybell responded by claiming he had 'turned up the pain' on her daughter and 'placed a spiritual virus in her.

The twister couple also had a twisted percentage scale to show how close her kids were to death.

FBI Agent Doug Hart testified that the closer the number was to 100 or zero, the closer they are to death.

When Vallow found out her son JJ was a two, she pressed Daybell: 'Not zero?'

Lori Vallow, 49, was served poolside in Kauai on January 25, 2020, with demands to produce her children to police after they had been missing from Rexburg, Idaho since September 2019

Chad Daybell enters the courtroom during his preliminary hearing in St. Anthony, Idaho, on Monday, August 3, 2020. He is being tried separately

Vallow and Daybell's twisted relationship

The State claimed Vallow and Daybell's relationship was a driving force behind the murders and the jury heard endless evidence regarding their sick religious cult.

The pair married on a beach in Hawaii just two weeks after his ex-wife Tammy was suffocated to death at their home in Rexburg in October 2019. Vallow's husband Charles Vallow had been previously shot dead by her brother Alex Cox in July 2019.

During the trial, the jury heard how the couple had previously discussed removing the 'obstacles' of her children and their respective spouses while engaged in an affair.

FBI agent Hart said: 'There were several communications regarding JJ and Tylee that were relevant to their deaths. They discussed their deaths. After the affair began, there began to be communication regarding the deaths of Charles Vallow, Tammy Daybell, JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan.'

Their messages were often highly sexualized - Daybell even writing Vallow an erotic novel in the form of chapterized texts.

Jurors also heard from friends and relatives of Vallow that she and Daybell regularly referred to her children as 'dark' and 'zombies' before they disappeared.

'The common theme was the body has to be destroyed,' the State said.

Through the texts, agent Hart established that Daybell was the 'quasi-religious leader' of their cult and that Vallow acted as his conduit through which other members, like her brother Alex Cox, would seek advice.

The last picture of JJ Vallow 7, before he vanished in September 2019. His body was found in June 2020, buried on Chad Daybell's property. A trash bag was duct taped around his head and he was still wearing his red pajamas

The last known photograph of Tylee, center, during a family trip to Yellowstone National Park with JJ, left, her uncle Alex Cox, right, and her mom Lori

Chilling account of last time JJ was seen alive

During the trial Vallow's friend gave a chilling account of the last time her seven-year-old son JJ was seen alive on September 23, 2019.

David Warwick, who recorded a religious podcast with Vallow, spent the weekend at Vallow's home in Rexburg, Idaho, along with Daybell and Vallow's brother, Cox.

JJ had been there for much of the weekend - but the little boy was gone when Warwick left on the Sunday morning, he said.

'We went downstairs to say goodbye and Lori was there and she just said that JJ had an episode,' he said. 'She said he was out of control and she could not control him and so she had Alex come get him She said that he climbed the cabinets and the fridge and the upper cabinets and pushed over her picture of Christ.'

He added he did not see any of the damage that Vallow claimed her son caused, when he was 'out of control.'

The night before, JJ had spent part of the evening with Vallow's brother Alex Cox, who brought the boy home later that night. Warwick recalled the moment he carried him into the house - one of the last ever sightings of JJ.

A photo of JJ in his red pajamas was shown in court - the last picture of the boy before he was found dead. He had been buried in those same red pajamas, wrapped in duct tape and placed inside a black plastic bag.

Lori Vallow and Colby Ryan. Jurors were played a disturbing phone call between Colby Ryan, 27, and Vallow while she was held in prison following the discovery of Tylee Ryan, 16, and Joshua Jackon 'JJ' Vallow, seven

Vallow's hysterical jailhouse call with surviving son

Jurors were played a disturbing phone call between Vallow and her son Colby Ryan, 27, while she was held in prison following the discovery of her dead children.

Lori Vallow laughed hysterically as her only surviving son confronted her about the murder of two of her children - and insisted Jesus Christ was 'on her side.'

A distressed Ryan told his mother 'you murdered my siblings' and demanded an explanation after their bodies were found in shallow graves at Daybell's property.

Vallow then utters a high-pitched laugh as Ryan accuses her of 'blasphemy'. He says to his mother: 'Tell me that, that Jesus Christ is on your side right now.' She responds: 'I can tell you that.'

Ryan also tells Vallow during the call: 'I have prayed for you in my worst moments. I have prayed for my siblings who you swore to me were okay. I thought I could trust you. I thought that you were a completely different person.'

He adds: 'You lied to me, specifically to me, more times than I can count. To know that they are gone and you knew, and my phone's been texted by my little sister who's not even alive, my little brother, who's the sweetest little kid ever. For what purpose?'

But Vallow repeatedly says 'you weren't there, you don't know what happened'.

Ryan previously said he'd received messages that purported to be from Tylee but were actually sent after she was murdered.

'The texts I received back were different to the way Tylee would type,' he said.

Audrey Barattiero, who was staying at Vallow's Rexburg, Idaho home, in October 2019, wept on the stand as she recounted how she had threatened to cut her up and bury her in trash bags

Friend testified Vallow threatened to cut her up

Lori Vallow smirked in court during her trial as her distraught former friend testified that she had threatened to cut her up and bury her in trash bags.

'She said she would cut me up ... it would be so messy and there would be so much blood and something about bleach and trash bags. She would bury me in a place nobody would ever find me.'

Audrey Barattiero, who was staying at Vallow's apartment in Rexburg, Idaho, in October 2019, wept on the stand as she recounted how she confronted her about whether there was 'anything weird going on'. Vallow told her, 'No.'

Barattiero told Vallow she was going to pack. 'As soon as I turned to go upstairs, she started laughing  as if at something hilarious,' Barattiero recalled. Vallow told her: 'You're so naive and too trusting. You're like a little child ... Well I've got news for you. Not everyone is a good person and not everyone can be so kind.'

When Barattiero was accused by the defense of making it up, she replied: 'I did not make it up.' She said she hadn't mentioned it before because Vallow said: 'If you ever tell anyone, I will find you in the dark of the night.'

An Instagram post from Tylee with her mom dated May 14, 2017, when she was 14 years old

Kay, left, and Larry Woodcock, right, cared for JJ, center, for the first 10 months of his life before he was adopted by Lori Vallow and her fourth husband Charles

Tylees credit card found in Vallows car

During the trial, prosecutors showed how Vallow drained her children's bank accounts in the days after they were killed, spending the cash at restaurants.

She also continued taking thousands in social security payments meant for her children after they went missing.

The jury heard how a credit card belonging to Tylee was found in Vallow's rental car when it was searched in January 2020 after Vallow and Daybell fled Idaho to live in Hawaii.

Kauai Police Detective Colin Nesbitt testified that they found the credit card in Vallow's purse when the couple was stopped by police after being served the day before with an order to produce her children.

A few days later, a search of the rental car revealed documents and electronic devices, including JJs iPad, Social Security cards for both the children.

There were also several alarming items found during the search of Vallow's apartment and garage including guns, army-grade knives, and empty magazines for various weapons.

Police recovered Hazmat-style suits and preparedness bags with emergency kits, a camouflage suit, ammunition, guns, silencers, and black trash bags full of clothes and papers.

Toys and and other items belonging to JJ, including prescription medication, were also found in the search.

The key individuals in Lori Vallow's tangled family tree, including her five husbands, two dead children and killer brother

Couple repeatedly told others they had no children

The court heard how Chad Daybell told his murdered wife's sister that Lori Vallow had no children - nine months before the bodies of her two kids were found buried on his property.

He told Samantha Gwilliam, the sister of Tammy Daybell, that his new wife was called Lori Ryan and her previous husband had recently died of a heart attack - but Gwilliam did her own internet research and discovered he had been lying.

When the couple later inquired about a property in Hawaii they also told the realtor they had 'no kids' and were going to be 'empty nesters'.

The email was sent three days after the pair were married on a beach in Hawaii - six weeks after her kids were last seen alive - but before the cops had been alerted to their disappearance.

Their bodies were found just seven months later, buried on Daybell's property.

Chad and Tammy Daybell pictured before she was murdered in October, 2019

Vallow and Daybell are accused of killing his wife Tammy (left) in October, 2019. Vallow is further accused of plotting the death of her estranged husband Charles who was shot by her brother in Arizona in July of that year. She is facing a separate trial over his killing.

Vallow bought wedding ring before Daybell's wife died

Lori Vallow used the Amazon account of her dead ex-husband Charles Vallow to shop for wedding clothes and a ring for her marriage to Chad Daybell days before the murder of Daybell's wife Tammy in October 2019.

The jury heard how she searched for a 'beach wedding dress', bathing suit, malachite ring and men's clothing.

Vallow and Daybell went on to marry in Hawaii less than two weeks later - in a ceremony that included the malachite ring and other items named in the Amazon searches.

It was deemed at the time that Tammy had died of natural causes, a pulmonary edema due to seizure-like activity. Daybell refused an autopsy.

However, Tammy's body was exhumed in early December, 2019, after cops learned that Vallow's children were missing. Her death was reclassified as suspicious and the murder trial jury learned she had died by asphyxiation.

Summer Shiflet confronted her sister in a jailhouse phone call two weeks after JJ, seven, and Tylee, 16, (right) were found buried in her lover Chad Daybell's backyard in Rexburg, Idaho

Chilling jailhouse call with Vallow's sister

A heated jailhouse call between Vallow and her sister Summer Shiflet caused ripples throughout the courtroom.

Shiflet demanded answers from her sister after she had defended her on TV just weeks before the children were found in shallow graves.

'You were dancing on the beach while your kids were in the ground,' Shiflet sobbed, referring to their wedding pictures in Kauai. 'In the ground like a piece of trash,' she added.

Vallow, who smiled up at her sister as she took the stand, responded by telling her she was just 'trying to be happy'.

Shiflet cried as she told her she would have cared for the children if she was unable to and asked why she had cut her family off - even failing to tell them that their brother Alex Cox, who was part of the cult, had died.

Vallow responded to her inconsolable questioning by telling her that she shouldn't believe the media coverage. 'Nobody knows what I have been through,' she said.

Shiflet, who like Vallow was brought up in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, added: 'I don't have one scripture that says it's OK for children to be thrown away like garbage in the ground. There is nothing in the scripture that says it's OK to hurt a child. It's the most selfish thing. I can't think of anything worse.'
Lori Vallow has been found guilty of murdering her two children and plotting to kill her doomsday husband's former wife after a blockbuster murder trial packed with twists and turns that have ranged from bizarre to downright horrific.

Prosecutors presented a litany of damning evidence against the cult mom, 49, and jurors heard testimony from more than 60 witnesses, including Vallow's surviving son and some of her closest confidantes.

In spite of the charges against her - and harrowing evidence which included photos of her children's mutilated remains - Vallow has appeared disinterested and even cheerful at times throughout the trial.

The case took nearly three years to get to trial and a jury of seven men and five women deliberated for nearly seven hours before finding her guilty on all counts on Friday, May 12.

Here Dailymail.com reveals six of the most shocking moments during the five-week trial...

The 49-year-old was emotionless as the verdict was read aloud today in Boise, Idaho. Her defense team did not call a single witness nor did they put forward any kind of explanation for how the children died

Lori Vallow, 49, was accused of murdering her children, Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow

JJ, left, and Tylee's badly decomposed remains were found in the backyard of Vallow's husband, doomsday author Chad Daybell, who will stand trial at a later date

Disturbing photos of kids' remains sends shivers through court

The trial's most difficult moments have come as prosecutors presented horrific, previously-unseen pictures of JJ and Tylee's badly decomposed remains.

JJ had been wrapped in a black plastic bag sealed with thick layers of duct tape. When the medical examiner in Ada County cut open the bags, the little boy's face was also covered with tape and there was a 'thick layer across his mouth, jawline to jawline'.

Tylee's remains were found 'stuffed' into a green bucket which was also melted. A 'partial human skull' was also found in the grave.

Several jurors were visibly shaken by the graphic pictures and relatives in court, including JJ's grandfather, Larry Woodcock, broke down when the pictures were shown.

Tylee's badly burned remains were found 'stuffed' into a green bucket which was also melted

JJ was suffocated with a plastic bag which was wrapped around his head and sealed with duct tape

Law enforcement witnesses gave harrowing testimony about how the children were killed and the grim discovery of their bodies.

Tylee had been partially eaten by an animal and her pelvis was hacked into with a sharp tool before her corpse was burned.

Angi Christensen, an FBI forensic anthropologist, said one of the 16-year-old's bones had damage 'consistent with carnivore scavenging' while her pelvis suffered 'sharp traumas.'

JJ was suffocated with a plastic bag which was wrapped around his head and sealed with duct tape.

Detective Ray Hermosillo, from Rexburg Police Department, said: 'Through the videos and pictures that we had seen of JJ for the last eight months... the tips coming in, everything we had obtained and looked at, I was able to recognize that same little boy lying on the table to be JJ Vallow. He had the same haircut.'

Grim evidence takes emotional toll

Hearing weeks of gut-wrenching evidence took its toll on relatives and former friends of Vallow and her victims.

JJ Vallow's grandfather, Larry Woodcock, fell ill in court as the prosecution and defense both rested ahead of jury deliberations.

Woodcock, who has watched proceedings with wife Kay since the trial began, was overwhelmed by weeks of testimony about the grisly murders and warped views held by Vallow and Chad Daybell.

Kay told East Idaho News: 'Thank you all for your concern. This trial has been overwhelming, to say the least. Today Larry was overcome with emotions causing him to feel sick. EMTs checked him and he was okay... We appreciate your support and prayers.'

Many witnesses have also been visibly moved as they delivered difficult testimony.

JJ's grandparents, Larry and Kay Woodcock, led the national campaign to find Vallow's missing children. They were in court throughout the trial and endured harrowing evidence about the murders

Larry and Kay played a leading role in the campaign to find JJ and Tylee before their bodies were found

The strange behavior of Lori Vallow

While jurors and the public have been shocked by the trial's evidence, Lori Vallow's reactions have ranged from laughter to indifference.

One of the cult mom's only displays of emotions came when she asked to be excused from proceedings while grim photos of her children were shown to jurors.

Judge Steven Boyce rejected the request and Vallow sat with her head bowed while pictures of their remains were shown.

Lori Vallow, pictured at pre-trial hearings, looked relaxed throughout much of the trial and even shared jokes with her attorneys. One of the cult mom's only displays of emotions came when she asked to be excused from proceedings while grim photos of her children were shown to jurors

But later in the trial, when further pictures were shown of Tylee's remains, Vallow appeared totally unfazed. She even casually chatted with her attorneys and jotted notes as images of her daughter's fractured, badly-burned pelvis were shown.

Vallow also grinned during the opening of the case, has regularly exchanged jokes with her lawyers and has otherwise sat emotionless and former friends a relatives have spoken at length about the bizarre beliefs which led her to kill.

Jurors were undoubtedly acutely aware that Vallow's reactions were at odds with the gravity of the case and the charges against her.

Even as the guilty verdicts were read, she remained emotionless in the courtroom.

Pre-trial drama: Death penalty ruled out and cameras banned

The controversy surrounding Vallow's trial process began before prosecutors even opened their case against her.

In a series of rulings which angered relatives of the victims, Judge Steven Boyce banned cameras in the courtroom and also ruled out the death penalty, despite the severity of the crimes.

Boyce ruled in favor of a defense motion to dismiss the death penalty on March 22, shortly before jury selection started. Vallow's defense team argued it should be off the table because of discovery violations by the government and media saturation, related to the extensive coverage of the case since 2019.

Her lawyers also said her mental status and the state's inability to administer the sentence were factors.

Judge Steven Boyce, pictured in a Zoom hearing for Chad Daybell, made the controversial decisions to rule out the death penalty for Vallow and ban cameras for most of the trial

JJ's grandparents, Kay and Larry Woodcock, said the decision was a 'slap in the face'.

Months earlier, Boyce also granted a defense motion to ban cameras from the courtroom - a highly unusual step which angered relatives.

Boyce ruled that the proceedings will only be streamed to a room inside the Boise courthouse and another at the Madison County Courthouse in Rexburg.

Tammy's youngest sibling, Benjamin Douglas, and her elderly father, Ronald, who both live in Utah, filed requests with the court begging to be able to watch the trial of the woman who allegedly conspired to kill the mother of five.

But their application was denied shortly before the trial began.

In a concession following a series of media requests, the verdict was televised on Friday May 12.

Toe-curling sexts make court VERY uncomfortable

Daybell, 54, sent the messages in the form of a romance novel about them but changed their names to 'James' and 'Elena', according to a police report. The cringe-inducing texts refer to a 'spiritual connection before this life' and the 'great missions they would perform together'

Jurors shifted in their seats as investigators testified about toe-curling erotic texts between Vallow and Chad Daybell - sent weeks before the murder of her children.

The couple nicknamed themselves 'James' and 'Elena' as they spoke in cringeworthy metaphors about 'gripping the storm' and 'intense waves'.

Details of the exchanges came after prosecutors said Vallow murdered Tylee, JJ and Tammy in a plot driven by 'money, power and sex'.

On August 9, 2019, Vallow texted Daybell, whom she called 'Bubby.'

'That is pretty incredible. Fire emoji. Fire emoji. Fire emoji. Fire emoji. The fire is definitely burning. I miss you way too much. You have to stop or I might explode.'

Another text read: 'The intensity of each encounter in my mind. One greater than the last. Fire emoji. Fire emoji. Especially this last one. I've never loved you more. It just keeps growing.'

Daybell responds: 'I completely agree. We were definitely in new territory in your bedroom.'

'Elena's magic hand has gripped the storm,' he continued. 'Barely able to breathe as intense waves wash over them.'

Vallow offers NO defense witnesses - and declines to testify

After five weeks of damning evidence against her, Vallow's defense team did not offer a single witness in response.

And the cult mom also declined to testify or offer any explanation that might absolve her.

Vallow even grinned from the defense table as her attorneys rested their case without calling a single witness.

'We don't believe the state has proved its case so the defense will rest,' defense attorney Jim Archibald said after a private meeting with Vallow.

Vallow, pictured with her attorneys Jim Archibald (right) and John Thomas (left), declined to testify at trial and her attorneys offered no defense witnesses

The decision meant Vallow and her lawyers offered no argument against the prosecution's claims that she committed murder while hunting 'money, power and sex' with her husband Chad Daybell.

Fremont country prosecutor Lindsey Blake said during the opening: 'Lori Vallow Daybell used money, power and sex - or the promise of those things - to get what she wanted. What she wanted was money, power and sex,' Blake said.

'It didn't matter what obstacles she had to remove to get what she wanted.'

The defense's opening statement, from attorney Jim Archibald, said simply that the 'evidence will show Lori was a kind and loving mother' with an 'interest in religion'.

'If after all the evidence or lack of evidence, you have a reasonable doubt, you must find her not guilty,' Archibald said at the trial's opening.
Legal experts have argued that Lori Vallow's guilty verdict could see her husband Chad Daybell 'go down in flames' for murder.

The cult mom, 49, was found guilty of murdering her two children and plotting to kill her doomsday husband's former wife at the Ada County Courthouse in Boise, Idaho, on Friday, May 12.

Daybell, 54, her alleged co-conspirator is being tried separately and is not expected to face a jury until 2024. He denies the charges.

Legal analysts said that though standing trial second usually provides an advantage because a defendant can see what prosecutors will throw at him, the weight of evidence against him and the highly-publicized trial would count against him.

Randy Zelin, a Cornell Law School professor, told DailyMail.com: 'There is a huge advantage to the defendant that goes second, but in this case, it's the advantage of you're gonna try to catch sand and turn it into a ball.'

Chad Daybell appears during a court hearing in St. Anthony, Idaho, August 4, 2020

The 49-year-old was emotionless as the verdict was read aloud today in Boise, Idaho. Her defense team did not call a single witness nor did they put forward any kind of explanation for how the children died

Randy Zelin (pictured), a Cornell Law School professor, told DailyMail.com: 'There is a huge advantage to the defendant that goes second, but in this case, it's the advantage of you're gonna try to catch sand and turn it into a ball'

Asked if Lori's guilty verdict made a difference for Daybell, the former white collar defense lawyer and prosecutor said: 'Probably nothing because he's gonna get convicted. I don't think it's a matter of if, I think he's gonna be convicted.

'We had these bombshell text messages between the two of them talking about how "it's happening" - the mountain of evidence, the text messages, the Google searches, all of this evidence is overwhelming.

'She goes down in flames, he goes down in flames.'

Then there's the question of the death penalty. Vallow faces life in prison after prosecutors took capital punishment off the table.

But her husband could still face the death penalty as a ruling is yet to be made.

The judge ruled before trial that Vallow would not face the death penalty because the State had failed to adequately provide the defendant with copies of materials and evidence that the prosecution intended to use at trial.

Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani told DailyMail.com: 'The only question is, is Chad gonna get the death penalty? Jurors that are death penalty qualified are much more likely to return a guilty verdict as they're generally more conservative.'

Rahmani explained that when the death penalty is on the table, jurors must be comprised of those who are not categorically opposed to capital punishment.

Studies have shown that death-qualified jurors are more likely than non-death-qualified jurors to vote for conviction when assessing the same sets of facts.

Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani (left) and Darryl Cohen (right), a criminal defense attorney

Further adding to his woes, Rahmani said that as a woman Vallow was more sympathetic - generally men fair worse in murder trials - and Daybell was the leader of their twisted cult.

The attorney said that generally retrials or separate cases give defendants an advantage because 'they can take the sting out of it'.

However, the facts in the case are 'overwhelming and horrific' and referred to Vallow's failure to put up a defense in her case as 'a slow guilty plea.'

Rahmani added: 'The jurors in the Chad Daybell case will know that so there is gonna be significant implicit pressure on them to return a guilty verdict.'

Although the jury will be asked if they are aware of the Vallow case - and should recuse themselves if they are - in reality it is unlikely all of those impaneled will have followed the instruction.

Former prosecutor Lori Murray explained that 'the cases were severed for a reason and that's so the jury does not deem one of them guilty by the actions of the other. I highly doubt her conviction would be allowed to be mentioned in his trial.'

Darryl Cohen, a criminal defense attorney, added: 'When a child dies a little piece of all of us dies, so you'll have these men and women in the jury who'll have a child. They will put themselves in the kids' place and they will see the evil and the viciousness as opposed to just the evidence.

The children's bodies were discovered in shallow graves on Daybell's property on June 9, 2020 - nine months after they vanished

Tylee, 16, and JJ, seven, are shown with their uncle, Alex Cox, in what is believed to be the final photo of them, taken during a family trip to Yellowstone National Park on September 8, 2019

Chad and Tammy Daybell pictured before she was murdered in October, 2019

'A court is nothing less than a theatre, it's just the stakes are different.'

He said if Daybell had 'had any sense at all' he would plead guilty but his ego won't let him.

'He thinks he's a great prophet and by watching her trial he'll think he can gain some advantage,' Cohen said.

He said that the publicity wasn't going to help because 'anybody in Idaho, actually anybody who watches any TV is gonna know' about the case.

Asked what impact a conviction would have, Cohen said: 'It will have no impact at all because all of these texts and calls about the kids and calling their spouses obstacles.'

He suggested Daybell perhaps appeared worse than Vallow because he was the quasi-religious leader of their cult. She would come to him for advice.

'Most people are thinking thinking that Lori Vallow was under his spell,' Cohen said.
One in five Australians living in capital cities are now considering an escape to the regions for a better quality of life, a new report has found.

A new report, from the Regional Australia Institute, has found the Covid-era trend of workers leaving cities such as Sydney and Melbourne for the bush and the beach is continuing in 2023.

About 70,000 Australians moved from the city to the country in 2020-21. And while the flow has slowed, regional migrations is up 16 per cent on pre-pandemic levels - despite a small uptick in regional residents going the other way.

The authors of the report, who surveyed more than 1,000 residents in major capital cities, found 73 per cent agreed the ability to work remotely had fuelled their aspirations of escaping the city.

And 35 per cent of those survey said they didn't believe their salaries would suffer if they moved out from the city.

Aussie city dwellers are desperate to flee the hustle and bustle and soaring costs of living, according to a new study (pictured, Sydneysiders in the CBD)

More Aussies are seeking a sea change in regional areas such as Wollongong (pictured)

Under-30s are the most optimistic about regional job prospects, the survey found.

Cost of living, traffic and stress were cited as the main reasons for moving, along with a desire for more space, affordable house, and improved well-being.

Healthcare and being separated from family and friends were the biggest concerns preventing city dwellers from making the move, while 55 per cent want to remain within a two-hour drive of their city home.

About 56 per cent would consider the sea change to a large coastal area while only a third would look to move inland.

Regional centres are ready to welcome the influx of newcomers with open arms.

'During the pandemic we saw thousands of Australians make the 'move to more', trading the hustle and bustle of the city for a life in the regions,' Regional Australia Institute chief executive Liz Ritche said.

Steven Wright (right) has seen his career flourish since moving from Sydney to outback NSW

Around 70,000 city dwellers packed up and fled to regional areas in 2020-21. Pictured are commuters during peak hour at Sydney's Wynyard station

'People are realising a move to regional Australia doesn't mean compromising your career, income or lifestyle. There are well-paying, professional, skilled and entry-level jobs waiting to be filled in country areas.

'From Toowoomba to Tamworth, Wollongong to Warrnambool, there are dozens of dynamic regional centres ready to welcome city folk with open arms. There's never been a better time to move to more.'

NSW Legal Aid practice Manager Steven Wright hasn't looked back since making the 1,150km move from Sydney to outback Broken Hill in far-west NSW.

'The career progression has been incredible,' he said.

'The shared experience of living in a remote town connects people in a way that's incredibly special. I wouldn't change it for the world.'

The report's findings come as the 2023-24 Budget revealed Sydneysiders were fleeing in droves.

Treasury figures say more than 124,000 residents will leave Sydney for other states in the next five years, with Queensland being the preferred destination.

Victoria is expected to lose around 2,000 residents to other states this financial year. On the other hand, Western Australia is expected to gain more domestic residents,
The glamorous daughter of Papua New Guinea's foreign minister has sparked political chaos after sharing a series of TikToks flaunting her luxurious taxpayer-funded trip to King Charles III's Coronation.

Foreign Minister Justin Tkatchenko has been forced to step aside from his position for defending his daughter Savannah, who lives in Queensland, after she shared clips of her travelling in first class and shopping at high-end stores in Singapore on the way to London.

Taxpayers in the impoverished country slammed the videos and questioned why their money wasn't going towards improving the underdeveloped nation, instead of funding the minister's family trip.

Mr Tkatchenko branded his daughter's critics 'primitive animals' - leading to calls for him to resign.

And on Friday afternoon he announced he was 'stepping aside' from his role so it wouldn't distract from US President Joe Biden's upcoming visit to the nation.

'I'm stepping aside as a foreign minister so that our country can move forward and that I can also clear my name and also clear the doubt and the misinformation that is out there,' Mr Tkatchenko said.

The politician's daughter had gone with him to the Coronation as his wife was unable to make it. In one video, that has since been deleted from Ms Tkatchenko's account, the law student is seen visiting luxury stores such as Hermes and Louis Vuitton.

Foreign Minister Justin Tkatchenko has been forced to defend his daughter Savannah, who lives in Queensland, after she shared clips of her travelling in first class and shopping at high-end brands in Singapore on the way to London

'Those of you that know Singapore Airport shopping is honestly so elite,' she says in the clip.

Another clip shows her showing off her luxury makeup collection.

She and her father also spent time in Singapore's First Class lounge where they enjoyed fancy meals and Cosmopolitan cocktails.

She then filmed herself washing her face in the bathroom before enjoying a lavish breakfast on board before landing in the UK.

The law student shared another clip of her putting on her outfit for the Coronation - a white pant suit with a broach and nude heels.

That TikTok was captioned 'GRWM (get ready with me) to attend a special occasion'.

Ms Tkatchenko has since deleted her TikTok account after uproar in PNG.

Ms Tkatchenko filmed herself on the first class flight to London to attend King Charles' Coronation

She shared another clip of her putting on her outfit for the Coronation - a white pant suit with a broach and nude heels

Her TikToks featured flashes of designer handbags

Tania Bale, a PNG social justice advocate, tweeted: 'The audacity of it. Sickening'.

'Plain disgusting,' said another.

'It's so sad to see PNG taxpayers money wasted pandering to this,' another wrote.

Just under 40 per cent of those living in PNG are under the poverty line, according to a report from World Bank in 2020, with nearly three million people considered poor in the country.

Minister Tkatchenko initially hit back at those crucifying his daughter online, saying she didn't actually buy anything from the shops she filmed herself visiting.

'My daughter now is totally devastated. She is traumatised by some of the most ridiculous and useless comments that I've seen,' Mr Tkatchenko told ABC's Pacific Beat.

'Jealousy is a curse. And, you know, these people clearly show that they have got nothing to do in their lives.'

Minister Tkatchenko has 'stepped aside' from his role as foreign minister over the furore

He said those attacking her were 'primitive animals' who had 'nothing better to do'.

'We went to London, we attended all the meetings and events, and she represented her country without fear or favour to the highest degree and honour,' he said.

He later told the Post Courier his daughter 'did not misuse any public funds', and said he would not resign.

Celebrating the Coronation reportedly came at a cost of the equivalent of $3million for PNG taxpayers.

Mr Tkatchenko came under fire back in 2018 when the PNG government bought 40 custom-made Maserati cars - worth up to $345,000 each - and had them specially flown in from Italy for foreign leaders and diplomats to use during the APEC summit.

Mr Tkatchenko was PNG's APEC minister at the time.

apua New Guinea Government has sparked outrage after purchasing 40 custom-made Maserati cars  specially flown in from Italy

Ms Tkatchenko won two bronze medals in the 2015 South Pacific Games in swimming.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Ms Tkatchenko for comment.
Truck drivers have accused the Federal Labor government of treating them like a 'cash cow' after Treasurer Jim Chalmers increased their road tax.

The Federal Budget handed down on Tuesday revealed the Heavy Vehicle Road User Charge, which applies to every litre of diesel used by trucks, will be increased by six per cent for the next three years.

The increase will come into effect on June 1 and Budget papers stated the funds will be used in road maintenance.

Truck driver Les suggested he would be better off on the dole. 'The more we do, the more they hit us with taxes,' he told Radio 2GB's Ben Fordham this week.

'I'm paying $1,000 a week in tolls Go on the dole and you'll get more money it seems.'

Les claimed the increase was just another hit on the transport industry, which he said was being treated as the government's 'cash cow'.

Australian truckies have lashed the Labor government for making it more expensive to use the roads with fears the tax hike will direct impact on food prices (stock image)

'It makes going to work even harder, everything's gone up,' he said.

'Our registration, tolls... I'm paying anywhere up to a $1,000 on tolls.'

Driver Adam said the smaller operators wouldn't be able to absorb the extra costs.

'I already know a lot of guys that have been pushed over the edge this year due to fuel and tolls this year,' he told 2GB on Thursday morning.

'They've already sold up their trucks, they can't afford to run them anymore.'

'It's getting beyond a joke. Every time you turn your head the government's got their hand in your pocket trying to take, take, take.

'You can't operate a smaller business on all these taxes.'

Adam said the costs were hitting truck drivers and operators responsible for delivering crucial food supplies from farms to supermarkets.

Driver AJ said his company went through at least 70,000 litres of fuel a week meaning he would spend $182,000 on petrol a year following the tax increase.

This week's federal budget revealed the Heavy Vehicle Road User Charge, that applies to each litre of diesel used by heavy vehicles, would be increased (trucks drivers in Sydney)

Truck drivers and operators are already required to fork out for tolls, insurance, registration and large amounts of petrol.

Transport Workers Union National Secretary Michael Kaine said the rising costs had come after years of inaction on the 'crisis in the industry'.

'Governments consistently increase charges, but there has been no system in place to ensure those costs are recovered from the wealthy and economically powerful owners of freight at the top of the supply chain,' he told Daily Mail Australia.

'When truck drivers and operators are forced to absorb increasing costs, it affects driving behaviour, truck maintenance, and pushes more businesses to the brink.

'This is why transport reform to set enforceable standards is so critical. Federal Parliament must urgently pass legislation to ensure supply chain accountability and a safer, fairer and more sustainable industry.'
If I were the Private Secretary to the Prince of Wales, Id be writing him a memo this week: Your Royal Highness, its never too early to start planning your coronation.

There was a rather different attitude during the long reign of Elizabeth II: we have a Monarch, thank you very much, and it would be vulgar to plan for the crowning of her heir while she is alive.

As the Queen grew older, there was contact between Clarence House, then home to Prince Charles, and Lambeth Palace, the office of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

But there was a huge amount of work left to do when Elizabeth died to organise a ceremony fit for the 21st century. And, as we saw on Saturday, the Coronation planners struggled to create a coherent whole.

The Coronation of King Charles at Westminster Abbey was wonderfully executed but full of contradictions, says Catherine Pepinster. Will such a Christian - and Protestant - ceremony still be appropriate by the time his son William is King?

Prince William, pictured wearing his Garter robes, will probably want a Coronation that embraces modern Britain - but must start planning now

King Charles wrestled with how to modernise the ancient Coronation ceremony in order to include leaders of other faiths and denominations. But time was short

Other faith leaders, pictured here, took part in the procession into Westminster Abbey and handed ceremonial gifts to the King. But their role was limited and Church rules meant they were not allowed to contribute with their own prayers

Wonderfully executed or not, it was filled with contradictions.

No Catholic had been involved in a coronation in this country for 500 years until Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, processed into Westminster Abbey and later said a prayer of blessing.

Even more historic was the gift from the Pope: relics of the apparent true cross of Christ embedded in the cross that headed the Kings procession.

Quite how extraordinary that was became apparent when, sitting before the High Altar of the Abbey, the King disavowed all that and made his oath to maintain the Protestant Reformed Religion!

The 39 Articles of the Church of England  of which the King is Supreme Governor  states that relics are repugnant to God.

Later, he would swear: I am a faithful Protestant.

From the start, Archbishop Justin Welby and the clerics involved knew how much it mattered to the King to reach out to other faiths.

There was a clear effort to find a role for Muslims, Jews, Sikhs, Hindus and others within the ceremony. The solution was a simple procession at the start, and for four peers  a Muslim, Jew, Sikh and Hindu  to be part of the team who handed over items used in the Kings crowning.

Yet such are Anglican sensitives  and the rules  that the dignitaries were banned from saying prayers in the words of their own, non-Christian, faiths.

At the end of the Coronation, the faith leaders waited by the Great West Door of the Abbey to offer the King a greeting.

Yet even this innocuous formality was judged so awkward that Lambeth Palace issued a notice to clarify that their greeting was not part of the religious service, but a part of mere ceremonial.

Such difficulties will only grow. And when William is crowned, the need to be inclusive is likely to be even more important.

The nation has changed dramatically in the last 70 years - and will be further changed by the time he is on the throne.

With church-going continuing to wane, it is possible that Sunday attendance will be down to half a million or so (from a population approaching 70 million) by the middle of the century.

The 2021 Census showed that non-believers already make up around 38 per cent of the population today. In 25 years time, they could make up half the country.

Can the sort of uber-religious ceremony weve just seen, with its prayers, hymns, chants, a monarch dressed up as a priest for the crowning, and its Communion service, be remotely relatable?

The Prince of Wales pays homage his father, the King, in one of the most moving parts of the Coronation. He says little about his own beliefs but seems to like the idea of 'faith in action'

Britain has already undergone huge change since Elizabeth II was crowned 70 years ago. And it will have changed still further by the time William is King

Then there is Prince William himself. What does he believe?

At Mondays Coronation concert in the grounds of Windsor Castle, he paid tribute to his father and at one point said: Perhaps most importantly of all, my father has always understood that people of all faiths, all backgrounds and all communities deserve to be celebrated and supported.

This was an unusual moment as William hardly ever speaks about religion.

By the time his father, Charles, was the same age  40  he was making speeches which routinely referred to religious matters. He spoke about the peace-making of Gandhi, for example, about learning from other religions and the language of the Bible.

Williams religious leanings, though, have remained a mystery.

He was Christened as a baby and confirmed while he was at Eton; we know that much.

A chink of light fell upon his faith when he married Kate Middleton and the couple wrote a prayer for their wedding, included in the sermon of the then Bishop of London, Richard Chartres.

It included this intriguing line: Strengthened by our union, help us to serve and to comfort those who suffer.

This sounded rather like an ancient idea that the monarch can bring healing to people  a sort of miraculous touching.

The sentiment also hinted at the spirit of Diana, the princes mother, who would crouch down beside vulnerable, elderly people, or hold sick children in her arms, or make a point of shaking hands with an HIV sufferer at a time of enormous prejudice against people with the virus.

This connection with Diana has led William to become a very active royal patron of The Passage, the Catholic charity that works with homeless people in London, and an organisation that Diana also supported, taking William and Harry with her when she visited.

In recent years, William has given speeches and encouraged others to back its work, but he also drops in from time to time to work alongside other volunteers.

Faith in action seems to appeal to William  something evident when he and Kate visited Burnley last year to visit Pastor Mick, a drug-dealer-turned-lifesaver, and his Church on the Street, to see how he helps people through a foodbank, a clothes bank and mental health counselling.

Television reports of the visit showed the pastor praying over the couple.

It is a hint, perhaps  but no more than that. As to whether the Waleses attend church with their family, we dont know.

What is clear, however, is that the sensitivities which caused so many headaches for the King and his Coronation planners will have deepened by the time we have a new king. And that a profoundly sacred, Protestant ceremony will seem all-the-more out of touch.

Author Catherine Pepinster believes it is imperative that Prince William works out how his own Coronation can reflect a very different Britain where comparatively few people go to church

None of this is easy. Thirty years ago, when the then Prince of Charles suggested he might be called Defender of Faith, rather than the conventional Defender of the Faith, it caused uproar in the Church of England.

In the end, he was called by the traditional title - but that might have to change.

Just what kind of Defender of the Faith will William be? What sort of Coronation will he stage?

I (humbly) suggest he starts thinking about it now.
Health experts have issued a warning about a new Covid subvariant that's set to spread across Australia as the country heads into winter.

Cases of the Omicron subvariant XBB have already exploded in Queensland and made up 62 per cent of Covid infections recorded in the state last week.

The XBB.1.5 subvariant was first detected in Australia in December last year, with another strain, XBB.1.16, popping up in February in NSW.

While the subvariants aren't expected to be any more severe than Omicron, experts have warned about how transmissible they are.

Cases of the Omicron subvariant XBB have exploded in Queensland, with the variant known to be more transmissible than other strains (pictured shopper wears face mask in Sydney)

Dr Krispin Hajkowicz, an infectious diseases specialist at the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, said XBB infections had been skyrocketing in the Sunshine State.

'Unfortunately, it also seems to be good at evading antibodies from previous infections and vaccinations,' he told the Brisbane Times.

Both XBB.1.5 and XBB.1.16 variants have been popping up all over the world including in Europe and the United States.

Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO's technical lead for Covid, told a press conference in January experts were concerned about the rise in cases of the subvariants.

'We are concerned about its growth advantage in particular in some countries in Europe and in the US... particularly the Northeast part of the United States, where XBB.1.5 has rapidly replaced other circulating variants,' she said.

Meanwhile there are also fears this winter will see more Australians struck down with the flu.

Last week in NSW there were 11,474 Covid cases and 950 flu infections - a jump of nearly 10 per cent from the previous week.

In the last week of April in Queensland, 937 people caught the flu.

'I think we will see a heavy winter of all three viruses, really, of Covid, of influenza and RSV, that's certainly what happened in the northern hemisphere winter last year,' Dr Hajkowicz said.

'I can't see any reason why we'd be different in Australia.'

So far this year across Australia there have been more than 34,000 reported cases of flu, according to government figures, roughly on par with the 2019 season, which was the second worst on record.
The video was taken at Dauphin Island, a small town in the Gulf of Mexico

Video shows an enormous alligator off an Alabama island over the weekend

Shocking photos and videos show an alligator chilling on an Alabama beach in the Gulf of Mexico just feet away from beachgoers.

In a post on Facebook, one man shared the grabs of the reptile in the large body of water, along with a short clip of the animal wading by the shore.

'The things you never think you'll see,' wrote Matt Harvill on Facebook. 'First time seeing a gator on Dauphin Island. Heading towards the west end be careful y'all.'

Harvill said the alligator seemed curious more than anything but the video has some beachgoers spooked. Others, however, say it won't affect their beach trips.

'I'd probably still get in the water,' said beachgoer Noah Knight. 'Not anywhere in the area where the alligator is at but still probably.'

Shocking photos and videos show an alligator chilling on an Alabama beach in the Gulf of Mexico just feet away from beachgoers

In a post on Facebook, one man shared the grabs of the reptile in the large body of water, along with a short clip of the animal wading by the shore

The alligator hit the beach over the weekend, according to Harvill's post.

'It was just a very beautiful day - my girlfriend and I were just spending some time on the beach when someone mentioned it,' Harvill said.

'So, we walked down to get a better look and snap some pictures. It's not everyday something like that happens,' he continued.

'We see them in Dog River and the Bird sanctuary. Almost never in the Gulf like that. I knew if I didn't get pictures no one would ever believe it,' Harvill said.

Experts say the best things to do if you encounter an alligator are to take extra precautions and do not feed them.

Commenters on Harvill's post shared their thoughts on the video and photos, with reactions ranging from fright to genuine disbelief.

'Looks like he's having a blast,' one person joked.

'I guess he is not afraid of sharks,' another added.

'I hope he's not going to church,' one commented.

'The things you never think you'll see,' wrote Matt Harvill on Facebook. 'First time seeing a gator on Dauphin Island. Heading towards the west end be careful y'all'

Harvill said the alligator seemed curious more than anything but the video has some beachgoers spooked. Others, however, say it won't affect their beach trips

The sight is uncommon considering that alligators are typically freshwater creatures.

They are also better known for inhabiting swampy areas, rather than beaches.

Despite that, officials with the Dauphin Island Sea Lab said there have been sightings in the past with the creatures.

'Alligators are not unusual on Dauphin Island though they don't tolerate salt water very well,' the sea lab said told AL.com.

'So if there's one hanging out on the beach it may have wandered over from the freshwater ponds or made its way following a rainfall event,' the email read.
Waleed Aly has revealed why he doesn't think Australia is the 'lucky country' anymore, as parents are forced to go hungry so their children can eat.

The Project host said the emergence of a 'working poor' in Australia, who couldn't afford to heat their homes or pay for groceries, was 'frightening'.

He said good health coverage and social security systems had previously put Australia apart from countries like the United States.

'Suddenly, it's coming for us,' he told his co-hosts on Thursday night.

'And it's such a tragedy, because that goes to the heart of what the whole thing's about. What politics is about, what our budget is about.

'I think we are losing something really essential. It's not just a story of hard luck, it is that, but it's the story of the soul of the country or something.

'There's something a lot deeper going on here.'

Waleed Aly has revealed why he doesn't think Australia is the 'lucky country' anymore as parents go hungry so their children can eat

Aly's co-host Sarah Harris said the panel had heard countless stories of parents who couldn't afford to heat their homes and provide for their children.

She said families were being forced to make 'impossible decisions' about which essential they would spend their money on each week.

'We hear from parents that they pretend to feel full so their children can eat, and not feel guilty about eating the only food that's left in the house,' she said.

'What's happening here?'

Opposition leader Peter Dutton accused the Albanese government of turning Australia's middle class into the 'working poor'.

'You've got a situation that Labor's created over the course of the last 12 months where I think we've got a middle class of Australians, a working poor that Labor's created,' Mr Dutton told media ahead of his budget reply speech.

'(They are) people who are working their guts out, going to work, and just can't keep their heads above water.'

Opposition leader Peter Dutton has accused the Albanese government of turning Australia's middle class into the 'working poor' (pictured, Mr Albanese and partner Jodie Haydon)

Mr Dutton claimed Labor's budget 'hurts working Australians' but 'worse, it risks creating a generation of working poor Australians'.

On Tuesday night, Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers announced a range of measures to benefit those on welfare, with JobSeeker and Youth Allowance both rising by $40 a fortnight from September.

'We understand that there will be people who are saying $40 a fortnight is not enough. There will be some who will be saying it is too much,' Dr Chalmers said.

'We think we've struck the right balance between what we can afford and taking into consideration the economic pressures in the economy.'

Eligibility for a higher rate of JobSeeker will also be lowered from 60 to 55, following a rise in the number of older Australians on the payment.

Mr Dutton (pictured during Question Time on Thursday) said the government needed to spend taxpayer money 'wisely' and that welfare payments were for the most vulnerable Australians

Labor has encouraged the Coalition to support the measures, that aim to relieve some of the financial pressures on families amid the escalating cost of living crisis.

Mr Dutton said the government needed to spend taxpayer money 'wisely' and that welfare payments were reserved for the most vulnerable Australians.

'The Australian taxpayer is very happy to support those people who are in need, but you've got to help those that are most deserving,' he told 2GB radio.

'It's not for people in a situation where they can get a job but refuse to take a job.'

He warned Australians would be hit with a tax hike from July, with the government not extending the offset for low and middle-income earners.
A Minnesota man has been convicted of first-degree murder for beheading his girlfriend in front of terrified witnesses.

A Scott County judge found Alexis Saborit, 42, guilty of first-degree premeditated murder on Thursday over the death of 55-year-old America Thayer.

Saborit struck Miss Thayer with an 8-pound dumbbell while they were in a vehicle near downtown Shakopee, then decapitated her with a machete in July 2021 - just days after telling a friend he was going to 'chop her f****** head off'.

Despite claiming mental health issues, the judge said Saborit's assault was 'brutal and vicious' and since he fled the scene he had demonstrated a 'consciousness of guilt'.

Police were alerted to the attack after a witness saw Saborit throw a headless body out of a car at an intersection in Shakopee.

Alexis Saborit (right), 44, struck America Thayer (left), 56, with an 8-pound dumbbell while they were in a vehicle near downtown Shakopee, then decapitated her with a machete in July 2021

Police then discovered Miss Thayer's body lying next to a car - with her head nearby, according to a search warrant

When officers arrived, they discovered Miss Thayer's body next to the car - with her head nearby.

A witness recorded a video that appeared to show Saborit pull Thayer's body out of the car into the street then pick up her head by the hair.

The pair were on the way to his court appearance for felony charges alleging that he set fire to their apartment in Shakopee during a confrontation with police and that Saborit attacked Thayer after she told him she wanted to end their relationship.

Saborit fled the scene and disposed of the machete along the way. He was arrested about 1 mile away near the TraveLodge Hotel where he was staying.

County Attorney Ron Hocevar said he was pleased with the verdict, and that he expects Saborit to be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Saborit is scheduled to appear in court for a review hearing on June 1.

Pictured: the location where police found Miss Thayer's body next to the car with her head nearby

Saborit fled the scene and disposed of the machete along the way. He was arrested about 1 mile away near the TraveLodge Hotel where he was staying.

Neighbour Jessica Sondrol said at the time: 'I have no words for it. Just scary. I just feel very sorry for the families

Miss Thayer reportedly worked at Dollar Tree and MyPillow, her coworkers told KMSP.

Her coworkers said she had been in a long-term relationship with Saborit, and alleged that domestic violence had been a 'consistent problem' with the couple.

In 2017, Saborit was convicted of domestic assault in Carver County, WCCO noted.

Neighbour Jessica Sondrol said at the time: 'I have no words for it. Just scary. I just feel very sorry for the families.

The beheading came just after another woman was found decapitated in her burning apartment in Indiana.

Police found the woman's head in a suitcase along with fingers and toes inside a plastic container at the home of suspect Brian Williams.

Williams, 36, was then charged with murder, arson and misdemeanour theft in connection with the death of 67-year-old Melody Gambetty.

Police said they did not believe Williams knew the woman and that the murder might have happened as the result of burglary attempt or home invasion, WDRB reported.
Shoppers are being urged to boycott Target in response to their Pride collection for children, with one activist group accusing the retailer of 'indoctrinating and grooming' young people, calling it 'highly inappropriate and disturbing.'

A former Target customer said the company 'deserves the Bud Light treatment' - a reference to the boycott sparked by Bud Light's decision to partner with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.

The disastrous marketing decision wiped $6 billion off the value of the company and saw sales plummet.

Target has supported Pride - celebrated throughout the month of June - every year since 2013.

This year's collection features a range of clothes and home goods, including lime green adult romper suits with the word 'gay' on the back; a 'Live Laugh Lesbian' t-shirt; and a mug emblazoned with the words: 'Gender Fluid'.

It was the collection for children, however, that sparked anger.

Target has sparked anger with its collection for children, which Gays Against Groomers said was 'highly inappropriate and disturbing'

Target is selling a 'Bien Proud' baby gro, and a rainbow tutu for kids

This is what you will find in the kids section of @Target. We urge you to take your business elsewhere. They are indoctrinating and grooming them with LGBTQ ideology. It is highly inappropriate and disturbing.



We hope there are enough parents out there that understand how pic.twitter.com/8g1UC41zAY  Gays Against Groomers (@againstgrmrs) May 10, 2023

The Minneapolis-based company is selling T-shirts for children with the slogan: 'Trans People Will Always Exist!'

It is offering rainbow-striped tutus for toddlers for $13, and $10 baby gros which read: 'Bien Proud'.

The activist group Gays Against Groomers led the outrage.

'This is what you will find in the kid's section of @Target,' they tweeted.

'We urge you to take your business elsewhere. They are indoctrinating and grooming them with LGBTQ ideology. It is highly inappropriate and disturbing.'

The group, founded last year in Wisconsin by Jaimee Michell, says it lobbies 'against the sexualization, indoctrination and medicalization of children under the guise of 'LGBTQIA+'.'

Critics, including the left-wing watchdog Media Matters, pointed out that Michell is a prominent MAGA backer and well-known supporter of the QAnon conspiracy theories, who celebrated the January 6 riot online.

Jaimee Michell, founder of Gays Against Groomers, is seen with Tucker Carlson

Michell was a strident supporter of Donald Trump and his claims that the election was stolen, but has since switched her support to DeSantis

Gays Against Groomers is hoping that consumers will boycott Target in response to the clothing.

'We hope there are enough parents out there that understand how wrong this is and show them that this garbage will not sell,' they said.

'The only thing these people understand is money. Target deserves the Bud Light treatment. We will work to put the pressure on them.'

Many of their 278,000 followers on Twitter agreed.

'TARGET deserves the BUD LIGHT treatment' Like and Retweet' said one woman.

'We need to get serious people. Please help send a message to TARGET.'

Another added: 'I said the same thing make them feel the pin like #Budlight #BoycottTarget @Target. take this trash out of your store or feel the burn like #Budlight'

Target is selling a T-shirt emblazoned with the pronouns 'they'

One man, describing himself as an 'Ultra MAGA Iranian-American father of two', announced on Twitter: 'I told my wife last night that we don't shop at target anymore.'

Some said it was a pity.

'Dang, was a big fan of Target kids clothes. Was. Plenty of other kids clothing companies!'

Target is yet to respond to DailyMail.com's request for comment.

The company has long publicized their support for the LGBTQ community.

In 2014, the retailer publicly endorsed marriage equality, and the following year announced they were ending their policy of dividing certain products, like toys, by gender. They also introduced a gender neutral line for children, and in April 2016 - amid a nationwide discussion about bathroom access - announced that transgender people were free to use whichever bathroom they chose.

A backlash ensued, and Target in August 2016 said $20 million to add a private bathroom to each of its stores.
She went missing in April 1999 and killer claims he buried her in West London

Serial killer Levi Bellfield has reportedly confessed to police under caution to the murder of student Elizabeth Chau and told officers where her body is hidden.

Homicide detectives from Scotland Yard visited Bellfield, 54, in Frankland prison in Durham on Tuesday for a face-to-face interview.

He told police of a west London location where he claims to have hidden the body of Ms Chau, who was 19 years old when she went missing in London in April 1999.

The killer is serving two whole-life terms for the murder of 13-year-old Milly, as well as Marsha McDonnell, 19, and Amelie Delagrange, 22.

The Metropolitan Police have said they are again looking to investigate Bellfield, a report has said, after he was interviewed by detectives for six hours.

Serial killer Levi Bellfield (pictured), 54, has reportedly confessed to police under caution to the murder of student Elizabeth Chau and told officers where her body is hidden

Bellfield told police of a west London location where he claims to have hidden the body of Elizabeth Chau (pictured), who was 19 years old when she went missing in April 1999

'On Tuesday 9 May 2023, a 54-year-old male was interviewed under caution. Inquiries continue,' a spokesperson for the Met told the Guardian.

'We can confirm we remain in contact with Elizabeth Chau's family. At this time we will not be providing an ongoing commentary. We have no comment to make.'

Bellfield's claims that Ms Chau was his fourth murder victim are being taken 'extremely seriously' by the force, a source told the paper.

When she disappeared, Bellfield was living in West London not far from where she was last seen.

She went missing as she walked home from Thames Valley University after handing in an assignment.

A final CCTV sighting shows her walking past Ealing police station at 6pm on April 16, 1999. She was around a mile from her home.

The killer first claimed he killed Ms Chau to a prison visitor seven months ago, leading to two detectives, from a team which investigates unsolved homicides, interviewing him in prison and recording it with portable equipment.

The police detectives warned Bellfield that anything he said could be used against him in court when they read the criminal caution to him.

They asked the killer to point to where he claims to have buried Ms Chau's body on a map of the west London area they had brought with them.

Bellfield also reportedly spoke of how he claims he kidnapped the Thames Valley University computer studies student and gave a disturbing account of the final hours of her life.

Police may now dig up the area where Bellfield alleges he buried Ms Chau's body and perform a forensic examination.

Ms Chau's family, who are from Vietnam, are aware of Bellfield's potential for dishonest behaviour but have hit out against police for treating her disappearance seriously enough.

Scotland Yard launched an appeal for information on Ms Chau's disappearance in 2012, 13 years after her disappearance, offering a 15,000 reward.

Homicide detectives from Scotland Yard visited Bellfield (pictured), 54, in Frankland prison in Durham on Tuesday for a face-to-face interview.

Bellfield's claims that Ms Chau (pictured) was his fourth murder victim are being taken 'extremely seriously' by the force, a source told the Guardian

It was reported earlier this week that a statement given by Bellfield to police via his solicitor Theresa Clark is said to include how he killed her and also an admission of attempts to commit five other murders.

He also claimed to have carried out the notorious Chillenden murders, in which Dr Lin Russell and her daughters were attacked as they walked along a country lane in Kent in July 1996.

The family were tied up, blindfolded and then beaten with a claw hammer. Daughter Josie, who was aged just nine, survived but suffered severe head injuries.

Drug addict Michael Stone was jailed for the crime but continues to deny involvement.

His initial conviction was quashed by the Court of Appeal in 1998 but he was convicted for a second time in 2001.

In 2017 his legal team claimed they had seen evidence of a 'full confession' by Bellfield. He denied it at the time.

Elizabeth Chau's sister, Bich, (pictured left at a press conference with her mother Lam-Pheng on 16 April 1999) has never given up hope of being reunited with her sibling. She previously said: 'We want Liz to know that we love her and miss her very much'

Bellfield has reportedly given details of Elizabeth's final moments and offered has told detectives where he buried her body in west London

Milly Dowler was kidnapped and murdered in March 2002 at the age of 13. She was walking home in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, when she was abducted by Bellfield.

Her body was found six months later.

Marsha McDonnell was beaten to death near her home in Hampton, Richmond, in February 2003, whilst French student Amelie Delagrange, 22, was killed on Twickenham Green in south-west London in 2004.

In March this year, 54-year-old Bellfield got engaged to a regular female visitor at HMP Frankland.

News of his proposed nuptials with the woman, who is in her 40s, sparked outrage when they were revealed last year and the then Justice Secretary Dominic Raab vowed action to stop it happening.
The former defence minister at the centre of the Brittany Higgins rape case used the cover of parliament to lash the top prosecutor Shane Drumgold SC, after he claimed politicians 'probably' meddled in the case.

Shane Drumgold SC, the ACT Director of Public Prosecutions, who ran the case against Bruce Lehrmann, suggested on Wednesday there could be a political conspiracy behind an alleged police push not to charge Lehrmann with sexual assault.

However, in a stunning backflip, Mr Drumgold walked back on those claims during a Board of Inquiry hearing into the fallout from the trial.

He conceded his suspicions of political interference were 'mistaken'.

In a fiery, surprise speech in the Senate on Thursday night, Western Australian Liberal Senator Reynolds said she considered the allegation of political meddling 'a complete affront to my reputation'.

'This baseless suggestion was without any foundation, but it should never have come to this,' she said.

Senator Reynolds said she 'categorically rejects' Mr Drumgold's remarks, adding she cooperated entirely with the AFP investigation.

'It is baffling and it is disturbing that this view was offered under oath as there was absolutely no basis for this claim - as the DPP has now acknowledged again under oath today in the inquiry,' she said.

Brittany Higgins, a one-time staffer in Senator Reynolds' office, accused Mr Lehrmann of raping her inside Parliament House in March 2019.

Shane Drumgold SC, the ACT Director of Public Prosecutions, walked back on those claims just a day later

He pleaded not guilty, and after an aborted trial due to juror misconduct, the sexual assault charge was dropped entirely due to concerns for Ms Higgins' mental health. He has always maintained his innocence.

Now, an inquiry is underway to investigate the conduct of prosecutors, police, and the Victims of Crime Commissioner during the trial.

It was launched following a heated email from Mr Drumgold to ACT Chief Police Officer Neil Gaughan on November 1, 2022 - between when the trial was aborted in October last year and when the matter was dropped entirely on December 1.

'I want to raise serious concerns I hold with what I perceive as some quite clear investigator interference in the criminal justice process,' he wrote at the time.

'I am of the view that at the conclusion of the trial, there should be a public inquiry into both political and police conduct in this matter.'

Mr Drumgold also questioned whether there was a connection between Senator Reynolds and the police.

On Wednesday, Mr Drumgold alleged it was 'possible, if not probable' there was a wider conspiracy by Australian Federal Police not to press charges against Mr Lehrmann.

He then changed his tune on Thursday, telling his own lawyer Mark Tedeschi KC he was 'mistaken' and that those suspicions had since been allayed.

But in a stunning turn on Friday, while being cross-examination by the senior counsel for the Australian Federal Police, Kate Richardson, Mr Drumgold backtracked again.

Referring to his conspiracy comments, the public prosecutor told the inquiry that he was speaking retrospectively his state of mind - when he wrote the letter to the Police Commissioner on November 1 calling for the Board of Inquiry.

He told the inquiry on Friday that he didn't actually believe there was a conspiracy on Wednesday, when he made the comments.

West Australian Senator Reynolds said she considered the allegation 'a complete affront to my reputation'

Brittany Higgins, a one-time staffer in Senator Reynolds' office, accused Mr Lehrmann of raping her inside Parliament House in March 2019

Ms Richardson said: 'The possible conspiracy you referred to on Wednesday went beyond mere corruption ... you made an allegation against the Australian Federal Police and ACT policing that they wanted to make a matter go away.

'And it would also be a perversion of justice of the most grave kind because it would be multi-facetted because it would involve investigating officers, and ACT Policing.'

Mr Drumgold agreed, but tried to clarify that he was not referring to his current state of mind.

Ms Richardson asked why he didn't specify that he was speaking retrospectively on his state of mind the time: 'You were questioned for three days about the state that prompted you to write the letter.'

'Are you saying that by the constraints of questions you couldn't say that you changed your mind since writing the letter?'

Mr Drumgold replied: 'I should have added an addendum.'

Responding to his backflip on Thursday, Senator Reynolds said: 'It was me who referred Ms Higgins to the AFP on 1 April, 2019, following a meeting I had with her and Ms Brown in my office.

'The suggestion by Mr Drumgold SC in his evidence today continues a theme that was propounded by the DPP in the trial that my actions were politically motivated. This was rejected by me during the trial and this remains the position.'

The prosecutor also claimed police incorrectly assigned stereotypes to Ms Higgins, based on what they believe an alleged rape victim would or would not do - Walter Sofronoff, who is leading the inquiry, described them as 'rape myths'.

'Stereotypical analysis of the way a complainant would behave - a genuine complainant would never go to the media or would tell everyone immediately - these stereotypical beliefs that there is a standard to how a complainant would behave,' he said.

The inquiry continues.
Remarkable footage shows how a Russian soldier crawled 'through hell' to surrender to Ukraine by communicating with a drone to follow it out of No Man's Land - while missiles launched by his former comrades rained down on him.

The troop does not want to fight so tries to communicate with a Ukrainian drone, which had been dropping explosives on the battlefield in Bakhmut, that he wants to surrender.

The soldier, fed up of fighting Vladimir Putin's bloody war, makes a series of gestures including putting his arms in an 'x' across his chest, to indicate 'no' to the drone's camera.

The battered Russian soldier then reaches for a white piece of fabric which he shows to the drone to indicate his surrender.

It comes as reports continue to surface over Russians ceding hard-won ground and fleeing their positions in the fiercely contested bloody battleground of Bakhmut.

Remarkable footage shows how a Russian soldier crawled 'through hell' to surrender to Ukraine by communicating with a drone to follow it out of No Man's Land

Dylan Burns , a journalist reporting on the Russian invasion of Ukraine said he had 'never seen anything like it'

The soldier was given the opportunity to surrender under the Ukrainian government's 'I Want To Live' project

The soldier was given the opportunity to surrender under the Ukrainian government's 'I Want To Live' project, which began last September, and gives Russian troops a way out if they have been forced to the front lines by the Kremlin.

The drone then proceeds to guide the soldier through the trenches in Bakhmut as he is shot at by former colleagues in the Russian Army and set upon by explosives.

As the soldier runs across the battlefield to seek cover behind a wrecked vehicle an explosion narrowly misses him.

Dylan Burns, a journalist reporting on the Russian invasion of Ukraine said he had 'never seen anything like it'.

He said: 'A Russian soldier, who doesn't want to fight, attempts to communicate with a Ukrainian drone in order to surrender.

'The drone gives him instructions telling him to follow it, he treads through no man's land following the drone, all while being shot at by his former comrades for daring to surrender.

'He survives after an astonishing journey through hell.'

The battered and bruised, but alive, soldier then briefly speaks in Russian to a camera.

Ukraine's 'I Want To Live' project shared a video saying it was 'the story with the occupier who surrendered to the Ukrainian drone under Bakhmut [who] received a truly "cinematic" continuation'.

However, his partner who fought in the same battle 'blew himself with a grenade "according to the method", choosing a infamous and meaningless death'.

The drone then proceeds to guide the soldier through the trenches in Bakhmut as he is shot at by former colleagues in the Russian Army and set upon by explosives

The Russian soldier fleeing across the battlefield being shot at by former comrades

As the soldier runs across the battlefield to seek cover behind a wrecked vehicle an explosion narrowly misses him

The soldier running through a trench as he tries to escape the hellish battleground

The battered and bruised, but alive, soldier then briefly speaks in Russian to a camera.

They added: 'Another Russian soldier, who fell into the lens of a Ukrainian drone in the same positions, did not want to surrender to the drone, was wounded by the same drone and shot himself directly in the trench.

'Both could have done as well as their smarter comrade by turning themselves into captivity and staying alive. The smart one will soon return home to his relatives, alive and unharmed. The other two will remain lying in Ukrainian soil.

'The moral of this fable is: Russian soldier, do not listen to the Kremlin butchers, do not believe their cannibal calls to die on Ukrainian soil!

'They will continue to dispose of people like you by the thousands and thousands. Ukraine, your life is more expensive than Russian commanders, because you can be exchanged for captured Ukrainian heroes.

'If you want to go home, surrender yourself to captivity.'
Despite controversies involving Disney and their long-term bickering with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, the house of mouse's home city of Orlando is reporting tourism is back to near pre-pandemic levels.

The number of tourists was 25 percent greater than it was in 2021, when central Florida was still recovering from the blows to tourism caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which restricted international travel and caused convention cancellations.

The area's theme parks closed for several months in 2020 in an effort to stop the virus' spread.

Representatives for Visit Orlando claimed that the numbers were at about 98 percent of pre-pandemic levels.

'This past year proved to be a key recovery timeframe for Orlando's tourism industry, with a lot of pent-up demand from our top US and international markets,' said Casandra Matej, president and CEO for Visit Orlando, the area's tourism promotion organization.

Despite controversies involving Disney and their long-term bickering with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis , the house of mouse's home city of Orlando is reporting tourism is back to near pre-pandemic levels

By comparison, Paris - which had 44 million visitors in 2022 - was still down 13 percent from pre-pandemic levels, according to The Brussels Times.

The Orlando area had more than 69 million domestic visitors, with most of them visiting for vacations, a segment that has fully recovered, tourism officials said.

The one negative was business visitors, which still lagged behind pre-pandemic levels.

There were 4.9 million international tourists, making up only about three-quarters of pre-pandemic levels, according to Visit Orlando.

The two biggest sources of international visitors were Canada and the United Kingdom, with over 800,000 traveling to the city each, followed by Brazil, Mexico and Colombia.

'Our new international brand launch and strong commitment to strategic sales and marketing initiatives, combined with our destination's continuous evolution of new unbelievably real experiences, helped Orlando maintain its leadership position and achieve strong visitation numbers,' Matej added.

While the tourism board made mention of the city as the 'Theme Park Capital of the World,' they made no mention of Disney, whose executives have spent the last year in an all-out feud with Governor Ron DeSantis.

DeSantis said earlier this week that Disney's recent silence on social issues is evidence of his victory over the entertainment giant after a battle over his so-called Don't Say Gay bill.

The number of tourists was 25 percent greater than it was in 2021, when central Florida was still recovering from the blows to tourism caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which restricted international travel and caused convention cancellations

While the tourism board made mention of the city as the 'Theme Park Capital of the World,' they made no mention of Disney, whose executives have spent the last year in an all-out feud with Governor Ron DeSantis

DeSantis said earlier this week that Disney's recent silence - including CEO Bob Iger (pictured) on social issues is evidence of his victory over the entertainment giant after a battle over his so-called Don't Say Gay bill

He was referring to his Parental Rights in Education Bill, which banned classroom instruction on gender identity or sexual orientation from kindergarten through third grade.

Disney bosses were goaded by staff into opposing the bill, with DeSantis revoking its right to self-govern its giant Orlando Walt Disney World Resort in revenge.

Last year, DeSantis revoked Disney's self-governing status.

On Friday, he signed a bill that allowed a governing board to void development agreements the company had approved.

He said Disney tried to do a contract with themselves before the state board took over but said the contract is not valid.

'The legislature here just passed a statue which I will sign shortly nullifying that agreement because these development agreements under Florida law are subject to revocation, so I think they got too cute,' he said.

'I think that we will end up winning that fight. Disney should not be governing themselves they should absolutely be held accountable.'

Disney was suing the Sunshine State in what they claimed was a 'targeted campaign of government retaliation.'

'First, the big issue with Disney was they exercised a lot of political influence in this town,' DeSantis said.

'And they tried to fight us on things like parents' rights and things that are really important to the people of Florida. We beat them on that. We signed a parents' rights bill and we've expanded protections and we've done a lot of stuff to go back and fight woke ideology.'

Disney bosses were goaded by staff into opposing the bill, with DeSantis revoking its right to self-govern its giant Orlando Walt Disney World Resort in revenge

Disney's theme park is dubbed 'the most magical place on earth' - but the corporation has been embroiled in a spat with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for almost two years

Walt Disney World single-handedly transformed Orlando and its surroundings after opening in October 1971.

The Florida city is now one of America - and the world's - top tourist destinations, with Universal Studios also opening a huge theme park resort nearby.

DeSantis' battle with Disney was widely-praised by many conservatives and centrists, who have bemoaned corporations getting involved in social justice issues.

But the Florida governor has also faced criticism from both left and right, who say that a true conservative should be in favor of less legislation, rather than more.

DeSantis has been touted as a possible 2024 Republican nominee for the presidency.

He has yet to declare - but hasn't denied his rumored plans to do so.
EU rules about the shape and curve of bananas are among the Brussels laws set to remain.

Brexiteers were furious yesterday after the Government U-turned over plans to axe thousands of Brussels regulations by the end of this year.

Among the saved laws is EU Regulation No 1333/2011 - governing the 'standards and requirements in the banana sector', The Sun reports.

The piece of legislation ensures top class bananas are free from any 'abnormal curvature of the fingers'.

Meanwhile, Class I and II gradings of the staple fruit are allowed defects in their shape.

Among the newly saved laws is EU Regulation No 1333/2011 - governing the 'standards and requirements in the banana sector'

Jacob Rees-Mogg blasted Rishi Sunak for scaling back the promised 'bonfire' of EU laws

Some 600 pieces of EU legislation are to be rolled back in the UK, but ministers have reneged on a promise to ditch thousands more - the banana rule among them.

Jacob Rees-Mogg yesterday blasted Rishi Sunak for scaling back the promised 'bonfire' of EU laws as he claimed the Prime Minister was 'behaving like a Borgia'.

The ex-Cabinet minister, who championed the scrapping of leftover Brussels rules when he was business secretary, led a Brexiteer backlash against Mr Sunak for breaching the key pledge.

Mr Rees-Mogg compared the PM to a member of the House of Borgia - a wealthy family who were notorious during the Italian Renaissance for treachery, corruption and immorality.

During his Tory leadership campaign last summer, Mr Sunak vowed to review or repeal 2,400 retained EU laws in his first 100 days as PM.

When he eventually entered No10 in late October, Mr Sunak stuck to a deadline to scrub EU regulations still on the UK statute books by the end of this year.

But yesterday it was announced that rather than getting rid of thousands of pieces of EU legislation, which have now been found to total 4,829, the Government will only revoke 600 laws by the end of December.

Rees-Mogg compared the Prime Minister (above on Wednesday in the House of Commons) to a member of the House of Borgia - a wealthy family who were notorious during the Italian Renaissance for treachery, corruption and immorality

The ex-Cabinet minister, who championed the scrapping of leftover Brussels rules when he was business secretary, led a Brexiteer backlash against Mr Sunak for breaching the pledge

During his Tory leadership campaign last summer, Mr Sunak vowed to review or repeal 2,400 retained EU laws in his first 100 days as PM

Senior Tory Brexiteers have expressed their fury at Mr Sunak over his watering down of the aims of the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill.

Mr Rees-Mogg, who introduced the Bill to the House of Commons last summer, led the outcry against the PM's move.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme yesterday, he said: 'Politicians need to stick to what they said they will do.

'When Rishi Sunak resigned (as chancellor), he said in his resignation letter to Boris Johnson that he believed the public are ready to hear the truth  our people know that if something is too good to be true, then it's not true.

'He then said something that people like me wanted to hear, and has failed to deliver it.

'I'm afraid it's no good being holier-than-thou if you then end up behaving like a Borgia.'

Other senior Tory Brexiteers also expressed their anger in the Commons yesterday, as Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch was quizzed over the Government's U-turn

Other senior Tory Brexiteers also expressed their anger in the Commons later yesterday morning, as Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch was quizzed over the Government's U-turn.

Sir Bill Cash described the move as a 'fundamental change in Government policy'.

He fumed at Ms Badenoch's failure to consult MPs on the U-turn after the Commons approved the Bill, which is now in the House of Lords, back in January.

'The amendments have not been subjected to any analysis or questioning by this House, which is now essential given the fundamental change in Government policy,' Sir Bill told MPs.

'This House is being treated in a manner which is clearly inconsistent with clear promises already made.'

Mark Francois, the chairman of the European Research Group of Tory eurosceptics, accused the Government of a 'massive climbdown' and asked Ms Badenoch: 'What on Earth are you playing at?'

The Business Secretary told MPs she had decided to focus on the repeal of 600 laws as the 'best way to deliver' post-Brexit legislative reforms and insisted it was 'not the Prime Minister's decision' to do so.

Ms Badenoch has heaped blame on Whitehall officials for the move by saying she had inherited a situation in which the focus was on which laws should be preserved, 'rather than pursuing the meaningful reform Government and businesses want to see'.

But former justice secretary Dominic Raab, who resigned as deputy PM last month after being found to have bullied civil servants, urged Ms Badenoch to 'resist the resistance in Whitehall that suggests it can't be done'.

Ms Badenoch yesterday acknowledged there are 'risks of legal uncertainty' by automatically scrapping the copied-over EU laws by the end of the year through a sunset clause in the Bill.

She said ministers will amend the Bill making its way through Parliament to replace the current sunset clause with a list of 600 EU laws to be revoked by the end of the year.

A further 500 pieces of retained EU legislation would be revoked by other means, the minister claimed, but it was unclear if that will happen by the end of the year.

It had been estimated that around 3,700 laws would need ditching but governmental departments have now identified around 4,829 retained laws.

Ms Badenoch said around 1,000 had been scrapped or altered already, though Government data shows 906 EU laws have been dealt with so far, and only 245 of those have been repealed.

A Government audit of retained EU law - to identify where Brussels' rules should be removed, replaced or updated - has been ongoing since 2021.
Migrants have been attempting to cross the southern border from Mexico into the United States appear to have been blocked by some soldiers, with just hours to go before Title 42 restrictions are to be lifted at 10:59pm eastern Texas, 9:59pm in El Paso, Texas and 8:59pm in San Ysidro, California.

In drone footage shot on the border between Matamoros, Mexico and Brownsville, Texas, a group of men, women and young children can be seen attempting to take the final few steps into the U.S.- but Texas National Guard soldiers and Texas Department of Public Safety officials are seen to be blocking their way.

Having made the treacherous journey up through Mexico and crossing the Rio Grande river, their final few steps appear to have been thwarted by the presence of armed officials who have finally established a presence on the border.

At least a dozen troopers can be seen standing firm as they position themselves behind barbed wire leaving the migrants with no option to move any further.

The group appear to have been encouraged by thousands of fellow migrants who passed through in the last few days with the ground before them littered with discarded clothing, wet through after the river crossing.

Migrants attempting to cross the southern border across the Rio Grande from Mexico into the U.S. encountered a blockade by soldiers hours before lifting of Title 42 restrictions

A migrant and his child speak with members of the Texas National Guard after swimming across the Rio Gran

Footage from the border between Matamoros, Mexico, and Brownsville, Texas, revealing men, women, and children making their final efforts to enter the U.S.

Texas National Guard soldiers and officials from the Texas Department of Public Safety can be seen obstructing their path using barbed wire in an attempt to prevent them getting in

NEW: Video from our FOX drone shows another group of migrants attempting to cross into Brownsville illegally, but they are physically blocked/repelled by Texas National Guard soldiers & @TxDPS troopers stationed behind rows of razor wire. Will Biden DOJ sue over this new action? pic.twitter.com/izIHpRhHlr  Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) May 11, 2023

In other video footage from when the migrants finally make it onto dry land, they are once again met by a row of razor wire with a line of soldiers standing behind it.

Many of the migrants appear perplexed as to why they are simply not being allowed to cross freely into the U.S.

Strong winds whipped up the sand on the bank of the Rio Grande east of El Paso as groups of Texas National Guard soldiers constructed concertina wire barriers.

The clock is ticking on the expiration of Title 42, the policy that permits U.S. Border Patrol to quickly deport illegal border crossers, and before new rules go into effect, but this group of migrants decided they couldn't wait any longer.

According to the White House, after Title 42 ends, the U.S. will start enforcing another policy that's long been on the books, called Title 8.

Under this rule, any migrant who illegally enters the U.S. and applies for asylum, without first seeking asylum in another country, will be deported, and potentially banned from the U.S. for 5-years.

Thanks to the Texas National Guard and Texas Department of Public Safety. They are the only officials in America holding the line against an onrush of illegal immigrants. pic.twitter.com/OpLGEp3tXK  Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) May 11, 2023

A man begs to be let into the U.S. as he speaks with members of the Texas National Guard after swimming across the Rio Grande to enter the United States

Having made the treacherous journey up through Mexico and crossing the Rio Grande river, their final few steps appear thwarted by the presence of armed officials

The soldiers and troopers have finally established a presence on the border

At least a dozen troopers can be seen standing firm as they position themselves behind barbed wire leaving the migrants with no option to move any further

With the late-night deadline looming, migrants in Mexico shed clothing before descending a steep bank into the Rio Grande, clutching plastic bags filled with clothes. One man held a baby in an open suitcase on his head.

On the U.S. side of the river, migrants put on dry clothing and picked their way through concertina wire. Many surrendered immediately to authorities and hoped to be released while pursuing their cases in backlogged immigration courts, which takes years.

It was not clear how many migrants were on the move or how long the surge would last. By early Thursday evening, the flow seemed to be slowing in some locations, but it was not clear why or whether the number of crossings would increase again after the restrictions expire.

A U.S. official reported that daily encounters on Tuesday hit 10,000 - nearly twice the level from March and only slightly below the 11,000 figure that authorities have said is the upper limit of what they expect after Title 42 ends.

The stopping of about 10,000 migrants by the Border Patrol on Tuesday made for one of the agencys busiest days ever, according to a second U.S. official who provided information to the AP on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.

The daily average was about 5,200 in March, according to the latest publicly available data.

A map showing where migrants are heading following the end of Title 42 restrictions

Migrants arrive to the Mexican side of the bank of the Rio Grande river in Matamoros, Mexico, before making the treacherous crossing

Migrants from El Salvador cross the Rio Grande river to the U.S. side, from Matamoros, Mexico

Texas National Guards stand guard on the bank of the Rio Grande river with newly erected barbed wire

The Texas National Guard and Texas Department of Public Safety have erected barbed wire

Migrants can be seen up against the razor wire set up by Texas troopers

Troopers can be seen up against the wire as hopeful migrants look on to be let into the U.S.

Migrants arrive to the Mexican side of the bank of the Rio Grande river, with plans to cross to the U.S., from Matamoros on Thursday

Migrants wait in the cold at a gate in the border fence after crossing from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico into El Paso, Texas, in the early hours of Thursday morning

Title 42 allowed U.S. officials to turn away migrants who came to the U.S.-Mexico border on the grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19.

Before that, migrants could cross illegally, ask for asylum and be allowed into the U.S.. They were then screened and often released to wait out their immigration cases.

Under Title 42, migrants were returned back over the border and denied the right to seek asylum. U.S. officials turned away migrants more than 2.8 million times. Families and children traveling alone were exempt.

But there were no real consequences when someone illegally crossed the border. So migrants were able to try again and again to cross, on the off chance that they would get into the U.S.

President Joe Biden initially kept Title 42 in place after he took office, then tried to end its use in 2022. Republicans sued, arguing that the restrictions were necessary border security. Courts had kept the rules in place. But the Biden administration announced in January that it was ending national COVID-19 emergencies, and so the border restrictions are now going away.

Biden has said the new changes are necessary, in part because Congress has passed no immigration reform in decades.

But at 11:59pm on Thursday, the Title 42 restrictions will lift.

A migrant gestures to Texas National Guards standing behind razor wire on the bank of the Rio Grande river, seen from Matamoros, Mexico

A wave of cross the Rio Grande in Matamoros on the last day before Title 42 authority expires

Soldiers observe migrants after crossing the Rio Grande to try to enter the United States, in Matamoros, Mexico

Border officials are overwhelmed with the amount of migrants crossing the border illegally in anticipation of the end of Title 42

The Biden administration has put into place a series of new policies that crack down on illegal crossings. The administration says it's trying to stop people from paying smuggling operations to make a dangerous and often deadly journey.

Now, there will be strict consequences. Migrants caught crossing illegally will not be allowed to return for five years and they can face criminal prosecution if they do.

Under U.S. and international law, anyone who comes to the U.S. can ask for asylum. People from all over the world come to the U.S-Mexico border to seek asylum in the U.S.

They are screened to determine whether they have a credible fear of persecution in their homeland.

Their case then goes to the immigration court system to determine if they can stay in the U.S., but that process can take years. Usually they are released into the U.S. to wait their cases out.

The Biden administration is now turning away anyone seeking asylum who didn't first seek protection in a country they traveled through, or first applied online.

This is a version of a Trump administration policy that was overturned by the courts, so it's not clear whether this restriction will hold up. A lawsuit is expected.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas explained Thursday that the end of Title 42 meant migrants would now be processed under Title 8

Hours before Title 42 was lifted, hundreds of migrants lined up on U.S. soil in Yuma, Arizona to begin the process of applying for asylum. Numbers have surged in recent days

A couple of migrants watch as the Texas National Guard add more rows of barbed-wire around a gate in the border fence into El Paso, Texas, in the early hours of Thursday

A migrant couple struggles while carrying their baby as they approach a gate in the border fence after crossing from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico into El Paso, Texas, in the early on Thursday

The U.S. has said it will accept up to 30,000 per month from Venezuela, Haiti, Nicaragua and Cuba as long as they come by air, have a sponsor and apply online first.

The government will also allow up to 100,000 people from Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras into the U.S. who have family here if they, too, apply online. Border officials will deport people otherwise, including turning 30,000 a month from Venezuela, Haiti, Nicaragua and Cuba back over the border to Mexico.

Other migrants may be allowed in, too, if they apply through the CBP One app. Right now, 740 people per day have been allowed in through the app and they're increasing it up to 1,000 per day.

Families crossing the border illegally will be subject to curfews, and the head of household will have to wear an ankle monitoring bracelet. Immigration officials will try to determine within 30 days whether a family can stay in the U.S. or be deported. Usually that process would take years.
White is considered one of the most prolific X-rated actresses

The 'Meryl Streep of porn' thanked Professor Constance Powley for the invite

Adult film star Angela White recently stopped by the University of California, Santa Barbara to give a guest lecture that is part of a 'groundbreaking' film studies course.

The X-rated actress in a post on Instagram last week thanked Professor Constance Penley for inviting her to join in on the series.

'This is my third time as a guest speaker at this Film Studies class that approaches p*rnography as worthy of serious inquiry as a genre and as popular culture,' White wrote.

Students in the class and fans of the actress reportedly went wild over her appearance and some thanked the 'Meryl Streep of porn' for her work in tackling industry stereotypes.

'Congratulations! And I am glad to hear p*orngraphy is being recognized as a popular film genre and a part of culture,' one fan wrote under her post.

Adult film star Angela White recently stopped by the University of California, Santa Barbara to give a guest lecture that is part of a 'groundbreaking' film studies course

Students in the class and fans of the actress reportedly went wild over her appearance and some thanked the 'Meryl Streep of porn' for her work in tackling industry stereotypes

In addition to thanking Penley, White applauded the students who welcomed her with open arms into their lecture hall.

'Thank you to the incredible students who asked well-informed, thought-provoking questions about my career as a performer/director, my academic research, and my time in politics,' she wrote in the post.

The actress is referencing her run for a government seat in Australia - her home country.

White also has an honors degree in gender studies from the University of Melbourne.

It may have been a no-brainer for Penley - who works in the Department on Feminist Studies at UCSB according to the school's website - to invite White to join in.

'While it has been a number of years since my research dissertation was published in "The Routledge Companion to Media, Sex, and Sexuality," academic pursuit remains an interest of mine and something I wish to return to in the future,' White wrote.

The woman appeared in a black turtle neck and black business pants to deliver her lecture in which she was labeled as an 'adult entertainer, entrepreneur, academic, politician, and a creative.'

Immediately after posting, the star's fans went wild for her photo and video from the Santa Barbara University's campus.

'Thank you for championing pornographic content in academic spaces Angela,' one person wrote.

'Truly no end to your talents,' another added in.

'Please come back next year Angela!! I'll be back in SB for my Ph.D then and would love to see you!!!!!!' one commenter chimed in.

White posted this caption alongside the photo and video of her at UCSB

'While it has been a number of years since my research dissertation was published in "The Routledge Companion to Media, Sex, and Sexuality," academic pursuit remains an interest of mine and something I wish to return to in the future,' White wrote

Immediately after posting, the star's fans went wild for her photo and video from the Santa Barbara university's campus

Fans applauded her for championing the pornography industry

Despite recent on-set injuries, White has assured fans she is not retiring anytime soon

The lecture visit sparked fears that the star might be retiring to pursue other goals.

Just recently, however, White said she would not be retiring from porn anytime soon.

That announcement was lambasted by fans who said she needs to give her body a break following reports of on-set injuries.

Angela said she was doing just fine and in fact 'loves' her physically taxing job.
The mother of a 15-year-old boy who was allegedly caught trying to steal the keys to a family's car has apologised for her son's behaviour - but says she can't do anything about it.

A Toowoomba family woke up as two teenage boys rummaged through their home trying to steal the keys for their Audi, at about 6am on Thursday.

One of the teens managed to flee the scene, but his mate wasn't so lucky and was captured by the homeowners and held inside the home until the police arrived.

There was no violence between the boy and the homeowners before he was arrested.

'The perpetrator told us that they were wanting to steal the Audi,' the homeowner said.

'It is out of control, and more people are going to get hurt if they're left, allowed on the streets'.

His mother, whose identity can not be revealed, told the media she is 'sorry' for the victims because she can't do anything about her son's crimes.

'He keeps going to jail, and the people there keep putting him out,' she said.

A mother of an alleged serial car thief has apologised to the community after her son, 15, was allegedly caught in a Toowoomba home looking to steal a family's Audi

Police charged the teenager with one count of entering a dwelling with intent.

He is expected to appear at Toowoomba Children's Court.

That same teenager was allegedly in a stolen vehicle that crashed through a BP service station near Toowoomba over the weekend.

Last year he was involved in another incident in another alleged stolen car. A 13- year-old was his accomplice who died in that crash.

It comes after two people were charged after an angry mob of nearly 100 people formed at the footsteps of alleged criminals in Rockhampton on Sunday.

The 15-year-old was held at the family's home until police arrived, charging him with one count entering a dwelling with intent

The mob was led by ex-kickboxer turned One Nation candidate, Torin O'Brien, amid a surge in youth crime in the city.

The protesters gathered in Central Park in North Rockhampton, surrounding two homes, banging on windows and doors.

'I 100 per cent understand people are frustrated and they're angry,' Detective Inspector Luke Peachey told reporters on Thursday.

'I'm a resident here too, I've lived here for 25 years now - it disgusts me some of the behaviour going on now with our property offences.

'But the last thing we can have is untrained people going around and trying to take matters into their own hands.'

The two locals were charged with trespassing offences.
Selfish cyclists in central London who abandon rented e-bikes rouge on the street could be slapped with a daily fine by rental companies.

Plans have been drawn by Westminster City Council to install docking stations across the borough in the next coming months.

If e-bike users fail to use the station and comply with the rules, they could be slapped with a penalty of up to 20 and continue to be charged until they have correctly parked the bike.

This potential change was introduced after the council were faced with an increasing problem which caused issues for those with mobility challenges and the visually impaired, according to the Telegraph.

These stations will be built in various places across the borough including car parking spots.

Selfish cyclists who abandon e-bikes in Central London set to be fined 20 under new Westminster City Council plans

The new stations will be built in various places across the borough including car parking spots

It was estimated that around 500 stations would need to be installed across Westminster

The plans, which are not yet finalised, are being supported by e-bike rental companies.

Lime, one of many e-bike rental companies, has suggested that its fining system would be similar to what it currently uses in other boroughs, with an initial warning, before incremental rises from 2 to 20.

There are also plans to install a 'geo-fence' around the edge of the borough. If the bike is incorrectly parked in that area they will continue to be charged until they park it correctly.

Cabinet member for city management and air quality, Paul Dimoldenberg, told the Telegraph: 'We've been working with the e-bike companies as to possible locations for these parking bays and we hope to start installing them within the next few months.'

While plans are being discussed many concerns have been raised. One that the system would only work as long as there were enough docking bays installed.

It was estimated that around 500 stations would need to be installed across Westminster.

Cyclists can expect to see a similar structure implemented to those in Islington, Hammersmith and Fulham, and the City of London.
A French actress and filmmaker, who will be directing and co-starring in Johnny Depp's Cannes comeback film, has admitted to spitting in the face of journalist.

Actress Maiwenn Le Besco, 47, confirmed in an interview that she had spit in the face of an investigative journalist and founder of the website that published a scandalous story exposing her ex-husband for allegedly raping several women.

Edwy Plenel, founder of investigative news site Mediapart, claimed that while dining out at a restaurant in Paris, Ms Besco approached his table before cocking back her head and spitting directly in his face.

Ms Besco, who is known mononymously as Maiwenn, confirmed that she had assaulted Mr Plenel in an interview on French talk show Quotidien.

When asked if she had spit at the journalist, Maiwenn said: 'Do I confirm that I assaulted him?'

Ms Besco (pictured), who is known mononymously as Maiwenn, confirmed that she had assaulted Mr Plenel in an interview on French talk show Quotidien

Johnny Depp's new film (pictured) will be opening the influential Cannes film festival this year and is the first indication of his film career getting back track after the drama-filled court battle with ex-wife Amber Heard (Pictured: Maiwenn and Johnny Depp on set)

The director admitted she had spat in the face of journalist Edwy Plenel (pictured)

After a long silence, Maiwenn admitted: 'Yes'.

But the French filmmaker said that now was 'not the time' to discuss the incident because she was 'very anxious' about the release of her new film.

She added: 'I'll speak about it when I'm ready.

In his formal complaint against the actress, Mr Plenel wrote that the attack was 'damaging on a moral and psychological level' and he was left feeling 'very traumatised'.

In 2018, Mediapart reported that several women had come forward to accuse Maiwenn's ex-husband and filmmaker Luc Besson of rape and sexual assault.

Besson, who directed the 1995 film Leon, met the actress when she was only 12 years-old, marrying her when she was 16 when he was 31.

Leon, which was also written by Besson, portrayed Natalie Portman as a 12-year-old Lolita figure under the guardianship of a much older man, who infamously performs a sexually proactive dance to Madonna's Like a Virgin while wearing a bra and white shorts.

Maiwenn described the film as a 'love story between a 12-year-old girl and a 30-year-old man [that] was still very much inspired by ours.'

Last year, French prosecutors dropped a series of rape allegations made against Mr Besson because of a lack of evidence.

Actress Maiwenn Le Besco (pictured), 47, confirmed in an interview that she had spit in the face of an investigative journalist and founder of the website that published a scandalous story exposing her ex-husband for allegedly raping several women

Besson (pictured), who directed the 1995 film Leon, met Maiwenn when she was only 12 years-old, marrying her when she was 16 when he was 31

The 1995 film Leon, which was written by Besson, portrayed Natalie Portman (pictured) as a 12-year-old Lolita figure under the guardianship of a much older man

The pair divorced in 1997 but Maiwenn has remained friends with Mr Besson, who is also the father of one of her children.

Maiwenn, who has been a vocal critic of the #MeToo movement, suggested that 'women abused by men are often fragile women,' in an interview with French magazine Paris Match.

She also accused feminists of being 'women who do not like men'.

In the interview with Paris match, she added: 'Now, me, if I agree to go to a man's room at 1am, I suspect that it is not to talk about a role.'

Depp's new film will be opening the influential Cannes film festival this year and is the first indication of his film career getting back track after the drama-filled court battle with ex-wife Amber Heard.

The Hollywood A-lister will be playing French king Louis XV in a historic biopic detailing the life of Jeanne du Barry, who will be played by Maiwenn.

The Pirates of the Caribbean star was left disgraced following intimate, and often disturbing, revelations about their abusive marriage with Heard during the trial.

Last year, gossip spread that his co-star and on-screen love interest played by Maiwenn, who is also directing the film, had a turbulent relationship on-set after Depp repeatedly turned up late.
An organised crime ring which has carried out explosions to steal tens of thousands of pounds of sacred silver is feared to be targeting churches across the country.

The thieves are believed to have hit four churches so far for their historic chalices, candlesticks, crucifixes and plates locked away in safe storage.

One holy heist saw 25 pieces of communion silver, including a 450-year-old Elizabethan chalice worth 30,000, stolen from a locked safe in the vestry of Lady St Mary Church in Wareham, Dorset.

The burglars smashed a lead window to get into the Grade I listed, 10th century building and used angle grinders to break open heavy oak doors.

They then drilled a hole in the door of the 3ft tall safe before placing explosives inside to force the door open.

Damage at the bottom of the window where the gang broke into the Lady St Mary Church in Wareham, Dorset

The bottom of the window (circled) where the gang broke into the Lady St Mary Church, making off with 25 pieces of sacred silver

Similar thefts have taken place in two churches in Suffolk and another one in Lancashire. Police have confirmed they are looking into whether they are linked.

Police and the Church of England have warned other churches to be vigilent.

Canon Simon Everett described the attack on the Lady St Mary Church in Wareham as a 'very professional crime'.

The gang struck overnight on April 14-15 while he was asleep in the Rectory.

They cut the electrics in case the church had CCTV cameras and then broke into every locked door inside the church before finding the safe in a store room.

Their haul included the 7ins tall Elizabethan chalice and a chalice dating to the time of Charles II. Several items belonging to neighbouring churches that were being stored there as they didn't have their own safes were also taken.

There are fears the precious items could now be melted down.

The thieves also used a lubricant, possibly WD40, to prevent their fingerprints being foun

The 450-year-old Elizabethan chalice worth 30,000, which was among 25 pieces stolen from Lady St Mary Church in Wareham

Canon Everett said: "They broke through one of the chancel leaded windows. We have beautiful stained glass windows which were not interfered with fortunately.

"Once inside they could open up the church and they went through trying all the locked doors and forcing them open. In the case of the vestry, they used an angle grinder to break the lock.

"They tried drilling out the locks of the safe, when they didn't have any joy they drilled a hole in the middle of the door and put a small explosive charge below the mechanism.

"I don't know how much of a noise it would have made. It didn't blow the door off its hinges, it just blew the locking mechanism.

"It was very professionally done. There was no trace of DNA or fingerprints or anything. They cut all the electrics in case there were security cameras, they knew exactly what they were doing.

"They interfered with nothing else in the church, they just took all the silver.

"We don't know how they knew. It's a puzzle to all of us - we don't know if they just took a chance that a lot of churches might have silver.

Thieves blasted open the safe (pictured) in the church using explosives

"These pieces were of considerable value and historic, some dated back to Elizabeth I. We haven't had the valuations yet but there were really important pieces in there.

"What is really upsetting is they have desecrated a holy place. A lot of these items were given in memory of loved ones. It's a real violation of a sacred space that's important to the people of Wareham.

"People are shocked and outraged, they just can't believe it. It's so audacious. They got away with so much and there seems to be nothing to go on.

"The really sad part is some of them are really significant pieces and it would be horrendous to think they are just going to be melted down.

"I don't think the value of the silver itself would be that great compared to the historical value. They are irreplaceable."

The church is still waiting on valuations for the stolen items but an expert has indicated the pieces are worth tens of thousands.

The Elizabethan chalice, which is engraved with the church's name, is 7.25in tall and dates to 1574. Similar pieces are available for sale online for up to 27,000.

A 362-year-old silver chalice made in Charles II era would be worth about 8,000.

One of the items which belonged to the Church of St Nicholas at Arne that was taken was an elaborate Victorian chalice which is Medieval style and decorated with garnet stones, which is dated 1868.

Also taken were various silver ciboriums and patens - receptacles for holding communion bread - ranging across the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries as well as a wine jug and a pyx - small round communion container.

Two similar incidents took place in Suffolk.

Thieves stole a Victorian cross and a lectern from St Mary's Church in Burstall between April 9-11 and St Michael's Church in Woolvestone had a number of brass items stolen on April 18 - five candlesticks, two vases, two small organ candelabra and candlestick cups.

In Lancashire criminals targeted St Mary's Church in Goosnargh on April 10-11. There they drilled out the locks on two safes and stole cash and multiple silverware items 'of significant value'.

Lancashire Police acknowledged the thefts could be linked. A spokeswoman said: "We are aware that there have been burglaries at churches in other parts of the country and we are linked in with the forces involved."

She added: "We ask antiques dealers and those attending antiques fairs and auctions to be vigilant with regards to property which might have been stolen in burglaries at churches.

"If they are suspicious that items they see are stolen, please report it to police. We want to see items returned to their rightful owners."

Police Constable Ryan Dunkerley, of Dorset police, said: "We are conducting enquiries and I am keen to hear from anyone who may have information that could assist our investigation.

"I would also like to speak to anyone who comes across silverware being offered for sale locally or online in suspicious circumstances."
The head of advertising for NBCUniversal is in talks to be the new CEO of Twitter, it was reported on Thursday - hours after Elon Musk announced he had hired a woman for the role, without naming her.

Yaccarino, who currently works as chair of global advertising and partnerships at NBCU, could be leaving the NBCU role she's held for more than a decade as The Wall Street Journal reported she is in talks to take the helm of the social platform.

It comes after Musk, who bought Twitter in October 2022, tweeted: 'Excited to announce that I've a new CEO for X/Twitter. She will be starting in ~6 weeks!

'My role will transition to being exec chair & CTO (chief technology officer), overseeing product, software & sysops.'

Musk has not yet revealed the identity of his new CEO. He has slashed around 70 percent of Twitter's staff since buying the firm for $44 billion, including its entire executive team.

Linda Yaccarino is reportedly in talks to be the new CEO of Twitter

Yaccarino is seen with Elon Musk on April 18 at the POSSIBLE marketing conference in Miami

Elon Musk announced the news on Twitter, but did not reveal the identity of the new CEO

Twitter CEO Elon Musk says he's hired a new female CEO to take over from him - but he's yet to name her

Yaccarino has played a pivotal role in calling for more effect advertising.

She played a central role in the launch of NBCU's ad-supported Peacock streaming service.

Yaccarino and Musk have not commented on The Wall Street Journal's report.

An NBCU spokesman told the paper that Yaccarino is busy preparing a presentation to advertisers.

Musk is also the CEO of Tesla and rocket maker SpaceX.

Immediately following his announcement, Tesla's shares jumped more than 2 percent, in a sign that investors were pleased about the move.

A group of shareholders publicly urged the board in April to ensure that Musk dedicated more time to the company.

The letter said they had become 'increasingly concerned with governance and leadership issues at the company.'

When Musk took over Twitter on October 28, he immediately made his mark - but his tenure has not been without controversy.

Changes such as the Twitter Blue subscription and bringing back previously banned users to the platform have been met with widespread backlash.

He has also laid off thousands of the company's workforce in an effort to significantly cut costs.

Tesla shares jumped following Musk's announcement on Twitter on Thursday

Musk immediately made his mark after taking over as CEO of Twitter on October 28, 2022

He attempted to develop the site's subscription feature as a means of supplementing its advertising revenue.

Under the new system, users would have to pay an $8 monthly fee in order to have their account verified - and receive the site's signature blue tick.

Previously, the site would award a verified account to notable figures such as politicians, celebrities and journalists.

However Twitter appeared to partially backtrack on its new model by reinstating some legacy accounts including LeBron James and William Shatner.

Twitter also suffered a user outage in February that lasted for hours and required an emergency fix, prompting an apology from the company.

On Wednesday, he announced a new encrypted messaging privacy feature was announced as part of Twitter's goal to become he 'most trusted platform on the internet'.

However, on Thursday he warned users that the feature should not be trusted, and that it was 'not quite there yet' despite his initial jokes that he could not view messages even with a 'gun to [his] head'.

Musk's announcement came after he pledged in December to step down as the head of Twitter as soon as he found someone 'foolish enough to take the job.'

It also came days after Musk denied that he had signed a deal with ex-Fox host Tucker Carlson, who revealed that he planned to relaunch his show on Twitter.

The ousted television host made the announcement in a three-minute video posted to his Twitter page on Tuesday, in which he slammed the mainstream media and said anyone who tries to tell the truth 'will be fired.'

'The best you can hope for in the news business at this point is the freedom to tell the fullest truth that you can, but there are always limits,' Carlson told his fans.

'If you bump up against those limits often enough you will be fired for it. That's not a guess, it's guaranteed.'

He posted the video along with a tweet saying: 'We're back.'

But Musk denied any special agreement had been reached with Carlson, and that he was subject to 'the same rules' as all content creators.

'I also want to be clear that we have not signed a deal of any kind whatsoever. Tucker is subject to the same rules & rewards of all content creators,' Musk tweeted, in response to Carlson's video.

'Rewards means subscriptions and advertising revenue share (still working on software needed for latter), which is a function of how many people subscribe and the advertising views associated with his content.'

Musk added he would like others to follow Carlson's lead.

'I hope that many others, particularly from the left, also choose to be content creators on this platform,' Musk said.
There were 'no concerns' about the 'integrity' of Richard Sharp during his time as BBC chairman, a probe by the broadcaster has revealed.

Mr Sharp was forced to announce he was resigning from the role at the end of last month over failing to disclose his involvement in Boris Johnson's finances.

An independent report in April found the BBC boss, who took up the role in 2021, had twice breached the rules on public appointments.

But a separate 'conflict of interests' review, released by the BBC on Thursday, found no issues about his behaviour during his time there.

As a result of Thursday's review, rules around the chairman and board members meeting 'senior political figures' will be tightened, with stricter record-keeping of such meetings.

Richard Sharp was forced to resign chairman of the BBC over his failure to disclose his involvement in Boris Johnson's finances

This came after the review found that Mr Sharp had three meetings with Boris Johnson that had 'not been noted in BBC records'.

The probe was carried out by three non-executive members of the board's Nominations Committee - Sir Nick Serota, Dame Elan Closs Stephens and Shirley Garrood.

It looked into Mr Sharp's obligations in respect of conflicts of interest since his appointment as chairman.

The review concluded there were 'no concerns in respect of the chairman's integrity' while in the role.

(Stock photo) The BBC's review concluded there were 'no concerns' about Richard Sharp's 'integrity' but said 'relevant declarations should have been made at the outset of his tenure'

But it noted the 'relevant declarations should have been made at the outset of his tenure', to 'avoid any potential perceived conflicts of interest'.

The BBC said following the review there should be a 'clearer process by which meetings between Board members and senior political figures - including social events - were diarised and notified to the BBC and to officials and subsequently minuted'.

Yesterday, former BBC director-general Lord Tony Hall said the Prime Minister 'ought to' give up the power to select the BBC chair.

Lord Hall, who sits on the House of Lords communications and digital committee, called for more transparency on who is being appointed to the panel who recommend the BBC chair.
Radio star Ray Hadley has secured a $10 million contract with Sydney's 2GB and Brisbane's 4BC after signing with the stations until 2026.

Hadley revealed the news of his contract extension on Friday morning following speculation about the veteran broadcaster's future.

'After sitting down with Tom Malone [Nine Radio's managing director] over an extended period, and then gaining the support of my wife Sophie, I decided to accept an offer to extend my current deal,' Hadley said.

'I'm looking forward to the next three years as much as I've enjoyed the past 22 years at 2GB.

'I'm also excited to be back at the Olympic Games in Paris 2024  my 7th Olympics  and again, I'll be the lead commentator at the swimming and track and field (for Nine Radio).

Radio star Ray Hadley is pictured with his wife Sophie Baird. He has just signed a mega deal with Nine Radio

Radio host Ray Hadley has signed with the broadcasters until 2026

'If you like what I do, well, I guess you'd be happy. If you don't like what I do - bad luck.

'I'll continue to do what I have always done in broadcasting: try to get justice for those that have been unrepresented and hold politicians to account.

'I'll play plenty of country music, and most importantly, try to have fun.'

The broadcaster, 68, was famously offered a job on radio while working as a cab driver after giving the news director a ride in the 1980s.

Since then, he's become one of the nation's most trusted media personalities, and has gone on to win 148 consecutive morning radio surveys on Sydney's 2GB.

'People quite often denigrate cab drivers. I am referred to as an ex-cabbie as if it's some sort of an embarrassment,' Hadley told Media Week.

'But there is no mistaking that if I hadn't driven that cab on that Tuesday night, I wouldn't be talking to you right now.'

In 2021, Hadley married his former secretary Sophie Baird.

Ray proposed to Sophie - who was his personal assistant for 16 years - in October of 2019 as he left home to call the NRL grand final between the Sydney Roosters and Canberra Raiders at Sydney Olympic Park.

With a combined three previous marriages, the loved-up pair have six adult children.

They include Daniel, 30, and Laura, 28, from Hadleys first marriage with Anne Marie, Emma and Sarah from his second with Suzanne  and Nick, 21, and Jessie, 19, from Sophie's previous marriage.

Hadley is no stranger to the highs and lows of life and admitted his new marriage made him a happier man

Hadley's been no stranger to the highs and lows of life and has previously confessed that Baird has made him a happier person.

Speaking to Men's Health, the radio host admitted: 'Just being with her calms you down. I was a very unhappy person for a long time.

'I'm not blaming anyone for my unhappiness, but I was very unhappy. Professionally, I was happy, but personally, I was very unhappy, without knowing I was unhappy or why,' he said.

In 2018, his son Daniel was forced to quit the police force in the wake of being charged with possessing cocaine.

Hadley senior has described the heartbreak of learning of his only son's mental health and drug problems after his widely-publicised arrest.

'We had no idea that he was battling mentally with these issues - and had been battling, according to his GP - for quite some time,' he said.
The ritual of learning how to change gear is fast becoming a thing of the past as learner drivers are increasingly learning on automatics.

The sight of L-plate drivers struggling with clutch control, and grinding gears - often to mum and dad's horror on the family car - is drifting into history's rear view mirror.

New research shows that nearly a third of new drivers now get automatic-only licences.

The number of motorists learning to drive a manual car has plummeted in recent years thanks partly to the rising popularity of electric vehicles.

In the 2000s, 94 per cent of learner drivers learned in a manual. In the 1990s it was 96 per cent and in the 1980s it was higher still, at 98 per cent.

In the 2000s, 94 per cent of learner drivers learned in a manual. In the 1990s it was 96 per cent and in the 1980s it was higher still, at 98 per cent (Stock image)

But new figures from car marketplace Cinch show that just 69 per cent of those who learned to drive in the last three years did so in a manual vehicle, with 31 per cent opting for an automatic-only licence instead.

It comes after the Government moved to ban the sale of all new conventional petrol and diesel cars and vans in the UK in 2030.

The hunt for automatic vehicles is on the rise as the Government has doubled down on its commitment to phasing out petrol and diesel vehicles in favour of electric cars and vans.

The UK is aiming for all new cars and vans be fully zero emission at the tailpipe from 2035 while, between 2030 and 2035, new cars and vans can be sold if they have the capability to drive a significant distance with zero emissions.

New figures from car marketplace Cinch show that just 69 per cent of those who learned to drive in the last three years did so in a manual vehicle, with 31 per cent opting for an automatic-only licence instead (Stock image)

New research has shown that manual cars could soon be a thing of the past as a quarter - 23 per cent - of learner drivers chose to learn in a petrol or diesel automatic car with eight per cent learning to drive in an automatic electric car.

Thirty-five per cent of automatic-only drivers polled said that as there is a push for all cars will be electric in the future, there's simply no need to learn to drive manual.

In addition, four in ten (40 per cent) insist they 'never plan to own a manual' and 29 per cent claim they simply couldn't work out how to use a clutch.

Data shows the increasing popularity of driving an automatic is directly impacting the type of first cars buyers choose, with just 61 per cent now opting for a manual vehicle.

A staggering 38 per cent of people now get an automatic for their first car, with six per cent of those opting for an electric vehicle.

This is a sharp shift from previous generations - in the 2000s just eight per cent of people got an automatic as their first car.

Thirty-five per cent of automatic-only drivers polled said that as there is a push for all cars will be electric in the future, there's simply no need to learn to drive manual (Stock image)

Sam Sheehan, motoring editor at Cinch, said: 'Just a few years ago, learning how to operate a clutch was a tricky - yet vital - part of learning to drive, with an automatic licence often not considered a 'full' licence.

'But, as automatic cars have become more affordable, they are becoming more popular on UK roads. As such, an automatic is a more realistic option for first-time car buyers.

'What's more, the upcoming ban on new petrol and diesel engines from 2030 will see fewer cars with clutches on our roads, as fully electric vehicles don't have them.

'It's realistic to say that in a few decades time, the art of clutch control could die out almost entirely.' Cinch research also shows the average cost of a first is increasing, and currently stands at 6,600.'

Now, just 26 per cent of people buy what they describe as a 'runaround', a car that is affordable to buy and has low fuel economy, insurance and road tax costs, as their first vehicle.

This compares to over half (57 per cent) of first-time car buyers in the 2000s.
Hewlett-Packard, or HP, have disabled the printers of customers who used ink cartridges from cheaper rival companies.

This sparked an outrage after they issued a 'firmware' update blocking customers from using cheaper, non-HP ink cartridges in their printers.

HP printers will now not work unless they are fitted with the approved ink cartridges after they were remotely updated.

If the cartridges are not fitted with a HP microchip, which are typically more expensive, the machine will refuse to print any documents.

HP ink cartridges can cost more than double the price of third-party offerings.

HP printers will now not work unless they are fitted with the approved ink cartridges after they were remotely updated

HP ink cartridges can cost more than double the price of third-party offerings

Signing up for a HP ink subscription can set customers back by 4.49 a month to print 100 pages

The printer company told the Telegraph it issued the update to reduce the risk of malware attacks, saying 'third-party cartridges that use non-HP chips or circuitry can pose risks to the hardware performance, print quality, and security.'

According to their website, the printer company also blocked the use of other ink cartridges in order to 'maintain the integrity of our printing systems, and protect our intellectual property'.

Before the update, HP printers would issue an alter to customers when they didn't use HP branded ink but now the machines will not work at all if they are used.

Many angry customers took to social media complaining about the update claiming they felt 'cheated' by the update.

Signing up for a HP ink subscription can set customers back by 4.49 a month to print 100 pages.

This subscription ranges from 99p for 10 pages per month to 22.40 for 700 pages.

It's unclear which printer models are or will be affected by this change in the future.

This is not the first time HP has outraged its customers by blocking the use of other ink cartridges.

The firm has been forced to pay out millions in compensation to customers in America, Australia and across Europe since it first introduced dynamic security measures back in 2016.
A toddler died during a dream family holiday to Disneyland Paris after coming down with Covid and another common virus.

Dylan Findlay died just hours after landing in France with big brother Niall and parents Alison and Robert.

A post-mortem examination found the 22-month-old had Covid-19 and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a common bug which usually causes mild cold-like symptoms.

Mr and Mrs Findlay, of Inverurie, Aberdeenshire, confirmed Dylan had been refused a preventative treatment for RSV by doctors.

Mrs Findlay said: 'We'll never know the difference that could have made to him.'

Dylan Findlay (pictured) died just hours after landing in France with big brother Niall and parents Alison and Robert

The parents of Dylan Findlay paid tribute to their son who died during a holiday to Disneyland Paris. Alison and Robert Findlay were on holiday with Dylan's older brother Niall

Dylan had been given the all-clear to go on his first holiday in March after being treated for a condition which affects one in 5,000 children. He was born six-and-a-half weeks prematurely in May 2021 and spent three months in hospital with tracheo-oesophageal fistula, meaning he relied on a feeding tube.

However, his condition had been stable for the past year and he loved playing with brother Niall, four, so the couple got permission from doctors to plan a trip to Disneyland Paris.

But on the day they arrived he started vomiting and as his condition worsened his parents called an ambulance and paid for a GP to come to the hotel.

Dylan lost consciousness and died despite the doctor and Mrs Findlay carrying out CPR and paramedics using a defibrillator.

Though a post-mortem showed he had RSV and Covid, he had shown no obvious symptoms.

Mrs Findlay paid tribute to their 'wee warrior' after wellwishers donated more than 2,000 worth of toys to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary to mark what would have been Dylan's second birthday this month.

Mrs Findlay said: 'Just because his life was short, doesn't mean it wasn't a good life. Dylan was happy, cheeky, always smiling.

'We're just heartbroken to think he's no longer with us.' Her husband added: 'We may have only had Dylan with us for a short time, but he brought so much love into our lives. We're thankful for that.'

Dylan lost consciousness and died despite the doctor and Mrs Findlay carrying out CPR and paramedics using a defibrillator. Pictured: Disneyland Paris (File image)

The family are also questioning whether Dylan would have benefited from a preventative antibody treatment for RSV, which he had received the previous winter.

Unlike Covid, there is no vaccine for RSV but high-risk youngsters can be given the drug palivizumab, delivered in several monthly injections. Mrs Findlay said: 'Dylan contracted RSV last winter and if he had not had the preventative drug it could have been a lot worse.

'Then this winter he didn't get it, he didn't fall into the guidelines of those who were eligible and it's obviously been a lot worse.

'I think things would have been different but we can't say for sure. He had no signs of being ill so we didn't know.

'But he wasn't classed as vulnerable enough to have the RSV antibody. It is expensive.'

Mr Findlay, who works at Aberdeen University, added: 'We want to highlight it was nothing to do with the condition he was born with, it was unrelated and was something that could have happened to any little one. He contracted RSV and Covid and that's what the initial autopsy showed was likely the cause of death.'

NHS Grampian follows the National Institute for Healthcare and Excellence guidelines on the use of palivizumab. These state it should be prescribed 'under specialist supervision and on the basis of the likelihood of hospitalisation'.
As many as one million migrants arrived in the UK last year, double the last recorded numbers, official figures are expected to reveal.

Between 650,000 and 997,000 more people may have arrived in the UK than left in 2022, according to analysis.

This would well surpass the previous peak of 504,000, which was set in the year June 2021 to 2022.

The rise is expected to have been driven by the influx of Ukrainian refugees, as well as more international students and NHS staff arriving.

Pressure is now piling on Rishi Sunak to get migration under control, with senior Tories criticising the government over its failure to deliver on its promises.

The net migration rise is expected to have been driven by the influx of Ukrainian refugees, as well as more international students and NHS staff arriving

Former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith told The Sun: 'It looks like it will be a worrying set of figures. It's going to be a huge problem for the Conservative Party.

'We have pledged repeatedly to reduce net migration and haven't.

'A city the size of Leeds coming here in a year might boost our economy but will push down wages, British productivity and make our housing crisis even worse.'

Karl Williams, of the Centre for Policy Studies, told The Daily Telegraph that one million is 'at the very top end of our estimates but by no means an implausible figure'.

If it climbs to the highest estimate of one million in one year, net migration would top the combined four years before Brexit.

The Home Office has said: 'The public rightly expect us to control our borders and we remain committed to reducing net migration over time.'

The ONS is set to confirm the 2022 migration total on May 25.
Republican Senator Ted Cruz was in Brownsville, Texas on Thursday evening to take a look at the border crisis for himself hours before Title 42 restrictions are set fo expire.

Cruz appeared furious as he was surrounded by members of the Border Patrol and the Texas National Guard', accusing the Biden administration of 'deliberately' creating the situation.

'We are witnessing an absolute travesty unfolding on our southern border,' Cruz began in a four minute rant.

'On Monday we apprehended over 10,000 people on the border - the highest level in history. On Tuesday we apprehended over 10,000 people on the border again the highest level in history. There are right now, where we're standing, more than 22,000 people camped just south of the border, getting ready to come across,' Cruz explained.

'Just in this location, in less than a month, we've had over 35,000 Venezuelans cross illegally just right here,' he explained.

Republican Senator Ted Cruz visited Brownsville, Texas on Thursday evening to observe the border crisis just hours before the expiration of Title 42 restrictions

Cruz thanked Border Patrol and Troopers stationed along the border for their help calling them 'heroes'

'Every day just right here they're encountering 90 to 100 Chinese nationals. For anyone that doesn't have a globe nearby, China is not immediately to the south of the United States.

'They are being smuggled in by Mexican drug cartels and I have to say I am angry because this is deliberate.'

The clock is ticking on the expiration of Title 42, the policy that permits U.S. Border Patrol to quickly deport illegal border crossers, and before new rules go into effect, but this group of migrants decided they couldn't wait any longer.

According to the White House, after Title 42 ends, the U.S. will start enforcing another policy that's long been on the books, called Title 8.

Under this rule, any migrant who illegally enters the U.S. and applies for asylum, without first seeking asylum in another country, will be deported, and potentially banned from the U.S. for 5-years.

Cruz characterized the situation at the border as 'an invasion' accusing the Biden administration of wanting the numbers to increase while praising Border Patrol

Cruz characterized the situation at the border as an invasion and accused the Biden administration of wanting the numbers to increase

Expressing his anger, Cruz accused the Biden administration of intentionally creating the situation, describing it as a travesty

Cruz spoke with members of the U.S. Border Patrol and praised their efforts

A U.S. official reported that daily encounters on Tuesday hit 10,000 - nearly twice the level from March and only slightly below the 11,000 figure that authorities have said is the upper limit of what they expect after Title 42 ends.

The stopping of about 10,000 migrants by the Border Patrol on Tuesday made for one of the agency's busiest days ever.

'This is a decision that was made by President Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and congressional Democrats to open up the border to what is nothing less than an invasion,' Cruz, who has been an ardent critic of the Biden administration, continued.

'Ask yourself, why is President Biden, not here? Why is Kamala not here? Why is Elizabeth Warren not here? Why is AOC why not here with her head buried in her hands? Because they don't give a damn about the dead bodies!' Cruz contended.

'Six weeks ago I asked Secretary Mayorkas how many migrants died in the past year crossing illegally. He said 'I don't know'. The number is 853, but he can't be bothered to worry about that,' Cruz went on.

'We're witnessing modern day slavery and maddeningly what the Biden administration has decided is they want more.

In February, Cruz said that he believed Mayorkas was the 'largest human trafficker on Earth.' And in October of last year, Cruz said his leadership of the southern border was a 'gross dereliction of duty' and 'grounds for impeachment.'

On Thursday evening, Cruz predicted the situation would continue to worsen

President Joe Biden remained in Washington D.C. on Thursday promoting conservation

Migrants cross through the banks of the Rio Grande River to the US, as seen from Matamoros, state of Tamaulupas, Mexico

Hundreds of migrants, mostly from Venezuela, continue arriving by foot at the US-Mexico border, near El Paso, Texas

Migrants wait to attempt get to the U.S. through the Rio Grande River as seen from Matamoros, state of Tamaulipas, Mexico on Thursday

On Thursday evening, Cruz predicted the situation would continue to worsen.

'Title 42 is expiring today and you know what happens tomorrow? Those numbers go up. This is an invasion and they want the numbers to go up.

The men and women from the Border Patrol are heroes. They are extraordinary heroes. We've got your back!'

Cruz then went on to mock the new rules that will come into effect requiring migrants wishing to claim asylum in the U.S. to file their applications using an app.

Currently 740 people per day have been allowed through the CBP One app with numbers increasing it up to 1,000 per day.

'The Biden administration is really proud now that they have apps on their phone. They can fill out an application in two minutes. This is the Amazon version of illegal immigration. They're gonna make it fast and deliver them anywhere in the country,' Cruz quipped.

'We've seen 6 1/2 million people cross illegally since Joe Biden became president and the administration wants 6 1/2 million to be 10 million, to be 12 million to be 15 million, to be 20 million. And the body bags that pile up they can't be bothered to worry about.

'I'll tell you the great State of Texas is on the front lines - the volume is overwhelming - and it's got to stop.'
Hours after the Biden administration insisted its new border immigration strategy would be a success, the stream of migrants crossing on to U.S. soil showed no sign of slowing in Yuma, Arizona.

As the clock ticked down to the end of Title 42, a group of about 50 Peruvians came around the edge of the towering border wall at a run.

One slowed to a trot to shout a question: 'Where's Border Patrol?' Then they were off again trying to escape into the night before a new shift arrived in this dusty corner of south-western America.

Border cities braced this week for the end of Title 42 - a pandemic-era regulation that allowed migrants to be sent straight back to Mexico without even applying for asylum.

It officially ended a minute before midnight eastern time on Thursday.

A Senegalese migrant was seen standing with compatriots while waiting to be processed by Border Patrol officers after crossing from Mexico to the United States, in Yuma, Arizona

Migrants cross from Ciudad JuArez to El Paso, Texas, hours before Title 42 on Thursday night

A group of migrants from Senegal and Mauritania arrived on US soil, just beating the clock on Thursday as the end of Title 42 loomed in Yuma, Arizona

But the surge began days before the deadline, with officials confirming that some 10,000 people have been detained at the border per day this week.

Thousands forded the Rio Grande, which marks the international border to arrive in Brownsville.

In El Paso, they stepped across a muddy stream and through coils of razor wire.

In Yuma, on Thursday night, 53-year-old Ruth raised her hand heavenwards in thanks.

'We praise God for opening the way for us,' she said, as her 12-year-old son skipped alongside her.

But as Title 42 ended, the Biden administration insisted it had a new tough regimen to thwart would-be migrants.

'People who do not use available lawful pathways to enter the U.S. now face tougher consequences, including a minimum five-year ban on re-entry and potential criminal prosecution,' said Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in a statement released a minute before midnight.

'Together with our partners throughout the federal government and Western Hemisphere, we are prepared for this transition.'

The new policy suffered an immediate setback, however.

A judge in Florida ruled the administration could not use parole - effectively releasing unprocessed migrants - in order to relieve pressure on detention facilities.

As they arrived, two patrol vehicles of the Bureau of Land Management ranger service intercepted them. They beat the Title 42 deadline by about 15 minutes

Migrants were seen processed at sunset by Border Patrol officers after crossing from Mexico to the United States, in Yuma, Arizona

In this aerial picture taken on May 11, 2023 migrants line up to board vans after waiting along the border wall to surrender to US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Border Patrol agents for immigration and asylum claim processing

That might not come soon enough for officials in border towns and cities.

With minutes to go, another group of dozens of migrants, this time mostly from Senegal came running into view.

This time they were mostly from Senegal, and this time Bureau of Land Management rangers pulled up to intercept them before they could disappear into the night.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has already run out of room at its holding facilities, with 28,000 migrants, according to the head of the Border Patrol union.

In some places, that means migrants are being released without being properly processed and court dates set.

One of the hotspots is Yuma. On Thursday morning, hundreds of migrants could be seen lining up to be processed by CBP after stepping on to U.S. territory.

Earlier, dozens of Peruvians arrived to find there were no border officers to hand themselves into. They stopped to take water from a bowser and then headed on their way

The minutes before midnight eastern (9pm PST) brought an influx of arrivals in Yuma

Groups from both Peru and Senegal beat the clock just before the expiration of Title 42

A woman was seen stopping to take a sip of water as migrants waited for the end of the pandemic-era border restriction

And hours before Title 42 ended, the city's mayor demanded that Biden declare a national emergency to divert more federal support to border communities.

Mayor Douglas Nicholls said CBP would release 141 illegal migrants on to the streets on Friday, the first such release in two years.

He said the emergency was not unforeseen but that the administration had failed to prepare.

'We see the costs of illegal activity as many migrants fall victim to cartels, who traffic both drugs and humans across the border and into the U.S. in dangerous and often deadly manners,' wrote Nicholls in a letter to Biden.

'These activities are business operations to cartels, and lead to the exploitation and rape and abuse and neglect.'

Migrant families attempted to reach the United States via the Rio Grande from Matamoros, Tamaulipas state, Mexico

Many families were seen with young infants as they made their way through the Rio Grande river

Border patrol agents watched as migrant families attempted to reach the United States via the Rio Grande

Families were seen wading through the water as they braced for the expiration of Title 42

Children were held by their loved one's as they crossed with their parents to the U.S.-Mexico border

Title 42 was activated by the Trump administration to stem the spread of COVID-19. It is a public health measure that allows border authorities to immediately expel arrivals before they could even claim asylum.

But with the pandemic over, it finally expires at midnight eastern time on Thursday.

The Biden administration has rushed through new restrictions, effectively restoring Trump's 'transit ban,' which allows for the deportation of arrivals who did not seek asylum in countries through which they traveled.

Migrants can legally present themselves at the border if they used a mobile app, CBP One, to register in advance.

But that has still left the Biden administration scrambling to get out the message that the gates to the U.S. are not being thrown open.

Mayorkas explained Thursday that the end of Title 42 meant migrants would now be processed under Title 8.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas explained Thursday that the end of Title 42 meant migrants would now be processed under Title 8

Migrants wait along the border wall to surrender to US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Border Patrol agents for immigration and asylum claim processing upon crossing the Rio Grande river into the United States on the US-Mexico border in El Paso

A significant increase in the number of migrants crossing is expected as the Covid-era Title 42 policy, which allowed for a quick expulsion of illegal immigrants, expired

Border Patrol agents check documents of migrants who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border overnight, before the lifting of Title 42, in Yuma, Arizona

A man holds a baby, in a large crowd, as migrants face long wait times for border patrol officers at the U.S. border with Mexico, on the last day of Title 42, in Yuma, Arizona

In an aerial view, immigrants line up to be processed to make asylum claims at a makeshift migrant camp in El Paso, Texas ahead of the end of Title 42

'Here's what that means,' he said. 'If anyone arrives at our southern border after midnight tonight, they will be presumed ineligible for asylum and subject to steeper consequences for unlawful entry, including a minimum five-year ban on reentry and potential criminal prosecution.'

Don't listen to the people offering you a path to the promised land, he added.

'Know this: Smugglers care only about profits not people,' he said.

That did not impress the Yuma sherriff.

Sheriff Leon Wilmot told DailyMail.com that the lack of preparation meant President Joe Biden was unable to enforce existing border laws and said overwhelmed authorities in nearby Cochise County were already releasing people on to the streets without proper processing or court dates.

He reserved particular fury for Mayorkas, and claims that the U.S. was toughening its response.

'It's a cluster,' Yuma Sheriff Leon Wilmot told DailyMail.com Thursday in an exclusive interview about the end of Title 42. He and his county are in the frontline of the border crisis

Migrants boarded a transport bus, after long waits at the U.S.-Mexico border on the last day of Title 42, in Yuma, Arizona

Migrants entering the USA waited in a long line at the southern border

Many migrants were seen waiting to get on a transport bus at the U.S. border with Mexico

Hours before Title 42 was lifted, hundreds of migrants lined up on U.S. soil in Yuma to begin the process of applying for asylum. Numbers have surged in recent days

'Any good leader that was facing this kind of situation would have stood up Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), got emergency funding for ICE, put up shelters in their temporary buildings to accommodate all this, so proper processing could be done,' he said.

'He did none of this. So he doesn't have a plan.

'His plan is obviously intentionally to just allow everybody into this country and try to track down that many millions of people years down the road.

'It's a false narrative that this administration is pushing to the American people.'
Chicago residents are suing the city over plans to place migrants in an old school

Furious residents of Chicago have filed a lawsuit against the city after it announced plans to house illegal immigrants in a disused high school in the South Side.

The old South Shore High School is expected to become a temporary holding space for up to 500 migrants, but officials have not clarified for how long.

The lawsuit was filed after on May 4 hundreds of South Shore residents packed into an auditorium and bombarded local officials with criticism over plans to house the migrants in the school, complaining about safety and a lack of consultation.

'How could you do that without consulting us?' a resident said in response.

'Build the wall. Make a border,' shouted another.

Residents of Chicago have filed a lawsuit against the city after it announced plans to house illegal immigrants in a disused high school. Pictured is Natasha Dunn, one of the plaintiffs

The disused South Shore High School (pictured) in Chicago is expected to become a temporary holding space for up to 500 migrants

'When it comes to the total number of people at South Shore at any given point in time, it is fluid,' one local leader told a jeering audience last week when asked how many people it was likely to house. 'We would start with 250 to 500.'

Nubia Willman, a City Hall official, was also booed at as she faced the frustrated crowd, who voiced their concerns over safety. 'What's important is that we really establish this is humanitarian crisis, and we are here,' she said.

'While this crisis may constitute an emergency for the city of Chicago, it does not constitute an emergency for the South Shore community,' Alderman Michelle A. Harris said.

Many of those residents have now banded together and on Thursday a lawsuit was filed claiming the school had not been zoned for residential use and that residents were not properly consulted on the plans.

The lawsuit comes days after Mayor Lori Lightfoot declared a state of emergency over the arrival migrants to Chicago, which she said had reached 'breaking point'.

'We don't have any more space. I cannot emphasize that enough,' said Lightfoot.

On Monday Texas Governor Greg Abbott told Lightfoot he would not stop bussing migrants from Texas north to Chicago.

One local leader (pictured) told the crowd at a meeting on May 4 it would start by moving 250 to 500 migrants into the school

In recent weeks migrants have overwhelmed police station lobbies faster than the city has been able to open shelters. Pictured are migrants in a Chicago police station

Natasha Dunn, J. Darnell Jones and 'South Shore neighbors' are plaintiffs to the lawsuit filed in the county court against the city and Chicago Public Schools on Thursday, according to Block Club Chicago.

'Members of the Black Community Collaborative, South Shore constituents and stakeholders are extremely dismayed by the city of Chicago's inability to control and develop safe parameters around housing migrants that have been transported here from the border,' said Dunn during a press conference on Thursday.

Attorney Frank Avila also spoke during the conference. 'We want the refugees and asylum seekers and migrants to come in, but we have areas across the city where they can go. Not centralized in one community,' he said.

'There needs to be community participation and community input,' Avila said.

'If we're talking about migrants and asylum seekers that came from violent nations, that came from war, that came from poverty, why are we putting them in an area where they can be further traumatized?'

A number of residents have said the migrants should be moved to a facility in the North Side - a sentiment echoed by Jones, a plaintiff on the suit.

'Why not Pilsen, Belmont Cragin, Logan Square, Little Village, South Chicago, South Deering, or Hegewisch? Communities that have a supportive cultural infrastructure?' said Jones.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot is pictured declaring a state of emergency on Tuesday over the arrival migrants to Chicago

Since August more than 8,000 have been bussed north into Chicago from the border. In recent weeks migrants have overwhelmed police station lobbies faster than the city has been able to open shelters.

The declaration that the city is in a state of crisis comes as Lightfoot approaches the end of her tenure. On Monday the incoming mayor Brandon Johnson will be sworn in and inherit a problem Lightfoot herself said is likely to get worse.

Earlier in the month Lightfoot pleaded to Texas Governor Greg Abbott that he stop the transport of migrants north from Texas.

In the letter posted to Twitter on Sunday, Lightfoot urged Abbott to reconsider 'this dangerous and inhumane action'.

She said she sympathized with the border towns in Texas dealing with the issue, but said it wouldn't be resolved by passing on the responsibility to other cities.
Dad-of-two got out of his car to re-enter an access code

A grandfather who died after becoming trapped in a carwash has been blamed for his own tragic death after making a decision no-one had ever made before.

Athanasios Papageorgiou, 73, was left fighting for his life after leaving his car to manually start the carwash, in Springvale, Melbourne, in November 2019. He suffered critical injuries when the carwash started and died three days later.

On Friday, lawyers acting for international oil company Chevron, which owns the brand, told the Melbourne Magistrates' Court the carwash had safely cleaned about 64,000 cars before the accident.

Melbourne car wash victim Athanasios Papageorgiou and his wife Maria. Both were active members of the Greek community

The car wash where the shocking accident claimed the life of Mr Papageorgiou in Springvale, in the city's south-east

'Probably about the same number of people who might be at the MCG tonight watching Geelong and Richmond (had been through that carwash),' barrister Sally Flynn said.

'If you think about that amount of people when you're at the MCG and see that visual, it gives you the idea of how many people have been through this carwash.

'How can it be said that it's reasonably foreseeable the accused to have known that the deceased might act in a particular way when none of those other 64,000 people have ever done that.'

Daily Mail Australia revealed last month Mr Papageorgiou, 73, was a beloved father of two and grandfather and an active member of the Greek community when his life was tragically cut short.

He had told his wife Maria he was simply going out to get fuel when a snap decision to wash his car ended in tragedy.

Ms Papageorgiou told family her husband had simply gone to fill up his car with petrol and never returned home.

'He went to fill the car, something happened to the machine and he died of suffocation,' she told friends and family via social media at the time.

WorkSafe Victoria hit Chevron with four negligence charges after the man drove into the carwash before getting out of his car to re-enter an access code.

The court heard he was crushed when he tried to get back into his vehicle when the wash cycle had started, with his car door becoming stuck by a gantry.

Athanasios Papageorgiou (far left) is seen during happier times at a traditional Greek event at the Greek Community of Springvale and District tavern where he was a regular

Ms Flynn described the tragedy as a 'freak' accident which had never been envisaged by anyone in the carwash business before it happened.

'This was an extremely remote and freak incident that actually occurred,' she said.

The court heard multiple experts called in the hearing claimed they had never heard of such a thing happening anywhere on the planet before Mr Papageorgiou's death.

Mr Papageorgiou and wife Maria in happier times

Ms Flynn said Chevron had no idea it could ever happen and there was no industry knowledge prior to the accident that it could ever happen.

'In those circumstances it's not simply reasonably practicable to protect against unforeseeable risk and it's not enough to identify a risk in hindsight that what happened back on that day in November of that year,' she said.

'No-one has ever considered this particular risk until this event happened ... and we say it was inherently unlikely for these reasons.'

At an earlier hearing, the court heard an expert engaged by WorkSafe to investigate the deadly car wash suggested better signage could have saved Mr Papageorgiou's life.

Dr Peter Hart told the court motorists entering the car wash had no idea if the entry codes they used to engage the carwash had been entered correctly.

'I came to the view that signage could have reduced the risk of this type of incident occurring because the driver would have been informed that the code had not been accepted and so the car shouldn't proceed into the car wash,' he told the court.

Dr Hart said green flashing arrows prompting motorists to enter the car wash added further confusion.

'The green flashing arrows which invite the driver to drive into the car wash could be suppressed unless the code has been accepted,' he said.

'I think the presence of those green flashing arrows is quite confusing to a driver because it's quite possible for a code not to be accepted and yet it seems that the driver is being invited to drive into the car wash.

'The consequence being that the driver would then have to get out the car or drive out to fix it.'

The Springvale service station where a 73-year old was crushed to death. It was then branded a Puma service station. Chevron bought the company after the accident happened

Documents released to Daily Mail Australia revealed Mr Papageorgiou was screaming in agony as staff, police and paramedics tried desperately but fruitlessly to free him.

The court heard police and paramedics were quick to respond to the emergency, arriving within minutes of Mr Papageorgiou becoming trapped in the car wash.

Documents stated Mr Papageorgiou was left 'screaming and unable to move'.

'Alerted by another customer, sales assistants at the service station attempted but could not free (the man) and called emergency services,' documents stated.

'Minutes later, two ambulances arrived at the scene, Victoria Police members also attended.'

The court heard paramedics could not release him and promptly ascertained the man's heart had stopped beating.

It took Country Fire Authority firefighters 16 minutes to arrive at the scene and extricate Mr Papageorgiou from the machine.

Paramedics were then able to 'reanimate' the unconscious Mr Papageorgiou and took him to hospital.

However Mr Papageorgiou died days later from the long period without oxygen to the brain caused by 'crash asphyxia'.

The hearing continues.
Qantas has launched a massive sale on flights ahead of the Mother's Day weekend.

Australia's flagship airline has slashed the price of 700,000 fares in celebration of Mother's Day on Sunday, with flights starting at just $99.

Keen travellers can nab a one-way flight from Melbourne to Sydney for just $129, Sydney to Brisbane for $139 and Sydney to Ballina for $99.

For those looking to travel to Perth, one-way economy flights from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane start at just $299.

Australia's flagship airline has slashed the price of 70,000 fares in celebration of Mother's Day on Sunday, with flights starting at just $99 (pictured, queues at Sydney Airport)

Keen travellers can nab a one-way flight from Melbourne to Sydney for just $129, Sydney to Brisbane for $139 and Sydney to Ballina for $99 (pictured, a Qantas plane in Perth)

The sale starts on Friday and will last until next Tuesday, and is only valid for flights between mid-July to mid-December, 2023.

Customers can use Covid credits they received during the pandemic to book fares.

'We know people are thinking about connecting with family this weekend,' a Qantas spokesperson said.

'Whether you're looking for a last minute gift for Mum or planning a catch up later in the year, there's more than 700,000 great value fares to help get the family back together.'

The sale starts on Friday and will last until next Tuesday, and is only valid for flights booked between mid-July to mid-December, 2023 (stock image)

The sale has coincided with the launch of the airline's 'Feels Like Home' campaign.

The heartwarming video features a real-life reunion between an Australian mother and her son who has been living in Japan.

The pair are reunited after being separated for over four years during Covid.

'The heartwarming moment of the mum and son finally getting a hug at her 60th birthday party in country Victoria was filmed in real time,' Qantas said.
Banished Victorian Liberal MP Moira Deeming has been expelled from the parliamentary party for good after threatening to sue state leader John Pesutto.

Liberal MPs voted on a motion to expel Ms Deeming for 'bringing discredit' to the party, at state parliament on Friday morning.

Ms Deeming was a no-show after lawyers served Mr Pesutto a defamation concerns notice, threatening court action if he did not immediately withdraw the motion, publish an apology to her on his website and pay her compensation and legal costs.

Mr Pesutto entered the party room flanked by Cindy McLeish, Roma Britnell, Georgie Crozier, Michael O'Brien, David Southwick and Matt Bach.

'The party needs to move forward,' Mr Pesutto told reporters.

Gone: State Liberal MP Moira Deeming has been expelled from Victoria's parliamentary Liberal party

Ms Crozier, the opposition's upper house leader, said Ms Deeming's threat to Mr Pesutto was 'extremely disappointing' and wouldn't be drawn on whether she should be booted from the party altogether.

'There is enormous disappointment from the parliamentary MPs, my colleagues ... and many many Liberal Party members who have contacted me,' she said.

Backbencher Beverley McArthur, a conservative factional ally of Ms Deeming, was one of the only Liberal MPs willing to publicly say she would vote against the motion.

Upper house MP Renee Heath was also removed as party secretary

Rowville MP Kim Wells said the looming defamation action would make Ms Deeming's expulsion more difficult and said the future of Mr Pesutto's leadership was an internal matter.

Opposition tourism, sport and events spokesman Sam Groth said Friday's special meeting needed to be a 'line in the sand' for the party ahead of the May 23 state budget.

'We need to start talking about things that are important to Victorians and stop talking about ourselves,' he said.

'It's time for us to start presenting ourselves as an option for the people of Victoria, and that starts by listening and stop worrying about our own internal matters.'

Opposition Leader John Pesutto said 'this party needs to move forward'

Shadow Treasurer Brad Rowswell, who said he would vote for the motion, echoed that sentiment and backed Mr Pesutto to survive as leader despite the inner turmoil.

'I'm hoping to get out of the way today whatever we need to ... and refocus on the things that actually matter to Victorians,' he said.

Ms Deeming last week demanded the Victorian Liberal leader agree to issue a media statement exonerating her of being a Nazi or Nazi sympathiser or face legal action.

She appeared to back down from the ultimatum on Saturday, saying she never considered suing the Liberal Party and instead contemplated legal mediation as a way to settle on the conditions of her suspension.

It is the second time the Liberal party room has considered expelling Ms Deeming after she attended an anti-transgender rights rally earlier this year in Melbourne where neo-Nazis performed the 'heil Hitler' salute.

A compromise was struck when the first Mr Pesutto-led motion, supported by a 15-page dossier accusing the MP of protesting alongside people who were 'known to be publicly associated with far right-wing extremist groups including neo-Nazi activists', failed to garner enough support.

The upper house MP will remain on the crossbench as an independent.
Canadian actor Seth Rogen has spoken of the personal unease he feels regarding the secretive nature of streaming services and the fact viewing figures for the shows they host are carefully guarded.

Rogen voiced his personal distress over the lack of transparency surrounding the success of shows and movies produced for platforms such at Netflix and Hulu.

He said that the secrecy implied such services were withholding significant profits from show creators.

'I'm personally distressed by not having any sense of how successful these shows and movies we make for streaming services are,' said Rogen during an interview on the green carpet with Variety.

'The secretiveness only makes me think that they're making way more money off of all of us than they want to share with anybody. These executives are making insane salaries that you would only make if you are running an incredibly profitable business.'

Actor and filmmaker Seth Rogen has said he's 'distressed' over the lack of transparency regarding the success of shows and movies made for streamers

Rogan's candid nature was particularly brave given that he was promoting his new show, Platonic, which appears on streaming service AppleTV+.

The show sees former best friends played by Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne approaching midlife reconnecting after a long rift; the duo's friendship becomes more consuming and destabilizes their lives.

The filmmaker also pointed out the exorbitant salaries earned by executives, which he said in turn raises questions about fair compensation and profit sharing.

The pay of Ted Sarandos, the CEO of Netflix jumped 31.5 percent in 2022, to $50.3 million, comprising $20 million base annual salary, $28.5 million in stock options and $1.79 million in other compensation.

At Apple, CEO Tim Cook's target total compensation is $49 million for 2023, with a $3 million salary, $6 million cash incentive and $40 million in equity awards.

Over at Amazon CEO Andy Jassy saw his 2022 compensation plummet in 2022, with a massive stock award he received in 2021 making up the backbone of his long-term Amazon renumeration.

The pay of Ted Sarandos, left, the CEO of Netflix jumped 31.5 percent in 2022, to $50.3 million

Amazon's Andy Jassy, left, was paid $1.3 million in 2022, compared to $212 million in 2021 which was tied to his promotion to CEO of the company. Walt Disney is paying returning CEO Bob Iger, right about $27 million annually under a new two-year deal

A host of streaming services now offer cut-price subscriptions with advertising breaks

Amazon's Andy Jassy was paid $1.3 million in 2022, compared to $212 million in 2021 which was tied to his promotion to CEO of the company.

Walt Disney is paying returning CEO Bob Iger about $27 million annually under a new two-year deal.

Earlier this week Iger said Disney would make Hulu content available within the Disney+ platform by the end of the year.

All major streaming services are under increasing pressure to keep customers as the cost of living crisis hits and the pandemic boom fades.

Disney+ is also facing competition from Netflix, which has launched an ad-supported tier.

Rogan also praised labor unions for their ability to hold giant corporations accountable and ensure fair treatment of workers referring to the current writers strike.

'Thank God for these labor unions and their ability to force these gigantic corporations who banded together to drive down the wages of workers to actually do something every once in a while and act fairly and equitably,' said Rogen.

Rose Byrne and Seth Rogen are seen at the premiere of Platonic held at Regal LA Live

The Writers Guild of America (WGA) called for the strike on May 1 after the Guild failed to reach an agreement with higher pay from Hollywood studios such as Netflix and Disney.

The studios have said they made a 'generous' offer to boost compensation.

Late-night talk shows immediately went dark, and some TV series and movies have followed. The final season of Netflix hit Stranger Things was paused. Marvel movie Blade, starring Mahershala Ali, shut down just before filming was set to start.

Production has also been halted on a number of programs including Abbott Elementary, Yellowjackets, and Big Mouth.

It is unclear how long the strike will last. No new talks have been scheduled between the Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), the group negotiating on behalf of studios.
The top prosecutor in Bruce Lehrmann's rape trial has been accused of 'misleading' the public and the Chief Justice of the ACT about what happened during his meeting with Lisa Wilkinson prior to her controversial Logies speech.

ACT Director of Public Prosecutions, Shane Drumgold SC, was grilled by the TV star's lawyer Sue Chrysanthou SC on Friday at a Board of Inquiry into the conduct of the prosecution and the Australian Federal Police before, during and after Mr Lehrmann's aborted trial.

Wilkinson faced extreme criticism after she won an award for her interview where Brittany Higgins first aired her allegations that Mr Lehrmann raped her in Parliament House in 2019. The speech led Mr Lehrmann's trial to be delayed. He has always denied the allegations.

During the inquiry on Friday, Mr Drumgold admitted failing to correct a file note he wrote following a meeting with Wilkinson and her Channel 10 lawyer in the lead-up to the TV awards last June.

Mr Drumgold also claimed he believed Wilkinson knew she should not mention Ms Higgins in her Logies speech because, he claimed, he saw her having a private conversation with Channel 10's lawyer while muted on Microsoft Teams.

That prompted Ms Chrysanthou to say 'the answer you just gave is illogical and irrational and contrary to human experience'. She then went on to suggest he somehow 'telepathically' knew what Wilkinson and the lawyer were thinking.

Lisa Wilkinson faced extreme criticism after she won a Logie for her interview with Brittany Higgins, the former Liberal staffer who accused Bruce Mr Lehrmann of raping her in Parliament House in 2019. Wilkinson is pictured with Ms Higgins's partner David Sharaz

Note admission

The inquiry opened with Mr Drumgold insisting that his file note about discussions with Wilkinson and her lawyer was contemporaneous, meaning he made it immediately following the meeting.

However, under cross-examination, Mr Drumgold admitted that the note was not contemporaneous, but was actually made days after the meeting.

The note was actually penned about five days later - three hours before a hearing with all legal teams involved in the rape trial about the impact of Wilkinson's Logies speech and whether it would bias a jury.

It was handed to Chief Justice Lucy McCallum, who said in the ACT Supreme Court at the time that she believed it was contemporaneous and strongly criticised Wilkinson for her Logies speech.

Under cross-examination, Mr Drumgold eventually conceded he should have corrected the Chief Justice.

Ms Chrysanthou pointed out that Mr Drumgold's junior counsel during the trial, Skye Jerome, had a different recollection of the meeting with Wilkinson.

Ms Jerome recalled Wilkinson had read a significant portion of her Logies speech during the meeting, before Mr Drumgold cut her off and said 'I'm not a speech writer'.

Wilkinson's lawyer Sue Chrysanthou SC submitted the ACT's Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold SC to a fiery round of cross-examination at a Board of Inquiry into the Bruce Lehrmann rape trial on Friday

During her Logies acceptance speech, which was broadcast nationally, Wilkinson appeared to side with Ms Higgins - saying she 'believed' her allegations. She did not mention the trial, Mr Lehrmann, any criminal charge or Parliament House in her speech.

Chief Justice McCallum, who was presiding over the ACT Supreme Court rape trial, moved the hearing from June to October amid fears Wilkinson's comments would bias a jury.

At the time, the Chief Justice said Wilkinson was warned against making public comments about the impending hearing. The public backlash was so severe Wilkinson left her job as host of The Project.

'Did you read their lips?'

Mr Drumgold has long-maintained he believed Wilkinson knew she should not mention Ms Higgins in her Logies speech because he told her 'any publicity could impact the trial'.

Mr Drumgold told the inquiry he formed that view because after he made that statement Wilkinson and her lawyer put their Microsoft Teams meeting on mute and had a private conversation.

'I was confident they knew she couldn't make that speech,' Mr Drumgold said.

Ms Chrysanthou: 'Did you read their lips?'

Mr Drumgold: 'No'.

Ms Chrysanthou: 'Then how could you have possibly made that conclusion?'

Mr Drumgold: 'Because an experienced journalist sitting next to a lawyer would have come to that conclusion.'

Ms Chrysanthou eventually said: 'The answer you just gave is illogical and irrational and contrary to human experience.'

Wilkinson's lawyer also quizzed Mr Drumgold about why he didn't correct the Chief Justice's belief that his file note was contemporaneous.

The ACT DPP, Shane Drumgold SC, is pictured during the Board of Inquiry in Canberra.

'Do you accept that the manner you conducted yourself in court that day, in the manner of those conversations, was unacceptable?' Ms Chrysanthou said.

'No, I don't accept that,' Mr Drumgold responded.

'There was sufficient warning in both our minds [his and Ms Jerome's] that Ms Wilkinson had sufficient warning. There was ample warning provided to Ms Wilkinson that she should not have made the speech.'

Ms Chrysanthou: 'What you say now about that cannot be true.'

Mr Drumgold: 'It is true.'

Ms Chrysanthou: 'That you somehow telepathically thought my client - having read out the substance of her speech to you - would have left that meeting knowing she could not make that speech?

Mr Drumgold: 'I'm saying I thought she shouldn't give a speech about this matter.'

Ms Chrysanthou referred to the court hearing where Justice McCallum slammed Wilkinson for failing to heed Mr Drumgold's warning that she shouldn't give the Logies speech.

Mr Drumgold claimed footage of Bruce Lehrmann (pictured) and Brittany Higgins 'disappeared'

'Her honour was handed the proofing note and was observing it - [in the court transcript] you say the speech was "undesirable - the proofing notes can be open to interpretation",' she said.

Ms Chrysanthou then explained that proofing notes were normally used in criminal cases and were taken as contemporaneous notes: 'You're misleading the Chief Justice,' she said.

Mr Drumgold: 'Not intentionally.'

Ms Chrysanthou further submitted that Mr Drumgold caused the 'destruction' of Wilkinson in submitting the file note which he said was contemporaneous, but wasn't.

'In hindsight'

At the close of the cross-examination, Ms Chryanthou asked Mr Drumgold if he should have corrected the reports about Wilkinson. He replied: 'I should have corrected that, in hindsight.'

Earlier, Mr Drumgold said he thought there was a minute chance Wilkinson would actually win a Logie, but also conceded he didn't know the difference between a gold and a silver Logie or how many people watched the TV awards.

Wilkinson previously accused Mr Drumgold of breaching her trust and his duty as a legal officer, and misleading the Chief Justice in a submission released by the Board of inquiry on Thursday.

Pictured: Brittany Higgins (left) and Lisa Wilkinson (right)

Earlier this week, the Board of Inquiry revealed Wilkinson did not believe Mr Drumgold warned her that her speech could potentially jeopardise an impending court case.

Channel Ten lawyers contacted Mr Drumgold five times between June and December last year, begging him to clear Wilkinson of any wrongdoing in the public eye but he never did.

According to a series of documents released by the Board of Inquiry, Wilkinson blames Mr Drumgold for failing to clear her name.

Included in the documents supplied to the Board of Inquiry was a statement and a submission made on Wilkinson's behalf by Ms Chrysanthou.

The submission read: 'Ms Wilkinson wishes to ensure that in the ongoing interests of strong public interest journalism - the backbone upon which a strong, fair and democratic society is based.'

'Investigative journalists across the country should not be misrepresented by legal officers in whom they have placed their trust any opportunity to correct the public record when that trust is shown to have been misplaced.'

Brittany Higgins is pictured outside the ACT Supreme Court in October

Further, the submission alleged Mr Drumgold failed 'to afford procedural fairness to Ms Wilkinson' after the Chief Justice made incorrect comments saying the journalist was warned about giving her Logie's speech.

It also said Mr Drumgold repeatedly failed to publicly correct the record and called on the inquiry to investigate and report on the 'general conduct of the prosecution'.

According to the submission, Mr Drumgold told Channel Ten lawyers that he 'might say something in open court' to clear Wilkinsons's name in June, after her speech.

Failing that, lawyers for the network urged him to mention Wilkinson during his public address on December 2 last year, when he said the criminal charge against Mr Lehrmann had been dropped. He didn't.

The inquiry continues next week.
A Melbourne teacher who claimed she 'wasn't thinking about a number' when she had sex with her 14-year-old student could be free from prison within a year.

Azar Rahmatzadeh began talking to the male student on Snapchat over the summer holidays.

She enjoyed the boy's attention and invited him to her house for a drink, a court heard.

After picking him up from the train station in her car, she told him to keep a low profile and hide as they drove to her home.

Melbourne Azar Rahmatzadeh teacher who claimed she 'wasn't thinking about a number' when she had sex with her 14-year-old student, could be free from prison within a year.

She allowed the boy to help himself to alcohol once they arrived.

Rahmatzadeh then sat on his lap, kissed him and had sex with the boy in her bedroom.

His dad collected him and took him to his mother's home, where he cried.

In the weeks following, Rahmatzadeh sent the boy a number of messages on social media, calling him 'handsome' and her 'fave' student.

'F***ing love your guts forever. I'm truly sorry if I hurt you,' she told him.

The boy didn't tell his mother what happened for months, until he became scared a video being shared around the school could become public.

His mother now feels she failed to protect him.

The boy said he has since been subjected to schoolyard ridicule, derision and had lost friends.

When she was interviewed by police, Rahmatzadeh blamed the boy.

She later pleaded guilty to sexual penetration of a child under 16.

'He's very young, a child. I wasn't thinking about a number which is absolutely horrific,' she said.

County Court Judge Anne Hassan said Rahmatzadeh, then-aged 44, had multiple chances to reflect and avoid the 'disastrous consequences' her offending had on the boy.

It involved a gross breach of trust and her messages before the offending were imbued with sexual overtones, the judge said.

'You were an experienced teacher, who knew that what you were doing was wrong.'

The boy didn't tell his mum what happened for months, until he became scared a video being shared around the school could become public

She jailed Rahmatzadeh for up to two-and-a-half years on Friday.

She will be eligible for parole after serving just one year.

Judge Hassan handed her a shorter sentence as she said Rahmatzadeh was experiencing 'mental turmoil' and despair when she committed the offending.

She was lonely after living through COVID-19 lockdowns on her own, and burnt out as her teaching workload had increased.

She said Rahmatzadeh had suffered extra-curial punishment by losing her career, reputation, her home and being subjected to media coverage.

Rahmatzadeh will be registered as a sex offender for 15 years.
At least 70 migrants have been dropped off on Kamala Harris's doorstep in Washington DC in the last 24 hours, as the governor of Texas continues his policy of bussing migrants from his state to Democrat-run cities.

Greg Abbott, the governor, has sent at least 17,000 migrants from Texas to DC, New York City, Chicago and Philadelphia since April 2022. Over 9,200 have been sent to DC, and Abbott at the weekend defended the move, saying it was designed to share the burden.

'The reason why we are bussing migrants across the country is because small little towns on the border like Del Rio and Eagle Pass, they have no capacity to deal with the number of people coming across the border,' he told Fox News.

'And we have to relieve the congestion at small communities and bus them to larger communities.'

Video on Thursday evening showed around 30 migrants disembarking from buses parked outside the Naval Observatory, where Harris lives with her husband Doug Emhoff. The clip was filmed shortly before Title 42 border rules were lifted - a move which many expect will spark a surge in migrants attempting to cross.

Migrants are pictured on Thursday disembarking from a bus in Washington DC, having travelled from Texas

Kamala Harris is seen on Thursday speaking at the National Museum of Asian Art in DC, as migrants were dropped off in front of her house

Another busload of ILLEGAL migrants dropped off in front of the residence of VP Kamala Harris as Title 42 expires!



Keep the busses flowing here and to every single #sanctuarycity across the country!#IllegalMigration #BorderCrisis #BorderInvasion pic.twitter.com/L9cP6ZRJ0K  Millennial Conservative  (@Milennial_con) May 11, 2023

The Naval Observatory is home to the residence of the vice president

It was unclear whether she was at home: earlier on Thursday she attended an event at the National Museum of Asian Art in DC.

On Wednesday, a bus carrying 40 migrants arrived at her gates.

The mainly Venezuelan men, women and children were received by the organization SAMU First Response and Mutual Aid, which was set to provide them emergency shelter and an orientation on possible next steps.

It's the second time busloads of migrants have been dispatched to the VP's home after Abbott transported arrivals from the southern border to same address last year.

DCs temporary lodging program has reached capacity, with there being no more space as of last week, according to the Districts Department of Human Services, with 1,249 migrants from 370 families spread across three area hotels.

New York City is also struggling to house their new arrivals: Abbott said over 5,700 have been bussed to New York from his state.

The mayor of New York, Eric Adams, says that 61,000 migrants have arrived in his city in the last year, and is appealing for federal assistance.

On Monday the heads of city agencies in New York were asked to come up with potential sites for new migrant shelters: the Flatiron Building, tents in Central Park and hangars at JFK were all suggested.

Adams on Wednesday signed an executive order lifting parts of a 40-year-old rule that the city must provide a bed for anyone who seeks it. Now migrant families can be forced to share communal shelters: before, they had to be given their own room.

Adams's executive order also loosened the timeframe for providing accommodation, and allowed people to be evicted from migrant hotels.

Greg Abbott, the governor of Texas, defended sending the migrants from his state to the rest of the country, insisting it was about burden sharing

A bus carrying the migrants from Texas arrives at the Port Authority bus station of New York on May 3

Hours before Title 42 was lifted, hundreds of migrants lined up on U.S. soil in Yuma to begin the process of applying for asylum. Numbers have surged in recent days

Hundreds of migrants, mostly from Venezuela, continue arriving by foot at the US-Mexico border, near El Paso, Texas

Migrants wait to attempt get to the U.S. through the Rio Grande River as seen from Matamoros, state of Tamaulipas, Mexico on Thursday

The pressure on the system - with 10,000 migrants arriving a day at the U.S.-Mexico border - comes as the pandemic-era border restrictions, Title 42, are lifted.

Under Title 42, migrants could be immediately expelled back to Mexico or their home country.

The Biden administration argued that all pandemic-era policies should be lifted, and at midnight Eastern Time on Thursday, Title 42 was revoked.

Republican Senator Ted Cruz was in Brownsville, Texas on Thursday evening to take a look at the border crisis for himself.

Cruz appeared furious as he was surrounded by members of the Border Patrol and the Texas National Guard', accusing the Biden administration of 'deliberately' creating the situation.

'We are witnessing an absolute travesty unfolding on our southern border,' Cruz began in a four minute rant.

'On Monday we apprehended over 10,000 people on the border - the highest level in history.

'On Tuesday we apprehended over 10,000 people on the border again the highest level in history.

'There are right now, where we're standing, more than 22,000 people camped just south of the border, getting ready to come across,' Cruz explained.

'Just in this location, in less than a month, we've had over 35,000 Venezuelans cross illegally just right here.'

Republican Senator Ted Cruz visited Brownsville, Texas on Thursday evening to observe the border crisis just hours before the expiration of Title 42 restrictions

Cruz spoke with members of the U.S. Border Patrol and praised their efforts

Cruz characterized the situation at the border as 'an invasion' accusing the Biden administration of wanting the numbers to increase while praising Border Patrol

On Thursday evening, Cruz predicted the situation would continue to worsen

Joe Biden admitted that there would likely be chaos at first, and his Homeland Security Secretary warned migrants not to believe the 'lies of people smugglers', insisting that the border was not open.

Mexico's president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, said this week that his officials reported people traffickers telling migrants that the border was being opened to all.

'We have 24,000 Border Patrol Agents and Officers at the Southwest Border and have surged thousands of troops and contractors, and over a thousand asylum officers to help enforce our laws,' said Mayorkas on Thursday.

'Do not believe the lies of smugglers. The border is not open.'

Mayorkas and the Biden administration have faced an avalanche of criticism for the scenes at the border, as thousands of migrants gather in the hope of entering the U.S. now the restrictions have ended.

Mayorkas on Thursday tried to tell those aiming to cross that it was a bad move.

'Starting tonight, people who arrive at the border without using a lawful pathway will be presumed ineligible for asylum,' he tweeted.

'We are ready to humanely process and remove people without a legal basis to remain in the U.S.

'People who do not use available lawful pathways to enter the U.S. now face tougher consequences, including a minimum five-year ban on re-entry and potential criminal prosecution.

'Together with our partners throughout the federal government and Western Hemisphere, we are prepared for this transition.'

Alejandro Mayorkas, the Homeland Security Secretary, published a video on Twitter on Thursday night warning of tough penalties if migrants cross illegally, as Title 42 is rescinded

Starting tonight, people who arrive at the border without using a lawful pathway will be presumed ineligible for asylum. We are ready to humanely process and remove people without a legal basis to remain in the U.S. (1/4) pic.twitter.com/JnpSw6793v  Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas (@SecMayorkas) May 12, 2023

The expiring rules have been in place since March 2020.

They allowed border officials to quickly return asylum seekers back over the border on grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19.

U.S. authorities have unveiled strict new measures to replace Title 42, which crack down on illegal crossings while also setting up legal pathways for migrants who apply online, seek a sponsor and undergo background checks.

If successful, the reforms could fundamentally alter how migrants arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Migrants gathered on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border on Thursday hours before immigration restrictions known as Title 42 expired, with some rushing to cross ahead of tough new asylum rules that will replace the COVID-era order.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has in recent days been holding up to 28,000 migrants at its facilities, far beyond its stated capacity and in what appeared to be a record, two federal officials requesting anonymity and the Border Patrol's union said.

The busiest border detention facilities are in the Rio Grande Valley and El Paso in Texas and two areas in Arizona, according to union President Brandon Judd.

This week, the number of people caught crossing illegally topped 10,000 per day.

Due to the high volume of arrivals, agents on Wednesday began releasing some migrants without a notice to appear in immigration court where they can make an asylum claim, telling them to report to an immigration office later, Judd said.

The number of immigrants reaching the border surged with the end of the U.S. government's Covid-era Title 42 policy. Here immigrants lined up to be processed to make asylum claims at a makeshift migrant camp in El Paso

Migrants cross the Rio Grande River as they try to get to the US, as seen from Matamoros, state of Tamaulipas, Mexico before the pandemic-era controls barring migrants from claiming US asylum expired

Migrants gathered on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border on Thursday hours before immigration restrictions known as Title 42 expire, with some rushing to cross ahead of tough new asylum rules that will replace a COVID-era order

On Thursday night, a federal judge in Florida blocked such releases, saying they were similar to a policy previously enjoined in March due to a failure to follow proper regulatory procedures.

CBP did not respond to a request for comment.

On average, people are spending nearly three days in custody, Judd said.

In Yuma, Arizona, hundreds of migrants lined up in the chilly hours before dawn at a gap in the towering border fence, waiting to turn themselves in to U.S. agents.

Some - like 40-year-old Jovanna Gomez from Colombia - decided to try their luck crossing now after hearing about the U.S. policy change.

'In my country, you hear that immigration will only be allowed until May 11, so we came racing against the clock,' she said. 'It wasn't easy.'

Under Title 42, in place since March 2020, hundreds of thousands of migrants have been quickly expelled to Mexico.

But because Mexico only accepted the return of certain nationalities - mostly their own citizens and Central Americans, and more recently Venezuelans, Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans - migrants from other countries have largely been allowed in to pursue their immigration claims.

That is set to change as President Joe Biden's administration sends more personnel and funds to the border while implementing the new regulation, which will deny asylum to almost all migrants who cross illegally.

Hours before Title 42 was lifted, hundreds of migrants lined up on U.S. soil in Yuma to begin the process of applying for asylum. Numbers have surged in recent days

Security forces watched on as migrants tried to enter the U.S. after crossing the Rio Grande River, in Matamoros, Mexico ahead of the end of Title 42

A U.S. Border Patrol agent was seen helping a woman who had fainted as she waited with other migrants to apply for asylum between two border walls in San Diego ahead of the end of Title 42

The measure will bar anyone who has passed through another country without seeking refuge elsewhere or who failed to use legal pathways to enter the United States.

Top U.S. officials repeated a warning to illegal crossers. 'Our borders are not open,' Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told reporters at a White House briefing.

The CBP reiterated in a statement that Venezuelans, Cubans, Haitians, and Nicaraguans that cross the southwest border illegally after the end of Title 42 will continue to be sent back to Mexico, which can accept a total of up to 30,000 migrants from those countries monthly.

The U.S. has opened up legal options for migrants of those nationalities to apply for entry from abroad, in an effort to discourage people from coming to the border.

U.S. border cities have struggled to shelter the new arrivals and provide transportation to other destinations. Far from the border, other cities say they are also struggling to cope, such as New York, where Mayor Eric Adams temporarily loosened right-to-shelter rules because of strained resources.

U.S. Senator Kyrsten Sinema, an Arizona independent who left the Democratic Party five months ago, criticized the administration on Thursday, telling reporters the president had failed to adequately prepare for the end of Title 42.

She said small towns in her state have been struggling to transport arriving migrants with little access to resources like buses or shelters.

Republicans fault Biden, a Democrat running for re-election in 2024, for scrapping the restrictive policies of former President Donald Trump, a Republican seeking to win back the White House.

And Biden administration officials in recent days have escalated their attacks on Republicans, saying they failed to fix immigration laws or provide adequate border funds.

'I asked the Congress for a lot more money for the Border Patrol,' Biden said on Wednesday. 'They didn't do it.'

Since Biden took office in January 2021, the country has seen a record 4.6 million arrests of migrants crossing illegally, although the tally includes many repeat crossers.

Border Patrol brought water and snacks to the large group of migrants in the no man's land between the Rio Grande river and the border wall ahead of Title 42's expiration

Migrants cross from Ciudad JuArez to El Paso, Texas, ahead of the end of Title 42

A Reuters/Ipsos poll released this week showed that only 26 percent approved of Biden's handling of immigration.

In Texas, Republican Governor Greg Abbott, a fierce critic of the president's border policies, expanded a National Guard deployment this week 'to help intercept and repel large groups of migrants trying to enter Texas illegally.'

Some organizations are welcoming the migrants. In Yuma, Fernando Quiroz, a 50-year-old member of a volunteer group known as the AZ-CA Humanitarian Coalition, was pulling a wagon filled with water bottles to hand out to migrants awaiting processing in the middle of the night.

'The reason we are here is our faith, our compassion, our empathy for a lot of these individuals,' Quiroz said. 'We just want to be that friendly smile.

'Who knows what happens when they get on that bus?' he said. 'This is just the first step of a very long journey.'
U.S. District Judge T. Kent Wetherell II, an appointee of President Donald Trump, halted the Biden administration's plan to begin releasing migrants into the community with notices to report to an immigration office in 60 days.

The quick releases were to be triggered when holding centers reach 125% capacity, or when authorities stop 7,000 migrants along the border in a day.

A U.S. official reported that daily encounters on Tuesday hit 10,000 - nearly twice the level from March and only slightly below the 11,000 figure that authorities have said is the upper limit of what they expect after Title 42 ends.

The daily average was about 5,200 in March, according to the latest publicly available data.

The state of Florida argued the administration's plan was nearly identical to another Biden policy previously voided in federal court.

U.S. District Judge T. Kent Wetherell II, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, has halted the Biden administration's plan to begin releasing migrants into the community with notices to report to an immigration office in 60 days

The Biden administration's quick releases were to be triggered when holding centers reach 125% capacity, or when authorities stop 7,000 migrants along the border in a day. Migrants walk to a bus station after being released from a respite center at the Texas-Mexico border in Brownsville, Texas

The daily average was about 5,200 in March, according to the latest publicly available data. Migrants prepare to cross the Rio Grande to try and enter the U.S. on Thursday

A map showing where migrants are heading following the end of Title 42 restrictions

Earlier Thursday, the Justice Department said its new move was a response to an emergency and being prevented from carrying it out 'could overwhelm the border and raise serious health and safety risks to noncitizens and immigration officials.'

Wetherell II blocked the releases for two weeks and scheduled a May 19 hearing on whether to extend his order.

He previously criticized a decision to stop building a border wall and end a policy to make asylum-seekers wait in Mexico for hearings in U.S. immigration court.

Wetherell II also faulted the administration for ending family detention at the border, a decision that officials have now begun to reconsider.

His language echoes Republican talking points heaping blame for all the border's ills on Biden.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas had already warned of more crowded Border Patrol facilities to come.

'I cannot overstate the strain on our personnel and our facilities,' he told reporters Thursday.

Migrants cross the Rio Grande into the U.S. with a baby in a suitcase, as seen from Matamoros

A Border Patrol agent speaks with migrants after they got off a bus at a processing center in Brownsville, Texas on Thursday

A surge of migrants are expected with the end of the U.S. government's Covid-era Title 42 policy, which for the past three years has allowed for the quick expulsion of irregular migrants entering the country

Even as migrants were racing to reach U.S. soil before the rules expire, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said smugglers were sending a different message.

He noted an uptick in smugglers at his country's southern border offering to take migrants to the United States and telling them the border was open starting Thursday.

On Wednesday, Homeland Security announced a rule to make it extremely difficult for anyone who travels through another country, like Mexico, or who did not apply online, to qualify for asylum.

It also introduced curfews with GPS tracking for families released in the U.S. before initial asylum screenings.

The administration said it is beefing up the removal of migrants found unqualified to stay in the U.S. on flights like those that brought nearly 400 migrants home to Guatemala from the U.S. on Thursday.
Authorities have issued a warning over a sophisticated 'virtual kidnapping' extortion racket targeting Chinese international students.

Four cases were reported in April, with scammers forcing victims into taking photos of themselves as if they've been 'kidnapped, tied up and gagged' before sending them to their families for ransom money.

Victims aged 17-23 are contacted by scammers posing as Chinese authorities, police, or staff from the Chinese Embassy or Consulate before they are told they need to pay large sums of money between $175,000 and $200,000 to avoid being deported or being placed under arrest.

'When they've extorted all the money they can from these victims, it then escalates where they trick and coerce the victim into faking their own kidnapping and taking photographs of themselves in vulnerable positions,' Detective Superintendent Joe Doueihi said.

'Unfortunately, on all the cases we've seen, the victims legitimately believe they are speaking to Chinese officials and that the threats will occur if they don't comply.'

Scammers forcing Chinese international students into taking photos of themselves as if they've been 'kidnapped, tied up and gagged' before sending them to their families for ransom money, according to NSW Police

Initial contact can be made via calls or on encrypted messaging apps like Telegraph, WhatsApp and WeChat. Police believe the perpetrators are 'predominantly offshore'.

In one case, police say a 17-year-old boy was told by someone posing as a postal service worker that he had contraband goods in a package under his name that had been sent to Chinese police for investigation.

The teenager was told to pay $20,000 to prove his innocence and instructed to stage a kidnapping to extort money from his family to pay a fake debt.

Police became involved after his family in China reported receiving photos of the teenager appearing injured and kidnapped and were able to locate him safely and before money was transferred.

Superintendent Doueihi said the emotional toll on the victims was severe, with some 'psychologically traumatised' victims requiring hospitalisation.

'It's such an elaborate scam that they can talk to these victims for hours and hours and sometimes days on end,' he said.

'They absolutely convince them and psychologically trick them into believing they will be arrested and their families will be harmed if they don't comply with their requests.

'They are psychologically traumatised.'

Police said the emotional toll on targeted Chinese students was severe, with some 'psychologically traumatised' victims requiring hospitalisation

Chinese international students as young as 17 have been forced by scammers to fake their own kidnapping

Superintendent Doueihi said police are now working with Australian universities to increase awareness of the sophisticated scams.

It's believed instances of 'virtual kidnappings' have increased after Chinese international students returned to campuses after travel restrictions were lifted in January.

Superintendent Doueihi said about six cases were in 2020 before the crimes stopped until April this year.

'We attribute that to the fact that Covid is over. International students are now travelling again, and they're coming into the country,' he said.

While authorities believe the communication is being made offshore, investigations into the scams have been difficult due to the criminal groups and offenders masking their identity and locations through encryption software.

'If you are a Chinese student in Australia and you receive one of these calls, and you have doubts about the legitimacy, I strongly suggest you contact the Chinese Consulate or embassy, and the NSW Police Force and seek advice from us,' he said.

Embassy of the People's Republic of China's third secretary police liaison officer Tony Zhang thanked NSW Police for their 'tireless work'.

'The Chinese Embassy recognises the NSW Police has done a lot of work to protect Chinese citizens, especially Chinese students studying here,' he said.
The Homeland Security Secretary has warned migrants along the U.S.-Mexico border not to believe the 'lies' of the people traffickers who claim the border is now open, following the lifting of Title 42 border control measures.

Alejandro Mayorkas published a video and Twitter thread marking the moment at midnight Eastern Time that the Title 42 ended.

'We have 24,000 Border Patrol Agents and Officers at the Southwest Border and have surged thousands of troops and contractors, and over a thousand asylum officers to help enforce our laws,' he said.

'Do not believe the lies of smugglers. The border is not open.'

Mayorkas and the Biden administration have faced an avalanche of criticism for the scenes at the border, as thousands of migrants gather in the hope of entering the U.S. now the restrictions have ended.

Alejandro Mayorkas, the Homeland Security Secretary, published a video on Twitter on Thursday night warning of tough penalties if migrants cross illegally, as Title 42 is rescinded

Starting tonight, people who arrive at the border without using a lawful pathway will be presumed ineligible for asylum. We are ready to humanely process and remove people without a legal basis to remain in the U.S. (1/4) pic.twitter.com/JnpSw6793v  Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas (@SecMayorkas) May 12, 2023

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said smugglers were massing in large numbers at the southern border of his country, offering to take migrants to the United States and telling them the border was open starting Thursday.

But Mayorkas on Thursday tried to tell those aiming to cross that it was a bad move.

'Starting tonight, people who arrive at the border without using a lawful pathway will be presumed ineligible for asylum,' he tweeted.

'We are ready to humanely process and remove people without a legal basis to remain in the U.S.

'People who do not use available lawful pathways to enter the U.S. now face tougher consequences, including a minimum five-year ban on re-entry and potential criminal prosecution.

'Together with our partners throughout the federal government and Western Hemisphere, we are prepared for this transition.'

The expiring rules have been in place since March 2020.

They allowed border officials to quickly return asylum seekers back over the border on grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19.

U.S. authorities have unveiled strict new measures to replace Title 42, which crack down on illegal crossings while also setting up legal pathways for migrants who apply online, seek a sponsor and undergo background checks.

If successful, the reforms could fundamentally alter how migrants arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Many migrants were acutely aware of looming policy changes designed to stop illegal crossings and encourage asylum seekers to apply online and consider alternative destinations, including Canada or Spain.

Groups of migrants from Peru and Senegal beat the clock just before the expiration of Title 42 in Yuma, Arizona

Migrants wait in the cold at a gate in the border fence after crossing from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico into El Paso, Texas, in the early hours of Thursday

Hours before Title 42 was lifted, hundreds of migrants lined up on U.S. soil in Yuma to begin the process of applying for asylum. Numbers have surged in recent days

On the U.S. side of the river, many surrendered immediately to authorities and hoped to be released while pursuing their cases in backlogged immigration courts, which takes years.

It was not clear how many migrants were on the move or how long the surge might last.

A U.S. official reported the Border Patrol stopped some 10,000 migrants on Tuesday - nearly twice the level from March and only slightly below the 11,000 figure that authorities have said is the upper limit of what they expect after Title 42 ends.

More than 27,000 people were in U.S. Customs and Border Protection custody, the official said.

'Our buses are full. Our planes are full,' said Pedro Cardenas, a city commissioner in Brownsville, Texas, just north of Matamoros, as recent arrivals headed to locations across the U.S.

Biden has conceded the border will be chaotic for a while.

Immigrant advocacy groups have threatened legal action.

And migrants fleeing poverty, gangs and persecution in their homelands are still desperate to reach U.S. soil at any cost.

Migrants wait along the border wall to surrender to US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Border Patrol agents for immigration and asylum claim processing upon crossing the Rio Grande river into the United States on the US-Mexico border in El Paso

While Title 42 prevented many from seeking asylum, it carried no legal consequences, encouraging repeat attempts.

Now, migrants face being barred from entering the U.S. for five years and possible criminal prosecution.

Holding facilities along the border already were far beyond capacity.

But late Thursday, U.S. District Judge T. Kent Wetherell, an appointee of President Donald Trump, halted the administration's plan to begin releasing migrants with notices to report to an immigration office in 60 days when holding centers reach 125 percent capacity, or where people are held an average of 60 hours.

The quick releases were to also be triggered when authorities stop 7,000 migrants along the border in a day.

The state of Florida argued the administration's plan was nearly identical to another Biden policy previously voided in federal court.

Earlier Thursday, the Justice Department said its new move was a response to an emergency and being prevented from carrying it out 'could overwhelm the border and raise serious health and safety risks to noncitizens and immigration officials.'

Weatherell blocked the releases for two weeks and scheduled a May 19 hearing on whether to extend his order.

Mayorkas had already warned of more crowded Border Patrol facilities to come.

'I cannot overstate the strain on our personnel and our facilities,' he told reporters Thursday.

On Wednesday, he announced a rule to make it extremely difficult for anyone who travels through another country, like Mexico, or who did not apply online, to qualify for asylum.

It also introduced curfews with GPS tracking for families released in the U.S. before initial asylum screenings.

The minutes before midnight eastern (9pm PST) brought an influx of arrivals in Yuma

Earlier, dozens of Peruvians arrived to find there were no border officers to hand themselves in to. They stopped to take water from a bowser and then headed on their way

The administration says it is beefing up the removal of migrants found unqualified to stay in the U.S., and will send them home on flights like those that brought nearly 400 migrants home to Guatemala from the U.S. on Thursday.

Among them was Sheidi Mazariegos, 26, who arrived with her 4-year-old son just eight days after being detained near Brownsville.

'I heard on the news that there was an opportunity to enter, I heard it on the radio, but it was all a lie,' she told AP.

Smugglers got her to Matamoros and put the two on a raft. They were quickly apprehended by Border Patrol agents.

Mazariegos said she made the trek because she is poor and hoped to reunite with her sisters living in the U.S.

At the same time, the administration has introduced expansive new legal pathways into the U.S.

Up to 30,000 people a month from Haiti, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela can enter if they apply online with a financial sponsor and enter through an airport.

Processing centers are opening in Guatemala, Colombia and elsewhere.

Up to 1,000 can enter daily though land crossings with Mexico if they snag an appointment on an online app.
Rail passengers face fresh travel chaos today as thousands of train drivers and other workers go on strike in a long-running dispute over pay.

Members of the drivers' union Aslef are staging a walkout on Friday at more than a dozen train operators, crippling services across the country.

Further strikes will be held on May 31 and June 3 - the day of the FA Cup final at Wembley.

Meanwhile, members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) will strike on Saturday - the day of the Eurovision Song Contest final in Liverpool. Passengers are being urged to check before they travel on both days.

Picket lines will be mounted outside railway stations as the unions continue their long-running campaign for a bigger pay rise than has been offered.

Travellers with luggage wait outside London Victoria Station which is closed to the public this morning due to strikes

Traffic queues on the A102M Blackwall Tunnel approach in Greenwich, South East London on Friday morning amid strike action by the ASLEF Union

London Bridge Station was closed to the public this morning during strike action by the ASLEF Union

Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan said: 'We do not want to go on strike - we do not want to inconvenience passengers, we have families and friends who use the railway too, and we believe in investing in rail for the future of this country.

'But the blame for this action lies, fairly and squarely, at the feet of the employers who have forced our hand over this by their intransigence.

'It is now up to them to come up with a more sensible, and realistic, offer and we ask the Government not to hinder this process.

'We have been negotiating with employers - the train operating companies - for many months on pay. On several companies we have managed to come to an agreement, and on several others, multi-year deals have been honoured.

'Unfortunately a number of companies still have their hands tied by the Department for Transport and aren't able to negotiate a reasonable deal with Aslef members.

'We are still prepared to negotiate in good faith but, unfortunately, as we have been unable to come to an agreement, we have had to consider industrial action.'

Aslef said a 4% pay offer was 'risible and obviously unacceptable'.

Steve Montgomery, who chairs the Rail Delivery Group, said: 'The upcoming rail strikes called by the Aslef and RMT leadership will not only affect our passengers' daily commute but will also impact those travelling from outside Liverpool and London to come to Eurovision and the FA Cup final, causing disappointment and frustration for those who have planned to attend.

'It will also further burden our people who have already lost thousands of pounds at a time of financial strain.

'We understand the impact of these strikes on individuals and businesses alike, and we can only apologise for this unnecessary and damaging disruption.

Great Northern will have no trains on Friday and a limited service on Saturday

South Western Railway will have no trains on the Isle of Wight on Friday while services will be reduced between London Waterloo and Exeter, in the Romsey area and on the suburban network. Saturday will see a reduced service and only between 7am and 7pm

South Eastern will have no trains on Friday and a reduced service on Saturday

Norther Rail will have no trains running on Friday and a reduced service on Saturday and only between 8am and 5pm

Avanti West Coast has no trains running on Friday and a heavily reduced service on Saturday operating between 7am and 7pm only

C2C - Friday will see its usual timetable. There will be no major impact on Saturday but all services will run to/from London Fenchurch Street and will not call at London Liverpool Street or Stratford

Chiltern Railways will have no trains on Friday. On Saturday, no trains will run north of Banbury. Services that do run will be limited to one train per hour in both directions between London Marylebone and each of Banbury, Oxford and Aylesbury via Amersham, and only between around 9am and 9pm

Cross Country will have no trains on Friday. On Saturday, no direct services will run to or from Birmingham New Street and locations such as Aberdeen, Cambridge, Cardiff, Glasgow, Nottingham and Stansted Airport. Services that do run will only operate between 7am and 7pm.

East Midlands Railway has no trains running on Friday. On Saturday, services will run between 7am and 7pm. They will be limited to just one train per hour in each direction between London St Pancras and each of Nottingham, Sheffield and Corby, as well as a handful of regional routes such as between Derby and Matlock.

The Elizabeth Line will have its usual timetable on Friday. On Saturday, the Elizabeth line is not involved in the industrial dispute with the RMT but there will be some alterations to its services. These include no trains between Maidenhead and Reading before 7am or after 7pm

Grand Central will have its usual timetable on Friday. On Saturday, Grand Central is not involved in the industrial dispute with the RMT but there will be minor alterations to its services

Great Western Railway will see a limited service on Friday and Saturday between 7.30am and 6.30pm only

Great Anglia will see a reduced service on Friday that will run only between London Liverpool Street and each of Cambridge, Norwich, Southend and Stansted Airport. On Saturday, trains will run between 7am and 11pm. Some routes will have a reduced frequency, but most will have a normal or near normal service.

LNER: A limited timetable will operate on Friday and Saturday and only between London King's Cross and both Edinburgh and Leeds.

London Northwestern Railway will have no trains running Friday. On Saturday, a limited service will run and only between 7am and 7pm. The only open routes will be between Birmingham New Street and each of London Euston, Birmingham International and Liverpool Lime Street.

STANSTED EXPRESS - Friday: Frequencies will be halved to one train per hour in each direction. Saturday: Frequencies will be halved to one per hour in each direction, and trains will start later and finish earlier than normal.

TRANSPENNINE EXPRESS - Friday : No trains. Saturday : A reduced timetable will operate and only between Liverpool Lime Street and each of Huddersfield, Preston and Sheffield, and between Sheffield and Cleethorpes.

WEST MIDLANDS RAILWAY - Friday : No trains. Saturday : A limited service will run and only between 7am and 7pm. The only open routes will be between Birmingham New Street and each of Wolverhampton, Rugeley Trent Valley and Lichfield Trent Valley; between Kidderminster and Whitlocks End/Dorridge; and between Stourbridge Junction and Stourbridge Town.

'While we are doing all we can to keep trains running, unfortunately there will be reduced train services across the network between Friday May 12 and Saturday June 3, so our advice is to check before you travel. Passengers with Advance tickets can be refunded fee-free if the train that the ticket is booked for is cancelled, delayed or rescheduled.'

Anthony Smith, chief executive of watchdog Transport Focus, said: 'For those planning to head to Liverpool, strikes could really prove a party-pooper.

'Many people will be infrequent or first-time train users so may not have realised how wide the disruption will be.

'Our message to all those travelling, for Eurovision or other reasons, is check before you go, and keep checking. Also, be aware trains that are running may be more crowded than you expect.'

The Rail Delivery Group said that after many weeks of negotiations with the Aslef leadership it had made a 'revised and fair offer' including a pay rise of 8% over two years.

'It would have introduced overdue, common-sense improvements already in place in parts of the network, which would will see more trains running on time for passengers.

'Sadly, this has been rejected,' said a spokesperson.

Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan has accused the Government of acting in 'bad faith' during negotiations with the union.

He told BBC Breakfast: 'At some point someone's going to realise these are Government-led strikes, the Government are interfering their free collective bargaining process and they want unrealistic targets.

'They sent out a deal before Christmas that we'd never seen, we'd never negotiated and tried to force it through by the back door in a total act of bad faith, and even then we came back from the table.

Travellers stand next to a departure board at Paddington Station in London on Friday on a day of national rail strike action

Trains are stationary in sidings in Peterborough amid national strike action by ASLEF on Friday

Empty platforms at Paddington Station in London on a day of rail strike action on Friday

A customer sign giving information about the lack of train services at a locked entrance in Apsley, Hertfordshire on Friday

'We suspended all action in the hope of finding a way forward and then what happens?

'We sit down for three months in good faith, we agree a process that we're going to undertake and then right at the end someone interferes, revokes it, and puts out a deal that would contain all the red lines we previously opposed in those talks, destining it to fail.

'I don't think the Government and the companies want a solution.'

Speaking this morning, rail minister Huw Merriman said he thought it was not democratic for the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) to opt not to put the UK Government's pay offer to its train worker members.

Speaking on BBC Breakfast, the Conservative said: 'The evidence for whether it is or isn't fair and reasonable is down to the members.

'If you look at what happened with the RMT, who are striking tomorrow, they put a similar offer to their members who work on Network Rail and that was accepted - 76% of those who voted accepted it.

'That would seem to indicate that the workforce will judge it as fair and reasonable, will take it because they want to move on.

'Why is it the case that an RMT member that works on the tracks gets a pay rise and gets the chance to vote on a pay rise, but fellow members who work on a train don't get that opportunity?

'It doesn't seem fair or democratic to me.'

Nicky Kelvin, head of travel website The Points Guy UK, told MailOnline today: 'This month's walk-out by members of the RMT Union is set to affect passengers hoping to reach Liverpool for Saturday night's Eurovision Song Contest final.

Fans of Eurovision who are travelling up to Liverpool for the 2023 edition of the contest could be affected by strikes

'The decision for further strikes is really disappointing for passengers, especially as how the UK has not hosted the popular song contest since the late nineties and so all eyes will be on us  not just our song entry!

'The song contest is a huge moment not only for Liverpool but also for the UK and these strikes will purposely affect thousands of people who are planning to attend.

'With travel to and from the venue likely to be disrupted and a significant impact onto the usual functional services across the rail network, those people looking to reach Liverpool via train should look at alternative transport methods in order to reach the event and to avoid the stress and disruption the cancellations will certainly cause.

'Another major event which will also be majorly affected is the annual FA Cup Final  taking place in Wembley in June and one in which ticket holders should look to plan ahead and to find alternative routes.'
A body language expert claims that the Mormon mom accused of poisoning her husband last year was advertising that she was single while promoting the kids' bereavement book she wrote after he died.

Kouri Richins, 33, is accused of murdering her husband Eric, 40, in their home in Kamas, a town near Park City, Utah, last March. Police believe she gave him a lethal dose of fentanyl disguised in a Moscow Mule cocktail.

Just last month, she appeared on a local TV station to promote her $14.99 book, Are You With Me?'

Body language expert Patti Wood took note of the fact that she went on the show without wearing her wedding ring.

'Writing a children's book about grief after losing your husband and promoting it without still wearing a wedding ring is an interesting choice,' Wood said.

A body language expert claims that the Mormon mom accused of poisoning her husband last year was advertising that she was single while promoting the kids' bereavement book she wrote after he died

While Wood told The Sun that 'everybody grieves differently,' she believes there was another sign besides the lack of ring that may have given Richins away.

'Nonverbally, she is not just promoting the book, but the fact that she has processed her grief enough to advertise that she is single and available,' she added.

Described as the 'gold standard' in her field, Wood took note of the fact that Richins uses the phrase 'you know' over 40 times in the chat, which she believes may have been a 'desperate cry' to be heard.

'So when you make a definitive statement, typically when you're telling the truth, there's strength and delivery that goes from the first word to the end of the sentence,' Wood said.

'When you're saying it and there's no interruption, that's one of the indications of a true statement. So when you have an interrupter like 'you know,' it's breaking up a sentence. It makes it easier for you to lie.'

She said it's not a surefire way to determine if someone is lying but it makes it harder for the listener to be able to decipher the truth.

In the weeks and months before, Richins tried to make herself the sole beneficiary of his life insurance policy. He had changed his will and power of attorney to give his sister full control, and was even worried that his wife was trying to kill him, according to a police search warrant.

Kouri remains in the custody of Summit County Sheriff's Deputies awaiting her next court appearance.

Kouri Richins, 33, is accused of murdering her husband Eric, 40, in their home in Kamas , a town near Park City, Utah, last March. She is shown promoting her book, Are You With Me, last month

Kouri Richins (left) was arrested on Monday in Utah and is accused of poisoning her husband, Eric Richins (right), with fentanyl at their home in Kamas, a small mountain town near Park City

Video of that appearance shows her referring to her husband's death as a 'shock', and talking wistfully about how she was guiding their three sons through grief.

'My husband passed away unexpectedly last year. March 4 was a one year anniversary for us, He was 39.

'It completely took us all by shock,' she said.

'We have three little boys, ten, nine and six, and my kids and I kind of wrote this book on the different emotions and grieving processes that we've experienced in the last year.'

She said she was motivated to write the book after searching Amazon and Barnes and Noble and finding 'nothing' to help them 'cope'.

'I went on Amazon and Barnes and Noble to try to find something to help us cope at night, nights are the hardest. I just wanted some story to read to my kids at night and I couldn't find anything that suited them, so I was like 'let's just write one.''

Following his death, Richins wrote 'Are you with me?' - a picture book she wrote to help children cope after the death of a loved one

Kouri says she wrote the book last year to help the couple's three kids deal with their grief

The $14.99 book is still available on Amazon and is dedicated to Eric Richins

Richins had told police she had performed CPR on Eric after finding him unresponsive in their home, but fire crew and medics who responded to the scene said this was unlikely as there was blood coming from his mouth.

Her arrest came just two months after that of Mormon dentist Jim Craig, who is suspected of poisoning his wife to death in Colorado.

In the years before his death, Eric told his family he feared his wife was trying to kill him. There were two occasions when Eric became violently ill after having drinks or dinner with his wife.

One of Eric's two sisters told police he had called her three years ago from Greece where he and Richins were on vacation together. He claimed Richins had given him a drink that made him violently ill and said he believed she had tried to kill him.

In January 2022, she changed Eric's joint life insurance policy, which he shared with his business partner Cody Wright, so that she was the only beneficiary, a warrant states.

When the insurance company told the partners, who own the business C&E Stone Masonry, of the change, they were able to change it back.

After finding out that Richins had tried to change his life insurance policy, Eric changed the beneficiary of his will and his power of attorney to his sister without telling his wife because he was scared she might 'kill him for the money', a warrant states.

Police say Kouri asked a friend to buy the drugs for her, paying $900 for the first batch and another $900 after Valentine's Day.

She is said to have asked for the 'Michael Jackson stuff' - then been given fentanyl.

While she told police she did not use her phone on the night of her husband's death, police say records show she was texting with someone back and forth.

Those messages were later deleted, they said.

A medical examiner said they found five times the lethal dose of fentanyl - a painkiller 100 times stronger than morphine - in Eric's system after he died on March 4 last year. Pictured: Richins and Eric with one of their sons

Eric's family told investigators shortly after he died they suspected Richins had killed the father-of-three. Pictured: Kouri and Eric Richens with their three children

But a month later, court documents show that on Valentine's Day last year, Eric suffered an allergic reaction following a meal with Richins. He could not breathe and passed out after using an EpiPen and taking Benadryl.

The documents say Richins had bought $900 worth of fentanyl pills from an acquaintance before the Valentine's Day meal and two weeks later she asked for $900 more. Days later, Eric died of an overdose.

Following Eric's death, Richins had claimed he had an addiction to pain medicine in high school but there was no substance abuse issues since.

But friends and family told police said they hadn't any idea of Eric being addicted to any form of medicine, and officers did not find any pain killers in the family home.

In addition to the murder charge, Richins also faces charges involving the alleged possession of GHB - a narcolepsy drug frequently used in recreational settings, including at dance clubs.

Kouri Richins was arrested in Utah and is accused of poisoning her husband, Eric Richins, with fentanyl at their home in Kamas

The charges are based on officers' interactions with Richins that night and the account of an 'unnamed acquaintance' who claims to have sold her the fentanyl.

In April, Richins promoted her children's book on local TV and told a segment called 'Good Things Utah' that she had written it to help her three boys deal with the grief of losing their father.

She called her husband's death unexpected and described how it sent her and her three boys reeling.

For children, Richins said, grieving was about 'making sure that their spirit is always alive in your home.'

'It's - you know - explaining to my kid just because he's not present here with us physically, doesn't mean his presence isn't here with us,' she told the anchors, who commended her for being an amazing mother.

Richins' attorney, Skye Lazaro, declined to comment on the charges.
A mother screamed when she found her teenage daughter's newborn baby in a bin bag, a murder trial heard.

Paris Mayo was just 15 when she allegedly murdered her newborn baby boy after 'suddenly and unexpectedly' giving birth in her living room while her parents were upstairs.

Worcester Crown Court heard the schoolgirl killed the baby by assaulting him and stuffing cotton wool into his airways. Then she put his body into a rubbish bag and asked her older brother to dispose of it the next day.

But her distraught mother shouted 'there's a baby in the bag' when she looked inside and then called emergency services, the court heard.

Mayo, now aged 19, denies murdering baby Stanley Mayo, who was born full-term or nearly full-term, on the night of March 23, 2019.

Paris Mayo's mother screamed when she found her daughter's dead baby in a bin bag, a murder trial heard

Worcester Crown Court heard the schoolgirl, then 15, killed the baby by assaulting him and stuffing cotton wool into his airways

Prosecutor Jonas Hankin KC said: 'The birth took place in the living room of the family home where Miss Mayo lived with her parents and brother George.

'She was alone and delivered the baby unaided while her unwell father was upstairs having dialysis being overseen by her mother.

'Following delivery the defendant assaulted the baby to the upper front left and right side of his head causing a severe brain injury.

'Approximately two hours later, realising the baby was still alive, she stuffed pieces of cotton wool into his mouth and neck.

'She put the baby's body inside a bin bag and deposited it on the front doorstep before going up to bed.'

Mr Hankin said an autopsy discovered the baby suffocated after one piece of cotton wool blocked his esophagus.

Worcester Crown Court heard Mayo thought she was experiencing menstrual pains on the evening the baby was born and had a warm bath.

Her brother George left her glasses of warm milk and water outside the bathroom door before he went out for the night.

Mayo was just 15 when she gave birth to little Stanley in March 2019 in Ross-on-Wye

When he got home Mayo asked him not to enter the living room because she had bled heavily, the jury was told.

The next morning the teenager sent her brother a text message asking him to get rid of the bin bag saying it contained her 'sick' from the previous night.

But Mayo's mother looked inside and went hysterical screaming to George: 'There's a baby in the bag.'

Mr Hankin said: 'The defendant's mother called emergency services saying her daughter had given birth. She was heard saying, "You could have told me darling. Poor baby. Why didn't you tell me?".'

The jury was given a plan of the family home in Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire, and instructed to write 'birth' in the room where the baby was born. They will also be played the 999 call from Mayo's mother.

The court heard Mayo told paramedics she didn't know she was pregnant and the baby had 'fallen out of her'.

Worcester Crown Court heard Mayo thought she was experiencing menstrual pains on the evening the baby was born and had a warm bath

Mr Hankin said: 'She told a paramedic the baby did not seem right. She was hoping her mum would think the baby was rubbish and throw it out.

'She said she knew the identity of the baby's father but she didn't have anything to do with him.'

The jury heard Mayo later named the father as Benjy Davies but this turned out to be incorrect.

The murder trial heard Mayo had denied being pregnant when her older sister asked her two months earlier.

Her brother had no idea his sister was pregnant but had noticed she had become broader and bigger and had started wearing baggy clothes, the jury heard.

Mayo, of Ruardean, Gloucestershire, claimed that the baby was not moving or breathing after she gave birth and she used cotton wool to clean up 'stuff' coming out of its mouth.

The trial is expected to last six weeks.
The homeless owner of two dogs shot dead by police in London was at a vigil for his pets outside Scotland Yard last night where he told a crowd of 200 supporters that they were 'murdered' on their leads.

Louie Turnbull, 46, who was tasered and arrested, appeared in court earlier this week charged with being the owner of a dog that was dangerously out of control.

Armed officers gunned down the 'out-of-control' animals - named Millions and Marshall - in east London on Sunday amid reports they had mauled a woman moments earlier. But some witnesses who saw the woman claimed she got caught up in their leads and was not seriously injured.

Around 200 members of Animal Rising, the group who disrupted the Grand National last month, attended the protest outside the force's headquarters from around 8pm, chanting rapists and murderers at the officers outside and chanting: No justice, no peace, theyre killing dogs on our streets. Some brought their own dogs, many lit vegan candles and quite a few were crying.

Addressing the crowd, Turnbull said: They pulled out all their weapons. They were intimidating me and the dogs. And all they were doing was trying to protect me. I had them on the lead, I was pulling them away and they just murdered them. I cant sleep'.

Louie Turnbull, 46, who was tasered and arrested, said to the crowd of 200: 'I had them on the lead, I was pulling them away and they just murdered them'

Armed officers gunned down two 'out-of-control' dogs - named Millions and Marshall - in east London on Sunday amid reports they had mauled a woman moments earlier

Hundreds of Animal Rising protesters (pictured) have gathered outside Scotland Yard to hold a candle lit vigil for the two dogs who were shot dead by Met Police officers earlier this week

A dog pictured at the protest last night beside a sign which reads: 'RIP Marshall + Millions'

Footage has now emerged of Mr Turnbull sharing an intimate moment with his dogs, while a second video appears to show the animals confronting another pet in the street days before

He added: 'It was just so disgusting. All I was doing was trying to get them back in the boat. And I was going to come out and speak to the police. But they werent having it'.

Witnesses who saw the woman being 'attacked' by the two dogs claimed she had got caught up the their leads and was not seriously injured.

The Met Police has cleared two officers of misconduct who shot dead the pets in east London.

Animal Rising said last night: 'We are here to remember the two beautiful dogs Marshall and Millions who were killed by the Met Police earlier this week, to remember all the human and non-human lives that are taken every day at the hands of the state and the police, and to hold the Met Police accountable for their actions.'

This comes after it was revealed that the woman whose own dog was attacked by the two canines has been 'traumatised' by the killings and has been 'crying ever since', her husband said.

The incident happened just yards from a shabby narrowboat where the owner of the slain dogs lived with his pets. It prominently displays a 'beware of the dog' sign.

Footage also emerged earlier of the dogs' owner Mr Turnbull cuddling one of his beloved pets on the Tube.

The owner wraps his arm around one of the dogs, who are both sat next to him on the row of seats, before kissing the animal on the nose and gently rubbing the top of its head.

Co-founder of Animal Rising, Dan Kidby, who attended the vigil, said: 'The police have continued to act out of line with their job to serve and protect us all - now resulting in the shooting of two beautiful dogs, who hours before were happy and full of life.

'We're here to show that, as a community, we will stand together, and be peaceful and defiant in the face of injustice.'

Mr Kidby added: 'We stand with the communities disproportionately affected by increased police powers, we stand with the nonviolent protesters from Just Stop Oil and Republic arrested without reason last weekend, and we stand with everyone saddened and outraged by the murder of two dogs in Poplar on Sunday.

'We believe a kinder and better world is possible.'

Animal Rising protesters outside New Scotland Yard holding a sign in memory of Marshall and Millions, the two dogs shot dead by Met Police officers

Video appears to show a female dog owner screaming as she picks up her pet and backs away from Mr Turnbull, who can be heard calling her a 'lunatic'

Those in attendance at the vigil heard speeches and lit vegan candles and placed them in front of New Scotland Yard as they peacefully mourned for the dogs.

A spokesperson for Animal Rising told MailOnline: 'We believe that these dogs were killed unnecessarily and completely inhumanely, and the Met Police need to be held accountable for their actions.'

They added that there had been an 'incredibly positive response to the protest' both from within and outside the local community.

The spokesperson also said there was a 'big police presence' at the vigil but there had been no arrests or confrontations between officers and protesters.

When approached for comment on the vigil, a Metropolitan Police spokesperson directed MailOnline to a press release from Tuesday about Mr Turnbull being charged with dangerous dog offences.
Australia's largest super fund has apologised and reported itself to regulators after inadvertently double charging members with multiple accounts.

AustralianSuper announced on Friday it was setting aside $70 million to repay about 100,000 members an average of $650.

'AustralianSuper's aim is to return these members to the financial position they would be in now if this hadn't occurred,' the fund said in a statement.

'This may include refunding administration fees and any insurance costs deducted from impacted members' secondary account, along with lost earnings on these amounts.'

AustralianSuper will repay $70million to 100,000 members

The super giant said it regularly scans the accounts of its nearly three million members - about one in eight working Australians - to combine multiple accounts held by a single member to save them extra fees.

But its processes missed some multiple accounts.

'This should not have happened and we apologise unreservedly to members,' AustralianSuper said.

AustralianSuper had $258b in member assets under management as of last June 30. It has been voted the most trusted superannuation brand 10 years in a row by Reader's Digest Australia and is owned by the Australian Council of Trade Unions and employer peak body the Australian Industry Group.
The chief of Russia's Wagner mercenary group Yevgeny Prigozhin has admitted that Ukrainian forces have counter-attacked Russian positions around Bakhmut - as the warlord mocked Kremlin defence minister Sergei Shoigu.

'The situation on the flanks is shaping up according to the worst predicted scenario,' Prigozhin said, signalling fresh misery for Putin's troops.

'Those territories, which were taken with the blood and lives of our comrades-in-arms for many months, every day, by tens or hundreds of metres are now being thrown almost without a fight by those [Russian army soldiers] who are supposed to hold our flanks.'

Prigozhin then directly addressed the long-suffering Shoigu.

'Given your super long experience, please can you come to Bakhmut?' he asked sarcastically, poking fun at the defence minister's civilian background in engineering.

President Volodymyr Zelensky sought to manage expectations around the pushback in Bakhmut, telling reporters the long-awaited Ukrainian counter-offensive was yet to begin in earnest and declaring: 'We still need a bit more time.'

But Prigozhin retorted that Zelensky was being deceptive: 'When Volodymyr Zelensky said [the counter-offensive] hasn't started yet, he was economical with the truth.

'It is going full steam ahead - Ukrainian units are attacking successfully.'

Ukraine's deputy defence minister Hanna Maylar added later Friday: 'The enemy has suffered great losses of manpower. Our defence forces advanced two kilometres (around one mile) near Bakhmut. We did not lose a single position in Bakhmut this week.'

Ukrainian official Anton Gerashchenko posted a video on social media which appeared to show Russian soldiers hastily retreating amid Ukrainian artillery fire

Pro-Russian military blogger Anatoliy Shariy shared an image of a Russian position that had been deserted and retaken by Ukrainian soldiers near Bakhmut

Moscow has since denied the reports of Ukrainian counter-offensives in Bakhmut and said the frontline is under control.

READ MORE: As Wagner chief Prigozhin becomes ever bolder in challenging Putin... who are the mercenary army's other senior figures? Private Military Company (PMC) Wagner is a mercenary group which for years acted as Putin's personal band of enforcers and is now heavily involved in the war in Ukraine Advertisement

'Statements circulated by individual Telegram channels about ''defence breakthroughs'' that took place in different areas along the line of military contact do not correspond to reality,' the Russian defence ministry said in a Telegram post.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov meanwhile told Russian news service TASS that the military operation in the east of Ukraine was 'very difficult' but 'certain goals have been achieved'.

But a series of pro-Russian military bloggers have corroborated Prigozhin's assessment of the battlefield.

Pro-Kremlin Ukrainian blogger Anatoliy Shariy complained that Putin's forces were retreating and deserting their posts rather than fighting to hold their positions.

He highlighted that units of the 9th motorised rifle regiment of the Russian army 'escaped from the forest, abandoning the fortified area and reopening the road to Bakhmut for the Ukrainian Armed Forces'.

At Bogdanovka, the 9th motorised rifle regiment 'ran away, abandoning a significant section of the front with an area of hundreds of metres', he said.

'Why do we need a large-scale counteroffensive, if during local clashes the servicemen of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation run away?'

Semen Pegov, a military blogger covering the conflict for the War Gonzo Telegram channel, said: 'At the moment, our units are trying to push [Ukrainians] back - they have not yet managed to gain a foothold, the progress was relatively insignificant.

'However, alarm bells ringing here... [Prigozhin] is right - we can assume that the counter-offensive has begun.'

The owner of the Wagner group raged over the difficult situation in Bakhmut and sarcastically asked Sergei Shoigu to go there and evaluate the situation

57th Ukrainian brigade shoots Grad missile systems, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Bakhmut, Ukraine May 9, 2023

Smoke erupts following a shell explosion, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine in this screengrab obtained from a handout video released on May 7, 2023

This still from GoPro footage shows Ukrainian troops advancing through devastated countryside close to Bakhmut towards Russian positions

Pro-Kremlin military bloggers Anatoliy Shariy and Anastasia Kashevarova were two of several who corroborated Prigozhin's assertion that Ukrainian troops had launched successful counter-attacks in Bakhmut

The US-based Institute for the Study of War released a battlefield update this morning which seemed to echo the sentiments of Russian war bloggers.

'Ukrainian forces continued to conduct successful but localised counter-attacks around Bakhmut on May 11, likely constraining Russian offensive efforts.

'The deployment of low-quality Russian forces on the flanks around Bakhmut suggests that the Russian MoD has largely abandoned the aim of encircling a significant number of Ukrainian forces there,' the Institute concluded.

Meanwhile, Russian war correspondent Anastasia Kashevarova said Putin's troops were incurring unnecessary losses because they were failing to communicate properly with Wagner battalions, accusing them of petty squabbling even on the frontlines.

'Wagner withdrew from that flank, because they had a breakthrough in another place, and the 72nd brigade did not know this. The 72nd had artillery there, but there were no assault troops. And the Ukrainians just went there.'

She posted: 'I have unwound such a tangle of squabbles... everyone is offended with each other.

'Wagner, they say, tried to contact the 72nd [Russian regular army] brigade, but they did not want to interact.

'The 72nd has a ban from the defence ministry on working with [Wagner] - and Wagner are too proud.

'[It's hard] to wade through all this whining.'
Radio host Ben Fordham has told an unemployed dole recipient to 'get a job' - prompting a foul-mouthed reply.

The 2GB breakfast host unleased on 'dole bludgers' on his show, while sharing the stories of everyday Aussies also angry at recent hikes to JobSeeker payments.

He called out Jez Heywood, 47, president of the Australian Unemployed Workers Union, who had previously said he was 'angry and annoyed' by the welfare payments not being raised high enough.

Fordham issued a scathing message to Mr Heywood on Friday.

'Jez says you have to weigh up every financial decision you make. Why don't you weigh up getting a job? Any job? Because we're here to tell you there are half a million of them available right now,' he fumed.

The rant sparked a furious response from Mr Heywood.

Ben Fordham called out Jez Heywood (pictured), president of the Australian Unemployed Workers Union, who had previously said he was 'angry and annoyed' by the welfare payments not being raised high enough

'Hey, Ben Fordham you f***ing gronk, don't just take a cowardly swipe from the comfort of your studio, call me up and let's have a chat,' Mr Heywood tweeted.

'Have me on your show you coward.'

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Mr Heywood for comment.

The row came after Treasurer Jim Chalmers this week announced a range of measures to benefit those on welfare.

The Budget saw JobSeeker and Youth Allowance both rising by $40 a fortnight from September.

Eligibility for a higher rate of JobSeeker will also be lowered from 60 to 55, following a rise in the number of older Australians on the payment.

Ben Fordham (pictured with wife Jodie) unleased on 'dole bludgers' on his 2GB show, while sharing the stories of everyday Aussies angry at JobSeeker payment hikes

The plans have triggered fierce debate as Fordham weighed into the controversy.

'When it comes to helping these people they barely get a crumb. All of the help went to people already getting help. And this is what the workers are saying to us,' he said.

'People are angry. They want to support people who are unable to work or people between jobs. But they cannot cop the never ending handouts to people who choose to sit at home and we know that there are some of them. More than some.'

Fordham then called out Mr Heywood for doing a newspaper interview slamming the JobSeeker raises.

'There's a bloke called Jez, who's popped up in the Australian newspaper. He's a 47- year-old unemployed graphic designer. He hasn't had a job in six years,' he said.

'And Jez says he's unimpressed with the government's job seeker increase. He wants more. He says and I quote, 'I'm angry, annoyed. This is nothing, absolutely nothing'.'

The Budget saw JobSeeker and Youth Allowance both rising by $40 a fortnight from September (pictured, queues outside Centrelink on the Gold Coast)

Mr Heywood who has been unemployed since 2017 and has limited job options due to health conditions, said the extra $2.85 a day was so small it makes 'no difference'.

'I'm angry, annoyed - this is nothing, absolutely nothing,' Mr Heywood told The Australian.

'The government commissioned a study that said significant increases were needed and they've ignored it.'
Green minister Lorna Slater was last night accused of a 'spectacular display of hypocrisy' for chartering a private catamaran to visit a Scottish island.

The beleaguered minister is set to travel to the Isle of Rum on the vessel today, instead of using a Scottish Government-owned CalMac ferry.



Ms Slater has previously been called a 'hypocrite' for urging Scots to abandon domestic flights before setting off on her own trip to Canada, where her partner, Gordon Craig, shared photos of the pair going dog sledding.

Social media photos also show the MSP on holiday with Mr Craig in Japan, which is more than 5,500miles away from Scotland. They enjoyed sake and whisky tasting, strolls around the old imperial palace and trying on samurai armour.

Today, critics said Ms Slater's decision to rely on a chartered service to the Isle of Rum would go down 'like a lead balloon' with islanders desperate for better ferry services, and accused her of behaving 'live royalty'.

Green minister Lorna Slater and her partner Gordon going dog sledding in the Canadian Rockies

Today, critics said Ms Slater's decision to rely on a chartered service to the Isle of Rum would go down 'like a lead balloon'

Rum is served by CalMac as part of its Small Isles route, but its usual vessel has been redeployed because of chaos elsewhere on the ferry network, with limits currently on how many passengers can travel.

The fare for the 85-minute crossing would have cost Ms Slater 4.70.

The Scottish Government - which includes the SNP and Greens in a ruling coalition - has refused to say how much it is paying for the private charter.

READ MORE - Nicola Sturgeon denies knowing about the SNP's financial woes before she quit Advertisement

Donald Cameron, Conservative MSP for the Highlands and Islands, said: 'Lorna Slater's hypocrisy and lack of self-awareness is breathtaking.

'The Greens are forever lecturing the public on the need to use public transport, yet she is happy for the Scottish Government to charter a private boat to take her to and from Rum.

'Her excuse for doing so  that, essentially, the CalMac timetable doesn't suit  will go down like a lead balloon with island communities.

'Those who rely on lifeline ferry services don't have the luxury of hiring a private boat to travel.

'Instead, they are dependent on an ageing and unreliable CalMac fleet that they have been lumbered with because of the scandalous incompetence of the government Lorna Slater is at the centre of.

'Her tone-deaf indifference to them is another kick in the teeth to betrayed islanders.'

Ms Slater is due to arrive on Rum at around 10am today and will depart at approximately 2.30pm.

She will travel on a catamaran chartered from Western Isles Cruises. The vessel is expected to be the MV Larven, which can carry 42 passengers.

The Green minister walking near the imperial palace during a trip to Kyoto in Japan

Ms Slater has been slammed for chartering a boat to the Isle of Rum rather than getting a public ferry. The vessel is expected to be the MV Larven (pictured)

The Isle of Rum is located in the Inner Hebrides off the West Coast of Scotland

One SNP politician told the Mail: 'Those Greens are demonstrating another spectacular display of hypocrisy.

'They're forever lecturing the rest of us on using public transport, and Lorna Slater goes and uses a private charter.

'I know they don't like the royals but they act like royalty themselves. They clearly think CalMac ferries  which they actually run  are for plebs, like the expendable fishermen whose livelihoods they want to destroy.'

Publicly funded CalMac's timetable means that if Ms Slater wanted to return on the same day she would spend less time on Rum than if she chartered a private boat.

A warning on its website states: 'Due to MV Loch Bhrusda providing additional support in the Outer Isles, Spanish John [ferry] will be operating for vehicles and freight and MV Larven will operate the passenger-only service to the Small Isles on Saturdays.

'Passenger numbers will be limited, and pre-booking is essential.'

The Scottish Government said Ms Slater will meet islanders to discuss key issues 'including the future of Kinloch Castle' after its sale fell through.

The couple on holiday in Neuschwanstein, home of the romantic Neuschwanstein Castle

Ms Slater is a co-leader of the Greens alongside Patrick Harvie (left). They are currently in a power-sharing agreement with the SNP. The pair are pictured with former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon in August 2021

City financier and Tory Party donor Jeremy Hosking was set to buy the former hunting lodge from government agency NatureScot but the Isle of Rum Community Trust claimed there was a lack of information about his plans.

Mr Hosking pulled out of the purchase in March this year, claiming he was 'fed up being a pawn in a game' between NatureScot's 'sensible head' and 'the anarchy head' of biodiversity minister Ms Slater's department.

He said at the time: 'I have tried to speak to Ms Slater but got no reply. Enough is enough. It's the Greens who have completely crushed a conservation project. It's unbelievable.'

A Government spokesman said: 'She [Ms Slater] will be travelling with members of the Isle of Rum Community Trust, as well as NatureScot and Scottish Government staff, by a charter operated by Western Isles Cruises.

'This will maximise time on the island and support a small local business.'

Lib Dem MSP Willie Rennie said: 'Lorna Slater has been in office for less than two years but she is already acting like she is born to rule.'

A Scottish Labour spokesman said: 'This is stunning hypocrisy from Lorna Slater. Scotland deserves better.'

Ms Slater refused to comment.
The U.S. ambassador to South Africa has accused the country of covertly providing weapons and ammunition to Russia via a cargo ship.

Ambassador Reuben Brigety said on Thursday at a news conference in Pretoria that the U.S. believed the covert weapons supply was linked to a sanctioned company that docked secretly at a naval base near Cape Town last December.

President Cyril Ramaphosa said an investigation into the visit by a Russian vessel named Lady R to South Africa's main naval base was already underway behind the scenes with the help of U.S. intelligence services before Brigety went public that the cargo was weapons and ammunition.

Brigety said the U.S. was certain that military equipment was loaded onto the Lady R at the Simon's Town naval base between December 6 and December 8 and then transported to Russia.

The ambassador added that the intelligence brought into question South Africa's supposed neutral stance on the war in Ukraine and its calls for the conflict to end.

Russia's Vladimir Putin speaks with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa at the Russia-Africa Summit at the Sirius Park of Science and Art in Sochi, Russia, October 24, 2019

The Russian vessel, Lady R, is docked at the Simon's Town Naval Base near Cape Town, South Africa, December 8, 2022

'The arming of the Russians is extremely serious and we do not consider this issue to be resolved,' Brigety said in comments reported by multiple South African news outlets.

If South Africa is found to be giving Russia military aid, it threatens to fracture the relationship between the United States and a key partner in Africa. Despite South Africa's neutral stance on the war in Ukraine, the Biden Administration was hoping it could still be a key buffer against growing Russian and Chinese influence on the continent.

While Ramaphosa's office said in a statement later Thursday that there was currently 'no evidence' to support allegations that arms were loaded onto the Lady R, The Associated Press established that the vessel is tied to a company that was sanctioned last year by the U.S. for being involved in transporting military equipment for the Russian government.

The news of Brigety's comments broke while Ramaphosa was in Cape Town answering questions on other matters in Parliament. When the leader of the political opposition, John Steenhuisen, asked about the weapons and ammunition, the president replied that 'the matter is being looked into, and in time we will be able to speak about it.'

Ramaphosa declined to comment further, citing the need for the investigation to play out.

Steenhuisen asked the president if South Africa was 'actively arming Russian soldiers who are murdering and maiming innocent people?'

Ammunition supplies have become a problem for Russia in the war. The leader of Russian military company Wagner complained last week about his mercenary soldiers in Ukraine allegedly dealing with dire shortages.

Ramaphosa's office acknowledged in its statement that the Lady R docked in South Africa, but did not say when, where or for what reason. The statement also criticized the American ambassador for going public.

President Cyril Ramaphosa said an investigation into the visit by a Russian vessel named Lady R to South Africa's main naval base was already underway. He is pictured replying to questions in parliament, in Cape Town, South Africa, May 11, 2023

The Russian vessel, Lady R, is docked at night at the Simon's Town Naval Base near Cape Town, South Africa, Thursday, Dec. 8, 2022

Records reviewed by the AP show the Lady R was purchased by a Russian company, Transmorflot LLC, in 2019. In May 2022, the U.S. sanctioned Transmorflot and several vessels it alleges are controlled by the company, including the Lady R, for aiding the Russian war effort. The company then changed its name to MG-Flot LLC, which is also listed as the current owner of the Lady R.

Last month, The Wall Street Journal reported that another ship owned by MG-Flot, the Rasul Gamzatov, transported artillery shells from Iran to Russia, citing Middle Eastern officials.

The AP has also independently confirmed that the Lady R docked at the Simon's Town naval base during the time frame Brigety cited.

MarineTraffic, a service that collects radio and satellite transponder data from ships, tracked the Lady R off the South African coast in early December, but the signal was lost on Decemeber 5. Ships are required by international law to keep their transponders on while at sea. Smugglers often turn them off to hide their movements.

Satellite imagery obtained by AP shows a ship the same length, color and layout as the Lady R docked at the naval base the following day and remained there through December 8. AP also obtained photos of the ship at the naval base, the name Lady R clearly visible on its stern in both English and Russian. The ship set sail December 9 and its transponder signal popped back up on December 10. It returned to the Russian port of Novorossiysk on the Black Sea on Feb. 22.

Steenhuisen's opposition party had previously raised questions over the appearance of a 'mystery' Russian vessel in Simon's Town. In late December, South African Defense Minister Thandi Modise said the ship was handling an 'old order' for ammunition, and arms were offloaded, not loaded onto the ship.

The South African government has stated numerous times it is neutral on the war in Ukraine and wants the conflict resolved peacefully through diplomacy but recent displays of its closeness to Russia opened Africa's most developed country to accusations that it has effectively taken Russia's side.

Vladimir Putin (centre) and Cyril Ramaphosa (right) stand with Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (left) and heads of countries taking part in the 2019 Russia-Africa Summit in Sochi, Russia, 24 October 2019

Ramaphosa declined to comment further, citing the need for the investigation to play out. He is pictured addressing a joint news conference with his Kenyan counterpart William Ruto, in Nairobi, Kenya, November 9, 2022

South Africa hosted Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov for talks in January, giving him a platform to blame the West for the war in Ukraine.

Weeks later, South Africa allowed warships from the Russian and Chinese navies to perform drills off its east coast. The Russian navy brought its Admiral Gorshkov frigate, one of its navy's flagship vessels. The South African navy took part in the drills and said they would 'strengthen the already flourishing relations between South Africa, Russia and China.'

South Africa also faces a diplomatic dilemma over a possible visit this year by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is the subject of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for alleged war crimes involving the abductions of children from Ukraine. Putin is due to visit South Africa in August for a meeting of leaders of the BRICS economic bloc, made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

South Africa is a signatory to the international court based in The Hague, Netherlands, and obliged to arrest Putin. The government indicated it would not detain the Russian leader and threatened to leave the ICC instead. Ramaphosa's office released a statement last month backtracking on the threat.
Travellers and commuters have been hit by more rail strikes today as the dispute between rail workers and train operating companies continues.

Members from the Aslef union chose to strike on Friday 12 May 2023, with two further strike dates planned in May and June after union members rejected a 'risible' 4 per cent pay offer.

So, why exactly have train drivers chosen to go on strike? Which days will travel be disrupted on because of industrial action?

Read on below for all you need to know about the latest strikes by Aslef members.

Travellers were forced to wait outside London Victoria station on the morning of Friday 12 May 2023 due to strikes by Aslef members

Why are train drivers striking?

The latest strikes by Aslef members are part of a lengthy dispute with the government and train companies over pay and conditions.

Aslef said its negotiating team has met representatives of the employers on eight occasions over the past year to try to find a resolution.

The union said it took eight one-day strikes to bring the train operators and the government 'to their senses and persuade them to sit down and talk properly'.

Mick Whelan, general secretary of the Aslef union, stated: 'We do not want to go on strike, we do not want to inconvenience passengers, we have families and friends who use the railway, too, and we believe in investing in rail for the future of this country but the blame for this action lies, fairly and squarely, at the feet of the employers who have forced our hand over this by their intransigence.

'It is now up to them to come up with a more sensible, and realistic, offer and we ask the government not to hinder this process.'

Is my train affected by the strikes?

Customers are advised to check before they travel to see if their planned route is affected by industrial action.

Here is a breakdown of which services are running today and on Saturday 13 May 2023.

Avanti West Coast

Friday: No trains. Saturday: Fewer trains than normal will run and only between 7am and 7pm, with the exception of some services to and from Liverpool.

c2c

Friday: Usual timetable. Saturday: No major impact but all services will run to/from London Fenchurch Street and will not call at London Liverpool Street or Stratford.

Caledonian Sleeper

Friday: Usual timetable. Saturday: The Caledonian Sleeper does not operate on Saturday nights.

Chiltern Railways

Friday: No trains. Saturday: No trains will run north of Banbury. Services that do run will be limited to one train per hour in both directions between London Marylebone and each of Banbury, Oxford and Aylesbury via Amersham, and only between around 9am and 9pm.

Platforms at London Paddington were empty on the first day of strike action as Aslef train drivers walk out at 16 companies

CrossCountry

Friday: No trains. Saturday: No direct services will run to or from Birmingham New Street and locations such as Aberdeen, Cambridge, Cardiff, Glasgow, Nottingham and Stansted Airport. Services that do run will only operate between 7am and 7pm.

East Midlands Railway

Friday: No trains. Saturday: Services will run between 7am and 7pm. They will be limited to just one train per hour in each direction between London St Pancras and each of Nottingham, Sheffield and Corby, as well as a handful of regional routes such as between Derby and Matlock.

Elizabeth Line

Friday: Usual timetable. Saturday: The Elizabeth line is not involved in the industrial dispute with the RMT but there will be some alterations to its services. These include no trains between Maidenhead and Reading before 7am or after 7pm.

Gatwick Express

Friday: No trains. Saturday: No trains but Southern and Thameslink will serve Gatwick Airport.

Grand Central

Friday: Usual timetable. Saturday: Grand Central is not involved in the industrial dispute with the RMT but there will be minor alterations to its services.

Great Northern

Friday: No trains. Saturday: A limited service will run and only between 7am and 7pm. There will be no trains between Ely and King's Lynn.

Great Western Railway

Friday: A limited service will run and only between 7.30am and 6.30pm. The only open routes will be between: London Paddington and Bristol Temple Meads; Reading and Didcot; Reading and Basingstoke; Reading and Redhill; Westbury and Swindon; Cardiff and Bristol; and Plymouth and Gunnislake. The Night Riviera sleeper service has been cancelled. Saturday: A limited service will run and only between 7.30am and 6.30pm. More routes will be open compared with Friday, including additions such as between London Paddington and Didcot Parkway; London Paddington and Cardiff; Slough and Windsor; and Penzance and Plymouth.

Greater Anglia

Friday: A reduced service will run and only between London Liverpool Street and each of Cambridge, Norwich, Southend and Stansted Airport. Saturday: Trains will run between 7am and 11pm. Some routes will have a reduced frequency, but most will have a normal or near normal service.

Heathrow Express

Friday: No trains. Saturday: No trains after 9pm.

Hull Trains

Friday: Usual timetable. Saturday: Usual timetable.

London North Eastern Railway (LNER)

Friday and Saturday: A limited timetable will operate and only between London King's Cross and both Edinburgh and Leeds.

London Northwestern Railway

Friday: No trains. Saturday: A limited service will run and only between 7am and 7pm. The only open routes will be between Birmingham New Street and each of London Euston, Birmingham International and Liverpool Lime Street.

A customer sign giving information about the train strikes behind the locked entrance of Apsley station in Hertfordshire

London Overground

Friday: Usual timetable. Saturday: London Overground is not involved in the industrial dispute with the RMT but there will be minor alterations to some of its services.

Lumo

Friday and Saturday: Usual timetable.

Merseyrail

Friday and Saturday: No impact from the strikes. Additional services will run due to Eurovision.

Northern

Friday: No trains. Saturday: A limited service will run and only between 8am and 5pm. Only a handful of routes will be open, such as between Liverpool Lime Street and Manchester; Leeds and York; and Darlington and Saltburn. - ScotRail Friday and Saturday: Usual timetable.

South Western Railway

Friday: No trains on the Isle of Wight. Services will be reduced between London Waterloo and Exeter, in the Romsey area and on the suburban network. Saturday: A reduced service will operate and only between 7am and 7pm. The only open routes will be between London Waterloo and each of Windsor via Hounslow; Windsor via Richmond; Woking; and Basingstoke; between Basingstoke and Salisbury; and on the Isle of Wight

Southeastern

Friday: No trains. Saturday: A reduced service will operate, with only 58 out of 180 stations open. Trains that do run will be busier than normal, and services are likely to start later and finish earlier than usual.

Trains in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, remaining in the sidings. Strike action by Aslef members on Friday 12 May 2023 means no Thameslink or Great Northern services will run

Southern

Friday: No trains. Saturday: A reduced service will operate. No trains will run between Hemel Hempstead and Clapham Junction; London Bridge and Norwood Junction; Southampton Central and Barnham; and Eastbourne and Ashford International.

Stansted Express

Friday: Frequencies will be halved to one train per hour in each direction. Saturday: Frequencies will be halved to one per hour in each direction, and trains will start later and finish earlier than normal.

Thameslink

Friday: No trains. Saturday: Services will be split north and south, with nothing running between London St Pancras and London Blackfriars.

TransPennine Express

Friday: No trains. Saturday: A reduced timetable will operate and only between Liverpool Lime Street and each of Huddersfield, Preston and Sheffield, and between Sheffield and Cleethorpes.

Transport for Wales

Friday: Usual timetable. Saturday: Transport for Wales is not involved in the industrial dispute with the RMT but some of its services will be disrupted. Several stations such as Birmingham International, Liverpool Lime Street and Manchester Piccadilly will only be open for services between 7am and 7pm.

West Midlands Railway

Friday: No trains. Saturday: A limited service will run and only between 7am and 7pm. The only open routes will be between Birmingham New Street and each of Wolverhampton, Rugeley Trent Valley and Lichfield Trent Valley; between Kidderminster and Whitlocks End/Dorridge; and between Stourbridge Junction and Stourbridge Town.

Fans of Eurovision who are travelling up to Liverpool for the 2023 edition of the contest could be affected by strikes

What days are the train strikes in 2023?

Train strikes on Friday 12 May 2023 could impact people who are travelling to the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool.

This is the first of three strike days, with the final of Eurovision taking place on Saturday, 13 May 2023.

Elizabeth Line trains will be disrupted by strikes on Wednesday, 24 May 2023, after members of the TSSA union confirmed they will strike on the one-year anniversary of the line's opening.

This will be followed by a second day of strikes by Aslef, which will affect train services on Wednesday, 31 May 2023.

Wembley Stadium will play host to the FA Cup Final between Manchester City and Manchester United on Saturday, 3 June, as fans' travel could be disrupted by upcoming train strikes

The third day of industrial action by Aslef members falls in June and could have a huge impact on two major sporting events.

The third strike date falls on Saturday, 3 June 2023, meaning that fans travelling to the FA Cup Final at Wembley could be affected, as well as those travelling to the Epsom Derby horse race.

With cross-city rivals Manchester United and Manchester City facing each other in an FA Cup final for the first time, tens of thousands of fans travelling down to London from Manchester could be affected.

Transport Secretary Mark Harper stated: 'It is deeply disappointing that Aslef has decided to call strikes and ban overtime, targeting thousands of people attending the UK's first Eurovision event in 25 years - including Ukrainians displaced by Putin's war - and the first ever all-Manchester FA Cup final.

'The fair and reasonable offer from the RDG included urgent reform to ensure our railways are financially sustainable for the benefit of passengers, rail workers and the taxpayer as well as delivering a pay rise - for members whose salary already averages 60,000 a year.

'Aslef need to call off these strikes and give their members a say on this offer.'
Farm workers were seen loading cows on to a truck and driving it out of the nearly deserted village

Residents of Brienz, Graubunden, were ordered by Swiss authorities to abandon the tiny mountain village

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Swiss authorities have ordered residents to abandon a tiny mountain village in the eastern canton of Graubunden because of fears it could soon be buried beneath a collapsing mountainside.

A thick coat of fog covered the mountaintop overlooking the village of Brienz on Thursday, where vegetation has been replaced by a slope of mud and rocks.

Farm workers could be seen loading cows onto a truck and driving it out of the nearly deserted village. Some areas were cordoned off, with yellow warning signs in five languages that read: 'Attention rockfall.'

An overview of the village of Brienz and its church in front of the zone of rockslide, eastern canton of Graubunden, Switzerland, May 11, 2023

Swiss authorities have ordered residents to abandon a tiny mountain village in the eastern canton of Graubunden because of fears it could soon be buried beneath a collapsing mountainside

Residents of the Brienz, Graubunden, were ordered by Swiss authorities to abandon the tiny mountain village. The cluster of houses is pictured in front of the zone of rockslide, May 11, 2023

Local authorities say Brienz is at risk because 2million cubic metres (2.6 million cubic yards) of rock could soon break off the mountain, damaging or outright crushing its quaint homes.

The centuries-old village straddles German and Romansch-speaking parts of the eastern Graubunden region, sitting south-west of Davos at an altitude of about 1,158 metres (3,800 feet). It has fewer than 100 residents.

The mountain and the rocks on it have been moving since the last Ice Age, local officials say. But measurements indicated a 'strong acceleration over a large area' in recent days, and 'up to two million cubic metres of rock material will collapse or slide in the coming seven to 24 days', officials said.

'The rock moves at a speed of up to 36 metres (39 yards) per year,' said Christian Gartmann, a member of the crisis management board of Albula, a municipality that includes Brienz. 'We expect it to fall towards the village within the next few days or weeks.'

Brienz's resident have been given until Friday evening to evacuate. The village's mayor, Daniel Albertin, is confident all residents will have left by then.

'This is a huge task for the entire community,' he said.

One farmer, tending to the cows being evacuated, agreed.

Local authorities say Brienz is at risk because 2million cubic metres of rock could soon break off the mountain

A general view of the zone where rocks are falling and the village of Brienz, one day ahead of the deadline for habitants to evacuate in the canton of Graubunden, Switzerland, May 11, 2023

Rocks are breaking off the mountain which could worsen, damaging or outright crushing its quaint homes in the village of Brienz, Switzerland

A sign near the zone where rocks are falling in the village of Brienz, one day ahead of the deadline for habitants to evacuate in the canton of Graubunden

A general view shows the rockslide zone posing a severe danger to the tiny village of Brienz

The extent of the damage that could fall upon Brienz remains anyone's guess

'The rock can come down in sections, which would be the most favourable solution,' Gartmann said. 'It can also fall all at once, which would be disastrous for the village'

'It's just a big effort for us now,' Hanneke Bonifaci said as she opened their enclosure. 'It's a very short time, but it's doable.' Climate change is putting Switzerland at increased risk of natural hazards, including an increase in erosion due to higher temperatures, Swiss authorities say.

The extent of the damage that could fall upon Brienz remains anyone's guess.

'The rock can come down in sections, which would be the most favourable solution,' Gartmann said. 'It can also fall all at once, which would be disastrous for the village.'

Residents of Brienz-Brinzauls attend an information meeting on the imminent evacuation of their village, in Tiefencastel, Switzerland, Tuesday 9 May 2023

Distraught residents attend an information meeting on the imminent evacuation of Brienz. The municipality has closed the access road to the village; residents must evacuate their homes by Friday evening due to an impending rockslide
A massive, menacing storm dubbed the 'King of Clouds' has been captured towering over a British town as heavy rain and thunder pummel the UK.

Mother Joanne Collins-Anderson snapped the gigantic cumulonimbus from her home in Louth, Lincolnshire, as a thunderstorm raged across the town.

The breath-taking images show what the Met Office has described as the 'bottom of a towering cumulonimbus cloud with a thunderstorm and heavy rain underneath'.

Cumulonimbus clouds are vast multi-level clouds, extending high into the sky in towers or plumes. They get taller and taller until they represent huge powerhouses, storing the same amount of energy as 10 Hiroshima-sized atom bombs.

The photo came after the county was last night battered by storms, which saw rare tornado-like funnel clouds forming in the sky.

Mother Joanne Collins-Anderson snapped the gigantic cumulonimbus from her home in Louth, Lincolnshire, as a thunderstorm raged across the town

Dubbed the King of Clouds, the breath-taking images show what the Met Office has described as the 'bottom of a towering cumulonimbus cloud with a thunderstorm and heavy rain underneath'

According to the Met Office, individual cumulonimbus cells usually dissipate within an hour once showers start falling, however, multicell or supercell storms contain many cumulonimbus clouds and the intense rainfall may last much longer.

How does the 'King of Clouds' form and why are they so huge? Otherwise known as The King of Clouds, cumulonimbus clouds exist through the entire height of the troposphere, usually characterised by their icy, anvil-shaped top. Cumulonimbus clouds are born through convection, often growing from small cumulus clouds over a hot surface. They get taller and taller until they represent huge powerhouses, storing the same amount of energy as 10 Hiroshima-sized atom bombs. - Source: Met Office Advertisement

Joanne was awed and slightly scared by the phenomenon. She said: 'It was so fab to see. But scary at the same time.

'I wasn't expecting them as we'd just had a thunderstorm that hit a few hours before at around 4pm. Then my son said 'wow look over there'.

'As we live in a three-storey house overlooking Louth, we have some amazing views.

'It just makes you realise what mother nature is about and how things could change especially with current climates.'

The intense weather of recent days is expected to calm today and into the weekend, with highs of 18C in Cardiff and the South West of England and lows of 7C overnight.

Forecasters predict cool and breezy conditions across east and southeastern areas with low cloud today, with the occasion shower in the south. Sunny spells across western areas where it will feel warm by afternoon.

While tonight low cloud affecting central, southern and eastern parts, with clear skies in the northwest, where it will turn chilly with a few fog patches forming.

The forecast comes after residents in Lincolnshire were treated to a number of weather phenomena on Thursday, which included rare funnel clouds.

In other parts of the nation, other dismayed Britons have shared ominous pictures of funnel clouds forming over their homes in south Lincolnshire

A man, woman and child seek shelter from a heavy rain shower in a park in Terenure, Dublin

Also known as tuba, the cone-shaped formations form when a rotating column of wind draws in droplets from the base of storm clouds, according to the Met Office.

Better late than never: Bluebells in full bloom Nothing says spring has finally arrived more than the glorious sight of a carpet of bluebells in full bloom. This stunning display near Arlington in East Sussex has been attracting visitors in their droves for decades. For 50 years, John McCutchan, 86, has been welcoming them through the gates every spring - and helped raise more than 1million for local charities. Due to a long cold and wet winter, the bluebells and white wood anemones are later this year and the season will be shorter but retired farmer Mr McCutchan said it was worth the wait. He said: 'It is an absolute delight every year when they come through and this year is no different though we have had to wait a bit longer.' Advertisement

It is the same process by which tornadoes form, but funnel clouds only become a tornado if they reach the earth, or become known as a waterspout if they reach a body of water.

Matthew Whitelocks, 46, a part-time firefighter for Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue, posted pictures and a video on Twitter after seeing a funnel cloud for the first time over his home in Grantham.

He said: 'I have seen clouds rotating, as if they are attempting to become funnel clouds but haven't actually formed into one.

'It was fascinating to watch the funnel, extend and narrow towards the ground.

'There wasn't any sound and the air was surprisingly still.'

Funnel clouds predominantly form from cumulonimbus clouds and are usually associated with heavy rain, hail, thunder and lightning, according to the Met Office.

The sightings come after heavy rain led to flash flooding in some areas on Wednesday, with a major incident declared in Somerset.

Meanwhile, shocking CCTV footage captured the 'frightening' moment two storage workers battled with devastating winds as they are blown across their work yard while trying to dodge flying pieces of furniture.

The clip, which was shot in Horham, Suffolk, showed Filing Fortress manager, Stuart McBurney, 42, fall to his knees and desperately cling to the ground in an attempt to reach safety.

The other heroically clung to large pieces of furniture in a bid to stop them from crashing into his colleague.

Mr McBurney said: 'It cut around in a circle and came right across my yard. We were loading up one of our customer's furniture and we had it on the lorry and the other guy said "it's starting to get a bit windy".

The Met Office had issued a yellow weather thunderstorm alert for much of the UK, warning that driving conditions will likely be affected by spray, standing water or hail, leading to longer journey times.

There may also be damage to buildings from lightning strikes, forecasters say, while it is 'likely' that some homes and businesses will be affected by flooding and suffer power cuts.

The Welsh village of Pontllanfraith, near Caerphilly, was hit by a freak storm this morning that saw giant hailstones pelt down from the sky.

The local pub, called The Bird in Hand, was forced to close by the force of the storm after it lost power - and the large hail stones stacked up outside the building to create a barricade to make it impossible to open the front door.

Staff then had to battle water as the pub became flooded in the storm.

Villager Rhys Leyshon, 42, said: 'You never seen anything like it. The hailstones were the size of marbles - it is really mad May weather.'

The pub's management said the venue would have to remain closed 'whilst we assess the situation and try make it as safe as possible'.

'At the moment we are without hot water, heating, fridges and much needed cellar equipment as all have been damaged,' they said. 'This is alongside all our flooring and furniture.'
Fury is growing among parents and teachers today after 'incredibly difficult' questions in this year's SATs left 'even the most able pupils broken and in tears'.

Labour MP Mary Kelly Foy said young people 'shouldn't have to go through this' following hundreds of complaints over the reading examination questions, which even some staff reportedly struggled to answer.

Children aged 10 to 11 are sitting the milestone tests this week, which are statutory assessments taken by youngsters at the end of Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2.

Teachers across the UK are now calling for the abolition of the SATs after witnessing how 'tears flowed' and 'stress levels rose' as students sat the reading exam.

Vice President of the NAHT Head teachers' Union Simon Kidwell told Good Morning Britain on Friday that it was 'very disappointing' to see the tests were causing 'such distress' among pupils.

Fury is growing among parents and teachers today after 'incredibly difficult' questions in this year's SATs left 'even the most able pupils broken and in tears'

There have been hundreds of complaints from both parents and teachers, with one union claiming that even some staff were left dumbfounded

READ MORE: Could YOU answer these Year 6 SATs questions from last year correctly? Advertisement

Parents and teachers branded the exams a 'disgrace' as they take to social media to vent their frustrations overnight and this morning.

One wrote: 'SATs testing a disgrace... one size does not fit all for 10 and 11 year olds.'

Another father said: 'Yesterday, my daughter sat her yr6 reading exam and was shaken by the experience.

'Fortunately, she is resilient; more resilient than an 11yo should have to be.

'I can only imagine how this paper will have impacted pupil confidence and attainment in the subsequent maths exams.'

Labour MP for Durham Mary Kelly Foy appeared to join calls for the exams to be scrapped.

She tweeted: 'SATs get in the way of teaching, but they also put children under extreme pressure.

'Young people shouldn't have to go through this.'

It came after staff said that this year's reading exam was more difficult than previous tests and was 'not accessible' to the 'wide range of experiences and backgrounds' among pupils.

The SATs have previously come under fire from both parents and teachers, who feel it's unnecessary to test children at such a young age and not a fair assessment of their overall abilities.

MPs, parents and teachers brand the exams a 'disgrace' as they take to social media to vent their frustrations

As fury builds over this year's SATs reading exam, how many from last year's grammar test can YOU answer? (See correct answers at the bottom) ANSWERS: 1. Whale 2. Hood: Child and neighbour, Ship: Friend, champion and member 3. Cover: dis, Large: en, Frost: de 4. Shall we go round the fitness trail in the park 5. Finally, I think I understand what you mean 6. The children should choose to play netball, cricket, hockey or tennis. 7. Add one ounce (around one tablespoon) of yeast to your bread mix. 8. I will walk through the park to get to school. 9. The African elephant, the largest mammal in the world, can weigh up to 6.6 tonnes. 10. Deserts Advertisement

Headteacher Kerry Forrester has written to her MP saying 'SATs must go' after watching how her pupils at Tarporley C of E Primary School, Cheshire, reacted to the tests yesterday.

She shared a copy of her letter online for other professionals and families to see and within a couple of hours it had been shared more than 40,000 times.

'Today was not acceptable. I cannot believe what we put our 10 and 11 year old children through for the government. SATs must go,' she penned.

'Today I have written to my MP and urge you to do the same.'

In the letter, Ms Forrester described how the testing was her 'road to Damascus moment'.

'My year 6 children, all capable readers who love reading, opened their reading test paper and were broken! Tears flowed from our most capable readers and stress levels rose amongst all others,' she wrote.

'For what, I found myself asking, for no other reason than to sit a test for the government DfE accountability measure.'

'This was the most challenging reading test I have seen in my 29 years as a teacher and my 14 years as a headteacher. Since Covid we have spent time supporting our children to catch up and to believe in themselves as learners. Today saw so much of that work destroyed by a snapshot from an inappropriate test.'

She added that pupils put themselves under 'immense pressure to perform well in these tests', which has a negative impact on their self-esteem, confidence and mental health.

Urging her MP Edward Timpson to 'consider the evidence and take action to address this issue', she wrote: 'Primary school should be where we make lifelong learners, not switch children off'.

ARE YOU AN AFFECTED TEACHER OR PARENT? Email laurence.dollimore@mailonline.co.uk

Dozens of people responded to her tweet, many of them professionals who said they agree that SATs are unfair and that the paper was particularly difficult.

'Totally agree with this,' said one. 'It was completely unfair. Accessible to read but the questions were ridiculous and no clear answer. There was far too much for the hour time limit and totally unfair for pupils with ASD or slow processing. I will be writing to our MP too.'

'So pleased teachers are finding their voice now!' said a parent. 'SATs totally drained my kids and we put no pressure on them at all, the school were really good too. It's all very unnecessary and potentially harmful.. My dyslexic son is yr 7 he doesn't know he failed his SATs. He's brilliant!'

Headteacher Kerry Forrester (pictured) has written to her MP saying 'SATs must go' after her 'capable reader' pupils 'opened their reading test paper and were broken'

Mrs Forrester' tweet slamming yesterday's reading exam scored thousands of likes on Twitter and saw many parents open up about the demoralising effect on their children

The Happy Confident Company, which provides education resources to children, backed Mrs Forrester's letter and shared the hashtag #SayNoToSats

Teacher Amanda Becker tweeted: 'The reading paper today was too difficult for most of the children who have worked so hard...'

Sophie Smith-Tong wrote: 'SATS narrow our teaching, cause unnecessary stress and all for the DfE'

Bethan Southern said her 'bright and hard working' son in Year Six shook his head after taking the exam, despite going in feeling prepared

Kerry Tatum tweeted: 'My daughter, who is a Greater Depth child, sat this test today and came out of school crying saying it was so hard and she thing she did so badly'

'My daughter is bright and was gutted today as she didn't finish the paper,' wrote Judith McLean

Another Twitter user said she left her teaching post after deciding she had 'lost all faith' in the education system

'My daughter said today's paper was horrible,' tweeted Rebecca Pain

Adam Watson said: 'When you can see the stress and anxiety written across your 11-year-old's face after they've sat a SAT you know something is wrong'

Angela Crompt tweeted: 'My son struggles and my heart breaks thinking of him sitting in these tests. They are inaccessible and age-inappropriate'

Ms Forrester said watching how her pupils at Tarporley C of E Primary School, Cheshire, (pictured) reacted to the tests yesterday was her 'road to Damascus moment'

Ms Forrester shared a copy of her letter online for other professionals and families to see and within a couple of hours it had been shared more than 40,000 times

Similarly, Year 6 teacher Emma Wood took to Twitter saying how she was left 'broken' after seeing 'so many disheartened children that would normally finish not getting to the last page'

Similarly, Year 6 teacher Emma Wood took to Twitter saying how she was left 'broken' after seeing 'so many disheartened children that would normally finish not getting to the last page'.

She added: 'Many asked why it was so much harder than any before.'

NAHT union head of policy Sarah Hannafin said the organisation is 'very concerned' about the reports it has received from members over the reading paper.

She told TES how many teachers claimed the exam questions were 'difficult', 'not accessible' and 'leaving children upset'. Others alleged the exam left teachers 'trying to rebuild' pupils' confidence.

The NAHT will 'definitely raise these concerns with STA (Standards and Testing Agency) and also the Ofqual national assessments team,' Ms Hannafin stated.

Union president-elect and headteacher Simon Kidwell added that the education sector has not seen 'sorts of outcries' over the difficulty of the SATs in several years.

A Department for Education spokesperson, responding to the furore, said: 'Key Stage 2 assessments play a vital role in understanding pupils' progress and identifying those who may have fallen behind, so they can be provided with extra support if needed.

'It's important that schools encourage pupils to do their best but preparing for these exams should not be at the expense of their well-being.'
BBC presenter Nick Robinson gave Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan a grilling this morning over his claims that the timing of rail strikes were a 'coincidence'.

Members of the drivers' union have walked out today at more than a dozen train operators, causing fresh travel disruption amid long-running disputes over pay.

Workers from the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) will then strike tomorrow - the day of the Eurovision Song Contest final in Liverpool. Further Aslef strikes will then be held on May 31 and June 3 - the day of the FA Cup final at Wembley.

Aslef announced its latest three strikes two weeks ago on April 27 after rejecting what it called a 'risible' pay offer of 4 per cent from the Rail Delivery Group.

This morning, Mr Robinson spoke to Mr Whelan on Radio 4's Today programme and said he had previously claimed it 'was a coincidence that these strikes coincide with the need of tens of thousands of people to head to Liverpool for the Eurovision final'.

BBC presenter Nick Robinson spoke about the rail strikes on Radio 4's Today programme

Mick Whelan, the general secretary of train drivers' union Aslef, has blamed 'companies in league with the Government' for failures to find a resolution to prevent strikes

Empty platforms at London Paddington railway station this morning on a day of strike action

A near-empty concourse at London King's Cross railway station during the strike this morning

Mr Whelan replied: 'Well yes, strangely enough, I don't really watch Eurovision, believe it or not, I didn't even know they had semi-finals.

Nick Robinson v Mick Whelan on Radio 4 Nick Robinson: 'You've said it was a coincidence that these strikes coincide with the need of tens of thousands of people to head to Liverpool for the Eurovision final. Really?' Mick Whelan: 'Well yes, strangely enough, I don't really watch Eurovision, believe it or not, I didn't even know they had semi-finals. What happened to us was a direct reaction to that non-deal that came out, and under the legislation we have to give 14 days' notice and the first available day after 14 days was today, unfortunately. If we were targeting Eurovision we would have done the Friday, Saturday and the Sunday.' NR: 'As I've already pointed out to you this strike and the one coming tomorrow are disrupting transport all over the weekend. There's also a strike planned by Aslef for Saturday, June 3. Is it also a coincidence that that is the day of the FA Cup final when tens of thousands of supporters of two Manchester clubs will need to travel to London?' MW: 'I'll make two brief points on this one. Network Rail shut down the whole of the West Coast last year on cup final day deliberately, and engineering work' NR: 'But I'm asking you about your decisions, not theirs.' MW: ' But nobody makes a comment. When we spread out our strikes, so we spread across our rest day patterns and rostering processes so you hope that the same people don't get down twice on strike days, it's coincidental. If somebody can name me a day when there's not an event going on in the UK that isn't going to get hit at some point if there's any form of disruption, I'd love to know it.' NR: 'Well my question was is it coincidental, and I think the answer is no, you targeted the FA Cup?' MW: 'It's coincidental. We just spread the pain on our members over a period of time based on their rest day patterns.' Advertisement

'What happened to us was a direct reaction to that non-deal that came out, and under the legislation we have to give 14 days' notice and the first available day after 14 days was today, unfortunately. If we were targeting Eurovision we would have done the Friday, Saturday and the Sunday.'

But Mr Robinson said: 'As I've already pointed out to you this strike and the one coming tomorrow are disrupting transport all over the weekend. There's also a strike planned by Aslef for Saturday, June 3.

'Is it also a coincidence that that is the day of the FA Cup final when tens of thousands of supporters of two Manchester clubs will need to travel to London?'

Mr Whelan - was born to Irish parents in Paddington in 1960 and is married to retired biomedical scientist Lorraine Phelan MBE - then said in response: 'I'll make two brief points on this one. Network Rail shut down the whole of the West Coast last year on cup final day deliberately, and engineering work'

But Mr Robinson then interrupted him, saying: 'But I'm asking you about your decisions, not theirs.'

Mr Whelan continued: ' But nobody makes a comment. When we spread out our strikes, so we spread across our rest day patterns and rostering processes so you hope that the same people don't get down twice on strike days, it's coincidental.

'If somebody can name me a day when there's not an event going on in the UK that isn't going to get hit at some point if there's any form of disruption, I'd love to know it.'

Mr Robinson pressed him, saying: 'Well my question was is it coincidental, and I think the answer is no, you targeted the FA Cup?'

But Mr Whelan replied: 'It's coincidental. We just spread the pain on our members over a period of time based on their rest day patterns.'

Mr Robinson then thanked Mr Whelan for his time and ended the interview.

Earlier in the interview, Mr Whelan also blamed 'companies in league with the Government' for failures to find a resolution to prevent strikes.

He said: 'We haven't had a pay rise for four years, we had an underhand deceitful offer come out at Christmas, despite that we went back in good faith.

'I have to believe it's the companies in league with the Government who don't want a resolution.

'Having demonised train drivers for so long, having a settlement when you've got nurses and teachers and other people out on strike might be difficult for them, but be honest about that.'

Trains are stationary in sidings at Peterborough in Cambridgeshire today as the strike begins

Southeastern trains in sidings at Ramsgate railway station in Kent this morning

Members of the drivers' union Aslef on the picket line at London Euston station this morning

Meanwhile on BBC Breakfast today, Mr Whelan has accused the Government of acting in 'bad faith' during negotiations with the union.

Mick Whelan, the former Barclays clerk married to a retired biomedical scientist Mick Whelan was born to Irish parents in the Paddington area of London in 1960. His mother worked at a sweet shop in Euston station while his father was a bricklayer. The 62-year-old has previously spoken about how his father was part of the Socialist Workers Party and spoke about improving health and safety on building sites. He also described his mother as 'always hard Labour'. Mick Whelan and his wife Lorraine Phelan MBE, a retired biomedical scientist Mr Whelan attended the same primary school on the Warwick estate as fellow union leader Mick Lynch of the RMT. He then passed his 11+ and went to grammar school at the prestigious Catholic London Oratory School, where Tony Blair sent his children. He achieved four A-grade A-levels but his hopes of going to university ended when his father fell off scaffolding and was no longer able to work. Mick Whelan, 62, was born in Paddington This saw Mr Whelan instead start work as a bank clerk for Barclays aged 18 before becoming a train guard a few years later, then retraining as a driver and joining Aslef. He is married to Lorraine Phelan MBE, a retired biomedical scientist whom he said of in a Guardian interview in 2017: 'My wife is ex-Workers Revolutionary Party, so let's not go there  she's mellowed a bit down the years.' Mr Whelan gives evidence to the Commons Transport Committee on July 13, 2022 Mr Whelan, who supports Chelsea FC, has three adult sons and two grandchildren. Aslef confirmed to MailOnline today that his salary is 119,000. Mr Whelan lives in a house in Wembley, North West London, which Zoopla estimates to be worth 588,000. Asked about his last holiday in a Guardian interview this week, Mr Whelan said he 'rarely takes it all' but had 'a beach holiday in Turkey last summer when my wife retired'. Advertisement

He said: 'At some point someone's going to realise these are Government-led strikes, the Government are interfering their free collective bargaining process and they want unrealistic targets.

'They sent out a deal before Christmas that we'd never seen, we'd never negotiated and tried to force it through by the back door in a total act of bad faith, and even then we came back from the table.

'We suspended all action in the hope of finding a way forward and then what happens? We sit down for three months in good faith, we agree a process that we're going to undertake and then right at the end someone interferes, revokes it, and puts out a deal that would contain all the red lines we previously opposed in those talks, destining it to fail.

'I don't think the Government and the companies want a solution.'

He also said that the union has seen 'neither hide nor hair' from the Government since January.

Mr Whelan told BBC Breakfast: 'I haven't seen the Government since January, one token meeting with the rail minister on January 6, and we've neither had hide nor hair from the Government that are meant to be facilitating and aiding these talks.

'They talk a good game, they don't actually engage, they haven't taken any ownership of this process as far as we're concerned.

'The only people they talk to are the companies, they don't talk to us, and every time we try and find a middle ground - it was our idea of how to drive this forward, it was our idea how we could get out of it and when it comes to the end of that process - they did something that was deliberately set up to fail.

'I can't emphasise this enough: we do not want to be on strike, my members do not want to be losing money, we all have families that are impacted by this.

'We don't want to be here but after four years without a pay rise we feel that we have no choice but to articulate the problems that we're having to try to get a resolution or do nothing.'

However rail minister Huw Merriman urged Aslef and the RMT to put the Government's 'fair and reasonable' pay offer to its members in a bid to avert further strikes.

The Conservative politician told Times Radio: 'I'm very sorry for the inconvenience that passengers will have to bear. The sad reality of this situation is that there are offers on the table which have been given to both the train drivers' union and the RMT.

'The leadership have chosen not to put those offers to their members and I feel if they did, there would be the opportunity for members to decide if they wish to take them.

'If you look at the train driver situation, they are paid just under 60,000. The pay offer would take them to 65,000 for a 35-hour week.

'We feel these are fair and reasonable, and we need to see those put to their members. So, it is not the case that there is not an offer there - the offer is there, we just need it put to members to see what they think about it.'

Mr Merriman pointed to RMT members working for Network Rail having already accepted a 'very similar' Government pay offer, adding: 'If that's the case for someone who works on the tracks, why not their fellow workers who work on the trains? And that's what we're calling the RMT and Aslef's leadership to do.'

Mr Merriman also said today that he thought it was not democratic for RMT o opt not to put the UK Government's pay offer to its train worker members.

He told BBC Breakfast: 'The evidence for whether it is or isn't fair and reasonable is down to the members.

'If you look at what happened with the RMT, who are striking tomorrow, they put a similar offer to their members who work on Network Rail and that was accepted  76 per cent of those who voted accepted it.

'That would seem to indicate that the workforce will judge it as fair and reasonable, will take it because they want to move on.

Passengers stand with luggage outside London Victoria station today amid the rail strike

A customer sign about services at a locked entrance to Apsley station in Hertfordshire today

'Why is it the case that an RMT member that works on the tracks gets a pay rise and gets the chance to vote on a pay rise, but fellow members who work on a train don't get that opportunity? It doesn't seem fair or democratic to me.'

How will the latest rail strikes affect each train operator in Britain? Train services are being hit by more strike action. Members of Aslef are walking out today - and here is a breakdown of each operator's plan: - Avanti West Coast No trains. - c2c Usual timetable - Caledonian Sleeper Usual timetable - Chiltern Railways No trains - CrossCountry No trains - East Midlands Railway No trains - Elizabeth line Usual timetable - Gatwick Express No trains - Grand Central Usual timetable - Great Northern No trains - Great Western Railway A limited service will run and only between 7.30am and 6.30pm. The only open routes will be between: London Paddington and Bristol Temple Meads; Reading and Didcot; Reading and Basingstoke; Reading and Redhill; Westbury and Swindon; Cardiff and Bristol; and Plymouth and Gunnislake. The Night Riviera sleeper service has been cancelled - Greater Anglia A reduced service will run and only between London Liverpool Street and each of Cambridge, Norwich, Southend and Stansted Airport - Heathrow Express No trains. - Hull Trains Usual timetable - London North Eastern Railway (LNER) A limited timetable will operate and only between London King's Cross and both Edinburgh and Leeds - London Northwestern Railway No trains - London Overground Usual timetable - Lumo Usual timetable - Merseyrail No impact from the strikes. Additional services will run due to Eurovision. - Northern No trains - ScotRail Usual timetable - South Western Railway No trains on the Isle of Wight. Services will be reduced between London Waterloo and Exeter, in the Romsey area and on the suburban network. - Southeastern No trains - Southern No trains - Stansted Express Frequencies will be halved to one train per hour in each direction - Thameslink No trains - TransPennine Express No trains - Transport for Wales Usual timetable West Midlands Railway No trains Advertisement

In addition, Mr Merriman said the UK Government could not modernise the rail network or lay on extra trains without the introduction of new pay terms putting an end to the strikes.

He told BBC Breakfast: 'What we are looking to do is change the way that the workforce operates.

'For example, at the moment we have to ask train operators to get volunteers to work on a Sunday. Well, you and I want to use the train on a Sunday, we can't work like that.

'So, we are looking to modernise but really just turn it into the type of retail opportunity that most people would recognise in terms of buying a service or actually working within it.

'It is a great, well-paid job. We want to increase the number of jobs but the sad reality is that these industrial actions cost the economy money, and the railway money, and it makes it harder for me to be able to increase the timetable when we have to deal with strikes.'

It comes as rail passengers face fresh travel disruption over the next few days because of strikes by train drivers and other workers in long-running disputes over pay.

In an earlier statement, Mr Whelan said: 'We do not want to go on strike - we do not want to inconvenience passengers, we have families and friends who use the railway too, and we believe in investing in rail for the future of this country.

'But the blame for this action lies, fairly and squarely, at the feet of the employers who have forced our hand over this by their intransigence.

'It is now up to them to come up with a more sensible, and realistic, offer and we ask the Government not to hinder this process.

'We have been negotiating with employers - the train operating companies - for many months on pay. On several companies we have managed to come to an agreement, and on several others, multi-year deals have been honoured.

'Unfortunately a number of companies still have their hands tied by the Department for Transport and aren't able to negotiate a reasonable deal with Aslef members.

'We are still prepared to negotiate in good faith but, unfortunately, as we have been unable to come to an agreement, we have had to consider industrial action.'

Aslef said a 4 per cent pay offer was 'risible and obviously unacceptable'.

Picket lines will be mounted outside railway stations as the unions continue their long-running campaign for a bigger pay rise than has been offered.

Steve Montgomery, who chairs the Rail Delivery Group, said: 'The upcoming rail strikes called by the Aslef and RMT leadership will not only affect our passengers' daily commute but will also impact those travelling from outside Liverpool and London to come to Eurovision and the FA Cup final, causing disappointment and frustration for those who have planned to attend.

'It will also further burden our people who have already lost thousands of pounds at a time of financial strain.

'We understand the impact of these strikes on individuals and businesses alike, and we can only apologise for this unnecessary and damaging disruption.

'While we are doing all we can to keep trains running, unfortunately there will be reduced train services across the network between Friday May 12 and Saturday June 3, so our advice is to check before you travel. Passengers with Advance tickets can be refunded fee-free if the train that the ticket is booked for is cancelled, delayed or rescheduled.'

Narinder Rai, who works for Great Western Railway, said today that he wants train drivers to be 'recognised for our sacrifice'.

Speaking from the Aslef picket line at London Paddington station, he said: 'We haven't had a pay rise for more than three years, some train operating companies haven't had a pay rise for more than four years.

'We made a huge sacrifice during the pandemic, as key workers we feel like we deserve an increase now.

'The British public are with all the workers. All the key workers, we're all on strike together, you have the doctors, you have the nurses, you have the bus drivers, you have the train drivers and the general rail industry. We just want to be recognised for our sacrifice.'

Mr Rai added: 'There's a lot of pressure on us, we're trying to bring in better working conditions for ourselves and across the network.

Travellers stand next to a departure board at London Paddington railway station this morning

London Bridge station is closed to the public this morning during strike action by Aslef

'We'd like to see the Government come back to the negotiating table and actually put forward an offer that we can accept, right now it feels like they're pushing us into a corner, on their part there seems to be no movement at all.

READ MORE May train strike MAPPED: Full list of lines affected plus day-by-day disruption schedule Advertisement

'Our officials have said they're open to negotiations and willing to come back to the table at any time, instead they keep pushing us into these sorts of actions.'

Anthony Smith, chief executive of watchdog Transport Focus, said: 'For those planning to head to Liverpool, strikes could really prove a party-pooper.

'Many people will be infrequent or first-time train users so may not have realised how wide the disruption will be.

'Our message to all those travelling, for Eurovision or other reasons, is check before you go, and keep checking. Also, be aware trains that are running may be more crowded than you expect.'

The Rail Delivery Group said that after many weeks of negotiations with the Aslef leadership it had made a 'revised and fair offer' including a pay rise of 8 per cent over two years.

A spokesman said: 'It would have introduced overdue, common-sense improvements already in place in parts of the network, which would will see more trains running on time for passengers. Sadly, this has been rejected.'
Seven children have been rushed to hospital after two school buses packed with dozens of students collided in the Blue Mountains.

One bus with 15 passengers and a second bus with 10 passengers  collided on the Great Western Highway near Sun Valley Rd at Warrimoo west of Sydney around 4.15pm Friday.

Eleven students and two adults were treated by paramedics at the scene.

Two children were rushed to Westmead Childrens Hospital with minor injuries.

The Great Western Highway was closed in both directions after a crash between two buses

Another five children with minor injuries were taken to Nepean Hospital along with a male bus driver who suffered a fractured shoulder.

The children's injuries are understood to mostly bruises and head knocks.

It's understood passengers were thrown forward from the impact of the collision.

Firefighters were also called to the scene.

Photos and footage from scene show the shattered windscreens of the buses involved and passengers being treated along the roadside by paramedics.

Police have launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the crash.

Environemtal campaigner Jon Dee was on a train when it passed the crash scene.

'I hope the injured kids are ok - their families must be traumatised,' he tweeted.

'Traffic is totally blocked - in my 20 years living in the Blue Mountains its the biggest traffic jam I have ever seen.'

The front windscreen of one of the buses sustained extensive damage in the crash

NSW Premier Chris Minns also tweeted about the crash to urge motorists to avoid the area.

The Great Western Highway was closed in both directions with local diversions in place.

Motorists urged to avoid the area and to allow extra travel time.

Westbound lanes on the highway reopened almost two hours later around 6pm.

'Eastbound lanes remain closed due to the bus crash at Sun Valley Rd. Continue to avoid the area as traffic remains very heavy,' a Live Traffic NSW alert stated.

'Heavy vehicles should delay travel or use Bells Line of Rd instead.'
Since the very first day of Vladimir Putins war in Ukraine, Russias blundering air force has been struggling to keep its jets in the sky.

The Ukrainians have done their part, blowing apart fighters and helicopters with their air defence missiles.

But at least a dozen of Putins planes have burst into flames mid-air, plunged into Russian cities, or exploded on the runway.

This is the story of how one of the worlds supposed best air forces has suffered an embarrassing string of failures that is only getting worse...
A senior civil servant working on a delayed plan to axe thousands of EU laws still enforced in the UK is on long-term sick leave, it has emerged.

The mandarin has been off for some time, it was revealed after minister Kemi Badenoch confirmed to MPs that the Government would miss its December 2023 deadline for removing Brussels-formulated legislation.

Ms Badenoch faced the fury of eurosceptic Tories yesterday when she revealed that the Retained EU Law Bill would be amended in the Lords.

The Business and Trade Secretary, previously a darling of the Brexiteer Right, unapologetically told them that just 600 of an estimated 4,000 remaining rules would be axed this year as planned.

Her predecessor, Jacob Rees-Mogg, questioned whether the 'abdication to the House of Lords' had come about 'because of civil service idleness or a lack of ministerial drive'.

And former justice secretary Dominic Raab - who quit last month after having been found to have bullied mandarins - urged Ms Badenoch to 'resist the resistance in Whitehall that suggests it can't be done'.

Meanwhile the head of the civil service union has called on mandarins to vote for strike action, saying he has 'had enough' of attacks from ministers.

Dave Penman, the general secretary of the FDA, hit out at claims that civil servants are part of an establishment 'blob' working to frustrate government policy and undermine ministers.

The mandarin has been off for some time, it was revealed after minister Kemi Badenoch confirmed to MPs that the Government would miss its December 2023 deadline for removing Brussels-formulated legislation.

Her predecessor, Jacob Rees-Mogg, questioned whether the 'abdication to the House of Lords' had come about 'because of civil service idleness or a lack of ministerial drive'.

Dave Penman, the general secretary of the FDA, hit out at claims that civil servants are part of an establishment 'blob' working to frustrate government policy and undermine ministers.

The union announced in April that it would be balloting on strike action for the first time in 40 years, and Mr Penman said on Thursday that the FDA intended to start the ballot by the end of May.

If successful, the FDA could begin walkouts in the summer. His call follows a period of deteriorating relations between ministers and the civil service.

Mr Rees-Mogg attacked civil servants as it was revealed in The Telegraph that a key figure in the complex task of working out which laws to axe first was off work.

He had earlier blasted Rishi Sunak for scaling back the repeal of EU laws, claiming the Prime Minister was 'behaving like a Borgia'.

The ex-Cabinet minister, who championed the scrapping of leftover Brussels rules when he was business secretary, led a Brexiteer backlash against Mr Sunak for breaching the key pledge.

Mr Rees-Mogg compared the PM to a member of the House of Borgia - a wealthy family who were notorious during the Italian Renaissance for treachery, corruption and immorality.

During his Tory leadership campaign last summer, Mr Sunak vowed to review or repeal 2,400 retained EU laws in his first 100 days as PM.

When he eventually entered No10 in late October, Mr Sunak stuck to a deadline to scrub EU regulations still on the UK statute books by the end of this year.

But yesterday it was announced that rather than getting rid of thousands of pieces of EU legislation, which have now been found to total 4,829, the Government will only revoke 600 laws by the end of December.

Mr Penman told the FDA's annual conference in Westminster that ministers 'need to demonstrate they value civil servants'.

To applause from delegates, he said: 'Now, having been told you're a lazy, woke, inefficient, Remainer, activist, snowflake, you are also now apparently a Machiavellian genius, able to unseat ministers and undermine the settled will of Government.

'I don't know about you, conference, but I've had enough of this.'

He also criticised the Government's handling of pay negotiations with civil servants, saying they had been treated as 'second-class public sector workers' after the Government refused to offer them the additional cost of living payment that had been offered to other public sector staff.
Horrified Arby's workers discovered a woman's body inside a freezer at a restaurant in Louisiana, police have revealed.

The body of a female staff member was discovered by fellow employees at one of the fast food chain's outlets in New Iberia, Louisiana, at around 6pm on Thursday.

Footage shows several police cars and officers outside the restaurant as they work to find out what led to the discovery.

Cops say they are investigating a 'suspicious death' after the remains of the staff member were found in the walk-in freezer. Her cause of death has not yet been determined.

'So it was an employee that discovered the female deceased inside the cooler, (and) the deceased is an employee of the restaurant,' New Iberia Police Capt. Leland Laseter told local news networks.

The body was discovered by employees of an Arby's restaurant chain (pictured) in New Iberia, Louisiana at around 6pm on Thursday

Laseter said that according to preliminary information, while the death is suspicious, foul play is not expected and added that the death may have been an accident.

'A situation like this is unusual, so were taking extra precautions during the investigation,' Laseter told KADN.

'(We) pretty much have completed our process at the crime scene. After completely processing the crime scene - this does not seem like a homicide, it seems like an accident.'

Officials are now waiting for a coroner's autopsy to identify the victim and cause of death.

Crime scene tape blocked the entrance to the Arby's and an investigator in white overalls was stood outside.

New Iberia Police Department Sergeant Daesha Hughes said: 'The New Iberia Police Department responded to the business of Arby's located on East Admiral Doyle Drive at approximately 6.20pm in reference to a body found inside of a freezer.

'The death is suspicious and being investigated.'
When the pandemic hit in 2020, Peloton enjoyed overnight success when millions of spin enthusiasts around the globe raced to buy its at home exercise equipment.

The company was already riding high off an extremely successful IPO, which went it went public in 2019 saw employees sip champagne and eat seafood as many toasted becoming millionaires overnight.

The company began hiring rapidly and released new products, while spending thousands to get bikes delivered to customers as fast as possible.

But things have not been as rosy for the Peloton tycoons lately amid a series of product recalls, safety investigations and negative portrayals in popular TV programmes.

Its shares nosedived when a return of Sex and the City saw one of its characters, Mr Big, collapse and die of a heart attack shortly after a 45-minute session on one of the exercise bikes - followed shortly after by a similar scene in the show Billions.

And now customers are fearing for their safety after it recalled more than two million of its exercise bikes over a safety hazard which could cause falls and injuries.

A woman seen exercising on a Peloton

Peloton co-founder John Foley, with his wife Jill, pictured in November 2018

The company issued the recall for around 2.2million of the Peloton Bikes Model PL01, sold from January 2018 to May 2023 for about 1,117 ($1,400), after it received 35 reports of the seat post breaking and detaching from the bike during use.

Shares in the New York-based company fell by more than seven per cent when the news broke, marking a sharp blow for the fitness brand that has seen its shares plummet by 39 per cent over the last 12 months.

There is no impact to Peloton Bike+ Members nor Peloton original Bike owners in the UK, Germany, and Australia.

Peloton said the safety of its members is paramount.

Ben Boyd, Peloton's SVP of Global Communications, told MailOnline: 'The last thing we would want to do is disappoint our customers.

'What I'm incredibly proud of is the transformation of Peloton over the past year. Not just the work we've done on the business but on our members' safety.

'We introduced new safety protocols that allowed us to identify this issue early, engage the US regulator, and to move swiftly and transparently to get it removed.

'We have a great responsibility to our members, we believe we have to constantly and continually demonstrate why we should be trusted.

'Their safety and experience is simply our top priority.'

He continued: 'The impact we have on our members lives is absolutely a positive one. Empowering them to be best version of themselves is our mission.'

Mr Boyd said Peloton 'voluntarily and proactively reached out to the US regulator' when it became aware of the issue with the product - and was working to help consumers easily swap their seat post.

He added that Peloton is undergoing a brand relaunch later this month in order to raise awareness that it is 'more than just a bike company' and offers a whole range of plans and programmes.

It is the latest in a number of product recalls, safety investigations and PR disasters for the exercise bike brand, which enjoyed huge success over successive lockdowns.

The company was on a high in the late 2020 during the pandemic, when stay at home dictats saw its revenue more than double to 1.45bn ($1.82bn) - and peaking at over 3.19bn ($4bn) a year later.

But its shares plunged when Mr Big collapsed and die of a heart attack shortly after a 45-minute session on one of the exercise bikes in Sex and the City.

Mr Big seen exercising on a Peloton bike in Sex and the City

Mr Big, played by Chris Noth, died of a sudden heart attack, shortly after exercising on a Peloton bike

Mike Wagner riding a Peloton in the show Billions

The scene, starring Carrie Bradshaw's longtime love interest, saw Peloton's share price plunge by 11.35 per cent just hours after the episode 'And Just Like That' aired.

After an intense workout, Mr Big headed to the shower, when suddenly he clutches his shoulder and collapses, as Carrie - played by Sarah Jessica Parker - states in voice over, 'And just like that Big died.'

Peloton spokesperson Denise Kelly confirmed that the company approved the portrayal of a fictional instructor in the episode, but 'due to confidentiality reasons, HBO did not disclose the broader context surrounding the scene to Peloton in advance,' Kelly said.

It meant that while Peloton knew that their bike would be featured in the episode, but did not know how prominently it would be shown, nor that Mr Big would die.

Following the episode, Peloton issued a statement through Cardiologist Dr Suzanne Steinbaum, insisting that Mr Big riding a Peloton bike would have helped delay his fatal heart attack.

The brand faced something of a deja vu moment after a scene in Billions that saw fictional character Mike Wagner, played by David Costabile, nearly suffering the same fate as Mr Big.

Wagner is seen in the episode getting off the bike and refuting to other characters that he is having a heart attack, despite describing symptoms like shortness of breath and jaw discomfort.

He is rushed to an ambulance and soon recovers, however, only to make a grand entrance in the next scene and proclaim, Im not going out like Mr. Big.

But Peloton didnt seem to appreciate the quip, taking to Twitter ahead of the on-air premiere to say that the company did not give consent for its brand or equipment to be used in the show.

In 2021, Peloton shares plunged 24 per cent after the company reported a net loss of 300 million ($376m) in its third quarter, as the company struggled to recover from a voluntary treadmill recall sparked by an infant's death and 29 other injuries.

It came off of the back of a three-year high for the company, which before Covid had enjoyed huge success with its exercise bikes and subscription-based virtual workout classes as people could not access gyms.

When it was went public in September 2019, many of its employees found they had become millionaires overnight.

After toasting their successes with a feast of seafood and champagne at Hudson Yards in New York, Peloton began to spend exorbitantly to keep up with customer demands and stay ahead of the market.

The company went on a hiring spree, invested hundreds of millions in a production factory in Ohio, but according to Forbes, the company 'now has way too much stock sitting in its inventory' after sinking its money into the product.

Things began to go south as the pandemic ended and people began to return to their old gyms.

Its founder, John Foley stepped down as chief executive and was replaced in February 2022 by former Netflix and Spotify executive, Barry McCarthy. Since then, McCarthy has battled to turn the company around.

Foley - formerly a Barnes and Noble executive - started Peloton in 2012 with the aim of providing convenient alternatives to popular spin classes for well-heeled customers.

The result was a sleek stationary bike which came with a spin classes customers would participate in remotely.

Over the years Peloton grew a devoted following, and in 2019 employees made millions when its IPO earned the company a 5.75bn ($7.2bn) valuation.

The brand faced something of a deja vu moment after a scene in Billions that saw fictional character Mike Wagner, played by David Costabile, nearly suffering the same fate as Mr Big

The premiere episode of a Sex and the City reboot featured Mr Big on a Peloton

'It felt like nothing could get in the way of all that,' a former employee who attended a lavish IPO party told CNBC, which kicked off years of unforeseeable success as the pandemic launched the company's value into the stratosphere.

As the company began to open up its coffers to meet demand, employees said leadership told them their success was only going to rise.

'There was a lot of blind trust. We all were like, okay, let's go,' the same former employee told CNBC. 'They always had this blind optimism where they were like, we're going all the way to the top.'

The company began hiring rapidly and released new products, while spending thousands to get bikes delivered to customers as fast as possible.

But co-founder Foley faced criticism when he hired a number of 'inexperienced' executives, including his wife Jill.

Meanwhile, thousands were spent on hazard pay for delivery workers, and in certain regions as much as 400 ($500) was spent per-mile delivering bikes, excluding the price of importing products from their overseas factories.

By November 2020 sales had spiked a whopping 232 percent from the previous year, and that December at the height of the holiday season reached its all-time stock high.

'The majority of us, we weren't naive to the fact that, especially in New York, there were people outside in refrigerated trucks because they didn't have enough room in the morgue, but at the same time, we're looking at our Morgan Stanley accounts and now we're all worth, you know, millions,' another former employee, whose net worth touched $5million while working for Peloton, told CNBC.

'I don't think any of us were rooting for the pandemic to continue, but as long as it was going on, it was obviously good for business, and it was good for a lot of people's bank accounts.'

Peloton co-founder John Foley (pictured centre) celebrates with employees during the company's IPO

Co-founder John Foley (pictured) stepped down as Peloton's chief executive last year after share prices plummeted

But the pandemic which gave so much to the company also began taking its toll.

Despite the company's expenses on logistics, some customers would be left waiting months for equipment they paid thousands for.

In response, Peloton hired more people, and spent more on getting bikes to customers.

To save on international shipping, the company invested 319million ($400m) into a building a factory in Ohio to build its products.

'They were like, we have so much money, we're unstoppable,' a former employee said. 'We just need to deliver the bikes, we just need to get the bikes into homes, we just need to do this.'

So many people were hired, some employees said they didn't have anything to do.

As the company continued pouring money into its booming sales, the severity of the pandemic began to wane, normal life started to resume, and people began to return to gyms as vaccines became widely available.

Sales slowed, revenue declined, and by December 2021 its stock was worth just 28 ($35) per-share from its 133 ($167) high a year earlier.

'We were trying to catch up and spending, spending, spending to catch up, and by the time we finally caught up, demand fell off,' A former employee said. 'Over time we kind of saw how the company responded to the pandemic and then misread the pandemic. It was kind of like, wow, it kind of feels like we got sold down the river.'

Earlier that same year, the company was forced to issue a warning to parents to keep children away from its treadmills after the death of a child in a 'tragic accident'.

By March 2022 Peloton had net-losses of 604million ($757.1m), and by the end of its fiscal year in June those losses had reached nearly 2.39billion ($3bn).

Former Netflix and Spotify executive, Barry McCarthy, became Peloton 's chief executive last year

Pictured: Peloton Studios in New York

As losses grew to staggering heights, Foley stepped down from his leadership position and was replaced by McCarthy in February 2022.

He began cutting jobs, shuttered the Ohio factory project, outsourced its logistics operations to third-party businesses, and announced plans to close more than a third of its retail stores worldwide.

Despite the massive cuts, employees said they felt they were finally in responsible hands under McCarthy's leadership.

'He seemed the polar opposite of John,' a former-employee told CNBC. 'I think everyone was kind of like, OK, this is a real legitimate business guy with a solid background.'

'We were all hopeful. I was certainly hopeful with his acumen and experience, but I knew it was going to come with some very hard decisions.'

McCarthy's tactics have been promising, with the company's stock rising 26 percent in February following promising second-quarter numbers.

The company has also started focusing its efforts on its digital classes as it discovered roughly half of its subscribers were using the platform on non-Peloton bikes or equipment.
Hong Kong: Sun Dong visits Chongqing

Secretary for Innovation, Technology & Industry Prof Sun Dong today visited the Chongqing Municipal Science & Technology Bureau (CMSTB) and a measure and control technology company in the city.



He accompanied Chief Executive John Lee to attend the High-Level Meeting & First Plenary Session of the Hong Kong/Chongqing Co-operation Conference yesterday.



Prof Sun met CMSTB Director Ming Ju to exchange views on fostering co-operation in innovation and technology (I&T) between Hong Kong and Chongqing.



They also discussed ways to promote the implementation of the Co-operation Memorandum on Innovation & Technology between Hong Kong and Chongqing in research and development, I&T outcomes transformation and realisation, innovation and entrepreneurship of scientific and technological talent, exchange of talent and technologies and academic exchanges between the two places.



Additonally, Prof Sun visited the State-owned Assets Supervision & Administration Commission of Chongqing Municipal Peoples Government and met the commissions Party Member & Deputy Director General Chen Yan.



Apart from briefing the commission on the layout and latest policies of the I&T industry in Hong Kong, Prof Sun also learnt about the transformation and upgrading of local traditional industries driven by innovation.



As the two sides talked about promoting co-operation and exchanges between the technology industries of Chongqing and Hong Kong, Prof Sun encouraged Mainland enterprises to make good use of Hong Kongs international platform to expand into overseas markets.



He then toured the smart production lines of the Chongqing Silian Measure & Control Technology Company, which specialises in the design, development and large-scale production of industrial automation instruments and control devices as well as electronic functional materials and devices.

This story has been published on: 2023-05-12. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Chinese tourism expert wins UNWTO Ulysses Prize

Xinhua) 13:28, May 12, 2023

MADRID, May 11 (Xinhua) -- The Madrid-based United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) on Thursday confirmed that it had awarded the 16th edition of its Ulysses Prize for excellence in the creation and dissemination of knowledge in tourism to Bao Jigang, professor and director of the Center for Tourism Development and Planning Research at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China.

The Ulysses Prize is awarded to "a distinguished scholar for his/her outstanding contribution to create and disseminate innovative knowledge in tourism."

The UNWTO explained that Bao had "played an instrumental role in growing domestic tourism (in China) in both size and significance and in establishing his country as a leading tourism destination."

Bao will formally receive the prize at the 25th session of the UNWTO General Assembly, to be held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, later this year.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
The British mum of a 26-year-old woman found dead in Turkey whose death was ruled a suicide in suspicious circumstances claims she has been refused access to her daughter's personal belongings and suicide note.

Ayse Rhiannon Vural's body was discovered in her Istanbul apartment in September 2020, having sustained a single gunshot wound to the head.

Judges in March 2022 closed the case, ruling that Ayse had committed suicide and that there was no evidence to suggest otherwise.

But heartbroken mother Tracie Brookes has raised serious questions about the investigation into her daughter's death, claiming she had faced death threats and was brutally beaten by her ex-boyfriend's brother in the weeks before she died.

'My heart is broken and I can't get answers,' Tracie said, who recently returned to England after flying to Istanbul in a failed attempt to recover her daughter's personal items, including the supposed suicide note, from authorities.

Turkish judges refused to hand over the items and Tracie will need to return to Istanbul again if she hopes to secure another court hearing.

Photo shows Ayse Rhiannon Vural (right) with her mother, Tracie Brookes, undated

Ayse Rhiannon Vural's body was discovered in her Istanbul apartment in September 2020, having sustained a single gunshot wound to the head

Ayse - whose father is Turkish - left England for Istanbul to find work in 2019 and began teaching English.

But on September 11, 2020, local police reportedly found her dead in her flat in Turkey's largest city.

Ayse had been shot in the head and a gun was found by her side.

Investigators declared they had also found a suicide note and traces of gunpowder on her hand, indicating that she had pulled the trigger.

But mum Tracie says she was never allowed to see the note and is at a loss as to why Turkish authorities would not show her evidence of her daughter's supposed suicide.

Do you know the family? Email david.averre@mailonline.co.uk with more info Advertisement

'I can't see the note, because the court won't give me the note. If Ayse wrote it... Did she write it? Is it her handwriting?'

Tracie was told she would need to secure another court hearing in her bid to get her hands on the note, and is gradually piecing together strands of her daughter's life that she says simply do not fit the official investigation's findings.

Tracie went on to explain her daughter had been dating a man called Ferhat, and lavished what little money she had on him and his family.

During a trip back to England to visit her mum and other family members, Ayse revealed she was in love with Ferhat and planned a future with him.

But Tracie said: 'He dumped her. He dropped her. He didn't want to know her anymore and she was really upset.

'And so there were lots of arguments between them, big arguments, she said and Mahmut, the brother of Ferhat who she was going out with, threatened to kill her if she came back to Turkey.

'He told her to go home and never come back to Istanbul.'

A plush toy Ayse's mother said her daughter treasured was not present in the list of belongings found in her apartment after her death

Tracie claimed that when her daughter returned to Turkey, Mahmut followed through on his promise and attacked her in broad daylight, causing her significant injuries.

She said: 'Somehow Mahmut saw Ayse on the street in Istanbul and he beat her up, badly.'

Ayse was left with blood and bruises all over her face and went to the police, but Mahmut threatened to kill her and again ordered his brother's former flame to leave Istanbul, Tracie claims.

'I don't know what went wrong, but that was that. And then she died. And so, there was a gun involved,' Tracie said.

'We're from England. We don't know guns. We don't have guns in England.

'Ayse knows nothing about guns. But somebody gave her a gun. Now whether they told her to shoot herself or whether they shot her...

'The verdict from the court said that it was suicide, that there was gunpowder residue on her hand, so the prosecutor's office said that Ayse killed herself.

'But I wonder, was somebody there? Was somebody there to tell her to do it? I don't understand.'

The murky case has also apparently been scrutinised by Interpol because the gun that killed Ayse had allegedly been used in other cases under investigation with Turkish authorities.

Tracie added: 'I think that Interpol got involved because this gun, it was a hot gun.'

She explained that it 'had been used in crimes before, not with Ayse, but somebody had used that gun and given it to her and then she used it'.

'I couldn't have her belongings. We have a list of the items Ayse had in her room, in her apartment where she died. There wasn't much on it,' Tracie said.

There were no clothes in Ayse's apartment and a Disney Thumper plush toy, which Tracie said her daughter had treasured since childhood and was present in several pictures of her, was also missing.

'Wherever she went, she would take that rabbit with her. It's not on the list.'

Tracie is now in the process of pushing for another court date in renewed attempts to access her daughter's personal items.
Police have recovered a body after a man appeared a court accused of killing his wife, stuffing her body into a suitcase and dumping it into water.

Aminan Rahman, 45, of Tower Hamlets, East London, has been charged with murdering Suma Begum, 24, who was reported missing on April 30.

Now, the Metropolitan Police has revealed a body was recovered in Thamesmead after a call from a member of the public on Wednesday morning at about 10am.

Formal identification is yet to take place but Ms Begum's family has been updated and a post-mortem examination will take place in due course, the force said.

It was alleged at the Old Bailey on Tuesday in a preliminary hearing that Rahman murdered Ms Begum at his home on Orchard Place on April 28.

Suma Begum, 24, was reported missing from an address in Tower Hamlets on April 30

The Crown allege that early on April 30, he removed her body in a large suitcase and pushed it into the River Lea.

The River Lea originates in Bedfordshire and is the easternmost major tributary of the Thames in London.

At his court appearance on Tuesday, Rahman was assisted by a Bengali interpreter and spoke only to confirm his identity.

Judge Nigel Lickley KC set a plea hearing for July 25 and remanded the defendant into custody.

Rahman allegedly killed his wife at his home on Orchard Place (pictured) in Tower Hamlets

Rahman is alleged to have pushed a suitcase containing her body into the River Lea (file image)

A Metropolitan Police spokesman told MailOnline today: 'Detectives investigating the murder of Suma Begum in Tower Hamlets have recovered a body from the River Thames in Thamesmead.

'This came following a call from a member of the public shortly after 10am on Wednesday, May 10.

'While formal identification awaits, Suma's family have been updated with this development.

'A post-mortem examination will take place in due course. Enquiries continue.'
Two mates who bashed and stomped on a couple while waiting in a Covid testing line have been sentenced over the 'cowardly and vicious' attack.

Hussein Saleh, 34, and Ali Salim, 35, appeared in Sutherland Local Court on Friday over the attack, which took place on December 28, 2021, in the southern Sydney suburb of Carlton.

Both pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm and common assault. Saleh also pleaded guilty to damaging property.

The court heard the incident began after Saleh's wife cut into the line in front of a LandCruiser Prado.

The couple in the LandCruiser had already been waiting for three hours and angrily got out and approached her.

They then returned to their car and beeped at Saleh's wife, who called her husband.

Saleh arrived with Salim, whom he'd known from high school and they attempted to smash the driver's window with a screwdriver.

They then broke the driver's side rear-view mirror and climbed on top of the vehicle.

He then stomped on the driver and passenger through the sun-roof and rained down punches on them.

Salim managed to get into the LandCruiser's back seat where he punched the driver in the head, causing injury.

During the attack, the LandCruiser rolled forward and collided with the back of the Lexus containing Saleh's wife and also his mother and the impact shunted other cars lined up into each other.

Magistrate Hugh Donnelly described the footage was 'shocking' and said the attack was 'cowardly and vicious' executed with a 'high degree of violence'.

'The victim received multiple injuries to the head and face in a retributive attack,' he said, according to the Daily Telegraph.

'The attack was sustained, ferocious and for a long duration. The victims were confined, trapped and defenceless  and it occurred without warning.'

Hussein Saleh can be seen climbing onto the roof of a Prado to launch as assault on the vehicle's driver who was waiting in line for Covid testing in Sydney during 2021

Magistrate Donnelly rejected the evidence of Saleh's wife, who claimed the victim got out of his car multiple times to scream and shout at her and punch her car and window.

The magistrate said her claims were not supported by CCTV or other evidence.

The court heard Saleh, a builder, was remorseful and understood the couple would have been fearful.

Character references said Saleh's actions were 'out of character' and that he was not a violent person.

Mr Donnelly noted both men were at a low risk of reoffending and had no or limited criminal history.

However, he ruled there was no other option than to sentence the men to stints behind bars.

Saleh was sentenced to 22 months jail with a 14 month non parole period, while Salim was jailed for 18 months with an 11 month non parole period.

Saleh pleaded guilty over the sickening attack where he stomped and rained punches down on a driver and passenger

Saleh and Salim will be eligible for parole in July and April 2024, respectively.

The men applied for bail after their lawyer applied to appeal the sentence in the District Court.

Magistrate Donnelly granted Salim bail, noting there was a chance his sentence could be changed to be served in the community,

But he didn't believe Saleh's sentence would change on appeal and refused his application.

This is despite the court hearing his wife was pregnant and due to give birth next month.
The black actress starring in Netflix's 'Queen Cleopatra' docudrama said it was a 'political act' to cast her - and laughed off controversy engulfing the show.

Adele James, 27, takes on the role of the famous queen from the land of the Pharaohs.

The show, which was released on May 10, features claims that Cleopatra VII was black with 'curly hair' and a historian saying 'I remember my grandmother saying to me: I don't care what they tell you in school, Cleopatra was black.'

Egyptians reacted with dismay at the apparent rejection of records which show Cleopatra was Macedonian-Greek. An Egyptian lawyer has filed a case with the country's public prosecutor demanding that Netflix be shut down.

Ms James said of the role: 'It is political. To be black or mixed race or a non-white person in the world today, especially in the western world, is kind of a political act in and of itself.

Adding of accusations of black-washing: 'It's sort of just a made-up term, like people just coined it all of a sudden for their agenda.

Adele James and John Partridge, who star as Cleopatra and Julius Caesar in Netflix's new docudrama, discussed the racial controversy on Channel 4's Steph's Packed Lunch

Netflix 2023 drama 'Cleopatra' sees actress Adele James in the title role of Queen Cleopatra

'I feel about that word the way I feel about people weaponising the word woke; it's so embarrassing,' the Times reported.

She said: 'In the interests of historical accuracy, it would be great to know either way but I don't know that it matters any more than any of the other things that we want to talk about with regards to who she was.'

Appearing yesterday on Channel 4's Steph's Packed Lunch, she also addressed the the high-profile criticism around being a black actress playing Cleopatra, saying: 'It would be naive of me to say that I didn't expect anything at all, but I didn't expect the scale of it.

Cleopatra was famously played by white English actress Elizabeth Taylor opposite Richard Burton as Mark Anthony in Joseph L. Mankiewicz's historical epic from 1963

'And I think it's distressing for anybody to receive any level of abuse, let alone the scale and the nature of what I've received, which is fundamentally racist, all of it.

'People are talking about the wrong things. Yes, we don't know where her mother was from or her paternal grandmother, but also the show is about so much more than the question mark over her race.

'If you watch it is a very small part of the conversation really, this is about the fullness of who this woman was and she was a human being and she shouldn't be reduced to her race any more than I should or anybody should.'

Adele was appearing in the show with her co-star John Partridge, best known for his time in EastEnders.

He added: 'The controversy is about Cleopatra being black, I don't hear anybody saying that Julius Caesar is a homosexual from Manchester.

'We're just actors at the end of the day, and sometimes our morality gets called into play, we're jobbing actors.'

Adele also talked about the support of Hollywood actress Jada Pinkett Smith, who narrates the series and is its executive producer.

A painting from a villa at Herculaneum in modern day Campania portraying a red-haired woman whose facial features, royal diadem and hairstyle adorned with fine pearl-studded hairpins suggest a posthumous portrait of Cleopatra (left) and an engraving by J Chapman made in 1804, showing a romanticized 19th century conception of Queen Cleopatra (right)

She said: 'She was so involved in the casting process, she watched all of our audition tapes, she was giving feedback on the rushes when we were out in Morocco shooting.

'Blackwashing' in other films and shows Anne Boleyn (2021) Black English actress Jodie Turner-Smith played the Queen of England in a British TV series. Anne Boleyn was white and the second wife of King Henry VIII. Saint Joan (2020) Black New Yorker Condola Rashad played the French heroine Joan of Arc in a stage production of the tale set in the 15th century. In the play, Rashad is a gender non-confirming Joan. Troy: Fall of a City (2018) In the TV drama, Achilles, the Greek hero of the Trojan War, is played by black English actor David Gyasi. The Hollow Crown (2012 - 2016) Sophie Okonedo, a Nigerian-British actress, played Queen Margaret of Anjou in the Shakespearean TV adaptation. Margaret, of French descent, was Queen of England and married to King Henry VI from 1445 to 1461. Once Upon a Time (2011 - 2018) The ABC series about fairytales features a black actor Sinqua Walls as Sir Lancelot. Lancelot is a British character who features as one of King Arthur's close companions and one of the greatest Knights of the Round Table. Arthur was a legendary king of Britain and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition. Robin Hood (2006 - 2009) The BBC series featured black English actor David Harewood as Friar Tuck. Friar Tuck is one of the legendary Merry Men, the band of heroic outlaws in the folklore of Robin Hood which was set in England's Sherwood Forest in the 15th century. Advertisement

'And she's just been such a champion of the project from the very beginning. I mean, it's her baby.

'She is an African Queen and I feel like it just couldn't be more pertinent and important that she's the figurehead of this. She's an icon.'

Cairo's former antiquities minister Zahi Hawass condemned the documentary as 'completely fake. Cleopatra was Greek, meaning that she was light-skinned, not black.'

Hawass said the only rulers of Egypt known to have been black were the Kushite kings of the 25th Dynasty (747-656 BC).

'Netflix is trying to provoke confusion by spreading false and deceptive facts that the origin of the Egyptian civilization is black,' he added and called on his countrymen to take a stand against the streaming giant.

On Sunday, lawyer Mahmoud al-Semary filed a complaint with the public prosecutor demanding that he take 'the necessary legal measures' to block access to Netflix.

He alleged the show featured content that violated Egypt's media laws and accused Netflix of trying to 'promote the Afrocentric thinking ... which includes slogans and writings aimed at distorting and erasing the Egyptian identity.'

Cleopatra was famously played by white English actress Elizabeth Taylor opposite Richard Burton as Mark Anthony in Joseph L. Mankiewicz's historical epic from 1963.

Three years ago plans for a new movie about the queen starring Israeli actress Gal Gadot sparked a backlash from people insisting the role should go to an Egyptian or African actress.

Gadot defended the decision, saying: 'We were looking for a Macedonian actress that could fit Cleopatra. She wasn't there, and I was very passionate about Cleopatra.'

The fury at Netflix's right-on programming comes after it appeared to have ditched the woke messaging last year.

Netflix took a hit in the first half of 2022, losing about 1,170 million subscribers as rivals such as Paramount+ and Disney+ raked them in.

The huge decline was seen by some as a direct consequence of the company's late response to demands from its viewers to tone down their woke agenda.

But after deciding to back figures like comedian Dave Chapelle it bounced back. Netflix added 1.75 million new subscribers for the quarter of 2023, nearly 550,000 more than consensus estimates, and a stark contrast to the loss of 200,000 subscribers the company suffered in the same period last year.

The four-part Cleopatra series will explore the legacy, intellect and life of Cleopatra VII, the Greek Queen of Egypt from 51 to 30 BC.

The trailer notes that Cleopatra belonged to the Ptolemaic dynasty but then goes on to dispute her heritage.

Controversy: In the show, which is due to air on May 10, Cleopatra is depicted as black, despite historical records showing she was of Macedonian Greek heritage

Hot water: Netflix has been forced to turn off comments for the official trailer of new docu-series Queen Cleopatra (pictured: Cleopatra, played by Adele James)

Adele James on horseback in the new Cleopatra Netflix series

Adele James (left) in African Queens: Queen Cleopatra

Adele James in another screenshot from the new Netflix docuseries

The Death of Cleopatra, circa 1645-55. Artist Guido Cagnacci

'It's possible she was an Egyptian' says one expert, while another adds: 'I remember my grandmother saying to me 'I don't care what they tell you in school, Cleopatra was black.''

The two-minute official Trailer uploaded on April 12 has already amassed over 1.9 million views on YouTube.

Meanwhile, Netflix has been forced to turn comments off on the official trailer, after it was met with controversy.

A Change.org petition to cancel the show has amassed over 3,000 signatures. A previous petition - which was taken down - had over 62,000 signatures.

Author Kemi Owonibi tweeted: 'For the nth time, the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra was not an Egyptian.

'She was Greek! Cleopatra VII was whiteof Macedonian descent, likewise all the Ptolemy rulers, who lived in Egypt.'
Rolf Harris is 'very sick and unwell', a private investigator and author has revealed to MailOnline.

The disgraced TV star, 93, has been struggling to talk or eat and has been living as a near-recluse at his 5million home in Berkshire since he was freed from jail in 2017 for a string of sex offences.

But who is Rolf Harris? How did Rolf Harris become famous? Who is his wife Alwen Hughes? Did they have any children together?

Read on below for everything you need to know about Rolf Harris.

Rolf Harris and his wife Alwen Hughes have been married since 1958

Who is Alwen Hughes?

Alwen Hughes was born on December 26, 1931 in north London, before growing up in Wales.

A jeweller and sculptor, she met Harris when the pair were studying at art school.

They would go on to marry in 1958, where she allegedly made the decision to have a poodle as her bridesmaid.

Now aged 91, Alwen is in a wheelchair and has been seriously ill with Alzheimer's disease.

Her husband has not spoken publicly since his release from jail in 2017 but released a statement in the book Rolf Harris: The Defence Team's Special Investigator Reveals the Truth Behind the Trials by William Merritt.

'I understand we live in the post truth era and know few will want to know what really happened during the three criminal trials I faced  it's easier to condemn me and liken me to people like Saville and Glitter,' Harris said.

'I was convicted of offences I did not commit in my first trial. That is not just my view but the view of the Court of Appeal who overturned one of my convictions. I had already served the prison sentence by the time of the appeal.

'I changed my legal team after the first trial, and I was told that if the truth was out there, William (Merritt) would find it and he did.

His wife Alwen, 91, a jeweller and sculptor, is in a wheelchair because of Alzheimers disease but the couple, who married in 1958 and have one child, live together with the help of around the clock care

'The evidence he found proved my innocence to two subsequent juries.

'I'd be in prison serving a sentence for crimes I did not commit if it were not for William's investigation.

'It is difficult to put into words the injustice that I feel.'

Does Rolf Harris have children?

Harris and Hughes have one child, a daughter named Bindi, who was born 10 March 1964.

Bindi dropped out of art school aged 16, going on to work at shops such as Miss Selfridge, as well as a stint at a hairdressers salon. At 21, she enrolled at Bristol University to study fine art.

After graduating, Bindi began a relationship with Malcolm Cox, a struggling artist. The pair had a son, Marlon, who was born in 1996. After splitting up with Cox, she would go on to marry fellow artist Craig Nicholls in 2008.

When it came to her career, Bindi Harris decided to pursue similar exploits to those which her father found his success in, as she became an abstract artist.

Rolf Harris is pictured with his daughter Bindi in 1995. She would also go on to become an abstract artist

Despite living in the shadow of her father, Bindi attended art school and would go on to exhibit her pieces at a number of different galleries.

She was unsettled by the chemistry between Rolf and Andrea Kingston, a family friend who had moved into a converted boathouse on the property.

Bindi confided in her friend, who reacted by saying: What on earth does he see in her? How dare he? Your Dad is a right b******.

Shocked, Bindi asked her friend if Harris had ever touched her, to which she replied that he had abused her for more than 16 years.

The revelation caused Bindi such pain that she destroyed some of Harriss paintings but she remained in touch with him.

Rolf Harris (pictured arriving at Southwark Crown Court with daughter Bindi and niece Jenny in 2014) was found guilty on 12 counts of indecent assault

Is Rolf Harris still alive?

After serving three of his five year and nine month long sentence, Harris was released from jail on 19 May 2017. Harris celebrated his 93rd birthday on 30 March 2023.

Since being released from jail, Harris has resided in his hometown of Bray, Berkshire.

The Harris family solicitor lawyer Daniel Burke told MailOnline he has had no contact with the immediate family.

He said he had not spoken to Rolfs only daughter Bindi and had no instructions to prepare or issue statement concerning his failing health.

Mr Merritt told MailOnline he saw Harris in late 2022, and that the disgraced Australian was gravely ill.

He said: 'Rolf has been very sick. When I saw him he was able to speak to me. He was with it, but he was obviously unwell'.

Mr Merritt said Rolf has had neck cancer and there have been serious concerns about his health, although he was 'getting on with things'. Due to the cancer, Rolf is said to gurgle when talking and is hard to understand.

Rolf Harris (pictured during the pandemic) can no longer talk or eat and requires around the clock care after being diagnosed with neck cancer

Who is Rolf Harris?

Born in Australia, Rolf Harris found fame as an entertainer and become notable for his use of different instruments, such as the didgeridoo, to enliven his performances.

He was also known for appearing on television, as well as his artistic works as a painter, alongside the release of 30 studio albums throughout his musical career.

His single 'Tie Me Down Kangaroo, Sport' reached number one in Australia in 1960, whilst 'Two Little Boys' earnt top spot in the charts in the UK and Ireland in 1969.

Credited with the invention of the wobble board, Harris used the instrument to great success in his cover of Led Zeppelin's 'Stairway to Heaven', which broke into the top ten of the UK charts in 1993.

Rolf Harris is pictured here with a dog at the RSPCA Animal Hospital in Putney, London

What did Rolf Harris do?

In March 2013, as part of the British police investigation into sexual abuse allegations known as Operation Yewtree, Harris was one of 12 people arrested for questioning regarding historical allegations of sex offences.

The allegations were not linked to the offences committed by Jimmy Saville, with Harris maintaining his innocence at the time and was subsequently bailed without charge.

However, in August 2013, he was arrested again as part of the operation, and was found guilty of nine counts of indecent assault during the 1980s.

After undergoing a lengthy trial at Southwark Crown Court in 2014, Harris was convicted of 12 counts of indecent assault and sentenced to five years in prison.

Harris served his sentence at HM Prison Stafford.
This is the moment a frustrated police officer screamed at a Just Stop Oil eco zealot to 'get off the road' as environmental protesters staged their latest chaotic march in London.

In now-familiar scenes, dozens of eco fanatics armed with orange and white banners, carried out their latest bout of disruption in the capital, today targeting Cromwell Road, in Kensington.

At least 22 activists - some armed with mega phones - marched down the street at 8am causing misery for rush-hour drivers, before police arrived on the scene 20 minutes to break up the campaigners.

In video footage of the encounter, one officer can be heard demanding activists to 'get off the road, you're obstructing the highway' before a woman appears to saunter forward, narrowly avoiding being hit by a car.

'Madam, get off the the road, you're going to get knocked down,' shouts the officer as he puts his arm out to stop her moments before a car passes within inches of the woman.

About 22 Just Stop Oil activists took to the streets in Kensington, London, to carry out their latest slow march protest in the capital (pictured)

Fury as the frustrated police officer shouts at one of the Just Stop Oil activists to 'get off the road - you're going to get knocked down' moments before a car passes within inches of her

One of those taking action this morning, Paul Barnes, 43, a father of two from Derbyshire, said: 'I will continue to do all I can to protect my loved ones. I hear my children talk about what they want to be when they grow up, so I am taking action now to protect them, before it's too late.

'The politicians and corporate media spread lies and propaganda to serve corporate interests. This is whilst ordinary people prop up what's left of this country as wages, public services and our rights are stripped away.'

Another Just Stop Oil activist involved in today's disruption, Caroline Cattermole, 70, a cancer patient support worker and birdwatcher, added: 'I have seen first-hand the dramatic reduction in wildlife brought about through ecological destruction and climate collapse.

'We have lost 70 per cent of birds in the UK in the last three decades. Humanity has wiped out 60 per cent of all animal populations since 1970.

'Our survival depends on the natural world in ways that we don't always notice. It breaks my heart.

'We risk famine, starvation and societal collapse as a result of crop failure, brought about by extreme weather events... We have to stop new fossil fuels now.'

No arrests were made during the latest clash between protesters and police, which come amid heightened tensions over public demonstrations and a clamp down by the authorities.

On Monday, the Met was forced into an embarrassing u-turn following the arrests of protesters at the King's coronation on Saturday.

The protester came armed with banners and mega phones during their 8am march on Friday

But officer from the Met Police arrived within 20 minutes and by 9am were seeking to block activists from marching any further into central London

Six activists from Republic, the anti-monarchy group, became the first people in Britain to be arrested under the wide-ranging Public Order Act, under suspicion of being equipped to 'lock-on'  a tactic sometimes employed by campaigners to make harder for police to remove them.

But despite being held by police for hours, the Met announced earlier this week that an investigation had been unable to prove intent to disrupt the event.

'This evening all six have had their bail cancelled and no further action will be taken,' the Met said in a statement on Monday evening.

'We regret that those six people arrested were unable to join the wider group of protesters in Trafalgar Square and elsewhere on the procession route.'

The latest action by Just Stop Oil follows a demonstration outside the House of Parliament in Thursday, which saw 13 of its activists arrested.

Officers are pictured redirecting the Just Stop Oil campaigners on their latest march in London on Friday morning

The campaign group claimed that protesters were 'held in police custody for up to 19 hours' before being released early this morning.

Activists have warned they will stage another march outside of parliament tomorrow at midday.

A spokesman for the group added: 'This government is engaged in a wholesale assault on our human rights: migrants rights, workers rights, protest rights  nothing is sacred. The Public Order Act has criminalised peaceful dissent.

'Just Stop Oil will march in solidarity with all people affected by this authoritarian assault on our democratic right to protest.'

Since February 2022, Just Stop Oil claimed its activists have been arrested more than 2,100 times, with 138 zealots spending time in prison.

Last year saw the group cause carnage on major motorways, including the M25, when activists climbed on gantries above the road, bringing traffic to a halt.
This Morning presenters Dermot O'Leary and Alison Hammond had a go at carrying the Sword of State live on air today - as Penny Mordaunt laughed off the Poundland meme about her Coronation outfit which she helped to design.

As Lord President of the Council, Ms Mordaunt was responsible at Westminster Abbey for bearing the Sword of State and presenting the Jewelled Sword of Offering to the King - the first time the role has been carried out by a woman.

The Cabinet minister, wearing a custom-made teal outfit with a matching cape and headband with gold feather embroidery, held the pieces for much of the service.

And Ms Mordaunt, whose performance and stamina during the highly visible role won praise across the political spectrum, brought the sword with her to the This Morning sofa today so O'Leary and Hammond could have a go at holding it.

The sword was brought onto the set by Prince Philip's close friend Gyles Brandreth who joked that he was auditioning for the next coronation in 'about 25 years'.

Hammond said: 'It's really heavy, I can feel it straight away, on the shoulders and in the body. You can feel it in your body.' And O'Leary added: 'Penny Mordaunt, you must have been doing a bit of training for that, feeling the burn already. Good stuff.'

Penny Mordaunt speaks about her Coronation role while appearing on This Morning today

This Morning presenters Dermot O'Leary and Alison Hammond try to carry the Sword of State

Penny Mordaunt spoke on This Morning today about the Poundland meme regarding her outfit

Penny Mordaunt speaks with This Morning hosts Dermot O'Leary and Alison Hammond today

The sword was brought onto the set today by Prince Philip's close friend Gyles Brandreth

During the programme, Ms Mordaunt was asked about the design of her outfit, and said: 'Well, what my predecessor would have worn, and he'd have been a fella, he would have been wearing the Court Dress of the Privy Council which I didn't think was appropriate for me to wear in what was a modern Coronation.

READ MORE Penny Mordaunt reveals she took painkillers to help her endure role of carrying ceremonial swords during King's coronation - and explains how her navy training came in handy Advertisement

'So the bling you saw on the dress was actually the motif of the Privy Council. And so we took that and put it on the dress.

She continued: 'I had a lot of help, lots of good advice, and even people who weren't directly involved with making the dress and doing the embroidery, the people over at the Privy Council office who got out all the old uniforms and helped me get some ideas together.'

Ms Mordaunt was also asked about the various memes on social media about her role, including one comparing her outfit to the Poundland logo.

She told This Morning: 'This is what I love about the great British public. We were waiting for the kebab, the lightsaber, all of that - they did not disappoint. There's been some absolute classics.'

Speaking about the day, she said: 'I was one of millions, I obviously got a lot of attention, but there were so many people doing amazing, amazing work behind the scenes - it was just an amazing event.'

Ms Mordaunt was also asked whether she knew what her role would be at the Coronation when she took over as Lord President of the Council last September.

She said: 'Of course no, I didn't know, and in fact it was the very week we lost Her Majesty The Queen that I actually got this job. Of course none of this was known.'

Speaking about her reaction to finding out what she would have to do, Ms Mordaunt said: 'I gradually became aware of what the role entailed and it was an amazing privilege to do it. It was difficult but I think what kept us all going was the people that were with us.

Lord President of the Council, Penny Mordaunt, carries the Sword of State on Saturday

Penny Mordant is seen during the Coronation of Charles III at Westminster Abbey on Saturday

'There were three guys behind me also with swords, who got no attention at all, three former defence chiefs, and we just all looked after each other and managed to deliver on the day.'

She also spoke about her training, and said the 'real challenge was holding it during rehearsals - that was holding it for much longer because we were obviously working out what we were going to do with particular things'.

Ms Mordaunt continued: 'I was a bit sore the following day. But General Gordon Messenger who was carrying the Crown, I think his uniform weighed about the same as the sword. So everyone was working hard on the day and pulling out all the stops.

'And we need to get this in perspective - I met a police officer who'd been standing for 13 hours, 51 minutes - it's not too much.'

She also revealed that she drew on her drill training for the Royal Navy Reserve, adding: 'The important thing is just to keep your circulation going, wiggling your toes and that sort of thing, and I obviously wanted to see what was happening around me as well so I was focusing on what was happening in the service.'

And asked about her hair and makeup, she said: 'A big shout-out to Kelly and Jackie who are the hairdressers in the House of Commons and helped everyone get ready.'

Earlier this week, Ms Mordaunt told BBC broadcaster Nick Robinson on his Political Thinking podcast that she took 'a couple of painkillers' before playing her part in the Coronation - and was 'not in the gym for six months' before the event.

Penny Mordaunt carries the Sword of State during the Coronation at Westminster Abbey

Penny Mordaunt presents the Sword of State to King Charles III at Westminster Abbey

She told the podcast: 'I think you want to make sure you're in good nick and I did take a couple of painkillers beforehand just to make sure I was going to be all right.

READ MORE Penny Mordaunt gets back to the day job: MP returns to business at the Cabinet Office after winning plaudits for her show-stealing Coronation role Advertisement

'We got through it and it was only half of the ceremony I had to carry the Sword of State, which is the really heavy one, and then I traded it in for the very exquisite Jewelled Sword of Offering, which is much lighter.'

Ms Mordaunt also offered tips for anyone hoping to emulate her achievement.

She said: 'I think it's practice, like anything you're preparing for, don't leave anything to chance. Have a good breakfast, wear comfortable shoes.

'I had a great team with me because the chaps who haven't got any plaudits at all, the former defence chiefs who were standing behind me with the other swords in the ceremony, we were all there supporting each other and we'd obviously been talking under our breath at each other during rehearsals, keeping each other going.'

Ms Mordaunt, the Leader of the House of Commons and a former Conservative leadership frontrunner, carried the 17th-century Sword of State in procession to the abbey.

Its silver gilt hilt features the form of a lion and unicorn and the wooden scabbard is covered in red velvet with silver gilt rose, thistle and fleur-de-lys emblems.

Ms Mordaunt later exchanged the Sword of State for the Jewelled Sword of Offering and delivered it to the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The second sword was briefly clipped to the King's coronation sword belt and then, after a proclamation by the archbishop, Charles stepped forward and offered up the sword.

Penny Mordaunt holds the Swords of State at the Coronation ceremony of King Charles III

It was then placed on the altar and redeemed with 'redemption money' by Ms Mordaunt.

READ MORE Has sword carrier Penny Mordaunt made herself a Tory leadership contender once again? Bookies bump up Commons Leader to second favourite to replace Rishi Sunak after show-stealing Coronation performance Advertisement

The sword was later drawn from its scabbard and she carried it in its 'naked' form before the King for the rest of the service.

And, writing in the Telegraph, she described the occasion as a 'humbling day' and said she was 'grateful' that people had decided to recognise her role in the event.

She added: 'It was a humbling day in every respect. Crowned heads and world leaders were just faces in the congregation. All came to bear witness to love, service and sacrifice. His Majesty the King served longer than anyone in history as Prince of Wales.

'This is a life lived in the public eye. The royal family sets a parenthesis. We politicians should heed this example. We, too, have a choice. We can decide to narrow the parenthesis. Or we can decide to widen it. It takes courage, patience and judgment to listen to all views.

'If people chose to recognise my role, then I'm grateful. But my gratitude and thanks are reserved for all who took part. You can choose dissent. You can choose duty. The real recognition for Saturday, though, belongs to all of us.'

Her performance of the highly visible role in proceedings attracted much praise from across the political spectrum.

She wrote that since Saturday, she had been 'asked hundreds of times about how I felt about the coronation'.

She said: 'The overriding emotion was one of great love. There are a thousand types of love and a thousand ways of showing it. What we saw on Saturday was a form of love. But we're British, so we prefer the word duty.'

She wrote: 'Where we were from on Saturday was diverse. Some protested. Most would disagree with such views.

'Most would also defend their right to express them. That's what democracy is about. It doesn't mean unity. It's about dissent.

'Some think democracies are weak because of this and believe autocracies are somehow doing better. The reverse is true. At times like this, we are reminded of what we all have in common. And that we should cherish one another, and the differences and obligations between us.'
Russia should cut all British power and internet cables the moment Ukraine fires its first UK-supplied Storm Shadow long-range missile, a Kremlin State TV pundit has declared.

Military pundit Vladislav Shurygin told Channel One's political talk show Vremya Pokazhet that the Kremlin must make a direct threat to London over any use of the recently supplied cruise missiles in the war in Ukraine.

The deployment of the UK's weapons to Kyiv has infuriated Moscow, with Vladimir Putin's spokesman declaring the move 'will demand an adequate response from our military'.

The GPS-guided ground-hugging missiles with a 450kg warhead have a range of around 155 miles, enough to strike targets in annexed Crimea.

Britain is the first country to supply long-range precision missiles to Ukraine. They are set to play a key role in the country's much-anticipated counter-offensive against its Russian occupiers.

Vladislav Shurygin said on State television that Russia should cut all British power and internet cables the moment Ukraine fires its first UK-supplied Storm Shadow long range missile

The UK has agreed to supply Ukraine with Storm Shadow missiles. The ground-hugging missiles have a range long enough to strike targets in annexed Crimea

Speaking on State television, Shurygin claimed Russian air defences could shoot down the Storm Shadow long-range missiles.

'But I think our politically correct response is quite different,' he said.

'We need to make a government statement from our leadership that as soon as the first Storm Shadow missile is used on Russian territory, including Crimea, we will nullify all UK infrastructure - all cables, all internet cables.'

Britain has permitted Kyiv use of the powerful missiles in its own sovereign territory - notably in Russian-occupied regions, but not outside Ukraine's sovereign border.

A former Soviet and Russian army officer, now a prominent military pundit, Shurygin said that any use of Storm Shadows in annexed Crimea would be seen as an attack on Russian territory.

Asked for his reaction to the British deployment of the missiles - each costing 2.2 million - Peskov said: 'Extremely negative.

'This will demand an adequate response from our military, which will, naturally, from a military point of view, find corresponding solutions.'

Russia has reportedly mapped Britain's undersea power and data cables with a view to staging possible sabotage attacks.

The deployment of the UK's weapons to Kyiv has infuriated Moscow, with Vladimir Putin's spokesman declaring the move 'will demand an adequate response from our military'

British defence secretary Ben Wallace said: 'We will not stand by while Russia kills civilians.

'The use of Storm Shadow will allow Ukraine to push back Russian forces based within Ukrainian sovereign territory.'

This was a 'calibrated and proportionate response'.

Russia had ignored a specific warning from Britain, he said.

'Russia must recognise that their actions alone have led to such systems being provided,' said Wallace.

It came as President Zelensky on Wednesday confirmed that his forces have had to put the brakes on Ukraine's fight-back because of shortages of vital military equipment, including armoured vehicles.

Concerns that military aid pledged by Britain has taken too long to reach the frontline was also raised in the Commons.

Mr Wallace was asked how many of the armoured vehicles promised by the UK have arrived in Ukraine. He was also challenged over why the British-led International Fund for Ukraine, set up in August 2022, is yet to provide Kyiv with any weapons.
Rishi Sunak has been urged to hand tax breaks to stay-at-home mothers to recognise their 'investment in society'.

Tory MP Miriam Cates, a frequent campaigner on women's rights issues, blasted the UK's tax system for failing to 'recognise families'.

She also lashed out at the Prime Minister and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt over their 'unconservative' childcare reforms announced in the Budget in March.

The former science teacher, MP for the 'Red Wall' seat of Penistone and Stocksbridge, admitted she 'shed a tear' when she heard of the plans to only provide greater help for working parents.

Her comments are set to revive a debate within Tory ranks about the Government's reforms, with ministers having previously been urged to consider paying grandparents who help out with childcare.

Tory MP Miriam Cates, a frequent campaigner on women's rights issues, blasted the UK's tax system for failing to 'recognise families'.

She also lashed out at Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt over their 'unconservative' childcare reforms announced in the Budget in March.

In his Budget, Mr Hunt announced a 5.3billion shake-up of childcare in England as part of his efforts to help parents back to work

'If you want a strong economy, you have to have strong families - so you can't pretend the state should have no interest in how families work,' Ms Cates told The Telegraph's Chopper's Politics podcast.

'The situation for families in this country, economically, is very disadvantageous compared to many other countries in the world.

'Our tax system doesn't recognise families at all and it should do.'

Asked about what tax breaks should be offered to families, the married mother-of-three added: 'At the very least we ought to have household taxation, rather than individual taxation.

'We don't realise what an outlier we are and how unfriendly our tax system is to families. Having children is an investment in society.

'One of the things we've done through our tax system and through our social policies is to basically say: "Having children is a private enterprise. You only do it if you can afford it. We're not going to help you. It's your responsibility. It's a luxury."

'But actually, having children is absolutely essential for the future of our society and bringing them up well.

'Why shouldn't the tax system recognise the investment that you're making in society?'

In his Budget in March, Mr Hunt announced a 5.3billion shake-up of childcare in England as part of his efforts to help parents back to work.

This included a promise of up to 30 hours a week of free childcare for working parents for all infants over the age of nine months.

But Ms Cates branded the plans 'absolutely wrong' and 'utterly unconservative'.

'It is absolutely wrong. I can't think of a policy that's been announced during the last three years that I've been more upset about,' she told the podcast.

'I've got to be honest. I did actually shed a tear on a Government minister the day it was announced because it is, well, it's utterly unconservative.

'The idea that the role of a parent, the role of a mother is to get back to work and contribute to GDP, and that you can somehow outsource that unbreakable bond to institutional childcare.

'As brilliant as those care workers may be, no one can replace mum.'

Ms Cates lashed out at economic policies that are 'made by people who live in this metropolitan, liberal bubble'.
Two Metropolitan Police officers are being investigated for manslaughter after a man threatening to jump from a fifth-floor balcony was tasered before falling and suffering fatal injuries.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) is criminally investigating the actions of two cops after the incident which took place in Peckham, south London, in April.

The man who fell from the balcony and later died from his injuries is yet to be formally identified.

Both officers are under investigation for gross negligence manslaughter. One of the officers is also being investigated for unlawful act manslaughter.

The IOPC confirmed that shortly before midnight on April 11, Met officers attended a flat in a residential building on Rye Hill Park, to a report of a man shouting on a balcony.

They received no response from inside the flat and left, but a further report was received at around 1.25am on April 12, of a man making threats to jump from a balcony. Officers returned to the flat at around 2am and forced entry.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) is criminally investigating the actions of two cops (stock image) after a man fell from a balcony shortly after being Tasered in Peckham, south London, in April

They tried to persuade the man to come inside from the balcony and requested that a police negotiator attend the scene.

Over the course of the next hour, some officers left the flat and two officers remained inside.

The IOPC says that evidence then indicates that an officer discharged their Taser, shortly before the man fell from the balcony railing at around 3.20am.

The man fell five floors to the ground and was transported to hospital with critical injuries. He sadly died later that day.

The police negotiator arrived at the location just before the man fell and had not entered the flat.

The IOPC said Body worn video footage has been secured and reviewed and Taser downloads will be analysed as part of their investigation.

The officers involved have also been served with gross misconduct notices for potentially breaching police standards of professional behaviour.

Shortly before midnight on April 11, Met officers attended a flat in a residential building on Rye Hill Park (pictured), to a report of a man shouting on a balcony

IOPC director Amanda Rowe said: 'Our thoughts are with the man who died and we sincerely hope that he is formally identified and that his family are able to be notified.

'This was a tragic incident and we recognise that the circumstances surrounding the man's death have understandably caused concern within the community.

'Our enquiries are still in their early stages and it's important that we carry out a thorough, independent investigation that will be looking at the full circumstances, including the actions and decision-making of the officers who were present. Police officers are able to use force in the course of their duties and we will examine whether any force that was used was reasonable, appropriate and proportionate in these circumstances.

'Following the conclusion of our investigation, we will decide whether to refer the matter to the Crown Prosecution Service for a charging decision and we will determine whether any officers should face disciplinary proceedings.'

The coroner is taking forward identification and working with the MPS in search for next of kin.

A date for the inquest opening has not yet been set.
Federal agents in tactical gear are preparing for riots across the southern border amid fears tens of thousands of illegal migrants may descend en masse to reach U.S. soil.

An estimated 60,000 migrants, including young children, have now amassed by the US-Mexico border and are expected to try and cross into the US over the coming days now that the Title 42 rule has expired.

In the hours before the pandemic-era measure expired on Thursday, 24,000 heavily armed agents of the Border Patrol and National Guard began patrolling the southern border, with many reinforcing the barbed-wire fences along the Rio Grande River in Texas.

Agents in riot gear, armed with batons, also performed rehearsals for how to deal with violence and mobs if the tens of thousands of migrants decide to descend towards US soil en masse. Scores of federal agents remain on standby should riots occur, sources told the New York Post.

Drone footage showed scores of Haitian migrants sheltering in a sea of tents inside a migrant camp in Mexico close to the US border. They are expected to join tens and thousands more in trying to reach US soil.

Agents of the Border Patrol and the US National Guard are seen while conducting a drill, from the Mexican side of the border at the San Ysidro Gate in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico

Aerial view of United States Customs and Border Protection officers running a drill at San Ysidro crossing port on the US-Mexico border seen from Tijuana, Baja California state, Mexico, on May 10

Migrant try to get to the US through the Rio Grande as seen from Matamoros, state of Tamaulipas, Mexico, as US federal agents and barbed wire block their way

Drone footage showed scores of Haitian migrants sheltering in a sea of tents inside a migrant camp in Mexico close to the US border

Within minutes of Title 42 expiring, migrant families with some parents holding children - hesitated only briefly before entering the waters of the Rio Grande from Matamoros, Mexico, clutching cell phones above the water to light the way toward Brownsville, Texas.

U.S. authorities shouted for the migrants to turn back.

'Be careful with the children,' an official shouted through a megaphone. 'It is especially dangerous for the children.'

Separately, at an outdoor encampment of migrants beside a border bridge in Ciudad Juarez, across from El Paso, Texas, cell phones were alight as migrants attempted to book an asylum appointment online through an app administered by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

'There's no other way to get in,' said Venezuelan Carolina Ortiz, accompanied by her husband and children, ages 1 and 4. Others in the camp had the same plan: keep trying the app.

While there was relative calm at the border in the hours after Title 42 expired, there are fears that the situation could turn violent.

For more than three years, Title 42 had allowed the government to quickly expel millions of migrants who illegally crossed the border before they could apply for asylum during the pandemic.

But now that Biden's administration are lifting Covid-19 protocols, they are also lifting the rule that restricted migration - a move that has seen tens of thousands of migrants massing on the southern border that many have called a 'disaster'.

Minutes after the Title 42 border control measures were lifted on Thursday night, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas warned migrants along the U.S.-Mexico border not to believe the 'lies' from people traffickers who claim the border is now open.

'We have 24,000 Border Patrol Agents and Officers at the Southwest Border and have surged thousands of troops and contractors, and over a thousand asylum officers to help enforce our laws,' he said.

'Do not believe the lies of smugglers. The border is not open.'

Members of the US National Guard reinforce a barbed-wire fence along the Rio Grande in front of migrants who had crossed the Rio Grande river on May 10

Migrants try to get to the US through the Rio Grande as seen from Matamoros, state of Tamaulipas, Mexico on May 11, 2023

A woman and her daughter swim back to Mexico after reaching the US bank of the Rio Grande river and being stopped by the National Guard on May 10

A Haitian migrant washes clothes at a makeshift shelter in Reynosa, Mexico, on Tuesday

The number of immigrants reaching the border surged with the end of the U.S. government's Covid-era Title 42 policy. Here immigrants lined up to be processed to make asylum claims at a makeshift migrant camp in El Paso

Mayorkas and the Biden administration have faced an avalanche of criticism for the scenes at the border, as thousands of migrants gather in the hope of entering the U.S. now the restrictions have ended.

The number of migrants amassed on the border varies, with one federal source telling CBS News there were 60,000 while another told CNN the figure was 155,000.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said smugglers were massing in large numbers at the southern border of his country, offering to take migrants to the United States and telling them the border was open starting Thursday.

But Mayorkas on Thursday tried to tell those aiming to cross that it was a bad move. He said now illegal migrants face being barred from entering the U.S. for five years and possible criminal prosecution.

'Starting tonight, people who arrive at the border without using a lawful pathway will be presumed ineligible for asylum,' he tweeted.

'We are ready to humanely process and remove people without a legal basis to remain in the U.S.

'People who do not use available lawful pathways to enter the U.S. now face tougher consequences, including a minimum five-year ban on re-entry and potential criminal prosecution.

'Together with our partners throughout the federal government and Western Hemisphere, we are prepared for this transition.'

But Republicans have slammed Biden's administration for what they call an 'invasion'.

Migrants cross through the banks of the Rio Grande River to the US, as seen from Matamoros, state of Tamaulipas, Mexico on May 9, 2023

Migrants cross the Rio Grande River as they try to get to the US, as seen from Matamoros, state of Tamaulipas, Mexico, on May 11

Ted Cruz slammed President Joe Biden for the 'humanitarian crisis' at the southern border and urged him to 'stop hiding in the basement' and see the tens of thousands of migrants massing there.

In a scathing speech, a visibly furious Cruz blamed Biden for the over 22,000 illegal migrants who were camping across the Rio Grande river opposite Brownsville, Texas, saying it was 'his fault'.

The Texas Senator waved his finger at the camera as he said the US has the 'worst illegal immigration in the history of our country' and it's going to get worse now that the Title 42 has expired because of Biden's policies.

The Republican said: 'I'm standing here in our southern border with the Rio Grande river right behind me in Brownsville, Texas. Title 42 is going to expire in just a few hours.

'We are seeing an invasion in our southern border and there are right now over 22,000 illegal immigrants across the river.'

Pointing behind him, Cruz continued: 'You can see the lights, you can see people camping out, if you look you can see them. They are waiting for Title 42 to expire and then the invasion that we are going to see is going to be massive.

'We already have the worst illegal immigration in the history of our country and in just a few hours its getting worse. Joe Biden this is your fault.'

During his scathing rant, Cruz also said it was Biden's 'fault' if any of the children illegally crossing the river and into the US were hurt or if any of the migrants were killed while attempting to cross.

Migrants wait at night along the border wall to surrender to US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Border Patrol agents for immigration and asylum claim processing before the expiration of Title 42 upon crossing the Rio Grande river from Ciudad Juarez into the United States on the US-Mexico border in El Paso, Texas on May 11

'The people who are killed crossing illegally, that's your fault. The women who are sexually abused while crossing illegally, that's your fault. The children who are brutalized crossing illegally, that's your fault.'

Cruz added: 'Come down here President Biden. Stop hiding in the basement, stop pretending this misery is not your fault. Stop it. This is not humane, this is not compassionate, this is cruel.'

Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas told Fox News the border situation was a 'disaster.'

'The number one threat to our national security is right here in southern Texas, all the way to Arizona,' he said. 'This is not the America that I grew up in.'

Chaotic scenes unfolded of migrants scrambling to enter the country on Thursday before Title 42 expired and the new rule went into effect

Thousands of migrants have waded through rivers, climbed walls and scrambled up embankments onto U.S. soil in recent days, hoping to be processed before midnight.

Some migrants turned themselves in to border officials. Others tried to cross undetected.

Trump first implemented Title 42 in March 2020 as COVID swept the globe. Health officials said at the time the order aimed to curb the spread of the virus in crowded detention facilities. It allowed US authorities to quickly expel migrants to Mexico or other countries without the chance to request U.S. asylum.

A migrant carrying a child tries to get to the US through the Rio Grande River as seen from Matamoros, state of Tamaulipas, Mexico, on May 11

Immigrants seeking asylum, who were apprehended at the time Title 42 expired are processed by U.S. Border Patrol agents, after crossing into Arizona from Mexico, on May 11 in Yuma, Arizona

But Democrats, public health experts and immigration advocates saw it as an extension of Trump's quest to block migrants at the border.

Biden, who campaigned on reversing Trump's policies, kept Title 42 in place and ultimately expanded it.

Migrants have been expelled more than 2.7 million times under Title 42, although the total includes many repeat crossers.

Mexico has generally only accepted certain nationalities - its own citizens, many Central Americans and more recently migrants from Venezuela, Cuba and Haiti. So during the same period, around 2.8 million migrants ineligible for expulsion were allowed into the United States under a process known as Title 8 to pursue their immigration claims in court, which can take months or years.

Even before Title 42 expired, along with the end of the COVID public health emergency, Biden's administration was grappling with record numbers of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border, straining U.S. authorities and border cities.

Republicans fault Biden for easing the more restrictive Trump policies. Biden has blamed Congress for not passing comprehensive immigration reform.

But with the new asylum rule, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and other Biden officials have been trying to spread the message that illegal crossers will face consequences, sending troops and thousands of additional personnel to the borer.

"Do not believe the lies of smugglers. The border is not open," Mayorkas said in a statement.

Some migrants who spoke to Reuters on Thursday said they heard it would be more difficult to enter the country after May 11 and rushed to cross before the deadline. Daily apprehensions rose above 10,000 this week and detention capacity maxed out.

Due to the high volume of arrivals, agents on Wednesday began releasing some migrants without a notice to appear in immigration court where they can make an asylum claim, telling them to report to an immigration office later.

But late Thursday night, a federal judge in Florida blocked such releases, saying they failed to follow proper regulatory procedures.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection called the ruling "harmful" and said it would "result in unsafe overcrowding" at border facilities.
Pizza as we know it was invented not in Italy - but in America, according to an Italian professor of food history.

Professor Alberto Grandi, of Parma University, Italy, said it was the USA who the world has to thank for making pizza what it is today, as Italian immigrants took advantage of new-found ingredients to improve it.

While a form of it did come from Italy, it was nothing like the pizza we are familiar with today, according to Professor Grandi.

Rather than being a tomato and mozzarella cheese on a savory dough base, it was instead 'poorly cooked' sweet focaccia bread without any toppings which was eaten as a dessert.

He said many Italian immigrants then returned to their home country, bringing the newly developed pizza with them.

Professor Alberto Grandi, of Parma University, Italy, said it was the USA who the world has to thank for making pizza what it is today

As part of the famous 'Italian diaspora', 13million Italians emigrated to America between 1880 and 1920. However, many then returned over the following years.

Professor Grandi said: 'Migration allows Italians to get to know new ingredients. I'm just saying that pizza is delicious, but that the history is a bit different from the one often told.'

He also said Pellegrino Artusi's book about food - written in 1891 - was 'the first sort of Bible of Italian food'.

The book, La Scienza in Cucina e l'Arte di Mangiar Bene (Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well), has sold millions of copies and is still revered in Italian cuisine today.

Professor Grandi said it became a 'major reference for Italians in America', helped them 'preserve their language', and made them 'adopt a style of cooking that doesn't really exist in Italy' with new ingredients and methods.

He added: 'And then they take the whole thing back to Italy. This is what happens with pizza.

'In Artusi's book, Neapolitan pizza is a dessert which is nothing like what we recognize as Neapolitan pizza. It's a sweet focaccia, basically.

'Neapolitan pizza was a very poor product and free of condiments, it was very basic and then also poorly cooked because the ovens are bad.

'And yet, somehow it becomes this rich specialty with tomato sauce and all the other toppings. It becomes this in America then comes back.'

Professor Grandi said there is a 'recognized theory' called the 'Pizza Effect' which explains the phenomenon.

He said: 'It explains how a product can be born in one place then is transformed as a result of migration and then returns to its place of origin completely transformed.

'The most flagrant example is pasta in my opinion. Pasta had been famous in Naples since the 1600s.

'The Neapolitans had been referred to as 'mangiamaccheroni' (macaroni eaters) ever since the 1600s, but the rest of Italy doesn't know pasta.

'A lot of Italians first ate pasta in the USA. They discovered it in America and then a lot of them come back.'

Professor Grandi said the same thing also happened when Indian migrants took samosas to America then came back to their homeland with samosas that looked and tasted 'completely different'.
A Romanian people-smuggler who bolted four Vietnamese teens into a 'coffin-like' space in the roof of his van has been jailed for three years.

Nicolai Bogdan Lungan, 32, accepted an offer of 6,000 - around 5,200 - in February this year to drive a van containing hidden asylum seekers from Belgium into the UK.

He travelled by ferry from Dunkirk to Dover with children bolted shut inside his Romanian-registered Renault Master. When Lungan arrived at the Kent port, Border Force officers noticed the roof above the driver was covered with padded material and was unusually hot.

They swiftly stopped him and removed the material, revealing a hatch in the van roof which led to a hide where they found four 17-year-olds.

The migrants were found lying on bare metal in the cramped and insufficiently ventilated roof hatch (pictured), which had been bolted shut using power tools

Nicolai Bogdan Lungan (pictured) accepted an offer of 6,000, around 5,200, in February this year to drive a van containing hidden asylum seekers from Belgium into the UK

The migrants were found lying on bare metal in the cramped and insufficiently ventilated roof hatch, which had been bolted shut using power tools.

The children had no way of escaping from the hide without assistance.

When questioned by officers, Lungan claimed he was travelling to Glasgow to collect furniture that he intended to take back to Romania to open a barber shop.

He was jailed for three years at Canterbury Crown Court for assisting unlawful immigration into the UK.

Chris Foster, deputy director for the Home Office's Criminal and Financial Investigations, said the migrants were kept in 'atrocious conditions'.

When Lungan arrived at the Kent port, Border Force officers noticed the roof above the driver was covered with padded material and was unusually hot

He said: 'I hope this sentencing sends a powerful message that breaking the law and putting individuals' lives at risk will not go unpunished. My team work tirelessly to disrupt this type of illegal activity and we will continue to take action against those who put people's lives in danger for the sake of making money.'

Last year ten people were sentenced after 39 Vietnamese men, women and children were found dead in the trailer of a lorry near the Dartford Crossing.

Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick said: 'These criminal and life-threatening attempts to smuggle people, including children, into the UK in these incredibly tight, coffin-like spaces are utterly abhorrent and we will not stand for it.

'I would like to praise our immigration enforcement officers who are working around the clock to prevent this activity and to bring the perpetrators to justice.

'No-one should be risking their lives to come to the UK illegally, and today's case sends a clear message to the smuggling gangs that they will feel the full weight of the law.'
Angry company chiefs want the English name of the Brecon Beacons to be reinstated - after it was officially changed to Welsh only.

More than 50 businesses fear naming the popular national park as Bannau Brycheiniog will put off tourists and damage their trade.

National Park bosses decided to call the mountains by a Welsh-language name alone to celebrate its 66th anniversary, but said people were 'welcome to use whichever name they choose'.

Welsh actor Michael Sheen featured in a video about the renaming of the Brecon Beacons National Park to Bannau Brycheiniog.

But more than 50 companies within the Beacons have formed a campaign group and are considering legal action against the move.

They say time and money has been spent building up the area as a 'global hotspot for tourism'.

Businesses fear naming the Brecon Beacons as Bannau Brycheiniog will put off tourists and damage their trade. (Pictured: Walkers enjoying the national park)

National Park bosses decided to call the mountains by a Welsh-language name alone to celebrate its 66th anniversary

More than 50 companies within the Beacons have formed a campaign group and are considering legal action against the move

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also said he was against the name change - and would continue to refer to it by its English name.

Brecon Beacons: A history going back to the Middle Stone Age The Brecon Beacons National Park in South Wales was established in 1957, under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act of 1949. The park has two purposes under law  those being to conserve and enhance the natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage of the park; and to promote opportunities for the enjoyment and understanding of its special qualities. Going back to 5500BC in Middle Stone Age times, hunter-gatherers cut down scrub and burned the aftermath to create small grassland areas so animals could graze and be hunted. By the New Stone Age there was farming and the end of the Bronze Age there had been big forest clearances. In the Iron Age, Celtic peoples arrived and brought much better farming processes including hill forts. The Romans and Normans later conquered the area  with the latter's manorial system being consolidated in the Middle Ages. From the end of the 15th century industries such as ironmaking and charcoal burning began to emerge  while more recent decades have seen urban expansion, road construction, and reservoir building. The national park area now covers 520 square miles, which much of this being upland and two-thirds of the area comprised of old red sandstone rocks. Advertisement

The new campaign group - called 'Our Bannau Brycheiniog/Brecon Beacons' - say many businesses were not told of the name change before it happened.

They have called on the bi-lingual name to be used in both English and Welsh.

Group ambassador Helen Howarth, who owns Brecon Retreats, said: 'I firmly believe that losing our identity as the Brecon Beacons national park will be detrimental to us all and especially tourism, hospitality and trade.'

The PM said: 'When it comes to the Brecon Beacons, the first thing to say is this is an internationally renowned place to visit, attracts visitors from all around the world.

'It's something we're all really proud of across the UK.

'I'm going to keep calling it the Brecon Beacons, and I would imagine most people will do that too.'

The group has penned an open letter calling 'to reinstate the bilingual Bannau Brycheiniog/ Brecon Beacons National Park name and brand'.

They say the English and Welsh have previously both been used and 'this tradition must be protected and respected'.

The letter adds that many businesses were 'not even notified about the renaming and rebranding project before its launch on 17th April'.

The group is also considering mounting a High Court challenge to argue that the renaming breaches the 1993 Welsh Language Act for Welsh public bodies to treat Welsh and English on an equal basis.

The launch of the name change was explained in a video, which was written by novelist Owen Sheers, featuring actor and activist Michael Sheen, who was born in Newport, South Wales.

The clip features images of rubbish, polluted water and wildfires and describes the area as being 'hooked' on carbon, diesel, petrol and oil. It also says it is suffering from an ageing population due to young people not being able to afford local housing or a well-paid job.

Michael Sheen in a video explaining how the Brecon Beacons National Park will be renamed

Rishi Sunak said: 'I'm going to keep calling it the Brecon Beacons, and I would imagine most people will do that too'

Talking about the new name, Sheen said: 'I'm delighted to see them facing their challenges head-on and welcome the reclamation of the old Welsh name, an old name for a new way of being.'

He added: 'National parks have a vital role to play in providing for nature, for people and for our shared future.'

Brecon's chief executive Catherine Mealing-Jones said: 'Given that we're trying to provide leadership on decarbonisation, a giant burning brazier is not a good look.' Others, however, disagree  strongly.

Frank Furedi, professor at the University of Kent, said changing the park's name was 'not going to do anything' for the environment.

He added: 'They're using the environment as a pretext to change the words that we use, it's not really about the environment at all.'

Founder of the Free Speech Union, Toby Young, said: 'It's typical of the numpties who now run Wales to sacrifice the name of its most famous national park in order to virtue signal about climate change.'
Royal Mail workers walked out for 18 days last year in a bruising series of strikes

The boss of Royal Mail has stepped down after being accused by MPs of an 'unacceptable level of incompetence' following a bruising series of strikes by its workforce.

Simon Thompson, who has headed the postal service since 2021, said he believes it is 'the right time for the company to move forward under new leadership' after an agreement was struck between the firm and union leaders last month.

The deal with the Communication Workers Union (CWU) will see staff get a 10 per cent salary increase and a 500 one-off payment.

Mr Thompson said: 'I have been incredibly proud to lead Royal Mail during this crucial period in its 507-year history.

'The changes we have made, the infrastructure we have put in place and the agreements negotiated with our trade unions mean that Royal Mail now has a chance to compete and grow.

Simon Thompson, who has headed the postal service since 2021, said he believes it is 'the right time for the company to move forward under new leadership' after an agreement was struck between the firm and union leaders last month.

A protester marches with a smoke flare in Whitehall during a strike organised by Royal Mail workers last December

'That is what I have always wanted and it is now the right time to hand over to a new CEO to deliver the next stage of the company's reinvention.

'I would like to thank my team for their support during a difficult and important time of change.'

Keith Williams, chairman of Royal Mail parent firm International Distributions Services (IDS), said: 'On behalf of the board, I would like to thank Simon for his significant contribution over more than five years at Royal Mail, both as CEO and previously as a non-executive director of the board.

'As CEO, his leadership, resilience and unwavering drive to ensure that Royal Mail transforms for the benefit of our customers means we have set a clear path to turn the business around.

'We are grateful for his dedication and what he has achieved at the company, and wish him well for the future.'

IDS had been expected to announce Mr Thompson's departure before its annual results on May 18, ending a mostly unhappy tenure of just over two years.

Earlier this week, IDS shares fell 0.5 per cent, or 1.1p, to 244.7p as speculation swirled about his imminent exit.

The dispute between Royal Mail and its workers dragged on for nearly a year before a deal  which included a 10 per cent raise for staff  was struck last month.

It followed a bruising period for the company that saw posties walk out on strike for 18 days last year.

Thousands of postal workers staged a huge rally in Parliament Square in solidarity with the CWU (Communication Workers Union) postal strikes in December

The action caused chaos in delivery offices across the UK. And Royal Mail warned it was losing over 1million per day and would need to call in administrators if the situation did not improve.

While a semblance of calm has descended as workers decide whether to approve the peace agreement, a city analyst this week predicted Mr Thompson would need to leave before the wounds began to heal.

They said: 'The deal is going to be difficult for Thompson to lead the organisation out of this... There's too much bad blood between him and the staff.

'A lot of the rank and file hate him. And it's going to be very difficult for him to be an effective leader of those people. After the war it's very difficult to forgive and forget.'

Andy McDonald, a member of the Commons business select committee, said Mr Thompson's handling of the company has been 'rocky to say the least' and hoped his departure would mark 'a new approach' for the firm.

McDonald and other members of the committee accused Thompson earlier this year of 'either an unacceptable level of incompetence or an unacceptable level of cluelessness' in his running of the business.

It comes after it was yesterday reported how chronic staff shortages, industrial relations and a shake-up of working practices have left households in despair wondering where their post is as post bosses struggle to contain the chaos.

Chronic staff shortages, industrial relations and a shake-up of working practices have left households in despair wondering where their post is

Resident's in Dorking, Surrey, said a 'lack of postal vans' have been to blame for the grinding halt of deliveries

The lack of letter deliveries has reaped devastation through communities as many have missed vital hospital appointments, speed or parking fines and cherished birthday wishes.

For weeks on end, families have been forced to suffer the consequences of Royal Mail disruption.

The postal service are expected to show a true insight into the disarray as they unveil figures this week showing that annual delivery performance has shrunk near-record lows, with insiders branding areas 'postal deserts', according to the Telegraph.

The new estimates suggest dozens of areas are affected by the chaos with some households collecting bundles of late letters from sorting offices.

South-east London residents have taken to social media to expose their reality as they claimed they 'seem to only get post every two weeks'.

Others have claimed that sorting office staff told them many of their colleagues are off sick or on holiday.

Residents in Dorking, Surrey, appear to be battling a different problem with their local post services as they said online that a 'lack of postal vans' have been to blame for the grinding halt of deliveries.

Motoring Lawyer, Nick Freeman, otherwise known as Mr Loophole explained that the disruption to the postal deliveries could allow speeding motorists to escape a fine or points on their driving license.

Laws state anyone caught speeding must receive a notice of intended prosecution (NIP) within 14 days of the alleged offence.

He advised drivers to 'keep the envelope' if and when a speeding ticket arrives as a way to challenge the allegations in court.

A spokesman for Royal Mail told the Telegraph: 'We are committed to improving our performance and accelerating Royal Mail's transformation in order to restore service levels.'
The dad of a little boy with a congenital heart disease has demanded answers after the toddler was served raw chicken nuggets at McDonald's.

The distressed dad - who did not want to be named - claimed the 22-month-old boy tucked into the nuggets on Wednesday after his mum bought him a Happy Meal from Kelston McDonald's in Auckland, New Zealand.

He and the family had gone to McDonald's to treat the toddler as a reward for his bravery during a recent stint in hospital for his congenital heart condition.

He said staff at the McDonald's store didn't take his complaint about the nuggets seriously when he reported it before the fast food giant later offered a $50 voucher and an $8 refund.

It comes after another father found raw meat in the McNuggets he bought for his six-year-old son in South Auckland earlier this month and stopped his son from eating them just in time.

In the latest incident, the toddler had already eaten one nugget before his horrfied parents realised the meat was pink coloured.

The toddler had already downed one nugget before his parents noticed the meat was pink coloured (pictured)

The little boy tucked into the nuggets on Wednesday after his mum bought him a Happy Meal as a special treat (pictured, stock image of a McDonald's)

The frantic parents raced their toddler to the bathroom and forced him to vomit the nugget back up.

The dad claimed store staff did not take the matter seriously when he told them what had happened.

A McDonald's group operations manager contacted him after the father cobtacted head office to complain.

'However, despite [its] internal investigation being completed, he has not offered any comments as to what exactly happened and if the chicken was even cooked for a second,' the father told the NZ Herald.

He said McDonald's offered him an $8 refund and a $50 voucher which he described as a 'joke'.

'You don't go to a restaurant just to be served raw chicken and then go back again next week. We don't want money. We just want some accountability,' he said.

Another father found raw meat in McNuggets he bought for his six-year-old son at a McDonald's in south Auckland earlier this month - which he stopped his son from eating (pictured)

He added he was concerned about customers coming across the uncooked meat at the restaurant and how dangerous it can be - especially for those with underlying health issues.

A McDonald's spokesman said the management of the restaurant have been in contact with the dad to explain the investigation process into the incident and to check in on his son's wellbeing.

He added they have explained the formal process the restaurant has to follow several times and have addressed the dad's requests regading legal action and compensation.

He said the management would provide an update on the investigation findings and actions as soon as they can - adding the organisation takes food safety complaints very seriously.

Meanwhile, the father said he was told kitchen staff at the fast food outlet would get more training and additional signage would be put up in the food preparation area.

McDonald's New Zealand was contacted by Daily Mail Australia for comment.
He was released on a $100,000 bond after a quick arraignment this afternoon

If convicted, he faces between three and 15 years in prison

Penny handed himself in to police today on a 2nd degree manslaughter charge

Marine veteran Daniel Penny has been released from custody on a $100,000 bond after handing himself in to the NYPD this morning to face a second degree manslaughter charge for the chokehold death of Jordan Neely.

Penny, 24, surrendered at the NYPD's 5th with his attorneys. He then traveled to the Manhattan Criminal Court to be arraigned on a second degree manslaughter.

Penny posted $100,000 bond today and was released.

Bail bondsman Ira Judelson told DailyMail.com Penny was 'very quiet and nervous' and was 'respectful' as he was arrested and arraigned.

Daniel Penny leaves Manhattan Criminal Court after posting a $100,000 bond. He was arraigned on a second degree manslaughter charge

Neely was escorted out of the courthouse while media scrum gathered outside

Penny leaving Manhattan Criminal Court on Friday after being arraigned

Judelson, who has arranged bonds for famous cases in New York for decades, said: 'I don't know what was going on inside his head, but it seemed like he wanted to get this over with and have the case move on'.

According to Judelson, Penny is 'not flight risk'.

He said: 'I've been doing this for 25 years and in my opinion he will answer to all his court dates and will be there

'I dont know what happened on that train. I can tell you Mr Penny will be in court'.

Under the bail terms, Penny's parents put up $10,000 in cash and guaranteed the other $90,000 if he were to flee.

Penny will have to report to Judelson once a week and has surrendered his passport.

Judelson revealed that Penny is due to graduate from a college in New York soon and wants to be an architect.

His parents were not in court under the advice of Judelson who sent a security guard to make sure Penny got through his first court appearance.

Judelson said: 'The court appearance went smoothly. Penny's life is a whirlwind right now. His name is all over the place'.

On May 1, he put Neely - a mentally ill, homeless man with a record of 40 prior arrests including violent attacks - in a chokehold after Neely shouted that he was 'fed up' and wanted to go to jail.

They were both traveling on the F train in New York City, and part of the incident was filmed.

His attorneys last night released a statement saying he doesn't deserve the charges and that he was merely trying to protect himself and his fellow passengers from Neely.

A 66-year-old female witness to the incident spoke anonymously to The New York Post last night on the eve of Penny's arraignment to support him.

She said there are more videos of the altercation that led up to the chokehold that she believes will absolve Penny of wrongdoing.

'So I believe that those videos are going to come forward, maybe people will do it anonymously.

'I hope he has a great lawyer, and Im praying for him. And I pray that he gets treated fairly, I really do.

'Because after all of this ensued I went back and made sure that I said, "thank you" to him.'

Daniel Penny emerges from the NYPD's 5th Precinct after being booked on a single manslaughter charge

Penny is put in the back of a police car in handcuffs

Penny, 24, surrendered at the NYPD's 5th Precinct this morning. He will now go to Manhattan Criminal Court to be arraigned on a second degree manslaughter charge, which carries a sentence of up to 15 years

Daniel Penny, 24, handed himself into the NYPD's 5th Precinct this morning. He will go to court shortly to be arraigned on a second degree manslaughter charge which carries a sentence of up to 15 years. He is pictured with his attorney

Penny, wearing a slim -fitting black suit, Vans and a white shirt, said nothing as he entered the precinct

The 24-year-old was accompanied by his attorney and a security guard

Daniel Penny is yet to make any kind of public statement though his attorneys have released statements on his behalf

Penny entering the 5th Precinct this morning

Penny (left) will today hand himself into the NYPD and is due to be arraigned on a second degree manslaughter charge for putting Jordan Neely (right)

Neely's mental health had deteriorated drastically in recent years, according to his family

She said Neely brought on the chokehold by threatening the entire train and many of them took the threats seriously.

'He said, "I dont care. Ill take a bullet, Ill go to jail" because he would kill people on the train.

'He said I would kill a motherf***er. I dont care. Ill take a bullet. Ill go to jail.'

'This gentleman, Mr. Penny, did not stand up. Did not engage with the gentleman. He said not a word. It was all Mr. Neely that was threatening the passengers. If he did not get what he wants,' she said.

Eventually, Penny stood up and pulled him to the ground. Two other men helped subdue him.

Neither of them have been charged.

According to witnesses on the subway, Neely had been threatening to kill someone because he wanted a ticket to jail where he would fed regularly

In their statement last night, Penny's attorneys said: 'When Mr. Penny, a decorated Marine veteran, stepped in to protect himself and his fellow New Yorkers, his well-being was not assured.

'He risked his own life and safety, for the good of his fellow passengers.

'The unfortunate result was the unintended and unforeseen death of Mr. Neely.

'We are confident that once all the facts and circumstances surrounding this tragic incident are brought to bear, Mr. Penny will be fully absolved of any wrongdoing.'

Neely's family are calling for more intense charges. His uncle last night said the Marine deserved to be hit with a murder charge.

Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg was under intense pressure to charge Penny, with Democrats and protesters calling his death murder.

Penny, meanwhile, has received a rush of support from Marine veterans, Republicans and New Yorkers fed up with the city's crime and homelessness.

Protests erupted have been staged near the Broadway Lafayette subway station where Neely died.

In an effort to calm the public outrage and debate over the case, New York City Mayor Eric Adams initially urged patience.

Last night, he spoke more sympathetically, appealing to Neely's family.

'One thing we can control is how our city responds to this tragedy. One thing we can say for sure: Jordan Neely did not deserve to die.

'Jordan Neelys life mattered. He was suffering from severe mental illness, but that was not the cause of his death.

'His death was a tragedy that never should have happened.'
A headteacher suspected of going on holiday while claiming to be in Covid self-isolation has left her job after 18 months of suspension on full pay.

Dumfries and Galloway Council confirmed in a letter to parents that Alicia Reid, 54, would not be returning to her 90,000-a-year role at Stranraer Academy, Wigtownshire.

The letter stated that a search for her replacement was under way but it failed to clarify if she had been fired or had quit with a pay-off.

A pupil shared images of Ms Reid at Glasgow Airport about to fly to Turkey on October 7, 2021, the day she allegedly told bosses she was self-isolating after being notified as a close contact of someone with coronavirus.

The letter to parents read: 'For your information, Ms Alicia Reid has left employment. We thank Alicia for her contributions and wish her the best in her future endeavours.'

Dumfries and Galloway Council confirmed in a letter to parents that Alicia Reid, 54, (pictured) would not be returning to her 90,000-a-year role at Stranraer Academy, Wigtownshire

A pupil shared images of Ms Reid at Glasgow Airport about to fly to Turkey on October 7, 2021, the day she allegedly told bosses she was self-isolating after being notified as a close contact of someone with coronavirus

The airport sighting came after parents were repeatedly encouraged not to take their children out of school during term time.

The council confirmed at the time Ms Reid would 'not be in school for a period of time', pending an internal inquiry.

Her role was taken over by acting head Jamie Farquhar, who is still in post.

The outcome of the inquiry is unknown.

The council said it does not comment on 'matters relating to individual staff'.

The letter to parents read: 'For your information, Ms Alicia Reid has left employment. We thank Alicia for her contributions and wish her the best in her future endeavours'

A spokesman said: 'The acting headteacher continues to provide leadership and management to the school with a focus on the needs of learners.

'Officers will be in contact with the chair of the parent council, with a view to recruiting and appointing to the post of headteacher at Stranraer Academy in due course.'

School Leaders Scotland  the headteachers' union  said it had represented Ms Reid but was unable to comment on whether or not she had been sacked.
A devastated husband has broken down and issued a desperate plea after his wife vanished without a trace during the road trip of a lifetime.

Clifford Schutt is in 'bits and pieces' after Julie, his wife of 25 years, vanished in Streaky Bay on South Australia's west coast.

The Queensland couple were on a road trip when Clifford went out to pick up dinner menus on Sunday night. However, when he returned, there was no sign of Julie.

In a strange twist, Julie, 48, was seen on CCTV walking down a street and out of town - despite the couple never having visited South Australia before.

The Queensland couple were on a road trip and Clifford Schutt (right) went out to pick up dinner menus. However, when he returned, there was no sign of Julie

'I'm very up and down and moments of falling apart and just numb and then it's all bits and pieces,' the distraught husband told 9News.

'It's just completely bewildering why she... yeah we just don't know what's happened.'

The couple have three sons together, with one still in high school.

On Friday, police searched farmland surrounding the Streaky Bay township, speaking with property owners and searching their sheds

Julie Schutt was seen on CCTV walking down a street and out of town

Ms Schutt's brother Todd has made the frantic dash to Streaky Bay to assist in the search.

'I'm trying to keep my spirits and up and trying be hopeful that she's safe and sound but hopefully someone can give us a clue,' Todd told ABC.

'When it's the early days, you've got a bit of hope that she'll come back or she'll be found very quickly.

'Please come back, we need you.'

South Australian Police scaled back the search on Thursday.

'After consultation with the family, the resources dedicated to the search around Streaky Bay has been reduced,' a statement read.

'Police will continue to investigate the matter as an ongoing missing person case.'

Clifford Schutt (pictured) is in 'bits and pieces' after Julie, his wife of 25 years, went missing

Superintendent Paul Bahr added: 'As time goes on, concerns for her wellbeing are increasing,' S'We've received no reports from anyone that has sighted her or been able to identify her, from the Streaky Bay area.'

Police cannot rule out that Julie may have received a ride to nearby towns and ask anyone in communities across the Eyre Peninsula.

Julie is described as 170cm tall, with dark shoulder-length hair, and was last seen wearing jeans and a blue striped top with a star in the middle and light coloured boots.

Anyone who may have seen Julie is urged to call the police assistance line (131 444).'
On April 1, a customer who was under the influence 'chest bumped' him and got in his face before punching him 'three times' after Austin got security

Two months later, the former Vons employee was attacked again in the same area, but this time an assailant 'lunged at me with a knife,' but hit trash bags

An autistic courtesy clerk at Vons grocery store in California has claimed he was fired after applying for worker's compensation when he was attacked by thieves.

Austin Sherrell, 23, said the Bakersfield store slashed his hours then let him go following his claim after he was punched, stabbed and pepper sprayed in three attacks in four months.

He said the vicious thieves left him 'bleeding' and he had been struggling to process the attacks due to his mild autism.

It comes amid a continuing crime wave across the state, as violent crime rips across cities such as Los Angeles and San Francisco.

'Unbelievable. The first incident didn't shake up too much, but the second incident, when you're close to death, I'm the most shook I've ever been in my entire life, the most scared in my entire life,' Austin, who described himself as 'mildly autistic, said

Austin Sherrell, 23, was first attacked on January 19, while taking out the trash at Vons. He would be attacked two more times within four months, including a near stabbing

Sherrell was first attacked on January 19 while taking out trash at Vons - when two thieves punched in him the face and pepper sprayed him.

'I'm bleeding and I get away and I run back inside,' he told KGET News. 'My biggest problem, what I have is that I'm mildly autistic, I have a hard time processing things.'

Two months later, he was attacked again in the same area, but this time an assailant 'lunged at me with a knife.'

But he luckily had tucked a roll of trash bags into his apron pocket and the weapon plunged into that, rather than him.

'Unbelievable. The first incident didn't shake up too much, but the second incident, when you're close to death, I'm the most shook I've ever been in my entire life, the most scared in my entire life,' he said.

The first two incidents happened by the dumpster area in January and March. He was nearly stabbed the second time, but luckily had placed a roll of trash bags in his apron prior to the attack, which the assailant stabbed into. A third incident occurred inside the store where a man, who was believed to be under the influence, 'chest bumped' him before punching him three times

When he returned to Vons (pictured), he found his hours cut. Austin was suspended after being placed under investigation and later terminated on April 19

Two weeks later, on April 1, two customers told him they were being harassed by a man that might have been under the influence and he got security to help them.

During the altercation, the man 'chest bumped him' and got into his face, before punching Austin 'three times,' according to his father Adam.

'He's cussing me out, he's threatening my life,' Austin said. 'I back away, he comes back in my face. I back away again.

The third time I defend myself, I push him off of me.' 'Security still did nothing,' he said.

Austin requested worker's compensation two days later because he was having 'nightmares and panic attacks ever since he was almost stabbed,' his father said.

Worker's compensation allows employees who are injured at work to take time off and be reimbursed for medical expenses. It also protects employees from being fired for their leave of absence.

Austin's father, Adam (middle), said his son requested worker's compensation shortly after the third incident because he was having 'nightmares and panic attacks'

Upon his return, he said he found his hours cut, and on April 10 he was suspended from his job at Vons 'pending investigation' and was officially terminated on April 19.

Due to the termination being on his work record, Adam said it is hard to find his son another job.

DailyMail.com has contacted the Sherrells and Vons for comment.

The United Food and Commercial Workers 8-Golden State union, which represents Austin, has appealed the termination.

'Our initial findings are that Mr. Sherrell's termination was unwarranted,' President Jacques Loveall said.

Although Austin does not plan on returning to Vons, he said he will miss the customers and said he often received compliments from them.

'Not to toot my own horn, a lot of people say that they like me, a lot of people are like 'Oh we like that [employee]Like, I hear it. I hear it all the time,' he told KGET News.

The GoFundMe his father started has raised nearly $3,000 of its $5,000 goal, as of Friday morning.
Republican senators who traveled to the border town of Brownsville, Texas, hours before Title 42's end say border agents are being 'handicapped' from doing their jobs due to the Biden administration's policies that are overwhelming officials as thousands of migrants continue to cross into the U.S.

Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., led the group including Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Ted Budd, R-N.C., and John Hoeven, R-N.D. - who are all calling on Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to be impeached due to his 'derelict of duty' at the border.

'Joe Biden needs to come down here and see what I saw,' Marshall told DailyMail.com following his trip to the border.

'We have to change directions. Our systems are overwhelmed. We have no way of knowing who these people crossing are. Border patrol is demoralized. Nothing about this situation is humane.'

Migrants are processed in El Paso, Texas, the day after Title 42's end

Migrants are searched before being taken into custody by Border Patrol on May 12

Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., led the group to Brownsville, Texas, including Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Ted Budd, R-N.C., and John Hoeven, R-N.D.

'Right now this border crisis is the most immediate threat to our national security,' continued Marshall. 'Make no mistake - this crisis lands squarely on President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas' failed leadership.'

Over the past four days leading to the end of Title 42 on Thursday at midnight, agents apprehended 10,000 migrants each day - which puts border officials at an impossible disadvantage.

Of the 10,000, there were at least 3,000 'got-aways,' meaning migrants who escaped without being processed by border patrol. Border agents told the senators that it marked a 441 percent increase over the last two years under the Biden administration.

The senators toured the intake facility in Brownsville and met with local law enforcement and leaders and land owners - including ranchers in the area who are dealing with hoards of migrants camping on their land.

As part of their trip, the senators also participated on a night tour of the border where they were able to witness the large gatherings of migrants in Mexico waiting to come across into the U.S.

The senators were also briefed on the number of Chinese nationals that are using the Rio Grande Valley border to sneak into the country. Agents told them that there are an average of 90 Chinese individuals coming across every single day - a massive national security issue.

Another issue facing immigration enforcement officials is the staggering 90 percent of illegal immigrants who are not showing up for their mandatory court hearings, they told the senators. They then disappear into the interior of the United States and it is difficult for U.S. immigration agencies to track them down and deport them.

'Border agents saying they need policies that allow them to do their jobs. They are handcuffed from being able to do their jobs,' Marshall also told DailyMail.com.

Title 42 was enacted in 2020 under former President Trump as a pandemic-era response to quickly remove migrants who crossed illegally into the country.

The Biden administration made the decision this year to terminate Title 42, due to the end of the COVID-19 national emergency, and rely on Title 8 - which allows migrants to apply to enter the U.S. through legal pathways and includes some penalties for those who try and enter illegally.

However, Title 8 is being criticized as a not strong enough approach by the Biden administration which is facing over 650,000 immediate entries this week alone.

The National Sheriffs' Association - which includes many border sheriffs in the organization - said there are currently more than 650,000 migrants in Mexico who are planning to cross into the U.S. after the end of Title 42.

Sheriff Greg Champagne, of St. Charles Parish, Louisiana, told DailyMail.com in a statement that the Biden administration must take immediate 'measurable steps to discourage further illegal migration.'

He said that the tone being set by Biden's top leaders is not strong enough to disincentivize migrants who plan to cross.

Agents told the senators that there are an average of 90 Chinese individuals coming across the border every single day

Migrants who have been processed by Border Patrol line up to be patted down after crossing at El Paso, Texas

'Despite this humanitarian crisis, the Administration has yet to create a single disincentive to prohibit migrants from coming to the U.S. In fact, the Administration is doing the opposite through its rhetoric of a closed border and limited interior enforcement,' Champagne said.

'The message is clear in the results we are experiencing today: 'It is okay to come.' This rhetoric must change.'

However, Mayorkas has pushed back in recent days, reiterating that the border is closed and that there will be consequences for those who enter the U.S. illegally.

'I want to be very clear, our borders are not open,' he said at the White House Thursday.

On Friday, Mayorkas told CBS the transition from Title 42 to Title 8 will be 'swift and immediate' and that '4,000 Border Patrol agents and officers will ensure the border is secure.

Drone footage shows a line of migrants still waiting to be processed in El Paso, Texas, hours after the Title 42 restrictions were lifted

Migrant people try to get to the US through the Rio Grande as seen from Matamoros, state of Tamaulipas, Mexico on May 11, 2023

As part of their trip, the senators also participated on a night tour of the border where they were able to witness the large gatherings of migrants in Mexico waiting to come across into the U.S.

Border agents are overwhelmed at the border due to the end of Title 42 this week

This is a 'humanitarian crisis,' Marshall said Thursday after the border briefing.

Cruz added that border agents are 'working their tails off under extreme duress.'

The senators described to Fox News' Laura Ingraham a situation in which a border farmer had to teach his wife and son how to load a 14-gauge shotgun in order to protect their land - which is being 'overrun' by migrants.

Marshall also talked to a former Marine from Afghanistan who said 'Afghanistan was safer than southern Texas.'

'Lord, this is not the America that I grew up in,' he continued.

'This is absolutely a disaster and humanitarian crisis. The number one threat to our national security is right here in southern Texas all the way to Arizona.'
The Prime Minister is known by admirers as 'Dishy Rishi' - but 'Saucy Sunak' might be a better moniker after his love of steamy Jilly Cooper books was revealed.

It has emerged how the Tory leader has 'several' guilty pleasures, including the 'bonkbusters' by the 86-year-old English author.

The PM is said to be a particular fan of Cooper's first international bestseller 'Riders', which recounts the escapades of wealthy international showjumpers.

The novel, set in the Cotswolds, is advertised as offering 'an intoxicating blend of skulduggery, swooning romance, sexual adventure and hilarious high jinks'.

The Spectator magazine, which revealed Mr Sunak's enthusiasm for Cooper's tales, claimed the PM is also teased by colleagues for his love of TV's Emily in Paris and pop crooner Michael Buble.

Rishi Sunak is said to be teased by colleagues for his love of Jilly Cooper novels, TV's Emily in Paris and pop crooner Michael Buble

The PM is said to be a particular fan of Cooper's first international bestseller 'Riders', which recounts the escapades of wealthy international showjumpers

The novel, set in the Cotswolds, is advertised as offering 'an intoxicating blend of skulduggery, swooning romance, sexual adventure and hilarious high jinks'

Riders, published in 1985, was the first of Cooper's books in the Rutshire Chronicles series.

Cooper has previously described how she finished a first draft of the novel in 1970 but then left it on a bus.

The Evening Standard newspaper put out an appeal for the manuscript's return, but it was never found and Cooper was forced to start rewriting it years later.

She has hailed it as 'probably one of the best books I ever wrote because the characters had built up over 15 years'.

When he was Chancellor, Mr Sunak admitted he had 'broadly stopped reading fiction' because he was too busy, although he said 'all my favourite books are fiction'.

But he was revealed to have binge-watched Emily In Paris - which stars Lily Collins as an an ambitious young American marketing executive in the French capital - during the Covid lockdowns.

The PM has also previously spoken of being a fan of fellow Netflix hit Bridgerton - an often raunchy series about members of high society in London during the Regency era.

Mr Sunak has conceded his tastes are 'probably not quite the same' as some of his Cabinet colleagues.

'Like Emily In Paris, I'm not sure how many others watched that. I'll check,' Mr Sunak told the Radio Times in 2021.

Mr Sunak was previously revealed to have binge-watched Emily In Paris - which stars Lily Collins as an an ambitious young American in the French capital - during the Covid lockdowns

Mr Sunak's music tastes are also quite mainstream, with the PM having revealed his enjoyment of Michael Buble's Christmas Deluxe album

He also spoke in the interview of having watched the A-Team, Baywatch and Blind Date with his parents, brother and sister as they enjoyed a Saturday night takeaway when growing up in Southampton.

Mr Sunak's music tastes are also quite mainstream, with the PM having revealed his enjoyment of Michael Buble's Christmas Deluxe album.

'In the evenings working on my own I just put Buble on. It's great when you are signing Christmas cards to get you in the mood,' he told the Spectator in December last year.

Asked about the suggestion that one of Mr Sunak's best-loved books is Riders, a No10 spokesman said: 'I think previously he has said one of his favourite books is the Count of Monte Cristo, but I haven't asked him specifically about Riders.'
President Joe Biden on Friday will meet with his Spanish counterpart to discuss migration after a slew of immigrants rushed the border after the pandemic-era policy Title 42 ended.

Spain - along with Canada - has agreed to take in asylum seekers from Latin America. That topic will top the agenda of Biden's Oval Office meeting with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, where they will also discuss the war in the Ukraine and the growing influence of China.

A wave of people rushed the border Thursday night with the end of Title 42. The final number of crossings is unclear but, this week, up to 10,000 people a day had been detained at the border.

The Biden administration is struggling to deal with the onset. Custom and Border Patrol officers are overwhelmed and Republicans are bashing the president's handling of the issue.

President Joe Biden and Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will meet on Friday afternoon to discuss migration - above the two men in Spain last June

Biden got a political boost this summer when Spain and Canada - both nations need more workers - agreed to take on some of the asylum seekers. And it reinforced Biden's argument that migration is a global problem that needs the entire world involved in the solution.

The two countries are working to set up migration hubs in Latin America where asylum seekers fleeing poverty and violence in their home countries can go to apply for protection.

The creation of processing centers in Colombia and Guatemala and up to 100 others in the Western Hemisphere where migrants can go to apply to come to the U.S., Spain or Canada is meant to help ease congestion along America's southern border.

Spain will be able to choose migrants who have skills needed to help worker shortfalls in that country.

The Spanish ministry has said the pathway will only apply to those who have already received international protection status, which means migrants need to be considered refugees in order to go to Spain.

The processing centers were announced last month but have yet to begin operating. They are expected to process thousands of migrants a month.

United Nations organizations will operate the centers, but U.S. officials will be present as well to help with processing of applications.

Also on the agenda is Russia's invasion of the Ukraine.

Additionally, Sanchez is expected to discuss with Biden his recent talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, both of whom have suggested ways to end Russia's invasion.

Sanchez will propose giving greater weight to the views of non-NATO nations hurt by the war, a Spanish diplomatic source told Reuters.

The Biden administration has been skeptical of China's 12-point peace plan, saying if Beijing were serious about the first point on respecting sovereignty it should urge Russia to withdraw from the Ukraine.

As the Biden and Sanchez meet in the Oval Office on Friday afternoon, the situation on the U.S.-Mexico border will continue to dominate the news.

Immigrants seeking asylum, who were apprehended at the time Title 42 expired, are processed by U.S. Border Patrol agents in Arizona

Migrants cross the Rio Grande River as they try to get to the US from Mexico

Biden's administration has been unveiling strict new measures to replace Title 42, which since March 2020 has allowed border officials to quickly return asylum seekers back over the border on grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19.

The new policies crack down on illegal crossings while also setting up legal pathways for migrants who apply online, seek a sponsor and undergo background checks. If successful, the reforms could fundamentally alter how migrants arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border.

But it will take time to see results. Biden has conceded the border will be chaotic for a while. Immigrant advocacy groups have threatened legal action. And migrants fleeing poverty, gangs and persecution in their homelands are still desperate to reach U.S. soil at any cost.

Many migrants were acutely aware of looming policy changes as they searched Thursday for an opportunity to turn themselves over to U.S. immigration authorities before the 11:59 EDT deadline.

While Title 42 prevented many from seeking asylum, it carried no legal consequences, encouraging repeat attempts. After Thursday, migrants face being barred from entering the U.S. for five years and possible criminal prosecution.

Holding facilities along the border already were far beyond capacity.

But late Thursday, U.S. District Judge T. Kent Wetherell, an appointee of President Donald Trump, halted the administrations plan to begin releasing migrants with notices to report to an immigration office in 60 days when holding centers reach 125% capacity, or where people are held an average of 60 hours.

As the sun sets, migrants wait outside a gate in the border fence to enter into El Paso, Texas, to be processed by the Border Patrol

The quick releases were to also be triggered when authorities stop 7,000 migrants along the border in a day.

On Wednesday, Homeland Security announced a rule to make it extremely difficult for anyone who travels through another country, like Mexico, or who did not apply online, to qualify for asylum. It also introduced curfews with GPS tracking for families released in the U.S. before initial asylum screenings.
But the event producers said the Ukrainian president had 'laudable intentions'

Zelensky's request was turned down over fears he could politicise the contest

Rishi Sunak says he is 'disappointed' by the decision to block Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky from addressing the world at this Saturday's Eurovision grand final.

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which produces the event, said on Thursday night that it had declined Mr Zelensky's request to speak at the Eurovision Song Contest over fears it could politicise the contest.

He had wanted to make an unannounced video appearance and had been expected to implore the global audience of millions to continue backing his country in its fight to repel Russian invaders.

The EBU - an alliance of more than 100 broadcasters - turned down the request over concerns his appearance would risk politicising the event.

They added that Mr Zelensky had 'laudable intentions' but 'regrettably' his request was against the rules.

Eurovision hosts Alesha Dixon (left), Julia Sanina (centre) and Hannah Waddingham (right) onstage for the second semi-final of the 67th annual Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool

Rishi Sunak (right) says he is 'disappointed' by the decision to block Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky (left) from addressing the world at this Saturday's Eurovision grand final

On Friday, the Prime Minister's official spokesman said: 'The Prime Minister believes it would be fitting for President Zelensky to address the event and we're disappointed by the decision from the European Broadcasting Union.

'The values and freedoms that President Zelensky and the people of Ukraine are fighting for are not political, they're fundamental, and Eurovision themselves recognised that last year when they rightly suspended Russia's participation from the competition.'

There are no plans to intervene and ask organisers to change their mind, Downing Street suggested.

Former prime minister Boris Johnson said 'it would have been right to hear from' Mr Zelensky during the final.

Writing on Twitter, he added: 'There is only one reason the contest is not in Ukraine and that is because of Putin's illegal war.'

In its statement on Thursday, the EBU noted that 11 Ukrainian artists, including last year's winners Kalush Orchestra, are performing and 37 locations from around Ukraine are being shown.

The BBC has said the broadcast of this year's contest is expected to be watched by more than 160 million viewers worldwide.

On Friday, BBC Eurovision commentators Rylan Clark and Scott Mills stressed the contest is non-political.

Clark said: 'At the end of the day we are commentators so we don't get involved in show format. I just think Eurovision, people say it is political  votes here, votes there.

'From being on the inside it is the least political experience you could ever have, actually.'

Tvorchi from Ukraine take part in a dress rehearsal for the Eurovision Song Contest's grand final in Liverpool on Friday

Former prime minister Boris Johnson said 'it would have been right to hear from' Mr Zelensky during the final. The two are pictured in Kyiv in January 2022

Rishi Sunak says he is 'disappointed' by the decision to block Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky from addressing the world at this Saturday's Eurovision grand final. The two are pictured at a military facility in Lulworth, Dorset in southern England on February 8, 2023

Radio DJ Mills added: 'People always ask, 'Do you think it is political?'. It really isn't. It is a song contest.'

Clark continued: 'It is a song contest and that is what we are here to say.'

The pair, who provided TV commentary for the two semi-finals this week and will host radio coverage of the grand final, also stressed that as last year's winner, Ukraine and its culture were being celebrated across Liverpool throughout the event.

Clark said: 'Ukraine, this is their party in our country.'

'We always said that we would be true to that because they were the winner and I think it is very visible in the city,' added Mills.

They spoke at the British Music Experience on the Liverpool waterfront, where Zoe Ball hosted a special edition of her BBC Radio 2 breakfast show which featured guests including last year's UK entrant Sam Ryder and The Fizz, featuring members of former Eurovision winners Bucks Fizz.

Claire McColgan, director of Culture Liverpool, told Times Radio it would have been 'fantastic' to hear from Mr Zelensky, 'especially for the people from Ukraine who have come here wishing it was at home'.

Kalush Orchestra takes part in a dress rehearsal for the Eurovision Song Contest's grand final in Liverpool on Friday

Kalush Orchestra, pictured, won last year's Eurovision Song Contest on behalf of Ukraine

Kalush Orchestra attending the MTV Europe Music Awards 2022, as the current Eurovision champions

Kalush Orchestra won last year's contest but, owing to the Russian invasion of the country, hosting duties were awarded to the runner-up, the UK.

Mr Zelensky said earlier this week that he would have preferred Eurovision to take place in a neighbouring country.

READ MORE: President Zelensky says Poland or Slovakia would have been better Eurovision hosts than Britain Advertisement

Speaking to the BBC, he said: 'I have great respect for the United Kingdom and its society. It is an amazing country.

'From the very start my opinion has been that if we can't host Eurovision it should take place in one of the countries that share a border with us, such as Slovakia, Poland or any other country which our people can reach easily. Something nearby.'

It comes after the full line-up of the grand final was revealed following the second knockout round on Thursday night.

After 16 countries competed, the 10 remaining spots went to Poland, Australia, Cyprus, Albania, Estonia, Belgium, Austria, Lithuania, Armenia and Slovenia.

The 10 countries that qualified from Tuesday's semi-final were Croatia, Moldova, Switzerland, Finland, Czechia, Israel, Portugal, Sweden, Serbia and Norway.

They will join the so-called 'big five' nations  the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain  who each get a free pass because of their financial contributions to the event, along with last year's winners Ukraine.

The final is expected to draw a large TV audience after Thursday's semi-final was watched by an average of 2.4 million viewers with a peak audience of 3.4 million.

The Eurovision grand final on Saturday will air live on BBC One.
British technology tycoon Mike Lynch has been extradited to the US to face criminal charges.

The founder of software firm Autonomy, who was once dubbed the UK's Bill Gates, will stand trial on charges including fraud, which he denies.

It comes weeks after he lost an appeal last month following an almost four-year court battle against extradition.

A Home Office spokesman said: 'On April 21, the High Court refused Dr Lynch's permission to appeal his extradition. As a result, the normal 28-day statutory deadline for surrender to the US applies.

'Dr Lynch was extradited to the US on May 11.'

Tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch, pictured at his Suffolk farm, has been extradited to the US

Entrepreneur Mike Lynch arrives for a hearing at the High Court in London in March 2019

His bail conditions mean he must now be confined to an address in San Francisco and be guarded by private security at his own expense.

Lynch, who is from Suffolk and has always denied any wrongdoing, could face 20 years in prison. His extradition was first ordered in January 2022.

Once lauded by academics, scientists and politicians for setting up a software giant from his ground-breaking research at Cambridge University, he has spent the last decade fighting lawsuits related to the HP takeover.

The deal quickly soured. Within a year, HP wrote down the value of Autonomy by $8.8billion (7billion) and later brought a civil lawsuit in London against Lynch and Autonomy's former chief financial officer Sushovan Hussain.

In the lawsuit, a UK judge ruled in January 2022 that Lynch had masterminded an elaborate fraud to inflate the value of Autonomy, meaning the Silicon Valley company substantially succeeded in its civil case.

Lynch had said HP did not know what it was doing with Autonomy, and was out of its depth in understanding his technology.

Meanwhile, the US had brought criminal charges against Lynch for wire fraud and securities fraud.

He fought extradition proceedings but on April 21, London's High Court refused him permission to appeal. His lawyers had argued that he should be prosecuted in Britain.

Lynch has been extradited to stand trial over an alleged fraud linked to the 2011 sale of software firm Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard (file picture)

'The United States's legal overreach into the UK is a threat to the rights of all British citizens and the sovereignty of the UK,' Lynch said in April when his appeal was rejected.

His spokesman declined to comment to Reuters today.

Lynch pleaded not guilty to 17 counts in court in the US yesterday, court documents show, and a status conference will be held on May 19 to set a date for the trial.

His wealth was estimated at $450million (360million) by the US courts.

In 2019, Lynch's former colleague, Hussain, was convicted of fraud in the US and sentenced to five years in prison.

HP's Autonomy takeover led to the ouster of Leo Apotheker as chief executive in September 2011, and HP subsequently said it had discovered massive accounting irregularities.

Autonomy founder Lynch has previously said that members of his management team were being unjustly blamed for the writedown.

Lynch's high profile legal battles have also raised questions for Darktrace, a FTSE 250 British cyber security company.

Lynch was central to its creation and he and his wife Angela Bacares own about 10 per cent of the 2billion company, according to Refinitiv data.

Darktrace said in February that Lynch played no part in running it and was not on its board.
This is the 'hell-on-earth' house where twin toddlers were locked up and starved by their cruel 'throuple' parents  leaving one little boy on the brink of death.

Images obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com lay bare the squalid, feces-strewn bedroom where the two-year-olds were caged for days at a time and fed just ground beef and Cheerios slid to them underneath the door.

Their heartbreaking plight emerged Monday when one of the brothers was taken to a hospital in Jackson County, West Virginia, with kidney failure.

The youngster had not had anything to drink for days and had passed out because he was so severely dehydrated and malnourished, according to cops.

Parents Lylee and Michael Gillenwater are in custody after police found one of their twin boys at 'death's door' following months of abuse, authorities said

This is the 'hell-on-earth' house where twin toddlers were locked up and starved by their cruel 'throuple' parents in Ripley, West Virginia

The boys' 6ft by 8ft room was dark and dingy because of black-out curtains blocking the window, DailyMail.com images reveal

The bedroom door has a white plastic lock on the outside so it can't be opened from inside

'The room appeared to only have two small crib style mattresses laying on the floor that were completely soiled with urine and feces,' the complaint states

DailyMail.com's exclusive pictures show a child-size mattress, several plastic trays and a dozen or more soiled diapers littering the floor

Cheerios, a diaper and a stuffed animal were seen on the floor inside the Rolling Meadow Village apartment

The basement of the home was cluttered with toys, debris, clothes and a mattress

The basement was inhabited by Lylee and her lover Brian Casto, who moved into the home, which is on a low-income housing project, about a month ago. A litter box and toys are seen in the basement

CHILLING COINCIDENCE: 'HELL-ON-EARTH' HOME WAS SETTING OF LITTLE GIRL'S 2016 MURDER The Gillenwaters and warped 'live-in boyfriend' Brian Casto could face tougher prison sentences because of an unrelated murder that happened seven years earlier  in the exact same house. Emmaleigh Elizabeth Barringer The trio are accused of keeping twin boys locked up and neglected at their shared home address on Meadowlark Lane in Ripley, West Virginia. One boy is still fighting for life after suffering renal failure. Benjamin Taylor In a gruesome coincidence, DailyMail.com has learned the three-bed duplex on a public housing project was also the setting for the unrelated murder of a little girl in 2016. Benjamin Taylor, 38, is serving life without parole for beating and sexually assaulting ten-month-old Emmaleigh Elizabeth Barringer there in October 2016. Her mother, Amanda Adkins, walked into the basement to find Taylor kneeling over the unconscious girl with his shirt off and pants unbuttoned. Amanda Adkins He claimed he 'blacked out' and couldn't remember what happened but jurors took just two hours to find Taylor guilty. The horrifying murder prompted the West Virginia Legislature to pass 'Emmaleigh's law' in 2017 which increases the sentence for a person convicted of child abuse causing death from 10 to 40 years to 15 to life. If the twin boy fighting for life in the Gillenwater case loses his battle, the law would apply directly to his alleged tormentors. Advertisement

Michael Gillenwater, 24, and his wife Lylee Gillenwater, 21, were arrested and charged with child neglect, along with 22-year-old Brian Casto  described in court documents as Lylee's 'live-in boyfriend.'

Investigators from the Jackson County Sheriff's Department say the accused trio drugged the kids to make them sleep  because being parents was too much of a burden.

'The average barnyard animal would probably provide better parental care and nurturing than what these kids were afforded,' Sheriff Ross Mellinger said, announcing the charges.

He added: 'These boys need lots of prayers right now. The one boy is stable. There are still a lot of hurdles to clear medically to see if he's even going to survive or not.'

In a gruesome coincidence, DailyMail.com can reveal the three-bed duplex in Ripley, 30 minutes north of Charleston, was also the setting for the unrelated murder of a little girl in 2016.

Benjamin Taylor, 38, is serving life without parole for beating and sexually assaulting ten-month-old Emmaleigh Elizabeth Barringer in October 2016.

Her mother, Amanda Adkins, walked into the basement to find Taylor kneeling over the unconscious girl with his shirt off and pants unbuttoned.

He claimed he 'blacked out' and couldn't remember what happened but jurors took just two hours to find Taylor guilty at his 2019 trial.

The same basement has recently been inhabited by current tenant Lylee Gillenwater and her lover Brian Casto, who moved into the home, which is on a low-income housing project, about a month ago.

Prior to that, the Gillenwaters appeared a committed, loving couple, according to pictures and posts on social media.

They married in October 2021 and Michael, a US Postal Service worker and former Marine, uploaded multiple photos of their two adorable twin boys to Facebook.

But when Casto came on the scene he and Lylee moved downstairs into the cluttered, laundry-strewn basement while Michael stayed on the top floor of the house, cops say.

The twins  referred to as DG and ZG in court filings  occupied one of two bedrooms on the middle floor, their unnamed older sister living in the other.

The boys' 6ft by 8ft box room was dark and dingy because of black-out curtains blocking the window, DailyMail.com images reveal.

Our exclusive pictures show two child-size mattresses, several plastic trays, a stuffed toy and a dozen or more soiled diapers littering the floor.

Cheerios can be seen scattered close to the bedroom door which has a white plastic lock so it can't be opened from inside.

'From the street you couldn't tell that anything was going on. But my son is autistic, he's real smart, and he would stare up at the twins' bedroom window. I think he was trying to tell us something,' a neighbor told DailyMail.com.

'Michael was really weird, really controlling. Lylee always stayed in the house and never came out. Brian started coming round about a month or so. I hope they get beaten raped, or worse in prison  they deserve it.'

A young mom living nearby, who gave her first name, Tasha, added: 'The parents are animals. I did not see those kids once in two years.

'First that little girl and then this  something is clearly wrong with that apartment. That place scares me.'

Lylee Gillenwater, 21, has three children with her husband Michael. She's pictured in her mugshot. Cops said she drugged and fed her kids ground beef and cereal pushed under the door

Michael Gillenwater, 24, married Lylee in 2021. He is accused of two counts of child neglect with serious risk of injury or death and child neglect resulting in injury

Brian Casto, referred to as Lylee's 'boyfriend,' is also charged with child abuse in the case

A criminal complaint obtained by DailyMail.com states that the Sheriff's Department got a call from Child Protective Services Monday reporting that DG had been taken to Jackson General Hospital and 'that the child had been severely malnourished with signs of kidney failure.'

When deputies raided the boy's home they found a room described in charging documents as 'deplorable.'

'The room appeared to only have two small crib style mattresses laying on the floor that were completely soiled with urine and feces,' the complaint states.

'The room was covered in human feces to the point investigators were unable to move about the room without stepping in both wet and dry feces.

'This room had an external lock on the outside of the door which would not allow anyone inside of the room to exit.'

The complaint reveals two types of food were discovered in the doorway of the locked room: 'Cheerios along with ground beef were laying in the doorway as if the boys had pushed the food out of the room.'

Lylee Gillenwater and Casto  'her live-in boyfriend and custodian of the children'  were arrested at the house.

'Casto would advise  that he had been living in the home for roughly four weeks and that in that time, he had not seen the boys (DG and ZG) out of the bedroom for more than 3-5 hours during the weekends,' the complaint reads.

The Gillenwaters appeared a committed, loving couple, according to pictures and posts on social media

The sheriff referred to the trio as 'animals' and stressed that one of their children has a long road to recovery

Casto is charged with one count of child abuse resulting in injury and one count of child abuse with risk of injury. The trio are all in custody on bonds of $150,000 ahead of court appearances next week

Michael Gillenwater is accused of two counts of child neglect with serious risk of injury or death and child neglect resulting in injury. His wife is accused of child neglect resulting in injury and child neglect creating a risk of injury.

Casto is charged with one count of child abuse resulting in injury and one count of child abuse with risk of injury. The trio are all in custody on bonds of $150,000 ahead of court appearances next week.

Sheriff Mellinger said DG was flown to another facility in Morgantown where he is stable. His twin brother and the older sister were both removed from the home.

'Once our officers began their investigations it was discovered that the two-year-old boys had been locked in a hell on earth situation within their apartment room where they'd been locked and neglected by the parents for as many as six weeks at a time,' Sheriff Mellinger added.

'It's been found the parents self-medicated these children for long periods of time in an effort to get them to sleep so they won't have to provide parental care.'

He added: 'It's just amazing to me that animals like this still exist where becoming a parent is a burden.'
Labour wants to completely ban smoking if it wins the next election, a frontbencher confirmed today.

Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said that following the example of New Zealand was 'desirable' and that there was a public 'appetite' to act.

The Kiwis banned the sale of cigarettes to anyone born after 2008 in a landmark attempt to eradicate smoking that will see fewer and fewer people every year allowed to light up.

The legislation, which passed last December, also slashed the number of outlets able to sell cigarettes and cut nicotine in cigarettes to non-addictive levels.

Quizzed on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Mr Streeting said he was keen to adopt a plan that was workable if Labour won the next election.

'The question for me on the New Zealand-style smoking ban isnt whether its desirable, because I think in policy terms, and in terms of public opinion, interestingly, I think there is an appetite and a policy driver there to do it,' he said.

Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting (right, centre) said that following the example of New Zealand was 'desirable' and that there was a public 'appetite' to act.

New Zealand banned the sale of cigarettes to anyone born after 2008 in a landmark attempt to eradicate smoking last December that will see fewer and fewer people every year allowed to light up legally.

'In practice, is it going to work? Because it would be a great headline, and certainly a great signal of intent from the Labour Party.

'But as with everything else, not just in terms of money, but whether we can actually deliver in practice, we are stress testing all of the potential policies we might put in our manifesto against how much would it cost, can we pay for it, and then can we deliver it, is it going to work?'

Labour unveiled a consultation on a ban in January after the New Zealand move, which has the aim of seeing fewer than five per cent of adults regularly smoking by 2025.

Ministers have previously set an objective for England to be smoke-free by 2030.

An independent review by Dr Javed Khan, ordered by former health secretary Sajid Javid, was published in August and recommended a series of actions to help eradicate smoking in England.

Dr Khan warned, without further action, England will miss the 2030 target by at least seven years, and the poorest areas in society will not meet it until 2044.

Smoking rates in the UK have fallen from about half of the population in the 1970s to around just 15 per cent now.

But use was found to have increased by 25 per cent among the under-30s in England during the Covid pandemic, the equivalent of more than 600,000 new smokers.

According to estimates by the Action on Smoking and Health (Ash) charity, the annual costs to the NHS of treating illnesses associated with smoking is 2.4 billion.

They have also estimated further billions of pounds' worth of costs to social care and wider society.

The Office for Budget Responsibility estimates that tobacco duties will raise 10.7billion in 2022-23.

Smoking has steadily decreased since 1974, with around 15 per cent of the UK population smoking in 2019
The California Reparations Task Force has demanded the state legalize racial discrimination in favor of black people.

Final recommendations from the panel, established by Gavin Newsom in 2020, were accepted last weekend and will be forwarded to the California Legislature before heading to the governor's desk to be signed into law.

Earlier this week, Newsom refused to back the committee's recommended $1.2 million to be given to those who meet the criteria. He said on Tuesday he felt there were better ways of addressing systemic inequality than cash handouts. The entire package would cost around $800 billion.

Buried deep in the committee's report are a series of quiet recommendations, including the proposed repeal of Proposition 209.

Prop 209 is a a 1996 voter-approved law that banned 'preferential treatment' for minority groups applying to state colleges and government jobs, leaving the liberal state as one that did not recognize affirmative action.

Task Force Chair Kamilah Moore said she's hopeful recommendations including the agency and payments could get enough support from state lawmakers

Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, said on Tuesday he did not support the issuing of checks for reparations

The task force wrote in their report that 209 has 'had far-reaching impact on efforts to remediate entrenched systemic anti-black bias and discrimination.'

'In recognition of the systemic discrimination faced by the African American community and the barriers to justice and repair imposed by Proposition 209, the task force recommends that the legislature take steps within its authority to seek the repeal [of] Proposition 209,' the report continues.

The conclusion urges efforts to continue 'until California's constitution has been cleansed of this or any other measure rooted in racism.'

UCLA law professor Richard Sander told Fox News that since Proposition 209 went on the books, the number of black graduates at the University of California has risen by 70 percent with the number of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics grads more than doubling.

But in its report, the task force alleged that black applicants declined 'at every campus.'

The task force on Saturday approved proposals in its final report, which is officially due to lawmakers by July 1.

They included estimates from economists who say the state is responsible for more than $500 billion due to decades of over-policing, mass incarceration and redlining that kept black families from receiving loans and living in certain neighborhoods.

The panel stopped short of endorsing specific payment amounts but recommended 'any reparations program include the payment of cash or its equivalent' to eligible residents. It doesn't delve into how the state would pay for reparations programs.

California's reparations task force has approved a plan which could give black residents $1.2million each as compensation for slavery and discrimination

Residents, including Reverend Tony Pierce, believe it is 'nowhere near enough' and demanded $200million as some called it a 'further injustice' and others called for direct cash payments

The final report is to be sent to lawmakers before July 1 where it will forecast compensation estimates calculated by several economists the group is working with

A state senator on the task force is warning black residents to not assume that large cash payments are on the way.

Democratic Sen. Steven Bradford, of Los Angeles, said 'anything's possible if the money's there,' but he remains 'realistic' that it could be difficult to garner enough support for large payments at a time when lawmakers haven't even debated where the money would come from.

'I don't want to set folks' expectations and hopes up that they're going to be getting, you know, seven-figure checks,' Bradford said in an interview. 'That's just not happening.'

Marcus Champion, a Los Angeles resident and organizer with the Coalition for a Just and Equitable California, a reparations advocacy group, criticized Bradford's comments.

'That is not the way you come to the table to pay a historic debt,' he said. 'That is not the way that you come to the table in any type of negotiation. Start as high as you possibly can, and then work from there.'

Payments are part of a long list of recommendations from the nine-member task force that has studied how the state could apologize and offer recompense for policies that drove housing discrimination, mass incarceration and health disparities long after chattel slavery was abolished.

The proposals come as the state faces a projected $22.5 billion budget deficit.

Cheryl Grills, a member of the task force, said the actual amount that the state pays out is the 'least important' aspect of the program

Assembly member Reggie Jones-Sawyer (left), who sits on the panel, said the recommendation of an apology letter from the state of California is one of the most important. State Sen. Steven Bradford is pictured on the right

A final report outlining the proposed remuneration is set to be released by the task force on July 1. State legislators will then consider the proposal

Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement that 'dealing with the legacy of slavery is about much more than cash payments.'

'The Reparations Task Force's independent findings and recommendations are a milestone in our bipartisan effort to advance justice and promote healing,' Newsom said. 'We need to wait for the Task Force to finish its work and submit its final report.'

Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer, another Los Angeles-area Democrat on the task force, took a more cautious approach in predicting the fate of payments or other reparations proposals.

He said in an interview that it's too early to know whether payments could get passed in the Legislature, as the committee's report deadline looms.

'We have absolutely no idea right now what will or will not be approved,' he said.

The task force's proposals are wide-ranging and ambitious. They include the creation of an agency that would help residents research their family's history, promote financial literacy and preserve historic, cultural sites.

The panel has also endorsed policies to increase tree canopy in historically redlined areas, to provide more incarcerated people with job training that prepares them for life after their sentences and to restore land seized unfairly from black families through eminent domain.

The committee is calling on the state to issue a formal, public apology for its legacy of slavery and discriminatory policies.

Although California entered the union as a 'free' state, it did not enact laws guaranteeing African Americans' freedom, the draft report said.

The apology could include a condemnation of Peter Hardeman Burnett, California's first elected governor and a white supremacist who personally enslaved people and pushed for black people's exclusion from the state.

Assemblymember Lori Wilson, who chairs the state Legislative Black Caucus, said in a statement that the caucus will champion policy proposals included in the task force's report.

'We look forward to working collaboratively with our Legislative colleagues and Governor Newsom's Administration as we continue to fight for equity in our communities,' the San Francisco Bay Area Democrat wrote.

Newsom signed a law in 2020 creating the task force.

The goal of the legislation  authored by Secretary of State Shirley Weber, a former state assemblymember  was for the panel to study remedies for black Californians, 'with a special consideration for' the descendants of people who were enslaved.

Last year, the task force voted that compensation be limited to descendants of black people living in the United States before the end of 19th century.

The panel more recently endorsed further limiting eligibility to residents living in California for at least six months while certain discriminatory policies and practices were in effect, with possible exceptions.

Weber's bill stated a reparations program in California should not be considered a 'replacement' for a program at the federal level. That issue has stalled in Congress with a bill to create a commission studying reparations proposals that has not been voted on since it was first introduced in the 1980s.

No other state in the country has gotten further along than California in its consideration of reparations proposals for black Americans. Task Force Chair Kamilah Moore said she's hopeful recommendations including the agency and payments could get enough support from state lawmakers.

'We've gone above and beyond,' Moore said of the group's work.
A suicidal South Carolina man who survived being shot by cops nine times is suing the officers for 'excessive use of deadly force.'

Trevor Mullinax, 29, who has previously been arrested for crimes including burglary and domestic violence, claims he was sitting in his pickup truck talking to his mother when police descended on them 'like cowboys from a John Wayne movie.'

The York County Sheriff's Office contest the claims, and say 'Mr. Mullinax chose to put these men in danger by pulling a shotgun.'

Mullinax, who lives in Rock Hill, South Carolina, alleges in the lawsuit the officers drew their guns and resorted 'to using deadly force, immediately, without attempting to deescalate the situation.'

Deputies are seen getting out of the police vehicles and shouting: 'Let me see your hands'

One is seen reloading before firing into the vehicle as Mullinax's mother ducks for cover in long grass to the side

Police bodycam footage of the incident, which took place in May 2021, shows Mullinax inside the pickup truck on his family's land, with his mother Tammy Beason outside the vehicle near the driver's window.

Deputies are seen getting out of the police vehicles and shouting: 'Let me see your hands'.

Moments later they begin to shoot at the vehicle, breaking the windscreen glass as Beason, 48, ducks and runs to take cover in the nearby shrubbery.

After 50 shots were fired, Beason's distressed screaming can be heard from the pick-up.

Mullinax admitted he did have a shotgun in the truck, but denies pointing it at himself or the cops.

Instead he raised his hands and was complying with the deputies' orders, his lawyers insist.

The shootout continues from another officer's bodycam, showing them surrounding the bullet-ridden pick-up truck

Trevor Mullinax, 29, survived being shot by sheriff's deputies nine times, with him pictured above in his hospital bed

'There was a round that hit him smack dab in the middle of the back of his head,' Mullinax's lawyer, Justin Bamberg, told a news conference attended by Beason on Tuesday.

'Never seen anybody get shot in the back of the head who's a threat to law enforcement or anybody else.'

Mullinax told reporters he was experiencing a mental health crisis and the police were involved after he battered his girlfriend's door in several days before the shooting.

A call was placed to the sheriff's department requesting a 'wellness check' on Mullinax, the complaint states.

A team of deputies went to the family's property and were directed to the scene by Mullinax's grandfather where his grandson was parked and talking to his mother, the suit states.

Mullinax is pictured during a press conference following the violent shootout at his family home

'There was a round that hit him smack dab in the middle of the back of his head,' Mullinax's lawyer, Justin Bamberg, told a news conference attended by mother Tammy Beason (pictured) on Tuesday

'Prior to arriving at the location on the property where Plaintiff Mullinax was still sitting inside his pickup truck, Sheriff's deputies drew their firearms and were prepared to shoot Plaintiff Mullinax and exercise deadly force before they made verbal contact with him,' the court papers say.

'Trevor was just in a really dark place,' his lawyer told reporters, 'and had been contemplating suicide.'

'May is Mental Health Awareness Month,' Mullinax added. 'I hate that I have to be the face of it this month. But if it helps even one single person in this world to not have to go through what me and my family have, I'm OK with it.'

York County Sheriff Kevin Tolson said in a statement: 'Mr Mullinax chose to put these men in danger by pulling a shotgun.

'These deputies responded appropriately to the threat as they were trained to do.'

'Had Mr. Mullinax made different choices that day, deputies would not have been required to use force.'
Hilarious pictures show two sheep with squares of foam on their head as the farmer's ingenious tactic to stop them from getting stuck in the fence.

The pair were snapped in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, feeding their offspring in a field while prancing around with what appears to be a cushion of foam around their necks.

Prison officer Mark Deans, 35, captured the 'un-ewe-sual' head gear on Thursday while coming home from his girlfriend's mother's house.

The bizarre image left Mark, from Aberdeen, in stitches. He said: 'I guess this farmer has a sense of humour, I initially went over to look because I was worried the sheep's head was stuck in a bucket but no it was foam.

'There is a purpose for it, putting foam on the sheep's heads to stop them getting stuck in the fence but it's funny looking.

'Who are ewe looking at?': This sheep was pictured with its young sporting a cushion of foam around its neck in Scotland

While another sheep looked perplexed as it was having its photo taken by prison officer Mark Deans, 35, as it feed its offspring

'The sheep is safe, I got a bit of a laugh and I think the photos will bring people a smile.'

The snap comes days after a clumsy lamb was spotted stumbling around in circles in another Scottish field - with a motorcycle helmet over its head.

Ettie MacDonald was left stunned when he stopped his car on Tuesday morning to help what he thought was a sheep stuck in a feeding bucket.

However, as the 46-year-old walked onto the field, on the Isle of Tiree, he realised the four-week-old ewe was in fact wearing a black crash helmet.

Owner Sheila MacKinnon didn't believe Ettie when he rang to tell her so he shot photos and a video of the confused lamb 'walking around in circles' with the safety gear fitted 'perfectly'.

Upon seeing proof the cackling 54-year-old 'couldn't believe how funny it was' and thanked the good Samaritan who removed the helmet.

The snap comes days after a clumsy lamb was spotted stumbling around in circles in another Scottish field - with a motorcycle helmet over its head

The lamb was spotted walking around in circles in a field on the Isle of Tiree, in Scotland on Tuesday

She admitted she had no idea the plastic headgear was in the field but believes it must have been left in the long grass and the nosey lamb got stuck in it when it bent down to put its head inside.

Her Facebook post explaining the bizarre mishap has been viewed more than 400,000 times and shared more than 6,000 times, with one user joking the sheep must ride a 'LAMBretta'.

Ettie said: 'It was on its head perfectly. It was the right way round and the sheep suited it. It was almost the perfect size. Maybe I should have opened the visor for it.

'At first I didn't know what it was and thought it was a bucket but when I got closer I realised it was a crash helmet. I couldn't believe it.

'I had to prove it with pictures and a video because I think Sheila thought I was taking the mick.

'I took it off after I took the video then left the helmet by the field then just went on my way to work.

Ettie MacDonald, 46, was left stunned when he stopped his car on Tuesday morning to help what he thought was a sheep stuck in a feeding bucket

Owner Sheila MacKinnon (pictured with her sheep) didn't believe Ettie when he rang to tell her so he shot photos and a video of the confused lamb 'walking around in circles' with the safety gear fitted 'perfectly'

'I'm glad I was there because it would have been stressed eventually but it was getting plenty of air in there and just walking around in circles.

'People are having a laugh at it because something that's ended well for a change.'

The mum-of-two says the lamb is 'absolutely fine' and has been jumping around the field as normal.

She's thankful joiner Ettie was driving past at the time to save the lamb from becoming distressed by the unfortunate situation.

Sheila said: 'Usually if the phone rings before 8am then there's something wrong. When he told me I went quiet and just said 'what?'.

'I told him he needed to send me a picture because I wouldn't believe it. When I saw them I couldn't believe how funny it was.

'Lambs are nosey and they like to stick their heads in everything but for it to be a helmet and it be on the right way, it feels like it can't be real.

'Thank god Ettie happened to be driving past.'

Sheila's Facebook post has since earned almost 3,000 comments with users finding the lamb's predicament hilarious.

Her Facebook post said: 'When the house phone rings before eight in the morning you automatically think 'is there something wrong?'.

'A man said, 'Hello Sheila, I've just driven past your field and there's a lamb walking about with a crash helmet on! And not only that but he's got it on the right way round'.

'Is it April the 1st? No, it's definitely May! Thank you Ettie for noticing it and removing it. Also for proving to me that it had actually happened by sending me the photos.'

Another said: 'I think someone's fleeced his bike.'
British firm Thales spent 13 years developing a lightweight (13 kg/29 pound), 76mm LMM (Lightweight Multirole Missile) called Martlet. Martlet entered service in 2021 and some have been sent to Ukraine to see if the Ukrainians find them useful. Ukrainians used them against helicopters and UAVs as shoulder launched weapons fired from launch tubes. Some of these were used on air defense vehicles. Martlets proved to be effective and a cheaper alternative to conventional shoulder fired anti-aircraft missiles. Ukrainian have found Martlet effective against Russian surveillance and explosive equipped attack UAVs. Ukraine may also be using Martlet from helicopters, UAVs and aircraft against Russian light armored vehicles, trucks and troops.

Martlet has 3 kg (6.6 pound) warhead that is available as a high-explosive/fragmentation or shaped charge for use against armored vehicles. There are several different guidance systems available, including laser homing, heat seeking and GPS. Most Martlets are used by helicopters and UAVs to attack ground targets, including small ships. Martlet can also be used by ground forces to attack UAVs or helicopters or ground targets. Martlet has a max range of 8 kilometers when launched from aircraft. Range is six kilometers or less when ground launched.

The United States provided a retired frigate as a target for British Royal Navy helicopters armed with Martlets. Martlets cant sink a ship that large but did considerable damage to the frigate. In combat that damage could have included radars and weapon systems. Martlet was also tested against speedboats, which the Iranians favor, and proved to be effective. Britain has ordered a thousand Martlets for its helicopters and some of these were sent to Ukraine. Export orders went to Indonesia, which has problems with small boats used by smugglers, and Saudi Arabia, which is threatened by hundreds of armed Iranian speed boats.

Martlet was originally developed in cooperation with Turkey for use on the new Turkish Jackal battery-powered UAV that can also land and takeoff like a helicopter. The initial version of Jackal has a 15 kg payload and can stay in the air for about 40 minutes and operate up to 100 kilometers from its ground operator. Version 2 will be able to carry two Martlets and stay in air for over an hour at a time.
The union has pilot representation in airlines like Ryanair, easyJet, and Jet 2

Brits heading for Spain this summer are facing major disruption as more than a dozen airlines consider strike action.

The Spanish Union of Airline Pilots (Sepla) is considering carrying out different strikes during the summer in all the airlines represented by the union.

Currently, Sepla has union representation in Air Nostrum, Air Europa, Iberia, Iberia Express, Vueling, Ryanair, easyJet, Norwegian, Swiftair, Plus Ultra, Jet 2, Eurowings and Evelop.

The Union says it is very unhappy that on current strike days called by Air Nostrum and Air Europa, Spanish legislation calls for a minimum of 90 per cent of the norm which decreases the impact of the action. This means that of about 80 scheduled flights per day that airlines have, only about 18-20 flights are cancelled.

The strike possibility was announced by the Secretary General of Sepla, Javier Fernandez-Picazo, at a press conference today, in which he explained that the measure 'is on the table' but there is still no decision.

Brits are facing major disruption as more than a dozen airlines consider strike action. Pictured: Holidaymakers crowd Levante Beach in Benidorm on April 8, 2023

The union has representation in airlines including Ryanair, easyJet, and Jet 2. Pictured: Ryanair Boeing 737-800 airplane at Barcelona airport, February 21, 2022

'It would be a decision that must be assessed and negotiated,' he stressed.

Sepla is also hoping to involve other groups within the aviation sector, such as cabin crew (TCP) and air traffic controllers, or even those of road transport.

Mr. Fernandez-Picazo said the minimum service regulation meant airlines didn't feel any pressure to enter negotiations.

Sepla says it is interfering with the 'constitional right to strike'.

'There are some 14 judgments or resolutions of the National Court that ask the administration not to violate the fundamental right of workers to strike and to respect it,' said Mr. Fernandez-Picazo.

Chief delegate of Sepla in Air Nostrum, Manuel Reyes said it was 'inconceivable' that 'the Government allows the company to hide behind abusive minimum services and thus avoid reaching a consensus.'

And chief delegate of Sepla at Air Europa, Carlos Sanchez warned the action of pilots 'will not stop' and foresees new strikes this summer 'if the management of the airline continues to refuse to listen to the salary and labour claims of the workers.'

People enjoy the sunny weather on Illetes beach, on the Balearic island of Mallorca, Spain April 6, 2023

On May 8, Sepla announced the call for eight new strike days at Air Europa for May 22, 23, 25, 26, 29 and 30 and June 1 and 2 at all bases and work centres in Spain. Previously, strikes were already held on the 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th of this month.

This Friday's call was led by the Spanish Union of Airline Pilots (Sepla), the Workers' Union (USO), the Union of Airline Passenger Cabin Crew (Sitcpla) and the Spanish Union of Maintenance Technicians Aeronautical (Asetma).
A high-flying art adviser, whose clients included Leonardo DiCaprio, has been accused by a former friend and real-estate heiress of running a ponzi scheme after failing to pay $1.8million owed from the sale of a prestigious painting.

Lisa Schiff is alleged to have defrauded her 'partner in crime' Candace Barasch and fellow plaintiff Richard Grossman by refusing to pay fees owed following the sale of Adrian Ghenie's The Uncle 3 for $2.5million.

The lawsuit, filed in New York on Thursday, claims the fraud was 'part of a much larger Ponzi scheme' run by Schiff, which involved 'taking money from one client to pay another, and to fund Schiff's lavish lifestyle'.

Barasch and Grossman's spouse have known Schiff for almost two decades, the suit said.

The Grossmans went to the bris - the Jewish ceremony of circumcision - of Schiff's son and attended Father's Day events at his school as 'adjunct parents', while Barasch and Schiff frequently went on luxury holidays together.

Lisa Schiff, whose clients included Leonardo DiCaprio, has been accused of running a ponzi scheme after failing to pay $1.8million owed from the sale of a prestigious painting

One of Schiff's accusers is her former friend and real-estate heiress Candace Barasch (left)

Schiff is alleged to have defrauded Barasch and fellow plaintiff Richard Grossman by refusing to pay fees owed following the sale of Adrian Ghenie's The Uncle 3 (above) for $2.5million

It was during these trips that the heiress learned of her friend's 'lavish lifestyle', the suit claims.

Schiff regularly spent 'tens of thousands of dollars at a time on couture clothing and accessories, and making jewelry purchases of $20,000 at a time', the complaint says.

It also alleges that Schiff rents a New York apartment in Tribeca at $25,000 per month, a 'luxury apartment in the legendary Colonial House Apartment complex in West Hollywood - where Bette Davis once lived', and enjoys 'international first class travel with concierge services and limousine services, including vacations at five-star hotels'.

The claim adds: 'The jig is now up.'

According to the complaint, Barasch learned of The Uncle 3 through Schiff while it was on display at the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, Russia, in 2019.

In April 2021, Barasch bought a 50 percent stake in the work and Grossman and his spouse, who is not named, each acquired 25 percent, the suit says.

The trio sold the work at Sotheby's in Hong Kong in December 2022 and Schiff swiftly pocketed her 10 percent commission, before transferring $450,000 to the plaintiffs, the suit states.

She promised to pay the remaining $1.8million owed by March 26 this year.

This was extended to May 8 at Schiff's request. But when Grossman's spouse met Schiff on that day, 'Schiff told him she did not have the money owedand to call her attorney - and then walked away from him', the claim states.

Schiff then texted Grossman's spouse saying: 'I am sorry and have every intention to make things right. It's just complicated. I know you will never speak to me again but I will try to make it right regardless.'

The plaintiffs allege that subsequent communications with Schiff's attorney show she is unable to pay the funds owed and 'that this is actually just the tip of the iceberg'.

The pair 'are now the victims of the latest art swindler', the suit adds.

Schiff is an art adviser to the stars and her clients included actor Leonardo DiCaprio (above)

Schiff at her luxury Manhattan apartment, which she allegedly rents for $25,000 per month

Schiff posted this picture of her with Barasch to her Instagram account from Paris in November 2021, alongside the caption 'had such a blast with Candy B'. The pair frequently went on holiday together, and it was during those trips that Barasch claims she learned of her friend's 'lavish lifestyle' and spending habits

Schiff regularly spent 'tens of thousands of dollars at a time on couture clothing and accessories, and making jewelry purchases of $20,000 at a time', the complaint says

Schiff pictured on one of her luxury holidays to St Barts in the Caribbean. Other destinations shown on her Instagram include Mustique, Mexico and Norway

She was described by The New York Times as 'one of the better-known names' in the art world

It also accuses Schiff of 'abject hypocrisy', highlighting her art firm SFA Advisory, which says it 'prides itself on making the art world transparent for its clients, helping them navigate the complex web of relationships and platforms'.

Schiff and her companies sometimes purchased art on their own and then sold the pieces to clients, the suit added.

The art adviser was quizzed on this last year by The New York Times (NYT), who asked her: 'You're an art adviser, but you also sell art that your clients own. Isn't that a conflict of interest?'

Schiff said she treats those two services 'as very different businessesI can't offer my clients' things to my other clients, because then I'm representing both sides. You have to be transparent'.

Barasch and Schiff have been pictured together regularly, both in official photographs at art shows and on Schiff's Instagram account, which also documents Schiff's luxury holidays to destinations including Mustique and St Barts in the Caribbean, Mexico, and Oslo, Norway.

In a 2019 NYT profile, Barasch described Schiff as her 'partner in crime', saying her friend had helped her navigate how to buy art when she was starting out as a collector.

The same publication described Schiff as 'one of the better-known names' in the art world and claimed that DiCaprio was one of her former clients.

The pair are understood to have last worked together five years ago.

Seeking a jury trial, Barasch and Grossman are now asking for more than $2million in damages and for Schiff to forfeit her $250,000 commission on the Ghenie sale.

Grossman claims he needs the cash for assisted living arrangements for his hospitalized in-laws.

DailyMail.com has contacted Schiff for comment.
A Texas mother is accused of tying up her son by his seat belt and dragging him down a highway to punish him because he insulted her and refused to apologize.

It is unclear how old the boy is, but footage shows his mother Marion Stade, 61, tying him to the side of the car, and then forcing him to run alongside it.

Stade was arrested by Wichita County deputies on a warrant from Archer County after the May 2nd incident and charged with child endangerment. She was released the next day on $100,000 bond, KFDX reported.

An unidentified person witnessed the alleged abuse while they were driving along State Highway 94 and immediately alerted the authorities.

When a deputy first pulled Stade over, she denied what took place. Stade told the officer that she had a 'verbal altercation,' with her son after he had insulted her and that she was 'waiting on the child to apologize.'

The deputy then told the boy to apologize and granted them permission to go. But, once the sheriff from the department viewed the videos taken by the witness, he had the deputy pull Stade over again, Yahoo News reported.

Marion Stade, 61, was arrested by Wichita County deputies on a warrant from Archer County after the May 2nd incident and charged with child endangerment. She was later released on $100,000 bond

An undated photo of Stade behind the wheel of a car. Stade was arrested on charges of child endangerment for allegedly tying her son up with a seatbelt and dragging him along the car

In the video, Stade is seen slamming on the breaks then immediately hitting the gas again, according to arrest documents.

The boy can be seen trying to hang on to the car and trying to pick his feet up so he wouldn't fall and be dragged, sheriff officials told KFDX/KJTL.

According to her Linkedin Stade has been a teacher at Southern Plains Schooling for the past 27 years.

'My objectives in the world of working is to earn a living to support my family and give to those in need. My abilities of kindness and logical evaluation of a project helps me interact with others,' she wrote on her page.

According to the affidavit, the woman said her son 'would not get out of the road and she had to do something to control him.

The deputy initially believed the woman's account and cleared the call, but she was later arrested on a charge of endangering a child, jail records show.

Stade smiling as she is surrounded by her family at the Christmas tree

Stade pictured holding a giant snowball with what appears to be her children

Photos on Stade's Facebook show various pictures of her smiling with her family taken during the holidays, as well as at an outdoor park or sporting event.

In addition to teaching, she is also an employee at Helpful Hands, an organization that helps care for the elderly, and is an employee at Pet Camp Wichita Falls.

The Wichita County Sheriff's Department was not available when DailyMail.com contacted them.
Seven in ten Americans say an alleged bribery and influence peddling scheme involving President Joe Biden, his son, Hunter, and other family members amounts to a scandal, new polling shows.

The Rasmussen Reports survey comes as House Republicans ratchet up their probe into allegations that the Bidens received millions of dollars in payments from foreign entities in China and Romania.

The nationwide poll of nearly 1,000 voters found that 69 percent said alleged foreign influence peddling by the Bidens was a serious scandal, with more than half calling it 'very serious'.

Worse still for the president: it's not just Republican voters who see impropriety here.

Nearly nine-in-ten Republican voters call out wrongdoing by the Bidens, but the same goes for some three quarters of independents and nearly half of supporters of the president's own Democratic Party.

Steve Bannon, a top ally of former President Donald Trump, who is running to become Biden's Republican challenger in the 2024 election, said the poll showed how voters were waking up to dodgy dealing.

The nationwide poll of nearly 1,000 voters found that 69 percent of respondents said alleged foreign influence peddling by the Bidens was a serious scandal

The polling suggests that American voters are increasingly concerned by Republican allegations about the business dealings of Hunter Biden, pictured here, and other members of the power family

'It's the American people awakening to this, not really having heard much about it, because it's been suppressed,' Bannon said on his War Room show.

'There's been a blackout of this information.'

The survey was carried out nationwide on May 8-10, as Republicans on the House Oversight Committee gave an update on the Biden family's 'shady' business deals.

The committee led by Chairman James Comer released a 'Second Records Memorandum' that expands on information it received from subpoena returns as the committee probes the Biden family's business practices.

The memo outlines the Biden family's ties to Romanian 'influence peddling' and a web of LLCs created while Biden was vice president.

It also accuses President Biden of a 'lack of transparency' regarding his family's receipt of funds from China, which he has said are 'not true.'

It details the efforts by the family to hide, conceal and confuse sources of money  including more China money, according to a committee aide.

The committee led by Chairman James Comer this week released a 'Second Records Memorandum' that expands on information about the Biden family's business dealings

A photo of laptop computer reportedly owned by Hunter Biden, which has been a source of allegations of wrongdoing

The Republican investigators are under pressure to show results from their probe and demonstrate that the payments were part of an influence peddling scheme family members used to enrich themselves when Biden was vice president.

Rasmussen, a right-wing pollster, asked respondents 'how serious of a scandal' was engulfing the Bidens. Other polling outfits typically avoid leading questions that can guide a response.

Answering a second question, two thirds of voters said the scandal was about 'the entire Biden family, including the president'. That included 87 percent of Republicans and 43 percent of Democrats.

'These numbers are just going to go up,' said Rasmussen's top pollster, Mark Mitchell.

'Bit by bit, more of what Joe Biden has done is going to leak out ... and it's going to get increasingly uncomfortable for the Biden administration.'
Thousands of would-be migrants seeking to obtain appointments with the government through the preferred channel using a new app have not been able to secure time amid glitches and sky high demand.

The app, called CBP One, is part of a multi-pronged effort to steer migrants toward ports of entry and a more orderly process, aid a crush of migration that coincided with the end of Title 42 authority at midnight Thursday.

But the available slots aren't close to keeping up with demand, during a week when authorities have encountered 10,000 migrants a day at the border.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told reporters at the White House Thursday that Customs and Border Patrol was schedule more interviews through the app  but these represent just a fraction of the appointments migrants are seeking.

As the sun sets, migrants wait outside a gate in the border fence to enter into El Paso, Texas, to be processed by the Border Patrol, Thursday, May 11, 2023. The administration is touting the new CBP One app as a way to get people to sign up for appointments

The administration is relying on a new app to try to bring some order to the immigration process

'So, we are indeed expanding the use of CBP One app from approximately 740 arrivals at our ports of entry along the southern border to 1,000 a day,' Mayorkas said. He said the administration is 'exploring what other capabilities we can add to that.' He added that the administration was 'increasing use of the CBP One mobile app for individuals to schedule appointments at our ports of entry.'

But as of Thursday, a stunning 62,000 people had applied for those first slots, according to the New York Times. Of the 1,000 applications, only 800 had confirmed, as migrants from countries including Cuba, Haiti, and Mexico seek to open cases.

The demand comes despite a series of reports about glitches in the app and problems migrants have experienced attempting to secure appointments.

Migrants use an aid workers battery to charge their phones along the border as they wait to enter the U.S. for processing

62,000 people have signed up seeking appointments, with the number on the first day set to assist just 1,000.

The administration is setting up a network of centers to process migrants overseas to try to lessen pressure at the border

Officials say there has not been a substantial increase in crossings since Title 42 ended at midnight

Customs and Border Protection currently has about 26,000 migrants in custody amid a rush to process the arrivals, several thousand over capacity, and there are estimates of tens of thousands of would-be migrants south of the border.

Mayorkas on Friday said overcrowding remained a concern as thousands continue to try to make asylum claims.

'Were seeing precisely the challenge we expected,' Mayorkas he told ABCs 'Good Morning America.'

'We cannot control the movement of people before they reach our border,' he added.

On a zoom call with reporters, Customs and Border Protection COO Blas Nunez-Neto said officials were tweaking the way people get slots, including using a random function for some appointments amid the crush of demand.

'We believe that the changes have been working well. It has taken a lot of the time pressure off non-citizens who used to have to scramble to sign up for an appointment,' he said.

'We fully appreciate that there is strong demand fo the 1,000 slots that will be available every day,' he said.

He also said Immigration and Customs Enforcement is adding thousands of new beds amid overcrowding at border facilities.

'We have not seen any substantial increase in encounters overnight or any influx at midnight' when Title 42 authority ended, he said.
Nearly one in four passenger journeys on UK railways will be on nationalised services once TransPennine Express comes under Government control, it has emerged.

The UK Government's Operator of Last Resort already controls three services on the British network - London North Eastern Railway (LNER), Northern and Southeastern.

It will nationalise TransPennine Express on May 28 after months of disruption, which saw the operator cancel the equivalent of one in six services across most of March.

Transport for Wales is run by the Welsh government and ScotRail is run by the Scottish government - which will also control the Caledonian Sleeper from June 26.

Analysis found 24 per cent of journeys will soon be on nationalised services, based on passenger figures for the year to December 2022, which are the latest available.

MAY 28: Train services run by TransPennine Express will soon come under Government control

SEPTEMBER 2021: The Government took over the running of the Southeastern network

MARCH 2020: Northern Rail was put into public ownership after major punctuality issues

JUNE 2018: The Government took over control of London North Eastern Railway (LNER)

TransPennine Express is the fourth rail contract to be renationalised since June 2018 when the Department for Transport took over control of LNER's operations following the failure of the Virgin Trains East Coast franchise, which only began in March 2015.

Who owns each rail operator in Britain? Avanti West Coast : FirstGroup (70%) and Trenitalia (30%)

: FirstGroup (70%) and Trenitalia (30%) c2c : Trenitalia

: Trenitalia Caledonian Sleeper : Serco, moving to Scottish Government on June 25

: Serco, moving to Scottish Government on June 25 Chiltern Railways : Arriva

: Arriva CrossCountry : Arriva

: Arriva East Midlands Railway : Transport UK Group

: Transport UK Group Elizabeth line : Transport for London

: Transport for London Gatwick Express : Govia Thameslink Railway

: Govia Thameslink Railway Grand Central : Arriva

: Arriva Great Northern : Govia Thameslink Railway

: Govia Thameslink Railway Great Western Railway : FirstGroup

: FirstGroup Greater Anglia : Transport UK Group and Mitsui & Co

: Transport UK Group and Mitsui & Co Heathrow Express : Heathrow Express Operating Authority

: Heathrow Express Operating Authority Hull Trains : FirstGroup

: FirstGroup London North Eastern Railway (LNER): UK Government

(LNER): UK Government London Northwestern Railway : Transport UK Group

: Transport UK Group London Overground : Transport for London

: Transport for London Lumo : FirstGroup

: FirstGroup Merseyrail : Transport UK Group

: Transport UK Group Northern : UK Government

: UK Government ScotRail : Scottish Government

: Scottish Government South Western Railway : FirstGroup (70%) and MTR Corporation (30%)

: FirstGroup (70%) and MTR Corporation (30%) Southeastern : UK Government

: UK Government Southern : Govia Thameslink Railway

: Govia Thameslink Railway Stansted Express : Transport UK Group and Mitsui & Co

: Transport UK Group and Mitsui & Co Thameslink : Govia Thameslink Railway

: Govia Thameslink Railway TransPennine Express : FirstGroup, UK Government from May 28

: FirstGroup, UK Government from May 28 Transport for Wales : Welsh Government

: Welsh Government West Midlands Railway : Transport UK Group Advertisement

Northern Rail, the North of England's largest rail commuter service, was then put into public ownership from March 1, 2020 after services were blighted by punctuality and reliability issues.

In September 2021, the Government took over the running of Southeastern following a 'serious breach' of its franchise agreement that saw the DfT find evidence it had not declared more than 25million of taxpayer funding.

The current owner of TransPennine Express, FirstGroup, will continue to run a series of other operators - Avanti West Coast, Great Western Railway, South Western Railway, Hull Trains and Lumo.

In February, Transport Secretary Mark Harper pledged to enhance the role of the private sector in Britain's railways.

A new body named Great British Railways will issue passenger service contracts to private companies to run trains.

Following the news yesterday that the Government would take over services operated by TransPennine Express, Labour reiterated a pledge to nationalise all rail services across the UK.

Shadow transport secretary Louise Haigh said: 'This endless cycle of shambolic private operators failing passengers shows the Conservatives' rail system is fundamentally broken.

'The next Labour government will end this sticking plaster politics by bringing our railways back into public ownership as contracts expire, ending the Tories' failing system, and putting passengers back at the heart of our rail network.'

Johnbosco Nwogbo, lead campaigner at We Own It, a group campaigning against privatisation of public services, said people have 'had enough of private companies ripping them off and leaving them stranded at the station'.

He went on: 'Unreliable transport affects our work, our leisure, our lives.

'Passengers are fed up with missing meetings and taking hours to get home from work, or missing out on weekend trips they used to enjoy.

'We can't trust trains to get us from A to B despite paying some of the highest fares in Europe: at that point, it's time to rethink how we run our railways.'

And Alan Valentine, the Transport Salaried Staffs Association organiser for TransPennine Express, said 'fragmented private railways are an abject failure'.

He continued: 'If this Tory government really wants to build a British economy for the coming decades, the first thing it should do is listen to passengers, business and our union, all of whom want safe, reliable rail services.

Transport for Wales, which operates rail services across Wales, is run by the Welsh government

ScotRail, which operates trains across Scotland, is run by the Scottish government

The Scottish government will also control the Caledonian Sleeper from June 26

'The only way to do that is to run a rail network for the people, by the people.'

The DfT said its decision on TransPennine Express is 'temporary and it is the Government's full intention that it will return to the private sector'.

TransPennine Express has been cancelling more trains than any other operator.

The company cancelled the equivalent of 16.9 per cent of services in the four weeks to the end of March, according to analysis of Office of Rail and Road (ORR) figures.

That was ahead of Grand Central (13.8 per cent), Transport for Wales (11.9 per cent) and Heathrow Express (7.1 per cent).

The best performances were by Greater Anglia (1.0 per cent) and Hull Trains (1.2 per cent), while the average across all operators was 3.7 per cent.

Today, rail minister Huw Merriman insisted the decision to nationalise TransPennine Express shows the Conservative UK Government is 'not driven by dogma'.

Mr Merriman said he hoped the move would amount to a 'reset moment' for the troubled franchise which has struggled through months of delays and cancellations.

But the Tory frontbencher said the decision to hand the service to the Operator of Last Resort was only temporary, with ministers 'looking to return it back to the private sector'.

Transport Secretary Mark Harper announced yesterday that train services run by TransPennine Express would be nationalised.

Avanti West Coast is owned by FirstGroup (70 per cent) and Trenitalia (30 per cent)

CrossCountry is among the UK rail operators owned by Arriva

Mr Merriman told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the decision had been taken with 'reluctance' but that the DfT had not been convinced TransPennine Express could turn its fortunes around.

READ MORE May train strike MAPPED: Full list of lines affected plus day-by-day disruption schedule Advertisement

'We're not driven by dogma, we're driven by what we think is right for each train operator,' he said, referencing the traditional Tory stance of being anti-nationalisation.

He pointed to Avanti cutting its cancellation rate down from 13 per cent to 1 per cent on the West Coast mainline, which serves cities such as London, Manchester and Glasgow, following timetable reforms and extra driver numbers.

'That demonstrates that we will do the right thing by the right operator but with TPE we just couldn't see that we would be able to turn that corner,' he added.

The DfT put TransPennine Express on a recovery plan in February but decided it had not done enough to renew its contract.

Mr Merriman told LBC that taking the franchise in-house 'gives us an opportunity to look at the whole structure of rail in the North' but that the service would first need to update 'outdated' working models.

Expanding on his comments, he later told ITV's Good Morning Britain: 'The reason why things haven't worked out there is because there has been a breakdown between management and unions.

Govia Thameslink Railway owns Great Northern, Thameslink, Southern and Gatwick Express

Great Western Railway is another of the UK rail operators to be owned by FirstGroup

'The unions aren't working in the manner that they were 18 months ago and that has caused the services to deteriorate.

READ MORE LNER scraps return tickets in bid to simplify rail fares - here's how you can save money on train journeys Advertisement

'We hope that by us resetting a new operator, the unions will reset by being more reasonable and working in a manner that their workers used to, and then we'll get a better service.'

The operator, which covers an area across northern England and into Scotland, has been badly affected by drivers who are members of the Aslef union no longer volunteering to work paid overtime shifts.

Mr Merriman said locomotive drivers on the TPE franchise were being offered some of the 'best ever' overtime rates to encourage them to take on more shifts and to speed up the amount of time it takes to train new drivers.

Asked on BBC Breakfast how he was seeking to resolve the driver situation, the minister said: 'A very generous offer has been put down - in fact, the most generous - time at 1.75 for the workforce to work beyond the 35 hours, so on top of their weekly hours.'

He said two other train operators offered overtime at time-and-a-half, making the TPE offer the highest available on the network.

He added: 'Only if unions are willing for their members to do this can we get a real change in service.'

Mr Merriman said the ruling to nationalise TransPennine's operation was the first made for performance-related issues rather than financial.
A fundraiser on the Christian website GiveSendGo has raised more than $300,000 for Marine veteran Daniel Penny as he faces manslaughter charges for the chokehold death of Jordan Neely.

Penny's attorneys set up the fundraiser as Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg announced charges.

'Daniel Penny is, a twenty-four-year-old college student and decorated Marine veteran, facing a criminal investigation stemming from him protecting individuals on a NYC subway train from an assailant who later died.

'Funds are being raised to pay Mr. Pennys legal fees incurred from any criminal charges filed and any future civil lawsuits that may arise, as well as expenses related to his defense. All contributions are greatly appreciated,' it reads.

While GoFundMe tears down defense fund pages, GiveSendGo allows them.

Penny's attorneys set up the fundraiser as Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg announced charges. It has raised more than $250,000 from more than 5,000 donors

Daniel Penny, 24, handed himself into the NYPD's 5th Precinct this morning. He will go to court shortly to be arraigned on a second degree manslaughter charge which carries a sentence of up to 15 years. He is pictured with his attorney

The site helped raise money for Kyle Rittenhouse, who was acquitted on all charges relating to the shooting deaths of BLM protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in the summer of 2020.

Rittenhouse, then 17, was vilified by the left as a bloodthirsty vigilante who prowled the streets with his rifle looking for someone to shoot.

He received a wave of support from Republicans and others, who hailed the teenager for trying to protect the businesses in the town.

On May 1, Penny put Neely - a mentally ill, homeless man with a record of 40 prior arrests including violent attacks - in a chokehold after Neely shouted that he was 'fed up' and wanted to go to jail.

Penny (left) will today hand himself into the NYPD and is due to be arraigned on a second degree manslaughter charge for putting Jordan Neely (right)

Neely's mental health had deteriorated drastically in recent years, according to his family

They were both traveling on the F train in New York City, and part of the incident was filmed.

His attorneys last night released a statement saying he doesn't deserve the charges and that he was merely trying to protect himself and his fellow passengers from Neely.

A 66-year-old female witness to the incident spoke anonymously to The New York Post last night on the eve of Penny's arraignment to support him.

She said there are more videos of the altercation that led up to the chokehold that she believes will absolve Penny of wrongdoing.

'So I believe that those videos are going to come forward, maybe people will do it anonymously.

'I hope he has a great lawyer, and Im praying for him. And I pray that he gets treated fairly, I really do.

'Because after all of this ensued I went back and made sure that I said, "thank you" to him.'

She said Neely brought on the chokehold by threatening the entire train and many of them took the threats seriously.

Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg was under pressure from protesters to bring charges against the Marine

'He said, "I dont care. Ill take a bullet, Ill go to jail" because he would kill people on the train.

'He said I would kill a motherf***er. I dont care. Ill take a bullet. Ill go to jail.'

'This gentleman, Mr. Penny, did not stand up. Did not engage with the gentleman. He said not a word. It was all Mr. Neely that was threatening the passengers. If he did not get what he wants,' she said.

Eventually, Penny stood up and pulled him to the ground. Two other men helped subdue him.

Neither of them have been charged.
Russian soldiers will be 'shaking with fear' at the UK's decision to supply Ukraine with Storm Shadow long-range cruise missiles amid Kyiv's upcoming counteroffensive, a retired US Army Colonel said today.

Gian Gentile, who served two tours in Iraq, said the deadly missiles may be catastrophic for Russia's war efforts as they will allow Ukrainian troops to hit Russian soldiers and command centres deep into Moscow-held territory in eastern Ukraine.

Gentile, the associate director of think tank RAND's Arroyo Centre in the US, said the delivery of Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine will have a huge psychological impact on Russian soldiers, whose levels of morale are already at 'rock bottom' amid heavy losses on the battlefield.

In the face of the Storm Shadow missiles, US-supplied HIMARS rocket systems and armoured fighting vehicles that can destroy tanks, Russian troops will be 'shaking in their boots' with fear ahead of Ukraine's upcoming counteroffensive, Gentile said.

'Discounting all of the bluff and bravado of Russian political leadership and senior generals who are far, far away from the front line, the Russian troops fighting there will be shaking in their boots about the prospect of this likely upcoming counteroffensive,' Gentile told MailOnline.

A graphic showing how the Storm Shadow Missiles would work on the battlefield

Russian soldiers will be 'shaking with fear' at the UK's decision to supply Ukraine with Storm Shadow long-range cruise missiles (file image) amid Kyiv's upcoming counteroffensive, retired US Army Colonel Gian Gentile said today

The missiles, which cost about 2.2million, will allow Ukraine to hit Russian troops and logistics hubs deep behind the front line in a major blow to Vladimir Putin (pictured on Friday in Moscow, Russia)

Since Russia invaded Ukraine more than a year ago, 197,000 Russian soldiers have been killed, according to Kyiv's estimates. And Ukraine's long-awaited counteroffensive could prove deadly for thousands more - especially with the weapons supplied by Western allies including the UK and US.

Pictured: Retired US Colonel Gian Gentile

Yesterday, UK Defence Minister Ben Wallace confirmed that Britain is sending the Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine, a decision that prompted a furious response from the Kremlin.

'We see this decision as an extremely hostile step from London, aimed at further pumping weapons into Ukraine and leading to a serious escalation of the situation,' Russia's foreign ministry said on Friday.

Gentile, also a senior historian at RAND, said the move to provide the weapons is significant for Ukraine's counteroffensive.

The Storm Shadow missiles, which have a firing range of more than 155 miles, will give the Ukrainian troops the ability to strike 'high-end targets like command and control nodes, logistic supply points, and potentially troop concentration areas deep in Russian held territory in Ukraine,' Gentile said.

The retired colonel said this is 'significant' as it extends the striking range of US-supplied HIMARS rocket systems currently in use and frees up the HIMARs for other missions.

He pointed to how, in the past, if Ukrainian troops had wanted to strike a Russian logistics base in Bakhmut, eastern Ukraine, they would have to move the HIMARS very close to the embattled city.

'But now, with the Storm Shadow cruise missiles, they have the capability to strike this kind of target but from a distance,' Gentile said.

'This is a big deal. It will help Ukraine and it will further complicate Russian defensive measures as they will now have two longer range strike missiles to worry about and defend against.'

Gentile added: 'And let's not forget the psychological effect the introduction of the Storm Shadow cruise missile can have on the Russian military in Ukraine whose levels of morale are at rock bottom.'

The Storm Shadow is an air-launched long-range missile, designed for attacks against high-value targets such as hardened bunkers and key infrastructure.

The retired colonel said this is 'significant' as it extends the striking range of US-supplied HIMARS rocket systems (pictured in Kherson, Ukraine, in November) currently in use and frees up the HIMARs for other missions

The Storm Shadow (pictured, centre) is an air-launched long-range missile, designed for attacks against high value targets such as hardened bunkers and key infrastructure

The missile, jointly developed by the UK and France, has a firing range of more than 155 miles (250km) which means Kyiv would be able to strike deep into Russian-held territory in eastern Ukraine where the fiercest battles are ongoing.

Storm Shadow The Storm Shadow, also known as SCALP, is an air-to-ground missile that can hit fixed or stationary targets. Length: 16ft 9in Range: 350 miles Speed: 600mph Advertisement

Dr Alan Mendoza, Executive Director of the think tank Henry Jackson Society, told MailOnline: 'Providing Ukraine with Storm Shadow Missiles gives Kyiv the long-range striking capabilities it needs in advance of a highly anticipated rise in the Russian offensive.

'The precision-guided weapons would allow Ukraine to strike targets anywhere in the country.

'This is a critical kit and an essential boost in our support allowing Ukrainian forces to reach behind enemy lines and giving them the best chance of defending themselves against Putins aggression.'

Announcing the decision to supply Ukraine with the Storm Shadow missiles, Wallace told the Houses of Parliament yesterday: 'The donation of these weapons systems gives Ukraine the best chance to defend themselves against Russia's continued brutality, especially with the deliberate targeting of Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, which is against international law.

'Ukraine has a right to be able to defend itself.'

Britain has received assurances from the Ukrainian government that these missiles would be used only within Ukrainian sovereign territory and not inside Russia, multiple senior Western officials said.

Wallace said the missiles would be used to push back Russian forces in 'Ukrainian sovereign territory', while adding that the UK's support for Ukraine is 'responsible, calibrated, coordinated and agile'.

'We simply will not stand back while Russia kills civilians,' Wallace said.

Wallace did not say how many cruise missiles were being sent to Ukraine, but said they are 'now going into or are in the country itself'.

Britain and other Western countries have scaled up their military aid for Ukraine this year, with Britain saying in January it would send 14 of its main Challenger 2 battle tanks to Ukraine, a pledge that was followed by other nations including the United States and Germany.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told the Munich Security Conference in February that Britain would be the first country to provide Ukraine with longer range weapons.

A Ukrainian soldier fires an RPG toward Russian positions at the frontline near Kremenna in the Luhansk region, Ukraine, on Tuesday

Artillery rocket units of the mechanised brigade of the Ukrainian Army conduct operation to target trenches of Russian forces through the Donetsk region in Ukraine on Tuesday

A Ukrainian soldier in a trench close to the Russian positions near Kremenna in the Luhansk region, Ukraine, on Tuesday

The United States said in February it would provide the Ground Launched Small Diameter Bomb (GLSDB), which has a range of about 151 km.

The war in Ukraine is at a turning point. Kyiv is expected to unleash its new counteroffensive after six months of keeping its forces on the defensive, while Russia mounted a huge winter offensive that failed to capture significant territory.

Moscow's main target for months has been Bakhmut, which it has come close to capturing but not quite taken in what would be its sole prize after months of the bloodiest ground combat in Europe since World War Two.

Kyiv says it has pushed Russian forces back over the past two days near Bakhmut in small-scale local assaults, but a counteroffensive involving tens of thousands of troops and hundreds of new Western tanks has yet to begin.

Today, the chief of Russia's Wagner mercenary group Yevgeny Prigozhin admitted that Ukrainian forces have counter-attacked Russian positions around Bakhmut - as the warlord mocked Kremlin defence minister Sergei Shoigu.

'The situation on the flanks is shaping up according to the worst predicted scenario,' Prigozhin said, signalling fresh misery for Putin's troops.

'Those territories, which were taken with the blood and lives of our comrades-in-arms for many months, every day, by tens or hundreds of metres are now being thrown almost without a fight by those [Russian army soldiers] who are supposed to hold our flanks.'

Prigozhin then directly addressed the long-suffering Shoigu.

'Given your super long experience, please can you come to Bakhmut?' he asked sarcastically, poking fun at the defence minister's civilian background in engineering.

President Volodymyr Zelensky sought to manage expectations around the pushback in Bakhmut, telling reporters the long-awaited Ukrainian counter-offensive was yet to begin in earnest and declaring: 'We still need a bit more time.'

Ukraine's deputy defence minister Hanna Maylar added later Friday: 'The enemy has suffered great losses of manpower. Our defence forces advanced two kilometres (around one mile) near Bakhmut. We did not lose a single position in Bakhmut this week.'

Moscow has since denied the reports of Ukrainian counter-offensives in Bakhmut and said the frontline is under control.

'Statements circulated by individual Telegram channels about ''defence breakthroughs'' that took place in different areas along the line of military contact do not correspond to reality,' the Russian defence ministry said in a Telegram post.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov meanwhile told Russian news service TASS that the military operation in the east of Ukraine was 'very difficult' but 'certain goals have been achieved'.

Ukrainian forces have been training a new contingent of forces and stockpiling Western-supplied munitions and hardware that analysts say will be key to reclaiming territory captured by Russia.

The timing of Kyiv's effort to claw back ground in the eastern Donetsk and Lugansk regions, as well as the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, remains a question.
A suspected gunman has died in hospital days after the shooting of a mother-of-two who was held hostage at her home on Coronation day.

Jacob Cloke, 29, died yesterday after sustaining 'critical' gunshot injuries at a home in Dartford, Kent, where he took Hayley Burke hostage.

Ms Burke, 36, was shot during a stand-off with armed officers and police negotiators at her house, on Saturday afternoon and died in hospital two days later.

Police were treating Cloke as the main suspect in the murder of Ms Burke, who loved ones described as 'the loudest friend in the group'.

Yesterday, a man was charged after allegedly being found with a revolver said to be linked to the murder of a mother-of-two who was taken hostage in her home.

Mother-of-two Hayley Burke, 36, was shot during a stand-off with armed officers and police negotiators at her house in Dartford, Kent, on Saturday afternoon

Jacob Cloke, 29, (pictured) died yesterday after sustaining 'critical' gunshot injuries at a home in Dartford, Kent, where he took Hayley Burke hostage

Police officers in Dartford last Saturday after the mother-of-two was rushed to hospital

Witnesses said after a stand-off, which lasted about an hour, 'pandemonium' broke out and said the woman had been 'held hostage' by a man at the back of the property.

A woman who lives near where the hostage situation took place described the scene as like a terror attack.

She said: 'After many hours talking between the police and a man, I heard loud gun shot sounds and what seemed like six gun-shot sounds.

'The scene was horrific. I have never seen anything like it around here. I thought it must be terrorist-related.'

She then discovered a double-glazed window had been shattered in a bedroom of her house and a 'bullet' was wedged inside the outer and inner pane.

The woman added: 'I stayed inside all day, as I was too frightened to go outside in the situation.

'It went on for hours. And then at about 4.30pm we saw a woman being given CPR outside a garage. We still had no idea what was going on.'

Hayley Burke died in hospital on Monday evening after she was shot on Saturday afternoon

The incident happened while millions of television viewers were watching King Charles III's Coronation take place 16 miles away at Westminster Abbey.

After being called to the home at 12.40pm, police cordoned off Priory Road and told people to stay inside their homes before officers broke through the terraced home's front door, witnesses said.

After an hour-long stand-off, 'pandemonium' broke out and neighbours heard what sounded like two rounds of gunshots.

One woman, who did not want to be named, described events as 'chilling'.

No police weapons were fired during the stand-off.

One of Ms Burke's friends told KentLive: 'Hayley was the loudest friend in the group and never failed to have everyone laughing.

'Hayley loved her children with every inch of her heart. Everything she did was for her boys  they were her life.

'Hayley would do anything for anybody but wasn't afraid to tell you if you took the mick. She was so brutally honest  it was one of her best character traits.

'If you wanted an honest opinion you would always ask Hayley. Her space in our lives will never be filled. She didn't deserve any of this. She had so much love and life to give.'

One of Ms Burke's friends paid tribute, saying she was 'the loudest friend in the group'

Ms Burke died in hospital after she was shot while police engaged in a stand-off in Dartford

One couple who knew Ms Burke described her as a 'lovely woman'. The 46-year-old father, who did not want to be named, said: 'She used to work at my kid's school years ago.

'I've known her for years. She was a beautiful looking girl. It's awful, especially on our doorstep, it scared a lot of people around here. But it's terrible, this area has gone right downhill.'

And the mother, who said her children were outside when it happened, added: 'My son, 14 years old, recognised her and said 'she really helped me'. She always helped him and was never rude.'

Another neighbour, who wished to remain anonymous, said he had just come back from the Coronation in the capital to find the road blocked off.

He told KentLive: 'I couldn't get down from that end, and I went down to that end, and then I heard the shots, and police were telling everyone to get behind the walls. It was worrying'

'It was worrying because I hadn't heard what was going on. I just heard rumours from the neighbours. I just heard that someone died.'

Yesterday Terry Beaton, 28, from Dartford, was charged by police for being in possession of a prohibited firearm before Friday.

Beaton, who was arrested on Tuesday, was due to appear at Medway Magistrates' Court.

He was also charged with possessing cannabis with intent to supply, driving while disqualified and driving without insurance.

A source said the weapon is being linked to the separate investigation into the murder of Ms Burke.

An investigation into both deaths is now being led by the coroner.
A worker at a crocodile park tourist attraction is lucky to be alive after being mauled by a five-metre saltwater crocodile.

The 34-year-old woman was taken to hospital after she was attacked by resident saltwater croc Leo while working at Crocosaurus Cove in Darwin on April 29.

It's understood the female employee was putting a plant in the enclosure while leaning over a wall when Leo make a beeline for her, a former employee told the NT News.

Another source claimed the woman was 'lucky to not lose a limb' during the horrifying encounter.

One visitor claimed they overheard staff discussing there had been 'a lot of blood' after the attack.

An employee was recently atttacked by Leo (pictured) the 5m saltwater crocodile at Crocosaurus Cove in Darwin

One source said the woman was 'lucky to not lose a limb' during the horrifying encounter. (pictured is Leo jumping for snacks at a previous feeding session the Crocosaurus Cove)

The former staff said a 'code-blue' life-threatening emergency alarm had been called out before the injured worker was treated with a tourniquet.

They said it was the first time a huge crocodile had attacked an employee like this but admitted other staff had been bitten by smaller juvenile crocodiles.

'There was a pretty bad bite, probably a year to two years ago now, where an underage staff member actually got bitten by one of the smaller crocodiles,' the former worker claimed.

NT WorkSafe confirmed the female worker had been bitten and an inquiry had been launched.

It would not disclose any details about the woman's injuries due to 'privacy' reasons.

A St John Ambulance spokeswoman said a 34-year-old woman had been taken to hospital with minor injuries.

The Crocosaurus Cove venue which said it offers visitors an up close and personal view of the crocodiles boasts the cage of death experience where visitors get to dive with Leo (pictured)

A Crocosaurus Cove spokeswoman said the 'minor incident' had been managed in accordance with to its policy and procedures, with positive outcomes

She said out of respect for its staff members the organisation would not make any further comment.

Leo the crocodile has been a tourist drawcard at the popular retile attraction since he was transferred from a Darwin crocodile farm.

Back in the mid-1980s, the crocodile had a penchant for live cattle on the Finiss River Station in the Northern Territory.

The venue which said it offers visitors an up close and personal view of the crocodiles boasts the cage of death experience where visitors get to dive with Leo.

'We reckon no croc jumps for his lunch quite like Leo does,' the tourist attraction said on it social media.
The U.S. Air Force is having F-22 pilots test a new model DASH (Display and Sight Helmet) pilot helmet. The AV-2 helmet was developed by LIFT Airborne Technologies. The AV-2 was winner of a 2022 NGFW (Next Generation Fixed Wing Helmet) competition between three helmet manufacturers, including GENTEX, which has provided most of the DASH helmets for fighter pilots since the 1980s. DASH helmets are a big business with over a dozen separate markets for helmets. The AV-2 is for jet fighter pilots and is lighter, easier to use and can accommodate more new features. The air force contract is worth about $400 million.

Combat pilots dont all use the same DASH type helmet. Attack aircraft and helicopter pilots require helmets specialized for their jobs. The most demanding category is fighter pilots, who benefit the most from lighter, more expensive and more capable in general helmets. Not all fighter aircraft pilots use the same helmet. For example, F-35 pilots fly aircraft that behave differently than most fighters. This is particularly true for naval aviators operating from carriers. For example, in 2018 U.S. Navy finally got an upgrade to the F-35 version of the JHMCS (Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System) that fixed a serious problem that was only noticed once less experienced F-35 carrier pilots began using JHMCS during night carrier landings (night traps). Carrier pilots did not begin using the F-35s on carriers until 2014 and the pilots involved were veteran carrier pilots who found the F-35 JHMCS worked fine and these veteran carrier pilots adapted to it quickly. But once new carrier pilots, with less than a few dozen night traps, began flying the F-35C carrier version there were reports that at night some green light leaked from the JHMCS in such a way that it was difficult to see the landing lights on the carrier deck that pilots had to constantly check to make a successful night trap. For F-35C pilots with more than a few dozen night traps this was not considered a major problem but for novice F-35C pilots it was seen as a potentially fatal distraction, especially during night traps carried out in bad weather. Until the problem was fixed only carrier pilots with fifty or more night traps could perform night traps with the F-35C.

That problem has been fixed by using OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) displays in the JHMCS helmets in place of the older LED tech. The first of these OLED versions went to the F-35C pilots with fewer than 50 night traps and eventually, all F-35C pilots had them. OLED was a planned upgrade for JHMCS and aircraft flight instruments in general, but there was not a lot of urgency for the more powerful F-35 version of the JHMCS. This version had a lot more data available on the helmet visor and was used differently than other versions of JHMCS.

The LED light leak problem was one of the things noted as a minor problem to be fixed eventually, after a major advance in the design of these helmets appeared in 2012. This new version entered service as JHMCS II and, like JHMCS I, allowed the user to fire weapons at wherever their eyes are pointed, no matter what direction the helmet is pointed. This new version did everything the older version did but faster and with less effort by the pilot. Version II used better hardware and software to track the movement of the pilot's eyes. The new JHMCS was better balanced and much more comfortable to wear and use. The new version was more reliable and cheaper as well. Still, a JHMCS II costs about a million dollars. It's an expensive way to cover your head. The cost of JHMCS includes additional equipment to be installed in the cockpit, training and technical support.

The JHMCS also allows a pilot to see critical flight and navigation information displayed on their visor, sort of like a see-through computer monitor or Head-Up Display. This enables the pilot to look around more often without having to look down at cockpit displays or straight ahead at a HUD (Head-Up Display). This kind of freedom gives an experienced pilot an extra edge in finding enemy aircraft or targets and maneuvering to get into a better position for attacks. JHMCS is also useful for air to ground attacks.

Systems like JHMCS have been very effective but JHMCS II was lighter and easier to wear (weight was a major problem in the past), easier to use, and more reliable, especially if you don't bump into the canopy. The new AV-1 helmet is lighter still and more capable in general.

The Israelis firm Elbit took the lead in developing this technology and made many technical breakthroughs with their earlier DASH system. Elbit teamed up with American firms to develop and market JHMCS, which is largely an improved DASH system. This also led to the F-35s JGMCS and the current AV-2.

The first helmet mounted sights were developed in South Africa in the 1970s. The Russians noted this development when they lost several jet fighters in Angola to South African pilots using these helmets. The Russians went to work and five years later had one of their own. It proved very effective and scared NATO air forces when the Russian helmet was demonstrated by German fighter pilots from the former East German (the Germany's united in 1991) against experienced American F-16 pilots. Israel was the first Western air force to develop one of these helmets and is still a leader in the field.

Since the 1980s these helmets have come to handle more data and chores while also being easier to wear. But these helmets are still heavy. That's why the better balance of JHMCS II was important. Even so, shortly after September 11, 2001, the U.S. Air Force introduced a new neck muscle exercise machine in air force gyms frequented by fighter pilots. This was because the new helmets weighed 2 kg (4.3 pounds), which was about fifty percent more than a plain old helmet. That extra weight may not seem like much but when making a tight turn, the gravitational pull (or "Gs") makes the helmet feel like it weighs 17.3 kg (38 pounds). You need strong neck muscles to deal with that. For decades now fighter pilots have had to spend a lot of time building upper body strength in the gym, in order to be able to handle the G-forces. Otherwise, pilots can get groggy or even pass out in flight, as well as land with strained muscles. The AV-2 helmet weighs about 40 percent less than most current models.

Before helmet mounted displays and aiming systems were available, pilots had to keep checking instruments in the cockpit and use fixed targeting systems. Not having to keep looking at the cockpit displays saved valuable seconds in jet fighter combat that was often over in less than ten seconds. Repeated combat exercises (and actual combat) between pilots with the helmets and those without has made this unequivocal. Its been a revolutionary development in air combat.

In the air combat community, the innovation is recognized as real and, for those not using it, a deadly disadvantage. To make the most of tech like this you must allow your pilots to spend hundreds of hours in the air practicing with the helmets. This is one reason why China and Russia adopted the more expensive Western style of training pilots over the last few decades.

In 2015 U.S. again upgraded the JHMCS II "look and shoot" helmet displays used by F-35, F-15, F-16 and F-18 pilots. The F-35s also got the latest version (the U.S.Israeli HMDS, Helmet-Mounted Display System) included a new VR (Virtual Reality) feature. These new helmets can display graphics in real time and the VR feature enables the helmet display to show what is beneath the aircraft (via six infrared cameras on the fuselage beneath the cockpit) when the pilot looks down with this VR feature turned on. This can be very useful in combat, ground attack or simply landing. This feature proved particularly effective when operating at night. HMDS is also closely integrated with the very capable F-35 avionics and thus will enable the F-35 to be the first modern jet without a standard HUD (mounted above the cockpit instruments in front of the pilot).

Basic features of these "look and shoot" helmet displays include information displayed on the visor, and sensors in the helmet, which enables the pilot to look at the target (either another aircraft, or something on the ground) and fire a weapon (missile) that will go after the target being looked at. Recent upgrades allow the pilot to also put "head up display" (HUD) information on the helmet visor visual system. This is a big advantage in air combat, where it's always been a problem having to look down at some display or instrument reading, and take your eyes off the surrounding airspace. This makes it safer for pilots (especially when flying on the deck, at high speed) and in combat. Another recent enhancement allows each pilot to customize what information is shown on their helmet visor.

These helmets are one of the major, and little mentioned, revolutions in air combat. Enabling a pilot to look and shoot as well as keep their heads up more of the time and more quickly make decisions in air-to-air combat is a big deal. This dramatic change has not gotten much publicity because there has been such little air-to-air combat in the last few decades. But in realistic training exercises, the difference has been noted. This has been documented in detail (and classified) in the United States because since the 1970s, American combat pilots have done regular training in instrumented airspace, where every move by aircraft and decision by pilots is recorded. This provides all sorts of data on how the aircraft and pilot performance has evolved over the decades. The new helmets have turned out to be a major innovation in air combat.
A McDonald's franchisee has been found negligent after a piping hot Chicken McNugget burned a four-year-old girl's thigh, leaving her 'disfigured and scarred.'

A Florida jury found both the franchisee and McDonald's had failed to produce instructions for the food which would have prevented the girl's injury.

Parents Philana Holmes and Humberto Caraballo Estevez sued the fast food giant and franchisee UpChurch Foods in 2019 for $15,000, on the grounds the restaurant served a chicken nugget that was 'defective, harmful and unfit for human handling.'

The jury has not yet decided how much McDonald's and UpChurch Foods will be required to pay the family.

The complaint said Holmes heard her then four-year-old daughter Olivia screaming in the back of the car as she left a Broward County McDonald's drive-thru after buying her a Happy Meal.

When she pulled over, she found a hot chicken nugget lodged between her daughter's thigh and a seatbelt, which had remained in contact with her skin for around two minutes and caused second-degree burns.

Philana Holmes said her daughter, who was four at the time, suffered second-degree burns after a chicken nugget fell on her leg

Holmes heard her then four-year-old daughter Olivia screaming in the back of the car as she left a Broward County McDonald's drive-thru

The jury returned a split verdict on Thursday.

While it found there was negligence on the part of UpChurch Foods, it did not find there was negligence on the part of McDonald's which was a legal cause of loss, injury or harm to the girl.

Fischer Redavid PLLC, the law firm representing the parents, called the jury decision a 'tremendous victory for a deserving family.'

'They stayed patient and fought hard with us for multiple years against a wealthy corporation: a jury unanimously ruled in favor of our client,' the firm said in a statement on Facebook.

It added that the verdict was a 'critical first step' for the family, who 'for years, have had to deal with the ramifications of something that was - now unquestionably - foreseeable, avoidable, and should never have happened.'

It described Olivia as an 'adorable, innocent child who was severely burned through no fault of her own.'

Fischer Redavid PLLC, the law firm representing the parents, called the jury decision a 'tremendous victory for a deserving family'

The franchisee previously told the court that it has to serve hot nuggets in order to adhere to food safety standards

Following the verdict, UpChurch Foods said in a statement it was 'disappointed' in the verdict and that it had followed protocols when serving the food.

'Our sympathies go out to this family for what occurred in this unfortunate incident, as we hold customer safety as one of our highest priorities. That's why our restaurant follows strict rules in accordance with food safety best practices when it comes to cooking and serving our menu items, including Chicken McNuggets,' the statement read.

'We are deeply disappointed with today's verdict because the facts show that our restaurant in Tamarac, Florida did indeed follow those protocols when cooking and serving this Happy Meal.

'Our community here in South Florida should remain confident that we will continue serving safe and high-quality meals, just as we've done for more than 50 years at Upchurch Management restaurants.'

The franchisee had previously denied the allegations in court filings saying they bear 'no responsibility for any injuries or damages' that the child 'may have sustained.'

In a statement on Thursday, McDonald's said they disagree with the verdict.

'We take every complaint seriously and certainly those that involve the safety of our food and the experiences of our customers. Together with our franchisees, for nearly 70 years, we have consistently served customers safe, high-quality food using strict policies and procedures,' the statement read.

'This was an unfortunate incident, but we respectfully disagree with the verdict. Our customers should continue to rely on McDonalds to follow policies and procedures for serving Chicken McNuggets safely.'

The family said the piping hot Chicken McNugget burned Olivia's thigh, leaving her 'disfigured and scarred'

Holmes said she heard her daughter screaming in the back seat of the car after buying her a Happy Meal from a McDonald's in Tamarac, Broward County

Jordan Redavid, who is representing the burned child's family, brought with him to court the iconic Happy Meal box and presented it to the judge

According to the lawsuit, on August 21, 2019, Holmes went to the McDonald's drive-thru in Tamarac and ordered, among other things, a six-piece Chicken McNuggets Happy Meal for her daughter.

'The Chicken McNuggets inside of that Happy meal were unreasonably and dangerously hot (in terms of temperature) and caused Olivia Holmes's skin and flesh around her thighs to burn,' reads the lawsuit.

On Tuesday, attorney Jordan Redavid, who is representing the family, brought the iconic Happy Meal box, with its two golden arches for handles, to court to present to the judge.

'The reasonable, foreseeable, intended use is for a child to handle this box. The law implies a promise from a corporation to, in this case, a child,' he said.

'And if its preventable, its warnable, you should warn someone about it, and if you don't do that then you're liable.'

His position was challenged by Scott Yount, an attorney representing McDonald's.

'Ms Holmes purchased 32 chicken McNuggets that day. the evidence will show that 31 of them, there was no problem with,' he said in response.
A Tory minister was humiliated on BBC Question Time last night after Nick Ferrari said water bosses should be jailed for five years if their company pumps sewage into rivers and the sea in Britain.

Helen Whately was left with her head in her hands when the LBC star, 64, shamed her Government for failing to properly punish fat-cats paid seven-figure salaries while human excrement flows into the UK's waterways.

To rapturous applause from the audience, Mr Ferrari said the scandal would be 'solved overnight' if the Government properly punished the bosses for the sins of their water firms by changing the law to make them personally responsible.

The broadcaster revealed one of his children had caught Weil's disease, adding: 'Fortunately he lived. It is a killer. And they [water companies] are playing with people's lives by putting sewage in the water. Put them behind bars, it will be solved overnight'.

He said: 'This is the way we solve it and it's very simple. When the government wants to, they can bring in a law overnight, like the Public Order Act, which saw six people with some banners and a load of rubber bands arrested and thrown in jail.

'This is the law that needs to come in. Any chief executive who continually allows his or her company to put raw sewage into the water - let's get this law enacted - will go to jail for five years.'

Nick Ferrari said water bosses should be jailed if their company pumped sewage into rivers

Minister of State for Social Care Helen Whately looked ashamed as Ferrari spoke passionately on the scandal

There was huge applause from the Question Time audience last night

Minister of State for Social Care Helen Whately sat quietly, with a desperate expression on her face, as the LBC presenter said: 'Water company bosses are paid an average of around 1million a year. Between the 22 or 23 of them they bank 25million.

'The profits that they make are eye-watering. The fines that are levied by the government are almost built in to the business model - they don't actually care because they are making so much money.

'Meanwhile, people in Bexhill and Eastbourne are out there swimming in a word I won't even use and you can't water your hydrangeas'.

This week the bosses of three water companies have decided to waive their bonuses  as pressure mounts over the ongoing scandal of sewage dumping in rivers.

The boss of Yorkshire Water, Nicola Shaw, the boss of Thames Water, Sarah Bentley and Susan Davy, of South West Water all announced their move.

All three had faced huge public criticism over the morality of accepting bumper bonuses while their firms were polluting rivers with industrial quantities of sewage.

Nicola Shaw, who took over from Liz Barber in May of last year, received a base salary of 574,000, according to the company's annual report.

It is not known what her bonus would have been for the last financial year, but her predecessor received, 679,000.

Ms Shaw said: 'I understand the strength of feeling about the issues linked to river health which is why I've decided that this year I won't be accepting a bonus.' Last year Ms Bentley received a 496,000 bonus, while Ms Davy received 522,000

Ms Bentley of Thames Water said it 'just did not feel like the right thing to take performance-related pay this year'.

Thames Water's chief financial officer, Alastair Cochran, will also skip his bonus for 2022-23. He received 298,000 last year.

Last summer, holidaymakers were warned to avoid more than 50 dangerously-polluted beaches across England and Wales after a heatwave followed by heavy rain caused a surge of sewege overflows.

Sewage discharges close to 'high priority' areas like nature reserves will have to be cut by 75 per cent by 2030 and eliminated by 2045 (file image)

Emma Clancy, chief executive of the Consumer Council for Water, said: 'We welcome this move by Sarah Bentley and Alastair Cochran at Thames Water.

'Our recent research, Bridging the Gap, shows that bonuses add to people's current frustration with the water industry and they would like much more openness and transparency on this issue.

'This announcement shows that people's concerns are being listened to.'

Public anger has grown at the huge payouts to executives during the crisis of sewage dumping over the past year.

A House of Lords committee said in March that water bosses should not receive bonuses while their companies are missing targets and polluting the environment.

It said 'a slurry of under-investment, insufficient government strategy, and inadequate co-ordination' has meant water is not being treated with the care and importance it deserves.

The committee also said the regulator, Ofwat, has failed to ensure companies invest enough money into infrastructure.

The Government has said it is forcing water companies to invest 56 million in updating its infrastructure, much of which is decades old.

Dr Harvey Wood, director of the Clean Rivers Trust, said it is not able to accommodate the extra demand placed on the sewage system by a larger population and that only a nationwide overhaul will alleviate the pressure.

Pictured: Nicola Shaw of Yorkshire Water (file photo). Ms Shaw, who took over from Liz Barber in May of last year, received a base salary of 574,000, according to the company's annual report. It is not known what her bonus would have been, but her predecessor received 679,000

Pictured: Sarah Bentley of Thames Water (file photo). Last year Ms Bentley received a 496,000 bonus

He said: 'It's a huge problem that this country has got to adjust to. Sewers that are discharging are having to take far more sewage as the house building continues and the system can't cope.

'There's a huge need in rural and semi-rural areas for an increase in sewer size. The sewer system generally in this country is shot.' The government has also announced that its plan to cut storm overflow spills would be extended to all coastal waters, not just designated bathing waters.

It is as yet unknown whether this means it will cost more than the 56billion earmarked under the initial plan, published last year.

Ofwat said that from 2025 it would be set targets for water companies to reduce storm overflow releases, and would fine companies for missing them.

The economic regulator for the water sector also announced that Britains privatised water and sewage companies will face increased penalties from 2025 for using faulty or broken equipment to measure pollution from storm overflow pipes.
Online retailer Boohoo is set to send out 11.3million gift cards to customers as part of a settlement for allegedly plugging bogus sales deals.

The fast fashion brand - which counts Kourtney Kardashian as its 'sustainability' ambassador - was accused of displaying products at marked down prices even though they had never been listed for the original cost.

For example, it might falsely have claimed a $10 dress had previously been $30 - a breach of consumer protection laws in California where a class-action suit was first filed in 2020.

It comes after it was revealed that TurboTax customers will also be in line for a payout after it was accused of running a 'predatory' marketing campaign.

The case applied to three brands owned by the $4.7 billion firm - including Pretty Little Thing, Nasty Gal and boohooMAN.

Online retailer Boohoo is set to send out 11.3million gift cards to customers as part of a settlement for allegedly plugging bogus sales deals

The fast fashion brand was accused of displaying products at marked down prices - even though they had never been listed for the original cost.

In April Boohoo agreed to settle the suit for $197 million without admitting guilt and in the coming weeks it will start sending out gift cards to the estimated 9.4 million customers affected.

The cards will be loaded with $10 to shop and $7.28 to cover shipping fees - totaling $17.28.

Any California residents who purchased products from the Boohoo brands between April 2016 and June 2022 may be eligible for the compensation.

Those eligible will be informed and there is no need to submit a claim to receive the payment.

On Twitter e-commerce lawyer Robert Freund said there were likely many more retailers accused of inflating original prices to make the sale price look more appealing.

Doing so is a breach of laws implemented in the Federal Trade Commission Act which states a former price must be 'the actual, bona fide price at which the article was offered to the public on a regular basis for a reasonably substantial period of time.'

Freund said: 'Markdowns with slashed former prices like this are a common and effective sales tactic.

'But if that $20.00 item was never actually offered at the $50.00 reference price of a substantial amount of time, the 'sale' ad is illegal.'

At the time a statement from KCC class action services said: 'Defendants deny all of the allegations made in the Actions. The Court has not determined who is right.'

'Rather, the Parties have agreed to settle the lawsuits to avoid the uncertainties and expenses associated with ongoing litigation.'

Boohoo is a UK-based retailer which began as a market stall in Manchester before expanding across the world.

It quickly boomed in popularity due to the brand's ability to quickly replicate fashion styles, then offer them to consumers at minimal prices.

Items like a bodycon dress can retail for as little as $5.

But in the UK it has repeatedly been embroiled in a host of scandals relating to its environmental impact and labor conditions.

In September Kourtney Kardashian came under fire for collaborating with the brand on a more 'sustainable' collection

Kardashian is pictured attending her Boohoo New York Fashion Week show last year with husband Travis Barker

In 2020, an investigation by UK paper the Sunday Times found workers at Boohoo's factory were earning as little as $4.40 an hour.

And last year the Fashion Transparency Index - which ranks major brands on how transparent they are regarding their practices, products and social environmental efforts - gave Boohoo a score of just 28 percent.

In September Kourtney Kardashian unveiled a collaboration with the brand which promised to be more sustainable as it used recycled materials.

However she came under fire for 'greenwashing,' with experts saying the move did not do enough to off-set the billions of tons of clothes the company produces each year.

British Vogue writer Emily Chan called it at the time 'another blatant attempt at greenwashing in the fashion industry.

Dailymail.com reached out to Boohoo for comment.
An unemployed graphic designer who was blasted as a 'dole bludger' by Ben Fordham has hit back at the radio host in an extraordinary spray - and demanded more money for Aussies on welfare.

On Friday, 2GB breakfast host Mr Fordham unleashed on 'dole bludgers', while sharing the stories of everyday Aussies angry at recent hikes to JobSeeker payments.

He called out Jez Heywood, 47, president of the Australian Unemployed Workers Union, who had previously said he was 'angry and annoyed' by the welfare payments not being raised high enough.

'Jez says you have to weigh up every financial decision you make. Why don't you weigh up getting a job? Any job? Because we're here to tell you there are half a million of them available right now,' Mr Fordham fumed.

The comments sparked an angry response from Mr Heywood on Twitter.

He doubled down on Friday night as he slammed the radio host as a 'bully' and challenged him to a face-to-face chat in the studio - all while demanding higher welfare payments for Aussies on the dole.

Jez Heywood (pictured) has challenged Ben Fordham to a face-to-face chat in the 2GB studios

'Ben Fordham is a coward and bully who has been taking pot-shots at welfare recipients from the safety of his cosy radio studio for years,' Mr Heywood told Daily Mail Australia.

'This highly-paid weakling profits off demonising the most vulnerable in our society who are trying everything they can to survive on $49.50 a day, less than half the poverty line.

'If Ben wants to shoot his mouth off further, I challenge him to have me in his studio where he can look me in the eye and tell me what he thinks to my face. I doubt he has the guts to do that, though.'

Taking aim at Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, the unemployed man also called for welfare payments to go further.

'Albanese's budget was an abject failure from someone who promised 'Nobody Left Behind',' Mr Heywood raged.

'He has ignored the pleas of the AUWU, ACOSS, his own backbenchers and even his own economic inclusion advisory committee report that recommended jobseeker be substantially increased.

'People are desperate. People have to make unnecessary sacrifices, choosing between food, heating and medication, to survive. People are living in tents.

'We are one of the richest countries in the world with the worst welfare payments in the OECD.

'Yet Albanese is persisting with the stage three tax cuts. And the AUKUS deal. Rich people and the military industrial complex are clearly more important to Albanese than the most vulnerable Australians.'

Earlier in the day, Mr Heywood hit back at those calling him a dole bludger by sharing a screenshot of his job search records.

'For all the idiots telling me to get a job that obviously don't know how mutual obligations work, here you go: 11 applications in the past fortnight,' he wrote.

Ben Fordham (pictured) called out the unemployment graphic designer on Friday

The Budget saw JobSeeker and Youth Allowance both rising by $40 a fortnight from September (pictured, queues outside Centrelink in Brisbane)

The row came after Treasurer Jim Chalmers this week announced a range of measures to benefit those on welfare.

The Budget saw JobSeeker and Youth Allowance both rising by $40 a fortnight from September.

Eligibility for a higher rate of JobSeeker will also be lowered from 60 to 55, following a rise in the number of older Australians on the payment.

The plans have triggered fierce debate and Mr Fordham weighed into the controversy on Friday .

'When it comes to helping these people they barely get a crumb. All of the help went to people already getting help. And this is what the workers are saying to us,' he said.

'People are angry. They want to support people who are unable to work or people between jobs. But they cannot cop the never ending handouts to people who choose to sit at home and we know that there are some of them. More than some.'

Jez Heywood (pictured) also lashed out at Prime Minister Anthony Albanese when contacted by Daily Mail Australia

Mr Fordham then called out Mr Heywood for doing a newspaper interview slamming the JobSeeker raises.

'There's a bloke called Jez, who's popped up in the Australian newspaper. He's a 47- year-old unemployed graphic designer. He hasn't had a job in six years,' he said.

'And Jez says he's unimpressed with the government's job seeker increase. He wants more. He says and I quote, 'I'm angry, annoyed. This is nothing, absolutely nothing'.'

In an initial response on social media, Mr Heywood said: 'Hey, Ben Fordham you f***ing gronk, don't just take a cowardly swipe from the comfort of your studio, call me up and let's have a chat,' Mr Heywood tweeted.

'Have me on your show you coward.'

Mr Heywood who has been unemployed since 2017 and has limited job options due to health conditions, said the extra $2.85 a day was so small it makes 'no difference'.

'I'm angry, annoyed - this is nothing, absolutely nothing,' Mr Heywood told The Australian.

'The government commissioned a study that said significant increases were needed and they've ignored it.'
'He's gonna realize that this family is gonna make sure he doesn't get away with it,' Goncalves' father Steve said

Goncalves was brutally slain along with Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin at the University of Idaho in November 2022

The family of Kaylee Goncalves has spoken out for the first time about their plan to present a united front at suspect Bryan Kohberger's preliminary hearing

The family of Idaho murder victim Kaylee Goncalves has said it will face suspected killer Bryan Kohberger down in court next month - as he filed a motion to delay the hearing.

The bodies of Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin were found on November 13, 2022, at a rental home near the University of Idaho campus.

In a new interview with GMA, Goncalves' father said despite their heartbreak they are going to be in court next month when former criminology student Kohberger makes his appearance for a preliminary hearing.

'I can't wait to see the evidence. ... And then I'm gonna bring it. And he's gonna realize that this... is the family that's gonna make sure he doesn't get away with it,' Steve Goncalves said.

Kohberger's preliminary hearing is due to take place on June 26. This week, the suspect's lawyers filed a motion to delay a May 22 hearing on the media gag order in place. The attorney's argue that they won't to bring in an expert witness for the hearing but that he won't be available on the scheduled date.

In a new interview with Good Morning America, Kaylee Goncalves' father, Steve, said that he looks forward to seeing the evidence against the man accused of killing his daughter

While Goncalves' mother, Kristi, said that the family will present a united front in court, she did say that she will not be in court for the more gruesome bits of the trial

This weekend Kalyee Goncalves will receive a posthumous degree from the University of Idaho

The Goncalves family has also asked the lower court judge to lift the gag order, saying their attorney should be allowed to speak about the family's opinions on the case on their behalf. A hearing on the Goncalves' request has been set for May 25.

In the GMA interview, Goncalves' mother, Kristi, said it was a 'big thing' for the family to go in 'strong' and 'united.'

'I've never been to a preliminary trial before. ... I have no idea what to expect, I have no idea what we're going to hear. ... But I know that I've got my son, and my daughter will be there, and my sister, and my husband,' Kristi added.

She did say that during the more gruesome elements of the trial, she would prefer not to be there. 'I'm not going to scar myself. I have visions of my own that, you know, I have to deal with,' Kristi went on.

This weekend, Goncalves' siblings will accept her posthumous degree from the university. The four students will be recognized during the university's May 13 graduation ceremonies, along with another student who recently died in a car accident, and nearly 3,000 new graduates.

Kristi Goncalves also said that she does not think that her daughter and Kohberger had any connection.

'I've thought long and hard' about if Kaylee and Kohberger could have crossed paths. We've talked as a family, you know, we've done a lot of research on what's out there. ... None of it makes sense,' Kristi said.

When she first saw Kohberger in court, Kristi said that she felt completely overwhelmed and nearly passed out.

The family Kaylee Goncalves leave Latah County Court on after Bryan Kohberger made his initial appearance in court

Maddie Mogen (top) Kaylee Goncalves (second from left) Xana Kernodle (second from right) and Ethan Chapin (center) - all students at the University of Idaho - were stabbed to death on November 13 in the quiet, college town of Moscow

The university where Bryan Kohberger worked was only a little over eight miles from the murder scene

Goncalves' brother, Steven, said that he's skeptical about the media reports suggesting that the suspect was at a party thrown at the victim's house.

A posthumous degree in general studies will be awarded to Goncalves Saturday, and one in marketing will be awarded to Mogen, the university announced in a press release.

Chapin, who was a freshman, will be awarded a certificate in recreation, sport and tourism management, and Kernodle, who was a junior, will be awarded a certificate in marketing. Certificates acknowledge credit toward degrees in progress.

Goncalves' sister, Autumn, and brother, Steven, will accept the degree.

'I would have never thought, a year ago, or even six months ago, that there was going to be a reason that Kaylee couldn't accept her own degree... that she wouldn't be here,' Autumn said.

'I think it's a way to show unity and respect for Kaylee and her hard work. I just feel that it's important for someone to walk for her,' she added.

Authorities have submitted several search warrants to social media companies, including TikTok and Google, which date back to January 2021  more than a year before the brutal killings

The four University of Idaho students stabbed to death in their off-campus home will be awarded posthumous degrees and certificates. Goncalves, 21 and Mogen, 21, were months away from receiving their degrees. They will receive a general studies and marketing degree

Xana Kernodle (right), who was a junior, will be issued a marketing certificate. Meanwhile, Ethan Chapin (left), a freshman, will be granted a recreation, sport and tourism management certificate

Guadalupe Ruiz, who was killed in a car crash in August, will receive a posthumous degree in criminology, the release said.

Bryan Kohberger, who was pursuing a PhD in criminal justice, is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and burglary in connection with the stabbing deaths. Prosecutors have yet to reveal if they intend to seek the death penalty.

Media organizations have argued that a gag order enforced in the case violates the First Amendment rights of a free press.

The order prohibits attorneys, prosecutors, law enforcement agencies and others involved in the case from talking to the news media unless they are quoting directly from a court document.

But last week the Idaho Supreme Court unanimously denied the request, saying the news groups should have first asked the lower court to have the order lifted.

The Supreme Court justices did not weigh in on whether the gag order violates First Amendment rights.

'This Court has long respected the media's role in our constitutional republic, and honored the promises in both the Idaho Constitution and First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,' Justice Gregory Moeller wrote in the high court's decision.

Still, Moeller wrote, the balancing act between the First Amendment protections afforded to the press and the Sixth Amendment fair trial rights promised to defendants has become increasingly difficult with the advent of the internet and social media.

High-publicity cases often present a conundrum for judges, who work to protect the defendant's right to a fair trial.

Courts sometimes feel that controlling the flow of information around the case  by forbidding those involved from talking about it  is an effective way to limit publicity.

But gag orders can infringe on the First Amendment rights of the public and of the people involved in the case. News organizations that cover the courts serve a watchdog role, keeping the public informed about how the judicial branch operates.

During the investigation into the University of Idaho students' slayings, news organizations' interviews with investigators and law enforcement officials often worked to quash misinformation spread online by people who styled themselves as sleuths on social media sites.
This is the moment a five-foot alligator was spotted roaming the sewage system of Florida last week.

The shocking footage was taken via a robot by the city of Oviedo's stormwater crew, who were investigating a series of potholes on May 5.

The four-wheel robotic camera is usually used to identify underground road defects such as leaky pipes.

But this underground expedition threw up an unexpected discovery as the machine moved towards a pair of eyes glowing in the dark.

'At first, they thought it was a toad', the workers wrote in the caption to the video uploaded to Facebook.

The terrifying creature was spotted in the sewage system of Oviedo, Florida

The four-wheel robotic camera is usually used to identify underground road defects such as leaky pipes

But it soon became clear 'when it turned around, they saw the long tail of the alligator and followed it through the pipes!' they added.

The beast is seen lying semi-submerged in the sewer water before backing up as the robot approaches.

As it comes into touching distance it turns around and marches off down the pipe.

The camera is able to follow the reptile a few feet further before becoming snagged on an indentation and the alligator waddles out of view.

It soon became clear it was an alligator 'when it turned around, they saw the long tail of the alligator and followed it through the pipes!'

The beast is seen lying semi-submerged in the sewer water before backing up as the robot approaches

It comes after a 4-foot-long alligator was discovered in a lake in Prospect Park, Brooklyn in February.

The creature was found in an emaciated state and was taken for urgent care at the Bronx Zoo.

Unfortunately, it did not survive after a chronic ulcer developed as a result of the animal having eaten a bathtub stopper.

It comes after a 4-foot-long alligator was discovered in a lake in Prospect Park , Brooklyn in February

Zoo officials said the animal had died as a result of a 'tragic case of animal abuse' after its previous owners dumped it in the public waters.

'This alligator suffered and died because its owner decided to dump her in a frigid lake, in an extremely debilitated state rather than provide her with the veterinary care that could have saved her,' officials said.

They added: 'Wild animals are not pets.' The post-mortem revealed she had chronic weight loss, extreme anemia and skin and intestine infections.
At least 16 tornados devastated America's heartland with Oklahoma bearing the brunt - as more severe weather looms over the Great Plains and South.

Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Montana and Louisiana were battered with bad weather on Thursday night - as it wreaked havoc across the Midwest.

The worst damage was in Noble, Oklahoma - roughly 30 miles outside of Oklahoma City - where four businesses and homes were struck by the storm.

In Weskan, Kansas, a multi-vortex tornado tore off part of a school's roof, while also damaging stadium bleachers, a scoreboard, and more.

A large tornado can be seen touching down in Cole, Oklahoma on Thursday evening

Several twisters were spotted throughout the heartland, including in Wallace, Kansas (left) and Akron, Colorado (right)

A funnel cloud was caught rolling over the mountains in Mountain (pictured) earlier this week as at least 16 tornadoes tore through the Great Plains and the South on Thursday. The area also saw plenty of other twisters throughout the Great Plains and the South earlier this week

Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana were battered with bad weather and at least 16 terrifying twisters on Thursday evening as bad weather rolls through the country's heartland

'After we left the shelter - it was in the big gym - I noticed a waterfall [as] the roof had gotten damaged pretty good, and water was coming in from the rain,' Principal of Weskan Schools, Jeff Montero, told KWCH.

'And then as we walked through the building we saw broken glass. And then upstairs, my office and a few other offices and classrooms and stuff, you can look up and see sky.'

Weskan Schools was just three days out from the end of the year and had prepared the alum-funded bleachers for their graduation ceremony.

The $75,000 bleachers had only stood at the school for a week and a half before the twister mangled the structure.

At the end of the day, though, Montero was 'just happy no one got hurt.'

'I was really worried about the kids when I was down there, trying to keep them safe, keep them calm, and make sure they weren't freaking out,' he said.

Other tornados also touched down in McDonald, Grove County, and Edson in Kansas, according to Accuweather.

In Colorado, many short-lived tornadoes were spotted bouncing around near Arapahoe County - near Denver. More tornadoes were also spotted in Nebraska.

Outside of the twisters, the Great Plains suffered from heavy downpours and hail, with some areas experiencing an average of two months of rain in two days.

Cherry Creek Reservoir State Park in Colorado got around 10 inches on Tuesday, which left several roadways damaged, with massive holes and cracks in the asphalt.

In Weskan, Kansas, a multi-vortex tornado tore off part of a school's roof, while also damaging stadium bleachers, a scoreboard, and more

Weskan Schools was just three days out from the end of the year and had prepared the alum-funded bleachers for their graduation ceremony. The $75,000 bleachers had only stood at the school for a week and a half before the twister mangled the structure

A tree was seem blocking a roadway in Kansas after one of the twisters (pictured)

Two people in Oklahoma nervously look out their door after the storm in Noble. The worst damage was in Noble - roughly 30 miles outside of Oklahoma City - where four businesses and homes were struck by the storm

Denver International Airport got just over four inches of rain between Wednesday and Friday, which is above average for the area.

More severe weather is expected to hit the middle of the country on Friday, with large hail, damaging winds, and some tornadoes forecasted.

Kansas City, Des Moines, and Omaha all have the highest threat for hail and tornadoes, according to Good Morning America (GMA).

Meanwhile, Oklahoma City, Dallas, and San Antonio have the highest threat for damaging winds.

Flash flooding could also be a major issues from Wyoming to Texas and alerts have already been sent to residents. Some areas in Texas could get up to 10 inches of rain over the next few days, the National Weather Service predicted.
The United States on Friday ended a COVID-19 border restriction that had blocked many migrants at the border with Mexico, triggering a scramble to enter during the night that had evaporated by sunrise.

A holding area by the border wall outside Yuma, Arizona, that was filled with lines of migrants on Thursday night was empty at dawn.

The only reminder of a surge in arrivals as the clock ticked down to the Title 42 deadline was a dumpster filled with discarded water bottles and a mess of footprints in the sand.

Local officials said everyone  from Border Patrol agents to migrants and the cartels that control people smuggling operations  was trying to understand what came next after the end of Title 42 and the introduction of slew of new regulations.

'I anticipate that people are still trying to figure out what this means and how this will play out,' said Yuma County Supervisor Jonathan Lines.

 Slide me  This was the scene on Friday morning close to the border wall outside Yuma, Arizona. It was deserted. Some 24 hours earlier the line of migrants waiting to be process was 300-strong

Predictions of chaos also failed to come true in other border cities, such as El Paso, Texas.

However, that does not mean the crisis is over. Days of surging migration have pushed holding facilities way beyond capacity.

Officials told DailyMail.com that border detention facilities have maxed-out holding as many as 28,000 people as numbers detained at the border surpassed 10,000 a day.

Border cities say they cannot keep with processing arrivals, screening them and allocating court dates for their asylum claims to be heard.

The city of Yuma was preparing to release more than 140 migrants on to the city's streets on Friday in order to relieve pressure on the processing system  the first such releases in two years.

Thursday night brought a fresh surge in arrivals on the Arizona border. A big group of Peruvians rounded the edge of the border wall with an hour to spare before the end of Title 42.

They were followed 45 minutes later by another big group. They included dozens of young men at Senegal who arrived at a run.

Even after Title 42 expired, they kept trickling in. At one point more than 200 people were waiting to be processed.

The end of Title 42 brought a surge in arrivals on Thursday night as the clock ticked towards midnight eastern time. Senegalese, Mauritanians and Peruvians were among two big groups that got in just under the wire in Yuma country. Dozens more trickled in

A couple with a young baby clambered up a levee as they arrived on U.S. soil on Thursday

The arrivals have put unprecedented pressure on Yuma's facilities. The city is expected to release more than 140 migrants who haven't been processed on Friday

Unofficial numbers put the number of detentions at 1500 for the day, the highest in recent weeks.

Doom mongers had warned that things would only get worse on Friday. But the arrivals dried up in several sectors.

Chris Clem, the former Yuma Sector Chief Border Patrol Agent, said it was too early to celebrate.

'The administration I'm sure they are working feverishly behind the scenes with Mexico. I'm sure they're doing a lot of things to manage this,' he said

'And I do believe the will control things and will play things out.

'Then the migrants may be you know, trying to figure it out. Do they want to get caught up in the rush? Do they want to wait a few days and see how things play out?'

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas explained Thursday that the end of Title 42 meant migrants would now be processed under Title 8

Either way, he said there was no getting away from the fact that the numbers in border facilities were at the highest he could remember.

Title 42 was activated by the Trump administration to stem the spread of COVID-19. It is a public health measure that allows border authorities to immediately expel arrivals before they could even claim asylum.

But with the pandemic over, it finally expired at midnight eastern time on Thursday.

The Biden administration rushed through new restrictions, effectively restoring Trump's 'transit ban,' which allows for the deportation of arrivals who did not seek asylum in countries through which they traveled.

Migrants can legally present themselves at the border if they used a mobile app, CBP One, to register in advance.

But there were snags. An eleventh hour legal challenge blocked plans to more quickly release migrants from Border Patrol detention.

Administration officials also said it was too early to declare victory.

'Overnight, we saw similar patterns to what we've seen over the past several days. We continue to encounter high levels of non-citizens at the border but we did not see a substantial increase overnight or an influx at midnight,' Blas Nunez-Neto, the Department of Homeland Security's assistant secretary for border and immigration policy, told reporters on a briefing call.

'It is still early, however, and our focus remains the same: processing people safely and humanely, but now with additional tools for us to deliver consequences quickly.'
Jordan Neely's family attorneys today told New Yorkers they should not shy away from erratic, homeless people on the subway even if they're behaving threateningly, and instead say: 'Sir, let me help you.'

Neely was homeless, schizophrenic and had a record of 40 arrests that included punching a 67-year-old woman in the face.

On May 1, he was screaming that he wanted to 'kill a motherf****r' to get a ticket to jail where he'd receive meals.

Daniel Penny, a 24-year-old Marine veteran, stepped in and put him in a chokehold. Neely died at the scene.

Attorney Donte Mills says New Yorkers should offer help to homeless people on the subway if they feel scared and ask why they're acting out

Jordan Neely's aunt Mildred and his father Zachary at a press conference today as Daniel Penny was charged with second degree manslaughteR

Penny on his way to Manhattan Criminal Court today after being charged with manslaughter

Penny will today be arraigned on second degree manslaughter charges. The case has proved a lightning rod of debate and discussion over whether Penny did the right thing in a city where the subway is a breeding ground of violence and crime

At a press conference, Neely's family - who say they saw him intermittently before his death - suggested through their attorneys Donte Mills and Lennon Edwards that the frightened passengers should have offered him help.

'No one on that train asked Jordan, "what's wrong? How can I help you."

'He was choked to death instead.

'And for anyone saying they get scared on a train and aren't sure how they would have reacted... ask how you can help. Please. Don't attack, don't choke, don't kill.

'No one said: here sir, let me meet your need.'

'We disagree with the manslaughter charge. We think it should be murder.'

The family said Jordan 'had a home to come to' but did not want to 'on bad days'.

The attorney also said the family had begged mental hospitals to keep Neely in the past because he 'wasn't ready to come home.'

According to witnesses on the subway, Neely had been threatening to kill someone because he wanted a ticket to jail where he would fed regularly

Neely's mental health had deteriorated drastically in recent years, according to his family

'He had a house to go to but he didn't know how to process his mental health. There were times he was in a facility and the family asked them to keep him. He's not ready to come home and they didn't, they needed the bed so they got him out of there.'

Neely's father and his aunt declined to take questions or speak.

'We're not in the business of putting people on the spot,' said their attorneys.

Penny is facing up to 15 years in prison on a second degree manslaughter charge.

His attorneys say he does not deserve to be prosecuted, and that he was trying to protect others on the train.

A 66-year-old female witness to the incident spoke anonymously to The New York Post last night on the eve of Penny's arraignment to support him.

She said there are more videos of the altercation that led up to the chokehold that she believes will absolve Penny of wrongdoing.

Penny's attorneys set up the fundraiser as Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg announced charges. It has raised more than $250,000 from more than 5,000 donors

'So I believe that those videos are going to come forward, maybe people will do it anonymously.

'I hope he has a great lawyer, and Im praying for him. And I pray that he gets treated fairly, I really do.

'Because after all of this ensued I went back and made sure that I said, "thank you" to him.'

She said Neely brought on the chokehold by threatening the entire train and many of them took the threats seriously.

'He said, "I dont care. Ill take a bullet, Ill go to jail" because he would kill people on the train.

'He said I would kill a motherf***er. I dont care. Ill take a bullet. Ill go to jail.'

'This gentleman, Mr. Penny, did not stand up. Did not engage with the gentleman. He said not a word. It was all Mr. Neely that was threatening the passengers. If he did not get what he wants,' she said.

Eventually, Penny stood up and pulled him to the ground. Two other men helped subdue him.

Neither of them have been charged.
A herd of heroic cows helped their human cop friends track down a North Carolina man who was fleeing from police during a high speed chase.

Joshua Russell Minton, 34, of Millers Creek, tried to flee from officers during a traffic stop taking police on a wild chase.

The suspect abandoned his car in the area of US Highway 421 and US Highway 221 in Deep Gap and fled on foot in a grassy field.

He was arrested on Tuesday after some cows turned him in. He was charged with eluding arrest with a motor vehicle, driving with a revoked license and disorderly conduct.

Minton's next court date is scheduled for June 28 in Watauga County.

Joshua Minton, 34, of Millers Creek was arrested on Tuesday and later charged with one count of felony fleed to elude arrest with a motor vehicle , driving with a revoked license, and disorderly conduct. He received a $20,000 secured bond

The herd of cows (pictured) helped the cows assist in Minton's arrest on Tuesday

Minton left his car abandoned in the area of US Highway 421 and US Highway 221 in Deep Gap and fled on foot in a grassy field on Tuesday before getting caught by the authorities

One officer said, 'you can't make it up...it's rare... and its pretty cool.'

It is unclear the number of cows involved in the pursuit and if they were making mooing sounds during the capture, but officers were grateful that the animals jumped into action.

The police said the cops lost track of the suspect due to his reckless driving and the cows helped assist by leading the officers to the area where Minton was hiding.

'The cows communicated with the officers as best they could and finally just had the officers follow them to the suspects location.'

The department expressed their gratitude to the cows for their 'unexpected but welcomed,' help.

Boone Sargeant Dennis O'Neal told WCNC Charlotte said, 'officers noticed when they were conducting their ground search for the individual that cows in a certain pasture began moving.'

'Based on that movement, they felt like the suspect was in the area of the cows. So that's how the cows assisted with his capture.'

'Apparently cows do not want suspected criminals loitering in their pasture and quickly assisted our officers by leading them directly to where the suspect was hiding,' the news release said.

'In addition to thanking our officers and deputies for putting themselves in harm's way; obviously, we want to express our gratitude to the cows for their assistance,' police said.

Officer Creed with the Boone Police Department appeared elated and said, 'you can't make it up...it's rare... and its pretty cool'

Some of the cows resting in the pasture in

On Thursday, the department shared a Facebook post of the incident that mentioned 'opens up all kinds of questions as to the bovines role in crime fighting.'

'Honestly, it is something that we have not considered before now. As we examine the obvious next steps of incorporating a Bovine Tracking Unit into our departments law enforcement capabilities there are many factors that we will have to consider,' they wrote.

Some of the questions raised were the following: How adaptable are cows to a variety of police work or can they just find hiding suspects?'

'Are cows more cost effective than K-9 dogs? How will we transport cows to the scenes, and is this compatible with the Towns sustainability goals in terms of types of vehicles needed and obviously there are methane issues?

And, what about the cost of training, vet care, ballistic vests, etc.?'

'We at the Boone Police Department are always looking for better ways to serve our community. We may be a small town; but we are a progressive, forward thinking law enforcement agency,' they wrote.

'For rural law enforcement, we want to be the tip of the spear
Peace negotiations seemed promising earlier in the year but have stalled, mainly because the Shia rebels, the Yemen government and Saudi Arabia cannot agree on who should get what. There were brief ceasefire agreements that were renewed several times but by the end of 2022 progress had stalled and that has not changed in 2023. The rebels demanded large cash payments and other concessions if there was to be another ceasefire. The government refused. Some fighting resumed after the ceasefire expired, mainly in the usual war zones; Taiz province in the south and Marib in central Yemen. The fighting was low key and the Saudis did not resume their airstrikes, nor have the rebels resumed attacks against targets in Saudi Arabia or the UAE (United Arab Emirates). This turned out to be the result of direct negotiations between the rebels and the Saudis. This was the first time the rebels and Saudis worked out such a deal. Iranian influence on the Shia rebels is fading and many rebel factions were calling for some kind of peace deal and an end to a civil war that the rebels were losing. Factionalism among the rebels is something that the government and Saudis are unable to address.

The ceasefire negotiations did have some positive results, in addition to the reduced fighting plus halts to Saudi airstrikes and rebel missile attacks into Saudi Arabia. Commercial passenger and cargo flights were resumed in the rebel controlled airports. In February aid shipments resumed through the Red Sea port of Hodeida for the first time since 2016 with the arrival of the first general cargo ship which unloaded followed by the arrival and unloading of two more. The cargo delivery was made possible by the ongoing peace talks between the government and the Shia rebels. Bringing general cargo in via Hodeida was cheaper for customers in the northwest than the previous use of the southern port of Aden. This required sending the cargo north by truck.

There is still some fighting in the usual war zones; Taiz province in the south and Marib in central Yemen. The fighting is less intense than in the past. The Saudis continue to negotiate directly with the Shia rebels in order to keep the peace on the Saudi border. The peace in the Shia rebel north is partly the result of exhaustion after eight years of fighting and not much to show for it. Down south the Yemen government controls 80 percent of Yemen but has to deal with separatist southerners and Islamic terrorists. The STC (South Transitional Council) and many government troops spent the ceasefire period going after Islamic terrorist groups AQAP (Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula) and ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) in the south and east. A major reason for rebels agreeing to a ceasefire was a decline in Iranian support due to lack of funds plus unrest at home. The Iranian weapons, cash, advisors and smuggling network supercharged the Shia rebels, enabling them to keep fighting the more numerous and better armed force arrayed against them. Iran has been openly supporting the Shia rebels since 2014 and later admitted that less visible support had been supplied since 2011.

Eight years of civil war have revived the centuries old north-south divide. This was last mended in the 1990s. The possibility of a split has returned because the UAE (United Arab Emirates) has been in charge of security (and aid delivery) in the south since 2015 and supported formation of the STC. This group is composed of southern tribes that want autonomy but are willing to fight and defeat the Islamic terrorists as well as the Shia rebels first. Aidarous al Zubaidi, the STC leader, is seen as more popular in the south than any government official. The Saudis and the UAE do not agree on dividing Yemen once more but for the moment it is more convenient to support the STC and efforts to defeat the Iran backed Shia rebels.

Currently Iranian aid for the rebels is much reduced because the Iranians have their own problems at home and have switched to supplying the Russian forces in Ukraine. Based on interceptions by American and other warships in the naval blockade of rebel controlled coastline, but at a lower intensity and consisting mainly of infantry weapons rather that cruise and ballistic missiles used to attack Saudi Arabia. The Saudis are negotiating directly with the Iranians about the fighting in Yemen and how to reduce it. This is part of an effort, brokered by the Chinese, to improve relations between the Saudis and Iran and reduce the tensions in the Persian Gulf and Yemen.

Yemen was in bad shape economically before the civil war began in 2015. Since then, the situation has gotten much worse. There have been nearly 400,000 deaths, most of them caused by starvation and illness, not combat. The damage to infrastructure and lack of food led to an outbreak of cholera in 2016, which has made over two million people ill since then, killing about 4,000. Nearly fifteen percent of the population were driven from their homes. Nearly 20 million of the 24 million Yemenis have suffered hunger and/or poverty as a result of the war. Most Yemenis are exhausted by the years of privation and violence and are willing to accept peace on just about any terms.

April 17, 2023: The Red Cross, the UN, Saudi Arabia and the Shia rebels carried out a complex prisoner exchange over four days. Nearly a thousand prisoners held by the rebels and Saudi Arabia. The was made possible by months of Saudi peace talks with the Shia rebels. The Saudis and the Yemeni Shia have a long history. There are about nine million Shia in Yemen (40 percent of the population) and most belong, like the rebels, to the Zaidi sect that the Houthis dominate. In 2009 only a few hundred thousand Zaidi were up in arms against the government, and not all of them were actively resisting the advancing troops. The Houthi religious leaders, despite their disagreements with Iran over what form of Shia beliefs was superior, accepted Iranian offers of support in regaining self-rule for the Zaidi Shia in Yemen as well as the million Zaidi across the border in Saudi Arabia.

The Saudis created this division of Zaidi Shia in the early 1930s as they were establishing the borders for the new kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Before that the Zaidi in the mountains of northwest Yemen had maintained their independence for centuries. The Ottomans left the Zaidi alone as long as there was no interference with Turkish administration of Mecca, Medina and the Red Sea port that brought in pilgrims and cargo.

When the Ottoman Empire collapsed in 1918, the Zaidi created a Shia kingdom led by the Houthi religious and tribal leaders. That ended when the Saudi forces moved south in 1930 to establish the borders of their new kingdom. The Saudis recognized the hill country of what is now northwest Yemen as a good place to put the border. The Sunni majority in Saudi Arabia developed methods that made any Shia uprising, or cooperation with their Zaidi brethren on the other side of the new border, highly unlikely. The Yemen Zaidi lost their autonomy in 1962 as the rest of Yemen finally united as one country. Zaidi resistance to this local domination began small and grew to the point where the goal of full autonomy seemed much closer. What made it even more real were Iranian pledges to support that effort and reunite Yemeni Shia with the Zaidi trapped in Saudi Arabia since the 1930s.

The Iranians convinced many of the Shia Yemenis that getting their autonomy back should be non-negotiable because without that autonomy the Yemeni Shia will be vulnerable to retaliation from all the other Yemeni groups the Shia rebels have harmed during years of civil war. Its an impossible situation for the Saudis because the Iranians want to use Shia controlled areas in northern Yemen as a perpetual base for attacks on Saudi control of Mecca and Medina. The Iranians have also displayed a preference for violating any treaty they enter into and the Yemeni rebels do likewise.

Before the Iranians got involved, the Saudis avoided problems with the Zaidi Shia living in Saudi Arabia by making sure the Zaidi got a share of the oil wealth that had made all Saudis loyal to the kingdom. Some groups (tribes) were more loyal than others and that included Sunni tribes that were on the losing side during the war the Saud coalition fought to create the kingdom. Most Saudis are Sunni Moslems adhering to the very conservative Wahhabi form of Islam. Technically that meant any Shia were not acceptable. The Saudi family were Wahhabis but practical, which is why it became Saudi Arabia. The Saud royal family persuaded the Sunni to at least tolerate the Shia minority among them and much of the oil wealth went to rewarding those who went along with this policy. Down south this tolerance persuaded the Saudi Zaidi to keep the peace. As long as the Yemen Zaidi did likewise the Saudis tolerated Zaidi from both countries moving back and forth. The Houthi clan disagreed with that agreement and once the Houthi had Iranian support, they were powerful enough to exploit that tolerance in an effort to make the Zaidi autonomous once more. The Saudi Zaidi did not go along with this although many maintained a form of neutrality.
The Louisiana senator wanted to know why the U.S. had not deployed troops to smash the drug and people-trafficking cartels

A top Republican has sparked a diplomatic row with Mexico after he said their citizens would be 'eating cat food' without the United States.

GOP Senator John Kennedy was labelled as a 'racist' by the Mexican government after his explosive remarks on how to crack down on drug trafficking.

The Louisiana lawmaker said Wednesday during a hearing on Capitol Hill that the Biden administration could use troops to swoop in and break up the cartels because Mexico was so dependent on U.S. trade.

'Without the people of America, Mexico, figuratively speaking, would be eating cat food out of a can and living in a tent,' Kennedy said.

Migrants are processed in El Paso, Texas, the day after Title 42's end

Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrado urged Hispanics in the U.S. to vote out Republicans like Kennedy who he said hold 'very offensive' views

'Our economy is $23 trillion. Mexico's economy is 1.3 trillion. Ours is 18 times bigger. We buy $400 billion every year from Mexico,' he added.

The 71-year-old was grilling Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) Chief Anne Milgram on her efforts to stop deadly fentanyl doses entering the U.S. on Wednesday.

'So why don't you and the president get on the phone and call President (Andres Manuel) Lopez Obrador and make him a deal he can't refuse to allow our military and our law enforcement officials to go into Mexico and work with his to stop the cartels,' he asked Milgram.

Kennedy's comments to a Senate committee on federal spending sparked outrage in Mexico, with both the country's president and foreign minister lashing out.

Mexico's top diplomat Marcelo Ebrard said Republicans were deliberately stirring up hatred before the presidential election in 2024.

'What is behind these ideas and those who promote them,' Ebrard said. 'Racism against Mexicans, and in general all Spanish-speakers.'

Meanwhile, the country's president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador told Mexicans in the U.S. to vote out members of Congress with such views.

'Tell our countrymen, Hispanics, our American friends, not to vote for people with this very arrogant, very offensive and very foolish mentality,' he said.

The spat blew up as Republicans in the House of Representatives signed off on a bill that would revive Donald Trump's now-axed border wall.

The bill, narrowly passed by lawmakers on Thursday, also calls for the hiring of 22,000 new border patrol agents to stop migrants sneaking into the U.S.

The so-called 'Secure the Border of Act,' which makes it more difficult for them to claim asylum, stands little chance of becoming law.

Democrats control the Senate, the upper house of Congress, where it is almost certain to be voted down.

The White House also warned that Joe Biden will wield his presidential veto to kill the bill it manages to squeeze through.

It is a response to the expiry Thursday at midnight of a Covid-era emergency rule, known as Title 42, that made it easier to boot out asylum-seekers without even hearing their case.

Title 42 had been used by ex-president Donald Trump to expel migrants at the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic on public health grounds.

It lapsed because Joe Biden had decided to end the Covid-19 emergency.

Border union officials say detention facilities are already overcrowded, piling more pressure on the Biden administration.

Although a deal has already been struck with Mexico to take back Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans who see their asylum claims rejected.

Border shelters in El Paso, Texas, are already being overwhelmed by the vast numbers of migrants coming in with some being forced to sleep on the streets.

The frontier town is one of many that has declared a state of emergency.

Migrants have been waiting at the southwestern border waiting for Title 42 to expire before sneaking into the U.S.

Border patrol guards are said to be suffering from low staffing levels and weak morale due to the sheer numbers of people crossing

Last week, a top government accountability watchdog released a bombshell report that painted a bleak picture of how border officials are coping.

The Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General said border forces are struggling to handle the increased numbers of migrants due to low staffing levels.

Investigators warned that border and immigration officials may end up quitting or retiring early unless working conditions improve quickly.

There are some 24,000 law enforcement officers stationed along the 1,951-mile southwestern border with Mexico.

An additional 1,500 troops are being sent to back up U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the 2,500 National Guard troops are already there.

At least 2.3 million migrants tried to illegally cross into the United States across the Mexican border last year, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

That is up from 1.7 million people in 2021 and just over 450,000 the previous year when much of the world was locked down during the pandemic.
During his leave, Sauls said that he would seek therapy, confess his sins, and work toward making amends with the people he had wronged

Rev. Scott Sauls has led Christ Presbyterian since 2012, he has since apologized for his behavior and for treating staff in a 'transactional' manner

A prominent Nashville pastor has been placed on indefinite leave over accusations that he bullied parishioners in person and online

The Rev. Scott Sauls, a well-known pastor and author of evangelical Christianity, has been given an indefinite leave of absence from the Nashville congregation he has led since 2012 over accusations of bullying and leading a toxic culture at the church.

The leave was made public following a member meeting on Sunday, May 7, at Christ Presbyterian, a well-known Presbyterian Church in America congregation.

Sauls apologized for an unhealthy leadership style that hurt the people who worked for him and the church in a video message to the congregation.

'I verbalized insensitive and verbal criticism of others' work. I've used social media and the pulpit to quiet dissenting viewpoints. I've manipulated facts to support paths that I desire,' Sauls said in the message obtained by the Religion News Service.

Sauls made it apparent that he had not engaged in any substance misuse or sexual transgression. During his leave, he said that he would seek therapy, confess his sins, and work toward making amends with the people he had wronged.

Rev Scott Sauls announced this week that he had been placed on indefinite leave this week following an investigation

Multiple parishioners are believed to have accused Sauls of bullying and creating a toxic environment

'I am grieved to say that I have hurt people. I want to say to all of you that I am sorry,' Sauls said.

In another segment of the apology, obtained by The Tennessean, Sauls accepted that he had not practiced what he preached.

'Although I want to live by what I write and preach, my sin and my blind spots have created gaps between my message and how I show up and lead,' he said. The reverend referred to his behavior with staff as 'transactional.'

One of the church elders says in the audio that it was up to the 'elders of this church and the pastors of this church who needs to lead the way in being the chief forgiver and the chief repenter,' according to the newspaper.

The elder, David Filson, also apologized to parishioners.

'We recognize the gravity of this moment and acknowledge that leadership in a church like ours does not happen in a vacuum. We are sorry for the ways we have failed to lead well,' Filson said.

An investigation into Sauls' behavior had been carried out by both Christ Presbyterian and the Presbyterian Church in America.

Among those who reacted to Sauls' suspension was The Federalist founder Sean Davis.

'This shouldve happened years ago. Sauls is a left-wing ideologue who has repeatedly abused his position to push left-wing politics, in direct contravention of the Bible. He has a well-documented history of openly defying church doctrine and teaching,' Davis tweeted.

The Christ Presbyterian Church in Nashville is one of the most prominent of its kind in Tennessee

In an apology, Rev. Sauls accepted that he had not practiced what he preached

An August 2022 letter from several former Christ Presbyterian employees who expressed worry about Sauls' actions as a leader served as the impetus for the investigation.

Members of Christ Presbyterian also heard from the church's elders during the meeting on Sunday, who expressed their hope that the leave will result in healing and reconciliation.

The elders also acknowledged their own failings in permitting a toxic culture among the church personnel.

In addition to his leave, Sauls' status as a pastor will also be under review by the Nashville Presbytery. The presbytery is the only group that can end the pastor's leave and bring him back into the fold.

A high-ranking member of the presbytery, Neil Spence, told the Religion News Service that Sauls is in 'good standing' with the group.

'Nashville Presbytery will meet soon to deal with any matters properly brought before us. Presbytery as a whole will decide whether a censure such as suspension from office is warranted. It would be imprudent for me to try to predict what Presbytery will do,' Spence said.

The Tennessean notes in its report that the church is affiliated with several influential figures in Nashville, including Governor Bill Lee and Senator Marsha Blackburn, who along with her husband, regularly attends services.

Sauls was in the national spotlight as recently as April when his church held funerals for three of the six victims of the Covenant School shooting.

The Christ Presbyterian operates a separate school, Christ Presbyterian Academy, which is spread across three campuses in the area.

In his first service following the shooting, Sauls spoke of the fact that tomorrow is not guaranteed.

'None of us is guaranteed tomorrow, let alone the next hour,' Sauls said. 'The only comfort that exists in life and in death, for body and soul, is that we belong to our faithful savior Jesus Christ.

The promise of the gospel doesn't diminish the pain and the grief, Sauls added.

And he acknowledged that scripture is limited when it comes to answering the question of why: 'Why this child? Why this beloved educator and wife and mother and grandmother?'

The suspect, Audrey Hale, 28, was a former student at the school. Hale did not target specific victims  among them three 9-year-olds and the head of the school  but did target 'this school, this church building,' police spokesperson Don Aaron said at a news conference in the aftermath of the attack.

Prior to landing in Nashville, Sauls was a pastor at the Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City.
Jurors in the Lori Vallow murder trial resumed deliberations Friday morning as the family of the victims prayed for a 'just and righteous' verdict.

Spectators lined up as early as 4am at the Ada County Courthouse in Boise, Idaho, to get a coveted spot in the courtroom and see the cult mom accused of three murders, including her own children, handed a verdict.

Vallow, 49, and her husband Chad Daybell, 54, are accused of murdering her son JJ, 7, and 16-year-old daughter Tylee in Rexburg, Idaho. The pair allegedly killed his wife Tammy the following month before marrying two weeks later in Hawaii. Daybell will be tried separately at a later date.

Larry Woodcock, the grandfather of seven-year-old JJ Vallow, was in good spirits as he arrived at court Friday morning, greeting everyone in line.

'Today is the day,' he said with a big smile, adding that he was hoping for a 'just' and 'righteous' verdict today.

Vallow, 49, and her husband Chad Daybell, 54, are accused of murdering her son JJ, 7, and 16-year-old daughter Tylee in Rexburg, Idaho

Spectators lined up as early as 4am at the Ada County Courthouse in Boise, Idaho, to get a coveted spot in the courtroom

The jury began deliberations just after 2pm MT on Thursday and spectators in the courtroom held on until they adjourned at 630pm. Jurors resumed deliberations Friday morning at 9am MT.

The jury will deliberate each day as long as they want until a verdict is reached, Judge Steven Boyce said.

The verdict will be livestreamed, the judge announced earlier this week, after cameras were barred from the courtroom for the entirety of the blockbuster trial that began on April 10.

Woodcock, who has been at the trial for most days since it began, was wearing a 'World's Greatest Papa' shirt he said someone had given him the night before.

'I'm not the world's greatest Papa, but I'll tell you what, I hope I was the world's best Papa to JJ and Tylee,' he said getting choked up.

Woodcock continued to play music for the courtroom including JJ's favorite Queen's We Will Rock You on his iPad. 'That's JJ's song,' he said.

Vallow is accused of killing her two children, seven-year-old Joshua (JJ), left, and 16-year-old Tylee, right

The 'charred remains' of Tylee Ryan, 16, and JJ Vallow, seven, were found at the couple's home in Salem, Idaho. Pictured: Investigators searching the property on June 9, 2020

Chad and Tammy Daybell pictured before their split. Vallow and Daybell are accused of murdering two of her children Joshua Jackson 'JJ' Vallow, seven, Tylee Ryan, 16, and Daybell's wife Tammy, 49

Vallow is facing life in prison. Daybell is being tried separately.

On Thursday, closing arguments were presented by both the prosecution and the defense.

The prosecution argued that Vallow was 'the one who ties this all together' and that the cult mom's desire for 'money, power and sex' was the driving force behind the horrific killings.

But Vallow's defense attorney Jim Archibald put the blame at her doomsday preacher husband who he said seduced Vallow in a last ditch attempt to sway the jury.

He ridiculed the idea that Vallow was driven by money and sex as her ex-husband Charles Vallow - who was murdered by her brother - was richer and more attractive than Daybell.

He claimed she had no idea Daybell and her brother Alex had 'stuffed her kids' bodies in Chad's backyard'.

Archibald put it to the jury that Vallow had lied to protect Chad after being taken in by his twisted religious beliefs.

Prosecutors claimed the couple were doomsday cultists who believed the children were 'zombies' inhabited by Satan.
Ohio emergency medical technician Lachelle Jordan who disappeared over the weekend has been found alive, Cleveland police have confirmed.

Jordan, 30, was last seen at 6pm on Saturday May 6 when she went to get something from her car on Fairport Avenue.

She reappeared about three miles away on Thursday night at a convenience store, where she asked to use the phone to call for help.

Jordan vanished two days before she was due to make a courtroom appearance in connection with a rape case involving her former co-worker, 65-year-old Michael Stennett.

Stennett was out on bond at the time of Jordan's disappearance but was arrested early Monday and booked into the Cuyahoga County Corrections Center, online booking records show. WKYC reported that it was for violating a protective order filed by Jordan.

Lachelle Jordan has been found safe almost a week after she vanished in Cleveland

CCTV footage appears to show Jordan limping into a convenience store on Thursday evening

Police confirmed she had been taken to Cleveland Clinic for medical treatment. Authorities said additional information would be provided about her condition 'as it becomes available.'

Disturbing video footage shows Jordan appearing to limp into a convenience store on the 16600 block of Euclid Avenue at around 11pm on May 11.

A clerk at the Open Pantry store told WKYC that Jordan had come in last night and asked to use the phone, and video surveillance footage shows her calling the police.

The store owner told the outlet that Jordan had said she had been kidnapped.

In a notice asking for information when she went missing, police said Jordan was endangered.

Authorities said she went out to get something from her car that was parked on the street, and disappeared, leaving her purse and cell phone in her house.

Before she was found, Jordan's father said it was 'unusual' for her to have gone missing, and pleaded for her safe return as he distributed missing person's fliers around the local area.

'For Lachelle to go missing, that is unusual, and we're going to find her. That's what we're going to do,' he said. '

As a father, I want to say if you have my daughter, give her back to me. That's all I want.'

Crime Stoppers had also announced a $5,000 reward on Wednesday for information in this case 'in the event it is determined this involves criminal activity.'

Jordan vanished two days before she was due to make a courtroom appearance in connection with a rape case involving her former co-worker, 65-year-old Michael Stennett

Jordan, who is reportedly a mother of two, vanished just two days before she was set to appear in court in connection with a rape case against Michael Stennett.

He was indicted last May on two charges of rape and one count of abduction, court records show.

According to NBC News, the court docket said the state and the defense asked for the pretrial hearing on Monday to be continued because Jordan had 'dropped out of sight, and the state is attempting to find her.'

The pretrial hearing was continued to May 30.

Police have not named Stennett as a suspect in Jordan's disappearance.

News5 Cleveland reported Stennett was working as a recreation instructor at Zelma Watson George Recreation Center when he was accused of raping a co-worker inside his office on August 10, 2021.

According to the outlet he was not placed on leave from the role until January 2023.

Stennett's accuser reached out to News 5 because she was outraged he was still on the job and working with children.

'If this was you, your mom, your sister, your aunt, cousin, would you want the same person still having their job?' she told the outlet. 'If he's willing to do this to me, then he could do it to anybody else.'

She said she left her job following the alleged incident.

'I couldnt think. Couldnt eat,' she said, 'I was dying inside, to be honest.'
A former model and air hostess has been called as a key witness to support the appeal case of a pilot accused of murdering his British wife, MailOnline has learned.

Sofia Tereschenko, who now describes herself as a campaigning journalist who has investigated the case, will speak in courts on behalf of helicopter pilot Babis Anagnostopoulos, 34, in his attempt to get his 27-year sentence for the murder reduced.

Anagnostopoulos was convicted last year of smothering Caroline Crouch, 19, as she lay in bed next to their then nine-month old daughter Lydia - which he says was carried out 'in the heat of the moment' and 'not premeditated'.

Tereschenko, who has written several lengthy articles on the case, has been approached by Anagnostopoulos lawyer Alexandros Papaioannides, to appear as one of several witnesses who he says will be vital to the case.

He confirmed to MailOnline, she would be giving evidence but refused to discuss exactly what she would say in the hearing which resumes at Athens Appeal Court later this month.

Sofia Tereschenko has been called as a key witness to support the appeal case of a pilot accused of murdering his British wife

She will speak in courts on behalf of helicopter pilot Babis Anagnostopoulos, 34, in his attempt to get his 27-year sentence for the murder reduced

Tereschenko, who has written several lengthy articles on the case

But in her blogs, Sofia gives a passionate and bizarre defence of Anagnostopoulos, despite the overwhelming evidence against him from his court case last May - a year after the murder in the upmarket Athens suburb where the couple lived.

Ukrainian born Sofia, 34, who also says she is an animal rights activist and political scientist, has been following the case since it started and was the only defence witness in court earlier this week for the start of the appeal.

In her highly emotional blogs she says she has 'studied the case at great length' and concluded that Anagnostopoulos was 'a man who needs our help' and that 'people should try and listen to him'.

Twisted Anagnostopoulos went to elaborate lengths to cover up his sickening crime - even strangling the family's pet husky dog Roxy with his bare hands.

He killed the dog to dupe police into thinking the couple were attacked by burglars and then tied himself up after smothering Caroline as she slept.

For six weeks he shed crocodile tears, conning Caroline's parents Liverpool born David and Susan and the police before he was finally arrested as he left his wife's funeral.

Detectives cracked the case when a technical expert discovered data on Caroline's smartwatch didn't tally with the alibi Anagnostopoulos had invented and he confessed to the killing.

Babis Anagnostopoulos was convicted last year of smothering Caroline Crouch, 19, as she lay in bed next to their then nine-month old daughter Lydia - which he says was carried out 'in the heat of the moment' and 'not premeditated'

Besides Tereschenko, he has also called his own parents and wants Caroline's parents David and Susan to testify on his behalf

He killed the dog to dupe police into thinking the couple were attacked by burglars and then tied himself up after smothering Caroline (right) as she slept

She has been approached by Anagnostopoulos lawyer Alexandros Papaioannides, to appear as one of several witnesses who he says will be vital to the case

However, in her blog, Tereschenko says:' Why hasn't anyone questioned the fact that Babis had no scratches on his hands if he killed his dog the way it is described ?

'Every pet owner knows how difficult and almost impossible it is to hurt any animal without consequences to their own body.

'Also, why has no DNA from Babis been found on Caroline's body or at the murder scene ? Why hasn't more been made of Caroline's mood swings and violent temper and that she attacked him ?'

She went on:' Babis must not be deprived of his parental rights, and must not be sent to prison for a life sentence. It is inhuman to take everything away from a person, who has already lost almost everything he had.

'He lost his wife, his job, his house, his family, his freedom. Isn't it already too much punishment for one person who cries for help but nobody listens ?

'I can give you 100 per cent assurance that Babis is not a monster. Let him go and you will see what kind of person he really is.

'It's very easy to throw stones at a man and make him fall but it's harder to give him a hand and help him stand up.'

Key to his appeal, is his claim that he only acted violently because he 'feared for Lydia's life' after a furious row with Caroline, who he had married in 2020, a year before she died.

In her blog, Tereschenko says:' Why hasn't anyone questioned the fact that Babis had no scratches on his hands if he killed his dog the way it is described ?'

She went on:' Babis must not be deprived of his parental rights, and must not be sent to prison for a life sentence. It is inhuman to take everything away from a person, who has already lost almost everything he had'

Besides Tereschenko, he has also called his own parents and wants Caroline's parents David and Susan to testify on his behalf.

Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, Liverpool born David, 74, a retired engineer, blasted the move and slammed the appeal as a 'farce' adding:' There is no possibility of either myself or Susan attending.

'Susan's worst nightmare is to see the killer of her beloved daughter in the flesh. She has never recovered from Caroline's death, she is a completely changed person and seeing the killer in the flesh would tip her right over the edge.'

It is not clear if under Greek law both can be compelled to attend but MailOnline exclusively revealed last month that Susan has moved to the Philippines where she is from and taken Lydia with her to be raised by family there.

But David told MailOnline:' If they attempt to call Susan or myself we will both provide medical certificates which will say we are unable to travel due to poor health.

'The whole show has turned into rather a sick comedy. He was found guilty of premediated murder, it was established that Caroline was asleep. He should get an extra ten years for wasting the court's time.'

David has put his home on the idyllic Greek island of Alonnisos on the market and hopes to move to the Philippines himself when the sale has gone through.

Earlier this year David also told MailOnline he thought his son-in-law's attempts to get his sentence shortened were 'despicable'.

He added:' The crime committed by the murderer, that of femicide, is a heinous crime that should deserve particularly severe punishment.

'In my opinion, men who kill their wives, for whatever reason, are the lowest of the low, ranking alongside paedophiles.

'I think it will be a sad day for women when the murderer of a defenceless woman, who slept with her child, will serve less than his full prison sentence. This man is beyond contempt.'

At the opening of his appeal Anagnostopoulos said:' I am ashamed of these actions and in no way did I want to hurt my wife.

'I had nothing to gain. What I loved was lost that day. I am ashamed and I hate myself. I want to say sorry to everyone.'

The case will resume later this month.
Every time a mass shooting occurs in the United States - and there have been 212 so far this year - leaders on both sides of the political aisle reflexively retreat to the same blame game: the right pointing to mental illness, the left saying relaxed gun laws are the real issue.

'It's both, okay,' said Washington Rep. Adam Smith, 26-year congressman and top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee.

'The unbelievably easy access to weapons that we have in this country combined with a number of people who are not in good mental health to create an enormous problem, it's both. It's not an either or thing,' he told DailyMail.com in an exclusive interview.

The lawmaker falls at the crossroads of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and the centrist, problem-solving New Democrats group.

'When you say that mental health matters, you're not saying that you don't care about the guns, we need lesser access to guns,' he said.

'It's both, okay,' said Washington Rep. Adam Smith, 26-year congressman and top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee said of mental illness and gun laws contributing to violence

'The unbelievably easy access to weapons that we have in this country combined with a number of people who are not in good mental health to create an enormous problem, it's both. It's not an either or thing,' he told DailyMail.com in an exclusive interview

Last week a gunman at an outdoor mall in Allen, Texas, opened fire with an AR-15 and killed eight people. President Biden renewed his call for an assault weapons ban; Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer convened Democrats to talk gun legislation.

But faced with a poll on Fox News showing Americans favor background checks and raising the minimum age to purchase firearms, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott pivoted to mental health.

'We are working to address that anger and violence by going to its root cause, which is addressing the mental health problems behind it,' Abbott said. 'People want a quick solution. The long-term solution here is to address the mental health issue.'

'I think the whole nation should be leading,' Speaker Kevin McCarthy said this week in response to a question on whether Congress should take the lead on the gun violence discussion.

Last time Congress took major action on gun control was in June 2022, a month after a gunman in Uvalde, Texas, killed 19 students and two teachers at an elementary school.

The law included $750 million to help enact 'red flag' laws in states throughout the country and offered funding for mental health and school security. It also enhanced background checks for gun buyers under 21 and closed the boyfriend loophole - so those convicted of domestic violence against dating partners cannot purchase weapons.

People attend a vigil, four days after a gunman shot and killed multiple people at the Dallas-area Allen Premium Outlets mall in Allen, Texas, U.S. May 10

A year on, not much has changed - at this point last year, there had been fewer mass shootings: 183.

In 2016, there were 15,139 deaths from guns, by all manner of causes. From the start of this year to the current day, there have been more than that - 15,306.

Asked if he thought any sort of gun package could get done with a Republican-led House and Democrat-run Senate, Smith said: 'No, is the honest answer.'

'Republicans have made it perfectly clear that they have no intention of doing anything about this because they operate under the delusion that the more guns the safer we are.'

Meanwhile, the debate continues over how to best handle the soaring homelessness and mental illness that has been distressing liberal cities from New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Seattle, in Smith's home state, at a time of rising crime after the Covid-19 pandemic.

For the rise in social discord, Smith pointed to 'the lack of involuntary commitment in so many places in this country. We've shut down a lot of these institutions. We've stood up community based care.'

'Do not underestimate the impact of individual mental health issues, even seemingly minor ones, on the level of conflict and instability in our society,' he writes at the start of his forthcoming memoir, Lost and Broken, obtained by DailyMail.com.

Just last week the killing on the subway of a homeless, mentally ill man - Jordan Neely - divided New Yorkers.

Neely had 40 prior arrests and allegedly was threatening to kill people on the subway. He was unarmed the time 24-year-old Marine veteran Daniel Penny choked him to death.

The issue put Mayor Eric Adams at odds with New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Many New Yorkers were outraged by what they saw as a disproportionate use of force - others said the incident shed light on the rising fear they have when using the city's public transit system.

'It's the left wing ideology that says let individuals do what they want to do. You know, no one's gonna get drug treatment or mental health treatment until they're good and ready, so just let them be,' said Smith.

In December, Mayor Eric Adams unveiled a policy allowing police to involuntarily bring unhoused people suffering mental illness to a hospital, generating much controversy from the progressive wing of his party.

In Washington, the state must first prove that an individual is suffering from a mental illness and poses a threat to themselves or others.

Meanwhile, the mental health of young people is in crisis - more than a third of those aged 18-25 (33.7 percent) report having a mental illness while only 15 percent of those over 50 years of age say the same.

Smith, whose new book details how he overcame his own chronic pain and anxiety, said that members of his party needed to be more accountable in general - that society needs to teach 'resilience' rather than 'vulnerability and dependence.'

The congressman said that many people are quick to find a diagnosis for their mental struggles but are slow to do the work to get better.

'Let's have an open conversation about this from the standpoint of we want people to get better,' he said. 'There's a lot of this, sort of just talking about it.'

'I come from a very left-wing jurisdiction in the Seattle King County area, so maybe that's just peculiar to my neck of the woods, but I don't think so. I think we need to think about, how do we teach people to be resilient? To find their way through their mental and physical problems, to better know their mind and body so that they can be active, productive adults,' Smith went on.

'Not, well, some of them they see the psychiatrist once a week and other than that, they hang out in bed because lord knows they've got something that we can't possibly deal with.'
M16 spooks are looking for James Bond-loving cabbies to drive cars, minibuses and lorries for the secret service.

The intelligence service is searching for chauffeurs to drive around the capital for 33,029 a year.

Former cabbies who have 'The Knowledge' of the roads in London like the back of their hands would be perfect for the Monday to Friday job.

The job, which consists of 41 hours a week with overtime, will be based out of MI6's HQ overlooking the River Thames in Vauxhall, in South London - which black cabbies used to be notoriously averse to visiting at night.

The job advert reads: 'This is the perfect role for someone who likes to be on the move and has excellent interpersonal skills.

No, Mr Bond, I expect you to drive: MI6 is looking for London cabbies to drive their spooks around the capital. Pictured: Daniel Craig starring in the most recent James Bond film, No Time To Die

MI6, located overlooking the River Thames in Vauxhall, South London, will pay cab drivers 33,029 a year

'So you'll be comfortable working in a customer-facing role as well as communicating with customers and colleagues at varying levels of seniority.

'You're a real team player who's adaptable and flexible. Crucially, you'll have a full UK driving license and an extended license that permits you to drive a minibus and 7.5-ton lorries.

'Experience of driving large vans, minibuses or lorries is vital for you to be successful in this role.

'You'll also have extensive knowledge of central London and surrounding areas. This might mean you've previously worked as a taxi or delivery driver.'

The day-to-day job will be varied, with drivers picking up staff members in varying authority as well as passages.

It will also include being involved in the general maintenance of vehicles.

The advertisement added: 'Our people and packages are always on the go, so at times you may be asked to cover different locations across the capital.'

The Chauffeur job is integral to the logistic services of the secret service and is key to supporting the busy teams of spooks who work at M16.

The job ad continues: 'We're MI6, also known as the SIS.

The job at MI6 includes driving around members of staff and packages, the job advertisement said

'Our mission is to protect the security and economic wellbeing of the UK from overseas threats such as regional instability, terrorism, and cyber-attacks.

'Working across the globe and in close partnership with MI5 and GCHQ, we help the Government to counter these threats through the provision of secret intelligence.

'A role in MI6 will see you providing vital support to this work, within a supportive and encouraging environment that puts the emphasis on teamwork. ...

'And your days will be varied. You might be driving our colleagues to meetings across the city in a four-seater one day or delivering and collecting packages to various locations in a 7.5-ton lorry the next.

Benefits include 25 days annual leave automatically rising to 30 days after five years' service, plus public holidays and paid parental leave.

There is also an 'excellent' pension scheme, interest-free train season ticket loan and cycle to work scheme.
The panicking chief of Russia's Wagner mercenary group Yevgeny Prigozhin has admitted that Ukrainian forces have counter-attacked Russian positions around Bakhmut, noting that the assault is going 'full steam ahead'.

'The situation on the flanks is shaping up according to the worst predicted scenario,' Prigozhin said, signalling fresh misery for Putin's troops.

'Those territories, which were taken with the blood and lives of our comrades-in-arms for many months, every day, by tens or hundreds of metres are now being thrown almost without a fight by those [Russian army soldiers] who are supposed to hold our flanks.'

Responding to an updated statement on Friday from the Russian defence ministry, which claimed that Russian troops had changed their position for strategic purposes, Prigozhin said that what they were talking about 'is unfortunately called fleeing and not a regrouping'.

It comes as Russian-installed officials in the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk on Friday said missiles fired by Kyiv had damaged two disused factories and several houses in the region's main city, around 100 km (60 miles) behind the frontlines.

Russia's Wagner mercenary group Yevgeny Prigozhin (pictured) has admitted that Ukrainian forces have counter-attacked Russian positions around Bakhmut. He said: 'The situation on the flanks is shaping up according to the worst predicted scenario'

The Institute for the Study of War released a battlefield update at 9pm GMT on May 11, 2023

Luhansk authorities, in a post on Telegram, said two Ukrainian-made 'grom' tactical missiles damaged or destroyed administrative buildings at a packaging plant and a factory producing cleaning materials. No casualties were reported.

Videos posted earlier on social media showed a large plume of thick black smoke billowing over Luhansk city.

Footage also showed Russian parliamentarian Viktor Vodolatsky being led in shock from the ruins of a building.

Due to the fact that the city lies far away from Ukrainian positions, the alleged strikes sparked speculation among analysts that Ukraine could have used a new missile with a longer range.

The UK this week said it had delivered to Ukraine multiple longer-range cruise missiles, which can hit targets at 300 kilometres - the longest rockets that have been supplied to Ukraine by its Western partners.

Retired US Army Colonel Gian Gentile today commented on the UK's decision to supply Ukraine with Storm Shadow long-range cruise missiles, noting their deadly force when combined with US-supplied HIMARS rocket systems and armoured fighting vehicles that can destroy tanks.

'Discounting all of the bluff and bravado of Russian political leadership and senior generals who are far, far away from the front line, the Russian troops fighting there will be shaking in their boots about the prospect of this likely upcoming counteroffensive,' Gentile told MailOnline.

Moscow on Friday denounced the UK's decision to deliver the Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine.

'We see this decision as an extremely hostile step from London, aimed at further pumping weapons into Ukraine and leading to a serious escalation of the situation,' said a foreign ministry statement.

In his nightly address to the Ukrainian people, President Volodymyr Zelensky praised his troops and noted the low morale of the Russian forces.

He said: 'The occupiers are already mentally prepared for defeat. They have already lost this war in their minds.

'We must push them every day so that their sense of defeat turns into their retreat, their mistakes, their losses.'

Russian-installed officials in the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk on Friday accused Kyiv of firing missiles at an industrial complex in the region's main city, around 100 km (60 miles) behind the frontlines. Pictured: The purported attack

In his nightly address to the Ukrainian people, President Volodymyr Zelensky praised his troops and noted the low morale of the Russian forces

In his video statement, Prigozhin also directly addressed the long-suffering Kremlin defence minister Sergei Shoigu.

'Given your super-long experience, please can you come to Bakhmut?' he asked sarcastically, poking fun at the defence minister's civilian background in engineering.

Zelensky sought to manage expectations around the pushback in Bakhmut, telling reporters that the long-awaited Ukrainian counter-offensive was yet to begin in earnest and declaring: 'We still need a bit more time.'

But Prigozhin retorted that Zelensky was being deceptive.

He said: 'When Volodymyr Zelensky said [the counter-offensive] hasn't started yet, he was economical with the truth.

'It is going full steam ahead - Ukrainian units are attacking successfully.'

Russia denied reports of gains made by Ukraine in Bakhmut, after both sides made claims.

'The individual declarations on Telegram about a "breakthrough" on several points on the frontline do not correspond to reality,' Russia's defence ministry said.

'The general situation in the special military operation zone is under control,' it added, referring to Russia's term for the invasion.

But in an updated statement on Friday morning the ministry claimed Russian troops had changed their position for strategic reasons.

Russian defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Ukraine had launched an assault north of Bakhmut with more than 1,000 troops and up to 40 tanks, a scale that if confirmed would amount to the biggest Ukrainian offensive since November.

The Russians had repelled 26 attacks but troops in one area had fallen back to regroup in more favourable positions near the Berkhivka reservoir northwest of Bakhmut, Konashenkov said.

Ukrainian official Anton Gerashchenko posted a video on social media which appeared to show Russian soldiers hastily retreating amid Ukrainian artillery fire

Ukrainian soldiers fire a cannon near Bakhmut in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, on May 12, 2023

Ukrainian servicemen rest at their positions after a fight near the front line city of Bakhmut, in Donetsk region, Ukraine, on May 11, 2023

Pro-Russian military blogger Anatoliy Shariy shared an image of a Russian position that had been deserted and retaken by Ukrainian soldiers near Bakhmut

In his video statement, Prigozhin again accused the military leadership of refusing to provide the necessary ammunition to Wagner.

'You must immediately stop lying,' Prigozhin said.

'If you fled, you must prepare new defensive lines.'

Prigozhin claimed that the defence ministry's failure to protect Wagner's flanks amounted to high treason and could result in a 'great tragedy' for Russia.

Ukraine's deputy defence minister Hanna Maylar said on Friday: 'The enemy has suffered great losses of manpower. Our defence forces advanced two kilometres (around one mile) near Bakhmut. We did not lose a single position in Bakhmut this week.'

READ MORE: As Wagner chief Prigozhin becomes ever bolder in challenging Putin... who are the mercenary army's other senior figures? Private Military Company (PMC) Wagner is a mercenary group which for years acted as Putin's personal band of enforcers and is now heavily involved in the war in Ukraine Advertisement

Russia's defence ministry said Ukrainian forces had stepped up attacks north of the region while denying speculation by Russian military bloggers that the Kyiv forces had achieved 'defence breakthroughs'.

The two kilometres (1.2 miles) of territory retaken by Ukrainian forces south of Bakhmut this week represented a significant gain and will protect an important supply chain, according to commanders of Ukraine's 3rd Separate Assault Brigade, a special forces unit that led the attack.

Reports of a Ukrainian push in the north and advances south of the city suggest a coordinated push by Kyiv to encircle Russian forces in Bakhmut.

Zelensky said he met with the top military commanders on Friday, noting that he heard a report from General Oleksandr Syrskyi, whose forces 'stopped the enemy and even pushed him back in some directions'.

The battle for Bakhmut, once a salt mining town, has been grinding on for eight months.

Ukrainian military officials have dismissed speculation that the fighting and forward movement in Bakhmut signalled that its anticipated counter-offensive was under way.

Zelensky said in remarks broadcast on Thursday that Kyiv was delaying the campaign because it lacks enough western weapons.

The comments were interpreted by some as designed to keep Russia guessing about Ukraine's next move.

The territorial gains occurred near the Siversky-Donets canal, between the villages of Ivanivske and Kurdiumivka, according to a commander of the 1st Assault Battalion of the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade.

He spoke on the condition that he would be referred to only by his call sign of 'Rollo', in line with Ukrainian military protocols.

'This was the enemy's bridgehead which they intended to use in their future attacks along the canal, in the direction of Kostiantynivka,' he said.

'We had to neutralise the enemy and push them to the other side of the canal.'

Another commander and a military spokesman corroborated his account.

Kostiantynivka is part of an important logistics chain that leads to the city of Kramatorsk.

Rollo said the win followed other successful operations, including one that secured an access road near Khromove, north of Bakhmut, and another that allowed Ukrainian forces to reclaim lost positions in the Industrial College inside Bakhmut city.

Ukrainian tanks ride near Bakhmut in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, on May 12, 2023

A Ukrainian tank rides near Bakhmut in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, on May 12, 2023

57th Ukrainian brigade shoots Grad missile systems in Bakhmut, Ukraine, on May 9, 2023

This still from GoPro footage shows Ukrainian troops advancing through devastated countryside close to Bakhmut towards Russian positions

Firefighters work to extinguish a burning residential house after a Russian military strike in Kostiantynivka, Donetsk region, Ukraine, on May 12, 2023

The US-based Institute for the Study of War released a battlefield update this morning that seemed to echo the sentiments of Russian war bloggers.

It said: 'Ukrainian forces continued to conduct successful but localised counter-attacks around Bakhmut on May 11, likely constraining Russian offensive efforts.'

'The deployment of low-quality Russian forces on the flanks around Bakhmut suggests that the Russian MoD has largely abandoned the aim of encircling a significant number of Ukrainian forces there,' the Institute concluded.

The assault south of Bakhmut was followed by a reported increase in Ukrainian offensive actions near the city of Soledar on Thursday, Russia's defence ministry said.

The slow and grinding fight for Bakhmut has cost both sides heavy casualties, with Ukraine seeking to deny Russia any territorial gains despite the area's marginal strategic significance.

Ukrainian forces are stationed in the city, while Russian troops are attacking from the north, east and south.

At least two people were killed and 22 injured elsewhere in the country since Thursday, according to figures from the Ukrainian President's Office.

Donetsk governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said a Russian strike hit the city of Kramatorsk, where some Ukrainian military units are based, destroying a school and residential building.

Russian shelling hit 11 cities and villages in the region, killing 12 civilians, he said.
The homeless man whose two dogs were shot dead by Metropolitan Police officers appeared in court to deny charges they were 'dangerously out of control' after he accused officers of 'murdering' his pets.

The Met Police said Louie Turnbull, 46, of no fixed address was charged on Tuesday charged with dangerous dog offences following an incident in Tower Hamlets.

Turnbull appeared at a vigil for his pets outside Scotland Yard in London last night where he told a crowd of 200 supporters that they were 'murdered' on their leads.

He appeared at Thames Magistrates' Court on Tuesday accused of being the owner of a dog that was dangerously out of control (with injury), which he pleaded not guilty to.

He was also charged with being in possession/custody of a dog whilst disqualified from owning or keeping a dog which he pleaded guilty to.

Armed officers gunned down two 'out-of-control' dogs - named Millions and Marshall - in east London on Sunday amid reports they had mauled a woman moments earlier

Louie Turnbull, 46, who was tasered and arrested, said to the crowd of 200: 'I had them on the lead, I was pulling them away and they just murdered them'

Turnbull is next due to appear at Snaresbrook Crown Court on 6 June.

Armed officers gunned down the 'out-of-control' animals - named Millions and Marshall - in east London on Sunday amid reports they had mauled a woman moments earlier. But some witnesses who saw the woman claimed she got caught up in their leads and was not seriously injured.

Around 200 members of Animal Rising, the group who disrupted the Grand National last month, attended the protest outside the force's headquarters from around 8pm, chanting 'rapists and murderers' at the officers outside and chanting: 'No justice, no peace, they're killing dogs on our streets'. Some brought their own dogs, many lit vegan candles and quite a few were crying.

Addressing the crowd, Turnbull said: 'They pulled out all their weapons. They were intimidating me and the dogs. And all they were doing was trying to protect me. I had them on the lead, I was pulling them away and they just murdered them. I can't sleep'.

He added: 'It was just so disgusting. All I was doing was trying to get them back in the boat. And I was going to come out and speak to the police. But they werent having it'.

The Met Police said the charges follow a call to police just after 5pm on Sunday, May 7, to reports of a woman being attacked by a dog in Commercial Road, in Limehouse.

They said she had also suffered an injury to her leg during the incident but did not require hospital treatment.

Hundreds of Animal Rising protesters (pictured) have gathered outside Scotland Yard to hold a candle lit vigil for the two dogs who were shot dead by Met Police officers earlier this week

Animal Rising protesters outside New Scotland Yard holding a sign in memory of Marshall and Millions, the two dogs shot dead by Met Police officers

Video appears to show a female dog owner screaming as she picks up her pet and backs away from Mr Turnbull, who can be heard calling her a 'lunatic'

The Met added that as part of their enquiries to safeguard the public, local officers supported by specialists from Dog Support Unit and Specialist Firearms Command, spoke to a male in the vicinity who was in possession of the two dogs.

Following this interaction, which failed to bring the dogs satisfactorily under control, police firearms officers destroyed the two dogs at the scene.

The owner of the dogs was arrested at the scene. Police Taser was discharged. He was taken into custody and was later charged as above.

Two public complaints forwarded from the IOPC to the MPS were voluntarily referred back to the IOPC on Wednesday, May 10. We await a decision as to any further action they will take and will provide every assistance.

The officers concerned have been informed. They remain on operational duties.
A British toddler has drowned in a swimming pool on Spain's Costa Blanca.

The youngster, aged just 18 months, died this morning despite desperate attempts by paramedics to save it.

It was not immediately clear this evening whether the dead child was a boy or a girl.

Emergency responders including medical staff and police raced to the villa in La Nucia near Alicante where the tragedy occurred around 10am.

A helicopter was also sent to the scene but all efforts to resuscitate the toddler proved unsuccessful.

The Civil Guard confirmed an investigation was underway.

A British toddler has drowned in a swimming pool on Spain 's Costa Blanca. File image shows a typical housing development in La Nucia

Emergency responders including medical staff and police raced to the villa where the tragedy occurred around 10am. File image shows local ambulance service

The tragedy occurred in in La Nucia near Alicante. File image shows a general view of the town

A spokesman for the force in Alicante said: 'This incident is still under investigation but everything so far is pointing to the youngster's death being a tragic accident.'

Well-placed sources said the family were British and the child's mum was at the property with three of the toddler's siblings at the time.

It was not immediately clear today if they were on holiday or live at the villa.

La Nucia is a municipality just north of Benidorm and a 15-minute drive inland from the popular resort of Altea.

This is a breaking news story, more to follow.
Honduras has demanded an 'exhaustive' investigation into his death

Was pronounced dead in hospital after an hour of resuscitation attempts

A 17-year-old migrant boy who entered the U.S. without a parent or guardian died in government custody in Florida on Wednesday.

Angel Eduardo Maradiaga Espinoza, from Honduras, was found unconscious at Gulf Coast Jewish Family and Community Services in Safety Harbor on May 10.

He was taken to a hospital and, after one hour of life-saving resuscitation attempts, was pronounced dead just 24 hours before Title 42 restrictions were lifted after three years.

Espinoza had been in the shelter since May 5 and entered the U.S. without a parent or guardian. He was one of the 8,681 unaccompanied migrant children in custody.

The fatality in Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) facility is the first under President Joe Biden's administration.

A 17-year-old migrant boy died in U.S. custody in Florida on Wednesday. Pictured are migrants waiting to be processed into the United States in El Paso, Texas, on Friday

Angel Eduardo Maradiaga Espinoza, from Honduras, was found unconscious at Gulf Coast Jewish Family and Community Services in Safety Harbor on May 10

'The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is deeply saddened by this tragic loss and our heart goes out to the family, with whom we are in touch,' the department said in a statement.

The Honduran government has demanded an 'exhaustive investigation' by border officials already dealing with processing migrants following the lifting of the Trump-era Title 42.

ORR is responsible for housing and caring for migrant children who cross the border without legal guardians.

Border officials are bound by federal law to transfer unaccompanied minors to ORR within 72 hours.

The unaccompanied children are housed in shelters until they turn 18 or are claimed by a sponsor in the U.S.

In 2019, when President Trump was still in office, Biden tweeted about six children who died in U.S. custody at the border calling it 'unacceptable.'

'Over the last year, six children have tragically died in US custody at the border. Its unacceptable. Its not who we are. And silence is complicity,' he said.

'Its on all of us to stand up and speak out. America is a nation of immigrants. We must guarantee everyone's treated with dignity.'

Biden has not yet made a statement on the death of the 17-year-old reported Friday.

Over the last year, six children have tragically died in US custody at the border. Its unacceptable. Its not who we are. And silence is complicity. Its on all of us to stand up and speak out. America is a nation of immigrants. We must guarantee everyone's treated with dignity.  Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) May 23, 2019

Over the past four days leading to the end of Title 42 on Thursday at midnight, agents apprehended 10,000 migrants each day - which puts border officials at an impossible disadvantage.

Of the 10,000, there were at least 3,000 'got-aways,' meaning migrants who escaped without being processed by border patrol.

Border agents have said that it marks a 441 percent increase over the last two years under the Biden administration.

Migrants who had already crossed into the United States continue to be processed by Border Patrol at Gate 42 in El Paso, Texas Friday

Migrants spread their arms and legs to be searched before being taken into custody by Border Patrol on May 12

Migrants are processed in El Paso, Texas, the day after Title 42's end

The death of the teen in Florida comes just days after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a comprehensive immigration crackdown bill.

The governor signed the bill hours before pandemic-era Title 42 - which made it easier to expel migrants at the border - was terminated.

'We are bracing for some turbulent times ahead,' he said. 'When you have a president that has turned a blind eye to the border  when you have that, you are likely to see it get a lot worse,' said DeSantis Wednesday.

The law provides $12 million for DeSantis migrant relocation initiative, which got national attention last year when the governor ad his state pay to fly 50 mostly Venezuelan immigrants from Texas to Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts. He said he was highlighting the migrant issue.

It also creates stricter laws for undocumented immigrants in the state, requires hospitals that accept Medicaid to include a question on intake forms about the patient's citizenship status, and beefed up the required use of E-Verify, a federal database employers can use to check a worker's employment eligibility.

This week, his administration selected three vendors it intends to use for the governor's migrant relocation program, suggesting that additional flights or relocations are likely.

One of the vendors is the same aviation company DeSantis' office used for the flight to Martha's Vineyard.

Meanwhile Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador called Florida's new law 'immoral' and 'politicking' on Monday.

'Imagine, Florida, which is full of migrants, is taking repressive, inhumane measures against migrants in Florida because he wants to be a candidate,' Lopez Obrador said.
But researchers says results won't be 'widely available' and aren't for sharing

A liberal polling group is keeping quiet about the results of its survey that shows voters reject radical gender ideology, while privately hatching plans to 'educate' the public by 'rebranding puberty blockers.'

DailyMail.com gained access to an invite-only webinar of San Francisco-based Change Research, in which they unveiled new poll results that show Americans reject giving hormones and other trans drugs to children.

In the online session, lead pollster Betsy App called the results 'bad news,' saying the team would struggle to 'educate' the public about sex-reassignment for kids. She said it was time for 'rebranding puberty blockers' with a less-divisive term.

'I want to give us all a reality check,' App told the online session.

'We are facing an uphill battle when it comes to voters' fundamental beliefs about the relationship between sex and gender.'

Lead pollster Betsy App (left) wants to 'rebrand puberty blockers' and marketing chief Molly McInerney wants to keep the polling quiet

Change Research's survey mirrors other polling about sex: most Americans say it's assigned at birth

Change Research had already declined our requests to see the poll results. They initially invited DailyMail.com to join the webinar, but then uninvited us. We attended anyway, after registering with a personal email address.

At the start of Friday's 30-minute session, the group's marketing chief Molly McInerney said they would 'not be making these results widely available' and urged attendees not to 'share these findings.'

Nevertheless, DailyMail.com is releasing the results because they're in the public interest.

Poll Should 'gender-affirming care' be banned for children in your state? Yes No Not sure Should 'gender-affirming care' be banned for children in your state? Yes 7579 votes

No 411 votes

Not sure 160 votes Now share your opinion





They show that Americans say sex is assigned at birth, and that men and women cannot change their sex at will.

Voters also oppose giving children puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, or sex-altering surgeries, such as breast removals.

The webinar indicated that Change Research wanted to conceal its results  with the stated goal of reshaping US attitudes on gender ideology and trans treatments on kids.

For some, this fits into a bigger picture of how progressive activists reject the public's common sense and use coercive language  rather than sound arguments  to shift opinion.

Many trans activists and major US medical groups say gender-affirming care is life-saving for a suicide-prone group, but the affirmative model of greenlighting most trans procedures for kids is increasingly called into question.

Britain and other European states have begun restricting procedures, saying most mixed-up kids just need counselling, not gender drugs. In the US, Republican politicians are trying to outlaw procedures in more than a dozen red states this year.

Change's polling of 1,208 voters was carried out between April 28 and May 2.

Americans are opposed to letting children get breast-removal operations. Pictured: surgical scars on a de-transitioner who came to regret their procedure

When it comes to trans procedures for kids, Americans agree that the best treatment is counselling

The results echo findings from other polls  that most Americans say sex is immutable, and is not changed by how a person self-identifies. Some 94 percent of Republicans feel that way, while 74 percent of Democrats say people can change their sexual identity.

Respondents were also strongly against gender-affirming care for children.

Some 60 percent were against puberty blockers, 56 percent opposed cross-sex hormones, and 60 percent were against removing girls' breasts. Barely a third of respondents supported such interventions on kids.

Anna Pokrovsky, who worked on the trans poll, also served on President Joe Biden's election campaign

Instead, respondents agreed on one treatment for trans youth: counselling.

Nearly four fifths said talk therapy was best for helping teens grapple with identity challenges.

Those surveyed were more willing to let kids get sex-reassignment care under certain conditions  after they'd got counselling, when their parents were on board, and when the treatments were reversible.

In their own words, respondents objected to 'permanent' or 'physical, non-reversible changes to the body.'

'It means butchering a human body to try and change a person's sex as determined by the CHROMOSOMES through biology,' said one respondent.

'A person is and always shall be the sex assigned by their chromosomes, and nothing will change that.'

In discussing the results, Change pollsters stressed that the public was wrong to oppose sex reassignment treatments for minors, and that they were on a mission to alter attitudes.

App, a Denver-based mom-of-three, including a 'gender creative first-grader,' said she was 'surprised by these findings' and the 'strong headwind' against doling out hormones to teens.

A young transgender patient receives a testosterone shot from his mother as part of his ongoing sex reassignment treatment at their home in Missoula, Montana

Puberty blockers and other trans drugs have hit the headlines this year, as Republicans across the US try to outlaw them. Pictured: protests at a debate at Minnesota State Capitol in April

Winning the argument, she said, involved changing language. 'Gender affirming care,' she said, was a 'great term that we should continue using' because it resonated with the public.

Not so for puberty blockers, she added.

'One of the key next steps is rebranding puberty blockers,' said App.

'This is a term that's not doing us any favors.'

App said puberty blockers are reversible and can give trans kids a chance to buy time to make bigger decisions about their identity. Critics say they cause long-term harm and that users typically get locked in to a lifetime of medicalization.

Change Research was set up after Donald Trump, a Republican, won the 2016 election. It carries out polling for Democratic causes and candidates, including Illinois representative Lauren Underwood.

Anna Pokrovsky, who worked on the trans poll, also served on President Joe Biden's election campaign. She said she identified as LGBTQ and that the survey was 'very important  to me and my community.'

McInerney repeatedly rejected DailyMail.com's requests to share the poll results. During the webinar's Q&A, we asked again about publicizing the results, but were immediately kicked out of the Zoom session.

Still, McInerney, a San Francisco native who previously interned with California Democratic politician Jared Huffman, began the meeting by saying the group was there to 'make public opinion research more accessible.'

'One of our core missions is to democratize access to high quality, accessible, public opinion research,' she said.

In an email exchange after the session, McInerney said DailyMail.com had been uninvited because the 'briefing was not open to the press.'

'We are not making the survey publicly available, because the poll was conducted for internal research purposes and was never intended for public release,' she added.
The mother of a murder victim told today of her horror after a senior judge backed a bid by her daughters killer to be moved to an open prison  despite hearing he was impulsive and had a history of using weapons.

Former soldier Stephen Wynne, then aged 26, killed Chantel Taylor with a meat cleaver in 2004 before dismembering and dumping her body.

Despite the mother-of-threes remains never having been found, the Parole Board last recommended that her killer should be moved to open prison conditions.

The Ministry of Justice disagreed, but yesterday a High Court judge backed a legal challenge by Wynne, saying he had been compliant in prison and was unlikely to abscond.

Today her mother, Jean Taylor, told Mail Online she was outraged by the decision.

Merseyside Police handout of Stephen Wynne. Wynne is to be sentenced for the murder of a Merseyside mother-of-three, who vanished nearly two years ago, today

Chantel Taylor, 27, who went missing from her home in Birkenhead, Merseyside in March 2004

Im convinced this man is still a threat to women, she said. Theres no way he should be moved to an open prison  its simply appalling.

When I first heard he was applying to be moved, I was shocked that hed even asked.

But for a judge to come down on his side given everything he did just shows what a mess our justice system is in.

I just hope ministers get a grip and find a way of keeping the public safe by ensuring he stays behind bars where he belongs.

Mrs Taylor has previously marched on Downing Street leading a campaign by hundreds of bereaved families demanding that life sentences should mean life.

Wynne was only caught when he tried to torch a mosque in a twisted revenge for the 2005 London bombings, with police searching his house finding a poem alluding to the crime.

Asked by if he had any information about Miss Taylors disappearance, he replied: I killed her.

It emerged that Wynne - who was thrown out of the Army for using cannabis - had been drinking and taking cocaine on the night of the killing in Birkenhead, Merseyside in March 2004.

As he walked home, he was approached by Miss Taylor who agreed to go to his house for sex.

While there they smoked heroin, but when she tried to leave he accused her of stealing drugs off him and struck her in the neck with a meat cleaver.

She died almost instantly and Wynne used a saw to dismember the body before later hiding it in the woods and a local tip, Liverpool Crown Court heard.

Wynne later admitted to murdering the 27-year-old and was jailed for life in January 2006.

His minimum term was later reduced to 18 years by the Court of Appeal, and is due to expire in July.

A panel hearing his application to move to open conditions said risk factors in his case included substance misuse, alcohol and drugs, poor emotional and anger management, impulsivity and use of weapons and reactive violence.

But it concluded that Wynne had been a calm, resolved and compliant prisoner in the custodial estate who was unlikely to abscond.

It added that he had shown insight and no longer ruminates with feelings of grievance and that he had a sustained period of good behaviour going back many years.

The panel also heard from Mrs Taylor about the deep distress and devastation felt by her family over the murder.

The Ministry of Justice, which was not bound to accept the panels recommendation, said he posed risks which cannot be effectively managed in open conditions.

It referred to the extreme violence of the murder, Wynnes impulsivity and his tendency to justify his actions.

In his High Court challenge, Wynnes lawyers argued the departments position was irrational, and its reasoning superficial.

Ruling in Wynnes favour, a senior judge concluding that the Government had provided no good reason for rejecting the boards recommendation.

The consensus amongst the professional report writers, across every report, was that the risks presented by the claimant (Wynne) could be effectively managed in open conditions, that he did not present a risk of absconding, and that he should be transferred to open conditions, Mrs Justice Steyn said.

She concluded that it was clear that the department had provided no good reason for rejecting the panels recommendation.

Last night a Ministry of Justice spokeswoman said it was 'considering our position'.

The ruling is not binding on the Government but means a decision on Wynne's application needs to be taken again.
Former fitness model icon and bodybuilder Loni Willison once again cut a pitiful figure as she was pictured rummaging through dumpsters on the streets of Los Angeles as she blames all of her problems on her ex-husband, Jeremy Jackson.

During an interview with X17 Online, Willison, 39, was asked what went wrong in her life. She simply replied: 'My ex-husband. Getting married. At least I got divorced... it set everything up.'

In the interview, Willison bizarrely also says that she cannot go inside shelters, or any buildings because somebody electrocuted her every day for nearly a year and the result is that she cannot be exposed to any electricity.

'I think because I pick up on the electricity, I also pick up on other things like certain chemicals like batteries, like fuses or wires or metals, I think my body filters that kind of stuff. I'm not sure exactly, I'd need to go through a big MRI machine or something to see it,' she says.

Willison then shows her badly broken finger, when the interviewer advises her to get it checked, she brushes it off saying: 'It will be fine.'

Former fitness model Loni Willison was pictured Friday trudging through the streets of Los Angeles today

Willison, known for her marriage to Baywatch star Jeremy Jackson, displayed a badly broken finger during an interview

Since splitting from her husband in 2014, Willison has been pictured multiple times living on the streets

Less than a decade ago, Willison was known for appearing on the red carpet with her husband at the time, Jeremy Jackson

In a new interview, Willison said that she blamed her ex-husband for all of her problems

Since breaking up with Jackson, one of the stars of Baywatch, Willison has been pictured multiple times going through trash search of food while donning dirty and disheveled clothes.

Jackson and Willison married in 2012, and while on the outside it seemed like their romance was picture perfect, she later claimed that he was physically abusive behind closed doors.

They tied the knot at a resort in Laguna Beach, California.

She alleged that their marriage was secretly filled with explosive drunken rows and nasty physical altercations that left her fearing for her life and suffering from multiple broken bones.

After leaving the TV hunk in 2014, Willison not only said goodbye to him, but also to the life of glittering celebrity parties and lavish VIP treatment that she once knew - and completely fell off the grid.

And when she re-emerged nearly four years later - she was practically unrecognizable. Her luscious blonde locks were all cut off, her closet full of designer clothes was long gone, and she had lost her spacious LA abode.

At the time, she spoke to DailyMail.com about her downfall, revealing that she suffered from a mental break in 2016 and started to believe that someone was sending electrical currents into her body - which could only be fixed by taking crystal meth.

Since then, Willison has eschewed all attempts from family and friends to get her help, insisting that she's 'doing just fine' and that she 'has everything she needs' on the streets.

Willison, born on May 21, 1983, in Hemet, California, was once a booming fitness model who posed for magazines like Glam Fit, Flavour Magazine, and Iron Man Magazine

Willison walking the red carpet alongside her then-husband, Jeremy Jackson in 2012

During her career, Willison posed for magazines like Glam Fit, Flavor Magazine, and Iron Man Magazine.

Willison first spoke out against Jackson in 2015, after the former Baywatch star was booted from Celebrity Big Brother in the UK for exposing fellow housemate Chloe Goodman's breast.

The Los Angeles Police Department's Wilshire division confirmed to DailyMail.com that a domestic disturbance call was placed from the couple's LA home in August 2014.

The incident reportedly left her with two broken ribs, an injured neck, and scratches on her face and body. However, the case was dropped after Willison opted not to press charges.

She told The Sun in 2015, 'I didn't report him when he attacked me because I was scared. I was in a bad place emotionally and I didn't want Jeremy to go to jail.

'But after all this I think I should have - maybe then I could have stopped Chloe having to go through that.

'I'm not surprised this happened - I know what Jeremy is like. At least now everyone can see what I had to put up with.'

When she and Jeremy became husband and wife in December 2012 - they tied the knot at a resort in Laguna Beach, California - everything seemed picture perfect from the outside

Police confirmed to DailyMail.com that a domestic disturbance call was placed from the couple's LA home in August 2014. Loni (seen with Jeremy) opted not to press charges

DailyMail.com had obtained a sound recording of the alleged attack, in which Willison was heard screaming in terror as Jeremy seemingly beat her.

The former model said she began recording the argument because she wanted to prove he was acting 'crazy.'

The day before the attack, Willison also claimed that he sent her a chilling, 12-minute rap song that he wrote for her via email, in which he announced he 'wanted to kill her.'

Jeremy has faced his own problems since leaving Baywatch. He struggled with drug and alcohol addiction, and he went on to be arrested in 2015 for stabbing a different woman during an argument.

He struck a plea deal, and a judge sentenced him to 270 days in LA County Jail and five years probation.

At the time, Willison encouraged Chloe to press charges against Jeremy, while admitting that she regretted not taking her own experiences with him to the police.

She claimed he once tried to strangle her and that he smashed their TV with beer bottles - and she even said she had recordings to prove it.
A serial sex attacker dubbed the 'Coronation Street rapist' for targeting young mothers in their own homes has been recalled to prison due to licensing breaches just months after he was released.

Andrew Barlow, 67, from Bolton in Lancashire, was released earlier this year after he was handed thirteen life sentences for his campaign of terror across five counties during the 1980s.

The predator spent just 34 years in jail after being convicted of 11 rapes, three attempted rapes, indecent assault and using a firearm to resist arrest.

Barlow, formerly known as Andrew Longmire, was first locked up in October 1988 and in the decades that followed he was linked to more horrific crimes as previously unsolved cases were cracked.

The Ministry of Justice said Barlow was being recalled to prison on Friday - just six weeks after the Parole Board rejected a bid by the then justice secretary, Dominic Raab, to halt his release.

Andrew Barlow, 67, from Bolton in Lancashire, was released earlier this year after he was handed thirteen life sentences for his crimes

His tariff was fixed at 20 years and in the decades that followed he was linked to more offending as previously unsolved cases were cracked

His release has left victims and the families of Barlow furious, after they campaigned tirelessly to keep him behind bars along with Manchester MP, Graham Stringer.

Following Barlow's return to prison, Mr Stringer told the Manchester Evening News: 'It is extraordinary. I think this is another failure of the Parole Board to use common sense and protect the public from a very dangerous man.

'They were warned by me and the victims. This is institutional failure of the highest order.'

A relative of a woman Barlow raped in her own home in Greater Manchester in 1987 told the news outlet: 'I took it on the chin in January and decided to get on with my life when Barlow was released - now this animal is back in our lives again. We told the authorities and they didn't listen.

'Someone has to be accountable for this. It will mean all the victims and their families are reliving the agony again like we had to in January when we tried in vain to stop his release. We told the authorities he was too high a risk and we have been proven right.

'I will like to sit down with someone from the Parole Board face to face and tell them what happened to our family because of Barlow - not submit an email like I had to in January.'

It is understood Barlow's recall relates to a breach of his licence conditions but he has not been charged with any offences.

Barlow, who lived in Bolton and Oldham, was a Category A prisoner until this was downgraded to B in 2010

After the Parole Board determined on December 12 that he could be released, former Deputy Prime Minister Raab applied in January to cancel the scheduled release of Barlow.

Mr Raab, who was justice secretary before he resigned last month following a bullying inquiry, called Barlow's crimes 'despicable' and applied to the board for reconsideration on January 17.

He argued that the panel which sanctioned Barlow's release 'failed to take proper account of the evidence regarding risk and in particular the expert psychology evidence'.

This was based on slightly differing reports from two psychologists about the safety of Barlow's release - one declared him safe, while another said he should be 'further tested in 'open (jail)' before being confirmed for release.

The Parole Board rejected Mr Raab's application in February, saying that 'there has been no misdirection of law' and the panel had considered 'all the evidence'.

Dominic Raab, who was justice secretary before he resigned last month, called Barlow's crimes 'despicable' and applied to the board for reconsideration on January 17

Barlow was first locked up in October 1988 after being convicted of 11 rapes, three attempted rapes, indecent assault and using a firearm to resist arrest, after he opened fire with a shotgun as two police officers detained him.

He was subsequently found guilty of two further rapes in 2010 and in 2017, both committed during the 1980s.

The final two convictions were for offences committed in 1981 and 1982.

In the first he raped a woman in front of her three-year-old child, who was hiding behind the settee in their home.

In 2017, Barlow was convicted again - this time of the rape of a 15-year-old girl committed in Great Lever, Bolton, in January 1982.

Barlow would spend days carrying out reconnaissance on his victims' homes to work out domestic routines, so he knew at what time husbands and partners would leave for work so he could attack women alone (pictured in 1988)

He went into the girl's home at around 8.45am, when she was alone in her bedroom, after both her parents had left the the house.

He threatened the 'petrified' girl with a knife and pulled off her clothes before raping her.

The cold cases were solved thanks to advances in DNA technology and Barlow admitted them both, but said he could not remember either attack.

The predator would target women in their late teens and young mothers mainly in the Manchester area, where he lived during the decade.

He was dubbed the 'Coronation Street Rapist' because many of his attacks were on women in terraced houses and streets in the Greater Manchester area (pictured)

He would spend days carrying out reconnaissance on his victims' homes to work out their domestic routines, so he knew at what time husbands and partners would leave for work so he could attack women alone.

He broke into victims' homes, used weapons to threaten them - and in one case to cause injury - before assaulting them often while their children were in the same house.

He was dubbed 'The Coronation Street rapist' as most of his victims were attacked in their own terraced homes, mainly in Greater Manchester, near where he lived in Bolton and Oldham. Two of the attacks took place in the street.

Barlow was a Category A prisoner until he was downgraded to Category B in 2010.

His release was subject to stringent licence conditions, including residing at a designated address, adhering to good behaviour, disclosing developing relationships and reporting as required for supervision or other appointments.

He was told he would be subject to an enhanced form of supervision or monitoring including drug testing, signing-in times, GPS trail monitoring, polygraph testing and a specified curfew.

He was also expected to comply with other identified limitations concerning contacts, activities, residency and an exclusion zone to avoid contact with victims and to abide by specified restrictions relating to the use of electronic technology.

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: 'Protecting the public is our number one priority.

'That's why offenders are subject to tough licence conditions and when they breach them, we do not hesitate to return them to custody.'

The Parole Board has been contacted for comment.
What an outrage.

Without calling a grand jury, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg  otherwise so soft on crime as to be Play-Doh  has indicted Daniel Penny of second-degree manslaughter in the subway chokehold death of Jordan Neely, a charge that carries up to 15 years in prison.

To be clear: Neely did not deserve to die. No one deserves to die like that.

But to watch the mob rule on display, the craven politics behind Braggs decision, and the media coverage depicting Neely as your friendly neighborhood Michael Jackson impersonator, his death a racist lynching, is to despair.

Neely had more arrests than birthdays: 42 charges at 30 years old, so mentally ill that he was on New York Citys Top 50 list of homeless in dire need of help.

He was arrested in 2015 for attempting to kidnap a 7-year-old girl after he was seen dragging [her] down an Inwood street, the New York Daily News reported.

Thats a detail you wont find in most media coverage.

Nor this: Neely had an active warrant out for his arrest, having skipped out on a court appearance in connection with his attack on a 67-year-old woman.

Without calling a grand jury, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg  otherwise so soft on crime as to be Play-Doh  has indicted Daniel Penny (pictured outside Manhattan court on Friday) of second-degree manslaughter.

To be clear: Neely did not deserve to die. No one deserves to die like that. (Pictured: Perry holds Jordan Neely in a lethal chokehold).

Even New York Citys mayor Eric Adams, a black former transit cop, has called for calm and due process.

As the expected voices on the left whipped out the gasoline and matches  Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez swiftly adjudging Neely as having been murdered  Adams implored New Yorkers to let the investigation play out.

I dont think thats very responsible at the time where we are still investigating the situation, he said of AOC et al. on CNN. Lets let the DA conduct his investigation with the law-enforcement officials . . . Im going to be responsible and allow them to do their job and allow them to determine exactly what happened here.

If only Bragg could be trusted.

But no: Like a character straight out of Tom Wolfes Bonfire of the Vanities, hes racializing this tragedy rather than upholding his pledge to guarantee both fairness and safety.

Speaking of fairness and safety: Anyone who has taken the subway in New York knows that it has, since Covid, become a de facto homeless shelter. Fairness and safety apply to those who terrorize, maraud and attack  not the hardworking, law-abiding citizens of this once-great city.

Commuters are mere interlopers, hoping to get from Point A to Point B without being shoved on to the tracks, stabbed, slashed, or trapped in a car with a mentally ill homeless person who is aggressive at best, violent at worst.

The cops wont do anything, and Daniel Penny is Exhibit A as to why: What officer in this climate wants to risk a manslaughter charge?

Thats why youre more apt to see them down in the subway system scrolling through Instagram than making arrests.

Getting randomly assaulted on the train  thats become the cost of doing business in New York.

Jordan Neely boarded the F train on the afternoon of Monday, May 1 at the Second Avenue stop in downtown Manhattan. Eyewitness Juan Alberto Vazquez said that Neely started yelling that he was tired, that he didnt care about going to jail.

To watch the mob rule on display, the craven politics behind Braggs decision, and the media coverage depicting Neely as your friendly neighborhood Michael Jackson impersonator, his death a racist lynching, is to despair.

Neely (pictured receiving CPR on the subway train where he died) had more arrests than birthdays: 42 charges at 30 years old, so mentally ill that he was on New York Citys Top 50 list of homeless in dire need of help.

Neely took off his jacket and threw it to the floor with such force that you could hear the zipper clang. The people who were sitting around him  well, yeah, they were scared, Vazquez said, and they stood up and moved around the train car while Neely continued ranting.

Heres the truth according to 1619 Project author and New York Times reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones: Neely was killed, she tweeted, for being mentally ill and yelling at people.

Roxane Gay wrote a column for the Times with the headline Making People Uncomfortable Can Now Get You Killed.

Gay blamed the people  multi-racial, as we know  in that subway car [who] prioritized their own discomfort over Mr. Neelys distress.

Tell that to the 66-year-old eyewitness who came forward the night before Pennys arraignment.

According to her, Neely said, I would kill a motherf***er. I dont care. Ill take a bullet. Ill go to jail.

She and her fellow passengers, she said, feared for their physical safety: Mr. Neely was [] threatening the passengers. If he did not get what he wants.

She said she thanked Daniel Penny for intervening.

But three other men were videotaped intervening as well  one holding Neelys arms down, another helping as Neely tried to escape. Two of the men on video are white; the other appears to be black.

If Penny can be charged without calling a grand jury, why havent these men also been charged with a crime?

Why, too, dont we have Neelys toxicology report?

Three other men were videotaped intervening as well  one holding Neelys arms down, another helping as Neely tried to escape. Two of the men on video are white; the other appears to be black. Why havent these men also been charged with a crime?

New York Citys mayor Eric Adams, a black former transit cop, has called for calm and due process. But as expected, the left have whipped out the gasoline and matches: Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez swiftly adjudged Neely had been murdered.

We know he was schizophrenic. We know he had a history of drug use. We know he was prone to violent, unprovoked outbursts and assaults.

After Penny's indictment on Friday, Neely's family, through their attorneys, said that passengers should have asked Neely, What's wrong? How can I help you?... No one said, Here, sir: Let me meet your need.

Neely's family is grieving deeply, to be sure. But that remonstration to fellow New Yorkers is as absurd as it is tone-deaf. The few witnesses who have spoken about being in that subway car were terrified by Neely's behavior.

The onus should not have been on them.

Neely was so erratic that even his own family members admit they couldn't handle him at times.

To wit: there was Neely's attack on Filemon Castillo Baltazar, 68, while he waited for a train in June of 2019.

Baltazar supports Daniel Penny.

Who knows what [Neely] might have done to other people, Baltazar said.

Indeed. Two years later, Neely was arrested for randomly punching 67-year-old Anne Mitcheltree inside an East Village deli.

The police told me we have him, hes in custody, were going to press charges, Micheltree told the New York Post. I thought the judge would have forced him to take psychiatric meds, but it seems like he bounced out.

Thats Alvin Braggs New York for you: turfing career criminals out on the streets  the same 10 criminals responsible for almost 500 crimes, according to Mayor Adams  and pursuing flimsy, flashy, headline-grabbing, virtue-signaling cases such as Trump paying off a porn star and a military veteran attempting to protect fellow riders.

Neely was so erratic that even his own family members admit they couldn't handle him at times. (Pictured: marine veteran Daniel Penny).

After Penny's indictment, Neely's family, through their attorneys, said that passengers should have asked Neely, What's wrong? How can I help you?... No one said, Here, sir: Let me meet your need. They're grieving deeply, to be sure. But that is as absurd as it is tone-deaf.

Thats Alvin Bragg for you: pursuing flimsy, flashy, headline-grabbing, virtue-signaling cases such as Trump paying off a porn star and a military veteran attempting to protect fellow riders.

Bragg is a disgrace. He stokes racial enmity at the cost of justice.

His lassitude endangers everyday New Yorkers who are simply trying to get to work or school without fear of attack. He does the city no favors by indicting Penny without a grand jury. Of parading Penny on a perp walk in cuffs.

Would Bragg have dared do the same had the victim here been white and the restraining individual black?

I think we all know the answer.

Neely punched another 67-year-old woman  notice a pattern here?  as she exited a station in November 2021, giving her a broken nose, a fractured eye socket and substantial pain to the back of her head.

Yet heres our pandering, pathetic New York governor Kathy Hochul, insisting that Neely was killed for being a passenger and that it was very clear that he was not going to, you know, cause harm to these other people.

We cant hear from these other people who were in that subway car soon enough. Daniel Penny cant afford for them not to come forward.

All these preening politicians with their calls of lynching and 'murder should take a seat and kindly shut up, because they dont take the subway. They dont have to. They can call an Uber anytime they feel like it.

Its the working people of the city, the ones who live in public housing and work night shifts and cant afford private car services, who suffer.

A tragedy like this was inevitable, the result of the complete capitulation to lawlessness, the homeless, the mentally ill and career criminals.

The blood and the blame belong not to Daniel Penny but to New York City alone.
The White House said Friday that talks with Republicans amid the looming debt limit crisis have been 'productive'  and that the decision to delay a planned meeting from Friday was mutual.

The move to punt for a few days was 'decided by all principles,' White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters at the White House  in a briefing where she reassured the media that President Biden plans to head off to Japan mid-week as scheduled despite that drama that has the potential to rattle markets or even throw the U.S. into default.

'Theyre going to continue to meet today and over the weekend,' she said of staff, adding the talks 'have been productive,' despite no public signs of agreement.

Nevertheless, Biden is standing by his core position of refusing to haggle over raising the debt limit to meet U.S. borrowing obligations.

'We are not going to negotiate over the debt limit,' she said. She characterized the talks as a conversation on the budget and the appropriations process as part of a return to 'regular order.'

'We are not going to negotiate over the debt limit,' said White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre Friday, who said talks with GOP leaders had been productive, with no date set for the next round next week

She said three-quarters of the leaders present said the nation must avoid a default. 'I'll let you guess who was the fourth that did not say that,' she said, in a dig at House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who joined talks early this week with Biden, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer.

Jean-Pierre underlined that Biden planned to visit Japan next week as scheduled, days after the president himself said it was 'possible' he would have to delay or cancel the trip, depending on the 'state of play' in talks.

She said she had spoken to Biden about the upcoming G7 in Hiroshima.

'He wanted all of you to know that he's expecting to go. That's where I will leave it,' she said.

'What I can say is that the President from him and wants all of you to understand and know and wants me to communicate that he's expected to go on next Wednesday.'

Her remarks come after a scheduled White House meeting between Biden, Speaker Kevin McCarthy and the other congressional leaders was suddenly postponed as the U.S. rushes toward defaulting on its debt.

Biden is 'expecting' to travel Wednesday to attend the G7 summit in Hiroshima. Finance ministers including Germany's Finance Minister Christian Lindner and Joachim Nagel, President of Germany's federal reserve Bundesbank, met in Niigata, Japan Friday

The meeting will now take place next week as staff between the two sides continue to meet to try and hash out a deal that will allow the country to meet its obligations to its $31 trillion debt.

The delay follows a White House meeting this week where the two sides did not announce any new agreements, other than to continue talking.

The United States is likely to hit its debt ceiling in the beginning of June, according to Treasury Department estimates of when 'extraordinary measures' will be exhausted. A new Congressional Budget Office report gives a bit more breathing room, perhaps until mid-June.

Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy and President Joe Biden met Tuesday at the White House with other Congressional leaders

Both chambers of Congress are scheduled to be out of session on Friday.

McCarthy noted the clock is ticking.

'There's only 15 days to go. How is the president handled this? Exact same way he's handled the border. He ignores it and hopes it goes away,' the speaker said Thursday on Capitol Hill.

'They have no plan, no proposed savings and no clue. Apparently President Biden doesn't want to deal. He wants to default. Mr. President, my message is very simple. Do not miss another deadline like you just missed on title 42. Our country cannot afford it,' he added.

The president took more shots at McCarthy and House Republicans at the White House during an event where he was hailing his administration's environmental achievements  including unilateral moves like declaring national monuments to protect federal lands and an EPA decision to block an Alaska mine in Bristol Bay.

This time, he said the House-passed budget, which includes a one-year extension of the debt limit, would lead to a 22 percent cut across programs that would harm the environment.

He said it would slash funding for wetlands, firefighters, and park rangers.

'Folks, we can't let that happen,' he said.

President Joe Biden spoke about the threats he said the GOP budget would pose to environmental programs at an event at the White House Thursday

Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell did not sound optomistic after their meeting with Biden on Tuesday

President Biden hosted the four Congressional leaders - Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (who is not pictured)

On Tuesday, Biden hosted the four Congressional leaders - McCarthy, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell - at the White House for a meeting, in which the little progress was made.

For months, the president has said he wanted Congress to pass a 'clean' debt ceiling bill.

Instead, House Republicans passed a bill at the end of last month that lifts the debt limit by $1.5 trillion in exchange for $4.5 trillion in spending cuts over time.

That bill is dead upon arrival in the Senate in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

White House officials acknowledged to Reuters that they must accept some spending cuts or strict caps on future spending if they are to strike a deal but insisted they must preserve Biden's signature climate legislation that passed along party lines last year.

But Republicans didn't sound optimistic after their meeting with Biden on Tuesday.

'Everybody in this meeting reiterated the positions they were at. I didn't see any new movement,' McCarthy said.

Asked if the leaders were any closer to a deal, McCarthy said, 'Well, we met. So that's closer.'

The speaker said he pressed Biden 'numerous times' on whether he would agree to any budget cuts or if there were any areas for agreement, but Biden didn't have any specific proposals.

'I passed a bill - what more should I have to do?' he's said.

But Schumer knocked McCarthy for not ruling out default regardless of the circumstances.

'We explicitly asked Speaker McCarthy, would he take default off the table. He refused,' the Democratic leader told the press.

Biden, meanwhile, said 'default is not an option,' and said that he was considering using the 14th Amendment to lift the debt ceiling.

Biden additionally agreed to look at COVID funding as an area in the budget where he'd accept cuts - one of the proposals McCarthy floated after his White House meeting Tuesday afternoon.

'I trust Kevin will try to do what he says,' Biden said when asked if he trusted McCarthy. 'I don't know how much leeway Kevin McCarthy thinks he has, when in fact - and I'm not being a wise guy when I say this - it took 15 votes for him to acquire the speakership.'

'And apparently he had to make some serious concessions to get it from the most extreme elements of his party,' Biden continued. 'I just don't know.'

The 14th Amendment says 'the validity of the public debt, authorized by lawshall not be questioned.'

Some legal scholars argue this gives the Treasury Department the ability to keep borrowing money past the current $31.4 trillion debt limit that requires congressional approval to raise or lift.

The controversial idea builds on Section 4 of the 14th Amendment, arguing it would be unconstitutional for the U.S to fail to make payments even if the debt limit isn't raised, which would effectively challenge the debt limit on legal grounds.
I still dream of Bakhmut. I'm back in the city centre, embedded with the Ukrainian special forces. Shells are falling all around me; they roar like rolling thunder and explode into a chaos of smoke and jagged metal. Buildings crumble into the earth.

My friend, a commando who goes by the callsign 'Strangeman', is shouting to me amid the carnage, but I can't hear him. Then another shell falls, and everything disappears.

Bakhmut is both a dream and a nightmare. It is a fantasy. This eastern city, just 55 miles from Russian-occupied Donetsk, has no real strategic value, but Vladimir Putin's forces have been trying to conquer it since July of last year, killing tens of thousands in the process.

The reason? So that this modern-day tsar might make good on his promise to 'liberate' all of the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.

But it is also a dream: of Ukrainian freedom  of the country's continuing refusal to bow before genocide and of its people's desire to live in peace.

Ukrainian soldiers fire artillery at Russian positions near Bakhmut, in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, on November, 20, 2022

Russian Yevgeny Prigozhin, owner of the Wagner Group of mercenaries broadcasts a tirade against Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu accusing the military command of starving his forces of ammunition and supplies, May 4, 2023 near Bakhmut, Ukraine

If Bakhmut was already Hell when I was there earlier this year, it has now descended to the lowest circle. A few days ago, my phone buzzed and a video appeared showing the sky above the city smothered in twinkling lights  it was strangely beautiful. 'The s***s are using white phosphorus' read the accompanying message from a Ukrainian friend.

White phosphorus ignites on contact with air; it burns through almost everything.

On the video, I could see office towers smothered in flames. Its use is not prohibited, but it is considered a war crime when targeting civilians and the Russians have seemingly blanketed large parts of the city with it. What makes matters worse is that Moscow has signed the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, which bans the use of incendiary weapons designed to catch fire in civilian areas. It no longer even pretends to abide by any sort of rules  even those it has signed up to.

It was merely the latest atrocity to strafe this once-energetic city; and to me, it sums up what has happened across so much of Ukraine.

Bakhmut used to be known for its sparkling wine produced in underground caves. Now, the city sparkles with Russian ordnance as the few remaining civilians cower in cellars and soldiers take cover in underground bunkers.

Victories on the ground have been rare for the Russians since Moscow launched its all-out invasion of Ukraine on February 24 last year.

With the south-eastern city of Kherson now back in Ukrainian hands and the army preparing for a major counter-offensive, the Russians are throwing everything they have at Bakhmut.

My soldier friends know they cannot hold the city for ever. But they are determined to keep resisting.

This week Ukrainian forces are believed to have recaptured an area of nine square kilometres (three square miles), marking their biggest advance in months.

Late on Monday I managed to contact my friend 'Ivan', who has been fighting there since the beginning of the year. 'It's like nothing I've ever experienced before,' he said as I heard the familiar sound of shelling in the background.

'We are fighting street to street now. We are losing many men every day, but we are killing far more of them in return.

Ukraine's defence ministry released barbaric drone footage on Twitter, saying that the phosphorus attack targeted 'unoccupied areas of Bakhmut with incendiary ammunition'

Smoke rising from a building in Bakhmut, the site of the heaviest battles with the Russian troops in the Donetsk region, Ukraine

David Patrikarakos saw the devastation and desolation in Bakhmut, Ukraine

'The more we hold the Russians here, the more we help our forces elsewhere. Maybe now they will start to take back some of our territory from these b******s; every day here we are weakening them. Even if they eventually take the city, it will have cost them tens of thousands of their soldiers. Really, it will be a defeat for them.'

We are entering the endgame in Bakhmut. The war's longest battle, it began last July when Russia launched a huge offensive after taking Severodonetsk, the final major Ukrainian city of the Luhansk region. After making initial gains, the Russians met with resolute Ukrainian resistance, which forced them, in the autumn, to switch from artillery to foot soldiers, turning the city into an abattoir.

By November, the Russians had encircled the city. The Ukrainians dug in, and today still hold a small section of Bakhmut, refusing to surrender.

Being in Bakhmut is like stepping into the past. Hundreds of metres of trenches snake around the city. They are perhaps the safest places to be in a place that has been almost totally levelled. When I drove through the centre in a Land Cruiser with two Ukrainian commandos, it was cratered like the surface of the moon.

We weaved across roads sodden with mud and water, listening to the thud of artillery, trying to work out where it might strike next. The previous night, an officer on the base I was staying at, a concrete building that went deep underground, explained the bloody fight here.

This week Ukrainian forces are believed to have recaptured an area of nine square kilometres (three square miles), marking their biggest advance in months

A mortar unit of the Armed Forces of Ukraine firing at enemy positions in the suburbs of Bakhmut town, Donetsk region, Ukraine

'Sometimes it's like being in World War I,' he told me. 'Two lots of infantries shooting at each other, even bayoneting each other. It's brutal.' In Bakhmut, almost anything can be used as a weapon. After we spoke, the officer showed me a vodka bottle with a cloth stuffed into its top. 'We don't call it a Molotov cocktail, though,' he said with a grin. 'It's a Ukrainian smoothie! The problem is that when it comes to infantry, the enemy has endless reserves of it.' He was referring to the private mercenary company, the Wagner Group: a gang of murderers active everywhere from Ukraine to the Middle East to Africa.

As violence has erupted in Sudan, reports have reached me that Wagner has been stoking the civil war there, helping both the Rapid Support Forces of Sudanese General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo and General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the commander of Sudan's Armed Forces. The quid pro quo is simple: the group provides both sides with arms in exchange for mining concessions that bring millions into its coffers.

Wagner is integral to the Russian strategy in Bakhmut, and it is led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a shaven-headed criminal who spent nine years in prison. With a penchant for violence and a knack for making dirty cash, he has risen to the top of Putin's court.

Last year, as the Ukrainians began to chew up Russian forces on the ground, Prigozhin visited some of Russia's worst prisons and offered the inmates a stark deal: join up to fight in Ukraine and if you survive six months you get a pardon. But, he warned them, most of you won't survive.

He is a thug without conscience who delights in sadism. When it was reported that one recruit had been convicted for the murder and dismemberment of a woman, Prigozhin laughed it off, insisting Wagner would never recruit someone like that because 'women should be f****d, not dismembered'.

Many of the worst offenders were sent to Bakhmut where their officers force them to charge toward the enemy  often pumped full of drugs  in what my Ukrainian comrades call 'meat waves'. The soldiers told me that the attacks were draining, but that they could deal with them. 'It just means our automatic weapons are kept busy,' one officer told me.

Prigozhin despises the Russian military high command whom he sees as a rival to his own army. He loses no opportunity to attack Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov.

Tensions exploded last week when Prigozhin released a video standing in front of what he said were rows of dead Wagner fighters. He claimed they had died because the Russian army was deliberately withholding ammunition from Wagner, implying that he might pull his forces out of the city.

In the video Prigozhin's brutality and vulgarity were on full display. 'Shoigu, Gerasimov, where's the f*****g ammunition?' he spat into the camera.

Smoke rising from buildings in Bakhmut, the site of the heaviest battles with the Russian troops in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, taken on Wednesday, April 26, 2023

Ukrainian soldiers fire a mortar at Russian positions on the frontline near Bakhmut

Bakhmut is both a dream and a nightmare. It is a fantasy. This eastern city, just 55 miles from Russian-occupied Donetsk, has no real strategic value, but Vladimir Putin's forces have been trying to conquer it since July of last year, killing tens of thousands in the process

'You scum sit there in your expensive clubs. Your kids are all getting off on life, recording their little YouTube videos. I will make sure they will bear responsibility for it. These are Wagner lads who died today. The blood is still fresh. They came here as volunteers and are dying so you can sit like fat cats.'

It was a sickening video in more ways than one. Prigozhin cares not one whit for the many men he sends to their deaths. But by threatening to pull out of Bakhmut at such a critical time, he knew the army would have to react, and they did. Prigozhin has since said the ammo is coming, and, chillingly, that his forces had been given permission to 'act in Bakhmut as we see fit'. More atrocities will follow.

As spring rolls on and the terrain becomes easier to traverse across the South East, the Ukrainians are moving their forces into offensive positions. What military experts call the 'shaping' of the battle to come is taking place. The goal is to win back some of the territory Russia has stolen.

But the stakes couldn't be higher. Kyiv knows that if its forces fail to make substantial gains, the country's Western allies, who have sunk billions of dollars into the war, might get twitchy.

In some European capitals, talk of compromise is already taking root. President Zelensky knows this. This week, he said the counter-offensive would not begin before further military aid had been delivered. Britain's pledge of highly effective Storm Shadow cruise missiles, announced by Defence Secretary Ben Wallace on Thursday, is just the sort of thing his soldiers need.

The timing could not be better. Some tell me there is even talk of Ukrainian forces making a dash for Crimea. If that were to fall, it would surely be the end of Putin.

My friend Ivan tells me: 'We see the Russians up close here. This is all-out war, and they are a danger. Their bombs, their torture, terror, their disrespect for human morality. But they are also terrified to be sent here; their empire is built on fear: of being executed and punished.

'They are afraid of everything, it is very visible; they cannot admit that they are occupiers, so their motivation is weak. They can die easily from Ukrainian [attacks]. But they can also be shot by their own officers. In Bakhmut, death is everywhere, all the time.'

Shells, bombs, tanks, planes, illegal weapons, urban warfare. Bakhmut has become Ukraine's Stalingrad. Almost 80 years ago the German Wehrmacht met so much resistance in the Russian city that it was forced to send in troops from across occupied Europe to replace its losses there. It was a turning point in the war and became a rallying cry for the Red Army.

The Ukrainians may lose Bakhmut but it will be an empty, costly victory for the Russians after such a prolonged campaign.

Leading out of Bakhmut is a road that goes to the city of Chasiv Yar just over six miles away. The Ukrainians call it the Road of Life, so vital has it become to getting supplies into Bakhmut, and the dead and wounded out of it.

As I drove out of the city with Strangeman, I looked at the devastation all around me and thought that in its own way Bakhmut has become a symbol of Ukraine's own Road of Life, which is its continuing resistance, the only path it can take to escape from the Kremlin's madness.

In this city, shades of grey dissolve into black and white. The fight is a simple one: oppression versus resistance; democracy versus dictatorship; the Ukraine war in microcosm. When I spend time with Ukraine's soldiers, they always insist on thanking Britain for all its support.

'God save the King! God bless Boris Johnson!' they repeat over and over. I tell them that we help not just because it is the right thing to do but because all the world must make a stand against Putin's madness. Whether we like it or not, this fight concerns us all.

I still dream of Bakhmut, but it is becoming a dream of a different kind. One in which Ukraine might once again be free. As Ivan told me. 'If I must die here, I will. Even if it's just so that one day my son won't have to come back here and do the same.'
A Brazilian married man with children is under arrest for conning a woman into believing he was a medical school student and tricked her into giving over $800.

Fabio Siqueira was taken into custody Friday and indicted on an embezzlement charge, Goias Civil Police said. He was released from jail.

The 35-year-old woman, who has not been identified by name, told authorities that she met Siqueira through an online dating app and dated him for two months before she discovered he had been lying.

Civil Police chief Yasser Yassine said Siqueira lied about being studying medicine at the University of Brasilia and even invited her to the graduation.

Police in Brazil arrested Fabio Siqueira on an embezzlement charged on Friday before shortly releasing him. The 39-year-old was accused by a 35-year-old woman of tricking her into believing he was a medical school student and conning her out of money

Fabio Siqueira is actually married with children and lied to a woman he met on an online dating app in Brazil that he was studying medicine at University of Brasilia and went as far as inviting her to his fake graduation

The woman is said to have spent $240 to purchase three dresses to attend Siqueira's bogus graduation, a mass and dinner, and gifted him approximately $400.

Siqueira on one occasion sent the victim photos of children he alleged were sick and received donations to help cover their medicinal expenses.

There was also the time when he lied about being infected with COVID-19 and of being diagnosed with thrombosis.

The woman felt sympathy for Siqueira's well-being and took out a loan to help him with the medical expenses.

It still took her some time to second guess the relationship after Siqueira began to expose her to a great deal of psychological pressure.

After some background research on him, she was able to discover that he was married with kids and filed a report with the police in the Federal District town of Formosa.

Authorities believe other women may have been conned by Siqueira and hope that anyone who was also deceived by him will come forward.

The incident comes on the heels of a 37-year-old woman from Pennsylvania who revealed that she was scammed out of $450,000 by a man who posed as a French wine trader after meeting him on Hinge, an online dating app.

Sheyra Datta, who is recently divorced, told the Philadelphia Inquirer that the individual named Ancel Mali used an image of a German fitness influencer on his profile and chatted with her for several months before he convinced her into placing her savings into a bogus investment app.

She never met him in person and only spoke to him via video on two occasions, but still managed to fall in love with him.

'I was in a trance,' she said. 'It's like my psychology was hacked.'
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Friday accused Florida of sabotaging President Joe Biden's plan to 'parole' migrants crossing the Southern border.

'The way we see that it's sabotage. It's pure and simple. That's how that reads to us,' Jean-Pierre said at her daily press briefing.

She wouldn't say if she specifically meant U.S. District Judge T. Kent Wetherell, who made the ruling, or Florida's Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, whose administration brought the lawsuit.

DeSantis is expected to announce his bid for the Republican presidential nomination in the coming months and has slammed Biden for his handling of the situation at the border.

Migrants are released from a Customs and Border Patrol facility after obtaining an appointment from the US government to legally enter the country

As part of its plan to deal with the thousands of migrants amassing at the border ahead of Thursday, when the pandemic era-policy Title 42 ended, the Biden administration planned to begin releasing migrants into the community with notices to report to an immigration office in 60 days.

Those 'paroles' were to be triggered when holding centers reach 125% capacity, or when authorities stop 7,000 migrants along the border in a day.

But that plan was halted at 9:30 p.m. on Thursday night when Wetherell, a Donald Trump appointee, agreed with the argument from DeSantis' administration, which had filed suit in court, that the Biden plan was nearly identical to another Biden policy previously voided in federal court.

Now, as migrants continue to flood the country, the White House is dealing with a legal saga. The administration plans to appeal.

'The Department of Justice is going to fight it,' Jean-Pierre announced.

'Republican elected officials continue to play games here,' she said. 'They continue to have political stunts, and they don't want to solve this problem. They want to use it again as a as a campaign tool for them.'

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre accused Florida of sabotaging President Joe Biden's plan to handle migration at the border with a lawsuit by Gov. Ron DeSantis

Migrants from Peru, five years old Valenti, and two years old Dulce, play with plastic toys on the border wall

Migrants who crossed the Rio Grande river into the United States await processing by immigration officials during a vicious sandstorm in El Paso

As the pandemic-era immigration policy known as Title 42 is set to end tonight, migrants are making their way over the Rio Grande river U.S.-Mexico border

In the case, the Justice Department said the new policy was a response to an emergency and being prevented from carrying it out 'could overwhelm the border and raise serious health and safety risks to noncitizens and immigration officials.'

Wetherell blocked the releases for two weeks and scheduled a May 19 hearing on whether to extend his order.
The Church of Scientology obtained a swathe of criminal discovery material relating to the rape trial of Danny Masterson, including emails between police and 'victims', a court has heard.

Masterson, the former star of That '70s Show and a Scientologist himself, is accused of raping three women between 2001 and 2003.

One victim has claimed the actor drugged, choked, and raped her after throwing her in the Jacuzzi at his Hollywood Hills home.

But the Deputy District Attorney Reinhold Mueller told the trial judge on Wednesday that a tranche of criminal discovery material has ended up in the hands of The Church of Scientology, even though it is not a party in the case.

Mueller said that on May 2 his office was sent an email by Church attorney Vicki Podberesky titled 'False reports of stalking by the Church of Scientology'.

Former star of That '70s Show Danny Masterson arrives at the Los Angeles Superior Courthouse on Friday with wife and fellow actor Bijou Phillips

The DA's office said The Church of Scientology, of which Masterson is a member, obtained a tranche of criminal discovery material relating to the case, despite not being party to it

The DA's office became aware of the leak after it received an email from one of the Church's attorneys, Vicki Podberesky (above), that inadvertently contained a link to the files

But along with the email, there were links to files.

'In the attachments, I don't want to say all of our discovery, but a large amount of our discovery was attached to these files,' Mueller said.

'Emails between law enforcement and victims. Text messages. Police reports. Photos. We weren't able to get through all the attachments, but it's extremely troubling that all of our redacted discovery we turned over to the defense is now in the hands of Scientology.'

Judge Olmedo asked Masterson's defense attorney, Phillip Cohen, if he had been 'sharing discovery with the Church of Scientology', which he denied, The Underground Bunker reported.

Olmedo issued 'an order to show cause', but said this would have to wait until after the trial.

Scientology spokeswoman Karin Pouw insisted to DailyMail.com that the church is not a party in the Masterson case.

'The prosecution's insertion of religion into this matter is blatantly unconstitutional,' she said.

'Nevertheless, the District Attorney has unconscionably centered his prosecution on religion and fabrications about the Church hoping to prejudice the jury and inflame bigotry.'

'The Church has no policy prohibiting or discouraging members from reporting criminal conduct of anyone.'

Masterson is accused of raping three women between 2001 and 2003 at his Hollywood home

Danny Masterson played wise-cracking Steven Hyde, fourth from left, on That '70s Show from 1998 to 2006

David Miscavige, 63m has been leader of the Church of Scientology since 1987

The proceedings in Los Angeles are part a retrial of Masterson's rape charges after a deadlocked jury led to a mistrial last year.

Earlier this month, a woman identified in court as Jane Doe 1 said she was drugged and raped by Masterson at his LA home in April 2003.

She said she told the Church of Scientology, whose leader is David Miscavige, about the alleged rape, but was punished for reporting it.

The woman claimed she was told by the Church that if she went to the police she'd be declared a 'suppressive person' - and that she was forced to undertake therapy to understand how she had caused the rape.

On cross-examination, the defense showed the jury bikini photos of Jane Doe 1 taken five days after the alleged rape and asked them if she could have been in pain if she was smiling on a family holiday.

Masterson has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Jane Doe 1 told the jury that Podberesky had 'stared' at her during her testimony.

'She represents the Church of Scientology and David Miscavige and every witness that we needed to testify,' she said.

Attorneys with Podberesky's law firm and another firm representing Scientology in the civil lawsuit, were present for nearly every day of the first trial.

The case continues and is expected to go to the jury next week.
'I will have a conversation with Director Wray and make sure that happens,' McCarthy told reporters about the turning over of the document

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy says he will personally speak with FBI Director Chris Wray and demand he hand over a document housed within his agency that allegedly ties President Biden to a criminal cash for access scheme when he was vice president.

'There are checks and balances and there's oversight. Congress has a right to that knowledge and I will have a conversation with Director Wray and make sure that happens,' McCarthy told reporters Thursday following the passage of an expansive immigration bill in the House.

Last week, Senator Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Comer revealed that a whistleblower had come forward with stunning claims about a document allegedly linking Joe Biden to a bribery 'criminal scheme' with a foreign national when he was vice president.

The internal FD-1023 form apparently details an 'arrangement' for an exchange of money for policy decisions, the Republicans said.

The lawmakers issued a subpoena to FBI Director Christopher Wray demanding the document be handed over with a May 10 noon deadline - which did not occur.

After the deadline passed, the top Republican on the House Oversight Committee, James Comer, R-Ky., accused the FBI of 'refusing' to provide the document to his committee.

The Republican accusations marks a significant update in the Republican 'influence-peddling' probe into the Biden family and Hunter Biden's overseas business deals

The House Oversight Committee released a new memo Wednesday specifically outlining the Biden family's ties to Romanian 'influence peddling' and a web of LLCs created while Biden was vice president

If the FBI at any time think they could withhold information from Congress, we have a severe problem on our hands,' the speaker said

'The FBI's position is "trust, but you aren't allowed to verify." That is unacceptable. We plan to follow up with the FBI and expect compliance with the subpoena,' Comer said in a statement to DailyMail.com.

Grassley said that although the FBI failed to provide the document, they offered an 'accommodation process' that indicates that the 'document is real.'

He said the response letter Wednesday to the top Republicans only raises additional questions, including 'whether the FBI has an open investigation based on these allegations.'

McCarthy also mentioned his plan to call the FBI director in an interview with Fox & Friends earlier Thursday.

'I'm going to call Director Wray today because we have oversight of the FBI. We have the right. Comer is simply following information that he has found,' he said.

'We have oversight of the FBI. If the FBI at any time think they could withhold information from Congress, we have a severe problem on our hands,' the speaker continued.

It is not immediately clear whether or not the call between McCarthy and Wray has occurred as of Friday afternoon.

The FBI confirmed to DailyMail.com that it provided a response to the Republicans Wednesday, but disputed Grassley's claim that it proves the existence of the specific document alleged by the whistleblower.

'An FD-1023 form is used by FBI agents to record unverified reporting by a confidential human source. Documenting the information does not validate it, establish its credibility, or weigh it against other information verified by the FBI,' a spokesperson said.

'Revealing unverified or possibly incomplete information could harm investigations, prejudice prosecutions or judicial proceedings, unfairly violate privacy or reputations, create misimpressions in the public, or potentially identify individuals who provide information to law enforcement, placing their physical safety at risk.

'Information from confidential human sources and members of the public is critical to the work of the FBI and we are also committed to protecting the confidentiality of anyone who comes forward.'

The subpoena for the document marked a significant update in the Republican 'influence-peddling' probe into the Biden family - including all the way down to Biden's grandchildren.

Iam Sams, White House spokesperson for oversight and investigations has called the GOP subpoena for the document 'unfounded' and 'politically motivated.'

'For going on 5 years now, Republicans in Congress have been lobbing unfounded politically-motivated attacks against [President Biden] without offering evidence for their claims. Or evidence of decisions influenced by anything other than U.S. interests,' he claimed.

Sams added that Biden has been 'unprecedented' with his level of transparency, by releasing a total of 25 years of tax returns to the American public

The House Oversight Committee has accused 10 members of the Biden family - including Hunter and Hallie - of being involved in 'shady' business deals where they profited off of the family name

'The information provided by a whistleblower raises concerns that then-Vice President Biden allegedly engaged in a bribery scheme with a foreign national,' Comer said Wednesday

The House Oversight Committee has accused 10 members of the Biden family - including Hunter and Hallie - of being involved in 'shady' business deals where they profited off of the family name.

Earlier Wednesday, the committee released a new memo specifically outlining the Biden family's ties to Romanian 'influence peddling' and a web of LLCs created while Biden was vice president.

It also accuses President Biden for a 'lack of transparency' regarding his family's receipt of funds from China, which he has said are 'not true.'

It details the efforts by the family to hide, conceal and confuse sources of money - including more China money, according to a committee aide.

'The White House refuses to correct the president's statement. The president is now using the federal government to run interference for his family and his own role in these schemes,' said Comer during a press conference announcing the memo Wednesday.
Elon Musk has confirmed his plans to transform Twitter into 'X, the everything app' - continuing his love affair with the letter.

He made the announcement as he appointed former NBCUniversal advertising chief Linda Yaccarino as Twitter CEO - and said she would help 'transform this platform into X, the everything app.'

The billionaire has spoken previously about his 'fondness for the letter X' - and his use of the letter ranges from the Tesla Model X to the nickname he's given to his first child with Grimes.

Musk hopes that the X app will become a 'platform that is so useful that you find it is essential to conduct your life'. He also established the company X Corp in March 2023, which is now the parent company of Twitter.

This is the history of his relationship with X.

Elon Musk has confirmed his plans to transform Twitter into 'X, the everything app', continuing his love affair with the letter. He made the announcement as he appointed former NBCUniversal advertising chief Linda Yaccarino as Twitter CEO

X.com - the online bank founded in 1999

Musk launched X.com, an online bank, in California in 1999. It was one of the first platforms of its kind.

The company went on to become Paypal.

In 2017, Musk bought the X.com domain back from Paypal and tweeted: 'Thanks PayPal for allowing me to buy back X.com! No plans right now, but it has great sentimental value to me.'

Visiting the site simply display an 'x' in the top left corner of the screen. But Musk's big plans for Twitter suggest he could use the domain for his app of the future.

SpaceX

Musk is also the founder and CEO of SpaceX, which is formally known as Space Exploration Technologies Corporation.

He founded the company in 2002 and it recently launched its $3 billion - a test flight which was deemed a great success even after it burst into a spectacular ball of flames.

SpaceX and even NASA all hailed the mammoth new rocket's maiden flight as 'exciting' and a success. Musk was particularly buoyant in the aftermath  vowing to launch again 'in a few months'.

His son's nickname is... X

Musk and his former partner, the musician Grimes, raised eyebrows in May 2020 when they revealed the name of their newborn son: X  A-12.

Musk is said to have given the little boy, three, the nickname X for short.

Soon after he was named, X  A-12 had his name changed to X  A-Xii following a violation of California's naming laws around which alphanumeric characters can be used.

Elon Musk hold his son, X, in the garage of team Red Bull during practice for the Miami Grand Prix in May

Will Twitter be rebranded X?

In 2023, Musk founded X Corp as the successor to Twitter Inc.

The company, which is owned by Musk, also owns Twitter. Meanwhile X Corp is in turn own by X Holdings Corp.

The group of businesses will play a key role in his vision for the X platform.

He said in April that 'Twitter is effectively an accelerant to an idea I've had for a long time... X, the everything app,' he said. He described it as a 'platform that is so useful that you find it is essential to conduct your life'.

The app would provide tools to enable payments, private and public communications, and 'be incredibly useful'.

Musk bought Twitter in October 2022 for $44 billion and has said the purchase has accelerated his plans for 'X, the everything app'

Tesla Model X

Tesla, where Musk is CEO, sells the Model X, which went on commercial sale in 2016.

The car, a mid-sized luxury crossover SUV is recognizable by its falcon doors.
Chains such as Walmart, Nordstrom and Walgreens are shuttering across big cities due to crime, work from home, online shopping and rising rents, experts warn.

A study from the JP Morgan Chase Institute found between 2017 and 2021, San Francisco, LA, San Diego, New York, Seattle, Miami and Chicago all lost major stores.

By the end of 2023, Walmart will have closed 60 stores since 2021. This year alone, Nordstrom will shut 15 stores and by the end of 2024, CVS will have shut 900.

By the end of 2023, Walmart will have closed 60 stores since 2021

Last month Bed, Bath & Beyond declared bankruptcy with many citing the rise of Amazon for its failure

Walgreens has struggled in recent years with many buying their vitamins online

With regard to working from home, a Stanford University study found that the average office worker will spend as much as less than $4,600 per year in city centers.

While online shopping accounted for nearly 15 percent of retail sells during the final quarter of 2022.

The products being bought most were clothes including shoes, as well as vitamins and electronics.

One expert, Terry Shook, a founding partner at consulting firm Shook Kelly, told CNN that when the big stores go retail will 'start to come back in different ways and forms.'

Last month, former retail giant Bed Bath & Beyond announced its bankruptcy.

The declaration came after months of dire financial news, which culminated in the closure of 236 stores in February.

Since then, Bed Bath & Beyond had struggled to maintain its 360 brand-name storefronts and 120 Buybuy Baby stores in the face of nearly $5.2billion in runaway debt.

Its demise was in part credited to the success of Amazon and other online giants solidifying their place in the market.

Investment bank UBS warned earlier this year 50,000 stores would close by 2027, cautioning 'the pace of store closures is set to accelerate due to the combination of a slowdown in consumer spending, a reduction in the availability of credit, and a rise in the penetration of e-commerce.'

Earlier this month, Nordstrom announced its decision to leave the San Francisco area over rampant thefts.

The retailer told staff it would not be renewing its leases at the Westfield Mall or at the Nordstrom Rack across the street.

The mall location will shutter at the end of August, and the Rack store will remain open until July 1, according to the Washington Post.

Nordstrom chief stores officer Jamie Nordstrom blamed the state of San Francisco in recent years for reducing foot traffic 'and our ability to operate successfully.'

Westfield Mall said in a statement to the Washington Post that the move was brought on by the 'deteriorating situation in downtown San Francisco' which has left customers and staff unsafe.

Rampant crime in downtown San Francisco has left numerous retailers throwing up their hands and moving out.

In April, Whole Foods announced it was closing its locations, while Anthropologie and Office Depot have also left. Remaining stores like Target have been reduced to locking up their entire stock behind glass to deter shoplifters.

'Decisions like this are never easy, and this one has been especially difficult,' wrote Nordstrom in his email.

'But as many of you know, 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.'

Walmart announced in April that it was shuttering half of its stores in Chicago, mostly located on the crime-ridden city's south and west sides, that have been losing millions each year.

The four stores closing their doors have 'not been profitable' for several years, even after efforts to turn them around, according to a statement released on their website.

'The simplest explanation is that collectively our Chicago stores have not been profitable since we opened the first one nearly 17 years ago,' Walmart said.

'These stores lose tens of millions of dollars a year, and their annual losses nearly doubled in just the last five years,' the statement continued.

At least 11 other stores have closed across the country so far this year from Hawaii to Washington, D.C.

It's not looking any better in the world of fast food.

Just this week, Burger King confirmed that it would be closing a record number of stores in 2023.

In a bid to keep up with its fast food rivals, CEO Joshua Kobza announced that the chain will shutter between 300 and 400 underperforming restaurants in 2023.

According to its earnings release, Burger King axed 124 locations in the year up to March, leaving 6,964 spots across the country.

One bust franchisee has already announced it will shut 27 locations across seven states this year.

Burger King is now the third-biggest fast-food restaurant in the US, after losing its second-place position to Wendy's. McDonald's remains top dog. Burger King also faces pressure from more upmarket chains including Five Guys and Shake Shack.

Also this week, a Hardees franchisee has filed for bankruptcy after 39 of its 108 restaurants across America have been forced to close.

Summit, which is owned by fast-food franchise Carls Jr. parent company CKE Restaurants, is now seeking a buyer to try and keep its remaining 108 restaurants afloat.

The affected locations are spread across America, with Summit's Hardees stores found in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Kansas, Missouri, Wyoming and Montana.
The grandfather of Lori Vallow's murdered son JJ jubilantly sang the little boy's favorite song, 'we will rock you', as he left court in Idaho following the cult mom's murder conviction.

Larry Woodcock and his wife, Kay, joined cheering crowds to celebrate the guilty verdict before the couple delivered a moving statement to the press outside the courtroom in Boise, Idaho.

Vallow, 49, was found guilty of the murders of her children JJ Vallow, seven, and Tylee Ryan, 16, and of plotting to murder Tammy Daybell.

The Woodcocks have been present at court throughout the trial and also led the public campaign to find Vallow's children after they went missing in September 2019.

'JJ, I love you. Papa wishes you were here,' Larry Woodcock tearfully said outside court after the verdict. 'Tylee - papa loves you. Tammy - I never met you. You are part of our life. I am sorry for what happened. My heart hurts for these three.'

Kay and Larry Woodcock deliver a moving statement after Lori Vallow was found guilty of the murder of their grandson, JJ, after a trial in Boise, Idaho. The cult mom also murdered her daughter, Tylee Ryan, and plotted the murder of Tammy Daybell

The Woodcocks have been present at court throughout the trial and also led the public campaign to find Vallow's children after they went missing in September 2019

Larry and Lay woodcock are the grandparents of JJ Vallow (left), who was murdered by his mother Lori Vallow. She also killed her daughter, Tylee Ryan (right)

He then spoke about the upcoming trial of Vallow's alleged conspirator Chad Daybell - who denies the charges and is expected to face a jury in 2024.

Woodcock said: 'The next trial is Chad. I look forward to being back at this courthouse again if that happens.

'I hope everybody is here again. I hope that y'all appreciate so much the court system, how meticulous, how meticulous the prosecution was. I think everybody will agree.

'It was, it was an amazing job by all of them. And I want y'all to know that even the defense, I shook their hands. I have said many times, I want a fair, honest and righteous decision.'

He also thanked the jury and said 'I want to personally thank and I want to personally hug every one of those jurors'.

'I hope that nobody ever has to go through, I hope nobody ever has to see and hear the details of what happened to JJ, to Tylee and to Tammy.'

Larry Woodcock shook the hands of Lori Vallow's defense attorneys, Jim Archibald (center) and John Thomas (right) after the verdicts and spoke of he happiness at a 'fair, honest and righteous decision' in the case

Larry, pictured with Kay and JJ, said after the verdict: ''JJ, I love you. Papa wishes you were here. Tylee - papa loves you. Tammy - I never met you. You are part of our life'

Larry and Lay pictured in January 2020, before the children's remains were found in Chad Daybell's backyard

Vallow was emotionless as the verdict was read aloud today in Boise, Idaho. Her defense team did not call a single witness nor did they put forward any kind of explanation for how the children died.

Lori's children vanished in September 2019. Their mother, newly-in-love with Doomsday-cult enthusiast Chad Daybell, avoided questions and evaded the authorities.

She fled to Hawaii, refusing to tell the police where her children were, or answering any kind of questions about not only her children but the vast web of death and deceit that seemed to engulf her family.

Lori, who was found mentally competent to stand trial, now faces life in prison. A judge previously took the death penalty off the table.
Two violent suspects were able to walk directly onto a Colorado school campus and attack a student.

Disturbing video footage shows the pair brutally beating up the kid in the cafeteria of Pomono High School in Arvada last month.

The men were met by a security guard inside the entrance to the school but were able to continue straight past her. Police believe they knew and targeted the victim.

Despite the security breach, Jeffco Public Schools insist all protocol was followed by the security guard who immediately recognized the suspects were intruders.

'Unfortunately, those two disregarded the campus supervisor at that point and proceeded to go elsewhere, Jeff Pierson, executive director of safety for the school district told 9News.

No weapons were used in the attack and the victim escaped with minor injuries

'Our campus supervisor did exactly what they're designed to do, and that's get on the radio and ask for backup.'

Pierson emphasized that administrators were able to break up the fight within seconds and the Arvada Police officer assigned to the school was there within two minutes.

He explained that as a result of the swift action the school avoided going into lockdown.

'I'm really proud of our team,' Pierson said. 'I'm proud that the training we do for our campus security and our school administrators worked that day.'

No weapons were used in the attack and the victim escaped with minor injuries police said.

The men were met by a security guard inside the entrance to the school but were able to continue straight past her. Police believe they knew and targeted the victim

One of the suspects, a juvenile, was detained on the scene and is expected to be charged with assault and trespassing

One of the suspects, a juvenile, was detained on the scene and is expected to be charged with assault and trespassing.

The second suspect, an 18-year-old man, was expected to face similar charges, Arvada Police Department said.

Pierson said the incident had prompted a discussion about safety on the open campus, which allows students to come and go during lunch and free periods.

'I don't want to take some of that away, I think it's important that we find the balance of what still allows them to be high school students, but not at the risk of not having a safe environment,' he said.
A world leader fielded questions from reporters at the White House Friday. But it wasn't president Joe Biden, and all of his answers were in Spanish.

Biden sat down with the prime minister of Spain at the White House Friday morning but refused to take questions from reporters in the aftermath of the end of Title 42 and other hot topics  but his counterpart held his own outdoor event with reporters.

Neither leader took questions after making brief statements before reporters at the top of an Oval Office meeting. Instead, Biden smiled amid a barrage of questions from reporters.

Following their sit-down, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez took questions outside the West Wing of the White House in his native tongue. He spoke it a spot where lawmakers, cabinet officials, and other guests sometimes speak after White House visits.

Biden sometimes submits to 'two-and-two' questioning along side a world leader when a key ally comes to Washington, although as the White House has noted it is done on an ad hoc basis.

President Joe Biden met with Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez Friday. Neither took questions during a brief availability  but Sanchez took reporters' questions in front of the White House

The president did take multiple questions earlier in the week after an event  after confusing reporters by mentioning a 'press conference' that never happened the prior week.

Reporters quizzed Biden's stand-in, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, on Friday about why Biden' wouldn't take formal questions just hours after Title 42 authority ended, after several consecutive days of contacts with more than 10,000 migrants at the border.

'Why not have the President out there speaking about Title 42 and the expectations that people should have? ' she was asked.

'So the President took more than 40 questions just this week alone,' she responded, pushing back. 'No, no  but he he took your questions twice this week and answered many of many of those questions on Title 42. He answered the questions that you all asked.'

'And I think that's an opportunity for the for the American people to hear directly from him a week ago today,' she said, referencing a sit-down that aired Friday night on MSNBC.

Tienen preguntas? The Spanish PM fielded questions from reporters at the White House. He was the only leader to do so  but spoke in his native tongue

Sanchez spoke about trade, economic cooperation, and negotiations over cleanup from a 1966 disaster off the coast of Spain

Biden himself had referred to that event earlier last Friday before it happened as a 'press conference,' forcing the White House to clarify that it was in fact a sit-down with a single reporter on a network considered friendly.

'So the American people have heard from the President,' she said.

With no formal press event set, Sanchez walked outside the West Wing to address a bank of U.S. and Spanish media.

Speaking in Spanish, he said there has "clearly been progress" on negotiations on the ongoing cleanup from 1966 incident where B-52 crashed into another aircraft during refueling and lost 4 hydrogen bombs off the Spanish coast. He said the leaders tasked technical teams to negotiate over removing contaminated soil.

He also said a trade dispute involving black olives was "still a point of friction."

In lieu of a press conference, an official White House readout said the leaders 'underscored our unwavering support for Ukraine in the face of Russias brutal war,' and noted an agreement on defense cooperation between the U.S. and Spain.

The leaders 'committed to deepen economic cooperation in the Americas,' and 'discussed avenues to broaden the scope of our cooperation.'

They also talked about climate goals, infrastructure, science, space, and 'tasked their teams with pursuing negotiations on an agreement related to further cleanup efforts at the site of a 1966 air accident in Palomares, Spain.' The Spanish PM had telegraphed that he would raise the issue in advance.

Biden continues to face pressure to hold more 'formal' press conferences, and his media interactions this week came as former President Donald Trump sat for a town hall on CNN for nearly an hour.

That event drew criticism from inside the network for allowing Trump to make unfounded claims about the 2020 election and go after E. Jean Carroll even after a Manhattan jury found him liable for sexual abuse and defamation.
When Jeffrey Epstein visited Bard College in Red Hook, New York state, he insisted on doing so in style. His helicopter would land at the prestigious university overlooking the Hudson River and he'd disembark surrounded by an entourage of attractive young women.

And perhaps that was just as well for the largely female student population  although the College president, Leon Botstein, insists they had 'security ready . . . he did not have any free access to anybody'.

Mr Botstein, a celebrated Swiss-American conductor who invited Epstein to a classical concert and an opera at Bard, has now been named in a shocking new trove of emails and documents obtained by the Wall Street Journal  along with other top academics, world leaders, diplomats, business tycoons, Oscar-winning directors and even the current head of the CIA.

These papers, which include Epstein's diary schedules, reveal the astonishing extent to which America's great and good cynically continued to fawn over the paedophile in the years after he had admitted sex offences involving a child and had been publicly accused of abusing scores more girls as young as 14 years old.

How on earth, one might ask, could Mr Botstein invite such a man as his guest of honour?

New York's elite are starting to regret fawning over Jeffery Epstein after he was exposed as a paedophile as cache of documents reveal hundreds of meetings

At Jeffrey Epstein's Manhattan mansion in 2011, from left: James E. Staley, at the time a senior JPMorgan executive; former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers;Mr. Epstein; Bill Gates, Microsoft's co-founder; and Boris Nikolic, who was the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's science advise

These papers, which include Epstein's diary schedules, reveal the astonishing extent to which America's great and good cynically continued to fawn over the paedophile in the years after he had admitted sex offences involving a child

He had also been publicly accused of abusing scores more girls as young as 14 years old

'We believe in rehabilitation,' he has explained. Like many others, it might be added, he also believed in the power of the chequebook and hoped for sizeable donations to boost the college coffers.

Unfortunately for Bard College though, the super-wealthy financier, whom Mr Botstein now says he found 'odd and arrogant', was also 'sadistic'  prone to dangling the promise of cash that he never ended up donating.

That may have been particularly disappointing for the college president who invested a lot of time in Epstein. In addition to the two visits to the campus, the pair had around two dozen meetings over four years, mostly at Epstein's New York mansion  reputedly the biggest private home in the city  following his donation of 66 laptops to New York high schools run by Bard College.

As the new documents show, Mr Botstein is hardly alone in deeply regretting his connection with America's most notorious sex offender during the years he sought to launder his soiled reputation in U.S. high society, by fostering a reputation as a philanthropist and sponsor of the arts and sciences.

Far from being shunned in disgrace, Epstein was so successful that on a single day in September 2014, the new documents show, he was scheduled to meet with four of America's richest men, including Microsoft founder Bill Gates. Also meeting Epstein separately that day were the former chief lawyer in Barack Obama's White House, a leading billionaire philanthrophy expert and Bard's Mr Botstein.

This was eight years after Epstein was first publicly accused of abusing children, immediately prompting several politicians to return donations from him. And six years after he admitted soliciting prostitution from an underage girl in Palm Beach, Florida in a scandalously lenient deal that involved his spending just 13 months in a work-release programme.

Even Virginia Giuffre's shattering allegations that Epstein had farmed her out for underage sex to Prince Andrew (accusations he denies) were three years old by then.

Was it really too much to expect of the rich, influential and well-connected types who flocked around Epstein to go elsewhere for the cash, counsel and company they sought from him?

Far from being shunned in disgrace, Epstein was so successful that on a single day in September 2014, the new documents show, he was scheduled to meet with four of America's richest men, including Microsoft founder Bill Gates

Even Virginia Giuffre's shattering allegations that Epstein had farmed her out for underage sex to Prince Andrew (accusations he denies) were three years old by then

Apparently so. The people associating with him regularly in the years running up to 2019, when he was arrested in New York on sex-trafficking charges, range from actor and director Woody Allen, a regular dinner guest and film-going companion, to Larry Summers, Barack Obama's ex-Treasury Secretary and the former President of Harvard University.

The documents reveal that even the supposedly high-minded academic Noam Chomsky, scourge of capitalism and intellectual darling of the Left, was meeting Epstein for dinner and other meetings, and was offered a seat on the paedophile's notorious private jet, nicknamed the 'Lolita Express'. There is no suggestion that Chomsky was involved in any of Epstein's illegal activities.

In fact, embarrassingly for the US. Left  which is already smarting from Epstein's history as a generous Democrat party donor  nearly everyone who still swarmed enthusiastically around Epstein hailed from that side of America's political divide.

Others now squirming with embarrassment over their Epstein links are billionaire media baron Mort Zuckerman, tech entrepreneur and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, and, perhaps most astonishingly, the current director of the CIA, William Burns. There was also ex-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barack.

Former Barclays boss Jes Staley has already joined Prince Andrew in seeing his career and reputation destroyed by his long association with Epstein,

Nearly four years after Epstein died by his own hand in a New York jail cell, the feeling persists that the scandal is far from over  though many of those named will wish that it were.

There may be even more to be revealed about the high-powered friends he flew on his private jet and invited to his various multi-million-dollar homes, where the discovery of secret recording devices suggests he may have been blackmailing some of them.

Former Barclays boss Jes Staley has already joined Prince Andrew in seeing his career and reputation destroyed by his long association with Epstein, while Bill Gates's friendship with Epstein was reportedly a factor in his wife Melinda's decision to divorce him in 2021.

Last week a New York judge ruled that allegations Staley was aware of Epstein's sexual offences could support a claim for damages by the latter's alleged victims against JPMorgan, the US bank where he Staley worked and which bankrolled Epstein for years as a prized customer. Staley has himself now been accused of sexually abusing a young woman at Epstein's Virgin Islands retreat. (Staley and JPMorgan deny any wrongdoing).

Will others soon follow Staley?

Woody Allen is among those long known to have been a friend of Epstein in those final years. He has himself been dogged by allegations (which he denies and which never resulted in charges) that he molested his seven-year-old adopted daughter, Dylan.

Allen was identified in 2010 as one of a group of celebrities who went to Epstein's New York home to help celebrate Prince Andrew's birthday. In 2013, the financier and the film-maker, who lived near each other in Manhattan's Upper East Side, were photographed out walking together, a witness describing Epstein as 'hugging him and talking close to his ear'.

That apparent intimacy is reflected in the new documents which show they were scheduled to get together nearly every month in 2014 and 2015. Epstein invited Allen to 'dozens' of dinners at his New York mansion. Always a punctilious host to those he wanted to impress, Epstein had his staff order flourless chocolate cakes and Beck's beer specially for Allen.

In late 2012, Allen's assistant sent a note to an Epstein minion saying: 'Woody was wondering if Jeffrey would be interested in watching his new film either today or tomorrow?'

Two years later, Allen was scheduled to give lessons on film editing chez Epstein to a group of guests invited to watch Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. The pair also arranged visits to the studio of artist Jeff Koons in 2013 and Sotheby's New York auction house in 2017.

Woody Allen is among those long known to have been a friend of Epstein in those final years

Former U.S. Treasury Secretary and Harvard president Larry Summers was another who remained friends with Epstein long after others decided to give him a wide berth

A spokesman for Allen and his wife, Soon-Yi Previn, admitted they were 'often' invited for dinner with Epstein but stressed that there were always other guests. 'Woody never had a business meeting with Epstein and not once spent time with him without Soon-Yi also being present,' the spokesman added.

Former U.S. Treasury Secretary and Harvard president Larry Summers was another who remained friends with Epstein long after others decided to give him a wide berth. Epstein, who liked people to think he attended America's most famous university, donated millions of dollars to Harvard when Summers was its president from 2001 to 2006. But following his conviction in 2008, the university decided to stop accepting any more donations.

Summers, who would later become Barack Obama's top economic expert, had no such reservations and continued to meet Epstein for dinner, even asking for financial advice when he was trying to raise $1 million so that his wife, Elisa New, could make a TV series about teacher training. Emails show they agreed to discuss the matter over dinner at a small restaurant near Harvard. Two years later, a charity linked to Epstein donated $110,000 to Ms New's charity.

Summers, who caused outrage in 2005 by suggesting women were innately inferior to men in maths and science, was hardly the only senior Washington insider to court Epstein.

William Burns, now Director of the CIA, had three meetings scheduled with Epstein in 2014 alone when he was Deputy Secretary of State, documents show. One of the get-togethers took place at Epstein's Manhattan home.

Burns may now run America's main intelligence agency but his own information-gathering appears to have been abysmal: a CIA spokesman told the Journal that Burns 'did not know anything about [Epstein] other than that he was introduced as an expert in the financial services sector'.

Burns says he approached Epstein for advice on finding a job in the private sector. 'They had no relationship,' according to the CIA spokesman.

Others can hardly make the same claim, having been sufficiently well-known to Epstein that he could alert his staff to their food preferences. Terje Rod-Larsen, a Norwegian diplomat who helped negotiate the 1990s Arab-Israeli peace process known as the Oslo Accords, was one of the guests for Woody Allen's masterclass on Psycho in 2014. When he visited Epstein's New York home, staff always had cucumbers to hand for his gin.

The litany of distinguished visitors is too extensive to name them all here. But among them was Kathryn Reummler, once Barack Obama's chief White House lawyer, who Epstein minions knew had a liking for avocado sushi rolls.

She had at least three dozen meetings with Epstein in the years after she left the White House in 2014. Records show that Epstein visited apartments she was considering buying and once asked an assistant to try to upgrade her airline ticket to first class.

Ms Reummler, 52, is one of the very few women to feature in the new documents. And while Epstein's male associates have insisted they saw nothing untoward between him and his legion of young female assistants, Epstein was certainly worried about what Ms Reummler would think of them. He and his staff discussed whether she would be 'uncomfortable' with their presence and he told at least one of them to stay away.

Ms Reummler, who ironically now oversees 'reputational risk' at bankers Goldman Sachs, said through the bank that she had a 'professional relationship' with Epstein and many of their meetings were about a mutual client.

Then there was Ariane de Rothschild, a senior member of the famous banking dynasty. She insists she was completely in the dark about his notoriety.

She says she met Epstein during the course of her normal duties at the bank, which paid one of his companies $25 million for business services. However, the newly-discovered papers show she also helped him find a new assistant and bought nearly $1 million worth of auction items on his behalf in 2014 and 2015.

Epstein didn't just entertain in New York. Tech billionaire Reid Hoffman, co-founder of social media service LinkedIn, stayed at Epstein's notorious Caribbean home, dubbed 'paedophile island', in 2014 but insisted he went because he was trying to raise funds for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

'It gnaws me that, by lending my association, I helped his reputation, and thus delayed justice for his survivors,' he now frets.

Ehud Barak, the former Israeli prime minister, met Epstein in 2003 through Israeli statesman Shimon Peres. According to the Journal, he visited Epstein about 30 times between 2013 and 2017 at his homes in New York and Palm Beach, and used Epstein's private jet with his wife at least twice. From December 2015, they met every month for nearly a year.

He was a terrible version of Jekyll and Hyde

Despite the widely known accusations against him, Epstein appears to have succeeded in gaining for his New York mansion a reputation as an intellectual salon. Barak said he met interesting people there, and they would discuss politics and other topics. 'In retrospect, [Epstein] seems to be a terrible version of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, but at the time seemed to be an intelligent person, socially well-connected and of wide areas of interest, from science to geopolitics,' he said.

'I never participated in any party or any other improper event around [Epstein], and never met him with girls or minors, or even adult women in improper context or behaviour.'

Another regular was Barnaby Marsh, who advises the rich on philanthropy and met Epstein around two dozen times, often at breakfasts. He said Epstein would freely discuss his time in jail. 'So many of these billionaires knew him. Nobody ever said 'Watch out for him',' he told the Journal.

Academic and author Noam Chomsky turned defensive when asked by the Journal about his relationship with Epstein: his first response was that 'it is none of your business'.

He later admitted they met 'occasionally' to discuss issues such as Palestine and neuroscience. Epstein donated at least $850,000 to Chomsky's university, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology between 2002 and 2017, and  records show  in 2015, had planned to fly Chomsky and his wife down to New York for dinner with him and Woody Allen.

Chomsky, now 94, said that at the time of his meetings 'what was known about Jeffrey Epstein was that he had been convicted of a crime and had served his sentence. According to U.S. laws and norms, that yields a clean slate.'

A cynical response, maybe  but an honest one at least. Those others now expressing regret at having feted an appalling sexual predator seem mainly sorry for themselves.
Met Police Chief Sir Mark Rowley has defended the aggressive Coronation enforcement that saw 62 people arrested - as it prevented 'much more serious questions'.

In a public letter written to London Mayor Sadiq Khan, Sir Mark said he did not see the coronation as an operation where he needed to 'call out our shortcomings' - adding 'no major operation is ever perfect'.

His words came as the force said it 'regrets' that a monarchist was unable to watch proceedings following her arrest and 13-hour detention, after she stood near protesters on the Mall in central London on Saturday.

Alice Chambers called on police to put new processes in place to prevent a repeat of the incident.

In a short statement issued on Friday, the Met said: 'Officers involved in the safety and security operation acted on information available to them.

Met Police Chief Sir Mark Rowley has defended the aggressive Coronation enforcement that saw 62 people arrested - as it prevented 'much more serious questions'

In a public letter written to London Mayor Sadiq Khan, Sir Mark Rowley (pictured) said he did not see the coronation as an operation where he needed to 'call out our shortcomings' - adding that 'no major operation is ever perfect'.

'We regret that she was not able to watch the coronation.

'Officers have spoken with her to explain our decisions and the next steps.'

But in his letter to Mr Khan, Sir Mark highlighted the force's concerns over the 'rapidly developing intelligence', which suggested the potential for paint to be thrown at the procession, damage to be done to historic monuments and the use of high sound devices which could have panicked horses.

The Commissioner said: 'Had our officers not acted on reasonable grounds, based on the evidence in front of them in the moment and the potential risk to the event, there would now be much more serious questions to answer about the event.

'Protest was not banned. While we said that our tolerance for disruption of the coronation celebrations was low, it was not zero.

'There were hundreds of undisturbed protesters along the route including a large number of 'Not My King' supporters in Trafalgar Square.

Alice Chambers, 36, said she had no idea she was sitting beside the eco activists as they had not yet begun their planned protest as police swarmed on the group on The Mall at 9am last Saturday. She was locked up for 13 hours after being mistaken for a protestor

Despite her repeated protestations, she was mistaken for a member of the group and handcuffed before being led away from the scene by officers

'Serious and reliable intelligence told us that the risks were very real.'

Sir Mark said that of the 62 arrests made during the coronation celebrations, 53 suspects had been bailed - with most of the investigations likely to be 'lengthy'.

His letter to the London Mayor said the policing operation involved 11,500 officers from across the Met, with 1,270 further officers joining from other forces and overseas.

Sir Mark added the force took around 24,000 emergency calls over the coronation weekend.

In his initial letter to the Commissioner, Mr Khan asked him to provide 'urgent' information over the arrest of six anti-monarchy protesters - including Republic chief executive Graham Smith.

The six were the first arrests to be made under the sweeping Public Order Act, under suspicion of going equipped to 'lock-on' - a measure protesters use to make it harder for police to move them.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak defended the new powers, which came into force last week, saying it was right for officers to have the power to tackle 'serious disruption'.

In response, Sir Mark said: 'While it is unfortunate that the six people affected by this were not able to join the hundreds of peaceful protesters, I support the officers' actions in this unique fast-moving operational context.'

The Commissioner also defended the length of time suspects spent in custody - saying witness statements, officer accounts and the need to secure evidence will have all added to delays.

Mr Khan also asked for further information on the arrest of volunteers for Westminster City Council's charity Night Star which hands out rape alarms.

The leader of the council has requested an apology from the Met after all three Night Star volunteers were released without charge.

But the Commissioner told Mr Khan the deployment of Night Star volunteers had not been 'brought to our attention during partnership meetings'.

Concluding the letter, Sir Mark said: 'You know I have been more challenging of our need to improve than any Commissioner for decades and will always call out our shortcomings.

'I do not see this as one of those occasions, but of course, that does not obviate the need for debrief and learning that will follow any big operation.

Ms Chambers is a keen Royalist who has attended a number of Royal events over the years

'No major operation is ever perfect and we will always seek to learn and improve.'

The Commissioner said the force would be conducting an operational review following the coronation and that any lessons coming out of it would be 'reflected in future planning'.

The Met Police earlier broke its silence around the arrest of Royal superfan Ms Chambers, who was locked up for 13 hours after standing next to Just Stop Oil protesters ahead of the King's coronation.

Ms Chambers said she had no idea she was sitting beside the eco activists as they had not yet begun their planned protest as police swarmed on the group on The Mall at 9am last Saturday.

Despite her repeated protestations, she was mistaken for a member of the group and handcuffed before being led away from the scene by officers.

But according to the Met, Ms Chambers was not arrested by a member of their force, but by an officer from Lincolnshire Police.

In a statement, the force said: 'We understand public concern around the arrest of a woman in The Mall on Saturday, May 6.

'Police arrested a group of people in The Mall who we believe had the intention of disrupting the Coronation. There is an ongoing investigation following those arrests.

Anti-monarchy protestors were out in force before and during the Coronation celebrations

'Unfortunately, the woman was among those arrested. She was released subsequently with no further action.

'Officers involved in the safety and security operation acted on information available to them.

'The officer who made the arrest was on mutual aid from Lincolnshire Police, which is why we remain in close contact with Lincolnshire Police regarding a complaint.

'We regret that she was not able to watch the Coronation.

'Officers have spoken with her to explain our decisions and the next steps.'

Earlier this week, Ms Chambers appeared on BBC Newsnight to recount her ordeal.

'The next minute I just realised that the police had swooped in and started grabbing a whole heap of people, and unfortunately I was one of the people they grabbed,' she said.

'They handcuffed me straight away and then pulled me out of the crowd and put me against a barrier with a whole heap of other protesters.

'I tried to say anything I could to say I wasn't part of that group... nothing seemed to be able to be said that made a difference really.'

Her finger prints were taken and she was initially charged with 'potential to the disturb the peace' and then later received a follow-up charge on conspiracy to commit public nuisance.

She was repeatedly quizzed, physically searched, locked in a cell and officers took her mugshot, fingerprints and DNA, before being interviewed at around 7pm.

She said that she explained why she was there and the officers 'looked at me in shock'. They then apologised to her and tried to 'process me as quickly as I could', but it still took another couple of hours before she could go home.

It comes after the police faced a huge backlash over the arrests and treatment of various protesters during the Coronation celebrations.

Met Police chief Sir Mark Rowley said his officers had to target a 'criminal network' aiming to disrupt the Coronation, with people posing as stewards caught with bottles of paint they intended to throw at the parade.

The Commissioner said police received 'serious and reliable' intelligence that activists planned to use rape alarms and loud hailers to disrupt the event, 'extensively vandalise monuments' and 'throw paint at the procession'.

In total 64 people were arrested over the weekend, 52 over concerns that the coronation may be disrupted.
An occult-obsessed mother who was found guilty on Friday by an Idaho jury of murdering her two children and conspiring to kill her husband's former wife will be extradited to Arizona after sentencing, it now emerges, to face charges of murdering her fourth husband.

Lori Vallow, 49, showed no emotion as the verdict was read out in Boise, following a five-week trial.

Jurors found her guilty of murdering seven-year-old JJ and 16-year-old Tylee in September 2019.

Shortly after the verdict was read out, it was confirmed that she will be extradited following sentencing in Idaho to Arizona, to face murder charges.

Vallow is accused of conspiring to kill Charles Vallow, her fourth husband, in July 2019.

Her brother Alex Cox fired the fatal shot - Cox died five months later from a blood clot, in what coroners ruled was a natural death - but a grand jury in June 2021 found Vallow should be charged with one count of conspiracy to commit first degree murder.

Charles Vallow (left, with wife Lori) was shot dead in July 2019 in Arizona by Alex Cox, his wife's brother. Cox died in December 2019. In July 2021, Lori Vallow was charged by a grand jury with conspiracy to murder her husband

The 49-year-old was emotionless as the verdict was read out on Friday in Boise, Idaho. Her defense team did not call a single witness nor did they put forward any kind of explanation for how the children died

Before Charles Vallow died, he had filed for divorce.

Cox was never charged after shooting him dead, and argued self-defense.

Allister Adel, Maricopa County Attorney, said that the two-year gap between the crime and the decision to charge Lori Vallow was due to the complexity of the case.

He said in July 2021 that 'complex, difficult cases of this nature take time to properly investigate and solve.'

Vallow is likely to be sentenced for the murder of her children in three months time, Judge Steven Boyce said on Friday.

Her conviction did not come as a surprise.

Her defense team did not call a single witness nor did they put forward any kind of explanation for how the children died.

Vallow's children vanished in September 2019.

Their mother, who had recently met and married Doomsday-cult enthusiast Chad Daybell, avoided questions and evaded the authorities.

She fled to Hawaii, refusing to tell the police where her children were, or answering any kind of questions about not only her children but the vast web of death and deceit that seemed to engulf her family.

Chad Daybell is facing similar charges but his trial was paused.

Vallow, who was found mentally competent to stand trial, now faces life in prison. Prosecutors previously took the death penalty off the table.

Vallow kept her hands crossed as some of the counts were read out

Vallow is accused of killing seven-year-old Joshua (JJ), left, and 16-year-old Tylee, right

Before the verdict was read, Vallow chatted with her attorneys - who did not attempt to explain how her children died

As the verdict was read, JJ's grandfather Larry and his grandmother Kay wept.

THE CHARGES AGAINST LORI VALLOW Count 1 - Conspiracy to commit murder (Tylee) Guilty Count 2 - Murder (Tylee) Guilty Count 3 - Conspiracy to commit murder (JJ) Guilty Count 4 - Murder (JJ) Guilty Count 5 - Conspiracy to commit murder (Tammy Daybell) Guilty Grand Theft (children's social security) Guilty Advertisement

Afterwards, prosecutors Rob Wood and Lindsey Blake said in a statement: 'We are very pleased with the jury's verdict, and we want to thank them, as well as the alternates, for their service over last six weeks during this trial.

'Given the pending case against the co-defendant, we are unable to conduct any additional interviews or discuss further details of this matter.

'We want to assure each of you that we remain committed to pursuing justice for Tylee Ryan, JJ Vallow and Tammy Daybell.

'We also want to express sincere appreciation to the many members of law enforcement and the community who tirelessly worked together to hold Lori Vallow Daybell accountable.'

The bizarre case drew nationwide interest in 2019 after the children vanished. It took another nine months for their bodies to be discovered in shallow graves in Chad Daybell's backyard.

JJ had been suffocated with a plastic bag, while Tylee's corpse was so badly burned and dismembered that it is still not clear how she was killed.

Spectators lined up as early as 4am at the Ada County Courthouse in Boise, Idaho, to get a coveted spot in the courtroom and see the verdict in the case of the 'cult mom' accused of three murders, including her own children.

JJ's grandfather Larry Woodcock was elated with the verdict

Lori was also found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder in the death of Chad's wife, Tammy, who died from asphyxiation in October 2019

Match made in hell: Lori and Chad met in October 2018 at a religious conference

The State argued that Vallow was motivated by 'money, power and sex' and that she used all three of those things to achieve her twisted ends.

Jurors heard how they saw her children and Daybell's wife as 'obstacles' to the romantic life they envisioned for themselves in Hawaii.

Prosecutors said Vallow and Daybell believed - or chose to believe - that those who stood in their way were 'dark' possessed individuals who they referred to as 'zombies.'

After JJ and Tylee's disappearance, authorities started looking at all the deaths that were connected to the pair.

Tammy Daybell was Chad's wife when he met Lori and the mother of their children. She died suddenly in October 2019.

Initially, her death was ruled as the result of natural causes.

After attention turned to Lori and Chad, she was exhumed and reexamined.

The last known photograph of Tylee, center, during a family trip to Yellowstone National Park with JJ, left, her uncle Alex Cox, right, and her mom Lori, in September 2019

Lori and Chad fled Idaho for Hawaii, refusing to tell anyone where the children were. They got married in a beach ceremony and ignored the mounting questions and concerns for her kids

An autopsy - which Daybell had refused the night she died - shows she had died of asphyxiation, the same cause of death which would later be determined for JJ.

Vallow was eventually arrested in Hawaii in February 2020 - five months after JJ and Tylee were last seen alive.

The children would not be found for another four months.

Jurors heard from Prosecutor Lindsey Blake described how charred remains were all that was left of Tylee.

She told jurors: 'You will hear it explained as a mass of bone and tissue. That's what was left of this beautiful young woman.'

Tylee's DNA was later found on a pickaxe and shovel in a shed on the property.

Eventually, Lori was arrested and ordered back to Idaho from Hawaii

Chad, her loyal husband, was by her side. He is now also facing charges

JJ's body was wrapped in trash bags and duct tape - the tape binding his arms in front of him and wrapping around his head. He had been suffocated inside a plastic bag.

The two children and Daybell's previous wife Tammy were all killed because they stood in the way of the couple's relationship, the State said.

'Remember, the defendant will remove any obstacle in her way to get what she wants, and she wanted Chad Daybell,' Blake told jurors.

'The defendant used money, power and sex to get what she wanted.'

Jurors also heard from friends and relatives of Vallow that she and Daybell believed the children were 'dark' and referred to them as 'zombies' before they disappeared.

'The common theme was the body has to be destroyed,' Blake said.

'The defendant and Chad used their self-proclaimed religious teachings to justify their actions to others  their actions from affair to murder.'
MBABANE  The Ministry of Health says one of the causes of maternal mortality is fear of witchcraft among some families.

Maternal mortality refers to the death of females from causes related to pregnancy. Nomathemba Ginindza, the Senior Midwife in Manzini and Xoilsile Tekhaya Dlamini, who is the Manzini Health Promotion Officer, yesterday unpacked three delays that contributed to the death of pregnant women while giving birth or death of the child. They were speaking on the national radio during a health programme. The three delays include; failure of the pregnant woman to take the decision to go and see a doctor if not feeling well, transportation and having difficulties in getting quick help upon arrival at the health facilities, due to various circumstance.

According to Ginindza, culture, at some point contributes to maternal fertility. She said some pregnant women felt uneasy to announce their early stages of pregnancies because they feared that they would experience miscarriage. She may assume that someone doesnt love her and, therefore, might do something evil against her unborn baby. Culturally, it is problematic for any woman to come out and say I am pregnant, said Ginindza. She said because of that, some pregnant women ended up waiting a few months to confirm whether they were experiencing complications or not, before telling others.

Important

Meanwhile, Dlamini said families contributed to maternal mortality, adding that it was important for families to give full support to pregnant women.

Before a woman decides to conceive, it is important for her to go to hospital for check-up. Family members must fully support her while undergoing that process. If she has certain sicknesses, we encourage her relatives to be always there for her, said Dlamini. According to Dlamini, there were consequences of not giving full support to pregnant women. She said it was then possible to lose the mother or child or even both.

She further stated that womens lifestyles could also contribute to them dying while giving birth or losing the child. She then highlighted that smoking and drinking alcohol was not good for any pregnant woman. Ginindza added that transport was another contributing factor to pregnant women losing their lives or that of their unborn babies. This is because some homesteads are in remote areas, where there is no easy access to transport. She then pleaded with various ministries to come together in curbing maternal death rate.

Dying

For example, in some areas, once you miss the 6am bus, you are expected to wait for the afternoon one. Some pregnant women do not reach hospital on time, resulting to them dying, clarified Ginindza. The senior midwife also indicated that delay by health workers in attending to emergency cases, due to shortage of equipment contributed to the deaths. She then pointed out that every healthcare worker must play a role in ensuring that no life is lost during birth. She then pleaded with the ministry to also make sure that the necessary equipment was made available. She said lack of appropriate medication for pregnant women could result to loss of life.

One Billion Rising Director, Colani Hlatjwako said women were living in a society with a lot of experience. She said it was in that regard that some pregnant women ended up believing that they were victims of witchcraft. Besides the rituals, women do not report their early pregnancies due to the pressure they received from their in-laws. They are expected to give birth the day they become official wives in their families, said Hlatjwako.
CNN CEO Chris Licht encouraged former President Donald Trump to 'have fun' in an exchange of words backstage before the start of Wednesday night's televised town hall event.

Trump promised Licht that he would boost CNN's ratings, to which Licht is said to have nodded before telling him to have 'a good conversation and have fun,' according to several eyewitness present at the broadcast at St. Anselm College in New Hampshire, reports The Guardian.

Trump's promise rang true with the Republican front-runner for the 2024 GOP nomination drawing in 3.3 million viewers - securing the cable network's highest viewing figures in the past two years.

In 70 minutes of tense sparring with Cooper's CNN colleague Kaitlan Collins, Trump called January 6 a 'beautiful day,' wouldn't say whether he wanted Ukraine or Russia to win the war and branded Collins a 'nasty person' for pressing him on why he took so long to recover classified documents from Mar-a-Lago.

Trump also dug in on calling the 2020 election 'rigged' and said the ending of Title 42 will be a 'day of infamy,' defended his actions on January 6 and gave his views on the war in Ukraine.

CNN CEO Chris Licht exchanged words with former President Donald Trump backstage encouraging him to 'enjoy himself' prior to his town hall appearance

In 70 minutes of tense sparring with Cooper's CNN colleague Kaitlan Collins , Trump called January 6 a 'beautiful day', wouldn't say whether he wanted Ukraine or Russia to win the war and branded Collins a 'nasty person'

Trump later took to his Truth Social to celebrate the 'sky high ratings' he delivered describing his performance as 'sheer brilliance.'

Trump later took to his Truth Social to celebrate the 'sky high ratings' he delivered describing his performance as 'sheer brilliance.'

He wrote: 'I believe it was a very smart thing that they did, with Sky High Ratings that they haven't seen in a very long time. It was by far the biggest Show of the night, the week, and the month! Many minds were changed on Wednesday night by listening to Common Sense, and sheer 'Brilliance.'

Licht has faced criticism from both within CNN and outside of the network for organizing the event which saw Trump dominate the proceedings.

Media reporter for the network, Oliver Darcy, penned in his newsletter how it was 'hard to see how America was served by the spectacle of lies that aired on CNN'.

As with almost everything Trump, his appearance was in his own self-interest, namelyto generate campaign material that could be used on his social media

CNN boss Chris Licht, left, took over last year and vowed to cleanse the network of its bias. He has been slammed for giving Trump a platform. On Friday night, it was revealed how Darcy along with his editor were summoned to a meeting with Licht who told him his coverage of the Trump town hall had been 'too emotional'

On Friday night, it was revealed how Darcy along with his editor were summoned to a meeting with Licht and other top executives in which they told him his coverage of the Trump town hall had been 'too emotional,' stressing the importance of remaining dispassionate.

Some unnamed employees told outlets like Rolling Stone that it was a 'f*****g disgrace', so intense was their disgust with Licht and the decision.

Despite the controversy, Licht has defended his decision to host the town hall in an editorial meeting with his staff emphasizing the importance of obtaining Trump's answers, even if they were not liked by everyone.

Licht dismissed suggestions that moderator Kaitlan Collins did not challenge Trump vigorously enough on his claims about the 'rigged' 2020 election.

'You do not have to like the former president's answers, but you can't say that we didn't get them,' Licht said in audio obtained by the New York Post as he laid down the law with staff.

'While we all may have been uncomfortable hearing people clapping, that was also an important part of the story because the people in that audience represent a large swath of America.

'The mistake the media made in the past is ignoring that those people exist just like you cannot ignore that President Trump exists,' Licht said.

'I absolutely unequivocally believe America was served very well by what we did last night.'

Licht also acknowledged Collins' efforts who attempted to fact check the former president in real time. 'Kaitlan pressed him again and again and made news,'he stated.

Collins, who co-anchors CNN This Morning, also supported Licht's decision to host the Trump town hall. She also temporarily filled in as the host of the network's 9pm slot on Thursday.

Collins described the 70-minute town hall as 'a major inflection point in the Republican Party's search for its nominee,' reminding viewers to how Trump 'is right now the GOP front-runner' despite being 'criminally indicted, found civilly liable and [being] under investigation for everything from his handling of classified documents to his business empire.'

Trump had previously mentioned on Truth Social, his social media platform, that he agreed to the town hall because CNN offered him an irresistible deal. His campaign team saw the entire event as essentially a one-hour long Trump informercial, reports The Guardian.

Anderson Cooper said comments made by Donald Trump during the Republican presidential town hall meeting on Wednesday were 'disturbing' during Thursday night's Anderson Cooper 360

Cooper addressed many comments made by Trump during the 70-minute confrontation with his CNN colleague Kaitlan Collins and defended the network's decision to host him

Anderson Cooper said comments made Trump during his CNN town hall on were 'disturbing' but also defended the network's decision to give him a platform.

During the opening monologue to his CNN show Anderson Cooper 360 on Thursday, Cooper told viewers that not listening to Trump won't make him 'go away'.

'You have every right to be outraged and angry and never watch this network again but do you think staying in your silo and only listening to people you agree with is going to make that person go away?' he said.

Trump's appearance on CNN - his first since 2016 - produced a series of controversial moments, many of which Cooper dealt with head-on.

'Many of you are upset that someone who attempted to destroy our democracy was invited to sit on a stage in front of a crowd of Republican voters to answer questions and predictably continued to spew lie after lie after lie, and I get it. It was disturbing,' Cooper began.

'Many of you think CNN shouldn't have given him any platform to speak and I understand the anger about that - giving him the audience, the time, I get that,' he added.

'But this is what I also get; the man you were so disturbed to see and hear from last night - that man is the frontrunner for the Republican nomination for president,' he said.

Cooper then lectured his viewers on the importance of maintaining an open mind and listening to those they disagree with.

'If we all only listen to those we agree with, it may actually do the opposite [of making Trump go away]. If lies are allowed to go unchecked, as imperfect as our ability to check them is on a stage in real-time, those lies continue and those lies spread.'

He addressed various 'disturbing' moments during the town hall, including the moment Trump branded Collins a 'nasty person' for pressing Trump for answers.

He also noted a moment when Trump venomously referred to a black law enforcement officer involved in the January 6 riots as a 'thug'.

'It was disturbing to see and hear that person refer to a black law enforcement officer a thug, an adjective he used many times to describe black men, and called Kaitlan Collins, the moderator, 'nasty,' which is what he calls any woman who stands up to him,' said Cooper.

Despite expressing disgust towards Donald Trump, Cooper suggested that the likelihood Trump will be the next president was too significant to ignore

Trump, 76, lost his temper with Collins, 31, when she pressed him as to why he had classified documents at his home in Palm Beach and called her a 'nasty person'

When Collins asked if the jury's decision in the E. Jean Carroll case would deter women from voting for him, Trump said, 'No, I don't think so.'

Cooper also mentioned the largely pro-Trump audience, which applauded many of Trump's comments, including the way he mocked E. Jean Carroll just 24 hours after a jury found he sexually abused her.

'It was certainly disturbing to hear that audience, young and old, our fellow citizens, people who love their kids and go to church laugh and applaud his lies and his continued defamation of a woman who according to a jury of his peers he sexually abused and defamed,' Cooper said.

'That audience that upset you? That's a sampling of about half the country. They are your family members, your neighbors and they are voting and many said they're voting for him.'

Despite expressing disgust towards Trump, Cooper suggested that the likelihood he will return to the White House was too significant to ignore.

'According to polling, no other Republican is even close. That man you were so upset to hear from last night, he may be President of the United States in less than two years,' he said. 'It can happen again, it is happening again. He hasn't changed and he is running hard.'

Cooper described many of Trump's remarks as 'disturbing'.

'It was disturbing to hear him speak so highly of QAnon conspirators and insurrectionists who assaulted police officers and our democracy on January 6. And it was awful to hear him spread ridiculous lies about the election,' he said.

In the wake of the explosive interview on Wednesday night, the likes of Joy Behar and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez lead the backlash at CNN, with AOC fuming the network 'should be ashamed of themselves'.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said it was 'a profoundly irresponsible decision' of CNN to host the event

'I think it was a profoundly irresponsible decision,' she told MSNBC, of CNN's hosting of the event.

Ocasio-Cortez said on the TV channel that CNN 'put a sexual abuse victim at risk.'

Joy Behar, host of The View, tweeted: 'The Cnn thing is a joke. The audience is stacked with his cult. Kaitlin [sic] is good, but it's impossible to deal with this pathological liar.'

But Trump's supporters were reveling in the anger he provoked.

'I'm so proud of President Trump tonight, GREAT JOB!' tweeted Marjorie Taylor Greene, a member of the House representing Georgia.

'He is truly showing everyone why he is the president America needs.'

Taylor Greene commended him for appearing on CNN rather than his usual conservative channels.

Wednesday's appearance marked the first time in seven years that Trump has been on CNN.

'He is doing a town hall with CNN, who has attacked him more than anyone,' said Taylor Greene.

'Biden won't even talk, can't even talk to the press.

'But President Trump loves this country and is showing he's willing to fight for it.'

Texas congressman Lance Gooden said CNN was 'the lion's den', but Trump won the battle.

'Tonight President Trump went into the lion's den and he came out victorious,' he said.
A British tech tycoon was yesterday behind bars in the United States awaiting criminal trial over a UK business deal  sparking fury over the terrible extradition treaty between the two countries.

Mike Lynch, founder of software firm Autonomy, could face 20 years in prison over fraud charges relating to the 9billion sale of his company to US firm Hewlett Packard in 2011.

Critics say he is a victim of almost imperialist behaviour by the US government. Lynchs treatment stands in stark contrast to that of Anne Sacoolas, the US diplomat who killed teenager Harry Dunn in a road accident in Britain.

An attempt to extradite Sacoolas to Britain to be prosecuted was rebuffed and she was handed a suspended sentence via videolink to the Old Bailey while staying put in her own country.

David Davis, who was Tory shadow home secretary at the time the US-UK extradition agreement was signed by the Labour government in 2003, said it was a really terrible treaty. Writing in the Mail, Mr Davis said: Too often, the treaty creates a one-way street, with Briton after Briton heading into US custody. That has consequences for us all.

Mike Lynch, founder of software firm Autonomy, could face 20 years in prison over fraud charges relating to the 9billion sale of his company to US firm Hewlett Packard in 2011

Lynch, 57, was remanded in custody on Thursday by a judge in California after arriving on a commercial flight accompanied by US marshals.

The businessman had fought extradition for nearly four years, arguing he ought to be tried in Britain.

He ran out of avenues of appeal last month and is thought to have subsequently agreed the date of his travel to the US to face prosecution on the understanding he would remain on bail.

However, Judge Charles Breyer ordered Lynch to pay an 80million bond, hand over his passport and to be placed under 24-hour armed guard, paid for by himself, at an address in San Francisco.

Lynchs team are understood to have been unaware that he would face a requirement to be under armed guard. Until the bail conditions are met he is to remain in custody, thought likely to be at the court house or a police holding cell rather than a prison.

The judge concluded that the businessman presented a serious and substantial risk of flight because of his wealth, estimated by the court at 360million. The judge rejected Lynchs argument that his use of legal means to fight extradition does not indicate that he would resort to illegal remedies by absconding before trial in this case.

Lynch, 57, was remanded in custody on Thursday by a judge in California after arriving on a commercial flight accompanied by US marshals

Lynch has been extradited to stand trial over an alleged fraud linked to the 2011 sale of software firm Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard (file picture)

READ MORE: British tech tycoon dubbed 'the UK's Bill Gates' is extradited to the US to face fraud charges over 8billion takeover deal - and faces decades in jail if he is convicted Tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch, pictured at his Suffolk farm, has been extradited to the US Advertisement

Lynch, who is married with two teenage children, pleaded not guilty to the 17 charges he faces. A trial date has not yet been set.

He was once lauded as the UKs answer to Microsofts Bill Gates, but the sale of his company Autonomy soon turned sour.

Within a year, new owners Hewlett Packard (HP) wrote down the value of the business by 7billion and later brought a civil lawsuit in London against Lynch and Autonomys former chief financial officer Sushovan Hussain. A UK judge ruled in January last year that Lynch had defrauded HP by inflating the value of Autonomy.

For his part, Lynch had said HP did not know what it was doing with Autonomy, and was out of its depth in understanding his technology. Meanwhile, the US brought criminal charges against Lynch for wire fraud and securities fraud.

In 2019, Lynchs former colleague Hussain was convicted of fraud in the US and sentenced to five years in prison.

The US-UK extradition act of 2003 came into force in 2007. Mr Davis said: The extradition treaty negotiated by Tony Blair was sold to Parliament as a measure to deal with terrorists, murderers and paedophiles.

Instead, it is being used to pursue traders, bankers and businesspeople. It means an entrepreneur who falls out with an American company  as Dr Lynch did  can be seized from our shores.

Mr Davis told Sky News: We send three times as many people to America as they send to us. And he accused the US government of almost imperialist behaviour... its almost Orwellian really.

He pointed out that other allies such as France and Germany did not allow America such extradition powers over its citizens. Thomas Garner, extradition partner at London law firm Fladgate, said: The bail set by the US court is by UK standards extraordinarily high and is a clear example of the differing approaches of the US and UK when it comes to prosecuting allegations of white collar crime.

Business figures including lastminute.com founder Brent Hoberman and former HBOS chairman Lord Stevenson reportedly wrote to Rishi Sunak earlier this year to argue against the move to have Lynch face trial in the US.

They said it would see a treaty enacted swiftly after 9/11 to enable the pursuit of terrorists deployed to settle a commercial case already being considered by the UK courts.

Former Shadow Home Secretary DAVID DAVIS: We MUST change the rules that allow British entrepreneurs to be extradited to the US

BY DAVID DAVIS

Do business with the US from Britain, and you risk ending up in an American jail. That is not a theory or a political argument  its a fact.

On Thursday morning, one of Britains most successful entrepreneurs got on a plane to fly to San Francisco. When he arrived, he was imprisoned. As I write, it is not clear when he will be released.

Dr Mike Lynch is not guilty of anything, even in the US system. He is merely accused by American prosecutors of a fraud he denies. That accusation was enough to see him extradited to the US, and to be stripped of his freedom on arrival while he awaits a trail.

Do business with the US from Britain, and you risk ending up in an American jail. That is not a theory or a political argument  its a fact writes DAVID DAVIS (pictured)

The same thing could happen to any other British businessperson who has even the slightest commercial connection to the States.

The extradition treaty between the US and UK negotiated by Tony Blair was sold to Parliament as a measure to deal with terrorists, murderers and paedophiles. Instead, it is being used to pursue traders, bankers and businesspeople  alleged white collar criminals.

It means an entrepreneur who falls out with an American company  as Dr Lynch did when he sold his business to the tech firm HP  can be seized from our shores.

The Home Secretary has precious little power to resist. But when British courts summoned Anne Sacoolas to face justice for causing the death of Harry Dunn by careless driving, they were refused.

Too often, the Treaty creates a one-way street, with Briton after Briton heading into US custody. That has consequences for us all.

I share my Conservative colleagues ambitions to make the UK the best place on earth to build businesses. But ask yourself why brilliant founders of new high-tech companies should look to this country when being based here carries such risks?

Dr Mike Lynch is not guilty of anything, even in the US system. He is merely accused by American prosecutors of a fraud he denies writes Mr Davis

If you are the creator of the next Google, or wonder-vaccine, your greatest hope is that your firm gets bought up by a major American company. It will most likely take American investment. If you are based in the UK and any of those deals go sour, you could find yourself in a US jail, just like Dr Lynch. Once youre there you can expect a very different sort of justice from the sort you would get in the UK.

American plea-bargaining means being threatened with 30 years in a maximum security prison unless you admit guilt in exchange for a shorter sentence. Unsurprisingly, most people do a deal.

Thats not the deal for French citizens in France, or Germans in Germany. Neither nation renders up its own people to US authorities like the British do.

The globally mobile entrepreneurs the UK Government is so keen to attract to this country, and to list their businesses here, have a very good reason to look elsewhere. We cannot continue like this. There should be two urgent amendments to our extradition rulebook. Firstly, the UK should not consent to deport its citizens to the US for non-violent crimes.

Secondly, where an extradition request is made, the Americans should have to present a prima facie case against the accused to the British courts. At the moment, there is no such requirement.

Failing to act on this will hurt the UK. If we dont change the law, we can kiss goodbye to launches of new high-tech businesses on the London Stock Exchange.

Instead, we will leave thousands of the people building brilliant new companies vulnerable to the same fate as Dr Lynch.

These are very able people. Unless we change this treaty, many will decide running their companies in Britain simply isnt worth the risk.
Senior civil servants are 'reaching out' to Labour to help Sir Keir Starmer prepare for government, it emerged last night.

A Shadow Cabinet source said officials were making informal contact with the party in breach of civil service guidelines.

The revelation will fuel concerns about the impartiality of the service  part of 'the Blob'  after Sue Gray's controversial move from the Cabinet Office to Labour.

It will also raise questions about the ability of ministers to push through an ambitious Conservative agenda before a general election likely to be 18 months away.

The Labour source said: 'Some civil servants are already reaching out to us with information. I have been stopped in the street by officials saying, 'I know who you are and there are things you need to know'.

Sir Keir has already ordered his top team to draw up plans for Labour's first 100 days in office if it wins power

'Other colleagues have had similar experiences. It is not state secrets we're talking about, it is part of the process of us preparing for government after a long time out of power. There are some officials who feel it is their duty to make sure we don't come in completely cold.'

One former Cabinet minister said: 'You are already seeing signs of the civil service looking to Labour and that is only going to get worse.

'Civil servants have an eye on the polls and it will become increasingly difficult to push through anything that Labour is completely opposed to.

'Rishi [Sunak] has probably only got a few months before it becomes impossible to get the Whitehall machine to do anything at all.' Senior Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg said: 'Civil servants should not be giving the opposition informal briefings.

'I think there is an element within the civil service that is attempting to 'time out' a Conservative Government, although there are others who are working very diligently.

'They certainly shouldn't be going up to Labour MPs in the street and saying they've got a good idea of how to bash the Government.'

It comes after Dominic Raab was forced to quit as justice secretary and deputy prime minister over disputed bullying allegations by junior staff.

The revelation will fuel concerns about the impartiality of the service  part of 'the Blob'  after Sue Gray's controversial move from the Cabinet Office to Labour

He warned of 'activist' officials who were 'effectively trying to block government' because they opposed Conservative policies.

The Whitehall 'Blob' was blamed this week for the watering down of Mr Sunak's pledge to scrap thousands of EU laws.

Civil servants are meant to hold direct talks with opposition politicians only in the immediate run-up to a general election.

Sir Keir has already ordered his top team to draw up plans for Labour's first 100 days in office if it wins power.

But only a handful of shadow ministers have direct experience in government and Sir Keir is said to be concerned that his programme could get off to a slow start.

Miss Gray stunned Whitehall in March by quitting her civil service job to become Sir Keir's chief of staff. As former head of the Government's propriety and ethics team, she was privy to the secrets of a string of Cabinet ministers.

She also oversaw the controversial Partygate inquiry into lockdown gatherings in Downing Street that helped to force Boris Johnson out of office.

Her move has led to renewed questions about the impartiality of the civil service and has angered some former colleagues.

The matter is being investigated by the independent Advisory Committee on Business Appointments, which has the power to recommend Miss Gray delay taking up the appointment by up to two years.

Sir Keir wants her in post in time to oversee Labour's potential 'transition' to Government next year.
Do business with the US from Britain, and you risk ending up in an American jail. That is not a theory or a political argument  its a fact.

On Thursday morning, one of Britains most successful entrepreneurs got on a plane to fly to San Francisco. When he arrived, he was imprisoned. As I write, it is not clear when he will be released.

Dr Mike Lynch is not guilty of anything, even in the US system. He is merely accused by American prosecutors of a fraud he denies. That accusation was enough to see him extradited to the US, and to be stripped of his freedom on arrival while he awaits a trail.

Do business with the US from Britain, and you risk ending up in an American jail. That is not a theory or a political argument  its a fact writes DAVID DAVIS (pictured)

The same thing could happen to any other British businessperson who has even the slightest commercial connection to the States.

The extradition treaty between the US and UK negotiated by Tony Blair was sold to Parliament as a measure to deal with terrorists, murderers and paedophiles. Instead, it is being used to pursue traders, bankers and businesspeople  alleged white collar criminals.

It means an entrepreneur who falls out with an American company  as Dr Lynch did when he sold his business to the tech firm HP  can be seized from our shores.

The Home Secretary has precious little power to resist. But when British courts summoned Anne Sacoolas to face justice for causing the death of Harry Dunn by careless driving, they were refused.

Too often, the Treaty creates a one-way street, with Briton after Briton heading into US custody. That has consequences for us all.

I share my Conservative colleagues ambitions to make the UK the best place on earth to build businesses. But ask yourself why brilliant founders of new high-tech companies should look to this country when being based here carries such risks?

Dr Mike Lynch is not guilty of anything, even in the US system. He is merely accused by American prosecutors of a fraud he denies writes Mr Davis

Lynch has been extradited to stand trial over an alleged fraud linked to the 2011 sale of software firm Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard (file picture)

READ MORE: British software boss Mike Lynch faces 20 YEARS in a US jail after extradition under controversial treaty deal Mike Lynch, founder of software firm Autonomy, could face 20 years in prison over fraud charges relating to the 9billion sale of his company to US firm Hewlett Packard in 2011 Advertisement

If you are the creator of the next Google, or wonder-vaccine, your greatest hope is that your firm gets bought up by a major American company. It will most likely take American investment. If you are based in the UK and any of those deals go sour, you could find yourself in a US jail, just like Dr Lynch. Once youre there you can expect a very different sort of justice from the sort you would get in the UK.

American plea-bargaining means being threatened with 30 years in a maximum security prison unless you admit guilt in exchange for a shorter sentence. Unsurprisingly, most people do a deal.

Thats not the deal for French citizens in France, or Germans in Germany. Neither nation renders up its own people to US authorities like the British do.

The globally mobile entrepreneurs the UK Government is so keen to attract to this country, and to list their businesses here, have a very good reason to look elsewhere. We cannot continue like this. There should be two urgent amendments to our extradition rulebook. Firstly, the UK should not consent to deport its citizens to the US for non-violent crimes.

Secondly, where an extradition request is made, the Americans should have to present a prima facie case against the accused to the British courts. At the moment, there is no such requirement.

Failing to act on this will hurt the UK. If we dont change the law, we can kiss goodbye to launches of new high-tech businesses on the London Stock Exchange.

Instead, we will leave thousands of the people building brilliant new companies vulnerable to the same fate as Dr Lynch.
A royal superfan who was arrested and locked up for 13 hours after standing next to Just Stop Oil protesters ahead of the King's coronation said she continually tried to explain she wasn't part of the group - but police ignored her.

Alice Chambers originally from Australia but now living in London, travelled alone to The Mall in the hope of catching a glimpse of Charles on the day he was formally crowned.

The architect, 36, said she had no idea she was sitting beside the eco activists as they had not yet begun their planned protest and police swarmed on the group at 9am on Saturday, Ms Chambers found herself being handcuffed too.

Ms Chambers said she arrived at the Mall at around 7am, but two hours later she was arrested by officers who mistook her for being part of the group despite her repeated protestations.

Speaking to BBC Newsnight, she said: 'The next minute I just realised that the police had swooped in and started grabbing a whole heap of people, and unfortunately I was one of the people they grabbed.

Royal superfan Alice Chambers was arrested and locked up for 13 hours after standing next to Just Stop Oil protesters ahead of the King's coronation

'They handcuffed me straight away and then pulled me out of the crowd and put me against a barrier with a whole heap of other protesters.'

Ms Chambers said that she continually tried to explain to them that she was not part of Just Stop Oil and 'didn't even know what they were protesting about'.

She added: 'I tried to say anything I could to say I wasn't part of that group... nothing seemed to be able to be said that made a difference really.'

While trying to be calm, Ms Chambers hoped that when taken to a police station some hours later there would be someone she could talk to that would realise it was all just a 'misunderstanding', but it never happened and she was detained for 13 hours - missing the whole Coronation.

Ms Chambers said she continually tried to tell police that she was not part of the protest group, but no one listened to her

She told of the 'shocking' moment of her arrest to Victoria Derbyshire on BBC Newsnight

Her finger prints were taken and she was initially charged with 'potential to the disturb the peace' and then later received a follow-up charge on conspiracy to commit public nuisance.

She was repeatedly quizzed, physically searched, locked in a cell and officers took her mugshot, fingerprints and DNA, before being interviewed at around 7pm on Coronation day.

She said that she explained why she was there and the officers 'looked at me in shock'. They then apologised to her and tried to 'process me as quickly as I could', but it still took another couple of hours before she could go home.

She was finally released at around 10pm from Wandsworth police station after breaking down in tears.

Ms Chambers, who has made a complaint to the force and the police watchdog, told Inews: 'I understand why the police were on the edge, they did have a tough job that day.

'But they need to have better processes and better training in place because innocent people shouldn't be getting locked up for that long.'

Ms Chambers said that despite raising a complaint, she felt there was a lot of 'finger pointing' between police forces as she was detained in London by arrested by a Lincolnshire police officer.

It comes after the police faced a huge backlash over the arrests and treatment of various protesters during the Coronation celebrations.

Met Police chief Sir Mark Rowley said his officers had to target a 'criminal network' aiming to disrupt the Coronation, with people posing as stewards caught with bottles of paint they intended to throw at the parade.

The Commissioner said police received 'serious and reliable' intelligence that activists planned to use rape alarms and loud hailers to disrupt the event, 'extensively vandalise monuments' and 'throw paint at the procession'.

Writing in the Evening Standard, Sir Mark said that officers were so concerned about the risks that the Home Secretary and Mayor of London Sadiq Khan were briefed on Friday night.

She said: 'I tried to say anything I could to say I wasn't part of that group... nothing seemed to be able to be said that made a difference really.'

Ms Chambers (pictured outside Buckingham Palace in 2017) has lodged complaints over the arrest

Police arrest protesters near the coronation route on Saturday. The ceremony went off with no disruptions

Volunteers for charity Night Star, that hands out rape alarms to women on their way home from nights out, were arrested in the early hours of Saturday in Soho in central London.

Six campaigners for the group Republic, which had liaised with the Met to organise a coronation day protest in Trafalgar Square, were also arrested early on Saturday on suspicion of going equipped to lock-on, but were released 16 hours later without charge.

Sir Mark described the arrests as 'unfortunate', but blasted 'ill-informed commentary' about how police had behaved.

In total 64 people were arrested over the weekend, 52 over concerns that the coronation may be disrupted.

A spokesperson for the Met Police said: 'We are aware that a woman was arrested in relation to a protest on May 6, 2023.

'The arresting officer was from Lincolnshire Police and the complaint has therefore been passed to the relevant force to investigate. The Met will assist by providing any relevant information they require.'

Chief Inspector Simon Outen, Professional Standards Department, Lincolnshire Police, told MailOnline: 'Our officers were in central London providing mutual aid support to colleagues in the Met on Saturday 6 May, and during that time, a woman in her 30s was arrested in connection with a Just Stop Oil protest.

'She was subsequently released with no further action.

'We have now received a complaint and are reviewing the incident. We are in contact with the complainant to establish the full details of her allegations.'
A London property which features a mattress on wooden pallets and a musician flatmate living in a 'tent' in the sitting room has gone on the market for 650 for a month-long sublet.

The flat, near Finsbury Park, was advertised by the current tenant who is going away for a month from June. It has now taken down after she found someone to live there.

But house hunters were left unimpressed by the listing, with some saying it highlights the 'desperation' of renting in London.

Recent data from estate agents Hamptons reveals how the percentage of people leaving the countryside for the commuter belt rose to 37 per cent from 28 per cent.

And the UK House Price Index in January revealed that London was out-pricing the rest of the country when it comes to property buying, with the capital's average house prices remaining the most expensive of any region in the UK.

House hunters have been left unimpressed by the 650-per-month flat in London

Images posted on Facebook show what appears to be a white sheet erected in a tent shape, squashed beside the sofa and armchair

A musician would be living alongside the renter but is 'barely in the house'

The Hamptons study shared with MailOnline found prices in cities rose furthest and fastest between 2009 and 2014, then it was 'Commuterville' from 2015 to 2017, then smaller towns and villages in 2018, and then the countryside between 2019 and 2022.

They said much of this was down to the house price cycle, with southern cities driving the recovery imminently after the 2007 crash, with growth rippling out across the rest of the country a few years later.

Some specific areas of 'Commuterville' have seen huge percentage growths in house prices when the last three months of 2022 are compared to the same period in 2021.

The current tenant at the Finsbury Park flat said her and her flatmate are 'trying to save money' and the setup shows how 'broken' the housing market is.

She admitted the set-up was 'weird' and that she was surprised the flatmate accepted the tent as a bed, but said it made it 'like a slumber party every day'.

This comes as Census figures released yesterday showed the number of adults living with their parents has risen by 15 per cent to 4.9million between 2011 and 2021, with soaring house prices blamed.

The number of 20-24 year-olds living in family homes in England and Wales rose above half for the first time, up from 44.5 per cent at the last survey to 51.2 per cent.

Images of the 650 flat posted on Facebook show what appears to be a white sheet erected in a tent shape, squashed beside the sofa and armchair.

There is also a traffic bollard next to a makeshift bed with a mattress on and a purple quilt cover laid out on top in the bedroom.

The ad boasts a big double room with bills included in a 'friendly flat' and instruments to play that would suit an 'artsy' person.

The current tenant said her flatmate 'works a lot' and is 'barely in the house', which is a 15 minute walk to Finsbury Park, Manor House and Stoke Newington.

The flat is being advertised by the current tenant while she is away for a month

It is currently home to a cat which will not be living there by the time a new tenant moves in

The current tenants put a curtain up for privacy when they go to the bathroom

The flat is technically a one bed flat and the price is 1,300

The current tenant defended the advert and said she didn't think her flatmate staying in the tent was an issue.

She said: 'It's technically a one bed flat and the price is 1,300. We're not a couple, we're just friends. We want some kind of personal space and the living room is very big so we put a bed in there because it's quite open plan.

'I have the bedroom and he has the living room and we put a curtain up for privacy so when we go to the bathroom, we don't see each other.

'He doesn't mind sleeping in the tent. He's an artist so he's relaxed. It's not really an issue. It's like a slumber party every day.

'I was surprised he was willing to let me have the whole back room and is comfortable with the set up, he has the living room and desk to work so it's not that big of a deal. We're trying to save money living in London.

'We pay 650 and in London it's very difficult to find anything that price. It's an unusual set up but I wanted to be transparent on my ad. I'm not surprised it got such a response because it's quite weird but what's weird?

The flat is opposite Clissold Park, with Sainsburys local and Lidl within a 15 minute walk

It is also a 15 minute walk to Finsbury Park, Manor House and Stoke Newington

Pets are welcome at the 650-per-month property

There is extra storage in the basement of the flat

'It does show how broken the housing market is in London. You have to be creative to survive in London.

'People usually think the tent is cool. They always want to check out the tent, its cosy. There's a bed, some shelves and a chair. It's bigger from inside than it looks from the outside.

'We put it on the pallets under the mattress to make the bed higher. Lots of people put the mattress on the floor. In London you can find furniture on the streets. The pallets were outside for months so we cleaned them up and put them on the bed.

'The goal is to save money so it wouldn't change anything having a bed. It wouldn't change my sleeping experience, I'm pretty happy on the pallets.

'I had interest from musicians and artists but I've taken the ad down because we found someone who wants the room. They get the full bedroom and it's a big room so they didn't find it weird.'

Renters described having a person living in a tent in a living room as 'f***ing mental' while the thought of sleeping on the wooden pallet bed made their 'back scream'.

One said: 'What more could you want but a bed made from pallets with the additional traffic island bollard currently not working and some musician who lives in a tent?'

Another asked: 'Why does this person's roommate live in a tent, but in the living room?'

A third wrote: 'There is a person in the kitchen? Tent guy? Leaving with cat woman? Secret third housemate who sleeps in the oven?'

One renter said the thought of sleeping on the wooden pallet bed made their 'back scream'

Another user said the situation shows that the London housing market is 'f***ing mental'

Naother pointed out the occupier is 'obviously desperate to survive financially'

One renter asked why there is a traffic cone next to the bed

Another thought the living situation was 'awkward'

A commenter on Facebook said the musician flatmate sounded like his 'kind of guy'

Another questioned why the roommate lived in a tent

Another renter highlighted that sleeping on a pallet is 'really popular in Berlin'

One user questioned how the current occupiers set boundaries

Another speculated there could be a third flatmate that sleeps in the oven

One person thought the price and size of the property seemed 'reasonable'

Others debated how 'awkward' the living arrangement would be and how the new tenant would be able use the living room if there was someone else camping in it.

One said: 'Does he stay in his tent when he's chilling or is he allowed to chill on the sofa? What happens if he decides to start sleeping on the sofa and saying he just fell asleep watching a film? How do you set boundaries with tent guy?'

Another wrote: 'So it's just you and tent guy? Awkward.'

Others joked that 650 per month was a bargain for a flat in London despite the fact there would be a roommate living in the tent.

One said: 'Coming from someone who lives in Hull, am I right in thinking this is a pretty solid price for London?'

Another added: '650 bills included, in London, normal sized room. Seems reasonable to me, even allowing for tent guy, pallet bed and lack of cat..'
Have you ever found your TV, well, not really sexy enough?

Enter the 'Streaming Undies' - a pair of pants which turn the wearer's bum into a screen where you can watch your favorite shows.

They were created by Maison Pixel, two designers from Lisbon, Portugal who are equal parts passionate about retro tech and well-dressed buttocks.

Their specific goal with the underwear is to help counter the growing number of people who are foregoing having sex so they can get in more screen time.

Last year, a Mail study found that only 19 per cent of Brits have sex once a week on a regular basis, a figure which has plummeted by 31 per cent over the last 30 years.

The 'Streaming Undies', designed by Maison Pixel, turn the wearer's bum into a screen where you can watch your favorite shows

And spending more time on our phones or watching Netflix could be to blame, as it also showed that 91 per cent are happy to spend the evenings watching TV or films.

HOW DO THEY WORK? The 'Streaming Undies' aim to encourage smartphone addicts to combine the two activities, by watching videos on a bottom-shaped screen. To clarify, the pants do not contain any wires or computer processes, but act as a green screen that can be paired with a purpose built Instagram filter. The user just has to direct their smartphone's camera onto the green part of the pants, apply the filter and they will be able to see their video broadcast on their partner's backside. They are compatible with both iOS and Android devices. Advertisement

This is compared with the 46 per cent who said their idea of a good night in was having sex.

This product evolved from Maison Pixel's first release, the standard 'Pixel Panties', which come in a range of colours and do not double-up as a screen.

Described as 'the world's first 8-bit underwear', they feature a laser-cut square scalloping with small boxes at the hem to resemble old-fashioned computer graphics.

These may evoke a feeling of nostalgia, as they used to be found on popular vintage video games such as Space Invaders and Super Mario Bros.

The designers - Sebastiao Teixeira and Cesaria Martins - said that gaming has never before been able to be 'fashionable and sexy' but 'these panties make that possible'.

They were inspired to make them after having 'a dream about sexy women in pixelated lingerie' after 'a night of intense video gaming'.

The 'Pixel Panties' were released in 2015 after their Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign raised 17,432, and are now available from 17.45 per pair on their website.

The designers' specific goal with the underwear is to help counter the growing number of people who are foregoing having sex so they can get in more screen time

The user just has to direct their smartphone's camera onto the green part of the pants, apply the filter and their video will be broadcasted on their partner's backside

The new 'Streaming Undies' iteration, made of 82 per cent polyester and 18 per cent elastane, was rolled out at the start of the month. They are compatible with iOS and Android devices

The new 'Streaming Undies' iteration, made of 82 per cent polyester and 18 per cent elastane, was rolled out at the start of the month.

An accompanying advert shows mannequins wearing the pants watching their screens alone, before coming together to do so via each other's plastic bums.

'With mobile devices decimating our love lives, the world's first undies-slash-streaming platform will help couples turn screen time into sexy time,' the description reads.

The chroma-key coloured pants are compatible with both iOS and Android devices.

This product evolved from Maison Pixel's first release, the standard 'Pixel Panties', which come in a range of colours and do not double-up as a screen
Saturn has been confirmed to have more than 100 moons, meaning it may have the most of any planet in the solar system.

Saturn has overtaken Jupiter, which has only 95 moons, according to an international team of astronomers.

The International Astronomical Union, which has the final say on orbiting bodies, agrees that 28 'moons' can now be added to Saturn's haul, bringing its total to 117.

As the largest planets in the solar system, Saturn and Jupiter have so many moons because their mass creates enough gravitational pull to drag space rocks rotating the sun into their own orbit.

But, to be absolutely sure they have extra moons, objects must be tracked for several years before they can be designated as definitely orbiting the planet.

Saturn has been confirmed to have more than 100 moons, meaning it may have the most of any planet in the solar system. Pictured: Saturn and some of its moons, taken in August 2021

Saturn's two biggest moons are Titan (left) and Rhea (right). Titan is the largest moon of Saturn and the second-largest moon in the Solar System, after Jupiter's Ganymede

HOW MANY MOONS DOES EACH PLANET IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM HAVE? Mercury: 0 Venus: 0 Earth: 1 Mars: 2 Jupiter: 95 Saturn: 117 Uranus: 27 Neptune: 14 Advertisement

The University of British Columbia says it has recorded 62 new moons around Saturn, catapulting the planet back into first place in the Solar System's 'moon race'.

However some astronomers take issue with relatively small lumps of rock being classified as moons alongside enormous moons like Jupiter's Ganymede, which is larger than the entire planet of Mercury, at more than 1,600 miles in diameter.

Gareth Williams, who recently retired from the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Centre, said: 'Saturn's new moons have certainly been discovered, and they are certainly confirmed, so their reality is not in doubt and they are definitely Saturnian satellites.

'But Roman numerals, given to moons which are often named after Gallic, Norse and Inuit gods, are not assigned immediately.

'That happens after the object has been seen several times over a number of years, and the resulting orbit can be used to predict the future motion of the moon.'

Space expert Professor David Rothery, from the Open University, said: 'Surveys by powerful telescopes, on the ground or in space, are finding additional small moons all the time at both Jupiter and Saturn.

The University of British Columbia says it has recorded 62 new moons around Saturn, catapulting the planet back into first place in the Solar System's 'moon race'. Pictured: 3D rendering of Saturn, its rings and its moons

In February, it was announced that twelve new moons have been discovered orbiting Jupiter, giving it the most moons of any planet in our solar system. This record has now been snatched by Saturn. Pictured : Jupiter and two of its largest moons, Ganymede and Europa

Jupiter's two biggest moons are Ganymede (left) and Callisto (right). Ganymede is the largest moon in the Solar System, and Callisto is the third-largest moon in the Solar System

WHAT IS A MOON? A moon is a natural satellite that orbits a planet. Moons can vary in size, composition, and distance from their host planet. The Earth has one moon, while other planets in our solar system have multiple moons. Moons can have significant effects on their host planet, such as causing tides or stabilizing the planet's rotation. Advertisement

'These are mostly kilometre-size chunks of comet or asteroid that were long ago captured into orbit by the strong gravity of the giant planet.

'They are not the spectacular world-sized moons with internal oceans like Europa and Enceladus.

'We will probably never know for sure which out of Jupiter and Saturn really has the most moons, because the harder we look, the more we find, and there is no agreement on the lower size limit that a piece of debris orbiting a planet must have before you can call it a moon.'

Dr Edward Ashton from Taiwan's Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, who led the study from the University of British Columbia, said: 'Tracking these moons makes me recall playing the kid's game Dot-to-Dot, because we have to connect the various appearances of these moons in our data with a viable orbit.

'But with about 100 different games on the same page and you don't know which dot belongs to which puzzle.'

It comes as a study has concluded Saturn's rings are no more than 400 million years old  much younger than the planet which formed more than four billion years ago.

Researchers used data gathered from Nasa spacecraft Cassini, which was destroyed via a controlled crash in 2017, on the later of cosmic dust which has built up around the planet's rings, and can therefore indicate their age, like telling how old a house is by running your finger along its surfaces.
Budget airline Ryanair has hit back after being accused of fat shaming a passenger who complained their so-called window seat didn't have a window.

The disgruntled passenger had taken to Twitter on Thursday to complain that despite booking a seat furthest from the aisle, they were sat next to a solid wall.

In a photograph posted to the social media platform, the young man shared a photo of himself - taken by the person sitting next him - with his thumbs up sarcastically and a wry smile on his face, with no window in sight.

The photo was taken with a 0.5 ultra-wide (also known as fish-eye) lens, a feature of many modern smartphones which allows users to capture a wider field of view.

As a result, the passenger's body - specifically his dark green sweater - appeared distorted, making him appear unusually wider around the waist and legs, while making his head appear unnaturally small.

Budget airline Ryanair has hit back after being accused of fat shaming a passenger who complained their so-called window seat didn't have a window (pictured). The disgruntled passenger had taken to Twitter to complain that despite booking a seat furthest from the aisle, they were instead sat next to a solid wall

It was not clear from the post where the passenger was flying or what time of day it was, but it was clear he was not thrilled at being sat in a seat which would normally allow someone to take in the views during their journey.

'Where's my window seat?' he asked on twitter, tagging the airline in his post.

Ryanair's Twitter account is known for responding in its own sarcastic manner to disgruntled passengers.

In its Twitter bio, it says: 'We sell seats, not windows,' in reference to the public complaint, which was not the first time someone had taken to social media to say that they had booked a window seat without getting the view.

The Irish airline responded to the post hours after it appeared on Twitter.

'Pay for the baggage you've stored under your jumper & we can talk,' it said, in a joking reference to the distortion caused by the wide-angle lens, making the passenger's jumper look much larger than is natural.

While many users brushed this off as a sarcastic remark typical of Ryanair's Twitter account, one person hit out at the airline.

'Fat shaming isn't cool,' they wrote, apparently interpreting Ryanair's comment as the account calling the passenger overweight.

The comment received dozens of 'likes' from other Twitter users, but not as many as Ryanair's response, which garnered over 2,000.

Ryanair's Twitter account, which is known for responding in its own sarcastic manner to disgruntled passengers, responded to the post. 'Pay for the baggage you've stored under your jumper & we can talk,' it said, in a joking reference to the distortion caused by the wide-angle lens, making the passenger's jumper look much larger than is natural

While many users brushed this off as a sarcastic remark typical of Ryanair's Twitter account, one person hit out at the airline. 'Fat shaming isn't cool,' they wrote, apparently interpreting Ryanair's comment as the account calling the passenger overweight. The airline clapped back: 'Tell us you don't get the 0.5 lens joke without telling us you don't get the 0.5 lens joke'

Ryanair's Twitter account is known for responding in its own sarcastic manner to disgruntled passengers. In its Twitter bio, it says: 'We sell seats, not windows' (pictured)

The airline's Twitter account clapped back: 'Tell us you don't get the 0.5 lens joke without telling us you don't get the 0.5 lens joke.'

The 'fat shaming' accusation was not the only criticism of Ryaniar's response.

Another user wrote: 'Another sarcastic response on SM from Ryanair. The last time this happened they insulted a newly wed couple, suggesting their marriage wouldn't last. To be expected I suppose from this customer service nightmare airline.'

The airline responded bluntly: 'This isn't a customer service channel.'

Another asked: 'People still use Ryanair?' to which the Twitter account responded: '16 million people did in April, to be exact,' receiving another slew of likes.

MailOnline has contacted Ryanair and the passenger for comment.

The twitter exchange came as Ryanair ordered 300 new Boeing 737 Max aircraft in a deal that will create 10,000 jobs, and could mean lower air fares.

The twitter exchange came as Ryanair ordered 300 new Boeing 737 Max aircraft in a deal that will create 10,000 jobs, and could mean lower air fares

The move - which involves firm orders for 150 of the planes and options for another 150 - is worth more than $40billion dollars (32billion).

The delivery of the aircraft between 2027 and 2033 will allow the airline to create more than 10,000 jobs for pilots, cabin crew and engineers, Ryanair said.

Each plane will have 228 seats, some 21% more than the Boeing 737 Next Generation aircraft, which half of the deliveries are expected to replace.

Ryanair expects annual passenger numbers to rise from 168 million in the year to the end of March to 300 million by March 2034.
A woman who claimed she had an illegitimate son with world-famous rapper Jay-Z laid bare intimate details about their alleged fling in a signed affidavit - describing the series of events that led up to what she says was the moment her child was conceived.

Wanda Satterthwaite, who passed away in 2019, insisted until the day she died that Jay-Z - whose real name is Shawn Corey Carter - is the father of her son, Rymir, now 30, and she fought until her final days to try and make the rapper take a paternity test to prove her child's parentage once and for all.

Now, for the first time, Rymir is sharing his mother's own recollection of the night she says she and Jay-Z had sex, revealing to DailyMail.com the affidavit in which she shared her memories of that evening in 1992.

In the document, which is dated February 25, 2015, Rymir's ailing mother claimed that she and Jay-Z met through a mutual friend, that they spent a night together at the rapper's aunt's apartment in Brooklyn - and, most damningly, that they had 'protected sex' but that the 'protection broke'.

Jay-Z's attorney's have repeatedly denied the claims made by all of the parties involved, including Wanda, Rymir and Rymir's godmother Lillie Collie, who Wanda gave custody to when she became gravely ill and unable to care of her son.

Wanda Satterthwaite claimed that she had an illicit encounter with Jay-Z in 1992 - and that the rapper, now 53, is the father of her son, Rymir (seen together)

In a signed affidavit written in 2015 and then given to DailyMail.com by her son, Wanda - who passed away months later - claimed that she met Jay-Z in Philadelphia, alleging that he went by the name 'Rock' while she referred to herself as 'Carmel' or 'Precious'

In her affidavit, Wanda claims that her son Rymir (left) was conceived that night, alleging that she had 'protected sex' with Jay-Z (seen right in 2015) but that the 'protection broke'

At the time of her alleged encounter with the rapper, Wanda says that Jay-Z went by the street name 'Rock' a pre-curser to his billion-dollar company, Roc Nation.

Jay-Z did not know her as Wanda, she claims, stating in the affidavit that she went by the aliases 'Carmel' and 'Precious.' In 1992, when she says her meeting with Jay-Z took place, Wanda was 16 years old and in high school. Jay-Z - who was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York - was 22.

Wanda further claimed that the only person who knew about the alleged encounter was her friend, Kaleesha Allen, who signed the affidavit as an eyewitness.

Affidavit of Wanda Satterthwaite and Shawn Carter relationship, the document, which was signed by a Notary Public in the State of New Jersey on February 25, 2015, begins.

I, Wanda Satterthwaite, write these allegations about my relationship with Shawn C. Carter. I met Shawn Corey Carter in fall 1992 and he identifies himself as Rock through my friend Kaleesha Allen, who is eyewitness.

'Mr. Carter and a friend came to Philadelphia to pick up both me and Kaleesha around the area of 24th and Bolton St. in Philadelphia.

'I went by the name Carmel or Precious. Kaleesha rode in the front of the car with Shawns friend while Wanda aka Carmel/Precious rode in the back with Shawn.

'The driver drove what looked like an Eldorado car, which was gold/yellow. We were taken back to Shawns aunts apartment in Brooklyn Projects in New York.'

Wanda (seen left alone and right with Rymir) claims that Jay-Z did not know her by her real name, stating in the affidavit that she went by the aliases 'Carmel' and 'Precious.'

She goes on to claim in the affidavit that Jay-Z was 'wearing a black Woolrich hood jacket' at the time Wanda (seen with a friend) says she met him

Wanda's affidavit continues with a description of the building she says they entered.

'The building had an elevator with gates and mirrors inside,' she wrote. 'I am unsure of which floor it was on, but the apartment had two bedrooms and the bedrooms were off to your left once you entered the apartment.'

She states that the group 'talked, drank, and danced', before her 'girlfriend went off to the room with Shawn's friend and I went with Shawn [to the other room]'.

Wanda continues by describing the outfit she claims Jay-Z was wearing: 'Shawn was wearing a black Woolrich hood jacket and a hat, and his hair was in a small afro, but once we left his aunts place, he put on a black leather jacket.'

She claims that she and Jay-Z used protection during their alleged encounter, but that the protection broke.

'Shawn and I did have protected sex, but the protection broke,' Wanda wrote.

The affidavit continues with Wanda alleging that Jay-Z and his friend - who was not named in the document - 'returned two weeks later to see' her and Kaleesha, but that Kaleesha was not there at the time because she was 'having problems at home'.

'Shawn asked me to leave with him, but I told him I could not because my mother would be upset,' she wrote. 'I never saw him again until a year later on television, but I had no idea of his real name until later and did not know how to reach him.'

The document, which was given to DailyMail.com by Wanda's son Rymir, was signed by his late mom and Kaleesha, the woman she says was with her at the Brooklyn apartment.

Rymir and Lillie have been fighting to prove that Jay-Z is his father since he was 21 years old. In February, Rymir filed a new motion with the New Jersey Supreme Court. He asked the court to unseal years of documents that date back to 2012. He argued that keeping them unsealed prevented him from getting justice.

Rymir (seen in a recent selfie) was told that Jay-Z was his father by Wanda when he was eight years old. He recently told DailyMail.com, 'I won't stop fighting until I win. And I will win'

Rymir (seen wearing a T-shirt to honor his late mom and advocate for his case) wants years of court documents unsealed so that the public can access the case

The Supreme Court rejected his new motion, which highlights specific points throughout the case in 29 pages. The court stated that it did not have jurisdiction to re-open matters in the appeals court or to unseal records in the trial court.

Rymir then filed a motion with the Appellate division, which was denied on May 8. He says he will now file an appeal with the District Court.

Last week, Rymir spoke to DailyMail.com about the case and said, 'I won't stop fighting for this until I win. And I will win because the law is on our side. This is not going to be over until justice is served.'

'I just want to live my life and, when it is all said and done, I hope that Jay-Z would want to be a part of my life, if that is God's will.'

Wanda claims she had sex with Jay-Z in 1992 and, at the time, the rapper was far from the global icon he is today. It was four years before the release of his debut studio album, Reasonable Doubt, in 1996.

At the time of their tryst, Wanda was in an on-again, off-again relationship with her high-school sweetheart, Robert Graves.

However, she says it was her alleged one-night stand with Jay-Z - which she kept hidden from Robert - during which her son Rymir was conceived.

When Wanda gave birth to Rymir in July 1993, Robert was by her side in the hospital and signed Rymir's birth certificate as his biological father.

A family insider says that Wanda knew that Robert was not Rymir's real dad early on when he looked nothing like him. Rymir says that Wanda told him that Jay-Z was his biological father when he was eight years old.

It was not until 2010, when Wanda's heart condition, which was the result of untreated Scarlet Fever when she was two years old, did the case of paternity become an issue.

When Wanda met Jay-Z, he was just a normal guy. When she began her plea for a paternity test, he was a mega superstar, marrying his wife Beyonce in 2008.

Wanda was sure that she had sex with only two men when she became pregnant in 1992. The two men were Robert and Jay-Z.

She filed paperwork with a Pennsylvania court to make both men take a paternity test in order to determine who was her son's real father.

When the court issued an order, Robert agreed to undergo genetic testing - proving once without any shadow of a doubt that he and Rymir had no biological relation.

Wanda (pictured with Rymir leaving a courthouse following a proceeding regarding the paternity case in February 2015) died in 2019 from heart failure at age 43 in 2019

Rymir (in a 2022 selfie) told his YouTube followers last year, 'I will not let anyone put this on my name, my mother's name, or my godmother's name. We will fight for what is right'

Robert's name was removed from Rymir's birth certificate by the court and has remained blank ever since.

In 2011, Wanda handed over custody of her son to Rymir's godmother Lillie, who has been fighting on behalf of Rymir ever since. Lillie told DailyMail.com, 'I was just trying to help my goddaughter's child have a relationship with his father.'

Recounting how Rymir was forced to accept the fact that his mother was dying at the time, Lillie added, 'It was so hard on him because he was ripped away from his mom and had no one to call dad.'

That same year, multiple reports surfaced alleging that Jay-Z had fathered another son with a Trinidadian model, Shennelle Scott - claims that the rapper's team were quick to dismiss as 'ridiculous rumors.'

In 2012, Lillie and Rymir began to pursue legal action against Jay-Z - a battle that has now spanned more than ten years and seen the pair embroiled in endless legal back-and-forth's with the rapper's attorneys.

Rymir insists that Jay-Z's lawyers have attempted to subvert the system so that their client did not have to take a paternity test, which Rymir believes would put an end to the case once and for all.

Documentation about every legal proceeding is enclosed in Rymir's new motion - which has been seen by DailyMail.com and which outlines how the case began with a pre-trial in Camden County, New Jersey on August 13, 2012.

During the pre-trial, Jay-Z's legal team argued that the New Jersey court had 'no jurisdiction' over the case, because it had first been filed by his mother Wanda in Pennsylvania.

Therefore, Jay-Z's attorney said the case should be dismissed outright because Rymir was over 18 years old at the time of the pre-trial. Pennsylvania law states that paternity must be established before a child reached the age of adulthood.

The court, however, disagreed, stating that the case should be decided under New Jersey law, which defines the age of parentage as being 23 years old.

Jay-Z's lawyers argued that he should be exempt from undergoing a DNA test in New Jersey because he did not live, or own any property in the state - despite several news articles linking him to homes in Alpine and Newport.

'My client does not have contacts in New Jersey. He doesn't own residences. He doesn't own anything in Alpine. He doesn't own anything in Newport. I don't know why that information is out there. It is on the internet,' his lawyer told the court.

As a result of this argument, the judge dismissed the case.

Rymir's attorneys immediately appealed the verdict - insisting that they had evidence in the form of three property deeds and tax records, proving that Jay-Z owned several properties in New Jersey and that his attorney therefore committed 'fraud' by stating otherwise in court.

DailyMail.com obtained the court transcript from August 13, 2012, where Jay-Z's attorney Lise Fisher told the court that he 'doesn't own residences' in New Jersey, thus giving the state no jurisdiction to require him to take the paternity test

Lillie submitted these documents to the court to show that Jay-Z owned properties in New Jersey, which would give the court jurisdiction to require DNA testing. The court, however, ruled in favor of Jay-Z

Civil rights group NAACP has sent multiple letters to New Jersey state legislatures demanding that Rymir get due process

Jay-Z and Beyonce (at the Grammy Awards in 2015) have never spoken publicly about the case. In a letter to DailyMail.com, the rappers attorney's denied Rymir and Wanda's claims

DailyMail.com has included the court transcripts, as well as the deeds, in this article, which were supplied by Rymir.

For several of the properties, Jay-Z is still listed as the owner under his legal name, Shawn Corey Carter. In addition, several of his immediate family members are also listed.

Rymir and his legal team submitted the deeds as evidence for their appeal and the case resumed on December 12, 2012.

During a hearing as part of that trial, Jay-Z's attorney noted that she had 'misspoken' about where he really lived - having told the court that the rapper lived at 411 Broadway in New York City, which is actually the office of his record label Roc Nation.

'I did misspeak at the last hearing because I really did think that Broadway was his home address,' Fisher stated.

However, the case was still dismissed, after the rapper's lawyer contented that Rymir and Lillie had failed to prove that the 'Shawn Corey Carter' listed on the deeds was in fact her client and not another person of the same name..

'Plaintiff's request for genetic testing and for support is dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, and for lack of personal jurisdiction, over defendant Shawn Corey Carter, without prejudice,' the court ruled.

In December 2014, Rymir filed a civil lawsuit against Jay-Z and his attorney, during which the rapper's legal team made the same argument that they had done during the 2012/2013 hearing - that he did not own any property in New Jersey and could therefore not be subject to a paternity ruling in the state.

Again, the court ruled in Jay-Z's favor and dismissed the case.

Up until now, the entire case has been sealed by the court - which means that the public cannot obtain files pertaining to the case. Rymir will stop at nothing to have the documents unsealed.

Many of these documents are already publicly available online on a website created by Rymir.

Rymir will continue to fight for his right to have due process - for himself, for those who have supported him and, especially for his mother, Wanda. In 2016, Rymir's bedridden mother spoke out again in support of the case.

'My name is Wanda Satterthwaite, and I am the mother of Rymir Satterthwaite,' she stated in a video shared with RadarOnline.

'Today is April 20, 2016, and I want the world to know that I support my son in his paternity suit with Shawn Corey Carter. I stand by my allegations regarding this man.'

In 2015, Rymir sued Jay-Z for civil damages, claiming that the rapper had obstructed his ability to get closure.

In 2017, Rymir and Lillie filed a civil rights complaint to Judge Glenn A. Grant for violations that included not following normal procedures for court services based on gender, class, and retaliation.

They also filed civil rights complaints to New Jersey's Attorney General, the Governor of New Jersey, various New Jersey senators and the Judicial Conduct Board in New Jersey.

They repeated the civil rights violations complaints to the same parties again in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022. All of these claims were dismissed.

In a 2022 YouTube video, Rymir made clear his feelings about the case, telling the world: 'I don't feel like our rights are appreciated. There is a lot of fraud and collusion that has been going on. I am not going to let that pass.

'We are going in there with our hard-earned money to fight fraud. The judges are allowing this to go on. Someone over them should be held responsible for this.

'I just want everyone to keep their eyes open. We should never go into a court room and feel like we are the victims. We got stepped on and tried to get dragged through the system.

'I will not let anyone put this on my name, my mother's name, or my godmother's name. We will fight for what is right like we have been doing all these years,' Rymir said in the video.'

Jay-Z has never publicly spoken about the case. In his 2018 album with Beyonce called The Carters - You Heard About Us, he vaguely addressed the accusations.

The lyrics to the song state, 'Billie Jean in his prime. For the thousandth time, the kid ain't mine. Online they call me dad, kiddingly. You're not supposed to take this dad thing literally.'
MBABANE  In a space of three years, one of the daughters of the lawyer who is accused of raping his own children, is said to have fallen pregnant six times.

This is alleged to have happened when the minor was between the ages of 13 and 16 years old. The lawyer allegedly forced the child to have an abortion six times. Three of the abortions were allegedly carried out in the Republic of South Africa (RSA), while the other three in Eswatini.

This was mentioned by the Supreme Court in its judgment yesterday, dismissing the bail appeal of the accused lawyer. The court said this was serious and it suggested a total lack of human values by the accused lawyer. The appeal was heard by Judge Nkululeko Hlophe, together with Judge Stanley Maphalala and Judge Mbutfo Mamba. Judge Hlophe stated in the judgment that what was apparent was the egregious nature of the allegations as revealed in the charges against the lawyer.

Complicated

He also said the matter was complicated by the fact that all the survivors were closely related to the lawyer. This, according to the court, underscored the difficult circumstances a court found itself in if it had to hear a matter involving an officer of the court. Judge Hlophe said in a matter like this, the allegations engendered a fresh perspective in the consideration of the matter against the accused. It makes it more serious and outstandingly bad. He is likely to attract a harsher than normal sentence in the event of a conviction. This brings about a likelihood for him to abscond and not attend trial, said the judge.

The court noted that according to the accused lawyer, he was once arrested for a similar offence as the sexual offences referred to in some of the counts herein which occurred around 2008. He was thereafter released on bail, a position he has remained under to this day. I note the disturbing suggestion this carries with it namely; that notwithstanding the appellants said arrest and subsequent release on bail; it did not help deter him from committing similar abhorrent offences if the charges and the most recent offences mentioned therein are anything to go by. This alone should in law prevent him from being released on bail.

I say this because he is now facing newer charges to those for which he was arrested and subsequently released on bail in 2008. He is now shown as having committed similar offences later on, in 2008 until 2011 in the case of count 1, notwithstanding that he was actually out on bail. He allegedly also committed similar offences against the other one of his daughters between 2008 and 2011. The charges allege further that between 2019 and 2020, he again committed similar abhorrent offences against another one of his daughters, explained Judge Hlophe.

Significance

The judge said it was of significance that the similar offences were committed while the lawyer was out on bail for the offences he, in his own words, had been arrested for allegedly committing, subsequently charged and eventually released on bail in 2008. On this point alone, according to the court, it means that the chances of the lawyer being released on bail again should be very slim, if at all they are there. This is because he would be taken to have violated one of the implied bail conditions if it was not a direct one, said the judge.

If the appellant repeatedly committed similar abhorrent or horrendous offences after he had been released on bail, as the charges suggest, it would not only mean that the conditions imposed by law upon his release on bail mean nothing to him than that society as made mainly of law abiding citizens, whose peace and safety ought to be protected, was now left vulnerable. In such cases, the law abiding members of society who look up to the courts for their protection can most effectively feel so protected if the perpetual and habitual offenders are kept away from society. That is to say, it should be found at that stage that the interests of justice are best served when such people are not granted bail, added the judge.

Suggestion

Judge Hlophe continued to say: The suggestion is that such a person has no regards for the law because instead of him toning down after his arrest and release on bail, he still went back to commit similar, if not worse, offences. Refusing to grant such a person bail could actually go to show the desire by the courts to ensure the protection of other members of society, including reassuring those who had earlier been violated that there was no chance of them being befallen by same plight.

The complainants and the witnesses are all known to the accused. It could be extremely difficult if not impossible to police any condition preventing communication between the applicant and the witnesses may add that (the) gravity of the offences and the possible sanctions or penalties should they be proved at trial, are such as would encourage the applicant not to stand trial. Judge Hlophe said when the appeal was heard, it was indicated that the lawyers trial had been allocated a hearing date in the High Court.

According to Judge Hlophe, it was often difficult to intervene and order the grant or otherwise of bail in a matter already allocated a trial date or one where a trial had commenced if that court was not the one seized with the trial in that matter. The lawyer was represented by Khumbulani Msibi, while Crown Counsel Brian Ngwenya appeared for the Crown.
RACE ACROSS THE WORLD

BBC iPLAYER

Rating:

A strong contender for my favourite show of the year so far is the unexpectedly moving  bearing in mind it's literally all about moving  Race Across The World, the third series of which finished on Wednesday having become, on occasion, tear-jerkingly illuminating about the contestants' relationships.

I know this seems like absurdly high praise for a reality competition in which five pairs compete to win 20,000 by racing each other across Canada with no mobile phones and a tiny budget equal to the cost of the flights they aren't allowed to take.

A strong contender for Kathryn Flett's favourite show of the year so far is the unexpectedly moving  bearing in mind it's literally all about moving  Race Across The World

However, as it unfolded it became so much more than a format, recalling another great reality hit, Faking It (2000-2006, RIP). No surprise, then, to learn that RATW shares the same production DNA.

The show debuted in 2019 with a follow-up in 2020 but despite the fact I spent 2020 binge-watching almost anything, RATW had entirely passed me by.

Eventually, a few weeks ago a friend with a 14-year-old daughter and an 11-year-old son told me I mustn't miss it: 'Such great telly! And one of the very few things we all watch together.' So I caught up.

Better late than never, right? Unless of course you're a contestant on RATW in pursuit of 20k, in which case never would have conceivably been better than late...

Yet however desirable it may be to win the cash, this was never any of the contestants' main goal  instead, as their stories unfolded, it became clear that each pair was looking to achieve something far more meaningful.

In the case of chalk-and-cheese brothers Marc, 36, and Michael, 34, it was about repairing a fractured sibling relationship that had deteriorated after the death of their dad, while for father-and-daughter duo Kevin, 53, and Claudia, 27, it was about building a loving relationship that, due to divorce, they'd never really had.

Meanwhile, best friends from their teens Cathie, 49, and Tricia, 48, were looking to prove that two busy middle-aged ladies still possessed an adventurous streak by cramming in as many memory-making moments as possible before Tricia loses her already failing eyesight completely. While the second father/daughter duo, Ladi, 52, and Monique, 25, were already close, they sought a fun-packed last hurrah before Monique carried on moving out into the world... but would Ladi manage to tool-up his 'princess' ('I love travelling, but on holiday') with enough life skills to complete the journey?

And would husband-and-wife medics Mobeen, 31, and Zainib, 32, manage to escape their post-Covid routine of 'working and watching TV' in order to have the adventures they deserve, not least as a distraction from their inability to become parents after 'trying for eight years'.

This week Kathryn, pictured, delighted watching Race Across The World and found the ending 'as satisfying as anyone could wish for'

Rest assured, I'm not going to be the one to spoil the journey and its outcome for viewers yet to embark on it (the whole series is now available on iPlayer).

The 20k isn't the contestants' main goal, they're after something far more meaningful

However, I will say that the ending is as satisfying as anyone could wish for: everyone's a 'winner' (it's so brilliantly cast and so well edited that everybody ends up feeling like the viewers' new best friend), and that includes Canada, a country I'd never previously been interested in visiting but which is now (I'm sure the Tourist Board will be pleased to hear!) at the top of my bucket list.

A new Tom Jones? Why why why, Delilah?

TOM JONES

ITVX

Rating:

Any screenwriter slicing and dicing a big, fat, densely plotted classic novel to fit into four hours of telly will find it hard to avoid sacrificing much of the original nuance.

However, I'm halfway through ITVX's shiny adaptation of Henry Fielding's 1749 comic novel The History Of Tom Jones, A Foundling and I still can't quite work out why it needs to exist on television at all.

Because whether you loved, loathed or were indifferent to Netflix's Bridgerton, there's no doubt it's knocked the stuffing out of traditional costume dramas.

Kathryn says that Solly McLeod as Tom (right) is 'not sufficiently Sex Bomb-y, while super-pretty Sophie Wilde (left) is far from wild enough'

It's not that Tom Jones needs party scenes with everybody waltzing to Stormzy in order to appeal. No, it just needs to convince us that, for example, making leading lady Sophia the voiceover/narrator (in the original it's Tom) as well as the mixed-race daughter of a Jamaican slave and plantation owner who has been shipped over to be raised by her white grandfather isn't simply a contemporary plot conceit that turns out to be more interesting in theory than it does on screen.

What's New Pussycat? Well, not much, sadly.

Solly McLeod as Tom (looking like a cross between Jamie Oliver and Ed Sheeran) is not sufficiently Sex Bomb-y, while super-pretty Sophie Wilde is far from wild enough. Indeed, it's a lack of on-screen va-va-voom that stands in contrast to its saucy three-centuries-old literary source.

Now AJ's got the lot!

Every time I switch on the telly there's AJ Odudu, the Blackburn beauty with the broadest Lancashire accent on the box. Fine by me; she's warm and enthusiastic fronting the interior design competition The Big Interiors Battle (Fri, Ch4), which has the prize of a 250k Sheffield flat. Now she's hosting The Greatest Auction (Tue, Ch4), featuring unusual collectables. Bargain Hunt it ain't; the star lot last week was a Banksy piece that sold for the price of that flat.

Now AJ Odudu (pictured) is hosting The Greatest Auction (Tue, Ch4), featuring unusual collectables
The mother-of-four says she's one of the few people stepping to help her child

The reality star, 28, is battling stage 4 cancer in her liver, kidneys, and lungs

Mama June Shannon has revealed how she's chosen to step up and support her daughter Anna 'Chickadee' Cardwell amid the reality star's battle with a rare cancer.

Here Comes Honey Boo Boo fans were devastated to learn that the 28-year-old reality star is currently battling stage 4 cancer in her liver, kidneys, and lungs after being diagnosed in January with adrenal carcinoma.

The shocking health news came at a time when the reality star and her siblings had an extremely fractured relationship with their mother - following Mama June's public battle with alcohol and cocaine addiction in recent years.

However, during an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com, Mama June confirmed that the pair had put their previous grievances aside in order to focus on Anna's health battle.

Here to help: Mama June Shannon has confirmed that she is reconnecting with her daughter Anna 'Chickadee' Cardwell amid her ongoing cancer battle

Doing their part: Mama June, 43, and her husband Justin Stroud, 35, have been attending chemo treatments with the Here Comes Honey Boo Boo star

In fact, the star insisted that she was one of the few family members that have been taking the time to truly support Anna.

'Honestly, the people that have been there for her since she's been diagnosed is me and Justin, Eldridge and the girls,' the 43-year-old explained. 'There's no other family that come up there and sit with her during her treatments.'

She continued: 'There is nobody that comes and checks to make sure that she's good, to make sure that she got everything. It's literally me, Justin, Pumpkin (Lauren Efird), Honey Boo Boo (Alana Thompson), Jessica. That's it.'

The star then revealed the lengths she and her new husband Justin have been going to in order to do their part to help.

Mama June explained: 'In the weeks that she has chemo, we take her to Atlanta. We stay there all week from Monday till Saturday, to make sure that she's close to the hospital if anything major happens because it is two hours away.

'So we say it there and then we bring her back home. Then that next week is kind of rough for her so we stay in Georgia to make sure she doesn't need anything.'

Indeed, fans have shared their joy after seeing social media posts in recent weeks which confirmed that the pair had reunited during this tough time, and are working to mend their strained relationship.

In 2021, Anna was candid about putting distance between herself and her mother when June began a romance with Mark McDaniel, who Anna said sexually assaulted her in adolescence.

Shock diagnosis: Anna, 28, was diagnosed with rare adrenal carcinoma after she underwent a series of testing due to stomach aches

United front: The reality TV star is currently battling stage 4 cancer in her liver, kidneys, and lungs after being diagnosed in January - (L-R) Justin Stroud, Mama June, Lauren 'Pumpkin' Efird, Kaitlyn Elizabeth Clark and Alana 'Honey Boo Boo' Thompson

However, insiders told TMZ that Mama June and Anna had begun mending their relationship about a year ago, and are a lot closer now as they continue to put the past behind them.

Wednesday saw Anna share a hopeful health update on her Instagram as she revealed that her chemotherapy treatments are 'working'.

Anna posted a snap of herself alongside boyfriend, Eldridge Toney, at Cracker Barrel in Atlanta, Georgia, and revealed that she is currently undergoing a third round of chemo.

'Well going on to round 3 of chemo. this yesterday it was pretty good day but did get a little and Cracker Barrel was good going down but not up but over all its going good and chemo is working we come to find so things are looking good,' she wrote.

Anna, who has two daughters Kaitlyn, 10, and Kylee, 7, with her ex-husband Michael Cardwell, was initially complaining about a number of ailments including stomach pain before several tests were carried out. The star then underwent her first chemotherapy session in February.

According to the American Cancer Society, adrenocortical carcinoma  also known as adrenal cortical cancer  is a disease that affects an estimated 200 Americans per year.

Doctors are still monitoring her progress before making any decisions regarding further treatment.

Positive update': Anna recently revealed her third round of chemotherapy is working, much to the delight of fans

Famous family: Anna first appeared on TLC's 2009 series Toddlers and Tiaras alongside her now-teenaged sister and their family

Her devastating cancer battle was previously confirmed by 17-year-old sister, Alana 'Honey Boo Boo' Thompson, took to Instagram and wrote: 'This is what I mean when I say you never truly know what somebody is going through at home. No matter how famous they are.'

'Yes I'm very famous, but normal s*** happens to me and my family and y'all need to realize that ASAP,' she added.

Sources close to the family report that they are all 'very hopeful' Anna will pull through and overcome the rare disease.

Mama June told DailyMail.com that the family will been seen working through arguments and undergoing counseling as she worked to repair her fractured relationship with her daughters.

Her husband Justin admitted it was hard to see the girls keeping their mother at a distance.

'I see the change that she's making every day, but they wasn't around to see it,' he explained. 'But I understand where they're coming from too, you know, because I was an addict myself and people get tired of being told that you're going to do something and yet that it never comes.'

Reconnecting: Mama June and her daughters are seen reconciling in her new series, Mama June: Family Crisis; seen together in March 2022

He continued: 'So I'm pretty sure that during her addiction, June said, "Hey, I'm going to change. I'm going to do this. But it never came.

'The girls just just want to see action. And I think that the action has been speaking for themselves here lately, so that's good.'

Anna first appeared on TLC's 2009 series Toddlers and Tiaras alongside her now-teenaged sister Alana and their family.

In 2012, Alana received a spinoff series titled Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, which starred their entire family.

Anna welcomed daughter Kaitlyn in 2012 and married her then-boyfriend Michael Cardwell two years later. They called it quits in 2017.

Mama June: Family Crisis airs Tuesdays on the AMC streaming service, ALLBLK.
Married At First Sight star Jules Robinson has taken the shapewear world by storm since launching her line, Figur, three years ago.

Now she's kicking off her new body-positive campaign, #FIGURamplified, just in time for Mother's Day.

The campaign features a diverse group of twelve ambassadors chosen from thousands of applicants across Australia.

Embodying Robinson's all-inclusive ethos, the ambassadors range from size 6 to 24, a testament to her belief that beauty comes in all sizes.

'I've gone from being trolled and body-shamed in my season of Married At First Sight, to having women say they want to embrace bodies like mine,' Robinson shared.

Married At First Sight star Jules Robinson has taken the shapewear world by storm since launching her line, Figur, three years ago, and now she's heading up a new brand campaign

Jules is kicking off her new body-positive campaign, #FIGURamplified, just in time for Mother's Day

She further emphasised, 'My messaging is it's a piece of material. It's you under that material.'

Amidst a saturated shapewear market with leaders like Kim Kardashian's Skims and Lizzo's Yitty vying for consumers, Robinson has distinguished her brand by emphasising real, everyday women in her campaigns.

The latest endeavor, #FIGURamplified, continues this tradition.

The campaign features a diverse group of twelve ambassadors chosen from thousands of applicants across Australia

Embodying Robinson's all-inclusive ethos, the ambassadors range from size 6 to 24, a testament to her belief that beauty comes in all sizes

The MAFS alum unveiled her twelve brand ambassadors who represent a broad spectrum of Australian women in terms of size, age, and ethnicity.

The twelve ambassadors include five mother-daughter pairs, a mom-to-be, and a woman who recently lost her mother to cancer, along with Robinson herself.

When asked about her choice of mothers and daughters to lead the campaign, Robinson confided to The Daily Telegraph, 'Sometimes your most messy, complicated, and hardest relationship is the one with your mum.'

'I've gone from being trolled and body-shamed in my season of MAFS, to having women say they want to embrace bodies like mine,' Robinson shared

She further emphasised, 'My messaging is it's a piece of material. It's you under that material'

Amidst a saturated shapewear market with leaders like Kim Kardashian's Skims and Lizzo's Yitty, Robinson has distinguished her brand by emphasising real, everyday women in her campaigns

She elaborated, 'Many of the mums [in the campaign] admitted they projected their body insecurities onto their daughters, by constantly weighing themselves, or speaking negatively about their bodies. They confided, 'if I could change one thing about raising her, that would be it.'

Many ambassadors expressed a newfound love for their bodies since joining the campaign, highlighting the positive impact of their involvement on their self-confidence and the narrative around weight and curves.

Since Figur's launch in 2020, Robinson has received five entrepreneurial awards and is gearing up to take the brand to the UK following its widespread success in Australia.

Through her work, Robinson continues to challenge norms and inspire body positivity.
Victoria's Secret model Frida Aesen commanded attention at the Etam Cruise 2023 in St Tropez on Thursday.

Frida, 28, showcased her slender figure in a barely-there bikini as she took to the runway.

The Norwegian model left little to the imagination in the black bandeau number which was adorned with a blue and green pattern.

Frida appeared in her element as she strutted barefoot down the catwalk for Etam, who sell lingerie, nightwear and swimwear.

The model wasn't the only one who wore a racy ensemble as others were seen showcasing tiny neon bikinis and white studded two-pieces from the collection.

Barely-there: Victoria's Secret model Frida Aesen commanded attention at the Etam Cruise 2023 in St Tropez on Thursday

Beach babe: Frida, 28, showcased her slender figure in a barely there bikini as she took to the runway

Racy: The Norwegian model left little to the imagination in the black bandeau number which was adorned with a blue and green pattern

Frida was spotted earlier in the day rehearsing for the show and looked the picture of confidence as she walked down the catwalk before stopping to pose for the cameras.

Frida's appearance comes after she was spotted out in Milan with her husband Tommy Chiabra in February.

Last year, the Norwegian model and Italian businessman tied the knot in front of a star-studded guestlist.

Celebrity guests arrived in their droves to celebrate with the couple, who married at the Divo Martino church in Portofino.

Bride Frida looked stunning in a netted gown with a bardot neckline and a touch of sparkle which appeared to be from Ellie Saab's Fall 2022 collection.

After meeting in 2019, the couple dated for two years before the Victoria's Secret model announced her engagement to Tommy on her Instagram stories in August 2021.

She posted a video of herself being led onto a boat at Portofino harbour with a pink scarf covering her eyes.

Strike a pose: Frida appeared in her element as she strutted barefoot down the catwalk for Etam, who sell lingerie, nightwear and swimwear

Strutting: Frida was spotted earlier in the day rehearsing for the show and looked the picture of confidence as she walked down the catwalk before stopping to pose for the cameras

Turning heads: The models all hit the catwalk in their green swimwear pieces

Getting ready: The girls wore red robes and slippers ahead of the show

Wearing a white lace halter-neck dress, fans might wonder if the bride-to-be had foreseen what was about to unfold as Tommy got down on one knee.

Showing off her stunning ring in a black-and-white Instagram photo Frida wrote: 'Per sempre.'

Translated into English, the phrase means: 'Always.'

Collection: The model wasn't the only one who wore a racy ensemble as others were seen showcasing tiny bikinis and cut-out swimsuits

Cheeky: Another put on a risque display in a tiny green bikini
Shailene Woodley and Cara Delevingne are set to costar in a horror-tinged biopic centered on the life of the legendary thriller author Patricia Highsmith.

According to Deadline, Delevingne  who has previously labeled herself bisexual  will star as a lover to Highsmith.

Their relationship, which will be featured in The Murderous Miss Highsmith, was one of two romances Highsmith carried on with other women that reportedly inspired one of her most successful novels, The Talented Mr. Ripley.

The film will be directed by Alexandra Pechman, who will be making her feature directorial debut with the project.

Woodley  who will next be seen in a sci-fi rom-com  stars as Highsmith, who died in 1995 at 74.

Leading ladies: Cara Delevingne stars in The Murderous Miss Highsmith as the lover of the writer Patricia Highsmith, Deadline reported on Thursday. Shailene Woodley will play the legendary Talented Mr. Ripley scribe

Graphic: The feature will examine the author's frame of mind and attempt to expand on how her penchant for violent crime brought her inspiration for her novels; Highsmith is seen in 1970

The feature will examine the author's frame of mind and attempt to expand on how her penchant for violent crime brought her inspiration for her novels.

Portrait Of A Lady On Fire star Noemie Merlant will costar with Woodley as the other woman she had a relationship with in the 1950s before penning the hit thriller.

Production on the feature will commence in Italy this fall.

Cara previously revealed to Vogue in March that she spent part of December and January in rehab after seeing photos published exclusively by DailyMail.com of her disheveled state after attending Burning Man prompted her to get help.

'I've had interventions of a sort, but I wasn't ready. That's the problem,' she explained.

'I hadn't seen a therapist in three years. I just kind of pushed everyone away, which made me realize how much I was in a bad place.'

She also admitted that she had previously sought quick fixes for her substance abuse issues, but now that she was focused on the 12 step program it was easier to commit to sobriety.

'Before I was always into the quick fix of healing, going to a weeklong retreat or to a course for trauma, say, and that helped for a minute, but it didnt ever really get to the nitty-gritty, the deeper stuff,' she said.

But as she puts her struggles behind her, the model is looking to revive her career, starting with her latest major role in the Highsmith biopic.

The author, who suffered from an alcohol addiction throughout much of her life, published her first novel, Strangers On A Train, in 1950, and Alfred Hitchcock directed a classic film of the story the following year, which helped to cement Highsmith as a top writer of literary thrillers.

On the upswing: The film is a career comeback for Delevingne, who checked herself into rehab late last year after seeing photos published exclusively by DailyMail.com of herself looking disheveled and apparently on drugs after Burning Man; seen May 1 in NYC

Mystery woman: Highsmith was an acclaimed writer of thrillers and literary fiction. Though she had relationships with men, she is considered a lesbian writer; seen in 1993

Two years later, she published The Price Of Salt under a pseudonym.

The novel, later reprinted as Carol under her own name, and posthumously adapted into an acclaimed film starring Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara, detailed a doomed lesbian romance that was inspired by Highsmith's own life.

Several of her other novels have also been adapted for the screen, including Deep Water, which was made into a film last year starring Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas, and her Ripley novels, which have spawned multiple adaptations, including the 1999 film starring Matt Damon.

Although Highsmith did have relationships with men, she is often described as a lesbian, as her romances with women were reportedly much more fulfilling.

The writer, who had a reputation as a misanthrope, cycled through romances and apparently only stayed with partners for a few years at most.

'This is such a unique way to explore someones legacy, while implementing their world into their life story. The script goes from idyllic Italian settings to gruesome murder fantasies with a strong inspiration from her work,' said the Paris-based production company Memento in a statement.

'This is a new take to the biopic genre that will definitely leave a mark on the audience,' it added.

The Murderous Miss Highsmith's release date has not been announced yet.

Although she is busy prepping for the title role in the feature, Woodley is also set to star in Robots.

French star: The film is about two of Highsmith's relationships with women that inspired The Talented Mr. Ripley, with Noemie Merlant playing the other woman; pictured in September in Venice

The actress will appear alongside Jack Whitehall in the feature, which is based on Robert Sheckley's 1973 short story The Robot Who Looked Like Me.

The movie is centered on a pair of individuals whose robotic duplicates fall in love and team up to find their lifelike doubles.

Emma Roberts was initially set to star in the movie, although she was replaced by Woodley in June of 2021.

Robots is currently scheduled to be released both in theaters and on demand on May 19.
Chase Chrisley shared that his family's legal woes, resulting in his parents' imprisonment, has brought their clan closer together.

The 26-year-old reality TV star  whose parents Todd, 54, and Julie, 50, are serving a combined 19 years in prison for financial crimes  revealed that the family is 'definitely closer' on the latest episode of the Chasin' Birdies podcast.

'It's still tough but I will say this: it's definitely brought us closer together,' he explained.

'It's made us appreciate each other in ways that we probably didn't before and just appreciating the little things,' Chase added.

The Growing Up Chrisley alum also shared that the family is 'still fighting' and 'praying that the truth comes out and they get to come home' as they appeal their convictions.

Closer: Chase Chrisley, 26, shared that his family's legal woes, resulting in his parents' imprisonment, has brought their clan 'closer' together

Chase is leaning on his faith to get him through the tough times, as he revealed: 'It definitely took a toll on all of us. But I mean, I don't think that God will put you through a storm that he won't bring you out of.'

He also admitted that, 'Emotionally it's still taking a toll on everybody' in the family.

As for how his siblings are handling it all, he said: 'Everybody's handling it in their own way. My little sister [Savannah], she's a trouper. She's one of the strongest women  strongest human beings  I know.'

Aside from Chase, Todd and Julie are parents to daughter Savannah, 25, as well as 16-year-old son Grayson, and their adopted granddaughter Chloe, 10.

Todd also shares daughter Lindsie, 33, and son Kyle, 31, with his ex-wife Teresa Terry.

Julie was sentenced to seven years, while her husband received a 12-year-sentence, following a conviction for multiple charges last year, including bank fraud and tax evasion.

Following her parents' incarceration Savannah was granted custody of brother Grayson and niece Chloe.

On Tuesday it was revealed that Julie has been 'broken down' by her brief time behind bars - and now bitterly 'regrets' the extreme lengths she went to for fame and money, blaming herself for allowing her husband Todd to 'push her into' a tax fraud scheme that ultimately saw them both sentenced to lengthy stints in prison.

Appreciation: 'It's made us appreciate each other in ways that we probably didn't before and just appreciating the little things,' Chase said on the new episode of Chasin' Birdies podcast

'Still fighting': The Growing Up Chrisley alum also shared that the family is 'still fighting' and 'praying that the truth comes out and they get to come home' as they appeal their convictions

Taking a toll: He also admitted that, 'Emotionally it's still taking a toll on everybody' in the family

Tough: His parents Todd, 54, and Julie, 50, are serving a combined 19 years in prison for financial crimes; (L-R) Chase, Grayson Chrisley, Julie, Todd, Chloe Chrisley, Savannah Chrisley, and Faye Chrisley

According to a source close to Julie, she is 'not doing well at all' in prison, with the insider adding that the former reality TV star has been consumed by remorse over the role she played in the $30 million crime, for which she is now serving seven years at FCM Lexington.

'She has broken down. She is not doing well at all,' the source shared. 'She cannot fathom how she will spend years being locked up and feels that she let her family down.'

The insider added that Julie - who is on month four of her lengthy sentence - is now telling friends that she is furious with herself for allowing her husband Todd to convince her that they would 'never go to jail' for the scheme.

'Todd assured her that they would not go to jail and now Julie regrets what she did in the name of fame,' they continued, adding that the ex-reality matriarch is losing all hope that the pair will manage to pull off a successful appeal.

'She is losing faith that they will get this overturned and she is so sad. It is heart breaking,' the source shared.

A spokesperson for the Chrisleys did not respond to a request for comment.

Last week, Savannah shared some insight into her mother's prison struggles on her podcast, explaining that the matriarch was 'scared' but that she was keeping herself busy by 'taking classes.

Savannah - who was kicked off a Southwest flight for 'unruly' behavior recently - talked about Julie's situation in great depth on her latest Unlocked podcast.

Broken down: It comes after an insider revealed that Julie (seen in 2018) has 'broken down' behind bars while serving her seven-year prison sentence - and is overcome with regret for allowing her husband Todd to 'push her into' his fraud scheme

Terrified: According to the insider, Julie (seen with her husband on their show) 'is not doing well at all' in prison - and is terrified that the couple's planned appeal will not go their way

Keeping busy: The couple's daughter Savannah, 25, also recently opened up about her mother's prison struggles last week, admitting that Julie is 'scared' but is keeping busy with 'classes' in prison

She said that Julie sent her home from one prison visit with '30 to 40 days worth of letters,' adding that was 'like her daily diary'.

'It was a lot to read, it was tough to see the accounts of her day and just things that she's scared of or nervous about or just all the thoughts that go through her mind,' Savannah explained.

Savannah has visited both Todd and Julie since their January surrender and said that her mom is has been 'taking classes' to pass the time.

'Shes just staying busy. You know, like, shes trying to do anything and everything, take classes - everything known to man that she can do, she does.'

Savannah also added that she thinks her mom was trying to 'shield' her kids 'from a lot of things' regarding their legal issues so as to protect them.

Claim to fame: The family rose to fame while starring in reality series Chrisley Knows Best, which followed Todd, Julie, and the kids, but has since been axed

Todd and Julie were found guilty on federal charges of bank fraud and tax evasion and submitting false documents to banks to take out loans, reportedly worth more than $30 million, to finance their opulent lifestyle.

They were indicted in 2019. After a lengthy trial, they were convicted on ten counts of fraud in June 2022. They were convicted in June 2022 by a 10 person jury.

They received their sentences in November 2022 - and quickly watched their reality TV empire crumble as a result.

Their television show, Chrisley Knows Best, as well as the spinoff, Growing Up Chrisley, was yanked off the air by USA network. For many years, the show served as a platform to boast about their exuberant lifestyle.
Voyager has revealed how a humble hashtag kick-stared the Perth band's journey to Eurovision glory.

The Perth-based progressive metal band made it through to the Eurovision final after performing an electrifying rendition of their song Promise at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool on Thursday.

Speaking exclusively to Daily Mail Australia, bassist Alex Canion said Voyager's journey to Eurovision glory has been years in the making.

'[Our journey] started pre-2015, before Australia could even enter Eurovision. Our large fanbase in Europe was like, 'You guys would be great for Eurovision! Why don't you apply?' Alex explained.

'It was never an option, so we just dismissed the comments, but as soon as 2015 rolled around, we started up a hashtag, #VoyagerForEurovision. We just stared campaigning from there.'

Voyager bassist Alex Canion (pictured) has revealed how a humble hashtag helped the Perth band enter Eurovision 2023

The band has submitted entries into the competition every year since 2015, and narrowly missed out on representing Australia at Eurovision last year.

Describing the band as a 'well-oiled unit', Canion said Thursday's semi-final performance was a long time coming.

'In some regards, Eurovision is the biggest stage ever. But it's still a gig. I've actually been more nervous playing someone's wedding back home,' he mused.

The Perth-based progressive metal band made it through to the Eurovision final after performing an electrifying rendition of their song Promise at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool on Thursday

The band has submitted entries into the competition every year since 2015, and narrowly missed out on representing Australia at Eurovision last year

'I've been a lot more anxious about playing pub gigs, playing cover songs that aren't even my own, than this Eurovision song. That's how confident we are. That's how ready we are for this contest, he added.

If Voyager does win Eurovision, Canion has promised the band won't let the success get to their heads.

'We take the music that we write very seriously, but not ourselves', he said.

If Voyager does win Eurovision, Canion has promised the band won't let the success get to their heads. 'We take the music that we write very seriously, but not ourselves', he said

The Australians will join the top ten along with Lithuania, Poland , Armenia , Slovenia. Albania, Cyprus, Estonia, Belgium and Austria in the grand final on Saturday, UK time

'If we were to win, I feel like it would just allow us to what we would normally be doing, but on a grander level. And it would allow us to reach more people.'

Canion and bandmates Daniel 'Danny' Estrin, Simone Dow, Scott Kay and Ashley Doodkorte will join the top ten along with Lithuania, Poland, Armenia, Slovenia. Albania, Cyprus, Estonia, Belgium and Austria in the grand final on Saturday, UK time.

Eurovision 2023 is being held in Liverpool and hosted by the UK on behalf of Ukraine, whose Kalush Orchestra claimed victory last year.

Booking.com is the Official Travel Partner of Eurovision, and has provided accomodation for thousands of fans who travelled to Liverpool to view the show live.

'Booking.com is proud to play a role in making it easier for millions of Eurovision fans to come together and celebrate Europe's most popular and diverse music event, demonstrating that unity comes in a variety of forms in both music and travel,' said Arjan Dijk, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at Booking.com.

The 2023 Eurovision is being held in Liverpool and hosted by the UK on behalf of Ukraine, whose Kalush Orchestra claimed victory last year
August In England (Bush Theatre, London)

Rating:

There's an old adage in storytelling that you should make em laugh, make em cry and make em wait.

Thats exactly what Lenny Henry does in his one-man show about the national disgrace that was the Windrush scandal.

I did wonder if he was a bit behind the curve on the Governments forced expatriation policy. But I didnt wonder for long.

His greatest achievement here is to put a human face on the statistics of British nationals threatened with deportation.

That face is fictional Jamaican immigrant August, who comes to the UK on his mothers passport in 1962. He and Mum get off to a bad start . . . discovering Dad in a Peckham bedsit with an all-too-obliging redhead.

There is plenty of prime Lenny Henry comedy: warm impersonations, great gags and self-effacing humour

Mums answer is to drag Dad to West Bromwich. There, after dallying with a militant reggae band called Black Fist at school in the 1970s, August sets up a fruit and veg business before marrying love of his life Wilma. But then, after their kids grow up, life starts to unravel  first when Wilma gets ill, and then when Theresa Mays Home Office moves to make Britain a hostile environment for immigrants, using the faceless corporation Capita to do her dirty work.

Anyone unable to prove they had Leave To Remain on their passports was told they would be deported  in some cases half a century or more after their arrival.

Before we get to that, though, there is plenty of prime Lenny Henry comedy: warm impersonations, great gags and self-effacing humour. One character is memorably described as being as miserable as Nigel Farage at the Notting Hill Carnival.

His greatest achievement here is to put a human face on the statistics of British nationals threatened with deportation

Sending up Jamaican and British manners equally, Henry is quick to signal when to laugh with a flutter of his eyelids. And even at 64, he can still pull the moves: whether thats saucy butterfly dancing or raunchy twerking. Yet hes also a gorgeously ordinary West Midlander in his suit, tie and flat cap.

Most cunningly, by luring us into Augusts everyday life of cheer and tribulation  presenting his story as proud British social history  it makes the shock when he is abruptly robbed of his national identity even greater.

It would take a hard heart to keep a dry eye in the closing videos of three people turned on so suddenly by their home country.

First funny, then shocking, its very much worth the wait.
She never puts a foot wrong when it comes to fashion.

And Suki Waterhouse showed off her incredible sense of style at the Montblanc 'The Library Spirit' event at the Lumley Library in London on Thursday night.

The model and actress, 31, flashed her abs in a daring sheer crop top which she teamed with a matching stylish cape.

She completed the look with high-waisted shorts and see-through trousers over the top while accessorising with a pop of colour orange clutch bag.

Suki wore her honey tresses in loose waves over her shoulders and opted for a glowing makeup look with a vampy lip.

Fashion: Suki Waterhouse showed off her incredible sense of style at the Montblanc 'The Library Spirit' event at the Lumley Library in London on Thursday night

Wow: The model and actress, 31, flashed her abs in a daring sheer crop top which she teamed with a matching stylish cape

She was joined at the bash by the likes of model David Gandy, Callum Turner and author Raven Smith.

The appearance come after Suki looked nothing short of sensational in a sheer dress as she arrived with her boyfriend Robert Pattinson to the Met Gala 2023.

The actress and the Twilight star, 36, couldn't keep their hands off each other as they showed off their chic looks on the red carpet.

The event returned to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City on May 1st, with everyone from Kim Kardashian to Paris Hilton set to attend the annual fundraising event.

The couple, who only made their red carpet debut late last year despite dating for several years, marked their first time together at the Met Gala as a couple.

This year, the ball's theme was Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty. The late German designer, who died at 85 in 2019, was Chanel's long-time creative director.

Suki glowed in a sheer Fendi dress with a skirt that reached down just above her ankles.

It had an extra layer over her torso and a ribbed section highlighting her toned midriff.

Style: She completed the look with high-waisted shorts and see-through trousers over the top while accessorising with a pop of colour orange clutch bag

Glowing: Suki wore her honey tresses in loose waves over her shoulders and opted for a glowing makeup look with a vampy lip (pictured with Montblanc CEO Nicolas Baretzki)

Stars: She was joined at the bash by the likes of model David Gandy, Callum Turner and author Raven Smith

Posing up a storm: She looked great on the night

Smart: Will Sharpe attends the Montblanc The Library Spirit event at the Lumley Library

Dapper: Reggie Yates looked as handsome as ever

Pose: Marco Tomasetta and Montblanc CEO Nicolas Baretzki attend the event

Model: David Gandy smouldered for the camera

Outfit: He wore a black jacket and cream chinos

Crew: Montblanc CEO Nicolas Baretzki, Marco Tomasetta, Alex Pettyfer and Mariano Vivanco

The lovebirds have been in a relationship since 2018, but they tend to keep a quiet public profile.

In February, Suki spoke to The Times about her long-term relationship.

'I'm shocked that I'm so happy with someone for nearly five years,' she gushed.

'I'm always incredibly excited when I see his name pop up [on my phone] or even a text, and I think he feels the same about me. We've always got so much to say, and I find him hilarious.'
She recently filed for bankruptcy after racking up a pile of debt she can't pay back.

But Aussie influencer Christie Swadling is now bizarrely encouraging her followers to spend more online.

Swadling, 26, shared a sponsored post on Thursday for a cashback app, and boasted about her 'online shopping addiction'.

As she urged her followers to use ShopBack for all their online purchases in the tone-deaf post, she said her own spending habits had 'gotten 50 times worse' since using it.

'This is literally not okay. My online shopping addiction has just gotten 50 times worse,' she said about the shopping rewards app.

Christie Swadling, 26, filed for bankruptcy recently after racking up a pile of debt she can't pay back - now she's encouraging her followers to spend more online

The YouTuber added: 'I am a smart shopper. I've been using ShopBack for years.'

Documents leaked online in February showed the social media star was in financial strife, even though she projects a lavish lifestyle on social media.

It was revealed that Swadling was bankrupt after an anonymous user on the Tattle Life forums paid $15 to obtain the paperwork on her bankruptcy filing.

The Instagram model listed her job as an 'advertising and marketing professional' in the publicly available document filed on December 29.

The influencer shared a sponsored post on Thursday for a money-back app and boasted about her 'online shopping addiction'

As she encouraged her followers to use ShopBack for all their online purchases, her tone-deaf post said her spending habits had 'gotten 50 times worse' since using it

The status of her bankruptcy is 'undischarged', which means she will still need to pay back particular debts and she won't be able to borrow again from financial institutions without the disclosure of her bankruptcy.

While the release of the debtor's petition did not specify the outstanding debts, the Australian Financial Securities Authority says a creditor must be seeking $10,000 or more to apply to make you bankrupt.

On April 20, Swadling attended court for a financial examination to evaluate her property and financial circumstances as a means of satisfying the judgement debt.

She carried a Louis Vuitton handbag worth a jaw-dropping $2,840 as she prepared for the examination to determine her ability to repay her debts.

Documents leaked online in February showed the TikToker was in financial strife, even though she projects a lavish lifestyle on social media
Chinese envoy warns against external interference in Libya

Xinhua) 15:00, May 12, 2023

UNITED NATIONS, May 11 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese envoy on Thursday warned against external interference in Libya, describing it as the major cause of the protracted crisis in the country.

"Commitment to the principle of Libyan ownership and Libya leadership is the only way to peace and stability in the country," said Minister-Counselor Sun Zhiqiang of China's Permanent Mission to the United Nations.

The international community should provide constructive support for Libya's political stability, national reconciliation, and economic development, and avoid the complex impact of externally imposed solutions on the situation in Libya, he told a Security Council meeting on Libya with regard to the International Criminal Court (ICC) dossier.

Sun said China's position on ICC-related activities remains unchanged.

"We hope that the ICC will continue to strictly follow the principle of complementarity as stipulated in the Rome Statute, fully respect the judicial sovereignty and reasonable opinions of the countries concerned, and avoid politicization and double standards in its work," he said.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
SITEKI  A registration clerk with the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) has been dismissed for being affiliated to a political party, the Swaziland Democratic Party (SWADEPA).

Khaya Gina claims he lost his job of being a registration clerk after he was seen wearing a SWADEPA T-shirt, a red beret and carrying a SWADEPA flag during the Workers Day Celebration last week Monday, at Mayaluka Stadium. Khaya is a former pupil of Ndzevane High School and formed part of the thousands of school leavers who were engaged by the EBC as registration clerks for the national elections. He was to be stationed in the Lubombo Region.

Exercise

The voter registration exercise started on Wednesday and is expected to end on June 14. Worth mentioning is that chiefs and tindvuna from chiefdoms around the Lubombo Region were advised by EBC officials to educate their subjects about the importance of participation in the elections and engaging them on issues of development. This was during the traditional authorities workshop, organised by EBC at Simunye Country Club last month. Khaya, who is 21 years old, said he had applied for the elections job and was called last month to the KaMatsenjwa Umphakatsi to fill in forms with others, as confirmation of being hired for the national general elections.

He stated that in the last week of April, they were then called to attend a training workshop at School for the Deaf at Matsetsa, where he was designated to be a registration clerk using the computerised system of the voter registration process. He confirmed to be a member of SWADEPA in an interview and indicated that he applied for the elections job because he was currently unemployed. Khaya stated that during the training, they were advised not to associate themselves with political parties, as such was against the EBC protocols and principles of conduct. He mentioned that he did not think that wearing regalia belonging to a political party would be a serious offence and eventually cost him his job.

He shared that on May 1, he joined his colleagues from SWADEPA at the Workers Day celebrations, wearing regalia belonging to the party.

He highlighted that last week Monday, he received a call from an EBC official, summoning him to join others to attend a workshop at the Nkilongo Inkhundla. Moreover, Khaya said on the same day in the afternoon, he received a call from EBC Lubombo Elections Officer (EO) Siboniso Nhleko, who informed him that he had been seen wearing a beret, T-shirt and carrying a flag of SWADEPA and reminded him what they were told about associating themselves with political entities.

He stated that the EO said such actions proved that he was a comrade. He told me that I was seen in a picture wearing a beret and T-shirt of SWADEPA and also carrying a flag of the political entity. He asked me what the provisions of EBC entailed when being seen associating with people like these. I then told him that it is true that I was seen wearing the partys regalia, as I was at Mayaluka to commemorate Workers Day. So, I got the T-shirt at the stadium and they lent me the beret, he said.

Khaya elaborated that Nhleko then told him that by being seen wearing the partys regalia, it was significant enough that he liked what he was doing (with the political party). After the conversation, he then told me to take care before cutting off our conversation, he said. Thereafter, Khaya said he received a call from his father, informing him that he had received a call to the effect that he should not continue with what he was doing but immediately return home.

He stated that his father told him that the indvuna had informed him that they had been instructed as a chiefdom to look for his replacement.

He said he then stopped what he was doing and collected his items at the constituency and returned home. Called about the matter, his father Dumisa Gina, confirmed it, stating that it was a sensitive issue that touched on an important national event, hence he was not comfortable delving much into it.

Wearing

Dumisa shared that indeed, he received a call from the KaMatsenjwa Umphakatsi royal kraal Indvuna, Masoka Matsenjwa, informing him that he got a call from Nhleko from EBC informing him, that his son was seen wearing a red beret, hence he could not continue with the elections job. Adding, he said he then called his son to stop what he was doing and return home. However, he said his son continued to be part of the workshop at the constituency.

I dont want to be seen like I am fighting government as this is a serious issue. I told him that I had received a call from the indvuna informing me that he could not continue to work for the EBC after he was seen wearing the red beret. I wouldnt like to comment much on this issue, he politely said. Dumisa shared that he asked his son if Nhleko had called him about the matter and he confirmed that he did, but had not instructed him to stop participating in the workshop. He said he then made another call to the indvuna to enquire about the final decision regarding the issue.

I called the indvuna and he told me that Nhleko had instructed him that my son cannot work due to being associated with the political party. I then called my son to return home, he said. Called to shed light on the matter, the Indvuna Masoka Matsenjwa, indicated that he was not ready to talk about the matter. You must not get the details from me but contact the EBC people (sic), he briefly said. EBCs Nhleko asked that the chiefdom should be responsible for sharing what transpired in this matter. You should get more information from the chiefdom as they are the ones who are responsible, he briefly said.

Communicated

EBC Communications Officer Mbonisi Bhembe said there was nothing official that had been communicated to him by the officials handling the matter. I have tried to get hold of Nhleko but he is not answering my calls, hence I could not gather any information regarding the matter. I was unable to get hold of the officials from the HR office, said the communications officer. Meanwhile, SWADEPA Finance Committee Member and Media Liaison Officer Sanele Sihlongonyane said their member had informed the organisation about the matter.

Sihlongonyane said they were still to meet and resolve on the next step to take. He further mentioned that they were also planning a march to voice out their concern on the unfortunate sacking of their member from benefitting from the availed jobs by the commission. It is unfair that one who is associated with a political organisation has to be fired for wearing a partys regalia. Our member applied for the job on individual merit, not as a political party member. We are still to take a decision on what next has to be done, he said.
Neighbours viewers were shocked when it was announced last month that Mischa Barton had joined the soap opera reboot in a guest role.

The O.C. star has spent the last few weeks filming scenes on the fictional Ramsay Street, which is located in Melbourne's Pin Oak Court.

The American actress, 37, was pictured on location on Thursday with her co-star Xavier Molyneux, who happens to be a former Big Brother contestant.

Neighbours marks 25-year-old Xavier's first dramatic role in a TV series.

The pair looked thrilled to be filming together as they linked arms in between shots.

Mischa Barton was pictured on set of the Neighbours reboot in Melbourne on Thursday with her co-star Xavier Molyneux, who happens to be a former Big Brother contestant

Mischa wore an '80s-inspired outfit comprising a pair of bell-bottom jeans, a brown knitted jumper, a neck scarf and a checkered blazer.

She completed her retro look with high-heeled brown boots, and wore her long blonde hair in loose waves.

Xavier dressed comfortably in light-wash jeans, a charcoal shirt and brown dress shoes.

Neighbours marks 25-year-old Xavier's first dramatic role in a TV series

The pair looked thrilled to be filming together as they linked arms in between shots

The Neighbours newcomers were joined by Ramsay Street favourite Jarrod 'Toadfish' Rebecchi, played by actor Ryan Maloney.

Mischa underwent a dramatic hair transformation before jetting to Australia to film Amazon Freevee's revival of Neighbours.

She has been a brunette for years, but dyed her locks blonde about two months ago.

'What a crazy transformation. Australia, here I come,' she wrote on Instagram as she debuted her lighter look.

Mischa wore an '80s-inspired outfit comprising a pair of bell-bottom jeans, a brown knitted jumper, a neck scarf and a checkered blazer

She completed her retro look with high-heeled brown boots, and wore her long blonde hair in loose waves

Mischa will play Reece, an American woman who has just arrived on Ramsay Street, but whose identity 'is not what it seems'.

Her character is designed to appeal to American viewers, as Neighbours, which is set in the fictional Melbourne suburb of Erinsborough, will screen in the U.S. on the ad-supported streaming platform Amazon Freevee.

'I'm excited to be part of this iconic show's next chapter, and I am really looking forward to being back in Australia  a place I know and love!' Mischa said in a statement.

'I think the character of Reece is going to be a great role for me to explore and play with,' she added.

Mischa underwent a hair transformation before jetting to Australia to film Neighbours. She has been a brunette for years, but dyed her locks blonde about two months ago

Mischa will play Reece, an American woman who has just arrived on Ramsay Street, but whose identity 'is not what it seems'

Her character is designed to appeal to American viewers, as Neighbours, which is set in the fictional Melbourne suburb of Erinsborough, will screen in the U.S. on the ad-supported streaming platform Amazon Freevee

Neighbours' executive producer Jason Herbison said: 'With Neighbours launching on Amazon Freevee in North America, we are beyond excited to have an actor of Mischa's calibre join us for the beginning of this exciting new chapter.

'Mischa's character is dynamic and unpredictable, and will have an instant presence on Ramsay Street. Our loyal viewers are going to love her, locally and abroad.'

Cameras began rolling for Amazon's revived Neighbours in April, and the series should be back on screens by the end of this year.

The continuation of the long-running soap series follows the finale in 2022, which was watched by millions of fans.
Roxy Jacenko has squashed growing speculation she and her husband Oliver Curtis are getting divorced.

The public relations queen, 37, sent the rumour mill spinning when she announced she is selling her $14million Vaucluse mansion.

She shares two children - Pixie, 11, and Hunter, eight - with her husband Oliver, 43, but they haven't lived together as a family in several years as he works between Tasmania and Singapore while Roxy lives in Sydney with their children.

Despite their unconventional set-up, the Sweaty Betty PR founder insists she is not divorcing Oliver and has revealed the real reason they are selling their family home is because it's too big.

'With Oli living between Singapore and Tasmania for work, having such an expansive home for three people is unnecessary. Considering our lifestyle now its time to be in an apartment,' she told news.com.au.

Roxy Jacenko has squashed rumours that she and her husband Oliver Curtis are getting divorced (both pictured)

'We just arent getting the use out of all the incredible facilities it has  a pool, cinema, cellar, glam room, full gym with Technogym equipment and an infra-red sauna.'

Roxy told the publication rumours of her and Oliver splitting have been around for five years, but that they are 'all good'.

However the mother-of-two recently told the Wentworth Courier they only see each other once a month, but she wouldn't divorce him as he would take half of her fortune.

The public relations queen, 37, sent the rumour mill spinning when she announced that she is selling her $14 million Vaucluse mansion

'Were not separating or divorcing - what, him take 50 per cent? Im not that stupid,' she said.

The couple purchased their swanky Vaucluse home for $6.5million in 2018, and they're looking to more than double that with a price guide of $14million.

They extensively renovated the pad, adding a gym, hair salon, kids' playroom, and a specially made storage area for Roxy's $1million collection of Hermes Birkin bags.

The home also features a stunning marble kitchen, a fully stocked cellar, an extraordinary master bedroom, and swimming pool.

Roxy and Oli also have a home in Tasmania, where he has been based for work for the last few years with his cousin, Tim Rosenfield.

The latest rumours come after Roxy wound down several of her businesses, the most notable being her PR agency Sweaty Betty, which she founded nearly two decades ago.

In addition to closing her flagship public relations firm, she sold her candle business XRJCelebrations and scaled back the toy store Pixie's Pix.

She still operates the influencer talent agency Ministry of Talent.

The Sweaty Betty PR founder insists she is not divorcing her husband and has revealed the real reason they are selling their family home is because it's too big

The split whispers intensified last week when the Sweaty Betty PR founder announced she was selling the family's Vaucluse trophy home (seen here) for $14million

Roxy and Oli have weathered various storms in their marriage over the years.

In 2016, Roxy was diagnosed with breast cancer just three weeks after her husband was jailed for insider trading.

Curtis was convicted and sentenced to two years in prison but was released after 12 months on a good behaviour bond.

In 2017, while Curtis was behind bars at Cooma Correctional Centre, Roxy had an affair with her ex-boyfriend Nabil Gazal.

She later said the affair 'wasn't her fault' because Gazal, a millionaire property developer she had previously dated in the late 2000s, 'chased her' at a time when she was vulnerable.

The relationship was exposed in late April 2017 when Daily Mail Australia published images of them passionately kissing at Gazal's Sydney apartment.

'Where do people come up with such stuff? They are obsessed with that narrative,' said the couple, who tied the knot in a lavish harbourside wedding in 2012

At the time of the tryst, Curtis' release date was just eight weeks away.

Curtis learned about his wife's infidelity while he was still in prison.

Sources later claimed he decided to forgive Roxy for her indiscretion if she forgave him for the past criminal behaviour that led to his conviction.

Last year, as they celebrated their tenth wedding anniversary, Curtis shared a tribute to his wife and said he was glad they stayed together despite the 'odds being against them'.
Halle Bailey cut an ethereal figure at Thursday night's Mexico City premiere of her new live-action remake of The Little Mermaid.

Based on the 1989 Disney animated classic, which in turn is adapted from Hans Christian Andersen, the new picture is due out May 26.

In the run-up to its release, the movie held a star-studded premiere in Los Angeles on Monday, three days before its latest glittering promotional event.

At the Mexico City bash, Halle, 23, slid her enviably trim figure into a flowing white gown with a Grecian-style sash down one side.

She cuddled up for the cameras with the dashing Spanish movie star Javier Bardem, who plays her character's father King Triton.

Looking fab: Halle Bailey cut an ethereal figure at Thursday night's Mexico City premiere of her new live-action remake of The Little Mermaid

What a pair: She cuddled up for the cameras with the dashing Spanish movie star Javier Bardem, who plays her character's father King Triton

Halle, who has been cast in the title role of Ariel, modeled a busty frock that featured a netted motif that hinted at her shapely legs.

The singing sensation, who rose to fame as a double-act with her elder sister Chloe Bailey, graciously posed for pictures with the fans in attendance.

Her gown, which emphasized Halle's hourglass frame, flowed into a small train ornamented with feathery fringe.

Javier on the other hand opted for a rather more casual look, leaving his button-down purple shirt open over a black t-shirt that matched his jeans.

The husband of Penelope Cruz could be spotted on the red carpet posing with a massive trident, similar to the one famously wielded by his character.

Directed by Rob Marshall, whose previous films include Chicago and Memoirs Of A Geisha, the new remake of The Little Mermaid boasts a glittering cast.

Hamilton alum Daveed Diggs, former child star Jacob Tremblay, Crazy Rich Asians actress Awkwafina and comedy icon Melissa McCarthy are all part of the project.

Noma Dumezweni, who achieved international fame as Hermione in the original cast of Harry Potter And The Cursed Child, plays a new role invented for the remake.

Incoming: Based on the 1989 Disney animated classic, which in turn is adapted from Hans Christian Andersen, the new picture is due out May 26

Doing the rounds: In the run-up to its release, the movie held a star-studded premiere in Los Angeles on Monday, three days before its latest glittering promotional event (pictured)

Hello, gorgeous: At the Mexico City bash, Halle, 23, slid her enviably trim figure into a flowing white gown with a Grecian-style sash down one side

When you got it: Halle, who has been cast in the title role of Ariel, modeled a busty frock that featured a netted motif that hinted at her shapely legs

Luxe: Her gown, which emphasized Halle's hourglass frame, flowed into a small train ornamented with feathery fringe

Such fun: The singing sensation, who rose to fame as a double-act with her elder sister Chloe Bailey, graciously posed for pictures with the fans in attendance

Dashing as ever: The husband of Penelope Cruz could be spotted on the red carpet posing with a massive trident, similar to the one famously wielded by his character

'She's like an angel': During the Los Angeles premiere of The Little Mermaid - held at the Oscars' home base, the Dolby Theatre - Javier showered praise on Halle

Incoming: Directed by Rob Marshall, whose previous films include Chicago and Memoirs Of A Geisha, the new remake of The Little Mermaid boasts a glittering cast

Her character is the mother of the leading man Eric (Jonah Hauer-King), the human prince for whom Ariel gives up her voice in exchange for becoming human herself.

During the Los Angeles premiere of The Little Mermaid - held at the Oscars' home base, the Dolby Theatre - Javier showered praise on Halle.

He said he developed an 'instant' affection for her, gushing: 'I met her and it was like: "There's nothing we have to build, I mean, I adored you already" -because she's like an angel - "and I don't want anything bad to happen to you.'

Javier also told the Hollywood Reporter that by contrast to the original movie, the remake 'really gets deeper into the relationship of a father and a daughter and his feel of losing her, because his own insecurity, and he thinks that that is love.'

He described the storyline as his character's 'journey to understand that true love, really, is about leaving - letting the other person to be free, to be his own or her own, and I think the movie really goes deeper than in the original in that.'
Former Channel Seven reporter Denham Hitchcock will return to screens on May 17 in the true crime documentary 'Who Killed Marea?', which examines a 20-year-old cold case.

Hitchcock, 44, will lead the Sky News investigation into the mysterious and brutal slaying of Marea Yann, 69, who was killed in her home in rural Victoria in 2003.

A first look trailer for the hour-long documentary teases new findings into the tragic killing of the mother-of-two.

The preview features fresh interviews with police, with one investigator describing the crime scene as 'one of the most horrific' they have ever seen.

Another interviewee describes Marea's killing as 'an execution'.

Former Channel Seven reporter Denham Hitchcock will return to screens on May 17 in the true crime documentary 'Who Killed Marea?', which examines a 20-year-old cold case

Hitchcock, 44, will lead the Sky News investigation into the mysterious and brutal slaying of Marea Yann, 69, who was killed in her home in rural Victoria in 2003

At one point, Hitchcock reveals that the Sky News investigators were allowed unprecedented access to the cold case files.

Mystery surrounds the murder, which occurred in September, 2003, in Healesville, 52kms from Melbourne.

According to reports, the crime scene did not suggest a robbery, or show any signs of forced entry.

Later, Joseph Unumadu, Marea's son-in-law was tried and acquitted of the crime.

'Every phone call, every door knock, every tipoff and whisper led me deeper into this story,' Hitchcock said in a statement about the new documentary.

'Not only did I feel deeply for Marea, who could have been anyones grandmother, but I could never have guessed where this investigation would lead. Marea's time is coming.'

It comes after Hitchcock announced his exit from his high-profile gig on Seven's Spotlight in January.

A first look trailer for the hour-long documentary teases new findings into the tragic killing of the mother-of-two

Taking to Instagram to reveal his future plans at the time, the handsome reporter said he wanted to set out on a sailing trip with his young family.

The former 7News Spotlight reporter resigned from the Seven Network to embark on a sailing trip with his young family.

'In my 28 years as a TV journalist I've worked in 7 different newsrooms in three countries. Predominantly, doing stories about terrible things that happen to good people, and each of those stories left an impact,' he said in his message to followers.

Who Murdered Marea? premieres Wednesday 17 May at 8:00pm AEST on Sky News Australia, Sky News Regional, and the streaming platform Flash.
Sydney nightclub boss and playboy Julian Tobias appears to be getting along with his ex.

The 44-year-old nightclub proprietor, who runs popular Sydney Harbour venue The Island and Potts Point disco Sussudio, is spending time with both his new girlfriend, OnlyFans model and TikTok star Paris Ow-Yang, and his ex, French model Charlotte Coquelin this week.

The were all together at a New York loft this week, with both Paris and Charlotte posting to Instagram Stories to document their time at the space.

In both videos, the models enjoyed an indoor swing, with Charlotte holding her puppy in her lap and talking to a man off camera in her footage.

Paris likewise had a play on the structure, holding a coffee cup in her footage and captioning the clip: 'Just having a swing'.

Sydney nightclub boss and playboy Julian Tobias (pictured in 2009) appears to be getting along with his ex

The 44-year-old nightclub proprietor, who runs popular Sydney Harbour venue The Island and Potts Point disco Sussudio, spent time with both his new girlfriend, OnlyFans model and TikTok star Paris Ow-Yang, and his ex, French model Charlotte Coquelin (pictured)

The were all together at a New York loft this week, with both Paris (pictured) and Charlotte posting to Instagram Stories to document their time at the space

On his own social media, Julian was pictured cuddling Charlotte's puppy, indicating all three are together.

The playboy has been sighted around town recently with Ow-Yang - a stunning 21-year-old Bondi 'content creator'.

Neither wanted to comment when contacted by Daily Mail Australia but friends say the new couple have been 'close friends' for several months but have recently taken the relationship to the next level, with Ow-Yang a regular visitor to Tobias' $5.5million Bondi penthouse.

Sydney playboy Julian Tobias recently wnet 'Instagram official' with Paris Ow-Yang

Paris, who goes by 'PP' on social media, has racked up 123,000 followers on Instagram

Tobias' most significant relationship to date was Charlotte Coquelin with whom he said to be engaged to for five years before the French model packed her bags and moved back to Paris in 2021. Pictured together

The pair are believed to be holidaying together in California with Ow-Yang posting a handful of teaser snaps of her new beau while Tobias has also dropped relationship hints across his Instagram stories.

Tobias, who opened his first Sydney bar in 2009, has established a reputation for dating a succession of stunning, high-profile women over the years.

Tobias' most significant relationship to date was Charlotte Coquelin with whom he said to be engaged to for five years before the French model packed her bags and moved back to Paris in 2021.

Prior to that, he made headlines in 2014 when he began dating Canadian actress and Vampire Diaries star Nina Dobrev, before moving on with American Instagram megastar Alexis Ren in 2016.

Paris Ow-Yang (R) is a social fixture in Sydney and often seen partying in the Eastern suburbs

Paris pictured here at Tobias' $5.5million Bondi penthouse which he bought in 2022

Tobias had a brief fling with Instagram superstar Alexis Ren (R) in 2016

Meanwhile, the one-time Cleo Bachelor of the Year was recently embroiled in a violent incident at a Potts Point bar which resulted in hospital treatment.

Kings Cross police allege Tobias was assaulted by prominent Sydney interior designer Joshua Clapp in the early hours of April 7.

Clapp was charged with two counts of common assault and given conditional bail to appear at Downing Centre Local Court on May 3.

Clapp later pled guilty to two counts of common assault and was sentenced to a 12-month community order.

The magistrate also imposed a two-year apprehended violence order which prevent him going within 50 metres of Tobias including where he lives, works or socialises.

The one-time Cleo Bachelor of the Year was recently embroiled in a violent incident at a Potts Point bar

Ow-Yang has posted a handful of teaser snaps of her new beau while Tobias has also dropped relationship hints

Tobias has been contacted by Daily Mail Australia for comment.

The nightclub boss is understood to be holidaying in the US with Ow-Yang and Barrio Chino owner Peter Lew and is expected to return to Australia in coming weeks to complete the addition of a Mexican-style cantina on Darlinghurst Road to his growing hospitality empire.

Ow-Yang, meanwhile, is a significant presence on OnlyFans, attracting 40,000 views per post on the subscription adults-only content site.

She also boasts a huge following in TikTok and Instagram.
Channel Seven has announced that production has begun on the next season of their outback drama RFDS.

The show, about the lives of those serving in the Royal Flying Doctor Service, will hit screen later this year, reports TV Week.

Filming has already started in Broken Hill, with hunky star Steve Peacocke back in the lead role.

Fans can look forward to seeing a new character this season with Emma Havie from the ABC comedy-drama Frayed playing a mental health nurse.

Meanwhile, Emma Hamilton, Justine Clarke, and Ash Ricardo will reprise their roles alongside returning cast members Jack Scott, Rodney Afif and Heartbreak High's Ash Hodgkinson.

Channel Seven has announced that production has begun on the next season of their outback drama RFDS with star Steve Peacocke (pictured) returning as Nurse Pete Emerson

The show, about the lives of those serving in the Royal Flying Doctor Service, will hit screen later this year

It comes a year after Seven executives hinted that the critically acclaimed show would likely be renewed for a second season.

RFDS premiered to a decent 604,000 metro viewers, and was the number one new Australian drama in 2021.

The final episode of season one had a total TV audience of 1.02 million, including 705,000 overnight viewers (national).

RFDS was sold to six major territories before its debut in August 2021.

Filming for the new season is already well underway in Broken Hill, New South Wales

The show is filmed in Broken Hill and produced by Endemol Shine Australia.

It has been bought by PBS in the United States and Channel 4 in the UK.

It has also been sold to New Zealands TVNZ, TV4 in Sweden, Belgiums SBS and Talpa in the Netherlands.

The second season of RFDS will air later this year
Olivia Wilde was spotted leaving a Los Angeles gym, on Thursday.

The Fresh-faced star, 39, displayed her fit physique in shiny wet-look leggings and a chic white hoodie.

Olivia kept things simple with a pair of subtly lilac-hued trainers, while carrying an aqua blue water bottle in her hand.

The actress tied her tresses up into an effortless bun atop her head and shielded her eyes with cat eye sunglasses.

Olivia likes to keep in shape, and is often seen heading to and leaving her gym, showcasing her incredibly fit form.

Looking good: Olivia Wilde, 39, displayed her fit physique in shiny wet-look leggings and a chic white hoodie as she was was spotted leaving a Los Angeles gym, on Thursday

Simple: The Fresh-faced star kept things simple with a pair of subtly lilac-hued trainers, while carrying an aqua blue water bottle in her hand

Elegant: The actress tied her tresses up into an effortless bun atop her head and shielded her eyes with cat eye sunglasses

Her sighting comes just months after Emily Ratajkowski said she feels bad for her, after the model was caught making out with her ex-boyfriend Harry Styles in Tokyo, in exclusive photos on Dailymail.com.

She appeared to allude to Harry's ex-girlfriend Olivia and their apparent strained friendship, saying: 'That's how it is' and it's 'just an unfortunate issue,' she said to Spanish Vogue via Page Six.

I didn't expect this to happen, but I think, in general, there's a reason certain celebrities live in LA, hire security, don't go to public restaurants,' she said.

Adding that she felt 'bad for Olivia' for also experiencing sl*t shaming on several occasions, per the outlet.

'It's very bizarre to have certain experiences and then have the whole world know and comment on them,' Emily added.

'I'm just a person who's gone from a three-year relationship to a four-year one,' referring to her ex-boyfriend Jeff Magid and then her marriage to Sebastian Bear-McClard.

'This is the first time in a long time I've been in a dating stage. The interest there in that particular area is very strange. Not that I'm surprised, but it's a tiny slice of my life,' she said to the magazine.

'Most of my life is focused on my son and my work. But I guess these issues don't inspire the same flashy headlines. The invasion of private aspects is very hard for me,' she added.

Fit and healthy: Olivia likes to keep in shape, and is often seen heading to and leaving her gym, showcasing her incredibly fit form

Harry and Olivia split in November of last year, after almost two years together.

The pair first crossed paths in September 2020 when Harry was cast as actress Florence's husband and replaced Shia LaBeouf in film Don't Worry Darling.

Olivia and Jason, who officially split back in November 2020, have been involved in a child custody battle over their two children: nine-year-old Otis and daughter Daisy, six.

The Hollywood stars have also been thrust back in the spotlight amid their former nanny's wrongful termination lawsuit.
Lizzie Cundy presented terminally-ill radio host James Whale with TRIC recognition gong for his 50 years in the industry on Friday.

The stunner took to Instagram to share a video in which she handed over the award to the star, who has cancer of the brain, spine, kidney and lungs.

Taking to Instagram, she wrote: 'SURPRISE SURPRISE ! Well it certainly was for @jameswhaleradio as he had no idea I was going to award him with the incredible TRIC recognition @tricawardsuk for 50 years in the tv and radio industry!...

'For the first time in 50 years he was speechless ! Heres to the King of Broadcast who has paved the way for countless talk radio journalists and he continues to entertain the nation despite battling cancer...

'My friend I couldnt be prouder to work with you and be able to give you this incredible award . Well done my friend @jameswhaleradio @tricawardsuk @talktv'.

An honour: Lizzie Cundy presented terminally-ill radio host James Whale with TRIC recognition gong for his 50 years in the industry on Friday

An honour: The stunner took to Instagram to share a video in which she handed over the award to the star, who has cancer of the brain, spine, kidney and lungs

Holding out: Lizzie was dressed to the nines to pay tribute to James

In November, TalkTV and talkRADIO presenter James gave a heartbreaking speech in which he spoke about having terminal cancer, saying: 'I know a lot of you won't like me, but this time next year I won't be here. I have terminal cancer.'

'As you might be able to hear, I am having chemotherapy which makes it harder for me to breathe, but I'm OK. Don't worry.'

Lizzie's touching moment with James came shortly after she stepped out to meet friends at a Mayfair restaurant, on Thursday.

Surprise! She burst out to give him the gong

The former WAG caught the eye in a busty red mini dress and matching stilettos as she strutted towards Bacchanalia restaurant in London

Lizzie, 55, showcased her slender pins in the short frock, which boasted a chic bardot neckline and cinched in waist.

The TV personality carried her belongings in a woven black oversized clutch, featuring stylish tassels.

Lizzie completed her look with a wavy blow-dry and a nude lip, while shielding her eyes with glamorous oversized shades.

Check me out! James seemed delighted with the gong

Metallic: Lizzie cut a glamorous figure in a the sparkling floor-length gown

Proud: She complemented the look with sheer gloves as she posed for a snap with James

Spotted! Lizzie, 55, stepped out to meet friends at a Mayfair restaurant, on Thursday

Fun with friends: Lizzie posed with some of her female friends outside of the hotspot

Glam: The former WAG caught the eye in a busty red mini dress and matching stilettos as she strutted towards Bacchanalia restaurant in London

It comes after Lizzie revealed she'd bagged a Hollywood movie role as a 'feisty' Burlesque club owner.

The psychological thriller will see her work alongside Game Of Thrones and Westworld director Neil Marshall, 52.

With filming on Compulsion set to begin next month in Malta, Oceans 8 star Charlotte is taking the lead role while directing too, having co-written the film alongside her fiance Neil.

Lizzie exclusively told MailOnline: 'I've been offered this new role and I'm absolutely thrilled! I'm going back to my acting roots, which is my first love since a child.

'I did WAG! The Musical in the West End, which I adored, and this new movie part is just made for me so I thought why not?

'Life is for living and I want to do everything in life and live life to the full. It's an exciting, feisty role, very much like my real self.'

Lizzie - who had a role in 2002's Die Another Day - concluded: 'Can't wait to get on set Move over Dame Helen Mirren!'

Although known for her presenting and modelling, Lizzie is a trained actress, having studied at London's Central School of Speech and Drama.

Looking good: Lizzie showcased her slender pins in the short frock, which boasted a chic bardot neckline and cinched in waist

Fun! The ladies appeared to be in great spirits for their group outing

Strike a pose: Lizzie couldn't resist posing for the paparazzi

WAG! The Musical told the story of two working class girls, who worked at a cosmetics counter in an upmarket department store.

One of their customers was Lizzie's character Zoe, who had designed on department store manager Mr Frank, played by Olivier-winning actor Tim Flavin.

The production, written by Belvedere Pashun and directed by Alison Pollard, opened at the Charing Cross Theatre in 2013.

Charlotte has previously appeared in 2016's How To Be Single, masterminded 2020's The Reckoning and is the recipient of two Global Independent Film Awards.

She gushed about the announcement: 'Compulsion is my fourth feature film collaboration with Neil. We work well together and make great movies winning countless awards.

'The Reckoning was critically-acclaimed and Duchess, a gritty gangster movie, is now in post production and will be hitting the cinema screens later this year.

'Compulsion is a dark psychological thriller featuring two female protagonists. It will certainly keep you on the edge of your seat!

Fabulous: The former WAG and her pals smiled happily while being photographed

'I play Kimberly Diana - this is a hot steamy thriller - action packed and full of twists and turns not just in the bedroom.

'Lizzie is going to do an amazing job, playing the owner of the Burlesque club. Shes got legs that go on forever to start with - and she can act! The part was made for her.

'This movie certainly has undertones of Alfred Hitchcock running through its veins, with a nod to the classic 80s erotic thrillers, Fatal Attraction and Basic Instinct.

'Watch out for our famous face... a blonde bombshell has been cast and she's going to make Sharons iconic scene look tame!'
Jamie Foxx's fans have voiced concerns for the star in the wake of conflicting reports about his condition following his recent hospitalisation.

The movie star, 55, born Eric Bishop, was filming the action-comedy Back In Action with Cameron Diaz in Atlanta, Georgia, in April when he was admitted to hospital although little is known of the intricacies of the situation.

He is currently at a medical facility in the state undergoing tests and while insiders have claimed he is 'doing ok', other outlets have reported that his family are 'hoping for the best' but remain concerned about his condition.

One fan wrote on Instagram: 'Conflicting messages about Jaime can we get an official report. God breath good life into him.'

Last week, sources told Page Six that 'nothing had changed' and the actor was 'still in the same condition', after his health scare. MailOnline has contacted representatives for Jamie for comment.

Speaking out: Jamie Foxx's fans have voiced concerns for the star in the wake of conflicting reports about his condition following his recent hospitalisation

Back then: Jamie and Cameron Diaz are pictured filming Back In Action on March 22 - weeks before the actor was hospitalised

Speaking out: One fan wrote on Instagram: 'Conflicting messages about Jaime [sic] can we get an official report. God breath good life into him'

In an Instagram post on Wednesday, his family posted on his profile said: 'Appreciate all the love!!! Feeling blessed' followed by praying hands, heart and fox emojis.'

It's unclear if Foxx himself made the post. No further details on his condition have been shared, leading to speculation about how serious his illness is.

The Oscar winner's account also gave a shout-out on Instagram to friend Nick Cannon who has filled in hosting duties for him on popular game show Beat Shazam.

Jamie's daughter Corinne Foxx, 29, serves as DJ on the program but will also take leave to aid in her famous father's recovery.

Resharing a post from Corinne about Nick taking over the presenting mantle, Foxx wrote on his stories: 'Appreciate ya my boy @nickcannon, see you all soon'.

Grave: Fans were initially alerted about the health scare when his daughter Corinne shared a grave statement on social media on April 12

Celebrities including AJ McLean, Ludacris and DJ Khaled sent messages of support in response to Foxx's Instagram post.

Sources close to the comedian recently told TMZ he 'needs all the prayers and well-wishes his fans can muster'.

'He's OK, thank God,' the source said. 'He's still in the hospital and doctors are running tests but he's awake and alert. They're keeping him under observation.'

Fans were initially alerted about the health scare when his daughter Corinne shared a grave statement on social media on April 12.

Corinne Foxx has taken leave from her role as a DJ on popular game show Beat Shazam

The 29-year-old actress wrote, 'We wanted to share that, my father, Jamie Foxx, experienced a medical complication yesterday.

'Luckily, due to quick action and great care, he is already on his way to recovery,' she continued.

'We know how beloved he is and appreciate your prayers. The family asks for privacy during this time,' the statement concluded.

Since then, the family has shared limited details, and it's unclear what symptoms the comedian may have been suffering from.
For years there's been a bizarre fan theory that Rylan and Conchita Wurst are the same person.

Yet the pair disproved the rumours as they were seen leaving the Eurovision 2023 Semi Finals in Liverpool on Thursday separately.

The pair - who bear a striking resemblance - were sartorially in sync with their outfit choices, donning plunging ensembles.

Rylan, 34, who is covering the show on Radio 2 with Scott Mills, went shirtless beneath a navy Adidas jacket that he paired with skinny jeans and embellished trainers.

Conchita, 34, opted for an eye-catching outfit, pairing a plunging sequinned catsuit with a blue fur stole, finishing off the look with red pasties.

Two of a kind: There's a bizarre fan theory that Rylan (L) and Conchita Wurst are the same person. Yet they disproved this as they were seen leaving Eurovision in Liverpool on Thursday

Conchita, real name Thomas Neuwirth, made her big return to the Eurovision stage after winning in 2014.

The dramatic performer - the work of Thomas - became an icon following her win on the show. Thomas has previously stated that he is not a trans woman.

He is gay, and has also described himself as a drag queen. He uses she/her pronouns to describe his Conchita Wurst character, but he/him pronouns when referring to himself.

The performer was recently questioned about the bizarre rumours that she and Rylan are the same person and burst into laughter at the thought.

She told Metro: But we have been in the same room several times! I dont know how that works.

Conchita went on to heap praise on the BBC presenter, saying he was doing an amazing job for the Eurovision community as a presenter and as a host, and were very happy to have him.

Speaking about Liverpool, she added: Its beautiful, Ive never been here, its my first time. And to be completely honest, I didnt have it on the map!

'But its stunning, and the people are so friendly and the culture is so rich and the landscape is just beautiful, she said, adding she would definitely be back.

Out and about: Rylan, 34, who is covering the show on Radio 2 with Scott Mills, went shirtless beneath a navy Adidas jacket that he paired with skinny jeans and embellished trainers

Wrapped up: Mel Giedroyc layered up in a fur jacket while Alex Jones donned a shearling cream coat paired with grey cropped jeans

Pretty in pink: Fleur East donned a fuchsia jacket and teetered along in silver heels

Loving life: Jedward posed up a storm with Eurovision revellers

During Thursday's semi-final Denmark, Croatia, San Marino, Romania, and Georgia were knocked out of the running for Eurovision.

16 acts gathered at the city's M&S Bank Arena to battle it out for a place in Saturday's grand final on Thursday but only ten acts made it through.

Amongst them was Belgium's Gustaph who secured a spot in the finale with his track Because of You, following his third attempt at the competition.

Hosts Alesha Dixon, Hannah Waddingham and Julia Sanina brought the glamour to round two of the semi-finals while viewers went wild over Drag Act Queen Machine who stormed the stage with their incredible performance.

Meanwhile, the UK's entry Mae Muller looked incredible in a plunging bright yellow and green dress that was studded with silver sequins as she cheered on the other countries from her place in the audience.

The ten acts who made it through were; Albania, Cyprus, Estonia, Austria, Lithuania, Poland, Australia, Armenia and Slovenia.

They will join Croatia, Moldova, Switzerland, Finland, Czechia, Israel, Sweden, Serbia, Portugal and Norway for Saturday's main event.

Last year's winner Ukraine automatically progressed to the Grand Final, along with the big five, comprising the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain and Italy.

In a change to the rules this year, the decision of who went through was entirely down to the public, with national juries being able to have their say during the final on Saturday.

Eurovision's Grand Final will take place on Saturday, on BBC One at 8pm.

Looking good: Zoe Ball donned a cream suit paired with a black T-shirt as she geared up to host her BBC Radio 2 show on Friday

Fun times: Bucks Fizz were also in attendance for the radio show
Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez's marriage has never been far from fans' minds, with some of their more recent exchanges raising a few eyebrows.

Recent exchanges have led social media detectives to claim he must be 'miserable' in their marriage.

Tongues first started wagging when the pair appeared to have a tense exchange at the 2023 Grammy Awards, though both have since brushed it off.

On Wednesday, Ben went viral when a social media video showed him appearing to slam a car door, after JLo stepping in following a coffee run together.

So, as fans continue to cast their eye on Ben and Jennifer's relationship, MailOnline has taken a look-back at some of their most fraught moments.

A passionate honeymoon dinner

Impassioned: Mere days after Ben and Jennifer tied the knot in August, he was spotted vigorously gesturing with his head and hands while out to dinne

Mere days after Ben and Jennifer tied the knot in August, he was spotted vigorously gesturing with his head and hands while out to dinner with his new bride Jennifer Lopez at a ritzy Italian hotel.

The pair were photographed at the Grand Hotel Tremezzo on Lake Como in Northern Italy, the first sighting of the celebrity couple since their blockbuster weekend wedding at Affleck's $8.9million Georgia 'plantation' estate.

Ben shook his head side to side and spoke rapidly as Jennifer listened on. His hands flashed up and down and side to side, and he leaned in to Jennifer with a series of animated expressions on his face.

Jennifer shifted in her seat but appeared to listen intently as her fourth husband spoke.

They could be seen looking at what appeared to be photos from their wedding on Ben's phone, which he held up several times to share with his beaming bride.

The couple left the hotel hand-in-hand around 10:30pm local time.

A steely Grammy's exchange

Uh-oh! Jennifer and Ben were caught in the middle of a tense exchange at the 2023 Grammy Awards, where a lipreader said she told her husband to 'look more motivated'

As they both attended the star-studded music awards in February, Jennifer and Ben appeared to put on a united front as they took their place in the audience.

Lopez and Affleck, who frequently looks strained and angry when in public, were seen exchanging tense words during the ceremony, right as host Trevor Noah sat down next to them.

'Stop,' Lopez tells him. 'Look more friendly. Look motivated.' Affleck replies: 'I might.'

The couple's exchange was transcribed by a lipreader, commissioned by DailyMail.com.

Ben later clarified the moment, revealing that he was joking with Jennifer but then realized the camera was on them.

'As soon as they start rolling, I'm going to slide away from you and leave you sitting next to Trevor,' he said he told Jennifer, via his interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

'She goes "You better f*****g not leave. That's a husband and wife thing. I mean some of it is." I'm like, "All right, who is this act?"'

Red carpet tension

At odds? Earlier this week, Jennifer was seen gesticulating at her husband while they attended the premiere of her new movie The Mother

Happier times: After they were snapped during their tense chat, they soon reverted to Hollywood mode with beaming grins and stage-worthy kisses

Earlier this week, Ben and Jennifer attended the premiere for her new movie The Mother.

The Get Loud songstress, 53, had a frown on her face and was gesticulating at her husband, 50, who she married last year, while he looked angry, though a lipreader clarified that it was far from an argument.

After they were snapped having their tense conversation, they soon reverted to Hollywood mode with beaming grins and stage-worthy kisses.

A lipreader confirmed with Ben if her low-cut top was 'showing too much,' pushing him to respond that it looked fine.

Later on when the couple managed to find their right pose, the Air actor asked his wife to get a little closer, then he leaned into her ear and said, 'don't worry, babe.'

To which Lopez seemingly responded saying, 'come close to me.'

After the photo shoot, Affleck turned to Jennifer and said 'that's us, done', he then gave her a kiss and asked, if she was OK.

'Yes' she replied with Jennifer going onto tell Ben that they needed to 'step over there.'

Ben's 'stressed' door slam

The latest: Ben sent fans into a frenzy when he appeared to slam the car door with wife Jennifer sat in the passenger seat on Thursday

Yikes: He opened the door for Jennifer, who slipped into the passenger seat. Ben shut the door firmly, even adding a hand gesture to emphasize closing it

Ben Affleck appeared to slam the car door after wife Jennifer sat in the passenger seat, causing fans to go in a frenzy on social media.

The video, which has since gone viral, shows Ben walking in front of Jennifer to their Mercedes while toting an iced coffee on Monday morning.

The actor opens the door for Jennifer, who slips into the passenger seat.

Ben shut the door firmly, even adding a hand gesture to emphasise closing it - with fans convinced it was because he was 'stressed.'

Fans took to Twitter to comment on the viral clip, noting that he looked 'miserable.'

Another person on Twitter wrote: 'Is this the new Dunking Donuts commercial?' with someone else writing: 'He always looks like he's fed up and annoyed.

'You can "have it all" and still be miserable,' said someone in a tweet.

Prior to the door slamming, Jennifer and Ben were seen smiling and holding hands during their coffee run.

Ben grinned ear to ear as he toted his large iced coffee while Jennifer smiled and chatted with him, as she carried a small hot beverage.

Ben and Jennifer tied the knot in August 2022 after rekindling their romance in 2021.

They were previously engaged in 2002 before going their separate ways two years later.
Stacey Solomon has been replaced as host on Bake Off: The Professionals after just one series, it was announced on Friday.

The official Twitter account for Great British Bake Off shared news that Ted Lasso star Ellie Taylor, 39, who appeared on last year's Strictly, would step in to host alongside Liam Charles and judges Benoit Blin MCA and Cherish Finden.

Ellie plays Sassy in the award winning Apple TV hit and as well as her dancing shoes, she is a regular on the comedy panel show circuit with frequent appearances on 8 Out of 10 Cats, QI and Mock the Week.

The tweet reads: 'From Ted Lasso to tiramisu - were delighted to welcome @EllieJaneTaylor as our new co-host on Bake Off: The Professionals alongside @LiamcBakes...

'Pastry chefs beware - judges @BenoitBlin_MCA & @Cherish_Finden are also back for pud! The new series arrives on @Channel4 this summer'.

Changes: Stacey Solomon has been replaced as host on Bake Off: The Professionals after just one series, it was announced on Friday (pictured L-R: Cherish Finden, Benoit Blin MCA, Liam Charles and Stacey)

News just in: The official Twitter account for Great British Bake Off shared news that funnywoman Ellie Taylor would step in to host alongside Liam Charles

Bake Off: Professionals sees professional pastry chefs from top hotels, restaurants and small businesses compete to be named best patisserie team in Britain.

Following the announcement, Stacey revealed she had been replaced by Ellie after giving birth to her daughter Rose last year.

She wrote on Twitter: 'So excited to watch this! @EllieJaneTaylor @BritishBakeOff its going to be amazing! Cant believe I missed out on chocolate week and opted for giving birth instead'.

Stacey launched her career on The X Factor, finishing third in season 6 in 2009. She was also crowned queen of the I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! jungle in 2010 and has since presented I'm A Celebrity: Extra Camp and become a panellist on ITV's Loose Women.

Stacey, 33, took over from long-time host Tom Allen last year, when the comedian stepped down after three years as a presenter on the show.

Starring role: Ellie plays Sassy in Apple TV hit Ted Lasso

Speaking about his exit at the time, Tom said: 'I've had the best time co-hosting The Professionals down in Sussex with my wonderful friend Liam but now is the time to move on.

'Stacey Solomon you are going to be absolutely amazing I can't think of anyone better to be doing it! It was my first tv presenting job back in 2018...

'It has taught me so much - thanks to the amazing team with whom I've loved working, all the incredible chefs and most of all Benoit, Cherish and of course the brilliant Liam. Have a great series you guys!! X'.

Ellie appeared on the charity celebrity version of GBBO earlier this year to raise money for Stand Up To Cancer.

Mixed reviews! Bake Off: The Professionals viewers were divided on Tuesday as Stacey Solomon made her debut on the Channel 4 show, replacing longtime presenter Tom Allen
Viewers recently saw her eliminated from I'm A Celebrity: South Africa after a slew of terrifying trials.

And Carol Vorderman took to Instagram on Friday to share a gallery of sexy snaps, as she relaxed in the bush with her fellow campmates.

The Countdown presenter, 62, flaunted her eye-popping curves in a sexy orange dress, as she enjoyed a glass of wine with campmates Helen Flanagan and Georgia Toffolo after leaving the show, which was filmed late last year.

Carol shared the snaps as she made an appearance on Loose Women to discuss her time in the camp, admitting she was left 'deeply traumatised' by one trial.

She confessed that the terrifying water trial Tanks of Terror left her 'sobbing' and unable to go swimming, after being submerged in a tank of water for the challenge.

Sizzling! Carol Vorderman took to Instagram on Friday to share a gallery of sexy snaps following her stint on I'm A Celebrity: South Africa

Sexy! The Countdown presenter flaunted her eye-popping curves in a sexy orange dress

Having fun? After their time on I'm A Celebrity: South Africa, Carol enjoyed some well-deserved downtime with her fellow campmates Helen Flanagan and George Toffolo

In her snaps, Carol donned a skintight orange dress that flaunted every inch of her eye-popping curves.

The presenter included a video of a beautiful sunset hike with Helen Flanagan, before enjoying a glass of wine with the actress and fellow campmate Toff.

Carol was also relaxing with ex-campmates Paul Burrell and Andy Whyment, the group clearly enjoying luxuries again after their stint in the camp.

She captioned her post: 'Some [camera emoji] with my lovely jungle friends after our time in this years @imacelebrity South Africa.'

On Friday, Carol made a guest appearance on Loose Women to chat about her time back in the I'm A Celebrity camp.

She confessed that she tried to avoid facing her biggest fears by lying to show bosses, but was still forced to face her worst phobia.

'I thought only an idiot would tell them. I told them everything I wasn't frightened of,' she said.

'After the first series they gave me everything I was frightened of - underwater and being trapped. This genuinely left me traumatised.'

Friends forever! She basked in the sunsets in South Africa alongside fellow stars Paul Burrell and Andy Whyment

Interview: On Friday, Carol made a guest appearance on Loose Women to chat about her time back in the I'm A Celebrity camp, which was filmed at the end of last year

Scary: She confessed that the terrifying water trial Tanks of Terror left her 'sobbing' and unable to go swimming, after being submerged in a tank of water for the challenge

Determined: She confessed that she tried to avoid facing her biggest fears by lying to show bosses, but was still forced to face her worst phobia

Facing her fears! Discussing the Tanks Of Terror trial, she said: 'I started taking in water, I was trying to stand up, you cant see where the breathing hole is and youre panicking'

Worrying: 'I was deeply traumatised by that. I was sobbing. It took a couple of days to feel good after. I haven't been swimming since,' she added

Jovial: Earlier in the day, Carol joined Gyles Brandreth on This Morning to discuss the day's headlines

Discussing the Tanks Of Terror trial, she said: 'I started taking in water, I was trying to stand up, you cant see where the breathing hole is and youre panicking.

'I was deeply traumatised by that. I was sobbing. It took a couple of days to feel good after. I haven't been swimming since.'

Asked why she signed up for the All Stars-esque series, Carol added: 'They asked and I loved it the last time.

'It really made a difference to my life., I got back into camping and hiking. It really changes everything because you are living in the open air.'

Carol previously told The Mirror of how horrible the Tanks of Terror trial was, saying: 'I was traumatised and my body went into shock afterwards.'

She broke down after the trial and 'sobbed' with Fatima for 10 minutes in unaired scenes before having nightmares about drowning that night.

She added: 'For me, it was even worse than it looked on TV. My two big fears are drowning and being trapped, so it combined the two.

'I thought, 'I have got to try' but it all started to go to mush in my head. I felt like I might drown. When Fatima and I were walking on the path back to camp, I just started sobbing.'

She added that it made her feel really vulnerable and has pushed her to get swimming lessons now she is home to conquer her fears.

In her exit interview with ITV she added: 'I was chosen for my second Trial and I got to choose someone to do it with me. I chose Fatima in a nano-second. It was awful. I really panicked doing it.

'Fatima calmed me down. As you would have seen, I didn't make it into the last tank. I only had a couple of minutes left, but even if I'd have had ten minutes, I wouldn't have done it.

Bye: Two more stars were eliminated from the bush on Thursday's episode of I'm A Celeb South Africa, including Carol

'I was so scared, I didn't know if I could get my head into the breathing hole. I was in a right mess. I got seven stars. When we were on our way back to camp, I could feel the emotions building up in me. I must admit, it knocked me for a couple of days.

'I kept reliving it in my head. If I had to do that again today, I wouldn't go into that third tank. I wouldn't do it. But it's made me think, I'll do some swimming lessons now as I'm often on the sea.'

Carol and royal butler Paul Burrell, 64, headed for home after coming last in the Vile Vineyard trial on Thursday night's episode.

It left Myleene Klass, Fatima, Jordan Banjo and Phil Tufnell in the final four as the race to become the first ever I'm A Celebrity Legend neared its end.
In a truly inspirational story, Paul Alex reveals how he went from a Police Detective to a community-minded entrepreneur - with no regrets two years on.

The first business Paul Alex started when he embarked on his entrepreneurial journey, ATMTogether, has performed exceptionally well and netted a whopping $14 million in revenue in just over two years.

The second business he started, Merchant Automation, is also showing strong signs of growth. His new business idea allows merchants to stop paying credit card processing fees.

Paul Alex has seen the business accrue a million dollars in revenue in the five weeks since starting it. Paul Alex's story is one of beating the odds.

When he was young, words like 'entrepreneur' or even 'businessman' were well beyond what he could experience. He grew up in a family of people who worked for minimum wage.

Happy days: In a truly inspirational story, Paul Alex reveals how he went from a Police Detective to a community-minded entrepreneur - with no regrets two years on

Even in his age group, among his friends, working nine-to-five and partying on the weekends was the way to go.

He was brought up to work hard, but working for himself was never a goal he was taught. That, however, hasn't stopped him from wanting to become rich one day. At the very least, someone who doesn't have to work all the time.

He explains: 'My mom was always working, and so was my stepdad. So, I barely got to see my parents. And I remember growing up, I felt that, when I have kids, I'm going to make sure I'm there to see them...

'And I don't blame my parents at all. I love them to death. But at the end of the day, it's just what they don't know is what they don't know.'

His lack of guidance in terms of business and his life options could have been clearer to Paul Alex. It was so profound that even today, he makes sure to help kids in his community somehow.

Happy days: The second business he started, Merchant Automation, is also showing strong signs of growth. His new business idea allows merchants to stop paying credit card processing fees

So while MerchantAutomation was taking off, Paul supported It's All About the Kids, a San Diego charity, with a $100,000 dollar donation during the holidays.

What Paul Alex lacked in guidance and role models, he more than made up in spirit. He was a kid who'd sell his old toys to raise capital so he could buy new toys.

He sounds like a clear-cut example of a kid who knows that no one else will do it for him if he doesn't get his own. So he became, as he liked to say, a real go-getter.

He exhibited the same attitude when, in his early twenties, Paul Alex got a job in sales. He started working for a cleaning chemical company just as he turned 21, and his first taste of having a real job was to his liking.

He said: 'I remember being so happy because I got it on my own, and it was a real job, with full-time benefits. I was also being shipped across the country, so I got to experience the United States outside of the San Francisco Bay area. I've never flown, either, so I got to experience that for the first time.'

After feeling jaded about his work and tired of dealing with customer issues, Paul Alex decided to do something else. He learned about applying for the police force and became adamant about becoming a police officer in one of the cities in northern California, one of the toughest cities based on crime and homicide rate.

About the kids: So while MerchantAutomation was taking off, Paul supported It's All About the Kids, a San Diego charity, with a $100,000 dollar donation during the holidays

So while he couldn't enroll in the Academy the first time he tried, he got in the second time. That experience also changed his life, as it taught him the importance of having the right mindset and never giving up.

Paul would eventually advance in his career as a police officer and become a detective. He was part of a special task force that busted the largest narcotics traffickers in his region.

Paul later worked with the Special Victims Unit, mainly dealing with human trafficking.

Finally, feeling the toll from his job taking over, he opted to work with juveniles in the Youth Services Division before leaving the police force in 2021 and starting ATMTogether.

He didn't just jump into business headfirst, however.

ATM work: Paul Alex spent a few years developing his ATM business as a side hustle while working with the police

Paul Alex spent a few years developing his ATM business as a side hustle while working with the police.

He figured out the ins and outs of it, and what he couldn't figure out, he found a mentor to show him. And so today, he's big on passive income, making money, and helping others do it as well.

Paul Alex says: 'When I was starting ATMTogether, I always wanted to be the guy who helps the newbie. I wanted to help someone who was in it for the money. But I built a community around it and the service, which eventually took off.'

With a refined plan, Paul Alex is back, telling people their stores don't have to lose that extra couple of percent charged as a card usage fee.

It's a claim that some find controversial, but it didn't bother Paul or the people who follow him. The company's success says it all, and Paul Alex is sure he's doing the right thing. And that's all the fuel anyone needs to feed a determined mindset.
The Jonas Brothers kicked off the Today Show's summer concert series on Friday.

The trio played their hit single Waffle House for the delighted crowd assembled on the plaza.

They also debuted a new song, Summer Baby, from their brand new album, The Album which dropped on Friday.

Nick, 30, Joe, 33, and Kevin, 35, also played Leave Before You Love Me and Sucker.

The JoBros - who announced their first ever Australian tour - talked about their new album, tour and how their lives have changed since becoming fathers.

Summer concert: The Jonas Brothers kicked off the Today Show's summer concert series on Thursday

Hit song: The trio played their hit single Waffle House for the delighted crowd assembled on the plaza

New song: They also debuted a new song, Summer Baby, from their brand new album, The Album which dropped on Thursday

Not only is it album release day, it's also the day that tickets for the band's massive summer tour go on sale.

The Only Human hitmakers announced their 'Five Albums. One Night' tour earlier this month.

'It's official!' the Jonas Brothers wrote on Instagram alongside the tour announcement. 'Let's go!'

The tour kicks off August 12 with two shows at Yankee Stadium in New York City, and the brothers will spend the next two months hitting up stadiums across the country including Chicago's Wrigley Field and Los Angeles' Dodgers Stadium.

The tour wraps up in Miami on October 14 after 35 shows.

Last month, the band said they will 'pretty much every song from all the albums' during the concert at Yankee Stadium - which was announced before the full tour - during an interview on SiriusXM's Radio Andy show.

The Five Albums. One Night. tour comes after the brothers played a five night residency on Broadway.

During the residency they played a full album each night starting with 2007's Jonas Brothers, 2008's A Little Bit Longer, 2009's Lines, Vines and Trying Times, 2019's Happiness Begins and 2023's The Album.

Sing it: Nick, 30, Joe, 33, and Kevin, 35, also played Leave Before You Love Me and Sucker

JoBros: The JoBros - who announced their first ever Australian tour on Thursday - talked about their new album, tour and how their lives have changed since becoming fathers

On sale: Not only is it album release day, it's also the day that tickets for the band's massive summer tour go on sale

Super fan: White Lotus star Haley Lu Richardson, a Jonas Brothers super fan, served as the Today Show correspondent for all things Jonas Brothers

White Lotus' Haley Lu Richardson, 28, serves as Today's Jonas Brothers Correspondent for the day.

She is a JoBro super fan who favors Nick, which she revealed on an appearance on The Late Late Show in March.

When she was asked how she was feeling prior to kicking off her coverage, she admitted: 'I can't feel.'

She also revealed how she got the gig, saying: 'Joe called me. Joe called my cell phone, my actual cell phone.'
Reese Witherspoon was seen rocking a cream turtleneck under a black vest while on set of Amazon Studios's upcoming wedding comedy Youre Cordially Invited.

While filming her latest project, alongside actors Will Ferrell, Geraldine Viswanathan and Meredith Hagner, in Atlanta, Georgia, the actress, 47, rocked a pair of pinstriped pants, gold hoop earrings and her platinum blonde locks in a sleek updo.

She completed her business chic ensemble with a crossbody handbag, a silver watch and a natural makeup look that enhanced natural beauty.

Her character, who is planning her sisters (Hagner) wedding, sported a lamented 'crew' badge clipped to her pants.

The mother-of-three's latest sighting comes amid reports that she did not have an easy time announcing her split from husband, CAA talent agent Jim Toth.

Working hard: Reese Witherspoon was seen rocking a cream turtleneck under a black vest while on set of Amazon Studios's upcoming wedding comedy Youre Cordially Invited

Professional: While filming her latest project, alongside actors Will Ferrell, Geraldine Viswanathan and Meredith Hagner, in Atlanta, Georgia, the actress, 47, rocked a pair of pinstriped pants, gold hoop earrings and her platinum blonde locks in a sleek updo

The actress - who announced their split in a joint statement in March - felt stressed about the decision.

But a source close to The Last Thing He Told Me producer, 47, told People that she has 'no regrets' about ending the union.

'The divorce decision was not an easy one for her. It was rough to reach the decision and to announce it,' the source shared.

'Reese is doing much better now though. She has no regrets and is just focused on her kids and work.'

The former couple are parents to their son Tennessee James, 10.

The Sweet Home Alabama actress also shares daughter Ava, 23, and son Deacon, 19, with ex-husband Ryan Phillippe.

'She has a big group of loyal friends that she leans on,' the source added. 'There is no drama with Jim. They co-parent and this is the focus.'

The Morning Show star and her ex announced their split on on March 24 with a joint post.

Trying to move on: The mother-of-three's latest sighting comes amid reports that she did not have an easy time announcing her split from husband, CAA talent agent Jim Toth; seen in 2020

The statement read: 'We have some personal news to share ... It is with a great deal of care and consideration that we have made the difficult decision to divorce.

'We have enjoyed so many wonderful years together and are moving forward with deep love, kindness and mutual respect for everything we have created together.

'Our biggest priority is our son and our entire family as we navigate this next chapter.

'These matters are never easy and are extremely personal. We truly appreciate everyone's respect for our family's privacy at this time.'

The Big Little Lies actress and the talent agent explained that in spite of their break-up, they are 'moving forward with deep love, kindness and mutual respect.'

Mom of three: The former couple are parents to their son Tennessee James, 10. The Sweet Home Alabama actress also shares daughter Ava, 23, and son Deacon, 19, (pictured) with ex-husband Ryan Phillippe

Reese is now determined to 'co-parent amicably' with Jim. The insider added: 'They love Tennessee and this is their focus. They will continue to co-parent amicably. There is no drama.'

'Reese is obviously disappointed and upset. She never saw herself getting another divorce,' a source told People at the time.

The source added, 'It's been very difficult for Reese to get to this point. They both concluded this was right for them

Reese is a self-proclaimed Type A person while sources say Jim is more 'laid back', and that was likely the issue.

'They are two very different people though. Reese is headstrong and focused. Although very hard-working, Jim is more laidback,' said the source.

But there is no mess: 'There is no drama,' insisted the insider. And the Los Angeles residents will be there for the child. 'They love Tennessee and this is their focus. They will continue to co-parent amicably.'

'Reese is obviously disappointed and upset. She never saw herself getting another divorce,' a source told People at the time. (seen in April 2023)

The source also provided some background on the marriage. 'After she was set up with Jim, their relationship moved quickly. Reese was thrilled by his attention and excited to marry him,' added the source.

And Reese has been a very busy lady lately. She produced Hulu's Daisy Jones and the Six and star in the rom com Your Place or Mine with Ashton Kutcher.

She also produces the Jennifer Garner series The Last Thing He Told Me, which is a thriller set in Sausalito, California.

And The Morning Show's third season is due to his AppleTV+ later this year.
Johnny Depp will continue serving as the face of Dior Sauvage, after signing a three-year contract 'upwards of $20 million.'

While his ex-wife Amber Heard has reportedly quit Hollywood and moved to Madrid, Spain, following their high-profile defamation trial last year, the Edward Scissorhands actor, 59, may have struck the largest mens fragrance deal in history, according to Variety.

The publication pointed out he was paid nearly twice what Robert Pattinson earned as a spokesperson for Dior Homme. Similarly, Brad Pitt was paid $7 million to promote Chanel No. 5.

A source told the outlet that 'most A-listers with fragrance deals pull in around $2 million-$4 million per year like Chris Pine, whose deal with Armani is valued at $4 million a year over 3 years.'

Depp first became the face of the men's scent in 2015, and continued working with the luxury fashion house amid his legal woes with Heard, who accused him of physical abuse and sexual assault.

Massive paycheck: Johnny Depp will continue serving as the face of Dior Sauvage, after signing a three-year contract 'upwards of $20 million' (pictured in 2015)

Not slowing down: While his ex-wife Amber Heard has reportedly quit Hollywood and moved to Madrid, Spain, following their high-profile defamation trial last year, the Edward Scissorhands actor, 59, may have struck the largest mens fragrance deal in history, according to Variety; seen in 2015

Dior stood by Johnny throughout his trial, and sales of the cologne he advertises, Sauvage, rose at retailers, the Wall Street Journal reported in June 2022.

The publication stated that Depp's cologne was among their top-selling fragrances online last year.

While he continues to thrive professionally, DailyMail.com confirmed his former spouse has 'quit Hollywood and quietly relocated to Spain' with her daughter Oonagh Paige, two.

'Shes bilingual in Spanish and is happy there, raising her daughter away from all the noise,' a friend of the performer revealed.

The insider continued: 'I dont think she is in any hurry to return to work or to Hollywood, but she will probably come back when the time is right for the right project.

The Aquaman actress sold her home in Yucca Valley, California, in July last year for $1.1million (nearly double what she paid for it).

Then, in October, she was photographed on a beach in Majorca with her girlfriend Eve Barlow. At the time, she was rumoured to be living in a rented house on the island.

But Im told she has now moved permanently to a new home outside Madrid with Oonagh, who is two.

Through thick and thin: Depp first became the face of the men's scent in 2015, and continued working with the luxury fashion house amid his legal woes with Heard, who accused him of physical abuse and sexual assault

Heard hasnt worked since filming Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom in 2021, and a modestly budgeted thriller, In The Fire, last spring. (The Aquaman film comes out, finally, at the end of this year.) Its not known whether Heard is still with Eve Barlow, who has remained in Los Angeles and is working as a writer.

At Christmas, Barlow appeared to suggest they had split when she posted an essay on Substack saying that she was searching for optimism at the end of a life-altering year.

She added: Today I was reminded of a beautiful passage from a Khalil Gibran poem about why strength has to be renourished and revitalized in ourselves, often alone.

In July of 2021, Heard announced on Instagram that she had become a mother.

The actress wrote a lengthy message in her post's caption where she revealed that her little girl, whose father has not been publicly revealed, had arrived that April.

She also also expressed her thoughts about parenthood in the statement, which partially read: 'I hope we arrive at a point in which it's normalized to not want a ring in order to have a crib.'

Heard's daughter was born a year before the Depp v. Heard case, which was centered on allegations of defamation that were made by both the actress and her former husband.

Staying far away from each other: While he continues to thrive professionally, DailyMail.com confirmed his former spouse has 'quit Hollywood and quietly relocated to Spain' with her daughter Oonagh Paige, two (seen in 2016)

It was ultimately found that the Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas star had been defamed by his ex, while a single statement that was made by his former lawyer Adam Waldman regarding the actress was also found to have been defamatory; seen in May 2022

The pair were married from 2015 until 2017, and the Pineapple Express actress alleged that the Pirates Of The Caribbean star had been physically abusive over the course of their marriage, which he denied.

Heard also had an op-ed published by The Washington Post in 2018, in which she outlined how she felt as if speaking out about the alleged abuse she suffered during her marriage negatively affected her career.

The actress went on to file suit against News Group Newspapers for printing various allegations about his marriage through The Sun in 2020, although he ultimately lost his case.

Depp went on to sue his former wife for defamation regarding the op-ed in 2019, and she followed suit before their trial began in July of last year.

It was ultimately found that the Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas star had been defamed by his ex, while a single statement that was made by his former lawyer Adam Waldman regarding the actress was also found to have been defamatory.

While both parties made appeals regarding the judgements, they dropped them and settled the case in December of last year, when it was decided that the actor would receive $1 million from his former spouse's insurance company.

Heard subsequently released a statement regarding the settlement and expressed via BBC that she had 'lost faith in the American legal system.'
Helen Mirren, Jordana Brewster and Charlize Theron put on equally glamorous displays as they led the stars at the Fast X premiere on Friday.

The acting legend, 77, and the Fast and Furious star, 43, looked dazzling as they sported sparkling ensembles for the event at the Colosseum monument in Rome.

The premiere was to celebrate the upcoming release of Fast X, which is the tenth instalment of Fast and Furious and is part of a two-part finale to end the series.

Stepping out at The Space Cinema Moderno, Helen cut an elegant figure in a floor-length cream gown embellished with gold sequins and featuring a ruffled neckline.

She simply accessorised her eye-catching ensemble with a pair of droplet gold pearl earrings as she let her outfit do all the talking.

Glam: Helen Mirren, Jordana Brewster and Charlize Theron put on equally glamorous displays as they led the stars at the Fast X premiere on Friday

Sparkling: The acting legend, 77, looked dazzling as she sported a sparkling ensemble for the event at the Colosseum monument in Rome

Helen, who is starring in the epic, swept her silver tresses back into a high bun and fixed a glitzy silver headband atop her head.

She accentuated her striking features with a dramatic smokey eyeshadow palette as she posed up a storm on the red carpet.

Meanwhile, Jordana showed off her incredible figure in a black sequinned co-ord set, made up of an ab-flashing black bralet and a fitted skirt.

She accessorised her ensemble with a silver choker necklace and a matching bangle, while she opted for chunky earrings as well.

Jordana, who stars as Mia Toretto in the franchise, swept her brunette locks back into an up-do and opted for a dewy make-up palette.

Elsewhere, Charlize put on a very leggy display in black shorts and a black bralet, which she wore underneath a long sheer cardigan.

Kisses! Stepping out at the event, Helen cut an elegant figure in a floor-length draping cream gown embellished with gold sequins and featuring a ruffled neckline

Good form: She simply accessorised her eye-catching ensemble with a pair of droplet gold pearl earrings as she let her outfit do all the talking

Classy: Helen, who is starring in the epic, swept her silver tresses back into a high bun and fixed a glitzy silver headband atop her head as she chatted to Sung Kang

Chatting: Helen stopped to speak to the media as she stormed the red carpet at the glitzy event

Dazzling: Meanwhile, Jordana showed off her incredible figure in a black sequinned co-ord set, made up of an ab-flashing black bralet and a fitted skirt

Glitzy: She accessorised her ensemble with a silver choker necklace and a matching bangle, while she opted for chunky earrings as well

Beauty: Jordana, who stars as Mia Toretto in the franchise, swept her brunette locks back into an up-do and opted for a dewy make-up palette

Incredible: Elsewhere, Charlize put on a very leggy display in black shorts and a black bralet, which she wore underneath a long sheer cardigan

Good look: She gave herself a few extra inches in a pair of black pointed stilettos and accessorised her look with a long necklace

Stunner: Charlize swept her blonde locks beneath a black beret and bolstered her stunning features with a bronzed make-up look

All eyes on her: Charlize made sure to capture attention as she stormed the red carpet in her incredible look

All smiles: Charlize appeared in jovial spirits as she joined her co-stars at the event

Socialising: Charlize took a moment to be interviewed on the red carpet and flashed a huge smile while promoting Fast X

Picturesque: Charlize certainly captured attention as she stepped out at the Colosseum monument in Rome

Smitten: Also in attendance was Jason Statham and his partner Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, who looked as loved-up as ever

Arm-in-arm: Model Rosie, 36, looked as glamorous as ever in a black dress, which had sheer panelling around the bodice

Leggy look: Rosie completed her look with a pair of black strapped stilettos and sported a pair of sheer gloves

Quite the pair: Jason, 55, cut a dapper figure in a black pinstripe shirt and aviator shades

Couple: The couple put on a loved-up display as they posed for snaps together

PDA: John Cena and his wife Shay Shariatzadeh also packed on the PDA as they shared a smooch on the red carpet

Dapper: Actor John, 46, cut a suave figure in a burgundy suit and a white shirt, which he teamed with a red checkered blazer

Beauty: Shay, 34, perfectly coordinated her stylish ensemble as she wore a matching red mini dress with waterfall sleeves

Kiss: She gave herself a few extra inches in a pair of platform silver heels as she grinned while John kissed her on the lips

Playful: John cut playful poses as he ran across the red carpet, appearing to have a great time

Quirky: Shay carried a colourful cabinet handbag in one hand to complete her show-stopping outfit

Group shot: Vin Diesel spoke to the crowds as the cast of Fast X took to the stage for the hotly-anticipated premiere

She gave herself a few extra inches in a pair of black pointed stilettos and accessorised her look with a long necklace.

Charlize swept her blonde locks beneath a black beret and bolstered her stunning features with a bronzed make-up look.

Also in attendance was Jason Statham and his partner Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, who looked as loved-up as ever.

Jason, 55, cut a dapper figure in a black pinstripe shirt and aviator shades, while model Rosie, 36, looked as glamorous as ever in a black dress.

John Cena and his wife Shay Shariatzadeh also packed on the PDA as they shared a smooch on the red carpet.

Actor John, 46, cut a suave figure in a burgundy suit and a white shirt, which he teamed with a red checkered blazer.

Shay, 34, perfectly coordinated her stylish ensemble as she wore a matching red mini dress with waterfall sleeves.

She gave herself a few extra inches in a pair of platform silver heels as she grinned while John kissed her on the cheek.

Nathalie Emmanuel also showed off her glamorous style in a plunging cream satin gown with a bright pink bra underneath.

The actress, 34, showed off her incredible figure in the show-stopping ensemble and showed off her natural beauty with an orange eyeshadow palette.

Meadow Walker, the daughter of the late Paul Walker, also posed with Vin Diesel as she arrived at the premiere.

The model, 24, who has a cameo in Fast X, put on a very racy display in a sheer black dress embellished with floral detailing.

She styled her eye-popping ensemble with a black jacket slung across her shoulders and wore her raven locks in a blunt bob.

She posed alongside Vin, who cut a smart figure in black trousers and a coordinated blazer.

Stylish: Nathalie Emmanuel also showed off her glamorous style in a plunging cream satin gown with a bright pink bra underneath

Statement look: The actress, 34, showed off her incredible figure in the show-stopping ensemble and showed off her natural beauty with an orange eyeshadow palette

Amazing: She gave herself a few extra inches in a pair of silver strapped heels for the occasion

All smiles: Meadow Walker, the daughter of the late Paul Walker, also posed with Vin Diesel as she arrived at the premiere

Eye-popping: The model, 24, who has a cameo in Fast X, put on a very racy display in a sheer black dress embellished with floral detailing

Poser: She styled her eye-popping ensemble with a black jacket slung across her shoulders and wore her raven locks in a blunt bob

Grinning: She posed alongside Vin, who cut a smart figure in black trousers and a coordinated blazer

Friends: Vin worked with Meadow's late father Paul on the Fast and Furious franchise before his death

Premiere: Vin and Meadow flashed big smiles as they made their way down the red carpet

Revealing: She showed off her enviable frame in the show-stopping outfit

View: Vin looked in jovial spirit as he posed in front of the Colosseum during the picturesque red carpet

Heart: Vin struck playful poses and made a love heart and a thumbs-up to cameras

Grinning: Vin did not shy away from playing up for the cameras on the red carpet

Suave: Vin shielded his eyes with a pair of aviator shades as he posed on the red carpet

Pals: Vin was also joined on the red carpet by Tyrese Gibson, who laughed and smiled with Vin

Love: Vin made a love heart sign with his hands as he appeared to have a great time on the red carpet

Bring it on: Vin faces a battle against a villainous Jason Momoa in Fast X

Coming soon: Fast X is set for release on May 19, 2023

Good spirits: Vin was seen walking with an entourage as he stormed the red carpet

Embrace: Michelle was seen throwing her arms around Vin as they shared a sweet moment on the red carpet

Racy: Daniela Melchior cut a very racy figure in a sheer gown, which she wore over black underwear

Eye-popping: She completed her revealing ensemble with a black leather-look jacket

Sensational: Brie Larson showed off her incredible figure in a plunging black dress and a silver cross pendant

Memories: Brie documented the incredible moment as she snapped away taking pictures

Glam: She styled her golden tresses in loose curls across her shoulders for the occasion

Wow! Brie looked absolutely incredible in her show-stopping ensemble at the affair

Amazing: Michelle Rodriguez looked stunning in a black gown with a plunging neckline and a ruched skirt

Working the cameras: Michelle added some height to her frame with a pair of black peep-toe heels

Incredible: She showed off her gorgeous figure in the fitted gown as she stormed the red carpet

Close: Cameron Richardson looked glamorous in an off-the-shoulder grey gown as she posed with Louis Leterrier

Leggy look: Selita Ebanks looked incredible in a black mini dress which hugged every inch of her frame

Accessories: She kept her essentials in a leopard print handbag and accessorised with silver hoop earrings

Stunner: She styled her dark locks in glamorous waves across her shoulders

Glittering: Alexandra Anthony looked incredible in a one-shouldered gown with a daring side split

Pink: Leo Abelo Perry wore a colourful light pink suit and a white T-shirt for the occasion

Dazzling: Zelie Timothy pulled out all the stops as she rocked a black fitted gown embellished with silver tassels

PDA: Zelie was joined by Tyrese Gibson and the pair put on a very loved-up display on the red carpet

Very cosy: The pair shared a kiss on the red carpet and held hands during the sweet moment

Holding hands: Catherine and Alan Ritchson walked down the red carpet hand-in-hand for the occasion

Sweet: Catherine looked stunning in a green high-neck satin gown while Alan looked very suave

Trendy: Tyrese Gibson cut an edgy figure in white trousers and a black jacket

Also in attendance were the likes of Michelle Rodriquez, Cameron Richardson and Louis Leterrier, Daniela Melchior and Alexander Anthony, among many others.

Fast X will serve as the tenth instalment in the long-running franchise, and its sequel is currently scheduled to arrive in 2025.

The hotly-anticipated Fast X is currently scheduled to be released to the public on May 19.

The premiere comes after Meadow Walker revealed she will be making a cameo in the upcoming action feature Fast X.

The model, 24, took to Instagram to share an image from adventure movie, showing her walking down the aisle of an aeroplane, as she confirmed the news.

She also penned a lengthy statement in her caption to elaborate on her connection to the Fast and Furious franchise, in which her late father, Paul Walker, previously starred.

She began by writing: 'The first fast was released when I was one year old! I grew up on set watching my father, Vin, Jordana, Michelle, Chris and more on the monitors. Thanks to my dad, I was born into the fast family.'

The fashion industry figure went on to express her gratitude towards Fast X's director, Louis Leterrier, for including her in the project.

'I can't believe now I get to be up there too. With those who have been around to see me grow up. Thank you @louisleterrierpro for your kindness, patience and support. It feels like you've been part of the family since we started,' she wrote.

She also shared her love for her late father's former producing partner, Brandon Birtel, for helping her with the cameo.

'Special shoutout to my dad's best friend who is now my best friend, @bbirtel, this wouldn't have been possible without you,' she wrote.

Well-dressed: Sung Kang cut a suave figure in a plum suit, which he styled with a purple shirt

Colourful: Puerto Rican actress Rita Moreno looked effortlessly chic in a blue top and patterned trousers

Tuxedo: Khaby Lame smiled as he posed in a black tuxedo while making up the guest list

Trendy: Ali Fazal cut a trendy figure in an oversized black jacket with white circular patterns on it

Grinning: Alan Ritchson looked suave in navy trousers, a white shirt and a dark blazer

Trendy look: Scott Eastwood was also among the guest list for the star-studded affair

Signing: Scott stopped to sign autographs for fans on the red carpet at The Space Cinema Moderno

On stage: Louis Leterrier was seen addressing crowds inside the cinema at the lavish event

Posers: Meadow and Khaby had the time of their lives as they struck playful poses

Exciting: Fast X will serve as the tenth instalment in the long-running franchise, and its sequel is currently scheduled to arrive in 2025

Cameo: The premiere comes after Meadow Walker revealed she will be making a cameo in the upcoming action feature Fast X

Role: She penned a lengthy statement in her caption to elaborate on her connection to the Fast and Furious franchise, in which her late father, Paul Walker, previously starred

The model concluded with: 'I am so blessed to be able to honor my father's legacy and share this with him forever x I love you all so much.'

Her father previously portrayed Brian O'Conner in the Fast & Furious franchise. He tragically passed away at the age of 40 in November of 2013 after he was involved in a single-vehicle crash that occurred in Santa Clarita, California.

At the time, the actor was working on the seventh instalment in the movie series, Fast 7, which eventually premiered in 2015.

The actor's final scenes for the feature were ultimately completed with the assistance of his brothers, Caleb and Cody.
Rosie Huntington Whiteley looked sensational as she joined her husband Jason Statham for the star-studded Fast X world premiere in Rome, Italy on Friday.

The model, 36, wore a semi-sheer panelled gown with a leggy thigh-high slit for the launch of the the tenth film in the Fast & Furious franchise.

Stepping out to support Jason, 55, who plays Deckard Shaw in the upcoming film, Rosie linked his arms while posing for photos on the red carpet.

Her lingerie inspired dress featured a plunging satin bra with black fabric draped across one shoulder and mesh gloves.

She topped her look off with a pair of opaque stockings and boosted her height with a pair of strappy heels.

Stunning: Rosie Huntington Whiteley, 36, looked sensational as she joined her husband Jason Statham, 55, for the star-studded Fast X world premiere in Rome, Italy on Friday

Chic: The model wore a semi-sheer panelled gown with a leggy thigh-high slit for the launch of the the tenth film in the Fast & Furious franchise

Rosie styled her long blonde hair into a sleek look with a hint of a wave on the ends and carried a small box handbag.

Jason looked edgy in a pinstriped black shacket and matching trousers, topped off with a pair of chunky leather boots.

He stars in the film alongside leading man Vin Diesel as Dominic Toretto and Michelle Rodriguez as his on screen wife Letty Ortiz.

Fast X is set to be the penultimate film in the series and will premiere in Rome on May 13, a US release date is set for May 19.

The movie will also feature previous franchise stars, Ludacris, Nathalie Emmanuel, Sung Kang, and Scott Eastwood.

The tenth instalment also introduces newcomers Jason Momoa, Brie Larson, Daniela Melchior, Alan Ritchson, and Rita Moreno.

Meadow Walker has revealed that she will be making a cameo in the upcoming to final Fast & Furious, in which her late father, Paul Walker, previously starred.

The 24-year-old model shared an image from the soon-to-premiere movie to Instagram that showed her appearing a scene shot inside an airplane.

Loved-up: Stepping out to support Jason, 55, who plays Deckard Shaw in the upcoming film, Rosie linked his arms while posing for photos on the red carpet

On screen: Fast X is set to be the penultimate film in the series and will premiere in Rome on May 13, a US release date is set for May 19 (Jason pictured left in the trailer)

Smart: Jason looked edgy in a pinstriped black shacket and matching trousers, topped off with a pair of chunky leather boots

Cameo: Meadow Walker has revealed that she will be making a cameo in the upcoming to final Fast & Furious, in which her late father, Paul Walker, previously starred

The fashion industry figure went on to express her gratitude towards Fast X's director, Louis Leterrier, for including her in the project.

Walker's father previously portrayed Brian O'Conner in the Fast & Furious franchise.

The performer tragically passed away at the age of 40 in November of 2013 after he was involved in a single-vehicle crash that occurred in Santa Clarita, California.

At the time, the actor was working on the seventh installment in the movie series, Fast 7, which eventually premiered in 2015.
Alesha Dixon joined her Eurovision co-hosts Hannah Waddingham, Graham Norton and Julia Sanina at a press conference in Liverpool on Friday.

The BGT star, 44, excitedly revealed she 'couldn't sleep' ahead of the grand final on Saturday.

Meanwhile Ted Lasso star Hannah, 48, described the three female hosts - who have also fronted the two semi final shows - as 'hamsters in glittery jumpsuits'.

Alesha said: 'I can't sleep. I'm still awake at 3am just trying to calm down from the energy. It's fantastic.'

But said she was in need of more fresh air after a week of rehearsals and the two semi-final shows.

Big night: Alesha Dixon (far right) joined her Eurovision co-hosts Hannah Waddingham (left) Graham Norton (far left) and Julia Sanina (right) at press conference in Liverpool on Friday

Style:The BGT star, 44, excitedly revealed she 'couldn't sleep' ahead of the grand final on Saturday

She commanded attention in a stylish green satin suit just 24 hours ahead of the competition's grand final.

Alesha sported an oversized double-breasted blazer which she wore open and teased a hint of her gorgeous figure.

Sporting a radiant palette of make-up the stunner slicked back her raven tresses and completed the look with gold jewellery.

Meanwhile, Hannah looked sensational in a chic orange dress which hugged every inch of her beautiful curves.

The sleeveless frock showcased her toned arms and she accentuated her features with a light dusting of make-up.

Sweeping her blonde blocks into a chignon she let strands fall to frame her beautiful face.

The hosts showed no signs of nerves on stage as they spoke with the world's media ahead of Saturday's final that is expected to be watched by 180M viewers .

The British actress said it had been 'lovely' to work with her co-hosts in the build up to Saturday's big show.

Gorgeous: Meanwhile Hannah, 48, looked sensational in a chic orange dress which hugged every inch of her beautiful curves

Green with envy: Alesha (far right) sported an oversized double-breasted blazer which she wore open and teased a hint of her gorgeous figure

Effortless: Sporting a radiant palette of make-up the stunner slicked back her raven tresses and completed the look with gold jewellery

On stage: They later took to the stage to pose for snaps

She said: 'I love that I can watch them from the wings and just think 'I'm getting to stand shoulder to shoulder with them'.'

Asked about the links she delivered in French, she said: 'You want to show the hands across the water and try giving languages another go and I think it's that fine line of wanting to be respectful and include it but not, you know, screw it up.'

Elsewhere actress Claire Sweeney, 52, who is commentating on the event for BBC Radio Merseyside told MailOnline she wished she'd have entered Eurovision in her youth.

'I look back with a bit of regret that I never entered it when I was younger. I feel like I've missed out I had a song that would have been perfect'

She also teased that she would have to 'reign herself in' as she takes to the airwaves on Saturday evening.

Admitting: 'There's so many things I'd love to say. I could be honest but I don't know how honest I can be'.

Toned: Hannah's sleeveless frock showcased her toned arms and she accentuated her features with a light dusting of make-up

Giggles: Graham was overcome by giggles during the press conference

Rehearsals: They also joined Saturday's performers for rehersals

The local lass also gushed about Liverpool hosting and said it was the 'perfect place' for the world famous competition.

Going on to say: ' I couldn't be prouder The city has stepped up. We stand shoulder to shoulder and we include everyone As they say in the song, all you need is love and that's what it's been'.

She also revealed exclusively to MailOnline that she filmed her first scenes on Coronation Street the same day as Eurovision's first Semi Finals.

'It was the most mental day in my career, and I can't believe it's happened to me at the age of 52 My first day on the cobbles I couldn't believe it.'

Claire has been cast as Tyrone Dobb's biological mother Cassie in the soap with her first scenes due to air later this year.

Earlier in the day Mae Muller looked in great spirits as she took to the stage at the Eurovision rehearsals.

The UK's entry, 25, was quite literally flying the flag for her country as she skipped around while wrapped in the Union Jack.

Regret: Elsewhere actress Claire Sweeney, 52, who is commentating on the event for BBC Radio Merseyside told MailOnline she wished she'd have entered Eurovision in her youth

Let's go! The UK's entry Mae Muller looked in great spirits as she took to the stage at the Eurovision rehearsals on Friday morning ahead of the live final

Mae, who had been struggling with her voice and was put on vocal rest this week, looked back to her best as she practiced her performance.

Speaking about feeling under pressure the songstress said: 'Sam Ryder winning, is hosting on behalf of Ukraine, going last'.

'They're all things I could get freaked out about. But they're amazing experiences so I'm gonna look at them in a positive way. I can't wait to get out here, it's exciting'.

Discussing Liverpool hosting on behalf of war torn Ukraine she said: 'Eurovision is proof that us as human beings can come together and no matter what the outcome tomorrow night, I will look back on this with such a sense of pride.'

Mae looked incredible in a black jumpsuit complete with a sheer bodice and a pair of heeled boots.

Entrant: The UK's entry, 25, was quite literally flying the flag for her country as she skipped around while wrapped in the Union Jack

She wore her raven tresses in loose beachy waves and opted for a light covering of make-up.

Mae was joined on stage by a choreographer who was seen giving her direction as she rehearsed for the upcoming performance.

Discussing her entry Mae said: 'I wrote the song a few days before I knew about Eurovision'.

She continued: 'So I revisited the song and I put my Eurovision hat and thought it's a way to connect with the audience. How can I make an intimate moment with 200 million people and that's how'.

Eurovision's Grand Final will take place on Saturday, on BBC One at 8pm.
New Delhi/Dhaka, May 12 (UNI) External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, who is in Dhaka for the 6th Indian Ocean Conference, on Friday met new Nepalese Foreign Minister Narayan Prakash Saud.

In a tweet, the EAM said the two discussed about energy cooperation, connectivity, and people to people ties.

A good first meeting with FM N.P. Saud of Nepal. Congratulated him on his new responsibility.

Discussed further steps in our steadily expanding partnership. Spoke about energy, connectivity, and our enduring people to people ties.

The 6th Indian Ocean Conference is being held under the theme of Peace, Prosperity and Partnership for a Resilient Future in Dhaka.

NP Saud took over as Nepalese Foreign Minister on April 16, 2023.

UNI RN
Vin Diesel cut a dapper figure as he posed on the red carpet with the late Paul Walkers daughter Meadow Rain Walker at the world premiere of the movie Fast X in Rome, Italy on Friday.

The actor, 55, wore a smart black suit with a subtle paisley pattern on it, with the star wearing a black T-shirt under his jacket.

Movie star Vin, who plays Dominic Toretto in the film, wore a pair of black shoes and shielded his eyes behind a pair of dark sunglasses as he posed arm-in-arm with Meadow.

Model Meadow, 24, who makes a cameo appearance in the flick, looked sensational in a long sheer black skirt with a floral pattern.

She wore a satin blue-green blouse and accessorised with some glitzy costume jewellery.

Glitterati: Vin Diesel, 55, cut a dapper figure on the red carpet with the late Paul Walkers daughter Meadow, 24, at the world premiere of the movie Fast X in Rome, Italy on Friday

Strike a pose: Vin wore a smart black suit with a subtle paisley pattern on it as he posed arm-in-arm with Meadow in front of the Colosseum

Looking good: Movie star Vin, who plays Dominic Toretto in the film, wore a pair of black shoes and shielded his eyes behind a pair of dark sunglasses

The fashionista wore a pair of high-heeled shoes to add a few inches to her stature and wore lashings of make-up to highlight her pretty features.

It comes after Meadow revealed she would be making a cameo in the upcoming action-adventure feature Fast X in a post that was shared to her Instagram account on Thursday morning.

Meadow shared an image from movie, which is released next Friday, that showed her appearing a scene shot inside an airplane.

The social media personality also penned a lengthy statement in her post's caption to elaborate on her connection to the Fast & Furious franchise, in which her late father, Paul Walker, previously starred.

She began by writing: 'The first fast was released when I was one year old! I grew up on set watching my father, Vin, Jordana, Michelle, Chris and more on the monitors. Thanks to my dad, I was born into the fast family.'

The fashion industry figure went on to express her gratitude towards Fast X's director, Louis Leterrier, for including her in the project.

'I can't believe now I get to be up there too. With those who have been around to see me grow up. Thank you @louisleterrierpro for your kindness, patience and support. It feels like you've been part of the family since we started,' she wrote.

Meadow also shared her love for her late father's former producing partner, Brandon Birtel, for helping her with the cameo.

In style: Model Meadow, 24, who makes a cameo appearance in the flick, looked sensational in a long sheer black skirt with a floral pattern

Fashion focus: The fashionista wore a pair of high-heeled shoes to add a few inches to her stature and wore lashings of make-up to highlight her pretty features

Larking about: Vin was in good spirits as he walked the red carpet, stopping to have his picture taken

Greeting his public: The movie star was happy to stop and chat to fans and the press as he arrived at the event

High spirits: Vin was seen posing with fellow cast member Tyrese Gibson, who plays Roman Pearce in the film

'Special shoutout to my dad's best friend who is now my best friend, @bbirtel, this wouldn't have been possible without you,' she wrote.

She concluded with: 'I am so blessed to be able to honor my father's legacy and share this with him forever x I love you all so much.'

Meadow's father previously portrayed Brian O'Conner in the Fast & Furious franchise.

The performer tragically passed away at the age of 40 in November of 2013 after he was involved in a single-vehicle crash that occurred in Santa Clarita, California.

At the time, the actor was working on the seventh instalment in the movie series, Fast 7, which eventually premiered in 2015.

The actor's final scenes for the feature were ultimately completed with the assistance of his brothers, Caleb and Cody.

On screen: Meadow Walker revealed that she will be making a cameo in the upcoming action-adventure feature Fast X in a post that was shared to her Instagram account on Thursday

Heartfelt: The model concluded by writing 'I am so blessed to be able to honor my father's legacy and share this with him forever x I love you all so much'

Bring it on: Vin faces a battle against a villainous Jason Momoa in Fast X

Fast X will serve as the tenth instalment in the long-running franchise, and its sequel is currently scheduled to arrive in 2025.

Vin previously spoke to Extra during the premiere event for the upcoming movie's trailer and quickly became flabbergasted when he was asked about the prospect of Meadow making a cameo in the flick.

The performer told the media outlet's Terri Seymour: 'Hey, what is this?! You're not allowed to tell all the secrets! Who told you that? No one authorised that!'

Fast X is currently scheduled to be released to the public on May 19.
He described himself in a recent interview as a 'letterbox actor'. 'If it comes through the letterbox, I usually say yes,' Stephen Tompkinson remarked.

Just a joke of course. But it was almost three decades ago now that the fizzing chemistry between Tompkinson as Father Peter Clifford, opposite real-life girlfriend Dervla Kirwan as bar manager Assumpta Fitzgerald in the TV drama Ballykissangel, left audiences of 15 million spellbound weekly.

His last TV leading role was in DCI Banks, seven years ago. More recently he's been a supporting member of cast, playing ice skater Christopher Torvill's father in the TV drama Torvill & Dean, and writer Eddie Braben in a TV film about Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise.

'It doesn't get easier the older you get,' he said. 'Once you get past 40 the roles aren't as prevalent as they used to be.'

He added: 'I plan on acting for as long as I can remember the lines. Someone will be needed to play the 80-year-olds  David Jason can't keep playing older forever.'

Actor Stephen Tompkinson, 57, (pictured) was accused of punching a drunken stranger, Karl Poole, to the ground after confronting him and a friend at the bottom of his driveway in the early hours of May 30, 2021. Pictured: Tomkinson arriving at Newcastle Crown Court

Stephen Tompkinson with Dervla Kirwan at the Criterion Theatre in London for a fashion show in November 1998

Aged only 57, Tompkinson didn't quite look 80 when he emerged from Newcastle Crown Court this week  but he certainly appeared to have aged at least a decade thanks to his brush with the law. Pale, baggy-eyed, grey-haired and painfully thin, he was a shadow of his former self.

He was accused of punching a drunken stranger, Karl Poole, to the ground after confronting him and a friend at the bottom of his driveway in the early hours of May 30, 2021.

Mr Poole fell to the pavement and fractured his skull. Tompkinson was charged with GBH  an offence which could have landed him in prison for five years.

He'd denied the charge, saying he was not responsible for Mr Poole's injuries, and had only made slight contact with his face, after Mr Poole came towards him in a threatening manner.

This week a jury cleared him, after a five- day trial. The past two years, however, have taken a savage toll, both professionally and physically, on Tompkinson. He told the court he had lost acting work due to the pending trial as his career was put 'on hold'.

In the witness box, there was little trace of the charm which had helped him to become a fixture on our televisions for a halcyon 20-year period between 1996 and 2016.

And sadly it looks as if the stress of the court case has ended his romance with younger actress Jessica Johnson, whom he'd met in 2019 and starred with in a touring theatrical run of the play Educating Rita. Tellingly, she wasn't in court to support him during the trial, and this week neighbours near the flat in Tynemouth, North Shields, which he moved into before Christmas, said he's generally seen pottering around on his own.

Stephen Tompkinson's police mugshot after he was arrested

Previously, he and Johnson, 38, had shared a grand, 365,000 double-fronted, Victorian house in nearby Whitley Bay, along with her young son.

This was where he was living when he was woken, in the early hours of one Sunday morning, by Mr Poole and a friend, who were noisily larking around at the end of his drive.

A neighbour in the street said: 'He moved on from here ages ago  about six to eight months ago. The house was rented by him. We have seen he was cleared of GBH today and I assume it's a massive relief for him. We didn't witness the incident  we didn't even know it had happened.'

Another neighbour said he was so low profile  and so physically changed from his days as the star of prime-time TV  nobody knew who he was. 'We had no idea. We never, ever knew he was here. No one knew it was him until we heard about what had happened on the news,' she said.

So how did Tompkinson, raised comfortably in Lytham St Annes, and at the height of his fame, living in a large property in Weybridge, Surrey, end up single and jobless in a seaside flat in Tyneside?

The answer perhaps lies in what could be characterised as decades of bad luck. Quick to fall in  and out  of love, he's seen two marriages and two engagements fail.

His mother Jo, to whom he was very close, died suddenly when he was at his professional peak. A confirmed workaholic, despite his success, Tompkinson confessed he was 'plagued' by 'needless worry' about the calibre of his performances, and his prospects as an actor.

There's also been a problematic relationship with alcohol, meaning he hasn't touched a drop in nearly 20 years. One friend said that he is an emotional man, friendly, but someone 'who clearly has had his demons'.

His parents gave him a happy, Catholic, middle-class upbringing. He was said to be close to his bank manager father Brian and older brother John.

They also supported him as he learnt his trade at the Central School of Speech and Drama from 18. He remembers being 'one of the youngest in my year and the only Northerner.' He became friends with a gang who turned out to be the leading lights of their generation. Christopher Eccleston was in the year above him, James Nesbitt was in the year below. Rufus Sewell and Graham Norton were in the year below that. Through the years they have stayed in touch.

Straight out of college, he joined the BBC's Radio Drama company and in 1989, aged 24, he married radio producer Celia de Wolff.

Tompkinson became a minor star thanks to his role as amoral Damien Day in the satirical Channel 4 series Drop The Dead Donkey, but his big break came at 30 when he was cast in the indie film Brassed Off, which became a huge global hit. A year later, aged 31, he was on prime-time TV in Ballykissangel. By then his marriage was already over and the pull between him and co-star Dervla Kirwan proved irresistible.

In an extraordinary twist, Tompkinson arranged for his new girlfriend to meet his (estranged) wife. He's notably always stayed on good terms with his exes.

Kirwan recalled that the three of them all went out for dinner together 'like something out of Woody Allen' in the early days of their relationship.

She said: 'I knew Steve hadn't been living with Celia for about four years. Looking back, when I met her I suppose I did feel a bit nervous, but any nervousness was completely dismantled when I talked to her.' Tompkinson, an eternal romantic, never saw his love affair with Kirwan as just another on-set fling.

Stephen Tompkinson leaves Newcastle Crown Court after he was found not guilty of inflicting grievous bodily harm on Thursday

He proposed marriage in Roly's Bistro in Dublin in July 1997 and Dervla appeared equally smitten, declaring she'd found her 'Mr Right'. They set up home together in Hampstead, North London but in 1999, even as the builders were renovating it, they split.

They managed to stay on good enough terms, however, to work together on a TV film, The Flint Street Nativity, which started filming five weeks later.

But just over a year after splitting from Dervla, Tompkinson had married someone else. He and interior designer turned publicist Nicci Taylor met by chance at a gentlemen's outfitters in London's Savile Row.

They were married in 2001 and have a daughter, Daisy. Soon afterwards, Tompkinson was cast in the ITV drama Wild At Heart, opposite Amanda Holden, which meant filming for four or five months a year in South Africa, a huge wrench for a new husband and father.

Friends of Holden remember how Tompkinson didn't join in with the rest of the cast and crew who partied in the evenings but instead went back to his hotel room to call his young family.

By this time he had stopped drinking alcohol as well, a decision which was partly influenced by the sudden, unexpected death of his mother in 1995, from pneumonia.

He explained: 'I used to drink a lot and enjoyed it. But it was becoming a problem. I think age had a lot to do with it. I wasn't as quick at recovering from the after-effects of drink as I used to be. Also, my mum passed away out of the blue and that could have been an excuse for me to feel sorry for myself and hit the bottle even harder.

'But that would not have been very respectful to my mum. So one day I decided to stop.'

Sadness was heaped upon tragedy when his second marriage ended in 2006, with the couple blaming the actor's punishing work schedule. True to form, Tompkinson quickly found a new partner, Elaine Young, a diplomat, whom  again  he met by chance, in a theatre bar in Glasgow.

She'd asked if he would take a picture of her and her friends. 'It was just one of those love at first sight things,' he said.

They set up home together in Surrey and when daughter Daisy was 13, she opted to come and live with them.

'It's great having the three of us together,' he said.

His next project, DCI Banks for ITV was a hit and, crucially, didn't require months away, filming abroad. Tompkinson felt that all was rosy. In fact, he and Elaine were talking marriage after a decade together, when suddenly, bafflingly, they split.

What was to blame this time? Maybe his 'obsession' with work: he wouldn't take a holiday longer than two weeks in case he missed out on roles. But he did say that as he entered middle age he had learned to be less intense in his pursuit of success.

He met his next, and most recent, girlfriend, Jessica Johnson, again by chance. Both were in separate productions at Live Theatre in Newcastle. Ms Johnson, who is originally from Sunderland, told Tompkinson that she thought he would make a brilliant Frank, the Open University professor in Educating Rita, and she could be Rita.

By the time that they had put together a touring production, they were an item and were living together in her native North-East. Tompkinson reflected that he knew well enough what washed-up Frank was experiencing.

'A lot of actors have had glory days and better parts when they were younger,' he said in 2019. 'But the wedge gets a bit thinner the older you get, so you see quite a lot of bitter, disappointed people.'

He felt that the power of the show was in the unlikely romance and said: 'People adore the idea of second chances and that it is never too late.'

How much he must be hoping that is true this week.
Sarah Silverman took to Instagram on Thursday to share that her father Donald died on Wednesday night.

It came days after the death of her stepmother, Janice, who she said passed away last Monday.

The 52-year-old comedienne - who spoke out against gun violence earlier this year - uploaded a slew of photos with her dad and added a heartfelt caption.

Along with the snapshots, Sarah wrote: 'My best pal, Schleppy - my dad, died last night.'

Interacting with her two million followers, she added: 'Ultimately, he wanted to be with his love, Janice, who we lost last Monday.'

Sad news: Sarah Silverman took to Instagram on Thursday to share that her father Donald died on Wednesday night

It came days after the death of her stepmother, Janice, who she said passed away last Monday

In memoriam: The 52-year-old comedian uploaded a slew of photos with her dad and added a heartfelt caption

Silverman, who was formerly a writer and cast member on SNL, wrote online, 'All the sisters, and grandkids surrounded him with love and singing and very dark f****d up jokes this final week.'

And she said to fans, 'No shiva- if you wanna do something please donate to @2ndnurture.'

In one final thought, she added, 'He always said he was the richest man in the world because of his family, and he was.'

Her close-knit relationship with her dad extended to her stepmom Janice, with whom she was close throughout their more than 40 years of marriage.

Kristen Bell was among Sarah's famous friends who took to to the comments to express support.

She shared that she donated to Second Nurture, following Sarah's note - 'Donated in his honor,' she said.

And Chelsea Handler wrote, 'You had the best dad. Funny, smart, kind and a human good doer. I will miss you, popsicle.'

Sharon Stone added, 'My condolences love bug.'

Heartfelt: In one final thought, she added, 'He always said he was the richest man in the world because of his family, and he was'

Rest in peace: Along with the snapshots, Sarah wrote, 'My best pal, Schleppy - my dad, died last night'

Memories: Sarah and Donald pictured at Hulu's 2018 Emmy Party at Nomad Hotel Los Angeles in 2018

Like father, like daughter: Sarah and her father's relationship appears to have been full of laughter

Silverman took to her Instagram Stories on Friday to share a humorous clip of her dad enjoying a pool day.

In the video recording her peppy voice can be heard asking her dad, 'Hey, Schleppy, is it true you have a tattoo on your tushie?'

Her father smiled, 'I do,' while wading in the blue water with bushy eyebrows and white-gray hair.

'You do?' she asked again before her dad asked, 'You wanna see it?'

'Yeah!' she answered before nudging him as she pried, 'What is it? What does it say?'

'It says Janice,' he said while pulling his swim trunks down just slightly to reveal his wife's name inscribed in a heart.

Playful: One snapshot showed Sarah's dad sticking out his tongue in jest

In his honor: She said to fans, 'No shiva- of you wanna do something please donate to @2ndnurture'

Family: Silverman wrote online, 'All the sisters, and grandkids surrounded him with love and singing and very dark f****d up jokes this final week'

Happy spirit: Sarah posted a photo of her dad flashing a huge grin as he lay in a hospital bed

In February Sarah quipped that US Army recruitment is low because children already face the prospect of being shot at school, so are less likely to volunteer to go to war.

Silverman dryly attributed the recruitment struggle to 'traditional hurdles' such as 'young people don't want to die or get injured.'

'These Gen Z kids are just like, "Why would I go get shot in the Middle East when I can get shot in the comfort of my middle school?" Silverman jested, a day after a mass shooting at Michigan State University that killed three students.

'I'm kidding that doesn't happen in America,' she said sarcastically, referring mass shootings.
Charlie Sheen and Denise Richards' daughter Sami Sheen took to Instagram to share sultry photos ahead of the weekend.

The 19-year-old Only Fans content creator - who celebrated her birthday in March - dressed in a black tube top and pants as she posed on the beach.

Entertaining her 132,000 followers, she showed her sassy side as she wrote in the caption, 'id miss me too.'

The young beauty rocked extremely long platinum blonde locks that were styled straight with a middle party.

The model flashed her flat tummy and showed off a belly-button piercing in her cropped top and low-rise pants.

New post: Charlie Sheen and Denise Richards ' daughter Sami Sheen took to Instagram to share sultry photos ahead of the weekend

Sami was dolled up in the outtakes, which had an added sensual touch as the sun set behind her.

The stunner complemented her piercing green eyes with carefully applied, slightly winged black eyeliner.

And she played up her cheek bones with a bright, pink-hued blush dusted on her face.

Sheen's full, dark eyebrows were carefully shaped to provide a beautiful frame for her visage.

And finally, she rounded out the beauty look with a rich, pigmented pink lip stain that highlighted her full pout.

Sami was decked out in a pair of large, silver-toned hoop earrings as well as charm bracelet and rings.

Additionally, the rising star flaunted a pristine, long, almond-shaped manicure in a glossy light pink shade.

Her bared arms exposed multiple small tattoos situated on her trim biceps.

Her look: The 19-year-old Only Fans content creator - who celebrated her birthday in March - dressed in a black tube top and pants as she posed on the beach

Provocative: The blonde beauty stuck out her tongue and placed her middle finger on it in one image

Back in March Sami uploaded a Instagram photo series in celebration of her birthday.

The budding media personality, who notably launched an OnlyFans account last June, enjoyed a heart-shaped cake while donning a glittering tiara and fitted ensemble as she turned one year older.

The model, who was born March 9, 2004, received love from her 'proud' mother Denise, who posed a tribute post on her respective Instagram account.

She shared a selfie of the budding model as natural sunlight streamed through a window, and wrote, 'Happy Birthday my beautiful Sami girl!'

'I love you so much & I am so proud of you and your heart is even more gorgeous. I love you so much. Happy 19th Birthday!!!! I love you @samisheen,' followed by a red heart emoji.

Sami's parents were married from 2002 until 2006, and the couple also shares daughter Lola Rose Sheen, 17.

Inked: Sheen showed off an arm full of various tattoos

Vroom vroom: Sami posed behind the wheel of a car with a beige leather interior

Mama: Richards attends the Paper Empire Event at Annex Beach in Cannes in April

The Starship Troopers actress has shown support for Sami since the teen launched her subscription-based OnlyFans account.

Denise jumped to social media to defend her daughter's decision and said, 'Lots of negative comments on my social this past week. I have to say, I wish I had the confidence my 18 yr old daughter has. And I also can't be judgemental of her choices. I did Wild Things & Playboy, quite frankly her father shouldn't be either.'

In regards to the backlash, the actress added, 'I'm in awe of her ability to shut out the noise. Because it can destroy you...I recently learned about @onlyfans in the last few months. The judgement because women & men of the adult film industry are on there. I imagine they're on IG & Twitter as well.'

She then questioned if there was, 'a difference posting a picture of [ourselves] in a bikini on IG? We've all done it. Because you get paid on Only Fans? I'm pretty sure IG & Twitter & Facebook do quite well off of all of us.' Denise later added, 'Perhaps I should open my own account...'
Abbie Quinnen put on a very racy display as she enjoyed a night out on the town to celebrate her 26th birthday on Friday.

The dancer slipped into an eye-popping ensemble as she joined her friends and family at London's Mano Mayfair to celebrate her birthday.

She put her incredible figure on full display in a sheer lace jumpsuit, which she wore over skimpy black underwear.

Abbie, who turned 26 earlier this week, added some extra height to her frame with a pair of heeled sandals and kept her essentials in a black handbag.

She let her head-turning outfit do all the talking as she simply accessorised with a dainty gold bracelet.

Wow! Abbie Quinnen put on a very racy display as she enjoyed a night out on the town to celebrate her 26th birthday on Friday

Racy: The dancer slipped into an eye-popping ensemble as she joined her friends and family at London's Mano Mayfair to celebrate her birthday

Abbie styled her golden tresses in glamorous waves cascading across her shoulders and opted for a high-glamour make-up palette.

She later swept a black blazer across her shoulders as she kept warm while heading to the lavish venue for her birthday party.

Her night out comes after Abbie revealed she's been inundated with messages from Love Island stars who have 'slid into her DMs'.

Abbey, who split from former Strictly star AJ Pritchard last year, admitted she has been on a few dates as she opened up about her love life.

However, she said one person who she won't be dating is Love Island lothario Adam Collard because she's heard 'bad things' about his reputation.

Abbie told The Sun: 'I have been on a few dates, I just want someone with a really big personality, kind and who makes me laugh. There has been a couple of Islanders that have slid into my DMs.'

The blonde beauty added that she's had 'quite a few messages' from Love Island hunks, though she didn't spill any names.

However, when asked if ladies' man Adam was one of the boys to message her, Abbie insisted that he was not the man for her as she didn't believe he was the 'dating type'.

She said: 'I don't think he's the dating type, I've heard bad things about him. I think everyone knows too much, it's going to be difficult for him to get a girlfriend now.'

Adam split with ex Paige Thorne last year after she accused him of cheating when he was filmed flirting with other girls on nights out, with the paramedic later going on to claim she'd seen further videos of him cheating.

Eye-popping: She put her incredible figure on full display in a sheer lace jumpsuit, which she wore over skimpy black underwear

Incredible: Abbie, who turned 26 earlier this week, added some extra height to her frame with a pair of heeled sandals

Glitzy: She let her head-turning outfit do all the talking as she simply accessorised with a dainty gold bracelet

Beauty: Abbie styled her golden tresses in glamorous waves cascading across her shoulders

Glowing: Abbie opted for a high-glamour make-up palette, including dramatic lashings of mascara and a touch of lipstick

Elegant: She later swept a black blazer across her shoulders as she kept warm while heading to the lavish venue for her birthday party

Fashionista: Abbie pulled out all the stops as she made sure all eyes were on her for her birthday celebrations

Split: Last autumn, Abbie and from her former Strictly Come Dancing star boyfriend AJ Pritchard broke up, but she recently told how she is better than ever and 'thriving'

Elsewhere, Abbie recently told how she's better than ever and is 'thriving' since former Strictly star AJ broke up with her last year.

She said: 'I'm having the best time ever, I'm thriving and I haven't had this much fun in such a long time.'

Abbie split from boyfriend AJ, after she allegedly caught him messaging another woman in October.

Professional dancer AJ then quickly moved on with Zara Zoffany, as Abbie was said to be 'distraught'.
The US, UAE, Saudi Arabia and India provide seamless connectivity there

Areadout from US NSA Jake Sullivans meeting on regional integration in Saudi Arabia, broadly laid out the framework for greater cooperation amongst these four economies. The statement read National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan met with Saudi Prime Minister and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, UAE National Security Advisor Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and National Security Advisor of India Ajit Doval on May 7 in Saudi Arabia to advance their shared vision of a more secure and prosperous Middle East region interconnected with India and the world. Mr Sullivan also held bilateral meetings with the Crown Prince, Sheikh Tahnoon, and Mr Doval to discuss bilateral and regional matters. Mr Sullivan and Ait Doval also agreed to meet on the sidelines of the Quad summit, scheduled for later in the month in Australia.

According to media reports, it appears that the four nations particularly want to, invest in large strategic infrastructure projects in the Gulf, middle east, with backward linkages to India. It could result in joint infra projects, such as railway lines and backend shipping routes linking India. It may be worth noting that India, the US, Israel and UAE are engaged on a separate platform called I2U2, with the stated aim  to harness the vibrancy of our societies and entrepreneurial spirit to tackle some of the greatest challenges confronting our world, with a particular focus on joint investments and new initiatives in water, energy, transportation, space, health, and food security.

We intend to mobilise private sector capital and expertise to modernise infrastructure, advance low carbon development pathways for our industries, improve public health and access to vaccines, advance physical connectivity between countries in the Middle East region, jointly create new solutions for waste treatment, explore joint financing opportunities, connect our startups to I2U2 investments, and promote the development of critical emerging and green technologies, all while ensuring near- and long-term food and energy security.

Israel, a partner country on the I2U2 has floated the idea of the railway line connecting the Gulf region, with its technical expertise, and Indias capability to execute such large projects. These are strategic infrastructure projects which upon completion, would be able to arrest Chinas influence in the region and would be an alternative to its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The BRI, as most Arab nations would vouch for, has pushed many nations into a debt trap, and is an equal concern for India, given its frosty relationship with China. A few days back China agreed to extend its BRI into sanctions hit Afghanistan, thus making itself relevant for the war-torn nation. Last week, the Chinese foreign minister and his Pakistani counterpart met in Islamabad, almost immediately, after they flew out of India, where they were attending the Shanghai Cooperation Organisations meeting. The ministers agreed to continue supporting Afghanistan and pledged to extend the China Pakistan Economic Corridor to Afghanistan. Afghanistan is facing huge economic challenges after the hasty and chaotic retreat of US forces two years back. A Taliban spokesperson had mentioned that the country needs nearly $ 5 billion to pull out a vast majority of its populations pushed and stuck in extreme poverty. Now, China, with its all-weather friend Pakistan has formally decided to set up critical infrastructure projects in Afghanistan, as well as consider investments into nearly $1 trillion worth of natural resources in Afghanistan.

This shrinks the space for India to have any meaningful dialogue with the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan and also dents USs influence in the region. The purposeful dialogue between the US, UAE, Saudi Arabia and India on joint infrastructure projects providing seamless connectivity within the Gulf region, sets to plug the shrinking influence.

(The author is a foreign affairs commentator)
City of London Investment Group PLC (LON:CLIG  Get Rating)s stock price crossed below its 200-day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of GBX 431.81 ($5.45) and traded as low as GBX 429.52 ($5.42). City of London Investment Group shares last traded at GBX 443 ($5.59), with a volume of 29,517 shares trading hands.

City of London Investment Group Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of 222.99 million, a P/E ratio of 1,443.33 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a current ratio of 3.05, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91. The businesss 50 day simple moving average is GBX 442.02 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is GBX 432.59.

City of London Investment Group Company Profile

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City of London Investment Group PLC is a publically owned investment manager. The firm provides client focused equity portfolios. It invests in public equity markets across the globe. The firm invests in small cap companies in emerging markets to create its portfolios. It uses combination of macroeconomic, qualitative, and top down company analysis to make its investments.

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Daiichi Sankyo Company, Limited (OTCMKTS:DSNKY  Get Rating) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in April. As of April 30th, there was short interest totalling 185,100 shares, an increase of 749.1% from the April 15th total of 21,800 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 255,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.7 days.

Daiichi Sankyo Stock Up 2.0 %

DSNKY traded up $0.67 on Thursday, reaching $33.68. 1,430,861 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 171,037. The companys 50 day moving average is $34.54 and its 200-day moving average is $32.99. Daiichi Sankyo has a twelve month low of $22.50 and a twelve month high of $36.66.

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About Daiichi Sankyo

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Daiichi Sankyo Co, Ltd. engages in the research, development, manufacture, and sale of pharmaceuticals. Its products include drugs for the field of oncology such as Trastuzumab deruxtecan, Anti-HER3-ADC, Quizartinib, Milademetan, Valemetostat, Pexidartinib, Edoxaban, Prasugel, and Microgabalin. The company was founded on September 28, 2005 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.

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Deutsche Telekom AG (FRA:DTE  Get Rating)s share price passed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of 20.45 ($22.47) and traded as high as 21.43 ($23.54). Deutsche Telekom shares last traded at 21.30 ($23.41), with a volume of 3,476,969 shares traded.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on DTE. Sanford C. Bernstein set a 25.00 ($27.47) price target on Deutsche Telekom in a research note on Wednesday, February 1st. Berenberg Bank set a 28.00 ($30.77) price target on shares of Deutsche Telekom in a research report on Tuesday, February 14th. Credit Suisse Group set a 25.00 ($27.47) price objective on shares of Deutsche Telekom in a research report on Friday, February 24th. Jefferies Financial Group set a 23.60 ($25.93) target price on Deutsche Telekom in a research report on Thursday, February 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. set a 30.00 ($32.97) price target on Deutsche Telekom in a research report on Tuesday, March 21st.

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Deutsche Telekom Price Performance

The companys 50 day simple moving average is 21.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is 20.50.

Deutsche Telekom Company Profile

Deutsche Telekom AG, together with its subsidiaries, provides integrated telecommunication services. The company operates through five segments: Germany, United States, Europe, Systems Solutions, and Group Development. It offers fixed-network services, including voice and data communication services based on fixed-network and broadband technology; and sells terminal equipment and other hardware products, as well as services to resellers.

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Eaton Vance Tax-Managed Buy-Write Opportunities Fund (NYSE:ETV  Get Rating)s stock price passed below its 50-day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a 50-day moving average of $12.56 and traded as low as $12.17. Eaton Vance Tax-Managed Buy-Write Opportunities Fund shares last traded at $12.18, with a volume of 188,277 shares changing hands.

Eaton Vance Tax-Managed Buy-Write Opportunities Fund Stock Down 0.3 %

The firms fifty day moving average is $12.53 and its two-hundred day moving average is $12.83.

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Eaton Vance Tax-Managed Buy-Write Opportunities Fund Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 31st. Investors of record on Monday, May 22nd will be issued a $0.0949 dividend. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.41%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 19th.

Institutional Trading of Eaton Vance Tax-Managed Buy-Write Opportunities Fund

Eaton Vance Tax-Managed Buy-Write Opportunities Fund Company Profile

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Stableford Capital II LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Eaton Vance Tax-Managed Buy-Write Opportunities Fund by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Stableford Capital II LLC now owns 37,190 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $457,000 after buying an additional 2,250 shares in the last quarter. Financial Advisors Network Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Eaton Vance Tax-Managed Buy-Write Opportunities Fund in the 3rd quarter worth about $189,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Eaton Vance Tax-Managed Buy-Write Opportunities Fund by 20.6% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 81,863 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $1,076,000 after purchasing an additional 13,988 shares during the last quarter. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Eaton Vance Tax-Managed Buy-Write Opportunities Fund by 85.9% in the 3rd quarter. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC now owns 27,694 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $364,000 after purchasing an additional 12,794 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in shares of Eaton Vance Tax-Managed Buy-Write Opportunities Fund by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 37,961 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $499,000 after purchasing an additional 1,891 shares during the last quarter.

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Eaton Vance Tax-Managed Buy-Write Opportunities Fund is a closed-ended equity mutual fund launched and managed by Eaton Vance Management. It is co-managed by Parametric Portfolio Associates LLC. The fund invests in the public equity markets of the United States. It seeks to invest in stocks of companies operating across diversified sectors.

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Addis Ababa, May 12 (UNI) The number of people arriving in Ethiopia due to the ongoing situation in Sudan has surpassed 18,000, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) has said.



"People arriving from Sudan to Ethiopia via the Metema border town have now reached more than 18,000," the UNOCHA said in its latest situation update issued Thursday, adding that over 440 people to date have entered Ethiopia via the Kurmuk border crossing point in Ethiopia's Benishangul Gumuz Region.



According to the agency, new arrivals have been reported at the Pagak/Bubieyr border crossing in Ethiopia's Gambella region for the first time since the conflict began in Sudan.



UNOCHA figures showed that the arrivals are from 60 nationalities, and the largest group are Ethiopians, Sudanese and Turkish.



The UNOCHA earlier announced that shelter and reception areas are under construction for those who need relocation, and further medical support would be provided.



Sudan has witnessed deadly armed clashes between the Sudanese Army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in the capital city of Khartoum and other areas since April 15, with the two sides accusing each other of initiating the conflict.

UNI/XINHUA AKS GNK
First Niles Financial, Inc. (OTCMKTS:FNFI  Get Rating)s stock price dropped 7.7% on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $9.27 and last traded at $9.27. Approximately 200 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 14% from the average daily volume of 233 shares. The stock had previously closed at $10.04.

First Niles Financial Stock Performance

The businesss 50-day moving average is $9.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $10.45.

About First Niles Financial

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First Niles Financial, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of banking products and services. Its services include checking, savings, and loans. The company was founded in 1897 and is headquartered in Niles, OH.

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GLG Life Tech Co. (TSE:GLG  Get Rating)s stock price crossed below its 50-day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a 50-day moving average of C$0.05 and traded as low as C$0.05. GLG Life Tech shares last traded at C$0.05, with a volume of 2,300 shares changing hands.

GLG Life Tech Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of C$1.92 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.06 and a beta of 1.87. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of C$0.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of C$0.05.

About GLG Life Tech

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GLG Life Tech Corporation engages in the research, development, growing, refining, and production of natural sweeteners extracted from the stevia plant and monk fruit worldwide. The company also offers P-Pro Plus, a pea protein product; and natural ingredients. It serves the food and beverage industry.

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iShares S&P/TSX 60 Index ETF (TSE:XIU  Get Rating)s share price dropped 0.3% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as C$31.15 and last traded at C$31.30. Approximately 2,869,389 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 15% from the average daily volume of 2,502,855 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$31.40.

iShares S&P/TSX 60 Index ETF Price Performance

The company has a 50-day simple moving average of C$30.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of C$30.70.

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iShares S&P/TSX 60 Index ETF Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 23rd were given a $0.259 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 22nd. This is an increase from iShares S&P/TSX 60 Index ETFs previous quarterly dividend of $0.24.

iShares S&P/TSX 60 Index ETF Company Profile

iShares S&P/TSX 60 Index Fund seeks to provide long-term capital growth by replicating, to the extent possible, the performance of the S&P/TSX 60 Index through investments in the constituent issuers of such index, net of expenses. The Index is comprised of 60 of the largest (by market capitalization) and liquid securities listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX), selected by Standard & Poors (S&P) using its industrial classifications and guidelines for evaluating issuer capitalization, liquidity and fundamentals.

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Qudian Inc. (NYSE:QD  Get Rating) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest during the month of April. As of April 30th, there was short interest totalling 784,500 shares, a decline of 46.3% from the April 15th total of 1,460,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 473,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.7 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in QD. Two Sigma Investments LP bought a new position in Qudian in the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Qudian during the 1st quarter valued at about $52,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Qudian by 56.0% during the 2nd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 58,915 shares of the companys stock valued at $65,000 after purchasing an additional 21,145 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in Qudian by 46.2% during the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 170,027 shares of the companys stock valued at $197,000 after acquiring an additional 53,756 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Qudian by 8.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 295,774 shares of the companys stock valued at $266,000 after acquiring an additional 22,326 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 14.01% of the companys stock.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, TheStreet raised Qudian from a d rating to a c- rating in a research note on Friday, February 24th.

Qudian Stock Performance

Qudian stock remained flat at $1.25 during trading on Thursday. The company had a trading volume of 51,658 shares, compared to its average volume of 741,857. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $1.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $1.08. Qudian has a 1-year low of $0.69 and a 1-year high of $2.18. The company has a market capitalization of $316.26 million, a P/E ratio of -6.25 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 18.91 and a quick ratio of 18.91.

Qudian (NYSE:QD  Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 21st. The company reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter. Qudian had a negative return on equity of 2.97% and a negative net margin of 59.94%. The business had revenue of $23.21 million for the quarter.

About Qudian

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Qudian, Inc is a technology platform which empowers the enhancement of online consumer finance experience in China. It operates a platform which uses data-enabled technologies, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, to transform the consumer finance experience. The company offers cash credit products that provide funds in digital form and merchandise credit products.

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Entrepreneur Universe Bright Group (OTCMKTS:EUBG  Get Rating) was the target of a large growth in short interest in April. As of April 30th, there was short interest totalling 25,400 shares, a growth of 330.5% from the April 15th total of 5,900 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 27,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.9 days.

Entrepreneur Universe Bright Group Stock Performance

EUBG stock traded up $0.01 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $0.21. The companys stock had a trading volume of 2,400 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,073. Entrepreneur Universe Bright Group has a 12 month low of $0.12 and a 12 month high of $0.37. The firms 50-day moving average is $0.22 and its 200-day moving average is $0.22.

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Entrepreneur Universe Bright Group Company Profile

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Entrepreneur Universe Bright Group is an exploration and development company, which engages in the exploration, mining and sale of rare earths, primarily tantalum. The company was founded on April 21, 1999 and is headquartered in Xian, China.

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SinglePoint Inc. (OTCMKTS:SING  Get Rating) was the target of a large increase in short interest in April. As of April 30th, there was short interest totalling 42,600 shares, an increase of 965.0% from the April 15th total of 4,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,869,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.0 days.

SinglePoint Price Performance

Shares of SING remained flat at $0.04 during mid-day trading on Thursday. The stock had a trading volume of 55,131 shares, compared to its average volume of 516,456. SinglePoint has a fifty-two week low of $0.01 and a fifty-two week high of $0.23. The stocks fifty day moving average price is $0.03 and its 200-day moving average price is $0.06. The stock has a market cap of $5.08 million, a P/E ratio of -0.38 and a beta of 0.35.

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About SinglePoint

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SinglePoint, Inc is a renewable and sustainable solutions company focused on solar power and indoor air purification. It is committed to building the largest vertically integrated network for the marketing and installation of solar panels to the residential and commercial markets. The companys subsidiary, BOX Pure Air, is engaged in the Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) sector addressing the need for air purification in schools and offices.

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StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of International Tower Hill Mines (NYSE:THM  Get Rating) in a report issued on Monday morning. The firm issued a sell rating on the stock.

International Tower Hill Mines Stock Performance

Shares of THM stock opened at $0.51 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $100.08 million, a PE ratio of -51.24 and a beta of 0.82. International Tower Hill Mines has a fifty-two week low of $0.38 and a fifty-two week high of $0.81.

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About International Tower Hill Mines

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International Tower Hill Mines Ltd. is a mineral exploration company, which engages in the acquisition and exploration of mineral properties. It holds the right to acquire interest in an advanced stage exploration project in Alaska, known as the Livengood Gold Project. The company was founded by Jeffrey A.

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Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF  Get Rating) (NYSE:SLF) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, May 11th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.75 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, June 30th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.65%. This is a boost from Sun Life Financials previous quarterly dividend of $0.72.

Sun Life Financial Stock Performance

TSE SLF traded down C$0.18 during trading on Thursday, reaching C$64.53. 1,718,648 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,109,143. The business has a 50 day moving average price of C$64.10 and a 200-day moving average price of C$63.75. The stock has a market capitalization of C$37.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.42, a PEG ratio of 4.76 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 66.33, a current ratio of 8.22 and a quick ratio of 84,866.00. Sun Life Financial has a fifty-two week low of C$52.97 and a fifty-two week high of C$69.09.

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Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF  Get Rating) (NYSE:SLF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 8th. The financial services provider reported C$1.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of C$1.55 by C$0.14. The business had revenue of C$12.30 billion for the quarter. Sun Life Financial had a return on equity of 11.09% and a net margin of 13.42%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Sun Life Financial will post 6.5074925 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Insider Buying and Selling

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Sun Life Financial from C$75.00 to C$76.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a research note on Friday, February 10th. TD Securities increased their price target on Sun Life Financial from C$68.00 to C$71.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Thursday, February 9th. National Bankshares increased their price target on Sun Life Financial from C$69.00 to C$71.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a research note on Thursday, February 9th. Barclays dropped their price target on Sun Life Financial from C$76.00 to C$75.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 13th. Finally, CSFB increased their price target on Sun Life Financial from C$74.00 to C$75.00 in a research note on Friday, February 10th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of C$73.08.

In related news, Director Kevin Strain sold 47,958 shares of Sun Life Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$68.39, for a total value of C$3,279,847.62. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Sun Life Financial

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Sun Life Financial Inc, a financial services company, provides insurance, wealth, and asset management solutions to individuals and corporate clients worldwide. It offers term and permanent life, as well as personal health, dental, critical illness, long-term care, and disability insurance products. The company also provides reinsurance products; investment counselling and portfolio management services; mutual funds and segregated funds; trust and banking services; real estate property brokerage and appraisal services; and merchant banking services.

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TransAlta Renewables (TSE:RNW  Get Rating) had its target price upped by TD Securities from C$12.00 to C$12.50 in a report issued on Monday morning, BayStreet.CA reports. They currently have a hold rating on the stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on RNW. ATB Capital cut TransAlta Renewables from an outperform rating to a sector perform rating and lowered their price target for the company from C$15.50 to C$14.00 in a research report on Monday. National Bankshares dropped their target price on shares of TransAlta Renewables from C$13.25 to C$13.00 and set a sector perform rating for the company in a research report on Monday. CSFB boosted their price target on shares of TransAlta Renewables from C$14.00 to C$14.50 in a research report on Wednesday, April 12th. CIBC decreased their price objective on shares of TransAlta Renewables from C$13.50 to C$13.00 in a research note on Friday, February 24th. Finally, Raymond James reduced their target price on TransAlta Renewables from C$16.50 to C$15.50 in a report on Friday, February 10th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of C$15.05.

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TransAlta Renewables Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of RNW stock opened at C$12.13 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 43.77, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.78. The firm has a fifty day moving average of C$12.26 and a 200-day moving average of C$12.58. TransAlta Renewables has a 52-week low of C$10.63 and a 52-week high of C$18.45. The stock has a market cap of C$3.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.76.

TransAlta Renewables Dividend Announcement

TransAlta Renewables ( TSE:RNW Get Rating ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 23rd. The company reported C$0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of C$0.20 by C($0.05). The company had revenue of C$154.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of C$139.60 million. On average, equities research analysts forecast that TransAlta Renewables will post 0.753818 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.0783 per share. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.75%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 12th. TransAlta Renewabless dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 313.33%.

About TransAlta Renewables

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TransAlta Renewables Inc develops, owns, and operates renewable power generation facilities. The company operates through Canadian Wind, Canadian Hydro, Canadian Gas, US Wind and Solar, US Gas, and Australian Gas segments. As of February 24, 2022, it owned and operated 26 wind facilities, 13 hydroelectric facilities, 8 natural gas generation facilities, 2 solar facilities, 1 natural gas pipeline, and 1 battery storage project comprising 2,968 megawatts of net generating capacity located in the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, the States of Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Wyoming, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Washington, North Carolina, and the State of Western Australia.

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Algonquin Power & Utilities (NYSE:AQN  Get Rating) had its price objective raised by equities researchers at Wells Fargo & Company from $9.50 to $10.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday, The Fly reports. Wells Fargo & Companys price objective suggests a potential upside of 16.01% from the stocks previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on AQN. Raymond James cut their price target on shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from $11.50 to $10.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 13th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a report on Wednesday, April 12th. StockNews.com raised shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities to a sell rating in a report on Monday, March 20th. CIBC lowered shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from a sector outperform rating to a neutral rating and cut their price target for the stock from $17.00 to $10.00 in a report on Monday, April 17th. Finally, Bank of America lowered shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from a buy rating to a neutral rating and cut their target price for the company from $9.00 to $8.50 in a research note on Tuesday, April 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $10.13.

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Algonquin Power & Utilities Stock Performance

Algonquin Power & Utilities stock opened at $8.62 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $5.94 billion, a P/E ratio of -26.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.51. The firms fifty day moving average price is $8.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $7.99. Algonquin Power & Utilities has a fifty-two week low of $6.41 and a fifty-two week high of $14.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 0.71.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Algonquin Power & Utilities ( NYSE:AQN Get Rating ) last issued its earnings results on Friday, March 17th. The utilities provider reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.19 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $748.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $703.54 million. Algonquin Power & Utilities had a negative net margin of 7.64% and a positive return on equity of 7.01%. The firms revenue was up 26.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.21 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Algonquin Power & Utilities will post 0.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Power Corp of Canada purchased a new position in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities during the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. US Bancorp DE grew its position in Algonquin Power & Utilities by 83.7% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 2,485 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 1,132 shares during the period. Ten Capital Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Algonquin Power & Utilities during the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Pacifica Partners Inc. grew its position in Algonquin Power & Utilities by 866.7% during the first quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. now owns 2,900 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 2,600 shares during the period. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors grew its position in Algonquin Power & Utilities by 66.4% during the second quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 3,526 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 1,407 shares during the period. 41.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Algonquin Power & Utilities

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Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. is an investment holding company, which engages in energy generation and water distribution facilities. It operates through the following business segments: Regulated Services Group, Renewable Energy Group, and Corporate. The Regulated Services Group segment owns and operates a portfolio of electric, natural gas, water distribution, and wastewater collection utility systems and transmission.

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US Senator vows to fight Biden's new 'job-killing' coal and gas plant rules

Washington, May 12 (UNI) A senator who represents West Virginia, one of the largest coal mining states in the US, vowed to issue a formal challenge to the Biden administration's new emissions requirements that threaten the existence of coal and gas-fired power plants across the country.

Earlier in the day, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) unveiled new pollution standards that will require fossil fuel-fired power plants to reduce emissions by up to 90 percent by 2030 or shut down, according to an analysis by Scientific American magazine.

"The Clean Power Plan 2.0 announced today is the Biden administrations most blatant attempt yet to close down power plants and kill American energy jobs. The EPA has already tried this illegal overreach, which was ultimately overturned by the Supreme Court, but not before it devastated communities in West Virginia and across the country," Senator Shelley Moore Capito said in a statement on Thursday. "I plan to introduce a Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval to protect workers and families from the disastrous impacts of these latest job-killing regulations."
HBK Sorce Advisory LLC raised its position in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 114.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 28,470 shares of the payment services companys stock after acquiring an additional 15,217 shares during the period. HBK Sorce Advisory LLCs holdings in American Express were worth $4,207,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AXP. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 79.6% in the 3rd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,713,458 shares of the payment services companys stock worth $366,073,000 after acquiring an additional 1,202,912 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 44,553,661 shares of the payment services companys stock worth $6,010,732,000 after acquiring an additional 665,857 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 42.5% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,110,826 shares of the payment services companys stock worth $284,769,000 after acquiring an additional 629,960 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 10.2% in the 3rd quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 6,525,852 shares of the payment services companys stock worth $880,402,000 after acquiring an additional 602,762 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new position in shares of American Express in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $69,235,000. 83.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Denise Pickett sold 28,688 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.78, for a total transaction of $5,186,216.64. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 12,557 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,270,054.46. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, insider Howard Grosfield sold 5,456 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.52, for a total transaction of $952,181.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 7,045 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,229,493.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Denise Pickett sold 28,688 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.78, for a total transaction of $5,186,216.64. Following the sale, the insider now owns 12,557 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $2,270,054.46. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 49,361 shares of company stock worth $8,773,678 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.12% of the companys stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

American Express Trading Down 0.5 %

AXP has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of American Express from $172.00 to $205.00 in a report on Sunday, January 29th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of American Express from $194.00 to $185.00 and set a market perform rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 21st. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on shares of American Express from $182.00 to $180.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 4th. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of American Express from $152.00 to $150.00 and set a sell rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 21st. Finally, Stephens reduced their target price on shares of American Express from $149.00 to $146.00 and set an underweight rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $175.67.

NYSE AXP opened at $147.99 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 1.55 and a quick ratio of 1.55. The firms fifty day moving average price is $161.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $158.90. The company has a market capitalization of $109.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.18. American Express has a 12 month low of $130.65 and a 12 month high of $182.15.

American Express (NYSE:AXP  Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 20th. The payment services company reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $2.66 by ($0.26). The company had revenue of $14.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $14.02 billion. American Express had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 29.44%. The companys quarterly revenue was up 21.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.73 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that American Express will post 11.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express announced that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, March 8th that permits the company to repurchase 120,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization permits the payment services company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the companys board believes its shares are undervalued.

American Express Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 10th. Investors of record on Friday, July 7th will be given a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 6th. American Expresss dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.24%.

About American Express

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American Express Co engages in the provision of charge and credit card products and travel-related services. It operates through the following segments: U.S Consumer Services (USCS), Commercial Services (CS), International Card Services (ICS), Global Merchant and Network Services (GMNS), and Corporate and Other.

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Want to see what other hedge funds are holding AXP? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for American Express (NYSE:AXP  Get Rating).

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Arcosa (NYSE:ACA  Get Rating) had its price target increased by Oppenheimer from $75.00 to $85.00 in a report released on Monday, The Fly reports.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on the company. DA Davidson upped their target price on Arcosa from $80.00 to $85.00 in a report on Monday, May 1st. Loop Capital upped their target price on Arcosa from $75.00 to $80.00 in a report on Monday, May 1st.

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Arcosa Trading Down 0.8 %

NYSE:ACA opened at $68.45 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 2.40. Arcosa has a one year low of $43.52 and a one year high of $71.00. The businesss 50-day simple moving average is $61.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $59.56. The stock has a market cap of $3.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.86 and a beta of 0.55.

Arcosa Dividend Announcement

Arcosa ( NYSE:ACA Get Rating ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 28th. The company reported $1.06 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.56. Arcosa had a return on equity of 6.52% and a net margin of 12.47%. The business had revenue of $549.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $499.16 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.42 earnings per share. The companys revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Arcosa will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 14th will be given a dividend of $0.05 per share. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 13th. Arcosas payout ratio is 3.47%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Ronald J. Gafford sold 2,370 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.65, for a total value of $162,700.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 24,995 shares in the company, valued at $1,715,906.75. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Arcosa

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ACA. State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its position in Arcosa by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 33,676 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,829,000 after acquiring an additional 179 shares in the last quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lifted its position in Arcosa by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 19,775 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,131,000 after acquiring an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its position in Arcosa by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 5,332 shares of the companys stock valued at $337,000 after acquiring an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC lifted its position in Arcosa by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 4,817 shares of the companys stock valued at $262,000 after acquiring an additional 239 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund lifted its position in Arcosa by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 15,926 shares of the companys stock valued at $911,000 after acquiring an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.88% of the companys stock.

Arcosa Company Profile

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Arcosa, Inc engages in the provision of infrastructure-related products and services. It operates through the following segments: Construction Products, Energy Equipment, and Transportation Products. The Construction Products segment produces and sells construction aggregates, and manufactures and sells trench shields and shoring products and services for infrastructure-related projects.

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ASX Limited (OTCMKTS:ASXFY  Get Rating) saw a significant decrease in short interest in April. As of April 30th, there was short interest totalling 2,400 shares, a decrease of 38.5% from the April 15th total of 3,900 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 16,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.1 days.

ASX Trading Down 3.3 %

Shares of ASX stock opened at $45.62 on Friday. The businesss fifty day simple moving average is $45.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $46.28. ASX has a 12 month low of $40.36 and a 12 month high of $64.78.

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ASX Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 12th. Investors of record on Friday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $0.752 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 9th. This represents a yield of 3.24%. ASXs dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 83.79%.

ASX Company Profile

ASX Ltd. engages in operating a securities exchange. Its products and services include listing and issuer services; trading venue; clearing and settlement activities; exchange-traded and over-the-counter products; and information and technical services. The company was founded in April 1987 and is headquartered in Sydney, Australia.

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Bear Creek Mining Co. (OTCMKTS:BCEKF  Get Rating) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in the month of April. As of April 30th, there was short interest totalling 43,300 shares, a decline of 61.3% from the April 15th total of 111,800 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 176,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.2 days.

Bear Creek Mining Trading Up 1.1 %

OTCMKTS:BCEKF traded up $0.01 on Friday, hitting $0.50. 53,767 shares of the companys stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 79,809. Bear Creek Mining has a 1 year low of $0.27 and a 1 year high of $0.85. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $0.51 and a 200-day moving average price of $0.50.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Bear Creek Mining from C$3.00 to C$2.70 in a research note on Monday, April 24th.

About Bear Creek Mining

Bear Creek Mining Corp. is an exploration company. The firm engages in the acquisition, exploration and development of precious and base metal properties. Its portfolio includes Corani and Santa Ana. The company was founded by Andrew T. Swarthout and Catherine McLeod-Seltzer on August 31, 1999 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

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HBK Sorce Advisory LLC increased its stake in Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:BR  Get Rating) by 103.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,398 shares of the business services providers stock after purchasing an additional 15,461 shares during the period. HBK Sorce Advisory LLCs holdings in Broadridge Financial Solutions were worth $4,077,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Asset Dedication LLC bought a new stake in shares of Broadridge Financial Solutions in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Broadridge Financial Solutions in the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. MV Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Broadridge Financial Solutions by 33.0% in the 4th quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 290 shares of the business services providers stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. General Partner Inc. bought a new stake in Broadridge Financial Solutions during the 4th quarter valued at $45,000. Finally, Lumature Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in Broadridge Financial Solutions by 82.5% during the 1st quarter. Lumature Wealth Partners LLC now owns 365 shares of the business services providers stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.45% of the companys stock.

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Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Robert N. Duelks sold 1,425 shares of Broadridge Financial Solutions stock in a transaction on Friday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.06, for a total value of $201,010.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,275 shares in the company, valued at approximately $885,151.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Robert N. Duelks sold 1,425 shares of Broadridge Financial Solutions stock in a transaction on Friday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.06, for a total transaction of $201,010.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,275 shares in the company, valued at $885,151.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Robert Schifellite sold 15,695 shares of Broadridge Financial Solutions stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.59, for a total value of $2,394,900.05. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 50,314 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,677,413.26. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 17,870 shares of company stock worth $2,712,363 in the last three months. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Broadridge Financial Solutions Stock Down 0.1 %

BR opened at $154.70 on Friday. Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. has a one year low of $131.35 and a one year high of $183.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.04, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.35. The stocks fifty day moving average is $143.63 and its 200-day moving average is $143.13. The company has a market capitalization of $18.25 billion, a PE ratio of 33.20 and a beta of 1.00.

Broadridge Financial Solutions (NYSE:BR  Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $2.05 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $2.01 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.65 billion. Broadridge Financial Solutions had a return on equity of 40.29% and a net margin of 9.33%. The companys quarterly revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.93 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. will post 6.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Broadridge Financial Solutions Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 15th will be issued a $0.725 dividend. This represents a $2.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.87%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 14th. Broadridge Financial Solutionss payout ratio is 62.23%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BR has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. TheStreet raised Broadridge Financial Solutions from a c+ rating to a b rating in a research note on Thursday, February 2nd. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Broadridge Financial Solutions in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They set a hold rating on the stock. Raymond James lifted their target price on Broadridge Financial Solutions from $180.00 to $183.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, February 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada initiated coverage on Broadridge Financial Solutions in a research note on Monday, April 24th. They set an outperform rating and a $169.00 target price on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $161.40.

Broadridge Financial Solutions Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc engages in the provision of investor communications and technology solutions to banks, broker-dealers, mutual funds, and corporate issuers. It operates through the following segments: Investor Communication Solutions and Global Technology and Operations. The Investor Communication Solutions segment offers services for broker-dealer investor communication, customer communication, corporate issuer, advisor solutions, and mutual fund and retirement solutions.

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Elastic (NYSE:ESTC  Get Rating) has been assigned an average recommendation of Moderate Buy from the seventeen ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have given a hold recommendation and eight have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $76.50.

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on ESTC shares. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a buy rating and set a $96.00 price objective on shares of Elastic in a research report on Wednesday, March 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Elastic from $70.00 to $67.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an outperform rating and issued a $71.00 price target on shares of Elastic in a report on Thursday, April 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Elastic from $83.00 to $64.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Elastic from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a report on Friday, March 3rd.

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Elastic Stock Performance

Shares of Elastic stock opened at $58.93 on Friday. Elastic has a one year low of $46.18 and a one year high of $91.30. The company has a market cap of $5.69 billion, a PE ratio of -21.83 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.89 and a current ratio of 1.89. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $57.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $57.25.

Insider Transactions at Elastic

Elastic ( NYSE:ESTC Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 2nd. The company reported ($0.39) EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts consensus estimates of ($0.39). Elastic had a negative return on equity of 52.03% and a negative net margin of 24.80%. The business had revenue of $274.57 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $272.71 million. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Elastic will post -1.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

In other news, insider Ken Exner sold 2,064 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.28, for a total transaction of $120,289.92. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 123,117 shares in the company, valued at $7,175,258.76. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Elastic news, insider Ken Exner sold 2,064 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.28, for a total value of $120,289.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 123,117 shares in the company, valued at $7,175,258.76. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ashutosh Kulkarni sold 12,098 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.28, for a total value of $705,071.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 343,037 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $19,992,196.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 18,118 shares of company stock worth $1,055,917 over the last 90 days. 18.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in Elastic by 418.8% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 441 shares of the companys stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 356 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. acquired a new position in shares of Elastic during the 1st quarter worth $31,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Elastic during the 3rd quarter worth $43,000. Wipfli Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Elastic during the 3rd quarter worth $47,000. Finally, Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its stake in shares of Elastic by 50.7% during the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 707 shares of the companys stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 238 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.40% of the companys stock.

About Elastic

(Get Rating)

Elastic NV engages in the provision of open-source search and analytics engine services. It offers Elastic Stack, a set of software products that ingest and store data from various sources and formats, as well as perform search, analysis, and visualization. The firms Elastic Stack product comprises Elasticsearch, a distributed, real-time search and analytics engine, and data store for various types of data, including textual, numerical, geospatial, structured, and unstructured, Kibana, a user interface, management, and configuration interface for the Elastic Stack, Beats, a single-purpose data shippers for sending data from edge machines to Elasticsearch or Logstash, and Logstash, a data processing pipeline for ingesting data into Elasticsearch or other storage systems.

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Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (NYSE:EBS  Get Rating) traded down 4% on Friday . The stock traded as low as $10.03 and last traded at $10.09. 46,501 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 97% from the average session volume of 1,547,108 shares. The stock had previously closed at $10.51.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. TheStreet cut Emergent BioSolutions from a c- rating to a d rating in a research note on Monday, February 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an underweight rating and issued a $9.00 price target (down from $23.00) on shares of Emergent BioSolutions in a research note on Friday, March 17th. Benchmark raised Emergent BioSolutions from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $22.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, April 10th. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on Emergent BioSolutions in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a sell rating for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $28.00.

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Emergent BioSolutions Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $446.54 million, a P/E ratio of -2.07 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The businesss fifty day moving average is $9.89 and its 200 day moving average is $12.42.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Emergent BioSolutions ( NYSE:EBS Get Rating ) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 9th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($3.17) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.67) by ($1.50). Emergent BioSolutions had a negative return on equity of 7.57% and a negative net margin of 19.97%. The company had revenue of $165.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $142.85 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.18 earnings per share. The firms revenue was down 46.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Emergent BioSolutions Inc. will post -1.23 EPS for the current year.

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in Emergent BioSolutions by 43.8% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,612 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock worth $66,000 after purchasing an additional 491 shares during the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Emergent BioSolutions by 9.1% during the first quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,313 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock valued at $300,000 after acquiring an additional 607 shares during the last quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of Emergent BioSolutions by 19.6% during the first quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 3,796 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock valued at $156,000 after acquiring an additional 621 shares during the last quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Emergent BioSolutions by 0.8% during the first quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 85,792 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock valued at $3,522,000 after acquiring an additional 680 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ancora Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Emergent BioSolutions during the first quarter valued at about $66,000. 80.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Emergent BioSolutions

(Get Rating)

Emergent BioSolutions Inc engages in the development, manufacture, and commercialization of medical countermeasures. It offers products for civilian and military populations that address accidental, intentional, and naturally occurring public health threats. The firms products include ACAM2000, BioThrax, Raxibacuma, Vaxchora, and VIGIV.

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Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Extra Space Storage (NYSE:EXR  Get Rating) in a report published on Monday morning, The Fly reports. The brokerage issued a buy rating on the real estate investment trusts stock.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Extra Space Storage from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, May 4th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Extra Space Storage from an outperform rating to a peer perform rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 18th. They noted that the move was a valuation call. Raymond James upgraded shares of Extra Space Storage from an outperform rating to a strong-buy rating and set a $185.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 4th. KeyCorp reduced 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 report on Wednesday, April 5th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Extra Space Storage from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a report on Wednesday, March 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Extra Space Storage has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $170.56.

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Extra Space Storage Price Performance

Extra Space Storage stock opened at $152.57 on Monday. Extra Space Storage has a 52 week low of $139.97 and a 52 week high of $216.52. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.82. The firms 50-day simple moving average is $156.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $156.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.60 billion, a PE ratio of 23.99 and a beta of 0.54.

Extra Space Storage Increases Dividend

Extra Space Storage ( NYSE:EXR Get Rating ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $506.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $433.39 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.91 earnings per share. Extra Space Storages quarterly revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Extra Space Storage will post 8.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $1.62 per share. This is a positive change from Extra Space Storages previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.25%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 14th. Extra Space Storages dividend payout ratio is presently 101.89%.

Insider Transactions at Extra Space Storage

In related news, CEO Joseph D. Margolis sold 5,000 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 15,144 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $2,424,100.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, COO Matthew T. Herrington sold 650 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.75, for a total transaction of $107,737.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 6,405 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $1,061,628.75. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Joseph D. Margolis sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.07, for a total transaction of $800,350.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 15,144 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $2,424,100.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 13,440 shares of company stock worth $2,172,313 in the last three months. Company insiders own 1.52% of the companys stock.

Institutional Trading of Extra Space Storage

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of EXR. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in Extra Space Storage by 3.4% in the first quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 174,049 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $28,358,000 after acquiring an additional 5,693 shares in the last quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp grew its position in Extra Space Storage by 104.0% in the first quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 120,268 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $19,595,000 after acquiring an additional 61,301 shares in the last quarter. Shelton Capital Management grew its position in Extra Space Storage by 3.5% in the first quarter. Shelton Capital Management now owns 25,144 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $4,097,000 after acquiring an additional 844 shares in the last quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Extra Space Storage by 1.3% in the first quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,736 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $1,260,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vinva Investment Management Ltd acquired a new stake in Extra Space Storage in the first quarter valued at approximately $648,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.32% of the companys stock.

About Extra Space Storage

(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.

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Fountainhead AM LLC purchased a new position in Lockheed Martin Co. (NYSE:LMT  Get Rating) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 504 shares of the aerospace companys stock, valued at approximately $245,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of LMT. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Lockheed Martin by 1.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,885,865 shares of the aerospace companys stock valued at $8,840,580,000 after buying an additional 289,110 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Lockheed Martin by 5.3% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,256,069 shares of the aerospace companys stock worth $2,320,030,000 after purchasing an additional 264,665 shares in the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its holdings in shares of Lockheed Martin by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 1,148,736 shares of the aerospace companys stock valued at $443,745,000 after purchasing an additional 25,283 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Lockheed Martin by 1.1% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 988,725 shares of the aerospace companys stock valued at $381,934,000 after purchasing an additional 10,587 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its holdings in shares of Lockheed Martin by 59.2% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 698,200 shares of the aerospace companys stock worth $269,708,000 after purchasing an additional 259,700 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the companys stock.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LMT has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Susquehanna raised their price target on Lockheed Martin from $510.00 to $512.00 and gave the company a positive rating in a report on Wednesday, January 25th. DZ Bank raised shares of Lockheed Martin from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $523.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Lockheed Martin from a neutral rating to a sell rating and cut their target price for the company from $388.00 to $332.00 in a report on Friday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Lockheed Martin from $542.00 to $532.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 25th. Finally, Credit Suisse Group boosted their price objective on Lockheed Martin from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $494.79.

Insider Buying and Selling

Lockheed Martin Trading Down 0.5 %

In other news, EVP Stephanie C. Hill sold 2,391 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $490.84, for a total value of $1,173,598.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,604 shares in the company, valued at $6,186,547.36. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website . In related news, EVP Stephanie C. Hill sold 2,391 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $490.84, for a total transaction of $1,173,598.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,604 shares in the company, valued at $6,186,547.36. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website . Also, Director John Donovan purchased 506 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 19th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $495.17 per share, with a total value of $250,556.02. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 2,830 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $1,401,331.10. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here . 0.17% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

NYSE:LMT traded down $2.16 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $448.53. The stock had a trading volume of 217,304 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,362,454. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61. Lockheed Martin Co. has a one year low of $373.67 and a one year high of $508.10. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $475.28 and a 200 day moving average of $474.53. The company has a market capitalization of $113.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.60, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.67.

Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT  Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 18th. The aerospace company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.08 by $0.35. Lockheed Martin had a net margin of 8.60% and a return on equity of 67.75%. The company had revenue of $15.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $15.01 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $6.44 EPS. The firms quarterly revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Lockheed Martin Co. will post 26.76 EPS for the current year.

Lockheed Martin Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 1st will be given a $3.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 31st. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.68%. Lockheed Martins payout ratio is 54.84%.

Lockheed Martin Profile

(Get Rating)

Lockheed Martin Corp. is a global security and aerospace company, which engages in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration, and sustainment of technology systems, products, and services. It operates through the following business segments: Aeronautics, Missiles and Fire Control (MFC), Rotary and Mission Systems (RMS), and Space.

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GRC International Group plc (LON:GRC  Get Rating)s stock price was down 3.6% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as GBX 13 ($0.16) and last traded at GBX 13.50 ($0.17). Approximately 2,693 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 94% from the average daily volume of 44,277 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 14 ($0.18).

GRC International Group Price Performance

The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of GBX 14.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of GBX 19.82. The firm has a market cap of 14.56 million, a PE ratio of -1,350.00 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.25, a current ratio of 0.28 and a quick ratio of 0.48.

About GRC International Group

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GRC International Group plc offers various products and services to address the information technology (IT) governance, risk management, and compliance requirements of organizations in the United Kingdom, rest of Europe, the United States, Ireland, Italy, Australia, and internationally. The company provides classroom-based training courses related to data protection, cyber security, ISO 27001 certification and related topics.

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Shares of Greenhill & Co., Inc. (NYSE:GHL  Get Rating) have earned a consensus recommendation of Hold from the six analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have assigned a hold recommendation and one has issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $11.38.

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on GHL shares. StockNews.com cut Greenhill & Co., Inc. from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Wednesday, April 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on Greenhill & Co., Inc. from $9.50 to $8.50 and set a sell rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 11th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a market outperform rating and set a $20.00 target price on shares of Greenhill & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, February 2nd.

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Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GHL. Capital Management Corp VA raised its position in shares of Greenhill & Co., Inc. by 32.4% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Management Corp VA now owns 2,604,424 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $15,470,000 after acquiring an additional 636,926 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its position in shares of Greenhill & Co., Inc. by 334.7% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 452,252 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $4,170,000 after acquiring an additional 348,214 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Greenhill & Co., Inc. in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,954,000. Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in shares of Greenhill & Co., Inc. by 494.2% in the 3rd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 179,939 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $1,069,000 after acquiring an additional 149,656 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Greenhill & Co., Inc. by 17.6% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 719,587 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $4,275,000 after acquiring an additional 107,540 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.14% of the companys stock.

Greenhill & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Greenhill & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

Greenhill & Co., Inc. stock opened at $6.89 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $126.16 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.13 and a beta of 1.21. Greenhill & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $5.64 and a 52 week high of $14.17. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $8.22 and a 200 day simple moving average of $9.88. The company has a quick ratio of 2.50, a current ratio of 2.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.33.

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 21st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 7th will be given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 6th. Greenhill & Co., Inc.s dividend payout ratio is currently -58.82%.

Greenhill & Co., Inc. Company Profile

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Greenhill & Co, Inc is an independent investment bank, which engages in the provision of financial and strategic advice. It specializes in mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, restructurings, financings, and capital raising. The company was founded by Robert F. Greenhill in 1996 and is headquartered in New York, NY.

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Honda Motor (NYSE:HMC  Get Rating) updated its FY 2024 earnings guidance on Friday. The company provided EPS guidance of $3.92-$3.92 for the period. The company issued revenue guidance of $145.60 billion-$145.60 billion.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on HMC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Honda Motor from a neutral rating to an overweight rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 28th. TheStreet raised shares of Honda Motor from a c+ rating to a b- rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Honda Motor in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They set a strong-buy rating for the company.

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Honda Motor Price Performance

NYSE:HMC traded up $0.16 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $27.75. 1,280,906 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,048,231. The businesss 50-day moving average price is $26.20 and its 200 day moving average price is $24.78. The company has a market cap of $47.47 billion, a PE ratio of 8.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.75. Honda Motor has a 12-month low of $21.43 and a 12-month high of $28.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Honda Motor

Honda Motor ( NYSE:HMC Get Rating ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 10th. The company reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.07. Honda Motor had a net margin of 4.22% and a return on equity of 6.01%. The business had revenue of $31.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $33.02 billion. On average, analysts expect that Honda Motor will post 3.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of HMC. Credit Suisse AG lifted its holdings in shares of Honda Motor by 3,638.7% in the 3rd quarter. Credit Suisse AG now owns 1,159 shares of the companys stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 1,128 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new stake in shares of Honda Motor in the 1st quarter worth approximately $39,000. Money Concepts Capital Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Honda Motor by 401.3% in the 4th quarter. Money Concepts Capital Corp now owns 1,995 shares of the companys stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 1,597 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Honda Motor by 390.2% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 2,363 shares of the companys stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 1,881 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. bought a new stake in shares of Honda Motor in the 1st quarter worth approximately $114,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 5.48% of the companys stock.

About Honda Motor

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Honda Motor Co, Ltd. engages in the manufacture and sale of automobiles, motorcycles, and power products. It operates through the following segments: Automobile, Motorcycle, Financial Services, and Power Product and Other Businesses. The Automobile segment manufactures and sells automobiles and related accessories.

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Huntington National Bank reduced its stake in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL  Get Rating) by 2.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 282,194 shares of the enterprise software providers stock after selling 6,822 shares during the period. Huntington National Banks holdings in Oracle were worth $23,067,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Oracle during the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. WFA of San Diego LLC acquired a new position in shares of Oracle during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Cowa LLC acquired a new position in shares of Oracle during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Oracle during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC acquired a new position in shares of Oracle during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. 40.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Insider Buying and Selling at Oracle

In other Oracle news, CEO Safra Catz sold 1,837,101 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.86, for a total value of $172,430,299.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares in the company, valued at approximately $104,991,045.12. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Safra Catz sold 1,837,101 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.86, for a total transaction of $172,430,299.86. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,118,592 shares of the companys stock, valued at $104,991,045.12. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Jeffrey Berg sold 45,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.65, for a total transaction of $4,214,250.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 207,409 shares of the companys stock, valued at $19,423,852.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 43.70% of the companys stock.

Oracle Stock Down 0.1 %

Oracle stock opened at $97.44 on Friday. Oracle Co. has a 12-month low of $60.78 and a 12-month high of $97.68. The businesss 50-day moving average price is $92.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $86.28. The stock has a market cap of $263.07 billion, a PE ratio of 32.16, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 1.00.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL  Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 9th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.02. Oracle had a net margin of 17.46% and a negative return on equity of 262.40%. The firm had revenue of $12.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.42 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.94 earnings per share. The companys quarterly revenue was up 17.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 4.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Oracle Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 11th were given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 10th. This is an increase from Oracles previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.64%. Oracles dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.81%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ORCL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Oracle from $87.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Friday, March 24th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $105.00 price objective on Oracle in a research report on Friday, March 10th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Oracle from $75.00 to $84.00 in a research report on Friday, March 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. set a $93.00 price objective on Oracle and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, March 10th. Finally, Berenberg Bank increased their price objective on shares of Oracle from $72.00 to $82.50 in a research report on Wednesday, March 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $95.46.

Oracle Company Profile

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Oracle Corp. engages in the provision of products and services that address all aspects of corporate information technology environments. It operates through the following business segments: Cloud and License, Hardware, and Services. The Cloud and License segment markets, sells, and delivers applications, platform, and infrastructure technologies.

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Local Bounti (NYSE:LOCL  Get Rating) had its target price lowered by Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft from $2.00 to $1.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning, The Fly reports.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on LOCL. Oppenheimer cut their price target on Local Bounti from $13.00 to $3.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 30th. Lake Street Capital cut their price target on Local Bounti from $10.00 to $3.50 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 30th. Finally, Roth Mkm lowered their price objective on Local Bounti from $6.00 to $3.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $2.65.

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Local Bounti Price Performance

NYSE LOCL opened at $0.50 on Thursday. Local Bounti has a one year low of $0.30 and a one year high of $6.21. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $0.52 and a 200 day moving average of $1.26. The company has a market capitalization of $51.74 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.39 and a beta of 1.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a current ratio of 1.47.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Local Bounti ( NYSE:LOCL Get Rating ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 29th. The company reported ($0.30) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by ($0.03). Local Bounti had a negative return on equity of 95.94% and a negative net margin of 570.35%. The business had revenue of $6.64 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.58 million. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Local Bounti will post -0.94 EPS for the current year.

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LOCL. Barclays PLC increased its stake in Local Bounti by 853.9% in the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 17,371 shares of the companys stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 15,550 shares during the last quarter. American International Group Inc. bought a new stake in Local Bounti in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Local Bounti by 732.8% in the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 10,160 shares of the companys stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 8,940 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. bought a new stake in Local Bounti in the 1st quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in Local Bounti in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $45,000. 65.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Local Bounti Company Profile

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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.

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Seaport Res Ptn reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA  Get Rating) in a report issued on Tuesday, PriceTargets.com reports.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on MWA. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Mueller Water Products from $10.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a report on Tuesday, January 10th. StockNews.com began coverage on Mueller Water Products in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a hold rating for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Mueller Water Products from $11.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Monday, February 6th. DA Davidson reiterated a neutral rating on shares of Mueller Water Products in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of Mueller Water Products from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and lifted their price target for the company from $11.00 to $19.00 in a research report on Friday, May 5th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $13.57.

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Mueller Water Products Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:MWA opened at $13.61 on Tuesday. Mueller Water Products has a 12-month low of $9.90 and a 12-month high of $14.98. The stock has a market cap of $2.13 billion, a PE ratio of 26.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.30. The business has a 50 day moving average of $13.48 and a 200-day moving average of $12.52. The company has a quick ratio of 1.68, a current ratio of 3.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65.

Mueller Water Products Announces Dividend

Mueller Water Products ( NYSE:MWA Get Rating ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 8th. The industrial products company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $0.16 by ($0.02). Mueller Water Products had a return on equity of 12.75% and a net margin of 5.90%. The firm had revenue of $332.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $332.45 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.15 EPS. The companys revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Mueller Water Products will post 0.68 earnings per share for the current year.

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 10th will be given a dividend of $0.061 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 9th. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.79%. Mueller Water Productss dividend payout ratio is currently 47.06%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MWA. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its position in Mueller Water Products by 580.8% during the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 14,909 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $192,000 after purchasing an additional 12,719 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can raised its position in Mueller Water Products by 65.6% during the first quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 28,439 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $372,000 after purchasing an additional 11,270 shares in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its position in Mueller Water Products by 38.6% during the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 75,681 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $978,000 after purchasing an additional 21,068 shares in the last quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. acquired a new position in shares of Mueller Water Products during the first quarter worth $2,116,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. increased its holdings in shares of Mueller Water Products by 56.8% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 76,178 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $984,000 after buying an additional 27,589 shares in the last quarter. 88.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Mueller Water Products

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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.

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Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lowered its holdings in shares of International Paper (NYSE:IP  Get Rating) by 2.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 571,333 shares of the basic materials companys stock after selling 16,679 shares during the quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. owned approximately 0.16% of International Paper worth $19,782,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in IP. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS increased its holdings in International Paper by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 51,817 shares of the basic materials companys stock worth $2,391,000 after acquiring an additional 3,209 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. increased its holdings in International Paper by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 8,660 shares of the basic materials companys stock worth $399,000 after acquiring an additional 369 shares in the last quarter. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in International Paper by 45.5% in the 1st quarter. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 675 shares of the basic materials companys stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 211 shares in the last quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. purchased a new stake in International Paper in the 1st quarter worth approximately $206,000. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its holdings in International Paper by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 41,970 shares of the basic materials companys stock worth $1,947,000 after acquiring an additional 676 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.64% of the companys stock.

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International Paper Stock Performance

Shares of International Paper stock opened at $31.69 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $11.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.78 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. International Paper has a 12 month low of $30.69 and a 12 month high of $49.32. The stocks fifty day moving average price is $34.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $35.93.

International Paper Dividend Announcement

International Paper ( NYSE:IP Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The basic materials company reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $5.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.03 billion. International Paper had a return on equity of 14.87% and a net margin of 6.28%. The businesss revenue for the quarter was down 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.76 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that International Paper will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.4625 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 25th. This represents a $1.85 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.84%. International Papers dividend payout ratio is currently 51.25%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on IP shares. Argus upped their price target on International Paper from $43.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, February 2nd. UBS Group upgraded International Paper from a sell rating to a neutral rating and upped their price target for the stock from $31.00 to $43.00 in a research note on Friday, February 3rd. Truist Financial upped their price target on International Paper from $30.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 1st. StockNews.com downgraded International Paper from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Monday, May 1st. Finally, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM reiterated a maintains rating on shares of International Paper in a research report on Friday, April 28th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, International Paper presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $38.55.

Insider Buying and Selling at International Paper

In other International Paper news, SVP Timothy S. Nicholls sold 5,000 shares of International Paper stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.95, for a total value of $194,750.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 129,261 shares in the company, valued at $5,034,715.95. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other International Paper news, SVP Aimee K. Gregg sold 1,862 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.05, for a total value of $67,125.10. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,260 shares of the companys stock, valued at $153,573. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Timothy S. Nicholls sold 5,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.95, for a total value of $194,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 129,261 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $5,034,715.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 93,567 shares of company stock worth $3,261,447 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.51% of the companys stock.

About International Paper

(Get Rating)

International Paper Co engages in the manufacture of paper and packaging products. It operates through the following segments: Industrial Packaging, Global Cellulose Fibers, and Printing Papers. The Industrial Packaging segment is involved in manufacturing containerboards, which include linerboard, medium, whitetop, recycled linerboard, recycled medium, and saturating kraft.

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Want to see what other hedge funds are holding IP? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for International Paper (NYSE:IP  Get Rating).

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Shares of Sasol Limited (NYSE:SSL  Get Rating) gapped up before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $11.88, but opened at $12.21. Sasol shares last traded at $12.19, with a volume of 28,916 shares traded.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com raised Sasol from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Friday, March 10th.

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Sasol Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 2.12 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The company has a 50-day moving average of $13.22 and a 200-day moving average of $15.38.

Sasol Dividend Announcement

Institutional Trading of Sasol

The firm also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $0.3871 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 4.7%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 9th.

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in Sasol by 3.5% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 17,274 shares of the oil and gas companys stock valued at $272,000 after buying an additional 586 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG increased its holdings in shares of Sasol by 5.3% in the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 13,550 shares of the oil and gas companys stock valued at $214,000 after buying an additional 688 shares in the last quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Sasol by 67.0% during the 1st quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,994 shares of the oil and gas companys stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Sasol by 8.9% in the third quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 10,518 shares of the oil and gas companys stock worth $166,000 after purchasing an additional 860 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its holdings in Sasol by 148.3% during the second quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,490 shares of the oil and gas companys stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 890 shares during the period. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Sasol

(Get Rating)

Sasol Ltd. operates as a chemical and energy company, which engages in the provision of integrate sophisticated technologies and processes into operating facilities. It operates through the Mining, Gas, Fuels, Chemicals Africa, Chemicals Eurasia, and Corporate Centre. The Energy Business segments The company was founded in 1950 and is headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa.

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Stevanato Group S.p.A. (NYSE:STVN  Get Rating) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of April. As of April 30th, there was short interest totalling 522,600 shares, a decrease of 19.0% from the April 15th total of 645,100 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 274,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.9 days. Currently, 1.5% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on STVN shares. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Stevanato Group from $26.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, March 3rd. UBS Group upped their target price on Stevanato Group from $28.00 to $29.00 in a report on Friday, May 5th. Citigroup upped their price target on Stevanato Group from $22.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, March 3rd. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Stevanato Group from $22.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, March 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Stevanato Group from $27.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Friday, May 5th.

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Stevanato Group Trading Down 1.9 %

STVN traded down 0.55 ($0.60) during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting 28.34 ($31.14). 74,554 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 270,588. The firms fifty day moving average is 25.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is 20.64. Stevanato Group has a 1-year low of 13.71 ($15.07) and a 1-year high of 29.67 ($32.60). The company has a current ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The company has a market cap of $8.38 billion, a PE ratio of 50.68, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.74.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Stevanato Group

Stevanato Group ( NYSE:STVN Get Rating ) last issued its 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). Stevanato Group had a net margin of 14.17% and a return on equity of 15.15%. The firm had revenue of 292.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of 271.89 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.15 earnings per share. The firms revenue was up 25.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Stevanato Group will post 0.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of STVN. US Bancorp DE increased its position in shares of Stevanato Group by 170.7% in the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,340 shares of the companys stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 845 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG boosted its holdings in shares of Stevanato Group by 79.9% in the 1st quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,799 shares of the companys stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 799 shares in the last quarter. Simplex Trading LLC acquired a new position in shares of Stevanato Group in the 1st quarter valued at $44,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Stevanato Group by 166.8% in the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 5,837 shares of the companys stock valued at $98,000 after buying an additional 3,649 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada acquired a new position in shares of Stevanato Group in the 1st quarter valued at $138,000. 10.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Stevanato Group Company Profile

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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.

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StockNews.com upgraded shares of B&G Foods (NYSE:BGS  Get Rating) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Monday.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on BGS. TheStreet raised shares of B&G Foods from a d+ rating to a c- rating in a research note on Friday, March 24th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of B&G Foods from $15.00 to $16.00 in a research note on Monday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have issued a hold rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, B&G Foods presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $15.75.

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B&G Foods Trading Down 0.9 %

B&G Foods stock opened at $13.66 on Monday. The firms 50-day moving average is $15.34 and its 200-day moving average is $14.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.65, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 4.06. B&G Foods has a 1 year low of $10.91 and a 1 year high of $26.13. The company has a market cap of $986.39 million, a P/E ratio of -31.05 and a beta of 0.45.

B&G Foods Dividend Announcement

B&G Foods ( NYSE:BGS Get Rating ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 4th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.01. B&G Foods had a negative net margin of 1.48% and a positive return on equity of 8.59%. The business had revenue of $511.81 million for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $528.18 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.34 EPS. The companys revenue for the quarter was down 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that B&G Foods will post 1.02 earnings per share for the current year.

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 31st were issued a $0.19 dividend. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.56%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 30th. B&G Foodss payout ratio is -172.73%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Bruce C. Wacha sold 12,500 shares of B&G Foods stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.81, for a total value of $185,125.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 46,491 shares of the companys stock, valued at $688,531.71. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.80% of the companys stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On B&G Foods

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in B&G Foods by 117.4% during the first quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 2,000 shares of the companys stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 1,080 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in B&G Foods by 92.4% during the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 47,052 shares of the companys stock worth $731,000 after purchasing an additional 22,597 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of B&G Foods by 1,841.4% in the 1st quarter. FMR LLC now owns 115,785 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,798,000 after acquiring an additional 109,821 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of B&G Foods by 10.4% in the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 30,836 shares of the companys stock valued at $472,000 after acquiring an additional 2,893 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers grew its position in shares of B&G Foods by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 236,001 shares of the companys stock valued at $3,665,000 after purchasing an additional 10,022 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 63.71% of the companys stock.

About B&G Foods

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B&G Foods, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the manufacture, sale, and distribution of shelf-stable frozen food, and household products in the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico. Its products include frozen and canned vegetables, hot cereals, fruit spreads, canned meats and beans, bagel chips, spices, seasonings, hot sauces, and wine vinegar.

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StockNews.com upgraded shares of Kennedy-Wilson (NYSE:KW  Get Rating) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Monday.

Separately, TheStreet cut shares of Kennedy-Wilson from a b- rating to a c rating in a research report on Thursday, May 4th.

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Kennedy-Wilson Stock Performance

NYSE KW opened at $14.85 on Monday. The firms 50-day moving average is $16.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $16.57. Kennedy-Wilson has a 12 month low of $13.97 and a 12 month high of $21.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.05, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.07 billion, a P/E ratio of -164.98 and a beta of 1.17.

Kennedy-Wilson Announces Dividend

Kennedy-Wilson ( NYSE:KW Get Rating ) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 21st. The financial services provider reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.06. Kennedy-Wilson had a net margin of 2.34% and a return on equity of 10.65%. The company had revenue of $139.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $142.52 million. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Kennedy-Wilson will post 0.54 earnings per share for the current year.

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 29th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.46%. Kennedy-Wilsons dividend payout ratio is presently -1,066.55%.

Institutional Trading of Kennedy-Wilson

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in Kennedy-Wilson by 0.8% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 95,267 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $1,473,000 after acquiring an additional 784 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its holdings in Kennedy-Wilson by 24.3% in the third quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 64,724 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $1,001,000 after acquiring an additional 12,651 shares in the last quarter. First Manhattan Co. raised its holdings in Kennedy-Wilson by 3.8% in the third quarter. First Manhattan Co. now owns 148,900 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $2,301,000 after acquiring an additional 5,500 shares in the last quarter. MQS Management LLC acquired a new stake in Kennedy-Wilson in the third quarter valued at approximately $255,000. Finally, Rock Point Advisors LLC increased its stake in Kennedy-Wilson by 8.3% in the third quarter. Rock Point Advisors LLC now owns 1,036,600 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $16,026,000 after purchasing an additional 79,745 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.27% of the companys stock.

Kennedy-Wilson Company Profile

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Kennedy-Wilson Holdings, Inc operates as a real estate investment company, which engages in the ownership, operation, development, and investment in real estate properties. It operates through the Consolidated Portfolio and Co-Investment Portfolio segments. The Consolidated Portfolio segment includes the investments that the company has made in real estate and real estate-related assets.

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Treasurer of the State of North Carolina increased its stake in shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG  Get Rating) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 12,480 shares of the restaurant operators stock after buying an additional 173 shares during the quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolinas holdings in Chipotle Mexican Grill were worth $17,316,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,620,725 shares of the restaurant operators stock worth $3,938,320,000 after buying an additional 114,699 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. lifted its position in shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 1,966,428 shares of the restaurant operators stock worth $2,955,068,000 after buying an additional 23,107 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,058,549 shares of the restaurant operators stock worth $1,590,745,000 after buying an additional 5,450 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 542,847 shares of the restaurant operators stock worth $815,769,000 after buying an additional 3,709 shares during the period. Finally, Artisan Partners Limited Partnership lifted its position in shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill by 10.7% during the 3rd quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 505,220 shares of the restaurant operators stock worth $759,224,000 after buying an additional 48,865 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.26% of the companys stock.

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Chipotle Mexican Grill Trading Up 0.2 %

CMG stock opened at $2,058.50 on Friday. The businesss 50-day moving average price is $1,754.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $1,599.23. The firm has a market cap of $56.79 billion, a PE ratio of 55.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.34. Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. has a 1-year low of $1,196.28 and a 1-year high of $2,077.29.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Chipotle Mexican Grill ( NYSE:CMG Get Rating ) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 25th. The restaurant operator reported $10.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $8.89 by $1.61. The firm had revenue of $2.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.34 billion. Chipotle Mexican Grill had a return on equity of 45.01% and a net margin of 11.49%. The companys revenue for the quarter was up 18.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $5.70 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. will post 43.48 earnings per share for the current year.

CMG has been the subject of several analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on 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 raised their price target on Chipotle Mexican Grill from $1,750.00 to $2,000.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, April 21st. Stephens raised their price target on Chipotle Mexican Grill from $1,970.00 to $2,000.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, April 26th. BTIG Research raised their price target on Chipotle Mexican Grill from $1,825.00 to $2,175.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, April 26th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Chipotle Mexican Grill from $2,000.00 to $2,200.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, April 26th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $2,021.37.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Chipotle Mexican Grill news, insider Laurie Schalow sold 3,658 shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $2,066.73, for a total transaction of $7,560,098.34. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,637 shares in the company, valued at $3,383,237.01. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Laurie Schalow sold 3,658 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $2,066.73, for a total value of $7,560,098.34. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,637 shares in the company, valued at $3,383,237.01. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Brian R. Niccol sold 991 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,537.37, for a total value of $1,523,533.67. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 23,347 shares in the company, valued at $35,892,977.39. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 17,790 shares of company stock worth $33,073,075. Corporate insiders own 0.96% of the companys stock.

Chipotle Mexican Grill Company Profile

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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.

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U.S. Physical Therapy, Inc. (NYSE:USPH  Get Rating)  Investment analysts at William Blair upped their Q3 2023 earnings estimates for U.S. Physical Therapy in a research note issued to investors on Monday, May 8th. William Blair analyst M. Larew now forecasts that the company will earn $0.64 per share for the quarter, up from their previous forecast of $0.62. The consensus estimate for U.S. Physical Therapys current full-year earnings is $2.63 per share. William Blair also issued estimates for U.S. Physical Therapys Q4 2023 earnings at $0.67 EPS, Q1 2024 earnings at $0.80 EPS, Q3 2024 earnings at $0.83 EPS and Q4 2024 earnings at $0.90 EPS.

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U.S. Physical Therapy (NYSE:USPH  Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 3rd. The company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.07. U.S. Physical Therapy had a net margin of 5.40% and a return on equity of 10.93%. The business had revenue of $148.51 million during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $140.77 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.65 earnings per share. The businesss revenue was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year.

U.S. Physical Therapy Price Performance

USPH has been the subject of a number of other reports. TheStreet upgraded shares of U.S. Physical Therapy from a c+ rating to a b- rating in a research report on Friday, May 5th. StockNews.com raised shares of U.S. Physical Therapy from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note on Thursday, May 4th. Finally, Barrington Research raised their price objective on shares of U.S. Physical Therapy from $110.00 to $116.00 in a research note on Friday, May 5th.

Shares of NYSE:USPH opened at $111.43 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The company has a market cap of $1.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.59, a PEG ratio of 4.35 and a beta of 1.35. U.S. Physical Therapy has a 52 week low of $73.30 and a 52 week high of $131.50. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $101.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $93.70.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On U.S. Physical Therapy

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of U.S. Physical Therapy by 754.7% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 453 shares of the companys stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its position in U.S. Physical Therapy by 133.0% in the 1st quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 487 shares of the companys stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 278 shares during the last quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new position in U.S. Physical Therapy in the 1st quarter worth about $54,000. Cerity Partners LLC bought a new position in U.S. Physical Therapy in the 1st quarter worth about $380,000. Finally, Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in U.S. Physical Therapy in the 3rd quarter worth about $45,000. Institutional investors own 98.44% of the companys stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at U.S. Physical Therapy

In other U.S. Physical Therapy news, EVP Richard Binstein sold 911 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.78, for a total value of $91,810.58. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 9,906 shares in the company, valued at approximately $998,326.68. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, EVP Richard Binstein sold 911 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.78, for a total value of $91,810.58. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 9,906 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $998,326.68. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Graham D. Reeve sold 1,912 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.95, for a total transaction of $193,016.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 8,243 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $832,130.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 4,814 shares of company stock worth $484,853 in the last quarter. 1.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

U.S. Physical Therapy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 18th will be issued a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 17th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.54%. U.S. Physical Therapys dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 79.63%.

U.S. Physical Therapy Company Profile

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U.S. Physical Therapy, Inc operates outpatient physical therapy clinics, which provides pre-and post-operative care and treatment for orthopedic-related disorders, sports-related injuries, preventative care, rehabilitation of injured workers and neurological-related injuries. It operates through the following segments: physical therapy operations and industrial injury prevention services.

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Vulcan Materials (NYSE:VMC  Get Rating) SVP David P. Clement sold 2,389 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.00, for a total value of $468,244.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 2,887 shares of the companys stock, valued at $565,852. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Vulcan Materials Stock Up 0.2 %

NYSE:VMC traded up $0.39 on Friday, hitting $195.22. The stock had a trading volume of 70,635 shares, compared to its average volume of 783,263. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.59 and a current ratio of 2.37. The stock has a market cap of $25.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.74. Vulcan Materials has a 1 year low of $137.54 and a 1 year high of $199.10. The firms fifty day simple moving average is $172.84 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $176.50.

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Vulcan Materials (NYSE:VMC  Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 4th. The construction company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.31. Vulcan Materials had a net margin of 8.14% and a return on equity of 10.36%. The firm had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.73 EPS. The companys revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Vulcan Materials will post 6.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vulcan Materials

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. UBS Group AG increased its stake in shares of Vulcan Materials by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 257,465 shares of the construction companys stock worth $44,171,000 after purchasing an additional 13,730 shares during the last quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co increased its stake in shares of Vulcan Materials by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 10,660 shares of the construction companys stock worth $1,829,000 after purchasing an additional 374 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in shares of Vulcan Materials by 298.5% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 91,028 shares of the construction companys stock worth $15,617,000 after purchasing an additional 68,188 shares during the last quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP grew its stake in Vulcan Materials by 1,700.0% in the 1st quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP now owns 486 shares of the construction companys stock valued at $83,000 after buying an additional 459 shares in the last quarter. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Vulcan Materials by 1,867.1% in the 1st quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 131,301 shares of the construction companys stock valued at $22,526,000 after buying an additional 124,626 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.08% of the companys stock.

A number of brokerages have weighed in on VMC. Atlantic Securities downgraded Vulcan Materials from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and increased their price target for the stock from $180.00 to $185.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 24th. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Vulcan Materials from $186.00 to $199.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 25th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Vulcan Materials from $210.00 to $225.00 in a research report on Friday, February 17th. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Vulcan Materials from $212.00 to $225.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Vulcan Materials from $191.00 to $193.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, February 17th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $208.08.

About Vulcan Materials

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Vulcan Materials Co engages in the production of construction aggregates. Its products include crushed stone, sand, and gravel. It operates through the following business segments: Aggregates, Asphalt, Concrete, and Calcium. The Aggregates segment produces and sells asphalt mix and ready-mixed concrete primarily in its mid-Atlantic, Georgia, Southwestern, Tennessee, and Western markets.

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Fort Polk, LA (71446)

Today

Sun and clouds mixed. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 88F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Thunderstorms during the evening will give way to partly cloudy skies after midnight. Low 68F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 70%.
CBSE 12th Class students of Meridian School Banjara Hills in a joyful mood after the results were announced on Friday. (DC Image/R. Pavan)

HYDERABAD: Students from the city performed exceedingly well in their Class 10 and 12 CBSE exams, the results of which were declared after a long wait on Friday. The overall pass percentage for Class 10 and 12 was 93.12 and 87.3 respectively. However, the number of students scoring above 90 and 95 per cent marks dipped as compared to last year.

The CBSE said that to prevent unhealthy competition among students, it would not publish the merit list. Also, the board did not award first, second and third divisions; 0.1 per cent students who have scored highest marks in subjects would get merit certificates.

Several schools in the city reported that they had scored 100 per cent pass percentage.

Mokshata Narneni, who scored 494/500 or 98.8 per cent in Class 10, described her hard work as a joyful experience. "My journey was exciting because there was so much learning and practical knowledge to take away," she said.

She is torn between engineering and medical streams. "I love both subjects but I might take up medicine, as I grew up knowing that I want to take up a profession that helps me serve the people without thinking of profit," the 15-year-old told Deccan Chronicle.

Pranav Chaurasia (99.3 per cent, Class 10) has his grandparents as his proudest cheerleaders. Like many of his peers, he scored a centum in IT, general sciences and social studies, and has applied for his JEE classes. Though his interests lie in computer sciences programming, coding and app developing, he would consciously keep his options open for the future.

"I had no rigorous timetable and took things one day at a time, planned for the next day towards the end so I could go to bed without any stress the night before the exam," he said of his mantra.

Sanka Bhavana (98.4 per cent, Commerce, Class 12), celebrating her results by taking a break. "I didn't know the results were going to be out today. So I was preparing hard for the CA entrance test. When I told my parents my result, they told me I deserve a break and I thought maybe I should take one," she said with a laugh.

Shaurya Tripathi (485/500, Class 12), surpassed her own expectations.

Her rule to excel was simple. "At least a month before her exam I needed to know what subjects and concepts were my strengths and what wasn't. That helped me plan my study better. Second was to rest and ensure my mind wasn't tired," she said.

Tripathi is already pursuing her Bachelor's via an Ahmedabad-based college in visual and communication design, better known as graphic design. "I knew I would enjoy being part of branding and marketing and applied in November and chose subjects like entrepreneurship and business studies."

Students in the city were hoping to make the most of the break for the next month before they head out to different cities and colleges. Most toppers that DC interacted with described learning as something insightful rather than tedious and strenuous, a fresh change from the rote learning the system has often been criticised to be.
The animals entered the Kuppam area of AP from the Tamil Nadu borders, after they killed a farmer there a week ago. (Representative image: PTI)

Anantapur: In separate incidents, two labourers including a woman were trampled to death by wild elephants at Mallanur and Sappanikunta in Kuppam mandal of Chittoor district on Friday.

The wild elephants went on the rampage closer to human habitations from Tamil Nadu even after the forest department was alerted.

According to reports, 42-year-old woman Usha, was attacked by two elephants while she was on her way to the Mallanur railway station to catch a train to a nearby city for work. She died on the spot.

In the other incident, farmer Shivalingam, 45, was trampled to death by a jumbo while he was returning home from the fields on the outskirts of Sappanikunta village, adjacent to Mallanur in Kuppam mandal.

The incidents terrified the villagers. The animals entered the Kuppam area of AP from the Tamil Nadu borders, after they killed a farmer there a week ago. The Tamil Nadu forest department personnel drove the elephants away towards Andhra Pradesh.

Even as the AP forest officials along with Chittoor revenue staff were alerted by the locals, the two incidents could not be averted. This caused panic among the people of the surrounding Kuppam.

Some 15 elephants were already moving around the forest area and destroying the crops in recent days. Two more wild elephants entered the region from TN after they killed a farmer in Krishnagiri area of TN last week. Farmer Perumal was trying to send back the elephants from the fields.

DRO Krishna Prasad had cautioned the people of the area not to go to the agriculture fields as the wild elephants were on the prowl.
The Andhra Pradesh High Court Complex at Amaravati.(Source: https://hc.ap.nic.in/)

VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh High Court has set aside the recent GO-Rt-1 that banned meetings on public roads, highways, state highways as also municipal and panchayat roads.

A division bench of Chief Justice Prashant Mishra and Justice DVSS Somayajulu delivered the verdict here on Friday. The court said the GO did not stand the test of law. "It is open to the state government to frame proper guidelines in the future keeping in view the law on the subject," it said.

"The GO clearly states that highways are meant for high-speed connectivity to ensure logical integration and that any obstruction on the highway will affect the movement of logistics across the state. The GO further states that it would be ideal that no permission is granted for any meeting on state highways, national highways, municipal and panchayat roads; and that only in rare and exceptional cases, an application could be considered," the court noted.

The court said, "The failure (on the part of the government) to describe what are the rare and exceptional cases confers arbitrary power upon the authorities to refuse permission for holding meetings."

This apart, "the language used  that no licence to be granted, virtually takes away the power of discretion to be exercised by the officers at lower levels and even directs them not to issue licence for meetings on roads, highways and streets."

The court has observed that an accident or incident occurred at a particular place cannot be used as a cause to curtail the right to assemble, to take our processions etc. "This is far more than a reasonable restriction on

the right of a citizen or of a political party to assemble and to hold meetings."

The court said, "The tradition of public meetings, processions, assemblies etc on streets, highways have been recognised in this country and they constitute an important facet of our political life. The freedom struggle is replete with examples of processions, dharnas and satyagrahas. If the political history of contemporary AP is considered, there were many processions, padayatras and assemblies on public roads/highways across the state."

"Any GO that takes away the right of a political party or a citizen or a group to assemble peacefully, to protest peacefully has to be viewed strictly. This is a right conferred on the citizens by the Constitution. It cannot be subject to a reasonable restriction. The court is of the firm opinion that this GO does not stand the test of law and accordingly is set aside," the court said.

In the course of hearing, advocate general S. Sriram raised a serious issue about the manner in which the PILs were entertained and the interim order issued by the vacation bench stating that it was not a matter that could have been taken up during the Sankranti vacation.

On the issue of GO-Rt-1, he has submitted to the court that the GO was not contemplated to impose complete a ban on public meetings or processions. "But, because of certain fatal accidents that occurred in the recent past involving loss of life in stampedes, the state government decided to regulate the conduct of meetings."

Petitioners counsels Raju Ramachandran, Siddarth Luthra, T Sreedhar, Ravi Shankar Jandhyala, Javvaji Sarath Chandra have argued on similar lines, saying "the right to free speech is a fundamental right and it cannot be totally curtailed and can only be subject to reasonable restrictions as per provisions I of Article 19."

"Democracy and dissent go hand in hand and the purpose of the public meetings is to propagate ideas and thoughts among the public and also to bring failures etc of the powers that be. Under the Police Act, on the basis of which the impugned GO is issued, the state can regulate conduct of meetings but cannot ban the same altogether," counsels said.
File photo of former Karnataka chief minister and JDS leader H.D. Kumaraswamy (L) and Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao. (By Arrangement)

HYDERABAD: The BRS leadership is eagerly awaiting the results of Karnataka Assembly results which will be declared on Saturday. In the event of a 'hung Assembly', the BRS leadership reportedly offered to help the JDS leadership in shifting their MLAs to Hyderabad to prevent poaching by the BJP and the Congress.

Hyderabad was the epicentre for 'camp politics' after the BJP, Congress, and the JDS had failed to secure a clear majority in the May 2018 Karnataka elections.

Despite not having numbers, the BJP formed government with B.S. Yediyurappa as Chief Minister. The magic figure to form the government was 113, but the BJP won 104 seats.

Fearing poaching of MLAs from the Congress and JDS by the BJP in order to save its government, the Congress and JDS shifted their MLAs to Hyderabad, resulting in the BJP government collapsing and Yediyurappa resigning as CM after only two days in office, even before facing a trust vote in the Assembly.

The Congress and JDS MLAs were lodged in different star hotels in Hyderabad and the BRS government (then TRS) provided full police security to MLAs to prevent them from poaching and helped the formation of JDS-Congress government in Karnataka later.

A year later, however, the alliance fell apart and Yediyurappa returned as Chief Minister.

Prior to the current Assembly polls, Chief Minister K.Chandrashekar Rao met JDS leaders H.D. Deve Gowda and H.D. Kumaraswamy and extended his support to the JDS. Rao declared that he wanted Kumuraswamy to be the CM and went went on to stress that the BRS leaders and party workers will work hard to ensure the JDS victory.

Rao made these comments while addressing an event at Telangana Bhavan, the party's headquarters, on December 9 last to formally sign the papers sent by Election Commission approving the partys name change from the TRS to BRS, which was attended by Kumaraswamy.

Kumaraswamy also attended the TRS meeting on October 5 last year on Dasara, which was held to pass a resolution seeking the EC to approve the party's name change to the BRS. The JDS chief attended the BRS office inauguration in New Delhi on December 14. Further, Rao declared that the JDS and BRS would not enter into a pre-poll alliance as the BRS was not interested in contesting Karnataka Assembly polls.

However, neither Rao nor ministers nor MLAs took part in campaigning in support of the JDS. After the declaration of results, the CM reportedly wants to help JDS again in forming the coalition government with the Congress if the results throw a hung verdict and in the event of the JDS emerging as the 'kingmaker'.
By Advait Palepu and Saikat Das

Indias top court and markets regulator are facing their biggest opportunity to show the countrys determination to police its most powerful companies as they investigate the bombshell allegations lobbed at the Adani Group by Hindenburg Research.

A six-member expert panel  set up at the Supreme Courts direction on March 2 to look into any regulatory failures and suggest reforms for investor protection  has filed its report to judges in a sealed cover, according to a person familiar with the development who did not want to be identified as the information is private. The court may open it on Friday, this person said, when the matter comes up for hearing again.

Also read | Two Adani Group firms dropped from MSCIs India gauge

The court had also asked the Securities and Exchange Board of India, or SEBI, in early March to separately investigate Hindenburgs accusations of corporate fraud, which the group has denied. The regulator is requesting a six-month extension beyond the two-month deadline as it seeks more financial details locally and overseas.

With Indias Prime Minister Narendra Modi largely silent on the controversy despite attacks from opposition parties, these investigations are the most significant way India can signal to the investors that it is willing to scrutinise its largest firms and align them closer to global standards of corporate governance. The Supreme Court is weighing in after a slew of public interest petitions were filed.

The expert panel, staffed with veteran Indian bankers, retired judges and technology tycoon Nandan Nilekani, was told by SEBI that theres little threat to investors from Adani companies, said a person familiar with the matter. Most of the firms in the ports-to-power conglomerate have posted robust earnings, and there are no signs of further market volatility, the person said.

Nevertheless, anticipation is high that the Supreme Court or SEBI may ultimately recommend changes to corporate governance frameworks stemming from the unprecedented market rout and global scrutiny suffered by the Adani Group  or at least tighten rules around practices that US shortseller Hindenburg seized on. SEBI is also looking into possible violations of insider trading regulations and shortselling norms. The Adani Group has called Hindenburgs conduct a calculated securities fraud and an attack on Indian institutions.

This is a chance for them to come out and say: You know what? Its not going to happen again, said Sharmila Gopinath, specialist advisor India at the Asian Corporate Governance Association. You need deep reform, you need regulators who are strong enough to enforce the rules.

Adani Group and SEBI did not respond to emails seeking comments on the court-led scrutiny and the panels report.

Byzantine Web

The Jan 24 Hindenburg report detailed a byzantine web of Adani-family controlled offshore shell entities in tax havens, from the Caribbean, Mauritius and the United Arab Emirates, that it alleged were used to facilitate corruption, money laundering, stock price manipulation and taxpayer theft.

Even though the Adani Group has repeatedly refuted these claims, the ensuing market selldown has wiped $100 billion off the market value of its listed entities.

One area highlighted by Hindenburg thats received attention is how parties like Gautam Adanis little-known elder brother, Vinod Adani, is a director of several overseas firms which are either investors in or transact with Adanis empire. The US shortseller characterised this as a vast labyrinth of offshore shell entities that moved billions of dollars into Adani firms without disclosure of the related party nature of the deals.

The Adani Group has always maintained that it is fully compliant with disclosures required under Indian laws, while Mauritius Minister of Financial Services and Good Governance, Mahen Kumar Seeruttun, told Bloomberg in February that there has been no breach of regulations in his jurisdiction.

Money often gets routed through several tax havens with loose and differing disclosure requirements, which create another set of challenges for the investigator, said Navajyoti Samanta, associate professor in law at the University of Leicester. He suggested that a streamlined data-sharing standard operating procedure should be established between Indian institutions and foreign counterparts.

The Supreme Court-initiated investigation into allegations against the Adani Group  and the broader regulatory framework surrounding it  is unprecedented for Indian businesses.

While the top court has set up expert panels in the past, those were mostly for political hot-potato issues such as Indias three farm laws and the use of Pegasus spyware on journalists, activists and politicians.

Probes into corporate blow-ups, such as the 2009 audit scam in Satyam Computers, a banking scam by diamantaire Nirav Modi in 2018 and the collapse of the Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Group, were led by sector regulators. Culpability was either confessed by the company managements or there were defaults that compelled regulators to step in.

With the Adani Group, no wrongdoing has been proven so far and neither has it defaulted on any repayments. The judicial and regulatory stance taken in the Adani case could therefore become a precedent as Indian conglomerates increasingly tap global pools of capital.

Runaway Valuations

Another issue SEBI is investigating is unusual market activity in Adani stocks, as the short seller-triggered rout punctured astronomical valuations of the tycoons firms that had come under increasing concern last year.

Adani stocks runaway valuations were constantly under question but not its assets, said Amit Tandon, managing director of proxy advisory, Institutional Investor Advisory Services India Ltd.

Clarity is needed on who owns overseas funds with stakes in Adani firms as well the beneficiaries of the money flowing in and around the conglomerate. The overseas funds came under scrutiny as Adani companies stock prices rose way past the market valuations of local and global peers, buoying Gautam Adani to the position of second-richest man in the world last year.

The lesson is that we perhaps need better disclosures on beneficial ownership and regulatory mechanisms to trace money flows, Tandon said.
Student's spectacular jumps defy gravity

(People's Daily App) 16:02, May 12, 2023

A student at Beijing Sport University posted a video on China's short video platform Douyin showing off his incredible jumping ability. In the video, he leaps several times, each a longer distance, making people question the authenticity of video and the existence of gravity.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
The clip lasted 14 seconds, presented by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as proof that his rival in Sunday's election was running "hand in hand" with outlawed Kurdish militants.

Aired at a huge rally and beamed live on TV, the video showed opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu trying to rally his supporters to the tune of his campaign song.

In the next sequence, members of Turkey's banned PKK group echoed that call while clapping their hands to the beat of Kilicdaroglu's election jingle.

The message Erdogan was trying to project was clear: the secular opposition leader had formed a union with "terrorists".

Only it was a montage, one of the latest pieces of disinformation to pollute the campaign of one of Turkey's closest and most important elections in generations.

Also Read: US ambassador accuses South Africa of providing arms to Russia; president cites investigation

"How can a person sitting in the president's chair stoop this low," Kilicdaroglu, whose campaign has been endorsed by Turkey's main pro-Kurdish party, fumed on Tuesday.

Running neck-and-neck with Erdogan, Kilicdaroglu claims that "foreign hackers" recruited by Erdogan's team are preparing deepfakes -- manipulated videos and soundbites -- aimed at discrediting rivals days before the election.

"Dear Russian friends," he added on Twitter on Thursday.

"You are behind the montages, conspiracies, deepfake content and tapes that were exposed in this country," he said without explaining why he was blaming Russia.

"If you want our friendship after May 15, get your hands off the Turkish state."

Erdogan has responded in kind, alleging that "an army of trolls" was working for his rival.

"You are using lies and misinformation. You are devising schemes that even the devil would not have thought of," Erdogan told the opposition leader on television.

Turkey's social media became a political battlefield last October, when parliament adopted a law making the spread of "fake news" punishable by up to three years in prison.

Weeks later, Kilicdaroglu became one of the first to be prosecuted under the law for alleging that Erdogan's Islamic-rooted government was responsible for a "methamphetamine epidemic" in Turkey.

Dunja Mijatovic, the Council of Europe's commissioner for human rights, warned in May that the law's "extensive use" was having a "chilling effect on journalists and critical voices".

Suncem Kocer, a disinformation specialist at Istanbul's Koc University, said such charges and counter-charges had never featured to this extent in past Turkish elections.

"Everybody is trying to define what disinformation is," Kocer said. "It has turned into a weapon to kind of criminalise the opposite candidate or party. This is something new."

But the actual methods of spreading disinformation remain the same, said Gulin Cavus, co-founder of Turkey's Teyit fact checking site.

They appear "on social networks, but also during meetings", in images that are either cropped or taken out of context.

In one example earlier this week, Erdogan showed an excerpt of a newspaper article on a big screen suggesting that Kilicdaroglu had been found guilty of fraud in 1996.

In the original article, quickly unearthed by journalists from Teyit, Kilicdaroglu had actually denounced fraud committed by people who took advantage of Turkey's social security agency, which he then headed.

"These videos can make a real impact on people with little training in media and with digital tools," Cavus said.

Some of the disinformation relies on more tried and tested methods such as fake campaign literature.

One leaflet claiming to come from Kilicdaroglu's team promises to withdraw Turkey's troops from Syria and halt all military operations against the PKK.

Kocer said all this disinformation was unlikely to sway Sunday's outcome, where turnout among Turkey's 64 million voters is likely to be high.

"But disinformation certainly works towards increasing the polarised atmosphere, which is the real danger," Kocer said.
A team of Lahore police has left for Islamabad to arrest Pakistans former prime minister Imran Khan in a number of cases registered against him in Punjab province, according to a media report on Friday.

The police team is headed by the deputy inspector general (investigation), the Dawn newspaper reported.

Also Read: Former Pakistan PM Imran Khan arrested in corruption case

It was reported that the joint investigation team probing cases against Imran has informed the Islamabad High Court that it seeks the arrest of chief of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party.

Khan faces 121 cases across the country, including for committing treason and blasphemy and inciting violence and terrorism.

Twelve cases of terrorism have been registered against Khan in Lahore and 14 cases have been registered in Faisalabad.

Khan, 70, appeared before a special bench of the Islamabad High Court for a hearing on his bail plea in a graft case amid tight security.

The bench, comprising Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb and Justice Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz, took up the ex-premiers bail plea.
Sudan's warring military factions signed a commitment to respect humanitarian principles in their spiralling conflict late Thursday but they did not reach a ceasefire in talks described by US diplomats as difficult.

Nearly one month after the eruption of violence that has killed more than 750 people, injured 5,000 and displaced more than 900,000 others, the two sides promised in talks in the Saudi port city Jeddah to protect civilians, but nothing looked set to change immediately.

"We agree that the interests and well-being of the Sudanese people are our top priority and affirm our commitment to ensure that civilians are protected at all times," said envoys from army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and paramilitary commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

Also read | Sudan agreement not a ceasefire but to secure humanitarian aid, says US

"This includes allowing safe passage for civilians to leave areas of active hostilities on a voluntary basis, in the direction they choose," the declaration said.

The agreement commits both sides in general terms to let in badly needed humanitarian assistance after looting and attacks targeting aid in the impoverished country, Africa's third largest in area.

The declaration calls for the restoration of electricity, water and other basic services, the withdrawal of security forces from hospitals and "respectful burial" of the dead.

The United States and Saudi Arabia, which are together leading the diplomatic drive, said that talks were ongoing with a proposal on the table for a 10-day truce, which would lead, in turn, to negotiations on a longer-term end to fighting.

But fighting and looting raged most of Thursday in the capital Khartoum and US diplomats were frank about the obstacles in the nearly week-long talks in Jeddah.

"This is not a ceasefire. This is an affirmation of their obligations under international humanitarian law," said a US official involved in the talks, who called the two sides "quite far apart".

"We are hopeful, cautiously, that their willingness to sign this document will create some momentum that will force them to create the space" to bring in relief supplies, she said.

At least 18 humanitarian workers have been killed since the war started on April 15, with many NGOs and United Nations agencies at least temporarily suspending work.

The UN's World Food Programme said millions of dollars worth of food was looted in Khartoum.

The conflict erupted when the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces -- set up and groomed by former dictator Omar al-Bashir for a scorched-earth campaign in Darfur -- refused to be integrated into Sudan's army under a planned transition to civilian rule.

The Forces of Freedom and Change, the pro-democracy force sidelined in a 2021 putsch by the two generals now at war, saluted the Jeddah declaration as "a first step in the right direction."

The UN-led support mission for Sudan, which also includes the African Union and regional IGAD bloc, also welcomed the declaration and called on the warring factions to "convey clear and unequivocal instructions to lower ranks" to allow humanitarian access.

After previous truces evaporated, the United States said the two sides also agreed in Jeddah for the first time on ways to monitor any ceasefire.

A second US official said the negotiations were "very tough" and acknowledged that both sides may have ulterior motives for ceasefire monitoring.

"Candidly, there is some hope on both sides that the other side would be seen as being the perpetrator of violations," he said.

"Frankly, we've seen violations by both sides in all the ceasefires to date and don't expect that to change."

But, he added that the length of time spent in brokering the first step would at least make the ceasefire more "effective" if reached.

Diplomats and experts have questioned whether the two sides want peace or if they are more interested in vanquishing the other.

Also Thursday, the United Nations' top rights body narrowly decided to beef up monitoring of abuses in Sudan, expanding the work of an existing special rapporteur.

But the vote was close. The move was led by Western countries, with 18 members of the Human Rights Council in favour, 15 opposed and 14 abstaining.
In a veiled dig at China, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Friday that when nations disregard the legal obligations or violate longstanding agreements, the damage to trust and confidence is immense.

Addressing the 6th Indian Ocean Conference here in the Bangladeshi capital, he also said a significant shared concern through the Indian Ocean is that of unsustainable debt generated by unviable projects.

"When nations disregard the legal obligations or violate long-standing agreements. As we have seen, the damage to trust and confidence is immense," he said, apparently referring to China's violation of border pacts with India.

Also Read | Indian growth cannot be built on Chinese efficiency: Jaishankar

India has been slamming Chinas deployment of a massive number of troops and its aggressive behaviour along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh in violation of pacts on border management.

India has firmly told China that its violation of the border pacts has eroded the entire basis of bilateral ties and that all issues relating to the frontier must be resolved in accordance with the existing agreements.

"There are lessons from the last two decades that we ignore at our peril. If we encourage opaque lending practices, exorbitant ventures and price points that are unrelated to the market, these are bound to bite us back sooner rather than later," he said.

He said this was time to reflect and reform not to repeat and reiterate.

Jaishankar is visiting Dhaka to participate in the 6th edition of the Indian Ocean Conference which is being attended by President of Mauritius Prithvirajsing Roopun, Vice President of Maldives Faisal Naseem, Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina, and several ministers from across the world.

Also Read | Jaishankar embarks on 3-nation visit, to attend India-EU TTC meet in Brussels

Dhaka, May 12 (PTI) In a veiled dig at China, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Friday that when nations disregard the legal obligations or violate longstanding agreements, the damage to trust and confidence is immense.

Addressing the 6th Indian Ocean Conference here in the Bangladeshi capital, he also said a significant shared concern through the Indian Ocean is that of unsustainable debt generated by unviable projects.

"When nations disregard the legal obligations or violate long-standing agreements. As we have seen, the damage to trust and confidence is immense," he said, apparently referring to China's violation of border pacts with India.

India has been slamming Chinas deployment of a massive number of troops and its aggressive behaviour along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh in violation of pacts on border management.

India has firmly told China that its violation of the border pacts has eroded the entire basis of bilateral ties and that all issues relating to the frontier must be resolved in accordance with the existing agreements.

"There are lessons from the last two decades that we ignore at our peril. If we encourage opaque lending practices, exorbitant ventures and price points that are unrelated to the market, these are bound to bite us back sooner rather than later," he said.

He said this was time to reflect and reform not to repeat and reiterate.

Jaishankar is visiting Dhaka to participate in the 6th edition of the Indian Ocean Conference which is being attended by President of Mauritius Prithvirajsing Roopun, Vice President of Maldives Faisal Naseem, Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina, and several ministers from across the world.
The appointment of 36,000 primary school teachers in West Bengal stands cancelled, after a Calcutta High Court order on Friday.

Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay, ordered the same, directing the state primary education board to make fresh recruitment in three months for the vacant posts.

Also Read | Calcutta HC to hear Abhishek's application in teacher recruitment case on Monday

Based on the prerequisite test in 2014, the candidates had been appointed in 2016. The total number of recruited candidates was 42,500. The recruitment process was countered in the Court, where severe anomalies were cited.

The Court, while allowing the teachers to continue working for four months, said that they will receive salary but that of para-teachers. However, the teachers, who had the jobs cancelled, are permitted to appear in the fresh recruitment process.

Manik Bhattacharya  a Trinamool MLA, arrested last year  had headed the West Bengal Board of Primary Education in the year 2016 when the appointments had been made. The Court said that the state can charge Bhattacharya for the cost of the fresh recruitment process.

Meanwhile, the primary board chairman Goutam Paul, said that legal opinion is being sought, and the Board will take proper steps at the proper time, and the future course of action will be decided after legal consultation.
Amid the political tussle vis-a-vis the Supreme Court judgement in the June-2022 Shiv Sena split, NCP leader Ajit Pawar added a new dimension on Friday by raking up the resignation of Nana Patole as Speaker of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly.

According to Pawar, had Patole not resigned, the present situation would have been different as the 16 rebel Sena MLAs, including present Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, would have been disqualified.

The Congress high-command, however, has not yet responded to Pawar's statement. Pawar was a former Deputy Chief Minister in the erstwhile Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government.

Also Read | BJP and morality contradictory to each other: Sharad Pawar

Patole was the first to revolt against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Maharashtra BJP, and resigned as a BJP MP from Bhandara-Gondiya in 2017, later joining the Congress.

In 2019, he contested the Sakoli seat and was elected to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. And when the Maha Vikas Aghadi government came to power, he was the Congress' first choice to be the Speaker - as the post of Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister went to Shiv Sena and NCP, respectively.

However, in February 2021, he resigned as Speaker and became the President of Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee.

Also Read | Speaker must decide on disqualification of 16 MLAs at the earliest: Uddhav

After Patole resigned, Deputy Speaker Narhari Zirwal became the Interim Speaker, during which time the June-2022 Shiv Sena crisis occured.

Had there been a Speaker from our side, the 16 MLAs would have been disqualifiedthe MVA should have moved faster after Patole's resignation and should have elected a new Speaker, Ajit Pawar, the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, told reporters.

The issue of Patole's resignation was previously raised by NCP supremo Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut.

Reacting to Uddhav Thackerays demand that CM Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis should step down on "moral grounds", Pawar said, the demand is futile as there is a great difference between (former Prime Minister) Atal Bihari Vajpayee and those currently in power.
Top leaders in the Congress'ss Rajasthan unit went into a huddle on Friday to chalk out a strategy to tackle the challenge thrown by Sachin Pilot, who has launched a foot march against corruption in the state.

Senior party leaders, including the Congress'ss Rajasthan in-charge Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, state unit chief Govind Singh Dotasra and co-in-charges Qazi Muhammad Nizamuddin, Amrita Dhawan and Virendra Rathore were present at a meeting at the party's Gurdwara Rakab Ganj Road office during which they are likely to discuss Pilot's march.

Pilot on Thursday launched a 125-kilometre 'Jan Sangharsh Yatra' from Ajmer to Jaipur to raise the issue of corruption during the previous BJP regime led by Vasundhara Raje and cases of paper leaks in government recruitment exams.

Also Read | Gehlots googly creates turmoil in poll-bound Rajasthan

Pilot has said his march is not against anyone but over issues of corruption. He claimed that he has been writing to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot for a year and a half for action on corruption but nothing has been forthcoming.

The five-day yatra mounts pressure on the party leadership months ahead of the assembly elections slated for later this year with the Congress also facing anti-incumbency, apart from infighting in the state unit.

Pilot and Gehlot have been engaged in a power tussle since the Congress formed the government in the state in 2018. In 2020, Pilot led a failed revolt against the Gehlot government after which he was removed from the posts of the party's state unit president and deputy chief minister.

The former Rajasthan deputy chief minister had last month defied a warning from the party and went ahead with a day-long fast targeting Gehlot over his "inaction" on alleged corruption during the Raje government.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has lost all moral authority to remain in office, Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal said on Friday following repeated blast incidents in the vicinity of the Golden Temple here.

In less than a week, three explosions have taken place in Amritsar. The third explosion occurred on Wednesday midnight in Galiara, the pathway and park around the Golden Temple, behind the Guru Ramdas Ji Niwas building.

Interacting with reporters, the SAD chief said, "Instead of paying a visit here and taking stock of the situation, the chief minister had been busy in cheap PR stunts."

"He even ordered 'Operation Vigil' on the border as part of this publicity drive but did not intensify efforts to nail down culprits bent on spoiling the peace and stoking communal passions in the holy city here," Badal said.

Also Read | Electing SAD candidate from Jalandhar will be true homage to Parkash Singh Badal, says son Sukhbir

The chief minister has lost all moral authority to remain in office, he said, adding that in Darbar Sahib (Golden Temple), which was venerated across the world, was not safe then nothing was safe in Punjab.

Badal accused the chief minister of failing as a home minister by failing to carry out an intense drive to arrest the culprits.

"Even this responsibility was fulfilled by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee which nabbed the culprits responsible for the blast incidents," he claimed.

Claiming that the recent events point to a "complete intelligence failure", Badal said, "It has been made worse by an administrative collapse. The state is no longer able to safeguard the life and property of its people. This has led to a sense of insecurity among the people and caused loss to hoteliers and businesses, particularly in the holy city."

Notably, five persons were arrested on Thursday in connection with the low-intensity blast incidents near the Golden Temple, police had said earlier.

Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee chief Harjinder Singh Dhami on Thursday said it was SGPC employees who first noticed the blast in the 'Galiara' and also pinpointed the place from where the explosive material was thrown.

Dhami said the SGPC employees traced a suspect through CCTV footage installed in the Guru Ramdas Ji Niwas (inn) building and later they handed him over to the police.
Under attack from opposition parties and medical professionals over the gruesome killing of a young doctor two days ago, the Kerala government on Friday announced more measures to assuage their concerns, including setting up of a panel to address the fraternity's long-pending demands.

Dr Vandana Das, a native of Kaduthuruthy area of Kottayam district and the only child of her parents, was working at a taluk hospital in Kollam district when she was stabbed several times. She later succumbed to her injuries. Following the attack on her, protests erupted in various hospitals across the state, with healthcare professionals, medical interns, students and house surgeons taking to the streets.

The proposed committee, to be headed by the secretary of medical education, would study various issues raised by postgraduate students and house surgeons and submit a report within one month, Health Minister Veena George said.

Also Read | Kerala CPM MLA allegedly hurt doctors citing Dr. Vandana Das's fate

A Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) would be released soon for those who go to work in other hospitals as part of their medical residency programme. The deceased Dr Das was employed as a house surgeon at Azeezia Medical College Hospital but was working at the Kottarakkara taluk hospital as part of her training.

Issues being faced by house surgeons would also be looked into by the panel, which would take steps to modernise the residency manual, Minister George said in a statement here. The manual sets down working patterns, duties and other rules and guidelines for residents and medical officers.

The minister also directed the respective department heads to ensure adequate leave for medical students. The directions were given to officials during a meeting chaired by the minister with the representatives of various organisations of PG students and house surgeons, the statement said.

Urging doctors to give up their agitation, she said the government stands strong with the healthcare fraternity. "Healthcare workers should no longer be attacked. Strict action will be taken. A public address system will be implemented in medical colleges," George said.

Stating that safety audits should be implemented in all hospitals in the state in a time-bound manner, she said police outposts would be set up in medical facilities.

Also Read | After Kerala doctor murder, Pinarayi Vijayan-led govt mulls stringent law to curb attacks

Hospitals will also be equipped with CCTV surveillance systems, the minister said, adding that the number of bystanders who accompany patients would be limited to one and two in wards and casualties respectively.

Besides the medical education secretary, various other higher officials including medical college principals and superintendents also took part in the meeting.

On Tuesday, the state government decided to bring out an ordinance to ensure the safety of healthcare professionals in hospitals. The ordinance to amend the Kerala Healthcare Service Persons and Healthcare Service Institutions (Prevention of Violence and Damage to Property) Act, 2012 would be introduced in the next cabinet meeting, the CMO said.

The decision was taken in the wake of doctors intensifying their demonstrations, seeking justice for Dr Das who was stabbed to death by a man brought to the government hospital by police in the wee hours of Wednesday morning for dressing a wound.

Meanwhile, Dr Das's colleagues on Friday came out against the government and police criticising the law enforcers for failing to take enough precautionary measures at the hospital, which resulted in her death. If there were enough facilities in the hospital where the doctor was attacked, her life could have been saved, they told reporters here.

So, it was the failure of the administrative system, the doctors alleged.

They also criticised the Health Minister's attempt at assuaging their feelings with the announcement that a new hospital block would be named after Dr Vandana Das.

Leader of opposition in the state Assembly V D Satheesan also continued to criticise the government over the matter and said the top officials and the government are trying to justify the police in the incident despite the embarrassment it brought to the entire force.

"Why is the chief minister silent despite the embarrassment the incident brought to the entire force?" he asked.

Alleging widespread irregularities in the FIR, Satheesan also asked how could the people of the state have faith in the police even if the First Information Report of the murder that shook the state was "written wrongly".
In a suspected case of infanticide, a migrant couple allegedly strangled their child, born out of wedlock, recently in this high range district of Kerala, police said on Friday.

The murder was reported on an estate in Shanthipuram in Kumbummettu near here in the wee hours of May 7.

The child was born to the couple, hailing from Madhya Pradesh who had been in a relationship for some time and were staying togeter here as estate workers, police said.

The man, aged about 23 years has been arrested in connection with the child's death, police said.

Also read | Kerala duo deported from Switzerland for travelling with fake passports

The woman, the mother of the deceased, is under treatment at a local hospital and she is under the observation of police, they said.

"The child was said to have been born by 12.30 am on the day. The owner of the house, where they were staying, came to know about its birth and death 6.30 am," a police officer told PTI.

The owner had seen the couple crying saying their newborn boy was found motionless after its birth.

"However, during the post-mortem, the doctor found out that the child was strangulated to death soon after birth," the officer said.

During interrogation, the man confessed to the crime, police said.

The accused have been booked under various sections of the IPC including murder.

The woman, who is under treatment, would be taken into custody soon, police added.
Kelefa Sanneh at The New Yorker:

When King was assassinated, in 1968, he was generally viewed as a leader with a mixed record. President Lyndon B. Johnson had grown frustrated with him, and he was beset by detractors who found him either too much or not enough of a troublemaker; the year before, an article in The New York Review of Books had referred to his irrelevancy. But in the years after his death the skeptics grew quieter and scarcer. In 1983, Ronald Reagan signed legislation creating Martin Luther King, Jr., Day, over the objection of twenty-two senators. And now, as national heroes of all sorts are being reassessed, the question is usually not whether King was great but, rather, which King was the greatest. The 2014 film Selma reverently dramatized his voting-rights activism; some people these days focus on his anti-poverty campaign and his opposition to the Vietnam War; others emphasize his advocacy of integration, and his vision of a time when Black children will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. The proof, and the price, of Kings success is that everyone wants a piece of him.

more here.
Meridian Mining UK Societas (CVE:MNO  Get Rating)s share price rose 9.6% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as C$1.07 and last traded at C$1.03. Approximately 247,282 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 12% from the average daily volume of 220,803 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$0.94.

Meridian Mining UK Societas Stock Up 9.6 %

The stock has a market capitalization of C$152.09 million and a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.30. The companys 50-day moving average is C$1.03 and its 200-day moving average is C$1.03.

About Meridian Mining UK Societas

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Meridian Mining UK Societas, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the acquisition, exploration, and development of mineral properties in Brazil. The company explores for manganese, gold, copper, and tin deposits. It holds interest in the EspigAo polymetallic project and the Ariquemes tin project located in RondAnia.

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Swiss National Bank boosted its holdings in The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC  Get Rating) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 252,500 shares of the companys stock after acquiring an additional 4,600 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned 0.24% of Toro worth $28,583,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in TTC. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its holdings in Toro by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 49,173 shares of the companys stock worth $4,262,000 after buying an additional 563 shares during the period. APG Asset Management N.V. boosted its holdings in Toro by 37.2% in the 1st quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 15,500 shares of the companys stock worth $1,191,000 after buying an additional 4,200 shares during the period. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 4,269 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 23,223 shares during the period. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 3,144 shares during the period. 85.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on TTC shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Toro from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Thursday. Northland Securities started coverage on shares of Toro in a report on Monday, April 17th. They set a market perform rating and a $110.00 price objective for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $118.67.

Insider Activity at Toro

Toro Stock Performance

In other Toro news, CEO Richard M. Olson sold 12,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $109.40, for a total value of $1,312,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 17,913 shares in the company, valued at $1,959,682.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink . In other news, VP Blake M. Grams sold 11,400 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.05, for a total transaction of $1,220,370.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 37,106 shares of the companys stock, valued at $3,972,197.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website . Also, CEO Richard M. Olson sold 12,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $109.40, for a total transaction of $1,312,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 17,913 shares in the company, valued at $1,959,682.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here . Insiders have sold a total of 59,634 shares of company stock valued at $6,516,758 over the last ninety days. 2.22% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Shares of NYSE:TTC opened at $105.02 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $10.95 billion, a PE ratio of 23.03 and a beta of 0.72. The firms 50 day simple moving average is $106.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $109.47. The Toro Company has a one year low of $71.86 and a one year high of $117.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 1.78.

Toro (NYSE:TTC  Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 9th. The company reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $1.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.16 billion. Toro had a net margin of 10.16% and a return on equity of 36.04%. Toros revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.66 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that The Toro Company will post 4.83 EPS for the current year.

Toro Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 19th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 6th were issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 5th. Toros payout ratio is 29.82%.

Toro Company Profile

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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.

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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).

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SDLP East Derry MLA Cara Hunter has called on Rory Gallagher to stand aside ahead of this weekends Ulster Final after allegations of domestic violence were made against him.

Ms Hunter said that women and girls across Ireland will not be able to support his leadership of the team given the seriousness of the issue.

Cara Hunter MLA called on Mr Gallagher to 'do the right thing and stand aside'.

Given the seriousness of the issues exposed this week I do not believe it is appropriate for Rory Gallagher to lead the Derry team ahead of the Ulster Final. He should do the right thing and stand aside," she said.

Domestic violence is an insidious issue that infects communities across Ireland and blights the daily lives of women and girls. It leaves lives shattered and people fearing for their safety in their own homes.

There are women and girls across our community and across Ireland who will not be able to support his leadership of the team. They need to be respected and their voice needs to be heard, especially by Derry GAA. This is a moment for strong leadership and to stand with people from across our communities who have been victims of the most horrific abuse.

Derry GAA needs to send a strong message of support to women and girls in our community right now. This is a test for the county board and for those in positions of leadership. There is only one acceptable outcome.

In a message on social media earlier this week, Nicola Gallagher claimed the abuse happened over a 24-year period. She said she had tried to block it out and turned to alcohol as a result. The pair have three children, but are separated.

In a statement issued through a solicitor, Mr Gallagher said the 'very serious allegations' had previously been 'dealt with by the relevant authorities'.

Our marriage broke down over four years ago. Those closest to our family are well aware of the reasons for the breakdown of our marriage and the continued issues we have faced since that time, the statement said.

Following long running court proceedings in Family Courts in both jurisdictions, I was granted a full Residence Order in respect of our three young children on February 17 2023. This outcome was recommended by social services.

Allegations against me have been investigated and dealt with by the relevant authorities.

My focus over the past 4 years has been to protect our children from the ongoing turmoil in our family.

I have left this matter in the hands of my legal team and ask that the privacy of our family is respected at this time. I will not be making any further public comment on this matter.

The PSNI says it investigated a number of reported incidents and files were submitted to the Public Prosecution Service (PPS).

The PPS received two investigation files from the PSNI in January and June 2022, but it was concluded that there was insufficient evidence to pursue the matter in the courts.
Over a million pounds in funding has been awarded to community groups across Derry to "divert young people away from the threat of paramilitary recruitment."

The International Fund for Ireland is granting the money to eight charity and community organisation projects across the North West.

Across the North West, the groups to receive funding are HURT, Maghera Cross-Community Link, Roe Valley Residents' Association, Catalyst, AGD Gwedore and Waterside Theatre Project, Rathmullan The Way Forward CLG and Enterprise Causeway Limited, and Northwest Cultural Partnership.

In total, 4.3 million of funding is set to be granted to communities across Northern Ireland

The support for the projects will help to deliver conflict transformation initiatives, employment and training opportunities and work in "hard-to-reach areas struggling with paramilitary and coercive control".

IFI chair Paddy Harte said: "Unfortunately, we have seen the threat of paramilitary recruitment and antisocial behaviour persist in many communities.

"In the last year, the IFIs programmes have included specialised interventions to divert young people away from the threat of paramilitary recruitment.

"In 2022, 23,033 participants took part in accredited training, education, and capacity building programmes, delivered by IFI funded projects.

"Projects funded across our four core programmes have been working hard to support local communities who are struggling.

"The cost-of-living crisis has put a significant financial burden on people, add to that a general lack of investment in some communities and ongoing tensions relating to the recent Windsor Framework and ongoing political instability, and you can see why this support is so vital."

Mr Harte continued: "This latest round of funding further demonstrates the wide range of support offered by IFI funded projects, tailored to specific needs of a particular community.

"From engaging at-risk young people, to delivering conflict transformation initiatives, delivering important employment, and training opportunities to working in hard-to-reach areas struggling with paramilitary and coercive control."

The IFI was set up by the British and Irish governments in 1986 to deliver a range of peace and reconciliation initiatives.

They currently supports a total of 47 projects in Northern Ireland.
Hundreds of tributes have been paid to the late Fr Kevin Mullan, who sadly passed away in the early hours of Saturday, May 6, following a lengthy battle against illness. The Omagh native led the parish of Drumquin for many years before his ill-health forced his retirement from front-line ministry in 2020.

Fr Mullan, was laid to rest at Dublin Road cemetery in Omagh on Tuesday following a private Requiem Mass at the home of his sister Joan. On Monday evening there was an interdenominational service at St Patricks in Drumquin where his remains had lain in repose in the parochial house prior to removal for a period in that church which he had served with such distinction as well as many others.

Ordained in 1971, one of his first clerical postings was a stint at St Patricks, Pennyburn. A former student of St Columbs College, it was here that Fr Mullan rekindled his love of the city and became associated at organisational level with Feis Dhoire Cholmcille, where as a boy and young man he had competed as an Irish dancer.

Fr Mullan pictured at the centenary Feis Dhoire Cholmcille in 2022 with committee members Colette Craig, Aisling Bonner and Ursula Clifford.

When news of Fr Mullans passing emerged, his lifelong friend and of Registrar of Derry Feis, Ursula Clifford said: I am heartbroken to hear of Fr Kevins death. My own mother Sibeal Sharkey was like a second mother to him when he came to Derry at first and was appointed as feis secretary. He had a particular passion for the Irish dancing at the Feis and keeping it going as well as organising all the other disciplines.

He was perpetually in our house organising the Feis. Derry Feis didnt take place between 1972 and 1974 because of the Troubles. But it really didnt disappear at all. Thinking about my mother and Fr Kevin, youd wonder what would have really happened to the Feis if it hadnt been for them organising the Bogside Festival. That was basically to keep people interested even though it wasnt officially named Feis Dhoire Cholmcille. Fr Mullan remained as dedicated to the feis as chairperson after he moved to Drumquin as he was when he was secretary.

Despite his illness, Fr Mullan paid his customary trip to Derry this year during Feis week and as recently as two weeks ago presided at the Requiem Mass of his friend and former Feis treasurer Noel McCaul at St Patricks, Pennyburn.

In 2022, Fr Mullan was involved in helping to commemorate the centenary of Feis Dhoire Cholmcille and in a video interview about his thoughts on the Feis he said: The Feis became, really, my whole life when I was here in Derry city. When Bishop Daly asked me to take it on, it was in a lull because of the Troubles and he wanted to revive it. He had just been made bishop, so muggins was asked because I did Irish dancing. I never, never regretted giving my time to it. It made what I am  a physical wreck  but very happy.

Fr Mullan pictured with his late mother as a young student of St Columbs College receiving a prize for his historical studies.

The late priest also made a substantial written contribution to a book marking the centenary of the Feis in which his ability as a writer, his sharp wit and wonderful sense of fun shone through.

In one passage Fr Mullan wrote: As I look back on those happy, happy years in a world which I have never really left, many special memories come flooding back and there are special moments that stay with me: the glorious sounds of choirs and orchestras and young maestros in the making, the sheer perfection of senior dancers in their individual set pieces and their eight-member teams energised by the best accompanists in the world, the variety and fun of the action songs and that night when we had a visit from the morality police, checking a rumour that some performers would be wearing flowers and little else. We had our standards.

Fond memories, that evening and now, bright the light of those other days around me. It was midnight, but the night only brings the dawn closer.

Derry Feis will go onto see the fainne geal an lae.

On top of his extensive duties as the leading figure on the committee of Derry Feis, Fr Mullan also of course had a full-time role as pastoral carer and parish administrator. Always mindful of the need to strive for reconciliation during darker days in the north, one such peace-making act unintentionally embroiled Fr Kevin and a clerical counterpart from the Presbyterian tradition in controversy in the mid 1980s.

By 1984, Fr Mullan was ministering at Christ The King church in Limavady. Opposite to the Catholic church was a Presbyterian church then overseen by Rev David Armstrong. When the minister opened his churchs door on Christmas morning, Fr Mullan was standing there. Rev Armstrong invited him in.

It was a visible and simple, but very powerful gesture of peace in incredibly fraught political circumstances. However, the act of reconciliation resulted in death threats being issued against Rev Armstrong and his family. Such was the pressure caused by the fallout that the minister first relocated to England and then to Co Cork where he later retrained as a Church of Ireland minister.

Speaking after Fr Mullan suffered a heart attack in 2017, Rev Armstrong said: Fr Kevin and I go way, way back and we struck a blow against bigotry. We were pioneers that crossed the divide. In fact, it was Kevin who initiated the whole thing. When I arrived at my church on Christmas morning, he was at my door. I brought him in. It was a step towards reconciliation and a step towards hate in Northern Ireland. My family paid a very heavy price, but Kevin always kept in touch. I will never forget that for family events Kevin drive through the centre of Ireland to Cork to be there.

He is a man without walls or barriers and always a ready smile even for those who may not agree with him. He is a lovely Christian and is 100% faithful to his church and to his Lord. He is my pal in Christ.

Coming through one such incident should have been enough for a single lifetime, but when on 15 August 1988 a bomb tore through the centre of his hometown of Omagh, Fr Mullan was thrust headlong into first coping with the gratuitous loss of 29 people and two unborn children and the decades that followed saw him use his pastoral abilities to deal with the ensuing psychological trauma of the victims' families, many of whom he would have known personally.

As Catholic chaplain at Tyrone County Hospital in Omagh, Fr Mullan witnessed the horror of the bombing at first hand.

On the twentieth anniversary of the Real IRA attack in 2018, Fr Mullan addressed a remembrance service near the scene of the atrocity.

He said: Come you who 20 years ago did this to Omagh, please come back once more among us to this market place, which you tore up with your bomb, to this street and its shops where you left our relatives, friends and visitors broken, bleeding, dead, he said.

You were not afraid then. Come with your tears, and do not be afraid now.

In your eyes we may read the apology of your heart. In our tears we may not know how to respond.

We too must step out of the dark.

Tributes were also paid to Fr Mullan on social media. One such tribute came from Michael Hutton, a long-serving stage announcer at Feis Dhoire Cholmcille who wrote on the institutions Facebook page: We have all lost a true friend. A man who put others needs before his own. My friendship dates back to when he was a curate at St Josephs in Galliagh and he asked me to assist at Feis Dhoire Cholmcille in the late 1970s and I continued to do it for over 40 years out of respect for him. Rest in peace Fr Kevin, you truly left your mark on all of us.

John Peoples, a former accompanist at the feis wrote: Fr Kevin was a lovely, gentle man and a wonderful caring and spiritual priest. I knew him from Galliagh many years ago. He was the first to bring me to play at Mass and later to take choirs. I am so sorry to hear of his passing. May God rest his gentle soul.

Secretary of Feis Dhoire Cholmcille, Aisling Bonner said: On behalf of the Committee of Feis Dhoire Cholmcille, I want to express sincere and heartfelt condolences to the family circle, clerical colleagues and countless friends of Fr Kevin on his passing.

His dedication to and support for Derry Feis remained undiminished throughout his life. To say that his experience, intelligence, knowledge and wisdom will be missed by us all at the feis is a vast understatement. In many ways he epitomised the feis motto - Do chum gloire de agus onora na hEireann, which means For the glory of God and the honour of Ireland.

May he rest in peace.
The people of Derry have been urged to take to the streets to mark the 75th anniversary of the Nabka, by Derry City and Strabane District councillor, Maeve O'Neill (People Before Profit).

Ms O'Neill, who is a candidate in the Moor Ward in the upcoming local government election on May 18, said the The Nakba or 'catastrophe' marked the declaration of Independence of the Israeli State.

She added: "To get to this point, the renowned Israeli historian Illan Pappe estimated that more than 750,000 Palestinians were driven from their lands. The ancestors of these people to this day are refugees and refused the right to return to their homes.

"The events in Gaza over the last week illustrate the barbarity of the Apartheid Israeli State and their total disregard for Palestinian lives; This week alone there have been 29 people killed in Gaza by Israeli airstrikes. This includes men, women and children. Indiscriminate slaughter.

"Save The Children state that 34 children were murdered by Israeli forces in the illegally Occupied West Bank in 2022.

"Where is the outrage of the world? Where is the wall to wall media coverage that is granted to other conflicts? Where is the challenge to the complicity of US President Joe Biden and European Union military, economic and political support for Israle's illegal occupation and barbaric war on Palestinians?" she said.

"Derry has a proud tradition of supporting Palestine," said Ms O'Neill. "We thank the Irish Palestinian Solidarity Campaign for organising the rally at 12 noon at Free Derry Corner, on Saturday.

"None of us are free until the Palestinians are free."
The family of a much-loved Derry man who died suddenly while on holiday in Spain is to hold a special fundraiser in his memory.

Kevin Lyttle took ill from a suspected heart attack while relaxing with his wife Mary and a group of friends at a villa in Marbella in May of last year. He was taken to hospital but was sadly pronounced dead later that evening.

Kevin's wife Mary and his daughters Sharon, Hannah and Sarah-Jane have decided to mark his first anniverary with a special evening of music, song and craic, with the money raised going to the Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust, a charity that helps families alleviate the finanical burden of bringing a loved one who has died abroad in sudden or tragic circumstances back home to Ireland.

Kevin Bell was a young Newry man who was killed in a hit-and-run collision in New York in 2013. The charity was born out of his parents' fundraising efforts to bring the body of their son home and has since helped repatriate more than 1,500 Irish people who have died overseas.

The Lyttle family chose the charity as the beneficiary of the fundraiser to raise awareness of the difficulties families endure when faced with the sudden death of a loved one abroad.

Kevin's daughter Hannah told Derry Now: "I've gone away on holidays before and had no insurance, and I live in Australia now and so for me and my friends, any of us could need help like that at any point.

"I had known about the Kevin Bell for a good few years after it first came up on my Facebook randomly. Daddy died on the Friday and I was meant to be going to a fundraiser on the Saturday in Co Down because one of my really good friends, her uncle died in the Phillipines, so I've always known about the charity.

"I rang Colin (Bell) the next morning after Daddy passed away in spain and asked him, 'how do we go about this?' Luckily we didn't need their financial help as Mammy and Daddy had travel insurance, but he gave us all the right information about where to go and who to contact because no-one in our family had ever had to deal with something like this before."

FAMILY MAN: Kevin with his wife Mary, daughters Sharon, Hannah and Sarah-Jane, granddaughters Erin and Mollie and goddaughter Maria.

Kevin's wife Mary described the added trauma of being away in a foreign country while trying to cope with the profound shock and grief of her husband's sudden death.

She told us: "When he passed away that evening in Spain, I didn't feel as if I got any support at all in the hospital; their English was not great.

"Kevin's life support was turned off on the Friday night. I was very lucky because I had family there. My sister and two cousins; there were 14 of us altogether, all family and friends.

"I came home on the Sunday, which was when we had planned to come back. But Kevin didn't come home until the Tuesday week after he passed away. He was buried two weeks to the day he died."

And though the financial cost of repatriating Kevin's remains was covered by his insurance, it was the bureaucracy the family had to deal with that makes them so aware of the importance of a charity such as the Kevin Bell Trust.

Hannah explained: "Mammy had to fill out loads of papers, and then the waiting for medical certificates and waiting for them to release the body.

"The preliminary findings of the autopsy came back as inconclusive. We could have had another autopsy in Ireland, but that would have meant waiting until the following weekend, and at that point we just wanted to get him home.

"Even after Daddy came home, Mammy was still getting bills from the hospital and she had to keep sending them to the insurance people. And even now we are still having to email the authorities in Spain trying to get the full autospy report.

Mary with daughters Hannah (left) and Sarah-Jane.

"Having to deal with all that stuff is another reason we think the Kevin Bell is such a good charity, because they do so much for families who have to go through this."

And, despite the sadness of losing a beloved husband, father and grandfather, the family hopes the fundraiser, which will feature popular Derry entertainer Mickey Doherty, will be a joyous celebration of Kevin's life.

Said Mary: "Kevin was an 'old Brandywell' man, from Hamilton Street.

"It's uncanny, because that April, we had a wedding in America and he said to me, 'Mary, I'm not going back to America', and I said, 'look Kevin, it's probably the last family holiday we'll have because the girls will be going their own way', not thinking what was ahead of us. We had a ball, the five of us and Sarah Jane's boyfriend Ben.

"Three of my cousins came back for the funeral, he was very well thought of out there. Everybody loved him, all his nieces and nephews. At the wake, standing out in that street there was big grown men crying their hearts out; they just couldn't believe that their uncle Kevin was away.

"We would have been married 30 years that September. Kevin, unbeknownst to me, had been planning a cruise up in the fjords for us, as that's something he always wanted to do.

"It's still hard to believe; I keep expecting him to walk through that door."

His daughter Sarah-Jane said he was a loving father who was always there to offer his help and expertise. A skilled mechanic, he would give her car a 'mini-MOT' any time she was home from Belfast.

She added: "Since he died, there's a fight every couple of weeks over who's going to cut the grass. That was his job, and I don't know how he was able to stand on that banking and manoeuvre a lawnmover down it without falling; Daddy was 73, but he didn't think he was the age he was.

"He was such a kind person - the only selfish thing he's ever done in his life was to die in a different country."

Hannah agreed: "He was far too good to all of us. Mammy would say no so we would go to Daddy and ask to do this or that, and he was always, 'ok'. He was so generous and so genuine, not just to us but to his nieces and nephews, to everyone.

"You would just ring him and he would do anything for you.

"It's awful what happened to Daddy, but he never would have wanted to be left lying sick.

"He literally died having a ball, with Mammy and all his friends around him."

Kevin's fundraiser takes place at the Halfway House, Tooban, on Friday May 19 at 7pm. Anyone who cannot attend can donate if they wish via https://www.gofundme.com/f/kevin-lyttle.
The first cruise ship of 2023 was welcomed to Foyle Port this morning, marking the start of the 2023 cruise season when the port will welcome more than double the cruise ships compared to last year.

The Port, which is the gateway to the North West of Ireland, welcomed Seabourn Ovation as she visited Lough Foyle.

The luxurious 210m Ovation has capacity of 600 guests and 450 crew members. Guests onboard the Ovation explored the North West as part of a 14-day round trip from Dover, England.

Foyle Ports Chief Executive, Brian McGrath said, We are thrilled to begin our 2023 cruise season with the welcome arrival of the Seabourn Ovation.

We are delighted to have doubled our cruise calls this year with 15 ships and a total of 10,600 passengers from now until October.

Its fantastic to see the demand in leisure vessels returning following what has been a very challenging time for the industry and we look forward to welcoming international visitors to our beautiful North West shores.

The port will receive maiden calls from eight ships this year, including the newly refurbished Renaissance making her inaugural voyage under French cruise company, Compagnie Francaise de Croisieres.

Luxury cruise line Explora Journeys is set to launch a brand-new cruise ship, Explora I, on 17th July 2023 and will visit Foyle Port in its second ever week of cruising.

Other prestigious cruise lines scheduled to call at the port include Azamara Cruises, Oceania Cruises, Regent Seven Seas, Hapag-Lloyd Cruises, Crystal Cruises and Silversea Cruises.

Visit Derrys Chief Executive, Odhran Dunne said, With the number of cruise calls doubling this year, it is encouraging to see the cruise market return strongly as the global tourism industry continues to rebound. The Walled City continues to draw visitors from across the world thanks to the quality of our tourism offering, which is going from strength to strength.

There is no doubt, cruise ships represent an important part of the visitor market to the city and region, bringing thousands of additional visitors to enjoy a range of bespoke tours across the North West or enjoy the city at their leisure.

Visit Derry looks forward to working in partnership with Foyle Port to provide a warm welcome and visitor information shoreside to all the cruise passengers and crew arriving this season.

Niamh McCarthy, Managing Director of Excursions Ireland added, We are always so honoured and excited to be a part of the operations in this wonderful port in one of the most spectacular regions on our beautiful island. As the local tour operator, we have come a long way since the 1990s when the first of the ships called in this region.

Through the wonderful work of the port authority and tourist information centre this area has become a firm favourite for visiting overseas cruise lines. We look forward to showing these guests all the gems that the North West of Ireland has on offer through the various shore excursions we provide to the cruise lines.

We are delighted to kick start with the stunning Seabourn Ovation and look forward to another successful season.
By P R Sivakumar, Founder and CEO, Maven Silicon

Every country realizes the importance of producing skilled chip designers who could decide their success as soldiers by creating advanced AI chips for winning the Chip War. Also, every country is now gearing up to build a good semiconductor manufacturing ecosystem to balance the global semiconductor supply chain that could overcome any more supply chain disruptions experienced during the pandemic. But the advanced foundries without next-gen chip designers would be the same as Fabs without Chips. So, in this article, I want to inspire the electrical and electronics engineers who can lead the semiconductor industry as the next generation of chip designers, sharing my insights and explaining how Semiconductor rules the world. Also, I hope this article inspires the VLSI Design companies to upskill and support their chip design workforce for their long-term VLSI career development, prioritizing and investing in their Learning and Development initiatives.

1. Chip War

The geopolitical AI cold war between the US and China is perceived as Chip War. Artificial Intelligence technology is one of the essential technologies for any country to emerge as the most powerful country with its next generation of defense and space technologies. Chip war is all about fighting for their dominance in AI.

The AI systems can be trained on vast data centers built with cutting-edge AI chips. So, every country is funding and collaborating with global chip manufacturing companies to build advanced fabs for their future.

The advancement and implementation of AI technology rely on semiconductors, and it demands semiconductor architectural improvements. The improvements in chip design for AI will be less about improving overall performance and more about speeding the movement of data in and out of memory with increased power and more efficient memory systems.

Only with higher technology nodes we can fabricate complex SoCs as cutting-edge AI chips that integrate complex neural engines and memories using new technologies like Chiplets. So, every country is gearing up with advanced fabs.

2. Chip Industry

Our journey in the semiconductor industry started with making IC with four transistors, and its continuing to produce complex SoCs with 100s of billions of transistors.

2.1. History:

Defense has been a key driver for the evolution of the semiconductor industry. Defense departments & institutes, especially DARPA in the US, funded inventing chip technologies and introduced the concept of using chips to create advanced defense technologies like next-gen missile guiding systems.

The first monolithic IC was invented by Robert Noyce at Fairchild Semiconductor. In 1960 first operational IC was created at Fairchild. Later the chip manufacturing ecosystem was built with a supply chain[Machines and materials] spread across Taiwan, Netherlands, South Korea, Japan, and other countries, beyond the US. The chip industry emerged from Texas, Silicon Valley, and expanded into other countries like Taiwan, as a global industry. Today more than 90% of the advanced chips are manufactured in Taiwan, mainly by top foundries like TSMC. Chris Millers book Chip War can walk you through the incredible journey and evolution of the chip industry.

2.2. Semiconductor Ecosystem:

The global semiconductor industry is generating yearly revenue of 500+ billion USDs and growing exponentially towards generating 1 trillion USD by 2030. In my view, it reflects the evolution of VLSI technology. In terms of technology, we are making SoCs with 100+ billion transistors and evolving towards making chips with 1 trillion transistors by 2030.

2.3. Inventions and Innovations:

The semiconductor ecosystem incorporates various players like OEMs, IDMs, Fabless-IP, EDA, and Foundries. The ecosystem is evolving with all the inventions and innovations by its players/stakeholders. Every stakeholder contributes equally to the growth of the global semiconductor industry, and some of the highlights I am listing here for your reference.



Click to enlarge



Semiconductor Ecosystem

OEM-Original Equipment Manufacturers, IDM-Integrated Device Manufacturers, IP-Intellectual Property, EDA-Electronic Design Automation

OEM: Apple is adopting a smartphone-design approach for their MacBooks. Its M-series SoCs are now built with ARM RISC processors using 5 nm technology, replacing the popular desktop CISC processor, and the complexity ranges from 16 billion to 100 billion transistors.

IDM: Intel is growing its foundry business with the vision of creating an open system foundry to empower the chipmakers to create a System of Chips[SoC] using various technologies like 2.5D&3D advanced packaging, Chiplets with Universal Chiplet Interface UCIe, and System Software solutions.

Fabless-IP/Chip: ARM is still ruling the semiconductor industry as the most successful IP company, with the credit of having hundreds of billions of electronic devices shipped with ARM cores. Worlds fastest supercomputer Fugaku built with more than 7 million ARM cores, is one of the highlights beyond its dominance in the smartphones, IoT, and Automotive market segments.

RISC-V open ISA began its journey of open era of computing from the CPU graveyard, where we witnessed the burial of many proprietary specialized ISAs. Now RISC-V is emerging as an industry standard open ISA for all kinds of processors, general purpose and specialized processors. Esperanto, SiFive, Western Digital, Alibaba, and many more have been creating new powerful processors and cutting-edge AI Chips with RISC-V open ISA and empowering the semiconductor ecosystem.

Nvidia and AMD continue to rule the global semiconductor industry as fabless chipmakers with their next-gen state-of-the-art GPUs and CPUs.

EDA: EDA is acquiring intelligence using AI technologies to help designers achieve optimal PPA results. Synopsys has recently released Synopsys.ai as the first full-stack AI-driven EDA suite for chipmakers, following its successful DSO.ai for Design Space Optimization. EDA on the cloud similar to SaaS and Multi-die-system solutions are some of the other innovative EDA solutions from the EDA industry.

Foundry: Intel is expanding its foundry business with its open system foundry vision for advanced fabrication. TSMC is also expanding its foundry business in the US beyond Taiwan. Other players like Samsung and Micron are also investing heavily in building new foundries with advanced fabrication technology. Following the US Chips Act funding, every other country well known for semiconductor design, including India, is investing heavily in this fabrication space towards becoming self-reliant.

2.4. Investments:

The US introduced Chips ACT funding with USD 280 billion to boost semiconductor R&D and manufacturing in the USA. Currently, the US is producing only 10% of the chips made globally and aims to achieve 30% by 2030.

India introduced USD 10 billion incentive package for building a semiconductor chip manufacturing ecosystem in India. Foxconn and Vedanta seek to bring European chipmaker ST Microelectronics as their technology partner in their proposed India manufacturing unit. ISMC (US$3 billion investment) and Singapore-based IGSS (investment worth INR 256 billion) will set up semiconductor plants in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, respectively.

2.5. Opportunities:

As per the Deloitte report, 2 million direct employees run the global Semiconductor Industry, and this fast-growing industry needs additional 1 million workers by 2030.

India has a very fast-growing electronics system design manufacturing (ESDM) industry. According to the Department of Electronics and Information Technology, nearly 2,000 chips are being designed annually in India. More than 20,000 VLSI engineers are working on various chip design and verification aspects.

Semiconductor Fab units require huge investments, gallons of water for production, uninterrupted electricity supply, high operating costs, and frequent technology replacement. This is why Indias contribution to the global semiconductor industry has focused on its technical competencies in R&D, design, etc., due to its talent pool in IT design and R&D engineers.

Academia with 2500+ engineering colleges produces 1.5 million engineers in India. Only 2.5 lakh engineers succeed in getting jobs in the IT sector. Excluding the IT software services, only 50000 engineers enter into the core industry, including all the domains. The number of engineers directly enter into the Indian Semiconductor Industry could be in the range of 5000 to 10000, which is insufficient. So, we at Maven Silicon bridge the gap between academia and the semiconductor industry, collaborating with our industry partners and academia in India. Also, Maven Silicon emerged as a VLSI Centre of Excellence[VLSI-COE] for the global semiconductor industry, upskilling the workforce[experienced VLSI engineers] worldwide using our corporate VLSI training solutions.

3. Summary

Software giants Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Facebook are now building their chip design centers and making their chips for their data centers. The emerging technologies AI, 5G, Cloud, IoT, and Automotive demand more advanced chips and accelerate the semiconductor industry's growth further. So the global semiconductor industry needs millions of skilled VLSI engineers to meet this growing demand and emerge as a trillion-dollar industry by 2030.

It's very evident from history that the semiconductor industry rules the world beyond wars. Robert Noyce, Jack Kilby, Gordon Moore, Morris Chang, and many more great engineers and entrepreneurs ruled this semiconductor industry with their inventions and innovations and built the semiconductor ecosystem as architects. As a curious electrical engineer reading this article, you could be the next one continuing this incredible journey as our hope.






WhatsApp has been bringing a lot of updates but with that it also faces a bug which they claim to be a problem from Android's end. But theres been a hiccup: Indian users are receiving WhatsApp texts from international numbers and they are nothing but scams. So, the Indian Government has sent a request to Meta's messaging app to look into the matter and comes up with a solution. To which WhatsApp has now reverted.

WhatsApp has replied to the Indian Government's plea saying they care about the safety of their users and hence provide the options to block and report the numbers which they find suspicious. WhatsApp also said that they have rehabilitated the AI and ML system which would help to reduce such scams by at least 50 percent.

The WhatsApp spokesperson made a statement saying, "Our users are at the heart of everything we do and we are fully aligned with the Government's goal of keeping users safe. WhatsApp is a leader among end-to-end encrypted services in protecting user safety."

The spokesperson further added, "We have quickly ramped up our AI & ML systems to bring down such incidents significantly. Our new enforcement will reduce the current calling rate by at least 50 percent and we expect to be able to control the current incidence effectively.

These statements were a response to the notice sent by the Minister of State for IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar. Their aim is to just reduce such international calls and texts and safeguard their people. He also added that it is not only WhatsApp, but all digital platforms should consider looking into it in order to safely handle their users.

The minister also added that if any kind of harm happens to any user on any particular digital platform the ministry would make sure that some step is taken.

This entire discussion between the IT ministry and WhatsApp happened because Indian citizens have been regularly receiving such spam calls and users took to Twitter to talk about it and how unsafe they felt.

There are a few country codes that are mentioned in the tweets-Indonesia (+62), Vietnam (+84), Malaysia (+60), Kenya (+254) and Ethiopia (+251). Take due note of these country codes and make sure you dont receive any calls from such numbers and also no links or any kind of texts should be entertained. You receive anything like this, directly block and report.

For more technology news, product reviews, sci-tech features and updates, keep reading Digit.in or head to our Google News page.
Given all the attention to President Bidens cognitive fitness for a second presidential term, it seems fair, even mandatory, to assess Donald Trumps performance at a televised town hall in Manchester, N.H., on Wednesday night through the same lens: How clear was his thinking? How sturdy his tether to reality? How appropriate his demeanor?

On a scale of 1 to Marjorie Taylor Greene, Id give him an 11.

He was asked to respond to a Manhattan jurys verdict the previous day that he had sexually abused and defamed the writer E. Jean Carroll. He said that Carroll once had a cat named Vagina. He was asked about his failure to deliver on his signature promise to voters in 2016  that hed build a wall stretching across the southwestern border of the United States. I did finish the wall, he said, just a few beats before adding that Biden could have easily and quickly completed the stretch that still hasnt been built if hed cared to. The statements contradicted each other. They made no sense. They were his entire performance in a nutshell.
Google has already released the first beta version of Android 14 and the official announcement took place this week at Google I/O 2023. The primary topic of discussion at the conference was that of incorporating artificial intelligence to the devices and the softwares to make a personalised user experience for the users.

While most of the software upgrades for operating systems seems like an overlay of the previous one, Google has taken the effort to experiment with the system and add on new features that can be explored by the users and further the mission of AI infusion for the devices. Now how convincing are these new features, lets find out!

Also read: Google Bard finally accessible in India: How to use Googles AI chatbot

New features of Android 14

To start with, Android 14 is on the second beta test and it is speculated that now the operating system will be sent out to other devices too other than just the Pixel phone, such as Samsung, Xiaomi, Vivo among others. For a detailed list of device manufacturers that are being given the access to Android 14 in the second test.

Now lets get back to the features that we can look forward to for Android 14.

Starting with the redesigning of widgets, the new system allows the user to customise the lock screen with new fonts, clock sizes and colours. You can find the templates and designs on Material You Theme. The update will feature customisable Emoji and Cinematic wallpapers wherein 3D images are created using on-device machine learning networks.



Moving on to more interesting features, the brand has been showing its inclination towards incorporating AI. Android 14 can be expected to have a feature wherein the users can generate unique wallpapers demanding on the prompts that are suggested by the users. However, this feature will be limited to Pixel devices only and they are expected to get it by the end of next month.

Also read: Google Duet AI: Working in Gmail, Google Docs will be super fast and efficient!



AI has been incorporated for the messaging feature as well wherein the messages are generated based on the contextual response. In addition, the operating system has also elevated the Find My Phone function by adding the prospect of offline search for multiple OEMs. Let us know your thoughts about the new features of Android 14. Write to us on editor@digit.in.

For more technology news, product reviews, sci-tech features and updates, keep reading Digit.in or head to our Google News page.
Nokia has launched its brand new Nokia C22 in India and this is no doubt one of the most budget friendly phones in the market. But what we need to know is whether it has the ability to give competition to budget friendly phones of other brands or not.

So, compared with other phones, it can be a great competitor for the Realme C30 launched a year back in June, 2022. On that note let's compare these two phones and see if Nokia C22 can be a great alternative to the Realme C30 or if it fails.

Comparing the Display of Nokia C22 and Realme C30

The Nokia C22 comes with a 6.5-inch HD+ display and 1600  720 pixels resolution. On the other hand, Realme C30 comes with 6.5 inches, 102.0 cm2 IPS LCD, 400 nits and 720 x 1600 pixels resolution.

Comparing the Camera of Nokia C22 and Realme C30

The Nokia C22 features a dual lensed rear camera. So, it has a 13MP primary camera with LED flash and a 2MP macro sensor. Taking the front camera into consideration, it is 8MP. Moving on to Realme C30, the Realme phone comes with a single lensed rear camera of 8MP and the front camera is of 5MP.

Comparing the Battery of Nokia C22 and Realme C30

As for the Nokia C22, the phone is packed with a 5,000mAh battery accompanied by 10W charging support. Here there isnt any difference between the two phones. The Realme phone also packs a 5,000mAh battery and comes with a 10W charging support.

Comparing the RAM and storage of Nokia C22 and Realme C30

The Nokia phone has two variants depending on the RAM and storage: 2GB RAM+64GB storage and 4GB RAM+64GB storage. On the other hand for Realme C30 there are three variants: 2GB RAM+32GB, 3GB RAM+32GB and 4GB+64GB.

Comparing the OS and processor of Nokia C22 and Realme C30

Nokia C22 runs on Android 13 and is powered by Unisoc SC9863A octa-core processor with IMG8322 GPU. On the other hand, Realme C30 runs on Android 11 and is powered by Unisoc Tiger T612 (12 nm) processor.

Comparing the Price of Nokia C22 and Realme C30

Nokia C22 is launched at a price of 7,999 for the 2GB RAM model and 8,499 for the 4GB RAM model. Presently, the 2GB RAM version of Realme C30 is 5,999 and 3GB RAM version is for 7,999.

After taking all of these factors into consideration, let us know which of these two phones will you go for? The Nokia C22 or the Realme C30?

For more technology news, product reviews, sci-tech features and updates, keep reading Digit.in or head to our Google News page.
What Google Trends tells us about the three waves of AI development

Google Trends is a useful tool to observe how trends are changing for specific topics. This time, I entered the three phrases that represent paradigm shifts in AI technology: "Expert System," "Deep Learning," and "Generative AI" to observe the results.

Source: Google Trends, 2023/05/11, compiled by DIGITIMES Asia

Using 2004, the earliest available data point in Google Trends, as a starting point, interest in expert systems has continued to go down. In contrast, interest in deep learning started to rise in 2013 and surpassed expert system in 2014, while generative AI experienced a significant jump when ChatGPT was unveiled in November 2022.

Expert systems are a true commercialized AI technology in the early days and belong to rule-based learning. An expert system consists of three components: knowledge base, inference engine, and user interface.

Knowledge bases are built by consulting a large number of experts and then using an if-then-else structure to feed the experts' knowledge and experience into the base. The inference engine makes inferences and decisions based on the rules and mechanisms within the knowledge base. The user interface acts like ChatGPT, allowing users to obtain the answer inferred by the expert system in the form of a Q&A.

The expert systems trend started to decline in the 1980s due to the difficulty of expressing and forming rules for much of humans' hidden knowledge, as well as the increasing complexity of rebuilding and maintaining rule-based learning databases. Expert systems in professional fields (e.g., medical and civil engineering) gradually died out, while rule-based systems for general business management were gradually integrated into corporate application software from companies such as Oracle and SAP.



In 2012, University of Toronto professor Geoffrey Hinton and his two doctorate students Alex Krizhevsky and Ilya Sutskever announced the paper "ImageNet Classification with Deep Convolutional Networks," which gave rise to deep learning. In the same year, at the ImageNet Large Scale Visual Recognition Challenge (ILSVRC) initiated by Fei-Fei Li, their CNN (convolutional neural network) architecture AlexNet achieved a record-breaking error rate of 15.3% - nearly 11 percentage points better than the runner-up (26.2%).

Since then, deep learning has become the mainstream technology when it comes to machine vision. When Microsoft's ResNet outperformed the 5% error rate of the human eye with an error rate of 3.6% in 2015, various market opportunities such as smart transportation, facial recognition, and defect inspection took off. This has been reflected in the search interests in deep learning since 2013.

Compared to deep learning, which performs recognition tasks like classifying and categorizing existing data (e.g., face recognition), generative AI learns the pattern and structure of the inputted data and then generates similar but new data based on the distribution of the training datasets.

The GAN (generative adversarial network) proposed by Ian Goodfellow in 2014 was a milestone in the development of generative AI. In the following years, the search interest in generative AI saw slight increases and began to receive more and more attention in professional communities. Then, the introduction of ChatGPT in November 2022 triggered the media and the general public's attention and subsequent use, which led to a rapid increase in search interests.

If we directly compare ChatGPT to expert systems and deep learning in Google Trends, we can see that due to the explosive search interest in ChatGPT, the search interest for expert systems and deep learning has been reduced to a nearly flat line at 0.

In a 2007 oral history interview with the Computer History Museum, Edward Feigenbaum, the father of expert systems, responded to a question about AI and knowledge with the following: "There are several significant ways in which we differ from animals, but one way is that we transmit our knowledge via cultural mechanisms called texts. (It) used to be manuscripts, then it was printed texts, now it's electronic texts... We need to have a way in which computers can read books on chemistry and learn chemistry, read books on physics and learn physics, or biology... Everything is hand-crafted. Everything is knowledge engineering." (Excerpted from Oral History of Edward Feigenbaum at computerhistory.org)

Feigenbaum simply could not have anticipated at the time the incredible quantitative growth in training text due to developments in LLM made by the likes of Google's BERT and OpenAI's GPT. In OpenAI's case, in 2018, GPT-1 had 5GB of training data with 110 million parameters. In 2020, GPT-3 had 45TB of training data with 175 billion parameters. Since then, OpenAI has stopped publishing its training data volumes, but GPT-4 is estimated to have over 1 trillion parameters. These breakthrough results are being tried and tested by people from all over the world across all sectors.

Among the key founders of deep learning, Ilya Sutskever is the co-founder and chief scientist of OpenAI and has continued to advance cutting-edge AI technology. However, Geoffrey Hinton recently left Google and has been advocating the idea that AI's threat to humanity may be more urgent than climate change. Elon Musk, another co-founder of OpenAI, also called for a pause in the development and testing of language models more powerful than GPT-4.

With all this, I can't help but want to ask Feigenbaum, who is now 87 years old, one critical question. As the father of natural language processing AI, how should mankind take its next step as the era of strong AI approaches?

Eric Huang currently serves as a Vice President of DIGITIMES
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A man is no longer in a life-threatening condition after turning up at a Cork hospital with gunshot wounds, gardai said.

The man, in his 40s, arrived at Cork University Hospital just before 5am on Friday.

He is continuing to receive treatment for his injuries.

Gardai are appealing for witnesses to the shooting incident in the Wilton Manor area of Cork City on Friday morning.

An examination of the scene has been completed and an incident room has been established at Togher Garda station.

Gardai are particularly appealing for information on the movements of a silver saloon car that was observed in the Summerstown Drive, Summerstown Road, Wilton Court and Wilton Manor areas at the time of the shooting.

It is understood the car then travelled from the scene in the direction of Bishopstown.

Anyone with video or dashcam footage from these locations between approximately 4.45am and 5.45am on Friday is asked to make it available to investigating gardai.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Togher Garda station on 021 494 7120, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111 or any Garda station.
Louth is well represented at this year's Food Awards Ireland 2023, with nine nominations from the county making the shortlist across six different categories.

Running for the sixth year, The Food Awards Ireland have become the annual leading celebration of the countrys food scene. The prestigious event will take place on Monday 15th May at The Crowne Plaza Hotel Dublin Airport where top professionals will come together to celebrate their achievements.

The Food Awards Ireland seek to recognise the hard work and efforts of those committed to always providing the country with the freshest of products and amazing delights. They will also showcase the best restaurants, takeaways, pubs, hotel restaurants, cafes and bistros, as well as those who help us explore new flavours and cuisines from different cultures.

The nominees from Louth and the categories they have been nominated in are as follows:

Restaurant of the Year - Leinster

The Spotted Dog

No. 3 Wine Bar & Restaurant

McGeoughs Bar & Restaurant

Cafe / Bistro of the Year - Leinster

Aishas Cafe & Bistro

Nosh

Best Fish N Chips Establishment

Ginos Diner

Cookery School of the Year

East Coast Cookery School

Buffet Restaurant of the Year

Freestyle

Best Mexican Establishment

Boca Grande Foods Ltd

A spokesperson for The Food Awards Ireland said: In a country with so many food establishments and businesses, it can be hard to stand out. However, the 2023 finalists have all been distinguished as the real masters in their field due to their hard work and dedication to customer satisfaction.

Moreover, their success isnt just about their dedication to leaving every customer satisfied. Its also a story that reflects the resilience and creativity of countless chefs, producers, employees and managers who are always ensuring that locals and visitors eat well.

We would like to wish all finalists the best of luck.
Louth TD, Peter Fitzpatrick and the Independent Regional Group of TDs have called on the Government to review a decision not to include the sheep farming sector as part of a Brexit compensation fund called the Brexit Adjustment Reserve (BAR).

The members of the Regional Group are asking the Government to revisit what they believe "can only be regarded as a mistake" concerning the Government's interpretation of the impact of Brexit on the Sheep Farming sector.

In calling for a review of the decision, Deputy Fitzpatrick noted, "the Government are currently maintaining the view that sheep farming was not affected by Brexit, and as a result are denying people in that sector access to a fair proportion BAR funding.

"The evidence that sheep farming was affected by Brexit is strong, and the decision not to support people in this sector needs to be reversed immediately."

Deputy Fitzpatrick explained the reasons why sheep farmers were affected: "Brexit negotiations began in June 2016 and caused turmoil in the sheep trade as it weakened the currency, making UK lamb far more competitive.

"The notion of the threat of a no-deal in Brexit caused the price of sheep to fluctuate repeatedly in the trade and resulted in lambs selling for an estimated 30-50 lower per lamb each year during the entire Brexit process."

"Those involved in the sheep farming industry were negatively affected by Brexit and deserved a proportional share in BAR funding. As part of the Regional Group, we have written to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine seeking a review of this decision immediately."
BALLINCOLLIG Fire Station needs to be urgently reopened, because fire crews in Cork City are vastly overstretched, according to two Cork Sinn Fein TDs.

Calls have been made in recent weeks to reopen the fire station, with firefighters holding public demonstrations to illustrate the need. The station has been closed since November 2021.

Sinn Fein TDs Thomas Gould and Donnchadh O Laoghaire raised the issue in the Dail on Tuesday night.

Mr Gould said that fire-brigade staff have voiced the need for a proper fire service for Cork.

He said that city firefighters have had to cover a larger area and population since the boundary extension, but without an increase in staff.

They do trojan work and save lives regularly, in addition to businesses and homes, and they need the pump in Ballincollig reopened, said Mr Gould.

The staff who man it tell me they are overstretched. The council keeps pointing to a recruitment campaign for retained staff to reopen the service, but the reality is that this has failed.

The campaign has been running since October 2020, almost three years, but the council has yet to hire a single retained staff member, he added.

We need full-time staff and Ballincollig Fire Station needs to be reopened.

Mr Gould highlighted a recent motion at Cork City Council, unanimously calling for the station to be reopened and calling on the Government to provide the necessary funding.

Mr O Laoghaire said that Ballincollig has grown from a village 50 years ago to one of the biggest towns in Ireland.

There are well over 20,000 people there and when the census results come out, there could be 25,000 people, he said.

The fire service has been there for much of that time, but the growth in the area has significantly overtaken the station.

It is important to understand this, and not only in the context of Ballincollig. It is very important for Ballincollig and its outlying area.

The staff there are pulling their hair out. They are concerned for their own situation and the implications for the safety of the people of Cork.

Clearly, the retained firefighter model is not working for Ballincollig, he added.

A public demonstration, organised by locals, to demand the reopening of Ballincollig Fire Station, will take place at 6.30pm today on Ballincolligs Link Road.
PEPSICO has revealed it is nearing completion of its 127 million investment at its Little Island manufacturing facility.

The global food and beverage brand is nearing completion on the project which will see the opening of additional manufacturing capacity and further investment in its R&D campus.

PepsiCo currently employs more than 1,250 team members in Ireland.

Over the last two years, its Cork based workforce has increased by more than 20%, with 642 staff based in the Little Island, Cork campus.

The 127 million investment for the campus has provided employment to over 700 professionals across PepsiCos contracting and vendor partners during design and construction, and also facilitates the ever-growing headcount at the Little Island campus. With more than 40 open roles in Cork currently, the site continues to grow and expand, and this investment provides capability for further growth in the coming years.

PepsiCos Little Island operation supports its portfolio of global brands including Pepsi Max, Gatorade, 7Up, Mountain Dew and Doritos.

PepsiCos R&D campus in Little Island provides regional and global leadership in the areas of beverage development, product research, testing and commercialisation, quality assurance, regulatory management and, most recently, facilitated the establishment of a global R&D Digital Engineering team, which is leading significant and transformational digital initiatives for PepsiCo.

Speaking at an event to mark the investment project, Simon Coveney TD, Minister for Enterprise, Trade & Employment said: PepsiCo has had a presence in Ireland since 1974 and has grown its operations very significantly during that time. This latest significant investment reinforces the companys recognition of Ireland as a great place to do business.

Brian Colgan, site lead at PepsiCo Little Island said: We have called Cork home for almost 50 years, and our longevity is a testament to the dedication of our talented workforce. This very significant expansion will allow us to increase our manufacturing capacity and ensure that we can continue to meet the global demand for our existing and future products.

Mary Buckley, Executive Director, IDA Ireland said: Continued investment in research and development is central to IDA Irelands strategy Driving Recovery and Sustainable Growth. This investment by PepsiCo is very welcome and demonstrates the companys ongoing commitment to Ireland as it continues to grow its Irish operations nearly 50 years since it first established a footprint in Cork.
Essential works may yet again cause water supply and traffic disruptions to parts of Corks northside on Monday, Uisce Eireann has warned.

The water utility company, which rebranded from Irish Water at the start of the year, said mains repairs works, part of the companys National Leakage Reduction Programme, are scheduled to take place from 9am until 3pm on 15 May.

The company said the works may cause supply water and traffic disruptions in supply disruptions to Sunday's Well Road and surrounding areas in Cork city, with a traffic management plan to remain in place for the duration of the works.

Uisce Eireanns website says it recommends that the public allow two to three hours after the estimated restoration time for water supply to fully return.

These are the latest works by the utility in the Sundays Well area, works which have been occurring serially and sporadically since at least the autumn of 2021.

In October of 2022, Sinn Fein councillor Mick Nugent described as "traffic carnage" the disruption caused on a busy Saturday afternoon when contractors working on behalf of Irish Water effected simultaneous road closures at the North Mall and the junction of Sundays Well and Shanakiel, causing lengthy tailbacks on Sundays Well Road, Shanakiel, Shandon Street, and Blarney Street.

Sundays Well has also been one of many areas of the city repeatedly affected by discoloured water since the launch of the then Irish Waters new Lee Road water treatment plant in July of 2022.

After the treatment plant opened last summer, the water utility company was inundated with complaints as brown and orange discoloured water from household taps in multiple locations across the city.

As previously reported in The Echo, according to documents released to Socialist Party TD Mick Barry under a Freedom of Information request, the number of complaints about water quality in Cork city last year rose from 20 per week in the Lee Road plants first week of operation last July to 119 complaints in one week in August.

In the four months after the plant opened, the company received 610 complaints of discoloured water from residents across the city.

In 2022, Irish Water received 29 reports from people in Cork city complaining of illnesses suspected to have been caused by water consumption, compared to just one such complaint in 2020 and two in 2021.

Last October, after a series of questions from The Echo, Irish Water admitted that it had been responsible for the discolouration of at least some of the citys drinking supply since last summer.

The company said an adjustment of the chemicals used in water preparation had caused rusty sediment to be stripped from the inside of Cork citys century-old water mains, resulting in discoloured water pouring out of household taps in homes across the city.

In the correspondence released to Mick Barry TD under FOI was an email, dated 22 August 2022, from Irish Water informing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of an increase in complaints of discoloured water in Cork city.

The mail noted that water from the new Lee Road plant had entered the supply on July 29 2022 and added: There is the potential that process changes, particularly the change in the pH corrective chemical in use, i.e. from Lime to Caustic, may be contributing to the problem and causing the water to become more corrosive.

Uisce Eireann has insisted that discoloured water does not pose a health and safety risk, while simultaneously warning people not to drink discoloured water and issuing assurances that water is safe to drink if taps are kept on until the water runs clear.

Updates on the latest Sundays Well works may be accessed on the Uisce Eireann website, water.ie, using the reference CCI00062627.
Cork is to celebrate its LGBTI+ community with a strong expression of solidarity and inclusive events throughout next week.

Labour Party Councillor John Maher, deputising for the Lord Mayor of Cork, Councillor Deirdre Forde, will launch Cork LGBTI+ Awareness Week on Monday, May 15, at 5pm in the Atrium in Cork City Councils civic offices.

The theme for this years Cork LGBTI+ Awareness Week is Together Always  United in Diversity!

The launch will see the Rainbow Flag raised by the city for a ninth consecutive year, continuing the strong visual display of solidarity with the LGBTI+ community.

Lord Mayor Deirdre Forde said: I welcome the LGBTI+ Awareness Week programme of events and encourage everyone to participate in the Awareness Week.

"Cork is a city of welcomes and this is just another opportunity to showcase all that is good and positive about our city and the communities within it.

2023 is significant as it marks 30 years since the decriminalisation of homosexuality in Ireland. It is also a year which saw hate crime legislation being presented to the Dail.

The keynote address of this years LGBTI+ Awareness Week will recognise this important milestone and is called, 30 Years: Decriminalising Homosexuality to Criminalising Hate Crime, and will be given by LGBTI+ activist and campaigner Arthur Leahy, and policy officer with the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, Luna Lara Liboni. This speech will be delivered at the formal launch of the event on Monday.

Continuing the topic of hate crime and hate crime legislation, a panel discussion focusing on Public Services and Community Organisations Responding to Hate will be held in Cork Citys Central Library on Tuesday, May 16, at 2pm.

Events have been organised in Cork City and Cork County across the week including flag raisings, a seminar on International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT), film screenings, education and awareness sessions and a Rainbow Picnic that will take place on Saturday, May 20, from 2pm from 5pm in the Marina Park.

Other events include a Cork City PPN Consultation at the Gay Project, Sawmill Street, Cork city on Friday, May 19, from 11am to 1pm, discussing well-being within the LGBTI community, and multiple events at Cork City Library. The library is hosting an LGBT exhibition called The day Ireland made world history.

A full list of the events taking place around the city during the week can be found at www.corkcity.ie/lgbti Participants can register for certain events at www.eventbrite.ie.
PEPSICO'S 127m expansion of its Little Island plant has been welcomed by Corks political and business community as a huge boost for the citys future.

Speaking to The Echo to mark Pepsis investment project, Simon Coveney TD, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment said, this is great news and a huge vote of confidence in Cork.

PepsiCo has had a presence in Ireland since 1974 and has grown its operations very significantly during that time. This latest significant investment reinforces the companys recognition of Cork and Ireland as a great place to do business.

The 3,252sqm expansion will see enhanced manufacturing and R&D capabilities created at the Little Island campus, while up to 700 jobs were created during construction for contractors. The workforce now exceeds 640 staff, while 300 more are employed by Pepsi in Carrigaline.

Fianna Fail TD for Cork North Central, Deputy Padraig OSullivan TD, said, I warmly welcome this announcement that PepsiCo has confirmed 127 million investment at the Cork facility in Little Island.

Pepsi has a long tradition in Cork, first established in Little Island in 1974. As a native of Little Island, I have seen the positive impact it has had on the local community, in terms of investment and job creation. Pepsis continued presence in Cork is a welcome boost for the region.

I wish them every success as the new expansion nears completion, and I look forward to visiting the new facility.

Cork Chamber of Commerce welcomed the 127m expansion which enhances its manufacturing capacity at the Little Island facility.

'COMMITMENT TO CORK'

The 127m investment made by Pepsico into its Little Island facility is very significant. Pepsico have shown continued commitment to Cork as a place for business, recently installing, 4,500 solar panels to power its Carrigaline facility.

Pepsi is a long-time employer in Cork, almost 50 years at this Little Island location, commented Conor Healy, CEO Cork Chamber.

Cork is an attractive location for FDI investment, and we must continue to match the ambition and growth of these global investors by ensuring that our offering to remains competitive internationally. Access to housing, a skilled talent pool and the provision of the necessary infrastructure are all key factors.

With this and other recent FDI investments in east Cork, it is a reminder of the importance of improvements to infrastructure in the area. It is clear the decision not to fund the N25 Carrigtwohill-Midleton multi modal route must be revisited as an enabler to investment and economic growth.

Mr Healy continued, positively, the completion of the ongoing upgrades to Dunkettle Interchange which are allowing for improved access to Little Island is much anticipated, and the provision of the new greenway has, for the first time, allowed cyclists to safely access Little Island on dedicated cycle paths.

Minister for Enterprise, Trade & Employment, Simon Coveney TD speaking at the PepsiCo facility in Little Island, Cork. The company has announced that it is nearing completion of a 127m investment at the facility, which will see the opening of a new manufacturing facility and further investment in its R&D campus. Photo: Darragh Kane

The increased frequency of train services has seen growth in passenger numbers, and this all gives people real transport choices. It is essential that government commits the funding required to deliver on the plans to electrify the train service as a matter of priority.

Cork remains an attractive location for business and investment, and we must be unrelenting in our ambition to remain competitive, he added.

President of the Cork Business Association, Kevin Herlihy, said its fantastic for Cork city.

It just shows that we have a highly skilled workforce and multi-nationals like Pepsico are investing in Ireland because they know weve got really good people.

However, Mr Herlihy said he had concerns that with the expansion of the workforce, housing could be an issue.

Where are these people going to live? Thats a big concern in Corks business community, where these people are going to be housed. But overall, its a fabulous story and it just shows that we have a highly skilled workforce. Hopefully, more to come of these kinds of investments.

Speaking at an event to mark the investment project, Mr Coveney said: PepsiCo has had a presence in Ireland since 1974 and has grown its operations very significantly during that time. This latest significant investment reinforces the companys recognition of Ireland as a great place to do business.

Brian Colgan, Site Lead, PepsiCo and Minister for Enterprise, Trade & Employment, Simon Coveney TDat the PepsiCo facility in Little Island, Cork. The company has announced that it is nearing completion of a 127m investment at the facility, which will see the opening of a new manufacturing facility and further investment in its R&D campus. Photo: Darragh Kane

Brian Colgan, site lead at PepsiCo Little Island said:

We have called Cork home for almost 50 years, and our longevity is a testament to the dedication of our talented workforce. This very significant expansion will allow us to increase our manufacturing capacity and ensure that we can continue to meet the global demand for our existing and future products.

Mary Buckley, Executive Director, IDA Ireland said: Continued investment in research and development is central to IDA Irelands strategy Driving Recovery and Sustainable Growth. This investment by PepsiCo is very welcome and demonstrates the companys ongoing commitment to Ireland as it continues to grow its Irish operations nearly 50 years since it first established a footprint in Cork.
Students from Midleton College held a Holi Festival on their school grounds on Wednesday, May 11 to raise funds for the Hope Foundation's work with street children in Kolkata, India.

The Holi Festival celebrates the arrival of spring, the ending of winter and the blossoming of love. Students from Midleton College held the event as part of a year-long fundraising campaign for the Hope Foundation.

Midleton College pupils who took part in the color splash during their Holi Fest event to raise funds for the Hope Foundation and their work in Kolkata. Picture: Dan Linehan

Mary Lenihan, who is a teacher in the school and who also co-ordinates their Hope activities, said Midleton College has held numerous fundraisers for the Hope Foundation down through the years.

Midleton College has for a good number of years donated money to various projects in Kolkata (formerly known as Calcutta) for the Hope Foundation," she explained. "Maureen Forrest, who is from Mogelly in East Cork, set up the Hope Foundation in 1999. Our school is affiliated with Maureen. Our annual Holi Fest raises funds for the Hope Foundations work with the street children in Kolkata, she added.

Midleton College is currently sponsoring the Baghar Education Project, which enables kids in Kolkata to attend primary schools. In recent years, we have sponsored various projects," Ms Lenihan explained. "Now we are sponsoring the Baghar Education Project. In Kolkata there are large slums unfortunately, and the Hope Foundation works with four primary schools there. For some of the pupils, it is the first time in some of the families they have entered education," she said.

Midleton College pupils during their Holi Fest event recently. Picture: Dan Linehan

Midleton College hosts a series of fundraising events throughout the school calendar.

"We have a pub quiz night, we have a pasta day and we have Holi Fest, which is good fun," Ms Lenihan added. "The funds we raise go directly towards that. It is great to help.

We are playing a small part but an important part, said Ms Lenihan. Our Transition Year students visit some of the Hope Foundation homes every year.

"It can be an eye opener for them, but they love it. It is a really rewarding experience for the pupils.

"We often have students who have returned to Kolkata or who go on and do more charity work. When we travel over, there is a sense of pride when we see what our funds have achieved.
A 52-year-old man selling counterfeit Westlife t-shirts outside their concert venue in Cork despite a garda warning not to sell his merchandise in the particular area took the prospect of a criminal prosecution as one of his occupational hazards.

Liam Byrne of 68 Berryfield Road, Finglas, Dublin, pleaded guilty to the casual trading offences at Cork District Court.

Sergeant Pat Lyons said he told the 52-year-old to leave the area on the night and he did  but he returned 15 minutes later. In court he pleaded guilty and said he did not want a solicitor.

Asked by Judge Roberts if he wanted to say anything in his own defence he had nothing to say. The accused had a similar previous conviction.

Judge Roberts asked: Have you anything to say or is it just part of the business  do you just take the risk (of criminal prosecution for his actions)?

Liam Byrne replied to the judge:

The way you say it is the way it is.

On the three charges related to casual trading offences, the judge then fined him 500 on each one.

The offences were of having no casual trading licence, non-display of casual trading licence and refusing to produce a casual trading licence.

Sgt Lyons set out the background to the offence: On August 12 2022 at round 11pm, I was on duty on Monahan Road on the night that Westlife were playing in Pairc Ui Chaoimh.

I observed Liam Byrne standing in the middle of the road. He was in possession of counterfeit Westlife t-shirts and was engaged in casual trading.

"I informed him that he was outside the casual trading area for the concert and directed him to leave the area. He said he understood and left but he returned 15 minutes later.

I asked him if he was in possession of a casual trading licence and said he said he was not. The t-shirts were seized."
Emer OHea, Programme Editor at 96FM

I met my current husband Alberto way back in 2010 when our eyes met across a crowded smoking room at The Bodega in Cork. He had travelled down from Dublin with friends for the Cork Film Festival and I had been out all evening with my sister and some friends so I was after a few.

A friend of mine spotted Alberto across the pub and thought he would be perfect for me. As I was slightly tipsy and full of dutch courage, I beckoned at him to come over.

Thankfully he walked across the room to me and the rest, as they say, is history.

We ended up back at a house party in my native Ballincollig and chatted together all night. Alberto doesnt drink so God only knows what waffling I was doing, but it seemed to work. We shared a cab home in the early hours and as he dropped me off at home, he turned around to look out the back window of the taxi as it drove off. It was a complete cheese on toast moment but I knew at that moment that he was the one.

The following week, he came down to Cork and we had our first meal together in Cornstore and drinks in The Roundy. We got on fantastically and just seemed to click immediately.

Three months later, we were looking at wedding venues and we were married a year-and-a-half after we met.

We had our wedding in Albertos native Spain in Frigiliana/Nerja and had an incredible time with family and friends.

We go back there every year and this summer we will travel there for the first time with our three smallies Beckett, Javi, and Amira.

After the wedding, Alberto had to fly back to Dublin where he worked with AIB, and I flew home to Cork.

Those first few months long distance were very tough, but thankfully the bank soon transferred him to Cork.

We had never lived together before we were married so that was a major eye opener. I was fond of partying, he was fond of the gym.

We were complete opposites but we persevered and while we argued a lot of the time in those early years, we had a very deep connection, which always brought us back together.

Ours is a relationship that has evolved massively over the years. We have learned to live with each other and respect each others differences, despite being polar opposites.

I have to say Im very glad we pushed through the first few years because he is an incredible dad and the best life partner I could ever have asked for.

Alberto Martin  Bank Manager at AIB Macroom

I was living in Dublin when I met Emer, having moved over from Spain a few years previously.

One of my friends in Dublin, Pedro, was the consul at the Embassy of Mexico in Dublin and he had invited me to come to Cork for the Cork Film Festival to meet a Mexican film director.

On the morning we were due to drive to Cork, I was very sick and I rang Pedro three times to cancel. Luckily for me he forced me into the car and made me travel with him to Cork.

After watching a couple of films at the Opera House, I tried to escape to come back to my hotel as my fever had raised, but once again, Pedro didnt allow me to leave and made me join a group of friends in a post festival party at The Bodega.

That is where I spotted Emer for the first time across the room. We got talking at the pub and for the rest of the night, we spoke about everything and anything. It was just easy and it felt so natural from the second we met.

It was already bright when we got a taxi home together. We said our goodbyes and I hoped that Id see her again soon.

There was definitely a special connection there from the very beginning. On my way back to Dublin I texted her a few times and that week, we arranged to meet each other the following weekend.

I took the train back to Cork the following weekend and I knew then that it would be the first of many weekends travelling to Cork. I still have that very first train ticket in my wallet.

Within the first two weeks of meeting, we were already joking about weddings and getting married. I knew from very early on that I wanted Emer in my life so within five months of that first date, I organised a weekend in Norway to watch the Northern Lights and proposed to her in the snow.

I got down on one knee and thankfully she said yes. Thirteen years later, were still going strong and weve now been joined on our journey by three beautiful kids.

I have Pedro to thank for forcing me into the car from Dublin to Cork all those years ago.
On Friday evening some 200 people gathered outside Ballincollig Fire Station, closed now since November 2021, and at times their chants in support of striking firefighters were drowned out by the appreciative honking of cars passing by on the Leo Murphy Road.

The demonstration had been organised by locals to demand the immediate reinstating of a fulltime fire service for Ballincollig, and young and old raised their voices in support.

Over a fortnight ago, SIPTU members employed as firefighters in Cork City commenced limited industrial action in a bid to see Ballincolligs station reopened, with members claiming that a lack of resources is endangering members and public safety.

Local firefighter John Donovan with members of his family all steeped in fire fighting at the protest at the closure of Ballincollig fire station. Picture; Eddie O'Hare

At last Monday nights meeting of Cork City Council, a Sinn Fein motion calling for the immediate reopening of Ballincollig Fire Station was passed unanimously.

The councils assistant chief executive Brian Geaney told the meeting council management had asked the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) to get involved in the dispute.

Last week, a spokesperson for SIPTU told The Echo that the union was ready, willing and able to engage but, as advised to the council both verbally and in writing, we require sight of the proposal  before we engage with the WRC.

Senan Coughlan, Ovens and Molly Coleman, Ballincollig at the protest at the closure of Ballincollig fire station. Picture; Eddie O'Hare

One of the organisers of Friday evenings demonstration, Mags McKenna, told The Echo she was delighted to see such a turnout by local people, saying it showed the depth of feeling in Ballincollig for its firefighters, and she added that this would only be the first of many demonstrations.

When you have the presence of a fire crew in your community, a fire crew that saves lives, that is so important for the community, and something like that is worth fighting for, she said.

Ms McKenna added that when Ballincollig was incorporated into Cork city in 2019, it had had a working fire station and had been promised an equal to or better service after the boundary extension, and, she said, Ballincollig was demanding that that promise be kept.

Mags McKenna, organiser and Billy Crowley, Cork firefighter speaking at the protest at the closure of Ballincollig fire station. Picture; Eddie O'Hare

Public representatives from across the political spectrum were out in force on Friday evening, with TDs, city councillors and likely future candidates all lending their support and demonstrating that Ballincollig Fire Station is only likely to be an even more important issue in the area going into the future.
Shein have officially launched their first Cork pop up shop on Opera Lane.

The Shein pop-up kicked off with an exclusive opening party this evening, May 12, giving media and influencers a first glimpse of the store in Cork city centre.

The pop-up shop is set to open to the public on May 13, and will remain open until May 17.

The pop-up shop is set to open to the public on May 13, and will remain open until May 17.

Tiktok stars James Doyle and Jim OFlanagan were in attendance at the Cork store, which was stocked with the latest styles.

Cork shoppers will be able to visit the Shein shop from 9:30am tomorrow morning.

Cork shoppers will be able to visit the SHEIN shop from 9:30am tomorrow morning.

"There are lots of extras in store for those in attendance, with a free gift for the first 100 shoppers on the opening day, and a free gift for those who complete an in-store survey (while stocks last)."

SHEIN will be making a monetary donation and also donating all remaining stock from their pop-up shop to their charity partner, The Society of St. Vincent De Paul.
Updated: 2.35pm

Tanaiste Micheal Martin has welcomed news of the release of Irish national Bernard Phelan from a prison in Iran.

Mr Phelan was detained by Iranian authorities in 2022, with news of his release confirmed on Friday morning by Irans embassy in Ireland.

The 64-year-old dual Irish/French national spent almost 200 days in a prison in north-east Iran after his arrest in Mashhad in October 2022 while on a trip.

His family claim he was charged with providing information to an enemy country, which Mr Phelan denies.

Speaking to RTE's News at One, the Tanaiste said officials are very pleased that Mr Phelan has been released.

Confirming Mr Phelan has now left Iran, Mr Martin said: "He's on his way home now to his family, and we expect that he'll be back in France tonight.

"It's been an extraordinarily difficult seven months for Bernard and for his family members and loved ones."

"Our thoughts are with all of them today, and particularly his 97-year-old father, Vincent, and his sister, Caroline, who I spoke with yesterday, and who has been incredibly brave and steadfast throughout this ordeal," he added.

Resolution

He added he was also pleased that a French national who was imprisoned with Mr Phelan, Benhamin Briere, has also been released.

The Tanaiste thanked French and Irish teams in Dublin, Paris and Tehran, "who have been in constant contact over the last seven months and have worked seamlessly together to bring this case to a resolution".

Amnesty International had previously called for Mr Phelans immediate release, raising concerns about the prison sentence he received in February 2023.

Responding to Friday's news, the human rights group said Mr Phelan's family "worked tirelessly to secure his release and we are pleased that they will see him again".

"Bernard Phelans detention was arbitrary, due to the gravity of violations of his fair trial rights, including the right to access an independent lawyer of his own choosing, to adequate defence and to meaningfully challenge the legality of his detention before an independent and impartial court," Amnesty Ireland International said in a statement on Friday afternoon.

"For this and other human rights violations, Bernard Phelan must be accorded an enforceable right to reparations from the Iranian authorities.

"Amnesty International remains deeply concerned about the Iranian authorities practice of using detained dual and foreign nationals as leverage, and again urges all states whose nationals are or have been detained at any point in Iran to promptly examine whether the deprivation of liberty amounts to an act of hostage-taking, and if so, to ensure accountability," they added.

Prior to his release, the group and Mr Phelans family had raised concerns about his deteriorating health, with his relatives saying that he requires daily medication for a number of health conditions.

His family said that his eyesight was deteriorating, as he had an operation on both of his eyes prior to his trip to Iran and has not had any follow-up treatment.

Earlier, in a statement, the Iranian embassy said: Constructive diplomatic engagement between Iran and Ireland has resulted in pardoning and releasing of the Irish citizen, Bernard Phelan, on consular and humanitarian grounds.
Eimear Dodd

Four senior executives of Custom House Capital have been sentenced for their roles in a highly organised and sophisticated operation to defraud investors in the firm over a decade ago.

The company's former CEO Harry Cassidy (67) was handed a sentence of six years and 10 months by Judge Orla Crowe on Friday at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

Judge Crowe said victims were systematically deceived in a sophisticated operation which was carried out for over two years by people who owed them fiduciary duties. She said the offending was most egregious and involved a gross abuse of trust and duty.

She handed John Whyte (53), former head of private clients, a sentence of four years.

Paul Lavery (47), head of finance, received a sentence of three years.

John Mulholland (73), non-executive director of Custom House Capital (CHC), was handed a 12-month sentence.

Cassidy, of Clon Brugh, Aitkens Village, Stepaside, Dublin, Whyte of Beechpark, Lucan, Dublin, and Lavery of Rafeenan, Ballynod, Co Monaghan, pleaded guilty to conspiring with others to defraud investors in and clients and customers of CHC by intentionally misleading them as to where and/or how their assets had been placed contrary to common law.

John Mulholland of The Foxes Covert, Mount Juliet Estate, Thomastown, Co Kilkenny, pleaded guilty to one count of being neglectful in the discharge of his duty of as a non-executive director of CHC.

Deception

The court heard this was in relation to the commission by the company of acts of dishonestly by deception inducing clients to entrust funds to the company or to refrain from removing funds previously entrusted to the company with the intention of making gain for itself and causing loss to another.

All of the offences occurred within the State on dates between October 1st, 2008 and July 15th, 2011.

The courtroom at the Criminal Courts of Justice was packed with many people standing at the back of the court as Judge Crowe finalised the case.

John Whyte (53), former head of private clients, got a sentence of four years. Photo: Colllins Courts

The court previously heard that CHC entered agreements to buy properties in mainland Europe at the time of financial crash. In 2008, CHC began to use client funds to meet these obligations, often without the knowledge or authorisation of clients.

It was the prosecution's case that transactions on CHC's systems were backed out of property before valuations were issued to clients. These valuations were misleading and did not show clients the true location of their funds.

Judge Crowe said the scheme actively misled clients because their money was not where they thought it was. She noted that this scheme continued for over two years.

Client money

When High Court inspectors were appointed to CHC in 2011, they found that 56 million of client money had been inappropriately transferred to property investments. A liquidator was later appointed to the company, with the process of winding down the company expected to continue until 2025.

In an update to the court, CHC's liquidator Kieran Wallace said 61 million in client funds were found to have been misappropriated. 41 million (64 per cent) of this amount has been recovered, with clients receiving 39 million so far as of March last. A total of 253.4 million across over 3,000 accounts was held by the company on the date of liquidation.

A total of 202 victim impact statements were submitted to the court in advance of the finalisation of the case.

Judge Crowe said the statements outline the very significant effects on the victims and their loved ones. She said the court was also conscious that some people have passed away in the intervening period.

Paul Lavery (47), head of finance, received a sentence of three years. Photo: Collins Court

She noted that the vast bulk of CHC's clients were saving for their retirement and many of the victims had suffered significant financial losses, which was an aggravating factor.

She said the offending caused devastation in the lives of these blameless people who put their trust in CHC. She noted that many of the victims referred to feelings of shame for being duped.

The court views this as misplaced, she said. They were systematically deceived in a sophisticated operation which went on for over two years by people who owed them fiduciary duties.

'Fiduciary duty'

Judge Crowe said other aggravating factors included the significant breaches of fiduciary duty and the impact on the affected clients. She said Cassidy was in overall control of the scheme while Whyte and Lavery were both actively involved.

She noted that the evidence before the court showed that Mulholland was aware of the issue from early on but did nothing about it.

Judge Crowe noted the four defendants had all entered guilty pleas, had no previous convictions and had until now unblemished characters. She said the guilty pleas were of value as they avoided the need for a long and complex trial.

John Mulholland (73), non-executive director of Custom House Capital (CHC), was handed a 12-month sentence. Photo: Collins Courts

She said she would also take into consideration the mitigation outlined on behalf of the four men, their expressions of remorse and the materials handed into the court on their behalf. She also noted that a considerable period of time has passed since the offending occurred.

Judge Crowe said conspiracy to defraud is a common law offence with no fixed penalty. She said the courts have generally adhered to the principle that the sentence for conspiracy should not exceed that for the substantive offence, which had been suggested as either theft or deception.

Custodial sentences

Judge Crowe said the court had carefully considered the offending in this case and in light of its scale and duration, the number of victims involved and their losses, the court was entitled to depart from the maximum sentences set out for these offences. She said the threshold for custodial sentences had been reached.

She noted Cassidy was a founder, major shareholder, director and chief executive of CHC. She said the court was entitled to conclude that he was the principal party and originator of the plan as nothing happened within CHC without his say so as he was the dominant person within the company.

Judge Crowe said Cassidy breached every duty and all trust placed in him and imposed a headline sentence of 14 years.

She reduced this sentence to seven years, taking the mitigation into consideration. Cassidy is also to be given credit for the two months he spent in custody in Germany, giving him an effective sentence of six years and 10 months.

Judge Crowe noted Whyte was a director of CHC and a minority shareholder, who took part in the scheme and didn't do anything to stop it. She said his culpability is lower than that of Cassidy and set a headline sentence of eight years, which she reduced to four years.

Judge Crowe said while Lavery was a salaried employee of CHC, he was actively involved in the scheme and carried out duties that he knew to be wrong.

Mitigation

Judge Crowe noted submissions made on behalf of Lavery stated he was not qualified for the role he held. However, she said he was a qualified accountant and could have chosen to leave the company, but instead followed instructions. Judge Crowe noted Lavery's culpability was lower than that of Cassidy or Whyte and set a headline sentence of six years, which she reduced to three years.

Judge Crowe noted that Mulholland had pleaded to a different court, that he was neglectful in the discharge of his duty as a non-executive director. She said it could be reasonably inferred from the evidence that he was fully aware that matters were awry and had demonstrated knowledge about what was happening within CHC, but did nothing during the period in question.

She set a headline sentence of two years, which she reduced to 12 months with the mitigation taken into consideration.

Mulholland was also charged with conspiracy to defraud, but the court was told a nolle prosequi was to be entered in relation to this.

Victim impact statements

A total of 197 victim impact statements were submitted to the court. Five victim impact statements were read in full to the court, while extracts were also taken from a selection of other statements.

Clients spoke of the financial losses they had suffered and of the emotional and psychological effects they and their loved ones had faced over the last 10 years. Some statements also outlined the devastating impact of the loss of savings and investments intended to provide a pension.

Nick Coy said his aunt Helga asked him to look after her investments in CHC as she was living in Germany. He said he didn't tell his aunt, who passed away in 2021, about the company's collapse in the hope that her money might be recovered.

Mr Coy said his aunt's lifework was effectively stolen by Cassidy. He added that his aunt lost many things during the Second World War, but Cassidy did more damage to her life.

Another CHC client, now 74, said they had never established the full extent of their losses and have had to continue working. They said they wished the defendants no rest in this life for their ill deeds.

A 72-year-old CHC client said her net loss was over 143,000. She said she received assurances from CHC that her money was safe, but later learnt that money was taken from her account without permission. She said the collapse of CHC still haunts her and she lives with constant fear about her financial security.

Huge stress

In another victim impact statement, Catherine Heron said the family's small business almost went into administration following the collapse of CHC, which caused huge stress to her late husband Patrick, who passed away in 2014. Ms Heron said she wanted to be present as her late husband couldn't be. She said she felt he was with her in court.

Detective Inspector Alan McGovern told Lorcan Staines SC, prosecuting, that CHC's core activities included investment management and pension advisory services. The company bought a large portfolio of investment properties in mainland Europe.

CHC had entered multi-million euro agreements to buy properties in Europe at the time of the financial crash in 2008. At this point, the company had paid deposits, but was not in a position to transfer money to complete the agreed property transactions.

The court heard that CHC began to use client funds in 2008 to meet these obligations, often without the knowledge or authorisation of the affected investors.

Around 95 per cent of the shares in CHC were owned equally by Mulholland and Cassidy, while Whyte had a shareholding of 5 per cent.

The court heard that the liquidation of CHC is complex and expected to continue for another 24 months.




New guide helps cattle producers in South Australia deal with cattle diseases

A new guide has been launched to help South Australian cattle producers take action when faced with common cattle diseases and conditions.

The new Cattle Diseases Guide was developed through the Department of Primary Industries and Regions' (PIRSA) Red Meat and Wool Growth Program, in collaboration with Animal Health Australia.

Animal health officers and vets from the red meat and wool industry have contributed to the guide, offering the most current advice on how to identify signs and symptoms of disease as well as recommendations on treatment and prevention options for farmers.

The quick-reference guide is based on the recently updated Sheep Disease Guide that was well received by producers following its release in January this year.

Both guides include photos and descriptions of endemic disease and cover exotic diseases most at risk of occurring in SA, including foot and mouth disease and lumpy skin disease.

Additional features include best practice management guidelines on farm biosecurity, vaccination, traceability and livestock movement obligations.

Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development Clare Scriven said that with emergency animal diseases such as foot and mouth disease now established in Indonesia, the Cattle Diseases Guide is a timely and valuable tool for South Australian cattle famers.

"The responsibility to keep South Australia free from emergency animal diseases lies with every one of us but livestock producers play a key role in identifying and preventing the spread of disease and this guide will help equip them with the ability to recognise the difference between common diseases and exotic diseases."

Dr. Jodie Reseigh of the Red Meat and Wool Growth Program said farmers had been calling for a cattle equivalent following the release of recently updated Sheep Disease Guide, which has been a glovebox staple for SA producers since it was first published in 2016.

"The opportunity to work with Animal Health Australia has helped to fast track the production of the Cattle Guide meaning SA farmers can start growing their knowledge of how to identify common diseases and take action faster to prevent production losses and disease spread," Dr. Reseigh said.

Dr. Rob Barwell, head of Biosecurity Animal Health Australia, said the Cattle Disease Guide is adding great value to the series of guides now developed in collaboration with PIRSA.

"We are pleased that cattle producers now have access to quick and easy disease information," Dr. Barwell said. "It is important that cattle producers are aware of the disease risks not yet in our country, but also aware of the disease risks locally as well. This guide gives a great synopsis of both emergency diseases (those not here) and endemic diseases (those here)."

- Beef Central
Its a huge week for news: Google I/O happened, and we finally got a close look at the Pixel Fold and the companys latest AI plans. Engadget Deputy Editor Nathan Ingraham also joins to discuss his review of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, the follow-up to one of the greatest games ever made. (No pressure, Nate!) We also chat about Nintendos confirmation that it wont be announcing any new hardware until next year, and the perils of chatbots serving as the latest avatars for Hindu gods in India.

Listen below or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you've got suggestions or topics you'd like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcasts, the Morning After and Engadget News!



Topics

Googles Pixel Fold was finally announced (its $1,799)  1:25

Also announced at Google I/O: a ton of Bard integration in search, Pixel Tablet and Pixel 7a  14:43

Nate Ingrahams Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom review  39:29

Nintendo says no new hardware will be announced this year  52:51

Roku is doing home security now  56:40

AI Updates: Religious chatbots run the risk of sparking violence in India  58:12

Working on  1:03:45

Pop culture picks  1:05:43

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Credits

Hosts: Devindra Hardawar and Nathan Ingraham

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Reuters | Days after former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan was arrested in a graft case, a court ordered his release on bail for two weeks.
Reuters | Sirens warning of incoming rocket fire went off in areas outside of Jerusalem for the first time since fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip intensified this week.
Friday, May 12, 2023

My friend and co-panelist on the Pandemic Round Table Joe Berger, who is founder and president of Joseph Berger Associates

Magazine Marketing and Consulting, also publishes a weekly newsletter every Tuesday. Included in this weeks edition there was an interview with me. Thank you Joe, and thank you for giving me permission to repost the interview. You can find a link to the entire newsletter at the end of this blog.

But now, for Joe Bergers interview with Samir Mr. Magazine Husni:

Five Questions With: Samir Husni, Ph.D. AKA, Mr. Magazine

Its the second Tuesday of the month so lets go and meet someone in the magazine media world that you should know. Who is Samir Husni and why should you know him?

The Chicago Tribune called Samir Mr. Magazine Husni, Ph.D. the man who loves magazines. What started as a hobby at the age of 10 turned into an education and later, a profession. Samir is an expert in the field of magazine publishing and has extensively traveled the world preaching the love and importance of magazines in a digital age. Fun fact: Husni has spoken and consulted on six of the seven continents. Hes still waiting to go to Antartica to help launch Ice Quarterly.

Samir is an expert on new magazine launches and re-launches. His experience is based on years of studying the magazine industry and collecting publications. In fact, his hobby led to a collection of more than 40,000 first edition magazines and over 125,000 other notable publications that he recently donated to his alma mater, The University of Missouri-Columbia.

When Samir is not in his home office studying magazines, hes out at the newsstands buying them.

Note: This conversation was lightly edited for clarity and brevity.

Samir Husni (Photo by Robert Jordan)

Heres our conversation with Samir Husni

#1: When and how did you begin working with magazine media? Did you have any specific training that helped to prepare you for your first job?

I started working with magazine media at a very young age. As far as I recall it was as early as the age of 10. I fell in love with the art of storytelling after purchasing the first issue of the Arabic edition of Superman in my birthplace Tripoli, Lebanon in 1964. The idea that you can capture a story on the pages of a magazine, illustrate it, and read it at your pace was a transforming moment for me. The powerful impact that had on me at that young age, led me to start my own magazines with the concept that I later used in my consulting career, the audience of one. I would create a magazine, using sheets of paper, crayons, pens and pencils, write, edit, and design, and at the end of the day sit down and read it. I was the publisher, editor, designer and reader all in one. All my training came from imitating other magazines, studying their content, their design, their audience. Magazines were my candy and any time I visited a newsstand, I was the kid in a candy store. So when I applied to my first job, I had a lot of passion to add to my resume, and that passion with my resume gave me the opportunity to work in the field that 60 years later I still love and practice.

#2: What are some of the big challenges you see the industry tackling this year? What do you foresee as the big challenges coming at us over the next few years?

The magazine media industry is an industry of challenges, big and small. This year is not any different. Finding a willing and capable audience who wants to and can afford the price of the magazine. Ensuring that you can find a way to put the magazine in front of its intended audience is still a major challenge.

With the disappearance of many newsstands and the shrinking of available space to display your magazine, it is harder than ever to find the title of your choice. Simply stated, if you cant see it you cant buy it.

#3: Do print magazines have much of a future over the next decade? Will there be print magazines twenty years from now?

I always say: There are only two people who can tell you the future: God and a fool. I know, for sure, I am not God, so here we go

Print magazines are here to stay. And, by the way, I do not believe there is any other kind of magazine. If it is not ink on paper it is not a magazine. Folks must find a new name for all these fancy digital entities, maybe telezines or such. We never call television radio with pictures. We created a new word for it. So, are we going to have magazines 20 years from now? Yes we are is the simple answer. As long as we have human beings, we are going to have magazines that people can hold, touch, flip through, relax with and enjoy their me time with. Human beings thrive on three ships that cruise through them: ownership (you cant own virtual), showmanship (you can show off what you own and carry) and membership (a sense of belonging that you know has its benefits, think AARP).

#4: If you hadnt had a career in magazines (or journalism), what would you have wanted to do? Is that still something youd want to do?

When your hobby turns into your education, into your profession, you never work a day in your life. I cant see myself outside the world of magazines. Thats why after I retired from teaching, I did not retire from my studying and working with magazines. In addition to magazines, I always enjoyed photography and taking pictures (needless to say, an essential part of magazines), so I am now honing my skills in taking pictures and focusing on Gods beautiful creatures: birds.

#5: Did you have a mentor when you started out in your career? What was a good piece of advice that they gave you?

I was blessed to have too many mentors in my life. Almost every professor in my undergrad and grad school was a mentor. But two, way back in my days in Lebanon were truly my mentors. My editor in chief of the first newspaper I worked for in Beirut, Walid El-Husaini, who took me under his wings and showed me the art of making sense of what you write and design. Also, my university professor Walid Awad, who was a practicing journalist who helped nourish my career and asked me to work with him on many projects. There are too many to name, but one advice from them all: always remember your audience and remember you are never the audience.

Samir regularly publishes a blog with incredible interviews of magazine leaders. You can find it here.

To read or subscribe to Joe Bergers newsletter please click here

Thank you Joe.
Friday, May 12, 2023

EXCLUSIVE: Marine Veteran Injured Fighting ISIS in Syria says He Was Betrayed by the Service

A former Marine artilleryman says he was neglected and unjustly treated by the branch after suffering brain injuries during a 2017 campaign to defeat ISIS in Syria

Original Article in The EPOCH Times here. [reprinted with permission.]

By J.M. Phelps Updated: May 8, 2023. This is part one of a two-part series.

Javier E. Ortiz wanted nothing more than to become a Marine. And after a humble beginning, he quickly devoted himself to the Corps. In return, he says he was stripped of his dignity and left to fight an uphill battle alone.

Ortiz was born in the Dominican Republic on Dec. 22, 1994. He was a boy when his father left the family to build another. In search of the American dream, Ortiz moved with his mother and older brother to New York in November 2003. A month later, they moved to New Jersey and Ortiz entered the American school system. His mothers cash stockpile slowly deteriorated as she cared for Ortiz, an older brother, and other family members in the home.

Taking the opportunity to live closer to his grandparents, Ortiz moved with his mother and brother to Kissimmee, Florida, in 2005. As his mother continued to struggle financially, he eventually was adopted by an aunt and uncle in 2007 who began to provide the stable environment he longed for.

Distancing himself from the familys rocky start in America, Ortiz began to cultivate the idea of serving in the United States Marine Corps as one of the few, the proud. I decided to do everything I had to do to be able to join the Marines, he told The Epoch Times.

With frequent visits to the local recruiting station between 2012 and 2015, Ortiz grew increasingly motivated to join the Corps. In 2014, he gained naturalization for work, which allowed him to apply for a Social Security card. And in 2015, he was able to do what he had always wanted to do: join the Marine Corps.

Ortiz traveled to Parris Island, South Carolina, for boot camp during the fall-to-winter cycle of 2015. The first night I arrived, there was a meteor shower, a complete affirmation I was doing the right thing, he said. Thirteen long weeks of training were good, he said. I adapted well due to my long-awaited goal of protecting my new homeland.

Deployment

Not only did Ortiz earn the Marine Corps Eagle, Globe, and Anchor, he became a U.S. citizen shortly after completing boot camp. And with that, he was ready to support and defend the Constitution of the United States, even to the point of death. In 2016, Ortiz was attached to the Headquarters element of the 1st Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division in Camp Pendleton, California.

I was in Headquarters for only a couple of months before 1st Battalion, 11th Marines [1/11], Alpha Battery was rumored for deployment to Syria, he said. I was eager to perform, and I was eager to deploy, he added.

A fellow service member was recovering from a personnel incident and another was attending to an ill family member, opening the door for Ortiz as the next in line to join a combat element he had long desired to be part of.

Alpha Batterys reputation was that they were extremely accurate [and] the tip of the spear, he said. And within a couple days, I was in formation with Alpha Battery, ready to take that deployment.

His performance and willingness to deploy on short notice also led to a meritorious promotion from the rank of Private First Class to Lance Corporal in October 2016.

Enter Alpha Battery

Ortiz found himself aboard an amphibious assault shipthe USS Makin Islandin October 2016. 1/11 Alpha Battery was deployed and served as the artillery unit for the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU).

For the remainder of the year, Ortiz was on the ship on the other side the world, he recounted. At the end of 2016, he said, there were finally talks about artillery batteries being dispatched into Syria as ISIS continued to gain large swaths of territory in Iraq and Syria.

Aboard the USS Makin Islan in December 2016, Sergeant Major Ronald Green told those on the ship, We are here to impose our will onto our enemiesto change their minds or their zip code! Ortiz recalled.

Prior to Ortizs deployment, Special Operations troops had already been in the country since early 2016, training and advising local forces in the fight against ISIS in northern and eastern Syria.

In March 2017, the Washington Post reported that an undisclosed number of Marines assigned to the 11th MEU had secretly entered Syria to fire artillery in the fight for Raqqa, the self-identified capital city for ISIS. Ortiz was among that groupand the deployment was said to have marked a new escalation in the U.S. war in Syria against hardened terrorists.

It was the first time American forces, other than Special Operations, had entered the Middle Eastern country; and by May, then-Defense Secretary James Mattis would be calling U.S. involvement an annihilation campaign.

Ortiz and Alpha Battery began conducting training exercises in Kuwait in early 2017. Prior to being transported to the deadly fight ongoing in Syria, MEU Commander Col. Clay C. Tipton told 1/11 Alpha that not all of us will make it back, Ortiz recalled.

At that point, it clicked, and I began to understand the sacrifices we were all about to make, Ortiz said. Shortly after, he and his fellow artillerymen were flown into Syria on a Boeing C-17 Globemaster, a massive military transport aircraft.

1/11 Alpha was tasked by the 11th MEU to provide direct and indirect fire in support of the mission to defeat ISIS, dubbed Operation Inherent Resolve, in February 2017. We were some of the first Marines in Syria, literally the first artillery battery with a mission task, Ortiz said. I was part of a series of artillery batteries, being the initiating force to overtake Raqqa.

I was the ammo driver for Gun 4, responsible for chucking rounds, ramming rounds, and providing powders [into an M777 howitzer], he explained. And the first time he pulled the lanyard, he had confirmed kills. To this day, he still has the primer from that round he fired.

Ortiz recalled at least three different occasions where he also was threatened by incoming fire high explosive rounds. But we were obliterating ISIS, he said. And after about two weeks, Alpha Battery pushed outside the wire beyond the perimeter of a secure base of operations. His unit was required to sign the equivalent of a nondisclosure agreement while outside the wire, stating they would not discuss anything, about their mission in Syria or otherwise, on social media and other channels. This was, and remains, unprecedented, according to service members who spoke to The Epoch Times.

Unsafe Exposure

Marine Corps officials were once tight-lipped about the 11th MEUs contributions to the campaign in Syria in 2017. Many of its missions during its deployment were not discussed publicly. But reports quickly surfaced about powerful 155-millimeter shells from M777 howitzers beginning to rain down on Raqqa. One of the secretive details of the onslaught, the number of artillery rounds fired in Syria, was disclosed a year later.

According to Army Sgt. Major John Wayne Troxel, the artillery battalion fired more rounds in five months in Raqqa, Syria, than any other Marine artillery battalion, or any Marine or Army battalion, since the Vietnam War. During a Marine Corps Times roundtable discussion in 2018, the former senior enlisted adviser to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said 35,000 artillery rounds were used to kill ISIS terrorists by the dozens.

For comparison, 60,000 rounds were fired by the Marines and the Army during the First Gulf War. And during the initial invasion of the Iraq War, over 34,000 artillery shells were fired.

In the time period Ortiz was confirmed to be there, MEU spokesman Maj. Craig Thomas was quoted by USNI News, saying, The task force executed over 400 fire missions and fired more than 4,500 rounds from M777 howitzers to support our coalition partners fighting to isolate and then liberate Raqqah from ISIS.

Between March and May 2017, Ortiz participated in the Battle of Raqqa. At one point, a howitzer was fired every hour for 47 consecutive days, Ortiz said. During that time, there was also a 14-hour fire mission where all four [1/11 Alpha howitzers] were active.

We were shooting a lot, he said.

The numbers appear to have exceeded what is safe for service members to be exposed to.

Gun 4the specific howitzer Ortiz was assigned to for Alpha Batterywas the first to fire over 1,000 rounds within the first few weeks of landing in Syria. During one particular mission, his gun ran out of ammunition and had to be resupplied from Kuwait and other countries that held ammo points to continue.

Considered some of the most destructive and powerful artillery rounds in the Marine Corps arsenal, Ortiz said, Gun 4 averaged 25 rounds per day with 12 to 17 of these rounds being charge 5 [the maximum level].

According to the Fort Sill Public Affairs Office, subject matter experts at the U.S. Army Field Artillery School said at maximum charge, when all prescribed personal protective equipment [PPE] is used, 12 rounds in 24 hours is a safe number of rounds for human exposure. All field artillerymen of the Marine Corps are trained at Fort Sill.

Reported and Ignored

After the initial, unprecedented bombardment of Raqqa, 2nd Battalion, 10th Marines (2/10) Fox Battery replaced 1/11 Alpha in May 2017.

On Oct. 20, Raqqa was publicly declared liberated.

The damage was donenot only to the terrorist stronghold and its inhabitants, but also to artillerymen like Ortiz and his fellow Marines.

A few of us were not feeling well and we brought it up as we noticed, Ortiz said. But at the end of the day, none of us wanted to stop, nor could we stop during an active battle; we just wanted to let the officers know we shouldnt be shooting that much.

The order to go above standard operating procedure was above everybodys pay grade on the ground there, he continued, adding that we couldnt afford to lose anybody, so we just continued to exhaust all our ammo until things went back to normal.

Early on, Ortiz said he experienced nothing more than a daily headache as a result of the constant firing. Three weeks later, however, abdominal pains began to emerge; all of which he reported. Some of the other soldiers were experiencing the same. Four of the eight artillerymen assigned to his howitzer had problems, he said.

All that exposure to the blasts messed up our stomachs, our hands were swelling, and nosebleeds were happening, he said, adding that as a result, he and others were lining up for doses of ibuprofen to combat the growing number of symptoms. None, however, were evaluated to find the root cause.

Even though we knew something was wrong, each of us continued to give all for the Marines, he said. We had trained hard to be there, and nobody wanted to leave.

On May 16, 2017, Alpha Batterys deployment came to an end. When we left, some of us were not well mentally or physically, Ortiz said. The cause of the psychological and physical issues were unknown, but he began to associate them with the number of rounds he and others were firing.

Invisible Long-term Consequences

According to protocol, the symptoms experienced by these artillerymen should have been addressed by the Marine Corps.

The U.S. Marine Corps Traumatic Brain Injury Program (MARADMINS 294/12), states that TBI [traumatic brain injury], including mild TBI (also referred to as concussion), is a leading combat injury in conflicts.

These injuries can have a significant operational readiness impact as well as potential long-term health consequences, the document adds.

But when asked, Ortiz said the Marine Corps had not followed through with their protocol. He became confident that the headaches, which were not random, were directly related to the injurious effects of blast overpressure. This, along with other problems, like abdominal pains, nosebleeds, and swelling, were not addressed by the Corps.

Due to repeated exposure to artillery blasts, the men were exposed to an excessive number of concussive events. A concussion is recognized as an invisible injury and requires careful management by leadership and medical personnel, the protocol states. One of the Marine Corps primary preventative measures includes limiting exposure to potentially concussive events through the proper provision and use of PPE [personal protective equipment]. A second preventive measure includes minimizing the adverse impact after a concussive exposure occurred, especially by limiting additional exposures during the recovery period.

According to the policy, commanders will also ensure that all Marines exposed to a potentially concussive event, whether in garrison or deployed, are placed in a 24-hour SIQ [sick in quarters] status and referred for a medical evaluation; direct their Marines to a medical evaluation in any other concerning circumstance such as repeated exposures to potentially concussive events or patient concerns or behavior that could be related to a concussion or TBI.

It also states that all units are required to ensure a post-deployment face-to-face clinical follow-up for all Marines diagnosed with a concussion or TBI during a deployment within one to four months of redeployment.

But none of that happened for Ortiz or the men of 1/11 Alpha.

Blast TBI and PTSD

In an unclassified report (pdf) released by the Marine Corps in 2019, a blast overpressure (BOP) injury is defined as an injury caused by the effect of the blast wave on a body. Gas-filled organs such as the middle ear, lung, brain, and bowel are most susceptible to primary blast injuries, the report states. Its similar to having repeated concussions over and over again.

The Epoch Times spoke to Dr. Robert Beckman, co-founder and executive director of TreatNOW.org, an organization that has had success treating concussion, traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder with hyperbaric oxygen therapy. The former Air Force KC-135 pilot and veteran of the Vietnam War said, the rapid compression and decompression, ricochet and rebound, of air emboli [gas bubbles] from the effect of a blast wave cause damage to the bodyeven to the point of death.

Dr. Mary Lee Esty, a leading researcher in the field of neurotherapy, agreed, describing the blast wave injury as the pressure wave pulsing with lightning speed from zero to massive pressure, as it passes through the entire body, damaging all body tissues. The repetitive pressure causes cavitation, a process that produces tiny bubbles that damage all body tissues, she explained.

The longer each exposure, and with multiple exposures, Esty said, the more damage occurs in our veterans bodies and brains. And according to her, The symptoms of damage are invisible, unavoidable, but explainable. Based on years of neurofeedback treatment and research, she said, recovery of function is possible with appropriate treatment of the symptoms.

For thousands who survive an explosion, blast overpressure injuries that go untreated can lead to long-term behavioral, psychological, and physical degradation, Beckman said. This typically manifests as traumatic brain injury (TBI) and/or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), he explained. To say that a blast and TBI and PTSD are related is axiomatic, he added.

Incidents of TBI, sensory, and musculoskeletal injuries have steadily increased since 2015. In collaboration with the Navy Marine Corps Public Health Center in 2018, Headquarters Marine Corps Force Preservation Directorate began to examine the health of 56 service members from 2/10 Fox  the battalion that took over when Ortiz and his battalion ended their tour in Syria.

Like those in 1/11 Alpha, service members from 2/10 Fox fired an unusually high number of artillery rounds during their April to September 2017 deployment to Syria. Unsurprisingly, according to the study, initial analysis revealed that these [service members] suffered a higher rate of traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) than the rest of the artillery community.

The service members post-deployment medical encounters increased exponentially. According to the report, 25 percent were for conditions or illnesses related to overpressure and/or noise exposure. Considering the force as a whole, approximately 7.5% of the force experiences at least one TBI, and 3% experience multiple TBIs.

Over 25 percent of combat-deployed Marines will have a previous diagnosis of a sensory injury or TBI. Once these artillery Marines suffer a TBI, they will suffer, on average, 1.2 additional TBIs per year of service after their initial TBI, the study indicated.

Ortizs Ongoing Battle

Years later, Ortiz continues to experience multiple symptoms and ailments, including abdominal pain, bilateral hearing loss, chest pains, chronic aching, double vision, and posttraumatic headaches. The Epoch Times has viewed Ortizs medical file and documentation corroborating his claims.

I have a lot of physical pain, more than someone 28 years old should be experiencing, he said.

But the vigor of his ambition to serve his country came at an additional cost. Like thousands of other soldiers before him, he was haunted by the atrocities of war which were vastly underreported at the height of the conflict. Media interest was waning, and the experiences of these men were being forgotten.

In addition to the physical pain caused by his time in Syria, Ortiz said, he soon began to suffer mentally from the experience. Post-deployment, he said, is when things got a little different and he had come to the realization that a lot of people died. At the time, it was easy for Ortiz to engage in warfare because he was driven to be the best, even if his best would mean others would have to die. He was determined that nothing would stand in the way of the deadly job he was called to do.

Despite decreasing interest in the war after 2016, according to Action on Armed Violence (AOAV), a London-based nonprofit, 2017 became the deadliest year for civilians in Syria from explosive weapons. The deaths are partly attributed to artillery shells fired by U.S. forces. The group discovered that online reporting captured but a small fraction of the wars violence.

A photograph taken in March 2017, and subsequently posted by the Pentagon in May, exhibited Marine M777 howitzers in Syria with a pallet of white phosphorus munitions. According to the Washington Post, footage shows [white phosphorous] munitions bursting relatively high off the ground over a cluster of buildings [in Raqqa].

At the time, it was unclear how many ISIS terrorists were in the area, but it is apparent that thousands of civilians were present.

When it comes in contact with flesh, the Washington Post reported, white phosphorous can maim and kill by burning to the bone. The use of this artillery-delivered agent in a populated area raises serious questions about the protection of civilians, whose deaths clearly contribute to a service members mental stability and more.

Seeing the burning city, those visuals stuck with me, Ortiz said. A lot of innocent people passed away and theres a lot of anger towards me because of it, he added. Its one thing to have PTSDbut its another thing to have people communicate things to you.

As in many other documented cases, hallucinations related to PTSD are commonplace with people returning from war. People that I killed have communicated to me, Ortiz said.

I began seeking therapy when I returned from Syria, but it wasnt categorized as PTSD right away, he said. I was diagnosed with PTSD in September 2017. According to the National Center for PTSD, up to 20 percent of veterans may experience PTSD, particularly affecting those with a history of war zone deployment. But the diagnosis of PTSD still did not address all the physical health issues he experienced.

To help Ortiz ward off the effects of PTSD, a doctor prescribed multiple medications for Ortiz in 2017. He reports taking a cocktail of five medications at one point in time.

I do not recall very well, but I was definitely on some of them for one or two or three months, he said. But my time was coming for eligibility to reenlist, and I couldnt reenlist if I was on profile [with psychological limitations].

Making a decision he would later regret, Ortiz began using alcohol in early 2018 to cope with his struggles and open the door to continuing his service to the country. I started drinking a lot and reenlisted as a functioning alcoholic, he added.

So just 13 months post-Syria, in July 2018, he reenlisted for four more years. A few months later, he received a Good Conduct Medal. Roughly one year later, in August 2019, Ortiz was promoted to the rank of Sergeant. And years later, he received orders to the Marine Corps esteemed Officer Candidate School.

But while showing signs of improvement externally, Ortiz continued to suffer on the inside.

Ive had meltdowns with occasional thoughts of suicide, Ortiz said. More than anything, I was detaching myself from reality, living in a constant daydream and experiences of constant episodes of deja vu.

At the prompting of a combat veteran in the family, Ortiz, rather than seeking medical help that wasnt working, continued the path of self-medicating. He began experimenting with cannabis on Oct. 31, 2020. Cannabis never interested me and was never in the picture, but I didnt know any safe way to keep myself grounded, he said.

I needed guidance and help from the Marine Corps, but I didnt get that, Ortiz said. People knew something was going on, but they just kept ignoring it, he said.

In November 2020, just three days after the initial use, Ortiz felt compelled to report to his healthcare provider for experimenting with cannabis. In reality, he said, I just needed treatment for PTSD. With the help of therapy, he was holding strong at the turn of the year.

But things came tumbling down again. Ortiz was presented with administrative separation proceedings in February 2021. It blind-sided me, because thats not what I expected at a time I was back giving everything I could to the Marine Corps.

I knew I did something wrong, and I tried to make it right, Ortiz said. But they presented me with involuntary separation anyway and eventually stripped me of my rank. There was no positive urinalysis, only his verbal report. And now, officer candidate school (OCS) was also off the table.

In March, after a related failed surgery, I had relapsed, Ortiz said. And now I didnt know who to trust, and I didnt know who to talk to.

At this time, he began to recall what he had given to the Marine Corps. I risked my own life; my own marriage was at risk while I was deployed, he said. I felt betrayed, knowing I gave everything, but the Marine Corps took a different approachan approach Ortiz considers unjust and abusive.

The Marine Corps didnt return inquiries from The Epoch Times.

Read Part 2 of Series

* * * * * * * * * * * *

The TreatNOW Coalitions pro bono Mission is to end service member suicides. Service members suicides have once again increased, continuing a fifteen year trend. Coalition clinics have demonstrated 100% safety and over 90% success in treating over 21,000 service members, Special Operators, first responders, athletes, and citizens with TBI/PTSD/Concussion. Brain Wounds like those described here can be successfully and safely treated and helped to heal with HBOT.

Heal Brains. Stop Suicides. Restore Lives. TreatNOW.

The information provided by TreatNOW.org does not constitute a medical recommendation. It is intended for informational purposes only, and no claims, either real or implied, are being made.
An important man died in San Antonio this week, his life intertwined with San Antonio history, politics and culture.

He was a Renaissance man, early on labeled a young turk by a conservative newspaper columnist.

Ramon Vasquez y Sanchez was a writer, artist, musician, culturalist, organizer and social justice activist.

He was also a Raza Unida Party leader, an elder in the Tap Pilam Coahuiltecan Nation, a Chicano civil rights leader, an archivist, genealogist and researcher.

The father, grandfather and great-grandfather was 83 when he died Monday. He was a wealthy man who never made more than $27,000 a year.

Yet all that doesnt begin to describe what Vasquez y Sanchez did for his community. Nor does every accomplishment adequately explain what drove him.

His son Ramon Vasquez, another in a line of Native American activists in San Antonio, offered some idea.

Vasquez y Sanchez was about 10 when he encountered segregation at a local park.

He needed a sip of water and found two fountains side by side. He took a drink and got yelled at for using the wrong one, the one for white people.

Related: San Antonio artist and activist Ramon Vasquez y Sanchez dies at 83

Vasquez y Sanchez went home, perhaps seeking words of comfort. Instead, his mother said, What did you do about it?

He spent a lifetime working to change hateful inequities that may look different now yet remain too much the same.

So, he kept fighting in ways that he could. He led protests, one in direct opposition to a planned rally of the Ku Klux Klan at the Alamo.

He helped preserve old civil documents and mission records so that the contributions of Native Americans and Mexican Americans would be made obvious.

He did genealogy studies to show families that they, too, were part of the history of a sacred place originally on native land.

His son Ramon Vasquez, the longtime executive director of the nonprofit American Indians of Texas at the Spanish Colonial Missions, wondered whether that moment at a segregated water fountain might have been a motivating factor in his fathers life.

The spark, he said.

But the truth is Ramon Vasquez y Sanchez was born into it.

In 1939, Olivia Sanchez appeared in a newspaper photograph. She was carrying a banner for the Native American Voters League. She was also carrying Vasquez y Sanchez in her womb.

When he took his last breath, his family, including four children and many of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren were at home with him.

As his body was being taken away to be cremated, they sang native songs accompanied by drummers. The first was about the conclusion of his life on earth, the second about the journey ahead of him.

He was born in what was known as Laredito, a neighborhood abolished by a highway across from Alazan Apache Creek. It was known as a red-light district and sat near an old Hippo soda factory. His godfather owned it.

His father, yet another Ramon Vasquez, served in the U.S. Navy during World War II on Motor Torpedo Squadron 24, his son said.

The family was among the first to move into the courts, the historic public housing unit named Alazan Apache.

Vasquez y Sanchez attended J.T. Brackenridge Elementary and graduated from Lanier High School before going to San Antonio College, where he studied art.

But he was really a self-educated man, a lifelong reader, writer and thinker. He wrote the preamble that established La Raza Unida Party, a third political party founded in 1970 to challenge the political status quo.

He led San Antonian Mario Compeans campaign for governor and served as statewide vice chairman of the party, his son said.

He worked in the Bexar County Archives and Bexar County Clerks Office and designed Bexar Countys shield  still in use today.

With archivist Ricardo Santos, they preserved and printed many of the mission records and the citys early civil government records, which researchers still use today.

His work expanded San Antonios historical narrative, which focused on Spanish and Anglo contributions. Vasquez y Sanchez goal was to include the

Native and Mexican American role in San Antonio history, which he saw as purposely excluded.

He was a founder of Centro Cultural Aztlan, a nonprofit gallery that puts on major exhibitions and educational programs. Its executive director Malena Gonzalez-Cid credited Vasquez y Sanchez with establishing its legacy programs, all of which continue to this day.

He previously ran San Quilmas & Associates, a printing press on Nogalitos and Cevallos, his son said.

For all the accolades given to Vasquez y Sanchez, its his daughter Edna Vasquezs description that stands out to me.

Her father, she said, was the coolest guy in the room.

He always kept his cool, too, once even with a member of the Ku Klux Klan.

In case you missed it: Local Chicano movement archive begins with indigenous roots and needs a home

My parents met at a poetry reading at Centro Aztlan, a college student wrote on Facebook. I might not be here if Ramon and Centro Aztlan hadnt brought my family together.

Others shared the paintings they bought from him, the conversations they exchanged or simply offered the empowering phrases often used upon the death of a beloved, influential person, Presente! and Rest in power.

He was among the first people of color appointed to the first Bexar County Historical Commission, his son said. He wasnt an academic but thoroughly studied the history of the Alamo, his son said.

He was among the first to really go after the Alamo hard, referring to the John Wayne narrative of the Alamo widely peddled as fact.

It most assuredly wasnt, but were still debating that nonsense.

Vasquez y Sanchez fought hard to live long enough to see his retrospective exhibition mounted at the new American Indian Center on the citys East Side.



He was surrounded by family and friends. Fans, too.

And he was the coolest guy in the room.

eayala@express-news.net
Four people, including a man wanted in connection with a 2020 homicide, were taken into police custody after a Northeast Side standoff that lasted roughly 20 hours.

Elijah Ramos was arrested and is facing a charge of capital murder, San Antonio police said. He is accused in the slaying of Angel Jerry Yanez, a 14-year-old boy who was fatally shot while walking his dog on Dec. 6, 2020, in the 200 block of West Gerald, near Pleasanton Road.

The recent situation began as covert detectives had a woman suspected of robbery under surveillance about 6 p.m. Wednesday, San Antonio police Sgt. Washington Moscoso said. Their operation led them to the Oasis apartments in the 1900 block of Northeast Loop 410.

READ ALSO: Sheriff Javier Salazar: Man accused of shooting, missing constable arrested after standoff near Kirby

There, the officers saw the woman with three men in an apartment, including one man wanted on a warrant for the 2020 homicide.

Police surrounded the apartment and tried to get them to come out, Moscoso said. They refused and continued to do so into Thursday morning, when the woman whom police were initially following surrendered.

She was identified Thursday evening as Amanda Beltran. She was charged with aggravated robbery with bail set at $75,000.

Negotiators attempted to coax the three men out for seven hours. Throughout the standoff, officers directed people in and out of the apartment complex. Police also deployed drones to help observe the men inside.

READ ALSO: Police ID suspect in fatal shooting of woman outside South Side taco truck that prompted standoff

About 3 p.m., several booms could be heard as the SWAT team deployed chemical agents into the building to compel the suspects to come out.

About 30 minutes later, the three men exited and were arrested, Moscoso said.

The four people apprehended are connected to seven cases combined, including for capital murder, two for aggravated robbery, one for burglary of a habitation, state and federal narcotic cases, and a case of aggravated assault. Two of the four were still being booked into jail as of Thursday evening.

READ ALSO: Sounds of explosions prompt calls to San Marcos police  hours-long standoff ensues

Our patience definitely paid off, Moscoso said.

Ramos was taken to Public Safety Headquarters downtown to be interviewed by detectives.
More than 100 shackled immigrants walked from three buses parked on the tarmac of San Antonio International Airport to board a chartered jetliner Friday morning, then were deported back to Colombia.

It was a repatriation flight, taking off hours after the administration lifted the Title 42 immigrant expulsion order at midnight hours earlier. Since it took effect in 2020, the order had barred millions of migrants from the U.S. under the COVID-19 public health emergency.

Officials said they would continue the flights even after the order expired. But these detainees likely were not among those who flooded the southern border in the days before Title 42 ended.

They were Colombian nationals the immigration legal system already had declared unable to stay in the United States, according to officials with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The officials asked that their names not be used for security reasons.

During the time that theyre here, they are given due process, one ICE official said. Their cases are individually looked at and, whatever their reason the claim to be in the U.S., theyve been found that they have no legal basis to be in the U.S. But I couldnt tell you if theyve been here a month, a year or three days.

Their legs and hands shackled to their waists, the detainees who boarded the Friday flight were mostly adult men, and about 20 to 25 women. After their luggage and belongings were loaded, the migrants were searched individually and climbed a flight of stairs to enter the aircraft.

ICE officials invited San Antonio-area media to the airport to observe the process, even as news organizations aired images of hundreds of migrants lining up at Texas border cities to try to enter the U.S. as Title 42 neared its end.

ICE Air Operations is the transportation arm of Enforcement and Removal Operations within the Department of Homeland Security, said one regional supervisor who oversaw Fridays flight operation. The responsibilities for ICE Air Operations is to serve and support the 25 field offices within Enforcement and Removal Operations under ICE.

ICE Air Operations has a dozen chartered planes based in five cities, according to testimony at a trial last week in federal court. They include San Antonio; Harlingen; Mesa, Ariz.; Alexandria, La.; and Miami.

The trial was for a Haitian man who was convicted of biting three officers during a deportation flight in 2021 that carried about 112 migrants, people who had crossed the border at Del Rio but were quickly expelled under Title 42, according to testimony.

We fly to Central and South America and (the) Caribbean, Kelly Foote, an ICE flight officer in charge, testified during the trial. We generally run about 120 to 135 passengers in each plane.

Men and women are kept separated on the planes, Foote said, but sometimes the deportees include parents and their kids, family units.

During Fridays flight, men were loaded onto the back of the plane first, and women at the front.

Officials said they would get a meal, and a nurse on board would issue medications to those who needed them.

Before landing in Bogota, the passengers would be unshackled as long as officers did not observe any security issues during the flight, officials said.
Arggie Ford left her campsite in the woods and was trudging along the narrow sidewalk on Bandera Road to buy a cup of ice at a convenience store when she saw the dog.

The 38-year-old San Antonio woman, homeless and nearly seven months pregnant, had seen the retriever mix many times before as she walked the block. It had never threatened her or her companions.

But an alarm went off in her head that night.

Ford was used to scanning her surroundings, looking for signs of danger. She saw immediately that the dog was aggressive and agitated.

Roaming dogs and dog attacks are frequent problems in pockets across San Antonio, and homeless people and others who get around the city on foot are especially vulnerable to them.

As Ford proceeded down the sidewalk, the dog crawled under the dilapidated fence of its Northwest Side home, escaped the yard, charged at her and growled. Ford stood frozen with fear, then began walking backward, not knowing which way to turn. She called out for the dogs owner to help, to no avail.

The dogs eyes, the white parts got black  real black  right before my eyes, Ford said. Then she started like drooling real fast, like thick, white drool.

Fords last memory was seeing a white car hurtling toward her on Bandera, south of Loop 410.

When she awoke two days later, she was in a bed at University Hospital with a breathing tube down her throat. Emergency personnel in the room were running back and forth. Ford could hear the hum of machinery and saw wires crisscrossed on top of her body. She tried to speak but couldnt.

I was like, Where am I?  Whats going on? Ford recalled. She convulsed with fear and anxiety. They had to strap me down.

Ford eventually learned that she had stepped backward into a far right lane in the 2200 block of Bandera, trying to get away from the dog lunging at her, and had been hit by a white four-door car. The driver did not stop.

The impact threw Ford through the air.

Kin Man Hui/Staff photographer

San Antonio police arrived to find Ford on the ground, her head bleeding. She thinks one of her companions from the campsite called 911.

No one has been arrested for the hit-and-run crash. Police declined to say if theyve found the car that struck Ford but noted their investigation is ongoing.

When Ford arrived at the hospital by ambulance on the night of April 22, she was rushed into surgery. Her baby boy, Jakobi Ford, was delivered by cesarean section that night.

The infant lived for 11 days. He died May 3 from complications stemming from prematurity and the placenta tearing away from Fords uterus, according to the Bexar County Medical Examiners Office. The babys death was ruled an accident.

Because of Fords injuries, she was unable to hold her baby until after he died. Hospital officials brought Jakobi to her to say goodbye.

She sobbed at the memory of holding her tiny son in her arms.

They told me to talk to him, she said. He cant hear me, you know. He dont even know Im there. And Im just sitting there looking at him.  Then Im like, This is my baby  Ive been holding him in my stomach all this time  dont be scared.

He wasnt even fully developed yet, she said as tears rolled down her face.

I dont even have the money to bury my baby or to get him cremated. They said theyre going to help me with that. But I dont know. I dont know.

The right side of Fords body took the brunt of the cars impact. It crushed her chest and right leg, which is now encased in a metal brace extending from her thigh to her ankle. She lost her two front teeth, she explained with embarrassment, as a nurse or doctor inserted the breathing tube.

Her body appeared small and broken as she rested in her hospital bed Tuesday, 17 days after the accident. She was released from University Hospital late Thursday. She moved to a rehabilitation hospital to undergo physical therapy.

Dogs roaming the streets

Fords ordeal is the latest example of a dangerous dog problem that has long plagued the city of San Antonio.

Animal Care Services officials said the agency took in nearly 19,000 dogs in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30. Animal control officers picked up almost 15,000 of those dogs out in the field, including 11,615 strays and an additional 872 surrendered by their owners.

ACS also confiscated 1,155 dogs from their owners that year for various violations.

The agency, which typically investigates as many as 4,000 dog bites per year, issued nearly 5,000 citations to pet owners and designated 120 animals as aggressive or dangerous.

Yet the city's efforts have done little to stop packs of dogs from roaming the streets, often putting the public in danger.

Josie Norris/San Antonio Express-News Josie Norris/San Antonio Express-News Bailey, a female retriever mix, barks and lunges aggressively at an unidentified pedestrian trying to walk down Bandera Road on April 27. Animal Care Services said Bailey is the same dog that lunged at Arggie Ford, a pregnant homeless woman who was then forced into traffic and struck by a hit-and-run driver five days earlier. Baileys owner surrendered her to animal control officials. The dog is expected to be euthanized. Josie Norris/San Antonio Express-News Bailey, a female retriever mix, barks and lunges aggressively at an unidentified pedestrian trying to walk down Bandera Road on April 27. Animal Care Services said Bailey is the same dog that lunged at Arggie Ford, a pregnant homeless woman who was then forced into traffic and struck by a hit-and-run driver five days earlier. Baileys owner surrendered her to animal control officials. The dog is expected to be euthanized. Josie Norris/San Antonio Express-News

San Antonios dangerous dog problem burst into the forefront Feb. 24 when two pit bulls escaped from their West Side yard through a fence, attacking and killing Air Force veteran Ramon Najera Jr., 81, of Leon Valley, and injuring his wife, 74, and two others. The Najeras were visiting a friends home next door to the dogs in the 2800 block of Depla.

A neighbors relative captured 53 seconds of the attack on video, which shows one of the dogs relentlessly biting and dragging Najera. He tried to raise himself to his hands and knees while yelling for help. The dog tore a dialysis shunt out of Najeras body before he collapsed.

In that case, the pit bulls' owners  husband and wife Christian Alexander Moreno and Abilene Schnieder, both 31  were each arrested on felony charges of dog attack causing death and injury to a senior citizen. They are now out of jail on bail, awaiting trial.

Both dogs were later euthanized, along with a third dog that left Moreno and Schnieders yard and was roaming the street at the time of the attack.

In Fords case, she wasnt mauled, but her encounter with the dog was life-shattering.

ACS ultimately determined the dog that terrorized Ford lived with a family at a residence in the 2200 block of Bandera near the vacant, wooded property where Ford camped with five companions  her sister, brother-in-law, nephew and two friends. Other people sometimes drift in and out of the campsite or the woods. Ford said she wasnt trespassing on anyones property when the dog escaped from its yard.

Now that my babys gone, somebody has to take blame for that, Ford said. And I really dont blame the person that was driving.

That dogs already taken somebodys life.

She expressed frustration that the dog and others at the home were allowed to leave the yard and wander the area. She said she fears that someone else could get hurt or killed.

A resident of the house told the Express-News that the dog involved in the incident was one of several living in the woods. He declined further comment.

ACS officers interviewed Ford for the first time Tuesday afternoon. She identified the retriever mix in a photo lineup as the same dog that lunged at her, ACS Director Shannon Sims said. Animal control officers determined that the dog was one of several living at the home next to the woods.

ACS officials began investigating the animals at that residence after learning of Fords injuries April 27, five days after her accident. The owner surrendered the retriever mix to the agency Tuesday, Sims said.

Ford also filed a dangerous dog affidavit with ACS, formally lodging a complaint about the dogs actions, Sims said.

The dog, named Bailey, likely will be euthanized in the coming days.

ACS hasnt yet issued any citations to the dogs owner. Officials are weighing which enforcement action to take against him, Sims said.

If we write a citation right from the get-go, the concern becomes, will we expose an individual to double jeopardy if we find a more significant charge later, the ACS director said. Much like we did with Depla, we didnt cite the individuals that evening.

The dogs owner, at a minimum, will be cited for allowing the dog to roam off his property, Sims said.

ACS considers risks to the public when evaluating cases in which loose dogs have scared people so much that they are injured or put themselves in harms way while trying to escape.

Its a huge concern for us and a public safety concern that any animal thats owned is allowed to be free of restraint, Sims said. The No. 1 thing that I continue to say is that the animal has to be on property. You have got to restrain your animal.

Owners can easily prevent their dogs from escaping, ACS officials said.

If you have a fence thats in poor repair, fix it, agency spokeswoman Lisa Norwood said. If you have a gate that doesnt close properly, address that. Ensure that if you do tether your animal, that youre using a humane tether. Keeping your pet on your property is the No. 1 way to reduce dangerous dog situations.

Another terrified pedestrian

The stretch of Bandera Road where Ford was struck by the hit-and-run driver is lined with a small car dealership, a Mexican restaurant, a smoke shop, a Valero gas station and an older, rundown apartment complex.

In the middle of the block is a vacant, wooded area divided into two tracts held by separate owners  a half-acre directly facing Bandera and a 3.3-acre parcel set apart by a metal front gate. The latter extends further back into a heavily wooded area.

Pedestrians frequently walk up and down the narrow sidewalks of Bandera as cars fly by, most traveling between 45 and 60 mph. Some people walk or run across the roads seven lanes of traffic without using crosswalks. Two VIA Metropolitan Transit bus stops sit nearby.

Theres a lot of people that dont have vehicles, Ford said of the neighborhood. We have to sit right there and catch the bus.

Stray dogs frequently roam the block. One night, a white pit bull came out of the woods and fearfully inspected her surroundings. Sometimes she rested on a concrete incline under a For Sale sign. Other times she gravitated to the nearby home where the dog that chased Ford lived. The stray slipped through gaps in the fence and wandered around the yard. She later walked through the Valero parking lot with her tail between her legs.

Another night, two stray pit bull mixes slept close together in the grass at the Valero gas station. One wore a purple collar, while the other appeared badly malnourished. The pair had been there for hours, a witness said.

Five days after Ford was struck by the car, another woman stepped into the same traffic lane as she, too, fled a snarling dog.

The woman, carrying a tote bag on her shoulder, walked down the same sidewalk that Ford had been using. The same retriever mix dashed from the wooded area and lunged at her, barking so fiercely that the woman turned to face the dog and then froze with fear. The dog became more aggressive, charging and baring its teeth, forcing the woman backward along the sidewalk as she frantically looked for ways to escape.

At one point, the woman placed one foot on Bandera as heavy traffic drove by during evening rush hour at 5:30 p.m. The driver of a pickup slowed down and sounded the horn, trying to stop the dog.

The woman was trapped for several minutes before she broke away and ran across Bandera to the Valero gas station. She was shaking and in tears. She declined to speak with the Express-News and stood outside the gas station for five minutes, composing herself. Then she walked away.

The dog that had antagonized her was Bailey, the same one that had forced Ford into the busy road, ACS later confirmed.

Josie Norris/San Antonio Express-News Josie Norris/San Antonio Express-News Josie Norris/San Antonio Express-News Josie Norris/San Antonio Express-News Animal Care Services officers and a San Antonio police officer look for an aggressive dog that had lunged at an unidentified pedestrian trying to walk down Bandera Road on April 27. The dog turned out to be Bailey, a female retriever mix seen in the lower right photo, who was the same animal who five days earlier lunged at a pregnant, homeless woman, forcing that victim into Bandera Road where she was struck by a hit-and-run driver. That victim was seriously hurt, and her baby died. Josie Norris/San Antonio Express-News Animal Care Services officers and a San Antonio police officer look for an aggressive dog that had lunged at an unidentified pedestrian trying to walk down Bandera Road on April 27. The dog turned out to be Bailey, a female retriever mix seen in the lower right photo, who was the same animal who five days earlier lunged at a pregnant, homeless woman, forcing that victim into Bandera Road where she was struck by a hit-and-run driver. That victim was seriously hurt, and her baby died. Josie Norris/San Antonio Express-News

But the dogs owner told ACS officers that day that his animals had not been loose and denied that any of them had confronted the unidentified pedestrian.

Stray dogs be roaming around here a lot, said Joy Jones, 19, a clerk at the Valero gas station. One of them is actually violent. So I try to stay inside when I see that dog.

Sometimes several dogs show up at the gas station together. After a while, they all look the same, she said.

Jones was working at the gas station on the night Ford was hurt but did not witness the dog terrorizing Ford or the pregnant woman getting hit by a car. Police retrieved the Valero stations surveillance video as part of their investigation of the hit-and-run crash.

Sandra and Johnny Castillo, a couple who own the half-acre parcel of vacant land, were upset to learn about Ford's injuries.

They were in the neighborhood the night of May 2 after a man at the house where the aggressive dog lived called them to report someone was stealing items off his property.

He just said that there was some homeless (people) there and that we needed to take care of the problem, Sandra Castillo said.

We want it to be safe for everyone  and people to not get on our property when they dont have any right to be on it, she said. No one should be trespassing on our property.

But the couple noted there wasnt much they could do to keep stray animals and trespassers off their land. Theyve been trying to sell the property but havent found a buyer.

Ford and her companions camped in the woods on land next to the Castillos property, which is owned by someone else.

After ACS learned of Fords injuries, animal control trucks began patrolling the area frequently to look for loose animals.

In the past two weeks, ACS has picked up nine dogs in or near the 2200 block of Bandera. Four were puppies in poor condition that were found at the home where the dog that chased Ford lived. Those puppies were euthanized because they were sick with a contagious parasitic disease known as coccidia, Norwood said. A fifth puppy found roaming was sent to a rescue group.

The remaining dogs were either returned to their owners  after ACS instructed them on how to safely contain their animals  or euthanized.

ACS also set up an animal trap on private property, with the owners permission, to catch wandering dogs.

Harrowing experiences such as Fords ordeal occur throughout this city every day, Sims said. And its 100 percent preventable by folks just keeping their animals on their property.

When dog owners fail to do that and it leads to injuries, Sims said, it opens them up to a ton of potential legal consequences. It could be from a civil nature  the (victim) just sues them for damages or injuries  or it could be from a legal perspective as far as being prosecuted.

Folks just need to realize Im sorry doesnt fix it. Be proactive. Find ways to keep your animals on your property. And if you cant keep your animals on your property, then you shouldnt own animals.

Scared and lost

Ford has had a hard life. Yet she has an easy smile and a cheerful nature, and she laughs frequently.

This wasnt the first time shed been hit by a car that fled the scene. It happened when she was 9 years old. She was injured seriously enough to be in the hospital for two weeks.

I remember being in the hospital the whole time by myself because my mama was on drugs and drinking real bad, Ford said.

Ford was born in San Antonio and raised on the East Side. She has three sisters and one brother. One of her sisters, who is 40 years old, was living with her at the same encampment in the woods.

Kin Man Hui/Staff photographer

Ford said they began living outdoors after a fire destroyed her sisters apartment. For a while they stayed with friends, then resorted to camping on vacant land.

Ford said she has five other children  three boys and two girls, ranging from 1 year old to 13 years old. One of her children was adopted away to Child Protective Services, she said. The others are being cared for by relatives.

She admits shes had some brushes with the law over the years, being arrested for offenses common among homeless people. She has past arrests for prostitution and criminal trespassing on private property, Bexar Countys online court records show.

Ford has a vulnerability about her and wisdom to share. Shes a survivor who keeps going no matter what.

You have to. You have to take your life serious, she said. If youre going to stay on this Earth, youve got to make the best of it.

Like I have to get out of the hospital to go back to being homeless. And I dont know how Im going to do it," she said. "And I have friends thats telling me now I can stay at their house. But me being stubborn, I still dont want to  I still want my own space, my own privacy. So Im thinking about how Im going to get out there and buy me another tent as we speak and where Im going to go.

Yet Ford dreams of a better future.

I want to work, she said, laughing shyly. I like to pick up big stuff. I like challenges. Like building stuff, rebuilding stuff. I like to braid hair, fix hair. I like to clean a lot, so I do that kind of work.

She said she doesnt plan to return to her encampment on Bandera because she has no reason to go back.

Someday, she would like to get her own place to live and get her children back.

I dont wish to be homeless for the rest of my life, Ford said. Hopefully, I get some kind of help.

For now, she is struggling with the fact that her baby died while her life was spared.

I feel lucky and blessed to be alive, she said. But Im still sad and hurt.  I didnt think it was right for me to stay alive and my baby to be gone.

I dont know if it was Gods will. I dont know if Im supposed to be dead with my baby, she said tearfully. Im kind of lost right now. Im really lost. Im scared.

Ford said she doesnt wish for anyone to go to jail. While she doesnt blame the driver who hit her, she doesnt understand why that driver didnt stop.

Why didnt you stop to help me? she said. Is it because I was Black? Or because you just dont give a mess? Or because you were drunk? Like, why didnt you stop? I know you dont think you just hit like a trash can or a rock.

If my friends werent behind me to call 911, I probably wouldnt have made it. And I appreciate them every day.

Ford wants the dog owner to take more responsibility for his pets. She doesnt want anyone else to get hurt.

She isnt as worried about stray dogs because she said they dont bother her or her campsite companions.

The stray dogs, they dont bother anybody, she said. We can walk right past them, they walk by us, like Hey, how you doing? We look back at them, they look back at us, like Dont mess with me, I wont mess with you.

On her release from University Hospital, Ford hopes to get her infant sons body cremated and to mix his ashes with those of her late mothers.

So it will be like theyre together and shes taking care of him for me, she said. Im just giving her somebody to take care of while shes up in heaven.
A tiny ghost town in West Texas is looking for a new owner after a group of German friends purchased the town two decades ago.

The West Texas town of Lobo, off Texas 90, is 130 miles southeast of El Paso and 15 miles east of the Rio Grande.

According to the property listing, the 10-acre town comes with several former business buildings, including a grocery store and post office, motel, gas station and restaurant as well as a few other houses and structures.

So, whats the asking price? According to Alexander Bardorff, one of the co-owners of the town who spoke to Marfa Public Radio, their base price is $100,000.

To put the price in perspective, as of this March, the median price of a home in Texas is $341,300, according to Redfin. In San Antonio, the median price is $274,000.

On ExpressNews.com: 'Luxury' development under way on 240 acres in Fredericksburg as Hill Country growth explodes

In 2001, the group of friends bought Lobo and started to rebuild parts of the town. For the next two decades, they would use the property to host several art, short film and music events. Now, they say they are too old to maintain the land and want to pass it on, according to the property listing.

Lobo put itself on the map after the discovery of the nearby Van Horn Wells  a crucial, rare source of fresh water in the area, according to the property website.

From 1850 to 1860, Lobo was a stop on the mail route from San Antonio to San Diego, before becoming a watering stop and depot for the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1882.

The first settlers of the town named it Lobo in a nod to the wolves that wreaked havoc there. In 1914, Lobo had 20 residents, according to the property listing.

As more people came to live in the town, it tried to become the county seat of Culberson County but failed.

Despite being struck by two powerful earthquakes, which pushed people out of the town, Lobo managed to have a comeback in 1962 with more than 90 residents. However, a drop in the water table meant the wells could no longer support the residents and businesses. Eventually, Lobos train station left for the town of Van Horn, causing economic hardship.

In 1969, a man named Bill Christ bought the town and opened a new gas station and general store. But crime and personal problems would force Christ to give up in 1991, according to the property website.

Bardorff told Marfa Public Radio that they hope to sell the town to someone who has a clear idea of what they want to do with it.

Gabriella.Ybarra@Express.News.com
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City officials arent saying how San Antonio will handle an anticipated increase in the number of migrants passing through the city now that Title 42 is gone.

But they are clear about one thing: They arent preparing a mass shelter for migrants in the event existing facilities become overwhelmed.

The mayors of the border cities of El Paso, Laredo and Brownsville declared states of emergency in order to unlock additional federal assistance to shelter and transport an expected influx of migrants.

El Paso converted two vacant schools into shelters that could house up to 2,000 people in case nonprofit facilities and churches reach capacity. McAllen is setting up tents in a public park.

But San Antonio officials have been mum on what they will do if the citys Migrant Resource Center-Centro de Bienvenida fills up with the end of Title 42. The pandemic-era federal public health policy was used to quickly expel asylum-seekers for the last three years. It expired Thursday night.

The Migrant Resource Center, which is on the near North Side and operated by Catholic Charities of San Antonio, has cots for no more than 700 people a night. Its backup plan, at the moment, is to put migrants up in hotels while they await flights or buses to their final destinations.

I asked the (city) departments last week to kind of think through what our contingency plans are, worse-case scenario, City Manager Erik Walsh said Wednesday afternoon as he made his way between meetings. He said he was to talk with department heads again that evening.

READ MORE: Uncertainty looms for San Antonio migrant center ahead of Title 42's end

We will share the details of the contingency plan if/when it is implemented, but for now, the situation on the ground has not changed, the city said in a statement released late Thursday.

The city, Bexar County and Catholic Charities are developing contingency plans to coordinate transportation assistance should the number of migrants greatly exceed the capacity of the Migrant Resource Center (MRC)/Centro do Bienveida. We are not developing plans for a mass shelter and do not have the capacity or resources to serve increased numbers of migrants for extended periods of time.

Both San Antonio and Catholic Charities rely on the Federal Emergency Management Agency to reimburse them for costs related to migrant care and transportation.

San Antonio is a hub for migrants making their way from the Rio Grande Valley, Laredo, Eagle Pass and Del Rio to their final destinations in the United States. Migrants may spend a couple of nights at the MRC-Centro de Bienvenida while they wait to catch a bus or flight elsewhere.

U.S. Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz estimated Thursday that about 60,000 migrants were waiting in Mexican border cities to seek asylum in the U.S.

In an effort to curb the number of people trying to cross the border, the Biden administration will deny asylum to migrants who did not seek it in one of the countries they passed through on their journey north and who do not apply online for U.S. asylum through a mobile app. Late Thursday, the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups filed a federal lawsuit challenging this new policy.

READ MORE: Julian Castro slams President Joe Biden over new border policies: Promise broken

There are no plans to use the county-owned Freeman Coliseum or any other county-run facilities to house migrants, County Commissioner Tommy Calvert said. Calvert represents Precinct 4, where the coliseum is located.

In 2021, the county allowed the U.S. Health and Human Services Department to use the arena to house unaccompanied migrant children. At the time, the facility had space for up to 2,500 youth.
Trish DeBerry remained out of the public eye after Peter Sakai defeated her in November in the race for Bexar County judge.

Now, shes resurfacing as she starts a new business and returns to a former role as board chair of Centro San Antonio.

DeBerry last month announced the launch of TD Strategies, a communications consulting firm.

READ MORE: Judge sentences former Centro San Antonio bookkeeper to 33 months for embezzlement

This week, the former Bexar County commissioner, longtime public relations executive and former KENS 5 anchor said she will serve as Centro San Antonios board chair.

Centro acts as an advocate for the downtown community, including business owners and real estate developers. It has a multimillion-dollar contract with the city to manage the downtown public improvement district, or PID, which collects property taxes to provide services such as street sweeping and graffiti removal.

DeBerry last served as board chair from 2018 to 2019, just in time to deal with the fallout of an embezzlement scandal. Bookkeeper Alicia Padilla, formerly Alicia Henderson, stole $291,000 from Centro San Antonio beginning almost immediately after she was hired in July 2014 through November 2017, when she was caught.

Padilla was sentenced to concurrent 33-month federal prison terms for wire fraud and making a false statement on an income tax return. She also was ordered to serve three years of supervised release and pay $356,000 in restitution.

Centros board members blamed former CEO Pat DiGiovanni and Chief Financial Officer Tony Piazzi for mismanaging the nonprofit and failing to institute adequate internal controls. Padilla was hired from a temporary employment agency without a background check, officials said in 2017. DiGiovanni resigned after the fraud was discovered. Piazzi left the organization in 2018.

During her last stint as board chair, DeBerry said the nonprofit enacted more stringent checks on its finances and beefed up its hiring practices.

BEXAR NECESSITIES: Peter Sakai has big plans as next county judge

DeBerry is returning to Centro San Antonio after the death of Rene Garcia, who had become board chair in January. He died in April at age 63. Garcia spent 35 years at the H.B. Zachry construction company and was co-founder of the DreamOn Group, a local builder.

We continue to mourn this devastating loss, but will also ensure his memory lives on in a meaningful way through the work that we dive into daily, as well as a memorial tribute we plan to execute in the near future, DeBerry said.

DeBerry is a former Bexar County Precinct 3 commissioner. Sakai easily beat her in the race for county judge in November, collecting 57 percent of the vote.

For years, she ran the DeBerry Group, a public relations firm.
In a frantic scene along the U.S.-Mexico border, a group of migrants waded into the Rio Grande, trying to bring an infant to its mother on the far bank. They barely made it.

At one point, the baby appeared on the verge of drowning as the men, laboring through a deep, thickly vegetated, nearly impassable stretch of river, held the child face-down.

Tragedy was averted when the men, prompted by the urgent cries of migrants on the riverbank, repositioned the baby to keep its face away from the water. With great effort, they held the child aloft until they reached the U.S. side.

The scene unfolded Thursday evening at a bend in the river between Matamoros, Mexico, and Brownsville, Texas.

Jerry Lara, a photojournalist for the San Antonio Express-News, witnessed and photographed the drama from the Mexican side of the river.

Thousands of migrants have gravitated to the border in recent weeks, awaiting the end of Title 42, a pandemic-era public health rule that U.S. officials had used since 2020 to quickly expel asylum seekers. Title 42 expired Thursday night.

By Laras account, migrants moved along the Rio Grande near Matamoros this week looking for a place to cross, only to be deterred again and again by the conspicuous presence of U.S. border agents and Texas National Guardsmen, along with coils of freshly laid concertina wire.

At the bend in the river opposite Brownsville, fewer troops were visible. But there was a different challenge: The river was clogged with vegetation and was too deep to walk across.

Around 7 p.m. Thursday, a clutch of migrants decided to give it a try anyway.

The babys mother crossed separately from her child and waited on the far side.

Then the next group waded in, and the infant was handed down to them from the riverbank. As they swam across, the men took turns holding the precious bundle, passing the infant forward to the next set of waiting hands.

Jerry Lara/San Antonio Express-News Jerry Lara/San Antonio Express-News Jerry Lara/San Antonio Express-News Migrants cross the Rio Grande into the U.S. between Matamoros and Brownsville on Thursday, May 11, 2023. Jerry Lara/San Antonio Express-News Migrants cross the Rio Grande into the U.S. between Matamoros and Brownsville on Thursday, May 11, 2023. Jerry Lara/San Antonio Express-News

At one point, the baby was being held face-down, close to or even in the water.

Seeing this, migrants watching from the Mexican side grew agitated.

Turn the babys head up! they shouted. Its going to drown!

With a supreme effort, the migrants in the water managed to turn the baby face-up while the mother filmed the crossing on a mobile phone from the safety of the far side.

Some of those watching from the Mexican bank expressed anger at her, saying she should never have exposed the infant to such danger.

When the baby was handed to her, the woman showed no emotion. She quickly turned and began climbing up the steep bank, in pursuit of a new life for herself and her child in the United States.
San Antonio already has a $2.5 billion plan for expanding the citys airport to keep up with growing passenger demand.

But as that long-term plan will to take years to become reality, San Antonio International Airport is also in need of some short-term solutions to deal with its growth.

The people who run the airport have come up with an outside-the-box strategy: They want to spend $50 million to create five gates where instead of using a typical jetway connector, passengers would actually walk across the tarmac to board their flights.

The plan calls for building a 37,000-square-foot ground-loading facility connected to Terminal A that would include two levels of seating for passengers, more food and retail options, charging stations for electronics, workstation areas and a lactation room.

READ MORE: San Antonio International Airport to receive $20M from FAA for upgrades

The new facility would allow airlines to board passengers from the tarmac out of five gates, increasing the number of gates at Terminal A from 17 to 22.

The San Antonio City Council next week will consider an agreement with Austin-based contractor Hensel Phelps Construction to build the facility. The contractor has worked on airport projects in other U.S. cities, including Tampa, Nashville, San Francisco and San Jose.

If the council approves the plan, construction could start late this year. A $20 million grant from the Federal Aviation Administration will help pay for the ground-loading facility, city officials say.

San Antonio International wouldnt be the only major Texas airport using the ground-loading option. Austin-Bergstrom International Airport also uses ground-loading at its secondary South Terminal, which is used by low-cost carriers Frontier Airlines and Allegiant Airlines.

San Antonio International Airport Director Jesus Saenz said building a ground-loading facility would help the airport increase capacity while it continues to push toward its longer-term project, a new terminal that will include up to 17 gates and is set to open in 2028.

READ MORE: Renderings show San Antonio airport's new terminal to open in 2028

"Progress is happening," Saenz said. "We're continuing to grow."

Constructing the ground-loading facility would not have any impact on current operations at the airport, Saenz said.

While the ground-loading facility is expected to cost about $50 million, the contract with Hensel Phelps is expected to be for $62 million to include work to expand the airport's capacity for overnight aircraft parking.

More overnight parking would mean more revenue, as the city charges airlines for those spaces. The airport currently has enough space for 12 jets to park overnight, and would add six spaces under this plan. Negotiations on that part of the project are ongoing, Saenz said.

Airport officials have said the 20-year, $2.5 billion expansion project is necessary for the airport to deal with an expected boom in passenger demand in the coming years.

Between 2010 and 2020, the San Antonio metro area grew by more than 400,000 people, an increase of 16 percent. In 2022, about 9.5 million passengers traveled through San Antonio International Airport, and airport officials project that total will exceed 14 million by 2040.

The city will pay for the airport expansion  one of the biggest capital projects San Antonios history  with a mix of federal and state grants, bond revenue and facility charges paid by air travelers and airlines.

The master plan calls for the extension of one of the airports two main runways, the construction of a new terminal and an additional parking garage and the remaking of Terminal A.

The new terminal, which would be more than twice the size of the airport's two existing terminals, could cost about $1 billion. When it opens in 2028, the new terminal is expected to have eight security lines, with the potential to increase that to a dozen down the road.

Saenz said there are no plans to tear down the ground-loading facility when the new terminal opens or any time before the end of its "useful life," although it is unclear how long that would be.

Construction on the new terminal will likely get underway in 2025, but work on several projects that will pave the way begin early next year. Those include roadway, utility work and the construction of a parking garage and ground transportation center. The location of the new parking garage still needs to be determined.

The transportation center  for VIA Metropolitan Transit buses, hotel shuttles, taxis and ride-hailing services  will include a few hundred parking spaces.

Plans for the airport expansion have received overwhelming support from City Council members.

"The No. 1 priority is to provide the city of San Antonio with the best damn airport that it deserves," District 8 Council Member Manny Pelaez said. "Excellence is the only thing that San Antonians deserve. It's what we've promised them."
Ahead of a downpour expected to drench much of South Central Texas tonight, at least one Hill Country community is getting mixed signals about the much-relied-upon outdoor warning sirens that are meant to alert residents in the event of river flooding.

Shortly after the National Weather Service on Thursday afternoon issued a flood watch for South Central Texas for this evening through Saturday evening, the city of New Braunfels urged residents to pay attention to its sirens should river flooding occur.

At the same time, Comal County has warned its residents not to rely on its warning sirens along the length of the Guadalupe River to city limits during this weekends weather event.

Related: Flash flood watch for Friday evening through Saturday evening in San Antonio metro area

Comal County said there have been reliability issues with the eight sirens that run along the length of the Guadalupe River. The county recently took over maintenance of those sirens and are working to address software and equipment failure issues.

Out of an abundance of caution, we ask the public not to rely upon warning sirens during this weekends weather events, the county said in a statement.

The warning sirens in the city of New Braunfels are on a separate system from Comal County's.

The early warning sirens inside the New Braunfels city limits were just tested last week," David Ferguson, a spokesman for the city, told the Express-News. "They are fully operational and reliable, and the city will use the early warning sirens should river flooding or other imminent weather threats present themselves.

NWS is predicting heavy rains in San Antonio and across much of South Central Texas, beginning tonight and lasting through the weekend. The government forecaster says widespread 3 to 6 inches of rain are possible along the Interstate 35 corridor and west to the Rio Grande from tonight through Saturday.

A flash flood watch is in effect from 7 p.m. today through Saturday evening.

A severe thunderstorm watch has also been issued for areas west of San Antonio, including Val Verde, Edwards, Kinney and Maverick counties until 10 p.m. tonight. Scattered 2 inch hail, high wind gusts and frequent lighting is possible.

The storms are expected to arrive in San Antonio between 9 p.m. and midnight. NWS said that additional severe weather watches are possible later this evening.

Some areas, particularly those that may experience repeated heavy rains, may see as much as 10 inches of rain.

The downpour expected this weekend will be the major cause of flooding, said Bob Fogerty, a meteorologist with NWS.

"There's just going to be so much rain," said Fogerty.

Low water crossings are of particular concern for flooding and some creeks may overflow, he said. San Antonio has 144 low water crossings.

"Much of what we'll see is going to be overnight and flooding is hard to see at night," said Fogerty. "So we're urging people to be careful. If you don't need to be out, don't be out."

The city of New Braunfels said it is closely monitoring weather conditions and is prepared for the possibility of opening its emergency operations center. Comal County said it is ready to clear roadways of debris and respond to flooding.

Both are urging residents to be aware of weather events this weekend and to be ready to take necessary safety precautions.

Beginning at 7 p.m., New Braunfels will close access to the Comal River and the city tube chute. That gives a safe timeframe for staff to remove the railings on the Tube Chute Dam before heavy rains, the city said. Should the river flow rise enough to go over the dam, all recreation on the Comal River would be temporarily closed until river conditions return to normal.

New Braunfels has also canceled four city-sponsored events this weekend, including date night on Landa Lake a picnic with police scheduled for Saturday.

Christopher Shadrock, a spokesman for the city of Boerne, said crews have been busy in recent days getting ready for the storm. The city has mowed high grass along creeks, cleared debris along waterways and drain inlets.

Milady Nazir, a spokeswoman for CPS Energy, said that outages may occur during extreme weather events.

While crews are ready to respond, the flash flooding predicted for Bexar County may impact service restoration times, Nazir said.

Meanwhile, Bexar County parks will close at their usual time tonight and remain closed until Monday morning "out of an abundance of caution due to the potential for flash flooding," said Monica Ramos, a county spokeswoman.

The county, which will have crews on standby in case conditions worsen, is positioning barricades in areas that are known to flood should they be needed. As is the city of San Antonio, which is stationing flood response teams around the city.

San Antonio has also postponed the opening of public pools until next weekend and canceled pop-up vaccination clinics.

You can check Bexar County flood conditions and closures at Bexarflood.org. Boerne's road status website can be found here. San Antonio residents can report weather-related concerns to 311 or (210) 207-6000. Updates can also be found on sanantonio.gov. CPS Energy's outage map can be found here.

timothy.fanning@express-news.net
Last August, at a Texas Board of Education meeting about the social studies curriculum for K-12 students, one mother was frantic that her child would be forced to learn about Mohandas K. Gandhi, the Indian leader and historys greatest thinker and practitioner of nonviolence.

Imagining her daughter being taught, about following Gandhis lead to a peaceful protest, she then connected Gandhi, who was assassinated in 1948, to critical race theory, born during the 1970s.

CRT is already rampant and baked into our curriculum, and we dont want to be good little global citizens where our borders are considered a military zone.

Of the many head-scratching takeaways from her rant, the itchiest is that she, and the rest of us, need to know more about Gandhi and the philosophy of nonviolence, which was the lodestar of his life and generations of leaders and movements to follow.

Maybe a man who wrote, Hatred can be overcome only by love. Counter hatred only increases the surface, as well as the depth of hatred has something to teach a species uniquely intoxicated with harming each other via hatred and violence.

Teaching others about Gandhi and his lessons was the lifes work of his grandson, Arun Gandhi, who died in India on May 2 at the age of 89. That work sometimes brought him to San Antonio for speaking engagements.

Arun Gandhi was born in South Africa, but when he was 12, his parents sent him to India to live with his grandfather, hoping the experience would stem their sons rage at the racism he was experiencing in South Africa. It was the same racism his grandfather spent more than 20 years fighting as a lawyer and activist.

Despite his busy schedule, the Mahatma made it a point to spend at least one hour alone each day with the boy.

The experience inspired Arun Gandhi to devote his life to his grandfathers work, writing books and speaking throughout the world. In 1991, he founded the M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence in Memphis, Tenn., which explored and taught the philosophy of nonviolence through workshops, seminars and community service. The institute is now in Rochester, N.Y.

In 1926, the elder Gandhi wrote: That which distinguishes man from all other animals is his capacity to be nonviolent. And he fullfils his mission only to the extent that he is nonviolent and no more. The cry for peace will be a cry in the wilderness, so long as the spirit of nonviolence does not dominate millions of men and women.

Years later, in one of a few interviews I had with him, the younger Gandhi said, Nonviolence can work if we understand what the philosophy is. Its not just physical violence, we must also address the passive violence of prejudice, hate and economic oppression.

True nonviolent leaders, Arun Gandhi said, dont cower or become complacent when confronted with these forms of violence but engage in the struggles for peace and justice.

There has to be people action to combat the violence, he said.

Arun Gandhi believed that at the heart of nonviolence is relationship building. Offering advice that applies to personal as well as political relationships, he said, The only way to build healthy relationships is if we are humble, respect each other and accept, understand and appreciate each other.

Arun Gandhi cautioned about being discouraged at the size of the challenges.

We cant change the whole world, he said. But we can change ourselves and the people around us. We ignore the smaller conflicts but those are the ones that build up into larger ones.

Ultimately, choosing nonviolence is choosing to treat others with decency and justice and to not cooperate in anything, or with anyone, who violates that ethic, who encourages violence.

An example: a major television network giving a platform to a twice-impeached, incessantly lying former president who incited a violent attempt to overthrow an election, and who had just been found guilty of sexual assault and defamation, so that he can repeat his lies and mock the woman he assaulted to the laughter of his fans. This was violent and corrosive to our democracy.

We dont have to live in ignorance and fear, Arun Gandhi said. But in love and harmony.

In nonviolence is the hope that we dont have to live in ignorance and fear, and that we wont.

cary.clack@express-news.net
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EL PASO  Hundreds of border security experts, law enforcement officers and an arsenal of the worlds most high-tech security equipment converged at the convention center here Wednesday and Thursday.

They gathered one-third of a mile from Mexico, but this mobilization wasnt an emergency task force preparing for the end of Title 42  the policy that allowed Border Patrol agents to quickly turn back some migrants for so-called public health concerns during the COVID pandemic and then persisted long after most Americans stopped staying home and wearing masks in public.

Nor was it another flex by Gov. Greg Abbott after he activated the Texas Tactical Border Force. That announcement came Monday with the governor speaking against a backdrop of troops walking to C-130 aircraft as if they were headed to war.

This assembly was the Border Security Expo, a controversial annual convention previously held in San Antonio, that brings together the border security industry with its customers. That it occurred as Title 42 faded was coincidence.

On ExpressNews.com: Traces of migrants lives belie hope

The expo revealed the complexity and breadth of the border security-military-industrial-complex and offered another narrative in the battle for how Americans think of the nations borders. It is a reminder that, for many, the border is a business.

Inside the expo halls entrance, the buzz of a drone rose above conversations. The briefcase-size craft hovered over a blacked out, up-armored SUV with flashing blue and red lights. In a clear booth nearby, a man shot a taser into a silhouette target.

People wearing lanyards and carrying swag bags milled about, sometimes pausing to speak with exhibitors who represented a spectrum of mega-companies and mom-and-pop operations. They peddled tourniquets, cameras, detection devices, surveillance gear, radars, license plate readers, fentanyl testing kits, motion detectors, body armor, night vision, weapons, thermal imaging and tactical gear.

Some offered services, like setting up base camps, cyber security or on-demand satellite imagery. There were drones equipped with flash-bang devices and drones meant to destroy other drones. A working dog wearing a vest with a camera and communication gear ran past a robot dog that couldve been from a science fiction film. A now hiring sign hung at the Customs and Border Protection booth.

On ExpressNews.com: A border sheriff cuts through the politics

Here, the military-industrial complex met Americas boundaries with hopes of tapping into the $25 billion annual border security budget. Even though the repeal of Title 42 loomed, the topic wasnt a major concern on the exhibition floor.

However, in an upstairs room overlooking the show, Raul Ortiz, chief of the U.S. Border Patrol, told reporters the situation on the border was very, very serious, but he was confident his agency could handle any surges in migrants.

At the time, the Border Patrol had 26,354 people in custody, he said, which is several thousand less than we had this morning, so I feel like were already making some progress on some fronts.

The previous day, agents had encountered 10,000 migrants, and Title 42 applied to only 1,700. The others fell under Title 8, the standard immigration law. The repeal of Title 42, is not going to be such a significant draw on our processing resources, he said. I think our teams are going to be aptly prepared to be able to deal with those numbers.

He estimated there are roughly 65,000 migrants waiting in Mexico, and he did not expect a rush on the border when Title 42 ended Thursday night.

On ExpressNews.com: A snapshot of Operation Lone Star in Del Rio is murky

I think that what we see now is a continued effort by some to message incorrectly that once Title 42 goes away, its going to be a free-for-all along the border, he said. I dont see that being the case.

And there was no rush along the El Paso areas border as Title 42 ended.

No crowds of migrants flooded across the Paso Del Norte bridge. No lines of migrants wrapped around the outside of the CBP processing facility on Oregon Street. The sidewalks and streets around the Sacred Heart church and Opportunity Center homeless shelter, where hundreds had camped over previous days, were clear of the crowds.

And about 10 miles outside the city, on the American side of Gate 42, dozens of media members awaited migrants who didnt come.

At this dusty waypoint on Americas 1,950-mile-long border with Mexico, reality is more nuanced than the invasion rhetoric some politicians evoke. That doesnt mean the U.S. immigration system isnt broken, or thousands of migrants arent seeking asylum and entry, or security concerns are not legitimate, but it does show that the federal government hasnt abandoned the border, as some claim.

Technology and expensive equipment helps protect the border and those who work along it, but what is really needed is comprehensive reform that balances security with humanity. That cant be found at a conference or achieved through political posturing.

brandon.lingle@express-news.net
If you are tweeting about a controversial issue, publishing an investigative news report or writing an online review of a local business, you could face a defamation lawsuit aimed at silencing your speech.

That lawsuit may be meritless. You are presenting truthful information or expressing your opinion without defaming anyone, but you will have to defend against the lawsuit anyway. That costs lots of money.

A SLAPP lawsuit, or strategic lawsuits against public participation, is meant to intimidate a speaker into being quiet or removing their comments, or to punish someone for speaking out. Fortunately, lawmakers passed the Texas Citizens Participation Act in 2011 to remedy this problem and protect free speech. Texas is one of 34 states with an anti-SLAPP statute, and ours is considered among the strongest in the nation.

That could change. Senate Bill 896, authored by Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, would diminish Texas law by removing, in many cases, an important automatic stay provision that requires action in the trial court to stop while a motion to dismiss the lawsuit is appealed. State Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, is carrying the companion legislation, House Bill 2781.

Under the proposed legislation, the speaker who was sued would have to then fight the case on two fronts while appealing the denial of a motion to dismiss. The legal costs would keep mounting in the original court and in the appeals court.

That person exercising their free speech rights would be slapped into silence by the costly burden of the dual tracks of litigation. And the trial courts would be immersed in discovery disputes and jury trials, all while the appellate court decides if the case had merit.

A large number of groups have urged Texas legislators not to tamper with the TCPAs automatic stay provision because it strikes at the core protections in the law. Groups such as Texas Right to Life, Electronic Frontier Foundation and Texas-based Nexstar, the largest television ownership company in the country, all testified against the bill. Opponents  such as Americans for Prosperity and the American Civil Liberties Union  range the ideological spectrum but agree that this bill can weaponize the court to discriminate against voices with which it disagrees and can silence critical voices through unnecessary dual track litigation and ensuing costs.

The Better Business Bureaus and Yelp testified against the bill, explaining how their consumer-oriented services were affected by SLAPP lawsuits in which courts have misinterpreted commercial speech exemptions. Under S.B. 896 that would put them on the track to fighting on two fronts.

Advocates for this bill profess to be concerned about frivolous motions to dismiss being filed for the purpose of delay. If that is the concern, the bill should be limited to that specific scenario. Unfortunately, it goes well beyond frivolous motions and strikes at the heart of issues appellate courts are best suited to determine.

Senate Bill 896 catapults litigants whose motions have been denied as subject to an exemption or untimely into dual-track litigation fighting on two fronts. Many of those exemptions were only added to the law in 2019, and courts are determining their contours. And because the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure allow for late amended pleadings in lawsuits and the Texas Supreme Courts emergency COVID-19 orders often put lawsuits on hold, the issue of timeliness in an anti-SLAPP motion is anything but black and white.

Moreover, the unintended consequences of S.B. 896 are significant. If the legislation passes, parties and courts will have to expend enormous resources only for an appellate court later to decide that the case lacked merit. In a letter to the House committee, Texas Supreme Court former Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson expressed concern that SB 896 could strain an already overburdened court system, curtail the necessary checks and balances provided by Texas appellate courts, and cause needless increases in litigation costs for Texas citizens.

The Legislature should not permit a few bad apples and their gamesmanship in filing frivolous motions to bleed over into pure matters of law that could compromise the free speech protections of all Texas citizens.

Laura Lee Prather is an Austin-based First Amendment attorney with Haynes and Boone LLP who was instrumental in passage of the original Texas anti-SLAPP law and is involved in national and international anti-SLAPP efforts. Prather is a past president and is on the current board of the nonprofit Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas.
At its best, Mothers Day is a celebration of the mothers still with us, including the women who have been mothers to children in any way. They may not share the name, blood or genes of a child, but they have shared their love and time.

At its bittersweet, Mothers Day is a time when we reflect on and honor mothers no longer here, but who remain with us in spirit and memory.

At its worst, Mothers Day is a time when mothers grieve the loss of their children. On this Mothers Day, which we hope is beautiful and festive, its impossible to not think of grieving mothers who have lost children to gun violence, or those children who have lost mothers and fathers to gun violence. This is the first Mothers Day for the grieving moms of Uvalde since that shooting.

Mothers Day was born out of the suffering of children and the tears of their mothers.

Ann Reeves Jarvis, who inspired Mothers Day, was an Appalachian mother and activist who knew suffering and advocated for change. In the mid-19th century, Jarvis lost several children to diphtheria, measles and typhoid. This prompted her to form womens clubs and lead a campaign against unsanitary conditions.

During the Civil War, Jarvis used these clubs to tend to wounded Union and Confederate soldiers. When the war was over, she encouraged gatherings of mothers with soldiers from both sides as a way to foster reconciliation.

Jarvis died in 1905, and her daughter, Anna Jarvis, campaigned for a day to honor mothers. In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson made Mothers Day official.

Some 160 years ago, mothers were treating the wounds of soldiers at war and fighting to improve public health conditions. Today, mothers are fighting to prevent children from being shot by weapons of war that soldiers in the Civil War could never have imagined.

This Mothers Day, firearms are the leading cause of death for children and teenagers in the United States.

Our nation is in a never-ending season of carnage. Its not just mothers losing children, but children losing mothers and fathers, and spouses losing spouses. Think of the recent massacres in Allen, outside Dallas, and Cleveland, outside Houston.

This Mothers Day is the one-year anniversary of the shooting in a Buffalo supermarket in which a white supremacist murdered 10 people, all Black.

Next Thursday, May 18, will be the five-year-anniversary of the Santa Fe High School shooting in which 10 people were slain.

And in 10 days will be the one-year-anniversary of the massacre at Uvaldes Robb Elementary School, where an 18-year-old gunman murdered 19 children and two teachers.

In the United States, especially Texas, there is always a mass shooting anniversary to commemorate.

Were not a month removed from the shooting in Cleveland, where officials say an irate man armed with an AR-15, is accused of killing five of his neighbors, including a 9-year-old boy. The victims, reportedly, asked their neighbor to not fire his gun so close to their house because it had awakened and frightened a baby.

The most recent deadly mass shooting  as this is being written  happened May 6 at an Allen shopping mall when a man suspected of having white nationalist leanings used his AR-15 to kill eight people, including sisters Daniela Mendoza, 11, and Sofia Mendoza, 8. Also murdered were Kyu and Cindy Cho, along with their 3-year-old son, James. Another son, 6-year-old William, was also shot but will survive, as best a wounded young child who has lost his parents and little brother can.

In Uvalde, Cleveland and Allen, mothers used their bodies to shield their children or other mothers children from gunfire.

While the states political leadership refuses to do anything to make certain weapons less accessible, mothers have persisted in lobbying for change.

Last month, several mothers, including members of Moms Demand Action and those who have lost children in Uvalde, gathered at the state Capitol for the House Select Committee on Community Safety hearing on House Bill 2744. The bill would have made it illegal to sell, rent or lease a semi-automatic rifle to anyone younger than 21.

Most of the mothers had arrived by 8 a.m. The hearing room was full, so an overflow room was used. But the hearing was adjourned from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

One Moms Demand Action member who was there told us that during the recess some mothers stood with their children in strollers, some sat on benches and others sat on the floor outside the hearing room. Around 2 p.m., with the hearing still in recess, she noticed mothers beginning to check their phones, realizing theyd have to soon leave either because their babies or toddlers were restless or because they had to go pick up children from school or day care.

After the hearing resumed at 7 p.m., Kimberly Mata-Rubio, whose daughter Lexi was murdered in Uvalde, and who waited 13 hours to testify, asked committee members, Did you think wed go home?

On this Mothers Day, there are sons and daughters, as well as fathers and mothers, who wont be home. We salute all moms, but especially those fighting to end our national sorrow of gun violence.
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The Texas House moved Friday to bar transgender care for minors, clearing a path for the state to join more than a dozen others in cracking down on access as part of a wave of conservative-led, anti-LGBTQ measures.

Senate Bill 14 would prohibit doctors from prescribing transition medications like puberty blockers or from performing surgeries on minors diagnosed with psychological distress about their gender identity. It passed easily, mostly along party lines, and is expected to get through the Senate, which already approved a similar version, en route to Gov. Greg Abbotts desk.

BACKGROUND: Texas Republicans likely have the votes to outlaw transgender care for minors

Republicans have questioned the research behind the interventions and warned that the risks are too high for parents to make what can amount to life-altering medical decisions for their children.

Lets send a message to millions of Texans that in this building, we will protect Texas children, said Rep. Tony Tinderholt, an Arlington Republican.

The measure will need another, mostly ceremonial vote in the House before it moves on to the Senate and to Abbott, a Republican. The governor has not listed the ban as a priority this year but is still expected to sign it.

Fridays vote capped a remarkable turnaround from the last legislative session, in 2021, when the same measure failed to garner enough support among the chambers more moderate Republicans. Since then, party leaders have targeted transgender issues nationally, and at least 18 GOP-led states have passed similar bans in recent months.

LGBTQ rights advocates have denounced the proposal as discriminatory and said it would endanger the mental and physical well-being of already-at-risk transgender youths. The decisions should be left to physicians and their patients and patients' families, they say.

Puberty blockers and hormone therapy are common treatments for transgender youths, while surgeries are extremely rare. Their use is supported by every major medical association in the U.S.

Democrats were able to delay two attempts at a vote earlier this month, but they failed to force any 11th-hour delays on Friday as the Republican majority moved quickly to take up the bill in advance of Mothers Day weekend. Republicans voted down 19 Democratic amendments, including one that would allow patients to go on the medications if they had five doctors approval, plus the signoff of a newly created panel of experts.

EXPLAINED: What would SB14 mean for transgender Texas kids? Implications for hormone therapy, surgery and more.

This legislation is creating a prison and encaging these people in them, said Rep. Christian Manuel, a Beaumont Democrat who is openly gay. They are not asking you to stand with them at a parade. They are not asking you to change your religion. Theyre not asking you to agree with them. Theyre asking you to give them their parental rights.

On top of the restrictions, SB 14 would force the Texas Medical Board to revoke physician licenses to those who violate the ban, and it would prohibit taxpayer funds from being used for transgender health care or from going to any person or entity that provides or facilitates the treatment.

The ban on access would exempt people who are intersex or have precocious puberty or any genetic disorder or condition affecting their sex or gender.

Before the vote Friday, supporters of the legislation gathered inside the state Capitol wearing red shirts with the message, Save Texas Kids. Opponents gave speeches outside the House chamber, reading letters from transgender kids and their parents.

Rep. Josey Garcia, D-San Antonio, who is openly bisexual, told protesters that free countries dont ban human rights.

Weve literally gone to other countries to fight against the very human rights violations that were starting to witness on our own land, Garcia said about veterans like herself. This is an atrocity.

Houston Democratic state Rep. Shawn Thierry broke with her party and voted for the measure. In a speech to members, she compared the bill to age limits on tanning booths, tattoos and cigarettes.

These policies and regulations are in place because we recognize that children should be protected from actions and activities which are harmful, health risks or have lifelong consequences, she said. This same logic must also apply when approaching the very complex issue of treating gender dysphoria in children.

Recent public polling has shown that most Texans and Americans oppose transgender medical care that goes beyond counseling or therapy. A recent Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation poll found that 68 percent of Americans oppose the use of puberty blockers on 10- to 14-year-olds, and 58 percent oppose the use of hormone therapy. Critics have noted that the survey was done before most states enacted their bans.

CONTEXT: 41% of LGBTQ youth seriously considered suicide in 2022, new survey finds

Less than half said they personally knew someone who is transgender, the poll found, mirroring the results of polls in the 1990s that asked the same about gay or lesbian people.

In April, the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin found that 58 percent of Texans support prohibiting doctors from providing gender-affirming care to minors.

Republican lawmakers have pushed several other measures this session that target the LGBTQ community, including bills to restrict transgender athletes from playing on teams that align with their gender identity, to prohibit children from attending drag shows and to limit what can be taught in schools on LGBTQ issues.

A study released this month from the Trevor Project, which works on suicide prevention for LGBTQ youth, found that half of transgender and nonbinary children in the U.S. seriously considered suicide in the past year. A third of LGBTQ youth said their mental health is poor all or most of the time, citing discriminatory policies and legislation.

Families of transgender children have been scrambling over the past year to pursue out-of-state care if they can afford it, or to move out of Texas altogether. Much of that began when Abbott ordered child welfare officials to begin investigating families that seek out the health care for child abuse. The policy is currently paused in the courts.

Unlike the Senates version of SB 14, the Houses allows underage patients who are currently using puberty blockers and other transition medications a period of time to wean off of them in a way that is safe and medically appropriate. House and Senate members would need to hash out any differences before the bill can officially head to the governor.

The ACLU of Texas, which opposes the measure, has said it is reviewing its options should SB 14 become law in Texas.

Our fight does not end when the Legislature gavels out, said Ash Hall, the groups policy and advocacy strategist on LGBTQIA+ rights, during a speech at the Capitol last week. If and when Gov. Abbott signs this bill, we are looking into every possible legal option for this fight moving forward.
The public health emergency declaration ended on Thursday, and with it some of the policies that helped the U.S. recover from the many of the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

Although COVID-19 is still a public health threat, the national economic crisis it created has subsided with the U.S. economy back to its pre-pandemic growth rate.

Economists say that the federal response to mass unemployment and business closures, through legislation that includes the CARES Act, Families First Coronavirus Response Act, American Rescue Plan Act, and other policies, helped fast-track the recovery. But the lasting effects of the pandemic on the labor force and how well prepared policy makers are to handle a potential recession or another pandemic is unclear.

I think that this recovery was tremendous compared to any recovery in recent history because of the scale of the investments that were made by policymakers, said Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, pointing to the child tax credit as one example that helped fuel the strong recovery. So I think the incredible bounceback that we saw in employment and wage growth was driven directly from, in large part, to the kinds of investments that policymakers made in things like shoring up the unemployment insurance system, making that stronger, making it a better safety net for many workers.

Lessons learned from federal investments

The policies that helped the economy recover from the effects of the pandemic could have reached more vulnerable people, however, and some sectors, like healthcare, are still suffering because of it. There are also many potential long-term effects that economists dont yet understand, such as how Long COVID is going to affect the workforce or whether more remote work is here to stay and how that will influence the economy. They added that the lessons learned from the federal governments reaction to the pandemic could prepare us for a recession or another pandemic.

Lindsay Owens, executive director of the Groundwork Collaborative, said lawmakers should take a similar approach in the future and focus on direct support to workers.

Workers are the backbone of the economy, she said. If our workers are home sick, were going to have to kick into high gear on the safety net again and the good news is we know how to do that, with student loans, the eviction moratorium, unemployment insurance, extended unemployment insurance for freelancers, child tax credits, and so on.

Still, the business stimulus in particular could have been better targeted, said Connel Fullenkamp, economist and professor of the practice in economics at Duke University. The Small Business Administrations inspector general, found that at least 70,0000 of the Paycheck Protection Programs loans were fraudulent. Other loans went to businesses that possibly could have survived the economic fallout without assistance.

I think what were finding out now is that it was a little too easy for a lot of unscrupulous players to grab a piece of that pie, he said. Some of thats being clawed back, of course, but a lot of it is just going to be lost and up in the wrong pockets.  Its really hard to do targeted stimulus to anybody and especially for business. If Biden actually gets his proposal across to increase funding to the IRS, they and other government agencies could do a much better job of simply tracking taxpayers and businesses in order to do things like more targeted stimulus stimulus payments.

States used funds from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 for eviction prevention, food programs, mental health services, and wiping peoples medical debt, but also spent the monies on building more prisons and offsetting tax cuts. More of it could have also been spent on modernizing unemployment insurance, economists said.

Lauren Bauer, fellow in economic studies at the Brookings Institution, said states could have done more to improve the administration of their programs as they received this huge influx of federal funding.

The support for state and local governments was very, very generous in part because in the Great Recession, the lack of generosity to state governments really slowed the recovery. But because revenues didnt actually fall that much, they were made more than whole, Bauer said. And so because of that, asking them to do some investment in administration of these social insurance programs seems like a pretty reasonable way to have them take responsibility for the role that they play in both protecting households but also getting money down to the ground so that it can be spent to stimulate a recovery.

What the pandemic has meant for workers

The effects of COVID on the workforce, and certain sectors and industries in particular, are still developing, but economists say healthcare, education, child care, and public sector workers have all been seriously impacted. Fullenkamp said that it can be hard to disentangle labor market changes that happened because of expected generational shifts versus workers leaving the labor force because of the pandemic.

I think one of the things that we can say for sure is that the pandemic accelerated the Baby Boomer retirement and brought a lot of retirements forward that would have otherwise played out over many, many years, much more slowly, he said.  I think were seeing that great resignation is more of a temporary phenomenon. Were seeing people being drawn back into the labor market for a number of reasons. One is simply that the wages are going up finally and also that people did run out of stimulus money and prices are going up and that is going to pull some people back into the labor market.

Low pay for frontline or essential workers needs to be addressed before the next pandemic, some economists said.

Gould said pay for public sector jobs such as those in healthcare and education, need to improve if were going to prepare for future economic challenges.

Weve seen this tremendous bounceback in private sector employment. Public sector employment, particularly state and local jobs, are still down. We have seen slow progress over the last few months but theyre still down a significant amount, she said.  I would have hoped that more of that [stimulus] money would have been used to help shore up that employment when the services that are being provided are in health care and education.

Child care is also a huge issue, said Owens, of Groundwork.

Between December 2019 and March 2021, about 9,000 child care centers closed, she said. The shortage of child care workers is gonna have to be addressed and that only gets addressed by making those jobs better. Youre going to have to pay child care workers more.  We will be weaker going into the next pandemic because we havent solved this for child care.

The question of how COVID-19 illnesses will affect the labor force is still being researched and will take time to understand, economists say. Sixteen million working-age people have Long COVID, a 2022 Brookings Institution report found.

I think its going to take a bit for someone to really carefully figure out how Long COVID and the changing health status of people and generally peoples feelings about public health and their own health are changing the labor force, Bauer said.

Looking ahead to the next crisis

Is the U.S. prepared for the next pandemic or next recession? Were better prepared for remote work and unemployment insurance isnt going to hold people back from joining the labor force, some economists say. Policymakers have also demonstrated that they can mobilize quickly on vaccine rollouts.

The very generous unemployment insurance didnt really seem to hold people back from trying to get a job when jobs are available, which is a pretty big lesson for how to use the unemployment insurance system in the next recession to sustain consumption without preventing a labor market recovery, Bauer said.

Its still unclear what the effects of increased remote work will have on the economy overall, but some research has shown that the savings in time commuting to work can benefit employers because 40% of that time has been used to get more work done. However some employers have pushed back on remote work. An EY-Parthenon report released this month said that worker productivity fell 2.7% in the first quarter. Gregory Daco, chief economist at EY-Parthenon told Yahoo News that remote work could be a factor but that job churn may also be responsible. But in any case, businesses are better prepared for a sudden shutdown of offices than they once were.

Businesses kind of figured out work from home pretty fast and were able to maintain, you know, decent levels of productivity in the workforce. We obviously wont be kind of starting that process over from scratch if we have to send people home again, Owens said.

Bauer added that more workplace flexibility could be better for keeping women in the workforce. Early in the pandemic, 9 million men lost jobs, but 11.5 million women did, and some women decided to take on child care and leave their jobs as it became more difficult to receive support outside the home.

She said a no-brainer in every recession is making sure that unemployment insurance and SNAP, and Medicaid are working swiftly and covering as many people as they can.

The pandemic has also exposed the problems in our supply chain, which have to be addressed before the next big economic vulnerability.

A big part of the economy that we experienced really beginning in 2021 was because of our broken supply chain, Owens said. We dont have a spare semiconductor, a spare COVID test, a spare frozen pizza.  That left us really vulnerable to shortages and we have got to build resilience in our supply chain.

The pandemic also showed us that for the next major health threat, the federal government is capable of moving quickly and should do so again, Owens added.

The vaccine got done relatively fast and its worth remembering that there was massive federal incentive and investment in that, and that allowed it to lift off, she said. In the next pandemic, I would do all of that again.

The post Fast federal response to pandemic key to US economic recovery, economists say appeared first on Missouri Independent.
By Tracy Turner

She got the call while riding as a passenger in their car as her husband drove.

The Ohio State University College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences Distinguished Professor of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering and professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, immediately began screaming. With joy.

The call was to notify Judit E. Puskas that she had just been elected to the National Academy of Engineering Class of 2023 in recognition of sustained excellence in innovation and education, one of the highest professional distinctions an engineer can receive.

The recognition honors outstanding contributions to engineering research, practice, or education, and to the pioneering of new and developing fields of technology, making major advancements in traditional fields of engineering, or developing/implementing innovative approaches to engineering education.

I cannot explain what this means to meits like winning an Oscar, Puskas said. I was so honored and excited because this independent body was validating my entire career, my entire body of work.

Recognition

Puskas is internationally recognized for her accomplishments in rubber technologydeveloping polymers and biomaterial invention and green engineering implementationin both industry and medicine.

A native of Hungary, her career has spanned over 40 decades, two continents and three countries, both in industry and in academia. Her body of work includes over 400 technical publications and 35 issued patents.

She was elected to NAE last month for her work co-inventing a U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved, life-saving coronary stent coating and fundamental research and scale-up of polymerization processes.

Puskas, who joined CFAES in 2019 as a professor in the Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering, is the co-inventor of the biocompatible polymer used to coat the Boston Scientific-licensed Taxus coronary stent, which has since been implanted in more than 10 million patients. With first-year sales of more than $3 billion, it is considered the most successful medical device ever launched.

Additionally, Puskas is a Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering and was elected to the National Academy of Inventors in 2020, which is the highest professional distinction accorded solely to academic inventors. Shes also the first woman to win the Charles Goodyear Medal, the highest honor conferred by the American Chemical Societys Rubber Division.

Background

Puskas attributes the start of her career to her grandmother Maria Kis, who Puskas says, worked 12-hour shifts at the age of 66 to put me through university so I could become a research scientist.

Puskas graduated in 1977 from the Technical University of Budapest, where she earned a masters degree in polymer science and also met and married her husband, Gabor Kaszas, of 46 years. She also holds a PhD in plastics and rubber technology from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. While still in Hungary, she and her husband began working in a research institute specializing in microchip fabrication, working to reverse engineer the Intel 8080 chip. It was there that she published her first research paper.

Puskas moved to the United States in 1980, when her husband was offered a position at the University of Akron, where she also began working in controlled carbocationic polymerization. The couple and their two children later moved to Canada in 1989, where Puskas and her husband began working in industry, at the Polysar Rubber Co.

After several years working in industry, Puskas was offered a position at the University of Western Ontario, where she was tenured in 1998. She returned to the University of Akron in 2004, where she worked until coming to Ohio State in 2019. Her husband joined the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. in 2006. After retiring in 2016, he started to work again with his wife as a volunteer.

Puskas research has included creating safer breast implants to help women after a mastectomy, designing a safe and comfortable COVID-19 face mask and finding an alternative domestic natural source of rubber. Currently, the U.S. has no domestic natural rubber and relies on a supply from southeast Asia.

Puskas calls her research, her career, and her life accomplishments the embodiment of the American Dream.

Im an immigrant who came to this country with little English language, she said. And now, Im a U.S. citizen and doing this work. Its a very good feeling when you do research, and it ends up saving peoples lives.

(Those wishing to support Puskas research can donate to the CFAES Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering Innovation Fund for Bio-Based Polymers (#316979) or contact the CFAES Office of Advancement at 614-292-0473.)
A campaign created to raise awareness about opportunities within the farming industry for those wishing to develop their leadership skills will soon launch.

For the third year running, social media campaign #AgriLeadershipWeek seeks to promotes management and leadership training in UK agriculture.

Running from 15-21 May 2023, it includes a webinar about promoting diversity as well as a week of takeovers on Twitter account @FarmersoftheUK, which has 70,000 followers.

According to a 2022 survey completed by TIAH (The Institute for Agriculture and Horticulture), nearly 75% of employers have not carried out any formal management or leadership training themselves in the last three years.

Additionally, 42% of employers state that they are somewhat or very unwilling' to employ people from a non-agricultural background.

Partners of #AgriLeadershipWeek, which includes the likes of TIAH, AHDB, the NFU and Nuffield among others, say the aim of the week is to drive awareness of the diverse range of courses.

The campaign also seeks to encourage everyone in the industry to develop their skills and support people from outside of the industry.

All members of the UK agriculture are being encouraged to get in touch with featured organisations for more details on how to take advantage of the options available.
Farmers living and working on the planned high-speed rail route must receive 'far greater clarity' as work continues, the NFU has told MPs.

The union has petitioned MPs on the High-Speed Rail Bill Select Committee to ensure farmers on phase 2b of HS2 receive a fair deal.

The evidence session took place in front of the committee, with the NFU raising issues for farmers directly affected by the proposed line from Crewe to Manchester.

Issues raised by NFU senior rural surveyor Louise Staples and James Findlay KC included the "inappropriate use" of HS2's compulsory purchase powers.

They also told MPs that HS2 must not use compulsory purchase powers to take land for biodiversity net gain.

Ms Staples described the opportunity to present evidence to MPs on behalf of members as invaluable, and that it gave the NFU the chance to ask for important changes to be made.

She said that HS2 Ltd must provide "far greater clarity" as the project and work on phase 2b continued.

"We highlighted to the Committee how farmers and growers along phases 1 and 2a of the route have been treated by HS2 Ltd and the disruption caused to their farming businesses.

"For example, many of our members have suffered long delays to compensation being paid and an abuse of compulsory purchase powers.

"This has led to mounting financial pressures as well as worry, anxiety and stress, with some farmers even considering their future in the farming sector."

Ms Staples added: "While the NFU recognises the importance of investing in the nations transport infrastructure, it is essential Britains food and farming businesses are left in a strong, viable condition."

It comes after HS2 bosses were told that building work was threatening the future of dairy farms along the route, as construction was preventing access to crucial grassland.

The NFU said farm businesses along Phase 2a of the line in Staffordshire would see their land divided in two as part of the development.

HS2 gave reassurances that it would build underpasses or overbridges to allow access to the land.

However, these wont be built until after building work has finished, according to impacted farmers and their agents.

In some cases, farmers have been told that they will not be able to move their cows from one side of their land to the other while the proposed line is being constructed.

The NFU's vice president, David Exwood called for urgent solutions in a recent letter sent to HS2 Minister Hew Merriman and CEO Mark Thurston.

He explained that if temporary access to agricultural vehicles could be agreed, especially during harvest and silage time, then some farm businesses could continue to operate.

He also questioned the need for HS2 to acquire and use the main drive of farms as well as raising concerns about uncertainty due to delays and payment of fair compensation.
Scottish farmers and crofters are being urged to start their Single Application Form (SAF) ahead of the window closing on 15 May, as many forms are still to be started.

As Scotland transitions to a new agricultural policy and support arrangements from 2025 onwards, the SAF deadline is still seen as one of the most important dates in the Scottish farming calendar.

Latest figures provided to NFU Scotland by the Scottish government suggest that more than 14,200 forms have already been completed.

More than 3,000 forms have been started and are in draft form, leaving approximately 1,200 forms still to be started with just days to go.

Completion of a SAF is required to access important support schemes such as the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) and Greening, and the Less Favoured Area Support Scheme.

NFU Scotland said the schemes available as part of SAF were "critical to the financial wellbeing of Scottish agriculture", as they inject over 500m to the industry annually.

NFU Scotland director of policy, Jonnie Hall said the support payments remain critically important to the viability of most Scottish farming and crofting businesses.

He said: "The importance of that support will be underlined this year and into next year as we continue to see the impact of unprecedented rises in input costs and unpredictable volatility in prices.

It is encouraging just how many forms have been completed but there is a significant number of SAF forms still to be started.

"There is also concern about the 3,000 forms started but not completed and we urge those with forms in a draft state to go on and complete their application at the earliest opportunity and ensure that it is properly submitted.

Farmers and crofters must prioritise these annual application forms in the next few days."

With only a few days left, the Scottish government has organised out of hours cover for IT related issues over the next three days and after office hours cover on Monday 15 May until midnight.

Farmers can contact the IT service desk on 0300 244 6202 or AREISDServiceDesk@gov.scot.

The Single Application Form (SAF) window closes at midnight on Monday 15 May.
A Northern Irish farmer has been fined 500 after pleading guilty to one count of water pollution in Co Fermanagh.

Alan Henderson appeared at Enniskillen Magistrates Court on 10 May after authorities responded to a report of farm effluent in a river.

Farm effluent had been dumped onto a steeply sloping field between the farmyard and the waterway, the court heard.

The incident happened by the Ballinamallard River in December 2021.

The effluent was observed flowing down the field before entering the river, approximately 40 metres from where the effluent had been released.

A tripartite statutory sample of the discharge was collected and analysed.

The court heard that the discharge contained poisonous, noxious or polluting matter which would have been potentially harmful to aquatic life in a receiving waterway.

Mr Henderson, 48, pleaded guilty to one count of water pollution and was fined 500 plus 15 offenders levy.

Earlier this year, a Northern Irish egg company was ordered to pay out 17,500 after pleading guilty to water pollution offences.

The Yolk Folk Egg Products Ltd, located near Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, pleaded guilty at Enniskillen Magistrates Court for the July 2020 offences.
The UK's trade agreements with Australia and New Zealand will come into force at the end of May, amid growing concern for sensitive sectors like beef and lamb.

The trade agreements that the UK concluded with both countries in 2022 will enter into force on 31 May 2023, the government has confirmed.

Since then, the UK farm leaders have strongly criticised the outcomes of the negotiations as they eliminate tariffs for agricultural products.

This means that for sensitive sectors like beef and lamb, dairy and horticulture, in time, there will be no limit to the number of goods Australia and New Zealand can export to the UK.

The NFU had warned that there was little in those trade deals to benefit British farmers.

The union said that UK farm businesses faced significantly higher production costs than farmers in Australia and New Zealand.

And margins "were likely to tighten further" in the face of rising input costs, higher energy bills and labour shortages.

NFU President Minette Batters said: Confirmation that the UKs new trade deals will come into force at the end of May brings into sharp focus the need for government to monitor the impacts for our farmers."

Mrs Batters added that it was 'clear' that UK farmers had "very little to gain" from these two deals, adding that government must open up markets where there's a "genuine opportunity" for farmers.

We must ensure that the government's commitment to uphold the UKs food safety standards in all deals it negotiates remains unwavering," she said.

"We need to see the government working with farmers to develop a set of core environmental and animal welfare standards that it can seek to safeguard through forthcoming FTAs and its general import policy under its current WTO commitments."

It follows a report published by the AHDB last year which warned that New Zealand farmers would see far greater benefits compared to UK farmers.

The report took a detailed look for the first time at the potential implications of the New Zealand trade deal on UK agriculture.

David Swales, AHDB head of strategic insight, said: Its clear that New Zealand farmers will benefit from this trade deal with UK farmers negatively impacted.

"Our analysis shows that the impact should be modest, but there are risks of a more substantive impact in scenarios where New Zealands trade with China is disrupted.
Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has revealed that Ukrainian forces have counter-attacked Russian positions around Bakhmut.

Yevgeny Prigozhin says things are looking bleak for Russia in Bakhmut

The boss of the Russian mercenary group has admitted that "the worst predicted scenario" is unfolding for Vladimir Putin's troops in the besieged Ukrainian city and mocked the Kremlin's defence secretary Sergei Shoigu.

Prigozhin - who is nicknamed 'Putin's chef' as he owns restaurants and catering companies that provide services for the Russian government - said: "The situation on the flanks is shaping up according to the worst predicted scenario.

"Those territories, which were taken with the blood and lives of our comrades-in-arms for many months, every day, by tens or hundreds of metres are now being thrown almost without a fight by those (Russian army soldiers) who are supposed to hold our flanks."

Directly addressing the beleaguered Shoigu, Prigozhin added: "Given your super long experience, please can you come to Bakhmut?"

Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky had suggested that his troops were not yet ready to make the long-awaited counter-offensive but Prigozhin says that Kyiv has been "economical with the truth".

The warlord said: "When Volodymyr Zelensky said (the counter-offensive) hasn't started yet, he was economical with the truth.

"It is going full steam ahead - Ukrainian units are attacking successfully."
Elliot Page has celebrated his transjoy by sharing a topless snap showing his gender reassignment surgery scars.

Elliot Page has celebrated transjoy by sharing a topless snap showing his gender reassignment surgery scars

The Oscar-nominated actor and transgender campaigner, 36, posted the image on Instagram while posing shirtless on a rooftop and explained why warmer months used to be a challenge before his transition, after he came out as a trans man in 2020.

He posted alongside the image: Dysphoria used to be especially rife in the summer. No layers, just a T-shirt  or layers and oh so sweaty  constantly looking down, readjusting my oversized T.

It feels so fing good soaking in the sun now, I never thought I could experience this, the joy I feel in my body.

I am so grateful for what gender affirming care has allowed me and I look forward to sharing more of my journey soon. #transjoy

Elliot marked his coming out as trans three years ago with the social media announcement: I feel lucky to be writing this. To be here. To have arrived at this place in my life.

I feel overwhelming gratitude for the incredible people who have supported me along this journey. I cant begin to express how remarkable it feels to finally love who I am enough to pursue my authentic self.

The Juno star captioned a photo of himself posting in a bathing suit in 2021: Trans bbs first swim trunks #transjoy #transisbeautiful.

He said in an interview with Time magazine how he had undergone top surgery to remove breast tissue, saying it had completely transformed his life.

Elliot added the procedure did not define being transgender, but provided him with freedom from the total hell that was puberty and allowed him to recognise himself when he looked in the mirror.

The actor, who married dancer Emma Portner, 28, in 2018 before their divorce in 2021, is set to go on a book tour to promote his Pageboy memoir.

Its publisher has said the book will delve into Pages relationship with his body as well as his experiences as one of the most famous trans people in the world.

It added the memoir will cover mental health, assault, love, relationships, sex and the cesspool that Hollywood can be.
Millie Mackintosh has claimed Meghan, Duchess of Sussex "ghosted" her after she began dating Prince Harry.

Millie Mackintosh used to be friends with Meghan, Duchess of Sussex

The former 'Made in Chelsea' star first met the duchess at the opening of a hotel in Istanbul and they "got on like a house on fire", staying in touch afterwards, with the 33-year-old beauty handing over "all of her contacts" when the 'Suits' star moved to London - but then Meghan "abruptly" ceased contact when her royal romance was made public.

Speaking on the 'Mumlemmas' podcast, Millie recalled messaging Meghan when her relationship with Harry was revealed, and said: I messaged her and said, 'Hey I hope you're OK, thinking of you', and she just sent me this really abrupt message, that was really unlike any of our communications before.

It wasnt like Id messaged her asking if it was true - that was none of my business, I didnt care - I was just like, 'Are you ok?'. What I read from that message was that she maybe needed a bit of space, she needed to cool off, she was angry, she was maybe under a lot of pressure.

I didn't message her again, but I did expect that we would stay in touch. I thought she'd message back and say, Look, sorry everything is a bit stressful right now.

"She cut me dead. I never heard from her again.

"I felt like she'd basically told me to f*** off in that message. So I did. And we haven't spoken since.

Millie believes the 41-year-old duchess - who has Prince Archie, four, and Princess Lilibet, 23 months, with Harry - cut her off because she was a reality star and no longer "useful".

She said: My take on it is that, this is my instinct why it happened at the time, she thought right I'm gonna be royal now, I don't need Millie in my life - what could I offer her at that point?

She had met her prince. I was on a reality show, so she obv was like, I can't be associated with 'Made In Chelsea', I'm gonna be royal. Ive got to cut her loose. I just wasnt useful any more.

Admitting it was "quite hurtful" to be cut off, Millie admitted she would love to meet with Meghan again so she could ask her: Why did you ghost me?

She added: We all know it hasnt just happened to me.


When PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS speaks, you listen, period. That special blend of charisma, humour and intelligence is irresistible. Ambika Muttoo spent some quality time with her in Mumbai, which resulted in this insightful conversation.

PS: In case it isnt obvious, shes a PCJ fan



I am slightly exhausted today. Its been a big four or five days since Ive been in Bombay. I was also jet lagged, says Priyanka Chopra Jonas. Its a completely valid sentiment for a star of her calibre. But, again, this is Priyanka Chopra Jonas. Were probably going to miss a few cards on her rolodex, but the exceptional multi-hyphenate is an actor, artiste, producer, mum, partner, restaurateur, philanthropist, author and investor. That too, on a global level, shuttling between the ends of the planet, much like most of us grab a cab to work every day. Given her schedule, this feels like a vast understatement. And, yet, here she is, warmth personified in a lemon sorbet two-piece suit, with her hair in a soft updo, framing a face that belies her justified fatigue. Its that voice too  a huskiness that hums through the air, gently dispersing any nerves you might have about being in the presence of an icon. Because thats exactly what PCJ is.



When this interview was conducted, Priyanka was in Mumbai for a few events, including a special screening of Citadel, the epic spy-thriller series she stars in with a stellar cast  Richard Madden, Stanley Tucci and Lesley Manville, among others. The show is an Amazon Studios and Russo Brothers AGBO collaboration, and has, by now, released on Prime Video. Yes, the Russo Brothers who have directed a few of the Captain America and Avengers movies. Shes happy and excited with the reactions from her homestead, given how much work has been poured into the show. It was the first time anybody outside of our inner circle had ever seen it, she reveals. We screened it for the first time in Mumbai for very special industry friends and folks. I was really nervous about that. But I also feel really humbled that we kick-started Citadels journey in my home with my friends and my people. And people I have known from the beginning of my career.



Citadel moves at a breakneck speed buoyed by excellent writing and performances. The actor plays the mysterious Nadia Sinh and its difficult to sum up the layers of the character. Shes lethal, vulnerable, driven, a little broken and haunted by intense events from the past. Priyanka plays her to nuanced perfection, from the second she struts onto screen  red dress, Veronica Lake waves, in one of the most memorable entrances weve seen yet  to when she throws in some truly brutal fight scenes. Its shows such as Citadel, and movies like Love Again (out this month, where shes co-starring with Sam Heughan and Celine Dion) that pique her interest.



A meaty role is a complex character to me. You have to peel off the layers. You dont know what youre going to have right off the bat.



I think that a meaty role has never necessarily meant screen time to me. It has never been that Im the face on the poster and I have to be in every scene. If it happens, sure. Thats great, she states. But a meaty role is a complex character to me. You have to peel off the layers. You dont know what youre going to have right off the bat. Even with Mira in Love Again, its just to be able to create a variety of characters, to be able to find something that makes my toes tingle, something that Im nervous about when I get on set. Characters that are completely unlike me. Ive never liked playing characters that are similar to me. Its no wonder Nadia fit the bill, with Priyanka indicating, Shes a very internalised person. She has trust issues. She keeps her feelings to herself. Shes very intense. Shes very quiet and Im the opposite. Im like open, transparent, goofy. So, I had to really rein all my energies in to be able to play her but shes just such a fun character.



When Priyanka had just finished Quantico (the American drama-thriller television series she starred in in 2015), it was the first time she had ever done television outside of Khatron Ke Khiladi (2010), years ago. ... A network show in America is like a serial. So, its 22 episodes in one year. One season is 22 episodes. Thats 11 months of a year. Eleven and a half months of a year, you are shooting. So, it becomes your whole life. So, after the three seasons of Quantico were done and the show was supremely successful, it gave me a really great footing. People knew who I was in Hollywood and I was just looking for the next thing. Im a features girl  Ive always done movies and the TV stint was a lot! I was like, okay, I need to go back to movies, she laughs. Films such as Baywatch (2017), A Kid Like Jake (2018), and Isnt It Romantic (2019) followed.





Outfit: (Black Top and Skirt)  ALAIA + Hoop Earrings  By Pariah





I come from a small town. So many of my friends got married in their early twenties and werent encouraged to pursue their ambitions or professional careers. Theres nothing wrong with wanting to be at home, taking care of your family. I love doing that. I think encouraging girls to have dreams is key.





Outfit: (Top/Hoodie)  ALAIA





"I make movies. Its not rocket science. Im not doing brain surgery. Im literally playing for a living, so I feel blessed and privileged."





Outfit: (Red Dress)  CHLOE + Earrings  Alighieri



Of course, 18-year-old mes fear is that itll be taken away from me! Moving around as an army kid, my dad always told me that every time you go to a new place, you have an opportunity to reinvent yourself. It is a powerful feeling that you can leave your mistakes behind when you move to a new place. The new people you meet dont have to know the vulnerabilities that you had when you were in a certain place. You can just get up and leave. If youre unhappy somewhere, if somethings making you feel stuck, just get up and take one step away. Get out into clean air and then see what your options are. Dont stay stuck. With so much on her plate, and a life constantly in motion, the talk turns towards quality  of happiness and satisfaction, and whether or not the two can co-exist when the stakes are consistently high. Well, I dont think you can be anything always. Youre not always happy, youre not always satisfied. Youre not always content. Life is hills and valleys, you know? Today is a great day. I woke up with a spring in my step even though I was tired, because these couple of days have been successful. Im home. Im here with my daughter. My moms here. My husband was here. Ive met my friends after a long time. So, Im a little giddy just because Im feeling good. But I know that two days from now when I go back home, Im starting work on a new movie. That high will come down, and itll become an uphill climb again. So, I dont think that we should look for a constant. I think we should look to be present in every day and to make that moment of today the best version of you. Then, when you look back, your life will be happy, Priyanka offers. Shes content, and at ease, because she feels shes got her feet on solid ground.



Moving around as an army kid, my dad always told me that every time you go to a new place, you have an opportunity to reinvent yourself. It is a powerful feeling that you can leave your mistakes behind when you move to a new place.



I dont like to rush. I like to work at a good pace. I like a great work environment. I like to be happy. And I make movies. Its not rocket science. Im not doing brain surgery. Im literally playing for a living, so I feel blessed and privileged to be able to be in the position that I am in and to be able to have a job that I love so much. So many people have to work to survive. I go to work because I love it. It sounds like a simple equation, but its also because shes identified her true source of stability. My family. My faith. My values. I think those are three things that havent changed in years, she declares. The support of not just my immediate family  which is my mom  but my extended family including my aunts and cousins. Now my husband, in-laws and my friends who are like family. I firmly believe that friends are the family you choose on this earth and I have some incredible ones. My best friend has been my best friend since I was 17. We met, in fact, right around the time when Miss India happened and she was my maid of honour at my wedding! Its these close bonds that anchor Priyanka, all through her travels, or whatever path she chooses to tread.



Having friendships and relationships that are a constant help when youre in a job like mine, which is just travelling all over the world. You feel like you dont have any roots. Theres no consistency. Youre living out of hotels and suitcases. But to have consistency with friends and family is very important. To have God and faith is very important. I really, really am, I wouldnt say God-fearing but God-loving, she says. I believe that theres something larger out there that looks out for us. We all have different names for God. We have different avenues to get to God, which is religion or whatever your faith might be. But that to me is very strong and I have always had a very deep spiritual connection with the higher power and my values. I know that kindness comes first. I know that no matter how much pressure you have, you have to understand human beings. There was a time in my life when I was running so fast, I didnt have the ability to think about that kindness. But, as Ive matured, I have realised its important to start your day with just turning around and seeing  does anybody need anything? Is everyone happy? Can I help someone? Just being aware, reading the room, being a little bit more mindful.







Outfit: (Black Top and Skirt)  ALAIA + Hoop Earrings  By Pariah





 Wherever Ive gone, Ive got so much love and support from Indians there. People send me khaana! 

Photographs: Greg Williams Styling: Rebecca Corbin-Murray Art direction: Mia Birchall Makeup: Georgina Graham Hair: Sam McKnight Location: Bulgari Hotel, London

Outfit: ALAIA; Hoop Earrings: By Pariah



Also Read: In Conversation With The Incredibly Talented Rani Mukerji Bulgari Hotel, LondonALAIA;By Pariah Greg Williams

It was during those meetings that she met Jennifer Salke who had just become the head of Amazon Studios. Citadel emerged. Its about an intelligence agency, FYI, with no ties or affiliation to any nation. The interesting premise, apart from being a solid show on its own, is that theyre creating instalments in different parts of the world, with local writers, directors, filmmakers, and actors  America, India and Italy. Since its a global  albeit fictional  intelligence agency, the possibilities of then spinning off into other languages and countries are endless.Theres also a line that Priyankas character says that we feel transcends the screen, as far as shes concerned. It is: Do I look like the sort of woman who plays for the minor leagues? She really doesnt, and, if theres anyone wed like to, as women, talk about leading full, successful lives with, its PCJ. Its hard because I think we are raised with having many glass ceilings. Unfortunately, many of us are told that theres only that much you can do. And ambition is usually  and maybe for you and me, maybe for our families  its different, she says, thoughtfully. But there are so many girls around the world. I come from a small town. So many of my friends got married in their early twenties and werent encouraged to pursue their ambitions or professional careers. They have kids that are like 16 and 17 now. And thats fine. Theres nothing wrong with wanting to be at home, taking care of your family. I love doing that. Its one of my favourite things. She then adds something that is crucial for her, and not an addendum. I think encouraging girls to have dreams is key. To be able to navigate their aspirations and not set a glass ceiling. My parents didnt do that with me. Thats the reason why you and I are here. Because we had parents that encouraged us and who didnt treat us differently from our brothers. Who told us  you have a dream, we are here with you.When Priyanka became Femina Miss India, in 2000, she was 17 years old and her parents had just started their private practice in Bareilly, which was booming. They had just set up a hospital. Her mother was in her 40s  Priyankas current age. They gave it all up to move to Mumbai because her career had kicked off. At that time, I took it all completely for granted. I was like, of course its your parents job to do that. My career matters. And I didnt even think about it until I was writing my book. And then it dawned on me like now Im in my 40s. And that, if I were asked to give up my career and just move countries, I would do it without question for my daughter, she states.It is, still, a huge sacrifice. And we are so blessed to have parents who did that. But, there are families under societal pressures that dont necessarily know that they can let their daughters have aspirations. So, I think that the one thing that we need to do is create a dialogue around parenting, around raising our sons in a way in which there is respect for women, creating opportunities in society where women are in positions of power. Not just getting jobs, but actually being decision makers. I think thats whats going to change it for us. Priyanka has always spoken with immense love and respect about her family, and of how she was raised to be independent, to ask questions, and  because of her parents army background  to move forward and to adapt to new environments. Given her trajectory over the last decade, it is perhaps these formative qualities that taught her to power through different aspects of her career and life at an almost turbo speed.I do think so. Ive thought about this a lot honestly. First of all, its the nature of my job. I dont take it for granted. Yes, sure, Ive been doing it for 22 years or 23 years now, but I dont take it for granted. Think about it. My job is very inconsistent  Im an actor, right? I dont know where my paycheque is coming from until I get the next job. So, there is constantly that uncertainty, she relates. When you think about it, its a lot like freelancing. Youre your own boss, and you definitely have to hustle, and stay agile. You reach a certain point in your life after a few years where you have a little bit more of Youve consolidated yourself. You have a little credibility. I can create avenues for myself because now Ive created enough credibility, but it is still very uncertain. So, I think that kind of lends to the turbo speed because Im just like Ah! It might go away from me anytime! I never had it given to me so I kind of had to build it myself, she reveals. That life, however it might look from the outside, comes with its share of nerves, but Priyanka has a way of navigating the ebb and flow.However, shes been noticing a few changes lately that are entirely relatable. In fact, it started happening to me before I got married. Its shocking to say but Im going to be married for five years this year! Its like that flew by. Crazy! A short pause here, to highlight the joy of being in conversation with Priyanka. Its never one-sided, and never without eye contact. She gives you the respect of showing up, one hundred per cent  a rarity in a world where people often look through you, and not at you. She continues with a smile after we marvel over time and its mysterious ways. Around my mid-thirties, I kind of reached a place where I started craving a work-life balance. My mom had told me this was going to happen to me. And I was like Never! Work is my life. Thats all I do. And, suddenly, I started craving time with my friends. I wanted to go away for a weekend. I wanted to dip my feet into the sand and not have to look at my phone. I never even thought of those things till my mid-thirties. And, once I started doing it, I was hooked and it made me a better professional. It made me a kinder professional. It made me just someone who didnt take myself as seriously as when I did when I was under a lot of pressure.Its definitely a job thats laden with pressure, especially when youre being scrutinised all the time. Anything I say or dont say, do or dont do gets scrutinised. When I got married and now of course after having Malti, my priorities are so different. I want to work with people I like. I want to do movies that I really enjoy. I want to be surrounded by people who make me laugh. I want to make people laugh. I want to go back home. On time. I finish my job really quickly and then Im home. That doesnt mean I dont love my job. That doesnt mean Im not going to do it with the same gusto that I did it with before. But, now, I know life is equally important, she expresses.Priyankas sense of perspective is one of her best qualities; one of many. But, curious minds must ask  what of the hardest parts of being Priyanka Chopra Jonas? Like me, the public person, or just me? she asks. We leave it up to her. Ah such a tough question, she murmurs. The best thing about being me is that I have been able to build a really good life for myself and my family. And I feel very proud of that 17-year-old girl who did her first cover with Femina, and where shes reached now through all the trials and tribulations. I havent lost my grace. I havent lost my ability to forgive or to stand up after being beaten down. My resilience still exists. I have incredible support. My team is amazing. My fans have been an army for me; theyre like my armour. Anything happens and they take on people for me. Theyve got my back. My country! Wherever Ive gone, Ive got so much loveand support from India, and Indians there. People send me khaana!And shes not kidding. Literally, if Im in a different city, fans and their moms will send me aachar and theyre like Oh, aachar khaya nahi hoga. It gives me so much joy. Because everybody knows I love food. The way to my heart is through food. Then theres the flip side. Im held to a very high standard. The court of public opinion is always on me. Whether Ive said something or whether Ive not said something. Whether I choose to say some name or whatever  I just let my work speak for myself. Im not someone who likes to be in the news for no reason. I love to be in the news for my work. And thats all. But privacy is hard. Theres a lot of scrutiny, especially now with my daughter and I have to protect her. So, Ive become a lot more private, and protective of who I am. I was a lot more open before but I think that kind of scrutiny and judgement has made me a little bit more closed. Which could be a good thing probably, because, I think people sometimes theyve known me for so long as a public person, they forget that I have feelings.For a life led so fully, it goes without saying that shes had to encounter a wide milieu of people outside of her inner circle. People who, of course, have their opinions about her life and choices, and have plenty of counsel to give. There is a certain instance she chose to ignore advice at a crucial juncture, and for good reason. I was told this by someone very close to me  Im not going to name them because theyre a public person. It was when I was seeking work in America. I was in a weird place here as well, and I was like, Oh my gosh, I need to find my lane! Since I wasnt able to find my lane, I started doing music and I was being signed on for Quantico, she reveals. I was told very vehemently by this person that so many actors from India go to the West and they get the doors shut on them. And, then, theyre embarrassed when they come back looking for work in India, and perhaps dont get any. This is a fact for many actors. I was told to not put all my eggs in that basket in the West for a long time. We pause here for a minute of two, because who wouldnt? You can imagine the weight of the decision she was poised to make, and how traumatic those words must have been. In hindsight because, at this stage, this is a story recounted with humour.She continues, So, even though I was like, I dont know, man, Im so, so glad I ignored that advice and I put all my eggs in that basket because it helped me find a footing. Also, I didnt put all my eggs in one basket, because I was still working here. I was doing Bajirao Mastani (2015), and later did Jai GangaaJal (2016) and The Sky Is Pink (2019). I always want to do Hindi movies and English language movies. This is my foundation. Everything that I know when I go on a set is from my training in Hindi movies, because Ive worked with the best in the business here. Now, in retrospect, respectfully, Im glad I ignored ya!Arent we all?
Ali Fazal is a known face in the Hollywood circuit. He appeared in the seventh instalment of The Fast and the Furious. The actor has now been invited to attend the International premiere with Jason Mamoa and Vin Diesel on May 11 in the Italian capital.







He shared his excitement, stating, "I am thrilled to be attending the international premiere of Fast X in Rome, and it is an honour to have been invited as part of my past involvement with the franchise. This is where it all began for me when it comes to my work globally, and I am grateful for the opportunities that this franchise has given me. I am excited to reunite with the cast and crew, and I look forward to seeing whats in store this time of the action magic that they have created ."









On the work front, he has Metro In Dino and Khufiya to look forward to.
Priyanka Chopra Jonas is in full swing as she promotes her upcoming romantic comedy Love Again. The film is directed by James C Strouse and also stars Nick Jonas in a cameo role. Recently, in an interview, Priyanka revealed that when she won the Miss World pageant in London in 2000, her husband Nick Jonas watched her win the beauty pageant as a 7-year-old boy in his US home with her father-in-law Kevin Jonas Sr.Priyanka stated, "When my mother-in-law told me that story, I was like 'I don't know...'. When I had just turned 18, I won the Miss World pageant. This was in London. This was November and I turned 18 in July. A complete child, and I had no idea what I was doing or what this world entailed, didn't have a lot of practice. Apparently, my mother-in-law was like I remember watching you when you won! I was in London, this is 2000. They were in Texas. I was like, 'There's no way!'"She continued recalling her mother-in-law's words and said, "It was November, Nick was on some Broadway show at 7 years old. His brother was on some Broadway show at 8 or 9. And she said I remember this clearly because Kevin Sr, my father-in-law, loves watching pageants. I remember he was watching it and Nick came and sat down and watched you win."Priyanka further said that she couldn't believe it. "That was 22 years ago or something. He was 7, and I was 17. And he was sitting there and he was watching. It was so weird. I do think that people are meant to be with each other for whatever that duration in your life is supposed to be." she added.Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Nick Jonas tied the knot in December 2018 and in 2022, welcomed Malti Marie Chopra Jonas via surrogacy.Meanwhile, on the work front, Priyanka will next be seen in Love Again which is set to be released in India on May 12. She will also be seen in Heads of State alongside John Cena and Idris Elba. She also has the Bollywood film Jee Le Zaraa with Alia Bhatt and Katrina Kaif.
IB 71 opens with Pakistan preparing for a third war, this time from the Eastern front in collaboration with China, not learning anything from the setbacks they faced in 1948 and 1965. After receiving information about how Pakistan is secretly planning another war, Intelligence Bureau Chief N.S. Awasthi (Anupam Kher) and his most trusted agent Dev (Vidyut Jammwal) hatch a plan to halt Pakistan in its tracks by creating conditions which will create probable cause for India to deny use of Indian airspace to Pakistani planes. Along with 30 other agents, Dev sets things in motion where deluded Kashmiri radicals, Qasim Qureshi (Vishal Jethwa) and Ashfaq Qureshi (Faizan Khan) are goaded into hijacking an Indian airliner and getting it landed in Pakistan. They hope to get Pakistan declared as a terrorist supporter and thus Indians can deny them use of airspace. How this far-fetched plan reaches its conclusion forms the crux of the film.Sankalp Reddy had earlier directed The Ghazi Attack (2017), which was about submarine warfare between India and Pakistan during the 1971 War. The present film too is set in the same era and is said to be inspired by true events. While the premise of the film is actually quite intriguing, the execution isnt up to the mark. The screenplay is quite muddled, to say the least. At times, the unintentional humour makes us laugh. Some bits of the film feel like comedy. Sample this: A frustrated terrorist tells the pilot to land the plane on his head. And the terrorists use a gun from a toy shop to hijack the plane. Instead of calling up and asking the army check post to stop the Indians, the Pakistani intelligence officer decides to travel by car, allowing the agents to escape intact.Vidyut Jammwal is a bonafide action star but hes been given a film which asks him to utilise his acting potential, rather than his muscles. He does everything hes been asked to do but it's no fun to see an action star being utilised in a dramatic role  something which isnt his strength. He does get to beat up the bad guys a couple of times but the action thats more or less it. There is a good chase sequence shot at Dal Lake. Its neatly executed but apart from that we hardly witness any other bit of action.Cinematographer Gnana Shekar V. S. has shot the Kashmir portions beautifully. Looking at them, you instantly want to book a ticket and land there. The editing too is pacy and at just under two hours the length of the film is quite apt. Theres no heroine in the film, nor are there any lip-synch songs. At times, it feels like a documentary. The sense of heightened action needed in such films isnt maintained. As said earlier, its criminal to give Vidyut Jammwal a star billing and then give him a sedate role. Better execution would have turned it into a cracking spy thriller but in its present avatar, IB 71 feels like an opportunity gone to waste

Abhishek Srivastava, May 12, 2023, 1:31 PM IST

critic's rating: 3.5/5

Story: Indian Intelligence finds itself taken by surprise when it is revealed that both Pakistan and China pose a significant threat to India, signalling potential attacks. In order to avert this imminent danger, IB agent Dev Jammwal devises a strategic plan aimed at safeguarding the nation by effectively closing off Indian airspace.



Review: In recent years, a spate of films has emerged showcasing the exceptional prowess of Indian Intelligence teams on the silver screen. From Baby to Akbar Walter Romeo, and most recently, Mission Majnu- these films have unearthed tales of audacious exploits by Indian Intelligence officers that were previously unknown to us. However, IB 71 goes a step further by delivering a riveting plot and a well-crafted film. Drawing inspiration from real events, IB 71 delves into the prelude to the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971, when East Pakistan transformed into Bangladesh. The makers deserve praise for selecting this extraordinary chapter from the history of Indian Intelligence, which at times seems almost unbelievable. This action thriller is a gripping cinematic experience that will keep you on the edge of your seat. The events in the film unfold thick and fast, tightly centered around the operation conducted by the Intelligence team, making it an engrossing watch.

IB 71 unfolds with the intensity of a Hollywood thriller, wasting no time in getting to the crux of the matter and maintaining focus on the core plot throughout its duration. It is commendable that the makers opted to forego song placements for the majority of the film, thus ensuring its momentum (although there is one song towards the end). Any musical number would have undoubtedly hindered the film's pace. The daring exploits depicted in the film exude authenticity rather than a cliched cinematic portrayal. The art direction and cinematography of this film deserve special mention, as they create a magnificent backdrop that transports viewers back to India in 1971. The sequences set in Dal Lake are breath-taking, with aerial shots capturing its beauty like never before.



The film revolves around Dev Jammwal (Vidyut Jammwal), an intelligence officer who receives critical information about Pakistan and China's impending attacks on Indian soil within a mere ten-day timeframe. With limited time and resources, the only viable strategy to counter this threat is by implementing an airspace blockade. Dev presents his audacious plan to his superior, NS Awasthi (Anupam Kher), which involves orchestrating the hijacking of an Indian plane by Kashmiri separatists and ensuring its landing in Pakistani territory. Initially dismissed as an implausible scheme by the government, they eventually recognize its potential and agree to execute the well-structured operation. Complications arise when the entire team of passengers, comprising intelligence officers, find themselves lodged in a Lahore hotel, and events unfold in an unforeseen manner, deviating from the original plan.



Vidyut Jammwal portrays his character with utmost control and restraint. Apart from two action sequences, Vidyut relies more on his acting skills and delivers a sincere performance. The noteworthy aspect is that this time he receives ample opportunities to showcase his acting chops, which he accomplishes with finesse. Anupam Kher reprises a role that he has mastered in the past, and once again, he excels in it. However, it is Vishal Jethwa who truly shines in the film, portraying the character of Qasim. As a restless Kashmiri separatist, he delivers a commendable performance, balancing both cruelty and unintentional humour. Sankalp Reddy takes the director's seat, providing crisp and focused direction. However, it is the film's background score that will certainly detract viewers from an otherwise exhilarating experience. The loud and overpowering background music becomes jarring and overwhelming at times. If only the film had opted for a more restrained approach to the background music, the impact would have been heightened significantly.



IB 71 is an engaging watch that sheds light on a remarkable chapter of history, instilling a sense of pride in our intelligence network. With a runtime of nearly two hours, the film maintains a screenplay that keeps the audience captivated throughout, ensuring there is never a dull moment. If you have an affinity for period action thrillers, this film successfully checks the boxes.


Raghav Chadha Net Worth: The Aam Aadmi Party MLA Raghav Chadha has grabbed several eyeballs for his alleged dating rumors with Bollywood actress Parineeti Chopra. The rumored couple is reportedly getting engaged on May 13, tomorrow in Delhi.

The Indian politician became the talk of the town after he was spotted with the Ishaqzaade star on multiple occasions. The alleged couple has neither accepted nor denied their dating buzz, but their appearances together have left netizens gushing over their lovely Jodi.

We all know by now that Raghav Chadha is the youngest Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha from Punjab. He is associated with Arvind Kejriwal's party. Now, let's look at Raghav's net worth, lifestyle, and more.

Why Raghav Chadha Is In News

Raghav Chadha is hogging the attention for his alleged affair with Parineeti Chopra. They are getting engaged on May 13 in Delhi and will reportedly tie the knot by the end of the year.

Raghav Chadha's Early Life & Career

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Raghav Chadha was born on November 11, 1988. Brought up in Delhi, he did his schooling in the capital city and graduated from Delhi University. He went to the Institute of Chartered Accountants where he pursued Chartered Accountancy. He later did a certification course in EMBA from the London of Economics. He worked with companies like Deloitte, Grant Thornton, and Shyam Malpani before he became a name in Indian politics.

Raghav Chadha's Political Career

Raghav Chadha started his political career in 2012 after he met the Aam Aadmi Party supremo Arvind Kejriwal during India Against Corruption movement by Anna Hazare. In 2012, he drafted the Delhi Lokpal Bill post, establishing himself as the face of AAP. Raghav Chadha went on to become the youngest national spokesperson of the party.

Raghav Chadha's Net Worth & Lifestyle

As per Financial Express, Raghav Chadha leads a very simple life, and his net worth is estimated to be around Rs 50 lakhs.

Raghav Chadha's Net Assets

Raghav Chadha's assets

The politician owns a house worth Rs 37 lakhs and reportedly has a Maruti Swift Dzire. His 90 grams of gold asset is valued at about Rs 4,95,000. As per data available on MyNeta.info, his movable assets stand at Rs 36,99,471. The politician also has more than Rs 6 lakhs invested in shares, debentures & bonds.

Per reports, Parineeti Chopra's net worth is Rs 60 crores.
Producer Corroborates Jude's Allegations Against Pepe: Producer Aravind Kurup and Executive Producer Praveen Kumar have clarified the allegations that actor Antony Varghese (Pepe) walked out of the film after receiving an advance of Rs 10 lakh.

Aravind said that it was Jude who suggested Antony's name for the film. It was initially decided to pay an advance of Rs. 2 lakh. But Antony demanded 10 lakhs. They also stated that the reason why Antony said that he wanted 10 lakhs as an advance was because of his sister's wedding.

The reaction of both of them was through the video shared on the YouTube channel. Jude also shared this video with the caption, 'Only for those who want to know the truth'. Jude also shared a copy of the contract with Antony.

Actor Antony Varghese's Mother Files Complaint Against Director Jude Anthany For Insulting Her Daughter

"Antony's name was suggested by Jude. He had a good opinion of Antony. The actor was satisfied with the story. It was initially decided to pay an advance of Rs. 2 lakh. After we met with Antony, the production controller met him. The production controller said that Antony is in need of some money, so an advance of Rs 10 lakh is required. That is why it was decided to pay Rs. 10 lakh."

Advance was paid on June 27, 2019. Antony knew about the story. The printed script was given during the shooting of 'Ajagajantharam'. Antony did not raise any objections to the story then.

The casting video was shot in the first week of December. Although Antony was busy, he cooperated. We decided to start the shoot on January 10. A few portions of Ajagajantharam were left to shoot, so Antony agreed to do the shoot after that. This was on December 10. We did all the rest of the work.

Making January 10 a tentative date, room bookings, food, and travel arrangements were made. The plan was to shoot continuously. When Jude called Antony on December 23, Antony said he was not doing the film and was not interested. On December 29, the director tried to convince Antony.

But Antony informed me that he was not doing the film. When it was 100 percent sure that Antony would not do the film, we asked for the advance of 10 lakhs back. Along with this, five percent of the cost was asked for. We are contacted through the controller. Antony said that the issue was settled cordially, but that's not true.

Antony informed us that he would not pay the expenses, and we agreed. Six months later, on January 27, 2020, Antony returned the 10 lakhs. Many people asked, "If the money was returned, then what is the problem? 10 lakh is not the only cost. The amount we spent on trusting someone for the next 45 days was huge.

Dragging Antony's family into this problem is troubling. The movie stopped there after Antony withdrew from the project. Antony discussed only his own problems. We stopped production and dissolved the company. Family is important to everyone. I have a very precious relationship with Jude. Jude was so emotional because of that. Jude should not suffer because of me. If i don't say this, it will be an offence to Jude,' said Aravind.

The reason why Antony asked for 10 lakh in advance money was because of his sister's wedding. That is the truth. We are also sorry to hear that Antony's family felt bad about the whole issue.

When Pepe Rejected The Film, Jude Burst Into Tears

"A group of young people sat in a flat in bewilderment when Antony rejected the film. People, including Jude, burst into tears. Everyone was informed that the movie would not happen. We faced the blame of the family and the ridicule of people," Praveen said.

Jude Anthany Joseph Says No Personal Grudge Against Antony Varghese: 'Not Intended To Hurt, I Feel Terrible'

Director Jude Anthany Joseph's remarks against actor Antony Varghese were much debated. Jude alleged that Antony backed out 18 days before the shoot after taking money from the producer. Not only that, Jude also accused Antony Varghese of arranging his sister's marriage with advance money from the producer.

Then Antony Varghese came out with a response in the press conference. Antony also shared evidence that refuted Jude's claims. Anthony Varghese said that Jude's comments were an insult to his family. Later, Jude apologised to Antony Pepe and his family.
Jude Anthany Reveals About The OTT Release Of '2018': According to a report published by Dool News, Director Jude Anthony Joseph said that the controversies surrounding him are closed chapters and that he thinks that it's all for good.

The report says that Jude also said that Sony Liv has secured the rights for the OTT release of his latest movie, ' 2018: Everyone is a Hero', and that the release will happen on the date they planned.

"Controversies are closed chapters. Just think it's all for good. The pan-India release of the movie will happen soon. The certification for other languages has not been done. Soon after getting it, we will release the film. The version that is released now is the extended version. Only three scenes were cut and discarded. One was my scene. All three scenes were very short in length," said Jude Anthany Joseph, according to the report.

Bigg Boss Malayalam 5: Junaiz Reveals His Love For Cerena; Says He Gets Angry Enough To Beat Sagar To Death

"This is the director's cut, the producer's cut, and my cut too. The OTT release has been confirmed with Sony Liv. They bought the picture. They have planned the release. It will be released on the same day as planned. Nivin Pauly's scene was not shot. It was only in the script," he said.

Jude's Controversial Statement Against Pepe

Recently, Jude's statement against Antony Varghese (Pepe) led to great controversy. Judd's controversial statement was made in an interview given to an online media outlet called Movieworld Media. Jude alleged that Antony backed out 18 days before the shoot after taking money from the producer. Not only that, Jude also accused Antony Varghese of arranging his sister's marriage with advance money from the producer.

Bigg Boss Malayalam Love Triangle: Between Sagar-Cerena Combo, There Is Another One Who Is In Love With Sagar

But the very next day, Pepe came forward with an explanation of the incident. Pepe gave the explanation at a press conference in Kochi. After Pepe explained with evidence that the money was given back and his sister's marriage took place a year after the money was returned, there was a lot of criticism against Jude from various quarters. The criticism was that Jude used the success of his movie '2018' to tarnish the image of others.
Raavana Kottam Movie Review: In Enathi village of Ramanathapuram district, Mudukuladhur, the people of upper and lower streets live in harmony. Friendship across caste prevails as Bose for upper-street people and Chitravel for lower-street people act as village chiefs. Villagers do not allow even political parties, fearing that if politics comes into the town, it will lead to division.

Crux Of The Story

In such an environment, efforts to create division between the two communities in Enathi village for political self-interest are intensifying. Is the local MLA who is fielded on the orders of the minister from the constituency successful in it or not? - This is the crux of the story.

Keezhathooval Massacre

The next work of 'Madha Yaanai Koottam' director Vikram Sukumaran, who has gained attention as a storyteller reflecting the lifestyle of land-based people as a mirror, is 'Ravanak Kottam'. The director has tried to show various things like the 'Keezhathooval Massacre' which took place in 1957 in Mudhukulathur, Ramanathapuram district, the Seemai oak tree issue and the corporate mafia.

Performance

Santanu Bhagyaraj stands out in his realistic performance mixed with aggression, bearing the image of a young man who grew up in a dry land. 'Kayal' Anandhi gives her usual performance as an innocent girl.

Prabhu's physique and majestic tone add justice to the character as a social leader demanding equality. An over-the-top Ilavarasu performance garners attention. Sanjay Saravanan and Murugan's characters add more values to the villainy. Deepa Shankar, Aruldas, Thenappan and Sujatha Sivakumar have generously given the performance that the character demands.

Technical Aspects

Justine Prabhakaran's background score is impressive in conveying the vibrancy for the scenes. Vetrivel Mahendran's camera is strong in portraying the warmth of the arid landscape surrounded by oak trees. Lawrence Kishore's cuts helped with the screenplay.

Overall, this Vikram Sukumaran film 'Raavana Kottam', which has many cliche scenes, dialogues and typical rural drama format doesn't work big for Santhanu.
In an interesting twist, Vijay TV's soap opera Baakiyalakshmi is set to get a new cast member on board and it is expected that the new addition will amp up the excitement even more. The show, as such, has a huge buzz around it and now, this new addition is expected to elevate the show further.

According to a report on The Times of India, senior actor Revathy, who has previously worked in shows like Neethane Enthan Ponvasantham, Thavamai Thavamirundhu, will now join Baakiyalakshmi in a new role.

The daily quoted a source as saying, "Revathy has been approached to play the character named Palani Ammal. The actress will soon join the sets. With her entry, audience will see more drama in the show."

Speaking of it, Revathy said, "I am very excited to join the successful show. After a long time, I am back to return to the television industry and I am really excited to work alongside KS Suchitra and Reshma Pasupuleti after many years. I wish to keep the audience entertained and I hope my presence will add value to the show."

Previously, the show made the headlines excessively when one of the lead actors Sathish Kumar announced his exit from the show. He took to his Instagram space and announced his exit without mentioning the reason. It was reported that he decided to quit the show as he was not getting much role in it as compared to the other two leading actors. However, later, he reconsidered his decision to quit the show and decided to resume his role for the series. He announced his decision on Instagram stating that the issues that he was facing, were sorted and that he would act in the series.

Baakiyalakshmi is being aired on Vijay TV from Monday to Friday. Alternatively, fans can also watch it on the OTT platform Disney+ Hotstar.
Mohsin Khan became a household name after playing the role of Kartik Goenka in Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai. His sizzling chemistry with co-star Shivangi Joshi created ripples on the small screen. The duo managed to set the TRP charts on fire with their scorching on-screen romance.

After the makers introduced a generation in December 2021, Shivangi Joshi and Mohsin Khan made an exit from Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai. Pranali Rathod and Harshad Chopda entered the show after the time jump.

Although Shivangi and Mohsin are no longer part of YRKKH, fans continue to shower them with love on social media. Rumours about them doing another show with Rajan Shahi surfaced on the internet after they left Yeh Rishta. However, they turned out to be fake.

While Shivangi has featured in shows like Balike Vadhu 2, Bekaboo and Khatron Ke Khiladi 12 after quitting YRKKH, Mohsin has not taken up any acting assignment on television.

The Dream Girl actor, while interacting with a portal, opened up on making a comeback to the small screen. He confirmed that he has no plans as of yet.

Interestingly, the TV heartthrob revealed if he would agree to reality shows like Bigg Boss 17 or Khatron Ke Khiladi 13. He maintained that he never plans things, stating the example of his career.

"'I don't know. I don't plan things. My life did not turn according to whatever I had planned. I wanted to be an engineer, but see that did not happen and here we are," he told India Forums.

AISHWARYA SHARMA IN BIGG BOSS 17

Talking about Bigg Boss 17, speculations were rife that Aishwarya Sharma would participate in Salman Khan's show after competing in Khatron Ke Khiladi 13. The rumours of the Ghum Hai Kisikey Pyaar Meiin actress doing the show spread like wildfire on the internet.

A source close to the production house squashed the speculations while talking to us. He told Filmibeat, "This is news to me. We haven't even started approaching celebrities for Bigg Boss 17. The makers are currently focusing on Bigg Boss OTT 2 and they are in talks with celebs for the same. However, Aishwarya has not been approached for BB 17. So, no chance of minimum guarantee as being speculated on the internet."
Pavithra Lokesh & Naresh Photo Credit: Twitter

I & Pavithra Lokesh Got Married Already, Says VK Naresh

Veteran actor VK Naresh, who is repeatedly hitting the headlines with his alleged wedding rumours with actress Pavithra Lokesh, is back with another update.

Naresh, who made it clear that the wedding video in which he and Pavithra Lokesh were seen tying the knot, is from their upcoming film titled 'Malli Pelli,' started promoting the movie. He spoke at length about the movie and their relationship with Pavithra. He clarified that he didn't tie the knot with Pavithra as yet.

The actor, who was married thrice before said, "I believe in the institution of marriage. Marriage is a union of two hearts. In that case, I and Pavithra Lokesh got married long ago. In fact, our latest movie Malli Pelli is all about emphasizing the greatness of marriage," said Naresh.

Speaking about Malli Pelli, the movie is written and directed by MS Raju. It is going to hit the screens all over the two Telugu states on May 26. VK Naresh himself produced the movie under the Vijaya Krishna Movies banner. The trailer of Malli Pelli was released recently. MN Balreddy worked as the cinematographer and Suresh Bobbili composed the film's background score and tunes. Malli Pelli will be released in Kannada and Telugu.

Speaking to the media, Naresh also mentioned, "There's a Scope to release this Film in 600 Languages across the world, I'm getting calls from Tamilnadu Asking me to dub this film in Tamil." (sic)
Conference call to discuss financial and operational results scheduled for Thursday, May 11, at 8:30 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time

HENDERSON, Nev., May 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- VolitionRx Limited (NYSE AMERICAN: VNRX) ("Volition") today announced financial results and a business update for the first quarter ended March 31, 2023 . Volition management will host a conference call tomorrow, May 11 at 8:30 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time to discuss these results. Conference call details can be found below.

"It has been a phenomenal start to the year, with the launch of our Nu.Q Vet Cancer Test through IDEXX's reference laboratory network. It is also available as the Heska Nu.Q Canine Cancer Screen and Monitor test through Heska's veterinary diagnostic laboratory and for pre-order at the point of care. Without a doubt, establishing global supply agreements with two global industry leaders offers what we expect to be significant revenue opportunities for Volition, and we are delighted to report a 381% increase in sales to $124,000 of the Nu.Q Vet Cancer Test for the first quarter compared to the previous year.

"Our goal is to make canine cancer screening and monitoring accessible worldwide and we are moving ever closer to realizing our mission as we are expecting launches in additional countries this year," commented Cameron Reynolds, President and Group Chief Executive Officer of Volition.

"We also continued to work diligently in our efforts to bring Nu.Q NETs to market, and we are now undertaking large-scale finding studies across multiple sites in the U.S. to determine clinical utility in sepsis and support an application to the FDA's Breakthrough Device Program. We believe that the Nu.Q NETs test is a ground-breaking diagnostic aid that clinicians can use to detect the diseases associated with NETosis and anticipate that this will be a pivotal year as we progress towards commercialization."

Volition is hosting a Capital Markets Day at the New York Stock Exchange, in a hybrid format, tomorrow, Thursday May 11, at 2:00 p.m. U.S. Eastern Time. Volition's executive team will provide strategic updates on both Nu.Q NETs and Nu.Q Vet and will be joined by Key Opinion Leaders: Dr. Andy Retter (Intensive Care Consultant); Veterinary Oncologists, Professor Heather Wilson-Robles and Dr. Sue Ettinger . Details for this event can be found below.

Financial Highlights



Cash and cash equivalents as of March 31, 2023, totaled approximately $10 million compared with $10.9 million at the end of 2022.

Received approximately $8 million net of underwriter's fees and commissions in cash through an underwritten public offering of its common stock in February.

Expect to receive a further $13 million in milestone payments from Heska Corporation and additional funding, including non-dilutive funding, from three Belgian agencies, in the coming months.

Event: VolitionRx Limited First Quarter 2023 Earnings and Business Update Conference Call



Date: Thursday, May 11, 2023

Time: 08:30 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time

U.S. & Canada Dial-in: 1-877-407-9716 (toll free)

U.K. Dial-in: 0 800 756 3429 (toll free)

Toll/International: 1-201-493-6779

Conference ID: 13738662

Cameron Reynolds, President and Group Chief Executive Officer of Volition, will host the call along with Terig Hughes, Group Chief Financial Officer, Dr. Tom Butera, Chief Executive Officer of Volition Veterinary Diagnostics Development LLC, and Scott Powell, Executive Vice President, Investor Relations. The call will provide an update on important events which have taken place in the first quarter of 2023 and upcoming milestones.

A live audio webcast of the conference call will also be available on the investor relations page of Volition's corporate website at http://ir.volition.com. In addition, a telephone replay of the call will be available until May 25, 2023 . The replay dial-in numbers are 1-844-512-2921 (toll-free) in the U.S. and Canada and 1-412-317-6671 (toll) internationally. Please use replay pin number 13738662.

Event: VolitionRx Limited Capital Markets Day

Date: Thursday, May 11, 2023

Time: 2:00 p.m. U.S. Eastern Time

To attend virtually please register HERE

About Volition

Volition is a multi-national epigenetics company powered by Nu.Q, its proprietary nucleosome quantification platform. Through its subsidiaries, Volition is developing simple, easy to use, cost effective blood tests to help diagnose and monitor a range of life-altering diseases including some cancers and diseases associated with NETosis such as sepsis and COVID-19. Early diagnosis and monitoring have the potential to not only prolong the life of patients but also improve their quality of life. The tests are based on the science of Nucleosomics, which is the practice of identifying and measuring nucleosomes in the bloodstream or other bodily fluid - an indication that disease is present.

Volition's research and development activities are centered in Belgium, with an innovation laboratory and office in the U.S. and additional offices in London and Singapore .

The contents found at Volition's website address are not incorporated by reference into this document and should not be considered part of this document. Such website address is included in this document as an inactive textual reference only.

Safe Harbor Statement

Statements in this press release may be "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, that concern matters that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated or projected in the forward-looking statements. Words such as "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "aims," "targets," "believes," "seeks," "estimates," "optimizing," "potential," "goal," "suggests," "could," "would," "should," "may," "will" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements relate to, among other topics, Volition's expectations related to the revenue opportunities and launches of product sales with Heska and other counterparties to agreements, the timing, completion, success and delivery of data from clinical studies, the potential uses, benefits and effectiveness of its Nucleosomics technology platform, including the Nu.Q NETs test and the Nu.Q Vet Cancer Test, and the timing and execution of Volition's strategy with the FDA. Volition's actual results may differ materially from those indicated in these forward-looking statements due to numerous risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, results of studies testing the efficacy of its tests; a failure by the marketplace to accept Volition's Nu.Q NETs test, Nu.Q Vet Cancer Test or other products based on its Nucleosomics platform; Volition's failure to secure adequate intellectual property protection; Volition's failure to obtain necessary regulatory clearances or approvals to distribute and market future products; Volition will face fierce competition and its intended products may become obsolete due to the highly competitive nature of the diagnostics and disease monitoring markets and their rapid technological change; downturns in domestic and foreign economies; and other risks, including those identified in Volition's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, as well as other documents that Volition files with the Securities and Exchange Commission. For instance, if Volition fails to develop and commercialize diagnostic, prognostic or disease monitoring products, it may be unable to execute its plan of operations. Forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about Volition's business based, in part, on assumptions made by management. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this release, and, except as required by law, Volition does not undertake an obligation to update its forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances.

Nucleosomics and Nu.Q and their respective logos are trademarks and/or service marks of VolitionRx Limited and its subsidiaries. All other trademarks, service marks and trade names referred to in this press release are the property of their respective owners. Additionally, unless otherwise specified, all references to "$" refer to the legal currency of the United States of America .

Media Enquiries:

Louise Batchelor / Debra Daglish

Volition

[email protected]

+44 (0)7557 774620

SOURCE VolitionRx Limited
TOKYO, May 12, 2023 - (JCN Newswire) - Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda) and GS Yuasa International Ltd. (GS Yuasa) today announced that they have signed a joint venture agreement toward the establishment of a new company. As announced on January 23, 2023 with a joint press release titled, "Honda and GS Yuasa Reach Basic Agreement Toward Collaboration for a High-capacity, High-output Lithium-ion Battery," the two companies have been discussing specifics for collaboration on high-capacity, high-output lithium-ion batteries, mainly for EVs.To address the rapidly growing demand for batteries, the new joint venture company, which will be named Honda GS Yuasa EV Battery R&D Co., Ltd., will research and develop lithium-ion batteries and battery production methods that will be highly competitive at a global level. Moreover, the new company will strive to establish a supply chain for key raw materials and a highly-efficient production system for its batteries.The new company is scheduled to be established and begin operation before the end of 2023. The establishment of the new company and the start of its operation are subject to the approvals of the relevant authorities.Comments by Koichi Yamamoto, Representative Director and President (to be) of Honda GS Yuasa EV Battery R&D Co., Ltd."We are very pleased that Honda and GS Yuasa have reached a joint venture agreement, which will become a new milestone in our pursuit of the realization of carbon neutrality, which is a goal shared by the two companies. The new company will fully leverage the strengths of the two companies and establish a strong presence in the rapidly expanding battery market."About the new company (plan)Company name:Honda GS Yuasa EV Battery R&D Co., Ltd.Head office location:1, Inobanba-cho, Nishinosho, Kisshoin, Minami-ku, Kyoto, JapanCapital:Amount of capital at establishment: 2 billion yenAmount of capital reserve at establishment: 2 billion yenCapital contribution ratio:50% Honda Motor Co., Ltd.50% GS Yuasa International Ltd.Directors:Koichi Yamamoto, Representative Director and President (from Honda)Masaaki Hosokawa, Representative Director and Vice President (from GS Yuasa)Source: Honda Motor Co, LtdCopyright 2023 JCN Newswire . All rights reserved.
TAIPEI, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- GEEKOM, an innovative and cutting-edge technology company specializing in developing Mini PC products and solutions, is proud to announce its attendance at COMEX-2023, Oman's official technology show. This event will be held from May 22 to 25, 2023, between 10:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. at the Oman Convention & Exhibition Centre (OCEC) in Muscat, Oman.

COMEX-2023 is the ultimate destination for technology and innovation, providing a platform for the industry and tech enthusiasts to come together, share knowledge and insights, and learn about the latest trends and innovations in the world of technology. People of all ages and backgrounds can attend and experience the latest tech products and services available on the market.

"We are delighted to participate in COMEX-2023 and to demonstrate our latest technologies to the Omani market," said Nellie, GEEKOM's B2B manager. "At GEEKOM, we are dedicated to providing the best Mini PCs with innovative technology at competitive prices. We believe this is a great opportunity for us to showcase our products and services, and we look forward to meeting and engaging with new customers and partners."

GEEKOM will be located at booth stand H4A-HALL 4, where GEEKOM representatives will be on hand to showcase the company's latest products and answer any queries. All visitors will have the chance to experience the company's products and technologies first-hand.

GEEKOM warmly invites PC suppliers, technology enthusiasts, business professionals, and anyone interested in computing products and services to attend COMEX-2023, where they can experience GEEKOM's newest Mini PCs and explore the best in gaming, lifestyle, and office solutions.

You can scan the COMEX-2023 QR code, download the app and register to attend the show. For more information about COMEX-2023 and GEEKOM's participation, please get in touch with Nellie at nellie@geekompc.com.

The GEEKOM team eagerly awaits your arrival at booth stand H4A-Hall 4 at COMEX-2023.

About GEEKOM

GEEKOM is a Taiwan-based multinational consumer electronics company. Founded in 2003, GEEKOM put all its efforts into the research, design, production, and sales of quality computer products over 19 painstaking years. As an Intel strategic partner, GEEKOM offers consumers worldwide powerful, portable, and popular mini PCs. With GEEKOM, more people will learn, work, play, and do more easily and efficiently.

Follow GEEKOM to stay updated:

Web: www.geekompc.com

Email: support@geekompc.com

Linkedin: GEEKOM PC

Instagram: geekompc

Facebook: GEEKOM

TikTok: geekompc

YouTube: GEEKOM PC

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/geekom-announces-attendance-at-comex-2023-301817933.html
Physical Conference on 23rd June 2023

MUMBAI, India, May 12, 2023 - (ACN Newswire) - The Manufacturing IT Summit is India's leading Manufacturing conference, bringing together the most influential IT leaders from the Manufacturing industry to discuss today's most pressing technological challenges to foster deeper collaboration and generate new ideas.

The 22nd Edition Manufacturing IT Summit is an event organized exclusively for Technology leaders from multiple leading businesses, institutions and government officials representing India's manufacturing sector. This summit is a platform for manufacturers, technology providers, and industry experts to come together and discuss the latest trends and technologies in the manufacturing sector.

The summit focuses on the role of information technology in manufacturing and how it can help organizations optimize their processes, reduce costs, and improve efficiency. The conference covers topics such as Industry 4.0, Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Robotics, Cybersecurity, Cloud Computing, and more.

Where is the Manufacturing IT Summit?

Mumbai, India is a thriving city that serves as the perfect backdrop for the Manufacturing IT Summit organized by Exito. It is also the commercial and financial capital of India, with a thriving manufacturing sector that has seen significant growth in recent years.

When is the Event?

The Manufacturing IT Summit will take place on the 23rd of June, 2023 from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM in Mumbai, India.

Get ready to hear from these Industry Experts at the Manufacturing IT Summit-

Purushottam Kaushik - Head, Centre For Fourth Industrial Revolution, India World Economic Forum

Hariharan Iyer - Group CIO, Raymond Group

Amar Variawa - Country Director - Public Affairs, Sustainability & ESG, Michelin India Private Limited

Gopi Thangavel Ph.D, CCISO, CISM, PMP, MCSA - Senior Vice President, Reliance Industries Limited

Narendra K Saini - Chief Digital & Data Officer, Lupin Limited

What Exciting Topics Can You Expect to See on the Agenda for the Manufacturing IT Summit?

Digital Transformation: Leadership, Challenges and Opportunities

Revolutionizing India's mobility with Electric Vehicles/ Hastening the mobility growth with EV

Levelling up ICT Technologies: The first step towards Smart Manufacturing

Balancing people, Process & Technology towards Creating an agile organisation

3D Printing & Additive Manufacturing Process

Smart Supply Chain and Logistics Revolution

Infrastructure and Upskilling Labour

End-to-end manufacturing cloud to create future-proof businesses

Who can Attend?

The Manufacturing IT summit in Mumbai is open to top executives and leaders like CIOs, CTOs, CISOs, CDOs, and Heads of Logistics and IT Infrastructure from a variety of industries, including FMCG, Plastics, Oil & Energy/Petroleum, Food Production, Metal and Metal Products, Medical Device Manufacturers, Wood, Leather and Paper Products, Electricals & Electronics, Textiles and Textile Machinery, Automotive and Auto Components, Pharmaceuticals, and Chemicals and Fertilizers.

For more Information on MITS Mumbai, you can refer our website .

About Exito

We are a global B2B business events company focused on crafting bespoke solutions and contexts by designing platforms that create new business opportunities for our clients across concepts and industries. We cherish the trust over the last 12 years garnered from our partnering organizations globally, and with a growing team of young, vibrant, and creative individuals, Exito aims at success and perfection!

Contact:

Mithun Gopinath

Manager-Projects

Exito Media Concepts

mithun.gopinath@exito-e.com

Source: ExitoCopyright 2023 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.
A New Partnership between Hellenic Defence Systems (EAS) and Global Aerospace and Technology company, Paramount Presents Game-Changer for Greek UAV Market

ATHENS, Greece, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Greek state defence company, Hellenic Defence Systems (EAS) and Paramount Industries Greece have signed a strategic partnership for the local production of next generation, long-range loitering munitions, in a significant move to embolden the Greek defence industry's indigenous manufacturing capabilities.





The joint statement, made on the first day of the Defence Exhibition in Athens (DEFEA 2023), comes at a time when the Greek industry is re-developing and enhancing its indigenous defence and aerospace capabilities.

The loitering munition system called 'IRIX' (the name Greek poet Homer used to describe hawks) is poised to make history as the first loitering munitions produced in Greece, while also establishing itself as one of the most advanced and long range loitering munitions produced in Europe.

The agreement provides for the manufacturing of internationally competitive long-range loitering munitions in Greece, that will serve both the Greek market and be available for export to international customers.

Hellenic Defence Systems (EAS), the leading Greek state defence company, serves as a strategic partner of some of the largest companies in the international defence industry, with a storied 140 years-strong tradition of designing, developing, manufacturing and supplying the Greek Armed Forces with NATO-type defense systems. The Hellenic Ministry of Finance is the main shareholder and the company is supervised by the Ministry of National Defence.

Nikolaos Kostopoulos, CEO of Hellenic Defence Systems (EAS) stated, "We are very excited to be going into production, in Greece, with one of the world's most advanced long-range loitering munitions. In Paramount we have found an ideal strategic partner, recognised as one of the pioneers in the loitering munitions industry.

"EAS and Paramount have jointly developed an innovative and advanced product, specifically designed for the Greek market, called IRIX. This is a light house project for the redevelopment and enhancement of the Greek defence industry, which we are immensely proud of."

IRIX is based on Paramount's highly-advanced N-Raven unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology. The N-Raven has been digitally designed with quick transfer of technology in mind, to enable governments to manufacture the loitering munitions trechnologies in their countries.

The partnership will include the transfer of technology and skills for the local co-production of IRIX and also EAS' ongoing participation in the continued research and development (R&D) of future upgrades for the IRIX system.

Steve Griessel, Paramount Global CEO stated: "We are privileged to be one of EAS' global partners of choice, leveraging our decades of unmanned aerial innovation and portable production expertise to jointly develop and produce the IRIX in Greece. At Paramount we believe that true partnerships and innovation mean that we design and produce technologically advanced, affordable and highly customisable solutions together with our partners."

The companies further announced that the involvement of other Greek companies in the supply chain for the production of the system will be encouraged, in order to achieve greater participation of, and autonomy for the Greek Defence Industry.

IRIX is a robust yet cost-effective unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and loitering munition system, designed to strengthen armed forces' aerial reconnaissance, engagement, and precision strike proficiencies, addressing modern-day requirements for both asymmetrical and symmetrical warfare operational capability. The platform offers operational commanders with real-time actionable intelligence and from it, the ability to strike high-value targets deep within enemy territory or to deny the enemy use of operationally essential terrain.

George Kyriakos, CEO of Paramount Industries Greece stated: "The role of loitering munitions on the modern battlefield has steadily increased, as seen in recent conflicts taking place all around the world. These socioeconomic ramifications have made ensuring security of supply of any nation's defence technologies and capabilities, a prerequisite to stability and growth.

"The partnership between Paramount Industries Greece and Hellenic Defence Systems will provide a powerful solution for the growing need for advanced and precise loitering munitions, enhancing Greece's defense capabilities as well as NATO and European defence capabilities. Importantly, also boosting our local industry and creating high tech opportunities and skilled jobs in the local market." he concluded.

NOTES TO EDITORS

About Hellenic Defence Systems (EAS)

Hellenic Defence Systems (EAS), is the leading Greek state defence company, serving as a strategic partner of some of the largest companies in the international defence industry, with a storied 140 years-strong tradition of designing, developing, manufacturing and supplying the Greek Armed Forces with NATO-type defense systems. The Hellenic Ministry of Finance is the main shareholder and the company is supervised by the Ministry of National Defence.

About Paramount

Paramount is a leading global aerospace and defence technology company with a 29-year track record of developing solutions in challenging environments. Paramount is committed to enabling governments to defend their countries, protect territorial sovereignty, and maintain peace and stability to support and protect their resources and citizens.

Paramount creates independent, indigenous defence industrial capability by establishing capabilities for governments through licensing its IP developed over 29 years, transferring technology to them, and implementing quick remote manufacturing in their countries.

The company has established its best-of-breed strategic partnership programme to further broaden its solutions to the governments with whom it partners. Paramount currently trades in 25 countries and has built defence capabilities in every continent of the globe.

For Press Inquiries: Nico De Klerk, Nico.DeKlerk@ParamountGroup.com, +27769810939; Sam Amsterdam, SamuelAmsterdam@GMail.com, +1 (202) 910-8349

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2075078/Paramount_JOINT_STATEMENT__%C2%A0Greek_Defence_Industry_Receives_Majo.jpg

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/joint-statement---greek-defence-industry-receives-major-boost-through-production-of-advanced-drone-technologies-in-greece-301822364.html
Mayville, North Dakota--(Newsfile Corp. - May 12, 2023) - Pet CBD Club, a leading provider of CBD products for pets, is excited to announce the launch of their new line of CBD products specifically formulated for cats and dogs. The new products, CBD For Cats and CBD For Dogs, are designed to promote overall pet health and well-being.

Better health for your furry friend with Pet CBD Club.

Pet CBD Club is committed to providing pet owners with natural, safe, and effective solutions to improve the quality of life for their furry companions. By offering high-quality CBD products, Pet CBD Club aims to help pets live their best lives, free from anxiety, pain, and other common issues that can affect their overall health and happiness.

"Our mission is to provide pet owners with a natural and effective way to support their pets' health," said Daniel Brown, CEO of Pet CBD Club. "We believe that by offering high-quality CBD products specifically formulated for cats and dogs, we can help improve their quality of life and give pet owners peace of mind."

CBD, or cannabidiol, is a natural compound found in the hemp plant. It is non-psychoactive, meaning it will not produce any intoxicating effects. Research has shown that CBD has numerous potential benefits for both humans and animals, making it a viable option for pet owners looking to support their pets' overall well-being.

The CBD For Cats and CBD For Dogs products offered by Pet CBD Club are formulated with the highest quality, organically grown hemp-derived CBD. Each product is third-party lab tested for purity and potency in the effort to provide pet owners with high quality, safe, and trustworthy products for their beloved pets.

To learn more about Pet CBD Club and their new line, visit https://petcbdclub.com/. Furthermore, customers can access specific products for their pets by referring to the following links:

CBD for Dogs: https://petcbdclub.com/cbd-for-pets/cbd-for-dogs/

CBD for Cats: https://petcbdclub.com/cbd-for-pets/cbd-for-cats/

About Pet CBD Club

Pet CBD Club is a leading provider of high-quality CBD products for pets. Founded by Daniel Brown, the company is dedicated to improving the health and well-being of pets through natural and effective solutions. By offering a wide range of CBD products specifically formulated for cats and dogs, Pet CBD Club aims to help pet owners support their pets' overall health and happiness.

Media Contact Details:

Company name: Pet CBD Club

CEO name: Daniel Brown

Phone: +1 (701)353-5592

Address: 114 4th Ave SE, Mayville, ND 58257, USA

Email: support@petcbdclub.com

Website: https://petcbdclub.com/

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/165537
UK Commercial Property REIT Limited

(an authorised closed-ended investment company incorporated in Guernsey with registration number 45387)

LEI Number: 213800JN4FQ1A9G8EU25

(The "Company")

12 May 2023

NOTICE OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Notice is hereby given that the 2023 Annual General Meeting of the Company will be held at the offices of FTI Consulting, 200 Aldersgate, Aldersgate Street, London EC1A 4HD on 21 June 2023 at 10.30am.

The Notice of AGM together with the Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2022 have been posted to shareholders.

In accordance with Listing Rule 9.6.3, the Notice of Annual General Meeting, proxy form and accounts have been submitted to the National Storage Mechanism and are available for inspection at: https://data.fca.org.uk/#/nsm/nationalstoragemechanism

Enquiries:

Northern Trust International Fund Administration Services (Guernsey) Limited

The Company Secretary

Trafalgar Court

Les Banques

St Peter Port

Guernsey

GY1 3QL

Tel: 01481 745001

END
CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - The New Zealand dollar weakened against other major currencies in the Asian session on Friday. The NZ dollar fell to a 4-day low of 1.7467 against the euro and a 3-day low of 1.0705 against the Australian dollar, from yesterday's closing quotes of 1.7329 and 1.0639, respectively. Against the U.S. dollar and the yen, the kiwi dropped to 8-day lows of 0.6254 and 84.19 from yesterday's closing quotes of 0.6298 and 84.76, respectively. If the kiwi extends its downtrend, it is likely to find support around 1.80 against the euro, 1.08 against the aussie, 0.61 against the greenback and 81.00 against the yen. 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.


GENEVA (dpa-AFX) - Swiss luxury goods group Compagnie Financiere Richemont AG (CFRUY.PK) reported that its profit from continuing operations for the financial year ended 31 March 2023 climbed to 3.91 billion euros from 2.45 billion euros in the prior year. The increase in profit for the year included a 527 million euros improvement in net finance costs which amounted to 314 million euros.



But profit for the year dropped to 301 million euros from last year's 2.08 billion euros, due to the 3.6 billion euros loss for the year from discontinued operations. This was primarily due to the 3.4 billion euros non-cash charge on the transfer of YNAP net assets to 'held for sale'.



Earnings per share was 0.543 euros compared to 3.611 euros last year.



Annual sales from continuing operations increasing by 19% at actual exchange rates and by 14% at constant exchange rates to 19.95 billion euros from the prior year.



The company said its board proposes to pay an ordinary dividend of 2.50 Swiss francs per A share (and CHF 0.25 per 'B' shares), up by 11% over the prior year as well as a special dividend of CHF 1.00 per 'A' share (and CHF 0.10 'B' shares).



Richemont said it will buy back up to 10 million 'A' shares, representing 1.7 % of the capital and 1.0 % of the voting rights of the company.



Richemont said that its Non-executive Directors Guillaume Pictet and Jean-Blaise Eckert will step down from the Board at the end of the current financial year, on 31 March 2024.



Clay Brendish and Maria Ramos will step down from the Board at the end of the next financial year ending on 31 March 2025.



In addition, Richemont announced the nomination of Fiona Druckenmiller for election to the Board of Directors. Her appointment as a Non-executive Director is subject to the approval of shareholders at the 2023 AGM due on 6 September 2023.



For more earnings news, earnings calendar, and earnings for stocks, visit rttnews.com



Copyright(c) 2023 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

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Successful Private Placement allowing to reach a total amount of 25 million

Strong financial position to continue portfolio development and strengthen R&D activities

New cash visibility until at least Q4 2025

Regulatory News:

THIS PRESS RELEASE IS NOT BEING MADE IN AND COPIES OF IT MAY NOT BE DISTRIBUTED OR SENT, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, INTO THE UNITED STATES, CANADA, SOUTH AFRICA, JAPAN OR AUSTRALIA

MedinCell (Paris:MEDCL), a commercial-stage pharmaceutical technology company developing a portfolio of long-acting injectable products in various therapeutic areas (the "Company"), announced today the successful pricing of its Global Offering (as defined below) for a final amount of 25.1 million through an offering to French and international investors via a Private Placement and to retail investors via the PrimaryBid platform in France.

Christophe Douat, CEO of MedinCell said: "We thank both our existing and new shareholders for their support and trust. We were also pleased to offer retail investors the opportunity to take part in the offering. The team is engaged and looking forward to pursuing the development of our portfolio, of which all candidate products are based on the same technology as UZEDYTM, our first product just approved by the FDA. UZEDYTM is a first, a huge accomplishment and we can't wait for the next one! We already have two other programs in phase 3. Our impact on the health of patients around the world will be increasingly greater.

Jaime Arango, CFO at MedinCell said: "This successful capital raise combined with recent non-dilutive financing allow us to benefit from a very strong financial position. UZEDYs revenues should quickly take over and cover our operational costs, including R&D costs that represent the main part of our expenses. All lights are green for MedinCell to create significant value in the short and long term, whilst having the necessary funds to do so. We're looking forward to the next 18 months, period during which we expect a very strong newsflow

The use of proceeds of the Global Offering (as defined below) will be used to strengthen the Company's existing funds and to contribute to the financing of:

preclinical and clinical activities for the Company's programs, including: the clinical Phase 1 of mdc-GRT, preclinical and clinical activities for several investigational products such as mdc-TMK and mdc-DPL,

formulation activities of new products,

investments to expand and improve the laboratory in Montpellier, France,

research, development of new technologies.

Terms of the Global Offering

The Global Offering, for a total of 25.1 million, was carried out via the issuance without shareholder's preferential subscription rights of 3,430,000 new shares, with a nominal value of 0.01 euros each, within the framework of:

an offer for 3,324,804 new ordinary shares for a total of 24.3 million to qualified investors or a restricted circle of investors referred to in article L. 411-2 1 of the French Monetary and Financial Code in accordance with the 20 th resolution of the combined general meeting of the Company on September 8, 2022 (the " General Meeting ") (the " Private Placement

resolution of the combined general meeting of the Company on September 8, 2022 (the " ") (the " a public offer of new shares aimed at retail investors, in accordance with the 18th resolution of the General Meeting, via the PrimaryBid platform only in France, for a total of 768,982.76 euros, via the issuance of 105,196 new shares, representing 3.1% of the Global Offering (the "PrimaryBid Offering" and together with the Private Placement, the "Global Offering

The new shares, representing 13.6% of the share capital of the Company, on a non-diluted basis, prior to the completion of the Global Offering and 11.9% of the Company's share capital, on a non-diluted basis, following the Global Offering, were issued by decision of the Directoire (as defined below) pursuant to and within the limits of the delegations of authority granted by the General Meeting and authorized by the Conseil de Surveillance (as defined below) as of the date of this press release.

The issue price of the new shares has been set at 7.31 per share, representing a discount of 9% compared to the closing price of the MedinCell share on 11 May 2023, i.e. 8.01, and of 10% compared to the volume-weighted average price of the Company's share on the regulated market of Euronext Paris over the last 3 trading sessions prior to the beginning of the Global Offering (i.e. from May 9 to May 11 2023 inclusive), i.e. 8.12, in accordance with the 20th resolution of the General Meeting.

By way of illustration, a shareholder holding 1% of the share capital of the Company prior to the launch of the Global Offering will now hold an interest of 0.88%.

Admission to trading of the new shares

Settlement-Delivery of the new ordinary shares to be issued in the Global Offering and the PrimaryBid Offering and their admission for trading on the regulated market of Euronext Paris are expected on 16 May 2023. The new ordinary shares will be on the same category and fungible with the existing shares, will be entitled to all rights associated with the existing shares, and will be admitted to trading on the regulated market of Euronext Paris under the same ISIN code FR0004065605 MEDCL.

Lock-up commitments

In connection with the Global Offering, the Company and the members of the management board ("Directoire") and the Supervisory Board ("Conseil de Surveillance") have signed a lock-up agreement which takes effect on the date of signature of the placement agreement entered into between the Company and the banks today and for a period of 90 days following the settlement-delivery of the Global Offering, subject to certain customary exceptions.

Financial intermediaries

Jefferies, Bryan Garnier Securities SAS and Bryan, Garnier Co are acting as Joint Global Coordinators and Joint Bookrunners for the Private Placement.

Under the PrimaryBid Offering, investors can only subscribe through the PrimaryBid partners listed on the PrimaryBid website (www.PrimaryBid.fr). The PrimaryBid Offering is not covered by a placement agreement. For more details, please visit the PrimaryBid website at www.PrimaryBid.fr.

Risk factors

The attention of the public is drawn to the risk factors associated with the Company and its activity, presented in section 2 of the universal reference document registered with the French Financial Market Authority (Autorite des Marches Financiers) (the "AMF") under number D.22-0668 on July 28, 2022, available free of charge on the Company's website (https://invest.medincell.com). The occurrence of some or all of these risks could have an adverse effect on the Company's business, financial condition, results, development or prospects. The risk factors presented in this document remains the same today.

Additionally, investors are invited to consider the following risks specific to this Global Offering: (i) the market price of the Company's shares may fluctuate and become lower than the subscription price of the shares issued in the Global Offering, (ii) the volatility and liquidity of the Company's shares may fluctuate significantly, (iii) sales of the Company's shares may occur in the market and negatively impact the market price of its share, and (iv) the Company's shareholders may experience potentially significant dilution resulting from possible future capital increases necessary to provide the Company with additional financing.

No prospectus

The Global Offering is not subject to a prospectus requiring an approval from the AMF.

About MedinCell

MedinCell is an innovative pharmaceutical company developing a portfolio of long-acting injectable products in various therapeutic areas from development to commercialization by combining its proprietary BEPO technology (licensed to Teva as SteadyTeq) with already known and marketed active ingredients. Through the controlled and sustained release of the active pharmaceutical ingredient, MedinCell makes medical treatments more effective, including improved compliance and reduced drug requirements. MedinCell's proprietary BEPO technology enables the controlled delivery of a therapeutic dose of medication for several days, weeks or months from a simple subcutaneous or local injection of a few millimeters in size, entirely bioresorbable.

MedinCell collaborates with leading pharmaceutical companies and foundations to improve global health through new therapeutic options. Headquartered in Montpellier, France, MedinCell currently employs over 140 people representing more than 25 different nationalities. www.medincell.com

This document and the information contained herein do not constitute either an offer to sell or purchase, or the solicitation of an offer to sell or purchase, securities of the Company in any jurisdiction.

No communication and no information in respect of the offering by the Company of its shares may be distributed to the public in any jurisdiction where registration or approval is required. No steps have been taken or will be taken in any jurisdiction where such steps would be required. The offering or subscription of shares may be subject to specific legal or regulatory restrictions in certain jurisdictions.

This announcement does not, and shall not, in any circumstances, constitute a public offering nor an invitation to the public in connection with any offer. The distribution of this document may be restricted by law in certain jurisdictions. Persons into whose possession this document comes are required to inform themselves about and to observe any such restrictions.

Not for release, directly or indirectly, in or into the United States, Canada, South Africa, Japan or Australia. This document (and the information contained herein) does not contain or constitute an offer of securities for sale, or solicitation of an offer to purchase securities, in the United States, Canada, South Africa, Japan or Australia or any other jurisdiction where such an offer or solicitation would be unlawful. The securities referred to herein have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), or under the securities laws of any state or other jurisdiction of the United States, and may not be offered or sold in the United States except pursuant to an exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to, the registration requirements of the Securities Act and in compliance with the securities laws of any state or any other jurisdiction of the United States. No public offering of the securities will be made in the United States.

This document (and the information contained within) is an advertisement and not a prospectus within the meaning of the Prospectus Regulation. With respect to each member state of the European Economic Area ("Member State"), no action has been undertaken or will be undertaken that constitutes an offer of the securities referred to herein to the public in any Member State and requiring a prospectus in any Member State. The securities referred to herein may not and will not be offered in any Member State, except in accordance with the exemptions set forth in the Prospectus Regulation, including any relevant implementing measures in each Member State. For the purposes of the above, the expression an "offer to the public" in any Relevant Member State shall have the meaning ascribed to it in Article 2(d) of the Prospectus Regulation.

In France, the offer of the Company shares described above will be made in the context of (i) a capital increases in favor of qualified investors or a restricted circle of investors, pursuant to Article L. 411-2 1 of the French monetary and financial code (Code monetaire et financier) and applicable regulatory provisions and (ii) a public offering primarily intended to retail investors through the PrimaryBid platform. Pursuant to Article 211-3 of the general regulations of the AMF and Articles 1(4) and (3) of the Prospectus Regulation, the offer of the Company shares will not require the publication of a prospectus approved by the AMF.

MIFID II Product Governance/Target Market: solely for the purposes of the requirements of Article 9.8 of the EU Delegated Directive 2017/593 relating to the product approval process, the target market assessment in respect of the shares of the Company has led to the conclusion in relation to the type of clients criteria only that: (i) the type of clients to whom the shares are targeted is eligible counterparties and professional clients and retail clients, each as defined in Directive 2014/65/EU, as amended ("MiFID II"); and (ii) all channels for distribution of the shares of the Company to eligible counterparties and professional clients and retail clients are appropriate. Any person subsequently offering, selling or recommending the shares of the Company (a "distributor") should take into consideration the type of clients assessment; however, a distributor subject to MiFID II is responsible for undertaking its own target market assessment in respect of the shares of the Company and determining appropriate distribution channels.

This communication does not constitute an offer of securities to the public in the United Kingdom and is being distributed only to and is directed only at (a) persons outside the United Kingdom, (b) persons who have professional experience in matters relating to investments, i.e., investment professionals within the meaning of Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005, as amended (the "Order"), and (c) high net worth entities, unincorporated associations and other bodies to whom it may otherwise lawfully be communicated in accordance with Article 49(2)(a) to (d) of the Order (all such persons together being referred to as relevant persons). The securities are available only to, and any invitation, offer or agreement to subscribe, purchase or otherwise acquire such securities will be available only to and will be engaged in only with, relevant persons. Any person who is not a relevant person should not act or rely on this communication or any of its contents.

Jefferies GmbH is authorised and regulated in Germany by the Bundesanstalt fur Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht. Each of Bryan, Garnier Co, Bryan Garnier Securities SAS and Jefferies GmbH (together, the "Banks") is acting exclusively for the Company and for no one else in connection with the Private Placement and will not regard any other person (whether or not a recipient of this document) as a client in relation to the Private Placement or any other matter referred to in this document and will not be responsible to anyone other than the Company for providing the protections afforded to its clients or for giving advice in relation to the Private Placement or any other matter referred to in this Document. None of the Banks is acting for the Company with respect to the PrimaryBid Offering.

This document is being issued by and is the sole responsibility of the Company. No representation or warranty, express or implied, is or will be made as to, or in relation to, and no responsibility or liability is or will be accepted by or on behalf of the Banks or by their respective affiliates or any of their respective directors, officers, partners, employees, advisers or agents (collectively, "Representatives") as to, or in relation to, the accuracy, adequacy, fairness or completeness of this document or any other written or oral information made available to or publicly available to any interested party or its advisers or any other statement made or purported to be made by or on behalf of the Banks or any of their respective affiliates or any of their respective Representatives in connection with the Company, the securities being offered or the Global Offering and any responsibility and liability whether arising in tort, contract or otherwise therefor is expressly disclaimed. No representation or warranty, express or implied, is made by the Banks or any of their respective affiliates or any of their respective Representatives as to the accuracy, fairness, verification, completeness or sufficiency of the information or opinions contained in this Announcement or any other written or oral information made available to or publicly available to any interested party or its advisers, and any liability therefor is expressly disclaimed.

This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements regarding Company's expectations for (i) the timing, progress and outcome of its clinical trials; (ii) the clinical benefits and competitive positioning of its product candidates; (iii) its ability to obtain regulatory approvals, commence commercial production and achieve market penetration and sales; (iv) its future product portfolio; (v) its future partnering arrangements; (vi) its future capital needs, capital expenditure plans and ability to obtain funding; and (vii) prospective financial matters regarding our business. Although the Company believes that its expectations are based on reasonable assumptions, any statements other than statements of historical facts that may be contained in this press release relating to future events are forward-looking statements and subject to change without notice, factors beyond the Company's control and the Company's financial capabilities.

These statements may include, but are not limited to, any statement beginning with, followed by or including words or phrases such as "objective", "believe", "anticipate", "expect", "foresee", "aim", "intend", "may", "anticipate", "estimate", "plan", "project", "will", "may", "probably", "potential", "should", "could" and other words and phrases of the same meaning or used in negative form. Forward-looking statements are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties beyond the Company's control that may, if any, cause actual results, performance, or achievements to differ materially from those anticipated or expressed explicitly or implicitly by such forward-looking statements. A list and description of these risks, contingencies and uncertainties can be found in the documents filed by the Company with the AMF pursuant to its regulatory obligations, including the Company's universal registration document, filed with the AMF on July 28, 2022, (the "Universal Registration Document"), as well as in the documents and reports to be published subsequently by the Company. In particular, readers' attention is drawn to section 2 entitled "Facteurs de Risques" on page 24 of the Universal Registration Document.

Any forward-looking statements made by or on behalf of the Company speak only as of the date they are made. Except as required by law, the Company does not undertake any obligation to publicly update these forward-looking statements or to update the reasons why actual results could differ materially from those anticipated by the forward-looking statements, including in the event that new information becomes available. The Company's update of one or more forward-looking statements does not imply that the Company will make any further updates to such forward-looking statements or other forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230511006020/en/

Contacts:

MedinCell Contacts

MedinCell

David Heuze

Head of Communications

david.heuze@medincell.com

+33 (0)6 83 25 21 86

NewCap

Louis-Victor Delouvrier/Alban Dufumier

Investor Relations

medincell@newcap.eu

+33 (0)1 44 71 94 94

NewCap

Nicolas Merigeau

Media Relations

medincell@newcap.eu

+33 (0)1 44 71 94 94
Q1 2023 - Business review

Paris, May 11th, 2023 - JCDecaux SE (Euronext Paris: DEC), the number one outdoor advertising company worldwide, published today its revenue for the three months ended March 31st, 2023.

FIRST QUARTER 2023: BUSINESS HIGHLIGHTS

Key contracts wins

Rest of Europe





In February, JCDecaux SE announced that its Norwegian subsidiary "JCDecaux Norge AS" has been awarded a 10-year contract for the advertising street furniture, including digital in Stavanger, which is the oil capital and the centre of the third largest urban area in Norway.

In February, JCDecaux SE announced that JCDecaux Eesti OU, its Estonian subsidiary, has won an exclusive 21-year advertising street furniture contract with Tallinn - population 452,000, the capital city of Estonia.

Asia-Pacific





In January, JCDecaux SE announced the renewal of its advertising concession with Singapore Changi Airport for 7 years, from 2023 until 2029, with an option for further 5 years' extension to 2034. This is the 3rd contract since the concession started in 2011, in a partnership that will span more than 20 years.

In January, JCDecaux SE announced that its JV subsidiary, JCDecaux (Macau) Limited, created in partnership with HN Group (JCDecaux 80% / HN Group 20%), has been awarded a 15-year exclusive contract for the advertising street furniture in the Macau Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (population: 682,000). This new concession covers the entire inventory of about 150 Bus Shelters and 150 City Information Panels (CIPs).

In February, JCDecaux SE, announced that its subsidiary JCDecaux India - 100% owned by JCDecaux - has won an exclusive 12-year contract to advertise inside and outside Bengaluru's Kempegowda International Airport (KIAB / BLR Airport). The award follows a competitive tender.

Rest of the World





In January, JCDecaux SE announced the signing of a 10-year contract with CCR Metro Bahia to take over the advertising operations of the two metro lines in Salvador (Brazil) - Red-Line 1 and Blue-Line 2. This new partnership, effective in March 2023, sustains the expansion strategy of JCDecaux, reinforcing its position as the largest metro media player in Brazil.

Other events

Group





In January, JCDecaux SE announced the report of a very strong performance of its self-service bike schemes throughout the world in 2022, with total rentals up 21% compared with 2021. In France, the number of rentals has increased by 14% compared to last year.

In January, JCDecaux SE announced the signing of a global strategic partnership with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to support the "UN Joint Sustainable Development Goals Fund" (Joint SDG Fund), a Fund devised to stimulate the development of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) worldwide.

Rest of Europe





In February, JCDecaux SE announced that Elina Valtia has been appointed as the new CEO of JCDecaux Finland starting from 1st April 2023.

FIRST QUARTER 20 2 3 AND OUTLOOK

Commenting on the 2023 first quarter revenue, Jean-Charles Decaux, Chairman of the Executive Board and Co-CEO of JCDecaux, said:

"Our Q1 2023 Group revenue grew by +5.6%, +5.0% on an organic basis, to reach 721.3 million, above our expectations driven by a strong digital revenue growth, an increasing revenue growth throughout the quarter and, as anticipated, an inflection point from March in China. Our Q1 2023 organic revenue growth reached +8.2% outside China and -14.0% in China.

Digital Out-Of-Home (DOOH) grew by +13.3% in reported growth and +13.6% organically in Q1 2023, to reach 31.2% of Group revenue vs 29.1% in Q1 2022 including a continued strong momentum of the programmatic advertising sales ecosystem through the VIOOH SSP (Supply Side Platform) and Displayce DSP (Demand Side Platform).

By activity, Street Furniture was strong at +4.1% organically in Q1 2023 and was above Q1 2019 globally including double-digit above Q1 2019 in France and Rest of Europe; Billboard grew by +1.0% on an organic basis in Q1 2023, above Q1 2019 in Asia-Pacific and North-America; Transport grew strongly by +7.9% organically, including a double-digit revenue growth in France, Rest of Europe, UK and Rest of the World reflecting the ongoing audience recovery in both airports and public transport across most regions with Rest of the World above 2019 in Q1. From a historically low level of activity, China improved throughout the quarter following the end of mobility restrictions at the end of 2022.

By geography, Rest of the World, Asia-Pacific excluding China, France and Rest of Europe were the fastest growing regions while revenue for North America and China decreased in Q1 2023 but the trading momentum improved significantly in these two geographies in March.

As far as Q2 is concerned, we expect organic revenue growth around +9% mostly driven by a strong digital growth and a gradual recovery in China while advertising sales in most geographies remain solid.

In China, we are seeing encouraging signs of recovery with domestic mobility now back to normal leading us to a strong year-on-year double-digit revenue growth in Q2. As domestic air travel reached an all-time high for the Labor Day holiday, our domestic airport business is expected to almost recover to pre-Covid levels in Q2, in line with the air traffic rebound. Our strong revenue growth in China for Q2 is nevertheless affected by low international air traffic due to much reduced international airlines connections and the non-renewal of the Guangzhou International Terminal 2 airport advertising contract as well as our decision to mutually terminate our joint venture with Guangzhou metro.

As the most digitised global OOH media company, with our new data-led audience targeting and programmatic solutions, our well diversified portfolio, our ability to win new contracts, the strength of our balance sheet, the high quality of our teams across the world and our recognised ESG excellence, we believe we are well positioned to benefit from the rebound. We are more than ever confident in the power of our media in an advertising landscape increasingly fragmented and more and more digital and in the role it will play to drive economic growth as well as positive changes."

Following the adoption of IFRS 11 from January 1st, 2014, the operating data presented below is adjusted to include our prorata share in companies under joint control. Please refer to the paragraph "Adjusted data" of this release for the definition of adjusted data and reconciliation with IFRS.

The values shown in the tables are generally expressed in millions of euros. The sum of the rounded amounts or variations calculations may differ, albeit to an insignificant extent, from the reported values.

Adjusted revenue for the first quarter 2023 increased by +5.6% to 721.3 million compared to 683.0 million in the first quarter of 2022.

Excluding the negative impact from foreign exchange variations and the positive impact of changes in perimeter, adjusted revenue increased by +5.0%.

Adjusted advertising revenue, excluding revenue related to sale, rental and maintenance of street furniture and advertising displays, increased by +4.2% on an organic basis in the first quarter of 2023.

By activity :

Q1 adjusted revenue 2023 (m) 2022 (m) Reported growth Organic growth(a) Street Furniture 364.3 347.5 +4.8% +4.1% Transport 254.0 234.9 +8.1% +7.9% Billboard 103.0 100.6 +2.4% +1.0% Total 721.3 683.0 +5.6% +5.0%

a. Excluding acquisitions/divestitures and the impact of foreign exchange

Please note that the geographic comments below refer to organic revenue growth.

STREET FURNITURE

First quarter adjusted revenue increased by +4.8% to 364.3 million (+4.1% on an organic basis). Rest of the World, France, Rest of Europe and Asia-Pacific were the drivers of growth while UK and North America registered a single-digit revenue decrease vs Q1 2022. France, Rest of Europe and Rest of the World were above Q1 2019 revenue levels.

First quarter adjusted advertising revenue, excluding revenue related to sale, rental and maintenance of street furniture was up +3.9% on an organic basis compared to the first quarter of 2022.

TRANSPORT

First quarter adjusted revenue increased by +8.1% to 254.0 million (+7.9% on an organic basis), reflecting a rebound in both air passenger traffic and public transport systems. Most geographies grew double-digit and Rest of the World was already above Q1 2019 revenue levels. Transport remained nevertheless meaningfully impacted by the lower level of mobility compared to pre-Covid levels, particularly for China international air travel.

BILLBOARD

First quarter adjusted revenue increased by +2.4% to 103.0 million (+1.0% on an organic basis). Asia-Pacific and North America were above Q1 2019 revenue levels.

ADJUSTED DATA

Under IFRS 11, applicable from January 1st, 2014, companies under joint control are accounted for using the equity method.

However, in order to reflect the business reality of the Group, operating data of the companies under joint control will continue to be proportionately integrated in the operating management reports used by directors to monitor the activity, allocate resources and measure performance.

Consequently, pursuant to IFRS 8, Segment Reporting presented in the financial statements complies with the Group's internal information, and the Group's external financial communication therefore relies on this operating financial information. Financial information and comments are therefore based on "adjusted" data, consistent with historical data prior to 2014, which is reconciled with IFRS financial statements.

In Q1 2023, the impact of IFRS 11 on adjusted revenue was -49.5 million (-54.4 million in Q1 2022), leaving IFRS revenue at 671.8 million (628.5 million in Q1 2022).

ORGANIC GROWTH DEFINITION

The Group's organic growth corresponds to the adjusted revenue growth excluding foreign exchange impact and perimeter effect. The reference fiscal year remains unchanged regarding the reported figures, and the organic growth is calculated by converting the revenue of the current fiscal year at the average exchange rates of the previous year and taking into account the perimeter variations prorata temporis, but including revenue variations from the gains of new contracts and the losses of contracts previously held in our portfolio.

m Q1 2022 adjusted revenue (a) 683.0 2023 IFRS revenue (b) 671.8 IFRS 11 impacts (c) 49.5 2023 adjusted revenue (d) = (b) + (c) 721.3 Currency impacts (e) 1.2 2023 adjusted revenue at 2022 exchange rates (f) = (d) + (e) 722.5 Change in scope (g) -5.7 2023 adjusted organic revenue (h) = (f) + (g) 716.8 Organic growth (i) = (h) / (a) - 1 +5.0%







m Impact of currency as of March 31st, 2023 RMB 1.7 USD -2.1 GBP 3.7 HKD -1.1 Other -1.0 Total 1.2





Average exchange rate Q1 2023 Q1 2022 RMB 0.1362 0.1404 USD 0.9320 0.8915 GBP 1.1324 1.1956 HKD 0.1189 0.1142

Forward looking statements

This news release may contain some forward-looking statements. These statements are not undertakings as to the future performance of the Company. Although the Company considers that such statements are based on reasonable expectations and assumptions on the date of publication of this release, they are by their nature subject to risks and uncertainties which could cause actual performance to differ from those indicated or implied in such statements.

These risks and uncertainties include without limitation the risk factors that are described in the annual report registered in France with the French Autorite des Marches Financiers.

Investors and holders of shares of the Company may obtain copy of such annual report by contacting the Autorite des Marches Financiers on its website www.amf-france.org or directly on the Company website www.jcdecaux.com.

The Company does not have the obligation and undertakes no obligation to update or revise any of the forward-looking statements.

FINANCIAL SITUATION

The evolution of revenue is the major factor which to impact the operating margin, free cash flow or net debt during Q1 2023.
Join experts, professionals, and enthusiasts at the World CyberCon Middle East 2023 to discuss the latest trends, challenges, and innovations in cybersecurity.

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, May 12, 2023 - (ACN Newswire) - The Cyber Express by Cyble, a leading cybersecurity news, and information platform, invites you to attend the World CyberCon Middle East 2023. The event is set to take place on August 30 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This premier cybersecurity conference will bring together industry experts, professionals, and enthusiasts from around the globe to discuss the latest trends, challenges, and innovations in the field of cybersecurity.

The World CyberCon Middle East 2023 offers attendees a unique opportunity to learn from leading experts through a series of keynote speeches, panel discussions, workshops, and interactive sessions. The event will cover various aspects of cybersecurity, including threat intelligence, incident response, data protection, privacy regulations, and emerging technologies.

By attending the World CyberCon Middle East 2023, participants will benefit from the following:

Networking opportunities with professionals from various sectors, including government, finance, healthcare, and technology, to share insights, experiences, and best practices in cybersecurity. Learning about the latest cybersecurity tools, technologies, and strategies from top industry experts and thought leaders. Gaining valuable insights into the emerging trends and challenges in the cybersecurity landscape, including cyberattacks, data breaches, and evolving regulations. Enhancing their professional skills and knowledge through hands-on workshops and interactive sessions led by industry experts. Discovering innovative cybersecurity solutions and services from leading vendors and providers.

Shenoy Sandeep, Regional Director - Cyble, said, "It's incredible that The Cyber Express by Cyble is back with yet another edition of the World CyberCon event, and this time we're in the Middle East! We're gearing up to be joined by our Partners, Infosec Leaders and Delegates, and Cybersecurity Exhibitors on August 30, 2023, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Bringing together Industry Experts, Key Decision Makers, and Experienced Cyber Influencers from across the world, the Conference will deep dive into the global threat landscape and the state of cybercrime. I am elated to be a part of this excellent convention and look forward to the business leaders and government officials coming together and sharing their expert cybersecurity knowledge."

Tania A. Moukarzel, Senior Executive Officer, POTECH, said, "We are delighted to accept the invitation to be a part of The Cyber Express' World CyberCon Middle East 2023. At Potech Group, we have been at the forefront of delivering comprehensive IT and cybersecurity services since 2002. Our extensive portfolio includes cutting-edge advisory, managed services, software engineering, and training, complemented by innovative products such as Digital Risk Protection and SIEM++. It is an immense honor for us to demonstrate our expertise and present our solutions at this esteemed event. We eagerly look forward to joining this distinguished gathering, where we can share our expertise, forge new partnerships, and contribute to the advancement of cybersecurity in the Middle East. See you there!"

Isabelle Meyer, CIO of Zendata, said, "Zendata is happy to participate in The Cyber Express' World CyberCon Middle East 2023 edition. We look forward to meeting the industry's elites and interacting with the brightest minds in the domain. We are also excited to showcase our latest innovation - Zen 360 - a bespoke managed security solution that delivers superior security performance while enabling you to maintain your productivity. With ZEN360, our team of experts offers a comprehensive MDR (Managed Detection and Response) service. See you there!"

The upcoming event will be graced by 10+ speakers, including Wael Fattouh, Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) of Bank Aljazira, Ali Abdulla Alsadadi, Chief of Information, Technology & Itil 4 Digital Strategic Leader of the Ministry of Oil - Kingdom of Bahrain, Eng. Ala Zayadeen, Head of Information Security and Data Privacy at BinDawood Holding, and several other notable industry leaders.

The World CyberCon Middle East 2023 is an essential event for anyone involved or interested in the cybersecurity field. Attendees can expect to leave the Conference with a deeper understanding of the latest cybersecurity trends and strategies, as well as new connections and opportunities for collaboration.

Don't miss out on this unique opportunity to learn from the best and network with professionals from across the cybersecurity spectrum. Reserve your spot at the World CyberCon Middle East 2023 today by visiting https://thecyberexpress.com/cyber-security-events/world-cybercon-middle-east-2023/.

About The Cyber Express By Cyble

TheCyberExpress.com is a leading online platform that provides the latest news, insights, and resources in the field of cybersecurity. With a focus on delivering timely and accurate information, The Cyber Express aims to empower individuals and organizations with the knowledge they need to protect their digital assets in an increasingly complex cybersecurity landscape.

For more information about the event, sponsorship opportunities, or media inquiries, please contact: Ashish Jaiswal at ashish.j@thecyberexpress.com

Source: Cyber Express by CybleCopyright 2023 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.
SINGAPORE, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Mintable, the Singapore-based Non-Fungible Token (NFT) marketplace, invites people everywhere to celebrate International Mother's Day with free personalised NFTs for their mums. Anyone may take advantage of the offer by visiting mom.mintable.com from 12 pm BST (11 am GMT) on Friday, 12 May 2023. Mintable is so confident of the ease of use and speed, both to mint an NFT and open a wallet, that it can offer these personalised NFTs for free.

The simple gifting process takes just a few clicks for mothers anywhere to receive an email with a link to their NFT, which will be stored in a managed wallet. Recipients with a Metamask wallet will receive the NFT directly into their wallet.

As the company's Web3 platform is increasingly being used by a wide variety of organisations around the world, Mother's Day is the ideal day to demonstrate how simple NFTs can be. NFTs can last forever once recorded on a blockchain, making them timeless gifts that can be given and received by anyone. Mintable's free and customisable Mother's Day NFTs are minted on the Ethereum blockchain and no prior knowledge of NFTs or crypto wallets is necessary to send or receive them.

Zach Burks, Founder and CEO of Mintable, said: "Web3 and NFTs in particular are fast becoming the new normal for many organisations. We want people everywhere to have the option of sending heartfelt mementos to their mums. The progress we have made with our platform makes creating or receiving an NFT as easy as email. Our goal is to deliver all the benefits of new technologies to our users with none of the usual pains."

The Ethereum blockchain is renowned for its high security and reliability, but it is also known for high transaction fees (known as 'gas fees') and limited scalability. Mintable, however, leverages its proprietary gasless minting technology to mint NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain at scale and for free. A game-changer in the NFT space, Mintable's proprietary technology, which is offered by the company's B2B service, called 'Mintology' by Mintable, allows for frictionless NFT creation to increase accessibility.

People wishing to celebrate this International Mother's Day by sending their mums a personalised NFT that can be kept forever should visit mom.mintable.com from 12 pm BST (11 am GMT) on Friday, 12 May 2023.

Note to Editors

The mom.mintable.com link will only be operational from 12 pm BST (11 am GMT) on Friday, 12 May 2023. Visit mintable.app/press-media for general information in the meantime.

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2075457/Mintable_Mothers_Day.jpg

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/gift-a-free-personalised-nft-to-celebrate-mothers-day-as-mintable-shows-how-easy-it-is-to-mint-an-nft-and-open-a-wallet-301822812.html
WASHINGTON, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Charles & Agnes Kazarian Foundation (Kazarian Foundation), a U.S. mid-size non-profit focused on Government Financial Management (GFM) has selected Portugal as the location for its first European headquarters.

The Kazarian Foundation's core competency is to improve Government Financial Management (GFM) and Government Total Balance Sheet (GTBS) literacy.

The Kazarian Foundation seeks to educate both key stakeholders and citizens on the importance of GFM and GTBS literacy through conferences, presentations, communications, articles, master classes, and white papers.

"The Kazarian Foundation cares about Government Financial Management because government financial decisions directly affect the probability of debt, currency, and financial crises, which have a disproportionally large impact on society's most disadvantaged."

The Kazarian Foundation created the Citizens' Wealth Framework 2023, with 10 KPIs that provide a true and fair picture of government financial performance, that is both "a quantum leap in government financial performance management" and "the greatest advance in sovereign risk analysis".

The Foundation and its affiliate JI-Analytics will start in June hiring 10 part-time and full-time instructors, compensated at the high-end of rates paid by multi-national NGOs.

Advisors will be retained to recommend the city or region within Portugal and the entity's corporate structure.

The Kazarian Foundation's spending since its founding plus year-end 2022 assets is over a quarter-billion US dollars (US$278 million). Year-end 2022 assets were $208 million.

The Kazarian Foundation is named in recognition of two outstanding Armenian immigrants to the United States of America who both survived, but lost members of their families, during the first genocide of the 20th century, the Armenian Genocide. Charles Kazarian served with distinction in the French Foreign Legion during World War I as an Armenian Gamavor to show his gratitude to the people of France who welcomed survivors of the Armenian Genocide. Agnes Kazarian inspired her family and all those blessed to know her with the most valuable Armenian Christian wisdoms.

The Charles & Agnes Kazarian Foundation (www.kazarianfoundation.org) is philanthropically supported by Japonica Partners (www.japonica.com) and JI-Analytics (www.jianalytics.com).

The Charles & Agnes Kazarian Foundation

1629 K Street NW, Suite 300 Washington, DC 20006

T/ +1 202 449 9600 E/ info@kazarianfoundation.org

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/kazarian-foundation-selects-portugal-for-european-hq-301822923.html
BERLIN, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Driven by its vision to empower lives through technology, Dreame is launching its flagship event Family Day 2023 to celebrate the spirit of family - with giveaways in Germany, France, Spain and the Benelux countries.





Established in 2017, Dreame Technology is a leading innovative consumer product company that focuses on smart home appliances with the world's No.1 motor technology that offers highest RPM. With spring cleaning season in full swing, you can be in for a chance to win some of Dreame's bestselling smart-cleaning products, including Amazon favourite, the L10s Ultra.

The L10s Ultra in the spotlight

The brand-new hands-free cleaning bot from Dreame is making waves across the globe, from Southwest Europe to Canada. Just as a reminder, with the L10s Ultra, you're getting:

- An all-round cleaning experience with 5300Pa of suction power;

- Automatic carpet detection function that navigates around carpets without needing any manual assistance, so you won't need to pick it up every time it hits a carpet;

- Generous 2.5-litre water tank for clean water for a longer-lasting clean;

- Self-cleaning function so you don't have to worry about cleaning it all the time.

Who knows, this may be one of the products making its way to your mailbox in celebration of Family Day 2023!

How to enter - Germany

Follow @dreame_dach on Instagram; "Like" our announcement post; Tag 3 people in the comment section; To double your chances, fill in your details on our landing page;

Feel free to repost with the hashtag DreameFamily and tag our official Instagram account to share the fun with other families.

After all, the more people who can ease the burden of cleaning, the more time we'll all have to cherish key moments, spending less time scrubbing grime off floors and more in the living room reminiscing about the good old days.

How to enter - the remaining countries in Southwest Europe

Head on over to the official Instagram accounts for your respective country and look out for the announcement post with further instructions.

France

Spain

Italy

The Netherlands

Don't miss out - keep checking back and don't forget to spread the joy of household convenience with your family and friends! Everybody needs smart cleaning to stop the agony of daily cleaning.

About Dreame

Established in 2017, Dreame Technology is an innovative consumer product company that focuses on smart home appliances with the vision to empower lives through technology. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. For more information please visit: https://de.dreametech.com/.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2074856/img.jpg

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/dreame-technology-announces-family-day-in-southwest-europe---with-giveaways-301822976.html
Opening Ceremony was Officiated by Ireland's Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Simon Coveney

DUBLIN, Ireland, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- SHEIN, a global e-retailer of fashion, beauty and lifestyle products, has officially launched its Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) headquarters, based in Dublin City Centre, Ireland. The Dublin office will host SHEIN's strategic IT hub for EMEA and will function as the heart of SHEIN's operations in the region, building on our commitment to local economies, communities and consumers.

The opening ceremony was joined by Ireland's Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Simon Coveney, where he met with SHEIN's Global Head of Government Relations, Leonard Lin, and other company leaders to discuss SHEIN's strategy in Ireland. This included discussing the growth of SHEIN's workforce in Dublin, to fill roles in data analytics, security engineering, finance management and legal, as well as expanding SHEIN's graduate program in Ireland. SHEIN aims to fill 30 key roles in the Ireland office by end 2023, with a view to increase that number as the company grows.

Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Simon Coveney TD said: "I warmly welcome the announcement that SHEIN has launched their new EMEA Headquarters and IT hub in Dublin, creating 30 new jobs in 2023. These positions will be in a range of specialist areas and no doubt SHEIN will have no problem filling these rolls from our skilled workforce. It is a vote of confidence that another global leader has chosen Ireland to launch their EMEA HQ and highlights that we have the environment to attract FDI companies to our shores. I wish all the team at SHEIN the very best in their new Dublin office and ventures."

As part of SHEIN's efforts to empower local entrepreneurs, SHEIN's in-house fashion incubator programme, SHEIN X, has collaborated with 390 designers and artists across EMEA since its launch in January 2021, supporting them in their aspirations of launching a fashion collection by providing them with the knowledge, experience, network and global sales channel, so that they can focus on what they do best - create. SHEIN aims to continue to grow this number in the coming years.

In 2023, SHEIN plans to host around 30 pop-ups around the EMEA region, with the next Ireland pop-up happening from May 12 to 17, 2023, at the exciting Opera Lane, in Cork. Last year, SHEIN's pop-up at Jervis Shopping Centre, Dublin, attracted over 4,000 visitors per day. These pop-ups form an integral part of the SHEIN business model, allowing consumers to experience products first-hand as well as allowing the brand to engage with consumers. SHEIN's nearshoring strategy has also seen three new distribution centres opening across EMEA in 2022, including a 40,000m2 distribution hub in Wroclaw, Poland, as well as centres in Italy and the United Arab Emirates, growing its nearshoring bases in EMEA to eight. By nearshoring its distribution hubs, SHEIN aims to improve the speed of fulfilment in the region. Both initiatives are prime examples of SHEIN's dedication to offering the best customer service and experience for consumers in EMEA.

As part of SHEIN's social impact efforts, SHEIN has made monetary donations and donations-in-kind, in the form of apparel, household items and home decorations, to various women's and children's charities across EMEA. These include Irish charities and NGOs such as The Marie Keating Foundation and The Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Ireland, which support causes that are aligned with SHEIN's social impact focus areas.

Said Leonard Lin, Global Head of Government Relations for SHEIN, "I am delighted to launch our EMEA headquarters in Ireland. Ireland's pro-business environment and great access to talent make it an excellent hub for companies, including SHEIN, to manage and grow our business in the region. Our Dublin office opening marks an important milestone in SHEIN's growth in EMEA - which is one of our most important markets. We look forward to contributing to the growth of the local economies and to supporting local communities."

Michael Lohan, CEO, IDA Ireland said: "The arrival of SHEIN in Dublin is a welcome addition to Ireland's IT sector along with their plans to hire 30 people by the end of 2023. Ireland is an ideal location in terms of talent and experienced resources from which SHEIN can grow and expand their offering in Europe. I wish them great success here."

About SHEIN

SHEIN is a global, integrated marketplace offering extended fashion and lifestyle shopping categories from SHEIN branded apparel to products from a global network of sellers, all at affordable prices. Headquartered in Singapore, SHEIN remains committed to making the beauty of fashion accessible to all, leveraging its industry-leading on-demand production methodology since 2012, for a smarter and more sustainable industry.

Save money. Live in style!

To learn more about SHEIN, visit www.SHEINgroup.com.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/shein-launches-emea-headquarters-in-dublin-city-301822486.html
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.


CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - The New Zealand dollar weakened against other major currencies in the Asian session on Friday, as Asian stocks traded lower with weakness in materials and energy stocks amid tumbling commodity prices. Also, data showed that the manufacturing sector in New Zealand continued to contract in April.



'Banking stress won't be going away anytime soon as we await to see which banks put too much in long-dated Treasuries,' says Edward Moya, Senior Market Analyst at OANDA.



Traders are also cautious amid worries about economic slowdown and renewed concerns about the turmoil in the US banking sector.



Crude oil prices fell sharply on Thursday amid uncertainty about the outlook for energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended lower by $1.69 or 2.3 percent at $70.87 a barrel.



In economic news, data from Business NZ showed that the manufacturing sector in New Zealand continued to contract in April, albeit at a slower pace, with a manufacturing PMI score of 49.1. That's up from 48.1 in March.



In the Asian trading today, the NZ dollar fell to a 4-day low of 1.7467 against the euro and a 3-day low of 1.0705 against the Australian dollar, from yesterday's closing quotes of 1.7329 and 1.0639, respectively. If the kiwi extends its downtrend, it is likely to find support around 1.80 against the euro and 1.08 against the aussie.



Against the U.S. dollar and the yen, the kiwi dropped to 8-day lows of 0.6254 and 84.19 from yesterday's closing quotes of 0.6298 and 84.76, respectively. The kiwi may test resistance around 0.61 against the greenback and 81.00 against the yen.



Meanwhile, the safe-haven Swiss franc strengthened against its major rivals, as Asian stock market traded lower.



The Swiss franc rose to a 1-week high of 1.1159 against the pound, from yesterday's closing value of 1.1184. The franc may test resistance around the 1.10 area.



Against the euro and the yen, the franc advanced to 2-day highs of 0.9743 and 151.08 from yesterday's closing quotes of 0.9753 and 150.37, respectively. If the Swiss franc extends its uptrend, it is likely to find resistance around 0.96 against the euro and 154.00 against the yen.



The franc edged up to 0.8918 against the U.S. dollar, from yesterday's closing value of 0.8942. On the upside, 0.88 is seen as the next resistance level for the franc.



Looking ahead, U.S. export and import prices for April, U.S. University of Michigan's preliminary consumer sentiment for May and U.S. Baker Hughes rig count data are due in the New York session.



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Manila, Philippines, May 12, 2023 - (ACN Newswire) - The Future Energy Show & Solar Show Philippines, the largest energy event in the country, will open its doors on 15 and 16 May at SMX Convention Center Manila to bring together the entire energy community to chart the future of energy in the Philippines.

Firmly established as most significant event for the sector in the Philippines, the 2023 edition will be the biggest edition ever with 150+ global and regional leading energy solution providers including CHINT Electric Global, Enphase Energy, Trigon Asset Management, Renova, Jinko Solar, Trina Solar, Longi, Sungrow, Growatt, CSI Technology, Alpha ESS, and Mibet Energy showcasing the best solar, renewable energy and smart energy solutions to help drive projects forward.

More than an exhibition, The Future Energy and Solar Show Philippines offer learning opportunities to the more than 12,000 pre-registered attendees in the 7-tracks of free-to-attend conference sessions, covering:

Large Scale Solar Rooftop Solar Rural Electrification Smart Grid / T&D Energy Storage Alternative Renewables Solar Installer University - a brand new addition for 2023

On the morning of 15 May, Guest-of-Honour, Department of Energy Undersecretary, Rowena Cristina L. Guevara, will kickstart the keynote plenary session. This will be followed by a keynote panel session on "Achieving Energy Autonomy: Driving Renewable Energy Adoption Across the Philippines" with insights from Monalisa Dimalanta, Chairperson and CEO of Energy Regulatory Commission; Christan Ereno, AVP & Head of Visayas System Operations for National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP); Rowena Cristina L. Guevara, Undersecretary of Department of Energy; A.D Villaos, President of CorEnergy;Ronnie Aperecho, Senior Vice President and Head of Networks of Meralco; and Fernando Martin Roxas,President and CEO of National Power Corporation.

More than 100 speakers from across the Philippines and beyond will be at the event to share insights and ideas on the latest developments in renewable energy and smart energy solutions. The stellar line-up of speakers includes senior representatives from Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources and Energy - BARMM, Mindanao Development Authority, Aboitiz, Meralco, IIEE, Association of Solar Installers in the Philippines, PSSEA, and many more.

"We are thrilled to once again bring the Philippines' top clean energy leaders and their partners together", said Paul Clark, Managing Director at Terrapinn Asia, "With a sold-out exhibition floor that has already had to be expanded to accommodate additional demand, The Future Energy Show Philippines and The Solar Show Philippines truly bring together the people that can shape the Philippines energy future. The excitement is palpable and we look forward to this year's record-breaking event".

"The members of Philippine Solar and Storage Energy Alliance (PSSEA) are looking forward to networking and learning about the latest business insights and technology trends in the power industry. Speakers from PSSEA are also eager to discuss the next big thing in Asia: The Philippine Solar Revolution is taking off," said the PSSEA President, Mr. Ping Mendoza.

The Future Energy Show & Solar Show Philippines is open to all professionals and stakeholders in the energy sector. Interested parties can register for a free pass and find out more about the event by visiting the official website at www.terrapinn.com/futureenergyphacn

About The Future Energy Show Philippines 2023 & The Solar Show Philippines 2023:

The Future Energy Show Philippines & The Solar Show Philippines will take place at SMX Convention Center Manila, Seashell Lane, Mall of Asia Complex, Pasay City, Metro Manila, Philippines on 15-16 May 2023.

About Terrapinn

Terrapinn has been sparking ideas, innovations and relationships that transform business for over 30 years. Using our global footprint, we bring innovators, disrupters and change agents together, discussing and demonstrating the technology, strategies and personalities that are changing the way the world does business. Whether you're looking to make new connections, introduce product or inspire change in your industry, we invite you to join us as agitators of change. Terrapinn - spark something.

Press attendance is complimentary. Enquiries should be directed to:

Danelle Filipinas

Marketing Manager

Terrapinn Pte Ltd

Danelle.filipinas@terrapinn.com

Source: Terrapinn Holdings Ltd.Copyright 2023 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.
TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Pivotree Inc. (TSXV:PVT) ("Pivotree" or the "Company"), a leader in frictionless commerce solutions, today reported financial results for the three month period ended March 31, 2023. All amounts are expressed in Canadian dollars unless otherwise stated.

"During the first quarter we saw a healthy level of bookings activity, although we are seeing the effects of extended timelines to close deals when compared to prior year experiences when we were hitting new records," said Bill Di Nardo, CEO of Pivotree. "At the same time, customers are extending the life of their current commerce environments and investments in the data and supply chain remain on the critical path. This is adding growth and stability to our recurring revenue, and alongside a solid backlog of multi-quarter project deals, we believe we have a strong foundation to achieve our profitability objectives for the year."

Letter to Shareholders

Pivotree also announced today that it has released a letter to shareholders from Bill Di Nardo, CEO. The letter can be accessed from the Company's website at investor.pivotree.com and filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

First Quarter 2023 Financial Highlights

(All figures are in Canadian dollars and all comparisons are relative to the three-month period ended March 31, 2023 unless otherwise stated):

Total Revenue of $25.0 million, an increase of 2.2% or a decrease of 3.6% in constant currency.

Managed Services Revenue of $11.0 million, an increase of 12.0%, or 5.8% in constant currency. The year-over-year growth was primarily the result of upsell on existing customers and addition of new customers to offset declines in Oracle revenue.

Professional Services Revenue of $14.0 million, a decrease of 4.3% or 9.9% in constant currency. The year-over-year decline was primarily due to a shift of customer revenue from professional services to managed services and delayed close of current pipeline deals.

Annual Recurring Revenue 1,2 as at March 31, 2023 of $45.9 million, an increase of $2.4 million or 5.6% or a decrease of $0.2 million or 0.5% in constant currency. The increase was related primarily to the growth of Data Management recurring services as well as upsell within existing customers.

as at March 31, 2023 of $45.9 million, an increase of $2.4 million or 5.6% or a decrease of $0.2 million or 0.5% in constant currency. The increase was related primarily to the growth of Data Management recurring services as well as upsell within existing customers. Total Bookings 1,2 of $16.1 million, a decrease of $2.9 million or 15.3% year over year.

of $16.1 million, a decrease of $2.9 million or 15.3% year over year. Gross profit of $11.6 million, an increase of 11.3% and representing 46.3% of total revenue compared to $10.4 million or 42.6% of revenue for the prior year period.

Net loss of $1.4 million compared to a net loss of $3.3 million for the prior year period.

Adjusted EBITDA 1 of $0.9 million, representing 3.5% of total revenue, compared to adjusted EBITDA 1 of $0.2 million, representing 0.8% of total revenue, for the prior year period.

of $0.9 million, representing 3.5% of total revenue, compared to adjusted EBITDA of $0.2 million, representing 0.8% of total revenue, for the prior year period. Adjusted Free Cash Flow2 of $0.3 million compared to adjusted free cash flow of ($0.4) million for the prior year period.

1 Please refer to "Key Performance Indicators" section of this press release.

2 Please refer to "Non-IFRS Measures and Reconciliation of Non-IFRS Measures" section of this press release.

First Quarter 2023 Business Highlights

Launched Commerce as a Service (CaaS) as an innovative way to implement, deliver and fund ecommerce projects and digitally transform business operations quickly through a recurring subscription model that eliminates heavy upfront costs as well as the need for capital investment approvals

Commerce added its first new logo deal to implement Spryker for a life sciences company. The Company also landed a cross business unit Commerce, Data and Supply Chain deal with a large automotive services company. Furthermore, in Q1, we observed sustained renewal and expansion bookings on Oracle and SAP platforms, demonstrating our customers' continued investment in their digital environments.

Data Management entered the quarter with a strong backlog and added several new logos including an HVAC equipment parts and supplier, a financial services company, and an electronics wholesaler and supplier.

Supply Chain continued to expand the pipeline for its Pivotree WMS and Control Tower solutions while growing Pivotree IP revenue sequentially. The development team has completed 6 microservices as part of Pivotree WMS with 7 microservices under development this year.

First Quarter 2023 Results

Selected Financial Measures

Three months ended March 31, 2023 2023 2022 $ Change % Change $ $ $ % Managed Services 11,011,154 9,828,477 1,182,677 12.0% Professional Services 14,035,213 14,668,647 (633,434) -4.3% Total Revenue 25,046,367 24,497,124 549,243 2.2%

Key Performance Indicators

Three Months Ending

March 31 YoY Change 2023 2022 Change % Change Total ARR (1) 45,919,552 43,482,436 2,437,116 5.6% ARR Bookings 878,698 1,479,327 (600,629) (40.6%) Non-Recurring Bookings 15,231,810 17,532,941 (2,301,131) (13.1%) Total Bookings 16,110,508 19,012,268 (2,901,760) (15.3%) Net Revenue Retention Rate in Constant Currency (1) 95.1% 88.5% 6.6% Note: (1) Point-in-time metrics for current quarter only

Non-IFRS Metrics

Three months ended March 31, 2023 2023 2022 Adjusted EBITDA 881,877 205,752 Adjusted Free Cash Flow 294,960 (391,532)

Conference Call

Management will host a live Zoom Video Webinar on Friday, May 12, 2023 at 8:30 am ET to discuss these first quarter 2023 results. The webinar can be accessed through the following registration link: https://pivotree.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_yL48kLoBQj-pbsvfCJh7tg.

A replay will be available approximately two hours after the conclusion of the live event and posted on https://investor.pivotree.com/.

Results of Operations

The following table outlines our consolidated statements of loss and comprehensive loss for the three months ended March 31, 2023 and 2022.

Three months ended March 31, 2023 2022 $ $ Revenue 25,046,367 24,497,124 Cost of revenue 13,441,511 14,072,847 Gross profit 11,604,856 10,424,277 Operating expenses General and administrative 3,277,321 3,209,796 Sales and marketing 2,849,260 2,151,425 Research and development 838,513 1,048,498 IT and Operations 3,776,061 3,760,687 Loss (gain) on foreign exchange (6,451) 68,792 Amortization and Depreciation 1,625,873 2,686,669 Stock based compensation 238,574 268,531 Restructuring and Other 130,582 113,709 Interest 109,411 71,910 12,839,142 13,380,017 Income before other items (1,234,286) (2,955,740) Other items (expenses) 0 (0) Interest income 11,724 20,673 Operating loss (1,222,562) (2,935,068) Current taxes (195,806) (580,326) Deferred taxes - 212,394 Net income (loss) (1,418,368) (3,302,999) Other comprehensive income (loss) Foreign translation adjustment - 1,971,814 Comprehensive income (loss) (1,418,368) (1,331,185) Income (Loss) per share - basic (0.05) (0.13) Weighted average number of common shares outstanding - basic 26,625,010 25,298,992

Cash Flows

Three months ended March 31, 2023 2023 2022 $ $ Cash and cash equivalents, beginning of period 17,346,028 24,570,287 Net cash provided by (used in): - - Operating activities (1,079,853) (4,160,077) Investing activities (205,276) (189,266) Financing activities (222,248) (262,233) Effect of foreign exchange on cash and cash equivalents - - Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash (1,507,377) (4,611,576) Cash and cash equivalents, end of period 15,838,651 19,958,711

Non-IFRS Measures and Reconciliation of Non-IFRS Measures

This press release makes reference to certain non-IFRS measures including key performance indicators used by management and typically used by our competitors in the technology industry. These measures are not recognized measures under IFRS and do not have a standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS and are therefore not necessarily comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. Rather, these measures are provided as additional information to complement those IFRS measures by providing further understanding of our results of operations from management's perspective. Accordingly, these measures should not be considered in isolation nor as a substitute for analysis of our financial information reported under IFRS. These non-IFRS measures and technology metrics are used to provide investors with supplemental measures of our operating performance and liquidity and thus highlight trends in our business that may not otherwise be apparent when relying solely on IFRS measures. We also believe that securities analysts, investors and other interested parties frequently use non-IFRS measures, including technology industry metrics, in the evaluation of companies in the technology industry. Management also uses non-IFRS measures and technology industry metrics in order to facilitate operating performance comparisons from period to period, the preparation of annual operating budgets and forecasts and to determine components of executive compensation. The non-IFRS measures and technology industry metrics referred to in this press release include, "Recurring and Non-Recurring Revenue", "Adjusted EBITDA" and "Free Cash Flow".

Adjusted EBITDA

Adjusted EBITDA is used by management as a supplemental measure to review and assess operating performance and provide a more complete understanding of factors and trends affecting our business. Management believes that Adjusted EBITDA is a useful measure of operating performance and our ability to generate cash-based earnings, as it provides a relevant picture of operating results by excluding the effects of financing and investing activities which removes the effects of interest, depreciation and amortization expenses as non-cash items that are not reflective of our underlying business performance, and other one-time or non-recurring expenses. The Company defines Adjusted EBITDA as net income (loss) excluding taxes, interest and finance costs, amortization and depreciation, restructuring and other, and share based compensation. Management believes that these adjustments are appropriate in making Adjusted EBITDA an approximation of cash-based earnings from operations before capital replacement, financing, and income tax charges. Adjusted EBITDA does not have a standardized meaning under IFRS and is not a measure of operating income, operating performance or liquidity presented in accordance with IFRS and is subject to important limitations. The Company's definition of Adjusted EBITDA may be different than similarly titled measures used by other companies.

The following table reconciles Adjusted EBITDA to net loss for the periods indicated:

Three months ended March 31, 2023 2023 2022 Net Income (loss) (1,418,368) (3,303,001) Depreciation & Amortization (1) 1,625,873 2,686,669 Interest (2) 109,411 71,910 Taxes 195,806 367,932 EBITDA 512,722 (176,490) Stock-Based Compensation (3) 238,574 268,531 Restructuring & Other (4) 130,582 113,711 Adjusted EBITDA 881,877 205,752

Notes: (1) Depreciation and amortization expense is primarily related to depreciation expense on right-of-use assets ("ROU assets"), intangibles and property and equipment. (2) Interest expenses are primarily related to interest and accretion expense on the secured debentures and convertible promissory notes. Included within is also the interest incurred on lease obligations. (3) Stock-Based Compensation represents non-cash expenditures recognized in connection with the issuance of share-based compensation to our employees, advisors, and directors. (4) Restructuring & Other expenses are related to restructuring, merger and acquisitions and extraordinary events that are not considered an expense indicative of continuing operations.

Adjusted Free Cash Flow

Adjusted Free Cash Flow is defined as adjusted EBITDA from operations less payments to property and equipment, deferred development costs and principal lease payments. The following table provides a proxy of cash flow from the business:

Three months ended March 31, 2023 2023 2022 Adjusted EBITDA 881,877 205,752 Cash Financed Capital Expenditure (205,275) (140,350) Payment of Capital Leases (272,231) (336,108) Deferred Development 0 (48,916) Interest Expense (109,411) (71,910) Adjusted Free Cash Flow 294,960 (391,532)

Key Performance Indicators

Due to our service model, we recognize revenue within managed and professional services based on the recurring nature of the work and the actual effort extended. Both managed and professional services carry a recurring component where we recognize revenues based on the contractual committed fees with contract terms being one to three years, providing for a high degree of visibility into near-term revenues.

Management uses a number of metrics, including the ones identified below, to measure the Company's performance and customer trends, which are used to prepare financial plans and shape future strategy. Our key performance indicators may be calculated in a manner different than similar key performance indicators used by other companies.

Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR). We define Annual Recurring Revenue as the annualized equivalent value of the most recent quarter's recurring revenue of all existing managed services and professional services contracts that contain a minimum committed spend with total ARR being inclusive of related overage fees and customer credits as at the date being measured, and excluding any non-recurring set up fees and short-term standalone projects. The revenues captured are related to customer contracts that generally span a one to three-year contract term with most of the managed services being non-cancelable. Almost all of our customer contracts, contributing to ARR, automatically renew unless canceled by our customers. Actual ARR versus new ARR Bookings would be expected to increase with the related overage charges and through the upsell of additional services across our categories. ARR provides us with visibility for consistent and predictable growth to our cash flows. ARR will continue to be a key performance indicator for the Company on a go-forward basis. See "Non-IFRS Measures and Reconciliation of Non-IFRS Measures - Recurring and Non-Recurring Revenue" for the recurring revenue in the most recent quarter to support ARR.

Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) bookings: This is defined as the new contractual bookings with existing and new customers for services that include minimum committed levels that automatically renew and generally span a one to three-year contract term. This amount may also include set up fees associated with deployment of services. The bookings on renewals of similar services are recorded using the net incremental amounts to provide readers with revenue growth expectations. The bookings conversion to revenue will depend on the time it takes to deploy a given purchased service, which is driven by the complexity of the solution. The actual impact on revenue could vary from actuals once overage and seasonal consumption charges are captured, as they are not estimated and recorded at time of booking. The revenue conversion may also be impacted as booking will capture amendments in existing services that convert on demand services to longer term agreements with minimum commitments. It is important to note that while this is an indicator of revenue and future potential revenue, it cannot be reconciled to actual revenue recognized or industry book to bill metrics.

Non-Recurring Bookings: This is defined as contractual bookings with existing and new customers primarily for professional services projects but would also include one-time managed service set up fees, and short- term managed services arrangements. The conversion to non-recurring revenue, will depend on the start date and ramp up with revenue being recognized through the duration of the projects, as the defined scope is delivered. The bookings amount may differ from actual revenues where the fees are based on a time and material structure.

Total Bookings: This is defined as ARR booking plus the contract value of the Non- Recurring Bookings

Net Revenue Retention Rate in Constant Currency: We define Net Revenue Retention Rate in constant currency for a period by considering the group of customers on our platform as of twelve months prior and dividing our ARR attributable to such group of customers at the end of the period by the ARR at the beginning of such period. By implication, this ratio excludes any ARR from new customers acquired during the period, but it does include incremental sales added to the cohort base of customers during the period being measured. The benefits of cross selling and expanding our level of integrations and support is realized when we can achieve high Net Revenue Retention Rates. We reach constant currency for the reported period by applying the average foreign exchange of the comparable period from twelve months prior to translate the reported period results.

Annual Recurring Revenue, Bookings and Net Revenue Retention Rate for the three months ended March 31, 2023 are as follows:

Three Months Ending

March 31 YoY Change 2023 2022 Change % Change Total ARR (1) 45,919,552 43,482,436 2,437,116 5.6% ARR Bookings 878,698 1,479,327 (600,629) (40.6%) Non-Recurring Bookings 15,231,810 17,532,941 (2,301,131) (13.1%) Total Bookings 16,110,508 19,012,268 (2,901,760) (15.3%) Net Revenue Retention Rate in Constant Currency (1) 95.1% 88.5% 6.6% Note: (1) Point-in-time metrics for current quarter only

Forward-looking information

This press release contains "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively, "forward-looking information") within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking information may relate to the Company's future financial outlook and anticipated events or results and may include information regarding the Company's financial position, business strategy, growth strategies, addressable markets, budgets, operations, financial results, taxes, dividend policy, plans and objectives. Particularly, information regarding the Company's expectations of future results, performance, achievements, prospects or opportunities or the markets in which the Company operates is forward-looking information. In some cases, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "targets", "expects", "budgets", "scheduled", "estimates", "outlook", "forecasts", "projects", "prospects", "strategy", "intends", "anticipates", "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might", or "will" occur. In addition, any statements that refer to expectations, intentions, projections or other characterizations of future events or circumstances contain forward-looking information. Statements containing forward-looking information are not historical facts but instead represent management's expectations, estimates and projections regarding future events or circumstances. The forward-looking information contained herein includes, but is not limited to, proposed expansion of the Company's market position and potential acquisitions.

Forward-looking information is necessarily based on a number of opinions, estimates and assumptions that, while considered by the Company to be appropriate and reasonable as of the date of this press release, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to, risks and uncertainties associated with market conditions and the satisfaction of all applicable regulatory requirements, as well as risks and uncertainties associated with the Company's business and finances in general.

If any of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or if the opinions, estimates or assumptions underlying forward-looking information prove incorrect, actual results or future events might vary materially from those anticipated in forward-looking information. The opinions, estimates or assumptions referred to above and the risk factors described in the "Risk Factors" section of the prospectus of the Company dated October 23, 2020 should be considered carefully.

Although the Company has attempted to identify important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other risk factors not presently known to the Company or that the Company presently believes is not material that could also cause actual results or future events to differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking information. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information, which speaks only as of the date made. Forward-looking information contained in this press release represents the Company's expectations as of the date of this press release (or as of the date they are otherwise stated to be made), and are subject to change after such date. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation or undertaking to update or revise any forward-looking information whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required under applicable securities laws.

About Pivotree

Pivotree, a leader in frictionless commerce, designs, builds and manages digital platforms in Commerce, Data Management, and Supply Chain for over 250 major retail and branded manufacturers globally. Pivotree's portfolio of digital solutions, managed and professional services help provide retailers with true end-to-end solutions to manage complex digital commerce platforms, along with ongoing support from strategic planning through platform selection, deployment, and hosting, to data and supply chain management. Headquartered in Toronto, Canada with offices and customers in the Americas, EMEA, and APAC, Pivotree is widely recognized as a high-growth company and industry leader. For more information, visit www.pivotree.com.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Contacts

Dennis Fong, Investor Relations

dennis.fong@loderockadvisors.com

(416) 283-9930



Mo Ashoor, Chief Financial Officer

investor@pivotree.com

(416) 938-8084
Jiao Jian comes with deep experience in international business management

Appointed President of Sinochem Holdings in March 2023

Previously held a series of key executive roles at China Minmetals Corporation

Following a Board of Directors and Extraordinary Shareholders' meeting held by Syngenta Group on May 12, 2023, the company announced that Jiao Jian has been unanimously elected as a new director of the company, effective immediately. Mr. Jiao currently serves as President of Sinochem Holdings, the parent company of Syngenta Group. He was appointed to that position in March of this year.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230512005116/en/

Sinochem Holdings President JIAO Jian joins Syngenta Group Board of Directors (Photo: Business Wire)

Mr. Jiao, born in 1968, formerly served as Vice president of China Minmetals Corporation, Chairman of Minmetals Resources Company, and Director and President of China Minmetals Corporation Limited. Prior to that, he held a series of executive positions at China Minmetals, extending back to 2008. He possesses considerable expertise in the field of international business management.

A graduate of Saint Mary's University in Halifax, Canada, he earned his master's in business administration from the institution, and also holds a bachelor's degree in international economics from Nankai University in Tianjin, China.

Li Fanrong, Chairman of Sinochem Holdings Corporation Ltd. and Syngenta Group, remarked: "All of us are very pleased to have Jiao Jian join our Board. His long experience in international business and markets will provide invaluable perspective benefitting the work we do at Syngenta Group, and his involvement will ensure close communication and alignment between our enterprise and that of our parent company. His presence on our Board will serve to strengthen our ability to deliver advanced solutions and services to the global agricultural sector."

Mr. Jiao said: "The agricultural innovations that Syngenta Group provides are not simply an important component of our broader activities at Sinochem Holdings. They represent a critical feature of the global food value chain and are vital to ensuring food security and environmental conservation around the world. We take the long-term mission and purpose of Syngenta Group very seriously, and I look forward to supporting it in meeting its ambitious goals."

About Syngenta Group

Syngenta Group is one of the world's biggest agricultural technology companies, with roots going back more than 250 years. With more than 57,000 employees, operating in more than 100 countries, the company strives to transform food production through Regenerative Agriculture a science-driven, technology-enabled approach to improve soil, deliver high productivity and high-quality food, help fight climate change and restore lost biodiversity. Syngenta Group, which is registered in Shanghai, China, and has its management headquarters in Switzerland, draws strength from its four business units: Syngenta Crop Protection, headquartered in Switzerland; Syngenta Seeds, headquartered in the United States; ADAMA, headquartered in Israel; and Syngenta Group China. Together, these businesses provide industry-leading ways to serve customers around the world.

For Syngenta Group photos and videos, please visit the Syngenta Group Media Library.

Data protection is important to us. You are receiving this publication on the legal basis of Article 6 para 1 lit. f GDPR ("legitimate interest"). However, if you do not wish to receive further information about Syngenta Group, just send us a brief informal message and we will no longer process your details for this purpose. You can also find further details in our privacy statement.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This document may contain forward-looking statements, which can be identified by terminology such as "expect," "would," "will," "potential," "plans," "prospects," "estimated," "aiming," "on track" and similar expressions. Such statements may be subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from these statements. For Syngenta Group, such risks and uncertainties include risks relating to legal proceedings, regulatory approvals, new product development, increasing competition, customer credit risk, general economic and market conditions, compliance and remediation, intellectual property rights, implementation of organizational changes, impairment of intangible assets, consumer perceptions of genetically modified crops and organisms or crop protection chemicals, climatic variations, fluctuations in exchange rates and/or grain prices, single source supply arrangements, political uncertainty, natural disasters, and breaches of data security or other disruptions of information technology. Syngenta Group assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect actual results, changed assumptions or other factors.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230512005116/en/

Contacts:

Media Relations

media@syngentagroup.com
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - May 12, 2023) - Canadian Gold Corp. (TSXV: CGC) ("Canadian Gold" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that its Phase 1 exploration program at the 100%-owned Tartan Mine near Flin Flon, Manitoba will begin on June 1, 2023. The Company is using this opportunity to highlight for shareholders the discovery potential on the property, specifically at the mine, and at its recently acquired projects adjacent to Agnico Eagle's Hammond Reef Gold Deposit (Ontario) and Barrick's Hemlo Gold Mine (Ontario). The Company plans to update shareholders in the coming weeks on its various initiatives designed to improve the economics of the Tartan Mine and its future advancement.

Phase 1 Exploration Program Summary

4,000 m drill program at the Tartan Mine to extend the high-grade gold mineralization of the Main Zone to depth below the current resource. The two deepest holes, drilled in 2021, intersected 23.8 gpt gold over 12.6 m, including 47.6 gpt gold over 5.8 m and 9.73 gpt gold over 4.15 m (Fig. 1 & 2).

Advance exploration targets near the mine's infrastructure to a drill ready stage. Numerous targets have been identified, including a possible southwest extension of the Tartan Mine, where drilling between 2003-2005 intersected 39.0 gpt gold over 0.85 m and 11.3 gpt gold over 2.7 m.

Fieldwork to commence in the second half of 2023 on the recently acquired Hammond Reef North/South and HEES Project (Hemlo area). Target areas for follow up exploration have been prioritized based on the 2022 results. The objective is to identify follow up targets for diamond drilling.

Figure 1. Tartan Mine long section illustrating grade thickness of the Main Zone

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

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Figure 2: Main Zone post-2017 drilling and location of planned 2023 phase 1 drilling.

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

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Tartan Mine

1) Extend High-Grade Main Zone

A 4,000 m drill program targeting the Main Zone ("MZ") and recently identified Hanging Wall Zone ("HWZ") of the Tartan Mine is expected to commence on June 1, 2023. The primary objective is to expand, define, and explore the HWZ discovery made in December 2021 that intersected 23.8 gpt gold over 12.6 m, including 47.6 gpt gold over 5.8 m (Fig. 1 & 2). The HWZ was intersected approximately 675 m below surface and 100 m below the limit of the 2017 NI 43-101 mineral resource estimate ("MRE"). Both the MZ and HWZ are open along strike and at depth. The 2017 MRE extends to a depth of 575 m and contains an indicated resource of 240 koz at 6.3 gpt gold and an inferred resource of 37 koz at 4.9 gpt gold (Tartan Technical Report authored by Mining Plus April 2017, www.sedar.com).

2) Advancing Regional Exploration Targets

The large 27 km2 land package at the Tartan Mine remains underexplored. The Company believes that by using modern exploration methods and tools new discoveries can be made.

During the 2023 field season, the Company will evaluate its regional and near mine exploration targets. The objective of the program is to discover, outline and prioritize prospects for additional drilling. Exploration targets currently identified are listed below, and a map of the occurrences can be seen in Fig 3 & 4.

Figure 3. Location of regional exploration targets.

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/3276/165865_figure_3_550.jpg

Figure 4. Location of near mine exploration targets.

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

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Near Mine Targets:

Target 1 : Approximately 200 m southwest of the Tartan Mine, multiple historic drill holes (2003-2005) intersected high-grade gold including 39.0 gpt gold over 0.85 m, 7.8 gpt gold over 2.9 m and 11.3 gpt gold over 2.7 m. These encouraging results were not followed up. These intersections indicate southern displacement and continuity of the gold mineralization to the west.

Target 2 : East of the Tartan Mine the gold mineralization remains open along strike. Previous drill holes intersected 3.2 gpt gold over 4.6 m (including 12.8 gpt gold over 0.7 m), 3.5 gpt gold over 3 m and 2.8 gpt gold over 7.9 m. The gold mineralization is expected to continue east near surface and at depth.

Target 3 : Located south of the South Zone ("SZ") deposit, abundant shears, known to host gold-mineralization, are present and have not been adequately tested. Historic drilling that targeted the SZ collared into some of these shears and include 22.0 gpt gold over 1.31 m from 25 m depth suggesting that untested parallel zones of mineralization occur at this location.

Regional Exploration Targets:

Target 1 : Ruby Lake - Shearing and mineralized veins have been exposed in a series of historical trenches and pits located east of Ruby Lake. The area is 650 m west of the MZ and may represent an extension of the shearing that hosts the MZ mineralization.

Target 2 : SE Zone - A shear zone with mineralized veins is located 300 m southeast of the SZ. Historic grab samples from this area returned up to 6.2 gpt gold and channel samples up to 2.5 gpt gold over 1.5 m.

Target 3 : A gold occurrence located 750 m east of the main zone across the lake was documented. The area may represent an eastern extension of the gold mineralization.

Target 4 : Tailing Pond Zone - A shear zone hosting veining and mineralization was identified 950 m east of the SZ. Limited shallow exploration drilling in 2003 intersected 3.2 gpt gold over 2 m and the area remains poorly tested.

Target 5 : Tartan Lake East Arm - 3.5 km east of the Tartan Mine a gold occurrence was documented; however, no record of exploration work exists for the area.

Target 6 : One Island Lake - A schist with veining and mineralization is located on the north shore of the lake and has been exposed in historical trenches. Limited shallow historic drilling was conducted in the area in 1984 with multiple intersections of anomalous gold including 2.3 gpt gold over 1.31 m.

Target 7 : A large regional structure that parallels the Tartan Mine occurs 1 km to the north. This structure has never been explored and could be a host for additional zones of mineralization.

Target 8 : Batters Lake - Abundant shearing, known to host gold mineralization, has been identified. The shearing occurs on the same regional structure that hosts the Tartan Mine and could contain similar zones of mineralization.

Target 9 : Swordfish Lake - Similar to Target 8, the area occurs along the same regional structure where shearing is present and could contain zones of mineralization.

Recently Acquired Projects

Hammond Reef North/South Projects:

The Hammond Reef North and South properties are located adjacent to Agnico Eagle's Hammond Reef Gold Project, a large tonnage, low-grade gold deposit in Western Ontario. Exploration on the properties to date has illustrated similarities to the Hammond Reef deposit including the geology and occurrences of anomalous surface samples up to 4.1 gpt gold on the property and up to 28.1 gpt gold regionally. Additional prospecting and surface sampling is planned given the occurrences of anomalous gold and the proximity to the Hammond Reef Deposit. The aim of the 2023 prospecting program is to advance and discover additional occurrences that can then be prioritized for additional exploration work including drilling.

HEES Project:

The HEES property is located east of Barrick Gold's Hemlo mine and presents an excellent underexplored land package near a world-class gold deposit. Limited surface exploration conducted in 2022 identified historic placer mining on the property, which coincidently is the same evidence that led to the discovery of gold at Hemlo. During the 2023 field season a detailed prospecting campaign centered around the occurrence of historic placer mining is planned.

In addition to the work by the Company, the HEES property is part of a large area selected for a PhD research project funded by Barrick Gold. The aim of this research is to better understand the geochemical evolution of the Superior province including the Hemlo Greenstone Belt that could help identify metalliferous terrain.

For Further Information, Please Contact:

Jennifer Boyle, B.A., LL.B.

Director/Executive Vice President

Canadian Gold Corp.

(416) 904-2714

jennifer@capexgroupinc.com

About Canadian Gold Corp.

Canadian Gold Corp. is a Toronto-based mineral exploration and development company whose objective is to expand the high-grade gold resource at the past producing Tartan Mine, located in Flin Flon, Manitoba. The Company holds a 100% interest in greenfields exploration properties in Ontario and Quebec adjacent to some of Canada's largest gold mines and development projects, specifically, the Canadian Malartic Mine (QC), the Hemlo Mine (ON) and Hammond Reef Project (ON). The Company is 37.6 % owned by Rob McEwen, who was the founder and CEO of Goldcorp and is Chairman and CEO of McEwen Mining Inc.

Qualified Person

Wesley Whymark, P. Geo., is the qualified person who has reviewed and approved the contents of this press release.

CAUTION REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

This news release of Company contains statements that constitute "forward-looking statements." Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause Canadian Gold's actual results, performance or achievements, or developments in the industry to differ materially from the anticipated results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/165865
Austin, Texas--(Newsfile Corp. - May 12, 2023) - Austin Accident Lawyer (+1-512-246-9191) has announced that it is now offering legal representation to drivers and passengers who have been injured in motorcycle crashes in Pflugerville or across the Texas counties of Travis and Williamson. With its newly announced legal services, Austin Accident Lawyer positions itself to assist victims in their continuing recovery from motor vehicle collisions. Referencing the frequency of long-term ramifications in the aftermath of such accidents, the firm now offers contingency-based representation targeting compensation for injuries and lost wages.

For more information see https://austinaccidentlawyer.com/

Pflugerville Motorcycle Injury Claim Service Announced By Austin Accident Lawyer

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

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As part of its announcement, Austin Accident Lawyer points to its team's examination of the state's most-current legal regulations surrounding personal injury law claims. As such, the attorneys are able to provide visitors to their Austin office with advice and case reviews pertaining to potential compensation pursuits.

The firm presents its latest updates in order to meet increased demand for capable injury claim representation, with the Austin-Round Rock area's population continuing to soar. Higher numbers of commuters as part of a bolstered workforce add to the likelihood of multi-vehicle collisions occurring. In assistance, Austin Accident Lawyer says that its latest services are geared toward such incidents.

Its lawyers cite their extensive experience with a wide variety of personal injuries and emotional damage stemming from vehicle accidents. Austin Accident Lawyer's upgraded services are said to allow the firm to draw on such knowledge in its interactions with insurance companies and opposing counsel in relevant manners during negotiations.

Known to many Austin-area locals as Traub Accident Law Firm, Austin Accident Lawyer stresses that its updated services also cover representation and consultations related to rideshare and public transport-related accidents. Further info is available at https://finance.yahoo.com/news/austin-accident-lawyer-handles-round-112800536.html

As part of continuous moves to keep Austin and Pflugerville locals up to date on the legal implications of recent Texas accidents, Austin Accident Lawyer posts regular articles on its website. Its upgraded services are designed to refer to such incidents when citing precedent in accordance with state law, aiming for sufficient settlements and compensatory figures.

Interested parties in Pflugerville and throughout the surrounding areas can find additional details about Austin Accident Lawyer at https://austinaccidentlawyer.com/

Contact Info:

Name: Andrew Traub

Email: andrew@austinaccidentlawyer.com

Organization: Austin Accident Lawyer

Address: 8701 Shoal Creek Blvd #401, Austin, Texas 78757, United States

Phone: +1-512-246-9191

Website: https://austinaccidentlawyer.com/

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/165352
Phase 1 completed with data readout to be reported in Q3 2023

Preliminary data indicates good safety and tolerance up to highest dose

Neurocentrx (the Company), a biopharmaceutical company specialising in oral ketamine for the treatment of mood disorders and other neurological indications, today provides a positive update on the clinical development of its lead programme, Keticap. Neurocentrx has operations in the UK and is embarking on a growth phase and seeking corporate partners and investors.

Keticap is an oral immediate-release ketamine formulation intended for the treatment of mood disorders such as treatment-resistant depression (TRD) and bipolar depression. The programme is in a phase 1 trial, investigating its safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics effects.

The study is being conducted at King's College London. It is a double blind, randomised, placebo-controlled, partial crossover comparison of single ascending oral doses of Keticap in healthy adult men and women. 18 subjects were randomised, to receive placebo or Keticap at ascending doses from 40 mg up to 240 mg. The last patient was recruited in May 2023.

The initial results indicate that Keticap is safe and well tolerated up to the highest dose level and the formulation is delivering levels of active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) equivalent to therapeutic dose levels seen in efficacy and registration trials. The full readout is expected in Q3 2023.

Neurocentrx has commenced plans for a Phase 2 proof of concept study with Keticap to treat patients with treatment resistant bipolar depression. The study will receive scientific input from a clinical advisory board that includes Professor Allan Young, Director of the Centre for Affective Disorders, at King's College London. The plan is to enrol the first patient later this year.

Additionally, Neurocentrx is collaborating with its academic colleagues to support the use of Keticap in an academic-led trial to treat patients who have long-term illnesses associated with depression. This has an anticipated start date in 2024.

The Company is working closely with the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) on its proposed development programme for TRD.

Carmel Reilly, CEO at Neurocentrx, commented:

"We are entering an exciting phase in the development of Keticap, our oral capsule ketamine for human use, with the Phase 1 trial on track to complete soon. Since our inception our goal has been to develop oral ketamine formulations aimed at treating patients suffering from a wide range of highly debilitating mood conditions, including treatment resistant depression and bipolar depression, chronic anorexia depression and niche orphan indications."

Graeme Duncan, Head of Clinical Development at Neurocentrx, commented:

"We are proud to see the positive progress being made in the development of Keticap. We continue our commitment to improving the lives of patients who suffer from a range of mood disorders and are not responding to standard therapies by providing a cost-effective treatment that can be taken at home. The preliminary data from our Phase 1 studies is very encouraging and we look forward to announcing the full data later this year.

-Ends-

Notes to Editors

About Neurocentrx

Neurocentrx is a UK-based biopharmaceutical company specialising in oral ketamine for the treatment of mood disorders and other indications. The Company's aim is to develop and patent a range of oral capsule formulations, including abuse-deterrent products which are intended for at home-use for a range of indications. For more information, please visit: www.neurocentrx.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230512005164/en/

Contacts:

Neurocentrx

Carmel Reilly

Graeme Duncan

Email: contact@neurocentrx.com



Neurocentrx Instinctif Partners (Media)

Melanie Toyne-Sewell Giulia Lasagni Batoul Ali

Tel: 0207 457 2020

Email: neurocentrx@instinctif.com
NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

VANCOUVER, BC, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Infinity Stone Ventures Corp. (CSE: GEMS) (OTC: GEMSF) (FSE: B2I) (the "Company" or "Infinity Stone"), is pleased to announce a non-brokered private placement of up to 18,000,000 units of the Company ("Units") at a price of $0.05 per Unit (the "Offering"), for aggregate gross proceeds of up to $900,000. Each LIFE Unit will be composed of one (1) Class A Subordinate Voting share in the capital of the Company (a "Share") and one-half of one (1/2) Class A Subordinate Voting share purchase warrant (each whole warrant, a "Warrant"). Each Warrant will entitle the holder thereof to acquire one (1) additional Share (a "Warrant Share") at a price of $0.10 per Warrant Share for a period of 24 months from issuance.





In connection with the Offering, the Company may pay certain finders (each, a "Finder") a cash commission and/or issue such Finders non-transferable share purchase warrants, in accordance with Canadian Securities Exchange ("CSE") policies. The Company intends to use the proceeds raised from the Offering for payment of account payables, exploration expenditures and general working capital. The Offering may close in tranches.

The first tranche of the Offering is expected to close on or around May 25, 2023. The Offering is subject to certain conditions including, but not limited to, receipt of all necessary approvals including the approval of the CSE.

The Offering is being completed pursuant to the listed issuer financing exemption under Part 5A of National Instrument 45-106 Prospectus Exemptions and therefore the securities issued in the Offering to Canadian subscribers will not be subject to a hold period in accordance with applicable Canadian securities laws. There is an offering document related to the Offering that can be accessed under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com and at www.infinitystoneventures.com. Prospective investors should read this offering document before making an investment decision.

The securities issued pursuant to the Offering have not, nor will they be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, U.S. persons in the absence of U.S. registration or an applicable exemption from the U.S. registration requirements. This news release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the securities in the United States or in any other jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

About Infinity Stone Ventures

Infinity Stone's mission is to be a diversified, single source supplier for the critical energy metals being used in the clean energy revolution alongside its established SaaS solution portfolio. Infinity Stone is meeting the demand from battery and wind turbine manufacturers, nuclear and hydrogen energy producers, and energy metals speculators by acquiring 100% interest in critical mineral deposits and occurrences in stable mining-friendly jurisdictions, close to final use destinations in North American manufacturing hubs.

To register for investor updates please visit https://infinitystone.ventures .

Connect with Infinity Stone

Email | Website | Facebook | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram |

Infinity Stone Contact

Zayn Kalyan

CEO and Director

Direct: 778-938-3367

zayn@altuscapital.ca

The Canadian Securities Exchange has not reviewed, approved or disapproved the content of this news release.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. All statements that are not historical facts, including without limitation, statements regarding future estimates, plans, programs, forecasts, projections, objectives, assumptions, expectations or beliefs of future performance, including statements regarding the Offering, the expected closing date of the first tranche of the Offering and the intended use of proceeds from the Offering are "forward-looking statements." These forward-looking statements reflect the expectations or beliefs of management of the Company based on information currently available to it. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including those detailed from time to time in filings made by the Company with securities regulatory authorities, which may cause actual outcomes to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. These factors should be considered carefully, and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release are made as of the date hereof and the Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements or information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless so required by applicable securities laws.

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Six Upcoming Presentations at the Annual Meetings of the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (ASGCT) and of the International Society for Extracellular Vesicles (ISEV)

OXFORD, United Kingdom, May 12, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Evox Therapeutics Ltd ('Evox' or the 'Company'), a leading exosome therapeutics company, will present data at two upcoming international conferences: the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (ASGCT) Annual Meeting, May 16-20, 2023, in Los Angeles, and the International Society for Extracellular Vesicles (ISEV) Annual Meeting, May 17-21, 2023, in Seattle. The six oral presentations and posters highlight the progress made in leveraging the versatility of the Company's DeliverEX exosome platform to deliver a wide range of genetic medicines ranging from genome editors, RNAi and mRNA as well as presenting on other exosome-related advances.



"We have developed the leading exosome engineering platform that is orders of magnitude better than the prior state of the art and is capable of delivering a wide range of protein and RNA drugs," said Antonin de Fougerolles, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Evox Therapeutics. "We believe that exosomes are uniquely suited for delivery of many of these payloads, particularly delivery of gene therapy and genome editors to tissues such as the central nervous system (CNS) where current options are extremely limited. The quick efficient uptake of exosomes into cells and rapid clearance from circulation along with their outstanding safety profile make them ideally suited for these applications".

American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (ASGCT) presentations and posters

Exosome delivery to the CNS (oral presentation): Gupta et al., provide an overview of the ability to engineer exosomes to express any desired therapeutic, including genome editors. In vivo rodent data demonstrated a high degree of gene recombination after direct CNS injection using Evox's proprietary exosome drug loading and release technology.

Gupta et al., provide an overview of the ability to engineer exosomes to express any desired therapeutic, including genome editors. In vivo rodent data demonstrated a high degree of gene recombination after direct CNS injection using Evox's proprietary exosome drug loading and release technology. Engineered extracellular vesicles for delivery of therapeutic small RNA (Abstract 1552, poster): Radler et al., demonstrate that through exosome engineering and incorporation of RNAi binding proteins, they were able to boost the loading of shRNA into exosomes by 300-fold and this resulted in ~90% RNAi-based silencing at the protein and mRNA levels which is on a par with commercial agents.

Radler et al., demonstrate that through exosome engineering and incorporation of RNAi binding proteins, they were able to boost the loading of shRNA into exosomes by 300-fold and this resulted in ~90% RNAi-based silencing at the protein and mRNA levels which is on a par with commercial agents. In situ production of engineered extracellular vesicles for efficient delivery of protein biotherapeutics (Abstract 1323, poster): Roudi et al., explore the ability to produce drug-loaded exosomes directly in animals through conventional non-exosome-mediated delivery of genetic material encoding for in situ production of drug-loaded exosomes.



International Society for Extracellular Vesicles (ISEV) presentations and posters

Development of an EV-mediated mRNA delivery platform, outperforming an equal mRNA dose delivered by LNPs (oral presentation): Smith et al., demonstrate that through exosome engineering mRNA loading into exosomes is improved by 650-fold and achieve in vivo functional delivery that outperforms an equal low dose of mRNA delivered by lipid nanoparticle.

Smith et al., demonstrate that through exosome engineering mRNA loading into exosomes is improved by 650-fold and achieve in vivo functional delivery that outperforms an equal low dose of mRNA delivered by lipid nanoparticle. Development of exogenous loading platforms for functional targeted EV-mediated siRNA therapeutics delivery (PF09.09; poster ): Levitin et al., report on progress loading of siRNA into/onto exosomes and demonstrate functional silencing activity of exosome-delivered siRNA.

): Levitin et al., report on progress loading of siRNA into/onto exosomes and demonstrate functional silencing activity of exosome-delivered siRNA. Optimization of Single EV Imaging Flow Cytometry for Quantification of Extracellular Vesicle Subsets (PT15.05, poster): Gorgens et al., define and optimize the various parameters required for single EV detection, and use this method to compare sensitivities of different instruments and performance of diluent buffers.

About Evox Therapeutics

Evox Therapeutics is a privately held, Oxford-based biotechnology company that is a leader in harnessing and engineering the natural delivery capabilities of extracellular vesicles (EVs), known as exosomes, to develop an entirely new class of therapeutics for the treatment of severe rare diseases. Evox uses its proprietary DeliverEX technology to engineer exosomes to facilitate drug delivery to organs of interest, including the brain and the central nervous system. Exosome-based drugs have the potential to address some of the limitations of genetic medicines such as gene therapy, gene editing, and RNA therapeutics by enabling safe non-immunogenic repeated delivery to cells and tissues that are currently out of reach using other drug delivery technologies. Evox is backed by leading life sciences venture capital groups including Redmile and OrbiMed, and is supported by a comprehensive intellectual property portfolio.

For further information visit:

For enquiries, please contact:

U.S. Investors:

Burns McClellan

Investor.Relations@burnsmc.com

U.S. Media:

Burns McClellan

Media.Relations@burnsmc.com

Evox:

Dr. Antonin de Fougerolles, CEO

+44 (0) 1865 819140


MOSCOW (dpa-AFX) - The UN-brokered Black Sea Initiative, aimed at ensuring the flow of grain, foodstuffs and fertilizer amid global shortages exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, has now allowed the safe export of more than 30 million tons.



That was the message conveyed by the UN Humanitarian Affairs chief Martin Griffiths to a meeting held in Istanbul, to discuss the future of the Initiative, which remains fragile.



Senior officials from the signatories to the deal, Russia, and Ukraine, together with officials of the UN and Turkiye, which mediated the agreement, attended the meeting.



In a press note issued by the UN Spokesperson's Office on the meeting, Griffiths congratulated the parties to the deal - who also run the Joint Coordination Centre hub, based in Istanbul - on reaching the 30 million metric tons mark from Ukraine, and 'reiterated the importance of the Initiative for global food security'.



The UN relief chief also recognized the important contribution of food and fertilizer exports from Russia.



The meeting discussed the recent proposals made by the UN to advance the deal, namely the resumption of the Togliatti-Odesa ammonia pipeline, the longer extension of the Initiative, improvements at the JCC, 'for stable operations and exports, as well as other issues raised by the parties.'



'The parties presented their views and agreed to engage with those elements going forward', said the Spokesperson's Office.



Griffiths stressed that the United Nations would 'continue to work closely with all sides to achieve the continuation and full implementation of the Initiative, in pursuit of their broader shared commitment to addressing global food insecurity.'



Ukraine has been supplying more than half of the World Food Program's total global wheat procurement in the last two years.



As talks have continued in the past few months about extending the deal, exports have dipped by nearly 30 per cent, with JCC inspection rates dropping significantly to an average of 2.9 completed inspections daily, for the month of May.



As per the latest update from the Office of the UN Coordinator for the deal, the UN and Turkiye's delegation were working closely with Ukraine and Russia, aiming to facilitate movements and inspections of inbound and outbound ships, 'within the framework of the Initiative and agreed procedures, while discussions for the future of the Initiative continue.'



The Black Sea Initiative, which provides a safe maritime humanitarian corridor for shipping out vital food and fertilizer exports from designated Ukrainian sea ports, came into effect on July 22 last year.



As Russia continues to press hard with its aggression on Ukrainian territories, the progress of the initiative remains fragile and price pressures remain.



Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov, who took part in the Istanbul talks, demanded that the deal should be extended for a longer period and expanded.



Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu was quoted as saying that the grain deal could be extended for at least two months.



While food prices have gone down from their all-time high at the start of the war, they are still high compared to pre-crisis levels, according to UNCTAD's recent report.



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EQS-News: CK Hutchison Holdings Limited / Key word(s): Miscellaneous

CK Hutchison forms mobile network company in Italy with EQT Infrastructure



12.05.2023 / 14:20 CET/CEST

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.





CK Hutchison forms mobile network company in Italy with EQT Infrastructure In line with CKHGT's "asset light" strategy to improve operational efficiencies while unlocking WINDTRE's network business' value

Creates the first independent wholesale mobile network services provider in Italy

Improves WINDTRE's capital allocation and allows WINDTRE to further its strategic focus on core product offerings HONG KONG SAR - Media OutReach - 12 May 2023 - CK Hutchison Group Telecom ("CKHGT"), a wholly owned subsidiary of CK Hutchison Holdings Limited, and EQT Infrastructure, part of the global private equity firm EQT, have agreed to form a new company ("Company") that will provide wholesale mobile and wholesale fixed communications services in Italy. CKHGT's Italian mobile business, WINDTRE, will transfer its active network equipment and wholesale mobile and wholesale fixed communications services business in Italy to the new Company, which will be 60% owned by EQT Infrastructure while CKHGT will hold 40%. A board will be formed to oversee the Company. It will consist of four members nominated by EQT Infrastructure and CKHGT (two each respectively) as well as several independents. The enterprise value of the new company is EUR3.4 billion. WINDTRE will be the anchor tenant of the newly formed Company, signing a long-term service agreement, providing continuity for its retail customers, while benefiting from innovative technologies, cash flow advantages, as well as providing services to its retail customers on a state-of-the-art network. WINDTRE will focus on servicing its retail customers while expanding its revenue streams beyond its core retail offering of fixed and mobile services. CKHGT will benefit from an investment in an independent network business that will be better able to tap into the wholesale telecommunications market and attract B2B customers and IT servicers looking for a partner for their IoT, public network and 5G projects. Furthermore, customers of the new Company will have the assurance of collaborating with a mobile network operator with its own separate management independent of WINDTRE. "This is part of our Group's 'asset light strategy' for us to recoup the cost of our network investment. At the same time, WINDTRE will benefit from having a partner to own and maintain a state-of-the-art network which will benefit our customers while having certainty on its cost base for OPEX and CAPEX," said Canning Fok, Group Co-Managing Director of CK Hutchison and Managing Director of CKHGT. "Our partner EQT is a renowned investor in this infrastructure investment space, and we look forward to working with them for a very long time." The transaction is subject to certain procedures and regulatory approvals and is expected to close in six to nine months. For more information about the company, please visit www.ckh.com.hk For media inquiries, please contact:

CK Hutchison Holdings Limited Hans Leung Email: hansl@ckh.com.hk



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NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / May 12, 2023 / Benevity



Benevity's Corporate Goodness Awards, also known as "The Goodies," celebrate the bold, innovative, inclusive and creative ways our clients are making a difference in the world - and how they inspire other people through purpose

Congrats to the 2023 Goodie Award winners announced at our annual corporate purpose conference, Benevity Live! in San Diego, California.

The Bestie Award - American Family Insurance

For best-in-class approach and overall impact

American Family Insurance isn't afraid to disrupt the status quo. They are radically changing the landscape of philanthropy as one of the first companies to fully embrace trust-based granting. Plus, they make long-term grant commitments that increase by 5% every year and renew automatically. On top of that, they encourage employees to step away from their day jobs to work full-time with nonprofits for months at a time and find ways to reduce the burden on nonprofits so they can focus on what matters. They're giving people a sense of meaning that inspires more action and impact, and they're setting a new bar for how companies think about philanthropy.

The Moonshot Award - Vancouver Airport Authority

For boldness and creativity

Vancouver Airport Authority was recognized for their creative and collaborative approach to corporate purpose. In a year marked by the economic fallout from COVID and a war in Ukraine, they creatively rallied employees, customers and surrounding businesses to help address food insecurity and a refugee crisis. The team took a new approach to their usual food drive. Instead of asking folks to donate non-perishable food items, they pre-purchased food at wholesale prices and created a pop-up market that filled 1,264 hampers and raised over $26,000 for their nonprofit partner (which included 200% donation matching) - feeding 7,500 British Columbians! They kept that collaboration going, rallying everyone again to Fill a Box with essential items for refugees arriving from Ukraine, and fulfilling their purpose to be a place where "people feel safe, welcome and supported". For these, and all the other ways they took a departure from their traditional programming, Vancouver Airport Authority achieved a sky high level of impact in 2022.

The Buzz Award - HP Inc.

For catalyzing purpose through communications and storytelling

HP Inc. partnered with communication teams, their company team leads, ERGs and more to reach tens of thousands of colleagues across the world. Then, to create a steady buzz for their massive volunteer campaign, they used creative video emails, social media posts and virtual info sessions. And HP Inc. understood the best stories come directly from their people, so they incentivized their employees to share with extra volunteer rewards and provided them with ready-to-use content to make it easy. They even ran a whole campaign to remind employees to log their volunteer hours, for a chance to earn $500 to donate to a nonprofit they love. HP employees logged 258,131 volunteer hours in 2022, making it their best volunteering year ever. Not only are they this year's Buzz winner but they made People Magazine's 100 Companies That Care list, and they credit their collaborative storytelling for getting there.

The People Power Award - Visa

For promoting purpose through people's passions

Visa's culture fuels their commitment to global equity - with their people using their program to drive equitable impact in the world. Their program is led and supported by 225+ volunteer leads. And in the last year, they increased their ERG membership by a remarkable 50% to 9,000 members. Employees are actively involved in decision-making for the company's granting program, nominating issues they want to help solve - with up to two nonprofit partners in each city receiving grants of up to $250,000. Additionally, employees get to support underrepresented small businesses across 80+ countries through mentorship and loans. Supported by the company's partnership with the world's first online lending platform, Kiva, they've directed $1.2 million in loans to 52,000 SMBs in 40 countries, 86% of which are women-owned. With an awe-inspiring 80% of their 26,500 employees globally participating in granting and volunteering, Visa proves that employee involvement and empowerment builds best-in-class programs.

The Community Hero Award - Motorola Solutions

For best-in-class approach to community investment

Motorola Solutions stepped up to help the first responder community, dedicating a big part of their granting program to providing these community heroes with mental health and family support. It's also important to them that they drive more diverse representation in the next generation of tech leaders, so they provide tech and engineering scholarships and work placements to underserved youth in their communities. Involving their employees in reviewing grants applications is central to their program philosophy and employees can track that time as volunteer hours to receive donation currency to further multiply their impact in their community. In 2022, $9.5 million in grants were awarded to more than 160 organizations in 23 countries. An impressive 75% of that funding benefited people of color, and over 2 million first responders, teachers and students benefited directly from their investments.

The BeCause Award - CSAA Insurance Group

For dedication to causes

In 2022, CSAA Insurance Group worked with teams across the company to find new ways to help their nonprofit partners create more impact. That involved everything from working with HR to offer free temporary office space to nonprofits, including a food bank undergoing renovations, to tapping their legal team to run clinics that offered their expertise. CSAA also offers unrestricted funding for grantees, pays for all volunteer events that nonprofits often have to cover themselves, and ensures Goodness opportunities are infused in team meetings and town halls. Offering double volunteer rewards for skills-based volunteering meant that nonprofits got the help they really needed. And implementing special matching campaigns for their community partners saw a 200% increase in donations. CSAA's cause-focused approach to giving ensures roadblocks are removed for their nonprofit partners so they're able to do even more for their communities.

The NewB Award - Toast

For most transformational approach

Toast is brand new to the Benevity community and they hit the ground running with employee giving and volunteering, granting and client and end-user giving - involving all of their stakeholders from the very start. They implemented every best practice, including seeding giving accounts and recruiting employee ambassadors to create 20 events in time for launch. They took the creativity further with three minute donate-a-thons that doubled their participation in just one month. They also involved employees in the granting process and empowered them to create their own giving opportunities. Plus, they used the Benevity Giving API to empower their clients and their clients' customers to round up their bills to support local nonprofits. Since their program's launch in 2022, 225,000 restaurant guests have already rounded up their bills for charity.

The BUFFY Award

For individual leadership, innovation and impact

Fabian Lopez, Global Head of Corporate Social Responsibility at Appfire lives by the program's motto, "if it's big in your heart, it's a call to action for us." He works every day to make Appfire's program inclusive of every cause and everybody, encouraging participation from employees as well as their families and friends, customers and partners. Fabian is known for always showing up, whether it's rolling up his sleeves to paint a school in Guatemala to traveling around the world to raise awareness for the Appfire Town program. Launched in 2022, it's a space where everyone is invited to become a "neighbor" and create social impact in their local and global communities through giving and volunteering. In just four months under Fabian's leadership the program raised $20,000 for Ukraine relief, planted 120 native plants in Patagonia and increased participation in doing good tenfold.

lives by the program's motto, "if it's big in your heart, it's a call to action for us." He works every day to make Appfire's program inclusive of every cause and everybody, encouraging participation from employees as well as their families and friends, customers and partners. Fabian is known for always showing up, whether it's rolling up his sleeves to paint a school in Guatemala to traveling around the world to raise awareness for the Appfire Town program. Launched in 2022, it's a space where everyone is invited to become a "neighbor" and create social impact in their local and global communities through giving and volunteering. In just four months under Fabian's leadership the program raised $20,000 for Ukraine relief, planted 120 native plants in Patagonia and increased participation in doing good tenfold. Noah Salata, Community and Social Impact Advisor at American Family Insurance wasted no time searching for answers when his company asked, "How can we be better community partners?" When "removing barriers" emerged as a response, Noah championed moving to a trust-based approach to philanthropy before many companies were doing it. This led American Family Insurance to remove all reporting and application requirements for its grantees so they could focus 100% of their efforts towards creating impact and changing outcomes for the people they serve. Noah pushes for an equitable approach on behalf of communities and nonprofits alike, embedding decolonization and anti-racism principles into the company's philanthropy practices. He has helped American Family Insurance establish a new vision for community investment that centers around stakeholder philanthropy, and he's paving the way for other leaders to do the same and become the best community partners they can be.

The Employee Catalyst Award

For an employee whose passion creates movements

Julia Coussens from CITGO is not only CITGO's most avid volunteer - logging 115 hours in 2022 alone - but she's rallying others by creating and leading many of Team CITGO's volunteering and fundraising activities. As an active member of CITGO's Environmental Stewardship Committee ERG, she coordinated a team of 390 volunteers in the 2022 Houston Trash Bash. Through this event, she facilitated over 20,000 minutes of volunteer time and generated over $3,000 in volunteer rewards that were then donated to great causes.

is not only CITGO's most avid volunteer - logging 115 hours in 2022 alone - but she's rallying others by creating and leading many of Team CITGO's volunteering and fundraising activities. As an active member of CITGO's Environmental Stewardship Committee ERG, she coordinated a team of 390 volunteers in the 2022 Houston Trash Bash. Through this event, she facilitated over 20,000 minutes of volunteer time and generated over $3,000 in volunteer rewards that were then donated to great causes. Scott Woolcott from Morningstar has been instrumental in taking Morningstar's program global - going well beyond his day job to unify their entire workforce right after a big global acquisition. He helped onboard 15 offices in the EMEA region so everyone, everywhere could participate in their upcoming Global Volunteer Days - achieving over 50% participation. Scott continues to step up as a program resource for employees everywhere, all while leading local efforts for Morningstar's London office and working with local causes.

This year's winners, and all of the nominees, are setting the standard and raising the bar for what it means to be a purpose-driven company.

READ THE FULL STORIES OF EACH GOODIE WINNER ON BENEVITY'S BLOG.

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Benevity on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Benevity

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/benevity

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: Benevity

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/754483/Announcing-the-2023-Corporate-Goodness-Award-Winners
Halifax, Nova Scotia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 12, 2023) - Antler Gold Inc. (TSXV: ANTL) ("Antler" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that Antler and its subsidiary Antler Exploration Zambia Limited ("Antler Exploration") have entered into an option agreement (the "Option Agreement") with Prospect Resources Limited (ASX: PSC) (FSE: 5E8) ("Prospect" or the "Partner") pursuant to which Prospect has an option to acquire 51% interest in Antler Exploration, which holds the Kesya Rare Earth Project ("Project") located in southern Zambia.

Deal Highlights:

Prospect has up to two years to acquire a 51% interest in Antler Exploration which holds the Kesya Rare Earth Project via a total combined counterparty consideration and project expenditure payments amounting to US$3.05 million.

Phase 1 commitment by Prospect is two cash payments of an aggregate of US$150,000 and US$350,000 in exploration expenditures as well as an issuance of US$500,000 worth of Prospect common shares within 30 days of the completion of Phase 1.

Phase 2 option commitment by Prospect is a cash payment of US$150,000 and US$750,000 in exploration expenditures as well as an issuance of US$500,000 worth of Prospect common shares within 30 days of electing to proceed to Phase 2.

The final phase commitment by Prospect is a cash payment of US$150,000 as well as an issuance of US$500,000 worth of Prospect common shares at the end of the 2 year option period which will then earn Prospect 51% of Antler Exploration.

Project Highlights:

The Project covers a Large-Scale Exploration License Application where geological mapping and surface sampling conducted by Antler Exploration has identified a large, rare earth-element enriched carbonatite.

Rock chip samples assayed by Antler Exploration outline very encouraging total rare earth element oxide (TREO) mineralisation contained within monazite and bastnaesite with low levels of uranium and thorium.

The Kesya rock chip results provide highly anomalous surface values in rare earth elements with the highest grab sample to date assaying 6559 ppm (0.66%) TREO.

The grab samples are enriched in neodymium (Nd) and praseodymium (Pr) oxides which average 29% of the TREO content and makes this a very encouraging basket distribution.

Keysa's large amount of carbonatite outcrop allows for easy drill targeting offering prospectivity to rapidly delineate a mineral resource and make a significant new rare earth element discovery in Zambia.

Antler Exploration along with its partner Prospect are preparing for an initial 1,500m diamond drilling program to test the subsurface expression and depth extent of the mapped and sampled rare earth element enriched carbonatite.

Christopher Drysdale, CEO of Antler commented:

"We are extremely excited to announce this agreement with Prospect. It's a testament to our commitment to strategic partnerships with highly credible organizations that share our vision for value creation. Prospect has an outstanding track record, which is demonstrated by their successful advancement of the Arcadia lithium project in Zimbabwe. This agreement represents a significant milestone for Antler Gold as it underscores our ability to identify promising mineral prospects across Africa and align ourselves with top-tier companies. Not only does this partnership enable us to leverage Prospect's industry-leading expertise, but it also establishes a solid foundation for potential future collaborations, while maintaining significant exposure to the highly promising Kesya REE project."

Prospect's Managing Director and CEO, Sam Hosack, commented:

"The Option Agreement we have struck in relation to the highly prospective Kesya REE Project in Zambia is another significant milestone, which extends our reach further into the battery and electrification mineral sector in Africa, in line with our strategic objectives. Kesya has all the ingredients of a world-class, rare earth enriched, carbonatite-hosted system, having also returned significant values of the high-value REEs, neodymium and praseodymium, over a broad surface area of the Project. Zambia is a leading jurisdiction to explore and develop mining operations in subSaharan Africa, having a long-standing history in the resources sector, particularly for copper. This includes excellent infrastructure and strong support from both the government and community, with major companies like Barrick Gold and First Quantum Minerals already calling it home. We are delighted to have reached this agreement with Antler, which is an established and respected Canadian exploration and development company focussed on its flagship Erongo and Onkoshi Gold Projects, located in central Namibia. The Kesya REE Project offers excellent potential to deliver a significant new, highvalue rare earths discovery, with defined existing drilling targets and a well-established operating environment. Subject to the satisfaction of all relevant conditions precedent, this is a high-quality greenfield exploration play for Prospect."

Introduction and deal terms:

The Kesya carbonatite was first identified in 1961 by Bailey in the Kafue district in southern Zambia. An initial mapping campaign by Antler demonstrated that it is enriched with rare earth elements and warrants further exploration and drilling.

The Option Agreement is among Prospect, Antler and a subsidiary of Antler, Antler Exploration. Subject to satisfaction of certain conditions precedent, Prospect will have the right to earn a 51% interest in Antler Exploration over a two-phased earn-in arrangement over two years for total consideration of US$3.05 million, which includes consideration payments to Antler and in-ground project expenditure.

Prospect will pay an initial non-refundable cash payment to Antler of US$50,000 on signing. Following satisfaction of the conditions precedent under Phase 1, Prospect will pay Antler a further US$100,000 in cash, and commit to spend US$350,000 on the Project within one year (subject to certain extensions permitted under the Option Agreement). Prospect will also issue to Antler US$500,000 worth of Prospect common shares at the completion of Phase 1 (the value of the common shares will be set at the price of Prospect shares at the time of signing, based on previous 10-day VWAP).

After completion of Phase 1, Prospect can elect to proceed to Phase 2 or terminate the Option Agreement (and in this case Prospect will hold no interest in Antler Exploration).

If Prospect proceeds to Phase 2, it is required to pay Antler a further US$150,000 in cash and issue US$500,000 worth of Prospect common shares (the value of the common shares will be set at the price of Prospect shares as at the time of election to proceed to Phase 2, based on previous 10-day VWAP), and it will have the right, but not the obligation, to spend a further US$750,000 on the Project within one year from completion of Phase 1 (subject to certain extensions permitted under the Option Agreement).

If Phase 2 is completed, Prospect will be entitled to exercise a call option to acquire 51% of the issued and outstanding shares of Antler Exploration. To exercise the option, Prospect must make a final payment to Antler of US$150,000 cash and issue US$500,000 worth of Prospect common shares (the value of the common shares will be set at the price of Prospect shares as at the time of the exercise of the call option, based on previous 10-day VWAP).

Prospect will consult with Antler in relation to the work program and budget but will ultimately determine and manage all exploration activities in relation to the Project.

Upon completion of the acquisition, Antler Exploration will be governed by a shareholders agreement ("Shareholders Agreement") among its shareholders. Prospect and Antler Exploration have agreed on the key terms of the Shareholder Agreement, with a full form Shareholder Agreement to be entered into in due course. Development funds for the Project are to be contributed by shareholders of Antler Exploration on a pro-rata basis. If a party does not contribute its pro rata share, its shareholding will be diluted via a prescribed formula. Neither party can be diluted below a 15% interest, from which point such interest shall be free-carried through to the completion of a JORC-Code reportable or NI 43-101 compliant Feasibility Study. The shareholder can then elect to convert its free carried interest to a 2% NSR or equivalent ("Royalty") and the other shareholder has a right but not the obligation to purchase one half of the Royalty for US$5,000,000.

Proposed Exploration Programme

There has been no historic drilling done on the Kesya carbonatite and the subsurface beneath the extent of the mapped carbonatite complex and the depth extension is yet to be tested. Antler along with Prospect is designing a preliminary 1,500 metre diamond drilling programme at the project. (Figure.1) The aim is to evaluate the continuity of the identified surface REE mineralisation to depth. The initial exploration plan will be to drill twenty (20) 75m deep holes along the carbonatite as well as its contacts with the country rock by using a heli-man portable drill rig and pending all environmental and statutory approvals.

Project Location and Background

Figure 1.) Proposed Diamond Drill hole location plan for initial 1500m drilling.

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/5124/165868_4cd2c3cab446ab43_002full.jpg

The Kesya REE Project, comprises a single, large-scale exploration license (LEL) application covering 1053.13 hectares and is located near the town of Kafue in southern Zambia in the Kafue Gorge. This license is located approximately 90 km via a tarred road traveling south of the capital city of Lusaka and has water and power infrastructure nearby. Once the LEL is granted, Antler's wholly owned Zambian subsidiary, Antler Exploration Zambia Limited will own 95% of the Kesya REE Project. The remaining 5% of the Project has local ownership.

Figure 2.) Map of the location of the Kesya carbonatite located south of the capital city Lusaka.

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/5124/165868_4cd2c3cab446ab43_004full.jpg

Project Geology

The Kesya Carbonatite intruded into gneisses of the Paleoproterozoic Basement Complex rock sequences near the intersection of the mid-Zambezi-Luangwa Rift Valley and the Kesya Rift.

The Kesya Carbonatite is divided into two major rock types: Firstly, a coarse-grained carbonatite with scattered country rock xenoliths: This carbonatite is mostly composed of coarse sovite with small amounts of chlorite. The second rock type is a carbonatite breccia, which surrounds the main intrusion.

The major minerals identified are magnetite, quartz, apatite, Fe-rich phlogopite, monazite, thorite, Ti-oxides, Fe-sulphides, calcite, ilmenite, and the REE-bearing mineral bastnaesite. Dating of apatite in samples from the carbonatite indicate that it is of Neoproterozoic age (Kesya is ca. 53516 Ma).

Figure 3.) Map of the grab sample locations with associated TREO assay values.

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

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The carbonatite forms a central topographic high surrounded by deeply incised valleys along its margins where weathering processes are more intense.

Field investigations by Antler, and petrological (Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM)) studies completed during 2021 demonstrated that the rare earth mineralisation at Kesya is hosted mainly in monazite (a REE phosphate mineral) and bastnaesite (a REE fluoro-carbonate mineral).

Figure 4.) View of the Kesya carbonatite (Looking towards the East from the Western edge of the Kafue Gorge)

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/5124/165868_4cd2c3cab446ab43_008full.jpg

Rare Earth Element Mineralisation

Antler Gold has completed mapping and sampling campaigns at Kesya in 2021, which involved reconnaissance work across the carbonatite complex and the collection of 51 rock chip grab samples taken on the license.

Figure 6; below shows a small selection of these rock chip grab samples along with their sample ID's O6530 (A), O6537 (B), O6514 (C) and O6551 (D).

The rock chip samples collected by Antler at Kesya proved to be strongly and consistently mineralised with REE, with an average of 1280 ppm (0.13%) Total Rare Earth Oxide (TREO) content, peaking at 6559 ppm (0.66%) TREO.

Encouragingly, these samples also show consistently high contents of neodymium- and praseodymium oxide - key primary materials in the manufacture of strong permanent magnets for powerful motors, used in such devices as large, wind turbines, increasingly utilised in the global renewable energy sector.

Neodymium and praseodymium oxides average 29% of the Total Rare Earth Oxide (TREO) content of the rock chip samples collected from Kesya (Figure 5).





Figure 5.) Pie Chart showing average grades of Individual REO's from the Kesya sampling campaign.



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/5124/165868_antler5en.jpg





Figure 6.) Images of rock chip grab samples from field mapping at Kesya.



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/5124/165868_antler6en.jpg

Summary of most recent grab assay results

Y2O3 La2O3 Ce2O3 Pr2O3 Nd2O3 Sm2O3 Eu2O3 Gd2O3 Tb2O3 Dy2O3 Ho2O3 Er2O3 Tm2O3 Yb2O3 Lu2O3 TREO Grab Sample TREO % X Y ppm ppm ppm ppm ppm ppm ppm ppm ppm ppm ppm ppm ppm ppm ppm ppm ZED001 0.146 654528 8243994 99 199 423 83 428 95 20 61 7 27 4 8 1 5 1 1459 ZED003 0.03 654528 8243994 19 44 117 17 78 16 3 10 1 5 1 2 0 1 0 315 ZED004 0.117 654453 8243961 53 181 457 63 296 53 10 28 3 13 2 5 1 4 1 1169 ZED005 0.125 654603 8243960 66 186 477 67 322 57 11 31 3 15 2 6 1 4 1 1249 ZED006 0.122 654528 8243938 62 186 463 66 311 58 12 33 4 15 2 5 1 4 1 1223 O6501 0.127 655936 8242155 130 186 454 62 285 50 9 35 4 23 4 12 2 12 2 1272 O6503 0.097 655859 8242297 48 147 370 52 247 43 8 26 3 12 2 4 1 3 1 968 O6504 0.202 655543 8242438 94 335 805 109 488 81 15 50 6 23 3 8 1 5 1 2025 O6505 0.089 655536 8242197 42 149 341 46 213 39 9 26 3 11 2 4 0 3 0 888 O6506 0.168 655642 8241806 75 251 657 92 435 75 15 44 5 19 3 6 1 4 1 1683 O6510 0.103 655936 8242316 98 133 358 51 248 50 9 37 4 20 3 8 1 6 1 1029 O6511 0.132 655805 8242525 63 198 506 72 343 59 12 35 4 16 2 5 1 4 1 1320 O6512 0.125 655779 8242562 57 204 491 67 304 54 10 32 3 15 2 5 1 4 1 1251 O6513 0.100 655738 8242593 56 158 388 53 244 42 9 26 3 13 2 5 1 3 1 1003 O6514 0.143 655734 8242626 91 195 522 76 374 72 12 47 5 22 3 7 1 4 1 1432 O6515 0.083 655864 8242675 56 127 313 43 197 35 7 22 3 12 2 4 1 3 0 825 O6520 0.077 655916 8243505 42 118 299 41 191 32 7 20 2 9 1 3 0 3 0 771 O6521 0.097 655865 8243435 47 145 374 53 252 43 10 26 3 11 2 4 0 2 0 971 O6522 0.076 655805 8243283 46 111 285 41 194 36 7 22 2 10 2 4 0 3 0 762 O6523 0.061 655832 8243239 48 83 219 31 149 29 7 20 2 10 1 3 0 2 0 606 O6524 0.094 655748 8243220 46 151 369 51 234 39 8 23 3 10 2 4 0 3 0 944 O6525 0.119 655611 8243079 52 184 463 65 307 50 10 30 3 13 2 5 1 4 1 1188 O6526 0.250 655013 8242769 75 551 1059 125 513 76 16 43 4 17 3 6 1 5 1 2495 O6527 0.105 655125 8242566 52 162 403 56 260 50 10 30 3 14 2 5 1 3 1 1051 O6528 0.089 655446 8242604 44 137 347 48 220 39 7 24 3 11 2 4 0 3 0 891 O6529 0.088 655449 8242692 50 142 340 46 211 35 8 24 3 12 2 4 0 3 0 879 O6530 0.656 655533 8242712 179 1048 2624 372 1750 283 64 156 14 46 6 11 1 5 1 6559 O6531 0.109 655601 8242698 72 143 394 58 282 55 11 39 4 18 3 7 1 4 1 1092 O6532 0.095 655691 8242655 43 151 374 51 232 40 7 24 3 11 2 4 0 3 0 945 O6533 0.148 655143 8242801 67 284 620 77 318 48 10 29 3 13 2 5 1 4 1 1482 O6534 0.138 655216 8242642 66 289 577 67 273 42 9 26 3 13 2 6 1 5 1 1379 O6535 0.107 655234 8243119 60 160 409 57 268 46 9 30 3 14 2 5 1 4 1 1068 O6536 0.129 655080 8242895 70 197 486 69 323 58 13 37 4 18 3 6 1 4 1 1287 O6537 0.467 655062 8242800 74 1105 2085 235 925 122 23 65 6 19 2 5 1 3 1 4670 O6538 0.106 654502 8244494 75 157 397 56 253 48 9 31 3 16 3 6 1 4 1 1060 O6539 0.129 654520 8244485 135 155 426 67 318 69 12 52 6 28 4 11 1 7 1 1294 O6540 0.056 654498 8243994 32 77 206 31 147 29 6 18 2 7 1 2 0 2 0 560 O6541 0.050 654431 8244012 53 68 182 25 110 21 4 15 2 10 2 4 1 3 1 500 O6542 0.070 654338 8243916 41 107 275 38 169 31 6 18 2 9 1 3 0 3 0 704 O6543 0.086 654521 8243704 42 136 341 48 212 36 7 21 2 9 1 3 0 3 0 863 O6544 0.068 654482 8243699 43 102 255 37 169 30 6 19 2 9 1 3 0 2 0 681 O6545 0.118 654427 8243732 51 182 465 66 296 52 9 31 3 12 2 4 0 3 0 1177 O6546 0.061 654427 8243868 32 93 240 33 148 27 5 16 2 7 1 3 0 2 0 609 O6547 0.081 654499 8243866 63 116 298 42 192 38 8 25 3 13 2 5 1 4 1 812 O6548 0.074 654520 8243772 44 111 283 40 180 33 6 21 2 10 1 4 0 3 0 739 O6549 0.080 654580 8243745 50 120 303 43 198 37 7 23 2 11 2 4 1 3 0 804 O6550 0.074 654892 8243002 50 120 287 38 168 31 7 20 2 10 2 4 0 3 0 742 O6551 0.264 654977 8242880 53 585 1195 139 516 70 16 35 3 13 2 4 1 3 0 2636 O6553 0.189 654238 8243786 56 291 751 110 503 88 18 48 4 13 2 4 0 2 0 1890 O6554 0.139 654101 8243771 44 220 558 78 355 61 12 33 3 12 2 4 0 2 0 1386 O6555 0.069 654095 8243877 34 111 269 38 164 29 5 18 2 8 1 3 0 3 0 686

During the mapping campaign undertaken by Antler Gold, 51 rock chip grab samples were taken from in-situ outcrop at the Kesya REE Project. Sample sizes were 1-3 kg and taken to fairly represent the lithology recorded at each sample site.

In addition to the rock chip samples, an extra 15% of QAQC materials (2 x blanks, 2 x each of CRM AMIS0185, AMIS0304, AMIS0356 and 2 x duplicate field samples) were added to the batch of samples dispatched for assaying to comply with QAQC regulations.

All samples were shipped to Namibia and prepared by crushing and milling at Activation Laboratories Ltd (ACTLABS) in Windhoek.

Pulped samples were then exported to ACTLABS in Ancaster, ON, Canada, for Code 8 - REE analysis, which is a lithium metaborate/tetraborate fusion with subsequent analysis by ICP-OES and ICP-MS.

Qualified Person

The technical and scientific information in this presentation has been reviewed and approved by Oliver Tors, B.Sc (Hons)., Exploration Manager of the Company, who is registered Professional Natural Scientist with the (SACNASP) South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions (Pr. Sci. Nat. No. 120660) who is a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101. Mr. Tors is an employee of Antler Gold Inc. and is not independent of the Company under NI 43-101.

About Antler Gold Inc.

Antler Gold Inc. (TSXV: ANTL) is a Canadian listed mineral exploration company focused on the acquisition and exploration of mineral projects in Africa's Top-Ranked Jurisdictions, with exposure to both gold and REE. Antler's total license position now comprises 6 projects for a total landholding of approximately 584,347 ha. The Company continues to assess new regional opportunities with the aim of building a risk diversified business model, which allows the company to generate short and long- term income whilst providing stakeholders with exposure to potential multiple returns that are generated from the discovery process.

About Prospect Resources Limited (ASX: PSC) (FSE: 5E8)

Prospect Resources Limited (ASX: PSC) (FSE:5E8) is an ASX listed company focused on the exploration and development of mining projects, specifically battery and electrification metals, in Zimbabwe and the broader sub-Saharan African region.

Cautionary Statements

This press release may contain forward-looking information, such as statements regarding the completion of the transactions subject to the Option Agreement and future plans and objectives of Antler and its subsidiary, Antler Exploration in relation to the Project. This information is based on current expectations and assumptions (including assumptions in connection with the continuance of the applicable company as a going concern and general economic and market conditions) that are subject to significant risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict, including risks relating to the ability to satisfy the conditions to completion of the transactions contemplated by the Option Agreement. Actual results may differ materially from results suggested in any forward-looking information. Antler assumes no obligation to update forward-looking information in this release, or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those reflected in the forward-looking information unless and until required by applicable securities laws. Additional information identifying risks and uncertainties is contained in filings made by Antler with Canadian securities regulators, copies of which are available at www.sedar.com.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

For further information, please contact Chris Drysdale, CEO of Antler Gold Inc at +264 81 220 2439 or Daniel Whittaker, Executive Chairman of Antler Gold Inc., at (902) 488-4700.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/165868
Leading the digital agriculture revolution, providing investors with transparent, sustainable investment opportunities

Mr. Du Guoyong, Deputy Secretary-General of the World Peace Ribbon Organization and Director General of the Poland Committee, accompanied Dr. Bauluo Zhang, Chairman of the GDE European Exchange, and other executives on a visit to Marcin Marzec, Mayor of Sandomierz in the Holy Cross Province of Poland. Both parties reached a consensus on the listing and financing of the Digital Agriculture Project on the GDE Exchange. Witnessed by Marcin Marzec, Mayor of Sandomierz, the WMBT Holdings signed a cooperation agreement with the local company Sad Sandomierski to jointly promote the Digital Agriculture Project.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230512005171/en/

WMBT International Investment Group Collaborates with Sandomierz City Government in Poland to Pioneer a New Era of Digital Agriculture (Photo: Business Wire)

The Digital Agriculture Project seeks to digitize 10 million apple trees in Sandomierz, creating a digital investment platform. Investors will have the opportunity to acquire a portion of the apple trees' output, including apple wine, apple chips, functional juices, and more, over a 10-year period. Additionally, they can also obtain carbon credits from thousands of acres of orchards by purchasing digital asset packages. Each package will have the option to bind a Polish (EU) digital citizen identity, providing further benefits and opportunities.

With the global apple market valued at approximately $60 billion, and Europe accounting for 30% of total consumption, there is a growing demand for organic and healthy food products. The Digital Agriculture Project aims to capitalize on this trend by offering a transparent and sustainable solution for apple cultivation. Through the project, investors gain access to a green and sustainable digital asset representing a share of the commercial returns from apple harvests and related products. The flexibility in choosing returns allows investors to customize their investment preferences.

Poland, known for its favorable climate, fertile soil, and extensive experience in apple cultivation, is one of the world's largest apple producers, with a 10% share of the global market. Sandomierz, situated in the Holy Cross Province, is a key region for apple farming.

This collaborative effort not only provides a transparent and traceable supply chain but also appeals to consumers who value ethical and environmental practices. By aligning with sustainable agricultural practices and functional food products, the Digital Agriculture Project targets farmers, investors, and consumers seeking responsible and environmentally friendly options.

The partnership between WMBT Holdings, the Sandomierz Government, and local company Sad Sandomierski leverages traditional agricultural expertise with innovative digital solutions. By democratizing access to agricultural investments through the digital investment platform, the project allows investors to actively contribute to sustainable farming practices and reap tangible returns.

This collaborative initiative exemplifies WMBT Holdings' commitment to advancing sustainable agriculture through technology. The project sets a precedent for the fusion of digital innovation and agriculture, paving the way for the future of the industry.

As WMBT Holdings and the Sandomierz Government lead the charge in the digital agriculture revolution, they anticipate the project's success in transforming the apple industry in Poland and setting new benchmarks for agricultural investments worldwide.

In conclusion, the collaboration between WMBT Holdings and the Sandomierz City Government in Poland marks a significant milestone in the realm of digital agriculture. It demonstrates the vast potential of digital assets in fostering sustainable development, enhancing investment transparency, and driving economic growth. The Digital Agriculture Project is poised to revolutionize the apple industry in Poland and establish a new standard for agricultural investments on a global scale.

www.wmbtholdings.com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230512005171/en/

Contacts:

Nadine Hwu

info@wmbtholdings.com
CHANGSHA, China, May 12, 2023 PRNewswire/-- Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science & Technology Co., Ltd. ("Zoomlion") is hosting a technological achievements exhibition themed "Technology Salute to the New Era" from May 11 to 14 in the Zoomlion Smart Industrial City (the "City") in Changsha, Hunan Province, showcasing its achievements in intelligent manufacturing, intelligent product development, and digital transformation. The event is also the first time the City has opened its doors to the public.

Technological Innovations Drive Product Breakthroughs

The exhibition showcases Zoomlion's achievements and milestones in product development across multiple sectors. Zoomlion has adhered to the "Deep Root in Technology with Product as the Center" principle to create products carrying forward technological innovations in construction machinery, agricultural equipment, and new construction materials. Zoomlion has leveraged cutting-edge technologies including 5G, big data, industrial internet, AI, and blockchain to tackle the technological bottlenecks of construction machinery intelligent manufacturing.

Zoomlion has achieved continuous breakthroughs with record-breaking products. It has launched the world's largest 20,000 ton-meter tower crane, the 2,400-ton all-terrain crane with the world's largest hosting capability, the tallest 68-meter aerial work platform, and the world's first excavators and cranes with 5G remote control.

A smart City boasting world-class intelligent manufacturing capabilities

The City, the world's largest construction machinery industry base in terms of both scale and product lineup, is home to eight world-leading lighthouse factories, 300 intelligent production lines, and eight national tech innovation platforms, boasting more than 150 industry-leading technologies and over 600 patented production technologies.

The Earthmoving Machinery Smart Park has the industry's most intelligent smart factory with 61 intelligent production lines, four of which are "lights-out" lines (meaning there is no human involvement). Upon completion, the smart park will reduce the R&D cycle by 30 percent, improve production efficiency by 25 percent, and lower per-unit energy consumption by 12 percent. It will be able to produce an excavator every six minutes on average, boasting an annual production capacity of 50,000 units.

The City has also set up a world-class hoisting machinery park that aims to achieve 100 percent real-time data collection of intelligent equipment and IT-networked production lines, rolling off one crane in 18 minutes and reducing the delivery period by 32 percent. It will also produce the world's most intelligent manufacturing base of aerial working platforms which leverages more than 60 patented production line, and 12 innovative, technologies to shorten product delivery time by 55 percent, producing a scissor-type product every 7.5 minutes and boom-type product every 20 minutes. Additionally, there is an industry-leading concrete pumping machinery smart park that adopts visual identity, AI decision-making, laser scanning, and 3D modeling technologies to achieve a 90 percent automation rate of core production processes, producing a pump truck every 30 minutes.

Zoomlion signed orders totaling 4.691 billion yuan ($675.33 million) on the Exhibition's opening day.

"We are grateful for the tremendous innovations in science and technology in this new era, as well as the support and encouragement from our leadership, trust and inclusiveness from our global customers, suppliers, and competitors from both home and abroad. We appreciate the support and attention given to innovation from our shareholders, investors, and media friends. We also recognize the contributions of our staff to this innovation. With confidence, Zoomlion will continue to lead the new revolution of technology, reaching new heights and broadening our horizons to drive innovation and transformation in the construction machinery industry," said Zhan Chunxin, CEO of Zoomlion.













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Two pre-clinical studies carried out by leading dermatologist Dr. Riichiro Abe, Professor and Chair of Dermatology at Niigata University, indicate that PC111 monoclonal antibody can ease Stevens-Johnson Syndrome by eliminating excess of circulating Fas ligand

Severe form of SJS, called Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis, is often fatal and requires treatment in ICUs or burn units

MILAN, ITALY / ACCESSWIRE / May 12, 2023 / PinCell, a biotechnology company developing a first-in-class therapy for rare and debilitating autoimmune skin diseases, announced today that two pre-clinical studies carried out in Japan by a specialized team indicate that its lead candidate, PC111, can be effective in treating Stevens-Johnson Syndrome (SJS), an acute skin disease with no approved therapy.

PC111 is a monoclonal antibody that can sharply reduce the over-expression of Fas ligand (FasL), implicated in pemphigus and other skin-blistering diseases.

Stevens-Johnson Syndrome is a rare and potentially life-threatening skin disease usually caused by a severe allergic reaction to medication or exposure to chemicals. Its most severe form (TEN, Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis), is an acute disease that is fatal in up to 30 percent of cases and requires that patients be placed in an intensive care or a burn unit. There currently is no approved drug for SJS/TEN; the current treatment focuses on removing the cause, caring for wounds, controlling pain, and minimizing complications as skin regrows.

The latest studies were carried out by a team headed by Riichiro Abe, Professor and Chair of Dermatology at Niigata University, a reference center for SJS/TEN. The Japanese studies were carried out using human SJS patients' blood samples, which were injected into immunocompromised mice, then exposed to the causative drug.

Two experiments were carried out, one in-vitro and one in-vivo. They showed that PC111 markedly reduced apoptosis of target cells and conjunctivitis (an early sign of SJS/TEN), thanks to its mode of action involving binding to the excess of Fas ligand, implicated in the origination and development of the disease. The conclusion reached was that PC111 prevents skin death and detachment associated with the elevated levels of FasL, allowing for a potentially effective early therapeutic intervention.

"We are very thrilled about this additional evidence and ready to enter into IND enabling studies, with a view to starting studies with PC111 in SJS/TEN and pemphigus patients in about 18 months" said Dr. Tony Amato, CEO of PinCell. "We are confident that PC111 has the potential to be on an accelerated approval path, so that patients suffering from these rare and underserved diseases can benefit from it in the shortest possible timeframe."

"We have high hopes that this antibody will keep future SJS/TEN patients out of intensive care and help them heal quickly," said Prof. Carlo Pincelli, CMO of the company, adding that "high FasL levels are associated with a number of other dermatological and non-dermatological diseases where PC111 can be very useful."

About PinCell

PinCell is a biotechnology company targeting a novel pathological pathway to develop first-in-class anti-inflammatory therapies for the treatment of rare, severe, and highly undertreated skin diseases. Based in Milan, Italy, PinCell was founded in October 2008 as an academic spin-off of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia by the world-class dermatology experts Prof. Carlo Pincelli and Prof. Alessandra Marconi. PinCell received seed funding from Sofinnova Partners.

For more information, please visit: www.pincell.it

About Sofinnova Partners

Sofinnova Partners is a leading European venture capital firm in life sciences, specializing in healthcare and sustainability. Based in Paris, London and Milan, the firm brings together a team of professionals from all over the world with strong scientific, medical and business expertise. Sofinnova Partners is a hands-on company builder across the entire value chain of life sciences investments, from seed to later-stage. The firm actively partners with ambitious entrepreneurs as a lead or cornerstone investor to develop transformative innovations that have the potential to positively impact our collective future.

Founded in 1972, Sofinnova Partners is a deeply established venture capital firm in Europe, with 50 years of experience backing over 500 companies and creating market leaders around the globe. Today, Sofinnova Partners has over 2.5 billion under management. For more information, please visit: sofinnovapartners.com

CONTACT:

Tony Amato, MD - CEO

PinCell - a.amato@pincell.com

+39-334-6263471

SOURCE: PinCell

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BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - Simon Thompson, Chief Executive Officer of Royal Mail (RMG.L), will resign by October-end. International Distributions Services said Simon Thompson believes, following the negotiators' agreement between Royal Mail and the CWU, it is the right time for the company to move forward under new leadership. The Board is in advanced stages of appointing a new Chief Executive Officer. Last month, Royal Mail reached an agreement with Communication Workers Union, or CWU, which provided a 10% salary increase and a one-off lump sum for CWU grade employees in Royal Mail and Parcelforce. Simon Thompson said: 'The changes we have made, the infrastructure we have put in place, and the agreements negotiated with our trade unions mean that Royal Mail now has a chance to compete and grow. That is what I have always wanted, and it is now the right time to hand over to a new CEO to deliver the next stage of the company's reinvention.' Simon Thompson was appointed as non-Executive Director on 1 November 2017, and was named Chief Executive Officer on 11 January 2021. He was also former Royal Mail Designated Non-Executive Director for workforce engagement. Previously, Simon has held senior positions at HSBC, Ocado plc, Honda Motor Europe Ltd, Motorola Inc, lastminute.com, Apple Inc. and Wm Morrison Supermarkets plc. Copyright(c) 2023 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
The global amyotrophic lateral sclerosis treatment market is driven by factors such as an increase in prevalence of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, initiatives by government and non-government organizations, and growth in awareness and understanding of ALS.

PORTLAND, Ore., May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Allied Market Research published a report, titled, "Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Treatment Market by Drug (Riluzole, Edaravone, and Others), by Type, (Sporadiac ALS and Familial ALS), and by Distribution Channel, (Hospital Pharmacies, Online Providers, and Drug Stores & Retail Pharmacies): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2023-2032". According to the report, the global amyotrophic lateral sclerosis treatment industry generated $0.6 billion in 2022, and is anticipated to generate $1.0 billion by 2032, witnessing a CAGR of 4.6% from 2023 to 2032.





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Prime determinants of growth

Increase in prevalence of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, initiatives by government and non-government organizations, and growth in awareness and understanding of ALS drive the growth of the global amyotrophic lateral sclerosis treatment market. However, the side effects of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis drugs restricts the market growth. Moreover, increase in R&D activities presents new opportunities in the coming years.

Report coverage & details:

Report Coverage Details Forecast Period 2023-2032 Base Year 2022 Market Size in 2022 $0.6 billion Market Size in 2032 $1.0 billion CAGR 4.6 % No. of Pages in Report 260 Segments covered Drug, Type, Distribution Channel,?and Region. Drivers Increase in prevalence of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis Initiatives by government and non-government organizations Growth in awareness and understanding of ALS Opportunity Increase in R&D activities Restraint Side effects of drugs

Impact of Covid-19 on Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Treatment Market

COVID-19 pandemic had a negative effect on the global amyotrophic lateral sclerosis treatment market owing to decrease in demand for ALS drugs due to the low hospitalization visits and cancellation of many surgeries due to pandemic.

In addition, pandemic disrupted supply chains and manufacturing processes, which led to shortages of ALS drugs that hampered the market growth during pandemic.

However, the market is recovering after pandemic, and show stable growth for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis treatment market owing to ongoing research into the causes and treatment of ALS led to development of new therapies and treatment approaches and rise in prevalence of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

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The Riluzole segment to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period

Based on drug, the Riluzole segment held the largest market share in 2022, accounting for nearly three-fifths of the global amyotrophic lateral sclerosis treatment market revenue, and is estimated to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period. The same segment is expected to witness the fastest CAGR of 5.7% from 2023 to 2032. Riluzole is a medication that works by reducing the release of glutamate, a neurotransmitter that may damage motor neurons in people with ALS which supports segment growth.

The sporadic ALS segment to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period

Based type, the sporadic ALS segment held the largest market share in 2022, accounting for more than 90% of the global amyotrophic lateral sclerosis treatment market and is estimated to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period. Rise in cases of sporadic ALS and increase in awareness about these diseases, along with early diagnostic tools and protocols are expected to fuel the segment growth. However, the familial ALS segment is expected to witness the fastest CAGR of 8.5% from 2023 to 2032. The growing cases of familial ALS has increases the demand for ALS treatment which propels the growth of segment.

The drug stores & retail pharmacies segment to maintain its lead position during the forecast period

Based on distribution channel, the drug store & retail pharmacies segment accounted for the largest share in 2022, contributing to more than half of the global amyotrophic lateral sclerosis treatment market revenue, and is anticipated to maintain its lead position during the forecast period. Easy availability of ALS medications in drug stores & retail pharmacies drives the segmental growth. However, the online providers segment is expected to witness the fastest CAGR of 5.7% from 2023 to 2032. Easy availability of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis drugs which helps patients buy products at ease and surge in usage of online apps which is expected to drive the growth of the segment.

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North America to maintain its dominance by 2032

Based on region, North America held the largest market share in terms of revenue in 2022, accounting for more than two-fifths of the global amyotrophic lateral sclerosis treatment market revenue and is likely to dominate the market during the forecast period. Easy availability of products for diagnosis, and higher healthcare expenditure, increase in awareness about early diagnosis of disease and higher adoption of drugs for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis promoted the growth of the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis treatment market in North America. However, the Asia-Pacific region is expected to witness the fastest CAGR of 6.3% from 2023 to 2032. Increase in health awareness, surge in awareness of preventive healthcare, and rise in prevalence of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in the Asia-Pacific region, is expected to drive the growth of the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis treatment market.

Leading Market Players: -

Aquestive Therapeutics Inc.

Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Limited

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.

Viatris Inc.

Amylyx Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Mitsubishi Chemical Group Corporation

Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.

Covis Pharma GmbH

ITALFARMACO S.P.A.

Alkem Laboratories Ltd.

The report provides a detailed analysis of these key players in the global amyotrophic lateral sclerosis treatment market. These players have adopted strategies such product approval, agreement, and product launch to increase their market share and maintain dominant shares in different regions. The report is valuable in highlighting business performance, operating segments, product portfolio, and strategic moves of market players to showcase the competitive scenario.

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Control room simulator demonstrates U.S.-Romanian collaboration and supports capacity building for the Romanian nuclear workforce as NuScale and RoPower advance site preparation for a VOYGR power plant in Doicesti, Romania

NuScale Power Corporation (NYSE: SMR) announced today the opening of a NuScale Energy Exploration Center (E2 Center) at University Politehnica of Bucharest in support of a collaboration with the United States and Romanian governments, and S.N. Nuclearelectrica S.A. (Nuclearelectrica). Key government officials attended the opening, including U.S. Ambassador to Romania Kathleen Kavalec, Romania Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca, and Romanian Minister of Energy Virgil Popescu. As the first international E2 Center, this workforce development tool will enable Romania to develop the next generation of advanced nuclear experts, technologists, and operators and become a hub for deploying small modular reactors (SMR) in Europe.

"NuScale's SMR nuclear technology is the premier global clean energy solution and can help advance Romania's position as a leader in the secure and safe deployment of SMRs," said John Hopkins, NuScale President and Chief Executive Officer. "With the support of the DOS under the FIRST program, we are thrilled to hit another milestone in this remarkable collaboration among our countries and organizations. We look forward to supporting the next generation of clean energy leaders across the region and around the globe."

The E2 Center was funded by the U.S. Department of State (DOS) under the Foundational Infrastructure for the Responsible Use of Small Modular Reactor Technology(FIRST) program. FIRST supports partner countries in advancing their nuclear energy programs to meet their clean energy goals under the highest international standards for nuclear safety, security, and nonproliferation.

"The SMR project at Doicesti, which this E2 Center supports, will showcase Romanian leadership in energy innovation, accelerate the clean energy transition, create thousands of jobs in Romania and the U.S., and strengthen European energy security while upholding the highest standards for nuclear safety, security, and nonproliferation," said Ann Ganzer, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation.

This announcement builds upon NuScale Power and Nuclearelectrica's teaming agreement signed in 2021 to deploy a 462 MWe NuScale VOYGRTM-6 power plant in Romania by the end of the decade. Earlier this year, NuScale and RoPower Nuclear S.A. (RoPower), owned in equal shares by Nuclearelectrica and Nova Power Gas S.A., commenced front-end engineering and design work for a site in Doicesti, Romania, the preferred location for the deployment of the VOYGR power plant.

Romania has the potential to be one of the first deployments of an SMR in Europe and to become a catalyst for SMRs in the region by serving as a base for supporting operations of this new technology in other countries, as well as the production and assembly of plant components.

"Building on the strong nuclear experience in safe operations for more than 26 years, we are proud to support Romania's workforce development in the nuclear sector for a new technologically advanced future. Nuclearelectrica has outstanding specialists and operational performance, and is internationally recognized, which not only places Romanian nuclear industry as a top performer, but also as the foundation for Romania's leadership in nuclear energy. Nuclearelectrica has strong assets, which qualifies us to be the first country after the U.S. to deploy a NuScale SMR. The first E2 Center launched in Romania is only the beginning of this new era in technology, human resources, safe, affordable clean energy, with multiple benefits for communities and industries, to which we are happy to contribute," Cosmin Ghita, Chief Executive Officer of Nuclearelectrica.

"Nuclear energy and SMRs are included in Romania's energy strategy as a main pillar for energy security and reaching our decarbonation targets. Our commitment to increase energy production from clean nuclear energy sources will create much needed complementarity with renewable resources, increase flexibility in the system, and allow further complex development of former coal-based facilities. The 26 years of Romanian safe operation expertise are the basis for further developing Romania's nuclear energy program. The energy transition is not possible without maintaining and expanding the role of nuclear power and it requires strong international partnerships, like the one we are enhancing today. I thank our American partners for their continuous support, Nuclearelectrica for its leadership in the industry and capability to take on the journey to become a regional preferred operator, and University of Politehnica for their dedication towards performance and workforce development. I want to give a clear message: The Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca, our Government, and Romanian President Klaus Iohannis strongly support the development of nuclear energy and the effort to form experts in this domain," said Virgil Popescu, Minister of Energy, Romania.

The E2 Center is an innovative learning environment that offers users a hands-on opportunity to apply nuclear science and engineering principles through simulated, real-world nuclear power plant operation scenarios. The E2 Center employs state-of-the-art computer modeling to simulate a NuScale VOYGR SMR power plant control room. Users have the opportunity to take on the role of a "Control Room Operator" at a VOYGR plant to learn about the advanced operational and safety features unique to NuScale's technology.

The University Politehnica of Bucharest is one of the elite schools of the Romanian higher education system. The school was established in 1950, and offers highly appreciated academic studies and programs for more than 2,000 students a year.

About NuScale Power

NuScale Power Corporation (NYSE: SMR) is the industry-leading provider of proprietary and innovative advanced small modular reactor nuclear technology, with a mission to help power the global energy transition by delivering safe, scalable, and reliable carbon-free energy. The company's groundbreaking VOYGR SMR plants are powered by the NuScale Power Module, a small, safe, pressurized water reactor that can each generate 77 megawatts of electricity (MWe) or 250 megawatts thermal (gross), and can be scaled to meet customer needs through an array of flexible configurations up to 924 MWe (12 modules) of output.

As the first and only SMR to have its design certified by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, NuScale is well-positioned to serve diverse customers across the world by supplying nuclear energy for electrical generation, district heating, desalination, commercial-scale hydrogen production, and other process heat applications.

Founded in 2007, NuScale is headquartered in Portland, Ore. To learn more, visit NuScale Power's website or follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagramand YouTube

Forward Looking Statements

This release may contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of words such as "estimate," "plan," "project," "forecast," "intend," "will," "expect," "anticipate," "believe," "seek," "target" or other similar expressions that predict or indicate future events or trends or that are not statements of historical facts. These forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Actual results may differ materially as a result of a number of factors. Caution must be exercised in relying on these and other forward-looking statements. Due to known and unknown risks, NuScale's results may differ materially from its expectations and projections. NuScale specifically disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing NuScale's assessments as of any date subsequent to the date of this release. Accordingly, undue reliance should not be placed upon the forward-looking statements.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230512005176/en/

Contacts:

Media Contact

Diane Hughes, Vice President, Marketing Communications, NuScale Power

dhughes@nuscalepower.com

(503) 270-9329

Investor Contact

Scott Kozak, Director, Investor Relations, NuScale Power

skozak@nuscalepower.com

(541) 452-7583
NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / May 12, 2023 / South Pole



"Don't fool yourself: billions more needed to protect tropical forests", warns a Guardian headline.

Similarly, a recent We Mean Business study revealed that a $4.1 trillion finance gap for nature-based solutions must be bridged to achieve global climate goals. And on Earth Day, millions echoed the rallying cry: InvestInOurPlanet.

Yet, 93% of companies are neither compensating nor reducing their climate impact: in other words, they are doing nothing to address climate change.

This needs to change.

Climate action requires integrity, innovation, and, most importantly, financing. This raises two questions: firstly, what mechanisms do we have for companies to fund climate action, especially in the window until 2030? And secondly, how can we ensure that the finance is producing the promised impact?

Catalysing climate solutions with the Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM)

The VCM provides an effective means for companies to finance activities at a scale that drives the global transition to net zero emissions. And the potential is huge.

If 1,700 high-emitting companies invested just 10% of their emissions in nature-based projects, over $1 trillion could be mobilised by 2030. This finance can support local communities, landowners and NGOs to overcome one of the biggest challenges that they face: securing access to funding.

Why carbon markets you might be thinking to yourself? It's not the only solution, but investments in land-based solutions are tricky, as they typically involve small and aggregated deals, currency risks and complex ownership structures. Carbon markets, however, treat communities, farmers and land-owners as business partners - as opposed to making a direct investment with an expected financial ROI. Importantly, carbon finance - via the purchase of certified credits traded on carbon markets - is payments for results: it provides a results-based way to finance the implementation of transformative practices that don't necessarily yield large financial returns, but that lead to measurable positive environmental and social impacts.

Over the next seven years, the VCM could grow by 13X and reduce and remove up to 2.6 GT of GHG emissions. That would account for up to 5% of today's global emissions.

Promoting effective and transparent use of carbon credits

For genuine climate impact, companies must adhere to simple, high-level principles. South Pole published their Principles for Carbon Credit Use to support the many companies that want to invest in the planet, and in financing the global transition - but who don't know how to do it in a credible way.

Set a science-aligned net zero target.

Pay for all unavoidable GHG emissions today and on the pathway to net zero.

Use high quality carbon credits.

Companies should transparently communicate their use of carbon credits.

Delivering high-integrity climate solutions

The VCM ecosystem is made up of many different actors, such as project developers, project owners, landowners and independent auditors; industry bodies like the International Carbon Reduction and Offset Alliance (ICROA); and architecture, including certification standards and methodologies. While the VCM is not regulated, these actors underpin the market, create standardisation, uphold and continuously update robust principles, and ensure real and measurable impacts from projects operating within the VCM.

On top of purchasing projects from internationally-recognised certification standards, another hallmark of quality are the co-benefits a project delivers. Simply put, co-benefits are the impacts beyond carbon, for example boosting food security, protecting biodiversity, and helping create new sustainable livelihoods. They can also support women with becoming more independent and improve their access to basic services, like water, education and healthcare.

Both Verra and the Gold Standard, leading certification bodies in the voluntary carbon market, have designed much-needed tools and even new standards to measure and certify co-benefits in a more standardised way. Although there is still a way to go in terms of monitoring co-benefits, choosing projects with strong impacts beyond carbon ensures a company is contributing to enhancing local standards of living in the host country and therefore a just transition to net zero where no one is left behind.

Upholding integrity

Integrity demands meeting high-quality standards in carbon accounting, additionality, social safeguards, project activities, and co-benefits. Standards and methodologies set ever-improving performance standards for the green revolution and provide infrastructure for the market. They are by design nimble and ready to adapt proactively and reactively as new technologies and learnings come into play. It is key that actors advocate for globally accepted, harmonised benchmarking methods, particularly for sensitive scopes like Nature-Based Solutions (NBS).

South Pole has talked extensively about both the complexity as well as the urgent need for REDD+ projects (here & here), which play a critical role in protecting forests, preserving biodiversity and securing irrecoverable carbon to deliver rapid emissions reductions at scale. The VCM architecture integrates baseline updates, technological advancements, and new learnings to evolve in tandem with best practices. This evolution is pushing the envelope of best-practice and it calls for companies to keep directing finance to communities at the forest frontier through the REDD+ mechanism; we can't let perfection be the enemy of good.

"Each and every project goes through a public comment period for around 30 days, where anyone - regardless whether they are involved in the project or not - can comment. This amount of transparency and stakeholder inclusion is not there in many, if not any, other forms of climate finance" -Chetan Aggarwal, Manager Sustainable Standards and Methodologies, South Pole.

Fostering innovation for a sustainable future

For over 17 years, South Pole has pioneered and scaled various approaches to achieve true climate impact at scale. Some initiatives have offered valuable lessons, while others have led to significant carbon emission reductions and benefits for vulnerable communities. One recent achievement is the NextGen CDR Facility (NextGen), a joint venture between South Pole and Mitsubishi Corporation. It purchased close to 200K tonnes of CDRs from three projects, including the world's largest technological carbon removal project, demonstrating tangible corporate interest for various CDR technologies that offer long term removal of CO2. These actions are helping to push CDRs over the vital tipping point for them to become readily available at affordable prices.

Conclusion

As global crises intensify and climate change exacerbates the situation, urgent action is needed to reduce global emissions and revolutionise how we can do business within our planet's limits. Today, more than ever, we are under tremendous pressure to unlock trillions to help businesses, communities, and governments transition to a safe, sustainable future. The VCM is one of the few means for businesses to take responsibility for their impact while they decarbonise, especially in the crucial years we have left until 2030.

Market mechanisms have tangibly demonstrated that they can be part of the solution to financing critical new climate technologies, recognising the value of ecosystem services, and putting a price on emissions. Used effectively, the VCM can deliver finance at scale that helps to move the dial on runaway climate change and ensure tangible, measurable benefits for the people and communities most at risk from climate crisis.

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from South Pole on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: South Pole

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/south-pole

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: South Pole

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/754508/Financing-Authentic-Climate-Action-Banking-on-Integrity-Innovation-and-Impact
NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / May 12, 2023 / GoDaddy



Originally Published on GoDaddy LinkedIn

A NEW ERA : 44% of businesses are started by Gen-Z & Millennials

WHO RUN THE WORLD? 58% of new businesses are woman-owned

CELEBRATING DREAMERS: NATIONAL SMALL BUSINESS WEEK 2023

We're celebrating National Small Business Week 2023 by championing small business owners who are making an impact with our tools and support. Here's our first editorial celebrating Jane Malone. We're beyond proud of her business Cursed Drawings, and for being an inspiration to neurodivergent dreamers everywhere.

She did it differently. Cincinnati's Jane Malone has always been an artist - and a little different.

Her childhood dream was to become a fashion designer, opening her first "store" out of her closet to sell decorated paper towel holders and other goods. But her teenage experiences with autism and "derealization" symptoms made her want to give up on her dream. When she started doodling during her junior year at a Creative & Performing Arts high school, she found hope and peace in her situation. Sharing her blob-like creatures and silly captions helped Jane make her classmates smile - and feel less alone.

From Creepy doodles to Cursed Drawings

Jane told her parents she was taking a gap year before committing to college. She wanted to try pursuing her dream and selling her own clothes. GoDaddy's Website Builder made it easy for her to build her first website and start selling all by herself, which gave her a boost of self-confidence as a brand new entrepreneur. Her confidence and skills continued to grow alongside her small business.

"It's impossible to fail when you're doing what love."

-JANE MALONE

NEURODIVERGENT ENTREPRENEURS CAN DO ANYTHING NEUROTYPICAL ENTREPRENEURS CAN DO - THEY JUST MIGHT HAVE TO DO IT DIFFERENTLY.

Jane hopes her story inspires other neurodivergent dreamers and artists to turn their intrusive thoughts into inspired creations. Just because you exist in a "dream state" doesn't mean you can't pursue your "dream life".

Want to support Jane's small business? Shop Cursed Drawings: curseddrawings.com

About GoDaddy

GoDaddy helps millions of entrepreneurs globally start, grow, and scale their businesses. People come to GoDaddy to name their idea, build a professional website, attract customers, sell their products and services, and accept payments online and in-person. GoDaddy's easy-to-use tools help microbusiness owners manage everything in one place and its expert guides are available to provide assistance 24/7. To learn more about the company, visit www.GoDaddy.com.

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from GoDaddy on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: GoDaddy

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/godaddy

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: GoDaddy

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/754505/GoDaddy-Small-Biz-Weekly-Vol-01-Jane-Malone-of-Cursed-Drawings
TORONTO, ON and NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / May 12, 2023 / Sekur Private Data Ltd. (CSE:SKUR)(OTCQX:SWISF)(FRA:GDT0) ("Sekur" or the "Company"), a leading Swiss hosted secure and private communications platform, is pleased announce that it has launched the world's first commercially available, non-big tech powered, Swiss hosted privacy focused VPN solution, SekurVPN, on the Mac App Store, in addition to the already existing versions for iOS and Android.

The Company has launched on April 7th 2023, its privacy VPN solution called SekurVPN available through https://www.sekurvpn.com , as it starts full commercial sales of its highly anticipated SekurVPN privacy and security VPN solution. SekurVPN is priced at US$ 7/month/user and US$ 70/year/user for the service. The solution is now offered in versions of iOS and Android app versions for mobile devices, and just launched the MacOS version for laptops and desktops manufactured by Apple Computers. The windows version is launching in the coming weeks, to complete the offer. The solution is also offered in USD, CAD, NZD, AUD, SGD, CHF, EUR and GPB. The Company plans to launch SekurVPN in the coming weeks to existing shareholders and Sekur users with a special offer, and move to a larger audience globally, through several digital and email marketing campaigns and B2B partners.

SekurVPN is especially meant for privacy enthusiasts and users wanting to mask their IP address from hackers. An example would be users going to their e-banking or shopping online, using their emails, using messaging applications and wanting to have full privacy and protection from hackers hyjacking their location and signal. The service guarantees not to use Big Tech or Hyperscalers for its functioning or hosting, it guarantees that there are no third party bundles sold with it, so no data is leaked or sold to third parties, it guarantees no traffic pulling or monitoring, and no phone number required to register to the service.

According to a study and publication on forbes.com, 66% use a VPN to help protect personal data, 80% use a VPN for increased security and 33% use a VPN to mask their internet activity. More statistics can be found on this VPN Statistics And Trends In 2023 article.

Alain Ghiai, CEO of Sekur Private Data said: "We are very pleased to launched SekurVPN in thre Mac App Store, in addition to the versions previously launched in the iOS App Store and Android Play Store. We are now working on the last version, which is the Windows desktop version. We already are seeing a sizable percentage of new subscribers signing up to SekurVPN, and we have high hopes for the success of SekurVPN, due to its highly private nature, since it does not use any big tech computing or hosting and offers only Swiss IPs. Our prime directive is to provide private and secure communications for everyone, and, as we are not connected to any Big Tech or Hyperscaler platform, we offer a truly independent, private and secure means of communications without any data mining, through our proprietary technology and our secure servers based in Switzerland. We look forward to continuing to offer true data privacy to all individuals and their businesses and protect their intellectual property, and their privacy, from data miners and malicious hackers."

Private:

SekurVPN uses its own proprietary infrastructure and does not use any Hyperscaler or Big Tech hosting providers, unlike most other VPNs. It offers Swiss IPs only, and this guarantees that it is using only SekurVPN's own servers and routing. Other VPNs offer 100s of locations and are using Big Tech providers, compromising users' privacy. SekurVPN never monitors users' activity and never shares any data with third party service providers. By being a pure VPN, without bundled outside services, such as anti-virus, and ad-blockers, SekurVPN keeps users' information private without sharing their data with third party service providers. With SekurVPN, users do not register their phone number on the App or the web, rendering users invisible from hackers or snoopers. No phone number to register, anonymous Swiss IPs only, no data mining or traffic sharing with anyone.

Secure:

SekurVPN's secure VPN routes all your Internet traffic through SekurVPN's privately owned servers, in multiple locations in Switzerland only, and using the highest encryption industry standards, combined with its proprietary HeliX technology for added security. Encryption keys are not stored on devices and are unique at every connection. Users' passwords, confidential data and Internet surfing stay encrypted even over public untrusted internet connections.

Easy to use:

SekurVPN is extremely easy to setup and deploy. There is no country list and our interface is simplified, just tap or click the connection button. SekurVPN's no-frills but highly secure and private service gives users peace of mind without thinking about geo-locations.

Currently SekurVPN is available to use with iOS and Android devices. A MacOS version and a Windows version are planned to be launched in the coming weeks.

In addition to SekurVPN , the company offers a bundled Sekur plan, which includes SekurMessenger and SekurMail, as a bundle of email, messaging and file transfer into one application, and includes the Company's latest SekurMail technology, which includes proprietary anti-phishing and privacy feature called SekurSend. SekurSend lets a user send an email to any other recipient, whether they have Sekur or not, in full privacy and security as the email never leaves Sekur 's encrypted email servers based in Switzerland. The recipient can then click on the notification and reply in the same manner using SekurReply, without the recipient having to register for a Sekur account. The sender can also decide to protect any email sent by adding a password to open it, a read-limit and a self-destruct timer as well. Sending an email with the SekurSend feature allows the senders and recipients to add limitless size attachments to the emails without crowding the recipients' email box. This also eliminates BEC attacks for businesses and email phishing attacks. Additionally, SekurMail includes full control of email delivery, automatic data export for large Enterprises and an automatic Data Loss Prevention technology ("DLP") with real time continuous archiving.

Recent data breaches in messaging applications have created a certain urgency for businesses and data privacy advocates to protect their communications from cyber-attacks and identity theft via mobile and desktop devices.

SekurMessenger comes with a proprietary feature and technology called "Chat-By-Invite". This feature allows a SekurMessenger user ("SM user") invite via email or SMS, a non-SM user, or a group of non-SM users, to chat in a fully private and secure way, without the recipient ever having to register to SekurMessenger or download the app. At the end of the chat, the initiator of the conversation can remotely terminate the conversation and all traces of the conversation are deleted from all users, including the recipient. This unique feature is now fully deployed and functional on all iOS and Android devices and web platforms. The target sectors are numerous, including but not limited to real estate, legal, finance, insurance, medical, government, energy, manufacturing, trade and pharmaceutical sectors.

SekurMessenger also eliminates many of the privacy and security risks by not only not requiring a phone number, which would divulge a user's phone device ID, but also by not social engineering a user's phone or computer contact list and infecting the contacts by default as well, eliminating a huge loophole in security and privacy. SekurMessenger issues each user a username and a Sekur number. The Sekur number is the contact ID a user would disclose in order for other Sekur users to be added. The service comes with a self-destruct timer and other features as well, including Sekur's proprietary VirtualVaults and HeliX technologies with all data stored in Swiss hosted encrypted servers.

Sekur's Data privacy solutions are all hosted in Switzerland, protecting users' data from any outside data intrusion requests. In Switzerland, the right to privacy is guaranteed in article 13 of the Swiss Federal Constitution. The Federal Act on Data Protection ("FADP") of 19 June 1992 (in force since 1993) has set up a strict protection of privacy by prohibiting virtually any processing of personal data which is not expressly authorized by the data subjects. The protection is subject to the authority of the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner.

Under Swiss federal law, it is a crime to publish information based on leaked "secret official discussions." In 2010 the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland found that IP addresses are personal information and that under Swiss privacy laws they may not be used to track Internet usage without the knowledge of the individuals involved.

About Sekur Private Data Ltd.

Sekur Private Data Ltd. is a Cybersecurity and Internet privacy provider of Swiss hosted solutions for secure and private communications. The Company distributes a suite of encrypted e-mails, secure messengers, and secure communication tools. Sekur Private Data Ltd. sells its products through its own website at https://www.sekur.com, and approved distributors, and telecommunications companies worldwide. Sekur Private Data Ltd. serves consumers, businesses and governments worldwide.

On behalf of Management

SEKUR PRIVATE DATA LTD.

Alain Ghiai

President and Chief Executive Officer

+1.416.644.8690

corporate@sekurprivatedata.com

For more information, please contact Sekur Private Data at corporate@sekurprivatedata.com or visit us at https://www.sekurprivatedata.com

For more information on Sekur visit us at: https://www.sekur.com or https://www.sekurvpn.com

Forward Looking Information

This news release contains certain forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws ("forward-looking statements"). All statements other than statements of present or historical fact are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "anticipate", "achieve", "could", "believe", "plan", "intend", "objective", "continuous", "ongoing", "estimate", "outlook", "expect", "project" and similar words, including negatives thereof, suggesting future outcomes or that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. These statements are only predictions. These statements reflect management's current estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations; they are not guaranteeing future performance. Sekur cautions that all forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain and that actual performance may be affected by a number of material factors, many of which are beyond Sekur's control. Such factors include, among other things: risks and uncertainties relating to the future of the Company's business; the success of marketing and sales efforts of the Company; the projections prepared in house and projections delivered by channel partners; the Company's ability to complete the necessary software updates; increases in sales as a result of investments software development technology; consumer interest in the Products; future sales plans and strategies; reliance on large channel partners and expectations of renewals to ongoing agreements with these partners; anticipated events and trends; the economy and other future conditions; and other risks and uncertainties, including those described in Sekur's prospectus dated May 8, 2019 filed with the Canadian Securities Administrators and available on www.sedar.com. Accordingly, actual and future events, conditions and results may differ materially from the estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations expressed or implied in the forward-looking information. Except as required under applicable securities legislation, Sekur undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking information.

SOURCE: Sekur Private Data Ltd.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/754461/Sekur-Private-Data-Ltds-SekurVPN--its-Swiss-Hosted-Privacy-Focused-VPN-Now-Available-on-Mac-App-Store
ROME, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Confassociazioni, the organization that promotes and supports professional associations in Italy, announces the opening of a branch in the United States, which joins the foreign delegations already active in the United Kingdom, Spain, United Arab Emirates and Canada.





The press conference to present Confassociazioni USA was held at the italian Chamber of Deputies in Rome, offering an important opportunity to discuss the challenges and opportunities related to the internationalization of Italian professional associations and relations between our country and the United States.

The meeting, moderated by Radio Parlamentare's editor in chief, Cristina Del Tutto, saw the interventions of Stefano Potorti, Delegate Councilor for the Coordination of International Structures and President of Confassociazioni UK, Hon. Christian Di Sanzo, italian parliamentarian elected in the North America constituency and Gianni Lattanzio, President of Confassociazioni International.

President of Confassociazioni USA, Carmelo Cutuli, presented the activities, mission and objectives of the new delegation: "Confassociazioni USA - said President Cutuli - is committed to playing an active role in supporting relations between Italy and the United States, promoting joint initiatives, collaborations and exchanges between the respective professional communities. We already have delegates in Texas, Arizona, Illinois and Washington DC. We are receiving numerous availability also in other states and we are meeting with the major organizations representing the Italian-American community, which today counts over 26 million American citizens of Italian descent. "

Following, the interventions of the international marketing expert Salvo Bonanno, Vice President of Confassociazioni USA, connected from Chicago, and delegate for ArizonaClarissa Burt, connected from Phoenix.

President of Confassociazioni, Angelo Deiana, concluded the conference underlining the importance of the initiative and confirming the willingness to continue the path of internationalization of the confederation's activities, which this year celebrates the tenth anniversary of its foundation: "This initiative confirms Confassociazioni's commitment to supporting member professional associations and promoting international relations abroad, in this case in the United States, favoring cooperation and strengthening exchanges between the professional communities of the two countries."

The press conference was broadcasted live on the web channel of the Chamber of Deputies, featuring numerous guests, including representatives from the Rome's lodge of the Order Sons and Daughters of Italy in America (OSDIA), Italian Committees Abroad and foreign trade experts.

About Confassociazioni

Confassociazioni aims to foster the associative system of professions, businesses and the third and fourth sector, enhancing their role, including in terms of equal opportunities, in the Italian constitutional, legislative, economic and social system and in the corresponding European areas.

For more information about Confassociazioni and its initiatives, please visit www.confassociazioni.eu / pres.usa@confassociazioni.eu.

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2076100/Confassociazioni_USA_team.jpg

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/confassociazioni-the-italian-confederation-of-professional-associations-announces-the-opening-of-its-usa-branch-301823421.html
LONDON, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Seabourn, the leader in ultra-luxury voyages and expedition travel, is looking forward to setting sail on its second expedition season in the Arctic. In the early morning hours of 12thMay 2023, Seabourn Venture, the line's first purpose-built expedition ship, made its maiden arrival in Greenwich, London where it will sail on two voyages to the British Isles and Ireland before embarking on a series of voyages to Greenland and Iceland.

"Seabourn Venture is a beautiful ship that was purpose built to provide the ultimate expedition experiences and take our extraordinary guests to some of the most fascinating and remote destinations in the world," said Natalya Leahy, president of Seabourn. "The ship delighted our guests in her first year of service from the Arctic to the Antarctic, and we look forward to continuing to deliver unique 'Seabourn Moments' and an unparalleled luxury expedition that can only be experienced with Seabourn."

Second Season of Arctic Expeditions

On 12thMay 2023, Seabourn Venture will set sail from Greenwich to Leith (Edinburgh), Scotland on a 12-day "Lands of the Celts" voyage, followed by an 11-day voyage to the Orkney and Shetland Islands on 24thMay 2023, from Leith to Reykjavik, Iceland. From there, the ship will begin its second season in the Arctic with a series of 14- and 15-day voyages to Greenland and Iceland. Between June and August 2023, the ship will visit a number of remote destinations such as Scoresby Sound, Greenland, home to the largest and longest fjord system in the world; Pond Inlet, Nunavut, an Inuit community near the eastern entry to the Northwest Passage, and more.

On 27thAugust 2023, Seabourn Venture will embark on the line's first-ever voyage through the Northwest Passage with a 23-day adventure from Kangerlussuaq, Greenland to Nome, Alaska. The ship will offer the extraordinary opportunity to travel to one of the most infamous and storied passages in the world from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and filled with an abundance of history, wildlife, and unique landscapes. The voyage includes a pre- and post-cruise hotel stay in Reykjavik, Iceland, and Anchorage, Alaska.

Following the Northwest Passage voyage, the ship will head down the West Coast of the Americas before reaching Antarctica, where it will explore the "White Continent" between November 2023 and February 2024. In late February 2024, Seabourn Venture will make a once-in-a-lifetime crossing of the Atlantic encompassing the Falkland Islands, South Georgia, Tristan da Cunha, and Ascension Island. In March and April, the ship will take two sailings up the West Coast of Africa and Europe to be in position for the 2024 Arctic season.

Select expedition voyages on Seabourn Venture qualify for Seabourn's latest promotions, including the "Bon Voyage Event", which features a complimentary two-category suite upgrade and up to $2,000USD shipboard credit per suite features; or the "Finale Sail", which unlocks savings up to 30% when guests book a fully non-refundable cruise fare for select suite categories. While not combinable, both promotions are available through 10thJuly 2023.

For reservations or more details contact Seabourn on visit www.seabourn.com

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Payment of the interests of the Highbridge/Whitebox loans Information on the total number of voting rights (denominator)





Liege, Belgium, 12May 2023 - 17:50 CET - Mithra Pharmaceuticals SA (Euronext Brussels: MITRA) (the "Company" or "Mithra"), a company dedicated to Women's Health, today announces that, the third quarterly interests of the loan facility concluded with funds managed by Highbridge Capital Management, LLC ("Highbridge") and funds managed by Whitebox Advisors, LLC ("Whitebox", and together with Highbridge, each a "Lender"), was paid through contribution in kind against the issuance of new shares for an aggregate amount of EUR 641,289.61 through the issuance of 285,409 new shares at an issue price of EUR 2.25.

On 8th August 2022, the Company and the Lenders entered into a three-year term senior secured convertible facilities agreement for an amount of up to EUR 100 million, which can be drawn in three tranches. The first tranche of EUR 50 million was drawn upon signing of the agreement; the second tranche of EUR 25 million was drawn on 31st October 2022.

In accordance with article 15 of the Belgian Act of 2 May 2007 on the disclosure of major participations in issuers of which shares are admitted to trading on a regulated market and regarding miscellaneous provisions, following this capital increase's completion Mithra now has 57,359,031 outstanding shares carrying voting rights (against 57,073,622 outstanding shares carrying voting rights previously).

Therefore, Mithra publishes the following updated information:

Capital: EUR 41,992,326.28

Total number of securities carrying voting rights: 57,359,031 (all ordinary shares)

Total number of voting rights (= denominator): 57,359,031 (all relating to ordinary shares)

Number of outstanding rights to subscribe to securities carrying voting rights: Pursuant to the share option plan of 5 November 2018: 1,394,900 subscription rights giving right to 1,394,900 ordinary shares Pursuant to the share option plan of 22 July 2020: 690,000 subscription rights giving right to 720,571 ordinary shares Pursuant to the share option plan granted to the lending shareholders of 7 September 2020: 300,000 subscription rights giving right to 313,292 ordinary shares Pursuant to the share option plan of 20 November 2020: 390,717 subscription rights giving rise to 390,717 ordinary shares



********

For more information, please contact:

Investor relations :investorrelations@mithra.com

About Mithra

Mithra (Euronext: MITRA) is a Belgian biotech company dedicated to transforming Women's Health by offering new choices through innovation, with a particular focus on contraception and menopause. Mithra's goal is to develop products offering better efficacy, safety and convenience, meeting women's needs throughout their life span. Mithra explores the potential of the unique native estrogen Estetrol in a wide range of applications in women health and beyond. After having successfully launched the first Estetrol-based product in 2021, the contraceptive pill Estelle, Mithra is now focusing on its second product Donesta, the next-generation hormone therapy. Mithra also offers partners a complete spectrum of solutions from early drug development, clinical batches and commercial manufacturing of complex polymeric products (vaginal ring, implants) and complex liquid injectables and biologicals (vials, pre-filled syringes or cartridges) at its technological platform Mithra CDMO. Active in more than 100 countries around the world, Mithra has an approximate headcount of 230 staff members and is headquartered in Liege, Belgium.www.mithra.com

ESTELLE, and DONESTA are registered trademarks of Mithra Pharmaceuticals or one of its affiliates.

Important information

The contents of this announcement include statements that are, or may be deemed to be, "forward-looking statements". These forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, including the words "believes", "estimates," "anticipates", "expects", "intends", "may", "will", "plans", "continue", "ongoing", "potential", "predict", "project", "target", "seek" or "should", and include statements the Company makes concerning the intended results of its strategy. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and readers are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. The Company's actual results may differ materially from those predicted by the forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking statements, except as may be required by law.





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Dubai, United Arab Emirates--(Newsfile Corp. - May 12, 2023) - Sell USDT in Dubai facilitates the acceptance of fiat payments for cryptocurrency purchases, to accommodate cash trading in the global cryptocurrency market.

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SUID (Sell USDT in Dubai) is one of Dubai's leading over-the-counter cryptocurrency offices. The office is modern and luxurious, offering customers a safe and comfortable trading experience. The visitors can access the most popular cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (BTC), Tether (USDT), Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), Cardano (ADA), and many others at SUID. Whether you reside in the city or are just visiting, the SUID team is ready to assist you in achieving your financial goals and making informed decisions while trading cryptocurrencies.

Name: SUID

Address: Exchange Tower 10th floor office No 1004, Business Bay, Dubai

Phone: +971529886273

Email: contact@sellusdtindubai.com

Contact Person: Ilyas Jacobs

Contact Person Title: Marketing Assistant

City, Country: Dubai, the UAE

Website: https://sellusdtindubai.com/

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/165859
Regulatory News:

The shareholders of Antin Infrastructure Partners SA (Paris:ANTIN) (the "Company") are invited to attend the Combined Annual Shareholders' Meeting (the "Meeting") to be held at 2:30 p.m. on 6 June 2023 at 9, Place Vendome, 75001 Paris.

The preliminary notice of Meeting was published in the French legal gazette (BALO) No.47 of 19 April 2023. It includes the Meeting agenda, the draft resolutions that the Board of Directors will submit to the vote of shareholders, and main modalities for attending, voting and exercising shareholders rights.

The notice of Meeting will be published in the French legal gazette (BALO) and a French legal announcement journal within the legal and regulatory deadlines.

The preparatory documents and information relating to the Meeting are made available to shareholders and may be consulted or communicated in accordance with the applicable laws and regulations. They are available on the Company's website www.shareholders.antin-ip.com, section "Shareholders' Meetings

About Antin Infrastructure Partners

Antin Infrastructure Partners is a leading private equity firm focused on infrastructure. With over 30bn in Assets under Management across its Flagship, Mid Cap and NextGen investment strategies, Antin targets investments in the energy and environment, digital, transport and social infrastructure sectors. With offices in Paris, London, New York, Singapore and Luxembourg, Antin employs over 200 professionals dedicated to growing, improving and transforming infrastructure businesses while delivering long-term value to portfolio companies and investors. Majority owned by its partners, Antin is listed on compartment A of the regulated market of Euronext Paris (Ticker: ANTIN ISIN: FR0014005AL0).

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230512005263/en/

Contacts:

Media

Nicolle Graugnard, Communication Director

Email: nicolle.graugnard@antin-ip.com

Shareholder Relations

Ludmilla Binet, Head of Shareholder Relations

Email: ludmilla.binet@antin-ip.com

Brunswick

Email: antinip@brunswickgroup.com

Tristan Roquet Montegon: +33 (0)6 37 00 52 57

Gabriel Jabes: +33 (0)6 40 87 08 14
Paris - 12 May 2023 - 6pm - Akkadian Partners SA ("Akkadian") has announced that Akkadian Partners Fund, a Luxemburg registered securitisation fund under its management, now holds over a 5% shareholding and voting rights in Erytech SA ("Erytech").

Akkadian has conducted a detailed analysis of the merits of the proposed strategic alliance between Erytech and Pherecydes Pharma ("Pherecydes") with particular focus on the strategic alignment of the expertise between the two companies, on their market competitiveness, their future prospects and the respective valuations chosen in this merger. Following this analysis, Akkadian has concluded that the merger between Pherecydes and Erytech does not serve the interests of Erytech's shareholders.

Akkadian is willing to work constructively with Erytech's management with a view to finalizing a strategy that will enable to Erytech's significant cash resources to be effectively deployed.

Akkadian believes that the chosen market value of Pherecydes is unjustified and overvalued compared to that of Erytech. Pherecydes is on the verge of going into bankruptcy and had to undertake a 1.5 million capital increase, fully subscribed by its shareholders, in February 2023 before its General Assembly meeting scheduled in June 2023

This chosen market valuation appears solely dictated by the concern to protect Pherecydes shareholders, in particular Auriga IV Bioseeds: (i) Elaia Partners, acting on behalf of Auriga IV Bioseeds, which holds approximately 23% of the share capital of Pherecydes; (ii) Auriga Ventures III which holds approximately 3,70 % of the share capital of Erytech, (iii) the representative and joint manager of these two "Auriga" shareholdings is Mr. Franck Lescure, which constitutes a clear conflict of interest. Elaia Partners, acting on behalf of Auriga IV Bioseeds, subscribed to half of the 1.5 million capital increase of Pherecydes, i.e. well over the percentage of its shareholding in Pherecydes.

Finally, Akkadian notes that the allocation of managerial roles is entirely skewed in favour of Pherecydes, which will fill the roles of Chairman (Mr. Didier Hoch) and CEO (Mr. Thibaut du Fayet), whereas the current CEO of Erytech (Mr. Gil Beyen) would simply act as Chairman and CEO of its US entity. Specifically, he will manage seven people in the future whereas he currently manages 50 people and managed 181 people on 31 December 2021. The reasons for this are inexplicable but which might be dictated by personal and family/marital interests.

Akkadian requests that Erytech's Board of Directors immediately cease incurring costs on this transaction which clearly goes against the interests of Erytech's shareholders (already 1.2 M have already been spent) and focus its efforts on finding solutions that can generate short and medium term value for all Erytech's shareholdersand not for Pherecydes shareholders.

1 - Concerning the lack of relevance of the alliance between Pherecydes (phagotherapy) and Erytech

Our analysis highlights the following weaknesses in Pherecydes:

The Pherecydes product portfolio has limited commercial potential Its positioning as a last-line therapy has resulted in: A low number of patients as illustrated by the small number of treatments administered under the Compassionate Access Authorisations (ACCs) obtained in May 2022; The critical clinical condition of patients with a very high mortality rate. Each product is extremely targeted and limited to a given species type of bacteria or to one or more strains within this species, thereby requiring very high precision and the need to combine treatments with antibiotics to produce an effective therapeutic impact which in turn entails increased risks in terms of tolerance and additional costs; A complicated treatment rationale: selection of the bacteria strain, phagogram, delivery of one or more active bacteriophages; Difficult in situ delivery, creating an obstacle to acquiring new clients; The need to reconstitute the product in a hospital pharmacy environment which poses an additional difficulty for new potential clients; The choice of targets is questionable: There are no precise indications for the anti-Pseudomonas aeruginosa and anti-E.col ; The low cost of treatments: the low cost of antibiotics and the major difficulty of obtaining a premium price; No presence on the US market.



The ability to complete the treatment is improbable The difficulty of obtaining the registration of the products; No interest for antibacterial agents among big phara companies; Its highly complex pricing making any commercial launch without a partner impossible.



Clinical development is complicated Infectiology trials which are typically complicated are even more so because of the abovementioned difficulties, namely: the need to select strains that respond to treatment (phagogram), the need to add active antibiotics to the treatment protocol, requiring a large cohort of patients in many hospitals at high cost; this is illustrated by the difficulties faced in the PHAGODAIR study with an initial patient recruited in a clinical trial in June 2022 and about which there has been no news since; No significant results in clinical development and with Compassionate Access Authorisations (ACCs).



Non sustainable manufacturing Manufacturing is fully outsourced and know-how is disseminated among potential competitors (MB Pharma) with total dependency on sub-contractor manufacturers and research sub-contractors; High production costs since there are no phage associations enabling cost savings in terms of quality control (QC) and manufacturing.



The management team is undersized The medical team is undersized, hence the long delay in launching the PHAGODAIR clinical trial; A lack of commercial development or market access activities, as evidenced by the lack of results with Compassionate Access Authorisations (ACCs).



Fiercer competition in this sector with approaches that relate to the points mentioned above. Armata Pharmaceuticals (New York Stock Exchange -USA): Announcement of positive Phase I/II trial results according to good manufacturing practices (GMP) in-house internal standards in the US; In-house manufacturing in a GMP plant in the US; Over US$30 million in financing. Adaptive Phage Therapeutics (USA): 3 clinical trials in progress; In-house GMP manufacturing plant in the US; Major B series financing of US$61 million in 2021; Partnership with Mayo Clinic; Solid managerial team recently bolstered in clinic research.



2 - Concerning the unbalanced terms of the strategic alliance between Erytech and Pherecydes

On the excessive valuation of Pherecydes

In their joint press release dated 15 February 2023, Erytech and Pherecydes announced a proposed strategic merger, whereas in actual fact this merger involves amalgamating Pherecydes with Erytech, as mentioned three pages further on.

The joint presentation of the proposed operation (February 2023) on the Pherecydes website states that the merger is "between equals" at a "parity fixed at 4 PHERECYDES shares against 15 ERYTECH shares (49.5% / 50.5% on a fully diluted basis)", i.e. at parity of 1 to 1 in valuation terms.

However, there is no reason to set the value of Pherecydes at an amount equivalent to that of Erytech.

Erytech was incorporated in 2004 and was floated on the French stock exchange in April 2013, with a post-IPO market value of 64.3 million; it is listed on the Compartment C Euronext market; Pherecydes was incorporated in 2006 and was floated on the French stock exchange in February 2021, with a post-IPO valuation of 34.9 million; it is listed on the Euronext Growth market.

Erytech has raised funds of nearly 400 million in France and the US and has achieved a market value of nearly 400m since its IPO in 2013; Pheredyces has raised funds of only 25.6 million in France since it was incorporated in 2006, of which 12.6m since its IPO in 2021. It had a market value of 13.8 million in December 2022 before proposed strategic alliance with Erytech was announced.

Erytech had a cash flow of 38.8 million on 31 December 2022 (Erytech press release of 22 March 2023); Pherecydes had a cash flow of 1 million on 31 December 2022, strengthened by a fundraising of 1.5 million partially subscribed by Auriga IV Bioseeds to allow the company to maintain its business activity until the merger is finalized (Pherecydes press release dated 30 March 2023).

If Pherecydes had not received the sum of 1.5 million, invested solely with a view to the merger with Erytech, Pherecydes would have lacked the financial resources to pursue its business activity.

Nothing would have prevented Erytech from considering a project to acquire Pherecydes that would serve its own interest and the interests of its shareholders based on a value of "one symbolic euro" or of considering another type of merger other than at a parity of 1 for 1, in particular by involving Erytech in the share capital of Pherecydes through a rights issue or through via the subscription of bonds convertible into shares issued by Pherecydes.

In the light of the above, there is no justification for choosing an equivalent value for Erytech and Pherecydes and no grounds for merging these two structures.

This is all the more true since this merger seems to been largely influenced by Auriga Partners, who is a shareholder of both Erytech and Pherecydes, in the interest of its own shareholding in Pherecydes.

Concerning the conflict of interests

In their joint press release of 15 February 2023, the two companies stressed that the transaction has the full support of the main shareholders of Erytech and Pherecydes, namely Auriga Partners (acting on behalf of Auriga Ventures III) on the Erytech side and of Elaia Partners (acting on behalf of Auriga IV Bioseeds) on the Pherecydes side.

Elaia Partners is headed by a former Auriga Partners executive, Mr. Franck Lescure, and has financially supported Pherecydes as its historical shareholder by contributing 660,000 to its IPO (Pherecydes press release of 2 February 2021), in a fundraising of 1 million in September 2022 (Pherecydes press release of 22 September 2022) and in its most recent fundraising in February 2023 of 747,000 (Pherecydes press release of 17 February 2023).

Elaia Partners' interest in participating in Pherecydes' latest fundraising could only have been driven with a view to entering into an alliance with Erytech, as revealed in the press releases of both companies.

Indeed, Pherecydes itself acknowledges that the last fundraising of 1.5 million, in which Elaia Partners contributed one half, provided it with "financial visibility until the completion of the merger planned for the end of the 1st half of 2023"; "the current level of cash flow allows Pherecydes Pharma to finance its cash requirements until the end of the first half of 2023, the date planned for the merger with Erytech" (Pherecydes' press release of 30 March 2023).

In other words, if the merger does not go ahead, Pherecydes will no longer have the financial resources to pursue its business activity as of 1st July 2023.

Pherecydes shareholders therefore wish to proceed with this merger with Erytech in order to benefit from its cash flow.

It is therefore clear that the merger with Erytech based on an equivalent value of the two companies is in the sole interest of Pherecydes shareholders, that it disadvantages Erytech shareholders and that it solely benefits the management team of Pherecydes and Auriga Partners, Elaia Partners and the funds that the latter two companies manage through Monsieur Franck Lescure.

This constitutes a major conflict of interest which highlights a lack of loyalty and ethics towards the shareholders of Erytech in the management of the company.

Akkadian therefore intends to oppose this merger by every means at its disposal and to inform Erytech's managers that no future decision should be taken which could be contrary to the interests of the company and of each of its shareholders.

Akkadian intends to propose investment projects to Erytech's management that differ from the one which entails its disappearance that benefits Pherecydes simply to satisfy the interests of a single shareholder, Auriga Partners/Elaia Partners and a single management team, that of Pherecydes.

About Akkadian Partners

Akkadian Partners manages a multi strategy investment fund, mostly in the health sector. The fund manages shareholders in several pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in the US and Europe. Akkadian invests the money of its managers and investors which include Family Offices and Ultra High NetWork Investors (UHNWIs).

More informations: Akkadianpartnersfund.com

Contact

contact@akkadianpartnersfunds.com

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SES-imagotag (Euronext: SESL, FR0010282822), the global leader in digital solutions for physical commerce, today announced that it has made available the necessary documentation for its Extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders, scheduled for June 2, 2023, at 10:00 AM at the company's headquarters, 55 place Nelson Mandela, Nanterre (92000).

The documents made available are the following:

Convening notice (in English and French)

Meeting notice (April 28, 2023, in French)

Meeting notice (May 15, 2023, in French)

Voting ballot

Board of Directors' Report to the Extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders of June 2, 2023 (in French)

Auditors' Report on the capital increase reserved for members of a company savings plan (in French)

Auditors' Report on the issue of warrants ( BSA ) with cancellation of preferential subscription rights (in French)

The documents are availabe on the company's website www.ses-imagotag.com, under Investors.

About SES-imagotag and the VUSION Retail IoT platform

SES-imagotag is a world leader in smart digital labels and IoT solutions for physical retail, serving over 350 large retailer groups around the world in Europe, Asia and North America.

SES-imagotag has developed the VUSION Retail IOT technology platform to help retailers transform their physical stores into high value digital assets, more automated, data-driven, and connected in real-time to suppliers and consumers. VUSION

improves the agility, precision and accuracy of prices, whilst ensuring the omnichannel synchronization of prices, product information and marketing campaigns. The platform developed by SES-imagotag also optimizes in-store order preparation and restocking.

VUSION improves employee satisfaction by freeing up time from cumbersome low value-added tasks and allowing them to focus on customer service and merchandizing tasks. VUSION connects shelves to the Cloud, providing real-time accurate information on product availability and location, allowing for reduced inventory, out-of-stock, and waste, as well as improved on-shelf availability and merchandizing compliance. VUSION empowers consumers with better product, nutritional and traceability information at the shelf and enables a frictionless in-store shopping experience with features such as product search, pathfinding and cashier-less scan & pay features.

SES-imagotag supports the United Nations' Global Compact initiative and has received in 2022 the Platinum Sustainability Rating from EcoVadis, the world's reference of business sustainability ratings.

SES-imagotag is listed in compartment A of the Euronext Paris exchange and is included in the SBF 120 index.

Ticker symbol: SESL - ISIN code: FR0010282822 - Reuters: SESL.PA - Bloomberg: SES

www.ses-imagotag.com

Investor Relations contact:

Labrador - Raquel Lizarraga / +33 (0)6 46 71 55 20 / raquel.lizarraga.ext@ses-imagotag.com

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The human body takes many different positions over its lifespan. Scientists wanted to find a way

to study how cell movement is impacted when the direction of gravity changes as our body positions

change. (Image created using materials from STAM Vol.24, Issue 1, Article 2206525 (2023) and

Canva.)

TSUKUBA, Japan, May 13, 2023 - (ACN Newswire) - Researchers at the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) and colleagues in Japan have developed a specially coated, light-responsive surface that helps test how the direction of gravity impacts cell movements. The findings, published in the journal Science and Technology of Advanced Materials, could lead to a better understanding of what happens to cells in people who are bedridden for prolonged periods and of the impact of gravity's direction on cancer cell migration.The special surfaces are made by coating glass slides with a combination of molecules that are responsive to light. Shining light on a central, circular area of the slide breaks up the molecules, clearing away a coating-free zone that cells can stick to. Once stabilized in this area, the scientists then use light to clear away an area surrounding the central circle. This encourages the cells to move in an outward direction to fill the square. The team investigated what happens to cell movement when the slide is placed upright, with the cells lying on top and the direction of gravity impacting the cells from top to bottom. They then conducted a similar test with the slide flipped over while supported on either side so that the cells are inverted and the direction of gravity is from the bottom of the cells to their tops."We found that the direction of gravity hindered collective cell migration in the inverted position by reducing the number of outward-moving leader cells at cluster edges and by redistributing shape-forming filaments, composed of actin and myosin, so that they kept the cells bundled together," explains biomaterials researcher, Shimaa Abdellatef, who is a postdoc at NIMS.The coated, light-responsive surfaces provide an advantage over currently available methods that study the impacts of gravity's direction, as they require physical contact with the surface to which cells are attached. The new approach enables remote induction of cell migration."We plan to apply our approach to analyse the responses of cancer cells to the direction of gravity," says NIMS nanoscientist, Jun Nakanishi, who led the study. "We expect to find differences between healthy and diseased cells, which could provide important information about cancer progression in bedridden patients."Further informationJun NakanishiNational Institute for Materials Science (NIMS)Email:NAKANISHI.Jun@nims.go.jpShimaa A. AbdellatefNational Institute for Materials Science (NIMS)Email: ABDELALEEM.shimaa@nims.go.jpPaper: https://doi.org/10.1080/14686996.2023.2206525About Science and Technology of Advanced Materials (STAM)Open access journal STAM publishes outstanding research articles across all aspects of materials science, including functional and structural materials, theoretical analyses, and properties of materials. https://www.tandfonline.com/STAMDr Yasufumi NakamichiSTAM Publishing DirectorEmail: NAKAMICHI.Yasufumi@nims.go.jpPress release distributed by Asia Research News for Science and Technology of Advanced Materials.Source: Science and Technology of Advanced MaterialsCopyright 2023 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.
DENVER, CO / ACCESSWIRE / May 12, 2023 / Today, the Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator (IN), a technology incubator funded by the Wells Fargo Foundation and co-administered by the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), announced its seventh cycle of Channel Partner Strategic Awards. This year, IN distributed $970,000 among seven winners to fund innovative and impactful projects that are intended to strengthen and diversify the cleantech and agtech ecosystems.

Winners received funding between $100,000 to $250,000. Applications were reviewed based on their potential for capacity building, with a particular focus on fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion, or supporting pilot and demonstration projects for startups. Selections were guided by a commitment to distribute funds equally across the U.S.

"The IN Channel Partner Network fosters meaningful connections and provides critical support to a diverse group of industry stakeholders," said Trish Cozart, IN Program Manager at NREL. "Leveraging NREL's ability to bring people and resources together, the Channel Partner Awards aim to drive impact throughout the cleantech and agtech ecosystems to advance a sustainable future for all."

The 2023 Channel Partner Strategic Award winners are:

AgLaunch (Memphis, TN) will form a Cleantech Pilot & Demonstration Network for Underserved Communities to increase the participation of small and minority farmers in pilots and demonstration projects, who will receive equity in the company they support. They will also develop a similar approach for clean energy innovations in underserved markets in collaboration with the HBCU Clean Energy Initiative.

BRITE Energy Innovators (Warren, OH) and the Centrepolis Accelerator (Southfield, MI) will launch a joint program aimed at supporting underrepresented climate tech entrepreneurs in Ohio and Michigan by combining their core programs, increasing access, and helping underserved founders reach commercialization faster.

Evergreen Climate Innovations (Chicago, IL) will use the award to expand support for underrepresented founders in the climate tech space, focusing on solutions deployable in historically underserved communities, and offering assistance for pursuing pilot and demonstration opportunities in line with the White House's Justice40 Initiative.

Grid Catalyst (Minneapolis, MN) will use the funding to lead a demonstration cohort for energy and hardtech startups, matching them with Minnesota-based partners for pilot projects, and accelerating the process of initiating these projects within six months of the application process.

Launch Alaska (Anchorage, AK) will use the award to support and expand its Tech Deployment Track program, which aids climate tech startups and historically underserved legacy energy communities in Alaska in acquiring demonstration partners and funding, as well as increasing partner diversity and providing travel stipends for rural-based mentors.

Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI) (Los Angeles, CA) will use the award to enhance its Impact Framework and Equity Earn Back program, which allows its portfolio companies (65% of which are owned by Black, Indigenous, and people of color) to earn back up to 50% of LACI's equity stake by improving environmental, social, and economic impacts.

(Los Angeles, CA) will use the award to enhance its Impact Framework and Equity Earn Back program, which allows its portfolio companies (65% of which are owned by Black, Indigenous, and people of color) to earn back up to 50% of LACI's equity stake by improving environmental, social, and economic impacts. Urban Future Lab (Brooklyn, NY) will use award funding to host events connecting climate tech startups, investors, and community-based organizations to accelerate pilot project deployments while promoting an equitable transition in the climate economy.

"The transition to a resilient, equitable, and sustainable future requires innovation in climate clean tech," said Robyn Luhning, chief sustainability officer at Wells Fargo. "The Wells Fargo Foundation is proud to support the diverse group of entrepreneurs who are innovating in this space with this year's Channel Partner Awards."

In addition to the Strategic Awards, IN awarded $19,000 in Connector Awards in January 2023 and is planning to allocate another $16,000 this summer. Connector Awards support Channel Partner events and activities.

IN launched the Channel Partner Strategic Awards program in 2017 to nurture the Channel Partner ecosystem, which includes more than 60 cleantech and agtech business incubators, accelerators, universities, and industry experts. Since its inception, the IN Channel Partner Strategic Awards program has distributed more than $6 million, supporting 55 Strategic Awards and 174 Ecosystem or Connector Awards. The nationwide program engages thousands of entrepreneurs, students, investors, mentors, and industry experts. Startups supported by the program have raised $208 million, in addition to $5 million in matched program funding.

In 2021, IN distributed $350,000 in Channel Partner Strategic Awards specifically to provide entrepreneurial opportunities for historically underrepresented groups in the cleantech industry. The funds delivered through IN2 supported six HBCUs as well as thousands of BIPOC people and organizations including 134 students, 70 farmers, 11 startups, six community partners, and 1,820 businesses.

During the COVID pandemic in 2020, the program provided $900,000 in relief awards. The awards supported 371 startups, generating over $19 million in revenue, 106 new jobs, 1,500 new customers, and $78 million in investments and other funding.

About the Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator (IN)

The Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator (IN) is a $50 million clean technology program funded by the Wells Fargo Foundation and co-administered by the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). IN identifies and supports promising cleantech startups, with the goal of commercializing low-carbon solutions in order to achieve the associated social, economic, and climate benefits that are so urgently required. The program aligns creative entrepreneurial solutions with robust resources in order to reduce emissions across the economy, with a focus on minimizing the energy impact of commercial buildings, affordable residential housing, and agriculture sectors. More specifically, IN helps early- and mid-stage clean technology startups overcome common market barriers by delivering up to $250,000 in non-dilutive funding in the form of research and development support from world-class scientists. Participants also gain access to lab facilities at NREL and the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis, and connections to a robust, cross-industry network of foundations, investors and other stakeholders. For more information, visit www.INecosystem.com.

Media Contact

Camille Cater

Antenna Group

nrel@antennagroup.com

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Wells Fargo on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Wells Fargo

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/wells-fargo

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: Wells Fargo

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/754551/Wells-Fargo-Innovation-Incubator-Announces-2023-Channel-Partner-Strategic-Awards-to-Catalyze-Innovation-and-Inclusion
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 12, 2023) - Iconic Minerals Ltd. (TSXV: ICM) (OTCQB: BVTEF) (FSE: YQGB) (the "Company" or "Iconic") is pleased to announce it has completed a new Magnetotellurics (MT) survey at its Smith Creek Project in Lander County, Nevada. The 7 lines, interpreted by Fritz Geophysics, revealed a low resistivity zone roughly 1000 feet (305 meters) below surface that may indicate a brine system or salty sediments, as seen in the figure below. This was the target of the MT survey, and the spatial definition of this large, low resistivity layer is now much better understood. In several MT sections, such as the one below, the lower resistivity target is interpreted to be at least 700 feet (213 meters) thick.





To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/4609/165908_7eb5cab964a0cb9e_002full.jpg

Richard Kern, CEO of Iconic Minerals, comments: "The Smith Creek Basin has a large area underlain by what our geophysicist calls brine. Additional work to further define and rank drill targets is planned before drill testing. This work should define high angle faults and permeable horizons capable of hosting lithium-rich fluids or sediments."

In response to the encouraging results of the MT survey, the claim block at Smith Creek has been expanded from 566 claims to 818, and now covers an area of roughly 26 square miles (67 square kilometers). While the new MT lines have enhanced understanding of the low resistivity zone's extents and properties, additional MT, along with other geophysical methods including active or passive seismic, are being evaluated to better define the target.

Qualified Person

Richard Kern, Certified Professional Geologist, a qualified person as defined by Canadian National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical information contained in this news release. Mr. Kern is not independent of the Company as he is the Chief Executive Officer of Iconic.

About the Smith Creek Project

The Smith Creek Project is located within Smith Creek Valley in Nevada, which is approximately 60 km (37 miles) long and 16 km (10 miles) wide. Quartz-rich volcanic tuffs containing anomalous amounts of lithium occur within and adjacent to the valley. Surface sampling around hot springs on patented ground just off the claim block assayed a maximum of 470 ppm Li. The gravity low within the valley is 16 km (10 miles) long, and the current estimates of depth to basement rocks range from 1,300 to 1,500 meters (4,200 to 5,000 feet). The current claim block covers an area of 67 km2 (26 mi2) with potential for brine systems as well as sediment resources.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

SIGNED: "Richard Kern"

Richard Kern, President and CEO

Contact: Keturah Nathe, VP Corporate Development (604) 336-8614

For further information on Iconic, please visit our website at www.iconicminerals.com. The Company's public documents may be accessed at www.sedar.com.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian and U.S. securities legislation, including the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein including, without limitation, statements with respect to the Option, the Joint Venture, the amount of the Offering, the expected use of proceeds from the Offering and the future business plans and exploration activities of the Company, are forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as: "will", "believes", "expects", "anticipates", "intends", "estimates", "plans", "may", "should", "potential", "scheduled" or variations of such words and phrases and similar expressions, which, by their nature, refer to future events or results that may, could, would, might or will occur or be taken or achieved. In making the forward-looking statements in this news release, the Company has applied several material assumptions, including without limitation, that investor interest will be sufficient to close the Offering, that market fundamentals will result in sustained precious metals demand and prices, the receipt of any necessary permits, licenses and regulatory approvals required for the Option Agreement and the future development of the Company's projects in a timely manner.

Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. Such risks and other factors include, among others, operating and technical difficulties in connection with mineral exploration and development activities, actual results of exploration activities, including on the Smith Creek Property, requirements for additional capital, future prices of lithium and gold, changes in general economic conditions, changes in the financial markets and in the demand and market price for commodities, lack of investor interest in future financings, accidents, labour disputes and other risks of the mining industry, delays in obtaining governmental approvals, permits or financing or in the completion of development or construction activities, risks relating to epidemics or pandemics such as COVID-19, including the impact of COVID-19 on the business, financial condition and exploration and development activities of the Company, changes in laws, regulations and policies affecting mining operations, title disputes, the inability of the Company to obtain any necessary permits, consents, approvals or authorizations, including of the TSX Venture Exchange in respect of the Option Agreement and the Offering, the timing and possible outcome of any pending litigation, environmental issues and liabilities, and risks related to joint venture operations, and other risks and uncertainties disclosed in the Company's latest interim Management's Discussion and Analysis and filed with the Canadian Securities Authorities. All of the Company's Canadian public disclosure filings may be accessed via www.sedar.com and readers are urged to review these materials, including the technical reports filed with respect to the Company's mineral properties.

Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any of the forward-looking statements in this news release or incorporated by reference herein, except as otherwise required by law.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/165908
Amsterdam, May 12, 2023concluded on Friday, as a record 650-plus attendees gathered in Amsterdam for three days of learning and networking at the most comprehensive regulatory affairs conference in Europe.



Last year's Euro Convergence, also in Amsterdam following two years of online conferences, set the record as RAPS' largest event in Europe. This year's conference exceeded that mark, with delegates from more than 36 countries across five continents and setting a new benchmark for RAPS European events.



"We saw last year how important it was for the profession to attend a conference in person," said conference committee co-chair Siegfried Schmitt, vice president, technical at Parexel. "The sold-out attendance and energy this year truly reinforce the relevance and value of RAPS Euro Convergence. It's simply fantastic!"



RAPS Euro Convergence is the most comprehensive regulatory affairs conference in Europe, focusing on the latest developments in healthcare products in Europe and beyond-medical devices, pharmaceuticals and biologics, diagnostics, and digital health. Here are some highlights from this year's record-setting event.



An opening plenary session dedicated to transparency in European medical safety information



Wednesday's opening plenary sessionmarked the official start of this year's conference with a panel discussion during which the panelists agreed that safety information related to medical products in Europe should be accessible and presented in a way that it can be understood by the public.



They argued that information in the EUDAMED database for medical devices and the EU Clinical Trials Information System (CTIS) needs to be presented in such a way that patients have enough understanding to advocate for their own care.



"Patient safety and access to data go hand in hand," said Jet Schouten, an investigative journalist with the Dutch newspaper NRC.

Educational sessions with leading regulatory experts, health authorities and notified bodies



Euro Convergence 2023 featured more than 40 educational sessions with leading regulatory experts from around the world. Among the presenters were more than 30 representing health authorities or notified bodies from a diverse cross-section of organisations throughout Europe. Educational sessions covered a range of topics including MDR and IVDR transition and implementation, the EU CTR, interactions with health authorities and notified bodies, artificial intelligence and more.



Topic-specific tracks in pharmaceuticals, medical devices, IVDR and regulatory business enabled delegates to get in-depth learning. A "Conversations that Matter: Interactions with Health Authorities" session gave delegates an opportunity to ask direct questions to health authority and notified body representatives in an interactive discussion format.



The chance to reconnect with global regulatory colleagues



At RAPS' largest-ever event in Europe, professionals had the opportunity to hear about vital regulatory updates and explore dynamic collaboration opportunities and essential professional development. In addition, the sold-out tabletop exhibits at RAPS Euro Convergence allowed delegates to meet with new business partners and discuss the latest innovations from across the industry.



"At the end of the day, nothing beats an event like this," said conference committee co-chair Alex Laan, head of IVD notified body at BSI Group. "Delegates learn so much from each other and have so many valuable experiences in between and after the presentations, which is something you can really only do if you engage one another face-to-face."



Chapter and local networking groupmeet and greets enabled delegates to reconnect with old colleagues and build new connections for future collaboration. Nine local RAPS communities came together for in-person meetups, including RAPS' recently-launched local networking groups in Spain and Portugal.



A robust agenda that went much further than educational sessions



The conference programme also included preconference workshops, poster presentations, sponsored sessions and networking events, including a networking dinner at the historic Kanarie Club. Delegates voted "Developing Guidelines for Medical 3D Printing in Various Scenarios: A Challenging Task?" by Nivedha Subramanian as the best poster.



"It is fantastic to see how much RAPS Euro Convergence has grown in our second year back in-person," said RAPS Executive Director Bill McMoil. "RAPS is focused on listening to and creatively serving the European regulatory affairs community and, as a result, I expect RAPS Euro Convergence to continue its phenomenal growth in the years to come."



After two years in Amsterdam, RAPS Euro Convergence is expanding to a larger venue and heading to the Berlin Congress Center on 6-8 May in 2024. Sign up here to stay informed.

About RAPS

The Regulatory Affairs Professionals Society

Attachment
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - May 12, 2023) - American Aires Inc. (CSE: WIFI) (OTC Pink: AAIRF) (the "Company" or "Aires") announces that it has closed a non-brokered private placement of units (the "Units") through the issuance of 7,844,000 Units at a price of $0.05 per Unit for aggregate gross proceeds of $392,200 (the "Offering").

Each Unit is comprised of one (1) common share in the capital of the Company ("Common Share") and one (1) Common Share purchase warrant ("Warrant"). Each Warrant entitles the holder thereof to acquire one (1) Common Share at a price of $0.05 per Common Share for twenty-four (24) months from the date of closing of the Offering (the "Warrant Term"). Should the closing price at which the Common Shares trade on the Canadian Securities Exchange (or any such other stock exchange in Canada as the Common Shares may trade at the applicable time) exceed $0.10 for 10 consecutive trading days at any time following the date that is four months and one day after the date of issuance, the Company may accelerate the Warrant Term (the "Reduced Warrant Term") such that the Warrants shall expire on the date which is 30 business days following the date a press release is issued by the Company announcing the Reduced Warrant Term.

Gross proceeds of the Offering will be used for working capital and general corporate purposes.

Closing of the Offering is subject to receipt of all necessary corporate and regulatory approvals. All securities issued in connection with the Offering will be subject to a hold period of four months plus a day from the date of issuance and the resale rules of applicable securities legislation.

The Company may close additional tranches of the Offering subject to all required regulatory approvals.

In connection with the closing of the first tranche of the Offering, the Company paid certain eligible persons a cash commission of $23,076 in the aggregate and issued 459,520 broker warrants ("Broker Warrants"). Each Broker Warrant entitles the holder thereof to acquire one Unit at a price of $0.05 per Unit for a period of two (2) years from the date of issuance. Broker Warrants are subject to the Reduced Warrant Term.

About American Aires Inc.

American Aires Inc. is a Canadian-based nanotechnology company which has developed proprietary silicon-based microprocessors that reduce the harmful effects of electromagnetic radiation (EMR). The technology was developed by a team of highly accredited scientists and confirmed by independent third-party validation including peer-reviewed studies and publications in scientific journals. Aires' Lifetune products specifically target EMR emitted by consumer electronic devices such as cellphones, computers, baby monitors, and Wi-Fi radiation, including the rapidly expanding next-generation high-speed 5G networks. Aires is listed on the CSE under the ticker 'WIFI' and on the OTC Pink under the symbol 'AAIRF'. Learn more at www.airestech.com .

On behalf of the board of directors

Company Contact:

Josh Bruni, CEO

Email: wifi@airestech.com

Telephone: (415) 707-0102

Website: www.airestech.com

Certain information set forth in this news release may contain forward-looking statements that involve substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements regarding the Offering, regulatory approvals in connection therewith and closing of subsequent tranches. Such forward-looking information reflects management's current beliefs and is based on information currently available to management. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "predicts", "intends", "targets", "aims", "anticipates" or "believes" or variations (including negative variations) of such words and phrases or may be identified by statements to the effect that certain actions "may", "could", "should", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. A number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors may cause the actual results or performance to materially differ from any future results or performance expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. These forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond the control of the Company including, but not limited to regulatory approvals. Certain material assumptions regarding such forward-looking statements may be discussed in this news release. Readers are cautioned that the assumptions used in the preparation of such information, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements. The Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by securities laws.

No securities regulatory authority has either approved or disapproved of the contents of this news release. The Shares have not been, nor will they be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or any state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold in the United States, or to or for the account or benefit of any person in the United States, absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any common shares in the United States, or in any other jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. We seek safe harbour.

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/165948
SACRAMENTO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / May 12, 2023 / Yesterday, the Port of Hueneme attended the signing of the historic MOU between California's five containerized ports inclusive of the Port of Hueneme, the Port of Long Beach, the Port of Los Angeles, the Port of Oakland, and the Port of San Diego in Sacramento and was proud to be part of this important milestone of launching the California Port Data Partnership alongside state and federal partners.

The MOU outlines an agreement between the five ports to jointly advance computerized and cloud-based data interoperability with a common goal of supporting improved freight system resilience, goods movement efficiency, emissions reduction, and economic competitiveness.

"California's ports are an essential link in the global supply chain. Thanks to the leadership of Governor Newsom and our state Legislature, California is establishing a first-of-its-kind, collaborative data system between all our state's containerized cargo ports," said California Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis. "Today's historic agreement will create a greener, more transparent, and more efficient supply chain - unlocking innovation in how cargo moves in California."

Over the past months California's five ports and the State have held bi-weekly roundtables to develop the framework for the MOU. The MOU and partnership will serve as the basis of cooperation for the $27M in grant funds from GO-Biz for port data system development. The funds were included in the Budget Act of 2022 which included a historic multi-billion-dollar state investment in California's goods movement and supply chain sectors.

"The MOU is a first-of-its-kind agreement on data system development among containerized ports and outlines eleven areas of cooperation, ranging from developing data definitions to ensuring equitable access to data for users," said GO-Biz Director and Senior Advisor to Governor Gavin Newsom, Dee Dee Myers. "This MOU and the funds that follow will build the basis for greater cooperation and standardization when it comes to data in our supply chain. I want to thank all of our partners across the supply chain as well as our ports for their leadership in this effort."

(Left to right) Mike LaFleur, VP of Maritime, Port of San Diego; Kristin Decas, CEO & Port Director, Port of Hueneme; Mario Cordero, Executive Director, Port of Long Beach; Toks Omishakin, CalSTA Secretary; Dee Dee Myers, Senior Advisor to the Governor and Director of the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development; Senator Steven Bradford; Assemblymember Mike Gipson; Assemblymember Josh Lowenthal; Bryan Brandes, Maritime Director, Port of Oakland; and David Libatique, Deputy Executive Director, Stakeholder Engagement, Port of Los Angeles

."Under Governor Newsom's leadership, California is making expansive upgrades to our nation-leading supply chain - from infrastructure to workforce development to technology - to create a more dynamic and resilient goods movement system that will power our economy for decades to come," said California Transportation Secretary Toks Omishakin. "This groundbreaking agreement will help develop a world-class data partnership that, coupled with our strategic infrastructure investments, will improve efficiency throughout the supply chain and keep California at the forefront of innovation."

The California Legislature additionally emphasized the importance of such investments in the budget in the wake of supply chain challenges in years past.

"The California Legislature has emphasized the importance of these investments in the budget in the wake of supply chain challenges," said Assemblymember Mike A. Gipson (D-Carson). "As Chair of the Select Committee on Ports and Goods Movement, I am happy to see all of California's containerized ports come together and sign the Memorandum of Understanding that will give $27 million for data system development. I will ensure a continued, collective partnership between the Legislature, state, and ports. Ports are a vital part of California's economy, and I will work to ensure that California is doing everything to support our ports."

Each of California's five containerized ports also weighed in on the importance of the MOU and the partnership's opportunity to improve the collective supply chain and further innovation within the freight and goods movement sectors.

"This historic investment by Governor Newsom leverages the overall competitiveness of California's container Ports through innovation and access to cutting edge technology," said Kristin Decas, CEO and Port Director for the Port of Hueneme. "This strategic technological alignment and partnership will specifically enable the Port of Hueneme to best support the ecosystem of California ports as a resiliency hub and of utmost importance, take the state to the next level by connecting the supply chain with a cloud-based cargo data system that promises to minimize disruptions and prosper fluidity in goods movement."



(Left to right) Port of Hueneme team: Paul Lydiate, Financial Analyst, Aaron Valance, IT Services Manager; Kristin Decas, CEO & Port Director; Mike Morrison, Operations & Security Manager; and Letitia Austin, Public & Government Relations Manager.

About the Port of Hueneme

The Port of Hueneme is one of the most productive and efficient commercial trade gateways for niche cargo on the West Coast. Five locally elected Port Commissioners govern the Port. The Port consistently ranks among the top ten U.S. ports for automobiles and fresh produce. Port operations support the community by bringing $2.2 billion in economic activity and creating 20,032 trade-related jobs. Trade through the Port of Hueneme generates more than $173.2 million in direct and related state and local taxes, which fund vital community services. In 2017, the Port of Hueneme became the first port in California to become Green Marine certified and was voted the Greenest Port in the U.S. at the Green Shipping Summit. www.portofh.org.

About GO-Biz

The Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) serves as the State of California's leader for job growth and economic development efforts. GO-Biz offers a range of services to business owners including: attraction, retention and expansion services, site selection, permit streamlining, clearing of regulatory hurdles, small business assistance, international trade development, assistance with state government, and much more. For more information visit the GO-Biz website.

PRESS CONTACT

Letitia Austin

Public & Government Relations Manager

laustin@portofh.org

(805) 271-2205

SOURCE: Port of Hueneme

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/754572/Port-of-Hueneme-Signs-Memorandum-of-Understanding-on-California-Ports-Data-Systems-Development
TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / May 12, 2023 / CCL Industries Inc. (TSX:CCL.A, CCL.B) (the "Company" or "CCL"), a world leader in specialty label, security and packaging solutions for global corporations, government institutions, small businesses and consumers, announced voting results from its 2023 Annual Meeting of Shareholders held May 11, 2023 (the "Meeting"). A total of 11,454,189 Class A voting shares representing 97.22% of the Company's issued and outstanding Class A voting shares, were voted in connection with the Meeting. All matters put forth at the Meeting, including the election of ten (10) directors, the appointment of auditor of the Company and authorization of the directors to fix the remuneration of such auditor, were approved as detailed in the Company's filing on www.sedar.com.

Each of the director nominees proposed by the Company in its Management Proxy Circular dated March 17, 2023, was elected as a director of CCL Industries Inc. as follows:

Nominee Votes For % For Votes Against % Against Angella V. Alexander 11,453,814 99.997 375 0.003 Linda G. Cash 11,453,889 99.997 300 0.003 Vincent J. Galifi 11,453,989 99.998 200 0.002 Kathleen L. Keller-Hobson 11,453,725 99.996 464 0.004 Donald G. Lang 11,453,525 99.994 664 0.006 Erin M. Lang 11,453,105 99.991 1,084 0.009 Stuart W. Lang 11,453,205 99.991 984 0.009 Geoffrey T. Martin 11,453,914 99.998 275 0.002 Douglas W. Muzyka 11,453,689 99.996 500 0.004 Thomas C. Peddie 11,453,394 99.993 795 0.007

For more information on CCL, visit - www.cclind.com or contact:

Sean Washchuk

Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

416-756-8526

Business Description

CCL Industries Inc. employs approximately 25,300 people operating 205 production facilities in 43 countries with corporate offices in Toronto, Canada, and Framingham, Massachusetts. CCL is the world's largest converter of pressure sensitive and specialty extruded film materials for a wide range of decorative, instructional, functional and security applications for government institutions and large global customers in the consumer packaging, healthcare and chemicals, consumer electronic device and automotive markets. Extruded and laminated plastic tubes, aluminum aerosols and specialty bottles, folded instructional leaflets, precision decorated and die cut components, electronic displays, polymer banknote substrate and other complementary products and services are sold in parallel to specific end-use markets. Avery is the world's largest supplier of labels, specialty converted media and software solutions for short-run digital printing applications for businesses and consumers available alongside complementary products sold through distributors, mass market stores and e-commerce retailers. Checkpoint is a leading developer of RF and RFID based technology systems for loss prevention and inventory management applications, including labeling and tagging solutions, for the retail and apparel industries worldwide. Innovia is a leading global producer of specialty, high performance, multi-layer, surface engineered films for label, packaging and security applications. The Company is partly backward integrated into materials science with capabilities in polymer extrusion, adhesive development, coating and lamination, surface engineering and metallurgy; deployed as needed across the four business segments.

SOURCE: CCL Industries Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/754535/CCL-Industries-Announces-2023-Annual-Shareholders-Meeting-Results
Visited Travel App Highlights the Most Visited White Water Rafting Spots Based on International Travelers

TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / May 12, 2023 / The travel app Visited by Arriving In High Heels Corporation has published a list of the top 10 white water rafting destinations in the world. Visited is a popular app that allows users to track travel, mark off where they've been, get a custom map of their travels, and discover new bucket list destinations.





Top Water Rafting Destinations





According to users of the Visited app, these are the most popular white water rafting spots around the globe:

Colorado River is the most-visited white water rafting destination in the world, with rolling rapids along the scenic river in the western U.S. Tara River entices adventurous travelers with white water rafting through Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina in Europe. Zambezi River in southeast Africa offers some of the best white water rafting in the world, with challenging class 3 to 5 rapids. Snake River in the U.S. Pacific Northwest offers breathtaking views and accessible white water rafting that is suitable for all abilities. Rio Pacuare in Costa Rica offers white water rafting through rainforests and canyons on the river that flows into the Caribbean Sea. Neretva River flows through Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia and features stunning views of the Dinaric Alps and class 3 rapids for all levels. White Nile in Africa offers thrilling white water rafting with class 4 and 5 rapids. Dobra River in Croatia has light to medium rapids for all levels of rafters. Cetina River in Croatia has beginner-friendly white water rafting and picturesque natural views. Shotover River on the South Island of New Zealand offers exciting white water rafting with class 3 to 5 rapids and rugged canyon views.

To see more travel lists with the most visited destinations around the world, get a customized travel map, and set travel goals, users can download Visited on iOS or Android.

Get the full Visited 2022 travel report for more travel stats with the most visited destinations based on over 1.5 million Visited users. To learn more about the Visited Travel Map and Inspiration App, visit https://visitedapp.com.

About Arriving In High Heels Corporation

Arriving In High Heels Corporation is a mobile app company with apps including Pay Off Debt, X-Walk, and Visited, their most popular app.

Contact Information

Anna Kayfitz

CEO

anna@arrivinginhighheels.com



SOURCE: Arriving In High Heels Corporation

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TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / May 12, 2023 / The travel map app Visited by Arriving In High Heels Corporation has published a list of the top 10 museums of science and natural history in the world. The Visited app allows users to mark off where they've traveled around the world, set travel goals, and get personalized travel stats and a custom map of their travels.

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.
Visited, the popular Travel App publishes the Top 10 Most-Visited Surfing Destinations Based on User Data

TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / May 12, 2023 / The travel app Visited by Arriving In High Heels Corporation has published a list of the top 10 most visited surf spots in the world. Scenic Biarritz in the south of France tops the list as the most sought-after surf destination.





Top Surfing Destinations





According to users of the Visited world map app, these are the most popular surf spots around the globe:

Biarritz entices surfers from far and wide to come enjoy the hollow waves along the picturesque south coast of France. North Shore Oahu in Hawaii, U.S., serves up big waves and pro surfing contests along more than 7 miles of beaches. Daytona Beach, Florida is a popular surfing destination that offers plenty of beginner-friendly beaches and ride-able waves in the southern U.S.. San Sebastian located in northern Spain's Basque country is a prime surfing spot for all ability levels at Zurriola Beach. Nazare is a top surf destination along the coast of Portugal serving up big waves that attract top-level surfers. Uluwatu and Kuta in Bali, Indonesia, have some of the best surfing waves in the world, attracting intermediate and advanced surfers. Byron Bay on the southeast coast of Australia has a wide range of beaches and waves as well as surfing lessons for all levels. Honolua Bay in Maui, Hawaii, is renowned for its big waves including hollow, powerful, and long waves. Canggu, Bali is a resort village in Indonesia featuring a variety of waves and beginner-friendly places to learn to surf. Apollo Bay in Victoria, Australia, has scenic surfing for beginners as well as bigger waves north of the harbor for more advanced surfers.

To see over 50 travel lists with bucket list destinations, get a customized travel map, and set travel goals, users can download Visited on iOS or Android.

Get the full Visited 2022 travel report for more travel stats with the most visited destinations based on over 1.5 million Visited users. To learn more about the Travel Map App, visit https://visitedapp.com.

About Arriving In High Heels Corporation

Arriving In High Heels Corporation is a mobile app company with apps including Pay Off Debt, X-Walk, and Visited, their most popular app.

Contact Information

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Edflex, a Paris, France-based e-learning content platform provider, raised $13m in second funding.

The round was led by Educapital, with participation from family office Wille Finance, business angel Jean Stephane Arcis and existing investors Maif Avenir and Arkea Capital via its Invest impact fund We Positive.

The company intends to use the funds to continue to:

Expand its content library and partnerships with industry experts and top e-learning publishers

Strengthen its existing technology with a focus on improving personalization and content curation capabilities

Enhance connectors with leading HR and learning solutions (LMS)

Increase its global presence by entering new markets and strengthening development in emerging markets, the DACH region (Germany, Switzerland, Austria) and North America.

Founded in 2016 by Clement Meslin, Philippe Riveron, Raphael Droissart and Remi Lesaint, Edflex offers e-learning content  from over 10,000 publishers (such as Cegos, Elephorm, Openclassrooms, HEC, etc.)  to upskill employees worldwide. The platform aggregates the best content from existing publishers, in multiple languages and formats to cover over 95% of training needs.

Today, the company has over 200 customers including Orange, Total Energies, Axa Bank and Manpower).

FinSMEs

12/05/2023
Whether you operate a large company or a small startup, you need business insurance. Every company does. The right policies can protect you from losses from fires, storms, auto accidents, etc. Just as importantly, adequate coverage can shield you from the financial repercussions of lawsuits against your business.

Downplaying or ignoring business risks can come back to haunt you. Sadly, its common for businesses to cease operations due to the heavy financial burdens they incur when theyre uninsured or underinsured, and the unexpected happens.

So, regarding financial risk management, business insurance is a critically important part of any sound strategy.

Choosing the Right Insurance Coverage

Business insurance companies typically offer various policies to address different risks. That way, customers can pay for only the coverage they need. For example, a business that doesnt own or lease vehicles doesnt need commercial auto insurance.

However, every company needs some or all of these seven standard policies:

Workers compensation insurance. Often referred to simply as workers comp, this insurance is required by states for virtually all companies with employees. It protects workers financially if theyre injured or contract an illness on the job. It can also provide a death benefit to the employees family in the event of a work-related fatality. General liability insurance. This policy covers damages and legal costs associated with injuries to non-employees, damage to other peoples property caused by your business and more. You can also add endorsements to customize your policy, including cyber, hired and non-owned auto liability, employment-related practices liability and employee benefits liability. Errors and omissions (E&O) insurance. Also called professional liability insurance, this type of coverage can protect you if a client sues your business, alleging you made mistakes in the professional advice or service you provided them. Note: Some clients may require this type of insurance. Business owners policy (BOP). Also called property & liability insurance, this type of insurance combines general liability protection plus coverage for the building you own or space you lease and any property needed to run your business. You can customize this policy with endorsements similar to a general liability policy. Commercial auto insurance. If your company owns or leases vehicles, your state probably requires you to have this policy. It protects you from liability lawsuits related to operating your vehicles and also covers damage to them. Cyber insurance. Imagine someone steals sensitive information from you and uses it to commit fraud, or its reasonable to believe they will. This type of insurance can cover costs related to the theft, such as notifying customers, researching the breach, etc. Umbrella insurance. All liability policies have a maximum amount theyll pay for a covered incident. If youre responsible for a figure exceeding the limit on the underlying policy, an umbrella policy can pay the difference up to its limit.

Leading insurance companies have licensed insurance experts on staff who can answer your questions about which policies you need.

Get Covered Today So You Can Focus on Your Business

Once youve done your homework and selected an insurance provider, you should purchase your policies promptly for two reasons. First, an incident can occur at any time, and if you dont have an active policy to cover it, you may be left with a sizable out-of-pocket expense.

Second, having sufficient coverage is the right thing to do for you, your employees and everyone who relies on your company. And with the financial security that business insurance provides, you can sleep better at night and be more focused on your business every day.

So, dont wait! You can price, purchase and manage insurance policies online with many providers. And if you ever need to file a claimand most companies do, eventuallyyou can also do that online for maximum convenience.
The much-awaited CBSE Class 12 Results 2023 is finally out for candidates across the country. The Central Board of Secondary Education on Friday, 12 May released the results for the Class 12 Board Exams 2023 on its official website, further adding that it would not release any merit list or divisions for candidates this year. The decision was taken to avoid unhealthy competition among students. Instead, the board will issue merit certificates to the 0.1% of candidates who have scored the highest marks in the exams this year. Students took the Class 12 board results can visit CBSEs official websites at cbseresult.nic.in and results.cbse.in to check their scores.

Scroll down to read in detail about CBSE Class 12 Board Results 2023 including the years toppers, state-wise rankings, and pass percentage, among other information.

CBSE Class 12 Results 2023: Merit certificates for toppers this year

In contrast to previous years, CBSE has decided to not publish a merit list for the candidates of Class 12 this year. Apart from this, the board has also decided to not award first, second, or third divisions to students, but instead, issue merit certificates to the top 0.1 per cent of students who have scored the highest marks in individual subjects.

CBSE Class 12 Results 2023: Pass percentage

With a drop of around 5.48 per cent in pass percentage in comparison to the previous years 92.71 per cent, girl students have outshined boys by 6.01 per cent. While around 90.68 per cent of girls have cleared the exams this year, 84.67 per cent of boys have cleared the class 12 exams.

CBSE Class 12 Results 2023: State-wise performance

While a total of 16.60 lakh students appeared in the 12th exams this year, the pass percentage stands at 87.33 per cent. Talking about the state-wise pass percentage, Trivandrum has topped the chart with the highest pass percentage of 99.91 per cent of students clearing the exam from the region. Following this, Bengaluru stands in the second position with 98.64 per cent, Chennai in the third position with 97.40 per cent, Delhi West in the fourth position with 93.24 per cent, and Chandigarh in the fifth position with 91.84 per cent.

With all these points to note, check the following steps to download CBSE Board Class 12 Result 2023.

Websites for CBSE Board Results 2023:

Steps to check CBSE Class 12 Result 2023?

1. Go to the official CBSE website at cbse.nic.in.

2. On the homepage, find the link to Senior School Certification Examination (Class XII) Results 2023 and click on it.

3. A login page will appear on the screen.

4. Enter the required information, including roll number, school no, and admit card ID.

5. Click on Submit and your CBSE Class 12 Results 2023 will be displayed on the screen.

6. Check your scores and download a copy for future reference.

Students who are unsatisfied with their scores can also apply for re-evaluation. As per the CBSE notice, the board will activate the re-evaluation, photocopy, and verification of the answer sheet process for on Tuesday, 16 May.

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In a bid to combine medical education and engineering to further bring innovative practices into the educational setting, the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, also known as IIT-Madras has launched a new department for the students of medical sciences and technology. As stated on the institutions website, the department has been launched with the purpose to provide clinicians and scientists, and engineers, with a skillset to advance medical research while taking an engineering approach to the human body and giving a clinical understanding of engineering respectively. In line with this purpose, the department has already collaborated with premier hospitals and medical institutions across the country and will top medical professionals from over the world who have also contributed to the development of the curriculum.

Notably, the department was inaugurated recently in the presence of Cognizant co-founder Lakshmi Narayanan, IIT-Madras director Prof V Kamakoti, and other stakeholders. Speaking on the same, Prof Kamakoti said that the institutions mission through the new department is to unite professionals from the fields of medicine and technology to create groundbreaking solutions for medical issues that were once unsolvable.

Continuing our mission of IITM for all, we aspire to provide technological interventions in the field of medicine that shall enable quality and affordable medicare to reach every citizen of our country, he added.

Courses under IIT-Madras new department

According to the institutions website, the department will provide a series of courses including a BS in medical sciences and engineering (four-year programme), a PhD programme for doctors, an MS by research for doctors, an MS in medical sciences and engineering, and finally a PhD programme for science and engineering graduates. The four-year course will offer students with a specialisation in a number of areas and will also cover emerging areas.

Claiming it to be the first-of-its-kind course in India, the PhD programme aims to train physician-scientists who will lead innovation in healthcare and boost research in vital fields of medicine.

Those who want to get into the department will have to go through the IISER Aptitude Test (IAT). Candidates having passed their Class XII examination with a specialisation in Science stream in 2022 or 2023 from any recognised board.

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Royal rift or royal feud we need to decide. This never ending drama seems to go on. But how did it all start- the rift between Harry and Meghan and the royal British family.

The start of the royal feud

Things are still bitter because of Harry and Meghan Markles tell-all interview with Oprah Meghans even more recent interview with The Cut. On top of it all, the final three episodes of the Sussexes Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan finally dropped, which caused the royal family to spiral for literal weeks before the show was even available. Followed by the controversial Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan was Prince Harrys memoir Spare where he detailed a lot of dark royal secrets along with his bitter relationship with his brother Prince William.

According to The Daily Beast, William, and Kate Middleton have opposed Charles making frequent concessions to Harry and Meghan, and their opinions are being taken into account. Charles has been emphasizing joint responsibility with William and Kate for the monarchys direction of travel since his coronation. Although Harry attended the coronation, he reportedly left immediately afterward to return to California for his sons birthday. Harrys early exit from King Charles Coronation and Meghan not attending the coronation and later posting her hiking images made the relationship even bitter.

Spare him not

Sources claim that the situation has escalated to such an extent that William allegedly feels completely betrayed by his brother, and even hates him. Harrys memoir, Spare, contained some explosive allegations against William and Kate, including claims that they encouraged him to wear a Nazi uniform to a costume party 18 years ago. The book also featured an account of a physical fight between the adult brothers, in which Harry claimed he was knocked to the ground, breaking a dog bowl.

In one section of Spare, Harry blamed Prince William and Kate for encouraging him to wear a Nazi uniform to a costume party 18 years ago. The book also featured an account of a physical fight between the adult brothers, in which Harry said he was knocked to the ground, breaking a dog bowl.

According to the reports in The Daily Beast that William feels completely betrayed by his brother revealing his secrets and now hates Harry. Sources have told The Daily Beast he was particularly angered by Harrys retelling the Nazi uniform story in such a way as to implicate him and Kate.

Charles III on concentrating on his role as a king

On the other hand, Charles will shift his focus toward his role as king, rather than being bogged down by the drama surrounding Harry and Meghan. According to reports published in The Daily Beast, the source said, The opportunity that was there for Harry to sort this out with the king is gone for now. But now the coronation is done, I think Charles will want to focus on the job of being king, rather than to continue being distracted by Harry and Meghan drama.

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Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party head Arvind Kejriwal wasted no time on Thursday after the Supreme Court ruled that the Delhi government has legislative and executive powers over the administration of services and shunted out the Secretary of the Services department Ashish More and replaced him with 1995-batch IAS officer A K Singh.

Later at a press conference, he vowed a very big administrative reshuffle for a responsible, lean, thin, compassionate, accountable, and sympathetic administration and said officers involved in obstructing the peoples work will have to suffer.

The move by Arvind Kejriwal has left Delhis bureaucracy concerned. Top bureaucratic sources told India Today that officers are not happy and fear that they might have to face repercussions of a wrathful Kejriwal government.

But what has led to this situation? Why does Kejriwal want to shuffle or transfer bureaucrats in the Delhi administration?

Kejriwals huge administrative overhaul

On Thursday, the Delhi chief minister said that there would be a big administrative reshuffle in a few days. Many officers will be transferred on the basis of what they have done till now. There are some officials who have stopped public works in the last year-and-a-half. There were instances where medicines of mohalla clinics, tests, Delhi Jal Boards money was stopped. Such officers will have to bear the consequences of their misdeeds. Opportunity will be given to responsive and compassionate officers and employees who want to serve the public, Kejriwal said.

The statement came after Supreme Courts five-judge constitution bench, headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud ruled that the legislature has control over bureaucrats in administration of services, except in areas outside the legislative powers of the National Capital Territory (NCT). There are three areas outside the control of Delhi government: public order, police and land.

A constitutionally entrenched and democratically elected government needs to have control over its administration. The administration comprises of several public officers, who are posted in the services of a particular government, irrespective of whether or not that government was involved in their recruitment, Chief Justice Chandrachud, who wrote the 104-page judgment, debunked the Centres argument that it retained administrative control over officers deputed to the Delhi government.

The apex courts ruling stems from the years-long struggle the AAP government has been facing on the matter of appointing and transferring officials which came to a head in 2015. It was then that Kejriwal got embroiled in a conflict with then Lieutenant Governor (L-G) Najeeb Jung over the appointment of the chief secretary and institution of corruption enquiries.

The matter had reached the Delhi High Court, which had ruled that Delhi continued to be a Union territory despite the enactment of Article 239AA, which rendered all commissions of enquiries set up without the concurrence of the L-G illegal. The concurrence of the L-G was mandatory for decisions, the Delhi HC had said.

The Kejriwal government had then challenged the Delhi High Court decision in Supreme Court, which had referred it to a constitutional bench.

Also read: AAP on warpath against VK Saxena: History shows battle between Delhi government and L-G is just beginning

Following the Supreme Courts ruling  that the AAP termed as a tight slap on the mission to topple governments through unconstitutional ways and, a massive defeat for the dictatorial actions of the BJP-led Centre  Kejriwal said that the officers will now get the opportunity to work.

The Delhi chief minister had said that earlier the L-G issued orders on practically every subject to the chief secretary, bypassing his government. They had frequent confrontations on issues such as the excise policy, training teachers in Finland, free yoga classes, mohalla clinics, transfer of bureaucrats, control over the Anti-Corruption Brand and the extension of power subsidy to consumers.

Kejriwal said that prior to the courts order his hands were tied and he was unable to govern with all the hurdles created. However, despite that the AAP government in Delhi did spectacular work, he added, saying, The work will happen at 10 times the speed it was happening earlier. Delhi will now present a model of able governance to the entire country.

A worried bureaucracy

Kejriwals press conference has officers in Delhis offices worried. The bureaucrats believe that their work is only going to get harder. As one official told Indian Express, Officers posted to the Delhi government have, over the past few years, been rewarded or victimised based on their assumed affiliations. If a minister thought an officer was favouring the L-G, the government would issue summons to them in legislative committees. On the other hand, if the L-G Office thought an officer was an AAP man, he would be transferred to an insignificant department.

Another official was quoted as telling Hindustan Times, It is like walking a tightrope. The officials have been the unseen victims of the Centre versus Delhi government battle and when the faceoff gets bitter, we have to suffer because we are misunderstood to be loyal to either one of the centres of power. The officials who have been serving in Delhi for the last year carry that baggage and may face a challenging time ahead as some might be misunderstood as being loyal to the L-G.

Theres also the concern that the AAP government may now go after officials investigating allegations of corruption against the chief minister and ministers of his party. Furthermore, another bureaucrat added that officials of the Delhi Administrative Subordinate Services would be favoured over IAS officers by the Cabinet.

However, these fears are not held by all in the bureaucracy. An officer said, The judgment does not favour the Delhi government and neither does it go against the L-G. It is an interpretation of the Constitution.

BJP and Congress speak

While the AAP government celebrated the SC verdict, calling it a huge win for the people of Delhi, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said the top courts decision will have long-term ramifications in future, not just in Delhi, but in other Union Territories as well.

Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva said that while the party respected the courts order, it would lead to a transfer-posting industry in the city. We respect the Supreme Court verdict. Kejriwal has obtained what he was desperately looking for. He said there will be large-scale transfers of officers in his government which means that a transfer-posting industry will come up in Delhi, Sachdeva said in a statement, adding that officers in the Delhi government will now be pressured to do the bidding of the AAP.

The Congress, on the other hand, said that it was time the Kejriwal-led government focused on governance. People have been suffering due to disturbed public transport, air and water pollution, and rising garbage mountains the Kejriwal government should focus its energy on addressing these issues instead of indulging in empty rhetoric, which does not solve the problems of Delhi, as only concrete actions by the Delhi government can improve the quality of peoples life, said Delhi Congress president Anil Kumar Chaudhary.

With inputs from agencies

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Cyclone Mocha on Friday intensified into a very severe cyclonic storm.

The India Meteorological Department tweeted:

The SCS Mocha intensified into a Very Severe Cyclonic Storm, lay centered at 0530 hours IST of 12th May 2023 over Central adjoining Southeast Bay of Bengal near lat 13.2N & long 88.1E, about 520 km west-northwest of Port Blair.  India Meteorological Department (@Indiametdept) May 12, 2023

But what happens next? And where is Mocha headed? And how will it impact India?

Lets take a closer look:

What happens next?

According to the IMD, Mocha is very likely to move north-northeastwards and intensify further into an Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm over the East-central Bay of Bengal on Friday night.

Senior IMD scientist Sanjeev Dwivedi said, The cyclonic storm is likely to recurve and on the 12th of May evening, it will intensify into a extremely severe cyclonic storm over the central Bay of Bengal.

The cyclone would reach its peak intensity around Saturday evening, according to the IMD.

The system is under continuous surveillance, added Dwivedi.

Where is it heading?

The cyclone will likely cross southeast Bangladesh and north Myanmar coasts between Coxs Bazar (Bangladesh) and Kyaukpyu (Myanmar), close to Sittwe (Myanmar) where it will make landfall around noon on 14 May, according to the IMD.

The cyclone will have a maximum sustained wind speed of 150 to 160 kmph gusting to 175 kmph, according to the agency.

Cox Bazaar in Bangladesh is home to one of the worlds largest refugee camps, as per CNN.

Most of them fled there after a military-led crackdown in neighbouring Myanmar in 2017.

The UN refugee agency tweeted:

Emergency preparations in the camps & on Bhasan Char are underway ahead of potential cyclone Mocha which could make landfall in Bangladesh. The Government has hosted coordination meetings with humanitarian partners, including through the RRRC to respond jointly and efficiently. pic.twitter.com/EmoDDZjA8z  UNHCR in Bangladesh (@UNHCR_BGD) May 11, 2023



It added that to prepare for cyclones, hundreds of Rohingya refugee volunteers have been trained on identifying risks, informing their communities, evacuating people when needed, and responding after disaster strikes.

It said that preparedness was the key.

The WMOs Clare Nullis told a Geneva press briefing that a storm surge of 2-2.5 meters over the weekend was likely to inundate low-lying areas of North Myanmar as well as parts of Bangladesh where flash floods and landslides were also possible.

Its a very dangerous cyclone andits associated with violent winds, she said. There will be major impacts both ahead and after landfall for potentially hundreds of thousands of the worlds most vulnerable people, she added.

UN refugee agency spokesperson Olga Sarrado said preparations were underway for a partial evacuation of the camp, if needed.

The agency was also preparing tens of thousands of hot meals and jerrycans, she said.

The World Health Organization said it was pre-positioning some 33 mobile medical teams, 40 ambulances as well as emergency surgery and cholera kits for the camp.

In Myanmar, the WHO was pre-positioning 500,000 water purification tablets among other supplies which amount to the entire monsoon season stocks.

If this turns into the level of cyclone we fear, we really need to be ready, the WHOs Margaret Harris told the briefing.

How will it impact India?

The cyclone is expected to pass by Bengal, but the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has deployed eight teams and 200 rescuers in Digha as a precautionary measure.

Weve deployed eight teams. Two hundred rescuers of NDRF have been deployed on the ground and 100 rescuers are on standby, Gurminder Singh, Commandant, 2nd Battalion, NDRF. told ANI.

The West Bengal government has also, in a precautionary move to combat possible devastation by Cyclone Mocha, shifted residents of low-lying and coastal areas of the state to safe shelters, an official said on Friday.

Tarpaulins, drinking water pouches, milk powder, dry food, baby food and medicines have been sent to the safe shelters at the low-lying coastal areas of Purba Medinipur and South 24 Parganas districts and some areas of the Sundarbans, he said.

Though the weather office has predicted that Cyclone Mocha will dodge past West Bengal, we have taken all precautionary measures in case there is any change. We have shifted people living in the low lying coastal areas of Purba Medinipur, South 24 Parganas to our safe shelters and adequate relief materials have been sent to these areas, the official told PTI.

Fishermen and tourists have been advised not to go into the sea for three days from Friday.

Eight search and rescue units of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) reached Digha in Purba Medinipur district on Thursday night, he added.

The cyclone is likely to cause heavy to very heavy rainfall in Tripura, Mizoram, Nagaland, southern Assam and parts of Manipur and adjoining areas on Saturday and Sunday.

With inputs from agencies

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India has arrived, making its presence felt everywhere. Be it the political arena or the economic front. It is truly the bright spot. The luxury market is no different. Indian stars are endorsing the biggest brands and Indian consumers are spending big bucks.

Just a day ago, Italian fashion house Gucci named Bollywood star Alia Bhatt, who is on a Met Gala high, as its first Indian global ambassador. And according to a report, Alia will make her first appearance as the brands latest global ambassador at the Gucci Cruise 2024 show, to be staged in Seoul next week.

This piece of news comes after American make-up giant Estee Lauder announced former Miss India Manushi Chillar as its global brand ambassador. And who can forget Deepika Padukone being named Louis Vuittons global brand ambassador last year in May.

But what is the big takeaway from this news? Its a sign that global luxury brands are increasingly eyeing India as the next big market.

We take a deep dive into the world of luxury brands and why an increasing number of them want a slice of the Indian pie

Luxury brands diving into Indias waters

It was in 2002 that Louis Vuitton arrived in India, becoming the first international premium luxury brand to enter the market. Many other players like Gucci, Bottega Veneta, Hermes and Burberry followed. Last year, Valentino opened its first store in Indias capital. This year, Paris-based Spanish luxury brand Balenciaga is all set to make waves.

The mother of all luxury fashion moments occurred in March when Christian Dior showcased its Fall 2023 collection at Mumbais iconic Gateway of India, becoming the first fashion house to unveil its latest line in the country. The show, led by its first female creative director, Maria Grazia Chiuri, had it all. With beautiful vibrant colours, it paid homage to Indias rich cultural landscape.

Dior said it was to celebrate its ties with Chanakya Ateliers and the Chanakya School of Craft, which trains women from low-income communities in hand embroidery and craftsmanship.

Italian jewellery giant Bvlgari, who appointed Priyanka Chopra-Jonas as their global brand ambassador, now sells mangalsutras for Indian brides.

Also read: The Luxury Life: Are big brands Louis Vuitton, Dior picking Japan, South Korea over China?

In November 2022, Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Limited (ABFRL) inked a strategic partnership with Paris iconic department store Galeries Lafayette, and announced plans to open luxury department stores and a dedicated e-commerce platform in India. The flagship stores in Mumbai and Delhi will bring more than 200 luxury and designer brands under one roof, it said.

Apart from this, there are e-commerce sites such as The Collective, which houses 80 luxury brands. Another option for the rich high-fashion lover is Reliance Brands Limiteds (RBL), Ajio Luxe, which was launched in 2021. It offers more than 265 big names with Stella McCartney, Cult Gaia and Isabel Marant, with Veja Shoes, Marc Jacobs, and Alice + Olivia being added in.

As Vogue stated in February, this is luxurys coming of age moment in India.

Indias luxury market has been growing steadily and the recent few years have seen a significant jump. According to Euromonitor International, the luxury market in India climbed to $8.5 billion in 2022 (Rs 70,000 crore), up by $2.5 billion (Rs 20,500 crore) in the preceding year.

Some reports add that this will only grow further, at least 10 per cent over the next five years.

The boom in luxury fashion sales

Until very recently, India, unlike China, was not a major market for Western luxury brands amid challenges of finding retail space and complex regulations making business even harder.

However, that is changing and an increasing number of luxury brands want to do business in the country. One major factor that contributes to this change in attitude is Indias spending power.

Darshan Mehta, RBL president and CEO, told Vogue that Indian consumers are spending more. Even five years back, Rs 50,000 ($650) for a dress or a handbag was considered a very high amount, he says in the report. People would weigh options, discuss with friends or a spouse before making the decision to buy. But thats no longer the case.

Gitanjali Saxena, business head, Tata CLiQ Luxury, an online platform, a part of Tata Group selling goods from high-end brands, including clothes and accessories echoed similar sentiments. Speaking to The National, she said, Factors such as increased disposable income, rising internet penetration leading to increased awareness and exposure, the introduction of new brands in the country and the youth purchasing luxury products in new categories are all contributing to the expansion of this industry.

Theres also a rise in the number of wealthy Indians. Property consultancy firm Knight Frank has reported that the number of Indians with net assets of $30 million (Rs 246 crore) or more has risen by 11 per cent between 2020 and 2021 and is expected to grow by as much as 39 per cent between 2021 and 2026.

Also read: Why luxury brand Manolo Blahnik waited 22 years to sell shoes in China

Even the Credit Suisse Global Wealth Report 2022 stated that the number of millionaires in India was estimated to double from 796,000 in 2021 to 1.6 million in 2026.

This rise in wealth has also led to a shift in thinking  more people are spending rather than saving.

Experts also believe that demographics have a role to play in this growth in the luxury market. Today, India is one of the youngest countries in the world and Generation Z doesnt believe in saving. Moreover, they are more aware of luxury brands across the world and use the internet to shop overseas.

As Amit Pande, brand head of The Collective, was quoted as telling Vogue, Today, affluence comes about with a certain confidence about the future. Many Indians today want to claim a better quality of life, and rightly so. This mindset will fuel the demand for premium and higher quality products and experiences in the near future.

Theres also the fact that while China and other European economies have slowed down post-COVID, India has been doing considerably well  it is ranked the fifth largest in the world today and according to an EY report published earlier it is likely to become a $26-trillion economy in 100th year of its Independence in 2047 with per capita GDP growing six times from current level to over $15,000 during the period.

India is also changing its laws on doing business in the country, making it attractive to global luxury brands. The World Bank ranked India 63rd in 2022, from 142 in 2014, for ease of doing business.

Combine all these factors and its no surprise why Western luxury brands are looking to India.

With inputs from agencies

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Twitter is joining the league of technology companies that have women at their helm. NBCUniversal executive Linda Yaccarino will replace Elon Musk as the social networks next chief executive officer (CEO). Musk announced earlier that Twitter will get a new CEO in six weeks without mentioning the person.

Currently, only 28 percent of women are in tech leadership roles globally, CNBC reported citing DDIs 2023 Global Leadership Forecast. Despite the dismal numbers, it is worth looking at global women leaders taking the tech sector forward.

Here are some women tech leaders making their mark in the male-dominated industry every day.

Susan Li

Meta chief financial officer (CFO) Susan Li is one of the youngest leaders to occupy the role at a large company. She was 36 when she succeeded David Wehner to take over the post last year.

The Asian American was once a banker at Morgan Stanley and served as Metas vice president of finance before being appointed as the CFO.

Safra Catz

Safra Catz has been software firm Oracles CEO since September 2014, when founder Larry Ellison exited the position.

Born in Israel, Catz immigrated to the United States at the age of six, as per the TechTarget article.

She worked on Wall Street for 14 years covering the software industry, according to Forbes. Catz has a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

She joined Oracle in 1999 and is credited with helping close over 130 acquisitions, as per the Forbes report.

Lisa Su

Lisa Su is the chair and CEO of chipmaker AMD. As per her profile on AMD website, she was at IBM for 13 years where she held several engineering and business leadership roles.

Before joining AMD in January 2012, she worked as senior vice president and general manager, Networking and Multimedia at Freescale Semiconductor Inc  a semiconductor maker.

She earned bachelors, masters and doctorate degrees studying electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), according to her profile.

Amy Hood

Since taking the post of Microsofts CFO in 2013, Amy Hood has become the longest-tenured finance chief of the company since the mid-1990s, as per Bloomberg.

Hood is a graduate of Harvard Business School. Forbes reported that she has been credited with Microsofts growth, with the companys stock surging nearly 300 per cent in the first five years as she became the finance chief.

She has previously worked for Goldman Sachs.

Melanie Perkins

If you work with pictures, it is unlikely that you have not heard about Canva. Melanie Perkins is the co-founder and CEO of design software maker Canva.

She launched the startup with her now-spouse Cliff Obrecht and Cameron Adams in Australias Sydney in 2013.

As per Forbes, she has a net worth of $3.6 billion presently.

According to one estimate, Canva is valued at $26 billion  the highest of any woman-led startup in the world, reported Fortune.

Amena Ali

Amena Ali was appointed as the CEO of Optoro, a tech company offering ways to liquidate returned, overstock and damaged-box products as per Crunchbase, in December 2022.

She has also served as the CEO of Airside Mobile, a leader in digital identity verification technology.

During her tenure as the CEO of VividCortex, a database monitoring company, the company grew ARR by 80 per cent in 17 months, as per GlobeNewswire.

Ali began her career as a management consultant at Bain & Company. She studied MBA from the Yale School of Management and has a Bachelors Degree from Wesleyan University, the GlobeNewswire article said.

Anjali Sud

Video-sharing platform Vimeos CEO Anjali Sud has been associated with the company since 2014. Born to an Indian-immigrant family in United States Michigan in 1983, Sud studied at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

She completed MBA from Harvard Business School in 2011, as per Indiatimes.com report.

Sud reinvented Vimeo as a software company that serves video creators, The Verge said in its 2021 report. She was named the CEO of the platform in July 2017.

In May 2021, Vimeo became a public company raising $300 million initial public offering (IPO) in its debut.

Today @vimeo is a public company. It has been a 16-year labor of love, rooted in our belief in the power of video. We put creators first, and put that power in the hands of millions. To everyone who made today possible: Thank you  Now we keep building. #VMEO pic.twitter.com/vzPciuDzSA  Anjali Sud (@anjsud) May 25, 2021

Sud featured in Fortunes 40 influential young business leaders under 40 list in 2019.

Jayshree Ullal

Jayshree Ullal is the president and CEO of computer networking firm Arista Networks since 2008.

As per Forbes, she owns about 5 per cent of Aristas stock and has a net worth of $2.2 billion.

She has also worked with AMD, Fairchild Semiconductor and Cisco.

Today, she is among Americas wealthiest female executives.

Flex CEO Revathi Advaithi; Luan Cox, founder and CEO of FinMkt; Greyparrot co-founder and CEO Mikela Druckman; Priya Lakhani, founder and CEO of Century Tech, and some other women leaders bridging the gap in the tech industry.

With inputs from agencies

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Pakistan has been witnessing unprecedented violent protests  scores of people have been injured, public property worth lakhs of rupees has been damaged, and military installations have been attacked  after former Prime Minister was arrested on Tuesday in the Al-Qadir Trust land deal case.

Seventy-two hours after Pakistan continued to burn, the Supreme Court on Thursday declared his arrest illegal, directed immediate release of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief and asked him to appear before the Islamabad High Court on Friday and seek further legal recourse.

While the Supreme Courts decision was celebrated by Khans supporters, who consider him as a messiah-like figure, the Pakistan government expressed anger and disappointment. Defence Minister Khawaja Asif raised concerns about the Supreme Courts decision to nullify the arrest of former prime minister, questioning what he sees as the courts double standards of justice. He further claimed that all the violence across the country had been instigated by Imran Khan, but he had not been held accountable.

We decode the happenings from the court on 11 May and also explain what future awaits Imran Khan.

What did Pakistan SC rule?

On Thursday (11 May), the Supreme Court of Pakistan provided relief to PTI chairman Imran Khan, declaring his arrest illegal and ordered that he be moved to Police Lines Guest House, H-11, Islamabad.

In the three-page order, the apex court of the country noted that the manner of execution of the arrest warrant within the premises of the Islamabad High Court against the petitioner was invalid and unlawful. On Tuesday, Imran Khan had been arrested by Pakistan Rangers from the premises of the court.

The order read, The execution of said warrant violated the petitioners right of access to justice and the sanctity and safety of the court as he had already surrendered to the court for seeking judicial relief against the action taken by NAB (National Accountability Bureau) in the Al-Qadir Trust case.

The petitioner is directed to be produced before the IHC tomorrow  May 12  at 11:00 am for hearing of his writ petition filed to challenge the NAB action against him in the Al-Qadir Trust case.

It further stated, Whilst the petitioner is in the Police Guest House, he shall be entitled to meet up to 10 guests, whose particulars shall be provided by him to the concerned police officer, subject to a security check by the police. These persons shall be allowed to stay with the petitioner as long as desired by him.

The top judge of the court further added, You will have to accept the high courts decision,

Imran Khans supporters celebrated the courts ruling, with some distributing sweets at the residence of Imran Khan in Zaman Park. Former special assistant to the prime minister on youth affairs Usman Dar called on the party supporters to take to the streets to express solidarity and gratitude to the top court.

Khans former wife, Jemima Goldsmith, reacting to the news also tweeted, Finally sense has prevailed.

Pakistans many legal minds also reacted to the Supreme Courts decision, with lawyer Abdul Moiz Jaferii telling Dawn, The arrest was high-handed, the optics were horrible and the reasoning with which the IHC declared it legal was weak. This was a necessary intervention.

Another lawyer Mirza Moiz Baig concurred with Jaferii, saying that the courts decision to declare the arrest unlawful was hardly surprising.

Former Prime Minister Imran Khan leaves Supreme Court after his arrest was declared illegal. pic.twitter.com/KqwSO81vy8  Musa Virk (@MusaNV18) May 11, 2023

Following the courts order Imran Khan was whisked away to the Police Lines Guest House where he spent the night. On Friday morning, Khans lawyer alleged that authorities had tried to kill the PTI chairman on the premises by lacing his meal with insulin to give him a heart attack.

Through his lawyer, Khan alleged, according to an ANI report, he was given an injection to induce a slow heart attack and not allowed to use the washroom. He also complained of chest pains.

Our full coverage on Pakistan's Imran Khan saga

The Fall of Imran Khan: What finally led to arrest of former Pakistani prime minister?

Why is Imran Khan so popular among the masses?

How Imran Khans arrest has increased instability in Pakistan

How Imran Khan crossed a line with Pakistans military and was finally arrested

Imran Khan, Nawaz Sharif, Benazir Bhutto and more: When former Pakistan prime ministers were arrested

How did Pak government react?

The Pakistan government led by Shehbaz Sharif was fuming with the Supreme Courts decision to overturn Khans arrest, with some accusing the court of showing bias to the PTI chairman. Chief Justice Bandial now should hoist the flag of Imran Khans party on the Supreme Court, or he should declare that the court is a sub-office of Imrans party, Azam Tarar, an adviser for Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, told reporters.

Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said the government would arrest PTI chief Imran Khan again if he gets bail from the High Court on Friday. We will arrest him again. If he gets bail from the High Court tomorrow, we will wait for the cancellation of bail and arrest him again, he told Dunya TV, according to AFP.

What next for Imran Khan?

Ever since his ouster from power, Imran Khan has been facing a spate of legal troubles. The Al-Qadir Trust case is just one of the many cases the former PM is embroiled in. According to news agency PTI, Khan is facing at least 121 legal cases, including those related to treason, blasphemy, terrorism, and inciting violence.

As the Supreme Court noted on Thursday, Imran Khan would have to abide by the Islamabad High Court ruling. That means if the court ruled against him, his political innings would come to an end.

However, if the court gave him a reprieve, it would only be temporary. As political experts note that Khans decision to go up against the powerful army in the country will only hurt him in the future. Moreover, his supporters decision to vandalise properties and go on a rampage havent earned him any support within the judiciary. As Utpal Kumar, opinion editor at Firstpost, writes, Its, however, the vandalism of Imran Khans supporters, especially on the military installations, that might eventually seal his fate.

Political pundits also point out that there are concerted efforts being made to diminish Imran Khans PTI party. The establishment is cracking down on his partys leaders and on Friday, the partys senior vice president Dr Shireen Mazari and Dr Yasmin Rashid were arrested.

Earlier, authorities had arrested Shah Mahmood Qureshi, a former foreign minister and vice chairman of Khans PTI party. PTI members further stated that the chief minister of Gilgit-Baltistan Khalid Khurshid had been placed under house arrest in Islamabad.

Two other senior PTI leaders, Asad Umar and Fawad Chaudhry, were also arrested on Wednesday, the latter from outside the Supreme Court minutes after he spoke to reporters.

Will Imran Khan be able to ride out the storm? Only time will tell.

With inputs from agencies

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Paetongtarn Ung-Ing Shinawatra is a well-known face in Thailand. The youngest daughter of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra is favoured by many to lead the country. Thailand will go to polls on 14 May to elect a new government.

Last week, introducing her newborn boy in front of the media at a Bangkok hospital, Paetongtarn announced she was ready to hit the campaign trail again. I believe good things come along with children, she was quoted as saying by Associated Press (AP). I believe that children are my secret power to work, and to lead everyday life.

Who is Paetongtarn Shinawatra, what are her chances and what happens if her party wins the majority? We explain.

A political scion

She was studying at Bangkoks conservative Chulalongkorn University when her father was ousted from power in a military coup in 2006.

Thaksins sister Yingluck  Paetongtarns aunt  became Thailands first female prime minister in 2011 in a landslide victory. However, she was also disqualified by the courts and removed from power through another coup in 2014 carried on the orders of then-army commander Prayuth Chan-ocha, according to AP.

Prayuth is currently the prime minister of Thailand, seeking reelection with his United Thai Nation Party.

Both Yingluck and Thaksin have been living in exile.

Now, Paetongtarn is one of the three prime ministerial candidates of the opposition Pheu Thai party, along with tycoon Srettha Thavisin and former justice minister Chaikasem Nitisiri.

The 36-year-old does not forget to remind her supporters of the military coups that ousted her family members from power.

You probably remember how our power was stolen by the coup, Paetongtarn, who was then eight months pregnant, said at a campaign rally in April.

The coup had hurt everyone. None of us want it anymore, right? None of us want any more coups, right? she had asked, as per The Guardian.

The third child of Thaksin  a former policeman and telecoms billionaire  and his then-wife Potjaman Damapong, Paetongtarn grew up in Bangkok.

She went to the United Kingdom to get a masters degree in international hotel management at the University of Surrey. Later, she worked for the family business.

According to The Guardian, Paetongtarn was exposed to politics when she was young and would often accompany her father when he became foreign minister.

She was also seen with Thaksin at official events when he was prime minister.

She was very prominent and was often seen with him, Thai political scientist Thitinan Pongsudhirak from Chulalongkorn University told CNN. Paetongtarn has Thaksins political instincts and she has a lot of things going for her as his youngest daughter, he stated.

ALSO READ: Why weed has taken centre stage in Thailands general election

Frontrunner in polls

Many opinion polls have given Paetongtarn an edge over her rivals to become Thailands youngest prime minister. Her Pheu Thai Party is also expected to perform strongly in the elections.

A pre-election opinion poll conducted by the National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA) showed she was the most popular choice for prime minister, getting more than double the support of her opponents  the incumbent Prayuth and Forward Partys Pita Limjaroenrat, as per a CNN report in April.

A 3 May nationwide survey of 2,500 people conducted by NIDA found that Pita has gained a lead with 35.4 per cent votes, while 29.2 per cent preferred Paetongtarn, reported Reuters.

Paetongtarn has attracted a great deal of popular support and media attention chiefly because she is the daughter of Thaksin but it should also be pointed out that she has stopped talking about her dad during recent public appearances, Termsak Chalermpalanupap, a visiting fellow and acting coordinator of the Thailand Studies Programme at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak research institute, told CNN in early April.

Her hard work in spite of her pregnancy also draws a great deal of public admiration and sympathy, he added. But it is still uncertain whether the family is willing to risk her well-being for another Shinawatra prime minister.

Pheu Thai also enjoys popularity in Thailand which has been rocked by political turmoil since the 2006 army coup.

For many years no other political force has been able to offer an alternative to Pheu Thai, in terms of policy offerings, in terms of charisma, in being able to communicate directly with the people, Siripan Nogsuan Sawasdee, a political scientist at Chulalongkorn University, told BBC.

And because the last coup detat resulted in two military-backed governments which failed miserably in economic performance and in dealing with the COVID pandemic, the popularity of its main opponent Pheu Thai remains high.

Is winning the election enough?

In Thai politics, no.

Thaksin-linked parties have won most seats in every election since 2001.

Even if Pheu Thai bags a lions share of seats in the House of Representatives, it will need to win enough votes in the Senate, whose 250 unelected members were appointed by the junta that seized power in 2014.

The Move Forward Party, led by businessman Pita, has been luring voters, especially the younger ones, with the promise of its bold reforms of the military and monarchy, reported AP.

Analysts predict the party can be the game changer in this election, noted CNN.

According to the AP report, it would be tough for Pheu Thai to win votes from the Senate, which unanimously support Prayuth in 2019.

Pheu Thai can form an alliance with Move Forward given their shared animosity towards the military rule, but the latters call for reform of the monarchy may drive away other parties, the report added.

Thaksin was a highly popular but divisive figure in Thailand. Another Shinawatra as the leader may also vex some people in the country, especially the conservatives.

A lot of people love them but you have a large number of conservative people who are against Thaksin and his family, Prajak Kongkirati, a political scientist from Bangkoks Thammasat University, told AP. So the fact that he put his daughter for the candidate, you know, might turn off a lot of conservative people and can stir up emotion from conservative side again.

And then there are concerns of another military-backed coup if Prayuth loses, which is quite likely.

However, Paetongtarn has dismissed concerns of a coup.

Im not the one who invented the coup detat or anything but, actually, I have a very high hope that its not going to happen again and I believe its going to be a lot harder that the coup will happen again, she said, as per AP.

With inputs from agencies

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The Allahabad High Court on Friday ordered authorities to determine the age of the structure claimed to be a shivling in the Gyanvapi Mosque in Varanasi using modern technology.

It set aside a 14 October order of the Varanasi District Court that rejected a plea for scientific investigation, including carbon dating, of the structure found in May 2022 during a court-mandated survey of the Gyanvapi Mosque located next to the Kashi Vishwanath temple.

The high court ordered authorities to ensure no harm is done to the structure, the Hindu petitioners claim is a shivling. The mosque authorities say it is part of a fountain in the wazu khana, where ablutions are performed before namaz.

Justice Arvind Kumar Mishra passed the order on a revision petition filed by Laxmi Devi and three others challenging the Varanasi court order.

The court had obtained a report from various institutions, including the IITs in Kanpur and Roorkee and Birbal Sahni Institute of Lucknow, before ordering the authorities to determine the age of the structure.

The report says direct dating of the structure is not possible and the age can be ascertained with proxy dating of materials, which can correlate with the establishment of the lingam if there is any.

This needs a thorough study of the materials surrounding the lingam, it adds.

The report also suggests the dating of some organic materials below the surface can ascertain the age but it needs to be established that they are related to the structure.

The court considered the suggestions of Prof Javed N Malik of the Department of Earth Sciences, IIT Kanpur.

Prof Malik suggested that to understand the buried material and structure it would be essential to undertake a detailed subsurface survey through Ground Penetrating Radar (GRP). This will be helpful in identifying the remains of the ancient structures buried if any at the site, he added.

The high court directed the Varanasi district judge to proceed, in accordance with the law, on the application by the Hindu worshippers for conducting a scientific probe of the shivling, paving the way for determining the age of the structure.

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) in its 52-page report had given the opinion that the age of the structure can be determined through scientific method without causing any harm to the structure. Its opinion was based on studies conducted by IIT Kanpur, IIT Roorkee, Birbal Sahni Institute, Lucknow, and one more educational institute.

Advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain appearing for the revisionists argued that the district judge had passed the impugned order without any basis as it should have called for expert opinion from the ASI on whether carbon dating could be done without causing any harm.

Additional Advocate General MC Chaturvedi, assisted by Chief Standing Counsel Bipin Bihari Pandey, appeared for state government. He said, If carbon dating and nature of the structure can be determined without causing any harm to the structure then the state has no objection to it so that real nature of structure could be found. On November 4, 2022, the high court had sought the response of ASI in the matter and directed the ASI Director General to submit his opinion whether investigation of the said structure, if examined through carbon-dating, ground-penetrating radar (GPR), excavation and other methods adopted to determine its age, nature and other relevant information, is likely to damage it or a safe evaluation about its age can be done.

A suit was filed in the Varanasi District Court asserting rights to worship Maa Shringar Gauri and other deities which the petitioners said are situated inside mosque complex.

On 8 April 2021, a Varanasi court was directed to conduct a comprehensive survey of Gyanvapi Mosque complex and during the survey the purported shivling was found on 16 May 2022.

The Gyanvapi Mosque

The structure was built by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in 1699. It is located adjacent to the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh.

Over the years, several petitions have been filed claiming that the mosque was built by demolishing parts of the Kashi Vishwanath temple.

With inputs from PTI

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Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the government has constituted a four-member expert committee to examine the legislative competence of the State legislature to enact a law to end polygamy.

The panel, headed by Justice (Retired) Rumi Phookan, has been asked to submit its report within two months, the Chief Minister said in a tweet on Thursday night.

Other members of the committee are Assam advocate general Debajit Saikia, additional advocate general Nalin Kohli and senior advocate Nekibur Zaman.

Following my announcement to form an expert committee to examine the legislative competence of state legislature to enact a law to end polygamy, the state government has constituted the committee today The committee has been given a deadline of 60 days to submit its report, the Chief Minister said on the microblogging site.

Sarma had announced on Tuesday that the State government would set up an expert committee of legal luminaries to scrutinise the legality of banning polygamy in the State by the legislative assembly.

He had also said that the proposed panel would examine the provisions of the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937 along with Article 25 of the Constitution in relation to the Directive Principles of State Policy for a Uniform Civil Code.

Article 25 gives freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion to the citizens of India.

We are not going towards Uniform Civil Code (UCC) for which a national consensus will be required, and the Central government will take an initiative in this regard, Sarma had said at a press conference on May 9 to mark the completion of two years of his government.

UCC is a much wider aspect and in Assam, we are announcing our intention to ban polygamy in the state as one component of the UCC , he had said.

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New Delhi: The CBI on Friday conducted searches at the premises of former NCB officer Sameer Wankhede after filing an FIR against him and four others for allegedly seeking Rs 25 crore bribe for not framing Shah Rukh Khans son Aryan Khan in the drugs-on-cruise case, officials said.

Aryan Khan was arrested in an alleged drug bust case on the Cordelia cruise ship on October 2, 2021, they said.

The NCB, which had filed a charge-sheet in the drugs-on-cruise case, gave a clean chit to Aryan Khan, while an SIT set up by the anti-drugs agency claimed the probe led by Wankhede had lapses.

They said the searches were spread across 29 locations across Mumbai, Delhi, Ranchi and Kanpur.

It is alleged that IRS officer Wankhede and others had allegedly demanded Rs 25 crore bribe for not framing Aryan Khan in the alleged drug bust, they said.

The CBI received information that Rs 50 lakh was allegedly collected by the officer and his accomplice as advance, the officials said.

Wankhede, who headed the Narcotics Control Bureau in Mumbai at the time of Aryan Khans arrest, was transferred to the Directorate General of Taxpayer Services in Chennai in May last year.

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Hitting back at Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot for calling the BJP and the RSS fascist, Rajasthan BJP president CP Joshi said that the Congress leader has an RSS phobia and that is why he makes such statements.

The Congress has a phobia of the RSS, so its leaders keep making baseless allegations against the RSS, he said in a statement on Thursday.

This comes in response to the statement made by the CM a day before. Gehlot on Thursday lashed out at Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) over the Supreme Court verdict on Maharashtra political crisis and said that they are not concerned about it.

Joshi said Ashok Gehlots party MLAs accuse him of being a fascist.

Sangh workers always play their role in society with devotion like a soldier without any discrimination while the Congress is nothing more than a scattered organisation dedicated to one family, he said.

Honouring terrorists and cursing patriots are the reason for the Congress downfall, he said.

Joshi said the Chief Minister should introspect because his party MLAs accuse him of being a fascist.

He calls himself Gandhi of Mewar but his entire five years were spent in the fight for the chair. He is afraid of his defeat in the 2023 elections, therefore Gehlot is saying anything to get noticed by Rahul Gandhi, he said.

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Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday met International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director K Georgieva on the sidelines of G7 Finance Minister Central Bank Governors meet.

She is on a two-day visit to Japan. The G7 meeting is taking place in Niigata.

Sitharaman also met Brazilian counterpart Haddad Fernando on the sidelines of the G7FMCBG meet. Fernando appreciated Indias organisation of the G20 presidency and its piloting of significant global economic issues, the finance ministry said in a tweet.

The two ministers discussed issues relating to infrastructure, strengthening multilateral development banks (MDBs), debt vulnerabilities and digital public infrastructure (DPI).

Sitharaman extended her support for Brazils upcoming G20 presidency in 2024. The South American nation will hold the G20 presidency from December 1, 2023, to November 30, 2024.

Sitharaman also met Singapore Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong.

Both ministers exchanged their views on strengthening India-Singapore cooperation on issues like digital payment gateway, food security, green transition, skill development, crypto assets, MDB reforms and pandemic preparedness, among others.

She, during the meeting, highlighted the emerging role of Artificial Intelligence and skilling programmes in the context of setting up new AI centres.

Both ministers discussed ways for collaboration between India-Singapore in AI research and quantum computing.

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Pakistans political turmoil will have no effect on Jammu and Kashmir, BJP said on Friday.

The comments came after some local political parties expressed concerns about the ramifications of the crisis in the neighbouring nation on the state.

National Conference president Farooq Abdullah and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti had said that the situation in Pakistan will have a dangerous impact on the entire country.

The situation in Pakistan has gone worse ever since former Prime Minister Imran Khan was arrested at the Islamabad High Court on Thursday. Khans supporters went on a rampage following his arrest which eventually prompted the deployment of the army in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, however, has now been granted bail for two weeks.

Ashok Koul, the BJP general secretary organisation, Jammu and Kashmir, said, Whatever the situation is in Pakistan, it will not have any impact on the situation of Jammu and Kashmir. Whatever Pakistan has done in the last 30 years, it will fall into its own pit.

Commenting on the apprehensions expressed by the regional parties, he said, They are just harping on their old tunes. as far as Indias stand on the relationship with Pakistan is concerned, it is as it was that unless they stop supporting militant activities, India cannot think about having a dialogue with them.

When asked about the delay in assembly elections in the Union Territory, Koul said that the situation in the Union Territory is comparatively better than it was before the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019.

He added that the party is ready to conduct elections in Jammu and Kashmir. themselves losing ground, as you can see day in and day out people are changing parties, Koul said.

I have heard that the J-Ks chief electoral officer is preparing for panchayat and local body elections and maybe, assembly elections will be conducted along with these polls as the whole Election Commission machinery is busy with the preparations. The assembly elections will be announced anytime, he claimed.

Koul said it cannot be said when assembly elections will be held in Jammu and Kashmir, but it could be held along with the panchayat polls or the parliamentary elections or even before.

With inputs from agencies

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In a strange incident from the national capital, a woman was found stealing petrol from a bike and later setting it on fire. The incident reportedly took place in south-east Delhis Jaitpur, CCTV footage of which has now gone viral. In one such video shared by news agency ANI on Twitter, the unidentified woman can be seen carrying out her misdeeds and further making attempts to put another bike on fire. However, she was caught by the locals who later handed her over to the police. According to police, the womans intention behind settling bikes on fire is yet to be known.

As seen in the CCTV footage, the accused woman approached a bike in the night hours. She then stopped by to steal petrol from the bike. As soon as she is done with stealing petrol, the woman can be seen setting fire to the vehicle and then running away from the scene.

Watch:

The shocking video has caught a lot of attention on social media, leaving people confused about the womans behaviour. Taking to the comment section, many also shared divided reactions. While some made fun of her antics, a few also appreciated the presence of CCTV cameras in the locality.

This is not the first time such an incident has taken place. Last year, a delivery man was seen setting his bike on fire after having an argument with traffic police in an inebriated state. Similarly in another incident, a 23-year-old man in Delhis Subhash Nagar was seen intentionally setting fire to a Maruti Suzuki Ertiga, which caused major damage to 20 other cars parked in the lot.

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A day before counting of votes polled in the Karnataka Assembly elections, both the ruling BJP and the Congress on Friday went into huddles and held strategy sessions on ways to keep the flock together. They also considered reaching out to independent candidates who are likely to win, as most exit polls predicted a tight contest between the two parties.

Hectic parleys were on at Congress president M Mallikarjun Kharges residence here, with AICC general secretary and in-charge of Karnataka Randeep Singh Surjewala, partys state unit chief D K Shivakumar and former Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara among others.

According to party sources, they discussed ways to keep the flock (newly elected MLAs) together, and also regarding reaching out to independents to muster numbers in case there was no clear mandate.

The state recorded its highest-ever voting (73.19 per cent) in Wednesdays polling to the 224-member Assembly.

A majority of exit polls have given an edge to the Congress over the ruling BJP, while indicating the possibility of a hung Assembly.

We will be careful this time, Parameshwara told reporters in response to a question on whether the Congress faced the threat of its MLAs being poached.

Congress Legislature Party leader and former CM Siddaramaiah, who is down swelling in his hand and is being treated by doctors, was in touch with the party leaders from his residence.

In the BJP camp, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai met veteran leader B S Yediyurappa along with other party leaders, including ministers Murugesh Nirani, Byrathi Basavaraj, party MP Lehar Singh Siroya and A T Ramaswamy, at the former chief ministers residence.

Bommai expressed confidence about the BJP crossing the magic figure with a clear majority, and said the question of coalition talks with other political parties does not arise now.

BJP leaders too are said to have planned a strategy to keep its newly-elected legislators together, and are making attempts to contact independents, mostly BJP rebels, as well as winning candidates of smaller parties.

JD(S) too is expecting a hung verdict, which would enable it to play a role in government formation, and is making all efforts to keep its MLAs together.

In the absence of JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy, who is in Singapore for a health checkup and is expected to return tomorrow morning, party patriarch and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda has reportedly contacted party leaders and candidates who may win, over the phone and asked them to stay loyal to the party and its leadership, and to not to fall prey to allurements by other parties.

The three parties are also said to have contacted some independents who have chances of winning the polls, to get them on their side, keeping in mind the possibility of a fractured verdict.

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Despite the ongoing civil upheaval in Pakistan, the countrys military is still trying to push in terrorists across the Line of Control (LoC) into India.

Intelligence officials were quoted as saying by the media that the Pakistan Army has amassed a large number of terrorists at launch pads across the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir.

The officials added that movement by groups consisting of 10 to 20 terrorists have been observed across the Line of Control (LoC) and the Pakistan Army is waiting for an opportune moment to push them into India.

These launch pads are located across the LoC in Neelam Valley, Leepa Valley and Jhelum Valley.

Despite the current state of unrest in the country, including attacks on military establishments, the Pakistan Army has not decreased the number of troops deployed at the LoC with India and continues to maintain a sizeable force in the region.

According to officials in the Indian military and intelligence agencies, the Pakistan Army has reactivated the terrorist launch pads along the LoC as they wish to disrupt the upcoming G-20 meeting which is scheduled to be held in the Kashmir Valley later this month.

The G-20 meeting is scheduled to be held in the Kashmir Valley on May 23-24 under Indias presidency.

This follows the Pakistan Foreign Ministers ostensibly threatening remarks at the SCO meeting in Goa last week, when he warned, We will respond when the time is right. He was alluding to the upcoming G20 summit in the valley.

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An Air India pilot was suspended for three months for letting a female friend enter the cockpit during a flight from Dubai to Delhi in February, aviation regulator DGCA said in a statement on Friday.

DGCA also imposed a fine of Rs 30 lakh on the airline for lapses in addressing the issue.

The pilot in command of the flight allowed the entry into cockpit during cruise, of an Air India Staff on duty travelling as passenger, in violation of DGCA regulations, the regulator said.

Air India did not take prompt corrective action despite this being a safety, sensitive violation, it added.

On 26 April, DGCA directed Air India to ground the entire crew of the plane, till investigations are complete.

Cabin crew member filed complaint with DGCA

A cabin crew member of the flight had filed a complaint with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) about the pilot allowing a female friend into the cockpit. The incident happened on 27 February.

The official at the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said that prima-facie, the cabin crew seems to have had no role in the incident.

On 21 April, Air India said it had taken serious note of the reported incident and that investigations were underway.

Unauthorised people are not allowed to enter the cockpit and any such entry could be in violation of norms.

On 30 April, DGCA issued a show-cause notice to Air India CEO Campbell Wilson for the airlines lapses in reporting the incident.

A show-cause notice was also sent to the Tata Group-owned airlines Head of Safety, Security and Quality Functions Henry Donohoe.

With inputs from agencies

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New Delhi: In response to a petition by the creators of the film The Kerala Story contesting the Mamata Banerjee governments decision to ban its screening in the state, the Supreme Court on Friday served notice to the West Bengal regime.

The court also issued notice to Tamil Nadu on a de-facto ban on the movie in the state.

The top court sought a response from West Bengal and Tamil Nadu governments and posted the matter for hearing on Monday.

In his observations, Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said, The movie is being exhibited all over the country, why should West Bengal ban the movie, why should you not allow it to run? The film is running in different parts of country with similar demographic profiles. This has nothing to do with the cinematic value of the movie, it may be good or bad.

The movie is being exhibited all over the country, why should West Bengal govt ban the movie, why should you not allow it to run? The film is running in different parts of the country with similar demographic profiles. This has nothing to do with the cinematic value of the  ANI (@ANI) May 12, 2023

The West Bengal government in a notification, last week, said that the movie The Kerala Story is likely to cause a breach of peace and that it has prohibited the screening of the film to avoid any incident of hatred or violence to maintain law and order in the state.

West Bengal was the first state to ban the film, which narrates the ordeal of three women who are trafficked to ISIS camps after being converted to Islam through marriage.

On the decision to ban the film, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said, It is to avoid any incident of hatred and violence, and maintain peace in the state.

Also raking up the Kashmir Files, a film on the alleged genocide of Kashmiri Pandits, which ran to packed houses despite evoking protests from the Opposition, the Bengal CM said, What was The Kashmir Files? It was meant purely to humiliate a particular section of society. What is The Kerala Story? It is a distorted story.

The CM directed the state chief secretary to remove the movie from all theatres where it is being screened.

Reacting to the ban, Vipul Amrutlal Shah, the producer of the film, said they will pursue legal options against the decision.

If state government wont listen to us, we will explore legal avenues. However, whatever course we take will be based on legal advice, Shah had told ANI.

Helmed by Sudipto Sen and produced by Vipul Amrutlal Shah, the film evoked sharp opposition from Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who called it RSS propaganda.

Congress MP from Kerala, Shashi Tharoor accused the makers of misrepresenting Kerala.

Campaigning for the BJP in poll-bound Karnataka, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, too, weighed in on the controversy, accusing the Congress of standing with terrorists.

The Kerala Story stars Adah Sharma, Yogita Bihani, Siddhi Idnani and Sonia Balani in lead roles.

A massive controversy erupted around the film after its trailer claimed that 32,000 women from Kerala had gone missing and joined the terrorist group ISIS. However, in the face of protests, the contentious figure in the trailer was later withdrawn.

Its trailer description was later changed to a story of three women from Kerala.

With inputs from agencies

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The Supreme Court on Monday orally remarked that the decision of the High Court of Manipur did not remit to direct the state government to recommend for the inclusion of a tribe into the list of Scheduled Tribe, reported Live Law. The HC had on 27 March directed the state government of Manipur to recommend to include the Meiteis in the list of STs preferably within four weeks.

The Manipur HC while noting that the recommendation from the State government had been pending for 10 years now, had said, No satisfactory explanation is forthcoming from the side of the respondent State for not submitting the recommendation for the last 10 years.

Meitei has been demographically the most dominant ethnic group in Manipur, constituting 41.39 per cent of the population of the state, most of whom are Vaishanvite Hindus.

Meiteis inhabit the valley regions of Manipur, which cover a mere 10.1 per cent of the geographical area of Manipur and accounts for 57.2 per cent of the states population.

Furthermore, Meiteis under Manipurs Land Reform Act is not permitted to settle in the hill areas that consist of almost 90 per cent of the states territory. Whereas other tribes like Naga and Kukis along with their 29 sub-tribes can inhabit anywhere in the state.

The community led by Scheduled Tribe Demand Committee have decades-long demand to be included as ST, they argue that prior to the merger of Manipur to the Republic of India Meiteis were classified as one of the tribes in the former Kingdom, however, they lost the tag when Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950 was drafted.

The tribe faces a hostile environment as the dual sword of growing Christianisation and missionary actions on one side and growing Hill-Valley divide on the other seem to have fuelled other Hill-dwelling Christianised tribes of the state against the Valley-inhabiting majority community that has been denied even the correct identity.

Meiteis are considered as OBCs post the implementation of the Mandal Commission Report in 1992, while some of the sections have also been given the status of the SCs. Here, it should be noted that a tribe has been characterised as an Other Backward Class under Article 342 A or as a Scheduled Caste under Article 341 of the Constitution of India, denying them of all the special rights of being a tribe scheduled under Article 342 which also hampers their interests in crucial sectors of human development like education and state employment.

Tracing its roots since the inception of the political history of Manipur, Meiteis have been the culturally most prominent community of the erstwhile Kingdom and are now a state of the Indian Union. And, this has been the most bitter argument against giving the community the status of a Scheduled Tribe.

The communitys language appears in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India as Manipuri. The community traces its origin from the Meitei kingdom of Kangleipak to 33 CE. Meiteis were brought into the Hinduism fold through a greater Vaishanvisation movement going on in entire India in the mediaeval times, led by Bhakti saints of Bengal. The construction of a Vishnu temple in the 15th Century in the town of Bishnupur was part of this larger process of assimilation.

Here, it must be noted that neither having a recognised scheduled language or having a political history of self-governance or having contributions to the greater culture of a particular area can be an absolute argument to deny the status of a Scheduled Tribe to a community. For example  Santhali is a scheduled language under Eighth Schedule, or Nagas have a history of self-government and form the majority of an Indian state, yet both Santhalis and Nagas are recognised as STs. It should also not be the case that identifying as a Hindu can be a reason for non-acceptance of the ST status as the tribal communities have been an essential part of Hindu civilisation and a process of assimilation has always been there in the history of the Indian sub-continent. Besides, several traditions, beliefs, festivals and aspirations of the community are quite distinct from the mainstream Hindu community. Further, Hinduism is a much more decentralised and subtle religion to be analysed through a modernist-Abrahamic perspective.

Every community has some aspirations, the author completely agrees that the minor tribes of the state might be apprehensive towards their own cultural distinctiveness, but that cannot be a reason to deny the majority what duly belongs to it. Amid concerns of the Meiteis of Imphal Valley inhabiting Hill areas, it is again to be noted that the culture of Meiteis is deeply embedded in the Valley and hardly any community leaves its own home except for the case of utter compulsion.

The solution does not lie in violence no matter who started it first and who retaliated. Mayhem does not justify a cause, it only hurts. Meiteis, like any other community, have a right to be heard and to pursue their interests in the hope of a better future. Vested demographic interests and selfish vote-bank politics must not be allowed to crush any communitys aspirations including the major inhabitants of the Imphal Valley. Let peace prevail!

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The way business was conducted, or not conducted at the recent Goa ministerial meeting  and more so on the sidelines, which caught the media and national attention better  the question is if the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is going the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) way. Inherent India-Pakistan differences that have nothing to do with regional cooperation torpedoed SAARC from within. In the case of SCO, China and Pakistan, as was to be expected, have joined hands against India, with Russia, owing to the Ukraine War, may be sitting on the fence, just now.

At the end of the SCO ministerial meeting in Goa, Indias external affairs minister S Jaishankar, ticked off the two over the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) that passes through Pak-occupied Kashmir (PoK).In a pointed reference to Pakistan, he also said that victims of terrorism do not sit with perpetrators of terrorism.

With these realistic, yet caustic observations, Jaishankar put paid to what was in store. Just a day later in Islamabad, the foreign ministers of Pakistan and China, Bilawal Bhutto and Qin Gang pledged to revive the CPEC. It could well set the tone for the revival of Chinas more-than-ambitious Belt and Road Initiative that had fallen into bad times during the Covid pandemic.

The two nations would have said and done precisely as much even without it. But Jaishankars statements in Goa made it look as if Beijing and Islamabad were thumbing their nose at India, as if their response was an after-thought.

Neo-normal or what

Jaishankar per se cannot be blamed for what he said at the post-meet news conference in Goa. On the sidelines of the SCO meeting, he met separately with Chinas Qin Gang, Russias Sergey Lavrov and counterparts from other member-nations, barring Pakistans Bhutto. It had more to do with the state of bilateral relations but in contemporary reality, India-China relations should have been worse than India-Pakistan relations, barring of course, Bhuttos coarse and uncivil language of the past months. Its not so, it would seem, post-Goa.

Jaishankars bilateral talks with Qin Gang and defence minister Rajnath Singhs Delhi discussions with counterpart Li Shangfu clearly brought out the unmatched post-Galwan Indian expectations from China on the LAC in particular. Nearer home and abroad  and even in a lesser-known Dominican Republic a week earlier  Jaishankar described India-China relations as abnormal. After the Goa bilateral, he tweeted that the focus of bilateral talks remains on  ensuring peace and tranquillity in the border areas.

At the Rajnath-Li talks, India reiterated one more time that bilateral relations cannot be normal unless there is peace in the border areas. Li later said that the border situation was generally stable without explaining what he had in mind. One thing is to refer to non-repetition of Galwan-like episodes. The other is the decision of the corps commanders to stay in close touch and work out a mutually-acceptable solution to the remaining issues in eastern Ladakh at the earliest. Yet another is to imply a new normal along the LAC for China to start-off future LAC talks from the present ground situation. It is just not acceptable to India.

Camouflaging border politics

At the Islamabad bilateral, Bilawal Bhutto recorded how 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 had declined Beijings invitation for the BRI inauguration mainly because CPEC passed through PoK, which is Indian territory, after all.

Jaishankar reiterated as much at Goa: 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. It is unclear who projected CPEC as an intra-SCO connectivity project. However, Jaishankars statement at the ministerial meeting is believed to have been made in response to some such claim (possibly by China).

Either way, other members of the SCO should see it all as a potential threat to the existence of one of the few multilateral organisations uninfluenced by the West, another being the BRICS. Russia at the moment is in no position or mood to ensure that SCO does not end up as a permanent venue for a slanging match among India and its twin adversaries working in tandem.

It should however be alive to the reality that just as Moscow does not want Ukraine War discussed in the UN and other international fora, issues hurting individual SCO members should be kept away from the forum. China, for instance, cannot be allowed to camouflage border politics as an SCO developmental agenda, which it is not. In the absence of a nation like Russia to moderate intra-SCO national behaviour, Beijing itself should decide if it wants the organisation continued in this form and format, or wants it to go back into the shell from which it broke out long ago.

Robbing Peter, paying Paul

Looked at from the long-standing bilateral relations, especially against common adversary India, China could not but have said things that Pakistan wants to hear, especially after Indias snub at Goa. But going beyond, it is Chinas belief that India-China and India-Pakistan border disputes cannot reach finality without either or both pairs discussing the Aksai Chin issue.

It is about the Pakistan-occupied Indian territory in erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir, now trifurcated under the Indian Constitution since. Islamabad gifted it away to Beijing, on the specious plea that historically the area had belonged to China. Even so, Pakistan cannot rob Peter and pay Paul  rather, gifting Paul.

Bilawals bad-mouthing of India is a biological problem genetically inherited from his maternal grandfather, Zulfikhar Ali Bhutto. Like all Pakistan leaders, including those that aspire to fast-track their electoral ascendancy to the prime ministers job, together have made India-bashing central to Pakistans national identity and agenda. The nation has paid too high a price for such behaviour, as the present economic crisis has proved one more time.

Pakistan is facing National Assembly elections later this year. Clearly, Bilawals attacks on India, from inside his country and outside, have to be seen in this context. Not only India, but also third nations, whose hospitality he often misuses to target New Delhi and Prime Minister Modi, as if to try and wreck the excellent bilateral relations between the other two. It has not worked thus far.

India also has to calibrate its posturing against Pakistan. Independent of Bilawal kind of unjustified and abrasive criticisms, there is a genuine love and respect for India inside Pakistan just now. Ordinary Pakistanis are said to be awed at the progress made by India since Independence, while the elite section of the nations population express them in words, in the print, television and social media.

It is a moment for India to capture, not let it slip away as New Delhi cannot be seen as hurting the national pride of those segments. Without Indian efforts, they may have emerged as Indias soft-power in Pakistan. Wait-and-watch should be Indias approach to Pakistan just now, letting the nations voters to decide if they still want someone like Bilawal Bhutto to be their prime minister, now or later  or, want him in national politics, at all.

The writer is a Chennai-based policy analyst and political commentator. Views expressed are personal.

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Addressing a rally in quaint, town of toys, Channapatna, Prime Minister Narendra Modi training his guns at the Janata Dal (Secular) lashed out calling the regional party the B-team of the BJP. Terming the JD(S) and the Congress as the reason for political instability in the state, the prime minister said, Each vote to JD(S) will go to Congress and will bring instability. A day later, senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member from Karnataka Jairam Ramesh reversed the charge accusing the JD(S) of being the B-team of the BJP and of having a tacit understanding with the saffron party.

Dismissing these statements only as a consequence of rising political temperature as the counting day nears would be missing the woods for the tree. Modi and Ramesh are not the only politicians from their parties who dubbed the JD(S) as a B-team during the election campaign. The timing and the place of Prime Minister Modis statement is significant. Channapatna in Ramnagara district is not just the assembly constituency of HD Kumaraswamy but it lies in the heart of the politically significant Old Mysore belt.

In the 2018 elections, the JD(S) won three out of four seats of Ramanagara and the BJP failed to open its account. The timing of the statement  10 days before the voting day as most opinion polls were predicting a hung assembly with a slight advantage for the Congress and as the BJP was trying to give one final push to its campaign with a Modi blitzkrieg highlights how crucial the Old Mysore region is.

Comprising the districts of Bengaluru Rural, Chikkaballapur, Chamrajnagar, Hassan, Kolar, Tumkuru, Mandya, Mysuru, Ramanagara and Kodagu; the Old Mysore region accounts for 61 of the 224 seats in the state. Traditionally, the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) have dominated the electoral landscape of the region. The BJP has been a marginal player in the region and has struggled to gain a strong foothold. A key reason behind the partys failure to cross the majority mark in Karnataka on its own has been its dismal performance in this region. The party has never won more than 11 of the 61 seats in the region. The BJPs not-so-promising electoral returns in this Vokkaliga belt have forced it to overcompensate by making up in other regions.

Simply put, historically the BJP has had to target winning 60-65 per cent of the remaining 163 seats to come anywhere close to the magic figure of 113. But the party can no longer rely on this formula in this election. Firstly, the BJP is expected to incur some losses in other regions, especially the Mumbai-Karnataka region- the hotbed of Lingayat politics. Furthermore, it has been trying extremely hard to make inroads in Old Mysore and the efforts paid off in the last Lok Sabha polls. Up against an alliance of Congress-JD(S) which appeared formidable on paper, the BJP won six out of the eight seats from Old Mysore.

To offset the losses that the party is likely to suffer in its traditional bastions and to give itself a realistic chance of securing a majority, the party realizes that it would have to perform well in the Old Mysore region. This election the party adopted its tried and tested multi-pronged approach to crack the code in the region: co-option of political elites from across the aisle, anti-dynasty politics rhetoric, the Hindutva pitch, the double engine sarkar card and its USP- Prime Minister Modis appeal.

While the stakes for the ruling party might be high in Old Mysore, they are much higher for the JD(S). Karnatakas only regional party, the JD(S) can more accurately be described as a sub-regional party that derives most of its support from the Vokkaliga-dominated Old Mysore region. An analysis of the last few assembly elections makes the partys over-reliance on the region very clear. Across the state, the party has maintained a steady vote share of 18-20% winning about 30 to 40 seats with the exception of 2004 where it won its best-ever tally of 58 seats. But a lions share of the JD(S) seats tally and votes in every election have come from the region. While the Gowda-led party has never polled more than 20 per cent votes at the state level, in the 61 seats of the region its vote share has been between 30 per cent to 37 per cent. About 50 to 60 per cent of the total votes that the party has polled across the state in the last three elections have come from its bastion.

An analysis of the JD(S) performance in Old Mysore and of the seats it won across the state further relies on how much the region determines the partys electoral fortunes. The partys strike rate is much higher in this region. In the last elections, 30 of the 39 seats that the party won came from the Old Mysore region. Had the JD(S) not performed so well here, winning about 50 per cent of the seats, Karnataka may not have had a hung assembly. In 2013 too, the party did well  winning 25 seats and almost 49% of the votes polled in these ten districts. The party won fewer seats in 2008 i.e. 17 but its vote share was about the same at 48%. So, what explains the JD(S) winning eight seats less in 2008 compared to 2013 despite an almost similar vote share? The reason was the split in the BJP.

The break-away groups  BS Yeddyurappas Karnataka Janata Paksha and B Sriramulus Badavara Shramikara Raitara Congress dented the BJPs vote share by a combined 12.5 percentage points. Considering the vote-share and seat-share trends of other recent assembly polls, it is fair to assume that had the BJP not suffered the double whammy caused by KJP and BSRC, it would have performed much better and stopped Congress from winning a simple majority leading to another hung assembly in the state. The seat-share and vote-share analysis of the last few elections clearly shows a trend that holds the answer to the question that is being asked repeatedly: Will Karnataka throw up a hung assembly again?

If the JD(S) manages to win more than 25 seats in the OMR region, the state could see another hung assembly and the party is very likely to emerge as the kingmaker. The JD(S) and its first family realise that their survival hinges on their performance in these 61 seats. The partys campaign exclusively focussed on the region. Kumaraswamys Pancharatna Yathra which extensively covered the constituencies in the region, welfare-centric promises for the farmers and youth, the partys vocal stand on the State Irrigation Scheme were all steps to protect its home turf. Even the partys repeated assertion that it is not fighting for 30 or 40 seats but for the complete majority and that it would emerge as the King and not Kingmaker were attempts to ensure that the national parties do not dent the party in its own backyard by raising the issue of instability and hung assembly.

Its archrival in the region, the Congress relied heavily on two local faces, DK Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah who headlined its campaign to deliver the goods in the region. The combination seems potent- DKS could pull a substantial chunk of the Vokkaliga votes and Siddaramaiah could add the AHINDA votes to the partys kitty. Elsewhere in the state the GoP might be locked in a bitter battle with the BJP but its chances of winning a majority on its own would depend on how well it fares against the JD(S) in Old Mysore. If the JD(S) manages to retain its bastion and win anything upwards of 25 seats in the region, it could once again emerge as the kingmaker.

Should that happen, some post-poll surprises could be on the cards. In 2018 redux, the kingmaker might become the king again. Alternatively, the JD(S) might arm-twist the Congress into opting for a third face other than DKS or Siddaramaiah as the chief minister of the coalition. Siddaramaiah and the JD(S) have a rocky past and the JD(S) is unlikely to fancy the prospect of a Vokkaliga who is not from the first family or the party as the chief minister which might cost DK Shivakumar the top prize. Which way Old Mysore goes, would decide if it would be another case of he who comes last, laughs best in Karnataka.

The writer is an alumnus of Mumbais St. Xaviers College, Omkar Poojari is currently pursuing a Research Masters degree in Politics at Sciences Po, Paris. Views expressed are personal.

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As the deadliest fighting in months reached its third day on Thursday, Israel and Gaza militants exchanged heavy fire, resulting in the deaths of 29 Palestinians in the blockaded enclave and one Israeli.

The victims include six children and three women as well as the head of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) rocket force and his deputy.

We are at the height of a campaign, both offensive and defensive, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a videotaped statement issued during a visit to an air base.

Whoever comes to harm us  his blood is forfeit, he added.

Rocket fire from the Gaza Strip killed one person in the central Israeli city of Rehovot and injured at least two others, Israeli police said. Three others sustained shrapnel injuries elsewhere in Israel.

Cairo was mediating efforts towards a truce between Israel and the Islamic Jihad militant group, while European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell called for an immediate comprehensive ceasefire.

The United States stopped short of a clear call for a truce, but State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said the casualties were tragic and heartbreaking, while urging that steps be taken to ensure that violence is reduced.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the bloodletting must end now, and the UN warned of a negative impact on an already difficult humanitarian situation in Gaza.

A source close to Islamic Jihad later disclosed that a final formula for a ceasefire was said to be under discussion in Egypt.

The Israeli army, however, said just before midnight (2100 GMT) that it was continuing to strike Islamic Jihad targets.

Gaza militants have fired 620 rockets at Israel since Wednesday, the military said, adding that 179 had been intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defence system.

The army said 25 per cent of rockets fired from Gaza fell into the territory itself, killing four people, including three minors. Confirmation from Islamic Jihad or Hamas could not be immediately obtained, reported AFP.

Shops in Gaza were shuttered and the streets largely abandoned as Israeli military aircraft circled the territory, where several buildings lay in ruins.

Islamic Jihad confirmed it had lost five military leaders in strikes in recent days, including Ahmed Abu Deka  the deputy of Ali Ghali, commander of a rocket launch unit, who was also killed by Israel on Thursday.

The Israeli army said it had fired at 191 targets across Gaza on Thursday.

The militant Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine said four of its fighters had also been killed.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Thursday evening that it had documented 26 dead on the Palestinian side  13 civilians, seven of them children, as well as four members of armed groups and nine others whose status was not yet determined.

Wave of escalation

In Gaza Citys Al-Rimal district, Mamoun Radi, 48, said: We hope that the wave of escalation will end, but we support revenge for the martyrs.

Israel assassinated a leader of (Islamic) Jihad at dawn today because it does not want calm.

Across southern Israel, sirens wailed intermittently through the night and on Thursday morning.

Ashkelon resident Miriam Keren, 78, said a Gaza rocket had destroyed a workshop and damaged her house.

All the shrapnel is in the room; the house was shaken very powerfully, the glasses fell, the walls were damaged, she said.

Luckily, I have a safe room and I entered it immediately and closed the door.

This isnt the first time the house was hit but Im not afraid, neither was I yesterday. Youre shocked for a moment, but its not about fear. Its more unpleasant, very unpleasant.

Ceasefire efforts

An Islamic Jihad source said Mohammad al-Hindi, who heads the groups political bureau, arrived in Cairo on Thursday for talks with Egyptian intelligence officials.

An Egyptian source, meanwhile, told AFP a security delegation from Cairo would be in Tel Aviv later Thursday for talks with Israeli officials on a ceasefire.

Israeli officials confirmed Egypts involvement in attempts to facilitate an understanding between the sides aimed at halting the hostilities.

Both Hamas, which rules Gaza, and Islamic Jihad are considered terrorist groups by Israel and the United States.

This weeks Gaza clashes are the worst since a three-day escalation in August killed 49 Palestinians, with no Israeli fatalities.

Violence has also flared in the occupied West Bank, where the Israeli army has staged repeated raids against militants that have often flared into street clashes or gun battles.

On Thursday, two Palestinians died from their wounds after being shot by the Israeli army in a raid the day before in the West Bank city of Qabatiya, the Palestinian health ministry said.

The conflict has escalated since veteran leader Benjamin Netanyahu returned to power late last year, heading a coalition with extreme right and ultra-Orthodox parties.

Israel has also been shaken by its biggest domestic political crisis in decades, as mass protests have flared against plans to reform the justice system that have been spearheaded by Netanyahu, who is also battling corruption charges in court.

With inputs from agencies

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Myanmars junta has adopted new tactics to subdue rebels and fighters protesting against its arbitrary rule. Generals in the capital city of Naypyidaw are now offering cash prizes to members of anti-junta groups in exchange for their weapons.

Terrorist groups and members of Myanmars Peoples Defence Force are being given 7.5 million kyats (US$3,570) for surrendering their weapons, a huge amount for most people in todays Myanmar, according to Radio Free Asia.

The offer, however, is only applicable to people who are willing to return to the legal fold or are illegally armed for reasons of personal security.

The military coup in Myanmar has been suffering losses in the face of successes made by resistance groups in the two years since the junta took over control.

According to Global New Light of Myanmar, the announcement made by the army also accused the rebels of using fear and indoctrination to force innocent people to join their fight.

What else does the new arrangement offer?

The regime will hand out between 200,000 to 7.5 million kyats (US $95 to $3,570) to rebel members.

Apart from this, members who are accused of committing crimes like murder and rape will get relaxed jail time in accordance with the law.

Meanwhile, people who have a license to carry guns will not be questioned on how they obtained weapons and can expect to be approved, provided they comply with the principle of possession.

Rebels decline offer

However, enticing the offer may seem, members of the Peoples Defence Force are not satisfied and have declined the reward.

A 19-year-old member of the PDF said, The junta inviting the PDFs to return to the legal fold is just an example of how it manipulates the law as it sees fit.

Their statement is full of false intentions. As long as [the junta generals] are in power, the country will continue to suffer, so we must fight to root them out. Well never give up  we will fight until they are brought to justice and made to answer to the will of the people, he added.

Sayar Kyaung, leader of the anti-junta Yangon UG Association, said, The juntas announcement is a bit funny  rule of law in Myanmar ceased to exist once they staged a coup. Their offer to relax legal procedures indicates that they are weakening.

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After two days of negotiations between representatives of Ukraine, Russia, Turkey, and UN officials, the parties to the Black Sea grain pact are close to reaching an agreement on its extension, said Hulusi Akar, the Turkish Minister of Defence.

We are heading toward an agreement on the extension of the grain deal, Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said in a statement.

Akar was referring to talks in Istanbul this week between officials from Turkey, Russia, Ukraine and the United Nations.

The United States and Britain on Tuesday pressed Russia to extend again the deal, accusing Moscow of exploiting global hunger for an advantage in the war.

The Black Sea Grain Initiative, in place since July after diplomacy by the United Nations and Turkey, allows Ukraine grain exports via port, helping ease shortages and resulting price spikes triggered by Russias invasion of the breadbasket nation.

Russia has said that the deal would expire unless Moscow secured guarantees that its demands would be met by the deadline of 18 May. Akars comment was released by his ministry in a statement on Friday.

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Istanbul: Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar on Friday said that talks to extend a deal allowing grain exports from Ukraine via the Black Sea following the Russian invasion were nearing an agreement.

The deal is due to expire next Thursday.

We are heading toward an agreement on the extension of the grain deal, said Akar in a statement referring to talks in Istanbul this week between officials from Turkey, Russia, Ukraine and the United Nations.

In addition to the longer extension of the deal, the meeting focused on a United Nations proposal to resume Russias ammonia exports along the Togliatti-Odesa pipeline, the UN said in a statement.

Ammonia is a core component of fertiliser, whose export Russia accuses the West of blocking in violation of past deals.

NATO member Turkey, which has good ties with Russia and Ukraine, has pushed both countries to resume peace talks after negotiations broke down last year.

Ankara helped the United Nations broker the grain deal last July, helping ease a spike in global food prices caused by Russias invasion.

More than 30 million tonnes of grain and agricultural products have been exported under the initiative to date.

What does this mean? asked Akar. It means preventing hunger and maintaining stability.

In March, the agreement was renewed for 60 days instead of the 120 days sought by Ukraine, after Russia laid down a number of conditions, including the right to export fertiliser.

There are no sanctions on Russian exports of food and fertilisers to global markets.

But secondary sanctions imposed on banks, shipping and insurance companies have blocked Russian sales.

Russian officials say they have not seen progress on the second part of the agreement that concerns its own exports.

The United States and Britain on Tuesday pressed Russia to extend again the deal, accusing Moscow of exploiting global hunger for advantage in the war.

In recent days, Russia has once again returned to blocking ships from sailing to Ukraines ports to pick up the grain, in a cynical action that directly results in less food getting to global markets and to human beings in Africa, the Middle East and around the world, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.

With inputs from agencies

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After receiving hundreds of complaints about the threats the event would have created, Blacktown City Council in Australia has decided to cancel the propaganda referendum planned by Sikhs for Justice in Sydney, according to The Australia Today.

The booking for the propaganda event, which was scheduled to be held at Blacktown Leisure Centre Stanhope, has now been cancelled after security agencies advice.

Councils decision is in no way an endorsement of, or criticism of, any political position relating to the internal affairs of India or Pakistan and must not be represented as support for any particular political position, The Australia Today quoted a Blacktown City Council spokesperson as saying.

Arvind Gaur is one of the people who complained about terrorists being praised via posters and banners by the Sikhs For Justice propaganda event.

Gaur told The Australia Today that he has received a reply from the council CEO Kerry Robinson explaining that the unauthorised banners and posters are being removed by Council officials and they have sought advice from the (New South Wales) NSW Police.

We are removing the banners and posters around the city placed on public property as these have been erected without our approval, said Robbinson.

According to the report, NSW Police, Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) were involved while taking a decision to withdraw permission for the event.

An investigation is underway about Sikhs For Justice Pty Ltd which is registered in Victoria, the report added.

An official close to the matter told The Australia Today, An connection to unaccounted money trail is what we are looking into.

The Australia Today contacted Sikhs For Justice Pty Ltd. It, however, got no response.

Recently, the BAPS Swaminarayan temple in Australias Sydney was found vandalised, The Australia Today reported.

This comes almost two months after temples in Melbourne and Brisbane were vandalised by pro-Khalistan supporters.

According to The Australia Today, a news outlet focused on multicultural communities and the Indian subcontinent, authorities at the temple in Western Sydneys Rosehill suburb said they found unwanted graffiti on the structures front wall and a so-called Khalistan flag hanging on its gate.

When I went this morning for prayers I saw ugly vandalism on the front wall, a local resident of Harris Park and a daily visitor to the Swaminarayan temple told the Australian media outlet.

The Australia Today media report said it understands that local police were notified by the temple management as early as 7 am, and the latter has told the media outlet that NSW Police officers have attended the temple and CCTV footage has been provided to assist them in the investigations.

Earlier this year too, there were reports of temple vandalisation in Australia. Three temples in Melbourne and two in Brisbane were vandalised by Khalistan supporters.

In the US and Canada too, the pro-Khalistan supporters had attempted on various occasions to vandalise temples and Indian diplomatic installations after police in India lodged a manhunt on radicalist Amritpal Singh.

The radical preacher of separatism was on the run for over a month and surrendered before Punjab Police on April 23 from Moga. He was later flown to Assams Dibrugarh jail, where several of his aides were kept and booked under the stringent National Security Act.

With inputs from agencies

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According to a report by the Indo-Pacific Centre for Strategic Communications (IPCSC), China has punished more than 110,000 officials in an anti-corruption drive.

As per the official statistics, 111,000 people were fined in the first quarter of this year, including provincial and provincial-level cadres, 633 department-level cadres, 669 district-level cadres, and 1,000 townships. Includes level cadres, and 15,000 general cadres. And 76,000 executives in rural areas, businesses, etc.

The official WeChat accounts of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the State Supervisory Commission of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China recently released their monthly anti-corruption report. In April of this year, three central cadres were dismissed and more than 120 party members and department-level cadres were fined.

In the April of this year, three central cadres were dismissed and more than 120 party members and department-level cadres were fined.

Prominent senior officials under investigation include Du Zhaocai, a Member of the Party Leadership Group & Deputy Director of the General Administration of Sport of China and Secretary General of the State Committee among several others.

The official monthly report also mentioned that in the first quarter of this year, disciplinary inspection and supervision agencies across the country received 776,000 petitions and reports, of which 231,000 were complaints and accusations, IPCSC reported.

In addition, data from the March 2023 anti-corruption monthly report released by the National Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CPC Central Committee shows that in March this year, 7,021 violations were investigated and dealt with, involving 10,285 people.

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2012, Xi Jinpings administration has launched an anti-corruption campaign. Those publicly investigated and dealt with after the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China include state-level officials, deputy state-level officers, military commission members, dozens of ministerial-level officers, and hundreds of deputy ministerial-level officers, IPCSC reported.

Regarding the anti-corruption movement of the Chinese Communist Party, the book Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party reveals its essence  the Chinese Communist Party has fallen into the worlds largest corruption party.

If you do not destroy the party and fight corruption, you will destroy the country. But the Communist Party will not fight corruption at the risk of the party dying.

In the guise of fighting corruption, the party offers lip service by punishing a few cadres and letting other corrupt elements steer the party to keep it alive. The cult of the Communist Party has come this far, and its sole purpose is to maintain power and prevent the decline of the Communist Party.

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On Friday, Israel and Palestinian militants engaged in the most deadly clash in months, with Israeli warplanes striking targets in Gaza and militants firing rockets into Jerusalem and southern Israel.

There were no early reports of injuries on either side on Friday, as foreign mediators continued their attempts to broker a cease-fire. 31 Palestinians in Gaza and a 70-year-old man in central Israel have died as a result of recent conflict.

A barrage of rocket fire from Gaza sounded warning sirens in the contested city of Jerusalem, breaking a 12-hour truce that had fuelled expectations that Egypt, Qatar, and the UN may soon broker a cease-fire. After an apparent missile interception, residents in Israeli communities surrounding Jerusalem reported hearing booms and seeing black smoke rising from the hills.

According to Josh Hasten, a representative for the region, a missile landed in an open field near the south Jerusalem town of Bat Ayin. As the sirens sounded, Israelis were seen getting out of their automobiles and crouching behind highway barricades.

An umbrella group of Gaza-based Palestinian factions known as the joint operations room said that theyd launched rockets in response to the assassinations and continued aggression toward the Palestinian people.

The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was conducting a security assessment. The Israeli military said its warplanes were striking Islamic Jihad targets in response to the rockets.

The cross-border exchanges this week have pitted Israel against Islamic Jihad, the second-largest militant group in Gaza after the territorys Hamas rulers. Since Tuesday, Israel says its strikes have killed five senior Islamic Jihad figures. Islamic Jihad has retaliated with over 800 rockets fired toward densely populated parts of Israel. At that time, Israels military said it has used airstrikes to hit at least 215 targets in Gaza, including rocket and mortar launch sites and militants preparing to use them.

Israeli bombs and shells have destroyed 47 housing units, and damaged 19 so badly they were uninhabitable, leaving 165 Palestinians homeless, Gazas housing ministry reported. In addition, nearly 300 homes sustained some damage.

Palestinians on Friday surveyed the wreckage wrought by the fighting.

The dream that we built for our children, for our sons, has ended, said Belal Bashir, a Palestinian living in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, whose family home was reduced to a heap of rubble in an airstrike late Thursday. He and his family would have been killed in the thundering explosion if they hadnt run outside when they heard shouting, he said.

We were shocked that our house was targeted, he added as he pulled his young childrens dolls and blankets from a bomb crater.

At least 31 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have been killed in the fighting, including seven children and four women, according to the UN humanitarian office. At least three of the children were killed by misfired Palestinian rockets, according to the Israeli military and the Palestinian Center for Rights. Over 90 Palestinians have been wounded, the Palestinian Health Ministry reported.

The civilians deaths have drawn condemnation from the Arab world and concern from the United States and Europe. In its past four wars against Hamas, Israel has repeatedly faced accusations of war crimes due to the high civilian death tolls and its use of heavy weapons against the crowded enclave. Israel, in turn, contends that Palestinian militant groups use civilians as human shields by fighting in their midst.

Hamas, the de facto civilian government with an army of some 30,000 in Gaza, has sought to maintain its truce with Israel while attempting to keep abysmal living conditions in the blockaded enclave from spiralling since a devastating 11-day war in 2021 that killed over 260 Palestinians. The group, which seized control of Gaza in 2007, has sat out this round of fighting  as it did a similar burst of violence last summer. In a sign of restraint, Israel has limited its airstrikes to Islamic Jihad targets.

Both sides had seemed on the brink of a cease-fire before the eruption of Thursdays violence. Fridays relative calm boosted hopes of progress.

Hamas officials told local media that Egypt was ramping up its diplomatic efforts to stop the fighting through intensive contacts with both Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

Islamic Jihad figures have sent mixed signals about the cease-fire talks. Senior official Ihsan Attaya complained early Friday that the mediators have been unable to provide us with any guarantees. A sticking point has been Islamic Jihads demands that Israel ceases its policy of targeted killings, Attaya said.

Islamic Jihad political bureau member Mohamad al-Hindi sounded more optimistic. From Cairo, where he travelled Thursday to hash out the details of a possible truce, he told media that he hoped both sides would reach a cease-fire agreement and honour it today.

This weeks battles began when Israel launched, on Tuesday, simultaneous airstrikes that killed three Islamic Jihad commanders along with some of their wives and children as they slept in their homes. Israel said it was retaliating for a barrage of rocket fire launched last week by Islamic Jihad following the death of one of its West Bank members, Khader Adnan, from a hunger strike while in Israeli custody.

The airstrikes and rockets have shifted the focus of conflict back to Gaza after months of surging violence in the occupied West Bank under Israels most right-wing government in history.

Israel has been carrying out near-nightly arrest raids in the West Bank that have killed 109 Palestinians so far this year  the highest such death toll in two decades. At least half of the dead are affiliated with militant groups, according to a tally by The Associated Press. At least 20 people have been killed in Palestinian attacks targeting Israelis during that time.

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The leaders of the governing Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) objected to the double standards of justice after Pakistans Supreme Court ordered Imran Khans immediate release on Thursday while deeming the former Prime Ministers arrest illegal, according to Dawn.

During a news conference in Islamabad, PML-N leader Marriyum Aurangzeb stated that a few hundred armed protesters and terrorists have been attacking the country and state facilities in response to the PTI supporters protest.

You all saw how PTI leaders incited violence and gave orders for attacks on Imran Khans directives, she alleged.

Moreover, she cited the Islamabad High Court order, stressing that Imrans arrest was carried out in a legal manner, reported Dawn.

But the impression of the Supreme Court giving relief to a criminal, terrorist, and a gangster leading armed groups  it amounts to backing a terrorist, she decried.

She further said several PML-N leaders faced arrests and raids in the past but no one raised any question. Because all of that was done in support of the Ladla (a favourite child) who disrespected the SC.

Directly addressing the chief justice of Pakistan, she said, Had this love affair ended back then, then chief justice sahib, the court would not have been disrespected the way it is being today.

Courts are disrespected when they become shelters for criminals, terrorists and armed groups. Courts, the Constitution and justice are disrespected then. Courts are disrespected when their decisions support criminals, she added.

She contended that if the court would back terrorists and armed groups that set my country on fire, then all others deserve this relief as well.

Reacting to the development, PML-N leader Khawaja Asif addressed a press conference in Islamabad, highlighting the double standards of justice, reported Dawn.

He began by recalling that PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif and several other party leaders and workers were arrested in the past.

But why were they not treated in this kind manner by the court? Is this good treatment reserved only for Imran Khan on a selective basis? he asked. They never thought of [] keeping us in a rest house. Why are there double standards in this country?

In this connection, the defence minister also referred to a video of Imran released prior to his arrest.

In his video message published prior to his arrest [] did Imran not incite and preach violence? And what was the result of that violence?

Imran was arrested in the Al-Qadir Trust case, in which he has been accused of corruption, from the Islamabad High Court premises on Tuesday afternoon before he was due to attend the hearings of two other cases.

The former prime ministers arrest sparked violent protests across the country, during which at least eight people were killed, several injured and thousands rounded up amid police action. There were many incidents of arson.

Meanwhile, the IHC deemed his arrest within legal parameters, but the Supreme Court ruled today that Imrans arrest was unlawful and directed authorities to retain him at the Police Lines Guest House in Islamabad but under the courts supervision as a guest until his appearance before the IHC tomorrow.

A three-member bench  headed by CJP Bandial and comprising Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar  issued the verdict on PTIs petition challenging Khans arrest.

Reacting to the verdict, PML-N Chief Organiser Maryam Nawaz criticised Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, asking him to step down from the post and join the opposition party  PTI reported Geo News.

The chief justice was very happy today to meet the criminal who plundered Rs60 billion from the national exchequer and he [CJP] was even more happy to release this criminal, the PML-N leader said while referring to the CJP remarks during the hearing.

At least nine people died and dozens of others were injured during the two-day countrywide protests with rioters damaging public properties and storming the military installations.

..[the CJP] is acting as a shield of a fitna [rabble-rouser Imran Khan] and is pouring fuel on the fire in the country. You should leave the post of chief justice and join the Tehreek-e-Insaf like your mother-in-law, she added.

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Elon Musk has revealed his intentions to bring in a fresh CEO for Twitter, although he has not disclosed the persons identity. In a tweet posted on Thursday, Musk shared that he has successfully appointed a new CEO for X/Twitter, who is expected to commence the role in approximately six weeks.

As for Musk himself, he will transition into the positions of executive chair and Chief Technology Officer, assuming responsibility for overseeing Twitters product, software, and sysops.

According to an article by Dylan Byers from Puck News, NBC Universal advertising executive Linda Yaccarino is believed to be the chosen individual for the CEO position at Twitter, as mentioned by two undisclosed sources.

Musk stepping down as Twitters CEO

Following the initial announcement, The Wall Street Journal has reported that there are ongoing discussions regarding Linda Yaccarino potentially assuming the role of Twitter CEO. Yaccarino is currently engaged in consecutive rehearsals for an upfront presentation aimed at advertisers, which is why Musk hasnt named her in his tweet.

Also read: Watch: Musk explains the key to effective communication on Twitter, says new CEO by year-end

It is worth noting that Twitter and NBCUniversal have recently announced an extended partnership to enhance the coverage of the 2023 Olympic Games through the platform. Yaccarino, in a tweet directed at Musk, suggested that Twitter should revive Periscope.

Although Elon Musk may soon step down as CEO, he remains the owner of the company, which he has renamed as X. It is unlikely that simply assigning a new CEO will significantly alter the unpredictable nature of Twitter.

Last October, Musk took on the title of Chief Twit upon finalizing the acquisition of the company, which was followed by the immediate dismissal of a considerable portion of the executive team and thousands of other employees.

Musk doesnt want to be the CEO of any organisation that he owns

The divided attention of Elon Musk, as he juggles multiple companies including Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink, and The Boring Company, has raised questions about the impact on these businesses both presently and in the future.

Also read: Elon Musk may step down as Twitter CEO. His replacement will need these qualities

In December, when Teslas stock price plummeted to $101, a significant drop from its peak of around $314 over the past year, Tesla investors openly urged Musk to give up control of Twitter. The aftermath has seen Tesla reducing vehicle prices and facing narrower profit margins, leading to what some describe as an electric vehicle price war due to increased competition.

As Musk has made changes to Twitter policies in line with his own preferences, speculation about the duration of his tenure and its effect on his other ventures has also intensified. The Musk era on Twitter has also brought about alterations that disrupted relationships with users, public safety officials, and most importantly, advertisers.

Had been looking for someone to hand over the reins to for a long time

Musk hinted at the CEO change through a poll conducted in December, in which he asked his followers whether he should step down as head of Twitter. He pledged to respect the outcome of the poll, which included responses from both genuine users and likely bot accounts.

Also read: Falling Tesla stock, erratic decisions: What will Musk do, now that Twitter users want him to step down as CEO

The poll came in the wake of a policy change by Musk that received significant criticism. Initially, the change appeared to prohibit the sharing of links to other social networking sites. However, Musk later clarified the rule and ultimately revoked it, assuring users that major policy changes would be subjected to a vote in the future.

Musk then tweeted the poll about stepping down, which garnered approximately 17.5 million responses. Of those responses, 57.5 per cent indicated that he should no longer be the CEO of Twitter.

The poll conducted by Musk was not the first indication that he intended to hand over the day-to-day operations of Twitter to someone else. In November, while testifying in court regarding his compensation as the CEO of Tesla, Musk stated that he anticipated reducing his involvement in Twitter and eventually finding a replacement to run the platform. This aligns with earlier reports suggesting that his role as CEO was initially conceived as a temporary one.

Who is Linda Yaccarino?

Linda Yaccarino currently holds the position of head of advertising and partnerships at NBCUniversal. There have been indications that Yaccarino had been actively vying for the position of CEO at Twitter for some time and had expressed her desire for the job on a number of occasions to her friends as well as several people close to Musk.

She has earned considerable respect among Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) who need to be persuaded to allocate their advertising budgets to Twitter once more. Her track record and reputation make her a highly regarded figure in the field, further enhancing her credentials for the CEO position at Twitter.

She recently hosted Musk at the Possible advertising conference in Miami, where she conducted an enthusiastic interview. Yaccarino has also been actively tweeting, including expressing her excitement for NBCs partnership with Twitter for the upcoming Olympics.

A source inside Twitter and one of Yaccarino and Musks acquaintances have also revealed to Alex Heath of The Verge, that both, Yaccarino and Musk share the same perspective on most political issues, which all but confirms her position as the next CEO of Twitter.

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EU foreign ministers will gather on Friday to discuss how to reduce Europes dependency on China while also persuading Beijing to take a harsher position on Russias invasion of Ukraine.

Brussels is pressing the European Unions 27 member states to agree on how to deal with China as a more aggressive Beijing asserts its influence on the global arena.

In a speech to the European Parliament this week, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz conceded that ties were deteriorating because rivalry and competition on the side of China have certainly increased.

He supported demands for smart de-risking by reducing Europes reliance on China for essential resources, but there is no willingness to cut all connections with the worlds second-largest economy.

There is a desire to avoid confrontation with China, even if disputes are multiplying, said Elvire Fabry from the Jacques Delors Institute think tank.

The most important of these conflicts is Chinas failure to denounce its close friend Russias invasion of Ukraine or to put pressure on Moscow to cease the attack.

Brussels has outraged Beijing by proposing a ban on critical technology exports to eight Chinese enterprises accused of transferring it to Russia.

During a trip to Europe this week, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang warned that if the EU imposed penalties, Beijing would take the necessary response.

In Berlin, Qin clashed over Ukraine with German counterpart Annalena Baerbock, who insisted Chinas proclaimed neutrality means taking the side of the aggressor.

French foreign minister Catherine Colonna sought to soften the tone when she met Qin by insisting China had an important role to play for global peace and stability in efforts to mediate.

Partner, competitor or rival?

On a trip to China last month, French President Emmanuel Macron opened up EU fissures by saying Europe should not automatically follow US policy on Taiwan and should avoid crises that arent ours.

That stirred fierce criticism from some other European allies, which see the United States as a security guarantor against Russia.

Fridays meeting of foreign ministers in Stockholm is not meant to reach any concrete conclusions. But the hope is the talks can help nudge the EU towards greater unity in its ongoing efforts to grapple with the challenges posed by Beijing.

The important thing is not to prevent China from becoming a world power, it is to manage how China will use this power, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Thursday.

Currently, the EU officially categorises China as simultaneously a partner, competitor and rival, and there is no plan to tear up that approach.

But EU officials say the emphasis could now move increasingly to managing the rivalry rather than working together.

The EU ministers will follow up their China discussion with a meeting on Saturday with counterparts from the Asia-Pacific region.

Beijing will once again be the elephant in the room as talks turn to security issues, including tensions in the Taiwan Strait.

But a senior EU official said the meeting would be above all about building partnerships.

There is no question of seeking an alignment between the participants against Russia during this meeting and we must maintain the status quo between China and Taiwan to avoid an escalation, he said.

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Google has finally launched their Pixel Fold for a whopping $1,800. Clearly, the Pixel Fold is a halo product, a product designed to make soundwave and headline, more than it is design to make actual sales. This leaves Apple to be the only major mobile manufacturer to not have a foldable device in its portfolio.

Samsung and other competitors have been making efforts to promote foldable smartphones and tablets in the market for some time. Although this remains a niche market, rumours suggest that Apple has been internally exploring the concept of foldable devices. However, it is currently uncertain when or if Apple will introduce a foldable iPhone or iPad. In the following details, we will outline the information available thus far.

Apple is certainly working on foldable devices

There are rumours circulating that Apple is in the process of developing prototypes for foldable iPhones and iPads, although these devices are still far from being released. Analysts Ming-Chi Kuo and Ross Young have reported that Apples first foldable product may be introduced no earlier than 2025. Specific details about these devices have not been disclosed yet.

Also read: Apple will release a foldable iPad worth $2,300-2,500, by 2024, before they launch a foldable iPhone

This cautious approach from Apple is not surprising, considering the companys recent conservative strategy. Launching a foldable phone at this stage could pose supply challenges due to the limited availability and higher costs associated with the technology, especially considering Apples high volume of device shipments.

In terms of design, insiders familiar with the matter have suggested that Apple has various prototypes under development. One of the prototypes resembles an iPhone that can be folded, similar to Samsungs Galaxy Z Flip. Another prototype takes the form of an iPad that can be folded to transform into a phone. Ming-Chi Kuo has also indicated that he believes the foldable tablet will be introduced before the foldable phone.

Im positive about the foldable iPad in 2024 and expect this new model will boost shipments and improve the product mix. My latest survey indicates that the foldable iPad will feature a carbon fibre kickstand. Carbon fibre material will make the kickstand lighter and more durable, said Kuo.

A possible line of foldable products  iPhones, iPads, and MacBooks

In addition to the rumours surrounding foldable iPhones and iPads, there have been reports that Apple has been in discussions with suppliers regarding 20-inch displays for a potential foldable laptop.

Also read: Apple granted patents featuring foldable displays that bend both ways: Report

However, its important to note that these discussions are related to experimental prototypes, and there are no imminent plans to release such products. Nevertheless, its interesting to observe that while foldable devices may not be a priority for Apple currently, the company is not ruling out the possibility in the future.

Apples folding devices will be very expensive

According to CCS Insight, Apples first foldable device is predicted to have a price tag of around $2,500, making it significantly more expensive than current iPhones.

However, its worth noting that foldable devices from other companies are also priced at a premium. For instance, Samsungs Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Googles Pixel Fold both start at $1,799, indicating that foldable technology comes at a higher cost in general.

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Google held its highly anticipated yearly event, Google I/O. During the event, the technology behemoth unveiled 25 fresh Google products and features, all leveraging PaLM 2, its cutting-edge language model.

Additionally, the Google team provided insights into the future enhancements of Bard, their AI-powered chatbot, which was introduced in February of this year. Bard is set to receive significant upgrades over time, enabling it to deliver more visually-oriented responses. Furthermore, the AI chatbot is now accessible to users worldwide, including those in India, where Google Bard can be accessed.

How to access and use Bard in India

To access Google Bard, which is now available in over 180 countries and territories, including India, follow these steps:

Visit bard.google.com. On the website, you will find a message indicating that the chatbot is still undergoing testing. Look for the option that says Try Bard and click on it. A prompt will appear, asking you to accept Googles privacy policy. Once you accept the privacy policy, Bard will be accessible to you, and you can begin exploring and using the chatbot.

Google aims to gather user feedback and make continuous improvements to Bard, introducing new features in the future. The company is committed to expanding Bards availability to even more locations, with additional countries and territories expected to gain access soon.

Still room for improvement

Its important to note that Bard is currently in an experimental stage, as cautioned by Google. There is a message displayed below the prompt bar stating, Bard may display inaccurate or offensive information that doesnt represent Googles views.

Furthermore, Google plans to expand Bards language support. While the AI chatbot is already accessible in Japanese and Korean, the company is progressing towards adding support for an additional 40 languages in the near future.

During the Google I/O event, Google provided a glimpse into the future capabilities of Bard. One of the announced features is its increased focus on providing visual responses. This means that in the coming updates when you ask Bard questions like Best places to visit in Delhi or Best restaurants in XYZ area, the AI chatbot will not only provide text-based answers but also include relevant images in its responses.

Googles official blog post about Bard states, In addition to text, youll get a helpful response along with rich visuals to give you a much better sense of what youre exploring.

Bard aims to be very visual in nature, rather than relying on text

Additionally, users will have the ability to include images in their prompts alongside text. This can be achieved by combining Google Lens with Bard, enabling users to provide visual references or context to enhance their interactions with the chatbot.

To illustrate how the enhanced visual capabilities of Bard will work, Googles blog post provides an example: Lets say you want to have some fun using a photo of your dogs. You can upload it and prompt Bard to write a funny caption about these two. Using Google Lens, Bard will analyze the photo, identify the dog breeds, and generate a few creative captions within seconds.

In addition, Bard will be seamlessly integrated with various Google apps and services such as Docs, Drive, Gmail, and Maps. This integration will provide users with a comprehensive experience across multiple platforms. Users will have the ability to access and utilize the features of these apps within the Bard interface, offering enhanced convenience and functionality.

Google partnering up with others for Bard

Furthermore, Bard will have the capability to collaborate with external partners and leverage web-based services. Through extensions developed by external partners, Bard will be able to perform tasks and offer functionalities previously not available.

As an example, Google plans to integrate Adobe Firefly, a family of creative generative AI models, into Bard. This integration will enable users to transform their creative ideas into high-quality images quickly, which can be further edited or incorporated into designs using Adobe Express. This expansion of capabilities aims to spark users imagination and enable them to achieve more with Bard.

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Washington: US Department of State Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel on Thursday said that Washington is looking forward to Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit to the country which will be an immense opportunity to talk about a number of shared priorities.

We very much look forward to hosting PM Modi and members of the Indian Government. We have an important partnership with India and we look forward to continuing to take steps to deepen that, said Patel.

He said that PM Modis visit will be an immense opportunity to talk about a number of shared priorities including addressing climate crisis and trade issues.

And this next state visit will be an immense opportunity to talk about a number of shared priorities, including addressing the climate crisis, trade issues, deepening our security cooperation, and a number of other areas as well, added Patel.

Earlier, the White House in a statement announced that US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will host Prime Minister Narendra Modi for an official state visit next month.

The statement released by the White House read, President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will host Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the Republic of India for an Official State Visit to the United States, which will include a state dinner, on June 22, 2023.

The upcoming visit will affirm the deep and close partnership between the US and India and the warm bonds of family and friendship, linking Americans and Indians.

The visit will strengthen the two countries shared commitment to a free, open, prosperous, and secure Indo-Pacific and our shared resolve to elevate our strategic technology partnership, including in defence, clean energy, and space, the statement read.

The last in-person meeting between PM Modi and US President Biden was held in Indonesia. The two leaders took into account areas like crucial and emerging technologies and artificial intelligence.

During the meeting, both sides discussed close cooperation in future-oriented sectors such as critical and emerging technologies, advanced computing, and artificial intelligence, an official statement by Prime Ministers office read. The two leaders also held talks on topical global and regional developments.

With inputs from agencies

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Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Friday called for a close co-operation between SCO member countries to maintain normal functioning of the food supply chain in the present conditions for ensuring food as well as nutritional security.

The minister was addressing virtually the 8th meeting of Agriculture Ministers of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member countries.

Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, China and Pakistan participated in it along with India, according to an official statement.

Under the chairmanship of India, SCO member countries adopted the Smart Agriculture project.

Highlighting that India has become self-sufficient in foodgrains production, Tomar said the country will continue to share its best practices and build capacities with other countries, bilaterally as well as in collaboration with international organisations, so that they too become self-reliant and food secure nations.

He expressing satisfaction over the smart agriculture action plan and the initiative of innovation in agriculture.

Tomar said the prime ministers emphasis is on the overall development of agriculture in the country through technology. In this direction, India has taken several concrete steps to promote smart agriculture.

Tomar said that India gives importance to its relations with SCO in promoting multilateral, political, security, economic and people-to-people interactions.

The minister said that it was a matter of pride that a meeting has been organised to discuss strengthening cooperation in food security and nutrition, especially in the current situation.

Tomar said, In order to maintain the normal functioning of the food supply chain in the present conditions, there is a need for close contact and cooperation between various countries for food and nutrition security. He noted that India is the largest employer globally in the agriculture sector, where more than half of the countrys population is engaged in agriculture and allied sectors, while India also represents an important economic activity for many countries.

Its importance is evident from the fact that the budget allocation for agriculture and allied sectors in India has increased more than 5 times in 10 years from 2013-14, the minister said.

Over the years, India has performed well in the agriculture sector, contributing to global food security with food grain production, registering a significant growth in exports, and exports of agricultural and allied products have crossed Rs 4 lakh crore.

Tomar said Indias public distribution system and price support system for farmers are unique in the world.

India is self-sufficient in food grains. The country is a leading producer of many commodities like cereals, fruits, vegetables, milk, eggs, fish. He said the welfare of the farmers and overall development of the agriculture sector has been the top priority of the government of India.

Tomar said the rich agricultural research has played an important role in solving the issue of food security, improving the income of farmers and agriculture workers and also for the sustenance of the people.

Efforts are being made by the government to make the country self-reliant in the agriculture sector with concerted efforts in innovation, digital agriculture, climate smart technologies, development of high-yielding, biofortified varieties and agricultural research.

India is also making efforts towards improving the life and livelihood of the farmers by making their agriculture sustainable and friendly, he said.

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The political blame game in cash-strapped Pakistan has touched a new high. The Islamabad High Court has granted Imran Khan two-week bail, but the sitting Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has blamed his predecessor for pushing the country towards destruction.

Blaming Imran Khan for the unrest and violent protests that rocked Pakistan following the arrest of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insafs (PTI) arrest on May 9, Sharif said such scenes have not been witnessed since the fall of Dhaka during 1973.

The Pakistan PM also recalled that even after the death of former PM Benazir Bhutto protests had erupted but no one moved towards military installations, a report by Dawn said.

Imran Khan & his party are liars

In his address to the federal cabinet on Friday, Sharif called Imran Khan and his party liars.

The Pakistan PM also blamed the PTI leadership for trying to push the country towards destruction, the report said.

As you know the currency is navigating through difficult times, and the challenges we inherited are contributing immensely to aggravating the situation. The previous government violated an agreement with the IMF and we are making attempts to repair that, Sharif said.

PTI protesters disrespected martyrs

Sharif accused PTI workers and supporters protesting the arrest of their leader Imran Khan of disrespecting the martyrs of the country in a way that was not even done by our enemies, the report said.

The attacks on army installations  there can be no greater terrorism in the country, he said.

And seeing all this, a country, I dont want to take its name, was celebrating that what couldnt happen in 75 years is now happening in Pakistan, Sharif added.

With inputs from agencies

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Ukraine has not made a breakthrough in flashpoint city of Bakhmut, Russia said, denying claims by Pro-Moscow bloggers and the head of the Wagner mercenary group. They asserted of a large-scale Ukrainian counterattack and Russian troops having dropped back from some areas near the flashpoint city.

Reports by certain Telegram channels of breaches of defences in several places along the line of contact are not accurate, the Russian defence ministry said on Friday.

The general situation in the area of the special military operation is under control, the defence ministry said.

Russian military, meanwhile, claimed that the last remaining part of Artyomovsk, also known as Bakhmut, was being stormed with air force and artillery support, while there was an ongoing battle to counter the attack of Ukrainian units in the direction of Malo-Ilyinkovka, northwest of the city, with heavy enemy casualties in lives and equipment.

However, a senior Ukrainian military officer, earlier this week, claimed that Russian soldiers had dropped back from some areas near Bakhmut after limited counter-attacks by Kyivs forces around the eastern city.

Ukraine successfully breaking through Bakhmut

Earlier this week, head of Russias Wagner group Yevgeny Prigozhin acknowledged that Ukrainian units were successfully breaking through in some areas.

Wagner groups forces are on the front line of the battle for Bakhmut.

Battle for Bakhmut

With population of around 70,000 people, Bakhmut has been destroyed as Russian forces have posted incremental gains over recent months, amounting to some 80 per cent of the city.

Russian defence ministry, in its address, however, did not comment on reports over alleged withdrawals of its troops near Bakhmut but said its forces were continuing to liberate the western parts of the city.

The general situation in the special military operation zone is under control, it added.

Ukraine needs more time for counteroffensive

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday said it needs more time before commencing a highly anticipated counter-offensive against Russian troops.

Mentally were ready Zelenskyy told the BBC. In terms of equipment, not everything has arrived yet.

With (what we have) we can go forward and be successful. But wed lose a lot of people. I think thats unacceptable. So we need to wait. We still need a bit more time, he was quoted as saying.

With inputs from agencies

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Imran Khan Arrest: In a sign that the conflict that has sparked unrest throughout the nation is far from over, Pakistans government has criticised the Supreme Court for releasing former prime minister Imran Khan from custody and vowed to find other ways to arrest him.

Imran Khan experienced a significant sense of relief on Thursday when Pakistans Supreme Court ruled that the former prime ministers arrest was illegal and commanded his immediate release after he was brought before a bench as per its directives. Following two days of violent protests by Imrans supporters in response to his imprisonment, troops were stationed throughout Pakistans capital.

Imran Khan, the detained former prime minister of Pakistan, was scheduled to appear in court on Friday after the Supreme Court declared his arrest earlier this week, which led to fatal confrontations across the nation, to be illegal.

Your arrest was invalid, so the whole process needs to be backtracked, Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial told Imran Khan during a hearing in the capital Islamabad on Thursday.

On Wednesday, Imran Khan was sentenced to eight days in jail on allegations of corruption, marking the end of a rare campaign of defiance against the dominant military.

In response to Imran Khans arrest, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party members have battled with law enforcement in a number of towns and marched up to the Pakistan Army headquarters.

Imran Khans supporters accuse military of having orchestrated Khans ouster in April last year. The military denies any involvement.

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A two-member special division bench of Islamabad High Court (IHC) heard the bail plea of the former Prime Minister, a day after the Supreme Court of Pakistan termed his arrest in the Al-Qadir Trust case unlawful.

When the bail plea was heard today, a large team of Punjab Police positioned itself outside the high court with arrest warrants against the PTI chief in at least 10 cases.

However, the Islamabad court in its order also barred authorities from arresting the PTI chief till May 17 in any new case.

Imran Khan arrived at the court around 11:30 am on Friday in a high-security convoy. He was taken for his biometrics immediately after reaching court, after which he was made to appear before the bench and heard his bail plea.

The area at and around the IHC turned into a fortress with heavy deployment of police and paramilitary troops deployed to avoid any untoward situation.

Will be arrested again

Ahead of his bail plea hearing today, Imran Khan had said that he feared being arrested again by the "fascist" regime led by Shehbaz Sharif.

It can be recalled that moments after the Pakistan Supreme Court ordered the release of Imran Khan, the ruling government in the country, denounced the verdict of the top court and said it was determined to find other legal avenues to arrest the former premier.

We will arrest him again, perhaps on charges that were announced a day earlier of inciting the wave of violence, Pakistan's Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan told Pakistan's Dunya TV on Thursday.

What is Al-Qadir Trust case?

Imran Khan, along with his third wife Bushra Bibi and their close aid cum PTI leaders - Zulfiqar Bukhari and Babar Awan, has been facing a National Accountability Bureau's (NAB) inquiry related to a settlement between the PTI government and a private property company - Bahria Town - which reportedly caused a loss of 190 million pounds to the national exchequer.

They were allegedly involved in the formation of the Al-Qadir University Project Trust which aimed to set up Al-Qadir University for imparting quality education in Tehsil Sohawa of District Jhelum, Punjab.

The trustees of the trust signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Bahria Town with a motive to receive donations from it.

As per the charges, the former Pakistan PM and other accused allegedly adjusted Rs 50 billion  190 million pounds at the time  sent by Britains National Crime Agency (NCA) to the government.

They are also accused of getting undue benefit in the form of over 458 kanals of land at Mouza Bakrala, Sohawa, to establish Al-Qadir University.

Internet, social media remain shut in Pakistan

Internet services and social media platforms including Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube remained shut for the fourth consecutive day in Pakistan amid protests over the arrest of Imran Khan since Tuesday.

With inputs from agencies

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At least four people were killed on Friday when rebel forces attacked a Frontier Constabulary (FC) camp in Muslim Bagh town in the Balochistan province of Pakistan.

The Pakistan Armys propaganda wing  the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR)  said in a statement that two rebels and a similar number of soldiers were killed while at least three soldiers were wounded in the attack.

A group of terrorists attacked an FC camp in Muslim Bagh area in northern Balochistan. In the process of clearance operation, two soldiers have embraced shahadat (martyrdom) while another three are injured, the ISPR statement said.

So far, two terrorists have been sent to hell by the security forces, who continue to maintain pressure on the terrorists, the statement added.

The ISPR went on to inform that in addition to a significant exchange of gunfire, the statement stated that a security force operation was under way to capture the terrorists who have been cornered into a building complex.

Commander 12 Corps is supervising the security forces operations being conducted at Muslim Bagh area in Balochistan where terrorists have been cornered, the ISPR statement added.

Unrest in Pakistan

The law and order situation in Pakistan has gotten worse over the past few months as rebel groups carry out strikes virtually unchecked throughout the nation.

The Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has increased its attacks since the dialogue with the group broke down in November 2022. The TTP attacks have targeted the police, the Pakistan Army and the Frontier Corps in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and districts bordering Afghanistan.

The TTP has reportedly forged a nexus with Baloch separatists and local militant groups based in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan  a development that is likely to exacerbate the already precarious security situation in Pakistan.

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A large team of Pakistans Punjab police has arrived at Islamabad High Court to arrest Imran Khan in at least 10 cases against him. The former prime minister is waiting in the court for a hearing on his bail plea.

Imran Khans party  Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)  said a large number of Punjab police personnel have reached the IHC to arrest him after his bail hearing in connection with the Al-Qadir Trust case.

As per reports, DIG Punjab has said that he has arrest warrants for Imran Khan.

It is also being said that Punjab police have handed over the arrest warrants of Imran Khan to Islamabad police.

Earlier today, PTI lawyer Babar Awan claimed that a police team from Punjab has left for Islamabad to arrest the former prime minister in new cases.

There are two to three people in the incumbent administration who are worried because if Imran Khan is released their jobs will be in danger, Awan said, adding that this was why Punjab police has been called to Islamabad.

Addressing the media outside the IHC, the PTI lawyer further alleged that special people were hired to hunt Imran and said that those who sent the PTI chief to jail were responsible for the violence in the country.

PTI said that if Imran Khan is arrested today, it will call nationwide protest again.

Will be arrested again

Ahead of his bail plea hearing today, Imran Khan had said that he feared being arrested again by the fascist regime led by Shehbaz Sharif.

PTI leader Hammad Azhar in a tweet said, Imran Khan has given a message that an attempt is being made to arrest him again and he wants the entire country to come out in peaceful protest.

Azhar said Imran was currently fighting for the Constitution, democracy and rule of law in the country. He further urged people to take to the streets and play your role.

It can be recalled that moments after the Pakistan Supreme Court ordered the release of Imran Khan, the ruling government in the country, denounced the verdict of the top court and said it was determined to find other legal avenues to arrest the former premier.

We will arrest him again, perhaps on charges that were announced a day earlier of inciting the wave of violence, Pakistans Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan told Pakistans Dunya TV on Thursday.

With inputs from agencie

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The United States (US) Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti has said that reducing the waiting time that Indians currently need to go through for obtaining a US visa is a priority for the Joe Biden administration.

I think visas touch Indians more directly than anything else that America does. And its a good problem to have. More and more Indians want to come to the United States, to study, as tourists We are committed to solving this problem, the US Ambassador was quoted as saying by NDTV.

The President said, Eric, go fix this. Its not just a 10th or 11th priority. Its the number one priority for me, he added.

With Prime Minister Narendra Modi scheduled to visit the US next month, Eric Garcetti said that key announcements in this regard are expected when the Indian PM meets Joe Biden.

Already, wait times (for visa) are down 60 per cent since the beginning of the year. In January, February and March, we processed a record number of visas. Last year the largest source of student visas came from India than any other country, Eric Garcetti said.

Hold on, in the next few weeks, when our leaders meet, you will get many announcements. And even before that we are prepared for the student visa season and already the wait time is getting shorter and shorter. We want more Indians to continue to come to America, he added.

According to a high-ranking official, the US is on track to grant Indians more than a million visas this year. According to Donald Lu, the Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, the US also gives priority to H-1B and L visas, which are the most popular among Indian IT experts. Lu made this statement to news agency PTI in April.

A non-immigrant visa called the H-1B allows US businesses to hire foreign nationals for specialised jobs that need for theoretical or technical skills.

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Japanese people do not want a war should China invade Taiwan; a new opinion poll has revealed.

A survey conducted by the Japanese daily Asahi Shimbun found that 80 per cent expressed their concern that the countrys military would get caught up in the conflict ensued by Beijing if China were to invade Taiwan.

Tokyo has always maintained a neutral stance on the ongoing conflict between China and Taiwan. It has also warned that a Chinese invasion of Taipei would affect Japan as it would put Beijing in control over the sea lanes that are used by Tokyo to transport 90 per cent of its energy needs and 60 per cent of its food supplies.

Meanwhile, it is widely understood that the US will back Taiwan in such a conflict. Japan, however, has not leaned towards either of the sides but an increased defence spending, according to DW, indicates that the military is preparing itself.

Only rear-echelon support to US

Increased defence expenditure in Japan has triggered a domestic debate on how Japan should respond to the crisis.

Out of the 3,000 people surveyed by Asahi, 56 per cent said that support from Japans Self-Defence Force (JSDF) should be limited to assistance with fuel, food and medical aid.

While only 11 per cent think that Japan should join forces with the US in the possible event of a conflict.

Shinako Oyakawa, a person who is aware of local politics in Japans most southerly prefecture, said, People in general do not want war and I would say that most people in Okinawa are opposed to the Japanese military getting involved in any conflict over Taiwan.

Speaking exclusively to DW, Oyakawa added, Fighting there would have a direct influence on people here as Taiwan is just one hours flight from Okinawa. And the people of Okinawa experienced just how brutal war can be back in 1945. No one wants to see that happen again. But if Japan became involved that is exactly what would happen.

The other side of the spectrum

While an overwhelming majority do not want Japan to involve in the conflict, some right-wingers think otherwise.

The acting secretary of the Society for the Dissemination of Historical Fact, Hiromichi Moteki, said, I absolutely believe that Japan should work with the Americans to assist Taiwan.

He explained, These are both democratic nations that are our friends and allies and if Japan does not come to their assistance in a time of need, then we will lose their confidence and who will help Japan when we are threatened?

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Khartoum: Air strikes and artillery pounded Khartoum on Friday after Sudans warring army and Rapid Support Forces paramilitary failed to agree a ceasefire despite committing to protect civilians and allow humanitarian access.

A so-called declaration of principles was signed in Saudi Arabia late on Thursday after nearly a week of talks between the two factions, which had shared power before falling out over a transition to civilian rule.

RSF adviser Moussa Khadam told Sky News Arabia the group would abide by the principles agreed to and aimed to reach a complete ceasefire. But there was no let-up in violence and the army has not commented on the agreement.

Since clashing suddenly on April 15, the rival military factions have shown little sign they are ready to end deadly fighting that has uprooted hundreds of thousands of people and could pitch Sudan into a full-blown civil war.

The conflict has paralysed Sudans economy and strangled its trade, aggravating a ballooning humanitarian crisis with the U.N. saying on Friday that 200,000 people have now fled into neighbouring states.

However, U.N. Sudan envoy Volker Perthes said he expected ceasefire talks to start again on Friday or Saturday and, while previous truces broke down because both sides thought they could win, neither now believes that victory would be quick.

His upbeat assessment contrasted with disappointment among many in the capital.

We were expecting that the agreement would calm down the war, but we woke up to artillery fire and airstrikes, said Mohamed Abdallah, 39, living in Khartoum. City residents said there was heavy fighting in separate parts of Khartoum and its adjoining sister city of Bahri.

In Darfur in the west, fighting between local militias that killed 450 people last month flared again in the city of Geneina as one group attacked another, rattling neighbourhoods with gunfire and artillery after two weeks of comparative calm.

In other parts of Darfur, where a war has simmered since 2003 killing 300,000 people and displacing 2.5 million, locally arranged ceasefires between the army and RSF appeared to hold.

In Port Sudan on the Red Sea, Al-Taj al-Tayyib said he hoped Thursdays agreement represented a start towards peace. Our country doesnt need all these crises. I swear this country doesnt need that, he said.

HUMANITARIAN DEAL

Thursdays deal, the product of Saudi and U.S.-brokered talks in Jeddah, includes commitments to allow safe passage for civilians, medics and humanitarian relief, and to minimize harm to civilians and public facilities.

A statement from Sudans cabinet said in light of the deal, it was preparing to receive aid at Port Sudan airport, Wadi Seyedna on the outskirts of the capital and Khartoum airport after it is repaired.

U.S. officials said negotiations for a ceasefire would follow and Saudi Arabia called the agreement a first step. Mediators had pushed for the warring factions to reach a limited initial agreement as tension between them put a wider ceasefire out of reach for now, one told Reuters.

However, a senior U.S. State Department official said the two sides are quite far apart and the official did not expect them to fully comply with the agreement.

The rival forces agreed to quit private homes and other property, but a family in Bahri said RSF fighters had tried to take over their house on Friday morning.

Khartoum residents have frequently accused the paramilitary of taking over houses and hospitals as part of a tactic to embed in districts throughout the city as it fights an army that can call on air power.

The RSF has denied the claim, accusing the army and other armed groups of invading property.

The parties must convey clear and unequivocal instructions to lower ranks to enforce Thursdays agreement, said the United Nations, African Union and regional organisation IGAD.

However, Cameron Hudson of the Center for Strategic and International Studies said he doubted the RSF had enough control over its fighters to do so.

Previous ceasefire agreements have been repeatedly violated, leaving civilians to navigate a terrifying landscape of chaos and bombardment with failing power and water, little food and a collapsing health system.

KILLED AND DISPLACED

Many UN and other agencies have suspended aid to Sudan and in particular Khartoum, awaiting guarantees that their supplies and staff will be safe.

The World Health Organization has said at least 600 people have been killed and more than 5,000 injured in the fighting, but that real numbers are likely much higher.

In Darfur, local activist Gouja said Thursdays deal could help solidify locally arranged ceasefires. But if theres no mechanism to monitor, then it wont be an improvement, he added.

Little humanitarian aid has reached Darfurs main cities of Nyala and al-Fasher, Gouja said, with salaries unpaid for two months. In Geneina, infrastructure has been destroyed and the health system totally disabled, as tens of thousands of inhabitants have fled into nearby Chad.

More than 700,000 Sudanese have been internally displaced, according to the UN.

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With an aim to further scrutinize human rights violations taking place in Sudan since April 15, the United Nations top human rights body adopted a resolution Thursday that drew attention to mounting civilian deaths and rights abuses in Sudan since a bloody conflict erupted between the African countrys two top generals last month.

The violence in Sudan has so far killed more than 600 people, including civilians, and displaced hundreds of thousands. The fighting has also spread to other regions, namely the restive Darfur province.

The Human Rights Council made up of 47 UN member states narrowly passed the resolution with 18 states voting for the resolution, 15 against and 14 other nations abstaining. The resolution aims to further scrutinize human rights violations taking place in Sudan since April 15.

The fighting in Sudan started as a result of a power struggle between the chief of Sudans military Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, and rival Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who commands the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

Arab and African nations, including Sudan, featured heavily among the 15 countries that rejected the UN move, citing it as a potential barrier to talks underway in Saudi Arabia.

Algerias representative, Faouzia Boumaiza-Mebarki, said the resolution could send a negative message to the opposing sides and scupper the talks. Likewise, Chinas ambassador said the country and its warring parties should be free from external pressure.

Most Western countries voted in favour, with Europe and the United States having co-sponsored the draft resolution. Late in the day, the US State Department announced that representatives of the two forces had signed a declaration recognising their responsibilities to facilitate humanitarian action to meet the emergency needs of civilians.

The statement said the talks would now focus on arranging an effective ceasefire of up to approximately ten days to facilitate humanitarian efforts. The rivals agreed to enable the safe delivery of humanitarian assistance, the restoration of essential services, the withdrawal of forces from hospitals and clinics, and the respectful burial of the dead, the announcement said.

During the opening speech of the session, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk accused both forces of violating international humanitarian law.

Turk criticised the Sudanese military for launching attacks in densely populated areas and the RSF for taking over numerous buildings in the capital, Khartoum, to use as operation bases, evicting residents and launching attacks.

The UN has raised concerns about the plight of civilians caught in the crossfire and worries about food security and aid deliveries and urged support for neighbouring countries hosting people fleeing the ongoing violence. We have also received several reports alleging sexual violence by uniformed men, as well as allegations of unlawful killings and enforced disappearances, Turk said.

Echoing Turks remarks, the US ambassador to the UN Human Rights Council, Michle Taylor, condemned the targeting of hospitals and healthcare providers. Amid the fighting, numerous hospitals across Khartoum have been damaged and forced to close.

From beacon of hope to humanitarian disaster

Turk reminded the Council that in 2019 Sudan appeared as a beacon of hope after popular protests with women and youth at the forefront toppled Omar al-Bashirs three-decade-long dictatorship. He spoke of his visit to the country six months ago  his first mission as UN rights chief  when a transition to civilian rule was on the horizon.

Recalling his meetings at the time with both rival generals, the UN rights chief said that his message had been to insist on accountability and human rights as essential to any future agreement.

Today, immense damage has been done, destroying the hopes and rights of millions of people, Turk said.

To date, more than 600 people have been killed in the fighting, more than 150,000 have fled Sudan, and over 700,000 have become internally displaced. Record levels of hunger are expected in the country in the coming months.

Urgent call for peace

The UN rights chief underscored the desperate need for a humanitarian truce and an end to human rights violations.

While noting that despite intense diplomatic efforts by actors including the African Union, the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the League of Arab States and the United Nations, the leaders of the SAF and RSF have not agreed to discuss ending hostilities, the High Commissioner called on the parties to the conflict to urgently commit to an inclusive political process and to a negotiated peace.

The Council later in the afternoon passed a resolution echoing this call and demanding detailed rights monitoring of the situation in the country, to be undertaken by the recently designated independent human rights expert, Radhouane Noucier. The new mandate will begin with immediate effect.

The resolution was adopted by a vote of 18 in favour, 15 against, and 14 abstentions.

It called for an immediate cessation of hostilities with no pre-conditions, and a recommitment of all parties to return to a transition towards civilian-led government. The resolution also highlighted the urgent need to protect civilians and humanitarian workers, as well as to ensure accountability for human rights violations.

Immense suffering, rights abuses

The experts deplored human rights abuses experienced by civilians of all ages, including sexual assault and gender-based violence, and shortages of food, water and healthcare. The experts expressed alarm at the shelling of a shelter for girls with disability in Khartoum, as well as other attacks on healthcare, humanitarian workers and human rights defenders.

With inputs from agencies.

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On the final day of a two-day visit to Guatemala, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba encouraged all Latin American countries to protest Russias aggression against his country.

Kuleba slammed the neutrality of numerous Latin American governments, claiming that Russias actions set a precedent for other countries to follow. If Russia succeeds in invading a neighbour, in violating borders and committing massacres, others will be tempted to follow the Russian behaviour, Kuleba said at a news conference in the national palace.

Guatemala is one of the few Latin countries that has offered unwavering support for Ukraine. Five months after the onset of the Russian invasion, Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei visited Ukraine to show solidarity with counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Some countries in Latin America believe that the best way in this war of Russia against Ukraine is to remain neutral. Others say that this war is happening in Europe, and Latin America has nothing to do with it, Kuleba said.

Others try to remain friends with both Russia and Ukraine. I am afraid this is not the type of war where these approaches work, he said.

Kuleba thanked Guatemala for its backing, noting that the people of Guatemala know too well the suffering and destruction that war brings, referring to a brutal civil war in the Central American country from 1960 to 1996.

Trust me, no other country in the world wants the war to end more than Ukraine, he said.

For his part, Giammattei assured Kuleba that Guatemala will continue its political and diplomat support of Ukraine in its intense struggle for development, well-being and defence of its people.

I hope for a speedy end to the war and the beginning of the reconstruction of Ukraine itself, Giammattei said.

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The conflict between Moscow and Kyiv is set to dominate Fridays meeting between US President Joe Biden and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez at the White House as they talk about migration, defence cooperation, and Ukraine.

Despite Madrids agreement with Washington that Russias invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 was unlawful, Sanchez will transmit Chinas and Brazils opposing viewpoints and urge assigning more weight to non-NATO countries harmed by the conflict, a Spanish diplomatic source said.

The 12-point peace plan from China was met with scepticism by the United States, which asserted that if Beijing were sincere about upholding sovereignty, it should compel Russia to leave.

Similarly, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva drew US criticism for his suggestion the West had been encouraging war by arming Ukraine.

A White House official said China and Brazil could play a role in eventual peace talks, but stressed that an end to the war must respect the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity.

We support (Ukrainian) President (Volodymyr) Zelenskiyys call for a just end to Russias war of choice that respects certain principles, including sovereignty and territorial integrity, the official said, adding Biden would thank Sanchez for Spanish security and humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

Dan Fried, a former US diplomat at the Atlantic Council think tank, expressed scepticism that Sanchez would urge Washington to pay greater heed to Chinese and Brazilian views on the war.

A Spanish suggestion that the US (and) Europe reach out more to the Global South about Russias war against Ukraine could be seen as constructive, especially if Spain were willing to help, as I expect it would be, he said.

I doubt that the Spanish government would urge the US to abandon a country fighting for its life or to show faux understanding for the aggressor nation, Russia, he added.

The White House official said Biden would thank Sanchez for Spains commitment to collaborate on expanding migration pathways for people from Latin America. They would also discuss efforts to strengthen the defence relationship between the United States and Spain, he said.

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Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said there was still ambiguity about when the Treasury will run out of funds to pay the US governments debts, but she would keep Congress updated if the date changed, which could happen as soon as 1 June.

The International Monetary Fund warned of grave consequences if the United States defaulted on its debt, just days before a deadline for the country to increase or suspend its borrowing limit on Thursday.

According to Julie Kozack, director of communications at the IMF, Our assessment is that there would be very serious repercussions not only for the US but also for the global economy should there be a US debt default, urging all parties to swiftly settle the issue.

Yellen told Bloomberg TV that she will meet with senior Wall Street bankers next week to discuss the federal debt ceiling and that she thought it was acceptable for them to speak out about how the dispute over the debt limit was harming the US economy.

Speaking on the sidelines of a meeting of finance officials from the Group of Seven (G7) rich nations in Japan, Yellen reiterated that failure by Congress to raise the $31.4 trillion debt limit would result in economic and financial catastrophe.

Yellen told lawmakers last week that Treasury would likely be unable to pay all the governments bills as early as 1 June without an increase in the federal debt limit.

President Joe Bidens Democrats and Republicans, who control the US House of Representatives, continue to disagree on the need to extend the debt ceiling, which represents already spent federal funds. While Republicans have attached any rise to significant budget cutbacks, Biden maintains that Congress has a constitutional obligation to raise the debt ceiling without restrictions.

In light of recent developments in the debt ceiling standoff, the US president suggested this week that he might have to forgo flying to Hiroshima to meet with G7 leaders next week. After their initial meeting on Tuesday, senior Democratic and Republican congressional leaders were scheduled to meet again on Friday, but Biden has postponed that meeting until the following week.

On Wednesday, Republican front-runner Donald Trump, a former US president, said that if the White House does not consent to massive budget cutbacks, Republicans should refuse to increase the debt ceiling.

Focus on getting it done

The IMF issued a warning on Thursday about the possibility of increased borrowing rates, wider global instability, and negative economic effects in the case of a US default.

We have seen a world in the last few years that has been affected by many shocks, so we would want to avoid those severe repercussions, Kozack added.

Given that it includes generating money to pay for expenditure obligations previously made by Congress, raising the debt ceiling has traditionally been considered a normal event.

Unlike most developed countries, the US sets a ceiling on how much it can borrow. Because the government spends more than it takes in, lawmakers must periodically raise that cap.

Yellen dodged a question on whether Treasury would keep making payments on securities if the debt ceiling was breached  a possibility raised during an earlier debt ceiling debate. She said there was no good option other than for Congress to raise the debt limit, as it has done nearly 80 times since 1960.

Weve not discussed what to do if that doesnt occur with the president. Our focus is getting it done, she said, adding that she and other government officials were working fulltime with Congress on increasing the federal borrowing limit.

Yellen said Treasury might be able to provide more refined guidance on exactly when it would run out of cash to pay the governments bills as the date neared.

There remains a level of uncertainty about precisely when we would run out of cash to pay the governments bills, she said, citing some uncertainty about the level of cash balances and day-to-day payments that Treasury needed to make.

German Finance Minister Christian Lindner on Friday told reporters he hoped US politicians would come to a grown-up decision to raise the federal debt ceiling, warning there was a risk to the global economy if they did not.

Lindner said the global economic outlook was still fragile and he hoped the parties would not be driven by partisanship.

Thats why were looking at the United States in particular these days and hoping that an adult decision will be made with regard to the development of American government finances and the associated effects on the global economy, he said.

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A US District Court judge has ruled that federal regulations prohibiting licenced dealers from selling handguns to persons under the age of 21 are unconstitutional, ruling that anybody above the age of 18 should have that privilege.

The verdict was made by Judge Robert Payne of the Eastern District of Virginia in a lawsuit filed by four males who were over the age of 18 but under the age of 21 when they tried to acquire pistols.

Federal law prevents licenced gun dealers from selling handguns to anybody under the age of 21, yet parents can buy them for their children or acquire them themselves at gun shows or private transactions.

While Americans under the age of 21 cannot currently purchase a handgun from a federally licensed dealer, they can buy a rifle or shotgun.

In his opinion on Wednesday, Payne cited a recent Supreme Court decision that expanded the rights of gun owners and the Second Amendment to the US Constitution, which states that the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

The Court finds that the right to purchase a gun falls within the Second Amendments plain text, he said.

No federal appellate court, much less the Supreme Court, has squarely determined that the Second Amendments rights vest at age 21, he said.

Payne noted that the voting age in the United States is 18 and that is also the age for enlistment in the military.

The drinking age is 21 and Congress has raised the age to purchase tobacco to 21, he said.

But unlike the Second Amendment, the judge wrote, there is no similar constitutional right to consume alcohol or to use tobacco.

Everytown Law, a gun violence prevention organization, denounced the judges ruling.

Not only are guns the leading cause of death for US kids and teens, but research shows us that 18- to 20-year-olds commit gun homicides at triple the rate of adults 21 years and older, Janet Carter, senior director of issues and appeals at Everytown Law, said in a statement.

The Courts ruling will undoubtedly put lives at risk, Carter said. It must be reversed.

The case may eventually wind up in the Supreme Court, which has swung firmly to the right since former Republican president Donald Trump named three justices.

It comes amid a spate of mass shootings in the United States and efforts by the administration of President Joe Biden to persuade Congress to ban semi-automatic rifles frequently used in the attacks.

In 2021, more than 47,000 people were killed by guns in the United States, including suicides, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

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New Delhi: The Biden administration sold weapons to at least 57 per cent of the worlds authoritarian regimes in 2022, according to analysis published by American publication The Intercept.

Since Biden came into office in 2021, he has described a battle between democracies and autocracies in which the US and other democracies strive to create a peaceful world. However, analysis of the government data shows that the Biden administration helped increase the military power of a large number of authoritarian countries.

The American publication noted that Washington has accounted for around 40 per cent of global arms sales each year since the end of the Cold War.

It added that, according to a classification system devised at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, the US distributed weapons in 2022 to at least 48 of 84 (57 per cent) countries described by the Varieties of Democracy project as being under autocratic or authoritarian rule.

US weapons exports are typically divided into two categories: foreign military sales (FMS) and direct commercial sales (DCS).

The US government acts as an intermediary for FMS acquisitions. It buys the materiel from a company first and then delivers the goods to the foreign recipient.

DCS acquisitions are more straightforward. Theyre the result of an agreement between a US company and a foreign government. Both categories of sales require the governments approval.

According to The Intercept, country-level data for last years DCS authorisations was released in late April through the State Departments Directorate of Defense Trade Controls. FMS figures for fiscal year 2022 were released earlier this year through the Pentagons Defense Security Cooperation Agency.

Bilateral sales

According to government data, the United States sold arms in FMS deals to 142 countries and territories last year, producing $85 billion in bilateral sales.

In Bidens first full year as president, US weapons sales to foreign countries amounted to $206 billion  surpassing a Trump-era record of $192 billion.

The US has been a key weapons supplier to Ukraine throughout its conflict with Russia.

The Intercept noted the multibillion-dollar effort to train and equip Ukraine doesnt fully explain the dramatic rise in total arms sales last year, let alone to autocracies.

Russias invasion of Ukraine didnt occur until five months into fiscal year 2022, and much of the assistance from the United States to Ukraine took the form of grants (not sales) and the transfer of materiel from Pentagon stockpiles through the presidential drawdown authority.

With inputs from agencies

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In response to the rise in spam calls from international numbers, the popular messaging app WhatsApp is taking action to address the issue. The Ministry of State for IT, represented by Rajeev Chandrasekhar, has announced plans to send a notice to WhatsApp regarding this matter.

The increased occurrence of these spam calls has affected a significant number of Indian WhatsApp users, considering the apps massive user base of over 500 million in India.

Onus on platforms, says IT Minister

During an event, Union IT Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar emphasized the importance of platforms like WhatsApp being held accountable for ensuring openness, trust, safety, and accountability to the digital citizens they serve.

The government has taken note of the issue of spam calls to Indian WhatsApp users from unknown international numbers and has decided to send a notice to WhatsApp. Junior Information Technology Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar has emphasized that digital platforms bear the responsibility for user safety.

Also read: WhatsApp Scam: Hoax calls and messages from international numbers targeting Indian users see an uptick

Minister Chandrasekhar further stated that the government is committed to addressing any alleged misuse or breach of users privacy, and they will respond to each instance accordingly.

The ministers remarks are significant in light of the recent surge in spam calls reported by WhatsApp users. Many users have expressed their frustration on Twitter, noting that a significant portion of these calls originated from country codes associated with Indonesia (+62), Vietnam (+84), Malaysia (+60), Kenya (+254), and Ethiopia (+251).

Chandrasekhar also tweeted on Wednesday that the government will investigate a claim that WhatsApp accesses the microphones of smartphone users while the phones are not in use.

Also read: WhatsApp Cant Be Trusted: Elon Musk slams messaging app for its disturbing secret feature

He also said that the government is mulling on presenting a set of guidelines on what permissions should be enabled for preloaded apps.

WhatsApp responds to IT Ministrys comments

In response to the governments concerns and notice, WhatsApp, owned by Meta, has issued a statement expressing its commitment to user safety and privacy. The platform emphasizes that user protection is a top priority for both Meta and WhatsApp. They acknowledge the governments objective of keeping users safe and assure their alignment with this goal.

Also read: IT Ministry to send notice to WhatsApp on international spam calls issue: Rajeev Chandrasekhar

A spokesperson for WhatsApp highlights the platforms dedication to user safety, emphasizing its leadership among end-to-end encrypted services. They address the issue of international scam calls, describing it as a new tactic employed by malicious actors. These scammers make missed calls, enticing curious users to return the call or message, ultimately falling victim to the scam.

WhatsApps statement affirms its dedication to combating such scams and ensuring user safety on the platform.

WhatsApp to leverage AI and ML to go after spam callers

WhatsApp has responded to the issue of increasing spam calls by highlighting the tools it already offers to users, such as the ability to block and report scammers, which helps prevent further contact from them. In order to combat the rise in spam calls, WhatsApp is leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies.

The company has stated that with the implementation of these revamped systems, they expect to reduce spam call rates by at least 50 per cent. This means that although a significant number of users may still receive spam calls at present, the company is actively working to address and minimize the issue.

WhatsApp has rapidly enhanced its AI and ML systems to effectively tackle the problem of spam calls. The companys spokesperson expressed confidence that the new enforcement measures will lead to a substantial reduction in spam call rates. WhatsApp remains committed to continuously improving user safety and assures its users that they are working tirelessly to create a secure and protected experience for everyone.

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The Indian government is considering imposing a tax on the revenue that Netflix generates within the country from the sale of streaming services. According to the Economic Times, the tax authorities credited an income of approximately 55 crores (US$ 6.73 million) to Netflixs Indian permanent establishment (PE) in the assessment year 2021-22 in a draft order.

Because of this action by the income tax department, India would become the first country in the world to levy taxes on overseas digital enterprises that provide customers with services related to electronic commerce.

Netflix is believed to have a permanent establishment (PE) in India, which implies the corporation could be subject to corporate income tax, as well as any associated fines and interest costs.

This is because Netflix has employees and infrastructure on secondment from its parent company in India to support its streaming services. This creates a permanent establishment (PE) in India, which makes Netflix liable for tax. In the assessment year 2021-22, Netflixs Indian PE will earn approximately 55 crores, according to the draft regulation.

Netflix has over 6 million customers in India, which makes the country a big market for the corporation. The decision to start taxing the company might have huge repercussions for other foreign digital companies that are already functioning in India.
Iti doresti o presa libera si independenta, care nu da inapoi cand vine vorba de respectarea standardelor profesionale, refuza sa se lase cenzurata, sustine independenta justitiei, transparenta decizionala si valorile democratice. Alege sa o sustii.
Sursa: Facebook/ Siegfried Muresan

Siegfried Muresan, europarlamentar PNL: Romania nu a depus inca planul REPowerEU la Comisie, astfel ca nu avea cum sa fie respins/ Doar 2 state membre din 27 au depus planurile in primele 2 luni de la aprobarea legislatiei europene
He added: I'm at the stage now, its been like over 12 months since our season aired and [people] forget my name, they forget everything about me, but all they remember is the shoey part. Im just going to ride it out for as long as it lasts.
felicilin at 12-05-2023 09:39 PM (yesterday at 09:39 PM) (f)

Bashir Ahmad, the Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Digital Communications has ridiculed the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the just concluded 2023 Poll, Peter Obi, concerning a statement he made insisting he must be the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Bashir Ahmad, the Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Digital Communications has ridiculed the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the just concluded 2023 Poll, Peter Obi, concerning a statement he made insisting he must be the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Gistmania earlier reported that Peter Obi, announced on Friday, May 12 that he is not in a hurry to become the President of Nigeria, but he must become the President of Nigeria one day.



The former Governor of Anambra State made the remark during the launch of a book written in his honour: Peter Obi: Many Voices, One Perspective, held in Awka, the State capital.



It would be recalled that Obi and other presidential candidates are currently in court protesting against the victory of the president-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who was declared the winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the 2023 election.



However, Obi expressed confidence on Friday, that he will become the president of the country now or later and also said he is not in a hurry to become the next leader of the Giant of Africa.

He said: Anyone who thinks Im on transit is wasting his time. Let me tell you, I must be the president of this country. Im sure of that. If it is not today, it must be tomorrow.



Responding via his Twitter page, Bashir mocked Peter Obi while describing the statement as an extreme joke.



He wrote: An extreme joke

An extreme joke! https://t.co/NgJsQxaoST  Bashir Ahmad (@BashirAhmaad) May 12, 2023 Gistmania earlier reported that Peter Obi, announced on Friday, May 12 that he is not in a hurry to become the President of Nigeria, but he must become the President of Nigeria one day.The former Governor of Anambra State made the remark during the launch of a book written in his honour: Peter Obi: Many Voices, One Perspective, held in Awka, the State capital.It would be recalled that Obi and other presidential candidates are currently in court protesting against the victory of the president-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who was declared the winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the 2023 election.However, Obi expressed confidence on Friday, that he will become the president of the country now or later and also said he is not in a hurry to become the next leader of the Giant of Africa.He said: Anyone who thinks Im on transit is wasting his time. Let me tell you, I must be the president of this country. Im sure of that. If it is not today, it must be tomorrow.Responding via his Twitter page, Bashir mocked Peter Obi while describing the statement as an extreme joke.He wrote: An extreme joke

Post Reply Posted: at 12-05-2023 09:39 PM (yesterday at 09:39 PM) | Addicted Hero
United States opens Tonga embassy as it pushes for Pacific influence

Opening of new embassy comes ahead of President Biden's brief PNG stopover later this month

By Marian Kupu for BenarNews 2023.05.10 -- The United States opened an embassy in Tonga on Wednesday as it continued efforts to bolster its diplomatic presence in Pacific island countries where it is vying for influence with China.

The opening of the U.S. embassy in the Tongan capital Nuku'alofa follows the reopening of the U.S. embassy in the Solomon Islands in February after a three decade absence. The United States also has said it wants embassies in Vanuatu and Kiribati in addition to its existing missions in countries such as Fiji and Papua New Guinea.

"We are proactively engaging the people of the Pacific," said Tony Grubel, deputy chief of mission for the U.S. embassy in Fiji, at a flag raising ceremony in Tonga's capital. "Addressing your priorities, with you, on your terms."

China's influence in the Pacific has burgeoned over several decades through a combination of increased trade, infrastructure investment and aid as it seeks to isolate Taiwan diplomatically and gain allies in international institutions. The Solomon Islands and Kiribati switched their diplomatic recognition to China from Taiwan in 2019.

Beijing signed a security pact with the Solomon Islands last year, alarming the U.S. and allies such as Australia who fear it could pave the way for a Chinese military presence in the region.

Tonga's Acting Prime Minister Samiu Vaipulu said the opening of a U.S. embassy in the Polynesian kingdom of some 100,000 people was a welcome development. It comes ahead of President Joe Biden's planned stopover in Papua New Guinea on May 22 and meeting with Pacific island leaders.

"Today is a historic day for us all and one, which we have long awaited," he said. The embassy opening "represents an important milestone in Tonga's history and one which His Majesty's government warmly welcomes."

Present at the ceremony were the high commissioners of the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia and representatives of Japan's embassy. China's embassy didn't send a representative.

Tonga's government debt to China  as a percentage of the island country's total government debt  is the highest among Pacific island countries followed by Samoa and Vanuatu.

In 2018, Tonga's then prime minister 'Akilisi Pohiva publicly urged other Pacific island countries to collectively lobby Beijing for debt forgiveness.

Like the Solomon Islands embassy opening in Honiara, the Tongan embassy event appeared to be a soft launch.

A Department of State statement said it would pave the way for the U.S. to send more diplomats and resources to Tonga "including the potential appointment of a resident Ambassador to Tonga."

In the Solomon Islands, the United States renamed the small office of its consular services agency as an embassy and hasn't named an ambassador yet.

Grubel said development agency USAID is working on programs relevant to Tonga.

"USAID continues to address the existential threat posed by climate change as a top priority, along with facing the challenges related to water security, infectious diseases, economic development, and safeguarding of maritime resources," he said.

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.

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Remarks by President Biden Before Marine One Departure

May 10, 2023

Westchester County Airport

White Plains, New York

3:25 P.M. EDT

Q Could you give us any update from your staffs on the debt limit talks? Have you gotten any update today?

THE PRESIDENT: No, I haven't. I haven't gotten any update.

Q How are you feeling though? Do you feel more optimistic about a deal today than you did yesterday?

THE PRESIDENT: Look, the purpose of them meeting together was to lay out what we think the answer is in terms of the budget, what we think we should cut, what we think the revenue should be, and have them lay it out as well and begin a discussion. That's the purpose of the meeting.

Q Mr. President, is a short-term  is a short-term increase the only option now?

THE PRESIDENT: No. No, it's not the  we still have time to do a whole deal.

Q Mr. President, what are you looking for out of Friday's meeting?

THE PRESIDENT: On Friday?

Q When you're meeting with the Leader again and the 

THE PRESIDENT: To find out what our staffs agreed upon and begin further discussion.

Look, the idea that we're going to just not discuss anything consequential is just not real. We have to decide what is  for example, they keep saying they only want  they're going to go back to the 2022 budget. Well, the 2022 budget  in the 2022 budget, what is it that they are going to cut? What are they going to keep? Are  just tell us. Are they going to make sure they continue to fund the Defense Department? Are they not going to cut veterans? Well, if they're not going to do that, what are they going to cut? So we know what we're talking about.

Q Can you expand on what you meant when you said there's going to be "chaos at the border"?

THE PRESIDENT: Say that again?

Q Can you expand on what you meant when you said there will be "chaos at the border"? For how long?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, we've had chaos at the border for a number of years. We have to fully fund the border security effort. We have to fully fund 

Look, the purpose of what we're doing now is making legal immigration more streamlined, illegal immigration shorter term and moved  and moving in a direction that people know that there's a legal way to get here and not legal way. That what's underway now.

Q Mr. President, what is the plan B if the asylum rule is blocked in court?

THE PRESIDENT: We'll figure that out if it's blocked in court.

Q And is Mexico doing enough, sir? Are they taking enough enforcement action?

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, I  I spent an hour with the President of Mexico yesterday. He's been very cooperative. We're in agreement. And he's also supportive of making sure we have way-stops in Colombia and other countries where people can make their case.

Q Are you considering sending additional troops to the border?

THE PRESIDENT: Yes.

Q How many more?

THE PRESIDENT: I told you, we already  1,500 now.

Q Right.

THE PRESIDENT: And it's not  and the troops are there to free up the Border Patrol people to be able to do their job.

Look, I asked the Congress for a lot more money for the Border Patrol. They didn't do it. They've made it harder.

So  and that  one of the things I want to know about this negotiation: Are they going to cut more folks out of the Border Patrol? What are they going to do? So I know what I'm going to be dealing with.

Q Governor Abbott said that he wants to see as many as 15,000 or 150,000 troops at the border. So are you thinking about sending more than 1,500?

THE PRESIDENT: No, look, what we want to do at the border is have it work and function in the way it's designed to work. And that requires us having more immigration officers, more asylum judges, a whole range of things. More personnel. And I'm trying to do as much of that as I can.

Q Sir, what did you tell Congressman Lawler?

THE PRESIDENT: I thanked him for the courtesy of him showing up. I told him this wasn't designed to be anything other than lay out my position.

We had a very brief discussion about the need for us to be level  not he and I  but with the Republican leadership.

He told me he thought that  that the Speaker was willing to negotiate. I said, "I hope so."

Just basic  what I do  whenever I go into someone else's district, just a matter of courtesy.

Q Should Congressman Santos be expelled from Congress?

THE PRESIDENT: Oh, I  look, if I comment at all on li-  on Santos, you're all going to say I'm getting the Justice Department to do things. I'm not commenting on Santos at all.

Q I meant from Congress. I meant by Congress. Should he be expelled by lawmakers from Congress?

THE PRESIDENT: That's for Congress to decide.

Q Mr. President, Justice  Justice Thomas, should he be impeached?

THE PRESIDENT: Oh, I think we're a long way from that. There haven't been the hearings yet.

Q Would you accept that kind of behavior from your own staff? If one of your staff was accused of the same things that he's been accused of, would you accept that kind of behavior?

THE PRESIDENT: No.

Q Then what makes it acceptable (inaudible)?

Q (Inaudible) talk to the Chinese President, Xi Jinping? Why has this not happened yet? And what is the progress on making this conversation happen?

THE PRESIDENT: There's been progress. It'll work out.

Q When?

Q Mr. President 

THE PRESIDENT: 2:30 on  well 

Q Mr. President, you said you are  you're likely to delay your trip to the G7.

THE PRESIDENT: No, I didn't say that.

Q You said 

THE PRESIDENT: I didn't say "likely."

Q  you're "considering."

THE PRESIDENT: I didn't say that either.

Q What  what 

THE PRESIDENT: What I said was 

Q  needs to happen?

THE PRESIDENT:  depending on the state of play in the negotiations, it's possible I would either have to delay my trip  not delay  not go and do it virtually, or not go.

Q Mr. President, what has to happen? Mr. President, what has to happen?

THE PRESIDENT: I'll tell you when it happens.

Q Okay. Okay.

THE PRESIDENT: One of the things I didn't know I had to be as President is a fortune teller.

Q Mr. President, when you said yesterday that the border could be chaotic for a while, does that mean you feel your administration was not prepared for the end of Title 42 this week?

THE PRESIDENT: No, no, no, no. What I was saying is it takes time to put some of what we want to do in place. For example, opening up consulates in other countries like Colombia and other places. That could make a big difference.

I'll take one more question, and then we're all going to lose our hearing.

Q Do you agree with Speaker McCarthy that this has to get a deal in principle before the beginning of next week?

THE PRESIDENT: I'm not going to make those kinds of judgments. I've been involved in negotiations my whole career. Some negotiations happen at the last second. Some negotiations happen way ahead of time. And  but we'll see.

Thank you.

AIDE: All right. Thanks, everybody.

Q Thank you.

AIDE: Thank you, everybody.

Q Trump? Do you have anything on the Trump civil case?

Q Thank you, sir.

Q The Trump civil case. Do you have anything in response to the civil case?

THE PRESIDENT: No.

AIDE: All right. Thanks, everybody.

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you.

3:32 P.M. EDT

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Soldiers continue to strengthen ties with allies during Swift Response 23

By Spc. Caroline Sauder May 11, 2023

STEFANOVIKEIO, Greece -- In a world of constant uncertainty, one facet of life that most can agree on is teamwork can lead to mission success. Throughout history and with training, military alliances have been a strong factor in determining the path forward and learning valuable lessons over the course of generations.

Training serves as the framework in building long-lasting relationships with our NATO Allies, and DEFENDER 23 is one of many valuable opportunities available to help form a cohesive team across countries.

"In the event that an adversary attacks a NATO country, we have to be able to quickly integrate and work as a team," said Chief Warrant Officer 2 Chris Gamboa, an HH-60M Black Hawk helicopter pilot.

DEFENDER 23 encompasses three linked, yet separate exercises: Swift Response, Immediate Response and Saber Guardian. This event provides U.S. Army Soldiers, along with NATO allies, the chance to work together to build readiness and learn new strategies in the event of opposition.

"Our partners know how to use our systems, and we know how to use theirs," Gamboa said. "The training helps increase the ability for our Soldiers and our Allies to get back into the fight quicker in a real-world scenario."

Gamboa, along with Soldiers assigned to the 1st Battalion, 214th Aviation Regiment, 12th Combat Aviation Brigade, are currently participating in Swift Response 23, the first of three DEFENDER 23 exercises.

Swift Response 23 occurs May 5-20, and features the Spanish Airborne Brigade Brigada Paracaidista replicating a division leading three separate joint forcible entry airborne operations in the Baltic Sea and Mediterranean regions.

In addition to the training involved, the 12th CAB serves in a key role to provide medical evacuation services to the troops involved in Swift Response 23, but they do not work alone.

HH-60M Black Hawk helicopter crew chiefs like Spc. Belen Hideroa supports the pilots by conducting required maintenance on the helicopters and striving to ensure the safety of all inside.

"This training is important because it gives us an insight as to what's really happening in the world, as well as gives us more training, especially in the MEDEVAC area," said Hideroa

As a medical evacuation unit, this training is vital for maintaining unit readiness, sharpening skills, and building relations with NATO allies to include countries such as Greece, Netherlands, France, and more.

"I enjoy flying the helicopter first and foremost," Gamboa said. "Flying is my passion and getting to help people at the same time is a bonus.

"Doing whatever I can to make sure I get to the patient and get the patient to the treatment they need quickly is always a blessing."

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New software to enhance battlefield mission command tested at Ft. Bragg

By Mr. Scott Uini, Enterprise & Mission Command Test Division, Mission Command Test Directorate, U.S. Army Operational Test Command May 11, 2023

FORT BRAGG, North Carolina -- A new Army software package tested here by airborne troopers may impact mission command at all levels on the modern battlefield.

The Mounted Mission Command Software Version 3.1, (MMC-S v3.1) aims to provide accurate digital command and control and situational awareness on the move, according to Major Andrew Johnson, a test officer with the Mission Command Test Directorate of the U.S. Army Operational Test Command at Fort Cavazos, Texas.

"The overall purpose of this test is to gather data to tell the Army and the Department of Defense whether this software is ready to be deployed," Johnson said.

"MMC-S aims to provide accurate digital command and control and situational awareness on the move."

Soldiers with 1st Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division performed the testing.

Johnson said the software aims to provide a mounted mission command, improved Common Operating Picture (COP), and reduce the risk of fratricide.

"Operational testing is one of the last steps a system goes through before being deployed to the Army," he said.

The test officer also said the test generates data to determine if the software is effective in helping Soldiers accomplish their mission.

"Testing uncovers whether the software is suitable or useful to the Soldier and user friendly," said Johnson.

"Lastly, this test provides data on whether the software is survivable and robust enough to stand up to the rigors of war and important cybersecurity requirements."

Soldiers of the 1-73rd CAV were trained on MMC-S and then achieved a 12-day record test under operationally realistic conditions.

The Soldiers used MMC-S when conducting planning, preparation, execution, and assessment multiple 72-hour field training mission cycles. At the end of each mission cycle, they paused to provide valuable feedback in the form of surveys, focus groups, and Mission Effectiveness Roundtable (MERT) discussions.

Soldiers and leaders advocate that the operational test allowed them to train on a new software system and provided a great collective training opportunity for the unit. Captain Stephen Rohrlack, commander of Alpha Troop, 1st Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division stated, "this test provided a good training event to allow us to work our tactics, techniques, and procedures."

"The Soldier's embraced all aspects of testing from early planning all the way through execution," said Johnson. "This has been a rewarding experience interfacing with such an outstanding team of paratroopers."

Mission partners supporting the test included representatives from the Army Futures Command, U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command, Office of the Director, Operational Test and Evaluation, Deputy Under Secretary of the Army for Test and Evaluation, Program Executive Office for Command, Control and Communications-Tactical, and the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command.

~~

About the U.S. Army Operational Test Command:

As the Army's only independent operational tester, USAOTC tests Army, joint, multi-service, and multi-domain warfighting systems in realistic operational environments; using skilled Soldiers to provide data on whether the systems are effective, suitable, and survivable. USAOTC is required by public law to test major systems before they are fielded to its ultimate customer  the American Soldier.

OTC's Mission Command Test Directorate plans, conducts, and reports on independent operational tests, assessments, experiments and rapid initiatives of Enterprise and Tactical Mission Command systems to provide essential information for the decision-making process for acquisition and fielding.

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U.S. Navy Completes Participation in Oman-led Naval Exercise

U.S. Central Command

May 11, 2023

By U.S. Naval Forces Central Command Public Affairs

MANAMA, Bahrain -- U.S. naval forces completed participation in a weeklong Oman-led naval exercise in and off the coast of Oman, May 11, with forces from France and the United Kingdom.

The five-day exercise, called Khunjar Hadd, focused on mine countermeasures, explosive ordnance disposal, maritime interdiction and other combined naval operations. Personnel from a U.S. 5th Fleet expeditionary mine countermeasures unit participated with crewmembers from mine countermeasures ship USS Dextrous (MCM 13) and a U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft.

"Training alongside the incredible forces of Oman's Royal Navy has been an invaluable experience for our aircraft, ships and divers," said United Kingdom Royal Navy Capt. Derek McKnight, deputy commander for Task Force 52, which oversees U.S. 5th Fleet's mine countermeasures mission in the Middle East. "I have no doubt that opportunities such as this increase our effectiveness and enable us to achieve shared objectives."

The exercise aimed to strengthen relationships and enhance interoperability among participating military forces. It began May 7, the same day U.S. 5th Fleet hosted Oman's top naval commander at the U.S. Navy base in Bahrain.

Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, U.S. 5th Fleet and Combined Maritime Forces, hosted Commander of the Royal Navy of Oman Rear Adm. Saif bin Nasser bin Mohsin Al Rahbi and other senior Omani officials for discussions on strengthening regional maritime security cooperation. Cooper later traveled to Oman and embarked Royal Navy of Oman patrol vessel RNOV Al Rahmani (Q41) to observe the exercise.

U.S. 5th Fleet's area of operations encompasses approximately 2.5 million square miles of water area and includes the Arabian Gulf, Gulf of Oman, Red Sea, parts of the Indian Ocean and three critical choke points at the Strait of Hormuz, Suez Canal and Strait of Bab al Mandeb.

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May 11, 2023

By Jim Garamone , DOD News

Austin Says Budget Request Protects U.S. Today and in Future

The president's fiscal 2024 defense budget request is a strategy-driven document ensuring the U.S. military is the strongest in the world now and into the future, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III told the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee today.

The $842 billion budget request ensures the military can perform its missions today and be positioned to respond to myriad threats moving forward.

China is America's pacing threat, and the budget request is "driven by the seriousness of our strategic competition with the People's Republic of China," Austin said.

The request also covers Austin's priorities at DOD: to defend the nation, take care of the military's people, and succeed through teamwork. "The PRC is our pacing challenge, and we're driving hard to meet it," he said. "Our budget builds on our previous investments to deter aggression, and we're investing in a more resilient force posture in the Indo-Pacific and increasing the scale and scope of our exercises with our partners."

He noted that the budget calls for an increase in the Pacific Deterrence Initiative. "It's an all-time high of $9.1 billion that will fund a stronger force posture and better defenses for Hawaii and Guam," he said.

The National Defense Strategy calls Russia an acute threat: a judgment certainly reinforced by President Vladimir Putin's illegal and awful invasion of Ukraine. "Under President [Joe] Biden's leadership, the United States has rallied the world to help Ukraine fight Russia's indefensible invasion," the secretary said. "We've reinforced NATO's defense and deterrence on its eastern front. And our allies and partners have provided crucial security assistance, coordinated through the Ukraine Defense Contact Group that I lead. And we will support Ukraine's defense for as long as it takes."

Top military leaders have said there are still other threats the U.S. military must contain and these include Iran, North Korea and terror groups.

Austin said the budget is also strong in future-facing investments, including the department's largest ever investments in both research and development and procurement. "We're requesting more than $61 billion to sustain air dominance," he said. "That includes funding for fighters and the extraordinary B-21 strategic bomber that I helped unveil last December."

The budget calls for more than $48 billion for sea power, including new construction of nine battle force ships. The budget strengthens U.S. shipyards and invests $1.2 billion in the submarine industrial base.

"On land, we're investing in air and missile defense and in defenses to counter unmanned aerial vehicles," Austin said. "We're also requesting $11 billion to deliver the right mix of long-range fires, including major investments in hypersonics."

DOD will also continue modernization of all three legs of the nuclear triad, he said.

Austin thanked the lawmakers for passing multiyear procurement authorities for critical munitions. "In this budget, we're requesting more multiyear procurement authorities, and we're asking for more than $30 billion to further invest in the industrial base and to buy the maximum number of munitions that American industry can produce," the secretary said. "This budget also moves us away from aging capabilities that aren't relevant to future conflicts. So, we can focus on the advances that our warfighters will need."

But the beating heart of the military is not equipment or vehicles or supplies, but people, he said. "As we mark the 50th anniversary of our all-volunteer force, I am enormously proud of the brave men and women who choose to wear the cloth of our nation," Austin said. He added that we owe it to service members and their families to take the best possible care of our people.

He noted that the military has made moving easier, cut commissary prices, and made childcare more affordable. The budget request funds the largest military and civilian pay raises in decades, Austin said.

"We're also pushing hard to eliminate suicide in our ranks, including immediate steps to hire more mental health professionals and improve access to mental health care," the secretary said. "Meanwhile, we're working toward a military that's free of sexual assault."

DOD's final priority is succeeding through teamwork. "Our unrivaled network of allies and partners magnifies our power and expands our security," he said.

He noted that the Philippines agreed to "nearly double the number of sites where we cooperate together," and Japan committed to double its defense budget. Austin also praised the Australia, United Kingdom, United States pact that will produce "game-changing defense advantages that will deter aggression and boost our defense industrial capacity."

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Munich Group Ministerial Meeting on the Middle East Peace Process - Joint Declaration

Germany Federal Foreign Office

11.05.2023 - Press release

The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Egypt, France, Germany and Jordan met today (11 May) in Berlin within the Munich Group mechanism and consulted on measures needed to achieve a just and lasting peace.

We are deeply alarmed by this new round of violence and the deteriorating security situation in the occupied Palestinian territories and Israel, and on-going developments in Gaza, which has claimed unacceptable civilian casualties including women and children.

We urge an immediate comprehensive ceasefire which will end Israeli military operations in Gaza and indiscriminate rocket firing against Israel. International humanitarian law must be respected.

France, Germany and Jordan commended Egyptian efforts to bring about an immediate ceasefire. The saddening facts serve as a dire reminder that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict needs immediate attention to prevent a major conflagration. A political horizon is required to give people hope, a meaningful perspective and to end the occupation.

The Ministers emphasised that all causes of tension and triggers of violence must end including unilateral measures undermining the viability of the two state solution and prospects of a just and lasting peace.

We strongly commend the efforts undertaken jointly by the Arab Republic of Egypt, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the United States America to ease tensions and prevent further violence with the aim of creating momentum necessary for resuming a wide political process leading to a just and lasting peace on the basis of the two-state solution. We call on the parties to scrupulously implement their commitments undertaken in Aqaba on February 26th 2023 and reiterated in Sharm El-Sheikh on March 19th 2023.

We call for upholding unchanged the Status Quo of Jerusalem's Holy Sites. In this respect, we recall the importance of the Hashemite custodianship of the Holy Sites in Jerusalem. We are also deeply concerned by the growing pressure against Christian and Muslim communities in Jerusalem.

These latest events illustrate the need to restore a credible political process leading to a comprehensive and lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians through a negotiated two-state solution, ensuring an independent, contiguous, viable and sovereign Palestinian State, based on June 4, 1967 lines and consistent with relevant UN Security Council resolutions.

We will continue to work with all parties to create realistic horizons for the resumption of a credible political process. We also stress that the attainment of a just and lasting peace is a strategic objective that is in the interest of all parties and key to security and stability in the region.

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Statement on the escalation between Israel and groups in Gaza

Government of Norway

News story | Date: 11/05/2023

'I am alarmed by the escalation and another round of rocket attacks between Israel and groups in Gaza', said Minister of Foreign Affairs Anniken Huitfeldt.

'Norway condemns all attacks against civilians and the death of civilians, including children. The violence must stop', said Huitfeldt.

'All actors must respect international humanitarian law, protect civilians, and contribute to de-escalation'.

'Only a political solution will prevent such violence from happening again and again', said Huitfeldt.

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Vice Minister G. M. Tuckute and European policy and business leaders discussed solutions for strengthening European defence

Republic of Lithuania - Ministry of National Defence

2023-05-11

International cooperation

On May 11 Vice Minister of National Defence Greta Monika Tuckute attends the 5th European Defence and Security Summit in Brussels which brings together European Union policy and business leaders with the academic community to share thoughts on the European defence identity in the wake of the war Russia started in Ukraine.

Vice Minister underscored delivering her keynote address that European and other countries that upheld democratic values had to continue rendering assistance to Ukraine actively because it was the only way towards the defeat of Russia, an existential threat to the entire Europe. G. M. Tuckute also noted that EU member states and institutions had to act closely together with the defence industry, strengthen manufacturing capacity, develop and apply defence industry innovation and fill the stocks.

Vice Minister pointed out in her remarks that the European countries needed to be united in seeking decisions on strengthen security at the NATO Summit in Vilnius in July. She also mentioned the necessity to take decisions on Ukraine's Euro-Atlantic integration. "We have to give Ukraine a clear path towards a certain NATO membership. It should already be a member of NATO," Vice Minister said.

While in in Brussels, G. M. Tuckute also met with Chief Executive of the European Defence Agency (EDA) Jiri Sedivy for a discussion on the implementation of the EU-level agreement to transfer 1 billion artillery rounds to Ukraine.

Vice Minister said that the Lithuania was highly positive about the recent instrument proposed by the European Commission to support industry production and was looking to use it. She also told about the challenges faced by the Lithuanian defence industry in regulation and financing, an area that is shared throughout Europe. G. M. Tuckute invited the Chief Executive to join the European Commission and look into potential modifications at EU level to address the issue.

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The President and Portuguese Prime Minister discussed security reinforcement ahead of NATO Summit

President of the Republic of Lithuania

May 11, 2023

President Gitanas Nauseda is on a working visit to Portugal. On Thursday, the President met with Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa to discuss preparations for the NATO Summit in Vilnius, security and defense issues, and EU sanctions against Russia.

The President underlined that Lithuania and Portugal enjoy long standing defense and security cooperation. Gitanas Nauseda thanked Antonio Costa for Portugal's commitment to collective security and for continued participation in NATO's air policing mission and security enhancing presence in Lithuania. According to the President, solidarity, shared assessment of security threats, determination to strengthen the transatlantic link, and readiness to defend every inch of NATO are the fundamental principles underpinning allied actions.

The President and the Prime Minister discussed preparations for the upcoming NATO Summit. Gitanas Nauseda pointed out that the Vilnius Summit will be a historic opportunity to take decisions crucial for the security of the Alliance. According to the President, it is important to agree on increasing defense spending, reinforcing air and anti-aircraft defense, and sending a strong message on NATO-Ukraine cooperation and Ukraine's place in the transatlantic security architecture.

The President noted that it is necessary to expand cooperation with the Global South to counter Russian propaganda and disinformation.

The EU's agenda was also discussed, including the issues of illegal migration, economic governance, internal market, and the bloc's global competitiveness.



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Israel assassinates fifth Islamic Jihad commander, rocket fired from Gaza kills one in central Israel

Iran Press TV

Thursday, 11 May 2023 3:23 PM

A high-profile commander of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad resistance movement has been killed when the Israeli military carried out airstrikes against targets in the besieged Gaza Strip, hours after the group announced the death of one of its military leaders in a pre-dawn strike carried out by the regime.

Also, a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip in retaliation killed one person and injured at least two others in the city of Rehovot in central Israel, Israeli police said.

"One person has been pronounced dead" after a rocket hit a building, the police said in a statement, adding two other people suffered moderate injuries and that emergency personnel were conducting a search of the damaged structure.

According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, Ahmed Abu Daqqa, a senior commander of the al-Quds Brigades, the armed branch of the group, was assassinated in the strike near Khan Younis on Thursday. Four people were also wounded in the act of aggression.

He was the fifth senior Islamic Jihad commander killed since Israel began striking Gaza in pre-dawn raids on Tuesday.

Earlier on Thursday, the Palestinian resistance group announced the death of Ali Ghali, the commander of its rocket launch unit.

The Israeli military said Ghali and Abu Daqqa helped oversee rocket launches towards the occupied territories over recent days as well as in previous rounds of fighting with Islamic Jihad.

Later on Thursday, Palestinian media outlets reported the death of two more Palestinians in an Israeli airstrike on the Shuja'iyya neighborhood of Gaza City.

Palestinian medical sources identified the victims as Mohamed Suleiman Dader and Hussein Youssef Abdullah Dalloul.

They were killed as part of an operation that has assassinated 28 people, including at least four women and six children this week.

Gaza-based resistance groups have retaliated with salvos of rockets.

The Israeli military said it has attacked 158 targets in Gaza while at least 523 rockets were launched from the besieged coastal territory towards the occupied territories this week.

The foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan, France and Germany on Thursday called for an end to the violence between Israel and Gaza fighters, who have been trading heavy fire for three days.

"The bloodletting must end now," German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said after hosting talks with her counterparts.

Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi also said the "negative developments must end, peace must be revived."

Safadi said it was urgent to "calm the situation" and to create confidence-building measures that could lead to a political perspective for long-term peace.

The four ministers said later in a joint statement that they were "deeply alarmed" by the escalation.

"We urge an immediate comprehensive ceasefire which will end Israeli military operations in Gaza and indiscriminate rocket firing against Israel," they said.

The group condemned the "deteriorating security situation in the occupied Palestinian territories and Israel, and on-going developments in Gaza, which has claimed unacceptable civilian casualties, including women and children."

The four top diplomats also said they would work with all parties to pave the way "for the resumption of a credible political process."

They underlined that "all causes of tension and triggers of violence must end, including unilateral measures undermining the viability of the [so-called] two-state solution and prospects of a just and lasting peace."

The group encouraged Israelis and Palestinians to "scrupulously implement" commitments made at talks in Jordan in February and renewed in Egypt in March to prevent more violence between them.

Palestinian resistance vows no retreat

The Joint Operations Room of the Palestinian Resistance Factions issued a statement on Thursday, stating that the Israeli assassination will only strengthen its fighters.

"We confirm that we are committed to the covenant of the martyrs. We will not retreat. Assassinations will only increase our strength, and our retaliation will continue," it said.

"We say to the cowardly enemy that by targeting safe homes, they are making a mistake in their assessment, and that the heavy hand of resistance is capable of defeating them."

Palestinian youth shot by Israeli forces in West Bank raid dies from wounds

Separately, a young Palestinian died from wounds sustained a day before when Israeli military forces stormed the northern West Bank city of Qabatiya, as a year-long wave of violence engulfing the occupied territories shows no signs of abating.

Fawaz Hammad, the director of al-Razi Hospital, told the official Palestinian news agency Wafa that 30-year-old Aws Jamal Hamamda Kamil, was rushed on Wednesday to the medical center in the city of Jenin in critical condition. He was severely wounded as live bullets had struck him in the chest and stomach.

Hammad noted that all efforts to save his life were unsuccessful, and he died of his wounds on Thursday.

The Israeli military said in a statement it conducted a raid in the early hours of Wednesday on Qabatiya, situated six kilometers (3.7 miles) south of Jenin, alleging that two gunmen opened fire at troops from a passing vehicle.

"The troops responded by firing at the two assailants, killing them," the army further claimed, adding that troops seized an assault rifle and handgun from the car.

Wafa, citing the Palestinian Ministry of Health, identified the victims as 19-year-old Ahmad Jamal Assaf, and Warani Walid Qatanat, 24.

Witnesses said a large number of Israeli forces raided Qabatiya, and broke into several homes in the western neighborhood of the West Bank city. They violently searched the buildings and ransacked all properties before leaving.

During the assault, Israeli soldiers opened fire at a car, killing two young Palestinians and wounding a third.

Social media users in the city also reported that Israeli forces were raiding homes and stopping cars on the streets.

At least 123 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces so far this year, according to Palestinian figures.





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Bulgaria's Chief Prosecutor Was Targeted In A Bomb Attack. But Not Everyone Believes It's True.

By Genka Shikerova, Ivan Bedrov May 11, 2023

SOFIA -- Shortly before noon on May 1 on the rugged outskirts of Sofia, an explosive device went off near the heavily armored car carrying Bulgarian Prosecutor-General Ivan Geshev. No one was hurt and there was minimal damage. Geshev's motorcade continued the 30 or so kilometers to its destination in the capital, apparently without stopping.

After the incident, there was a firehose torrent of public claims, including accounts of a 5-meter-high "column of fire," a large crater from the explosion, allegations of the presence of a military drone, and a grave risk to Geshev's children.

The prosecutor-general's detractors, however, have alleged that the attack was staged, a false-flag operation meant to lend credence to earlier Geshev claims that there was plot against him.

The Balkan country of nearly 7 million people has a reputation as one of the European Union's most corrupt places and a history of bungled investigations into alleged corruption, unexplained poisonings and explosions, and other wrongdoing.

Decades of prosecutorial missteps and repeated pleas from the European Union and other institutions, may not have dealt a bigger blow to Geshev's perceived untouchability than inconsistencies in official statements on last week's blast and a subordinate saying Geshev "misled" him about the bombing and interfered in efforts to solve the case.

The incident follows recent forays by Geshev -- who has described himself as "a tool in the hands of God" -- into sensitive political territory, with Bulgaria still stuck in the mud after five inconclusive elections in just over two years.

He called a press conference weeks ahead of the last elections in early April to deliver an untethered outburst alleging -- without evidence -- a grand mob-style conspiracy, involving business owners, journalists, and politicians, to oust him and his allies at the Interior Ministry.

In the days before the roadside explosion, word spread of his office's investigation into the government's enforcement of Russia sanctions, contentious in light of Bulgarians' historically hot-and-cold feelings toward Moscow.

Local and international media reported on May 1 that Geshev and his family had narrowly "escaped" a "targeted" and "violent explosion" that was part of an "assassination attempt" on Geshev, Bulgaria's top prosecutor since his controversial promotion in 2019.

After days of silence, Geshev himself appeared from abroad to distance himself from his initial suggestion that the blast threatened his children and blamed the situation on "various improvisations in the media."

The National Investigative Service (NSLS), which falls under the legal authority of one of Geshev's deputies, initially said it was investigating the explosion as a terrorist attempt to assassinate Geshev. In conducting the investigation, the NSLS is expected to question Geshev as the purported victim.

Bulgarian President Rumen Radev and GERB party leader and former Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, who is scrambling to form a government after the last round of inconclusive elections in early April, similarly condemned it as a "terrorist act," while the Interior Ministry has consistently described it as an "incident."

Views on the supposed attack have largely followed political lines. The co-chairman of the strongly pro-EU Democratic Bulgaria alliance said that "the case resembles a staging." Another Geshev critic, the anti-corruption We Continue the Change party's co-chairman, Asen Vassilev, dismissively likened accounts and images of the incident to "a pirate scaring rabbits."

Supporters of Geshev hit back, with prosecutors from around the country staging silent protests outside courthouses on May 2 in support of the prosecutor-general. His spokesman, who was participating in the Sofia protest, said that "it is inadmissible for anyone to think that the attack against Ivan Geshev was staged."

But disclosures since the incident have cast doubt on some of the earliest reporting and muddied crucial details.

For days, there was official misinformation about who was traveling with Geshev. In comments widely quoted by other media, the Epicenter website quoted Geshev as saying soon after the incident that "it's a good thing that I changed cars at the last moment" and, "I'm worried about the children; they were very scared."

For days, investigators, including the director of the NSLS, Borislav Sarafov, insisted publicly that Geshev was traveling with his wife and children at the time of the explosion.

But questioned by lawmakers, acting Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev said on May 5 that "There were no family members of Mr. Ivan Geshev in the car that was the object of this explosion. He was traveling alone, with his assigned security guard from the National Security Service."

Sarafov emerged hours later to concur and to say he'd been "misled by Mr. Geshev's words that he was worried about his children" and their safety.

Geshev then said from New York on May 7 via public broadcaster BNT that Sarafov had misspoken, and his family wasn't with him at the time of the blast. The media, he alleged, was guilty of "various improvisations."

Then, on May 8, in an unprecedented shot at a hierarchical structure in which the prosecutor-general wields nearly unchecked influence, Sarafov said that the Prosecutor-General's Office should get out of the political landscape "onto which it has stepped...and return to its proper environment -- in defense of justice only and only within the framework of its institutional powers."

Inconsistencies in the accounts further fueled public skepticism about the explosion, much of which centered on images from the cordoned-off crime scene that were shared by local media.

Underwhelming images appeared to belie Sarafov's assertion that the blast caused a 4-to-5-meter-high "column of fire" that tore out a "crater" that was 30-40 centimeters deep and nearly 3 meters wide. A close-up of a headlight said to be from Geshev's armored vehicle purported to show minor damage from a bullet or shrapnel. And Sarafov said the detonation involved "no less" than the equivalent of 3 kilograms of TNT, although a week later there was still no official identification of the explosive or quantity.

And while Sarafov suggested the perpetrator had clearly been surveilling "the routes" that Geshev traveled and the blast occurred on a "backup one," Demerdzhiev dismissed that report, saying it was "a usual route" for Geshev's motorcade. The minister also downplayed the damage to Geshev's headlight, adding, "The car of the prosecutor-general is better protected than the one in which the president travels."

Not long after the explosion, investigators also revealed that an unnamed Israeli "counterterrorism expert," who happened to arrive in Bulgaria in the hours before the incident, had been allowed to inspect the crime scene immediately after the blast.

Safarov's deputy, Yasen Todorov, who was nominated for his post by Geshev, initially said the Israeli "did not participate in the inspection." Days later, Sarafov said Todorov had brought in the Israeli "on Geshev's order."

Officials have maintained silence on the Israeli's identity, including in response to questions from RFE/RL's Bulgarian Service to the NSLS and the Interior Ministry. The Israeli Embassy told RFE/RL that it was "in no way connected and has nothing to do with this issue."

RFE/RL has confirmed the individual's name via multiple sources. Unofficial information suggests he has ties to the Jerusalem Police Department, and he met Geshev on a previous visit, but there is no publicly available information on his professional expertise.

Outsiders, including the European Union and the U.S. State Department have long warned of a lack of public confidence in Bulgaria's judiciary.

Some of the EU's most dire assessments concern Geshev's influence.

"The lack of a possibility for an effective criminal investigation of the prosecutor-general and his/her deputies has been a long-standing issue, which was raised not only by the European Commission but also by the European Court of Human Rights and the Council of Europe," the European Commission said in its annual Rule Of Law report in 2022.

"As pointed out in previous reports, the combination of the powers held by the prosecutor-general and his/her position in the Supreme Judicial Council result in a considerable influence within the Prosecutor's Office as well as potentially within the Supreme Judicial Council (both in its Prosecutorial Chamber and its Plenary) and within the magistracy."

With little still known about the attack, the investigation by Geshev's subordinates in the National Investigative Service has raised eyebrows, underscoring the Western and domestic criticism that Bulgaria's top prosecutor is above the law.

"With the [existing] structure of the Prosecutor-General's Office, I don't believe that an objective investigation can be conducted," Boyko Rashkov, a former interior minister, told the local Sega news website. "Shouldn't the victim not investigate himself?"

Rashkov, the former interior minister, has argued that Geshev's unhindered primacy and other circumstances leave no one in a position to conduct an unbiased investigation.

Instead, he said, the course of the probe so far suggests a process destined less to solve a crime than to "demonstrate to the chief how loyal we are to him."

Written by Andy Heil based on reporting by Genka Shikerova and Ivan Bedrov

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/bulgaria-prosecutor- geshev-explosion-doubts/32407567.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.

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Is Conflict With The President The End Of The Line For Kyrgyzstan's Vodka King?

By Chris Rickleton May 11, 2023

For much of the last 20 years, Kyrgyz alcohol magnate Sharshenbek Abdykerimov was known to many as "a wallet," a term used to describe a wealthy figure who finances political activity to help secure power and better treatment.

As the founder of the Ayu Holding company -- whose revenue is partly derived from producing vodka and other spirits -- he reportedly had the ear of several Kyrgyz presidents and may have benefited from legislation that helped his company corner the local market.

But under President Sadyr Japarov, Abdykerimov's wallet does not appear to carry the same weight.

And after what Japarov himself called the confiscation by the authorities of two of the businessman's most important assets, Abdykerimov's seat in the backroom of Kyrgyz politics looks -- at a minimum -- to be under threat.

But if the rise of Abdykerimov tells a story about where Kyrgyzstan has been, does his apparent fall offer any indication of where the country is heading?

"Abdykerimov, like other oligarchs in Kyrgyzstan, unfortunately played a huge role in corrupting politics," explained Leila Nazgul Seiitbek, a lawyer and chairwoman of the NGO Freedom for Eurasia.

"And it led to a natural outcome," she said, calling the company's problems and "similar situations around other medium and large businesses" part of a "new phase" in the regime of Japarov and the national security chief often viewed as his equal in power, Kamchybek Tashiev.

We Can't Be Bought By Ayu!

Since springing to the presidency from a prison cell during a political standoff in 2020, Japarov has regularly used interviews with the state media outlet Kabar to clear the air around political controversies and counter criticism from his opponents.

He sent a chill through the country's business community last month when he described to Kabar how the state had nationalized Ayu's vodka distillery and ethyl-alcohol production facility, claiming that a raid had unearthed systematic tax evasion within the company.

"We told them that the days when the company could buy off the government were in the past, and that they should no longer count on it.... But they didn't hear us," Japarov said, before adding, "From now on, both ethyl alcohol and vodka will be produced by the state."

The government has since moved away from any characterization of the move as a seizure. Economy Minister Daniyar Amangeldiev told RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service in an interview that the company had willingly handed over its assets without "any sort of pressure from the government." Japarov's office also characterized the takeover of the two factories as "voluntary" when he was asked by RFE/RL.

The office spokesman did not respond to a question about whether there was still an active criminal case against Ayu, as was announced on April 14, the day of Japarov's interview.

Kyrgyz business analysts have expressed skepticism about the idea of a voluntary handover.

Azamat Akeneev told RFE/RL that it seemed highly unlikely that Ayu Holding, a company not known for its charity, would have considered such a move, and said the high profile of the company set off another red flag for investors watching Kyrgyzstan.

"Ayu is widely known not only to entrepreneurs, but also to the general public. This is one of our largest taxpayers, which employs tens of thousands of employees," he said.

RFE/RL attempted without success to contact Abdykerimov and Ayu via their representatives.

The independent media outlet Kaktus reported last month that Abdykerimov is currently receiving treatment abroad for a liver problem.

All The Presidents' Man?

The Ayu Holding company was founded in 2003 and quickly rose to become a powerful player in the local vodka market.

In 2009, during the presidency of Kurmanbek Bakiev, the company's hand was seen behind a law mandating that all vodka producers should produce no less than 10,000 liters of vodka annually or face losing their license.

In the coming years, many of Ayu's smaller competitors duly exited the market.

Bakiev's overthrow in 2010 gave rise to a new, mixed political system under which the powers of the prime minister and the president were more evenly balanced than before.

Abdykerimov initially backed the wrong horse, joining the Respublika party headed by Kyrgyzstan's prime minister-in-waiting, Omurbek Babanov.

When Babanov became embroiled in a conflict with President Almazbek Atambaev, Abdykerimov was one of several lawmakers in Respublika whose businesses reportedly came under pressure from the anti-corruption arm of Kyrgyzstan's State Committee for National Security -- an organ under presidential control.

But the now-familiar accusations of Ayu producing counterfeit alcohol evaporated as soon as Abdykerimov and several other businessmen abandoned Babanov's party, later forming a new one called Kyrgyzstan.

Medet Tiulegenov, a Bishkek-based political scientist, told RFE/RL that the Kyrgyzstan party fit the definition of a "satellite party," bolstering Atambaev's favored Social Democratic Party at the expense of popular opposition politicians.

"Abdykerimov's role was seemingly in financing the activities of this party," Tiulegenov said of the businessman, who became the head of the National Olympic Committee in 2015, the first year the Kyrgyzstan party entered the legislature.

But things fell apart for Abdykerimov's party after the October 2020 vote, when it was one of three factions comfortably crossing the threshold to take parliamentary seats. The election has been described by some as the most flagrant and systematic case of vote-buying in Kyrgyzstan's rich political history, and the losing parties subsequently revolted.

But the eventual annulment of the election results failed to calm the crisis, and amid the meltdown, Japarov was released from the prison where he was serving time for hostage-taking -- a sentence he has always described as motivated by his political opposition.

Less than two weeks later, the populist Japarov had replaced Sooronbai Jeenbekov as the country's ruler, confirming his ascent in a presidential election months later.

Shadow Games

As Japarov and his partner, Tashiev, consolidated power, a number of high-profile politicians were arrested. The arrests were typically connected with an investigation into activities at the Kumtor gold mine that authorities eventually seized control of in 2021.

One of the men detained was Almazbek Batyrbekov, a close ally of Abdykerimov's who had headed the Kyrgyzstan party in parliament and who was head of the state alcohol inspectorate from 2008 to 2010 -- a time when Ayu's competitors really began feeling the squeeze.

Batyrbekov, who did not respond to a request to comment for this article, was later released.

Abdykerimov, shown by The Guardian in 2016 as owning property in Britain's tallest residential tower, was not arrested during this period.

But Ayu's premises were reportedly raided in the months after Jeenbekov's ouster and, in 2021, the Asia News tabloid likened the businessman's position under the new regime to that of "a child from another family."

"They say that Sharshenbek Abdykerimov is now not only unable to promote his party, but that he thinks about his own safety and has gone into hiding," the media outlet wrote.

In formal politics at least, Abdykerimov's last stand appears to have been a bizarre campaign event ahead of Kyrgyzstan's 2021 parliamentary elections. According to a colorful report by Eurasianet, Abdykerimov used the appearance to try to marry off one of his wife's relatives and personally sang about 10 songs onstage.

But by the end of the event Abdykerimov had decided he no longer wanted to campaign for a parliamentary seat. "Everybody should stick to what they know. The shoemaker patches up boots, the baker makes pies," Eurasianet quoted him as saying.

Ayu is one of a number of prominent businesses that has come under pressure since Japarov consolidated power.

In December 2022, lawmaker Elvira Surabaldieva complained that her family's businesses had been inspected by officials who came "with threats" that she linked to her independent political positions.

Just days before that, the National Security Committee announced that a well-known resort on the shores of Lake Issyk-Kul had been "returned to the balance of the state" after being illegally privatized. The resort, Akun, was associated with the family of former parliament speaker Chynybai Tursunbekov, who died of coronavirus complications shortly before Japarov rose to power.

But last month, the deputy head of Kyrgyzstan's State Property Management Fund, Meder Mashiev, told lawmakers that the resort was not on the state's balance after all, and that its privatization was not being considered.

Japarov, for his part, says his government is battling corruption and the shadow economy that according to some estimates equates to more than half of GDP. But the head of state's own preference for investors has cast doubt on those claims.

In March, Japarov was shown by his official press service meeting with a group of businessmen that included Khabibula Abdukadyr.

Abdukadyr, a Chinese-born Uyghur businessman, was the subject of a media investigation into mass smuggling and money laundering by RFE/RL, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, and the Kyrgyz media outlet Kloop.

Japarov defended their appearance together by noting that Abdukadyr was not under criminal investigation.

In comments to RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service, former Economy Minister Emil Umetaliev said that the uncertainty around major companies like Ayu will not "inspire confidence" in an economy that badly needs investment.

But Leila Nazgul Seiitbek of Freedom for Eurasia draws parallels between Kyrgyzstan's new business as usual and the era of the Bakiev regime, which was renowned for its ruthlessness.

The current authorities "will continue efforts to take over enterprises and assets that are a source of profit [in order to] strengthen their power," Seiitbek predicted.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/kyrgyzstan-japarov- abdykerimov-corruption/32407183.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.

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Bosnia Approves Negotiations For Construction Of Two Pipelines To Deliver Gas From Russia, Azerbaijan

By RFE/RL's Balkan Service May 11, 2023

The Council of Ministers of Bosnia-Herzegovina on May 11 approved negotiations on building two new pipelines to supply gas from Russia and Azerbaijan via Serbia and Croatia.

The negotiations are to cover the possible construction of the New Eastern Interconnection gas pipeline, which would enable the purchase of gas from Russia that would be delivered via Serbia.

According to earlier announcements, Russian Gazprom is expected to participate under an agreement signed in 2021 by the Serbian public company Srbijagas and Gas-Res, a company owned by the Bosnian entity of Republika Srpska. The construction cost is estimated at 250 million euros and Gazprom is expected to fund the project.

The government of Republika Srpska and Gas-Res did not respond to RFE/RL's inquiry about how much money it intended to spend on the construction of the gas pipeline.

The question of how ownership of the pipeline would be regulated also remains unclear.

In 2019, Republika Srpska declared the pipeline a "national project of strategic importance." Gas imported through it would be exclusively for consumers in the Republika Srpska.

The second planned gas pipeline to be negotiated is the Southern Interconnection. It would traverse Croatia and deliver gas from Azerbaijan to Bosnia.

The construction of the Southern Interconnection is supported by the United States and the European Union as a project that would reduce Bosnia's dependence on Russian gas.

The estimated cost of the planned 180-kilometer pipeline is about 100 million euros, and plans call for it to be financed using a loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

Borjana Kristo, chairwoman of the Council of Ministers, said both projects were supported by a consensus among members of the council. She said the projects aim to "ensure more sources of natural gas supply for the benefit of all Bosnian residents."

A commission was appointed for negotiations of the Eastern Interconnection, while in the case of the Southern Interconnection, the Bosnian federation was asked to pass a law on that gas pipeline urgently, so that a commission could also be elected.

The members of the tripartite presidency, Zeljko Komsic and Denis Becirevic, announced that they will not allow the projects without the prior adoption of the state-level law on gas.

Bosnia-Herzegovina is obliged to adopt the law under agreements it signed with the European Energy Community. The absence of this legislation is one reason why Bosnia has been designated for sanctions by the European Energy Community since the end of 2020.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/bosnia-gas-pipelines-russia- azerbaijan/32407714.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.

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U.S. Urges Armenia, Azerbaijan To Seize Peace Initiatives After Deadly Border Clashes

By RFE/RL's Armenian Service, RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service May 11, 2023

The United States on May 11 urged Armenia and Azerbaijan to seize peace initiatives after the two sides reported fresh gunfire exchanges along their common border.

"We believe that there continues to be a durable path forward. We believe that there is a peaceful solution to this," State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters.

Washington recently hosted four days of talks between delegations of Azerbaijani and Armenian negotiators. EU-mediated talks between their leaders are scheduled for this weekend.

Both sides blamed each other for the fresh outburst of violence in which Azerbaijan said one of its soldiers was killed.

The Armenian Defense Ministry said Azerbaijani forces began firing on its positions near the border village of Sotk, some 180 kilometers east of the capital, Yerevan, at 6 a.m. local time, and three Armenian soldiers were wounded as a result.

Later on May 11, Azerbaijani forces fired a mortar in the direction of Verin Shorzha in Armenia's eastern Gegharkunik Province, the Armenian military said. As of shortly after 8 p.m. the situation was relatively stable, it said.

The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said on May 11 that one of its soldiers was killed after Armenian forces "fired intensively at the positions of the Azerbaijani Army from various types of firearms from their positions in the Vardenis border region."

The ministry said the Azerbaijani Army took "necessary retaliatory measures."

The latest outburst of violence came after the European Council said on May 10 that Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev had agreed to meet in Brussels on May 14.

The two leaders are expected to hold more talks to work out a peace agreement amid renewed tensions over a road checkpoint installed by Baku at the start of the Lachin Corridor, the only route linking Armenia to the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region.

The talks, which will include European Council President Charles Michel, come after the negotiations in Washington, which ended with Secretary of State Antony Blinken saying significant progress had been made.

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.

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.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/armenia-azerbaijan-fresh- clashes-border/32406000.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.

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Commander of Palestinian Islamic Jihad Killed by Israeli Airstrike - IDF

Sputnik News

20230511

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - A commander of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, an Islamist paramilitary movement, was killed as a result of an air strike in the Gaza Strip, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Thursday.

"We just targeted Ali Ghali, the commander of Islamic Jihad's Rocket Launching Force, as well as two other Islamic Jihad operatives in Gaza," the IDF tweeted.

The commander was responsible for rocket attacks against Israel, including the most recent shelling and attacks during the 2021 Israel-Palestine crisis, according to the IDF's statement.

Ghali was killed in a building in the city of Khan Yunis in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, the Times of Israel newspaper reported.

On Tuesday night, Israel launched "Operation Shield and Arrow," conducting airstrikes against militants in the Gaza Strip and their infrastructure, including rocket launchers and mortars. Three commanders of the Islamist movement were eliminated as result of the strikes. In response, militants of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad fired 469 rockets at Israel on Wednesday, according to the IDF.

 Sputnik

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US F-22 Raptor Fighters Reportedly Begin Training Flights in Estonia

Sputnik News

20230511

HELSINKI (Sputnik) - US Air Force F-22 Raptor fighter jets have begun training flights in Estonia, a local broadcaster reported on Wednesday.

According to the report, 12 fighter jets were transferred from the United States to a Polish airbase for military drills in early April. Three of the fighters arrived at Estonia's Amari airbase near Tallinn this week. The drills include the practice of quickly responding to threats in cooperation with other countries.

US Ambassador in Estonia George Kent told the broadcaster that the fighters conduct joint flights with pilots from other countries.

"This morning, the pilots flew down to Lithuania, and we're working with Portuguese and Romanian pilots, and they hope, perhaps tomorrow, to be up in the air with British Typhoons also operating out of Amari. This is not the first time F-22s have visited Amari. I think the first time was in 2015, and I anticipate they will also be back. And that's an issue for our two militaries to discuss the timing and purpose," Kent said.

According to the US Embassy in Estonia, the US has invested over 33 million euros ($36 million) in infrastructure at the Amari airbase since 2015. The latest facility built on the premises of the airbase was a fuel storage facility capable of storing some 2,000 cubic meters of fuel. Moreover, the US has built a dormitory housing about 220 servicepeople and an aircraft maintenance hangar. These projects have helped increase the capacity of the Amari airbase for operations in support of regional security, the embassy said.

 Sputnik

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Briefing with Senior State Department Officials on the Situation in Sudan

US Department of State

Special Briefing

Via Teleconference

May 11, 2023

MODERATOR: Good evening, everyone, and welcome to today's background call on Sudan. Today's call will be on background, attributable to senior State Department officials, and embargoed until its conclusion.

For your information only and not for reporting, joining us today are [Senior State Department Official One], referred to in the transcript as Senior State Department Official Number One, and [Senior State Department Official Two], referred to as Senior State Department Official Number Two. Our speaker, [Senior State Department Official One], will give opening remarks and then we'll turn it over for your questions, and [Senior State Department Official Two] will be available to answer questions as well.

With that, [Senior State Department Official One], I'll turn it over to you.

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL ONE: Thanks very much, [Moderator], and hi, everybody. Thanks for joining the call. [Senior State Department Official Two] and I just came back from the Saudi foreign ministry office here in Jeddah, where we were able to witness a signing between representatives of the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Security - I'm sorry, the Rapid Support Forces. Let me just say that again because everybody gets that mixed up: the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces. They signed what we are calling a declaration of commitment to protect the civilians of Sudan, done here in Jeddah. That was a title request by the parties to emphasize that they are interested in trying to help the civilians who are suffering from this fighting. It's a document that we helped them negotiate. It recognizes the obligations of both sides under international humanitarian and human rights law to facilitate humanitarian actions to meet the needs of civilians.

We - that should be released to you shortly so that you can see the document. The - one of the purposes is to guide the conduct of the two forces so that we can get in humanitarian assistance, help begin the restoration of essential services like electricity and water, to arrange for the withdrawal of security forces from hospitals and clinics, and to perform the respectful burial of the dead.

So now that they have completed the affirmation of these principles and their willingness to cooperate with the international humanitarian community, we'll - they will then begin with the support of the Saudi and American mediators to negotiate an actual short-term ceasefire of - we set a goal of up to 10 days, but we'll have to see what's possible, to facilitate those activities I just described. Again, delivery of humanitarian assistance, restoration of essential services, withdrawal of forces from hospitals and medical clinics, and the respectful burial of the dead.

One important point that will be different from the earlier ceasefires that we have tried to negotiate is that we have developed a ceasefire monitoring mechanism, which is being supported by the UN, the Saudis, and other members of the international community. So that will help - I'm sorry, [Senior State Department Official Two] is pointing at me to say "and us," if I didn't make that clear. (Laughter.) So I lost my train of thought. So that's - that mechanism will help hold the parties accountable to what they've agreed to do.

We know there's a lot of confusion about what's happening, and so we wanted to take a little bit of time just at the top to explain a little bit better.

So first of all, these talks have been described as pre-negotiations. And what does that mean and why was that term used? So these talks actually began in discussions we had with both sides - we, the United States, had with both sides - during the Eid al-Fitr period where just prior to the Eid, the AU under the leadership of Chairperson Moussa Faki had reached out to the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and other regional and international leaders to come together with a unified voice to press the parties for an Eid al-Fitr ceasefire. We were concerned that that - as the Eid was ending that that ceasefire was going to expire, and we also understand that this is going to be a long - for people who are enduring this, sort of a longer process of building from what I just described as a temporary ceasefire to help people get immediate relief to the ultimate goal of a permanent cessation of hostilities and the establishment of a civilian government. This is going to be a process.

So we are just at the first stage, and we are - we did this in partnership with the Saudis at the request of the two sides. The two sides asked us to help them out with this, but there is every expectation that this process will be expanded to include first and, most importantly, Sudanese civilians; and secondly, regional partners in Africa and in the Arab world and in the international community.

So I'm a little bit tired, so I'm probably rambling. So let me stop and ask [Senior State Department Official Two] if he wants to add anything, and then we'll go to questions. [Senior State Department Official Two]?

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL TWO: Just - that was a really great laydown that [Senior State Department Official One] gave. Just to talk maybe a little more about Jeddah, to be clear, the document that was signed today, the Declaration of Commitment to Protect the Civilians of Sudan, is the first step of what we hope to achieve here on the ground in Jeddah while the parties are here. And as [Senior State Department Official One] indicated, the next step is really to focus on negotiating specific security measures the two sides will take to create secure conditions for humanitarian assistance delivery, restoring essential services and burials. And then beyond that will be discussion of what our next round of talks could look like, and I think [Senior State Department Official One] gave a very good laydown of what we hope those would include. Thank you.

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL ONE: I think it's important to discuss a little bit also the strenuous effort to get a delegations here. Again, as I said, we the U.S. started talks with both parties on the weekend of that Eid al-Fitr. Very difficult discussions to have. Everyone is having difficulty reaching the leaders because of the communication network problems, so some of them were done by text, some of them by phone. And so we - each side identified a representative, an authorized representative, to talk with us and the Saudi ambassador to Sudan, Ali bin Jaafar, who is just an amazing guy. [Senior State Department Official Two] works closely with him in Khartoum.

So we started those talks, I think - I will look it up on - when [Senior State Department Official Two]'s talking - on the 17th of April. And - no, that's wrong. It was the Wednesday after the Eid, so can somebody look that up for me? And we kept - we did those every day until we flew here to try and move those talks that we were doing by phone, which were very difficult because of the communications network, to face-to-face talks, which the Saudis offered to host. We tried to start - to get them here on Thursday, a week ago Thursday. Again, someone else will get me the date, because I've forgotten what date is it. And we couldn't get them out.

The Saudis flew a C-130 to Khartoum, which the Saudi ambassador got on the plane, they picked him up in Port Sudan, who flew into the fight in Khartoum. It didn't work that day, and so then he flew back on Friday, last Friday, so let me - someone is giving me the dates. I don't - I need the dates of last Thursday and Friday, sorry.

STAFF: Thursday was the 4th.

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL ONE: Okay, so Thursday was the 4th, Friday was the 5th. And we worked very closely with the ICRC, who helped move the two delegations through the contested areas of the city to the SAF-controlled Wadi Seidna military airport, and they flew them here to Jeddah and they got here Friday night. So we started the talks on Saturday.

So the Saudi investment and engagement was absolutely critical to literally get them here. The ICRC played a terrific role in helping move them safely through the city, taking risks. So once they were here, we were able to begin these more complicated discussions that were just impossible to do, frankly, on a phone line that dropped every seven minutes or so.

Okay, so let's stop and go to questions. Thanks. Hope that is helpful.

MODERATOR: Fantastic. Thank you so much. AT&T operator, would you mind just repeating the instructions for joining the question queue?

OPERATOR: For anyone who wishes to ask a question, please press 1 then 0. And please only press 1 then 0 one time, as remove - as entering it twice will remove you from the queue.

MODERATOR: Great, thank you. Can we please go to Jonathan Guyer from Vox?

QUESTION: Hi, thank you so much. I'm curious, there's been a quotient of criticism from the likes of former Special Envoy Jeffrey Feltman that the U.S. had badly mishandled the options over the last several years. I wonder how you respond to that recent criticism, including criticism that the State Department and the White House has outsourced some of its policies to the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL ONE: Sure. I think it's important to recall some of the basic facts about Sudan. The Sudanese military first took power in 1958 and has effectively controlled the country since then, including for 30 years under the Omar al-Bashir regime, where there was effectively an Islamic dictatorship. So this - those have been the leaders of Sudan, and that has been the fact that we've had to deal with. Ten years ago, Bashir established the Rapid Support Forces as a paramilitary force. So that was a recipe for instability that he established.

So U.S. policy for decades has really been singular. It has been focused on helping the civilians of Sudan resist and overcome Islamic dictatorships and, frankly, military authoritarianism.

We have often focused on folks who live in the peripheries. That's a term that people use to describe communities that are not in the capital. And that also led to the establishment of South Sudan. So, [Senior State Department Official Two] and I are in a long line, a proud line, of American officials from different agencies who have stood by the side of the Sudanese people and used U.S. power and influence to press the generals to respond to the aspirations of the Sudanese people.

In 2019 when they heroically demanded democracy, we mobilized to assist them. In October 2021, when the two leaders, General Burhan and General Hemedti, deposed the civilian prime minister, the United States mobilized extraordinary economic pressure on the generals. We arranged for the suspension of significant debt relief. Sudan had been under an enormous burden of debt accrued during the Bashir era of about $23 billion. We suspended all lending from international institutions - from the IMF, the World Bank, the African - the development program - hundreds of millions of dollars that had been designated for Sudan after the resolution in 2019. And we organized the suspension of bilateral development assistance from the United States and all of our partners.

So, frankly, [Senior State Department Official Two] and I find it confusing when we're told that we haven't been pressing the generals. Again, this is a long line of U.S. policy to push. Our engagement with them has been nothing but pushing them to respond to the aspirations of the people.

I'd like to hand this to [Senior State Department Official Two] now to discuss the intensive efforts underway for - to support the restoration of the democratic transition. And I'd also like him to talk about the calls and engagement he and other members of our team here in Jeddah have been making at my direction to consult with civilian leaders, including women and those from the periphery, about what we're doing and to get their advice and to make sure they are included in these discussions.

[Senior State Department Official Two], over to you.

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL TWO: Sure. Thank you, [Senior State Department Official One]. So just to talk a little bit about the engagement with the civilians that we've done here in Jeddah at [Senior State Department Official One]'s direction, colleagues and I have been actively reaching out to a number of civilian leaders and stakeholders to discuss the purpose of the pre-negotiation talks in Jeddah, political dynamics, and the intended move to expanded talks that would include civilian stakeholders from Sudan and regional and international actors.

We've also talked about steps that the civilian actors could take now to prepare to effectively participate in discussions when they go to that expanded format. I think the key elements I would highlight there are the need to form a broader civilian coalition - that is, one that more accurately or more - is more representative and including voices from women, from non-political actors - that is, members of civil society and other actors - and also representatives from the peripheries that [Senior State Department Official One] mentioned earlier. And we've also urged them to do something that had been underway during the framework agreement process that was disrupted by the war that kicked off on April 15th, and that is focusing on how they would approach forming a new civilian government, including selecting key members of that.

And so we have communicated to the civilians that - sorry, pardon me just one moment, please. We've also communicated to the civilians that it was at the request of the parties that the talks in Jeddah be very focused on technical military issues related to an effective short-term ceasefire and humanitarian assistance deliveries, and that the expectation is that going forward the scope of talks would broaden to include both different actors - civilians, regional and international actors - but also a broader range of issues.

The other thing we started talking about with civil society representatives and civil society - and representatives of resistance committees, for example, is how some of the really brave ongoing local efforts they've undertaken to provide humanitarian assistance and essential services on the ground during the fighting, primarily but not only in Khartoum, could be coordinated with the international humanitarian assistance delivery and the efforts to restore essential services that [Senior State Department Official One] mentioned. So that's water power, telecommunications, and efforts to distribute fuel.

We have also been quite clear that we have previewed for the parties here in Jeddah that we anticipate the talks going forward will include an expanded - will be in an expanded format that would include civilians, and that the goal of that engagement - our engagement with them, that is - is to put them much more squarely in the driver's seat alongside regional and international actors as the process moves toward discussion of a permanent cessation of hostilities and forming a civilian government.

I just want to echo here what [Senior State Department Official One] noted, which is that that is going to be a step-by-step process. We have been clear with the partners with whom we're working here in Jeddah that because of the enmity between the two sides we're going to have to build to those outcomes. But there is a clear understanding that that's what we are aiming to get the talks to.

And we've also kept regional and international partners apprised of what the Jeddah pre-negotiations talks are and are not. And maybe just to come back to the first part of the question, I would talk a little bit about what we were doing on the ground in Khartoum and in Sudan before fighting commenced on April 15th. We were intensively engaged in supporting the so-called framework political agreement process that began in earnest on December 5th with the signing of the framework agreement itself, which included a fairly broadly representative group of civilian actors and involved negotiations between representatives of that group of signatories and the two principal military leaders.

And we had worked through a so-called phase two process that touched on five main issues, and one of those, which we always expected was going to be the most difficult, was the so-called security sector reform process. And really the key issues there boiled down to the timeline and modalities for integrating the Rapid Support Forces into the Sudanese Armed Forces and also establishing what the command structure would look like for a national professional unified Sudanese army.

I would just note that those conversations, the phase two discussions, had made quite a bit of progress. There was quite a lot of discussion between the civilians and between the military leadership about what a new civilian government would look like. The civilians for their part were discussing modalities for forming that civilian government. And all the while, we were very clear-eyed about the fact that this issue of security sector reform and particularly the issues of how you would integrate the SAF into the - the RSF into the SAF and how the command structure would incorporate the two leading generals were likely to be the biggest stumbling blocks.

And indeed, unfortunately, that's what turned out to happen. And so I just would emphasize that we were quite clear-eyed about that throughout the process. We did a lot of work to try to prevent the outcome that we ultimately saw with the outbreak of fighting on the 15th. But I think as [Senior State Department Official One] rightly noted, the tensions between SAF and RSF are longstanding. They go back to the decision to first form the RSF 10 years ago, as [Senior State Department Official One] noted, and then in 2017 the even more neuralgic issue from the perspective of SAF to codify under law that the RSF was part of the military component and that the RSF commander reported directly to the head of state in parallel with the SAF commander.

So those tensions were not new. They were always anticipated to be something that was going to have to be navigated and that there was a degree of potential for the two leading generals to not, at the end of the day, agree on a formulation that would allow them to navigate out of that issue.

Let me stop there.

MODERATOR: Thank you so much. If we can please go to the line of Iain Marlow from Bloomberg News.

QUESTION: Thank you for doing this, [Senior State Department Officials One] and [Senior State Department Official Two]. I'm just wondering, on the declaration itself, I mean, is the declaration an effective ceasefire, or is it kind of just more of a clarification? Is it an effective ceasefire, or is it more of a sort of a declaration of intent, a kind of first step to work towards a ceasefire?

And secondly, I'm just also wondering, can you give me a sense basically of what you expect to happen now given your read of the commitment on both sides here and the sort of mood on the ground, I guess, in the region in terms of what's likely to happen? I mean, are we likely to see humanitarian aid flow in, more security along that corridor, or simply aid kind of coming in as the talks sort of come on and the sort of ceasefire or the mood sort of lightens a tiny bit?

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL ONE: Hey, Iain, thanks very much for your question. And your second characterization, which (inaudible) so I'll dictate to be clear, is more accurate. This is not a ceasefire. This is an affirmation of their obligations under international humanitarian law, particularly with regard to the treatment of civilians and the need to create space for humanitarians to operate.

The parties themselves said they wanted this kind of approach, and it is also important, we understand, for many in the international humanitarian community - as you may know, the early days of the war and even through this week, warehouses of aid agencies have been ransacked. Regrettably, some members, some staff members, have been killed or injured. So the humanitarian community - well, I believe - I can't speak for them - will welcome the kind of affirmation that you'll see in the document.

I want to highlight that the first three paragraphs of the preamble were written by the Sudanese parties, so this is what they wanted to get started. These principles now are supposed to govern the next steps, which is - as we said, was the negotiation of a short-term ceasefire - as in not a permanent cessation of hostilities; they're not ready to do that - to allow the kind of steps we've talked about.

I think, Iain, we're really conscious of the terrible fighting that has gone on this week. We have been receiving messages from our friends in Sudan and from others who are in contact with people in Sudan. It's been a very dismal backdrop to what we've been trying to do. We are hopeful, cautiously, that their willingness to sign this document will create some momentum that will force them to create some space for some relief. The two sides are quite far apart.

These were intensive, lengthy negotiations on, frankly, pretty fundamental principles, but I think the discussion of them was helpful to highlight how important they will be. I don't expect full compliance, frankly. But I think, again, lengthy, detailed discussions on the importance of taking these kinds of actions and, again, creating the space for the next stage of the limited ceasefire to allow the steps we've talked about to deliver aid.

And [Senior State Department Official Two] is looking at me, telling me to hand him the phone.

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL TWO: Just three quick points on top of [Senior State Department Official One]'s excellent response. I think one of the things that the parties themselves very much wanted as a feature of an effective short-term ceasefire to expedite humanitarian assistance delivery and the other measures we discussed was the ceasefire monitoring mechanism. And that is something that is different than any of the other - that will be a different feature than any other ceasefire that's come before. I think, candidly, there is some hope on both sides that the other side will be seen as being the perpetrator of violations. Frankly, we've seen violations by both sides in all the ceasefires to date and don't expect that to change.

The negotiations were very tough. [Senior State Department Official One] and I have talked about the fact that we both had the privilege of being involved in negotiations in - on really difficult issues in hard places down through the years. And these are, speaking just for myself, as tough as anything I've done, and a lot of that has to do with the depth of enmity between the two parties and the level of mistrust.

The last thing that I would say is that it took longer, candidly, than we expected to get agreement on the declaration of commitments, but one of the benefits of having had more time with the two sides is that we talked about a number of issues that are directly related to the next step here, which is agreeing on specific measures that facilitate an effective short-term ceasefire. And so in negotiation terms, that's an advantage. We've already begun some of those conversations and we're really looking forward to quickly moving into that discussion so that we can actually get that ceasefire underway and get the aid to the Sudanese people that so badly need it.

MODERATOR: Thank you. Can we please go to the line of Daphne Psaledakis from Reuters?

QUESTION: Hi, thank you so much for doing this. So as you mentioned, both sides have failed to abide by repeated truce deals. Given that, what confidence do you have that the commanders will abide by this declaration? And how can you enforce it on the ground?

And then, if I may, could you just clarify the next steps that need to happen before talks to achieve a short-term ceasefire kick off? Or are those starting directly? Thank you.

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL ONE: Hey, Daphne, thanks for the question. I think it might be helpful to step backwards and consider what we've really been trying to do here, right? So we see these two forces locked in this brutal struggle for power, and we've been trying to convince them that there's another way to handle their competition that doesn't involve destroying their country. So we've been patiently working with the Saudis and consulting with other regional partners in Africa and the Arab world and the international community about how to build an alternative path, a path of negotiation.

Frankly, I say to them that at some point the fighting is going to stop; I'd like it to stop tomorrow; but whenever it stops, you're going to have to talk to one another. This is a feature of all conflicts. At some point you sit down and have negotiations, and that is what we are trying to do and trying to impress upon them. And that's been, as [Senior State Department Official Two] said, a part of the discussions we've had now that we've been able to see them face-to-face over the past six days.

So given the depth of enmity, I think given the inflamed passions as a result of the fighting since the 15th of April, and given the struggle for dominance, we don't see an easy solution to this, which is why we were focused in the near term on moving from this important document, which sets the frame, to moving as quickly as possible into real discussions about how they're going to move around to allow the steps that we've enumerated.

MODERATOR: Thank you. Amina Sriri from Sky News Arabia.

QUESTION: Thank you for doing this. I have two questions. The first one, I want just to clarify something. So both parties, these forces (inaudible), they're staying in Jeddah for the next conversations? And the second question regarding the mechanism to monitor the ceasefire, so it's going to be controlled by whom exactly? And did you explain to both parties the future measures that will be taken in case one of the party didn't respect the ceasefire? Thank you.

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL ONE: Thanks. If I understood your first question, you were asking whether the two delegations representing the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Security Forces, would they stay and continue to participate in the negotiations? Is that what you asked? The answer is yes.

QUESTION: Yes.

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL ONE: Okay, great. And then I'm going hand the phone to [Senior State Department Official Two] to talk a little bit about the ceasefire mechanism that we've been building.

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL TWO: Just on the ceasefire mechanism, so it's a combination of different elements. It includes some overhead imagery, and including satellite data. And it also includes some technology that allows us to do artificial - use artificial intelligence to look at social media messages and key those to reports of ceasefire violations, and see if there are images or text that illuminates what might have happened at particular places where there are allegedly violations.

And it also then includes the old-fashioned element of on-the-ground reporting, if you will, or monitoring. And this is where I think the role of Sudanese civil society and actors like the resistance committees who are already doing that work and have been pushing it to the international community - and I would add, often doing it at great risk - becomes very important.

So it's that that combination of three principal elements: the overhead imagery, including thermal imagery that allows us to see heat signatures of weapons; as well as the social media analysis; and then the on-the-ground reporting. And really the sort of secret sauce, if you will, of the mechanism is that it allows us to use those three things in combination in a way that gives us much greater fidelity about what we think happened and some ability - not perfect, but some ability - to determine attribution in cases where there have been violations of the ceasefire. Hope that helps.

MODERATOR: Thank you. Karen DeYoung, Washington Post.

QUESTION: (Inaudible) was sort of an amalgam of the previous two. But I just want to make sure I'm clear on this, that that what they've done is agreed that this is a goal that they want to figure out a way to achieve. It doesn't mean that anything happens tomorrow, anybody's going to stop fighting, it's - there's going to be easier humanitarian access. It's that now they've both committed themselves to say, "This is what we want to achieve. Now we've agreed to talk about what we have to do to achieve it." Is that more or less correct?

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL ONE: Yeah, that's a great summary. Thank you for that. And again, I think we have some momentum going on those discussions because they've been part of our talks over the past six days. So we're hoping we can move fairly directly into action.

QUESTION: What - do you - would you have any timeframe for that? I mean, what - talking about a couple days, a week? How long?

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL ONE: I think it would be - it's a little bit hard to predict tonight. Also the - frankly, the folks who came, Karen, were as exhausted and drawn out as the people living under this terrible fighting in Khartoum, although they're now living here in safety, but they're worried about their family and their colleagues. So - and tomorrow is Friday, as you know, in the Muslim world. But they seem committed to get going. We and the Saudi side are committed. The humanitarian partners we're talking to are anxious to get going. So I expect we'll begin talks as early as tomorrow, and they will go through the next few days, and we will move as fast as we can with the parties to get to actual actions.

We've already made specific recommendations to each side to take actions, and some of that is happening. So there does seem to be some genuine interest in moving forward, and everybody's, I think, eager to go.

MODERATOR: Thanks. Jennifer Hansler, CNN.

QUESTION: Hi. Thanks so much for doing the call. I wanted to follow up on the ceasefire monitoring mechanism. Is there any sort of, I guess, stick for if the parties violate the ceasefire? Will there be any punitive measures if they violate it particularly as these activities are being undertaken? Thank you.

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL TWO: Thanks for the good question. So a couple of things in response to it.

One, we very much have in view establishing a committee that the actual ceasefire monitoring mechanism would report to or engage with that would include representatives from both the SAF and the RSF but also from representatives of the international community. We had actually discussed this with the two sides on the ground as early as April 17th when the embassy team was still in Khartoum and the UN's special representative of the secretary-general and I were trying to broker some Khartoum-only ceasefires. And we got agreement at that point for that same structure in principle, so a SAF and an RSF rep and then some international reps. And the goal would be to use that committee for two things: one, to - for the two sides to be able to submit reports of violations of the ceasefire, presumably by the other side, and for that to get them passed down to the ceasefire monitoring mechanism folks to take a look with their resources at what we think might have happened; and also as the mechanism or portal through which information generated by that ceasefire monitoring mechanism platform gets pushed to the two sides, the SAF and the RSF.

In terms of sticks, I think the biggest one here would frankly be public attribution where it's possible to do that with a high degree of fidelity; that is, where we've been able to determine with a high degree of confidence which side committed violations. Even in cases where we're not able to determine which of the parties committed specific acts, we should be able to determine that some acts occurred. And that in itself I think has utility, in part because - and this isn't, I think, news to anybody - there has been a lot of propaganda now that there's a shooting conflict going on and a lot of misinformation and disinformation alleging various acts of perfidy by the other side. And one of the things that we sensed both sides very much wanted was some third-party mechanism that would allow them to have greater surety about who was committing various violations.

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL ONE: Actually, [Senior State Department Official Two], let me add. It wasn't a sense. They specifically requested that we develop this mechanism, which we did very quickly to try and support these talks so that the - we could get to a meaningful ceasefire. And I think that's a good sign that they both wanted the mechanism and could be an indicator that we could achieve more compliance.

I think it's also important to note that this process will enable us to document to an international legal standard what's going on, and that will be important in the future for accountability.

MODERATOR: Thank you. Unfortunately, we have time for only one more question, and that will go to Howard LaFranchi from the Christian Science Monitor.

QUESTION: Hi, thank you for doing this. I wanted to ask a regional impact question. I'm wondering if you're expecting just this, as you say, modest initial commitment from the parties on humanitarian delivery to have any impact on the flow of Sudanese refugees across borders into neighboring countries - in some of the cases, as you also know, going into countries such as Chad that are already dealing with high levels of food insecurity and hunger. And then what you see as the prospects for averting kind of a larger regional humanitarian crisis that we - be caused by this war.

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL ONE: Thanks very much for raising that point. Not only are we very concerned about the impact this dreadful fighting is having on civilians and the stability and security of the nation, we and I think all of our partners in Africa, in the Arab world, and in the international community are gravely concerned about the regional consequences and the potential for regional instability. That's one of the reasons everybody is working so hard to press for an end to this.

I think I've seen reports of an expectation of up to 900,000 refugees, which, as you noted, is like a terrible burden especially for our neighboring countries who are already struggling. In East Africa there's been a drought. There's a lot of underdevelopment and security and economic challenges in most of the neighboring countries. So that challenge is also, I think, giving impetus to our efforts.

I'm going to - if the schedule allows, I'm going to travel tomorrow to Addis Ababa to consult with the African Union and with IGAD, who will - we have - for those of you who aren't steeped in Sudan, we have used what we refer to as a trilateral mechanism which is the UN, the AU - the African Union - and IGAD, I-G-A-D, which is an East African regional organization. It stands for Inter-Governmental Authority on Development, which is a sort of meaningless name but it represents the East African regional bloc. They've been our partners in supporting the democratic transition negotiations that [Senior State Department Official Two] discussed, and I think they will be part of any mechanism that the AU puts together to support, again, this sort of long process to get to a permanent cessation of hostilities.

There is also a diplomatic configuration referred to as the quartet, which includes - I'm sorry, I'm mixing up my diplomatic configurations. It's the quad, not the quartet, which includes the Saudis, the Emiratis, the UK, and the U.S. That grouping has also been an important forcing function in the democratic transition talks and is also interested and supporting. There are other important players like the Arab League, like the EU, the neighboring countries. I mean, there's a lot of concern from everybody to try and get ahead of this.

The last point I would like to make is we're not only concerned about the refugees, but we're also concerned about possible interference from external parties perhaps siding with one or the other of the Sudanese forces. Such action would only inflame the intensity of the conflict and prolong it, so we all need to be on guard about that the aspect of the regional problems.

So thanks for letting me address that. I'm really glad you raised that. It's an important component of what we're trying to do.

MODERATOR: Thank you so much. And unfortunately, that concludes this evening's call which, as a reminder, was on background to senior State Department officials. The embargo on this call is now lifted. Thank you all so much for joining us. Have a great night.

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36th Special Session: UK Statement for Special Session on Sudan

The UK Minister for International Development and Africa, Andrew Mitchell, delivered a speech at the Special Session on Sudan at the UN Human Rights Council.

11 May 2023

Thank you Mr President.

Today, we express our solidarity with the people of Sudan.

When the late Kofi Annan proposed the creation of this Council, he asked for a body that could react in the very worst moments. A Council that would respond quickly, so we could help save lives.

Since 15th April, Sudan has descended rapidly into crisis. Hundreds of civilians have been killed. Thousands injured. Humanitarian actors murdered. The risk of violence - even atrocities - against particular groups is rising. Millions more face shortages of food and medicine, or have been forced to flee as refugees.

The Secretary General has warned that the effects for the wider region will be very severe indeed.

But there is an alternative to conflict. To killing. To the suffering of totally innocent and blameless people.

Despite the military takeover in 2021, Sudan had been on the path to democratic civilian rule. It was working with the UN human rights system to build domestic institutions, and it was making progress. Surely we must revert to the political track - so evident and so important.

Dear colleagues, let us be the Council of Mr Annan's vision. Let's do all we can to help Sudan return to that path of peace, and let's do it now.

We must send a united message of concern - and of horror - about the increase in human rights violations and abuses since the outbreak of the conflict. We must use our collective influence to break the cycle of impunity in Sudan, which only leads to further violations. There must be accountability for the horrific events taking place.

Mr President, I would like to express my appreciation for all those working tirelessly with the parties in Sudan to end the violence. Colleagues from the African Union, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, the Arab League and United Nations - virtually the entire cohort of the international community. It is vital these efforts continue.

To colleagues in the Council, I urge you to adopt today's draft resolution, to express our united support for the human rights of the Sudanese people, and to work together for a swift end to this terrible conflict.

Thank you.

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High Commissioner for Human Rights Strongly Condemns Wanton Violence in Sudan as Human Rights Council Opens Special Session on the Human Rights Impact of the Ongoing Conflict in Sudan

United Nations Human Rights Council

11 May 2023

The Human Rights Council this morning opened a special session on the human rights impact of the ongoing conflict in Sudan, hearing the High Commissioner for Human Rights strongly condemn the wanton violence taking place in the country in which both sides had trampled international humanitarian law.

Volker Turk, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said he strongly condemned this wanton violence, in which both sides had trampled international humanitarian law, notably the principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution. The Sudanese military had launched attacks in densely occupied civilian areas, including airstrikes. Immense damage had been done, destroying the hopes and rights of millions of people. It was essential that both parties urgently committed to an inclusive political process and to a negotiated peace.

Mr. Turk said since 15 April, at least 487 civilians had been killed, notably in Khartoum, El Geneina, Nyala and El Obeid; the real figure was much higher. More than 154,000 people had fled the country, and an estimated 700,000 more had been displaced inside the borders of Sudan. Those who remained in areas affected by the conflict were at continued, severe risk. In Khartoum, clashes between the two armed forces, shelling and airstrikes had taken place in heavily populated residential areas, and millions of people were now struggling to access food, fuel and currency. In parts of Darfur, as well as the Blue Nile and Kordofan regions, the violence between military groups had triggered inter-ethnic clashes.

The ongoing talks in Jeddah, which focused on creating a ceasefire, needed to be complemented by commitments to establish a humanitarian truce, to enable life-saving deliveries of aid, to allow for safe passage for civilians from areas of hostilities, and to protect humanitarian supplies from looting. It was also crucial that discussions expand to respecting international humanitarian law, protecting civilians, and bringing an end to human rights violations.

Mr. Turk said the Human Rights Council had called this special session to express its urgent concern for the rights and lives of Sudan's people. He urged all States with influence in the region to encourage by all possible means the resolution of this crisis.

Tlaleng Mofokeng, Chair of the Coordination Committee of Special Procedures, said innocent civilians had borne the severe consequences of the conflict in Sudan, enduring immense hardship and remaining exposed to significant protection risks. The situation remained deeply distressing and demanded urgent attention and action. Since the onset of hostilities, an alarming number of lives had been lost. The collapse of basic infrastructure and the disintegration of critical services, including hospitals, had compounded the plight of the population. The pressing situation necessitated an immediate and prolonged ceasefire, swiftly followed by the initiation of political negotiations aimed at fostering the establishment of a government led by civilians. The conflicting parties must cease all hostilities without delay.

Concluding, Ms. Mofokeng said there must be the immediate initiation of independent and impartial investigations into the loss of civilian lives, injuries sustained by individuals, and cases of ill-treatment and other gross human rights violations inflicted upon humanitarian personnel, healthcare workers, human rights defenders, journalists, as well as into attacks on civilian infrastructures.

Hassan Hamid Hassan, Permanent Representative of Sudan to the United Nations Office at Geneva, said what was happening was an internal affair, and what the Sudanese Armed Forces was doing was a constitutional duty for all armies of the world. Sudan's position on this special session was based on the following: while reiterating the absolute priority of the Government to the promotion and protection of human rights, under the present dire circumstances, the military clashes and the falling of victims, it had a priority, namely to achieve a ceasefire and to save lives, in line with the Universal Declaration for Human Rights.

Mr. Hassan said there were regional efforts underway to achieve a ceasefire and a truce, including the negotiations in Jeddah under the initiative of Saudi Arabia and the United States, as well as an initiative by the Inter-governmental Authority on Development. The latter was in line with the principle of African solutions for African problems. Sudan wanted more time to work on these regional efforts, without overcoming them or negatively affecting them. As the situation in Sudan was still before the Security Council, and would be before the Council in June, why was the Council rushing to hold this ad-hoc session now, especially without the support of any African or Arab countries, Mr. Hassan asked.

In the discussion, some speakers urged all parties to silence the guns immediately, abide by ceasefire efforts, and avoid attacks on civilian infrastructure. International human rights law and international humanitarian law must be respected. Rapid and secure humanitarian access must be guaranteed, and the safety of humanitarian, medical and diplomatic personnel must be ensured. The international community should encourage dialogue and consensus between all stakeholders and reinforce stability during the transition period. There should be full respect for the territorial integrity, independence, and political identity of Sudan. The country had a right to have its views taken into account by the Council before any new Special Procedures were established or existing ones extended.

Some speakers said the resolution must be balanced and consensual, and be in the interest of the people of Sudan. They expressed dissent with the holding of the Special Session, pointing out that without the cooperation of the country concerned, it could not lead to positive developments. The urgency of the humanitarian situation in a country should not mean that the Council leave aside dialogue with the country concerned, as this only reduced the effectiveness of the mechanisms proposed, and also jettisoned the spirit of consensus of the body as a whole, which maintained as its focus the respect of human rights, international human rights law, and international humanitarian law. The Human Rights Council must avoid the politicisation of human rights.

Speaking were the United Kingdom, Lebanon on behalf of the Arab States, Sweden on behalf of the European Union, Finland on behalf of the Nordic-Baltic countries, Oman on behalf of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Germany, Ukraine, Paraguay, Argentina, Cameroon, Morocco, Belgium, United States, France, Malaysia, Czech Republic, China, Pakistan, Chile, Mexico, India, Senegal, Viet Nam, Costa Rica, Luxembourg, South Africa, Kyrgyzstan, Qatar, Eritrea, Cote d'Ivoire on behalf of the Africa Group, Liechtenstein, Australia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Monaco, Bulgaria, Holy See, Indonesia, Netherlands, Brazil, Peru, Switzerland, Uruguay, Croatia, Venezuela, Malta, Cyprus, Ethiopia, Ireland, Italy, Israel, New Zealand, Egypt, Slovenia, Iraq, Zimbabwe, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Russian Federation, Chad, Niger, Nigeria, Turkiye, Austria, Canada, Mauritania, South Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda and Equatorial Guinea.

Also speaking were East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project, International Bar Association Intervention, International Service for Human Rights, International Federation for Human Rights Leagues, Human Rights Watch, World Organization against Torture, Christian Solidarity Worldwide, Front Line - The International Foundation for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, International Organization for the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, Amnesty International, Association Ma'onah for Human Rights and Immigration, Meezaan Centre for Human Rights, Rencontre Africaine pour la defense des droits de l'homme, Broad National Movement Limited, Interfaith International, Institute for Human Rights, Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety, and African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies.

The Council will reconvene at 3 p.m. this afternoon to take action on the draft resolution and close its thirty-sixth special session.

Keynote Statements

VOLKER TURK, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said four years ago, the people of Sudan lit a beacon of hope for millions around the

world. On 11 April 2019, popular protests brought an end to decades of tyranny and human rights violations, toppling the longstanding dictatorship of Omar al-Bashir. Women and young people were at the forefront, demanding good governance and a new social contract between the State and the people, based on democracy, freedom, justice, and a fair share of development. This inspiring movement was followed by significant reforms. But the hoped-for transition to full civilian rule and democracy was once again dashed in October 2021, when General al-Burhan and General Dagalo jointly carried out a military coup. Last month, fighting exploded between the forces led by those same two men, plunging this much-suffering country into catastrophe.

Since 15 April, at least 487 civilians had been killed, notably in Khartoum, El

Geneina, Nyala and El Obeid; the real figure was much higher. More than 154,000 people had fled the country, and an estimated 700,000 more had been displaced inside the borders of Sudan. Those who remained in areas affected by the conflict were at continued, severe risk. In Khartoum, clashes between the two armed forces, shelling and airstrikes had taken place in heavily populated residential areas, and millions of people were now struggling to access food, fuel and currency.

In parts of Darfur, as well as the Blue Nile and Kordofan regions, the violence between military groups had triggered inter-ethnic clashes. In West Darfur, at least 100 people had been killed, and thousands displaced, by inter-communal violence between so-called "Arab" and Masalit groups, allied respectively with the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese Armed Forces.

The country's health system had been severely damaged, with at least 17 attacks against health facilities, and several others occupied by military forces. Years of development efforts were being obliterated by damage to water, electricity, and communications infrastructure. Extensive and increasing looting of United Nations and international non-governmental organizations offices, businesses, and private property had also obstructed the humanitarian operations that kept millions of people alive and in health. The World Food Programme projected that if the conflict continued, 2.5 million more people could become acutely food insecure within 3 to 6 months, bringing the total to 19 million people - more than half the population.

Mr. Turk said he strongly condemned this wanton violence, in which both sides had trampled international humanitarian law, notably the principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution. The Sudanese military had launched attacks in densely occupied civilian areas, including airstrikes. Immense damage had been done, destroying the hopes and rights of millions of people. It was essential that both parties urgently committed to an inclusive political process and to a negotiated peace.

The ongoing talks in Jeddah, which focused on creating a ceasefire, needed to be complemented by commitments to establish a humanitarian truce, to enable life-saving deliveries of aid; to allow for safe passage for civilians from areas of hostilities; and to protect humanitarian supplies from looting. It was also crucial that discussions expand to respecting international humanitarian law, protecting civilians, and bringing an end to human rights violations. If there was one lesson to be drawn from this tragic crisis, it was the pressing need for all transitional arrangements to build on bedrock commitments to accountability, non-discrimination and participation - so that peace could be sustainable and stable, because it was just.

The Human Rights Council had called this special session to express its urgent concern for the rights and lives of Sudan's people. He urged all States with influence in the region to encourage by all possible means the resolution of this crisis.

TLALENG MOFOKENG, Chair of the Coordination Committee of Special Procedures, said the crisis in Sudan had now extended beyond three weeks. Throughout this period, innocent civilians had borne the severe consequences of the conflict, enduring immense hardship and remaining exposed to significant protection risks. The situation remained deeply distressing and demanded urgent attention and action.

Since the onset of hostilities, an alarming number of lives had been lost. The dire consequences of this crisis had compelled hundreds of thousands of individuals to seek refuge, while others had been forcibly displaced from their homes. Sudanese civilians in search of safety reportedly found themselves subjected to egregious human rights violations, including sexual and gender-based violence, rampant looting, and acute shortages of vital necessities such as food, water, healthcare, including reproductive healthcare, fuel, and other basic commodities.

The collapse of basic infrastructure and the disintegration of critical services, including hospitals, had compounded the plight of the population. The ability to monitor and document the situation on the ground had been significantly hindered due to the targeting of journalists, as well as the intimidation and threats faced by human rights defenders. This situation had resulted in an information blackout.

Ms. Mofokeng said that prior to the crisis, Sudan already had 3.7 million internally displaced persons within the country. However, due to the ongoing crisis, the International Organization for Migration estimated that more than 700,000 individuals had been internally displaced, and, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, more than 123,000 refugees had crossed into neighbouring countries. Tragically, the delivery of critically needed food assistance, vital infrastructure, and life-saving services had been subjected to what appeared to be deliberate and indiscriminate attacks, posing a grave threat to humanitarian personnel, including local healthcare workers, and impeding their efforts.

Despite the dedicated work of humanitarian organizations to expand their operations, the persisting conflict severely hampered access to essential provisions, including food and other necessities. Humanitarian organizations were diligently striving to expand their operations, as evidenced by the resumption of food distributions in eastern Sudan and ongoing responses in various other areas.

Urgent and decisive measures were imperative to tackle the worsening humanitarian crisis, protect the rights and well-being of vulnerable people, and rehabilitate critical infrastructure and services. The pressing situation necessitated an immediate and prolonged ceasefire, swiftly followed by the initiation of political negotiations aimed at fostering the establishment of a government led by civilians. The conflicting parties must cease all hostilities without delay, and uphold their responsibilities according to international law, ensuring the safety of civilians and vital civilian infrastructure, such as schools and hospitals. It was crucial for them to publicly commit to safeguarding humanitarian personnel, facilities, and resources, thereby ensuring unrestricted access to life-saving aid and assistance, given the escalating need for emergency support.

Concluding, Ms. Mofokeng said there must be the immediate initiation of independent and impartial investigations into the loss of civilian lives, injuries sustained by individuals, and cases of ill-treatment and other gross human rights violations inflicted upon humanitarian personnel, healthcare workers, human rights defenders, journalists, as well as into attacks on civilian infrastructures.

Statement by Country Concerned

HASSAN HAMID HASSAN, Permanent Representative of Sudan to the United Nations Office at Geneva, expressed condolences to all those who had fallen victim to the military confrontation in Sudan since the rebellion of the Rapid Support Forces on 15 April, and wished recovery to the victims. The integration of the Rapid Support Forces in the National Army, the Sudanese Armed Forces, was one of the main challenges of the transitional period, especially after the signing of the Juba peace agreement on 3 October 2020 and the integration of armed groups into the Army according to the principle of the one national army. Unfortunately, the issue of integration had been constantly postponed until it exploded on 15 April when Khartoum woke to witness a full military attack by rebel forces on all strategic facilities in Khartoum. What was happening was an internal affair. What the Sudanese Armed Forces was doing was a constitutional duty for all armies of the world.

The Council was thanked for its close interest and follow-up. However, Sudan's position on this special session was based on the following: while reiterating the absolute priority of the Government to the promotion and protection of human rights, under the present dire circumstances, the military clashes and the falling of victims, Sudan had a priority, namely to achieve a ceasefire and to save lives, in line with the Universal Declaration for Human Rights.

There were regional efforts underway to achieve a ceasefire and a truce, including the negotiations in Jeddah under the initiative of Saudi Arabia and the United States, as well as an initiative by the Inter-governmental Authority on Development. The latter was in line with the principle of African solutions for African problems. Sudan wanted more time to work on these regional efforts, without overcoming them or negatively affecting them.

The issue of Sudan was still before the Security Council, the international body in charge of peace and security. The issue of Sudan was also under the agenda of the Human Rights Council, and a session had been due to be held in June. So why was the Council rushing to hold this ad-hoc session now, especially without the support of any African or Arab countries, Mr. Hassan asked. Protecting and promoting human rights had always been a priority of the Sudanese Government.

Discussion

Speakers then took the floor, saying, among other things, that the effects of the conflict on the region would be very wide. There was an alternative to killing: the political track was vital and so important. The international community must do all it could to help Sudan return to the path of peace. The cycle of impunity in Sudan must be brought to an end. Dialogue and sending messages that encouraged reconciliation between the parties and strengthened stability in the transition period were all vital. There should be full respect for the territorial integrity, independence, and political identity of Sudan. The country had a right to have its views taken into account by the Council before any new Special Procedures were established or existing ones extended.

All parties should silence the guns immediately, and abide by ceasefire efforts. All should avoid attacks on civilian infrastructure. International human rights law and international humanitarian law must be respected. Rapid and secure humanitarian access must be guaranteed, and the safety of humanitarian, medical and diplomatic personnel must be ensured. The fighting must end to allow space for inclusive dialogue and mediation, to facilitate a return to the paths of democracy. External actors must refrain from fuelling the conflict. Reports of grave human rights abuses and violations were increasing, and the impact on women, children and persons with vulnerabilities was considerable.

Neighbouring countries had taken on life-saving work in hosting the hundreds of thousands of people who had left the country. The longer the conflict lasted, the greater its impact on the population, especially on children. Access to life-saving programmes, such as vaccinations and health services, were jeopardised. The supply of humanitarian aid must be facilitated and ensured. International humanitarian law was being repeatedly broken. Human rights also applied in times of conflict, and international humanitarian law must be respected. The international community was steadfast in its support for the people of Sudan and their struggle for peace and justice. Peace was urgently needed: but lasting peace and respect for human rights went hand in hand.

Some speakers said the strengthening of the mandate of the designated expert and of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights was crucial. The Jeddah negotiations were vital. It was important to ensure Sudan's cohesiveness: the international community should encourage dialogue and consensus between all stakeholders and reinforce stability during the transition period. All should respect the political identity, stability, independence and territorial integrity of Sudan. The stability of Sudan was vital for the stability and security of the region. The willingness of the institutions of Sudan to engage with the international community and with the Human Rights Council in particular was commended.

All sides must immediately respect the cease fire, and protect civilians and civilian infrastructure. Humanitarian needs had reached record levels. The immense suffering of the population of the country was deplored by many speakers. Safe corridors, whether by air, sea or land, should be created to evacuate innocent victims of the conflict and diplomatic personnel. The generalised plundering must be brought to an end.

The resolution was a call for peace and human rights: all should join and vote in favour of it, as the international community owed it to the people of Sudan. All initiatives to support Sudan were applauded and commended. The resolution must, however, be balanced and consensual, and be in the interest of the people of Sudan. There was a clear and urgent need for the Human Rights Council to respond to the situation: the longer it continued, the more human rights would be violated, and the harder it would be to achieve a lasting peaceful solution. All Member States should support the Sudanese people and support the unity of the international community. There must be full respect for international human rights law and international humanitarian law.

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights should place emphasis on strengthening the rule of law and promoting democracy: the resurgence of the crisis demonstrated a democratic deficit. The fundamental rights of the people of Sudan had been flouted for far longer than this current crisis. The necessary conditions must be established for a return to dialogue and cooperation. Any attack on humanitarian or health workers was deeply unacceptable. The Sudanese Forces must not take part in the fighting. The perpetrators of abuses must be held to account to end the cycle of violence.

What could be done to protect civilians and strengthen the protection of all the most vulnerable groups, a speaker asked. A prolonged conflict would only increase the sufferings of all in the country: inclusive dialogue was the only way to restore peace, and ensure a ceasefire and efforts to work towards a solution to the ongoing and continuing crisis. The ongoing fighting was plagued by increased levels of sexual - and gender-based violence. Democracy was the only path towards peace and justice for all Sudanese. Sudan had the wisdom to put itself back on track towards national development and create a favourable environment for internal and external dialogue for solving the problem.

All parties should solve their differences in the field of human rights through constructive dialogue and cooperation, said a speaker, expressing dissent with the holding of the Special Session, pointing out that without the cooperation of the country concerned, it could not lead to positive developments. The call for the special session and its outcomes on a matter that fell within the purview of the Security Council could not help to improve the situation. The urgency of the humanitarian situation in a country should not mean that the Council leave aside dialogue with the country concerned, as this only reduced the effectiveness of the mechanisms proposed, and also jettisoned the spirit of consensus of the body as a whole, which maintained as its focus the respect of human rights, international human rights law, and international humanitarian law. The Human Rights Council must avoid the politicisation of human rights.

Link: https://www.ungeneva.org/en/news-media/meeting-summary/2023/05/session-extraordinaire-du-conseil-des-droits-de-lhomme-sur-le

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Sudan violence forces at least 450,000 children to flee their homes

UNICEF

Increased humanitarian response is urgently needed as an estimated 82,000 children cross into neighbouring countries, and 368,000 more become internally displaced

11 May 2023

NEW YORK/AMMAN/NAIROBI/DAKAR, 11 May 2023 -- UNICEF is stepping up humanitarian support for children on the move affected by the ongoing conflict in Sudan. As violence continues, an estimated 82,000 children have fled to neighbouring countries and approximately 368,000 more are newly displaced inside the country.

According to UNHCR, more than 164,000 people have sought refuge across borders since 15 April, including in the Central African Republic, Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya and South Sudan. In addition, IOM estimates some 736,000 people are newly internally displaced within Sudan since the start of the conflict. Almost 3.8 million people were internally displaced within Sudan prior to the outbreak of violence.

"The brutal conflict in Sudan has exacted a devastating toll on the country's children," said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. "Thousands have experienced deeply traumatic events or been driven from their homes in search of relative safety. Their situation remains precarious, and continued support and assistance from the international community and humanitarian partners are critical."

Many communities receiving displaced populations are already affected by multiple crises, with basic services and existing humanitarian capacity already overstretched. The rainy season is expected to heighten access challenges and increase the risks of disease. The conflict is also disrupting cross-border trade and movement, leading to a sharp increase in food prices in neighbouring countries, with a higher risk of food insecurity in vulnerable host communities.

In Sudan, UNICEF has provided emergency health kits, essential supplies and medicines to hospitals and primary healthcare centres to support the treatment of the injured and access to life-saving and basic health services. UNICEF is also supporting displaced children and families, striving to ensure the continuity of essential services, including the provision of nutrition supplies to help keep more than 80 per cent of facilities functioning in affected areas. UNICEF interventions will also support the provision of urgent assistance to newly displaced children and families and affected host communities in the states where conflict spread remains limited and with the largest number of internally displaced. This week, a UNICEF shipment of water, sanitation and hygiene supplies landed in Port Sudan, with further shipments scheduled in the days ahead.

UNICEF is also working closely with governments and partner organisations in neighbouring countries to step up essential life-saving services and support to these vulnerable children. This support includes:

Provision of safe water through water trucking, water treatment, digging and repair of boreholes, sanitation facilities, hygiene items and non-food item (NFI) kits to meet refugees, returnees and host communities' needs.

Nutrition services for children under five suffering from severe acute malnutrition in health centres and mobile clinics, and the provision of nutrition supplies

Provision of health screening referrals, vaccination, essential drugs and medical kits to ensure access to health care and services benefiting both host and refugee populations.

Child Protection and Gender-Based Violence (GBV) prevention and response, including psychosocial support, child-friendly spaces, case management and referral to specialised services, family tracing and reunification, and supporting the case management of unaccompanied and separated children and prevention of childhood statelessness.

Education services to ensure refugee, returnee and host community children and adolescents can access inclusive, quality education and learning opportunities in safe and protective environments.

UNICEF is calling on the international community to urgently support its efforts by providing additional funding and resources to address the growing crisis. With sustained support, UNICEF aims to reach and assist more children in need and secure their rights to survival, development, and protection.

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UN Experts Urge Accountability for Atrocities Against Sudanese

By Lisa Schlein May 11, 2023

United Nations experts who attended an emergency session on Sudan at the U.N. Human Rights Council Thursday were thwarted in their appeal for independent investigations into atrocities allegedly committed against Sudanese civilians by two rival armed forces.

By a vote of 18 in favor, 14 against, and 15 abstentions, the 47-member Council adopted a resolution that condemns the human rights violations committed after the October 25, 2021, military coup in Sudan and the conflict that erupted this year on April 15.

The resolution says these actions have "led to the death of hundreds of civilians, thousands injured, increased levels of sexual and gender-based violence, mass internal and external displacement, and destruction of property."

The resolution calls for the U.N. designated expert on human rights in Sudan to monitor and document all allegations of human rights and abuses since the 2021 military takeover.

However, Hassan Shire, executive director of the rights organization DefendDefenders said the resolution "remains below what is objectively needed, namely an investigative mechanism that exposes and holds accountable those responsible for inflicting this misery on the Sudanese people."

Hope for democracy crushed

In his opening speech to the Council, Volker Turk, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, condemned the 2021 military coup, which was carried out by the commander of Sudan's army, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces leader, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.

Turk said the recent fighting, which was triggered by animosity between the two men, has plunged the country into catastrophe and once again has crushed the hoped-for transition to full civilian rule and democracy.

"I strongly condemn this wanton violence, in which both sides have trampled international humanitarian law, notably the principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution," Turk said.

He noted the clashes between the two rival forces and armed attacks, including shelling and airstrikes in densely populated residential areas in the capital Khartoum, have put millions of civilians at acute risk and have prevented them from accessing critical supplies and assistance.

"Today, immense damage has been done, destroying the hopes and rights of millions of people," he said. "It is essential that both parties urgently commit to an inclusive political process and to a negotiated peace."

Turk called on Sudan's rival commanders to establish a humanitarian truce "to enable lifesaving deliveries of aid; to allow for safe passage for civilians from areas of hostilities; and to protect humanitarian supplies from looting."

He enjoined them to respect international humanitarian law, to protect civilians, and bring an end to human rights violations.

'An internal affair'

Several humanitarian cease-fires declared since the start of fighting last month have failed to stop the violence.

The chair of the Coordination Committee of Special Procedures, Tlaleng Mofokeng, echoed the High Commissioner's plea for the warring parties to immediately end the fighting and to stop targeting the civilian population and infrastructure.

She called for immediate, independent and impartial investigations into the loss of civilian lives and "gross human rights violations inflicted upon humanitarians, human rights defenders and other civic activists."

"Establishing robust investigative and accountability mechanisms is of utmost importance, as they are instrumental in effectively monitoring, documenting, investigating, and prosecuting violations," she said.

In a testy interchange with council members, Hassan Hamid Hassan, Sudan's ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, said what is happening in his country is "an internal affair" and what the Sudanese Armed Forces are doing is "a constitutional duty for all armies of the world."

He questioned why the council was rushing to hold this ad hoc session now, "especially without the support of any African or Arab countries."

Hassan said that the protection and promotion of human rights has always been and always will remain a priority for his government.

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UN Calls for Effort to Push Sudan's Warring Sides Toward Resolution

By VOA News May 11, 2023

United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk urged countries with influence in Africa to encourage Sudan's warring sides to end the fighting that began last month.

Addressing an emergency session of the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, Turk said the conflict has pushed "this much-suffering country into catastrophe."

"I condemn the use of violence by individuals who have no regard for the lives and fundamental rights of millions of their own compatriots," Turk said.

Fighting in Sudan's capital worsened Wednesday, with witnesses reporting airstrikes, rocket-propelled grenades and gunfire in several neighborhoods.

The Sudanese army, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, struck targets in Khartoum and its two sister cities, Omdurman and Bahri. The army is trying to dislodge the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, led by General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, which have dug into the residential areas they have held since fighting began in mid-April.

According to the World Health Organization, the conflict has left more than 600 people dead and more than 5,000 others injured.

Delegations from the army and the RSF have been meeting in Saudi Arabia for almost a week. A Western diplomat familiar with the talks told Reuters that mediators were focusing on an agreement on a cease-fire and humanitarian access.

U.S. Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland has said U.S. negotiators were "cautiously optimistic" on both points.

The two generals are former allies who together orchestrated an October 2021 military coup that derailed a transition to civilian rule following the 2019 ouster of longtime leader Omar al-Bashir.

Tensions between the generals have been growing over disagreements about how the RSF should be integrated in the army and who should oversee that process. The restructuring of the military was part of an effort to restore the country to civilian rule and end the political crisis sparked by the 2021 military coup.

Repeated cease-fire agreements have failed to end the conflict or even do much to reduce the violence.

The U.N. refugee agency said Tuesday more than 700,000 Sudanese have fled their homes since the violence broke out last month  a figure that is more than double the 334,000 the agency reported to be internally displaced last week.

The International Organization for Migration said an additional 100,000 Sudanese have fled the country.

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.

The WFP said Wednesday that up to 2.5 million additional people in Sudan are "expected to slip into hunger" in the near future due to the violence. The U.N. agency said this would take acute food insecurity in Sudan to record levels.

More than 19 million people, or two-fifths of Sudan's population, are currently affected, according to the WFP.

Some information in this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.

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Youth Party Seeks to Move Thailand Forward from Army Control

By Vijitra Duangdee May 11, 2023

At a Bangkok intersection, 34-year-old human rights lawyer Jammy shouts over the traffic through a megaphone urging commuters to vote for Move Forward, Thailand's most radical party, which is hoping the youth vote in Sunday's election rewards it with a role in a coalition government.

Momentum is building behind the party, with polls putting it second, behind Thailand's biggest party, the pro-democracy Pheu Thai, and making its articulate leader Pita Limcharoenrat the most popular candidate for prime minister.

The target is simple, Jammy - a mother of two whose full name is Sasinan Thamnithinan - told VOA last week.

"We want the army to leave power," she said.

"I want my kids to grow up in a democratic country, where they can make their own free choices. I think many Thai people want the same," she said.

The army has not allowed elected governments to survive for long during Thailand's messy history and has carried out a coup every seven years on average since 1932, when Thailand became a constitutional monarchy.

The last one was in 2014 by Prayuth Chan-ocha, then army chief, who later rebranded himself as a civilian premier and has not left office since.

He is seeking a return to power in the election Sunday and has a good chance with the backing of a conservative alliance of lawmakers and a 250-member Senate handpicked by him.

But after nine years in charge, Prayuth has few fans among younger voters.

Forty percent of eligible voters were born in the early 1980s and later, with 4 million casting votes for the first time Sunday.

Those votes are expected to go to the Move Forward Party, experts say.

"Move Forward is the only party that talks about structural change," said Sayo, 24, who did not want to give her full name, selling party T-shirts at a recent rally in central Bangkok.

"This country is run by capitalists who are squeezing everything out from the people at the bottom," she said.

In the final week of campaigning, the party has sent its star speakers across the country in four tour buses north, south, east and west, pulling large crowds as they travel back to Bangkok in a caravan dubbed "all roads lead to Government House."

"We're not really fully democratic ... the country has been militarized for a very long time so the power structure and national budget focuses on this militarized government," party prime ministerial candidate Pita told VOA.

A Harvard-educated business executive, Pita insists his party is the only one addressing Thailand's deep-seated problems.

Move Forward wants to open Thailand's monopoly-dominated economy, end conscription, and protect freedoms after years under Prayuth, during which government critics have been arrested, charged or threatened.

"We have been monopolized so the inequality of the money in our pocket is not so much bad luck but is structurally inherited," the 42-year-old Harvard graduate added.

A May 5 poll by The Nation Media Group, Thailand's largest, of over 100,000 voters put Move Forward on track to win nearly 80 constituency seats and another 30 party-list seats. Those are selected in a second vote which reflects the proportion of ballots cast.

Analysts are more cautious, saying it will be hard for Move Forward to win 100 seats, but it may eat up some of the support for Pheu Thai, the party of the political dynasty of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, which is expected win most seats in the fully elected 500-member House of Representatives. Thaksin's daughter, Paetongtarn Shinawatra is one of its candidates to be prime minister.

It shares Move Forward's desire to get the army out of politics and the two parties could form a coalition if their combined seats get near a majority of the 700-member two-chamber parliament.

Threats ahead

Move Forward's rivals in the conservative establishment, though, say it is a party of upstarts who are determined to rip up Thailand's culture and hierarchy, headed by the powerful monarchy.

Poll success often attracts enemies in Thailand. Shinawatra parties have been hit by two coups in 17 years, with a number of their parties disbanded by courts.

Move Forward's first incarnation, Future Forward, was dissolved a few months after the 2019 poll, the first election it ever contested in which its 6 million votes took it to third place and stunned the establishment parties.

Its charismatic leader at the time, Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, was banned from political office for a decade, sparking mass protests, which for the first time raised the question of reform of the monarchy and the tough royal defamation criminal law that protects it.

"The chances [of dissolution] this time are pretty low ... but there's always a risk because Thai laws allow dissolution of political parties over the slightest thing," said Khemthong Tonsakulrungruang, a constitutional law scholar at Chulalongkorn University told VOA.

"The courts may be hesitant as the last time they dissolved the party, there were huge street protests," Khemthong added.

Any move against a party could take several months, in what is likely to be an unpredictable, drawn-out period between the polls and a government being formed.

The party says it is ready for whatever lies ahead and is confident in the long-term in its vision for the country.

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WFP calls for urgent funding to provide emergency food assistance to over two million people in Chad including new Sudanese refugees

World Food Programme

11 May 2023

N'DJAMENA -- The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) urgently requires US$162.4 million to support the Government of Chad in assisting 2.3 million people in urgent need of food assistance, including newly arrived refugees from Sudan as well as the 600,000 refugees already in Chad, communities hosting displaced people, internally displaced people, and severely food insecure people in Chad during the June-August lean season.

WFP has been responding to growing food needs in Chad, but funding shortfalls mean that food assistance for refugees and internally displaced people will come to a complete halt this month if no additional funds are received. The already precarious food and nutrition security of nearly a million people will immediately deteriorate.

"We need urgent funding to provide rapid food assistance to all vulnerable people in the country. We are prepositioning food to respond to the Sudan refugee crisis, but it is a race against time as the rainy season hits in June and access to many areas in Chad will get cut off," said Pierre Honnorat, WFP Representative and Country Director in Chad.

"Rapid support from the international community is essential if we are to continue supporting the Chadian Government in providing a coordinated, effective, and life-saving response," Honnorat added.

Since hostilities erupted in Sudan three weeks ago, over 30,000 people have crossed the border into Chad to escape violence, and thousands more may arrive in the coming weeks - according to the government and UNHCR. These new arrivals add to the massive number of refugees already sheltering in Chad after fleeing from previous conflicts - totalling more than half a million people. Most new arrivals are women and young children under five who arrive with nothing, are scared and hungry - many of them taking refuge in the shade of trees.

The humanitarian situation in Chad is dire, as the country is experiencing a fourth consecutive year of acute food and nutrition insecurity, with nearly 1.9 million people needing food assistance during the June-August lean season when families' food reserves dwindle. Chad already hosts over 600,000 refugees, mainly from Sudan and 240,000 internally displaced people.

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The United Nations World Food Programme is the world's largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.

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WFP operations in Palestine risk suspension due to funding shortfall

World Food Programme

11 May 2023

EAST JERUSALEM -- The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) announced today that by next month 200,000 people - 60 percent of the people the agency assists in Palestine - will no longer be receiving food assistance due to a severe funding shortage. By August, WFP will be forced to completely suspend operations in the West Bank and Gaza if no funding is received.

"Desperate times call for desperate measures. We have no option but to stretch the limited resources we have to ensure that the needs of the most vulnerable families are met. They will go hungry without food assistance," said Samer Abdeljaber, WFP Representative and Country Director in Palestine. "These are difficult choices, but we have already exhausted all options to stretch the funding that we have. We are grateful for the constant support that we received from donors over the years, but needs are growing, and resources are not meeting these needs."

This month, the funding crunch forced WFP to reduce the value of its cash assistance by around 20 percent, to US$10.3 per person. WFP urgently needs US$51 million to maintain its life-saving food and cash assistance in Palestine until the end of the year.

Vulnerable families in Gaza and the West Bank have been pushed to the limits by the combined effects of growing insecurity, a deteriorating economy, and the rising cost of living that is driving food insecurity up. Due to the steep rise in food prices and the constant instability, even the most basic needs have become unattainable leaving 1.84 million Palestinians - 35 percent of the population - food insecure.

The situation is particularly dire in Gaza, where unemployment rates stand at 45.3 percent and two out of every three people struggle to afford to put food on the table.

Over the past year, most families have been unable to cope in the face of global food price increases, accelerated by the conflict in Ukraine. In 2022, food prices in Palestine reached their highest in six years.

"This past year has been a nightmare for thousands of poorer Palestinian families who have been pushed to their absolute limit," said Abdeljaber. "The average cost of a family's food needs increased by 20 percent. For Palestinians with low purchasing power, every percentage point increase in prices leaves them unable to meet the most basic food needs."

WFP's assistance accounts for an average of nearly half what people spend on food. The loss of assistance will also take its toll on the fragile local economy impacting a network of 300 local shops contracted by WFP across Palestine. Each month, WFP injects around US$3 million into the Palestinian economy through its direct programmes related to electronic cash transfers that allow people to buy wheat flour, vegetable oil, and frozen meat. Through its cash-based transfers platform, WFP also facilitates the transfer of US$10 million every month to vulnerable families on behalf of humanitarian and development partners.

"We urge government donors and the private sector to continue their support to WFP during this difficult time," said Abdeljaber. "Continued donor support has allowed us to provide a lifeline to Palestinians as well as build sustainable food solutions in Palestine. We need now, more than ever, to ensure that work does not stop."

# # #

The United Nations World Food Programme is the world's largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.

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Storm Shadow

Britain on 11 May 2023 became the first country to begin supplying Ukraine with long-range cruise missiles, which will allow Kyiv's forces to hit Russian troops and supply dumps deep behind the front lines. A British official noted that London can afford such supplies, because Russia doesnt like us very much anyway. He added that his country had previously taken the initiative to take certain steps before its allies for the first time, including training Ukrainian pilots. We know that if we give something, it becomes easier for others, the official said.

"I will not name the exact number [of missiles transferred] for operational reasons. However, this is a sufficient number to satisfy Ukraine's needs for this type of weapon at this stage. We will keep this issue under control to ensure that we do our part situation," Wallace said.

The development came as Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said his countrys military needed more time to prepare an anticipated counteroffensive aimed at opening a new chapter in the war. British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace confirmed that the UK is sending Ukraine long-range cruise missiles to help push back Russian forces. The range of such missiles makes it possible to strike deep into the territory of "new regions" of Russia.

Russia will be forced to move the threat away from its borders if the Kyiv regime receives more long-range systems from the West, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on 21 February 2023 in a message to the Federal Assembly. "One circumstance should be clear to everyone: the more long-range Western systems will come to Ukraine, the further we will be forced to move the threat away from our borders. This is natural," the head of the Russian state said. "I won't dwell now on the West's attempts to turn the tide of hostilities, on their plans to increase military supplies. Everyone knows this already," Putin said.

The supply of long-range missiles by the UK to the Kyiv regime will require an adequate response from the Russian military, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on 11 May 2023. He stressed that the Kremlin took a "very negative" attitude to the supply of long-range missiles by London to Kyiv. "This will require an adequate response from our military, who, naturally, from a military point of view, will make appropriate decisions against this background," the press secretary of the head of the Russian state said.

Russian anti-aircraft missile systems (SAMs) of short and medium range of the Tor, Buk families have already demonstrated in Syria the ability to destroy Storm Shadow missiles, which London provides to Kiev . This opinion was expressed by Alexei Leonkov, editor of Arsenal of the Fatherland, in an interview with TASS on 11 May 2023.

As Leonkov noted, Storm Shadow is an anti-ship missile that can also hit ground targets. It was developed as an Anglo-French analogue of the American Tomahawk missile. For the first time, our air defense systems met them during the attack on Damascus on April 14, 2018. Then they shot down these missiles. <...> The technology by which this missile operates is called fire and forget: it clearly follows a route that it was laid down. The route cannot be changed, self-destruction cannot be programmed, "it flew - it hit. However, our Buk and Tor systems, which were in Syria, recognized it and shot it down," Leonkov said.

At the same time, the expert noted that the rocket can reach speeds of up to 800 km / h and make an inconspicuous flight at low altitude, for example, almost above the edge of the forest. I think that the flights of all Ukrainian drones that flew to the Kaluga and Ryazan regions and which we shot down, probed the paths and routes. If this cruise missile is launched along the same routes, then, of course, the threat will increase several times, explained the interlocutor of the agency, stressing that "air defense systems are not omnipotent and do not have the ability to shine through forests and terrain."

Wallace told lawmakers in the House of Commons that "the Prime Minister and I have now taken the decision to provide longer range capabilities. In December, I informed the House that I was developing options to respond to Russias continued aggression in a calibrated and determined manner. "Today, I can confirm that the UK has donated Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine. Storm Shadow is a long-range conventional precision strike capability. It compliments the long-range systems already gifted, including HIMARS and Harpoon missiles, as well as Ukraines own Neptune cruise missiles and longer-range munitions already gifted.

"The donation of these weapon systems gives Ukraine the best chance to defend themselves against Russias continued brutality. Especially, the deliberate targeting of Ukrainian Civilian Infrastructure, which is against International Law. Ukraine has a right to be able to defend itself against this. Their use of Storm Shadow will allow Ukraine to push back Russian forces based within Ukrainian Sovereign Territory.

"Im sure the House will understand that I will not go into further details of the capability. But while these weapons will give Ukraine new capability, members should recognise that these systems are not in the same league as the Russian AS-24 KILLJOY hypersonic missile or Shahed Iranian one-way attack drones, or their Kalibr cruise missile with a range of over 2,000km. Roughly 7 times that of the Storm Shadow missile.

"Russia must recognise that their actions alone have led to such systems being provided to Ukraine. It is my judgement as the Defence Secretary that this is a calibrated proportionate response to Russias escalations."

He didn't say how many are being sent. Wallace said the missiles are now going into or are in the country itself. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pledged in February 2022 that Britain would be the first country to give Ukraine the longer-range weapons that it has sought from Western allies. The missiles give Ukraine capacity to strike well behind the front lines, including in Russia-occupied Crimea. UK media reported that Ukraine has pledged not to use the missiles to attack Russia itself. Wallace said the missiles would be used to push back Russian forces in Ukrainian sovereign territory. He said UK support for Ukraine is responsible, calibrated, coordinated and agile.

The UK Ministry of Defense was considering supplying Ukraine with Storm Shadow air-launched cruise missiles with a range of 300 kilometers, the Washington Post (WP) reported in a May 8 article. The publication refers to a procurement notice published on May 2 by the International Fund for Ukraine (IFU), a platform with the participation of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Denmark, through which Kyiv conducts tenders for the purchase of weapons for its needs.

In the notice, the UK Ministry of Defense asked for proposals for weapons capable of striking at a range of up to 300 kilometers. The proposals were expected within three days. According to a British official, who declined to confirm the type, timing, or quantity of weapons under consideration, no final decision has been made. At the same time, the publication notes that the requested characteristics and capabilities are almost completely consistent with Storm Shadow missiles.

In addition, according to WP, in one of the secret US documents released in April, US intelligence confirmed that London intends to transfer an undetermined number of Storm Shadow missiles to Kyiv, along with British personnel to help with targeting. Storm Shadow can be installed on Ukrainian Soviet-made jets. Their range allows them to reach the territory of Russia.

The United States has consistently refused to supply Ukraine with long-range weapons, such as ATACMS missiles for multiple launch rocket systems, citing fears that Ukraine would use them to strike at Russian territory. According to the Americans, this could lead to an escalation. However, they do not object to the transfer of long-range missiles by Britain.

On 08 February 2023, during a visit to Kyiv, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak confirmed that Britain was preparing to transfer "more long-range weapons" to Ukraine. Until now, the British authorities have not specified what exactly is meant by this. According to British military observers, it could be Harpoon anti-ship missiles with a range of up to 240 km, which can be modified to strike ground targets, or Storm Shadow aircraft missiles.

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Russo-Ukraine War - 11 May 2023 - Day 442

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A number of claims and counterclaims are being made on the Ukraine-Russia conflict on the ground and online. While GlobalSecurity.org takes utmost care to accurately report this news story, we cannot independently verify the authenticity of all statements, photos and videos.

On 24 February 2022, Ukraine was suddenly and deliberately attacked by land, naval and air forces of Russia, igniting the largest European war since the Great Patriotic War. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a "special military operation" (SVO - spetsialnaya voennaya operatsiya) in Ukraine in response to the appeal of the leaders of the "Donbass republics" for help. That attack is a blatant violation of the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine. Putin stressed that Moscow's goal is the demilitarization and denazification of the country. The military buildup in preceeding months makes it obvious that the unprovoked and dastardly Russian attack was deliberately planned long in advance. During the intervening time, the Russian government had deliberately sought to deceive the world by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.

"To initiate a war of aggression... is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole." [Judgment of the International Military Tribunal]

The UK Ministry of Defence reported that since the start of 2023, the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) has ramped up a scheme to recruit Russian prisoners to fight in Ukraine. It is likely that up to 10,000 convicts signed up in April 2023 alone.

From summer 2022, prisoners were the key pool of recruits for the Wagner Group private military company's operations in Ukraine. However, the group highly likely lost access to the Russian penal system in February 2023 when its public feud with the MoD was escalating.

The MoD's prisoner recruitment campaign is part of a broader, intense effort by the Russian military to bolster its numbers, while attempting to avoid implementing new mandatory mobilisation, which would be very unpopular with the Russian public.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that during this day, Russian forces launched 6x missile attacks, in particular on the cities of Slovyansk, Kostiantynivka and Zaporizhzhia. In addition, they carried out 28x airstrikes and more than 20 rounds from MLRS on the positions of our troops and populated areas. Unfortunately, there are deaths and injuries among the civilian population, private residential buildings, other civil and administrative infrastructure have been damaged.

The threat of launching missile and air strikes on the entire territory of Ukraine remains high.

Russia continues to concentrate its main efforts on the Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Mar'yinka axes. During the day, Russian forces carried out more than 30 attacks on the specified areas of the front. The fiercest battles continue for the cities of Bakhmut and Mar'yinka.

Volyn' and Polissya axes: no signs of the formation of offensive groups were found. The Russian Federation continues to use the territory, material and technical base of the republic of belarus for training and combat coordination of units of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, formed by mobilization, for their further involvement in hostilities on the territory of our State.

Sivershchyna and Slobozhanshchyna axes: Russia continues to maintain a military presence in the areas bordering Ukraine.

During the day, Russian forces carried out airstrikes on the areas of Krasnyi Khutir of Chernihiv Oblast and Krenidivka, Znob-Novgorodske, Uralove of Sumy Oblast. They carried out mortar and artillery attacks on the settlements of Novovasylivka, Ukrainy, Iskriskivshchyna, Bilopylla, Yastrubyne, Kindrativka, and Basivka of the Sumy Oblast, as well as Guryiv, Hlyboke, Staritsa, Bugruvatka, Ohirtseve, Gatyshche, Vovchansk, Tyche, Synelnikove, Zybyne, Bochkove, Budarki and Velikiy Burluk in Kharkiv Oblast.

Kupyansk axis: during the day, Russian forces did not conduct offensive operations. The settlements of Odradne, Dvorichanske, Kam'ianka, Topoli, Krasne Pershe, Figolivka, Novomlynsk, Dvorichna, Tabaivka of the Kharkiv Oblast and Stelmakhivka of the Luhansk Oblast were hit by Russian artillery and mortar attacks.

Lyman axis: during the day, Russian forces carried out offensive actions in the Serebryansk forestry area, without any success. They carried out an air strike on the areas of the settlement of Spirne and the settlements bordering the frontline, namely: Makiivka, Nevske of Luhansk Oblast, Belogorivka, Torske, Serebryanka, Verkhnyokamianske, Spirne, Berestov and Vesele of Donetsk Oblast which were subjected to artillery shelling.

Bakhmut axis: Russia continues to advance. Fighting continues in the city of Bakhmut. During the day, they conducted unsuccessful offensive actions in the axis of the settlement of Stupochki. Russians launched an airstrike on the areas of the settlements of Bakhmut, Kurdyumivka and New York. Vasyukivka, Orikhovo-Vasylivka, Novomarkove, Markove, Bakhmut, Ivanivske, Chasiv Yar, Kostyantynivka, Oleksandro-Shultyne, Pivdenne, Toretsk, Severnye and New York of the Donetsk Oblast were affected by Russian shelling.

Avdiivka axis: Russian forces conducted unsuccessful offensive actions. Shelled the settlements of Novokalynove, Berdychi, Stepove, Avdiivka, Severna and Pervomaiske of the Donetsk Oblast.

Mar'yinka axis: units of the Ukrainian defense forces repelled numerous Russian attacks. At the same time, the settlements of Gostre, Georgiivka, Mar'yinka and Pobyeda of the Donetsk Oblast were subjected to Russian shelling.

Shakhtars'ke axis: during the day, Russian forces carried out offensive actions in the Novomykhailivka area, without success. They carried out an airstrike on the areas of the settlements of Vugledar and Prechistivka. Russians shelled the settlements of Paraskoviivka, Kostyantynivka, Novomykhailivka, Vugledar, Novoukrainka and Prechistivka.

Zaporizhzhia and Kherson axes: Russia continues to conduct defensive operations. They launched an airstrike on the areas of the settlements of Mala Tokmachka, Omelnyk and Kizomys. Meanwhile, the Russian invaders carried out shelling of settlements bordering the line of military confrontation. In particular: Vremivka, Novopil', Donetsk Oblast; Olhivske, Gulyaipole, Zaliznychne, Gulyaipilske, Biloghirya, Mala Tokmachka and Kam'ianske of the Zaporizhzhia Oblast; Nikopol', Dnipropetrovsk Oblast; Zolota Balka, Vesele, Lviv, Ivanivka, Antonivka, Dniprovske, Kizomys of the Kherson Oblast and the city of Kherson.

During the day, the Ukrainian Air Force carried out 13x strikes on areas where Russian personnel and military equipment were concentrated. In addition, during this day, Ukrainian defenders destroyed 7x Russian UAVs of various types. Units of missile and artillery troops hit 8x control points, 13x areas of concentration of manpower, 1x ammunition warehouse, 1x fuel and lubricant warehouse, 5x artillery units in a firing position, 1x means of air defense and 2x+ more important Russian targets.

The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported that in Kupyansk direction, the attacks, launched aviation and artillery of the Zapad Group of Forces, have resulted in the neutralisation of the AFU units close to Dvurechnaya, Timkovka (Kharkov region), and Novosyolovskoye (Lugansk People's Republic).

The actions of one Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group have been disrupted close to Ivanovka (Kharkov region).

The enemy losses were up to 125 Ukrainian servicemen, four motor vehicles and one Akatsiya self-propelled artillery system.

One ordnance depot of the AFU 67nd Mechanised Brigade has been destroyed near Neskuchnoye (Kharkov region).

In Krasny Liman direction, the attacks, launched by Operational-Tactical and Army aviation, as well as artillery of the Tsentr Group of Forces, have resulted in the neutralisation of the AFU units close to Nevskoye, Chervonaya Dibrova (Lugansk People's Republic), and Serebryanka (Donetsk People's Republic).

The enemy losses were up to 65 Ukrainian servicemen, two armoured fighting vehicles and two D-20 and D-30 howitzers.

In Donetsk direction, the assault detachments continue to conduct the offensive against the enemy in the western part of Artyomovsk. The Airborne Troops were supporting the units and restraining Ukrainian military personnel on the flanks.

Russian aviation have made 8 sorties in this area during the day. Artillery of the Yug Group of Forces have performed 95 fire tasks overnight.

Operational-Tactical and Army aviation, Missile Troops and Artillery of the Russian Group of Forces have hit the enemy manpower and hardware close to Krasnoye, Kalinovka and Chasov Yar (Donetsk People's Republic's).

The enemy losses were up to 230 Ukrainian servicemen and mercenaries, six motor vehicles, one D-30 howitzer and one U.S.-manufactured AN/TPQ-50 counter-battery radar.

One artillery ammunition depot of the AFU 54th Mechanised Brigade has been destroyed near Kramatorsk (Donetsk People's Republic).

In South Donetsk and Zaporozhye directions, the attacks, launched by aviation and artillery of the Vostok Group of Forces have resulted in the neutralisation of the enemy units close to Ugledar and Prechistovka (Donetsk People's Republic), Malinovka, Gulyai Pole, Novodanilovka and Kamenskoye (Zaporozhye region).

The enemy losses were over 110 Ukrainian servicemen and seven motor vehicles.

One munition depot of the AFU 102th Artillery Brigade has been destroyed near Gulyai Pole (Zaporozhye region).

In Kherson direction, the enemy losses were up to 20 Ukrainian servicemen, three motor vehicles, one U.S.-manufactured M777 artillery system, one Msta-B howitzer and one Gvozdika self-propelled artillery system.

In addition, one ammunition depot of the 124th Territorial Defence Brigade was destroyed close to Kherson.

Operational-Tactical and Army aviation, Missile Troops and Artillery of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation have neutralised 96 artillery units of the AFU at their firing positions, manpower and military hardware at 123 areas.

Air defence facilities have shot down one Su-25 airplane of Ukrainian Air Force near Chervony Mayak (Kherson region).

12 HIMARS multiple-launch rocket system projectiles have been also intercepted.

Air defence facilities have shot down 12 Ukrainian UAVs close to Belogorovka (Lugansk People's Republic), Opytnoye, Valerianovka, Novobakhmutovka (Donetsk People's Republic), Rabotino, Chubaryovka, Novoprokofyevka and Chapayevka (Zaporozhye region).

In total, 421 airplanes, 230 helicopters, 4,074 unmanned aerial vehicles, 421 air defence missile systems, 9,069 tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, 1,098 fighting vehicles equipped with MLRS, 4,787 field artillery guns and mortars, as well as 10,124 units of special military vehicles have been destroyed since the beginning of the special military operation.





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With Leaders Locked Up, Proud Boys Embrace New Cause: Anti-LGBTQ Activism

By Masood Farivar May 11, 2023

Four leaders of the far-right extremist Proud Boys group are facing decades behind bars after a jury found them guilty of seditious conspiracy for their role in the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The convictions last week have decimated the group's top leadership but have not destroyed it. Rank-and-filed Proud Boys have already moved on to their next cause: anti-LGBTQ activism.

For the past two years, the Proud Boys have waged a concerted campaign to harass and menace LGBTQ people, zeroing in on Drag Queen Story Hours and performances as their main target.

Drag story hours, in which storytellers dressed in drag read to children in libraries, schools and bookstores, were once largely confined to the West Coast but have exploded in popularity in recent years across the country.

Organizers say the events celebrate diversity, encourage reading, and inspire authenticity among children.

But conservative religious groups and far-right organizations say they are designed to "groom" and "sexualize" children.

Publicizing a drag event often causes a chain reaction. A right-wing media outlet blasts it. A local group rages and announces a protest. And far-right groups like the Proud Boys show up.

According to data compiled by LGBTQ media advocacy group GLAAD and the Anti-Defamation League, there have been 166 incidents of anti-LGBTQ protests and threats targeting drag events since early 2022. Far-right groups such as the Proud Boys took part in at least 35 of the incidents.

Sarah Moore, who researches anti-LGBTQ+ groups for both GLAAD and ADL, said the Proud Boys are one of "the most active extremist groups involved in anti-LGBTQ plus activities."

"They attend a large number of drag show protests across the country and also participate in a number of other activities that are targeting the LGBTQ+ community," Moore said in an interview with VOA.

Most protests have been peaceful, but some have turned violent.

Last July, a Proud Boys associate was charged with a hate crime after he allegedly vandalized a Chicago suburb bakery that was hosting a drag show.

In March, fights erupted outside an LGBTQ community center in New York where state Attorney General Letitia James was hosting a Drag Story Hour.

Also in March, a bomb threat forced terrified attendees to evacuate a Kentucky pet adoption center that was hosting a drag time story show.

The Proud Boys describe themselves as "Western chauvinists who refuse to apologize for creating the modern world." They deny being racists or violent.

But extremism researchers say they have a violent agenda and harbor virulently hateful views of women, Muslims, transgender people and immigrants.

Before the attack of January 6, the Proud Boys were known for clashing with anti-fascist activists and showing up at former President Donald Trump's political rallies.

Since then, they have avoided national attention and focused on local protests in defense of conservative causes.

They initially targeted vaccine mandates, the teaching of critical race theory in public schools and abortion rights.

But those issues didn't have the "staying power" that the Proud Boys were seeking, said Sam Jones, head of communications at the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED).

"Then in 2022, for reasons that we're still teasing out, there was this perfect storm of a focus on demonizing the trans community in particular, but the LGBTQ community at large," Jones said in an interview with VOA.

ACLED's research captures the dramatic rise in anti-LGBT+ mobilization over the past three years: 17 incidents in 2020, 65 in 2021 and 241 in 2022.

The Proud Boys were involved in 58 anti-LGBTQ demonstrations last year, up from 13 the previous year.

The figures include protests, violent demonstrations and political violence.

The trend has continued this year. ACLED documented a total of 97 incidents through April 28, 19 involving the Proud Boys.

The attacks have alarmed the LGBTQ community.

But the Proud Boys may not be the biggest threat the LGBTQ community faces. A more pressing danger, activists and experts say, comes from the wave of anti-LGBTQ legislation sweeping across the country.

Tennessee became the first state this year to ban public drag shows, and more than a dozen other states want to impose similar restrictions.

"You don't want to overstate their influence," Jones said of the Proud Boys. "This is also part of something that politicians are engaging in, something that large media figures are engaging in."

What happens to the Proud Boys after their leaders' convictions is unclear.

Some experts believe their leaders' incarceration could weaken the group and lower their profile.

That's what happened with the Oath Keepers, another extremist group that stormed the Capitol.

After the Oath Keepers' top leaders were convicted last year, "their national activity just declined significantly," Jones said.

But the Proud Boys are a decentralized group. They have more than 70 chapters across the country, each with its own power and agenda.

One factor that could shape the group's future is their relationship with Trump's nascent presidential campaign, Jones said.

The Proud Boys were among Trump's most fervent supporters during the 2020 presidential campaign and, according to prosecutors, ready to unleash violence to keep him in power.

But after the botched attempt to overturn the 2020 election results, many Proud Boys felt abandoned by Trump, with some even accusing him of instigating the January 6 riots.

Will the group stick with Trump or break away from him? Will they sputter or resurface stronger? These are questions that loom over their future.

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Moscow Mechanism expert report to OSCE Permanent Council on Belarus

OSCE | Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe

11 May 2023

Today the OSCE Moscow Mechanism rapporteur Professor HervA Ascensio presented his findings to the OSCE Permanent Council, collected in his report entitled 'Report on the serious threat to the OSCE human dimension in Belarus since 5 November 2020'.

Ascensio was appointed rapporteur by the 38 participating States that invoked the OSCE's Moscow Mechanism on 23 March to examine "threats to the fulfilment of the provisions of the human dimension posed by human rights violations and abuses in the Republic of Belarus".

The Mechanism, agreed by consensus by all OSCE participating States, allows for an investigation to be launched without consensus and independently of the OSCE Chairpersonship, institutions and decision-making bodies if one State, supported by at least nine others, "considers that a particularly serious threat to the fulfilment of the provisions of the [OSCE] human dimension has arisen in another participating State".

The Permanent Council is one of the OSCE's main decision-making bodies, and convenes each week in Vienna to discuss developments in the OSCE area and make decisions on future activities.

The report, which contains numerous recommendations, is available here.

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Moscow Mechanism Report on Belarus: joint statement to the OSCE

Invoking States welcome the OSCE Moscow Mechanism report and call for the Belarussian authorities to uphold their international obligations.

11 May 2023

Mr. Chair, I am delivering this statement on behalf of the following 38 delegations who on 23 March 2023 invoked the Moscow Mechanism as a response to the alarming human rights situation in Belarus: Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.

On behalf of the invoking States, I wish to thank Professor HervA Ascensio for his work as Rapporteur under the OSCE's Moscow Mechanism. We are most grateful for your professional and independent approach to your mandate and for the thorough and well-documented report that you have produced. We regret that the Belarusian authorities refused to cooperate. The fact that you were met by victims of repression who seemingly had lost faith in positive changes, and who reported that fellow victims were terrified and intimidated from providing evidence, is a stark reminder of the severity of the situation.

I sincerely hope that all 57 OSCE participating States will do justice to your report by considering carefully your findings and recommendations, which are addressed, not only to Belarus, but also to OSCE participating States and the wider International Community.

Mr. Chair, we invoked the Moscow Mechanism to underscore our concerns about the continued deterioration of the internal human rights situation in Belarus and to explore the more recent development of serious abuses linked to Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine.

For more than two years, we have continuously called upon the Belarusian authorities to put an end to repression and violence. To protect the victims and to ensure the safety of all individuals, without discrimination. To address the recommendations of the 2020 Moscow Mechanism Report. To live up to OSCE and other international commitments and principles. To abide by international law. And to end impunity for human rights violations. But the delegation of Belarus and the Belarusian authorities have - again and again - ignored our legitimate concerns and requests.

The independent report by Professor Ascensio has fully confirmed how Belarusian authorities are continuing their brutal and unprecedented crackdown on opposing voices. The report concludes that "so far, the Government of Belarus has not taken any steps to put an end to this situation, nor to provide effective remedies for the victims. On the contrary, the repressive policy has been steadily increasing over the past two years".

Legislative amendments have been introduced with the aim of providing the Belarusian authorities with "a full arsenal of legislation designed to hinder any form of opposition". These amendments include the extension of the death penalty, increased liability for vaguely defined acts, restriction of political rights for Belarusians in exile, and limitations to the freedom of peaceful assembly and association.

Moreover, the report clearly confirms how, after the outbreak of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine on 24 February 2022, repression has been "particularly directed at those expressing their opposition to the war or their support for the Ukrainian people". Once again, we see how internal repression is linked to external aggression.

Mr. Chair, the number of political prisoners in Belarus now exceeds 1,486 with activists arguing the real number could be significantly higher. For almost three years, peaceful protesters have been met with brutal force from Belarusian authorities. People have been arbitrarily arrested and detained on politically motivated charges. People have been deprived of their right to a fair trial. Lawyers have been intimidated to stay away from defending those charged on political grounds. At least 100,000 Belarusians have been, and continue to be, forced to flee the country - to leave their homes. And independent media, journalists, and other media workers have been under sustained attack.

The report confirms the excessive violence used by the Belarusian authorities to carry out the repression. The mission found that "torture or inhuman or degrading treatment are occurring on a regular and organised basis in places of detention and are particularly targeted at those perceived as political opponents". Further, the report gives evidence of the practice of mass arrests in people's homes and the use of violence to gain access to personal data, which is later used against individuals.

Meanwhile, Belarusian authorities continue to enjoy impunity.

Mr. Chair, the UN OHCHR in its latest report on the human rights situation in Belarus presented to the UN Human Rights Council on 22 March concluded that some of the violations committed in Belarus may amount to crimes against humanity.

We appreciate the efforts of the International Accountability Platform for Belarus (IAPB) and other international investigative mechanisms, including under the UN OHCHR, to collect and preserve evidence of the human rights violations in Belarus. Impunity is not an option.

Mr. Chair, the first steps toward security and stability for the people of Belarus remains for the Belarusian authorities to release all those unjustly imprisoned, to end the campaign of violence against peaceful protesters, and to hold perpetrators to account.

As the report concludes, "without accountability and justice [in Belarus], there can be no security and stability in the long run on the European Continent".

Against this background, and based on the recommendations in Professor Ascencio's report, we ask the Belarus delegation:

When will the Belarusian authorities cease their brutal repression and release and rehabilitate all political prisoners?

When will the Belarusian authorities bring criminal charges against those responsible for human rights violations and abuses, including Belarusian security officials?

When will the Belarusian authorities ensure respect for the Belarusian constitution according to which "(t)he republic of Belarus shall exclude acts of military aggression against other states from its territory"?

Mr. Chair, we thank Professor Ascensio again for the thorough report, and we remain committed to ensuring that the report - and its recommendations - are followed up.

Thank you.

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Moscow Mechanism Report on Belarus: UK statement to the OSCE

At OSCE Permanent Council UK says the extent of repression and the number of political prisoners in Belarus is staggering.

11 May 2023

Thank you, Mr Chair. The UK fully subscribes to the statement delivered by Ambassador GrAnbech-Jensen on behalf of the 38 invoking States and would like to add some points in our national capacity. I want to thank Professor Ascensio and his team for this credible and important report and commend those who shared their testimonies with him.

Mr. Chair, the Moscow Mechanism report from November 2020 noted "massive and systematic" violations of fundamental freedoms by the Belarusian authorities. It is deeply concerning that this trend has not only continued but in fact further intensified:

A large part of civil society has been destroyed by the State.

Peaceful demonstrations are routinely and brutally repressed.

One quarter of all civil society groups have now been forced to close, including children's rights groups and organisations working to support other vulnerable members of society.

The extent of repression and the number of political prisoners is staggering. The report concludes that "Belarus is implementing a broad policy of arbitrary arrest and detention". Belarus is holding almost 1,500 of its citizens as political prisoners. Many prisoners are subject to torture and cruel and degrading treatment.

I would like to take this opportunity as my colleagues did to raise one such case; that of former presidential candidate Viktar Babaryka. Mr Babaryka has been hospitalised in unclear circumstances amid reports of brutal treatment in prison.

We call upon the Belarusian authorities to ensure his safety and provide him with immediate and proper medical care. Moreover, we urge them to release Viktar Babaryka and all other political prisoners immediately and unconditionally.

The report also highlights the recent legislative and constitutional changes in Belarus which have "facilitated the operation of an authoritarian regime". These include amendments to undermine freedom of speech and association, restrict political rights, and extend the death penalty. The amendments further demonstrate the disregard and contempt of the Lukashenko regime for basic democratic freedoms and the rule of law.

As Professor Ascensio notes, the Belarusian government has even violated its own constitution to support Putin's war of aggression in Ukraine. They have used this illegal war as a means of justifying their own illegal repression, violently supressing peaceful anti-war protests and arresting those who disagree with the war.

The UK is committed to ensuring that all those responsible for these human rights violations are held accountable. We welcome the ongoing work of the International Accountability Platform for Belarus and UN OHCHR in documenting and preserving evidence. As Ambassador GrAnbech-Jensen stated, impunity is not an option.

We deeply regret and condemn the lack of cooperation by the Belarusian authorities throughout this process. We urge Belarus to immediately cease ongoing human rights violations, including the systematic repression of civil society, independent media, opposition groups, and trade unionists. And once again we urge the Belarusian authorities to respond to this report and fully implement their international obligations and OSCE commitments.

Thank you, Mr Chair.

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China's top diplomat meets US national security advisor for talks on bilateral ties

Global Times

By Global Times - Xinhua Published: May 11, 2023 10:20 PM

Wang Yi, director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, and US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan conducted candid, in-depth, substantive and constructive discussions on bilateral ties in Vienna, Austria on Wednesday and Thursday, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Thursday.

Wang, who is also a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, fully expounded China's solemn position on the Taiwan question.

The two sides held discussions on removing obstacles in China-US relations and stabilizing the relationship, according to Xinhua.

The two sides also exchanged views on the situation in the Asia-Pacific region and Ukraine and discussed other international and regional issues of common interest.

Both sides agreed to continue to make good use of this strategic communication channel.

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PLA flotilla spotted in waters near Japan after Tokyo's provocative remarks on Taiwan question

Global Times

By GT staff reporters Published: May 11, 2023 09:25 PM

China will not tolerate Japan interfering in its internal affairs, Chinese experts said, as a flotilla of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy was spotted in waters near Japanese islands after Japan's recent provocative remarks concerning China's Taiwan island.

Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force spotted a PLA Navy flotilla consisting of the Type 055 large destroyer Lhasa, a Type 052D destroyer, a Type 054A frigate and a Type 903A comprehensive replenishment ship when the vessels sailed westward between two southern Japanese islands on Thursday, Japan's Ministry of Defense Joint Staff said in a press release on the day.

The PLA Navy flotilla was first seen on April 30 when it sailed from the East China Sea through the Tsushima Strait into the Sea of Japan, then from May 5 to 6, it sailed from the Sea of Japan through the Soya Strait into the West Pacific, according to the Japanese press release.

This means that the Chinese naval vessels are likely making a clockwise circumnavigation around Japan, as shown in a map with recorded tracks of the flotilla attached to the Japanese press release.

While the voyage is likely a routine PLA Navy far sea exercise that does not violate any international law or target any third party, it could be seen as a strong message to Japan, experts said.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said in an interview with Nikkei Asia released on Wednesday that the Taiwan question is a matter of importance not just to Japan but to the entire world.

The same day, Japan's Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi also said that Japan has protested to China through diplomatic channels over "extremely inappropriate" comments related to Tokyo's policy toward Taiwan island made by Chinese Ambassador to Japan Wu Jianghao.

At a conference in April 28, Wu said the view that Taiwan island is connected to Japan's security is "absurd and dangerous."

China's national defense development aims to safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests, but China will not tolerate Japan interfering in its internal affairs, Chinese military expert Song Zhongping told the Global Times on Thursday.

China has sufficient capabilities to counter Japan's provocations, as shown by the voyage, Song said.

Liu Jiangyong, vice dean of the Institute of Modern International Relations at Tsinghua University, told the Global Times that 2022 marked the 50th anniversary of the normalization of China-Japan relations and was expected to serve as a new start for the improvement of bilateral ties. But unfortunately, Japan stubbornly hyped the 'China threats' and even listed China as an "unprecedented strategic challenge."

Following the new national security plans, Japan would probably become a dangerous country that could take military action against other countries in the following five to 10 years, Liu said.

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Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin's Regular Press Conference on May 11, 2023

Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the People's Republic of China

AFP: Australia's trade minister arrived in China today. He said that he "will be advocating strongly for the full resumption of unimpeded Australian exports to China". What's your comment on the visit?

Wang Wenbin: I would like to refer you to the competent Chinese authorities for the Australian trade minister's visit to China. More broadly, let me say that China and Australia are both important countries in the Asia-Pacific with highly complementary economies and mutually beneficial business ties. To improve and maintain the sound growth of bilateral ties serves the fundamental interests of both countries and peoples. China stands ready to work together with Australia to deliver on the important common understandings reached by our leaders, build mutual trust, deepen cooperation, properly handle differences and work for the sustained, sound and steady development of bilateral relations. In this process, the two sides may be able to find a balanced way to resolve each other's concerns on economic and trade issues through constructive consultation to the benefit of both peoples.

Bloomberg: On Wednesday, US President Joe Biden said that a call with President Xi Jinping was "in the works". Can you confirm that such a call is being planned? If so, can you share more details? That's the first part of my question referring to this specific call between President Xi and President Biden. Separately but related, I would like to ask about a broader push that's been reported on the US side, whereby the US is pushing for calls and meetings with various Chinese officials and across different departments. So my question on this is, how does China view the US push for engagement? Some have described China's responses as tepid. Is this a fair characterization?

Wang Wenbin: On your first question, I have nothing to share.a

On your second question, I can tell you that China and the US are in communication. What matters is that the US cannot keep raising the issue of communication on the one hand, while on the other, keep suppressing and containing China. The US cannot say one thing but do another. We urge the US to form a correct perception of China, respect China's red lines, stop undermining China's sovereignty, security and development interests, and work with China in the same direction to bring bilateral relations back on the track of sound and stable growth.

TASS: According to the Financial Times, China told the US that it is highly unlikely that the defence ministers of the two countries would meet at theaShangri-La Dialogue in Singapore. What is China's comment on this?

Wang Wenbin: I'd refer you to the competent authorities for your question.

CRI: According to reports, Israel launched air strikes against the Gaza Strip on May 10, resulting in casualties. Armed groups in the Gaza Strip fired about 400 rockets at Israel. Egypt is now mediating for a ceasefire. Does China have any comment?aa

Wang Wenbin: China is deeply concerned about the escalation of conflict between Israel and Palestine and the death and injuries of many innocent civilians. We urge relevant parties, Israel in particular, to stay calm and exercise maximum restraint and immediately end hostilities to prevent any further escalation. China commends the mediation efforts by Egypt and others. We call on the international community, especially countries with influence, to play an effective role and work together to cool down the situation.

Yonhap News Agency: According to the South China Morning Post, the China-DPRK borders will be fully reopened on June 10, and trade in goods and personnel exchange will be resumed. What's China's comment on this?

Wang Wenbin: I am not aware of what you mentioned. China and the DPRK will continue to carry out border-related cooperation in accordance with the border-related agreements between the two sides.

Global Times: It was reported that the G7 Summit to be held in Japan will ask China to abide by international rules. Do you have any comment?

Wang Wenbin: Before discussing international rules, we need to first of all make clear what exactly the international rules are. For the overwhelming majority of countries in the world, international rules consist of the basic norms governing international relations based on the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and all countries must abide by them. The G7 hardly ever mentions the UN Charter, but keeps talking about "democracies" and the so-called "rules-based international order". However, when the G7 talk about international rules, they mean the Western rules that draw lines according to ideologies and values and the US-first and G7-dominated rules of a small circle. Those rules serve the vested interest of a very few countries, including the G7, rather than the common interests of the international community.

While asking China to abide by international rules, the G7 itself has constantly violated and disrupted rules. In recent years, the US walked away from 17 international organizations and treaties, including UNESCO and the Paris Agreement. The US has spied indiscriminately on countries globally, not least its G7 allies, strong-armed countries diplomatically, and applied economic coercion and military interference. The US has blatantly invaded Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria and other countries that are smaller and weaker than the US, killing and displacing tens of millions of innocent civilians. When it comes to international rules, the US's place is in the dock. It is in no position to point fingers at other countries.

The first thing the US and Japan can do as G7 members would be to pay their arrears to the UN, withdraw the troops illegally occupying Syria, stop insisting on dumping nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean, stop inciting division and confrontation, and stop using the international rules as a pretext to pursue primacy and selfish interests.

CCTV: We noted that State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang visited the site of the Potsdam Conference during his visit to Germany. What is the consideration behind this specific arrangement?

Wang Wenbin: On May 10 local time, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang visited the site of the Potsdam Conference in Berlin and delivered remarks.

State Councilor Qin noted that the Potsdam Conference in 1945 played an important role in establishing the post-World War II international order and is of special historical significance to the Chinese people. The Potsdam Proclamation issued after the meeting reaffirmed the terms of the Cairo Declaration, which states that all the territories Japan has stolen from China, such as Taiwan, shall be restored to China. This is a major outcome of the World Anti-Fascist War that was won after 35 million Chinese soldiers and civilians were either killed or wounded during that war.

Today, the US claims itself to be a champion of the "rules-based international order", while ditching the Potsdam Proclamation it drafted, supporting and conniving at "Taiwan independence" separatist activities, undermining the post-war international order and China's sovereignty and territorial integrity. The Chinese people will not accept this.

If there is any consideration for State Councilor Qin's visit to the site, I would say that it is about reminding the world of the need to remember the lessons of history a that the post-war international order must be preserved and the international fairness and justice must be upheld. To engage in "Taiwan independence" separatism, challenge international justice and order and try to reverse the trend of history will lead nowhere. China's national reunification must and will be realized.

AFP: French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna told State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang during his trip to Europe this week that China needs to leverage its ties with Russia to help it understand the stalemate it is facing and tell it to come back to senses. What's your response to this?

Wang Wenbin: On the Ukraine issue, China has been committed to promoting peace talks and bringing about a political settlement of the Ukraine crisis. China is neither the one that created the conflict nor a party to it. It is hoped that all parties would seriously reflect on the Ukraine crisis and jointly explore ways towards lasting peace and security in Europe through dialogue. We will continue to play a constructive part in facilitating a political settlement of the Ukraine crisis.

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Doing business in Hong Kong is 'risky,' Jimmy Lai's son warns investors, companies

Sebastien Lai says arbitrary arrests, sentences and raids will likely continue

By Hoi Man Wu for RFA Cantonese 2023.05.11 -- The suppression of Hong Kong's promised freedoms under Chinese rule should serve as a warning to the international community that Beijing will continue to export its authoritarian rule far beyond its borders, says the son of jailed Hong Kong media magnate Jimmy Lai.

"Hong Kong is a litmus test for how China views the world," Sebastien Lai told journalists during a visit to Washington. "If they aren't willing to respect those freedoms in Hong Kong, then the long arm of China is basically everywhere."

"If they're not willing to do that in Hong Kong, with all the economic benefits that come with, they're not willing to do that in the U.S., in the U.K., in Ireland," he said.

"You see that with the secret police stations," Lai said. "It really shows how they view cooperation with another state; it doesn't seem like they want friendly cooperation with democratic countries."

Jimmy Lai's Next Digital media empire and its flagship Apple Daily newspaper were forced to close amid a national security investigation, and he is still awaiting trial on charges of "collusion with a foreign power" and others linked to "seditious publications," as the authorities move to disqualify his British barrister.

International press freedom groups say the ruling Communist Party under supreme leader Xi Jinping has "gutted" press freedom in the formerly freewheeling city amid an ongoing crackdown on dissent in the wake of the 2019 protest movement.

Hong Kong journalists who fled the city after Beijing imposed a national security law from July 1, 2020, continue to campaign for press freedom for the city from overseas, but say they are constantly targeted for transnational repression by agents and supporters of the Chinese state, including secret Chinese police stations in a number of countries.

'Shine a light'

Lai told RFA Cantonese that he intends to keep speaking out to "shine a light" on the unfolding crackdown on freedom of speech that saw the jailing of his father and the closure of his flagship Apple Daily newspaper following raids by the national security police.

"What I want to achieve is for the world to see that both my father and all these other political prisoners are standing trial right now," he said.

"The Hong Kong government keeps claiming that there is still freedom of the press and rule of law with all of its "Hello Hong Kong" propaganda, which is pretty despicable, because that's pretty clearly not the case," Lai said. "They're saying one thing, while doing another, so the world needs to know this."

He also warned any investors or companies looking to invest or expand operations in Hong Kong to look at the national security investigation of the Apple Daily as a cautionary tale.

"The Apple Daily headquarters was over five floors. At its peak, we had a newsroom of over 900 people," Lai said, adding: "They raided it twice. The first time, they sent 200 people there."

"Basically, 200 police rushed in, grabbed laptops, and made sure that nobody could work, nobody could touch any devices. The second time [they sent] 500 people," he said.

"So, if you want to know what could happen to any business in Hong Kong ... that is a very good picture to look at before you make any decisions in terms of investments."

He said the risk of charges under a national security law imposed on the city by Beijing in the wake of the 2019 mass protests against diminishing freedoms means that the cost of doing business in the city has now risen sharply.

"The ability, like in Western countries, to speak out on anything you want has been massively limited," Lai said. "It's all well and great if you're going there for a holiday or whatnot, but in terms of a financial center ... you at least need the rule of law and some semblance of free speech, and that's not the case there."

Trying to lure talent

Lai's comments came as the Hong Kong authorities try to boost investor interest in Hong Kong, seeking to attract fresh talent and visitors with new visa schemes and free plane tickets in a bid to counteract a mass exodus of middle-class and wealthy people in the wake of the national security law crackdown.

"It's just a very dark time for a financial center," Lai said. "How long can you keep being a financial center if people aren't allowed to speak up ... or if people are jailed for liking social media posts, and unfair sentences are handed out left and right?"

"My father got five years, nine months ... on a commercial charge ... the first time anybody has gone to jail for a lease violation," he said. "The fact that they used this to attack my father shows how much Hong Kong has gone down as a place to do business, as a place to live, as a place to work."

Lai, who is a British national like his father, said the United States had been much tougher on China than Britain.

"The U.K. government has been incredibly weak," he said in comments reported by Reuters as Britain's Minister for Investment Dominic Johnson said he held a series of meetings with government officials and executives in Hong Kong this week.

"It's very sad to see a democratic government being afraid - or asking permission even - to speak on behalf of one of its citizens that is in prison for freedom of speech."

U.S. Congressman Mike Gallagher, chair of the House of Representatives select committee on China's Communist Party, meanwhile hit out at the Vatican for not standing up for Jimmy Lai, who, like him, is a Catholic.

"The silence from the Vatican on China's human rights abuses and Jimmy's case, in particular, is deafening," Reuters quoted him as saying, adding that the Vatican's Washington embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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.

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Blinken remarks on mass DNA collection in Tibet, Xinjiang spark backlash from China

The US Secretary of State says the effort is a form of control and surveillance.

By Tsewang Ngodup and Tashi Wangchuk for RFA Tibetan 2023.05.11 -- U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has expressed concern over the collection of DNA from Tibetans and Uyghurs by Chinese authorities, sparking a vehement reply from Beijing.

Speaking at a Freedom House awards event in Washington on Tuesday, Blinken said access to human genomic data opens up more human rights concerns because advances in biotechnology have enabled genomic surveillance based on DNA, potentially facilitating rights abuses. He is the senior-most U.S. official to raise the issue.

"We've seen some of those, for example, committed by the People's Republic of China against Uyghurs and other minorities in Xinjiang," he said. "We're also concerned by reports of the spread of mass DNA collection to Tibet as an additional form of control and surveillance over the Tibetan population."

In recent years, the Chinese government has stepped up its repressive rule in Tibet. This includes the forced collection of biometric data and DNA in the form of involuntary blood samples taken from school children at boarding schools without parental permission.

When asked by a reporter from Chinese media about Blinken's comments, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin on Wednesday said the "claims do not hold water and mean nothing except manufacturing sensational news items."a

As a country governed by law, China provides legal protection of the privacy of all its citizens, regardless of ethnic background, Wen said.

Wen pointed out that the United States widely collects and uses genomic information, citing a Wall Street Journal report on plans by the U.S. Defense Department to develop genetically engineered weapons and the military's collection of the genomic data.

He also cited a report by Russian news service RT that the U.S. Air Education and Training Command once issued a tender seeking to acquire samples of ribonucleic acid and synovial fluid from Russians.

"It's pretty clear who exactly is using genomic information for secret purposes," Wen said.a

Setting rules

During his speech, Blinken also mentioned U.S. President Joe Biden's executive order on biotechnology and biomanufacturing innovation, issued last September, which seeks to ensure that the U.S. and its partners set norms and rules on advanced biotechnology that reflects their values.

The guidelines are "a way to start to create guardrails and to shape the space, particularly as countries on the cutting edge of tech-enabled repression seek to export their models and technologies, with all the biases and risks that they contain, and to do so at scale," he said.

Emile Dirks, a post-doctoral fellow at The Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy at the University of Toronto, said Wen's comments were the first time that an official from China's Foreign Ministry discussed mass DNA collection in Tibet.

"For me the important development is that now China may be compelled to acknowledge the existence of this program or at least forced to publicly engage in a discussion with people who are pointing out the existence of this DNA collection," he said.

The Citizen Lab focuses on research and development and strategic policy at the intersection of information and communication technologies, human rights and global security.

Last September, Dirks produced a report on the mass DNA collection in Tibet between 2016 and 2022, finding that police may have collected genomic data from 25% to 33% of the region's population of 3.7 million.

Based on publicly available sources, the report found that police targeted Tibetan men, women and childrenaand in some cases Buddhist monksafor DNA collection outside of any ongoing criminal investigation in a campaign similar to mass data collection from Uyghurs living in Xinjiang.

Form of social control

Though authorities justified the DNA collection as a way to fight crime, find missing people and ensure social stability, the report noted that without checks on police powers, authorities could amass DNA collections for any purpose.

The program amounted to a form of social control of Tibetans long subjected to state surveillance and repression, it said.

Maya Wang, associate director in the Asia division at Human Rights Watch, said the U.S. government should devote more resources to go after companies in China involved in the DNA collection efforts and seek to put an end to it.

"China has used Tibet as a laboratory for relentless methods of social control," including the mass DNA collection campaign, said International Campaign for Tibet, an advocacy group, in a statement issued Wednesday.

"The best way to protect Tibetans from China's authoritarian rule is to push for a peaceful resolution to China's illegal occupation of Tibet," the statement said, and suggested that the U.S. can do this by passing the bipartisan Promoting a Resolution to the Tibet-China Conflict Act currently in both houses of Congress.

The act's purpose is to empower the U.S. government to achieve its long-standing goal of getting Tibetans and Chinese government authorities to resolve their differences peacefully through dialogue.

Edited by Roseanne Gerin 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.

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Hong Kong newspaper axes political comic strip after government criticism

Zunzi's satirical comic strip recently took aim at electoral rule changes and attempts to lure talent to the city

By Lee Yuk Yue for RFA Cantonese 2023.05.11 -- A Hong Kong newspaper has axed a regular cartoon strip by political satirist Zunzi following an onslaught of public criticism from government officials.

In an announcement in a column on its A14 page of Thursday's newspaper, the Chinese-language Ming Pao said Zunzi's cartoon strip would be terminated, with just two more editions left to run.

"We would like to thank Zunzi for witnessing the changes of the past 40 years alongside us," it said, adding that the decision had been reached through an "agreement" with the cartoonist.

The newspaper union, the Ming Pao Staff Association, issued a statement on Thursday expressing "regret and a sense of helplessness" over the axing of Zunzi, as well as thanking him for his hard work over the years, including "upholding social justice and kindness."

Huang Jijun, 68, who has published work relating to the June 4, 1989, bloodshed under the pen-name Zunzi and had cartoons in every edition of the now-shuttered pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper for 26 years, declined to comment on the reason for the move when contacted by Radio Free Asia on Thursday, saying he needed to focus on his last two comic strips.

Asked why his cartoon had been shut down, he said only: "The comic ceased publication as the result of an agreement with Ming Pao, and it's inappropriate for me to speak on behalf of the Ming Pao."

Humor as a tool

The Ming Pao's announcement came a day after the government took aim at a recent Zunzi comic strip satirizing recent changes to electoral rules for the city's District Council, which mean the government will directly appoint members of district anti-crime and fire protection committees, who are currently directly elected by local people.

"The Ming Pao today (May 9) published a cartoon strip by Zunzi that distorts and discredits the principle of appointment of members of the District Fight Crime Committee and District Fire Protection Committee by the Government," the Home and Youth Affairs Bureau said in a statement on its Facebook page.

"Recently, the Ming Pao has made some misleading remarks about the government's proposed plans for improving district governance ... a political act that tramples on ethics," it said.

s Tang hit out at Zunzi last month for making fun of a police request for better surveillance equipment.

Zunzi has also taken aim at the Hong Kong government's global talent recruitment drive, quipping that "priority will be given to applicants who are accepting of harsh governance, prompting the police force to write an angry letter to the Ming Pao, while a strip depicting political censorship was criticized by cultural officials as "wantonly smearing" the authorities.

Arrests and prosecution under the national security law have followed similar public denunciations by officials or Chinese Communist Party-backed media organizations in a number of past cases.

Mak declined to comment on the axing of Zunzi when asked about it by journalists on Thursday.

"The government will humbly listen to different opinions, but we must clarify false statements or things that are inconsistent with the facts, so the public can know the truth," she said.

Crackdown on dissent

The move highlights the dwindling number of independent media organizations in Hong Kong under an ongoing crackdown on dissent.

"There are fewer and fewer free newspapers in Hong Kong, but it's not necessarily total silence," he said. "The times are changing, and the platforms that speak out are also changing."

Huang, who has previously said he plans to remain in Hong Kong, told RFA Cantonese he could "take a trip" out of town.

Ronson Chan, former chairman of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, which has also been denounced by pro-China newspapers, said the government's level of tolerance "appears to have changed."

"In the past you could say whatever you liked, and draw whatever you liked," he said. "There was once a variety of different voices in Hong Kong."

"Now, you can cross [invisible] red lines for no reason, and the risks [of operating here] are off the scale."

He said ongoing government censorship has led to a climate of fear.

"If people see that others are less willing to speak out, they will be less willing, and it will be a vicious circle," Chan said.

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.

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Senior White House Official Meets With China's Top Diplomat in Europe

By Nike Ching May 11, 2023

U.S. officials say White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, held discussions in Vienna from May 10-11th. The meetings come as Washington and Beijing prepare for more in-person engagements between senior officials and as the U.S. seeks open lines of communication with China amid a strained relationship.

A senior administration official described the more than eight hours of meetings over two days as "really candid, substantive and constructive," covering issues including specific American detainees the U.S. said were unjustly held in China and transnational concerns such as narcotics, global and regional security issues, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and Taiwan.

Both U.S. and Chinese officials have said there is a need to stabilize fraught relations between the world's two largest economies. Ties that have been increasingly strained in recent months over security, trade and technology issues, Taiwan and the South China Sea.

After the U.S. military shot down a Chinese spy balloon that drifted over the continental United State in February, Secretary of State Antony Blinken postponed a planned trip to Beijing.

Last week, Blinken said he was hopeful that it could be rescheduled this year.

"Both sides recognized that that unfortunate incident led to a bit of pause in engagement. We're seeking now to [move] beyond that, and reestablish some standard channel communications," the senior official said when asked by VOA during a phone briefing on Thursday.

The senior official added that both the U.S. and China "do anticipate" there will be more engagements and visits "in both directions over the coming months."

Meanwhile, Chinese Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao plans to hold talks with U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo in Washington next week, according to the diplomatic source.

On Thursday, U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns met with Wang for the first time.

"We had an open and detailed discussion about the bilateral trade relationship," Burns said in a tweet. "I stressed the need for fair and equitable treatment of American businesses in China."

On Wednesday, Blinken said the United States has "concerns" about the treatment of American companies under China's new counterespionage law.

Several firms were raided recently by Chinese police in the name of national security, including consulting firm Capvision and corporate due diligence firm Mintz Group.

"It's something that we talk to the Chinese about," said Blinken during a joint press conference with Spanish Foreign Minister JosA Manuel Albares.

"China wants to have a positive business environment that attracts foreign investment" but "the actions that it takes with regard to those businesses will have a big impact," Blinken added.

Bloomberg has reported that Wang and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai are likely to meet in person on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation ministerial meeting in Detroit later this month.

In June, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and China's new Minister of National Defense Li Shangfu are expected to attend the Shangri-La Dialogue, a high-level Asia security summit in Singapore. The Chinese military has not accepted the U.S. proposal for a meeting between their defense chiefs on the margins of this annual gathering.

In a tweet, Burns said he discussed "the necessity of stabilizing ties and expanding high-level communication" in a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang on Monday.

Qin asked the U.S. to "correct" its handling of Taiwan in that meeting, which was seen as China's precondition as Washington and Beijing seek to resume high-level engagements.

On Thursday, Sullivan reiterated the U.S. position to Wang that the U.S. remains committed to its "One China" policy, guided by the Taiwan Relations Act, three communiques and six assurances.

"He indicated that the U.S. opposes unilateral changes to the status quo from either side, does not support Taiwan independence and expects the cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means," according to the senior official.

VOA's Patsy Widakuswara contributed to this report.

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Australian Trade Minister Seeks End to Chinese Import Restrictions

By Phil Mercer May 11, 2023

Australian Trade Minister Don Farrell arrives in Beijing Thursday to urge China to ease sweeping import restrictions.

Human rights and national security disputes prompted China to impose trade strikes on a range of Australian exports in 2020. Farrell will ask China to lift those sanctions on billions of dollars of imports from Australia.

Farrell is due to hold talks in Beijing with his counterpart, Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao.

There are signs that the diplomatic and commercial freeze between the two Indo-Pacific nations is beginning to thaw.

Exports of Australian copper, coal and cotton have resumed, and China has agreed to review its restrictions on barley shipments from Australia.

Farrell held virtual talks with Wang in February. It was the first meeting between an Australian trade minister and a Chinese commerce minister in three years.

David Olsson, president of the trade organization the Australia China Business Council, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Thursday he is hopeful that diplomatic friction was coming to an end.

"Measured optimism is a good way to describe it," Olsson said. "There has been an intensity of diplomatic, political activity over the last few months. So, I think there is broadly a sense of optimism that we will find some political resolution to these very difficult issues."

Bilateral ties were strained by various geopolitical issues, including Australia's condemnation of China's treatment of pro-democracy campaigners in Hong Kong and its Uyghur Muslim minority.

Relations have improved since the election almost a year ago of a left-leaning government in Canberra.

Analysts say Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Indonesia last November was a key breakthrough.

Albanese has said his aim was to stabilize relations with China but cautioned that there would be areas of continued disagreement.

China is Australia's biggest trading partner. Government data shows that the two-way trade in goods between Australia and China was worth $194 billion in 2022.

Farrell will also co-chair the 16th Joint Ministerial Economic Commission with Wang during his official visit to Beijing.

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Scarce drinking water in North Korea during severe spring drought

Satellite imagery shows that reservoirs have a net loss of water over the past year.

By Jungmin Noh and Jieun Kim for RFA Korean 2023.05.11 -- Drinking water is becoming more difficult to obtain for many North Koreans as the country is in the midst of one of the worst droughts since the government began keeping records in 1981, sources in the country told Radio Free Asia.

And satellite evidence shows that many of the country's reservoirs have shrunken, sometimes dramatically, over the past year.

State media reported Tuesday that a lack of water could make food shortages worse, and there was a "nationwide effort" to try to save crops from damage.

On a personal level though, the people are having to go to greater lengths to obtain water to drink, a source from the northwestern province of North Pyongan told RFA's Korean Service on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

"There are many reservoirs, [but they dry up, so] we fetch water and drink it. We carry water with a bucket, but the water supply is not working well," she said. "We can more easily fetch water in the winter, but the spring and fall seasons are the worst. The water pumping station is running dry and we don't get tap water at all."

The source said that the people go to the riverside to fetch water and purify it so that it is safe to drink.

"It's a really serious situation and we don't use disinfectants. We use charcoal," the source said. "We spread sand, put on a layer of charcoal, pour the water over it and make a hole in the bucket. That's what we drink."

View from the sky

Satellite imagery of reservoirs in North Korea shows that spring droughts this year and last year have greatly reduced water levels, Bruce Songhak Chung, a researcher at the South Korea-based Korean Institute for Security and Strategy, told RFA.

His team used images taken by NASA's Landsat 8 and 9 satellites to compare water levels from April 2022 in 12 reservoirs in various parts of the country with their water levels in April 2023.

"We found that the water in the 12 agricultural reservoirs across ... had a net decrease compared to last year. In particular, the Ransong Reservoir in Pyonggang County, Kangwon Province, had a 62% decrease in water," said Chung, who added that this would mean a "crisis" when trying to find water for irrigation.

Chung noted that the images could be used to measure the surface area of the lakes, but it would be difficult to determine volume because that requires knowledge of the reservoirs' average depths.

"Depending on the region, some reservoirs showed an increase in water levels," said Chung. "However, overall, we can confirm that the water in North Korean reservoirs has decreased this year compared to last year."

This year's record-breaking drought is due to weather events that have happened over the last year including "La NiAa," which is caused by rising sea surface temperatures due to global warming, Chung said.

That means North Korea's farms could be in big trouble, he said.

"The preparations for farming are in an emergency situation and it does not seem like irrigation alone will solve the problem," he said. "If this year's spring drought is similar to last year's or a little more severe, the outlook for this fall's harvest will be bleak."

Black market for water

Due to the scarcity of water, a black market for water has emerged, said the North Pyongan source.

"Water sellers carry containers filled with spring water and they go here and there and sell spring water for a certain amount per container," said the source. "They sell a five-liter [1.3 gallon] container, or a 10-liter [2.6-gallon] container. Water is difficult to carry and it has to be brought in from a place far from downtown. So you buy water when the water sellers bring it by."

Water for farming is even more difficult to obtain, the source said.

"Every farm has an irrigation canal and every river has an irrigation canal. In places where there is no irrigation canal, they use a pump. They pump up the water with electricity. However, right now the fields are all dry and it is a very bad situation," she said. "There is no problem with the areas near the river, but farming is difficult in the areas with no rivers close by. It is making a bad situation even worse."

Another source, from the western province of South Hwanghae, told RFA that the irrigation channel is no longer working.

"The waterway is a mess right now," she said. "People come and carry water on their backs, or with an ox cart. It's been so long without irrigation, and people don't have any idea how difficult life is here."

Translated by Claire Shinyoung Oh Lee and Leejin J. Chung. Edited by Eugene Whong.

Copyright 1998-2016, 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.

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Germany - CH-47F Chinook Helicopters

Media/Public Contact: pm-cpa@state.gov

Transmittal No: 23-26

WASHINGTON, May 11, 2023 -- The State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to the Government of Germany of CH-47F Chinook Helicopters, and related equipment for an estimated cost of $8.5 billion. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency delivered the required certification notifying Congress of this possible sale today.

The Government of Germany has requested to buy sixty (60) CH-47F Block II Cargo Helicopters with customer-unique modifications; one hundred forty (140) T-55-GA-714A engines (120 installed, 20 spares); seventy-two (72) AN/AAR-57 Common Missile Warning Systems (CMWS) (60 installed, 12 spares); and two hundred eighty-four (284) AN/ARC-231A Communications Security (COMSEC) radios (240 installed, 44 spares). Also included are AN/AVR-2B Laser Detecting Sets; AN/APR-39C(V)1 Radar Detecting Sets; AN/ARC-220 High Frequency (HF) radios with electronic counter-countermeasures (ECCM); military Precise Positioning Service (PPS) (to include SAASM or M-Code); Digital Advanced Flight Control Systems (DAFCS); AN/APX-123A Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) transponder; AN/ARN-147 very high frequency (VHS) omnidirectional range and instrument landing system (VOR/ILS); AN/ARN-153 Tactical Air Navigation Systems (TACAN); air data computers; AN/APN-209 radar altimeter systems; AN/PYQ-10 simple key loaders; KIV-77 Mode 4/5 IFF Applique; KY-100M narrowband/wideband terminal COMSEC devices; AN/AVS-6 Night Vision Devices (NVD); IDM-401 Improved Data Modem; air-to-air refueling probes; M134 gun mounts; Infrared Suppression System (IRSS); Engine Air Particle Separator (EAPS); Ballistic Protection System (BPS) with Cockpit; cabin sides; Midas Underfloor COOLS; Extended Range Fuel System (ERFS) 800 gal and 500 gal; Forward Area Refueling Equipment (FARE); Tie Down Materiel/Helicopter Under-Slung Load Equipment (HUSLE) for internal and external loads; rotorbrake; rescue hoists; Fast Rope Insertion/Extraction System (FRIES); Electro Optical Infrared Sensors (EO/IR); crash resistant pilot and troop seats; skis; life rafts; litter straps and fittings; mission equipment (e.g., jungle penetrator; litter basket; Jacob's ladder; Airborne Tactical Extraction Platform (AirTEP); special tools and test equipment; ground support equipment; airframe and engine spare parts; technical data; publications; Maintenance Work Orders/Engineering Change Proposals (MWO/ECPs); Repair and Return (R&R); technical assistance; airworthiness assistance; transportation of aircraft; training; flight training and maintenance trainers; and other related elements of logistics and program support. The total estimated cost is $8.5 billion.

This proposed sale will support the foreign policy and national security of the United States by improving the security of a NATO Ally which is an important force for political and economic stability in Europe.

The proposed sale will improve Germany's heavy lift capability. Germany intends to use this enhanced capability to strengthen its homeland defense and deter regional threats. Germany will have no difficulty absorbing this equipment and services into its armed forces.

The proposed sale of this equipment and support will not alter the basic military balance in the region.

The principal contractor will be Boeing Helicopter Company, Philadelphia, PA. There are no known offset agreements proposed in connection with this potential sale.

Implementation of this proposed sale will require the temporary deployment of an estimated thirty (30) contractor representatives to Germany's Main Operating Bases (MOBs) for onsite aircraft technical, maintenance, and logistics support as part of a Performance Based Logistics (PBL) program; training support; and operator and maintenance support for the Transportable Flight Proficiency Simulators (TFPS). This support will be provided for three to five years. The temporary deployment of contractor representatives will include five (5) Field Service Representatives (FSRs), four (4) from Boeing and one (1) from Rockwell Collins. This proposed sale will also require Foreign Liaison Officers be located at Redstone Arsenal and at the Boeing facility.

There will be no adverse impact on U.S. defense readiness as a result of this proposed sale.

This notice of a potential sale is required by law. The description and dollar value are for the highest estimated quantity and dollar value based on initial requirements. Actual dollar value will be lower depending on final requirements, budget authority, and signed sales agreement(s), if and when concluded.

All questions regarding this proposed Foreign Military Sale should be directed to the State Department's Bureau of Political Military Affairs, Office of Congressional and Public Affairs, pm-cpa@state.gov.

-30-

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Iran, Iraq sign petroleum deal that puts gas first

Iran Press TV

Thursday, 11 May 2023 6:17 PM

Iran and Iraq have signed a major petroleum cooperation agreement amid expanding ties between the two energy-rich neighbors.

Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani watched on as Iranian and Iraqi oil ministers signed a deal in the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Thursday to facilitate bilateral cooperation on petroleum industry projects.

Iranian Oil Ministry's news service Shana said that a joint working group will pursue the implementation of the agreement during regular meetings in the future.

It said Oil Minister Javad Owji had held extensive talks with premier Sudani earlier in Wednesday to discuss an array of petroleum industry issues ranging from oil fields shared between the two countries to Iraq's access to technical and engineering services from Iranian companies.

A separate report said that Sudani and Iraqi oil minister Hayan Abdul Ghani had emphasized in their meetings with Owji the need for increased cooperation with Iran on the issue of natural gas.

Iran is a major supplier of natural gas to Iraq as the Arab country, which is the third largest crude oil exporter in the world, still struggles with rising demands for natural gas in its power plants.

Recent reports have suggested there has been an increase in the supply of natural gas from Iran to Iraq.

Iranian authorities say Iraq has settled a part of the huge debts it owed to Iran for previous gas supplies.

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Tehran slams Sweden's IRGC blacklisting as aggression against Iran's sovereignty

Iran Press TV

Thursday, 11 May 2023 10:48 AM

Iran has strongly condemned Sweden's blacklisting of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), saying the designation violates international law and amounts to an aggression against the Islamic Republic's sovereignty and national security.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kan'ani made the remarks on Thursday, one day after the Swedish parliament voted in favor of designating the IRGC as a "terrorist" organization.

"The Swedish parliament's illegal act is influenced by terrorist and banished elements working against the Iranian nation," he said.

"The anti-Iranian move is contrary to accepted rules and principles of international law, including the equality of [national] sovereignties and non-interference in the internal affairs of governments, and tantamount to an aggression against Iran's sovereignty and national security," the official added..

Kan'ani also advised the Swedish government to exercise "foresight and tact" in the face of plots hatched to damage Tehran-Stockholm relations.

The Swedish government, he added, should "think about the consequences of its unmeasured act and not sacrifice its national interests and long-standing ties with Iran for the interests of terrorists, the Zionist apartheid regime and the enemies of the Iranian nation."

Kan'ani also said that the IRGC is a state institution that has emerged from the Iranian nation with an official and legal identity enshrined in the Constitution, noting that the elite military force, along with other units of the Armed Forces, has been protecting Iran's national security and borders.

For more than a decade now, the IRGC has played a decisive role in the fight against international Takfiri and Daesh terrorism as well as a historic role in protecting regional and international peace and security, he asserted.

The IRGC, also known as the "Sepah", was established on April 22, 1979, by the founder of the Islamic Republic Ayatollah Khomeini as a paramilitary organization charged with protecting the newborn Islamic Republic.

The force closely cooperates with the Iranian Army to counter foreign threats as manifested during the 8-year war imposed by former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein on Iran in the 1980s.

The IRGC has made great sacrifices in the fight against terrorist groups operating in the region. It has also helped the Iranian people during tough times such as natural calamities.

In 2019, the US State Department designated the Guards as a terrorist organization - an unprecedented action against the military of a sovereign state.

Also, in a non-binding resolution in January, the European Parliament called for the IRGC to be put on the European Union's "terrorist" list and insisted that sanctions targeting Tehran had to be expanded.

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Iranian Supreme Court Upholds Deaths Sentences Of Three Protesters

By RFE/RL's Radio Farda May 11, 2023

Iran's Supreme Court has upheld the death sentences of Majid Kazemi, Saeed Yaqoubi, and Saleh Mirhashemi, all three of whom were arrested during the recent nationwide protests and charged with "waging war against God," a crime often applied to political dissidents.

The trio were implicated in an incident on November 16, 2022, during which two Basij paramilitary force members and a law enforcement officer were fatally shot in the central Iranian city of Isfahan. The clash occurred at the height of widespread protests sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini last September while she was in police custody for allegedly breaking Islamic hijab rules.

Amir Kazemi, Majid Kazemi's cousin, informed RFE/RL's Radio Farda of the court decision and said the only evidence presented were the defendants' self-incriminating confessions, which were obtained under duress.

He added that the legal representatives assigned to the case were consistently denied access to their clients by the court. Meanwhile, the lawyers themselves have received numerous anonymous death threats for defending the three.

Kazemi said that in its decision, the court noted that if the victims' families were to give their consent, leniency may be applied. However, he also pointed out the specific charge that led to the death sentences "is waging war against God, and not on the charge of murder," suggesting a change in the sentence is unlikely.

Human rights organizations have strongly objected to death sentences being issued against protesters in Iran after "sham trials" that are often rushed through the courts.

Authorities have warned for months after unrest broke out following Amini's death that they will react harshly to any dissent. Lawmakers have pushed the judiciary to render the death penalty in trials for those arrested during the protests, which are seen as one of the biggest threats to the Islamic leadership since it took power in 1979.

So far, Iranian authorities have followed through with their threats by executing at least four protesters.

Majidreza Rahnavard was hanged in a public execution on December 12 -- just 23 days after he was arrested -- after being convicted of killing two members of Iran's security forces. The group Iran Human Rights said Rahnavard's sentencing was based on "coerced confessions after a grossly unfair process and a show trial."

Reflecting on the execution of Majidreza Rahnavard, Kazemi expressed his family's growing apprehension over the situation. They fear that after Majid Kazemi's quick trial authorities may also hold a rushed execution without the opportunity for a proper appeal or retrial.

Iran has seen a surge in executions in recent months, a trend that has drawn widespread domestic and international condemnation.

The High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk on May 9 called the statistics "frightening" and demanded a halt to executions by the Islamic republic. He said Iran has executed an average of 10 people per week this year.

Human rights activists say authorities in Iran are using the executions to try to instill fear in society rather than to combat crime.

Written by Ardeshir Tayebi based on an original story in Persian by RFE/RL's Radio Farda

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-supreme-court-upholds- death-sentences-protesters/32407656.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.

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'The ICC is important to deliver justice for Libya': UK at UN

Statement by Ambassador James Kariuki at the UN Security Council meeting on Libya.

11 May 2023



Thank you, President.

I would like to first thank the Prosecutor, Karim Khan, for his powerful briefing today and for his 25th report on the situation in Libya. The United Kingdom gives its full support to the Prosecutor's ongoing investigations in line with resolution 1970 of this Council, and I welcome both the briefing and the report as a demonstration of his transparency. We also welcome the participation of the Representative of Libya in this meeting.

President, we are pleased to hear of the accelerated pace of the ICC's investigation and progress in the delivery of the new strategy outlined in the Prosecutor's 23rd Report to this council. We note the concrete outcomes of the investigation, including the issuance of new arrest warrants by the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber during the reporting period. These are important steps for delivering justice for the Libyan people.

We are grateful to the Office of the Prosecutor for the renewed effort, and those who supported it for the renewed efforts in this period. We thank the Government of National Unity in Libya for facilitating the first official visit of an ICC Prosecutor to Libya in over ten years. For the continued successful delivery of the investigation, it is critical that further support is given to the investigation by the GNU and all other relevant Libyan authorities, including through the provision of documentation.

President, we welcome the increased engagement with witnesses and survivors, and the collection of testimonial evidence. I thank the UN Independent Fact-Finding Mission for sharing their expertise and enhancing the Prosecutor's work to record the experiences of Libyan people. Following the ending of the Fact-Finding Mission, I ask UNSMIL and OHCHR to continue this co-operation to help document and safeguard evidence of serious crimes.

This is a moment of opportunity in Libya. Transitional justice is vital to long-term security and stability and it should be embedded in the political process. The ICC is an important tool to deliver justice for Libya, through transparent and fair investigation. I urge all parties to work together to safeguard human rights and ensure that justice can be delivered when crimes occur, including through cooperation with the ICC and surrender of individuals subject to arrest warrants.

In conclusion, President, the UK remains committed to working with the Prosecutor's Office and the Libyan authorities to build on this momentum and accelerate progress towards justice. And let me underline our full support to the work of the ICC in its pursuit of justice for victims of the most egregious crimes wherever they may occur.

Thank you.

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ASEAN's Myanmar peace plan has been ineffective, bloc chair Indonesia acknowledges

At end of summit, however, Southeast Asian bloc sticks to widely criticized five-point peace plan.

Ahmad Syamsudin for BenarNews 2023.05.11 -- The president of 2023 ASEAN chair Indonesia warned the Burmese military on Thursday that human rights violations "cannot be tolerated," even as he acknowledged the bloc has made no progress in implementing its Myanmar peace plan.

Still, as they wrapped up their two-day summit in Indonesia, leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations expressed their "deep concern" about the escalation of violence in member-state Myanmar, but insisted on sticking to a peace plan that critics have panned as ineffective.

"Violations of humanitarian values cannot be tolerated," President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo said at a press conference following the end of the summit in Labuan Bajo, a seaside town on Flores island.

He stressed the need to engage all parties in Myanmar, saying "ASEAN's credibility is at stake."

Myanmar, which was not represented at the summit after the junta was barred from sending political representatives, has been in turmoil since the military overthrew an elected government in February 2021.

The Burmese military has ignored a five-point consensus it agreed to with ASEAN in April 2021, one of whose main points was an end to violence. Its forces have also killed more than 3,400 people since the generals seized power.

"I must speak candidly. On the implementation of the 5PC [Five-Point Consensus], there has not been significant progress. Therefore, ASEAN unity is required to decide on the next steps," Jokowi told his Southeast Asian counterparts on Thursday, according to a copy of his speech.

Nevertheless, ASEAN leaders reaffirmed their support for the five-point plan, a statement by the ASEAN chair said at the end of the summit.

"We discussed the development in Myanmar and reiterated our unified position that the Five-Point Consensus remains our main reference," the statement said.

"We supported the chair's continued engagement with all stakeholders in Myanmar to find a peaceful and durable solution that is Myanmar-owned and Myanmar-led, to create a conducive environment for facilitating an inclusive national dialogue."

Jokowi calls for ASEAN unity

Meanwhile, Indonesia as ASEAN chair was ready to hold talks with all parties in Myanmar "for humanitarian reasons," Jokowi said at the press conference.

"Engagement does not mean recognition," he said.

He also warned against any external interference in ASEAN.

"Without unity, it will be easy for others to break ASEAN. There should be no party inside or outside ASEAN that benefits from the conflict in Myanmar," Jokowi said.

"Violence must be stopped and people must be protected."

The Myanmar junta has cracked down on mass protests, killed more than 3,000 people and arrested thousands more, according to human rights groups. The United Nations said more than 1.8 million people had been forced to flee their homes in Myanmar because of violence since the coup.

The crisis has strained ASEAN's unity and credibility. The regional bloc has struggled to find a common stance and exert influence over the junta.

Many regional observers and analysts, as well as the previous foreign minister of Malaysia, had said it was time to junk the consensus and devise a new plan on a deadline that included enforcement mechanisms.

Some experts say that ASEAN's approach to Myanmar reflects its limitations as a consensus-based organization that prioritizes stability and non-interference in its members' domestic affairs.

Others argue it still has a role to play but needs to be more assertive and creative in dealing with the junta.

"It remains relevant to unite ASEAN and prevent ASEAN countries from moving on their own, and taking actions that undermine collective efforts," said Muhammad Waffaa Kharisma, a researcher at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Jakarta.

"But it is true that it needs to be evaluated for its effectiveness. It gives too much decision-making power to the military junta," he told BenarNews. "If the military junta does not change its behavior, there is no mechanism to change that."

Contested waterway

During the summit, the leaders also discussed some issues at the heart of territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

The chair's statement said some ASEAN members had raised concerns about land reclamations, and damage to marine environment caused by certain activities in the sea, although no countries were named.

The South China Sea is one of the world's busiest waterways and has an abundance of natural resources. It is home to several flashpoints involving maritime disputes over oil and gas exploration projects and fishing rights.

China claims nearly the entire sea, including waters within the exclusive economic zones of Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan. While Indonesia does not regard itself as a party to the South China Sea dispute, Beijing claims historic rights to parts of the waterway overlapping Indonesia's exclusive economic zone as well.

The ASEAN leaders reaffirmed "the need to enhance mutual trust and confidence, exercise self-restraint in conducting activities that would complicate or escalate disputes and affect peace and stability, and avoid actions that may further complicate the situation," the statement said.

The statement welcomed the progress in negotiations for a code of conduct, which aims to prevent conflicts and maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea.

China and ASEAN signed a nonbinding declaration on the conduct of parties in the South China Sea in 2002, but negotiations on the code of conduct have been slow and contentious.

The two sides agreed on a single draft text in 2018, with the latest round of negotiations taking place in March in Jakarta.

On the sidelines of the summit, Jokowi invited the other leaders to sail together on a traditional wooden boat called "phinisi."

"ASEAN is one family," he said.

"The ties are very strong and the unity is very important to sail towards the same goal."

Tria Dianti in Jakarta contributed to this report. 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.

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Activists burn Chinese flag amid growing anger its support for junta

Beijing has come under fire for projects that fund the regime's oppression of the people.

By RFA Burmese 2023.05.11 -- Young activists in central Myanmar burned a Chinese flag on Thursday amid growing anger at Beijing's unwavering support for the military junta.

"We want the world to know that the Chinese government is working together with the fascist military junta in Myanmar that abuses and kills our people," Swan Htet Bo, chairman of the Monywa Youth Association, told RFA Burmese.

The protest at a traffic junction in Sagaing region's Monywa city was the latest outburst of disgust with China, which invested money in factories and mines across the country.

In the months after the February 2021 coup, 32 Chinese garment factories were set on fire, according to Myanmar's Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, and while attacks by anti-junta forces on Chinese projects have damaged the water supply pipeline to the Letpadaung copper mine in Sagaing's Salingyi township.

A Chinese-linked gas pipeline and a nickel plant in the Mandalay region have also been attacked.

There has been an uptick in anti-China sentiment in the regions of Yangon, Sagaing, and Mandalay following a meeting between Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang and junta chief Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing in Naypyidaw on May 2.

Activists say the junta diverts income from China-backed projects and other foreign investment to buy weapons and equipment it uses to suppress those who oppose its rule.

Attack on Chinese pipeline

Thursday's protest came just four days after a paramilitary group known as the Natogyi Guerrilla Force attacked junta troops guarding an office used to operate a Chinese oil and gas pipeline, located about three miles east of Mandalay region's Natogyi township.

A member of the NGF told RFA that the May 7 evening attack was planned in response to visits by Chinese officials to Naypyidaw in recent weeks.

"Their actions anger the people of Myanmar because they are supporting the fascist military," the NGF member said, speaking on condition of anonymity, citing security concerns. "That's why we attacked the office by firing three 60mm rockets. There was an exchange of fire, too."

The attack killed two junta soldiers and injured another, he said, adding that the military brought the wounded to Myoma hospital in Natogyi for treatment.

RFA was unable to independently verify the number of junta casualties claimed by the NGF.

The group said that since the attack, the junta has assigned more than 80 security personnel to guard the office, which had previously been assigned 20.

When contacted about the attack by RFA, Thein Htay, the junta's economic minister and spokesman for Mandalay region, said he was "unaware of the incident" and could not comment.

In addition to Qin Gang's visit, Peng Xiubin of China's International Liaison Department met with former junta leader Than Shwe and Thein Sein, the former president of Myanmar's quasi-civilian government from 2011-2016, on a four-day visit to the capital in late April, during which he pledged economic assistance from Beijing.

Qin's predecessor, Wang Yi, visited Myanmar in July last year, although he failed to meet with Min Aung Hlaing, while China's special envoy for Asian affairs Deng Xijun has met the junta chief at least twice since December.

Translated by Myo Min Aung. 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.

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Repeated raids force more than 3,500 villagers to flee Sagaing region township

Myanmar's military has continued to use slash-and-burn tactics to force people out of Khin-U.

By RFA Burmese 2023.05.11 -- Junta raids over the past five days have forced more than 3,500 villagers to flee their homes in Khin-U township, locals told RFA Thursday.

They said troops started burning homes in eight villages, including Koke Tet, Yone Pin and Thin Paung, on May 7.

A 60-year-old woman from Koke Tet village, who did not want to be named for security reasons, told RFA the displaced people no longer have enough food.

"There is nothing at home. Villages were torched," she said.

"Now people are hiding in the forest. And we are fleeing from place to place as the army is raiding villages and we were not able to take anything from home when we fled."

The number of houses burned by the military is not yet known as locals said they were too afraid to return home while troops were still in the township.

Khin-U has come under repeated attack by junta forces since the 2021 coup. Around 70 villages have been attacked by the junta, who burned more than 20,000 homes in the township between Feb. 1, 2021 and April this year, according to the pro-democracy Khin-U Information Group.

A 60-year-old man, who also requested anonymity, told RFA he was forced to flee his home in Khin-U township four times over the past two years and he and his fellow villagers are struggling to survive.

The situation is similar across Sagaing region. Nearly 750,000 people have fled their homes due to fighting and insecurity since the coup, according to a May 6 statement by the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

RFA's calls to the junta spokesman for Sagaing region, Aye Hlaing, who is also the regional minister for social affairs, went unanswered Thursday.

Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn.

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.

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Indonesian President Says Regional Leaders Have Made No Progress in Myanmar Peace Efforts

By VOA News May 11, 2023

Indonesian President Joko Widodo Thursday acknowledged that no progress has been made to end the deadly violence in Myanmar.

He made the assessment during the final day of a two-day summit of leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, held in the town of Labuan Bajo on the southeastern island of Flores.

Widodo is chairman of the 10-member regional bloc this year.

Myanmar has been mired in chaos since the military overthrew the democratically-elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021.

The coup immediately triggered demonstrations across the country against the junta, which responded with a brutal crackdown on protesters. More than 3,000 civilians have died at the hands of the military and upwards of 18,000 more have been arrested, according to an independent monitoring group.

The unrest has also evolved into a deadly rural conflict between the military and ethnic rebel groups that have been fighting for decades for greater autonomy.

ASEAN has issued a five-point plan aimed at ending the violence in a deal reached with Myanmar's military rulers. But the junta has yet to follow through in implementing the plan, which has led to criticism of ASEAN as irrelevant.

Widodo called for unity among the nine ASEAN member nations in attendance to deal with Myanmar. But the group's charter established its principles of consensus and noninterference into its members' affairs.

ASEAN has barred Myanmar's leaders from attending the summits due to the military's failure to implement the peace plan.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse.

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Transcript of the Media Briefing by the Spokesperson on Thursday 11 May 2023

Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs

[This is a rush transcript. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated]

Thanks for joining us for the Weekly Briefing.

Assalam-o-Alaikum,

Thank you for joining us for the Weekly Briefing.

Last week was an active week in Pakistan's diplomacy. Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari travelled to Goa, India to attend the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) Meeting. Also last week, Pakistan hosted the Foreign Minister of China and the Acting Foreign Minister of Afghanistan.

I will begin with the Foreign Minister's participation in the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) Meeting. The agenda of the Meeting included discussion on issues of regional security, economic cooperation and connectivity as well as SCO's stance on global economic and political developments.

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In his statement at the Meeting, the Foreign Minister highlighted Pakistan's vision for peace and prosperity in the SCO region. He proposed building of efficient transport corridors and reliable supply chains in the region and stressed that CPEC could be a force multiplier for regional connectivity.

Foreign Minister called for comprehensive and collective approach for eradicating the menace of terrorism and advised against weaponizing terrorism for diplomatic point scoring. He also condemned the willful provocations and incitement to hate and called for collective fight against fascism and historical revisionism that is leading to violent nationalism.

Recalling SCO's commitment to uphold the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, the Foreign Minister emphasized that unilateral and illegal measures in violation of international law and the UN Security Council Resolutions also ran counter to the SCO objectives.

On the sidelines of CFM, the Foreign Minister held important meetings with his counterparts from China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan as well as Secretary General of SCO.

The CFM afforded Pakistan an important opportunity to demonstrate its commitment to SCO and present its vision for addressing major regional and global issues. Since becoming a member in 2017, Pakistan has actively and constructively participated in all SCO activities and mechanisms and worked for enhanced cooperation in pursuance of SCO's multisectoral agenda.

China's State Councillor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang paid an official visit to Pakistan on 5 and 6 May 2023. Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and State Councillor Qin Gang co-chaired the 4th round of the Pakistan-China Strategic Dialogue, covering a wide agenda of bilateral issues.

The two sides reaffirmed the All-Weather Strategic Cooperative Partnership; agreed to develop a roadmap for multidimensional cooperation; and discussed the evolving regional and global landscape. They reaffirmed enduring support on issues concerning each other's core national interests. Welcoming the completion of a decade of CPEC in 2023, the two sides reaffirmed their commitment to high-quality development of CPEC.

Acting Afghan Foreign Minister, Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi undertook a visit to Pakistan from 5th to 8th May 2023. The delegation included the Acting Afghan Minister for Commerce and Industry, Haji Nooruddin Azizi, and senior officials from the Afghan Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Transport and Trade. The two sides discussed at length bilateral cooperation in the political, economic, trade, connectivity, education, peace and security including counter terrorism domains.

The 5th China-Pakistan-Afghanistan Trilateral Foreign Ministers' Dialogue was held on 6th May 2023. The three sides agreed to advance political engagement, counterterrorism cooperation and enhance trade, investment and connectivity under the trilateral framework.

The three sides underscored the need to tackle security challenges posing a serious threat to regional peace and stability; not to allow their territories to be used by any individual, group or party including the TTP and the ETIM, to conduct terrorist activities and actions.

The Ethiopian Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Misganu Arega, is currently in Islamabad on an official visit. The delegation comprises Ministers of State for Science & Innovation and Trade & Regional Integration, and members of the business community.

On Tuesday, the Ethiopian Foreign Minister called on Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. His programme today includes meetings with Minister of State Ms. Hina Rabbani Khar and inauguration of the Embassy of Ethiopia. The two sides will undertake discussions on a range of bilateral issues of mutual interest, with a focus on trade and cooperation in science and technology. The visit also marks the arrival of inaugural direct flight between Karachi and Addis Ababa operated by Ethiopian Airlines.

Coming to the situation in IIOJK, the oppression in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) continues unabated.

Since our last press briefing, the occupation forces killed at least six Kashmiri youth in Rajouri, Kupwara and Baramulla districts. They continued their cordon and search operations in Rajouri and Poonch districts, harassing the local population. Six shops of a pro-freedom activist, Fayaz Ahmed Magray, were attached by India's National Investigation Agency in Pulwama district. Two Kashmiri youth, Shahid Ahmad Lone and Waseem Ahmad Ganai, were arrested in Shopian district. Reportedly, 193 more Kashmiris have been identified, whose properties will be demolished as a punishment for their support to the freedom movement.

These human rights violations must end.

Pakistan will continue to raise its voice against these grave and systematic human rights violations in IIOJK. We will also continue to extend political, diplomatic and moral support to our Kashmiri brothers and sisters for the just and peaceful settlement of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in accordance with the UN Security Council Resolutions.

This concludes my opening remarks.

**

Question:a In an event in Islamabad, Afghan Foreign Minister delivered a statement in which he said that we came on a visit to Pakistan at an official invitation of Pakistan side and also while responding to a question regarding recognition of Afghanistan he said that if Pakistan has invited us then obviously our recognition is being considered. Can you please share that in what capacity he was received here in Foreign Office? (Syed Faisal Ali, Din News)

Answer:a Foreign Minister of Pakistan extended an invitation to the Foreign Minister of China for the bilateral strategic dialogue as well as for holding the trilateral meeting with the Afghan side. From the Afghan side he extended an invitation to the Acting Foreign Minister of Afghanistan for trilateral dialogue. He is part of the Interim Afghan Government and participated in that capacity.

Question:a After participating in the SCO-CFM in India, Goa, as Foreign Minister departed for Pakistan with his delegation, Indian Foreign Minister held a press conference in which Pakistan's Foreign Minister was labeled as Spokesman of terrorists and many similar allegations were also imposed on Pakistan which is against the basic norms of hosting. What are your comments on that?

Also, the visit of Foreign Minister to India was criticized by some circles of the opposition and they called it a mistake. What would you like to say about that? (Rashida Sial, Abb Takk TV)

Answer:a We believe that Pakistan made the right decision to participate in the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers' Meeting. It shows our commitment to SCO. You may have seen the statement that Foreign Minister made. He highlighted Pakistan's viewpoint on all aspects of our concern about security, about economic development and about connectivity in this region. He also underlined, that terrorism should not be weaponized as a tool of foreign policy. You may have also seen the interactions that Foreign Minister had with the Indian media and the Pakistani media.

Our position was consistent with our long-standing position on the various issues including on weaponization of terrorism and on the situation in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir. It should not have come as a surprise to anyone. Any statements that have been made in that respect criticizing our Foreign Minister's statements are just unfortunate and baseless.

Question: Regarding question about the talks with TTP, Mr. Mutaqqi threw the ball in Pakistan's court that there is nothing being done by Pakistan and we have already played our role, please comment on this. (Syed Faisal Ali, Din News)

Question: The interim Foreign Minister of Afghanistan, once again stated that Pakistan should sit and reconcile with the TTP. Don't you think it's involvement in the internal matters of Pakistan and they have nothing to do with the internal matters of Pakistan? (Aamir Saeed Abbasi, Dunya TV)

Question:a Addressing an event at the Institute of Strategic Studies, the Afghan interim Foreign Minister said that Pakistan should hold talks with Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). It was repeatedly asked from him that Afghanistan is facilitating TTP which is involved in different terrorist incidents inside Pakistan. His answer was that Pakistan should hold talks with TTP. Did he also mention the same during talks with Pakistan? What are your comments? (Mazhar Iqbal, PNN News)

Answer:a Pakistan has been very consistent. Foreign Minister is on record in saying that there will be no talks with terrorist organizations that do not respect our laws and constitution. This was very clearly also enunciated in the trilateral statement that came out during the during the visit of the Foreign Minister of China and the interim Afghan Foreign Minister. In the trilateral statement, the three sides underscored the need to tackle security challenges, posing serious threat to regional peace and stability. They agreed not to allow their territories to be used by any individual group or party, including the TTP and the ETIM to conduct terrorist activities and actions. This was a joint statement that was a result of consensus between the three delegations.

Question:a On the arrest of Imran Khan, several foreign ministers, missions and countries have raised serious questions. They also said that the internal matters of Pakistan should be resolved through consensus and political leaders should talk rather than these riots and current situation of law and order. What do you think, are they right to comment on this?a(Aamir Saeed Abbasi, Dunya TV)

Supplementary Question: aI would like to draw your attention to the statement by Deputy Spokesperson of the United Nations Secretary General. The statement attributed to the Secretary General that Secretary General takes note of the ongoing protests that erupted following the arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday in Islamabad, and the Secretary General calls for all parties to refrain from violence. What are your comments? (Jaleel Akhtar, VOA)

Answer: We have noted the statements that have come on the current situation in Pakistan and we remind them all that Pakistan has the full ability to deal with all domestic challenges in accordance with our laws and constitution.

Question:a When Chinese Foreign Minister visited Pakistan, he suggested Pakistan in the joint press conference, to work on political stability and that China is ready to help on this. People think that the in his statement Chinese Foreign Minister snubbed Pakistan in a diplomatic way. Was any note this taken of this statement by the Chinese Foreign Minister and has it been conveyed that these kinds of talks are not suitable for the live press conferences? (Aijaz Ahmed, GNN)

Answer:a Actually, I have the transcript of his statement and not what media reported. I would like to say that Pakistan and China are close friends. The Chinese Foreign Minister shared his best wishes for stability and consensus in Pakistan so that it can focus on growing the economy improving peoples lives and bringing the country into a fast track towards development.

Question:a We live in the global village and whatever happens around the world Pakistan also makes comments or sometimes or many a times we also show concern. So, when world is talking about us as you said without any interference, should we take it a positive concern that the global community do care about us or should we seriously take it like the tweet that was issued and then deleted by a big European country's ambassador here. So, what comes to your mind, positive or negative, when the world is speaking about us? a(Shaukat Piracha, AAJ News)

Answer:a I would not like to comment on Pakistan's domestic affairs here. On global reaction. I reiterate that Pakistan has the full ability to deal with all domestic challenges in accordance with our laws and constitution.

Question: aFirstly, with regards to reports of Pakistan buying oil from Russia in Yuan. Can you please comment on that, confirm, deny or rebut such reports if that holds any truth. Because, yesterday the petroleum minister was on the record saying something along the same line so I want the Foreign Office to comment on it.

Secondly, at the SCO last week and as I understand this was a continuation of the Tashkent meeting, a proposal was floated last year by Russia to trade in common currencies of the region and it was to be tabled again for discussions and then onwards for ratification for the Delhi Summit. Can you shed some more light on that? (Anas Mallick, Capital TV)

Answer:a Regarding your second question, preparations for the Heads of State meeting are ongoing and the National coordinators of SCO. Member countries are discussing all proposals.

Regarding your first question, I would not like to second guess the Minister for Petroleum. It appears you already know what he said. I have nothing further to add.

Question:a Our Foreign Minister impressively led Pakistan in Goa, but it is being said that the behavior of the Indian Foreign Minister was against the diplomatic norms and our Foreign Minister did not get the due regard which was expected. What are your comments on this?

Secondly, he said that Pakistan's Foreign Minister is the Spokesperson of the terrorist and next day, a Sikh was murdered in Lahore and Indian media allegedly claimed that he was a member of Khalistan Commando Force. Do you think that this was this an activity of RAW to malign Pakistan? Can you share some details regarding the Sikh who was murdered? (Abbas Jaffer, Daily District News)

Answer:a Regarding your last question, we do not have any comments to offer. This is a security related question. For questions regarding any killings and terrorist incidents, the Ministry of Interior is the right forum to respond to that question.

Regarding the first question that you asked, Pakistan articulated its position very clearly in the statement by the Foreign Minister at the SCO Foreign Ministers' meeting, and in the various interviews that you may have all seen. Our position is consistent and we participated in the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers in a positive and constructive spirit. We are surprised at the tone and tenor of the remarks that have come from the Indian side. It reflects their frustration when confronted with the truth. We expect all SCO member states to demonstrate positive approach as demonstrated by Pakistan.

Question:a Afghan acting Foreign Minister came to Pakistan last week, and we had a lot of table talks, but for last two days many Afghanis are involved in protest and sloganeering against Pakistan Army and also destroyed the Government property. They are many media reports showing their involvement and videos are also there. So, will FO shared its concerns with Afghan Embassy on this matter? (Sohail Majeed, The Asian Telegraph)

Answer:a I do not have such information. Ministry of Interior would be the right forum to share such news. If we receive information about involvement of foreign nationals, and a decision is made to raise it with the other governments, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will fulfill its responsibilities.

Question: aIs Pakistan satisfied with the assurances given by Afghan Foreign Minister regarding TTP?

Secondly, have they shared any reports regarding the action that they have taken in the aftermath of the problems that have taken place at the Pak-Afghan border since past 20 months? What are the real reasons behind these kinds of problems?

Thirdly, UN has strongly criticized the public executions and public punishments and has also asked the Government of Afghanistan to stop this. What are your comments on this? Also, does Pakistan support this demand by UN? (Allah Noor, Mashriq TV)

Answer:a First, I would like to read something that our Foreign Minister said from this podium last week at the media briefing with the Chinese Foreign Minister. He said and I quote - 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 progress of the Afghan people. Unquote. It is in this context that our side engaged with the Afghan delegation in the bilateral meeting as well as the Trilateral Dialogue. All aspects of security question including terrorism threat that Pakistan faces were discussed in detail. Issues pertaining to the border, the threat and incidents of violence against our security officials were also discussed and our concerns were clearly articulated.

Question: aFew weeks back Prime Minister said regarding austerity measures that headcount of Embassy staff will be reduced. Can you please share the details that how much of the staff has been reduced? (Naveed Ahmed Khan, Daily Spokesman)

Answer: aI think on that I made a clarification some time ago that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, like other ministries was asked to curtail its expenses - about 15 percent of our current expenses. It did not include slashing of missions or embassy staff. We are following the instructions of the government and trying to control our budget as per the guidelines of the Government of Pakistan.

Question: aPakistan participated in SCO conference in India with a very positive approach but based on how things unfolded there, do you think that relations between Pakistan and India have improved, worsened or are they still the same keeping in view the Indian actions of 2019. What are your comments? (Raja Mohsin Ijaz, ARY News)

Answer: aI would reiterate that the Foreign Minister's visit to Goa was not in the context of bilateral dialogue or bilateral relations. There were no bilateral meetings or discussions. Pakistan was very clear about the context and purpose of the visit. So while making any assessment of the visit or its implications for Pakistan-India relations, the context of the visit must be borne in mind. Our position has not changed. With its illegal actions in August 2019, India has closed the door for constructive talks. We believe that the onus is on India to create conditions for talks and for peace and to provide relief to the people of Indian Illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

Question:a First, yesterday we saw an incident in Karachi with a Chinese national involved, where there was an attempted targeted assassination attempt on him. The Karachi police have said on the record that they've shared the details with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Interior. It comes in the backdrop of very recently from with this very podium, the Chinese Foreign Minister, raising concerns about security of Chinese nationals. Can you shed some more details with regards to this individual and the nature of this incident?

Secondly, we have extensively spoken about counterterrorism and terrorism emanating from the Afghan soil in context of the recent visit of the Afghan Foreign Minister. Particularly my question is that the matter of the assassination of Brigadier Mustafa Burki raised in talks with the Afghan side? (Anas Mallick, Capital TV)

Answer: First of all, I would like to say that regarding the reported unfortunate incident involving the Chinese national, we are in contact with the relevant authorities. It is early for us to make any public statement.

Regarding the second question, actually I would like to repeat what I have said. In all our meetings and interactions, Pakistan's raised its concerns on security on counterterrorism, including the threat to our security officials. This has been an area of concern for Pakistan. We have been raising it with the Afghan side consistently. It was raised this time as well. I will not go into the details of what was discussed.

Question:a You're right that the position of Pakistan is well known. But even in his second visit to Pakistan and standing in the Institute of Strategic Studies, Amir Muttaqi reiterated what he said during his earlier visit that you engage with TTP. My question is why Afghan interim government does not share anything with the Government of Pakistan that they have taken such and such actions against the terrorist groups or individuals who are targeting the Pakistani security forces or Pakistani civilians? Can we say there is a deadlock between Afghanistan and Pakistan on the issue of TTP and other terrorist organizations? (Shaukat Piracha, AAJ News)

Answer:a The visit of acting Foreign Minister of Afghanistan and the talks that were held both bilaterally and in the trilateral context were important. It gave our side an opportunity to discuss all issues that concern Pakistan. These concerns were clearly spelt out. We hope that the agreements and the understandings which have been reached, will be fully respected by the Afghan authorities and that includes the understandings about not allowing terrorist groups to target Pakistan.

Question:a As you said earlier that all issues were discussed during the talks. Durand line as another issue between Pakistan and Afghanistan, were there any discussion between Pakistan and Afghanistan regarding Durand line conflicts or did Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Muttaqi say anything about the damage being done to the fence at the border?a(Abbas Jaffer, Daily District News)

Answer: First of all, our position is very clear. We believe there is no dispute about the legality of the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. It is an internationally recognized border. So, this question should not even arise and this is not and will not be on the agenda of talks with any country or any entity.

Question: There has been a very pleasant development in Islamic world of Syria joining back the Arab league. There are some concerns being raised by the United States and some Muslim countries are welcoming this. What is the stance of Pakistan? (Syed Faisal Ali, Din News)

Answer:a We see this as a positive development and we hope that it will contribute to regional peace and security. It has been welcomed by the people of the region, who want peace and prosperity. Pakistan would always welcome efforts that leads to peace, dialogue and collaboration between countries in the region.

Question:a Yesterday, there was a terrorist attack on a Chinese company which is working on a non CPEC project called Hong Kong Rivers and Pak China Boatyard. Do you have any information to share with us? (Ali Hussain, Business Recorder)

Answer:a I do not have an update of the reports on this particular incident. I can, however, share with you that Pakistan unequivocally condemns all terrorist acts, including acts against foreign nationals in Pakistan. The Chinese nationals are our guests. Chinese companies in Pakistan are contributing to Pakistan's development. The Government of Pakistan will continue to provide them with all the best possible facilitation and best possible security so that they are able to function in Pakistan without any fear or hindrance.

Thank You!

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Pakistan's top court orders release of ex-PM khan, declares his arrest 'invalid'

Iran Press TV

Thursday, 11 May 2023 2:43 PM

Pakistan's top court has ordered the anti-graft agency to release former Prime Minister Imran Khan from its custody amid violent and widespread protests sparked by his detention.

The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that Imran Khan's arrest earlier this week, which sparked deadly protests across the South Asian country, was "illegal and invalid".

"Your arrest was invalid so the whole process needs to be backtracked," Pakistan's Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial told Khan, who has been in custody since Tuesday.

Earlier in the day, the court directed the the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to present the former premier before the court.

Subsequently, Khan was presented in court amid tight security about 5:45 pm local time. The top court's order on Thursday came after Khan's legal team challenged his arrest by the NAB on Tuesday.

The shock arrest has triggered violent protests across the country, prompting the government to call out the army to help restore order.

Tensions remained high on Thursday with paramilitary troops and police on the streets in big cities.

Supporters of Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party have attacked military establishments and set other state buildings and assets ablaze.

A total of nearly 2,500 people have been arrested so far and at least 11 killed and dozens injured. Authorities have also arrested at least three senior leaders of PTI party as of Thursday.

Footage shared by an Islamabad police official showed military vehicles with mounted guns lined up on the side of a road and soldiers holding assault rifles.

Mobile data services remained suspended and schools and offices were closed in two of Pakistan's four provinces. Social media platforms such as Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram have been blocked.

More than 100 police cases have been registered against Khan by the government since his removal from power in April 2022 after he lost a confidence vote in parliament.

Pakistan's President Arif Alvi, who is also a senior PTI leader, said he was "alarmed, shocked and deeply disturbed" over the situation in the country.

After his ouster in April last year, Khan accused an unnamed "foreign power" -- in a clear reference to the United States -- of funding a "conspiracy" to topple his democratically elected government.

Khan insisted that the "foreign power" sent millions of dollars to opposition parties to launch a no-confidence vote against him in the parliament.

The former prime minister has declared he fears for his life if detained, and that authorities want him jailed to prevent him from contesting an election.

Last year, Khan was shot in the leg during a political rally. Previous attempts to arrest Khan from his home in Lahore saw clashes between his supporters and security forces.

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Supreme Court of Pakistan Orders Release of ex-PM Imran Khan - Reports

Sputnik News

20230511

MOSCOW (Sputnik) -The Supreme Court of Pakistan declared the arrest of former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan illegal and ordered his immediate release, Pakistani broadcaster reported on Thursday.

Khan, the leader of the opposition Tehreek-e-Insaf party (PTI), was taken into custody on Tuesday, following a hearing of the Islamabad High Court in connection with corruption involving the Al-Qadir Trust, which he heads with his wife. The politician is facing an inquiry in the case related to a settlement between the PTI government and a property tycoon, which reportedly caused a loss of 50 billion Pakistani rupees ($17.6 million) to the national exchequer.

On the same day, Pakistani President Arif Alvi said in a letter to incumbent Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif that he was shocked by Khan's detention process.

"I and the people of Pakistan were shocked to see the video images of the incident which reflect manhandling of a former Prime Minister who is a popular leader and head of a political party substantially supported by the people of Pakistan. The law enforcement agencies forcibly entered the office where Imran Khan was seated while his biometrics were under process, inside the building of Islamabad High Court ... [it] has tarnished the image of Pakistan in the international community," Alvi said.

He also noted that people had the right to protest, but protests should remain peaceful and lawful. In addition, Alvi condemned the actions of the rioters, which reportedly resulted in the death of 10 people, with over 1,750 people injured.

The president also urged Sharif to ensure that the "constitutional rights of Imran Khan are not violated and his life is fully secured."

Following the arrest of Khan, PTI called on the citizens of Pakistan to gather for mass demonstrations to demand the politician's release. Mass protests erupted across the country, with activists setting police vehicles on fire and damaging government property, and the police using gas and water cannons to disperse the crowd.

A Sputnik

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Sanctioned Russian Cargo Ship Loaded With Weapons After Docking In South Africa, U.S. Ambassador Says

By RFE/RL May 11, 2023

The U. S. ambassador to South Africa has accused the country of providing weapons to Russia in a possible breach of South Africa's declared neutrality in the war in Ukraine.

The weapons were loaded onto a Russian cargo ship that docked secretly at a naval base near Cape Town for three days in December and were then transported to Russia, Ambassador Reuben Brigety said on May 11, according to reports of his comments carried by South African news outlets.

"We are confident that weapons were loaded onto that vessel, and I would bet my life on the accuracy on that assertion," the ambassador said during a briefing with reporters, according to a video released by Newzroom Afrika, a local news channel.

"The arming of the Russians is extremely serious, and we do not consider this issue to be resolved, and we would like SA to [begin] practicing its nonalignment policy," he said.

State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters that the United States has serious concerns about the docking of the ship, which is under U.S.-imposed sanctions. Washington has raised concerns about the weapons directly with multiple South African officials.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa was in Cape Town answering questions in parliament when a lawmaker asked him to respond to Brigety's allegation. The president replied that "the matter is being looked into, and in time we will be able to speak about it."

Ramaphosa's office called the allegations "disappointing" and warned that the remarks "undermine the spirit of cooperation and partnership" between U.S. and South African government officials who had been discussing the matter.

The cargo vessel caused speculation when it docked in early December at the Simon's Town naval base. Cargo vessels routinely dock at Cape Town's civilian harbor, not the naval base.

Opposition member of parliament Kobus Marais demanded answers from the government at the time, saying that goods had been offloaded and onloaded during overnight hours while the ship was docked at the base.

The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control added the cargo ship, the Lady R, to its sanctions list last year for alleged weapons shipments.

With reporting by AP, Reuters, and CNN

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/sanctioned-russian-cargo- ship-weapons-south-africa/32407702.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.

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Russian Lifting Of Visas, Flight Ban Highlight Georgia's Precarious Relations With Moscow

By RFE/RL's Georgian Service May 11, 2023

Reactions in Georgia have been mixed after Russia announced it was abolishing visas for Georgian nationals and lifting a ban on direct flights to the South Caucasus nation, with members of the government welcoming the announcement while the president and others denounced it, highlighting the complicated, and often rocky, relations between Moscow and Tbilisi.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on May 10 signed two decrees, one allowing Georgian nationals to enter Russia without visas starting from May 15, unless they are coming to work in Russia for more than 90 days. The second decree lifted a ban on direct flights by Russian airlines to Georgia that Moscow unilaterally imposed in 2019 after a wave of anti-Kremlin protests in Georgia.

Hours after that announcement, Russia's Transport Ministry said Russian airlines would operate seven flights weekly between Moscow and Tbilisi. It said Russia wanted "to facilitate the conditions for communication and contacts."

The European Union, United States, Canada, and other states have banned Russian airlines from entering their airspace since Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Relations between Russia and Georgia have been on edge for years.

The two countries fought a brief war in 2008 over South Ossetia, a Russian-backed breakaway region of Georgia. The two countries have had no formal diplomatic ties since that war, which ended with Georgia not only losing control of South Ossetia but Abkhazia, as well. Russia has troops stationed in both regions.

Georgia voted in favor of all international resolutions condemning Russia's aggression in Ukraine. It has also provided Ukraine with humanitarian aid and taken in thousands of war refugees. At the same time, the Black Sea country of 3.7 million has been a top destination for Russians fleeing the partial mobilization that Putin announced in September 2022 and the worsening general crackdown in Russia.

In June 2022, the European Commission declined granting Georgia EU candidate status, instead urging it to carry out a series of reforms. In March, amid large street protests, Georgia's government abandoned efforts to pass a draft law regulating so-called foreign agents. Critics said the bill was like a Russian law used to undermine civil society there, and that it was symbolic of an authoritarian shift in Georgia.

Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili said in a post on Twitter on May 10 that Putin's dual decrees were "another provocation."

"Resuming direct flights and lifting visa ban with Georgia is unacceptable as long as Russia continues its aggression on Ukraine and occupies our territory," she wrote.

Zurabishvili, whose post is largely ceremonial, has often accused the ruling Georgian Dream party of having ties to Moscow since being elected with its backing in 2018.

Echoing those concerns, Teona Akubardia, deputy chairwoman of the Parliamentary Committee on Defense and Security, told RFE/RL's Georgian Service that the Kremlin action "increases the dangers" for Georgia.

"This is another test for the citizens of Georgia, how they will respond to this hostile move by Russia and how Russia will achieve its goal -- to use additional levers of influence against Georgia," she added.

Dozens of Georgians later on May 10 protested outside the Georgian Foreign Ministry building in Tbilisi hours after Georgian Foreign Minister Ilia Darchiashvili welcomed Russia's decision, saying it "will simplify the daily living conditions of our citizens, and it will give them the chance to communicate and travel freely and easily."

Deputy Economy Minister Mariam Kvrivishvili told reporters the announcement would significantly improve travel options for the million Georgians living in Russia.

The Kremlin announcement is a "very clear sign that Georgia is moving closer to Russia and distancing itself from the West," offered Gigi Gigiadze, a former Georgian deputy foreign minister and former ambassador to Denmark, in comments to RFE/RL's Georgian Service. "This is very bad for Georgia," Gigiadze added.

It also smacks of desperation in Moscow as it searches to find allies amid growing international isolation for its ongoing attack on Ukraine, according to Georgian political analyst Gela Vasadze.

"It is clear that the situation after February 2022 has changed dramatically. Russia has become a pariah for most economically developed countries," Vasadze told Current Time, the Russian-language network led by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA.

"For 22 years, Georgia has learned to live well without Russia. Georgia is absolutely economically independent from Russia. We have been receiving gas from Azerbaijan since 2007, and most of our trade is with the European Union. As for trade with Russia, this is trade exclusively with companies that are affiliated with the ruling authorities," Vasadze explained.

Reports earlier this year that the Georgian government was mulling whether to restart direct flights with Russia triggered concerns at the time in both Brussels and Washington.

"Many Western countries, including the United States, prohibit Russian aircraft from entering their airspace. We would be concerned about the resumption of flights between Russia and Georgia, given that companies at Georgian airports could be subject to sanctions if they serve aircraft subject to additional import and export controls," the U.S. State Department told the Georgian Service of Voice of America on February 2.

"The entire Western community has distanced itself from this brutal regime, and now is not the time to expand engagement with Russia."

"We are aware of the recent discussions on the possible restoration of direct flights between Russia and Georgia," Peter Stano, an EU spokesman, told the Georgian newspaper Netgazeti on February 4.

"The European Union calls on Georgia to join the sanctions imposed by the European Union and other countries against Russia in the aviation sector and to remain vigilant against any possible attempts to circumvent the sanctions."

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/georgia-russia-visas-direct- flights-relations/32407620.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.

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Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's video address to the participants in the 13th session of the Arctic Council, May 11, 2023

11 May 2023 13:15

894-11-05-2023

Colleagues,

I am glad to welcome participants and organisers of the Arctic Council's 13th session in Salekhard, the capital of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Area.

The Arctic region, which is playing an increasingly important role in world politics and the economy, is one of Russia's priorities. The updated Foreign Policy Concept, approved by President Vladimir Putin in late March 2023, acknowledges the importance of the Arctic for the strategic interests of our country.

As a country presiding in the Arctic Council in 2021-2023, Russia has invariably acted in line with the common interest, which is to ensure the sustainable and safe development of the entire Arctic region, the wellbeing of the Arctic population, including the indigenous peoples of the North. The Russian presidency's comprehensive programme was oriented towards achieving these objectives. More than 100 themed forums, some of them with international participants, were held as part of the programme.

Unfortunately, the Council's full-scale activity was suspended by Western member countries under the absolutely far-fetched pretext that it related to the situation in Ukraine, which was provoked by the Western countries themselves. We consider this step by our Western colleagues politically motivated and counterproductive as it leads to a disintegration of collective approaches to the responsible management of the Arctic.

However, we still believe that the Arctic states bear a special responsibility for the consistent development of this region. It is our understanding that further effective work and the future of the Arctic Council in general will depend on whether we can find possibilities to continue a civilised dialogue in the interests of preserving the Arctic as a territory of peace, stability and constructive cooperation. These are the objectives set forth in the 2021 Ministerial Declaration and the Strategic Plan of the Arctic Council until 2030.

I wish all participants in the session a successful work.

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Frigate Marshal Shaposhnikov leaves the Russian Pacific Fleet headquarters for antisubmarine drills

11.05.2023

Frigate Marshal Shaposhnikov left Vladivostok for antisubmarine exercises.

At the Sea of Japan water the ship's crew is to conduct search of opposing force submarine, according to the ships combat drills plans.

At the drills' first stage, Frigate Marshal Shaposhnikov is to master combined makeovers with Ka-27PL naval aviation helicopter and locate enemy submarines.

At the drill's second stage, the ships crew will take part in drills to destroy enemy submarine.

During the exercises, the enemy submarine is represented by the Russian Pacific Fleet diesel electric submarine.

Also, the ship's personnel will perform tasks of protection and defense with the grenade throwing.

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Russia Never Weaponized Energy, But Won't Take Asset Seizure Lying Down - Kremlin

Sputnik News

20230511

Russia has never used energy for political purposes, but while the West turns up the heat, Moscow won't take the US-led West's seizure of its assets lying down, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov emphasized on Thursday.

Earlier in the day, Fortum said that it will write off its Russian assets to the tune of 1.7 billion euros ($1.86 billion) that came under the control of Russia's Federal Agency for State Property Management (Rosimushchestvo) following the decree on the external management of foreign assets.

"Russia has never used energy for political or other purposes. Russia is facing unprecedented pressure from abroad. Russia is up against the expropriation of its assets overseas. And, of course, no one should expect Russia to let this whole thing go unanswered," Peskov maintained.

On US Ploy to Hand Over Russian Funds to Kiev Regime

The Kremlin official also laced into Washington's scheme to transfer the confiscated funds of sanctioned Russian businessman Konstantin Malofeev to Kiev. He added that such a move would erode investors' trust in the US.

"Although it is difficult to imagine what can serve as a legal basis, because this is nothing more than a direct attack on what the US sees as utterly sacred - property rights. This shatters [their] credibility, and the confidence of investors, who are owners of some assets that are somehow connected with the US," Peskov stressed.

Russians have every reason to sue for damages in connection with the US confiscating their money, but there are no positive prospects for those cases, the spokesman added.

When the Kremlin launched the special military operation to protect the people of Donbass from the Kiev regime's aggression, Western nations slapped sweeping sanctions on the Russian economy, targeting key industries like energy and banking. Moscow slammed these restrictions as illegal and tried to use the situation to its own advantage.

As President Vladimir Putin stated, the US and its Western allies believed that Russia would "collapse in two or three weeks or in a month." Instead of that, Russia has boosted economic sovereignty and began to develop according to a new model.

A Sputnik

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US Accuses South Africa of Shipping Arms to Russia

By VOA News May 11, 2023

The U.S. on Thursday accused South Africa of supplying arms to Russia for its war in Ukraine in a three-day covert naval operation near Cape Town in early December.

Ambassador Reuben Brigety, the American diplomatic mission chief to South Africa, said in comments carried by multiple South African news outlets that the U.S. was certain that the weapons were loaded onto a Russian-flagged cargo ship, the Lady R, that was secretly docked at the Simon's Town naval base before departing for Russia.

He characterized South Africa's alleged arming of Russia during its invasion of Ukraine as "extremely serious" and said it called into question South Africa's supposed neutral stance in the conflict.

In Parliament, the leader of the South African political opposition, John Steenhuisen, asked President Cyril Ramaphosa if South Africa was "actively arming Russian soldiers who are murdering and maiming innocent people?"

Ramaphosa replied that an investigation was underway. "The matter is being looked into, and in time we will be able to speak about it," Ramaphosa said, but declined further comment.

Later, in a statement, Ramaphosa said U.S. and South African officials had discussed "the Lady R matter ... and there was an agreement that an investigation will be allowed to run its course, and that the U.S. intelligence services will provide whatever evidence [is] in their possession."

"It is therefore disappointing," Ramaphosa said, "that the U.S. ambassador has adopted a counter-productive public posture that undermines the understanding reached on the matter and the very positive and constructive engagements between the two delegations."

Brigety told reporters in the capital, Pretoria, "Among the things we [the U.S.] noted was the docking of the cargo ship in the Simon's Town naval base between the 6th and 8th December 2022, which we are confident uploaded weapons and ammunition onto that vessel in Simon's Town as it made its way back to Russia."

Steenhuisen's party, the Democratic Alliance, had raised questions earlier this year about a "mystery" Russian vessel making a stop at the Simon's Town base.

At the time, the South African government didn't comment publicly, saying it needed to gather information. In late December, South African Defense Minister Thandi Modise said the ship appeared to be handling an "old order" for ammunition, and she indicated that arms were offloaded, not loaded onto the ship.

The South African government is allied with the U.S. in Africa but has stated numerous times it is remaining neutral on the war in Ukraine and wants the conflict resolved peacefully. But South Africa has had recent contacts with Russia, raising U.S. concerns about its claims of neutrality.

South Africa hosted Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov for talks in January, about a month after the alleged visit by the Lady R, giving him a platform to blame the West for the war in Ukraine.

Weeks later, South Africa allowed warships from the Russian and Chinese navies to perform drills off its east coast. The Russian navy brought its Admiral Gorshkov frigate, one of its navy's flagship vessels.

The South African navy also took part in the drills and characterized them as exercises that would "strengthen the already flourishing relations between South Africa, Russia and China."

Brigety said South Africa's decision to stage the naval drills in February, which coincided with the first anniversary of the start of the war in Ukraine, raised "serious concerns" for the U.S.

South Africa said the drills were planned years ago before Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

South Africa's ruling African National Congress Party, which is led by Ramaphosa, sent a delegation to Moscow last month and spoke of strengthening its ties with Russia, further complicating the country's relationship with the U.S.

Some material in this report came from The Associated Press.

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West Mulls Designating Russia's Wagner Group as Terrorists

By Henry Ridgwell May 11, 2023

Britain is preparing to designate the Wagner Group a a Russian private army that is deeply involved in the invasion of Ukraine a as a terrorist organization, according to The Times of London newspaper, citing government sources.

The European Union and the United States are debating similar designations, which would put the group in the same bracket as Islamic State and al-Qaida.

Wagner mercenaries, many of whom have been recruited from Russian prisons, are spearheading Russia's fight for the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. The battle for the city has been raging for months. Ukrainian and Western governments say Wagner has suffered tens of thousands of casualties.

Wagner operates closely with the Russian government. The group is blamed for widespread atrocities in Ukraine, including the torture and killing of prisoners of war and civilians, among them children. Wagner commanders deny the accusations, despite widespread evidence on the ground and testimony from former mercenaries.

Members of the group a including its leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin a are already subject to American, European Union and British sanctions. Britain has been building a legal case for the last two months and could designate Wagner as a terrorist group within weeks, according to the Times report. The British government declined to comment.

Belonging to or promoting Wagner, or even displaying its logo, would become a criminal offense, said Tanya Mehra of the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism, based in The Hague.

"It may deter companies maybe to do business with Wagner. But it's doubtful what effect it will have because Wagner is getting their financial resources, not so much from Europe, but from the activities they're carrying out, the illegal activities in Africa. So what could be the benefits? It is maybe more symbolic," Mehra told VOA in an interview.

Wagner mercenaries have operated in Syria and several African countries, including Libya, the Central African Republic, Mali and Sudan, typically offering governments security services in return for access to mineral wealth and support for Russia's geopolitical aims.

Wagner fighters are accused of widespread human rights abuses. In one incident in March 2022, around 300 civilians died in an attack on the Malian town of Moura, which was then controlled by jihadist forces.

Speaking at the time, witnesses accused Malian forces and Russian Wagner fighters of summary executions. Amadou, who ran a stall in Moura, spoke to Reuters after fleeing the attack for the Malian capital, Bamako. He did not want to give his family name.

"They [the Malian army] came with a lot of white men, we can call them Russians. They didn't understand one other. ... They took 15 to 20 people. They lined them up about 100 meters from us. They made them kneel down and they shot them," Amadou said.

Lawmakers in the French National Assembly voted unanimously Tuesday to designate the Wagner group as a terrorist entity. The resolution was non-binding but increases the pressure on the European Union to take action.

In Washington, a bipartisan group of lawmakers is pushing for the United States to classify Wagner as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. The U.S. attorney general said in March he would not object to the move. "I think they're an organization that is committing war crimes, an organization that's damaging the United States," Attorney General Merrick Garland said March 1, noting that the designation is made by the State Department.

Such a move by Washington could have a big impact on Wagner, said Mehra, of the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism.

"In the U.S., if they would be designated as a terrorist group, it would have the most far-reaching consequences a as anyone who will be providing material support to the Wagner group could also face criminal prosecution. So that would mean that states or certain government officials from African states, who would be engaging with Wagner could be liable for criminal prosecutions," Mehra said.

However, governments should be wary of using the terrorist designations as a political tool, Mehra added.

"When you're looking at Wagner group, they're not just an ordinary terrorist organization. We are maybe blurring the distinction here and I think it's important to be careful about that. In fact, Wagner is a private military security company. And Wagner has very strong interconnectedness with the Russian state," she said.

"I think by designating them as a terrorist group, we do have to look at the long-term effect of it and whether or not it is now being used only solely as a political instrument, or whether that we are really talking about adding another layer of sanctions and whether they would really also meet the criteria ... to be designated as a terrorist group," Mehra said.

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Press release on Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's meeting with Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates of the Syrian Arab Republic Faisal Mekdad

10 May 2023 20:00

891-10-05-2023

On May 10, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met with Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates of the Syrian Arab Republic Faisal Mekdad at the Foreign Ministry.

During the trust-based talks, the heads of the two foreign ministries discussed current issues on the international and regional agendas. They had an in-depth discussion on the situation evolving in Syria and around it, with a focus on the efforts to promote the comprehensive settlement of the Syrian crisis based on the effective role of the Astana format.

Special attention was given to the issues of a constructive dialogue between Damascus and other countries in the region based on the principles of unconditional respect for the unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic. In this context, the two foreign ministers noted positive dynamics in the process of restoring Syria's ties with the Arab countries ahead of the [upcoming] League of Arab States Summit in Saudi Arabia.

While discussing the humanitarian situation in Syria, the two ministers emphasised the need for stepping up international relief efforts following the recent earthquake in Syria, as well as international aid to Damascus to help it rebuild the country after the end of the conflict. They also stressed the importance of further active efforts to motivate Syrian refugees and internally displaced persons to return to their places of residence by creating appropriate conditions that will allow them to make a living.

The two foreign ministers reviewed the priority objectives for continuing to strengthen the diverse partnership between Russia and Syria, including efforts to promote economic cooperation and trade.

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U.S. Sen. Rubio introduces bill to beef up air bases that would defend Taiwan

Bill is latest attempt to counter potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan

By Eugene Whong for RFA 2023.05.11 -- U.S. Senator Marco Rubio introduced a bill Thursday that seeks to strengthen American air bases in the Indo-Pacific region to better respond to mainland Chinese aggression against Taiwan.

The Deterring Chinese Preemptive Strikes Act "direct[s] the U.S. Department of Defense to harden U.S. facilities in the Indo-Pacific to help further deter a preemptive strike against U.S. forces and assets in the region by China ahead of an invasion of Taiwan."

War games conducted by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies showed that Beijing's strategy if it were to mount such an invasion would be to attack U.S. bases in the region with missiles, a statement by Rubio's office said.

The bill calls for a survey of aviation assets in the region to determine if any that would be needed to respond to an invasion of Taiwan lack improvements that would "mitigate damage to aircraft in the event of a missile, aerial drone, or other form of attack by the People's Republic of China."

When the survey is complete, the secretary of defense would then deliver the results of the survey to the appropriate congressional committees, which would then enact plans to make the improvements.

"Senator Rubio has been clear on the importance of defending Taiwan," a representative from Rubio's office told RFA's Mandarin Service, citing the Taiwan Protection and National Resilience Act, a bill that Rubio and colleagues introduced in March that seeks to create a plan for dealing with a potential invasion.

When asked if U.S. lawmakers were working with President Biden to prevent threats to U.S. airspace, Rubio's office was critical of the administration, saying it "appears to be more concerned about not antagonizing China instead of taking the steps needed to protect American servicemembers from future attacks."

Mainland communist China considers democratic Taiwan to be a rogue province. Beijing insists that its diplomatic partners accept its claim on the island of Taiwan, which it calls the "one China" policy, effectively forcing them to cut ties with the democratic island.

Beijing last month conducted military exercises in waters around the island of Taiwan, prompting Taipei's Foreign Minister Joseph Wu to say, "They seem to be trying to get ready to launch a war against Taiwan."

In February, CIA Director William Burns said that Chinese President Xi Jinping wants to be able to invade Taiwan within the next four years.

Additional reporting by Bing Xiao for RFA Mandarin. 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.

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Ankara slams US efforts to influence Turkish elections

Iran Press TV

Thursday, 11 May 2023 7:31 AM

Turkey's Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu has lashed out at the United States for leading a Western media campaign to manipulate the country's upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections.

"The plan by the US intensifies actively," Soylu stated during a press briefing on Wednesday, arguing that "the reason for Western media's interference is the realization of America's plan [in Turkey]."

He made the remarks in an apparent response to an intensifying media campaign by a number of American and European news outlets describing Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as a "dictator and tyrant," resembling similar efforts used during elections in other countries where Washington has a favorite candidate of its own.

"Tayyip Erdogan has eliminated all these Western intrusions," Soylu further insisted. "Now, the West started to push its vision [on Turkey]. With our victory in the 2023 election, a hundred-year stability will begin. They see it. There is no election a US ambassador would not like to control."

"They say Turkey's geopolitical priorities do not meet [Western] interests," he then noted. "Turkey did not accept the US's mandate. They have been trying to take revenge for it for 104 years. Everyone is aware of it."

The interior minister also alleged last week that the US would attempt a presidential coup during the upcoming election, further blaming Washington for a failed coup attempt in the country in 2016.

He also accused the US of being behind the military coups in Turkey in 1960 and 1971.

In July 2016, a faction of the Turkish military was blamed for an attempted coup to overthrow Erdogan. The Turkish government insisted that the failed coup was led and organized by the US-base Fethullah Gulen and the adherents of the so-called Gulenist movement. Gulen was a former ally of Erdogan that helped him and his Islamist AK Party to rise to power in the strictly secular Turkey at the time.

Turkey reportedly arrested nearly 40,000 people and dismissed about 110,000 public servants alleged to have ties with the Gulenists or the terrorist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) as well as other Kurdish institutions.

The development came as top diplomats from Turkey, Syria, Iran and Russia wrapped up their landmark summit on the Syrian conflict in Moscow, underscoring Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and setting up a road-map to improve strained ties between Damascus and Ankara.

The foreign ministers made the remarks in a final communique at the end of the four-party meeting aimed at reconciliation and resumption of ties between Damascus and Ankara in various dimensions on Wednesday.

This is while the United State, which continues to maintain an occupational military force in Syria, has fervently opposed the recent improvement of ties with Damascus by nearly all regional countries, especially Turkey, and persistently seeks to internationally isolate Syria in favor of the occupying Israeli regime, which continues to annex the Arab nation's Golan Heights.

Erdogan's top rival in the upcoming presidential election, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, has the support of the Kurdish-dominated Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP). Erdogan's administration, however, insists that the HDP has links with the PKK, which Ankara -- as well as neighboring Iran and Iraq -- has long blacklisted as a terrorist group.

Pre-election polls have not yet shown a clear favorite. If no candidate gains 50 percent of the votes, a second voting round will occur on 28 May.

Some Turkish commentators have also accused the US of planning to carry out a "color revolution" in Turkey during the elections resembling those successfully implemented by the US State Department in West Asia and the post-Soviet European and Central Asian states.

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Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna meets Ukraine's special representative Anton Korynevych

Republic of Estonia - Ministry of Foreign Affairs

11.05.2023 | 17:15

Today 11 May, Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna met with Ukraine's special representative Anton Korynevych. The main topic of the meeting was the creation of a special international tribunal for the crime of aggression that would make it possible to prosecute Russia's leadership.

The foreign minister recognised the recent strong statement by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the International Criminal Court in The Hague emphasising the importance of establishing an international special tribunal.

Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna also said it was crucial to achieve political support for establishing the international special tribunal and maximum consensus across regions. "The aim of creating an international tribunal is to prosecute Russia's leadership, which has unleashed this war of aggression. An international special tribunal would also make it possible to prosecute national leaders that are in office," the minister emphasised.

Tsahkna added that Estonia welcomed the creation of an investigative centre for the crime of aggression in The Hague for international cooperation on collecting evidence about the crime of aggression and preserving them outside Ukraine. "It is also the first step towards establishing an international special tribunal," he added.

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Wagner Mercenary Chief Prigozhin Says Ukraine's Counteroffensive Is Under Way

By RFE/RL May 11, 2023

Wagner mercenary group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin says Ukraine's highly anticipated counteroffensive against Russian invasion is under way, claiming that Ukrainian armed forces plan to move further to the north and south if they take control of Bakhmut, the city in the eastern Donetsck region that has been an epicenter of heavy fighting for months.

Prigozhin issued his audio statement on May 11 on Telegram shortly after the BBC published an interview with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in which he said his armed forces need more time to get ready for the counteroffensive.

Prigozhin accused Zelenskiy of "double-crossing" and said the counteroffensive is in "full swing." In the area of Bakhmut, he said Ukrainian armed forces "are hitting our flanks and, unfortunately, in some places they are being successful."

He said that if Ukrainian units take Bakhmut, they will move further to attack Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhya region and Russia's Bryansk and Belgorod regions bordering Ukraine.

"Therefore, Ukraine's offensive has begun. All [Ukrainian units] that have gone through trainings and received all necessary weapons, equipment, the tanks, and all the rest have been fully involved in the military actions," Prigozhin said. He again lambasted the Russian Defense Ministry for what he called a reluctance to provide Wagner troops with necessary ammunition.

"Wagner continues to carry out military missions in a horrible deficiency of shells, ammunition hunger, because all promises by the Defense Ministry have not been met," Prigozhin emphasized, adding that he would at a later point elaborate on how his troops manage to fight without ammunition.

Both Ukraine and Russia's Defense Ministry have yet to confirm or deny Prigozhin's comments.

Russia has suffered about 200,000 casualties during the 14-month war, according to Western estimates, and continues to lose dozens a day in Bakhmut, which Russian forces have been trying to take since last summer.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/wagner-prigozhin-ukraine- counteroffensive-bakhmut/32407642.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.

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Britain Confirms Supplying Ukraine With Long-Range Missiles As Moscow Fumes

By RFE/RL May 11, 2023

Britain says it is supplying long-range cruise missiles to Ukraine, giving Kyiv the capability to hit Russian troops well behind front lines as it prepares for a long-expected counteroffensive against Russia's occupying forces.

Defense Minister Ben Wallace on May 11 confirmed to British lawmakers that the U.K. will donate Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine.

"The use of Storm Shadow will allow Ukraine to push back Russian forces based within Ukrainian sovereign territory," he added without specifying how many are being delivered.

Storm Shadow missiles, which have a range of more than 250 kilometers, give Ukraine the capacity to strike well behind Russian front lines and as far as Moscow-occupied Crimea.

"We will simply not stand by as Russia kills civilians. Russia must recognize that its actions alone have led to such systems being provided to Ukraine," Wallace said.

British media reports said Kyiv had promised not to use the missiles to strike inside Russia's territory.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov issued a tweet full of metaphors following Wallace's announcement.

"The weather forecast is predicting a cyclone moving from the U.K. towards Ukraine, bringing with it Storms," he said. "It is through the Shadow of the Storm that the sunshine of our liberty will break through and shed light on our Victory."

The Kremlin regarded the announcement on the Storm Shadow missiles "quite negatively," spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

"It will demand an appropriate response from our military that will definitely make the decisions required in military terms," Peskov said.

The announcement from London came shortly after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in an interview with European broadcasters that Kyiv is delaying the start of the counteroffensive because it lacks enough Western weapons to succeed without suffering too many casualties.

A Ukrainian counteroffensive has been expected since warmer weather improved battlefield conditions, and Zelenskiy said it's possible that "we can go forward and be successful," the BBC reported.

"But we'd lose a lot of people. I think that's unacceptable," he was quoted as saying. "So we need to wait. We still need a bit more time.... In terms of equipment, not everything has arrived yet."

Ukraine earlier claimed a small but significant battlefield victory outside the devastated eastern city of Bakhmut, reportedly inflicting major losses on a Russian brigade.

Hints of a major clash emerged earlier this week, when Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the private Russian mercenary group Wagner, published a video suggesting that a Russian unit called the 72nd Brigade had either deserted or been wiped out as they fought alongside his troops.

Prigozhin on May 9 said several kilometers of frontline territory had been lost, and he suggested his forces could have suffered up to 500 killed. He also repeated his claims that his forces were being deprived of ammunition and he lashed out at Russian commanders, accusing them of incompetence.

"Our army is fleeing. The 72nd Brigade [pissed away] 3-square kilometers this morning, where I had lost around 500 men," Prigozhin said in the video.

Prigozhin on May 11 said that the situation on the flanks near Bakhmut was unfolding in line with the "worst of all expected scenarios," asserting that Ukraine's counteroffensive was already under way.

In the area of Bakhmut, he said Ukrainian armed forces "are hitting our flanks and, unfortunately, in some places they are being successful."

Prigozhin complained that territory captured over the course of many months was being "thrown away" by those who should be guarding the flanks. In his view this responsibility belongs to regular Russian troops.

The Ukrainian ground commander overseeing the 10-month battle for Bakhmut claimed that Russian forces had been forced to retreat.

"We are effectively counterattacking," Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskiy said in a post on Telegram. "On some sections of the front, the enemy could not withstand pressure from Ukrainian defenders and had to retreat up to 2 kilometers."

The Russian Defense Ministry denied reports of Ukrainian military breakthroughs along parts of the front line, saying late on May 11 that the "overall situation in the area of the special military operation is under control."

Peskov said earlier on May 11 in an interview with a Bosnian Serb television station that he was confident Bakhmut "will be captured and will be kept under control."

Bakhmut has been the focus of intense fighting for months, with Wagner group forces playing a key role in a brutal, grinding effort to push Ukrainian forces out of the city. Russian troops are believed to control as much as 75 percent of the city.

The Russian push for Bakhmut has perplexed some military observers, while Ukraine's stubborn defense of the city has also come under question.

Russian forces have spent months digging major defenses, including trenches and minefields, across parts of eastern and southern Ukraine.

In recent weeks, there has been a noticeable uptick in reports of drone attacks hitting sites in Russian border regions. Ukraine is believed to be behind the attacks.

With reporting by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, Reuters, AFP, BBC, and dpa

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-bakhmut- russia-relinquishes-ground-prigozhin/32405897.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.

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Ukrainian Grad Rocket Strike Leaves Many Injured in DPR's Gorlovka

Sputnik News

20230511

DONETSK (Sputnik) - Many people in Donbass city Gorlovka have suffered injuries after the Ukrainian military used Grad rockets on Thursday, Mayor Ivan Prikhodko said.

"Ukrainian neo-Nazis fired seven rockets from the BM-21 Grad MLRS into the very center of Gorlovka. There are many wounded civilians," the mayor wrote on his Telegram channel.

The strike comes amid growing tensions in the area, as Kiev pledged multiple times to start a "counter-offensive".

Gorlovka, which has been suffering from regular attacks by Ukrainian forces, is a major industrial center situated 50 kilometers to the north of Donetsk.

Russia launched its special military operation in Ukraine on February 24, 2022, after the Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics appealed for help in defending themselves against Kiev's provocations.

In response to Russia's operation, Western countries have rolled out a major sanctions campaign against Moscow and have been supplying weapons to Ukraine.

A Sputnik

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US Patriot System Not Capable of Intercepting Russian Kinzhal Missile - Source

Sputnik News

20230511

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The US Patriot air defense system is not capable of intercepting Russian hypersonic air-to-surface Kinzhal missiles, a high-ranking source in the Russian Defense Ministry said on Thursday.

"Spreading that the Kinzhal was allegedly intercepted is wishful thinking. The fact is that the flight speed of the Kinzhal missile exceeds the maximum combat modes of anti-aircraft missile systems supplied by the West to the Kiev regime, including the Patriot," the source said.

Russian missiles are "intercepted" two to three times more often than the Russia launches them, the source also said, adding that this way the West justifies spending too much ammunition for air defense systems.

"The anti-missile maneuver carried out by the Kinzhal in the final flight segment and the almost vertical approach to the target makes it impossible for anti-aircraft missile systems to intercept this weapon," the source added.

A Sputnik

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EU Trains More Than 17,000 Ukrainian Soldiers - Borrell

Sputnik News

20230511

MOSCOW (Sputnik) -The European union has trained over 17,000 Ukrainian soldiers already and plans that this number will reach 30,000 by the end of the year, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Thursday.

"We have been training more than 17,000 Ukrainian soldiers and by the end of the year our training mission will be training about 30,000 Ukrainian soldiers," Borrell said during the European Defence and Security Summit.

On Financial Aid to Kiev

Commenting on Western support to Zelensky, Josep Borrell added that the total assistance to Ukraine from EU countries and organizations has amounted so far to 16 billion euros ($17.5 billion) and pledged to give more.

"All together member states plus European Union institutions, we should be about 16 billion euros of support to Ukraine and it is not finished," Borrell stated.

After Russia started special operation in Ukraine to protect people of Donbass, Western nations ramped up their support for Kiev regime. Moscow officials consistently warned that such moves only fuel the crisis.

Building Up European Defenses

Borrell added that EU needs to boost its defense capabilities, that's why about 70 billion euros ($76.5 billion) will be invested in military-industrial complex over the next three years.

"The member states' plans means that they are going to spend in the next three years 70,000 million euros on increasing their defense capacities," he concluded.

A Sputnik

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Ukrainian civilians pay the price for Russia's savage attacks: UK statement to the OSCE

The United Kingdom says it will not allow Russia's aggression and brutality to become normalised, as Russia unleashes yet more strikes across Ukraine.

11 May 2023



Thank you. Mr Chair, this week many participating States of the OSCE commemorated the anniversary of the end of the Second World War. However, the people of Ukraine were not able to reflect in peace and safety. On Saturday and Sunday, air raid alerts sounded across two thirds of Ukraine. Missile strikes were reported in Kharkiv, Kherson, Nikolaev and Odesa on Monday morning. Civilians were yet again among the casualties, once more paying the price for Russia's brutal attacks. These strikes hit a Ukrainian Red Cross warehouse in Odesa and a mobile hospital in Mykolaiv. Such callous attacks harm the most vulnerable people in Ukraine, those in greatest need of humanitarian support. Such attacks are particularly inexcusable and repugnant.

It has also been reported that in a separate incident, members of Ukraine's State Emergency Service were killed by shelling in Kherson. They were engaged in de-mining operations, working selflessly to make the area safer.

Further East, the fields surrounding Bakhmut are grey and cratered after relentless bombing. The city itself has been almost entirely destroyed. Russia has turned this once thriving city into a wasteland.

Mr Chair, on Tuesday, the same day that Russia launched waves of missile strikes at Ukraine's capital, President Putin marked Victory Day with a speech in which he claimed that a war had been unleashed against Russia. Yet, as all of us in this room know, it was Russia that unleashed an unprovoked and illegal full-scale invasion of Ukraine. It is Russia that has bombarded Ukraine's critical national infrastructure, killing thousands of civilians in the process. It is Ukraine that defends itself, regaining territory and liberating thousands of Ukrainian people.

Despite Russia's continual assaults, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have held firm. Ukraine's resilience and bravery, coupled with military, humanitarian and economic support from the UK and other partners, will ensure that they will prevail. We will continue to support Ukraine for as long as it takes.

Since we last met, Mr Chair, the IAEA has warned of the "potentially dangerous" situation at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. Russia's disregard of international law and its continued military presence has put Ukrainian nuclear facilities at risk. This endangers local populations and the wider region. The responsibility for such danger lies squarely with Russia. This is sovereign Ukrainian territory, and the Plant must be returned to Ukraine's control to ensure its safe and secure operation. We support all efforts to reduce the risks to the Nuclear Power Plant caused by Russia's illegal invasion, including the IAEA's work.

The price that Ukraine's civilians and infrastructure are paying for Russia's horrendous attacks must not become normalised. The UK and our partners will continue to work to hold those guilty of atrocities to account. Russia must end its doomed aggression against Ukraine, and cease its shameful attacks on the Ukrainian people. It is Ukraine that fights for the OSCE's core principles: sovereignty, territorial integrity, and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It is Russia that is on the wrong side of history.

Thank you, Mr Chair.

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Defence Secretary oral statement on war in Ukraine

The Defence Secretary made a statement to Parliament updating members on the UK's continued programme of military aid to Ukraine, including long-range precision strike capability.

11 May 2023



Today, I want to update the House on Russia's attacks on civilians and critical national infrastructure in Ukraine.

We are now on day 442 of the conflict. During this period Moscow has, according to the UN, provoked the largest displacement of people in Europe since World War 2, including almost eight million refugees and almost six million internally forced from their homes. We must not lose sight of these staggering statistics. But, worse still, Russia's battlefield setbacks have led it to cynically targeting energy infrastructure - putting millions of people at risk of sickness and death in cold unsanitary conditions. Take, for example, the besieged city of Bakhmut, where there are now fewer than 7,000 residents, one-tenth of the original population. Who, for the last nine months have been hiding in basements, without clean water, electricity, or gas and minimal connection to the outside world.

From the scale of Russia's attacks, it is clear that they have not limited themselves to military targets - their purpose is simply to terrorise the local population into submission. That conclusion is the only one that can be drawn when you look at Russia's ever-expanding charge sheet of international humanitarian law violations.

As of 2 April, there have been 788 attacks on healthcare facilities - hospitals, clinics, medical centres. There have been instances of damage to educational faculties - schools, day care centres and nurseries.

Meanwhile, Russia has plundered crops and agricultural equipment on an industrial scale, destroying grain storage and handling facilities. According to estimates from the Kyiv School of Economics, Russia stole or destroyed 4.04 million tonnes of grain and oilseeds, valued at $1.9bn, in Ukrainian territories during the 2022 season. And the Kremlin's continued intransigence is contributing to the current backlog of grain exports.

Besides this, Russia has bombed industrial facilities, including the Azot chemical plant (Severodonesk) risking toxic industrial chemical release and environmental impact. It has attacked Ukraine's largest refinery at Kremenchuk on at least three occasions. It has bombed airfields, ports, roads and rail networks - preventing refugees from fleeing the danger. It has taken out communication networks affecting banks, internet and cell phones - with residents in some areas now forced to barter for food. And Kremlin strikes on substations, powerplants and powerlines have impacted water treatment facilities leaving cities like Mariupol without water and reliant on delivery of bottled supplies.

At the same time, Russia has forcibly occupied and undermined the safe operation of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant - the largest in Europe. As International Atomic Energy Agency director general Rafael Grossi has said: "Every single one of the IAEA's crucial seven indispensable pillars for ensuring nuclear safety and security in an armed conflict has been compromised." He recently warned the situation around the plant was "potentially dangerous".

Sadly, so far at least 23,000 Ukrainian civilians have been killed or wounded, although the actual figure is likely to be substantially higher. Thousands of citizens have been sent to sinister "filtration" camps before being forcibly relocated to Russia. Some 6,000 children - ranging in ages from 4 months to 17 years - are now in "re-education camps" across Russia.

The UN as well as US investigators have found that Russia has committed war crimes with reported evidence of executions, torture and sexual violence in civilian areas. In early April, President Zelensky said more than 70,000 Russian war crimes had been recorded since Putin's invasion. The names of Bucha and Izium have become synonymous with mass murder. The world will not forget the bombing of the drama theatre in Mariupol where 1,200 civilians sought shelter under a giant sign reading "children" - no matter how much Russia tries to hide and bulldoze over the scene - we will not forget. Even in the territories Russia has illegally annexed, citizens find themselves subjected to the worst excesses of totalitarianism. A Russian passport is increasingly essential to access vital services - a nightmare for those with newborn babies. Civilian infrastructure - such as healthcare facilities - are being seized and repurposed to treat wounded servicemen. Kill lists of civic leaders have been drawn up, citizens executed in cold blood and concerted attempts made to erase Ukrainian, culture, history and identity.

Mr Deputy Speaker, we should be clear. The targeting of civilians and infrastructure essential to the civilian population of Ukraine has not happened by accident in the fog of war. Much of it was planned Russian policy. Russia has form. We've seen their handiwork in Syria.

In March, President Putin was indicted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes.

But we should also be clear, as numerous credible reports indicate, Russia's morally bankrupt approach might have been made in the Kremlin but it is often carried out willingly - not just by rogue units - but by the ordinary rank and file across the Russian armed forces.

An even clearer picture of Russia's barbaric approach emerges when we look at some of the weapons they are using against innocent civilians. I am not referring here to the extensive strikes against Ukraine's electric power network from cruise and surface-to-surface missiles. Or even the use of short-range ballistic missile like the Iskander which infamously hit a railway station in the city of Kramatorsk, killing 60 and wounding more than 110. Or even the two 500kg bombs dropped by Russian fighter aircraft on the Mariupol theatre.

The fact is Russia has used cluster munitions with wholesale disregard for human life and civilians. They have been dropped near a hospital in Vuhledar. A 9M79-series Tochka ballistic missile delivering a 9N123 cluster munition warhead killed four civilians and injured another 10, including six healthcare workers. It has used 9M55K Smerch cluster munition rockets in three neighbourhoods of Kharkiv - Ukraine's second largest city - resulting in reports of nine civilian deaths and 37 injuries, according to the United Nations.

Russia also relies on massed fires. Indiscriminate artillery bombardments to built-up areas, that account for the vast majority of civilian casualties injured or killed.

And Moscow makes extensive use of conventional anti-personnel mines and improvised booby traps to indiscriminately harm civilians. Dead bodies, the homes and vehicles of Ukrainian civilians and even children's toys have been rigged up as lethal devices. Russia has laid mines remotely and mechanically, covering significant areas of farmland with scant evidence of either marking minefields or warning civilians about their presence. These mines will leave a legacy of danger long after the conflict ends.

Russia has used hundreds of Iranian-made Shahed drones to attack targets in Ukraine. Loitering munitions sent on numerous suicide missions have repeatedly taken their toll on civilians. Last week these weapons struck a university campus in Odesa and, once more, innocents were in the crosshairs in Kyiv.

Mr Deputy Speaker, from the start I have been clear that our support for Ukraine is responsible, calibrated, coordinated and agile. Aligned and united with the international community, we are helping the Ukrainians defend their homeland. Most importantly, it is responsive to Russia's own actions. None of this would have been necessary, had Russia not invaded. But now it is about pushing back their forces and deterring them from committing yet more crimes by holding the Russian military establishment to account for their actions.

In December, Mr Deputy Speaker, I wrote to Russian Defence Minister Shoigu and set out the UK government's objection to the deliberate targeting of civilian infrastructure. And that further attacks - contrary to International Humanitarian Law - for example, the Principle of Distinction, codified in Articles 48, 51, and 52 of the Additional Protocols to the Geneva Convention, would force me to consider donating more capable weapons to Ukraine, so they may better defend themselves within their own territory.

Unfortunately, Russia has continued down this dark path. This year, Russia's leadership has continued to systematically target civilians and civilian infrastructure with bombs, missiles and drones. More medical facilities were targeted in January than in the previous six months combined.

It has bombed power facilities in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, Zaporizhzhia and Odesa oblasts. Incidents of civilian casualties have increased; especially in areas close to the frontline, such as Kherson and Bakhmut - a city now reduced to a smoking ruin. In January, a block of flats in Dnipro was wiped out by a 5.5 tonne Russian AS-4 KITCHEN missile - probably causing 124 casualties, including 45 fatalities. In March, a five-storey apartment block in Zaporizhzia was attacked with a S-300 missile - almost completely destroying the building. And between April 27 and May 2, Russian forces conducted strikes against Ukraine using Kh-101 and Kh-555 long-range Air Launched Cruise Missiles. Despite Kremlin claims that it is targeting Ukraine's "military-industrial facilities" one of the buildings struck was a nine-storey apartment block. The salvo left 23 dead and dozens more injured. Last week, Russian shelling struck residential buildings, and on Monday they bombed a Red Cross warehouse full of humanitarian aid. And drone footage from Bakhmut appeared to show white phosphorus raining down on a city ablaze. The use of incendiary weapons, which burn at 800 degrees Celsius, within concentrations of civilians is a contravention of Protocol 3 of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons.

Mr Deputy Speaker, as I have said many times in the past we simply will not stand by while Russia kills civilians. We have seen what Ukrainians are able to do when they have the right capabilities. In recent days, 30 Shahed drones have been shot down. The Ukrainian Air Force say 23 out of 25 cruise missiles fired from sea and land have been downed. And we have had confirmation from Lieutenant General Oleschuk, the Ukrainian Air Force Commander, that even Russia's much-vaunted AS-24 KILLJOY air launched hypersonic ballistic missile has been brought down.

That is why the Prime Minister and I have now taken the decision to provide longer range capabilities.

In December, I informed the House that I was "developing options to respond to Russia's continued aggression in a calibrated and determined manner".

Today, I can confirm that the UK has donated Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine. Storm Shadow is a long-range conventional precision strike capability. It compliments the long-range systems already gifted, including HIMARS and Harpoon missiles, as well as Ukraine's own Neptune cruise missiles and longer-range munitions already gifted.

The donation of these weapon systems gives Ukraine the best chance to defend themselves against Russia's continued brutality. Especially, the deliberate targeting of Ukrainian Civilian Infrastructure, which is against International Law. Ukraine has a right to be able to defend itself against this. Their use of Storm Shadow will allow Ukraine to push back Russian forces based within Ukrainian Sovereign Territory.

I'm sure the House will understand that I will not go into further details of the capability. But while these weapons will give Ukraine new capability, members should recognise that these systems are not in the same league as the Russian AS-24 KILLJOY hypersonic missile or Shahed Iranian one-way attack drones, or their Kalibr cruise missile with a range of over 2,000km. Roughly 7 times that of the Storm Shadow missile.

Russia must recognise that their actions alone have led to such systems being provided to Ukraine.

It is my judgement as the Defence Secretary that this is a calibrated proportionate response to Russia's escalations.

Mr Deputy Speaker, travelling through Ukraine - as I have several times since the invasion - you see smashed buildings where once there were businesses, and piles of rubble where once there were homes full of life.

They reveal the truth of Russia's invasion. Their needless destruction and gratuitous violence. Their continuing violations of international law and the deliberate targeting and killing of civilians. They are the visible and tragic symbols of the Kremlin's desperation.

Try as they might, the Kremlin can't hide the fact that their invasion is already failing. They can only occupy the rubble left by their destruction.

And this week's "Victory Day" parade showcased only, really, this historic failure. It demonstrated Putin's efforts to twist the Soviet Union's sacrifices against the Nazis in the Second World War and was an insult to the Immortal Regiment.

It was the faAade of power and distraction from a faltering invasion. The appeal to unity while even the Russian leadership loses confidence. The hypocrisy of claiming victimhood while waging a war of their own choosing.

The reality is that this is a war of President Putin's own choosing. At the expense of Ukraine's sovereignty and its civilians' lives.

But Mr Deputy Speaker, as you know, the UK stands for values of freedom, the rule of law, human rights, and the protection of civilians. We will stand side by side with Ukraine, we will continue to support them in defence of their sovereign country.

And that is why I commend this statement to the house.

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Today, I approved a comprehensive strategic plan for reforming our law enforcement system - address by the President of Ukraine

President of Ukraine

11 May 2023 - 22:41

Good health to you, fellow Ukrainians!

Today, I have an honorable and very pleasant task for this address - I have the honor to thank our warriors and units who have distinguished themselves in the defense of the state since the beginning of this week.

Khortytsia operational and strategic group of troops - the 3rd and 5th separate assault brigades and the 28th separate mechanized brigade named after the Knights of the Winter Campaign... I thank all of you guys - every soldier, sergeant and officer - for the extremely successful actions on destroying the occupiers. A very good result!

Tavria operational and strategic group of troops - the warriors of the 44th separate artillery brigade named after Hetman Danylo Apostol, Zaporizhzhia Sich 55th separate artillery brigade, our glorious "Fifty-niners" - the 59th separate motorized infantry brigade named after Yakiv Handziuk and the 79th separate airborne assault troops brigade - I thank you all for your firmness in positions, for your strength in battles, for the inspiration to win that you give to the whole of Ukraine with your precision and courage.

Odesa operational and strategic group of troops - thanks to the warriors of the 406th separate artillery brigade named after Brigadier General Oleksiy Almazov for their excellent results in destroying enemy concentration points!

Today I would also like to celebrate the artillery crews of the 63rd separate mechanized brigade - the guys know how to "subtract" the enemy equipment on the battlefield. Each of your accurate strikes, our heroes, means saved lives of Ukrainians. Thank you!

This week, the units of our National Guard also deserve to be recognized. In particular, the warriors of the 1st and 14th operational brigades of the National Guard, who, together with all the defense and security forces of Ukraine, are defending our country in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. I thank you, national guardsmen, for your resilience and for your ability to push the former "second army of the world" lower and lower in the list of military forces with the help of your intelligence and artillery.

Today, I also signed a new decree on honoring our warriors with state awards.

These are exemplary brave servicemen of our Airborne Assault Troops. 134 warriors... The 25th separate airborne Sicheslav brigade, the 46th separate airmobile brigade, the 95th separate air assault brigade, the 132nd separate reconnaissance battalion, the 148th separate artillery division and the 199th training center of the Airborne Assault Troops.

Each of these titles, each of these units is an honor, a pride of Ukraine, a heroism of our people. The heroism that makes Ukraine free forever. By standing up now, by liberating our land now, by giving Ukraine victories now, each and every one of those who fights for Ukraine gives freedom to all new generations of our people.

Foreign flags will never reign on our land, and our people will never be enslaved. The resilience in the battles now, the power in our active actions, the bravery and precision of our warriors every day and every night is the independence of Ukraine that will be permanent. Independence we are strengthening and will continue to do so.

Today, as always, I was in touch with the commanders and intelligence.

I held several meetings on our international efforts. Soon I will be able to announce very important news for our defense, for our relations with partners.

I had a meeting with the Special Advisor to the President of Brazil on Foreign Policy. We discussed the possibility of holding a summit in the Ukraine - Latin America format. I reiterated my invitation for the President of Brazil to visit our country and see with his own eyes the heroism of Ukrainians, our real commitment to peace for the entire Ukrainian land, for all our cities and communities that are now under attack by Russian terrorists.

Our Peace Formula, which Ukraine offered to the world last year, has only become more relevant today. This is the only comprehensive and realistic plan to restore peace not only to our people, but also to all the peoples of the world who strive for life without aggression.

And one more thing.

Today, I approved a comprehensive strategic plan for reforming our law enforcement system - all law enforcement agencies and the prosecutor's office. This is a detailed document designed until 2027.

To put it simply, we have to provide a system of guaranteeing justice and law and order for our country that will also meet our goal of Ukraine's rapid accession to the EU - we add our readiness to realize this goal, and, no less importantly, we guarantee the foundations of a new social contract that are obviously being outlined now in the defense of our state.

Every element of the state system - law enforcement agencies, first and foremost - must work in such a way that people really feel safe and secure, that people really feel justice, that it is guaranteed at the level of institutions by the daily work of those by whom people judge the state. Trust within the state and trust in the state are built on trust in those who act on behalf of the state. Law enforcement and the prosecution system are key to this. Of course, along with everyone else who works in the state apparatus.

Ukraine should become and has already become a place of strength for Europe and the entire free world. We have to ensure maximum security, maximum freedom, maximum respect for the law and for people in Ukraine.

And this is the answer to the question of what kind of Ukraine we are building after the war. A state that respects its people and is respected in the world. A state whose example of life is respected by everyone. The path to this begins now. It begins in the actions and personal decisions of each and every person who fights and works for Ukraine and for all Ukrainians.

Glory to all our warriors who are now in combat! Glory to our beautiful people!

Thank you to everyone in the world who helps us, Ukrainians!

Glory to Ukraine!

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Security briefing for the Brazilian delegation headed by the Chief Advisor to the President of Brazil was held at the Presidential Office

President of Ukraine

11 May 2023 - 16:04

On the instructions of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Head of the Presidential Office Andriy Yermak took part in a security briefing for a delegation from Brazil headed by Chief Advisor to the President of the Federal Republic of Brazil Celso Amorim.

The meeting was also attended by Deputy Heads of the Presidential Office Ihor Zhovkva and Roman Mashovets, Advisor - President's Commissioner for Children's Rights and Children's Rehabilitation Daria Herasymchuk and Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Ruslan Strilets.

During the briefing, the guests were informed about the challenges facing Ukraine due to the Russian invasion.

Ihor Zhovkva told Celso Amorim and the delegation about the Ukrainian Peace Formula proposed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and aimed at ending the war and overcoming the consequences provoked by Russian aggression.

The representatives of Ukraine briefed the Brazilian delegation in detail on the current situation at the front, the actions of the Russian occupiers, including recent Russian missile attacks on civilian infrastructure and Ukrainian citizens.

Roman Mashovets emphasized that during the full-scale invasion, Russia constantly attacks civilian infrastructure with missiles and drones, which is nothing but civilian terror.

Advisor - President's Commissioner for Children's Rights and Children's Rehabilitation Daria Herasymchuk informed the Brazilian delegation about the situation with the deportation of Ukrainian children to the temporarily occupied territories and Russia. Currently, nearly 20,000 children have been illegally and coercively taken to Russia, she said.

Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Ruslan Strilets spoke about the damage to Ukraine's environment caused by Russian aggression.

"The only plan capable of stopping Russian aggression in Ukraine is the Ukrainian Peace Formula," emphasized Andriy Yermak.

The Head of the President's Office expressed hope for a further balanced position of Brazil and President Lula da Silva personally regarding the Russian armed aggression against Ukraine.

Andriy Yermak also expressed hope that Brazil will facilitate the invitation of our country to this year's Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and the EU, which will be held in July in Brussels.

"We would be grateful to the Brazilian side and personally to President Lula da Silva for the assistance in involving Ukraine in this Summit," he said.

On behalf of Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Andriy Yermak conveyed an invitation to the President of Brazil to visit Ukraine at his convenience.

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UN: No Plan B if Russia Withdraws From Grain Deal

By Margaret Besheer May 11, 2023

The United Nations says it has no backup plan if Russia pulls out of the deal that allows Ukraine to export grain to international markets and has helped facilitate Moscow's grain and fertilizer exports.

"There is no Plan B for the Black Sea," U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in response to questions about what will happen if Russia makes good on threats to withdraw from the deal on May 18. "There is the Black Sea. We can't move the ports. We can't move the sea. We can't move the Bosporus [Strait in Turkey]."

Since it was signed on July 22 in Istanbul, the Black Sea Grain Initiative has facilitated the safe export of more than 30 million metric tons of grain and other foodstuffs from three Black Sea ports in Ukraine to global markets.

A corresponding Memorandum of Understanding between Russia and the United Nations has made inroads in easing concerns of anxious banks, insurers, shippers and other private-sector actors about doing business with Russia. But Moscow has repeatedly complained that it is not benefiting enough from the deal.

Moscow is defending "Russia's national interests, its agriculture producers, producers of fertilizers," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin said. "An initiative that brings unilateral benefits can hardly be recognized and confirmed by all."

However, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield told reporters Thursday, "Russia is exporting just fine. It is exporting grain and fertilizer at the same levels, if not higher, than before the full-scale invasion."

"Russia's threats are about money and power. The more Russia obstructs Ukraine's exports, the higher prices go, and with Russian exports moving well, they are making more profits," she said.

Russia has also forced a slowdown of Ukrainian grain exports via the deal, putting the brakes on mandatory ship inspections.

Data from the Istanbul-based Joint Coordination Center, which oversees inspections, shows that inspections of ships headed to Ukraine and departing the country have substantially declined from a high in October of 4.4 inbound inspections daily and 6.3 outbound, to 1.4 inbound and 1.5 outbound daily inspections so far in May.

"In classic form, the Russians are playing with procedures in the Black Sea Grain Initiative," said Ambassador Jim O'Brien, who heads the State Department's Office of Sanctions Coordination. "What they have done is not allow ships to register and then not inspect them."

The JCC says there are currently 26 outbound ships in Turkish waters with more than a million metric tons of grain and foodstuffs. The Ukrainians have informed them that 62 more are waiting to move to Ukrainian ports to collect exports.

On Thursday, the four parties to the deal a Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the United Nations a met in Istanbul to discuss the grain deal's future.

The United Nations has emphasized the importance of the Black Sea Grain Initiative to keep global food prices stable and food available and affordable, especially to the poorest nations. More than half of the Ukrainian grain exported via the deal has gone to developing countries.

"It's clear if this initiative cannot continue, and its package cannot continue, it will have a negative impact on global food security, on global food prices," U.N. spokesman Dujarric told reporters. "It's important that everyone who is involved in this, directly or on the periphery, live up to its responsibilities."

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HERE Technologies publishes inaugural study of 1,300 business decision-makers from the transportation and logistics sector across Asia-Pacific.

Customer benefits and financial efficiencies top of mind for companies in 2023.

APAC logistic firms eye drones, robotics, artificial learning and machine learning next.

Singapore  HERE Technologies , the leading location data and technology platform, today published an inaugural study, APAC On The Move , to provide insights from transportation and logistics (T&L) professionals across Asia-Pacific (APAC) on the current technology trends and practices that are shaping supply chain, fleet, and logistics management.

A key finding from APAC On The Move 2023 is the extent to which end-to-end asset tracking and shipment visibility remain a challenge for logistics companies three years since the onset of the pandemic. Nearly 90% of APAC logistics companies surveyed have cited technology implementation challenges as their biggest barrier to achieving real-time end-to-end supply chain visibility, despite the motivations to improve customer satisfaction and operational efficiency.

Home to some of the worlds largest manufacturing and exporting economies, the logistics industry in APAC plays a vital role in the global supply chain network. In recent years, T&L firms are under pressure from relentless consumer demands, changing customer expectations, and the arrival of new competition from start-ups and customer-turned-rival logistics operators.

Highlights from the HERE Technologies APAC On The Move 2023 study include:



Technology partnerships and implementations are big challenges

More than half of the firms surveyed (52%) have cited the challenge of identifying the right partners and/or suppliers as their biggest barrier to technology implementation. In mature economies like Australia and Singapore, the concern of potential disruption to existing processes and services ranked high. In India and Malaysia where the logistics industries are fragmented, knowing where to even begin with technology implementation is a concern.

Logistics companies surveyed want turn-key solutions that are easy to implement without expensive, time consuming, and labour-intensive system overhauls. According to the study by HERE, software integration challenges with existing infrastructure (52%), the lack of time to implement the solutions (39%), and high implementation costs (39%) are the main barriers to adopting logistics assets tracking and shipment/cargo monitoring solutions.

APAC logistics firms still rely on manual tracking

The pandemic has exposed the vulnerabilities of manual interventions in the global supply chain. Yet, approximately 45% of APAC logistics firms surveyed are using asset tracking and shipment monitoring software in combination with manual inputs to track assets, shipment, and cargo.

Manual processes have a higher chance of creating gaps and vulnerabilities within supply chains, and this shows that a large number of companies still do not have a resilient infrastructure in place. Real-time and automated tracking solutions on the other hand provide opportunities to accelerate innovation and tackle disruptions promptly.

Across APAC, the Japanese logistics industry is leading the way with 70% of companies surveyed having moved to tracking assets in real-time with no manual inputs. Japans logistics sector is facing the looming 2024 Problem as stricter regulations  limiting truck drivers to a total of 960 hours of annual overtime work  kicks in from April 1, 2024. As the industry prepares for this impending crisis, the move to track assets in real-time is a critical step to addressing and alleviating labour shortage in Japan.

Tech investments motivated by customers first and financial benefits a close second

With intensifying competition and rising customer expectations in the region, the logistics sector wants to improve fundamental business performance indicators. The strongest motivator for adopting logistics asset tracking solutions is to increase customer satisfaction (48%).

On the other hand, APAC logistics companies are also prioritising financial benefits, such as to increase revenue (47%) and to gain competitive edge in the market (41%), when purchasing logistics asset tracking solutions.

APAC logistics industry eyeing future technologies and opportunities

The study confirms that most logistics companies in APAC are already using a form of Internet of Things (IoT) technology. IoT applications for inventory management (63%), warehouse management (61%), and order management (50%) are the most popular among logistics companies in the region.

Looking ahead, more than a quarter of logistics companies in APAC are planning to invest in drones (33%), robotics (30%), and artificial learning and machine learning (29%). These technologies have been identified by the logistics sector to seize opportunities and create lasting competitive advantage (41%), improve operational efficiency (40%), and increase customer satisfaction (39%).

Quotes

Regu Ayyaswamy, Senior Vice President and Global Head, Tata Consultancy Services:

India's logistics sector is a critical enabler of economic growth, playing a crucial role in the seamless movement of goods and services across the country. However, the sector is rapidly evolving, and as a leading global IT services provider, TCS is committed to enabling businesses within the logistics sector to digitally transform their operations and drive growth. Our strategic partnership with HERE Technologies is a testament to this commitment. By combining HERE's world-class location intelligence platform with DigifleetTM, TCS logistics solution, we are empowering businesses with real-time visibility and actionable insights.

Yoshikazu Kuwamura, Head of Department, Industry Digital Transformation Dept., Mitsubishi Corporation Singapore Branch:

Digitalisation is key to addressing challenges and unlocking new efficiencies in todays supply chain. However, digitalisation itself is not enough to achieve full end-to-end supply chain visibility. Collaboration across the supply chain is essential to creating more agile and resilient operations. Together with HERE, we believe in helping logistics players in APAC to leverage location intelligence and to develop best practices and more effective strategies for managing risk and uncertainty.





Digitalisation is key to addressing challenges and unlocking new efficiencies in todays supply chain. However, digitalisation itself is not enough to achieve full end-to-end supply chain visibility. Collaboration across the supply chain is essential to creating more agile and resilient operations. Together with HERE, we believe in helping logistics players in APAC to leverage location intelligence and to develop best practices and more effective strategies for managing risk and uncertainty. Vivek Vaidya, Global Client Leader for Mobility, Frost & Sullivan:

The supply chain and logistics companies in APAC are at a different stage in evolution as far as asset tracking and shipment monitoring are concerned. On one hand companies are looking to invest in IoT, AI, and drones to improve real-time visibility and on the other hand a large number of companies are still relying on manual processes to achieve the same objective. The companies who are currently relying on manual process are likely to leapfrog to modern solutions. On the whole, the awareness about having real-time visibility on assets and cargo has gone up tremendously in the post-pandemic era and that trend is likely to continue. This underlines a strong growth potential for solution providers like HERE Technologies in this space for the next decade.

William Strugger, Senior Director for Global Market Intelligence, HERE Technologies:

The study indicates that logistics providers  who handle road, sea, or air transportation, or oversee transportation management  are consistently challenged at implementing asset tracking solutions. Their reasons include implementation costs, integrating with existing software/infrastructure, time needed for implementation, and lack of skilled manpower. This speaks to the need for logistics providers to engage professional services to speed the implementation of in-house software development or off-the-shelf turnkey software, or offload the entire effort to system integrators or location consulting boutiques to develop a bespoke solution.

Jason Jameson, Senior Vice President & General Manager for Asia-Pacific, HERE Technologies:

Visibility is essential in the supply chain business, and location technology is the key ingredient for building true visibility for businesses and their end customers. While it is promising to see many APAC logistics firms moved on to tracking their assets in real-time, there is still significant room for improvement, with close to half of the organisations surveyed still relying on some form of manual method for tracking. As a leading location data and technology platform, HERE Technologies plays a critical role in the logistics industry globally to not only turn real-world spatial data into a digital model for companies to utilise, but also to educate the industry on the power of location technology in optimising efficiencies and improving business operations.

Read the APAC On The Move report for the full findings and data by each Asia Pacific sub-region.

Media contacts

HERE Technologies

Camy Cheng

+65 9088 4127

Camy.cheng@here.com

About APAC On The Move

APAC On The Move, published by HERE Technologies, contains insights from transport and logistics companies across Asia Pacific. This inaugural study consists of market research data and analysis from March 2023, based on responses from 1,300 players within the transport and logistics industry across eight countries: Australia, Chinese Taipei, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand. Designed to provide our customers and partners with a deeper understanding of the trends and best practices that are shaping the transport and logistics industry in region, APAC On The Move serves as a guide to help businesses navigate the current opportunities and challenges in supply chain, fleet and logistics management.

About HERE Technologies

HERE has been a pioneer in mapping and location technology for almost 40 years. Today, HEREs location platform is recognised as the most complete in the industry, powering location-based products, services and custom maps for organisations and enterprises across the globe. From autonomous driving and seamless logistics to new mobility experiences, HERE allows its partners and customers to innovate while retaining control over their data and safeguarding privacy. Find out how HERE is moving the world forward at here.com .

Attachments
Highlights

Harvest volume of 15,357 tonnes (16,916 tonnes)

Operational EBIT in the quarter of NOK 385 million (NOK 453 million), with operational EBIT/kg of NOK 25.1 (26.8)

Salmon market remains strong, supporting earnings

Harvest volume above guidance due to advanced harvesting related to biological challenges. Increasing smolt release to compensate and rebuild biomass

Newfoundland developing according to plan

81% of harvested volume in the quarter was ASC certified

Dividend proposal of NOK 4.5 per share based on a record high 2022 result, subject to approval by the Annual General Meeting in June 2023

Expect harvest of 21,300 tonnes in Q2 2023 and 80,000 tonnes for the year 2023





Financial results

Operational EBIT for Grieg Seafood was NOK 385 million in the first quarter of 2023, compared to NOK 453 million in the corresponding period last year. Harvest volume was 15,357 tonnes during the period (16,916), which gives an operational EBIT per kg of NOK 25.1 (26.8).

Harvest volume in Rogaland was 7,502 tonnes in the quarter (9,645), 2,200 tonnes above guidance due to advance harvesting to reduce biological risk related to Infectious Salmon Anemia (ISA) at one site and winter ulcers. Operational EBIT/kg ended at NOK 38.4 for the quarter (33.5) and was impacted by a reduced superior share, negative contribution from contracts and reduced average harvest weight.



In Finnmark, harvest volume was 7,856 tonnes in the quarter (5,175), 2,100 tonnes above guidance due to advance harvesting related to the Spiro parasite (Spironucleus salmonicida) and winter ulcers. No new incidents of Spiro have been detected at the freshwater facility during the first quarter. Operational EBIT/kg for the quarter ended at NOK 20.1 (25.0), impacted by a low superior share, low average harvest weight and negative contribution from contracts.



To compensate for the advance harvesting in Finnmark, Grieg Seafood will increase smolt release for the remainder of the year to rebuild biomass. However, the initiative is not expected to fully compensate for the lost biomass, and the 2023 harvest target for Finnmark is reduced from 28,000 to 26,000 tonnes.

In BC, there was no harvest during the first quarter. This was according to plan to prioritize growing of biomass. Seawater performance was good during the quarter with stable survival rate at 92%. In Q1 2022 harvest volume in BC was 2,096 tonnes.



In Newfoundland, freshwater production was good during the quarter, with good fish health and growth. Next transfer of smolt to sea is scheduled for late spring or early summer 2023. Seawater production in the region is developing according to plan, with high survival and no sea lice issues. First harvest from this new region is expected to commence towards the end of 2023.



Commenting on the quarter, Andreas Kvame, CEO of Grieg Seafood ASA said:

The markets for Atlantic salmon remained strong during the quarter, with solid demand from both the retail, and the hotel and restaurant segments. On the farming side we were still impacted by biological challenges in the beginning of the year, though biology improved throughout the quarter and is currently good in Rogaland, BC and Newfoundland. Like in the previous quarter, Finnmark is still impacted by the Spiro parasite. Mitigating measures have been taken to address the issues. The fish in Newfoundland handled a cold winter in the sea well and the development of the region is going according to plan.

In Norway, we are expecting the final proposal of the resource tax to be made public soon. The current version of the tax would negatively impact a sustainable development of the industry in Norway significantly. We sincerely hope that the Parliament will make the necessary changes to secure continued innovation, investments and development throughout the production cycle, which is necessary to improve biology and sustainability of Norwegian salmon farming.

Outlook



Global harvest of Atlantic salmon in 2023 is expected to be in line with 2022. The current harvest estimates indicate a significant difference between supply volumes in the first and second half of 2023, the same pattern as observed in 2022. Grieg Seafood expects a continued strong salmon market going forward.

Grieg Seafood generally targets an annual contract share of 20-50%. Estimated contract share for the Norwegian operations in Q2 2023 is 12% and 15% for the full year 2023. The contract market is somewhat subdued due to uncertainty related to the proposed resource rent tax on salmon in Norway.

In Q2 2023, expected harvest volume is 21,300 tonnes, distributed as follows:

Rogaland: 10,500 tonnes

Finnmark: 5,500 tonnes

BC: 5,300 tonnes

Grieg Seafood guides for a harvest volume of 80,000 tonnes in 2023, down from previously guided 82,000 tonnes.

Rogaland: 29,000 tonnes

Finnmark: 26,000 tonnes

BC: 20,000 tonnes

NL: 5,000 tonnes

Results presentation



Grieg Seafood ASA will release its first quarter 2023 report on Friday, 12 May 2023, at 6:00 a.m. CEST.

The same day at 8:00 a.m. CEST, CEO Andreas Kvame and CFO Atle Harald Sandtorv will present the results live at Hotel Continental, Stortingsgaten 24/26, Oslo.

Following the presentation, it will be opened up for questions from the audience. The presentation and the subsequent Q&A will be held in Norwegian.

A live webcast from the presentation can be accessed at www.investor.griegseafood.com or with the following link:

https://channel.royalcast.com/landingpage/hegnarmedia/20230512_1/.

Webcast participants need to register to post questions. A recording of the webcast and an English transcript of the webcast will be made available on our website.

For further enquiries, please contact:

Andreas Kvame, CEO

Cell phone: +47 907 71 441

Atle Harald Sandtorv, CFO

Cell phone +47 908 45 252





About Grieg Seafood

Grieg Seafood ASA is one of the world's leading salmon farmers. Our farms are in Finnmark and Rogaland in Norway, as well as in British Columbia and Newfoundland in Canada. Our headquarter is located in Bergen, Norway. Grieg Seafood ASA was listed at the Oslo Stock Exchange in June 2007. More than 750 people work in the Company throughout our regions.

Sustainable farming practices are the foundation of Grieg Seafood's operations. The lowest possible environmental impact and the best possible fish welfare is

both an ethical responsibility and drive economic profitability. Towards 2026, we aim for global growth, cost improvements and to evolve from a pure salmon

supplier to an innovation partner for selected customers.

To learn more, please visit www.griegseafood.com





This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.

Attachments
New York, May 12, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Global Healthcare Cloud Computing Market size is projected to surpass around USD 201.1 Billion by 2032, and it is poised to reach a CAGR of 17.6% from 2023 to 2032. The global healthcare cloud computing market accounted for USD 41.4 Billion in 2022. Cloud Computing in the healthcare industry is described as an approach for implementing remote servers accessible over the internet to manage, store, and process healthcare data.

To get additional highlights on major revenue-generating segments, Request a Healthcare Cloud Computing Market sample report at https://market.us/report/healthcare-cloud-computing-market/request-sample/

Key Takeaway:

By deployment type , in 2022, the private cloud segment was the most lucrative and generated the largest revenue share.

, in 2022, the private cloud segment was the most lucrative and generated the largest revenue share. By application , the clinical information systems segment has dominated the market, and it is growing at a significant CAGR over the forecast period 2023 to 2032.

, the clinical information systems segment has dominated the market, and it is growing at a significant CAGR over the forecast period 2023 to 2032. By service type , SaaS accounted for holding the maximum revenue share of the total market in 2022

, SaaS accounted for holding the maximum revenue share of the total market in 2022 By end-user, the healthcare provider segment held the largest revenue share in 2022

the healthcare provider segment held the largest revenue share in 2022 In 2022, North America dominated the market with the highest revenue share of 51.0%.

dominated the market with the highest revenue share of Asia-Pacific is projected as the fastest-growing market for healthcare cloud computing, with a significant CAGR from 2023-2032.

Cloud Computing helps doctors and hospitals engage more with their patients and access lab results, medical records, and doctor's notes anytime, anywhere. This gives the patients control and power and aids them in being better informed about their health. Hence, there is a rising demand for healthcare cloud computing due to market growth.

Factors Affecting the Growth of the Global Healthcare Cloud Computing Market

There are several factors that can affect the growth of the global healthcare cloud computing market. Some of these factors include:

Several Healthcare Establishments: Numerous healthcare establishments may lead the increase in advantages of the cloud more than before owing to recent enhanced security and technological advancement.

Numerous healthcare establishments may lead the increase in advantages of the cloud more than before owing to recent enhanced security and technological advancement. Recent technological advances: The market growth is mainly influenced by technological advances such as remote monitoring, telemedicine cloud technologies, and natural language processing APIs enabling new digital health settings.

The market growth is mainly influenced by technological advances such as remote monitoring, telemedicine cloud technologies, and natural language processing APIs enabling new digital health settings. Availability of high-speed internet: The execution of promising controlled acts and the propagation of high-speed internet are likely to support the growth of the healthcare cloud computing market worldwide.

The execution of promising controlled acts and the propagation of high-speed internet are likely to support the growth of the healthcare cloud computing market worldwide. Rising adoption of electronic health records: The market expansion is propelled owing to the rapid adoption of electronic health records due to advancements in e-prescribing, IT solutions, telehealth, mHealth, and others.

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Top Trends in Global Healthcare Cloud Computing Market

The rapid development of clinical infrastructure, strengthening efforts by governments of various nations to digitize healthcare systems, and increasing public digital literacy are also propelling the market growth. Additionally, the rising healthcare expenditures worldwide, the rising prevalence of various diseases, and increased investment in research and development activities in this area further stimulate the growth of the healthcare cloud computing market.

Market Growth

By decentralizing the system, healthcare cloud computing enables healthcare organizations to pay only for the resources they use. They also enable healthcare organizations to map and track diseases and notify the public about the risk that is present at a considerably cheaper cost and faster rate. The COVID-19 pandemic had an overall positive impact on the global market. This is mainly due to the management of data in vast amounts, which has been the main problem for the healthcare industry, especially in light of the growing demands brought on by the pandemic.

Regional Analysis

North America held the highest revenue share of 51% in 2022. Owing to the rising geriatric population, increasing healthcare costs, increase in advancements of technology in the field, higher adoption of healthcare IT services, and the existence of potential stakeholders. Additionally, rising disposable incomes and health awareness among individuals have also contributed to expanding this local industry.

Asia Pacific is projected to be the fastest-growing market, with a significant CAGR during the forecast period. Owing to the rising prevalence of chronic diseases, widespread internet penetration, technological innovation in this field, and rapid population growth, the Asia-Pacific is anticipated to register a high percentage of sales over the forecast period.

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Scope of Report

Report Attribute Details Market Value (2022) USD 201.1 Billion Market Size (2032) USD 41.4 Billion CAGR (from 2023 to 2032) 17.6% North America Revenue Share 51.0% Historic Period 2016 to 2022 Base Year 2022 Forecast Year 2023 to 2032

Market Drivers

The rising geriatric population, increasing adoption of (EHR) electronic health records, availability of high-speed internet, and implementation of breakthrough technologies are anticipated to upsurge the market growth rate. Most regions have rapidly adopted electronic health records due to advancements in IT solutions, e-prescribing, mHealth, telehealth, and others. The pervasiveness of high-speed internet and the implementation of promising control measures are also expected to provide growth prospects for the global healthcare cloud computing market.

Several healthcare organizations are adopting these cloud computing solutions to the next level by implementing breakthrough technologies. Instead of collecting and transferring data to the cloud, the system examines and processes the data at the collection point. Additionally, the rising aged population resulting in the growth of chronic diseases has led to a shortage of beds, medical equipment, and other healthcare facilities. Hence, it is positively driving the demand for healthcare cloud computing solutions.

Market Restraints

The lack of skilled IT professionals has declined the implementation of this technology. Finding professionals with HIPAA expertise is challenging, so there is an increase in demand for qualified professionals. Moreover, the concerns regarding data protection, data portability barriers, and increasing data breaches in the cloud hinder the global development of the healthcare cloud computing market.

Market Opportunities

In some countries, most specialists and doctors work in metropolitan cities. Advanced medical facilities are, therefore, only available at such places, leaving rural patients neglected. This problem could be solved by using Telecloud. The convergence of wireless technology and the cloud is a powerful mechanism for delivering patient care in remote locations. It enables doctors and medical professionals to treat and examine patients remotely, in real-time, and at an affordable price.

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Report Segmentation of the Healthcare Cloud Computing Market

Deployment Type Insight

In 2022, the private cloud segment accounted for its dominance in the healthcare cloud computing market. Using a secure private cloud is a profitable option if a healthcare organization needs a secure computing environment that is not easily accessible by the public. A private cloud ensures the secured storage of health information (PHI) protected from breaches, attacks, and other threats to the patients sensitive data. These factors are likely to increase the adoption of this segment. The data can be accessed and stored remotely with the help of the public cloud, and the infrastructure, such as data storage systems, can be fully managed by the cloud provider, thereby allowing the hospitals to realize significant cost savings along with the safety of patients. Healthcare organizations are required to accelerate the transformation of their IT assets to modern, flexible architectures. A hybrid cloud together combines the benefits of the public cloud and on-premises infrastructure to improve the scalability and agility of enterprise data and applications.

Application Insight

Compared to non-clinical information systems, the clinical information systems segment registers the highest revenue share of the global market over the forecast period owing to the rise in several health-related R&D activities, a growing patient pool, and rising demand for effective patient management systems. Therefore, the clinical information system dominates the healthcare cloud computing market. A clinical information system provides a digital solution that aids in automating electronic data captured from the monitor, ventilator, filter devices, infusion pumps, and many more. Additionally, the clinical information system includes radiology, computerized physician order entry, and others. While non-clinical information system consists of automatic patient billing, revenue cycle management, and claim management.

Service Type Analysis

In 2022, SaaS services accounted for the major revenue share of the healthcare cloud computing market due to numerous advantages this model offers, such as faster deployment time, lower total cost of ownership, security, and lower initial investment. Platform as a Service (PaaS) offers pharmaceutical companies, healthcare organizations, and medical device manufacturers a complete suite of medical-grade infrastructure solutions, including IT support, cybersecurity, server space, medical-grade cloud, and many more. Infrastructure as a Service (Iaas) is a cloud computing service that provisions storage, key computing, and network resources on an on-demand, pay-as-you-go basis.

End-User Insight

In 2022, the healthcare provider segment dominated the market, with the largest revenue share. This notable gain is achieved due to the significant increase in connectivity to hospitals through cloud infrastructure, impacting the demand for the SaaS model. The benefits associated with these systems include secure offsite data storage and management and easy outsourcing of IT solutions and services by eliminating the need for IT staff in-house. Improved flexibility, scalability, data management with advanced computing systems and solutions, and continuous advancements of technology in this area are anticipated to positively drive the growth of this segment in the near future.

Healthcare payers include insurance companies, third-party payers, and healthcare plan sponsors. Insurance companies are rapidly employing cloud computing solutions for the secured storage of collected data, claims processing, risk management, and fraud prevention. Managing high risk in high-availability patient populations has always been a challenge for payers. Payers are using these advanced technologies to minimize rising healthcare costs. Additionally, cloud computing helps payers to expand their businesses, enhance their services, reduce administrative costs, and improve quality.

For more insights on the historical and Forecast market data from 2016 to 2032 - download a sample report at https://market.us/report/healthcare-cloud-computing-market/request-sample/

Market Segmentation

By Deployment Type

Private Cloud

Public Cloud

Hybrid Cloud

By Application

Clinical Information Systems

Non-clinical Information Systems

By service

Paas

Iaas

SaaS

By End-User

Healthcare Providers

Healthcare Payers

By Geography

North America The US Canada Mexico

Western Europe Germany France The UK Spain Italy Portugal Ireland Austria Switzerland Benelux Nordic Rest of Western Europe

Eastern Europe Russia Poland The Czech Republic Greece Rest of Eastern Europe

APAC China Japan South Korea India Australia & New Zealand Indonesia Malaysia Philippines Singapore Thailand Vietnam Rest of APAC

Latin America Brazil Colombia Chile Argentina Costa Rica Rest of Latin America

Middle East & Africa Algeria Egypt Israel Kuwait Nigeria Saudi Arabia South Africa Turkey United Arab Emirates Rest of MEA



Competitive Landscape

The competitive landscape of the market has also been examined in this report. Some of the major players include.

Market Key Players:

Amazon Web Services Inc. Athenahealth Inc. CareCloud Inc. ClearDATA Dell Inc. Euris Group e-Zest Solutions Ltd. IBM Corporation Iron Mountain Inc. Koninklijke Philips N.V. Microsoft Corporation Oracle Corporation OSP Labs Siemens Healthineers AG Zymr Inc. Other Key Players



Recent Development of the Healthcare Cloud Computing Market

In November 2022, Wipro Ltd partnered with U.S-based cloud computing service provider VMware. As part of the partnership, Wipro will maintain the VMware business unit and offer customers the platform as a service. Wipro brings up to 5,000 professionals across VMware's cross-cloud offerings, delivering multi-cloud enterprise tools and focusing on sectors such as banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI), consumer, healthcare, and retail services training.

In June 2022, the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Health (MoH) deployed VMware's multi-cloud solution to transform the country's public health sector digitally. This will enable the ministry to provide secure, cloud-based services to public health institutions such as hospitals, clinics, and pharmacies, significantly increasing efficiency and enabling growth and innovation.

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Cognitive Cloud Computing Market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 26.1% and will reach USD 204.04 Bn in 2033 from USD 25.31 Bn in 2023

Edge Computing Market size is expected to be worth around USD 206 bn by 2032 from USD 40 billion in 2022, growing at a CAGR of 18.3%.

Insurtech Market was valued at USD 11.8 Billion and is expected to reach USD 336.5 billion in 2032. This market is estimated to register the highest CAGR of 41.0% between 2023 and 2032.

and is expected to reach in 2032. This market is estimated to register the highest of between 2023 and 2032. Network as a Service Market was valued at USD 11.5 Billion in 2022 and is expected to grow to USD 115.7 Billion in 2032. Between 2022 and 2032, this market is estimated to register a CAGR of 26.7%



Managed Services Market is valued at USD 278.9 Bn In 2022 and is expected to reach USD 834.7 Bn in 2033, with a CAGR of 11.9% from 2023 to 2033.



Digital Workplace Market was valued at USD 32.9 billion and is expected to reach USD 234 billion in 2032. This market is estimated to register a CAGR of 22.3% between 2023 and 2032.



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Dublin, May 12, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Multiparameter Patient Monitoring Market - Global Outlook & Forecast 2023-2028" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The global multiparameter patient monitoring market is expected to reach a value of $15.2 billion by 2028 from $9.55 billion in 2022, growing at a CAGR of 8.06%.



Increasing Demand for Multiparameter Patient Monitoring in Homecare Settings



Home healthcare has always been recognized as a life-saving option for patients requiring long-term care to treat chronic diseases. Moreover, the worldwide increase in the geriatric and chronic disease population has led to a growing demand for home patient monitoring.

The increase in patient monitoring using multiparameter monitoring devices in homecare settings is expected to fuel the overall growth of the multiparameter patient monitoring market in the coming years. Home patient monitoring is convenient and cost-effective and helps patients monitor their health directly at home regularly.



Growing Demand for Portable/Compact Multiparameter Patient Monitors



Portable patient monitors are widely accepted in healthcare services. This is due to the flexibility of patient assessment with the portable features of multiparameter patient monitors from hospital care to ambulatory and mobility services.

This emergence of technological advances in multiparameter patient monitoring equipment is used in various applications such as transportation and, ambulances, outpatient care. The portable multiparameter patient monitors enable patient mobility and comfort, increasing patient demand.



Growing Focus on Integration of Multiparameter Patient Monitors with Wireless and Remote Monitoring Platforms



RPM is useful for monitoring patients' acute and chronic conditions and helps reduce the treatment cost. Over the past few years, breakthrough advancements have enabled RPM, virtual patient-physician interactions, and real-time data capture to transmit reality by incorporating passive home and body sensors to patients.

Multiparameter patient monitoring devices integrated with RPM and wireless technologies enable us to overcome these limitations and track changes in patient's vital signs without interrupting and visiting healthcare settings. The remote access/wireless monitoring systems enable patient vital signs monitoring even when not admitted to hospitals.



Advances in Remote Patient Monitoring Technology



The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated this trend by highlighting the need and value of RPM. RPM has caught the attention of many medical professionals.

More recently, IoT-enabled monitoring devices have added even more functionality to RPM. Physicians using IoT-enabled RPM systems benefit more from their patients. By combining AI with the Internet of Things (IoT) and RPM, healthcare organizations and practitioners can better serve their patients and provide opportunities for improved healthcare outcomes.



Growing Demand for Real-time Patient Monitors in Critical Care



Continuous patient monitoring is one of the essential components in intensive care units, first to notice critical changes in a patient's health status and second to guide daily intensive care therapy. Vital signs are important in monitoring patients' health status in emergency and critical care units.

Trends in patient monitoring using multiparameter monitors also help physicians to identify the best location for the patient on transfer from EDs. Such factors contribute to the growth of the multiparameter patient monitoring market. Further, several developed countries are currently in the process of reforming their emergency and urgent care systems.



Increasing Target Patient Population with Various Diseases



The aging population needs regular assistance in terms of their health to avoid fatal situations. Moreover, countries such as Japan, Italy, and Portugal have the highest percentage of elderly population.

This increasing number of elderly populations demands advanced healthcare facilities and infrastructure to assist health and avoid fatal emergencies. Globally, chronic diseases are commonly called non-communicable diseases (NCD) or used interchangeably.

These diseases are gaining increasing attention as the burden of NCDs has surpassed that of epidemics in the Global South. Globally, heart diseases, cancer, and diabetes are leading causes of death and disabilities among chronic diseases.



Enhancements in Multiparameter Patient Monitoring



Vendors in the multiparameter patient monitoring market have introduced many advanced and innovative patient monitors globally as per end-users' needs and requirements.

Further, manufacturers collaborate with tech giants to integrate their advanced technology solutions. These advanced features also allow medical professionals to deliver improved healthcare to critical patients at home and hospital. Over the past decade, the market has witnessed many technological advancements across all aspects of patient monitoring systems.

As a wide range of multiparameter patient monitors, with portable and remote monitoring features, are launched, grabbing the attention of many end-users.



SEGMENTATION INSIGHTS

Segmentation by Devices



The global multiparameter patient monitoring market by devices is segmented into portable/compact and fixed devices. The portable/compact held the largest global market share at 57% in 2022.

The market is growing faster due to the rising awareness regarding healthcare and increasing concern for the continuous monitoring of real-time health parameters of patients, pre-and post-surgery, which are expected to drive the market's growth.

The portable multiparameter patient monitors will dominate the market over the forecast period, owing to growing home healthcare, ease of monitoring post-surgical recovery patients, rising ambulatory care facilities, and increasing adoption of remote patient monitoring.

Segmentation by Acuity Level

The high acuity level segment dominated the global multiparameter patient monitoring market and accounted for a significant share in 2022. The growth is mainly due to the rising incidence of chronic disease cases, leading to severe health conditions requiring continuous monitoring.

High-acuity monitors are mainly used in ICUs, operating rooms, and emergency departments of various healthcare settings to monitor vital signs during surgery. These devices are also used to monitor the real-time vital signs of patients under severe conditions. When this occurs, the demand for high-acuity monitors will likely increase as patient monitoring in high-acuity conditions is a major priority for healthcare providers.

Segmentation by Patient Group



The global multiparameter patient monitoring market by the patient group is segmented into a geriatric, adult, and pediatric patient groups. In 2022, the geriatric patient group segment accounted for a 48.27% share of the global multiparameter patient monitoring market.

In recent years the increased aging population, and global disease burden, especially chronic conditions, have escalated significantly. Age-related diseases require multiparameter patient monitoring systems due to the patient's immobile and critical nature.

Also, the establishment of homecare settings has increased, wherein caregivers take care of patients directly at homes, assisted living centers, and geriatric care centers. Under such a scenario, multiparameter patient monitoring systems become extensively helpful to caregivers.

Segmentation by End-User



The hospital end-user segment accounted for the largest global multiparameter patient monitoring market share of 65% in 2022.

Healthcare professionals in hospitals use multiparameter patient monitoring devices as advanced monitoring devices for diagnosing patients' vital signs. The market is growing healthy and will likely grow steadily during the forecast period. Majorly due to the adoption of advanced homecare settings by patients with low and mid acuity to avoid problems caused during the hospital stays.

The availability of skilled healthcare professionals with knowledge and expertise in handling multiparameter patient monitoring devices, along with the availability of these devices in the intense care units and emergency departments, coupled with the increasing chronic disease prevalence, is driving the demand for multiparameter patient monitoring devices in hospitals across the globe.

GEOGRAPHICAL ANALYSIS



North America dominated the global multiparameter patient monitoring market and accounted for 39.48% of the market share in 2022.

Factors like an increasingly old age population, a moderate increase in ICU admission, and the availability of advanced technology for remote patient monitoring & home care technology contribute to the industry's growth. It was estimated that by 2022, 63 million smart homes would be there in North America for the effective monitoring of vital parameters of the end-user.

This huge number of smart homes has increased the demand for remote multiparameter patient monitors, driving the North America market in the upcoming years.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE



The global multiparameter patient monitoring market is highly competitive and characterized by global, regional, and local players offering multiparameter patient monitoring devices.

However, the key market players offering high-quality multiparameter patient monitoring devices account for considerable shares in the overall market. Most of the key players focus strategically on North America and Europe markets as they are the top two major revenue contributors.

Leading multiparameter patient monitoring market players are also focusing on expanding the product portfolio of portable/compact multiparameter patient monitors as the demand for such devices is increasing among the end-users.

Key Attributes:





Report Attribute Details No. of Pages 322 Forecast Period 2022 - 2028 Estimated Market Value (USD) in 2022 $9.55 Billion Forecasted Market Value (USD) by 2028 $15.2 Billion Compound Annual Growth Rate 8.0% Regions Covered Global

Market Opportunities & Trends

Increasing Demand for Multi-Parameter Patient Monitoring in Home Care Settings

Growing Demand for Portable/Compact Multi-Parameter Patient Monitors

Integration of Multi-Parameter Patient Monitors With Wireless and Remote Monitoring Platforms

Advances in Remote Patient Monitoring Technology

Market Growth Enablers

Growing Demand for Real-Time Patient Monitors in Critical Care

Increasing Target Patient Population With Various Diseases

Enhancements in Multi-Parameter Patient Monitoring

Market Restraints

False Alarms & Alarm Fatigue

Increasing Regulatory Complexities

High Cost of Multi-Parameter Patient Monitoring Devices

Key Company Profiles

Baxter

CONTEC MEDICAL SYSTEMS

GE Healthcare

Koninklijke Philips

Masimo

Medtronic

NIHON KOHDEN

OSI Systems

Shenzhen Mindray Bio-Medical Electronics

Other Prominent Vendors

Advanced Instrumentations

American Diagnostic

Dragerwerk AG & Co.

EDAN Instruments

EPSIMED

FUKUDA DENSHI

Halma

ICU Medical

Infinium Medical

Lutech

MEDIANA

MEDION

Mennen Medical

Nonin

OMRON

Opto Circuits (India)

SCHILLER

Skanray Technologies

Viatom Technology

VYAIRE MEDICAL

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/cnva38

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.

Attachment
Dublin, May 12, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Middle East Data Center Construction Market - Industry Outlook & Forecast 2023-2028" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The Middle East data center construction market is expected to reach a value of $2.861 billion by 2028 from $1.845 billion in 2022, growing at a CAGR of 7.59%



UAE and Saudi Arabia are the major contributors to the capacity in the Middle East data center construction market, with around 30% and 27%, and the market in these countries is expected to skyrocket in four to five years due to the shift of the oil economy to the digital economy in the region. Other factors include the continuous increase in investments in cloud-based services and smart city developments in the UAE and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Digitalization across businesses will increase data center investments by colocation, cloud, Internet, and telecommunication providers. Some telecom companies such as Ericsson, stc, Turk Telecom, Cellcom, Zain, Nokia, Vodafone, Ooredoo, du, and Omantel are responsible for deploying and introducing 5G services in Middle Eastern countries.

The presence of industrial parks, the availability of land, and the government's support motivate data center operators to develop data centers in Middle Eastern countries. For instance, the Government of Bahrain announced the launching of its first data center park, which includes the development of its first data center by stc Bahrain through collaboration with the ministry of transport and Telecommunications.

MARKET TRENDS & DRIVERS

Rise in the Procurement of Renewable Energy Sources

The Middle East has an abundance of availability of solar energy, where most of the countries in the region are undertaking renewable energy strategies & visions to develop renewable energy projects and meet the carbon-neutral goals set by respective governments in the region.

In the UAE, the Energy Strategy 2050 aims to increase the share of renewable energy from 25% to 50% in the total energy mix by 2050. Saudi Arabia has launched The National Renewable Energy Program (NREP) under Vision 2030, where 13 projects will generate over 4.8 GW of renewable energy. In addition, Bahrain plans to generate around 280 MW of electricity from renewable sources by 2025, increasing to around 700 MW by 2030 to attain national renewable energy targets.

In December 2022, Saudi Arabia announced the development of 10 renewable energy projects with a power capacity of 7 GW, which is part of the Kingdom's 2030 Vision.

In February 2022, Quantum Switch Tamasuk (QST) signed a deal with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) Saudi Arabia to develop data center facilities in Saudi Arabia. Additionally, both parties will collaborate to secure and develop renewable energy sources to power their facilities.

Increasing Cloud Investments



The increase in digitalization and the shift of workloads to cloud platforms from on-premises facilities to make their operations more efficient and scalable witnessed the increase in investments by cloud service providers in the Middle East over the last few years.

Amazon Web Services aims to develop the infrastructure region in Tel Aviv, Israel, which will likely be operational in 2023.

In 2022, Google Cloud launched its first local cloud region in Israel. Amazon outpost cloud services were deployed for the first time in Oman in the Oman Data Park, and Microsoft Azure established its first global data center region in Qatar.

SEGMENTATION INSIGHTS

Most facilities are being developed to operate at a PUE of less than 1.5. In contrast, few facilities in countries like Turkey that adopt partial free cooling during peak winters aim to operate at a PUE of less than 1.3.

In the Middle East data center construction market, the investment in cooling infrastructure contributes to the major share of more than 50% in the mechanical infrastructure due to the high temperature in some countries during the peak summers.

The region witnessed growth in the deployment of data centers in Tier III and Tier IV certification in the design phase/construction phase of the region. In contrast, most private and public entities (BFSI, education, government) have received Uptime Institute's Tier III/IV certification during the design phase or for the constructed facility.

GEOGRAPHICAL ANALYSIS

UAE dominates the regional industry in terms of data center developments. In addition, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Oman are among the major contributors to high data center development activities in the Middle East. Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait are emerging markets that witness significant growth as a result of digitalization and growth in connectivity.

In the Middle East data center construction market, the presence of smart cities in the region also drives investments. For instance, the NEOM project in Saudi Arabia is under development as a part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's Vision 2030, which will also comprise the data center development under a joint venture firm ZeroPoint DC.

KEY MARKET PARTICIPANT INITIATIVES

The surge in data center activities across the country will be a major source of revenue for construction contractors.

Some prominent local and global construction contractors in the Middle East data center construction market include AECOM, Laing O'Rourke, Dar Group, AlDar Properties, Mercury Engineering, Deerns, Anel Group, ENMAR Engineering, Arup, DC Pro Engineering, Edarat, HHM Building Contracting, and Red Engineering.

For instance, Laing O'Rourke is selected by Khazna Data Centres to design and build a facility and office space in Dubai Design District.

Key Attributes:

Report Attribute Details No. of Pages 347 Forecast Period 2022 - 2028 Estimated Market Value (USD) in 2022 $1845 Million Forecasted Market Value (USD) by 2028 $2861 Million Compound Annual Growth Rate 7.5% Regions Covered Middle East

Market Opportunities & Trends

Rising Adoption of Renewable Energy Sources

Increase in 5G Deployments Fueling Edge Data Center Investments

Deployment of Submarine Cables and Inland Connectivity

Smart City Initiatives Driving Data Center Investments

Increase in Ai Adoption

Market Growth Enablers

Cloud Adoption Driving Data Center Investments

IoT & Big Data Fueling Data Center Investments

On-Premises Infrastructure Migrating to Colocation & Managed Services

Deployment of Modular Data Centers

Market Restraints

Security Challenges in Data Centers

Dearth of Skilled Workforce

Location Constraints on the Development of Data Centers

Supply Chain Disruptions in Data Centers

Prominent Data Center Support Infrastructure

ABB

Airedale

Alfa Laval

Canovate

Caterpillar

Cummins

Delta Electronics

EAE Group

EATON

Envicool

HITEC Power Protection

Johnson Controls

Legrand

Rittal

Rolls-Royce

Schneider Electric

Siemens

STULZ

Vertiv

Prominent Data Center Construction Contractors

AECOM

AlDar Properties

Anel Group

Arup

Ashi & Bushnag

Atkins

Dar Group

DC Pro Engineering

Deerns

Edarat

EGEC

ENMAR Engineering

Harinsa Qatar (HQ)

HATCO

HHM Building Contracting

Hill International

ICS Nett

INT'LTEC

ISG

Laing O'Rourke

Linesight

M+W Group (Exyte)

Mace

Mercury Engineering

McLaren Construction Group

MIS

NDA Group

Prota Engineering

Qatar Site & Power

RED Engineering

RW Armstrong

Sudlows

Telal Engineering & Contracting

Turner & Townsend

Prominent Data Center Investors

Adgar Investments and Development

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Batelco

Bynet Data Communications

Equinix

EdgeConneX

Future Digital Data Systems (FDDS)

Gulf Data Hub

Google

Khazna Data Centers

Moro Hub

MedOne

MEEZA

Mobily

Microsoft

Oman Data Park

Ooredoo

stc

Turkcell

Turk Telekom

Telehouse

Tencent Cloud

New Entrants

Compass Datacenters

Digital Realty

Infinity

EDGNEX

Global Technical Realty

Quantum Switch

ZeroPoint DC

Serverfarm

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/3nze0j

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.

Attachment
Dublin, May 12, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Smart Lock Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Type (Deadbolt, Lever Handle, Padlock), By Application (Residential, Hospitality, Enterprise), By Region, And Segment Forecasts, 2023 - 2030" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The global smart lock market size is expected to reach USD 8.13 billion by 2030, and is anticipated to register a CAGR of 19.6% from 2023 to 2030.

Key factors driving the growth of the smart lock market globally include increased global internet penetration, increased consumer awareness about advanced security systems, and higher reliance on mobile applications to make daily processes easier.

Smart locks without power locks use Wi-Fi or Bluetooth to connect to other home appliances installed. Locks can be operated by a special power cord or by installing a smart lock app on the phone.



The user can send temporary keys to people, giving them home access within a specified time. In addition, smart lock technology is easy to use and unique compared to conventional methods.

For instance, security solutions with passwords, ID codes, machine keys, and code names are tedious to take care of and can potentially lead to theft or loss of data. Smart keys work on an IoT connection, which synchronizes with the user's smartphone to gain control. This smart lock feature makes it reliable, unique, and easy to use and strengthens its market presence.



During the first couple of quarters of 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic slowed the pace of new smart lock installations. Drastic changes such as cross-border trade prohibitions, economic uncertainty, restrictive standards necessitating temporary shutdowns of industrial facilities, and stay-at-home orders for the general public produced a difficult situation for the industry.

Nonetheless, measures such as embedding touchless technologies into their products, developing mobile apps for performing operations, and offering products at lower pricing on the available modes helped businesses increase their ROI during these essential lockdown instances.



Smart lock Market Report Highlights

The global market is driven by the increased global internet penetration, increased consumer awareness about advanced security systems, and a higher reliance on mobile applications to make daily processes easier. Growing usage of smart locks in residential security will propel the overall market in the forecast period

Based on the type segment. The lever handle type of locks is anticipated to expand with the highest CAGR of 22.4% during the forecast period of 2023-2030. This is attributed to the modernizing operations in the hospitality sector to meet tourist security needs

Based on applications. The hospitality segment is expected to exhibit the highest CAGR of 23.8% from 2023 to 2030, owing to the rapid implementation of smart locks to accommodate consumers' growing security concerns throughout their visits

The North American region contributed the largest revenue share in 2022 to the smart lock market owing to the advancements in technology across the region

Key Attributes:

Report Attribute Details No. of Pages 132 Forecast Period 2022 - 2030 Estimated Market Value (USD) in 2022 $1.95 Billion Forecasted Market Value (USD) by 2030 $8.13 Billion Compound Annual Growth Rate 19.6% Regions Covered Global

Key Topics Covered:



Chapter 1 Methodology and Scope



Chapter 2 Executive Summary



Chapter 3 Market Variables, Trends & Scope

3.1 Market Lineage Outlook

3.2 Industry Value Chain Analysis

3.3 Market Dynamics

3.3.1 Market Driver Analysis

3.3.1.1 Growing Preference For Smart Home Ecosystems

3.3.1.2 Increasing Smartphone Penetration And Continued Rollout Of High-Speed Internet Networks

3.3.1.3 Widening Non-Residential Application Base

3.3.2 Market Restraint Analysis

3.3.2.1 Technological Challenges And Potential Vulnerabilities

3.3.2.2 Security Threats And System Compromise

3.4 Market Challenges

3.5 Market Opportunities

3.6 Industry Analysis Tools

3.6.1 Porter's Analysis

3.6.2 Macroeconomic Analysis

3.7 Smart Lock Market - Covid-19 Impact Analysis



Chapter 4 Type Estimates And Trend Analysis

4.1 Market Size Estimates & Forecasts And Trend Analysis, 2018-2030 (USD Million)

4.2 Type Movement Analysis & Market Share, 2022 & 2030

4.3 Smart Lock Market Estimates & Forecast, By Type (USD Million) (Thousand Units)

4.3.1 Deadbolt

4.3.2 Lever Handles

4.3.3 Padlock

4.3.4 Others



Chapter 5 Application Estimates And Trend Analysis

5.1 Market Size Estimates & Forecasts And Trend Analysis, 2018-2030 (USD Million)

5.2 Application Movement Analysis & Market Share, 2022 & 2030

5.3 Smart Lock Market Estimates & Forecast, By Application (USD Million) (Thousand Units)

5.3.1 Residential

5.3.2 Hospitality

5.3.3 Enterprise

5.3.4 Critical Infrastrucuture

5.3.5 Others



Chapter 6 Regional Estimates & Trend Analysis



Chapter 7 Smart Lock Market - Competitive Landscape



Companies Mentioned

August Home, Inc. (ASSA ABLOY)

Avent Security

Cansec Systems Ltd.

HavenLock, Inc.

Kwikset (Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc.)

MUL-T-LOCK TECHNOLOGIES LTD. (ASSA ABLOY)

Schlage (Allegion Plc)

Zigbang Co., Ltd. (Previously Samsung SDS)

Sentrilock, LLC

Smart Locking Logic Proprietary Limited

UniKey Technologies, Inc.

Yale Locks (ASSA ABLOY)

Goji

Onity Inc. (Carrier Global Corporation)

Honeywell International Inc.

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/4wntpn

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.

Attachment
MISSISSAUGA, Ontario, May 12, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Samsung Electronics Canada today announced the Flex Your Design contest, inviting participants from across Canada to showcase their personal style by submitting their unique case designs for the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4. Contest entrants will compete for a chance to win 1 of 3 epic Galaxy prize packs including a cash prize of $2,500, a Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4, a Galaxy Watch5, and a Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra1.



Smartphones have become one of our most expressive accessories, helping to keep us connected and tell our stories. The Galaxy Z Flip4 was designed to spotlight these experiences, unlocking new and exciting opportunities for storytelling and personal expression.

At Samsung, we are inspired by our customers who are embracing and celebrating their differences - from the way they dress to how they express themselves online, said Raj Doshi, Head of Mobile Business at Samsung Electronics Canada. We believe technology should reflect unique user personality and needs - the Galaxy Z Flip4 and Flex Your Design contest is a platform for Canadians to have a part in that.

Through the Flex Your Design Contest, Samsung Canada hopes to inspire and champion creative expression, amplified by partnerships with Canadian artists including Ben Johnston from Toronto, Pony from Montreal and Mega McGrath from Vancouver who have also designed cases for the Galaxy Z Flip4 inspired by their individual artistic styles.

Speaking on the collaboration, multi-disciplinary creative Ben Johnston stated, This phone [the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4] has definitely a nostalgic feel and its foldable feature brings back memories! However, I had to really reflect on my concept: the challenge was to design an image that would be folded. Im very pleased with the design and I think the case enhances the phones experience!

Painter and multi-disciplinary designer, Mega McGrath was also inspired by the innovative design and technology behind the Galaxy Z Flip4: I like ideas that challenge norms and push boundaries, as well as provide a bit of nostalgia. The partnership with Samsung Canada to create an exclusive phone case was a way for me to embrace and collaborate with innovative technologies, while providing an opportunity to encourage young people to explore their own creativity.

Montreal artist Gabrielle Laila Tittley (aka Pony) believes that creativity makes life magical, which is why she is excited to partner with Samsung Canada to inspire that magic. Art brings people together and can act as the voice of a generation. Through the Flex Your Design contest, we hope to bring young people together through art while still celebrating their unique creative voice.

Whether capturing epic dance moves, taking a group or solo selfie, or just exploring a new angle or perspective, do away with tripods and check out FlexCam. Its as simple as putting the Galaxy Z Flip4 in Flex Mode, adjusting to your desired angle and then setting it down for a versatile, hands-free camera experience. Video calling is also easier with FlexCam and dual screen opportunities on Google Duo.

In addition, the Galaxy Z Flip4 provides a plethora of personalization opportunities. Its sleek design is case-customizable to match your individual style, and the Cover Screen allows you to further express yourself: use your own videos, photos or GIFs to personalize the clock face to best match your unique needs.

Canadians interested in participating in the contest can submit their designs today, May 12, 2023 until June 20, 2023 for a chance to win 1 of 3 epic Galaxy prize packs consisting of a cash prize for $2,500, a Galaxy Z Flip4, a Galaxy Watch5, and a Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra2.

Visit http://www.samsung.com/flexyourdesign, download the Galaxy Z Flip4 template, create your unique case design and upload alongside your details before June 20, 2023 for a chance to win. Entrants must be 16 years or older to enter.

For more information on the latest Samsung Galaxy news and offerings, please visit www.samsung.com/ca

About Samsung Electronics Canada Inc.

Samsung Electronics Canada inspires Canadians to reach their full potential through a transformative ecosystem of products and services that deliver innovation and distinct design to every aspect of their connected lives. The company is redefining the worlds of TVs, smartphones, and wearable devices, tablets and digital appliances. In 2022, Samsung was ranked as one of Canada's "Most Reputable Companies" by Leger, named one of Canadas Top 100 Employers and placed first on Forbes 'The World's Best Employers' list. Dedicated to helping make a difference in the lives of Canadians, Samsung's award-winning corporate giving initiatives support public education and health-related issues in communities across the country. To discover more, please visit www.Samsung.ca.

Follow Samsung Canada at facebook.com/SamsungCanada, on Instagram @samsungcanada or on Twitter @SamsungCanada.

Media contact

Shalynn Mortillaro, Account Manager, North Strategic

647-614-1737

shalynn.mortillaro@northstrategic.com

1 There is a total of three (3) prize packages available to be won (collectively, the Prizes and each individually a Prize) each consisting of a $2500 cash prize (by way of a cheque) plus a Galaxy Prize Pack made up of a Galaxy Z Flip4 smartphone, Galaxy Watch5 smartwatch, and a Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra (valued at $3,719.97 based on MSRP) each selected by the Sponsor.

2 There is a total of three (3) prize packages available to be won (collectively, the Prizes and each individually a Prize) each consisting of a $2500 cash prize (by way of a cheque) plus a Galaxy Prize Pack made up of a Galaxy Z Flip4 smartphone, Galaxy Watch5 smartwatch, and a Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra (valued at $3,719.97 based on MSRP) each selected by the Sponsor.

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/846a0c86-274e-4d60-b859-e3df99971fb4

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/4b791b3c-4475-4b78-82c6-9f53ecd2708b

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b36046f6-b307-46bf-b3e1-ca687f1294fe
Dublin, May 12, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Europe Microalgae Market by Type, Category, Production Technique, Distribution Channel, Application, and Geography - Forecast to 2030" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The research report provides an in-depth analysis of the Europe Microalgae market across five major countries and emphasizes on the current market trends, market sizes, market shares, recent developments, and forecasts till 2030.



In terms of value, the Europe Microalgae Market is expected to reach $491.9 million by 2030, at a CAGR of 9.3% during 2023-2030. In terms of volume, the Europe microalgae market is expected to reach 25,465.0 tons by 2030, at a CAGR of 8.3% during the forecast period 2023-2030.

The growth of this market is driven by the increasing demand for algae protein, the rising need for protein-rich and lipid-rich aquafeed, and the growing demand for omega-3 fatty acids are driving the growth of the Nannochloropsis market. In addition, the growing demand from the biodiesel industry creates lucrative growth opportunities for Nannochloropsis manufacturers in Europe. However, the complex production process of Nannochloropsis restrains the growth of this market to a certain extent.



The study offers a comprehensive analysis of the Europe microalgae market based on type, category, production technique, distribution channel, application, and geography.



The Europe microalgae market is segmented by type, category, production technique, distribution channel, application, and geography.



Based on type, the Europe microalgae market is segmented into spirulina, chlorella, Dunaliella salina, Haematococcus pluvialis, Nannochloropsis, and other microalgae. In 2023, the chlorella segment is expected to account for the larger share of the Europe microalgae market. However, the Haematococcus pluvialis segment is projected to record the highest CAGR during the forecast period due to the increasing demand for natural astaxanthin in the nutraceutical industry, growing demand for natural food colorants, and increasing awareness for clean-label products.



Based on category, the Europe microalgae market is segmented into inorganic microalgae and organic microalgae. In 2023, the inorganic microalgae segment is expected to account for the larger share of the Europe microalgae market. The large share of this segment is primarily attributed to the high availability of microalgae grown through the traditional method and easy accessibility to cost-effective algae production. However, the organic microalgae segment is projected to register the highest CAGR during the forecast period.



Based on production technique, the Europe microalgae market is segmented into ponds, fermenters, and photobioreactors (PBR). In 2023, the ponds segment is expected to account for the larger share of the Europe microalgae market. However, the photobioreactors (PBR) segment is projected to grow at the fastest CAGR during the forecast period due to the growing demand for algal biomass from the food and beverage industry, lower vulnerability to species contamination, higher productivity, lower harvesting cost, reduced water and carbon dioxide losses, and easier control of the cultivation conditions such as temperature and pH.



Based on distribution channel, the Europe microalgae market is segmented into consumer channel (B2C) and business channel (B2B). In 2023, the business channel (B2B) segment is expected to account for the larger share of the Europe microalgae market. The large market share of this segment is attributed to the direct bulk purchasing of microalgae by manufacturers operating in various industries, such as nutraceuticals, food & beverage, and animal feed, for further product development. This segment is also expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period.



Based on application, the Europe microalgae market is segmented into nutraceuticals, food & beverages, cosmetics, animal feed, and other applications. In 2023, the nutraceuticals segment is expected to account for the larger share of the Europe microalgae market.

The large market share of this segment is attributed to the booming nutraceuticals sector, growing health concerns of the aging population, the growing need for natural alternatives to traditional pharmaceutical products, and increased consumer awareness regarding the link between nutrition and health.



Based on geography, the Europe microalgae market is segmented into France, Germany, the U.K., Italy, Spain, and the Rest of Europe. In 2023, Germany is expected to account for the largest share of the Europe microalgae market, followed by France and the U.K.

Germany's major market share is attributed to the huge consumption of health supplements, strict regulations against the use of synthetic colors, growth of subsidiary industries like cosmetics and biofertilizers, increasing preference for natural protein sources, and the presence of key algae biomass manufacturers with huge production capacities. However, France is expected to register the highest CAGR during the forecast period.



Scope of the report:

Europe Microalgae Market, by Type

Spirulina

Chlorella

Dunaliella salina

Haematococcus pluvialis

Nannochloropsis

Other Microalgae

Europe Microalgae Market, by Category

Inorganic Microalgae

Organic Microalgae

Europe Microalgae Market, by Production Technique

Ponds

Fermenters

Photobioreactors

Europe Microalgae Market, by Distribution Channel

Business Channel

Consumer Channel

Europe Microalgae Market, by Application

Nutraceuticals

Food and Beverages

Animal Feed

Cosmetics

Other Applications

Europe Microalgae Market, by Geography

France

Germany

U.K.

Italy

Spain

Rest of Europe

Key questions answered in the report-

Which are the high-growth market segments in terms of type, category, production technique, distribution channel, application, and country/region?

What was the historical market for microalgae across Europe?

What are the market forecasts and estimates for the period of 2023-2030?

What are the major drivers, restraints, challenges, opportunities, and trends in the Europe microalgae market?

Who are the major players in the Europe microalgae market, and what are their market shares?

Who are the major players in various countries, and what are their market shares?

How is the competitive landscape for the Europe microalgae market?

What are the recent developments in the Europe microalgae market?

What are the different strategies adopted by the major players in the market?

What are the key geographic trends, and which are the high-growth countries?

Who are the local emerging players in the Europe microalgae market, and how do they compete with other players?

Key Topics Covered:



1. Market Definition & Scope



2. Research Methodology



3. Executive Summary



4. Market Insights



5. Europe Microalgae Market Assessment - by Type

5.1. Overview

5.2. Spirulina

5.3. Chlorella

5.4. Dunaliella Salina

5.5. Haematococcus Pluvialis

5.6. Nannochloropsis

5.7. Other Microalgae



6. Europe Microalgae Market Assessment - by Category

6.1. Overview

6.2. Inorganic Microalgae

6.3. Organic Microalgae



7. Europe Microalgae Market Assessment - by Production Technique

7.1. Overview

7.2. Ponds

7.3. Fermenter

7.4. Photobioreactors (PBR)



8. Europe Microalgae Market Assessment - by Distribution Channel

8.1. Overview

8.2. Business Channel (B2B)

8.3. Consumer Channel (B2C)



9. Europe Microalgae Market Assessment - by Application

9.1. Overview

9.2. Nutraceuticals

9.3. Food & Beverage

9.4. Animal Feed

9.5. Cosmetics

9.6. Other Applications



10. Europe Microalgae Market Assessment - by Geography

10.1. Overview

10.2. France

10.3. Germany

10.4. U.K.

10.5. Italy

10.6. Spain

10.7. Rest of Europe



11. Competition Analysis



12. Company Profiles



13. Appendix



Companies Mentioned

Fuqing King Dnarmsa Spirulina Co. Ltd. (China)

DIC Corporation (Japan)

E.I.D. - Parry (India) Limited (A Subsidiary of M/S. Ambadi Investments Limited) (India)

Cyanotech Corporation (U.S.)

C.B.N. Bio-Engineering Co. Ltd (China)

YUNNAN GREEN A BIOLOGICAL PROJECT CO. Ltd. (Yunnan Spirin Biotechnology Co. Ltd) (China)

JIANGSHAN COMP SPIRULINA CO.,LTD (China)

Inner Mongolia Rejuve Biotech Co. Ltd. (China)

Zhejiang Binmei Biotechnology Co. Ltd. (China)

Bluetec Naturals CO. Ltd. (China)

Taiwan Chlorella Manufacturing Company (TCMC) (Taiwan)

Sun Chlorella Corporation (Japan)

Roquette Klotze GmbH & Co. KG (Germany)

Vedan Biotechnology Corporation (Taiwan)

AlgoSource (France)

Tianjin Norland Biotech Co. Ltd (China)

Allmicroalgae Natural Products S.A. (Portugal)

Aliga Microalgae (Denmark)

ALGALIMENTO SL (Spain)

Hangzhou OuQi Food co. Ltd. (China)

Far East Microalgae Industries

Co. Ltd.(FEMICO) (Taiwan)

BlueBioTech Group (Germany)

Algatechnologies Ltd. (A Part of Solabia Group) (Israel)

Far East Bio-Tec. Co. Ltd. (FEBICO) (Taiwan)

A4f Algae for Future (Portugal)

Archimede Ricerche Srl (Italy)

Necton S.A. (Portugal)

Reed Mariculture Inc. (U.S.)

AlgaSpring B.V. (Netherlands)

Astaxa GmbH (Germany).

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/pixycy

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.
Dublin, May 12, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Molecular Diagnostics at the Point of Care. By Application, Technology, Place, Product and by Country. With Executive Guides and Customization 2023 - 2027 " report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

Learn about this market including the issues and outlooks.

The two key trends of Point of Care Testing and Molecular Diagnostics are merging with spectacular success. It could possibly displace most frontline test protocols AND save money at the same time. The report forecasts the market size out for five years.

Infectious disease Dx is changing and will change more in the future. Can a rapidly growing market expand even faster? Find out all about it in this comprehensive report on Molecular Diagnostics at the Point of Care.

Are targeted tests for specific pathogens going to be obsolete? Will diagnostics replace physicians? Will Point of Care testing move into the Physician's Office or even the Home?

Point of Care testing is proving itself in the market. Players are reporting double-digit growth. Lowering costs, improving outcomes and even helping in the battle against Anti Microbial Resistance.

Industry Overview

Players in a Dynamic Market

Academic Research Lab

Diagnostic Test Developer

Instrumentation Supplier

Chemical/Reagent Supplier

Pathology Supplier

Independent Clinical Laboratory

Public National/regional Laboratory

Hospital Laboratory

Physicians Office Lab (POLS)

Audit Body

Certification Body

The Clinical Laboratory Market Segments

Traditional Market Segmentation

Laboratory Focus and Segmentation

Industry Structure

Hospital Testing Share

Economies of Scale

Hospital vs. Central Lab

Physician Office Lab's

Physician's and POCT

Market Trends

Factors Driving Growth

New Genotypes Creating New Markets

Aging Population a Boon for All Diagnostics

Developing World Driving ID Dx Growth

Point of Care - Why Centralization is Losing Steam

Self Testing

The Need for Speed

Factors Limiting Growth

Lower Costs

Infectious Disease is Declining

Wellness Hurts

Economic Growth improves Living Standards

Instrumentation, Automation and Diagnostic Trends

Traditional Automation and Centralization

The New Automation, Decentralization and Point Of Care

Instruments Key to Market Share

Bioinformatics Plays a Role

PCR Takes Command

Next Generation Sequencing Fuels a Revolution

NGS Impact on Pricing

Whole Genome Sequencing, A Brave New World

Companion Diagnostics Blurs Diagnosis and Treatment

Profiles of Key MDx Companies

Abacus Diagnostica

Abbott Laboratories

Accelerate Diagnostics

Access Bio

Ador Diagnostics

ADT Biotech

Akonni Biosystems

Alveo Technologies

Antelope Dx

Applied BioCode

Aureum Diagnostics

Aus Diagnostics

Baebies

Beckman Coulter Diagnostics

Becton, Dickinson and Company

Binx Health

Biocartis

BioFire Diagnostics (bioMerieux)

bioMerieux Diagnostics

Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc.

Bosch Healthcare Solutions GmbH

Cepheid (Danaher)

Credo Diagnostics Biomedical

Cue Health

Curetis N.V./Curetis GmbH

Detect

Diagenode Diagnostics

Diasorin S.p.A.

Enzo Biochem

Eurofins Scientific

Fluxergy

Fusion Genomics.

Genedrive

Genetic Signatures

GenMark Dx (Roche)

Getlabs

Grip Molecular Technologies

Hibergene Diagnostics

Hologic

Immunexpress

Inflammatix

Invetech

Janssen Diagnostics

Karius

Lexagene

LightDeck Diagnostics

Lucira Health

Luminex Corp

LumiraDx

Maxim Biomedical

Meridian Bioscience

Mesa Biotech (Thermo Fisher)

Millipore Sigma

Mobidiag (Hologic)

Molbio Diagnostics

Nanomix

Novacyt

Novel Microdevices

Operon

Ortho Clinical Diagnostics

Oxford Nanopore Technologies

Panagene

Perkin Elmer

Prenetics

Primerdesign (Novacyt)

Prominex

Qiagen

QuantuMDx

Quidel

Roche Molecular Diagnostics

Salignostics

Saw Diagnostics

SD Biosensor

Seegene

Siemens Healthineers

Sona Nanotech

SpeeDx

T2 Biosystems

Talis Biomedical

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.

Veramarx

XCR Diagnostics

Zhejiang Orient Gene Biotech

Molecular Dx - Infectious Disease Recent Developments

Recent Developments - Importance and How to Use This Section

Importance of These Developments

How to Use This Section

Sherlock Biosciences Adds to Infectious Disease Dx Toolkit

NanoDx Prepares for Point-of-Care Commercialization

Paragraf to Study New POC Test to Guide Antibiotic Selection

MicroGEM to Expand 30-Minute RT-PCR System

Startup Detect to Roll Out Next-Gen Molecular Instrument

Diagnostics for the Real World Third-Generation POC Platform

Salignostics Closes Funding Round

Cue Health Targets DTC Market in 2022

Grip Molecular Developing Home Respiratory Panel

Mainz Biomed Developing Home ColoAlert Assay

MFB Fertility Closes Series A Financing Round

Home Test Company Prenetics to go Public

Roche to Acquire TIB Molbiol to Expand Infectious Disease Portfolio

BforCure Preparing Multiple Panels for Point-of-Care qPCR Platform

Talis Biomedical Discusses Point-of-Care

Roche to Acquire GenMark Diagnostics for $1.8B

Pandemic Pushes Handheld qPCR Devices Closer to Commercialization

Hologic to Acquire Mobidiag

Lucira Health Focuses on User Friendly Approach to Home Testing

Infectious Disease Dx Firm Talis Biomedical Raises $254M in IPO

Fluidigm Plans 'Durable' Diagnostics, Clinical Business

Thermo Fisher Scientific to Acquire Mesa Biotech for Up to $550M

Mammoth Biosciences Developing Pathogen Detection Tech

Illumina, IDbyDNA Developing Sequencing-Based Respiratory Tests

Scanogen Developing 90 Minute Infection Test

Malaria Assays Use CRISPR for Point-of-Care Multispecies Detection

FDA Provides Self Testing SARS-CoV-2 EAU Guidance

Mammoth Biosciences Announces Rapid, CRISPR-Based COVID-19 Diagnostic

Genetic Signatures Gets CE Mark for Coronavirus Molecular Test

Qiagen Respiratory Panel with Coronavirus Receives CE Mark

Lumos Diagnostics Closes $15M Series A Funding





For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/psimam

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.
Dublin, May 12, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Global Online Dating Services Market 2023-2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The publisher has been monitoring the online dating services market and is forecast to grow by USD 2741.68 mn during 2022-2027, accelerating at a CAGR of 6.01% during the forecast period.



This report on the online dating services market provides a holistic analysis, market size and forecast, trends, growth drivers, and challenges, as well as vendor analysis covering around 25 vendors.



The report offers an up-to-date analysis regarding the current market scenario, the latest trends and drivers, and the overall market environment. The market is driven by growing acceptance and adoption of online dating, increasing use of mobile dating apps, and increased marketing and advertising.



The online dating services market is segmented as below:

By Type

Marriage

Casual

Socialize

By End-user

Subscription

Advertising

By Geographical Landscape

North America

Europe

APAC

South America

Middle East and Africa

This study identifies the growth of niche online dating services as one of the prime reasons driving the online dating services market growth during the next few years. Also, rise of virtual dating and integration with social media will lead to sizable demand in the market.



The author presents a detailed picture of the market by the way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources by an analysis of key parameters.



This report on the online dating services market covers the following areas:

Online dating services market sizing

Online dating services market forecast

Online dating services market industry analysis

Key Topics Covered:



1 Executive Summary



2 Market Landscape



3 Market Sizing



4 Historic Market Size



5 Five Forces Analysis

6 Market Segmentation by Type



7 Market Segmentation by End-user



8 Customer Landscape



9 Geographic Landscape



10 Drivers, Challenges, and Trends



11 Vendor Landscape



12 Vendor Analysis



13 Appendix



A selection of companies mentioned in this report includes

3Fun

Badoo

Bumble Inc.

Coffee Meets Bagel

Cupid Media Pty Ltd.

eHarmony Inc.

Elitemate.com LLC

Feeld

Grindr Inc.

HAPPN

HER

Lex

Love Group Global Ltd.

Match Group

Open

ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE

RSVP.COM.AU Pty Ltd.

Spark Networks SE

Tastebuds Media Ltd.

Truly Madly

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/spmq5c

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.
TORONTO, May 12, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MacDonald Mines Exploration Ltd. (TSX-V: BMK, OTC: MCDMF) (MacDonald Mines or the Company) is pleased to announce its upcoming plans to drill along the prospective McLaren Lake Fault Zone (MLFZ) at the Alwyn Copper-Gold (Cu-Au) trend (Alwyn), as well as the Glade Gold (Au) trend (Glade) located on MacDonald Mines 100% owned SPJ Project near Sudbury, Ontario. The company also reports new results received from its collaboration with ALS GoldSpot Discoveries Ltd. (ALS GoldSpot) that have been integrated in the planning of the drilling program. Drilling is planned to begin as soon as load restrictions on the Kukagami road are lifted. This is anticipated to be at the end of May or early June 2023.



Along the McLaren Lake Fault System, the Company is planning up to 1,200 m of drilling to target copper-gold mineralization primarily in the Alwyn Cu-Au trend and potentially at the Ashigami occurrence.

In the Glade Au trend, the company is planning up to 350 m of drilling.

Drilling in Alwyn Cu-Au trend aims to: Expand the footprints laterally and at depth of the vein networks mineralized in copper and gold identified during the 2022 drilling program and indicated by historical drilling (AFRI 41I10NE0158), Test the association between gravity highs and hydrothermal iron enrichments that could be suggestive of the presence of iron-rich copper-gold mineralization affiliated with iron oxide copper-gold (IOCG) mineralization. Drilling will integrate new data that support the extension of copper-gold mineralization outside of the area tested in 2022 that include: The results from the 2023 gravity survey and 10 new targets generated by ALS GoldSpot in the Alwyn Cu-Au trend, An updated geological and structural model for copper-gold mineralization at Alwyn, built using recent and digitized historical data and the Companys collaboration with ALS GoldSpot (AFRI 41I10NE0158; Figure 2).



Contingent on positive surface exploration results in 2023, limited drilling could also test copper-gold and cobalt-gold mineralization at the Ashigami occurrence, located 4.5 km southeast of the historical Alwyn Mine: Recent and historical exploration results indicate the presence of copper-gold mineralization comparable to what is observed in the Alwyn Cu-Au trend, as well as similar size potential to the Alwyn mineralized system (AFRI 41I10NE0169).



Drilling at the Glade Au trend will continue to test for the presence of gold-mineralized iron-rich chlorite alteration discovered during the drilling program of 2022 that is comparable to what is observed at the Scadding Deposit. That zone of chlorite alteration contained 0.82 g/t gold over 40.5 m including 7.76 g/t gold over 2.9 m in AG-22-103 (see news release of September 19, 2022).



Jean-Francois Montreuil, Chief Geologist of MacDonald Mines. commented; We are looking forward to beginning our 2023 drilling program to test our exploration targets in the Alwyn and Glade areas defined in collaboration with the holistic and geoscience-based machine learning expertise of ALS GoldSpot. With the integration of new historical drilling data in our targeting matrix, the work of ALS GoldSpot identified promising and shallow exploration targets which could considerably extend the Alwyn Cu-Au mineralized trend along the MLFZ. We also now have a much-improved understanding of the fault systems associated with Cu-Au mineralization, along which deeper gravity targets are distributed that could represent a transition of the quartz-carbonate system exposed at surface to iron-rich Cu-Au mineralization affiliated with IOCG mineralization.

Mr. Montreuil added: Our exploration work in 2022 along the Glade Au trend has broadened our understanding of the Au system, as we can now confirm its relation with Au mineralization at the Scadding deposit. We look forward to continuing exploration in this area and providing new results for the Scadding-Glade Au system.

Highlights of the ALS GoldSpot-Macdonald Mines Collaboration:

ALS GoldSpot has identified and ranked 10 favourable, near-surface exploration targets distributed along the prospective MLFZ and an intersecting N-S fault system. Three of these targets have been prioritized by MacDonald Mines for additional exploration in 2023 (Figure 1). Area 1  Northwestern and southeastern extensions of the Alwyn Cu-Au trend (Targets GS_1 & GS_2) High-priority targets located in the north-west and south-east extensions of the area tested during the 2022 drill program near the historical Alwyn Mine. Northwestern target overlaps with a gravity high suggesting the presence of iron-rich alteration at Alwyn (see March 3 rd 2023 news release). Historical drilling (AFRI 41I10NE0158) indicates the presence of quartz-carbonate veining associated with chalcopyrite mineralization in the southern-eastern target with comparable descriptions to the observations made during 2022 drilling. This information has also provided critical information for building the 3D model of the Alwyn shear/vein system outside of the known area. Area 2  Possible extension of the Alwyn Cu-Au trend 730 m south-east of the Alwyn Mine (Target GS_4) Largest exploration target generated by ALS GoldSpot along the MLFZ. A breccia zone visible on the geological map M2009 overlaps with the with ALS GoldSpots target suggesting the presence of tectonic deformation and hydrothermal alteration associated with Cu-Au mineralization. Overlaps with a strong gravity high located at depth along the MLFZ.









Figure 1. ALS GoldSpot AI generated targets and proposed location for 2023 drill program at Alwyn. Note that drilling will take place within Area 1, which encompasses two of the highest priority ALS GoldSpot targets. Area 2 outlines the other major area of interest highlighted by ALS GoldSpot, which will be follow up on with prospecting and mapping this summer.





Figure 2. Locations of 2023 drilling, starting with the Alwyn Cu-Au trend and moving onto the Glade Au trend, with the possibility of pursuing the Ashigami occurence. *The reader is cautioned that grab samples are selective by nature and do not represent the true metal content of the mineralized zone

Copper-gold mineralization along the McLaren Lake Fault Zone

The MLFZ is emerging as a compelling exploration target for copper-gold and potentially cobalt-gold mineralization. Along the 2.5 km Alwyn Cu-Au trend defined in collaboration with ALS GoldSpot, near-surface copper-gold mineralization is associated with networks of quartz-carbonate veins. The 2023 gravity survey and data from the 2022 drilling program suggest that Cu-Au mineralization associated with iron-rich alteration could be present in the deeper extensions of the systems (see Figure 1 and news release of March 3, 2023).

Regionally, the MLFZ is highly prospective for critical and precious metals mineralization. In addition to Alwyn, along the MLFZ on the SPJ Project the primary targets include the Ashigami and the Crerar showings, located respectively 4.5 km and 9.5 km southeast of the Alwyn mine (Figure 2).

New grab samples from Ashigami blast pit containing 1.00 to 6.45 g/t gold, 3.11 to 5.55 % copper and 133 to 211 ppm cobalt were obtained by MacDonald Mines in 2023 (see news release of March 21, 2023). The reader is cautioned that grab samples are selective by nature and do not necessarily represent the true metal content of the mineralized zones. Mineralization at the Ashigami showing consists primarily of chalcopyrite with pyrite within dense multidirectional networks of quartz-carbonate veins, hosted in Gowganda formation sediments. That style of Cu-Au mineralization is very comparable to veining and mineralization observed in the Alwyn Cu-Au trend.

Glade Target

Two of the three drill holes completed in the Glade Au trend in 2022 intersected broad and near surface zones of gold mineralization and confirmed that alteration and mineralization in the Glade Au trend is comparable to gold mineralization and alteration at the Scadding deposit.

The 2023 drilling program in the Glade Au trend will follow up on the successful drilling results of the 2022 and 2021 drilling programs. In 2022, hole AG-22-103 intersected three shallow zones of gold mineralization containing in core length 0.47 g/t gold over 8.5m, 0.71 g/t gold over 10.35 m and 0.82 g/t gold over 40.5 m including 7.76 g/t gold over 2.9 m (see news release of September 19, 2022). In 2021, hole AG-21-097 confirmed the presence of high-grade gold mineralization in the Glade trend with the intersection of 113 g/t gold over 0.96 m core length (see news release of May 13, 2021).

Drilling will also continue to test the PGM potential of the Nipissing intrusion hosting the Glade system identified in the 2022 drilling program with the intersection of 0.16 g/t Pd over 4.00 m in AG-22-103 with anomalous Cu and Ni at the contact(s) between individual intrusions in the Glade Nipissing intrusion.

ALS GoldSpot Copper-Gold Target Generation

ALS GoldSpot generated Cu-Au-focused targets using its in-house SmartTARGETTM AI data-driven methodology, combined with knowledge-driven expertise  geophysics and geology  to highlight eleven prioritized areas.

SmartTARGETTM algorithms are trained to predict the presence of Cu-Au mineralization using gravity and magnetic inversion layers, historic and recent (2022 drilling campaign) drillholes, as well as interpreted structures on a 25 m voxel grid datacube. The SmartTARGETTM model predicts multiple zones of potential Cu-Au mineralization with >90% probability. SmartTARGETTM predictions are integrated with interpreted gravity-derived density zones and high/low magnetic areas to refine and rank the exploration zones.

Grant of Options

The Company also announces, the grant, under the Companys stock option plan, of 1,000,000 stock options to certain directors, officers, employees, and consultants of the Company. The options entitle the holders to purchase the same number of common shares of the Company at a price of $0.06 per share for a period of five years.

About MacDonald Mines Exploration Ltd.

MacDonald Mines is a Canadian exploration company focused on exploring for critical and precious metals in a Metasomatic Iron alkali-calcic (MIAC) mineral system on its 100%-owned, 19,720 ha (197.2 km2) SPJ Project. MIAC systems are known for hosting IOCG and affiliated deposits. The property is located 20km southeast of the prolific Sudbury Mining Camp in Northern Ontario. The Companys primary exploration focus are the polymetallic and iron-poor to possibly iron-rich Ag-Au-Cu-Co showings and prospects along the McLaren Lake Fault System that includes the Alwyn Cu-Au-(Ag-Co) trend and the Ashigami Co-Cu-Au showings, and the iron-rich to iron-poor Glade Au trend recognized to host Au mineralization comparable to the Scadding deposit. In addition, a potential for nickel, cobalt, copper, and platinum group elements in the Nipissing intrusions that are hosting the Candore, Jerome and Glade showings within the SPJ Project.

Qualified Person

Jean-Francois Montreuil, P.Geo., Chief Geologist of MacDonald Mines, is the qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, responsible for preparing, supervising, and approving this news release's scientific and technical content.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release may contain certain forward looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of this news release and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise.

NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.

To learn more about MacDonald Mines, please visit www.macdonaldmines.com

For more information, please contact:

Mike England, Interim CEO

Phone: +1 604 307 4776

Email: mike@engcom.ca

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c3349bc0-c91f-4b23-ace4-d6893730c086

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/5d02d1c0-3813-4bab-b7bc-17ba5a5af529
Abu Dhabi, May 12, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Insilico Medicine, a generative artificial intelligence (AI)-driven drug discovery company, announced that it is releasing a course on Disease Modeling and Target Identification, available for free. Through seven lectures, the course guides participants through the latest insights in disease modeling and target discovery  critical areas in biomedical research that involve using computational and experimental approaches to gain insights into the causes of diseases and identify potential targets for drug development.

The course uses case studies to illustrate the practical application of the concepts covered. In particular, learners will have the opportunity to explore a demo version of PandaOmics, Insilico Medicines generative AI tool for target discovery, which is being developed by a team of scientists at the Insilico Medicine Generative Artificial Intelligence and Quantum Computing Research and Development Center in Abu Dhabi, the regions largest AI-powered biotechnology research center.

PandaOmics is used by numerous pharmaceutical companies and to develop the 31 pharmaceutical assets advancing in Insilicos own pipeline  including two drugs for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and COVID-19 currently in clinical trials.

After completing the course, participants will gain: .

in-depth knowledge of the challenges and opportunities in drug target discovery, including the emerging role of AI, achievements, and failures of pharma companies in recent years and the most promising therapeutic areas;

practical skills in identifying and evaluating potential drug targets, including familiarity with several popular tools and resources;

knowledge of the latest trends and emerging topics in target discovery, such as the use of large language models and the evolution of the druggable genome concept;

exposure to several case studies that illustrate the practical application of the concepts covered, and the ability to critically evaluate and compare different target discovery strategies.

The course is geared toward anyone interested in drug discovery, biomedical research, and healthcare innovation, including researchers, scientists, pharmaceutical professionals and students pursuing a degree in molecular biology, chemistry, or related fields who want to see how fundamental science can be applied to the development of novel therapeutics.

This course aligns with our larger mission to accelerate the discovery and development of new therapeutics by making technological breakthroughs accessible to all scientists, including students, who might be interested in pursuing AI drug discovery, says Insilico Medicine founder and CEO Alex Zhavoronkov, PhD, who is one of the course instructors.

Insilico has supported young researchers in using its platform before. Three high school researchers used PandaOmics to uncover new targets for glioblastoma and aging, the results of which were recently published in the journal Aging. And Insilico has been a supporter of the Youth Longevity Association and annually sponsors young scientists to attend the Aging Research and Drug Discovery conference in Copenhagen, a signature event that Zhavoronkov cofounded.

About Insilico Medicine

Insilico Medicine, a clinical-stage generative artificial intelligence (AI)-driven drug discovery company, is connecting biology, chemistry, and clinical trials analysis using next-generation AI systems. The company has developed AI platforms that utilize deep generative models, reinforcement learning, transformers, and other modern machine learning techniques for novel target discovery and the generation of novel molecular structures with desired properties. Insilico Medicine is developing breakthrough solutions to discover and develop innovative drugs for cancer, fibrosis, immunity, central nervous system diseases, infectious diseases, autoimmune diseases, and aging-related diseases. In early 2023, the Company opened the Insilico Medicine Generative Artificial Intelligence and Quantum Computing Research and Development Centre in Abu Dhabi, the regions largest AI-powered biotechnology research center. The R&D hub brings together global talent in artificial intelligence and software development to expand the capabilities of Insilicos end-to-end AI-driven drug discovery platform, Pharma.AI, explore aging research and sustainable chemistry, and support the digital transformation of healthcare in the region.

For more information, visit www.insilico.com







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Vancouver, Canada, May 12, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Global digital partner, Appnovation has been honoured by two outstanding industry awards for their work with Visit California - Dream Theatre, Alpro UK and CorePower Yoga.

The Muse Awards has announced the winners of the 2023 Muse Creative Awards. This year, Appnovation secured three gold awards between its European and North American-based teams, earning three awards for best-in-class digital solutions designed and/or built by its teams. As well, Appnovation has also picked up six Communicator Awards, five of which were awarded Excellence.

Award wins include:

Visit California - Dream Theatre

Muse Awards:

Websites - Gold

Communicator Awards:

Features - Video or Moving Image - Excellence

General - Travel & Tourism - Excellence

Alpro UK

Muse Awards:

Website - Gold

Communicator Awards:

Features - User Experience - Excellence

General - Food and Drink - Excellence

CorePower Yoga

Muse Awards:

Website - Gold

Communicators Awards:

Features-Video or Moving Image - Excellence

General - Travel & Tourism - Distinction



The MUSE Creative Awards is an international competition for creative professionals who inspire others to greater heights. With their concepts, ideas or designs, these creatives light a fire in others to strive further, thus becoming a muse. The MUSE Creative Awards is a part of the MUSE Awards Program, which was created by the International Awards Associate (IAA) in 2015 with a mission to honor, promote and encourage creativity by providing a new standard of excellence for evaluating media design production and distribution.

The Communicator Awards is the leading global awards program honoring creative excellence for marketing and communications professionals. Founded nearly three decades ago, The Communicator Awards is an annual competition recognizing the best in advertising, corporate communications, public relations and design.

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Toronto, May 12, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business (CCAB) Indigenous Women Entrepreneurship Fund (IWEF) was created to assist Indigenous women who have traditionally faced significant obstacles accessing financing through the usual means.

The fund, which is presented by LNG Canada with a contribution from Paper Excellence, is open to Indigenous women-owned businesses that have encountered systemic barriers to lending relationships and have been impacted by the pandemic.

Women are elemental in the achievement of Indigenous economic prosperity yet, securing affordable financing remains one of the most arduous challenges for Indigenous women entrepreneurs. The lack of access to networks and financial institutions, property for collateral and credit are all factors that we must overcome, says Tabatha Bull, president and CEO, CCAB. We are thrilled that LNG Canada and Paper Excellence are taking meaningful action to support Indigenous women entrepreneurs and help grow the Indigenous economy.

CCAB research has demonstrated that access to appropriate credit and lending is one of the main barriers for Indigenous businesses. The Indigenous Business Survey, Phase II: Indigenous Women Entrepreneurs, which was released in 2021 by CCAB, found close to half (47 per cent) of Indigenous women-owned businesses report no current lending relationships with any financial institutions, compared to almost one-third of male-owned businesses.

LNG Canada is committed to supporting the advancement and empowerment of Indigenous women entrepreneurs. Indigenous womens economic empowerment and inclusion is a direct response to the Calls for Justice, said Hope Regimbald, LNG Canadas Indigenous and Stakeholder Relations Lead. Access to capital and financing is critical, which is why opportunities provided through the Indigenous Women Entrepreneurship Fund are so important. We commend Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business for their efforts to enable Indigenous prosperity and remove systemic barriers facing Indigenous women.

This is the third year the fund has been made available, and applications for the $2,000 grants will be open until May 19, 2023, at 5 p.m. There is one week left to submit applications for the Indigenous Women Entrepreneurship Fund.

Paper Excellence recognizes that a rising tide lifts all boats  that when Indigenous business does well, we all succeed doing business right means building business together, said Lana Wilhelm, Manager, Indigenous & Community Relations. We are pleased to be a part of empowering Indigenous women entrepreneurs to build their businesses. And we thank Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business for giving members like us this opportunity.

Former recipients are saying that these grants have been transformative to their businesses and lives. More than 40 Indigenous women who own businesses have received grants to date.

I am a proud member of Sapotaweyak Cree Nation with two children, and owning your own business isn't always easy, but grants like this sure do help, says Brandy Bulycz, the owner of Freedom Embroidery and an IWEF recipient last year. With this grant, I was able to purchase stock, as well as do some promotion for my business. The help is appreciated more than you know.

The entrepreneurship fund is administered through CCABs Tools and Financing for Aboriginal Business (TFAB) program to enhance Indigenous entrepreneurship through providing access to development and networks.

A lottery system will be used to award grants. A live draw will be made at a future date at which time 20 recipients will receive grants.

-30-

About the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business

CCAB is committed to the full participation of Indigenous peoples in Canadas economy. As a national, non-partisan association, its mission is to promote, strengthen and enhance a prosperous Indigenous economy through the fostering of business relationships, opportunities, and awareness. CCAB offers knowledge, resources, and programs to its members to cultivate economic opportunities for Indigenous peoples and businesses across Canada. For more information visit www.ccab.com.

About LNG Canada

The LNG Canada joint venture is building a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility in Kitimat, British Columbia, Canada, in the traditional territory of the Haisla Nation. It will initially consist of two LNG processing units, referred to as trains. LNG Canada is a joint venture comprised of Shell plc, through its affiliate Shell Canada Energy (40%); PETRONAS, through its wholly-owned entity, North Montney LNG Limited Partnership (25%); PetroChina Company Limited, through its subsidiary PetroChina Kitimat LNG Partnership (15%); Mitsubishi Corporation, through its subsidiary Diamond LNG Canada Partnership (15%); and Korea Gas Corporation, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Kogas Canada LNG Partnership (5%). It is operated through LNG Canada Development Inc.

About Paper Excellence

Paper Excellence, headquartered in British Columbia, is a diversified manufacturer of pulp and specialty, printing, writing, and packaging papers that owns 10 facilities in Canada producing over 3.0 million tonnes annually with a workforce of over 3,000. Paper Excellence is poised to continue to grow with its strategy of operational excellence and high-quality, cost-effective products.

For more information or to arrange interviews with former grant recipients, sponsors or CCAB staff, please contact:

Alannah Jabokwoam

Senior Associate, Communications & Public Relations

Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business

ajabokwoam@ccab.com

T: 416.961.8663 ext. 227

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Edmonton, Alberta, May 12, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- To accelerate homegrown innovation for all and by all, today Edmonton Unlimited unboxed its new home for innovators at 10107 Jasper Avenue. The City-funded organization positions Edmonton as an inclusive global innovation capital, accelerating Edmonton-made solutions to global challenges. To drive sustainable prosperity, advance local solutions for international market share, and attract strategic investment, Edmonton Unlimited has co-created the space for operations, program delivery, public events, hot-desking, and strategic partnerships.

Nows a great time to open our doors in the heart of downtown, with a flagship innovation space for all Edmontonians, said Edmonton Unlimited CEO Catherine Warren. With input from starting and scaling companies, post secondaries, industry leaders and city-builders, we have built a house for innovators and will collaborate together to make it a home.

Edmonton Unlimiteds newly renovated, street-level, loft-style space at 10107 Jasper Avenue provides a highly visible and accessible home for Edmontons diverse and growing innovation communities. At a time of pandemic recovery, workplace reinvention, and record growth for tech in Edmonton, this 18,000+ square footprint will anchor Edmonton Unlimited operations and contribute to downtown vibrancy with participating founders, programs, world-class accelerators, experts, and mission-aligned partners.

Edmonton Unlimited was created by City Council with a mandate of innovation and ecosystem building. They play a key role in delivering on the Citys Economic Action Plan (EAP), downtown revitalization, net zero and sustainability initiatives, said Edmonton City Mayor Amarjeet Sohi. This new home provides a space for innovators to start and scale their companies, ultimately creating jobs and strengthening Edmontons economy.

"Edmonton Unlimiteds new home will serve as a downtown nucleus for the incredible innovation and economic diversification happening across our city, said Edmonton Downtown Business Association Executive Director Puneeta McBryan. We look forward to working closely with Edmonton Unlimited to activate the space and to create exciting opportunities for new and existing businesses in downtown Edmonton.

With loft-style ceilings and ample natural light, the new space is designed with flexibility in mind, including hot-desking, a 100-seat program room, industry labs, 100-seat retractable event space called The Pitch Deck, meet-up cafe and community gathering space. It will also feature a first-of-its-kind innovation gallery to inspire all who visit, funded by PrairiesCan, fostering a sense of innovation identity and belonging.

Albertas capital city offers a thriving ecosystem of founders, talent, corporate and capital partners, and ambitious city-builders, all invested in economic prosperity, said Warren. Our new space is designed to host and reflect this crucible of activity - together well deliver Edmontons innovations from here for the world.

"With deep roots in Edmonton, a strong entrepreneurial firm culture, and a solid reputation as one of Canadas top legal advisors to founders and investors, Dentons is proud to partner with Edmonton Unlimited to reinforce the city's position as an internationally recognized innovation hub, said Wesley J. Fairbanks, partner at Dentons, a strong regional, Canadian and international law firm. We are eager to engage with members of the Edmonton innovation community and we look forward to helping them navigate the technology startup ecosystem, in Alberta, across Canada and around the globe."

"We are committed to providing Edmonton founders and companies with the support they need to thrive in our vibrant entrepreneurial landscape, said Regional Managing Partner MNP Dustin Sundby. Edmonton Unlimited creates an inclusive and supportive environment, unlocking unlimited potential and empowering local businesses to redefine what's possible in our city."

We are thankful for Edmonton Unlimiteds support to broker relationships globally, enabling our unique work at Kemet Group, said Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Inventor, a Licensed Clinical Pharmacist, Pharmacy owner, and Founder, Kemet Group Morenike Eniola Olaosebikan. In my experience this type of support, where people leverage their personal social capital for others, has been missing from STEM. In a city where influence and resources are rampantly transmitted intergenerationally by patronage, I encourage people, organizations and systems to become more intentional about how we broker global connections. We thank Edmonton Unlimited for doing this meaningful work, positively impacting our global business opportunities.

Edmonton Unlimited is now open to Edmontons innovation communities. For a full list of events, including open houses, and programs demos, please visit edmontonunlimited.com/space/ for more details.
TORONTO, May 12, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CHW (Canadian Hadassah-WIZO) will be hosting Lili Ben Ami, Founder and CEO of Michal Sela Forum, in Canada June 4-14, 2023. As Michal Sela Forums sole Canadian partner, CHW has committed to raise awareness about the issues surrounding domestic violence, including the warning signs, provide grant funding for The Michal Sela Canines, and support innovative solutions to keep women and children safe at home.



Michal Sela Forum (MSF) is a non-profit organization in Israel that represents a revolutionary way of combating domestic violence through innovation and technological solutions. MSF promotes out-of-the-box thinking, personal entrepreneurship, public awareness, and responsibility. The Israeli public, and senior experts in industry, government, high-tech and counterterrorism have all rallied to the cause. MSF is building, from the ground up, a new ecosystem of start-ups to prevent violence against women.

According to Lisa Colt-Kotler, CHW CEO, It is a privilege and honour to partner with MSF, which Lili founded in memory of her late sister Michal Sela. Michal was murdered at the hands of her husband in her own home. By bringing together the best and brightest minds of the tech world together annually, MSFs mission is to solve the social crisis of global femicide. We hope that through our partnership with MSF, CHW can help empower victims of domestic violence, save the lives of women like Michal Sela, and break the cycle of violence in Israel and Canada.

One of the innovative solutions available through MSF, The Michal Sela Canines, provides women under high-risk threat of intimate partner violence with a life-saving protection dog. The dog is given to the woman to live with her as a family member. The dog is a life-saving gift that provides the woman and her children freedom and independence, as well as physical and emotional security. The criteria to be accepted to the program is that the threat to the womans life must be recognized by law enforcement or welfare services and the victim must be living apart from the abuser. This is an innovative project and the first of its kind in Israel. CHW has committed funds toward this program, which are matched in Israel. CHW is in early stages of development to implement the program here in Canada.

Additionally, Michals Watch, a flagship program in Israel, actively saves the lives of abused families, providing that the woman is no longer living with the abuser. Built through cross-sectoral cooperation together with domestic violence experts, legal experts, and experts from elite Israeli security units, Michals Watch essentially transforms the womans home into a shelter. Michals Watch provides women with a full set of armor through security cameras, panic buttons monitored 24/7, self-defence training, and legal support.

About Canadian Hadassah-WIZO (CHW)

Founded by visionary Jewish women in 1917, CHW (Canadian Hadassah-WIZO) is a non-political, non-partisan, national network of dedicated volunteers who believe that excellence and advancement of education, healthcare, and social services transcend politics, religion, and national boundaries. Learn more about CHW at www.chw.ca.

For more information, or the opportunity to interview Lili Ben Ami during her visit, please contact: Rebecca Bowslaugh, Director of Marketing and Communications, at rebecca@chw.ca or 416-477-5964 ext. 111.
NEW YORK, May 12, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of Spirit AeroSystems Holdings, Inc. (Spirit or the Company) (NYSE: SPR). Such investors are advised to contact Robert S. Willoughby at newaction@pomlaw.com or 888-476-6529, ext. 7980.



The investigation concerns whether Spirit and certain of its officers and/or directors have engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices.

[Click here for information about joining the class action]

On April 13, 2023, media outlets reported that The Boeing Company (Boeing) would likely have to reduce deliveries of its 737 Max airplane in the near term because of a problem with a part manufactured by Spirit. Boeing stated that Spirit had informed it that a non-standard manufacturing process was used on two fittings in aft fuselages.

On this news, Spirits stock price fell $7.38 per share, or 20.73%, to close at $28.22 per share on April 14, 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 class action bar, Pomerantz pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 85 years later, Pomerantz continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomlaw.com .
NEW YORK, May 12, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. (JinkoSolar or the Company) (NYSE: JKS). Such investors are advised to contact Robert S. Willoughby at newaction@pomlaw.com or 888-476-6529, ext. 7980.



The investigation concerns whether JinkoSolar and certain of its officers and/or directors have engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices.

[Click here for information about joining the class action]

On May 8, 2023, federal agents executed a search warrant at JinkoSolars solar panel manufacturing plant in Jacksonville, Florida. Federal authorities did not disclose the specific reason for the search warrant.

On this news, JinkoSolars stock price fell $3.91 per share, or 8.25%, to close at $43.47 per share on May 9, 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 class action bar, Pomerantz pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 85 years later, Pomerantz continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomlaw.com .

CONTACT:

Robert S. Willoughby

Pomerantz LLP

rswilloughby@pomlaw.com

888-476-6529 ext. 7980
NEW YORK, May 12, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of TAL Education Group (TAL or the Company) (NYSE: TAL). Such investors are advised to contact Robert S. Willoughby at newaction@pomlaw.com or 888-476-6529, ext. 7980.



The investigation concerns whether TAL and certain of its officers and/or directors have engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices.

[Click here for information about joining the class action]

On March 14, 2023, Seeking Alpha published an article entitled TAL Education, Chinese ed-tech stocks slump on crackdown fears, reporting that Chinese media reports indicated the company may have flouted government regulations. The article further reported that TAL subsidiary Xueersi restarted courses that run counter to conventions put in place by Xi Jinping's Common Prosperity drive. Specifically, courses were restarted in subjects like mathematics and English under the guise of permitted tutoring outside of core subjects. Under the Double Reduction Policy, tutoring in core subjects must be offered as a strictly non-profit business.

On this news, TALs American Depositary Receipt (ADR) price fell $0.68 per ADR, or 10%, to close at $6.12 per ADR on March 14, 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 class action bar, Pomerantz pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 85 years later, Pomerantz continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered billions of dollars in damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomlaw.com .

CONTACT:
English Estonian

On 10.05.2023 T2T4 OU and Hepsor Tooma OU, which belong to the Hepsor AS group, entered into a real rights sale agreement with Kaamos SPV 1 OU, which belongs to Kaamos Group for the sale of land properties located at Tooma st 2, Tooma st 4 and Tooma st 6 in Tallinn, Lasnamae. The total are of the sold properties was 44,959 m, of which 24,060 m was commercial land and the remaining part was public land. The cost of the transaction was approximately 2.2 million euros.



The sold properties formed part of Tooma business park, which is located in Tallinn next to Peterburi road, where Hepsor group developed a Rimi store located at Tooma st 3 with a net area of 3,871.5 m, which was opened in 2018. The development area also included properties located at Tooma st 5 and Tooma st 3a, which were sold to AS Esvika Elekter in 2019, and Tooma st 1, which was sold to the Alexela group in 2017 for the construction of an Alexela gas station.





Henri Laks



Member of the Management Board

Phone: +372 5693 9114

e-mail: henri@hepsor.ee

Hepsor AS (www.hepsor.ee) is one of the fastest growing residential and commercial real estate developers in Estonia and Latvia. Over the last twelve years Hepsor has developed more than 1,500 homes and 32,000 m2 of commercial space. Hepsor has been the first real estate developer in the Baltic States to implement a number of innovative engineering solutions that make the buildings we construct more energy-efficient and thus more environmentally friendly. The company's portfolio is comprised of 25 development projects with a total sellable space of 165,000 m2.
VANCOUVER, May 11, 2023 - Prime Mining Corp. ("Prime", or the "Company") (TSX.V: PRYM) (OTCQX: PRMNF) (Frankfurt: O4V3) is pleased to report its operating and financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2023. Unless otherwise stated, all amounts are presented in Canadian dollars. Prime is focused on the exploration and development of its wholly owned high-grade Los Reyes Gold-Silver Project in Sinaloa State, Mexico ("Los Reyes" or the "Project").



Prime released an updated mineral resource estimate ("MRE"1) for the Los Reyes Gold-Silver Project on May 2, 2023 that included Prime drilling results through December 2022. The MRE contains 1.47 million Indicated gold equivalent ("AuEq"2) ounces at a 1.68 grams per tonne ("gpt") average grade. This is 1.0 million ounces of gold at 1.16 gpt and 35 million ounces of silver at 40.4 gpt. The MRE also contains 0.73 million Inferred AuEq ounces at a 1.26 gpt average grade. This is 0.5 million ounces of gold at 0.85 gpt and 18.4 million ounces of silver at 31.5 gpt. The MRE areas remain open along strike and at depth.

Prime is executing an expanded drilling program during 2023 of up to 60,000 metres ("m"). Prime has already drilled over 20,000 m year-to-date. About one half of the planned 2023 drilling will occur down dip and along strike within the MRE areas and the other half at multiple new target areas such as Las Primas, Fresnillo, Zapote 300 and the Orito trend.

With a current cash balance of $45.5 million, Prime is funded for the increased exploration drilling program in 2023 and for its expected similar-sized drill program in 2024. Work will also continue in technical areas such as ongoing metallurgical test work and geotechnical assessments.

Corporate Highlights During the Quarter

On February 15th, the Company announced granting of incentive securities;

700,000 incentive stock options at price of $1.97 per share granted to management.

307,328 deferred share units granted to board of directors.

On April 11th, the Company announced the acceleration of the expiry date of warrants issued as part of the December 22, 2022 financing. A total of 14,025,410 warrants were exercised for gross proceeds of $28,050,820.

Appointment

Effective April 24, 2023, the Company also announces the appointment of Ms. Indi Gopinathan as Vice President of Capital Markets and Business Development. Her responsibilities include leading Investor Relations functions for the Company and supporting corporate and business development opportunity assessments, in addition to technical leadership in advancing our understanding of the Los Reyes Project.

Ms. Gopinathan started her career with the Falconbridge/Noranda group, before moving on to equity research, senior corporate roles, independent consulting and teaching. She was most recently Vice President, Investor Relations & Corporate Communications at IAMGOLD, responsible for corporate marketing strategy and communications. She joins Prime with a range of experience across the mining industry life cycle: through the exploration, project development and operating stages, and from the perspectives of engineering, logistics, information technology, finance and capital markets. Ms. Gopinathan currently serves on the board of Ascot Resources. Outside of industry, she is a dedicated volunteer, elected in 2022 to the Governing Council of the University of Toronto. Ms. Gopinathan holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Toronto and an MBA from Queen's University. She is a designated P.Eng. and CPA, CMA (both Ontario).

Exploration Highlights During the Quarter

On January 11th, the Company announced multiple high-grade intercepts in the Z-T area including bonanza grade intervals, as well as additional drill hole results.

Highlight intercepts include:

10.00 gpt Au and 131.0 gpt Ag over 3.1 m estimated true width ("etw"), including 28.5 gpt Au and 310.0 gpt Ag over 1.1 m etw;

4.7 gpt Au and 103.0 gpt Ag over 8.7 m etw, including 39.6 gpt Au and 174.0 gpt Ag over 0.7 m etw;

2.7 gpt Au and 451.0 gpt Ag over 4.8 m etw including 4.8 gpt Au and 821 gpt Ag over 2.3 m etw.

On February 7th, the Company announced its 2023 drill program to focus on continued resource expansion and renewed focus on known early-stage exploration targets with a plan for 35,000 m drilling initially. During the quarter, the company subsequently increased the planned 2023 drill program up to 45,000 m.

On February 27th, the Company announced discovery holes in several new gold- and silver- bearing areas with results confirming high potential exploration targets to drive continued expansion beyond existing resource.

Highlight intercepts include:

Fresnillo Area: 1.4 gpt Au and 18.0 gpt Ag over 15.8 m etw, including 4.7 gpt Au and 48.0 gpt Ag over 2.9 m etw;

Fresnillo Area: 1.3 gpt Au and 13.0 gpt Ag over 5.5 m etw, including 7.5 gpt Au and 53.0 gpt Ag over 0.8 m etw and 0.88 gpt Au and 36.0 gpt Ag over 4.6 m etw;

Orito Area: 1.0 gpt Au and 2.5 gpt Ag over 4.7 m etw, including 2.2 gpt Au and 4.4 gpt Ag over 1.5 m etw;

Mariposa Area: 4.9 gpt Au and 22.0 gpt Ag over 34.7 m etw including 41.5 gpt Au and 40.0 gpt Ag over 1.5 m etw.

Maintaining Health and Safety Protocols

The Company continues to successfully mitigate the impact of Covid-19 on operations. To-date Covid-19 has not had a material effect on the Company's activities. Prime remains engaged with local stakeholders and is proactive in monitoring employees and contractors during this uncertain period. The Company continues to closely adhere to the directives of all levels of government and relevant health authorities in Mexico and Canada.

Changes to Mining Laws in Mexico

On April 29, 2023, the Mexican government approved a bill amending several laws relating to mining concessions and on May 8th published the approved laws in the Official Gazette. The Company is reviewing details on these amendments to determine the impact, if any, on the Company's operations.



Community Engagement and Environmental Stewardship Strategy

We continued to gather environmental and community data in the quarter to help support our ESG programs, including completion of a materiality assessment, strategic plan and disclosure matrix. We strive to minimize the environmental impact of our activities and ensure that Los Reyes has a positive impact on our host communities.

The Company released its initial sustainability report during April 2023 which establishes a baseline and a new yardstick to measure our progress in meeting our commitments regarding sustainability and stewardship of the environment, relevant social issues and corporate governance.

Selected Financial Data

The following selected financial data is summarized from the Company's consolidated financial statements and related notes thereto (the "Financial Statements") for the three months ended March 31, 2023 and 2022. A copy of the Financial Statements and MD&A is available at www.primeminingcorp.ca or on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Three months ended

March 31, 2023 Three months ended

March 31, 2022 Loss and comprehensive loss $5,995,467 $8,038,370 Loss per share - basic and diluted $0.05 $0.07





March 31, 2023 December 31, 2022 Cash $19,240,951 $23,811,434 Total assets $33,829,051 $38,105,206 Total current liabilities $1,140,878 $1,209,140 Total liabilities $2,013,629 $2,092,161 Total shareholders' equity $31,815,422 $36,013,045

Notes

Resource estimate is based on economically constrained pits using a $US 1700/ounce gold price, $US 22/ounce silver price, and an assumed 0.22 g/T gold cutoff grade. For more information and other assumptions, please see Prime's May 2, 2022 press release, or our website. Gold equivalent grades are calculated as in-situ contained grades, applying the assumed ratio of gold to silver prices using the following formula: AuEq grade (gpt) = Gold grade (gpt) + Silver grade (gpt) x ($US 22 / $US 1700). Relative recoveries are not considered in the in-situ contained grade estimate but are assumed to have mill recoveries of 93% and 83% for gold and silver, respectively and heap leach recoveries of 73% and 25% for gold and silver, respectively. For more information and other assumptions, please see Prime's May 2, 2022 press release, or our website.

Qualified Person

Scott Smith, P.Geo., Executive Vice President of Exploration, is a qualified person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the technical content in this news release.

Los Reyes Gold and Silver Project

Los Reyes is a rapidly evolving high-grade, low sulphidation epithermal gold-silver project located in Sinaloa State, Mexico. Historic operating results indicate that an estimated 1 million ounces of gold and 60 million ounces of silver were recovered from five separate operations at Los Reyes between 1770 and 1990. Prior to Prime's acquisition, recent operators of Los Reyes had spent approximately US$20 million on exploration, engineering, and prefeasibility studies. The Project remains underexplored and holds potential for additional discovery and resource expansion.

Since acquiring Los Reyes in 2019, Prime has spent approximately US$30 million on direct exploration activities and has completed two phases of comprehensive drilling totaling over 110,000 m. Results to date suggest the three known main deposit areas, Guadalupe, Central and Z-T are much larger than previously reported. Potential exists for new discoveries outside of the current defined resource areas.

About Prime Mining

Prime Mining is an ideal mix of successful mining executives, strong capital markets personnel, and experienced local operators focused on unlocking the full potential of the high-grade Los Reyes Gold-Silver Project in Mexico. Prime Mining has a well-planned capital structure with significant team and insider ownership.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Daniel Kunz

Chief Executive Officer

For further information, please contact:

Daniel Kunz

Chief Executive Officer and Director

Prime Mining Corp.

1307 S. Colorado Ave.

Boise, Idaho 83706

Telephone: +1 (208) 926-6379 office

email: daniel@primeminingcorp.ca

Scott Hicks

Executive Vice President

Prime Mining Corp.

710 - 1030 West Georgia Street

Vancouver, BC, V6E 2Y3

Telephone: +1 (604) 428-6128 office

email: scott.hicks@primeminingcorp.ca

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward Looking Information

This news release contains certain "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation as may be amended from time to time, including, without limitation, statements regarding the perceived merit of the Company's properties, including additional exploration potential of Los Reyes, potential quantity and/or grade of minerals, the potential size of the mineralized zone, metallurgical recoveries, the timing and results of permitting and the Company's exploration and development plans in Mexico. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts which address events, results, outcomes or developments that the Company expects to occur. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made, and they involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Certain material assumptions regarding such forward-looking statements were made, including without limitation, assumptions regarding the price of gold, silver and copper; the accuracy of mineral resource estimations; that there will be no material adverse change affecting the Company or its properties; that all required approvals will be obtained, including concession renewals and permitting; that political and legal developments will be consistent with current expectations; that currency and exchange rates will be consistent with current levels; and that there will be no significant disruptions affecting the Company or its properties. Consequently, there can be no assurances that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Forward-looking statements involve significant known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. These risks include, but are not limited to: risks related to uncertainties inherent in the preparation of mineral resource estimates, including but not limited to changes to the cost assumptions, variations in quantity of mineralized material, grade or recovery rates, changes to geotechnical or hydrogeological considerations, failure of plant, equipment or processes, changes to availability of power or the power rates, ability to maintain social license, changes to interest or tax rates, changes in project parameters, delays and costs inherent to consulting and accommodating rights of local communities, environmental risks, title risks, including concession renewal, commodity price and exchange rate fluctuations, risks relating to COVID-19, delays in or failure to receive access agreements or amended permits, risks inherent in the estimation of mineral resources; and risks associated with executing the Company's objectives and strategies, including costs and expenses, as well as those risk factors discussed in the Company's most recently filed management's discussion and analysis, as well as its annual information form dated April 22, 2022, available on www.sedar.com. Except as required by the securities disclosure laws and regulations applicable to the Company, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements if management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change.
/NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWS WIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES/

TORONTO, May 12, 2023 - Pala Investments Limited ("Pala"), a multi-strategy investment company focused on the mining and metal value chain, has entered into agreements to acquire up to 124,074,074 units ("Units") of Nevada Copper Corp. (the "Company" or the "Issuer") at a price of C$0.27 per Unit for aggregate proceeds of up to US$25,000,000 (using the exchange rate of US$1.00=C$1.34 (the "Exchange Rate")) (the "Pala Commitment"). The Pala Commitment has been provided in connection with a bought deal offering of the Company pursuant to which a syndicate of underwriters have agreed to purchase up to 173,705,000 Units for gross proceeds of US$35,000,000 (using the Exchange Rate) (the "Offering"). Each Unit will consist of one common share of the Company (each, a "Common Share") and one-half of one Common Share purchase warrant (each full warrant, a "Warrant"). Pala's obligation with respect to the Pala Commitment will be decreased on a dollar-to-dollar basis to the extent that the underwriters secure third party purchasers with respect to the Offering representing proceeds greater than US$5,000,000.

In addition, Pala has agreed to exercise the 398,723,212 common share purchase warrants of the Issuer (the "Credit Facility Warrants") issued to Pala pursuant to the amendment and restated of the Pala Facility on October 28, 2022 (the "Pala Facility") in exchange of approximately US$82,000,000 of outstanding debt under the Pala Facility being retired. The exercise of the Credit Facility Warrants is subject to the expiration or termination of the waiting period pursuant to the Hard-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 (the "HSR Clearance") and in no event shall Pala exercise Credit Facility Warrants in an amount that would result in Pala owning more than 49.9% of the issued and outstanding Common Share prior to the HSR Clearance. In addition, the exercise of the Credit Facility Warrants is conditional on the contemporaneous exercise by Mercuria Energy Holdings (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. ("Mercuria") of 25,848,765 warrants of the Issuer held by Mercuria (the "Mercuria Warrants").

Pala also agreed to enter into, immediately prior to the closing of the Offering, a deferred funding agreement with the Issuer (the "Deferred Funding Agreement") pursuant to which Pala will agree to provide up to US$15,000,000 of additional funding to the Issuer (the "Deferred Funding Amount"). The Issuer may draw under the Deferred Funding Agreement on or prior to June 20, 2024 subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions set out therein. The issuance of any common Shares and/or convertible debt of the Issuer pursuant to the Deferred Funding Agreement will be subject to the approval of the Toronto Stock Exchange and the pricing of any such equity component to be determined.

Pala's Security Ownership

Immediately prior to the foregoing transactions, Pala (including securities held by Pala Assets Holdings Limited, an affiliate of Pala) held (i) an aggregate of 314,355,449 Common Shares, representing approximately 43.4% of the issued and outstanding Common Shares on a non-diluted basis and 398,723,212 Warrants, and (ii) an aggregate of 713,058,661 Commons Shares, representing approximately 63.5% of the issued and outstanding Common Shares, on a partially diluted basis (assuming the exercise in full of the 398,723,212 Warrants).

As a result of the foregoing transactions, assuming the full subscription of the Pala Commitment Amount pursuant to the Offering, the exercise of the Mercuria Warrants and after HSR Clearance, Pala may acquire an aggregate of (i) 124,074,074 Units pursuant to the Offering, representing 124,074,074 Common Shares and 62,037,037 Warrants (the "Offering Warrants") that are exercisable into 62,037,037 Common Shares, and (ii) 398,723,212 Common Shares upon the exercise in full of the Credit Facility Warrants. As a result thereof, immediately following the transactions, Pala (including securities held by Pala Assets Holdings Limited, an affiliate of Pala) may hold (i) prior to the exercise in full of the Pala Offering Warrants, an aggregate of 837,132,735 Common Shares, representing approximately 63.3% of the issued and outstanding Common Shares on a non-diluted basis and 62,037,037 Warrants, which is an increase of 19.9% in Pala's securityholding percentage on a non-diluted basis with respect to Common Shares, and (ii) assuming the exercise in full of all of the Offering Warrants, an aggregate of 899,167,772 Common Shares, representing approximately 65.0% of the issued and outstanding Common Shares on a partially-diluted basis, which is an increase of 1.5% in Pala's securityholding percentage on a partially-diluted basis in respect to Common Shares.

Pala is participating in the transactions for investment purposes and may increase or decrease the investment in the securities of the Company depending on its evaluation of the business, prospects and financial condition of the Company, the market for the Company's securities, general economic and tax conditions and other factors.

The Common Shares are listed on the TSX under the symbol "NCU". Nevada Copper Corp. is a corporation organized under the laws of British Columbia with its head office at 61 E. Pursel Lane, Yerington, Nevada, 89447. Pala is a company existing under the laws of Jersey and its address is 12 Castle Street, St. Helier, Jersey JE2 3RT.

About Pala

Pala is an investment company focused exclusively on the mining sector with a strong track record of successful investments and value creation. Pala's team has extensive experience within the sector and seeks to assist companies in which it has long-term shareholdings by providing strategic advice and innovative solutions in development, production, turnaround and advanced exploration situations. Pala invests across all geographies and in all mining commodities as well as mining services and consumables. For more information, visit www.pala.com.

SOURCE Pala Investments Limited
The owner of the US-based Indycar series has hit out at Formula 1 for repeated alleged trademark breaches.

Earlier, F1's official Twitter account captioned a promotional video for the inaugural Las Vegas GP with the moniker: "The greatest racing spectacle on the planet".

Following that, Indycar and Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Mark Miles wrote a letter of informal complaint to F1, the Indianapolis Star newspaper reveals.

"They said, 'We don't mean to be doing that to you'," Miles confirmed.

However, Miles admits he was then dismayed when he heard LL Cool J use the phrase "the greatest spectacle in motorsports" during the controversial F1 driver introductions ahead of the Miami GP.

A 1985 filing protects Indycar's ownership of the phrase "the greatest spectacle in racing".

"I heard that," Miles said when asked about LL Cool J's use of the term.

"My reaction was 'I'll bet you race fans know that's a crock of sh*t'. And I don't expect it to continue.

"We had a little conversation with them when it was popping up around Vegas, and it was very informal and quick, so I was surprised. But I don't think that's their general MO."

Miles insisted that he doesn't believe F1's use of the disputed term would have come from "as high up as Stefano Domenicali".

But Indianapolis Motor Speedway president Doug Boles said executives will probably reach out to Formula 1 yet again in a "polite" way.

"Look, we want you to be successful, and we're excited you're here in the US," Boles said. "But these are our marks, clearly.

"Go build your own.

"The challenge with IP law is that if you don't aggressively protect your marks, you lose the ability to protect it in situations where it really is important."

F1 legend Gerhard Berger, meanwhile, warned the sport's owner Liberty Media to be careful about how Americanised it intends to make Formula 1 going forward.

"With Liberty at the helm, we have finally managed to get America behind Formula 1," the Austrian told Servus TV. "So I'm happy for Formula 1.

"But I would say that Formula 1 basically has a European culture, and it must not be distorted.

"Personally, I don't like this distinctive show component of the Americans, which sometimes dilutes the whole thing a little - including the Netflix documentary," Berger added.

(GMM)
Sergio Perez's father has likened the 2023 title fight to the infamous scrap between F1 legends Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost.

While some believe Max Verstappen is the obvious de-facto 'number 1' at Red Bull, Mexican Perez is only 14 points behind - and his father Antonio says the 33-year-old is definitely charging for the title.

"You have to remember when McLaren had Senna and Prost," Antonio Perez Garabay told the Mexican newspaper Esto.

"This is the same. Today we are living it again.

"They are two tigers, gram for gram, in the same cage. They both think the same, have the same breakfast. You see they both try to take fastest lap from one another.

"In qualifying they want pole position, they want to be fastest in free practice."

Perez snr thinks it is obvious that Verstappen, 25, is often regarded as the lead driver because of his 2021 and 2022 titles and "how long Max has been on the team".

"So he has a lot of advantage, but Checo can now go at Max's pace. I think there are only a few thousandths between them in Max's favour, but on difficult tracks I see them very even," he added.

Perez already has a contract for 2024 and his father Antonio thinks he is as fully motivated as any top driver in the past.

"Every morning, he knows that he is on a team that is first place and that second place is the first loser," he said.

"Today I see a different Checo Perez - the way he talks, walks and looks is different. I notice it like a father when I talk to him and he says 'no, no, no boss, remember I am number 1' and I tell him 'no, no, don't be confused'," Perez's father laughed.

"Earlier, finishing tenth was wonderful, but if Checo had had this opportunity from the beginning as other young drivers had, he would already be world champion several times, I have no doubt.

"I believe we will all see Checo Perez for the next ten years and I certainly see him as a world champion," he said.

As for the comparison to Senna and Prost, Red Bull's top official Dr Helmut Marko said that as long as the fight doesn't descend into chaos, the pair are free to fight.

"We can afford the luxury of letting both drivers drive freely," he told RTL.

(GMM)
Jospong Group celebrates hardworking employees

Maclean Kwofi Business News May - 11 - 2023 , 16:33

The Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the Jospong Group of Companies, Dr Samanjith Udumalaga, has commended the employees of Jospong for their hard work and dedication which has pushed the Group forward.

Jospong is a place of learning and the people who join our Group are able to learn new things. I wish you all the best," he said.

Dr Udumalagala was speaking at the launch of the 2023 Jospong Employee Month, an annual event held to celebrate the teeming employees of the conglomerate with over 60 companies. The 2023 event was on the theme, Improving the lives of our people.

Dr Udumalagala urged all employees to take advantage of the learning environment of the Group to better themselves.

Respect subordinate

The Guest Speaker for the event, Wing Commander Samuel J. A. Allotey urged business leaders to respect their subordinates saying, Dont bring peoples spirits down, dont slow down their hope, dont make the problem bigger that it is.

Throwing more light on the values of the Jospong Group, Wing Commander Allotey said business leaders needed to provide a helping hand to their employees, create a conducive atmosphere, and regulate themselves to avoid disciplinary issues.

Dont wait for policies procedures and employee manual before you understand issues, regulate yourself in the workplace. he said.

Wing Commander Allotey who is also a Board member of the Technical Logistics Cluster of the Group also warned of the workplace becoming a hub for polarisation.

It is not about tribe or party, those are transient, he said.

He urged the leadership of the Group to motivate their teams and focus on people issues, saying "people issues are key. 

Wing Commander Allotey said usually companies look out for operations and finance reports leaving people issues unattended to.

He said people issues should be part of the main reports in any management review meetings.

Building capacity

In a speech read on his behalf, the Executive Chairman of the Group, Dr Joseph Siaw Agyepong said the theme for this years employee month celebration which was Improving the Lives of our People, comes at a time when the Group was building the capacity of employees both home and abroad.
Pursue partnerships to achieve greater heights - Tecno executive urges businesses

Dickson Worlanyo Dotse Business News May - 12 - 2023 , 07:35

Local businesses across the country have been advised to pursue partnerships and joint ventures to increase their chances of excelling in their various industries.

The General Manager in Charge of Business at Tecno Mobile Ghana, Daniel Glover, said pursuing partnerships allowed all parties involved to fully explore areas where they had the most competitive advantages, pool them together and make more profits than they would have individually.

There is a lesson that I want us to learn from this and it is that in Ghana and Africa, we can also trust one another and be transparent with one another and if we do, we can also attain great heights and make giant strides in the world of industry, he added.

Event

Mr Glover said that at the launch of the companys new line of smartphones; the Camon 20 Series in Accra in collaboration with telecommunication giants MTN.

Present at the event were a Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Michael Okyere Baafi; Musician and Brand Ambassador of the Tecno, Stonbwoy and the Chairman of the Mobile Phones Dealers Association, Joseph Osei Agyemang, among other industry players.

As part of the launch, Stonebwoy, Mr Agyemang and 38 Tecno dealer companies were honoured with citations and a Camon 20 mobile phone for their commitment to the brand over the years.

The Camon 20 series of phones boast a sleek, modern design and a buttery-soft texture, which is easy to clean with waterproof, heat, cold, stain and abrasion-resistant benefits among a range of advanced features.

Solutions

How can we in Africa address this canker of individualism and the desire to own 100 per cent of our small businesses, instead of owning a small percentage of a larger partnership or joint venture, whose earnings can be more than 10 times the one that we would have if we operated alone? Mr Glover lamented.

He, therefore, urged business development strategists to consistently address this issue and the media to give them the platforms to do so while the government and NGOs did their part by organising training workshops with practical demonstrations for business owners.

Smartphone penetration

A Senior Manager for commercial planning and analytics at MTN, Guido Sopiimeh, commended the company for continuing to develop products aimed at improving the lives and addressing the device needs of Ghanaians.

Mr Sopiimeh, therefore, reaffirmed MTNs position to continue its partnership with Tecno to develop devices to connect Ghana and Africa to the world by increasing smartphone penetration in the country and across the continent.

MTNs partnership with original smartphone manufacturers like Tecno is anchored on its strategic vision to lead digital solutions for Africas great and rooted in our belief that everyone deserves the benefits of a modern connected life, he stressed.
Aiko hosts rabies vaccination exercise at Akpafu Odomi

Graphic Showbiz Showbiz News May - 12 - 2023 , 09:29

THE first runner-up at the 2022 Ghana's Most Beautiful (GMB), Queen Aiko Adade, has held a rabies education campaign and vaccination exercise in Akpafu Odomi in the Oti Region recently.

The event which was in commemoration of World Health Day 2023 comes a week after she held a similar exercise at the Jasikan Municipality.

The exercise was aimed at promoting public awareness about the dangers of rabies and promoting responsible pet ownership in the community.

Rabies is a viral disease that affects both animals and humans, with 99 percent of infections transmitted through the saliva of infected dogs.

Once symptoms appear, it gets fatal80 percent of these deaths are reported in rural areas, and 40 percent are reported in children under the age of 15.

Aiko Adade, who is also a Level 400 Veterinary Medicine student, organised the campaign with support from local veterinary and health workers, volunteers and animal welfare organisations.

The event provided thorough and extensive rabies education on the risks associated with unvaccinated dogs and the importance of responsible pet ownership for some 3,220 seated audience, constituting 1,531 children, 738 men, and 951 women.

In all, 73 dogs and nine cats were vaccinated, covering over 70 percent of the Akpafu Odomi communitys dog population.

The Akpafu Odomi community members showed great interest in the campaign, pledging to vaccinate their pets regularly and support animal welfare initiatives in the area.

Speaking on Sekpele 104.3 FM after the event, Queen Aiko Adade, who had been crowned as Bonyi Katise kparogo Iwola I (Development Ambassador and Queen of Wisdom), reiterated her passion to save lives through Project Eleutheros.

Even before Ghanas Most Beautiful, I became very concerned about rabies after witnessing the death of a young girl in my neighbourhood, she said.

She noted that she aims to expand her initiative across Ghana, starting in rural areas where people are most vulnerable.

I am most passionate about children because in the case that I witnessed, the child got bitten by a rabid animal and did not inform her parents. We only got to know when she started exhibiting the excruciating symptoms and later died, she stated.

Aiko also called for sponsorship to sustain the project. I can do this every weekend with my team in different locations if we obtain the necessary funding and sponsorships.

Take, for instance, the transportation cost of my team and logistics from Accra to these rural areas alone. If we also had dedicated liaisons between the team and pet owners in various locations, it will make our 70 percent target more achievable, she stated.
A reading mind is a curious mind

Patrick Twumasi Opinion May - 11 - 2023 , 14:58

Napoleon Bonaparte once said, Show me a family of readers, and I will show you the people who move the world.

Reading is the bedrock of education. It builds a person's faculties in comprehension and concentration, especially from early childhood.

Therefore, it is delightful to hear that Ghana has won the right to host the World Book Capital dubbed, "Accra World Book Capital 2023".

The year-long programme encourages reading to educate and entertain.

It is themed: Reading to Connect Minds for Social Transformation.

Hence, it is appropriate to promote reading and the relevance of it.

New ideas

Many scholars have argued that reading introduces the mind to new ideas.

It is impossible not to learn something new each time one reads.

Reading can be done, ostensibly for leisure.

However, it ultimately results in the acquisition of knowledge.

Hence, people who are avid readers speak coherently and advance arguments intelligently.

Accordingly, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. said, A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.

In the same fashion, Ralph Waldo Emerson also shared a similar view, The mind, once stretched by a new idea, never returns to its original dimension.

These assertions lend credence to the fact that reading builds the mental capacity and imparts knowledge in the individual.

Therefore, inculcating the habit of reading early in children will build their curiosity of mind and an insatiable quest for knowledge.

Above all, such kids always appear as critical thinkers.

Bill Gates observed, "I really had a lot of dreams when I was a kid, and I think a great deal of that grew out of the fact that I had a chance to read a lot."

His words are evident in the varied ideas the Microsoft founder got exposed to at an early age.

Subsequently, Bill Gates has generated an enormous utility in the world.

The Microsoft founder is impacting the world like none other.

Malcolm X intimated that "My alma mater was books, a good library

I could spend the rest of my life reading, just satisfying my curiosity."

Who will dispute the fact that this great African-American had an unparalleled intellect and was an exceptional orator who delighted his audience?

The world today is not exhausted in referring to him and his works. It is a result of reading.

Ernest Hemingway rightly stated, There is no friend as loyal as a book.

A curious mind developed at an early age will never stop seeking knowledge.

Strategies

Reading exposes the reader to varied strategies for solving problems, which transforms societies.

Hence, Chinua Achebe said, My weapon is literature.

Furthermore, reading will help a child to navigate the way into higher education with a good sense of understanding and appreciation of facts.

The child will articulate and write well, question facts and evidence and critically think through before settling on any choice.

Hence, the relevance of the observation by Eric Wireko, Incessant reading is the light that apprehends darkness in learning,

On the other hand, children not introduced to reading early, struggle with communication and appear to have no confidence, coupled with having poor articulation and writing skills.

Moreover, such children write boringly and poorly.

They shuffle to keep and delight their audience, because of the repetitiveness of expressions and unexciting wobble use of words.

Critical

Additionally, child psychologists emphasise the idea of the critical period starting from childhood to the end of puberty.

If a child forms a habit and interest in reading at this stage of development, such a child will stick to it throughout life.

Therefore, Frederick Douglass states, "Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.

Because the knowledge that will set the child free from ignorance is in books.

Napoleon Bonaparte stated, "There are but two powers in the world, the sword and the mind.

In the long run, the sword is always beaten by the mind".

This calls for the continuous development of the mind through reading for the well-being of the individual and nation.

Lets keep reading to connect minds for social transformation.

The writer is Head, Public Relations

Complementary Education Agency (MoE)
Lady Rev. Abena Tays call to serve

Efia Akese Life May - 07 - 2023 , 15:37

Describing her as a woman of many parts may sound like a cliche but that is the phrase that best describes the Founder, Abena Tay Ministries (ATM), Lady Reverend Abena Tay.

Lady Rev. Tay is not the first woman to be ordained a reverend minister but her approach, style and sense of fashion are what caught the attention of this reporter.

What she shares on her social media handles were only a small part of her work as she has spent close to three decades impacting society through her different roles.

On her Instagram page alone, she has close to 20,000 followers who she regularly shares the word of God with and has some projects going on.

Speaking to The Mirror last Tuesday, she said she believed that platforms such as Instagram and Facebook gave her access to many young people, particularly, females whom she had impacted through her works.

She explained that various social media pages sexualised females, giving the impression that a woman was only attractive if she exposed her nudity or posed as a sex object.

Lady Rev Tay speaking at a breast cancer awareness and screening event organised in collaboration with Breast Care International at Tema Station in Accra

I set out to make a difference to enable people to know that you can be beautiful in a Godly and goodly way and make an impact in society. In my line of work, I meet women in ministry who are afraid to look good because they are scared of what people will say about them or they have allowed the struggles of life to overburden them.

Now, there are many young women I mentor who go to my page to look at how I dress for inspiration. I know this because they tell me themselves.

Gradually, people are beginning to change the misconception about how women in ministry should look and young girls are also learning that they can be beautifully dressed while fully covered, she explained.

Charity works

In 1997, long before she became a reverend minister, she registered a charity organisation, Child In Need (CIN) that focused on supporting children in deprived areas.

She was grateful to her late mother who supported her when she embarked on such projects. Back then, she did not know of donor organisations nor could she rely on the Internet or social media to find the support she needed.

Lady Rev Tay (middle) being ordained as a Reverend Minister

Her main work, the Sensels School, located at Taifa, a suburb of Accra, had about 20 students then, as a result, she could not make enough revenue to support her charity work.

Out of the 20 schoolchildren I had, about 10 of them were on full scholarships. How do you make money from a school where about 50 per cent of the children enrolled attended for free? she asked.

There were days, I would take some clothes from my children and donate to people. The urge to serve is built and God always connected me to people who were willing to give food, clothes and money to support the less privileged.

My late mother too did everything within her means to support the projects. It was when the school started growing that I started using resources from there to fund my projects, she explained.

Lady Rev. Tays charity work has grown to include many other areas and she is still willing to give either in kind or by sharing life lessons with the younger generation.

Focus on women

Although her ministry has impacted the lives of many people across the country, her focus is on women.

According to her, she was raised by a single mother and so she knew firsthand what women went through to raise their families and some of the challenges women went through.

I had seen and heard the struggles women faced. Some in their marriages, careers, relationships and personal growth. I think God was preparing me to understand the peculiar issues women faced so I can lead them better, she added.

Lady Rev Tay (left) interacting with widows at her annual charity event dubbed, Operation Smile

According to her, she decided to enter full-time ministry 10 years ago. Therefore, after her ordination, she started a fellowship focused on women.

Prior to that, she served as a secretary to a reverend minister at the Assemblies of God Church for eight years.

Then, it didnt make sense to me because I am a mother of five boys so I was more engaged in raising boys and tackling issues concerning boys but there I was, with a strong urge to concentrate on women.

My call to ministry was confirmed by a few more prophecies from other men of God, she stated.

Lady Rev. Tays ministry didnt start like a typical church but with a focus on women within her vicinity at Taifa.

She recounted when her area was underdeveloped with many women struggling to make ends meet.

She took it upon herself to pick up clothes, food and other useful items from friends and family, gather these women and distribute the gifts to them while sharing the word of God in the community.

With time, the ministry, which she funded with proceeds from her personal business and support from some benevolent donors, spread throughout the community to other places where widows also benefitted.

One of the early communities to benefit from her ministry was the OsuroDompe community at Nsawam in the Eastern Region.

There, she supported families in different ways and held services regularly with members of the community.

A family I cant forget is a mother and her children who had become blind after continuously drinking from a contaminated source of water. Sadly, their situation was not detected early and so they all lost their sight.

Lady Rev Tay praying with a mother whose baby was on admission at the Tetteh Quarshie Memorial Hospital

I remember I was asleep one dawn when I received a call from the mother that their mud house had been destroyed by rain.

This was around 2 a.m. and I could imagine the kind of distress they were going through. We decided to build them a more comfortable and safer place to live and we put up a self-contained house for them, she recounted.

Her concern is not only on their physical or emotional needs but also to build their spiritual lives. At her Bible School,

Chavaah Rhema Leadership and Bible Institute, she teaches women how to take up their divine assignments and serve God.

Society frowns on female pastors. I have had my share, people always ask if a woman must serve communion on the pulpit. I put my pictures on my social media pages and some say she is a Jezebel.

I realised a lot of women who want to enter ministry are afraid of the backlash from society. I have been on a mission to help women identify their purpose. In the past five years, we have trained about 35 women, she said.

The Chavaah Rhema Leadership and Bible Institute is one of the many women empowerment projects she runs under her Daughters Ministries International.

Taking up more responsibilities

The projects mentioned above are only a small part of her ministry. There are many other projects she has embarked on in the past, including the popular When Women Worship event where she leads women to worship God and recognises the works of some outstanding women in society.

She helped in the refurbishment of a ward for the elderly at the Accra Psychiatric Hospital

This year marks the 10th anniversary of her ordination and to mark it, she is launching yet another project, Jesus Girl Club that targets young people on university campuses.

She is also taking her annual event When Women Worship to the Nsawam Medium Security Prisons where she will be joined by female gospel musicians to minister to female inmates.

Asked if she is not overwhelmed by her projects considering the fact that she is still actively managing her school, fashion line and other businesses, she said: I am thankful to God that I am able to give a bit of myself to the many projects I lead.

I have also been blessed with people who have worked closely with me for decades and many others who support my ministry.

On her social media pages, she shares the word of God and life nuggets

My family has been so supportive. I had to leave home most of the time to follow up on projects so my late mother and my husband often took care of my sons and the home. I am also extremely passionate about the work I do. Once I set out to do something, I give it all my best till I get the results I need, she mentioned.
39 Students benefit from Odotobri Rural Bank scholarship

Diana Mensah May - 12 - 2023 , 07:20

Thirty-nine students from various third cycle institutions, whose parents and guardians are shareholders of the Odotobri Rural Bank PLC at Jacobu in the Amansie Central District in the Ashanti Region have benefitted from the banks scholarship.

scheme

The scholarship and bursaries totaling GH31,200 was offered to these students who are brilliant needy as part of the banks corporate social responsibilities.

The bank received 51 applications, out of which 39 students were selected after a thorough vetting by the scholarship committee of the bank.

Beneficiaries

The selected beneficiaries are freshmen and continuing students from various nursing and teacher training colleges, as well as universities and are pursuing various courses of study.

Again, the bank received a request for support from the Tweapease Senior High Technical School.

The board and management considered the application and approved 50 quantities of serving pots valued at GH5,000 to support the smooth take off of their new boarding school.

The Chief Executive Officer of the bank, Abraham Coffie, in the company of other management staff, presented the cheque which was received by Theophilus Yeboah, the Headmaster of the Tweapease Senior High Technical School on behalf of the students.

Journalists

Mr Coffie told journalists in an interview that the criteria for selection of the scholarship scheme was very fair and transparent.

He mentioned that parents or children of prospective beneficiaries of the scheme should be a shareholder of the bank as the principal criteria and hail from any of the operational territories of the bank.

The CEO was of strong belief that this financial assistance would propel and encourage beneficiaries of the scheme to study extra hard to contribute their quota to national and community development.

Mr Coffie further advised the beneficiary students to devote time for their books and desist from paying attention to trivial and needless activities that would waste their time.
Farmerline appoints new country manager

Daily Graphic May - 12 - 2023 , 08:20

Farmerline, one of the world's leading agritech companies now operating as a group, has appointment Worlali Senyo as the new Ghana Country Manager.

He succeeds the co-founder, Alloysius Attah, who is now the Group CEO of the company.

As the new Country Manager, Mr Senyo will be responsible for overseeing the company's local operations and driving growth in the nation's agricultural sector.

Profile

Mr Senyo, a seasoned expert in agriculture and ICT with over 15 years of experience in developing and implementing technologies that benefit farmers, has been instrumental in helping Farmerline reach over 1.7 million farmers, and partners over 3,000 organisations across 48 countries.

As a key member of Farmerline's leadership team, Mr Senyo has been a driving force behind the company's mission to empower farmers through innovative solutions at the last mile.

His expertise lies in building lasting partnerships to develop, sustain and scale solutions in education and behaviour change, climate resilience, financing and markets.

Mr Senyos passion is reflected in his drive for the digitalisation of agriculture and empowering smallholder farmers to contribute to a healthier planet.

With a Master's degree in ICT for Development from the University of Manchester, United Kingdom (UK), and a Bachelor's degree in Agricultural Science majoring in Economics from the University of Ghana, Worlali brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the table as the Country Manager.

As a respected thought leader in agritech on the African continent, Worlali is a frequent speaker at industry conferences, and his insights and expertise have been featured in numerous publications.

Testimony

According to Alloysius Attah, there is no better person to take on the role of Farmerlines Ghana Country Manager other than Worlali Senyo.

Farmerline, an agritech, was founded in 2013 serving 800 farmers and now has digitised millions of farmers globally with thousands of partnerships in many countries.

Farmerline also works with other stakeholders in the agricultural sector to provide access to financing, inputs and markets for smallholder farmers.

Farmerlines Mergdata, a web and mobile application, also offers real-time traceability, certification audit, farm mapping, farmer education and analytics solutions to help organisations that work with farmers to achieve their sustainability and food security goals efficiently.

Appreciation

In a statement, Mr Senyo expressed appreciation for the appointment, and pledged to contribute towards the growth of the company.

He said: "My 10-year journey with Farmerline has been an incredible learning experience, and I am honoured to now lead the charge in Ghana to drive a positive impact for smallholder farmers."
Farmerline Group Appoints New Ghana Country Manager

Graphic Online May - 11 - 2023 , 17:30

Farmerline, a global leading agritech company, now operating as a group, has appointed appointment Worlali Senyo as its new Ghana Country Manager.

Worlali succeeds the companys co-founder Alloysius Attah, who is now the Farmerline Group CEO. As the new Country Manager, Worlali will be responsible for overseeing the company's local operations and driving growth in Ghana's agricultural sector.

Worlali is a seasoned expert in agriculture and ICT with over 15 years of experience in developing and implementing technologies that benefit farmers. He has been instrumental in helping Farmerline reach over 1.7 million farmers and partner with over 3,000 organisations across 48 countries.

As a key member of the leadership team, Worlali has been a driving force behind the company's mission to empower farmers through innovative initiatives.

His expertise is in building lasting partnerships to develop, sustain, and scale solutions in education and behaviour change, climate resilience, financing, and markets.

Worlali's passion is reflected in his drive for the digitalisation of agriculture and empowering smallholder farmers to contribute to a healthier planet.

With a Master's degree in ICTs for Development from the University of Manchester, UK, and a Bachelor's degree in Agricultural Science majoring in Economics from the University of Ghana, Worlali brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the table as the Country Manager.

As a respected thought leader in agritech on the African continent, he is a frequent speaker at industry conferences, and his insights and expertise have been featured in numerous publications.

In a statement Worlali said; "My 10-year journey with Farmerline has been an incredible learning experience, and I'm honoured to lead the charge in Ghana to drive positive impact for smallholder farmers."

According to Alloysius Attah, Co-Founder & Group CEO, There is no better person to take on the role of Farmerlines Ghana Country Manager other than Worlali Senyo.

Farmerline, an agritech, was founded in 2013 serving 800 farmers, and now has digitised millions of farmers globally with thousands of partnerships in several countries.

Farmerline also works with other stakeholders in the agricultural sector to provide access to financing, inputs, and markets for smallholder farmers.

Farmerlines Mergdata, a web and mobile application also offers real-time traceability, certification audit, farm mapping, farmer education, and analytics solutions to help organisations that work with farmers achieve their sustainability and food security goals efficiently.

Mergdata uses big data and AI to give organisations insight into the work of farmers and to give farmers increased access to resources and services; including financial services.

Farmerline recently announced its expansion into francophone Africa with an official launch of operations in Cote dIvoire; deepening partnerships across West Africa and accelerating its commitment to support small-scale farmers everywhere.

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IMF approval sets tone for accelerated recovery - President Akufo-Addo

Donald Ato Dapatem May - 12 - 2023 , 18:24

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said the good news that the International Monitory Fund (IMF) board is set to approve Ghanas programme positions the country for accelerated economic and move towards the path of development.

The sacrifices that the country had to make since last year, the difficulties it may be that at long last, we are going to see the recovery because, with the approval of the IMF, we are then in a strong position to do other arrangements that will help our economy get back into a strong place, he added.

President Akufo-Addo stated this when the Catholic Bishops Conference paid a courtesy call on him at the Jubilee House in Accra Friday (May 12, 2023).

The IMF is set to approve Ghana's US$3billion programme by May 19, 2023, after the country received financial assurances from its external creditors.

President Akufo-Addo told the Bishops that today is a special day in the recent history of Ghana. At long last, after our various issues with the IMF, today, we are informed that the last hurdle towards our agreement with the fund has been overcome.

He explained that the Paris Club met today and formed the credit committee, co-chaired by China, and had okayed and approved Ghanas request, adding that and, in fact, put very strong word behind the approval. So it is fortuitous that you [Bishops] should be here on such a date.

He described the announcement as good news, which meant that hopefully, next Wednesday, the board itself would meet and give a final agreement to Ghanas demand.

Related: IMF set to approve Ghana's $3bn bailout by May 19

Committee

In a statement issued and signed by IMF, Ms Kristalina Georgieva said following a statement today in reaction to the statement from the Creditor Committee for Ghana under the G20 Common Framework for Debt Treatments, the Creditor Committee of the IMF, which is co-chaired by China and France in a release dated May 12, said it had examined the macroeconomic and financial situation of Ghana, including its long-term debt sustainability, and its formal request for a debt treatment under the Common Framework for Debt Treatments beyond the DSSI endorsed under the Saudi G20 Presidency in November 2020, which was also endorsed by the Paris Club.

It added that the creditor committee supported Ghanas envisaged IMF upper credit tranche (UCT) programme and its swift adoption by the IMF Executive Board to address Ghanas urgent financing needs.

The creditor committee encourages Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) to maximise their support for Ghana to meet its long-term financial needs, the release stated.

It said consistent with their national laws and internal procedures, creditor committee members were committed to negotiating with Ghanas terms of restructuring their claims to be finalised in a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), in accordance with the Common Framework for Debt Treatments beyond the DSSI.

Private creditors

The statement said the creditor committee stressed that the Ghanaian authorities were expected to seek from all private creditors and other official bilateral creditors debt treatments on terms at least as favourable as those being considered by the creditor committee, in line with the comparability of treatment principle.

It added that consequently, the creditor committee urged private creditors and other official bilateral creditors to commit without delay to negotiate with Ghana such debt treatments that were crucial to ensure the full effectiveness of the debt treatment for Ghana under the Common Framework.

MD

The IMF Managing Director, Kristalina Georgieva, also, in a statement, welcomed the announcement from the Creditor Committee for Ghana on the importance of an IMF-supported economic programme, together with its commitment to negotiate debt restructuring terms accordingly.

She said the statement from the committee provides the necessary financing assurances for the IMF Executive Board to consider the proposed Fund-supported programme and unlock much-needed financing from Ghanas development partners.

I also strongly endorse the call by the Official Creditor Committee for private creditors and other official bilateral creditors to commit to comparable debt treatments.

The Creditor Committees action recognises the Ghanaian authorities strong reform programme, which aims to restore macroeconomic stability and debt sustainability while laying the foundation for an inclusive recovery, she added.

She added that this also signals that further progress was being made under the G20 Common Framework, demonstrating that international partners were ready to work together to help countries resolve their debt issues, adding that this is vital to enable countries such as Ghana to achieve sustainable growth and poverty reduction.

On December 12, 2022, the IMF reached a staff-level agreement with the Ghanaian authorities on a new arrangement under the Extended Credit Facility.

Board consideration of Ghanas programme request has been pending financing assurances from Ghanas official bilateral creditors.
Oxford University honours Kufuor

Daily Graphic May - 12 - 2023 , 08:03

Former President John Agyekum Kufuor has been honoured by his alma mater, the University of Oxfords Exeter College, with the unveiling of two art works bearing his photograph in the college.

The two commissioned works of arta photographic portrait and an oil painting - will decorate the hall of an 18th century building, Cohen Quad, and the medieval 1600s dining hall of the college.

The art works by the British photographer Fran Monks and the Tunisian-Belgian oil painter Naima Aouni were inaugurated and unveiled by the historian and Rector of the College, Sir Rick Trainor last Tuesday.

The event was attended by a galaxy of patrons that included the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, and his wife Lady Julia, as well as Lord Boateng of the British House of Lords, Ghanas High Commissioner to the UK, Papa Owusu-Ankomah, Ghanaian and other African Ambassadors in Europe and family members of President Kufuor.

Sir Trainor said the over 700-year college and the university was proud of Mr Kufuor as one of its best-known alumni.

He said the former President had also joined the founders and distinguished individuals through the hanging of his portraits.

The Rector said Mr Kufuor had become a rare individual to have received such honours after his Honorary Fellowship under Rector Frances Cairncross.

He also praised the commissioned planning team that over the last two years worked on the event.

The team included the Director of Development and Alumni Relations at the College, Yvonne Rainy; Historian and Mr Kufuors biographer, Ivor Agyeman-Duah, and the Alumni Relations and Events Officer, Amelia Crosse.

Humility

Later at a Fidelity Bank-hosted dinner, the Asantehene said Mr Kufuor humbled himself to the service of the country as President and that the pride Ghanaians had of him and the recognition he had received at the college, the university and around the world was squarely to do with his humility.

He never changed before he became president, never changed during his presidency and remains the same after his presidency, "he stated.



Gratitude

Former President Kufuor said he never expected such an honour over half a century after he left Oxford where he had met his wife who, he regretted, could not be present because of ill health.

Placement value

Mr Agyeman-Duah, whose book, Art and the Power of Goodness- A Collection of John Agyekum Kufuor, with a foreword by former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, was later autographed by former President Kufuor for the Asantehene and other VIPs of the day, explained that the significance of art in the Universitys ancient traditions dated to its founding .

He said the commissioning of Mr Kufuors portraits in the almost sacred dining hall of the college amid the pantheon of intellectual gods of 700 years ago showed its placement value on the alumnus, Kufuor.

For centuries to come, that portrait will resonate among the million who will see it, he added.
SSNIT expands coverage to self-employed

Emmanuel Baah May - 12 - 2023 , 08:12

The Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) has expanded its basic social security scheme to cover self-employed persons who before were not obligated by law to join the scheme.

The initiative, dubbed Self-Employed Enrolment Drive (SEED), seeks to fulfil the mandate of SSNIT to extend pension coverage to all workers, including the self-employed.

At the launch of SEED in Kumasi last Wednesday, the Director-General of SSNIT, Dr John Ofori-Tenkorang, said the initiative would help to redefine social security in the country and give hope to the self-employed that they could also retire in dignity and comfort.

Dr Ofori-Tenkorang said currently, only about 1.9 million of the estimated 10 million workers in the country were covered under the SSNIT scheme.

He stressed that out of the 1.9 million active SSNIT contributor base, just 32,000  representing about two per cent  were self-employed persons, implying that most self-employed workers would have to rely on the state or family and friends for financial support when they are old and retired.

This unbalanced coverage of workers is a sad commentary of our social protection system, and we have a responsibility to change this narrative.

The SSNIT scheme is not for formal sector employees only; it is for all workers in Ghana, he noted.

Launch

In attendance at the launch were the Mamensenhene, Nana Osei Kwadwo II, who represented the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II; the Chief Executive of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly, Samuel Pyne, and the Board Chairperson of SSNIT, Elizabeth Ohene.

The educational programme also adopted a drama enacted by the Centre for National Culture, Kumasi, to demonstrate the need to take advantage of the social intervention programme.

Dr Ofori-Tenkorang urged self-employed workers who had not registered under the scheme to visit the nearest SSNIT office, contribute regularly on their right earnings using ssnitpay, an electronic payment platform, via mobile money and debit cards.

Ms Ohene expressed satisfaction about the initiative, but also pointed out that the nation had not paid attention to the provision of pension for the self-employed.

She said reports indicated that of the two million people in the country who were above 60 years, only 11 per cent received regular pensions.

What this means is that a lot of people in active service are burdened with taking care of their aged parents and relatives.

This trend is expected to continue if immediate steps are not taken to address it, she said.

Update records

The Deputy Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Bright Wereko Brobbey, urged the management of SSNIT to encourage members of SSNIT to periodically update their records, including names of nominees.

Most people after registration forget to update their records.

So we have instances where people register at an early stage of their lives and after their death, it comes out that none of their children nor spouse was nominated.

I will urge the management of SSNIT to remind contributors to update their records, he said.

SSNIT is a statutory public institution charged under the National Pensions Act, 2008 (Act 766 as amended by Act 883), with the administration of Ghanas Basic National Social Security Scheme.

The SSNIT Pension Scheme has an active membership of over 1.9 million.

In April 2023, the Trust paid a total of GH365.01 million to some 235,617 pensioners.

The highest pension earner receives GH169,725.89 per month, while the lowest-earning new pensioner gets GH300.
Kwabena Duffuor withdraws court case against NDC primary, elections to go ahead

Justice Agbenorsi Politics May - 12 - 2023 , 09:36

Dr Kwabena Duffuor has withdrawn the court case against the National Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential primary.

This paves the way for the presidential and parliamentary primaries to go ahead on Saturday, May 13, 2023.

Dr Duffuors lawyers on Friday morning told the High Court in Accra that they were discontinuing the case.

Kwabena Duffour withdraws court case against NDC primaries https://t.co/NO8E5jqAB9 pic.twitter.com/qIyF2TDSIT  GraphicOnline (@Graphicgh) May 12, 2023

Graphic Onlines Justice Agbenorsi reports that the High Court in Accra has therefore struck out the application, which sought to put on hold the National Democratic Congresss (NDC) presidential and parliamentary primaries until some alleged anomalies in the register were resolved.

That was after lawyers for the applicant, Dr Kwabena Duffuor, a flag bearer aspirant, withdrew the application at the Court today (May 12).

The lawyer, Opoku Amponsah, said, I have instructions to discontinue the case.

The discussion came up this morning for which reason I could not file the necessary processes, he told the court.

Kwabena Duffuor withdraws court case against NDC primaries https://t.co/NO8E5jqAB9 pic.twitter.com/o5cRshdGnf  GraphicOnline (@Graphicgh) May 12, 2023

The presiding judge Mariam Afful, subsequently struck out the application as withdrawn.

Briefing journalists after the proceedings, the General Secretary of the party, Fifi Fiavi Kwetey, said the elections would commence at exactly 7 am on Saturday (May 13, 2023) as scheduled.
Well conduct our own elections if EC fails to do so  Asiedu Nketiah

Zadok Kwame Gyesi Politics May - 12 - 2023 , 16:36

The National Chairman of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, has assured that Saturday's presidential and parliamentary primaries will go ahead as planned.

He said the party has already taken steps to resolve a court suit brought against it by one of its three presidential aspirants, Dr Kwabena Duffuor, which sought to injunct the party from going ahead with the elections.

Speaking at a press conference in Accra on Friday, May 12, 2023, the NDCs Chairman said, with the court case now withdrawn, all was set for the party to hold the internal elections.

He commended Dr Duffuor and his team for taking steps to withdraw the court case they initiated against the party.

Mr Asiedu Nketiah, however, urged party members to use the partys internal structures to resolve any issues they may have with the party before resorting to the court.

He said the party has elaborate structures to deal with all issues regarding internal elections and that it was right for party members to exhaust such structures before going to court.

He further indicated that although the party had entered into an agreement with the Electoral Commission (EC) to conduct the internal elections, the party also reserves the right to use its own mechanisms to conduct the said elections if the EC fails to do so.

He said the party today [Friday, May 12, 2023] held a Zoom meeting with its executives and have come to a conclusion that the internal elections remain an internal affair of the party and no other external party.

He said the party engaged the EC to conduct the election since the EC was a neutral party, however, the party will not allow itself to be taken hostage by the EC.

Mr Asiedu Nketiah admonished aggrieved party members who resort to court not to add the EC as a party to their suit since the party has granted the EC an indemnity concerning their internal elections.
The federally funded Department of Public Health and Social Services mosquito lab was unfinished and unfit to serve the community several years after the contractor completed construction, according to the government of Guam, which this month lost a $2.1 million lawsuit seeking to recover damages in connection with the Dededo facility.

Public Health and the Guam Housing and Urban Renewal Authority in November 2020 sued contractor Rex International and insurance company First Net, claiming Rex International failed to deliver a finished lab and First Net refused to pay off the projects bond.

Superior Court of Guam Presiding Judge Alberto Lamorena last week issued a judgment, agreeing with First Nets argument that it cannot be sued because the four-year statute of limitations had expired.

According to court documents, GovGuam should have sued the insurance company before March 2020, which is four years after the lab received its government occupancy permit. GovGuam instead sued in November 2020, missing the statute of limitations by about eight months.

Lamorena rejected GovGuams argument that the four-year statute of limitations started running in 2018. He stated the government was aware two years earlier that the facility was not built according to the contract.

Public Health cut the ribbon on the 10,000 square foot facility in March 2016. The Department of Interiors Office of Insular Affairs provided a $3 million grant to build the lab, through GHURA. The lab was built to study mosquito-borne diseases and also to track food-borne illnesses.

Although there was a ribbon-cutting, the lab was not complete, according to GovGuams lawsuit, which states the lab was not built to meet biosafety requirements. Rex also constructed multiple components and/or sections of the lab facility which were faulty, defective, and/or nonconforming to contract specifications, the lawsuit states.

GovGuam initially refused to take possession of the facility, but started using it in 2017 without formally accepting its delivery under the contract, documents state.

The construction contract was terminated in May 2018 after Rex International failed to fix the problems, the lawsuit states, and GHURA then submitted a claim to First Net, asking it to pay the projects performance bond.

The lawsuit states GovGuam wants to recover the cost of assessing and fixing the labs shortfalls, including incomplete construction and defective equipment and materials.

According to the lawsuit, First Net disputed that the lab was incomplete and nonconforming and agreed to pay only the costs associated with the buildings air-conditioning system.

As of (Nov. 13, 2020) the lab facility remains unfinished, plagued by faulty and inadequate construction and equipment/materials, and unfit to serve the community for its intended purpose crucial to Guams public health, the lawsuit states.

Public Health on Friday did not respond to a request for information about the current state of the lab.
Residents in coming months will learn more details about a 20-site missile defense system thats coming to the island, but information about why the system is needed and what it means for Guam is already in the open.

As tensions in the Pacific escalate, Adm. John Aquilino, Commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command testified to the House Armed Services Committee last month, the Guam Defense System is our top homeland defense priority.

Aquilino describes the stunning expansion of missile capabilities by the Chinese military, the main competitor of the U.S. in the region. Of particular concern are new hypersonic missiles, which move at extremely high speeds in order to evade modern military defenses.

The growing Chinese arsenal, almost certainly includes a large number of hypersonic missiles, some of which may be nuclear-capable, Aquilinos testimony states.

When pressed by a member of Congress, Aquilino said, The department is working on the ability to do hypersonic defense. Congressman, again, I stand by what I said I am concerned about it.

Funding for a Guam Defense System needs to be sustained, he said. In the event of conflict, the island will sustain a joint task force of U.S. allies as a main operating base.

The head of the Missile Defense Agency wrote the Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero late last month about the plans for a new system. Forces in the region are capable of defending against ballistic missilesthe kind of weapons that have been around since the Cold Warregional missile threats to Guam continue to increase and advance technologically and an updated system is required as soon as possible to address the rapid evolution of adversary missile threats.

Guam Del. Jim Moylan has already begun lobbying for an extra $147 million for the Guam Defense System, which the Biden Administration shorted in the latest proposed defense budget.

Aquilino, responding to Moylan during last months hearing said the lack of funding could delay the integration of various pieces of the system, and that wouldnt be optimum for the delivery of defense to Guam. 

Doubts and escalations

But a ramping up of missile defense on Guam does not necessarily mean the islands population will see more security, according to Leland Bettis with local think tank Pacific Center for Island Security.

For one, the effectiveness of U.S. hypersonic defense has been called into question, he said, pointing to reports from the U.S. Government Accountability Office which called for more oversight of the Missile Defense Agency.

A distributed 20-site network of missile defense radar pieces and launchers would also increase the likelihood of nearby civilian targets being struck, Bettis said. What is being defended? Are people being defended? Or are military assets being defended?

But more concerning is the possibility of an arms race in the region escalating tensions with China. The U.S. and the former Soviet Union had agreed during the Cold War not to develop anti-missile systems for a reason, Bettis said: better anti-missile technology means better missiles.

Add to the departure of the United States from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in 2019a deal that allowed China, a non-signatory to the treaty, to quickly develop advance missile technology theres no doubt about it. Were living in a new missile age, Bettis said.

Aquilinos testimony to Congress states the Guam Defense System must also prepare to incorporate offensive capabilities as needed and that our vision for the future includes offensive fires.

According to the Missile Defense Agency, the current architecture is not designed for offensive purposes, Joint Region Marianas spokesperson Katherine Koenig said in a statement Friday, The current architecture does not support ground-based offensive ballistic or hypersonic missiles.

But Bettis looks to the future, and a recent missile report from the RAND Corporation. RAND, a U.S.-based think tank, gets more than half of its funding from the office of the Secretary of Defense, U.S. Military, and national security agencies, and its publications are regularly reported on by military newspaper Stars and Stripes.

According to the report, Guam and the Freely Associated States may be a fallback, should U.S. allies in the region be unwilling to host newly developed offensive ballistic missiles.

Because of the relationship that these islands have with the United States, the United States does not have to worry about the governments of these islands refusing to host (ground based intermediate range missile) systems, the report states.

It also notes that former U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper has said the U.S. wants to send offensive, non-nuclear missiles to the Indo-Pacific sooner rather than later.

Frequently, RAND reports forerun US policy, Bettis said.

While the U.S. has expressed interest only in developing non-nuclear ballistic missiles after 2019, the report states, diplomats from the Republic of the Philippines, a U.S. ally, may be unwilling to host ballistic missiles over fears of a nuclear arms race.

Admiral Aquilino last month said any escalation in the region comes from the Chinese Communist Party.

The one thing we ought to be concerned about the Chinese narrative is that the United States is beginning a nuclear arms race in the Indo-Pacific  The only nation thats delivering a nuclear arms race in the Indo-Pacific is China, the admiral said.

Our best strategy is to ensure that our forces modernized and that we are able to hold superior nuclear deterrent as required.
Welcome to NerdWallets Smart Money podcast, where we answer your real-world money questions.

This weeks episode continues our nerdy deep dive into how climate change will affect your money.

Check out this episode on either of these platforms:

Our take

Few people enjoy thinking about home and renters insurance  its admittedly not the most riveting subject. But climate change has upended the calculus involved with protecting our home and belongings from natural disasters, and many homeowners and renters are discovering this only after its too late. Homeowners in areas at risk for wildfire and hurricanes are finding it harder to insure their homes, while others have learned the hard way that their home and renters insurance does not cover damage from flooding.

In the second episode of our nerdy deep dive into the intersections of personal finance and climate change, NerdWallet insurance editor Caitlin Constantine talks with Nerd Holden Lewis, who covers all things housing and mortgages. They explore the impact climate change is having on home insurance markets around the United States and what that means for prospective and current homeowners. They also discuss the risks of being underinsured and how to make sure you have enough insurance to cover your home and belongings, as well as why you should consider flood insurance even if you dont think you need it.

Caitlin also speaks with Matthew Eby, founder and CEO of First Street Foundation, a nonprofit research and technology company that has developed a tool to help homeowners better understand climate-related risks like flooding, wildfire and extreme heat. They dig into some common misconceptions about flooding risk and flood zones, as well as some strategies that homeowners can use to better assess their risk and to protect their homes from potential disaster.

Have a money question? Text or call us at 901-730-6373. Or you can email us at podcast@nerdwallet.com. To hear previous episodes, go to the podcast homepage.

Caitlin Constantine writes for NerdWallet. Email: cconstantine@nerdwallet.com. Sean Pyles writes for NerdWallet. Email: spyles@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @SeanPyles. Tess Vigeland writes for NerdWallet. Email: articles@nerdwallet.com.

The article Smart Money: The Cost of Climate Change: Protect Your Home originally appeared on NerdWallet.
Senators confirmed the governors appointment of Sinajana Mayor Robert Hofmann to once again serve on the Guam Visitors Bureaus board of directors.

This brings the GVB board back to nine directors, after a recent attorney general opinion nullified Monte Mesas appointment to the board.

The minimum number to meet a quorum is eight.

Im happy it was unanimous vote. I look forward to working with all partners to move forward. A lot has changed in this world and we have to be up to the challenge to meet those changes head on, whether it be the use of tech and social media or changing policy or laws to have an attractive destination, Hofmann said.

The vice president of the Mayors Council of Guam said he also brings community perspective and can offer his insights and recommendations from his previous workings with GVB.

Hofmann served on the GVB board under three governors, from Republican Gov. Felix Camachos term to Republican Gov. Eddie Calvos term, and during Democrat Gov. Lou Leon Guerreros first two years in office.

Mongmong-Toto-Maite Mayor Rudy Paco stepped down from the GVB board after only two years. But Paco stayed on until the governor appointed a new one from MCOG. Piti Mayor Jesse Alig, MCOG president, said Hofmanns name was sent to the governor because he got the second highest vote when Paco was elected two years ago.

More appointeesTwo more appointees to the GVB board are awaiting the Legislatures confirmation hearing and vote, including Kyona Rivera, the governor-appointed youth member to the GVB board.

The governor on April 12 appointed Rachel Pei Ling Tan of DFS Guam L.P., as successor of the late GVB board director Paul SN Shimizu.

Canceled meetingMeanwhile, Thursdays scheduled GVB board meeting was cancelled, with the bureau citing a lack of quorum.

Prior to Hofmanns confirmation by the Legislature, there were only eight current members of the GVB board, down from nine just two weeks earlier.

An attorney generals opinion nullified Mesas appointment as the 12th member of the GVB board, saying that vote happened when there were only eight current members of the tourism board. Based on the AG opinion, only when there are 11 GVB board directors can the board select the 12th director.

GVB President Carl Gutierrez, who sought the attorney generals opinion on the matter, accused former and current board members of violating ethics and procurement law as well as the Open Government Act, among other things. Arrivals to Guam, meanwhile, are still about 60% down when compared to pre-pandemic levels.
What was supposed to be a regular well-baby visit to the doctor turned into a life-changing ordeal for the young family of 11-month-old Kaiya Leigh Chargualaf, who needs an immediate heart surgery either in Manila or Los Angeles for a life-threatening heart defect.

The baby has been diagnosed with transposition of the great arteries, or TGA, in which the two main blood vessels leaving the heart are in abnormal positions, according to the mother, Jasmine Rupley, 26.

"So she gets bad oxygen into her lungs," the mother said. "The cardiologist at the Childrens Hospital in Los Angeles told us that hes surprised that she made it this long because usually, this is found when the babys born or even in the womb."

Thats because TGA is a congenital condition - it is present at birth.

"Honestly, I was in shock for my daughter to get through this. Its so heartbreaking that she has to go through a heart surgery," the mother said. "Not only that, I feel like it should have been caught earlier when she was first born."

Kaiya Leigh is the youngest of three siblings. She was born on June 19, 2022 to Rupley and Keondrew Chargualaf, 28.

"The doctor said its a very complicated surgery ... The probability of her not making it through the surgery is high," the mother told Pacific Daily News in a Friday interview in Barrigada.

But the family is firm in their belief that Kaiya Leigh will be able to make it through the surgery.

"Shes strong," the mother said.

At the time of the interview, the baby looked fine and full of life, and even smiled for the camera.

"Shes been getting so much love and support from people," the mother said. "People in the states are messaging me, telling me, were praying for her. It truly means a lot. Theres so much love for Kaiya. Its very overwhelming.

'Prayers'

Rupley said at this point, the family is trying to raise funds and is asking for peoples' prayers to help ensure that Kaiya Leigh gets the surgery she needs and for her to live a normal life after that.

"The thing is, SelectCare is only going to cover $20,000," the mother said. "Then after that, Medicaid will kick in."

But theres no telling whether Medicaid will be able to cover the rest, she added.

A carwash fundraiser will be held this Saturday, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., at the 76 Circle K gas station by the Airport Road, leading to Home Depot when one is coming from Marine Corps Drive, the mother said.

Theres also a gofundme medical fundraiser that the family set up for Kaiya Leigh.

Those who want to help can go to www.gofundme.com/f/kaiya-leigh-medical-fundraiser.

"Any support is much appreciated. Just sharing away the story, for people to offer prayers. If you want to give monetary donation, thats up to you, but prayers and sharing away, it means a lot, it helps a lot. It will go a long way," the mother said.

Travel complications

Because the surgery cannot be performed on Guam, the baby needs to be either brought to The Medical City in Metro Manila, Philippines or to the Childrens Hospital Los Angeles in California, the mother said.

"The thing that held us back is the passport for her," she said.

The doctors that the family have been talking to advised that the short travel to the Philippines via air ambulance would be better for the baby, given her heart condition.

The family immediately applied for a U.S. passport for the baby, since its going to be an international trip, and were told that it would take "seven to nine weeks" for the passport to arrive, the mother said.

Rupley said the family has been able to work with the office of Delegate James Moylan, who helped facilitate the expedited release of the babys passport.

They were expecting the passport to be delivered May 12, instead of waiting until at least the middle of June. As of press time, Moylan had not commented on the matter.

"Were thankful for Congressman Moylans office," the mother said, adding that the delegates office has also been able to help her with an expedited release of her renewal passport as well. They expect her new passport to arrive by next week.

The babys grandmother, Amparo Cruz, 46, on Friday said their family also wants to share their story in order to help other Guam families who may be in the same medical emergency but are held up by the release of their passport in order to get surgery in the Philippines or another foreign destination, especially because travel to Hawaii or the mainland take several hours that could be a challenge for many patients.

The grandmother said there has to be at least a specific resource person within the government of Guam to help facilitate expedited release of a passport for medical emergencies or medical evacuation.

Right now, the family is working with The Medical City in the Philippines, where the baby could get her surgery or at least to stabilize her if she needed to be eventually sent to the Childrens Hospital Los Angeles.
The Association of Government Accountants Guam Chapter scholarship program awarded $500 to Guam Community College student, Cleo Ylalim, according to a press release from GCC. Picture from left: Ritzmar Erni, AGA Guam Chapter Committee Co-Director; Dr. Zeny Nace, CGFM, CPA, CFE, AGA Guam Chapter Scholarship Committee Advisor; Lorraine Okada, GCC Foundation Board of Governors Chairperson; Cleo Ylalim, scholarship awardee; Dr. Mary Okada, GCC President; Jorizaira Borja, AGA Guam Chapter Scholarship Committee Director; & Gemma-Lee Santos, GCC Financial Aid Coordinator.




Haiti - Health : More than 115,600 children could suffer from severe acute malnutrition in 2023





A standardized monitoring and evaluation survey of the relief and transition phases conducted this year in the area of nutrition, indicates that child malnutrition is on the rise in Haiti in the grip of violence, a worsening of food insecurity and to an epidemic outbreak of cholera. More than 115,600 children (+32%) could thus suffer from severe acute malnutrition (severe wasting) in 2023, against 87,500 last year, warned UNICEF on Thursday, May 11, 2023.



In several towns in the metropolitan region of Port-au-Prince, ravaged by armed violence for more than two years, one child in five currently has some form of malnutrition. It is in the capital that children pay the heaviest price, with many municipalities showing high or even very high rates of severe wasting.



The West department, the area most affected by the conflict, has an acute malnutrition rate of 7.5%, which is two percentage points higher than the national average.



"In Haiti, more and more parents are no longer able to feed their children properly and provide them with the appropriate care, and the terrible escalation of violence perpetrated by armed groups prevents them from going to health centers," declared Bruno Maes, UNICEF Representative in Haiti.



This malnutrition crisis is further aggravated by the ongoing cholera epidemic, which particularly affects children suffering from severe wasting. More than 41,000 suspected cases of cholera have been identified in Haiti, including 46% in children under the age of 14. As disease ravages neighborhoods plagued by violence, cholera and malnutrition add a double burden that the national health system is unable to cope with due to severe staff shortages and a lack of of supplies.



Nearly one in four children in Haiti also suffers from chronic malnutrition (or stunting), a pathology that leaves long-term sequelae. Indeed, poor health and malnutrition prevent stunted children from fully developing their physical and cognitive abilities.



Without the urgent and large-scale deployment of child nutrition and survival interventions aimed at reducing the morbidity and mortality associated with severe wasting, as well as preventing the onset of new cases malnutrition, the situation is likely to deteriorate further by October 2023.



UNICEF urgently needs US$17 million to fund the early stages of the response. A funding shortfall could jeopardize the immediate survival of more than 100,000 children.



In order to be able to provide, in 2023, vital goods and services to children and vulnerable populations struggling with insecurity and the health, social and economic crises raging in Haiti, it is essential that UNICEF perceives in due time the 210.3 million US dollars having been the subject of a call for funds https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-39249-haiti-news-zapping.html .



A sum which, to date, has only been financed up to 15%.



HL/ HaitiLibre


















Published on 2023/05/11 | Source

Actress Jun Ji-hyun held a beauty brand photo call event at Megabox Seongsu THE BOUTIQUE in Seongdong-gu, Seoul on the afternoon of the 11th.

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Jun Ji-hyun completed an alluring atmosphere with a black dress. Her graceful figure caught the eye.
Published on 2023/05/11 | Source

New Jo Joon-young stills added for the Korean drama "All That We Loved" (2023)

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Directed by Kim Jin-sung-III

Written by Kang Yoon-I

Network: TVING

With Sehun, Jo Joon-young, Jang Yeo-bin, Yoo Yang-gon, Jeon Yeong-in, Song Jae-rim,...

8 episodes - Fri

Filming dates: 2022/04~2022/07

Synopsis

Synopsis

Go Y oo and Joon-hee are two friends in high school with different tastes. So-yeon is the new girl that everyone is talking about. When Joon-hee becomes sick, Go Yoo gives him a kidney transplant and Joon-hee experiences cellular memory syndrome. Suddenly Joon-hee becomes like Go Yoo, and vice versa. The two friends become rivals for So-yeon's love in the midst of their friendship. 15 years later, So-yeon and 'Dr. Go' coincidentally meet again.

Broadcast starting date in Korea : 2023/05/05
Published on 2023/05/12 | Source

New stills added for the Korean drama "Tale of the Nine Tailed 1938" (2023)

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Directed by Jo Nam-hyung, Kang Sin-hyo

Written by Han Woo-ri

Network: tvN

With Lee Dong-wook, Kim So-yeon, Kim Beom, Ryu Kyung-soo, Hwang Hee, Kim Yong-ji,...

12 episodes - Sat, Sun 21:20

Follow up to "Tale of the Nine Tailed"

Synopsis

The story of Lee Yeon, a gumiho who was summoned back to a chaotic 1938 after being embroiled in an unexpected incident.

Broadcast starting date in Korea : 2023/05/06
Published on 2023/05/11 | Source

Actor Yoo Ah-in explained why he did not attend the police summons.

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The law firm Infinity expressed its position on the situation that Yoo Ah-in, who was scheduled to be summoned to the Mapo Office of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency for questioning, refused to attend on the morning of the 11th.

Yoo Ah-in's side explained, "The lawyer requested a private summons based on the 'rules on public information such as police investigation cases', and the police also agreed".

However, Yoo Ah-in's summoning investigation schedule was reported on the 10th, and he said, "The police never disclosed the date of attendance, and expressed me to attend as planned because it will be conducted privately as a rule".

The legal representative added, "Yoo Ah-in tried to investigate even when the attendance schedule was revealed, and the lawyer asked for possible measures such as access to other routes in accordance with the principle of private summons, but the police did not accept it".

Yoo Ah-in's side said, "There are distorted articles reported as if they were refusing to attend just because of the reporters", adding, "In fact, they are deeply concerned that the same situation occurred again even though the lawyer protested once. We will respond to the police's request for attendance in the future and be sincerely investigated", he said.
Jiangsu province will encourage the use of the digital yuan, or e-CNY, in its education system and strive to establish a convenient and efficient operation management system by the end of 2025, according to the Jiangsu Education Department. By December, students in Jiangsu will probably pay tuition fees, examination registration fees and receive scholarships in digital yuan, according to a pilot plan released by the education department on Tuesday. According to the plan, students are encouraged to pay in digital yuan for ordinary consumption on campus, while schools from kindergarten to university are encouraged to use the currency for transactions including business trip reimbursements, procurements and tax payments. Having more registered users is crucial to the development of the digital yuan, said Zhou Maohua, a researcher from the financial markets department of Everbright Bank, adding that e-CNY should be further promoted to attract new users. "The establishment of infrastructure for the digital yuan should be further accelerated," he said. "Its software and hardware must be upgraded to improve user experience. The security and reliability of the system must also be strengthened." To promote the use of the digital yuan, the educational department of Futian district in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, held a meeting on Monday. All off-campus training institutions in the district are accepting payments in the currency, it said. Since May, civil servants and employees of government-affiliated institutions and State-owned companies in Changshu, Jiangsu, have received their salaries in digital yuan. At Yangzhou's Dongguan Street, a famous tourist attraction, digital yuan payments will be accepted by all shop owners in a month. "We just need to fill out some forms and the bank will give us a QR code within a day," said Chen Yong, a local shop owner. "It saves us not only time but also service charges of financial institutions." Some cities in Guangdong and Zhejiang provinces have also made detailed plans to boost the use of the digital yuan, especially in loan financing. Suzhou, one of the pilot cities for digital yuan announced by the People's Bank of China in April 2020  along with Chengdu, Shenzhen and Xiong'an  witnessed more than 8 million transactions using digital yuan from January to March, with total transaction volume reaching 170 billion yuan ($24.7 billion). Its digital yuan transactions are expected to reach 2 trillion yuan this year. The country now has 26 pilot cities in 17 provinces and municipalities, while the total amount of digital yuan in circulation had reached 13.6 billion yuan by the end of 2022, according to Economic Daily. "Digital yuan has basically completed its top-level design, functional research and system debugging," said Wang Yifeng, chief analyst of the financial industry of Everbright Securities. "Many pilot areas this year have intensively launched specific plans, which shows that their research and development in digital yuan have progressed steadily."
By Kris Testori

There was a lot of controversy before Tuesdays vote on whether the city should bury the power lines in conjunction with the replacement of the water and sewer lines. The proposal was defeated with a 3-2 vote. High Country Press reached out to the towns five council members for more information on why they voted as they did. All five council members were asked the same two questions.

(The following is listed in the order each council member sits in council chambers)

The first question asked, What were the primary reasons you voted yes/no?

Councilman Albert Yount (voted no): 1:Too Costly. 2:Too little need. 3:Too few returns

Councilman David Harwood (voted yes): Placing utilities underground is not merely a beautification project, and it is not just for the tourists. That type of thinking lacks foresight. Continuing to improve downtowns aesthetics and functionality keeps Blowing Rock vibrant and relevant both economically and aesthetically. It benefits everyone by supporting current and future property values throughout the town, keeping sales and occupancy taxes in our coffers, which offsets the taxes on residential property that homeowners would otherwise have to pay.

Councilwoman Melissa Pickett (voted no): I voted no for the underground utilities, because at this time the town has a list of infrastructure that needs to be addressed at an estimate of 40 million dollars. This estimate is for items such as water and sewer line replacement (outside of the Main Street project), adding remaining citizens to the sewer system, paving of roads, upgrading storm water detention, maintenance to the town water tank, upgrading the water and sewer plants, replacing the Mayview lift station, and repairs and upgrades to all of the parks in town. I also do not believe it would have been in the Towns best fiscal interest to refinance property to use as collateral for loans for the underground utilities.

Mayor Pro-Tem Doug Matheson (voted no): As I stated last night, my reason is that we have too many more important things needed right now that the money could be spent on (EMS, parking, shuttle service for employees, just to name a few.)

Councilman Pete Gherini (voted yes): I echo what David Harwood said. I could not have said it any better.

The second question asked was, Do you think the town will ever bury the power lines?

Councilman Albert Yount: I am not clairvoyant.

Councilman David Harwood: I absolutely think they will be placed underground at some point in the future. When and by what entity remains to be seen. To continue to be a successful municipality requires continual improvement and investment in infrastructure, in personnel, in services, in parks, in aesthetics and in strategic planning. We are a destination driven economy. Weve been that for 150 years. An opportunity in plain sight was squandered last night.

Councilwoman Melissa Pickett: I believe it is in the future of Blowing Rock to have the utilities buried. It just needs to be when our infrastructure is at a more upgraded and stable condition and there is a more suitable financing option available.

Mayor Pro-Tem Doug Matheson: Yes, I feel down the road that the lines will be buried.

Councilman Pete Gherini :I echo what David Harwood said. I could not have said it any better.

Mayor Charlie Sellers also answered whether he thought the power lines would be buried in the future. I feel utilities will be buried on Main Street in Blowing Rock in the near future. Unfortunately, it appeared the timing was not good at this time. In North Carolina, the mayor presides over town council meetings, but has the right to vote only when there are equal numbers of votes in the affirmative and in the negative.

Councilman Albert Yount, who voted no on the proposal, added the following additional comments. I have a problem with Blowing Rock having to pay totally for a project like this when others use our expenditure to deliver their for-profit product. Remove all unused lines/trife up poles with excessive lines/eliminate lines running helter skelter across Main Street, and make one crossing of these lines all in one bundle/convince utility line owners to help Town defray some of the costs of underground bury.

Councilman Pete Gherini, who voted yes on the proposal, added the following comment, We will see where this all goes moving forward. Stay tuned!

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The Watauga County Board of Elections meets on Tuesday, May 9. Photo by Zack Hill.

By Zack Hill

The Watauga County Board of Elections met on Tuesday, May 9, at the Watauga County Administration Building at 814 W. King Street. In attendance were board director Matthew Snyder, chairman Michael Behrent, secretary James Hill, and members Eric Eller and Matt Walpole with member Marv Williamsen attending via Zoom and county attorney Andrea Capua present at the meeting.

Board director Matthew Snyder updated the board on several agenda items that will have an effect on how elections will be carried out and how they will affect the voters and communities in Watauga County.

The board members discussed the countys proposed budget for 2024 and how funds would be allocated for elections. The budget was recently proposed by the county commissioners and provided to Snyder by the county managers office.

The board of election members were particularly concerned with potential long lines at polling stations during 2024 elections because of a lack of requested funding. Snyder said that several budget requests, including a pay raise for poll workers and a request for more personnel at polling stations, were not granted by the county in the proposed budget.

It does not appear that any of the salary increases for poll workers were approved, Synder said. None of the additional computer operators were approved. I have some concern in that. Once I factor out the $20,000 to cover municipal election labor cost, we will be over budget.

It leaves us with basically no assistance [to fully staff polling locations]. Well have an average of five people at every precinct and it will create some long lines.

Snyder said the polling stations would ideally be staffed by eight or nine workers but the current budget proposed by the county does not provide for them.

Board member Eric Eller asked what that would do to the length of lines of people attempting to vote. Snyder indicated it would cause them to be as long if not longer than lines at the last round of elections.

What the county has done budgetary-wise, theyve decided that line wasnt long enough and they want a longer line, Eller said.

Snyder said the budget information had just been passed to him on Monday.

I know its hard to put together the county budget. Everyone is asking for it [funding], Behrent said. But I dont think long lines for this upcoming election are a good idea.

Eller said that the burden the lack of funding would create would fall unfairly on the shoulders of poll workers.

The poll workers arent getting any extra pay for the extra stress, Eller said.

Hill echoed Ellers concerns.

Poll workers are going to face the brunt of the decision, not the county commissioners, Hill said.

They [poll workers] are the folks we should be appreciating more than anyone, Eller said. Without the poll workers, there is no election.

Snyder also expressed concern with the budget for printing, postage and mailing of ballots and other election-related material. Legislation still playing out in the N.C. General Assembly and courts regarding voter IDs and absentee ballots along with upcoming increases in USPS rates could cause the budget for postage and mailing to increase substantially from the last round of elections. The board said the current budget, which was based in part on the cost of that last round of elections, is dangerously close to being insufficient without factoring in the additional increases in printing, mailing and postage costs.

Snyder said he had contacted Caldwell, Burke and Wilkes counties about their budgets to get a better gauge of how they financed their elections, noting that Watauga has roughly the same amount of registered voters as those counties.

Snyder said that Caldwell County has a budget of around $150,000 for the same elections that Watauga is currently budgeted around $90,000.

Theyre budgeted $60,000 more than we are, Snyder said. [They have] roughly the same amount of registered voters, maybe a few thousand more, but roughly the same.

Snyder reported the total number of active voters currently in Watauga County at 36,349.

The board discussed how to bring their concerns to the county commissioners and how to make the public aware of the potential issues.

I think its important they [the public] are aware. In the end its their election, Eller said. Regardless of outcome or anything I we do, if were looking at things that have potential to adversely impact providing them the election they deserve, I think they need to know about it.

It seems to me that the public should be made aware of the potential impact. I dont know anyone on either side of the political spectrum that wants long lines at the polls. That doesnt help anyone.

The board also discussed changes in voting protocols for convicted felons and how current legislation could affect voter ID requirements at polling sites.

Felon voting rights have reverted back to what they were a few years ago, Snyder said. Unless youve completed all phases of their probation and paid any fines and penalties, your voting rights are not returned.

Board secretary James Hill asked if that would affect Watauga Countys current list of voters and if the county would need to remove some voters from the roll.

Hopefully the state is working on how to electronically catch them, Snyder said. Theres a report that runs monthly thats the felon list that we check. I imagine theyre working with the department of public safety in one fell swoop instead of county-by-county.

Snyder also addressed changes in state voter identification laws and several cases currently working their way through courts that could affect the elections but said the board would have to wait and see how they played out before taking any substantial action.

The board was also concerned with how state election boards would view Appalachian State University IDs. Michael Behrent, who serves on the schools faculty senate, said the matter was still being discussed at App State but he would go back to them for further clarification.

Snyder told the board that the state legislature is currently working on redistricting portions of North Carolina precincts but that the process is currently under way with no actionable decisions for the local board to be able to take at this time.

Redistricting is back, Snyder said. Expect N.C. House and U.S. districts to be redrawn. What that means to us right now, I dont know. What it could mean is multiple ballot styles and having to make sure everyone is properly in jurisdiction so they get the proper ballot. My hope is we go back to being a one ballot county. That solves a lot of issues for us.

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The competition is open to anyone who identifies themselves as a DJ and is at least 15 years old. The deadline to enter the competition is Sunday, May 21st. The winner of the competition will be announced at NRJ's summer season opening on May 26th, 2023.

NRJ and Weekend Festival have teamed up to host a competition to discover future DJ talents. The winner of the competition will get the opportunity to perform at Weekend Festival.

The winner will get the chance to perform a DJ set at the Flux Lab stage at Weekend Festival on Friday, August 4th, and also perform on NRJ's Extravadance program.

To participate in the competition, interested individuals can visit this link.

Weekend Festival's festival grounds feature four different stages that offer diverse music experiences. The winner of the DJ competition will get to perform at Weekend Festival's new Flux Lab stage, which is designed for future talents as well as established artists. It is a meeting place, a sanctuary, where festival-goers can experience new ideas and sounds. At Flux Lab, people can gather together in synergy of movement and sound.

"We always want to support Finnish music culture. Every year, we want to offer opportunities and a launching pad for rising Finnish artists. In collaboration with NRJ, the DJ competition provides an opportunity for artists to perform among the world's best performers at Weekend Festival," says Atro Anttila, Weekend Festival's Marketing Manager.

Next summer, Weekend Festival will feature performances by internationally acclaimed and popular Finnish artists. The festival's diverse music lineup promises to be a real treat for festival-goers. The festival's most requested artist, Norwegian Alan Walker, will perform on the main stage on Friday. In addition to him, the festival's headliners include Dutch DJ legend and three-time world's best DJ David Guetta, four-time world's best DJ Dutch DJ Martin Garrix, and twice winner of the world's best DJ title, Dutch DJ Hardwell.

In summary, NRJ and Weekend Festival are offering a unique opportunity for aspiring DJ talents to showcase their skills on a global stage. The winner of the competition will get to perform alongside some of the biggest names in the music industry. The competition is open to all and is a great platform for rising Finnish artists to gain more exposure and recognition.

HT
The Helsinki Department of Education and Culture is proposing new measures to provide flexibility in applying to high schools (lukio) in Helsinki. According to the press release, high school admissions would be open year-round for both Finnish and Swedish-language schools. The proposed changes would be discussed in the upcoming meeting of the Finnish-language division on May 16, 2023.

The new way of applying to high schools is expected to serve the needs of young people in various life situations while making it easier for high schools to manage their admissions. Students would be able to apply for high school four times a year through the opintopolku.fi online application service and via each school's own application system. High schools that require an entrance exam or aptitude test would not have to offer places in the autumn, winter, or summer rounds of applications because these tests are generally held only in the spring.

Tarja Aro-Kuuskoski, Acting Head of High School Education, said that "continuous applications to high schools will provide more opportunities to apply throughout the year and allow for flexibility in high school education. Continuous applications have been used for vocational education for a long time."

The proposal for continuous admissions to high school will benefit young people in several life situations, including those who are moving to Helsinki or those who have completed preparatory studies (TUVA) and whose readiness for high school has increased so much that they do not need to wait for the next academic year to apply.

Helsinki Adult Education Centre will be renamed Konepajan lukio ja aikuislukio, as it prepares to launch a new program for young students, who will be able to attend high school from 1 August 2024. The youth program will follow the curriculum of regular high schools, and 200 places will be available for admission starting from the 2024 joint application process.

The plan is for the adult education centre to merge with the new high school that will be established. The high school will have both young and adult students, with approximately 200 16-year-old students starting the youth program in August 2024. The high school is expected to have about 600 compulsory school-age students by 2026. In addition, the adult education centre currently offers vocational high school education and basic education for adults. The high school will be located in the immediate vicinity of the historic Vallila machine workshop buildings, in the former administrative offices of the Education and Culture Department. The department's administration will move to the Kalasatama urban environment offices during the spring and summer of 2023.

The new high school and adult education centre will strengthen multidisciplinary expertise and cooperation with working life and higher education institutions, allowing students to be better prepared for further studies and working life, and easing transitions. The department aims to provide a supportive learning environment that fosters learning and student success.

HT
THE Rewind Festival has had more conditions added to its licence after Remenham residents complained about the noise, traffic and environmental impacts of the event.

Wokingham Borough Councils licencing and appeals sub-committee has added four new conditions after carrying out a review.

The review was prompted by Ron Emerson, of the Remenham Farm Residents Association, who complained that the weekend pop music festival, which takes place at Temple Island Meadows each August, caused disruption and public nuisance to the village.

Festival producer Steve Porter and director David Heartfield replied that measures were already being put in place to address issues with traffic management that occured during last years event.

Councillors Beth Rowland, Jackie Rance and Mike Smith, who carried out the review after hearing from both sides, decided to make the following additions to the licence:

1. That the wording in relation to white noise be amended to read, White noise beepers will be used on plant and vehicles contracted by the licence holder and best endeavours will be used to require non-contracted vehicles to comply with the same standard operating less than 100 metres from the boundary of residential properties.

2. Community meetings will be held and convened by the licencing authority, one before and one after the event. The licence holder must attend these meetings and traffic management and sustainability must be discussed.

3. The premises licence holder will employ the services of a dedicated traffic management company to undertake an annual survey of traffic impacts arising from the set up for the event, the event itself and get out of the event.

This company must consult with local residents, businesses and emergency services... and produce a traffic management plan. The plan must be made available to residents no later than three months before the start of the set-up for the festival.

4. That a suitably qualified member of staff to direct the traffic at the junctions in Remenham Lane and White Hill (A413) will be continually present.

The council said it accepted that the traffic management last year had left much to be desired and the sub-committee found that it caused nuisance to the local community in terms of traffic congestion, noise and other pollution.

John Halsall, a Remenham parish councillor and borough councillor for Remenham, Wargrave and Ruscombe, said: The sub-committee seems to have agreed with the residents and we look forward to the licensee doing what he said he was going to do.

Mr Emerson was pleased with the outcome. He said: Weve been talking about white noise from the reversing vehicles for a long time. Theyve agreed for all contracted vehicles to use white noise.

With traffic management, theyve had marshalls before and they didnt do anything  one was actually asleep. For us, its will it work next time? It sounds like they have agreed to beef it up. They admitted they hadnt covered themselves in glory last year.

Mr Emerson said that under the festivals previous owners, meetings had been held between the organisers and the community to discuss concerns but that these had not happened under the current management.

He said: Now theyve agreed to do it, before and after the event, and they will be moderated by Wokingham Borough Council. We did want representation on the safety advisory group, which agrees all safety isses. They pushed back as they didnt think it was appropriate due to confidentiality issues but I think weve agreed that we will find a way to feed our thoughts into the group.

Mr Emerson said that the wider issue of the enviromental impact of the festival was something that would be addressed later. He said: The event has a massive carbon footprint. Wokingham Borough Council has a climate emergency policy. We asked a question about the carbon footprint and the council said theres nothing it could do for now but was something for the future. It was constructive and well see what happens next.

Mr Porter said: We had already agreed to many of the requests from the residents and we are delighted that we have been able to reach an agreeable position with all parties. We look forward to working closely with the residents in making 2023 Rewind another success.
Of cartography and culture This weeks pick of interesting reads includes a lavish tome on a pre-1857 map of Shahjahanabad, a book that traces the cheetahs journey in India, and a biography of AB Vajpayee. (HT Team)

104pp, Rs2,495; Roli Books (A must-have for anyone interested in cartography and Delhis vibrant cultural history)

Shahjahanabad examines the city, neighbourhood by neighbourhood, and explores its diverse communities and important landmarks. Delhis Shahjahanabad was first founded as an empires capital at the glorious height of the Mughal dynasty; from this vantage point, it was also witness to the empires decline and eventual extinction. The city would transform profoundly in the aftermath of the Revolt of 1857, with many of its neighbourhoods and buildings obliterated, and many of its inhabitants, including the Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar, having left, never to return. Fortunately, a mapmaker, working in 1846, painstakingly depicted important buildings, streets, and landmarks, providing a wealth of information about the city as it had evolved up to that time. Shahjahanabad reproduces this large scale, beautifully drawn and coloured map, and considers the city as it had stood prior to its mid-19th century changes. It also examines the city, neighbourhood by neighbourhood, and explores its diverse communities and important landmarks. This book is a must-have for anyone interested in cartography and Delhis vibrant cultural history.*

Return of the native

324pp, 2800; Marg (Tracing the cheetahs journey in India from prehistoric times through history to its ultimate extinction in the 20th century and the efforts being made to bring back this lost species)

The cheetah is an enigma to the people in India and it is often confused with the leopard. Few know the difference between the two animals and fewer still know the life of the former. This work traces the cheetah from prehistoric times through history to its ultimate extinction in the Indian subcontinent in the 20th century, and the arrival of the cheetahs from Africa in an effort to bring back a lost species. The author has painstakingly traced the animal in prehistoric cave paintings, in coins and in Sanskrit, classical Greek and Latin records, Persian, Urdu, Marathi and Hindi literature, lexicons, Indian paintings and photographs. The book also describes the centuries-old practice of taming cheetahs and using them in hunts. It also deals with related subjects like its status in Asia, the sub-species of Africa and Asia, and animals reintroduction in its former homeland. While the book is indispensable for scientists and field managers involved with the study of and conservation of the cheetah, it is written in an easy informative style and will be of equal interest to anyone interested in nature conservation.*

An enigmatic man

432pp, 899; PIcador India (A portrait of Indias first Hindutva Prime Minister)

A man of unusual gifts, Atal Behari Lal Vajpaye was the Hindu Rights most enigmatic face who drew on his natural talent to pull in the crowds. In this gripping account, Abhishek Choudhary proves that Vajpayee was critical to the project of Hinduizing India. He uncovers how Vajpayees early life lies at the heart of his political character: essentially conservative yet curious and conciliatory, detached yet quietly ambitious. Weaving previously unseen documents with revealing interviews, the author layers this work with details of Vajpayees early obsession with foreign policy, the shock from the premature deaths of his parents and his tortuous private life. This extraordinary debut revises several myths that have come to dominate Indian political discourse and touches on the sympathy of Congress conservatives for the RSS, Patels own extended ambiguity, Nehrus conviction that East Pakistan would merge back with India, Indira Gandhis attack on the Jan Sanghs finances and electoral chances, JPs Total Revolution and the Sangh Parivar during the Emergency. The first of a two-volume study, Vajpayee: The Ascent of the Hindu Right is a portrait of Hindutvas first prime minister.*

*All matter from book flap.
Three companies controlled by billionaire Gautam Adani are considering a fundraising that may draw as much as $5 billion, according to people familiar with the matter, in a pivotal test of investor confidence in the tycoons empire less than four months after a scathing short-seller report plunged it into crisis. The Adani family in early March raised about $1.9 billion selling shares in four firms. (MINT_PRINT)

Adani Enterprises Ltd., the flagship, as well as Adani Green Energy Ltd. and Adani Transmission Ltd., may raise between $3 billion and $5 billion for a war chest to bolster the businesses, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private.

The boards of the three firms are meeting Saturday to consider raising funds via the sale of shares or other securities, according to exchange filings late Wednesday. They didnt disclose how much they intend to raise or who theyre working with for potential deals. The companies boards usually approve fundraising plans to enable management to quickly tap markets when opportunities arise.

Plans are still being discussed and theres no certainty the companies will announce a sum theyre looking to raise after the Saturday board meetings, the people said. A representative for the Adani Group declined to comment on the fundraising details.

Any move by the Adani Group companies to tap a broader group of investors for funds could backfire if the market isnt convinced that the cloud hanging over the stocks has lifted  or find the prices still too high. Despite the coal-to-cement conglomerate denying fraud allegations made by Hindenburg Research in January, the broadside triggered a weeks-long stock rout that wiped out more than $100 billion of market value, forcing the billionaire to scrap a $2.4 billion share sale by his flagship firm priced at pre-attack levels.

Global index manager MSCI Inc. said Thursday that two Adani Group companies  Adani Transmission Ltd. and Adani Total Gas Ltd.  will be excluded from its India gauge from the end of May. That is likely to trigger outflows of nearly $400 million, according to estimates by independent equities analyst Brian Freitas.

Damage Repair

The Adani family in early March raised about $1.9 billion selling shares in four firms to US investment firm GQG Partners, held investor roadshows and prepaid debt as they raced to bolster confidence and repair the damage from short sellers accusations.

Adani company board meetings every year include proposing enabling resolutions to raise capital, which is part of their annual financial planning, the people said.

An analysis by Bloomberg of exchange filings shows Adani Enterprises and Adani Transmission have sought board approval for fundraising every year in April or May since at least 2019. Adani Green Energy secured such permission every year except in 2021, the data shows. The three firms raised almost $2 billion from Abu Dhabi-based International Holding Company PJSC in April last year.

The current round of fundraising, once finalized, will be the first for Adani companies after the Hindenburg attack and the ensuing market rout. A successful share sale would go a long way toward cementing Adanis recovery from the crisis, though much would also depend on the terms of the deal and the profile of investors.

The stock meltdown earlier this year also cooled Adani companies heated valuations. Added to the rout, a further discount could make them more attractive to investors.

Adani Enterprises posted a 138% jump in its latest quarterly profit while revenue rose 26%, boosted partly by the mining and airport businesses, and gross debt shrank by 6.5%. Adani Greens profit more than quadrupled for the March quarter and its operational capacity surged by almost half to more than 8 gigawatts. It is targeting a capacity of 45 gigawatts by 2030.

Adani Transmission hasnt announced March quarter earnings yet.
Canandaigua and Manhattans Chinatown are about as different from each other as two places in the same state can be. One is a small town in the bucolic Finger Lakes region, where almost everyone is a white English-speaker. Chinatown packs nearly ten times as many residents, many of them foreign-born and Chinese-speaking, into a much smaller space. What links them, and many other small towns and neighbourhoods across America, is financial services: both host community banks that cater to local needs. PREMIUM Many of the banks that have survived serve small towns and rural communities.(Shutterstock)

Some see such institutions, generally defined as having less than $10bn in assets, as inefficient historical relics. They account for as much as 97% of the total number of Americas banks, but less than 14% of assets and deposits. Some may wonder about their future, if more banks get caught up in the crisis that began with Silicon Valley Bank. For many small businesses and farms, however, these banks are a vital source of credit.

Their detractors get one thing right: the large number of American banksover 4,100 at the end of last year, compared with 325 in Britain and some 80 in Canadais an artefact of history. Early Americans suspicion of federalism translated into suspicion of big banks and a national banking system. Alexander Hamilton established a sort of central bank in 1791; it lasted just 20 years, as did its successor, which closed in 1836. The 19th century was awash with banking crises. As many as 1,600 banks issued their own banknotes.

The government tried to stabilise Americas financial system with the Federal Reserve Act of 1914, which gave America its first central bank in almost a century. But banks tended to be small and local. Not until 1994 were they allowed to open branches outside the state in which they were chartered or had their main office.

Having so many banks makes America an outlier among developed countries, but by historical standards the current number is low: in 1921 America had well over 30,000 banks, and as recently as 1984 it had almost 15,000. Bank failures, especially during the savings-and-loan debacle of the 1980s and the 2007-09 financial crisis, as well as mergers have since driven down numbers. On May 1st the latest failure, First Republic, was scooped up by Americas biggest bank, JPMorgan Chase.

Many of the banks that have survived serve small towns and rural communities. Canandaigua National Bank & Trust (CNB), for instance, has 25 branches across a 65-mile area in upstate New York. They offer most of the servicesmortgages, business loans, wealth managementthat a bigger bank provides, but with a stronger focus on the community they serve.

Charles Vita, the banks chief lending officer, says he or someone from his team visits the site of every business loan they make. Karen Serinis, who heads CNBs retail-banking operations, notes that the lending committee meets twice a week, in person, and that loans arent just a piece of paper going to Buffalo or New York where they just look at the numbers. We go talk to the ownerOur customers have a shot to sell their character and their dream, because the decision-maker hears it.

This approach is not unique to CNB. According to a report from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, a regulator, community banks account for 36% of all small-business loans, and 31% of farm-sector debt, despite comprising well under one-sixth of total American banking assets and less than one-fifth of loans. They tend to rely more heavily than larger commercial banks on interest for their revenue (rather than revenue from investment banking, wealth management and service fees). That has tended to mean less earnings volatility, and greater earnings pressure when rates fall: the opposite problem faced by midsized regional lenders today.

Other community banks serve specific populations. Thomas Sung, an immigration lawyer who came to New York from Shanghai, started Abacus Bank in 1984 to make residential and commercial property loans to new immigrants. It has branches in Chinese neighbourhoods in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens, as well as one each in New Jersey and Philadelphia.

Mr Sungs daughter Jill now runs the bank. Community banks are often family-run. CNB has had just five presidents since its founding in 1887; Frank Hamlin, who currently fills the role, is the founders great-great-great grandson.

At Abacus, Jill Sung says that many of their customers prefer old-fashioned banking services, such as safe-deposit boxes and passbook savings, that big banks either downplay or no longer reliably provide. Many new immigrants buy multifamily homes as an investment; bigger banks often see these as higher-risk, but, says Ms Sung, we dont price it up for our customers because thats what people want to buy here. Such discernment is labour-intensive, explains Mr Sung, but it is part of their mission: We spend so much time subsidising banking operations in ways that a normal bank thats just cash-oriented would not consider doing.

CNB and Abacus both say that fallout from the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank has not materially affected them. Mr Hamlin says his customers were much more anxious during the pandemic: one wanted to come in and take $2m out of his account in cash; Mr Hamlin negotiated him down to $500,000 and a home delivery by Brinks truck. Of the billions that have moved from smaller banks to the behemoths, it is unclear how much has come from true community banks. A larger risk than deposit outflows may be the outsize share of commercial real-estate loans on their books, though whether rural areas and small towns are as imperilled by the shift to remote work as commercial buildings in big cities are is also unclear.

Should any one community bank fail, it would be too small to pose a systemic risk. But research suggests that when a larger bank acquires a smaller one, small-business loans in the area served by the target decrease. Trouble in the sector would make things tough for homeowners, farmers and small businesses across America.

 2023, The Economist Newspaper Limited. All rights reserved. From The Economist, published under licence. The original content can be found on www.economist.com
A day ahead of counting of votes in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly elections, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Friday expressed confidence about the BJP crossing the "magic figure" with a clear majority, and said the question of coalition talks with other political parties does not arise now. CM Bommai met senior BJP leader and Lingayat strongman BS Yediyurappa and other party leaders.(ANI)

Bommai today met BJP veteran B S Yediyurappa along with other party leaders, including ministers Murugesh Nirani, Byrathi Basavaraj, party MP Lehar Singh Siroya and A T Ramaswamy, at the former chief minister's residence.

The state recorded its highest-ever voting (73.19 per cent) in Wednesday's polling to the 224-member Assembly.

READ | Karnataka election: Exit polls predict hung assembly. 'Kingmaker' JDS ready to deal with BJP, Congress but...

Most exit polls have predicted a tight contest between the Congress and BJP in the Assembly polls. A majority of them have also given an edge to the Congress over the ruling BJP, while indicating the possibility of a hung Assembly.

"My stand has been the same and consistent that we will get absolute majority. We have got our ground report from all constituencies and districts; in some districts we have collected booth-wise (statistics) and we are fully confident that we will reach the magic figure," Bommai told reporters here.

Responding to a question about the Congress having allegedly booked resorts to keep the flock together, he said it means that they will not get an absolute majority and hence they are in touch with other parties and indulging in such activities; also that they don't have trust in their legislators.

READ | Karnataka Assembly Elections 2023 LIVE Updates: Not decided on alliance yet, says JDS president

On JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy's reported statement that he was ready to partner with a party that is ready to fulfill his conditions, the chief minister said, "I haven't heard about it. Did he call and speak to you (reporter) over phone?"

Asked about BJP's stand in case of a "coalition-government-like situation", he said he doesn't want to comment on speculations. "When we are confident, such a situation doesn't arise at all. That question doesn't arise now, as there are all indications of a clear majority and we will cross the magic figure."

Stating that he has informed the high command of the local situation, the chief minister said they too are confident about BJP getting absolute majority.
For latest updates, follow our LIVE coverage on the Karnataka election results here: Karnataka Election results LIVE: BJP hopes to break jinx, Congress eyes comeback; counting starts at 8am

All eyes are on May 13, as the results of the Karnataka assembly elections will be declared on Saturday. The counting for the assembly polls will begin by 8 am at all 224 assembly constituencies. The exit polls, which were published on Wednesday evening, gave mixed projections, with a few of them even hinting at a hung assembly in the southern state.

Follow Live updates on Karnataka election results here

Karnataka has seen a record number of polling per cent on Wednesday. According to the EC, a voter turnout of 73.19 per cent was recorded which is slightly above the previous polls in 2018.

Follow Live updates on UP municipal election results here

Meanwhile, the leaders of all parties were confident on forming the new government in Karnataka. While the Congress leaders predicted at least 140 seats out of 224, the BJP too claimed that they are going to retain the power in Karnataka with a comfortable majority. The JDS also announced that they are going to prove their mettle on the results day. However, the stage is set for a close fight between the three parties on Saturday.
The Chandigarh Congress has condemned the order of the principal of National Institute of Nursing Education, PGIMER, for barring 36 nursing students from stepping out of the hostel for a week. The students were grounded for not attending Prime Ministers 100th episode of Mann Ki Baat on April 30. Alleging that students, teachers and government employees are forced to listen to the programme every month, the spokesperson said the mobilisation of government machinery to arrange the listeners was unprecedented during the 100th Mann Ki Baat episode. (HT)

Expressing deep concern about the autocratic order passed by PGIMER authorities, Rajiv Sharma, spokesperson of Chandigarh Congress, said the Modi government had been making attempts to curtail the freedom of the people of the country, guaranteed by the Constitution, on one pretext or the other.

Alleging that students, teachers and government employees are forced to listen to the programme every month, the spokesperson said the mobilisation of government machinery to arrange the listeners was unprecedented during the 100th episode.

He further alleged that the premier medical institute appeared to have succumbed to the attempts of the Modi government to use government machinery in to force people to listen to PMs monthly broadcast.

The spokesperson further stated, The Chandigarh Congress strongly opposes the banning of the outings of the 36 nursing students, being anti-democratic and arbitrary and urges the PGIMER director to withdraw the untenable order immediately
On their toes since the two knifepoint robberies in the city on Tuesday and Wednesday, Chandigarh Police have cracked both the cases with the arrest of six accused. The accused in the Ola cab robbery case were arrested following a tip-off from near the slaughter house in Colony Number 4, and identified by the complainant, Danish of Panchkula. (Getty Images)

Among them, two men  Suraj, 22, of Sector 49 and Mohd Javed, 27, of Sanjay Labour Colony, Industrial Area  were arrested for robbing an Ola cab driver of his car near the Sector 18/21 light point past Tuesday midnight after posing as passengers.

They were arrested following a tip-off from near the slaughter house in Colony Number 4, and identified by the complainant, Danish of Panchkula.

The cab drivers phone that was in the car when it was snatched was recovered from Suraj. the duo was produced before a court and sent to three-day police remand, during which police will work on recovering the robbed car and knife used in the crime.

As per police, Suraj is already named in five cases of theft and snatching in different police stations.

In the second case, police arrested four persons, including a juvenile, for stabbing a pedestrian and snatching his mobile phone and 3,000 cash near the Sector 45/50 light point on Wednesday night.

The accused were identified as Rajat, 21, of Sector 38; Aman, 20, of Sector 38; and Sonam, 18, of EWS Flats, Dhanas. As per police, Rajat is facing another robbery case, registered at the Maloya police station.

The 17-year-old juvenile was sent to Juvenile Home, Sector 25, by the Juvenile Justice Board, while the other accused were sent to three-day police custody.

Police said the juvenile kept a watch on solitary travellers arriving at the Sector-43 ISBT and, along with his accomplices, would target those heading out on foot.
One person was killed and another seriously injured in a cross-firing between two rival groups, in an alleged case of a gang war, in front of a health club in Piplanwala on the outskirts of the city here on Friday. As per reports, a few persons entered into a heated argument inside a gym. (Representational Photo (Getty Images/iStockphoto) )

As per reports, a few persons entered into a heated argument inside a gym. The matter was sorted out but after coming out the two groups clashed again and also called their supporters. On reaching the spot, one group opened indiscriminate firing in which Model Town resident, Saajan, who had come for reconciliation, was seriously injured. He was rushed to a private hospital, where he was declared brought dead. In the retaliatory firing, another man identified as Jaspreet Channa also received a bullet injury and was taken to the civil hospital from where, he was referred to DMC, Ludhiana. As per police sources, several rounds were fired by the two groups.

Police personnel from Model Town police station rushed to the spot and cordoned off the area but by the time the accused had already escaped. Superintendent of police (detective) Sarabjit Singh Bahia said an FIR was being lodged but the culprits were yet to be identified.

After the shoot-out, both the factions carried their injured in their respective vehicles and fled. One car was left abandoned, which has been impounded. We have collected the CCTV footage of the area and are trying to identify the persons involved in the incident, the SP said.

Later, in the evening, an FIR was lodged under Section 302 (murder) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code in Model Town police station against unidentified persons.

Police officials said that Channa has a criminal background and has several cases against him, but the deceased Saajan had no criminal record. Preliminary investigation reveals that he (Saajan) had come to settle the dispute between the two parties, cops said.
Police have arrested a man for opening fire at his brothers employee with an air gun in Pinjore on Thursday. Police arrested a Pa man for opening fire at his brothers employee with an air gun in Pinjore. (HT File)

The accused was identified as Kuldeep Singh Khokar of Pinjore.

The victim, Naval Pravesh, who hails from Bihar, told the police that he worked with Sandeep Singh Khokar. On Thursday, he was near Sandeeps house, where he met his brother Kuldeep.

Kuldeep suddenly started hurling abuses at him without provocation and even manhandled him. He pulled him off his motorcycle and shot at him with an air gun.

An injured Naval was rushed to the government hospital in Kalka. After recording his statement, police registered a case under Sections 307 (attempt to murder) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code. The accused was produced before a court and sent to judicial custody.
The head of the department of English and Centre for Research at Post Graduate Government College for Girls, Sector 11, professor Maninder Sidhu, on Friday released her new book, titled Nayantara Sahgal: A Century of Political Insights at the Government Museum and Art Gallery, Sector 10. (L to R) Lovely Professional University chancellor Ashok Mittal, Ashoka University chancellor professor Rudrangshu Mukherjee, Chandigarh University chancellor Satnam Singh Sandhu, author Maninder Sidhu, Chitkara University pro-chancellor Madhu Chitkara and Hindustan Times executive editor Ramesh Vinayak during the book launch in Chandigarh. (Ravi Kumar/HT)

The book was launched by Lovely Professional University chancellor Ashok Mittal, Ashoka University chancellor Rudrangshu Mukherjee, Chandigarh University chancellor Satnam Singh Sandhu, Chitkara University pro-chancellor Madhu Chitkara and Hindustan Times executive editor Ramesh Vinayak.

Speaking on the occasion, Sidhu said, Sahgal has witnessed different ideologies and regimes unfold and shape modern Indian and world history for nearly a century. Her writings capture the political ebb and flow and remain a vital link in the history-fiction tradition, particularly in the post-colonial domain.

The launch was followed by a discussion between the author and Mukherjee on the manner in which the book captures the political and historical aspects of Sahgals works and analyses it alongside the works of prominent 20th century thinkers and writers like VS Naipaul, Salman Rushdie and Arundhati Roy.

Published by Taylor and Francis Group, the book is a comprehensive critical re-reading of Sahgals works and includes her fictional and non-fictional engagement with historical events and political dilemmas linked to the colonial, anti-post-neo-/colonial discourse in India.

It pays particular attention to representation of historical events such as the freedom movement, Partition, Emergency, reorganisation of the state of Punjab, naxalism and nationalism.
A man allegedly killed three female members of his family in a fit of rage in Uttarakhands Pithoragarh district on Friday morning, a police official said. After committing the crime, the accused fled from the spot along with his wife. (Getty file image)

The incident took place in Bursham village near Gangolihat block which is around 60km from Pithoragarh district at about 5am, the official said.

Also Read: Gym trainer goes berserk, stabs parents, aims in-laws

After committing the crime, the accused fled from the spot along with his wife.

According to police, the accused entered into a heated exchange with some of the family members.

In a fit of rage, he took out a sharp edged weapon and murdered his aunt, cousin and another cousins wife.

Mahesh Chandra Joshi, circle officer (CO) of police, Pithoragarh said, A man killed three women relatives on Friday morning in Gangolihat area of the district in the morning on Friday and fled from the spot.

We have deployed police teams on all routes to nab the accused, the CO said.
A Delhi court on Friday extended the police custody of six accused in the murder case of gangster Tillu Tajpuria by 3 days Tillu Tajpuria was murdered outside his Tihar cell by members of a rival group. (PTI photo)

Chief metropolitan magistrate Snighdha Sarvaria conducted the hearing in a closed court room as the six accused were physically produced before the court.

The Delhi Police sought three days extension of police custody of the accused to conduct sustained interrogation.

The court allowed the application extending the custody of the accused till May 15.

Also Read: After Tillu Tajpurias murder in jail, Tihar may ship gang members out of Delhi

The court had on May 8 sent four accused arrested by the Delhi Police special cell to four days police custody.

The special cell further arrested two other accused on May 9 and were produced before the court on May 10. They were also sent to police custody for a period of two days.

Tillu was brutally attacked inside the Tihar Jail courtyard on May 2 by the four accused members of a rival gang, and stabbed in full view of the security personnel and other prisoners.

HT had earlier accessed the CCTV footage which showed that at least 10 jail officials, including at least eight armed security personnel, stood in a ring around the courtyard as Tillu was attacked.

On May 5, eight security personnel of Tihar Jail were suspended for negligence and lapses that led to the attack.

The Delhi Police special cell, which is probing the murder, will also investigate if jail staffers were involved in the execution or planning of the attack.
New Delhi The matter pertains to gangster Tillu Tajpurias brutal premeditated killing in the high-security Tihar Jail on May 2 by members of a rival gang. (ANI)

A Delhi court on Friday extended till May 15 the police custody of six people accused of killing jailed gangster Tillu Tajpuria.

Chief metropolitan magistrate Snighdha Sarvaria conducted the hearing in a closed court room as the six accused were physically produced before the court. Delhi Police had sought three days extension of custody of the six accused  Yogesh, Deepak, Rajesh Bawana, Riyaz Khan, Vinod and Ata-ur-Rehman  for interrogation.

Earlier, the court on May 8 sent four of the accused to four days police custody. On May 9, the special cell arrested two other accused, who were also sent to police custody on May 10 for two days.

The matter pertains to Tajpurias brutal premeditated killing in the high-security Tihar Jail on May 2 by members of a rival gang. Tajpuria was stabbed over 100 times in the neck and over 50 times in the ear in full view of the security personnel and other prisoners, according to a CCTV footage of the incident. HT had accessed the CCTV footage.

Eight security personnel were later suspended for alleged negligence and lapses that led to the attack. Delhi Polices special cell will also investigate if jail staffers were involved in the execution or planning of the attack.
Delhi's Aam Aadmi Party government approached the Supreme Court Friday to claim interference - and possible contempt of court - by the centre in the transfer of a senior government official. The AAP's move comes a day after the top court's ruling in a contentious battle between the Delhi government and Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena; the court reaffirmed the former's legislative and executive powers over the administration of services in the national capital, except for those related to law and order and land. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal addresses the media at the Delhi Secretariat after the Supreme Court's ruling on the regulation of services matter in Delhi on Thursday.(PTI)

Also Read | Officers caught in Delhi LG-AAP tussle see tightrope ahead

Chief Justice DY Chandrachud is to constitute a bench to hear this matter next week.

Hours after the Supreme Court order an exultant AAP sought to transfer Services Department secretary Ashish More but the move was deemed 'illegal' by the department, which claimed the court had earlier directed central and state governments to establish a Civil Services Board that will examine proposed transfers before an officer's term is completed.

This examination was not conducted before More's transfer notice, news agency PTI said.

"They are saying we will not transfer anybody. I can file contempt in view of judgement passed yesterday. But it will take time. So kindly list the matter," senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi asked the Supreme Court.

On Thursday a five-judge Constitution bench headed by chief justice Chandrachud closed a longstanding dispute between the Delhi government and the LG, the centre's rep, that was triggered by a 2015 union home ministry notification claiming control over services in Delhi.

The notification held that administration of the National Capital Territory is unlike other union territories and has been 'accorded a 'sui generis' (unique) status by the Constitution'.

The court, however, ruled the Delhi government had power over transfer and posting of civil services officers in the city, except for matters relating to public order, police and land.

The court emphasised the need for an elected government to have authority over bureaucrats in its charge to maintain the principle of collective responsibility.

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After starting the month on a relatively cool note, Delhi on Friday saw a sudden rise in temperature after a combination of clear skies and low wind speed shot the mercury beyond the 44 degree-mark in parts of the Capital  its highest so far this summer. The hottest location was Najafgarh at 44.1C. (Vipin Kumar/HT PHOTO)

A day ago, the maximum temperature stood at 38.6C.

Saturday is likely to be hotter as the weather office has forecast heatwave in isolated parts of the city where temperatures might inch towards 45 degrees Celsius (C). The day might also witness dust storms, and drizzling at some places. Similar weather conditions are likely to prevail on Sunday, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

Also read | Delhi temperature set to rise in coming days: IMD

Safdarjung, which is representational of Delhis weather, recorded its hottest day of the year so far, with mercury touching 42.5C  three degrees above normal for this time of the year. On Thursday, the same stood at 38.6C.

However, the hottest location was Najafgarh (44.1C), followed by Pusa (43.9C).

Prior to Fridays spike in heat, the city recorded below-normal temperatures on all days on the back of two western disturbances which have brought in 50.8mm of rainfall so far this month. In fact, Delhis maximum has been below normal since April 19, when the maximum was 39.8C  a degree above normal.

The hottest day so far this year has been April 17 at 40.6C recorded in Safdarjung.

IMD scientist Kuldeep Srivastava said the sharp rise in temperature is mainly due to drop in moisture and wind speed, with clear skies allowing rapid surface heating.

Winds are not strong at the moment and we have little moisture. There will be further rise in temperature on Saturday by another degree or so, he said.

IMD has also forecast a western disturbance in northwest India over the weekend, but officials said it will do little to influence the temperature. Instead, it will bring a dust storm to the national capital region on both Saturday and Sunday nights.

Days will be extremely warm. The dust storm will develop late towards the evening and night-time. While moisture content is less, some locations may record a drizzle. We will see similar weather on Sunday with an extremely hot first half of the day, followed by a dust storm towards late evening and night, Srivastava added.

The maximum was not much different across NCR, with Gurugram recording a similar high of 42.5C, while it was 41.9C at Noida.

Historically, May is Delhis hottest month, with the maximum touching an all-time high of 47.2C on May 29, 1944. Last May, the maximum touched 45.6C at Safdarjung, while it went as high as 49.2C at Mungeshpur  an automatic weather station in northwest Delhi.

Met officials say that mercury is not likely to dip below the 40-degree mark in the next six days.

Despite the scorching heat during the day, Delhis night-time temperature was fairly cool at 19.3C  six degrees below normal for this time of the year. On Thursday, the same was 19.9C. However, with warmer days ahead, the low too is expected to rise by another 1-2 degrees over the weekend, edging close to 24 degrees by May 18, Srivastava said.

The dust storm, meanwhile, is expected to send Delhis air quality into the very poor category on Saturday, based on forecasts. Delhis 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) stood at 227 (poor) at 4pm on Friday. It was 274 (poor) a day earlier.

The Central Pollution Control Board classifies an AQI between 0-50 as good, between 51 and 100 as satisfactory, between 101 and 200 as moderate, between 201 and 300 as poor, between 301 and 400 as very poor and over 400 as severe.

Delhis air quality is likely to deteriorate and reach the very poor category on Saturday. The air quality will once again improve on Sunday, but it will be in the poor category, said the Early Warning System (EWS) for Delhi, which is a forecasting model under the ministry of earth sciences.
In a tragic incident, a 17-year-old student living in the hostel died by suicide on Friday in Rajasthans Kota city, police said. The student was preparing for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) and was a native of Patna. (Representative file image)

The student was preparing for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) and was a native of Patna.

This is the third similar case reported in the last one week and fifth in the past five months.

Police said the minor student was living in a hostel for the last one year and preparing for NEET.

Police said they received information about the incident around 11am.

Also Read:IIT-B student accused of abetting batch mates suicide granted bail

A suicide note has been recovered, which indicates that he was under pressure from studies, said police.

In a similar incident reported on Thursday, a 15-year-old NEET aspirant from UP also died by suicide inside his hostel room in Kota.

Last week on Tuesday, another student who was 22 years old and a NEET aspirant from Karnatakas Bengaluru, had died after falling from the 10th floor of a multi-storey building at Vigyan Nagar in Kota.

If you need support or know someone who does, please reach out to your nearest mental health specialist.

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Out of the 158 students from Uttar Pradesh stranded in the violence-hit Manipur, 142 have been brought back by the state government, a senior official has said, adding 11 others came back on their own. In addition to the 142 who were brought back safely, 11 students returned to the state on their own. The remaining five refused to come back from Manipur (HT PHOTO)

Relief commissioner Prabhu Narayan Singh said: Soon after we found out that 158 students from U.P. were studying in various educational institutions in Manipur, a rescue operation was launched on the instructions of chief minister Yogi Adityanath. In addition to the 142 who were brought back safely, 11 students returned to the state on their own. The remaining five refused to come back from Manipur. Thus, there is not even a single student left in Manipur who must be brought back by the government.

He said, The evacuation of students started on May 9. On the first day, 62 students were brought back, 36 on May 10, 32 on May 11 and 12 on Friday.

While some of the 142 students were taken to Delhi from Imphal where arrangements for their rest and food were in place at the U.P. Bhavan, many youngsters were flown directly to the Lucknow airport. Buses and cars were arranged to take these kids back to their home districts.

Singh added: There was full cooperation from the government of Manipur in evacuating the students of U.P. from the state... No U.P. student was injured or made a victim of any kind of violence.

According to the official, most of the U.P. students who are pursuing their higher education in Manipur are from Lucknow, Prayagraj and Kanpur districts. While 65 are the students of IIT Manipur, 49 study in NIT Imphal, 30 in a sports university, two are studying to be doctors, three at the Central Agricultural University, 1 at the Manipur University of Culture and six others in JNIMS.

A helpline number was launched to help the stranded students. After this we found out not 136 but 158 students were stuck in Manipur, the official added.
Love jihad is an agenda of undeclared terrorism against humanity, chief minister Yogi Adityanath said on Friday after watching a special screening of the film The Kerala Story at Lok Bhavan here, according to an official press release. The chief minister and his cabinet colleagues were present at the special screening. Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath arrives for a special screening of The Kerala Story, in Lucknow on Friday. (ANI PHOTO)

The Kerala Story draws the attention of the entire nation to the conspiracy like love jihad. The entire society must be made aware of this distortion. A commendable and brave effort has been made in this regard by the films producer, director, and entire team, Yogi Adityanath said.

Used frequently in political discourses, love jihad refers to the concept of a Muslim man luring a Hindu woman into accepting Islam.

Yogi Adityanath said the state government follows the policy of zero tolerance against challenges to national unity and the threats posed to humanity.

Thats why our government effectively implemented the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act on November 27, 2020, he said.

According to UP Police data, action was taken against at least 1,471 people in 433 cases registered under sections of Unlawful Religious Conversion Act since 2020.

In these cases, around 1229 named accused were arrested while 242 other accused, whose names surfaced in further investigation, were also arrested.

Besides, charge sheet was filed in 339 cases and the statements of around 184 victims were recorded before judicial magistrates.
In a drive focused on cleanliness and spreading awareness about communicable diseases and its prevention, Firozabad and Mathura districts grabbed the top ranks. Mirzapur ranked last in the tally made on the basis of district wise performance while Lucknow was on fourth position with Ambedkar Nagar. Drive is focussed on cleanliness and spreading awareness on communicable diseases. (Pic for representation)

It was found that only 22% of the bushes/shrubs were cleared in Mirzapur district while just 31% of the swine herders were sensitized in Bhadohi as part of the month-long interdepartmental campaign against communicable diseases conducted in April month. The score was given on different points including door-to-door campaign, removal of bushes, cleaning of drains (in villages), public awareness on different diseases.

Mau, Ghaziabad, Ayodhya and Amethi were on sixth position.

Apart from health department, the other departments that participated in the campaign were panchayatiraj department, agriculture, animal husbandry, Swachh Bharat Mission, and ICDS (Integrated Child Development Scheme).

Districts magistrates of the districts getting poor score have been informed to get the work completed. This is necessary to ensure that cases of communicable diseases remain under control, said a senior official in the state health department.

The drive conducted in April will help reduce number of people falling sick with communicable diseases in the coming month. Such diseases spread from one person to another or from an animal to a person, or from a surface or a food, said Dr Abhishek Shukla, secretary general, Association of International Doctors.
With the announcement of CBSE class 12 results, the Lucknow students have shattered the myth that only science students could be top scorers as several students of Humanities stream have emerged as toppers in their respective schools. Students of celebrating after the announcement of CBSE results in Lucknow on Friday. (Deepak Gupta/ht)

Some of them even scored above 98%.

Ayushi Chauhan, a student of Lucknow Public School, South City scored 98.6% to bring laurels to the city. She obtained 100 each in geography, economics, library-information science, 97 in Hindi and 96 in English. It is completely a myth that only students of science stream with physics, chemistry and mathematics can score above 98%, she said.

She said, Students from the arts stream have been doing very well in academics. I want to pursue BA from Delhi University provided I do well in the Common University Entrance Test (CUET), else I will study here in Lucknow and simultaneously prepare for civil service exams. Cracking UPSC is my goal in life.

Ayushi thanked her teachers at LPS who stood by her and without their support it was difficult to get such a good score. Im thankful to my teachers and parents who always supported her, she said.

Neelanjana Mitra, topper of Navyug Radiance Senior Secondary School scored 98.2% with Humanities. She scored 100 each in fashion studies, economics, 98 in psychology, business studies and 95 in English.

Humanities is an interesting stream as it teaches you many other things that no science subject can teach you. Language and literature are so important, said Mitra who now wants to study BA from IT College and make a career in the teaching profession.

Mitra believes in self-study. School teachers worked hard with all the students, she said and added that everything in the schoolbooks and notes given by teachers in the classroom were enough to score good marks in the board exam. Her father, Nirmoy Mitra who works in a sugarcane firm in UP said, It is a proud moment for the family as she is the first among the kin to score more than 98%.

Another student, Pihu Jhunjhunwala, a topper of Study Hall School, scored 97.4% with Humanities.

It is a beautiful stream to study. A lot many people consider that students pursuing physics, chemistry and mathematics can score above 97% which is not true always, she said. Pihu wants to do BA with honours in geography. It has a lot of scope and is a mother of all disciplines and it also happens to be my favourite subject, she said.

Meanwhile, Army Public School, Nehru Road students have proved their supremacy in Humanities stream as the top three ranks of the school were all bagged by them. Aradhana Pathak topped the school with 96.6%. Tarun Ashutosh Sathe secured the second position in the school with 96.2%. The third rank was grabbed by Priya Soni with 95.6%, informed officiating principal, Namita Mahajan of the school.

The school topper at GD Goenka Public School is Atharva Agarwal from science stream with 97.4% marks. He has scored 100% marks in psychology. Following closely are Shiksha Mishra and Tulip Karan, toppers from the Humanities stream with 96.6% marks and secured second position in the school. Tulip Karan scored 100% marks in political science and economics too. Advika Sahai of The Millennium School scored 96% in Humanities stream.
Member (Traction and Rolling Stock), Railway Board, Naveen Gulati praised the loco manufacturing capacity of Banaras Locomotive Works (BLW) during an inspection there, said public relations officer, BLW, Rajesh Kumar. Member (Traction and Rolling Stock), Railway Board, Naveen Gulati during inspection of Banaras Locomotive Works. (Sourced)

He also expressed happiness over the cleanliness of the factory shop floor and proper maintenance of materials there. Giving technical suggestion to reduce loco cost, he said, BLWs loco manufacturing capacity is very high. I am very impressed with the production being done by BLW.

public relations officer, BLW, Rajesh Kumar said Gulati inspected loco frame shop, loco assembly shop, loco test shop and new block shop. He sought detailed information about the production activities of electric locomotives, manufacturing facilities, ongoing projects in BLW as well as the production process and other technical matters.

He also discussed the ongoing projects in BLW for construction of 12000 high horse power locos. Gulati held a meeting with top officials of the BLW on Thursday. Chief electrical engineer SK Srivastava presented the achievements of BLW since its inception through a power point presentation.

After inspection, Gulati said, This factory is looking much better than the corporate sector. BLW is doing important work towards giving better results with good change. It has made an important contribution to the smooth operation of passenger and goods trains in the country.

He congratulated BLW officers and other employees for the good work being done there. Gulati also held a discussion with the joint secretary, BLW Employees Council, besides other members and office bearers of the OBC and SC/ST Association. The office bearers handed over a memorandum related to the problems of BLW and employee welfare to him.

BLW general manager Basudev Panda; principal chief electrical engineer S K Srivastava; principal chief mechanical engineer Praveer Kumar Saha; principal chief materials manager Rajneesh Gupta; principal financial advisor Amar Kumar Sinha and several other top officials of BLW were present in the meeting.
LUCKNOW Uttar Pradesh cabinet on Friday approved a policy that envisages involvement of government and private sector organisations, public representatives, NGOs and MPLAD fund for the development of pilgrimage centres (ancient), world famous memorials and places that attract tourists for natural resources/handicrafts. The policy titled Mukhyamantri Paryatan Vikas Sahbhagita Yojana would help in development of one tourist spot in every assembly constituency of the state. (Pic for representation)

The policy titled Mukhyamantri Paryatan Vikas Sahbhagita Yojana would help in development of one tourist spot in every assembly constituency of the state, stated an official press release.

Chief minister Yogi Adityanath presided over the meeting of the state cabinet that also approved amendment to the Excise Policy-2023-2024 and incentives of 117.67 crore to six industrial units set up under the provisions of the Infrastructure and Industrial Investment Policy-2012 and 34.39 crore in accordance with the Uttar Pradesh Industrial Investment and Employment Promotion Policy-2017.

Under the policy, the state government would approve the development of ancient places of importance (Puranic), if any government organisation, private company under the CSR or management committees of religious/spiritual trusts etc agree to provide 50% funds for the development of any such place.

We will sanction such projects on priority and the state government will provide the remaining 50% funds, said Mukesh Kumar Meshram, principal secretary, (tourism).

The projects to be taken up under the policy include development of public facilities, landscaping of tourist places, paintings and murals, setting up of STPs, construction of parking places, boundary walls, providing lockers or making arrangements for lighting and underground wiring etc.

Uttar Pradesh tops the list of states for attracting domestic tourists and is on third spot for attracting international tourists. The cabinet approved a proposal to nominate Mathura Vrindavan Development Authority for carrying out tourism development work in Mathura. It also gave nod to a proposal for using higher specifications for setting up Nishadraj Guha Cultural Centre at Shrangverpur, Prayagraj, in memory of Nishadraj Guha who, as Kevat, helped Lord Ram, Sita and Lakshman to cross the Ganga. This is part of the promise in the BJPs Lok Kalyan Sankalp Patra.

INCENTIVES TO INDUSTRIAL UNITS

Various incentives were approved to industrial units in accordance with the conditions laid down in the letter of comfort given to them. These included M/s Paswara Papers Limited, Meerut ( 12.55 crore), M/s Varun Beverages Limited, Sandila, Hardoi ( 8.53 crore), M/S Gallant Ispat Limited, Gorakhpur ( 15.97 crore), M/s Sparsh Industries Private Limited, Kanpur Dehat ( 3.66 crore), M/s RCCPL Private Limited, Rae Bareli ( 46.29 crore) and M/s Sri Cement Limited, Bulandshahr 24.29 crore. M/S JK Cements Limited, Aligarh will get incentives of 34.39 crore in accordance with the provisions of 2017 policy. The state cabinet approved a proposal for renewal of land lease in favour of M/s Heri Motors Limited. The lease granted for 30 years expired on January 28, 2022.

FIVE PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES

The cabinet gave a go-ahead to the proposal to release letters of intent to set up five private universities, including Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Ramayana University, Ayodhya; Maharishi Mahesh Yogi International Agriculture University, Bilhaur, Kanpur Nagar; Sharda University, Agra; Future University, Bareilly and GS University, Hapur.
Mumbai: Nearly 326 slums were demolished by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Friday morning to widen the road leading to Gorai Jetty in Borivali. Mumbai, India - May 12, 2023: Slums being demolished opposite Sailee College, on Gorai Road, at Borivali (West), in Mumbai, India, on Friday, May 12, 2023. (Photo by Vijay Bate/HT Photo) (HT PHOTO)

The slums were part of the Mahatma Phule Nagar, which as per BMC was established in the year 1995. Of the 326 slums that were demolished, 133 were eligible for rehabilitation and have been providing homes in a building for project-affected people (PAP) on Malharrao Kulkarni Road.

The demolition took place on a road that connects the Link Road in Borivali West to the Gorai Jetty. BMC, said that since the Global Vipassana Pagoda, Gorai Beach and other tourists spots are in the area this road is frequently used by tourists. Post the demolition, nearly 600 metres of the road was widened for traffic. 200 BMC employees, 30 officials and 70 policemen were deployed for the demolition of these slums. Sandhya Nandedkar, Assistant Commissioner of R Central ward, in a press statement, said, BMC said that the action was taken to boost tourism in the area and open it for traffic. Annexure II was published to determine the eligibility of the 326 slums in the Mahatma Phule Nagar. Of which 133 were eligible and were resettled. 40 more of the slum dwellers are eligible for the paid rehabilitation.

Sandhya Nandedkar, Assistant Commissioner of R Central ward, in a press statement, said,  the action was taken to boost tourism in the area and open it for traffic. Annexure II was published to determine the eligibility of the 326 slums in the Mahatma Phule Nagar. Of which 133 were eligible and were resettled. 40 more of the slum dwellers are eligible for the paid rehabilitation.
Mumbai: The Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking on Friday, added 7 new buses to its fleet which is part of 125 CNG air-conditioned buses that shall be procured. BEST adds 7 new buses to its fleet

Additionally, 150 AC diesel buses are also in the pipeline to be added to their fleet, which has depleted over the months. Confirming the same about the new AC buses running on CNG, a senior BEST official said, They will introduce 20 such buses in May.

These are most likely to be operational for connecting residential areas with railway stations in the western and eastern suburbs. The addition comes at a time when BESTs operational bus fleet stands at 3,328, which is in sharp contrast to its plans of plying 4,200-4,500 buses by mid-2023.

As for the diesel AC buses, they are looking for bus operators having a functional fleet, including schools and private offices. Previously, the BEST fleet had touched 3,800 buses, but gradually it started dwindling.

The past year has seen the cancellation of 288 buses on wet lease and the wait for 50 electric double-decker AC buses and 2,100 electric buses. These buses are lying unused in a dump yard out of Mumbai.

BESTs current fleet includes 1,582 buses on wet lease from private contractors and 1,646 owned by the undertaking. Last month, BEST had also withdrawn 400 buses after three fire incidents but were restored in 20 days.
Navi Mumbai: A service road parallel to the Palm Beach Road in Navi Mumbai has been facing stiff opposition from environmental activists, who claimed the work was in gross violation of environmental norms. Greens oppose Palm Beach service road work

On Friday, a team of officials from Mangrove cell visited the work site and sought from the contractor the mandatory permission from the high court to proceed with the work.

The Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) In September 2022 proposed the construction of a 465-metre service road from TS Chanakya junction to Plot no 7 of Neruls sector 58 at the cost of 3 crore. Prior to the commencement of the work, the civic body had sought clearance from the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCMA) on April 11, 2022, and from the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) on June 14.

The orders issued by both the authorities to the corporation were to acquire prior permission from the HC before commencing any kind of construction activity. However, the NMMC is working in complete violation of the orders and has not only dug up the entire stretch, but also broken a pre-existing culvert to build a new one, Sunil Agarwal, an environmental activist, said.

The environmentalists also claim that the project is in proximity to the CRZ zone. Even in the 244th minutes of the meeting of SEIAA, it is clearly mentioned that the reason for laying emphasis on acquiring permission from the HC is because the project site falls in CRZ1A 50-metre mangrove buffer zone. Hence, there can be no construction work done and therefore the ongoing illegal activity was communicated to the Mangrove department, Agarwal added.

The work is likely to benefit private developers alleged conservationist and member of the Mangrove cell, Dayannand Stalin. The primary beneficiary of the service road will be private developers and their grand residential projects. The construction is in gross violation of the Environment Protection Act and the state government will be apprised about the issue, Stalin said.

The conservationist also procured details of the order issued by the HC on April 24. The contractor was misleading the cell by stating that the bench is on vacation and therefore no order copy was available. I procured the copy online and found that no permission was granted, he said.

The NMMC, meanwhile, maintained that the work does not violate any norms or is not being done without the knowledge of the HC. Presently only the existing approach road to TS Chanakya is being asphalted as it was in bad condition and does not require any kind of permission. No other work is done in the CRZ zone as the corporation is awaiting order copy from the HC. The service road is a missing link, which was always existing both in CIDCO planning as well as in NMMC development plan and will help in decongestion of traffic on Palm Beach Road, city engineer Sanjay Desai said.
THANE: Sankalp Bhatkar, 31-year-old gym trainer, who stabbed his elderly parents over a property dispute on Thursday in Thane, was produced on Friday in the local court and was sent to a mental hospital for treatment, said a police official. HT Image

Sankalps mother Vinita Bhatkar, 66, a retired sales tax officer, succumbed to her injuries after he stabbed her multiple times, while his father Vilas Bhatkar, also a retired sales tax officer, was admitted to the intensive care unit of a local hospital, where he is being treated.

When HT contacted Saurabh Bhatkar, Sanklaps older brother, he refused to comment and said that he was in trauma after the incident.

Dr Netaji B Mulik, superintendent of the Thane Mental Hospital, told HT, Yes, Sankalp has been admitted in the prisoner ward today. In such cases, if the court feels that a person is under mental stress or duress, he is sent to the hospital.

Dr Mulik added, Our psychiatrists will carry out an evaluation over the next few days to determine if he needs psychiatric treatment. If he is found to be normal, he will be released and his normal trial under IPC sections could proceed. He has just been brought in today. So, we cannot comment on his condition,

Police sources said that they are collecting evidence from the crime spot and conducting a panchnama there. They have recorded the statements of the family members.

Sankalp had been having heated arguments with his parents over petty issues in the last two weeks, said a police officer.

The accused was angry for some reason and visited his parents house on Thursday. In a fit of rage, he took a knife and stabbed his mother multiple times in the abdomen and chest. Sankalp then stabbed his father in the chest, said the officer.

As per the police, after stabbing his parents, Sankalp went to three different places with the intention of harming his relatives; he first went to his older brothers house on Ghodbunder Road in Thane, then to his aunts house in Prabhadevi and then to his in-laws house in Nehru Nagar in Kurla.
BHIWANDI: A major fire broke out in a warehouse which stocked chemical products at Rahnal village in Bhiwandi on Friday afternoon. No casualties were reported in the incident. Fire at chemical godown in Bhiwandi

The incident took place at the Deshmukh warehouse in Rahnal Village in Bhiwandi around 3.15 pm on Friday.

An official from Bhiwandi Fire Station said, We received information about the fire around 3.15 pm. We formed a team of firemen personnel and along with two fire engines rushed to the spot. We are trying to douse the fire.

Chemicals were stored in drums in 10 godowns. The black smoke spread across the locality reduced visibility in the area, the official added.

According to a fire official, the chemical product has been burnt to ashes in the fire. The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained.

Rajesh Pawar, Chief, of Bhiwandi Fire Station, said, Four fire engines were called from Kalyan and Thane. We are trying to bring it under control. Once the fire is under control, the cooling operations will start.
Mumbai: Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray on Friday said since the Supreme Court had left the decision on the disqualification proceedings against 16 rebel MLAs, including chief minister Eknath Shinde, to assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar, it should be made within 15 days. Or else, the party would approach the apex court, he said. Mumbai, India - May 12, 2023 : Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray alongside party leader MLA Anil Parab addresses the media during a press conference, at Matoshree, Bandra (East), in Mumbai, India, on Friday, May 12, 2023. (Photo by Vijay Bate/HT Photo) (HT PHOTO)

The speaker is abroad now. Once he is back, he should take a decision on the disqualification within 15 days. If he fails to do that within the timeframe, we will again go to the SC. I also want to tell PM Narendra Modi that he should stop the insult to democracy and the country by checking the governments unconstitutional way of functioning, Thackeray said at a press conference.

Reacting to the demand, Shiv Sena MP Shrikant Shinde, son of Eknath Shinde, said the 15-day deadline aimed to prevent Sena (UBT)s remaining MLAs from crossing over to the other faction.

A lot of their MLAs are in touch with us and want to switch sides. Setting a deadline for the speaker is primarily to keep their flock together, he said while addressing a press conference at party headquarters - Balasaheb Bhavan.

Thackeray also dared the Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government to step down and face elections. The SC has given its verdict, but the final decision is in peoples court. Now its time to seek peoples mandate. The government has no moral ground to stay in power.

To this, MP Shinde said Thackerays remarks are mere attempts to garner sympathy. The Supreme Court rejected six of the eight prayers made by the Thackeray faction, but they are trying to mislead people by pretending that the result is in their favour, and spreading false and incorrect information.

The Sena (UBT) chief also demanded action against former governor B S Koshyari who had been pulled up by the SC for calling the floor test of MVA government without a valid reason.

Focus on ECI case

Meanwhile, the Thackeray faction is preparing its arguments before the SC in another case  its petition challenging the decision of the Election Commission of India (ECI) to recognise the Shinde faction as the real Shiv Sena and allocating the bow and arrow symbol to it.

As of now, as per the SC decision, we can continue with Shiv Sena (UBT) and the symbol of flaming torch. The top court has made clear in its verdict that just the legislature-parliamentary party is not the real political party. So, it strengthens our claim on Shiv Sena and we will focus on the petition challenging the ECI order, Sena (UBT) MLA Anil Parab said.
The fate of 1,837 candidates contesting to the nine local bodies of Ghaziabad district, currently sealed in electronic voting machines (EVMs) and ballot boxes, will be decided on Saturday when the counting of votes will take place at three locations, said district election officials. A UP police personnel guarding the EVM machine and ballot paper ballot box outside the strong room and counting station at Anaj Mandi in Ghaziabad. (Sakib Alli/HT Photo)

On the polling day on May 11, only 1,175,989 of 2,583,546 registered voters cast their vote in the district. The turnout was especially dismal in urban segments and relatively better in rural segments.

The officials on Friday said counting for the Ghaziabad municipal corporation, and Khoda and Dasna nagar palikas will take place at Govindpuram grain market while that of Patla, Niwari, Faridnagar, Modinagar and Muradnagar local bodies will take place at the centre in Modinagar. The lone counting centre in Loni will count the votes for the Loni Nagar Palika.

All arrangements have been made at the three counting locations and proper police and administrative presence has been ensured. We have also placed a network of CCTV cameras at the counting centres for transparency. It is expected that the results will start arriving by afternoon and the process may extend till evening, said Vipin Kumar, additional district magistrate and nodal officer for local bodies.

The counting for 99 councillor seats and one seat of the city mayor will start Saturday morning. One seat, that of ward 89, has already been declared elected as unopposed. In all, we will have about 38-39 rounds of counting and the winning/losing position will start to emerge after 25-30 rounds, said Vivek Srivastava, additional district magistrate and returning officer for corporations mayor election.

The coveted post of the mayor has been held consecutively by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ever since the municipal board was updated to the status of a corporation in 1994.

In 2017, 13 candidates contested for the post of city mayor and BJP candidate Asha Sharma trounced her nearest candidate, Congresss Dolly Sharma by a margin of 163,675 votes.

We estimate that our mayor candidate will win by a record margin of about 2-2.5 lakh votes and the number of councillor seats in the corporation will be more than 70 this time. However, it is disheartening to see that many of our own members (28 were expelled by the party two days ago) are contesting against BJP candidates, said Ashu Verma, campaign coordinator of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

These elections, there are 12 candidates contesting the mayoral seat which has yet again been reserved for women.

In 2017, the Ghaziabad municipal corporation had 11 independent councillors, 56 BJP councillors, 15 Congress councillors, five Samajwadi Party councillors and 13 Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) councillors.

We are expecting to make inroads in the corporation and the other local bodies this time. We are also expecting that our vote share will also increase substantially, said Sachin Sharma, district president, Aam Aadmi Party.

The chairperson seat in the four nagar palikas of Khoda, Modinagar, Muradnagar and Loni were won by the BJP in 2017, but the party could not secure any of the four chairperson seats of the four nagar panchayats.

We are hopeful of winning the mayor seat and are also expecting to win councillor seats in the corporation and the other local bodies. Let us see how the results unfold, said Bijender Yadav, district president of the Congress.

The nagar panchayat chairperson seats of Faridnagar and Niwari were won by independent candidates while the BSP won the seat in Patla and the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) candidate won the Dasna seat.

The voting turnout has been high in rural segments and voters in rural areas generally vote for a candidate on the basis of several factors, including caste, personal image of the candidate and even his/her presence in social life. They tend to ignore parties in local elections, said KK Sharma, associate professor (history) from CCS University, Meerut.

So, it is expected that more independent candidates may secure seats this time. Due to low turnout in urban segments, it is estimated that the winning margin of candidates will be less in the Ghaziabad municipal corporation, he said.

These elections, the district recorded an overall polling percentage of 45.52. The individual voter turnout was 41.43% in the municipal corporation, 44% in Khoda, 70.42% in Muradnagar, 55% in Modinagar, 47.16% in Loni, 65.37% in Dasna, 72.37% in Niwari, 73.1% in Patla and 82.18% in Faridnagar.

The overall turnout in 2017 was 46.18% with 41.74% in Ghaziabad municipal corporation, 50.68% in Khoda, 65.19% in Muradnagar, 59.39% in Modinagar, 49.22% in Loni, 64.58% in Dasna, 74.96% in Niwari, 75.33% in Patla and 72.96% in Faridnagar.

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Students of Gautam Budh Nagar and Ghaziabad performed well in the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) class 10 and 12 exams, the results of which were announced on Friday. While many of them scored as high as 99.40% and 99.8%, the overall pass percentage in both districts fell when compared to last year when exams were conducted in two parts due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The students of Delhi Public school in Noida Sector 30, celebrates after CBSE announced the results of Class 10 and 12 board examinations on Friday. (Sunil Ghosh/HT Photo)

In the Noida region, which includes Gautam Budh Nagar as well as Ghaziabad, and 16 other nearby districts, the pass percentage for class 12 was 80.36%, which was third from last across the country. The region scored a pass percentage of 92.50% for class 10, which put it in the 10th position, all India.

Piyush Sharma, the regional director of CBSE, Noida, said the pass percentage for class 12 students in Gautam Budh Nagar was 86.78%, and 84.42% in Ghaziabad.

In Gautam Budh Nagar, 18,225 students appeared for the exam, of whom 15,815 cleared the exams. In Ghaziabad, 19,826 students sat for the exams,of whom 16,738 passed the boards. Last year, the pass rates for class 12 in Gautam Budh Nagar and Ghaziabad were 91.53% and 92.02%, respectively.

Meanwhile, the pass percentage for class 10 was 93.70% in Gautam Budh Nagar and 93.12% in Ghaziabad.

The total number of class 10 students who appeared in Gautam Budh Nagar was 24,013 of whom 22,500 passed while in Ghaziabad, 23,572 students appeared for the exams of whom 21,951 cleared the exams, Sharma said.

Renu Singh, principal, Amity International School, Noida, and district coordinator for CBSE, said there was a drop in individual scores this time.

Singh added that since Delhi University has introduced entrance exams for admission to undergraduate courses, motivation among students to score high in class 12 was less.

She said, Students tend to focus more on entrance exams rather than CBSE board exams which could explain the low scores this time.

Ishmit Kaur, a class 12 student of Somerville School, Noida, secured 99.4% marks and ranked among the top 10 in the Noida region.

In Gautam Budh Nagar, the class 10 pass percentage was 93.70% while in Ghaziabad, it was 93.12%.

Rachit Jain of Amity International School, Noida, scored 99.8% marks in class 10 board exams, and Anahad Rakhra of DPS Noida scored 99.2%.

At Shiv Nadar School, Noida, Siddhant Bembey scored 98.2% in class 12 board exams.

Shireen Bindru of class 12, a student of Vishwa Bharati School, secured 99% marks. She said, I got a full 100 in four subjects and 95 in one subject. I studied for six hours during the exam but also took out two hours daily for sport. I want to become an IAS officer going forward.

Tanushree Khandelwal, a student at DPS Greater Noida, scored 99.40% marks in class 12. Her principal Sandhiya Awasthi said, The school is very proud of the achievements of our students. This was the first time since the Covid pandemic that the board exams were held in person at schools, instead of online or in hybrid mode. We ensured that students were handheld and given proper guidance to fare well.

Shreya Arora, a student of class 10 at DPS Noida, scored 99. 4% in the board exams.

In Ghaziabad, Asmi Basak of Silverline Prestige School scored 97% in class 12, and the school achieved an impressive overall result with 50% of its students securing distinction (above 75% marks) and 82% securing first class (above 60%).

Naman Jain, director (development), Silverline Prestige School, Ghaziabad, said, Asmi Basak secured the top position in the PCM (physics/chemistry/maths) stream with an impressive score of 97%. Her dedication and hard work have truly paid off, and she is an inspiration to all our students.

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Workers of the Hindu Yuva Vahini (HYV) will carry out a drive to promote the movie The Kerala Story in four districts, including Varanasi, and appeal the residents to watch it. Hindu Yuva Vahini workers at a theatre in Varanasi. (HT Photo)

On Friday, HYV divisional coordinator Ambarish Singh Bhola along with Mahamandaleshwar Santosh Das of Satua Baba, Ramlochan Das Maharaj, Awadh Kishore Das Maharaj, Ashish of Divya Prem Seva Mission and several office bearers of Hindu Yuva Vahini watched the movie at a multiplex in Sigra area here.

It is a very good movie and everyone should watch it. We will carry out a campaign in Varanasi, Chandauli, Ghazipur and Jaunpur. HYV members will hold meeting with the locals in villages and will appeal them to watch the movie, said Bhola.

He said that the HYV workers along with their acquaintances will watch the movie in these four districts so that each one of them may know about the issue around which the film revolves.
Odisha assembly speaker Bikram Keshari Arukha and two other state ministers resigned on Friday. Arukha was appointed Speaker in June last year. (Bikram Keshari Arukha | Facebook)

This development comes in wake of speculations that chief minister Naveen Patnaik is contemplating a reshuffle of his cabinet.

The two ministers of state who resigned are Samir Ranjan Dash (School and Mass Education) and Srikant Sahu (Labour).

Also Read: BJD to go solo in 2024, wont be a part of Opposition front, says Naveen Patnaik

After submitting his resignation letter, Arukha cited personal reasons as grounds for resignation.

Arukha, who was appointed Speaker in June last year, said, I have always carried out every responsibility assigned to me by the party and will continue to do so in the future. I will discharge every responsibility assigned to me by the party or in the government. I have sent my resignation to the Deputy Speaker.

After resigning, both Dash and Sahu said they will shoulder whatever responsibilities the party gave them.

CM Patnaik is currently in the national Capital and will return to his state on Sunday.

In June last year, Patnaik had effected a major reshuffle in the cabinet after all the 20 ministers had resigned.

In the last reshuffle, ministers Dibya Shankar Mishra, Arun Sahoo and Pratap Jena were axed from the cabinet.
A day after the Supreme Court ordered respite to Eknath Shinde government, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) leaders, including Ajit Pawar and Nana Patole, indulged in blame game. Pawar blamed Congress leader Nana Patole of resigning without consulting the then CM Uddhav Thackeray saying it was announced only after he resigned. (HT FILE)

Speaking in Pune on Friday, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) member and Leader of Opposition Ajit Pawar said that disqualification of 16 MLAs following the upheaval in the undivided Shiv Sena last year could have been effectively dealt with had the MVA moved swiftly after the resignation of Nana Patole as the Speaker of Maharashtra Assembly.

Pawar blamed Congress leader Nana Patole of resigning without consulting the then CM Uddhav Thackeray saying it was announced only after he resigned.

I am not blaming any party of person, but it was a blunder of MVA not to fill the speakers post for a long time. The deputy speaker managed the house during this period. If the speaker had not resigned, he would have had the power to disqualify the first 16 rebel MLAs. There has been a previous case of Speaker Arun Gujrati suspending six MLAs who were planning to rebel, he said.

Responding to Pawars allegations, Patole while speaking in Delhi said, Ajit Pawar is lying and the then CM Uddhav Thackeray was informed before tendering resignation.

The senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader said that political parties should now move ahead after the Supreme Courts decision.

On the SC saying that Bhagat Singh Koshyaris decision as the then governor to order a floor test for Thackeray within 24 hours was not in accordance with the law, Pawar said, The person holding the post should work accordingly to the Constitution and not as per political background.
Having scored over 94% in the CBSE class 12 exam, Shivani Verma has now set her heart on pursuing psychology in higher studies. She, however, is a little disappointed with her performance in history and economics despite scoring over 90 in every subject. CBSE class 12th result 2023: Daughter of domestic help beat odds to score 94%

Shivani Verma, the daughter of a domestic help mother and a daily wager father, defied all odds by scoring 94.4% in the exam, the result of which was declared on Friday.

I am very happy with my overall score. Although I feel I couldve done better in economics and history, she said. Shivani scored 98 in psychology, 97 in political science, 96 in English, 91 in history and 90 in economics. She looks forward to pursuing Bachelor of Arts from either the University of Lucknow or the National P.G. College in the city with psychology and history as her major subjects and English minor.

Shivani was born and brought up in Lucknow after her parents, Madhuri Devi and Bal Singh, quit farming to move to Lucknow from an Unnao village in search of a better future.

Initially enrolled in the Prerna Girls School for underprivileged girl students, which is run by Study Hall Educational Foundation (SHEF), she was later transferred to a prominent school of the same organisation because of her excellent academic history. The foundation, in 2009, also offered her a scholarship.

My journey has been turbulent. If it wasnt for Urvashi aunty (Urvashi Sahni, SHEF founder and CEO) ... At Study Hall I got high-quality education that was a game-changer for me. I am very grateful to all my teachers, my parents and my friends.

Her financial background motivates Shivani to only do better in her studies. Her family, however, suffered another setback a few years ago when they had to relocate back to their village during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Shivani, who is now eligible for Vahani Scholarship for which she was already shortlisted, added: I have always been fascinated by human psychology and want to become a psychologist. I also want to be able to help people who are in a similar situation as me. The only eligibility prerequisite for the scholarship, which will now sponsor her education, was that she scores over 85% in class 12.

Meenakshi Bahadur, the principal of Study Hall, called Shivani the schools shining star.
The much-awaited Episode #1062 of One Piece has been pushed back for one week, leaving fans of the franchise disappointed. Epic Showdown in One Piece Episode #1062: Zoro vs. King. (Image Credit: Toei Animation)

However, the fans were treated to a special recap of the intense fight between Zoro and King in its place. The regular schedule is set to resume shortly, and the upcoming episode promises to reveal the thrilling conclusion of this epic showdown.

What time One Piece Episode #1062 will premiere?.

Get ready, One Piece fans, Straw Hat crews are here! Episode #1062 is just around the corner, and you won't want to miss it.

The highly anticipated episode of the pirate anime will be available on Crunchyroll with OG Japanese audio and English subtitles. If you prefer the dubbed English version, it's currently only available on Funimation, but may come to Crunchyroll in the future.

The #1062 is set to air in Japan on Sunday, May 21 at 9:30 am JST, and will be simulcast on Crunchyroll just an hour and thirty minutes later. That means United States fans can tune in on Saturday, May 20 at 7:00 pm PT, 9:00 pm CT, and 10:00 pm EDT.

Audiences in the UK can catch the episode at 3:00 am (Sunday) British Summer Time.

Notably, Crunchyroll subscribers will have access to the episode as soon as it's available, while the English dub version will be released on Funimation at a later date.

Speculation for One Piece Episode #1062

Zoro's realization of the deep-rooted connection between Enma, his birthplace Shimotsuki Village, and the nation of Wano has led him to control Kozuki Oden's legendary sword. But, even with Enma in his grasp, he is still unable to defeat King, Kaido's fearsome second-in-command and the last of the formidable Lunarian race.

To emerge as the conqueror, Zoro must master Conqueror's Haki, a rare ability possessed only by a select few, including his captain, Luffy. The outcome of this epic clash between Zoro and King will pave the way for one of the most highly anticipated moments in the series as attention shifts to Luffy's fight against Kaido.

Fans must not miss the conclusion of Zoro's battle in episode #1062 of One Piece, airing on May 20.

A quick Recap

The latest episode of the Straw Hat crew saga, #1061, delivered an epic conclusion to Sanji's intense battle against Queen. After facing his Germa heritage, Sanji used his enhanced abilities to unleash an incredible attack known as 'Ifrit Jambe'. The devastating power of this technique was too much for Queen to handle, sending him flying off Onigashima.

ALSO READ| | One Piece: 6 strongest Marine Admirals who mayhem the way of water

Although several differences between anime and manga exist, the creators took lots of creative liberty, the episode was a thrilling watch and lives up to the high standard set by the series.
Deepika Padukone recently appeared on the cover of Time magazine. During the interview for the same, the actor got a surprise visit from actor husband Ranveer Singh and simply called it a cosmic coincidence. Ranveer said he was shooting next door and just thought of paying her a surprise visit. They also kissed as he greeted her on his arrival and as he left after the short appearance. Also read: Deepika Padukone asks couples to learn from older generation about marriage: 'Patience is number one' Ranveer Singh paid a surprise visit to Deepika Padukone during her interview.

The video from Ranveer's surprise visit shows Deepika being asked a question about marriage and soon after the former lands up on the site. He just wishes her Have a great day and starts to leave but Deepika informs him about how his arrival coincided with the question about marriage. He says, what a cosmic thing to have happened. As Deepika asks the interviewer to continue, she is asked about for how long they have been married. The couple have been married for 4.5 years but Ranveer added that they have together for 10-11 years. As they talk about it, they also hold hands and Deepika even quips, what are we doing? to which Ranveer replies, I just came to say hi.

Talking about their marriage, Deepika says, "I love spending time, my husband and I. I married my best friend. I think the fact that we are just so goofy with each other. I can feel like absolutely myself, my most vulnerable, my most clumsy, my most expressive. Ya, we have known each other now 10 years almost, so.its my happy place.

Few months back, there were rumours of the couple going through a rough patch in their marriage but none of them spoke about it. They simply rubbished the rumours with their public appearances together.

Ranveer and Deepika tied the knot in a secret wedding ceremony at Lake Como, Italy in November, 2018. They celebrated it with two receptions, one in Bengaluru and another in Mumbai.

Deepika is currently working on Project K with Prabhas and Fighter with Hrithik Roshan. Ranveer will now be seen alongside Alia Bhatt in Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani.

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An espionage thriller, IB 71 chronicles Indias top-secret mission that is said to have aided Indias victory in the 1971 India-Pakistan war. Starring Vidyut Jammwal and Anupam Kher in pivotal roles, the film starts off on a high note, but soon goes off track. With visuals, voice over, text captions and flashbacks, theres a lot happening for one to understand the exact timeline of the film. Until the interval, I genuinely couldnt figure what the film was trying to show or say. Directed by Sankalp Reddy, IB 71 in the first half, seemed nothing but an attempt to take us on a ride, play some riddles and leave us all confused without any answers. But thankfully, the second half picks up, pieces of puzzles start to come together and it all made some sense. Was it too little, too late? Somewhat, yes. IB 71 movie review: Vidyut Jammwal gives his punches and kicks a slight rest to play a spy.

IB 71 starts with Pakistan preparing for yet another war after being defeated in 1948 and 1965, and this time from the Eastern front in alliance with China. Upon receiving vital information about this impending attack, Intelligence Bureau Chief Avasti (Kher), along with his top agent Dev (Jammwal), comes up with a plan to save the nation without firing a single bullet or letting the neighbouring country get the slightest hint about it. As mobilizing the army at a short notice appears to be a tough task, they suggest blocking of the air space to prevent Pakistan and China from attacking India. Dev is assigned this task and how he accomplishes this confidential mission in the next 10 days, along with 30 other undercover agents is what the film shows in the second half.

Crisp editing makes for an easier watch

With a runtime of a little less than two hours, the film is tightly edited and that length, perhaps, is the only good part about it. The story doesnt seem drag, stays to the point and ends before it turns into a snooze fest. Reddy, who has earlier helmed Ghazi Attack, has the intent right behind telling this untold story based on true events, but somewhere he loses focus and goes all over the place.

Aditya Shastris story is intriguing and holds a lot of potential to keep you hooked. What doesnt really work is the screenplay for which six people are credited -- Sankalp Reddy, Arjun Varma, E. Vasudeva Reddy, Arun Bhimavarapu, Gargee Singh and Abhimanyu Srivastava. For the longest time, they looked like disjoined and scattered pieces of a puzzle. Even when the story is picking pace, there is very little or no connect with how it unfolds for audiences to understand. The background music gets a bit too loud at places, though cinematography in certain scenes elevates the whole experience, especially the ones involving the plane.

Anupam Kher in a still from IB 17.

What left me utterly surprised, and somewhat impressed, is that despite being based on such a sensitive and serious subject, there is quite a lot of subtle humour peppered across the film. I mean, its not common to see people laughing out loud while watching spy thrillers, but some one-liners and punches make it hard to control that laughter. Full credit goes to dialogues by Junaid Wasi and Sahar Quaze.

Vidyut Jammwal leaves you confused

Jammwal delivers a decent performance and he looks quite unlike his earlier big screen outings. You are used to seeing an actor do high-octane and gravity-defying action on screen, and suddenly he underplays all that and turns into a one-dimensional character that has nothing larger-than-life about himself, it can leave many confused. As an IB agent, his body language and mannerisms are on-point and he aces the few hand combat scenes that are there in the film. Kher delivers a restrained performance where he steps back and let the story be in forefront. As the chief of intelligence bureau, he commands authority and a strong screen presence, and that very well comes out in the scenes we see him in. Yes, its for very limited time Kher appears in the film, but then the story is more about the mission and less about the people behind it. Vishal Jethwa as Qasim Qureshi, a brainwashed youth, is in his element. He may not be as impressive as he was in his debut outing Mardaani 2, or as convincing as his last, Salaam Venky, yet he manages to make his presence felt, and trigger a few laughs with the way his character has been written.

Watch IB 71 in theatres to witness yet another untold story of heroes who seldom get spoken or written about in history books. It may not give you an adrenaline rush but will give some goosebumps towards the climax that is high on patriotic flavour.
On International Nurses Day on Friday, actor Madhuri Dixit singled out the caregivers, who took care of her late mother, Snehlata Dixit and treated her like family. The actor shared pictures of two of the nurses, Elsie and Rekha who looked after her mother before her death in March. (Also read: Madhuri Dixit welcomes Tim Cook with Vada Pao in Mumbai, he reacts it was delicious) Madhuri Dixit posted a note of gratitude to her late mother's caregivers.

On Twitter, Madhuri wrote, "Happy Nurse Day, sisters Elsie and Rekha. Thank you so much for offering your services with kindness and compassion and taking such good care of my mother, who you treated like your own family. We are so grateful for your support." She posted two pictures of the nurses with her mother. In the first picture, her mother and the nurse are jointly holding a bouquet of red roses. Snehlata is standing next to a walker for support. In the second photo, the nurse and Snehlata are taking a selfie.

Fans commented on the actor's post and commended her for thanking the nurses. One fan shared, "This is truly beautiful. You're the nation's daughter Madhuri." Another added, "Gratitude is the highest quality in a human being you are a very good person madhuri as an actress." Yet another said, "May the Lord bless your mother's soul...thanks to the nurses for doing their job professionally."

Madhuri's mother died on March 11 at age 90. Madhuri and her husband Dr Shriram Nene released a statement after her death which read, "Our beloved Aai (mother), Snehalata, passed away peacefully this morning surrounded by her loved ones." Madhuri's father Shankar Dixit had passed away at the age of 91 in 2013.

Afterwards, Madhuri penned an emotional note for her mother on Instagram. She shared, "Woke up this morning to find Aais room empty. It feels surreal. She taught us to embrace and celebrate life. She gave so much to so many people. We will miss her dearly but she will live on in our memories. Her wit, positivity and grace were infectious. We will celebrate her life together through our memories. Om shanti om.

The actor and Shriram had also hosted a prayer meet in Mumbai a week after her death. Several members of the industry from Subhash Ghai, Vidya Balan, Siddharth Roy Kapur, Jackie Shroff to Sooraj Barjatya had attended to offer their condolences to the family.

Madhuri was last seen in the Prime Video film Maja Ma which was released last year.

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Actor Manoj Bajpayee, who plays a lawyer fighting against an influential godman accused of sexually abusing a minor girl in Sirf Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hai, says being sensitive towards the victim was their foremost responsibility while making the true-life inspired courtroom drama. The makers of the film were sent a legal notice by self-styled godman Asaram, sentenced to life for sexually exploiting a minor, and the Sant Shri Asaramji Ashram Charitable Trust alleging that the trailer of the film is "highly objectionable and defamatory". Also read: Manoj Bajpayee's Sirf Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hai gets legal notice from Asaram Bapu, film producer responds Manoj Bajpayee in a still from Sirf Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hai.

When asked about the legal notice, Bajpayee said he is not the right person to comment on the issue, but the film, directed by Apoorv Singh Karki and written by Deepak Kingrani, is not based on "just one story".

"The case is already in the public domain and the verdict is out... We have to be truthful to all those incidents that have happened. Also in our film, the most important thing is how well we treat the victim," Bajpayee told PTI in an interview.

The Family Man star said since the actor playing the victim was also a minor, they had to be careful in how they approached the story. "We had to be very sensitive to the girl who gathered courage to fight the big ones. And for five years give testimony and evidence, and say her side of the story without fearing humiliation, without fearing for her life... Also, we had to be sensitive not only to the character but also the actor who is playing the role. She herself is 15-16 years old, and she has given a remarkable performance," the actor added.

One of the film's producers Asif Sheikh said their film is a biopic on P C Solanki, prosecution counsel for the victim in the Asaram case. Bajpayee said he was drawn to the "ordinariness" of his character in the movie.

"He is not an intense person, but the job that he takes up is very intense. It requires a lot of courage, fearlessness. The risk he's taking can actually cost his life but he is ready to face it. Without any intensity and without any anger," the 54-year-old added.

The role, Bajpayee said, put all his skills and learnings from theatre to test. "These kinds of roles and courtroom dramas actually test all you have learned over the years in theater. It tests your skill in speech, with all the monologues," he said.

The film is produced by Vinod Bhanushalis Bhanushali Studios Limited, Zee Studios and Suparn S Varma. It will start streaming on ZEE5 from May 23.

Bajpayee said he just wants the audiences to like the team's effort. "We have made a good film. I just want the audience to watch the film. I am very confident that they are going to fall in love with this," he said.
Actor Preity Zinta is making the most of her time in the hills with her family. She is currently in Shimla with her husband Gene Goodenough, and their kids Jai and Gia. On Friday, the actor posted pictures from her stay as she tried her hand at using a traditional chulha (oven) used in the hills. Also read: Preity Zinta, husband Gene Goodenough take kids Jai and Gia to Hateshwari Mata temple in Shimla Preity Zinta shared photos of herself lighting a traditional chulha at home.

The photo featured Preity decked up in a salwar suit. She was also wearing a sweater and had her head covered with a scarf. In the photos, she was seen next to the chulha while trying to light the fire and cook.

Sharing the photo, the actor wrote in the caption, Re living old memories & making new ones. All the action revolves around the kitchen in pahadi homes. Here Im trying to light the fire & bring the rarely used old school chulha to life.

Soon after she shared the pictures, fans extended love for her simplicity. One of them wrote in the comment section, This is so so true maam ... Everything revolves around the kitchen in pahadi homes ... It's so good to see you like this... You have always taken pride in your roots wherever in the world you go ma'am That makes us so proud. And one more thing for me to be proud of is being your super junior from CJM Shimla. We look up to you. This is amazing, brings back the golden memories of the golden years. I lived some of those days, added another fan.

Preity was born in Shimla district. She lives in the US and recently returned to India during the Indian Premier League season. She and her family visited the Hateshwari Mata temple in Shimla.

Sharing a post about the same on Twitter, Preity wrote, When I was a little girl I often visited the Hateshwari Mata temple in Hatkoti, Shimla - Himachal Pradesh. This temple has played a big role in my childhood & Ive always felt very connected to it. Now that Im a mother its only natural that the first temple my kids visited was this incredible & ancient temple. Heres a sneak peek of our visit. Im sure Jai & Gia will not remember this trip so we will have to come back again because mother will call me again. Jai Ma Durga - Jai Mahisasurmardini. If any of you get a chance to visit do not miss it. Its magical, mysterious & stunning beautiful & yes you can thank me later.

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Ranveer Singh not only crashed Deepika Padukones Time magazine interview, kissed her and left, but also showered love on her magazine cover in a new post. The actor took to Instagram on Friday and said he was proud of his 'babygirl' Deepika as he shared pictures from her recent cover photoshoot for Time magazine. Also read: Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh share kisses, hold hands in rare PDA during her interview Ranveer Singh is proud of Deepika Padukone's Time magazine cover.

Along with Deepika's photos, Ranveer Singh wrote, "World at your feet! Proud of you, babygirl! (kissing face emoji)." Fans were also feeling their love. One commented on Ranveer's post, "Cuties." Another one wrote, "Lucky man." A fan also commented, "You made my day Ranveer." An Instagram user also wrote, "What else can a wife ask for from the most supportive husband."

Earlier, Ranveer had also taken to Instagram Stories to share Deepika's Time magazine cover. Along with it, he wrote, Iconic. Re-sharing which, Deepika said on Instagram Stories, My happy place...

Here's how Deepika Padukone reacted to Ranveer Singh calling her Time cover 'iconic'.

After Deepika unveiled her latest magazine cover on Thursday, Time too shared a video from her interview, in which Ranveer Singh had dropped in during the interview and surprised Deepika. The video was shared on Instagram; in it, as Deepika posed in front of the camera, Ranveer stopped by at the interview venue to surprise her. The two exchanged kisses and held hands as Deepika giggled. Many on social media have reacted to their PDA.

Deepika and Ranveer married in an intimate wedding at Lake Como, Italy, in 2018. They had two wedding ceremonies  a Konkani one, and a Sikh Anand Karaj. In her Time magazine interview, Deepika also spoke about marriages today, and explained that it was important to acknowledge that every couple's journey was unique.

Speaking about the one thing that most relationships lack today, Deepika had said, I think not just my parents but that entire generation, I think patience is probably one of the main things that I feel like couples today  I sound like some love guru  but I feel like there's a lack of patience and I think that that's something that we can all learn from, not just Ranveer and I from our parents but I think more couples like us can learn from the generation before us. Lots of other things but patience is the number one."

Deepika was last seen in Pathaan. She is now working on her next, Fighter, another action film with Siddharth Anand. Fighter will mark Deepika's first film with Hrithik Roshan. Ranveer will soon be seen with Alia Bhatt in Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani. The Karan Johar-directorial will be released on July 28.

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Robert De Niro has shared the first glimpse of his little girl to the world. The actor, who announced earlier this week that he had welcomed his seventh baby with girlfriend Tiffany Chen, announced the name and shared a picture of his newborn on a television show. (Also read: Robert De Niro welcomes seventh child at age 79) Robert De Niro has shared the first picture of his newborn daughter.(REUTERS)

Fans were surprised to know that Robert De Niro has become a father again, when he dropped the news during an interview for his upcoming movie About a Father a few days ago. The 79-year-old was sharing his thoughts on parenting, stating that although he doesn't like having to discipline his children, sometimes it's necessary.

Now the Raging Bull actor shared the first details of his newborn on CBS Mornings. The actor has welcomed daughter Gia Virginia Chen De Niro with his girlfriend Tiffany Chen on April 6. The baby girl weighed 8 lbs (around 3.6kh) after birth. In the small clip that was shared on Twitter by the morning television show, the actor also revealed to the interviewer, This baby is planned. The decision to have the baby was made from both sides and they are "over the moon" with the arrival of their daughter.

The Academy Award-winning actor is a father to six children. He shares daughter Drena, 51, and son Raphael, 46, with his first wife, Diahnne Abbott. In 1995, he welcomed twin sons Julian and Aaron, 27, with his former girlfriend, model, and actor Toukie Smith. De Niro also has a son Elliot, 24, and a daughter Helen Grace, 11, with his ex-wife, Grace Hightower.

Robert first met Tiffany Chen during the shooting of the film The Intern, shortly after which rumours about their relationship started to circulate after both of them were spotted together on a romantic vacation in the south of France in 2021.Robert is known for his acclaimed performances on-screen in films like Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, The Godfather Part II, and The Irishman to name a few.

Reflecting upon his fatherhood and the subject of parenthood, the actor told ET Canada, I mean, theres no way around it with kids. I dont like to have to lay down the law and stuff like that. But, [sometimes] you just have no choice. And any parent, I think, would say the same thing. You always want to do the right thing by the children and give them the benefit of the doubt but sometimes you cant.

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Telugu actor Bellamkonda Sai Sreenivas, is all set to make his Bollywood debut with the Hindi remake of Prabhas-SS Rajamouli's Chathrapathi. While the movie is about to hit theatres on Friday, the rising star of Telugu cinema is already in love with Hindi cinema. Also read: Bellamkonda Sreenivas blows kisses, folds hands as he gets grand welcome by fans at Hyderabad airport. Watch Bellamkonda Sai Sreenivas plays the lead in Chathrapathi.

In an exclusive conversation with ANI, Sreenivas opened up about his thoughts on working in a Hindi movie, and said, "The love I had got from the Hindi audience, as my Telugu movies which got dubbed in Hindi got amazing views and I wanted to thank them in the right way by giving them a great film, so our whole team tried and worked hard. And I thought Hindi cinema is something any actor will dream about because if you wish to reach every corner then Hindi cinema is the only way."

Bellamkunda, who also won the best male debut award for his Telugu film in 2015, also commented on his expectations from the film. "I definitely want one more. So I got the best debut Filmfare in 2015 for my Telugu film and again in 2023 I am very sure that I will get the best debut film fare again for the film Chatarpathi," he said.

As the film serves a lot of action, Bellamkunda expressed how action has to be mixed with emotions in order to deliver a wonderful experience to the audience. He said, "Whenever content merges, action needs emotions. As just for the sake of action it isn't fun to do a project. As if an emotion is there then there is action, then it gets elevated. So I always believe in that as we have a high-emotion film and it is going to be great."

"I think the content of the film is something which deserves to be delivered in the biggest way possible. It's a great film, it's great content and I am sure when you see this film you will definitely enjoy it and the audience will think that it is 'paise wasool' (worth the money)," Shreenivas added when questioned about his reaction on the script of the movie.

Looking confident for his Bollywood journey, he also mentioned the fact that every Telugu movie star has been successful in the industry, so he will continue the trend.

Sreenivas is known for his performances in films like Sita, Alludu Adhurs, Kavacham and many more. Chatrapathi tells the story of a protagonist who rose against oppression to become a saviour of immigrants that suffered massive exploitation. It also stars actor Bhagyashree, Sharad Kelkar, Sahil Vaid, Amit Nair, Rajendra Gupta, and Shivam Patil, among others.

On his experience of working in the film, Sreenivas Bellamkonda earlier said, "I'm happy to make my Bollywood debut with a special film like Chatrapathi which is a highly thrilling and engaging mass action entertainer. Every moment working on this film was as exciting as it was challenging and we are happy to finally present it to audiences across India."

The film is an official Hindi remake of a Telugu film with the same title, which was helmed by the RRR director SS Rajamouli and starred Prabhas and Shriya Saran in lead roles.

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"The Real Housewives of Miami" star Guerdy Abraira has opened up about her recent diagnosis of breast cancer, sharing her journey with fans and calling for empowerment as she prepares for treatment. The 45-year-old reality star revealed that she received the news while on vacation, causing her to pause and process the life-altering diagnosis. The Real Housewives of Miami star Guerdy Abraira has opened up about her recent diagnosis of breast cancer.

Also read | In an emotional Instagram post, Abraira expressed her gratitude for the support she has received from her fans and the caring gestures they have extended during this challenging time. Acknowledging the intensity of the upcoming surgery and treatment plan, she emphasized that she seeks empowerment rather than pity from her followers.

Using her trademark phrase, Abraira vowed to "guerdyfy" her cancer, drawing inspiration from her own resilience and determination in the face of adversity. She encouraged her fans to adopt a positive outlook and reminded them of the importance of regular health checks, emphasizing that early detection played a crucial role in her case.

Married to Russell Abraira since 2002, Guerdy Abraira is a mother of two, with Liam, 9, and Miles, 14, by her side throughout her battle. Despite the fear that accompanies a cancer diagnosis, Abraira expressed gratitude for the love and support she receives from her loved ones, emphasizing the strength and motivation it provides.

Also read | Podcast feud takes a backseat as Teddi Mellencamp shines light on skin cancer

As she embarks on this challenging journey, Abraira's message serves as a reminder to prioritize health and seek regular check-ups. Her courage and determination in the face of adversity continue to inspire her fans as they rally behind her during this difficult time.
Jennifer Mistry Bansiwal has confirmed that she quit the show in March and alleged that producers Sohil Ramani and Asit Modi sexually assaulted her. She alleged that she had been such actions for a long time but endured them, hoping for improvement with time. (Also read: Taarak Mehta ka Ooltah Chashmah makers to take legal action against Jennifer Mistry) Jennifer Mistry Bansiwal played the role of Roshan Sodhi in Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah.

After Disha Vakani and Shailesh Lodha, she is the latest among the team of Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah , which has been running for more than a decade, to speak against the makers.

Insisting that Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah gave her all the money, name and popularity that she enjoys today, Jennifer told ETimes that she believes people must know whatever she has gone through. "There have been multiple incidents when he (Asit) has tried to flirt with me and made sexual advancesThere was also one incident when he called me 'sexy' and pulled my cheeks. I have filed a case of sexual harassment against Asit Kumarr Modi, Sohail Ramani and Jatin Bajaj."

Jennifer added, Every person on Taarak Mehta is a bonded labourer. There have been many incidents that have happened in the past and I let go, thinking that things will change. Khoon ka ghoont peekar Ive ignored. Like, during pregnancy, I didnt want to leave the show, but they sacked me because Gurucharan Singh (her onscreen husband) left. She added that she even suggested alternate storylines and requested several times to not be sacked. She also said that she was ready to work till the ninth month of her pregnancy, but was sacked instead.

Responding to the allegations, project head of Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah Sohil Ramani spoke to Hindustan Times in an interview. He said that the production house terminated Jennifer's contract three months ago. She has been working with us for 15 years, shooting mein bohot saare utar chadhav hote hai (there are many ups and downs during a shoot). We have ignored her characteristics such as creating rifts among others, coming two hours late for shoot, creating misunderstandings. We have a lot of evidence against her," he said.

He added, We have a committee of women, why did she never complain to the committee? All of us have never even entered a female artists makeup room. She is playing the woman card.

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What is common between Qala, Jubilee, Taj: Divided by Blood and upcoming The Archies? Its the fact that are all period dramas. The stories might belong to different genres, but they look back at different eras in time to churn out a story. Recently, Jubilee was the web series which look back at the journey of films in India

If Taj: Divided by Blood relives the history of the Mughal empire, Jubilee is set in the 1940s-1950s to trace the evolution of the film industry. Tripti Dimri and Babils Qala narrates a story of love and passion set in the 1940s while Rocket Boys tells the story of Dr. Homi Jehangir Bhabha and Dr. Vikram Ambalal Sarabhai. In the West, shows like Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story and The Crown are creating ripples.

We cant go back in time, but period drama allows us to do that. And that is working in favour of the genre which is why it is garnering popularity. This was one of the main reasons which got me excited about Jubilee. It takes one to another world, says actor Wamiqa Gabbi, adding, The same is the case for the audience as well. Especially in these times, where everyone is running at such a fast pace, period dramas help you slow down and look at life from a different perspective.

Taj: Divided by Blood actor Ashim Gulati adds, When it comes to period dramas, the storyline is important. There are multiple layers to the story such as drama, love and politics. It has to do what story you are telling. The story is the winner, and the vision of the maker.

Actor Aparshakti Khurana, who was seen in Jubilee, shares, Indian filmmakers have entertained the audience with different kinds of storytelling which is the reason why we have more experimental makers today, and platforms who are giving the liberty, confidence and budget to these makers to make such shows. In fact the trend is also a reflection of the success of shows such as The Crown from the West.

THE VISUAL APPEAL

The director of Taj: Reign of Revenge, Vibhu Puri believes a longer format is the essence here. OTT gives the freedom to explore the story in a longer format. It allows the audience time to soak into that world, and absorb the charm. It gives them a chance to delve into the world, and relate to it. The stories come from an era which we all have heard about, but never got a chance to see. So, the visual appeal adds to it.

Talking of visual appeal, The Empire actor Dino Morea adds, We have heard glimpses of the stories while growing up. When we get to see it visually on the screen, it makes for a beautiful and engaging watch, which keeps the viewers hooked. It is very engaging to go back in time. And the stories are very varied, and touch upon every emotion from highs, lows, deceit, betrayal, love, and lies.

Up next, there is Sanjay Leela Bhansalis high scale Heeramandi, and Zoya Akhtars The Archies set in the 1960s.

According to Nimisha Pandey, chief content officer, ZEE5- Hindi Originals, it is the escape from reality through period dramas that is attractive for the viewer.

Whether its with the set or the costumes or the visual design, period dramas have always drawn the audiences as they help escape the mundane and the viewers can live a life vicariously of a different era, she says.

BIG BUDGETS, BIG PAYOFFS

Playing on nostalgia and world-building has rewarded makers handsomely, which is another reason why the genre is becoming a favourite.

Akshay Bardapurkar, founder, Planet Marathi OTT, explains, Such shows create nostalgia with the way makers recreate the world. There is a pull for the audience which is why it does good business. The budgets are very high. If we are creating something for a Marathi space, it ranges between 4-10 crore, and when it comes to Hindi projects, the crores just adds up. I am also working on several period projects at the moment in the Marathi space.

THE CHALLENGES

With great popularity and demand, come greater challenges. The biggest challenge is to maintain authenticity of the era, language, costume, art, makeup and look. We have to get it right while trying to weave the story relevant in todays era. The grasping attention of the audience is very low. We are fighting Instagram, sleep, phone calls, FB notifications. The challenge is to stay true to the era, but make it more contemporary and relatable, says Puri.

Morea adds in agreement, We need to get the facts right, especially our history. We dont have to distort anything. If the makers are adding some fiction element to make it more wholesome, it is important to highlight that clearly.

Another hurdle faced by the makers if the high budget required to make such shows. The time and money needed to make a good period drama is always a challenge, neither of it is enough when it comes to making a period drama, states Pandey.
What are DMK Files which may have cost PTR his finance minister's post? Palanivel Thiaga Rajan, also known as PTR, served as the finance minister in MK Stalin's government in Tamil Nadu for two years beginning 2021 when the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam came to power in the state. Read more Tamil Nadu minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan (PTR) (PTI)

Prince Harry talked to King Charles on night before coronation: Details

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BCCI takes action against Jos Buttler for showing dissent at Yashasvi Jaiswal after sacrificing himself to a run-out

Jos Buttler was fined 10% of his match fees during the Kolkata Knight Riders vs Rajasthan Royals IPL 2023 match, said IPL in a release. Read more

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Aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Friday imposed a fine of 30 lakh on Air India for not addressing the safety related incident wherein the pilot of the Delhi-Dubai flight AI 915 let his woman friend into the cockpit on February 27 in violation of norms. According to a crew members complaint to DGCA, the pilots woman friend spent about an hour in the cockpit (REUTERS File Photo)

HT was the first to report the the violation.

Also Read: Air India pilot let woman friend into cockpit on flight , complains crew

Air India has been fined 30 lakh for not promptly and effectively addressing the safety sensitive issue. The pilot license of the PIC (pilot in command) has been suspended for a period of three months for misuse of his authority vested under the Aircraft Rules 1937 and allowing violation of the applicable DGCA regulations, a DGCA statement said.

The regulator also issued a warning to the co-pilot for not being assertive in preventing the violation.

During the flight, the pilot in command of the flight allowed the entry into cockpit during cruise of an Air India staff on duty travelling as passenger, in violation of DGCA regulations, the regulator said.

CEO of Air India received a complaint in this regard from one of the operating crew member of the flight. However, the organisation did not take prompt corrective action despite this being a safety sensitive violation. Anticipating delayed response, the complainant approached the DGCA, it added.

The regulator also directed Air India to take administrative action against the staff on duty who violated the rules including removing from any managerial functions in the organisation for a specified period.

Air India said it accepted the DGCA decision but contested the suggestion that it didnt act on its own. We acknowledge and accept the DGCAs ruling. However, we reject the assertion that no action was taken by Air India in response to the complaint. There were a number of allegations which needed to be worked through with due process and confidentiality, and which commenced immediately upon the complaint being lodged, the airline spokesperson said.

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The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Friday suspended an Air India pilots licence for three months after he allowed his friend inside the cockpit in violation of safety norms earlier this year. It also imposed a fine of 30 lakh on Air India for not effectively addressing the incident. Last month, DGCA had off-rostered the entire crew of Air India flight AI 915 Delhi to Dubai during which the pilot had invited his woman friend into the cockpit in violation of safety norms on February 27. (PTI)

The civil aviation regulator further directed Air India to take administrative action against the pilot in commands friend, a woman airline staff who was travelling as passenger. Officials said that the woman last operated a flight in January and was not supposed to be on duty on the day of the incident.

HT had first reported about the breach on April 21, prompting DGCA to launch a probe into the matter.

Air India has been fined Rs. Thirty lakhs for not promptly and effectively addressing the safety sensitive issue. The pilot license of the PIC has been suspended for a period of three months for misuse of his authority vested under the Aircraft Rules 1937 and allowing violation of the applicable DGCA regulations, DGCA said in a statement.

During the flight, the pilot in command of the flight allowed the entry into cockpit during cruise, of an Air India Staff on duty travelling as passenger, in violation of DGCA regulations, it added.

Last month, DGCA had off-rostered the entire crew of Air India flight AI 915 Delhi to Dubai during which the pilot in command Captain Harsh Suri had invited his woman friend into the cockpit in violation of safety norms on February 27.

The development was a result of HTs report that highlighted a complaint by the cabin supervisor on March 3. The complaint alleged that the captain wanted the crew to make sure the cockpit appeared welcoming before inviting his friend in, and asked that she be served food given in business class.

The complaint had also raised questions on the co-pilot who was taking controlled rest.

The airline, however, had not taken action, following which the complainant had approached DGCA. The civil aviation regulator had constituted a committee to probe the matter. It had also issued a show cause notice to Air India chief executive officer (CEO) Campbell Wilson and chief of flight safety Henry Donohoe last month for lapses in reporting the incident.

In its order on Friday, DGCA also warned the co-pilot for not being assertive in preventing the violation.

.. CEO of Air India received a complaint in this regard from one of the operating crew members of the flight. However, the organisation did not take prompt corrective action despite this being a safety sensitive violation. Anticipating delayed response, the complainant approached the DGCA, the regulator said.

DGCA directed Air India to take administrative action against the airline staff who was travelling as a passenger at the time of the incident. It also asked the airline to remove her from any managerial functions in the organisation for a specified period.

Reacting to DGCAs order, an Air India spokesperson said: We acknowledge and accept the DGCAs ruling. However, we reject the assertion that no action was taken by Air India in response to the complaint. There were a number of allegations which needed to be worked through with due process and confidentiality, and which commenced immediately upon the complaint being lodged.

This is the second instance when Air India has been fined an amount as high as 30 lakh. On January 20, the airline was fined for not acting on an incident in which an alleged drunk passenger urinated on a woman passenger on a New York-New Delhi Air India flight last year.

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Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar on Friday said there is no need to demand resignation from Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde, this in wake of the Supreme Court verdict on Sena vs Sena tussle. Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar.

Don't even dream that the CM and deputy CM would resign on the basis of morality. There is a huge difference between former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee and the current people, Pawar told reporters when asked about Uddhav Thackeray's demand for the resignation of the incumbent CM.



On Thursday, the Supreme Court had said then Maharashtra governor Bhagat Singh Koshiyari had erred in concluding that Uddhav Thackeray had lost majority after revolt by Eknath Shinde. It had also said that the governor had no objective materials to call for a floor test.



Referring to Uddhav Thackeray, the Supreme Court had said it could have reinstated him had he refrained from resigning from his post after the rebellion by Shinde faction.

The Uddhav faction had termed the SC verdict a vindication and called for Shinde's resignation. "Supreme Court has said that the Shiv Sena Shinde group's Whip is illegal...The current govt is illegal and formed against the Constitution," Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut had said.



Ahead of the top court verdict, Ajit Pawar had expressed condidence that there is no threat to the Shinde-Fadnavis government as long as it enjoys the majority of 154 MLAs in the House. "Many call this government unconstitutional. But as long as they have the support of 145 MLAs, there is no danger", he had said, triggering fresh speculations whether he and his faction would extend support to the BJP in case the MLAs who joined Shinde were to be disqualified.

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Welcome to hindustantimes.com updates platform where you can find breaking news from India and across the world. Find fast updates about the latest news as it breaks.

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Nineteen months after a Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) team led by its then zonal director Sameer Wankhede raided the Cordelia cruise in Mumbai and arrested actor Shah Rukh Khans son Aryan, among others, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) booked him and four others in a corruption case alleging that 25 crore was demanded from the actor for not framing his son in a drugs case. The CBI booked Sameer Wankhede and four others in a corruption case (ANI)

Agency teams carried out raids at 29 locations in four cities: Delhi, Mumbai, Kanpur and Ranchi, including Wankhedes residence.

Besides Wankhede, who was shunted out of the NCB last year after a vigilance enquiry found major discrepancies in the Cordelia raid, CBI has named Vishwa Vijay Singh, a superintendent of police (SP) rank officer, former intelligence officer Ashish Ranjan Prasad, Kiran Gosavi, who accompanied Wankhedes team as a witness and later posted a picture with Aryan Khan in NCBs custody, one Sanville DSouza and unknown others in its first information report (FIR) filed on Thursday. Singh was removed from the NCB last month in another case, as reported by HT.

They have been charged under multiple sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act as well as criminal conspiracy and extortion by threatening under the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

It has been alleged that the said officials of NCB of Mumbai zone, in order to obtain undue advantage from the persons/others in the Cordelia case, had entered into criminal conspiracy with others and had allegedly obtained undue advantage in the form of bribes from the alleged accused (referring to Aryan Khan), a CBI spokesperson said in a statement.

It has also been alleged that the said persons entered into conspiracy in order to extort an amount of 25 crore (approximately) from the family members of the alleged accused (referring to Aryan Khan) by threatening them of the accusation of offences of possession of narcotics substances as per the alleged directions of Sameer Wankhede being the supervisory officer (of the case), the spokesperson said.

A token amount of 50 lakh as bribe was already obtained, CBI added. HT texted Wankhede for a comment but there was no response till the time of going to press.

Officials familiar with the CBI probe said Wankhede, who was moved to the office of director general of taxpayers services (DGTS) in Chennai after the irregularities were established, will soon be called for questioning in the case.

The CBI probe was ordered by the Centre based on a NCB vigilance enquiry report, which established that a demand of 25 crore bribe was made from Shah Rukh Khan, through his manager Seema Dadlani.

Wankhede, an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer who has since been transferred from NCB, led a team of officers, including Singh, and some witnesses on the night of October 2, 2021 to raid Cordelia ship at the International Cruise Terminal at Green Gate off the Mumbai coast.

NCB claimed it seized 13 grams of cocaine, five grams of mephedrone, 21 grams of marijuana, 22 pills of MDMA (ecstasy), and 1.33 lakh in cash from the vessel. It also intercepted 14 people, and after hours of interrogation, placed Aryan Khan (24), Arbaaz Merchant (26), and Munmum Dhamecha (28) under arrest on October 3. Subsequently, the agency arrested 17 more people in connection with the raid.

Relying on WhatsApp chats, Wankhedes team had claimed the accused were part of a larger conspiracy. It alleged that Aryan Khan was in touch with some foreign drug supplier and the chats referred to hard drugs and bulk quantities. However, rejecting NCBs claims, a single bench of justice Nitin W Sambre of the Bombay high court noted in October last year that there was no evidence to suggest existence of any conspiracy.

HT was first to report that a special investigation team (SIT), headed by deputy director general Sanjay Kumar Singh, formed by NCB to reinvestigate the raids, did not find evidence to suggest that the actors son was part of a larger drugs conspiracy or an international drugs trafficking syndicate. The SIT also found several irregularities in the dramatic raid.

The SIT filed a charge sheet against 14 people in May last year but gave a clean chit to Aryan Khan, saying that the actors son was never in possession of drugs hence there was no need to take his phone and check his chats. The chats also did not suggest Khan was part of any international syndicate.

Prabhakar Sail, an independent witness in October 3 cruise raid off Mumbai coast, has claimed in an affidavit as well as in subsequent interactions with media persons that he overheard his employer, KP Gosavi, talking on the phone to someone by the name Sam DSouza after Aryan Khan was brought to the NCB office after the raid. He claimed that Gosavi talked about extorting 25 crore to settle the case, which could be negotiated to 18 crore, as they have to give 8 crore to Sameer Wankhede.

Sail has also claimed that he saw Gosavi meeting Shah Rukh Khans manager and that he was asked to sign 9-10 blank pages in Wankhedes presence after the cruise raids. Gosavi is on the run and Mumbai police have issued a look-out notice against him.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered a corruption case against Sameer Wankhede, former zonal director of Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), who led the controversial raid on the Cordelia cruise ship in October 2021 in Mumbai and arrested actor Shah Rukh Khans son Aryan, among others, people familiar with the development said on Friday. Wankhede was shunted out of the NCB last year after a SIT found anomalies in Cordelia raid giving a clean chit to Aryan Khan. (File image)

Those named in CBI FIR include Sameer Wankhede, removed NCB SP Vishwa Vijay Singh, ex-intelligence officer of NCB Ashish Ranjan, the alleged witness in Cordelia raid Kiran Gosavi and Sanville DSouza.

The agency raided the premises of Wankhede and 28 other locations in four cities  Delhi, Mumbai, Kanpur and Ranchi belonging to two other public servants and two private persons as part of its probe.

People cited above said that the NCB had written to the CBI to investigate Wankhede and others for bribery.

Also Read:Fake caste claim: Scrutiny committee gives clean chit to Sameer Wankhede

Wankhede, who was shunted out of the NCB last year after a special investigation team (SIT) found anomalies in the Cordelia raid and gave a clean chit to Aryan Khan, is currently posted in the office of director general of taxpayers services (DGTS) in Chennai.

Last week, as reported by HT, NCB had removed from service a superintendent of police rank officer  Vishwa Vijay Singh from the agency.

Wankhede, an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer who has since been transferred from NCB, led a team of officers, including Singh, and some witnesses on the night of October 2, 2021 to raid Cordelia ship at the International Cruise Terminal at Green Gate off the Mumbai coast.

NCB claimed to have seized 13 grams of cocaine, five grams of mephedrone, 21 grams of marijuana, 22 pills of MDMA (ecstasy), and 1.33 lakh in cash from the vessel. It also intercepted 14 people, and after hours of interrogation, placed Aryan (24), Arbaaz Merchant (26), and Munmum Dhamecha (28) under arrest on October 3. Subsequently, the agency arrested 17 more people in connection with the raid.

Relying on WhatsApp chats, Wankhedes team had claimed the accused were part of a larger conspiracy.

It alleged that Aryan was in touch with some foreign drug supplier and the chats referred to hard drugs and bulk quantities.

However, rejecting NCBs claims, a single bench of justice Nitin W Sambre of the Bombay high court noted in October last year that there was no evidence to suggest existence of any conspiracy.

HT was first to report that a SIT, headed by deputy director general Sanjay Kumar Singh, formed by NCB to reinvestigate the raids, did not find evidence to suggest that the actors son was part of a larger drugs conspiracy or an international drugs trafficking syndicate.

The SIT also found several irregularities in the dramatic raid.

The SIT filed a charge sheet against 14 persons in May last year but gave a clean chit to Aryan, saying that the actors son was never in possession of drugs hence there was no need to take his phone and check his chats. The chats also did not suggest Khan was part of any international syndicate.
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Friday announced the Class 12 examination results with the overall pass percentage decreasing by 5.38 percentage points compared to last year when exams were conducted in two parts in view of the Covid-19 pandemic. CBSE said 1660511 students appeared in the Class 12 examination this year. (Twitter)

The pass percentage remained higher than in the pre-pandemic year (2019) when the exams were held in a single term. The overall pass percentage this year is 87.33% compared to 92.71% last year. Officials said the two-term exams helped increase the pass percentage last year.

For this batch of 2022-23, the board resumed one term annual examination mode, and therefore the pass percentage has come down. However, the pass percentage remained higher than the pre-pandemic year 2019 when it stood at 83.4%, a CBSE official said.

The number of 90% and 95% scorers also decreased in comparison to last year but remained higher in comparison to pre-pandemic year 2019.

In both 2020 and 2021, the CBSE declared Class 10 and Class 12 results based on the Supreme Court-approved tabulation policy as the exams could not be held in view of the pandemic.

CBSE conducted exams in two terms for the 2022 batch. The board gave weightage in 30:70 to term one and term two exam performance of students while preparing the final results last year.

The board resumed normal single-term annual exams for the 2022-23 batch. The exams were held between February 15 and April 5.

CBSE said 1660511 students appeared in the Class 12 examination this year, out of which 1450174 passed.

Girls performed better than boys by 6%. The overall pass percentage of girls is 90.68% and 84.67% for boys. The pass percentage among transgender students was 60%.

In a series of tweets, Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan congratulated students who cleared the Class 12 exam, saying it is a moment to rejoice in success and cherish the fruits of hard work. He said it was gladdening to learn that this year also girls have outshone boys. Over the years, a striking feature of the results have been the performance of girl students, he said. More reasons for us as a society to remove all barriers to girls education.

He urged students not to feel disheartened in case the results did not meet their expectations. Many friends might not have met expectations. I appeal to them to not lose heart. One examination does not define a persons ability. Keep working hard and chase your dreams. Success comes to those who never give up.

As many as 112838 students have scored 90% and above marks this year in comparison to 134797 students last year while 22622 95% and above marks compared to 33432 students in 2022.

The number of top scorers remained higher in comparison to 2019 when 94299 students scored 90% and above and 17693 students 95% and above.

In region-wise performance, Thiruvananthapuram performed the best with an overall pass percentage of 99.91%, followed by Bengaluru (98.64%), Chennai (97.4%), and Delhi West (93.24%), Chandigarh (91.84%), and Delhi East at 91.5%. The pass percentage remained lowest in the Prayagraj region at 78.05%.

Like previous years, Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya performed the best with an overall pass percentage of 97.51% followed by the Central Tibetan School Administration (96.77%) and Kendriya Vidyalaya (82.51%).

The board continued with the practice of withholding a merit list of toppers to avoid unhealthy competition. It said it will issue merit certificates to the 0.1% of students who have scored the highest marks.

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Civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Friday held a meeting with airline and airport operators to discuss operations and passenger convenience ahead of the peak summer travel season. Civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia. (ANI)

Met with airline & airport operators to deliberate on a roadmap for infrastructure & processes to cater to the record growth projections in the no. of passengers travelling through air. With a whole of govt approach, we are committed to facilitate quicker & smoother processing at major metro airports in India, Scindia said in a tweet.

According to ministry officials familiar with the details of the meeting, airport operators were directed to carry out a thorough internal analysis of the air traffic management (ATM) and space requirements to ensure there is no clogging at any point at airports.

The stakeholders were told that it was their collective responsibility to ensure that airlines are able to fly up to their maximum capacity even during peak hours, a ministry official said, seeking anonymity.

As per aviation consultancy CAPA India, Indian airport operators are projected to report a 26% rise in revenues at $3.9 billion in the next financial year. For 2023-24, air passenger traffic in the country, including domestic and international, is expected to be 395 million, it said.

Ministry officials also said that Scindia asked stakeholders to look at capacity building of infrastructure and manpower at every point of operations (check-in security, immigration, etc).

This has been directed to ensure a smooth process for passengers on one hand, and options for airlines to fly more at all hours on the other, in an indication to move the capacity curve upwards, the official said.

In December, the Scindia had stepped in after complaints poured in of long delays at the Capitals airport, where functionaries attributed problems to a host of issues, including security staff shortage and an increase in footfall due to the wedding season.

Scindia had asked the airport authorities to address the issues on a priority basis. He also held several meetings and conducted surprise visits to monitor the crowd management at terminal 3 of the airport.

A slew of measures was ordered to manage the passengers and decongest the airports. These included reducing flights during peak hours (between 5am and 9am), shifting a few flights at Delhi from T3 to T1 and T2 or to non-peak hours at T3 and introducing more x-ray machines to clear the travelers from the security hold area (SHA).

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The Indian Meteorological Department has said that the severe cyclonic storm Mocha is set to intensify into a very severe cyclonic storm on Friday and head to the Bangladesh-Myanmar coast. People walk on Kan Thar Yar beach near Gwa township in Myanmar.(AFP)

The SCS Mocha lay centered at 0230 hours IST of 12th May 2023 over Southeast adjoining Central Bay of Bengal about 520 km west-northwest of Port Blair, the IMD tweeted in the wee hours of Friday.



The cyclone's name Mocha is suggested by Yemen and was named after the Red Sea port city which is known to have introduced coffee to the world.

Here are the top five updates on the upcoming severe cyclonic storm.

1. On Thursday night, the IMD had tweeted, "Severe cyclonic storm Mocha lay centered at 2330 hrs IST of 11th May 2023 over southeast adjoining Central BoB near lat 12.7N, long 88.1E, about 510 km west-northwest of Port Blair, 1050 km south-southwest of Coxs Bazar (Bangladesh) and 970 km south-southwest of Sittwe (Myanmar)."



2. Due to the weather conditions, northeastern states of Tripura and Mizoram are likely to get heavy rainfall from Saturday. On the other hand, Nagaland, Manipur and south Assam are expected to get rainfall on Sunday.

3. The National Disaster Relief Force has deployed eight teams while 200 rescuers have been put on ground and 100 rescuers are on standby.

4. The IMD has asked fishermen, ships, boats and trawlers not to venture into central and northeast Bay of Bengal and north Andaman Sea till Sunday. Those sailing in central Bay of Bengal and north Andaman Sea are advised to return to coast.

5. On Wednesday, the Indian Coast Guard had also issued a warning to the fishermen advising them not to venture into the sea. Safety alerts are being initiated by @IndiaCoastGuard in routine air surveillance sorties around low-pressure areas of #AndamanSea. Fishermen being shepherded/ advised not to venture into #Sea & return ashore, the Indian Coast Guard had tweeted.

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The Maharashtra government has decided to drop the departmental enquiry against former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh and has revoked his suspension, ordered on December 2, 2021, officials familiar with the developments said on Friday. Maharashtra government has decided to drop departmental enquiry against former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh (PTI)

This decision was made on Wednesday, just a day before the Supreme Court invalidated Uddhav Thackerays floor test of 2022, following the split in Shiv Sena. Interestingly, this development has left the current power dynamics between Shinde and Fadnavis undisturbed in Maharashtra.

As part of the decision, Singhs suspension from that period until his superannuation on June 23, 2022, will now be treated as a period spent on duty, and all his perks will be restored, officials said. The move comes after the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) in Delhi, on March 16, 2023, allowed Singhs petition to challenge his suspension.

In response to the development, NCP spokesperson Clyde Crasto expressed his views by saying, All those who played a role in defaming the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government are now seemingly getting a fresh start. On the other hand, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, while addressing the press in Nagpur on Friday, mentioned, We have taken note of the CAT verdict.

Singh, an IPS officer, had approached CAT in May last year, citing that he was targeted by the previous ruling dispensation, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), led by Congress, erstwhile Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), in the state, after he exposed the alleged wrongdoings of the then home minister, Anil Deshmukh. Singh had accused Deshmukh of collecting 100 crore from bar owners in the city every month with the help of police officers.

Singh, who served as Mumbais 43rd police commissioner from February 29, 2020, claimed that he was abruptly transferred from the post on March 17, 2021, and reassigned as Commandant General, Home Guards, Maharashtra, just four days after assistant police inspector Sachin Waze, who was then heading the Criminal Intelligence Unit (CIU) of the Crime Branch, was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

Waze was arrested in connection with allegedly planting an explosives-laden SUV outside industrialist Mukesh Ambanis residence, Antilia, and the subsequent killing of the vehicle owner, Mansukh Hiran.

After the state government failed to respond to Singhs plea, CAT ruled that the suspension order had lapsed. An official from the home department revealed that Singh was receiving a provisional pension post-retirement. Following CATs observations, we promptly sent the file to the higher-ups, who decided to cancel the suspension. We will now proceed to clear his post-retirement dues and gratuity, the official stated.

Previously, the Maharashtra government had initiated departmental proceedings against Singh, accusing him of dereliction of duty and misconduct on eight counts.

The charges included showing extraordinary interest in revoking the suspension of dismissed police officer Sachin Waze and reinstating him in service.

Singh was also alleged to have transferred two police officers from the CIU to accommodate Waze as the head of the unit.

Singh was also charged for failing to submit a written report to the government about the Antilia episode  it was alleged that he had submitted a report about the incident only on his last day as Mumbai police commissioner.

Additionally, he was accused of not following protocol while filing his complaint of corruption against Deshmukh, as he directly approached the Governor, the chief minister, and others while also leaking it to the media. His unauthorised absence from duty after he was posted as the Commandant General, of Home Guards, was also frowned upon.

He had also allegedly failed to appear before Justice KU Chandiwal Commission, which inquired into his allegations against Deshmukh and tried to influence an assistant police commissioner, who had lodged a complaint against the then deputy commissioner of police, Zone IV (central Mumbai).
A four-member all-women gang involved in stealing designer clothes worth several lakhs from high-end boutiques across Mumbai was busted on Wednesday with the arrest of the mastermind in New Delhi, police said. HT Image

The gang travelled to Mumbai all the way from Delhi in a chauffeur-driven car and had a unique modus operandi. Four well-dressed women would arrive at a high-end designer boutique. Two or three would distract the sales staff; one or two would stuff expensive dresses inside hidden compartments in their clothes, Mumbai police said.

The incident came to light after the gang targeted a boutique in south Mumbais Churchgate.

According to Rehan Netrawala, the owner of Naibah Fashion Store in Apeejay House, four women visited his store on April 7. While three women distracted the saleswomen on duty, one of them made away with a gown worth around 1.4 lakh. When Netrawala checked CCTV footage, he approached the police.

A police officer said, We found that the vehicle used by the accused had a Delhi registration. We checked CCTV footage at various toll plazas and found that the accused had left the city after committing the crime. Following orders from senior inspector Rajesh Pawar, a team headed by assistant police inspector Pravin Shinde left for Delhi.

With the help of Fastag (the automated RFID enabled toll collection technology) and various challans, the police team traced the vehicle owner and through him reached Rajbala SH Rocky, 36, of Mangolpuri.

Rajbala was arrested and it was learnt that each member of the gang was assigned a role during the theft. While some of them keep the salesmen busy, the others steal dresses and hide the same in their salwars having a bag tied to the waist, Shinde said.

Investigators realised that Netrawalas outlet was not the only shop the gang hit in its spree of thefts. Rajbala and her accomplices had similarly stolen dresses worth 7.5 lakh from a Juhu store the same day they carried out the theft in Churchgate.

Similar cases have been reported from other areas in Mumbai, Kala Ghoda, Juhu, Santacruz and Khar.

The Juhu and Santacruz police have already sought Rajbalas custody. We are tracing the three accomplices who have fled after the news of her arrest. We have also recovered the stolen gown, the police added.

We are also trying to find to whom they sold such costly dresses, Shinde said.
Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday watched The Kerala Story with his family and cabinet colleagues in Guwahati. He said banning the film will not serve any purpose as it is not against any community but against terrorism. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said 'The Kerala Story' exposes the "brutal designs of terrorist organisations in the name of religion.(PTI file)

Sarma made the remark in reference to the West Bengal government banning the Sudipto Sen-directorial citing law and order problems. Sarma said The Kerala Story shows the conspiracy hatched against innocent girls including those from the Muslim community.

Sarma said those in the Bengal government should have first seen the film before banning it.



On Monday, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee had announced the ban on the film. West Bengal govt has decided to ban the movie The Kerala Story. This is to avoid any incident of hatred and violence, and to maintain peace in the state", she said.



The film has sparked a major controversy upon its release. The Adah Sharma-starrer has been accused of spreading hatred and violence against a particular community.



However, the film has been praised by the Bharatiya Janata Party and other right wing outfits. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also mentioned The Kerala Story at a rally in Karnataka, saying the film exposed the consequences of terrorism in the society.

The movie The Kerala story is trying to expose the consequences of terrorism in a society, especially in a state like Kerala which is beautiful land of hardworking, talented and intellectual people. The Congress party is now trying to ban the film and support the terror elements", Modi had said.

The BJP ruled states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana have declared the film tax-free.



Himanta Biswa Sarma appealed to the people to watch this film with their families, particularly daughters. The chief minister also urged the parents to keep a watch on the children and with whom they forge friendships.



Directed by Sudipto Sen, the film depicts the tale of girls being abducted and recruited by terror group Islamic State.

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The Ministry of Education has asked universities to increase their hiring of academic research assistants to boost the employment of college graduates.

Universities should actively hire graduates to work as postdoctoral researchers, research assistants, technical assistants, academic assistants and finance assistants, the ministry said in a notice on Tuesday.

The scientific and technological parks and technology transfer centers established by universities should also expand vacancies for graduates to work as assistants, the notice said.

Universities need to make sure the assistant positions are equipped with good conditions to increase the appeal of the posts.

Universities are also encouraged to hire graduates from other schools to work as assistants, and the number of assistants hired will be used by the ministry to evaluate the universities, the notice added.
NEW DELHI: The first meeting of the India-EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC) on May 16 will finalise an ambitious agenda that is expected to include setting standards for critical technologies and building inter-operability between digital systems, people familiar with the matter said. India is the EUs 10th largest trading partner, accounting for 2.1% of total trade in goods (File image)

India is only the second country, after the US, with which the European Union (EU) has a TTC, and the two sides agreed to launch the strategic mechanism during European Commission President Ursula von der Leyens visit to India in April 2022. Ahead of the TTC meeting in Brussels, three working groups have met over the past year to give final shape to the agenda for collaboration.

The Indian side will be represented at the upcoming meeting by external affairs minister S Jaishankar, commerce minister Piyush Goyal and communications and IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw  an indication of the importance attached by New Delhi to the TTC.

A lot of groundwork to identify areas for cooperation under the TTC has been done by the three working groups focused on strategic technologies, digital governance and digital connectivity; green and clean energy technologies; and trade, investment and resilient value chains.

Though left unstated, a lot of this work has also focused on countering challenges from China in areas ranging from technology to trade, the people said. Besides the setting of standards for critical and emerging technologies such as 5G, 6G and artificial intelligence (AI), the two sides have worked on issues such as screening of foreign direct investment (FDI) to ensure transparency in business operations, they said.

The Indian side has taken up inter-operability of the India Stack, a set of open APIs and digital public goods encompassing identity, data and digital payments, with similar systems in Europe. The work on 5G and 6G will be an opportunity for the Indian side to explore European markets, the people said.

We have already made inroads with the United Payments Interface (UPI) in Singapore and France and are branching out into other markets. The India Stack is also part of the G20 agenda and UPI is crucial for remittances, one of the people said.

However, the people acknowledged the Indian side has faced pushback in these efforts from global payment processors such as Visa and Mastercard, who levy significant charges on transactions and fear their profits will be hit with greater acceptance of UPI.

The commerce ministry didnt respond to an email query on the matter. A second person with knowledge of the discussions described the TTC as an important forum of cooperation between two of the largest open market economies and pluralistic societies and a result of the joint visions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and von der Leyen.

TTC is a high-level forum, formed for providing political-level oversight of all aspects of the India-EU relationship and to ensure coordination between different areas of cooperation, the second person said.

Among other things, the TTC will focus on three important areas  facilitating ongoing negotiations for a free trade agreement (FTA) with the EU, ensuring a more strategic EU role in the Indo-Pacific, and promoting an international rules-based order on key issues such as climate action, clean energy, sustainable growth, digital transformation, the people said.

The TTC will also promote trade and investments, including the partnership in Indias green hydrogen mission. In this context, the two sides are working on reconciling and aligning their standards and definitions for green hydrogen production and storage, the people said.

At the time of the TTCs formation, the two sides agreed to use it as a strategic coordination mechanism to address crucial issues pertaining to trade, technology and security, the second person said.

In this context, India and the EU signed an agreement last November on cooperation in quantum technologies and using supercomputers for climate modelling, predicting natural disasters and bio-molecular medicines.

India is the EUs 10th largest trading partner, accounting for 2.1% of total trade in goods. The EU is Indias third largest trading partner, accounting for trade in goods worth 88 billion in 2021 or a little more than 10% of total Indian trade. Trade in services between the two sides touched 30.4 billion in 2020.

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PANAJI: Goas naval airfield INS Hansa, which also doubles up as Goas international airport, will be the first Joint-User International Aerodrome in the South-Asia Pacific region to be augmented with the Required Navigation Performance (RNP) approach which is based on the GAGAN Indian Satellite System. The RNP approach utilises Indian Satellite System GAGAN, aiding near Category I precision approach accuracies and thus, reducing dependence on ground-based equipment and enabling unhindered flying operations (Representative Image) (Twitter/IN_WNC)

The RNP approach will reduce dependency for navigation on ground-based equipment such as Very-High Frequency Omni Directional Radio (VOR) and Instrument Landing System (ILS). This RNP approach will provide near Category-I ILS accuracy, thereby aiding unhindered flying operations even when these equipment is unserviceable or under maintenance, the Navy said in a statement.

The Vertical Guidance (LPV) is similar to the Instrument Landing System ILS approach but without any ground-based Landing aid. Its a satellite-based approach, which will reduce dependency for navigation on ground-based equipment such as Very-High Frequency Omnidirectional Radio (VOR) and Instrument Landing System (ILS). This RNP approach will provide near Category-I ILS accuracies, thereby aiding unhindered flying operations even when the aforementioned equipment is unserviceable/ under maintenance, the Navy said in a statement.

The capability was achieved through dedicated and concerted efforts of the Indian Navy and Airports Authority of India (AAI). A team of AAl officials visited the station in April 2022 for formulation of agreement between INS Hansa and Mopa international airport. During the discussions, AAl offered to revise all the Instrument Approach Procedures (IAPs) of INS Hansa and also design Required Navigation Performance (RNP) approaches for both the runways, the Navy said.

Goas Dabolim airport was set up as a civilian airport by the erstwhile Portuguese regime and served as an international airport with flights between Goa and Portuga. During the military operation to liberate Goa, it was taken over by the Indian Navy and is the countrys biggest naval airfield.

The airfield, which is used by the civilian international airport, is also home to the MiG 29K Squadrons that are assigned to the aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya, besides other search and reconnaissance aircraft and others.
Multiple election results are due on Saturday which will shape the strategies of political parties as they chalk strategies for the much anticipated 2024 Lok Sabha elections. While Karnataka may witness a government change if the Congress stages a comeback, Uttar Pradesh civic body election is a litmus test of the Bharatiya Janata Partys triple engine government poll plank. The counting to five constituencies, one Lok sabha and four assembly seats will be held today.

Apart from these, the Election Commission of India is also prepared to announce the outcome of the bye-election held in five constituencies, one Lok Sabha and four assembly seats, equally crucial to gauge the pulse of the electorate as these are among the key regions to study the nature of shifting political power.

A dive into bye-elections in these constituencies, their importance and implication:

1)Jalandhar Lok Sabha constituency in Punjab: The constituency faced a four-cornered electoral battle as the ruling Aam Aadmi Party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Congress and the Shiromani Akali Dal are hoping to outdo each other in the Dalit stronghold. The region has traditionally been a Congress citadel, where the bye-election was prompted after the death of MP Santokh Chaudhary who passed away in January due to a heart attack during the Punjab leg of Rahul Gandhis Bharat Jodo Yatra. While the Congress fielded Chaudharys wife Karamjit Kaur, the partys turncoat former MLA Sushil Rinku contested on an AAP ticket. This is also a first for the BJP to contest its Lok Sabha election independently, a tough challenge after snapping ties with SAD. It fielded Akali turncoat Inder Iqbal Singh Atwal, meanwhile, Sukhwinder Kumar Sukhi is SADs bet. The stakes for all parties are quite high as the Jalandhar Lok Sabha segment has been a Congress stronghold since 1999, but it saw AAPs emergence during the 2022 assembly election. While Congress hopes to continue its streak, the election is an existential battle for the SAD, which won only three seats in 2022.

2)Suar and Chhanbey seats in Uttar Pradesh: The bypolls in two seats are a direct contest between the ruling coalition and the opposition Samajwadi Party. While the result will not have any preemptive impact on the constitution of the assembly, it is sure to serve as a morale booster ahead of the general election. While the Bahujan Samaj Party decided not to contest, the Congress placed its bet only in Chhanbey. Here, mainly the Suar seat is in focus as it was held by SP leader Azam Khans son Abdullah Azam Khan until his conviction in an old case in February. The BJP is hoping to snatch this seat which lies in Rampur district, seen as Azam Khans citadel. Notably, Khan himself was disqualified from the Assembly last year after his conviction in a hate speech case. While SP has fielded Anuradha Chauhan from the Suar seat, the BJP ally Apna Dal (Sonelal) has named Shafeek Ahmed Ansari. Also, for the Chhanbey seat in Mirzapur a total of eight candidates are in the fray.

3)Jharsuguda seat in Odisha: The seat witnessed an intense campaigning for the election necessitated after the murder of sitting MLA Naba Kishore Das in January, who also served as the health minister in the Naveen Patnaik government. The ruling Biju Janata Dal party fielded Das's daughter Deepali Das, while the BJPs candidate is Tankadhar Tripathy. The Congress has fielded Tarun Pandey. All three candidates are debutant contestants and the main contenders, although a total of nine candidates fought the election.

4) Sohiong assembly constituency in Meghalaya: While a moderate voter turnout was seen on other seats, the Sohiong assembly witnessed a stunning 91.87% polling in the bye-election, with a higher participation of women voters. The bye-poll was conducted after the death of the sitting MLA from the United Democratic Party (UDP) HDR Lyngdoh, who died while campaigning for the February assembly election. The campaign saw bitter political attacks between the two coalition partners of the ruling Meghalaya Democratic Alliance, National People's Party (NPP) and UDP as the two parties could not reach an understanding for the poll. Here, six candidates are in the fray.

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Ex-Karnataka chief minister and Janata Dal Secular leader HD Kumaraswamy on Friday declared his party open to a post-poll alliance with either the Congress or the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, offering each potential lifelines ahead of Saturday's counting of votes. Exit polls have indicated a hung Assembly as the most likely outcome; some gave the Congress an edge but not enough to stake an independent claim to the next government. HD Kumaraswamy said Congress and BJP were in no position to dismantle the stronghold of the JD(S). (HT File)

Follow all live updates on Karnataka assembly elections here

Kumaraswamy's apparent readiness to deal with his rivals comes days after his father, ex-prime minister HD Deve Gowda, suggested the JDS will not engage with the Congress, with whom it allied after the 2018 election to outmanoeuvre the BJP - the single-largest party - to form a government that collapsed the following year after rebel MLAs walked out. According to the Deccan Herald, Kumaraswamy is now ready to back whichever of the two national parties agrees to his terms, principal among which is that he become chief minister.

The two-time Karnataka leader is travelling to Singapore for a quick break before tomorrow's counting of votes. Speaking to the Deccan Herald before his trip, he said, "I am still confident about JDS winning at least 50 seats (and) am ready to strike a coalition with a party which agrees to my terms." Exit polls have suggested the JDS will win less than 30 seats but that should be enough to push either the Congress or the BJP over the majority mark of 113.

K'taka poll LIVE updates | Kumaraswamy's 'terms' to offer BJP, Cong support

That the JDS sees itself as potentially key player in this election - despite most likely securing the lowest number of seats - was also expressed on the day of voting. Kumaraswamy - after casting his vote - said his party would be 'king'.

"Requesting people to bless JDS candidates our party (is) going to be king."

READ | Karnataka polls: JDS going to be 'king', says HD Kumaraswamy

Which way will the JDS lean?

The JDS does have a history of supporting both parties; in 2006 Kumaraswamy became chief minister for the first time after striking a deal with the BJP.

However, talk of either the Congress or the BJP reaching out has been denied by each side. For the BJP, Shobha Karandlaje told broadcaster NDTV 'there is no question (of a coalition' and that it expects to win a clear majority.

The Congress has not confirmed whether it did reach out but state boss DK Shivakumar's comments yesterday suggest not. "There are no chances of alliance with JDS. We will form the government on our own," he said.

READ | Karnataka election: Cong, 'kingmaker' JDS to ally? DK Shivakumar says

Shivakumar reinforced his party's plan to go it alone - no matter what - this morning, telling reporters he put little stock in exit poll figures.

"Exit polls have their own theory. We don't go by those samples we will have a comfortable majority. I do not know about JDS, let them take their own call. I don't have any backup plan, my only plan is Congress party will come to power."

Meanwhile, another Congress leader, Randeep Surjewala, has claimed victory courtest the BJP having 'accepted' defeat. He too dismissed talk of a JDS deal.

READ | 'BJP has accepted defeat (in Karnataka)', declares Congres' Surjewala

The Deccan Herald report indicates Kumaraswamy's 'terms' to broadly be that he will have a free reign over governance and his leaders get prized portfolios.

With input from ANI
Results for the 224-member Karnataka assembly will be declared today. While most exit polls have predicted an edge for the Congress over the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), election results have often belied exit polls in the past. Irrespective of what the final result is, here are three factors which could help explain the final results. EVMs and VVPATs being sealed at a polling booth in Bengaluru on Wednesday. (ANI)

Will anti-incumbency hurt the BJP?

Karnataka has not re-elected a government with a majority since 1978. The current BJP government  it was formed after defections from the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular), or JD(S), after the 2019 Lok Sabha elections  could face a similar fate if it faces a generalised anti-incumbency across the state. The best way to quantitatively capture anti-incumbency is to look for a uniform negative swing in vote share from the ruling party. This kind of a simulation exercise  it was used in an HT article by political scientist Neelanjan Sircar  shows that even a three percentage point negative swing from the BJP to the Congress will be enough to push the latter past the majority mark. Any increase in vote share for the BJP can of course be interpreted as pro-incumbency. To be sure, vote swings, seldom happen in a uniform way and an opposition party can also gain in elections by other routes such as consolidating opposition votes. If the BJP does not lose much in terms of vote share, then there is good reason to question the anti-incumbency narrative.

Chart 1: BJP seat tally with uniform shift in vote share to Congress

Will Congresss five guarantees bring back power for the party?

The Congress is fought the elections from what can be described as a pro-poor platform. It promised 200 units of free power, cash transfers for women, 10kg free foodgrains, cash transfers for unemployed youth, and a host of other populist promises. Will they work for the party?

Karnatakas economic geography could matter here. As was shown in an HT analysis, the bulk of Karnatakas poorer population is expected to be concentrated in the northern half of the state which includes the subregions of Hyderabad-Karnataka, Bombay-Karnataka and Central Karnataka. Even if the BJP retains its ground in coastal Karnataka and the Bangalore region and the JD(S) manages to retain its stronghold in southern Karnataka, the Congress stands to make significant gains in what can be described as the relatively poor belt of the state. If the Congress cannot make big gains in the northern region, one can argue that its campaign was based on a wrong premise.

Chart 2: 2018 region-wise seats for BJP, Congress and JD (S) (use absolute numbers in a stacked column)

Will the JD(S) cushion anti-incumbency impact on the BJP?

The JD(S) won 40 and 37 ACs respectively in the 2013 and 2018 assembly elections in the state. In both these elections, at least 50% of JD(S)s MLAs came from the southern Karnataka subregion of the state which has 46 ACs, according to a region-wise classification of ACs by Trivedi Centre for Political Data (TCPD) at Ashoka University. This is one region where the BJP has never performed well in assembly elections. Its best tally in the region since 2008 (the earliest elections for which this comparison can be made) was 11 ACs (two more than the Congress) in 2018. The Congress achieved a majority of its own in the 2013 elections because the BJP completely collapsed in other parts of the state. However, a BJP revival in 2018 and the JD(S) holding its ground in southern Karnataka reduced the Congresss 2018 seat share by 19 percentage points compared to 2013. If the JD(S) manages to hold its ground in this subregion once again, the BJP will have a post-poll cushion if it is able to prevent a 2013-like collapse in the other parts of the state. On the other hand, significant gains by the Congress at the cost of the JD(S) will increase BJPs problems despite performing better in direct contests with the Congress.

See Chart 3: Congress-BJP MLAs from southern Karnataka and other regions of the state

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The counting of votes for the hotly contested Karnataka assembly elections 2023 will be held on Saturday. The election witnessed a fierce battle between long-standing rivals, the Bharatiya Janata Party, Congress, and the Janata Dal (Secular). With the possibility of a hung assembly, all parties and many pollsters are anxiously anticipating the outcome, holding their breath to discover their fate. Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai, Congress leader DK Shivakumar and JDS HD Kumaraswamy.

While chief minister Basavaraj Bommai exuded confidence in the BJP's return to power in Karnataka, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said his party would win a thumping majority.

Former chief minister and JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy has said his party will be the 'King' in the Karnataka polls.

With most exit polls giving the Congress an edge over the BJP in the Karnataka assembly election, Bommai said that the ruling party will come to power with a comfortable majority as he was confident with the party's ground reports.

Congress Karnataka president DK Shivakumar said he did not believe in the exit poll results, which predicted a hung assembly while putting his party ahead, adding that they will cross the 146-seat mark.

While the election campaigns saw the BJP and the Congress trading fire over the promise in the latter's manifesto to proscribe the Bajrang Dal, polling went off peacefully on May 10, with the eventual turnout recorded at a robust 73.29 per cent.

A party needs to win 113 seats to reach the majority mark and stake a claim to forming the government in Karnataka.

What Karnataka exit polls predicted

Though top leaders of the state have exuded confidence about their party winning comfortably in the polls to the 224-member assembly, the exit polls have certainly made them anxious to an extent. No one wants a 2018-like scenario to unfold this time too.

The JD(S) will be the key factor in case of a hung verdict, and may emerge as a 'king' or 'kingmaker', as in 2018.

In the exit poll results announced on Wednesday, India Today-Axis My India predicted a clear majority for the Congress with 122-140 seats in the 224-member assembly and gave the BJP 62-80 seats. It gave 20-25 seats to the JD (S), the third major player in the race.

News 24-Today's Chanakya also forecast a majority for the Congress with 120 seats as against 92 seats for the BJP and 12 for the JD(S).

While the ABP News-C Voter exit poll predicted that the Congress would get 100-112 seats, BJP 83-95, JD(S) 21-29, the Republic TV-P MARQ forecast that the Congress will get 94-108 seats, the BJP 85-100 and JD(S) 24-32.

The India TV-CNX exit polls gave the Congress 110-120 seats and the BJP 80-90 seats. They predicted 20-24 seats for the JD (S).

The TV9 Bharatvarsh-Polstrat exit poll stated that the Congress is likely to get 99-109 seats, the BJP 88-98 and the JD(S) 21-26 while the Zee News-Matrize Agency predicted that the Congress would get 103-118, the BJP 79-94 and the JD(S) 25-33.

The News Nation-CGS poll said the BJP would get 114 seats, the Congress 86 and the JD(S) 21. The Suvarna News-Jan Ki Baat forecast that the BJP was likely to win 94-117, Congress 91-106 and the JD(S) 14-24.

Times Now-ETG exit polls gave 113 seats to the Congress and 85 to the BJP. It predicted 23 seats for JD (S).

Key contests that will decide the battle

After a high-decibel campaign during which all three key players in the fray - the BJP, Congress and JD(S) - went at each other and pulled out stops and heavyweight campaigners to woo voters, the verdict in the battle for the Karnataka assembly now rests with the people's court.

The key constituencies to watch out for on result day are Varuna, Kanakapura, Shiggaon, Hubli-Darwad, Channapatna, Shikaripura, Chittapur, Ramanagara, and Chikmagalur.

The results in these seats could well sway the eventual outcome of the polls.

Also, the Lingayat and Vokkaliga communities, accounting for 17 and 11 per cent of the state's population, will also play a key role in deciding the eventual poll outcome.

Bommai is seeking a fresh mandate from the Shiggaon constituency from where he has won three consecutive terms in the assembly.

There is also a lot of curiosity around the battle for the Varuna constituency where Congress stalwart and former chief minister Siddaramaiah is pitted against the BJP's V Somanna, a state minister and Bharathi Shankar of the JD(S).

Shivakumar, who is believed to be vying for the chief minister's post this time, is also eyeing a fresh term in the Kanakapura assembly constituency. Shivakumar is in a direct contest against the BJP's Vokkaliga strongman and state revenue minister R Ashoka.

BJP turncoat and former chief minister Jagadish Shettar, who switched over to the Congress after being denied a ticket by the saffron party to contest the Hubli-Darwad West constituency, is up against BJP's Mahesh Tenginkai.

Key points

> The voting passed off peacefully in Karnataka with a voting turnout of 73.19 per cent, surpassing the 72.36 per cent recorded in 2018.

> A total of 737 theme-based and ethnic Model Polling stations were set up. At 239 Polling stations set up in the state, voters were greeted by PwD staff. As part of the initiative of the Election Commission of India (ECI) to inspire young voters to participate in the festival of democracy, 286 Polling Stations set up were managed by the youngest available staff.

> There were over 11.71 lakh first-time voters registered in the state.

> The counting will be held in 36 centres across the state. A clear picture of the result is likely to emerge by noon.

> In the 2018 assembly elections, the ruling BJP emerged as the single-largest party with 104 seats, followed by the Congress with 78 seats and the JD(S) with 37.

(With inputs from PTI, ANI)

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Roughly 38 million votes across 224 seats in Karnataka will be counted on Saturday, bringing the curtain down on a high-stakes election season that saw pitched political battles and the southern states highest turnout. Workers arrange EVMs in a strong room after the Karnataka assembly elections, in Bengaluru. (PTI)

With hours to go for the counting of votes, all three major parties  the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular)  went into a huddle. The BJP is looking to retain power in the only southern state under its control but the exit polls give an edge to the Congress. In a tight election, the JD(S) could emerge kingmaker, like it did in 2018. For nearly four decades, the state has voted out the incumbent.

Also read | Approached by both BJP, Congress for post-poll alliance in Karnataka, says JD(S)

BJP minister R Ashoka said that the party will cross the majority and had an alternative plan if it did not do so. Our Plan B is different. We are not in a hurry. We will see the result and decide, the minister said, adding that the final decision will be made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah.

In another interview, he said government formation was the partys objective. Dont ask how or what we will do. We will definitely win and get a majority. But even if it is a hung assembly, we will form the governmentwe have already done this twice in Karnataka, the minister added.

A senior BJP official said the party held a meeting in Bengaluru and requested the leadership for Shah to fly down to Bengaluru on Saturday evening if no party got a majority. There is a sense that no party would get the majority. So, a plan is being devised to tackle such a situation. The decision on this will be made by the central leadership, the state leadership doesnt have a big role here, said the official, requesting anonymity.

Karnataka Elections: Decoding narratives that may shape results

The Congress strategy session focussed on keeping its lawmakers together after the election results were announced. Hectic parleys were on at Congress president M Mallikarjun Kharges residence in Bengaluru, with general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala, state unit chief D K Shivakumar and former deputy chief minister G Parameshwara in attendance, among others.

People in the know of developments said that elected Congress legislators will stay at a resort identified by senior party leaders until the government was formed. Despite exit polls projecting Congress as the single-largest party, leaders are also preparing to deal with a hung assembly and have sent feelers to JD(S), said a senior leader.

Operation lotus originated and was mastered in Karnataka. If you go through the political history of our state, it is a black mark. So, we have to be careful and we have to keep our flock together, said Congress leader Priyank Kharge.

Leaders from both said there was a possibility of joining hands with the JD(S). Congress lawmaker Satish Jarkiholi on Friday said that HD Kumaraswamy is in favour of the Congress forming the government. Speaking to reporters in Belagavi, the Congress candidate from Yemkanmardi said: There wont be a hung assembly  100%. In case, there is one, Kumaraswamy has said the Congress will form the government in the state.

MP Renukacharya, the BJP legislator from Honnali constituency in Davanagere district, said that an alliance with the JD(S) could not be ruled out. If such a situation emerges, an alliance might happen with the JD(S), he told reporters. Our national leaders will decide if any need for an alliance arises. That situation might also arise. That will be decided after the results, he added.

The JD(S), however, distanced itself from comments made by Tanveer Ahmed, a former spokesperson who said that the party had already decided on whom it will align with. Karnataka JD(S) president CM Ibrahim told reporters that Ahmed was no longer a spokesperson for the party. We have not decided on an alliance with any party. Tanveer Ahmed is claiming that he is a party spokesperson and told the media that the decision on the alliance is made. Let me clarify that he is not with the JD(S) anymore, and his comments are baseless. We will wait for tomorrows result, Ibrahim said.

Final preparations were on in Bengaluru. District electoral officer (DEO) Tushar Girinath said that 14 observers from the Election Commission of India (ECI) had arrived in Bengaluru. Postal ballots will be counted first. There are nearly 18,000-20,000 postal ballots for Bengaluru. Following that, Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) will be opened, Girinath said.

Police commissioner Pratap Reddy imposed prohibitory orders in Bengaluru from 6am to midnight on Saturday. Sale of liquor has been banned on Saturday.

The sentiment on the ground and exit polls suggest there could be a decision in favour of the Congress. There have been no instances in the past, where the Congress has become the single largest party and has not formed the government, said political analyst Sandeep Shastri.

Karnataka is important for the BJP because its the only southern state under the partys control and one where the party invested significant resources to beat back challengers. For the Congress, the stakes are also high. Two of the three states it runs on its own go to the polls this year, and if it wins Karnataka, it will be its biggest assembly election victory since December 2018. The JD(S) largely focussed on retaining its stronghold of Old Mysuru and safeguarding its traditional vote base, the Vokkaligas.

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With some exit polls suggesting that no party would cross the majority mark in the Karnataka assembly elections, the Janata Dal (Secular) on Friday claimed to have been approached by both the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress for a post-poll alliance to form the next government. BJP and Congress leaders are trying to reach out to JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy, who is currently in Singapore

According to JD(S) functionaries, BJP and Congress leaders are trying to reach out to JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy, who is currently in Singapore, for a post-poll alliance if the situation of a hung assembly arises.

Both the national parties, however, expressed confidence of winning a majority and forming the government without any support.

Karnataka Assembly election 2023: Full coverage here

Polling for the 224 assembly seats were held on Wednesday and the counting of votes is scheduled for Saturday.

Seven out of eight prominent exit polls have predicted that the Congress will finish ahead of the incumbent BJP. Four of these polls also forecast that the Opposition party may even cross the majority mark of 113 on its own, something it has done only once in the past two decades. Three others said that the Congress will emerge as the single-largest party but fall short of the majority mark.

Read | Karnataka election: Exit polls predict hung assembly. 'Kingmaker' JDS ready to deal with BJP, Congress but...

One poll predicted that the BJP will surge ahead of the Congress and gain a simple majority of its own. Most exit polls predicted that the JD(S), which has traditionally played kingmaker and punched above its weight in a state that is known for throwing up fractured verdicts, will end up with a tally in the mid-20s.

Kumaraswamy is relaxing with his friends in Singapore. Both the parties (Congress and BJP) are trying to reach out to him, a JD(S) functionary said, seeking anonymity. Kumaraswamy left for Singapore on Wednesday night and is expected to return on Saturday.

READ | Karnataka polls: JDS going to be 'king', says HD Kumaraswamy

JD(S) spokesperson Tanveer Ahmed also said both the national parties are trying to reach out to them and that they would take a decision at an appropriate time.

However, sensing controversy over Ahmeds comments, Karnataka JD(S) president CM Ibrahim said the former was no longer a spokesperson of the party. We have not decided on an alliance with any party... We will wait for tomorrows result, he said.

According to the functionary quoted above, Kumaraswamy is in constant touch with party candidates and assured them that the party will play an important role in forming the government.

A second functionary, who also did not wish to be named, said it is easier for Kumaraswamy to negotiate freely with national parties from Singapore than in Karnataka, where his movement would be tracked.

Political analyst Chambi Puranik recalled how Kumaraswamy had made a similar trip to Singapore during the 2018 assembly elections and his move is a well thought out strategy.

He is an expert in such optics. He knows that both the parties will come to him. Its definitely a strategy of Kumaraswamy. He knows that even if there is a simple majority for one party, there is a risk. He will definitely take advantage of this and dictate terms, Puranik said.

After voting for the 2018 assembly elections was held, Kumaraswamy had flown to Singapore, citing health reasons. He returned a day after the results were declared and held meetings with Congress leaders to form an alliance.

In 2018, the BJP won 104 seats, the Congress 78 and the JD(S) 37. The two opposition parties came together to form an unlikely coalition government but the administration collapsed in 2019 after a bunch of lawmakers resigned.

If it comes down to both the parties, I think he would be open to both options. As long as he is the number one and gets the chief ministerial post, he would go with both the parties. Once they (JD-S) agree to form a coalition government, they will dictate terms also to ensure good portfolios, Puranik said.

During the election campaign, both the BJP and Congress had claimed that they wouldnt strike a post-poll alliance with the JD(S). Kumaraswamy had also asserted that a coalition government with either party was out of the question and exuded confidence of being a king instead of a kingmaker.

Kumaraswamy has served as chief minister twice  once during an alliance with the BJP in 2006 and another with the Congress in 2018.

Meanwhile, chief minister Basavaraj Bommai on Friday exuded confidence that the BJP would win with a clear majority and there was no need for talks with any party for a coalition government. We will get a clear majority. We believe a comfortable victory will be achieved, and we will cross the limit of seats required for a majority, he said.

There is no question of an alliance before us. We will get the majority. Let the Congress leaders conduct as many meetings as they can, they have the right to do so. We are not bothered, he added.

However, BJP MLA from Honnali constituency in Davanagere district, MP Renukacharya, said an alliance with the JD(S) cannot be ruled out in case of a hung assembly. If such a situation emerges, an alliance might happen with the JD(S), Renukacharya, who is close to former chief minister and veteran party leader B S Yediyurappa, said.

State Congress chief DK Shivakumar dismissed the exit polls and possibility of a hung assembly. Exit polls have their own theory. We dont go by those samples. My sample size is too high and in that, we will have a comfortable majority. I dont know about JD(S), let them take their own call. I dont have any backup plan, my only plan is that the Congress party will come to power, he said.

Congress MLA Priyank Kharge also expressed confidence that there would be no hung assembly. We are going to pass 120 seats. There is no question of a hung government, we are supremely confident that we will form the government on our own, he said.
The Supreme Court on Friday issued a notice to the West Bengal government seeking a reason behind the ban on the controversial film The Kerala Story in the state. A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha said that the film is being screened in the rest of the country, there appears to be no reason for a ban on its screening. This came after the producers of the film had filed a plea challenging the ban. The story of The Kerala Story movie revolves around the lives of three girls from the state who narrate their ordeal of being trapped in marriage after converting to Islam and taken to Afghanistan where they are forced to join terrorist outfit ISIS. (File Photo)

West Bengal is not different from any other part of the country. Why will the state of West Bengal not allow the film to run?, the top court asked.

"This has nothing to do with the artistic value of the film. If people do not like the movie, they will not watch the movie," the bench told senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for the West Bengal government.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court also asked the Tamil Nadu government asking to specify all the measures taken to provide security in theatres screening the film.

"The state government cannot say that it will look the other way when theatres are attacked and chairs are being burnt," the bench told advocate Amit Anand Tiwari, appearing for the Tamil Nadu government.

The Mamata Banerjee-led Bengal government imposed a ban on the film on May 8, citing to avoid any incident of hatred and violence, and to maintain peace in the state. On the other hand, while Tamil Nadu has not imposed a ban on the film, the government had pulled down the film from theatres last week.

The Kerala Story - a Sudipto Sen-directorial has been seeing a massive controversy after its trailer claimed that 32,000 women from Kerala had gone missing and joined the terrorist group ISIS. However, as protests intensified, the figure was later withdrawn from the trailer.
All 10 Kuki MLAs in Manipur, including two state ministers, on Friday raised the demand for a separate administration and separation from the state, alleging that the N Biren Singh-led government had miserably failed to protect the tribal group, according to a press statement. A woman walks through the wreckage of a building that was set on fire during clashes, in Manipurs Khumujamba village. (AFP)

The development came days after the tribal Kuki community, which mostly resides in the hill districts, clashed with the Meiteis, the dominant community in Imphal Valley, in Churachandpur town on May 3 over some issues, including a proposal to grant Scheduled Tribe status to the latter.

At least 71 people were killed and thousands were displaced in the violence which involved arson, rioting and targeted killings. The clashes prompted the state government to issue shoot-at-sight orders, enforce a curfew and ban internet services.

On Monday, the Supreme Court expressed concerns over the loss of life and displacement of people and directed the Centre and state government to ensure all suitable arrangements and medical facilities at relief camps for the victims, besides arranging their safe return home.

In the press statement, the 10 legislators alleged the unabated violence that began on May 3, 2023 perpetrated by majority Meiteis tacitly supported by existing Government of Manipur against the Chin-Kuki-Mizo-Zomi hill tribals has already partitioned the state and effected a total separation from Manipur.

Our people can longer exist under Manipur as the hatred against our tribal community reached such a height that MLAs, Ministers, pastors, police and civil officers, laymen, women and even children were not spared, not to mention the destruction of places of worship, homes and properties, the statement read.

Of the 10 Kuki MLAs, seven are from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), including the two ministers  commerce and industries minister Nemcha Kipgen, and minister of state for tribal affairs Letpao Haokip. The remaining belong to smaller parties.

The BJP has 32 MLAs in the 60-member assembly.

The statement also said that as elected representatives of our people, we today represent the sentiments of our people and endorse their political aspiration of separation from the state of Manipur. It added that they would hold consultations with the people on the next course of action.

As the State of Manipur has miserably failed to protect us, we seek of the Union of India a SEPARATE ADMINISTRATION under the Constitution of India and live peacefully as neighbours with the state of Manipur, the statement said.

There was no immediate reaction available from the state government or the BJP.

Meanwhile, an Assam Rifle soldier was injured while trying to defuse an improvised explosive device in Churachandpur. The injured soldier was evacuated to a military hospital for medical treatment, officials said.
A team of the Madhya Pradesh Lokayukta was taken by surprise after it found that Hema Meena, an assistant engineer in-charge (contract) at the state police housing corporation, has acquired properties worth 332 per cent more than her income, despite earning a monthly salary of only 30,000, Live Hindustan reported. The Lokayukta conducted raids on Hema Meena's residence, farmhouse, and office, resulting in the identification of assets worth approximately  7 crore.

On Thursday, the Lokayukta conducted raids on her residence, farmhouse, and office, resulting in the identification of assets worth approximately 7 crore. Additionally, reports suggest that the Lokayukta team found a television worth 30 lakh at the home of the sub-engineer. Additionally, 20 cars, including luxury ones, were discovered parked at her bungalow.

Not only this, it has been found that during her 13 years of service, Meena's luxurious farmhouse contained 70 to 80 cows.

The Lokayukta team carried out raids in Bhopal, Vidisha, and Raisen, targeting Meena. The raid came after a complaint regarding disproportionate assets was lodged against her in 2020.

Moreover, she reportedly uses a walkie-talkie to communicate with the staff at her residence, and a jammer has been installed there as well. The investigation revealed that her house was constructed at a cost of 1 crore, registered under her father's name, Ramswaroop Meena.

Meena also managed to purchase 20,000 square feet of land in Bilkhiriya village. A case has been filed against Meena under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

A report by NDTV claimed that on Thursday, a team from the Lokayukta Special Police Establishment (SPE), entered Meena's bungalow under the guise of repairing solar panels.

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Severe cyclone Mocha over the southeast Bay of Bengal intensified on Friday morning, clocking wind speed of around 140-150 km per hour gusting to 165 km per hour. It was expected to cross an area between Coxs Bazar (Bangladesh) and Kyaukpyu (Myanmar) around Saturday noon as a very severe cyclonic storm with a maximum sustained wind speed of 150-160 km per hour gusting to 175 km per hour, India Meteorological Department (IMD) said. Satellite image showing the location of Cyclone Mocha in the Bay of Bengal. (PTI)

IMD director general M Mohapatra said dry and continental winds were blowing over the entire east India in the direction of Cyclone Mocha. We are expecting rains in northeastern states on May 13 and 14 and strong winds, said Mohapatra.

IMD has warned of minor damage to loose/unsecured structures, uprooting of small trees and breaking of tree branches, the possibility of landslides in vulnerable areas, and damage to small trees such as bananas in Mizoram, Tripura, and South Manipur.

It has asked farmers to immediately harvest mature fruits and crops, provide staking and cover to vegetable nurseries, and orchards, avoid the application of fertilizers and pesticides, and keep livestock inside sheds.

Shipping and offshore industries are likely to be impacted due to the very rough to phenomenal sea ( 9-14 m wave height). IMD has recommended regulation of tourism and offshore activities and shipping near Andaman and Nicobar Islands until Saturday. It has advised regulation of shipping activity in the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea until Sunday.

Mocha is unlikely to impact the monsoon, which normally reaches Kerala around June 1. Mocha is a transient system and there is still a fortnight left for the normal onset date for monsoon. We do not think the very severe cyclone will impact monsoon onset, said Mohapatra.

Mocha was about 520 km west-northwest of Port Blair on Friday morning. An IMD official said the tropical heat potential, which provides energy to the cyclone, is high near the Myanmar coast. Bay of Bengal is considerably warm with sea surface temperatures of over 30C over most parts of the ocean.

Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (Pune) climate scientist Roxy Mathew Koll said sea surface temperatures near Myanmar were as high as the rest of the Bay around 30-32C or 1-2C above normal. The subsurface conditions are also warm, but not as warm as central Bay.

Mocha is pulling winds and moisture and parts of east and northeast India are expected to record severe heat. On Wednesday, maximum temperatures were markedly above normal (5.1C or more) in parts of Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, and Gangetic West Bengal.

IMD issued a heat wave warning for pockets in Gujarat, Madhya Maharashtra, Bihar, and West Bengal on May 11, Konkan from May 10 to 12, Rajasthan on May 12 and 13, and Coastal Andhra Pradesh and Yanam from May 13 to 15. Due to humid air and high temperature, uncomfortable weather is likely in Konkan, Odisha, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu.
Starbucks Indias latest campaign on transgender persons triggered a row, adding momentum to the ongoing debate over queer rights in India. The American coffeehouse chain Wednesday launched a campaign titled it starts with your name, in a bid to promote inclusivity and shared a video featuring a transgender woman meeting with her parents at a Starbucks outlet. Screengrab of the video shared by Starbucks India of its latest campaign on trans inclusivity.(Twitter/StarbucksIndia)

The video shows the womans mother urging her husband to not get angry at their daughter this time when she arrives, which follows a sentimental nervous interaction between the family. As Starbucks is known for its practice of writing customers' names on their cups, when the father orders coffee for the family, the barista calls out the name Arpita instead of the womans dead name Arpit, indicating the fathers acceptance of their daughter for who she is.

The video ends with the father conveying his feelings that for him his childs changed appearance does not matter and that Arpita is the same kid hes always had. "Your name defines who you are - whether it's Arpit or Arpita. At Starbucks, we love and accept you for who you are. Because being yourself means everything to us. #ItStartsWithYourName," the brand tweeted with the video.

It starts with your name  the campaign slogan is directed at promoting trans inclusivity. Transgender persons often opt to change their name to distance themselves from their birth name, also known as a dead name, which may not align with their gender identity. Using the new name suggested by transpersons is a way to help them express their authentic selves and affirm their true identity. Transgenders are a part of the LGBTQIA+ community umbrella term to collectively refer to diverse sexual orientations and gender identities.

While many LGBTQIA+ community members and allies welcomed the effort, a set of users seemed unhappy and accused the company of pretending to be woke at a time when it has been charged with promoting anti-union activities and unfairly compensating its workers. The LGBTQIA+ community also used the incident to highlight the stigma faced by them in response to negative or crass comments, as seen in the reply section of the original tweet.

Some users also reiterated the Narendra Modi governments stance on queer rights, claiming the campaign an agenda to impose the Western idea of homosexuality on the Indian audience, where the majority of the people are conservative and have largely believed in a heteronormative lifestyle. The campaign comes amid as the Supreme Court concluded its hearing on the issue of marriage equality and reserved its order Thursday.

As Starbucks operates its outlets in India in a joint venture with Tata Groups subsidiary Tata Consumer Products, some users also recalled the Indian conglomerates past controversies including the 2020 interfaith Tanishq ad, and indicated they would boycott the companys products if it continues to indulge into sensitive issues.

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The Kerala Story is running across the country and West Bengal cannot be an exception to ban the controversial movie, the Supreme Court said on Friday as it sought a response from the state government on a petition challenging its move earlier this week. Prior to the movies release, petitions were filed in the Supreme Court. (Representational image)

The top court also issued a notice to the government of Tamil Nadu where movie theatre owners dropped the screening citing law and order concerns.

Directed by Sudipto Sen and produced by Vipul Amrutlal Shah, The Kerala Story has triggered a political row in the country, with many calling it a propaganda film. The movie was released on May 5.

On Monday, Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee ordered a ban on the movie, calling it a distorted story. In a statement, the state government said that to maintain peace and harmony, The Kerala Story has been banned in West Bengal.

The movie was banned under section 6 of the West Bengal Cinemas (Regulation) Act which says that if the state is of the opinion that any film which is being publicly exhibited is likely to cause breach of peace, the exhibition of the film may be suspended or prohibited.

A day earlier, President of Tamil Nadu Theatre and Multiplex Owners Association M Subramaniam said a few multiplexes in the state that had screened the movie decided to withdraw it. Locally-owned multiplexes had already decided not to show the film, as it did not have any popular stars. In Coimbatore for instance, there were two shows so far. Even those did not do well. Given that, theatres decided that it was not worth going through the threat of protests, he said.

The producers of the movie  M/s Sunshine Pictures Private Limited and Shah  moved the top court challenging the ban and withdrawal of the movie in the two states.

Hearing the petition on Friday, a bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud said: If this movie can run across the country, West Bengal cannot be an exception. This film has been released throughout the country and West Bengal is not different from the rest of the country.

Appearing for the Bengal government, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi said the ban was announced following huge intelligence reports on possible breach of law and order and violence in the state over the movie.

Singhvi said that under section 6, the state has a peculiar power to issue the ban,

But the bench, which also comprised justice PS Narasimha, said: It (film) has been running in different parts of the country with similar demographic profile.

It added: If people dont want to see the film, they will not see it. Why should you not allow the movie to run? This has nothing to do with the artistic value of the film.

Senior advocate Harish Salve, who appeared for the producers, said the ban was followed by a statement of the chief minister that there could be problems if the movie was screened as it portrayed a certain community in bad light.

Salve also pointed out that The Kerala Story was dropped by theatre owners in Tamil Nadu and sought security by the state government across cinema halls

Additional advocate general of Tamil Nadu, Amit Anand Tiwari, told the court that the state is taking all steps to provide security. He said that since the ban on the movie was imposed by theatre and multiplex owners, the notice may not be issued to the state. He also said that all security arrangements are in place

The bench told Tiwari: We would like to know from you about the specific administrative arrangements made by you. We do not think the administration can say that we will look the other way when chairs are broken or theatres are attacked. It is a law and order problem.

While refusing to stay the ban in Bengal, the bench sought the responses of both the state governments and posted the matter for hearing on Wednesday.

In their petition filed through advocate Yugandhara Pawar Jha, the movie producers said that no state can cite purported considerations of law and order to ban a film duly certified for public exhibition by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC).

Any such ban would constitute an unreasonable restriction on the fundamental right under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India to engage in free speech, the petition said.

It further prayed for remedial compensation for the grave and irreparable financial loss on account of the fragmented release of the movie.

Prior to the movies release, petitions were filed in the Supreme Court, challenging the CBFCs certification and seeking a ban on the movie. The top court directed the petitioners to approach the Kerala high court where similar pleas are pending.

On May 5, the Kerala high court refused to stay the movies release. This has been challenged in the top court and the bench had agreed to list the appeal filed by journalist Qurban Ali on Monday.
Evelyn Wang in Everything, Everywhere, All At Once Evelyn Wang in Everything, Everywhere, All At Once.

One for the history books, and for the physics books too, considering her position in the multiverse. Evelyn Wang knows that the universe is powered by love, and that her daughter might need some convincing of it. Theres fighting, bickering, confusion, rocks, googly eyes, laundry, taxes and a lot else going on. But Michelle Yeoh plays Evelyn so well, its no wonder she won an Oscar for it. Perfect for Mothers Day.

Mrs Baker in 13 Reasons Why

Olivia Baker in 13 Reasons Why.

Olivia Baker is made of fire. Shes trying to get justice for her daughter, Hannah, who died by suicide as her rapist walks free. Shes uncovering the truth from the audio tapes Hannah made before she died. Kate Walsh plays Olivia, and brings Jay Ashers 2007 novel to life in a way that young people have loved. This is a mom to have on your side when things get rough.

Joyce Byers in Stranger Things

Joyce Byers in Stranger Things.

Its the Winona Ryder comeback we didnt know we needed. Joyce is the fragile Mama Bear, using Christmas lights to communicate with her son, Will, trapped in the Upside Down in Season 1 (2016). Shes rescued people, taken a little girl into her care, made deals with Russians and battled a Demogorgon. Get this woman a cup of coffee!

Ming Lee in Turning Red

Ming Lee in Turning Red.

For much of the 2022 Disney film, Ming Lee is the classic overprotective Asian mom, preoccupied with reining in her daughter, even after Mei has turned into a giant red panda. She gatecrashes the gig her daughter has sneaked out to attend. But mama (voiced by Sandra Oh) loosens up in the end, giving us some endearing mother-daughter moments.

Malorie Hayes in Bird Box

Malorie Hayes in Bird Box.

Dont look. Something is causing humans to kill themselves, by taking on the form of their worst fears. So Malorie Hayes (Sandra Bullock) and her little boy and girl must keep their eyes closed to survive. The 2018 thriller based on the 2014 novel by Josh Malerman, celebrates the mother tirelessly fighting off predators, while navigating their way to safety.

Deb in Four Good Days

Deb in Four Good Days.

Mila Kunis plays a troubled woman in her 30s, who just needs to stay sober for four days, to be able to get a drug that promises to help with her de-addiction. Glenn Close plays her mother, which means its going to be tough love. The scenes are delicate but uncomfortably real. Boundaries are tested, so is love. Sometimes, being a mother wins.

Molly Weasley in the Harry Potter series

Molly Weasley in the Harry Potter series.

How could we not? Mrs Weasly isnt rich, but shes generous with love, knitting Harry Christmas sweaters, almost adopting him and Hermione. The seven books (1997-2007) have plenty of great mothers: Lily Potter, Narcissa Malfoy, even Nevilles grandma. But Molly has the warmest heart. Dont cross her. Shes the one who killed Bellatrix Lestrange.

Neena Gupta in Masaba Masaba

Neena Gupta and her daughter, Masaba.

Shes fun, quirky, practical and doesnt mince her words when it comes to voicing the truth. Neena Gupta is the kind of Indian mom who freaks out about pregnancy scares but remembers that her daughter needs to be consoled too (and judging Masabas choices only in secret). We love the banter, the fights. Neena has great comebacks, and fantastic clothes on the show (2020-present)

Nalini Vishwakumar in Never Have I Ever

Nalini Vishwakumar in Never Have I Ever.

Its never fun to raise a teen and grieve a dead husband. But Poorna Jagannathan, playing Naini, pulls it off with just the right amount of exasperation, pain and love on the 2020 series that will ends this year. Devi, headstrong but learning, falls in love, is confused in love, and makes life all about love. Nalini is right there, hovering along the edges without being overbearing.

Queen Ramonda in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Queen Ramonda in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

Angela Bassett carries Chadwick Bosemans legacy onward with her portrayal of Queen Ramonda in Wakanda Forever. Theres a section of Wakanda Forever during which its believed that her daughter, Shuri, is also dead. Nonetheless, she persists, leading Wakanda to stability and success after the loss of their king. Thats how to be a superhero mother.

From HT Brunch, May 13, 2023

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Motherhood is challenging so celebrating your mother is a way to show love, appreciation and recognition for her irreplaceable role in a family and Mother's Day is another excuse to celebrate and strengthen this bond, foster emotional well-being and promote a culture of gratitude and respect for mothers and motherhood. Mother's Day and other forms of celebration provide an opportunity to express heartfelt appreciation and gratitude for the love, sacrifices and efforts that mothers contribute to their families and it is a way to acknowledge and honour the role they play in nurturing and raising children where it allows for moments of connection, reflection and quality time spent together, fostering a deeper understanding and appreciation of each other. Happy Mother's Day 2023: Date, history, significance, celebration and campaign against Mother's Day (Photo by Twitter/cityumalaysia)

Celebrating a mother acknowledges the profound impact mothers have on their children's lives and highlights their guidance, support and influence in shaping their children's character, values and overall development. Mother's Day is a holiday celebrated in many countries around the world to honour mothers and motherhood and although the dates and traditions may vary, it has become a day for people to express their appreciation for their mothers and mother figures, often through gifts, cards and special gestures of love and gratitude.

Date:

In many countries, including India, Mother's Day falls on the second Sunday of May every year and this year the celebration will fall on May 14, 2023.

History and controvery:

The history of Mother's Day dates back to ancient times but the modern observance of the holiday began in the early 20th century. As per ancient roots, the ancient Greeks and Romans celebrated festivals honouring mother goddesses such as Rhea and Cybele and these celebrations were held in the springtime and were dedicated to fertility and motherhood.

Early Christian celebrations of the 16th century had early Christians in England celebrating a day called "Mothering Sunday." It was a time when people returned to their mother church, which was the main church or cathedral in their area and on this day, families would come together and children would present flowers or small gifts to their mothers.

In the United States, the origins of Mother's Day can be traced back to the efforts of Julia Ward Howe, an abolitionist and suffragette. In 1870, she wrote the "Mother's Day Proclamation," calling for women to unite for peace and disarmament.

The modern Mother's Day as we know it, was championed by Anna Jarvis, an American social activist. After her own mother's death in 1905, Jarvis campaigned to establish a national holiday to honour mothers as she wanted to create a day for individuals to express their love and gratitude to their mothers.

In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed a proclamation designating the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day in the United States and this official recognition led to the widespread celebration of Mother's Day in the country. Since then, Mother's Day has been adopted by various countries around the world but while Anna Jarvis is often credited as the founder of Mother's Day, she later became a vocal critic of the holiday due to its commercialisation.

Anna Jarvis initially envisioned Mother's Day as a day of personal and heartfelt appreciation, where people would honour their own mothers with sincere sentiments and acts of kindness. As Mother's Day gained popularity, Jarvis became increasingly disillusioned with its commercialisation and felt that the true meaning of the holiday was being overshadowed by the sale of greeting cards, flowers and other gifts.

Jarvis actively protested against the commercialisation of Mother's Day and organised boycotts, threatened lawsuits and spoke out against the exploitation of the holiday for profit. She even campaigned for the abolition of Mother's Day altogether.

Jarvis reportedly spent much of her later life and personal funds fighting against the commercialisation of Mother's Day and became bitter and disheartened by what she saw as the corruption of her original intentions for the holiday. Despite her efforts, Jarvis was unable to halt the commercialisation of Mother's Day however, her campaign drew attention to the issue and sparked ongoing discussions about the balance between genuine appreciation and commercial motives in celebrating the holiday.

While Anna Jarvis's campaign against the commercialisation of Mother's Day did not achieve its intended outcomes, it highlighted the importance of preserving the genuine sentiment behind the holiday and the potential pitfalls of excessive commercialisation.

Significance:

Mother's Day serves as a reminder of the immeasurable value of mothers and motherhood as it is a day to express love, appreciation and recognition for the selfless devotion and unconditional love that mothers provide throughout their lives hence, holds significant importance for various reasons. Mother's Day is a special occasion dedicated to honouring and appreciating mothers and mother figures as it provides an opportunity to express gratitude for their love, sacrifices and unwavering support, celebrate the beautiful and essential role of motherhood, recognise the immense impact mothers have on their children's lives, their families and society as a whole and serves as a reminder to spend quality time with family and strengthen the bond between mothers and their children.

It provides an occasion for family members to come together, express love and appreciation and create cherished memories, acknowledges and appreciates the influence and guidance that mothers provide, recognises mother's role in shaping their children's values, character and overall development. Mother's Day offers a dedicated moment to express gratitude and thankfulness for the selfless acts of love, care and nurturing that mothers provide every day.

It is an opportunity to show appreciation for the countless ways in which mothers enrich our lives. Mother's Day allows for reflection on the deep bond between a mother and her children, providing an occasion to cherish and honour the unique and irreplaceable connection that exists within the mother-child relationship.

Celebrating mothers on Mother's Day contributes to their emotional well-being. It validates their role and efforts, promoting a sense of fulfillment, pride and happiness in their important role as mothers.

Celebrations:

Mother's Day celebrations vary across different cultures and countries but they often involve several common elements like it is customary to give gifts to mothers and mother figures on Mother's Day where these gifts can include flowers, cards, chocolates, jewellery or personalised items. The gifts serve as tokens of love, appreciation and gratitude or people may celebrate Mother's Day by gathering with their families and this can involve having a special meal together, going out for a family outing or organising a small gathering or party to honour mothers.

Spending quality time with mothers is an essential aspect of Mother's Day. Activities may include going for a walk, having a picnic, watching a movie together or engaging in other shared interests and hobbies or people can express their love and appreciation for their mothers through special gestures like writing heartfelt letters or cards, preparing breakfast in bed or doing chores or tasks to give mothers a break from their regular responsibilities.

Mother's Day is not only about biological mothers but also about honouring all mother figures and this includes stepmothers, grandmothers, adoptive mothers and other women who have played a significant maternal role in one's life. In some communities, Mother's Day is celebrated with public events or gatherings and these can include concerts, parades or special programs dedicated to honouring mothers and celebrating motherhood.

Mother's Day can also be a time for reflection and remembrance, particularly for those whose mothers are no longer alive so people may visit cemeteries or create tributes to honour and remember their mothers' memory. Ultimately, Mother's Day celebrations revolve around expressing love, appreciation and gratitude towards mothers and mother figures and the specific activities and traditions may vary but the underlying sentiment remains the same  to honour and celebrate the immeasurable impact of mothers in our lives.
It is that time of year again when mosquitoes are most active and abundant and it is important to take precautions to protect yourself from mosquito bites as mosquitoes can transmit diseases such as malaria, dengue fever, Zika virus and West Nile virus. Often coinciding with warmer weather and increased humidity, mosquito activity can vary depending on the region and local climate but in many regions, mosquito season occurs during spring and summer when temperatures are favourable for mosquito breeding and development. Fragrances in soap can make you a more attractive target for mosquitoes. Here's how to repel them (Photo by Ron Lach on Pexels)

Hence, it is important to stay informed about the local mosquito activity and any specific disease risks in your area and to help reduce your risk of mosquito bites or the potential transmission of mosquito-borne diseases during mosquito season, a new study by the researchers from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University presented a compelling reason to ditch the soap you might be using.

A study was conducted on the unique odour profiles in people along with different soaps to determine the scents that mosquitoes are drawn to and conversely the scents theyre repelled by where the data and findings were published in the journal iScience. As per the scientists behind the research, mosquitoes may be attracted to soap because when they are not feeding on blood, they supplement their sugar intake with plant nectars hence, soapy fragrances could make you a more attractive target as it was found that the mosquitoes favoured the scent of volunteers who washed with three out of four popular soap brands tested.

Four volunteers recruited for the study, submitted fabric samples that they had worn as a sleeve while either unwashed or after washing with four different brands of soap  Dial, Dove, Native and Simple Truth. To exclude the effects of exhaled carbon dioxide, which is another important cue for mosquitoes, fabric was used rather than exposing the volunteers themselves and it was observed that the female mosquitoes that feed on blood were landing on the fabric samples to give an indication of their preference.

Daniel Peach, an assistant professor in vector ecology and infectious diseases at the University of Georgias Savannah River Ecology Lab & Department of Infectious Diseases, explained to Medical News Today, Mosquitoes are attracted to people based on several intermodal cues, including carbon dioxide in our breath, odor cues such as volatiles produced by our metabolism or our skin microbiota, visual cues such as the clothing we wear, and more. Differences in attraction between different people come down to differences in these cues, frequently our odor profile.

Clement Vinauger, who led the work at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, said, The fact we are taking those flowery, fruity smells and putting them on our bodies means that now the same object smells like a flower and a person at the same time. It would be like waking up and smelling something that was like both coffee and muffins. Very appealing.

Vinauger added, Its remarkable that the same individual that is extremely attractive to mosquitoes when they are unwashed can be turned even more attractive to mosquitoes with one soap, and then become repellent or repulsive to mosquitoes with another soap. This is because the study also noted that it isnt a one-size-fits-all approach as the effects of soaps differed somewhat between people, possibly due to interactions between the soaps and each persons unique odour profile where added fragrance is mingled with a persons unique odor profile, so different people will see different results, even if theyre using the same fragrances.

Highlighting that the soap choice could partially explain why some people are mosquito magnets while others get off bite-free, the scientists concluded that washing with Dove, Dial and Simple Truth increased the attractiveness of some (but not all) volunteers while washing with Native soap tended to repel mosquitoes. The scientists said that as there is some evidence that coconut oils are a natural deterrent for mosquitoes, the relatively repellent effect of Native could be linked to its coconut scent.

Suggesting a number of options to make yourself less attractive to mosquitoes, Peach said, The best repellent out there, to my knowledge, is still DEET. However, there are other options for those who seek to avoid DEET, such as picaridin. If you are particularly attractive to mosquitoes you can do things to try and minimise this attraction. For example, mosquitoes are more attracted to dark clothing than to light clothing, so consider wearing light-coloured clothing.

Vinauger added,Multiple publications show that coconut-derived chemicals tend to have a repellent effect on blood-feeding insects. So, if you are prone to getting mosquito bites, this could be the way to go. That being said, if you live in or travel to areas where mosquito-borne diseases are prevalent, I would highly recommend conventional mosquito repellents as commercial soap formulations dont replace an effective repellent, and the duration of the effects remains to be determined.

The data from Virginia Tech has sparked new questions and potential avenues for future research where it was pointed out that the soaps tested had limonene as a dominant scent but limonene is known to have a repellent effect on mosquitoes. Despite this, three of the four tested soaps actually increased mosquito attraction so a better understanding of the chemical processes in the brain of the mosquito is going to be pursued.
Heat stroke is a health condition in which the body's temperature regulation system fails, causing a significant increase in the body temperature. Individuals who spend prolonged periods outdoors such as workers, athletes and attendees of outdoor events, are at a higher risk of heat stroke due to prolonged exposure to high temperatures and humidity. Summer health tips: Ways to keep yourself safe during summers and keep heat stroke at bay (Shutterstock)

In an interview with HT Lifestyle, Dr Sandeep Patil, Chief Intensivist at Fortis Hospital in Kalyan, explained, The human body attempts to regulate its temperature in high temperatures by sweating, which facilitates cooling via evaporation. However, in humid conditions, the evaporation of sweat is slowed down, impeding the body's ability to cool down efficiently. Also, when people are engaged in physical activity, their body temperature rises, and they sweat more, increasing the risk of dehydration and heat stroke.

Asserting that knowing how to safeguard oneself will help one in aiding others in distress, he suggested some important tips to prevent heat stroke:

Stay hydrated: Drink cold water and juices especially if you're active outdoors or exercising.

Wear light coloured, loose clothing to allow your body to cool down.

Avoid going out in the sun between 11am to 3pm.

Avoid alcohol consumption as it makes it difficult for your body to maintain its temperature.

Avoid extreme exercise during peak time of the day. You can schedule the same early morning or in the evening, when the temperature is cooler.

Talking about how to manage heat stroke until the patient is hospitalised and treated under medical supervision, he recommended:

Take the person to a cool and shaded area and lay them down

Remove any excess clothing

Use a cool, damp cloth to help lower their body temperature or blow air all across the body

Immerse the person in cool water, such as a bathtub or pool

Pour room-temperature water on the head

Make the person take salted fluids

The nicest part of summer is certainly going out in the sun. Consider the above recommendations to ensure your safety while doing so.
Former Pakistan prime minister (PM) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khans supporters used to be disparagingly called Burgers by Pakistans older generation of political liberals. The word was used as a pejorative to describe young, rich, urban and rootless Pakistanis who seemed outwardly modern in how they dressed and spoke but were apolitical and deracinated. Otherwise disinterested in electoral politics, they found in Khan a mascot they could rally around. PREMIUM Several viral videos suggest that citizens could not have attacked venerable military fortresses without sections of the military helping or looking the other way. Many argue that all of this is the deft handiwork of the new army chief to contain and manage Khans rising popularity (AFP)

In the early years of his life as an opposition politician, Khan told me he was intrigued by Arvind Kejriwal and his success at birthing a party from an anti-corruption agitation. He saw parallels between the PTI and the Aam Aadmi Partys tapping into middle-class cynicism about the political system. Liberal narratives did not interest him. He took on the Americans for their war in Afghanistan, offered namaz on stage during public rallies and famously called liberals the scum of Pakistan in the same interview with me in 2012.

So, its deeply ironic that a decade later, the same Khan has emerged as an unlikely liberal hero, taking on Pakistans mighty military establishment. The ironies do not end there. In 2018, when Khan became PM, the opposition parties accused the Pakistan army of helping Khan rig the elections. Today, those same leaders  Nawaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari  are in a coalition backed by the military, and if there were to be a fair and free election in Pakistan, Khan would sweep it easily.

So, while the images out of Pakistan are unprecedented  women rattling the gates of the Pakistan army headquarters in Rawalpindi, the homes of corps commanders being burnt, and citizens daring general sahebs to shoot them  a cursory step back into Pakistans history, will give you more a sense of deja vu than dramatic change.

For anyone tempted to declare that this is the beginning of the end of the Pakistan militarys stranglehold over civilian politics  and we have seen many such breathless proclamations  lets pause and remember, the world has seen this moment before, and nothing changed structurally in how the deep State wields power.

Remember when the Americans took out Osama bin Laden from under the nose of the Pakistani military in 2011? The Pakistan army looked enfeebled and incompetent, and its civilian politicians seized the moment. Yousuf Raza Gilani, the then PM, called the Inter Services Intelligence a State within a State in a speech at the countrys national assembly. Husain Haqqani, a friend of India and then Pakistans ambassador to the United States (US), was drawn into a controversy called memogate on allegations of seeking US help in the event of a coup.

Pakistan has been through many cycles of civilian-military angst, with different political parties being weaponised by the army at different stages in its evolution. And each one of the countrys political protagonists has played both roles in this relentless drama  that of yes-man and rebel  depending on the circumstance and opportunity.

The inflammatory remarks by Bilawal Bhutto, for instance, on Indian soil, while in attendance at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation foreign ministers summit, can be seen precisely in the context of him seeking approval from the Pakistani military. This approval, should it come, should be juxtaposed with his ambitions to become the PM of Pakistan, much like Khan had courted the military in 2018.

The bottomline? In Pakistan, nothing is as it seems.

While the countrys chief justice Umar Ata Bandial and army chief Asim Munir find themselves on the opposite ends of the Khan debate, is the Pakistan army all one side or has it also been split wide open by Khan?

Several viral videos suggest that citizens could not have attacked venerable military fortresses without sections of the military helping or looking the other way. Moreover, some homes of generals that were ransacked were reportedly vacated in advance, suggesting that these developments might have been scripted. There are those in Pakistan who argue that all of this is the deft and diabolical handiwork of the new army chief to contain and manage Khans rising popularity.

So, will there be a coup? Is Pakistan headed for martial law again?

As one friend in Pakistan remarked wryly -- the army never steps in when there is no money to be made, referencing the broken economy of her country.

Also, who needs a coup detat when you can deliver a coup de grace from behind the scenes?

In the coup-lite version of Pakistani democracy, Imran Khans dramatic rebellion notwithstanding, there is no proof yet, that anything will change substantively.

Expect the same script with new actors.

Barkha Dutt is an award-winning journalist and author The views expressed are personal
Some of the best commentary on the Indian economy now comes from who can euphemistically be referred to as private sector economists. They work at banks and other financial institutions and are invested in not just tracking the economy on a regular basis but also reading the tea leaves as far as its immediate, medium-term and even long-term prospects are concerned. These predictions, for investors of various kinds, are not just an academic exercise. They inform and involve billions of dollars in investment bets. PREMIUM One of the best private sector commentaries on the Indian economy comes from the team at HSBC research headed by Pranjul Bhandari. (Shutterstock)

A new report predicts an eight trillion-dollar Indian economy by 2032. One of the best private sector commentaries on the Indian economy comes from the team at HSBC research headed by Pranjul Bhandari. In a report released earlier this week, Bhandari and her colleague Aayushi Chaudhary have made predictions about what the Indian economy will look like ten years from now. Their best-case scenario envisages a 7.5% growth which will make India an eight trillion-dollar economy by 2032; third largest in the world behind the US and China. To be sure, the report clearly states that this is not a given and it will be hard work to achieve this goal. A new India The bulk of the growth in the 7.5% growth scenario will happen in what the report calls New India, which includes high-tech manufacturing and tech start-ups and service providers which leverage new technologies. This New India, the report estimates, had a share of 15% in gross value added (GVA) and 5% in employment in 2018 and this is expected to increase to 25% and 7%, respectively, by 2032. The bulk of the growth in the 7.5% growth scenario will happen in what the report calls New India, which includes high-tech manufacturing and tech start-ups and service providers which leverage new technologies. This New India, the report estimates, had a share of 15% in gross value added (GVA) and 5% in employment in 2018 and this is expected to increase to 25% and 7%, respectively, by 2032. And an old one What is even more interesting is that the report does not see a significant reduction in the share of agriculture in total employment in this scenario building exercise. It is expected to come down from 42% (2018) to 36% (2032) and agricultures relative share in GVA  share in GVA divided by share in employment  will actually decline from 0.36 in 0.28 during this period. This means that Indias structural transformation crisis, as far as asymmetry between income and employment shares is concerned, will actually become worse. What is even more interesting is that the report does not see a significant reduction in the share of agriculture in total employment in this scenario building exercise. It is expected to come down from 42% (2018) to 36% (2032) and agricultures relative share in GVA  share in GVA divided by share in employment  will actually decline from 0.36 in 0.28 during this period. This means that Indias structural transformation crisis, as far as asymmetry between income and employment shares is concerned, will actually become worse. The report gives another interesting set of statistics in terms of listing out individual contributions of various factors of production and total factor productivity (TFP) to overall growth using a Cobb Douglas production function framework. For those who are uninitiated into elementary microeconomic theory, a brief digression is in order to explain this concept. A Cobb Douglas production function calculates TFP as a residual by deducting the role of labour and capital  the two factors of production  in overall growth. For example, let us assume a world where the only economic activity is running taxis. In a world before the internet and cab-aggregators using technology like Ubers, business (irrespective of its distributional aspects) would be smaller with the same number of taxis, drivers and fuel spending as drivers would not know where to go looking for passengers. The gain in business with an Uber-like technology will be attributed to an increase in TFP. To be sure, as is always the case with economists, the concept of TFP is not a universally accepted idea. Among the most basic and important critiques of the TFP approach is that it is ill-equipped to handle potential changes to growth from the demand side. To come back to our example, a lockdown which would kill demand for taxis would lead to a massive fall in business despite technology/efficiency levels remaining the same. To give a macro example, the Indian economy grows at a much higher rate when it enjoys high export demand, which it is not very difficult to understand, has got more to do with global demand than productivity/efficiency levels in the Indian economy. Let us for a moment, set aside this theoretical critique of the concept of TFP and come back to the HSBC report. The report gives TFP values and projections from 2003-07 to 2023-32. The following chart reproduces the values given in the report and adds the share of TFP in overall GVA for each period.

The numbers, at least until 2017-19 are anything but counter-intuitive. Almost 80% of the pre-pandemic growth was driven by increase in labour and capital stock. The bulk of this would have come from expansion in Indias white collared workforce in sectors such as IT and a big increase in private investment, which, to be sure, was also responsible for the stress build-up in the banking system. By the eve of the pandemic, tailwinds to growth from both labour and capital had weakened, which once again is not very difficult to explain given the policy-induced shock to the informal economy and the twin balance sheet crisis.

However, what is interesting is the fact that the eve of the pandemic period sees a big increase in TFPs contribution to growth with its share crossing the 30% mark. Once again, this is not very surprising given the fact that the eve of the pandemic period saw a big jump in digital innovations even as large parts of the real economy was slowing down. The report forecasts that TFPs share in overall growth will increase to almost 37% in the 2023-32 period in the 7.5% growth scenario. The contribution of labour or human capital to growth, on the other hand, is expected to fall from 44.3% in the 2003-07 period to just 27.6% in the 2023-32 7.5% scenario. What does this mean? If one were to stick to the neoclassical theory framework where different factors of production get paid in keeping with their marginal product, then income share of labour can be argued to be determined only by technological factors. But if the wage rate does not rise as fast as productivity, which has otherwise been the case for India in the recent past, a sharp fall in contribution of labour to overall value-added growth also means that labour income growth  at least for the overwhelming majority  will face a sharp deceleration in the next decade. To give a more relatable argument, it makes perfect sense to argue that most of the rewards from the gains in TFP will be cornered by existing or new entrepreneurs in New India or their venture capitalist (VC) funders. The relative share of New India in GDP is expected to increase from 3 in 2018 to 3.6 by 2032 in the report. If one were to stick to the neoclassical theory framework where different factors of production get paid in keeping with their marginal product, then income share of labour can be argued to be determined only by technological factors. But if the wage rate does not rise as fast as productivity, which has otherwise been the case for India in the recent past, a sharp fall in contribution of labour to overall value-added growth also means that labour income growth  at least for the overwhelming majority  will face a sharp deceleration in the next decade. To give a more relatable argument, it makes perfect sense to argue that most of the rewards from the gains in TFP will be cornered by existing or new entrepreneurs in New India or their venture capitalist (VC) funders. The relative share of New India in GDP is expected to increase from 3 in 2018 to 3.6 by 2032 in the report. This kind of a development in an economy already mired in very high levels of inequality is not much of a problem as far as the primary mandate of private sector economists  without any prejudice to their academic quality or integrity  in terms of facilitating better informed investment decisions is concerned. However, this has massive implications as far as the nature of Indias political economy bargaining framework is concerned. If the majority of the people are not going to experience a significant improvement in their standard of living despite the size of the economy and per capita incomes increasing significantly in the next decade, how will it impact politics? This column has argued on multiple occasions that Indias political economy equilibrium has become more and more dependent on the fiscal policy palliative route to legitimise politics in the face of deep rooted and increasing economic inequalities. This is a reflection of two factors, namely, the increasingly doomed agrarian transformation project and shrinking space for old-school class struggle between capital and labour. If things are going to get only worse on these two fronts, fiscal policy will become increasingly stretched to fulfill its palliative function of generating democratic legitimacy for what will increasingly become an even more unequal economy. In fact, there is a good case to argue that fiscal policy will face a new kind of constraint as the weight of New India increases in the next decade. Given the fact that most start-ups in the new-tech sectors are driven by VC-funding  the HSBC report says this is critical for Indias growth prospects  and still very far from breaking even, their increasing footprint in the economy will lead to a shrinking corporation tax (levied on profits) to GDP ratio. Any attempts to raise taxes on such investments are likely to lead to a premature end to this potential economic boom by scaring such investors. Similarly, a lot of new-age manufacturing is likely to lead to a fiscal strain  thanks to subsidies under the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme  rather than add to revenue collections. So, what is to be done? To be sure, this problem is easier stated than solved. No other economy of Indias size has ever faced such entrenched dualism where a small part of the economy is extremely dynamic but unable to generate enough traction for its lacklustre bigger half. What is also true is that India is perhaps the only economy in the Global South which will have achieved the place of worlds third largest economy without a structural suspension of democratic pulls and pressures in its political economy bargain for a significant period. To be sure, this problem is easier stated than solved. No other economy of Indias size has ever faced such entrenched dualism where a small part of the economy is extremely dynamic but unable to generate enough traction for its lacklustre bigger half. What is also true is that India is perhaps the only economy in the Global South which will have achieved the place of worlds third largest economy without a structural suspension of democratic pulls and pressures in its political economy bargain for a significant period. What can be said for sure is that both politics and economics will have to reinvent its established wisdom to keep the marriage between capitalism and democracy working in India. Every Friday, HTs data and political economy editor, Roshan Kishore, combines his commitment to data and passion for qualitative analysis in a column for HT Premium, Terms of Trade. With a focus on one big number and one big issue, he will go behind the headlines to ask a question and address political economy issues and social puzzles facing contemporary India. The views expressed are personal

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Two terrorists and two soldiers were killed in a terrorist attack on a Frontier Constabulary (FC) camp in Balochistan's Muslim Bagh town, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said on Friday, reported Dawn. Over the past few months, the law and order situation in the country has worsened, with terrorist groups executing attacks with near impunity across the country. (Representational image)(AFP)

The military's media wing said that a "group of terrorists attacked an FC camp in the Muslim Bagh area in northern Balochistan".

The statement said that an operation by the security forces was "underway to capture the terrorists who have been cornered into a building complex" while a heavy exchange of fire was also taking place, reported Dawn.

The ISPR further said, "Commander 12 Corps is supervising the security forces operations being conducted at Muslim Bagh area in Balochistan where terrorists have been cornered."

Since the talks with the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) broke down in November last year, the outfit has intensified its attacks, particularly targeting the police in KP and areas bordering Afghanistan.

Over the past few months, the law and order situation in the country has worsened, with terrorist groups executing attacks with near impunity across the country, reported Dawn.

Earlier this month, experts at a discussion warned that the TTP was forging a nexus with Baloch separatists and local militant groups based in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan -- a development that will likely exacerbate the already precarious security situation in the country.

On April 1, four soldiers were killed in a terrorist attack along the Pak-Iran border in the Jalgai sector of Balochistan's Kech district, reported Dawn.

On March 10, five terrorists were killed by security forces in intelligence-based operations (IBO) carried out in North and South Waziristan. On March 8, six terrorists were killed by security forces in an IBO in North Waziristan's Datta Khel general area.

According to statistics released by the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies, an Islamabad-based think-tank, January 2023 remained one of the deadliest months since July 2018, as 134 people lost their lives -- a 139 per cent spike -- and 254 received injuries in at least 44 militant attacks across the country, reported Dawn.
News outlet CNN's journalist Anderson Cooper in his opening monologue, addressed the backlash over the networks decision to host a town hall with former US President Donald Trump. CNN journalist Anderson Cooper.(File)

Read here: CNN faces backlash for hosting "ugly spectacle" town hall with former President Trump

While defending the decision, Cooper said, "Many of you have expressed deep anger and disappointment. Many of you are upset that someone who attempted to destroy our democracy was invited to sit on a stage in front of a crowd of Republican voters to answer questions and predictably, continued to spew lie after lie after lie. And I get it. It was disturbing.

"You have every right to be outraged today and angry and never watch this network again. But do you think staying in your silo and only listening to people you agree with is going to make that person go away, he added.

On Thursday, Trump had a 70-minute question-and-answer session with Republicans and voters in the CNN's townhall in US' New Hampshire. The event, moderated by Kaitlan Collins, saw Trump repeatedly spewing out falsehoods and attacking his critics, including writer E. Jean Carroll, whom he was found liable for defaming.

In his first interview on CNN since 2016, Trump refused to concede his 2020 election loss and refused to comment on January 6 Capitol riots and his legal issues.

He even labelled the moderator as a nasty person at the end of a town hall when she asked him why he did not comply with a Justice Department subpoena for classified records he took to Mar-A-Lago. He replied, Its very simple to answer. Youre a nasty person, I tell ya.

The interview came after a federal court in New York found Donald Trump liable for sexually assaulting writer E. Jean Carroll and defaming her.
Former UK prime minister Boris Johnson considered sending Rishi Sunak a foul-mouthed video after the latter resigned, triggering his downfall, his former director of communications claimed as per Sky News. Guto Harri, who advised Boris Johnson from February to September 2022, said that Boris Johnson believed that Rishi Sunak's decision to resign was the great betrayal of all time. Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak walking out of Downing Street(Reuters file)

Boris Johnson thought about sending him a video calling him a c***, Guto Harri claimed.

Boris Johnson's downfall began after Sajid Javid resigned as health secretary followed by Rishi Sunak as chancellor as the former UK prime minister was questioned for his handling of the Chris Pincher affair. At that time, Rishi Sunak, now UK's PM's, said that he was quitting because "the public rightly expect government to be conducted properly, competently and seriously."

Following their resignations, a swathe of other colleagues quit, forcing Boris Johnson to resign. Guto Harri made the claims on his new podcast for Global, Unprecedented.

Rishi walked out. Didn't even tell Boris he was going to go. Basically, he went public with a resignation. And a few days later, Boris found a little video on the internet that expressed what he wanted to basically say to Rishi, Guto Harri said.

He didn't send it, but he sent it to me and said, thinking of sending this to Rishi, he added claiming that the video contained the words: "You're a c***."

"So, there you have it," he continued. If you really want to know how Boris Johnson felt about Rishi Sunak in the immediate aftermath of his toppling, and the great betrayal of all time as he sees it, there you have it, he said.

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China's ruling Communist Party of China (CCP) punished more than 110,000 officials in an anti-corruption drive, the Indo-Pacific Centre for Strategic Communications (IPCSC) said in a report. China's president Xi Jinping launched the anti-corruption campaign under which officials have been publicly investigated. These include state-level officials, deputy state-level officers, military commission members, dozens of ministerial-level officers, and hundreds of deputy ministerial-level officers, the report said. Chinese President Xi Jinping

The report claimed, 111,000 people were fined in the first quarter of this year, including provincial and provincial-level cadres, 633 department-level cadres, 669 district-level cadres, and 1,000 townships. Includes level cadres, and 15,000 general cadres. And 76,000 executives in rural areas, businesses, etc.

This comes as the official WeChat handles of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the State Supervisory Commission of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China released their monthly anti-corruption report. It mentioned that in the first quarter disciplinary inspection and supervision agencies received 776,000 petitions and reports, of which 231,000 were complaints and accusations.

Prominent officials under investigation include Du Zhaocai and Li Xiaopeng, among others. Data from the March anti-corruption report said that 7,021 violations were investigated and dealt with. These involved 10,285 officials, data showed.

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China will dispatch a special envoy to Ukraine, Russia, and other European nations from Monday, as Beijing steps up its efforts for a diplomatic resolution to Moscows war. Chinese President Xi Jinping(AFP)

Ambassador Li Hui, special representative of the Chinese government for Eurasian Affairs, will also visit Poland, France and Germany on the trip, Chinas Foreign Ministry announced. Li is a former ambassador to Moscow.

The visit of Chinese representatives to relevant countries is another manifestation of Chinas commitment to facilitate dialogue, and fully demonstrates that China firmly stands on the side of peace, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a regular press briefing in Beijing on Friday.

President Xi Jinping announced China would send an envoy to Ukraine last month, during his first call with Volodymyr Zelenskiy since Russias full-scale invasion of its neighbor. The Chinese leader is looking to bolster his image as a global peacemaker after coming under pressure from Western powers for failing to condemn President Vladimir Putins war.

The call with Zelenskiy came shortly after Chinas ambassador to France questioned the sovereignty of other former Soviet states under international law on a French TV channel, which provoked anger from Baltic states and others. China later removed a transcript of the remarks and said they didnt represent government policy.

Henry Wang Huiyao, founder of the Center for China and Globalization, described the decision to send a Chinese envoy to Ukraine as really significant.

China should be actively mediating and participating so that people will take this seriously, and people will see China can play a positive role, he said. Thats going to improve relations with both European countries and, of course, even in the US.
China will send a special envoy to Ukraine, Russia and other European nations from Monday to discuss a political settlement to the war in Ukraine, Beijing announced on Friday as it continues to project itself as a mediator in global conflict dynamics. HT Image

From May 15, Ambassador Li Hui, special representative of the Chinese government for Eurasian Affairs, will visit Ukraine, Poland, France, Germany and Russia to communicate with all parties on the political settlement of the Ukrainian crisis, Wang Wenbin, foreign ministry spokesperson, said at the regular ministry press conference in Beijing on Friday.

Li, a fluent Russian speaker who spent 10 years as Chinas ambassador to Russia, has been Beijings Eurasian Affairs special envoy since 2019.

Lis visit will take place days after Chinese foreign minister Qin Gangs visit to Europe this week where he held meetings with counterparts from Germany, France and Norway.

The situation in Ukraine would have likely been the top agenda during Qins talks as well.

China has adhered to an objective and fair position, persuaded peace and promoted talks since the outbreak of the Ukraine crisis, Wang said, announcing Lis visit and continuing with Chinas decision not to call the war a Russian invasion.

Beijing has not only refused to describe Moscows unprovoked attack on Ukraine as an invasion, it has also blamed the US and Nato for provoking Moscow.

Wang added that the situation in Ukraine is still escalating, and spillover effects are continuing to appear.

Lius visit to Ukraine comes two weeks after President Xi Jinping spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in late April, more than a year after ally Moscow invaded the eastern European country.

Chinas foreign ministry quoted Xi as telling Zelensky that mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity is the political basis of China-Ukrainian relations.

Xi also reiterated Beijings point that Chinas core position on the Ukraine conflict is to promote peace and talks.

The phone call came a month after Xi visited Russia and called President Vladimir Putin as his dear friend.

In February, China had released a 12-point peace proposal to end the war in Ukraine, a peace plan that many observers had called vague.

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CNN is under fire for hosting a town hall with former president Donald Trump that Vanity Fair called an "ugly spectacle." The event, which was moderated by Kaitlan Collins, saw Trump spewing out falsehoods and attacking his critics, including writer E. Jean Carroll, whom he was found liable for defaming. FILE PHOTO: Former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump reacts after arriving at Aberdeen International Airport (REUTERS)

Trump has not appeared on CNN in years, and the town hall was the networks idea, and Licht had taken an especially hands-on role in its preparation, according to Politico.

The mood after the town hall was reportedly absolutely the lowest its been in the Licht tenure, a CNN journalist told Vanity Fair. Trump's appearance on CNN was his first in years.

Despite the backlash, Licht defended the town hall, noting that the audience represented a large swath of America. He also pointed out that the media cannot ignore Trump or his supporters, saying, "The mistake the media made in the past is ignoring that they exist.

However, Vanity Fair argues that CNN made a mistake by treating Trump like any other candidate. The magazine suggests that the former president spewed out too many falsehoods for any moderator to catch them all. While many gave Collins credit for her performance, former Obama communications director Dan Pfeiffer tweeted, "this is a gushing geyser of disinformation that cannot be fact-checked in real-time.

Of course, this isn't the first time Collins has clashed with Trump. As a White House correspondent for CNN, she was frequently banned from press conferences and called "fake news" by the former president. Despite this, she stood her ground during the town hall, asking tough questions and attempting to fact-check Trump in real-time.

Vanity Fair's assessment of the town hall is decidedly negative. The magazine argues that CNN's approach of holding every candidate accountable for their words simply doesn't work when dealing with someone like Trump, who is willing to lie and smear his opponents. While the network may have wanted to reset its relationship with the former president, it seems that the town hall only served to reinforce the divisions between Trump supporters and his opponents.
Authorities in Bangladesh and Myanmar prepared to evacuate hundreds of thousands of people Friday, warning them to stay away from coastal areas as a severe cyclone churned in the Bay of Bengal. People arrive to take shelter at a monastery in Sittwe town in Myanmars Rakhine state on Friday.(AFP)

Cyclone Mocha is expected to hit land on Sunday with wind speeds of up to 160 kilometers (100 miles) per hour and gusts up to 175 kph (110 mph) between Coxs Bazar in Bangladesh and Kyaukpyu in Myanmar, India's Meteorological Department said. (Track cyclone Mocha's LIVE updates here.)

Bangladesh, a delta nation with more than 160 million people, is prone to natural disasters such as floods and cyclones. The evacuation of nearly 500,000 people is expected to start Saturday with 576 cyclone shelters ready to provide refuge to those who are moved from their homes along the coast, said Bangladesh government administrator Muhammad Shaheen Imran.

The International Rescue Committee said in a statement the cyclone posed a threat to Rohingya refugees who fled from neighboring Myanmar and are living in camps in Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh.

"Still reeling from a devastating fire in March that destroyed more than 2,600 shelters and critical infrastructure, over 850,000 refugees risk losing their homes and livelihoods," the statement said.

The committee said it was scaling up its emergency response by deploying mobile medical teams to offer services to vulnerable groups such as women, girls, the elderly, and people with disabilities. The IRC is a global humanitarian aid, relief and development nongovernmental organization.

This is the first cyclone system in the north Indian Ocean this year, said Rajendra Kumar Jenamani, a senior scientist at the Indian Meteorological Department. The cyclone is severe and will likely affect millions of fishers and coastal communities in Bangladesh and Myanmar."

In May 2008, Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar with a storm surge that devastated populated areas around the Irrawaddy River delta. At least 138,000 people died and tens of thousands of homes and other buildings were washed away.

Myanmar authorities warned of possible flash floods and landslides in coastal areas as residents stocked up on essential supplies, said Hla Tun, a director at the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology.

Roxy Mathew Koll, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology in Pune city, said cyclones in the Bay of Bengal are becoming more intense more quickly, in part because of climate change.

The state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported that emergency response exercises were being conducted in various regions. It said thousands of people living along the western coast of Rakhine state where the storm is expected to pass are being evacuated.

In Bangladesh, control rooms in cyclone-prone areas were ready for emergency support. Three ports were put on alert, Imran said.

He said the government has allocated dry food, rice and cash and organized thousands of volunteers for relief work under the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society.

Cyclone Mocha is expected to hit coastal districts including Chattogram, Coxs Bazar, Noakhali and Bhola in Bangladesh on Sunday.

Indias Meteorological Department said the storm was centered more than 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) southwest of Coxs Bazar and 930 kilometers (580 miles) southwest of Sittwe in Myanmar on Friday and was moving northward at 9 kph (5 mph).

Fishermen and ships were advised not to venture into the southeastern Bay of Bengal and northern Andaman Sea, it said.

The department said it was expecting heavy to very heavy rainfall in Andaman and Nicobar Islands and parts of India's remote northeast.

Climate scientists say cyclones can now retain their energy for many days, such as Cyclone Amphan in eastern India in 2020 which continued to travel over land as a strong cyclone and caused extensive devastation. "As long as oceans are warm and winds are favorable, cyclones will retain their intensity for a longer period, Koll said.

Cyclones are among the most devastating natural disasters in the world, especially if they affect densely populated coastal regions in South Asia.
Former US president Donald Trump's interest in a younger staffer raised alarm in the White House, a former Trump administration official told Newsweek, adding that he "openly" behaved inappropriately with women. Olivia Troye, who was an adviser to former vice president Mike Pence, said that Donald Trump's behavior was common knowledge among senior staff in the White House. Former US President Donald Trump speaks during a Make America Great Again rally in Manchester.(AFP)

This comes as two other former Trump staffers accused him of sexual harassment while in the White House as they spoke out in television interviews after a jury found the former president liable for sexually abusing and defaming columnist E. Jean Carroll. Donald Trump dismissed the allegations and called the verdict a disgrace.

Stephanie Grisham, former White House press secretary, and adviser Alyssa Farah Griffin said that Donald Trump had a pattern of behaving inappropriately with women.

"I witnessed his behavior first hand," Olivia Troye said, adding, "He did it openly and made the comments openly even in meetings."

"This behavior was a known thing across many senior staff" in the White House, she said.

In an appearance on CNN, Farah Griffin said there were "countless" cases of impropriety that she took to Donald Trump's chief of staff Mark Meadows the way Donald Trump engaged with women was dangerous.

Olivia Troye said that she was aware "there was a younger staffer that he took a very keen interest" in.

"That was the one they raised concerns about," Olivia Troye, who left the Trump administration in August 2020, said.

Jurors rejected E Jean. Carroll's claim that she was raped by Donald Trump in a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman in 1996 but found the former president responsible for sexual abuse and awarded the columnist $5 million.

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A firing incident was reported outside Islamabad High Court as former Prime Minister Imran Khan awaits safe passage, Dawn.com reported. Confirming reports of the firing incident, Islamabad Police said there were no casualties. "All policemen were safe. Search teams are checking the vicinity," the Islamabad Police said in a tweet. Policemen escort Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan (AFP/Representative image)

The police said shots were fired at their personnel in the capital's G-11 and G-13 sectors.

Separately, a Dawn.com correspondent at the Islamabad High Court said gunshots were also heard there, from where PTI chief Imran Khan is yet to depart after hearings in several cases.

The Dawn.com correspondent said security was increased at the IHC premises after gunshots were heard, but the situation was back to normal now.

A Dawn.com correspondent, who is present on the site, has said snipers were posted at the buildings surrounding the high court.

This incident came hours after the IHC barred authorities from arresting PTI chairman Imran Khan in cases, including those that are undisclosed, registered across the country until Monday, May 15, Dawn reported.

The court also granted protective bail to the former prime minister in three terrorism cases registered against him in Lahore and the Zille Shah murder case.

Earlier in the day, a separate IHC bench accepted Imran's bail in the Al-Qadir Trust case for two weeks.

The verdict came a day after the Supreme Court termed his arrest "invalid and unlawful". It also stopped authorities from arresting the PTI chief till May 17 in any case registered in Islamabad after May 9, Dawn reported.

A division bench, comprising Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb and Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz, granted Imran a two-week bail in the Al-Qadir Trust case, in connection with which the Rangers had whisked him away from the Islamabad premises on May 9.

The PTI chief's bail plea was heard and disposed of in courtroom No.2.

During the hearing, Justice Aurangzeb asked Imran if he condemned the violence that ensued after his arrest, to which the PTI chief's lawyer replied in the affirmative. The judge then asked the former premier to submit a declaration in court stating the same.

After the hearing concluded, Dawn.com's correspondent outside the court said a sea of PTI workers and supporters celebrated in the streets.

Separately, an IHC bench comprising Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri and Justice Ejaz Ishaq Khan granted the PTI chief protective bail in three terrorism cases registered against him in Lahore for 10 days.

During the hearing, the PTI chief told the court that Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah had warned of arresting him again, saying that there was no rule of law in the country currently.

Earlier, Justice Jahangiri also approved Imran's protective bail in a case pertaining to the death of Zille Shah, a PTI worker who was killed during a party rally in Lahore earlier this year, for 10 days against surety bonds worth PKR 50,000, Dawn reported.

The ruling coalition -- Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) president Maulana Fazal-Ur-Rehman called on the nation to march towards Supreme Court and protest against the release of Imran Khan. He asked the party workers to resort to violence if touched or harmed by the security forces.
Two French citizens imprisoned in Iran have been freed, France's foreign minister said Friday. French-Irish citizen Bernard Phelan and Benjamin Briere. (AFP)

Benjamin Briere and Bernard Phelan, who both had been held in a prison in Mashad, in northwest Iran, were heading to Paris, a statement from Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said.

Also Read| Iran hangs two in rare blasphemy case as executions surge

Colonna thanked all those who worked for their freedom and spoke earlier Friday with Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Hossein Amir Abdollahian, the statement said without elaborating.

Briere, 38, was arrested in May 2020 for taking photographs with a drone in an area where cameras were forbidden. He was convicted of spying, then reportedly acquitted this year.

Phelan, 64, was arrested seven months ago while visiting Iran for consulting activities for a tour company, according to French daily newspaper Le Parisien.

Nearly a half-dozen other French citizens are thought to be held in Iranian prisons.
Pakistans former Prime Minister Imran Khan returned to court on Friday to hear whether he will be shielded from renewed arrest or taken back into custody  a decision that put the government and legions of Khan supporters on edge after days of violent confrontations. Imran Khan's arrest this week triggered deadly clashes across the country. (File)

The popular 70-year-old opposition leader will appear before the same court from which he had been dragged and arrested on Tuesday. The arrest had triggered nationwide protests in which his supporters attacked military installations, burned vehicles, and ambulances and looted general stores in various parts of the country. The violence drew condemnation from the government.

Fridays court session is part of complex legal maneuvers.

On Thursday, Pakistans Supreme Court had declared that Khans arrest was unlawful, but then asked the Islamabad High Court  a lower court  to reconsider its initial decision to uphold the arrest.

The Supreme Court said it would respect Fridays ruling by the Islamabad court. The government has said it would quickly re-arrest Khan if the Islamabad High Court upheld its earlier order.

Khans supporters chanted slogans in support as he arrived at the Islamabad High Court amid tight security. Police arrested several for defying a ban on rallies.

Khan was arrested on Tuesday by the National Accountability Bureau in connection with graft charges, when security agents burst into the Islamabad High Court and dragged him out. On Friday, he was back inside the same courtroom.

This week's violence left at least 10 Khan supporters dead. Dozens of protesters and more than 200 police officers were injured. Protesters torched trucks, cars and police vehicles and blocked highways.

It echoed unrest that followed the 2007 assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto during an election rally. Her supporters at the time, outraged by her killing, rampaged for days across Pakistan.

Khan, who was ousted as prime minister last year and leads the opposition, faces more than legal 100 cases, most involving allegations that he incited to violence, and threatened police and government officials. He also faces at least three graft cases. A new terrorism charge was filed against him Thursday for allegedly inciting his followers to violence after his arrest.

Under Pakistan's legal system, a defendant can seek protection from arrest in court hearings. Khan is vulnerable to arrests because he has not obtained such protection in all of the cases against him.

Following the Supreme Court's release order Thursday, Khan spent a night at a government guest house in Islamabad, where he met with his family members and friends. The country's President Arif Alvi also had a meeting with him.

Alvi has been trying to defuse tension between Khan and Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif's government to avoid escalation in the country which is accustomed to military takeovers, political crises and violence.

Since Tuesday, protesters have been clashing with police, who have arrested nearly 3,000 supporters from Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party. They include Khan's deputies who have been jailed.

After Khan was freed Thursday, Sharif's government criticized Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial for giving Khan a reprieve. It alleged Khan was involved in corruption and therefore should not have been freed.

Sharif, whose government accused the chief justice of bias, convened a special Cabinet meeting on Friday to discuss the latest developments.

Khan was ousted in April 2022 through no-confidence in the parliament. He claims his removal was part of a plot by the United States, Sharif and the military  a charge all three have denied.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday questioned the Supreme Court's granting of relief to its "ladla" Imran Khan, saying its "double standards" have led to the death of justice in Pakistan. Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif (Reuters)

In a major relief for Khan, Pakistan's Supreme Court on Thursday declared his dramatic arrest "unlawful" and "invalid" and ordered his immediate release after he was produced before a bench on its orders.

Khan, 70, was arrested on Tuesday outside the Islamabad High Court (IHC) and an accountability court on Wednesday handed him over to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for eight days' remand in connection with the Al-Qadir Trust corruption case.

Responding to the Supreme Courts relief to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Khan, Sharif said it was nothing but an NRO.

When he (Imran) was presented in court yesterday, the CJP said it is good to see you. And, he said this in a case of corruption, he said.

If you want to keep favouring this ladla (pampered), then you should also release all the dacoits behind bars in the country. Let this be free for all, he said while addressing the federal Cabinet on Friday.

He asked why such leniences were not given to his brother and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and other members of the federal coalition who were arrested when Khan was the prime minister.

No one spoke to Nawaz about injustices suffered by him. Such double standards have caused the death of justice in Pakistan, he was quoted as saying by the Dawn newspaper.

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday granted bail to PTI Chairman Khan in the Al-Qadir Trust case for two weeks.

Khan's arrest on Tuesday sparked widespread protests across Pakistan, prompting the government to deploy the army in the national capital, as well as in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces. The violent protests left at least eight people dead.

On Thursday, a three-member apex court bench, comprising Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Athar Minallah, ordered his immediate release.

Khan is facing over 120 cases across the country, including for allegedly committing treason and blasphemy and inciting violence and terrorism.

He was ousted from power in April after losing a no-confidence vote in his leadership, which he alleged was part of a US-led conspiracy targeting him because of his independent foreign policy decisions on Russia, China and Afghanistan.

He is the only Pakistani prime minister to be ousted in a no-confidence vote in Parliament.
Pakistans former prime minister Imran Khan was granted a two-week bail by the Islamabad high court in the Al-Qadir Trust case on Friday, a day after the Supreme Court termed his arrest invalid and unlawful. Policemen escort Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan (C) as he arrives at the high court in Islamabad on Friday.(AFP)

Khan, 70, the chief of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, appeared before the same court from which he was dragged and arrested on Tuesday.

Khan, however, remained in the court after the decision as his lawyers petitioned the judges for similar protection in a number of other corruption charges, trying to close off a legal avenue for the government to arrest him again. Babar Awan, Khans chief lawyer, praised the ruling, and said Khan was now a free man.

The government contends that Khans release rewards and encourages mob violence.

The arrest triggered massive protests across the country in which his supporters attacked military installations, burned vehicles, and ambulances and looted general stores in various parts of the country. The government responded with a crackdown, arresting nearly 3,000 people.

The violence left at least 10 Khan supporters dead. Dozens of protesters and more than 200 police officers were injured.

Fridays court session was part of a series of complex legal manoeuvres.

On Thursday, the Pakistan Supreme Court declared that Khans arrest was unlawful, but then asked the Islamabad high court to reconsider its initial decision to uphold the arrest.

The Supreme Court said it would respect whatever the Islamabad court rules. The government has said it would quickly re-arrest Khan if the high court upheld its earlier order.

Meanwhile, there were reports that a team of the Lahore Police had left for Islamabad to arrest Khan in a number of cases registered against him in Punjab province.

The police team is headed by the deputy inspector general (investigation), the Dawn newspaper reported.

It was reported that the joint investigation team probing cases against Khan has informed the Islamabad high court that it seeks the arrest of the chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party.

Khan faces 121 cases across the country, including for committing treason and blasphemy and inciting violence and terrorism.

Twelve cases of terrorism have been registered against Khan in Lahore and 14 cases have been registered in Faisalabad.

(With inputs from agencies)

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Amid chaos in Pakistan after the arrest of opposition leader Imran Khan, prime minister Shehbaz Sharif's government Friday questioned the Pak Supreme Court's decision to declare Khan's arrest 'unlawful'. Information minister Marriyum Aurangzeb criticised her country's top court, saying releasing the former prime minister would encourage mob violence. Policemen escort Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan (C) as he arrives at the high court in Islamabad on Friday.(AFP)

Speaking at a media briefing hours before the Islamabad High Court gave the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf leader two weeks bail in the Abdul Qadir Trust case, she defended the decision to arrest Imran Khan and accused him of inciting supporters to engage in violence.

The Pak minister also slammed Khan over Indian media's coverage of the crisis in her country.

"You look at the coverage of Pakistan's situation by the Indian media in 75 years, even the worst enemy couldn't do what Imran Khan has done to the nation," she said.

The minister also questioned the Pakistan chief justice over a lack of leniency for other politicians in similar situations. "... why (wasn't) the court as lenient for other politicians when their 'illegal' arrests used to be flagged?" she asked.

The Shehbaz Sharif government has repeatedly accused Khan of corruption during his tenure as prime minister - an example is his indictment (now stayed) in the Toshakhana case that sees him accused of illegally selling state gifts received during his time as Pak's leader.

"... you never heard our pleas but want to grant relief to this criminal facing investigation. If this is the course of justice then just shut all the courts," Marriyum Aurangzeb declared.

The minister's criticism came after the top court directed the Islamabad High Court to reconsider its initial decision to uphold Khan's arrest. The former prime minister appeared earlier today before a special bench of the same court from which he was controversially arrested by his country's anti-corruption agency. Khan's arrest led to violence and riots as his supporters attacked military installations, burned vehicles, including ambulances, and looted general stores to protest his arrest. At least four deaths were reported amid all the violence.

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Former Pakistani Prime Minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party chief Imran Khan appeared at the Islamabad High Court for a bail hearing in Al-Qadir Trust case on Friday, following his arrest earlier this week that led to deadly clashes across the country. The court later in the day granted a two-week bail to Khan after the country's Supreme Court called the arrest unlawful.

The Islamabad High Court provided a major relief to Imran Khan as it not only granted him protective bail in the Al-Qadir Trust case for two weeks but also prohibited the authorities from arresting him in any case until May 15. Furthermore, the court ruled that Khan cannot be arrested in any case filed against him after May 9 until May 17.

The AFP report stated said that as the former PM arrived at the court on Friday, PTI lawyers who had gathered chanted slogans like "Khan your devotees are countless" and "the lawyers are alive", to which the ousted leader responded by raising a single fist above his head.

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A former U.S. Marine who killed a homeless man by putting him in a chokehold on the New York City subway was taken into custody at a police precinct on Friday and was expected to be arraigned on a manslaughter charge. Former U.S. Marine Daniel Penny arrives at a New York City Police precinct to surrender for the death of Jordan Neely.(REUTERS)

A viral video showed the former Marine, identified as Daniel Penny, putting 30-year-old Jordan Neely in a chokehold on May 1 while they rode on the F train in Manhattan. Neely died from a compression of the neck, the medical examiner said, but Penny's lawyers said he did not mean to kill him.

According to witnesses, Neely, who was known to impersonate Michael Jackson in the subway system, was complaining loudly about being hungry and saying he was ready to die when Penny came up behind him and gripped him around the neck. Penny restrained him on the floor of the subway car until he appeared to stop moving. Neely was later declared dead.

Penny, 24, surrendered to police at the 5th Precinct in southeastern Manhattan on Friday, according to a Reuters witness. He is to be arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court on one count of second-degree manslaughter, the Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said on Thursday.

A bystander's video of Neely's death garnered national attention and revived a debate among New Yorkers about crime in the subway and what to do with a growing number of homeless people in the city.

The killing, and a delay by prosecutors in charging Penny, sparked protests, with some saying the incident amounted to a "lynching" and an example of "white vigilantism" against people of color. Neely was Black and Penny is white.

In a statement from his legal team, Penny expressed "condolences to those close to Mr. Neely." The statement alleged that Neely had aggressively threatened passengers riding in the subway car.

"Daniel never intended to harm Mr. Neely and could not have foreseen his untimely death," the statement said.

Penny's attorneys, Steven Raiser and Thomas Kenniff, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

An attorney for Neely's family said in a statement on Monday that Penny's actions on the train and his words show that "he needs to be in prison."

A spate of attacks on train passengers last year, particularly Asian Americans, prompted Adams to increase police patrols and expand outreach to the mentally ill in the subway system, citing rising homelessness in the wake of the pandemic.

The video that circulated on social media after Neely's death showed a man identified as Penny applying a chokehold to a man identified as Neely for more than three minutes. Two other men are seen in the video restraining Neely's arms before he went limp.

Reuters could not verify the authenticity of the video.
For a historic ceremony followed by spectacular processions, crowds in London lined up. It was King Charles' coronation last week after which people eagerly awaited the monarch's Buckingham Palace balcony appearance. Britain's King Charles III and Queen Camilla wave to the crowds from the balcony of Buckingham Palace.(AP)

As the royals took to the Buckingham Palace balcony, King Charles, Queen Camilla and other royals beamed as they waved to the people. But something bothered the newly-crowned King about his coronation that he wished he could change- the weather in London. After appearing on the balcony, lip reader Elisabeth Taunton claimed that King Charles looked out from the balcony and told one of his pages of honour, "Isn't it beautiful?"

However, King Charles complained, If only it wasnt so wet today while people gathered for the moment huddling under umbrellas trying to keep dry.

Following the coronation, King Charles and his wife pledged to rededicate their lives to service. The monarch called the nations support throughout the historic celebrations the greatest possible coronation gift.

In his special coronation message, King Charles said, We thank you, each and everyone. Later, traditional official portraits marking the crowning of King Charles III and Queen Camilla were released as well in which the monarch was captured in his full regalia donning the Imperial State Crown, holding the Orb and Sceptre with Cross, and dressed in his regal purple tunic and Robe of Estate.

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The recent decision of Prince William to bestow an honor upon Jason Knauf, who previously accused Meghan Markle of bullying palace staff, has raised some eyebrows. Knauf was granted the prestigious title of Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order (RVO) during a ceremony held at Windsor Castle on May 10th, which was officiated by the Prince of Wales himself. This move by the royal family has sparked speculation about their support for Knauf's claims against the Duchess of Sussex. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, made a surprise appearance outside Windsor Castle with Prince William and Kate Middleton, the new Prince and Princess of Wales, to view the public tributes to the late Queen Elizabeth II. The brothers, with their wives, waved at the well-wishers on the Long Walk at Windsor Castle on September 11, 2022 (IST).(AFP)

While it is not unusual for staff members to receive honors from the royal family, Knauf's inclusion on the list has caused a stir due to his role in one of the most controversial episodes during Meghan's tenure as a working royal. As Meghan's former co-host of Newsweek's The Royal Report podcast, Kristen Meinzer has pointed out, this move sends a clear message that Knauf's allegiance was always first and foremost to William.

Jason Knauf's professional experience involved serving in various capacities for members of the royal family, including William, Kate, Harry, and Meghan. He eventually departed from his role as chief executive of the Royal Foundation that was spearheaded by William and Kate, which he held until the end of 2021. The Royal Victorian Order, which Knauf recently received, is a distinction personally granted by the monarch as a recognition of one's personal services to the royal family and is not influenced by the government.

In October 2018, while serving as Harry and Meghan's communications secretary, Jason Knauf sent an email to William's then-private secretary expressing his concerns about Meghan and urging Buckingham Palace to take measures to safeguard the staff. Meghan's legal team has previously refuted these allegations.

In the final episode of the Netflix documentary series, The Me You Can't See, Harry claimed that there were attempts to "cover" Knauf's association with William, with Knauf being described as a "former aide of Meghan and Harry" rather than as chief executive of William and Kate's Royal Foundation.

A statement from Knauf's legal team, which was broadcast during the episode, asserted that these claims were false. They said that Knauf was asked to provide evidence by both Meghan and Associated Newspapers and that he remained neutral in the process, providing evidence that he believed to be relevant.

While the royal family has not commented on the matter, the honor presented to Knauf and William's personal involvement in it is likely to be seen as further evidence that the Prince of Wales is backing his former aide over Meghan. However, only time will tell how this move will be perceived by the public.
King Charles would "welcome a reconciliation with Harry and Meghan", a friend of the monarch claimed less less than a week after Prince Harry visited the UK to see his father get crowned. Prince Harry's visit to the UK was brief and was seen at the coronation in Westminster Abbey without his wife Meghan Markle. Prince Harry leaves Westminster Abbey after the coronation of King Charles III in London.(AP)

But King Charles will always want to reconcile with his son and Meghan, a friend of Charles and Camilla told The Daily Beast.

The opportunity that was there for Harry to sort this out with the king is gone for now. Of course, Charles would always welcome a reconciliation with Harry and Meghan, he has made that very clear, and his door is always open in that regard," the friend said.

But now the Coronation is done, I think Charles will want to focus on the job of being king, rather than to continue being distracted by Harry and Meghan drama, he added.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle stepped away from royal duties in 2020 to start a new life in the United States. Their relations with the royal family have been sour since. Prince Harry's tell memoir Spare made claims about senior members of the family.

Despite that Prince Harry was invited to the coronation for which he landed in the UK 24 hours prior to the event. The Duke of Sussex spent around 28 hours in the country, and left for California shortly after the ceremony had concluded to be with son Archie on his fourth birthday.

At the coronation, Prince Harry played a background role as he sat in the third row at the Westminster Abbey ceremony behind the Duke of Kent, the Duke of Gloucester and James, Earl of Wessex, son of the kings brother, the Duke of Edinburgh.

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Prince Harry talked to his father King Charles to discuss his plan for the afternoon of coronation, royal expert Nick Bullen claimed. Prince Harry attended the ceremony but jetted off back to his California home soon after the service. Royal expert Nick Bullen said that Prince Harry still managed to have a chat with King Charles. Prince Harry(AP)

My understanding is he didnt have any interactions with the Prince or Princess of Wales but that he did have a conversation with his father the night before. Until the morning, nobody really knew what Harrys plans were going to be for that afternoon, Nick Bullen said.

I think everybody knew he had a plane to catch. Everybody knew he was intending to get home, but there was a hope, I think, that he might be part of some of the family celebrations back at the palace. So, I think that there was a sadness that he wasnt part of the fuller day, but, you know, they all knew he was gonna get on that plane, the royal expert claimed.

Nick Bullen did not believe that Prince Harry was not at a family dinner the evening before the coronation.

There was a dinner on the Friday night at a private members club in London called Oswalds that a lot of the rest of the family went to. The Yorks went to it, Princess Anne went to it with her children.  so a lot of the extended Royal Family were at this private dinner, and there were no shots of Harry arriving at that dinner. It looks like he didnt go. Maybe he came into a back door, who knows? But it appears that he kept a very, very low profile during the whole piece, Nick Bullen said.

There seems to be no reason for him to come back to London anytime soon. Meghan certainly is showing no interest in coming back, the expert claimed.

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Svitlana Povar knew her husband would not approve when she enlisted in Ukraine's military and deployed to the embattled Donetsk region, where fighting with Russian forces is fiercest. Ukrainian servicewoman Svitlana Povar shows on her mobile phone a photograph of her late husband, Ukrainian soldier Semen Povar. (AFP)

Read here: Ukraine's Zelensky expected to meet Pope Francis on Saturday

The couple -- together for some 20 years -- had made an agreement when the Kremlin launched its war in February 2022.

She would stay away from the front with their teenage son. He would fight so their child could one day live in peace.

But when Svitlana, 42, learnt on her birthday last September that her husband had been killed in battle, she no longer felt bound by their pact.

"I spent five months begging at the doorsteps of military enlistment offices," she recounted, her hands clasped tightly together, staring out the window of her Soviet-era flat on a recent rotation in Kyiv.

She described tearfully to AFP the heated debates she had with her husband, Semen, who was 38 when he was killed around Vugledar, but believes he would have come around to her decision.

"There are times when I feel that someone is watching over me. I tell myself that he's with me, that he's helping me," she said of her experience being deployed near the eastern city of Bakhmut.

We have to end it

Semen's death and Svitlana's enlistment point to the fighting's huge cost for Ukrainians and the lengths to which women are going to aid the war effort -- even at the risk of orphaning their children.

Ganna Malyar, a deputy Ukraine defence minister, says there are 42,000 women serving in the armed forces, including 5,000 on the front line.

There are no figures specifying how many joined after -- or because -- their partners were killed on the front lines.

Read here: 'We'd lose a lot of people': Ukraine's Zelensky gets real on Russia counteroffensive

Svitlana choked back tears while she described her husband as a larger-than-life character who had joked on their very first date walking through a park that they would get married.

The desire to fight Russia's invasion was not driven by a need to take revenge, she explained, but rather the need to finish what he started.

"My husband used to say that we have to pass on our faith in God, love for country, the gift of mercy -- and not war. We have to end it, not our children," she said.

Yet Svitlana did not tell her son she was going to Donetsk -- the same region where his father, a sniper, was killed. She didn't know how to tell him.

Prepare for war

But while he was studying in Poland, he drew the conclusion himself and has since tried to discuss with her what to do if -- like his father -- his mother is killed by Russian forces.

"When he starts -- maybe I'm wrong -- I cut off these conversations and tell him that everything will be fine, and that's it."

Yevgeniya Kolesnichenko, from the destroyed Donetsk region town of Avdiivka, decided at her husband's funeral to make good a long-held wish to become a frontline medic.

The 34-year-old was already in Poland with her daughter, 13, and 10-year-old twin boys when she got the call that he had been killed in Bakhmut in November.

Read here: Ukraine routs Russian brigade near Bakhmut, Kremlin acknowledges

His parents could not attend the funeral because they have been living under Russian occupation for nearly a decade in Donetsk city.

"When he died, I realised that someone needed to take up his cause," she told AFP, knowing that he would not want her anywhere near the front.

"People who are not fighting now should also, little by little, prepare for war. Sooner or later, most of us will be involved," she told AFP.

Does she sometimes think, since she trained as a medic in December, that she could have saved him if she had been there in Bakhmut?

"I know his injuries meant that he wouldn't survive. But now I'm doing my best to save other heroes," she said, the hum of bees mingling with the thumps of shelling around Karlivka near the front line in Donetsk.

"I work with the mantra 'so that as many husbands and sons as possible return home'. I'm always thinking that there's someone waiting for him."

Death a 'sacrifice'

Before the war, Yevgeniya -- the sides of her head shaved with her dyed fringe falling over her animated face -- had her own business designing cross-stitch and embroidery patterns.

She now works alongside two Ukrainian women who lost their husbands to Russia's invasion and knows several others, who, like Svitlana, serve on the front.

"Some have been so affected by the death of their men that they too join the army in one capacity or another," she explained.

Yevgeniya is clear-eyed about the possibility of her own death and has made arrangements with friends to care for her children if she is killed.

But she is still coming to terms with the loss of her husband.

"If you look at it from an emotional standpoint, probably no-one is willing to pay this price," she said of her husband's death.

Read here: Donald Trump declines to discuss on favoring Ukraine or Russia in war

But pausing for a moment -- as the sound of shelling carried over a nearby lake -- she explained that the fate of the country was hanging in the balance.

That's why I'm here now. And I could die too. It would be my sacrifice. If everyone thinks it's not worth it, then it wasn't worth it to begin with.
Online advertisements in Russia sought troops to fight for Vladimir Putin's forces in Ukraine while offering salaries several times Russia's national average, a Kyiv-based NGO claimed. Data analyzed by the Foundation of Ukrainian War Victims showed how huge amounts of money are being offered to new recruits and there is no shortage of willing joiners, as per Newsweek. Russia-Ukraine War: Ukrainian servicemen fire a self-propelled howitzer towards Russian troops.(Reuters)

This comes as Russia faces huge troop losses even after Vladimir Putin announced a partial mobilization in September. The Kremlin earlier said that the drive to enlist 300,000 had been completed. Yuriy Mukhin, a board member of the NGO said that over the last few months there has been a push by Moscow to boost troop numbers.

"They are trying to use any possible means to recruit people and they are activating their efforts," he claimed. The average salary in Russia varies depending on the region but in February it was around 63,000 roubles ($827) nationally, the report said.

"After the full-scale invasion, a salary of 300,000 roubles ($3,941) is the average for vacancies related directly with the war," Yuriy Mukhin said. The ads offered up to 450,000 roubles ($5,900) as a one-time payment in addition to a monthly salary of 400,000 roubles ($5,100).

Yuriy Mukhin said that his NGO's research offers a snapshot of how the Russian state is trying to attract recruits. The NGO tracked 5,874 unique vacancies posted on the job website HeadHunter.ru by Russian state accounts of military units recruiting troops. It found that on August 26 there were around 2,400 vacancies.

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The ongoing feud between Prince Harry and the British royal family continues to make headlines as the rift between them appears to be growing deeper. Sources close to the family have told The Daily Beast that King Charles and Prince William have decided to keep Harry and Meghan at arm's length for the foreseeable future. FILE - Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Duke and Duchess of Sussex visit the track and field event at the Invictus Games in The Hague, Netherlands, Sunday, April 17, 2022. Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, have been asked to vacate their home in Britain. Frogmore Cottage, located on the grounds of Windsor Castle west of London, had been intended as the couples main residence before they gave up royal duties and moved to Southern California.(AP)

According to The Daily Beast, William, and Kate Middleton have opposed Charles making frequent concessions to Harry and Meghan, and their opinions are being taken into account. Charles has been emphasizing joint responsibility with William and Kate for the monarchy's direction of travel since his coronation. Although Harry attended the coronation, he reportedly left immediately afterward to return to California for his son's birthday.

Sources claim that the situation has escalated to such an extent that William allegedly feels "completely betrayed" by his brother, and even "hates" him. Harry's recent memoir, "Spare," contained some explosive allegations against William and Kate, including claims that they encouraged him to wear a Nazi uniform to a costume party 18 years ago. The book also featured an account of a physical fight between the adult brothers, in which Harry claimed he was knocked to the ground, breaking a dog bowl.

According to an insider close to Prince Charles and Camilla, the window of opportunity for a resolution to the ongoing feud between Prince Harry and the royal family has closed. Speaking to The Daily Beast, the source revealed that the coronation presented a unique opportunity and pressure for a solution to the conflict, but now that it's over, Charles will shift his focus toward his role as king, rather than being bogged down by the drama surrounding Harry and Meghan. The source said, "The opportunity that was there for Harry to sort this out with the king is gone for now. But now the coronation is done, I think Charles will want to focus on the job of being king, rather than to continue being distracted by Harry and Meghan drama."

Despite Charles' willingness to reconcile with Harry and Meghan, sources claim that a bit of distance could prove beneficial for all parties involved. Harry has asserted that he has no intention of hastily resolving issues with his father and brother, emphasizing that the "ball [is] in their court" regarding the possibility of reconciliation.

The question remains whether the royals will be able to reconcile their differences and find a way to move forward together. However, with tensions continuing to escalate, it seems that a resolution may not be on the horizon anytime soon.
Following SALT of Palmar's successful launch in 2018, Design Hotels is excited to welcome the property to its portfolio as a new Member Hotel and as the brand's first destination in Mauritius. Having made waves in the local hospitality scene with its bold design by Camille Walala, contemporary dining concept, and commitment to giving back to its community, the adults-only boutique hotel encapsulates Design Hotels' core values, which are rooted in purpose, connectedness, and curiosity. The collective of hand-picked, design-driven properties are defined by unique creative expression, consciousness, and the creation of spaces for purposeful experiencesthe addition of SALT of Palmar establishes a new partnership that acts as an anchor for a community of travelers seeking transformative and restorative adventures.

Adding a new destination on the Design Hotels map, SALT of Palmar has defied local expectations ever since it opened in 2018.

A gem just east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean, this remote African island echoes with calls of exotic birds, fish, and tropical plants. Mauritius's magic not only lies in its unparalleled natural beauty but also its incredible mix of African, Indian, Chinese, and French cultures. To explore the wild side of the island, travelers should head east, where SALT of Palmar is located and where the coast unfurls in traditional villages, swathes of raw beachfront, sugarcane fields, mangroves, and lagoons. In the coastal village of Palmar, white sand and sapphire waters are backdropped by old Indian silk saris ruffling in the wind, acting as makeshift fences between small plantations growing chilis and vegetables.

With all of these sights in mind, Mauritius-born and -based architect Jean-Francois Adam renovated the hotel's existing structure, which was originally built in the style of a traditional Moroccan riad.

As a result, the bright hues of the houses dotting the islandas well as the pinks of the awe-inspiring sunsets and greens of surrounding palms and sugarcane fieldsappear everywhere across the property. The facade is painted peach with royal blue accents, the daybeds are a vibrant turquoise with orange piping, and even the beach towels are canary yellow. Camille also worked with an extraordinary range of artisanslovingly referred to as the hotel's "SaltShakers"on the island to develop the entire range of furnishings at the hotel. Everything from the woven chairs by the pool to the rug in the library to mosaic tables, cushions, and sunbeds are bespoke. The hotel maintains close relationships with all the SaltShakers, and guests are invited to participate in workshops at their ateliers.

Another highlight is SALT of Palmar's onsite restaurant, The Good Kitchen, which has earned a reputation as a destination dining outlet that draws visitors and local Mauritians alike. It was one of the first places on the island to offer locally rooted yet globally inspired cuisine that caters to a variety of palates, with a menu including traditional Mauritian dishes as well as vegan and raw interpretations thereof. One standout is a contemporary take on biriyani: here, the traditionally meat-heavy rice dish is made instead with cauliflower. Also worth mentioning is the salt-baked fish, which is first poached in seawater and served up in a coconut broth. Every item on the menu is crafted from the freshest local produce available, and the only imported ingredients are those that cannot be grown on-island. Likewise, on the a la carte breakfast menu, everything is made from scratchfrom kombuchas to peanut butter to jams to flaky pastries that were first conceived in partnership with Du Pain et de Idees, a famous Parisian bakery, and adapted to incorporate local fruits like papaya and pineapple. Each of the hotel's three barslocated on the beach, at the pool, and on the rooftophas a distinct identity with its own menu of cocktails and alcohol-free drinks inspired by the sea, land, and mountains of Mauritius.

In comparison to the rest of the hotel, the 59 guestrooms are more subdued to promote restful sleep. But playful splashes of color are still found in features like fiery orange-red chairs and similarly hued tiled showers, plants in painted ceramic pots, and black-and-white striped cushions. Every room is equipped with a custom mattress by Carpe Diem, a company founded by a Swedish chiropractor; a bespoke guidebook; and a small selection of books by local authors. Guests are also treated to a beach basket made from recycled plastics by local artisan Reotee Buleeram alongside refillable, all-natural toiletries. Natural products are used in treatments at the hotel's intimate spa, Salt Equilibrium, which also has a salt room for halotherapy. Complimentary movement activities, such as sunrise/sunset yoga classes, serenity beach walks, and beach volleyball, are frequently offered alongside more socially mindful events like workshops on food scrap regrowth and how to make bath fizzes.

Outside of the hotel's own walls, maintaining a strong connection with and giving back to the local community is an integral part of SALT's expansive ethos. The hotel supports the nearby Laventure Technical School for Disabled and also organizes the "Skill-Swap Programme," which offers guests the opportunity to share their skills and talents with the local community, and vice versa. Previous exchanges have included a visiting interior designer giving local school children a class on art and a hairdresser teaching students about different ways to plait hair. An international journalist once gave a full-day writing session to aspiring writers, while an IT specialist conducted courses for departmental heads and a pastry chef taught SALT team members the art of patisserie. In turn, these guests each participated in enriching workshops held by SaltShakers: Janine Espitalier Noel hosts pottery workshops; artist Dani Volbert gives painting classes; Selva Chinan offers the experience of planting vanilla; and the hotel's own team members teach guests Mauritian sega dancing. SALT of Palmar also shares technical skills with local students on a quarterly basis and invites them to the hotel for yearly lunches and activity days. A sponsorship program for students' education and nourishment is also managed by the hotel and supported by guests' contributions.

Destination

After visiting the island in 1896, Mark Twain wrote, "You gather the idea that Mauritius was made first and then heaven; and that heaven was copied after Mauritius." At only 61 kilometers long and 45 kilometers wide, this island is known for its secluded beaches and verdant hills infused with rich culture and heritage: the delectable cuisine simmers together seemingly disparate flavour profiles; signs along roads are often written in English and at times, in French, Hindi, and Chinese.

Palmar, specifically, is a village on the east coast of Mauritius nestled between Belle Mare and Trou d'Eau Douce, and SALT of Palmar is located on a miniature peninsula between two bays with calm turquoise waters. Nearby are destinations like the Flacq Market, the island's largest outdoor market with vendors offering everything from fabrics and clothing to food to handicrafts, while the fishing village of Trou d'Eau Douce is known for its corrugated iron huts, mazes of picturesque streets, and friendly inhabitants. The hotel is a 50-minute scenic drive from the Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport.

Hotel website
The first China-made green shield tunneling machine rolled off the production line in the general assembly factory of the shield tunneling machine manufacturing subsidiary of China Railway Engineering Equipment Group Co., Ltd. (CREG) on May 9, a day before the 2023 China Brand Day. The newly launched machine is a dual-mode earth pressure shield tunneling machine with a cutter head 9.16 meters in diameter. It is 135 meters long, and weighs more than 1,900 tonnes. As the first tunneling machine to adopt a green design in the industry, it realizes its goal of working in an energy-efficient and environmentally friendly way through intelligent control and advanced dust removal technology. The machine is also equipped with technologies such as continuous boring and rapid mode switch technology, which can significantly improve its work efficiency and energy conservation and emissions reduction performance. The new machine will be exported to serve the construction of tunnels along a high-speed railway in Italy's Sicily Island. The railway tunnel project has used three sets of large-diameter shield tunneling machines provided by China Railway Group Limited, the parent company of CREG. When completed, the project is expected to significantly improve public transportation in Sicily Island, and become a new highlight and example of the use of Chinese high-end equipment in projects under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The launch of the green shield tunneling machine is believed to represent a strong boost for the competitiveness of Chinese equipment in global markets. As of the end of 2022, CREG had exported self-developed equipment for shield tunneling to 32 countries and regions around the world, including Germany, France, Italy, Denmark, Singapore, Australia, and Brazil. It had gained overseas orders for more than 100 sets of such machines. It's worth noting that the country's first tunnel boring machine (TBM) which features a large dip angle and designed for downhill tunnels in the mining industry, the China Railway 1285, was also completed on May 9. The TBM is about 82 meters long, and has a cutter head with a diameter of 5.53 meters. It will be used to construct a coal mine in Huaibei city, east China's Anhui Province.
Indian Hotels Company (IHCL), India's largest hospitality company, today announced the signing of a Vivanta branded hotel in New Gurugram, Haryana. The Brownfield project will be a part of a mixed-use development.

The 160-keys hotel is situated in Sector 95A, New Gurugram, a comfortable drive from Delhi International Airport. In addition to the rooms, the hotel will have Mynt, Vivanta's signature all day diner, a bar and recreational facilities including a swimming pool and fitness centre. There will be over 650 square metres of meeting space featuring a large ballroom and meeting rooms.

Gurugram, a planned city in the state of Haryana is a part of the National Capital Region. With its modern infrastructure, world-class facilities, and a vibrant lifestyle, Gurugram has become one of the most sought-after destinations in India.

Hotel website
Highgate, a leading real estate and hospitality management company, announced today that Mike Kass has been appointed as Area Managing Director for the Hawai'i region. In his new role, Kass will serve as General Manager at the award-winning 'Alohilani Resort Waikiki Beach and support Royal Lahaina Resort & Bungalows, located on Maui's world-renowned Ka'anapali Beach.

An experienced hospitality industry executive with over 25 years of experience, Kass joins Highgate from Marriott International. He most recently served as General Manager for The Westin Maui Resort & Spa, where he led the resort to achieve record-setting revenue figures in 2022. Prior, Kass served as General Manager of the San Francisco Marriott Marquis, the largest Marriott hotel on the west coast, where he oversaw a $140 million hotel refurbishment. Kass has also held hotel management positions with The Ritz Carlton Hotel Company at Kapalua Resort in Kapalua, Hawaii, and Dove Mountain Resort in Tucson, Arizona.

An avid student of the Japanese language, Kass holds a proficiency certification from the Japan Foundation. He graduated from Michigan State University with a bachelor's degree in Hotel, Restaurant & Institutional Management and is proud to call Hawai'i home.
Jumeirah Group, the global luxury hospitality company and member of Dubai Holding, announces the appointment of Cristina Sancenon as the new General Manager of Jumeirah Port Soller Hotel & Spa in Mallorca, Spain.

With over 25 years' experience in luxury hospitality, Sancenon's appointment follows her tenure as Hotel Manager at the Group's flagship hotel, the iconic Burj Al Arab Jumeirah in Dubai, where she was an integral part of the Executive Team delivering impressive commercial results, and guest satisfaction scores. In her new role, Sancenon will oversee all aspects of the award-winning Mallorcan clifftop retreat, enhancing financial and operational performance, while sharing her passion for exceptional guest experiences.

Prior to joining Jumeirah Hotels & Resorts, Cristina worked for luxury hotels across Europe including the Park Hyatt in Paris, Milan and Madrid.
Jumeirah Group, the global luxury hospitality company and member of Dubai Holding, announces Ermanno Zanini as Regional Vice President for Southern Europe and the United Kingdom. His new remit extends his regional responsibilities to include all aspects of the brand's operations in Italy, Spain, as well as the Group's hotels in London, UK.

Since joining Jumeirah in 2019, Zanini has played a pivotal role in elevating the brand's reputation for providing outstanding guest experiences, with tenures as General Manager at the group's leading luxury properties, Capri Palace Jumeirah and Burj Al Arab Jumeirah, as well as Regional Vice President for Italy and Spain. During this time, his passion for culinary excellence was central to delivering elevated guest experiences at both properties, overseeing the development of signature dining outlets including the Michelin-starred restaurant, L'Olivo at Capri Palace Jumeirah, with a pop-up for the restaurant also opening at Burj Al Arab Jumeirah, and lifestyle concept SAL also at Burj Al Arab Jumeirah. Additionally, his enthusiasm for art helped to create transformational and intimate experiences at both properties, including unique art installations such as the unique Art Maze installation on the helipad at Burj Al Arab Jumeirah and The White Gallery at Capri Palace Jumeirah.

Currently, Jumeirah Group's European portfolio includes Capri Palace Jumeirah on Italy's island of Capri; the stunning clifftop retreat, Jumeirah Port Soller Hotel & Spa; Jumeirah Lowndes Hotel in the heart of London's leafy Belgravia and The Carlton Tower Jumeirah, a modern classic in London's Knightsbridge district which completed an extensive renovation in 2021.

Prior to joining Jumeirah Group, Ermanno had a diverse career in hospitality that began in 1993 with Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts, where he held various roles including Food & Beverage Manager at the Four Seasons Hotel Milan in 2002. He also led the operations as Chief Commercial Officer from 2015 to 2017 for Mytha Hotel Anthology for its collection of seven unique hotels across Italy, Turkey, Croatia, and Spain.
Pedro Colaco is the CEO and President of GuestCentric Systems, which he Co-Founded in October 2006. He boasts a proven track record of driving successful product development, marketing, sales and channel management efforts in the global market. Prior to his current role, he was Vice President of Product Management and Marketing at Corvil, a software start-up funded by Apax Partners and Cisco Systems. During his tenure at Corvil he built a global Product Management and Marketing organization to support a sales team of over 60 professionals focused on the financial industry in New York City and London. Pedro is a multi-lingual advisor and thought leader across the international travel tech landscape, speaking five languages and having lived in four countries throughout his career.
The richness of Latin American culture welcomes the finest travel brands, advisors and media to our Brazilian home, Sao Paulo. Creating exciting itineraries, bold new business and lifelong bonds all take place in the alpha city.

New advisors, bursting diaries and cultural celebrations sum up the ILTM Latin America experience. Arrive with a great passion for our industry and leave with a jillion new adventures.

This event is organized by RX
Shanghai - With the continuous recovery of domestic tourism in China, the demand for business and MICE travel has surged. Responding to this market growth, IHG Hotels & Resorts launched its 2023 IHG Greater China Expo & Owner Roadshow with the theme of "Go Beyond", hosting events in Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Beijing to showcase the companys robust development in the business travel market.

At the Expo, IHG presented a diverse range of booths which allowed participants to gain a deeper understanding of the innovative services and rich initiatives provided by the company. The event facilitated in-depth communication with business travel customers on how IHG provides convenient one-stop solutions for meeting activities and creates efficient business travel experiences.

Diverse booth settings showcased innovative services and a wide range of support Photo by IHG

Along with the full economic recovery in China, business travel has finally resumed and entered a fast lane of development, bringing with it great confidence and motivation for IHG to expand the business travel and MICE markets. This Expo showcases IHGs 12 unique brands in Greater China, and also provides an opportunity for offline communication between our hotels and business travel clients. It is the right time and place for business travel to grow, and this roadshow provides an opportunity for us to further explore markets and channels. We will continue to work with our partners to build convenient and abundant meeting solutions, create efficient and worry-free meeting experiences, and help foster the high-quality development of business travel in the future. Ms. Rita Jiang, Vice President of Commercial, IHG Greater China

This year, IHG notably added an owner session to its roadshow for the first time, providing more opportunities to expand brand investment and engage with potential owners. At this session, IHG presented one-stop solutions that are based on current trends in consumption, investment, and tourism. It also provided in-depth analyses of the unique characteristics and advantages of Holiday Inn Express, voco, and EVEN Hotels  highlighting these brands precise market positioning and strong capabilities, while further enhancing owners' confidence in brand investment.

Owner roadshow provide more opportunities for brand investment and exploring potential owners Photo by IHG

Upgraded consumer demands as well as the evolution of hospitality and other industries have created a 'new landscape for hotel investment and brand development. IHG has always been committed to creating True Hospitality for Good through a diverse and personalised brand portfolio  providing our partners with richer investment choices and returns. Combining the Expo and owner roadshow represents an 'industry first that creates an immersive experience for our owner partners. When introducing key hotel brands, we provide the opportunity for potential owners to experience our strong revenue system and business travel customer resources. We pay close attention to national policies and market trends as part of our commitment to meeting current consumer travel needs. We plan to explore more diversified investment models with partners and provide innovative products and services in Greater China to create a better journey for guests in more destinations. Mr. Kent Sun, Chief Development Officer of IHG Greater China

Trends | Seizing Opportunities in Sustainability and Wellness, Promoting Smart Investment with Selected Brands

With increasing demands for business travel, cost reductions, and efficiency improvements, green and low-carbon accommodation has become a highly relevant topic in the business travel market. IHG has closely followed evolving trends and worked together with corporate travel management companies to create an all-in-one business travel management solution for enterprises. For example, one leading domestic conference management platform has synchronized the meeting room information of Holiday Inn hotels into its system, providing more flexible and transparent meeting services for the business travel market. In addition, IHG introduced its EVEN Hotels brand to the Chinese market in order to provide travelers with more options for healthier and happier stays away from home, with the brand having opened hotels in Shenzhen, Chengdu, Suzhou and other cities. In the future, IHG plans to continually build more personalized services for business travellers.

When it comes to hotel investment, mid & up-scale hotels focusing on business travelers are key for hotel groups to achieve economies of scale in the business travel market. As one of the key drivers for global growth at IHG, Holiday Inn Express entered its 3.0 Era at the end of 2022 in the Greater China market, continuing to bring "simple and smart travel experiences" to guests with a "new generation" of products  all while optimizing hotel space utilization and cost management, which helps owners increase ROI. Under the strategy of "Expanding along high-speed rail lines," Holiday Inn Express is making progress in first and second-tier cities as well as emerging markets while creating new investment opportunities for owners in third and fourth-tier cities in Greater China.

Development | With Resources Covering All Aspects of Business Travel, Signing Momentum Continues

With the expansion and revitalization of first and second-tier cities, as well as increasing development in third- and fourth-tier cities, the Chinese business travel market offers broad prospects for investment. The future of the market will not be limited to single developed cities or regions, but will involve multi-regional networks, and the demand for meetings and exhibitions will further penetrate lower-tier markets. With strong brand support, a precise regional layout, and distinctive and personalized products and services, IHG has accurately captured the core requirements of local business travelers. Through its powerful system construction capacity, IHGs business travel service fully covers domestic and four international channels for customer acquisition, with its reservation system connecting to global digital platform resources. IHG has a professional local business operations team to assist hotels in enhancing business travel, from pre-opening to operations, and system utilization to marketing plans, with comprehensive training and support to hotel operations teams. To simplify complexity, IHG utilizes group tools and resources that support individual hotels.

Built upon IHGs deep local experience and global channel resources, the Groups brands have gained the trust and favour of owners and investors, with strong signing momentum continuing even in the post-pandemic era. During the owner roadshow, IHG signed agreements for 24 new hotels, including Holiday Inn Express, voco, and EVEN  covering various market segments and highlighting IHGs unwavering commitment to further develop in the Chinese market. IHG will continue to closely follow national strategies and regional policy developments, focusing on strategic regions such as the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Hainan Free Trade Port, Yangtze River Delta, and other national strategic development areas. With the targeted expansion, IHG will continue to unlock investment opportunities while supporting the revitalization of the local culture and tourism market.

Models | Exploring the Business Travel Market with Diverse Models, Enhancing Franchising for New Development Opportunities

Following the Expo, IHG will maintain its growth in the business travel market and will carry out a series of small-scale roadshows and continue into the third quarter, targeting nine MICE destination markets  including Hangzhou, Nanjing, Chengdu, and Taipei. To further support its robust business travel services, IHG launched IHG Business Rewards, a business travel loyalty program that offers global corporate travel discounts and benefits for small and medium-sized enterprises. The program conducts online interactions with business travelers, offering innovative services in the era of digital travel.

With the continued development of Chinas hotel industry and the growing operational expertise of local owners, the franchise model has become more widely recognized and sought after in the country. Based on IHGs constant commitment to "In China, For China," the Group has customized a more flexible "Franchise Plus" model for the market. In addition to franchised and managed brand portfolio options for the Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, and Crowne Plaza brands, the model has been expanded to include a fourth hotel brand  EVEN  to provide owners with more diverse investment options in the Greater China market.

IHG not only provides comprehensive support to franchised hotels in different aspects such as professional training, operation and management of service teams, but also explores the sinker hotel market through this model to continue to strengthen its leading position in mid-to-high-end and high-end hotels.

About IHG

IHG Hotels & Resorts [LON:IHG, NYSE:IHG (ADRs)] is a global hospitality company, with a purpose to provide True Hospitality for Good.

With a family of 17 hotel brands and IHG Rewards, one of the world's largest hotel loyalty programmes, IHG has over 6,000 open hotels in more than 100 countries, and a further 1,800 in the development pipeline.

InterContinental Hotels Group PLC is the Group's holding company and is incorporated and registered in England and Wales. Approximately 350,000 people work across IHG's hotels and corporate offices globally.

Visit us online for more about our hotels and reservations and IHG Rewards. For our latest news, visit our Newsroom and follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

Eric Jiang

IHG
Reinstates Quarterly Dividend, Initiates at $0.15 Per Share

Announces $1,055 Million Increase in Share Repurchase Authorization, resulting in $1.5 Billion Total Share Repurchase Authorization

Provides Full-Year 2023 Financial Guidance inclusive of Net Income and Adjusted EBITDA; Outlines Illustrative Cumulative Free Cash Flow Expectations through 2025

CHICAGO  At its Investor Day today, Hyatt Hotels Corporation (Hyatt or the Company) (NYSE: H) intends to highlight the strategic actions the Company has taken to position it to become the preferred hospitality brand for high-end travelers in each segment that it serves, and the Companys plans to build on its strong momentum to drive further growth and shareholder value.

Over the past several years, we have taken decisive actions to drive faster and more profitable growth by positioning Hyatt to become the preferred brand for the high-end traveler in each segment that we serve. We have launched and scaled new brands in high-growth segments, acquired asset-light, fee-based platforms with a focus on Luxury, Lifestyle and Resort, and invested in digital capabilities, all through a culture of agility and underpinned by our purpose. Taken together with the successful sell-down of a significant portion of our owned and leased assets, we believe we have great business momentum driving industry leading growth in rooms, fee revenue, and loyalty membership. We believe we are well positioned to build on our strong momentum and capitalize on global macro trends. Mark S. Hoplamazian, President and Chief Executive Officer of Hyatt

With substantial free cash flow generated from asset-light earnings, together with cash generated from continued asset dispositions, we believe we will continue to have significant flexibility to invest in growth and return capital to shareholders, while maintaining our investment grade profile. We are also pleased to reinstate our quarterly dividend and increase our share repurchase authorization. Joan Bottarini, Chief Financial Officer of Hyatt

At todays Investor Day, Hyatt plans to highlight its asset light transformation and strategy for continued industry-leading growth and value creation:

The strategic transformation of Hyatts portfolio positions the Company to become the premier brand for the high-end guest in each segment and to benefit from global macro trends, including strong growth in and guest attraction to all-inclusive experiences, the durability of leisure travel and the growing momentum in group and business transient demand. Hyatt has focused its growth to position it to become the premier brand and the preferred loyalty program for high-end customers in each segment. Hyatt has increased its mix of Luxury, Lifestyle and Resort rooms to 44% of the portfolio in 2022, vs. 32% in 2017. The acquisitions of Miraval, Two Roads Hospitality, Apple Leisure Group, and Dream Hotel Group since 2017 have significantly increased Hyatts brand presence in the fast-growing categories of all-inclusive, lifestyle and wellbeing, and the planned acquisition of Mr & Mrs Smith, expected to close in the second quarter of 2023, will expand its brand presence in luxury. The end-to-end solutions and leading market share in luxury all-inclusive of Apple Leisure Group, the Companys largest and most transformative acquisition, are fueling growth and loyalty. Hyatt is also strategically expanding its portfolio in Upper-Midscale and Upscale, including the recent announcement of the Hyatt Studios brand, to enable more travelers to choose Hyatt hotels in additional segments, for all of their travel needs. Hyatts strategy is working: Since 2017, Hyatt has grown loyalty members by 260%, more than double the growth of its next closest primary competitor during that period.

Hyatt has focused its growth to position it to become the premier brand and the preferred loyalty program for high-end customers in each segment. Hyatt has increased its mix of Luxury, Lifestyle and Resort rooms to 44% of the portfolio in 2022, vs. 32% in 2017. The acquisitions of Miraval, Two Roads Hospitality, Apple Leisure Group, and Dream Hotel Group since 2017 have significantly increased Hyatts brand presence in the fast-growing categories of all-inclusive, lifestyle and wellbeing, and the planned acquisition of Mr & Mrs Smith, expected to close in the second quarter of 2023, will expand its brand presence in luxury. The end-to-end solutions and leading market share in luxury all-inclusive of Apple Leisure Group, the Companys largest and most transformative acquisition, are fueling growth and loyalty. Hyatt is also strategically expanding its portfolio in Upper-Midscale and Upscale, including the recent announcement of the Hyatt Studios brand, to enable more travelers to choose Hyatt hotels in additional segments, for all of their travel needs. Hyatts strategy is working: Since 2017, Hyatt has grown loyalty members by 260%, more than double the growth of its next closest primary competitor during that period. Hyatt has taken decisive actions to position the Company as high-growth, asset-light, and free-cash flow generative. Hyatt has launched and scaled several new brands and acquired asset-light, high-growth platforms, while monetizing a significant portion of its owned and leased assets. Since the Companys IPO in 2009, Hyatt has tripled its number of hotels, nearly tripled the number of hotel rooms and quadrupled the number of pipeline rooms. Over the same period, Hyatt has grown annual free cash flow to $473 million in 2022 from $60 million in 2009 and increased the percentage of asset-light earnings mix to 75% from 37%. Through continued disciplined execution of this strategy, Hyatt illustrates a path to $750M in free cash flow and more than 80% asset-light earnings mix by 2025. The Companys asset-light, fee-driven model increases earnings strength and predictability while significantly reducing capital expenditures, which the Company expects will be reduced to a run-rate of approximately $100 million by 2025.

Hyatt has launched and scaled several new brands and acquired asset-light, high-growth platforms, while monetizing a significant portion of its owned and leased assets. Since the Companys IPO in 2009, Hyatt has tripled its number of hotels, nearly tripled the number of hotel rooms and quadrupled the number of pipeline rooms. Over the same period, Hyatt has grown annual free cash flow to $473 million in 2022 from $60 million in 2009 and increased the percentage of asset-light earnings mix to 75% from 37%. Through continued disciplined execution of this strategy, Hyatt illustrates a path to $750M in free cash flow and more than 80% asset-light earnings mix by 2025. The Companys asset-light, fee-driven model increases earnings strength and predictability while significantly reducing capital expenditures, which the Company expects will be reduced to a run-rate of approximately $100 million by 2025. Hyatt has significant flexibility to continue to invest in growth and return capital to shareholders. Hyatt expects to generate approximately $3.0 billion of cash through the combination of Free Cash Flow and net cash generated from asset dispositions cumulatively from 2023 to 2025. The Company intends to deploy this cash to continue investing in high-growth, asset-light platforms and return capital to shareholders. Hyatt has reinstated the Companys quarterly dividend, declaring a cash dividend of $0.15 per share for the second quarter of 2023, payable on June 12, 2023, to shareholders of record as of May 30, 2023. The Company also announced a $1,055 million expansion in the Companys share repurchase authorization, resulting in a $1.5 billion total repurchase authorization. Share repurchases will be contingent on the pacing of asset sales and potential investment opportunities for growth. Hyatt remains committed to maintaining an investment grade profile.

Hyatt is pleased to showcase the results of the strong execution of its talented teams and an impressive illustrative long-term 2025 outlook that the Company believes will lead to continued value creation for shareholders.

2023 Outlook

The Company is reaffirming and expanding upon its previously provided outlook for full year 2023:

 Source: Hyatt

1. RevPAR is based on constant currency whereby previous periods are translated based on the current period exchange rate. RevPAR percentage for 2023 vs. 2022 is based on comparable hotels.



2. Refer to the schedules attached to this release for a reconciliation of net income (loss) attributable to Hyatt Hotels Corporation to EBITDA and EBITDA to Adjusted EBITDA, selling, general, and administrative expenses to Adjusted selling, general, and administrative expenses, and net cash provided by operating activities to Free cash flow.



3. One-time integration costs are related to acquisition activity and are included within Adjusted selling, general, and administrative expenses.

No disposition or acquisition activity beyond what has been completed as of the date of this release has been included in the 2023 Outlook. The Company's long-term outlook is based on a number of assumptions that are subject to change and many of which are outside the control of the Company. If actual results vary from these assumptions, the Company's expectations may change. There can be no assurance that the Company will achieve these results.

About the Event and Live Webcast

The Company is hosting its 2023 Investor Day today at the luxury, all-inclusive Moxche Resort in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, with investors and analysts attending on site. Hyatt has created a highly personalized experience for its in-person guests enabling them to experience firsthand the Companys purpose, to care for people so they can be their best. Additional stakeholders are invited to participate through the live webcast that can be accessed at Hyatts website investors.hyatt.com.

Webcast Replay

A replay of the meeting and the materials presented are available on the investor relations section of Hyatts website at investors.hyatt.com.

Fore more information, visit https://bit.ly/3BksU5X.

About Hyatt Hotels Corporation

Hyatt Hotels Corporation, headquartered in Chicago, is a leading global hospitality company guided by its purpose  to care for people so they can be their best. As of June 30, 2022, the Company's portfolio included more than 1,150 hotels and all-inclusive properties in 72 countries across six continents. The Company's offering includes brands in the Timeless Collection, including Park Hyatt, Grand Hyatt, Hyatt Regency, Hyatt, Hyatt Residence Club, Hyatt Place, Hyatt House, and UrCove; the Boundless Collection, including Miraval, Alila, Andaz, Thompson Hotels, Hyatt Centric, and Caption by Hyatt; the Independent Collection, including The Unbound Collection by Hyatt, Destination by Hyatt, and JdV by Hyatt; and the Inclusive Collection, including Hyatt Ziva, Hyatt Zilara, Zoetry Wellness & Spa Resorts, Secrets Resorts & Spas, Breathless Resorts & Spas, Dreams Resorts & Spas, Vivid Hotels & Resorts, Alua Hotels & Resorts, and Sunscape Resorts & Spas. Subsidiaries of the Company operate the World of Hyatt loyalty program, ALG Vacations, Unlimited Vacation Club, Amstar DMC destination management services, and Trisept Solutions technology services. For more information, please visit www.hyatt.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Forward-Looking Statements in this press release, which are not historical facts, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by the use of words such as "may," "could," "expect," "intend," "plan," "seek," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "potential," "continue," "likely," "will," "would" and variations of these terms and similar expressions, or the negative of these terms or similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable when made, are inherently uncertain, and are subject to numerous assumptions and uncertainties, many of which are outside of Kiraku, Inc. or Hyatt's control, which could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed in or implied by such statements. Forward-looking statements made in this press release are made only as of the date of their initial publication and neither party undertakes an obligation to publicly update any of these forward-looking statements as actual events unfold, except to the extent required by applicable law. If one or more forward-looking statements is updated, no inference should be drawn that any additional updates will be made with respect to those or other forward-looking statements.

Franziska Weber

+1 312 780 6106

Hyatt
The hospitality sector seems to have recovered from the pandemic as occupancy picks up and hotel companies are building new properties. Swiss-Belhotel International aims to double its portfolio with major developments across Asia Pacific fuelling its goal to become the go-to partner for hotel owners.

Travel Daily Media spoke to Lee Richards, Senior Vice President  Operations and Development for Central Asia, Swiss-Belhotel International, about the groups expansion plans in Asia Pacific.

Travel Daily (TD): What are the short-term and long-term expansion goals and how will you get there?

Lee Richards (LR): Our company is dedicated to being the go-to partner for business owners who value trust. With ambitious plans for expansion, we aim to establish ourselves as one of the leading international brands, collaborating with owners across Asia Pacific countries.

We have signed a Joint Venture partnership in Malaysia, where we have plans to expand our footprint and brand with over 10 hotels. We also have agreements in place in Thailand and are exploring partnerships in Japan, which is a new market for us. In Vietnam, we have several projects and takeovers in progress, and we are in discussions with one of the largest Hospitality Travel companies in China. Our company sees Asia as the powerhouse for our SBI family of 16 brands, and we have set a goal to grow to 530 hotels by 2030, with a significant focus on Central Asia in our expansion plans.

We have a well-defined Asia-Pacific growth strategy, and our experienced team is driven by passion and professionalism. Leading our expansion is Mr. Gavin Faull, our President and Chairman, along with his three sons who are actively involved in taking the company forward. Our current hotel operations have demonstrated strong performance with healthy Gross Operating Profits (GOPs) and quick Returns on Investments (ROIs) for our Owners, earning us a dependable reputation in the market. Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, we have emerged even stronger by quickly adapting our strategy and remaining focused on the changing market needs and technology advancements. We have built a solid foundation to support our rapid growth trajectory.

TD: What brand developments and enhancements are in the pipeline?

LR: Our current portfolio includes 16 brands that cater to different classifications, ranging from 5-star luxury to 2-star budget hotels. Each brand has well-defined product standards, service standards, and unique positioning, which are operationally showcased in our properties.

Recognizing the growing need for sustainability during the pandemic, we have developed a new brand called Maua, an eco-friendly and sustainable retreat for the luxury market. The first property has opened in Bali, and we have many more projects in progress. We are also in the process of finalizing the concept for our lifestyle adventurous brand called Bohemia, keeping in mind the needs of the wild & young-at-heart leisure travelers. Additionally, we have another mid-scale lifestyle brand under development that will add to the diversity of Swiss-Belhotel Internationals offering.

Regardless of the country, town, or remote location, we have a brand that can partner with owners and cater to their needs.

TD: The beauty of Asia, which is also seen as a challenge, is the diverse markets and every country is unique. How does SBI adapt to every market to fuel its development?

LR: At Swiss-Belhotel International, we deeply appreciate the diversity of cultures and wholeheartedly respect them. When operating in any country, we are meticulous in adapting to local customs and traditions. However, there is one aspect that remains consistent no matter where we are  our unwavering commitment to building personal relationships with our Owners and Investors.

Our Winning Partnership philosophy drives us to collaborate closely with our Owners, working hand-in-hand to bring their vision to life. We recognize that we are constructing their hotels, and we are dedicated to making their dreams a reality.

TD: What are the hospitality trends you are seeing now that travel and tourism is back on and how do you capitalize on them?

LR: There are four emerging trends or groups that have surfaced in the aftermath of the Covid pandemic:

The Memory Makers: These are the travelers who seek to create unforgettable and once-in-a-lifetime experiences. They are driven by a desire to make cherished memories and are eager to embark on new adventures.

The Tech Savvy: This group craves the latest technological advancements, whether its through innovative travel apps or cutting-edge futuristic experiences. They are drawn to tech-driven experiences that offer a sense of excitement and novelty.

The Experientialists: These travelers are motivated by the thrill of trying something new and unique. From rafting to climbing mountains to diving, they are eager to push their boundaries and embark on novel experiences.

The Environmentally Conscious: These travelers are environmentally sensitive and appreciate the value of being on this planet. After surviving the challenges of the past three years, they are grateful for the opportunity to travel and seek sustainable and responsible travel options.

The key to capitalizing on these emerging trends is to actively listen to your audience and quickly adapt to their evolving needs. By understanding and catering to the unique preferences of each group, travel businesses can stay relevant and effectively meet the changing demands of travelers in the post-Covid era.

About Swiss-Belhotel International Group

Founded in 1987, Swiss-Belhotel International Group is headquartered in Hong Kong, and offers hotels, resort, serviced residences and property management services in Hong Kong, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, Bahrain, Egypt, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, and Thailand. With full-service hotel brand concept, the Group's hotels cater to business & leisure travelers with hotels located in major city centers and resort destinations. The Group currently manages 125 properties in 16 countries under 16 brands.

For further information visit https://www.swiss-belhotel.com.
EMEA Hospitality Statistics 2023: Key Insights and Trends

The latest 2023 EMEA hospitality statistics, including exclusive TrustYou and third-party data.

TrustYou EMEA Hospitality Statistics Q1 2023



#1 EMEA Review Volume Growth Continues in Q1 2023

Q1 2023 EMEA review volume reached 86.9% of the pre-pandemic level and recorded a 24.4% increase compared to Q1 2022.

In Q1 2022, the review volume was 69.6% of the total 2019 reviews. At this accelerated pace, the review volume could surpass pre-pandemic numbers starting Q2 2023.

EMEA Review Volume Evolution, Q1 2019, 2021-2023

Other indicators show strong growth. Based on STR and CoStar data, the average occupancy rate for Europe for Q1 2023 was just 5% below the pre-pandemic levels. The Middle East & Southern Africa registered the best performance compared to 2019. Arabic countries reached the same occupancy rate as in 2019, and Southern Africa is just 1% behind their 2019 levels. Northern Africa reached 91% of 2019 numbers.

In terms of ADR, the entire EMEA surpassed the pre-pandemic numbers. We see the highest increase in Northern Africa - 81% growth compared to 2019, followed by the Middle East - at 27%, Southern Africa - at 25%, and Europe at 21%.

#2 Positive Feedback is Steadily High

94% of the EMEA guest reviews are positive.

EMEA maintains its leadership position as the region with the highest proportion of positive reviews.

#3 Service Improves Scores; WiFi Brings Lower Ratings

EMEA Impact Scores follow similar patterns to the Q1 2023 global categories and subcategories.

TrustYous Q1 2023 EMEA Top and Bottom Impact Scores Influencing the Performance Score of a Hotel

EMEA is also where Service & Hotel had the highest positive impact on a hotels performance across the regions analyzed.

Guests were more likely to leave higher ratings when staff members were helpful and friendly In the Hotel category, Boutique and Water Park were the categories most likely to improve performance. For Location, closeness to local attractions was a crucial factor for travelers.

A poor WiFi connection and costs associated with WiFi were the factors most likely to bring lower scores for a hotel. For the category Price, travelers placed great importance on getting their money's worth. Lower scores for the category Room were more likely to result from maintenance and cleanliness.

Industry Wrap-Up - EMEA Hospitality Statistics Q1 2023

#4 Domestic Flights Declining

European internal flights are less popular than before the pandemic. Germany, for example, recorded a 38% decrease in domestic flights in 2022 - one of the sharpest declines in the region. Other countries that registered a significant drop are Lithuania (-38%), Finland (-35%), and Austria (-32%).

Three main factors contributed to this massive decline:

Policies encouraging travel by train - the 9 & 49 Euro ticket in Germany

National initiatives banning short-haul flights to reduce carbon emissions, with France being one of the countries leading these efforts.

Travelers are becoming more aware and prepared to choose sustainable options when traveling.

The latest ETC study shows that 30% of Europeans think of traveling between April and May, a 6% increase compared to 2022. 4 out of 10 would make plans for June and July. August and September, the peak months, recorded a 9% decrease in demand.

Europeans are concerned about the rising travel costs (23%) and their available budget (17%) when planning their trip. Extreme weather also became a reason for concern - with 7% of Europeans considering this factor for their trips.

The luxury class registered the highest ADR in Q1 2023: 143 EUR, followed by upper upscale (121 EUR) and economy (119 EUR).

The high-end consumer sector is also more likely to spend on sustainable travel: 3 out of 4 EU travelers are willing to allocate more for sustainable activities and actions when on a trip.

Greece has it all to record the best year for tourism. The summer season's pre-booking data shows that 2023 will be better than 2022. Arrivals and occupancy are expected to be 20% higher compared to 2022.

Spain already exceeded pre-pandemic airport arrivals. 53.6 million airport passengers visited Spain in Q1 2023, 1.6% more than in 2019 and 41.6% higher than in Q1 2023.

Turkey recorded a 12.3% year-on-year increase in arrivals in March 2023. Saudi Arabia visitors (+ 1959%), Japan (+259%), and China (+254%) registered the highest growth.

Happy travelers spend more, book again, and promote your brand. How do you increase your visitors' satisfaction as a hotel, destination, or booking platform?

TrustYou offers a powerful tool for the hospitality industry that helps attract more visitors and improve guest satisfaction. With the help of our all-in-one reputation management platform, you can collect and analyze feedback from guests, identify improvement areas and address issues promptly. This leads to increased guest satisfaction, positive reviews, and, ultimately, more bookings. Our guest experience solution platform allows you to engage with guests before, during, and after their stay, fostering a sense of connection and building trust.

*The requested Q1 2023 top and bottom Impact Scores reflect the main semantic categories.

** Q1 2023 Impact Scores and Review Volume were requested at the beginning of April 2023. Due to the dynamic nature of the database with reviews and hotels being updated, the numbers may vary if data were requested at an earlier or later stage.

***the report includes rounded numbers for a clearer data representation.



Catalina Brinza

Catalina is a social media and data enthusiast. At TrustYou, she's on the mission to bring the most out of travel and hospitality data. One day, she hopes to experience Japan's culture to its fullest.

About TrustYou

TrustYou is on a mission to make guest communication and feedback simpler and more productive. All communication channels, together in one place, is the new way of doing business. Today, customers expect instant responses on their preferred communication channels. As a subset of communication, feedback is the foundation to build better products, services and companies.

TrustYou helps companies win through the power of listening and provides a Guest Experience (GX) Platform that makes listening to customers easy, powerful, and actionable. The platform unlocks the potential of guest feedback and helps to:

Create unlimited opportunities to listen and respond to guests needs.

Understand all reviews across the web and make better business decisions.

Publish hotel reviews on the website and on Google and allow positive feedback to influence bookings.

TrustYou empowers companies to earn trust, make better decisions, and ultimately, win.

Find more information on TrustYou and our GX platform on www.trustyou.com.
Strip club trips, private jet travel, new homes and jewelry. Funding these luxuries was never the objective of the federal loan program that doled out $953 billion to businesses under the Paycheck Protection Program amid a global pandemic. Nevertheless, people in the Houston area and across the country are facing and have been convicted of federal charges for taking advantage of the assistance intended to help small businesses struggling to stay afloat during quarantine restrictions.

The program was established through the CARES Act and implemented by the Small Business Administration at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic to help keep businesses monetarily fluid as they struggled to pay employees, mortgages, rent and utilities.

As aid was distributed to businesses, some people found loopholes and work-arounds, and federal prosecutors say they received PPP loans through fraudulent means. Three years later, many of these fraud cases are coming to fruition. Some Houston residents have already been convicted and imprisoned for improperly obtaining low-interest private loans that max out at up to $10 million.

Greedy criminals exploited the pandemic and took money from those who needed it most  legitimate business owners trying to pay their employees  real people who just wanted to take care of their families, U.S. Attorney Alamdar Hamdani said. "The criminals we charged in these cases placed greed above humanity and are now paying the price for their selfishness."

THE SON OF A CAB DRIVER: Alamdar Hamdani is "thankful" after becoming the new U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas

The program stopped distributing funds after May 31, 2021, but federal agencies continue to investigate a backlog of possible violations through the IRS Criminal Investigations' Houston office and the U.S. attorney's office in Houston.

More than a dozen cases have led to convictions for several defendants in the Southern District of Texas, which includes Houston, said Angela Dodge, spokesperson for the U.S. attorney's office. Many of these PPP fraud cases involve several defendants, so although they've been charged, they haven't been tried, she said. Dodge estimated that less than a dozen possible violators in the region are on the U.S. attorney office's radar but the cases haven't reached the point of an indictment, according to Dodge.

Since the program was new and passed during a tumultuous time for many around the world, IRS investigators initially didn't have the full capability to chase PPP fraud cases, said Special Agent Ryan Johnson, from the IRS Criminal Investigations' Houston office: "We didn't know quite what we were seeing yet."

It wasn't until the beginning of 2021 that the IRS "hit the ground" on some of the PPP loan fraud allegations, once the forms of PPP abuse became more apparent, according to Johnson. The agency worked with the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations and the SBA to pursue these types of cases, he added.

MORE FROM JONATHAN LIMEHOUSE: Read more headlines from Jonathan Limehouse

One Houston man, Lee Price III, 29, was indicted in August 2020 and ultimately convicted of spending $2,000 at a strip club and thousands to purchase a 2019 Lamborghini Urus with his court money, court records show. Federal prosecutors say he obtained his loan by saying he needed funds for his construction and logistics company. He was sentenced to nine years in federal prison.

Another man, Scott Jackson Davis, 47, was sentenced to nearly nine years in prison in a separate case, for spending some of his $3.3 million in PPP funds on private jet travel, a 2020 Cadillac Escalade, a 2021 GMC Sierra, a 5.58-carat diamond, a 2.6-carat diamond and two properties in the Houston area.

Houston's field office investigated another six cases that led to convictions and lengthy prison sentences and involved hundreds of PPP loans. The defendants owe nearly $1.4 million in restitution and forfeiture of nearly $1.8 million, plus one must give back a house in Orlando, said IRS-CI spokesman Christian Venhuizen. Four of the cases involved PPP fraud in excess of $3 million, he added.

Another 12 cases being investigated by Houston's field office are focused on PPP loan fraud, in addition to the agency's caseload of tax fraud, money laundering and other financial crimes, some of which may lead to evidence of additional PPP fraud, Venhuizen said.

The PPP fraud cases that have been prosecuted and sentenced so far were the "most egregious" and "completely fake," Johnson said.

'Everybody has their vices'

Part of the problem with the program funds is the loans were designed to be doled out quickly to rescue businesses, Johnson said. The majority of PPP loans did help businesses in need, but some did use the money to "frivolously spend on other things," according to IRS-CI spokesman and Special Agent Mark Wilson.

One case that stands out for agents is that of Dylan Kinlock, 30, and Felicia Garza, 37. The pair were sentenced in April for conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Kinlock, a tax preparer from Orlando, will serve nearly five years in prison for obtaining 241 fraudulent PPP loans that led to him receiving more than $1 million.

CLEVELAND MASS SHOOTING: Latest update on the Cleveland mass shooting that led to five people being killed in a rural Texas home

Kinlock and Garza, of Houston, were convicted of falsifying documents that qualified their clients for self-employed PPP loans. Garza will spend two years in prison for referring PPP clients, including her own family members, to Kinlock. All the tax documents were "all fake," Johnson said.

Kinlock admitted to using some of his $939,379 windfall to pay off his home in Orlando. He agreed to forfeit the residence as a part of his plea deal.

A commonality between PPP fraudsters

There are certain markers that distinguish people who commit this type of fraud, Johnson said. One commonality among those indicted and convicted of PPP loan fraud is they're either tax preparers or are well-versed in how to fill out financial documents, according to Johnson.

He emphasized that not "all tax preparers did this," but people with that type of training are equipped to understand the requirements of the loans, he said.

Of course, the efforts won't pay off for those convicted of this crime.

"People who commit white-collar fraud will not get away with it," Wilson said. "These people will go to jail and they will lose all their stuff, it's a no-win situation."
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Last Thursday, residents and activists filed into a Deer Park auditorium to urge the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality not to renew an emissions permit for Intercontinental Terminals Co., citing memories of the 2019 blaze that had burned for three days, setting off a storm of environmental and health concerns over the towering plume of black smoke and toxins it sent into the air.

Less than 24 hours later, a massive blaze broke out at the nearby Shell Chemicals plant, sending up a thick column of black smoke that reminded onlookers of the ITC disaster.

QUESTIONS REMAIN: How harmful was that thick, black smoke from the Shell Deer Park fire? Experts weigh in.

The timing only bolstered their point, residents and activists say.

"We were like, look at this example in the same freaking town. It just goes to show how often these things happen," said Erandi Trevino, the Texas state coordinator of Moms Clean Air Force. "Because, what are the odds?"

The public hearing was the first and last in a new comment period over ITC's permit to emit industrial levels of air pollutants. The company's renewal process for what is known as a Title V permit had been ongoing since its last full permit expired in 2018; state regulators said the process had been put on hold while ITC addressed other permit updates.

LOCALS RESIST: Advocates fight an ITC permit request, with the Deer Park fire in mind

While the permits are federal, they are written and advanced by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, and the agency quickly became the focal point of Thursday's session. Speakers turned many of their comments to what they described as state regulators' failure to hold ITC to strict standards and monitor its compliance, an issue they said was not limited to a single company.

Janette Sexton, who lives about three miles from the ITC plant, was struck by the impacts of the 2019 fire. Until last month, however, the 73-year-old technical writer had no idea that toxic levels of benzene had lingered in the air for weeks after shelter-in-place warnings had been lifted in 2019.

In spite of air monitoring and incident investigations by the TCEQ and other authorities, Sexton and her neighbors only learned about the weeks-long duration of their exposure to elevated levels of the colorless hydrocarbon from a new analysis published by journalists in April. In the short term, benzene can cause throat and eye irritation and bring on symptoms such as headaches, confusion, tremors and dizziness; it also is known to cause cancer over time, and is poisonous at high levels.

That knowledge was top-of-mind for Sexton at Thursday's hearing.

"I am very concerned about this permit, I strongly oppose it. It is very dangerous to the health, well-being and quality of life of people in this area," the soft-spoken Sexton said before turning to address state commissioners directly. "I'm not sure what we're doing here tonight, exactly. Because I feel as though TCEQ is a toothless agency that does absolutely nothing to protect the citizens of Texas."

Less than a day later, as the Shell plume filled her skyline, she said her first thought was "Oh my gosh, not again."

RESIDENTS RATTLED: Residents, officials press for answers on ITC plant fire in Deer Park

TCEQ considers ITC Deer Park's compliance level satisfactory to renew its permit. Shanon DiSorbo, who answered questions on behalf of ITC at the hearing, said "the Title V permit addresses normal operations of the air emitting facilities. It does not address emissions events such as the fire."

In a statement to the Chronicle Thursday the company said it had undergone numerous inspections at the Deer Park plant by local, state and federal agencies. "In each case, ITC has worked with the regulatory agencies during and after their visits, and followed up fully on any issues that the inspectors identified."

Pat Gonzales, 56, who also protested ITC's permit renewal after living through the 2019 fire, said it had felt eerie that another petrochemical blaze erupted hours after the hearing.

"It's just disheartening that things like this continue to happen," she said.

Gonzales was at the grocery store when the fire at ITC erupted on a Sunday morning in March 2019. As she left, she said, her eyes grew itchy and watery, and her throat felt scratchy. Then, she saw the ominous plume overhead. A doctor later gave her asthma and allergy medication and a strict order to stay indoors.

With those memories still fresh, Gonzales decided to stay at home upon hearing of the fire at Shell, in spite of official statements that the fire posed "no danger to the nearby community".

"We're hoping that this (Shell fire) will open their eyes to the issues," Gonzales said. "But then, we also hoped for the same thing from ITC."

Garett Sansom, who leads a research team focused on the area, was not at the hearing, but he knows the issues well. He said residents face long-term physical impacts from living next to the Deer Park industry hub. Sansom's team with the Texas A&M Superfund Research Center, which focuses on community health around the Houston Ship Channel, has also found a measurable impact of acute hazards on residents' mental health.

"The more exposure they have to major accidents, the lower mental health scores they receive," he said.

INVESTIGATION: Chemical breakdown

Sexton and other community members, along with lawyers and activists from environmental groups, argued at the hearing that the ITC plant's accident was not an isolated event, but part of a pattern of violations, while they said state and federal regulators did not adequately penalize the company or restrict its future emissions and storage allowances.

In a statement read by a staff member, state Sen. Carol Alvarado, D-Houston, listed a slew of contamination events from the ITC plant starting in the early 2000s, including a 2016 EPA investigation which "revealed high levels of benzene emissions exceeding safety guidelines" across more than 40 readings. "Despite this, there was no record of enforcement actions for fines levied against ITC after the inspection," Alvarado's statement said.

Amy Dinn, who was at the hearing for Lone Star Legal Aid, also focused on the role of regulators. She said the Title V permit itself could have been drafted by TCEQ to include monitoring requirements that would ensure ITC was not surpassing its allowed limits, but that it was not. And she took issue with the agency's decision to call ITC a "satisfactory" permit holder when it had a documented history of permit violations, most of which did not result in fines.

"The state and federal regulators knew of documented problems at ITC well before the 2019 explosion and event," Dinn said. "They knew this was a looming danger, and did nothing to correct it."

TCEQ spokeswoman Victoria Cann said the agency "reviews federal operating permits consistent with state and federal rules."

SELF-CHECKS: An industry left to police itself

One resident in the hearing spoke in favor of the plant's permit renewal, saying he had lived in nearby Pasadena for around 20 years.

"The ship channel is an industrial area," he said. "As a citizen, you recognize these risks and the benefits that come along with it."

But Trevino of Moms Clean Air Force said those risks could have been mitigated with more state enforcement.

"We're talking about dollar signs versus peoples' lives," Trevino said, noting her frustration that the plant had 27 regulatory violations documented by the state since 2018, the year its last Title V permit expired, but the last penalty issued to the ITC facility was in 2017.

TCEQ representatives said the agency will respond to public comments from the hearing. It then will send the proposed permit to federal regulators for a 45-day review before it can be issued.

rebekah.ward@houstonchronicle.com
A couple from Ohio recently learned Buc-ee's is not a truck stop.

Two weeks ago, Dawn and Richard Thompson parked their trailer-less semi-truck at the Baytown Buc-ee's parking lot and walked inside the famous convenience store to purchase merchandise.

Before they were able to make their purchases, employees escorted them out of the store, Dawn wrote in a social media post on Facebook.

"They approached us and asked my husband if it was his truck," Dawn told mysanantonio.com.

She said employees told the Thompsons, "You are not allowed to purchase anything here, you have to leave now."

According to mysanantonio, the Thompsons sold their home in Liberty City, Ohio in September 2022 and became full-time truckers. They apparently drove through Texas several times, but this was the first time they stopped at Buc-ee's.

Little did they know, Buc-ee's is known for being a destination, not a pitstop.

A Buc-ee's spokesperson in 2019 told KVUE Austin the layout of its travel centers is, "Optimized for passenger vehicles," and its driveways and parking lots are not designed for use by 18-wheeler trucks.

The Facebook group America Over The Road suggested in 2018 Buc-ee's anti-semi-truck policy is "offensive" and unfair for seemingly calling out truckers.

The Thompsons questioned Buc-ee's policy, saying their trailer-less semi-truck fit in just two parking spaces while RVs in the parking lot took up 4, 6, and even 8 spaces.

"Trucks with trailers (are) OK but we don't want truckers in here," Thompson wrote on Facebook, suggesting that's what Buc-ee's employees told her.

The Chronicle reached out to Buc-ee's for clarity on its semi-truck policy and Thompsons' concerns but did not immediately receive a response.

Commenters on Thompson's Facebook post suggested they sue Buc-ee's for discrimination. Another pointed out Buc-ee's has signs telling customers not to park semi-trucks at Buc-ee's and they should have parked on the street.

Thompson told mysanantonio Buc-ee's receives deliveries from truckers all the time but questioned why truckers are not allowed in their stores.
Title 42, a pandemic-era policy that restricted entry of migrants seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border, was lifted at 11:59 p.m. EDT Thursday.

Follow along below for live updates from Houston Chronicle reporters at the border on the sunset of Title 42 lifting and possible impacts on Houston and Texas. To support our journalism, please consider becoming a subscriber.

El Paso mayor calls end of Title 42 a 'smooth transition'

El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser said the city saw a very smooth transition away from the public health order Title 42 that ended at midnight. Leeser said that while there had been a spike in border crossings ahead of the orders expiration  including 1,800 in El Paso alone on Thursday  there were a lot less so far Friday. He said there are about 150 asylum seekers, all families, in city shelters, while single adults had all been moved into hotels.



Leeser said officials are still preparing for the unknown in the days and weeks ahead.



Title 42 has come and gone, Leeser said. I think its important to realize the borders were closed yesterday and they continue to be closed today.

Houston groups prepared for new arrivals in U.S. following Title 42 expiration

Several Houston-area organizations, hundreds of miles from the border, have spent days preparing for the Thursday night expiration of Title 42.

Cesar Espinosa, executive director of the immigrants rights group FIEL Houston, said his organization is expecting an influx of people seeking legal services, which FIEL provides, and other resources.



Were going to be helping folks with whatever can, he said.



FIEL has also prepared a list of resources to share that includes where to find shelter.



Crecen, an immigrant resource center in Gulfton, has also beefed up its legal services in preparation, said director Teodoro Aguiluz. The center has been meeting with local families of migrants as well to spread awareness about what the end of Title 42 could mean for them.



Regardless, Aguiluz said he is worried the already strained network of mutual aid organizations in Texas could leave many who need assistance without a chance to get it.



Sometimes its hard (for migrants) to find the organizations that could help them, he said. I hope some of the bigger entities  can also come and support these communities.

 Jhair Romero

Migrants report severe overcrowding at detention center

David Gutierrez, 33, and Yampier Pena, 20, sat on a stoop outside Sacred Heart Church on Friday morning with other Venezuelan men that they met at the detention center.



Experiences in detention vary widely. Carlos Zambrano, 38, spent 12 days inside the facility before he was paroled. Gutierrez was there for six days, while Pena was held for just two, before all were eventually paroled.



The one through-line described by migrants is the severe overcrowding. Group cells are at double their capacity, they said, with most people sleeping on the floors given the dearth of sufficient cots.



The crowding is likely to worsen after a federal judge in Florida barred the Biden administration from releasing some migrants without court dates.

People fight, going three or four days without hearing about their case," Gutierrez said. "It does something to the mind.

 Sam Gonzalez Kelly and Raquel Natalicchio

Quiet at border crossings despite warnings of chaos

Despite breathless predictions of chaos at the border as Title 42 lifted, reporters at the scene saw relative calm. Valerie Gonzalez, an AP reporter, said Brownsville had a dip in crossings Thursday evening and that there was shelter space still available. Jose Ignacio Castaneda Perez with AZ Central tweeted at midnight that there wasnt a single person in line at Nogales.

Where migrants at the Texas border are coming from

Researchers found that the top 10 nationalities of migrants to the U.S. in 2022 were Cubans, Venezuelans, Nicaraguans, Colombians, Hondurans, Haitians, Mexicans, Guatemalans, Peruvians and Russians. They left home for a variety of reasons, fleeing government oppression, poverty and other hardships. Read more here.

Raquel Natalicchio/Staff photographer

Lawsuits fly in from all sides

Court challenges from red states and immigrant advocates alike are threatening the Biden administrations plans to move forward following the end of Title 42.

The lawsuits challenge key pieces of the administrations strategy to process migrants crossing into the U.S. at the southern border, and appear to have caught officials in a challenging position.

We are concerned about the impact litigation will have on our ability to execute this plan, said Blas Nunez-Neto, a DHS official overseeing border policy. The lawsuits we are facing  frankly from both sides of the aisle  clearly demonstrate how broken our immigration system is.

A Florida judge on Thursday night ordered the administration to stop expediting the release of migrants from Mexico, which administration officials say has been key to addressing overcrowding in border patrol facilities where tens of thousands of migrants making asylum claims are being processed. The administration says those released have been thoroughly vetted.

But a federal judge in Tallahassee sided with his GOP-led state, ruling that the administration had effectively turned the (southwest border) into a meaningless line in the sand and little more than a speedbump. He gave the administration a week to comply with the order, which the White House is almost certain to appeal.

Another suit challenges the Biden administrations effort to handle an influx of migration from Venezuela, Nicaragua, Haiti and Cuba. The administration is releasing tens of thousands of asylum seekers from those nations on parole each month in an effort to curb unauthorized border crossings.

The administration said the shift led to a 90% drop in unauthorized crossings by migrants from those nations after the policy took effect earlier this year. But Attorney General Ken Paxton says the administration is illegally circumventing Congress.

In another federal challenge, the ACLU is challenging the post-Title 42 plan on the grounds that it undercuts the right of migrants to claim asylum. Under that policy, the Biden administration has said it would presume any migrants who do not apply for asylum at a port of entry and who have been denied asylum in another country en route will be ineligible for asylum in the U.S. The new policy, in place as of Friday, imposes a five-year ban on reentry and possible jail time for repeat crossers.

 Benjamin Wermund

Whats in the House GOP immigration bill

On Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives narrowly passed a bill that would reinstate Trump-era immigration rules, restrict which people can claim asylum and authorize Customs and Border Patrol to hire more agents. As Democrats control the White House and the Senate, the bill is unlikely to go further. Read more about the details of the bill here.

What is Title 8? The policy that replaces Title 42, explained.

Title 8 was in place before the pandemic, although Title 42 superseded it during the last three years. Under Title 8, migrants can seek asylum multiple times; however, it has stiffer penalties for those who repeatedly try to enter the country without authorization. Read more about the policy here.

Stunning photos show conditions at the border

The Houston Chronicles Raquel Natalicchio photographed children playing along the border wall, a migrant who had to sell his family's home to pay for his journey to the United States, a man with a tattoo to honor his daughter who died due to a lack of medicine in Venezuela, and many others. See the full gallery here.

Raquel Natalicchio/Staff photographer

No increase in crossings yet

Homeland Security officials said Friday morning they have not seen a substantial increase or influx in border crossings since the pandemic-era public health order Title 42 lifted at midnight.

Authorities said crossings have remained at an elevated level similar to recent days.

U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, an El Paso Democrat, said Friday morning she has heard from the Border Patrol officials that the pace of border crossings has declined since Title 42  a pandemic-era public health order lifted at midnight  and groups of migrants waiting to enter the country have thinned out.

We obviously dont know what we can predict, but Ive heard  that the numbers are going down, Escobar said. The process is working.

Escobar noted that Title 42 had long driven up the number of repeat crossings. Migrants turned away under the order were able to try to cross again, because Title 42 did not require them to go through official removal proceedings as did Title 8, the immigration law now back in place.

The recidivism rate along the southern U.S. border  the percentage of migrants arrested more than once by border patrol  jumped from 7 percent in 2019 to 27 percent in 2021, according to the latest data.

The Biden administration is imposing a five-year ban on reentry for migrants who cross the border without authorization and possible jail time for repeat crossers.

Title 42 really, in many ways, exacerbated the challenges at the border, Escobar said. It created, basically, this waiting room on the other side of the border, created incredible pent-up demand, obviously made those populations vulnerable to misinformation and abuse and violence.

 Benjamin Wermund

How Title 42s end impacts Houston

If there is an increase in migrant crossings once Title 42 is lifted, it could impact Houston more than other cities. In fiscal year 2022, about 42,000 people who crossed the border were heading to the Houston area, based on court filings. Read more by the Chronicle's Jen Rice here.

The border is not open

Alejandro Mayorkas, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, warned migrants not to believe the lies of smugglers, and said that people who cross the border without authorization will face harsher penalties now that Title 42, a pandemic era policy, has ended.

The border is not open, Mayorkas said in a statement, touting 24,000 border patrol agents along the border and thousands of troops and contractors prepared to enforce the new immigration policies.

New policies require asylum seekers to apply via certain pathways, including on the CBP One app and at ports of entry. People who do not follow the designated methods of applying for asylum, including anyone who crosses the border between ports of entry, are now presumed ineligible for asylum, he said. These migrants could also face a five-year ban on reentry and possible jail time.

Mayorkas indicated the White House wants to take a firm stance both on its humanitarian approach and penalties for people who violate the new policy.

We are ready to humanely process and remove people without a legal basis to remain in the U.S. Mayorkas said.



 Benjamin Wermund

Raquel Natalicchio/Staff photographer

Politicians react to border situation

On Thursday night, just before Title 42 lifted, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz visited the border by Brownsville and tweeted a video decrying President Joe Bidens immigration policies.

Joe Biden, this is your fault, Cruz said.

Cruz and other Texas Republicans have said Bidens rhetoric about building a more humane immigration system, and his dismantling of some key Trump-era immigration restrictions, have signaled to asylum seekers that the border is open  even as his administration has turned away millions of migrants since taking office. Republicans say lifting Title 42 is the clearest message yet.

The White House, meanwhile, has sought to forcefully push back on that notion, stressing repeatedly that the border is not open and that those that cross illegally will face stiff penalties, including a five-year ban on entry and possible jail time for repeat crossers. The Biden administration says it is working with a broken immigration system that congressional Republicans refuse to fix.

 Benjamin Wermund

Correction: An earlier version of this post said the White House stressed the border was not closed. The post should have said not open.

Jerry Lara/San Antonio Express-News Jerry Lara/San Antonio Express-News Jerry Lara/San Antonio Express-News L: A migrant holds an infant up out of the water as a group crosses the Rio Grande into the U.S. between Matamoros, Mexico and Brownsville, May 11, 2023. TOP: Migrants are temporarily held back by concertina wire, Texas Department of Public Safety troopers and Texas National Guard after crossing the Rio Grande. BOTTOM: Migrants reach the U.S. after crossing the Rio Grande. (Jerry Lara/San Antonio Express-News) L: A migrant holds an infant up out of the water as a group crosses the Rio Grande into the U.S. between Matamoros, Mexico and Brownsville, May 11, 2023. TOP: Migrants are temporarily held back by concertina wire, Texas Department of Public Safety troopers and Texas National Guard after crossing the Rio Grande. BOTTOM: Migrants reach the U.S. after crossing the Rio Grande. (Jerry Lara/San Antonio Express-News)

Searching for a crossing

A Colombian family of five approached the vacated camp at Gate 40 Thursday afternoon, searching for holes in the barbed wire fence that had since been sealed up. A border agent on the other side shouted at them not to cross, and directed them to Gate 42 about a mile farther east, where another, larger camp of well over 1,000 people had congregated there waiting to be processed.

 Sam Gonzalez Kelly

I just want to help my family

Although Title 42 technically ended at 9:59 P.M. local time, many people felt the effects of its expiration hours earlier, as Border Patrol officials appeared to have stopped letting migrants join the camp at Gate 42 sometime Thursday afternoon.

The (Title 42) law hasnt finished yet! Tell them to let us in! shouted one woman who had been kept behind a barbed wire fence outside the camp of several hundred people.

Brian Jose Maita Contreras, 29, and Oscar Adrian Izaguirre Brito, 19, sat in the sand on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande, looking wistfully at the camp on the other side of the river as tears trickled down their faces. They had already crossed over earlier in the week and had been deported Wednesday night. Officials dropped them at the end of the Zaragoza Bridge in Ciudad Juarez. Both men said they would eventually try to reenter but were unsure how.

Izaguirre Brito said he wanted to use the CBP One app, which federal authorities have promoted as the proper means of submitting an application, but he didnt have the means. He said his phone, along with all his other belongings, was promptly stolen by armed gang members shortly after he was deported to Mexico.

Maita Contreras mind was elsewhere, with his nine-month pregnant wife and 4-year-old son who are alone in Arizona. Hes worried his wife will give birth before he can arrive, and feels powerless to protect his boy. He wants to provide for his mother back home.

I just want to help my mom, he whispered, breaking down in tears. I just want to help my family.

 Sam Gonzalez Kelly

Scenes from the Texas Border as Title 42 lifts

After Title 42, a pandemic-era policy that allowed officials to quickly turn away migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border under the guise of preventing the spread of COVID-19, expired Thursday night, border officials reverted to policies that impose harsher consequences for people turned away but which also cause it to take longer to process people's documents. Under another new policy rolled out Wednesday, asylum seekers who do not apply at ports of entry and who have not already been denied asylum in another country will be barred from entering the United States.

Chronicle reporters spoke with some of the hundreds of people who braved harsh weather and dust storms at a migrant camp just south of the border wall on Wednesday.

Alejandro Jesus Bago had spent seven days at the camp between Ciudad Juarez and the Rio Grande with his wife and six children and grandchildren. Like most in the camp, they sat with their backs to the gusty winds that sent thick clouds of dust flying through the air, caking everything in sight and lodging sand in peoples eyes and throats.

I wouldnt recommend this to anyone, but I dont regret it because I have to do whats best for my kids, to make sure they have the best quality of life they can have, Bago said in Spanish.

Read more for scenes from the Texas Border here.
Corredores, enciendan sus motores!

THE RENAISSANCE IS HERE: See the first photos from Beyonce's tour kickoff in Sweden

Start your engines, indeed, because "Drag Race Mexico" has made its first big reveal. The inaugural season of the Spanish-language franchise will be hosted by faves Valentina and Lolita Banana.

The announcement was made Friday during RuPaul's DragCon LA, the annual convention for all things "Drag Race."

Valentina, of course, became an instant icon after competing on "RuPaul's Drag Race" Season 9. Her masked/unmasked elimination  "I'd like to keep it on, please  is one of the series' most memorable moments. The Mexican-American queen went on to slay during "All Stars" Season 4 and has built an impressive post-"Drag Race" career that includes modeling and music. She appeared as Angel in a live TV production of "Rent," as herself in the Netflix series "La Casa de las Flores" and had roles in the movie musicals "In the Heights" and "La Usurpadora."

Paramount+

Mexico City-born, Paris-raised Lolita Banana came in fourth on the first season of "Drag Race France." She rose to prominence as the host of The Brunch and Queen, the most famous drag brunch in Paris.

"Drag Race Mexico" will stream on Paramount+ in the U.S. Premiere date and contestants will be revealed soon.
The day after Pappas Restaurants endured one of its most dramatic and painful chapters  transitioning out of its Hobby Airport stronghold  the hospitality giant had some good news for its legion Houston diners.

On Friday Pappas announced Wednesday, May 17 as the opening date of its much-anticipated Littles Oyster Bar, a luxe seafood restaurant that has taken up home in the former Little Pappas Seafood House at 3001 S. Shepherd. Closed in 2020 when the pandemic upended the local dining scene, the beloved Little Pappas has re-emerged as a jewel box showcase for upscale seafood dining as the companys first chef-driven restaurant.

Pappas has tapped California native Jason Ryczek (whose extensive culinary resume includes the acclaimed Farallon Restaurant in San Francisco, itself a Covid-19 casualty, closing in 2020) to lead the restaurant where proprietary caviar, Maine lobster, and charred octopus tentacles will make nice with Gulf oysters, blue crab, and Texas redfish.

TOP 25: Houston's best restaurants for spring dining

Having lost its lengthy, legal public battle to keep its concessions at Hobby, the opening announcement of Littles Oyster Bar is a bright moment in what has been a difficult period for the Houston-based restaurant powerhouse. Pappas has poured its considerable might and resources into Littles, completely reconceptualizing the beloved seafood space into a smart, elegant restaurant designed by Evy Pappas with modern nautical touches (a handsome white and grey-blue color scheme, seafaring prints, an inviting oyster bar), snazzy lighting, plush banquettes, and marble flooring. The in-house design team has created a charming indoor space with 80 seats and constructed a new, all-weather patio with retractable roof and door walls that open up the adjoining rooms.

But its Ryczeks menu that will undoubtedly hook Houston diners, always hungry for the best local and national seafood. Ryczek has promised a reimagining of what a seafood restaurant can be in much the same manner the award-winning Pappas Bros. steakhouse re-wrote the steakhouse playbook. He has placed great emphasis on sourcing, using seafood from sustainable farms throughout the country and forging relationships with the best local and Texas purveyors.

His caviar offerings, for example, include California white sturgeon roe he personally harvested and salted specifically for Littles.

So whats on the menu? It begins with raw bar offerings of seafood platters (oysters, shrimp, crab, lobster, and tuna crudo), oysters on the half shell served with horseradish cream and mignonette, Texas wild Gulf shrimp with pomegranate cocktail sauce, and Maine lobster with black pepper creme fraiche.

Cold seafood dishes include tuna crudo with watermelon, pickled peppers and peanuts; jumbo lump blue crab with Louie dressing; and a Caesar festooned with burrata and Spanish anchovies. Warm dishes include baked oysters with a touch of absinthe, Creole crawfish bisque, crab croquettes fortified with shrimp and scallops, char-grilled octopus, and lobster gnocchi bathed in a champagne and cherry tomato fondue. Entrees include seared Gulf grouper with caper and radish beurre blanc, pan-roasted salmon, and seared Texas redfish with olive salsa verde, and (this being Pappas) a dry-aged New York strip steak.

Having spent the entirety of his career in California restaurants, Ryczek is embracing his new home and its distinctive foodways with gusto. Since arriving to the post last year, hes dined extensively in Houston to familiarize himself with the local palate. His goal is to merge his own seafood skills as he leans into Gulf bounty. He wants dishes on his menu, he said, that before youve even seen it, youre in the mood for it. His philosophy of doing the right thing by the best possible seafood means that the center-of-the-plate proteins will shine, but theyll also be treated to exciting flourishes and nuances.

The food menu will be supported by a list of appropriate wines and champagne overseen by Robert Smith, Pappass fine spirits and expanding concepts wine director, while bar manager Oliver Brooks has created a list of cocktails meant to pair with shareable seafood.

Pappas has kept the original Little Pappas Seafood House signage from its 1987 opening. But its been repainted and now shines as a beacon both for the stamp the company has put on the local dining scene and a bold reminder that Pappas continues to chart new courses for its many fans.

Littles Oyster Bar will be open for dinner Wednesday and Thursday 5 to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday 5 to 10 p.m., and Sunday 5 to 9 p.m. Reservations open on May 15 on Resy.com.

Greg Morago writes about food for the Houston Chronicle. Follow him on Facebook or Twitter. Send him news tips at greg.morago@chron.com. Hear him on our BBQ State of Mind podcast to learn about Houston and Texas barbecue culture.
NEW ORLEANS (AP)  People convicted of felonies years ago by nonunanimous juries in Louisiana would have a chance for parole under a measure advanced at the Legislature on Thursday  over the objections of criminal justice advocates who said it doesn't go far enough to right a historic, racist wrong.

Advocates and relatives of people imprisoned on 10-2 or 11-1 verdicts harshly criticized the bill, saying that granting parole  instead of a new trial  leaves those convicted branded as criminals with limited freedoms. It has to be true relief, said Hardell Ward, an attorney with the advocacy group Promise of Justice Initiative. Release from being considered guilty.
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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP)  Chaos in Missouri's Republican-led Senate on the final day of session Friday meant the failure of a longtime GOP priority to make it harder to amend the state's constitution, which lawmakers predicted could ease the path to restoring abortion rights in the state.

Republicans have been trying to raise the bar to amend the Missouri Constitution for years, arguing that the current simple majority is too easy. Senators failed to approve a proposal Friday that would have raised that threshold to 57% if approved by voters.

Republican House Speaker Dean Plocher predicted Friday that if the threshold is not raised, an initiative petition to allow abortions will be approved by voters under the current standards.

The Senate should be held accountable for allowing abortion to return, Plocher said.

Missouri outlawed most abortions, including in cases of rape and incest, following the U.S. Supreme Courts decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022.

Abortion-rights supporters are trying to put the issue to a public vote in 2024, although the petition is caught up in a legal challenge with the state's attorney general.

Republican Senate President Pro Tem Caleb Rowden told reporters Friday that raising the threshold to amend the constitution will be a priority during the next legislative session, which begins in January 2024.

Democratic House Minority Leader Crystal Quade said the current Republican majority wants to make it harder to amend the constitution because they know the citizens don't like what they're doing here. She said if the current requirements for constitutional amendments stay in place, that will absolutely help the effort to allow abortions again.

It's an opportunity for us to get our rights back if the initiative goes to the ballot, Quade said.

Democrats and some Republican former lawmakers have criticized the push to make it harder to amend the constitution as an attempt to take power away from voters, who in recent years have flouted the Republican-led legislature by enacting policies through ballot measures.

Republicans, for example, for many years ignored public calls to legalize medical and recreational marijuana use. Voters eventually sidestepped lawmakers and enshrined marijuana in the constitution, which also makes it much more difficult for legislators to immediately undo voter-approved policies.

Former Republican House Speaker Pro Tem Carl Bearden said the initiative petition process is meant to be a check on the legislature. He said the effort to make it more difficult directly infringes upon the Constitutional freedoms of Missouri citizens.

It is not a conservative policy, Bearden said in a statement.

Republicans passed several attention-grabbing priorities before Friday, including budgeting a whopping $2.8 billion to expand Interstate 70 to three lanes across the state.

Lawmakers also voted to ban minors from receiving puberty blockers, hormones and gender-affirming surgeries. If signed by Parson, which is expected, the bill also would affect some adults. Medicaid wont cover any gender-affirming care in the state, and surgery will no longer be available to prisoners and inmates.

Another bill passed by lawmakers would ban transgender student-athletes from joining girls and womens teams from kindergarten through college, both at public and private schools. Schools that allow transgender girls and women to play on such teams would lose state funding.

Both proposals would take effect Aug. 28 and expire in 2027.

Senators passed no legislation Friday as Republican Sen. Bill Eigel held up work in what he said was a last-ditch effort to pass legislation cutting personal property taxes.

In a Senate floor speech, Eigel called his decision to block all legislation from passing unless his personal property tax bill is approved his Darth Vader moment" in reference to the famous fictional Star Wars character's decision to join the forces of evil.

There are moments for all of us on God's earth where we will face our own Darth Vader moment, Eigel said. We will face that moment where individually, we must decide who we are.

Sen. Nick Schroer, a Republican ally of Eigel's, later blasted Vader's theme song loud enough to be heard down the halls.

Republican Majority Leader Cindy O'Laughlin called Eigel's stall tactic political theater that's part of his 2024 gubernatorial aspirations.

We're not all running for governor, O'Laughlin said.

Bills passed by the GOP-led House on Friday include a ban on phone use while driving, with exceptions for hands-free calls and emergencies. The law is set to take effect in 2025. Until then, violators will only be given a warning.

Lawmakers also succeeded in extending Medicaid health care benefits for new mothers from the current two months to a full year after birth.

Missouri voters will get a chance to weigh in on whether child care facilities should be exempt from property taxes under another measure passed Friday.

The proposed constitutional amendment would authorize tax-exemption laws applying to any property used for child care outside of a persons own home. It will appear on the November 2024 ballot, unless the governor sets an earlier special election.

There was little debate on the measure among lawmakers. But the proposals ballot summary says the intent is to make child care more available, which it says will support families, the workforce and society as a whole.

___

Associated Press writer David A. Lieb contributed to this report.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP)  The family of a man killed by police officers in the Kansas City suburb of Independence, Missouri, filed a federal wrongful death lawsuit Thursday, accusing the officers of shooting the man without justification.

The lawsuit on behalf of Tyrea Pryor's relatives names two officers and the city of Independence. It seeks at least $25 million in damages.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP)  A Minnesota man was convicted of first-degree murder Thursday for beheading his girlfriend in front of several witnesses.

Alexis Saborit, 44, was found guilty in the slaying of America Thayer, 56, in July 2021.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that Saborit struck Thayer with an 8-pound dumbbell while they were in a vehicle near downtown Shakopee, then he decapitated her with a machete.

People in other cars and nearby homes saw the attack. One of them shot a video that appeared to show Saborit pull Thayer's body out of the car into the street then pick up her head by the hair.

Saborit and Thayer were on the way to his court appearance for felony charges alleging that he set fire to their apartment in Shakopee during a confrontation with police and that Saborit attacked Thayer after she told him she wanted to end their relationship.

Saborit fled the scene and disposed of the machete along the way. He was arrested about 1  miles away near the TraveLodge Hotel where he was staying.

County Attorney Ron Hocevar said he was pleased with the verdict, and that he expects Saborit to be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP)  The thick plume of smoke rising up from the forested hillsides sent a tinge of panic through northern New Mexico. It was dry and and windy  just like last year.

It was April 2022 that a record-setting wildfire sparked by the federal government had ripped across more than 530 square miles (1,373 square kilometers), destroying hundreds of homes and livelihoods along the way.

And now, firefighters were racing again to catch a new blaze.

This one started Wednesday afternoon on private property near the burn scar left by last year's historic wildfire and had grown to an estimated 1,000 acres (405 hectares) by nightfall. Fire managers were hoping to get an updated estimate Thursday night.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Nervous residents posted photos on social media showing the plume of smoke, as seen from their front porches. Others choked back tears as they left the area in their vehicles, capturing photos and videos of trees along the roadside and homes in the distance engulfed in fire.

Many questioned how there was anything left to burn.

People are still recovering from last year. A lot of these people who are getting evacuated right now were also evacuated last year, so its a very difficult time for them, said Matthew Garcia, a fire information officer with the State Forestry Division.

Among them was Rita Childers, a retiree from Manuelitas. She spent the night in the community of Las Vegas about 15 miles (24 kilometers) away after being told to leave her home Wednesday as the fire grew.

Childers told the Albuquerque Journal that she spotted big plumes of black smoke while returning from a walk.

At first I was like, No, not again. I cant believe this is happening, Childers said.

Crews on Thursday worked to keep the flames from reaching more homes while many of those who live in the small communities that are scattered throughout the mountains remained evacuated. Children were excused from school, roads in the area remained closed and neighboring communities opened temporary shelters.

State, local and federal resources are responding and fire managers have implemented a full suppression strategy, George Ducker, a spokesperson with the State Forestry Division, said in an update issued Thursday.

Forecasters called for another round of wind and red flag conditions through the evening.

Two elite firefighting crews were getting help Thursday from other hand crews, bulldozers, engines and a helicopter. Officials said more resources that could mount an attack from the air were on order.

Ducker said emergency responders were on the ground assessing damage and trying to tally how many homes and other structures had burned.

While above-average snowpack in the higher elevations of the Rocky Mountain foothills have helped, forecasters say the region is still feeling the effects of a long-term drought  and that there were many pockets of unburned fuel left within the footprint of last year's Hermit's Peak-Calf Canyon Fire.

That fire  the largest in New Mexico's recorded history  started on national forest land when two prescribed burn operations went awry, fueled by relentless spring winds. Private landowners had far more acres burned, with the majority seeing moderate burn levels.

While wildfires are a necessary part of many forest ecosystems, experts with the New Mexico Forest and Watershed Restoration Institute have said that the scale of damage from the 2022 fire will leave its mark on the area for decades.

It also has left an emotional mark on residents whose families have ties to this landscape going back generations. Many were praying Thursday that the flames could be corralled soon.

Higher humidity levels  and possibly some rain  predicted for the area Saturday would likely help, Garcia said.

Nationally, the fire season is off to a slower start, with about one-third the number of acres burning compared to this same time last year, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.
ENID, Okla. (AP)  Sometimes a wrong call can really get your goat.

Police in Enid, Oklahoma at first walked slowly and cautiously through the grassy, wooded area of a farm seeking the source of faint cries in the distance.

That's a person, one of the officers said to the other on a video that has been widely shared from a Facebook post by the police department in the city about 70 miles (113 kilometers) northwest of Oklahoma City. The distressing noise that sounded like human cries for help escalated as officers David Sneed and Neal Storey began running to help who they thought was perhaps a person trapped under farm equipment.

Instead, it was a goat.

Thats a goat? ... from a long distance it sounds it sounds like help," Sneed asked through laughter.

The farmer said he had two male goats in the barn, and he took one out and he wasn't happy, according to police spokesperson Cass Rains.

Now the town and the police department are enjoying the tale of the rescue that wasn't.

All in all, as the department wrote: You really cant say it was that baaad of a call.
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WASHINGTON (AP)  Senate Democrats advanced three of President Joe Bidens judicial nominees along party lines Thursday after weeks of delay due to California Sen. Dianne Feinsteins extended absence.

With Feinstein back in the Senate, and voting in the committee, the panel approved three federal district court judge nominations that had been stalled: Charnelle Bjelkengren of Washington state, S. Kato Crews of Colorado and Marian Gaston of California. Feinsteins 10-week absence recovering from shingles meant that the committees votes were tied along party lines and Democrats could not move forward with any nominees without Republican support.

Feinsteins return came after weeks of angst among Democrats and liberal advocacy groups about a backlog of nominations on the panel, even as the committee voted out several judges with bipartisan support.

In an unusual request, Feinstein had asked to be temporarily replaced on the panel while she remained out of the Senate. But Republicans last month blocked a vote, saying there was little precedent for a temporary committee replacement and that they didnt want to help Democrats confirm the most partisan judges. Two weeks later, Democrats said that Feinstein would return to Washington.

The 89 year-old California senator, the longest-serving Democrat in the current Senate, returned Wednesday after her bout with shingles and cast a vote on the Senate floor looking noticeably thinner and using a wheelchair. Her office said she would operate on a reduced schedule as she continues to recover.

At the Judiciary meeting Thursday, she arrived in a wheelchair but walked to her seat on the dais, receiving a standing ovation. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said he spoke for all of them with feelings of relief and support for our colleague Senator Feinstein.

The panel did not hold a vote on Michael Delaney, a nominee for the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, who has generated some rare concern from Democrats and advocacy groups over his signature on a legal brief defending a parental notification law for abortion in New Hampshire.

Durbin said after the vote that the nomination currently doesnt have enough support  meaning some Democrats are not ready to vote for him.

It wasnt the right moment, Durbin said of Thursday's meeting. Well see.

Republicans railed against the three judicial nominees approved along party lines. Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas said the nominees were part of a small subset of Bidens judicial nominations who are so extreme that they could not have a prayer of getting even a single Republican vote on this committee.

Cruz noted that South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, the top Republican on the Judiciary panel, votes for most of Biden's judicial picks. But Graham did not support those judges.

GOP senators, including Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, had criticized the three judges approved along party lines for their partisan ideologies or what they said was a lack of experience and knowledge of the law. Bjelkengren was unable to answer basic questions from Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., about articles of the Constitution during her confirmation hearing earlier this year.

Durbin defended the nominees, including Bjelkengrens stumbles during her questioning from Kennedy. One response during a hearing does not negate a lifetime of service, he said.

The committee approved three other federal judge nominations with bipartisan support at the beginning of the meeting. Feinstein, who arrived around an hour and a half after the hearing started, was not present for those votes but voiced her support once she arrived.

All six judge nominations approved by the panel on Thursday will now move to the Senate floor for final confirmation votes.

Even with a reduced schedule, Feinsteins return will give Democrats more room to maneuver in their narrow 49-51 majority  not only on the Judiciary panel but on the Senate floor and during the upcoming negotiations over raising the nations debt ceiling.

Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat on the Judiciary panel, said Feinsteins return enables Democrats to have their full majority again. Several other senators have been absent for medical reasons this year, including Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, a Democrat who received treatment for clinical depression.

Im energized and ecstatic to move forward on Bidens nominees and other Democratic priorities, Blumenthal said.
A new wellness project has been launched to expand mental health and primary healthcare access for recently resettled Afghans in the U.S.  providing counseling appointments to newcomers experiencing emotional challenges of adjusting to their new lives.

Medical providers with the HEAL Project specialize in helping Afghans navigating the resettling process. The initiative was launched by the Afghan Medical Professionals Association of America, an organization that supports U.S. resettlement efforts in a culturally competent manner.

MORE ON MENTAL HEALTH: A year after Taliban takeover, Afghans in Houston face homesickness, challenges in shaping new lives

The free helpline  available 24 hours a day, seven days a week  is the result of AMPAA's partnership with Healis Health, a Telehealth platform, powered by grant funding from the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants.

Individuals seeking help can connect with assistance using a smartphone or other technology.

When the Taliban took over Kabul on Aug. 15, 2021, Afghan families fled chaos and devastating circumstances, struggling to get on evacuation flights that brought more than 76,000 Afghans to the United States.

Houston became one of the top resettlement cities in the country, taking in around 7 percent of evacuated Afghans resettled in the U.S.

A year after the evacuation, 5,500 Afghans on those flights had been resettled in dozens of Houston-area apartment buildings  many concentrated in southwest Houston  navigating a bureaucratic nightmare to stay in U.S. legally.

MORE ON RESETTLING: Houston led the nation in resettling Afghans, allowing agencies gutted under Trump to bounce back

Refugee families typically experience logistical and psychological obstacles when resettling in a new country, including a loss of culture and family. Some may also be dealing with post-traumatic stress from their experiences in Afghanistan.

Some of those mental health challenges can include sadness, anger, anxiety, fear, depression and difficulty sleeping.

NEWCOMERS TO HOUSTON: New book collection helps Afghan children process their new lives in Houston

Patient navigators working with the HEAL Project speak Dari, Pashto, Uzbek and English, helping to bridge linguistic and cultural gaps.

The hotline's Telemedicine services are available for individuals anywhere in the U.S., but the project also has behavioral on-site teams working with the Afghan refugee populations in the four states with the highest number of resettled Afghan refugees: Texas, Washington, Florida and Pennsylvania.

To contact the national helpline for resettled Afghans, call 800-615-6514.

jen.rice@houstonchronicle.com
On Scene Media

Police were investigating early Friday after finding a man with multiple gunshot wounds while on patrol in north Houston.

Officers around 3 a.m. were patrolling when they heard several gunshots, Lt. Ronnie Willkens, of the Houston Police Department, told On Scene reporters. They responded to the 400 block of North Sam Houston Parkway East and found a man who had been shot several times in the arms and legs.
With the Thursday night expiration of Title 42, a pandemic-era immigration policy, Title 8 is set to return as the primary means for officials to manage migrant entries at the U.S. border.

Title 8 was in place long before the pandemic. The policy's reinstatement means migrants who cross into the United States will be processed under a different set of rules than what federal officials have been using for more than three years.

FROM THE TEXAS BORDER: Title 42 updates: No increase in border crossing, Ted Cruz rips Biden

Heres what you need to know about Title 42 and Title 8, the policy that will replace it:

What is Title 42?

A pandemic-era public health order invoked by former President Donald Trumps administration in March 2020, Title 42 allowed officials to fast-track the expulsions of millions of migrants during more than three years. It was a stark departure from Title 8, the immigration rule used before the pandemic, that will kick in again as the primary policy to process migrants entering at the border.

Title 42 has been controversial from the start, but President Joe Biden opted to keep it in place when he entered office in January 2021. He tried to end the policy in 2022, which prompted Republican-led states, including Texas, to sue to keep it in place.

SCENES FROM THE BORDER: Stunning photos from Texas border show migrant conditions after Title 42 ends

Why did Title 42 end?

The legal battle over Title 42 escalated to the Supreme Court, but the policy ultimately expired at 11:59 p.m. EDT Thursday. It lapsed along with the federal public health emergency for COVID-19, which was the legal basis for Title 42 expulsions.

The high court was set to hear arguments about the Trump-era immigration policy in March, but the hearing was canceled after Biden administration lawyers said in a brief that the end of the public health emergency would moot this case. The court agreed.

Raquel Natalicchio/Staff photographer

How does Title 8 work?

Unlike Title 42, Title 8 typically allows migrants seeking asylum more time to make their requests to officials. But, the measure also carries stiffer penalties, including five- and 10-year bans for anyone who is caught repeatedly trying to enter the country without authorization.

Although Title 42 has been in the spotlight for most of the pandemic, Title 8 was still in use and the policy accounted for a growing number of migrants at the U.S. southern border being processed.

MORE ON TITLE 42: Here's where migrants at the southern Texas border are coming from

Who enforces Title 8?

U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the primary law enforcement agency within the Department of Homeland Security, is the main enforcement arm for immigration law.

How long will Title 8 be in effect?

Title 8, just like Title 42, includes immigration laws enacted decades ago.

Any changes in those laws would require Congress to take action, but there has been no momentum in Washington to make any such changes.
Despite entering the University of Texas System, Stephen F. Austin State University will not change its name.

There will be no "UT-Nacogdoches" or " University of Texas at Stephen F. Austin."

Some people took to Reddit when four of Texas major university systems sought to acquire the east Texas school, and the UT System won out last November.

ELECTRIC SCHOOL BUSSES: Cy-Fair ISD adding electric school buses to daily routes next school year

"While good for the university, hate how they have to integrate the UT into their name, signed, an El Pasoan who thinks Texas Western is far cooler sounding than UTEP," one user wrote.

When the university announced last summer it would entertain invitations to affiliate with a system, it was clear early on that keeping the name, mascot and colors was important to alumni, students, faculty, staff and community, said Graham Garner, the university's chief marketing communications officer.

"There are people who said, 'hey ... it seems like other schools in the system have the UT name,'" Garner told the Houston Chronicle. "We are the outlier in that respect. But we will continue to be Stephen F. Austin State University."

UT System officials assured the university that would remain true, he said.

Gov. Greg Abbott made the union official Wednesday when he signed the bill for the Nacogdoches-based institution, with more than 11,300 students enrolled, to join the UT system.

RELATED: Stephen F. Austin State University to join University of Texas System

Senate Bill 1055 technically abolishes the existing university and establishes it as a new university placed under the authority of the UT System Board of Regents.

Stephen F. Austin regents identified the deciding factor as access to the Permanent University Fund, or PUF, according to the Texas Tribune. The PUF is state-owned investment fund that collects royalties from oil and gas leases on 2.1 million acres of land in West Texas, benefiting members of UT and Texas A&M Universitys systems.

UT System officials also told SFA leaders that it would immediately provide $1 million more for annual scholarships and $5.5 million for faculty salaries, the Tribune reported. And a financial analysis by both institutions showed that joining the system would also provide them $124 million in additional value.

The UT System will now be home to nine academic institutions and five health institutions. Stephen F. Austins money, facilities and contracts will be transferred to the UT System Board of Regents, the bill states.

Tenured faculty will still be entitled to tenure, and tenure-track faculty will remain on the tenure track. Students who are currently admitted to the university will also maintain their enrollment.
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Park Ranger Eric Ehrlich had no idea the rubber bales washing ashore on the beaches Mustang Island State Park came from a Nazi Germany cargo ship obliterated by the U.S. in 1944.

He threw away the first rubber block he found  he considered it part of the trash and debris that washes ashore on the 18-mile barrier island beach in Corpus Christi. It wasn't until Ehrlich learned from the Mission Aransas Research Reserve that the rubber blocks may come from a German cargo ship that was sunk by the United States in 1944 off the coast of Brazil.

Ehrlich found the second one this week. Where will this piece of Nazi cargo go? Also to the trash.

He said because they are short-staffed at the moment, it may take a while for them to clear it from the beach.

"If someone wants it for research or something, and they get to me before we get it in the dumpster, I'm happy to let them have it," Ehrlich said. "I have no use for it and it's kind of just taking up space on the beach."

The rubber bale is believed to come from the SS Rio Grande, a World War II Nazi German blockade runner. According to the Padre Island National Seashore, the rubber bales started washing up on Texas and Florida beaches in 2020. The bales began washing up on the beaches of Brazil in October 2018.

The waterlogged bales weigh close to 200 pounds and have been able to float from the ocean bottom and into the North Brazil current, according to the Padre Island National Seashore.

"From there, the bales stayed afloat in (a) series of northbound currents along the coast of South and Central America, around the Yucatan and then finally into the Gulf of Mexico," wrote the Padre Island National Seashore in a Facebook post.

Ehlrich doesn't consider the rubber bales environmentally harmful but he does call them "unsightly."

"The most fascinating part is that it stayed trapped in that boat for a really long time while the boat disintegrated in the saltwater" Ehlrich said. "We can date things based on what marine life is attached to it."

Barnacles are attached to the most recent rubber bale which suggests the bale has been in the water for at least a few months, Ehlrich said. It also suggests the bale could have gone from the Brazilian currents and into the Gulf Coast more than once before reaching the shores of Mustang State Island Park.

"The ocean is always bringing us stuff," Ehlrich said. "A lot of it is seasonal, things that people don't usually see because they are here at our park during the summer."
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NEW YORK (AP)  The Republicans in the audience laughed when former President Donald Trump mocked a woman who accused him of rape. They cheered when he defended his role during the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. And they applauded again after he said he was honored to terminate Roe v. Wade.

Trump's defiant performance at the CNN town hall on Wednesday may ultimately hurt his standing with key groups of voters in next fall's general election, especially women, suburbanites and independents. But the reaction of those who attended also demonstrated his extraordinary grip on the conservative voters who will soon decide the fight for the GOP presidential nomination.

The magnitude of the challenge ahead for Trump's Republican rivals was clear as the former president repeatedly turned his greatest political liabilities into jokes and applause lines for the GOP base. On Thursday, a day after the town hall, Trump's Republican critics conceded they dont know how to stop him.

GOP voters want what Trump gave them last night  the lies, the personal attacks... and the confrontation with the media, said Sarah Longwell, founder of the anti-Trump Republican Accountability Project. I think it was an important wakeup call that Trump is still the likeliest GOP nominee. It's scary, but important we face it and do everything we can to keep him from becoming president again.

The first votes of the GOP primary won't be cast until early next year and the nomination itself won't be formally decided until next summer. But early public polling suggests Trump is the overwhelming frontrunner. And so far, most of his Republican opponents have been unable, or unwilling, to use his most egregious behavior against him for fear that such attacks could alienate the same conservative voters they hope to win over.

Almost none of the GOP's 2024 class has seized on Trump's many legal entanglements, even after a jury this week found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation in a civil case brought by advice columnist E. Jean Carroll. The jury ordered Trump to pay her $5 million.

The verdict was met with silence from most of Trump's Republican competitors. Those forced to respond defended the former president.

Former Vice President Mike Pence, who is preparing to challenge Trump in the 2024 primary with a focus on evangelical voters, suggested in an NBC interview that any focus on the sexual abuse verdict was a distraction from more important issues like the economy and public safety.

Asked if he feels comfortable with someone who found liable of sexual abuse serving as president, Pence said, I would tell you in my four and a half years serving alongside the president I never heard or witnessed behavior of that nature.

It's much the same with the stunning violence on Jan. 6.

Pence, whose life was threatened that day, has been one of the only Republican presidential prospects willing to call out Trump for sparking the insurrection. Most have downplayed the incident given that most Republican voters believe Trump's false claims that sparked the attack despite a mountain of evidence to the contrary.

And on abortion restrictions, an issue that repelled women and other suburban voters in many high-profile elections last year, Trump won't likely suffer any consequences in the upcoming Republican primary for proudly claiming credit for the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Quite the contrary. Some Republican opponents have staked out even more aggressive anti-abortion positions, understanding that primary voters overwhelmingly oppose abortion rights.

If Trump is vulnerable to any Republican attack, it may be related to his electability.

In the wake of the GOP's disappointing 2022 midterm performance, party leaders openly opined that Trump and his brand of politics have become toxic among the broader electorate, especially women, independents and college-educated suburban voters.

Such concerns may have faded in recent weeks, however, as the party rallies behind Trump in response to new legal entanglements.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is the latest Republican to try to weaken Trump by raising electability concerns.

In a memo shortly before the CNN town hall, DeSantis super PAC released a memo warning that a Trump nomination would be a disaster for the Republican Party at the ballot box.

The data suggest that if Trump were to become the 2024 nominee, he will likely cost the GOP control of the House and multiple winnable seats in the Senate, wrote Chris Wilson, head of data for the Never Back Down super PAC. In a general election, Trumps endorsements signal ideological extremism to non-Republicans and, ultimately, reduce moderate and Democratic support for Republican congressional candidates.

It's far from certain that electability concerns alone will be enough to knock Trump from his dominant position in the Republican primary.

Democratic President Joe Biden appears to be eager for a re-match.

Its simple, folks. Do you want four more years of that? Biden tweeted immediately after the CNN town hall.

Hours later, the Biden campaign released a video featuring Trump's description of Jan. 6 during the town hall as a beautiful day. At the bottom of the split-screen, Trump supporters on Jan. 6 are shown pummeling police officers fighting to defend the U.S. Capitol.

A handful of lower-profile Republicans are struggling to make the same case to GOP primary voters.

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who is actively preparing to launch another Republican presidential bid, targeted New Hampshire voters with Facebook ads during the CNN event that said Trump PROVOKES VIOLENCE, PAYS HUSH MONEY and ABUSES WOMEN".

Is this really the conduct we want from the president of the United States? the Christie ad asks.

Former Rep. Liz Cheney, who lost her reelection last fall after leading the congressional probe into Jan. 6, paid to run a 60-second ad in New Hampshire during the town hall focused on the insurrection.

Donald Trump is the only president in American history who has refused to guarantee the peaceful transfer of power," Cheney says in the ad. Donald Trump is a risk America can never take again.

But if the Jan. 6 attack is a political liability for Trump in 2024, he doesn't seem worried.

In addition to describing the violence as a beautiful day, Trump also said at the town hall that he's "inclined to pardon many of his supporters who were convicted of criminal charges after participating in the attack.

Theyre living in hell, Trump said of his loyalists who sought to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power to Biden. Many of them are just great people.
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TUNIS, Tunisia (AP)  A Tunisian national guardsman behind an attack that killed five people intentionally targeted the ancient synagogue on the Mediterranean island of Djerba in a premeditated act, Tunisia's interior minister said Thursday.

Interior Minister Kamel Fekih pledged to spare no effort to ensure the stability of the country and to protect foreigners after Tuesday's attack. Three Tunisian servicemen and two civilians attending an international pilgrimage at the El Ghriba synagogue were killed. A dozen others were wounded.

El Ghriba is believed to be one of the worlds oldest Jewish temples. Tunisian authorities revealed the gunman's name  Wissam Khazri  and said he planned the attack, but they gave no explanation of why.

Fekih said security forces killed the gunman within 120 seconds of arriving outside the synagogue complex. The minister described the shooting as a cowardly criminal attack but refrained from calling it a terrorist act.

France's anti-terrorism prosecutor's office opened an investigation. A French citizen was among the victims.

Israeli and Tunisian authorities and family members identified the civilian victims as cousins: Aviel Haddad, 30, who held dual Tunisian and Israeli citizenship, and Benjamin Haddad, 42, who was French.

The interior minister called on security services to be vigilant for any efforts to destabilize the North African country. Tunisia is mired in political and economic crisis, and the synagogue attack is a new blow to its once-thriving tourism industry as well as to a vibrant Jewish community.

Fekri said the gunman killed one of his colleagues and seized his weapon at a national guard base on the coast of Djerba, then took a National Guard motorcycle to a schoolyard about 200 meters from the Ghriba temple, where hundreds of worshipers were present.

When he left the school after monitoring the movement of a traffic police car that was parked in the vicinity, he shot the first victim at about 8:13 p.m. and then moved toward the security guards, who were protecting the area around the synagogue, opening fire indiscriminately in order to cause as many victims as possible. But he was immediately surrounded and shot, Fekri told reporters in Tunis.

He said that a spirit of celebration quickly returned to the island of Djerba, a land of peace and tolerance, which is proof that the author failed to implement his plan.

Tunisian President Kais Saied sought to assure his compatriots and foreign visitors that Tunisia will remain a safe country, despite the criminal attempts to destabilize it."

Speaking Wednesday night at a meeting of the National Security Council, Saied claimed the attack was intended to sow discord and sabotage the tourist season in the run-up to summer.

But these criminals will not succeed because the state is strong in its institutions, its security forces and its people awake," he said.

The chair of the synagogues committee, Perez Trabelsi, was in the house of worship during the attack and told The Associated Press of his terror.

I was scared, as were most of the people gathered in the oukala, a large space adjacent to the synagogue. Everyone was panicked. Many took refuge in the rooms for fear of being hit by the shots that came from outside, he said.

The synagogue attracted more pilgrims this year  around 6,000 people from the United States, Canada, Australia, Europe and beyond  than it had for some time, Trabelsi said. He said he was saddened that the pilgrimage to the site that is revered in Judaism was spoiled by those who wish Tunisia harm.

Jews have lived on Djerba, a picturesque island off the southern coast of Tunisia, since 500 B.C. Djerbas Jewish population is one of North Africas biggest, although in recent years it declined to 1,500, down from 100,000 in the 1960s.

In 2002, a truck bombing killed about 20 people at the entrance to the same temple during the annual Jewish pilgrimage. Al-Qaida claimed that attack, whose victims included German and French tourists as well as Tunisians.

___

Angela Charlton in Paris contributed.
They tried to stay. Angel Vargas and his wife Maria Velasquez knew life in their barrio of Caracas was dangerous. In recent years, gun battles held parts of the city hostage when gunfire between police and the boys forced residents to hide inside. At other times, the violence came from special police units, such as the one that killed 23 people in a 2021 raid in nearby La Vega. In their neighborhood, known as Cota 905, the government had long ago ceded control to gangs, part of a Peace Zone agreement in 2021, but clashes continued.

Still, they tried to stay. Even after medical complications during pregnancy two years ago forced them to travel to Colombia for the birth of their youngest. A chance at a functional health care system, maybe even a semblance of order. Millions of fellow Venezuelans had already left for Colombia. But they returned home.

Sharon Steinmann/Staff Photographer

Things got worse. He lost his job as an industrial mechanic. He tried to sell items on the street but police bribes bled him dry. What little they had didnt go far. When they needed diapers, hed stand in line, sometimes hundreds deep. And even if they scored, theyd risk having the diapers stolen from their hands by gangs waiting nearby.

They lived like this for more than a year. Finally, they made the decision to leave, as had so many before them. Its estimated that one in four Venezuelans has left in recent years, fleeing poverty and violence. Together, the family of six journeyed for roughly nine months, passing through the Darien Gap, the treacherous stretch of land along the border between Colombia and Panama, riding a train known as La Bestia in Mexico and sleeping on the streets for weeks at the border.

In the Darien Gap, she almost got swept away by the river, Vargas said, pointing at his 7-year-old daughter. He almost got swept away by the river, he said, pointing at one of his sons. We saw many dead. We stepped on many dead bodies.

In Mexico, things were also difficult.

We spent four days on the trains, four days without eatingseeing people fall from the trains, he recalled. The only respite was a few days at a shelter run by a priest in Oaxaca.

All the while Vargas urged his family on, trying to lift their spirits.

What do you tell your children when they are hungry and you have nothing to give them? he said. You have to try to play with them so they dont think about their hunger. You give them a little bit of water if someone gives it to you.

By the time they reached Piedras Negras, a town on the Texas-Mexico border, they were part of the estimated tens of thousands attempting to cross over ahead of the end of Title 42, the restrictive pandemic-era policy that prevented many migrants from seeking asylum by forcing them back across the border more than 2.8 million times in its three-year existence.

In headlines and images, they are part of a crowd of people sometimes described as anything but people. Wave. Surge. Invasion.

But each person, each family has a story like Vargas family. These are not opportunists gaming a system to steal American jobs, comforts and freedoms, exploiting American generosity out of selfishness or entitlement.

They are coming for survival.

Many tried to stay in their home countries but the catastrophic collapse of four countries in Central and South America, combined with the years of pent up demand created by Title 42, led to a predictable but still difficult crush of humanity along the southern border, a crush in which individual stories often get lost.

Though images suggest an overrun border clogged with people, most are not trying to stay in El Paso or Brownsville or Eagle Pass. Or even Houston.

It was still dark out and pouring down rain earlier this week when two members of this editorial board watched a white charter bus pull up at a hotel in Houston. A group of some 50 migrants tried their best to stay dry as they walked into the building, tired babies clinging to their parents chests, older children huddled under silvery foil blankets. All the belongings they had they carried with them in small plastic bags. Some carried nothing at all.

Sharon Steinmann/Staff Photographer

At the hotel, the families and individuals sorted out their paperwork with Catholic Charities staff who helped make sure they had their sponsors and air travel lined up. They wrote the travelers' names extra big on the brown folders they give them.

When you get to the airport, find someone in a uniform and show them these papers, staff told them.

It seems overwhelming. Incomplete. But these families are used to figuring it out and finding their way.

Before crossing, Vargas tried for days to use the CBP One app. But all he ever got was an error message. The app is part of the Biden administrations new and controversial approach to asylum in the wake of Title 42.

Vargas is happy now that they made the trip and that his children 15, 12, 7 and 2, will have a different life. But if he knew how hard it was  the dead bodies theyd try not to look at, the robberies and police abuse theyd face  it wouldve been an even harder decision.

But the trip also brought his family new friends. Riding on La Bestia, the freight train also known as El Tren de la Muerte (the Train of Death), they met Yenferson Sanchez and his wife Rosbely Sira, also from Venezuela. Five months pregnant when they passed through the Darien Gap, Sira gave birth to their baby boy, Yenderson, in Mexico.

Sharon Steinmann/Staff Photographer

Since they wouldnt sell us tickets, we had to jump on the train when it was moving, Sanchez said. We saw our countrymen lose their lives on the train looking for a new future for their families.

After meeting on the train, the families stuck together, trying and failing to get an appointment through the app and eventually crossing the border together. They waited out detention on the other side, separated from their wives and children but treated well. And together, they boarded the same bus to Houston.

Filling out paperwork in a conference room in the hotel, Yenderson cries until his mother and father prepare a bottle of formula. Sira laughs at the instant magic it seems to work, soothing the fussing as fast as it had started.

Sanchez and his family are headed to Colorado. He heard theres work there. Vargas and his family, meanwhile, are east-bound to Queens, where the friend who agreed to sponsor them lives. They will never forget their time together, even if there are parts theyd like to.

As the country debates the future of asylum, it is easy  too easy  to abstract away the humanity of people who come seeking humanitarian relief. Yes, there is much more the federal government can and should do to help border communities handle the influx. Weve consistently argued for more resources to process migrants so that we can more efficiently and accurately identify those who have credible asylum claims. But the animosity that politicians and cable news pundits gin up against the migrants makes sensible policy solutions impossible in a divided Congress.

Instead, the numbers gathering at the border become threats, dangers we must keep out. Or they become obstacles, masses so large we cant possibly accommodate them. But neither rendering is accurate or complete.

Sharon Steinmann/Staff Photographer

We are not in danger of being overrun, Betsy Ballard, with Catholic Charities, says. Since the migration transfer center began operating in Houston in October, she says theyve seen as many as five buses a week, mostly from El Paso.

They do what they can, even footing the occasional bill for a flight. Sometimes they buy diapers or distribute extra clothing, a bin of pink sparkly Toms shoes sit on a shelf inside the conference room. Sira tucks a pair into her diaper bag. But mostly, their time in Houston is just another stop along the way. A friendly face that years from now, might still appear in a memory.

At least we feel more safe now, Vargas said. Their decision to leave was simple. He said he hadnt even heard of Title 42. We only want a good future for our children, Vargas said.

When he thinks about all the others who are still in danger, caught in the crossfire of collapsing countries, he wants to tell them: Believe in God, that God exists. Dont abandon your dreams. Keep going.

After encountering so much abuse and violence, this moment, eating breakfast tacos  the tortillas a far cry from an arepa  beneath fluorescent hotel lights may simply register as numb relief. Or it may be the beginning of an exhale. A gentler life. A kinder life. Where friends are made standing in line for school pickup, not aboard a death train.

This country can, in exchange for all the good things they offer us, offer that to them.
Did you think we would go home?

That, dear readers, is what the mother of 10-year-old honor roll student Lexi Rubio, slain at Robb Elementary, asked lawmakers recently after committee members left Uvalde families waiting 13 hours to testify for gun reform legislation.

The lawmakers who oppose strengthening Texas gun laws probably hoped dearly that the families would go home, just as they hope journalists will give up and stop covering their maddening inaction in the face of an endless stream of mass shootings in our schools, churches, homes and stores.

Sam Owens/Staff photographer

The Uvalde families arent going to give up. And neither will we. This editorial board will keep calling for reforms such as universal background checks and red flag laws, which have saved countless lives in Florida by keeping guns out of the hands of people at risk of harming themselves or others. That doesnt mean we dont share the families frustration and occasional disillusionment at the partisan inertia that swallows any hint of support for commonsense gun legislation.

Editorial writer Nick Powell described this well in last week's Q&A with our letters editor Regina Lankenau. She asked what its like to write about gun violence over and over again. Ill be honest, Powell said. Having covered mass shootings has changed my life profoundly. And its extremely hard every single time.

Eric Gay/AP

Houston letter writer Sylvia S. Villarreals frustration was clear too. If indeed God helps those who help themselves, she asked recently, how much longer will we tolerate this slaughter?

This week, several of the dozens of editorials we wrote after the Uvalde shooting last year were honored as nominated finalists for the Pulitzer Prize in Editorial Writing. In the series, we tried to capture the unimaginable fate that awaited parents of the murdered children. We sought truth and accountability in pieces that asked where were the heroes? in the law enforcement response and why Texas permissive gun laws let a would-be gunman get so close to committing a mass shooting at the Houston Galleria. We reminded Texans of the lifelong trauma and health struggles that await victims such as those still recovering from the Sutherland Springs shooting. We called out Gov. Greg Abbott for distracting with vague talk of mental health and turning his back on gun reforms he once was willing to consider.

Our pride in the recognition is bittersweet. Ideally, Pulitzers should be for journalists who change the world.

Texans have seen a few moments of accountability (firings) for some of the cowardly law enforcement who did nothing to stop the slaughter of 19 children and two teachers. At the national level, we saw modest gun reform. At the state level, weve seen some significant legislation to bolster mental health care in a state that ranks among the lowest in the nation in that sphere.

But gun reform on the state level has gone nowhere. This week a bill to raise the age to purchase semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21 has apparently died. It follows a long pattern of Texas politicians answering tragedy with silence, if not contempt.

The Texas Legislature isnt trying to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people. If anything, theyre slipping would-be killers extra ammo. Too dramatic? Consider that after a string of mass shootings  26 killed in Sutherland Springs in 2017, 10 killed at Santa Fe High School in 2018, eight killed in Odessa and Midland in 2019, and 23 killed at an El Paso Walmart in 2019  Texas leaders responded with a law that lets almost anybody carry a gun openly in public without a license or training.

Sam Owens, San Antonio Express-News / Staff photographer

We do everything to protect these guns, a grieving Uvalde father said through tears at a recent legislative hearing. Lets just try something to protect our children.

But the minds of some representatives cant be changed. Only close, personal encounters with gun violence seem to move some people. We dont wish that on anyone.

The only choice Texans of conscience have is to change the representatives. We have to vote in people who actually represent the feelings of Texans, who polls show overwhelmingly support sensible gun reform, including raising the age to 21 to purchase all guns. Texans have to get involved in groups such as Moms Demand Action or Texas Gun Sense. We have to urge our friends and family not just to pray, but to vote.

For those who need inspiration  or a reminder of whats at stake for any one of us, our children and our families on any given day in this state awash with guns  weve got a Pulitzer-nominated series of editorials for you to read. Or re-read. And to share as widely as you can.
As we prepare to celebrate Mothers Day, Im thinking about all the sacrifices Texas mothers consistently make for their children  and how the Texas Legislature can support moms by passing a policy proposal that has the backing of Gov. Greg Abbott and numerous maternal health experts.

As a practicing OB/GYN and mother of a seven-year-old boy, I have seen countless mothers who put their children first but battle life stressors and chronic medical conditions, such as hypertension, depression or diabetes. They desperately want to get healthy but struggle with an agonizing decision: go to the doctor or pharmacy  or avoid those medical bills so they can afford to put food on the table for their children. Attempting to coach my patients through this impossible decision is agonizing.

Many Texas mothers face this decision because they dont have health insurance. They work for employers that do not provide health insurance or pay them enough to afford private insurance.

Fortunately, Medicaid for Pregnant Women has been a lifeline, providing the health insurance they need to visit clinicians, get necessary medications, receive preventative screenings (pap smears), and obtain behavioral health services. Thanks to this insurance, mothers can manage their pregnancy and overall health. Once they have coverage, many start the process of getting their diabetes or hypertension or other issues under control.

But just eight weeks after delivery, this lifeline snaps. Under current state policy, their insurance coverage ends. This lapse in coverage leaves providers and patients scrambling to maintain the wellbeing achieved during pregnancy.

This is especially worrisome because over one-fourth of maternal deaths in Texas occur between 43 days and one year after pregnancy. This break in consistent access to comprehensive care increases the chance of maternal death, maternal health complications, issues with subsequent pregnancies and overall poor health outcomes.

Cutting mothers off from coverage so soon after childbirth doesnt just threaten their own health. It also disrupts their newborn babys health and development during the critical first 12 months of life. Children need healthy moms during and well beyond pregnancy.

The good news is that the Texas Legislature is making progress on House Bill 12, a bill sponsored by Rep. Toni Rose that allows mothers to keep their health insurance for 12 months after giving birth. The bill recently passed the Texas House by a vote of 132-8. It now goes to the Texas Senate Health and Human Services Committee, chaired by Sen. Lois Kolkhorst.

The bill has serious momentum. In his budget recommendations to the Legislature, Abbott called for extending health coverage for new mothers to 12 months. The Texas Republican and Democratic parties both endorsed this policy in their platforms last year. The states recent Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Review Committees report to the Legislature in 2022 also recommended it, as they found that 90 percent of all maternal deaths in Texas were preventable.

Thirty-eight other states, including Florida, Alabama, South Carolina and Oklahoma, have all passed the 12-month extension.

Lets make Texas the thirty-ninth state to honor mothers and extend their health coverage to 12 months after delivery. Texas mothers will continue to make sacrifices for their children, but now the Legislature can make sure their medical care isnt one of them.

Dr. Erica Giwa is a practicing OB/GYN in Harris County with Legacy Community Health and an active volunteer for March of Dimes in Texas.
Chicago, IL (60637)

Today

Cloudy with occasional rain...mainly this evening. Low around 50F. Winds NE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 90%..

Tonight

Cloudy with occasional rain...mainly this evening. Low around 50F. Winds NE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 90%.
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How fictional band Daisy Jones the Six became a streaming success

From a popular novel to a hot new Amazon Prime Video series, Daisy Jones & the Six  a band that never existed  has become a major success across multiple platforms.

by Maria Sherman from the Chartmetric Blog

Introduction to the Fictional Band Tradition

The fictional band tradition is long and rich. In the mid-60s, The Monkees were conceived for a sitcom of the same name, a not-so-thinly veiled parody of The Beatles, making way for The Partridge Family in the 70s. The 80s birthed The Blues Brothers and This Is Spinal Tap. Fictional bands hit critical mass in the early 2000s: Josie and the Pussycats and 2gether spoofed the apex of teen pop boy bands and girl groups while Stillwater from Almost Famous kept the dream of the 70s alive. In the current era, theres MC Blueblood from Donald Glovers Atlanta (portrayed by real rapper Earl Sweatshirt) and the Y2K group 4*Town from Disneys Turning Red. Across genres and generations, a few faux groups developed very real and very devoted fanbases. In an era where streaming data numbers are undeniably influenced by other mediumssocial media, television, filmit should come as no surprise that one of the biggest new bands of 2023 doesnt exactly exist.

Daisy Jones & the Six, a 2019 novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid, was adapted into a multipart musical drama series by Amazons Prime Video in March 2023. The narrative follows the titular rock band as they write and record their 1976 hit album, Aurora, in the midst of heartbreak and superstardominspired by Rumors-era Fleetwood Macwhere the songs directly mirror the story arc of the show. The band may be a group of actors playing the part of rock n roll folklore, but the album is very real: two days after it was released, on March 4, 2023, the band reached over 1 million monthly Spotify listeners. They became the first fake band to top the iTunes charts (on March 2, a day before the series premiered on Amazon), and not long afterward, became the first ever fictional band from a scripted series to hit No. 1 on the Billboard Emerging Artists chart. Capitalizing on the books fandom, the popularity of the series, and cultural interest in the 70s sounds, Daisy Jones & the Six have become one of 2023s greatest musical success stories.

How Daisy Jones & the Six Came to Life

Like all fictional bands, the data on Daisy Jones & the Six only goes as far back as their recorded music history. On January 25, a few weeks after the Amazon show was announced, a trailer for the series was released alongside Daisy Jones first original track, the Laurel Canyon-esque kiss-off Regret Me. The single is placed prominently in the clip: it ends with Daisy Jones (Riley Keough) singing the final line, Go ahead and regret me / But Im beating you to it, dude in a stadiuma wink to her bandmate Billy Dunne (Sam Claflin). The songs lyrics differed from the ones in the novel, spurring conversation online. As soon as Regret Me was released, streams shot up, receiving a boost when the album dropped on March 2, when the show premiered on March 3, and when episodes were released throughout the remainder of the month.

There is also the star power of the band itself, which allowed for consistent growth and potential virality: when model-actor Suki Waterhouse, who portrayed keyboardist Karen Sirko, posted the song on TikTok, it racked up over 1.8 million views. Celebrity influence is felt behind the scenes as well: Reese Witherspoons media company Hello Sunshine produced the series, and another 1.8 million people have seen her tease of the song. In that regard, the audience for Daisy Jones & the Six is much broader than that of a new acttheir very specific media rollouts targeted fans of the book, fans of the actors, and fans of musical adaptations of booksa pool much larger than a real new bands listenership.

The Chartmetric score of Daisy Jones & the Sixs debut track spiked immediately when the song was released, plateaued a bit, and shot up again around the time of the Amazon series release and Aurora.

That trend is especially true of the albums most popular track, Look At Us Now (Honeycomb), which samples the guitar riff from Fleetwood Macs The Chain, making it more than just an homage. It also plays a key role in tracing the relationship between Daisy Jones and her bandmate Billy Dunne; the song plays in both the premiere and final episodes. Released on Valentines Day, the track climbed steadily, exploding the month the show came out.

Charting the Success of Daisy Jones & the Six

In the three months since Daisy Jones & the Six have been releasing music, theyve experienced explosive growth across platforms, climbing with each new episode drop: episodes 1  3 and the album release happened on March 3, episodes 4  6 on March 10, 7  8 on March 17, and the penultimate episode and the finale on March 24. On March 30, Daisy Jones & the Six released an unexpected single album,Special Gift For Our Fans, including a new track, It Was Always You, and a live recording of their performance of Aurora on Saturday Night Live, taken from the television show.

More explosive than their fan following is their engagement. In those three months, Daisy Jones & the Six has gone from nonexistent to exponential: as of April 12, the band boosts 3.56 million Spotify monthly listeners, 2.73 million YouTube channel views, and 2.2 million TikTok likes.

The Power of TV Syncs

Beyond the obvious allusions to Fleetwood Macs great rock n roll romance and heartbreak, the music of Daisy Jones & the Six was composed to sound like some of the classic rock greats of 50 years ago. Atlantic Records teamed up with Grammy award-winning producer Blake Mills to co-write and produce the album, and he brought in collaborators Phoebe Bridgers, Marcus Mumford of Mumford and Sons, Dawes Taylor Goldsmith, and Jackson Browne for the bands signature sound.

The combination has proven to be successful for the band, and interestingly, for Fleetwood Mac themselves. In fact, when the show synced a Fleetwood Mac original, Gold Dust Woman, the song began to climb on the streaming platforms.

The Rise and Fall of Fictional Bands

While beloved fake bands have existed for decades now, they are still few and far betweenauthenticity is a prevailing metric of artistic value in pop culture, and few faux groups find their way to the top. To get a better understanding of how Daisy Jones & the Six stack up to this unique phenomenon, lets take a look at the most recent fictional band success story: 4*Town from Disneys Turning Red, an animated boy band with original songs composed by Billie Eilish and her brother and longtime collaborator, Finneas OConnell.

When the film and soundtrack premiered on March 11, 2022, streaming numbers grew rapidly to the point that the band ranked in the top 200 artists in the world based on Chartmetric score. However, in the months that followed, their numbers quickly declined as they had no new releases or social media presence. While Daisy Jones & the Six is still trending because its only been two months since their launch, we can expect their trajectory to follow a similar path to the one of 4*Town.

One might assume that if these fake acts behaved like real bands, with an active public life and a consistent release of tour dates and singles, the data would look different: with an increase in listeners and engagement instead of a drop or a plateau.

Take, for example, the brand-new K-pop girl group NewJeans. They debuted in August 2022 with immediate explosive growth but soon after, their listenership declined as they had no new releases for five months. It wasnt until the release of their single album OMG in January 2023 that the band experience explosive growth once again and reached an all-time high of 22M+ Spotify monthly listeners the following month.

NewJeans example shows that any hot new act can lose traction if they arent constantly releasing new hits during their first months in the industry. Because this is a real band that was planned to release new material eventually, they were able to recover from the drop and continue rising. However, fictional bands are bound to decline if they dont release new material ever again.

Daisy Jones & the Sixs Place in Music History

Success and virality in music can come from the most unexpected of placesand the popularity of Daisy Jones & the Six, a band that only sort of exists, may come as a shock. But in reality, they are the direct result of a combination of factors aligning: a popular novel leading to a popular scripted television series (starring famous and beloved models and actors, supported by celebrity production companies), teaming up with hot-shot songwriters to build the biggest band of the 1970s in 2023.

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Making spatial audio accessible to all artists: Join Ircam Amplifys beta program

Ircam Amplify has built a spatial audio engine that it hopes will make spatial audio accessible to all artists and the digital music companies and distributors that serve them.

Indie Spotlight via A2IM

Ircam Amplify, a cutting-edge branch of IRCAM, Frances foremost audio research institute, aims to make immersive audio a reality for all creators without compromising quality. Ircam Amplify announces the launch of its groundbreaking Beta program, providing digital music companies with a unique opportunity to leverage spatial audio technology.

Many digital music companies and distributors are eager to deliver spatial audio tracks to streaming services, but the complexity of the technology often discourages artists from making the switch, explains Nathalie Birocheau, CEO of Ircam Amplify. Our goal is to help digital music companies and distributors break down barriers and make spatial audio accessible to all artists. We believe that innovation should benefit the entire creative community.

Ircam Amplifys Beta Program offers:

An AI-powered, artifact-free spatial audio engine built on over 30 years of expertise from IRCAM labs, rigorously tested with numerous artists and producers for a full year.

A user-friendly interface that enables artists and producers to fine-tune the spatialization process with ease.

Comprehensive support for a wide range of formats within the spatial audio market.

Convenient online access through a simple API.

Birocheau encourages digital music companies, distributors, labels, producers, and artists to participate in the Beta program, which will run from 12th of May until September 2023:.

Join the revolution and experience the future of music with Ircam Amplifys transformative solutionabsolutely free!

Subscribe to the beta.

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iciHaiti - Agriculture : Towards the establishment of an artificial insemination center





Thursday, May 11, 2023 Jose Luis Fernandez, the Representative of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO - Haiti) and Charlot Bredy, the Minister of Agriculture of Haiti, signed the project to set up an artificial insemination center in the Ouest department



The objective of this project is the implementation by the Ministry of Agriculture of good practices and innovations for the genetic improvement of cattle in Haiti. This project is financed by FAO's own funds.



Charlot Bredy and Jose Luis Fernandez also signed the project document entitled: "Support to the Government in the integrated control of palm and coconut pests in Haiti"



The objective of this project is the implementation by the Ministry of Agriculture of an action plan to control the invasion by pests: palm and coconut trees. This project will be financed by FAO's own funds.



Also discussed were: African Swine Fever (ASF); of anthrax (ANTRAX) https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-39440-icihaiti-grand-anse-animal-vaccination-campaign-against-anthrax.html of the National Agricultural Investment Plan and the "Hand in Hand" initiative https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-33140-haiti-agriculture-signature-of-5-cooperation-projects-for-a-total-amount-of-us$-215-million.html .



FAO Haiti is committed to continuing its support for the efforts of the Ministry of Agriculture to reduce poverty and improve food security.



IH/ iciHaiti


















As spring winds blew, a huge crowd gathered in a field in Weifang, Shandong province, looking up at the sky in excitement.

Overhead, a sea of colourful kites in a multitude of sizes danced  their designs featuring high-speed trains, dragons, whales, peonies and cartoon characters, among others.

The 40th Weifang International Kite Festival attracted more than 150 teams from 59 countries and regions, who sent their kites skyward for the opening ceremony on April 15, 2023. The festival lasts for about a month.

Wang Yongxun, an experienced kite maker in Weifang, attended the festival with kites designed as different types of vegetables, including Chinese cabbages, carrots and green radishes.

Weifang is known nationwide for its vegetables, so we designed vegetable kites to salute our hometown, said Wang.

In the festivals innovative section, Zhang Huagang and more than 20 fellow team members flew a 492ft-long kite designed as a high-speed train. Comprising a locomotive and 50 carriages, the kite took the team about three months to complete.

Wind on the opening day was perfect for Andreas Agren, who comes from Sweden, and brought a light-wind kite designed like a Viking ship to the festival.

In Sweden, more than 1,000 years ago, merchants and warriors built ships to sail to other countries  sometimes for trading and sometimes for war. I made this kite to connect with my homeland, he said.

A total of 14 kites featuring a ballet design also attracted considerable attention.

Each kite, which is 6.6ft long and just under 3.3ft wide, is controlled by four strings. Flown by 14 people, the kites were deftly controlled as the well-coordinated team members changed step, tugging at the strings to form different patterns in the air.

Team member Bai Xuedong said: On average, it takes a year to master the basic skills needed to fly the kites in a choreographed way that ensures the strings dont become tangled.

Flying kites is a good way to stay in shape. If the weather permits, the team, which comprises retirees, practises for several hours a day.

Statistics from the organising committee showed that the festival attracted more than 100,000 people on the opening day.

Sobraj Al Akand, who comes from Bangladesh, said: We saw traditional kites, such as those designed like a dragon to represent China, and some really high-tech designs. Companies are also using kites to advertise themselves, which is a really nice concept.

Visitors look to the skies at the kite festival in Weifang (LI ZIHENG / XINHUA)

Kites have been flown in Weifang, widely known as the worlds kite capital, for about 2,400 years.

Legend has it that ancient Chinese philosopher Mozi, who was also known for his craftsmanship, made the first kite in what is now present-day Weifang. He is said to have spent three years making a wooden kite, but on the first day it flew, it fell to the ground and broke.

An ancient book states that kites were invented by Lu Ban (507-440 BC), a renowned carpenter, craftsman and engineer.

Local historical records show that Weifang kites were popular during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and were a major folk art in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), with many artists becoming widely known for their exquisite, high-flying creations.

The citys kite-making industry really took off after reform and opening-up was launched in December 1978. In 1984, kites from Weifang were sent to Shanghai for an exhibition. They impressed officials from an international kite association, who suggested that a global platform for the arts should be established in Weifang. This led to the first Weifang International Kite Festival taking place that year.

Kite lovers from a total of 11 countries and regions, including the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Canada, Japan, New Zealand and Singapore, took part in the event.

The festival, which has since been held annually, has become a brand for the city. Many local landmarks, including the railway station, the arts centre and street lamps, feature butterfly-shaped kite designs.

Thanks to the citys long and illustrious history, Weifang kites were listed as a national intangible cultural heritage in 2006.
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A mother has spoken out about the horrifying moment that she discovered ticks inside her daughters ear.

The parent, Jessica DeLoach, took to TikTok this week to share a photo montage about the experience. DeLoachs video started off with a picture of her daughters ear, which appeared to have a black mark inside it.

I went to wash my daughters ears during bath time, and it looked like she had shoved something in her ear, she wrote in the text over the photo.

She went on to share another photo of her daughter, Averie, itching her ear and explained what she did next.

Immediately called her doctor and they said bring her in ASAP, she wrote.

DeLoach also included a photo of her child at the doctors office, sharing that her daughter acted fine, except for when someone messed with or wanted to look in her ear.

She went on to share another photo of her daughters ear, which was red on the inside and appeared to have a scab in it. She addressed her fears over the situation, adding: I had no idea what to expect and was so scared for our baby girl.

DeLoach then posted a picture of one of the ticks that the doctor pulled out of her daughters ear. She noted how the tick could have gotten in there, adding: We had been working in the yard the day beforeOur poor baby girl.

Speaking to The Independent, the mother noted that her daughter used antibiotic ear drops for seven days, after her visit to the doctor. She also opened up about how difficult it was for the ticks to removed.

The removal process was quite traumatising, she said. I had to hold my daughter in my lap and keep her as still as I could, while the doctor opened her ear up to remove the tick with medical tweezers. There were also two nurses that helped hold my daughter arms and legs to prevent her from kicking the doctor because, of course, removing the ticks did not feel good for her.

In her video montage, DeLoach included one last picture of Averies ear as it was healing. She said the child was doing better before urging fellow parents to be on the look out for ticks.

(@mrs.jess1986/TikTok)

Her ear about five hours later, she wrote in the text over the photo. It bruised for about three days, but Averie is doing just fine now. Be sure and check your babies ears after playing outside. Ticks can crawl inside!!! Gross!!!

Speaking to The Independent she also acknowledged what the message behind her viral video, which has more than 2.1m views, is.

I posted this just to warn other parents to keep an eye on their childrens ears after being outside, she said. Especially when toddlers that cant tell you if it feels like something is in their ear.

DeLoach also spoke to People about fellow parents whove reached out to her, explaining: Other parents have told me about similar experiences, even ticks crawling onto their child off of their dog. Ive learned it happens more than I could have ever imagined.

According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), its important to properly remove a tick when found on ones body.

There is a lot of folklore about how to take a tick out of your skin. Some people even talk about having a lighted cigarette close by, things like that, said Jose Ribeiro, who is the chief of the Vector Biology Section of the Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research in NIAIDs Division of Intramural Research. The most important thing is just to use appropriate forceps such as tweezers. Grab the whole tick and pull it out.

The publication also noted that the best way to prevent ticks is by wearing clothes that cover ones arms and legs, when outside. People could also opt to tuck their pants into their socks to ensure that their bodies are completely covered, especially when in the woods or on a hiking trail.

Its also best to remove the tick as quickly as possible, as it takes about 36 hours for Lyme disease to be transmitted from a tick. Per NIH, this bacterial infection, which people can get from the bite of an infection tick, usually starts with symptoms like a rash, fever, or headache. If not treated early, the infection can impact a persons heart and nervous system.
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Samantha Womack has said she would have delayed her own cancer treatment in solidarity with striking NHS staff who shouldnt be eating from food banks.

The former EastEnders actor, 50, announced she had been diagnosed with brutal breast cancer in August last year  shortly after Dame Olivia Newton-John died from the disease.

Englands National Health Service has seen numerous strikes over the past few months, the latest being on last month on 30 April.

Describing herself as a huge advocate of Englands National Health Service, she called it one of the best gifts we have in an interview with Press Association.

She added: But when youve got the people who are working as hard as they are doing the hours they are, not being supported, even if it would have delayed my own personal treatment.

I would have been out there fighting with them, because Im absolutely desperate for them to be paid properly and appropriately for what they do, she continued.

They certainly shouldnt be eating from food banks.

She also told the agency that Newton-Johns death made Womack want to share her own diagnosis, because I thought everyone knows someone thats got cancer.

It was very poignant for me when I got my diagnosis that she had lost her battle and they happened within the same timeframe, she explained.

Womack, who played Ronnie Mitchell on the hit BBC soap until 2017, told fans in January 2023 that she had overcome breast cancer.

The British actor is now lending her support to a campaign enabling greater access to a new AI breast cancer diagnostic tool called Digistain.

The UKs first breast cancer risk profiling solution, Digistain helps patients better understand their cancer and the specific treatment that will most benefit them.

Womack said she didnt know about Digistain when her cancer was diagnosed, and that she was anxious not to have chemotherapy if she didnt require the brutal treatment.

I knew that there was a test called the Oncotype test, which is very similar....(but) its incredibly expensive so its just not available to most people, she added.

Womack said the test gives a ratio of how beneficial chemotherapy would be and she was on the fence so had two rounds before making the decision to stop.

Last October, Womack gave fans a health update while receiving the treatment, explaining that she had got her appetite back but was struggling with migraines.

Elsewhere in the interview on Friday (12 May), Womack reflected on life after being given the all-clear and how it has changed her perspective.

Its apparent in every little thing that you think, she continued. Its a bit like learning to think and speak in a different language and its quite exhausting, because youre not quite the same person that you were so everything is just slightly shaded in a different colour.
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Robert De Niro has revealed the name of his newborn daughter, as he shared his first photo of her.

During Thursdays episode of CBS Mornings, Gayle King revealed some new details that DeNiro has shared with her about his newborn. The TV hosts remarks came two days after the 79-year-old actor announced that he welcomed his seventh child.

King went on to present the photo of the newborn baby, who had black hair and was wearing a light pink onesie. She then revealed that the child was born on 6 April and that her full name is Gia Virginia Chen-De Niro.

She said that De Niro and his partner, Tiffany Chen, are over the moon about the newest addition to their family.

According to King, she had asked De Niro if his new baby was planned. In response, he told her yes and said that both he and his partner wanted her. She emphasised how psyched and excited De Niro was about having another child.

During an interview with ET Canada on 8 May, De Niro first revealed that he was a father again, as he opened up about parenthood while promoting his latest comedy film, About My Father.

When interviewer Brittnee Blair said, I know you have six kids, the actor corrected her and responded: Seven, actually. I just had a baby.

While at the premiere of About My Father on 9 May, he first noted to Page Six that the pregnancy was planned. How you could not plan that kind of thing? he said.

After De Niro announced the news, his co-star for his new movie, Kim Cattrall, appeared to reveal the identity of his childs mother.

Speaking to Extra at the premiere of About My Father, Cattrall said: God bless him, his significant other. Tiffany is such a beautiful woman. She came to the set once with her family and watched filming, and she was gorgeous and sweet. Im happy for both of them.

Along with his newborn daughter, the Meet the Fockers star has six other children from previous relationships.

De Niro and his first wife, Diahnne Abbott, are parents to one daughter, Drena, 51, and one son, Raphael, 46. He welcomed his twins, Julian and Aaron, 27, with ex-girlfriend Toukie Smith in 1995. He also shares his 25-year-old son, Elliot, and 11-year-old daughter, Helen Grace, with ex-wife Grace Hightower.
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Whats it really like to photograph the official portraits at a royal coronation? You know, the ones that will end up on the front pages of newspapers everywhere, all over the world? Well, according to Hugo Burnand, the man who took the official photos of King Charles and Queen Camillas coronation at the weekend, it starts with an early morning journey by bike.

On 6 May, as the nation was waking up, Burnand set off at 7am from his London mews house near Notting Hill Gate. With him were a team of six assistants, including his daughter Una, 25. They cycled to Buckingham Palace on bespoke, regal-coloured purple and ivory Brompton bikes in their formal attire  even Una in her pink silk dress.

It took about 25 minutes  we didnt want to break out in a sweat, Burnand tells me from his kitchen, when we talk just days after the portraits have been released to the public. They travelled light; all cameras and other equipment were already in situ at the Palace. It feels really weird setting off [for the day] without a camera for the biggest job of your life, he laughs.

By taking official coronation portraits of the monarch, Burnand is joining a tradition that is over a century old  but he is familiar with royal subjects. The former Tatler photographer is the only photographer with a royal warrant, given By Royal Appointment by the Prince of Wales, and photographed William and Kates wedding in 2011. On the now Prince and Princess of Wales big day, he used a jar of jelly beans to bribe the page boys and bridesmaids in front of the camera  the leftovers of which are in his kitchen as a memento. Other high-profile figures snapped by Burnand include the late Queen to Lucian Freud and Michael Jackson, to tycoons such as David Tang and the Gettys in their South African game lodge. But he also brings a sense of fun to his pictures, too: he once photographed his family naked on top of each other for their annual Christmas card.

Burnands coronation portraits, taken moments after the royal family had appeared on the balcony, are regal but relaxed. One of the images shows the new slimmed-down monarchy, an idea Charles has long favoured, with William and Kate [the Prince and Princess of Wales], Anne [the Princess Royal], and Edward and Sophie [the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh] among some of the select few included.

It may have been a day full of pomp and formality, freighted with historic importance, but Burnand says there was a lovely buzz in Buckingham Palaces throne room. There was definitely a happy feeling. It was cosy with family, children and friends milling about, he tells me. Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis were all part of the photoshoot, which made it beautiful and uplifting. It was like the last bit of the race [for the royal family]  there was an energy there which I know I got in the pictures, he says.

For his solo portrait of Charles, Burnand had consciously mirrored society photographer Cecil Beatons coronation portrait of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. The painterly portrait of Charles shows him in his full regalia, wearing the imperial state crown, his back slightly to one side of the official state chair in which he sits. His position is similar to that of his mother when she posed for Beaton, when she, like her son now, held the orb and sceptre with cross.

In another image, Queen Camilla is pictured alongside Charles, the pair standing close to one another and smiling. In both, Camilla wears Queen Marys crown, the train of her long embroidered robe of state spread in front of her. I think its very important the way she is standing. There is a humility or humbleness to it, although she is wearing this magnificent crown, says Burnand. She has a fantastic sense of humour and part of that humour I think comes through just with the dogs on her dress [her rescue dogs Bluebell and Beth were embroidered on her coronation robe].

Leading up to the event, Burnand spent weeks researching past coronation photos  King Edward VIIs was the first to be photographed in 1902  and three days setting up the lighting, so that when the royal family came in you are ready to go, says Burnand.

The slimmed-down royal family standing in the throne room at Buckingham Palace (Hugo Burnand/Royal Household 2023/PA) (PA Media)

Although there was a sense of fun throughout the shoot, Burnand knew he would have just one hour to capture the images. Speed was of the essence, so four cameras were set up on tripods, to save time on setting up the shots. From previous experience, Burnand and his team knew how to manage the pressures and parameters of the occasion to get the best photographs.

We all knew what we had to do... we were well enough organised and prepared [to do that] but you have to allow for the humanity to come into the pictures  and the humanity is real life. The person you are photographing [has] to hit the ball back to you. You talk to them. They talk to you. I might even take a picture while talking [to them].

Helping matters was the fact that Burnand is a familiar face: he also took the photographs for Charles and Camillas wedding in 2005, so was able to put them at ease. In fact, he first began photographing Camilla 20 years ago, after he was introduced by her sister, Annabel Elliot.

King Charles III in full regalia in the Throne Room at Buckingham Palace (Hugo Burnand/Royal Household 2023/PA)

It could have been a number of photographers [for the coronation]  but having a track record helps, says Burnand about landing the job. He had been working with Charles and Camilla on portraits released ahead of the coronation  including a relaxed shot of the couple standing side by side in the Blue Drawing Room at Buckingham Palace, both dressed in blue  when, he says, it gradually dawned on me that I was the one doing the photographs.

Charles and Camilla were clearly fans of his style: his portraits have an approachable feel.

I wanted them [the portraits] to be authentic, says Burnand. I like people when they look at a portrait to engage with the person. What you want to connect to as a viewer is the emotions of that person  thats when you know its a good portrait.

(Hugo Burnand/Royal Household 2023/PA)

By the time Burnand and his team left the Palace, it was bucketing down with rain. Getting back on their bikes, they rode home via Hyde Park Corner taking refuge under Wellington Arch with a whole load of tourists with their cameras and their Union Jack umbrellas and us in our morning coats. Arriving home at 5pm, he says they all looked like drowned rats, but felt high after their hardworking, historic day. They cracked open a bottle of champagne, left on the doorstep by a neighbour.

Despite his pivotal role in the day, Burnand didnt see much of the coronation itself  just the flypast, from the window of the throne room. Watching the ceremony is next on his to-do list, he says. Its important to keep ones feet firmly on the ground, he tells me before I leave. Just as important, though, to keep ones eye to the lens.
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Meghan Markle is a cuckoo in the royal nest and her woke Californian hang-ups are likely to destroy her marriage to Prince Harry, according to a senior Labour politician.

In an outspoken attack on the couple, former Labour minister and diarist Chris Mullin suggests the Duke of Sussex will come limping home when the marriage ends in tears.

He says Meghan is clearly the main mover in the couples relationship with Harry very much second fiddle.

The claims are contained in Mullins latest memoir, Didnt You Use To Be Chris Mullin?, which is being serialised exclusively in The Independent.

The novelist, diarist and former MP, 75, played a key role in freeing the Birmingham Six, Irish men wrongly convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the 1974 pub bombings.

His new book, released this week, is full of his trademark wickedly indiscreet accounts of meetings and conversations with royals, politicians and celebrities.

Mullin dismisses the duchesss now famous complaint that an unnamed royal speculated about the skin colour of her and Harrys son, Archie.

EXCLUSIVE: CHRIS MULLIN DIARIES Chris Mullin, who was a Labour MP for more than 20 years and a minister under Tony Blair, has won plaudits for the first three instalments of his political diaries, described as wickedly indiscreet and a treat to be savoured. The Independent is exclusively serialising the fourth volume.

He says people have often observed they can see Vietnamese blood in Sarah, his daughter by Vietnamese born wife Ngoc, and it is not in the least offensive.

It is not the first time he has sparked royal controversy.

In his 2020 memoir, he revealed the Queen sent a man to the gallows with the words do you know, he even shot the dog?. She turned down an appeal by a man convicted of murder in Bermuda, a story leaked to Mullin by a privy counsellor friend.

Mullins new diaries, which cover 20102022, claim the former Duke of Edinburgh once said charm is a greatly overrated value. He also describes Prince Philip as a cantankerous old buffer and says his reaction to media blanket coverage of the dukes death was thank f*** for Netflix.

And he revealed that, as a foreign office minister in Tony Blairs government, a senior diplomat told him a trade mission led by Prince Andrew was like a rugby club outing.
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Made in Chelsea star Millie Mackintosh has claimed her friendship with Meghan Markle abruptly ended after the Duchess of Sussexs romance with Prince Harry went public.

The reality star, 33, recently shared details about her former friendship with the duchess in an episode of her Mumlemmas podcast on 10 May, where she claimed she had been ghosted by the then-Suits actor once she began dating the royal.

The mother of two revealed that she became friends with Meghan around eight years ago, when the pair met at a hotel opening in Istanbul, Turkey. I was a fan, I watched Suits, Mackintosh told podcast co-host Charlie Boud. We met at the bar and we were both ordering a drink at the same time and just started chatting. We got on really well, we got on like a house on fire.

According to Mackintosh, the pair initially clicked over their marital troubles. The TV personality was married to British rapper Professor Green at the time, while Meghan had split from her first husband Trevor Engelson in 2013 after two years of marriage.

The women stayed in touch, and Mackintosh eventually gave Meghan her little black book of favourite spots and contacts when the actor visited the United Kingdom. When she would come to London, she didnt know London very well or know that many people, Mackintosh said, adding that the two would go out for brunch or attend yoga classes together.

The last time Mackintosh said she saw Meghan was in September 2016, when the two were pictured together during a girls weekend at Soho Farmhouse in Oxfordshire. What I thought was going to be a day of yoga and chilling ended up being rose and margaritas in the pool, she said, adding that she and Markle had a really fun afternoon.

It was during that trip that Meghan admitted she had been messaging Prince Harry after the two were introduced by a friend, according to Mackintosh.I didnt ask too much of it, didnt really think too much of it at the time, Mackintosh recalled. If only I had known.

When news of Prince Harry and Meghan Markles relationship broke in the press just one month later, Mackintosh decided to reach out to Meghan amid the intense media attention. I messaged her and just said: Hey, hope youre okay. Thinking of you, she recalled.

However, Mackintosh claimed the duchess sent back a really abrupt response that was unlike any of our communication before. While she didnt disclose the message she received from Meghan, Mackintosh said that she felt like [Meghan] kind of told me to f*** off, basically.

She cut me dead. I never heard from her again, she added.

The former reality TV star went on to describe her thought process behind the message she allegedly received from Meghan, saying: My take on it is thatshes like, Im going to be royal now, I dont need Millie in my life.

Mackintosh explained how the media attention surrounding her short-lived friendship with Meghan was total bollocks, as tabloids claimed she had introduced the duke and duchess and was planning the royal wedding. At the time, honestly, it was quite hurtful, she added. Looking back, I do remember when they got married. I was a bit like, feels a bit s*** because she ghosted me.

Meghan and Prince Harry began dating in July 2016, after they were reportedly introduced by mutual friend and Soho House consultant Markus Anderson. In their six-part Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan, the two detailed how they kept their romance secret from the public  from their first date in London to an impromptu trip to Botswana, Africa.

In the first episode of Harry & Meghan, which was released in December 2022, Meghan recalled that Harry was late to their date, which almost put her off  but the prince won her over after he arrived as a hot, sweaty red ball of mess who was genuinely so embarrassed and late.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex also detailed their last night of freedom before news of their relationship broke to the world. The pair decided to pull the pin on the fun grenade and go out in costumes to a Halloween party in Toronto with Harrys cousin, Princess Eugenie, her then-boyfriend, Jack Brooksbank, and Meghans friend, Marcus. She recalled Harry saying at the time: Well, if its gonna come out tomorrow, lets go have fun tonight.

The two were married in May 2018 in a fairytale wedding ceremony at St Georges Chapel at Windsor Castle. But the media attention surrounding the couple soon worsened, as they later claimed that Buckingham Palace was briefing the press against them by leaking and planting negative stories about Meghan to distract from less favourable coverage about other royals.

In 2020, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced they were stepping down from the royal family and relocating to the United States. Since then, theyve gone on to raise their two children  Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet  at their home in Montecito, California.

Last week, Prince Harry returned to the United Kingdom for the coronation of his father, King Charles III, and stepmother, Queen Camilla.

The Independent has contacted a representative for the Duchess of Sussex for contact.
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Sir Karl Jenkins has responded to speculation surrounding his viral appearance at King Charles IIIs coronation over the weekend.

The 79-year-old composer shared a video on TikTok on Tuesday, with a caption that read: Sir Karl Jenkins sets the record straight on his attendance at the coronation. His remarks came days after fans questioned his mullet and white moustache, with some claiming that he was Meghan Markle in a disguise.

Jenkins started his TikTok video by introducing himself before acknowledging how he went viral at the coronation. He also shared a picture of himself at the event, wearing a black jacket with a medal around his neck and tinted sunglasses on his face.

I understand there has been a lot of interest in me since I appeared at the coronation of King Charles III, he said, as he sat in a chair and spoke to the camera. I was there because Id written some music for the service.

He shared a laugh about the false claims that he was the Duchess of Sussex, who skipped the coronation over the weekend, in disguise. Meghan stayed in California with her children, Archie, four, and Lilibet, one, while her husband, Prince Harry, attended the event.

I was quite surprised that some people thought I was Meghan Markle in disguise, the musician continued. Someone wrote I was there, whoever I was, to steal the crown jewels. I look this way all the time.

Jenkins continued his video by holding up the knighthood medal he received in 2015 that he wore at the coronation.

He also addressed his now-viral facial hair: Oh, and my moustache has been referred to in The Times as well. But Ive had this moustache since 18-years-old. It was very trendy then.

As he finished introducing himself, Jenkins also hit back at claims surrounding his coronation look.

So thats me, he conceded. Nothing sinister about it or surprising at all!

As of 10 May, Jenkins video has more than 826,400 views, with TikTok users in the comments continuing to poke fun at his coronation appearance.

This is just what Meghan Markle in disguise would say,one quipped, while another joked: We wont tell on you Meg.

A third wrote: You being Meghan Markle in disguise was my favourite story about you!! Lovely to meet you properly Sir.

Other people went on to praise the composers reaction to the jokes about him.

I have been waiting for this response, one wrote. And this man is verified and passes the vibe check.

Thank you for introducing yourself. A sense of humour and humility is very attractive. Really enjoyed your music in the ceremony. Xx, another added.

For the coronation over the weekend, Jenkins composed a piece titled Over The Stone - IV. Tros y Garreg. During an interview with BBC, he noted how honoured he felt after he found out that his Welsh folk song was going to be a part of the coronation.

It obviously sums up Welsh culture - the harp - and he [the King] has always supported Welsh music, he told the publication, leading up to the event. I dont know whether he chose it, but he was happy to have it there. I know he likes it otherwise he wouldnt have asked me

During the interview, he also reflected on watching the late Queen Elizabeth IIs coronation in 1953, adding: We had one of the first TV screens in the street, in the village I guess...12in (30cm) screen, two rows of friends and neighbours watching.
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A vegan passenger has criticised an airline after claiming she was given fruit and nuts as a hot meal on a six-hour flight.

Juanita Headley had been travelling from Accra, Ghana to London Heathrow, a journey of over 7,400km, with KLM.

The motivational speaker had already opted for a hot meal on board as part of the complimentary service.

But once on board the six-hour connection, she said she was given pineapple pieces, a tangerine and a handful of nuts.

A few hours later, she claimed crew gave her a cold vegan wrap, a banana and an additional bowl of nuts.

She has slammed KLM as "a joke" for her lacklustre meal.

Juanita, of north London, said: "I'm sorry, it doesn't feed a hungry passenger on an international flight.

"Thank God I don't have a nut allergy or I would have been on fruit rations.

"In this day and age where veganism isnt a new phenomena it is unacceptable that a six-hour long haul flight dont carry a few extra meals for situations like this.

"Or at a minimum make sure the vegetarian meal is also vegan.

"That would make life very simple for crew and passengers."

(Jam Press/Juanita Headley)

She uploaded snaps of the food online  leaving fellow vegans fuming.

One seething vegan said: "In 2023 that's simply outrageous."

Another added: "Sorry you've had this experience, I've had similar but in 2014 and ever since I've always carried food just in case.

A third said: "Looks like an afterthought. Im sorry."

Another vegan said: "How difficult is it to have an alpro yoghurt, tomato, broccoli and vegan cheese pasta? Basic stuff.

And KLM Airlines arent the cheapest to fly with so this is outrageous.

But some were less sympathetic.

One person said: "Why do people never bring their own food is baffling."

Another flyer added: "I reckon you'll survive six hours."
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The U.S. Senate voted narrowly Thursday to overturn two Biden administration policies intended to protect endangered species.

Senators called for reinstating a rule adopted under former President Donald Trump but rescinded by the Biden administration that limited which lands and waters could be designated as places for imperiled animals and plants to receive federal protection.

They also proposed dropping a 2022 federal designation of the northern long-eared bat as endangered.

Earlier this month, the Senate voted to undo federal protections for the lesser prairie chicken, a rare grouse found in parts of the Midwest and Southwest.

The actions, backed mostly by Republicans, represent rare congressional involvement in matters usually left to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service. The Endangered Species Act tasks those agencies with deciding which animals and plants to list as endangered or threatened and how to rebuild their populations.

President Joe Biden threatened to veto the resolutions, which await action in the House.

We are in the midst of a global extinction crisis for which the chief driver is the destruction, degradation, and loss of habitat, a White House statement said.

A 2019 United Nations report said about 1 million species are in danger of extinction, with losses accelerating up to hundreds of times faster than before.

The Biden administration last June withdrew a Trump definition of habitat that environmental advocates said was too narrow to provide essential protection. Supporters said it would give landowners incentives to help troubled species while securing property rights.

Restoring the Trump habitat definition, the White House said, would severely limit federal agencies ability to help troubled species survive and recover.

Senators backed a resolution to reinstate the definition, 51-49. Sen. Cynthia Lummis, a Wyoming Republican and its chief sponsor, argued that uncertainty about what qualifies as habitat lowers property values and hampers crucial infrastructure projects.

Two-thirds of all endangered species are located on private lands, Lummis said. For these species to be recovered, private landowners must be part of the solution and not treated as the enemy.

Joining Republicans in voting for reinstating the Trump definition of habitat were Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Independent Angus King of Maine, who often caucuses with Democrats.

The Trump rule was among several steps his administration took to scale back or alter endangered species policies, including lifting blanket protections for animals newly listed as threatened and setting cost estimates for saving species. Biden ordered a review of his predecessors environmental rulemaking shortly after taking office.

Under the 1973 law, federal agencies cannot fund, permit or take actions that would destroy or severely damage critical habitats. It doesnt restrict activities on private land unless government approval or financial support is involved.

The Trump rules habitat definition was unclear, confusing and inconsistent with the conservation purposes of the law, the Fish and Wildlife Service and Marine Fisheries Service said previously.

It prevented agencies from selecting areas that dont presently meet a species needs but might in the future as a result of restoration work or natural changes, they said. Global warming is expected to alter many landscapes and waters, attracting species that migrate from places no longer suitable for them.

The Fish and Wildlife Service declared the northern long-eared bat endangered last November, raising its status from threatened. It is among 12 bat types hammered by white-nose syndrome, a fungal disease that has reduced its numbers by 97% or more in some areas.

The bat is found in 37 eastern and north-central states, plus Washington, D.C., and much of Canada.

Sen. Tom Carper, a Delaware Democrat and chairman of the Committee on Environment and Public Works, said bats contribute $3 billion annually to the nation's agricultural economy through pest control and pollination.

Critics of the endangered listing contend it would hamper logging and other land uses that weren't responsible for the bat's sharp decline.

The vote on removing the listing was 51-49, with Manchin and Minnesota Democrat Amy Klobuchar voting with Republicans. Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California opposed both measures after returning to the Capitol following a long illness.

___

Follow John Flesher on Twitter: @johnflesher
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A man suspected of shooting dead a mother-of-two during a stand-off with police has died in hospital.

Armed police and a trained negotiator were scrambled to a terraced house in Priory Road, Dartford, at 12.40pm on Saturday afternoon following reports of a disturbance.

Hayley Burke, 36, was taken to a London hospital suffering from shots from a handgun and died on Monday evening.

Announcing Ms Burkes death on Tuesday, the force said the case was being treated as murder.

The suspected gunman, Jacob Cloke, who was also taken to hospital with critical injuries caused by a firearm, died on Thursday evening, a police spokesman said.

No police weapons were fired during the stand-off.

The force spokesman added: An investigation into both deaths will now be led by the coroner.

Officers from the Kent and Essex serious crime directorate will assist the coronial process.

Tributes have poured in for Ms Burke, with flowers and messages laid at the scene of the incident.

Officers went to the house with a trained negotiator following reports of a disturbance (PA Wire)

Hayley was the loudest friend in the group and never failed to have everyone laughing, an unnamed friend said.

Hayley loved her children with every inch of her heart. Everything she did was for her boys - they were her life.

Hayley would do anything for anybody but wasnt afraid to tell you if you took the mick.

She was so brutally honest - it was one of her best character traits. If you wanted an honest opinion you would always ask Hayley.

The friend said Ms Burke left behind two children, adding: Her space in our lives will never be filled. She didnt deserve any of this. She had so much love and life to give.

She had so much love and life to give, a friend said of Ms Burke (Facebook)

After being called to the home at 12.40pm, police cordoned off Priory Road and told people to stay inside their homes before officers broke through the terraced homes front door, witnesses said.

After an hour-long stand-off, pandemonium broke out and neighbours heard what sounded like two rounds of gunshots.

One woman, who did not want to be named, described events as chilling.

Kent Police made a mandatory referral to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) because police were at the scene at the time of the injuries.

An IOPC spokesman said it was assessing the referral from Kent Police to determine whether any further action is needed by the watchdog.
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Police are reportedly preparing to dig for the remains of a missing student, after serial killer Levi Bellfield allegedly confessed to her murder.

Bellfield, who is serving two whole-life sentences for murdering three people including 13-year-old Milly Dowler, told detectives this week he had hidden a body in woodland 24 years ago, The Guardian reported.

Elizabeth Chau, a computer studies student at Thames Valley University, was last seen in Ealing, west London, on 16 April 1999.

Missing student Elizabeth Chau (PA)

During the interview under criminal caution, Bellfield allegedly named a location in west London where he claims to have disposed of Ms Chaus body, the paper reported on Thursday.

The Met Police have not confirmed a Sky News report on Friday that a dig is due to take place, but said it remained in contact with Ms Chaus family,

Bellfields solicitor Theresa Clark told Sky News: He tells me he feels its important that her family have some closure.

He wants to see justice done because they have had to live this for so long and thats unfair. He gains nothing from it, there is no positive publicity for him.

Bellfield, now 54, killed Milly Dowler in Surrey in 2002. He murdered Marsha McDonnell, 19, in west London, in 2003 and Amelie Delagrange, 22, a French student, the year after.

Levi Bellfield was found guilty of abducting and killing schoolgirl Milly Dowler following a trial in 2011 (Surrey Police/PA)

He was convicted of the attempted murder of Kate Sheedy in May 2004, and claims to have carried out six other attacks on women who survived.

A Met Police spokesperson said: On Tuesday 9 May 2023, a 54-year-old male was interviewed under caution. Inquiries continue.

We can confirm we remain in contact with Elizabeth Chaus family.

At this time we will not be providing an ongoing commentary. We have no comment to make.
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One of the UKs most wanted men has been arrested in Spain over a stabbing and attempted robbery committed back in 2016.

Mark Francis Roberts was caught by officials in Malaga on Wednesday after the 29-year-old from Liverpool was tracked in a covert operation.

Roberts was wanted in connection to an incident where two knife-wielding men attacked a victim in his own driveway and tried to grab his 60,000 watch.

Police said the victim was stabbed in the early hours of September 30, 2016, when he refused to hand over his Richard Mille and was left with a collapsed lung. It is thought the attack happened in the Merseyside area.

Mark Francis Roberts had been hiding out in Malaga (NCA)

The National Crime Agency, Merseyside Police and Spains Guardia Civil worked together to cuff Roberts who is now awaiting extradition.

Steve Reynolds, NCA regional manager in Spain, said: Robertss arrest came about after a sustained campaign to trace him and some great work by the Guardia Civil.

This is another excellent result and shows once again that UK law enforcement does not give up on finding those who await justice in the UK.

Working closely with our colleagues at home and abroad, such as our highly valued Spanish partners, we will continue to hunt those on the run.

Roberts featured in a most wanted campaign run by the NCA, independent charity Crimestoppers and Spanish law enforcement which targeted fugitives with links to Spain and the Canary Islands.

He is the eighth fugitive to be arrested from the campaign  six men remain on the run.

The NCA has been asked about the status of the other man involved in the suspected stabbing.

Detective Inspector Katie Coote of Merseyside Police said: I hope this arrest shows that there is no hiding place for anyone who is evading police.

Thanks to our ongoing work with National Crime Agency Roberts has been located and is now in police custody.
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Two Metropolitan Police officers are being criminally investigated for manslaughter after a man was shot with a Taser and then fell from a balcony to his death.

The man, who was Black, died after he fell in Peckham, south London. He later succumbed to his injuries.

Despite extensive efforts by the police, the man is yet to be formally identified, according to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), which is leading this investigation.

The watchdog said in a statement that two police officers are being investigated for gross negligence manslaughter. One of the officers is also being investigated for unlawful act manslaughter, it said.

Both officers have been issued with gross misconduct notices for potentially breaching police standards of professional behaviour.

The IOPC will probe whether any force used was reasonable, appropriate and proportionate. The IOPC will then decide whether to refer the matter to the Crown Prosecution Service.

IOPC director Amanda Rowe said: Our thoughts are with the man who died and we sincerely hope that he is formally identified and that his family are able to be notified.

This was a tragic incident and we recognise that the circumstances surrounding the mans death have understandably caused concern within the community.

She continued: Our enquiries are still in their early stages and its important that we carry out a thorough, independent investigation that will be looking at the full circumstances, including the actions and decision-making of the officers who were present.

Police officers are able to use force in the course of their duties and we will examine whether any force that was used was reasonable, appropriate and proportionate in these circumstances.

Police officers attended a property within a block of flats in Rye Hill Park on 11 April to a report of a man shouting on a balcony, the IOPC has said.

However, they received no response from inside the flat and left. A similar report was made to the force in the early hours that morning, though the police did not attend.

(PA Wire)

A further report was received at around 1.25 am on 12 April, of a man making threats to jump from a balcony. Officers returned to the flat at around 2am and forced entry.

They tried to persuade the man to come inside from the balcony and requested that a police negotiator attend the scene. Over the course of the next hour, some officers left the flat and two officers remained inside.

Evidence at this stage indicates that an officer discharged their Taser, shortly before the man fell from the balcony railing at around 3.20 am, the IOPC said.

He then fell five floors to the ground and was transported to hospital with critical injuries - but died later that day. The police negotiator arrived at the location just before the man fell and had not entered the flat.

Criminal investigations, by the police watchdog or police, into the police following deaths after contact with officers are a rare occurrence.

Black people are seven times more likely to die following police contact, recent statistics have highlighted.

It comes as the officer involved in the fatal shooting of Chris Kaba, a Black father, in south London could face a murder charge.

Mr Kaba was killed by a single gunshot fired by a Met Police officer in September 2022 and the IOPC, having conducted a homicide investigation into the fatal shooting, referred the case to the Crown Prosecution Service for consideration of a potential murder charge against the firearms officer.
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Police investigating the murder of a woman who went missing from her east London home have recovered a body from the River Thames.

Suma Begum, 24, was reported missing from an address in Orchard Place, Tower Hamlets, on 30 April. Her husband, Aminan Rahman, 45, has been charged with murder.

The Metropolitan Police confirmed a body had been recovered in Thamesmead, southeast London, following a call from a member of the public shortly after 10am on Wednesday.

Formal identification is yet to take place but Ms Begums family has been informed, the Met said.

A post-mortem examination will take place in due course.

Mr Rahman appeared at the Old Bailey via video link from HMP Pentionville for a preliminary hearing on 9 May.

Prosecutors allege that he killed his wife at their home in Tower Hamlet.

They say he then removed her body in a large suitcase before putting it in the nearby River Lea, the easternmost major tributary of the Thames.

Tom Broomfield, for the crown, said: "It is alleged that he either killed or incapacitated Ms Begum, placed her or her body in a suitcase which he then dumped into the River Lea, part of the River Thames.

"The river has been searched but there is no sign of that suitcase.

"Because of the tidal nature of the Thames, it is not thought the suitcase of Ms Begum will be found until effectively the suitcase appears on the river bank."

Mr Rahman was assisted by a Bengali interpreter and spoke only to confirm his identity.

Judge Nigel Lickley KC set a plea hearing for 25 July and remanded the defendant in custody.
Criminals who commit offences against wildlife are often linked to violent crime, drugs and firearms offences, a new study has claimed.

Academics warn that criminal gangs are diversifying from activities such as drug or human trafficking into the illegal wildlife trade, because they consider the risk of being caught low and profits high.

Wildlife crime includes a broad range of offences including the poaching of deer and fish, badger baiting, hare coursing and the ivory trade.
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BBC Eurovision commentators Rylan Clark and Scott Mills have stressed the contest is non-political after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was blocked from addressing the grand final over fears it could politicise the event.

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which produces the contest, said on Thursday night that it had declined Mr Zelenskys request to speak to the events audience on Saturday.

He had wanted to make an unannounced video appearance and had been expected to implore the global audience of millions to continue backing his country in its fight to repel Russian invaders.

The EBU said Mr Zelensky had laudable intentions but regrettably his request was against the rules.

On Friday morning, Clark said: At the end of the day we are commentators so we dont get involved in show format. I just think Eurovision, people say it is political  votes here, votes there.

From being on the inside it is the least political experience you could ever have, actually.

Radio DJ Mills added: People always ask, Do you think it is political? It really isnt. It is a song contest.

Clark continued: It is a song contest and that is what we are here to say.

The pair, who provided TV commentary for the two semi-finals this week and will host radio coverage of the grand final, also stressed that as last years winner, Ukraine and its culture were being celebrated across Liverpool throughout the event.

Clark said: Ukraine, this is their party in our country.

We always said that we would be true to that because they were the winner and I think it is very visible in the city, added Mills.

They spoke at the British Music Experience on the Liverpool waterfront, where Zoe Ball hosted a special edition of her BBC Radio 2 breakfast show which featured guests including last years UK entrant Sam Ryder and The Fizz, featuring members of former Eurovision winners Bucks Fizz.

In its statement on Thursday, the EBU noted that 11 Ukrainian artists, including last years winners Kalush Orchestra, are performing and 37 locations from around Ukraine are being shown.

The BBC has said the broadcast of this years contest is expected to be watched by more than 160 million viewers worldwide.

Kalush Orchestra won last years contest but, owing to the Russian invasion of the country, hosting duties were awarded to the runner-up, the UK.

Mr Zelensky said earlier this week that he would have preferred Eurovision to take place in a neighbouring country.

Speaking to the BBC, he said: I have great respect for the United Kingdom and its society. It is an amazing country.

From the very start my opinion has been that if we cant host Eurovision it should take place in one of the countries that share a border with us, such as Slovakia, Poland or any other country which our people can reach easily. Something nearby.

It comes after the full line-up of the grand final was revealed following the second knockout round on Thursday night.

After 16 countries competed, the 10 remaining spots went to Poland, Australia, Cyprus, Albania, Estonia, Belgium, Austria, Lithuania, Armenia and Slovenia.

The 10 countries that qualified from Tuesdays semi-final were Croatia, Moldova, Switzerland, Finland, Czechia, Israel, Portugal, Sweden, Serbia and Norway.

They will join the so-called big five nations  the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain  who each get a free pass because of their financial contributions to the event, along with last years winners Ukraine.

The Eurovision grand final on Saturday will air live on BBC One.
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A volunteer who helped transport almost 350 tonnes of aid to front lines in Ukraine has been paralysed in a moped accident while on holiday in Spain.

Friends of 41-year-old Darius Linkus, who has lost the use of both legs, are fundraising for an accessible wet room for him and his wife Saule, also 41, who was the passenger on the moped.

They broke their necks and Mrs Linkus broke her right shoulder and has lost some mobility in her arm.

The couple, who live in Trimley St Mary, Suffolk, are in rehabilitation and a relative is helping to look after their three children.

Friend Oliver Horsman, 43, described Mr Linkus as a proud man who would not ask for help, but said he had finally agreed to Mr Horsman posting an online fundraising page on his behalf.

He ended up doing four or five trips himself and we facilitated 50 or 60 further trips to get that stuff over the border Oliver Horsman

More than 4,000 had been donated towards an initial target of 10,000 within two days of the page going live, aiming to convert their downstairs toilet into a disabled bathroom and the conservatory into a bedroom.

Mr Horsman said Mr Linkus, who works in import and export, was quick to help after war broke out in Ukraine last year.

The war started and we were like, Right, these people need help, said Mr Horsman, who works with tech start-ups.

He said, Im going to fill up a van, Im going to buy loads of stuff and Im going to drive to Ukraine.

I was like, Lets be a little bit more measured than that, Ill see if I can get some donations and Ill come with you.

He said that within three days of the war starting their Facebook post had been shared thousands of times.

Literally it went insane, said Mr Horsman.

He knew he was paralysed at that point but he was like, 'Ive got to do something' Oliver Horsman

It ended up generating about 350 tonnes worth of aid.

Through Dariuss connections he managed to sort out all the import/export paperwork, get all the fixers on the borders for these vans that were going over.

I believe we were the first British aid van over the border into Ukraine. Other ones were rejected and not able to get across.

He ended up doing four or five trips himself and we facilitated 50 or 60 further trips to get that stuff over the border.

He was constantly on the phone.

Mr Horsman said that after the crash Mr Linkus was on the phone from his bed trying to arrange for generators to be delivered to people near front lines.

It was a bit of a frog in throat moment, said Mr Horsman.

He knew he was paralysed at that point but he was like, Ive got to do something.

Its pretty crazy that he now needs other peoples help really  pretty tragic.

The aid they took to Ukraine included surgical and first aid kits, incubators and military boots, and they also helped pick up and drop off refugees.

Mr Horsman said Mr Linkuss moped accident happened last September.

He said to his wife, Lets get away for the weekend, its been pretty manic over the last few months, said Mr Horsman.

They bought a ticket to Spain for the weekend, rented a moped and that was that. His front wheel hit a rock in the road.

His wife was on the back of the moped with him. Both wearing helmets, both within the speed limit, nothing silly. It was just how they fell.

They both broke their necks  she, however, can walk, although she has very little mobility in her shoulder because that was shattered.

He said the couple have no income and its been a crazy period for them to try to keep afloat.

Mr Linkus had been sleeping in a hospital bed in the front room and having to be washed with a bowl of water by his bed as he cant get into the bathroom, Mr Horsman said.

He said he wanted to fundraise for the wet room so at least he can have a quality of life.

Hes a very proud man, super giving, will literally give you the shirt off his back, said Mr Horsman. Hes not the kind of person who would put a page out there asking for help.

Hes agreed finally, after months and months of me pushing him, for me to put that post up there.

I just thought I had to help. He kind of inspired me.

Donate at www.gofundme.com/f/dontae-to-help-darius?utm_campaign=p_cf+share-flow-1&utm_content=undefined&utm_medium=chat&utm_source=whatsapp&utm_term=undefined
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Filmmaker Guy Ritchie has described the denial of safe passage to the UK for some Afghans who served alongside British forces as morally reprehensible.

The 54-year-old Hollywood director is supporting a campaign by The Independent to prevent the deportation of an Afghan pilot who helped Western forces fight the Taliban.

The air force lieutenant, whose identity is protected, flew 30 combat missions against the Taliban, but was forced into hiding after the final withdrawal of Nato troops in August 2021.

He said he came to the UK on a small boat due to a lack of legal routes, and is now being threatened with exile to Rwanda.

Ritchie, whose 2023 action thriller, The Covenant, tells a similar story of a local interpreter left behind in Afghanistan by the US military, has criticised the UKs handling of refugees from the wartorn nation.

He told The Independent: During the course of the Afghanistan conflict, thousands of local Afghans exposed themselves to significant risk by supporting British, American and other Nato forces.

Some worked as interpreters, while others fought alongside these forces.

They did this based on an understanding that they would be offered visas and protection  and this promise must be honoured.

It is morally reprehensible that those who worked loyally for us and alongside us have found their safe passage to a future has been blocked.

Released in April, The Covenant stars Dar Salim as the Afghan interpreter and Jake Gyllenhaal as an American sergeant.

The Home Office said it is relocating Afghan citizens who worked for the UK Government in exposed or meaningful roles via the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP).

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said: We owe a debt of gratitude to those interpreters and other staff eligible under the ARAP scheme who worked for, or with, UK forces in Afghanistan.

Thats why we have committed to relocating all eligible Afghans and their families to the UK under the ARAP scheme  a commitment we will honour.

Our absolute priority is supporting the movement of eligible people out of Afghanistan and to date, we have relocated over 12,200 individuals to the UK under ARAP.
A pensioner with Parkinsons says he has been forced to live in Dickensian times after he was denied Personal Independence Payment (PIP) benefit despite his debilitating condition.

It comes after a report by MPs found the system of health assessments for benefits continues to let people down.

Stanley Smith says he has been left taking antidepressants from the stress of battling with assessors as well as his illness, and being on a low income.
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A royal fan detained for 13 hours after standing next to Just Stop Oil protesters ahead of the Kings coronation has described the moment police grabbed her from the crowd.

Alice Chambers had headed to the Mall on Saturday morning to catch a glimpse of the Kings procession as it made its way towards Westminster Abbey for the historic service.

But as she waited among the crowds, she found herself handcuffed by police and arrested on suspicion of potential to cause a breach of the peace alongside roughly a dozen other people. The incident, which was caught on camera by Sky News, took place at around 9am.

Alice Chambers was detained for 13 hours  meaning she missed the whole coronation (BBC Newsnight)

The 36-year-old architect, originally from Australia but now living in London, says she had no idea she was rubbing shoulders with members of the action group in the crowd, as they had not yet started their planned demonstration.

Ms Chambers said she arrived at the Mall at around 7am. Two hours later, she was arrested by officers who mistook her for being a Just Stop Oil activist, despite her repeatedly telling them she was not.

Speaking to BBC Newsnight, she said: The next minute I just realised that the police had swooped in and started grabbing a whole heap of people, and unfortunately I was one of the people they grabbed.

They handcuffed me straight away and then pulled me out of the crowd and put me against a barrier with a whole heap of other protesters.

Royal fan arrested for standing near Just Stop Oil protesters during coronation

Ms Chambers said she repeatedly explained to the officers that she was not part of the activist group and that she didnt even know what they were protesting about.

She went on: I tried to say anything I could to say I wasnt part of that group... nothing seemed to be able to be said that made a difference really.

Ms Chambers hoped that once she arrive at a police station there would be someone she could talk to about the misunderstanding. This moment never came, however, and she was detained for 13 hours  missing the whole coronation.

Officers took her fingerprints, DNA, mugshots and locked her in a cell. She was also repeatedly quizzed and searched, before being interviewed at around 7pm.

Ms Chambers has made a complaint to the force and the police watchdog (Sky News)

Finally, Ms Chambers was able to explain why she was there. The officers looked at her in shock, she told the broadcaster, before apologising.

They then tried to process me as quickly as I could, but it still took another couple of hours before she was released.

She was allowed to go home at around 10pm from Wandsworth police station after breaking down in tears.

Ms Chambers, who has made a complaint to the force and the police watchdog, previously told the i newspaper: I understand why the police were on the edge, they did have a tough job that day.

But they need to have better processes and better training in place because innocent people shouldnt be getting locked up for that long.

Ms Chambers said she felt there was a lot of finger pointing between police forces as she was detained in London but arrested by a Lincolnshire police officer.

The Home Affairs Committee has confirmed it will scrutinise the Metropolitan Polices handling of anti-monarchy protests over the coronation weekend (PA Wire)

In a statement, the Met expressed regret that the woman was not able to watch the coronation, adding that officers had spoken with her to explain our decisions and the next steps.

Officers involved in the safety and security operation acted on information available to them, the force said.

The incident comes after the Met faced widespread criticism for arresting dozens of republicans ahead of the coronation service on Saturday.

When contacted for comment on Ms Chambers experience, a Met spokesperson: We are aware that a woman was arrested in relation to a protest on 6 May 2023.

The arresting officer was from Lincolnshire Police and the complaint has therefore been passed to the relevant force to investigate. The Met will assist by providing any relevant information they require.

Chief inspector Simon Outen, from the Professional Standards Department at Lincolnshire Police, said: Our officers were in central London providing mutual aid support to colleagues in the Met on Saturday 6 May, and during that time, a woman in her 30s was arrested in connection with a Just Stop Oil protest.

She was subsequently released with no further action. We have now received a complaint and we are reviewing the incident, and we are in contact with the complainant to establish the full details of her allegations.
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A man who saw an elderly woman after she was hit by a motorcade for the Duchess of Edinburgh says the pedestrian was lucky to be alive after being thrown across the road.

The woman, in her 80s, was left in a critical condition after a police motorcycle escorting the Kings sister-in-law through west London collided with her on Wednesday afternoon.

The duchess said on Thursday her thoughts and prayers were with the woman, who has not been identified.

The accident happened in the Earls Court area (file photo) (Google Maps)

Martin Hennessy, 62, who lives yards away from the scene of the accident in Earls Court, said the council had been warned the junction was dangerous and people had died there because pedestrians were forced into the road to check for traffic.

Shes lucky to be alive at all, he told The Mirror. The road is a nightmare. Weve warned the council about it. There have been three people killed here.

The retired antiques dealer added: When you get to the junction you have to step out to see if anything is coming, thats when she was hit.

I came out to walk the dogs and thats when I saw this thoroughfare. Shed been thrown across the road and the ambulance were treating her.

A Metropolitan Police vehicle that formed part of Sophies motorcade struck the woman on the M4 at the junction of Cromwell Road and Warwick Road, at around 3.21pm on Wednesday.

Paramedics from the London Ambulance Service and Londons Air Ambulance attended, and the woman was taken to hospital.

Buckingham Palace said on Thursday that Sophie, who is married to Prince Edward, was grateful for the swift response by the emergency services, adding that she would keep abreast of developments.

The palace said: The duchesss heartfelt thoughts and prayers are with the injured lady and her family.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct has launched an investigation into the accident, and the Met Police said the Directorate of Professional Standards, which investigates officers conduct, has been informed, as is routine.
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Hollywood director Guy Ritchie says it is morally reprehensible that Afghans who supported British and Nato troops in Afghanistan are being blocked from coming to the UK.

He is adding his support to The Independents campaign to prevent an Afghan pilot who served alongside the British and US against the Taliban from being sent to Rwanda.

In the last six weeks, three generals including the former head of the army, the former head of the navy, the leader of the opposition Keir Starmer and former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith have all called for intervention to stop the deportation.

Ritchie, whose new filmThe Covenant echoes the campaign and tells the story of an Afghan interpreter left behind by US forces to face the Taliban, said those who worked alongside coalition troops only did so because they thought theyd be looked after.

The dramatic blockbuster centres around whether a visa will be granted to save the Afghan hero from being assassinated by the Taliban. The pilot is similarly waiting to hear his fate after arriving in Britain by boat because there was no safe and legal route.

Sign The Independents petition calling for the UK to support Afghan war heroes who served alongside Britain.

Ritchie, one of the most successful British directors in Hollywood, is shocked that the British government should fail to keep its commitment to those who helped fight against the Taliban.

His film is precisely about that commitment to honour a pledge to safeguard those who fought in the war in Afghanistan.

Director Guy Ritchie, left, and actor Dar Salim who plays the Afghan interpreter abandoned by the US, on the set of The Covenant (AP)

It is a rare intervention for Ritchie, but the moral case of a hero being left abandoned by the government moved him to add his voice to The Independents campaign.

He says: During the course of the Afghanistan conflict, thousands of local Afghans exposed themselves to significant risk by supporting British, American and other Nato forces.

Some worked as interpreters, while others fought alongside these forces. They did this based on an understanding that they would be offered visas and protection  and this promise must be honoured.

It is morally reprehensible that those who worked loyally for us and alongside us have found their safe passage to a future has been blocked.

Ritchies film, which opened in the US to critical acclaim and is released in the UK in June, tells the story of a US Army sergeant, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, whose life is saved by his Afghan interpreter, played by Dar Salim, in 2018, before the Taliban returned to power.

After the sergeant returns home, he discovers the interpreter and his family are being hunted by the Taliban because of their role in supporting American troops.

When the US authorities say they cannot help bring the interpreter to safety, Gyllenhaals character then returns to Afghanistan on a mission to save him.

Salim as Ahmed and Jake Gyllenhaal as US Sgt John Kinley in The Covenant (AP)

Ritchie co-wrote the script after being inspired by several documentaries in which he became fascinated with the relationship between soldier and interpreter.

It was his first project with Gyllenhaal, who revealed he was brought to tears when he saw the final film. I was so moved by it because I think it moved beyond the experience we had. In the end, it is a story about humanity, he said. Its a story about the action of good and the action of good not always having to be sentimentalised.

The Afghan pilot now facing deportation flew more than 30 missions against terrorist threats. The Independent was told by his US coalition supervisor that the airman was a patriot to his nation.

He came to Britain by boat having been forced to flee the Taliban after going into hiding, leaving his wife and young family living in danger in Afghanistan. He felt he had no option but to come to the UK for safe haven. Finding no safe and legal route, and believing he had been forgotten by the coalition, he made the long journey to the UK on his own.

Ritchie joins 30 military chiefs, diplomats, celebrities and politicians in backing The Independents campaign. The Royal British Legion, which represents tens of thousands of armed forces personnel, has also urged Britain to honour its commitment to help Afghan war heroes who worked with the British.

The pilot has written a letter to Rishi Sunak, which has been stonewalled. Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, has all the details of the case and has so far done nothing.

A military source said: Does this government really want to see this hero frogmarched onto a plane to Rwanda having risked his life?

The Afghan pilot who served alongside the British and US against the Taliban (The Independent)

Mr Duncan Smith said he was shocked by the lack of compassion shown by the government, saying: With all schemes, there needs to be flexibility. We have established [a] safe route with the [Arap] Afghan scheme, so it shouldnt take too much to move him across to the scheme.

In the UK, the government has two schemes for Afghans wanting to come to the UK. The first, run by the Ministry of Defence, is specifically for those who were employed by the British forces and who are facing an imminent risk of threat to life.

The Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy scheme (Arap) has processed 22,345 applications, while just 3,399 cases  plus their families  have been found eligible.

Afghans who directly worked for the British Army as part of their labour support unit, in roles such as mechanics, have been repeatedly rejected from the resettlement scheme.

The other more general scheme, run by the Home Office, is not open for applications. Afghans have to be referred for UK resettlement by the UNHCR but so far only 22 people have come to the UK this way.

Dr Sara de Jong, co-founder of charity The Sulha Alliance, which campaigns for Afghan interpreters, said: We currently see that too many Afghans who enabled the UK mission are still waiting for a decision, are unfairly excluded while at risk, or are left in limbo in third countries.

Interpreters who risked their lives to protect British forces, are left unprotected by the British government.

The Afghan airman flew more than 30 missions against terrorist threats (Supplied)

The governments Illegal Migration Bill, which is being debated in the House of Lords, would detain and deport anyone who arrived in the UK on a small boat.

Former head of the British Army General Sir Richard Dannatt has said that the case of the Afghan pilot shows the failings of the bills blanket approach to migrants.

He described the bill as vicious and said that it runs the risk of offending Britains standing in the world.

His comments echo those of the Archbishop of Canterbury who has urged the government to reconsider the bill. Describing the bill, he told the Lords: It is isolationist, it is morally unacceptable and politically impractical to let the poorest countries deal with the [refugee] crisis alone.

An MoD spokeperson said: We owe a debt of gratitude to those interpreters and other staff eligible under the Arap scheme who worked for, or with, UK forces in Afghanistan. Thats why we have committed to relocating all eligible Afghans and their families to the UK under the Arap scheme  a commitment we will honour.

Our absolute priority is supporting the movement of eligible people out of Afghanistan and to date, we have relocated over 12,200 individuals to the UK under Arap.
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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.
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Black and Asian tenants are being forced to bear the brunt of Britain's squalid housing from mould and disrepair to forced evictions, The Independent can reveal in a special investigation that lays bare the racial disparities facing renters.

The death of a Black toddler, Awaab Ishak, caused by mould in his family's one-bedroom flat in Rochdale highlighted the health risks faced by families left in uninhabitable conditions by their landlords.

Exclusive research shows that Black and minority ethnic tenants are far more likely to be the victims of illegal behaviour from their landlords.

In findings one campaigner warned should send shivers down the spines of everyone in Westminster, we uncovered:

A family of five forced into a mould-ridden one-bedroom flat

Landlords ignoring complaints from Black and Asian residents for years on end

Tenants who believe they're treated differently to their white neighbours

One Black private renter whose roof fell in after her complaints of leaks were not dealt with  and then was served with an eviction notice

More than 80 per cent of Black and Asian renters have been forced to live in disrepair over the past 12 months

Charities have called for the government to take immediate action with legislation to stop renters facing discrimination, while Labour warned substandard housing "takes a huge toll on the physical and mental health of all those in it".

We cannot take much more of this

Night after night, Hamdy Osman lies awake listening to his five-year-old son Mohammed across the bedroom, coughing for dear life. Will they have to rush him to hospital again?

The 53-year-old hotel worker and his wife Banazeer, 36, are forced to squeeze into a one-bedroom flat in west London with Mohammed and his brothers, aged 12 and 14. Dark black mould coats the walls, ceilings and cupboard of every room. Tentacles of mildew stretch along window sills and down the side of beds.

The mould returns in the Osmans house despite Hamdys attempts to get rid of it (Supplied)

Mohammed, recently diagnosed with asthma, has had his breathing issues exacerbated by the damp and mould, while Hamdy and Banazeer worry their other sons development will be affected too  theres a clinical link between unhealthy indoor conditions and growth delay. Hamdy has heart problems, and says the stress is exacerbating them. He says the issue was first raised with his housing association, Notting Hill Genesis, six years ago, and countless times since, but nothing has been done.

How long can this go on for? he asks. My son is constantly coughing and weve been in and out of the hospital for the past three years. Ive been complaining to the housing association but nothing has been resolved.

Hamdy has tried to take matters into his own hands, papering over the damp with thick, vinyl wallpaper and spraying bottle after bottle of anti-mould spray on the walls, the noxious chemicals burning the back of his throat.

But again and again, the mould returns, worse than before.

81% of non-white tenants have had to live in disrepair in the last 12 months

The housing association has acknowledged the one-bedroom flat was severely overcrowded, but Hamdy says he was told that, according to the providers surveyors, the mould was down to the family drying laundry at home without proper ventilation.

This situation is hopeless, Hamdy says. If we fall behind on the rent then well receive threatening letters but no one is bothered about how were suffering with the mould and overcrowding. We cannot take much more of this.

For now, Hamdy and his family will struggle on. But for them and many thousands of others in squalid housing across Britain, theyre left with a question: would this be happening if we were white?

We should be beyond ashamed

The question of race and substandard housing has come under greater scrutiny since the inquest of Awaab Ishak in November ruled the two-year-old was killed by a respiratory infection caused by mould. Housing secretary Michael Gove called the toddlers death a tragedy that should never have occurred.

When the housing ombudsman investigated, it found staff at the provider, which had 12,000 homes, treated tenants with prejudices, lazy assumptions and an attitude towards asylum seekers and refugees that is wholly unacceptable. They were seen as lucky to have a roof over their heads.

Get in touch If you have been affected by the housing issues in this article then please contact nadine.white@independent.co.uk

Research carried out by YouGov for housing charity Shelter  shared exclusively with The Independent - shows that, across every area of substandard housing, private tenants are more likely to have been affected if they are not white.

More than four in five non-white renters have had to live in disrepair in the past 12 months (compared with less than three in five white people), while 58 per cent have suffered mould or damp (versus 47 per cent). One in three have had issues with boilers or heating.

Even starker is the difference in treatment by property owners. While 18 per cent of white renters said they had experienced illegal acts by landlords in the past year, for non-white tenants the figure is 33 per cent. They were also more likely to be threatened with eviction in the past three years, whether they had complained about issues in their home or not.

Housing campaigner Kwajo Tweneboa, 23, highlights the horrendous conditions renters have been forced to live in. He told The Independent: Having come from a background of disrepair, its been very clear from early on that renters of colour receive the brunt of poor treatment when it comes to bad landlords and disrepair across the UK.

These statistics dont shock me but should send shivers up the spines of everyone across the country especially those in Westminster.

Britain prides itself as a country that is diverse and inclusive so why is it now we are seeing people of colour not only in social housing, but private housing, being treated as less than second-class citizens?

Kwajo Tweneboa campaigns over horrendous rental conditions (PA)

After the death of Awaab Ishak and the Grenfell disaster. We should be beyond ashamed of these statistics. Its alarming when animals in Battersea Dogs and Cats Home live in better conditions than many renters in the UK.

The Osmans are not the only tenants suffering in a property managed by Notting Hill Genesis.

Nima, who lives in one of the providers properties in Shepherds Bush, says she has been blighted by issues since moving in 12 years ago. Mould covers the wooden window panes of a bedroom, while water accumulates under the kitchen floor and behind the toilet. Gaps in the front and back doors mean it costs the 50-year-old more to heat her home  a growing problem as gas and electricity bills soar. Now she has found a nest of mice, as well as finding slugs throughout her home.

Each time she complained, Nima said she was met with hostility or disrespect while conditions continued to deteriorate. Im not quick to blame problems on race but if I wasnt an Asian woman, this wouldnt be happening, Nima told The Independent.

Mould covers the walls of Nimas home (Supplied)

When I was complaining to a housing officer they said youre lucky to have that property.

NHG claimed Nima had only reported issues about cupboard units and a leaky tap in the past year, which had been resolved, but would carry out a visit. The housing association also acknowledged the problems in the Osmans flat and pledged to support the family.

A spokesperson said officers had been given extra training to spot mould and had also started a dedicated residents focus group, adding:  We take all reports of damp and mould seriously but recognise we havent always dealt with issues as quickly or effectively as we should. We are sorry to any of our residents who have suffered discomfort or distress as a result.

Its too much to be dealing with

The government is now facing calls to reform rental rules. According to Shelter, the best way to root out housing inequality is through legislation. Chief executive Polly Neate said: It is appalling how entrenched racial inequality and discrimination are in private renting. Our research shows people of colour are much more likely to experience illegal acts by their landlord and to live in rentals with dampness and mould.

A lack of proper regulation and oversight in private renting means discriminatory practices, bad behaviour, and poor standards routinely go unchecked  which disproportionately impacts renters on lower incomes who have much less choice over what they rent, and who from.

Our services regularly hear from people too afraid to complain about poor conditions in case they are evicted, and either end up homeless or forced back into a discriminatory rental market.

Opposition parties have also pledged changes to rental laws. Shadow housing minister, Matthew Pennycook, said: Substandard private rented housing takes a huge toll on the physical and mental health of all those in it. He said his party was committed to tackling deeper inequalities.

Helen Morgan, Lib Dem housing spokesperson, said her party would bring in protections for renters, adding: The stories of people across the country struggling with housing in various states of disrepair should be a wake-up call to the Conservative government.

Anny Cullum, of community union Acorn, said the statistics revealed by The Independent were shocking, adding: Private tenants can be evicted at will without giving a reason, and rents can be increased every year by any amount. With such light regulation, landlords are effectively free to discriminate on whatever grounds they like, be it racial, economic or otherwise.

I feel like my job on top of my actual employment is also being a property manager

Mr Gove has committed to introducing a renters reform bill in parliament, which had been expected this week but is now understood to have been pushed back, telling Sky News the proposals would change the way in which the relationship between landlords and tenants work, providing tenants with new protection which should ensure that theyre better protected against arbitrary rent increases. The Department for Housing, Levelling Up and Communities said the changes wold empower tenants to challenge poor conditions, adding that it was a criminal offence to discriminate against someone because of race, and landlords who did so should face the full force of the law.

But in the meantime, renters are still facing unliveable conditions  and the insecurity that comes with any decision to challenge their landlord. Private tenant Alice, 26, had spent months complaining to her Leeds landlord about damage to her flat by water damage.

Furniture and precious clothing were ruined, and one of the bedrooms rendered uninhabitable by the damage. After months of complaining to no avail, part of her kitchen roof fell in and, weeks later, her bathroom ceiling collapsed as she was stood just metres away.

Alice, who is Black, says that for over 16 months she has been forced to live in this hazardous home, exposed to worsening damp and mould.

Its too much to be dealing with on top of the rest of life, Alice said.

Its stressful. I feel like my job on top of my actual employment is also being a property manager. I dont feel like I should be doing that when somebody else is being paid to be my property manager but isnt saying anything to me for a yearuntil its time to ask me to pay more.

Now Alice has been served with notice of eviction  something she believes is revenge for the continual concerns she has raised over the propertys condition. Her landlord says it is down to lack of access to the property.

She adds: Im not as comfortable at home as I should be. It feels like Im being ignored even though Im continuing to pay for a service; like going to a shop, paying for items and not being given them, time and time again.

If you have been affected by the housing issues in this article then please contact nadine.white@independent.co.uk
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A pensioner lay dead in his home for six years until his skeletal remains were discovered by housing officials who forced entry to the property to carry out a gas safety test, an inquest heard.

Retired bookkeeper Robert Alton is believed to have died in 2017 aged 70 but his passing went unnoticed by his landlord.

A court order to enter Mr Altons address on Hemsworth Road Bolton, Greater Manchester, was obtained by landlord Bolton at Home for the visit on 9 March.

Officials forced entry and used an angle grinder to cut through a security chain.

A large pile of unopened post - about half a metre high - food with 2017 expiry dates, and a TV guide dated 4 May 2017 were found inside.

Mr Alton was found at the top of the stairs to his first-floor flat, dressed in jeans, a grey jumper. Housing officials subsequently called the police.

Dominic Beaver, detective sergeant of Greater Manchester Police, said neighbours had not seen anybody at the flat for years.

The force said there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding the death.

Bolton at Home, which continued to collect Mr Altons rent automatically through housing benefit, apologised for missing opportunities to establish that something was wrong with the elderly man.

Bolton Council said it would launch an internal inquiry to identify how it also failed to spot any issues despite Mr Altons council tax arrears.

Mr Alton was identified through personal items but no relatives have been traced.

Dr Patrick Waugh, pathologist, said it was not possible to determine a cause of death.

Landlord Bolton at Home apologised for missing opportunities to spot something was wrong (Google)

Coroner Peter Sigee said: On the balance of probabilities Mr Alton died in May 2017. Im satisfied the appropriate conclusion is an open conclusion.

Noel Sharpe, Bolton at Home chief executive, said: We made many attempts to contact Robert over a number of years to arrange gas safety checks. Its clear that the action taken by us to understand why we couldnt contact him didnt go far enough.

Opportunities were missed in spotting that something was potentially wrong. We should have done more to check on Roberts welfare.

Bolton Council confirmed Mr Alton had run up council tax arrears since 2017.

A spokesperson for Bolton Council said: This is a tragic case which has had a profound impact on the whole Bolton community.

We are currently reviewing Mr Altons account to identify any potential missed opportunities to act sooner.

The spokesperson added: Pending the outcome of this review, appropriate additional measures will be put in place with a view to preventing similar tragic cases in the future.

Extreme isolation appears to have been a factor in the case of Mr Alton and his remains being discovered may reopen debate about how it is possible for people to die at home and not be found.

There have been a number of similar cases in recent years including that of Sheila Seleoane, who had to be identified by her dental records when she was found in her flat in Peckham, south London in February last year.

Residents of the estate where she lived had repeatedly complained to Peabody of bad smells and maggots as far bad as 2019.

Peabody apologised to Ms Seleoanes family and residents of the estate.
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Piers Morgan has strenuously denied knowing anything about phone hacking at the Mirror and said he couldnt give a monkeys cuss about the High Court case brought by Prince Harry.

The Duke of Sussex and other celebrities including Coronation Street actors Nikki Sanderson and Michael Le Vell have accused Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) of unlawful information gathering, including phone hacking and the use of private investigators.

On the second day of the seven-week trial, which began on Wednesday, the dukes lawyer David Sherborne told the court that Mr Morgan lies right at the heart of the allegations, and insisted it was inconceivable that he and several other MGN editors had been unaware of the alleged wrongdoing.

MGN apologised to the duke at the trials outset for one instance involving a private investigator, but the publisher is contesting the other claims, for which its lawyer Andrew Green KC on Thursday insisted there was barely any evidence.

While Mr Morgan  who edited the Daily Mirror from 1994 until 2005  is not required to give evidence at the trial, he discussed the matter in a wide-ranging interview in March with the BBCs Amol Rajan, broadcast as the High Court proceedings began.

Pressed on the fact that at least five people have previously been awarded damages by MGN for phone hacking while he was editor, including actors Sadie Frost and Shane Richie, Mr Morgan noted that he only worked for the Daily Mirror and never had any responsibility for the Sunday Mirror or Sunday People.

He added: Theres no evidence I knew anything about any of it. I never told anybody to hack a phone. And [none]... of the hundreds and hundreds  thousands, possibly  of journalists who worked with me on the Daily Mirror have ever even been arrested in connection with phone hacking.

So there are lots of civil things going on, but the bar for that is a lot lower than it is for any criminal action. Ive not been involved in any of these settlements at all. Nobody has even asked me for my opinion, which I think says it all.

Piers Morgan spoke to the BBCs Amol Rajan in March (screengrab)

Ive not been called to give evidence, I know nothing about it, he told BBC News, describing phone hacking as completely wrong and lazy journalists being lazy.

Questioned about being viewed as a hands-on editor  a description levied against him in court on Thursday in connection with a story about Prince Michael of Kent alleged to have been obtained illegally  Mr Morgan said: I didnt [know about hacking]. So I dont care whether it stretches peoples credulity or not.

He added: Can you be absolutely certain what everyone is doing all the time? Of course you cant, we had hundreds and hundreds of people in the newsroom. I can be certain about what I knew and what I did, and no one has ever produced anything to contradict what Im saying.

Asked whether it isnt the most basic job of an editor to be sure nothing illegal is taking place, Mr Morgan replied: How can you be?

Claiming he was not at all worried about Harrys legal action, he insisted he couldnt give a monkeys cuss, accusing the duke of flying from the US to lecture the media once again about invasion of privacy and intrusion, and yet he is the biggest invader of privacy in royal history.

So Im not going to take any lectures from him and I dont give a damn what actions he wants to take. Good luck to you. Its like being lectured on the truth by Donald Trump, he added.

Prince Harry attended court hearings in March in a legal battle with the Daily Mails publisher (REUTERS)

During the Leveson Inquiry, Mr Morgan was pressed on a statement of his to the Press Gazette about phone hacking in 2007, in which he described it as an investigative practice that everyone knows was going on at almost every paper in Fleet Street for years.

That inquiry also saw former BBC journalist Jeremy Paxman tell Lord Justice Leveson that Mr Morgan once told him how to hack a phone, which he claimed was clearly something that he was familiar with.

Asked by Rajan whether Paxmans remarks undermined his defence, Mr Morgan called them complete bull**** and said he had told the former University Challenge host to be careful about phone security because of a new thing doing the rounds of listening to peoples voicemails.

Comparing it to warning someone about a spate of muggings, he added: I was completely honest about it, I was open  it was in front of my chairman, it was in front of the BT boss, in front of all these people.
A minister has said he does not want to be two-faced about the Governments migration policy amid a backlash over plans to locate an asylum seeker accommodation centre in his own constituency.

Huw Merriman acknowledged there was anger among voters in Bexhill and Battle after it was proposed that the area would host one of four facilities.

The rail minister said that as a member of the Government responsible for delivering such policies, he supported the move.
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The Independent has launched a petition calling for the UK to support Afghan war heroes who served alongside British forces.

An Afghan war veteran who served alongside British armed forces is among those who have fled to the UK on small boats and are now being threatened with deportation to Rwanda.

The air force lieutenant, who flew 30 combat missions against the Taliban and was praised by his coalition forces supervisor as a patriot to his nation, was forced into hiding and said it was impossible to make his way to Britain via a safe route.

He says he is one of many Afghan forces personnel who have been forgotten by the US and British forces, and believes the promise of friendship and cooperation has been abandoned.

The Independent believes that this hero  and all those who served alongside him  should be given the right to stay in the UK.

Senior military figures and MPs agree. As Tobias Ellwood, chair of parliaments defence select committee, said of the deportation threat: This is not who we are as a nation.

Hollywood director Guy Ritchie has become the latest to back our campaign, saying it is morally reprehensible to deport Afghan heroes who fought alongside British forces.

When the government sent British forces into Afghanistan, it knew no military operation would be possible without the vital support of Afghans working alongside them.

These brave men and women put their lives on the line and it was only right that the UK offered them refuge and the chance to build a life in safety and security when the war ended.

But that pledge is now at risk. Attempts to create safe routes to the UK for all those who served have failed  and the governments attempt to deal with the small boats crisis is set to make things worse.

The Independent is calling on the government to act now. It must live up to its promise to all those who served alongside the British military in Afghanistan.
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Labours ex-press secretary Alastair Campbell accused a BBC presenter of allowing Brexiteers to talk utter rubbish in an angry exchange on Newsnight.

Mr Campbell was in turn accused of bullying, intimidation and thinly veiled misogyny by Alex Phillips, a former Brexit MEP with whom he appeared on the programme on Thursday.

The former spin doctor has since apologised to presenter Victoria Derbyshire after the terse exchanges were shared online and viewed by more than 4 million people.

Alastair Campell and Alex Phillips fought over which side told worse lies (BBC)

The fiery debate about the current state of Brexit and its impact on the UK began to break down when the pair rowed over the enactment of EU laws.

Mr Campbell accused Ms Phillips of talking such rubbish when you come on these programmes, to which she replied that is just unnecessarily rude. Well, its true, he retorted.

Ms Phillips went on to argue that the current government did not have the courage or the conviction to see Brexit through and that Rishi Sunak should be seizing the opportunity to take control.

Mr Campbell replied: Will any of these people who fought so hard for Brexit ever face up to their own responsibility and face the fact that what they all promised was a pack of lies.

Directing his comments to his opponent, he continued: All your lies about taking back control, more money for the NHS, sovereignty, immigration, all the rest of it - you fall on every single one.

The former spin doctor accused Brexiteers of lies (BBC)

Ms Phillips replied: I knew you were going to come up with the money for the NHS. Nothing to do with me, not my campaign.

Its very rich from the man who essentially was part of telling lies to invade a country to accuse me of dishonesty, referring to the Iraq war and the infamous dodgy dossier that made the case for it.

I think you may have lost the argument there, my dear, Mr Campbell said, if I may patronise you even more.

As Ms Derbyshire tried to intervene, he told her: Im sorry, you bring these people on  you never challenge them. You let them talk utter rubbish about Brexit.

And it has happened on the BBC for year after year after year.

Ms Phillips claimed she came off air shaking (Alex Phillips)

Bringing the row to a close, the presenter said: I am not going to take that from you, with respect, Mr Campbell.

As the camera panned away, Mr Campbell huffed for gods sake and stretched an arm out onto the table in front of Ms Phillips.

Victoria Derbyshire looked shocked as Mr Campbell laid into the BBC - he later apologised (BBC)

Tweeting about the encounter later, Ms Phillips, now an adviser to the Reform Party, claimed she came off air shaking at Mr Campbells rudeness.

Ms Phillips described his actions were quite frightening and claimed the hairs on her neck stood up.

Mr Campbell later responded on Twitter: Accepted it was not exactly disagreeing agreeably but I think every now and then people who are given a free ride to talk absolute nonsense and face no responsibility for their role in damage to the nation are challenged.

He later tweeted that he had apologised to Ms Derbyshire, adding that she was one of the best.

It is infuriating to seek to debate serious issues with people who despite all the damage their beloved Brexit has done continue to talk absolute rubbish, he added.

Ex-Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage waded into the row on Twitter, branding Mr Campbell a thug and a bully and said he should never be allowed on the BBC again.

Is that why you asked me to co-present a show with you on GBeebies? Mr Campbell retorted.
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EU rules regulating the curvature of bananas will remain in British law despite a government purge of Brussels regulations.

The famous Commission regulation 1333/2011 had been due to fall off UK statute books automatically at the end of the year until a government U-turn this week.

The widely parodied rule lays down marketing standards for bananas across Europe and says they must be "free from malformation or abnormal curvature".

The regulation has sometimes been the subject of hyperbolic reporting in the British press claiming the EU had "banned bendy bananas".

In reality, it is only the most bendy of bananas that have faced the wrath of Brussels.

The "abnormal curvature" rule is included in a list of minimum standards laid down in the legislation, which will now become domestic British law.

Other minimum standards listed in the rulebook include having "stalk intact, without bending, fungal damage or desiccation" and being "practically free from pests".

A 2016 fact-checking exercise by European Parliament Liaison Office in the United Kingdom described claims Brussels wanted to "ban" bendy bananas as the "myth to end all myths" about the EU.

But it conceded there was some element of truth behind breathless reports regarding regulation 1333/2011.

"Is Brussels really meddling in what our beloved bananas should look like?" it asked.

"Yes and No. Bananas are classified by quality and size so they can be traded internationally. Quality standards are also needed so that people know what they are buying and that the produce meets their expectations."

"Straight and bendy are not banned by the EU. Commission Regulation 2257/94 identifies certain restrictions for fruits that producers have to conform to in order to sell their produce within the EU. The regulation states that bananas must be 'free from malformation or abnormal curvature'.

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It notes that "Class 1 bananas can have 'slight defects of shape' and Class 2 bananas full-on 'defects of shape'".

The government announced this week that it was gutting its EU Retained Law Bill  enraging some Tory Brexiteers who accused Rishi Sunak of breaking promises to them.

The government is scrapping a planned "sunset clause" that would have automatically scrapped EU regulations by the end of 2023, unless they were specifically earmarked to be saved.

Instead, a list of regulations explicitly specified for removal or reform will be listed on the bill. The regulation on the marketing of bananas is not among those listed.

The government says that it will retain the powers to scrap former EU regulation  which means it could liberalise or otherwise amend rules relating to the shape of bananas in the future.
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Ukraines leader Volodymyr Zelensky should be allowed to address an audience of millions during Saturdays Eurovision Song Contest, Rishi Sunak has urged, rejecting suggestions it would politicise the ceremony.

The UK is hosting the final on behalf of last years winner, as the country continues its efforts to repel Russian invaders.

The prime ministers spokesman said Mr Sunak was disappointed at the decision by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to block Mr Zelenskys request to make a speech at the contest amid fears it would be too political.

Allowing the Ukrainian president to speak was important because the country was fighting for fundamental values and freedoms, he argued.

He was backed by former prime minister Boris Johnson, who said the only reason Eurovision was not being held in Ukraine was because of Putins aggression. Other senior politicians lined up to support the call.

Former culture secretary Nicky Morgan told The Independent: Given the circumstances, I think Zelensky should be allowed to speak. 

Damian Green, the former deputy prime minister, argued that this years contest was a unique event.

The viewers made their feelings known last year by voting for Ukraine and the rest of Europe should respect that, he told The Times.

Rishi Sunak said he was disappointed Volodymyr Zelensky had not been allowed to speak (PA)

Another former culture secretary Karen Bradley said it was petty under the circumstances to stop Mr Zelensky from thanking Liverpool and the UK for stepping in to help Ukraine.

Earlier Mr Sunaks spokesperson said: The prime minister believes it would be fitting for President Zelensky to address the event and were disappointed by the decision from the European broadcasting union.

"The values and freedoms that President Zelensky and the people of Ukraine are fighting for are not political, they're fundamental, and Eurovision themselves recognised that last year when they rightly suspended Russia's participation from the competition."

Mr Johnson said it would have been right to hear from Mr Zelensky during the final.

There is only one reason the contest is not in Ukraine and that is because of Putins illegal war, he said.

Ukraines Kalush Orchestra takes part in a dress rehearsal for the Eurovision Song Contest's grand final in Liverpool (Reuters)

In a statement, the EBU, an alliance of public broadcasters, said the contest was governed by strict rules and principles which have been established since its creation.

One of the cornerstones of the contest is the non-political nature of the event, the organisers added.

This principle prohibits the possibility of making political or similar statements as part of the contest.

The EBU said that Mr Zelenskys request to address the audience at Eurovision had been made with laudable intentions but regrettably cannot be granted by the EBU management as it would be against the rules of the event.

It said Ukraines music and culture would feature strongly throughout all of its live shows and that 11 Ukranian artists would be performing or featuring across the semi-finals and grand final.

It also plans to air short films from around Ukraine to introduce artists.

Former culture secretary Nicky Morgan backed calls for Zelenskys appearance (Getty)

We believe that this is the best way to reflect and celebrate Ukraines Eurovision win and show we are United By Music during these hard times, it added.

The BBC referred The Independent to the EBUs statement when approached for comment. The broadcaster expects the show to be watched by more than 160 million viewers worldwide.

On Friday, BBC Eurovision commentators Rylan Clark and Scott Mills stressed the contest is non-political but said they were not involved in the show format.

Earlier this week Mr Zelensky said he would have preferred the contest to take place closer to Ukraine.

I have great respect for the United Kingdom and its society. It is an amazing country, he told the BBC.

From the very start my opinion has been that if we cant host Eurovision it should take place in one of the countries that share a border with us, such as Slovakia, Poland or any other country which our people can reach easily. Something nearby.

The contest is taking place in Liverpool with the final airing on Saturday evening.

No 10 said there were no plans to intervene or ask broadcasters to change their mind.
An early blueprint spelling out the policies that could form Labour's next election manifesto has been leaked.

The plans, drawn up by party policy chiefs, include commitments to raising taxes on private schools and taking the railways into public ownership.

The dossier, published by the LabourList website, offer the clearest idea yet of what Keir Starmer might do in power.
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Volodymyr Zelensky has said the UKs donation of Storm Shadow cruise missiles is a significant enhancement of Ukraines efforts in the fight against Russia.

After a call with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Friday, the Ukrainian president said the two leaders had discussed further cooperation on defence.

It came after Defence Secretary Ben Wallace confirmed to MPs that he and Mr Sunak had agreed to authorise the donation of long-range cruise missiles after continued Russian attacks on Ukraine.

Mr Zelensky, in a tweet, thanked Mr Sunak for the significant enhancement of our capabilities with long-range Storm Shadow missiles and other irreplaceable military assistance.

We discussed further defense cooperation and coordinated our positions on the eve of upcoming international events. In particular, we need clear signals about Ukraines future with Nato.

Manufacturer MBDA says the Storm Shadow has a range of more than 150 miles, giving Kyiv the ability to strike behind the Russian front line.

Britain is understood to have received assurances that the missiles will only be used defensively against targets in Ukrainian territory being occupied by Vladimir Putins forces.

The Government has not provided detail on the number of missiles to be provided to Kyiv.

A Downing Street spokesperson said Mr Sunak told the Ukrainian leader he was pleased to deliver on the commitment he made in February to provide Ukraine with the long-range capabilities they need to defend themselves.

The leaders discussed the importance of the international community sustaining the level of support it has provided so far to Ukraine, particularly as the country prepares to intensify its military operations.

The Prime Minister restated the UKs commitment to ensuring Ukraine prevails and secures a just and lasting peace.

The call came ahead of the Eurovision Song Contest final in Liverpool, after the UK was chosen to host on behalf of Ukraine.
Hong Kong: Choi Yuk-lin concludes UK tour

Secretary for Education Choi Yuk-lin concluded her trip in the UK by visiting local schools and meeting local Hong Kong students in London over the past two days.



Ms Choi visited North London Collegiate School and Lady Eleanor Holles School, two long-established girls secondary schools today.



She toured the campus facilities and observed students attending classes and participating in activities. She also met the management, teachers and students to understand the schools education visions and practical experience.



In the morning of May 11, Ms Choi, accompanied by Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the UK Department for Education Diana Barran, explored the secondary school Elms Academy.



While there, she met the academys teachers and students to learn about how it supports students whose first language is not English to learn the language and develops students life skills according to their interests and abilities at the secondary school stage.



On the same afternoon, Ms Choi met Hong Kong students studying at renowned universities in the UK under the Hong Kong Scholarship for Excellence Scheme to discover more about their school life there.



Later in the day, she visited City & Islington College, a further education college, to exchange views with its representatives, and learn about its Vocational & Professional Education & Training (VPET) courses and pedagogy and how it promotes VPET as an alternate progression pathway.



Ms Choi has concluded her UK visit and will arrive in Beijing tomorrow. During her stay in the capital, she will call at the State Council Hong Kong & Macao Affairs Office, local universities and the Chinese Academy of Governance.



She will also attend the joint opening ceremony of the leadership enhancement programme for primary and secondary school principals and the Mainland study tour for newly joined teachers.



Ms Choi will return to Hong Kong on the evening of May 16.

This story has been published on: 2023-05-12. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
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A monarchist who was arrested and detained for 13 hours after she stood near protesters on the day of the Kings coronation has said no innocent bystander should endure a shocking experience like hers.

Alice Chambers has now called on police to put new processes in place to prevent a repeat of the incident.

The 36-year-old arrived at The Mall in central London at about 7am on Saturday morning and was hoping to catch a glimpse of the King.

But she unwittingly stood near Just Stop Oil protesters and was grabbed and handcuffed when police officers descended on the group at about 9am.

You would think that this should never happen and clearly there's processes that either need to be put in place, or that weren't followed because no one should endure an extended period under arrest just because they're an innocent bystander Alice Chambers

In an interview with BBC Newsnight on Thursday, the architect from Australia who lives in London said she was arrested for conspiracy to commit public nuisance.

While detained, she said she was questioned, searched, held in a cell and had her DNA, fingerprints and custody photo taken before the Metropolitan Police realised she was an innocent bystander and let her go.

She added: I mean, its just been so shocking and very emotional because its not something you ever expect, to find yourself in a jail cell for an extended period of time.

I think about all the things I could have done that day, all the parties I could have gone to but I chose to attend the coronation and I got to see none of it.

She added: You would think that this should never happen and clearly theres processes that either need to be put in place, or that werent followed because no one should endure an extended period under arrest just because theyre an innocent bystander.

She told Victoria Derbyshire she was sitting there waiting for the coronation to begin when police arrived and started handcuffing people.

Unfortunately, I was one of the people they grabbed, she said.

They handcuffed me straight away and then pulled me out of the crowd and put me against a barrier with a whole heap of other protesters.

I tried to say anything I could to say that I wasnt part of that group.

I gave them my contact details. I showed them my ID and nothing seemed to be able to be said that made a difference really.

Ms Chambers said she was hauled off The Mall, amid yelling and booing from crowds, and was bundled into a police van, from which point it took a further four hours before we made it to a station.

She said she repeatedly tried to explain she was not connected to Just Stop Oil and that up until they started protesting, I didnt even know what they were protesting about.

She said interviewing police officers later apologised when they realised she was an innocent bystander and they tried to process me from then on as quickly as they could.

She has made a complaint about the incident to the Metropolitan Police.

A Scotland Yard spokesperson said: We are aware that a woman was arrested in relation to a protest on May 6.

The arresting officer was from Lincolnshire Police and the complaint has therefore been passed to the relevant force to investigate.

The Met will assist by providing any relevant information they require.

Reacting to this, Ms Chambers said: I think its quite frustrating, the day after this happened I raised a complaint and its taken them a long time to get to this point.

She acknowledged there were lots of police from forced outside London in the capital on coronation day but said it wasnt necessarily just Lincolnshire Police that her complaint is with, adding that the the Met ultimately took over from them and I was detained by the Met as well.

I feel at the moment theres a bit of finger pointing at each other so they theyre not really dealing with my complaint at all, she added.

Chief Inspector Simon Outen from the professional standards department at Lincolnshire Police, said: Our officers were in central London providing mutual aid support to colleagues in the Met on Saturday May 6, and during that time, a woman in her 30s was arrested in connection with a Just Stop Oil protest.

She was subsequently released with no further action. We have now received a complaint and we are reviewing the incident, and we are in contact with the complainant to establish the full details of her allegations.
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The 67th Eurovision Song Contest is taking place in Liverpool this year after the UK was chosen to host on behalf of war-torn Ukraine.

It is the first time the competition has been held in the UK for 25 years  and Russia will not be competing.

 Why is Russia absent from the contest?

Russia, which debuted at the contest in 1994, was banned last year after its invasion of Ukraine, before it had announced its act.

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which produces the show, said the inclusion of a Russian entry at the contest in Turin would bring it into disrepute.

This came after it said it had intended to allow Russia to compete but faced strong criticism from state broadcasters in countries including Iceland, Finland, Norway and the Netherlands.

Russias national broadcasters subsequently suspended their memberships of the EBU in protest, preventing them from taking part in future contests.

 Can Russian viewers vote in the contest this year?

For the first time in the competitions nearly seven-decade history, people from non-competing countries can vote for their favourite act.

Their votes are converted into points with the same weight as a participating country.

This means that despite Russia not competing this year its citizens could still be able to vote.

But organisers clarified this week that Russians are effectively barred from voting due to financial sanctions on the country making it impossible for them to pay the voting fee.

Martin Osterdahl, the EBUs executive supervisor for the event, said: Some territories are subject to sanctions and to payment providers having suspended their operations and that includes Russia.

 Russia and Ukraine have a history of conflict at the contest

Russia won in 2008 with Dima Bilan singing Believe, and in turn hosted the 2009 contest in Moscow.

Tensions between the two nations played out in 2017 when Julia Samoylova was chosen to represent Russia at the contest, which that year took place in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.

She was blocked from the country because she had reportedly toured Crimea without entering the disputed peninsula through the border with the Ukrainian mainland.

Russian television station Channel One then announced that it would not broadcast the contest or take part.

Last years winners were Ukraines Kalush Orchestra but they were not the countrys first choice to perform.

Alina Pash had originally been chosen through a televised national selection show and was due to sing her song, Shadows Of Forgotten Ancestors.

However, she withdrew after facing scrutiny over a reported 2015 visit to Russia-occupied Crimea.

People who enter Crimea through Russia are considered by Ukraine to have illegally crossed the border, although there is no suggestion that Pash did this.
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A Ukrainian refugee who had two minutes to flee her home with her children as Russian bombing began last year is now set to attend a Eurovision watch party in her adopted home of Berkshire thanks to the love and kindness of a local charity.

The Cowshed, a charity based in Wokingham, has been helping Ukrainian refugees since the start of the war and is holding a watch party on Saturday night for 250 Ukrainians who sought asylum in the local area.

Attendees will watch the grand final on big screens at the Reading FC Conference Centre, in a setting complete with almost a kilometre of hand-sewn bunting, chocolate gifts for children and celebratory flower arrangements.

Yuliia, a 40-year-old Ukrainian refugee living in Wokingham who did not wish to share her surname, went to The Cowshed after she arrived in England one year ago having fled Lviv in western Ukraine with her two young children and husband Volodymyr.

They gave us everything with such big love and kindness, and it was so important for us to feel that we are supported and that we are important Yuliia

They provided us with necessary items like clothing, toiletries, bedding, she told the PA news agency.

They gave us everything with such big love and kindness, and it was so important for us to feel that we are supported and that we are important.

Yuliia added that in general Ukrainians are very big fans of Eurovision and they watch it every year.

She said: I was so happy that the organisation (The Cowshed) with whom Im working with now had the chance, with the help of the National Lottery, to arrange this party for all Ukrainians who are in the UK.

Yuliia will be bringing her children along to Saturdays watch party to meet her Ukrainian friends and new people.

It will be a wonderful opportunity for us to come together in the same place and have a wonderful evening of fun, beautiful music and tasty food, Yuliia said.

The Ukrainian Wokingham resident described the moment when she and her family heard alarm sirens on the first day of Russias invasion last year.

I will always remember the day on the 24th of February, I suppose it was a normal ordinary morning as always, she said.

I thought it would be a great thing for us to do to help the people weve supported; it has been a really tough year for them Sally Russell, founder of The Cowshed

I went to the kitchen to prepare my coffee, but suddenly I heard alarm sirens.

I couldnt even realise that the war actually started but when I looked from the window, I saw people escaping and carrying their children, in that moment I realised that we were in danger.

So, I just told my children that they literally have two minutes to prepare themselves, we grasped the suitcase and escaped.

The Cowshed volunteers were busy on Friday sewing hundreds of Ukrainian flags and making sweet bags at the charitys office.

More than 100 volunteers have been meeting at the charity three times per week to make a few hundred flags and put together bunting.

Sally Russell, the 57-year-old founder of The Cowshed, from Wokingham, said she organised the watch party after she saw that the National Lottery was offering funding for Ukrainian events in the UK.

I thought it would be a great thing for us to do to help the people weve supported; it has been a really tough year for them, she said.

Just to be able to have a party and celebrate the fact that they won (Eurovision) last year, but they were not able to celebrate it in their own country, was really nice.

Ms Russell added that her charity has helped over 1,000 Ukrainian refugees since the war started last year.

She said: (Ukrainian refugees) come to us and are able to choose clothing, bedding and any essential items like toiletries.

When they fled their country, they obviously fled with very little, so when they arrived in England, they didnt have any of the essential items that they needed, so we were here to help provide that.
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Rishi Sunak is disappointed by the decision of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to block Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelensky from addressing the grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest.

The body, which produces the event, said on Thursday night that it had declined Mr Zelenskys request to speak on Saturday over fears it could politicise the contest.

He had wanted to make an unannounced video appearance and had been expected to implore the global audience of millions to continue backing his country in its fight to repel Russian invaders.

The EBU said Mr Zelensky had laudable intentions but regrettably his request was against the rules.

On Friday, the Prime Ministers official spokesman said: The Prime Minister believes it would be fitting for President Zelensky to address the event and were disappointed by the decision from the European Broadcasting Union.

The values and freedoms that President Zelensky and the people of Ukraine are fighting for are not political, theyre fundamental, and Eurovision themselves recognised that last year when they rightly suspended Russias participation from the competition.

There are no plans to intervene and ask organisers to change their mind, Downing Street suggested.

In a statement ahead of the Eurovision final, Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer said our hearts will be with people in Ukraine who are fighting for their sovereignty and survival.

She added: If there was any justice this final would be taking place in Kyiv, but we are honoured in the UK to be able to host this event on their behalf and to welcome legions of fans and media.

Former prime minister Boris Johnson said it would have been right to hear from Mr Zelensky during the final.

Writing on Twitter, he added: There is only one reason the contest is not in Ukraine and that is because of Putins illegal war.

Mr Zelensky later thanked the UK for hosting as he expressed his gratitude for the donation of Storm Shadow long-range precision missiles in a conversation with Mr Sunak.

A Downing Street spokesman said: President Zelensky thanked the Prime Minister for Liverpools role in hosting tomorrows Eurovision Song Contest on behalf of Ukraine.

The Prime Minister said he was proud the UK could do this for the Ukrainian people and looked forward to the day that the contest could be held on Ukrainian soil once again.

Liverpool City Region mayor Steve Rotheram said he would be speaking with both the Ukrainian ambassador and the mayor of Lviv, who are both in the city for the final, to discuss what we can do to provide a platform for Mr Zelesnky.

In its statement on Thursday, the EBU noted that 11 Ukrainian artists, including last years winners Kalush Orchestra, are performing and 37 locations from around Ukraine are being shown.

This war is something that we all feel deeply is wrong and if you watch the broadcast, I don't think you'll have any doubt that this is a celebration across Europe, for freedom, for democracy, and it's quite right we do that Tim Davie, BBC director general

The BBC has said the broadcast of this years contest is expected to be watched by more than 160 million viewers worldwide.

On Friday, BBC Eurovision commentators Rylan Clark and Scott Mills stressed the contest is non-political.

Clark said: At the end of the day we are commentators so we dont get involved in show format. I just think Eurovision, people say it is political  votes here, votes there.

From being on the inside it is the least political experience you could ever have, actually.

Radio DJ Mills added: People always ask, Do you think it is political?. It really isnt. It is a song contest.

Clark continued: It is a song contest and that is what we are here to say.

The pair, who provided TV commentary for the two semi-finals this week and will host radio coverage of the grand final, also stressed that as last years winner, Ukraine and its culture were being celebrated across Liverpool throughout the event.

Clark said: Ukraine, this is their party in our country.

We always said that we would be true to that because they were the winner and I think it is very visible in the city, added Mills.

BBC director general Tim Davie told the Eurovisioncast podcast that he understood the EBU decision as the history of the contest has not been a platform for political statement.

Mr Davie also said: This country, Ukraine, is the victim of an aggressor.

This war is something that we all feel deeply is wrong and if you watch the broadcast, I dont think youll have any doubt that this is a celebration across Europe, for freedom, for democracy, and its quite right we do that.

They spoke at the British Music Experience on the Liverpool waterfront, where Zoe Ball hosted a special edition of her BBC Radio 2 breakfast show which featured guests including last years UK entrant Sam Ryder and The Fizz, featuring members of former Eurovision winners Bucks Fizz.

Claire McColgan, director of Culture Liverpool, told Times Radio it would have been fantastic to hear from Mr Zelensky, especially for the people from Ukraine who have come here wishing it was at home.

Kalush Orchestra piper Tymofii Muzychuk told the PA news agency Mr Zelensky would have only wanted to thank the British people for hosting the contest.

He said: Actually we think that President Zelensky would have wanted to thank all the British people for doing this and, as we can see, Britain took this very responsibly, the UK. And so actually I think it would have been nice for him to talk.

Kalush Orchestra won last years contest but, owing to the Russian invasion of the country, hosting duties were awarded to the runner-up, the UK.

Mr Zelensky said earlier this week that he would have preferred Eurovision to take place in a neighbouring country.

Speaking to the BBC, he said: I have great respect for the United Kingdom and its society. It is an amazing country.

From the very start my opinion has been that if we cant host Eurovision it should take place in one of the countries that share a border with us, such as Slovakia, Poland or any other country which our people can reach easily. Something nearby.

It comes after the full line-up of the grand final was revealed following the second knockout round on Thursday night.

After 16 countries competed, the 10 remaining spots went to Poland, Australia, Cyprus, Albania, Estonia, Belgium, Austria, Lithuania, Armenia and Slovenia.

The 10 countries that qualified from Tuesdays semi-final were Croatia, Moldova, Switzerland, Finland, Czechia, Israel, Portugal, Sweden, Serbia and Norway.

They will join the so-called big five nations  the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain  who each get a free pass because of their financial contributions to the event, along with last years winners Ukraine.

The final is expected to draw a large TV audience after Thursdays semi-final was watched by an average of 2.4 million viewers with a peak audience of 3.4 million.

The Eurovision grand final on Saturday will air live on BBC One.
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The Ukrainian ambassador to the UK has said the final of Eurovision would have been a great moment for Volodymyr Zelensky to address a huge audience but he understood the reasons for blocking him.

Vadym Prystaiko spoke as he visited a primary school in Liverpool to see what children had been learning about Ukrainian culture, ahead of the city hosting the song contest on behalf of the war-torn country.

Talking about the decision of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to block Ukraines president from speaking at Saturdays final, he said: We believe that each and every moment when we have this huge audience of people supporting, thats the moment when we can remind why, actually, were having this great celebration here and that was his point.

We understand all the internal politics and the unbiased sort of approach to all this, thats why we dont have to push too much, but it was a great moment when the president (could) address all these people and remind them this is actually why were fighting.

The plans to have it as Ukrainian as possible has actually come to fruition, you can see it yourself Vadym Prystaiko

We also want to have this normal celebration and normal life as people are having here.

Mr Prystaiko, who watched children at St Nicholas Catholic Academy in Liverpool do some Ukrainian dancing, said the people of Ukraine were happy the UK was hosting.

He said: The plans to have it as Ukrainian as possible has actually come to fruition, you can see it yourself.

All of those Ukrainians who are here and those Ukrainians who are watching through the cameras, they are quite happy to see the celebrations.

But Mr Prystaiko admitted he struggled with some of the regional dialect.

There are so many coming from all the places, I have trouble understanding the local ones, he said.

I believe I know English but with all the crowd here this task is becoming enormous.

He said he hoped the UK would win the contest this year, so Ukraine could host on its behalf in 2024.

It's good when if you can't host it, your friend could host it Mykhailyna Kukharchuk, mother of pupil Mikhail Kukharchuk

While visiting the school, Mr Prystaiko met pupil Mikhail Kukharchuk, eight, and his mother Mykhailyna, who had come to the country from Kyiv after the Russian invasion.

Ms Kukharchuk said having Eurovision in Liverpool was amazing.

Its like a piece of your home in the UK, its really a very warm feeling, she said.

Its really nice that Liverpool host this Eurovision, that UK host this Eurovision, because Ukraine would like to host it but unfortunately its impossible for this moment.

Its good when if you cant host it, your friend could host it.
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The author of a grief book who is now accused of murdering her husband allegedly fought with him over a deal to buy a new home, fresh documents have revealed.

Kouri Richins, 33, reportedly used a fentanyl-spiked cocktail to kill her 39-year-old husband Eric Richins last year.

KPCW got hold of search warrants that suggested Ms Richins wanted to flip a 20,000 sq ft mansion, something her late husband thought was too expensive.

The documents revealed that the property was a source of disagreement in their marriage.

The couple was under contract at the time of Erics death in March 2022. Public search warrants say it was going to cost them nearly $2m and that Eric thought it was too expensive, said the KPCW report.

The documents stated the husbands family members thought he planned to tell Ms Richins they werent buying the mansion.

A day after her husband died, on 5 March 2022, the author closed the deal.

The documents also revealed that the family planned to tell her that she was being cut out of his will, making her financially unstable.

Two weeks after Richins death, the wife put the home back up online with an asking price of about $4.8m.

Court documents stated that Richins believed his wife had tried to poison him before, and that she attempted to change his life insurance policy just before his death, according to FOX13.

Richins came from a prominent Mormon family in Kamas, Utah, while his wife wrote a childrens grief book called Are You With Me?

Her arrest warrant stated she allegedly spent $1,800 for 60 fentanyl pills which investigators said she described to a drug dealer as the Michael Jackson stuff.

Phone records allegedly showed she claimed to be buying the painkillers for an investor who had a back injury, and initially asked for hydrocodone, before later demanding something stronger.

Police claimed she first spent $900 on 30 pills. While her husband became very ill after a meal on Valentines Day, he survived.

Eric told a friend that he thought his wife was trying to poison him, the documents read.

The arrest warrant claimed she went back to the dealer and bought another 30 pills for $900 and allegedly used them to murder her husband on 4 March by putting them in a Moscow Mule drink.

Officials determined the cause of death was a fentanyl overdose with five times the lethal dosage found in his body.

Court records showed that, over the past few months, Ms Richins has been attempting to have her husbands sister removed as a trustee for his estate, which is valued at $3.6m.

She was arrested on Monday and booked into Summit County Jail where she has been held without bond. She has been charged with murder and drug possession and is set for a detention hearing on 19 May.
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Eleven days after Daniel Penny fatally choked Jordan Neely on a New York City subway train car, the former US Marine was formally charged with second-degree manslaughter.

Mr Penny, 24, surrendered to the New York City Police Departments 5th precinct in Manhattan on 12 May before his brief arraignment in handcuffs inside Manhattan Criminal Court later that afternoon.

He did not enter a plea to the charge. A grand jury will convene to determine an indictment. He was released after posting $100,000 bail, and his next appearance is scheduled for 17 July.

The case surrounding Neelys death, which was recorded on a cell phone and shared widely, has sparked widespread debate and protests traversing issues of race, criminal justice, urgently needed care for people experiencing homelessness and support for mentally ill New Yorkers.

Lawmakers and advocacy groups have pointed to Neelys killing and prevailing attitudes endorsing vigilante violence as a tragic consequence of an epidemic of failed policy and institutional neglect towards the citys most vulnerable populations.

The investigation into Neelys death involved several witness interviews, a review of photo and video evidence, and a discussion with the medical examiners office, which determined Neelys cause of death was homicide.

The office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg determined there was probable cause to charge Mr Penny.

Jordan Neely should still be alive today, and my thoughts continue to be with his family and loved ones as they mourn his loss during this extremely painful time, Mr Bragg said in a statement after Mr Pennys court appearance.

The case also has captured the volatility of sensational media coverage around New York City and other Democratic-led cities, with networks and pundits depicting homeless criminals as an apocalyptic and existential threat holding residents hostage.

Mr Penny has been hailed as a hero by right-wing personalities in claims that echo across social media; Fox News host Greg Gutfeld described the manslaughter charges as pro-criminal and anti-hero. An online fundraising campaign for Mr Pennys legal defence was launched on the Christian crowdfunding platform GiveSendGo, a website created in response to GoFundMe removing far-right campaigns that violated its terms of service. The fundraiser has collected nearly $500,000 as of 12 May.

Daniel Penny surrended to authorities on 12 May as he faced arrest and a charge of manslaughter in the death of Jordan Neely. (AFP via Getty Images)

Mr Penny, a college student from Long Islands Suffolk County, served in the Marines as a rifleman from 2017 to 2021 and reached the rank of sergeant, according to military records.

On 1 May, a man identified as Mr Penny placed the 30-year-old homeless former street performer in a chokehold for several minutes on the floor of an F train on the Broadway-Lafayette platform in Manhattan.

Witnesses stated that Neely, who was experiencing a mental health crisis in the days and months leading up to his death, walked into the train car loudly complaining of hunger and thirst, said he was not afraid to go to jail or die, then threw his jacket to the ground before Mr Penny grabbed him from behind and wrestled him to the ground. Cell phone video captured Mr Penny pinning Neely to the ground for several minutes while his arm was wrapped around his neck. Witnesses said that Neely did not physically attack anyone on the train that day.

Attorneys for Mr Penny said in a statement shared with the The Independent that they are confident he will be fully absolved of any wrongdoing when all the facts and circumstances emerge.

When Mr Penny, a decorated Marine veteran, stepped in to protect himself and his fellow New Yorkers, his well-being was not assured. He risked his own life and safety, for the good of his fellow passengers, according to the statement from the firm Raiser and Kenniff.

The unfortunate result was the unintended and unforeseen death of Mr Neely, they wrote.

Daniel Penny appeared for his arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court on 12 May. (REUTERS)

Neelys family and the legal team supporting them have repeatedly characterised Mr Penny as the sole aggressor who escalated Neelys distress to lethal violence.

Daniel Penny is getting a chance to rewrite his story as time goes by, Lennon Edwards said during a news conference in Manhattan on 12 May. He cannot rewrite how the story ends. The story ends with his arms wrapped around Jordans neck and choking him to death.

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Attorney Donte Mills asserted that there was no attack against subway passengers before Mr Penny grabbed Neely by his neck and pinned him to the floor of the train.

Mr Neely did not attack anyone. He did not touch anyone. He did not hit anyone. But he was choked to death, Mr Mills said.

The attorneys stood alongside Andre Zachery, Neelys father, and Mildred Mahazu, Neelys aunt, with a photograph of Neely in a school graduation cap and gown.

Mr Penny acted with indifference, Mr Mills said.

He didnt care about Jordan, he cared about himself. And we cant let that stand, he added. What did he think would happen?

Attorney Donte Mills, right, appeared with Mildred Mahazu and Andre Zachery, the aunt and father of Jordan Neely, respectively, at a press conference on 12 May. (REUTERS)

Neely, who was known for his precise Michael Jackson impersonation on the street and in the subway, was well known among homeless outreach workers and emergency responders. He was arrested numerous times, mostly for minor crimes, and for at least two instances of assault on the subway.

Shortly before charges were announced by Manhattan prosecutors on 11 May, homeless advocacy groups and city officials held separate events  a vigil for the deaths of homeless New Yorkers outside City Hall, a rally demanding justice for Neelys  underscoring the scale of death among people who sleep on the streets and in subways.

Of the 640 deaths among homeless New Yorkers in 2021, 151 were unsheltered, according to city data. And in the deadliest year on record for New Yorks homeless population, 815 people died while homeless in 2022.

More than 70,000 people are sleeping in the citys shelter system, according to Coalition for the Homeless. That figure does not include the thousands of New Yorkers on the citys streets and subways.

In his first public address on Neelys death, after two dozen people were arrested at protests and vigils urging action from the city, Mayor Eric Adams stated that Jordan Neely did not deserve to die, his life mattered and his death never should have happened.

This should be an inflection point for our city, said New York City Council speaker Adrienne Adams, to focus on ensuring New Yorkers have access to the essential services needed to be healthy and safe, and we make the budget investments and policy changes necessary to achieve this.
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The former US Marine who held Jordan Neely in a fatal chokehold on a Manhattan subway train earlier this month has surrendered to New York authorities to face criminal charges over his death.

Daniel Penny, 24, turned himself in to New York police early on Friday morning to be arrested on a second-degree manslaughter charge.

He was seen arriving at the NYPDs 5th Precinct in lower Manhattan just after 8am local time, where he did not respond to any questions from waiting journalists.

He will be arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court on Friday. He faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

Shortly after 8am this morning Daniel Penny surrendered at the 5th Precinct at the request of the New York County DAs office, Mr Pennys attorney Thomas Kenniff told reporter. He did so voluntarily and with the sort of dignity and integrity that is characteristic of his history of service for this grateful nation.

When asked how Mr Penny was feeling, he said that the former Marine had his head held up high.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Braggs office confirmed on Thursday that Mr Penny would be charged with killing Neely, after widespread protests and debate demanded justice and urgent support for mentally ill New Yorkers and people experiencing homelessness.

Daniel Penny surrenders to authorities in New York (REUTERS)

Attorneys for Mr Penny said in a statement on Thursday night that they are confident he will be fully absolved of any wrongdoing when all the facts and circumstances come to light as they claimed that the former Marine risked his own life when he fatally choked Neely.

When Mr Penny, a decorated Marine veteran, stepped in to protect himself and his fellow New Yorkers, his well-being was not assured. He risked his own life and safety, for the good of his fellow passengers, according to a statement from the firm Raiser and Kenniff shared with The Independent.

On 1 May, a man identified as Mr Penny placed the 30-year-old homeless former street performer in a fatal chokehold for several minutes until he died on the floor of an F train on the Broadway-Lafayette platform in Manhattan. Witnesses have stated that Neely did not physically attack anyone before he was brought to the ground from behind.

Daniel Penny surrenders to authorities in New York (Getty Images)

The citys medical examiner determined Neelys cause of death was homicide.

Neely  who was experiencing a mental health crisis in the days leading up to his death  was known among social work teams involved in outreach to New Yorks homeless community. He had numerous interactions with law enforcement and health responders over the years.

When he walked into the train car, Neely complained of hunger and thirst, according to witnesses and journalist Juan Alberto Vazquez, who posted a video of part of the incident on his Facebook page.

Mr Vazquez said Neely threw his jacket to the floor of the train car before another passenger grabbed him from behind in a headlock. Others grabbed at his arms. The widely shared video footage shows Mr Penny and two other men holding Neely to the floor of a train car for several minutes, while Mr Penny grabs Neely in a chokehold.

Another passenger can be heard in the video telling the men that his wife was in the military and warned them that placing Neely in a chokehold could kill him.

Protesters take to the streets of New York calling for justice for Jordan Neely (REUTERS)

You dont have to catch a murder charge, he said. You got a hell of a chokehold, man.

A statement from attorneys for Mr Penny on 5 May said Mr Penny was involved in a tragic incident ... which ended in the death of Jordan Neely.

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.

Attorneys for Neelys family said the statement from Mr Pennys legal team was neither an apology nor an expression of regret but character assassination and a clear example of why he believed he was entitled to take Jordans life.

Neelys death has sparked widespread demands for support for homeless and mentally ill New Yorkers, as advocates and lawmakers condemned what they characterised as an act of vigilantism in a city that has marginalised and targeted its most vulnerable residents with violence.

Jordan Neely was an accomplished Michael Jackson impersonator (GoFundme)

Within the week after his death, NYPD officers have arrested at least 24 people  including a photojournalist, targeted by a high-ranking police official  at protests and vigils demanding an arrest.

In his remarks on 10 May, more than one week after Neelys death, Mayor Eric Adams did not mention how Neely died or discuss the events surrounding his death, but issued his strongest statements yet in the wake of the incident, in contrast to his initial remarks in its aftermath.

Jordan Neely did not deserve to die, he said. A New Yorker who struggled with tragedy, trauma and mental illness, a man whose last words were crying for help.

Mr Adams outlined his administrations response to people experiencing homelessness and mental health distress, including legislation proposed to lawmakers in Albany, the creation of outreach teams, and a controversial policy that allows authorities to involuntarily hospitalise people who are considered too mentally ill to care for themselves.
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The siblings of slain University of Idaho student Kaylee Goncalves will receive her posthumous degree on the sixth-month anniversary of her murder.

Kaylee, her best friend Madison Mogen, and fellow students Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin were stabbed to death in a vicious attack on the night of 13 November inside the young womens off-campus home. Bryan Kohberger, then a PhD student at the neighbouring Washington State University, has been charged with their murders.

On Saturday, the grieving families plan to attend the University of Idahos 2023 graduation ceremony, where their late loved ones will be celebrated for their achievements. Goncalves and Mogen were set to graduate this semester, while the families of juniors Kernodle and Chapin will receive certificates for the semesters they completed.

During an interview with Good Morning Americaaired on Friday, Goncalves parents talked about the many emotions theyve experienced on the days leading up to their daughters posthumous graduation. Their other children, they said, will walk across the stage to honour the milestone their sister had envisioned before her life was cut short.

Its still an out-of-body [experience], Kristi Goncalves said about grieving her daughter. I never would have thought a year ago, or even six months ago, that there was going to be a reason that Kaylee wouldnt be able to accept her own degree. That she wouldnt be here.

I think it shows respect for Kaylee and her hard work ... Its important for somebody to walk for her.

Meanwhile, Goncalves father Steve Goncalves told ABC News that he is looking forward to Mr Kohbergers next appearance in court on 26 June, for a preliminary hearing in the quadruple murder case.

I cant wait to see the evidence. ... And then Im gonna bring it, Mr Goncalves said. And hes gonna realise that this ... is the family thats gonna make sure he doesnt get away with it.

The Goncalves family said they dont believe Mr Kohberger ever met Kaylee in person, let alone attended one of her parties, as online speculation suggested.

Youre not having just some random stranger at your party, Kaylees brother told ABC. Theres plenty of things that would have quickly [been] noticed and [hed be] removed from the party.

Ms Goncalves also recounted the moment she first saw Mr Kohberger in court, noting she was overwhelmed by the situation. She said while she cant wait to get justice for her daughter, she will not be present in the courtroom when graphic evidence on the case is presented.

I was completely overwhelmed. I actually almost thought I was gonna pass out, she said. My daughter saw him face-to-face and in a very different light than we saw him, sitting there [in court], looking very meek.

She added: I think a big thing is for us to go in strong, united as a family ... Ive never been to a preliminary trial before. ... I have no idea what to expect, I have no idea what were going to hear. ... But I know that Ive got my son, and my daughter will be there, and my sister, and my husband.

Mr Kohberger has not entered a plea but said earlier this year through a public defender that he was eager to be exonerated.

Ethan Chapin, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21 (Instagram)

The former criminology PhD student was linked to the crime thanks to DNA found at the scene, cellphone data and surveillance video of what prosecutors believe to be his white Hyundai Elantra leaving the scene after the slayings, according to the affidavit for his arrest.

One of the victims surviving roommates was also able to partially describe the killer to investigators after she came face to face with him in the aftermath of the murders. The murder weapon  a fixed-blade knife  was not recovered during the searches and it is still unclear where it may be.

Two warrants made public in April and obtained by The Independent show that investigators collected a Glock .40 calibre gun, empty gun magazines, a knife, a pocket knife, black face masks, black gloves, electronic devices, and more clothing items from the home of Mr Kohbergers parents in Pennsylvania, where he was arrested.

Mr Kohbergers family home was raided on the same day as another search was carried out at his apartment in Pullman, Washington, which was a 15-minute drive from the crime scene in Moscow.

The warrant from the Washington search was made public in January, revealing investigators seized a collection of dark red spotting and a pillow with a reddish/brown stain at Mr Kohbergers Pullman apartment. At least two items seized from the Pullman search tested positive for blood.
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Lori Vallow was silent when authorities demanded to know where her missing children JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan were.

She wouldnt speak when their remains were found  Tylee hacked to pieces and burned, JJ still in his red pyjamas  in shallow graves on her new husband Chad Daybells property.

She refused to give any answers when confronted by her distraught surviving child, sister and other loved ones as they begged her to tell them the truth in heartbreaking jailhouse phone calls.

She even continued to stay quiet over the next three years as she was hit with new charges for the murders of her fourth husband Charles Vallow and Mr Daybells first wife Tammy Daybell, spent time in a psychiatric facility and had her case severed from her alleged co-conspirator.

And now, even as she stares down the prospect of spending the rest of her life behind bars, she is still silent.

This week, during her high-profile murder trial, the 49-year-old shocked the court when she not only declined to take the stand to testify in her own defence  but refused to entertain putting on any defence case at all.

In a final bid to save herself from life in prison, Vallows attorneys (in what many are mulling may have been a revolt against their client) turned on her lover, fellow cult member and alleged accomplice Mr Daybell in closing arguments  arguing that she was under his control but that she was not involved in any of the murders.

But it wasnt enough.

On Friday (12 May), Vallow was convicted of all charges.

The jury took less than seven hours to find her guilty of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and grand theft over the deaths of Tylee and JJ. She was also found guilty of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the death of Mr Daybells first wife Tammy, 49.

Dressed in a black suit, with her blonde hair down in waves around her shoulders, Vallow once again said nothing as she learned that she would likely be spending the rest of her life behind bars.

But given her silence, its perhaps unsurprising.

Lori Vallow Daybell stands and listens as the jury's verdict is read (AP)

When jurors retired for deliberations, the only story they had about what happened to little JJ, 7, teenager Tylee, 16, and mother-of-five Tammy was the one laid out by the state of Idaho.

And it was a horrifying story at that  one involving a warped plot to kill off almost everyone around the doomsday cult couple.

Money, power, and sex  thats what this case is about, prosecutors said in both opening and closing statements.

Over 27 days of trial, prosecutors laid out their case that Vallow conspired with Mr Daybell and her brother Alex Cox to murder JJ, Tylee and Tammy  driven by her doomsday cult beliefs, her lust to be with Mr Daybell and greed.

The trio allegedly spent months orchestrating a plot whereby they justified their plans to kill by claiming that the victims were demons or dark spirits.

Then, after brutally murdering the two children and mother-of-five, Vallow looked her concerned family, friends and authorities in the eye, refusing to reveal where her son and daughter were.

Instead, she and Mr Daybell began a new life together, swanning off to Hawaii to get married in what appeared to be every inch the perfect fairytale romance.

This photo of Tylee Ryan and her brother Joshua JJ Vallow with their uncle Alex Cox was taken days before they were killed (Handout)

Doomsday cult beliefs

Over a dramatic month-long trial, jurors heard how bizarre cult beliefs lie at the centre of the case against Ms Vallow.

Jurors heard how the deadly saga began when Vallow  a member of the Church of the Latter-Day Saints  and Mr Daybell  an LDS member and self-published doomsday books author  embarked on a romance.

After speaking for some time, they eventually met in person at a religious conference in October 2018 while they were both married and prosecutors say their love affair, cult beliefs  and murderous plans  all grew from there.

Vallow and Mr Daybell believed that they were on a religious mission to gather the 144,000 and they believed in a rating system of light and dark for how they ranked the spirits of the people around them.

Over time, this evolved into the belief that some people  including the children  were zombies and the only way to get rid of the zombies was for the human body to be destroyed.

Prosecutors alleged that these beliefs were used to justify the murders of those around them.

In the weeks and months leading up to the murders, Vallow told friends that her children and fourth husband Charles Vallow had become demons or dark spirits  some of them bearing names.

In February 2019, Vallow allegedly told a friend that she believed Charles was possessed by demon called Ned Schneider and that he was already dead with the demon using his body as a host.

Two days before Charles was murdered, Vallow texted her niece Melani Boudreaux: They have an elaborate plan... This week will change everything.

Two days later, in July 2019, Cox shot Charles dead at Vallows home in Arizona in what was claimed to be self defence at the time. (Now, Vallow is facing murder charges in Arizona.)

Chad Daybell is set to face his own trial for the murders (Post Register)

Then, in September 2019, Vallow allegedly told another friend that JJ and Tylee had been taken over by dark spirits and that JJ would say things like I love Satan. Tylee was possessed by a demon named Hillary and had to be freed, Vallow told another friend.

Text messages between Vallow and Mr Daybell also reveal her complaining about being tired of taking care of demons while referring to her children.

We r both so tired of taking care of demons, she wrote in a bombshell text in August. We are weary. Please ask the Lord to take them.

Jurors also heard how the couple discussed inflicting pain on the children, giving them a reason to scream and also spoke about the so-called death percentages of Tylee and JJ.

In the defences closing statement, Vallows attorneys argued that Ms Vallow was only a follower of her new lover Mr Daybell and was under his control and the craziness of his cult beliefs.

Conspiracy and greed

Prosecutors alleged that  as well as the cult beliefs  greed also drove the three alleged accomplices to conspire to kill the victims.

And based on text messages, internet searches, financial records and witness testimony presented in court, the murders were months in the making.

Internet searches revealed that Vallow shopped for life insurance policies for her children in July 2019  two months before they were murdered.

That same month, her Gmail account also searched for how to sell a service dog  like the one JJ, who had autism, was using at the time.

In the months leading up to the murders, jurors heard that Vallow also made several suspicious changes to Social Security payments meant for Tylee and JJ.

It was a pattern where Vallow altered the payments to go directly to her and then the respective child wound up dead days later.

Even after the deaths of JJ and Tylee, prosecutors say Vallow continued to collect the Social Security payments.

Mr Daybell, meanwhile, also made a life insurance claim for Tammy just days after she died.

The doomsday couple was also planning for their new  spouse-less and child-less  life together in other ways, jurors heard.

In August 2019  while Tammy was still alive  Vallow searched for malachite wedding rings. She then bought a pair on 2 October 2019  days before Tammy was killed  and wedding photos show her and Mr Daybell wearing matching rings.

Chad and Tammy Daybell before her death in October 2019 (Facebook)

Brutal murders

The most harrowing and disturbing part of the trial came as jurors learned harrowing details of the childrens murders and saw graphic photos of the state of their remains.

Tylee was last seen alive on 8 September 2019 when she, JJ, Cox and Vallow went on a trip to Yellowstone National Park. A photo of the teenager at the park marks her last proof of life.

The next day, Mr Daybell sent a chilling text message to Tammy claiming he had shot a raccoon and buried it in the pet cemetery on the grounds of their property in Rexburg  the same location where Tylees remains would be found months later.

Days later on 22 September, JJ was last seen alive at his mothers apartment. A photo taken that night showed the little boy sitting on a sofa dressed in a matching set of red pyjamas.

Vallows former friend David Warwick testified that he saw JJ that night when he and his wife Melanie Gibb were staying with her for the weekend. The next morning, JJ was gone.

When he asked about the boys whereabouts, Vallow allegedly told him that JJ had an episode and knocked over a picture of Christ.

It wasnt until 9 June 2020 that the childrens remains were discovered on Mr Daybells property  JJs body buried in a shallow grave close to a tree and Tylees remains close to a fire pit in the pet cemetery.

Graphic photos revealed that JJ was still wearing his red pyjamas and a pull-up nighttime diaper.

His arms were wrapped in duct tape and his head was wrapped in plastic bags with thick layers of duct tape over his mouth.

Autopsy findings showed that the little boy had the date rape drug GHB in his system when he was smothered to death with the plastic bags. He also had scratch marks on his neck suggesting he was awake and fought for his life to get the bag off his head.

Jurors heard that Coxs fingerprints were found on the plastic bag.

Tylees body meanwhile was so badly burned that an autopsy to determine her cause of death was impossible with jurors hearing gruesome testimony of how search teams found pieces of bone, charred flesh, just globs of flesh belonging to the 16-year-old.

Investigators are seen digging up the bodies of JJ and Tylee in June 2020 (Post Register no sales no mags)

Before her remains were dispersed on the grounds, the killer or killers had brutally attempted to dismember her body with a pickaxe which was found at the Daybell home, with Tylees DNA found on both the pickaxe and on a shovel.

Despite the efforts to hack at the teenagers body, the killer did not appear to manage to dismember her and her burned body parts were scattered in the grounds.

While all horrifying, perhaps the most damning evidence tying Vallow alone to the murders was the discovery of a hair.

DNA analyst Keeley Coleman testified that a single hair had been found on the duct tape used to wrap the plastic bag around little JJs head. That hair belonged to Vallow.

Jurors heard that the chances of finding a match were one in 71 billion.

A search of Vallows home in November 2019  when the children were reported missing  also uncovered a trove of concerning items including several guns, ammunition, empty magazines, silencers, Army-grade knives and Hazmat-style suits. Meanwhile, JJs toys and prescription medication were found in black trash bags and Tylees in a storage unit.

Just one month after the children were last seen alive, Tammy was also murdered.

Jurors heard how the healthy 49-year-old died suddenly on 19 October 2019, with a chilling 911 call revealing Mr Daybell bluntly saying shes clearly dead. At the time, Mr Daybell declined an autopsy and her death was ruled natural causes.

Tammys sister Samantha Gwilliam told the court that she sensed things didnt add up as her sister was perfectly healthy when she saw her two weeks earlier.

Jurors also heard how 10 days before her death, Tammy had been shot at by a masked man on the driveway of her home.

Two separate witnesses had testified that Mr Daybell had a dream or vision that his wife would die before she turned 50.

When Tammys death was tied to the disappearance of the children, her body was exhumed and an autopsy revealed she died of asphyxiation.

Cox allegedly raised concerns about being made the fall guy for her death by the doomsday couple.

One day after he made that comment  on 11 December 2019  Cox also died suddenly at the age of 51. His death was also ruled natural causes, however the overdose drug Narcan was also found in his system.

Silence and secrecy

In the aftermath of the murders, Vallow showed no concern for her children and refused to reveal what had happened to them.

Despite repeatedly being confronted by family members and authorities, she made a series of lies about where they were.

In one instance, she allegedly told police that JJ had gone to see Frozen 2 with Ms Gibb and had asked her to take photos of random children to show to authorities.

In another instance, she allegedly threatened to kill another friend, cut her up and then bury her remains in a place nobody would ever find when she questioned her about the missing children.

Following the June 2020 discovery of the bodies, Vallow showed no signs of her surprise at their deaths.

Video shows the moment Lori Vallow was served with court documents over her missing kids (FOX 10/ screenshot)

Instead, in one jailhouse phone call with her sister, she appeared to confess that she was aware the children were dead all along.

In the 24 June 2020 call, a distraught Summer Shiflet accuses her sibling of throwing her murdered children away like garbage and questions how she could have gone to Hawaii and married Mr Daybell in a fairytale wedding on the beach knowing that her children were dead and buried in a pet cemetery.

You were dancing on a beach with a smile on your face taking wedding photos, she shouts.

At this point of the call  where she repeatedly dodges questions about what she knew  Vallow appears to unwittingly slip up.

Yeah, months later, she says of the gap between the deaths and her wedding.

In both this call and a distressing call with her eldest son Colby Ryan, Vallow continues to give no account as to what happened even in the face of confrontation from some of her closest family members.

While the remains of her children lay buried on Mr Daybells property, the couple headed to Hawaii where they got married on the beach on 5 November 2019.

They were still there two months later relaxing by a pool when Vallow was served with court papers demanding that she present her children to authorities.

Shocking video, taken in January 2020, captured the bikini-clad mother-of-three sunbathing by a pool with Mr Daybell in Hawaii when she was confronted about JJ and Tylees whereabouts.

There was no effort to argue against the official. No explanation for where the children might actually be. No concern for their safety.

Instead  true to form  Vallow simply asked: Do you need something from me?
 Close Lori Vallow trial: Cult mom convicted of murders of children and Chad Daybells wife

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Doomsday cult mom Lori Vallow has been found guilty of the first-degree murder of her two children and conspiracy to murder her husband Chad Daybells late wife.

The jury of seven men and five women reached a verdict at around 11.45am on Friday after nearly seven hours of deliberations at the Ada County Courthouse, Boise, Idaho.

Vallow, 49, was found guilty of first-degree murder, conspiracy, and grand theft over the deaths of her daughter Tylee Ryan, 16, son Joshua JJ Vallow, 7, and Tammy Daybell, 49.

Tylee and JJ were last seen 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.

Over six weeks, prosecutors argued that Vallow conspired with Mr Daybell and her brother Alex Cox to kill the three victims, motivated by greed and their doomsday cult beliefs.

Following the verdict, the Maricopa County Attorneys Office announced that they have submitted a request to extradite Vallow to Arizona, where she is facing charges of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the death of her previous husband Charles Vallow and the attempted murder of Brandon Boudreaux, who was married to her niece.
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The grandparents of Joshua JJ Vallow sent a powerful message to his mother Lori Vallow after she was convicted of all charges in the murders of the seven-year-old boy, his sister Tylee Ryan, 16, and Chad Daybells first wife Tammy.

JJs grandparents Larry and Kay Woodcock choked up with emotion as they spoke to reporters outside Ada County Courthouse in Boise, Idaho, on Friday after the verdict in the doomsday cult moms trial was read out.

My final message for Lori, said Mr Woodcock, before breaking into the song The partys over  a song that he and JJ used to sing together.

Turn out the lights, the partys over. They say that all good things must end, he sang.

He then paused and addressed Vallow, saying: Lori it ended.

JJs uncle Gerry Vallow also chimed in: They got the b**ch.

Mr Woodcock vowed that the conviction of the mother-of-three is not the end of this as the family would return to face her at her sentencing in around 90 days time.

They will also continue to fight for justice as Mr Daybell is due to stand trial over the three murders next year and Vallow is also awaiting trial for conspiracy to murder her fourth husband  JJs father  Charles Vallow in a separate trial in Arizona.

Guys we got two more trials, two more, he said.

The next trial is Chad. I look forward to being back in this courthouse again.

The Woodcocks have attended every day of the trial of the woman now convicted of their seven-year-old grandsons murder, listening to harrowing testimony of the little boys last hours alive and seeing graphic photos of his remains buried on Mr Daybells property.

Larry Woodcock hugs an attendee after the verdict was read (AP)

It was Larry and Kay who raised the alarm about JJ and Tylee back in September 2019 when the mother-of-three moved them from Arizona to Rexburg, Idaho, and they couldnt get in touch with their grandson.

Nine months later in June 2020, JJ and Tylees remains were found in shallow graves on Mr Daybells property.

After the trial stalled for almost three years in the courts, Vallow was finally held to account on Friday.

The jury took almost seven hours to find Vallow guilty of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and grand theft over the deaths of Tylee and JJ.

She was also found guilty of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the death of Mr Daybells first wife Tammy, 49.

Dressed in a black suit, with her blonde hair down in waves around her shoulders, Vallow stood between her two attorneys as the verdict was read out.

She showed no reaction as she learned that the jury had returned a verdict of guilty on all charges.

Speaking outside court, Mr Woodcock moved between sorrow and relief as he paid tribute to the three victims and questioned how Vallow could ahve done what she did.

Speaking directly to his murdered grandson, he sobbed: JJ, I love you. Papa wishes you were here in other circumstances. Tylee, papa loves you.

Tammy, I never met you. Tammy you are part of our lives. I am sorry for what happened to you, my heart hurts for these three. This is what this has been all about from the very get go.

It started with two children missing. I stood up and I said where are the children, where are the children, where are the children? Give us back our children.

To Vallow, he questioned: Why Lori? Why Lori? Why? For power, sex and greed? For what? For what?

Mr Woodcock thanked all the jurors, meticulous prosecutors and all law enforcement officials who worked on the case.

I want to personally thank and I want to personally hug every one of those jurors, said Mr Woodcock.

What they want through what they saw is mindboggling. I hope that no one ever has to go through this. I hope that nobody ever has to see or hear the details of what hapened to JJ, to Tylee and to Tammy.

Choking back tears, he acknowledged that some of the images people have seen in this case... maybe some people will never unsee.

Ms Woodcock also praised the amazing law enforcement on the case and said that now they hope to be able to put JJ and Tylee to rest and do right by them.

Love always wins, she said.

Lori Vallow Daybell talks with her lawyers before the jurys verdict is read at the Ada County Courthouse in Boise, Idaho (AP)

JJ and Tylee vanished without a trace back in September 2019, with their mother refusing to reveal their whereabouts to both authorities and the childrens desperate family members.

One month later, Tammy  an otherwise healthy 49-year-old  also died suddenly. Her death was initially ruled natural causes.

This bizarre spate of disappearances and death came just months after Vallows fourth husband Charles was shot dead by Vallows brother Alex Cox in Arizona in July 2019.

With Vallows children and both of their spouses then out of the way, she and Mr Daybell embarked on a new life together  flying to Hawaii to get married in a fairytale wedding on the beach.

But, with months passing since the last signs of life of Vallows children, concerns continued to grow, prompting authorities to exhume Tammys body. A subsequent autopsy revealed that she had died by asphyxiation.

In June 2020  nine months after they were last seen alive  Tylee and JJs remains were found buried on the grounds of Mr Daybells property in Rexburg, Idaho.

JJ, who had autism, had been smothered with a plastic bag taped over his face, his little body still dressed in a pair of red pyjamas. Tylees cause of death meanwhile has been impossible to establish as the teenagers dismembered, charred bones and body parts were found scattered in the ground on Mr Daybells pet cemetery.

Over six weeks, jurors in Ada County Court heard harrowing details about the doomsday moms path of deadly destruction and were shown graphic images of the murdered childrens remains.

The state called over 60 witnesses to lay out its case that Vallow was motivated by both her doomsday cult beliefs but also lust for Mr Daybell and financial greed when she conspired with him and her brother Cox to kill the three victims.

In a bombshell move  that may now have proven fatal  the defence shocked the court on Tuesday when Vallows attorneys announced that they would not present any defence case or call any witnesses, paving the way for closing arguments to begin earlier than anticipated.

During closing arguments on Thursday, prosecutors argued that Ms Vallow had been driven by money, power and sex to kill the three victims.

Ms Vallow and Mr Daybell met at a religious conference in October 2018 when they were both married and began an affair.

As their romance grew, so too did their cult beliefs and conspiracy to kill.

Jurors heard how the doomsday couple believed that they were on a religious mission to gather the 144,000 and that there was a rating system of light and dark for the spirits of the people around them.

In the weeks and months before the murders, Ms Vallow allegedly told friends that JJ and Tylee had become demons.

Prosecutors said that Ms Vallow used these beliefs to justify the murders of her children and love rival.

Tylee Ryan and Joshua JJ Vallow (Family handout)

The state argued that the murders were premeditated and planned  pointing to evidence including the stash of burner phones the three alleged accomplices had, Coxs practice at a shooting range prior to a botched attempt on Tammys life and a deliberate plan for Ms Vallow to be in Hawaii at the time of Tammys murder.

Days before each child was killed, Ms Vallow then allegedly altered their Social Security payments so that the money would be paid directly into her account.

Prosecutor Rob Wood told jurors that Ms Vallow was the ringleader of the murderous plot, and that she groomed and manipulated both Mr Daybell and Cox to commit the murders.

Ms Vallow was the one common thread tying all the suspects and killings together, he said.

Meanwhile, in the defences closing statement, Ms Vallows attorneys flipped the narrative, arguing that  instead of being the leader  Ms Vallow was the follower of her new lover Mr Daybell.

In what marked the first time Ms Vallow has turned on her lover in the almost three years for the case to go to trial, her attorney Jim Archibald sought to paint her as a hardworking good mom whose life suddenly unraveled when she met Mr Daybell.

One year after meeting Chad, four people are dead, said Mr Archibald.

Vallows alleged co-conspirators are yet to face justice over the killings.

Mr Daybell was due to stand trial with Vallow but the cases were severed weeks before her day in court.

He is now due to stand trial in 2024 over the three murders.

Meanwhile, the third person accused by state prosecutors as a co-conspirator in the case wont ever be have his day in court.

On 11 December 2019  hours after Tammys body was exhumed  Cox died suddenly at the age of 51. His death was also ruled natural causes, with indications of a blood clot wedged in the arteries of his lungs. However the overdose drug Narcan was also found in his system.

Vallows own legal troubles are also far from over as she is still facing trial in Arizona on charges of conspiring with Cox to murder Charles Vallow.
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The doting grandfather of Lori Vallows murdered son vowed that today is the day as he arrived at the cult moms murder trial and blared the song The partys over outside court.

JJs grandparents Larry and Kay Woodcock have attended every day of the trial of the woman now accused of their seven-year-old grandsons murder, listening to harrowing testimony of the little boys final moments and seeing graphic photos of his remains buried on Chad Daybells property.

It was Larry and Kay who raised the alarm about Ms Vallows missing children JJ and Tylee Ryan, 16, back in September 2019 when the mother-of-three moved them from Arizona to Rexburg, Idaho, and they couldnt get in contact with their grandson.

Nine months later, JJ and Tylees remains were found in shallow graves on Mr Daybells property.

After a gruelling six-week trial, Mr Woodcock appeared to be in more upbeat spirits as he arrived at Ada County Court in Boise, Idaho, on Friday morning and voiced hope that justice would be served.

Today is the day, he told journalists outside the court, dressed in a Worlds Greatest Papa t-shirt. Im not be the worlds greatest papa but I hope I was the worlds greatest papa to JJ and Tylee.

He played The Partys Over while lined up outside the court before blaring We Will Rock You inside.

Both songs held a special personal meaning to him and his grandson JJ and they would often sing them together, he said.

His optimism comes as jurors continue deliberations for a second day in the doomsday cult moms murder trial.

The jury of seven men and five women began deliberations on Thursday afternoon before concluding after four hours with no verdict. They resumed deliberations at 9am local time on Friday morning.

Kay and Larry Woodcock back in January 2020 as they raised the alarm about missing JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan (AP)

While the judge banned cameras from the courtroom, the hotly-anticipated verdict will be livestreamed.

The 49-year-old mother-of-three is charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and grand theft over the deaths of her daughter Tylee Ryan, 16, and son Joshua JJ Vallow, 7. She is also charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the death of her new husband Mr Daybells first wife Tammy Daybell, 49.

Tylee and JJ were last seen alive in September 2019.

Tammy died one month later in October 2019  her death initially ruled natural causes before an exhumation and autopsy revealed she had been asphyxiated.

Over the course of the trial, jurors heard from over 60 state witnesses as prosecutors laid out their case that Vallow was motivated by both her doomsday cult beliefs but also by her lust for Mr Daybell and financial greed when she conspired with him and her brother Alex Cox to kill the three victims.

Jurors then heard from zero defence witnesses after Ms Vallows attorneys made the bombshell move on Tuesday to announce that they would not be giving any defence case or calling any witnesses.

During closing arguments on Thursday, prosecutors argued that Ms Vallow was driven by money, power and sex to kill the three victims  and then steal their money when they were dead.

Ms Vallow was the one common thread tying all the suspects and killings together, said prosecutor Rob Wood.

The evidence in this case points to one common thread and that thread is Lori Vallow, he said.

Meanwhile, in the defences closing statement, Ms Vallows attorneys argued that  instead of being the leader  Ms Vallow was the follower of her new lover Mr Daybell.

In what marked the first time Ms Vallow has turned on her lover, her attorney Jim Archibald sought to paint her as a hardworking good mom whose life suddenly changed when she met Mr Daybell.

One year after meeting Chad, four people are dead, said Mr Archibald.

Lori Vallow is facing life in prison (AP)

Ms Vallow faces life in prison on the charges while her alleged co-conspirators are yet to face justice.

Mr Daybell was due to stand trial with Ms Vallow but the cases were severed weeks before her day in court. He is now due to stand trial in 2024 over the three murders.

Meanwhile, Cox died before he could ever stand trial.

On 11 December 2019  hours after Tammys body was exhumed  he died suddenly at the age of 51. His death was also ruled natural causes, with indications of a blood clot wedged in the arteries of his lungs. However, the overdose drug Narcan was also found in his system.

Separate to the Idaho case, Ms Vallow is also facing charges in Arizona of conspiring with Cox to murder her fourth husband Charles Vallow. Vallow was shot dead by Cox in Arizona in July 2019.
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Convicted child killer Lori Vallow is expected to be extradited to Arizona following her sentencing for the murder of her two youngest children in Idaho.

Vallow, 49, was found guilty of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and grand theft over the deaths of her daughter Tylee Ryan, 16, and son Joshua JJ Vallow, 7, in Ada County Court in Boise, Idaho, on Friday.

She was also found guilty of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the death of her doomsday preacher husband Chad Daybells first wife Tammy, 49.

Following the verdict, the Maricopa County Attorneys Office announced that they have submitted a request to extradite Vallow to Arizona, where she is facing charges of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the death of her previous husband Charles Vallow.

The MCAO said they expect the extradition to take place once Vallow is sentenced and transferred to the Idaho Department of Corrections.

The extradition can take from several weeks to several months, the office said in a statement. Because this is a pending matter, this office will not provide any further comment, including any charging decisions made by this office.

Dressed in a black suit, with her blonde hair down in waves around her shoulders, Vallow stood between her two attorneys as the verdict was read out.

She showed no reaction or glimmer of emotion as she learned that the jury had returned a verdict of guilty on all six charges  paving the way for a lifetime behind bars.

(Judge Steven Boyce/Youtube)

After the verdict was read out, JJs grandparents Larry and Kay Woodcock choked up with emotion as they spoke to reporters outside the courthouse and sent a powerful message to their grandsons killer.

My final message for Lori, said Mr Woodcock, before breaking into the song The partys over  a song that he and JJ used to sing together.

Turn out the lights, the partys over. They say that all good things must end, he sang.

Mr Woodcock vowed that the conviction of the mother-of-three is not the end of this as the family would return to face her at her sentencing in around 90 days time and that they will also continue to fight for justice in the upcoming Arizona trial.

The Woodcocks  who raised the alarm about the missing children back in 2019  attended every day of the trial of the woman now convicted of their seven-year-old grandsons murder, listening to harrowing testimony of the little boys last hours alive and seeing graphic photos of his remains buried on Mr Daybells property.

JJ and Tylee vanished without a trace back in September 2019, with their mother refusing to reveal their whereabouts to both authorities and the childrens desperate family members. One month later, Tammy  an otherwise healthy 49-year-old  also died suddenly. Her death was initially ruled natural causes.

This bizarre spate of disappearances and death came just months after Vallows fourth husband Charles Vallow was shot dead by Vallows brother Alex Cox in Arizona in July 2019. Cox, who died in 2019, claimed self-defence.

Tylee Ryan y Joshua JJ Vallow (Family handout)

With Vallows children and both of their spouses then out of the way, she and Mr Daybell embarked on a new life together  flying to Hawaii to get married in a fairytale wedding on the beach.

In June 2020  nine months after they were last seen alive  Tylee and JJs remains were found buried on the grounds of Mr Daybells property in Rexburg, Idaho.

In what marked the first time Ms Vallow has turned on her lover in the almost three years for the case to go to trial, her attorney Jim Archibald sought to paint her as a hardworking good mom whose life suddenly unraveLled when she met Mr Daybell.

One year after meeting Chad, four people are dead, said Mr Archibald.

The defence attorney argued that Ms Vallow was under the control of the doomsday author, under the spell of the craziness of his cult beliefs.

The defence attorney went on to blame the murders of Tylee and JJ squarely on Mr Daybell and Cox saying that there was no evidence placing Ms Vallow on the scene of the three murders or on Mr Daybells property when the children were buried there.

Ultimately, the panel of 12 jurors disagreed and found the evidence showed, beyond reasonable doubt, that Vallow murdered her children and conspired to murder her love rival.

Mr Daybell was due to stand trial with Vallow but the cases were severed weeks before her day in court.

He is now due to stand trial in 2024 over the three murders.
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Cult mom Lori Vallow has been convicted of murdering her two youngest children and conspiring to murder her new husband Chad Daybells first wife in a shocking doomsday plot that has horrified the nation for the last three years.

The 49-year-old mother-of-three was found guilty of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and grand theft over the deaths of her daughter Tylee Ryan, 16, and son Joshua JJ Vallow, 7, in Ada County Court in Boise, Idaho, on Friday.

She was also found guilty of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the death of Mr Daybells first wife Tammy, 49.

Follow our live blog for all the latest updates on the Lori Vallow verdict

Dressed in a black suit, with her blonde hair down in waves around her shoulders, Vallow stood between her two attorneys as the verdict was read out.

She showed no reaction or glimmer of emotion as she learned that the jury had returned a verdict of guilty on all six charges  paving the way for a lifetime behind bars.

She will be sentenced in around 90 days time.

After the verdict was read out, JJs grandparents Larry and Kay Woodcock choked up with emotion as they spoke to reporters outside the courthouse and sent a powerful message to their grandsons killer.

My final message for Lori, said Mr Woodcock, before breaking into the song The partys over  a song that he and JJ used to sing together.

Turn out the lights, the partys over. They say that all good things must end, he sang.

He then paused and addressed Vallow, saying: Lori it ended.

JJs uncle Gerry Vallow also chimed in: They got the b**ch.

Lori Vallow Daybell smiles as she talks with her lawyers before the jurys verdict is read (AP)

Mr Woodcock vowed that the conviction of the mother-of-three is not the end of this as the family would return to face her at her sentencing in around 90 days time and that they will also continue to fight for justice as Mr Daybell is due to stand trial next year and Vallow is awaiting trial over Charles Vallows murder in Arizona.

The Woodcocks  who raised the alarm about the missing children back in 2019  have attended every day of the trial of the woman now convicted of their seven-year-old grandsons murder, listening to harrowing testimony of the little boys last hours alive and seeing graphic photos of his remains buried on Mr Daybells property.

Speaking directly to his murdered grandson, Mr Woodcock sobbed: JJ, I love you. Papa wishes you were here in other circumstances. Tylee, papa loves you.

Tammy, I never met you. Tammy you are part of our lives. I am sorry for what happened to you, my heart hurts for these three. This is what this has been all about from the very get go.

It started with two children missing. I stood up and I said where are the children, where are the children, where are the children? Give us back our children.

To Vallow, he questioned: Why Lori? Why Lori? Why? For power, sex and greed? For what? For what?

Mr Woodcock thanked all the jurors, meticulous prosecutors and all law enforcement officials who worked on the case as he acknowledged that some of the images people have seen in this case... maybe some people will never unsee.

Prosecutors also welcomed the verdict and vowed that they are committed to pursuing justice for Tylee Ryan, JJ Vallow and Tammy Daybell.

Lori Vallow Daybell stands and listens as the jury's verdict is read (AP)

We are very pleased with the jurys verdict, and we want to thank them, as well as the alternates, for their service over last six weeks during this trial, the statement read.

Given the pending case against the co-defendant, we are unable to conduct any additional interviews or discuss further details of this matter. We want to assure each of you that we remain committed to pursuing justice for Tylee Ryan, JJ Vallow and Tammy Daybell.

We also want to express sincere appreciation to the many members of law enforcement and the community who tirelessly worked together to hold Lori Vallow Daybell accountable.

JJ and Tylee vanished without a trace back in September 2019, with their mother refusing to reveal their whereabouts to both authorities and the childrens desperate family members.

One month later, Tammy  an otherwise healthy 49-year-old  also died suddenly. Her death was initially ruled natural causes.

This bizarre spate of disappearances and death came just months after Vallows fourth husband Charles Vallow was shot dead by Vallows brother Alex Cox in Arizona in July 2019.

With Vallows children and both of their spouses then out of the way, she and Mr Daybell embarked on a new life together  flying to Hawaii to get married in a fairytale wedding on the beach.

But, with months passing since the last signs of life of Vallows children, concerns continued to grow, prompting authorities to exhume Tammys body. A subsequent autopsy revealed that she had died by asphyxiation.

In June 2020  nine months after they were last seen alive  Tylee and JJs remains were found buried on the grounds of Mr Daybells property in Rexburg, Idaho.

JJ, who had autism, had been smothered with a plastic bag taped over his face, his little body still dressed in a pair of red pyjamas. Tylees cause of death meanwhile has been impossible to establish as the teenagers dismembered, charred bones and body parts were found scattered in the ground on Mr Daybells pet cemetery.

Larry Woodcock hugs an attendee after the verdict was read (AP)

Jurors in Ada County Court in Boise, Idaho, took almost seven hours to find Vallow guilty on all charges over the three murders after a grueling six-week trial where the panel heard harrowing details about the doomsday moms path of deadly destruction and were shown graphic images of the murdered childrens remains.

The state called over 60 witnesses to lay out its case that Vallow was motivated by both her doomsday cult beliefs but also lust for Mr Daybell and financial greed when she conspired with him and her brother Cox to kill the three victims.

In a bombshell move  that may now have proven fatal  the defence shocked the court on Tuesday when Vallows attorneys announced that they would not present any defence case or call any witnesses, paving the way for closing arguments to begin earlier than anticipated.

During closing arguments on Thursday, prosecutors argued that Ms Vallow had been driven by money, power and sex to kill the three victims.

Ms Vallow and Mr Daybell met at a religious conference in October 2018 when they were both married and began an affair.

As their romance grew, so too did their cult beliefs and conspiracy to kill.

Jurors heard how the doomsday couple believed that they were on a religious mission to gather the 144,000 and that there was a rating system of light and dark for the spirits of the people around them.

In the weeks and months before the murders, Ms Vallow allegedly told friends that JJ and Tylee had become demons.

Prosecutors said that Ms Vallow used these beliefs to justify the murders of her children and love rival.

The state argued that the murders were premeditated and planned  pointing to evidence including the stash of burner phones the three alleged accomplices had, Coxs practice at a shooting range prior to a botched attempt on Tammys life and a deliberate plan for Ms Vallow to be in Hawaii at the time of Tammys murder.

Days before each child was killed, Ms Vallow then allegedly altered their Social Security payments so that the money would be paid directly into her account.

Tylee Ryan and Joshua JJ Vallow (Family handout)

Prosecutor Rob Wood told jurors that Ms Vallow was the ringleader of the murderous plot, and that she groomed and manipulated both Mr Daybell and Cox to commit the murders.

They used religion as a tool to manipulate others. Lori manipulated Alex Cox through religion, he said.

She manipulated Chad through emotional and sexual control.

Ms Vallow was the one common thread tying all the suspects and killings together, he said.

Meanwhile, in the defences closing statement, Ms Vallows attorneys flipped the narrative, arguing that  instead of being the leader  Ms Vallow was the follower of her new lover Mr Daybell.

In what marked the first time Ms Vallow has turned on her lover in the almost three years for the case to go to trial, her attorney Jim Archibald sought to paint her as a hardworking good mom whose life suddenly unraveled when she met Mr Daybell.

One year after meeting Chad, four people are dead, said Mr Archibald.

The defence attorney argued that Ms Vallow was under the control of the doomsday author, under the spell of the craziness of his cult beliefs.

The defence attorney went on to blame the murders of Tylee and JJ squarely on Mr Daybell and Cox saying that there was no evidence placing Ms Vallow on the scene of the three murders or on Mr Daybells property when the children were buried there.

Ultimately, the panel of 12 jurors disagreed and found the evidence showed, beyond reasonable doubt, that Vallow murdered her children and conspired to murder her love rival.

Vallows alleged co-conspirators are yet to face justice over the killings.

Chad and Tammy Daybell before her death in October 2019 (Facebook)

Mr Daybell was due to stand trial with Vallow but the cases were severed weeks before her day in court.

He is now due to stand trial in 2024 over the three murders.

Meanwhile, the third person accused by state prosecutors as a co-conspirator in the case wont ever be have his day in court.

On 11 December 2019  hours after Tammys body was exhumed  Cox died suddenly at the age of 51. His death was also ruled natural causes, with indications of a blood clot wedged in the arteries of his lungs. However the overdose drug Narcan was also found in his system.

Vallows own legal troubles are also far from over as she is still facing trial in Arizona on charges of conspiring with Cox to murder Charles Vallow.
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An investigation was launched after a body was found inside a walk-in freezer at an Arbys restaurant in Louisiana.

Police say that the body, which was discovered by an employee, was that of a female manager at the store in New Iberia.

Homicide detectives initially called the shocking discovery a suspicious death but now say it was likely an accident.

So it was an employee that discovered the female deceased inside the cooler, (and) the deceased is an employee of the restaurant, New Iberia Police Captain Leland Laseter told News 15.

A situation like this is unusual, so were taking extra precautions during the investigation. After completely processing the crime scene ... this does not seem like a homicide, it seems like an accident.

The coroner has yet to confirm the victims identity and give a cause of death.

Were going to re-examine all the evidence and theyre going to conduct an autopsy to give us the cause and manner of death. So there are a few more steps that we need to take before a (final) determination is made, the police captain added.
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A Texas man has been arrested for assault after a child tipped off a school bus driver by passing him a note asking for help, authorities say.

The girl made the plea for help and provided an address to a bus driver in Odessa, west Texas, on Tuesday morning, according to local news site KPEJ.

Hours later, officers from the Odessa Police Department arrived at the house to find David Amado Gonzales, 38, and the girls mother sitting on the porch.

As the police approached, the pair retreated inside the house and refused to open the door for several minutes, authorities said.

The woman eventually told police that Mr Gonzales had come home intoxicated at 1am that morning and pulled her hair and punched her several times, KPEJ reported.

He allegedly bit her forehead and held a switchblade to her neck, leaving her with a cut behind the ear, according to police.

David Amado Gonzales was arrested after a girl tipped off a bus driver that she was in danger. (Ector County Sheriffs Office)

Police said the woman had bruises and cuts to her face consistent with the assault she had described.

Mr Gonzales was arrested and charged with aggravated assault with a weapon and parole violation. He is being held at the Ector County Law Enforcement Center on a bond of $50,000.
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Ever since authorities began searching for Lori Vallows children in late 2019, the case of the doomsday cult mom has captivated  and horrified  the nation.

Four people close to Vallow and her husband Chad Daybell have been murdered.

Others are also now mysteriously dead.

And beliefs about zombies, dark spirits and the apocalypse have come to light.

The bizarre and tragic case has now concluded in a courtroom in Boise, Idaho, where Vallow was convicted of all charges in the murders of her children Joshua JJ Vallow, seven; Tylee Ryan, 16; and Mr Daybells first wife Tammy Daybell.

On Friday (12 May), the jury took less than seven hours to find Vallow guilty of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and grand theft over the deaths of Tylee and JJ.

She was also found guilty of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the death of Mr Daybells first wife Tammy, 49.

Dressed in a black suit, with her blonde hair down in waves around her shoulders, Vallow stood between her two attorneys as the verdict was read out.

She showed no reaction as she learned that the jury had returned a verdict of guilty on all charges.

JJ and Tylee vanished without a trace back in September 2019, with their mother refusing to reveal their whereabouts to authorities for many months.

One month after they were last seen alive, Tammy  an otherwise healthy 49-year-old  died suddenly. Her cause of death has since been ruled asphyxiation.

Vallow and Mr Daybell soon jetted off to Hawaii to get married on the beach.

In June 2020, the remains of JJ and Tylee were found buried on the grounds of Mr Daybells property in Rexburg, Idaho, and the doomsday cult couple were eventually charged with murder.

Prosecutors alleged that Vallow and Mr Daybell conspired with Vallows brother Alex Cox to murder Tammy, JJ and Tylee as part of their bizarre cult beliefs  but also for financial purposes so that they could collect Tammys life insurance money and the childrens social security and survivor benefits.

New harrowing and bizarre details about the cult beliefs which drove  or excused  the 49-year-old came to light during her murder trial in Ada County Courthouse.

But, beyond the trial testimony, there was also some bizarre happenings taking place inside the courtroom.

Lori Vallow falls asleep

During a harrowing day of testimony on 11 April, the woman on trial for murder raised eyebrows when she appeared to fall asleep in the middle of proceedings.

That day, the court heard harrowing testimony about the state of JJ and Tylees remains when they were found buried on Mr Daybells property.

While jurors gasped and the victims families sobbed, Vallow asked to waive her right to be present in the courtroom, citing her mental state.

The judge denied the request and Vallow had to attend the remainder of the day  where jurors were shown graphic images of the childrens remains.

She appeared to try to avoid looking at the photos, casting her head down most of the time, reporters in the courtroom said.

Then  at one point  she appeared to fall asleep.

Gigi McKelvey, a Law & Crime journalist, told NewsNation that Vallow seemed to be asleep for a solid 30 minutes.

She speculated that Ms Vallow may have been medicated after her apparent distress over the harrowing testimony.

Lori Vallows three words to her surviving son

Mother-of-three Vallow was spotted mouthing three words to her only surviving son as he took the witness stand to testify against her at her murder trial.

Colby Ryan, 27, testified about his sister Tylee and brother JJ and how his mother had lied to him about their whereabouts.

Jurors heard a phone call where Mr Ryan confronted his mother about killing his siblings and posing as Tylee on her cellphone.

When he took the stand, Vallow was seen mouthing oh my baby to her son.

Confiscated phones and noise complaints

On multiple occasions, the court bailiff aired issues with noises  from reporters typing too loudly to spectators rustling candy wrappers.

On 13 April, at least three people had their phones confiscated, including one for an alarm sounding, reported The New York Posts Stephanie Pagones.

She revealed that members of the media had also been told off for typing too loudly in the courtroom.

On 20 April, East Idaho News reporter Nate Eaton tweeted that the bailiff reminded everyone about courtroom conduct including saving any whispering for breaks and to minimize candy wrapper crinkling.

If you have a Lifesaver fetish, please open your candy now, the bailiff said.

But the bailiff seemed to win over the courtroom.

By the end of the trial, he had earned the nickname of courtroom daddy.
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The Commerce Department on Friday is launching the application process for cities to receive a total of $500 million in grants to become technology hubs.

The $500 million is part of a $10 billion authorization from last year's CHIPS and Science Act to stimulate investments in new technologies such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing and biotech. It's an attempt to expand tech investment that is largely concentrated around a few U.S. cities  Austin, Texas; Boston; New York; San Francisco; and Seattle  to the rest of the country.

This is about taking these places on the edge of glory to being world leaders, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told The Associated Press. My job is to enhance America's competitiveness.

The Biden administration has made it a priority to set an industrial strategy of directing government investment into computer chips, clean energy and a range of other technologies. Officials say that being leaders in those fields will foster economic and national security, reflecting a belief that the best way to compete against China's ascendance will come from building internal strength.

The tech hubs are meant to build up areas that already have major research specialties but lack the access to financing that could fuel stronger growth and business formation in those fields. Pockets of the U.S. already have leading-edge tech such as medical devices in Minnesota, robotics in Pittsburgh and agricultural technology in Fresno, California. But the challenge has been finding ways to boost those fields so that government investment leads to more support from private capital.

To qualify for the tech hub money, each applicant will need a partnership that includes one or more companies, a state development agency, worker training programs, a university and state and local government leaders. Roughly 20 cities are expected to be designated as tech hubs with 10 eventually receiving funding.

President Joe Biden hopes to broaden the funding over time, requesting in his budget proposal that Congress appropriate another $4 billion for it over the next two years. Raimondo said that she expects a large number of applications from across the political spectrum.

The tech hub program, formally the Regional Technology and Innovation Hub Program, ties into a political message that Biden has delivered in speeches. The Democratic president has said that people should not feel forced to leave their hometowns to find good jobs nor should opportunity cluster in just a few parts of the country while other regions struggle.

You shouldnt have to move to Silicon Valley if youre a scientist with a great idea, Raimondo said.
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An unaccompanied migrant child died while in the custody of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the White House confirmed on Friday.

In a press briefing, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the administration was aware of the tragic loss and that President Joe Biden had been briefed on it.

There is a medical investigation that was opened on May 10, Ms Jean-Pierre said.

HHS said in a statement that it was deeply saddened by this tragic loss and our hearts go out to the family, with whom we are in touch, according to NBC News.

The HHS did not provide further details about the child including how or where they died in the statement but indicated that the department would conduct a medical examiner investigation.

Due to privacy and safety reasons, the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), a division of HHS, could not share other information on cases of children in their care.

However, Eduardo Reina, the minister of foreign affairs of Honduras, tweeted that the child was a 17-year-old Honduran minor who died while in a shelter in Florida.

The Independent has reached out to HHS for comment.

The tragic death comes as the US is adjusting to an influx of asylum seekers at the southern border due to the end of Title 42  a pandemic-era policy that allowed authorities to turn away migrants for health reasons during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Hundreds of thousands of people have arrived at the US border this past week, hoping to cross into the US. The surge overwhelmed border cities and towns like El Paso and Brownsville, Texas.

The ORR is responsible for housing and caring for migrant children who arrive at the border without a legal guardian. According to federal law, border officials must transfer unaccompanied minors to ORR within 72 hours.
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Susan Sarandon was arrested at a protest demanding fair wages for restaurant workers at the New York state Capitol Albany.

The 76-year-old Oscar winner was one of eight people arrested this week for disorderly conduct by State Police during a protest for the One Fair Wage organisation, which she is president of.

Footage posted to social media of the incident showed protesters blocking security and pushing up against state troopers at the Capitals legislative lobby at 1pm.

Sarandon was led away in handcuffs a few minutes later, along with New York lieutenant governor candidate Ana Maria Archila.

In a statement, New York State Police said the eight individuals were arrested after sitting and obstructing walking traffic and ignoring instructions to move.

They were charged with one count of disorderly conduct and issued with tickets to appear at Albany City Court at an unspecified date before being released, police said.

According to its website, One Fair Wage is campaigning to force the service industry to pay workers the full minimum wage with fair, non-discriminatory tips on top.

The coalition, which says it represents 300,000 workers and 2,000 businesses, is calling for an end to wage replacement through tipping.

State leaders have proposed raising the minimum wage from $15 to $17 an hour in New York City, but One Fair Wage argues that the rise would not include many hospitality workers.

Susan Sarandon was arrested while protesting in Albany on Monday. (Getty Images for IMDb)

The Thelma & Louise actress has a long history of political activism.

She became a prominent voice in the anti-war movement during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and was a vocal critic of Donald Trump during his term in office.

In 2018, Sarandon was arrested during a Womens March protest in Washington DC in opposition to the Trump administrations immigration policy.

Last week, she joined striking members of the Writers Guild of America on picket lines in New York.

Sarandon was praised on social media after her arrest.

Mad respect, actress Rosie Perez wrote on Twitter next to a photo of Sarandon being arrested.

Presidential candidate Marianne Williamson tweeted: I love her.

Prominent attorney Steven Donziger wrote that it was sickening that we must battle for a living wage in the wealthiest nation on earth.
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Following the controversial and highly criticised CNN town hall featuring Donald Trump, one of the networks top hosts, Anderson Cooper, addressed the backlash and attempt to justify the event.

The town hall featured Mr Trump in a moderated discussion with CNN host Kaitlan Collins, during which he made numerous false statements, advanced conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, and promised to pardon Capitol rioters charged with crimes for their participation in the insurrection attempt two years ago.

Cooper opened his show, Anderson Cooper 360, by addressing the town hall and the negative reaction it generated.

He acknowledged that many viewers expressed deep anger and disappointment following the event.

Many of you are upset that someone who attempted to destroy our democracy was invited to sit on the stage in front of a crowd of Republican voters to answer questions and predictably continued to spew lie after lie after lie. And I get it. It was disturbing, he said during the broadcast.

He acknowledged all of the objectionable statements Mr Trump made during the town hall  including how he insulted E Jean Carroll, who he was found guilty of defaming and sexually assaulting, called Ms Collins nasty and labeled the Black police officer who fatally shot Capitol rioter Ashli Babbitt a thug  and said he understood the pushback against CNN giving Mr Trump a platform to speak.

Now, many of you think CNN shouldnt have given him any platform to speak. And I understand the anger about that, giving him the audience the time. I get that, he said.

Mr Cooper said that viewers have every right to be outraged today and angry and understood if they never watch this network again.

He also warned that the town halls audience  independents and Republicans  accounted for approximately half the US population and showed that Mr Trump could possibly win a second term, as he is running hard.

Mr Cooper then challenged viewers, warning them that staying in echo chambers will not stop Mr Trump from trying to take power once again.

Do you think staying in your silo and only listening to people you agree with is going to make that person go away? If we all only listen to those we agree with, it may actually do the opposite. If lives are allowed to go unchecked, as imperfect as our ability to check them is on a stage in real time, those lies continue and those lies spread, he said.

He concluded the segment by reminding viewers they can do something to prevent Mr Trump from winning in 2024.

If youre angry or upset, I understand, but you have the power to do something about it. You can actually get involved. You can make a difference, he said. Whatever side of the aisle youre on after last night none of us can say, I didnt know whats out there. I didnt know whats coming.
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Hodding Carter III, a Mississippi journalist and civil rights activist who updated Americans on the Iran hostage crisis as U.S. State Department spokesman and won awards for his televised documentaries, has died. He was 88.

His daughter, Catherine Carter Sullivan, confirmed that he died Thursday in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Before moving to Washington in 1977, Carter was editor and publisher of his familys newspaper, the Delta Democrat-Times, in Greenville, Mississippi.

Carter had been co-chair of the Loyalist Democrats, a racially diverse group that won a credentials fight at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, unseating the all-white delegation by Mississippi's governor, John Bell Williams.

Carters campaign work in 1976 for Jimmy Carter, no relation, helped secure him a job as assistant secretary of state for public affairs. It was in this role that he was seen on television news during the 444 days that Iran held 52 Americans hostage.

When Ronald Reagan was elected to the White House in 1980, Carter returned to journalism as president of MainStreet, a television production company specializing in public affairs programs that earned him four national Emmy Awards and the Edward R. Murrow Award for documentaries.

Carter appeared as a panelist, moderator or news anchor at ABC, BBC, NBC, CNN and PBS. He also wrote op-ed columns for the Wall Street Journal and other newspapers. He served twice on the steering committee of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

Carter later was named the John S. Knight Professor of Public Affairs Journalism at the University of Maryland. In 1998 he became president of the John S. Knight and James L. Knight Foundation, based in Miami, Florida.

After leaving the foundation, he began teaching leadership and public policy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2006. He wrote two books, The Reagan Years and The South Strikes Back.

Carter, an ex-Marine who exercised regularly, underwent surgery in 2012 to have a pacemaker installed to help control an irregular heart rhythm.

Progressive politics ran in his family. William Hodding Carter III was born April 7, 1935, in New Orleans, to William Hodding Carter Jr. and Betty Werlein Carter. They moved to Greenville, Mississippi, recruited by a group of community leaders to start a weekly newspaper that evolved into the Delta Democrat-Times.

His father's editorials about social and economic intolerance earned him a national reputation and undying enmity and threats from white supremacists. He also won the Pulitzer Prize, in 1946, for a series of editorials critical of U.S. treatment of Japanese-Americans during World War II.

His mother, from a prominent New Orleans family, was a feature writer and editor who recalled sitting at home with a shotgun across her lap after receiving threats from the Ku Klux Klan.

Carter was the oldest of three sons. His brother Philip Dutarte Carter, reported for Newsweek and served as publisher of the Delta Democrat-Times and Vieux Carre Courier as well as financier of Gambit, a New Orleans weekly. Another brother, Thomas Hennen Carter, killed himself playing Russian roulette.

Hodding Carter III attended Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire before graduating from Greenville High School in 1953. He graduated from Princeton University in 1953 and married Margaret Ainsworth Wolfe. They had four children before divorcing in 1978.

Carter later married Patricia M. Derian, a veteran of the Civil Rights Movement who sought to transform U.S. foreign policy as President Carter's assistant secretary of state for human rights and humanitarian affairs.

After she died in 2016, Carter married again, in November 2019, to journalist and author Patricia Ann OBrien after the two connected during a reunion at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism.
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Voters disaffected by nine years of plodding rule by a coup-making army general are expected to deliver a strong mandate for change in Thailand's general election Sunday. But a predicted victory by the allies of Thaksin Shinawatra, whose ouster by coup 17 years ago plunged the country into prolonged instability, has caused concern for an unhindered democratic transition.

Dissatisfaction with the incumbent prime minister running for reelection, Prayuth Chan-ocha, is high, due in part to a slumping economy and his governments mismanaged response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

But weariness and even anger at the militarys habitual interference in politics is a major factor. Thailand has had more than a dozen coups since becoming a constitutional monarchy in 1932, the last one in 2014 carried out by Prayuth when he was army commander. Prayuths governments slapped down democratic reforms and prosecuted activists.

The main factor could be that people are no longer willing to tolerate the authoritarian government that has been in power for over nine years, and there is a significant wish for change among the people. said Pinkaew Laungaramsri, a professor of anthropology at Chiang Mai University.

Seventy political parties are contesting the 500 seats up for grabs in the House of Representatives: 400 are directly elected, with 100 chosen via a form of proportional representation.

Opposition parties endorsing reforms to rein in the army are running strides ahead in opinion polls. But pitching policies that threaten the status quo alarms the ruling conservative establishment. It has repeatedly shown itself capable of bringing down popularly elected governments it didnt like, through rulings in the royalist courts and army coups.

Prayuth represents one pole of the countrys politics, centered around royalists and the military. Thaksin, the billionaire populist ousted in the 2006 coup, represents the other. The power struggle between Thaksins supporters and his opponents has been fought  sometimes in the street, sometimes at the ballot box  for almost two decades.

Prayuth is trailing badly in opinion polls behind Thaksins 36-year-old daughter, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, who inherited the popularity and political style of her father. She campaigned intensively while heavily pregnant and gave birth to a son last week.

She is the favorite among the opposition Pheu Thai Party's three registered nominees for prime minister. Her party looks set to win a majority of seats in the lower house of Parliament.

Recent history strengthens the appearance of this election as a grudge match between the Shinawatras and their foes. Prayuths 2014 coup unseated a government that had come to power with Yingluck Shinawatra  Paetongtarns aunt, Thaksins sister  as prime minister. And Pheu Thai topped the field in the 2019 vote, only to be denied power when the army-backed Palang Pracharath Party found partners to assemble a coalition government.

But a third major player has injected a sharp ideological aspect into the election. The Move Forward Party, led by 42-year-old businessman Pita Limjaroenrat, has galvanized younger voters and is running a strong second to Pheu Thai in the polls. However, for conservative Thailand, its platform is frighteningly radical: reform of the military and reform of the powerful monarchy, a bold move because the institution has been traditionally treated as sacrosanct.

Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a professor at Bangkoks Chulalongkorn University, points out that while Move Forwards agenda would be considered just progressive in other countries, in the Thai context it is revolutionary.

This election is the most important in contemporary Thai politics because its an election thats going to determine Thailands political future, he says, crediting Move Forward with pushing the frontiers of Thai politics into areas where it needs to go.

Pheu Thai largely shares Move Forwards reformist agenda, but the smaller partys more forthright stand poses a dilemma. Adding Move Forward to a coalition government could antagonize the Senate, a conservative body whose support is crucial to taking power.

Thailands 2017 constitution, adopted under military rule, calls for the prime minister to be selected by a joint vote of the 500-member House and the unelected 250-seat Senate, whose members were appointed by Prayuths junta.

In 2019, the Senate voted as a bloc, unanimously backing Prayuth. This time, a party that wins a clear majority of House seats still might need at least 376, or 75% plus one, of the votes in the 500-member lower house if its prime minister candidate was opposed in the Senate.

If Pheu Thai lands in such a position, it could find coalition partners among parties that win some House seats. It could also nominate one of its other candidates for prime minister, most likely 60-year-old Srettha Thavisin, who is not burdened with the Shinawatra name that is anathema to the Senates conservatives.

Most intriguingly, Pheu Thai could ally with another former general, 77-year-old Prawit Wongsuwan, who has been Prayuths ambitious deputy prime minister and is this years prime minister candidate for the Palang Pracharath Party.

He and his party are polling badly, but his presence in government might reassure some senators. Such an alliance would seem like a deviance from Pheu Thais platform, but could be sold to supporters on the basis that Prawit was not actively involved in plotting the 2014 coup.

Until Sundays votes are counted, Pheu Thais path forward will remain unclear.

Many said that this election reflects the peoples hope for change in politics, but at the same time, the greater the hope for change imposed on this election, the more nervous the conservatives currently holding power become, says Chiang Mai Universitys Pinkaew. We will begin to see the retaliation from the conservative side, from provoking a sense of extreme nationalism to obstructing some parties."

___

Associated Press writer Jintamas Saksornchai contributed to this report.
 Close George Santos pleads not guilty to 13 charges, including wire fraud and theft

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George Santos, the New York Republican congressman who rose to prominence for a string of exaggerations, lies, and irregularities related to his personal background and campaign finances, has pleaded not guilty after being hit with a series of federal charges.

He told the press after exiting a Long Island courthouse on Wednesday that the probe amounted to a witch hunt and that he is planning to run for re-election.

Mr Santos surrendered to the authorities and was taken into custody earlier in the day before being released on a $500,000 bond ahead of his next court appearance on 30 June.

He has been charged with seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, one count of theft of public funds, and two counts of making materially false statements to the House of Representatives.

In the 13-count indictment, unsealed on Wednesday morning, federal prosecutors accused Mr Santos of lying on financial disclosure forms he filed to the House when he became a candidate, first by overstating his income from one job and failing to disclose income from another, and second by lying about his earnings from his company, the Devolder Organization.

Prosecutors also allege that Mr Santos fraudulently used donations to his political campaign for his own benefit, spending thousands of dollars of the solicited funds on personal expenses, including luxury designer clothing and credit card payments.

The indictment alleges that Mr Santos fraud began before his successful run for Congress, accusing him of running an unemployment insurance fraud scheme in which he applied for government assistance in New York while still employed by a Florida-based investment firm.

Taken together, the allegations in the indictment charge Santos with relying on repeated dishonesty and deception to ascend to the halls of Congress and enrich himself, Breon Peace, the US attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a statement.

Utah GOP Senator Mitt Romney led the calls for him to go, saying: He has demonstrated by his untruthfulness that he should not be in the United States Congress  perhaps should not even be on the public streets.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has now said he will not back Mr Santoss proposed re-election bid.
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Newly released audio reveals that Republican Congressman George Santos allegedly attempted to solicit a payment from journalists for appearing in a documentary.

Filmmaker Blake Zeff and a production team were developing a project involving Mr Santos, but decided to scrap the project after they realised the congressman would be expecting "lots" of money, he said.

Mr Zeff recorded conversations between his team and Mr Santos while planning the project. During negotiations, which Mr Zeff shared on MSNBC, Mr Santos allegedly asked what the project will mean for him "monetarily."

"Look, I don't have a number in my head," Mr Santos appears to say in the recordings. Like, the fact that Im having these conversations, these are conversations I never in a million years thought I would be having. But when in Rome, you know, lets have the conversations.

Mr Zeff said later that Mr Santos' request to be paid for participating in the documentary was not illegal, but it was "not common"  and unethical  for a journalist to pay a subject for their involvement.

The Independent has reached out to Mr Santos for comment.

The audio resurfaced shortly after Mr Santos was indicted on 13 federal charges that include fraud, lying about his personal finances, and misuse of campaign finance funds.

Mr Santos pleaded not guilty to the charges on Wednesday after surrendering himself into custody earlier that morning.

He has been charged with seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, one count of theft of public funds, and two counts of making materially false statements to the House of Representatives, according to the DOJ.

After entering his plea, Mr Santos was released on a $500,000 bond. The conditions of his release include random monitoring at his home, submission to pre-trial services, and a requirement that he relinquish his passport. He has also been prohibited from traveling outside of New York state and Washington DC without prior court approval.

His next court date is scheduled for 30 June.

Mr Santos claimed that the charges were "inaccurate" and expressed confidence that he would be found innocent.

Some of his Republican allies seem to lack the same confidence; House Speaker Kevin McCarthy told reporters after the charges dropped that "I'm not gonna support Santos" in his upcoming re-election bid.

"I think he's got some other things to focus on in this life than running for stuff," Mr McCarthy said, according to NBC News.

The House Speaker stopped short of calling for Mr Santos' resignation.
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The leader of Lebanons Hezbollah militant group has denounced as "baseless lies" reports that one of Syrias most well-known drug dealers, who was killed earlier this week in an airstrike near the Jordanian border, was linked to the Iran-backed group.

Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's televised speech on Friday came four days after the rare strike that some Syrian opposition activists claimed was carried out by Jordans air force. The activists and a war monitor said the amphetamine Captagon kingpin killed Monday was among the most wanted by Jordanian authorities for drug smuggling across the border with the backing of a small militia.

Syrian activists say Merhi al-Ramthan, who was killed with his wife and six children, worked closely with militias linked to Syrian President Bashar Assad and Iran-backed Hezbollah.

Western governments estimate that Captagon has generated billions of dollars in revenue for Assad, his Syrian associates and allies. Damascus has denied the accusations.

Had we been making billions of dollars it would have been noticed, Nasrallah joked about the charges. Speaking about linking al-Ramthan to Hezbollah, Nasrallah said these are lies and unjust charges.

Nasrallah added that had it not been for Hezbollahs help, the Lebanese state would not have been able to carry out raids against drug dealers in Lebanon. Hezbollah enjoys wide influence in northeast Lebanon, a region that for decades has been a center of drug production.

Mondays strike in southern Syria that killed al-Ramthan and another that destroyed a factory came a day after Arab governments reinstated Syria to the Arab League following the countrys suspension for its crackdown on protests that ultimately led to a lengthy civil war.

As Arab governments gradually restore ties with Damascus, one of the key topics of discussion has been Syrias illicit drug industry, which has flourished during the ongoing conflict  especially the illegal amphetamine Captagon.

These are baseless lies. For us Captagon and other types of drugs are religiously prohibited, said Nasrallah, a Shiite Muslim cleric and major political figure in Lebanon.

Speaking about reconciliation between Syria and oil-rich Arab countries, Nasrallah said anti-Syrian politicians in Lebanon are disconnected from reality and are working to keep Beiruts relations with Damascus cold.

It is in Lebanons interest to fix relations with Syria, Nasrallah said, adding that the Lebanese government should send a high-ranking delegation to Damascus to discuss ways to address the refugee crisis that has pushed hundreds of thousands of Syrians to flee into in Lebanon.

Sentiments against Syrian refugees have been rising in Lebanon since the countrys massive economic meltdown that started in 2019 that has left three quarters of the Lebanese population living in poverty.

Hezbollah sent thousands of fighters to battle alongside Syrian government forces during the 12-year war, helping tip the balance of power in Assads favor.
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Thailand votes Sunday in an election many see as an opportunity to break free from military-dominated governments that have held power for most of the nation's modern history.

THE BASICS:

Some 52 million eligible voters will choose among candidates from 70 parties to serve a four-year term in the House of Representatives. It will have 400 members directly elected by constituencies and 100 chosen by proportional representation on a nationwide party preference ballot.

Parties that win at least 25 seats are qualified to nominate a prime minister and can name up to three candidates.

The prime minister is selected by a simple majority of a joint vote of the lower house and the Senate, whose 250 members were not elected but appointed by a military government. That means the winning candidate needs at least 376 votes.

THE BACKSTORY:

Political turmoil has persisted since the 2006 army coup ousting Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. The billionaire populist was accused of corruption and abuse of power, but his popularity also rattled the traditional royalist ruling class, who felt the king and their privilege were threatened.

Thaksin went into exile to avoid prison, but his supporters and opponents continued to fight for power, in the streets and at the ballot box. Thaksin proxy parties won elections, but then were kicked out of office due to controversial legal rulings by the highly conservative courts.

A government that came to power with Thaksins sister Yingluck Shinawatra was deposed by a coup in 2014 led by then-army commander Prayuth Chan-ocha. The Thaksin-linked Pheu Thai Party won the most seats in the 2019 election, but a military-backed party cobbled together a coalition government with Prayuth as prime minister.

THE CONTENDERS:

Thaksins daughter, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, is squaring off against Prayuth, who is running for reelection with the United Thai Nation Party.

Opinion polls show Paetongtarn favored to become the next prime minister and her Pheu Thai Party set to grab the lions share of house seats.

The Move Forward Party, led by businessman Pita Limjaroenrat, is surging in the polls, galvanizing especially younger voters as it boldly advocates for reform of the military and monarchy, the latter a sensitive subject since the institution has traditionally been regarded as sacrosanct.

Other parties lag behind but may factor in the wheeling and dealing to assemble a coalition government. They include the Palang Pracharath Party, backing Prayuths Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan as its nominee; and the Bhumjaithai Party, which controls a large bloc of votes in the northeast.

THE ISSUES:

In many respects, the election is seen as referendum on Prayuths last four years in power, during which his government turned back several no-confidence motions but was widely scorned for mishandling the economy and botching Thailand's response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Most voters are probably concerned about the ailing economy, and the major parties all promote populist policies generally involving cash handouts.

Move Forward stands out in pushing ideological issues front and center, attracting voters tired of the anti-democratic means by which Prayuth came to and stayed in power, and by extension, the decades of military interference in politics.

POSSIBLE OUTCOMES:

All signs are that Pheu Thai will capture the greatest number of House seats, but forming the next government will be a challenge. The party has little chance of winning votes from the Senate, which gave unanimous support to Prayuth in 2019.

An alliance with Move Forward would be natural because of their shared enmity for the military, but the smaller partys more radical stance, especially calling for reform of the monarchy, would make other parties reluctant to join.

Pheu Thai could propose one of its alternates as prime minister, playing down the links to the Shinawatra family, which is loathed by royalist conservatives.

It could also back former general Prawit as prime minister in an effort to win the trust and votes of a bloc of otherwise unfriendly senators.

If none of those options work, Prayuth or another figure could emerge as prime minister with a minority government, which would be a recipe for instability.
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Border cities in Texas are bracing for an influx of migrants and asylum seekers as the Trump-era Covid policy Title 42 came to an end last night.

The rule, which was rolled out in March 2020 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), allowed officials to prevent people from entering the country and spreading Covid-19. More than 2.8 million people were turned away from the countrys southern border over the past three years.

Authorities have used Title 42 as a temporary solution to the border crisis but as the Biden administration ends the Covid-19 Public Health Emergency, the rule also comes to an end.

Now, the US is bracing itself for an increase in migrants and asylum seekers with cities like El Paso declaring a state of emergency.

Already, border towns are overwhelmed by the number of people seeking shelters, with many sleeping in the streets.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has deployed additional soldiers to the border in preparation for Title 42s expiration.

With the ending of Title 42 on Thursday, President Biden is laying down the welcome mat to people across the entire world, Governor Abbott said in a press release.

The Texas National Guard is loading Blackhawk helicopters and C-130s and deploying specially trained soldiers for the Texas Tactical Border Force, who will be deployed to hotspots all along the border to help intercept and repel large groups of migrants trying to enter Texas illegally, Mr Abbott added.

President Joe Biden has defended his own decision to send 1,500 troops to the border ahead of Thursday, batting off criticism that he has failed to adequately prepare for Title 42s expiration  his officials claim they have spent more than a year putting plans in place.

Many of the people crossing into the US are expected to travel through Brownsville, north of the town of Matamoros in Mexico, the recent scene of an SUV crash that left eight people dead and around 10 others injured outside of a migrant centre.

What is Title 42?

The policy is part of the CDCs Covid emergency declaration and allows border agents to turn away migrants at land borders in the US without having to take them into custody  in what the CDC said would mitigate the risk of Covid-19.

A week after then-president Donald Trump declared Covid a national emergency, Title 42 rolled out. The policy saw around 2.8 million people turned away at the US border following the outbreak of Covid.

Why is it expiring?

Although the Biden administration has made use of the policy, particularly against a background of an unexpected increase in migration to the US amid issues in Nicaragua and Venezuela, it is allowing it to expire at 11.59pm EST on 11 May.

This is because the Covid public health emergency is expiring  and Title 42 relies on the public health emergency for legitimacy after the CDC concluded in April last year that there was no public health reason to turn away migrants at the southern border.

In anticipating an influx of people to US borders, the Biden administration has attempted to legislate its way out of the situation, introducing a raft of measures it hopes will manage arrivals.
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A California YouTuber deliberately crashed his plane in a mountainous area and then tried to dispose of the wreckage to generate content for his channel, the US Justice Department said on Thursday.

Trevor Daniel Jacob, an influencer from Lompoc in the West Coast, filmed himself parachuting to safety after crashing his plane in December 2021. Now, he has agreed to plead guilty in obstructing an investigation by destroying the crash wreckage.

Mr Jacob is expected to make a court appearance in the coming weeks.

Local media reported that the YouTuber signed a plea agreement which was filed in the US District Court in Los Angeles.

Mr Jacob, a former US Olympic snowboarder turned social media star, stirred controversy after he uploaded a YouTube video titled I Crashed My Plane on Christmas Eve in 2021. He filmed the entire incident using GoPro cameras attached to different parts of the single-engine aircraft and had one camera on his person as well.

He was accused of deliberately crashing his plane in Californias mountainous Los Padres National Forest to get attention on social media.

In the video, Mr Jacob can be seen parachuting out of the plane and filming the aircraft crashing into the foothills of the Los Padres National Forest.

Mr Jacob is also an experienced pilot and a skydiver. He has now agreed to plead guilty to one count of destruction and concealment with the intent to obstruct a federal investigation, which is punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

The Justice Department said after landing, he hiked to the crash site and recovered video from the onboard cameras.

The Justice Department said he later informed federal investigators about the crash, was told he was responsible for preserving the wreckage, agreed to determine its location  and then lied that he did not know the location, Associated Press reported.

Mr Jacob hired a helicopter to go to the crash site to dispose of the plane wreckage, the plea agreement states.

Meanwhile, the influencers pilot license was revoked by the Federal Aviation Administration in 2022.

Additional reporting by agencies
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Two French citizens imprisoned in Iran have been freed, French authorities said on Friday.

Benjamin Briere and Bernard Phelan, who both had been held in a prison in Mashhad, in northeast Iran, were heading to Paris, a statement from Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said.

Free at last, President Emmanuel Macron tweeted. It's a relief.

Macron and the minister thanked all those who worked" for their freedom. Colonna spoke earlier Friday with Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Hossein Amir Abdollahian, the statement said without elaborating.

Briere, 37, was arrested three years ago, in May 2020 while touring, for taking photographs with a drone in an area where cameras were forbidden and asking questions on social media about Irans obligatory Islamic headscarf for women. He was convicted of spying and sentenced to eight years and eight months in prison, then reportedly acquitted this year.

Phelan, 64, was arrested seven months ago while visiting Iran for consulting activities for a tour company, according to French daily newspaper Le Parisien. His arrest last October came as women and men took up the cause against obligatory headscarves following the death in custody of Mahsa Amini. Iran's morality police had arrested her for wearing her headscarf too loosely.

Nearly a half-dozen other French citizens are thought to be held in Iranian prisons. Among them are Cecile Kohler, 37, and Chuck Paris, 69, who were arrested on May 7, 2022, after meeting with protesting Iranian teachers and taking part in an anti-government rally. France identified the two as a teachers union official and her partner on vacation in Iran.

In January 2022, Iranian justice officials ordered the re-imprisonment of Franco-Iranian academic Fariba Adelkhah, who was arrested in 2019. Adelkhah had for a time been allowed to serve a five-year prison sentence under house arrest. She had been accused of propaganda against the Islamic Republics political system and collusion to undermine national security.

Abdelkhah's companion, academic Roland Marchal, was freed in 2020, a year after his arrest.

Other Europeans also remain imprisoned by Iran with occasional releases, widely viewed as part of a cynical and delicate bid for favors.
A Russian woman who left a note on President Putins parents grave saying they had raised a monster and murderer has been handed a two-year suspended sentence.

Irina Tsybaneva, a 60-year-old retiree from St Petersburg, was found guilty of desecrating the Putin family plot in October last year.

Tsybaneva said she was motivated by Russias illegal invasion of Ukraine and referenced the war in her note, which said Mr Putin had caused so much pain and trouble, the Novaya Gazeta Europe news website reported.
Russia has acknowledged that some of its soldiers have fallen back north of the city of Bakhmut in a retreat that the head of the Wagner mercenary group has called a rout.

It is the first admission from Moscows Defence Ministry that Ukraine has been successfully regaining ground around Bakhmut, which Russia has been trying to take control of for months.

It comes on the day Ukraine also announced they had retaken around 2km (1.2 miles) of territory south of Bakhmut during this week.
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With over 8,000km of coastline and dozens of sprawling cities and scenic towns, Spain has long been a favourite destination for Brits looking for everything from sunshine and warmer temperatures to medieval architecture and Mediterranean cuisine.

With 48 Unesco World Heritage Sites (the third most in the world), world famous festivals and the Guinness World Record for the highest number of Blue Flag beaches in the world, Spain is an attractive proposition for holidaymakers the world over.

The Iberian country welcomed over 100 million international visitors in 2022; Brits made up over 15 million of these.

Beach resorts such as Benidorm, Mallorca and Malaga have long been sun-seeker favourites, although cities such as Seville are becoming increasingly popular destinations.

Weve rounded up some of the countrys best holiday destinations along with all the details you need to plan the perfect Spanish getaway.

Madrid

Madrids Gran Via (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

While Spains capital is sometimes overlooked by tourists in search of a weekend break, it possesses much of the same attraction that has made other Spanish cities so popular.

With the almost mile-long shopping street  Gran Via  at its centre, visitors can branch out from here to visit either of its most famous plazas (Puerta del Sol or the 16th century Plaza Mayor), the Royal Palace or the impressive Retiro Park. Major galleries such as the Reina Sofia and the Prado house the works of artists including Picasso and Goya, while foodies may want to head to the Mercado de San Miguel (a glass-fronted indoor food market) or the Sobrino de Botin restaurant (listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest restaurant in the world in continuous operation).

Outside of the centre, some of the citys other districts are deserving of an afternoon spent sipping coffees or window shopping. Chueca and La Latina are best for the former (as well as evening drinks), while Malasana provides independent shops and cafes that are perfect for a slow afternoon.

Best time to go for good weather

For bearable temperatures and less rain, visit in April, May or September, where temperatures average around 19C, 24C and 27C respectively. While you may see some rain during these times, it is far less frequent (or heavy) than in the UK.

Best time to go for cheap prices

The cheapest time to visit is between September and November, when the school term begins and temperatures begin to fall. Flights from London can be picked up for as little as 28 each way on both easyJet and Ryanair.

Best time to go to avoid the crowds

If you want to avoid other tourists (and there can be a lot of them), visit in late September to the end of October.

Barcelona

A view over Barcelona from Park Guell (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Barcelonas Catalan identity has fused with Spanish influences to give the city a distinctly cosmopolitan feel. La Rambla often steals the headlines; although its worth a quick visit, the Paseo de Gracia is a far more elegant street to walk down (though prices do reflect this) and contains Casa Batllo and La Pedrera, two of Gaudis most famous buildings.

Youll likely read about the barrios (neighbourhoods) of El Born, Eixample and the Gothic Quarter. Here, the streets contain a plethora of local bars, restaurants and cafes serving anything from tapas to vegan brunches. For the most authentic local experience, head to Carrer de Blai to find dozens of restaurants serving pintxos (a Basque take on tapas) for 1 each.

Outide of these, make sure to visit Sagrada Familia and Barceloneta. The former is the district containing Gaudis as-yet unfinished cathedral, the citys must-see attraction; Barceloneta is the beach area, where miles of golden sand meet dozens of stylish beach bars and restaurants.

Best time to go for good weather

May, June and September are the best months weather-wise, when temperatures remain high (averages between 22C and 25C) while rainfall stays low.

Best time to go for cheap prices

Mid-September onwards is the cheapest time to visit the city. Flights from London can be bought for as little as 23 each way (Ryanair).

Best time to go to avoid the crowds

With 27 million tourist visits per year, it pays to visit the city out of peak season. Barcelona is less busy between March and April or September and October.

Valencia

Plaza de la Virgen, with Valencia Cathedral in the middle (Getty Images)

Spains third city enjoys a pleasant level of tourism, meaning that many of its best areas remain enjoyably crowd-free. Plaza del Ayuntamiento (Town Hall) is the citys heart, with an easy walking route to the other main plazas and cathedral; navigating the city centre is both easy and quick.

Continue north to enter El Carmen, a neighbourhood full of independent cafes, shops and excellent restaurants. Alternatively, head south to Russafa, a lively neighbourhood that is popular with young people. It offers the same level of quality as Carmen but with a more relaxed atmosphere.

Other attractions include the City of Arts and Sciences, Europes largest fresh produce market (El Mercat) and the beaches at Malvarrosa and Patacona.

Best time to go for good weather

June and September are again the best months to visit for good weather, with average temperatures around 27C and almost no days of rain.

Best time to go for cheap prices

September is the cheapest month, with Ryanair offering flights for as little as 19.99.

Best time to go to avoid the crowds

November is the quietest month, but is still worth a visit due to temperatures staying around 17C.

Read more on Europe travel:

Picos de Europa

Part of the Lakes of Covadonga in Asturias (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Spread across three regions (Cantabria, Asturias and Leon) and 11 villages, the Picos de Europa National Park is named after the 20km mountain range that runs though it. Far less known (internationally, anyway) than Spanish cities and coastal areas, this area of northern Spain is best reached through initial travel to Bilbao or Santander.

Popular with campers, the only inhabited natural reserve in the country offers everything from quaint villages to beautiful lakes and a variety of wildlife, including brown bears and Iberian wolves. Be sure to visit the Lakes of Covadonga (pictured above), while the towns of Potes and Cangas de Onis offer an authentic experience of the Spanish countryside.

Best time to go for good weather

July and August are the driest and warmest months, with temperatures around 25C.

Best time to go for cheap prices

The cheapest time to visit is in May, where flights to nearby airports (such as Bilbao) are available for as little as 22. At this point in the year, accommodation is also very affordable.

Best time to go to avoid the crowds

May and September are the best times to visit, as they are either side of high season for Spanish tourists and campers.

San Sebastian

A view of San Sebastian from the top of Monte Igueldo (Getty Images)

A beachfront city that was popular with Spanish royalty in the 19th and 20th centuries, San Sebastian (known as Donostia in Basque) stands out as Spains true foodie capital. The city boasts the most Michelin-starred restaurants per capita of any city in Europe (and the second most in the world after Kyoto), but its real standout is the extensive network of pintxo bars within the streets of its Old Town. Serving small bites consisting of fish, meat or cheese on top of baguette bread, these are a smaller, more affordable Basque twist on tapas.

Away from the town, head to La Concha beach (the citys main one) for relaxation and surfing, or Palacio Miramar for an opportunity to experience a royal residence. If you have more time, a quick trip to neighbouring Bilbao is both easy and worthwhile for the Guggenheim alone.

Best time to go for good weather

August brings average temperatures of 25C and the least rainy days, although rain is far more common here than in other Spanish cities.

Best time to go for cheap prices

Direct flights are currently not available from the UK, but the drive from Bilbao airport is around an hour. May and September are the cheapest times to fly, although hotels will likely be cheapest when the weather turns (around late October to November).

Best time to go to avoid the crowds

While the crowds dissipate in the winter months, for a happy medium visit in mid-September, when most of the tourists are gone but good weather remains.

Mallorca

A view over Puerto de Soller, a town in northern Mallorca (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

A long-time British favourite, thousands of Brits visit the Balearic Island of Mallorca to see its picturesque towns, beaches and bays. Palma, the Balearic capital, hosts an eclectic mixture of Gothic and Art Nouveau architecture, but the islands real selling point is its sandy beaches lapped by bright turquoise sea.

Towns such as Pollenca, Soller and Andraxt (and their respective separate-yet-nearby ports) have been largely unspoilt by mass tourism and offer both stunning architecture in their respective old towns and amazing views of the water.

Visitors are also spoilt for choice for beaches and coves. Playa de Alcudia, Cala Varques and Es Trenc are among some of the best.

Best time to go for good weather

July and August are the hottest months. June and September are slightly cooler (with average highs of 28C) and have a similarly low amount of rainfall and high number of sunshine hours.

Best time to go for cheap prices

The winter months remain expensive as Brits look to get away from the cols and wet. Late August and early October are the cheapest times to visit, with prices starting as low as 28 each way on easyJet.

Best time to go to avoid the crowds

Similarly, late August and October are the best times to visit to avoid domestic tourists and families on school holidays.

Read more of our reviews of the best Spanish hotels
Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan has spoken out after a court ordered his release and that he not be rearrested for at least two weeks.

Pakistans Supreme Court described his arrest this week as invalid and unlawful" after it prompted outrage across the country.

It looks like we have martial law here, Khan told media after the hearing, dubbing it 'the law of the jungle'.

"I was sitting in the high court. They had no reason to arrest me. I was abducted", he adds in another clip.

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An Arkansas house has been left split in half after a 600-year-old tree fell onto the property after heavy rains.

The incident took place in the city of Conway, which has had a very wet first-half of the year so far.

The Conway Fire Department rescued the resident, who wasnt injured in the incident, despite the great oak tree crashing right through the structure of the house.

Warnings were issued by the National Weather Service, that flash flooding could take place on Thursday (11 May).

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More than three and a half years after her children were brutally killed and buried, Lori Vallow is set to face life in prison for their murders.

What began as a small-town search for two missing children in the fall of 2019 quickly exploded into an unimaginable saga with too many twists and turns to count, including the exposure of at least five mystery deaths, a doomsday cult preparing for the end of times and a joyful beach wedding between that cults two recently-widowed leaders. The world watched as Loris portrait transformed from devoted mother-of-three to accused child abandoner to murder suspect  and now, convicted killer.

A jury in Boise, Idaho, took just seven hours of deliberation to find the so-called cult mom guilty of the murders of her 16-year-old daughter Tylee Ryan and seven-year-old son Joshua JJ Vallow on Friday (12 May). She was also convicted of conspiracy to murder her fifth husband Chad Daybells first wife, Tammy.

For all of the twists and turns that preceded it in Loris spectacular story, this verdict comes as little surprise given that two days prior, her attorneys declined to call any witnesses in her defense.

Having followed this case in near-obsessive detail since police first appealed for the publics help in finding Tylee and JJ in December 2019, my jaw dropped when the defense rested without a case. Why on earth would someone decline to defend themself at a murder trial, especially when their own children are the victims? But looking back over the case as a whole, I realized the move isnt surprising at all.

When Loris children vanished in September 2019, she alerted no one to their disappearance as she continued collecting their Social Security and life insurance benefits. Just weeks later, Lori glowed on a Hawaiian beach at her wedding to Chad, whose own wife had died  in an apparent murder conspiracy  17 days prior.

When police in Rexburg, Idaho, came knocking for a welfare check at the request of JJs grandparents two months after the children were last seen, Lori dismissed their concern before going on the run the following day.

When Lori and Chad were tracked down to Hawaii in January 2020, the sunkissed couple kept silent with their eyes trained on their flip-flops as a news crew confronted them in a parking lot asking where JJ and Tylee were.

When Lori was extradited back to Idaho on charges for failing to meet a court order to present the children before a judge, she chose jail over revealing what she knew about the kids whereabouts while vaguely saying they were safe and happy.

After her two childrens bodies were recovered from Chads property, she still gave no public explanation or pronouncement of innocence, aside from not guilty pleas entered before the court. Even when Loris loved ones, including her eldest son, sister and longtime best friend, made one-on-one pleas for the truth, she brushed them off.

Across the three years and eight months from when the children were killed and buried in the Daybell familys pet cemetery and when her trial began, Lori never made an obvious effort to convince anyone she wasnt involved. When her final chance to do so came in court this week, she again chose not to.

Instead, the defense gambled on the possibility jurors wouldnt accept the case presented by prosecutors through five weeks of testimony from 60 witnesses.

In a powerful closing statement, the prosecution seized upon a string of crucial questions unfurled over the course of the cult mom saga. Why didnt Lori report the children missing? Why did she collect thousands of dollars in benefits meant for them? Why was she on a beach in Hawaii during a multi-state search? Why did she repeatedly claim they were safe as their bodies decomposed in the ground?

The answer to all of these questions, prosecutors said, is simple: because she killed her children, motivated by money, sex and power.

In the defense closing, Loris attorneys sought to shift blame onto Chad, savagely painting him as a controlling force peddling nutty religious beliefs. They urged the jury to take a close look at all of the evidence and find that it leads back to him, not Lori.

While the idea that Chad bears all of the responsibility  for the murders and for Loris actions around them  is indeed compelling, it leaves one more crucial question: Why did we never hear this from Lori?

In the end, an hour-long closing argument wasnt enough to create reasonable doubt that Lori killed her children. In staying silent from beginning to end, Lori Vallow sealed her own fate.
Tech giant Apple is upbeat about winning a long-running case with the EU over a disputed 13bn back-tax bill to Ireland.

Representatives for the US company, which has operated in Ireland for over 40 years, believe there are no legal issues left to clarify and hope the blocs highest court will eventually rule in their favour.

A European Court of Justice hearing on May 23 marks the start of the final episode in a seven-year saga, where Apple and Ireland will face off against the European Commission.

The 13bn in disputed taxes has been held in escrow for the last five years  earning and losing interest  after the Commission found that Apple enjoyed unfair tax advantages in Ireland over an 11-year period in the early 2000s, amounting to illegal state aid.

Ireland and Apple appealed that ruling and won. In 2020, the EUs second-highest court, the General Court, said the Commission had failed to prove its case.

But the Commission appealed that decision. That appeal is kicking off on May 23 and could take up to a year to conclude.

The original Commission finding, dating from 2016, was one of several novel tax cases taken by the bloc under its state aid rules, and included decisions against companies operating in Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Belgium.

Last year carmaker Fiat Chrysler, with Irelands backing, succeeded in overturning an EU order to pay 30m in back taxes to Luxembourg.

Since the Apple case was first launched, a global corporation tax deal has been agreed in principle, which would see the largest firms pay at least 15pc tax on their global profits, and would see a portion of Irelands multinational taxing rights shift to other countries.
Consumers will have their access to cash protected under new laws that Finance Minister Michael McGrath confirmed this week are still on track to be introduced next year.

A key element of the new legislation will be the oversight of ATM machines that arent operated by banks.

A retail banking review published late last year made a number of recommendations for the sector as lenders including Ulster Bank and KBC prepared to exit the Irish market.

Among the recommendations of the review was that the Department of Finance should prepare a heads of bill this year to require ATM operators to be authorised and supervised by the Central Bank.

Mr McGrath was asked this week by Green Party TD Neasa Hourigan regarding the oversight of independently-owned ATMs.

Independent operators control about 60pc of the ATMs in the country, said Mr McGrath in response to her written parliamentary question. Those operators are also known as Independent ATM Deployers (IADs).

He said that his officials are currently preparing the heads of bill and will bring it to Government before the end of the year and that approval will then be sought to draft the bill.

After that, it will be submitted for pre-legislative scrutiny to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and the Taoiseach.

In particular, in relation to IADs, the Department is closely working with the Central Bank of Ireland and the relevant industry players to determine the most appropriate means of authorising and supervising ATM operators, said Mr McGrath. This will be a key element of the access to cash legislation.

The banking reviews publication also came just months after AIB, in which the State is the majority shareholder, was forced to backtrack on a decision to remove ATMs and scrap cash services at 70 branches.

While the Central Bank conceded last year that the use of cash in Ireland has slumped to about two-thirds of its pre-pandemic levels, it remains an important means and choice of payment.

The Department is closely working with the Central Bank of Ireland and the relevant industry players

However, despite the importance of cash to many consumers, businesses can still legally refuse cash payments as long as customers are notified in advance of attempting to make a purchase that cash will not be accepted.

That legal position is at odds with the Central Banks position that cash plays a vital role in ensuring the financial services needs of the vulnerable, those without bank accounts and those who are not digitally active, are met.

In late 2020, Bank of Ireland sold 700 non-branch ATMs to Euronet. Also that year, AIB sold a network of more than 500 non-branch ATMs to Brinks. In 2018, Ulster Bank sold cash machines it operated under the EasyCash brand in 400 stores in Ireland to Euronet.

The banking review also recommended last year that the Department of Finance hands the Central Bank the power to protect the resilience of the cash system in Ireland, including the authorisation and supervision of cash-in-transit firms.
Irish Distillers, the producer of Jameson Irish whiskey, has ceased exports of its products to Russia following a public backlash.

News that Jameson was being exported to Russia was first broken by the Sunday Independent last month, leading to a global backlash against the brands French owner, alcohol conglomerate Pernod Ricard.

In Sweden, Pernod Ricard also halted exports of its Absolut Vodka brand to Russia following a boycott from restaurant groups.

In a statement, Irish Distillers, which is owned by Pernod Ricard, said it had ceased all exports to Russia as of the end of April. Pernod Ricard had previously confirmed to the Sunday Independent that it was about to stop the export of its international brands to Russia.

The company also said it will cease the distribution of its portfolio in Russia, a process that it said could take some months to complete. Irish Distillers is assessing how to adapt the local organisation in light of these decisions, while fully complying with all local legal regulations. 

Since the outbreak of the war, we have utterly condemned the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, Irish Distillers said.

We have stood and stand firmly with the people of Ukraine, providing assistance to our local team members, including direct financial assistance, psychological support, accommodation for some employees and their families in neighbouring countries and employment outside Ukraine for those who required it.

The decision to halt exports of Jameson to Russia is a shift from Pernod Ricard.

In late April, Pernod Ricard said it would not stop exporting the whiskey brand to Russia despite halting exports of Absolut to the country. The company said part of the reason was the weight of Jameson in its overall activities in the Russian market was of such importance that to cease would threaten the economic viability of the business in Russia.

Pernod Ricard said it needed to protect its staff in Russia by keeping the operation viable via the sales of brands like Jameson. This is due to the threat of a charge of intentional bankruptcy and the attendant risk of criminal liability by the local authorities

The decision sparked a backlash from Irish politicians.

Earlier this week, Fine Gael senator Garret Ahearn said Pernod Ricard should be added to the EU sanctions list.
Firm will add 30 jobs in Ireland this year

Shein Ireland Country Manager Shiwei Yu, Director for Europe Cui He, Global Head of Government Relations Leonard Lin, Enterprise Trade and Employment Minister Simon Coveney TD and IDA Head of Growth Markets Eileen Sharpe

An Irish MEP has expressed concerns about online fashion behemoth Sheins plans to expand in Ireland.

The Chinese fast-fashion retailer aims to add 30 jobs in Ireland this year after opening a new regional hub in Dublin.

The Dublin city centre office will become the firms Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) headquarters and host Sheins strategic IT hub for the region.

Shein said it was looking to increase staff numbers in Ireland beyond 30 as the company grows.

But Fianna Fail MEP Barry Andrews said he was deeply concerned about Sheins environmental and human rights record, and said the company has questions to answer about how it can sell clothing at such a discount.

Obviously I welcome investment into Dublin and Ireland  but at what cost? he said.

Shein has been consistently criticised for its promotion of ultra-fast fashion and for its unwillingness to share details about its manufacturing practices.

Shein is facing dozens of US lawsuits from other clothing designers over copyright infringement.

Last year a Reuters investigation found the retailer had not made mandatory UK public disclosures about working conditions along its supply chain.

And following a recent Channel 4 investigation, Shein announced a $15m (14m) investment in its supplier factories after it admitted that working hours at two sites breached local regulations.

On its website, Shein says it does not use child or forced labour and that it produces limited quantities of new lines to help reduce waste.

Mr Andrews said the Irish Government should "encourage Shein to explain their business model and ensure that consumers have more transparency about what they are buying  particularly as the firm plans to host a pop-up shop from Friday in Opera Lane in Cork.

"Human rights and environmental abuses should not be allowed in our shopping baskets, he said.

Leonard Lin, Sheins global head of government relations, said the retailer was looking forward to contributing to the growth of the local economies and to supporting local communities in the EMEA region.

Sheins IDA Ireland-supported move was welcomed by Enterprise Minister Simon Coveney, who said it was a vote of confidence in Ireland and "highlights that we have the environment to attract FDI companies to our shores.

The news comes after tech firms led a 21pc jump in foreign direct investment (FDI) projects in Ireland last year, according to consultants EY.

It puts Ireland in 10th place in Europe, the same position it held last year, according to EYs latest FDI attractiveness survey.

Ireland attracted 184 new or expansion projects last year, up from 152 in 2021, with almost half located outside Dublin.

The share of software and IT services in that number was 31pc, with business and professional services at 27pc. Medical devices and pharmaceutical firms were the next-largest investors.
40,000 claims made under scheme as buyers look beyond capital

Soaring home prices have pushed many buyers out of the capital. Photo: Bloomberg

Hundreds of millions of euros in tax relief given to first-time buyers is helping to drive Dublins urban sprawl deeper into neighbouring counties.

Tens of thousands of first-time buyers have already received 786m in tax relief under the governments Help-to-Buy scheme, with another 13m in pending claims in the system.

A total of almost 40,000 claims have been made.

Soaring home prices have pushed many buyers out of areas where they might have hoped to settle down.

A supply constraint has played a key part in pushing prices higher.

One housing expert said that a large number of apartments are being built in Dublin when people actually want houses so they can remain in their localities and raise families there.

Finance Minister Michael McGrath. Photo: Frank McGrath

In the Celtic Tiger years, rampant property prices prompted many home hunters to settle in counties neighbouring Dublin, with the tentacles of the capitals commuter belt stretching far beyond its borders.

This time around, were building all the wrong types of housing in the right locations

The Help-to-Buy scheme was introduced in 2016. It originally allowed eligible applicants to claw back income tax and deposit interest retention tax over the previous four years, capped at 20,000. It was limited to 5pc of the purchase value, up to a maximum home value of 400,000.

The scandal of vulture funds treatment of mortgage holders

The scheme was altered in 2020 to become the Enhanced Help-to-Buy Scheme. That set the eligible home price limit at 500,000.

Applicants can claim the lesser of 30,000, 10pc of the purchase price of a new-build property, or 10pc of the approved valuation of a self-build property.

The current scheme expires at the end of 2024.

Lorcan Sirr, senior lecturer and housing policy analyst at Technological University Dublin

Figures from Finance Minister Michael McGrath this week show that since 2020 to the end of last month, there have been 2,800 claims for enhanced relief under the help-to-buy scheme for properties in Dublin, but 2,570 in Co Kildare and 1,850 in Co Meath.

In Cork, the figure is 2,560, while its 910 in Galway.

Dr Lorcan Sirr, a senior lecturer and housing policy analyst at Technological University Dublin, said that while the help-to-buy scheme is not in itself the root cause of encouraging continuing urban sprawl, it is playing a role in the continuing problem.

Its not the cause of the problem, but its definitely not going to solve the problem either, he said.

Back in the Celtic Tiger years, we were building all the right types of houses in the wrong locations, added Dr Sirr, pointing out how the Dublin commuter belt sprawl accelerated during the period.

This time around, were building all the wrong types of housing in the right locations, he said. Small one and two-bed apartments for rent are not what the vast majority of the population needs or wants and theyre voting with their feet.

Dr Sirr said the latest figures, coupled with existing data, show how Dublin is continuing to spill out into neighbouring counties.

He said that between 2017 and last year, the number of first-time buyer transactions for new homes in Dublin slumped 71pc.

In Kildare, it jumped 273pc and in the mid-east, including Louth, it rose 212pc.
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When you think about it, thereve been remarkably few films made about the Troubles: perhaps all concerned have too much to feel ashamed about.

Thereve been some decent ones  The Crying Game, In The Name Of The Father, and the more recent thriller 71  but most have failed to capture the grungy and nihilistic reality of that dirty, pointless war.

Charles and Tom Guards Dead Shot wont be troubling the scorers come awards time, but does manage to compellingly recreate the febrile tensions of the IRAs mid-70s bombing campaign in London.

Dead Shot Official Trailer

The screenplay, by Belfast writer Ronan Bennett, may have been inspired by the exploits of the Balcombe Street gang, a daring Provo unit that carried out the Guildford pub bombings, as well as attacks on Harrods and the Old Bailey.

They even lobbed hand grenades into Sir Edward Heaths private club. The IRA reckoned that one bomb in London was worth 30 in Belfast, a point of view vindicated by the panic they caused.

"Dead Shot does not detain itself with matters philosophical, not does it offer the viewer much in the way of geopolitical context: its a thriller, pure and simple

What any of it achieved is quite another matter, but Dead Shot does not detain itself with matters philosophical, not does it offer the viewer much in the way of geopolitical context: its a thriller, pure and simple, and a pretty efficient one at that.

Active serviceman Micheal (Colin Morgan) is tired of the fight: his wife Carol (Mairead Tyers) is pregnant and hes hoping his immediate superior, Keenan (Tom Vaughan-Lawlor), will allow him to retire.

Everything changes, however, when Micheal and Carol get caught up in an SAS ambush, and a soldier, Henry Tempest (Aml Ameen), mistakes her for a terrorist, shooting her dead.

While Henry is spirited back to London and recruited by an MI5 handler (Mark Strong) whos forming an anti-terrorist hit squad, a devastated Micheal is hell-bent on revenge.

Keenan is prepared to give him some, and sends him to London to join a unit thats planning a major bombing campaign. If Micheal agrees to participate in these attacks, Keenan will give him the name and location of the man who killed his wife.

Micheals handler in London is a young Englishwoman (Felicity Jones) with a mysterious connection with Keenan: but the unit he joins are hardcore and merciless, packing their bombs with shrapnel, intent on causing carnage. Were hitting Paddington, their leader announces. You mean the station? Micheal asks.

No, the f***ing bear. Its not what Micheal signed up for and as he zones in on Harrys location, he will face a moral quandary.

Felicity Jones plays a ruthless IRA handler in Dead Shot

Morgan is very good as Micheal, a young man drawn into the fight by the atrocities of the early 70s and now unable to find his way out.

Vaughan-Lawlors eyes pop as Keenan, the kind of sociopath that prospers in societal breakdowns. And Strong is wonderfully odious as the shady MI5 handler: as he accompanies Tempest up to north London to wipe out an IRA cell, he remarks jauntily, you know Ive never been to Kentish Town.

At one point he announces to two soldiers, can I have the room?, using an odious, passive-aggressive 21st century American expression that would have been unheard of at the time. But its a joke: You mean this room? one of the soldiers asks, who is told to f**k off.

This is a spare and smart screenplay, aware of the near impossibility of recreating the mood and feel of mid-1970s Belfast, or London, but prepared to give it a good old try.

As we mentioned, theres not much context for all this and viewers under the age of 40 might wonder what the IRAs problem was in the first place.

But Dead Shot is good on period detail, and provides hints of the deep tensions underlying the conflict.

When Michael arrives in the UK by train, a plainclothes policeman refers to him as Mick, an endearment I remember from my time in London.

And when hes going into a pub, we catch a glimpse of a sign on the door, which reads No dogs, no blacks, no Irish.

Rating: Three stars

Dead Shot is a Sky Original film, coming to Sky Cinema May 12th 2023.
Robin Talbot: We need to make more silage for next winter  so we are re-seeding some of the tillage fields
The Stroud Landscape Project is transforming 21,000 hectares by creating havens for wildlife that are more resilient to climate change. Photo: Ross Hoddinott/National Trust/PA Wire   PA

A herd of 100 cattle are being used to boost nature across several thousand hectares of the Cotswolds. The National Trust is using the Belted Galloway herd for conservation grazing in Gloucestershire's Stroud Valleys.PA Photo.   PA

A herd of 100 cattle is being used to boost nature across several thousand hectares of the Cotswolds.

The UKs National Trust is using the belted Galloway herd for conservation grazing in Gloucestershire's Stroud Valleys.

The Stroud Landscape Project is transforming 21,000 hectares by creating havens for wildlife that are more resilient to climate change.

The project, which started in 2017, has already seen wildflower grasslands flourishing, ancient woodlands being restored, wildlife corridors established and lost species reintroduced such as the large blue butterfly.

Over the next three years, more havens for wildlife will be created and restored across 320 hectares, and this autumn 1,140 metres of new hedgerows will be planted at Boundary Court and on the Ebworth estate.

The charity is focusing on restoring the grasslands in the Cotswolds and is using the herd of belted Galloway for this.

Belted Galloways, or "Belties" as they are affectionately called, are experts at grazing steep slopes and devouring grasses many other animals would find less palatable.

With their help, delicate plants and herbs such as marjoram, thyme, vetches and rare orchids are thriving, along with a wide range of wildlife such as Duke of Burgundy butterflies and greater horseshoe bats.

Belties graze and manage the grasslands, and depending on the wildlife to be encouraged they can leave the grass long or short - acting as natural lawnmowers, and also fertilisers.

Joining the herd this spring is a young pedigree belted Galloway bull called Charlie, who is red and white as opposed to the more familiar "humbug" striped black and white Beltie.

Studies are revealing how this simple change can have a positive long-term impact on the herd and the environment.

Matt Watts, National Trust farm manager, said: "We're already seeing hotter, drier summers as a result of climate change.

"There have been a lot of studies on heat stress and coat colour in livestock, with lighter coated cattle proven to cope better with the heat, so this year we took the decision to buy a red and white bull.

"Charlie is settling in well and we'll see his first offspring next spring.

"In the future we hope to have a future-proof conservation grazing herd, and one that is key to the way we managed and maintain this wilder, species-rich landscape."

Some of the herd have now moved into Woodchester Park to support the colony of rare greater and lesser horseshoe bats whose summer roost is in Woodchester Mansion.

Grazing Belties not only encourage more natural grassland but also more dung beetles and insects, which are a vital source of food for the bats.

Mark Funnell, from the National Trust, added: "This is exactly the type of project that we need to see more of across the country.

"Nature is in trouble. We need nature - and nature needs us.

"We know that by working with others it is far easier to scale up our fight to tackle the nature crisis - and it is through projects like these that you can often see quick results that not only benefit nature - but people too.

"We have big ambitions along with many in the sector to do all that we can to reverse nature decline so that we can see vast improvements by 2030."
The completion of a wave of new wind farms would be a significant step towards Ireland meeting its goal of getting 80pc of its power from renewables and halving its greenhouse gas emissions by the end of the decade. Photo: Getty   AFP via Getty Images

Ireland's government is embarking on an ambitious effort to build up the country's offshore resources, with the ruling coalition having made climate a top priority and Russia's invasion of Ukraine driving up energy prices. Photo: Getty Images   dpa/picture alliance via Getty I

By 2050, the country is aiming to have at least 37 gigawatts of installed capacity, which would enable it to secure its energy independence, meet climate goals and, as Kilcline put it, make Ireland "the Saudi Arabia of offshore wind for Europe. Photo by Ian Forsyth/Getty   Getty Images

On the morning of October 19, a storm swept across the Irish Sea. Intense rains battered the country with flash flooding, and just over 100 miles south of the Irish east coast, a bolt of lightning struck one of the seven turbines at the Arklow Bank wind farm, setting it ablaze.

Onlookers watched as dark smoke billowed from the towering turbine and bright red flames licked its still-swirling blades. Then it went offline. In one fell swoop, a seventh of Ireland's offshore wind generation was knocked out of production.

For decades, Ireland has had big plans to exploit the incredible natural advantage afforded by its position on the edge of Europe. While it is one of the of the smallest members the EU, it has a maritime area seven times the size of its landmass, giving it unique access to the powerful Atlantic winds that rap the Irish coast.

"The energy that you can capture from wind farms off the west coast of Ireland is significantly more than the energy you can potentially capture elsewhere in Europe," said Barry Kilcline, Ireland head of offshore at SSE Renewables.

When Arklow Bank went live 19 years ago it was intended to be a template for future wind farms. Yet no new farms have been built in Ireland since it was completed, and the country's electricity grid is long overdue for an upgrade.

Ireland's government is embarking on an ambitious effort to build up the country's offshore resources, with the ruling coalition having made climate a top priority and Russia's invasion of Ukraine driving up energy prices. Photo: Getty Images   dpa/picture alliance via Getty I

There are many theories as to why the sector failed to take off - some point to a lack of enthusiasm, others, including Energy Minister Eamon Ryan, have observed that onshore wind cost "half if not a third" of the price of offshore in 2004. Whatever the reason, the Irish government for years failed to develop any substantial policy around offshore development.

Now, Ireland's government is embarking on an ambitious effort to build up the country's offshore resources, with the ruling coalition having made climate a top priority and Russia's invasion of Ukraine driving up energy prices. By 2050, the country is aiming to have at least 37 gigawatts of installed capacity, which would enable it to secure its energy independence, meet climate goals and, as Kilcline put it, make Ireland "the Saudi Arabia of offshore wind for Europe."

If it continues to wait, the stakes are high. The country would blow a hole in its climate targets, jeopardize its tilt toward energy independence, squander a valuable potential revenue stream and watch while thousands of jobs are created elsewhere.

Next Steps

Ireland launched its first offshore wind auction in April, soliciting bids from seven major energy industry players to build new state-subsidized wind farms mostly along the eastern coast. The process will be completed in early May and the companies responsible for the successful proposals will be notified by Ireland's energy planning authority in mid-June.

The completion of a wave of new wind farms would be a significant step towards Ireland meeting its goal of getting 80pc of its power from renewables and halving its greenhouse gas emissions by the end of the decade.

The seven gigawatts of energy that Ireland plans to capture by 2030 through the initial batch of wind farms is expected to power 4.7m homes per year - more than twice the country's 2.1m - and represents less than a tenth of what experts say could be the total amount it will eventually generate.

These prospects have caught the eye of many of the biggest players in the green energy sector.

The completion of a wave of new wind farms would be a significant step towards Ireland meeting its goal of getting 80pc of its power from renewables and halving its greenhouse gas emissions by the end of the decade. Photo: Getty   AFP via Getty Images

Leading Norwegian and French renewable energy developers Fred Olsen Seawind and EDF Renewables have teamed up for a proposed farm off the eastern coast. Sydney-based Macquarie Group, through its dedicated offshore wind company Corio Generation, also has plans to develop in Irish waters, as do Dublin-based Mainstream Renewable Power and SSE Renewables, among others. Orsted, the Danish multinational power company, has registered several Irish companies linked to possible wind farms.

There is "massive opportunity" in Ireland, said TJ Hunter, Orsted Ireland and UK Senior Director.

Red Tape

For now, plans remain fragile, if intact. Developing a robust green sector relies on a delicate ballet of generating investor confidence and financial incentives while maintaining a consistent regulatory framework. Although Ireland has recently passed and proposed further planning laws and established a new national agency to regulate its waters, it is still struggling to get that mix right.

The country's planning system remains in chaos, with projects facing inordinately long timelines for decisions to be issued. Critics have questioned whether the state agency responsible for assessing novel offshore projects has the expertise to do so. The grid also needs significant capacity upgrades, as it is, according to Orsted's Hunter, only "marginally fit for purpose."

The recent departures of two high-profile private-sector partners has further dampened optimism around offshore. Norwegian state-owned multinational Equinor pulled out of a wind farm project off the southwest coast of Ireland in late 2021 and Shell followed last year. While neither explained their decision, both were regarded as having grown tired with the slow pace of progress.

Then, in March, the Department of Energy announced that going forward the state, rather than developers, would choose the location of future wind farms, creating confusion about whether existing projects would be allowed to proceed.

To developers and potential investors, this news landed like a bomb. The move was a "radical change," according to industry group Wind Energy Ireland, that would "undermine" efforts to achieve Ireland's offshore targets. Kilcline, the SSE Renewables Ireland head of offshore, said the "U-turn" had put Ireland at a "significant disadvantage" by sowing doubt about the policy framework in which companies were operating.

"We've done various environmental surveys, we've done site investigations, we've spent several million euros," Kilcline said of one project, the Setanta Wind Park off Ireland's northeast coast. "And now, we're in a position where we don't know whether that project is going to progress or not."

Angela Larkin, Ireland project lead at Ocean Winds, which is currently developing two Irish offshore projects, echoed this sentiment. "It's really important that they accelerate the publishing of those [locations]," she said.

For Ireland to pull ahead, said Orsted's Hunter, policy, planning and grid development capacity had to be aligned.

"We just need to stitch them together, I can't overemphasize that point," he said. "There needs to be coherence in these; they need to work together to move in the right direction so that one doesn't trip up the other and they need to give investors confidence and certainty."

Winds of Change

In Arklow, the seaside south-eastern town after which Ireland's sole wind farm is named, there's hope that SSE will win its bid to build a second, larger wind farm in the area.

Standing at the Wicklow Sailing Club as darkness fell and wind and rain swept across the coast, resident John Sinnott said it was "nice to see something progressive happening" in the area for a change, and speculated about whether the wind farm would spur an economic revival in the area, which has been hit hard by factory closures.

Tom McConnell, another local, said he was supportive of the project. But even if he did harbor reservations, he added, "it's an important strategic development. We need electricity and especially with what has happened in Ukraine last year and the price of gas."

Polls suggest that these views are broadly shared. An industry-commissioned survey published in February found that 79pc of people supported offshore wind energy in Ireland, and less than a third felt that the country was doing enough to capitalize on the sector's potential.

Speaking last month at a wind energy summit in the Belgian city of Ostend, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar described going all in on offshore as "a huge economic opportunity" that would "pay for itself"  albeit after billions of initial investment is committed. A recent analysis by Scottish consultancy firm Biggar Economics found that in the Atlantic region alone, the offshore wind sector could support between 2,000 and 5,300 jobs and generate between 170m and 400m in gross value added within the next 14 years.

Now, the government now needs to fully convince foreign investors.

Ryan, the energy minister, acknowledges that the system isn't perfect, but he remains confident.

"It is the peace project of our time, rolling out renewables," Ryan said. "So, I'm just determined to go for this and do our very best to deliver it."
US climate envoy John Kerry speaks during a joint China and US statement at COP26. Photo: Reuters/Jeff J Mitchell   REUTERS

Cutting greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural production is essential to the global fight against climate change, US climate envoy John Kerry has said.

Agriculture generates 10-12pc of greenhouse gas emissions globally, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The food system as a whole - including packaging, transportation, and waste management - generates a third of global emissions, according to a 2021 study published in the academic journal Nature Food.

"We can't get to net zero, we don't get this job done, unless agriculture is front and center as part of the solution," Kerry, the special presidential envoy for climate, said at the AIM for Climate summit in Washington.

He said that without cutting agricultural emissions, the world may not reach its goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius - which scientists say must be achieved to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.

President Joe Biden has pledged the U.S. will reach net zero emissions by 2050.

Rising global temperatures have severe implications for malnutrition and food security worldwide, Kerry said.

"A 2-degree future could result in another 600 million people not getting enough to eat," said the former U.S. secretary of state. "You can't continue to warm the planet while also expecting to feed it."

AIM for Climate is a global initiative, co-led by the U.S. and the United Arab Emirates, to drive investment in farming practices that cut the sector's emissions.

At this week's summit, the U.S. and the UAE announced $13 billion in funding for the initiative from global governments and the private sector.

The UAE will host COP28 at the end of this year and agriculture emissions are expected to be a major theme of the global climate summit. UAE climate minister Mariam Almheiri pledged at the AIM summit on Monday that COP28 will be "a game-changer for food systems."
"To see baby lambs lying in a pool of blood beside their mother's dead carcass, crying for milk... It would affect anyone, says Christopher Rock, who lost the 25 ewes and 13 lambs.
Tanaiste Micheal Martin has confirmed the Mr Phelan has been released.

Bernard Phelan has been detained in Iran since October last year.

The family of Irishman Bernard Phelan have spoken of their huge relief after he was released from an Iranian prison where he had been detained since last October.
Turbines off the coast could provide 25pc of our electricity needs by 2030

Friends of the Earth said the plans were vital in the move away from fossil fuels. Stock image   Getty Images/Image Source

A breakthrough moment for the nations clean energy ambitions has been declared after the development of four offshore wind farms moved a step closer to reality.

Four projects, three on the east coast and one on the west, have won state-backed contracts to supply huge volumes of green electricity with prices guaranteed for 20 years.

They must now apply for planning permission, with the possibility they could face challenges on environmental and other grounds.

They must also finalise an estimated 9bn in financial backing from global investors and find ports to import and assemble the 320-metre-tall wind turbines they plan to use.

If they clear those hurdles, they could be in operation and supplying more than a quarter of the countrys entire electricity needs by 2030.

National policy is behind them. The Governments Climate Action Plan wants 5,000 megawatts (MW) of electricity from offshore wind by 2030.

The contracts awarded yesterday after a competitive auction under the Offshore Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (ORESS) total just over 3,000MW.

Six companies entered the auction, the four lowest bidders securing a guaranteed price of 86 per megawatt hour (MWh) of power generated.

By comparison, the average price of electricity on the wholesale market during the energy crisis last year was 200 per MWh.

That fell to 110-130 recently but as the Government had set a maximum bid price of 150, having firms bid at the average price of 86 is being hailed as a win for consumers.

Officials have suggested it could mean collective savings on bills for households and businesses running to hundreds of millions of euro a year.

Under the guarantee, if the wholesale market dips below 86, the firms will get a top-up payment from the State but if the wholesale market pays more than 86, they will give the excess to the State.

The contracts assume there will be sufficient wind to turn the turbines 45pc of the time.

The largest successful project is the Codling Wind Park, which expects to install up to 100 turbines along a 20km stretch from Greystones to Wicklow town, the closest about 13km from shore.

It is a French-Norwegian project from EDF and Fred Olsen and would supply 1,300MW of power.

Just north of that, the Dublin Array, backed by German company RWE, would generate 824MW from about 50 turbines on the Kish and Bray Banks, roughly 10km out from Dublin Bay.

Slightly further north again, the North Irish Sea Array, a 500MW project backed by Norways Statkraft, would install 36 turbines about 12km out from Balbriggan.

The only west coast project, the Sceirdre Rocks 450MW wind farm, backed by UK-headquartered Corio Generation, is earmarked for a site starting roughly 5km from Connemara in Galway.

Environment Minister Eamon Ryan said the auction was a breakthrough moment for our energy future and the results were hugely positive for climate and consumers.

The results are further evidence of what many of us have known for a long time: that we, as a nation, can develop and produce enormous quantities of clean energy  securely and at low cost.

The ESB-backed Oriel Wind Park proposed for off Co Louth and the SSE Renewables project earmarked for off the coast of Arklow, Co Wicklow, were unsuccessful.

Industry body Wind Energy Ireland said it would work with them to find them other opportunities.

Friends of the Earth welcomed the results as a landmark step in the move away from fossil fuels.

At the same time, we must make sure that coastal communities are properly consulted during planning and that we protect nature around the wind farms, chief executive Oisin Coghlan said.

The auction results are provisional as there is an appeals process. Final results are to be confirmed next month.
A man in his 40s has been taken to hospital after a suspected shooting in the early hours of this morning in Cork City.
Senior Kinahan gang member and driving force of feud attacks arrested over murder of Eddie Hutch

The father-of-five (58) was shot dead outside his Dublin home in 2016His murder was seen as a retaliation attack carried out by the Kinahan gang Arrest of man in his 40s seen as highly significantOriginally from Dublin inner city, he is considered a key figure in the Kinahan cartel

Eddie Hutch was shot dead outside his Dublin home in February 2016

Robin Schiller and Ken Foy Fri 12 May 2023 at 16:07






One in six patients are waiting over three months for a routine appointment with their dentist and while more than half a face delays of longer than three months for specialist care, including orthodontic and oral surgery a new survey reveals today.

The survey was released by the Irish Dental Association as it holds it annual general meeting in Kilkenny and it comes on the back growing problems in recruiting dentists.

It follows a recent vote of no confidence tabled against the Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly and Department of Health officials at the Irish Dental Associations pre-conference annual meeting which took place last week.

The minister was due to address the conference today but he will not now attend.

The dentists body said that more than half dentists surveyed say they have tried to hire a dentist for their practice in the last 12 months with almost 60pc of unable to find a suitable candidate.

One quarter of dentists are currently not in a position to take on new private adult patients, while four out of five dentists surveyed said they dont have the capacity to take on any new patients, including children.

As a result, patients are finding it increasingly difficult to access essential care across both the private and public sector, particularly those most vulnerable, it said.

President of the Irish Dental Association Eamon Croke said:

The fact that an unprecedented 93pc of dentists say that they would not sign up to the medical card contract in its current form even with the promise of a new scheme is indicative of a model which is not fit for purpose and directly impacts on the most vulnerable in our society.

We see this also in the Governments plans to provide for new prevention-focused oral healthcare for children aged from birth to seven years through a model where they are only seen by a private dentist, moving away from public service screening. Its notable from our survey that 83pc of members would not be in a position to sign up to such a scheme for Under 7s due to practices already being understaffed and overstretched, he added.

The Minister himself said this week that the state has had a blind spot when it comes to dentistry and oral health. Our question to the Minister and his officials today is what it will take to open their eyes to the scale and urgency of the crisis that they choose to ignore so that dental health is finally recognised as an integral part of general health. Sadly, without the political willingness, patients  particular children and those most vulnerable  will continue to shoulder the burden of a system crumbling under decades of inaction and neglect.
Enoch Burke continued to turn up for work after being suspended and sacked. Photo: Mark Condren

Enoch Burke was outside Wilson's Hospital reading a book this morning following Independent.ie's revelations that he will not face criminal prosecution for repeatedly turning up at the secondary school.

Mr Burke's fines for daily arrivals at the school have now surpassed 74,000

The teacher was arrested for alleged trespass last January, just days after being sacked following a long-running row sparked by his refusal, on religious grounds, to comply with a request to call a transgender student by a new name and by their preferred pronouns.

While gardai subsequently prepared a file on the matter for the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), the Irish Independent has learned there will be no prosecution.

It is understood the DPP believed the necessary ingredients did not exist to sustain a prosecution.

Under the relevant law, authorities must be satisfied that trespass occurred where a person had no reasonable excuse for being there and behaved in such a manner as causes or is likely to cause fear in another person.

Mr Burke claims he was wrongfully arrested at the school on January 24 and that students, parents and former colleagues have offered him support on his daily visits.

Enoch Burke talks about failings of the media as he leaves school Monday January 30

The claims are at odds with the position of the Co Westmeath school, which has said his presence was a source of considerable disruption for staff, students, parents and the wider school community.

In a statement yesterday, a garda spokesperson confirmed that a file was sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions. While the statement suggested gardai recommended no prosecution, it has since been clarified by An Garda Siochana that the decision to not prosecute was made by the DPP.

The difficulty involved in proving trespass in the criminal courts means the issue is more often dealt with as a civil matter instead.

Read more Enoch Burke fines to tip over 60,000 as sacked teacher continues to turn up at school

While there will not be a criminal prosecution, Mr Burke still faces the prospect of having to pay damages for trespass arising out of the civil dispute between the school and him.

A High Court judge has yet to rule on the issue, but offered a provisional view in March that there was a clear trespass in this case.

An evangelical Christian, Mr Burke was deeply uncomfortable with a request from then principal Niamh McShane last May to address a pupil by a new name.

He has stated he could not comply because transgenderism was against his religious beliefs.

His stance led to flashpoints and he was suspended following incidents in which he publicly challenged Ms Mc- Shane, including during a chapel service and after a school dinner. He has claimed his suspension and the disciplinary process he faced was unlawful and breached his constitutional right to freedom of expression of his religious beliefs.

The claims have been denied by the school, which maintains the disciplinary process was validly invoked as a result of Mr Burkes conduct.

The bizarre sight of Mr Burke repeatedly turning up for work despite being suspended and later dismissed has attracted considerable publicity, as has his familys behaviour during several court hearings.

Indo Daily - Burke family values - what next for Enoch Burke and his siblings?

Judges have been spoken over and shouted at, while family members have been removed from courtrooms.

Mr Burkes refusal to stay away from the school, even after it secured High Court orders against him last August and September, resulted in him being jailed for 108 days for contempt of court.

He resumed his daily visits following his release and was not deterred by a High Court decision that he be fined 700 for each day he remained in contempt. The fines, which began on January 27, now stand at 74,200. Mr Burke has indicated he will not pay.

Neither has he been swayed by the views of judges that the court order restraining him from attending the school does not in any way impinge on his religious beliefs.

Mr Burke has appealed against his dismissal.

*Update: This copy was updated on May 12, 2023 to clarify a statement provided by An Garda Siochana. Their initial statement suggested Gardai recommended no prosecution in relation to this matter. In fact, it was the DPP who decided against a prosecution.
The scene where Katrina Rainey (inset) was found in October 2021.

A Derry man has been handed a life sentence after he admitted murdering his wife at their family farm.

Thomas Johnston Rainey (61) appeared at Belfast Crown Court today via video-link from jail in HMP Maghaberry where he pleaded guilty to murdering his wife Katrina Rainey in October 2021.

The mother-of-six died after being trapped inside a car that was engulfed in flames outside her home on the Quarry Road on the outskirts of Knockloughrim, near Maghera, in Co Derry.

Despite being rushed to hospital by emergency services who attended the scene, the former midwife died from extensive burns.

At a hearing last November, Rainey denied the murder charge, but defence barrister Greg Berry KC said his client "accepts that his actions caused the death of his wife" and a consultant psychiatrist's report was being sought.

The case was listed again today, with Mr Berry outlining that the report has been compiled and supplied to the court.

He said: "In light of that, I have an application that Mr Rainey be re-arraigned on the single count."

Katrina Rainey

The defendant, from Quarry Road in Knockloughrim, was then charged with murdering Katrina Rainey on October 12, 2021.

When asked how he pleaded, Rainey replied "guilty".

Mr Justice O'Hara told him: "The court will sit at a later date to fix the minimum time that you have to serve in prison before you can be considered for release. But today, since you have pleaded guilty to the murder, I sentence you to life imprisonment."

Mr Berry spoke of his client's "lengthy and complex mental health history" and said he would be seeking a pre-sentence report.

Crown KC Richard Weir told Mr Justice O'Hara that victim impact reports were also being sought by the prosecution.

The judge stressed the need for a prompt tariff hearing, saying Mrs Rainey's family "have waited some time for this to come to a head".

He set the date as Monday, June 26, and Rainey was remanded back into custody.
TD argues that vulture funds are building high-rise apartments that are of a poor standard and too expensive

Social Democrats TD Roisin Shortall has defended her decision to object to housing developments in her constituency.

Party TDs and councillors have lodged complaints about elements of more than 3,000 potential new homes as many were part of build-to-rent developments, meaning they would not be available for sale.

The former party co-leader said one eight-story apartment building would completely distort the area of Beaumont in her constituency.

She said the development of those build-to-rent apartments would result in over-priced shoebox units.

Deputy Shortall today said the submissions were made to point out how we could be doing things much better to meet the local housing need and to ensure housing is affordable and accessible to people.

The TD argued that the majority of housing developments in the Dublin area are not meeting housing need.

Certainly, I and other members of the party would have made submissions in relation to the planning framework thats there at the moment that forces developers to provide that kind of high-rise development and very expensive developments that do not meet local housing need, she said.

What we need is good quality houses and apartments that can meet the local housing demand, that is principally affordable, thats the key thing.

She criticised the kind of built-to-rent, low standard apartments that are being allowed at the moment.

The Dublin North-West TD added that the reality of many housing developments is that they are facilitating vulture funds, which are about making fast profit on low standard accommodation that is high-rise and does not meet local housing need.

The Government needs to rethink that.

She said it is important to point out that most of the applications she made comments on were strategic housing developments and also build-to-rent.

Deputy Shortall said she welcomes that very late in the day the Government has recognised those schemes are not what people need.

Finally, the Government is seeing that their approach in recent years just does not work.

Deputy Shortall today said the Social Democrats are looking for good quality housing that meets housing need that is principally affordable for people who want to buy or rent, and thats not what the Government is providing at the moment.

She added: The whole emphasis has been on facilitating vulture funds to build high-rise apartment developments that end up costing a lot of money and thats not the kind of housing that we need.
The number of GP training places is being increased, HSE chief executive Bernard Gloster said: Stock image: Getty Images   Getty Images

Around 50 doctors from South Africa are being recruited to work as GPs in Ireland to relieve the shortage affecting patient care.

HSE chief Bernard Gloster revealed yesterday that 25 doctors from South Africa are here and a similar number are due in the autumn.

The news comes as medical-card patients increasingly find they are being turned down by several GPs in their area because their lists are full. The problem is also being encountered by private patients.

Asked about the difficulties, Mr Gloster told the Public Accounts Committee yesterday that the doctors would be part of a two-year programme of supervision and training with GPs already working here.

The Medical Council has agreed the doctors could be registered to work as GPs after the two years, he added.

Mr Gloster said the number of GP training places is being increased.

Talks are under way with the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) in relation to an increased capitation fee for patients who are part of the medical card and GP visit card scheme.

Last month, a pledge to extend GP visit cards to around 500,000 people had to be postponed after objections by doctors who said they would be overwhelmed and the waiting time to see a doctor would get longer.

Mr Gloster said the talks with GPs were at an advanced stage.

It emerged last year that the new scheme to recruit GPs from outside the EU was backed by the HSE and Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP).

The aim is to recruit the foreign doctors to work in rural areas to address the shortages.

The ICGP said doctors would be placed in rural practices and be provided with supports while they completed two years of supervised work.

At the end of the doctors supervised period, it is hoped they will qualify as GPs in the Irish system and remain in the area in which they trained.

The ICGP says there are 2,807 full-time equivalent GPs working in the State, with the Department of Health, HSE and Medical Council recommending a 40pc increase to meet current demands.

In addition, the ICGP estimates that by 2028, a GP workforce of 6,000 should be needed.

Meanwhile, pharmacy closures and reduced opening hours are inevitable because of inadequate fees for dispensing, it was claimed yesterday.

The Irish Pharmacy Union said community pharmacies were at a tipping point and required a restoration in fees to protect the viability of many businesses around the country and to maintain key services to patients.

They called for Health Minister Stephen Donnelly to immediately begin substantive talks ahead of a statutory review of pharmacy fees in June.

A spokesman said that since 2009, the amount paid to pharmacies per item dispensed had reduced by 19pc, while the costs for dispensing medications on behalf of the State had increased by 23pc.
The Blackwater Valley Opera Festival is returning for eight days in Waterford and Cork from May 29 to June 5, and this year visitors can look forward to a programme of 21 events at 12 venues, along with some unique fine-dining and picnic experiences. Eunice Power has created a three-course pre-opera Macbeth Menu (75pp or 55pp for the vegan option), which will be served in luxurious stretch tents within the grounds of Lismore Castle; Eamo & Ro will be serving up gourmet table picnics (55); or you can bring your own picnic, with fine wines and champagne available from the bar. blackwatervalleyopera.ie

Taste it

Covet it

Personalised wedding invites from Till Dawn Dear

From a home studio in Co Wicklow, Kitty Moss creates exquisitely detailed, hand-painted love stories for couples who want to stand out from the crowds of cream and calligraphy during wedding season. Moss gets to know the couples she works with, drawing out their tales, before taking out her paints to create bespoke artwork that encapsulates their personalities. Expect a lead time of four to six weeks  and wedding invites and save-the-dates that youll treasure forever. tilldawndear.net

Wear it

FAO Millinery 'Lotta' bucket hat

Ireland has no shortage of talented milliners creating special-occasion headwear. But sometimes its nice to have a special hat for everyday wear, too. Enter FAO Millinery, which offers both chic boaters and headbands for big events, alongside straw, felt and panama hats for the days when you want to elevate a casual outfit. The brand, owned by milliner Freya Oatway, just released its summer collection. We love the beach-ready Lotta black pedal straw bucket hat (230), with detachable beaded chain, and the romantic Amelie straw boater (335), which is perfect for summer soirees. faomillinery.com

 Support it

Debbie Millington designs

After a hugely successful Christmas event last year, the Irish Pop-Up Collective is back with a summer event and an even bigger line-up. More than 35 Irish brands and businesses across fashion, interiors, ceramics, prints, jewellery and food will come together for the summer-themed pop-up, with top brands including Jando, Begley & Bowie, August Night, Nunaia, Bean & Goose, The Nature of Things and Debbie Millington. It takes place in the Carlisle Suite at the Royal Marine Hotel in Dun Laoghaire from 10am-7pm on Sunday, June 11  and it promises to be chock full with beautiful things. @irishpopupcollective

Gift it

Vintage Typewriters Ireland

After 35 years working in the hospitality industry, Leo Molloy took a leap of faith and turned his passion for vintage typewriters into a career. I got a gift of a vintage typewriter in 1991, says Molloy, and it sparked a life-long obsession. His business, Vintage Typewriters Ireland, specialises in repair, restoration and sales, with a constantly changing selection of manual typewriters available to buy. These beauties come completely restored, in full working condition, with new ribbon installed. All you have to do is add paper and start typing. vintagetypewriters.ie

Make it

Shock of Greys Jewellery Making & Prosecco workshop in Opium

If you tried to get your hands on tickets for contemporary jewellery brand Shock of Greys Jewellery Making & Prosecco workshop in Opium, Dublin, last weekend, youll know that they sold out in just 48 hours. The good news is that founder and designer Sarah Carroll Kelly is about to announce dates for future workshops set to take place later this summer. Follow the brand on Instagram or sign up to its newsletter to be the first to know. @shockofgreyshop

Bookmark it

The early through to the mid-20th century is often called the golden age of portrait photography. And for the curators at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, its a period worthy of being celebrated. Opening on May 26, Influence and Identity comprises 83 artworks by master portraitists such as Antony Armstrong-Jones, Richard Avedon, Yousuf Karsh and Gisele Freund, as well as renowned photographers Berenice Abbott, Imogen Cunningham, Garry Winogrand and Brassai. The exhibition has been loaned through the Bank of America Art in Our Communities programme and runs until October 8, with free admission. imma.ie
Around half of visitors travelling to the North last year were first-time leisure visitors

Overnight trips from the Republic to the North reached record levels in 2022, topping one million for the first time, according to figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

More than 1.1m overnight trips were taken by visitors from the Republic last year, compared to 756,000 in 2019  a 51pc rise.

As well as crossing the border in greater numbers, visitors from the Republic spent more  233m/268m in 2022, as compared with 142m/190m in 2019.

The numbers surpass even our most optimistic forecasts for 2022, said David Roberts, Tourism NIs Interim CEO.

At a time when international markets have still been recovering, the additional business from the Republic has been hugely important to the tourism and hospitality sector right across Northern Ireland.

Around half of visitors to the North last year were first-time leisure visitors, according to Tourism NI.

Mr Roberts put the increases down to investment in tourism marketing, including its Embrace a Giant Spirit initiative, a growing range of visitor attractions, value for money and enhanced accommodation.

This year, Titanic Belfast added several new galleries after a 4.5m/5.2m refresh, and new accommodation arrivals in the North range from The Regency in Belfast to Burrenmore Nest, a suite of lodges with hot-tubs immersed in a forest setting in Co Derry. Both made the Irish Independents Fab 50 list of the best places to stay in Ireland for 2023.

The rate of growth in cross-border visits outpaced that of domestic trips within Ireland  which rose over 14pc from 11.6m in 2019 to 13.3m in 2022  although off a lower base.

We know too that, whilst times are currently very challenging for both businesses and consumers, there is further growth potential in the years ahead, Mr Roberts said.

South of the border, domestic spending on staycations was up 36pc last year from 2019, according to the CSO figures.

"These results are hugely positive for tourism and for our economy, Failte Ireland CEO Paul Kelly said this week. "They show the passion that consumers have for discovering our beautiful country.

Although overseas travel continues to bounce back strongly after the pandemic, CSO figures suggest its pace of return slightly lagged that of domestic travel last year.

Spain was the most popular sun holiday destination for Irish people in 2022 with 1.67m trips, for example  as compared to 1.88m for 2019.

598k trips were made to France in 2022, compared to 610k in 2019, 595k to Italy (compared to 590k in 2019) and 482k to Portugal (compared to 522k in 2019).
Theatre is a special thing. It can transport us around the world and inside the human heart in the course of a short nights entertainment. The best theatre has the ability to stay with us and change how we see things.

Years ago, when I was homesick on certain nights in Australia, I would play one of Brian Friels radio plays, which RTE had kept on its website. There, on the other side of the world, I began my theatrical education. It started small  a play here, a book there  but soon I found myself reading and listening to more theatre.

Why I gravitated towards Brian Friel I am still not sure. Perhaps it was that he was one of the few names I knew from childhood and I was so far from home.

I remember sitting on the windowsill of my apartment in Potts Point in Sydney on many a night listening to Friels Philadelphia Here I Come. It was a work that captured so much of a young mans journey in life. Gar was on his way to America, and it was his last night in the home country. I knew that feeling, for I had left too and knew what it was like to say goodbye. At that time in that place, I never did think I would return, so it was a poignant story for me.

Despite Friels death in October 2015, he still stands as a towering figure in world drama and a guiding light of Irish theatre. The world he created in Ballybeg is still as relevant as ever, with the staging of his Tony award-winning play Dancing at Lughnasa in Londons National Theatre at the moment.

What is it that still captures peoples attention after all this time about the Irish Chekhov?

Born in 1929, he lived as a boy with his family in Derry. Derry and Donegal, his mothers homeland, were to form the critical world of understanding for Friel. He would examine life through these places. Sometimes writers dont need to go to far-flung locations to study life  it can be done in their backyard. So it was with Ballybeg, Friels fictional small town in Donegal.

He attended St Columbs College, the institution attended by so many household names today, from Seamus Heaney to John Hume.

Friel didnt start his creative life as a playwright; rather, he wrote short stories, publishing two collections, and even well into his playwriting life he considered himself a short-story writer first.

Why he decided to start writing for the theatre is unclear, but it was to be a decision that would change drama for ever.

His first works were radio plays, and then, slowly, he looked to the stage. While many consider Philadelphia Here I Cometo be his first play, it actually came later. Philadelphia was, of course, the product of his attending Tyrone Guthries workshop in Minneapolis, a defining moment in his theatrical education.

The play was a huge hit and launched him as a new voice in Irish theatre. Productions of that play are never far away. There is something in that breakout work that captures so many peoples attention. 

Friel was a child of the North, and its politics could not help but seep into his work. The Freedom of the City was his most political play, and one that described an aspect of the Troubles.

A modern tragedy, it still captures the attention in its sad awfulness. That play was to usher in a new period of writing for Friel in the late 1970s and 80s, with his two powerhouse productions, Faith Healer and Translations.

Translations is a work that stayed with me long after first seeing it while on a holiday back in Dublin over a decade ago. I had come home for a brief visit between work projects and hatched a plan with friends to see the play. It was one of the most important pieces of theatre I have yet seen.

Its about language, as Friel said himself, but also about so much more. As the British character of Lieutenant Yolland and the Irish Owen set about making a map of the area, they begin to translate the Irish names into English. Anyone reading or seeing Translationswill never look at road signs the same way again. Its is a work of towering influence that remaps the lingual mind. So powerful is the play that it has been staged all over the world.

I like Friel because not only did he keep pushing the creative envelope, but there were times when his work did not succeed. In short, he was a human being, a creative force who struggled with work, just as we all do.

His late masterpiece, Dancing at Lughnasa, staged in 1990, was a smash hit around the world and won him a Tony Award. This memory play drew on aspects of Friels childhood, but also spoke of a certain communal memory of an older Ireland. It was made into a film starring Meryl Streep.

Friels work lives on to inspire a whole new generation of writers and artists and those who are interested in the human heart and the journeys we must all go through in the course of our lives.
'If writing songs about romance is Taylor Swifts stock-in-trade, shell never run out of material, put it that way'   Getty Images for The Recording A

At the time of writing, Taylor Swift is reportedly besotted with her new boyfriend, musician Matt Healy. Last month, it was reported that Swift had just broken up with actor Joe Alwyn, her boyfriend of six years. Prior to that, there had been an enviably long list of handsome boyfriends, flings, the ones and situationships: Tom Hiddleston, Harry Styles, Jake Gyllenhaal, Calvin Harris. If writing songs about romance is Swifts stock-in-trade, shell never run out of material, put it that way.
Old age, they tell us, is an excellent time for outrage, but even the most temperate would be hard-pressed not to blow a fuse in the current housing climate. Leo Varadkar has had to respond to questions about a 78-year-old woman and her sick husband who are in danger of becoming homeless in Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin.

Her landlord wants to sell the property she rents, but with the scarcity of homes there is nowhere for her to go.

The matter was brought up in the Dail by Labour leader Ivana Bacik, who said unfortunately they were not the only elderly people facing eviction.

She said it was unconscionable that 175 people aged over 65 were represented in the current homelessness figure of 12,000.

In response to news that the couple might lose their home, the Taoiseach said the situation was a very sad case and I think all of our sympathies are with her and her family, and a solution needs to be found.

But our patience with this someone must do something or a solution must be found schtick is fraying, if indeed it were ever acceptable from the leader of a government that takes itself seriously. There is despair at the chronic housing shortage and the hardship it is causing.

Mr Varadkar has argued  convincingly, many would agree  that restoring the eviction ban is not the answer. However, before it was lifted, serious consideration should have been given to where the thousands of people who could be put on the streets might now be accommodated. It was not for the lack of warning.

It was reported this week that Alone, the older persons group, is to tell the Oireachtas Housing Committee next week that more than a fifth of people it supports have housing issues.

The stark message is that unless the current private rental model is reformed, we will see a dramatic increase in the number of older homeless people.

Bad as things are, without an urgent and effective response the situation will get far worse.

Department of Housing figures show the number of people over 65 will reach 1.4 million by 2040, or about 23pc of the population.

Little wonder, then, that last month, when addressing the joint Oireachtas sub-committee on mental health, Alone chief executive Sean Moynihan said that in the final three months of last year, 29pc of the 1,926 older people the charity assessed had identified they had issues relating to their mental health. Sadly, more than half had not attended a GP for support.

Journalist Ruth Crowley, who used the pen-name Ann Landers for Chicagos Sun-Times, once wrote: At age 20, wed worry about what others thought of us. At 40, we didnt care what they thought of us. At 60, we discovered they havent been thinking of us at all.

She may well have been right. It is universally accepted that growing old can be one of the most difficult chapters in life, but it need not be made even more so by a complete lack of consideration.
Television and radio presenters are stampeding away from even the slightest risk of hosting The Late Late Show. Nobody should panic  Im willing to take up the role.

This has not been an easy decision. I have minimal enthusiasm, less interest and zero experience. I come without an agenda, without a bias, without a clue.

However, there are moments in history when a nation holds its breath and one person must step into the abyss of uncertainty. That moment is now, that abyss is this abyss, that person is me.

The road will be long, the journey fraught, the voyage lonesome, but Im ready.

Breandan O Ceallaigh, Droichead na hInse, Baile Atha Cliath

What price neutrality? What price security and prosperity?

I am always a little sceptical of our use of the N-word  neutrality. I cannot help wondering, if the Russians did decide to snatch our dear (as in extortionate) land from our German and French colonisers, what exactly would we do to defend our neutrality? Protest to the UN? Good luck with that.

I was reminded of this on hearing that Micheal Martin intends keeping an eye on the Russian ships off our southern coast, with movements being monitored (ie, watched) by the Irish Defence Forces.

That Micheals eye is our last line of defence fills me with reassurance. And if you believe that, I have a bridge for sale. It crosses the Liffey at the end of OConnell Street and has one careful owner, is deceptively spacious and offers all mod cons.

On a more serious note, if the Russians were to destroy the cable linking the US with western Europe, the economic consequences would be disastrous, not just for Ireland but for the world. Why are Mick Wallace and Clare Daly not protesting?

John OReilly, Swords, Co Dublin

How official bodies can clean up act on pollution study

Last October, a survey of air quality across Cork city called Clean Air Together was conducted by volunteer citizen scientists under the auspices of the Environment Protection Agency (EPA), An Taisces Environmental Education Unit and Cork City Council.

The agreed quality guidelines for nitrogen dioxide (NO2) adopted, however, were those of the outdated 2008 EU annual average guidelines of 40 micrograms per cubic metre, which resulted in just a few city centre streets showing high levels of NO2 pollution.

It is unclear why the more stringent 2021 World Health Organisation (WHO) agreed quality guidelines of 10 micrograms per cubic metre were not adopted, which would have demonstrated a different picture and would have indicated that most traffic-bearing streets throughout the city are heavily polluted with NO2.

There was also a serious problem with the methodology used, in that the NO2 test units were placed on the front walls of houses and buildings  in many cases as much as 20 metres from the roadside and polluting traffic, resulting in reduced and totally inaccurate measurements.

When questioned about this problem, a spokesman for the EPA said this method had been adopted because of fears of damage to the units by vandalism. It resulted, however, in compromised final results.

The EPA and Cork City Council, despite the incorrect methodology, could recover some credibility by simply reissuing the results based on WHO guidelines, followed by urgent action to mitigate the pollution.

John Leahy, Wilton Road, Cork

Raise wages to counter the effects of cost-of-living crisis

If food prices and the cost of living cant come down, lets ask the Government to demand an increase in our wages. I think thats fair.

Eve Parnell, Dublin 8

Hate speech law and danger of a culture of censorship

I am writing to express my deep concern regarding the new Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022  or Hate Speech Law  that is going through the Seanad.

While I understand the importance of preventing hate speech and promoting equality, I believe this new law goes too far in restricting freedom of expression and risks creating a culture of censorship in our society.

One of my main concerns with the new law is the vague and ambiguous language it uses to define hate speech. This could potentially lead to situations where individuals are punished for expressing legitimate opinions.

Elizabeth Moran, address with editor
Scoil Ghobnatan Principal Donal O Shea, Chair of Board of Management James Stanton, Sean Sherlock TD, French Ambassador Vincent Guerard, Billy Kelleher MEP and Deputy Principal Eleanor Walsh pictured at the School during the Europe Day celebrations on Monday

His Excellency Vincent Guerard, French Ambassador to Ireland raising the Green Flag during his visit to Scoil Ghobnatan Mallow. This is the Schools 6th Green Flag and was awarded for Global Citizenship-Litter and Waste, enabling pupils and staff to discover how Green Schools work has positively influenced people and environments worldwide

Europe Day at Scoil Ghobnatan Mallow turned out to be tres magnifique when the French Ambassador to Ireland dropped in to celebrate the day with pupils, staff and visitors.

His Excellency Vincent Guerard was accompanied by Billy Kelleher MEP and local TD Sean Sherlock, who is a past pupil of the school.

530 pupils from 45 nationalities attend Scoil Ghobnatan and on Europe Day pupils and staff from Ecole Notre Dame Du Sacre Coeur, France were also present for the celebrations.

James Stanton, Chair of Board of Directors, welcomed everybody and Principal Donal OShea said that everybody at Scoil Ghobnatan has been working tremendously hard on Global Citizenship with a specific focus on Irelands involvement with the EU.

This has been greatly enhanced through our engagement with the Big Friendly Guide to the European Union programme and we want to thank Dr. Emmanuelle Shown Quinlivan from UCC for her time, support and guidance over the past two years with this programme. As France is our closest EU neighbour, we are honoured to welcome His Excellency Vincent Guerard here to Scoil Ghobnatan, Donal said.

Sean Sherlock TD said that as a past pupil he is immensely proud of the many initiatives undertaken at the school which prioritise sustainability and inclusion. We have a new generation of really responsible citizens currently growing up here in Ireland, he said.

Billy Kelleher MEP noted that Ireland is now a multi-cultural country. We are now looking at a place of hope and opportunity and many young people around the world want to come to Ireland. We want to maintain peace, stability and prosperity in Europe and we should never take peace and stability for granted he said.

French Ambassador to Ireland His Excellency Vincent Guerard commended the pupils on their knowledge about the EU and the work they have done on various Projects. He said that historically there are many similarities between France and Ireland. Now we are proud to share the same European flag, it is very good also to see the twinnings between French and Irish towns and the exchange of students between schools, he said.

Scoil Ghobnatan and French pupils performed Ode to Joy for the visitors at the Europe Day celebrations and after the formalities were over Ambassador Guerard planted a tree in the school grounds and raised the Green Flag. This is the Schools 6th Green Flag which was awarded for Global Citizenship-Litter and Waste, enabling pupils and staff to discover how Green Schools work has positively influenced people and environments.

Scoil Ghobnatan has undertaken numerous EU related initiatives including The Big Friendly Guide to the EU Programme which was studied by 17 Classes. Pupils have taken part in question and answer sessions via Zoom with Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament. They have been involved in an etwinning initiative named Sharing Our Stories with a Primary School in Romania whereby pupils learned about their shared histories and cultures. Fourth Class Teacher Rachel O Callaghan received a European Star Award at the Hub in Active European Citizenship event. Pupils also received the European Citizen Award in June 2022 and they are aiming for a second award in that field this year.
Concubhar O Liathain remembers a special Eurovision 1993 when Niamh Kavanagh won with In Your Eyes

Niamh Kavanagh, the winner of the 1993 Eurovision Song Contest, takes questions from the media following her win and is flanked by Noel C. Duggan and Michael D. Higgins, then the Minister for Arts and Culture. Picture; Sean Radley

Niamh Kavanagh singing 'In Your Eyes' during the Eurovision Song Contest when it was held in the Green Glens Arena in Millstreet in 1993. Picture: Sean Radley

The Eurovision Song Contest which took place in Millstreets Green Glens Arena in 1993 was the only edition of what is a truly global event that I attended and its the only one I didnt watch on TV for as long as I can remember.

It seems so long ago now that I shouldnt remember the details of it but, because I was on duty as a reporter for the Killarney based newspaper, The Kingdom. I kept my wits about me and there are some flashbacks from the night which I can recall from a glorious Eurovision night for Ireland and possibly one which signalled a change in direction which has landed us where we are today, the long ago kingpins of the competition sitting on the sidelines as the new powers battle it out for top honours.

It was really a perfect summers evening and Millstreet, unlikely though it was to have been chosen as a venue, was the centre of Europe for that short period. The next day the media circus would move on to the next centre of the world.

Millstreet was unlikely to be chosen as a venue  it was then  and probably still is  the smallest venue ever to be chosen to host the Eurovision, an event which has a global reach to an audience in the hundreds of millions.

It was really a perfect summers evening and Millstreet, unlikely though it was to have been chosen as a venue, was the centre of Europe for that short period

While the emphasis back then was, as now, on making everything spectacular, it was meant to be a spectacle in a conventional sort of way. We didnt have the laser light shows like we have now where any wild dream can be recreated in some sort of form on the stage. Men wore suits and collars and ties, women wore ball gowns.

The Eurovision in Millstreet had 23 finallists  there were no semi-finals  or no semi-finals at least as know them now. There was a prequalifying round which was aimed at countries that had either never previously competed in the contest or, as in the case of the former republics of Yugoslavia, had never competed as nations in their own right. Six Eastern European countries competed in a pre qualifying sing off in Llubljana on April 3 to select three to compete in the final. These were Croatia, Bosnia and Herzogovina, Hungary, Slovenia, Slovakia, Romania and Estonia. And the winners of that first semi-final were Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. We may have laughed at the idea that Ireland would have to qualify back then  were not laughing now!

Read more Millstreet remembers when the Cork town hosted Eurovision in 1993

The next year after Millstreet, the Eurovision in Dublin (oops, I should have given a spoiler alert!) would see a host of Eastern European entrants, including Russia, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia add to the number.

Back to Millstreet. Why did Millstreet get selected as the venue  Dublin had hosted the contest on every other occasion it had been held in Ireland? Noel C. Duggan is the why. Once Linda Martin had won the previous year, the Millstreet entrepreneur had set his sights on landing the event for the Green Glens Arena and he proved an unstoppable force.

One British journalist asked the Millstreet man how he had convinced the authorities to host the Eurovision in a cowshed. Noel C corrected him by saying the Green Glens was a horseshed

And there he was on the night at the shoulder of then Taoiseach, the late Albert Reynolds and answering questions from the media. One British journalist asked the Millstreet man how he had convinced the authorities to host the Eurovision in a cowshed. Noel C. corrected him by saying the Green Glens was a horseshed and added that, unlike the Grand National which had taken place a few weeks previously (and had to be voided after a number of false starts), it will start on time, it will finish on time and there will be a result. The British broadcaster later apologised for his cowshed remark, as well he should.

Niamh Kavanagh, the winner of the 1993 Eurovision Song Contest, takes questions from the media following her win and is flanked by Noel C. Duggan and Michael D. Higgins, then the Minister for Arts and Culture. Picture; Sean Radley

The Green Glens Arena was actually perfectly suited to host the Eurovision. The venue itself was set in an idyllic setting, it was well able to host the 3,000 people who attended and the facilities were excellent. The stage itself was magical, a triangular performance area which was lit from above and from beneath the floor and a mirrored ceiling to reflect the lighting.

The Master of Ceremonies for the evening was broadcaster Fionnuala Sweeney, an RTE journalist who was picked to present the Eurovision and shortly afterwards became a CNN anchor in that broadcasting giants headquarters in Atlanta.

Whoever had chosen Niamh, had chosen wisely. She sang the song like no one else could and it seemed obvious she would be in the running for the title

The contest itself proved to be a re-run of the previous years battle between a poppy number from the UK and a soaring ballad from Ireland. Sonia, who was one of the Brit Pop generation which included the Spice Girls, sang Better the Devil You Know while Niamh Kavanagh, a bank clerk by day, was singing In Your Eyes, a song composed by Jimmy Walsh. Initially Niamh didnt want to sing in the Eurovision Song Contest but she was convinced by the composer who said he would withdraw the song if she wouldnt sing his composition.

But whoever had chosen Niamh, had chosen wisely. She sang the song like no one else could and it seemed obvious she would be in the running for the title. The voting, which I viewed from the press area where the champagne was on ice, went down to the wire and eventually it was all down to the Maltese jury. Irelands entry was ahead of the UK by 11 points. More than one would secure the win  in the event Ireland scored douze points while the UK went pointless and the victory was ours.

Eurovision Song Contest winner Niamh Kavanagh pictured with Noel C Duggan in Miillstreet 1993

The champagne corks started popping to such an extent that they surely registered on the Richter Scale. I remember meeting An Taoiseach with a bottle of champagne in his hand as he sipped from a glass in the other hand and chatting with him for a few minutes. The bubbly stuff would continue to flow until the next day when there was a press reception in Killarneys Europa Hotel to toast the victory. If budgetary constraints are an issue now, they werent back then as the Champagne flowed Niagarously.

And then the circus moved on. Millstreet was left with a newly extended railway station platform and many happy memories. Noel C. Duggans Green Glens Arena had an enhanced reputation as a result. Everybody was happy.

Irelands win meant the country would host it again the following year, the hosting which gave us Riverdance and moved us further down the road to the Eurovision we have now with up to 40 countries competing, including on more than one occasion Australia.

Last years winner, Ukraine, didnt compete in 1993. It would first enter in 2003 and has won it three times since.

Politics has always played a part in the Eurovision  to complain about it, as some have since Ireland was knocked out again at the semi-final stage, is to tilt at windmills

The rivalry between Ireland and the UK over past conflicts was small potatoes compared to the enmity between Russia and Ukraine which competed against each other in 2016, shortly after Russia had invaded the Crimea. Ukraine won the Eurovision with a song about the Russian oppression of their country in 1944.

Politics has always played a part in the Eurovision  to complain about it, as some have since Ireland was knocked out again at the semi-final stage, is to tilt at windmills. If Ireland is really invested in the contest, it has to invest in it with resources and imagination. My own feeling is that Ireland should use the Eurovision to build up the Irish language contemporary music sector in this country  there hasnt been an Irish language song at Eurovision since Ceol an Ghra in 1974.

Back in the 1990s, songs in English from most countries was the norm. This trend is being reversed with more and more songs in the national languages of the participating countries. These countries see the value in building up their own music industry and using the Eurovision as a platform to do this. Maybe we should learn that lesson and try something new for a change. Who knows, if Ireland do win again, the Eurovision Song Contest could return to Millstreet.
Jerry and Owen Murphy, Ballincollig, pictured at the Autocross reunion at the Killarney Avenue Hotel.

Fleadh Cheoil

Last weekend the County Fleadh Cheoil was held in Bandon. It was a most successful Fleadh, with all branches taking part and the standard of Competition was exceptional as usual. It was organized by Newcestown Branch and Aghinagh Comhaltas in the Fleadh Office.

Ballinagree Vintage

Ballinagree Vintage played host to Millstreet Vintage on Sunday last, as they stopped for a break in Ballinagree Village while on their Tractor Run. There was 90 Tractors there and they enjoyed their short break in the Laine Bar, before they resumed their journey home.

Date change - Ballinagree Vintage Run is clashing with other events locally so they have resheduled until October 8th.

Ballinagree Vintage will be celebrating their 20th Anniversary and are holding a Tea Party in the Laine Bar on Friday night June 9th, your support on the night would be very much appreciated

Mushera Platform

Mushera Platform have organised a dance in the Marquee in Ballinagree Village on Sunday May 21th from 2.30 to 6pm. Music by The Lee Sound and C / M Sound. Free Admission.

G.A.A. Lotto Results

Results of draw May 8th. Jackpot 2,800. No jackpot winner. Numbers drawn 2, 26, 29. 50 Scott Dennehy, Horsemount. 20 Gerard Kelleher, Moulnahorna; 20 Donnie & Kay c/o Laine Bar; 20 Ada O Sullivan, Ballinagree; 20 Kathleen & Sean Shannon.

BALLYHEA

Church Notes

Mass Times  Thursday, May 11, 10 a.m. Confirmation; Friday, May 12, 10 a.m.; Saturday, May 13, 11 a.m. First Holy Communion and 7.30 p.m. Vigil Mass; Sunday, May 14, 8.30 a.m. and 11 a.m.,

Adoration and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament will take place after 10 a.m. Mass on Friday, May 12. Confessions are heard on request.

Receiving Holy Communion  Only those receiving Holy Communion should approach the Altar and only on a seat-by-seat basis.

Booked Anniversary Masses  Booked Anniversary Masses are accepted on the understanding that Funeral Masses and months mind Masses take precedence.

Month of May  The month of May is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Feastdays for the coming week: Thursday, May 11, St Odilo of Cluny. Friday, May 12, St Pancras of Rome. Saturday, May 13, Our Lady of Fatima. Sunday, May 14, sixth Sunday of Easter.

Missionary Visitation  The Pallottine Fathers will visit the parish on Saturday, May 13, and Sunday, May 14.

Confirmation  The Sacrament of Confirmation will be administered to the fifth and sixth class children of Ballyhea National School on Thursday, May 11, at 10 a.m.

First Holy Communion  The Sacrament of First Holy Communion will be administered to the children prepared on Saturday, May 13, at 11 a.m.

Photographers Accreditation  Photographers intending to take photos at the Confirmation on May 11 and First Holy Communion on May 13 are asked to please contact the Sacristan 086 3016859.

Irish Catholic Newspaper/Sacred Heart Messenger  The Irish Catholic newspaper and the Sacred Heart Messenger are available in the Porch for purchase. Irish Catholic 2.50. Sacred Heart Messenger 2. Money for these purchases should be put into the box marked Church Maintenance in the Porch. Thank you.

Sympathy Mass cards, Mass Bouquet cards are also available for purchase in the Porch.

Readers  Saturday, May 13: Ger. OShea. Sunday, May 14: Audrey Morrissey.

Flower Arrangers  Thursday, May 11, and Saturday, May 13, Saturday, May 20: Theresa OKeeffe.

Church gate collections  No church gate collection taken up at St Marys Church, Ballyhea is endorsed by the parish. Any group or organisation intending to collect outside the church gates are asked to present copies of their permits in the sacristy, together with copies of letters of authorisation of those collecting on their behalf. This should be done before the collection commences.

GAA club news

Lotto  Get your tickets before 5 p.m. on Saturday from Costcutters Ballyhea, Corbett Court, The Idle Hour or from any of the ticket sellers or they can be purchased online at play.clubforce.com/play_newa.asp?ll_id=199#Anchor Thank you for your continued support.

Due to the continuing Covid 19 situation and to ensure transparency and integrity in the lottery draw, the club have decided to hold the lottery draw on Saturday nights. The first three numbers of the National Lottery Main Draw will be the jackpot numbers. If a number higher than 42 is drawn in the first three, the draw will continue with the next number drawn under 42.

The club appreciates the support of lottery players and supporters during these difficult times and are very grateful for your continued support. Keep safe and the best of luck in draw.

Cul Camps  Ballyhea GAA will be hosting a Kelloggs Cul Camp from the July 10 to July 14 inclusive. Bookings can be made online from Monday, April 3, Looking forward to having another enjoyable and successful Camp this year. If there are any queries, please contact Ger OShea Cul Camp Coordinator.

Club Membership  Club Membership for 2023 is 25 for each Juvenile, 25 for students, 50 per adult or 100 for Family (two adults and all children under-18).

Online Shop  The clubs online shop is proving to be very popular. All the latest club gear can be purchased from the ONeills website. Check it out at oneills.com/shop-by-team/GAA/ireland/ballyhea-GAA.html

Instagram  The club can now be followed on Instagram. To see the latest club pictures go to ballyheagaaclub.

Ballyhea in Black and White  A new Publication Ballyhea in Black and White is a collection of memories from local photographer Michael McGrath and photos that have been collected. It features some great GAA and camogie memories from down through the years. Books can be purchased at Costcutters shop in Ballyhea for 20.

Calendars  Ballyhea County Champions 2023 Calendars are now available, 5 each or three for 10. These are available from Eamon Morrissey or Ger OShea.

Community Employment Scheme

Ballyhea GAA are looking for two people to join this scheme. Male and Female can apply and to qualify you must be in receipt of social welfare for a minimum of 12 months. Anyone interested please apply to any committee member of Ballyhea GAA.

Community Alert

Ballyhea Community Alert has successfully set up a Text Alert Network to immediately alert our community when an incident occurs. Prompt information to and from Gardai deters criminal activity. If you are interested in becoming a member of our Text Alert Network please phone any of the following people for information and sign up details  Phil Ryan 087 2937465, Pat Daly 086 1220114, James Horgan 087 2572271, Willie Meaney 087 1936842, Con Walsh 086 8570355. The fee for this service is 10 annually.

CILL NA MARTRA

Nora Twomey Memorial

Plans are well underway for the vintage car, tractor and motorcycle run and walk on Sunday 14th May.

Registration will commence from 10.30am at the GAA grounds in Cill na Martra with vehicles set for take off at 12.30pm. The guided 5km and 10km walks will be leaving Pairc Ui Chuana at 1pm and will take scenic routes around the parish. The cost of entry for vehicles is 20 and entry to walks is by donation. All proceeds are going to charity.

There will also be a raffle on the day with some amazing prizes to be won, such as; 2 nights B&B in Rochestown Park Hotel,250 vouchers for John Deere clothing, 43 television, 200 voucher for M&J Kelleher oil, 100 voucher for Granvilles Macroom, to name a few.

Nora loved a great get together and was a supporter of many good causes so please spread the word and come along on the day to remember Nora and support Marymount University Hospital and Hospice.

Club Oige an tSulain

Beidh Sleep Out ag an gclub i Halla Chuil Aodha ar an Aoine an 12u Bealtaine ag tacu le Focus Ireland chun cabhru le daoine gan didean ag deanamh difriocht. Is feidir tacaiocht a thabhairt doibh trid teangmhail a dheanamh le Sarah ag 086 3818497.

The youth club are hosting a sleep out in Halla Chuil Aodha this Friday 12th May, as a fundraiser for Focus Ireland, helping those that are homeless - challenging homelessness, changing lives. If you wish to support this worthy cause please contact Sarah at the details above.

Clar Tithe Slaintiula do Dhaoine Aosta

Leabharlann Baile Bhuirne, De hAoine 19u Bealtaine 2pm. Is e aidhm an chlair seo daoine scothaosta a chumasu (aois 66+) leanuint ar aghaidh ina gconai ina dtithe no i dteach ata nios oiriunai da riachtanais - deontais suas le 30,000 ar fail chun teach a athru,a dheisiu no a uasghradu.

An information meeting will be held in Ballyvourney Library at 2pm on Friday 19th May. The aim of this meeting is to inform people, over the age of 66, of their options to continue living in their houses or finding a suitable house to accommodate their requirements. Some the information available will be regarding the availability of grants up to 30,000 for the upgrade, repair or maintenance of a house.
The family of a Cork man  who sustained catastrophic injuries in a motorbike accident in Vietnam  have launched a fundraising appeal tohelp meet the huge cost of medical treatment.

49-year-old Damien Horgan, originally from Doneraile, is in an induced coma in Cho Ray Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, after suffering life-threatening injuries in a crash on April 26.

His sister Fiona said he is in critical condition and had to have further emergency surgery on a collapsed lung earlier this week.

He catastrophically damaged the left side of his body. He has eleven badly displaced ribs; had a ruptured spleen which he needed to have removed; a broken collar bone and shoulder and he had a ruptured bronchus and several other tears to his left lung.

He had a collapsed lung which would not reinflate, so he had to undergo more life-saving surgery for that in the last few days . . . he will need further surgery to stabilise his rib fractures once he is well enough.

He had to be transferred by ambulance from a provincial hospital as they could not cater for his medical needs, they had limited equipment and staff, it was like something you would see out in a war zone . . . there were babies being born in the same room.

Thankfully he was able to be transferred to Cho Ray Hospital which is the top hospital in Vietnam and they have been so proactive in his care.

He is still critical, is ventilated on life support; on an ECMO machine to replace the function of his lungs and heart and is on dialysis for kidney damage, as he is so unwell.

He has received multiple units of blood, IV antibiotics, everything is itemised and charged for, said Fiona, who works as a nurse in Cork.

The language barrier was also a major issue, but his friends and the Irish Embassy have been so helpful with translating and supporting us, she said.

Damien has been living in Vietnam for the past four years and was working as an English language teacher. Fiona explained that he was due to start a new job and his insurance was linked to the previous job  the family has already spent more than 30,000 on medical treatment in the past fortnight and has pleaded for the publics help with the bills.

Unfortunately, he was in the process of getting a new job teaching English around the time of his accident and his medical insurance was linked to his old job, so he has no medical cover at all  so every single thing has to be paid for.

We as a family have been trying to cover the cost of his treatment. His stay in the ICU alone costs approximately 1,000 a day; we had to give an advance payment of 7,800 for the surgery to apply the ECMO machine and for its usage for however many days he will need it and his surgeries are costing thousands of euro each time.

She added that because Damien is still unconscious, a family member is needed to stay near the hospital to consent to any medical procedures on his behalf, so there is the additional cost of flights and accommodation.

Any donation big or small would make a massive difference to us. We, as a family, were hoping to cover the cost ourselves but it is just unsustainable as his recovery will take several months and we have already paid about 30,000 in the space of two weeks, said Fiona.

She described Damien as a gentle soul and very kind, who would give you his last penny.

He loves traveling and had spent nine years in South Korea and some years in China also teaching English and he was fascinated by their different cultures. He has made many friends around the globe.

She also praised Damiens friends in Vietnam who have been unbelievably supportive.

They have covered the cost of some medical bills and have been an absolutely massive support to Damien and our family since his accident. They have adopted us as their own, wiped away out tears, given much needed hugs, food and have translated for us also, we will never be able to do enough to show how appreciative we are.

And also thank you to the amazing medical staff who have worked tirelessly to keep him alive and give him the best chance of life against so many odds, said Fiona.

Anyone who would like to donate, can do so via the Damiens Fight For Life GoFundMe page.
Alisha Weir on the red carpet ahead of the recent IFTAs in Dublin. Photo: Damien Eagers/PA Wire   PA

Rising star Alisha Weir is to appear in an upcoming Hollywood horror movie directed by the filmmakers behind the popular Scream series.

According to Hollywood Reporter, Scream star Melissa Barrera will also feature in the project. British actor Dan Stevens was also announced to star in the movie.

It will be directed by Radio Silences Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett.

The project is based on Draculas Daughter, a classic Universal horror movie produced in 1936.

The title of the new movie is under wraps for now, but Universal said it will be a unique take on legendary monster lore and will represent a fresh, new direction for how to celebrate these classic characters.

The plot revolves around a group of kidnappers abducting young people. Weir is said to be playing a victim of the kidnappers, with Barrera playing one of the abductors.

Melissa Barrera starred in the popular Scream series. Pic: Getty images   Wireimage

Alisha (13) rose to fame when she starred in Netflix musical Matilda at just 11, alongside Emma Thompson.

She is also lined up to feature in upcoming comedy, Wicked Little Letters, with Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley.

Before landing the incredible role of Matilda, Alisha made her performing debut on the Late Late Toy Show when she sang True Colours.

She reflected on her time on the Toy Show with Ryan Tubridy late last year.

It was 2017. I can look at myself on YouTube, its a really good memory to look back on, she said.

I look quite different as I have no teeth. I really enjoyed it, being with all the kids and the buzz. And because its around Christmas time, Im happy.
Gardai are investigating the incident on Sandwith Street in the city centre on Thursday

Gardai are investigating an attack on a makeshift refugee camp in Dublin which broke out on Thursday evening as pro and anti-immigrant protesters convened on the site for a second night.

There is a large garda presence currently on Sandwith Street in the city centre where a tent community has sprung up since the government announced in recent months it did not have the capability of housing all asylum seekers that are arriving in Ireland.

Opposing groups of protesters could be seen facing off with a line of Gardai in between them to ensure they did not clash. Protests at the incident have been without violence and no arrests have been made tonight, Gardai said.

The incident on Thursday followed an anti-immigration group surrounding the tents of refugees living rough in the area

The large group proceeded to shout slurs and abuse at the refugees, while tearing down signs and posters around the camp.

Gardai attended the incident, however no formal complaints have been made.

A number of refugees are living in tents at the site as they have been provided with no accommodation by the State, which is struggling to accommodate new arrivals.

In a video circulating on social media, the group is heard shouting this is my country. In the video, one man breaks a piece off the metal railings and swings the object around, hitting a number of people.

A garda spokesperson said: Gardai attended an incident that occurred at Sandwith Street, Dublin 2 on the evening of Thursday, May 11, 2023. No formal complaints were made to Gardai.

Gardai are aware of footage being circulated on social media which occurred in the Sandwith Street area and an investigation into this incident is being carried out at Pearse Street Garda Station.

Official figures show that, as of May 9, that there are 581 International Protection applicants to whom the Department of Integration has been unable to offer accommodation.

Ireland is currently accommodating more than 84,000 refugees, including those fleeing Ukraine and the International Protection applicants.

The Department of Integration said it deplores any violent incidents or intimidation towards international protection applicants.

Access to suitable accommodation is severely constrained at present, particularly for International Protection applicants. The Department is availing of all offers of accommodation made to it, including the use of repurposed buildings and tented accommodation, to address the accommodation shortfall.

Since the beginning of 2023, more than 5,300 bed spaces have been brought into use for International Protection applicants, alongside more than 5,000 beds for those fleeing the war in Ukraine.

The Department is working to secure further accommodation and hopes to deliver significant capacity in the coming weeks to alleviate the shortages being experienced presently, their spokesperson said.
Valentyna Shcholokova with grand-daughter Anastasiya Sytnyk on her return to her home town of Cherkasy in Ukraine

A Ukrainian grandmother who fled to Dublin last year to escape the war, has returned to her home in central Ukraine.

After a long and dangerous journey out of Ukraine last March, Valentyna Shcholokova (69) joined her grand-daughter Anastasiya Sytnyk (21) in Dublin where she works.

Last Monday, Ms Shcholokova finally returned to her house in Cherkasy, and reunited with her friends, family and old life.

She got 20 years younger the minute she got home, you should have seen the spring in her step the minute she got off that bus, said Anastasiya, who accompanied her grandmother back to Ukraine last week.

The pair flew from Dublin to Poland and got a 14-hour bus across the border to their home in Cherkasy, two-hours from Kiev.

There was a lot of rebuilding, said Anastasiya. Everything was being renewed. The Cherkasy two years ago and the Cherkasy now are completely different.

They really put a lot of time and effort into making sure people felt safe and werent surrounded by things that would remind them of the war.

However, while on the long bus journey through Ukraine the grandmother and grand-daughter passed through cities that are still areas of conflict with road blockages and visible military action.

While driving through Uman, the air sirens were going off and that was the first time we kind of experienced it.

We were sleeping on the bus and we heard it and thought, are we safe or not?

Anastasiya and her grandmother Valentyna in Dublin. Pic: Mark Condren

I think Uman I was a little bit scared and through Vinnytsia as well, close to the summer they had a missile strike in the city centre that caused huge amounts of damage, she said.

A couple of days prior to their journey, the city of Uman was hit by missiles which resulted in the deaths of three people, including a baby in an apartment that was hit.

I didnt see a lot of ruins because we are in central Ukraine, she said, adding that most of the destruction is located in eastern Ukraine and buses dont travel through the cities.

When youre driving on buses they cant take you through the city itself, they take you on back roads to keep you safe, she said.

When Ms Shcholokova finally arrived outside her house it was overwhelming, Anastasiya said.

She was overjoyed, she was eager to grab every suitcase to make it back home. We were greeted by my aunt and my cousin and it was just an instant youre home.

She walked into the house and the minute she walked in she started calling her friends the second day she got a haircut.

The grand-daughter said her city has changed and become more patriotic with soldiers dressed in military uniforms in cafes.

You know that its their weekend off and they have come to visit their families, she said.

You see a lot of people with disabilities now as well in uniform. We have a rehabilitation centre in Cherkasy.

Anastasiya has now returned back to Dublin, where she works, after bringing her grandmother home and plans to visit again in a few months.
Simon Coveney, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, cuts the ribbon at the opening of SHEIN's new Dublin office this week

Minister Simon Coveneys support for controversial fashion retailer Shein is outrageous, according to one TD.

The company, which has faced numerous allegations of mistreating workers, plans to create 30 jobs at its new Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) headquarters in Dublin.

Enterprise, Trade and Employment Minister Coveney cut the ribbon at the opening of the offices this week and said: It is a vote of confidence that another global leader has chosen Ireland to launch their EMEA HQ and highlights that we have the environment to attract FDI companies to our shores.

The Dublin office will host Sheins strategic IT hub for the region with the aim of creating 30 jobs in Dublin by the end of 2023 and they hope to create more as the company grows.

However, People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy said it was outrageous Simon Coveney would support Shein and that his attendance at the event was entirely inconsistent with the Government's commitment to climate action.

I think its outrageous that Simon Coveney would support Shein in such a way given the record of the company in terms of labour rights, human rights, and environmental protection, Mr Murphy said.

Channel 4 did an expose of their work practices where those making the clothes were working up to 18 hours a day, getting paid as low as four cents per item they made.

Its incredible exploitation but also the entire model that its built on, this is the epitome of fast fashion which is completely unsustainable from an environmental point of view.

The clothes are made to be advertised to people, they wear them once or twice and throw them away.

Its entirely inconsistent with the Governments rhetorical commitment to climate action for them to be promoting this model of fashion.

Shein was the subject of a Channel 4 documentary, Untold: Inside the Shein Machine, which accused it of mistreating workers.

It alleged that factory workers were allowed to take just one day off every month. It also claimed that up to 75pc of their daily salary was withheld if a worker made a mistake on an item.

Now Shein plans to host around 30 pop-up shops around the EMEA region this year with the next Ireland pop-up happening from May 12 to 17 at the Opera Lane shopping district in Cork.

A spokesperson from the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment said: Shein, an IDA Ireland client, has officially launched its Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) headquarters, based in Dublin.

The Dublin office will host Sheins strategic IT hub for EMEA and will function as the heart of Sheins operations in the region, building on its commitment to local economies, communities and consumers.

The company has assured IDA Ireland of its commitment to environmental sustainability transformation in the fashion industry and is investing heavily in this area.

Last year, Sheins pop-up store at Jervis Shopping Centre, Dublin, attracted more than 4,000 visitors a day.

Sustainable fashion expert Fionnuala Moran previously told Independent.ie: Im wondering if we should be tolerating, never mind celebrating, this brand coming to Ireland.

If people are in a financial bind where they need to buy cheap clothes, please help the workers secure a living wage in Europe by signing the Good Clothes, Fair Pay petition.

Entrepreneur Rachel Hennessy, who owns a fashion rental shop called Happy Days in Leopardstown in Dublin, also expressed her concerns about Shein.

I feel like a lot of people who buy from Shein dont have a clue about the allegations about their workers  its shocking, she previously said.

A lot of people are in this wear-once culture  you get your photo on Instagram and once people have seen you in this outfit, you dont want to wear it again.
Family face homelessness despite giving South Dublin County Council two years notice of landlord selling up

The woman said the stress of the family's impending homelessness has impacted her health. Pictured posed   Getty Images/iStockphoto

A Dublin family-of-six facing homelessness from tomorrow, says their children are watching them pack-up and asking where are we going?.

The family contacted South Dublin County Council two years ago when they received notice from their landlord that the property would be sold.

They requested the local authority to purchase their home of 14 years through the tenant-in-situ scheme.

The family, who wish to remain anonymous, are on the Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS), a social housing support payment for those receiving a long-term rent supplement in privately rented housing.

Our kids dont know anything. They dont know the situation and I never wanted them to, said the mother.

I want them to feel secure where they are living. They are looking at us packing boxes and asking us where we are going? And I cant say.

We have an autistic daughter and I myself have Crohns disease. The stress of the last two years has put me into a massive flair and I am waiting for surgery.

I dont even know where I am going to recuperate afterwards, she added.

The family were contacted by the landlord in April 2021 informing them that the house would be sold.

I rang South Dublin County Council immediately to let them know and asked if they had any interest in purchasing the house, said the woman.

They said no, that they werent in a position to do so, but they linked me in with a voluntary housing body and they were interested, she said.

Unfortunately, according to the landlord, the price was too low so the deal was off.

In August that year, SDCC then expressed interest in purchasing the property, but the offer was again lower than the evaluation price and the landlord rejected it.

The family were given their official notice in August 2022 after both deals fell through.

Their eviction date was originally April 30, however, this has been extended a number of times as a temporary home that was to be provided by the council has not been ready.

Im banging my head off a brick wall. I told the council two years ago that the landlord was planning to sell, the woman said.

I was told not to worry that we would be housed closer to the time. They told us not to panic. Now, as of Saturday we are homeless.

The family were told in April they would be housed in a 3-bed temporary house, which now wont be available in time and has no appliances, no furniture and concrete floors.

I got a call a couple of days ago to say that the electrics are not sorted, they havent even been started and the property wont be ready now until the end of the month.

We were asked by the SDCC if there was any family or friends we could stay with, she said.

The family are planning to temporarily move in with the womans mother until alternative accommodation can be found. They are currently on the councils transfer list.

Its going to be 11 people in a two-bed house, she said. I am physically and mentally drained.

Im shouting from the rooftops and nothing I say or do can get through to them [council].

We are here 14 years, my husband is in full-time employment, we are good tenants and weve never been in trouble and weve always kept up to date on our rent.

The woman said the Rental Accommodation Scheme should be abolished.

We were promised that this situation would not happen and here we are, she added.

A spokesperson for SDCC said it is the councils policy not to provide comment on individual cases.
Soccer

Kerry FC manager Billy Dennehy says that first win is for everyone who has supported the club in any way
Parents in Drogheda are concerned at the sale of vapes to children as young as 13.   PA

Meath County Cllr Tom Behan has tabled a motion calling on Meath County Council to increase awareness of its Not Around Us campaign, specifically aimed at encouraging people not to smoke or vape in places where young people are likely to gather.

We have all seen the rise in popularity of Vapes and more specifically disposable vapes amongst our younger generations. Therefore Im calling on this council to ramp up its efforts in encouraging people not to smoke or vape in specific areas, namely where young people are likely to gather. It is up to us to set an example and lead the charge in our efforts to de-normalise vaping because at the moment, unfortunately it would seem that vaping is no longer a tool to move away from the more harmful smoking and rather young people are opting to vape without ever smoking, said Cllr Behan.

"We need to create a narrative whereby it is the expected norm that we no longer smoke or vape where young people are likely to gather. This campaign will aim at tackling that and raising awareness around our playgrounds and other areas".

Not Around Us is about promoting an environment where it is easier for those who smoke to quit, and stay quit, and to help de-normalise smoking for the next generation.

The purpose of Not Around Us is to help to protect children and young people from second-hand smoke exposure, contribute to the de-normalisation of smoking for children and young people and reduce the environmental nuisance, cost of cleaning and damage that discarded tobacco products.

"I believe vaping is becoming a huge problem particularly for our younger generations who appear to be vaping more and more, said Cllr Behan. My hope is that by increasing awareness on this issue we can begin to denormalise vaping and smoking amongst our younger generations and tackle the issue head on, I will continue to work with the council on creating awareness on this matter. 

In November 2022, the government approved the introduction of restrictions on the selling of nicotine-inhaling products, which includes vapes, in self-service vending machines and the advertising of these products in cinemas and near schools through the Public Health (Tobacco and Nicotine Inhaling Products) Bill.

Countries like Australia are banning the sale of vapes altogether, while here in Ireland, legislation to ban the sale of vapes to under 18s is expected to be passed in mid-July.

Children who vape are five times more likely to smoke cigarettes in later life, according to the Health Research Board.

Not Around us Signage will be made available free of charge to interested not for profit organisations, schools and early years services.

To get involved all you have to do is complete the Expression of Interest Form and return to community@meathcoco.ie .
The Irish language film Kneecap about the Belfast rap trio of the same name which was filmed in Dundalk and Greenore as well as Belfast, is being shown at Cannes.

The film, which stars Michael Fassbender, is featured in the Cannes Film Market which runs alongside the famous film festival. It is being shown as part of the Great8 showcase, which also features Aftersun, for which Paul Mescal was nominated for an Oscar. Following a screening for international distributors and festival programmers be available for distribution,

Directed by Rich Peppiatt, who previously directed a music video for Kneecaps song Guilty Conscience, its a semi-fictionalised account of the trios rise to fame, and features rappers Moglai Bap, Mo Chara, DJ Provai, and His Dark Materials star Simone Kirby, who is married to Dundalk native Fergal McElherron.

Were buzzing to show people a side of Belfast that isnt about guns, bombs and death, Kneecap told Variety magazine. To give an insight into the youth culture that has been born out of that madness  we all needed a break from it and theres revenge in our laughter.

Read more Louth photographer snap happy to find Michael Fassbender filming on his doorstep

This is the North of Ireland and the importance of culture and community in the 21st Century, Kneecap continued.

The Synopsis for the film, which is set in West Belfast in 2019, says: Fate brings together disillusioned music teacher JJ with self-confessed low life scum Naoise and Liam Og, changing the sound of Irish music forever. Under the name Kneecap, their band begins moulding the language to fit their tough, anarchic, hedonistic lives. A language encumbered with forty words for stone now has one for stoned. But to get their voices heard the trio must overcome police, paramilitaries and politicians as the future of the Irish language erupts into the public arena  with them at the centre. Yet their worst enemies are often themselves, as family and relationship pressures threaten their dreams, and their illegal exploits draw condemnation from all sides.

Scenes from the film where shot in the Spirit Store and New Street in Dundalk, while actor Michael Fassbender was also spotted filming in Greenore.

Kneecap are currently touring in Great Britain and play a number of festivals this summer, including Marley Park on May 20 and at Body and Soul in June.
Organised by Lero, the Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre for Software and the Irish Computer Society, the national finals brought together top-scoring teams from schools and clubs across the country with participants, aged six years and older, demonstrating their Scratch projects to judges at University of Limerick on Wednesday.

Marcus Bugna from Catherine McCauley Junior School, Castlemoyle, New Ross, was presented with a Judges' Award for his project 5 Level Maze.

Leros support and involvement in the Scratch competition underpins one of our core objectives which is to train software practitioners of the future through interventions at all levels of the education system. It is so important to nurture and develop coding skills and computational thinking among children and young people, said Dr Clare McInerney, Education and Public Engagement Manager with Lero.

"What we see in the National Scratch Competition Finals is the culmination of many months of work for the participants, their teachers and their families and the end result is very impressive. Their projects are a convergence of science and creativity and allows them to see what coding makes possible

There were 280 entries in this years competition, a big increase on last year and an excellent gender balance (56pc male, 44pc female). 45 students made it to the finals and the panel of 15 judges was very impressed by the quality and originality of the projects on show. Congratulations to all the finalists for their work.

Scratch is a visual programming language that helps children to build key coding skills in a fun and interactive way. The Scratch Coding Competition promotes computing and software development at both primary and secondary school levels and has grown since 2010 alongside the growth in interest in coding.
A 28-year-old factory worker from County Wexford was led away to begin a year in jail on conviction for defilement of a 14-year-old girl.
Gilly Taylor and Brian OToole, the owners of Wild Acres, had collected 400 acorns from local Wicklow oak trees. These acorns germinated in their polytunnel and the volunteers helped clear some old raised beds and transplanted the seedlings into them. When these oak trees have grown in size they will be donated to ReWild Wicklow to be planted in other sites and help reforest Wicklow with native, locally-grown oak.

Thank you so much to Gilly and Brian, said ReWild Wicklow Chairperson Danny Alvey,

They have created such a wonderful nature reserve and it was full of life and colour when we visited last Saturday. This new initiative of theirs is a great idea and will help us so much with our vital work at this turning point in the biodiversity crisis.

We would love to see these small local tree nurseries popping up all over the county. I look forward to returning again later in the summer, and to all of our other rewilding projects across the county, for more volunteering. Biodiversity is currently one of our biggest weaknesses here in Ireland but in Wicklow we can make it one of our biggest strengths. I want to expand the land set aside for nature in this county, connect it together into a network and create local business through eco-tourism.

Wild Acres was established in 2017 when Brian and Gilly purchased 17.5 acres of undulating agricultural land in Scratenagh, on the beautiful Redcross river, with the aim of transforming it into a nature reserve, honey farm and biodiversity education experience. The couple now organise workshops, courses and guided walks for all sorts of groups and also sell locally-produced honey.

Brian of Wild Acres said: Last year was a mast year so there was an abundance of acorns on our local mature pedunculate oak trees. We gathered 500 of them and in autumn a group of friends helped us plant them in seed trays and approximately 400 germinated. We are so grateful to all the wonderful people that came out on Saturday and worked hard in the sun to transplant these oaklings and do a number of other important tasks for nature around the reserve.
GREEN Party TD Seven Matthews has welcomed the delivery of a new late evening rail service for Wicklow, following an extended period of representation by him on behalf of commuters.

The new late evening rail service will begin on May 22 and depart Connolly Station to Gorey at 8 p.m. The return journey will take place from Gorey at 10.25 p.m.

Deputy Steven Matthews pictured during a recent visit to the Inchicore Railway Works.

Deputy Matthews said: Initially it was decided that the train would return empty but I advocated for it to make the return journey as a passenger train. The service will travel from Connolly and stop at Greystones, Rathdrum, Wicklow town and Arklow.

"This is a brand-new option for Wicklow commuters and will enable them to travel back to Wicklow or Arklow in the evening by train. Whether its to stay late at work or college, socialise after work, attend late appointments or visit patients in hospital in the city there is now an option to travel back to Wicklow safely and efficiently by train.

I made a commitment to deliver on public transport when I was elected to Dail Eireann. In that time public transport costs have been slashed, new and enhanced bus services have been introduced and rail improvements are taking place.

He is also still working away to try and extend the DART to Wicklow town.

Deputy Matthews added: At the time of my election this proposal was not on the table. It now is, and while it will take some time before this service is live, I am making significant progress with Irish Rail to make it happen. I am enormously grateful to the people of Wicklow for putting me in a position to make this happen.
Speaking at last Mondays Wicklow County Council meeting, Cllr Dunne said: We have a lot of parks and open areas in Wicklow town, including a number of passive open spaces. The upkeep isnt always great and I feel we should have a dedicated crew to go around the whole county and look at it. I know they have them in Dublin. We have so much open spaces and parks that I think something has to be done.

Wicklow County Council Chief Executive Emer OGorman stated that while Dublin does have dedicated park and open spaces staff, they dont have Municipal Districts to team with staff either. She concluded by saying she would look into see if there are any available resources to fund the suggestion.
GROUPS, communities, individuals, schools, businesses and organisations are urged to get involved in the Pure Mile initiative, with volunteers having collected over 2,000 bags of waste since the start of the year from the Wicklow and Dublin Uplands.

The Pure Mile was established in 2010 and the project has grown from 5 miles to over 1,000 miles this year.

Ian Davis, manager of Pure commented: Now that all Covid-19 restrictions have been lifted we are able to organise large scale clean-ups of the Wicklow/Dublin Uplands and we have seen an increase in people getting involved.

Since Covid-19 people have become much more aware of the amount of litter and rubbish on roadside verges, hedges, and drains and they want to do something about it.

Pure Mile groups are contacting us every day to organise litter picks and clean-ups, and the Pure Truck has been extremely busy collecting the rubbish on a daily basis, ensuring that no bags are left on the landscape. Its amazing the amount of litter and rubbish the Pure Mile Volunteers are removing from the Wicklow/Dublin Uplands and we would like to thank all of them in assisting us to Clean-Up Wicklow/Dublin Uplands.

The Pure Mile Groups make a huge difference to the appearance of the Wicklow/Dublin Uplands and Pure would like to congratulate all of the Pure Mile Volunteers involved. Further Pure Mile litter picks, clean-ups, anti-dumping initiatives, community projects, biodiversity, and heritage projects, are currently being organised throughout the year.

Pure supply all groups with Pure Mile Signs, Pure Mile Bags, Pure Mile High-Vis Vests, litter pickers and gloves, and the Pure Truck collects all rubbish and litter gathered by groups. All groups who register with the Pure Mile are invited to the Pure Mile Gala Evening Awards Night, and all receive a Certificate of Participation, a selection of Native Irish Trees, and all feature in the Pure Mile Calendar.

People can contact Pure at info@pureproject.ie or download an application from www.pureproject.ie/what-we-do/the-pure-mile/.

You can also write to; Pure Project, Unit 6 B, Riverside Business Centre, Tinahely, Co Wicklow, Y14 R978, and they will post out all the information, or request an application form and information pack by phoning Pure on 0402 28662.
The 67th Eurovision Song Contest is taking place in Liverpool this year after the UK was chosen to host on behalf of war-torn Ukraine.

It is the first time the competition has been held in the UK for 25 years  and Russia will not be competing.

 Why is Russia absent from the contest?

Russia, which debuted at the contest in 1994, was banned last year after its invasion of Ukraine, before it had announced its act.

(PA Graphics)   Press Association Images

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which produces the show, said the inclusion of a Russian entry at the contest in Turin would bring it into disrepute.

This came after it said it had intended to allow Russia to compete but faced strong criticism from state broadcasters in countries including Iceland, Finland, Norway and the Netherlands.

Russias national broadcasters subsequently suspended their memberships of the EBU in protest, preventing them from taking part in future contests.

 Can Russian viewers vote in the contest this year?

For the first time in the competitions nearly seven-decade history, people from non-competing countries can vote for their favourite act.

Their votes are converted into points with the same weight as a participating country.

This means that despite Russia not competing this year its citizens could still be able to vote.

But organisers clarified this week that Russians are effectively barred from voting due to financial sanctions on the country making it impossible for them to pay the voting fee.

Martin Osterdahl, the EBUs executive supervisor for the event, said: Some territories are subject to sanctions and to payment providers having suspended their operations and that includes Russia.

 Russia and Ukraine have a history of conflict at the contest

Russia won in 2008 with Dima Bilan singing Believe, and in turn hosted the 2009 contest in Moscow.

Dima Bilan (Lewis Whyld/PA)   Lewis Whyld

Tensions between the two nations played out in 2017 when Julia Samoylova was chosen to represent Russia at the contest, which that year took place in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.

She was blocked from the country because she had reportedly toured Crimea without entering the disputed peninsula through the border with the Ukrainian mainland.

Russian television station Channel One then announced that it would not broadcast the contest or take part.

Last years winners were Ukraines Kalush Orchestra but they were not the countrys first choice to perform.

Eurovision Song Contest winners Kalush Orchestra (Eurovision 2022/PA)   Eurovision 2022

Alina Pash had originally been chosen through a televised national selection show and was due to sing her song, Shadows Of Forgotten Ancestors.

However, she withdrew after facing scrutiny over a reported 2015 visit to Russia-occupied Crimea.

People who enter Crimea through Russia are considered by Ukraine to have illegally crossed the border, although there is no suggestion that Pash did this.
Judge urges ex-PM to appeal to his supporters to remain peaceful

Supporters of Imran Khan celebrate after Lahore's Supreme Court ordered the release of Khan. Photo: K.M. Chaudary / AP Photo   AP

Pakistans Supreme Court yesterday ordered the release of former prime minister Imran Khan, whose arrest earlier this week sparked a wave of violence across the country by his supporters.
Prince Harry did not have an expectation of privacy over a report he was allegedly punished by his father for dressing up as a Nazi, the Mirrors publisher has told the High Court in London.
Inside Ukraines D-Day counteroffensive as Kyiv corridors of power plot to end Putins occupation

On the frontline of Zaporizhzhia, soldiers are poised. In Kyivs corridors of power, plans have been drawn up to end Russian occupation. Bel Trew talks to the key players as Ukraine prepares to strike back against Russia  and break the wars brutal deadlock

President Volodymyr Zelensky (Yves Herman/Pool via AP)   Yves Herman

Bel Trew UK Independent Fri 12 May 2023 at 07:47
A Ukrainian refugee who had two minutes to flee her home with her children as Russian bombing began last year is now set to attend a Eurovision watch party in her adopted home of Berkshire thanks to the love and kindness of a local charity.
Ukrainian artist Mariana Potetenko, who came to Liverpool from Kyiv, with her Eurovision design which has gone on display in Bold Street (Liverpool City Region Combined Authority/PA)
Wikipedia Commons

New Delhi: The first Ministerial meeting of the India  EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC) will be held in Brussels on May 16.

The meeting will be co-chaired on the Indian side by the Ministers for External Affairs; Commerce and Industry; and Communications, Electronics and Information Technology.

TTC was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen during the latters visit to India in April 2022, read a statement issued by the Ministry of External Affairs.

Subsequently, both sides established three Working Groups under the TTC: (i) Working Group on Strategic Technologies, Digital Governance and Digital Connectivity; (ii) Working Group on Green and Clean Energy Technologies; and (iii) Working Group on Trade, Investment and Resilient Value Chains.

Both sides have maintained continuous engagement thereafter within the Working Groups at various levels and meetings of the three Working Groups have also taken place leading to the Ministerial meeting in Brussels.
Image: UNI

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday announced that it would review the report presented by the court-appointed six-member committee before deciding whether to grant the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) an extension for completing the investigation regarding the Adani-Hindenburg matter.

The court scheduled further deliberation on the issue for Monday, May 15.

Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, heading a special three-judge bench, informed Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing SEBI, that they had yet to examine the interim report submitted by former Supreme Court judge Justice AM Sapre, which is currently with the court registry.

The Chief Justice assured that they would carefully assess the report before issuing any orders on the extension of time.

According to an Indian Today report, during the brief hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the bench that investigation is being done but will need more time to complete the same and said, "We are here to assist this court. We are investigating some transactions for 2016, which is completely different. We have written to the international agency also. And I am asking for six months' time with much responsibility."

Objecting to the extension of time, Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for a petitioner in the case, said SEBI should at least disclose what it has done so far.

Bhushan also told the bench that SEBI is a member of the International Organisation of Securities Commission and hence there was no difficulty in getting information from foreign countries regarding international transactions.

At this, the CJI said, It would not be proper at this stage to ask them to reveal what they have found in investigation. Let us see. But we agree with you that they cannot go on indefinitely."

SEBI, in its request, has asked for an additional six months to conclude its investigation into the Hindenburg allegations.

However, during the hearing, the bench hinted that it might not grant the full six months but could potentially extend the probe by three more months to allow for completion.

"You complete your investigation in three months and come back to us. There has to be alacrity," the CJI told the Solicitor General, the India Today report said.

According to the report, another petitioner also opposed the extension of time and said, "There is a regulatory failure."

This angered the CJI, who reprimanded the petitioner for irresponsibly declaring that it was a case of "a regulatory failure" when the findings of the investigation by the court-appointed committees had not been revealed.

On this, the report quoted CJI as saying: "The committee is constituted to say that there was a regulatory failure, you cannot stand here and say that there was a regulatory failure because whatever you say here affects stock markets. Let us be responsible. It is easy to stand and make allegations."

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court instructed SEBI to examine specific aspects of the matters raised in a set of petitions as part of its ongoing investigation.

The investigation focused on various issues such as the potential violation of the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Rules, 1957, non-disclosure of transactions, and manipulation of stock prices, among others.
Image credit: Free wallpaper

Amid massive job cuts, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella informed the employees that the company will not be offering a salary hike this year media reports said.

Many company employees were hoping for a salary increase following Microsofts impressive financial performance in recent quarters.

In the quarter ending December 31, 2020, Microsoft recorded a net income of $16.5 billion, marking an increase from $11.6 billion in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Also, the tech giant has already announced the termination of over 10,000 employees.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has said that the reason for not offering a salary increase is the uncertainty caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

In these uncertain times, the company wants to ensure the stability of its business and its employees.

Despite the absence of a salary increase this year, Microsoft has assured its employees that it will maintain its investment in them by offering bonuses and stock awards.

The company has said it wants to focus on supporting the growth and development of its workforce.

This development comes amid the news that Microsoft is planning to lay off thousands of employees, both full-time and part-time, in its retail stores as it shifts its focus to online sales.

However, Microsofts commitment to invest in its workers through bonuses and stock awards exhibits that it is still focused on the development and well-being and growth of the employees who will be retained.

Microsoft is not the only company that has laid off many of its workforce. Major tech companies of the world, including Meta, Twitter, and Google, have downsized their teams citing economic uncertainties.
Image: Pixabay

The protection offered by COVID-19 vaccination declines more rapidly in people with severe obesity than in those with normal weight, scientists at the Universities of Cambridge and Edinburgh have found.

The study suggests that people with obesity are likely to need more frequent booster doses to maintain their immunity.

Clinical trials have shown that COVID-19 vaccines are highly effective at reducing symptoms, hospitalisation and deaths caused by the virus, including for people with obesity.

Previous studies have suggested that antibody levels may be lower in vaccinated people who have obesity and that they may remain at higher risk of severe disease than vaccinated people with normal weight. The reasons for this have, however, remained unclear.

This study, published in the journal Nature Medicine, shows that the ability of antibodies to neutralise the virus declines faster in vaccinated people who have obesity. The findings have important implications for vaccine prioritisation policies around the world.

During the pandemic, people with obesity were more likely to be hospitalised, require ventilators and to die from COVID-19. In this study, supported by the NIHR Bioresource and funded by UKRI, the researchers set out to investigate how far two of the most extensively used vaccines protect people with obesity compared to those with a normal weight, over time.

A team from the University of Edinburgh, led by Prof Sir Aziz Sheikh, looked at real-time data tracking the health of 3.5 million people in the Scottish population as part of the EAVE II study. They looked at hospitalisation and mortality from COVID-19 in adults who received two doses of COVID-19 vaccine (either Pfizer-BioNTech BNT162b2 mRNA or AstraZeneca ChAdOx1).

They found that people with severe obesity (a BMI greater than 40 kg/m2) had a 76% higher risk of severe COVID-19 outcomes, compared to those with a normal BMI. A modest increase in risk was also seen in people with obesity (30-39.9kg/m2), which affects a quarter of the UK population, and those who were underweight. Break-through infections after the second vaccine dose also led to hospitalisation and death sooner (from 10 weeks) among people with severe obesity, and among people with obesity (after 15 weeks), than among individuals with normal weight (after 20 weeks).

Prof Sir Aziz Sheikh said: Our findings demonstrate that protection gained through COVID-19 vaccination drops off faster for people with severe obesity than those with a normal body mass index. Using large-scale data assets such as the EAVE II Platform in Scotland have enabled us to generate important and timely insights that enable improvements to the delivery of COVID-19 vaccine schedules in a post-pandemic UK.

The University of Cambridge team  jointly led by Dr James Thaventhiran, from the MRC Toxicology Unit and Prof Sadaf Farooqi from the Wellcome-MRC Institute of Metabolic Science  studied people with severe obesity attending the Obesity clinic at Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge, and compared the number and function of immune cells in their blood to those of people of normal weight.

They studied people six months after their second vaccine dose and then looked at the response to a third 'booster' vaccine dose over time. The Cambridge researchers found that six months after a second vaccine dose, people with severe obesity had similar levels of antibodies to the COVID-19 virus as those with a normal weight.

But the ability of those antibodies to work efficiently to fight against the virus (known as neutralisation capacity) was reduced in people with obesity. 55% of individuals with severe obesity were found to have unquantifiable or undetectable neutralising capacity compared to 12% of people with normal BMI.

This study further emphasises that obesity alters the vaccine response and also impacts on the risk of infection, said Dr Agatha van der Klaauw from the Wellcome-MRC Institute of Metabolic Science and first author of the paper. We urgently need to understand how to restore immune function and minimise these health risks.

The researchers found that antibodies produced by people with severe obesity were less effective at neutralising the SARS-CoV-2 virus, potentially because the antibodies were not able to bind to the virus with the same strength.

When given a third (booster) dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, the ability of the antibodies to neutralise the virus was restored in both the normal weight and severely obese groups. But the researchers found that immunity again declined more rapidly in people with severe obesity, putting them at greater risk of infection with time.

Dr James Thaventhiran, a Group Leader from the MRC Toxicology Unit in Cambridge and co-lead author of the SCORPIO study said: It is promising to see that booster vaccines restore the effectiveness of antibodies for people with severe obesity, but it is concerning that their levels decrease more quickly, after just 15 weeks. This shows that the vaccines work as well in people with obesity, but the protection doesnt last as long.

Prof Sadaf Farooqi from the Wellcome-MRC Institute of Metabolic Science and co-lead author of the SCORPIO study said: More frequent booster doses are likely to be needed to maintain protection against COVID-19 in people with obesity. Because of the high prevalence of obesity across the globe, this poses a major challenge for health services.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, where 'The Kerala Story' film is withdrawn from theatres and it asked them to file their respective replies by Wednesday, when it would hear the matter next.

A bench of the Apex Court, headed by the Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dr Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chadrachud, issued notice to WB, TN govt and sought their replies.

The Apex Court told the Tamil Nadu government that it is the state's duty to provide adequate security to filmgoers and not cite breach of peach peace to force theatres withdraw film.

It also asked the West Bengal government thay why should 'The Kerala Story' be banned?

"If the film is screened in other parts of the country which have similar demography as WB, why should it be not shown in WB? Why should WB ban it?" the court asked.

The Supreme Court issued notice to WB and TN Govt, on hearing a plea filed by the makers of the film The Kerala Story, challenging the ban on its screening by the Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal and a ban in Tamil Nadu.

Senior Advocate and former Solicitor General (SG) Harish Salve, appearing for the film producers, said that this is a petition under Article 32 of the Indian Constitution.

One State has put a de facto ban, other has used its powers under Cinematograph Act, and banned it.

Senior advocate, Dr Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for State of West Bengal, said, "They should go to the High Court, your lordship had earlier said we should go to the High Court."

"Also, we received huge number of intelligence reports, on breach of public order," he said.

The CJI said that let the public decide, it may be good art or bad art, let the public decide if they want to see or not, the film is running in other states with similar demographics.

After hearing this, the CJI said, we will issue notice and fixed the matter for further hearing to May 17, Wednesday.

(With UNI inputs)
Image: PIB

New Delhi: PM Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone and dedicated to the nation, projects worth around Rs 4400 crores in Gandhinagar, Gujarat on Friday.

The projects include laying the foundation stone and inaugurating development projects worth over Rs 2450 crores such as Urban Development Department, Water Supply Department, Road and Transport Department and Mines and Minerals Department.

The Prime Minister also inaugurated and laid the foundation stone of PMAY (rural and urban) projects worth around Rs 1950 crores and participated in Gruh Pravesh of around 19,000 houses built under the scheme by handing over keys to beneficiaries of the scheme during the program. He also interacted with the beneficiaries via video link.

Addressing the gathering congratulated the beneficiaries.

He said that for him nation building is an ongoing Maha Yagya.

He expressed satisfaction at the pace of development in Gujarat under the government formed after the recent election.

He mentioned the recent pro-poor Gujarat Budget of 3 lakh crore.

He praised the state for leading the spirit of priority to the deprived.

The Prime Minister listed some recent initiatives in the state like 25 lakh Ayushman cards, help to 2 lakh mothers from PM Matru Vandana Scheme, 4 new medical colleges and works worth thousands of crore for modern infrastructure.

This shows, the Prime Minister said, that the double engine government of Gujarat is working with double speed.

The Prime Minister said that the people have been experiencing unprecedented development in the last 9 years.

He recalled a time when even basic facilities were rare for the citizens. He said that the country is coming out of that despondency.

He said that the government is trying to reach everyone and efforts are on for the 100 percent saturation of benefits of the schemes. For us, the development of the country is a conviction and a commitment, the Prime Minister remarked as he underlined that the government is striving for the saturation of all government schemes.

This approach by the government, the Prime Minister said, has put an end to corruption and discrimination.

The true meaning of secularism is when there is no discrimination at all, the Prime Minister said as he stated that social justice occurs when the government works towards the benefit of everyone in the society.

Informing that roughly 32,000 homes have been completed and handed over to the beneficiaries in the last year, the Prime Minister underlined that the self-confidence of the poor gets a huge boost when they are least worried about the basic necessities of life.

The country cannot transform its fate and become a developed nation by moving forward on the path of failed policies, the Prime Minister underlined as he highlighted the differences between the work culture of the present government and the governments of the past.

Throwing light on the statistics of the last decade, the Prime Minister pointed out that roughly 75 percent of homes in rural areas lacked the facility of a toilet even though policies were already in place.

After 2014, the Prime Minister continued, the government did not limit itself to only providing a roof for the poor but turned the homes into a basis for tackling poverty and a medium for strengthening their dignity.

Under PMAY, the beneficiaries have a say in the construction of houses where the government transfers the financial aid directly into their bank accounts, the Prime Minister said as he touched upon the geotagging of such houses.

The Prime Minister said that the houses being constructed under the PMAY are a package of many schemes.

This house has a toilet under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Electricity connection under Saubhagya scheme, free LPG connection under Ujjwala scheme, piped wanted under JJM, he said.

He said apart from these things, free medical treatment and free ration are also working as a security shield for the poor.

The Prime Minister also touched upon women empowerment under PMAY. He informed that in the last 9 years, about 4 crore houses have been handed over to poor families. 70 percent of which are registered in the name of the women.

Noting that the cost of construction of houses under PMAY is several lakhs, the Prime Minister said that crores of women beneficiaries have now become millionaires.

These crores of women have owned any property for the first time.

He congratulated the Lakhpati Didis.

The Prime Minister said that the government is working keeping in mind the challenges of the future and the growing urbanization in the country.

He mentioned that more than a thousand houses in Rajkot have been constructed using modern technology thereby consuming less time and money, and are equally safe.

He informed that this experiment under the Light House Project has been carried out in 6 cities of the country where technology has helped in building cheaper and modern houses. He also assured that such houses are going to be available to the poor in the coming times.

The Prime Minister also elaborated on the steps to remove the bad practices and cheating in the real estate sector that had caused a lot of hardships for poor and middle-class families. RERA Act has provided legal security to middle-class families for getting the promised facilities when purchasing a house.

He also informed about the unprecedented budget subsidy for housing loans by middle-class families. In Gujarat, 5 lakh families got assistance worth 11 thousand crore.

The Prime Minister said in the 25 years of Amrit Kaal specially tier-2 and tier-3 will give pace to the economy.

He informed that systems in many cities of Gujarat are being upgraded as per the needs of the future.

He informed that basic facilities are being spruced up in 500 cities under the AMRUT Mission. And 100 cities are getting smart facilities.

Today, we are giving equal emphasis on Ease of Living and Quality of Life in urban planning, the Prime Minister said.

He underlined that the metro network in the country is being expanded with the idea that people do not have to spend a lot of time traveling from one place to another.

Noting that the metro is running in 20 cities in the country, the Prime Minister informed that the metro network in the country grew 600 kilometers in the last 9 years from 250 kilometers before 2014.

Twin cities like Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar are also being connected by trains like Vande Bharat Express today, and the fleet of electric buses is also increasing in many cities of Gujarat.

Speaking about the lack of seriousness for tonnes of municipal waste generated in the country, the Prime Minister informed that waste processing in the country has increased from 14-15 percent in 2014 to 75 percent today.

If this had happened earlier, then mountains of garbage would not have been standing in our cities today, Modi said and pointed out that the Government is working on mission mode to eliminate the heaps of garbage in our cities.

Quality of life in our cities is possible only when we get a clean environment and pure air, the Prime Minister said.

The Prime Minister lauded the water management and water supply model of Gujarat.

He mentioned 3 thousand kilometer long water main lines and 1.25 lakh kilometer distribution lines taking water to 15 thousand villages and 250 urban areas.

He praised the fervour for Amrit Sarovar in Gujarat.

Concluding the address, the Prime Minister urged everyone to maintain this pace of development. Our resolutions of Amrit Kaal will be fulfilled with Sabka Prayas Modi concluded.

Chief Minister of Gujarat, Bhupendra Patel, Member of Parliament, Shri C R Patil, and Minister from the Government of Gujarat were present on the occasion among others.
Image Credit: Instagram/Zee Studios

New Delhi/UNI: The hit legal drama, Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway, starring Rani Mukerji, is now streaming on Netflix.

The film is based on the life of an immigrant Indian mother's battle against the Norwegian foster care system and local legal machinery to win back the custody of her children.

Based on true events, the film takes you through the journey of a mother's undying love for her children and how she fights to get them back against all odds.

Rani shared, Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway is an extremely special film for me. And I am ecstatic that the film, after its successful run at the theaters, is now releasing on Netflix. This will only ensure that our movie reaches more people around the globe. And what better than to have my film release over Mothers Day weekend on Netflix.

Produced by Zee Studios and Emmay Entertainment (Monisha Advani, Madhu Bhojwani & Nikkhil Advani), Mrs Chatterjee VS Norway had a successful run at the box office and is now streaming on Netflix.
Image Credit: Screenshot grab

Mumbai/IBNS: Bollywood actors Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh's PDA moments are often seen in various gatherings including the film screenings with both admiring each other.

A similar PDA moment was caught during Deepika's interview with Time Magazine.

A video, which is loved by the netizens, is doing the rounds on Instagram where the couple is seen with affection for each other.

While Deepika is busy giving her interview, Ranveer gatecrashes, kisses his wife and says, "I just came here to say 'Hi'."

Deepika tells the interviewer that they have been married for almost five years prompting Ranveer to add that the couple have been together for almost 11 years.

Deepika even blushes holding Ranveer's hand saying, "What are we doing?"

Ranveer then leaves the room after the couple kisses for the second time.

Deepika and Ranveer, who have featured in a number of Hindi films as a couple, got married in 2018 at Lake Como, Italy after years of dating.

In the course of the interview, Deepika, who has featured on the Time Magazine cover, talked about marriages, political and social media backlashes which she faced in her career.
Image: UNI

Tel Aviv: One person has died and seven more have been injured as a result of a direct missile hit to a building in the Israeli city of Rehovot, 17 miles south of Tel Aviv, Israels national emergency medical service (Magen David Adom, MDA) said on Thursday.

"A direct hit in a residential building in Rehovot. There are eight casualties in the incident: one is dead, four are in a state of moderate severity, one is slightly injured and two are in a state of shock. MDA paramedics stated the death of a person who received multiple injuries and sent five injured to the Kaplan Hospital," MDA tweeted.

Earlier in the day, air raid sirens were repeatedly heard in a number of cities in southern Israel.

On Thursday, militants from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, an Islamist paramilitary movement in the Gaza Strip, intensified missile strikes against Israel after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) killed several commanders of the movement. They were responsible for rocket attacks against Israel, according to the IDF.

On Tuesday night, Israel launched "Operation Shield and Arrow," conducting airstrikes against militants in the Gaza Strip and their infrastructure, including rocket launchers and mortars. In response, militants of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad fired 469 rockets at Israel on Wednesday, according to the IDF.

On Thursday, the Palestinian Health Ministry said that Israeli strikes against the Gaza Strip killed 25 and injured 76 people.

(With UNI inputs)
Image:  WFP/Peter Louis

New York: Sudans descent into violent conflict and humanitarian catastrophe came under the scrutiny of the UN Human Rights Council on Thursday, as Member States called an emergency session of the body in Geneva. Member States adopted a resolution including a request for detailed monitoring and reporting of all alleged rights abuses, to be carried out by the designated expert for the country, including the current upsurge in violence.

The development comes after more than three weeks of fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) loyal to General Abdel Fattah Al Burhan and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.

UN rights chief Volker Turk opened the meeting condemning the wanton violence which has brought more hunger, deprivation and displacement upon the Sudanese people, while both sides trampled international humanitarian law.

From beacon of hope to humanitarian disaster

Mr. Turk reminded the Council that in 2019 Sudan appeared as a beacon of hope after popular protests with women and youth at the forefront toppled Omar al-Bashirs three decade-long dictatorship. He spoke of his visit to the country six months ago  his first mission as UN rights chief  when a transition to civilian rule was on the horizon.

Recalling his meetings at the time with both rival generals, the UN rights chief said that his message had been to insist on accountability and human rights as essential to any future agreement.

Today, immense damage has been done, destroying the hopes and rights of millions of people, Mr. Turk said.

To date, more than 600 people have been killed in the fighting, more than 150,000 have fled Sudan, and over 700,000 have become internally displaced. Record levels of hunger are expected in the country in the coming months.

Urgent call for peace

The UN rights chief underscored the desperate need for a humanitarian truce and an end to human rights violations.

While noting that despite intense diplomatic efforts by actors including the African Union, the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the League of Arab States and the United Nations, the leaders of the SAF and RSF have not agreed to discuss ending hostilities, the High Commissioner called on the parties to the conflict to urgently commit to an inclusive political process and to a negotiated peace.

The Council later in the afternoon passed a resolution echoing this call and demanding detailed rights monitoring of the situation in the country, to be undertaken by the recently designated independent human rights expert, Radhouane Noucier. The new mandate will begin "with immediate effect".

The resolution was adopted by a vote of 18 in favour, 15 against, and 14 abstentions.

It called for an immediate cessation of hostilities with no pre-conditions, and a recommitment of all parties to return to a transition towards civilian-led government. The resolution also highlighted the urgent need to protect civilians and humanitarian workers, as well as to ensure accountability for human rights violations.

Immense suffering, rights abuses

Referring to a statement issued on Thursday by a group of independent UN-appointed human rights experts, Tlaleng Mofokeng, Chair of the Coordination Committee of Special Procedures and Special Rapporteur on the right to health, highlighted the immense suffering endured by the people of Sudan.

The experts deplored human rights abuses experienced by civilians of all ages, including sexual assault and gender-based violence, and shortages of food, water and healthcare. The experts expressed alarm at the shelling of a shelter for girls with disability in Khartoum, as well as other attacks on healthcare, on humanitarian workers and on human rights defenders.

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Ms. Mofokeng called on the parties to the conflict to commit to ensuring the safety of civilians and civilian infrastructure, such as schools and hospitals.

Independent rights experts appointed by the High Commissioner in accordance with Human Rights Council resolutions, are not UN staff nor are they paid for their work.

Lack of consent

Sudans Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, Hassan Hamid Hassan, questioned the decision to hold the emergency session just weeks before the Councils regular session in June.

Mr. Hassan further pointed out that the holding of the special session had not received the support of any African nor Arab state.

Diversity of perspectives

Some 70 countries, both Members and observers of the Human Rights Council, as well as NGOs, spoke during the day-long meeting. Their voices presented a diversity of opinions on the need for the Special Session and the extent and scope of the international communitys involvement in the crisis in Sudan.

Representing the United Kingdom, a key sponsor of the session, Andrew Mitchell, Minister of State for development and Africa, insisted on the need to carry out former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annans vision for the Human Rights Council at its creation in 2006, as a body which could react quickly to human rights emergencies such as the one at hand.

The Special Session was also supported by the European Union and the United States.

On behalf of the group of Arab States, Lebanons Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, Salim Baddoura, said that the group welcomed all international and regional initiatives aimed at ending the conflict, the latest being the talks in Jeddah under the auspices of the United States and Saudi Arabia.

He stressed that Sudan, as the affected country, had the right for its views to be taken into account before any new mechanisms were established or existing mandates extended.

Speaking on behalf of the group of African States, Cote dIvoires Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, Allou Lambert Yao, also expressed support for African solutions for African problems, commending the mediation efforts of IGAD under the auspices of the African Union.

The representative of Pakistan, Khalil Hashmi, offered another critical perspective on the session, saying that it risked unnecessary duplication of work as the Security Council was already seized of the political situation in Sudan and that mediation efforts must now be given primacy.
Image:  UNOCHA/Levent Kulu

New York: The UN-brokered Black Sea Initiative, aimed at ensuring the flow of grain, foodstuffs and fertilizer amid global shortages exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, has now allowed the safe export of more than 30 million tonnes, since it first began in July last year.

That was the message conveyed by the UN Humanitarian Affairs chief, Martin Griffiths, to a meeting held on Thursday in Istanbul, to discuss the future of the Initiative, with senior official from the signatories to the deal, Russia, and Ukraine, together with the UN and Turkiye, which also mediated the agreement.

Vital for global food security

In a note issued to correspondents from the UN Spokespersons Office on the meeting, Mr. Griffiths congratulated the parties to the deal  who also run the Joint Coordination Centre hub, based in Istanbul  on reaching the 30 million metric tonnes mark from Ukraine, and reiterated the importance of the Initiative for global food security.

The UN relief chief also recognized the important contribution of food and fertilizer exports from Russia.

UN proposals

The meeting discussed the recent proposals to advance the deal, made by the UN, namely the resumption of the Togliatti-Odesa ammonia pipeline, the longer extension of the Initiative, improvements at the JCC, for stable operations and exports, as well as other issues raised by the parties.

The parties presented their views and agreed to engage with those elements going forward, said the Spokespersons Office.

Mr. Griffiths stressed that the United Nations would continue to work closely with all sides to achieve the continuation and full implementation of the Initiative, in pursuit of their broader shared commitment to addressing global food insecurity.

Grain for those most in need

Latest detailed figures on the Initiative released on Monday showed that nearly 600,000 tonnes of grain have been shipped by vessels chartered by the World Food Programme (WFP) to support its humanitarian work in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Yemen.

Last year, Ukraine supplied more than half of WFPs total global wheat procurement, similar to 2021.

As talks have continued in the past few months about extending the deal - which provides a safe maritime humanitarian corridor for shipping out of Ukrainian ports - exports have dipped by nearly 30 per cent, with JCC inspection rates dropping significantly to an average of 2.9 completed inspections daily, for the month of May.

Mondays update from the Office of the UN Coordinator for the deal, said that the UN and Turkiyes delegation were working closely with Ukraine and Russia, aiming to facilitate movements and inspections of inbound and outbound ships, within the framework of the Initiative and agreed procedures, while discussions for the future of the Initiative continue.
Pixabay

A Chinese naval flotilla led by a powerful destroyer has been on a 12-day circumnavigation of Japans main islands as tension prevailed in the region with Tokyo aiming to host G7 leaders next week in Hiroshima.

Japans Defense Ministry on Thursday released a map showing the Type 055 guided missile destroyer Lhasa, one of the Peoples Liberation Army Navys most powerful warships, leading a four-ship flotilla that also included a smaller destroyer, a frigate and a supply ship on the clockwise circumnavigation, reports CNN.

The Japanese map shows the voyage began April 30 in the Tsushima Strait between South Korea and Japan, progressed through the Tsugaru Strait at the northern tip of Hokkaido on May 5 and 6 and then was in the Izu island chain south of Tokyo on Thursday.

While the voyage is likely a routine PLA Navy far sea exercise that does not violate any international law or target any third party, it could be seen as a strong message to Japan, experts told Global Times.

The same day, Japan's Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi also said that Japan has protested to China through diplomatic channels over "extremely inappropriate" comments related to Tokyo's policy toward Taiwan island made by Chinese Ambassador to Japan Wu Jianghao, the newspaper reported.

At a conference in April 28, Wu said the view that Taiwan island is connected to Japan's security is "absurd and dangerous."

China's national defense development aims to safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests, but China will not tolerate Japan interfering in its internal affairs, Chinese military expert Song Zhongping told the Global Times on Thursday.

China has sufficient capabilities to counter Japan's provocations, as shown by the voyage, Song said.
Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Police have arrested senior PTI leaders Dr Shireen Mazari and Dr Yasmin Rashid during raids conducted in the Pakistani cities of Islamabad and Lahore.

According to officials, the Islamabad police raided Shireen Mazari's house during the early hours of Friday. Her arrest comes after a series of arrests of several other PTI leaders, including Imran Khan, Asad Umar, Fawad Chaudhry, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Ali Mohammad Khan, and Senator Ejaz Chaudhry, reports Geo News.

All of these leaders other than Imran Khan were arrested under section three of the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO), the news channel reported.

According to PTI, former Punjab health minister Dr Yasmin Rashid was also arrested by cops as police crackdown on Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders continued ever since the detention of former PM and party chief Imran Khan.

Pakistan Supreme Court Thursday called Imran Khan's arrest by the country's top anti-corruption body 'illegal' and he should be released immediately amid violent protests by the former president's supporters.

Khan, who is facing corruption charges, is under the custody of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

The order to bring Khan to the Supreme Court was issued by a three-member bench of Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, and Justice Athar Minallah.

After hearing Khan's request for relief, the country's apex court strongly criticised the NAB for arresting him from the Islamabad High Court's premises, where he had come to appear in a case.
Image: Imran Khan Facebook page

Islamabad: Two days after Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan's indictment in the Toshakhana case, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday issued a stay order on criminal proceedings on the matter.

The stay order will remain effective till the next hearing of the case on June 8.

On May 10, Additional Sessions Judge Humayun Dilawar indicted the PTI chief, rejecting objections raised by Khans lawyers, according to Geo news.

IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq, today, heard Khan's petition against the order restraining the lower court from further proceedings.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had filed a complaint seeking proceedings under criminal law for not disclosing information pertaining to the gifts the former premier received during his time in office.

During the IHC hearing, PTI chiefs lawyer Khawaja Haris argued that the complaint against his client was submitted by a district election commissioner and not by a competent authority.

He added that the ECP did not submit a letter to appoint someone as competent authority.

Election Commission only asked its office to file a complaint.

The complaint filed without the competent authority cannot be heard, the lawyer said, adding that hes relying on the documents provided with the record by the prosecution.

Meanwhile, the chief justice remarked that there are other pleas of similar nature and petitions against the interim order.

(With UNI inputs)
Bobi, the world's oldest dog and the oldest dog ever to have lived, turned 31 on May 11.

AFP

The dog, born on May 11, 1992, will celebrate his 31st birthday with a party on Saturday at his abode in Conqueiros, Portuguese.



Lavish spread for the oldest dog ever

His owner, Leonel Costa, is leaving no stone unturned to make his furry friend's birthday memorable. Leonel has planned a birthday bash for his dog wherein local meats and fish will be offered to the guests, with extra for Bobi, who only eats human food.



Moreover, there will be a dance performance and Bobi will partake in one of the dances. The "very traditional" Portuguese party will likely host 100 people, many of whom are flying to Portugal to observe Bobi's birthday.



Boby claimed official title of oldest dog in 2023

In February this year, Bobi officially claimed the oldest dog title by removing Spike, a Chihuahua from Ohio, from the position.



As per the world record, Bobi also broke a century-old record gained by Bluey, an Australian cattle dog who had a lifespan of 29 years and 5 months between 1910-1939.



Guinness World Records

Bobi was reportedly enlisted with the Veterinary Medical Service of the Municipality of Leiria in 1992, the institution which confirmed his date of birth to Guinness World Records.



The dog's age was also confirmed by SIAC, an approved pet database overseen by the Portuguese government.



So, what's the secret to Bobi's long life?

Bobi, who has spent his entire life with the Costa family in a rural Portugal village, belongs to the Portuguese breed, which has an average life expectancy of about 12-14 years.



But owner Leonal feels the secret to his long life lies in the calm and peaceful environment away from the cities. He claims that the canine has never been leashed and has the leeway to roam in the nearby forest and farmed areas.



Bobi reportedly grew up in a pleasant environment with other animals. But lately, the dog has stopped his frequent exploits in the village due to his age. Bobi's eyesight has worsened and he now likes to hang out in the backyard instead of walking.



Guinness World Records

For his nutrition, Bobi has always consumed human food. "Between a can of animal food or a piece of meat, Bobi doesn't hesitate and chooses our food," revealed Leonel.



But the owner ensures to soak the food in water before serving it to the pooch to clear it of condiments. Besides this, Leonel ensures that Bobi drinks about one litre of water daily.



For more on news and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News.


While most kids under 7 are busy arguing with their parents over screen time, this boy is different. Meet Max Alexander, a remarkable 7-year-old who defies expectations with extraordinary dressmaking skills.

While most kids his age still learn basic facts, Max firmly believes he profoundly connects to the legendary Gucci founder.

Since the tender age of 4, Max has channeled his creativity into designing and crafting clothes, showcasing a talent far beyond his years. In a recent interview with PEOPLE, Max confidently declares, "I actually was Gucci" when discussing his past life.

Max's incredible journey as a dressmaker has caught the attention of celebrities, leading to commissions for his unique creations and global sales of his garments.

His supportive mom, Sherri Madison, sat down with PEOPLE to discuss his remarkable achievements and the discovery of his innate design skills.

Initially unaware of Max's hidden talent, Madison was astonished when he expressed a keen interest in dressmaking at just four years old.

From that moment on, his extraordinary abilities became evident, leaving no doubt about his natural gift for fashion.

"I didn't notice. He told us. We were at dinner during the lockdown, and he just literally announced, 'I need a mannequin,' " she told People.

"He was very serious. No, I was laughing. I was like, 'Okay, I've never seen you interested in fashion. What are you talking about?' He said, 'That's because I don't have a mannequin. If you get me a mannequin, I'll show you. I'm a dressmaker.' "

Max's extraordinary talent as a dressmaker took flight when his mother, Sherri Madison, a cardboard artist, fashioned his first mannequin out of cardboard.

"He just started making dresses; it was the craziest thing," Madison shares, recalling the moment she excitedly called her husband to witness Max's unexpected creativity.

Max's innate talent soon became evident despite having no prior experience or exposure to the fashion world. It was later revealed that fashion ran in his family's blood, with his grandparents having been involved in the fashion industry in Montreal. Unbeknownst to Max, his lineage predisposed him to the world of sewing and design.



At the age of four, Madison introduced Max to the craft of sewing with encouragement from his passion.

screenshot

Starting with basic lessons on her sewing machine, Max quickly surpassed her skills and soon joined a local sewing shop for further guidance. Designing, draping, and other aspects of his dressmaking artistry were self-taught through trial and error.

What sets Max apart is his unwavering commitment to his craft, a dedication beyond his years.

Madison expresses her astonishment at Max's unwavering focus, describing his studio as his "happy place" and emphasizing his desire to make people feel beautiful through his designs.



Max's genuine passion for creating garments that empower women of all sizes is evident in his work.

Within a few years, Max has already amassed an impressive portfolio, with over a hundred unique designs under his belt.

His creations have gained international recognition, leading to sold-out sales and his fashion shows. He even received a commission to design a jacket for renowned actress Sharon Stone.

Max's dreams know no bounds as he aspires to become the head of the House of Gucci or establish his atelier, aptly named "Couture to the Max Italian."

His enthusiasm for his craft is infectious, inspiring other children to pursue their passions with dedication and practice.

While Max's talent and sewing skills are undoubtedly remarkable, his mother attributes her pride to his "golden heart."

Max's sincere desire to spread happiness and make people feel beautiful drives everything he does. His ultimate goal is to uplift and empower women through his creations, and this heartfelt intent shines through in his work.

Max's dedication and pursuit of his dreams serve as an inspiration to aspiring designers, emphasizing the importance of practice. With his unwavering commitment to spreading beauty and joy, Max's future in the fashion industry looks incredibly promising.



(For the latest trending stories, keep reading Indiatimes)


Patrick Brown, a 49-year-old man from Louisiana, walked free after spending nearly 30 years in prison for a rape that the victim herself has consistently maintained he did not commit.

According to Orleans Parish prosecutors, Brown was convicted of aggravated rape in 1994, accused of assaulting his 6-year-old stepdaughter.

However, the victim never testified in court, and Brown's conviction relied on the testimonies of adults who reported what they believed the victim had said.

In a statement by the Orleans Parish District Attorney, it was revealed that the now-adult woman has steadfastly maintained Brown's innocence for over two decades, with evidence supporting her account.

Responding to the new evidence and the victim's unwavering stance, Criminal District Court Judge Calvin Johnson made the decision to release Patrick Brown on Monday.

This significant development highlights the importance of reevaluating cases and ensuring justice is served based on accurate and reliable evidence.

Kelly Orians, the attorney representing the recently released Louisiana man, shared that her client never lost hope of one day regaining his freedom.

In a touching moment at the courthouse, Orians overheard him expressing to a bystander that his newfound liberty was not a stroke of luck but rather a result of perseverance and unwavering belief in his innocence.

This powerful statement reflects his resilience throughout the years of wrongful imprisonment and the strength of his conviction that justice would eventually prevail.

"He told somebody, 'This isnt like winning the lottery; this is an act of Jesus Christ,'" Orians told NBC News on Wednesday. "Hes said he never lost hope this would happen, largely due to his faith in God."

District Attorney Jason Williams, who assumed office in 2020, expressed his profound disappointment that the victim's unwavering insistence, asserting that Patrick Brown was not her assailant, had been overlooked for an extensive period of time.

Twitter

Williams found it disheartening that her voice had not been given the attention and consideration it deserved throughout the years, leading to the prolonged incarceration of an innocent man.



"Listening and engaging victims and survivors of sexual assault is a top priority in this office," Williams said in a statement

"It is incredibly disheartening to know that this woman was dismissed and ignored, no matter how inconvenient her truth was when all she wanted was for the real offender to be held responsible."

The New Orleans prosecutor emphasized the profoundly corrosive impact of wrongful convictions on the judicial system.

"When someone is wrongfully convicted, not only is it an injustice for the person who has years of their life stolen, but it is an injustice for the victim and the people of New Orleans because the real perpetrator is left to harm others," Williams added.

Orians mentioned that Brown and his loved ones were not immediately available for comment on Wednesday morning as they focused on adjusting to life after his lengthy confinement at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, a maximum-security facility.

"Theyre really just focused on spending time together and making up for the last three decades of being unable to be together," Orians said.

During his initial 48 hours of freedom, the man who has been exonerated is making efforts to familiarize himself with the technological advancements of 2023.

"All of it. Everything between cellphones, computers, hybrid cars, electric vehicles, debit and credit cards, it's all very overwhelming and completely brand new to him," Orians said.

(For the latest trending stories, keep reading Indiatimes)


Under Berlins neutrality act, which prevents civil servants from wearing religious clothing and symbols, teachers in the city were banned from wearing headscarves since 2005
Chinese President Xi Jinping signaled the significance of Lulas visit by upgrading its bilateral relations with Brazil to a Global Strategic Relationship
He was accused of buying votes by Albanian authorities
The PM said that Greece would accept any concessions on the rights of the Greek minority in Albania
An Ondo State High Court has sentenced 61-year-old Pastor Famakinwa Ajayi, to 18 years imprisonment for defiling and impregnating a 16-year-old girl.

Ajayi, of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Ayede Ogbese, in Akure North council area of the state, was charged to court on a two (2)-count charge of unlawful sexual intercourse with a child, contrary to Section 31(1) of the Childs Rights Law of Ondo State and sexual abuse and exploitation contrary to Section 32 (1).

READ ALSO: 56-Year-Old Man Hospitalized After Assault By His Wife

The suit No: AK/195C/2021, was filed on behalf of the Ondo State Government by Mrs. Helen Falowo (Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions, Ondo State Ministry of Justice).

The suit No: AK/195C/2021, was filed on behalf of the Ondo State Government by Mrs. Helen Falowo (Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions, Ondo State Ministry of Justice).

Justice Yemi Fasanmi, while delivering judgement discharged and acquitted the defendant on Count 2 but found him guilty on Count 1 and proceeded to convict and sentence him to 18 years imprisonment.

Falowo said that the defendant defiled and repeatedly had carnal knowledge of the victim at his house in Ayede Ogbese township in Akure North Local Government Area of Ondo State, where the family of the victim were tenants.

The defendant was also alleged to have raped the victim at the market square where he took her on the pretext of delivering her from demonic spirits.

He continued in this dastardly act unabashedly till the innocent minor became pregnant in October 2021.

The defendant, however, confessed to having slept with the victim once in his living room before he was charged in court.

Meanwhile, upon being briefed of the incident by the Ayede Ogbese Women Vanguard of the town, a renowned women/humans rights and wife of the monarch, Olori Olufunmilayo Nejo-Oluyede, took in the victim, sent her back to school and agreed to sponsor her education forthwith

Olori Olufunmilayo Nejo-Oluyede, also, empowered the victims mother in a small business to enable her to cater for the needs of the baby, whom she affectionately christened Peter.

Before then, the victim had dropped out of school and had resorted to hawking pure water on the Ayede Ogbese Akure-Owo highway, alongside her mother.

Commenting, on the development in his domain, Oba Ajibola Oluyede, expressed his profound satisfaction with the judgement of the court.

Oba Oluyede said that This will certainly serve as a deterrence to others.
With less than a month to the end of his tenure, Governor Darius Ishaku of Taraba State, has approved the sum of N2 billion to purchase luxury vehicles for himself, his deputy and their wives.

A Premium Times source said the approval was made during the last State Executive Council (SEC) meeting chaired by Ishaku.

Governor Darius Ishaku in our last SEC meeting asked the council to approve a memo he presented for the purchase of vehicles for himself, his deputy and their wives and it was speedily approved without any argument, the source said.

According to the source, it was argued at the meeting that since the governor and his deputy assumed office in 2015, they had been using old vehicles inherited from their predecessors and that they therefore deserve new vehicles as they prepare to step down.

The source furthered that going by the memo presented by the governor, he and his wife will get over N1.3 billion worth of exotic cars while his deputy and his wife will receive cars worth N750 million.

It was explained that by the proposal, the governor will get two Toyota Land Cruiser SUV, two escort Toyota Hilux and a utility vehicle while his wife will get a Land Cruiser SUV and an escort vehicle.

READ ALSO: Governor Ishaku Loses Taraba South Senatorial Election

Haruna Manu, the deputy governor, in the same vein, will receive two lower versions of Land Cruiser SUV and one escort vehicle while his wife will get one SUV and a utility car.

However, when contacted, Lois Emmanuel, the States Commissioner for Information, did not deny or confirm the approval.

She said, I am not in the State. I travelled out. I am not aware, I will confirm, she said, while terminating the call abruptly.

However, few hours later, she was seen at the commissioning of a housing project by the governor in Jalingo, the state capital.

Recall that Ishaku contested the last senatorial election to represent Taraba south but was defeated by the All Progressive Congress (APC) candidate, David Jim-Kuta.

His deputy, on the other hand, contested and won the Taraba Central Senatorial seat.
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has dispatched a variety of food items to the Nigerian Embassy in Sudan to support stranded Nigerians awaiting evacuation to Nigeria.

The items consist of 100 bags of rice, 50 bags of beans, 10 cartons of seasoning, 50 cartons of spaghetti and 5 bags of iodized salt.

The agencys spokesperson, Mr. Manzo Ezikiel, issued a statement in Abuja on Thursday, as he provided the details of the relief efforts.

Stating that the items were to cushion the effects of food scarcity in the war-torn country, he said the move was meant to cater to the Nigerian citizens while the evacuation underway is being strengthened.
A notorious and deadly cultist, Saheed Wasiu, popularly known as K-Federal, has confessed to participating in the murder of 20 innocent persons in a town in Osun State.

Spokesperson of Osun State Police Command, Yemisi Opalola, who confirmed the arrest in a statement, said the suspect was earlier wanted by the police for murder and cult related activities.

According to the PPRO, the suspect is a member of the Rasheed Hammed, a.k.a. Oko-Ilu-led Eiye Confraternity and was arrested around Alusekere area, Ede, by detectives from the Special Anti-Cultism unit.

READ ALSO: Man Found Dead Inside Car Naked In Lagos

On 07/05/2023 at about 1400hrs, upon tip-off received that, one Saheed Wasiu m popularly known as K-Federal, one of the deadly and notorious members of Rasheed Oko-Ilu led gangster was around Alusekere area, Ede, Osun State, Police detective from Special Anti-cultism unit swung into action and arrested the suspect, the statement read.

During the interrogation, he confessed to be a member of Eiye confraternity led by one Rasheed Hammed, a.k.a Oko-Ilu who has been arrested and remanded at correctional custody some time ago.

Opalola disclosed that the suspect confessed to taking an active part in the killing of twenty persons in Ede town.

Suspect confessed to having participated in the killing of almost twenty (20) innocent citizens of Ede town and dropped their corpses at Osun River, Sagba area, Ede. Among the victims they have killed are: late Wale, Jamiu, Ganiyu, Azeez and Eyimba and others, she added.

She revealed that the suspect will be charged to court after the completion of investigation.
State chairmen of the Labour Party (LP) have maintained they did not sack Julius Abure as national chairman of the Party, hence, insisting that he remained the recognised LP leader.

According to News Agency of Nigeria, state chairmen of the Party in Abuja, took back the party secretariat which was alleged to have been taken over by thugs who seized and sealed the office on April 6.

Chairman, Edo State LP, Ogbaloi Kelly, said that the National Working Committee (NWC) is a subordinate organ to the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the Party, therefore, when a faction of it is comes to take laws into its hands, it becomes a total nullity.

Those who are taking this action are members of the party who have since been suspended, and as at the time they took this action, their suspension had not been lifted.

Therefore, we are saying here that the 36 state chairmen have come to retake their possession.

These miscreants who took over the office do not have the authority to control this matter, but we here have the authority and law to be in charge of the party and we affirm Abure.

He furthered that even the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) affirmed Abure as the chairman in their communique .

READ ALSO: LPs Apapa-Led Faction Suspends Kenneth Okonkwo, 12 Others

We have come here to tell the world that the action of this faction is a total nullity and should be disregarded because the action does not follow the content of the rules and constitution of the Labour Party, Kelly added.

Cashmir Agbo, LP chairman, Enugu State chapter, said that there was the need for Party members to be guided by the rules and laws of the Constitutional provisions and the laws of the land and the party.

The position of the Party and the mechanism in the resolution of crises are very clear. In the constitution, you have to exhaust that mechanism in court.

You go to court and obtain a court order and you want to enforce that order by yourself.

What am saying in effect is this that they mixed criminality with civil process and the court that gave them that order endangered law, Agbo said.

He blamed the crisis on those that do not want LP to challenge the presidential election in court, adding we are challenging the outcome of INECs result, they should allow the court process to finish.

What they are doing is to enforce their will and distract and force labour party nationwide to withdraw the case in court.

Agbo however maintained that Abure remains the authentic Chairman of Labour Party in Nigeria and there was nobody except the National Executive Committee that could remove him.
Temidayo Awe, a Coventry University student who played a part in the Saul Murray honeytrap killing in Luton has been convicted of the manslaughter of a dad-of-six over a Rolex watch which turned out to be a fake.

The third year undergraduate played a part in the honey trap that led to 33-year-old Saul Murray dying of stab wounds outside his flat in New Town Street in the early hours of February 27, 2022.

Awe, together with three others, plotted to drug and rob Murray after seeing images of him on Instagram wearing Rolex watches. Detectives identified 31-year-old Ikem Affia as the main suspect responsible for Mr Murrays death after looking at hours of CCTV footage.

READ ALSO: 56-Year-Old Man Hospitalized After Assault By His Wife

Police investigating the murder found a key piece of evidence in the case and it was a Moncler coat costing more than 1,300 which Affia was wearing at the time of the planned attack on Mr Murray.

Less than 300 of these coats were available in the UK at the time, with just 69 being sold online. One of the rare coats had been sold to Affias partner and was delivered to his home address the previous year.

Two other people, Cleon Brown, 29, and, Surpreet Dhillon, 36, were also arrested and have now been sentenced for their involvement in the killing.

Luton Crown Court heard that Dhillon had initially contacted Mr Murray over Instagram before she and Awe were captured on CCTV entering his flat at around 11.40pm the night before he was found.

Awe was then seen leaving shortly before 2.30am, while Dhillon propped the communal door open with a broom, so Awe was able to later return with the two men, one of whom, Affia, was carrying a large knife.

The two women had used a sedative on Mr Murray, who was seen running towards the door before he lost consciousness and collapsed.

CCTV footage taken from a local fast food restaurant showed Brown and Affia together. In it, Affia is wearing the same coat that was seen on the footage from Mr Murrays flat.

Phone data also placed Brown at the scene after he had contacted Dhillon. While additional footage confirmed that a Mercedes Benz, which Brown had hired, was seen acting suspiciously in the vicinity of the flat.

Additional footage confirmed that a Mercedes Benz, which was seen acting suspiciously in the vicinity of Mr Murrays flat, had been hired by Brown.

Judge Michael Simon told the sentencing hearing at Luton Crown Court that it was a senseless conspiracy to rob. As a result of the trial, the four were given the following sentences:

Ikem Affia, 31, of Shore Place, London was sentenced to life in prison for murder and will have to serve a minimum of 25 years. He was also sentenced to 14 years for conspiracy to commit robbery to run concurrently.

Cleon Brown, 29, of King Edwards Road, South Hackney was sentenced to 11 years for manslaughter and nine years for conspiracy to commit robbery to run concurrently; a total of 11 years.

Surpreet Dhillon, 36, of Carnarvon Road, London was sentenced to 10 years for manslaughter and 10 years for conspiracy to commit robbery to run concurrently; a total of 10 years.

Temidayo Awe, 21, of Saunders Street, Gillingham was sentenced to seven years for manslaughter and six years for conspiracy to commit robbery to run concurrently; a total of seven years.

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The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, has disclosed that Nigerians will appreciate the President Muhammadu Buhari after he leaves office on May 29, 2023.

Adesina said, beyond those who seek to rewrite history and remember his (Buharis) administration for all the wrong reasons, his principal would be remembered for many achievements by fair Nigerians.

He also made this known in his weekly article titled NG-CARES: HOW BUHARI QUIETLY ATTENDS TO NEEDS OF NIGERIANS, where he reeled out some of the achievements of the President.

He stressed that Buhari has the interest of Nigerians at heart and worked assiduously for the betterment of the country with his care and kindness to Nigerians.

According to him, history will adequately record the many ways in which President Buhari has quietly cared for Nigerians.

READ MORE: Buhari Is Our Son, An Igbo Man  Ohanaeze Leader, Iwuanyanwu

Some revisionists are busy, trying to obfuscate issues and obliterate the achievements of the Buhari administration. But truth is like cork in water. The more you press it down, the more it stays afloat.

After he retires to his native Daura, in Katsina State, we will always be glad that the honest man was here. I mean those who are fair-minded, but who happen to number in scores of millions, he wrote.

Adesina added, The judgement of history is usually the most enduring, and as President Muhammadu Buhari weighs anchor in less than three weeks, posterity will be impartial, and, therefore, kind to him.

One signpost of the administration is its care and kindness to Nigerians. Quietly. Without fuss. No adulation or self-aggrandisement.

On some of Buharis interventions, Adesina wrote, These welfarist interventions give a window into the kind soul of the President, a man some people have not bothered to discern, dissect and decipher.

They just deliberately stay in the trenches of the past, soused and marooned in apocryphal beliefs: oh, he ruled with an iron fist as military leader. He herded people into jail. He imprisoned journalists through Decree 4. He also had Decree 2, which gave him power to detain anyone indefinitely.

No human face. Hes a Fulani, and therefore, a herdsman, who supports his people to attack farmers. Religious bigot, who does not recognize any other faith. True? False. And I should know. Why? Because Ive worked with him closely for eight years, and I can say I know the man Muhammadu Buhari, apart from the myth and the deliberate misconceptions.
Former Vice-President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar, says the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) needs to regain its eminent position in politics.

The February 25 PDP presidential candidate who spoke on Thursday at an event organised for the Partys governors-elect and outgoing governors in Abuja, expressed worries that the PDP which was a dominant political party is receding.

Recall that the PDP was in power from 1999 to 2015 and Atiku, who contested the 2023 elections on the PDP platform, lost to Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

We have a number of challenges. We started as a dominant political party in 1999 and since then have been receding.

I think it is time for us to take stock and find out why we are receding and how can we make sure that our eminent position as the leading political party in this country, as the oldest political party in this country, we regain our position.

This is a very important challenge which I think requires a whole day seminar for us as a party to ensure that we regain our eminent position in the politics of this country and the whole of Africa, he said.

Abubakar however congratulated the PDP governors-elect and asked them to be united and loyal to the Party.

READ ALSO: Security Beefed Up As Atiku Storms Court For Hearing Of His Petition Against Tinubu

Namadi Sambo, a former vice-president, at the event advised the Partys leadership to address the arbitrary suspension of members.

According to him, it was unfortunate that some Party members were being suspended without giving a fair hearing.

I will seize this opportunity to publicly call on the acting national chairman to look into what is happening in Kaduna state because all the ingredients for trouble and problems in the party are being put in place, he said.

So likewise in other states, I will use this opportunity to call on all party members to cooperate to let the party continue.

Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State and chairperson of the PDP Governors Forum, added that the Partys legacy must be sustained.

Im happy to bequeath to you and indeed the members of this forum, a forum that is strong, cohesive and vocal in the defence of democracy and good governance in the country.

With the calibre of governors-elect, I see here today, I can say confidently the forum is going to be in good hands, Tambuwal said.
For Mothers Day, we rounded up a collection of works connected to motherhood on view in museums and other venues around Philadelphia, from lighthearted paintings to sentimental photographs.

Some the artwork reveals how the artists view and depict their own mothers; others reflect intimate nursing moments, the loving gaze of a parent, the pain of losing a child, and the pride in revolutionary mother-activists.

Barnes Foundation

The Barnes features many takes on mother-child relationships in painting, sculpture, and photography. In Sue Williamson & Lebohang Kganye: Tell Me What You Remember, which focuses on works by two contemporary South African artists, Williamson praises revolutionary women who resisted police and marched in demonstrations against apartheid in her photo series All Our Mothers.

Of course, the museums Impressionist darling Pierre-Auguste Renoir paints motherhood in various scenarios, from a woman teaching a young girl to write (Writing Lesson) to a mother leading her children to fish for mussels (Mussel-Fishers at Berneval). Also, check out Edouard Manets Laundry.

Two sculptures at the Barnes depict mothers nursing their children. In 1916, Renoir sculpted his wife, Aline Charigot Renoir, who had recently died. Mother and Child depicts his wife nursing their firstborn son. The other sculpture is a statuette of ancient Egyptian god Isis with son Horus, whom she had to birth and raise in secret to protect him from a murderous uncle.

Philadelphia Museum of Art

Legendary photographer Diane Arbus saw young mother Marylin Dauria on New York Citys subway in 1966, and her Elizabeth Taylor hairstyle drew Arbus fascination. A few months later, she captured Dauria and her high school sweetheart, Richard, in A young Brooklyn family going for a Sunday outing, N.Y.C. The photograph is part of the PMAs House of Photographs: The Kasakoff-Adams Collection exhibit from the personal collection of anthropologists Alice Kasakoff Adams and John W. Adams.

After June 10, The Artists Mother: Whistler & Philadelphia exhibition, examining James Abbott McNeill Whistlers famous portrait of his mother, will be on view.

Woodmere Art Museum

The Woodmeres current exhibit, Kidding Around: Children in Art from Woodmeres Collection, highlighting various depictions of childhood from its permanent collection, runs through May 14. There are also especially adorable paintings of kids and their dogs. French painter Gustave Doyens The First Born captures the loving gaze of parents with their newborn in a 19th-century Renaissance-style portrait.

In Portrait of Mrs. Carles and Sara, Philadelphia-born modernist painter Arthur B. Carles painted his mother and sister working together to stitch white fabric.

Woodmere also contains many works by Violet Oakley, including early 1900 murals Man and Science and The Child and Tradition. The artist often painted her mother, using her as a model, and she is present in both these murals.

African American Museum in Philadelphia

Though not about motherhood specifically, the AAMP-PAFA exhibit Rising Sun: Artists in an Uncertain America features two artists who are mother and son. Photographer Deborah Willis and conceptual artist Hank Willis Thomas have separate artwork on display. Thomas is one of the artists behind Question Bridge: Black Males, 2012, a five-channel video installation. Willis welcomes visitors in the museum entrance with Facing the Rising Sun, 2022, also a video work, accompanied by a wall of historical photographs.

Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts

PAFAs Annual Student Exhibition begins Mothers Day weekend and graduate student Katya Dennison, originally from Florida, is showing her detailed copy of Cecilia Beauxs Les derniers jours denfance, which she painted for a Painting from the Collection course. Beaux painted her sister and nephew, and who gifted his aunts painting to PAFA. The original work is part of PAFAs collection but is not currently on display.

Mural Arts

Two exhibits from Mural Arts examine the toll of gun violence in Philadelphia. On May 11 at 11 a.m., SHOT: We the Mothers opens at First United Methodist Church Germantown, and it will run through spring. The show features photographs by Kathy Shorr of 51 mothers in the Philadelphia area whose children died from gun violence. Shorr took the portraits at locations that were special to each child.

On May 12, Zarinah Lomaxs art organization, the Apologues, will show A Mothers Love, bringing painted portraits of 55 families who lost children to shootings to the City Hall Courtyard. It will be a one-day event from noon to 3 p.m.

The Rodin Museum

Among the stunning sculptures of Auguste Rodin, one marble work focuses on a mother-child pair. The 1891 sculpture Young Mother in the Grotto, part of The Gates of Hell, shows a mother shielding her baby from the elements. Both the marble sculpture and the plaster cast are on view.
James Thomason (right) of Next Wave Partners, Caroline Yap of Google, and moderator Michael Bachman of Boomi at PACT Phorum's "AI: Good vs. Evil" panel at Penn State Great Valley in Malvern. Read more

Good vs. Evil was the stark subtitle of the artificial-intelligence (AI) panel earlier this month at Philadelphia Alliance for Capital and Technologies yearly Phorum conclave at Penn State Great Valley.

The tech-business group summoned technologists to make sense of the disorientingly rapid growth of programs like OpenAIs ChatGPT and Googles Bard, which process online sources to create quick, detailed narratives from a users questions. They are designed to learn from repeated use, improving over time.

Will these AI applications boost the speed and reach of human mental labor, enriching developers and backers  or will they learn to replace us, threatening humanity with unemployment, irrelevance, technological slavery?

Here are some highlights from the PACT panel, hosted by Michael Bachman, emerging-technology architect at Berwyn-based communications-software integrator Boomi.

Get used to paywalls

With AI programs automatically mining the internet for free material to convert into narratives, James Thomason, cofounder of Next Wave Partners and a Silicon Valley new-venture adviser, predicts that the remaining free publishers will move fast to charge for whatever they are not already selling.

Get used to paywalls, Thomason advised.

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More broadly, AI brings a wave of innovation we cannot contemplate, added Thomason. He supports Tesla boss Elon Musks call for a pause in AI development until standards are set and expects government will step in.

If we wait for the private sector, we will be disappointed, he said. Microsoft recently fired its entire ethics team for AI, even as the software giant is employing AI at a frantic pace.

He asked: Will we be able to adapt to AI as we have to other technologies? I am an AI optimist, but I am pessimistic in our ability to adapt, given tech investors aggressive obsession with imposing maximum efficiency to squeeze profits from everything that can be digitally measured.

New technologies can be liberating  for their first users. But as any new tech becomes widely adopted, it starts to impose its requirements on our society, changing culture and even laws.

Indeed, the internet has been a planetwide experiment, [applying] the model of Silicon Valley to daily life, Thomason said. With well-funded companies like Amazon, Facebook, and Uber, we broke politics, banking, retailing, education, driving established retailers out of business and forcing entrenched players to compete.

And now were moving full speed to unleash another new technology, he said.

Thomason is not worried about machines literally destroying humans. Instead, he fears the relentless speedup of machine-aided creativity may hollow out our humanity so we stop thinking of technology and AI as tools, but come to regard their recommendations as basic to humanity.

Dont sweat the AI apocalypse

Its too late [for] big, broad regulation. We are not going to pause AI development, said Ethan Mollick, who teaches business innovation at University of Pennsylvanias Wharton School.

He suggested there has been too much emphasis on an AI apocalypse  but not enough on the ways that this is massively disruptive, for example to factory work. What do we need to do to retrain people who are going to be displaced?

To be sure, Mollick said, how to stop super intelligence from murdering us all is an interesting question. But a more realistic threat may arise for the CEO who recently told Mollick he thinks he can fire 80% of his engineers and marketers within 18 months, and replace them all with high school students.

Citing a 2019 paper by Whartons Daniel Rock, reviewing the value of artificial intelligence skills to employers, Mollick said research suggests its not routine physical work thats in danger from AI; to the contrary, theres almost a perfect correlation between how much you earn, are educated, are creative, and how well the programs may be able to do what you do.

Still, he concluded, we dont know if that means replacing people, or augmenting them so they can do more with AI assistance.

Dont worry about the engineers jobs ... yet

We dont recommend replacing expensive, seasoned engineers with AI-literate students, said Caroline Yap, director of AI Practice at Google. For one thing, there are copyright issues on the material that ChatGPT and similar program rely on that require careful judgment by those who would use them commercially. And you still have to train [AI] to your particular business.

Our customers are not seeing AI as gloomy, Yap added. They are finding ways to embrace the technology. ... I use Alexa at home. Why not something like it at work?

Its about profit, for sure, Yap said. Revenue generation is one aspect. But, like other big tools, AI may itself be an attraction for users: How can I make [young employees] want to come to work, to use AI? What does it mean for job creation?

Remember what weve already learned

AI, like all power tools, will allow you to make a mistake with great intensity, Peter Coffee, vice president of strategic research at Salesforce, quipped.

Coffee said computing has accelerated to where detecting AI-aided lies is now a basic, required skill: In the 1980s, computer literacy meant you learned to write in BASIC [computer language]. Later it was to control your material on Facebook. Now [with AI] its a level of informed skepticism on what you are being told.

Maintain skepticism

We need a culture that knows how to use AI effectively, said investor and philanthropist Esther Dyson. Its less about regulation, and more to have the proper skepticism about what is human and who is [lying to] you. This is the Jurassic Park line: Just because we can do it, doesnt mean we should!

The human brain will always matter

The human brain will always matter, said Dean Miller, president and CEO of the Philadelphia Alliance for Capital and Technologies. Even if you get close to replicating it, you shouldnt, because there are things the machine shouldnt do. There are some scary scenarios in the wrong hands. He prefers to expect, that mostly, machines will continually help people be more efficient and effective.
Charisse McGill of Lokal Artisan Foods smooches the cheek of her daughter, Madison. Read more

The mother-daughter bond was the theme Friday on NBCs a pre-Mothers Day Today show.

Producers chose Charisse McGill of Aldan, Delaware County, creator of the popular French Toast Bites snacks, and her daughter, Madison, 17, for a four-minute national TV appearance.

They collaborated on Lokal Artisan Foods, their snack business, now at Cherry Street Pier and Spruce Street Harbor Park in Philadelphia, as well as the Pennsylvania Convention Center and seasonal appearances at the Christmas Village and Eastern State Penitentiary.

McGill, 41, was director of special events at Valley Forge Military Academy and on the side organized the Lansdale Farmers Market. Inspired by the vendors, some of whom were making six figures, she sought to start her own food business. She decided to serve sweet hunks of French toast, keeping her concept simple, focused, and easy to replicate.

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Around the same time, Madison told her that she wanted to open her own business, perhaps a lemonade stand, in the farmers market. When Charisse reminded Madison that lemons are not local, Madison told her she would source other fruit and herbs from the farmers at the market to put a local spin on it.

It was an instant hit. Madison made $6,000 in two weeks. That gave me more of a drive to start my own business, said Charisse McGill.

She quit VFMA and founded Lokal Artisan Foods in 2018 with a pop-up near City Hall during the holiday season. Madison, then 12, was her investor. The McGills began bottling the French toast spice and introduced that in 2019 as a line extension

That led to stands at the Philadelphia Premium Outlets in Montgomery County, followed by the Bronx Night Market in New York, and a return to the holiday market. All the while, Charisse McGill taught entrepreneurship classes at Montgomery County Community College.

Charisse McGill set up a takeout and delivery business out of the Northeast Philadelphia location of the Better Box, also a Black-owned food business. She became the first paid vendor on the Black and Mobile delivery service. From there, she was one of 60 recipients of a grant from Black People Eats, raised her funding goal through a community Kiva loan, and was awarded a Magic Johnson forgivable loan. McGill also won a grant from the Pennsylvania30 Day Fund and most recently was selected a recipient of the Sixers Buy Black Program.

McGill has since added beer in a partnership with Yards Brewing Co. and coffee with Bean2Bean Roasters.

Though French toast  with toppings such as bacon and whipped cream  is a breakfast food by tradition, Charisse McGill told the camera: In Philly, we sell more French toast bites at night when the sun goes down.

Its pretty fun having my mom as a coworker because I can kind of tell her what to do, Madison told the show.
Author, therapist, and "relationship teacher," Elizabeth Earnshaw. Earnshaw went to Temple University and Thomas Jefferson University, and launched A Better Life Therapy in 2013. She wrote " I Want This to Work: An Inclusive Guide to Navigating the Most Difficult Relationship Issues We Face in the Modern Age" in 2021 Read more

The Mothers Day origin story goes like this: Social activist Anna Reeves Jarvis, born May 1, 1864, conceived the idea following her mothers death and convinced Philadelphia department store founder John Wanamaker to fund the celebration  honoring the sacrifices mothers make for their children.

Subsequently, in May 1908, 400 people attended a Methodist church service in Grafton, W.Va., where Jarvis mother was buried, while 15,000 attended the inaugural Mothers Day festivities at Wanamakers auditorium in Philadelphia.

By 1909, the idea had spread nationwide as, according to Jarvis, thousands and thousands ... found Mothers Day a blessing, a comfort, and an uplift. In 1914 Congress officially sanctioned Mothers Day. But by 1920, Jarvis had disowned her creation. Frustrated with rampant commercialism, Jarvis campaigned against the holidays attendant purchases of candy, flowers, and cards.

Jarvis died childless in 1948 in the Marshall Square Sanatarium, in West Chester. Bankrupted by her campaign to end Mothers Day, her funeral expenses were paid by the greeting card and flower industry.

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For many others, Mothers Day continues to be fraught.

Seeking guidance on how to navigate maternity celebration-day issues, we reached out to Elizabeth Earnshaw, author of the 2021 book, I Want This to Work: An Inclusive Guide to Navigating the Most Difficult Relationship Issues We Face in the Modern Age.

Earnshaw went to Temple University and Thomas Jefferson University, and launched A Better Life Therapy in 2013. In the decade since, her practice has opened offices in Philadelphia and Ardmore, providing individual, couples, and family counseling to thousands in the tristate area.

What advice do you have for people, with or without children, who dread this day?

For people who dread this day, I first want to say that there is no shame in that. The way we feel about our feelings impacts how we process them. So, if you feel there is something wrong with you for dreading it then youre going to feel much worse. If, instead, you can offer yourself compassion for the fact that you feel so badly about the day then while you might still feel it you would be experiencing the shame alongside it.

What about people who are grieving their deceased mother? Or for a mother grieving a lost child?

Plan ahead. One of the biggest pieces of advice I have for grieving people is to plan ahead for the days and events that you already know might be upsetting. Everyone is different in what they plan  some people choose to plan to spend time alone and others choose to be busy. Some people choose to do something that memorializes their mother or the child  like eating at their favorite restaurant  and others prefer to have a low-key day that isnt necessarily centered on the idea of Mothers Day.

You dont have to do anything other people expect you to do. If you want to skip the day or ignore the day, stick to what feels best for you.

And what could this day mean for women who have had an abortion?

This is deeply personal and depends on the person, the reasons for abortion, and how theyve processed that experience. If youve had this experience and youre noticing yourself having difficult feelings that is completely valid. It is also OK if you are not having difficult feelings.

And for those who are deliberately no contact with their mothers?

Regardless of your reasons for no contact, you might still have complicated feelings about your mother on Mothers Day.

Here are a few things you might struggle with:

Meta emotions. This is the feeling you have about your feelings. For example, you might notice yourself feeling OK about being no contact, and you might notice that you feel guilty for being OK about it. If youre experiencing meta emotions, try to name that for yourself. You might say something like I feel OK about my decision today but I also recognize that there are parts of me that feel a little guilty. Both can be true. Regret. While you might have made the best decision for yourself at the time, maybe you feel regret about how you managed the situation. Worry. While the decision might be right for you, you might find yourself worried about your parent. Allow both things to exist at the same time. Grief. Most people want a relationship with their mothers. If you decided to cut ties, it was likely a very difficult and personal choice. On Mothers Day you might grieve the parts of your mother you love or perhaps you grieve the fact that you never got the mother you desired. Doubt. You might question your decision. Sometimes our decisions are not permanent and maybe you can lean into that by exploring if you want to continue to be cut off and if you would like to reengage with some boundaries in place.

And mothers who feel underappreciated by their children on this day?

As a mother myself, I know most mothers do their very best to love their children in the way they know how. It can be incredibly painful to feel as if all of that blood, sweat, and tears are not appreciated. If you have a close relationship with your child, you might want to find a time to talk about those feelings but Mothers Day is likely not the best time. Picking a time to talk about your feelings without criticizing your child can help.

If your child has chosen to distance themselves, respecting their boundaries is a way toward building a relationship in the future. Finding someone you trust to talk about this with can help you process this pain without expecting your child to process it for you.
Erica Nelms, an elementary school teacher at KIPP Lanning Square Primary in Camden, helps a student moments before she received a $5,000 RISE award from the Camden Education Fund. She was cited for improving students' reading scores. Read more

Fourth-grade teacher Erica Nelms was reviewing math problems with her students when a small entourage unexpectedly filed into her classroom Friday.

Then the language arts teacher at KIPP Lanning Square Primary burst into tears when Jonathan Garr from the Camden Education Fund announced that Nelms had been selected for a $5,000 award from the nonprofit.

As cheers erupted in the classroom, Nelms, pregnant with her first child, bent over, hugging her belly. Tears streamed down her face. A student shouted, Thats my teacher!

I love my kids. I love my school, Nelms said. Its good to be recognized when you work hard and pour your heart into something.

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Camden Mayor Victor Carstarphen quipped, I was like `Oh, Lord, dont go into labor on us. He presented Nelms with the check and a certificate from the city.

The scene was repeated two more times at presentations to the other recipients across the city. At each stop, the winners were asked to share their plans for the prize money  and encouraged to spend it on themselves.

This is the third year that the Camden Education Fund has given the RISE Award to outstanding teachers. School principals nominated 50 candidates and an outside committee narrowed the field to eight finalists and then three winners, said executive director Giana Campbell.

An educator for 10 years, Nelms was nominated for the RISE award by school principal Brittany Middleton. Nelms has taught three grade levels, mentors new teachers, and all of her 60 students have moved up at least one reading level, she said.

Shes the best teacher, said her student Ryan Garner, 10. I love her to death and Im very excited for her.

Nelms said she would likely use the award money to complete a nursery for her baby, a boy due in July.

There is no more important responsibility than educating, caring for, and guiding our youth, Campbell said in a statement.

Across town at the Creative Arts High School in the citys Parkside section, Iran Mercado was teaching a lesson from To Kill a Mockingbird when his entourage arrived. His students shouted as Mercado, 31, choked back tears.

Mercado, a Camden native, graduated from Creative Arts in 2010 and fulfilled his dream to return to teach in his hometown in 2016 after graduating from Howard University.

His former principal Davida Coe-Brockington, now his boss, applauded him for his commitment to Camden and giving back to his students.

It is absolutely awesome. I am so honored and proud to be standing with him today, she said.

Mercado said he planned to give a portion of the award to his church, Little Rock Baptist Church in Camden, and do something special with his wife, Sharee, and their two young children.

Its just God showing me that Im exactly where Im supposed to be and Im doing what Im supposed to be doing, he said.

Mercado told the class of freshmen and sophomores that he still planned to give them a quiz on the book next week, despite the interruption in the lesson.

I love this book, said Journey Jackson, 16, a 10th grader.

Students in Reyna Sosa-Gomezs English language arts class at Mastery Molina Upper Elementary School in North Camden tossed sparkly confetti in the air to celebrate her RISE Award.

A bilingual special education teacher, Sosa-Gomez is an asset in the Renaissance school where about 70% of its students are Latino, said principal Rickia Reid.

Kids just love her, said Reid.

Eighth grader Rosalee Bey, 14, nominated Sosa-Gomez.

Shes different from all the other teachers, Bey said. She deserves it.

Sosa-Gomez, 35, who grew up in Bensalem, came to the school two years ago after working in Las Vegas. She has been teaching for five years.

Sosa-Gomez said she planned to treat her students to Chick-fil-A, give a portion to her teacher assistant, Giovanna Watson, purchase a pair of Jordan sneakers she has been eyeing, and save some for school supplies next year.

This is exciting, she said.
Protesters stand behind speakers during a press conference ahead of a Central Bucks school board vote in July 2022 to pass a policy targeting "sexualized content" in library books. The district is now removing two books from library shelves. Read more

The Central Bucks School District has decided to remove Gender Queer and This Book is Gay from library shelves, following reviews initiated by district administrators to guard against the sexualization of children.

Three other books  Lawn Boy, Beyond Magenta, and Me and Earl and The Dying Girl  have also been reviewed and will remain in libraries, according to an email from district library coordinator Melissa Burger to librarians Thursday. A district employee shared a copy of the email with The Inquirer.

A district spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment Friday.

The book removals are the first since Central Bucks passed a policy last year targeting sexualized content, sparking outcry from advocacy groups and community members who argued it would pave the way for banning books.

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I dont think this ought to come as a surprise, said Katherine Semisch, a retired English teacher in the district and cofounder of Advocates for Inclusive Education, a group that has opposed the school boards policies regarding library books and prohibiting staff advocacy in classrooms.

This was the intent of the library policy ... to make it easier to remove books, Semisch said Friday.

The policy didnt immediately result in book challenges: The district was developing administrative regulations to carry out the new rules  including enlisting a law firm focused on religious liberty to help. But administrators disclosed in January that they already had initiated internal reviews of the five books named in Burgers email.

To pretend that we dont know that graphic, illustrated, highly descriptive sexualized content is in some books, would be akin to looking the other way, Superintendent Abram Lucabaugh said at the time.

More than 60 additional books have since been challenged through requests submitted to the district. Central Bucks has not disclosed who filed the challenges, which include objections to sexual content as well as inflammatory racial commentary and discussions of gender identity and abortion.

The district has also not commented on the status of any reviews of those books.

In her email, Burger told librarians they would have 24 hours to pull Gender Queer and This Book is Gay from library shelves and send the books to her.

Burger did not provide specific reasons for the book decisions, but said they were in line with the library policy. She said reports from the reconsideration committees that reviewed the books would be published on the districts website in the near future. As of Friday afternoon, it did not appear any reports had been posted.

If theyre banning a book, how come the only people who know it are the librarians? Semisch said.

Both Gender Queer, by Maia Kobabe, and This Book is Gay, by Juno Dawson, were among the top-10 most challenged books of 2022, according to the American Library Association. In particular, Gender Queer  a graphic memoir about Kobabes experience growing up nonbinary and asexual  has been targeted for illustrations depicting a sexual act and masturbation. Critics have called the images pornographic, though supporters, including schools who have kept the book, say they arent when viewed in the broader context of the story.

This Book is Gay is a nonfiction book that aims to serve as a guide to LGBTQ relationships. Critics take issue with its descriptions of sexual acts and anatomical illustrations.

Central Bucks, which has been embroiled in allegations it has created a hostile environment for LGBTQ students  claims that were recently refuted by a district-commissioned review  has said its policies are not discriminatory. Under the library policy, any book that is removed is supposed to be replaced with another from the same genre.

Semisch said she didnt know if there were other books that spoke to the particular experience described in Gender Queer.

That book is unique, she said.
John DeBella will retire on June 30, after nearly 48 years on the air, 21 of them at 102.9 WMGK on the radio dial. Read more

With his nearly five-decade career on the air coming to an end, 102.9 WMGK morning host John DeBella still doesnt get the hype. After all, hes just been doing his job.

Look, everybody has a job. This is my job, DeBella, 71, told The Inquirer. I dont see any difference between me and a guy who gets up and digs a ditch every day. Weve got our jobs. I just get to laugh a lot more at mine.

In turn, so has Philly  at least for the last 41 years of DeBellas career. A New York native, he arrived here in 1982, when he took up a job at 93.3 WMMR, pioneering the now-ubiquitous, personality-driven morning zoo radio show format. And since then, hes been an omnipresent figure on the Philadelphia radio landscape.

And on June 30, DeBella will call it a career, retiring from the radio business. That will cap a nearly 48-year run on the air, 21 years of which were spent at 102.9 WMGK. And although, in some ways, his job in radio is exactly that, its one he loves, and will miss once its gone. Primarily because of us.

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The hardest part of all this to give up is the people  the people around me, and the people that I talk to, DeBella said. I like people. I love being able to communicate with them.

But one thing he wont miss communicating about? Howard Stern.

The Stern rivalry

The pair developed a rivalry in 1986, when Sterns show began being syndicated in Philadelphia. DeBella dominated the airwaves at the time with his WMMR show The Morning Zoo, and Stern was obsessed with overtaking him  going so far as to hold a mock funeral for DeBella in Rittenhouse Square when he beat him out in the ratings in 1990, and having DeBellas ex-wife, Annette, who has since died, on his show following their divorce.

Stern has been a topic that has followed DeBella for nearly 40 years. And as DeBella put it: At what point does this question stop?

It was a very early form of MAGA, DeBella said, referring to former President Donald Trumps political movement. Its like, so let me get this straight: Ive been your favorite radio show for all this time, and this guy comes along and he starts telling you lies about me. And you go, Yes, thats true. I thought you knew me better.

The feud remains one of the strangest in the annals of Philadelphia pop culture history, though Stern, DeBella said, did eventually apologize. That came at a time when Sirius XM, where Stern has been since 2006, was working on a historical look back at the shock jocks career, and asked DeBella to participate. He did, with the agreement that he wouldnt be edited, DeBella said. That impressed Stern, who called DeBella to bury the hatchet.

In his mind, I was holding him back from expanding his show, so that made it nastier and nastier, DeBella said. But when it was all said and done, he called me at home one night, and he says, It takes a really big man to do what you did. And I have to apologize for everything I did.

Still, he often gets asked about the dispute, and why he didnt fire back at Stern. Simply put, he said, he wanted to focus on entertaining his listeners, not selling newspapers by participating in the conflict. That would have only helped Stern, and he believed not retaliating angered Stern even more.

But taking the high road, he added, wasnt always easy.

Its tough when theres 3,000 people outside your studio window celebrating your funeral, he said.

DeBellas next act

Now, though, that same city is preparing to mourn DeBellas impending retirement. And although losing his connection to his audience will be tough, finally being off the air will leave time for some other projects he hasnt gotten around to. Namely, standup comedy.

DeBella has a history in standup  most notably his time with the long-defunct Comedy Factory Outlet in the 1980s  and runs a production company known as DWI Television Productions. Although he isnt planning on going the club route, he does hope to continue to work with comics as he has on the air, but now through creating comedy specials.

I have an entire TV studio in my basement, he said. I just need a show to do.

Its either that, or woodworking. DeBella picked up that hobby recently, and creates such items as charcuterie boards and wine racks, which he posts on his Instagram, @john_debella_woodworking. Hes working toward creating furniture from scratch, but getting to that level will take some time, he said.

And sure, a woodworker or producer doesnt have as much fame as, say, a legendary morning radio man. But DeBella is looking forward to the day when he can be another guy on the street.

If you ask anybody who has any form of notoriety, most people will tell you that the only thing fame is really good for is getting a reservation at a restaurant, he said. Its the Gods honest truth. Thats all you really can do with it. When it comes down to it, nobody gives a s.
Members of ACT UP Philadelphia and other advocates rallied Friday evening outside the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, where the national gathering of Moms for Liberty is scheduled to be held June 29 through July 2. Read more

Trans and queer-led groups are mounting a campaign against the upcoming Moms for Liberty summit in Philadelphia, calling on the Marriott to refuse to host a group they say is racist and transphobic.

Members of ACT-UP Philadelphia  an AIDS activism group  and other advocates rallied Friday evening outside the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, at 12th and Market Streets, where the national gathering of the conservative parent group is scheduled to be held June 29 through July 2.

Activists are also urging people to call the Marriott and demand that it stop hosting hate. A script shared on social media by groups including Galaei  a nonprofit serving queer and trans Black, Indigenous, and other people of color  suggests people tell the hotel that it will no longer have my business if it does not cancel the Moms for Liberty summit reservations and do its part to keep our schoolchildren safe.

They say theyre moms for liberty, but theyre really for their liberty, said Jazmyn Henderson, an ACT-UP member. Its basically parents who are like them. Not a parent who is trans  like Henderson  or a trans child.

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 READ MORE: Moms for Liberty is convening this summer in Philly, a backdrop for the groups focus on preserving American values

Moms for Liberty didnt respond to a request for comment.

A Philadelphia Marriott employee said the hotels manager was in a meeting Friday morning, while an email sent to Marriott corporate representatives was not returned.

Moms for Liberty, which started in Florida in 2021, has spread nationwide, claiming its second-largest membership base in Pennsylvania. The group is aligned with a conservative parental rights movement that has opposed so-called critical race theory, and pushed to remove school library books and exert control over curriculum.

Moms for Liberty says its book concerns focus on inappropriate sexual content, though LGBTQ-themed books have been heavily targeted. Members have also objected to books pertaining to racism. The group  which has labeled people as groomers who support letting students access books with sexual content  was suspended from Twitter last year for saying that gender dysphoria is a mental health disorder that is being normalized by predators across the USA.

They turn everything sexual, said Henderson, 46. Being trans is not about anything sexual. Its about our identity and who we are.

Aaron Bodiford, another ACT-UP member who planned to protest, said it breaks my heart that trans students are facing attacks on their identities, fueled by Moms for Liberty and other groups rhetoric.

When you dont have schools that are supportive environments, you dont have anything outside of your family and any scraps youre able to connect yourself to, said Bodiford, who is 20 and trans.

The way this has ramped up so dramatically, more than ever we should be focusing on whats happening in schools, he said of anti-trans actions.

Moms for Liberty leaders have said they hope to draw 650 people to the Philadelphia summit, with tickets priced between $249 and $499. The event follows Moms for Libertys first national summit last summer in Tampa, also hosted at a Marriott.

Both Bodiford and Henderson said Fridays actions were just the start of efforts to get Marriott to cancel the event, which they thought did not represent the values of most Philadelphians.

I feel like they picked Philadelphia because of the population thats here, to make a statement, Henderson said, referring to the citys sizable Black and LGBTQ communities. They want to call themselves joyful warriors. You cant start any joy doing what youre doing.
The Pennridge school board, pictured in this March 2022 file photo, voted 7-1 in favor of the bathroom policy, which requires students to use bathrooms that align with their sex rather than gender identity. Read more

The Pennridge School Board has passed a policy requiring that students use group bathrooms in line with their sex, rather than gender identity  a mandate legal advocates said discriminates against transgender students.

The policy, which the board approved in a 7-1 vote Wednesday, says that no person shall enter a restroom, locker room, or shower that is designated for the use of the opposite sex. That prohibits transgender students from using bathrooms that correspond with their gender identities.

The policy is extremely concerning, Kristina Moon, senior attorney with the Education Law Center in Pennsylvania, said in an interview Thursday. She said the policy appeared to violate federal civil rights law prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity, as well as the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act.

Alex Domingos, an advocacy and policy strategist with the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, said the ACLU believes that the policy is illegal and, just as importantly, harmful to trans and nonbinary students.

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A number of community members voiced concern about the policy  while some others applauded it  during a heated meeting Wednesday night that featured broader pushback toward the board, including over its recent hiring of a consultant tied to the conservative Hillsdale College in Michigan.

Parents and residents rallied before the meeting and confronted the board during public comment, prompting leaders to call a recess and threaten to remove people whose remarks didnt pertain to agenda items.

Some critics saw the bathroom policy as yet another action they believed was driven more by the politics of the Republican board than educational goals.

The board has been very clear over the last few years of the direction theyre going in, said Adrienne King, a Pennridge parent and former Democratic candidate for the board, who had advocated for the diversity, equity and inclusion program that the district scrapped last year.

Members of the districts LGBTQ community are deeply impacted by this, King said. She said that putting trans students in a position where they have to reveal their birth identity in order to use the bathroom, that deeply concerns me.

Under the Pennridge policy, students must use either a multiuser bathroom corresponding to their sex assigned at birth, or a single-user facility.

For locker rooms, the policy allows students to request a reasonable alternative changing area such as the use of a private area, but that notably still has to be in the locker room corresponding to sex assigned at birth, said Domingos, of the ACLU.

He added that the policy also raised the question of how many single-user bathrooms Pennridge has: Having many doesnt eliminate the exclusion problem, but having only a few would make it worse, Domingos said.

A spokesperson for the district declined to comment Thursday on allegations the policy discriminates against transgender students, pointing a reporter to the recording of Wednesdays meeting.

No board members spoke in favor of the policy during the meeting. The only comments came from the lone member to vote against it, Ron Wurz, who said that the most likely outcome of passing this will be legal action against the district.

Moon, the Education Law Center attorney, said federal court decisions in Pennsylvania had made clear that schools must allow students to use locker rooms and restrooms that align with their gender identity. She noted that the U.S. Supreme Court in 2019 rejected an appeal from a conservative legal organization representing students in Boyertown, who opposed a district policy accommodating transgender students.

The law is well settled in Pennsylvania, Moon said, also noting regulatory changes by the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission making clear that discrimination based on gender identity is not permitted.

While a federal court in Atlanta in December ruled that a transgender boy was not allowed to use the boys bathroom in a public high school in Florida, that case has not been appealed to the Supreme Court, Moon said.

Several people who addressed the board praised its approach to the issue. My opinion, youre either born a girl, or youre born a boy. Its pretty simple science, one man said. Another said that thats why the bathrooms have different plumbing, because the people using them have different plumbing.

Pennridge last year directed teachers to remove Pride flags and other advocacy materials from classrooms, a move that the Education Law Center and ACLU warned would disproportionately harm LGBTQ students.

Addressing the school board Wednesday, a young woman who said she had graduated in 2022 said its policies have failed to protect my fellow members of the queer community, and that many of my friends cant even use the bathroom that matches their gender identity.

One woman, a retired teacher who said she was part of the LGBTQ community, asked board members if they had spoken to any transgender students about the policy.

You may feel if you have a penis or vagina, you have to go into a certain bathroom. But thats not really what its about, she said, adding that I thank goodness every day her transgender niece was not attending school in Pennridge.
Each year, hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvania patients must receive approval from a physician if they want to legally use cannabis in the state. Read more

Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free newsletters.

HARRISBURG  During a recent budget hearing, a Republican lawmaker questioned how the Department of Health uses data to provide oversight of doctors in Pennsylvanias medical marijuana program, citing ongoing public records disputes involving the agency.

The states Office of Open Records has ordered the health department to release the number of approvals by specific doctors if such records exist. But the agency has sued to keep those records secret, arguing for a broader interpretation of the medical marijuana laws confidentiality rules.

At least three cases that center on the issue are currently pending in Commonwealth Court. Spotlight PA is a defendant in two of them.

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State Sen. Greg Rothman (R., Cumberland) referred to those cases as he questioned Debra Bogen, the states acting health secretary. He didnt ask Bogen to comment on releasing the data.

But I would like to know if your department does do reviews of this information, Rothman said. And does the department protect against doctors from providing blanket approvals for medical marijuana use?

Bogen didnt directly say how the agency uses the data or clarify whether it routinely reviews the information for patterns or outliers. Instead, she said the department responds to complaints against doctors, and doctors have to attest that theyre following requirements of the law in order to certify patients.

Looking at the numbers of certifications done by a specific provider is challenging because there are health care providers that, by the nature of their work, would certify more patients than others, Bogen testified. And just looking at the numbers alone doesnt really give us that information.

Rothmans questions follow a series of Spotlight PA investigative stories that uncovered serious flaws in the medical marijuana program, including questionable health claims, weak oversight of cannabis companies, and unfair rules for doctors.

Publicly available records obtained by Spotlight PA show the department has cited patient approval numbers in at least one disciplinary case against a doctor. In another disciplinary case against a doctor, an attorney for the health agency argued that the total number of patients versus his time and ability to certify patients is relevant.

In response to questions from Spotlight PA, health department spokesperson Mark ONeill said it reviews approval data in limited situations, and it has only used the information as part of enforcement actions that resulted from a patient complaint or compliance investigation.

ONeill also defended not releasing approval data publicly, saying that unless courts rule differently, the agency will continue to interpret the law in the manner most protective of patient and practitioner information consistent with its ongoing commitment to privacy rights and confidentiality.

As of late March, there were more than 425,000 active certifications for medical marijuana patients, and there were more than 1,800 approved practitioners in the program  a relatively small percentage of the tens of thousands of licensed doctors in the state. In order for doctors to participate in the program, they must register with the state and complete a four-hour training program.

Some medical professionals, including medical marijuana supporters, argue the health agency should audit doctor records to ensure compliance and not rely solely on patient complaints to initiate investigations.

In February, an editorial from TribLIVE urged the health department to release approval data. It argued that the information could provide important context for medical marijuana approvals and help reveal if the process is deliberative or if just paying for certification is an all-access pass beyond the programs velvet rope.

WHILE YOURE HERE... If you learned something from this story, pay it forward and become a member of Spotlight PA so someone else can in the future at spotlightpa.org/donate. Spotlight PA is funded by foundations and readers like you who are committed to accountability journalism that gets results.
It happened again.

Thursday night, the Philadelphia Orchestra was just a few bars into the quiet, glassine opening of Berliozs Symphonie fantastique when a cell phone ring shattered the moment.

Once again, music director Yannick Nezet-Seguin stopped the music.

Once again, he lectured the audience.

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Once again, he restarted the piece from the beginning.

This time, however, there were no damns or scolding looks, as there were for last Saturday nights cell phone interruptions in Verizon Hall. Rather, the conductor seemed to accept his newfound, accidental role as Yannick, the Cell Phone Vanquisher, with good-humored resignation.

After he stopped, he turned, read the room, and said the only thing he was going to say was to ask that they now turn off phones.

The world can wait, he said.

He then teased the audience with a P.S., inviting them to visit the orchestras website for some very apt merchandise.

Cell phone disruptions have long been a problem at concerts and other performances, but word of last Saturdays incident spread quickly and far, generating headlines and spinning off memes and other responses.

Dear @philorch: If youre not going to print Can we live without the phone for just one damn hour?  @nezetseguin on a tote bag, we will, posted VAN, the online classical magazine.

Challenge accepted, responded the orchestra, which is now producing tote bags, T-shirts, and, of course, cell phone cases emblazoned with the phrase.

A recording of the incident, according to the orchestra, revealed that Nezet-Seguins actual quote was: Can we just spend one hour of our lives without the damn phones, please? but a spokesperson said that was too long, so they paraphrased it for the merchandise, which is in the process of being rolled out.

The Philadelphia Orchestra and Kimmel Center, Inc. is still considering options for how to remind patrons to turn off or silence cell phones, she said.

Thursdays performance opened with Gabriela Lena Franks Walkabout: Concerto for Orchestra, and, after intermission, the usual prerecorded announcement reminding patrons to turn off their phones.

It was just moments later in the Berlioz that one rang out.

More information: shop.philorch.org.
Mail-in ballot counting being held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, 12th and Arch St. in Center City Philadelphia on Wednesday, November 4, 2020. Read more

Happy Friday. It should be another sunny day with a high of 85.

Election Day is right around the corner. So many people want to be mayor and there are five candidates who have a path to victory. The crowded aspect of the race is the reason it could took awhile to find out who actually wins.

Our lead story explains when well know who won Phillys mayoral primary election. 

If you see this  in todays newsletter, that means were highlighting our exclusive journalism. You need to be a subscriber to read these stories.

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 Taylor Allen (@TayImanAllen, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)

It might take a long time to find out who won in Tuesdays primary election for mayor on the Democratic ticket.

With five front-runners splitting the vote margins could be slim, making it harder to be certain who won until all the votes are counted and any challenges resolved.

The good news: Most votes will be counted fairly quickly so there is still a chance we could have an answer on election night.

But if the race is as close as some observers expect, a fast vote count may not be enough to have a clear winner by Wednesday morning.

Continue reading to learn what the time line would look like if the margins are tight. 

According to authorities, a 21-year-old woman has been charged with helping coordinate the escape of two prisoners from a Philadelphia jail, one of whom was captured Thursday night.

Nasir Grant, 24, who had been facing gun and drug charges, was taken into custody after a car stop in North Philly. Ameen Hurst, 18, who is accused of committing four murders, remained on the lam late Thursday night.

Hurst called Xianni Stallings, of North Philadelphia, on a recorded jail line at some point before he and Grant broke out of the Philadelphia Industrial Correctional Center through a hole in a chain-link fence on Sunday, according to police.

Authorities declined to specify what the prisoner allegedly told Stallings.

Stallings was arraigned Thursday morning on charges including conspiracy and hindering apprehension, with bail set at $500,000.

Continue reading for the latest on what we know and dont know about the jailbreak.

What you should know today

 Trivia time 

John DeBella is retiring from WMGK after 48 years in radio.

How many years did he work at the classic rock station?

A) 21

B) 25

C) 30

D) 42

Think you know? Check your answer.

What were...

Explaining: What the end of pandemic emergency declarations means for you.

Sharing: Theres a Taylor Swift mural on South Street after an artist from New Jersey proposed the idea on TikTok. In less than a week, she painted it herself.

 Unscramble the anagram 

Hint: Open every Saturday and Sunday at FDR Park 

AARIKA HEMOSTAT SUNSET

Well select a reader at random to shout out here. Send us your own original anagram to unscramble if youd like. Cheers to Yvonne Jones, who correctly guessed Thursdays answer: Taylor Swift. Email us if you know the answer.

Photo of the day

And thats it from me. Im off to do last-minute gift wrapping for Mothers Day. Our new newsletter editor, Paola Perez, has you covered on Sunday. Ill be back in your inbox on Monday.
Voters in the Tuesday primary will face a long ballot that will include several candidates running for judgeships. Unfortunately, most voters will know little to nothing about the judicial contenders.

Many will cast votes based on a name or ballot position. Many of the judicial candidates will have raised money from lawyers and corporate, union, and other special interest groups that may have business before the court.

Judges are called upon to be neutral and independent arbiters, yet they owe their position to their donors. The entire process underscores the absurdity of electing judges.

Indeed, most democratic countries do not elect judges. But in the U.S., Pennsylvania is one of 39 states where some or all of the judges are elected, casting a shadow of moneyed influence on the judicial system. Take, for example, the Wisconsin Supreme Court race this year, where more than $42 million was spent and which turned into a bitter political battle that had little to do with the impartial pursuit of carrying out justice.

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While not perfect, there is a better way. New Jersey and a number of other states use a merit-based system to appoint judges. Its a more informed process that removes the influence of money from elections. As a state representative, Gov. Josh Shapiro introduced a bipartisan proposal to switch to a system of appointing judges. Shapiro should continue to champion that cause.

 READ MORE: The Inquirers 2023 Endorsement Guide

Until then, voters are left to choose. There are races for Pennsylvania Supreme Court, the Superior Court, and the Commonwealth Court. Each county also has judicial elections for the Court of Common Pleas and Municipal Court.

This board did not believe it had enough information to make authoritative endorsements in all the judicial races. But the board did research and requested questionnaires from candidates running for the state Supreme Court.

This is an important race, as the high court is the final word on many issues, including rulings surrounding mail-in voting that go to the heart of democracy. The primary winners will face each other in November, where that winner will replace Max Baer, who died last year.

In the Democratic primary, the best choice is Deborah A. Kunselman, who has served on the bench longer than her opponent and has wide-ranging legal experience. Kunselman was the first woman elected to the Court of Common Pleas in Beaver County, where she served for 12 years. She was elected to the Superior Court in 2017, where she decided over 3,000 appeals.

Prior to becoming a judge, Kunselman spent 13 years as a private attorney, arguing cases in the Commonwealth and Superior Courts, and was the chief solicitor in Beaver County for eight years. Kunselman is not a strict constructionist or a judicial activist, and she stresses the importance of reaching a majority consensus with her judicial colleagues.

Kunselman, a mother of three who graduated from Penn State and Notre Dame Law School, believes treatment and rehabilitation should be a priority for criminal offenders who suffer from mental health disorders and drug addiction. She also wants to see juvenile justice reform and more people of color on the bench. Kunselman has the right experience and temperament for the high court.

Her opponent is Dan McCaffery, a former assistant district attorney in Philadelphia and a judge on the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas before being elected to the Superior Court in 2019.

McCaffery, whose brother, Seamus, served on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, has less experience and is more enmeshed in party politics. He did not respond to The Inquirers survey of candidates.

The best choice in the Republican primary is Carolyn Carluccio, the first female president judge in the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas.

Carluccio, who was first elected in 2009, is a constitutional originalist who models herself after the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. She supports long sentences for violent offenders, especially those who commit crimes with guns.

A graduate of Widener University Law School, Carluccio worked as a public defender in Montgomery County and was an assistant U.S. attorney.

Most of Carluccios conservative views do not align with those of this board. She has also made troubling comments about wanting to rework Act 77  the 2019 law that expanded mail-in voting  and gave a muddled response to The Inquirer when asked if the states 2020 and 2022 elections were free and fair. However, in the Republican primary, Carluccio remains the better choice.

Patricia McCullough, her opponent, serves on the Commonwealth Court in Allegheny County. McCullough, who did not respond to The Inquirers endorsement survey, was front and center in the effort to challenge the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. She issued an unprecedented injunction to halt the certification of the election, which the state Supreme Court unanimously overturned.

McCullough recently spoke at a political rally hosted by State Sen. Doug Mastriano, the far-right election denier and supporter of Donald Trump who also marched with the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrectionists.

Anyone still riding the Trump train is not qualified to hold public office.

Editors Note: An earlier version of this editorial misidentified the judge who unsuccessfully challenged Kevin Brobson for the Republican nomination for the state Supreme Court in 2021. It was Patricia McCullough.
Former City Councilmember Helen Gym speaks during an event when she was endorsed by Unite Here workers. Read more

The union that represents Philadelphia stagehands is demanding mayoral candidate Helen Gym move a Sunday rally she has planned with former presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders because the venue is not unionized.

The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 8 made the public request Friday in a highly politicized environment just four days ahead of the Tuesday primary election. The local has endorsed grocer Jeff Brown for mayor, and it is part of the citys Building Trades and Construction Council, which is backing Cherelle Parker.

The rally is set for Sunday at Franklin Music Hall, the former Electric Factory, in the citys Callowhill section. U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) is also set to make an appearance alongside Gym, a progressive former City Council member who is one of five front-runners for the Democratic nomination for mayor.

Local 8 president Michael Barnes and building trades business manager Ryan Boyer said in a joint statement that the public request was a last resort.

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This is where the rubber meets the road, Barnes said Friday. You can either have the integrity to do the right thing or just the willingness to say the right thing.

Barnes and Boyer initially said that they reached out to Gyms campaign and did not receive a response. But on Friday afternoon, Gyms campaign said that it had spoken with Barnes and had been communicating with labor leaders about the issue for two days.

Brendan McPhillips, Gyms campaign manager, characterized the situation as a bad faith attempt by two individuals who are backing candidates falling in the polls to attempt to distract from the fact that Philadelphians are rallying around the only progressive candidate in the race for mayor.

Helens record on labor is clear, McPhillips said in a statement. Shes stood on more picket lines, passed more worker protections, and done more to support Phillys labor movement than any other mayoral candidate by a mile.

A poll released Friday showed Gym and Parker in a tight race with two other candidates, Rebecca Rhynhart and Allan Domb, while Brown trailed.

 READ MORE: Voters guide: See candidates' policy positions here

Gym, Sanders, and Ocasio-Cortez have each built their political identities in large part around support for workers and organized labor. Gym is endorsed by the teachers union, a municipal workers union, and the union that represents hotel workers. On Friday afternoon, she joined a picket line alongside writers on strike outside Comcasts Center City headquarters.

Rosslyn Wuchinich, president of Unite Here Local 274, which endorsed Gym, said her understanding is that the campaign looked into other venues of similar size and that they were already booked. She pointed out that Gyms election night watch party will be held at a unionized hotel.

This is a nonissue and feels like a political stunt, Wuchinich said.

The planned rally is not the first time Sanders (Ind., Vt.) has appeared at Franklin Music Hall. In November, he headlined a get-out-the-vote rally there to drum up support for Democrats John Fetterman, who was running for Senate, and Josh Shapiro, who was running for governor. Both won their respective races.

The public spat is also not the first time Boyer has been critical of Gym. The Laborers District Council he leads contributed $25,000 to a new political group that is running attack ads against Gym.
Philadelphia 3.0, a political action committee that advocates for pro-business policies, mailed out two distinct political fliers to Democratic voters this week.

One promoted two white candidates the group endorsed in the crowded race for at-large seats on City Council.

The other highlighted three Black candidates it also endorsed in the race.

Targeted, demographic-based advertising is common in political campaigns. But political groups typically promote the entirety of their five-candidate slate for Council at-large, as 3.0 has done elsewhere in its six-figure spend to influence the race. So the two mailers caused some voters to scratch their heads as to why the prominent PAC would split its own ticket along racial lines just a week before the May 16 primary  and seemingly target them to Black and white voters.

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Some voters who lived in majority white neighborhoods said they only received the mailer with Eryn Santamoor and Job Itzkowitz, who are white. Yet voters in majority-Black neighborhoods said they received the mailer with only the Black candidates: Councilmember Katherine Gilmore Richardson, Councilmember Isaiah Thomas, and business consultant Donavan West.

I dont want to ascribe bad intent to anyone, but it looks bad, said Nikki Grant, a Democratic committee person in West Phillys majority Black 60th Ward who received the mailer with Black candidates.

I felt like they were making some assumptions about me as a Black woman, she said. Im not sure why you couldnt just get me the entire slate.

Alison Perelman, Philadelphia 3.0s executive director, said the decision to target voters with specific candidates was pragmatic and based on preexisting voting patterns.

Donavan West is, in our view, the third-most viable Black candidate running for At-Large, so we wanted to introduce him to the Black likely voters most supportive of Isaiah Thomas and Kathy Gilmore-Richardson, Perelman said in a statement. We hope voters all across the city will support the five candidates weve endorsed, but the reality is that different candidates have different bases of likely voter support.

Campaign finance reports show 3.0 has spent $736,000 on mail, digital, and field operations to boost its candidates this year. Another pro-business PAC, called Philly for Growth, has dropped nearly $2 million promoting an identical slate on the at-large ticket.

Perelman said that while 3.0 also sent out a policy guide in the mail with all five candidates, the group found it was more effective to be selective about messaging. She said the theme of the mailer with two white candidates was that both Santamoor and Itzkowitz were endorsed by The Inquirer Editorial Board. (So were Thomas and Gilmore Richardson, but that was not included on their mailer.)

The racially divided mailers have caused some discomfort for 3.0s endorsed candidates, who by law cant communicate or coordinate with independent expenditure groups that are spending money on their behalf.

Jobs appeal is to every person and every neighborhood of the city, said Joe Corrigan, campaign manager for Itzkowitz. In a city where 40% of the population is Black, it seems shortsighted to only market Black candidates to Black voters, and I think it underestimates voters.

West said he hadnt seen the mailers where his image figured prominently, but he hoped he appealed to white voters, too.

I think all of us candidates can agree that we want to encourage more people to get out to vote, West said. White people, I like you, I think some of yall like me, and I dont know what happened here. I have no opinion.
Insurers need to ensure that all terms in their contracts, including important pre-existing condition terms, accurately communicate the rights of customers, said ASIC deputy chair Sarah Court (pictured above). Court said the inclusion of allegedly unfair and misleading terms can deter customers from making a claim.
Enright explained the context for his conclusion: he observed that while the measures are expected to lower the poverty rate from around 13.6% to 13.3% of the population  lifting around 80,000 people out of poverty  living standards are set to go backwards, producing a so-called per capita recession.
With the result for the first three months, we have achieved more than a quarter of the full-year guidance of at least 1.7 billion and are thus very much on course, chief executive Jean-Jacques Henchoz said in a release.
The statement provided to IB said its life insurance subsidiary was notified today by the regulator that four of its products will be tested in the courts. This follows the introduction of new unfair contract term laws in 2021.
Last August, Lloyds looked to tighten language around state-backed or nation state attacks in standalone cyber policies, having already moved in 2020 to eliminate silent cyber from broader all-risks policies (such as the one at issue in NJ) through mandatory cyber exclusions or affirmative cover. While some brokers spoke out against the latest change, other cyber insurance stakeholders, like CFC head of cyber strategy James Burns, have said that the fresh wordings are only intended to exclude attacks that are so catastrophic in nature that they destroy a nations ability to function.
Researchers carried out an online survey of individuals who had either taken or been offered genetic testing for adult-onset conditions. Just 4% of the respondents said they believed the use of genetic testing in life insurance should be allowed. The vast majority (88%) of survey respondents said they would support regulation legislation by the government, the research found.
Mason has more than 30 years of experience in the insurance industry. Prior to serving as deputy head of casualty for Overseas General Insurance, he served as chief underwriting officer for casualty. Mason joined Chubb (then named ACE) in 2002, and worked in the UK and Ireland for the multinational retail and international wholesale casualty underwriting teams. Mason joined the companys casualty business in 2011. Prior to joining Chubb, Mason served as an assistant underwriter at Independent Insurance and a casualty underwriter at CNA.
We would suggest moving pricier stock to the back of the store and having someone keep an eye out on social media for any flash mobs. It is also important to have a great relationship with police officers and firefighters to help them understand your business situation and what the expectation is when things may go bad.
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Four months after a 6-year-old Virginia boy shot and wounded his teacher as she taught class in Newport News, an attorney for the boys mother said it still is not clear how the boy got the gun.

Police have said Deja Taylor legally purchased the gun used in the Jan. 6 shooting and Taylors attorney, James Ellenson, has said she believed her gun was secured on a high closet shelf with a trigger lock. In an interview ABCs Good Morning America aired Wednesday, Ellenson said no one knows how he got it.

People have talked to him about that, but I dont know that any adult knows exactly how he got the gun, Ellenson said.

Taylor said her son has ADHD and while attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder might affect others mildly, she described her son as off the wall, saying he doesnt sit still ever.

Ellenson has said the boy was under a care plan that included a family member accompanying him to class every day. The week of the shooting was the first when a parent was not in class with him. The change was made because the boy had started medication and was meeting his goals academically, Taylor said.

Taylor was charged last month with felony neglect and reckless storage of a firearm. A trial date of Aug. 15 has been set. Ellenson has said Taylor wants to reach a plea agreement with prosecutors.

The felony neglect charge is punishable by up to five years in prison. The misdemeanor charge of recklessly storing a firearm is punishable by up to one year in jail. The boy will not be prosecuted.

Taylor said she does feel responsibility for the shooting and apologized to the teacher, 25-year-old Abigail Zwerner.

That is my son, so I am, as a parent, obviously willing to take responsibility for him because he cant take responsibility for himself, Taylor said. I just truly would like to apologize  she did get hurt. We were actually kind of forming a relationship with me having to be in the classroom. And she is really a bright person.

Zwerner was shot in the hand and chest as she sat at a reading table in her first-grade classroom at Richneck Elementary. She spent nearly two weeks in the hospital, has had four surgeries and later told NBC she sometimes cant get up out of bed.

Zwerner filed a $40 million lawsuit that accuses school officials of gross negligence and of ignoring multiple warnings the day of the shooting. Zwerners attorneys say school officials knew the boy had a history of random violence at school and at home, including an episode the year before when he strangled and choked his kindergarten teacher. The boy was sent to another school, but allowed his return for first grade this school year, Zwerners lawsuit states.

The Newport News School Board argues her injuries fall under the states workers compensation act and cannot be addressed through her suit. The board pushed back against Zwerners claims that the child should not have remained in her class, saying he was in the process of being evaluated and treated for possible ADHD  which causes inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity. Even if he had been found in need of additional services, state and federal laws would have applied for the purpose of keeping such children in the classroom with their peers when possible.

Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

Copyright 2023 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Gun Liability Virginia
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Vermonts Republican governor signed abortion and gender affirming shield bills into law Wednesday that are the first in the country to include protecting access to a medication widely used in abortions even if the U.S. Food and Drug Administration withdraws its approval of the pill, mifepristone.

Vermont is the first state to protect access to medication abortion in a shield law, according to the Guttmacher Institute, which describes itself as a research and policy organization committed to advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights. The bills protect providers from discipline for providing legally protected reproductive and gender affirming health care services.

Today, we reaffirm once again that Vermont stands on the side of privacy, personal autonomy and reproductive liberty, and that providers are free to practice without fear, Republican Gov. Phil Scott said in a statement.

In the identical bills passed by the House and Senate, reproductive health care services includes medication that was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for termination of a pregnancy as of January 1, 2023, regardless of the medications current FDA approval status.

Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court preserved womens access to the drug, rejecting lower-court restrictions while a lawsuit continues. The justices granted emergency requests from the Biden administration and New York-based Danco Laboratories, maker of mifepristone, which are appealing a Texas lower court ruling that would roll back FDA approval of mifepristone. The next step in the case is arguments before the New Orleans-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit on May 17.

Unfortunately, we cant say how these legal protections will actually play out based on what happens in the Fifth Circuit Court, and likely appeals to that decision no matter what happens, said Isabel Guarnieri, of the Guttmacher Institute, by email. All we know is that theres going to be a ton of chaos and confusion.

Greer Donley, an associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law who is an expert in abortion law, said states cannot allow medications the federal government prohibits. But that does not mean the federal government would enforce its ban if states go their own way.

Rathke reported from Marshfield, Vermont.

Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

Copyright 2023 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Vermont
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A Connecticut state representative and a wrong-way driver were both over the legal limit for alcohol when they were killed in a highway crash in January, according to government officials and state police.

Middletown Democrat Quentin Williams, 39, died in the early morning hours of Jan. 5 as he returned home from Gov. Ned Lamonts inaugural ball in Hartford. His car burst into flames after it was struck head-on by the wrong-way driver on Route 9 southbound in Cromwell.

The other driver, Kimede Mustafaj, 27, of Manchester, had a blood-alcohol level that was nearly twice the legal limit of 0.08, according to a toxicology report obtained by local media. Mustafaj also had THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, in her system, the report says.

State police said Wednesday that the full accident report was not yet publicly available because it was still being reviewed. Authorities have placed full blame for the crash on Mustafaj.

State House Speaker Matt Ritter told lawmakers and Capitol reporters Tuesday that the state public safety commissioner, James Rovella, notified him that toxicology tests showed Williams was over the legal limit.

Ritter said he had not seen the report and it wasnt clear what exactly Williams blood-alcohol level was. He said the news did not take anything away from Williams stature as a dedicated public worker and rising political star.

He was an incredible person and his legacy is, you know, to us  the same legacy that he created and established  with the work that he did in Middletown and for the state of Connecticut, Ritter said.

The crash happened just hours after Williams was sworn in for a third term, shocking and saddening family, friends and colleagues. Before being elected to the legislature, Williams served as Middletowns city treasurer.

Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

Copyright 2023 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Legislation Personal Auto Connecticut
Greenpeace and an environmental coalition including 12 Italian citizens are suing Italian energy company ENI, accusing it of knowingly contributing to climate change.

The complaint names ENI as well as its two biggest shareholders, the Italian Economy Ministry and the Italian state lender and public investment bank, Cassa Depositi e Prestiti. Its seeking past and future damages as a result of climate change to which ENI has significantly contributed by its conduct in recent decades, while being aware of it, according to a statement from Greenpeace Italy.

In a statement, ENI said it would demonstrate in court the groundlessness of the lawsuit and the correctness of its decarbonization strategy, which it said was balancing sustainability, energy security and competitiveness.

ENI also said it would consider legal action on its own against one of the plaintiffs, ReCommon, for alleged defamation.

The Italian litigation, initiated by Greenpeace Italia, the ReCommon group and 12 Italians who say they have already been affected by rising temperatures, is asking the Rome tribunal to find that ENI violated Italians human rights to life, health and undisturbed family life by pursuing an industrial policy that violated Italys international commitments.

The plaintiffs are also asking the court to oblige ENI to change its industrial strategy to reduce emissions by at least 45% by 2030 compared to 2020 levels to keep the average global temperature increase within 1.5 degrees Celsius, as called for by the Paris Climate Agreement.

Copyright 2023 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Lawsuits
Britains bonfire of European Union laws has been reduced to embers.

The U.K. government on Wednesday scrapped a plan to remove all remaining EU laws, about 4,000 in all, from British statute books by the end of this year  a post- Brexit goal that critics said was rash and unachievable.

Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch said in a written statement that the government would instead draw up a list of about 600 specific laws that would be revoked. Badenoch acknowledged there were risks of legal uncertainty if all EU laws were ditched by the end of the year.

A lawmaker from the opposition Labour Party, Jenny Chapman, called the announcement a humiliating U-turn from a weak and divided government.

Thousands of pieces of EU law were cut-and-pasted into U.K. legislation when Britain left the bloc in 2020 after decades of membership, to ensure continuity for people and businesses.

The governments Retained EU Law Bill would have automatically removed all of them at the end of the year unless they were explicitly replaced or retained. Champions of Brexit said the move would slash red tape and loosen regulation for businesses.

Huge Number

Critics argued that reviewing a huge number of laws in a rush would lead to rules being rewritten without proper parliamentary scrutiny. Opponents also worried that the government would weaken workers rights and environmental standards in its rush to discard the EUs way of doing things.

Former Prime Minister Liz Truss introduced the bill during her ill-fated seven weeks in office last year. Sunak, her successor, decided to keep it. During an earlier failed leadership bid against Truss, Sunak had vowed to scrap all EU legislation within his first 100 days in office, and recorded a campaign video showing him feeding reams of paper labeled EU legislation into a shredder.

The bill was approved by the House of Commons, where the governing Conservative Party has a majority, but ran into opposition in Parliaments upper chamber, the House of Lords.

Business groups breathed a sigh of relief at Wednesdays announcement. Jane Gratton of the British Chambers of Commerce said that U.K. business leaders had been worried about the headlong rush towards the sudden removal of vast swathes of legislation overnight that could make it harder to compete internationally.

It is welcome that government has listened, and the bill will no longer apply a blanket sunset clause in this way, with the real risk of unintended but negative consequences, she said.

Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

Photo: In this handout photo provided by the UK Parliament, Britains Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks during Prime Ministers Questions in the House of Commons in London, Wednesday, May 10, 2023. (Jessica Taylor/UK Parliament via AP)

Copyright 2023 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Europe Uk
Rapid advances in artificial intelligence (AI) such as Microsoft-backed OpenAIs ChatGPT are complicating governments efforts to agree on laws governing the use of the technology.

Here are the latest steps national and international governing bodies are taking to regulate AI tools:

AUSTRALIA

* Seeking input on regulations

The government is consulting Australias main science advisory body and is considering next steps, a spokesperson for the industry and science minister said in April.

BRITAIN

* Planning regulations

Britains competition regulator said on May 4 it would start examining the impact of AI on consumers, businesses and the economy and whether new controls were needed.

Britain said in March it planned to split responsibility for governing AI between its regulators for human rights, health and safety, and competition, rather than creating a new body.

CHINA

* Planning regulations

Chinas cyberspace regulator in April unveiled draft measures to manage generative AI services, saying it wanted firms to submit security assessments to authorities before they launch offerings to the public.

Beijing will support leading enterprises in building AI models that can challenge ChatGPT, its economy and information technology bureau said in February.

EUROPEAN UNION

* Planning regulations

Key EU lawmakers on May 11 agreed on tougher draft rules to rein in generative AI and proposed a ban on facial surveillance. The European Parliament will vote on the draft of the EUs AI Act next month.

EU lawmakers had reached a preliminary deal in April on the draft that could pave the way for the worlds first comprehensive laws governing the technology. Copyright protection is central to the blocs effort to keep AI in check.

The European Data Protection Board, which unites Europes national privacy watchdogs, said in April it had set up a task force on ChatGPT, a potentially important first step towards a common policy on setting privacy rules on AI.

The European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) has joined in the concern about ChatGPT and other AI chatbots, calling on EU consumer protection agencies to investigate the technology and the potential harm to individuals.

FRANCE

* Investigating possible breaches

Frances privacy watchdog CNIL said in April it was investigating several complaints about ChatGPT after the chatbox was temporarily banned in Italy over a suspected breach of privacy rules.

Frances National Assembly approved in March the use of AI video surveillance during the 2024 Paris Olympics, overlooking warnings from civil rights groups.

G7

* Seeking input on regulations

Group of Seven advanced nations should adopt risk-based regulation on AI, G7 digital ministers said after a meeting on April 29-30 in Japan.

IRELAND

* Seeking input on regulations

Generative AI needs to be regulated, but governing bodies must work out how to do so properly before rushing into prohibitions that really arent going to stand up, Irelands data protection chief said in April.

ITALY

* Lifted ban

ChatGPT is available again to users in Italy, a spokesperson for OpenAI said on April 28.

Italy temporarily banned ChatGPT in March after its data protection authority raised concerns over possible privacy violations and for failing to verify that users were aged 13 or above, as it had requested.

SPAIN

* Investigating possible breaches

Spains data protection agency said in April it was launching a preliminary investigation into potential data breaches by ChatGPT. It has also asked the EUs privacy watchdog to evaluate privacy concerns surrounding ChatGPT, the agency told Reuters in April.

U.S.

* Seeking input on regulations

The U.S. Federal Trade Commissions chief said on May 3 the agency was committed to using existing laws to keep in check some of the dangers of AI, such as enhancing the power of dominant firms and turbocharging fraud.

Senator Michael Bennet introduced a bill on April 27 that would create a task force to look at U.S. policies on AI, and identify how best to reduce threats to privacy, civil liberties and due process.

The Biden administration said in April it was seeking public comments on potential accountability measures for AI systems.

President Joe Biden had earlier told science and technology advisers that AI could help to address disease and climate change, but it was also important to address potential risks to society, national security and the economy.

(Compiled by Amir Orusov and Alessandro Parodi in GdanskEditing by Barbara Lewis, Elaine Hardcastle and Milla Nissi)

Topics InsurTech Data Driven Artifical Intelligence
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission reported that Amsterdam-based health technology firm Koninklijke Philips N.V. will pay more than $62 million to resolve charges that it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) with respect to its sales of medical diagnostic equipment in China.

According to the SECs order, Philips subsidiaries in China used special price discounts with distributors that created a risk that excessive distributor margins could be used to fund improper payments to government employees.

The SEC also found that employees, distributors, or subdealers of Philips subsidiaries in China engaged in improper conduct to influence hospital officials to draft technical specifications in public tenders to favor Philips products. For example, the order found that, in one instance, a district sales manager at Philips China provided funds to a hospital director in return for the directors assistance in the procurement process.

In another instance, Philips China employees discussed tailoring technical specifications for a public tender with hospital directors so that only Philips China and two other manufacturers would qualify for the bid.

The order further found that Phillips associates engaged in improper bidding practices by preparing additional bids with other manufacturers products to create the appearance of legitimate public tenders and to meet the minimum bids requirement under Chinese public tender laws.

This matter highlights the need for companies to design and implement internal accounting controls sufficient for the scale of their business. Despite remediation done in connection with its prior violations, Phillips nevertheless failed over the course of several years to implement sufficient internal accounting controls with respect to its sales of medical technology products in China, said Charles Cain, chief of the SEC Enforcement divisions FCPA unit, in announcing the agreement.

Philips consented to the SEC order without admitting or denying the findings, and agreed to pay $15 million in civil penalties and more than $47 million in disgorgement and prejudgment interest.

The SEC said it considered Phillips cooperation with investigators and remedial steps it has undertaken, including terminating or disciplining the China employees involved in the misconduct.

Philips entered the Chinese market in 1920 and established its first joint venture in 1985. Operating through Philips China, Philips has several wholly owned subsidiaries and representative offices in the region. In China, the majority of hospitals and other healthcare providers are state-owned enterprises.

In April 2013 the SEC charged Philips with similar misconduct in Poland that had occurred between 1999 and 2007.

Source: Securities and Exchange Commission

Topics USA China
ESCANABA, Mich. (AP)  A northern Michigan paper mill has resumed operations after closing for three weeks to deal with an unusual outbreak of fungal infections.

The Billerud Paper Mill in Escanaba reopened Monday, following a deep cleaning recommended by public health authorities and experts, the company said.

No spores linked to the blastomycosis disease have been found, the mill said.

We continue to work closely with and follow the recommendations of local, state and federal health experts as they continue to investigate this dynamic situation, Billerud said.

The infection is related to a fungus that grows in moist soil and decomposing wood and leaves, according to the public health department in Delta County, which publicly disclosed a number of unusual pneumonia infections in March.

There have been 115 cases of blastomycosis so far, the department said last week, resulting in 14 people  workers, contractors or mill visitors  being admitted to the hospital. One person has died.

Blastomycosis does not pass from person to person. Common symptoms are cough, fever, shortness of breath, joint pain and weight loss. The incubation period can range from 21 days to 90 days.

The mill, which employs more than 800 people in Michigans Upper Peninsula, produces paper for magazines, catalogs, books and other products. Billerud is based in Sweden.

Copyright 2023 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Michigan
Gov. J.B. Pritzker this week signed a law providing full disability benefits to Chicago police officers and firefighters struck by COVID-19 before vaccines were available, presiding over an emotional statehouse ceremony which marked the end of a financial struggle for responders including the brother of Comptroller Susana Mendoza.

The Act-of-Duty law, HB3162, ensures disability benefits of 75% of salary plus health insurance for anyone unable to work after contracting the coronavirus from March 9, 2020, when the flare-up intensified in Illinois, until June 30, 2021. The law grants them the presumption that they picked up the illness on the job.

Pritzker said after COVID-19s arrival in early 2020, police, fire and medical personnel were both a line of defense and a lifeline.

Our first responders were key to our national response, transporting infected patients to hospitals, disbursing masks and testing kits or providing care to those in distress, Pritzker said. But even with social distancing, masks and mitigations in place, many of our first responders became infected with COVID-19.

Mendozas brother, 58-year-old police Det. Joaquin Mendoza, was a veteran officer who worked the midnight shift. With no spouse or children, the comptroller said work was his only focus. In November 2020, when the city canceled days off, he worked 17 straight days, woke up one morning with a cough and two days later was rushed to the hospital with COVID-19.

He moved in with his sister and her family and since then, hes had five strokes and lost both kidneys, requiring thrice-weekly dialysis. But the Policemans Annuity and Benefit Fund of Chicago denied his claim for full disability because there was no proof that he contracted the virus on the job. The board also denied Officer Diana Cordova-Nestad.

This has been the most hellacious experience, Mendoza said. I dont want any police officers to feel that their only recourse is to recognize that theyre worth more dead than alive and decide to eat a bullet because they dont want to deal with this.  I know it sounds dramatic, but its real.

Mendoza said she know of about 20 others who will benefit from the law  after her brother and Cordova-Nestad were denied, no one else sought benefits.

Its a small universe so youre not talking about opening up the floodgates, she said.

Joaquin Mendoza had planned to attend the bill signing but underwent surgery again on Tuesday and remains hospitalized.

He told me that maybe it had to happen because hes the only one with a sister who knows how to navigate this crazy system and can right the wrong for brothers and sisters on the force, the comptroller said.

Copyright 2023 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics COVID-19 Illinois
The units at a Houston-area Shell refinery that caught fire on Friday repeatedly malfunctioned in recent years without action from Texas regulators.

Since the start of 2022, the British oil giant reported at least four malfunctions at one olefins unit in its Deer Park petrochemical refinery that had resulted in thousands of pounds of unauthorized pollution but no fines or citations. Olefins units  the heart of petrochemical complexes  separate hydrocarbons into the components of plastics.

In every case prior to this weekends fire, Shell invoked the affirmative defense, an element of Texas law that relieves industrial operators of liability for pollution events that are reported as accidents or emergencies.

Critics of the affirmative defense say it allows companies to defer expensive equipment upgrades and maintenance without fear of consequences for dangerous malfunctions.

If I was involved in a car crash and hurt someone, I cant just put my hands up and say, It was an accident,' said Jaun Parras, a longtime public health advocate in Houston and co-director of TEJAS Barrios, an environmental justice nonprofit. So why are we letting Shell and its funders get away with incidents like this?

Last month, a study released by the Environmental Integrity Project found that industries in Texas reported thousands of unauthorized emissions each year but rarely faced legal consequences.

In only one half of one percent of these incidents did the state use its legal authority to require the companies to analyze the cause of the problem and take concrete action to avoid these pollution releases in the future, the study said.

According to a Friday report filed by Shell with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, a fire at its Deer Park chemical plant shut down the refinerys olefins units on Friday afternoon. The fire went out early Saturday morning but then reignited and burned until Monday.

Monitors detect no threats to health

A black plume rose above the neighborhoods east of Houston, where hundreds of thousands of people live along the edges of the nations largest petrochemical complex.

Throughout, Shell said the fire posed no threat to public health.

Air monitoring has not detected any harmful levels of chemicals affecting neighboring communities, the company said in a statement. There is no danger to the nearby community.

The TCEQ sent monitoring units to the area in response and said it did not detect any readings of health concern.

TCEQ mobile monitors on Saturday detected benzene at 34.2 parts per billion and 1,3-Butadiene at 19.4 ppb in Channelview, an area north of the Shell refinery.

In the previous 10 days, both substances had peaked around 2 ppb at the stationary air monitors in Channelview.

In response to questions, TCEQ said it did not consider those levels to be atypically high concentrations, sitting below half the threshold density the TCEQ considers requiring further investigation.

According to Tim Doty, a former manager of the TCEQs mobile monitoring program, those readings should have spurred further investigation.

Those certainly seem elevated to me from what the background should be, unless youre sitting in a parking lot at a gas station, said Doty, now a private environmental consultant. It seems to me that if you found elevated concentrations, you would want to spend more time there.

According to Neil Carman, a former TCEQ inspector and current clean-air director with the Sierra Club in Houston, there is no safe exposure level for benzene.

You are breathing a cancer-causing chemical, he said.

Carman, who has a Ph.D. in chemistry, wondered why the agency did not report data on soot or many other substances that may be present in refinery fire emissions. He also said the TCEQ used single-point pollution monitors instead of monitors that can detect invisible gases over a larger area.

The TCEQ is in the business of finding no problem, he said. Its very easy to go out and find no problem. To me thats just not credible when you see all that smoke.

History of malfunctions

For Shells Deer Park refinery, it was the eighth self-reported violation of pollution permits since 2022  one of 513 such events in the last 20 years, according to TCEQ data.

But the last air pollution fine levied on Shell by the TCEQ, about $13,000, came in November 2021. (Shell posted record $40 billion profits last year.)

On Feb. 7, 2022, a gas compressor malfunction on olefins unit 3 led to releases including 7,358 pounds of carbon monoxide, 2,994 pounds of ethylene and 1,299 pounds of propylene, according to self-reporting logged with the TCEQ. On Feb. 9, the compressor tripped again.

In August 2022, Shell reported a malfunction in an olefins unit due to loss of high pressure boiler feed water. And in January 2023, olefins units 2 and 3 shut down due to the extreme freezing weather conditions.

Problems go back even further.

In September 2021, Shell reported a compressor trip on olefins unit 3 due to an incorrect script in a graphics faceplate.

In October 2019 Shell reported 81.88 pounds of benzene emissions from the olefins units after a line was discovered to be open ended and draining into the sewer system.

In April 2018, Shell reported leaking 700 pounds of propane and propylene gas from a hole in a line. In November 2018, another line leak on an olefins unit led to emissions including 965 pounds of methane.

According to Elena Craft, an associate vice president with the Environmental Defense Fund in Austin, Texas lax enforcement of pollution law fuels the steady succession of chemical disasters near Houston, the fourth-largest U.S. city.

Data from the Coalition to Prevent Chemical Disasters shows at least 11 large chemical incidents along the Houston Ship Channel since 2021.

They included an Aug. 5, 2021, chemical spill at Texmark in Galena; an Aug. 16, 2021, chemical leak from Lubrizol in La Porte; a Dec. 23, 2021, fire and explosion at an Exxon Baytown refinery; a June 14, 2022, fire at LyondellBasell in Houston; a June 21, 2022, fire at the Oxy Vinyls plastics factory in La Porte; a Jan. 6, 2023, fire at Celanese Industrial in Pasadena; and a Jan. 24, 2023, tornado strike at Ineos plastics factory in Houston.

How many more of these events? Craft said. Its literally one right after the other.

Disclosure: Environmental Defense Fund has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribunes journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2023/05/10/texas-shell-refinery-fire-problems-tceq/.

The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.

Topics Texas
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The Kentucky Department of Insurance will hold a virtual meeting Monday to discuss changes to local government premium taxes due to take effect later this year.

Kentucky law allows cities and counties to set taxes or fees on some types of insurance premiums each year, and requires the state insurance commissioner to notify insurers of the taxes at least 85 days before they become effective, the department said in a bulletin.

The taxes do not apply to group health, workers compensation, federal flood insurance, captive or domestic life insurance. The meeting may answer questions about how to determine the location for liability and to which jurisdiction the tax is owed, the bulletin noted.

The online meeting will be held through the Microsoft Teams platform and is set to begin at 1 p.m. Eastern time. Participants can click here to join the meeting. The meeting ID is 283 544 886 277 and the passcode is mchn97.

Stakeholders may also join by phone by calling +1 502-632-6289,,272536446#. The phone conference ID is: 272 536 446#.

Topics Kentucky
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Gov. Bill Lee on Wednesday signed into law legislation designed to place more school resource officers in Tennessee public and private schools, funnel additional money into school security upgrades, and require every school to submit annual safety plans to the state.

The new law is among the few changes the Republican governor and the GOP- dominated Legislature agreed to make in response to a Nashville school shooting in March that killed six people.

Lee has called a special legislative session to consider passing legislation that would keep firearms away from people who could harm themselves or others. The special session  scheduled to start August 21  comes after Republican lawmakers ignored the governors initial request to take up the proposal in the final days of the regular session in April.

To date, Republican lawmakers have largely focused their support on the school safety package. They contend the changes will make private and public schools safer by making it more difficult for a possible attacker to break into school buildings.

Nothing is more important than Tennessee students and teachers returning home from school safely each day, Lee said in a statement.

While the new laws received support from the states handful of Democratic lawmakers, some argued that the state should not be pushing to transform schools into mini-fortresses and criticized GOP leaders for refusing to take up gun control proposals.

Lawmakers did, however, move to further protect gun and ammunition dealers, manufacturers and sellers against lawsuits. That bill is awaiting action from the governor.

The six people who were killed during The Covenant School shooting included three 9-year-old children. Police have said the shooter, Audrey Hale, had been planning the massacre for months. Hale was killed by police. Officials have also said that the school did not have a security guard posted at the school.

Law enforcement officials are currently reviewing writings left behind by Hale. Yet in the weeks since the shooting, a growing chorus of Republican leaders have demanded those writings be publicly released in order to learn more about the motive  which critics have countered is a tactic to distract from the calls to make firearms more difficult for dangerous people to obtain.

The three children who were killed in the shooting were Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney. The three adults were Katherine Koonce, 60, the head of the school, custodian Mike Hill, 61, and 61-year-old substitute teacher Cynthia Peak.

The legislation signed into law Wednesday:

Requires private school security guards receive active shooter training prior to being posted at the school

Requires every school district to establish threat assessment teams to better ensure students receive appropriate support services and are connected to behavioral health professionals

Requires private and public schools to develop annual safety plans and submit them to the state.

Photo: Children from The Covenant School, a private Christian school in Nashville, Tenn., hold hands as they are taken to a reunification site at the Woodmont Baptist Church after a deadly shooting at their school on Monday, March 27, 2023. More than 100 people have been killed in mass shootings thus far in 2023, an average of one mass killing a week. (AP Photo/Jonathan Mattise, File)

Copyright 2023 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics K-12 Gun Liability Tennessee
California will pay a $24 million civil rights settlement to the family of a man who died in police custody after screaming I cant breathe as multiple officers restrained him while trying to take a blood sample, lawyers said Tuesday.

Seven California Highway Patrol officers and a nurse were charged with involuntary manslaughter earlier this year in connection with the 2020 death of Edward Bronstein, age 38.

Annee Della Donna, an attorney for Bronsteins parents and children, said its the largest civil rights settlement of its kind by the state of California, and the second largest nationally since the city of Minneapolis paid $27 million in the George Floyd case. Della Donna has scheduled a news conference in Los Angeles for later Wednesday to provide details.

The settlement comes amid renewed scrutiny of potentially fatal restraints following last weeks death of a New York City subway rider, Jordan Neely, who was placed in a chokehold by a U.S. Marine veteran. Bronsteins death also echoes that of Eric Garner, a New Yorker put in a chokehold by police in 2014 and whose dying words I cant breathe became a chant in protests against racial injustice. Both Garner and Neely were Black.

The Los Angeles County coroner said Bronsteins death was caused by acute methamphetamine intoxication during restraint by law enforcement. The report lists Bronsteins race as white.

Bronstein was taken into custody following a traffic stop on suspicion of driving under the influence on March 31, 2020. He died at a highway patrol station in Altadena, north of downtown Los Angeles, less than two months before Floyd was killed by police in Minnesota as he, too, repeatedly told officers, I cant breathe.

When announcing the criminal charges in March, LA County District Attorney George Gascon said the highway patrol officers failed Bronstein, and their failure was criminally negligent, causing his death.

A nearly 18-minute video showing the officers treatment of Bronstein was released last year following a judges order in the familys federal lawsuit alleging excessive force and a violation of civil rights.

Family members have said Bronstein was terrified of needles and they believe thats why he was reluctant to comply with the CHP initially as they tried to take a blood sample.

The video, filmed by the sergeant, shows several officers forcing a handcuffed Bronstein to a mat on the floor as he shouts, Ill do it willingly! Ill do it willingly, I promise!

He continues screaming as six officers hold him face-down  the lawsuit alleged they put their knees on his back  and pleads for help.

Its too late, one officer replies. Stop yelling! another shouts.

I cant breathe! and I cant! Bronstein cries, and an officer responds, Just relax and stop resisting!

But Bronsteins voice gets softer and he then falls silent. While he is unresponsive, the nurse continues to draw blood and the officers keep pinning him down.

After they realize he may not have a pulse and does not appear to be breathing, they slap his face and say, Edward, wake up. More than 11 minutes after his last screams, they begin CPR.

Bronstein never regained consciousness and was later pronounced dead.

In a statement, CHP Commissioner Sean Duryee extended condolences to the family and said he would respect the judicial process. His office didnt immediately respond Tuesday to request for comment on the settlement.

The officers, who were put on administrative leave in March, face one count each of involuntary manslaughter and one felony count of assault under the color of authority. If convicted, they could get up to four years in prison. The registered nurse was also charged with involuntary manslaughter.

Bronsteins death prompted the CHP to change its policies to prevent officers from using techniques or transport methods that involve a substantial risk of positional asphyxia, the agency said. Additional training was also ordered for uniformed officers.

In September 2021, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law barring police from using certain face-down holds that have led to multiple unintended deaths. The bill was aimed at expanding on the states ban on chokeholds in the wake of Floyds murder.

Copyright 2023 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics California Law Enforcement
Members of New Mexicos congressional delegation are criticizing federal emergency managers for missing deadlines as residents seek recovery assistance following the largest wildfire in the states recorded history.

It has been a year since the U.S. Forest Service sparked the blaze after two prescribed-burn operations meant to clear dead and overgrown vegetation went awry. Hundreds of homes were destroyed along with the livelihoods of many rural residents who are now bracing for another season of post-fire flooding.

U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez and U.S. Sens. Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Lujan wrote in a letter sent Wednesday to FEMA and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that the agencies need to finalize regulations for doling out nearly $4 million in recovery funds to families and businesses.

Without the final rules, they say justice for victims is being delayed, resulting in confusion and uncertainty for residents.

The lawmakers also said FEMA has missed a number of self-imposed deadlines, and that has deepened mistrust with the community.

Every day that passes without compensation to the victims delays their ability to begin rebuilding after losing so much, the letter states. We ask that you put yourself into the shoes of those whove waited more than a year after the fire started.

FEMA opened its regional claims offices to the public in recent weeks, and the director, Angela Gladwell, has vowed that her staff will be here until the job is done and every claimant receives the compensation theyre due.

Regional FEMA officials did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment about the lawmakers letter or the timing for finalizing the regulations.

The New Mexico officials indicated that the delay was related to reconsideration of provisions that deal with compensation for trees that were burned on private property and compensation for risk reduction. They have argued the language was a holdover from a different catastrophe that affected suburban homes, not an economy based on forest.

We reiterate the importance of removing these caps. It is vitally important that our communities are able to begin restoring their lands and begin mitigation efforts to protect their homes and properties from future flooding or fire, the letter reads.

Leger Fernandez and the two senators requested that FEMA and Homeland Security provide an update, saying many victims still are without permanent homes and the anticipated flooding this summer will make matters worse.

Fire danger also remains high across parts of New Mexico despite above-average snowpack in the higher elevations. Red flag warnings prompted by strong winds and dry conditions were issued for much of the state Wednesday, as crews were battling fires around Mora and Sapello near the burn scar as well as in other parts of New Mexico.

The National Park Service on Wednesday cancelled its plans for a prescribed fire at El Malpais National Monument, citing the deteriorating weather conditions.

Copyright 2023 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters Wildfire Mexico New Mexico
Detroit, Michigan - May 12, 2023 (Investorideas.com Newswire) In a world where cryptocurrency trading is becoming more prevalent, there is a need for a platform that caters to traders who want to take advantage of the volatility of cryptocurrencies.

PrimeXBT is a platform that offers users access to a wide range of cryptocurrencies, traditional asset CFDs, copy trading, contests, and an extensive trading academy.

This review will explain why PrimeXBT is a revolutionary crypto futures platform.

Advanced trading tools and a user-friendly interface

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Competitive trading fees and funding rates

PrimeXBT charges competitive trading fees for cryptocurrency futures contracts, with most pairs incurring a fee of 0.05%. Additionally, traders must pay a funding rate every 24 hours, which varies depending on the trading pair. The funding rate for most pairs is 0.0694%, while for BTC/USD and ETH/USD, it's 0.0389%. These rates are subject to change based on market conditions and serve as a mechanism to balance long and short positions in the market.

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Copy trading, trading academy, and contests

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Interested in learning more? Check out Benzinga's PrimeXBT Review!

This content contains sponsored advertising content and is for informational purposes only and not intended to be investing advice.

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Two electric vehicle battery makers plan to spend around 10bn on factories in Europe, a big win for Germany and France in the subsidy race with the US.

Both plants will start construction in 2026, employ thousands of people and supply batteries to European car makers.

Sweden's Northvolt said it is set to pick Heide in northern Germany for its factory as long as subsidies are approved, after months of worry that it would opt for an investment in North America over Europe, while Taiwan's ProLogium announced a plant in the French city of Dunkirk.

Europe, home to carmakers such as Volkswagen and BMW, has been trying to lower dependency on Asian countries for batteries that will power green electric cars.

Northvolt, alongside Volkswagen, is the furthest ahead among just a handful of European players paving the way for a home-grown battery industry, with a large chunk of planned capacity in Europe to be owned by Asian players. The plant by Taiwan's ProLogium would be its first overseas car battery factory.

Both Germany and France had to sweeten the subsidy pot after the US last year unveiled major tax subsidies to cut carbon emissions to boost domestic manufacturing, giving the battery makers an attractive alternative.

The subsidies for Northvolt, estimated to be around half a billion euros, would be the first provided by Germany from Europe's new 'Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework', adopted in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and expanded this year to support green transition projects.

Read More Drive for electric gathers speed but greater infrastructure needed

The subsidies still need to be approved by the European Commission.

A second plant could also be constructed in parallel elsewhere, a Northvolt spokesperson said, indicating the decision to build in Germany did not exclude the possibility of a further plant in North America.

Foreign and domestic companies have invested in Germany to feed its growing electric vehicle industry. CATL, which has been expanding rapidly outside China, is ramping up production of its plant near Erfurt in Germany and BASF is building a battery materials site in Schwarzheide, eastern Germany.

US Microvast, meanwhile, already built a factory in Ludwigsfelde, south of Berlin.

For ProLogium, French president Emmanuel Macron lobbied for the factory to beat out other contestants like Germany and the Netherlands, offering deal sweeteners and competitive power prices, executives from the Taiwanese company said.

President Macron's government is eager to use the recent relaxation of EU state aid rules to offer new tax breaks and other subsidies to encourage investment in green technologies. He announced earlier this week the government would offer a new tax credit worth up to 40% of a company's capital investment in wind, solar, heat-pump and battery projects.

Read More Jean Pisani-Ferry: We need to get to grips with greener capitalism

Reuters
Irish Distillers has confirmed that Jameson will no longer be exported to Russia.

The announcement was made as part of parent company Pernod Ricards decision to cease exports of all its international brands to Russia.

In a statement from the company, a spokesperson said: "Pernod Ricard can confirm that it has stopped all exports of its international brands to Russia at the end of April 2023.

We will also cease the distribution of our portfolio in Russia, a process that we anticipate will take some months to complete.

"We are assessing how to adapt our local organisation in light of these decisions, while fully complying with all local legal regulations.

"Since the outbreak of the war our guiding principle has been the welfare of our teams wherever they are based, and we will continue to support our local employees during this process."

The company added that they have stood "firmly with the people of Ukraine" and are providing assistance to their local team members.

This assistance includes "direct financial assistance, psychological support, accommodation for some employees and their families in neighbouring countries and employment outside Ukraine for those who required it."

Activists staged a protest outside the Dublin headquarters of Irish Distillers and parent company Pernod-Ricard last month.

Following the initial invasion of Ukraine by Russia in early 2022, the global drinks company issued a statement saying that the company was deeply shocked and saddened by the war that has unfolded in Ukraine, and that it had suspended its exports to Russia.

However, in September 2022 the statement published on the companys website was amended to remove any mention of suspending exports.
WHEN Kalyn, a Carlow-based woman in her 30s, looks at the climate projections for 2050, she cant feel secure about her own future, let alone that of any potential child she might have.

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.

Am I going to bring a child into a world where theyd have a harder time than me? How can I equip them for that?

If I, in my mid-30s, have a lot of insecurity around what my future might look like, I cant viably say I have something for a child to inherit. As a parent, hoping the best for my child, I dont think I could give them that security.

Kalyn isnt alone among younger generations in grappling with the question of whether reproducing in the face of the climate crisis is ethical or even viable. In the US, one in four childless adults told a Morning Consult poll in 2020 that climate change was a factor in their reproductive choices  11% said it was a major reason for not having children.

Two years ago, Morgan Stanley advised investors that the decision to not have children owing to fears over climate change is growing and impacting fertility rates quicker than any preceding trend in the field of fertility decline. And a 2021 Pew Research Center survey found 5% of childless adults cited environmental reasons, including climate change, for not having children.

Carmel Hannan from the Department of Sociology at the University of Limerick points to a UK-based study published last November that asked if environmental concerns are deterring people from having children. Hannan says those committed to a green lifestyle were found to be less likely to go on to have offspring. In particular, a person entirely unconcerned about environmental behaviour is approximately 60% more likely to go on to have a child when compared to a deeply committed environmentalist.

Another study, titled No future, no kidsno kids, no future? involved interviews with 24 New Zealand and Australia-based 18- to 35-year-olds and explored motivations to remain child-free in times of climate change. Over-consumption, over-population, uncertainty about the future, the changing and worsening of the environment were all mentioned by the group, says Hannan.

In Carlow, Kalyn says her decision to remain child-free evolved over the years. Some key decisions in my life have been climate-driven, such as what I eat and whether I have children. During my university years, I became very aware of food insecurity, of people who dont have their needs met. It seemed less and less viable to bring another mouth to feed into a world where so many lacked their basic needs. So as a result, I started thinking about adopting.

But Kalyns ultimate decision to stay child-free was cemented once she met her husband who had no desire to have children. His feeling is, If I dont have the desire to do something, it mightnt be the best use of my time or the best outcome for me, especially if another persons involved.

Carmel Hannan, Sociology Department UL. Picture: Alan Place

Concern about carbon footprint

Whats making young people around the world think twice about having children isnt just the extreme weather events and knock-on effects their future children may have to endure  but also the fear that a potential child would add to global warming. A 2017-published Swedish study considered the potential of a range of individual lifestyle choices to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in developed countries. The researchers reckoned that having one fewer child would reduce CO2 emissions by 58t for each year of a parents life.

I think of my carbon footprint, how it would grow exponentially if I bring a child into the world. It makes more sense for me to invest in my friendships, in the little ones who are here and helping them, says Kalyn, who  career-wise  is moving more and more into pro-environmental concerns.

Actor Miley Cyrus told Elle magazine in 2019 that millennials dont want to reproduce because we know the Earth cant handle it. She was even more personally forthright: Until I feel my kid would live on an Earth with fish in the water, Im not bringing in another person to deal with that.

Since her comments, the parenthood-or-planet question has become more present in the mainstream consciousness.

Limerick-based counselling psychotherapist and creator of podcast Are Kids for Me?Margaret OConnor has a speciality in helping people decide whether to have children. She did some small-scale research in 2017 that explored how women made such decisions.

Environmental factors werent named at all, she says. But the conversation has evolved since then. Theres definitely awareness now. Covid had a lot to do with it. Environmental reasons and the state of the world are phrases I hear now.

Among her clients, environmental concerns havent been the dominant factor in decisions around not having children  but climate/environment is in the mix, she says. Clients have asked, Is it the right thing to bring a child into this world? Is it responsible? This is something I want, but is it the right or fair thing to do?

They ask if they have a child, what will the world be like for that child when theyre an adult? Themselves, the world, the child  people really look at it from every angle.

Child-free by choice

Niamh Madden set up a Childfree by Choice sisterhood in 2019 as a warm, non-judgemental space where women could talk about their decision to not have children. It has more than 1,000 members, most based in Ireland. Around this time, Madden also did a survey, which attracted 300 respondents, asking women what informed their decision to stay childfree.

Three per cent said it was primarily for environmental reasons. For most women in our group, it doesnt seem to be the reason  or at least not the only reason.

But the environment does come up in conversation at meet-up events, like brunches or walks. And then its that society has become very consumerist, that we have an over-populated planet, that we dont need another human to add to the planet, says Madden, who has seen climate cited almost as a secondary reason for remaining childfree. Like this is a good thing were doing  its having a good effect.

Danielle, a 41-year-old Dubliner, has for a long time felt ambivalent about having a child. I never really had that urge. Sometimes Ive felt conflicted  theres a lot of pressure when friends and family start having children, and it seems like just something to do.

Working in the climate/nature space for 15 years now, Danielles previous career as a journalist meant she travelled a lot, and seeing impoverished children in developing countries, she began considering her childfree decision through the poverty lens.

I thought: The planets resources are finite and there are so many children already here who are sadly in need of a home. I was of the opinion  and still am  that I wouldnt need to be a biological mother. I could be an adoptive mum and that would help the planet because I wouldnt be creating another child for finite resources.

I dont see the need for me to have a biological child. I can love a child that isnt of my DNA and thats where Im at, Danielle says.

Her child-free status frees her up, she says, to be active in the climate area, where people who are parents mightnt be able to because of their responsibilities.

Danielle recommends being upfront with a partner as to whether or not you want to have children. Luckily for me, it hasnt been much of an issue, she explains. But I have female friends who were very clear they didnt want to have children. The relationship progressed, they got married, bought a house, and the guy turned around and asked, When are we going to have children? He thought shed change her mind, that all women want children. 

Even when somebody opts out of procreating for climate reasons, Danielle says there can be shades to the decision, depending on background. Among my US friends, its Im not going to have a child because the worlds ending. Whereas Ive heard women from India say its because of resources  we only have so many resources and if they want a child they can adopt.

She has also had conversations where the child-free choice is causing huge sadness. I know a woman in her 20s who sees herself as having to make an awful lot of sacrifices for the planet  one of those is not having a child. I think that perspective is very common among her age group.

Jack Cantillon, student and writer

From the younger generation

Two months ago, 20-year-old Jack Cantillon, a student of philosophy, politics, and economics at Trinity College Dublin, wrote in Trinity News about the ethical dilemmas that arise when it comes to reproducing amid a climate crisis.

Environmental issues are definitely on the minds of all young people, he tells the Irish Examiner.

But environmental childlessness, he says, is more of a niche area within the green movement, though he reports that The Hist, Trinity College Dublins debating society, debated the topic recently.

Some people talk about it a lot and say they wont have children for environmental reasons  but that could change as they get older. Ive one friend who says hed prefer to adopt, so as not to generate additional consumption.

A counterpoint to the parenthood-or-planet question is the idea that its consumption levels  not population  thats driving climate change. Voice of Irish Concern for the Environment (Voice) chief executive says: Western consumption releases more greenhouse gases than increased populations in the developing world.

But Hannan believes young people will increasingly factor in the climate when making reproduction decisions. Were not seeing extreme weather conditions in Ireland yet, but people want to know the circumstances in which theyll be bringing up children. And this will grow as concerns about the environment become more widespread.

In Dublin, Jack Cantillon looks forward to having children one day. He dreams of a net-zero society where the child-or-planet question doesnt even arise.

I hope we get to a place where over-consumption falls so that having a child is not an issue.
WHEN Fraser Holden developed back pain, he thought it was a trapped nerve. But after a few months of niggling pain, he sought medical advice from a consultant, who ordered a suite of tests.

All the results were negative and surgery was the next step. But before taking this route, his consultant said it would be wise to seek the opinion of a neurologist. Fraser and his wife, Orlagh Reynolds, agreed to this and were unperturbed even when the specialist mentioned the possibility of motor neurone disease (MND)

The morning Fraser was due to get results, we went for a coffee and discussed having a celebration that evening, recalls Orlagh. I said I could feel it in my gut that all would be OK  no one ever thinks they are going to be that family [who receives bad news].

We were devasted to be told he had MND with a prognosis of two to five years. There is no treatment and no hope. That happened on May 24 last year and while there is constant research going on, getting a diagnosis of MND is like being handed a death sentence and you have to try to figure out how to deal with it.

MND is a progressive and debilitating neurodegenerative disease  about 150 people in Ireland are diagnosed with the condition annually.

Orlagh and Fraser, who live in Dublin with their seven-year-old daughter, Oonagh, and dog, Yoda, will share their story in a new three-part series from Virgin Media called Inside the Hospice, which airs on May 15, 16, and 17 at 9pm.

Since his diagnosis, the 52-year-old architect and artist has experienced a rapid decline. Orlagh says she struggles to keep it together but for the sake of their daughter, its essential to ensure that every day has some happiness.

If there were a Guinness World Record for crying, then I would probably have won it by now as I have cried every single day since the diagnosis, she says.

Fraser has a really rapid form of MND and we dont know if he has months or years left. He cant physically do anything anymore  lift his hand, scratch his nose, text or even tell Alexa to do something as he can barely talk. All this has just happened in 11 months.

Oonagh and Fraser Holden.

Daily mantra

Orlagh is aware Fraser will continue to decline and says not knowing what the future holds is scary.

All we know is that he will either go in his sleep or will get pneumonia... When I wake each morning, I dont know if he will be with us, which is taxing mentally. But we have a mantra to try and find 10% of something to be grateful for every day. We have so much gratitude for the care we have been receiving and for our friends, family and neighbours  we are very blessed in that way.

We have done a lot of fundraising in the past year and try to stay focused so Oonagh will remember all the good things we did and not just all the sad things. So although Ive cried a lot, Ive also laughed as you have to find your 10% every day or else you would drown in this absolute nightmare.

Orlagh says although she never imagined her husband would need the services of a hospice at such a young age, the support has been invaluable.

Everyone associates a hospice with death and initially we said that Fraser wasnt going to go there, says the 42-year-old. But because his MND is so rapid, it became clear that we needed help and the hospice could provide him with the best quality of life possible. It helped us to feel that we were not on our own.

Fraser has had two respites at Our Ladys Hospice and hospice staff visit him at home every week.

They have been just wonderful and I know he is in the best hands, says Orlagh.

Being cared for by the hospice has shown us that we are part of a big team with many people behind us. There is no hope [of a cure], but they, along with the rest of Frasers medical team at Beaumont Hospital, do all they can to keep us lifted.

Oonagh, Orlagh and Fraser Holden.

Working with death

Kate Nolan is a clinical nurse manager at Our Ladys Hospice and ensures that patients receive the best possible care.

Although palliative care can be tough, she says offering comfort to grieving families makes it all worthwhile.

The most difficult aspect of my job is seeing grief in other people, she says. But as a palliative care nurse, you have to have the ability to be professional while facing death. I sometimes see it as wearing a protective cloak which you shed once you leave work, knowing the sadness has affected you but not consumed you.

Being able to provide a genuinely safe and comforting space for families is such a joy. To do something so simple for someone and make a big impact is also very rewarding. There is no doubt that the road ahead for someone with a terminal diagnosis is an anxious one, but the hospice should not be seen as something which adds to that anxiety but something which can make a positive impact.

As Frasers condition changes by the hour, his wife is grateful for the hospice care. She encourages anyone else whose loved one is facing a terminal diagnosis to accept all offers of support.

It takes a village  you cant do this alone, so its OK to ask for help, she says.

Orlagh, a director with Hays Recruitment, has learned to accept the chaos of an MND diagnosis. She knows when it stops: Fraser wont be with us  so I try to embrace every part of every day.
The water quality at almost eight out of 10 bathing water sites at beaches and lakes around the country has been rated as excellent by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in its latest annual report.

Overall, it found the quality of Irelands bathing water to be very high, with 97% of the 148 sites it monitors meeting or exceeding the minimum standards, but some localised issues remain.

Swimmers are advised not to swim at three beaches found to have 'poor' bathing water quality; Front Strand Beach, Balbriggan, Co. Dublin, Ladys Bay, Buncrana, Co. Donegal, and Tra na mBan, An Spideal, Co. Galway. At these three sites, the EPA found different issues, including wastewater discharges, run-off from urban and agricultural lands as well as dog and other animal fouling playing a part.

The high percentage of bathing water sites rated as excellent is attributed by the EPA to the ongoing management of sites by local authorities and investment in urban wastewater infrastructure in recent years.

The ongoing improvement in our bathing waters is very welcome and shows that good management of our bathing areas can give a high level of health protection for swimmers and other water users, said EPA director Dr Eimear Cotter.

Year-round swimming continues to be popular and the EPA looks forward to the outcome of the work, led by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, which is investigating how to protect bathers' health year-round.

Water quality at Ireland's bathing water sites.

Unfortunately, there were no new bathing waters identified in 2022, she added.

The EPA urges local authorities to designate more official bathing sites to protect swimmers health, which includes designating the large number of beaches and popular swimming spots that they monitor but which havent been formally identified as bathing waters.

The 2022 annual report found that two bathing water sites have shown significant improvement from 'poor' to 'excellent' in recent years. These are Portrane, The Brook Beach in Fingal and Tra na bhForbacha, Na Forbacha, Galway.

In 2022, 34 bathing water pollution incidents resulting in beach closures were reported to the EPA, compared to 42 in 2021. According to the EPA, local authorities take a precautionary approach when managing incidents, meaning that not all incidents result in a deterioration in the bathing water quality.

This approach is taken to protect bathers health.

When heavy rainfall is forecast, many local authorities will put up a notice giving a Prior warning of pollution events. In 2022, there were 186 Prior warning notices, 82 more than 2021.

Seventy-seven of these warnings (41%) were reported during the last two weeks of the bathing season when there were very high levels of rainfall. The bathing season runs from June 1 to 15 September each year.

There are currently 148 identified bathing waters monitored and managed under the Bathing Water Regulations in Ireland. One bathing water was newly identified in 2021 (Aillebrack/Silverhill Beach Galway) and will be categorized after 2023 when the required number of samples for the assessment has been taken.

The public can suggest new bathing waters to local authorities for identification each year. Factors considered include water quality, the level of use, safety, access, and facilities. Further guidance is available on beaches.ie.
The Tanaiste has confirmed that an Irish man who was detained in an Iranian prison since last year is now on his way home to his family.

Bernard Phelan, 64, from Clonmel in Co Tipperary was arrested in Iran seven months ago over allegations of national security-related crimes  which he denies.

In a statement on Friday afternoon, Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheal Martin confirmed Mr Phelans release.

This follows an earlier tweet by the Iranian Embassy in Dublin that confirmed Mr Phelan - a dual Irish-French citizen has been freed.

Mr Martins statement said: The last seven months have been a very difficult ordeal for Bernard and for his family and I am pleased and relieved that this is now at an end.

I also welcome the release of Benjamin Briere, a French national who was imprisoned with Bernard in Mashhad prison."

Bernard Phelan. Picture: Caroline Masse Phelan.

He thanked all of those who have worked tirelessly for Mr Phelan's release including the French government and French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna as well as the Consular team in Dublin, the diplomats in Tehran, and the Ambassador in Turkey accredited to Iran.

I spoke to the Iranian Foreign Minister, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, yesterday and I acknowledge the assistance of the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in relation to Mr Phelans release," Mr Martin added.

I have continually stressed the urgency of Mr Phelans release on humanitarian grounds. This case has been a key priority for me throughout my time as Tanaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs.

I look forward to Bernards imminent arrival back home.

A short time later Mr Phelan's sister Caroline issued a statement saying: "We received confirmation of Bernard's release today and cannot express how relieved we are.

"So many people have been involved in making this moment happen and we want to thank everybody. Bernard has been held captive for over 200 days, so at this time we gratefully ask that he is given the time and space needed to recover.

President Michael D Higgins issued another statement on Friday afternoon, saying: "May I thank all of those, on all sides, who have worked to secure this positive outcome for Bernard Phelan and his family.

Mr Phelans release will come as a particular relief to Bernards father, Vincent, with whom I have been in correspondence, and to all of his family and friends who have worked with such dignity to secure his return home.

"As President of Ireland, I strongly welcome his release by the Iranian authorities, after what I know has been a very distressing time.

Mr Phelan who suffers with a heart condition, was arrested on October 3, while travelling in Mashhad in the northeast of Iran.

The Paris-based travel consultant was a regular visitor to the country and worked closely with an Iranian tour operation called Adventure Iran, according to his family.

He has been living in France for 30 years.

Bernard Phelans father Vincent Phelan with friends, family and supporters at a vigil outside the Iranian Embassy in Dublin in March. Picture: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

At the time of his arrest, there were riots around Iran over the death of a 22-year-old woman, Masha Amini, who died after she was arrested for allegedly not wearing the hijab  in accordance with government standards.

Riots erupted across the country and Mr Phelan was accused by police of taking photos of a burnt mosque and two photos of police.

He was also accused of sending photos to the The Guardian newspaper and taking two small pieces of 900-year-old pottery from a village he had visited.

His health deteriorated in prison - he went on hunger strike and had a brief spell in hospital.

His family has been highlighting his plight and urging the Government to intervene.
A man has been arrested after gardai seized drugs during a search in Dublin.

As part of Operation Tara, officers attached to the Ballymun drugs unit searched a residential property in Ballymun.

During the course of the search, cocaine worth 57k and cannabis herb worth approximately 12k was seized.

A 40-year-old man was arrested and detained at a north Dublin garda station.

All of the drugs seized are subject to analysis.

This seizure forms part of Operation Tara; an enhanced national anti-drugs strategy, which was launched by Garda Commissioner Drew Harris on July 2, 2021.

The focus of Operation Tara is to disrupt, dismantle and prosecute drug trafficking networks, at all levels - international, national, local - involved in the importation, distribution, cultivation, production, local sale and supply of controlled drugs.
A survivor of the Stardust fire has told how she was saved by her 16-year-old sister, who warned her Lorraine. Get out, theres a fire before she lost her own life in the blaze.

Delivering a pen portrait of Teresa McDonnell at the inquest on Friday, Lorraine Sorohan (nee McDonnell) said her sisters last words to her were engraved in her mind and have haunted her throughout her life.

She told how Teresa had bravely abandoned her own safety after realising a fire had broken out at the disco and sought Lorraine out to warn her about the blaze and tell her to get out, saving her life in the process.

Lorraine explained that on the night of the fire, they had gone to the disco separately with their own groups of friends. Teresa was sitting near the main door while Lorraine was at the back.

They were having a good time, she said, and Teresa came over several times to chat.

Teresa McDonnell died in the Stardust fire.

When the fire started, Teresa forgot about her own safety and sought me out to tell me there was a fire, that I was to get out,  she explained.

My sisters last words have haunted me all my life, Lorraine added.

Lorraine said when she got out, she went to the front of the building and saw some of Teresas friends.

The first thing they said to me was: Wheres Teresa?. When we couldnt find her through the crowds, there was pandemonium and chaos.

Lorraine said she eventually went home to tell her parents who searched the hospitals for Teresa.

She told how her father broke down crying when he couldnt find his daughter and the realisation dawned that the only place left to look was the morgue.

She said her father was dead within two years. The shock of the fire and identifying his daughter had killed him.

Lorraine described Teresa as a selfless person who would always put other people before herself.

Her sister was her soulmate and confidante, Lorraine told Dublin Coroners Court, and she has struggled with the great loss of Teresa all her life.

Lorraine said her sister should have been her chief bridesmaid at her wedding and godmother to one of her children. She is always missed at family get-togethers and is always remembered at parties, weddings, and especially at Christmas, Lorraine said.

Her last words to me are engraved onto my mind: Lorraine. Get out, theres a fire. That last memory I have of my little sister is putting me before her own safety. Her death has left a huge hole in my heart and to this day I shall miss my sister Teresa McDonnell.

'Lost everything that night'

Teresas brother Richard told the inquest his sister had been the focal point around which everything else had revolved and said she had held everything together with love, fun, and happiness.

When she was killed on Valentines night over 40 years ago, our whole family was scattered to the wind, he said.

Richard said the McDonnell family had lost everything that night.

He said Teresa was a fun loving, friendly beautiful young girl who was killed at the age of 16 and a half. He described his sister as a brave young woman who loved animals and always stood up for what she believed in no matter what the consequences.

Teresa loved hair, make up and beauty and was considering a career as a beautician or a hairdresser.

She had a huge circle of friends who still talk about the fun-loving, full of life personality she was, he said.

Richard told how, when gardai called to the house with some of Teresas belongings, their mothers howling screams had ripped through our whole family.

He said within a year of the fire, their father was wrecked with cancer  not from life habits but from seeing his daughter lying in a body bag and being identified by her eternity ring she had got from my mother, a miraculous medal and brown scapulars [medals].

Their mothers pain was visible on her face, Richard said, and her heartbreaking, never-ending sobs filled our home.

He said the family lost more than a sister in the Stardust fire; they had lost a soulmate.

Teresa was our best friend, a confidant to us all. A person who always had time to talk, always had kind words and the wisdom of knowing how to use those words. The hearts of our mother and father were shattered that night, their souls stripped bare.

He said following the fire, there was an absence in their home and their hearts, and the family were left alone in the darkness of bereavement.

The wait for all our unanswered questions has been over 42 years. I hope now, we the families of the 48 victims of the Stardust fire, find the justice and peace we have looked for, he added.
Gardai are searching for a silver saloon car which they believe was used as the getaway vehicle after an early-morning shooting in a quiet residential suburb of Cork City yesterday morning.

Your home for the latest news, views, sports and business reporting from Cork.

The incident has left people in the Wilton area of the city in shock.

A balaclava-clad man shot a Cork father of three on his way to work shortly after 5am yesterday.

It is believed he then got into the car and left Wilton Manor, where the incident took place, and drove towards the nearby suburb of Bishopstown.

It is not known how many people were inside the car.

A small gun, types of which are sometimes found in Eastern Europe, may have been used in the shooting, gardai believe.

The victim, aged 42, was approached by a male in a balaclava as he walked to his car in a cul-de-sac in the housing estate.

The victim was not living in the Wilton Manor apartments outside which the shooting took place but lives nearby and had parked his car there, gardai understand.

He was walking to his car to drive to work after 5am when he was shot once in the abdomen.

Members of An Garda Siochana attending the scene of the shooting at Wilton Lawn in Cork City. Picture: Cian O'Regan

The victim then drove himself to the nearby Cork University Hospital, where he collapsed and was treated for the gunshot injury. The man is in a stable condition and has been questioned by members of An Garda Siochana.

It is understood that his injuries are not as severe as originally thought by medics, with the gunshot missing all vital organs, and he may be released from hospital in the coming days.

Gardai believe that the attack was targeted and carefully planned. A hunt for the gunman and any others involved is under way.

Multiple shots were fired and cartridges were found at the scene, where a forensic examination was later carried out.

The victim, originally from the Blarney St area on the northside of Cork City, is a father of three.

Neighbours in the area reported hearing screams and screeching tyres as a car drove off.

One person who lives close to the scene of the shooting said that they heard a scream at about 5.30am, followed by screeching tyres.

I heard a scream followed by car tyres screeching at 5.30am, said a man who asked not to be named.

This is a quiet enough area. Its not something youd expect around here.

Another person who lives metres from where the shooting took place said that he heard what he thought was a woman shouting at 5.30am.

Another neighbour, Malik Yasin, lives with his young family close to the crime scene.

I came down at 11am to go to work and saw the police everywhere. They said all the front of the building was sealed off.

"I didnt hear anything last night. There are a few families here, its a nice, safe family area."

Daniel Haughton said he has lived on the street for six years.

"Nothing like this has ever happened here before. It's quiet here. People live normal lives here, I never thought anything like this could happen here."

Another local resident, who asked not to be named, said that the shooting had unsettled the neighbourhood.

"I feel very unsafe now," he said.

No arrests have been made so far and a motive for the shooting has not yet been established. An incident room has been set up at Togher Garda station.

Gardai have appealed to anyone who was in the Wilton area of Cork City between 5am and 5.45am on Friday morning and who may have noticed anything unusual to contact investigating Gardai.

Any road users with camera footage (including dashcam) are asked to make this footage available to investigating Gardai.

"Anyone with information is asked to contact Togher Garda Station on 021 4947120, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666111 or any garda station," a spokesperson said.
Somewhere along the way this neat narrative got made. The media and the public called it the Vanishing Triangle, referring to an area on the east coast of Ireland where several women and girls went missing between the years of 1979 and 1998. The area was in fact a kind of diamond in shape, reaching as far north as Dundalk, and as far south as Wexford.

A core thread of this mysterious triangle was that there was a big bad wolf at work, a serial killer, linking all cases.

Nothing could have been further from the truth. Intimate partner violence, harassment and domestic abuse were in fact the common threads.

Annie McCarrick, the 27-year-old American on her Irish adventure as her mother Nancy puts it, was one of these women of the triangle  she is the focus of episode one of a new RTE two-part series called Missing: Beyond the Vanishing Triangle.

New revelations show friends had sent faxes to Irish authorities at the time of her disappearance, March 1993, saying Annie had confided in them that she had been struck by a man known to her shortly before she went missing.

We found out from her friends that she had been having quite a bit of difficulty with someone she knew. We were totally unaware of that. She hadnt let us know about it, her mother Nancy says in the documentary.

Annie McCarrick, an American national who has been missing since 1993.

Former Garda detective Tom Rock, who led the Annie McCarrick incident room, said neither he nor the investigation team ever received the faxes.

For three decades the Annie story has been one that centred on a singular sighting of her on a bus to Enniskerry and a singular sighting in Johnnie Foxs pub. Crucially, and this has never been disputed as a receipt for 11.40 corroborates it, Annie left groceries intended for use for a dinner party for friends, unpacked on her kitchen table, before her so-called adventure out to Wicklow. The abandoned groceries a sign that she was disturbed far closer to home than Wicklow.

Now her disappearance has been upgraded to a murder investigation and the focus of the search 30 years on is no longer on Enniskerry, but towards a suspect who lived in the Sandymount area at the same time as Annie.

Then there is the top, the bottom, and the western point of the triangle.

Fiona Sinnott

Fiona Sinnott has been missing since 1998.

Another case that recently underwent the documentary microscope decades later is that of Fiona Sinnott, in Co Wexford, who went missing near her home in February 1998.

Emmy-nominated director of the documentary, Shauna Keogh accessed Fionas medical records as part of her 2019 investigation, clearly indicating that the 19-year-old mother-of-one was a victim of abuse, and up to six months into her pregnancy.

The medical records detail physical abuse such as kicks to the head and bite marks to her body. One medical document shows: 6 months pregnant and bitten by own (redacted word). The same document states that she was referred to a social worker prior to discharge.

The physical abuse as endured by Fiona, and recorded in the medical files, go back as far as 1994, to when Fiona was 15 years of age. One record shows how at 17, in late 1995, she was brought to hospital by gardai at 4.40am, but was not prepared to make a statement to the authorities. She said she would inform her family but never did.

She went missing in 1998, very close to her home, as she was excitedly preparing for the first birthday of her 11-month-old daughter.

The last public sighting of her was on Sunday, February 8, 1998, leaving her local pub in Ballyhitt, just after closing time, where she was intending to walk back to her rented accommodation. On this night, she also made a call to her family home from the pub asking that one of her siblings come and join her. With early morning work commitments no one was able to accommodate her request.

In 2005, her apparent disappearance was finally upgraded to a murder investigation, and five arrests, leading nowhere, were made. Retired Garda detective Alan Bailey, who was the national coordinator for the special missing person task force Operation Trace, worked on Fionas case for 13 years. He told this newspaper that he believes Fionas case to be the most solvable of all missing person cases in Ireland.

Ciara Breen

Furthest north in the triangle is Dundalk, Co Louth, and the case of Ciara Breen, who was just 17 years of age when she went missing from her home in February 1997. A man, aged 34 at the time of the teenagers disappearance, was the key suspect in her murder.

He, however, died several years ago while in garda custody.

Ciara Breen went missing in 1997.

A number of witnesses claimed Ciara had left her house late at night to meet the man, him having previously approached her in a chipper, but he denied all knowledge of her whereabouts.

The Dundalk man was arrested twice over her disappearance. Ciaras mother died without ever knowing the whereabouts of her daughters body.

Fiona Pender

Fiona Pender was 7 months pregnant at the time she went missing in August 1996.

Into the midlands area of the triangle is the case of Fiona Pender, 26, again who seemingly vanished into thin air from the security of her home in Tullamore, Co Offaly, in August 1996.

She was seven months pregnant at the time of her disappearance.

And like Fiona Sinnott and Ciara Breen, gardai believe she was killed by a man known to her.

When it comes to homicide cases, they are more often than not, organised-crime related, but when it comes to femicide  the killing of women and girls by men  intimacy and knowledge of the perpetrator is the lead statistic.

In Womens Aids most recent Femicide Watch report, published last month, it shows that 258 women have died violently in Ireland since 1996.

A total of 87% of women (where the case has been resolved) were killed by a man known to them, 204 or 80% of cases have been resolved. And 165 women were killed in their own homes.

While a woman of any age can be a victim of femicide, like the age profile of those in the Vanishing Triangle, women under the age of 35 make up 50% of cases in Ireland.

And one in every two femicide victims is killed by a current or former male intimate partner, this was the case in 55% of resolved cases.

There was no mysterious Vanishing Triangle in Ireland, no serial killer on the loose, because in many cases most signs pointed to stalking, abuse and intimate partner violence.

This blindspot, or unconscious bias, that crimes such as murder did not happen in an intimate space, has cost families decades of unimaginable grief, missed chances at resolution, and living with the pain of never having the dignity of a body.

Now, 30 years on, we hope the notion that what happens behind closed doors is not the business of the law, has been vanquished.
Supermarkets prize customer loyalty. Customers who have faith in the power of a retail brand to deliver savings will return week-on-week to do their shopping. Stores count on this loyalty to allow them to tweak prices in their favour.

Staples will consistently stay the same or similar compared to competitors, but the cost of premium brands can fluctuate and here is where the margins are much more flexible.

Loyalty schemes come at a price. Once customers hand over an email address, often a physical address, full name, and telephone number, they can open the gate to further savings.

Monitoring the buying patterns in particular stores or communities can enable a supermarket to anticipate and pre-empt demand

Once that barcode or QR code is scanned at the till or attached to an online purchase, you give the retailer insight into your behaviours, preferences, and family composition. On the surface, it appears like a cheap trade-off.

Once an individual starts buying newborn nappies, for example, they may receive marketing emails, including vouchers for new parents. Target, a well-known big-box chain store in the US, can use the data from its loyalty scheme to identify when a customer may be pregnant.

There has been at least one high-profile case where Target's postal voucher scheme disclosed a hidden pregnancy to others in the household. While they may be able to, Irish retailers are emphatic that they do not use the information collated or shopping patterns to this degree.

For good, monitoring the buying patterns in particular stores or communities can enable a supermarket to anticipate and pre-empt demand. This informs the in-house purchasers, and the prices are negotiated based on likely sales. Ultimately, the more customers that use a supermarket loyalty scheme, the more potential for these targeted discounts.

Three bigger supermarket discount schemes are operating in Ireland, with a fourth less-known in place. For all retailers, the schemes have general restrictions, including that vouchers or discounts cannot be used on alcohol, baby milk, tobacco, and lottery products.

Dunnes Stores

Picture: Larry Cummins

Dunnes Stores offers 10 off for every 50 up to three times per transaction. That's potentially 30 saved for every 150 spent on groceries. Customers do not need a loyalty card to participate in this scheme, but if shopping in-store must present vouchers from a previous shop to benefit.

If shopping online, the vouchers are automatically applied, even if they have never shopped with Dunnes before. There is a steady demand for these vouchers online, and one of the largest Facebook groups in Ireland is dedicated to sharing and swapping Dunnes vouchers. Dunnes Stores also operates the ValueClub system, which allows customers to earn "extra points and savings".

Tesco

Tesco regulars know that nowadays, a yellow band on the shelf displays two prices; one for general customers and one for Clubcard customers. The Clubcard scheme returns one point for every 1 spent in-store, and a point is equivalent to 1c.

This can be used to save up towards Christmas or cashed in to put towards boost vouchers for days out. Clubcard shop prices are significantly lower than the general prices available to non-members.

Tesco UK recently launched the 'Clubcard Plus' membership costing 7.99 per month, which offers customers 10% off their groceries twice a month. It remains to be seen whether this will be rolled out here, but it suggests there may be more wriggle room in Clubcard pricing.

SuperValu

Picture: Larry Cummins

Real Rewards is the scheme run by SuperValu, which also gatekeeps specific discounts to members only. Like many other retailers, it has mainly done away with a physical card that can be scanned and instead encourages customers to download and install an app and then log in to make the most of what is on offer.

By shopping regularly, you will earn vouchers off your shopping every week, special discounts released every Thursday, flash deals, earn tokens to buy special offers (storage boxes at the moment) and entry into attractive competitions.

Lidl

Lidl Ireland does not offer money off shopping as a rule, although customers may earn 1 off their shopping via their scratchcard system. It is redeemed after you make a minimum purchase, but customers can also earn free products this way. Likewise, it offers percentage discounts off products in-store, provided you have activated the discount on the app before going to the till.

Common sense might say we would prefer a lower price at the till without having to hand over our personal data and shopping patterns and muck about with retailer-specific apps to get the best deal.

Aldi Ireland seems to think so  it declared it keep matters lean by not operating a loyalty scheme. It says this enables it to keep prices low for all customers without gatekeeping.

But people love bagging a bargain and loyalty apps/cards lean into that feeling. Of course, quality and availability are also part of that equation, but an unhappy customer may avoid returning.

As a food writer, my weekly shop contains fruit, vegetables, meat, and general ingredients. I can conjure up many a meal without reaching for a brand name  historically, big-name items tend to be far more expensive than 'own' or supermarket brands.

Own-brand products

On filling my trolley this week with own-brand products, the difference between supermarket prices was tiny, provided I used the relevant loyalty scheme from four supermarkets. Of course, there was no need in Aldi.

Those customers who do not subscribe to supermarket loyalty schemes or cards where they are in place are paying a premium. An Oral B electric toothbrush is 121 to a regular customer in Tesco this week, but 60.50 to Clubcard holders. Lidl Plus Card holders can buy two packs of crackers for 2; they would pay 2.78 without.

Retailers chase the sweet spot of profit margin and what their consumers will tolerate regarding prices. Since the retailers' meeting with Retail Minister Neale Richmond this week, prices have begun to drop.

With less disposable income every week, retailers have lost that sweet spot. Their margins may be dropping. But we do not know for sure, because nobody knows what level of profit all the retailers are making in the Irish market, making it impossible to impose windfall taxes or penalties.

Struggling shoppers countrywide can only hope that prices continue to ease. Bear in mind, though, that dropping the price of bread by 10c per loaf is only a small drop in the cost-of-living increases consumers have to bear.
Nobody wants to arrive home from holidays to a burglary. Death or ill health aside, what could be more distressing? According to the CSO, theft of all kinds has risen to pre-pandemic levels (up 18% in one year to Q3, 2022).

No robber wants to be personally confronted or to be caught in high definition on the cloud, via a well-detailed set of security cameras. As they calculate the risk, and even check CCTV blindspots using Google Earth, we can fight back.

Well-flagged deterrents, physical delays which will make the job tougher, and new technology (to spook an intruder, signal a break-in, and record events) are our best defences. An Garda Siochana reminds us: When the home is occupied, fire safety is your priority. When the home is unoccupied, security is your main concern.

LOCKING UP

In Ireland, almost one-in-four summertime break-ins involve entry through an unsecured access point. A third of uninvited Irish guests will use a window without sufficient locks or limiters. Downstairs windows on the side or back of the home without external lighting are favourites.

Apart from breaking in through an opening element, external beading can be peeled off and window glass lifted out, incredible as that may seem.

To lock doors and windows on the house and outbuildings we need the best and most secure cylinder and frame locks possible. Gardai maintain that side-doors and back-doors, again, are more vulnerable to attack.

Discreet entry points should be secure and where possible carry security sensors. Picture: iStock

They are more discreetly located and provide quick means to leg it. Your insurance company will expect a five-lever mortise deadlock as standard for exterior domestic doors, including 10cm hinges.

A common practice with thieves is to breach a flimsy euro-lock. They have two primary skills, drilling out a door lock with a small hand-held battery drill, or using a specialised tool to clamp and twist the mechanism at its weakest point. This is the classic bump and snap.

If you do have the opportunity to replace a lock, contact a registered installer with a PSA licence (you can check this out at psa-gov.ie).

In new locks, look for a classification of EN1303-05 with anti-drill and anti-snap (there will be a hardened steel pin to complicate the bump and snap). For windows, Gardai suggest IS EN 1627:2011 or the British security standard PAS 24-2016.

Proper security keys on new doors can only be replicated on the representation of a dedicated barcode on a card, but you should never leave your keys hidden outside. They could be used instantly or copied and used in the future to rob your home. Your insurer will expect you to have taken reasonable precautions, and if youre gone for more than 30 days, ensure you are still covered.

Retro-fitting locks and devices to PVC or composite doors or windows can invalidate warranties  check with your locksmith or supplier (newer doors and windows come with reinforced frames and multi-point locks as standard).

Smart lock replacement must be perfectly installed and speak to your home network and mobile effectively.

Gardai suggest deadbolts to doors for longer periods of vacancy  and they encourage the public to inform their local station if they are going away for long breaks (something Ive always done without getting an eyebrow raise in my local station).

ALARMS

Burglar alarms that include sensors, motion detectors, voice activation, sirens, CCTV, and subscription-based monitoring are a serious turn-off to a criminal.

Seeking privacy, shy crooks respect branding. Combining external and internal elements, quality alarms increase the chances of intruders being visually or audibly detected, recorded on-site, and ultimately apprehended. Flagging the presence of a robust alarm system can be enough to send them elsewhere.

Wireless systems including Phonewatch, include two-way signalling, anti-tamper on all devices, radio jamming detection, and the latest in data encryption technology. Home-packs range in price from 99, phonewatch.ie. Wired systems come at a premium, but wireless varieties are increasingly affordable (99-300 excluding install) and can be put in place in a couple of hours.

Going for a monitor, youll need a local key-holder to communicate with an alarm-receiving centre (ARC) generally on a monthly subscription. Verisure starts at 14.95 for example. In shaggy, rural settings physical distance from the cavalry means an alarm-only system can bleat away unheard, but signage indicating security recording devices can make an opportunist think again. Keep in mind that the position of any key holder is a big responsibility. Choose someone who will make balanced, intelligent decisions.

If you have a smart lock on the front door, you can allow access by your chosen key-holder while still ensuring you have at least a digital record of any break-in.

Step it up and theres a team on hand 24/7 hard-wired to An Garda Siochana if an incident sets off the alarm or cameras and is verified by your key-holder. Get to know and finesse the intricacies of your system well before you leave. With intelligent features like facial recognition do a walk-through, dont just trust it to work on curtain-up.

Does your alarm qualify with your home insurer for cheaper cover? Not all will accept DIY set-ups. Do they require an annual professional check?

An Garda Siochana will (quite rightly) not attend repeated false alarms, and this could really shake up that Gallic break. If you have an indoor security camera sitting on the sideboard, linked to your phone and have no other processes in place, you can watch and record a burglary in progress, call the cops and possibly bellow at the divils on a microphone. Thats it.

PRESENCE SIMULATION

Every thief is different, but most have a rational modus operandi scoping a target. They can watch the house, while parked or passing, and determine with reasonable accuracy if you are away. A quiet, dark house with no cars or visitors 24/7 will ring a villains opportunistic bell. As will letters wagging in the box or heaped up behind a glass porch door. What would you think?

Wellies on the back doorstep, lights on upstairs after 10pm, and Ian Dempsey burbling away on the DAB? Is someone home? Indeterminate activity at your home on a scattershot schedule presents an unwelcome risk. In the absence of a house-sitter, we need to create a schedule of apparent occupancy and signals of life inside the building.

Suspend deliveries and the post while youre gone unless someone is coming in every couple of days to say, water the plants. MailMinder from An Post, temporarily halts delivery for up to 12 weeks, with a four-week period covered for 14. Settle the fee at least five working days before your departure, anpost.ie. If the letterbox is not 40cm or more from the door lock on the inside, ensure no one can jimmy the lock.

In its simplest form smart security can begin with an app-enabled doorbell with motion-sensing like this Nest Hello variety, from 132, suppliers nationwide.

Dont pop the bins out on the curb on departure day, unless your friends or neighbours are going to dock them back around the house after collection.

Deploy a varying pattern of lights and sound. On a budget, you can utilise 24-hour mechanical plug-in timers to turn on a TV or radio, and to flick bedroom lamps on upstairs. For a little more money, investigate programmable Nordlux Smart or Philips Hue bulbs using Bluetooth mesh technology, and an app on your iPhone or Android device.

Motion-sensitive reactive sensors outdoors can turn all the lights on indoors and out (code and schedule your bulbs with the Hue Bridge from 59).

Dont simply leave all the lights to blaze all night like the Starship Enterprise, which would be obvious to the dimmest sleuth. Talk to your most communicative, reliable neighbours about leaving their car parked at your place after work and at the weekends.

This really is a small ask in an estate setting and easily reciprocated. Lock up your ladders, cut the grass, and trim the hedge before you go. We dont want shaggy neglect on show. If your house is that touch more intelligent with a home network or individual apps managed through single or multiple interfaces capable of controlling lights, or time-managing plugs, you can set up some impressive domestic theatre.

Read More How to make your home a happier, more functional space

Ensure it can be seen from the public street, throughout the day, facing those venetian blinds to the ceiling, sheers pulled, while still blocking a clear sight into empty downstairs rooms.

Few of us will suffer a burglary while away, but the uncomfortable truth is that any door or window can be forced, and if they are determined to get in, they will get in.

Dont leave large amounts of cash, small valuables, and especially animals alone at home when you are away for extended periods. Have a safe? If its not too heavy to lift or bolted firmly in place  its just luggage.

Think about property marking with a dedicated pen and photograph valuable possessions in a full digital record uploaded to the cloud for added peace of mind. Your insurance company should be able to offer some advice. Sadly, bad things do happen to good people, so be positive and proactive, and ramp up those defences.
Former US president Donald Trump is appealing against a New York jurys verdict awarding five million dollars (4 million) to a magazine columnist after the jurors concluded he had sexually abused her in the 1990s and defamed her last October.

A notice of appeal was filed on Thursday in Manhattan federal court, the first step in a process that will move the civil case brought against Mr Trump by writer E Jean Carroll to a three-judge panel of the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals.

The notice was signed by Trump attorney Joe Tacopina, who said after Tuesdays verdict that he believed there were multiple strong grounds for appeal.

The nine-person jury concluded after less than three hours of deliberations that Ms Carroll had failed to prove it was more likely than not that Mr Trump had raped her in the dressing room of a Bergdorf Goodman store in early spring 1996. But it did find that she had been sexually abused.

E Jean Carroll, centre, walks out of Manhattan federal court, after a jury found Donald Trump liable for sexually abusing the advice columnist in 1996 (John Minchillo/AP/PA)

It also said in its verdict that Mr Trump defamed Ms Carroll in a social media statement last October.

Ms Carroll sued Mr Trump in November minutes after a temporary New York state law took effect allowing sexual attack victims to sue their abusers even if the abuse occurred decades earlier.

In the notice of appeal filed in the lower court Thursday where Judge Lewis A Kaplan presided over the trial, Mr Trumps lawyers wrote that notice is hereby given that Defendant Donald J Trump appeals to the 2nd Circuit.

Asked for comment, Mr Tacopina said: Judge Kaplan has been overturned once already in Carroll v Trump. We are confident it will be twice after this appeal is heard.

He was referencing Judge Kaplans rejection of an attempt to substitute the United States for Mr Trump as the defendant in an earlier defamation lawsuit filed by Ms Carroll for statements Mr Trump made while he was president.

The 2nd Circuit later ruled that Mr Trump was an employee of the government for purposes of the lawsuit, but the appeal has not been fully resolved.

A lawyer for Ms Carroll did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

The verdict was returned after a two-week trial in which Ms Carroll testified that Mr Trump sexually attacked her in the luxury department stores dressing room after a light-hearted and flirtatious chance encounter that took them from the stores entrance to the desolate sixth floor lingerie area, where Mr Trump invited Ms Carroll to help him shop for a gift.

Joe Tacopina, Donald Trumps lawyer, speaks to reporters as he leaves federal court in New York on Tuesday (Seth Wenig/AP/PA)

Mr Trump, who is currently running for president as a Republican, did not attend the trial. He said he did not know Ms Carroll, that he never encountered her at the department store, and he has repeatedly hurled insults at her, including at a videotaped deposition in October. Portions of that were played for the jury.

He repeated some of his harsh statements during a CNN town hall event on Wednesday night.

Outside court on Tuesday, Mr Tacopina said that he and Mr Trump were very confident on the appellate issues here.

He said one of the issues to be appealed against was the inclusion in the trial of the 2005 Access Hollywood video in which Mr Trump was captured by mic speaking disparagingly about women and saying that celebrities can grab women sexually without asking because women let them do it.

There were things that happened in this case that were beyond the pale, Mr Tacopina said.
The United Nations top human rights body adopted a resolution that drew attention to mounting civilian deaths and rights abuses in Sudan since a bloody conflict erupted between the African countrys two top generals last month.

The violence in Sudan has so far killed more than 600 people, including civilians, and displaced hundreds of thousands more.

The fighting has also spread to other regions, including the Darfur province.

The Human Rights Council  made up of 47 UN member states  narrowly passed the resolution with 18 states voting for the resolution, 15 against and 14 other nations abstaining. The resolution aims to further scrutinise human rights violations taking place in Sudan since April 15.

All parties must protect the rights of civilians and comply with international humanitarian and human rights law.



-- @UNHumanRights Chief @volker_turk condemns violence in Sudan & calls for a negotiated peace. https://t.co/mU4uuzzok5 pic.twitter.com/Uv4VNiVM5C  United Nations (@UN) May 11, 2023

The fighting in Sudan started as a result of a power struggle between the chief of Sudans military, Gen Abdel Fattah Burhan, and rival Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who commands the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

Arab and African nations, including Sudan, featured heavily among the 15 countries that rejected the UN move, citing it as a potential barrier to talks underway in Saudi Arabia.

Algerias representative, Faouzia Boumaiza-Mebarki, said the resolution could send a negative message to the opposing sides and scupper the talks. Likewise, Chinas ambassador said the country and its warring parties should be free from external pressure.

Most Western countries voted in favour, with Europe and the United States having co-sponsored the draft resolution.

Gen Abdel-Fattah Burhan (AP)

Late in the day, the US State Department announced that representatives of the two forces had signed a declaration recognizing their responsibilities to facilitate humanitarian action to meet the emergency needs of civilians.

The statement said the talks would now focus on arranging an effective ceasefire of up to approximately 10 days to facilitate humanitarian efforts.

The rivals agreed to enable the safe delivery of humanitarian assistance, the restoration of essential services, the withdrawal of forces from hospitals and clinics, and the respectful burial of the dead, the announcement said.

During the opening speech of the session, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk accused both forces of violating international humanitarian law.

Mr Turk criticized the Sudanese military for launching attacks in densely populated areas and the RSF for taking over numerous buildings in the capital, Khartoum, to use as operation bases, evicting residents and launching attacks.

Gen Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo (AP)

The UN has raised concerns about the plight of civilians caught in the crossfire and worries about food security and aid deliveries, and urged support for neighbouring countries hosting people fleeing the ongoing violence.

We have also received several reports alleging sexual violence by uniformed men, as well as allegations of unlawful killings and enforced disappearances, Mr Turk said.

Echoing Mr Turks remarks, the US ambassador to the UN Human Rights Council, Michele Taylor, condemned the targeting of hospitals and healthcare providers.

Amid the fighting, numerous hospitals across Khartoum have been damaged and forced to close.

Separately, dozens of independent experts working with the UN rights office issued a joint statement on Thursday, citing reports that civilians of all ages are experiencing various human rights abuses in Sudan, including sexual assault, gender-based violence, looting, and shortages of food, water and healthcare.
Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has said he will extend a hand of friendship to the winner of the upcoming Turkish election and try to build on the momentum of recently reduced tensions.

But Mr Mitsotakis added that he hopes the next Turkish government will reconsider its approach to the West.

Mr Mitsoakis said that if he is re-elected in Greeces own poll on May 21 he will maintain what he has called Greeces strict but fair migration policy.

That includes robust border patrols on land and at sea and the building of a fence along Greeces land border with Turkey.

But Im not naive, he told The Associated Press in a wide-ranging interview while on the campaign trail in central Greece on Thursday evening. I know that foreign policies of countries dont change from one day to the next.

Greeces Prime Minister and New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis takes selfies with teenagers during his election campaign in Livadia town about 89 miles north of Athens (AP)

Turkeys increasingly authoritarian President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has led his country as prime minister and president since 2003, faces his most challenging election.

Amid a faltering economy, Mr Erdogan has lost some ground to his main rival, the secular, centre-left Kemal Kilicdaroglu.

Although not to the same level as with Greece, a fellow Nato member, Turkeys relations with the United States and several European countries have seen strain.

Turkey is blocking Swedens request to join Nato, pressing the country to crack down on Kurdish militants and other groups that Turkey regards as terrorist threats.

I would hope that the next Turkish government would overall reconsider its approach towards the West  not just towards Greece, towards Europe, towards Nato, and towards the United States, Mr Mitsotakis said.

But again, I have to be a realist and not be too naive, and that is why we will continue with  our firm foreign policy. That means we will continue to strengthen our deterrence capabilities and our defence capabilities.

Greece and Turkey have been at odds for decades over issues including their maritime boundaries in the Mediterranean.

The Greek PM peaks to his supporters during his election campaign in northern Athens (AP)

But bilateral relations in recent years plummeted to new lows that saw the two countries warships shadowing each other and Turkish officials suggesting they could invade Greek islands.

In response, Greece has embarked on an extensive military procurement programme to modernise its armed forces, including purchasing advanced French-built fighter jets.

I wish I did not have to spend much more than 2% of my GDP on defence. But unfortunately, we live in a precarious neighbourhood with  a much larger country than us thats also been behaving aggressively, Mr Mitsotakis said.

The Prime Minister said that he hopes to build on a reduction of rhetoric following devastating earthquakes in Turkey in February that killed tens of thousands.

Similarly improved ties after earthquakes struck both Turkey and Greece in 1999 lasted for several years.

New Democracy leader Mr Mitsotakis is seeking improved relations with Turkey  which is holding its own election soon (AP)

It is a pity. We dont have to wait for a catastrophe to strike, nor are we destined to live in a state of permanent tension, Mr Mitsotakis said. But, he stressed, better ties require an end to bellicose rhetoric from Turkey.

If the Turkish government every other day talks about coming at night to invade our islands, obviously that is not very conducive towards building a climate of trust and goodwill, he said.

Mitsotakis, a Harvard-educated 55-year-old, has headed the centre-right New Democracy party since 2016 and became prime minister in 2019. He has been leading his main opposition rival, left-wing former prime minister Alexis Tsipras and his Syriza party, in opinion polls as he seeks a second four-year term in office in the May 21 election.

Because of a change in Greeces electoral law, the winner of the ballot is unlikely to garner enough votes to be able to form a government without seeking coalition partners. If no party can form a government, a second election will be held roughly a month later, when the electoral law will give the winning party bonus parliamentary seats.

Ive made it very clear I dont believe in this electoral system. What we need is  a stable government, and preferably we need a single-party government, Mr Mitsotakis said.
A drone has been seized above Liverpool as the city prepares to host the final of the Eurovision Song Contest.

Restrictions on drones have been in place above the city centre since last Thursday.

A spokesman for Merseyside Police said at about 10pm on Thursday officers were made aware that a drone was being flown in a restricted area.

The drone was seized and a man in his 30s was spoken to, the force said.

These airspace restrictions, just like other security measures such as road closures or patrols on the River Mersey, are aimed at keeping people safe

Chief Inspector Stephen Hardy said: This incident demonstrated the excellent detection work by officers who were able to swiftly seize the drone and identify the owner, who was spoken to by officers.

Please be mindful that airspace restrictions will remain in place until Sunday and if we suspect a drone is being flown in the restricted area then we will take action.

If you commit an offence and fly a drone within the restricted area without permission, your equipment will be seized and confiscated.

Our policing plans for the Eurovision Song Contest take land, sea and air into consideration and these airspace restrictions, just like other security measures such as road closures or patrols on the River Mersey, are aimed at keeping people safe.

Remember, you commit an offence if you fly within the restricted areas without permission.

The forces largest operation in decades is underway as Liverpool hosts Eurovision on behalf of last years winners Ukraine.
Israeli fighter jets have struck targets in the Gaza Strip and Palestinian militants fired rockets towards Jerusalem, further escalating the most violent flare-up in months despite efforts to broker a ceasefire.

An Israeli air strike killed two Palestinians in a residential building in Gaza City on Friday afternoon, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

The Israeli military said it targeted a senior commander of the Islamic Jihad movement.

Islamic Jihad later confirmed that the air strike targeted commander Iyad Al-Hassani, a member of the decision-making council in the groups armed wing.

Palestinians inspect the rubble of a house after it was struck by an Israeli air strike in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip (Fatima Shbair/AP)

He is the sixth senior Islamic Jihad member to be killed in this round of fighting.

The strike sparked a fire on the seventh floor of the apartment tower.

Rescuers pulled two lifeless bodies from the rubble.

Neighbours crowded around the damaged building after the bombing.

Earlier in the day, bursts of rocket fire from Gaza sent warning sirens wailing as far north as the contested capital of Jerusalem  about 48 miles from the Gaza border  breaking a 12-hour lull that had raised hopes regional powers could soon broker a truce.

The fighting, which started on Tuesday, between Israel and Islamic Jihad  the second-largest militant group in Gaza after the territorys Hamas rulers  has killed 33 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, including women and children, and a 70-year-old man in central Israel.

A rocket slammed into an open field in the Israeli south Jerusalem settlement of Bat Ayin, said Josh Hasten, a spokesperson for the area.

Dull thuds could be heard inside the city, home to major sites holy to Christianity, Judaism and Islam.

Videos showed Israelis jumping out of their cars and crouching beneath highway rails as the sirens sounded.

Israeli soldiers and municipality workers inspect the damage to an apartment building a day after it was hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, in Rehovot, Israel (Ariel Schalit/AP)

Residents in nearby Israeli settlements reported hearing explosions and seeing black smoke rising from the hills after an apparent missile interception.

The bombing of Jerusalem sends a message, Islamic Jihad said in a statement.

What is happening in Jerusalem is not separate from Gaza.

In response, the Israeli military said its warplanes struck four Islamic Jihad military posts and a mortar shell launcher across the Gaza Strip.

Residents reported that the strikes hit targets in open areas.

The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was conducting a security assessment to mount a further response.

We continue, he tweeted.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Ronen Zvulun/Pool Photo via AP)

The Israeli military urged residents living within 40 kilometres (25 miles) of the Gaza boundary to remain close to bomb shelters and limit public gatherings until Saturday evening.

Sirens near Jerusalem took some back to the spring of 2021, when Hamas fired rockets towards the city, which helped set off a bloody 11-day Gaza war.

At that time, the militant group cited a provocative far-right march through the Palestinian neighbourhoods of Jerusalem as one of the reasons for its rocket barrage, along with the displacement of Palestinians from the citys east.

Israeli police said they will allow the same Jewish ultranationalist parade  meant to celebrate Israels capture of east Jerusalem  to take place next Thursday.

Since Tuesday, Israeli strikes have killed five senior Islamic Jihad figures and hit at least 215 targets in Gaza, including rocket and mortar launch sites and militants preparing to use them.

Islamic Jihad has retaliated with nearly 900 rockets fired towards densely populated parts of Israel.

Israeli bombs and shells have destroyed 47 housing units, and damaged 19 so badly they were uninhabitable, leaving 165 Palestinians homeless, Gazas Housing Ministry reported.

Rockets are launched from the Gaza Strip towards Israel, in Gaza City (Hatem Moussa/AP)

In addition, nearly 300 homes sustained some damage.

Palestinians on Friday surveyed the wreckage from the fighting.

The dream that we built for our children, for our sons, has ended, said Belal Bashir, a Palestinian living in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, whose family home was reduced to a heap of rubble in an air strike late on Thursday.

He, his young daughters and two-week-old son would have been killed in the thundering explosion if they had not run outside when they heard shouting, he said.

We were shocked that our house was targeted, he added as he pulled his childrens dolls and blankets from a gaping bomb crater.

At least 33 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have been killed in the fighting, including six children and four women, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

At least two of the children were killed by suspected misfired Palestinian rockets, according to the Israeli military and the Palestinian Centre for Rights.

More than 90 Palestinians have been wounded, the Palestinian Health Ministry reported.

People shout slogans against Israel and in support of people in the Gaza Strip, during a protest at the Burj al-Barajneh Palestinian refugee camp, south of Beirut, Lebanon (Hassan Ammar/AP)

The civilian deaths have drawn condemnation from the Arab world and concern from the United States and Europe.

In its past four wars against Hamas, Israel has repeatedly faced accusations of war crimes due to the high civilian death tolls and its use of heavy weapons against the crowded enclave.

Israel, in turn, contends that Palestinian militant groups use civilians as human shields by fighting in their midst.

Hamas, the de facto civilian government with an army of some 30,000 in Gaza, has sought to maintain its truce with Israel while attempting to keep abysmal living conditions in the blockaded enclave from spiralling since the devastating 2021 war that killed more than 260 Palestinians.

The group, which seized control of Gaza in 2007, has sat out this round of fighting  as it did a similar burst of violence last summer.

In a sign of restraint, Israel has limited its air strikes to Islamic Jihad targets.

Both sides had seemed on the brink of a ceasefire earlier this week.

Hamas officials, on Friday, told local media that Egypt was ramping up its diplomatic efforts to stop the fighting.

A municipality worker cleans the rubble from outside a damaged house a day after it was hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, in Rehovot, Israel (Ariel Schalit/AP)

But the Israeli public broadcaster Kan reported that Israeli officials had pulled out of the talks in Egypt after Islamic Jihad unleashed rockets towards Jerusalem.

Mr Netanyahus office declined to comment on the reports.

Meanwhile Islamic Jihad figures have sent mixed signals about the negotiations.

Senior official Ihsan Attaya complained early on Friday that the mediators have been unable to provide us with any guarantees.

A sticking point has been Islamic Jihads demands that Israel cease its policy of targeted killings, Attaya said.

In Cairo, Islamic Jihad political bureau member Mohamad al-Hindi was trying to hash out the details of a possible truce.

He told Palestinian media that he hoped both sides would reach a ceasefire agreement and honour it today.

Palestinians inspect the rubble of a house after it was struck by an Israeli air strike in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip (Fatima Shbair/AP)

But the continuing exchange of fire hours later seemed to undermine his optimism.

This weeks battles began when Israel launched simultaneous air strikes on Tuesday that killed three Islamic Jihad commanders along with some of their wives and children as they slept in their homes.

Israel said it was retaliating for a barrage of rocket fire launched last week by Islamic Jihad following the death of one of its West Bank members, Khader Adnan, from an 87-day hunger strike while in Israeli custody.

The air strikes and rockets have shifted the focus of long-running conflict back to Gaza after months of surging violence in the occupied West Bank under Israels most right-wing government in history.

Israel has been carrying out near-nightly arrest raids in the West Bank that have killed 109 Palestinians so far this year  the highest such death toll in two decades.

At least half of the dead are affiliated with militant groups, according to a tally by The Associated Press.

At least 20 people have been killed in Palestinian attacks targeting Israelis during that time.
Burma Cyclone Mocha Heads for Myanmar, Bangladesh

Fishing boats are seen anchored near Gwa Township in Myanmars Rakhine State on May 11, 2023 after Cyclone Mocha, the Bay of Bengal's first cyclone of the year, formed. / AFP

GWA, MyanmarMyanmar and Bangladesh deployed thousands of volunteers and ordered evacuations from low-lying areas on Thursday as the Bay of Bengals first cyclone of the year approached.

Cyclone Mocha is forecast to make landfall on Sunday along the Bangladesh-Myanmar border, according to Indias meteorological office, packing winds of up to 175 km per hour.

The office predicted a storm surge of between 2 and 2.5 m for the low-lying coastal region, which on the Bangladeshi side is home to sprawling camps hosting hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees.

Thar Tin Maung, 60, was moved from his village in Myanmars Rakhine State to the town of Sittwe in preparation for the storm.

As it is located at the entrance to the river, our village cant even resist a small storm, he told AFP.

There will be some people who cannot move out from the village and I am worried about them.

In nearby Pauktaw town, Kyaw Kyaw Khaing said around 200 people had arrived to take shelter in community centers and Buddhist monasteries.

Now were are announcing with a loudspeaker, asking for meal parcels so that we can feed the people who moved to our town, he said.

Ahmadul Haque, director of Bangladeshs Cyclone Preparedness Program, said they had deployed 8,600 volunteers in Coxs Bazar and another 3,400 Rohingya volunteers in the refugee camps.

Especially, we are alerting the people living on hill-slopes as the cyclone would bring heavy rains, which can trigger landslides, he told AFP.

Bangladesh also banned fishing boats from venturing into the deep sea.

Cyclonesthe equivalent of hurricanes in the North Atlantic or typhoons in the Northwest Pacificare a regular and deadly menace on the coast of the northern Indian Ocean where tens of millions of people live.

Bangladesh was last hit by a superstorm in November 2007 when Cyclone Sidr ripped through the countrys southwest, killing more than 3,000 people and causing damage worth billions of dollars.

In May 2008 Cyclone Nargis left at least 138,000 dead or missing in Myanmar, in the countrys worst natural disaster.
Burma Myanmar Junta Chief Orders Restrictions on Imports of Overseas Goods

Shoppers at a supermarket in Yangon. / The Irrawaddy

Myanmars junta has imposed new restrictions on the import of overseas goods, raising fears of shortages and rising commodities prices.

The Department of Consumer Affairs under the junta-controlled Ministry of Economy and Commerce released an announcement about the new restrictions on April 26 on the order of regime chief Min Aung Hlaing.

The announcement referred to a March 28 meeting of the Economic Affairs Committee in which Min Aung Hlaing said: To avoid a trade deficit we shall not import goods from overseas that we are able to manufacture in this country, and we shall scrutinize and import only goods that it is not possible to produce in the country.

However, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Economy and Commerce, Myanmars foreign trade sector already had a trade deficit of more than US$414 million over the first nine months of the 20222023 fiscal year.

Citing the junta chief, the Department of Consumer Affairs is scrutinizing which goods will be banned from being imported, along with region and state departments, the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry and other related business bodies.

Economists have said that restricting imports is not the way to avoid a trade deficit, and that the Myanmar people will suffer because of the import ban.

Since early 2022, the military regime has reduced imports of fuel and cooking oil in a bid to prevent a trade deficit.

We need to reduce imports of cooking oil, while working to improve domestic production given that we have plenty of resources in our country, said Major General Zaw Min Tun, the junta spokesperson, at a July 2022 press conference.

Although Myanmar is able to produce fuel and cooking oil, it cannot produce enough to meet domestic demand. Economists have also said that certain goods and commodities need to be imported to satisfy domestic demand.

So far, the relevant ministries and departments have yet to come up with a specific list of goods and commodities that will be banned from being imported, but officials are performing more inspections of consumer goods, ranging from aluminium and glass-related materials to phone covers, said importers.

Instead of trying to promote exports, the regime is attempting to reduce imports and that is absolutely the wrong solution. It highlights the fact that the regime has a very low amount of foreign exchange currency, said a 41-year-old Yangon economist who wished to remain anonymous.

He added that many countries around the world are facing trade deficits, but the junta chiefs strategy is mistaken and could drive the economy to ruin.

Business people and residents of Yangon, Myanmars commercial capital, said that if the regime restricts the importation of necessary commodities, goods and materials, prices for them will increase excessively and there will also be shortages.

Young people who The Irrawaddy talked to said that they prefer using imported brands, including cosmetics and electrical appliances, because they are of higher quality than domestically-produced brands.

Ma Khin Khin, a 27-year-old accountant working in Yangon, said she felt upset when she heard of the juntas plans to force people to use only goods and commodities produced in Myanmar.

I think Min Aung Hlaing is already crazy. He and the other regime leaders and their families are using the worlds most famous brands like Gucci and LVMH. I want to ask them if they will also only be buying domestic brands.
Burma Rakhine Residents Evacuate as Cyclone Mocha Approaches

Ngapyi Island residents take shelter at the Kyein Kwe Maw village monastery. / CJ

The global disaster agency has issued a red alert for Myanmar as Cyclone Mocha barrels towards states where hundreds of thousands have been displaced by the militarys crackdown.

Residents of coastal areas in Rakhine have been evacuating from their homes since Tuesday as Cyclone Mocha heads towards the western state.

The Department of Meteorology and Hydrology forecasts the cyclone will make landfall in coastal areas of Kyaukphyu Township on Sunday, with wind speeds reaching 90 to 100 miles per hour.

The Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System (GDACS) issued a red alert for Myanmar after the deep depression intensified into a cyclone. It warns that about two million people in Rakhine State and Sagaing and Magwe regions could be exposed to the storm.

It also predicts a high humanitarian impact among the already vulnerable populations of these regions.

The number of people displaced by the juntas military crackdown in Sagaing and Magwe totals 624,000 and 124,400, respectively, according to the International Red Cross.

Junta troops have been attacking and burning villages in the two regions as part of their four-cuts strategy to quell resistance strongholds.

In Rakhine State, over 400 residents of Ngapyi Island in Pauktaw Township are taking shelter at the Kyein Kwe Maw village monastery, said village administrator U Than Htay.

Over 300 people arrived at our village monastery on May 10. More people arrived on May 11, U Than Htay told The Irrawaddy. We have also made as many preparations as we can in our village.

Residents of Thaekhon Island, opposite the Rakhine State capital of Sittwe, have also abandoned their homes for Pauktaw and Sittwe towns. Meanwhile, fishermen have moored their trawlers in Sittwe to protect them from the storm.

In Sittwe, shops are shifting their stock to safe places, and prices of certain goods have gone up, said local civil society organization member U Soe Naing.

Authorities are also issuing warnings about the impending cyclone in Kyauktaw, said former Rakhine State lawmaker U Poe San.

Fire engines are driving around wards and warning about the storm. Town residents are on the alert, U Poe San told The Irrawaddy on Thursday.

Authorities have also issued storm alerts in Chin States Paletwa which borders northern Rakhine, said Paletwa resident Ko Htan Paing.

Locals know about the storm from weather reports on the radio. The fire service department has also urged people to fortify their houses and churches. But people havent prepared much, he told The Irrawaddy.

The GDACS forecasts the storm will reach a maximum sustained wind speed of up to 100 miles per hour by Sunday, when it will likely make landfall between Coxs Bazar in Bangladesh and Kyaukphyu, affecting over 930,000 people in Rakhine.

Meteorologists forecast the cyclone will cut a path between Sittwe and Rathedaung, which lies 40 miles to the south of the state capital. Townships at risk of storm damage are Sittwe, Rathedaung, Buthidaung, Maungdaw, Myebon, Ponnagyun and Mrauk-U.
Burma Six Chin Fighters Killed in Clashes With Myanmar Junta

The Chinland Defense Force on the frontline on Chinhill. / Supplied

At least six Chin resistance fighters were killed in clashes with Myanmar junta forces and in airstrikes within a week, according to resistance groups.

The Chin National Army (CNA), the armed wing of the Chin National Front (CNF), released a statement saying Salai Nai Bu was killed on the frontline in Hakha Township.

Fighting continues in the township with junta airstrikes reported, according to the resistance.

Residents said several junta troops were injured. The Irrawaddy could not independently verify the reports.

On Monday the CDF headquarters in Khwar Pi village, Hakha Township, and a CNA outpost suffered an airstrike. Salai Siang Cung Hnin, a joint CDF secretary, and Salai Do Lan Mone, a company commander, were killed.

The secretary died on the spot and Salai Do Lan Mone died the next day. Another four fighters were also severely injured, said a Chin resistance member.

Another fighter jet dropped six bombs on Phaipha and Surkhua villages in Hakha Township on Monday but no casualties were reported, he said.

Both sides suffered injuries on the Hakha-Falam road, resistance groups said.

Two CDF fighters, Salai Sen Zalar, 21, and Salai Ram Shian Lain Mar, 22, were killed.

Clashes were reported in Kale Township across the Sagaing Region border this week. On Thursday a Kale Peoples Defence Force (PDF) fighter was killed in Yarsakyo village in the north of the township.

Junta troops have reportedly been taking up positions in the area since last month, according to the PDF.

We attacked the junta in Yarsakyo village. The troops shelled from their base and sent five armored vehicles and a jet fighter dropped bombs, said a Kale PDF member.

He said two women were injured and a house was destroyed when shells hit Letpanchaung village.

The CNF reported on Monday that junta aircraft had dropped over 120 bombs on Thantlang, Mindat, Falam, Tedim and Hakha townships in March and April. It said at least 22 civilians and two CNA fighters were killed and 33 people injured in the airstrikes.
Burma Thousands Flee Myanmar Junta Arson Attacks in Sagaing

Htauk Shar Aing village on Sunday.

At least 20,000 residents of around 20 villages fled their homes in southern Kantbalu Township, Sagaing Region, during around 10 days of Myanmar junta raids.

More than 171 houses were set on fire during the raids, according to a resistance member.

Two groups of junta troops have been raiding our township since late April. They have torched nearly seven villages, he said.

Light Infantry Division 368 set fire to houses in Chin Myit Kyin village on May 7 and raided Nyaung Pin Seik and Boe Boe villages on Wednesday.

On Thursday, junta troops torched a school and five houses in Tha Yet Khaung, according to the Kyun Hla Activist Group.

Tha Yet Khaung was also raided on April 29.

Around 100 junta troops and Pyu Saw Htee militia members raided Hpa Lon Chaing village on Thursday and torched around 20 houses.

Another unit of troops raided Htauk Shar Aing village and detained around 11 civilians and torched 83 houses on May 7, according to the activist group.

Light Infantry Division 361 carried out the raids and seized detainees, whose condition is unknown, according to the group.

The troops clashed with a resistance force at Hpoke Kone village on Thursday and retreated to Kha Ohn Tar and burned down around 10 village houses.

They also burned down 31 Hpoke Kone houses on May 1, according to residents.

Data for Myanmar reported that by February 28 at least 60,459 houses had been destroyed in arson attacks, of which 47,778 were in Sagaing Region.
War Against the Junta Thirty Myanmar Junta Forces Killed in Three Days of Resistance Attacks

Resistance fighters of Aung San Force, which forms Monywa District PDFs Battalion 5 / ASF

At least 30 Myanmar junta forces were killed in the last three days as Peoples Defense Forces (PDFs) stepped up attacks on regime targets in Sagaing and Mandalay regions.

In one case, seven PDF groups raided and occupied a military base in Sagaing, killing at least 20 regime forces.

The Irrawaddy has collected the following reports of significant attacks from PDFs.

Some military casualties could not be independently verified.

Regime base occupied by PDF groups in Sagaing



Combined resistance forces raid and occupy a junta base in Zee Phyu Kone Village in Shwebo Township on Tuesday. / KLG PDF

At least 20 regime forces including pro-junta Pyu Saw Htee militia members were killed in Shwebo Township, Sagaing Region early Tuesday when seven PDF groups jointly raided a junta base in Zee Phyu Kone Village, said Kyauk Lone Gyi PDF from Kani Township, which joined the raid.

Four resistance fighters also suffered injuries. All PDF fighters retreated from the junta base after learning that 150 regime forces and militia members from three nearby villages were headed there.

Six regime soldiers killed in drone strikes in Sagaing

PDF group Eagle Guerrilla Forces claimed to have killed six regime forces and injured seven others as it and three other PDF groups jointly conducted drone strikes on 15 regime forces in a village in Wetlet Township, Sagaing Region on Thursday morning.

Their bombs directly hit a group of regime forces gathered in Ywar Thar Gyi Village, the resistance group said.

Police station bombed by PDF drones in Sagaing



A PDF drone drops bombs on a police outpost in Sar Taung town on Tuesday. / Unicorn Guerrilla Force

A junta policeman was killed in Sar Taung town in Sagaing Township, Sagaing Region on Tuesday when six PDF groups used drones to drop six bombs on a police outpost in the small town, said Unicorn Guerrilla Force, which joined the drone strikes.

In the attack, a PDF drone was destroyed when a bomb accidentally detonated. People are urged to stay away from the police outpost, which has been oppressing residents, the group said.

Military convoys repeatedly bombed in Sagaing



Military vehicles face mine blasts in Myinmu Township on Wednesday. / BEDF (Myinmu)

Many regime forces are believed to have been killed or injured in Myinmu Township, Sagaing Region on Wednesday when combined PDF groups conducted five ambushes against two military convoys on the Sagaing-Monywa Highway, said Black Eagle Defense Force (Myinmu), which coordinated the attacks.

First, the PDF groups used several land mines to conduct four ambushes against a military convoy of 14 trucks traveling to Monywa from military Division 33 based in Sagaing.

Later, the resistance groups ambush another convoy of 17 military vehicles from the military division traveling to Monywa on the same highway. In the ambushes, a total of 28 land mines were used and three military vehicles were destroyed, the PDF groups claimed.

The convoy of 17 military vehicles faced further land mine ambushes by Monywa District PDF Battalion 5 at an entrance to the township of Monywa. Another vehicle was damaged, the PDF group said.

Junta convoy transporting ammunition attacked in Sagaing

Resistance fighters ambush a military convoy transporting ammunition in Myaung Township on Wednesday. / 11 Brother Revolution Force

Local resistance group 11 Brother Revolution Forces said it and three PDF groups ambushed a military convoy transporting ammunition on the Sagaing-Monywa highway in Myaung Township, Sagaing Region on Wednesday.

Details of damage to the convoy were unknown.

Police outpost bombed in Sagaing

A regime soldier was killed and five others injured in Myaung Township, Sagaing Region on Tuesday when two PDF groups used firearms and 40-mm explosives to attack the police outpost at Kyauk Yit Village, claimed Myaung Special PDF, which coordinated the attack.

Regime forces responded with firearms, but there were no PDF casualties. A PDF video shows resistance fighters launching explosives at regime targets.

Junta base attacked in Sagaing



PDF members fire improvised mortar rounds at a regime base in Pale Township on Wednesday. / Chindwin Toe Na Yar PDF

The Chindwin Toe Na Yar PDF group said it and five other PDF groups used 60-mm, 80-mm and 90-mm improvised mortar rounds to attack a military base in Pale Township, Sagaing Region on Wednesday night.

Nine regime forces suffered serious injuries in the attack, the group said. Regime troops responded with both firearms and heavy explosives, but all resistance forces escaped without casualties.

Two junta troops killed in Sagaing

Khin U PDF claimed to have killed two regime soldiers during an ambush in Khin U Township, Sagaing Region on Wednesday afternoon.

The two junta sentries were killed on the Khin U-Ye U highway after intruding into an area controlled by resistance groups. Two weapons and some ammunition were seized by the PDF group.

Regime forces bombed by PDF drones in Mandalay

Some regime forces are thought to have been killed or injured in Taung Tha Township, Mandalay Region on Tuesday when several PDF groups conducted drone strikes on regime forces stationed in Zayat Gyi Village, said Myingyan District Drone Strike Team, which joined the attack.

On Monday, the PDF groups also used drones to drop bombs on regime forces at Yadanarpon Village in the same township, injuring five regime soldiers.

Resistance headquarters bombed by junta jets in Chin

Chinland Defense Force Senthang said junta fighter jets bombed its headquarters and Khwar Pee Village in the Senthang area in Hakha Township, Chin State on Thursday morning.

Damage and casualty details were unknown.
Analysis Myanmar Junta Ramps Up Atrocities Amid Lack of International Pressure

Junta soldiers stand guard outside the Central Bank of Myanmar in Yangon as people gather to protest the military coup on Feb. 15, 2021. /AFP

Warning graphic content

Amid repeated calls from the international community for the Myanmar junta to end its violence, the regime is brazenly escalating its atrocities and campaign of terror aimed at retaking control and deterring civilians from becoming involved in the resistance movement, especially in the anti-junta stronghold of Sagaing Region.

In the absence of any meaningful action from the UN and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the junta and the barbaric soldiers that comprise its special task forces have repeatedly committed war crimes and crimes against humanity against both resistance fighters and civilians.

Regime forces have dramatically stepped up their atrocities including massacres, beheadings and mutilations of victims, and the use of sexual violence, mostly in Sagaing Region.

Sagaing became the first region of the country to launch an armed revolution when peaceful anti-regime protesters took up improvised firearms and old-fashioned hunting rifles to stop junta troops killing civilians during a crackdown in Kale town, which has a mixed Bamar and Chin population, on March 28, 2021.

With daily ambushes and attacks against regime targets, Sagaing, a sprawling region that straddles the central plains and had no previous history of armed rebellion, has become a resistance hub.

Numerous resistance groups in the region have acquired automatic firearms and upgraded their improvised weapons and explosives.

Outside the towns, the junta has lost control. But regime bases and junta-controlled government departments and offices in the towns are increasingly being attacked by urban resistance groups.

The restive region has suffered the heaviest junta atrocities, enduring several massacres as well as arbitrary killings, arson attacks and artillery strikes on civilian targets, as well as air strikes, looting and acts of sexual violence.

While blocking access to phone and internet connections, the junta has escalated its scorched earth campaign in Sagaing including arbitrary killings of both resistance fighters and civilians over the past two years.

On April 11, junta aircraft bombed and strafed a crowd of over 200 civilians attending the opening ceremony of a peoples administration office in Pazi Gyi Village in Sagaings Kanbalu Township, killing around 170 people including dozens of children, female residents and pregnant women.

The air strike was the deadliest since the military seized power in 2021.

It is clear that the military regime is targeting all civilians in the resistance strongholds, regarding everyone as their enemy, U Aung Myo Min, the human rights minister of Myanmars civilian National Unity Government (NUG), told The Irrawaddy on Thursday.

In the last two months, military detachments have killed several dozen people during raids on villages in Sagaing, in which many civilian and resistance detainees were beheaded and mutilated while some female detainees were raped before being killed.

The regime forces have left a trail of beheaded and mutilated victims. During a raid on Depayin Kwe Village in Sagaing Township on April 23, regime forces beheaded a male villager and placed the victims severed genitals inside his decapitated head.

Human Rights Minister U Aung Myo Min said the junta has intentionally escalated the terror campaign by killing all resistance and civilian detainees and leaving the mutilated bodies of the victims in public in order to frighten civilians and dissuade them from getting involved in the anti-regime movement.

He added that these inhumane acts and intentional killings of resistance members and civilians by junta forces are war crimes and violations of the Geneva Conventions, as soldiers are not allowed to kill prisoners of war, let alone civilians.

Displaying the mutilated bodies is an attempt to instill fear in people. People will be frightened by the killings at first. But they will never give up the anti-junta revolution. It makes people hate the junta even more, and more determined to revolt, the minister said.

In a raid on a resistance camp of the Chaung U Peoples Defense Force in Sagaings Chaung U Township on April 5, junta troops killed and beheaded three civilians and five resistance members.

Asked what he felt after seeing the junta atrocities, the leader of Chaung U PDF told The Irrawaddy, I was quite shocked and felt sorry when I saw the headless bodies of my three comrades and two other civilians at the raided camp. Their headless necks were still bleeding. The junta is attacking us both physically and mentally.

However, he and his comrades have become more determined to fight till the end of the military regime, as they cannot allow a military of murderers and rapists to govern the country and the people, the PDF leader said.

The junta thinks we people can be governed by fear. We have resisted the junta since before we were armed. Now, we are armed with the support of our people. Our anti-junta revolution will never be stopped by fear. We never fear, he said.

So far, international statements and demands for an end to the violence in Myanmar have fallen on deaf ears. Critics say the international communitys inaction has encouraged the military regime to escalate its daily killings of civilians.

Polite demands will only have an effect on those who understand that culture. The military of murderous criminals will never understand such a culture. To resist [the juntas] terrorism, we need effective and collective action. It has been too long in coming [from the international community], said Human Rights Minister U Aung Myo Min.
Friday, May 12th, 2023 (10:17 am) - Score 6,288

CityFibre has confirmed that theyve started the national UK rollout programme for the XGS-PON technology upgrade to their existing GPON based full fibre (FTTP) broadband ISP network, which among other things will enable them to support symmetric broadband speeds of up to 10Gbps (9.953Gbps to be exact).

The work forms part of CityFibres wider effort to cover up to 8 million UK premises (funded by c.2.4bn in equity and c.4.9bn debt)  across over 285 cities, towns and villages (c.30% of the UK)  by the end of 2025 (here). The operator has so far covered a total of 2.6 million premises (March 2023), but only 2.3 million of those are currently considered to be Ready for Service (RFS) by an ISP.

NOTE: CityFibre is supported by ISPs such as TalkTalk, Zen Internet, CityFibre is supported by ISPs such as Vodafone Giganet and others, but they arent all live or available in every location yet.

However, until now, the vast majority of their network has been based off Calixs GPON (Gigabit Passive Optical Network) technology and this invariably places constraints on how much capacity can actually be delivered to each end user (i.e. GPON shares capacity of 2.48Gbps downstream and 1.24Gbps upstream between 8 to 32 users).

The solution is to upgrade the hardware at the end of the fibre cable to kit that supports the modern XGS-PON standard, which CityFibre has chosen to do with support from Nokia and Calix. This will enable the operator to support more customers on each port of their Optical Line Terminals (OLT) and to keep pace with rivals that are already building XGS-PON, which in turn means the potential for symmetric speeds of up to 10Gbps.

As previously reported, CityFibre has already completed a pilot deployment of all this in the city of York, which confirmed various network cost savings, reduced power consumption, better performance and improved efficiency. The operators plan for their XGS-PON deployment was to work with their ISP partners in order to upgrade end-customer Optical Network Terminals (ONTs)  the modems that go on your wall  in phases.

Rollout Status

The original announcement, which dropped in July 2022 (here), said that the operator would start their main rollout from April 2023, but until now weve been unable to get official confirmation that this process had actually begun. The good news is that weve finally got some new details to share, although a full announcement is still expected to follow in the new future.

As it stands, York is already totally XGS-PON enabled, with only some customers still left to be migrated (this is managed by ISPs). But the wider rollout is said to be going fast, and theyve already enabled 18 Fibre Exchanges (FEXs) across 13 of their UK towns and cities (for context  theyre currently live or building FTTP across 86 active locations).

The current expectation is that all new primary nodes built will be XGS-PON-enabled by October 2023. We should point out that existing customers on the network, which have older GPON ONTs, will continue to use those for now (an engineer normally needs to enter your home to upgrade these). CityFibres approach to all this involves a co-existence between the parallel running of their GPON and XGSPON based systems, as well as an inter vendor GPON/XGSPON combo port solution.

Put another way, unless you order a package on their network that requires XGS-PON or are a new customer in an XGS-PON area, then youll probably continue to use the existing GPON kit until it reaches end-of-life. But ultimately this isnt about launching new products today, but more about preparing their network for those to arrive in the near future.
Friday, May 12th, 2023 (11:38 am) - Score 816

The UK telecoms and media regulator, Ofcom, has today proposed to update their Earth Station Networks (ESN) licence so that the new generation of Non-Geostationary Satellite Orbit (NGSO) platforms (e.g. Starlink and OneWeb) can be used at sea to deliver improved maritime connectivity.

Every network operator delivering Fixed Satellite Services (broadband) to UK based satellite terminals must hold an Earth Station Network licence. Existing satellites in a much higher Geostationary Orbit (GSO) are already supported for delivering maritime connectivity, thus Ofcoms planned licence change will allow NGSO services to access and use spectrum in the same way, while mitigating any risk of undue or harmful interference.

All of this is important because, over the past few years, weve seen the emergence of a new generation of Non-Geostationary Satellite Orbit (NGSO) satellites, such as the mega constellations in Low Earth Orbit (LEO  typically around 500-1300km) from OneWeb and Starlink, which can deliver relatively fast latency times (under 100 milliseconds) and ultrafast (100Mbps+) broadband speeds.

Ofcoms Proposals a) Authorisation of NGSO maritime earth stations, to clarify that these services are permitted in the territorial seas of the UK, Isle of Man and Channel Islands and so ensure all NGSO services operate under the same licence conditions; b) New licence conditions to support the protection of GSO satellite services, radio astronomy and fixed links from harmful interference caused by NGSO systems; c) The addition of a definition of the geographical boundaries of the licence.

The consultation on all this will be open for feedback until 7th July 2023. We should point out that adding official NGSO support for maritime connectivity wont just result in improved broadband connectivity at sea, since we know that some mobile operators (e.g. EE / BT) are also looking at extending their 4G and 5G coverage using related connectivity on cruise ships etc.
This Week in Review

A weekly review of the best and most popular stories published in the Imperial Valley Press. Also, featured upcoming events, new movies at local theaters, the week in photos and much more.
According to US officials, Sudans rival factions agreed early on Friday to protect civilians and the movement of humanitarian aid but did not come to a ceasefire agreement.

After a week of talks in Jeddah, the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) committed in a declaration to work towards a short-term ceasefire in further discussions.

A senior US State Department official stated that the two sides are quite far apart. The factions claimed that they would prioritise discussions to achieve a short-term ceasefire to facilitate the delivery of emergency humanitarian assistance and restoration of essential services.

The parties will focus next on reaching a deal for an effective ceasefire of up to 10 days supported by a US-Saudi, and international ceasefire mechanism.

The army and RSF agreed that they would schedule subsequent expanded discussions to achieve a permanent cessation of hostilities.

The US official said that it would be a long process to move from the temporary ceasefire, once agreed, to a permanent cessation of hostilities.

The World Health Organization has reported that over 600 people have been killed and more than 5,000 injured in the fighting.

Many have fled Khartoum and Darfur, uprooting 700,000 people inside the country and sending 150,000 as refugees into neighbouring states, according to U.N data.
French Supreme Court affirms the application of universal jurisdiction for offenses committed in Syria.

The highest court in France has ruled that foreign suspects can be tried under the universal jurisdiction principle, allowing for inquiries into two Syrians accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

In a statement, the Court of Cassation said, The court recognises the principle of universal jurisdiction for the French judiciary in two cases concerning Syria.

This decision allows the investigations to continue in the cases of Abdulhamid Chaban, a former Syrian soldier charged with complicity in crimes against humanity, and Majdi Nema, a former spokesman for the Jaysh al-Islam Islamist group, accused of torture and war crimes. Both individuals deny any wrongdoing.

They had previously argued that they should not be charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity as these crimes do not exist on Syrias statute books.

However, Fridays ruling is significant for 160 cases covering 30 geographical areas including Russia and Ukraine that have been filed with a Paris court department handling crimes against humanity.

Other European countries such as Germany, Austria, and Sweden have used the universal jurisdiction principle in the prosecution of alleged Syrian war criminals.
A premeditated attack by a Tunisian national guardsman intentionally targeted the ancient synagogue on the Mediterranean island of Djerba, killing five people, according to Tunisias interior minister, Kamel Fekih.

Fekih is committed to protecting foreigners and ensuring the stability of the country following the attack on Tuesday, which resulted in the death of three Tunisian servicemen and two civilians attending an international pilgrimage at the El Ghriba synagogue and left a dozen others injured.

El Ghriba has been deemed one of the worlds oldest Jewish temples. The attackers identity was revealed as Wissam Khazri, and, while Tunisian forces killed him within 120 seconds of arriving outside the complex, authorities have not yet offered an explanation for the attack. It is not considered a terrorist act.

An investigation has been launched by Frances anti-terrorism prosecutors office since a French citizen was among the victims.

The victims identified as cousins are Aviel Haddad, 30, who held dual Tunisian and Israeli citizenship, and Benjamin Haddad, 42, who was French.

Fekih has called on security services to remain vigilant and has warned of efforts to destabilize the North African country.

In 2002, a truck bombing killed about 20 people at the entrance to the same temple during the annual Jewish pilgrimage. Al-Qaida claimed responsibility for the attack, which killed German and French tourists as well as Tunisians.
The UN reports that approximately 200,000 individuals have escaped Sudan amidst one month of conflict.

According to the UN, around 200,000 people have fled Sudan due to the violence that began in mid-April, in addition to hundreds of thousands internally displaced individuals.

As violence in Sudan continues for a fourth week, nearly 200,000 refugees and returnees have been forced to flee the country, with more crossing borders daily seeking safety, stated UN refugee agency spokesperson Olga Sarrado in Geneva.

Earlier this week, the UN migration agency noted that the fighting that broke out on April 15 has displaced over 700,000 individuals within Sudan, resulting in over 750 deaths and at least 5,000 injuries.

Sarrado said, the humanitarian response is challenging and costly, adding that refugees and returnees are arriving in remote locations where infrastructure and services are scarce or non-existent. The host population was already struggling due to climate change and lack of food.

Sarrado warned that the upcoming rainy season will make logistics even more difficult as numerous roads will become impassable. In the neighboring country of Chad, 30,000 refugees arrived in the last few days, resulting in a total of 60,000 refugees from Sudan fleeing in recent weeks.

Almost 90 percent of refugees are children and women, including many pregnant women, said Sarrado. According to UNHCR, 20 percent of children aged between six months and five years have been severely malnourished.

Sarrado stated that UNHCR praised the fact that the warring military factions in Sudan signed a commitment to respect humanitarian principles in their escalating conflict. However, she added that it might not bring immediate changes.

We hope it will allow for much-needed humanitarian assistance to be safely delivered and for essential services, like health care, water, and electricity to be restored, said Sarrado.

(AFP)
UN Report States Mali Army and Foreign Fighters Responsible for Killing Over 500 People in March 2022

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) released a report on Friday stating that the Malian army and foreign fighters killed over 500 people during an anti-jihadist operation in central Mali in March 2022.

The report states that the OHCHR has reasonable grounds to believe that at least 500 people were killed in violation of norms, standards, rules and/or principles of international law between March 27 and 31, 2022, in the town of Moura.

The victims included women and children who were executed by the FAMa (Malian Armed Forces) and foreign military personnel, who had complete control over the area.

The report also states that 58 women and girls were victims of rape and torture was carried out on those who were arrested.

The report has been based on an investigation by the human rights division of the UN peacekeeping mission MINUSMA.

The findings of the report have been called extremely disturbing by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk.

While the report doesnt explicitly name the foreign fighters, it cites Malian official statements on Russian instructors helping in the fight against jihadists, and comments attributed to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the presence of the private Russian security company Wagner in Mali.

The report also cites local testimony, collected by UN investigators, describing the foreigners as white men in fatigues speaking an unknown language, indicating they were not speaking French, the official language, or English, supervising the operations. (AFP)
05/11/2023



Dr. David Thornton, professor of computer science, will be traveling to Austria this fall as a Fulbright Scholar.

by Abigail Harrison

Dr. David Thornton, professor of computer science, has been named a 2023-2024 Fulbright Scholar by the US Department of State. He will serve as a visiting professor at Graz University of Technology in Graz, Austria, this fall.

Fulbright Scholar Awards are prestigious and competitive fellowships that provide unique opportunities for scholars to teach and conduct research abroad. Fulbright Scholars also play a critical role in US public diplomacy, establishing long-term relationships between people and nations.

In Austria, Thornton will teach two graduate courses in game development and virtual reality and collaborate with Game Lab Graz, led by the esteemed Dr. Johanna Pirker. He will design and implement new speech-control features for Pirkers successful Maroon virtual reality project, which allows students to conduct immersive physics simulations.

I'll be working with her to add some speech controls to that system and will also get to play a little bit with things like EEG headsets that can read your mind and can see whether you've lost attention or whether you're stressed out or things like that, Thornton said.

The professor will begin his four-month placement in October. Thornton, who is a Gadsden native, has never traveled outside the country for a significant period of time, but he is excited for the opportunity and happy he gets to bring his family along for the journey.

From this project, he hopes to build and maintain an exchange between Graz University of Technology and Jacksonville State University so that computer science students could potentially collaborate with Game Lab Graz.

As far as the project goes, working on the virtual reality project is the most fun thing that I'll do, Thornton said. But the cultural exchange is just as important and building that relationship with another institution, because that could turn into a long-term relationship where maybe our students could work with their students to improve things over the years and work on projects.



JSU offers an undergraduate major in computer science that focuses on game development, as well as minors in game studies and e-sports.

Learn more about Dr. Thornton by reading a Faculty Spotlight written about him in 2017.
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By Maha Nassar, University of Arizona | 

On May 15, 2023, the United Nations will stage a high-level special meeting to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Nakba  the mass displacement of around 750,000 Palestinians from their homeland in 1948.

It is the first time that the international body has commemorated the date, which organizers said serves as a reminder of the historic injustice suffered by the Palestinian people.

Not everyone is behind the U.N.s marking of the day, however. The United States and the United Kingdom were among the countries that voted against the commemoration. Meanwhile, the Israeli foreign ministry has called on U.N. member states not to participate in the event that adopts the Palestinian narrative that opposes Israels right to exist.

As a scholar who studies Palestinian history, I see the U.N. decision as the culmination of a long process. For decades, Palestinians struggled for international recognition of the Nakba in the face of a narrative that minimized their plight.

That is starting to change.

What is the Nakba?

The Nakba  Arabic for catastrophe  was part of a longer project of displacement of Palestinians from their homeland. From the early 1900s, increasing numbers of Zionists  Jewish nationalists  emigrated from Russia and other parts of Europe to Palestine, seeking to escape antisemitism.

Many of these settlers also sought to establish Jewish sovereignty in a land that had long been inhabited by Muslims, Christians, Jews and others.

As a result of Zionist settlement, thousands of peasants were forced off land they had lived on for generations. Many Palestinians resisted this colonial displacement throughout the 1920s and 1930s. But their resistance was violently suppressed by British colonial forces ruling over Palestine at the time.

Following World War II, as the full horrors of the Holocaust became known and international sympathy for the Jewish plight grew, Zionist militias waged deadly attacks that killed hundreds of Palestinians and British personnel.

The British then handed over the question of Palestine to the newly formed United Nations, which on Nov. 29, 1947, voted in favor of a partition plan to split Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arab state. The plan allotted a majority of the country, including major ports and prime agricultural lands, to the Jewish state, even though Jews comprised about one-third of the population at the time. The plan would have also forced half a million Palestinian Arabs living in the proposed Jewish state to make a stark choice: live as a minority in their own country or leave.

Palestinians rejected the plan and fighting broke out. Well-trained Zionist militias attacked Palestinians in areas that had been designated as part of the proposed Jewish state. Other Palestinians fled in fear after Zionist forces massacred villagers in Deir Yassin.

By the time Israel declared its independence on May 14, 1948, between 250,000 and 350,000 Palestinians had been forced off their ancestral lands.

The day after that declaration  May 15  came to be known as Nakba Day.

As Palestinians fled to neighboring lands, the armies of five Arab countries  which also wished to prevent a Jewish state from forming  were deployed to try to stem the tide of refugees. Fighting between Israeli and Arab armies continued throughout that summer and fall, with the heavily armed Israeli military conquering lands that the U.N. had previously designated as part of the Arab state.

In the process, even more Palestinians were expelled from their homes and villages. Many fled on foot, carrying whatever they could on their backs. By the end of the Arab-Israeli war in 1949, an estimated 750,000 Palestinians had either fled or had been expelled from their homes.



Via Pixabay.

The battle over the Nakba narrative

Palestinian and official Israeli accounts framed what took place in very different ways.

Since 1948, Palestinians have insisted that they have a right to return to the homes and lands from which they were expelled. They and their supporters cite the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, passed in December 1948, that states: Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.
International humanitarian law derived from the Geneva Convention of 1949 and the 1977 Protocols, states clearly that no person should be punished for any actions he did not commit. This principle applies to all individuals, including prisoners of war, ethnic groups and the wider civilian population. It is supposed to be protection against the consequences of war waged on civilians. It is also supposed to govern the conduct of war, which is evil in any case.

Yet collective punishment figures prominently in human history, just like war itself. In the modern world, collective punishment is given fancy names to disguise its inhumane effects. Foreign policy tools, for example, or simply sanctions, both political and economic, targeting certain government elites. Sanctions have been used widely by powerful nations against weaker states. The most recent cases of sanctions act as a form of collective punishment when imposed by the very countries that are supposed to be the protectors of world peace and human rights, including the United States.

When sanctions are applied the aim is always the same: to change the political discourse or behaviour of another state or people regardless if their behaviour is indeed punishable under international law. To make the case for collective punishment more convincing, such measures are often justified by enforcing them through the UN. Again, powerful states use their position to attack weaker nations through the UN Security Council, turning it into what the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi once called the council of horror. Examples of this have been seen in relation to Cuba, Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan, to name but a few.

The collective punishment meted out against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip stands out as brutality against more than two million people because of acts allegedly committed by a few of their fellow citizens. Furthermore, the sanctions on Gaza include a near total blockade on the densely populated enclave which sees fishermen prevented from exploiting their own territorial waters. The sanctions thus impose hunger and poverty on an already malnourished and desperately poor population.

Israel always defends such brutality by claiming that it is meant to punish what it calls Palestinian militant groups such as Hamas. The reality, though, is that the entire population is being punished in open violation of the Geneva Conventions in a manner which goes way beyond any more usual  but equally unacceptable  act of collective punishment.

Israel keeps a list of items that are banned from entering Gaza because, as the occupation state claims falsely, they benefit those who are resisting  legitimately, I might add  the Israeli military occupation and are designated as militants and terrorists. While the ban on construction materials and fuel makes the headlines, other important items never get mentioned.

Between 2007 and 2010, for example, the list of banned items included things like paper, paper pins, nutmeg, tarpaulin sheets for huts, fishing nets and nylon sheeting for greenhouses. Until June 2010, biscuits and chocolate were banned unless the end user was one of the international organisations operating in Gaza and caring for the Palestinians humanitarian needs.



Via Pixabay.

To compound the misery, Israel generally does not announce what is banned and what is not. Importers, private traders, merchants, the Palestinian Authority (PA) and international organisations only find out when they submit their lists of items they wish to transfer into Gaza as part of the tedious task of seeking permission from the Israeli occupation authorities.

Exports also have their banned and permitted list. Furniture and furniture parts were banned, then permitted, only to banned again earlier this month.

The ban goes further to include things like medical supplies and diagnostic equipment needed for the health sector in Gaza. In January this year, the health authority in Gaza warned that Israeli restrictions on certain medical equipment, such as mobile X-ray machines, threaten the quality of the health care provision in the territory.

Until June 2007, Israel justified bans by citing security threats. Three years later, humanitarian minimums were the norm, Israel-speak for a blanket ban on almost everything. The occupation authorities never disclose the criteria they use to make banning decisions; or what humanitarian actually means. Tarpaulin sheets, for example, were banned until 2010, and are always in demand by the poorest of the poor in Gaza due to the regular destruction of their homes by Israeli missiles and bombs, as happened this week. When civilian homes are bombed, tarpaulin sheets are essential items to provide shelter from the elements.

The same policy of collective punishment means that Israel also decides who can enter or leave Gaza and when. This usually means that hundreds of Palestinians are left stranded in Egypt or in Israel itself waiting for permission to go home; or are blocked from seeking medical treatment, study opportunities or work elsewhere. Short visits to see relatives, even if they are dying, are discouraged by this policy, as people have no idea how much time they will need to spend at the border post.

Apartheid Israel uses a different set of sanctions against the PA, its supposed partner in the non-existent peace process, including the withholding of taxes collected by Israel on the PAs behalf. This make it difficult for the PA to pay the salaries of its public workers and security personnel who act as an arm of the Israeli security services in protecting illegal settlers and curbing resistance activism.

Egypt also plays the collective punishment card against the Palestinians in Gaza by the frequent closure of the border crossing due to alleged security concerns. Nobody should be surprised by any of this, given that both Egypt and Israel are client states of the US, which is a serial offender when it comes to collective punishment.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.
Halifax, Nova Scotia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 12, 2023) - Antler Gold Inc. (TSXV: ANTL) ("Antler" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that Antler and its subsidiary Antler Exploration Zambia Limited ("Antler Exploration") have entered into an option agreement (the "Option Agreement") with Prospect Resources Limited (ASX: PSC) (FSE: 5E8) ("Prospect" or the "Partner") pursuant to which Prospect has an option to acquire 51% interest in Antler Exploration, which holds the Kesya Rare Earth Project ("Project") located in southern Zambia.

Deal Highlights:

Prospect has up to two years to acquire a 51% interest in Antler Exploration which holds the Kesya Rare Earth Project via a total combined counterparty consideration and project expenditure payments amounting to US$3.05 million.

Phase 1 commitment by Prospect is two cash payments of an aggregate of US$150,000 and US$350,000 in exploration expenditures as well as an issuance of US$500,000 worth of Prospect common shares within 30 days of the completion of Phase 1.

Phase 2 option commitment by Prospect is a cash payment of US$150,000 and US$750,000 in exploration expenditures as well as an issuance of US$500,000 worth of Prospect common shares within 30 days of electing to proceed to Phase 2.

The final phase commitment by Prospect is a cash payment of US$150,000 as well as an issuance of US$500,000 worth of Prospect common shares at the end of the 2 year option period which will then earn Prospect 51% of Antler Exploration.

Project Highlights:

The Project covers a Large-Scale Exploration License Application where geological mapping and surface sampling conducted by Antler Exploration has identified a large, rare earth-element enriched carbonatite.

Rock chip samples assayed by Antler Exploration outline very encouraging total rare earth element oxide (TREO) mineralisation contained within monazite and bastnaesite with low levels of uranium and thorium.

The Kesya rock chip results provide highly anomalous surface values in rare earth elements with the highest grab sample to date assaying 6559 ppm (0.66%) TREO.

The grab samples are enriched in neodymium (Nd) and praseodymium (Pr) oxides which average 29% of the TREO content and makes this a very encouraging basket distribution.

Keysa's large amount of carbonatite outcrop allows for easy drill targeting offering prospectivity to rapidly delineate a mineral resource and make a significant new rare earth element discovery in Zambia.

Antler Exploration along with its partner Prospect are preparing for an initial 1,500m diamond drilling program to test the subsurface expression and depth extent of the mapped and sampled rare earth element enriched carbonatite.

Christopher Drysdale, CEO of Antler commented:

"We are extremely excited to announce this agreement with Prospect. It's a testament to our commitment to strategic partnerships with highly credible organizations that share our vision for value creation. Prospect has an outstanding track record, which is demonstrated by their successful advancement of the Arcadia lithium project in Zimbabwe. This agreement represents a significant milestone for Antler Gold as it underscores our ability to identify promising mineral prospects across Africa and align ourselves with top-tier companies. Not only does this partnership enable us to leverage Prospect's industry-leading expertise, but it also establishes a solid foundation for potential future collaborations, while maintaining significant exposure to the highly promising Kesya REE project."

Prospect's Managing Director and CEO, Sam Hosack, commented:

"The Option Agreement we have struck in relation to the highly prospective Kesya REE Project in Zambia is another significant milestone, which extends our reach further into the battery and electrification mineral sector in Africa, in line with our strategic objectives. Kesya has all the ingredients of a world-class, rare earth enriched, carbonatite-hosted system, having also returned significant values of the high-value REEs, neodymium and praseodymium, over a broad surface area of the Project. Zambia is a leading jurisdiction to explore and develop mining operations in subSaharan Africa, having a long-standing history in the resources sector, particularly for copper. This includes excellent infrastructure and strong support from both the government and community, with major companies like Barrick Gold and First Quantum Minerals already calling it home. We are delighted to have reached this agreement with Antler, which is an established and respected Canadian exploration and development company focussed on its flagship Erongo and Onkoshi Gold Projects, located in central Namibia. The Kesya REE Project offers excellent potential to deliver a significant new, highvalue rare earths discovery, with defined existing drilling targets and a well-established operating environment. Subject to the satisfaction of all relevant conditions precedent, this is a high-quality greenfield exploration play for Prospect."

Introduction and deal terms:

The Kesya carbonatite was first identified in 1961 by Bailey in the Kafue district in southern Zambia. An initial mapping campaign by Antler demonstrated that it is enriched with rare earth elements and warrants further exploration and drilling.

The Option Agreement is among Prospect, Antler and a subsidiary of Antler, Antler Exploration. Subject to satisfaction of certain conditions precedent, Prospect will have the right to earn a 51% interest in Antler Exploration over a two-phased earn-in arrangement over two years for total consideration of US$3.05 million, which includes consideration payments to Antler and in-ground project expenditure.

Prospect will pay an initial non-refundable cash payment to Antler of US$50,000 on signing. Following satisfaction of the conditions precedent under Phase 1, Prospect will pay Antler a further US$100,000 in cash, and commit to spend US$350,000 on the Project within one year (subject to certain extensions permitted under the Option Agreement). Prospect will also issue to Antler US$500,000 worth of Prospect common shares at the completion of Phase 1 (the value of the common shares will be set at the price of Prospect shares at the time of signing, based on previous 10-day VWAP).

After completion of Phase 1, Prospect can elect to proceed to Phase 2 or terminate the Option Agreement (and in this case Prospect will hold no interest in Antler Exploration).

If Prospect proceeds to Phase 2, it is required to pay Antler a further US$150,000 in cash and issue US$500,000 worth of Prospect common shares (the value of the common shares will be set at the price of Prospect shares as at the time of election to proceed to Phase 2, based on previous 10-day VWAP), and it will have the right, but not the obligation, to spend a further US$750,000 on the Project within one year from completion of Phase 1 (subject to certain extensions permitted under the Option Agreement).

If Phase 2 is completed, Prospect will be entitled to exercise a call option to acquire 51% of the issued and outstanding shares of Antler Exploration. To exercise the option, Prospect must make a final payment to Antler of US$150,000 cash and issue US$500,000 worth of Prospect common shares (the value of the common shares will be set at the price of Prospect shares as at the time of the exercise of the call option, based on previous 10-day VWAP).

Prospect will consult with Antler in relation to the work program and budget but will ultimately determine and manage all exploration activities in relation to the Project.

Upon completion of the acquisition, Antler Exploration will be governed by a shareholders agreement ("Shareholders Agreement") among its shareholders. Prospect and Antler Exploration have agreed on the key terms of the Shareholder Agreement, with a full form Shareholder Agreement to be entered into in due course. Development funds for the Project are to be contributed by shareholders of Antler Exploration on a pro-rata basis. If a party does not contribute its pro rata share, its shareholding will be diluted via a prescribed formula. Neither party can be diluted below a 15% interest, from which point such interest shall be free-carried through to the completion of a JORC-Code reportable or NI 43-101 compliant Feasibility Study. The shareholder can then elect to convert its free carried interest to a 2% NSR or equivalent ("Royalty") and the other shareholder has a right but not the obligation to purchase one half of the Royalty for US$5,000,000.

Proposed Exploration Programme

There has been no historic drilling done on the Kesya carbonatite and the subsurface beneath the extent of the mapped carbonatite complex and the depth extension is yet to be tested. Antler along with Prospect is designing a preliminary 1,500 metre diamond drilling programme at the project. (Figure.1) The aim is to evaluate the continuity of the identified surface REE mineralisation to depth. The initial exploration plan will be to drill twenty (20) 75m deep holes along the carbonatite as well as its contacts with the country rock by using a heli-man portable drill rig and pending all environmental and statutory approvals.

Project Location and Background

Figure 1.) Proposed Diamond Drill hole location plan for initial 1500m drilling.

The Kesya REE Project, comprises a single, large-scale exploration license (LEL) application covering 1053.13 hectares and is located near the town of Kafue in southern Zambia in the Kafue Gorge. This license is located approximately 90 km via a tarred road traveling south of the capital city of Lusaka and has water and power infrastructure nearby. Once the LEL is granted, Antler's wholly owned Zambian subsidiary, Antler Exploration Zambia Limited will own 95% of the Kesya REE Project. The remaining 5% of the Project has local ownership.

Figure 2.) Map of the location of the Kesya carbonatite located south of the capital city Lusaka.

Project Geology

The Kesya Carbonatite intruded into gneisses of the Paleoproterozoic Basement Complex rock sequences near the intersection of the mid-Zambezi-Luangwa Rift Valley and the Kesya Rift.

The Kesya Carbonatite is divided into two major rock types: Firstly, a coarse-grained carbonatite with scattered country rock xenoliths: This carbonatite is mostly composed of coarse sovite with small amounts of chlorite. The second rock type is a carbonatite breccia, which surrounds the main intrusion.

The major minerals identified are magnetite, quartz, apatite, Fe-rich phlogopite, monazite, thorite, Ti-oxides, Fe-sulphides, calcite, ilmenite, and the REE-bearing mineral bastnaesite. Dating of apatite in samples from the carbonatite indicate that it is of Neoproterozoic age (Kesya is ca. 53516 Ma).

Figure 3.) Map of the grab sample locations with associated TREO assay values.

The carbonatite forms a central topographic high surrounded by deeply incised valleys along its margins where weathering processes are more intense.

Field investigations by Antler, and petrological (Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM)) studies completed during 2021 demonstrated that the rare earth mineralisation at Kesya is hosted mainly in monazite (a REE phosphate mineral) and bastnaesite (a REE fluoro-carbonate mineral).

Figure 4.) View of the Kesya carbonatite (Looking towards the East from the Western edge of the Kafue Gorge)

Rare Earth Element Mineralisation

Antler Gold has completed mapping and sampling campaigns at Kesya in 2021, which involved reconnaissance work across the carbonatite complex and the collection of 51 rock chip grab samples taken on the license.

Figure 6; below shows a small selection of these rock chip grab samples along with their sample ID's O6530 (A), O6537 (B), O6514 (C) and O6551 (D).

The rock chip samples collected by Antler at Kesya proved to be strongly and consistently mineralised with REE, with an average of 1280 ppm (0.13%) Total Rare Earth Oxide (TREO) content, peaking at 6559 ppm (0.66%) TREO.

Encouragingly, these samples also show consistently high contents of neodymium- and praseodymium oxide - key primary materials in the manufacture of strong permanent magnets for powerful motors, used in such devices as large, wind turbines, increasingly utilised in the global renewable energy sector.

Neodymium and praseodymium oxides average 29% of the Total Rare Earth Oxide (TREO) content of the rock chip samples collected from Kesya (Figure 5).

Figure 5.) Pie Chart showing average grades of Individual REO's from the Kesya sampling campaign.

Figure 6.) Images of rock chip grab samples from field mapping at Kesya.

Summary of most recent grab assay results

Y2O3 La2O3 Ce2O3 Pr2O3 Nd2O3 Sm2O3 Eu2O3 Gd2O3 Tb2O3 Dy2O3 Ho2O3 Er2O3 Tm2O3 Yb2O3 Lu2O3 TREO Grab Sample TREO % X Y ppm ppm ppm ppm ppm ppm ppm ppm ppm ppm ppm ppm ppm ppm ppm ppm ZED001 0.146 654528 8243994 99 199 423 83 428 95 20 61 7 27 4 8 1 5 1 1459 ZED003 0.03 654528 8243994 19 44 117 17 78 16 3 10 1 5 1 2 0 1 0 315 ZED004 0.117 654453 8243961 53 181 457 63 296 53 10 28 3 13 2 5 1 4 1 1169 ZED005 0.125 654603 8243960 66 186 477 67 322 57 11 31 3 15 2 6 1 4 1 1249 ZED006 0.122 654528 8243938 62 186 463 66 311 58 12 33 4 15 2 5 1 4 1 1223 O6501 0.127 655936 8242155 130 186 454 62 285 50 9 35 4 23 4 12 2 12 2 1272 O6503 0.097 655859 8242297 48 147 370 52 247 43 8 26 3 12 2 4 1 3 1 968 O6504 0.202 655543 8242438 94 335 805 109 488 81 15 50 6 23 3 8 1 5 1 2025 O6505 0.089 655536 8242197 42 149 341 46 213 39 9 26 3 11 2 4 0 3 0 888 O6506 0.168 655642 8241806 75 251 657 92 435 75 15 44 5 19 3 6 1 4 1 1683 O6510 0.103 655936 8242316 98 133 358 51 248 50 9 37 4 20 3 8 1 6 1 1029 O6511 0.132 655805 8242525 63 198 506 72 343 59 12 35 4 16 2 5 1 4 1 1320 O6512 0.125 655779 8242562 57 204 491 67 304 54 10 32 3 15 2 5 1 4 1 1251 O6513 0.100 655738 8242593 56 158 388 53 244 42 9 26 3 13 2 5 1 3 1 1003 O6514 0.143 655734 8242626 91 195 522 76 374 72 12 47 5 22 3 7 1 4 1 1432 O6515 0.083 655864 8242675 56 127 313 43 197 35 7 22 3 12 2 4 1 3 0 825 O6520 0.077 655916 8243505 42 118 299 41 191 32 7 20 2 9 1 3 0 3 0 771 O6521 0.097 655865 8243435 47 145 374 53 252 43 10 26 3 11 2 4 0 2 0 971 O6522 0.076 655805 8243283 46 111 285 41 194 36 7 22 2 10 2 4 0 3 0 762 O6523 0.061 655832 8243239 48 83 219 31 149 29 7 20 2 10 1 3 0 2 0 606 O6524 0.094 655748 8243220 46 151 369 51 234 39 8 23 3 10 2 4 0 3 0 944 O6525 0.119 655611 8243079 52 184 463 65 307 50 10 30 3 13 2 5 1 4 1 1188 O6526 0.250 655013 8242769 75 551 1059 125 513 76 16 43 4 17 3 6 1 5 1 2495 O6527 0.105 655125 8242566 52 162 403 56 260 50 10 30 3 14 2 5 1 3 1 1051 O6528 0.089 655446 8242604 44 137 347 48 220 39 7 24 3 11 2 4 0 3 0 891 O6529 0.088 655449 8242692 50 142 340 46 211 35 8 24 3 12 2 4 0 3 0 879 O6530 0.656 655533 8242712 179 1048 2624 372 1750 283 64 156 14 46 6 11 1 5 1 6559 O6531 0.109 655601 8242698 72 143 394 58 282 55 11 39 4 18 3 7 1 4 1 1092 O6532 0.095 655691 8242655 43 151 374 51 232 40 7 24 3 11 2 4 0 3 0 945 O6533 0.148 655143 8242801 67 284 620 77 318 48 10 29 3 13 2 5 1 4 1 1482 O6534 0.138 655216 8242642 66 289 577 67 273 42 9 26 3 13 2 6 1 5 1 1379 O6535 0.107 655234 8243119 60 160 409 57 268 46 9 30 3 14 2 5 1 4 1 1068 O6536 0.129 655080 8242895 70 197 486 69 323 58 13 37 4 18 3 6 1 4 1 1287 O6537 0.467 655062 8242800 74 1105 2085 235 925 122 23 65 6 19 2 5 1 3 1 4670 O6538 0.106 654502 8244494 75 157 397 56 253 48 9 31 3 16 3 6 1 4 1 1060 O6539 0.129 654520 8244485 135 155 426 67 318 69 12 52 6 28 4 11 1 7 1 1294 O6540 0.056 654498 8243994 32 77 206 31 147 29 6 18 2 7 1 2 0 2 0 560 O6541 0.050 654431 8244012 53 68 182 25 110 21 4 15 2 10 2 4 1 3 1 500 O6542 0.070 654338 8243916 41 107 275 38 169 31 6 18 2 9 1 3 0 3 0 704 O6543 0.086 654521 8243704 42 136 341 48 212 36 7 21 2 9 1 3 0 3 0 863 O6544 0.068 654482 8243699 43 102 255 37 169 30 6 19 2 9 1 3 0 2 0 681 O6545 0.118 654427 8243732 51 182 465 66 296 52 9 31 3 12 2 4 0 3 0 1177 O6546 0.061 654427 8243868 32 93 240 33 148 27 5 16 2 7 1 3 0 2 0 609 O6547 0.081 654499 8243866 63 116 298 42 192 38 8 25 3 13 2 5 1 4 1 812 O6548 0.074 654520 8243772 44 111 283 40 180 33 6 21 2 10 1 4 0 3 0 739 O6549 0.080 654580 8243745 50 120 303 43 198 37 7 23 2 11 2 4 1 3 0 804 O6550 0.074 654892 8243002 50 120 287 38 168 31 7 20 2 10 2 4 0 3 0 742 O6551 0.264 654977 8242880 53 585 1195 139 516 70 16 35 3 13 2 4 1 3 0 2636 O6553 0.189 654238 8243786 56 291 751 110 503 88 18 48 4 13 2 4 0 2 0 1890 O6554 0.139 654101 8243771 44 220 558 78 355 61 12 33 3 12 2 4 0 2 0 1386 O6555 0.069 654095 8243877 34 111 269 38 164 29 5 18 2 8 1 3 0 3 0 686

During the mapping campaign undertaken by Antler Gold, 51 rock chip grab samples were taken from in-situ outcrop at the Kesya REE Project. Sample sizes were 1-3 kg and taken to fairly represent the lithology recorded at each sample site.

In addition to the rock chip samples, an extra 15% of QAQC materials (2 x blanks, 2 x each of CRM AMIS0185, AMIS0304, AMIS0356 and 2 x duplicate field samples) were added to the batch of samples dispatched for assaying to comply with QAQC regulations.

All samples were shipped to Namibia and prepared by crushing and milling at Activation Laboratories Ltd (ACTLABS) in Windhoek.

Pulped samples were then exported to ACTLABS in Ancaster, ON, Canada, for Code 8 - REE analysis, which is a lithium metaborate/tetraborate fusion with subsequent analysis by ICP-OES and ICP-MS.

Qualified Person

The technical and scientific information in this presentation has been reviewed and approved by Oliver Tors, B.Sc (Hons)., Exploration Manager of the Company, who is registered Professional Natural Scientist with the (SACNASP) South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions (Pr. Sci. Nat. No. 120660) who is a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101. Mr. Tors is an employee of Antler Gold Inc. and is not independent of the Company under NI 43-101.

About Antler Gold Inc.

Antler Gold Inc. (TSXV: ANTL) is a Canadian listed mineral exploration company focused on the acquisition and exploration of mineral projects in Africa's Top-Ranked Jurisdictions, with exposure to both gold and REE. Antler's total license position now comprises 6 projects for a total landholding of approximately 584,347 ha. The Company continues to assess new regional opportunities with the aim of building a risk diversified business model, which allows the company to generate short and long- term income whilst providing stakeholders with exposure to potential multiple returns that are generated from the discovery process.

About Prospect Resources Limited (ASX: PSC) (FSE: 5E8)

Prospect Resources Limited (ASX: PSC) (FSE:5E8) is an ASX listed company focused on the exploration and development of mining projects, specifically battery and electrification metals, in Zimbabwe and the broader sub-Saharan African region.

Cautionary Statements

This press release may contain forward-looking information, such as statements regarding the completion of the transactions subject to the Option Agreement and future plans and objectives of Antler and its subsidiary, Antler Exploration in relation to the Project. This information is based on current expectations and assumptions (including assumptions in connection with the continuance of the applicable company as a going concern and general economic and market conditions) that are subject to significant risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict, including risks relating to the ability to satisfy the conditions to completion of the transactions contemplated by the Option Agreement. Actual results may differ materially from results suggested in any forward-looking information. Antler assumes no obligation to update forward-looking information in this release, or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those reflected in the forward-looking information unless and until required by applicable securities laws. Additional information identifying risks and uncertainties is contained in filings made by Antler with Canadian securities regulators, copies of which are available at www.sedar.com.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

For further information, please contact Chris Drysdale, CEO of Antler Gold Inc at +264 81 220 2439 or Daniel Whittaker, Executive Chairman of Antler Gold Inc., at (902) 488-4700.
TORONTO, May 12, 2023 /CNW/ - Orford Mining Corp. ("Orford" or the "Company") (TSXV: ORM) is pleased to announce a non-brokered private placement of: (i) approximately 4.0 million "Critical Minerals flow-through" units ("CMFT Units") at an issue price of C$0.248 per unit, and (ii) approximately 18.6 million "Flow through" units ("FT Units") at an issue price of C$0.215 per unit, and (iii) approximately 7.7 million "Hard Dollar" units ("HD Units") at $0.1305 per unit. (the "Offering"), to raise gross proceeds of up to $6,200,000 from the sale of CMFT Units, FT Units, and HD Units, or any combination thereof. Each CMFT Unit, FT Unit and HD Unit will consist of one common share and one-half of a common share purchase warrant. Each whole common share purchase warrant will entitle the holder to purchase one common share of the Company for a period of two years at an exercise price of $0.22. Alamos Gold (AGI-TSX) has indicated that it intends to participate in the financing to at least maintain its pro-rata holding of approximately 26.18% of Orford's outstanding common shares.

Orford intends to use the net proceeds from the Offering to explore its exploration properties, in particular its Qiqavik Gold project summer 2023 RAB Drilling program and its summer 2023 Nunavik Lithium inaugural exploration program in addition to its Joutel Eagle project, all in northern Quebec, and for general corporate purposes. The South Gold Zone on the Joutel-Eagle property in the Abitibi Greenstone Belt of Northern Quebec is intended to be the focus of a 2024 winter geophysics and drilling program. The Qiqavik project represents what Orford believes is a new gold district discovery in the Cape Smith Belt of Northern Quebec. The Joutel Omega properties are in the Joutel area of the Abitibi greenstone belt of northern Quebec.

The Offering is anticipated to close in one or more tranches on or before June 15, 2023, and is subject to the prior approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. The securities issued under the Offering will be subject to a hold period expiring four months plus a day from the date of closing of the applicable tranche.

The purchase of securities pursuant to the Offering by Alamos (an insider of Orford) will constitute a "related party transaction" as such term is defined by Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101"). The transaction will be exempt from the MI 61-101 valuation and minority approval requirements for related party transactions in connection with the Offering under sections 5.5(a) and 5.7(1)(a) of MI 61-101 as neither the fair market value (as determined under MI 61-101) of the subject matter of, nor the fair market value of the consideration for, the transaction, insofar as it involves the Related Parties, exceeds 25% of the Company's market capitalization (as determined under MI 61-101)

About Orford Mining Corporation

Orford Mining is a gold and critical mineral explorer focused on highly prospective and underexplored areas of Northern Quebec. Orford's principal assets are the Qiqavik, West Raglan and lithium exploration projects comprising a land package totaling over 111,000 hectares in the Cape Smith Belt of Northern Quebec. The Qiqavik Project hosts several new high-grade gold discoveries along a mineralized trend in excess of 40 km. The West Raglan Project hosts a number of high-grade Raglan-style nickel/copper/platinum group metal discoveries along a 55 km mineralized trend. In early 2023 Orford acquired large claim blocks targeting Lithium in the Nunavik Region. These Lithium claim blocks have been carefully selected as having promising lithium potential after an exhaustive compilation of available data. Orford also has four property positions in the Joutel region of the Abitibi District of Northern Quebec, which hosts historical deposits such as the Eagle/Telbel, Joutel Copper, Poirier Copper, and Vezza deposits. Orford continually seeks new gold exploration opportunities in North America. Orford's common shares trade on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol ORM. This information from neighbouring properties is not necessarily indicative of the mineralization on Orford Mining's properties.

Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release contains "forward-looking information" including without limitation statements relating to the exploration potential of its mineral properties.

Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Orford to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Factors that could affect the outcome include, among others: future prices and the supply of metals; the results of drilling; inability to raise the money necessary to incur the expenditures required to retain and advance the properties; environmental liabilities (known and unknown); general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; accidents, labour disputes and other risks of the mining industry; political instability, terrorism, insurrection or war; or delays in obtaining governmental approvals, failure to obtain regulatory or shareholder approvals. For a more detailed discussion of such risks and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, refer to Orford's filings with Canadian securities regulators available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Although Orford has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results to differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended. Forward- looking statements contained herein are made as of the date of this news release and Orford disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws.

The TSXV has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release.
Vancouver, British Columbia, May 12, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Spey Resources Corp. (CSE: SPEY) (OTC: SPEYF) (FRA: 2JS) ("Spey or the "Company"), further to its March 15, 2023 news release, is pleased to provide an update on the progress of the exploration plan and resource estimate in respect of its Incahuasi Salar property, Candela II, where five DDH wells were drilled in 2021.

Highlights

Southern Rock Geophysics have scheduled a magnetotelleric (MT) survey (the  Survey ) to commence on or about May 18, 2023. The Survey will take approximately 5 days to complete at Candela II and the results are expected to be available approximately 4 - 6 weeks after the data has been processed.





) to commence on or about May 18, 2023. The Survey will take approximately 5 days to complete at Candela II and the results are expected to be available approximately 4 - 6 weeks after the data has been processed. The Company has appointed WSP Australia (WSP) to produce a NI 43-101 report. WSP is a leading global consultancy with more than 4,400 professionals and a dedicated group skilled in hydrology and brine resource estimates. WSP recently completed the Ioneer mineral resources and ore reserves estimation and reporting work. The Company aims to utilize information gathered from the Survey toward building a National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") resource estimate.

Figure 1 Map showing MT lines, and Ganfeng wells 9.8km to the north of the salar.

Candela II Geophysics Survey

Southern Rock Geophysics will mobilize their team in mid-May 2023 to complete the Survey. The Survey data, once received and processed, will contribute to the resource estimate data and also provide guidance as to future drilling targets.

EC Asociados have commenced an environmental base line study in preparation for further drilling activity. A social survey was also recently completed that surveyed the Tolar Grande community, which is approximately 45 kilometres away from Candela II. These studies will add to the existing environmental plan the Company lodged with the Salta Mining Court on December 19, 2022.

Candela II NI 43-101 Resource Statement

The Company sent a request for information to a number of professional firms to complete a resource estimate given the exploration data to date. Based on the responses, the Company selected WSP given their expertise, experience and skill appropriate to the task. One of the key tasks going forward will be determining the hydrological balance of the salar.

Qualified Person

The scientific and technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Phillip Thomas, BSc. Geol, MBM, FAusIMM, MAIG, MAIMVA(CMV), who is a "qualified person" for the purposes of NI 43-101.

Technical Report

Scientific and technical information relating to the Incahuasi Salar property is supported by the technical report titled "Technical Report for the Incahuasi Salar Lithium Concession, Salta Province, Argentina", dated June 10, 2022 (the Technical Report"), and prepared by Michael J. Rosko for Spey. Reference should be made to the full text of the Technical Report, which was prepared in accordance with NI 43-101 and is available electronically on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) under the Company's issuer profile, for a description of the Companys data verification and QA/QC procedures.

About Spey Resources Corp.

Spey Resources is a Canadian lithium focused mineral exploration company which has an 80% interest in the Candela II lithium brine project located in the Incahuasi Salar, Salta Province, Argentina. Spey also holds an option to acquire a 100% interest in the Kaslo Silver project, west of Kaslo, British Columbia.

For more information, please contact:

Phillip Thomas Nader Vatanchi,

CEO, President VP, Corporate Finance, Director

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

+61433747380 +1778-881-4631

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release includes forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties, including with respect to Southern Rock Geophysics commencing work at Candela II to complete the Survey within the timeline contemplated or at all, the Companys ability to utilize the information gathered from the Survey toward a NI 43-101 resource estimate, WSP preparing a NI 43-101 report, future drilling targets, determining the hydrological balance of the salar, the viability of completing a potential resource estimate study and whether any mineralization will meet the requirements for being classified as resources. The Company provides forward-looking statements for the purpose of conveying information about current expectations and plans relating to the future and readers are cautioned that such statements may not be appropriate for other purposes. By its nature, this information is subject to inherent risks and uncertainties that may be general or specific and which give rise to the possibility that expectations, forecasts, predictions, projections, or conclusions will not prove to be accurate, that assumptions may not be correct, and that objectives, strategic goals and priorities will not be achieved. These risks and uncertainties include but are not limited those identified and reported in the Companys public filings under the Companys SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com. 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 information, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise unless required by law.

The Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) has not reviewed, approved, or disapproved the contents of this press release.
VANCOUVER, BC, May 12, 2023 /CNW/ - Nevada King Gold Corp. (TSX-V: NKG) ("Nevada King" or the "Company") is pleased to announce a that it has closed the brokered portion of its previously announced financing for gross proceeds of $5-million (the "LIFE Offering"). The LIFE Offering was led by Canaccord Genuity Corp. as lead agent and sole bookrunner, on behalf of a syndicate of agents that included Roth Canada Inc. (collectively the "Agents").

Collin Kettell, Founder & CEO of Nevada King, commented: "With the closing of this offering, we welcome six new institutions and funds to our growing roster of shareholders. These six orders constitute over 90% of the $5-million LIFE financing, which was priced at market and without a warrant. Achieving this pricing in light of difficult market conditions is a testament to the level of investor confidence in the trajectory of the Atlanta Gold Mine Project discovery. The concurrent $11.25-million non-brokered portion of the financing is being taken almost entirely by existing shareholders, and upon closing, Nevada King will be well financed for an aggressive 2023 exploration season and beyond."

The Company is continuing with the non-brokered portion of its financing (the "Non-Brokered Private Placement" and together with the LIFE Offering, the "Offering") for additional gross proceeds of $11.25-million. The Non-Brokered Private Placement is fully allocated and is expected to close on or about May 26, 2023. The total gross proceeds of the Offering, after the completion of the Non-Brokered Private Placement are expected to be $16.25-million.

In connection with the LIFE Offering, the Company issued 11,111,111 common shares for a purchase price of $0.45 per common share. The common shares issued under the LIFE Offering were issued by way of the Listed Issuer Financing Exemption under Part 5A of National Instrument 45-106  Prospectus Exemptions and are not subject to resale restrictions pursuant to applicable Canadian securities laws or the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange ("TSX-V").

In connection with the LIFE Offering, the Agents received an aggregate cash fee equal to $250,000.

The net proceeds of the Offering are intended to be used to advance Nevada King's development and exploration stage assets and for other general corporate purposes.

For further information regarding the Non-Brokered Private Placement, please see the Company's news releases dated May 1, 2023, May 3, 2023, and May 10, 2023. The issuance of the common shares under the Non-Brokered Private Placement remains subject to customary conditions, including, but not limited to, the receipt of all necessary approvals, inclusive of the approval of the TSX-V.

The securities offered under the Non-Brokered Private Placement have not been registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements. This release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy of any securities in the United States. The securities described herein have not been, and will not be, registered under the U.S. Securities Act, or any state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold within the United States except in compliance with the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or pursuant to available exemptions therefrom.

About Nevada King Gold Corp.

Nevada King is the third largest mineral claim holder in the State of Nevada, behind Nevada Gold Mines (Barrick/Newmont) and Kinross Gold. Starting in 2016 the Company has staked large project areas hosting significant historical exploration work along the Battle Mountain trend located close to current or former producing gold mines. These project areas were initially targeted based on their potential for hosting multi-million ounce gold deposits and were subsequently staked following a detailed geological evaluation. District-scale projects in Nevada King's portfolio include (1) the 100% owned Atlanta Mine, located 100km southeast of Ely, (2) the Lewis and Horse Mountain-Mill Creek projects, both located between Nevada Gold Mines' large Phoenix and Pipeline mines, and (3) the Iron Point project, located 35km east of Winnemucca, Nevada. The Company is well funded with cash of approximately $10 million after closing of LIFE Offering.

The Atlanta Mine is a historical gold-silver producer with a National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") compliant pit-constrained resource of 460,000 oz Au in the measured and indicated category (11.0M tonnes at 1.3 g/t) plus an inferred resource of 142,000 oz Au (5.3M tonnes at 0.83 g/t). See the NI 43-101 Technical Report on Resources titled "Atlanta Property, Lincoln County, NV" with an effective date of October 6, 2020, and a report date of December 22, 2020, as prepared by Gustavson Associates and filed under the Company's profile on SEDAR (www.sedar.com).

The scientific and technical information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Calvin R. Herron, P.Geo., who is a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101.

NI 43-101 Mineral Resources at the Atlanta Mine

Resource Category Tonnes

(000's) Au

Grade

(ppm) Contained

Au Oz

(000's) Ag

Grade

(ppm) Contained

Ag Oz

(000's) Measured 4,130 1.51 200 14.0 1,860 Indicated 6,910 1.17 260 10.6 2,360 Measured+Indicated 11,000 1.30 460 11.9 4,220 Inferred 5,310 0.83 142 7.3 1,240

Please see the Company's website at www.nevadaking.ca.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward Looking Information

This news release contains certain "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking statements are frequently, but not always, identified by words such as "expects", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "potential", "possible", and similar expressions, or statements that events, conditions, or results "will", "may", "could", or" should" occur or be achieved. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein, without limitation, statements relating the closing of the Non-Brokered Private Placement, TSX-V approval of the Non-Brokered Private Placement, the use of proceeds with respect to the Offering, and the results of the mineral resource estimate on the project are forward-looking statements. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Forward-looking statements reflect the beliefs, opinions and projections on the date the statements are made and are based upon a number of assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by Nevada King, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties and contingencies. Many factors, both known and unknown, could cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements that are or may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements and the parties have made assumptions and estimates based on or related to many of these factors. Such factors include, without limitation, the ability to complete proposed exploration work given the global COVID-19 pandemic, the results of exploration, continued availability of capital, and changes in general economic, market and business conditions. Readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release concerning these items. Nevada King does not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking statements of beliefs, opinions, projections, or other factors, should they change, except as required by applicable securities laws.
Highlights:

High grade gold in rock chip samples from Parisian Target Area including one sample of 11.75g/t gold.

Two zones have so far been detected from assay results.

Parisian Target only 900m along strike from historical Pilot Mine.

Historical workings located within the two zones.

Close proximity to infrastructure and Southern Cross township.

Perth, Australia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 12, 2023) - Altan Rio Minerals Limited (TSXV: AMO) ("Altan Rio Minerals" or the "Company") is pleased to announce further high-grade gold (Au) assay results from rock chip samples at its Southern Cross tenements in Western Australia, including one sample of 11.75g/t Au.

The sampling program focused on the Parisian Target Area, approximately 900m north and directly along strike from the historical Pilot open pit gold mine.

The Company recently received results from a further eight rock chip samples at the Parisian Target Area, the first target tested at the SX North Project in 2023.

Of particular interest, the geochemical assay results from the samples have so far detected two zones along strike of Pilot. Both these zones will be further tested in the short-term. (See Figure 1 and 2)

Figure 1: Location of rock chip sample results over 1 g/t at Parisian Target

Figure 2: Rock chip sample results highlight two zones at Parisian Target

Geochemical assay results from the eight additional rock chip samples received included the following results:

SXP001 - 11.75 g/t

SXP006 - 1.07 g/t

SXP007 - 0.12 g/t

SXP005 - 0.05 g/t

SXP008 - 0.02 g/t

SXP002 - 0.02 g/t

SXP003 - 0.01 g/t

SXP009 - 0.01 g/t

The samples reported on were collected and analysed using standard techniques for the Australia gold exploration industry.

Altan Rio previously announced mineralised gold results from five surface rock chip samples collected at the Parisian Target1:

JC102 - 2.66 g/t Au

SX028 - 2.14 g/t Au

JC101 - 1.49 g/t Au

SX027 - 0.70 g/t Au

SX026 - 0.26 g/t Au

Commenting on the exploration update, Altan Rio Minerals Chairman and Interim CEO, Graeme Sloan said:

"These latest assay results from an additional eight rock chip samples, which include one sample of 11.75g/t gold, at the Parisian gold target is further evidence of the high prospectivity for gold resources in the SX North Project and our broader Southern Cross tenements. Our focus now is to continue to identify surface targets which will be followed up with an initial RC drill program planned for later this year."

The Parisian target is being reviewed against geophysical anomalies and other information from existing ore bodies within the close proximity of Parisian.

Graeme Sloan continued, "The company is in an enviable position with multiple drill ready targets already identified by our technical team. Prioritising these targets is now being vigorously reviewed. Further updates will be provided to the market when the drill program has been finalised."

Corporate Appointment

The Company has recently boosted its Executive Team with the appointment of Nick Madders to the position of Company Secretary.

Nick has been the General Counsel of a large mining services company since early 2021 and has also held the role of company secretary there since early 2022.

He has extensive experience in M&A and corporate compliance, having spent 5 years working at Gilbert + Tobin in one of Australia's top tier transactions teams.

Since entering the mining industry in early 2021, Nick has successfully led and completed transactions in the gold, lithium and base metals markets.

Chief Operating Officer, Josh Conner said, "Nick Madders expertise will be instrumental in advancing our ASX listing and reinforcing the company's position. We are pleased to have him as part of our team."

On behalf of Altan Rio Minerals Limited

Graeme Sloan

Executive Chairman / Interim CEO

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

+61 9322 1788

John L C Jones AM

Director

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

+61 9322 1788

Media

David Tasker

Chapter One Advisors

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

+61 433 112 936

Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking Information

This release may contain forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements of Altan Rio to be materially different from any future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations and beliefs but given the uncertainties, assumptions and risks, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements or information. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements, and Altan Rio undertakes no obligation to update such statements, except as required by law. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Qualified Person

Mr. Neal Leggo, a member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists (MAIG) and an independent Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, is responsible for the preparation of the technical content regarding the Southern Cross North Project contained in this document. Mr. Leggo is a Principal Geological Consultant with Indeport Pty Ltd. Mr Leggo has reviewed and approved the technical disclosure in this news release.

QA/QC procedures include Certified Reference Materials and/or Intertek Genalysis in-house controls, banks and replicates are analysed with each batch of samples at Intertek Genalysis 544 Bickley Road, Maddington WA 6109.

1 Refer to TSX-V announcement dated April 12, 2023 for further information.
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 11, 2023) - Austin Gold Corp. (NYSE American: AUST) ("Austin" or the "Company") reports the results of its annual general meeting (the "Meeting") of shareholders held on May 10, 2023 in Vancouver, British Columbia.

A total of 7,412,259 shares were represented in person or by proxy at the meeting, being 55.85% of the issued and outstanding shares at the record date. A summary of the Meeting results is outlined below.

Election of Directors Number Voted For Percentage Voted For Joseph J. Ovsenek as Director 6,749,889 91.06% Dennis L. Higgs as Director 6,749,762 91.06% Kenneth C. McNaughton as Director 6,749,762 91.06% Barbara A. Filas as Director 6,749,887 91.06% Benjamin Leboe as Director 6,749,889 91.06% Tom Yip as Director 6,744,939 91.00% Guillermo Lozano-Chavez as Director 6,749,810 91.06% Proposals Fix Number of Directors at Seven (7) 6,751,910 91.09% Appoint Manning Elliott LLP as Auditors 7,405,288 99.91% Approve a New Stock Incentive Plan 6,730,352 90.80%

About Austin Gold Corp.

Austin Gold is a gold exploration company focused on gold targets and making district-scale gold discoveries in the southwestern United States.

Austin Gold has three projects in Nevada. The Kelly Creek Project is located on the Battle Mountain-Eureka (Cortez) gold trend in Humboldt County, the Lone Mountain Project is on the Independence-Jerritt Canyon gold trend in Elko County, and the Miller Project is on the Carlin gold trend in Elko County. Collectively, these Nevada properties comprise 110.2 km2 of unpatented and patented mining claims and mineral tenure. In Oregon, the Stockade Mountain Project consists of approximately 21.5 km2 of unpatented mining claims situated in a geological environment that appears the same as the nearby Grassy Mountain Deposit that is being permitted for underground mining.

For further information, please contact:

Darcy A. Higgs, Corporate Secretary

604-644-6580

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Website: www.austin.gold

Safe Harbor / Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws that is intended to be covered by the safe harbors created by those laws. "Forward-looking information" includes statements that use forward-looking terminology such as "may", "will", "expect", "anticipate", "believe", "continue", "potential" or the negative thereof or other variations thereof or comparable terminology. Such forward-looking information includes, without limitation, the Company's expectations, strategies and plans for the Kelly Creek Project, the Stockade Mountain Property, the Miller Project, and the Lone Mountain Project including the Company's planned expenditures and exploration activities.

Forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance and is based upon a number of estimates and assumptions of management at the date the statements are made. Furthermore, such forward-looking information involves a variety of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual plans, intentions, activities, results, performance, or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future plans, intentions, activities, results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking information.

The Company cautions that there can be no assurance that forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. Accordingly, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information.

Except as required by law, the Company does not assume any obligation to release publicly any revisions to forward-looking information contained in this press release to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof.
MONTREAL, May 12, 2023 /CNW/ - Aya Gold & Silver Inc. (TSX: AYA) (OTCQX: AYASF) ("Aya" or the "Corporation") is pleased to announce interim financial and operational results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2023. All amounts are in thousands of US dollars unless otherwise stated.

First Quarter 2023 Highlights

Strong operational performance: Silver production of 474,813 ounces ("oz"), a 54% increase from Q1-2022 Recoveries reached 87.1% in Q1-2023, compared to 80.4% in Q1-2022 Ore processed increased to 72,737 tonnes ("t") compared to 62,001t in Q1-2022

Revenue of $10.4 million , a 14% increase from Q1-2022

, a 14% increase from Q1-2022 Silver sales of 508,204 oz, a 25% increase from Q1-2022

Operating cash flow for the quarter of $4.1 million

Cash cost of $14.56 per oz compared to $15.37 per oz in Q1-2022 (  )

per oz compared to per oz in Q1-2022  Completed 3,263 meters ("m") of drilling at Zgounder

Conducted 3,948m of diamond drill hole ("DDH") drilling on Zgounder Regional properties

of diamond drill hole ("DDH") drilling on Zgounder Regional properties Completed 12.7 kilometers ("km") of the 36km DDH program at Boumadine on targets identified by comprehensive geophysical and mapping program data Results drilled in Q1-2023 confirmed the presence of a new type of mineralization comprising a high-grade sulphide stockwork zone Extended the strike to 3.4km towards the south, which remains open in all directions

Advanced Zgounder Mine expansion: Overall construction 32% complete Completed over 5,107m of lateral underground development Completed plant and road earthworks Concrete contractor mobilised and foundations poured for leach reactors, ball mill, jaw crusher, and ore silo Advanced detailed engineering and fabrication of the ball mill to over 88%, and manufacturing of crushing equipment to 90% completion Continued construction of the new tailings and water storage facilities on schedule

Solid financial position with $91 million of cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash (  ) compared to $42 million at December 31, 2022

of cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash  compared to at Contributed to the long-term sustainability of Zgounder operations: Launched construction of the 90km powerline that will connect Zgounder to renewable grid power Provided over 1,035 hours of health & safety training Implemented the Stakeholder Engagement Plan and Community Grievance Mechanism



1 The Corporation reports non-GAAP measures, which include cash costs per silver ounce and free cash flow, which are widely used in the mining industry as a benchmark for performance, but do not have a standardized meaning and the methods used by the Corporation to calculate such measures may differ from methods used by other companies with similar descriptions. See "Non-GAAP Measures" on pages 13 & 14 of the Corporation's Q1-2023 MD&A for a reconciliation of non-GAAP to GAAP measures. 2 Non-GAAP Measures, consisting of cash and cash equivalents of $88,496,800 and restricted cash of $2,503,022.

"We had an excellent start in 2023, with strong cash flow and silver production of 474,813 ounces, our second-highest quarterly production to date, which was driven by record mill processing," said Benoit La Salle, President and CEO. "Our ongoing focus on mechanization through the delivery of new trucks contributed to mining averaging 922 tpd in the quarter, and even 1,027 tpd in March. We expect to maintain the momentum gained over the past quarters in the remainder of the year, putting us firmly on track for achieving 2023 production guidance.

Furthermore, the Zgounder Mine expansion is one third complete and continues to track on budget. After the quarter, we received exceptional drill results from Boumadine that, coupled with the discovery of new stockwork mineralization, extended the footprint to 3.4km which remains open along strike and at depth. The strong cash flow from Zgounder, combined with our enhanced balance sheet, places us on solid footing to expand our drilling efforts and resource and deliver value for all stakeholders."

Q1-2023 Operational and Financial Highlights

Key Performance Metrics* March 31, 2023 March 31,

2022 Variation Operational Ore Mined (tonnes) 80,902 61,367 32 % Ore Processed (tonnes) 72,737 62,001 17 % Average Grade (g/t Ag) 235 192 22 % Mill Recovery (%) 87.1 80.4 6.7 % Silver Ingots Produced (oz) 168,648 123,336 37 % Silver in Concentrate Produced (oz) 306,165 185,009 65 % Total Silver Produced (oz) 474,813 308,345 54 % Silver Ingots Sold (oz) 149,915 199,500 (25 %) Silver in Concentrate Sold (oz) 358,289 207,308 73 % Total Silver Sales (oz) 508,204 406,808 25 % Avg. Net Realized Silver ($/oz) 20.55 22.52 (9 %) Cash Costs per Silver Ounce Sold () 14.56 15.37 (5 %) Financial Revenue 10,443 9,163 14 % Cost of sales 8,360 6,962 20 % Gross Margin 2,083 2,201 (5 %) Operating (loss) (85) (250) 66 % Net Earnings (loss) 1,060 (1,962) 154 % Operating Cash Flow 4,063 (815) NM Cash and Restricted Cash (2) 90,999 76,594 19 % Shareholders Earnings (Loss) per Share  basic 0.01 (0.02) NM Earnings (Loss) per Share  diluted 0.01 (0.02) NM

(1,2) See footnotes (1, 2) on first page.

First Quarter 2023 Financial & Operational Highlights

Quarterly silver production of 474,813 oz, comprising 306,165 oz as silver concentrate and 168,648 oz as silver ingots. The 54% quarter-over-quarter increase in silver oz produced is a direct result of significantly higher grade processed, and recovery.





Mill average feed grade of 235 g/t Ag was reported in the quarter compared to 192 g/t Ag in Q1-2022, an increase of 22%.





Milling operations reached 808 tonnes per day ("tpd"), surpassing design capacity of 700 tpd.





Average combined mill recovery increased to 87.1% in the quarter compared to 80.4% in Q1-2022, an increase of 6.7%.





Plant availabilities reached 94.3% and 94.1% for the flotation and cyanidation plants, respectively.





Cash flows generated by operating activities of $4,063 in the quarter compared to outflow of $815 in operating cash flows in Q1-2022.





in the quarter compared to outflow of in operating cash flows in Q1-2022. Revenue from silver sales for the quarter totaled $10,443 (Q1-2022  $9,163 ), an increase of 14% representing an average realized price of $20.55 /oz. (Q1-2022 - $22.52 /oz).





(Q1-2022  ), an increase of 14% representing an average realized price of /oz. (Q1-2022 - /oz). Operations generated a gross margin of $2,083 in the quarter compared to $2,201 in Q1-2022, a decrease of 5%. This was due to an increase in the Q1-2023 volume of silver sold to 508,204 oz (compared to 406,808 oz sold in Q1-2022) that was largely offset by a lower net realized silver price per oz in Q1-2023 of $20.55 compared to $22.52 in Q1-2022, a reduction of $1.97 per oz.





in the quarter compared to in Q1-2022, a decrease of 5%. This was due to an increase in the Q1-2023 volume of silver sold to 508,204 oz (compared to 406,808 oz sold in Q1-2022) that was largely offset by a lower net realized silver price per oz in Q1-2023 of compared to in Q1-2022, a reduction of per oz. Net income for the quarter was $1,060 (diluted EPS of $0.01 ), compared to a net loss of ($1,962) (diluted EPS of $(0.02) ) in Q1-2022.

Q1-2023 Operations Review

During the first quarter, the Zgounder team focused on preparing for the ramp up of the underground mine from 700 tpd to 1,200 tpd through 2024. An average mining rate of 922 tpd was achieved in the first quarter, with a record of 1,027 tpd in March 2023. Three underground dumper trucks and one loader were delivered on site, enhancing production in Q1-2023, and most particularly in March 2023. In Q2-2023, the open pit contractor is expected to mobilise.

Over 1,035 hours of employee health & safety training were dispensed in the areas of fire management, supervision, and including certification of aptitude in safe driving of R482 trucks for underground machinery operators.

Zgounder Development

Construction of the plant and surface infrastructure continued to track on budget. At the end of Q1-2023, overall construction was 32% complete, and engineering for the entirety of the project had reached 80% (see Figure 1).

During the quarter, the main equipment on the critical path continued their fabrication to plan and on schedule. Work on the new tailings and water storage facilities is progressing as planned. Bulk earthworks were nearly complete, and civil works were tracking as planned. The power line contractor began erecting pylons along the path, and the power line is tracking to schedule.

Underground mining activities continued in line with the planned timeline with over 5,100m of lateral development completed. The vertical development contractor began working during the quarter and had completed 140m of vertical development by quarter-end. A portion of the new mining equipment arrived on site to support the ramp up of the underground mine, achieving an average daily mining rate of 922 tpd.

At the end of Q1-2023, $119 million had been contracted across all capital cost categories and $26.5 million had been incurred.

The table below presents construction progress by main project area:

Area Progress Process Plant 26 % Underground and Open-Pit Mines 29 % Tailings & Water Management 41 % Electrical Infrastructure 18 % On-site Infrastructure 53 %

Q1-2023 Exploration

Zgounder

A total of 3,263 m of DDH and RC drilling was conducted on Zgounder near-mine targets (exploration and definition drilling) in the first quarter, principally to confirm the vertical and lateral continuity of known mineralized envelopes. In addition, 5,557m of T28 and Yak underground drilling were completed. In Q1-2023, the final results from the 2022 drilling campaign were received. Surface drill holes ZG-DCD-22-06 and ZG-DCD-22-07 intersected 1,220 g/t Ag over 6.5m and 846 g/t Ag over 9.5m, respectively, confirming high-grade mineralization at depth towards the contact with the granite and outside of the resource envelope. Two drill surface drill rigs and two underground rigs are currently active on the property.

Zgounder Regional

In the first quarter of 2023, 3,948m of DDH drilling were completed on Zgounder Regional properties, mainly on the Zgounder Far West, Tala and Izza drill areas. The Tala and Izza areas were also prioritized as they had both returned high-grade grab samples in silver, copper and gold associated with a very strong spectral alteration signature. Results are expected in H1-2023.

All results from last year's sediment geochemistry program have been received and integrated with our geophysics and spectral data, adding to our understanding of the properties.

Boumadine

The first quarter saw the Corporation intensify its DDH program at Boumadine with the objective of exploring strike length extensions and the central zone at depth. In February 2023, results from Q4-2022 drilling were released, confirming that parallel zones had been discovered along the main trend in addition to the historically known mineralization at the Tizi Zone.

At quarter-end, a total of 12,700m had been drilled and five drill rigs were turning, up from three in January. Results from the first-quarter program were released in mid-April, confirming the extension of the main trend mineralization to 3.4km in strike; with BOU-DD23-095 intersecting 129.4m of mineralization. In addition, a new style of mineralization was identified. The new mineralization consists of a large sulphide stockwork zone (sulphide-rich stringer) comprising five distinct massive sulphide veins. The concentration of sulphide veinlets in these stockwork varies from 8% to 15% and is composed mainly of pyrite with traces of sphalerite, galena, and chalcopyrite. This new mineralization encountered in BOU-DD23-095 significantly opens the potential at depth and toward the south.

The main mineralization generally consists of 1m to 4m wide (locally reaching over a 10m width) N340-oriented massive sulphide lenses/veins sharply dipping eastward (>70). The massive sulphide veins (>80%) are mainly composed of pyrite, with variable proportions of sphalerite, galena, and chalcopyrite.

The technical information relating to Zgounder, Zgounder Regional and Boumadine properties was reviewed and approved by David Lalonde, B. Sc, Head of Exploration, designated as a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101.

Q1-2023 Conference Call

The Corporation will hold a conference call today at 10 am EDT to discuss its Q1-2023 financial and operational results. The webcast can be accessed as follows:

Via webcast: https://app.webinar.net/0QdN6LQnmKE

Via URL entry: https://emportal.ink/41P6R2w

To join the call without operator assistance, register and enter your phone number to receive an instant automated call back.

Via telephone: Local and international: (+1) 416-764-8650

N. American Toll Free: 888-664-6383

You can also dial direct to be entered to the call by an operator. To ensure your participation, please call approximately five minutes prior to the scheduled start of the call.

The conference call and webcast will be available for replay by dialing (+1) 416-764-8677 or toll-free on 1-888-390-0541, entry code 955969 #. The conference call replay will expire on May 19, 2023.

The presentation slides will also be posted on Aya's website.

About Aya Gold & Silver Inc.

Aya Gold & Silver Inc. is a rapidly growing, Canada-based silver producer with operations in the Kingdom of Morocco.

The only TSX-listed pure silver mining company, Aya operates the high-grade Zgounder Silver Mine and is exploring its properties along the prospective South-Atlas Fault, several of which have hosted past-producing mines and historical resources. Aya's Moroccan mining assets are complemented by its Tijirit Gold Project in Mauritania, which is being advanced to feasibility.

Aya's management team is focused on maximising shareholder value by anchoring sustainability at the heart of its operations, governance, and financial growth plans.

For additional information, please visit Aya's website at www.ayagoldsilver.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains certain statements that constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws ("forward-looking statements"), which reflects management's expectations regarding Aya's future growth and business prospects (including the timing and development of new deposits and the success of exploration activities) and other opportunities. Wherever possible, words such as "will", "expect", "maintain", "achieve", "expand", "ramp-up", "plan", "as-planned", "tracking", "guidance", "potential", "deliver", "committed", "continue", "growth", "advance", "expected", "increase", and similar expressions or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might", "will", or are "likely" to be taken, occur or be achieved, have been used to identify such forward-looking information. Specific forward-looking statements in this press release include, but are not limited to, statements and information with respect to the exploration and development potential of Zgounder and the conversion of Inferred Mineral Resources into Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources, future opportunities for enhancing development at Zgounder, executing on the planned expansion at the Zgounder mine, and timing for the release of the Company's disclosure in connection with the foregoing. Although the forward-looking information contained in this press release reflect management's current beliefs based upon information currently available to management and based upon what management believes to be reasonable assumptions, Aya cannot be certain that actual results will be consistent with such forward-looking information. Such forward-looking statements are based upon assumptions, opinions and analysis made by management in light of its experience, current conditions, and its expectations of future developments that management believe to be reasonable and relevant but that may prove to be incorrect. These assumptions include, among other things, the closing and timing of financing, the ability to obtain any requisite governmental approvals, the accuracy of Mineral Reserve and Mineral Resource Estimates (including, but not limited to, ore tonnage and ore grade estimates), silver price, exchange rates, fuel and energy costs, future economic conditions, anticipated future estimates of free cash flow, and courses of action. Aya cautions you not to place undue reliance upon any such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties that may affect forward-looking statements include, among others: the inherent risks involved in exploration and development of mineral properties, including government approvals and permitting, changes in economic conditions, changes in the worldwide price of silver and other key inputs, changes in mine plans (including, but not limited to, throughput and recoveries being affected by metallurgical characteristics) and other factors, such as project execution delays, many of which are beyond the control of Aya, as well as other risks and uncertainties which are more fully described in Aya's 2022 Annual Information Form dated March 31, 2023, and in other filings of Aya with securities and regulatory authorities which are available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Aya does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements should assumptions related to these plans, estimates, projections, beliefs and opinions change. Nothing in this document should be construed as either an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy or sell Aya securities. All references to Aya include its subsidiaries unless the context requires otherwise.
TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / May 12, 2023 / Gratomic Inc. ("Gratomic", "GRAT", or the "Company") (TSXV:GRAT) (OTCQX:CBULF) (FSE:CB82) is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Hermanus (Manie) Silver as Mine Manager at its 100% owned Aukam graphite mine and processing plant located 200 km east of the port of Luderitz in Namibia.

During his 42 years of open-pit and open-cast mining experience, Manie held positions as Mine Manager, COO, and CEO and is still instrumental in starting up and managing mining projects across Africa. He also consulted as Senior Engineer in mining metals and minerals within and outside the African continent, and as far as Mali and Kazakhstan.

As Senior Engineer for the Highland Group in Eritrea, Angola, and Zambia on gold, copper, and diamonds, he was responsible for improving mine capex and opex and training senior management at Zambia Copper, DRC Copper, and Angola Diamond Mines. He also served as CEO for Miranda Coal.

Positions Held

Operations Director, Namibia Contracts mining

Senior Consultant, Basil Read, Rosh Pinah, Namibia, responsible for planning total project improvements, productivity, and cost

Managing Director, EBM Copper Mining, Namibia, starting up a new surface mining project

General Manager, Tharisa Mineral, restructuring the mining operations to extend the life-of-mine plan with improved profits and sustainability

Manie's current role at the Gratomic Graphite (Pty) Ltd. Aukam Project is primarily, but not limited to, planning future mine production, and organizing and supervising all mining activities. They include overseeing mine development and tunnelling, checking the quality of stone, rock, and minerals, and inspecting the mine to ensure a safe working environment.

Arno Brand, President and CEO of Gratomic, commented, "We are very pleased with the appointment of Mr. Silver, who brings decades of experience in mine management and is a valuable addition to Gratomic going forward."

About Gratomic

Gratomic is a multinational company with projects in Namibia, Brazil, and Canada. Its aim is to become a leading graphite supplier and to secure a strong position in the electric vehicle (EV) battery supply chain through developing its flagship Aukam graphite mine and ongoing exploration at the Capim Grosso property. Gratomic will continue to explore graphite opportunities that show the potential to produce the specific flake size and purity required for active anodes.

Large quantities of high-quality vein graphite have been shipped for testing to confirm their suitability as anode material. Gratomic is confident that the test results will provide a unique competitive advantage in the desired target markets. The Company will continue to update the public on the status of these tests and will share results as they become available.

On the January 25, 2023 Gratomic announced that it had entered into a LOI with Graphex Technologies to supply graphite through existing facilities and develop a downstream processing facility in the continental US.

Gratomic has entered into a collaborative agreement with Forge Nano to use its patented atomic layer deposition (ALD) technology to coat the spherical graphite required in lithium-ion batteries.

For more information

Visit the Company website: www.gratomic.ca

Contact: Arno Brand at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or (416) 561-4095

To be added to our email list: subscribe at gratomic.ca/contact

For Marketing and Media information: please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

"Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release."

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements that relate to future events or future performance and reflect management's current expectations based on assumptions made by, and information currently available to, the Company. Investors are cautioned that these forward-looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause future results to differ materially from those expected. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof, and except as required under applicable securities legislation, the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances. All of the forward-looking statements made in this press release are qualified by these cautionary statements and by those made in our filings with SEDAR in Canada (available at www.sedar.com).
SASKATOON, SK, May 11, 2023 /CNW/ - Star Diamond Corporation ("Star Diamond" or the "Company") reports that the unaudited financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2023, will be filed today on SEDAR and may be viewed at www.sedar.com once posted.

Overview

Star Diamond Corporation is a Canadian natural resource company focused on exploring and developing Saskatchewan's diamond resources. Star Diamond holds, through a joint venture arrangement with Rio Tinto Exploration Canada Inc. ("Rio Tinto Canada"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rio Tinto plc, a 25% interest in certain mineral properties (which includes the Star  Orion South Diamond Project, or the "Project") within the Fort a la Corne diamond district of central Saskatchewan, Canada. These properties are in close proximity to established infrastructure, including paved highways and the electrical power grid, which provide significant advantages for future mine development.

The Company also holds a 50% interest in the exploration and evaluation properties and assets of the Buffalo Hills-JV located in north-central Alberta, Canada. Canterra Minerals Corporation ("Canterra") holds the remaining 50% interest. Canterra is the operator of the Buffalo Hills-JV.

Fort a la Corne mineral properties

On June 28, 2022, Rio Tinto Canada exercised its voting power at a meeting of the Fort a la Corne joint venture management committee to place the Project on care and maintenance through December 31, 2022. Rio Tinto Canada also advised that, subject to fulfilling its existing obligations, it did not intend to commit additional capital to the Fort a la Corne properties during 2022 beyond what was necessary for care and maintenance. Rio Tinto Canada also advised Star Diamond that it intended to conduct a near-term review of its alternatives regarding the Fort a la Corne properties, which included its potential exit. On October 21, 2022, Star Diamond announced that Rio Tinto Canada had stated that it intended to fully de-mobilize the leased on-site camp. During the quarter, the site was fully de-mobilized and the Project was placed on care and maintenance.

Recent activities relating to the Star - Orion South Diamond Project and Fort a la Corne mineral properties

During the quarter ended March 31, 2023, the Company continued negotiations with Rio Tinto Canada to assess alternatives regarding the Project.

Recent activities relating to the Buffalo Hills mineral properties

In February 2023, the Company announced the completion of the diamond valuation from the K6, K14, K91 and K252 kimberlites of the Buffalo Hills-JV.

Diamond valuations and characterizations as shown in the table below were completed by Mr. Nelson Karun, Diamond Specialist, Saskatchewan Research Council Diamond Services, on behalf of Star Diamond.

Kimberlite Carats Stones % Gem Quality % White Colour Faint to no Fluorescence Average US$/Ct Parcel Model Price (US$/ct) K6 16.73 86 29.5 70.5 82.9 103.54 185* K14 69.32 1,362 17.9 73.8 92.6 54.32 160 K91 4.17 103 17.9 54.6 89.7 53.61 N/A K252 12.41 328 22.0 82.1 92.1 72.79 140*

*Very speculative due to the small sample size



As observed by Mr. Karun, diamonds from these kimberlite bodies exhibit good quality, colour and very low to no fluorescence. All the parcels of diamonds appear to be statistically very similar in terms of their graded characteristics. There is an inadequate sample size for K91 to model the average diamond price. Extremely speculative model prices are given for samples K6 and K252, due to the small parcel size. K14 is a larger parcel size, and a price can be modeled, but should still be used with caution.

The diamond valuation exercise has shown that kimberlites K14 and K6 have elevated modelled diamond prices, US$ 160 per carat and US$ 180 per carat, respectively. The K6 parcel includes three fancy yellow stones, the K14 four fancy yellow and the K252 a fancy orange stone. The two highest value stones, which are both from the K6, are 1.06 carats (US$ 532) and 1.07 carats (US$ 506).

These four kimberlites have diamond parcels with sufficient diamonds to conduct preliminary diamond typing studies. The number and the percentage of Type IIa diamonds for the Buffalo Hills kimberlites studied are documented in the table below and show these kimberlites have an anomalously high percentage of Type IIA diamonds.

Diamonds +3 DTC (0.026 carats) to 5 Grainer (1.2 carats) Number of

Diamonds Typed Number of Type IIa

Diamonds Percentage Type IIa

Diamonds K6 +3 (0.026 ct) & above 78 4 5.1 K14 +7 (0.12 ct) & above 126 3 2.4 K91 +3 (0.026 ct) & above 47 3 6.4 K252 +3 (0.026 ct) & above 153 7 4.6

The diamond typing exercise has shown presence of Type IIa diamonds, in elevated proportions, in all four of these Buffalo Hills kimberlites. The diamonds analysed represent a spectrum of diamond sizes from +3 DTC (+0.026 carats) to 5 grainer (1.2 carats).

Type IIa diamonds are very rare and generally account for less than 2 percent of all natural rough diamonds mined world-wide from kimberlite deposits. Only a small number of active diamond mines regularly produce Type IIa diamonds with the most important of these mines being Cullinan Diamond Mine in South Africa, Letseng Diamond Mine in the Kingdom of Lesotho and, more recently, Karowe Diamond Mine in Botswana.

Year to Date Results

For the quarter ended March 31, 2023, the Company recorded a net loss of $0.3 million, or $0.00 per share (basic and fully diluted), compared to a net loss of $0.9 million, or $0.00 per share, for the comparative period in 2022. The decrease in net loss was due primarily to reduced expenditures, period over period, combined with a $0.3 million non-cash gain on the fair value measurement of the Company's marketable securities.

At March 31, 2023 the Company had $1.5 million (December 31, 2022  $2.6 million) in cash and cash equivalents and working capital of $1.3 million (December 31, 2022 - $2.0 million). The decrease in working capital was a result of general and administrative and exploration and evaluation expenditures incurred during the quarter. The Company believes it has sufficient liquidity to fund general and administrative costs and certain exploration expenditures through to the end of 2023.

Selected financial highlights include:

Condensed Consolidated Statements of Financial Position As at March 31, 2023 As at December 31, 2022 Current assets $ 1.8 M $ 2.7 M Investments and other assets 0.6 M 0.4 M Current liabilities 0.4 M 0.7 M Shareholders' equity 2.0 M 2.4 M

Condensed Consolidated Statements of Loss Quarter Ended

March 31, 2023 Quarter Ended

March 31, 2022 Interest and other income $ - M $ - M Expenses 0.6 M 0.7 M Loss before undernoted items 0.6 M 0.7 M Investment in Wescan Goldfields Inc. (0.3) M 0.2 M Net loss for the period 0.3 M 0.9 M Net loss per share for the period (basic and diluted) 0.00 0.00

Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows Quarter Ended

March 31, 2023 Quarter Ended

March 31, 2022 Cash flows (used in) from operating activities $ (1.1) M $ 1.1 M Cash flows from investing activities - M - M Cash flows from financing activities - M 0.5 M Net increase (decrease) in cash (1.1) M 1.6 M Cash  beginning of period 2.6 M 1.3 M Cash  end of period 1.5 M 2.9 M

Outlook

Fort a la Corne mineral properties

Star Diamond continues to work with Rio Tinto Canada in assessing alternatives regarding the Project. These discussions remain ongoing and there is no certainty that any agreement will be reached between Star Diamond and Rio Tinto Canada regarding any such potential arrangements. Management believes that the negotiated return of the Project on reasonable terms is critical to its long-term success.

Buffalo Hills mineral properties

Management continues to review the recent results from the diamond valuation and typing analysis. Discussions are ongoing with Canterra to determine possible future work programs and a potential strategic path forward for the property. A more detailed update on activities at the Buffalo Hills-JV will be provided as it becomes available.

About Star Diamond Corporation

Star Diamond Corporation is a Canadian based corporation engaged in the acquisition, exploration and development of mineral properties. Shares of Star Diamond trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the trading symbol "DIAM". Star Diamond holds, through a joint venture arrangement with Rio Tinto Canada, a 25% interest in certain Fort a la Corne kimberlites (including the Star  Orion South Diamond Project). These properties are located in central Saskatchewan, in close proximity to established infrastructure, including paved highways and the electrical power grid, which provide significant advantages for future mine development. The Company also holds a 50% interest in the exploration and evaluation properties and assets of the Buffalo Hills-JV located in north-central Alberta, Canada. Canterra Minerals Corporation ("Canterra") holds the remaining 50% interest. Canterra is the operator of the Buffalo Hills-JV.

Technical Information

All technical information in this press release has been prepared under the supervision of George Read, Senior Technical Advisor, Professional Geoscientist in the Provinces of Saskatchewan and British Columbia and Mark Shimell, Project Manager, Professional Geoscientist in the Province of Saskatchewan and Alberta, who are the Company's "Qualified Persons" under the definition of NI 43-101.

Stay Connected with Us:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/StarDiamondCorp

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/star-diamond-corp

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Star-Diamond-Corp/100058096376664/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stardiamondcorp/

Caution Regarding Forward-looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" and/or "forward-looking information" (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this press release include, but are not limited to, Star Diamond's assessment of its cost and management structure going forward.

These forward-looking statements are based on Star Diamond's current beliefs as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to Star Diamond and involve inherent risks and uncertainties, both general and specific. Risks exist that forward-looking statements will not be achieved due to a number of factors including, but not limited to, statements regarding Rio Tinto Canada's future plans and intentions including with respect to the Fort a la Corne mineral properties; the Company's management structure, developments in world diamond markets, changes in diamond prices, risks relating to fluctuations in the Canadian dollar and other currencies relative to the US dollar, the impact of changes in the laws and regulations regulating mining exploration, development, closure, judicial or regulatory judgments and legal proceedings, operational and infrastructure risks and the additional risks described in Star Diamond's most recently filed Annual Information Form, and annual and interim MDA.
Journalists and staff of Agence France-Presse (AFP) in Paris and across the world held a minute of silence on Thursday to remember their colleague Arman Soldin who was killed earlier this week in Ukraine.

Soldin, AFP's video coordinator in Ukraine, was killed on Tuesday when an AFP team came under fire by Grad rockets while they were with a group of Ukrainian soldiers near Bakhmut, the epicentre of the fighting for months.

"Arman represented the very best of AFP," the agency's global news director Phil Chetwynd told staff ahead of the minute of silence at midday GMT.

Hundreds of AFP staff observed the minute of silence at Paris headquarters and from bureaux around the world via video conference.

Soldin, 32, was an "unbelievably dedicated journalist who believed his work could make the world a better place, he was in Ukraine because he believed in that", added Chetwynd.

The death of Soldin brought to at least 11 the number of journalists, fixers or drivers for media teams killed since Russia invaded Ukraine more than a year ago, according to advocacy groups.

Tributes to Soldin poured in from France and Ukraine as well as from the rest of the world.

French anti-terror prosecutors said Wednesday they were launching a war crime investigation into the death of Soldin, a French citizen born in Bosnia.

It will be handled by the OCLCH, an investigating unit specialising in crimes against humanity and hate crimes, and will seek to determine the exact circumstances of Soldin's death, the prosecutors said.

AFP "is at the disposal of prosecutors" to assist in their investigation, chief executive Fabrice Fries, said Thursday.

The agency also needed to "take care of the family" and "of the team which is in Ukraine and which went through this tragedy", he added, saying a cell of psychological experts would be set up to help.

He said that the missions by AFP's Ukraine team to the eastern front had been "suspended for a few days" but would then resume.
At the opening of his trial on Wednesday May 10, Philippe Hategekimana pleaded not-guilty before the Paris court. The man, who acquired French nationality in 2005 under the name Philippe Manier, is accused of "genocide, crimes against humanity and participation in a conspiracy" to commit these crimes. This trial comes 29 years after the events, and is the fifth trial in France on the 1994 genocide of Tutsis in Rwanda.

For his trial - filmed like the previous ones for the historical archives of French justice - more than 100 witnesses are expected. Many of them will travel from Rwanda, while others will be heard by video conference, some from Rwandan prisons where they are serving their sentences for participation in the 1994 genocide. In addition to the 40 or so civil parties already constituted, other requests were added at the opening of the trial. Their number could thus reach nearly 100, essentially survivors and relatives of victims and victims associations like the Collective of Civil Parties for Rwanda (CPCR), Ibuka and the International League against Racism and Anti-Semitism (Licra).

Biguma, "the one who lets nothing pass

In the course of his life, the defendant in the blue checked shirt and large black-rimmed glasses has gone by several names: Philippe Hategekimana, alias Biguma, alias Hakizimana, alias Philippe Manier. From his childhood in Nyagisozi, southern Rwanda, with his Hutu farmer parents, Philippe Hategekimana - his baptismal name  has kept the nickname "Biguma", meaning "the one who lets nothing pass. This comes, according to him, from one of his particularly severe teachers. Later he adopted the name Philippe Hakizimana at a refugee camp on the Congolese border "because the former soldiers could be spotted, so it was better to change my name". He took the name Philippe Manier when he became a French citizen.

All these names have been used over the years in other trials, in Rwanda and as far away as Norway, and could cast doubt on the fact that he was indeed present at the time of the events. Before the hearings started his lawyers Alexis Guedj, Emmanuel Altit and Fabio Lhote tried unsuccessfully to use this doubt to get the trial postponed.

Accused of active participation in genocide

In the dock, with a crutch leaning against his chair - he had knee surgery while in detention -, the 66-year-old former gendarme listens attentively to the account of his life and the long litany of the alleged facts as presented by court president Jean-Marc Lavergne. He will have to answer for the roadblocks erected on the territory of the Nyanza gendarmerie where he was chief warrant officer, in the province of Butare. This was a policy throughout the country to filter the population, identify fleeing Tutsis and exterminate them. He is said to have directly assassinated several dozen people at two of these roadblocks. On April 23, 1994, he is said to have ordered - and even committed - the murders of Tutsi gendarmes and of Narcisse Nyagasaza, a Hutu mayor from the neighbouring commune of Ntyazo who had opposed the genocide. On the same day, he allegedly took part in the massacre on Nyabubare hill where some 300 Tutsis were killed. According to witnesses cited by the prosecution, he played a central role as organizer and leader, ordering mortar fire and urging the civilian population to finish off the survivors and dying victims. Four days later, he was said to have done the same on the Nyamure hill, where thousands of Tutsis had taken refuge. Finally, the prosecutor accused him of having participated in the preparation of a massacre of Tutsis that took place at Isar Songa, the Rwandan Institute of Agricultural Sciences, on April 29.

Nyanza gendarmeries Human Resources Manager

Hategekimana asserts that he did not participate in these murders because, he says, within the Nyanza gendarmerie company he only played the role of a manager, taking care of the assignments of the various units, and only very rarely went to the field. And this role of "HR director", he said during the investigation, did not change with the start of the genocide. He says he helped refugees fleeing Kigali and the first massacres in the capital, and never adhered to the idea that the Tutsis were the enemy -- even though he spent a year fighting the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) on the frontline in the north of the country in 1990.

Twenty years later, he stated during the personality investigation conducted for the trial that the difficulties between Tutsis and Hutus were due solely to the manipulation of politicians. The defence notes that his wife was the product of a mixed marriage between a Hutu and a Tutsi.

In April 1994, Hategekimana says, he "calmed down" the "extremist gendarmes", refusing to engage in the massacres. This brought him trouble, he told the investigation. The sub-prefect threatened me because I did not kill Tutsis, because I did not want Tutsis to be killed," he said. He blamed me for that, he told me 'you have no place in the company'. That's how I was transferred, or so I think. As soon as the massacres began in the Nyanza region, in the second half of April 1994, he was transferred to Kigali, to the Gendarmerie Headquarters, to the close protection unit of Colonel Laurent Rutayisire.

Flight from Rwanda after the genocide

In July 1994, Hategekimana fled the RPF advance, found his wife Jacqueline and their three children and left for the Democratic Republic of Congo. At the Kashusha refugee camp, he exchanged his surname for new papers in the name of Philippe Hakizimana and stayed there for six months, until the camp was attacked by the RPF. His mother and other members of his family were killed during that attack. He fled with his wife and children. From then on, his exile route is unclear and his account varied during the investigation. He said the family went to Congo-Brazzaville, then to Cameroon. He spoke of a congregation of nuns who took them in and helped them in these two countries, but whose name he no longer remembers; of a long journey on foot, of dead-end jobs and daily survival, until his wife Jacqueline and their youngest son left for France in 1998, after paying a migrant smuggler. He joined them in 1999, with the other children.

In the suburbs of Rennes, where the family had taken up residence, the couple applied for asylum under the name Hakizimana and invented a past. He said he was a physical education teacher in the Rwandan capital Kigali, and she a social worker at the hospital. In court, Philippe Hategekimana admitted that he was "not very truthful" in his request for asylum. "But please understand that those who had a military career did not get asylum, or it took a very long time! he said. The French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (Ofpra) accepted his story in 1999, the family settled and obtained naturalization in 2005 and Frenchified their name.

Philippe and Jacqueline are now called Manier. From the past, they have kept some cultural ties. Philippe maintains these within a Rwandan association that organizes songs, dances and other events. The former gendarme worked as a security guard at the University of Rennes 2 for 15 years, before being dismissed because of too many unjustified absences. "I was very tired, he said when the court asked him about it. You know, the strikes at Rennes 2 were very hard and I had five of them. So I was tired." Kicked out, he had a series of fixed-term contracts in security companies interspersed with unemployment. That was up to 2015.

What Philippe Manier did not know was that three years earlier, his name appeared in an anonymous letter of denunciation that Alain and Dafrosa Gauthier, founders of the Collectif des parties civiles pour le Rwanda (CPCR), say they received in 2012 and filed with the court. Intrigued, the Gauthiers went to Rwanda and interviewed victims of the massacres in the Nyanza region.

CPCR complaint and flight to Cameroon

On June 5, 2015, the CPCR filed a complaint with a civil party at the Paris public prosecutor's office. The case came out in the media, and Philippe Manier knew he was being targeted. Less than two years later, he fled to Cameroon, where his daughter lives, having obtained a three-month "humanitarian" visa. The three months ended and Manier did not return. Targeted by an international arrest warrant, he was finally arrested in Yaounde in November 2018 by the Cameroonian authorities, while waiting for his wife at the airport. Extradited to France in February 2019, he was incarcerated in Nanterre and put in solitary confinement, where he spent more than four years in pre-trial detention.

To the president of the court, who was very interested in the accuseds creative accounts to the authorities, Hategekimana said on May 10 that of course he intended to return to France "later", with his wife. And that no, he was not in Cameroon for "humanitarian" reasons: "It was just the reason my daughter had given so that I could come longer. I thought that a warm country was good for my health." The president was annoyed. If I understand correctly, you are lying for a good cause?" he asked. "Yes," the accused replied.

Hategekimanas trial is being held in Paris until June 30.
France's highest court Friday ruled that the country could try foreign suspects under the universal jurisdiction principle, greenlighting inquiries into two Syrians accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

"The court recognises the principle of universal jurisdiction for the French judiciary in two cases concerning Syria," the Court of Cassation said in a statement.

The decision allows for investigations to continue in the cases against former Syrian soldier Abdulhamid Chaban, charged with complicity in crimes against humanity, and Majdi Nema, a former spokesman for the Islamist group Jaysh al-Islam accused of torture and war crimes.

Both Chaban, who was arrested in France in 2019, and Nema, who was detained while on a studying trip to the southern French city of Marseille the following year, deny any wrongdoing.

The suspects had tried to argue that they should not have been charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity relating to the Syrian civil war because these crimes do not exist on their country's statute books.

Syria never ratified the Rome Statute, the founding treaty of the International Criminal Court that defines both crimes.

Friday's ruling is significant for 160 cases that have been filed with a Paris court department handling crimes against humanity, covering 30 geographical areas also including Russia and Ukraine.

French magistrates in April ordered three senior Syrian regime officials to stand trial for complicity in crimes against humanity over the deaths of two French-Syrian nationals, but that relied on a separate law unrelated to universal jurisdiction.

Other European countries have, however, used the principle to try and convict alleged Syrian war criminals.

Germany last year convicted a former Syrian colonel of crimes against humanity and jailed him for life in the first global trial over state-sponsored torture in Syrian prisons.

Austria and Sweden have also sentenced Syrians for crimes during the civil war.

Syria's conflict has killed close to half a million people since it erupted in 2011 with a brutal crackdown on anti-government protests.

It has also forced around half of the nation's pre-war population from their homes, many of whom have sought asylum in Europe.
Bae Suzy once again dominated the internet as people are having a debate whether her sudden change of style was a good thing. Keep on reading to know what others are saying.

Suzy Receives Mixed Reactions From Her Look Transformation

Since she entered the world of showbiz, aside from her talent, Suzy has been known for her goddess-like beauty. May it be on or off the camera, she always makes heads turn with her visuals and strong presence.

Ahead of her drama comeback, Suzy went viral again as people are questioning her new style. The idol-actress has sported wearing light makeup.

On May 10, Suzy attended a mini-event of the jewelry brand Longines. As she faced the public, many noticed her transformation.

Her light makeup and warm shading at the edge of her eyes, along with full eyelashes and pink blush-gave her a fresh look.

People Candidly React to Bae Suzy's New Look

While trying this new style on her, people online shared their mixed reactions toward Suzy's unexpected change of style.

According to some, they preferred to see Suzy in her natural style, particularly her eyes without contact lenses.

"Suzy does look like a different person here. She looked better before."

"It is odd. She doesn't have the aura of the Suzy I liked before. She looks average in that style."

"Suzy's face shape also looks different. I thought it was just me who noticed it, but as I was reading the comments, others were of it too."

Though some didn't like her transformation, others also loved Suzy's look as it felt like she was living again in her debut era with Miss A.

"She kind a looks like her debut days, she still looks beautiful, but I prefer her old makeup."

"Suzy is so pretty."

"Am I the only one who finds her totally gorgeous here?"

What's Next for Bae Suzy?

Hence, Suzy still stands out as she illuminates elegance with her style. Meanwhile, the actress is returning to the small screen with her new drama "Doona," alongside Yang Se Jong.

On April 28, she reunited with Park Bo Gum and Shin Dong Yup as they hosted this year's 59th Baeksang Arts Awards. The actress was nominated for her drama "Anna."

In addition, she is busy working with various fashion and cosmetic brands while on acting break.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Song Hye Kyo, IU, More Stars Who Wore Expensive Accessories at 59th Baeksang Arts Awards

What can you say about Suzy's new look? Share your thoughts/replies in the comments!

For more K-Drama, K-Movie, and celebrity news and updates, keep your tabs open here at Kdramastars.

Kdramastars owns this article.

Shai Collins wrote this.
Gong Yoo proudly shows off his chiseled physique while enjoying his perfect beach getaway in the tropicals.

The South Korean star took to social media to update fans on his trip to Southeast Asia.

Gong Yoo Instagram: Actor Shows Off Drool-Worthy Body

On Gong Yoo's Instagram, the actor dons teal board shorts, showing off his drool-worthy physique as he dives 360 degrees into the pool.

Who would have thought that with those ripped shoulders, the South Korean hearthrob is in his early forties?

Apart from his head-turning beach body, the top star flaunted his swimming skills as he smoothly glided into the water.

Based on Gong Yoo's Instagram post, the actor took some time off his busy schedule and flew to Bali, Indonesia, to unwind.

In a previous report, the actor's personal trainer, Yoon Tae Sik, did an interview with a Korean publication where he spoke about the "Train to Busan" star's workout routine.

He described Gong Yoo as "a chill dude who lives next door." Moreover, he also revealed that he goes to the gym almost every day, especially if he is preparing for an upcoming project, hence his drool worthy body.

"When he's getting ready for a show, he tries to become that character," personal trainer Yoon Tae Sik shared, adding, "For instance, for his movie "The Suspect," he had to look like a special forces agent, so he ate and worked out like real athletes."

Is Gong Yoo Having a New K-Drama?

Besides being active on Instagram, Gong Yoo's last K-drama appearance was the Netflix sci-fi series "The Silent Sea," where he starred alongside Bae Doona, Lee Joon, Lee Moo Saeng, Kim Sun Young, and more.

He took on the role of Han Yun Jae, a soldier for the space agency and the leader of the space expedition.

Interetingly, Gong Yoo is in talks to return to the small screen with an interesting project.

Back in February 2023, outlets cited that he was selected to team-up with Seo Hyun Jin for the forthcoming romance drama.

Following the news, their agency, Management SOOP, confirmed that "Gong Yoo and Seo Hyun Jin have received offers to star in "Trunk'" and are positively reviewing the offer.

The series is based on the novel of the same name, which revolves around the story of families arranged by the fixed-term marriage service agency NM.

"Trunk" is helmed by "Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo," "Our Blues," "It's Okay, That's Love," and "Live" director Kim Gyu Tae and penned by Park Eun Young of "Hwarang."

If Gong Yoo officially accepts the offer, he will play the role of Han Jung Won, a music producer who doesn't believe in marriage, while Seo Hyun Jin is NM's deputy head, Noh In Ji, who prioritizes her career over love.

For more K-Drama, K-Movie, and celebrity news, keep your tabs open here at KDramaStars.

KDramaStars owns this article

Written by Geca Wills
A teepee is shown as Christopher Traverse, Chief of Lake St. Martin First Nation speaks to the media at Winnipeg's Brady Landfill just outside the city, Thursday, April 6, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods
Migrants wait for U.S. authorities, between a barbed-wire barrier and the border fence at the US-Mexico border, as seen from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Wednesday, May 10, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Christian Chavez
As an ER doctor for many years, I recently retired from medicine to write and explore the world. My husband and I sold our lovely lake home and downsized to a three-season cabin in the woods, smaller than a school bus, and got a tiny RV and a place in Thailand. COVID be damned, we froze our assets camping on the Rio Grande, wintered in Corsica, hiked in the Atacama, cruised to Antarctica, and ate and drank everything in sight, living life with gusto.

However, life had other plans for me. After kayaking between icebergs and chasing penguins, I discovered that my life as I knew it was over, and my life as a patient was about to begin. At first, I ignored it and went back to my penguins. When ignoring it was no longer an option, I sought care where we were at the time, which happened to be Thailand. Lucky me.

You may not know much about Thailands medical care, but its good. Besides offering dreamy white beaches, friendly elephants, and even friendlier people, Thailand is a medical tourism destination not only for those in pursuit of perkier selves and slimmer noses but also for those looking for detox, rehab, and memory care. Its internationally accredited private hospitals feature U.S.-trained doctors, luxurious accommodations, holistic treatments, and reasonable prices.

Within a week, Id seen three doctors, completed my workup, and had a diagnosis. A week later, I was home, recovering from surgery. I wouldnt call it fun, but it was fast, accessible, and transparent. In Thailand, theres little room for financial misunderstandings since most procedures are packaged, so you know exactly what youll have to pay. For example, the total price of a colonoscopy package, from the initial visit, including labs, screening EKG, and X-ray, to the laxatives and after-care, is posted in the elevator. The same with sleep studies and vaginal rejuvenation. But I digress.

Fast forward a few months. Im still a lousy patient, but maybe a wiser doctor. So I thought Id share a few insights:

You can be numb and still hurt. For years, I thought that was nuts. Is it numb, or does it hurt? Id ask. Yes, they said. Which is it? I insisted. Both. It turns out they were right. I remember that every time I get my cursed treatment.

When someone says: I know my body, sometimes they really do. Between stress, pain, and them taking my meds to make me NPO, my blood pressure went through the roof. The nurse tried everything, including taking it over and over. It didnt help. When it was time to go home, it got even worse, so they decided to keep me. Are you kidding? I decided to go. Two hours later, after a hot bath, a drink, and laying in my own bed without beeping alarms and somebody busting in every minute, (and taking my meds), I was all better.

When symptoms make no sense, think neuropathic before psychiatric. If anyone came to see me for the symptoms Im having, Id think theyre nuts. I wouldnt say it, of course  Id conjure some PC mumbo-jumbo about the effects of stress and fatigue on the body and offer them some Ativan. And who knows? It may even help. My doctor gave me some, but I didnt take it. I told you Im a lousy patient. But truth be told, the sparkles under the tongue, the spasms in the back of the scalp, the icy heels, and the eye twitches and lip curls that make me look like I have Tourettes, especially when I sputter obscenities  theyre all real, even if they make no sense. But only the obscenities are voluntary.

Disimpaction hurts! On a scale of 0 to 10, Ill call it a 16. Its not quite impaling, but its higher than flaying, which is just a 12 since its not that visceral. Be humane to your patients. Sedate. Relieve the pain. That way, they may be spared the tenesmus, which is a curse, and it will bring them back.

Kindness trumps meds. Warm blankets, a glass of water, killing the bleeping alarm  oh, God  the bleeping alarm  can turn the snappiest curmudgeon into a happier camper. Trust me, I know.

Respect their time. Youre God awful busy; I know you are. But remember, their time is just as important to them as yours is to you, especially if theyre running out of it.

Transparency trumps good medical care. Facing an unexpected bill they cant afford will turn the most grateful patient into a fire-spitting dragon wholl ruin your Press Ganey and bankrupt your RVUs. As a doc, I never cared what things cost. CTs? Insulin? Inhalers? Not my problem. I was too busy saving lives. I hope you do better.

Talk to them. Explain. Repeat. I loved my nurse when she came to tell me when the treatment would start and why, how long it would take, and when Id go home. I loved her more when she came to say goodbye at the end of her shift. When she returned to tell me again the following time, I loved her even more.

Nobody cares what you know until they know you care. I know youve heard this before, but it bears repeating. My lovely nurse who kept me informed, brought me extra toilet paper, and killed my alarms didnt recognize my stridor, even when I could no longer talk. That alone should have had her worried! But I didnt care. I loved her anyhow because I knew she cared.

Be kind to your patients, but dont forget to be kind to yourself. Eat that ice cream. Spend time with a friend. Do that thing you always dreamed of. Because if theres one thing sure, its that tomorrow is not guaranteed. Live life now.

Rada Jones is an emergency physician and can be reached at her self-titled site, RadaJonesMD, and on Twitter @jonesrada. She is the author of Overdose.
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Join Paul Pender, ophthalmologist and author of Standing Up & Speaking Out for Patients & Doctors, as he discusses the need for a change in mindset and a willingness to adopt new concepts in health care. Paul believes that building unique relationships within a cooperative framework is necessary for success, but that alone is not enough. Trust must also be re-established among all stakeholders. Tune in for an insightful conversation on standing up and speaking out for better health care.

Paul Pender is an ophthalmologist and author of Standing Up & Speaking Out for Patients & Doctors and Rebuilding Trust in Healthcare: A Doctors Prescription for a Post-Pandemic America.

He shares his story and discusses his book, Standing Up & Speaking Out for Patients & Doctors.

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It is National Nurses Week, a time when we recognize and appreciate the vital role nurses play in health care. As medical doctors, we understand firsthand the significance of nurses in enabling us to fulfill our responsibilities effectively.

I have a saying that emphasizes the importance of nurses to physicians:

If the doctor is good and the nurse is good, the patient will be well.

If the doctor is bad but the nurse is good, the patient will be OK.

If the doctor is good but the nurse is bad, the patient is not well.

If the doctor is bad and the nurse is bad, the patient is dead.

While my passion for medicine dates back to my childhood, I always envisioned myself as a medical doctor, not considering nursing as a prominent health care role. In my native country of Nigeria, doctors received most of the recognition for patient care, followed by pharmacists who assumed nursing-like duties.

During high school, I joined the Nigerian Red Cross, which fueled my aspirations of becoming a legitimate medical professional. It was during this time that I discovered Florence Nightingale, often hailed as the Founder of Modern Nursing. In fact, I recently added a childrens book about her to my library, ensuring my kids learn about this influential woman.

However, my perspective changed when I stumbled upon an article by Sarah DiGregorio, the author of Taking Care: The Story of Nursing and Its Power to Change Our World. The article shed new light on the founders of modern nursing, particularly Mary Seacole, also known as the Black Nightingale. Seacole served alongside Nightingale in the Crimean War, without the official title of nurse or government support. DiGregorios insightful article challenges the notion that Nightingale, an upper-class Caucasian woman of her time, should solely be credited as the Founder of Nursing, given the evidence of nursing practices across various cultures dating back 4,000 years. I highly recommend reading the article here, as it offers valuable perspectives. Additionally, Im eager to read DiGregorios new book, which Ive added to my reading list.

DiGregorio referenced a poem by Salman Rushdie that stated, Here is Mary Seacole, who did as much in the Crimea as another magic-lamping lady, but, being dark, could scarce be seen for the flame of Florences candle. As a Black woman, I felt a certain degree of guilt for not being familiar with Mary Seacole, prompting me to take immediate action. I ordered her autobiographical book, Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands, and In Search of Mary Seacole: The Making of a Black Cultural Icon and Humanitarian by Helen Rappaport, aiming to learn more about this remarkable woman and honor her contributions to medicine.

During this Nurses Week, let us, as physicians, celebrate and acknowledge the invaluable role our nurses play in delivering safe, timely, and effective care. Happy Nurses Week!

Rosemary Eseh-Logue is an internal medicine physician.
The destruction of River Katonga Bridge along the Kampala-Masaka highway by floods has prompted activists to launch another campaign against degradation of the Lwera wetland.

The campaign code-named Save Lwera from rice growing and sand mining has been launched by the Citizens Concern Africa (CICOA) a non-government organization that seeks to address environmental, social, and climate change issues in Uganda

The organisations Executive Director, Mr. Andrew Mafundo tells KFM that this latest campaign involves an online petition that opens to the public for signing at 4 pm on Friday, May 12th.

We are revamping the Save Lwera campaign and we hope that this time we shall have more people participating. But specifically, what happened yesterday, is unfortunate and regrettable and goes on to confirm that you cannot cheat nature, he said.

A similar petition was sent to the National Environment Management Authority, Ministry of Water and Environment and that of agriculture in 2019 and was signed by about 4,000 people.

Mr Mafundo decries the high cost of wetland degradation citing the travel chaos and increased costs for motorists. Traffic has now been diverted to the Mpigi Villa-Maria road which is longer by about 56km, according to the Bus Operators and Drivers Association.

He adds that wetlands and forests are important resources for regulating climatic conditions, erosion prevention, moderation of extreme flows, sediment traps, soil formation, and maintenance of water tables in surrounding lands, and acting as centers of biodiversity and wildlife habitat.

They are also sources of wood, timber and other construction materials, food, medicines, water supply, fisheries, dry-season grazing for livestock, nutrient and toxin, tourism, recreational and spiritual functions, and promote aesthetic beauty of the area. Unfortunately, these resources are on the decline in many parts of Uganda. Data shows that the national area of wetlands declined by 30% between 1994 and 2008.

And although between 2008 and 2014, there was an increase in areas under wetlands, this was only by 0.03% from 26,307km2 in 2008 to 26,315 km2 in 2014, Mr Mafundo said.

He says that despite efforts by various actors to stop sand mining and rice growing in Lwera, these activities have continued unabated and now Ugandans are paying for these irresponsible acts.
Medical officers have rejected a proposal by the government for privately-sponsored students to finance their internship.

The suggestion was made by the Prime Minister, Robinah Nabbanja during a high-level meeting convened in Kampala involving Public Service and Health the ministries, pre-interns, Senior House Officers, Medical Officers Special Grade, and the Uganda Medical Association.

Nabbanja informed the attendees that they had reached a decision with university vice-chancellors and deans that government only pays allowances to government-sponsored students and the privately sponsored students continue to sponsor their internship.

The doctors association however recommended that the government pays all interns this year but makes a sustainable affordable plan for interns allowances and quality training at all universities.

They have also rejected the new requirement of medical doctors who have graduated to pay for internship, saying it will choke the pipeline of medical doctors needed at this time in Uganda.
The ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party has today launched its initial accountability report on the progress so far made on their five-year manifesto.

While speaking at the event held in Kampala, Premier Robinah Nabbanja said that their overall assessment of the implementation of the manifesto commitments indicates that government has in the first two years accomplished 11% of the commitments and 77% of the commitments are on track to be achieved.

She expressed confidence that the next assessment will indicate a high rating. Nabbanja cited their priority area as jobs and wealth creation for all Ugandans, delivering education, health, and water services, ensuring justice and equity, protecting life and property, and achieving economic and political Integration.

Corruption is still with us and this undermines the different efforts invested to achieve our targets. However, Government is intensifying the fight against corruption by strengthening its investigative mechanisms within the various anti- corruption agencies to aid successful prosecution of the suspected corrupt culprits, Nabbanja said.

The implementation of the manifesto is guided by the 23 directives issued by President Yoweri Museveni the partys national chairperson at the first Cabinet meeting in June 2016 and later reissued again in June 2021.
Police in Kampala have revealed more details about an incident involving one of their police officers who allegedly shot dead Uwttam Bhanders, a manager at TFS Financial Services along Parliamentary Avenue on Friday afternoon.

Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesperson, Patrick Onyango, has identified the shooter as Police Constable Ivan Wabwire who allegedly first shot at the CCTV cameras in the bank before shooting the bank manager.

He (PC Wabwire) was servicing two loans he acquired since 2020, Onyango told journalists on Friday.

Onyango says the shooting happened after the police officer was angered by his loan balance.

They told him the amount (loan balance) and he started arguing, he could not believe thats the amount hes supposed to pay. According to one of the workers who was inside the room, the police officer shot at the cameras (CCTV cameras), so when he shot the camera, everybody who was inside took off, Onyango said.

After the shooting, he jumped on a boda and rushed to CPS Kampala where he abandoned the killer gun, Onyango added.
The Executive Director for Food and Adequate Living Rights, a Non-Government Organisation (NGO) wants government to institute a national food reserve system to address food insecurity across the country.

Mr. David Kabanda who has since threatened to drag government to court over its failure to solve the food insecurity challenge wants the line ministry to streamline the national food system.

Since 1995, Ugandas government has refused to establish what we call a food reserve system. It is a constitutional legal obligation on them but they have refused, Kabanda said.

He decries claims that some food companies are not regulated especially those dealing in farm inputs which pose both health and economic risks to consumers who continue to dig deep into their pockets to purchase fake products.

He has meanwhile welcomed a move by the Cabinet to okay the establishment of a separate entity to regulate animal feeds in the country
Barnstorm Theatre Company has undergone many changes in recent years including the appointment of a Participation and Education Officer with a wealth of experience.

In addition to being a trained actor, Jo has had a successful career working as a drama teacher and facilitator for the past ten years in Australia.

Having dedicated her career to using drama as a tool for social good, Jo is now focused on bringing the power of theatre to even more areas of the community. She wants to ensure that those who may not otherwise have the opportunity to experience theatre can access the same benefits that she has seen in her years of teaching and facilitating.

Jo has already developed new and exciting programmes for Barnstorm, including the re-establishment of the Barnstorms Adult Theatre Club which is affectionately called the ATC and meets every Thursday evening from 7-9pm.

During these sessions adults get to learn about the world of theatre including developing characterisation for script work, using improvisation methods for creating realistic characters.

Above all else we provide a space for people wanting to acquire acting skills to explore, learn and play. As adults, we don't get to do this very often, said Jo.

Jo also works with schools on a regular basis and will deliver the Moving Up Project shortly which explores the big move to post primary school for sixth class students through forum theatre and process drama. She is also in talks with local post primary schools to create a Transition Year programme.

Im excited about the areas that we can develop further within education. Having spent ten years teaching drama in Australia. I have seen firsthand the impact theatre can have in a post primary environment. It is extremely important in the development of our young people, she added.

Jo is passionate about her work and loves to engage with children and young adults in creative ways. She is also a keen advocate for the importance of education and believes in the power of theatre and storytelling to inspire. Additionally, Jo plans to deliver programmes at County Council Library Workshops for Bookville.

Artistic Director, Philip Hardy adds;

We are excited to see what the future holds as we embark on this new era of participation at Barnstorm.

Jo Hennessy is the perfect person to help us make a real difference in our community, and we are proud to have her on board.

Jo can be contacted through Barnstorm Theatre Company

www.barnstorm.ie
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A Kilkenny man is making a final appeal to financial sponsors to back his aid mission to Ukraine.

Jim Harding is heading up a convoy of vehicles and medical supplies that will be departing Ireland early next week for Ukraine.

Jim, from Gowran, travelled to Ukraine earlier this year as part of an Irish aid convoy from Tipperary, and now has launched his own appeal.

I couldnt come back here, having seen what they are going through, the battles they are fighting, the friends they are losing, and do absolutely nothing, he explained to the Kilkenny People.

Ireland as a country may be neutral but the Irish people cannot stand back and see this nation which shares a background eerily similar to our own in terms of famine colonisation and character, defend their country against the worlds second largest military machine without doing everything in our power to help.



Jims appeal is focusing on the vehicles that are needed in Ukraine, especially on the front line and to distribute food and aid.

Speaking to Ukrainians, when he was there in January, Jim said they appear to be pushing back the Russians, but they are doing so at an extremely high cost. They badly want four-wheel vans and ambulances, he said.

Next week Joe, and his team, will be taking two vans and four jeeps as well as 40,000 in medical aid on their mission. He is also hoping to add two fire engines, two ambulances and a box truck to that convoy.

Some items will be shipped, while some of the vehicles will be driven to Ukraine by the team. Jim is appealing to companies and individuals to sponsor the shipping costs. Jim has set up a website, KilkennyUkraine.com, to set out all the details of what is needed by his appeal, and an iDonate page for financial support. He can also be contacted on 0833340270 or email ireland2ukraine@gmail.com.
The active promotion of equal opportunities for women and men has a high priority at KIT and is a cross-sectional task in the entire organization.

More equal opportunities mean more diversity!

Especially science relies on diverse approaches, perspectives and expertise in order to find solutions to the global challenges of our time, such as the energy crisis, climate change, or the mobility of the future.

Promoting equal opportunities is essential to win the brightest minds from all career stages for jobs in research, administration and technical support facilities as well as to support all employees to reach their full potential.

It is our mission to (further) develop innovative and effective measures on the way to more parity and to advance the topic of equal opportunities in strategic projects. Therefore, the President is responsible for and accompanies the topic.

On behalf of the President, the Equal Opportunity and Diversity Management (CDM) initiates and develops new measures as well as projects for more equal opportunities or further develops and implements already existing activities. The KIT Equal Opportunity Officers, who are directly assigned to the President, perform a significant advisory and control function within the frame of their legal duties by being involved in all matters related to equal opportunities within scope of their participation rights. In particular, within the scope of their right of initiative, they provide new impulses to further promote equal opportunities at KIT.
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CPM Gold Trade Recommendation



Time Stamp



Prices as of 11:03 a.m. EST 12 May 2023 $2,017.40 (Basis the June 2023 Comex contract).



Recommendation: Stand Aside



Initial Target Price / Range: $1,980 - $2,065



Initial Timeframe: 12 May 2023 to 26 May 2023



Since CPM issued a Sell Recommendation on 5 May gold prices have moved between $2,005.70 and $2,061.30, a $55.60 band. Gold price volatility appears to have picked up as the market tries to digest all of the mixed financial, economic, and political data and signals. Prices should be expected to swing in either direction until the U.S. debt ceiling fiasco is resolved.



As has been over the past several weeks there is scope for prices to pop higher once more. This could be on increased political tensions related to Russias invasion of Ukraine or a deterioration of U.S. debt ceiling talks, or perhaps another unexpected factor. Prices could pop back to $1,265 or higher on such developments.



There also is scope for prices to move sharply lower. Inversely to a deterioration of U.S. debt ceiling talks, there could be a resolution to these issues. Democrats and some Republicans are aware that prolonging the impasse already is harming the stature and reputation of the U.S. governments creditworthiness. A resolution could see gold profit taking. There are other actions that could quickly deflate gold prices.



For one, the Democratic Administration could do what it did in the middle of the 1990s when Republican Congressional intransigence shut down the U.S. government. Then secretary of the Treasury Robert Rubin responded to a question in a press conference that there were several steps the Administration could do to fund the government, including selling some of the Treasurys 261 million ounces of gold. Western gold mining donors convinced their Republican representatives to agree to the White Houses funding plans within a couple of days. The White House or Treasury could suggest such again, or even move to sell gold. That obviously would push gold prices sharply lower very fast. The Administration could invoke the 14th Amendment and ignore the debt ceiling.



In other words, gold prices could swing sharply in either direction over the next few weeks.



Seasonality also could weigh on prices, but an offsetting supporting factor could be the the roll of the June Comex contract to the August Comex contract. Prices could move in a similar or wider band than we have seen over the past couple of weeks during the remainder of May.



CPM has one-month, three-month ranges and eight-quarter quarterly price projections with greater discussion of the factors behind CPMs analyses provided in CPMs monthly subscription service, the Precious Metals Advisory.



While short-term trade recommendations provide high risk  high reward opportunities for investors, it is difficult to capture the complex web of factors affecting precious metals prices and the nuanced CPM analyses of these factors that goes into our firms price projections. In addition to these short-term outlooks, CPM Group provides clients enhanced trade recommendations that include one and three month price projections, as part of our Retail Investor Program. Contact CPM at info@cpmgroup.com for details.



Notes:



Initial Target Prices and Timeframes are just that: Initial. If CPM does not issue a new Recommendation during or after that time it indicates that CPM maintains the posture in the most recent Trade Recommendation.



Position may be closed out once target price is reached, within the noted discretion or until CPM provides new trade recommendation. CPM may have reported to have closed out of prior trade recommendation at its discretion before publicly publishing new trade recommendation due to processing time.



Discretion should be allowed at +/- 0.20% of the price at the time each TR is issued from the target.



CPMs preferred investment strategies use physical, futures, forwards, and options.



CPM Group wants to thank the following companies for helping us make these short Trade Signals available free of charge, and for their commitment to providing good information in opaque and asymmetrical commodities markets.

Kitco

Metallic Minerals

Stillwater Critical Minerals

Granite Creek Copper
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(Kitco News) - Franklin Templeton, one of the worlds largest asset managers, has filed for a new blockchain fund that will target institutional investors interested in crypto assets. The Franklin Templeton Blockchain Fund II will operate as a private equity fund, as opposed to a liquid cryptocurrency hedge fund, and require a minimum investment of $100,000.

A commingled fund is a pooled investment vehicle that combines money from different investors and invests in a portfolio of assets. Unlike a liquid cryptocurrency hedge fund, which allows investors to withdraw their money at any time, a private equity fund typically locks up the capital for several years and charges higher fees.

Under private placement regulations, Franklin Templeton can only offer the new fund to accredited investors who meet certain income or net worth criteria. The firm cannot advertise or solicit the fund to the general public and must file a notice with the SEC before selling any securities.

This new fund is the second crypto-related fund that Franklin Templeton has launched. The first one, called Franklin Blockchain Opportunities Fund I, was filed in September and operates as a venture capital fund that invests in blockchain startups. According to PitchBook, the fund raised $10 million from 10 investors and required a minimum investment of $1 million.

In April 2022, Franklin Templeton partnered with the Stellar network to launch FOBXX, a U.S.-registered money market fund that uses blockchain technology to record transactions and provide transparency to investors. FOBXX invests in short-term U.S. government securities and aims to maintain a stable net asset value of $1 per share. The fund has since expanded to the Polygon network and has surpassed $275 million in assets under management.

Based on the latest issue of Disruptive Technology Views by Sandy Kaul, Head of Digital Asset and Advisory Services at Franklin Templeton, the areas the firm is especially interested in currently are Web3, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and their use in payments.

As part of the future effort to incentivize the crowd in Web3 models, transactions are likely to be enhanced with new and ongoing rights to augment a basic purchase and create a more valuable experience with a longer-tail that helps to develop a relationship between the provider and the consumer, Kaul wrote. These new types of rights are likely to be delivered via a fungible or non-fungible programmable token.

Kaul noted that due to the functionality available with the NFTs, that token would encapsulate not only the initial transaction, but the entire set of future rights, adding that, it will serve the dual purpose of also functioning as an asset that can be utilized to help meet the individuals investment goals.

This blurring of the lines between a commercial transaction and an investment asset has significant implications for how value gets assigned in the coming world, she said.

Smart contracts also hold the potential to radically transform the realm of payments in Web3. Having the ability to program smart contracts that will self-execute terms and covenants and embed those contracts into a transferable token creates extensive new opportunities, Kaul wrote. The costs associated with administering complex trades should go down significantly and the volume of transactions should register a corresponding surge.

Another capability highlighted by Kaul is the ability to embed a governing document into a token, which creates the potential to enhance that activity in new ways.

A common example currently is the ability of some NFTs to grant their holders access to exclusive communities or rewards. Not only [does] the purchase of the token bestow digital rights, but it also offered rights that crossed over into the physical worldthus creating a phygital experience, she said.

In conclusion, Kaul suggested that Web3 technologies are likely to change the nature of both investing and commerce, causing an unprecedented blurring of the lines between these pursuits.

As opposed to luxury items like art and jewelry or tangible assets like real estate, which have long been included in wealth portfolios as passive investments and for use as collateral, token-based experiential transactions represent a new type of asset that will require active selection and management, she said.

This will require new types of pricing models and portfolio construction and management tools to optimize the use of such assets. While a challenge, the inclusion of these types of assets in future portfolios can also forge tighter bonds and stickier relationships between individuals and their advisors and offer investment managers a more expansive set of opportunities to construct investment offerings.
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(Kitco News) - As blockchain technology slowly gains adoption around the world, the global Muslim population is set to get their first cryptocurrency ecosystem that abides by the principles and traditions of Islam with the launch of the Islamic Coin ($ISLM), the native coin of the Haqq ecosystem.

According to a report from Arabian Business, the public launch of the new token will take place in May. $ISLM operates on the Haqq blockchain, which is compatible with the Ethereum network and thousands of applications worldwide.

Haqq, which means truth in Arabic, was designed to stringently abide by Islamic principles and traditions on finance. Islamic Coin will be the primary token of value within the ecosystem, providing the global Muslim population with a financial platform that offers a 100% halal cryptocurrency.

The new token was created to help address the reservations that observant Muslims currently have about digital assets and how they fit in with the customs of Islam. Islamic Coin has already received accreditation and authorization through the Fatwa of several Muslim authorities.

Haqqs stated mission is to provide the global Muslim population with a financial platform enabling real-time, transparent, and cross-border transactions while supporting Web3 innovations and philanthropy.

To help achieve its philanthropic goals, the network has pledged to dedicate 10% of each Islamic Coin to Evergreen DAO  a non-profit virtual foundation focused on long-term sustainability and community impact  to fund community projects in the Muslim world.

To help with adoption, the Haqq Association, the ecosystems non-profit arm, has partnered with the International Islamic University of Malaysia (IIUM) to increase blockchain and crypto awareness with a positive learning environment.

Additionally, Haqq has formed several commercial partnerships with retail and e-commerce platforms to introduce Sharia-compliant Web3 technologies into traditional Web2 environments. Most recently, the project partnered with Holiday Swap, the worlds largest home exchange platform, to transition the companys tokenized operations to Web3.

To help decide if a project wishing to launch on the Haqq blockchain is compliant with Islamic principles, Islamic Coin has appointed a Sharia board that includes 40 banks, with Standard Chartered, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank and Dubai Islamic Bank listed among its members.

Due to the public and open-source nature of the blockchain, projects that arent Sharia-compliant will still be able to launch on the network, but they will not receive the badge that indicates compliance and elicits a higher level of trust within the community.

Last month, the Haqq Association signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the London-based DDCAP GroupTM to explore potential collaboration opportunities that utilize DDCAPs Sharia-compliant financial technology to build industry-grade systems that can cater to the growing demand for such services. This includes the creation of a Web3 alternative to the SWIFT payments system.

According to Haqq co-founder Mohammed AlKaff AlHashmi, Islamic Coin has the potential to become a tier-one asset. If only 3-4% of the online Muslim community holds the coin, it could become a Bitcoin-scale asset, AlHashmi said.

The global Islamic finance market is expected to surpass $3.69 trillion by 2024, while the Halal products market is projected to surpass $4 trillion. Its not only about food anymore, its also about healthcare products, cosmetics, how to make sure that everything is really Halal and fits with community ethics and values, AlHashmi said.

With a global population of more than 1.8 billion people, AlHashmi said the Muslim community represents an untapped and underserved market in the crypto world. He also noted that Islamic finance is also being embraced by non-Muslims, as at least 50 percent of Haqqs private sales of Islamic Coin were purchased by non-Muslims.

In 2022, cryptocurrency transactions in the MENA region accounted for $566 billion in value, a 48% increase from the previous year.
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(Kitco News) - LG Global, the South Korean consumer tech giant, has become the latest company to further the integration of blockchain technology into its hardware according to a recent patent the company filed with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

According to the paperwork, LG is seeking patent protection for a television that is capable of connecting with a non-fungible token (NFT) market server to allow users to send, receive and display artwork and fulfill purchases via a cryptocurrency wallet that is connected to the TV set.

This latest patent filing suggests that LG sees ongoing consumer demand for NFTs in the future and sees a business case for making them more accessible.

LG first delved into the integration of NFTs with its television sets last September when it released its LG Art Lab marketplace, which enabled users to trade digital collectibles via U.S. LG televisions running their WebOS 5.0 operating system. The marketplace is only accessible via LG televisions.

The plans for LG Art Lab were likely in the works for years as LG has served as a node operator for the Hedera Network, where LG Art Labs is hosted, since 2020.

Then in January, the electronics manufacturer doubled down on its metaverse ambitions with the launch of the Blade Wallet, which is capable of interfacing with LG Art Labs to enable NFT trading.

LG is not alone in its efforts to integrate NFTs with television as its rival Samsung has also incorporated the technology into its devices via the Samsung NFT Platform, which is accessible thanks to a partnership with Nifty Gateway.

NFTs have been one of the most popular sectors of the cryptocurrency market over the past two years but have gone through a significant cooling off period of late, with interest hampered by the ongoing struggles of the wider cryptocurrency market.

The recent release of Ordinals, which are essentially NFTs on the Bitcoin network, has sparked a revival in the sector, but the resultant increase in transaction costs has reminded investors of the perils that come along with active NFT markets.

Ethereum has also seen a spike in transaction costs recently due in part to demand for the NFT project Milady, which saw the floor price for its collection surge higher on Wednesday after Twitter CEO Elon Musk tweeted a meme created using imagery from the Milady NFT collection.

Data provided by Dune Analytics shows that while 2023 has seen a resurgence in the volume of trades occurring on NFT marketplaces as compared to 2022, NFT trading activity remains well below the highs seen during the bull market of 2021.

Weekly NFT trading volumes. Source: Dune Analytics

That being said, interest in the various aspects of the NFT market remains high, and there are multiple use cases for NFT technology that have yet to be implemented across multiple verticals, from investing to asset management.

As noted in the latest issue of Disruptive Technology Views by Sandy Kaul, Head of Digital Asset and Advisory Services at Franklin Templeton, Web3 technologies are likely to change the nature of both investing and commerce, causing an unprecedented blurring of the lines between these pursuits.

Token-based experiential transactions represent a new type of asset that will require active selection and management, Kaul wrote. This will require new types of pricing models and portfolio construction and management tools to optimize the use of such assets.
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(Kitco News) - Do Kwon, the founder of Terraform Labs, has been granted bail by a Montenegro court on Friday, according to the court statement.

Kwon and Terraforms chief financial officer Han Chang-Joon will be released from jail and placed under house arrest in an apartment in Podgorica, the capital of Montenegro, after the court accepted their lawyers bail proposal of 400,000 euros ($436,000) each. Both have been charged with attempting to travel using forged documents.

According to the statement, the defendants told the court they have property worth several million, but the bail amount would be paid by their wives. They also promised that if they are released from custody, they will not flee before the end of the criminal proceedings, that they will regularly respond to court summons and that they will be available at the address provided by their defense attorney.

The Montenegrin prosecutor objected to the defenses bail proposal, arguing that the offered amount does not guarantee the presence of the defendants and that they have no interest in staying in the territory of Montenegro.

The court decided, however, that the possibility of losing the deposited bail in the amount of EUR 400,000.00 each has a sufficiently discouraging effect on the defendants to dissuade them from any desire to escape.

The prosecution has three days to appeal the decision.

Both the United States and South Korea are seeking Do Kwons extradition, but Montenegros Justice Minister Marko Kovac indicated on March 29 that crimes committed in his country will take precedence.

Primacy is given to the court proceedings led in Montenegro, Kovac told journalists through an interpreter. If they are convicted for the criminal offense of falsifying identification documents, only after they served their prison sentence is it expected that they will be extradited.

The U.S. and South Korea have also requested Kwons laptops and other devices on suspicion that they might contain evidence of crimes and cryptocurrency.

Kwon and Chang-Joon were arrested at the Podgorica airport on Mar. 23 after being caught attempting to travel to Dubai under fake Costa Rican traveling documents. The pair also had Belgian and South Korean travel documents, and Montenegrin authorities said the Belgian documents were also forged.

The pressure to capture Kwon had been mounting since he fled his native South Korea following the collapse of the Terra ecosystem in May 2022, with a South Korean court issuing an arrest warrant on Sept. 17 and Interpol issuing a Red Notice two weeks later.

The United States was the latest entity to target Kwon with criminal charges. On Feb. 17, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged Do Kwon with securities fraud, writing that Kwon and Terraform orchestrated a multi-billion dollar crypto asset securities fraud involving an algorithmic stablecoin and other crypto asset securities.

The SEC said Terraform and Kwon touted and marketed Terra USD (UST) as a yield-bearing stablecoin, which they advertised as paying as much as 20 percent interest through the Anchor Protocol, and that they repeatedly misled and deceived investors that a popular Korean mobile payment application used the Terra blockchain to settle transactions that would accrue value to LUNA.

The complaint also alleges that Kwon and others at Terraform misled investors about USTs stability before it ultimately depegged from the U.S. dollar and became nearly worthless.

On May 2, attorneys for Terraform Labs filed a motion to dismiss a U.S. class action lawsuit filed against the company, and they also took the opportunity to push back against the SECs charges.

The class action was filed by investor Nick Patterson in June 2022, claiming that Terraform Labs algorithmic stablecoin tokens UST and LUNA were actually securities, and that the company committed racketeering, mail and wire fraud.

The lawyers challenge echoed the now-familiar criticisms that crypto firms have been leveling against the SEC for years.

Lead Plaintiffs attempt to rely on the SECs allegations regarding the Terra Tokens being securities is fatal, they wrote. First off, they say Patterson cannot simply base his claim on the SECs allegations. Secondly, the SEC is wrong and [the Howey test] does not apply to digital assets. And finally, Patterson does not adequately plead that any specific Terra Token satisfies the Howey test.
May 12 (Reuters) - Shares of major U.S. regional lenders were mostly lower on Friday, underscoring continued investor uncertainty about the financial stability of mid-sized banks.

Comerica Inc (CMA.N), Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB.O) and KeyCorp (KEY.N) fell 3.7%, 1.1% and nearly 2%, respectively. PacWest Bancorp (PACW.O), which lost 23% on Thursday after reporting a decline in deposits, dropped 2.7%. Zions Bancorp (ZION.O) shares were down 2.4%.

All three major Wall Street indexes, including the S&P 500 (.SPX), also traded lower after data showed U.S. consumer sentiment slumped to a six-month low.

"More U.S. banks have been in the market crosshairs ... despite many of the pressured banks having generally solid credit fundamentals," DBRS Morningstar analysts said, adding that investor fears would likely persist until regulators extended deposit insurance or barred investors from betting against stocks, a practice known as short selling.

Persistent investor worries about instability in the regional bank sector, worsened by the collapse of First Republic Bank earlier in May, have pushed down the KBW Regional Banking index (.KRX) nearly 14% so far this month. The index was down nearly 0.5% on Friday.

Markets are also eyeing the debate over the U.S. debt ceiling, as President Joe Biden's Democrats and Republicans, who control the House of Representatives, remain at odds over raising the country's borrowing cap.

The U.S. faces a "significant risk" of defaulting on payment obligations within the first two weeks of June without a debt ceiling increase, the Congressional Budget Office said on Friday, underscoring the urgency of resolving the standoff.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will discuss the impasse next week with board members of the Bank Policy Institute - which includes JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and Citigroup (C.N) CEO Jane Fraser - a Treasury official told Reuters.

"Markets will focus on banking fears, debt ceiling concerns," among other economic indicators, TD Securities analysts wrote in an investor note.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation said on Thursday it will replenish its deposit insurance fund by imposing a special assessment fee of 0.125% on uninsured deposits of lenders in excess of $5 billion, although analysts said the levy shouldn't be a worry for banks.

"While the special assessment is meaningful in terms of dollars overall to the industry, it is not as meaningful on a per-bank basis," Raymond James analysts wrote in a note.

On the up side, shares of Charles Schwab (SCHW.N) traded 2.5% higher after the brokerage firm said that so far in May, it had seen fewer clients move their funds away from its accounts to other high-yield products. The pace of such "cash realignment" has slowed for three straight months and will abate during 2023, it said.
LUZERN, Switzerland, May 12 (Reuters) - UBS (UBSG.S) Chief Executive Sergio Ermotti said on Friday that the situation at Credit Suisse has stabilized and he did not think outflows at the embattled bank were continuing.

Addressing the Swiss Media Forum in Lucerne, Ermotti also said he hoped there would be an investigation into the circumstances that pushed Credit Suisse Group (CSGN.S) to the brink of collapse and led to its takeover by UBS as part of a rescue orchestrated by the Swiss authorities.

Commenting on his decision to include in his new leadership team Ulrich Koerner, a former UBS executive who has led Credit Suisse since last year, Ermotti said the bank's problems were rooted well in the past.

"In my opinion it is crystal clear, this situation did not develop in the last six weeks or six months but over the course of the last six, seven years," he said.

"I hope that, when there will be an investigation, it should be long enough to properly understand everything that happened," Ermotti said, addressing the conference from the MS Diamant boat moored on the Lake of Lucerne.

Switzerland's attorney general said last month the country's federal prosecutor had opened an investigation into the takeover, looking into potential breaches of Swiss criminal law by government officials, regulators and executives at the two banks.

He also said UBS was on track to close the transaction within three months from its March 19 announcement.

Earlier this week, UBS said that following the legal closing of the transaction it would manage two separate parent companies  UBS AG and Credit Suisse AG - throughout the integration process, which it has said could take three to four years.

During that time, each institution will continue to have its own subsidiaries and branches, serve its clients and deal with counterparties.
stuff reports:

The Maori Party has been referred to the police by the Electoral Commission after failing to declare almost $330,000 in donations to the Commission. Any donations of over $30,000 received within a 12-month period have to declared to the Commission within 10 working days. But three large donations to the Maori Party from 2020 were not declared until March and April 2021, well outside of that period. Those donations were a cumulative $158,000 from John Tamihere, $120,000 from Aotearoa Te Kahu, and $49,000 from the National Urban Maori Authority.

There's two issues here. The first is timeliness. The law states large donations must be declared within 10 working days. This allows the public prior to voting to know who is a major donor of a party. Not disclosing until months after an election almost $330,000 of donations is a serious breach and those responsible should be fined reasonably heavily.

The donation from John Tamihere is not controversial. Often party leaders donate to their parties.

The National Urban Maori Authority is a collective of local Maori authorities. Those who fund NUMA may be surprised that it in turn is funding a political party.

The real mystery is AOTEAROA TE KAHU LIMITED PARTNERSHIP. Go to the register of limited partnerships and you find they act on behalf of AOTEAROA TE KAHU GP LIMITED.

Their shareholder is ATK NOMINEES LIMITED. And their shareholder is MORRISON KENT LIMITED. It is fair to assume Morrison Kent are not the actual shareholders but are acting for someone.

So this leaves the question who actually controls and funds Aotearoa Te Kahu and made the decision to donate $120,000 to the Maori Party?

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So the maori Party co-leader is against helping Ukraine defend itself from Russian invasion, and even worse portrays the Russian invaders as indigenous to Ukraine.

Waititi is so anti-West that he fails to understand that Kane Te Tai was in fact fighting for the indigenous people of Ukraine to keep their sovereignty.

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Shenandoah, IA (51601)

Today

Cloudy skies. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 82F. Winds NNE at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Rain. Low 51F. Winds NE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Rainfall around a half an inch.
Weather Alert

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH 224 IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 PM CDT THIS EVENING FOR THE FOLLOWING AREAS IN ILLINOIS THIS WATCH INCLUDES 17 COUNTIES IN SOUTH CENTRAL ILLINOIS BOND CLINTON FAYETTE MARION MONTGOMERY WASHINGTON IN SOUTHWEST ILLINOIS CALHOUN GREENE JERSEY MACOUPIN MADISON MONROE RANDOLPH SAINT CLAIR IN WEST CENTRAL ILLINOIS ADAMS BROWN PIKE IN MISSOURI THIS WATCH INCLUDES 23 COUNTIES IN CENTRAL MISSOURI AUDRAIN BOONE CALLAWAY COLE MONITEAU OSAGE IN EAST CENTRAL MISSOURI FRANKLIN GASCONADE JEFFERSON LINCOLN MONTGOMERY SAINT CHARLES SAINT LOUIS SAINT LOUIS CITY WARREN IN NORTHEAST MISSOURI KNOX LEWIS MARION MONROE PIKE RALLS SHELBY IN SOUTHEAST MISSOURI SAINTE GENEVIEVE THIS INCLUDES THE CITIES OF ALTON, BELLEVILLE, BOWLING GREEN, CAHOKIA, CENTRALIA, CHESTER, COLUMBIA, EDWARDSVILLE, FULTON, HANNIBAL, JEFFERSON CITY, LITCHFIELD, MEXICO, MOUNT STERLING, PITTSFIELD, QUINCY, SAINT CHARLES, SAINT LOUIS, SALEM, SPARTA, SULLIVAN, UNION, VANDALIA, AND WASHINGTON.
Bank of America upgraded shares of Albemarle (NYSE:ALB  Get Rating) from an underperform rating to a neutral rating in a research report released on Monday morning, The Fly reports. Bank of America currently has $200.00 target price on the specialty chemicals companys stock, up from their prior target price of $195.00.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Credit Suisse Group restated an underperform rating and issued a $240.00 price objective on shares of Albemarle in a report on Thursday, February 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on shares of Albemarle from $325.00 to $240.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 20th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Albemarle from $325.00 to $300.00 in a report on Friday, May 5th. Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of Albemarle from $328.00 to $224.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 2nd. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Albemarle from $310.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Tuesday, February 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $284.95.

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Albemarle Stock Performance

NYSE ALB opened at $198.52 on Monday. Albemarle has a 52-week low of $171.82 and a 52-week high of $334.55. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $206.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of $242.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.90. The company has a market capitalization of $23.29 billion, a PE ratio of 6.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 1.53.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

Albemarle ( NYSE:ALB Get Rating ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 4th. The specialty chemicals company reported $10.32 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.93 by $3.39. Albemarle had a net margin of 41.89% and a return on equity of 45.57%. The company had revenue of $2.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $2.74 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.38 earnings per share. Albemarles revenue for the quarter was up 128.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Albemarle will post 24.21 EPS for the current year.

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, June 16th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 15th. Albemarles dividend payout ratio is currently 5.13%.

Insider Activity at Albemarle

In related news, CFO Scott Tozier sold 417 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.49, for a total value of $106,539.33. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 75,203 shares of the companys stock, valued at $19,213,614.47. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CFO Scott Tozier sold 417 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.49, for a total transaction of $106,539.33. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 75,203 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,213,614.47. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kristin M. Coleman purchased 1,373 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 5th. The shares were bought at an average price of $182.00 per share, for a total transaction of $249,886.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,373 shares in the company, valued at approximately $249,886. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.38% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Albemarle

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Activest Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Core Alternative Capital boosted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 342.9% during the 1st quarter. Core Alternative Capital now owns 124 shares of the specialty chemicals companys stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc boosted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 188.1% during the 1st quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 121 shares of the specialty chemicals companys stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 51.2% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 130 shares of the specialty chemicals companys stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tompkins Financial Corp boosted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 50.0% during the 4th quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp now owns 150 shares of the specialty chemicals companys stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. 82.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Albemarle

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Albemarle Corp. engages in the development, manufacture, and marketing of chemicals for consumer electronics, petroleum refining, utilities, packaging, construction, transportation, pharmaceuticals, crop production, food-safety, and custom chemistry services. It operates through the following business segments: Lithium, Bromine, Catalysts, and All Other.

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Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC grew its position in W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC  Get Rating) by 5.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 13,200 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock after acquiring an additional 700 shares during the quarter. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLCs holdings in W. P. Carey were worth $1,032,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quent Capital LLC lifted its holdings in W. P. Carey by 40.4% in the 4th quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 775 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 223 shares during the last quarter. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. lifted its position in W. P. Carey by 31.1% in the third quarter. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. now owns 4,310 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $301,000 after purchasing an additional 1,022 shares during the period. Tobam increased its holdings in W. P. Carey by 54.4% in the 4th quarter. Tobam now owns 1,223 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $96,000 after buying an additional 431 shares during the period. Utah Retirement Systems raised its position in W. P. Carey by 1.8% in the third quarter. Utah Retirement Systems now owns 34,276 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $2,392,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NorthRock Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of W. P. Carey during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $421,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.73% of the companys stock.

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W. P. Carey Price Performance

W. P. Carey stock opened at $72.00 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $15.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.15, a P/E/G ratio of 10.47 and a beta of 0.77. W. P. Carey Inc. has a 12-month low of $67.76 and a 12-month high of $89.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The businesss 50-day simple moving average is $75.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $78.69.

W. P. Carey Increases Dividend

W. P. Carey ( NYSE:WPC Get Rating ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.12. W. P. Carey had a net margin of 47.26% and a return on equity of 8.47%. The company had revenue of $427.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $406.24 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.35 EPS. W. P. Careys revenue was up 24.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that W. P. Carey Inc. will post 5.18 earnings per share for the current year.

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 31st were paid a $1.067 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 30th. This represents a $4.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.93%. This is an increase from W. P. Careys previous quarterly dividend of $1.07. W. P. Careys dividend payout ratio is 119.94%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on WPC. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of W. P. Carey from $86.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Monday, February 13th. 92 Resources reissued a maintains rating on shares of W. P. Carey in a report on Monday, May 1st. JMP Securities reiterated a market outperform rating and issued a $86.00 price objective on shares of W. P. Carey in a research report on Tuesday, March 21st. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on W. P. Carey in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a hold rating for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, W. P. Carey presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $86.80.

Insider Transactions at W. P. Carey

In related news, Director Mark A. Alexander acquired 1,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 2nd. The stock was acquired at an average price of $72.48 per share, for a total transaction of $72,480.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 26,118 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $1,893,032.64. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.11% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

W. P. Carey Company Profile

(Get Rating)

W.P. Carey, Inc is an investment trust company, which engages in the commercial real estate business. It operates through the Real Estate and Investment Management segments. The Real Estate segment owns and invests in commercial real estate properties. The Investment Management segment structures and negotiates investments and debt placement transactions for real estate investment trusts, and manages portfolios of real estate investments.

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MeridianLink, Inc. (NYSE:MLNK  Get Rating) insider Chris Maloof sold 11,897 shares of MeridianLink stock in a transaction on Friday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.60, for a total transaction of $185,593.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 454,990 shares in the company, valued at $7,097,844. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Chris Maloof also recently made the following trade(s):

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On Tuesday, April 4th, Chris Maloof sold 1,573 shares of MeridianLink stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.24, for a total transaction of $27,118.52.

MeridianLink Price Performance

MeridianLink stock opened at $16.52 on Friday. MeridianLink, Inc. has a 52 week low of $12.49 and a 52 week high of $18.84. The company has a quick ratio of 2.06, a current ratio of 2.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The firms 50-day simple moving average is $16.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $15.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.33 billion, a PE ratio of -110.13 and a beta of 0.73.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MeridianLink ( NYSE:MLNK Get Rating ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 1st. The company reported ($0.05) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by $0.04. MeridianLink had a negative return on equity of 1.33% and a negative net margin of 4.05%. The firm had revenue of $70.55 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $67.77 million. On average, equities research analysts predict that MeridianLink, Inc. will post -0.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Several research firms have recently commented on MLNK. Credit Suisse Group reduced their target price on shares of MeridianLink from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 2nd. BTIG Research cut their target price on MeridianLink from $28.00 to $24.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 2nd. Barclays upped their price target on shares of MeridianLink from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a research note on Thursday, March 2nd. Finally, Wolfe Research cut shares of MeridianLink from a peer perform rating to an underperform rating and set a $14.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, April 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $17.33.

Institutional Trading of MeridianLink

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new stake in MeridianLink during the third quarter worth approximately $27,000. UBS Group AG increased its position in MeridianLink by 610.4% during the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,705 shares of the companys stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 1,465 shares during the last quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. raised its stake in MeridianLink by 81.3% during the first quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 1,759 shares of the companys stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 789 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its holdings in shares of MeridianLink by 261.8% in the 3rd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 2,301 shares of the companys stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 1,665 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ensign Peak Advisors Inc acquired a new stake in shares of MeridianLink during the 3rd quarter worth $44,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.45% of the companys stock.

About MeridianLink

(Get Rating)

MeridianLink, Inc, a software and services company, provides software solutions for banks, credit unions, mortgage lenders, specialty lending providers, and consumer reporting agencies in the United States. The company offers MeridianLink Consumer, a consumer lending and account opening platform; MeridianLink Opening, an online account opening software that unifies deposit account opening and funding for various channels and products; and MeridianLink DecisionLender, a loan origination software (LOS) for finance companies.

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Vodafone Group Public (LON:VOD  Get Rating) had its target price dropped by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from GBX 100 ($1.26) to GBX 95 ($1.20) in a research report issued on Friday, The Fly reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co.s price target would indicate a potential upside of 5.47% from the stocks current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on VOD. Numis Securities reiterated a buy rating and set a GBX 130 ($1.64) price objective on shares of Vodafone Group Public in a research note on Tuesday, February 14th. Barclays set a GBX 115 ($1.45) price objective on Vodafone Group Public in a report on Friday, February 3rd. Berenberg Bank set a GBX 100 ($1.26) price objective on Vodafone Group Public in a research note on Wednesday, February 1st. Citigroup began coverage on Vodafone Group Public in a report on Tuesday, April 4th. They set a neutral rating on the stock. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a GBX 85 ($1.07) price objective on shares of Vodafone Group Public in a research note on Thursday, February 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Vodafone Group Public has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of GBX 119.55 ($1.51).

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Vodafone Group Public Price Performance

LON VOD traded down GBX 0.91 ($0.01) during trading hours on Friday, reaching GBX 90.08 ($1.14). The companys stock had a trading volume of 62,002,946 shares, compared to its average volume of 86,106,656. Vodafone Group Public has a 1-year low of GBX 1.04 ($0.01) and a 1-year high of GBX 132.10 ($1.67). The companys 50-day moving average is GBX 92.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is GBX 93.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 134.84, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The firm has a market capitalization of 24.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 1,501.28, a P/E/G ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 0.55.

About Vodafone Group Public

Vodafone Group Public Limited Company engages in telecommunication services in Europe and internationally. The company offers mobile services that enable customers to call, text, and access data; fixed line services, including broadband, television (TV) offerings, and voice; and convergence services under the GigaKombi and Vodafone One names to customers.

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Land Securities Group (OTCMKTS:LSGOF  Get Rating) and Advanced Oxygen Technologies (OTCMKTS:AOXY  Get Rating) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability, dividends and valuation.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Land Securities Group and Advanced Oxygen Technologies, as reported by MarketBeat.

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Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Land Securities Group 0 0 1 0 3.00 Advanced Oxygen Technologies 0 0 0 0 N/A

Risk and Volatility

Earnings and Valuation

Land Securities Group has a beta of 1.29, meaning that its stock price is 29% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Advanced Oxygen Technologies has a beta of -0.64, meaning that its stock price is 164% less volatile than the S&P 500.

This table compares Land Securities Group and Advanced Oxygen Technologies gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio Land Securities Group $927.76 million N/A $1.19 billion N/A N/A Advanced Oxygen Technologies $40,000.00 13.57 $60,000.00 N/A N/A

Land Securities Group has higher revenue and earnings than Advanced Oxygen Technologies.

Profitability

This table compares Land Securities Group and Advanced Oxygen Technologies net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Land Securities Group N/A N/A N/A Advanced Oxygen Technologies 2.16% 0.25% 0.12%

Summary

Land Securities Group beats Advanced Oxygen Technologies on 4 of the 7 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Land Securities Group

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Land Securities Group Plc is a real estate investment trust. The firm engages in owning, developing and managing offices, shopping centers, and retail parks. It operates through the Central London, Regional Retail, Urban Opportunities, and Subscale Sectors segments. The Central London segment includes all assets geographically located within central London. The Regional Retail segment includes all regional shopping centres and shops outside London and outlets. The Urban Opportunities segment includes assets for capital investment. The Subscale Sectors segment mainly includes assets that will not be a focus for capital investment and consists of leisure and hotel assets and retail parks. The company was founded by Harold Samuel on February 15, 1944 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

About Advanced Oxygen Technologies

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Advanced Oxygen Technologies, Inc. which through its subsidiary, engages in owning commercial real estate properties. It operates through the following segments: ANV Lease, Sharxs, and Corporate. The ANV segment leases land in Denmark by long term leases. The Sharxs segment generates commissions for the sale cargo security products. The Corporate segments does not generate revenues, but has administrative expenses. The company was founded by Kurt Sondergaard in 1981 and is headquartered in Randolph, VT.

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StockNews.com lowered shares of Regal Rexnord (NYSE:RRX  Get Rating) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Monday.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on the stock. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Regal Rexnord from $172.00 to $184.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, February 2nd. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Regal Rexnord from $148.00 to $185.00 in a report on Sunday, February 5th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Regal Rexnord from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, February 3rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of Regal Rexnord from $188.00 to $184.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Regal Rexnord presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $186.00.

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Regal Rexnord Stock Performance

NYSE RRX opened at $126.43 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 2.92, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. The firms fifty day moving average price is $136.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $134.83. Regal Rexnord has a 1 year low of $108.28 and a 1 year high of $162.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.06.

Regal Rexnord Announces Dividend

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Regal Rexnord

The company 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 dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 29th. Regal Rexnords dividend payout ratio is 26.12%.

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in RRX. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Regal Rexnord by 15.1% during the first quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,674,826 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,220,808,000 after buying an additional 1,140,696 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Regal Rexnord by 0.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,622,190 shares of the companys stock worth $929,490,000 after purchasing an additional 23,578 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors bought a new position in shares of Regal Rexnord in the first quarter worth approximately $793,975,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of Regal Rexnord by 32.6% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,872,474 shares of the companys stock worth $543,541,000 after purchasing an additional 951,511 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Regal Rexnord by 168.4% in the first quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,848,402 shares of the companys stock worth $260,126,000 after purchasing an additional 1,159,687 shares during the last quarter. 99.98% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Regal Rexnord

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Regal Rexnord Corp. engages in the manufacture of electric motors, electrical motion controls, power generation, and power transmission products. It operates through the following segments: Commercial Systems, Industrial Systems, Climate Solutions, and Power Transmission Solutions. The Commercial Systems segment produces fractional to 5 horsepower AC and DC motors, electric variable speed controls, fans, and blowers for commercial applications.

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Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc (LON:RBS  Get Rating) shares crossed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of GBX 120.90 ($1.53) and traded as high as GBX 123.10 ($1.55). Royal Bank of Scotland Group shares last traded at GBX 120.90 ($1.53), with a volume of 11,987,617 shares traded.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group Stock Down 0.4 %

The company has a 50 day moving average of GBX 120.90 and a 200-day moving average of GBX 120.90. The stock has a market capitalization of 14.66 billion and a P/E ratio of 5.37.

About Royal Bank of Scotland Group

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The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc, together with its subsidiaries, provides banking and financial products and services to personal, commercial, corporate, and institutional customers worldwide. It operates through Personal & Business Banking, Commercial & Private Banking, RBS International, and NatWest Markets segments.

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StockNews.com upgraded shares of Spirit AeroSystems (NYSE:SPR  Get Rating) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Monday morning.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on SPR. Susquehanna reduced their price target on Spirit AeroSystems from $44.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 4th. TD Cowen lowered Spirit AeroSystems from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $38.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 4th. Barclays upped their price objective on Spirit AeroSystems from $42.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Monday, February 13th. Benchmark upgraded Spirit AeroSystems from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $45.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Spirit AeroSystems from $36.00 to $32.00 in a report on Thursday, May 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $35.79.

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Spirit AeroSystems Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of SPR stock opened at $23.73 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.50 billion, a PE ratio of -3.21 and a beta of 1.64. Spirit AeroSystems has a 52-week low of $21.14 and a 52-week high of $38.55. The stocks 50-day moving average price is $30.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $30.41.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Spirit AeroSystems ( NYSE:SPR Get Rating ) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 3rd. The aerospace company reported ($1.69) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.31) by ($1.38). The business had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.52 billion. Spirit AeroSystems had a negative return on equity of 365.67% and a negative net margin of 14.64%. The businesss revenue for the quarter was up 21.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.03 EPS. Analysts expect that Spirit AeroSystems will post -1.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Private Advisor Group LLC acquired a new position in Spirit AeroSystems in the first quarter valued at about $576,000. Natixis Advisors L.P. acquired a new position in Spirit AeroSystems in the first quarter valued at about $772,000. MetLife Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Spirit AeroSystems in the first quarter valued at about $169,000. Panagora Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Spirit AeroSystems in the first quarter valued at about $200,000. Finally, BlackRock Inc. boosted its position in Spirit AeroSystems by 4.0% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,332,086 shares of the aerospace companys stock valued at $260,687,000 after buying an additional 205,899 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.82% of the companys stock.

Spirit AeroSystems Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Spirit AeroSystems Holdings, Inc engages in the design and manufacture of aero structures for commercial and defense aircraft. It operates through the following segments: Commercial, Defense & Space, and Aftermarket. The Commercial segment designs and manufactures forward, mid, and rear fuselage sections which related to floor beams, nacelles, struts and pylons, horizontal and vertical stabilizers, flaps and slats and wing structures.

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Matt Getts writes an occasional column for this newspaper. He plans on staying within his budget, as meager as it may be. He can be reached at mgetts@kpcmedia.com.
Angola, IN (46703)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun early followed by cloudy skies this afternoon. High 67F. Winds ENE at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Cloudy. Low near 45F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph.
??El Ministerio Publico notifico a las autoridades de Estados Unidos la entrega temporal de Joran Van Der Sloot, para afrontar el proceso que se le sigue por los delitos de extorsion y estafa en agravio de Elizabeth Ann Holloway. pic.twitter.com/KcEY2Qcbs9




The inmate will leave Challapalca Prison, in Peru's southern Tacna region where he is serving sentence for the murder of Peruvian citizen Stephany Flores to be extradited and answer for the disappearance of U.S. citizen Natalee Holloway, which occurred back in 2005.





Natalee Holloway case





On the night of May 30, 2005, 18-year-old Natalee Holloway disappeared during a senior class trip to Aruba. Her body has never been found. Within this framework, the case drew the attention of international media outlets.





One day before her return to the United States, the young female student was last seen in a restaurant-bar accompanied by three subjects, including Joran van der Sloot, who is the main suspect in her disappearance.





In December 2007, the Dutchman plus brothers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe, local residents with whom Holloway hung out that fateful night, were released without charge due to lack of evidence.





After the unsuccessful search in Aruba, Natalee's parents requested the extradition of Joran van der Sloot to the U.S. to continue with the investigations.





In 2012, an Alabama judge signed an order declaring Holloway legally dead.





What other crimes is van der Sloot charged with?





It should be noted that Joran van der Sloot was not only suspected of the crime, but also of extortion.





According to U.S. prosecutors, in June 2010, the Dutch citizen asked the missing woman's family for US$25,000 in exchange for revealing where the young woman's body was located.





After obtaining what had been requested, he sent an e-mail in which he said that everything was a lie, while he was fleeing the island to Peru.





Almost 18 years after the disappearance of Natalee Holloway, Joran van der Sloot will be temporarily extradited to the United States for his prosecution over extortion and fraud against Elizabeth Ann Holloway the victim's mother.





"The requesting country shall keep the defendant in custody during the entire proceedings to take place in its territory. Once the criminal process has come to an end, he will be returned immediately to Peruvian authorities," the Judiciary reported.





Murder of Stephany Flores





Exactly five years after Natalee's disappearance, on May 30, 2010, Stephany Tatiana Flores Ramirez (21) was last seen alive entering a hotel in Lima's Miraflores district with Joran van der Sloot.





The suspect himself recounted that, after spending the night together, he went out to buy some coffee. Once he had returned, he found Stephany apparently reading about Natalee's case on his laptop, which sparked his anger and began to beat her to death.





When the Police found young business administration student's body, the search began for the Dutchman, who had already crossed the border into Chile after stealing US$5,000 from Flores.





Days later, van der Sloot was captured and extradited to Peru, where he confessed to the crime on the advice of his lawyer, but without showing any signs of regret.





In 2012, Joran van der Sloot was sentenced to 28 years in prison and to pay civil reparations worth S/200,000 (US$74,350) for the heirs of Stephany Flores. It was also provided that the Dutch citizen be expelled from Peru when he completes his sentence on June 10, 2038.





Where is van der Sloot serving his sentence?





In 2014, when he was at Piedras Gordas Prison, on the outskirts of Lima, Joran van der Sloot married Peruvian citizen Leydi Figueroa Uceda, who was pregnant.





The couple met at Lurigancho Prison, where the Dutchman was serving a sentence until March of that year. Leydi Figueroa used to help her parents in the administration of a sales booth in said prison.





As he was found in illegal possession of a mobile phone, van der Sloot was transferred to Challapalca Prison, located 4,800 meters above sea level in Tacna region's highland, southern Peru, where the temperature can exceed 9 degrees Celsius during the day and register -20 degrees at night.





(END) SQH/RRC/RMB/MVB

The Peruvian Judicial Branch on Wednesday authorized the temporary handover of Dutch murderer Joran van der Sloot to United States authorities, for his prosecution over the alleged crimes of extortion and fraud against Elizabeth Ann Holloway.Published: 5/11/2023
YEREVAN, MAY 12, ARMENPRESS. The United States Department of State has commented on the May 11 Azerbaijani attack on Armenia, stating that this kind of violence undermines the progress made by the two countries during their talks.

State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel said at a May 11 press briefing that "this kind of violence, we believe it undermines the progress made by Armenia and Azerbaijan toward a durable and dignified peace," and called on Armenia and Azerbaijan to reach an agreement at their upcoming summit in Brussels on May 14th to "distance their forces along the border, as discussed by Secretary Blinken during their participation of these negotiations that we hosted here in Washington, D.C., at the beginning of May."

Commenting on the foreign ministerial talks hosted by the U.S. in early May, Patel said they view these negotiations "as important, positive steps in which we felt the two countries had the opportunity to engage on some important issues, see the other sides point of view."

And we believe that there continues to be a durable path forward. We believe that there is a peaceful solution to this. Its why we, from the Secretary on down, have continued to be so deeply engaged on this. But Im not going to get ahead of these talks themselves, Patel added.

The State Department spokesperson added that the U.S. was obviously were happy to host these two countries at the beginning of May.

We believe that those talks were fruitful and laid the groundwork for a continuation of these talks beginning in Brussels, and well let that process play out, Patel said.
Niigata [Japan], May 12 (ANI): Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman met International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva on Friday on the sidelines of the G7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting.

Sitharaman is on an official two-day visit to Niigata, Japan, for a 'Dialogue with partner countries' at the G7 ministers meeting.

Also Read | Biden, Elon Musk Twitter Accounts Hacker Pleads Guilty to Cyber Crime and Hacking.

She also met Brazilian Minister of Finance Fernando Haddad on the sidelines of the G7 meeting.

Haddad appreciated India's organisation of #G20 Presidency and its piloting of significant global economic issues.

Also Read | Nakuul Mehta Is In Bade Achhe Lagte Hain Season 3? TV Actor Teases His Return to BALH 3, Fans Go Berserk.

According to a Finance Ministry tweet, the two ministers discussed issues relating to infrastructure, strengthening multilateral development banks, debt vulnerabilities and digital public infrastructure.

FM Sitharaman extended her support for Brazil's upcoming G20 Presidency in 2024.

India has been invited for the G7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman arrived at Haneda Airport at Tokyo in Japan on Wednesday.

The G7 meeting will be chaired by Japan Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki and the Governor of the Bank of Japan Kazuo Ueda.

The Finance Ministry said in a tweet on Thursday that Sitharaman will be having multilateral and bilateral engagements with her counterparts, besides a roundtable meeting with business leaders and investors. (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 12 (PTI) The Delhi Police on Friday filed an over 500-page charge sheet against six people, including Sahil Gehlot who is accused of killing his girlfriend Nikki Yadav and stuffing her body in a fridge in southwest Delhi.

Gehlot was arrested on February 14 while his father Virender Singh, cousins Naveen and Ashish, and friends Lokesh and Amar were arrested three days later.

Also Read | Sameer Wankhede Booked by CBI for Seeking Rs 25 Crore Bribe for Not Framing Aryan Khan in Drugs-on-Cruise Case.

Police had said the five co-accused were arrested after their role in the killing was ascertained.

The final report was filed in the link court of Metropolitan Magistrate Paras Dalal.

Also Read | Indias Foreign Exchange Reserves Jump by USD 7.2 Billion to USD 595.98 Billion.

The charges have been levelled charges under IPC sections 302 (murder), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of an offence or giving false information to screen offender) 202 ( intentional omission to give information of offence by person bound to inform) 212 (harbouring offender) and 120 B (criminal conspiracy).

The matter has been posted for further proceedings on May 25.

Police initially said that Sahil Gehlot had confessed that he killed Yadav because she was pressuring him to marry her. In a twist in the case, police said that Yadav was the wife of Sahil Gehlot and the couple had tied the knot in 2020.

Yadav, according to a top Delhi Police officer, was opposed to the impending marriage of Sahil Gehlot his family had fixed. He killed Yadav after he could not convince her to allow him to go ahead with the wedding, police claimed.

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Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], May 12 (ANI): A Nigerian national has been arrested for allegedly peddling narcotic drugs from the Lower tank bund area of the city, the police said.

According to Circle Inspector (CI) Gandhi Nagar police station, the accused has been identified as Agodike Nnaemeka alias Michael Ebere (34).

Also Read | Centre Issues Order Against Top 5 e-Commerce Platforms For Selling Seat Belt Alarm Stopper Clips.

"The accused is a resident of Bengaluru and was arrested on Thursday afternoon at 1230 am with possession of 11 grams of narcotic drugs (MDMA) Methyl enedioxy methamphetamine, commonly known as ecstasy, molly or mandy," said the police.

MDMA was first developed in 1912 by Merck. It was used to enhance psychotherapy in the 1970s and became popular as a street drug in the 1980s. Tablets sold as ecstasy may be mixed with other substances such as ephedrine, amphetamine, and methamphetamine.

Also Read | Thane Shocker: Man Brutally Stabs 66-Year-Old Mother to Death, Injures Father Following Argument.

During the investigation, the police also recovered a mobile phone from the accused's possession and discovered that he was also arrested previously at Narayanaguda and Golconda police stations.

Further investigation into the matter is underway.

Meanwhile, the Mumbai police also arrested a Nigerian national, who did not have a valid visa or passport, in the Taloja area of the city with possession of 116 grams of drugs named Methaquiline valued at Rs 11 lakh in the grey market, the police said.

The accused identified as Boniface Emenike was also arrested for peddling drugs by Thane police in 2022. Having come out on bail four months back, he started the illegal activity again, said the police.

The arrest and seizure of the drugs were made in a search operation at his rented apartment in Shrikripa Residency in Taloja, sector 2 after the police got a tip-off.

In his interrogation, he told the police officers that he received the drugs from another Nigerian identified as Ogbona Paul, said the police adding that they started zeroing in on Paul.

Further investigation into the matter is underway. (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 12: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to "expedite' the process of the site clearance of Sri Jagannath Puri International Airport (SJIA) from the Ministry of Civil Aviation that is pending since September last year.

Patnaik who met the PM on Thursday in Delhi during his visit to the national capital, discussed various key issues of his state with the latter and requested to expedite the process. He further requested PM Modi to extend the provision of five free connections in each gram panchayat for Bharat Net Phase II. National Science Day 2023: PM Narendra Modi, Naveen Patnaik, Mansukh Mandaviya and Others Extend Greetings to Scientists on Day Commemorating The Discovery Of Raman Effect.

Patnaik also apprised the PM of a detailed project report (DPR) which was prepared for extending Bharat Net from the gram panchayats to the villages and submitted to the Department of Telecommunication and no decision on the matter has been taken so far.

"Also, the DPR for converting the Bharat Net linear network to an internet protocol multi-protocol label switching ring network and extending the same to districts and state capital, submitted by the state to the telecom department has been regretted," he told PM Modi, as per the Odisha government press release.

While requesting for a decision for internet protocol multi-protocol label switching, he also discussed incomplete national highways in the state. "There are as many as eight national highway projects, as per annexure, that is yet to be completed though many have started in 2017 and 2018," Patnaiak told Modi asking to expedite the process. Naveen Patnaik Turns 76: PM Narendra Modi Greets Odisha CM on His Birthday.

The leader also sought the PM's intervention in opening more bank branches in rural areas of the state. "Department of Financial Services may put in place a two-year plan for covering all unbanked gram panchayats of the state by bank branches. However, in order to avoid inconvenience to those elderly and disabled persons who are unable to visit the bank for receiving cash, relaxation may be granted for the disbursement of pension in cash to a maximum of 20 per cent of the beneficiaries under National Social Assistance Scheme (NSAP)," Patnaik said to Modi.

However, Patnaik also ruled out the possibility of a 'third front' being formed to contest the next year's Lok Sabha elections. The Chief Minister, who is in Delhi, was answering queries from reporters about the possibility of a third front in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections amid efforts by some leaders to bring together opposition parties.

"No, as far as I am concerned. Not now," he said. During his visit to the national capital, Patnaik met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in connection with development works related to Odisha.

"I met the Prime Minister and we discussed issues related to Orissa's demand. I spoke for the International Airport that we have to set up in Puri, Bhubaneswar is getting too much traffic now that's why we want an expansion. The Prime Minister said that he will definitely help in every way possible," he said.

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Gopeshwar (U'khand), May 12 (PTI) People in Joshimath affected by the land subsidence took out a torchlight procession in protest against the state government over compensation for their loss.

Also Read | Germany Faces Tax Revenue Squeeze Amid Budget Gridlock.

Holding torches in their hands and shouting slogans Thursday evening, the group of people led by Joshimath Bachao Sangharsh Samiti convenor Atul Sati marched from TCP bazar to Marwadi chawk.

Also Read | Centre Informs Delhi High Court That It Is Amending Rules To Recruit Women As Constables in CISF.

The Samiti had last month withdrawn its 107-day-old sit-in protest after Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami assured them of concrete action on its 11-point charter of demands, Sati said.

"However, 22 days have passed since we got the assurance from the Chief Minister but no action has so far been initiated. We are left with no option but to re-start our agitation," he said.

The Samiti's demands include simplification of the process for giving compensation to the affected people and making public the report of a joint study conducted by various leading scientific institutions on the land subsidence crisis in Joshimath.

"People are disappointed. Not even 20 per cent of the affected people have received compensation. Land subsidence also continues. Worse times are ahead as monsoon is approaching," Sati said.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
West Tripura (Tripura) [India], May 12 (ANI): Three persons have been arrested for allegedly gang-raping a college student in a moving car in West Tripura district, said police on Thursday.

According to officials, Gautam Sharma (26), the prime accused and the driver of the vehicle in which the crime was committed, and co-accused Sudip Chetri (31) were arrested soon after the incident came to light.

Also Read | Germany Faces Tax Revenue Squeeze Amid Budget Gridlock.

While the third accused, identified as Ptadenjit Paul (26), a resident of the Mahesh Kala area, was arrested on Thursday.

The police also recovered Rs 90 lakh from the house of one of the accused.

Also Read | Centre Informs Delhi High Court That It Is Amending Rules To Recruit Women As Constables in CISF.

"We have arrested the third accused in the case. Suspected items like log books, IPL batting logs and some documents of money laundering cases have been sized. A laptop and ATM cards have also been seized from his possession," West Tripura SP Kiran Kumar said.

"A separate case is being filed under the gambling act and for money laundering. Prima facie evidence proves the involvement of Prasenjit Paul in the rape case as well. However, we are investigating the matter in a detailed manner," the SP added.

Meanwhile, the victim's condition, who is undergoing treatment at GB Hospital, is said to be critical.

Following the incident, various organisations, including students and women's bodies, in Tripura staged protests on Thursday and demanded for stringent action against the accused.

The 20-year-old student was allegedly abducted on Monday afternoon when she was returning from her college on the outskirts of West Tripura.

"The prime accused was known to the victim for five months and he had picked the victim from her college. After that, they roamed in the town and then late in the night the accused and his friends raped the victim at a school ground near her house and fled the spot," officials said.

"The victim was found at an abandoned place along the bypass road late on Monday night and was taken to the hospital," they said.

While The victim's mother said that her daughter was returning home when Gautam offered her a lift. There were three others in the car, the girl's mother said, as she alleged that all four persons raped her daughter inside the moving vehicle and abandoned her along the bypass road. (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 12 (ANI): Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar will visit Rajasthan on May 14.

According to Vice President's Secretariat, Dhankhar will offer prayers at the Brahma temple and Shri Jat Shiva temple in Pushkar. He will later visit Kharnal, Nagaur, the birthplace of celebrated and revered social reformer Veer Tejaji.

Also Read | Gujarat Election Spendings: 164 MLAs in State Spent Funds on Public Meetings, Rallies During Assembly Polls, Says Report.

Later in the day, the Dhankhar will visit Merta City, Nagaur to unveil the statue of former Union Minister Late Nathuram Mirdha.

Renowned freedom fighter and eminent leader of the farming community from Nagaur, Late Nathuram Mirdha was a six-time Member of Lok Sabha and served as a Union Minister from 1979-80 and 1989-90.

Also Read | Mumbai Ram Navami Violence Case: Accused Jameel Merchant Approaches Bombay High Court Seeking Quashing of FIR.

He served as Chairman of the National Agriculture Prices Commission. He was also a four-time Member of the Legislative Assembly, Rajasthan and served as a cabinet minister in the Rajasthan government. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Kabul, May 12: Afghanistan's former minister of Information and Culture, Mohammad Tahir Zaheer has surrendered to Taliban forces, according to Khaama Press. Sources confirmed to Khaama Press that Tahir Zaheer, former minister and governor of Afghanistan's Bamyan Province, surrendered to the Taliban forces on Wednesday. As per the report, he surrendered to the Taliban in the Dara Soof district of Samangan province.

Sources also said that the Taliban forces have detained, imprisoned, and tortured Zaheer's family members and relatives, leading to his surrender, Khaama Press reported. Pakistan: Imran Khan Arrives at Islamabad High Court Amid Tight Security in Al-Qadir Trust Case (Watch Video).

Zaheer and the Taliban's Hazara leader Mawlavi Mehdi fought with the Taliban last year. After Mehdi's death, Zaheer continued to fight with the Taliban.

Zaheer's family has not commented on his surrender. It is also unclear under what condition he surrendered to the Taliban forces.

Meanwhile, it was recently reported that an increasingly unstable and volatile Afghanistan is causing worry to the world. Worsening human rights, in particular, women's and girls' rights, poverty, hunger, terrorism and the spread of drug trafficking, are among the issues that the people of Afghanistan have been facing under Taliban rule. Pakistan: Lahore Police Leaves for Islamabad for Former PM Imran Khans Arrest, Says Report.

World leaders under the aegis of the United Nations recently held a closed-door meeting in Doha to reinvigorate international engagement around these key issues and to engage the Taliban government.

Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary-General said that the meeting was about developing a common international approach, not about recognition of the de-facto Taliban authorities.

The participants are worried about the stability of Afghanistan and have expressed those serious concerns. They relate to the persistent presence of terrorist organisations, a risk for the country, the region and further afield. The lack of inclusivity, which importantly includes human rights in particular those of women and girls, was severely undermined by recent Taliban decisions and the spread of drug trafficking with all its dramatic consequences.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
YEREVAN, MAY 12, ARMENPRESS. Two Armenian servicemen were wounded Friday morning when the Azerbaijani armed forces used a UAV to bombard their position in Gegharkunik Province, the defense ministry said in a press release.

On 12 May, around 10:00, the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan violated the ceasefire in the direction of Sotk by using a UAV, the defense ministry said, adding that two servicemen of the Armed Forces of Armenia were wounded in the drone strike. One of the two wounded troops is in grave condition.

As of 10:30 the situation on the frontline was relatively stable, the ministry added.

The Azeri drone strike comes a day after Azeri forces bombarded Armenian positions in the same area in an unprovoked attack.
Beijing [China], May 12 (ANI): China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has asked the Taliban to adopt "moderate and prudent" domestic and foreign policies, and protect the rights and interests of women in Afghanistan, Tolo News reported.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin while speaking at a press conference on May 10, urged the Taliban to take a firmer stance on countering terrorism.

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Wenbin noted: "We also noted that there are quite some concerns and expectations about the Afghan interim government from the rest of the world. Specifically, it is hoped that the Afghan side will make more progress in adopting moderate and prudent domestic and foreign policies and protecting the rights and interests of women and children. It is also hoped that the Afghan side will take a firmer stance on countering terrorism and strive for more tangible outcomes in this regard."

According to Wang Wenbin, Afghanistan should not be excluded from the international community.

Also Read | Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif Meets JUI-F Party Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Discusses Supreme Court Order on Imran Khan's Arrest.

"As a traditionally friendly neighbour of Afghanistan, China always believes that Afghanistan should not be excluded from the international community, the interests and wellbeing of the Afghan people should be given attention, the peaceful reconstruction of the country should be encouraged, and the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Afghanistan should be respected," Wenbin added, according to Tolo News.

The Taliban, however, said that the issue of women in Afghanistan is an internal issue, and the current challenges will be resolved in accordance with Islamic principles.

"There are some issues in Afghanistan which are values or are Islamic laws, and they should respect them. Interference in Afghanistan's affairs is not in anyone's interest," said Zabihullah Mujahid, spokesman of the Islamic Emirate.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently said the Muslim world condemns the Taliban's ban on higher education for women, Tolo News reported.

"When the Taliban enacted restrictive bans on higher education for women, governments from across the Muslim world spoke up to condemn the Taliban's decision," and they argued that the actions were inhumane and contrary to Islamic beliefs.

Blinken made the remarks at a reception to celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr in Washington DC.

"Scholars of Islamic law weighed in to condemn the Taliban's actions, too, noting that the Quran gives the right to education to women and men alike," he said, as cited by Tolo News. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Dhaka [Bangladesh], May 12 (ANI): External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met Nepal's new Foreign Minister NP Saud for the first time and discussed energy, connectivity, and enduring people-to-people ties between both countries.

"A good first meeting with FM N.P. Saud of Nepal. Congratulated him on his new responsibility. Discussed further steps in our steadily expanding partnership. Spoke about energy, connectivity, and our enduring people-to-people ties," Jaishankar said in a tweet.

Also Read | Chinese-Built Pokhara Airport in Nepal Fails to Take Off: Report.

Jaishankar is currently on a two-day visit to Bangladesh where he is attending the 6th Indian Ocean Conference.

During his Dhaka visit, Jaishankar called on Bangladeshi Prime Minister Shiekh Hasina in the capital on Thursday. Jaishankar is on a two-day visit to Bangladesh till May 12. After that, he will visit Belgium and Sweden.

Also Read | Al-Qadir Trust Corruption Case: Islamabad High Court Grants Two-Week Bail to Former Pakistan PM Imran Khan.

"Honoured to call on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh. Conveyed personal greetings and warm regards of PM @narendramodi. The guidance and vision of our leaders continue to strengthen India-Bangladesh Maitri," Jaishankar tweeted.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar reached Dhaka on Thursday afternoon. EAM was welcomed by the Foreign Minister Affairs Minister of Bangladesh Md. Shahriar Alam. Jaishankar is on a three-nation tour during which he will visit Bangladesh, Sweden and Belgium.

"Reached Dhaka. Thank Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh @MdShahriarAlam for the warm welcome. Look forward to meeting colleagues and friends from across the world at the Indian Ocean Conference," Jaishankar tweeted upon reaching Bangladesh.

From Bangladesh, Jaishankar will travel to Sweden. This will be his first visit as EAM to the Nordic country and comes at a time when India and Sweden are celebrating 75 years of establishing diplomatic relations. Sweden currently holds the Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

According to a Ministry of External Affairs release, Jaishankar will participate in the second EU Indo-Pacific Ministerial Forum (EIPMF) in Sweden.He will hold bilateral meetings with foreign ministers of several countries on the margins of EIPMF.

During his stay, he will call on leadership in Sweden and meet with key ministers.He will also participate in the inaugural session of the India Trilateral Forum (India, Europe and the US) with his Swedish counterpart.

In the last leg of the visit, EAM will visit Brussels for bilateral engagements with Belgian and EU officials. He will also attend the first Ministerial Meeting of the India-EU Trade and Technology Council along with Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal and Minister of Communications, Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw.

The TTC Ministerial Meeting is scheduled to be held on May 16. (ANI)

(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 12 (ANI): The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar will undertake an official visit to Stockholm, Sweden in May 2023 to participate in the 2nd EU Indo-Pacific Forum (EIPMF), Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

The visit is taking place at the joint invitation of EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell and Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom, the statement said.

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The statement from Pakistan's Foreign Ministry added that at the Forum, the Minister of State Hina Rabbani Khar will highlight Pakistan's perspective on important regional and global issues and explore avenues of cooperation with the European Union especially in trade, investment, digital technology, climate, environment and health and connectivity.

She will also meet with leaders participating in the Forum and discuss issues of bilateral cooperation.

Also Read | Al-Qadir Trust Corruption Case: Islamabad High Court Grants Two-Week Bail to Former Pakistan PM Imran Khan.

Sweden currently holds the Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will also travel to Sweden to attend the EIPMF. This would be his first visit as EAM to the Nordic country. This comes at a time when India and Sweden are celebrating 75 years of establishing diplomatic relations.

According to a Ministry of External Affairs release, Jaishankar will participate in the second EU Indo-Pacific Ministerial Forum (EIPMF) in Sweden.

He will hold bilateral meetings with foreign ministers of several countries on the margins of EIPMF.

During his stay, he will call on leadership in Sweden and meet with key ministers.

He will also participate in the inaugural session of the India Trilateral Forum (India, Europe and the US) with his Swedish counterpart.

Jaishankar is on a state visit to Bangladesh that ends on Friday. EAM will leave for Sweden after completing the 6th edition of the Indian Ocean Conference.

From Sweden, the EAM would be travelling to Brussels for bilateral engagements with Belgian and EU officials. He will also attend the first Ministerial Meeting of the India-EU Trade and Technology Council along with Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal and Minister of Communications, Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw.

The TTC Ministerial Meeting is scheduled to be held on May 16. (ANI)

(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 12 (ANI): Pakistan Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Thursday said Pakistan will no longer make tough decisions on the International Monetary Fund (IMF)'s demand, Pakistan-based ARY News reported.

Dar while talking to the journalists said it is completely up to the IMF to sign a staff-level agreement or not.

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"We have already implemented pre-conditions of the IMF but not anymore," he said.

He added that the government has a plan for USD 3.7 billion in debt repayments in May, in June and it is not facing any difficulty. Dar expressed hopes that China will also roll over USD 2.4 billion in loans for Pakistan.

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The Finance Minister earlier said that Pakistan will not default with or without the International Monetary Fund. The government has, however, completed the implementation of all conditions of the IMF.

Dar while addressing National Security and Economy Dialogue, said that Pakistan possesses key geographical importance in regional trade. He said the restoration of Saudi Arabia and Iran ties is welcoming as the end of disputes will promote peace and prosperity in the region.

Dar said that economic stability is the top priority of the government. The finance minister said that the government is waiting for a staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and implemented pre-conditions for the loan, according to ARY News.

While rejecting reports about default, he said that analysts are creating an impression about Pakistan's default and trying to compare the country with Sri Lanka but their analysis will be proved false.

He further said that Pakistan adopted necessary steps to meet the IMF conditions for a staff-level agreement. Dar said that the Fund can take more time for signing the staff-level agreement.

The finance minister assured that the government will make timely repayment of USD 3.7 billion in May and June. He added that the global institutions should not give statements about Pakistan's default, according to ARY News.

The finance minister said friendly countries will fulfill their promises about financing soon. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, led UAE delegation in GCC ministers of industry and trade. meets. (Photo Credit - WAM)

Muscat [Oman], May 12 (ANI/WAM): Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, has led a high-level UAE delegation at a series of meetings attended by GCC ministers of industry and trade.

The GCC Industrial Cooperation Committee and GCC Ministerial Committee for Standardisation meetings, held in Muscat on Thursday, intended to strengthen industrial ties within the GCC and support regional sustainable economic development.

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The UAE's delegation included Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade; Mohammed bin Nakhira Al Dhaheri, UAE Ambassador to the Sultanate of Oman; Omar Suwaina Al Suwaidi, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology; and Abdulla Alsaleh, Undersecretary for the Ministry of Economy, as well as representatives from government and private sector entities.

Oman, which is currently president of the GCC Council, chaired meetings for the GCC ministers of trade and industry on Thursday, as well as preparatory sessions on Wednesday involving the undersecretaries of trade and industry to discuss the agenda, latest developments, key topics and reports.

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The 50th meeting of the Industrial Cooperation Committee and the fifth meeting of the Ministerial Committee for Standardisation addressed a number of topics relating to enhancing cooperation in industry, standards and metrology, and plans to boost collaboration among member states.

Al Jaber underlined the UAE's commitment to strengthening strategic relations, particularly relating to investment opportunities and cooperation in industry, saying, "These meetings reaffirm the deep relations between GCC countries, especially in the industrial sector, which plays an important role in sustainable economic growth within the Gulf. The GCC represents a model for multinational cooperation that achieves effective, sustainable economic development."

He added, "The Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology is working to consolidate efforts and formulate an integrated investment roadmap to promote the implementation of advanced technologies in line with efforts to drive sustainable industrial development.

"We are committed to driving sustainability in the industrial sector, increasing the competitiveness of Emirati products and enhancing their quality, while promoting the UAE as an attractive regional and international hub for industrial investments, including from within the Gulf region, by providing benefits, enablers, incentives and financial solutions to investors."

Al Jaber continued, "As the UAE prepares to host COP28, we stress the importance of fraternal cooperation to bolster climate action. It is critical that countries in the Gulf work together to increase investments in the energy transition and decarbonisation. These investments will lay the groundwork for more sustainable economic development in vital economic sectors, including industry."

He added that the UAE has created a pioneering model for strengthening economic and developmental partnerships and engaging the private sector in sustainable growth.

Al Jaber participated in the Industrial Cooperation Committee Meeting alongside Al Zeyoudi, discussing a report on the previous committee meeting. The meeting also followed up on achievements and the directives of the Ministerial Council to address challenges to economic integration.

The ministers also reviewed the Amended Controls on Exempting Industry Inputs from Taxes and Customs Duties and the recommendations of the Standing Committee for Combating Harmful Practices on the Economic Cooperation Committee's suggestions regarding furthering its role in protecting Gulf industries from unfair competition.

The meeting also presented reports on the activities of the Technical Secretariat to Combat Harmful Practices in International Trade and the achievements of the Gulf Organisation for Industrial Consulting (GOIC).

Al Jaber also participated in the fifth meeting of the GCC Ministerial Committee for Standardisation, which detailed the committee's progress from October 2022 to April 2023.

Under Specifications and Metrology, the committee proposed the endorsement of 10 projects as Gulf technical regulations and the adoption of sector-based regulations under conformity, in addition to the committee's proposal to use the Conformity Markings system as an alternative to the Gulf Conformity Mark to the Council.

The ministers discussed a set of memorandums by the GCC Ministerial Committee for Standardisation on the conclusive account for 2022, the Gulf Accreditation Centre, the presidency from April 2024 to April 2027, the establishment of a Cooperation Council Award for Quality, as well as emerging trends.

The GCC Ministerial Committee for Standardisation includes Abdullah bin Adel Fakhro, Bahrain's Minister of Industry And Commerce; Majid bin Abdullah Al-Qassabi, Saudi Arabia's Minister of Commerce; Qais bin Muhammad Al Yousef, Oman's Minister of Commerce Industry and Investment Promotion; Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad Al-Thani, Qatar's Minister of Commerce and Industry; Mohammad bin Othman Al-Aiban, Kuwaiti Minister of Commerce and Industry; and Jassim Muhammad Al-Budaiwi, Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council.

On the sidelines of meetings, Al Jaber met with Al-Budaiwi and reviewed issues of mutual interest. He also met with Al Yousef to explore pathways to enhance cooperation between the two countries. (ANI/WAM)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Taipei [Taiwan], May 12 (ANI): In retaliation to China's aggressive posturing through incursions by Chinese warplanes into Taiwan's air defense identification zone after the island's president Tsai Ing-wen began to have ties with other countries, Taiwan has sent aircraft, naval ships to monitor the PLA aircraft and vessels around the country, Taiwan News reported.

Thirty-Two People's Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft and 4 naval vessels were tracked around Taiwan on Friday, Taiwan News reported citing the Ministry of National Defense (MND).

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One CH-4 combat reconnaissance drone that crossed the Taiwan Strait median line and circled Taiwan anticlockwise from the northeast sector of the air defence identification zone (ADIZ) to the southwest corner was among the 13 People's Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft that were tracked in ADIZ.

Between 6 a.m. on Thursday (May 11) and 6 a.m. on Friday (May 12), the Ministry of National Defence (MND) monitored 32 Chinese military aircraft and four naval vessels in the vicinity of Taiwan, according to Taiwan news.

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In the southwest corner of the ADIZ, a BZK-005 reconnaissance drone and a TB-001 combat reconnaissance drone also crossed the median line and flew along the southern edge of the identification zone.

Additionally, two Sukhoi Su-30 jet fighters and six Chengdu J-10 fighter jets crossed the median line.

In retaliation, Taiwan also sent aircraft, and naval ships, and used land-based missiles to monitor the PLA aircraft and vessels.

Beijing has encircled Taiwan with 36 naval vessels and 131 military aircraft so far this month. China has gradually increased the number of military planes and navy ships operating near Taiwan since September 2020, expanding its use of grey zone techniques, reported Taiwan News.

China, which sees Taiwan as its own territory and has not ruled out using force to bring it under its control, last month, started three days of military exercises around Taiwan after the island's president met the US House Speaker in defiance of repeated threats by Beijing.

The exercises, dubbed "United Sharp Sword," have been denounced by Taiwan.

The Chinese military's Eastern Theater Command announced the drills Saturday, describing them as "a serious warning against the Taiwan separatist forces' collusion with external forces, and a necessary move to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity," CNN reported.

China reacted in a similar fashion when then US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August, launching a series of military drills that surrounded the island and firing missiles over it.

Those drills were the first time China had fired missiles over the island, and many experts saw them as representing a major escalation of China's military intimidation against Taiwan, CNN reported.

Some missiles also fell into Japan's Exclusive Economic Zone near Japanese islands to the north of Taiwan, a move which heightened tensions between Beijing and Tokyo. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Karachi, May 12 (PTI) Two terrorists and two security personnel were killed in a standoff after a paramilitary Frontier Corps camp was attacked by heavily-armed militants in Pakistan's restive Balochistan on Friday, media reports said.

The military's media wing, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), said that the militants attacked the camp in the Muslim Bagh area of Northern Balochistan, adding that an operation is currently underway with a heavy exchange of fire taking place with the armed assailants, reported Geo News.

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"Currently, an operation by the security forces is underway to capture the terrorists who have been cornered into a building complex," it said.

During the clearance operation, the military said that two soldiers were killed while another three were injured.

Also Read | China To Send Special Envoy to Ukraine, Russia as Part of Peace Efforts.

Two weeks ago, seven terrorists were killed as security forces gallantly fought off three assaults within a short span of time in the night between April 28 and 29 in Lakki Marwat, the ISPR said.

The attack comes amid a surge in terrorist activities across the country since the banned militant group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan ended its ceasefire with the government in November last year. PTI

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Jakarta, May 12 (AP) US Army Chief of Staff James McConville met with Indonesia's top defence official on Friday to push for stronger security ties amid growing Chinese maritime activity in the Indo-Pacific region.

McConville said he and Indonesian Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto discussed ways to deepen cooperation, including enhanced military exercises between the countries.

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We have many friends in the region, and we work closely together. We all share the same interests for the region: peace, security, stability, McConville said.

That's why we work together on maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific for everyone.

Also Read | Al-Qadir Trust Corruption Case: Islamabad High Court Grants Two-Week Bail to Former Pakistan PM Imran Khan.

Subianto said the promotion and maintenance of peace and stability in the region is our common concern, but stressed Indonesia's neutral stance, saying it wants to maintain relationships with all nations, especially all the major powers.

McConville arrived in Jakarta late Thursday from the Philippines, which is locked in an ongoing dispute with China over territory in the South China Sea. His visit there followed joint US-Philippine war drills last month that antagonised Beijing.

On Thursday, leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations met in Indonesia for a summit at which territorial disputes in the South China Sea were high on the agenda.

China claims virtually all of the sea, which is also claimed in part by Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.

The South China Sea is home to vital shipping lanes, plentiful fish stocks and undersea mineral resources. China and ASEAN have made little headway in finalising a code of conduct to avoid conflicts in the area.

The ASEAN leaders renewed a call for self-restraint in the disputes to avoid miscalculations and confrontations, repeating language used in previous ASEAN statements.

While China's influence and military strength in the region are growing rapidly, the US remains the dominant military power. Washington has a security alliance with the Philippines and strong relations with several other ASEAN members. (AP)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Chandigarh, May 11: Thirty-six students of PGIMER's National Institute of Nursing Education (NINE) here were barred from leaving hostel for a week for not attending a programme where the 100th episode of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Mann Ki Baat' was broadcast.

The hospital authorities had made it compulsory for the first and third-year students to listen to the radio broadcast on April 30 at the institute. However, 36 girl students from NINE didn't turn up. Mann Ki Baat 100th Episode Today: 100-Year-Old Ramben Blesses PM Narendra Modi While Listening to His Monthly Radio Programme in Auckland (Watch Video).

Following this, the nursing college authorities issued an order on May 3 informing the students -- 28 from the third year and eight from the first year -- that they would not be allowed to step out of the hostel for a week. Mann Ki Baat 100th Episode: PM Narendra Modis Monthly Radio Programme To Create History With 100th Episode Today, To Go Global With Live Broadcast at United Nations Headquarters.

PGIMER issued a statement late Thursday evening on "banning the outing of the nursing students after classes in evening due to non-attending the Mann Ki Baat programme..".

It was a little "overreaction" on part of the nursing college authorities and "the concerned have already been conveyed the displeasure of PGIMER administration", it said.

"So we humbly urge that the issue should not be given any other connotation or blown out of proportion in the larger public interest," the statement issued to the media by Post Graduate

Institute of Medical Education and Research here, said.

The NINE authorities had recently conveyed to the first and third-year students that it was compulsory for them to listen to the 100th episode of 'Mann Ki Baat' at lecture theatre-1 on April 30, the May 3 notice stated.

The students were also warned that outings of those who do not attend the programme would be cancelled, it said.

However, despite repeated reminders from the warden and the hostel coordinator, these students did not attend, the notice said.

The PGIMER statement said, "This is to clarify that nursing students from National Institute of Nursing Education (NINE), a premier nursing college of the country and producing best nursing professionals, were asked to attend the 'Mann Ki Baat' programme on April 30..". "This instruction was given purely with an intent to enable them to attend the aforementioned episode as a part of their regular curricular activities wherein talks, guest lectures and discussions are arranged regularly by best speakers, experts, professionals to impart them value education. "Rather, in an earlier episode, the Hon'ble Prime Minister had interacted with an organ donor family, a case of transplantation from PGIMER, to promote the noble cause of organ donation, which was hugely morale boosting and invigorated more interest in the episode," the statement said.

The statement further said since some of the students did not share any reason for not attending the session and abstained from the event arranged for them in a lecture theatre, the college authorities took action against them.
New Delhi, May 12: In view of violation of Consumer Protection Act, 2019, the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has issued orders against top five e-commerce platforms for selling car seat belt alarm stopper clips. The clips compromise life and safety of consumer by stopping alarm beep when not wearing seat belts.

Headed by Chief Commissioner, Mrs. Nidhi Khare, CCPA passed orders against Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal, Shopclues and Meeshofor violation of consumer rights and unfair trade practice. Centre Issues Guidelines for 'Multi-System Operators' To Register As Company Within Next Three Months To Run Platform Services.

The issue of the sale of car seat belt alarm stopper clips came to the notice of CCPA by the Department of Consumer Affairs through the letter of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH). The letter highlighted the issue of blatant sale of car seat belt alarm stopper clips and requested for action on errant vendors / online platforms and issuance of an advisory. Further, Rule 138 of Central Motor Vehicles Rules 1989 makes it mandatory to wear seat belts. However, online sales of such items that compromise passengers safety by stopping the alarm beep when not wearing seat belts can be unsafe and dangerous to the life & safety of consumers.

It is imperative to say that using car seat belt alarm stopper clips can also be a hurdle for consumers seeking claim amounts in the cases of motor insurance policies, wherein an insurance company may deny the claim by citing the negligence of the claimant for using such clips. On the other hand, using seat belt acts as a restraint that allows the airbag to provide proper cushion and not hit the passengers at full force which also works as a protective shield in case of collisions.

CCPA is entrusted to protect, promote and enforce the rights of class of consumers. Therefore, CCPA took cognizance of the issue of the sale of car seat belt alarm stopper clips and with its eagle eye found that said clips were being blatantly sold on several e-commerce platforms in an easy-to-access manner resulting in direct violation of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 and pose a high risk to the valuable life of the consumers. It was also found during the proceedings that some sellers were selling the clips by camouflaging them under the garb of bottle openers or cigarette lighter etc.

Taking into consideration the severity of the said product on the safety and precious life of consumers, CCPA referred the matter to DG Investigation (CCPA). Based on the recommendation in the Investigation Report and submissions made by e-commerce entities, CCPA has issued Directions to the e-commerce platforms where they were directed to permanently delist all car seat belt alarm stopper clips and associated motor vehicle components which compromise the safety of passengers and the public. They were also directed to apprise CCPA of the steps taken against errant sellers of such products and submit details of the sellers along with a compliance report on the above directions.

Taking note of the Directions issued by CCPA, Compliance Reports were submitted by all five e-commerce entities.Based on the initiative of the CCPA, approximately13,118 listings of car seat belt alarm stopper clips have been delisted from the e-commerce platforms.

The action taken in the present cases assumes significance given that as per the latest report published by the MoRTH more than 16,000 persons were killed in road accidents in 2021 due to not wearing seat belt, of which 8,438 were drivers and the remaining 7,959 were passengers. Moreover, approximately 39,231 persons were injured out of which 16,416 were drivers and 22,818 were passengers. The report further provides that young adults in the age group of 18-45 accounted for more than one-third of victims in road accident cases.

CCPA is working round the clock to promote and safeguard the rights of class of consumers in every nook and corner of the Country, in this regard, CCPA has written letters to the Chief Secretaries and District Collectors requesting them to take appropriate action as per law, against the manufacture or sale of car seat belt alarm stopper clips to prevent loss of life or severe injury to consumers. CCPA has also requested to submit an action taken report to protect the valuable life of the consumers. Centre Issues Advisory To Parents, Teachers On Childrens Safe Online Gaming.

To prevent the valuable loss to life of the public at large, CCPA has issued an Advisory among the stakeholder which includes Secretary of MoRT&H and DPIIT, Chief Secretaries of all States and Union Territories. E-Commerce Entities, Industry Associations and Voluntary Consumer Organizations for wide dissemination to desist from manufacture or sale or listings of Car Seat Belt Alarm Stoppers.
YEREVAN, MAY 12, ARMENPRESS. The EU civilian monitoring mission in Armenia is fully implementing its mandate, the Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia Paruyr Hovhannisyan said on May 12.

Asked on the Azerbaijani attacks in Sotk and the EU missions reaction, Hovhannisyan said that the mission couldnt have reacted to the aggression because their role is to regularly visit all sections of the border and prepare reports for Brussels.

The observers couldnt have reacted in any way. Their role is to regularly prepare reports for Brussels and EU member states, regularly visit all parts of the border. Their presence is already a contribution in terms of improving the situation. This created a safer environment on the ground psychologically. And in this regard the mission is fully implementing its mandate, he said.

He said that the Armenian authorities had no doubts that provocations would happen, and thats what happened on May 11.

But at this moment we can positively assess the activities of the [EU] mission, Hovhannisyan said.
New Delhi, May 12: The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the promotion of Gujarat judge Harish Hasmukhbhai Verma, who convicted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a defamation case, and 67 other Gujarat lower judicial officers.

A bench comprising Justices M.R. Shah and C.T. Ravikumar said the list issued by the high court and the subsequent order issued by the state government granting promotion to district judges were illegal and contrary to the decision of this court. Supreme Court Stays Promotion of 68 Gujarat Judicial Officers, Including Judge Who Convicted Rahul Gandhi.

The bench passed the interim order staying the promotions, and said that the matter be heard by an appropriate bench since Justice Shah is scheduled to retire on May 15.

The top court said the judicial officers' promotion violated the Gujarat State Judicial Service Rules 2005 amended in 2011. According to the rules, promotions must be made on principle of merit-cum-seniority and on passing a suitability test, it said.

The bench said it will stay the implementation of the promotion list and sent the respective promotees to their original post which they were holding prior to their promotion.

The top court order came on a plea by senior civil judge cadre officers Ravikumar Maheta and Sachin Pratapraya Mehta challenging the selection of the 68 judicial officers to the higher cadre of district judges. Supreme Court Collegium Recommends Justice Ramesh D Dhanuka as Chief Justice of Bombay High Court.

In an April 28 order, the top court had said: "It is very unfortunate that, despite the fact that the respondents, more particularly, the state government, was aware of the present proceedings and the fact that in the present proceedings, this court made the notice returnable on 28.04.2023, the state government has issued the promotion order dated 18.04.2023, i.e., after the receipt of the notice issued by this court in the present proceedings."

The bench had said: "We do not appreciate the haste and hurry in which the state has approved and passed the promotion order dated 18.04.2023, when this court was seized with the matter and a detailed order was passed while issuing the notice. It is to be noted that the selection was of the year 2022 and therefore there was no extraordinary urgency in passing the promotion order and that too when this court was seized of the matter."

Varma, the CJM of Surat, is presently working as undersecretary in the legal department of the Gujarat government and the assistant director at the state legal services authority.

The top court had issued notices to the state government and the Registrar General of the Gujarat High Court on April 13 on the plea of the two judicial officers.

"We are prima facie of the opinion that it is nothing but overreaching the court's process and the present proceedings. Let the secretary of the state government explain the extraordinary urgency shown in the matter in giving promotion and issuing the notification dated 18.04.2023 granting the promotion, subject to the ultimate outcome of the proceedings," said the top court in its April 28 order.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 12, 2023 04:53 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
Police officials said that the incident took place in the dropping zone under Malpura police station when the parachute of commando Ankur Sharma got entangled in the high-tension line.
NCP leader Ajit Pawar on Friday launched an all-out attack on Maharashtra Chief Minister Ekath Shinde. When asked about his views on Uddhav Thackeray's demand for Shinde to resign on moral grounds, Pawar said, " There is no need of demanding resignation from the current CM Eknath Shinde on moral grounds. We know he will not resign even in his dreams." Pawar added that there is a huge difference between former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee and the current people. NCP leader's remarks came a day after Supreme Court's verdict on Sena vs Sena battle. Maharashtra: Supreme Court Refers Shiv Sena Vs Shiv Sena to Larger Constituion Bench.

No Need Of Demanding Resignation'

There is no need of demanding resignation from the current CM Eknath Shinde on moral grounds. We know he will not resign even in his dreams. There is a huge difference between former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee and the current people: NCP leader Ajit Pawar on Uddhav Thackeray's pic.twitter.com/MQS7COt08k  ANI (@ANI) May 12, 2023

(SocialLY brings you all the latest breaking news, viral trends and information from social media world, including Twitter, Instagram and Youtube. The above post is embeded directly from the user's social media account and LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body. The views and facts appearing in the social media post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY, also LatestLY does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.)
The customs department today said that in two separate operations conducted this week at Chennai, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has seized 23.34 kilograms of smuggled foreign gold totally valued at Rs 14.43 crores that was attempted to be smuggled into the country through Chennai international airport. Both persons including a Sri Lankan national have been arrested and remanded to judicial custody. Chennai Airport Customs Seize 1,796 Grams Gold Worth Rs 95 Lakh Concealed Inside Electric Motor From Abu Dhabi Passenger (Watch Video).

Chennai Airport Customs Arrest Two

In two separate operations this week, DRI seized 23.34 kg smuggled foreign gold valued at Rs. 14.43 crores through Chennai International Airport, two passengers held. pic.twitter.com/qpMup2xZPX  ANI (@ANI) May 12, 2023

(SocialLY brings you all the latest breaking news, viral trends and information from social media world, including Twitter, Instagram and Youtube. The above post is embeded directly from the user's social media account and LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body. The views and facts appearing in the social media post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY, also LatestLY does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.)
On 11 May, the US federal order Title 42, which has enabled US authorities to rapidly expel millions of migrants to Mexico, was lifted.

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On 11 May, Colombias Defence Ministertravelled to Caracas for security talks with his Venezuelan counterpartand President

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On 11 May, Brazils supreme court (STF) announced the release from custody of former justice minister(2021-2023), who had been arrested for alleged involvement in the 8 January riots, when supporters of right-wing former president(2019-2023) stormed government buildings in Brasilia.

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House Republicans have been investigating corruption allegations against President Joe Biden and his family. However, they could not find any evidence of this alleged corruption that they have been accusing them of.

During a news conference at Capitol Hill, the Republican-led House Oversight Committee, with Chairman James Comer of Kentucky being flanked by other GOP members, admitted that they could not find any incriminating material against the president or the Biden family despite committee members frequently insinuating that they have been involved in criminal conduct and corruption.

Republicans have accused Biden family members, specifically Hunter Biden, of "influence peddling" and have shown several transactions from the younger Biden as proof of this. However, during the Wednesday news conference, the Republican-led committee admitted that they could not yet find evidence of a specific corrupt action that the president took while in office, nor could they find anything in connection to his son's business dealings.

According to the New York Times, the GOP lawmakers underscored how little progress they made in their investigation as they floundered in tying the president to his son's questionable transactions. However, despite this, they still accused President Biden of misconduct during the news conference.

House Republicans Sidestep Issue of Failure To Show Link Between Pres. Joe Biden and Son's Transactions

During the news conference, Comer was asked if he could ultimately prove that President Joe Biden had something to do with his son's transactions. However, according to Politico, the Kentucky Republican merely sidestepped and answered, "I don't think anyone in America ... would think that it's just a coincidence that nine Biden family members have received money."

"We believe that the president has been involved in this from the very beginning. Obviously, we're going to continue to look," he added and said that the Wednesday "update" is only the "beginning stages" of his investigation, which has been going on for four months already.

READ MORE: White House Correspondents' Dinner: Roy Wood Jr. Roasts Joe Biden, Donald Trump, More

The investigation focused on payments to Biden family members, and they linked them to Romania and China. However, the Republicans could not show how Biden's decisions as president have been influenced by these transactions with his family members.

While GOP members have claimed that these payments are questionable, they could not call them potentially illegal.

House Republicans Fail in Their 'Make-Or-Break' Moment With Joe Biden Investigation

Comer and the House Oversight Committee's Biden probe has been described as a make-or-break moment for the Kentucky representative as he crusaded against Joe Biden. However, MSNBC pointed out that he had failed "spectacularly."

It has been pointed out that while the committee has failed to bring in any evidence, the investigation has been used as propaganda material. Despite the lack of evidence, right-wing news outlets would still use this to make the president look like a criminal and spin it in a way that would make the Republicans look good to their constituents.

Despite this recent setback, however, it is clear that Comer will not be changing course soon, according to MSNBC, whether he fails to find evidence in the end or not.

READ MORE: Court Finds Donald Trump Liable For Sexual Abuse

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Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: GOP Self-Humiliation Continues With Hunter Biden Investigation Update - The Majority Report w/ Sam Seder
Former President Donald Trump was found liable by a federal jury in New York for sexual assault and battery in the E. Jean Carroll rape case. However, the ex-POTUS is appealing the verdict even after he attacked his accuser during the CNN Town Hall, as well as accusing the judge of being biased on social media.

While the jurors did not find Trump liable for rape, they did find him to be guilty of battery and defamation, awarding former Elle magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll a reward of $5 million in damages,

However, in his appeal, the former president insisted that he does not know Carroll and even doubled down on this during the CNN Town Hall event. "I swear on my children, which I never do. I have no idea who this woman is. This is a fake story," he stated.

According to the BBC, this means that the case will now move to the Second Circuit of the US Court of Appeals. Trump's attorney, Joe Tacopina, argued that his client could not get a fair trial in New York, which is the ex-POTUS's hometown, as he is very unpopular in the state.

Roberta Kaplan, who represents E. Jean Carroll, stated that she is very confident of winning the case again as Trump has "no legitimate arguments for appeal," adding, "I've rarely felt more confident about an appeal than I do about this one."

After Trump attacked her during the CNN Town Hall, Carroll stated through Kaplan that she is giving "serious consideration" about filing another defamation lawsuit against the former president.

READ MORE: Donald Trump Georgia Election Probe: 8 Fake Trump Electors Accept Immunity Deals

Donald Trump Accuses Judge of Being Biased Against Him

Even though he is appealing the verdict, Donald Trump accused Judge Lewis Kaplan, who has no relation to Carroll's attorney, Roberta Kaplan, of being a biased judge.

Following the verdict, Trump lashed out at the verdict, calling it "a continuation of the greatest witch hunt of all time" and a "disgrace." He then called Judge Kaplan a "biased" and "anti-Trump" judge.

The ex-POTUS reportedly stated that Judge Kaplan made sure "the result was as negative as it could possibly be, speaking to, and in control of a jury from an anti-Trump area..."

Donald Trump was invited by the judge many times to testify in court and defend himself from the allegations. However, despite vowing to confront Carroll, he did not show up in court throughout the case.

CNN Town Hall Criticized Over Giving Donald Trump a Platform to Spread More Lies

The CNN Town Hall, where Trump doubled down on his election lies as well as continued his attacks on E. Jean Carroll and political opponents, received much criticism.

Fact-checkers from various news organizations have pointed out many of the falsehoods uttered by Trump throughout the event, from his comments on immigration to the economy to his classified documents.

According to the New York Times, the ex-POTUS praised January 6 rioters. He even stated that Congress should allow the federal government to default on its debt, risking a global economic crisis. He also called Carroll a "whack job" and then called CNN moderator Kaitlan Collins "a nasty person."

READ MORE: Joe Biden Family Probe: House Republicans Find No Evidence of Wrongdoing

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Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: Trump to appeal verdict in E. Jean Carroll case - CBS News
Elon Musk, who purchased Twitter in October 2021, announced on Thursday that he had found a new CEO for the company, now called X Corp, per CNN.

Musk, who had promised to step down as Twitter's CEO months ago, tweeted about the appointment of the new CEO without revealing their identity.

Excited to announce that Ive hired a new CEO for X/Twitter. She will be starting in ~6 weeks!



My role will transition to being exec chair & CTO, overseeing product, software & sysops.  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 11, 2023

However, sources close to the matter stated that Linda Yaccarino, the advertising chief at NBCUniversal, was in talks for the position.

Musk will take on the roles of executive chair and chief technology officer, overseeing all of Twitter's software and hardware. In December 2021, Musk conducted a poll on Twitter asking users if he should resign as the company's CEO, and most agreed that he should.

Elon Musk had initially stated that he would respect the poll's findings but then changed his stance and said he would step down "as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job!" He reiterated in February that he hoped to fill the position by the end of the year.

Musk has faced criticism for several policy shifts on Twitter that lacked explanations and raised concerns about their potential adverse effects on the platform's user base.

Furthermore, he has been trying to regain advertisers that left the platform due to safety concerns following incidents of hate speech and layoffs at Twitter. Musk's new premium subscription platform, which offers a blue verification checkmark for a fee, has yet to attract users.

READ NEXT: Elon Musk Apologizes

Elon Must Twitter Announcement Helped Tesla's Stock Market Increase

Elon Musk's influence on Tesla's stock market was evident on Thursday as shares increased by approximately 2% following his announcement that he would be stepping down as CEO of Twitter.

Many investors in the electric car company have expressed concern that Musk spends too much time on the social media platform, according to AP.

During a court hearing in November last year, Musk was called upon to defend his time allocation between Tesla, SpaceX, and Twitter.

A shareholder challenged the CEO over his $55 billion remuneration plan. The trial occurred in Delaware's Court of Chancery, where Musk was required to testify.

Musk testified that he always saw himself as an engineer and had no intention of becoming the CEO of Tesla or any other company. He also stated that Twitter's internal restructuring would be completed within the week. It has been almost six months since he made that statement.

Musk's time at the helm of Twitter has been tumultuous, marked by numerous declarations and promises that he has since retracted or abandoned.

On his first day in charge, he dismissed about 80% of the company's top executives. He has reduced moderator resources, eliminated several barriers to the spread of false information, and disrupted the platform's verification system.

Who Is the Rumored New Twitter CEO, Linda Yaccarino?

Linda Yaccarino, an accomplished executive with nearly ten years of experience at NBCUniversal, played a vital role in the successful launch of the ad-supported Peacock streaming service, the NY Post noted.

Yaccarino is reportedly discussing becoming the new Twitter CEO, now known as X Corp., and will soon present to advertisers as part of her preparations.

The news of Yaccarino's potential appointment marks a significant milestone in Elon Musk's efforts to revamp Twitter.

Elon Musk has repeatedly stated that he will step down from his role as CEO once he finds a suitable replacement.

READ MORE: Lionel Messi Linked to Barcelona Return

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Written by: Bert Hoover

WATCH: Elon Musk Announces He Has Hired New Twitter CEO - From E! News
YEREVAN, MAY 12, ARMENPRESS. Ambassador-at-large Edmon Marukyan has reacted to the U.S. State Department spokespersons press briefing where the latter described the May 11 Azerbaijani attack on Armenia in Sotk as exchange of fire.

First of all, it was not an exchange of fire but another unprovoked attack by the Azerbaijans army, which is well known for its ISIS-like warfare conduct. Armenian army took necessary steps to defend our sovereign territory. Second, our demand is that Azerbaijan must withdraw its occupational forces from the sovereign territory of Armenia and return to the internationally recognized borders, i.e. the administrative borders that existed between both countries at the time of independence from the USSR. Third, in 2022, in Prague and Sochi, Azerbaijan committed that it will refrain from the use of force or threat of use of force, Marukyan tweeted.
In a continued crackdown on dissent, Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega takes a new turn by targeting the Red Cross and forcing the non-profit health organization to close down its operations in the country.

The Ortega administration has so far taken out religious orders like the Roman Catholic Church, as well as charities and other civic groups like the Red Cross, which was ordered to shutter operations after a vote by the country's National Assembly, which is dominated by Ortega's Sandinista party and a few allied parties.

The party has also ordered its Health Department to create "a new Nicaragua Red Cross." The Associated Press reported that this closure of the Red Cross in Nicaragua comes as the country's health system has become overstretched.

It is also unclear where the money for this new "Red Cross" organization would come from. The Red Cross in Nicaragua was accused of "attacks on peace and stability" during the massive 2018 protests.

However, the health organization noted that they only helped treat injured protesters. However, this was not enough for the authoritarian government.

During the massive anti-government protests in 2018, rights groups estimated that 355 people were killed while as many as 2,000 people were injured.

Many of those protesters were helped by the Red Cross, while some sought refuge in Catholic churches. Helping the protesters was enough to have the government launch a crusade against these organizations.

Red Cross in Nicaragua is largely funded by domestic donations. However, with this new law, all the charity group's properties in the country will be confiscated and turned over to the government.

READ NEXT: Daniel Ortega Net Worth

IAPA Says Repression Worsening in Nicaragua

The Nicaraguan government arrested three journalists since the beginning of April. That led to the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) to condemn the continuing repression in the country as it slides further into chaos, according to E&P.

The organization reportedly urged the international community to denounce these arrests as the Ortega regime continued its persecution of the media and other organizations not affiliated with the Sandinista Party.

Among those arrested is Canal 10 news director and correspondent Hazel Zamora. She was reportedly arrested last May 5 while traveling on a bus with her minor children.

Police also raided her home as she was accused of conspiring against the state and society and spreading false news, which is now considered an act of treason in Nicaragua.

Religious Persecution Continues in Nicaragua

The Roman Catholic Church remains one of Daniel Ortega's biggest opponents, leading to the persecution of the country's biggest religion.

According to The Tablet, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom has designated Nicaragua as a "country of particular concern" (CPC) in its annual report.

The report highlighted the increasing persecution of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua due to the president's feud with the church.

The US report found that Nicaragua "escalated its campaign of harassment and severe persecution against the Catholic Church by targeting clergy, eliminating Church-affiliated organizations, and placing restrictions on religious observances."

Thus, violating freedom of religion. The Ortega regime has also been accused of hate speech against the Catholic Church.

READ MORE: Nicaragua Police Have Taken Over 5 Opposition-Held Towns Ahead of Elections

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Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: Five Years Since a Crackdown Began, What's Next for Nicaragua? - From Al Jazeera English
Key takeaways

The principle of "autrefois acquit" applies to cases where the accused has been acquitted of the same offence, and prevents the accused from being tried again for the same offence.

The principle of "autrefois convict" applies to cases where the accused has been convicted of the same offence, and prevents the accused from being punished again for the same offence.

The recognition of the principle of "autrefois acquit" and "autrefois convict" in many legal systems around the world, including India, the US, the UK, and Australia.

In India, the concept of "autrefois acquit" is recognized by Section 300 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. However, there are several issues with how it is being implemented, such as the ambiguity surrounding what counts as the "same offence".

Several important cases in India

Proposed amendments to Section 300 of the Code of Criminal Procedure aim to address some of the shortcomings in its implementation and ensure that the principle of "autrefois acquit" operates fairly and justly.

INTRODUCTION

The principle of "autrefois acquit" and "autrefois convict" is a fundamental concept in criminal law that aims to prevent double jeopardy. It is a principle that is recognized in many legal systems around the world, including India, the US, the UK, and Australia. The principle of "autrefois acquit" applies to cases where the accused has been acquitted of the same offence, and prevents the accused from being tried again for the same offence. The principle of "autrefois convict" applies to cases where the accused has been convicted of the same offence, and prevents the accused from being punished again for the same offence.

In India, the principle of "autrefois acquit" is recognized under Section 300 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. This section provides that a person who has been acquitted of an offence cannot be tried again for the same offence. However, there are some shortcomings in the implementation of this section, such as the lack of clarity on what constitutes the "same offence".

Over the years, there have been several important cases in India where the principle of "autrefois acquit" has been applied. One of the most well-known cases is the Nanavati case, where the accused was acquitted of murder in a previous trial. The case had a significant impact on the criminal justice system in India and led to changes in the law relating to jury trials. In recent years, there have been proposals to amend Section 300 of the Code of Criminal Procedure to address some of the shortcomings in its implementation. These proposals aim to ensure that the principle of "autrefois acquit" operates fairly and justly.

Overall, the principle of "autrefois acquit" and "autrefois convict" is an important safeguard in the criminal justice system, aimed at protecting the rights of the accused and preventing double jeopardy. It is essential to ensure that the principle operates efficiently and effectively and that it is not used as a tool to shield guilty persons from punishment.

Autrefois Acquit

The principle of "autrefois acquit" is based on the fundamental principle of double jeopardy. This principle states that no person shall be punished twice for the same offence. This principle is enshrined in Article 20(2) of the Indian Constitution, which states that no person shall be prosecuted and punished for the same offence more than once. The principle of "autrefois acquit" is a procedural protection that ensures that an accused person is not subjected to harassment and vexation through repeated trials.

Section 300(1) of the CrPC states that a person who has been acquitted or convicted of an offence shall not be tried again for the same offence. However, there are certain exceptions to this rule. Section 300(2) of the CrPC provides for situations where a person can be retried for the same offence. These exceptions include situations where the previous trial was held without jurisdiction, where the previous trial was held in contravention of the law, or where the previous trial was held in violation of the principles of natural justice.

Case Laws on Autrefois Acquit

One of the landmark cases dealing with the principle of "autrefois acquit" is the case of K.M. Nanavati v. State of Maharashtra. In this case, the accused was tried twice for the same offence of murder. In the first trial, the accused was acquitted by the jury. However, the State filed an appeal against the acquittal, and the Bombay High Court set aside the acquittal and ordered a retrial. The accused was subsequently convicted in the retrial. The accused filed a writ petition before the Supreme Court, contending that the retrial was violative of his fundamental rights under Article 20(2) of the Constitution. The Supreme Court held that the retrial was illegal and unconstitutional, as it violated the principle of "autrefois acquit". The Court held that the principle of "autrefois acquit" is an essential feature of the right to a fair trial and that it is a fundamental right guaranteed under Article 20(2) of the Constitution.

Another important case dealing with the principle of "autrefois acquit" is the case of Harshad S. Mehta v. State of Maharashtra. In this case, the accused was tried for the offence of cheating and was acquitted by the trial court. The State filed an appeal against the acquittal, and the High Court set aside the acquittal and ordered a retrial. The accused filed a writ petition before the Supreme Court, contending that the retrial was illegal and unconstitutional, as it violated the principle of "autrefois acquit". The Supreme Court held that the retrial was illegal and unconstitutional, as it violated the principle of "autrefois acquit". The Court held that the right against double jeopardy is a constitutional right, and it is not open to the State to seek to nullify the effect of an acquittal by seeking a retrial.

One such case is the case of State of Madhya Pradesh v. Udham & Ors, decided by the Supreme Court of India in 2019. In this case, the accused were acquitted of the offence of murder by the trial court. The prosecution filed an appeal before the High Court, which was dismissed. The prosecution then filed a special leave petition before the Supreme Court, contending that the acquittal was erroneous and illegal. The Supreme Court held that the acquittal was valid and legal, and the accused cannot be retried for the same offence, as it would violate the principle of "autrefois acquit". The Court held that the right against double jeopardy is a fundamental right, and it cannot be taken away or curtailed by any legislative or executive action.

Another recent case is the case of Tofan Singh v. State of Tamil Nadu, decided by the Madras High Court in 2020. In this case, the accused was acquitted of the offence of murder by the trial court. The prosecution filed an appeal before the High Court, which was dismissed. The prosecution then filed a petition for special leave before the Supreme Court, which was also dismissed. The prosecution then filed a petition before the Madras High Court for reopening the case, contending that new evidence had come to light. The accused opposed the petition, contending that it was not maintainable, as the principle of "autrefois acquit" applies. The Madras High Court held that the petition was not maintainable, as it violated the principle of "autrefois acquit". The Court held that the right against double jeopardy is a constitutional right, and it cannot be waived or curtailed by any legislative or executive action.

These recent cases demonstrate that the principle of "autrefois acquit" is still relevant and important in the Indian criminal justice system. The courts have consistently upheld the principle, and have prevented the State from re-trying accused persons who have already been acquitted. This ensures that the accused are protected from harassment and vexation through repeated trials, and that the criminal justice system operates fairly and justly.

Autrefois Convict

The principle of "autrefois convict" is also based on the principle of double jeopardy. The principle states that a person who has been convicted of an offence cannot be tried again for the same offence. This principle is enshrined in Article 20(2) of the Indian Constitution, which states that no person shall be prosecuted and punished for the same offence more than once. The principle of "autrefois convict" is also a procedural protection that ensures that an accused person is not subjected to harassment and vexation through repeated trials.

Section 300(1) of the CrPC states that a person who has been convicted of an offence shall not be tried again for the same offence. However, there are certain exceptions to this rule. Section 300(2) of the CrPC provides for situations where a person can be retried for the same offence. These exceptions include situations where the previous trial was held without jurisdiction, where the previous trial was held in contravention of the law, or where the previous trial was held in violation of the principles of natural justice.

Case Laws on Autrefois Convict-

One of the important cases dealing with the principle of "autrefois convict" is the case of State of Punjab v. San Siajjngh. In this case, the accused was convicted for the offence of murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment. Subsequently, the accused filed a writ petition before the High Court, contending that the retrial was illegal and unconstitutional, as it violated the principle of "autrefois convict". The High Court held that the retrial was illegal and unconstitutional, as it violated the principle of "autrefois convict". The State filed an appeal before the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court held that the retrial was illegal and unconstitutional, as it violated the principle of "autrefois convict". The Court held that the right against double jeopardy is a constitutional right, and it is not open to the State to seek to nullify the effect of a conviction by seeking a retrial.

Another important case dealing with the principle of "autrefois convict" is the case of Mubarak Ali Ahmed v. State of Bombay. In this case, the accused was convicted for the offence of murder and was sentenced to death. The accused filed a writ petition before the Supreme Court, contending that the retrial was illegal and unconstitutional, as it violated the principle of "autrefois convict". The Supreme Court held that the retrial was illegal and unconstitutional, as it violated the principle of "autrefois convict". The Court held that the right against double jeopardy is a constitutional right, and it is not open to the State to seek to nullify the effect of a conviction by seeking a retrial.

Shortcomings under "Autrefois Acquit"

While the principle of "autrefois acquit" under Section 300 of the Code of Criminal Procedure is an important safeguard against double jeopardy, there are some shortcomings that need to be addressed. Some of the major shortcomings of this section are as follows:

Limited scope: The principle of "autrefois acquit" applies only to cases where the accused has been acquitted of the same offence. It does not apply to cases where the accused has been acquitted of a lesser offence or where the accused has been convicted of a lesser offence. This limited scope of the principle may result in injustice, as the accused may be retried for a different offence, which may be similar to the offence for which he was acquitted.

Ambiguity in interpretation: The principle of "autrefois acquit" is not defined clearly in the Code of Criminal Procedure, and its interpretation has been left to the courts. This has led to some ambiguity in its interpretation, and there have been instances where the courts have given different interpretations to the same principle.

No provision for retrial in certain cases: Section 300 of the Code of Criminal Procedure does not provide for retrial in certain cases, such as cases where the accused has absconded or where the trial has been vitiated due to the misconduct of the accused or the prosecution. In such cases, the principle of "autrefois acquit" may result in injustice, as the accused may escape punishment despite being guilty.

No provision for compensation: Section 300 of the Code of Criminal Procedure does not provide for compensation to the accused who has been acquitted and has suffered loss or injury due to the trial. This may result in injustice, as the accused may have to bear the consequences of wrongful prosecution.

In order to address these shortcomings, there is a need to amend the Code of Criminal Procedure to provide for a wider scope of the principle of "autrefois acquit", a clearer interpretation of the principle, provision for retrial in certain cases, and provision for compensation to the accused who has been acquitted. This would ensure that the principle of "autrefois acquit" operates fairly and justly, and protects the rights of the accused.

Proposed Amendments

Based on the shortcomings discussed earlier, here are some proposed amendments to Section 300 of the Code of Criminal Procedure to address these shortcomings:

Expansion of scope: The principle of "autrefois acquit" should apply not only to cases where the accused has been acquitted of the same offence, but also to cases where the accused has been acquitted of a lesser offence or where the accused has been convicted of a lesser offence. This would ensure that the accused is protected from repeated prosecution for similar offences.

Clarity in interpretation: The principle of "autrefois acquit" should be defined more clearly in the Code of Criminal Procedure to avoid ambiguity in its interpretation. The definition should be comprehensive and cover all possible scenarios where the principle may apply.

Provision for retrial: Section 300 of the Code of Criminal Procedure should be amended to provide for retrial in certain cases, such as cases where the accused has absconded or where the trial has been vitiated due to the misconduct of the accused or the prosecution. This would ensure that the accused does not escape punishment despite being guilty.

Provision for compensation: Section 300 of the Code of Criminal Procedure should be amended to provide for compensation to the accused who has been acquitted and has suffered loss or injury due to the trial. The compensation should be awarded based on the extent of loss or injury suffered by the accused.

These amendments would ensure that the principle of "autrefois acquit" operates fairly and justly, and protects the rights of the accused. It would also ensure that the criminal justice system operates efficiently and effectively, without allowing guilty persons to escape punishment or innocent persons to suffer due to wrongful prosecution.

Shortcomings under "Autrefois Convict"

There are some shortcomings in the implementation of the principle of "autrefois convict" in India. One of the major shortcomings is the lack of clarity on what constitutes the "same offence" or the "same transaction". The lack of clarity has led to confusion and inconsistency in the application of the principle.

Another shortcoming is the lack of a clear procedure for invoking the principle of "autrefois convict". In some cases, the accused may have to rely on the judicial precedent or judicial discretion to prevent double jeopardy. This can lead to uncertainty and unpredictability in the application of the principle.

In addition, there are some situations where the principle of "autrefois convict" may not apply, such as where the conviction has been set aside on appeal, or where the conviction was obtained through fraud or coercion. In such cases, the accused may be retried for the same offence.

Overall, these shortcomings highlight the need for a clear and consistent application of the principle of "autrefois convict" in India. There is a need for more guidance and clarity on what constitutes the "same offence" or the "same transaction", and for a clear procedure for invoking the principle. It is essential to ensure that the principle operates efficiently and effectively, and that it is not used as a tool to shield guilty persons from punishment.

Solutions to shortcomings

There are several solutions that can be implemented to address the shortcomings in the implementation of the principle of "autrefois convict" in India. These include:

Clear definition of "same offence" or "same transaction": There should be a clear definition of what constitutes the "same offence" or the "same transaction" under Section 300 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. This will provide clarity and consistency in the application of the principle.

Development of clear procedure for invoking the principle: There is a need for the development of a clear procedure for invoking the principle of "autrefois convict". This can be done through legislative action or by the judiciary through its own rule-making powers.

Strict adherence to the principle: It is essential to ensure that the principle of "autrefois convict" is strictly adhered to by the courts. This will prevent double jeopardy and ensure that justice is served fairly and justly.

Awareness and training: There is a need for greater awareness and training of judges, lawyers, and law enforcement officials on the principle of "autrefois convict". This will ensure that the principle is applied correctly and consistently.

Modernization of the criminal justice system: There is a need for the modernization of the criminal justice system in India. This can be done through the use of technology, the establishment of specialized courts, and the development of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms.

Overall, the implementation of these solutions can help to address the shortcomings in the implementation of the principle of "autrefois convict" in India. This will ensure that justice is served fairly and justly, and that the rights of the accused are protected.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the principle of "autrefois acquit" is an important safeguard in the criminal justice system, aimed at protecting the rights of the accused and preventing double jeopardy. While there may be some shortcomings in its implementation, as discussed earlier, the principle is widely recognized in many legal systems around the world.

As Mahatma Gandhi once said, "It is better to let a hundred guilty persons go free than to convict one innocent person." This quote emphasizes the importance of protecting the rights of the accused, even if it means that some guilty persons may escape punishment. The principle of "autrefois acquit" is one such mechanism that ensures that the rights of the accused are protected, while also ensuring that the criminal justice system operates fairly and justly. However, it is important to ensure that the principle operates efficiently and effectively, and that it is not used as a tool to shield guilty persons from punishment. The proposed amendments to Section 300 of the Code of Criminal Procedure aim to address some of the shortcomings in its implementation, and ensure that the principle of "autrefois acquit" operates fairly and justly.

In summary, the principle of "autrefois acquit" is a vital safeguard in the criminal justice system, aimed at protecting the rights of the accused and ensuring that the criminal justice system operates fairly and justly. As Justice William Blackstone once said, "It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer." This quote underscores the importance of protecting the rights of the accused and ensuring that the criminal justice system operates with fairness and justice



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A 46-year-old Bethlehem woman was ordered held without bail Thursday in the fentanyl toxicity death of her 2-year-old son last summer.

Nicole Ann Stauffer was arraigned before District Judge Vivian Zumas on felony charges of involuntary manslaughter and endangering the welfare of children (two counts).

Zumass office said Stauffer was sent to Northampton County Prison and denied bail due to a high risk of flight and danger to the community.

Stauffer and the victims father, Christian Robert Brewster, 26, of Friendship, New York, were arrested Jan. 26 in New York State on warrants issued that same day and were waiting extradition to Pennsylvania, police had said.

Brewster is also charged with involuntary manslaughter and one count of endangering the welfare of children, both felonies. He was not arraigned locally as of late Thursday afternoon, court records show.

Emergency personnel were called at 8:46 p.m July 5 for a boy found not breathing at the couples home in the 2000 block of Stefko Boulevard in Bethlehem, according to police investigators. CPR instructions were given, but the boy had no signs of life when emergency responders arrived, court records say.

CPR and other life-saving measures were attempted by responders before the boy was taken to Lehigh Valley Hospital-Muhlenberg in Bethlehem. The toddler was pronounced dead at 9:49 p.m., authorities said.

The Lehigh County Coroners Office ruled the death a homicide due to fentanyl toxicity.

The home, purchased by Stauffer in April 2022, was searched by police on July 6 and officers said they found narcotic material and drug paraphernalia in the bedroom, including the area where the boy was sleeping.

Testing by the Pennsylvania State Police Bureau of Forensic Services determined fentanyl was in a hypodermic needle found uncapped near the rooms bed Stauffer and the boy shared and in glassine packets in the room, court records say.

Police allege Stauffer and Brewster both recklessly and negligently caused the death of their child ... by intentionally placing him in a living environment that contained exposed fentanyl and uncapped hypodermic syringes containing fentanyl, which caused his death, a Bethlehem police investigator wrote in court records.

A call for comment Thursday night to Stauffers attorney was not immediately returned.

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to lehighvalleylive.com.

Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com.
The Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise celebrated International Nurses Day 2023 with the theme of Our Nurses Our Future to highlight the vital contribution of nurses to healthcare.

Friday, May 12 was marked with a range of presentations and poster displays highlighting examples of good practice, and shared innovative ways of addressing and combatting the challenges faced by nurses.

Some developments were highlighted by Ally Russell, Paediatric Respiratory CNS who shared her success in getting a bursary for the Paediatric Respiratory Team which will facilitate Asthma Camps as a group education intervention to help children and their caregivers manage their asthma.

Joan Dembo, RANP Minor Injuries, talked about the work of the team in Portlaoise hospital on a collaborative virtual trauma assessment clinic with Tullamore hospital.

A statement from the hospital said this is improving the care pathway for patients with fractures by providing an integrated service that is reducing time spent by patients in clinics thus creating a high overall patient satisfaction.

Student Nurse, Gemma Delaney Hyland spoke at the event and shared her journey from multi-task attendant to student nurse.

"I have worked in each and every department in the hospital since 2006. In 2019 I decided to further my career and apply through the CAO as a mature student for a place on the general nursing programme. I am now in year four and starting the second part of my internship this week on the medical ward and I hope to graduate with my class in November.

I really enjoy learning as a student nurse in Portlaoise Hospital. I have direct patient contact every day and I am looking forward to embracing the new and improved patient care competencies and exploring further nursing career opportunities. I am so thankful to the support of all in Portlaoise Hospital. My future is certainly bright, she said.

Olivia Laverty, Director of Nursing at the Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise, also spoke.

I am truly privileged to stand here today as your Director of Nursing on my first International Day of the Nurse. I am so proud of the work that is happening in Portlaoise to improve patient care and pathways and in ensuring high quality patient care and patient satisfaction. The nursing profession is a demanding but fulfilling career.

"There are very exciting aspects of nursing in the career pathways available for consideration in terms of clinical, management, education and research. We are building for the future and nurses play a pivotal role in how we design and delivery patient care. It has never been more important to highlight what our magnificent profession has achieved, not only during the pandemic but also on a daily basis in making a difference in peoples lives, she said. READ MORE BELOW PICTURE.

Pictured: Tracy Kelly, Ally Russell, Fiona Moore, Lisa Egan with her daughter Rosie, Olivia Laverty, Director of Nursing, Monica OCallaghan, Ashleigh Harte and student nurse Gemma Delaney Hyland and Joe Dunne.

John Joyce, General Manager Portlaoise hospital, acknowledged the contribution of nurses.

The professionalism and ongoing contribution from nurses and student nurses to the delivery of healthcare in Ireland and specifically during the COVID-19 pandemic has to be commended. International Day of the Nurse gives us a great opportunity to recognise the collective and individual impact nurses have on our services.

"Thank you for your compassion, dedication and unwavering commitment to your Patients. I will strive to support you to prioritise investment in nursing education, research and leadership and foster an environment that empowers nurses to be change-makers, advocates and leaders in their respective fields, he said.

Cora Flynn, Group Nursing and Midwifery Information Officer for the Dublin Midlands Hospital Group, thanked the nurses.

Healthcare is a team sport and together we can achieve more. Nurses are at the forefront of healthcare delivery and we have a huge opportunity to work with you to really transform our health services for our patients. The Hospital Group wants to support you every step of the way and to say thank you to each and every one of you, she said.

The International Council of Nurses (ICN) has celebrated this day since 1965.
A fundraising drive is ongoing by parents of children with learning disabilities who use the Childhood Days charity respite service in Drumshanbo.

The charity respite service supports children in south Leitrim with disabilities.

Their funding is limited and financial support is critical to the service functioning properly.

Among some of the needs was a replacement bus.

They began a GoFundMe campaign and as a result of this they have been kindly donated a bus by Bernadette McGovern, London.

The new bus is in place now for which they are very thankful but the parents hope to increase the awareness of the charity and will continue to raise funds for further improvements to this vital service.

Brian Gibney, whose son Oscar uses the service each week, explained that Childhood Days is a charity that works for kids with special needs in south Leitrim and further afield.

It takes in about 14 children every week, not all on the same day but spaced out across the week.

Without Childhood Days, personally, I would not be able to work in a full time job and I can say that for the majority of the parents who have a child in Childhood Days, Brian said.

Susan McGloin, whose son Conor also attends Childhood Days, described the centre as a really important respite resource.

Susan said respite resources are few and far between and it's really important we work to preserve this in Leitrim.

She said Conor, the youngest of three boys, loves going to Childhood Days where he gets rehabilitation, and the carers do some gentle exercises and physio with him.

He really enjoys it and when he hears the bus coming in the morning he gets very excited. He has no vision but he is very clued in to when the bus is arriving at the house, Susan said.

Brian said his son Oscar also loves going to Childhood Days.

Oscar is non verbal but when the bus pulls up outside you can see the excitement building up.

He loves his carers and they love him. It's great support for Oscar, he gets out and about, meets people, and they take full care of him on the days he is there, he said.

It's a fantastic service, said Brian, we would be lost without it. Oscar would be lost without it. He wouldn't have made half the progress he has made because of the people in Childhood Days, they are absolute angels and we don't know what we would do without them.

Details of the fundraising effort can be found at GoFundMe, https://gofund.me/a1171dff
Demonstration to demand the release of French hostages held in Iran, January 28, 2023. STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN / AFP

The good news had been expected for months. Benjamin Briere and Bernard Phelan, two French nationals held in Iranian jails, were released on Friday, May 12, French President Emmanuel Macron announced. The two men left Iran on a plane chartered by France. After their release, the Islamic Republic of Iran still detains five French nationals.

"Free, finally. Benjamin Briere and Bernard Phelan will be reunited with their loved ones," the president wrote on Twitter, "This is a relief. I salute their release. Thank you to all those who worked for this outcome. We will continue to act for the return of our compatriots still detained in Iran."

The plane transporting Briere and Phelan landed at Paris' Le Bourget airport on Friday evening, according to an Agence France-Presse witness.

Briere, 37, was arrested in May 2020 in northeastern Iran, near the border with Turkmenistan. He said he was a tourist, but was sentenced to eight years and eight months in prison, in early January, for espionage. To protest against this sentence, he went on hunger strike for more than a month in early February. A few days later, an appeals court acquitted him of all charges. Briere remained behind bars until Friday.

Phelan, who also holds Irish citizenship, was arrested on October 3, 2022, while traveling as a "consultant for a tour operator," his sister, Caroline Masse-Phelan, said in January. His arrest coincided with a major wave of protests in Iran, sparked by the death of the young Iranian woman Mahsa Amini in police custody after being arrested for her "inappropriate" headscarf. Unlike Briere, he was never tried in Iran. Phelan, who according to his family suffers from heart problems and bone pathology, undertook a hunger and thirst strike, after which his health deteriorated.

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The two men "received medical care as soon as they were released from prison," said French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, at the time of their release. She had met shortly before with her Iranian counterpart Hossein Amirabdollahian, during which she "thanked all those who worked" for this outcome, without giving further details.

'Hostage diplomacy'

Apart from France, other Western countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Germany, Austria and Sweden, are concerned by the imprisonment of their nationals in Iran. The number is estimated at around forty. Some of these countries, like France, along with human rights organizations, call it a "hostage diplomacy" conducted by the Islamic Republic of Iran. In the past, the government has released Western citizens from its prisons after obtaining concessions from their countries.

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The second annual Skaneateles Pride festival will take place Saturday and Sunday, June 3 and June 4, with a drag brunch featuring a "RuPaul's Drag Race" star, cocktail cruises and more.

The festival celebrates diversity and promotes "awareness, advocacy, and support for the LGBTQIA+ community, with a special focus on trans, nonbinary, and drag members," organizers said in a news release. The festival's founder and managing director is Mason Drastal, a Skaneateles native and council member of the state Division of Human Rights Hate and Bias Prevention Unit for central New York.

"I see the event as an opportunity to help us all collectively feel more comfortable living as our authentic selves and to celebrate the diversity that makes all of us unique individuals," Drastal said. "It is equally important for this event to highlight the past and current injustices facing the LGBTQIA+ community  in particular, the ones targeting the trans, nonbinary, and drag communities. My goal is for Skaneateless residents, businesses and and visitors to come together and experience a fun, welcoming, and educational weekend that makes everyone feel more inspired, supported, and empowered."

Businesses in the village are encouraged to participate in the festival by hanging Pride flags and competing in a front window display competition.

"The Skaneateles Chamber of Commerce is delighted to support and welcome the second annual Skaneateles Pride festival," chamber President Hilary Fenner said. "This event not only fosters a spirit of inclusivity and celebration of diversity in our community, but also provides a fantastic opportunity for visitors to experience the unique charm and hospitality that our town has to offer. We are excited to see our local businesses embrace the festivities and look forward to creating a memorable experience for all who join us during this special weekend."

Glam gala: Auburn drag performer continues hit series of fundraisers Thom Barron's mother used to knit items for the young patients at Upstate Golisano Children's Hospital in Syracuse. Now, Barron honors that le

Gov. Kathy Hochul has been invited to attend the festival and read a Pride Month proclamation as well.

Other highlights of this year's Skaneateles Pride festival include:

Drag Brunch at the Springside Inn in Fleming with "RuPaul's Drag Race" star Kasha Davis on Saturday, June 3, to benefit Upstate Golisano Children's Hospital

Drag queen cocktail cruises with Mid-Lakes Navigation

Presentation of the Skaneateles Pride 2023 Award of Excellence

"Equality for All" merchandise collection charity fundraiser

Charity yoga class by Sky Yoga on Sunday, June 4

Drag queen story time and tea party for families

Sidewalk Sashay and Paw-rade

Queer art collection and auction

Local business Pride specials

Musical performances

Educational talks with The Intersex Project, PFLAG, the Human Rights Campaign and CNY Pride

For more information on this year's Skaneateles Pride festival, including updates, visit facebook.com/skaneatelespride.
Ukrainian soldiers fire a cannon near Bakhmut (eastern Ukraine), where fierce battles against Russian forces have been taking place, on May 12, 2023. LIBKOS / AP

Ukraine said on Friday, May 12, that it had retaken swathes of ground near the frontline city of Bakhmut, as Russia insisted it had repelled an attack along a broad stretch of the front line. Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner mercenary group, who is spearheading Moscow's attack on Bakhmut, accused the Russian army of "fleeing" from around the eastern Ukraine city.

The conflicting reports from the battlefront indicate an increase in fighting after months of relative stability, as expectations grow over Kyiv's spring offensive. Moscow also denounced as "extremely hostile" a British decision to send long-range missiles to Ukraine. The question of when and where Ukraine might launch its high-stakes fightback has been the subject of steady speculation, even as President Volodymyr Zelensky insisted earlier this week that his army needed more time to prepare.

The fresh fighting came as China said it would send a special envoy to Europe next week, as Beijing pursues efforts to cast itself as a peacemaker. China plans to send high-ranking diplomat Li Hui to Ukraine, Poland, France, Germany and Russia to "communicate with all parties on the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis."

From Ukraine to the Middle East, Beijing in recent months has sought to position itself as a mediator with a leading role in solving the world's crises. But while China presents itself as a neutral party in the Ukraine war, it has been criticized in the West for refusing to condemn Moscow for the invasion. Zelensky is expected in Rome on Saturday for talks with political leaders and possibly Pope Francis, his first visit to Italy since Russia's invasion.

'Great losses' in Bakhmut fight

On the battlefield, Ukraine said its forces had advanced two kilometers near Bakhmut  the scene of the longest and bloodiest battle since Moscow's more than year-long invasion. Bakhmut, which once had a population of around 70,000 people, has been destroyed as Russian forces posted incremental gains in recent months, amounting to some 80% of the city.

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Moscow has denied Ukraine had made any breakthroughs there, adding on Friday that it had repelled Kyiv's forces along more than 95 kilometers of front near the eastern town of Soledar.

Russia's Defense Ministry said Ukraine had deployed more than 1,000 military personnel and up to 40 tanks. Wagner chief Prigozhin, however, said Moscow's conventional army "simply went fleeing from the flanks" near Bakhmut.

Prigozhin insisted that "the flanks are failing, the front is collapsing" in that area and said Russia's leadership was downplaying the gravity of the situation. "For this reason, we must stop lying immediately," Prigozhin said in a video statement released on social media.

The social media accounts of several Russian war correspondents also expressed alarm late on Thursday, with some saying Kyiv's long-anticipated counteroffensive had begun.

Zelensky, however, said in an interview published on Thursday that Kyiv needed more equipment before going on the offensive. But in his evening address on Friday, he said of the Russian forces: "The occupiers are already internally ready for defeat."

"They have already lost this war in their minds." Prigozhin, whose long-running feud with Russia's conventional army has flared in recent days, acknowledged recent Ukrainian successes. He even challenged his rival, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, to visit Bakhmut. "The enemy has launched a number of successful counterattacks," Prigozhin wrote to Shoigu on social media, urging him "to independently assess the current situation."

Moscow denounces UK's decision to send missiles

Moscow on Friday denounced the UK's decision to deliver long-range Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine, announced a day earlier. "We see this decision as an extremely hostile step from London, aimed at further pumping weapons into Ukraine and leading to a serious escalation of the situation," said a foreign ministry statement. Russia said it would "take all necessary measures to neutralize the threats" posed by the new missiles.

The Kremlin announced on Friday that Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed to deepen ties with South African leader Cyril Ramaphosa  just a day after the United States accused Pretoria of secretly shipping arms to Russia. Ramaphosa has already reacted angrily to Thursday's accusation from US Ambassador Reuben Brigety, while announcing an investigation into the affair to be led by a retired judge.

Turkey said on Friday that talks to extend a deal allowing grain exports from Ukraine via the Black Sea following the Russian invasion were nearing an agreement. "We are heading toward an agreement on the extension of the grain deal," Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said in a statement.

The Black Sea Grain Initiative, in place since July after diplomacy by the United Nations and Turkey, allows Ukraine grain exports via port, helping ease shortages and resulting price spikes triggered by Russia's invasion of the breadbasket nation.

Le Monde with AFP
Astronomers said on Friday they have identified the "largest" cosmic explosion ever observed, a fireball 100 times the size of our Solar System that suddenly began blazing in the distant universe more than three years ago. While the astronomers offered what they think is the most likely explanation for the explosion, they emphasized that more research was needed to understand the puzzling phenomenon.

The explosion, called AT2021lwx, is not the brightest flash ever observed in the universe. That record is still held by a gamma-ray burst in October that was nicknamed BOAT -- for Brightest Of All Time. Philip Wiseman, an astrophysicist at Britain's University of Southampton and the lead author of a new study, said that AT2021lwx was considered the "largest" explosion because it had released far more energy over the last three years than was produced by BOAT's brief flash.

Wiseman told Agence France-Presse it was an "accidental discovery". The Zwicky Transient Facility in California first spotted AT2021lwx during an automated sweep of the sky in 2020. But "it basically sat in a database" until being noticed by humans the following year, Wiseman said.

It was only when astronomers, including Wiseman, looked at it through more powerful telescopes that they realized what they had on their hands. By analyzing different wavelengths of light, they worked out that the explosion was roughly eight billion light years away.

That is much farther away than most other new flashes of light in the sky  which means the explosion behind it must be far greater. It is estimated to be around two trillion times brighter than the Sun, Wiseman said.

Astronomers have looked into several possible explanations. One is that AT2021lwx is an exploding star -- but the flash is 10 times brighter than any previously seen "supernova".

Another possibility is what is called a tidal disruption event, when a star is torn apart as it is sucked into a supermassive black hole. But AT2021lwx is still three times brighter than those events, and Wiseman said their research did not point in this direction.

The only somewhat comparable bright cosmic event is a quasar, when supermassive black holes swallow huge amounts of gas in the centre of galaxies. But they tend to flicker in brightness, Wiseman said, whereas AT2021lwx suddenly started flaring up from nothing three years ago, and it is still blazing away. "This thing we have never, ever seen before  it just came out of nowhere," Wiseman said.

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'Absolute puzzle'

In the new study, published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, the international team of researchers laid out what they believe is the most likely scenario.

Their theory is that a massive, single cloud of gas  around 5,000 times larger than the Sun  is slowly being consumed by a supermassive black hole. But Wiseman said that "in science, there's never certainty". The team is working on new simulations to see if their theory is "fully plausible," he added.

One problem could be that supermassive black holes sit in the center of galaxies  for an explosion this size, the galaxy would be expected to be as vast as the Milky Way, Wiseman said. But no one has been able to spot a galaxy in the vicinity of AT2021lwx. "That's an absolute puzzle," Wiseman admitted.

Now that astronomers know what to look for, they are searching the skies to see if other similar explosions have been missed.

Le Monde with AFP
A WOMAN who felt her family was under threat from the IRA and a paedophile ring while in the throes of a very serious psychotic breakdown thought the only way to deal with matters was to kill herself and her family, Limerick Circuit Court heard.

The accused, who has a history of mental health difficulties, had pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing serious bodily harm last March. She was before Judge Tom ODonnell for sentencing this Monday.

Judge ODonnell, in summarising the evidence given by Detective Sergeant Michael Reidy, said the woman took off at speed in a car. It occurred on a date in 2021 in a location in Limerick. The victim, a female, was in the passenger seat, and a child was in the back seat.

She clipped a footpath, crashed through a cement wall of a house, colliding with an outhouse. Unfortunately the victim did not have time to put her seatbelt on and suffered extremely serious life changing injuries. So badly injured was the victim that she could not get out of the vehicle.

The accused did manage to get out despite her own injuries and was seen running up and down the road in an extremely distressed and agitated state and quite clearly in the throes of a very serious mental breakdown, said Judge ODonnell.

Prior to the road traffic collision the woman had been displaying signs of erratic behaviour and had stopped taking medication for her bipolar disorder with manic / psychotic features.

After the incident, Judge ODonnell said she was a voluntary and then involuntary patient at Unit 5B in University Hospital Limerick for a lengthy period of time where she presented as acutely manic exhibiting paranoid delusions.

At the time she said she felt her family was under threat from the IRA and a paedophile ring. Such was her paranoia she thought the only way to deal with matters was to kill herself and her family, said Judge ODonnell, who added that the accuseds position has now stabilised due to injections she receives every three months.

The victim sustained serious life-changing injuries and the long-term prognosis remains extremely guarded.

A lengthy victim impact statement reflects the physical, psychological, emotional and financial trauma as a result of this accident, said Judge ODonnell, who added there has been a major split in the family and he hoped a conviction may help people to move on if thats possible.

The judge said cases of this nature are notoriously difficult to decide. The aggravating factors were the life-changing injuries, the accuseds decision to stop taking her medication and high level of culpability.

The mitigating factors were the plea of guilty which spared the family the rigours of a trial, her mental state and medical history, lack of previous convictions, genuine remorse and impact on her family.

Judge ODonnell said the case has had tragic consequences for the victim and family.

In imposing a three year sentence which he suspended in full, the judge said the imposition of an immediate custodial sentence would be disproportionate in light of the medical evidence.

The judge had earlier said the accused was in the throes of a very serious psychotic breakdown at the time.

The defendant was also banned from driving for seven years. Her license had already been revoked following a garda application in the district court.
A YOUNG Limerick man was disqualified from driving for two years for a morning after drink driving offence.

Peter McCarthy, aged 26, of Ruan, Castleconnell pleaded guilty at Kilmallock Court to driving while over the limit.

Inspector Gearoid Thompson, prosecuting, said gardai attended a road traffic collision at Cappanuke, Murroe on October 3, 2021.

Mr McCarthy was taken by ambulance to University Hospital Limerick. A blood sample was subsequently taken which showed 115mgs of alcohol per 100mls of blood. It was a single vehicle accident, said Insp Thompson.

Judge Patricia Harney asked if the defendant was co-operative? Insp Thompson confirmed he was.

Kenneth Kerins BL, who represented Mr McCarthy, said it was a morning after offence.

It happened in the afternoon - he didnt immediately consume alcohol before getting into the car. He attended the garda station and made a statement as did his partner. It is not a high reading. He has pleaded guilty, said Mr Kerins who added his client works in construction and has plans to go to Australia.

It has an effect on that. He has no previous convictions, said Mr Kerins.

Judge Harney convicted Mr McCarthy of drink driving, put him off the road for two years and imposed a 500 fine.

Recognisance was fixed in the event of an appeal.
TWO Limerick men have been fined after they were found guilty of breaching fisheries legislation by using a net to illegally capture salmon.

John Quinlivan, who has an address in Moyross and Kieran Molloy from Ballynanty were prosecuted for illegally using salmon netting on the river Shannon at Monabraher, Limerick on June 26, 2021.

Following their convictions at Limerick District Court, both men were fined 400 and ordered to pay costs of 553 each.

Separately, Mr Quinlivan was also convicted of fishing in the tailrace of Ardnacrusha power station on June 10, 2021, in contravention of the rules of the ESB Lower Shannon Salmon Angling Permit.

He was fined 300 and ordered to pay costs of 958 in relation to this offence.

Fishing with a net in this area is illegal, and it is also illegal to catch and keep salmon by any method on the river Shannon as salmon numbers are significantly below levels required to sustain a healthy natural population.

Both prosecutions were initiated by Inland Fisheries Ireland.
LIMERICK sludge metal stalwarts Tooms have released their latest EP titled The Shmeckoning, and will play a release show in Pharmacia on May 14.

Tooms was established in 2017 after the trio met while studying in the Limerick School of Art and Design.

The band consists of guitarist and vocalist Alex Holzinger, bassist Anto Donnellan, and drummer and backing vocalist Kieran Grace.

With the new EP, Tooms aimed to release an effective, albeit well-crafted piece of music.

It was fairly meat and potatoes, said Anto.

We wanted to make it as lean as possible. It was an exercise in refinement. They were the punchiest songs we could write, added Alex. The Shmeckoning consists of three fiery songs of varying themes.

With Anvil Crawler, a story is told about the death of a motorcyclist by lightning. The song begins with a motorcycle engine audio sample, which Alex himself recorded from his own motorcycle.

Championed on Stabbed In The Head is Phineas Gage, a 19th century foreman who received a severe head injury in a construction accident but lived on for 12 years after.

People say he went crazy after his injury, but its not true at all. The song is about bringing light to the fact that he was actually sound, outlined Alex.

Closing the EP is Megalobong 2 (The Great Whitey Shark) which stands out for its unyielding heaviness, especially in its breakdown outro.

Tooms coined the term slippery metal for their fusion genre of sludge metal that draws from death and doom metal, progressive and acid rock, and hardcore punk.

The Shmeckoning is available for online streaming and for digital or physical purchase on bandcamp.com

Tooms headline the upcoming show in Pharmacia, Sarsfield Street, and are supported by Zhi Ren and Skellig.

Tickets on eventbrite.ie
The return of Stormont will require significant planning and preparation and nurturing from the UK and Irish governments to operate well, MPs have heard.

Caution was also voiced about whether the mouths of politicians will be stuffed with gold if the Assembly is restored without plans to introduce revenue-raising measures.

The commentary came as former chiefs of the Northern Ireland Civil Service Sir Malcolm McKibbin and Sir David Sterling, along with former permanent secretary Dr Andrew McCormick, gave evidence to a Westminster committee.

While the Stormont Assembly remains collapsed amid a DUP boycott over the Brexit protocol, the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee is examining the effectiveness of the institutions.

In the absence of local ministers, it has fallen on Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris to set Northern Irelands 2023/24 budget and senior civil servants to run departments.

Sir Malcolm told MPs the stability and resilience of the institutions were dubious at best but said it is important to remember most want to see the Stormont institutions of government functioning.

Mr McCormick stressed the value of the institutions is in their legitimacy being made up of locally elected representatives, saying: Id rather have bad decisions taken by a locally elected Executive on the basis of democratic legitimacy than the sterility and ease of direct rule.

Getting the institutions operating is the only legitimate show in town, he added.

There has never been a long period (of government), time to establish patterns, time to get over some of the initial hurdles, so many restarts which means the experience and the patterns of doing government havent had a chance to get established. It needs time, it needs patience, for me also strong commitment from the two governments not to say theyve come back we can forget about it, there is such a need to support and nurture the institutions.

Sir David said there should be a very concerted effort to prepare a programme for government before a Stormont Assembly returns.

We shouldnt necessarily rush back into government. I think it would be worthwhile spending a bit of time to get a programme for government that was clearly going to make a difference, and that had the support of the parties, but was also the product of engagement with civil society, he said.

He also suggested not running the DHondt system to nominate ministers until a programme for government is agreed and backed by all the parties.

I think in support of that there is going to need to be a multi-year budget which would provide the finance to deliver those issues, he said.

DUP MP Carla Lockhart asked for an assessment of the importance of a financial package from Westminster to allow the Assembly to be able to do what it needs to be done.

Committee chairman Simon Hoare asked whether the Treasury should stuff the mouths of Northern Irish politicians with gold or offer match-funding to encourage Stormont to find savings or new streams of revenue.

Sir David said he believes there will need to be some financial help for the sustainable delivery of public services, and investment in transformation.

But he cautioned there is resentment in the Treasury that Northern Ireland is looking for more money, even if in our terms it is justified.

The Northern Ireland Fiscal Council has identified that if we paid the same level of taxes and charges as people in England, Scotland and Wales, the Executive would have in excess of 600 million a year to spend on public services, he said.

I think we will need additional money but I think hard choices are going to need to be made to be blunt, we cannot expect our public services to be of the same quality they are in England, Scotland and Wales if were not paying the same amount into them.

Mr McCormick added: Restoring the institutions cant be subject to any real conditions because its the only legitimate form of government endorsed by the people in 1998. There is no legitimate alternative, and whats in place at the minute has zero legitimacy.
A UK minister said there is so much wrong with youngsters in Northern Ireland not meeting their first Catholic or unionist until their late teens.

Northern Ireland minister Steve Baker told MPs he is absolutely all in favour of school choice, but raised concerns over costs and social divisions.

He cited a report which suggested 600,000 a day is spent on maintaining a divided education system in Northern Ireland as he backed calls for integration.

Mr Baker told the House of Commons: It cant be right just on a cost basis, never mind all of the social divisions that it leads to.

That conversation needs to be had. Ive made my position very clear and the Governments position is very clear: we are in favour of integrated education. I know there will be a spectrum of views.

Mr Baker, as he spoke of funding pressures for different sectors, added: But I would just say on all of these issues when it comes to funding were all very clear that the problems that are faced will endure, were all very clear there will need to be a conversation about the Barnett formula, Im aware of the Barnett squeeze, but none of these things are going to be anything like plausible to solve in a way that will be acceptable to all sections of the community until the executive is restored.

DUP MP Sammy Wilson (East Antrim) said the same choice for education available to Mr Bakers constituents in Wycombe should be available to people in Northern Ireland.

He said: I am surprised that a minister whose party talks all the time in this House about choice in education wishes to shoehorn education in Northern Ireland into one particular system.

Mr Baker agreed about the need for school choice, adding: The question is at what cost?

And that question of at what cost is the one he and his colleagues, MLAs, need to answer in a reformed executive.

But Im very clear that when I go over there as a minister and meet young people who to say me I was 16 before I met my first Catholic or I was 18 before I met my first unionist, theres so much wrong with this.

I find myself amazed this is even a conversation in the 21st century. Yes to choice, but at what cost?

Stephen Farry, Alliance MP for North Down, said he welcomed Mr Bakers comments and noted there is very significant demand for integrated schools right across the community in Northern Ireland.

He said: Moving from a split system to whats more of a share, integrated system does involve some degree of investment.

The problem is the Department of Education cant do that at present in the context where theyre facing declining budgets and theyre trying to protect what they have.

Mr Baker replied: His point is very well made and, as he knows, I hear it now and I have heard it in the past.
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Residents on public water in the Consolidated Water District in the Town of Fleming no longer need to boil their water before use.

The Cayuga County Health Department said Tuesday that the water system lost pressure Tuesday due to a water main break, and residents on public water in the Consolidated Water District were advised to bring tap water to a rolling boil and cool before use or to use bottled water.

The health department on Friday said that drinking water samples collected on Wednesday and Thursday were satisfactory and residents no longer need to boil their water.

Anyone with questions may contact the health department at (315) 253-1560.
Pressure Sensitive Systems India Ltd, a prominent BSE-listed company, recently garnered significant attention with a series of seven substantial orders in the previous quarter. These orders, currently in the process of completion, signify a momentous achievement for the company, propelling it to new heights in its quest for excellence. The roster of esteemed clients contributing to this milestone includes illustrious entities such as IBM Australia, IBM UK, Startup National Central Israel, Kuwait Airways, Laddu Gopal Ventures Pvt Ltd, Wahat Al Butain General Trading LLC, and Insitu S2. The cumulative order value from these clients amounts to an impressive sum, with IBM Australia leading the way at 9.92 crore INR, followed closely by IBM UK at 5.1 crore INR. The remaining orders from

Startup National Central Israel, Kuwait Airways, Laddu Gopal Ventures Pvt Ltd, Wahat Al Butain General Trading LLC, and Insitu S2 stand as formidable pillars of the company's success, with values ranging from 3.14 crore INR to 34.15 crore INR.

Bhagyesh Mistry, the Managing Director of Pressure Sensitive Systems India Ltd, has set a lofty target for the company's Dubai-based subsidiary, Global Markets Insights IT Services LLC. The aim is to achieve a remarkable topline revenue of approximately 180 crore INR for the fiscal year 2023-2024. This ambitious objective highlights the company's unwavering commitment to capitalizing on the vast potential of the UAE market. Moreover, the company's thriving order book, currently valued at an impressive 9.8 million USD (approximately 85 crore INR), serves as a testament to its flourishing business operations and robust market demand.

In response to the company's promising trajectory, the stock market has demonstrated its confidence by elevating the company's stock prices by 34% in last three sessions. This surge signals investor optimism and faith in the company's future prospects. Industry experts concur, lauding the company's steady growth and affirming its potential as a lucrative investment. One stock market analyst remarked, "Pressure Sensitive Systems India Ltd's sustained growth, bolstered by their strategic partnerships and consistent delivery of exceptional results, positions them as a promising player in the market. The recent influx of orders and their ambitious revenue target for the upcoming fiscal year further solidify their position as a stock worth considering."

The stock price witnessed a remarkable ascent, soaring from a modest 1.54 INR in 2022 to an impressive 9.06 INR in 2023, constituting a staggering surge of approximately 488.31%. Moreover, with an 34% growth in the last 3 sessions, Pressure sensitive systems india ltd is expected to give a good quarter results as per the last quarter order book says stock experts In conclusion.



Pressure Sensitive Systems India Ltd has traversed remarkable milestones, propelled by its exceptional performance and an impressive array of orders from renowned clients. With a steadfast commitment to excellence and an ambitious revenue target on the horizon, the company is poised for exponential growth. As the stock market continues to respond favorably, investor confidence soars. With a promising future ahead, backed by steadfast leadership and a robust order book, Pressure Sensitive Systems India Ltd is forging a path toward greater success and carving its niche in the competitive landscape of the industry.

Disclaimer: This article is a paid publication and does not have journalistic/editorial involvement of Hindustan Times. Hindustan Times does not endorse/subscribe to the content(s) of the article/advertisement and/or view(s) expressed herein. Hindustan Times shall not in any manner, be responsible and/or liable in any manner whatsoever for all that is stated in the article and/or also with regard to the view(s), opinion(s), announcement(s), declaration(s), affirmation(s) etc., stated/featured in the same.
NEW DELHI : Air France-KLM plans to bolster its partnership with Indias largest airline IndiGo, airline executives said. The development coincides with the Tata group-owned Air India announcing plans to launch flights to Amsterdam.

We are working on it to see how we can make some expansion for the international route of IndiGo in the sub-continent. It is a work in progress...demand is high anyway, so it is needed," said Claude Sarre, general manager Indian sub-continent.

In 2022, Air France-KLM and IndiGo announced that they had implemented a codeshare agreement allowing each airline to sell seats on others flights. This allowed Air France and KLM to offer their passengers access to 30 new Indian cities, and IndiGo got the right to sell seats on the European airline groups flights on more than 300 routes.

Codeshare flights allow one airline to market the flights operated by another. The arrangement enables fliers to access a broader range of destinations. When booking a ticket, it will be issued under the flight number of the chosen carrier, even if the actual operation is carried out by a different airline.

This codesharing is very important to make the customer more interested and less scared, very important to develop the domestic market," Sarre added.

If the current plans to expand codeshare were to fructify, a passenger flying from Amsterdam or Paris to Chennai or Bengaluru would be able to travel on an IndiGo flight further to another country in the sub-continent, such as Colombo in Sri Lanka.

Simultaneously, the European airline group is collaborating with IndiGo to align its back-end and information technology operations for the existing codeshare to work smoothly and to create attractive international connections with minimum transit time.

Interestingly, the codeshare partnership between Air France-KLM was signed with IndiGo when Pieter Elbers was the president at KLM. Elbers joined IndiGo as chief executive in September 2022 and has since been seen as a key strategist in driving IndiGos expansion plans in Europe.

For now, Air France-KLMs focus lies on strengthening its partnership with IndiGo, and it has no plans to expand ties with other airlines. Air France-KLM already has an interline arrangement in place with Vistara.

We first want to consolidate what we are doing with IndiGo as there is a lot of IT development. We have an interline with Air India, Vistara, but we dont earn miles," Sarre said.

Air France, with a hub in Paris, and KLM, with its hub in Amsterdam, are hopeful of smoother operations and fewer queues at their airports for passengers flying out of these airports during the upcoming summer travel season.

The outlook for India remains buoyant.

Demand in India is huge since post covid. The GDP is a key figure to show the demand in the coming months and coming years. We know we need to adapt to send more aircraft to India," Sarre said.

KLM and Air France both define India as a focus market for sure. The past has shown that, and the future will show that as well," said Christiaan van de Koppel, commercial director of Indian sub-continent.

The airline is also watching the growth of Air India as it has recently placed an order for 470 aircraft, including 70 wide-body planes and 400 narrow-body aircraft.

What is more interesting to see is what they do with the (400) medium-haul aircraft," Koppel said.

This is not the first time Air France-KLM is exploring an extensive partnership with an Indian airline. In 2017, the group agreed to a joint venture with the erstwhile full-service carrier Jet Airways.
NEW DELHI : Dolomite Restaurants Pvt. Ltd, which runs 20 casual dining outlets of Jamies Italian and Jamies Pizzeria brands in India, plans to invest about 100 crore as part of a mega expansion strategy to open 80 new outlets across the country and expand its footprint from nine cities currently.

In its first phase, the company will increase its presence to about 50 restaurants, doubling the network in the next five years to about 100 restaurants, and achieve revenues of about 400-500 crore.

Currently, the company runs about 17 pizzerias and the rest are the larger format Jamies Italian restaurants. Barring two restaurants which are franchised, the company owns and operates the other outlets. The market opportunity for brands doing good pizzas is massive in India and this isnt just in the tier one and two cities," Jasper Reid, managing director said in an interview.

IMM, Dolomites parent, recently sold its Wendys burger chain business to Rebel Foods for an undisclosed sum. There are quite a lot of challenges in the quick service format. While in theory, they are very scalable, but gross margins are very low. So to achieve profitability, there needs to be a huge scale, It was a good time for us to sell. Rebel Foods will be able to achieve that scale, " he said. Reid didnt disclose how much Faasos parent Rebel paid for the brand.

The sale of Wendys will help fund the expansion of the other two brands.

India is one of the most under-penetrated restaurant markets in the world. There are amazing opportunities in the casual dining business here and at present, there is a big gap because many global brands that sell pizzas in this segment have come and gone from India. I think why we have done well is because we behave like a local brand because we source a majority of our produce from India and many companies have not done that in the past," he added.

In 2018, Indian venture capital firm Hunch Ventures took a significant minority stake in Dolomite Restaurants, owned by International Market Management (IMM), which Reid founded.

The restaurant business employs about 400 people and has achieved unit level profitability, he said. Typically, its customers spend anywhere between 400-600 per person in the smaller format pizzeria outlets and about 800-900 in the larger format one.

We are also getting more efficient in the way we are building our restaurants and spend anywhere between 1-2 crore per outlet," he said.

As per a recent estimate, the entire organized restaurant market in India was about 4.2 trillion in FY20. Although, the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) the restaurant industry was crippled by the pandemic and reported a 53% decline in business in FY21 down to 2 trillion, several restaurants have seen a bounce-back in business since.
NEW DELHI : India plans to crack down on Chinese companies trying to bypass a 2020 government policy that requires its prior approval for investments from countries that share land borders with India by forging ties with Indian shell companies to access subsidies, especially in the rapidly growing electric vehicle market, two people familiar with the development said.

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) is scrutinizing Chinese automobile companies having ties with suspected Indian proxy partners but lacking strategic plans for building capabilities in the country.

The crackdown comes as the government spends heavily to promote the electric vehicle market in India, with a subsidy of over 5,000 crore under the FAME II scheme for hybrid and electric vehicles in the current fiscal year. In addition, the governments approval of a 18,000 crore production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme in 2021 further supports the manufacturing, export, and storage of lithium-ion cells crucial for electric vehicle development. Moreover, the government intends to write to industry associations to apprise their members of the issues and warn them against acting as a front for Chinese companies.

Proxy partnerships with Indian companies with no capabilities to develop the industry in India in the longer term will defeat the entire purpose of the governments policies to enable the transformation of the Indian auto sector to EVs and instead create huge dependence on China and Chinese companies. So, the government is now planning to nip in the bud such deals with paper partners in India that bypass the governments vision of making batteries and developing the EV manufacturing ecosystem in India," one of the two people said on condition of anonymity. Amid escalating tensions with China, the government amended the FDI policy in April 2020, through Press Note 3, to prevent opportunistic takeovers by China during the covid-19 crisis when equity valuations had slumped. It made prior approval mandatory for foreign investments from neighbouring countries and continues to be rigorously enforced. The second person cited above said the government is worried about Chinese influence on the EV market primarily because of its dominance of lithium-ion batteries. So, the government is closely watching how Indias EV market, which is at a nascent stage, develops. Queries emailed to spokespeople for the commerce and industry ministry remained unanswered till press time. Indias EV companies are expected to receive $12.6 billion in investments across the automotive supply chain over the next five years, with more than 60% of the investments to be made in automakers and the rest in battery manufacturing, according to industry estimates. India does not want to be dependent on China and Chinese companies in the long term. China has clear dominance in LFP (lithium ferrophosphate) batteries as well as control of most of the lithium mines," the second person said, also requesting anonymity.

Without naming the company, the person said that an Indian company picked up a stake in a Chinese auto firm with links to the Chinese government, and such a deal could cause a larger problem for the ecosystem by providing a lease of life to Chinese companies".

Several Chinese investment applications in India have been waiting for approval for an extended period, Mint has reported, citing Chinese diplomats. The FDI policy amendment aimed to scrutinize the beneficial ownership of investments from certain countries, thereby increasing scrutiny on Chinese firms.
NEW DELHI : An opportunity to hear an account holder before a loan account is declared fraudulent under the 2016 Reserve Bank of Indias (RBI) Master Circular doesnt mean an oral or a personal hearing is necessary in every case, the Supreme Court clarified on Monday after the State Bank of India (SBI) approached the court.

A bench, headed by Chief Justice of India Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, however, asked SBI to file a review petition after the bank sought another clarification to hold that the March judgment of the top court will apply only prospectively and those already proceeded against under the 2016 Master Circular cannot demand an opportunity of hearing, citing the latest verdict.

In our judgment, we have not said that a hearing would mean a personal hearing...We have not said you give a personal hearing to everyone. Proceed on the premise that an opportunity has to be given which can mean a representation too. If someone says he needs an oral hearing, then you decide appropriately," the bench told solicitor general Tushar Mehta, who appeared for SBI.

Mehta, however, pointed out the 27 March judgment of the apex court doesnt say whether a hearing would mean a personal hearing or a representation would also meet the principles of natural justice.

This court upheld the Telangana high court judgment in March and the high court judgment said hearing would mean personal hearing. Since the Supreme Court judgment does not mention anything about the nature of the hearing, every high court will interpret it in its own way," Mehta said.

At this point, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for one of the borrowers involved in the matter, objected to Mehtas contentions, arguing that declaration of an account as fraudulent is akin to blacklisting and therefore, there cannot be a principle cast in stone that nobody will ever be given a personal hearing.The bench, after hearing both the senior counsels, proceeded to issue an order clarifying that the 2020 Telangana high court judgment has merged with the Supreme Court judgment on 27 March and the directives in the latter will prevail.

The apprehension expressed by the S-G is that the Telangana high court judgment of 10 December, 2020, was upheld by this court. The judgement of this court may mean the grant of a personal hearing has to be given. We clarify that while upholding the high court judgement, the operative directions of this court are summarized in paragraph 81," stated the order.

On Mehtas request for a clarification on the prospective nature of the court ruling, the bench said SBI should file a review petition and a mere application wont be adequate. It recorded the S-Gs statement that a review petition will be filed by SBI.

Reading the principles of natural justice into the RBIs directive and holding that such measures affect the right to reputation, the top court had in March held that an audience to a borrower followed by a reasoned order must be read into the RBIs circular for it to be saved as a constitutional directive even as no such hearing was required at the stage of reporting a criminal offence.

The court, at the time, was dealing with petitions pertaining to classification of a loan accounts as fraudulent, was interpreting a Master Circular titled Reserve Bank of India (Frauds Classification and Reporting by Commercial Banks and Select FIs) Direction 2016, which was later updated in June 2017 and 2021. Issued by the regulator under Section 35A of the Banking Regulation Act, it authorized banks to classify accounts as fraudulent without the need to hear the borrowers.

A group of borrowers argued that the consequence of the classification of an account as fraud had a severe impact on the fundamental right of the borrowers since such an action debar promoters and directors from accessing institutional finance, besides causing other stigma, akin to blacklisting the borrower.

RBI and the lender banks defended the circular, arguing that RBI is duly empowered to take pre-emptive measures in public interest to ensure that fraudulent borrowers are brought to justice and loss caused to the banks is mitigated.
NEW DELHI : The Supreme Court on Friday offered an additional three months to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to complete its investigation into the alleged violation of laws by the Adani group, expressing reservations about the regulators request for a six-month timeframe.

The court, however, said it would review the Justice Sapre committees report on regulatory failure and breach of laws before deciding on an extension to Sebi, adjourning the proceedings until 15 May.

Sebi told the Supreme Court that it is yet to form a final opinion regarding the suspicious" nature of transactions and alleged breach of laws by the Adani group, as pointed out in a critical report by US short-seller Hindenburg Research in January that wiped out more than $140 billion in the market value of the conglomerate.

View Full Image Data on Adani Enterprises

Seeking at least six months to complete its probe into the Adani-Hindenburg episode, solicitor general Tushar Mehta clarified that Sebis application on the extension of time did mention 12 suspicious transactions", but the regulator was only referring to the US short-seller Hindenburgs report that alleged such transactions to have been possible violations.

When we said suspicious transactions, we did not mean suspicious in our findings. But these are the ones alleged to be suspicious by the Hindenburg. We are yet to form a final opinion on anything, and for that, we are asking for a minimum period of another six months," Mehta told a bench led by Chief Justice of India Dhananjaya Y. Chandrachud.

In its application last month, Sebi said: In respect of the investigation/examination relating to 12 suspicious transactions, prima facie it is noted that these transactions are complex and have many sub-transactions and a rigorous investigation of these transactions would require collation of data/information from various sources along with detailed analysis including verification of submissions made by the companies."

The bench, however, pointed out that it gave Sebi two months by the original order on 2 March, and an extension of six months looks unreasonable. Six months may not be appropriate. We cannot give you a minimum of six months. Let there be some alacrity. We can give you a maximum of three months and put this matter again in August," the bench, which also comprised justices P.S. Narasimha and J.B. Pardiwala, said.

However, Mehta insisted that Sebi cant conclude its probe within the next three months, contending it would take at least 15 months to investigate such transactions in the normal course.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for one of the PIL petitioners in the matter, opposed Sebis request, claiming that the regulator has been looking into similar complaints against the conglomerate since 2016.

He added that Sebi is a member of the International Organizations of Security Commissions (IOSCO), which allows it to access information from securities regulators of several foreign countries.

Mehta refuted Bhushans claims, saying the 2016 investigation by Sebi relates to an entirely different matter. He also informed the bench that Sebi had already written to IOSCO.

At one point in the hearing, the bench observed that it had not said that there was a regulatory failure by Sebi in the Adani-Hindenburg episode. That is one of the terms of the references of the Justice Sapre committee," said the bench, adding that a report from the committee has also been received, but the judges were yet to go through it.

The court then adjourned the matter for 15 May, saying it would also peruse the committees report before passing an order on Sebis application for extending time.

A six-member panel, led by former Supreme Court judge A.M. Sapre, was set up by the courts 2 March order to investigate allegations of regulatory failure and breach of laws against the Adani group and to suggest steps to bolster the statutory and supervisory regime.

At that time, the Adani group, in a statement, had said it welcomes the investigation, which represents a fair opportunity for everyone to be heard and for all issues to be addressed".

Hindenburgs report, released on 24 January, claimed brazen accounting fraud" and stock manipulation" by the Gautam Adani-led group. Though the conglomerate rejected the report as unresearched" and maliciously mischievous", it triggered a massive rout of Adani Group stocks, which lost over $140 billion in days and forced the cancellation of a 20,000 crore share sale in the groups flagship.

The Adani Group, however, denied allegations of stock market manipulation and accounting fraud by Hindenburg.
New Delhi: Actor Ajay Devgn will be seen in Singham Again, the third instalment of the Singham franchise to be directed by Rohit Shetty, that will release in cinemas for Independence Day 2024. When released in 2014, the last instalment had made over 140 crore at the box office.

Bollywood has been betting big on sequels and franchise films in the past few months to cash in on the success of titles such as Bhool Bhulaiya, Heropanti and Ek Villain, among others.

While Kartik Aaryan was seen in Bhool Bhulaiya 2 last May, the second parts to period drama KGF and Tiger Shroffs Heropanti had arrived in April 2022. Ekta Kapoor also built on her Ek Villain series with an instalment in July while Zee Studios is planning a sequel to Gadar with Sunny Deol.

Critics and trade experts said the formula may generate some curiosity given the success of previous films but the poor response to recent titles like Bunty Aur Babli 2 suggest forcing a story forward may not work. The other challenge is that Hindi cinema does not have the grandeur and special effects of Hollywood superhero franchises, which such sequels are inspired by.

However, a spiritual successor, or a film with a completely different plot or set of actors and only belonging to the same genre as the original, such as a thriller or comedy, has been tough to sell and disappointing to audiences in the past few years, say trade experts. For example, Vidya Balans Kahaani 2 could not build on the success of the first instalment even though it featured the same lead actor.

Hollywood sequels and franchise films are usually superhero tales that create large-scale worlds to take the same story forward. The Avengers and Star Wars films are examples.
Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta announced its Q4FY23 results on May 12, reporting a 56.3 percent year-on-year decline in profit at 2,634 crore, compared to 6,027 crore in the corresponding period last year. The revenue of the mining major dropped 5.4 percent to 37,225 crore from 39,342 crore in the year-ago period.

On the operating front, the company's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) decreased 33.4 percent to 8,754 crore, compared to 13,153 crore in the same period last year.

The companys board of directors have approved fourth and fifth interim dividends of 12.50 and 20.50 per equity share, which is 1,250 per cent and 2,050 per cent on face value of Re 1 per equity share respectively, for fiscal 2022-23. With this, the total dividend declared for FY23 stands at 101.50 per equity share on Re 1 each. An interim dividend of 33 per share for Q4 was declared.

Also Read: India renews call for chipmakers as Anil Agarwals $19 billion plan drags

Vedanta has declared the re-appointment of Navin Agarwal as the whole-time director of the company for a period of five years with effect from August 1, 2023 to July 31, 2028 subject to the approval of shareholders. It also announced the re-appointment of Priya Agarwal as non-executive director for five years with effect from May 17, 2023 to May 16, 2028.

In FY23, the company recorded its highest ever aluminium production at 2,291 kt, up 1 per cent with Jharsuguda ramp-up. Zinc India business made a record mined metal production at 1,062 kt, up 4 per cent year-on-year.

"We have delivered the highest-ever free cash flow (pre-capex) of 28,068 crore, enabling us to reinvest for business growth and provide our valued shareholders with attractive dividends," Sunil Duggal, chief executive officer, Vedanta said. "We finalized 1868 MW renewable power delivery agreements which brings us one step closer towards becoming carbon neutral by 2050 or sooner," he added.

In terms of segmental performance, the revenue of zinc, lead and silver fell 4 percent to 8,254 crore. Aluminium revenue fell by 19.8 percent to 12,396 crore, while copper and iron ore segments saw an uptick.

As part of the oil and gas segment, the company signed a 10-year extension to production sharing contract to operate the Rajasthan oil block. For FY23, the company has estimated a capex of $1.7 billion, higher than $1.2 billion this year.

On May 12, shares of Vedanta settled 2.29 per cent to 275.10 apiece on the BSE.
Asias copper industry meets in Hong Kong next week to discuss a market that should be bursting with opportunities after China, the biggest consumer of the metal, called an end to the pandemic restrictions strangling its economy.

The governments pledge to raise economic growth, and an increasingly outsized contribution to demand from its rapid build out of clean energy, have spurred optimism that Chinas reopening will help offset weaker activity elsewhere in the world. But the reality on the ground is much gloomier as traders seek evidence of a kick-start to consumption that has so far proved elusive in the months since Beijing lifted its Covid Zero curbs.

Many people in the industry are disappointed by Chinese demand so far this year," said Shen Haihua, a portfolio manager at Hong Kong-based hedge fund Entropy Asset Management Ltd.

The London Metal Exchanges gathering is its first in-person meeting in Asia since the pandemic struck, convening more than a thousand executives, traders, bankers and analysts to chew over the latest industry news, and wine and dine old friends in the citys bars and restaurants.

Less than two months ago, few were betting against coppers prospects after the worlds top trader of the metal, Trafigura Group, told a conference in London that it expects prices to hit a record within a year.

Whats changed is a slew of data indicating that Chinas recovery is losing momentum. A survey of purchasing managers showed the factory sector contracting in April for the first time this year, while copper imports dropped to their lowest since October. Chinese imports of the metal in the first four months are lagging 13% behind the pace set in 2022, a year that saw copper purchases boom despite generally weaker demand for other commodities.

Economic Barometer

That speaks to one explanation for why consumption may have fallen short of expectations. Chinese industry suffered less than other parts of the economy during the Covid-era slowdown, according to Capital Economics Ltd., a London-based research firm, which means that post-virus growth was only ever going to be modest. At the same time, Chinas need for metals like copper is being capped by softer demand for exports as other nations flirt with recession.

Copper prices have long been considered a useful barometer of an economys health because of its widespread usage, from power cables, to pots and pans and mobile phones. As such, its fortunes have been closely tied to Chinas rapid growth in recent decades.

So its instructive that Chinese traders surveyed by Bloomberg ahead of the LME event are tilting toward prices falling in the short term. Some said theyre experiencing the worst margins in over 10 years, while smelters are turning to exports to compensate for a sluggish domestic market.

Copper is too scarce and too valuable to the energy transition to be on the ropes for long. But timing its resurgence is becoming increasingly fraught given the frailty of the world economy and the absence of robust Chinese demand.

From January to April, copper in China has averaged about 400 yuan ($58) a ton less than London prices. The premium at the port of Yangshan, which measures import needs, has more than halved since mid-March and is bumping along near record lows. And thats during a second quarter which is usually considered to be a peak period of consumption among fabricators of the metal.

Tycoon Running a Quarter of Chinas Copper Trade Is on the Ropes

On the LME itself, the worlds premier exchange for metals, volatility  the lifeblood of the market  has slumped. On a 30-day basis, price fluctuations have fallen to their lowest since November 2020, forcing traders to the sidelines.

Lackluster consumption is the biggest problem, but another factor is that Chinas smelting industry is still expanding. That means more demand for ores and concentrates mined overseas, and less for the refined metal that backstops futures markets like the LME. Coppers value as an asset has also waned after the collapse of Chinas biggest trader sent a chill through dealing rooms and subdued the appetite among lenders for using the metal as collateral on loans.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.
An Auburn manufacturing company will receive state funding for its $1.2 million expansion project.

EMCom, which manufactures electromechanical components, will receive a $235,000 grant from Empire State Development and $150,000 in Excelsior tax credits linked to job creation goals.

The Columbus Street company will expand "through significant upgrades to its equipment and facility," according to Gov. Kathy Hochul's office, which added that the expansion will allow EMCom to get new contracts and "prepare them to support upcoming microelectronic manufacturing in the region."

The funding was awarded through the state's regional economic development council initiative. The state will invest $24 million to support 28 projects, including EmCom's expansion.

"These 28 shovel-ready projects represent incredible opportunities to foster economic growth, create jobs and drive private investment across New York state," Hochul said.

Other projects in Cayuga County have received funding in this round of the regional economic development council initiative. One of the notable projects is $3.8 million for upgrades at Owens-Brockway Glass Container in Sennett.
The Supreme Court will hear petitions on the Adani-Hindenburg row on Thursday. The apex court will also hear SEBI's plea demanding 6 months extension to conclude its investigation of the Hindenburg report on Friday. Earlier, the court had ordered the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to complete its probe into the matter within two months.

The SEBI application demanding an extension of time has been opposed by the petitioner Vishal Tiwari. The bench will be led by the Chief Justice of India Dr Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud. It will comprise Justices P S Narsimha and JB Pardiwala, reported PTI.

The Indian regulatory body informed the apex court that it would take further time to arrive at verified findings and conclude the investigation.

In its application to SC, SEBI also submitted that given the complexity of the case, it would take around 15 months to complete the investigation. But it is trying to conclude the investigation within six months.

To ascertain possible violations related to misrepresentation of financials, circumvention of Regulations, and investigate the fraudulent nature of transactions mentioned in the Hindenburg report, it would take in the normal course at least 15 months, said SEBI in its application.

"Applicant/SEBI, in the forgoing circumstances, most respectfully submits that to enable SEBI to conduct a proper investigation and arrive at verified findings, it would be just, expedient, and in the interest of justice that this Court may be pleased to extend the time to conclude the investigations as directed in the common order dated 02.03.2023, by at least 6 months," SEBI said.

Notably, a US-based short seller, Hindenburg in its report accused the Adani group of stock manipulation and faulty transactions. In view of the report, which was followed by a furious uproar on the political as well as financial front, the Supreme Court, on March 2, directed SEBI to investigate on Hindenburg report.

SEBI was directed by the Supreme Court to investigate whether there is any violation of Rule 19A of the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Rules, 1957; any failure to disclose transactions with related parties, stock manipulation, etc.

The Supreme Court also constituted a six-member committee, led by former Justice Abhay Manohar Sapre to evaluate the extant regulatory framework to protect investors against volatility and for making recommendations to strengthen it. The committee also includes retired judge Justice J P Devadhar, OP Bhatt, KV Kamath, Nandan Nilekani, and Somashekhar Sundaresan.
Delhi police busted three extortion modules of Goldy Brar-Lawrence Bishnoi gang on Friday. The police arrested eight people in the matter and recovered six weapons from the site, said Crime Branch.

A total of 8 people have been apprehended and 6 weapons recovered. Goldy Brar-Lawrence Bishnoi gang members are using juveniles for extortion," said Crime Branch.

Notably, gangster Lawrence Bishnoi was recently sent to Sabarmati Central jail in judicial custody after his police remand in the Heroin case got over. The gangster was arrested by the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad in relation with the seizure of heroin worth 194.97 crore off the Jakhau Coast in September.

He is under arrest in the case where six people were caught with heroin worth 194.47 crore. Those people were arrested when they were about to deliver the package from their boat in the limits of Indian waters.
Over 2,200 airplanes will be coming to India in the next 20 years and there is need to train 31,000 pilots, Boeing India President Salil Gupte has said.

In an interview with ANI, Gupte said India is a place like no other when the civil and defence market are taken together.

"The number that I can give you right now is 2,200 plus airplanes over the next 20 years on civil that will be coming into India that drives a need for 31,000 pilots that will need to be trained and developed here in India to fly all those airplanes, and 26,000 plus mechanics that will be needed to maintain all those airplanes," he said.

"We have the largest manufacturing footprint with our 300 plus suppliers here in India and we already do one billion dollar sourcing here. And then we have 5,000 employees here in India," he added.

Gupte said the combination of these conditions allows the companies to address the defence opportunity as well.

"So, when you pull together the civil, market and the defence market, India is a place like no other," he said.

Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the US next month, he hoped that there are talks about aviation.

"We hope there are talks about aviation whenever PM (Narendra) Modi goes abroad and sees the top leaders of major countries... As we see those conversations at a high level occur in June between the PM and the President, we know our industry will be well represented," he said.

Asked about issues relating to Go Air which has moved NCLT for insolvency, Gupte said it's always sad to see an airline struggle.

"You feel not only for the airline but for the employees, stakeholders, the customers and everyone who does in and around the airline," he said.

The Boeing India President said it's not a "straight line progress" of a market.

"There's always some up and down. I certainly hope the best for Go Air... ultimately, the macroeconomic growth of this market is unchanged even when you see some of the challenges come up," he said.

Gupte said there are certainly opportunities to provide clarity for the leasing market in India.

"One of the things the Indian government can do is that there is legislation that is supporting the Cape Town Convention that provides clarity around how aircraft assets are handled," he said, adding that this has been on the table in India for a couple of years.

Gupte said the company has worked towards making sure that there is right flight operations expertise in India.

"We have talked a lot during the few months about our commitments here -- the logistics centre that we have announced and the customer support centre and our continued focus on growing training for pilots and mechanics but one of the things that we find important is making sure we have the right flight operations expertise right here in India, and the right maintenance technical expertise," he said.

"We have always had the world's greatest field service representatives located around the world and that has been Boeing legacy for decades but this is an additional layer of support above that to have this office populated with those experts, maintenance and flight ops to support airlines right here in region.

Many airlines have headquarters just around the corner from here (Gurgoan). This will provide quicker answers to them by having a team of thirty people of staff here in this office," he added.

Gupte said Boeing keeps transparency about delivery timing for customers.

"Number one thing for us is transparency about delivery timing for our customers. We recognised that the entire world, not just aviation but many sectors have supply chain challenges we all have to work through," he said.

"Transparency with the customers and suppliers, and bringing that together to come up with a schedule that we can all ensure helps the airline's success... what we are focused on. As it relates to the overall growth of the market, the South Asian region, with India in it, is the fastest-growing market. It was before prior to Covid and it will resume being that post-Covid."

He said the Indian defence market, as it moves to self-reliance, is going to land a lot of opportunities for companies like Boeing.

"Boeing in particular is very well-positioned to address those needs because of our footprint here," Gupte said.

Boeing and Air India had in February announced the carrier has selected Boeing's family of fuel-efficient airplanes to expand its future fleet with plans to invest in 190 737 MAX, 20 787 Dreamliner and 10 777X airplanes.

The agreement between Boeing and Air India included options for 50 additional 737 MAXs and 20 787-9s.
With an aim to reduce congestion at airport check points, Indian government will soon launch a Trusted Traveller Programme for faster immigration clearance of pre-verified travellers. The new scheme will be launched for travellers with Indian passports across international airports in India.

The program will be started on a pilot basis at Delhi and Mumbai airports this year. Later it will be expanded to 15 more international airports by 2027 and all airports by 2032, reported HT citing an anonymous official.

For the implementation of the programme at Delhi airport, three electronic gates, two for arrival and one for departure, have already been established at the airport. However, authorities are yet to begin trials of the programme.

The inititative will help Indian passport holders to use e-gates and help them avoid que for immigration clearance.

The idea is to make the immigration clearance process simpler and quicker with the help of technology. The United States department of homeland security has a similar Global Entry Program, which allows for expedited security and immigration clearance of pre-approved, low-risk travellers," said a third officer, who works in the home ministry.

The modalities of the verification system are yet to be worked out in India's case. Authorities also need to figure out how passports will be stamped as they are done when someone enters or exits India via immigration checkpoints. The scheme will be open only for Indian passport holders and there is no consideration of extending the scheme to those with other passports.

For the speedy implementation of the programme, the ministry of home affairs (MHA), has already prepared a roadmap for the "trusted traveler programme', reported HT citing an officer.

No matter how visionary the scheme sounds, it would be crucial to see how the authorities will define pre-verified travellers, Amit Singh, an aviation expert, told HT.

E-Gates are only to reduce the workload or automate the process but someone at the backend must verify and approve the passengers identity based on the immigration database. If the person is of interest, then the e-gate will reject the entry and the person will have to proceed to the manual counter," he added. The successfull implementation of the scheme will help in reducing long queues at check points.
International Nurses Day, recognised on May 12 every year, is a global celebration that honours the invaluable contributions of nurses, promotes the nursing profession, and advocates for the well-being of nurses worldwide. It recognizes their dedication, compassion, and expertise in delivering quality healthcare services and shaping the future of healthcare.

International Nurses Day: Theme

Every year, a specific theme is chosen, and for 2023, the theme for this year is Our Nurses. Our Future."

History

International Nurses Day commemorates the birth anniversary of Florence Nightingale who was a pioneering figure in nursing. Florence Nightingale was born on May 12, 1820, in Italy. She is considered the founder of modern nursing. She gained prominence during the Crimean War in the 1850s, where she and her team of nurses treated wounded soldiers. Nightingale's efforts to improve sanitary conditions and nursing practices significantly reduced mortality rates and revolutionized the profession.

Significance

Acknowledging Nurses' Contributions: International Nurses Day highlights the selfless dedication, compassion, and tireless efforts of nurses in providing high-quality healthcare services to patients around the world. It recognizes their role as critical caregivers and advocates for the health and well-being of individuals.

Raising Awareness: The day aims to raise awareness about the importance of nursing as a profession and the need for continued support and investment in nursing education, research, and resources. It serves as an opportunity to address nursing challenges and promote the value of nursing in healthcare systems.

Celebrating Achievements: International Nurses Day celebrates the achievements and accomplishments of nurses in improving healthcare outcomes, patient safety, and healthcare innovations. It provides a platform to recognize exemplary nurses and their contributions to healthcare advancements.

Promoting Nursing Profession: The day promotes nursing as a respected and vital profession, encouraging individuals to consider nursing as a career choice. It highlights the diverse roles nurses play in various healthcare settings, including hospitals, clinics, community health centers, research institutions, and more.

Key Role in COVID-19 pandemic

The Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was a major global public health emergency and nurses comprised the major part of medical workforce. Nurses played a vital role in COVID-19 pandemic as front line workers of patient care in hospitals and were actively involved with evaluation and monitoring of the community. They put their life at stake to save lives knowing that they were exposed to hazards that put them at risk of infection. They were key players in stopping the pandemic with adequate assistance.
In a historic move, the California State Senate on Thursday passed a legislation that would ban caste-based discrimination in the State.

Passed by 34-1 vote, the bill  SB 403, would make California the first US state to add caste as a protected category in its anti-discrimination laws. Promoters of the bill, being led by non-profit Equality Lab, said that a similar bill is being introduced in the State House of Representatives, before it can be sent to the Governor to be signed into a law.

Also Read: California's anti-caste bill moves ahead, gets nod from Senate committee

Introduced by California Senator Aisha Wahab, SB 403 adds caste as a protected category to an existing law, the Unruh Civil Rights Act, which provides that all people in the state of California are entitled to the full and equal accommodations, advantages, facilities, privileges, or services in all business establishments.

Also Read: Two of 17 Sikhs arrested in California sought in murder cases in India: US Police

SB 403 provides explicit protections to those who have been systemically harmed due to caste bias and prejudice. It also provides firm legal consequences for those seeking to avoid responsibility or ramifications for permitting or participating in caste discrimination and caste-based violence.

This landmark bill comes just weeks after the California Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously passed SB403 in April. It also follows the Seattle City Councils historic legislation banning caste discrimination earlier this year, as well as resolutions to designate caste as a protected category passed by the California Democratic Party, the California State University system, the Alphabet Workers Union, tech giants like Apple and Cisco, and others.

Also Read: Caste in California: Tech giants confront ancient Indian hierarchy

Seattle Council member Kshama Sawant, who was instrumental in Seattle being the first city to pass anti-caste discrimination law, welcomed the passage of SB 403 by the California State Senate.

Following our historic victory in Seattle in February, the California Senate has voted in favour of banning caste discrimination," Sawant said.

The bill now goes to the Assembly. Anti-caste activists, working people, union members, and my socialist Council office built a fighting movement to win in Seattle, creating national and even international momentum. Solidarity to all fighting oppression under capitalism!" she said.

On behalf of all Dalit Californians and caste-oppressed people around the world, we are ecstatic that the California Senate has passed SB403 off the Senate floor. This is a win rooted in years of Dalit feminist organising, and we are just getting started in making the state safe for our entire caste-oppressed community," said Thenmozhi Soundararajan, Equality Labs executive director and author of The Trauma of Caste.

We know that we have a long journey ahead of us with this bill, but we have made history with this vote and are proud to look forward to working with the California Assembly on this historic bill! Equality Labs thanks all of the partners in Californians for Caste Equity who worked tirelessly to get us this far," she said.

Tanuja Gupta, law student, activist, and a former Google engineering programme manager, said ending caste discrimination will soon no longer be an opt-in for a California-based company like Google, but a legal requirement of its existence.

Deelip Mhaske, president of Foundation For Human Horizon, congratulated State Senator Aisha Wahab for introducing the bill in the California Senate. "This is a win for the Indian Constitution framed by Dr B R Ambedkars equality principle."

Indian American Muslim Council president Mohammad Jawad commended the California Senate for passing SB 403.

This is a historic moment for the Dalit community, which has been fighting against caste-based discrimination for generations. The passage of this bill sends a strong message that caste discrimination has no place in California. The bill will provide much-needed protection to Dalits and others who face discrimination based on their caste," he said.

We urge the California Assembly to pass this bill without delay, and for Governor Newsom to sign it into law. We also call on other states and the US Congress to follow California's lead in recognizing caste discrimination as a form of discrimination and taking steps to address it. Discrimination based on caste is a violation of human rights and must be eradicated wherever it exists," said IAMC executive director Rasheed Ahmed.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.
New Delhi : On 10 May, Google announced new generative AI (artificial intelligence) capabilities for Search and workplace users at its annual developer conference Google I/O. While Googles generative AI products have been rolling out slowly, at I/O the company seemed ready to finally take the wraps off its AI, adding it to most of its products.

However, while names like Bard and ChatGPT have been turning heads since last year, AI models called large language models (LLMs) are what power these products. At I/O 2023, Google also announced a new LLM called Pre-training with Abstracted Language Modeling-2 (PaLM-2), which will be the underlying technology for many of its new AI tools, including Bard, which is Googles ChatGPT rival.

At the moment, the companys generative AI chatbot Bard generates text, translates languages, writes code, and answers complex questions leveraging something called Language Model for Dialogue Applications (LaMDA). PaLM-2 will replace LaMDA.

On the other hand, AI research firm OpenAIs ChatGPT is powered by Generative Pre-trained Transformer -4 (GPT-4), another LLM. The companys close association with Microsoft means GPT-4 is behind most of that firms AI initiatives, in products like Word, Excel, Edge and more.

These LLMs belong to a class of AI algorithms called Transformers, which were first introduced in 2017 by researchers at Google and the University of Toronto. They are neural networks used for natural language processing and natural language generation since they have the ability to understand the relationship between two sequential data, such as words in a sentence, and generate a response accordingly.

So, how do PaLM-2, LaMDA and GPT-4 differ from each other? Mint explains:

PaLM 2

PaLM 2 is the upgraded version of PaLM 1, which was trained on 540 billion parameters. Though Google hasnt shared the details of the number of parameters used to train PaLM 2, the big tech firm claims that it has been trained on multilingual text from more than 100 languages, which makes it much better at understanding, generating, and translating complex text, such as idioms, poems, and riddles.

Google also claimed that PaLM 2 is much better at reasoning, logic, and mathematical calculations than its predecessors, as it has been trained on large datasets of scientific papers and web pages with mathematical content. For generating computer code, PaLM 2 has been trained on source code datasets and can handle languages like Python and JavaScript, along with others like Prolog, Fortran, and Verilog.

Further, Google said that PaLM 2 will be available in four different variants so it can be deployed for multiple applications and even devices. For instance, the Gecko version" of PaLM is so lightweight and fast that it can be run on mobile devices, and can be used for interactive applications even when a device is offline.

LaMDA

Introduced in 2021, LaMDA has been trained on text-based conversations and is especially designed for dialogue-based applications like AI chatbots. The objective of LaMDA was to build chatbots that can handle more open-ended conversations. LaMDAs training process included pre-training and fine-tuning and involved 1.56 trillion words with 137 billion parameters. In LLMs, a parameter is a numerical value used to measure the link between two neurons in a neural network. More parameters make LLMs more complex and indicate that it can process more information. Last August, a Google engineer claimed that LaMDA had become sentient or self-aware after it started responding to conversations on rights and personhood. Google dismissed the claim and suspended the engineer.

GPT-4

OpenAIs GPT-4 is the most advanced LLM built by the Microsoft-backed AI startup, even though its most successful product ChatGPT was based on GPT-3.5. The new model has been used in Microsofts AI-powered Bing chat and ChatGPT Plus, the upgraded and subscription-only version of ChatGPT.

Like Google, OpenAI also didnt share the number of parameters used for training its latest LLM. However, it is believed that it has been trained on a larger dataset than GPT-3, which was trained on 175 billion parameters. At the time of its release, in March, OpenAI claimed that GPT-4 can solve difficult problems with greater accuracy due to its broader general knowledge. According to OpenAI, GPT-4 is more reliable, creative, and can handle more nuanced instructions than GPT-3.5.

What also sets it apart from other models is that it is multi-modal, which means it can generate content from text and image prompts. OpenAI has said that internal tests showed GPT-4 is 82% less likely to respond to requests for problematic content and 40% more likely to generate accurate responses than GPT-3.5.
NB by J.C.: A Walk Through the Times Literary Supplement

By James Campbell.

Paul Dry Books. 374 pp. Paperback, $24.95

By Steven Moore.

Zerogram Press. 120 pp. Paperback, $14

- - -

Even before catching up with the latest scholarly kerfuffle in the Letters column, readers of Britain's Times Literary Supplement turn first to its last page. There, one can find a weekly feature somewhat enigmatically titled NB, the Latin abbreviation for "nota bene," which could be translated as "pay close attention." Overall, NB might be loosely described as a gossip column for the erudite, but during the first 20 years of the present century, James Campbell made it into something more - a uniquely personal miscellany of wit, weirdness and waspish provocation.

"NB by J.C." - a selection of columns - highlights its singularity. First off, those initials matter because J.C., which is how the TLS pieces were always signed, differs slightly from James Campbell. The latter is a well-regarded Scots literary journalist and biographer whose several books include "Talking at the Gates: A Life of James Baldwin," "Exiled in Paris: Richard Wright, James Baldwin, Samuel Beckett, and Others on the Left Bank" and, most recently, "Just Go Down to the Road," a memoir of its author's working-class youth and rackety misadventures during the 1970s in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. The J.C. persona, however, is a gleeful literary provocateur, an eviscerator of cultural imbecility and something of an old-fashioned bookman.

During J.C.'s tenure (1997-2020), the NB back page regularly mocked the platitudes of the poet Maya Angelou ("All great artists draw from the same resource: the human heart"), inaugurated an award for the year's most incomprehensible academic criticism (too many examples to cite) and speculated about the most overused book titles (e.g., "The Kindness of Strangers"). Campbell - let's just call him by his name - pointed out "the pointlessness of awarding sumptuous real-world prizes to authors already wealthy beyond the dreams of the average scribe who has been toiling valiantly in the ranks for years." He learned that long before J.K. Rowling's boy wizard there was a good minor poet named Harry Potter, faithfully subscribed to the journal of the George Gissing Society (honoring the novelist best known for "New Grub Street") and declared John Galsworthy's too-seldom-read "Forsyte Saga" to be "fantastic."

A learned playfulness characterized much of Campbell's early NB period. For instance, he challenged his readers to unearth mentions of the TLS in modern fiction or to determine the earliest appearance of the telephone in literature (Gilbert and Sullivan's "HMS Pinafore," which premiered in 1878, carries off the honors with the line "No telephone/ Communicates with his cell"). He shared his pleasure in Drummond Moir's "Just My Typo," a collection of amusing instances of typographical errors, such as the hotel sign reading "Please leave your values at the front desk" and a government report that insisted "there can be no scared cows." Against commentators who foolishly argue that "who" can do all the work of "whom," Campbell's elegantly snide riposte began "To Who It May Concern," before listing other absurdities such as a retitled Hemingway novel, "For Who the Bell Tolls."

Perhaps the most beloved of all NB's regular features is "The TLS Reviewer's Handbook," continually updated by the graybeard Elders of the Basement Labyrinth. While the handbook is imaginary, its stylistic prohibitions are anything but. Never use "'interrogated' (except in legal contexts), 'robust' (except in sporting contexts) and 'limn' (in any context)." Don't resort to reflexive cliches: Must a Scot be invariably described as "dour" and all wit as "mordant"? Other no-nos include such wearisomely familiar catchphrases as "game changer," "level playing field," "perfect storm" and "wake-up call," as well as those ugly verbs "curate" and "gift."

Throughout his years as NB's presiding genius, Campbell never shied away from being controversial. As a champion of aesthetic excellence and artistic freedom, he viewed the present-day literary scene as "fueled to a large extent by identity approval, not critical judgement." Despite William Faulkner being (arguably) the greatest American novelist, he lamented that "it must be next to impossible to teach books such as 'Intruder in the Dust' and 'Absalom, Absalom!' in American literature departments today, policed as they are by linguistic censors and peopled by the shocked, the appalled, and the offended." Deeming the semi-classic lesbian romance "Carol" to be "one of the dullest of Patricia Highsmith's 22 novels," he strongly recommended instead "The Tremor of Forgery," "This Sweet Sickness" and "any of the Ripleys."

In commenting on what we now label cancel culture, Campbell reminded us that, in 1946, Random House announced that a standard anthology would no longer contain anything by Ezra Pound because of the poet's antisemitism. W.H. Auden - who didn't even like Pound's poetry - protested: "Begin by banning his poems not because you object to them but because you object to him, and you will end, as the Nazis did, by slaughtering his wife and children." Random House changed its mind.

By Sept. 18, 2020, the date of his last NB column, Campbell - today a freelance writer - had grown openly disheartened by our pseudointellectual zeitgeist:

"From the 1920s through to the 'Lady Chatterley's Lover' trial in 1960 and beyond, it was the legal and political authorities who tried to ban books and restrict the freedom of the imagination," he wrote. "Radicals and rebels fought against the very act of banning. Prohibitions on speech and publication now arrive from the identity-conscious children of those same radicals, leaving it to the law to protect what were once taken for granted as freedoms of expression."

In one minor way, "NB by J.C." may disappoint some readers: While it does feature a few author interviews - with Seamus Heaney and Gore Vidal, among others - and occasionally names various TLS staffers, it's hardly "A Walk Through the Times Literary Supplement," as its subtitle promises. By contrast, Steven Moore's new memoir, "Dalkey Days," vividly re-creates the heady years of the 1980s and '90s when Dalkey Archive Press and its related magazine, the Review of Contemporary Fiction, were discovering, reissuing and celebrating such innovative writers as Gilbert Sorrentino, David Markson, Julian Rios, Felipe Alfau, Arno Schmidt, Jacques Roubaud, Viktor Shklovsky, Rikki Ducornet, Karen Elizabeth Gordon, W.M. Spackman, Alexander Theroux and a dozen others. Daredevils one and all, they created some of the most imaginative and enjoyable fiction of the 20th century.

Moore, himself an authority on William Gaddis and the history of the novel, almost immediately disliked John O'Brien, Dalkey's temperamental and fast-dealing founder. Quickly appointed the firm's deputy editor nonetheless, Moore found that his work helped him through a period of personal depression by providing daily challenges and an almost constant intellectual rush: Year after year for a decade, he got to publish the artistically ambitious authors he deeply admired, many of whom became friends. In the second half of "Dalkey Days," Moore relates the secret history of every title he saw into print. This impressive backlist reminds us, yet again, how often great books emerge from small presses.
May 12, 1993

Visions of Auburn  past, present and future  are ready for viewing in the windows of the old Waite Building on Genesee Street. The display will remain until May 22.

Invoking memories of bygone days, the exhibit is part of Preservation Week activities and the Facade Program focusing on the revitalization of downtown.

H.L. Green Co., S.S. Kresge Co., William B. Hislop Co.  names associated with Genesee Street live again in photographs, some incorporated into a collage.

The exhibit also includes architectural renderings, designs for the future provided by the city planning office and a panel of about 40 postcards on loan from Louis and Myrtle Chomyk.

The Chomyks have collected more than 1,400 postcards of Auburn and the Owasco Lake area. When Mr. Chomyk retired in 1986, the couple prepared a slideshow and narration of their postcards. By April this year, they had presented 71 such programs to schools, senior citizens, clubs and organizations.

The postcards in Waite's window focus on the downtown area, including scenes from the early 1900s. Many of the buildings have disappeared, fallen prey to the wrecking ball. Fortunately, some like the old post office, Auburn Savings Bank, City Hall and the Cayuga County Courthouse remain as outstanding landmarks.
When it comes to Cleopatra, the enigmatic ruler whose political savvy - and romantic entanglements - have made her an endless source of fascination, Hollywood has never gotten it right.

Elizabeth Taylor's 1963 portrayal - for which she donned a braided wig and winged eyeliner - is as iconic as it was flawed. Angelina Jolie's potential casting in a long rumored but yet to be filmed biopic was met with backlash in 2019, as were subsequent rumors that Israeli actress Gal Gadot would take on the role. The consensus? Cleopatra, Queen of the Nile (as in Egypt, as in Africa), didn't look like any of them.

But when Netflix introduced Adele James, who is Black and biracial, as the ancient Egyptian monarch in a trailer for the docudrama "Queen Cleopatra," the criticism was particularly ardent. More like: Cleopatra definitely didn't look like that.

Cleopatra "had light skin and Hellenistic (Greek) features," per a statement from Egypt's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. Zahi Hawass, a prominent (and controversial) Egyptologist who twice served as the head of that agency, wrote in a column for Arab News that Cleopatra "was many things, and well deserving of having her story told to modern audiences, but one thing she most definitely was not was black."

"Queen Cleopatra," the second installment of the Jada Pinkett Smith-produced "African Queens" anthology, arrived Wednesday on Netflix and - despite the ongoing controversy over the docudrama's depiction of Egypt's last pharaoh - is not about whether Cleopatra was Black. The four-episode series follows her reign from 51 to 30 B.C. and features dramatized reenactments of her ascension to the throne following the death of her father, Ptolemy XII, her relationships with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, the downfall of the ancient Egypt's last dynasty and a handful of other milestones.

The scenes are interspersed with commentary from experts such as Shelley Haley, a retired professor of classics and Africana studies and consultant on the series, and Debora Heard, a PhD candidate in Nubian Archaeology. The series details undisputed facts about Cleopatra, including the Macedonian-Greek descent of her father's line and that Greek was her first language, but it also makes clear there are things we don't definitively know about her, including the identity of her mother and whether her dalliances with Caesar - the father of her firstborn son - were romantic, strategic or both.

Or, consequently, her racial background.

In the first few minutes of the series, Haley recalls her grandmother telling her "I don't care what they tell you in school, Cleopatra was Black.'" Critics glommed on to the snippet after it appeared in the trailer. But, ultimately, Haley says in the series, "We don't know her exact racial heritage."

"She learned the Egyptian language. She practiced the Egyptian religion," Haley says in the docudrama. "She wants to be remembered as an Egyptian."

"Ancient Egyptians would have had a variety of different complexions, as we find in other African cultures today," adds Cleopatra scholar Sally-Ann Ashton, also featured in the series. "Given that Cleopatra represents herself as an Egyptian, it seems very strange that we insist on depicting her as a wholly European."

Heard calls Cleopatra a "chameleon" in that "she looks different depending on who it is that's depicting her." Islam Issa, whose forthcoming book examines the enduring influence of ancient Alexandria, says "the appeal of Cleopatra is ... that everyone can imagine her in their own way." "I imagine her to have curly hair like me and a similar skin color," he says in the docuseries.

The backlash to the series has been frustrating for scholars such as Haley, who said in a Zoom interview with The Post that those criticizing the docuseries are "applying our racial constructs to the ancient world, and that is anachronistic."

Issa, the only expert of Egyptian descent featured in the docudrama, echoed that sentiment in an opinion piece for Al-Jazeera. "With the exception of Jews, ethnicities weren't really recorded in early Egyptian history," he wrote. "In Alexandria especially, there was no normative race: genetic makeup was varied as people from across the region, from Europeans to Nubians, lived and married on its lands."

Pinkett Smith told Netflix's companion website, Tudum, that the goal of "African Queens" - which launched earlier this year with a look at the 17th century ruler Njinga - was to share underrepresented stories about "historical women who were so powerful and were the backbones of African nations."

"We don't often get to see or hear stories about Black queens, and that was really important for me, as well as for my daughter, and just for my community to be able to know those stories because there are tons of them," Pinkett Smith said.

Haley has seen a lot of on-screen depictions of Cleopatra, which range from Theda Bara in the silent film era to Taylor's indelible turn to TV adaptations such as the Royal Shakespeare Company's "Antony and Cleopatra," which starred Janet Suzman as the monarch.

The docudrama, Haley said, "does a good of emphasizing certain aspects of Cleopatra that haven't been emphasized - the fact that she was a mother, the fact that she could raise an army to take back her rightful place on the throne. In every way, the series emphasizes Cleopatra's agency."

The other main difference? In most cinematic depictions, the actress playing her is almost always White.

Greg Carr, an associate professor of Africana Studies at Howard University, said "anti-Blackness is the framework" for much of the discourse around Cleopatra and how she should be depicted.

She is mainly "an object of fascination to Europe - to Greece, to Rome - and to the stitched-together history of quote-unquote Western civilization," Carr said. "That's why she is the best known of the Egyptian rulers. She's virtually irrelevant to the long history of Egypt."

Carr, who was not involved in the docudrama, said casting Cleopatra as a Black woman "has everything to do with contemporary attitudes towards race and conversations about race and very little to do with Cleopatra, whose [full] parentage is lost to history - we just don't know."

In a guest column for Variety, the show's director, Tina Gharavi, said her research on the Hellenistic-era queen - who she writes "was eight generations away" from her Ptolemaic ancestors - led her to realize "what a political act it would be to see Cleopatra portrayed by a Black actress."

The director noted that portrayals of Cleopatra have flouted the historical record. "The HBO series 'Rome' portrayed one of the most intelligent, sophisticated and powerful women in the world as a sleazy, dissipated drug addict, yet Egypt didn't seem to mind," Gharavi wrote. "Where was the outrage then? But portraying her as Black? Well."

Current and former government officials have said their main objection is to the "documentary" labeling of "Queen Cleopatra." They have insisted their objections to the docudrama are not racist, citing statues of Cleopatra as evidence of her non-Black heritage. But as historians have pointed out over the years, the few historical sources we do have on Cleopatra and other ancient leader are subject to bias. Plutarch, whose widely translated biographies of Caesar and other Roman and Greek leaders have informed modern takes on Cleopatra, wrote long after his subjects died.

"That in itself is problematic because it's hugely biased. It's not even the life of Cleopatra - she's embedded in the life of Julius Caesar, in the life of Mark Antony," Haley said. "In Plutarch's world, she doesn't even warrant a life of her own."

James, the actress who portrays Cleopatra in the docudrama, has been subject to racist vitriol since the trailer dropped last month. Sharing news of the forthcoming series on Instagram, the British actress wrote "I don't know if there are words powerful enough to express what I hope this will mean for young people all over the world who look like me (and who don't!), who will now get to grow up seeing the greatest leader of all time ... being portrayed by a black-mixed woman on one of the biggest streaming services in the world!"

Netflix, of course, isn't new to controversy around ethnically ambiguous monarchs who are unapologetically portrayed as Black. "Queen Charlotte," the "Bridgerton" prequel that premiered on the streamer last week opens with a pointed disclaimer: "This is a story about Queen Charlotte from 'Bridgerton.' It is not a history lesson. It is fiction based on fact."

Though "Queen Cleopatra" is billed as a documentary series, it features an easy-to-miss disclaimer at the bottom of each episode's credits noting that while the series is "based on true events" some "characters and situations have been altered for dramatization purposes."
Ever wonder which Texas town was the "most Texan" or the "coolest?" We all have our own opinion on the take, but one social media post sought to officially rank Texas most notable cities by their coolness and "Texanness."

Texas Humor, a social media page that cracks fun at all things Texas, shared a post ranking towns by how Texan and cool they are. San Antonio, of course, was the highest ranked out of all the Texas towns, being demmed the coolest and most Texan city.

"No one lives it up more than the city of San Antonio. It's both a super cool town and extremely Texan. It's got the Alamo, don't argue with me about this," said Jay B Sauceda in the post.

San Antonio residents obviously felt the same as Sauceda. Frances.manances said, "San Antonio approves this post 100%."

Heading up the I-35, Austin was deemed to have too many "tech bros" to be Texan. But Sauceda said that while most Texans hate the city, they've all gone there for parties at least once.

Dallas got no love as the post had the city as the least coolest and least Texan, mainly just to poke some fun at the city. While there was some hate in the comments, some also agreed with the hot take.

"Fully agree. I am in the Dallas area and don't think it's very cool at all. Love the city I'm in, but not a big fan of Dallas the city! Dallas is Texan, yes because we are close to Ft. Worth, which is definitely cowboy boots and hats Texas, but Dallas is not," Sarah Poer said in the comments.

Houston was in the middle of the pack on the rankings. Depending on where you live in the city, people could think it is very cool or extremely average, Texas Humor ranked it exactly in the middle of its coolness and Texanness chart. College Station was said to be very Texan and very cool, "if you're an Aggie." Sauceda ranked College Station high on the list for Aggie peeps and low on the coolness chart for non-Aggies.

Check out the post to see if your town made the ranking.
Courtesy/Webb County Sheriff's Office

A man wanted on several child molestation charges in Pennsylvania has been arrested in Laredo, according to court documents.

Diego Aparicio, 20, arrived at an international bridge in Laredo on May 8.
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The City of Laredo is hosting a symposium on the future of food in the Gateway City.

The two-day event is scheduled to run from May 17-18 at the Joe A. Guerra Laredo Public Library, located at 1120 E Calton Rd.

The symposium will be held over two days, featuring a talk with keynote speaker Mark Winne on Wednesday at 6 p.m.

Winne served as the executive director of the Hartford Food System from 1979 to 2003, a nonprofit organization that worked on hunger and food issues in the Connecticut area. He is the author of Food Town, USA, a book examining seven unlikely cities that are innovating a new food movement in America.

Since 2013, Mark has served as a Senior Advisor at the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future where he works on local and state food policy. His writings have appeared in the Hartford Courant and the Boston Globe, among others.

Following the keynote speaker, a future of food exhibit will be head on Thursday, May 18 from 4-7 p.m.

The exhibit will feature local organizations and businesses in the Laredo area, who will display their work in the food and health industries.

The event is presented in partnership with the Laredo Center for Urban Agriculture and Sustainability and the Laredo Food Policy Council.

To register for the event in advance, visit eventbrite.com.

The event is free and open to the public.
A man broke the window of an IBC Bank claiming that he was scammed out of money, according to an arrest affidavit.

On May 9, Fredy Rosales, 41, was served with an arrest warrant charging him with criminal mischief.

Laredo police officers responded to a bank alarm at about 8 a.m. May 3 at the IBC Bank on 4501 San Bernardo Ave. Two female employees stated they had arrived at the bank at about 7:40 a.m. and parked in the back of the bank.

One employee noticed a broken window when she walked to the front of the bank to open the doors. The employees thought that someone was inside the bank and decided not to go inside. An officer conducted a security sweep to clear the bank.

During the sweep, the officer observed the broken window, two drawers opened from a desk near the broken window and two medium size rocks inside the bank, states the arrest affidavit.

Surveillance video from the area recorded a white Dodge Ram at about 1:54 a.m. The Dodge stopped on the west side of IBC Bank. An individual then started winding up like a pitcher before throwing rocks, the affidavit states.

At about 6:08 a.m. May 6, an officer e-mailed an investigator saying that he had possibly located the suspect vehicle and identified the driver as Rosales. In an interview with police, Rosales confirmed that the Ram shown in the IBC Bank security images was his, authorities said.

Rosales further admitted that he threw the rocks through the bank window because he was upset that the bank had scammed him out of money. Police then discovered that Rosales was referring to a bank in Florida, according to court documents.
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DALLAS (AP)  Just ahead of what could be a record-breaking summer travel season, pilots from one of the nations biggest airlines marched in picket lines at major airports on Friday as they push for higher pay.

The United Airlines pilots have been working without a raise for more than four years while negotiating with airline management over a new contract.

The pilots are unlikely to strike anytime soon, however. Federal law makes it very difficult for unions to conduct strikes in the airline industry, and the last walkout at a U.S. carrier was more than a decade ago.

The coast-to-coast protests by United pilots come on the heels of overwhelming strike-authorization votes by pilots at American Airlines and Southwest Airlines. United pilots could be the next to vote, according to union officials.

Pilots at all three carriers are looking to match or beat the deal that Delta Air Lines reached with its pilots earlier this year, which raised pay rates by 34% over four years.

Top scale at United for a captain is $369 an hour on two-aisle planes, called widebodies, which are generally used on international flights, and $297 an hour on narrowbodies such as Boeing 737s. Airline pilots fly an average of 75 hours per month, according to the Labor Department.

United has proposed to match the Delta increase, but that might not be enough for a deal.

We still have a long ways to go to resolve some of the issues at the table, said Garth Thompson, chair of the United wing of the Air Line Pilots Association.

Thompson said discussion about wages has been held up while the two sides negotiate over scheduling, including the union's wish to limit United's ability to make pilots work on their days off.

United spokesman Joshua Freed said, We're continuing to work with the Air Line Pilots Association on the industry-leading deal we have put on the table for our world-class pilots.

Pilots argue that United should reward them for helping the airline survive the coronavirus pandemic.

We made quite a few sacrifices during the pandemic, and we feel it is now time for the company to step up to the plate and to give us a contract, acknowledging the sacrifices and the contributions that we have made, said pilot Arzu Delp, as he picketed at San Francisco International Airport.

The Delta contract that United pilots are using as their starting point will cost Delta $7.2 billion over four years. All airlines are dealing with rising labor costs, which could show up in the price of a ticket, but fares are also set by supply and demand, notes Blaise Waguespack, who teaches airline management and marketing at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

Giselle Ascione, a United passenger in San Francisco, said the airlines are making a lot of money, and the pilots as well as the attendants should be paid. Its common sense.

Even if the airlines and their unions fail to reach agreements quickly, strikes are unlikely in the next few months  when millions of Americans hope to fly over summer vacation. Under U.S. law, airline and railroad workers cant legally strike, and companies can't lock them out, until federal mediators determine that further negotiations are pointless.

The National Mediation Board rarely declares a dead end to bargaining, and even if it does, there is a no-strikes cooling-off period during which the White House and Congress can block a walkout. That's what President Bill Clinton did minutes after pilots began striking against American in 1997. In December, President Joe Biden signed a bill that Congress passed to impose contract terms on freight railroad workers, ending a strike threat.

The last strike at a U.S. carrier occurred at Spirit Airlines in 2010.

Thompson, the union leader at United, said his pilots will continue to work in 2023 despite challenges including an aggressive summer flight schedule.

Over the years, airline workers have conducted job actions that fell short of a strike but disrupted flights anyway. A federal judge fined the American Airlines pilots union $45 million for a 1999 sickout that crippled the airlines operations, although the amount was later reduced. In 2019, a federal judge ordered unions representing American's aircraft mechanics to stop what the airline termed an illegal work slowdown.

Arthur Wheaton, director of labor studies at Cornell University, said Congress would not permit an airline strike because of the economic harm it would cause, but unhappy pilots could still cause disruptions in other ways.

They always have work to rule. They could say, Were not working any overtime,' Wheaton said. I don't anticipate the pilots trying to screw up travel for everybody intentionally, but bargaining is about leverage and power ... having the ability to do that can be a negotiating tactic.

Airlines are vulnerable to work-to-rule protests because they depend on finding pilots and flight attendants to pick up extra shifts during peak travel periods.

Regardless of the legal hurdles to a walkout, unions believe that strike votes give them leverage during bargaining, and they have become more common. A shortage of pilots is also putting those unions in particularly strong bargaining position.

Chicago-based United has roughly 14,000 pilots, and the union expects at least 2,000 will picket Friday at 10 airports from Newark, New Jersey, to Los Angeles. The union is also distributing leaflets that highlight the pilots' desire for better work-life balance in their scheduling but make no mention of pay.

___

Haven Daley in San Francisco contributed to this report.
NASA/JPL-Caltech

Astronomers are scratching their heads after discovering a mysterious celestial object so radiant that it's actually defying the laws of physics. NASA has been tracking exotic cosmic objects known as ultra-luminous X-ray (ULX) sources, which can produce about 10 million times more energy than the Sun. However, this amount of energy surpasses the Eddington limit, a rule of astrophysics that dictates an object can be only so bright before it blows apart. Per a statement from NASA, ULXs "regularly exceed this limit by 100 to 500 times," leaving scientists puzzled.

In a study published in The Astrophysical Journal in April, researchers confirmed through observations from NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR), that one such light emitter known as M82 X-2, a ULX located 12 million light-years away, is just as bright as they had previously observed.
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PARIS (AP)  A French citizen and another holding dual French-Irish nationality have been freed from an Iranian prison, French authorities said Friday, the culmination of a hard-fought effort to bring them home.

Benjamin Briere and Bernard Phelan, who both had been held in a prison in Mashhad, in northeast Iran, were heading to Paris, Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said.

Free at last, President Emmanuel Macron tweeted. It's a relief.

Colonna spoke earlier Friday with Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Hossein Amir Abdollahian, a statement from her office said, without elaborating.

Irans state-run news agency, IRNA, said the French minister thanked Iran for releasing the two men and called the move an effective trust-building step.

Briere, 37, was arrested three years ago, in May 2020, while touring, for taking photographs with a drone in an area where cameras were forbidden and asking questions on social media about the headscarves women are required to wear in Iran.

He was convicted of spying and sentenced to eight years and eight months in prison, then reportedly acquitted this year.

Phelan, 64, who holds both French and Irish nationality, was arrested seven months ago while visiting Iran for consulting activities for a tour company, according to French daily newspaper Le Parisien.

He was detained during the anti-government protests that began sweeping the country after 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was taken by the countrys morality police for wearing her hijab too loosely, died in custody, IRNA reported. Phelan was sentenced to spend more than six years in jail.

We cannot tell you to what point we are relieved, Phelan's sister, Caroline, said in a statement, noting that her brother had been held for more than 200 days.

Colonna, addressing colleagues Friday at a European Union foreign ministers' meeting in Stockholm, Sweden, rejoiced with her Irish counterpart, Michael Martin, over the prisoners regaining their freedom.

Martin said that freeing the two prisoners was a team effort carried out in very challenging circumstances.

They shouldn't have had to go through this ordeal, he said.

Colonna said more diplomatic work with Tehran is needed because there are, unfortunately, too many who are detained without reason in Iran. Four French people and numerous other European citizens remain behind bars.

The French citizens include Cecile Kohler, 37, and Chuck Paris, 69, who were arrested on May 7, 2022, after meeting with protesting Iranian teachers and taking part in an anti-government rally. France identified the two as a teachers union official and her partner on vacation in Iran.

French-Iranian academic Fariba Adelkhah, who was arrested in 2019, was freed from prison in February. She was released before then to serve part of her five-year sentence under house arrest but was ordered re-imprisoned in January 2022.

She was accused of propaganda against the Islamic Republics political system and collusion to undermine national security.

Abdelkhah's companion, academic Roland Marchal, was freed in 2020, a year after his arrest in an apparent prisoner swap. His release came hours after French authorities released Jalal Ruhollahnejad, Iranian state TV said at the time.

The Iranian TV report said French authorities planned to deliver Ruhollahnejad to the United States for his alleged role in violating U.S. sanctions on Iran. The broadcaster said he was in jail in France for more than a year.

Occasional releases of Europeans from Iranian prisons are widely viewed as part of a cynical and delicate bid for favors.

Tensions between Iran, France and other European nations have deteriorated over time as Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium grows, compounded by Tehran's crackdown on anti-government and anti-hijab protesters.

The French foreign minister, addressing the release of Briere and Phelan, said that you will understand that I cannot go into the details.

___

Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Lorne Cooke in Brussels and Masha Macpherson and Sylvie Corbet in Paris contributed.
Beijing (Gasgoo)- Jiangling Motors Corporation (JMC) and Ford Motor signed a framework agreement on May 11 to expand JMC's product export business based on their existing cooperation.

Photo credit: JMC

The collaboration aims to leverage JMC's strong engineering, manufacturing capabilities, and cost advantages, combined with Ford's mature global sales network, to facilitate the worldwide expansion of various products, including cost-effective electric vehicles and oil-fueled commercial vehicles.

"China holds significant strategic importance for Ford," said Wu Shengbo, president and CEO of Ford China. "By fully utilizing Ford's strengths and the advantages of our partners in China, we can create more value for customers and shareholders. JMC has robust industrialization capabilities, and we believe it can become one of Ford's important engineering and manufacturing centers in China, exporting internationally competitive products to support Ford's global strategic growth."

Ford strategically invested in JMC in 1995 and became one of its major shareholders. During the period, JMC successfully introduced several popular Ford-branded models, which were well-received by Chinese consumers. In recent years, through deepening collaboration with Ford, JMC's export business has been continuously strengthened. In 2022, JMC exported over 60,000 vehicles annually to the Middle East, ASEAN, and South America, including models such as Ford Territory, Taurus, and Transit.
Kentucky is latest battleground for secretaries of state facing election falsehoods during primaries

Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams still doesn't have a clear path for reelection despite winning bipartisan praise during his first term in office and expanding voter access during the COVID-19 pandemic
Sen. Tuberville criticized for remarks on white nationalists: 'I call them Americans'

Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville is facing backlash for remarks he made about white nationalists in an interview about his blockade of military nominees
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The remains of two people found on a farm near the Chattahoochee River in March have been positively identified as two Georgia friends and business partners who went missing in February
There have been a few cracks in the predictable pattern of Republican-controlled states loosening gun laws while Democratic states tighten them in recent weeks
Shanghai (Gasgoo)- On May 10, Schaeffler-CARS Railway Technology Co., Ltd. ("Schaeffler-CARS"), the joint venture between Schaeffler and China Academy of Railyway Sciences Corporation Limited ("CARS"), held a ceremony to celebrate the opening of its new site in Tianjin city.

Located in the Economic and Technological Development Zone of Wuqing district in Tianjin, the new site consists of office and manufacturing areas, and will work as the joint ventures headquarters. It will not only engage in some bearing overhaul business, but also undertake the R&D, as well as the production related to new businesses, including such products as the bearing condition monitoring system, trackside condition monitoring system, and intelligent equipment.

Photo credit: Schaeffler

In addition, the Tianjin base will actively explore other business directions using existing resources.

In Aug. 2020, Schaeffler signed an agreement with CARS, a comprehensive research institute with multi-disciplines and multi-specialties in China railway industry, to build a joint venture. Then in Feb. 2021, Schaeffler-CARS was officially registered and put into operation.

After more than two years of development, the joint venture has had established bearing maintenance bases with the Shanghai, Xi'an, and Jinan cities railway bureaus, and made breakthroughs in the research and marketization of the condition monitoring system.
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A Longford woman is celebrating the success of farming communities in southern Malawi who have seen their lives transformed since receiving a fairer price for their pigeon pea crop.

To coincide with Christian Aid Week (14-20 May), Dianne Clendenning, the charitys representative at Longford Methodist Church, shared a photo with a pea pod in place of her normal smile to demonstrate her happiness for farmers who have received a higher income for their drought-resistant harvest since joining a Christian Aid-supported pigeon pea cooperative.

Dianne has supported Christian Aid for many years by helping to organise fundraisers such as coffee mornings, bake sales and bring-and-share lunches.

Pigeon peas thrive in drought-prone southern Malawi. Theyre cheap to grow from recycled seed and require only minimal amounts of fertiliser and pesticides, making them an ideal crop to grow in a region where over 60% of families live in poverty.

Esther Saizi, a 54-year-old widowed grandmother, is one of more than 3,300 farmers helped by Christian Aids local partner, the Nandolo Farmers Association, which runs the pigeon pea cooperative.

With the improved profits from her harvest, Esther began buying goats, which provide milk and meat for her family as well as manure for her crops, saving on expensive fertiliser. Esther even used her income to buy a sewing machine and now she makes clothes for her family.

The extra income also enables Esther to support her elder daughters carpentry business and her younger daughters dream of going to college and qualifying as a nurse. She is also paying school fees for her 4-year-old grandson.

Christian Aid Ireland Chief Executive, Rosamond Bennett, praised the impact of the charitys supporters: The transformation in Esthers fortunes in Malawi is only made possible by our incredible supporters who generously give each Christian Aid Week to fund our work to help tackle the root causes of poverty around the world.

Christian Aid Week has been running in Ireland since 1957, making it the countrys longest running fundraising campaign. Each year, thousands of people donate to Christian Aid during the week to support people living in some of the poorest countries in the world as well as countries coping with conflict, drought, risk of famine and the impacts of climate change.

By giving this Christian Aid Week, you can help more farmers like Esther secure a fair price for their crops and make their childrens dreams come true. For more information and to donate, please visit caweek.ie/Donate or call 01 496 7040 to make a telephone donation.
The family of Bernard Phelan have said they cannot express how relived we are after he was released from an Iranian prison on humanitarian grounds after being arrested last year.

The 64-year-old Irish-French national spent more than 200 days in a prison in north-east Iran after his arrest in Mashhad in October 2022 while on a trip.

His release was announced by the Iranian embassy in Ireland and confirmed by the Tanaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheal Martin.

Mr Phelans sister Caroline Phelan said in a statement: We received confirmation of Bernards release today and cannot express how relieved we are.

So many people have been involved in making this moment happen and we want to thank everybody.

Bernard has been held captive for over 200 days, so at this time we gratefully ask that he is given the time and space needed to recover.

During his detention, his family said he had been charged with providing information to an enemy country, an accusation Mr Phelan denied.

Amnesty International, which had called for his immediate release and raised concerns about the prison sentence he received in February, welcomed his release.

It said that his arbitrary detention and the gravity of violations of his fair trial rights called for Phelan to be given an enforceable right to reparations.

The human rights group and Mr Phelans family had raised concerns about his deteriorating health, and that he required daily medication for a number of health conditions.

His family had previously said his eyesight was deteriorating as he had an operation on both eyes before his trip to Iran and had not had any follow-up treatment.

Amnesty had called on the Iranian authorities to grant him access to adequate healthcare, including all necessary medication and treatment.

His relatives also said he had been denied access to a lawyer of his own choosing.

In a statement, the embassy said: Constructive diplomatic engagement between Iran and Ireland has resulted in pardoning and releasing of the Irish citizen Bernard Phelan on consular and humanitarian grounds.

Confirming the release, Mr Martin said the last seven months had been a very difficult ordeal for Bernard and for his family.

He added: I am pleased and relieved that this is now at an end.

I also welcome the release of Benjamin Briere, a French national who was imprisoned with Bernard in Mashhad prison.

Many people have worked tirelessly for this outcome over many months.

I am deeply appreciative of the efforts of the French government and my counterpart, French foreign minister Catherine Colonna, for their work to resolve this case.

I spoke to the Iranian foreign minister, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, yesterday and I acknowledge the assistance of the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in relation to Mr Phelans release.

I am also very grateful to our consular team in the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin, our diplomats on the ground in our mission in Tehran, and our ambassador in Turkey accredited to Iran.

I have continually stressed the urgency of Mr Phelans release on humanitarian grounds.

This case has been a key priority for me throughout my time as Tanaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs.

I look forward to Bernards imminent arrival back home.

Grateful that Bernard Phelan and Benjamin Briere are on their way home from Iran after what has been a very difficult seven months.I want to pay a warm tribute to @MinColonna, the French diplomatic team and @dfairl who worked seamlessly together on behalf of our citizens. pic.twitter.com/yJUBlMbozx  Micheal Martin (@MichealMartinTD) May 12, 2023

President Michael D Higgins said: May I thank all of those, on all sides, who have worked to secure this positive outcome for Bernard Phelan and his family.

Mr Phelans release will come as a particular relief to Bernards father, Vincent, with whom I have been in correspondence, and to all of his family and friends who have worked with such dignity to secure his return home.

As President of Ireland, I strongly welcome his release by the Iranian authorities, after what I know has been a very distressing time.
Food, Wine, & Dining, Local News, Business & Finance, Seasonal & Current Events

By Jacob Alvear Published: May 12 2023

Hia-Lis 35th Annual Trade Show and Conference, in Partnership With Sands New York, Features Motivational Business Breakfast and Executive Luncheon on Thursday, May 25

HIA-LI, one of Long Islands largest business advocacy organizations, is hosting its 35th Annual Business Trade Show and Conference on Thursday, May 25 at the Suffolk Federal Credit Union Arena at Suffolk County Community College in Brentwood. The annual event is presented this year in partnership with Sands New York, the Title Sponsor.

The event, running from 9:00am to 3:00pm, is Long Islands largest business-to-business trade show.

More than 250 exhibitors will represent a full spectrum of Long Island business sectors, including technology, energy and environment, manufacturing, finance, hospitality, healthcare, media and advertising, education, government, and workforce development.

HIA-LI anticipates attendance by more than 4,500 business professionals from Nassau and Suffolk counties, and beyond. Three-quarters of these attendees are upper-management decision-makers.

The trade show will feature a morning motivational seminar by internationally renowned author and speaker Kevin L. McCrudden, also known as Mr. Motivation and Americas CMO  Chief Motivation Officer. His topic is titled, Systemizing Your Success: A session on management, leadership systems, and personal success toward growth.

The Executive Luncheon will focus on regionally significant Long Island projects that have the potential to revitalize the areas economy. The luncheon takes place between 11:30am to 1:30pm and will be moderated by Marc Herbst, Executive Director of the Long Island Contractors Association. Panelists include Derek Trulson, Vice Chairman, JLL New York, developers of Midway Crossing; Jimmy Coughlan, Jr., Vice President of Development, TRITEC Real Estate Company; and, Joe Campolo, Managing Partner, Campolo, Middleton & McCormick, LLP and an HIA-LI Board Member. A representative from Sands New York will also be joining the panel.

There will also be a full schedule of complimentary and breakout sessions covering an array of business topics such as: Smash the Silos, How to Achieve the Best Branding and Awareness for Your Business, Hiring and Retaining Young Talent: Ways to Engage Gen Z, and Help I've Been Hacked! Now What Do I Do?, among others.

In addition, sponsors and exhibitors will offer special offers, prizes, and promotions.

The trade show will also feature special industry sector pavilions including a Manufacturing Pavilion, sponsored by Sands New York, and named in memory of Ron Loveland, former co-chair of HIA-LI Manufacturing Committee and long-time regional manufacturing advocate. Dime Bank is sponsoring the Finance Pavilion. PSEG Long Island is sponsoring the Energy and Environment Pavilion. And the Suffolk County IDA is sponsoring the Innovation and Economic Development Pavilion.

"Year after year, we have seen the incredible impact that this show can have on regional businesses, said Terri Alessi-Miceli, President and CEO of HIA-LI. Through our carefully curated programs, attendees are able to connect with other professionals in their field, learn from experts in various industries, and explore new business opportunities. Alessi-Miceli said that what sets this event apart is the power of face-to-face interaction. In-person meetings are simply irreplaceable when it comes to building valuable relationships and generating new business. We look forward to welcoming both new and returning attendees and seeing the remarkable outcomes that can come from this event."

The incredible array of business exhibitors we have gathered for this event truly showcases the vast range and diversity of the Long Island economy, highlighting the dynamic entrepreneurial spirit that drives our region forward, said Carol A. Allen, Chair of HIA-LI and CEO of Peoples' Alliance Federal Credit Union and sponsor of the trade show. Participating in a regional trade show of this magnitude provides unparalleled opportunities for attendees to experience heightened business-to-business synergy, fostering connections, and collaborations that are vital to the continued success of our thriving business community. This is an event that simply cannot be missed.

Attendees must pre-register by calling 631-543-5355 or by visiting www.hia-li.org to avoid the $10 same-day walk-in fee. There are separate registration fees for the motivational breakfast ($25 members, $40 non-members) and the executive luncheon ($55 members, $70 non-members). Interested businesses can contact HIA-LI about exhibitor and sponsorship opportunities.
Arts & Culture

By Ls Cohen Published: May 12 2023

We dug into the archives to find this historical photo.

On March 15, 1975, demonstrators gathered on the embankment next to the Southern State Parkway toll plaza to protest the toll being increased from ten to twenty-five cents.

Toll Booths were originally located between exits 13 and 14. After the NYSDOT took over maintenance of the parkway in 1978 the toll booths were removed. According to one report, this closure came after a 20-year battle for their removal, and three years after a toll hike from 10 cents to 25 cents that angered parkway users.

Want to read more historical facts about the Southern State Parkway? Click here.
Crime

By Chris Boyle Published: May 12 2023

Jose Romero Gave the Child Pocket Change and Told Her Not to Tell Her Parents, the Suffolk DA says.

Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney today announced that Jose Romero, 34, of Centereach, was sentenced to 12 years in prison after he pleaded guilty in April 2023 to having sexual intercourse with a six-year-old girl.

Because of the bravery of this child, the defendant will go to prison where he cannot harm any other children, said District Attorney Tierney. Speaking out against an abuser, especially at such a young age, is a difficult task. However, it is a step that we encourage all those who are victims in Suffolk County to take so that we may keep our most vulnerable residents safe.

According to the investigation and the defendants admissions during his guilty plea allocution, in October 2021, Romero had sexual intercourse with the six-year-old victim, and then gave the victim pocket change and told her not to tell her parents about what he had done to her. Despite Romeros attempt to conceal his crime, the child victim immediately disclosed the abuse to her parents who contacted the police. The victim was brought to Stony Brook University Hospital where a sexual assault nurse examiner recovered DNA evidence linking Romero to the crime.

On April 12, 2023, Romero pleaded guilty before County Court Judge, the Honorable Judge Karen M. Wilutis, to Rape in the First Degree, a Class B violent felony. On May 12, 2023, Romero was sentenced to 12 years in prison, followed by 10 years of post-release supervision, and is required to register as a sex offender. Romero was represented by Christopher Brocato, Esq.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Tara Laterza of the Child Abuse and Domestic Violence Bureau.
Shanghai (Gasgoo)- NETA Auto, the Chinese new energy vehicle (NEV) brand of HOZON Auto, recently made its debut at Malaysia's largest auto show, announcing its official foray into the countrys auto market. It made NETA Auto the first Chinese NEV startup to tap the Malaysian market, according to a post on the companys WeChat account.

At the same time, the automakers NETA V all-electric SUV went on sale in Malaysia.

Photo credit: NETA Auto

The latest move is another major step for NETA Auto to implement its "focusing on ASEAN, exploring the EU" strategy, and will solidify the foundation for accelerating the company's global strategic layout. The launch of the right-hand drive NETA V will bring a new intelligent experience of electric vehicles to more overseas consumers, said the carmaker.

Since the beginning of its global expansion in 2022, NETA Auto has achieved many milestones in its globalization development strategy. Currently, it has established European Business Unit and Thai subsidiary and launched three vehicle models overseas with its presence expanded to ASEAN, South Asia, and the Middle East.

Besides, NETA Auto has already broken ground on its first overseas factory in Thailand, which will become the startups main manufacturing base for right-hand drive electric vehicles and exports to the ASEAN region.
Pakistan remains a safe haven for a host of regional terror groups, including the Afghan Taliban and its integral subgroup, the Al Qaeda linked Haqqani Network, according the the State Departments newly released Country Reports on Terrorism 2019.

Pakistan continued to serve as a safe haven for certain regionally focused terrorist groups, State notes in its opening paragraph on Pakistan. It allowed groups targeting Afghanistan, including the Afghan Taliban and affiliated HQN [Haqqani Network], as well as groups targeting India, including LeT [Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jamaat-ud-Dawa] and its affiliated front organizations, and JeM [Jaish-e-Mohammad], to operate from its territory.

After noting that Pakistan has taken modest steps in 2019 to counter terror financing and to restrain some India-focused militant groups, State criticizes Pakistan for failing to take decisive actions against Indian- and Afghanistan-focused militants who would undermine their operational capability.

State also blasts Pakistan for harboring wanted terrorists, including JeM emir Masood Azhar and LeT commander Sajid Mir, who was a mastermind of the Nov. 2008 terror assault on Mumbai India.

Azhar and Mir are widely believed to reside in Pakistan under the protection of the state, despite government denials, the report states.

Ironically, State praises the Pakistani government for playing a constructive role in U.S.-Taliban talks in 2019.

In other words, State is slamming Pakistan for continuing to harbor the Taliban and allied terrorists, who continue to attack the Afghan government and military as well as remaining allied with Al Qaeda, while praising Pakistan as a partner for peace.

In 2019, the Taliban and the affiliated HQN [Haqqani Network] increased terrorist attacks targeting Afghan civilians, government officials, and members of the international community, the Country Reports on Terrorism 2019 section on Afghanistan notes. This trend has continued in 2020, despite the U.S. and the Taliban signing what is wrongly characterized as a peace deal.

The deal, which was signed on Feb. 29, 2020, is in fact a withdrawal agreement that is heavily weighted to benefit the Taliban. The U.S. and the Taliban agreed to halt attacks on each other. The U.S. committed to a full withdrawal in 14 months, removing Taliban leaders from international sanctions lists, and forcing the Afghan government to conduct a lopsided prisoner exchange.

The Taliban made no concessions. It is not required to denounce and target Al Qaeda and other allied terror groups, commit to a ceasefire, negotiate with the Afghan government, or protect key social reforms such as womens rights. Instead the Taliban said it would not allow Afghanistan to be used as a launchpad for attacks on the West. This is the same promise the Taliban made prior to 9/11, which it of course did not honor.

Pakistan supported the U.S.-Taliban talks and continues to back the withdrawal deal as it benefits its Afghan proxy, the Taliban.

India-focused militant groups fight in Afghanistan

While States Country Reports on Terrorism 2019 rightly calls out Pakistan for remaining a safe haven for terror groups, it wrongly classifies LeT and JeM as India-focused militant groups. Additionally, it is wrong to call these outfits regionally focused and India-focused, as they support Al Qaeda and its global jihad.

LeT, JeM, and groups such as Harakat-ul-Muhahideen, and Harakat ul-Jihad-i-Islami not only operate against India, but also fight alongside the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. These groups were created with the support of Pakistans military and the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate and continue to base themselves inside Pakistan with the assistance of the government to this day.

State notes that Pakistan worked to restrain some India-focused militant groups after a suicide car bombing in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir that killed more than 40 policemen. That attack was carried out by JeM.

Pakistan has the ability to dial up and tamp down the violence in Jammu and Kashmir. It does this by using Afghanistan as a relief valve. Fighters from the Pakistan-backed terror groups redeploy from the Indian to the Afghan front when international pressure due to their attacks in India creates problems for Pakistan.

Pakistans dampening of the operations of terror groups in the Indian theater leads to an increase in attacks by these groups in Afghanistan. This is in direct contradiction to statements made by Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation, who praised Pakistan as a partner for peace that committed to helping reduce violence in Afghanistan.

Just wrapped up a visit to Islamabad. #Pakistan supports efforts to accelerate intra-Afghan dialogue and negotiations, and is committed to helping reduce violence in #Afghanistan. Everyone I saw recognizes the benefit peace will bring to the region. //t.co/f2ENCLZoxl  U.S. Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad (@US4AfghanPeace) April 30, 2019

Less that three years prior to making that statement, Khalilzad, Congressional testimony, called Pakistan a State Sponsor of Terror.

If Pakistan was indeed committed to helping reduce violence in Afghanistan, as Khalilzad claimed, it would dismantle the infrastructure of the Taliban, LeT, JeM, and the host of allied terror group that continue to base themselves inside Pakistan. Instead, Pakistan continues to not only provide safe haven for these groups, but directly backs them.

Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of FDD's Long War Journal.

Are you a dedicated reader of FDD's Long War Journal? Has our research benefitted you or your team over the years? Support our independent reporting and analysis today by considering a one-time or monthly donation. Thanks for reading! You can make a tax-deductible donation here.
Yet again, the Taliban has promised that it will not allow foreign terrorist groups to use Afghan soil to as a launching pad to plot and execute attacks on foreign countries. The Taliban has made this false promise in the past, even before the Sept. 11, 2001 attack on the United States.

Wang Wenbin, Chinas foreign ministry spokesman, hailed an agreement signed by the Taliban at the 5th China-Afghanistan-Pakistan Foreign Ministers Dialogue in Islamabad, Pakistan on May 7 as of great significance to the future development of China-Afghanistan relations and to counter-terrorism and security cooperation in the region, according to Amu News.

The agreement is the first multilateral document that has the participation of the Afghan interim government, and also the first time that Afghan Taliban made a written pledge of not allowing the ETIM and other forces to conduct terrorist actions and activities, Wang stated.

Wangs optimism and willingness to trust the Taliban to rein in the East Turkistan Islamic Party (ETIM, which is also Known as the Turkistan Islamic Party), is misplaced, as the Taliban has issued similar promises in the past, only to be caught red-handed in supporting or providing a permissive envirornment for Al Qaeda and other allied terror groups. The emir of the Turkistan Islamic Party, Abdulah Haq al Turkistani, is a member of Al Qaedas central shura and is known to be sheltering in Afghanistan. In May 2022, he openly celebrated the Talibans victory over the Afghan government and the U.S. during an Eid commemoration in northern Afghanistan.

Taliban emir Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada said on July 7, 2022 that We assure our neighbors, the region and the world that we will not allow anyone to use our territory to threaten the security of other countries. Less than three weeks later, the U.S. killed Ayman al Zawahiri, the emir of Al Qaeda, in a drone strike in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. Zawahiri was living in a posh mansion run by an associate of Taliban deputy emir and interior minister Sirajuddin Haqqani, who is listed by the U.S. as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist for his close ties to Al Qaeda.

Long before Haibatullahs empty promise in July 2022, the Taliban again made numerous similar claims that it would not permit Al Qaeda and other foreign terror groups to operate on its soil. The so-called promise stretches back to before 9/11.

As the 9/11 Commission found, the Taliban told an American diplomat in April 1998 that it didnt know where Osama bin Laden was and, in any event, he wasnt a threat to the United States. Four months later, on Aug. 7, 1998, Al Qaeda operatives drove two truck bombs into the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

From the 9/11 Commission Report:

Though Secretary Albright made no secret of thinking the Taliban despicable, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Bill Richardson, led a delegation to South Asiaincluding Afghanistanin April 1998. No U.S. official of such rank had been to Kabul in decades. Ambassador Richardson went primarily to urge negotiations to end the civil war. In view of Bin Ladins recent public call for all Muslims to kill Americans, Richardson asked the Taliban to expel Bin Ladin. They answered that they did not know his whereabouts. In any case, the Taliban said, Bin Ladin was not a threat to the United States.  The 9/11 Commission Report, Page 111

Post 9/11, the Taliban repeatedly stated that it wont allow territory it controls to be used as a base for terror groups. The Taliban issued numerous statements claiming this, and in the Feb. 29, 2020 deal between the Taliban and the U.S., the Taliban gave vague and unenforceable counterterrorism assurances to the U.S. However, it was later discovered that the Taliban regularly consulted with Al Qaeda during negotiations with the United States and offered guarantees that it would honor their historical ties. [See LWJ reports, Taliban leader declares victory after U.S. agrees to withdrawal deal and U.N.: Taliban regularly consulted with Al Qaeda throughout negotiations with U.S.]

At the same time, the Taliban lied about Al Qaedas presence in Afghanistan, and claimed Al Qaeda and allied terror group leaders and operatives left Afghanistan after the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001.

This, of course, is demonstrably false. Multiple international and regional terrorist organizations have fought alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan since 9/11. Al Qaeda leaders such as Farouq al-Qahtani, who plotted attacks against the West, operated with the Talibans permission and support. Still today, the Taliban shelters and supports groups such as the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, which is an enemy of the Pakistani state, even as Pakistan supported the Talibans return to power.

The Taliban has peddled the same lies about foreign terrorists operating in Afghanistan for more than 25 years, making Chinas trust in the Talibans counterterrorism assurances all the more curious.

Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of FDD's Long War Journal.

Are you a dedicated reader of FDD's Long War Journal? Has our research benefitted you or your team over the years? Support our independent reporting and analysis today by considering a one-time or monthly donation. Thanks for reading! You can make a tax-deductible donation here.
LIVONIA, MICH.  Bishop Donald F. Hanchon will give the keynote address at Madonna Universitys 76th Commencement to be held, Saturday, May 13, at 11 a.m., at the Suburban Collection Showplace in Novi. Bishop Hanchon will speak to some 380 of Madonnas 730 graduates. Madonnas Class of 2023 includes 10 doctoral candidates, 129 masters and education specialist graduates, and nearly 600 undergraduate students, including 14 of 32 Haitian graduates who traveled to Michigan to take part in the ceremony. The degrees were earned in Madonnas School of Business, and the Colleges of Arts and Sciences, Education and Human Development, and Nursing and Health.

We are blessed to have Bishop Hanchon speak to our graduates this year, and we are pleased to bestow upon him an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters, said Ian S. Day, Madonnas interim president. A caring servant-leader, and long-time friend and trustee of the University, he is the perfect speaker to inspire our graduates to use their degrees to change the world, he added.

As part of the Commencement ceremony, the Madonna University community also will honor internationally-recognized humanitarian Najah Bazzy with the Distinguished Alumna Award. Her bio is below.

About Bishop Donald F. Hanchon, Doctor of Humane Letters

Bishop Donald F. Hanchon was born in Jackson, Michigan and grew up in St. Marys Parish in Wayne, Michigan, the middle of seven children. He attended Cardinal Mooney Latin School, the high school on the campus of Detroits Sacred Heart Seminary. He graduated from Sacred Heart Seminary and St. Johns Provincial Seminary and earned a Masters degree in Theology from the University of Detroit Mercy, a Masters in Liturgy from the University of Notre Dame, and a Masters in Ministry from St. Johns Provincial Seminary.

Bishop Hanchon was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Detroit in 1974. Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron appointed him the 26th Auxiliary Bishop of Detroit in 2011.

Except for serving at St. Mark Parish in Warren and St. Joseph Parish in Monroe, Bishop Hanchons entire ministry was spent in Detroit, including 12 years as pastor of the citys largest Spanish-speaking parish, Holy Redeemer in southwest Detroit, (1999 to 2011). For the past 12 years, hes served as the moderator for the Archdiocese of Detroits Central Region encompassing Detroit, Hamtramck, and Highland Park, and as a voice for the marginalized. In addition to administrative duties, he enjoyed administering the Sacrament of Confirmation as the Archbishops delegate, oftentimes incorporating music into his homily. Accompanied by his trademark ukulele, he would sing This Little Light of Mine, a big hit with young people.

His roles with the Archdiocese have been many, including as spiritual director at Sacred Heart Seminary, director of vocations, and coordinator for Detroits Pastoral Plan for Hispanic Ministry.

Bishop Hanchon has served on Madonna Universitys Board of Trustees for 11 years and has celebrated Graduation Mass most all those years. Bishop Hanchon submitted his resignation last fall when he turned 75, as required by canon law, and Pope Francis accepted the resignation March 3, 2023. He continues to serve Jesus and the community.

About Najah Bazzy, Distinguished Alumna

An internationally recognized healer, humanitarian and interfaith leader, Najah Bazzy, left a six-figure salary as a critical-care nurse to build Zaman International. The Metro-Detroit-based non-profit  focused on empowering marginalized women and children to break the cycle of extreme poverty  has helped more than 2.87 million people in 20 countries since 2010.

Born and raised in Southeast Michigan, Bazzy earned a bachelor of science in nursing degree in 1998 from Madonna University and specialized in critical care and transcultural nursing. She remembers the pivotal moment that gave birth to Zaman International; the day she entered Madonna Universitys DiPonio Building with her four children and saw a sign for Global Transcultural Nursing. Her Madonna degree changed her life, and she has changed the lives of many around the world.

The CEO of Diversity Specialists, Bazzy has received many accolades, including being named one of the top six Muslim female thought leaders by Global Woman Magazine in 2022, one of USA Todays Women of the Year for 2023, a 2019 Top Ten CNN Hero, one of Crains Detroit Business 100 Most Influential Women in 2021, and Detroit News Michiganian of the Year. She was inducted into the Michigan Womens Hall of Fame, profiled on CBS 62s Eye on the Future: The Power of Women, and featured on a United Way of Southeast Michigan billboard as a source of inspiration to Detroit-area youth.

An avid reader and tea aficionado, Najah lives in Canton, Mich., with her husband of more than 35 years, Allie Bazzy. They have four children and five grandchildren.

About Madonna: Liberal arts education, career preparation, and service learning have been the hallmarks of a Madonna University education for 85 years. In addition to the beautiful main campus, conveniently located at I-96 and Levan Road in Livonia, Madonna offers academic programs in Gaylord, Macomb, and online in Haiti and the United Arab Emirates. Michigans most affordable, independent, Catholic, liberal arts university, Madonna offers more than 100 undergraduate and 35 graduate programs in the Colleges of Arts and Sciences, Education and Human Development, and Nursing and Health, as well as the School of Business.

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With Gasgoo Daily, we will offer daily important automotive news in China. For those we have reported, the title of the piece will include a hyperlink, which will provide detailed information.

BYD showcases five NEV models at Automobile Barcelona 2023

BYD is showcasing five of its NEV models (the Han, the Tang, the ATTO 3, the Dolphin, and the Seal) at the Automobile Barcelona 2023, which will run from May 11 to May 21.

Photo credit: BYD

SGMW, Guangzhou Port sign strategic cooperation framework agreement

SAIC-GM-Wuling (SGMW) and Guangzhou Port Company Limited (Guangzhou Port) signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement on May 11. As part of the collaboration, both parties will provide mutual support in comprehensive logistics services, such as roll-on/roll-off transport, full-container load transport, knock-down container transport, sea-rail intermodal transport, ground handling, and customs clearance.

Photo credit: SGMW

Chery Automobile to recall 16,640 vehicles

Chery Automobile has filed a car recall plan with Chinas State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), planning to recall a total of 16,640 Tiggo 8 PROs produced between Mar. 8, 2022 and Aug. 18, 2022. The plan was implemented from May 12, 2023.

Xiaomi Auto files patent for autonomously cool-down cabin system

Xiaomi Auto Technology Co., Ltd. (Xiaomi Auto), the car-making venture of Chinese tech giant Xiaomi, filed for a patent categorized as a vehicle control method, device, storage medium, and vehicle. The patent was recently published, according to Chinese corporate database Tianyancha.

The patent abstract reveals that it enables the vehicle cabin to cool down to a suitable temperature after the owner leaves and locks the car. The method described in the patent includes determining the target wake-up time of the vehicle based on real time, future weather information, and the initial temperature inside the vehicle at the time of locking.

China launches V2X-Seq dataset for cooperative V2X research

On May 11, the Beijing High-level Automated Driving Demonstration Area (BJHAD), in collaboration with Tsinghua Universitys Institute for AI Industry Research (AIR), Baidu Apollo, the Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence (BAAI), and Beijing Car Network Technology Development Co., Ltd., launched the V2X-Seq, the world's first real-road-scenario-based time-sequence V2X dataset.

The dataset is now available for download and usage by users in China, filling a crucial gap in the industry by accelerating the research on V2X time-sequence perception and cooperative trajectory prediction.

SAIC-GM names new general manager

Mr. Zhuang Jingxiong, who once served as deputy general manager of SAIC General Motors ("SAIC-GM"), has been promoted to general manager of the joint venture between SAIC Motor and General Motors, SAIC Motor announced on May 12.

Tesla issues recall plan for over 1 million vehicles in China

Tesla (Beijing) Co., Ltd. and Tesla (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. have filed a recall plan with China's State Administration of Market Regulation encompassing over 1 million Tesla vehicles in the country, according to a document released by the Administration on May 12.

NETA Auto announces foray into Malaysian market

NETA Auto, the Chinese new energy vehicle (NEV) brand of HOZON Auto, recently made its debut at Malaysia's largest auto show, announcing its official foray into the countrys auto market. It made NETA Auto the first Chinese NEV startup to tap the Malaysian market, according to a post on the companys WeChat account.

Schaefflers joint venture with CARS inaugurates new site in Tianjin

On May 10, Schaeffler-CARS Railway Technology Co., Ltd. ("Schaeffler-CARS"), the joint venture between Schaeffler and China Academy of Railyway Sciences Corporation Limited ("CARS"), held a ceremony to celebrate the opening of its new site in Tianjin city.

JMC, Ford Motor deepen cooperation in auto export

Jiangling Motors Corporation (JMC) and Ford Motor signed a framework agreement on May 11 to expand JMC's product export business based on their existing cooperation.

SGMW allows consumers to buy Hongguang MINIEV with starting price of 19,800 yuan without battery

SAIC-GM-Wuling (SGMW) officially launched a special car purchase service, which provides consumers with a new car shopping plan option that includes monthly payments for the battery.
It appears that there is a flaw in the UK driving licence exchange deal which has been reached with the Spanish authorities - paper driving licences without a photograph are not being recognised.

The Bulletin has been contacted by a number of British residents in Mallorca who have come up against this latest hitch and have said they are again feeling very frustrated and saddened by yet another complication which appears to have been overlooked.

The paper counterpart to the photocard driving licence was abolished in June 2015 but all paper licences issued prior to that, providing they have not expired, are still valid in the UK and overseas, the DVLA told the Bulletin.

In fact, the DVLA is well aware of this latest problem and has a special British government document which it is sending by email to British residents in Spain who are being refused a Spanish licence because the Spanish are refusing to accept the paper licence.

In the meantime, getting an appointment with the DGT Spanish traffic authorities is another nightmare, with many Britons forced to pay a gestor to secure one and also manage their paperwork.
Department of Trade and Industry Secretary Alfredo Pascual underscored the importance of promoting and improving soft connectivity to boost investments in the Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area.

Pascual said during the 15th BIMP-EAGA Summit in Indonesia the growth in the sub-region is timely as DTI promotes increased engagements and private sector participation in the initiative.

DTIs active involvement in the BIMP-EAGA regions is set to come up with a campaign and information drive to initiate a stronger presence of the local private and LGU counterparts in the BIMP-EAGA. We will work for the development and promotion of sub-regional value chains to enhance the regions competitiveness. This will likewise provide an opportunity for MSMEs to increase their participation in said value and supply chains, Pascual said.

He said to enhance MSME participation in the initiative, the DTI would link the private sector such as the BIMP-EAGA Business Council, Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry and its regional chapters and MSME groups including home entrepreneurs to promote soft connectivity through increased investment fora, trade fair participations and business-to-business sessions.

Pascual said the Philippines aimed to expand Philippine Halal trade with key trade partners such as Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia and Malaysia.

The Philippine Halal Export Development and Promotion Board led by the DTI is set to sign a memorandum of cooperation with the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao on Halal development and promotion.

The Philippines expressed support for the BIMP-EAGAs Vision 2025, which is to increase transport connectivity to spur economic activities in the sub-region.

DTI supports the resumption of air, land and sea connectivity in BIMP-EAGA as well as the expansion of viable new routes to service passenger traffic and movement of goods, Pascual said.

He assured his ASEAN counterparts that the DTI would remain supportive of the development of economic corridors. He said he looks forward to the findings and recommendations of the ongoing BIMP-EAGA economic corridors study supported by the Asian Development Bank.

The study assesses the viability of existing corridors; proposes new areas for expansion based on trade, tourism, and investment flows; recommends viable routes to increase connectivity; and identifies infrastructure investments.

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PAL Holdings Inc. said Friday its total comprehensive income soared 288 percent in the first quarter from a year ago, driven by higher passenger revenues.

The parent firm of Philippine Airlines said total comprehensive income amounted P5.47 billion from January to March, higher than P1.41 billion it earned in the same period last year.

Consolidated revenues went up by 78.66 percent in the three-month period to P42.21 billion from P23.62 billion in the same period in 2022.

PAL Holdings attributed the revenue growth to the 119.53-percent increase in passenger sales as volume went up 156.20 percent.

The airline said its load factor improved significantly to 81.03 percent in the first quarter from 53.84 percent a year earlier.

It said the positive financial performance in the quarter reflected the continuing strength of the global air travel recovery.

PAL re-introduced routes to several cities in mainland China and launched nonstop flights to Perth, while maintaining regular services to North America, the Middle East, Australia and various destinations around Asia and the Philippines in the first quarter.

Once again, we thank our valued customers for their support and for the privilege of serving them during this time of recovery and renewal, said PAL president and chief operating officer Captain Stanley Ng.

The stronger recovery brings transition challenges that impact our operations, and we commit to make productive use of our improving revenues to invest in fleet upgrades, product improvements, operational support and above all safety, he said.

Consolidated operating expenses climbed 58.99 percent in the first quarter to P34.68 billion from P21.83 billion a year ago, coming from the impact of higher fuel prices which increased flying operations by 60.90 percent and more number of flights operated.

PAL said it expects delivery of 13 Airbus 321-231 NEO aircraft between 2026 and 2029.

PAL recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Airbus to acquire nine A350-1000 long-haul jetliners.

We are acquiring additional aircraft so that we can serve our flying public better. For the long-term, we are ordering new long-range Airbus A350-1000 aircraft to operate our transpacific routes, offering our passengers a premium travel experience on the newest-generation aircraft to fly the Philippine skies, Ng said.

The flag carrier is the only airline operating nonstop services between the Philippines and North America, and it has the largest network of flights and routes from the Philippines to Japan, the Middle East and Australia.

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A LAWMAKER has expressed his all-out support to all Filipino films being released all over the world, saying that its about time to continue setting the bar high for Filipino movies abroad and promoting its local contents overseas.

Speaking of various films and digital contents  which are now being produced by many savvy filmmakers internationally, especially Koreans  the Philippines is also doing its own share of producing great films throughout the years, especially in the era of social media.

Quezon City Rep. Arjo Atayde

For Quezon City first district Congressman Juan Carlos Arjo Atayde, the Philippines has many great actors, actresses, directors, scriptwriters and film producers, workers, among others, that can produce world class films available on cinemas and streaming services.

Weve been in the film industry for many decades and most of our films are highly-recognized abroad. We just have to keep supporting and promoting it. Our talents have been known worldwide so I think its time to set the bar high and we can do it, Atayde said.

A season actor himself, Atayde, 32, will also star in a crime-thriller six-episode series Cattleya Killer starting June 1, which will be shown to audiences around the world particularly in Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Taiwan, among territories, through the streaming service Amazon Prime Video.

The series is based on the 1996 film Sa Aking Mga Kamay  a story of a serial killer who victimizes women who cheat on their husbands. Cattleya Killer is set years after this 1996 movie with Christopher de Leon reprising his role as Joven Dela Rosa.

Atayde studying the script for Cattleya Killer

Also starring in the episodes are Jake Cuenca, Arjos sister Ria Atayde, Nonie Buencamino, Jane Oineza, Rafael Siguion-Reyna, Zsa Zsa Padilla, Frances Ignacio, Jojit Lorenzo, Ricky Davao and Ketchup Eusebio.

The six-episode series produced by ABS-CBN and Nathan Studios is directed by Dan Villegas. It first premiered in MIPCOM Cannes last October.

Job opportunities and big breaks will benefit the Philippine film industry to enhance the acting and production skills of all aspiring film workers, according to Atayde.

The Philippines has to conquer the world market for films so that it will provide more opportunities and jobs to more current and upcoming Filipino artists, Atayde, also the Vice Chairperson of the Creative Industry and Performing Arts committee in the House of Representatives, added.

Atayde believes Filipino films can conquer the world market

He also believes that Filipino films can be world class and entertaining thats why the government needs to really support it. Other countries like India , Korea and others, have certain programs for the upliftment of their film industry which we may study and adopt.

With all our talents and production teams in this country, nothing is impossible, he said.

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President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Thursday said the government considers tapping nuclear energy among other sources of power to meet the countrys growing demand and avert a possible power crisis.

In a media interview on board his flight back to the Philippines, the President stressed the immediate need to ramp up the Philippines energy supply.

Marcos revealed that even before he took office, he had been looking at nuclear energy as an option to address the persistent power shortage.

Even before I took office, we were already talking about looking into that. It turns out there are many nuclear technologies, different ones. We learned a lot in our last visit to Washington and theneven though we are in the EU (European Union), there are many differences, the President said.

In his recent working visit to the US, the Chief Executive said he was looking at a cutting-edge micro nuclear fuel technology as part of his administrations efforts to solve the countrys power crisis.

While in Washington, DC, Marcos met with officials of the Ultra Safe Nuclear Corp. (USNC), a US-based firm global leader and vertical integrator of nuclear technologies and services.

USNC officials expressed interest in bringing clean and reliable nuclear energy to the Philippines, describing the move as probably a very important way for us to enter the (Philippine) market.

So, we study carefully. When it comes to power, were open to everything. Anything we can get to add to our power supply. Of course its still there, we always think of the need for more renewables, less fossil fuels, Marcos pointed out.

So, what else can we do? Find new sources. Thats what were trying to do. The situation with renewables is also improving but we may have found some other technologies which we will not need to wait for the lead time of six, seven years, he added.

USNC officials said they were considering the Philippines for its first nuclear energy facility in Southeast Asia, and vowed to help address

the series of blackouts that hit several areas of the country.

We also noted that theres a great deal of discussion about Mindoro having blackouts and that might be an excellent.a good science

(solution), said the power companys officials, referring to the weeks of power outages in Occidental Mindoro..

Marcos said the government was open to every possible new source of electricity, as he recognized an existing power supply problem in the

country, according to the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (PNRI).

He said one option is to further develop the countrys renewable energy sources to reduce reliance on fossil fuels.

So were looking at all of them because tama naman yung assessment na talagang kulang ang kuryente natin (because the assessment is

correct that our power supply is insufficient). So what else can we do? Find new sources. Thats what were trying to do. The situation

with the renewables is also improving but we may have found some other technologies na hindi mag-antay ng lead time ng six, seven years (that

we dont have to wait for a lead time of six, seven years), he said.

When it comes to power, were open to everything. Kahit na ano na pwede nating makuha para makapag-addition sa power supply natin.

Syempre nandiyan pa rin  lagi natin iniisip  kailangan marami yung renewables, babawas na yung fossil fuel (Anything we can get to add to

our power supply. Of course, we always think of having more renewables to reduce the use of fossil fuel)..

According to the Presidential Communications Office, the Oregon-based NuScale Power Corp., which is known for developing a safe modular and

scalable small nuclear power system, was expected to invest $6.5 billion to $7.5 billion to provide 462 megawatts

to the country by early 2030s.

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Senator Risa Hontiveros is calling on the countrys labor officials to rescind misleading contracts signed by overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) bound for Taiwan.

In a dialogue, the employees revealed that there are many inconsistencies between the contracts they signed with their recruiters in Manila, compared with the Affidavits for Wage / Salary and Expenses, which are the contracts they signed with their employers in Taiwan.

Though many do not encounter this problem, Hontiveros said those who do had to endure abuse and exploitation by their employers. The dialogue was attended by OFWs from various parts of Taiwan, such as Taipei, Taichung, Taoyuan, Tainan, Hsinchu, Kaohsiung, and others.

To be a foreign worker in Taiwan, an OFW must sign an Affidavit for Wage/Salary and Expenses which is also signed by labor brokers and the employer. It is meant to protect the OFW against unfavorable conditions.

However, the senator believes unscrupulous recruiters have found a loophole that enables the exploitation of many Filipinos. For instance, many migrants who applied and trained in Manila as caregivers ended up being farmers of pinyin or betel nuts (nganga), which the workers say is backbreaking work.

The senator is now calling on the DMW and OWWA to check on possible ambiguities and inadequacies in all contracts signed by aspiring OFWs.

Hontiveros meanwhile said she also met with Taiwan Foreign Minister Dr. Jaushieh Joseph Wu in Taipei City, Taiwan to reaffirm her commitment to a peaceful resolution in the West Philippine Sea and the entire South China Sea.

Unlike China, who has been employing tactics that employ force short of war, we can genuinely and diplomatically engage with Taiwan in order to resolve territorial disputes in the South China Sea, Hontiveros said.

She described Taiwan as being a good and responsible friend to the Philippines.

Hontiveros said the Thursday discussion is meant to contribute to the legislative roadmap she will craft to have clear policies that can allow the Philippines to protect, defend, and maintain sovereignty over territories in the WPS.

The officials also agreed that international relations among various democratic nations must be strengthened in order to resist Chinas aggressive actions.

While the Philippines does not yet have official diplomatic ties with Taiwan, constant cooperation is needed as both countries confront similar challenges, from cybersecurity to climate change. It is also in the interest of our country to deepen people-to-people exchanges

with Taiwan, whether through tourism or overseas employment,

Hontiveros said. Macon Ramos-Araneta

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It seems like everyones going to Italy these days.

Thanks to a strong dollar and pandemic-induced wanderlust, its not just influencers, old friends and exes filling up their Instagram feeds with gelato and pasta. Succession Season 3 took to a trip to Tuscany for a wedding, The White Lotus Season 2 checked in for a stay in Sicily, while Toni Collette landed in Rome to become the Mafia Mamma. And now the Book Club gals  Jane Fonda, Mary Steenburgen, Diane Keaton and Candice Bergen  take off for a wine-soaked adventure off the page in the fluffy and fantastical Book Club: The Next Chapter.

Directed by Bill Holderman, written by Holderman and Erin Simms, this sequel is even more of a heightened fantasy than the 2018 film. It will require tossing aside every scrap of disbelief and grabbing onto a glass of Prosecco instead, but that doesnt mean that it cant also be a touching story about the importance of lifelong friendships. When Vivian (Fonda) grasps her girls in a group hug and declares them her soul mates, its hard not to be at least a little bit moved by their friendship, which is a lively balance of pleasure-seeking, hapless adventure and a healthy dose of just enough tough love.

In the first film, the gals got their groove back thanks to Fifty Shades of Grey, and in The Next Chapter, its about forging a new path forward with Paolo Coelhos The Alchemist, the quartet looking for signs, which lead them to Italy under the auspices of a bachelorette party for Vivian, who is now engaged to Arthur (Don Johnson).

The Next Chapter has a bit of a stumble at the outset. The 2020-set preamble retreads some tired pandemic material about Zoom happy hours as the book club goes virtual, and the machinations to get them to Italy are so tortured that as an audience, we often feel ahead of the characters. Its not until they arrive in Venice from Rome, rattled by the theft of their suitcases, that we fall into step with them, as they shake loose their uptight Brentwood sensibilities for the Italian way of life, following the signs like Coelhos protagonist. A spontaneous drink with a handsome stranger, Ousmane (Hugh Quarshie), leads to a serendipitous dinner party and a visitor from the past.

The film was shot on location in Italy offering a bit of a travelogue appeal, though it retains the aesthetic of a carefully lit studio backlot. The characters are also essentially riffs on these legendary actresses personas  its not exactly transformative acting here.

But once again, Bergen proves to be the MVP as salty, sarcastic retired judge Sharon. Shes the very necessary hit of acid needed to make this confection palatable, the spritz of lemon on a plate of fritto misto, cutting through the fat. Going with the Italian wine theme, as these ladies like to drink a lot of it, Sharon is a dry, full-bodied Montepulciano (she may be sardonic but she is still sexy). Fondas Vivian a crisp, bubbly Prosecco, chef Carol (Steenburgen) a velvety Chianti, perfect for pairing with food, while Diane (Keaton) is a cool, sweet Pinot Grigio. To continue the food metaphors, the story itself is also so easily digestible that it calls to mind polenta: warm, comforting, not too challenging, a little cheesy.

This is a film that wants to have it all, to celebrate the women who take the nontraditional path but still end in a white wedding; to offer a portrait of feminine sexuality of a certain age, but remain couched in heterosexual monogamy. There are some inherent contradictions in what it wants to hold as true at the same time, but its also honest in that it offers a space for those truths to coexist. Holderman and Simms script navigates those moments capably enough.

Ultimately, Book Club: The Next Chapter is about finding balance: between reading the signs and controlling your own narrative, between taking a leap of faith and putting in the hard work, and most importantly, putting your own desires first and having the bravery to take the reins, whether that means marriage or a rendezvous in a canal with a handsome professor of philosophy. Either or both can be the right choice. It may be treacly and unrealistic, but Book Club: The Next Chapter has heart and soul, and its as sweet and quaffable as an Aperol spritz on a hot day.
(L-R) Okada Manila Associate Director for Premium Dining Miaki Narita and Okada Manila Vice Chairperson Takako Okada, welcome employees and their mothers in celebration of Mothers Day.



No matter how much we age, we always come home to our mothers and we always look for the warmth and delightful feeling they give.

With Mothers Day just around the corner, Okada Manila, the Philippines largest integrated resort to date, known for its unique blend of Japanese excellence and Filipino hospitality, hosted an early celebration with a heartwarming event called Come Home to a Mothers Love in early May at the La Piazza.

The event was graced by Okada Manila Vice Chairperson Takako Okada, who lauded Okada Manila team members from the different departments for their hard work and their mothers who play a significant role in their childrens lives.

The team members shared touching stories of their mothers love and sacrifice  highlighting the values that their moms have instilled in them.

Tributes to Mom

Okada Manilas Food and Beverage Assistant Manager Juvele Biala shared how her mother, Josefa, filled the shoes of both father and mother to her. Josefa worked abroad for 13 years to support their family, but decided to come home permanently after her college graduation.

When I graduated, my mom came back home to attend my graduation ceremony. It was a memorable moment for both of us. I graduated Cum Laude from college, and it was all because of my moms support and love, she said.

John Vincent Dimauhan, a procurement officer at Okada Manila, recounted how he grew up with his relatives, away from his mom, who braved the lonely life of an overseas Filipino worker (OFW) in Singapore.

I hadnt seen her for a long time and I remember accidentally calling her tita or aunt when she came home. I feel regretful when I recall that moment. But I was able to finish college and find a good company because of my moms sacrifice. All of it was possible because of her, he said.

For Okada Manila Pit Manager Jayvee Despabiladeras, his mothers sacrifices taught him valuable lessons on humility and hard work. His mom, Nenita, worked in Makati, commuting as much as four hours per day to help put food on the table.

Despite her busy schedule, Nenita was still able to manage the household, cooking for her family in the wee hours of the morning before her daily commute.

Mrs. Takako Okada (middle), Okada Manila Vice-Chairperson, hosted an early celebration with a heartwarming event called Come Home to a Mothers Love on May 3, 2023, at the La Piazza.



My moms humility and hard work taught me valuable life lessons, which I apply in my job today, Jayvee said.

Meanwhile, Okada Manila Technical Operator Robert Dizon, who grew up far from his parents, tearfully narrated how he used to make his mom, Myrna, worry as he was quite a troublesome kid.

I grew up with my lolo and lola, and I know I wasnt an easy child to handle. But I know that I made my mom proud now. Im grateful to have her as my mom, Robert said.

Okada Manila Vice Chairperson Takako Okada was moved by the tributes and quipped all mothers who dedicated their lives to raising their children and supporting their families are noble and rewarding tasks.

The wonderful concept of bringing our team members together with their moms in one event to pre-celebrate Mothers Day has been quite heartwarming. The warm hospitality of Okada Manila springs from the love and sacrifices of our team members moms. We should celebrate and honor them every day, she said.

Okada Manilas Come Home to a Mothers Love event was a beautiful reminder of the importance of family and love. It showcased how Okada Manila puts a premium on the personal and family values of their team members, exemplifying the true spirit of Japanese hospitality and Filipino warmth.

Mothers Day celebration continues at Okada Manila with a lineup of exciting events and dining, staycation, and shopping offers.

Okada Manila remains committed to providing memorable experiences and exceptional service to its guests, making for great stories waiting to unfold. For more information, visit www.okadamanila.com.

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The Asian Federation of Electric Vehicle Associations (AFEVA) recently visited the Hyundai Motorstudio in South Korea in preparation for the upcoming EV Summit organized by the Electric Vehicle Association of the Philippines (EVAP). The visit was led by AFEVA President Edmund Araga and included directors Rommel Juan and Dennis Chuah, as well as Patrick Aquino of the Department of Energy. Hyundai Motors Philippines President Eric Lee was also present during the visit.

The purpose of the visit was to explore the latest advancements in electric vehicle technology and to learn about Hyundais plans for the future of sustainable transportation. During the visit, the group had the opportunity to view some of Hyundais newest electric vehicles, including the Ioniq 5 and the Kona Electric.

Eric Lee, President of Hyundai Motors Philippines, said, We are honored to host the AFEVA delegation and showcase Hyundais latest electric vehicles. We believe that electric mobility is the future, and we are committed to developing innovative solutions that can help reduce carbon emissions and promote sustainable transportation.

The AFEVA delegation was impressed by the state-of-the-art facilities at the Hyundai Motorstudio and the level of innovation demonstrated in Hyundais electric vehicles. They also expressed their admiration for the companys dedication to reducing carbon emissions and promoting sustainable transportation.

Edmund Araga, President of AFEVA, said, The visit to Hyundai Motorstudio was an insightful experience for us. We saw firsthand the innovative technology that Hyundai has developed to create a more sustainable future. This visit is a step towards promoting sustainable transportation in Asia, and we look forward to working with industry leaders like Hyundai to accelerate the transition to electric mobility.

The visit by AFEVA to the Hyundai Motorstudio is in preparation for the upcoming EV Summit organized by EVAP, which will be held in the Philippines on October 19-21, 2023, at the SMX Convention Center. The summit aims to bring together key players in the electric vehicle industry to discuss the latest advancements in electric mobility and to promote sustainable transportation in the Philippines and the rest of Asia.

The visit by AFEVA to the Hyundai Motorstudio and the upcoming EV Summit organized by EVAP are positive steps towards promoting sustainable transportation in Asia. The innovative technology on display and the commitment to reducing carbon emissions demonstrated by Hyundai and other industry leaders will help pave the way towards a more sustainable future for the region.

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The Manistee County Democratic Party is an active participant in the Michigan Democratic Party Rural Caucus.

The Michigan Democratic Party Rural Caucus was chartered in July 2017 to ensure a voice for rural communities and work toward addressing the needs of rural Michigan. Rural Michigan represents 25% of the states population. The foundation of American democracy was built on the ideal of the self-sufficient rural citizen.

While much has changed in the make-up of the United States since 1776, today rural voters have concerns and issues that are vital to rural communities, like reliable broadband service, education, conservation and access to healthcare.

As the elections in 2016 so powerfully demonstrated, the Michigan Democratic Party cannot cede a single county or vote as it strives to ensure a free and fair society. To accomplish this goal, the Michigan Democratic Party must have a strong party structure in every region statewide. The rural caucus serves to ensure a voice for rural communities to communicate concerns and needs to the Michigan Democratic Party.

The Michigan Democratic Party Rural Caucus had it first annual Summit on April 14 and 15 in Sault Ste. Marie.

Six members of the Manistee County Democratic Party joined over 150 rural activists from 45 Michigan counties at this summit meeting. Participants attended work sessions designed for sharing ideas and best practices. Facilitators asked discussion questions to learn about the work that has been previously done, and ideas for moving forward with coordinated strategies with our rural alliance partnership.

Here is a recap of those training sessions:

Communication and messaging: The rural caucus effectively communicates to targeted rural audiences.

Support of county parties: The rural caucus effectively supports the organization and work of county parties and other aligned organizations.

Liaison and collaboration building with allied organizations: The rural caucus works with other organizations (local, state and national) to achieve strategic goals.

2024 ballot proposal possibilities: The rural caucus will support ballot petitions that align with our values and principles.

Policy, issues and legislation: The rural caucus effectively researches, educates, advocates for and lobbies for rural Michigan residents.

Candidate recruitment and support: The rural caucus assists in recruiting and supporting effective rural candidates.

Community building (non-partisan): The rural caucus works to build positive relationships within communities.

Fundraising: The rural caucus fundraises to fund its strategic plans.

Democratic political leaders on the ground at the county level are the change makers, the eyes and ears that help support our leaders who are elected and making policy and legislation.

The action plan resulting from this summit meeting is to form a rural alliance that is powerful and vocal about issues that are important to rural Michigan and our communities. Everyones ideas and suggestions gathered at the summit will go toward future lobbying for change within our state.

Everyone has issues/needs that are important to them that the rural caucus feels needs to be addressed. Addressing the needs of rural families and rural communities with meaningful legislative action should be a priority for our legislators in Lansing.

The rural caucus plans to have legislative days when community members get together to go to Lansing for a day and help lobby for issues. Indirect lobbying will also be important: phone calls, emails, letters, letters to the editors in local papers, postcards, social media, etc.

As our party grows in Manistee County, we need to make conscientious decisions as to what our brand will look like. We need cohesive messaging to tag onto our brand to create a clear, concise and memorable identity. Knowing the importance of a good identity is foundational to build up our party.

And lets face it; the Democratic Party has had a fractured identity while Republicans have kept it simple. The pick-up truck flying the Trump flag, the red MAGA hat. What do these images do to you? They give me a visceral reaction. Its emotional. And its emotional for them also. It gives them a sense of belonging, and its clearly powerful.

We need an identity. And we need messaging to tag onto it. The Democratic Party is more than a political party. We own values. We put people first. Were pro women. Were pro workers. Were inclusive. We came away from this rural summit with even stronger commitments dedicated to these basic beliefs:

All people are created equal. This is Americas fundamental ideal.

America is a democracy, by and for the people: ruled by the Constitution and its interpretations, protected by the Bill of Rights, and inspired by the Declaration of Independence.

These founding documents demand freedom, justice and opportunity for all Americans, in full and equal measure  regardless of who you are, what you believe or where you live.

The duty of government is to strive endlessly to make the ideals of freedom, justice and opportunity a reality for all.

The purpose of government is to protect our nation, defend our democracy, and to endlessly promote the welfare of each and every one of us.

Fighting for these ideals is our purpose as a political party.

If these basic tenets align with your personal beliefs, then please consider joining us as an active member of the Manistee County Democratic Party. Check out our website for more information: manisteecountydemocrats.us/
An 8-year-old girl escaped an attempted abduction by a stranger while mushroom hunting in her Northern Michigan backyard with the help of her older brother.

Troopers for the Michigan State Police Alpena Post Wednesday responded to a home in Alpena Township for the attempted child abduction. The girl was mushroom hunting in her backyard when an unknown man appeared from the woods, according to a Friday press release.

The man held the girl's mouth shut before a struggle ensued, and she was able to break free, authorities said in the release. Her 13-year-old brother saw the assault in the backyard and shot the suspect with his slingshot in the head and chest, hitting him in both areas.

A description of the suspect was aired, and a family member observed the suspect matching the description fleeing the area, according to authorities.

Troopers canvassed the area around the home and found the suspect hiding at a nearby gas station. The suspect was identified as a 17-year-old boy from Alpena.

He had "obvious signs of injury sustained from the slingshot with wounds to his head and chest," authorities wrote in the release.

Troopers took the boy into custody and transported him to the Alpena Post for an interview. There he reportedly confessed to detectives that he planned on "severely beating" the girl. He was then lodged in the Alpena County Jail without incident.

Since he is a juvenile, his name and photo will not be released, according to Sgt. Ashley Miller for the Gaylord Post. He was arraigned Thursday in the 88th District Court on one count of attempted kidnapping/child enticement, one of attempted assault to do great bodily harm less than murder and one count of assault and battery.

He is being charged as an adult, according to authorities. His bond was set at $150,000 cash surety.

And he is due back in court at 2 p.m. on May 17.
Nursing student Mariah Harer said shes feeling a mix of terrified and excited emotions about her graduation today from Coconino Community College (CCC).

Im honestly terrified, but Im also super excited because I have been working towards this moment for pretty close to six years, and its finally here, she said.

Harer will be graduating with both an associate of applied science in nursing from CCC and a bachelor of science in nursing (BSN) from Northern Arizona University. She completed both degrees at the same time over the course of two years as part of the CCC2NAU program, a process she said was exhausting but worthwhile.

Harer remembered how when she started considering the program, her advisor told her it's a lot of work and you won't have a life for two years." She decided to continue, seeing it as a less expensive way to earn a BSN, which is a requirement for hospital jobs.

For the past two years, Harer said, her schedule has been almost entirely filled with work and school. Shes been taking online classes at Northern Arizona University (NAU), in-person courses at CCC, and working full time while completing the clinicals and labs required for graduation.

Shes been keeping this up over the summer as well in order to finish in two years.

Even though Im exhausted, I definitely dont regret doing it, she said.

Harer began preparing to go into nursing in high school, when she researched a registered nurse's (RN) role and decided she wanted that as a career path. A first-generation college graduate, she chose to go to CCC after hearing great things about the nursing program and its instructors.

She said it ended up being a good choice.

I honestly have always wanted a job that helps other people, she said of the decision to study nursing. I really loved the medical field, so I ended up doing a ton of research and landed on becoming an RN because they tend to be very caring and compassionate individuals.

One thing she said surprised her from her time studying nursing was just how much nurses know.

I figured they obviously knew a lot medical-wise, because they always have seemed like very smart individuals, she said. However, just going to nursing school alone has been a huge surprise of how much they know."

She added: "I think it's very impressive.

After graduation, Harer plans on starting a nurse residency in Flagstaff Medical Centers emergency department in July. There, she will continue her education and RN training.

Usually students go into college and they are terrified because its such a different world than it is from even high school, she said. My advice would be just to fight through that fear and those really hard feelings of maybe I cant do this or maybe I dont want to do this. It always feels like that in the beginning, but once you get to the end, it is the most rewarding feeling.
Both Northern Arizona University (NAU) and Coconino Community College (CCC) will be hosting commencement ceremonies to recognize their graduating students this weekend.

CCC

CCC will be recognizing almost 500 graduates in two ceremonies today.

Commencement for students in the Arts and Sciences Program will begin at 10 a.m., while the ceremony for those in the career and technical education program begins at 2 p.m.

Both ceremonies will be in the V. Philip Tullar Commons on CCCs Lone Tree Campus, located at 2800 S. Lone Tree Road. Speakers at CCCs commencement include faculty of the year recipients Katie Schwartz and Alan Cartwright.

CCCs commencement ceremonies will be streamed to its YouTube page: youtube.com/@cococc.

More information about CCCs commencement is at coconino.edu/commencement.

NAU

More than 5,200 students will graduate from NAU this weekend in a series of four commencement ceremonies set for today and Saturday in the Walkup Skydome, located at 1705 S. San Francisco St.

Today's ceremony will start at 11 a.m. and recognize students in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, while its afternoon ceremony will start at 4 p.m., recognizing students in the College of Arts and Letters, the College of Education, and both NAU Online and NAU Yuma.

On Saturday, the university will recognize students in the College of Health and Human Services and the W.A. Franke College of Business at a 10 a.m. ceremony, with students in the College of Engineering, Informatics and Applied Sciences, and the College of the Environment, Forestry and Natural Sciences recognized at the 3 p.m. commencement.

Tickets are required for guests to this weekends ceremonies, and NAUs clear bag policy will be in effect. More information, including details about parking and directions can be found at nau.edu/commencement.

The commencement speaker at each ceremony will be given an honorary doctoral degree from NAU. Todays keynote speakers will be Casa Pueblo Executive Director Arturo Massol-Deya and Ty White, the 2023 Arizona Education Foundation teacher of the year. Saturdays speakers will be NAU Foundation board President and Franke and Company Principal David Franke and Bill Gates, the cofounder of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

All ceremonies will be streamed live on NAUs YouTube page.

Additional information is available on the NAUgo app or by texting hi to 833-511-0151 to contact an AI chatbot with graduation questions.
U.S. Rep. George Santos, the New York Republican infamous for fabricating key parts of his life story, was arrested on federal criminal charges on Wednesday ahead of an expected court appearance.
Recently, China's national security agencies, together with relevant departments, publicly enforced the law against consulting giant Capvision. It is reported that the company had frequently contacted secret-related personnel as well as officials in sensitive fields such as defense and science and hired consulting experts with high remuneration to illegally obtain various types of sensitive data, which posed a major risk and hidden peril to China's national security. The Chinese side has released a lot of details about this case, some of which are shocking. Against the backdrop of the newly revised anti-espionage law passed by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the case reminds us that it is necessary and urgent to eliminate security loopholes, so as to achieve the standardized and healthy development of related industries, safeguard national security and interests.

The exposure of this case is a good public lesson of safety education for the Chinese people. It can be easily found that with the advancement of technology and new businesses, the means of obtaining sensitive information, including many behaviors in the "gray area," are more concealed and diversified compared with the traditional way of "sending spies" during the Cold War. Take the Capvision case for example, the company encouraged experts from confidential research institutes to "indirectly" answer sensitive questions with examples or analogies in order to satisfy the "customer's needs." In this process, Capvision played the role of "information broker," which was relatively rare in the past.

It should be pointed out that the previous practices of Capvision are also an unethical behavior that disrupts market order. It attracted customers and achieved rapid expansion by providing illegal "sensitive information" as bait through murky ways and even illegal means. This not only leads to unfair competition with other legally operating companies in the industry, but also tends to encourage other companies to follow suit, thus creating vicious competition and enlarging security vulnerabilities. Stopping such illegal behavior in a timely manner is actually protecting the whole industry, with the aim of creating a favorable and healthy market environment and allowing more companies to participate in fair competition.

From any perspective, the investigation initiated by China is reasonable and in accordance with the law, and the results are positive. However, it seems to have made some people feel uncomfortable. The most intense emotions come from some media in the US and the West, who are using this case to launch a collective attack on China's revision of its anti-espionage law. This is a blatant political malice. They are trying to stir up an abnormal "sense of insecurity" toward the Chinese market among foreign enterprises and wantonly discrediting China's investment environment. It can be seen that whenever China takes actions to crack down on espionage activities in the country, these people show abnormal nervousness and uneasiness. What this indicates is self-evident.

Ironically, also in recent days, the governor of Florida in the US signed three bills to restrict Chinese people's activities, including prohibiting them from purchasing land in the state, solely out of groundless "concerns." This is a microcosm of various absurd "security measures" in the US in recent years. It seems that the US public opinion not only plays double standards well but also is deeply familiar with using "national security" as an excuse to attack legitimate business practices. Therefore, as soon as they see "national security," they reflexively associate it with "suppression."

At the same time, they never mention that introducing an anti-espionage law is an international standard. Last year, the UK significantly overhauled its espionage law to combat cyberattacks and espionage. Previously, some German political scientist also said that compared to the US, China's formulation of the anti-espionage law was nearly a hundred years late. Why is the implementation of anti-espionage law in their own country simply the "rule of law," while improving the anti-espionage law in China could "hinder foreign companies from investing in China?" Apart from habitual arrogance and double standards, this is also cooperating with the "decoupling" campaign.

In fact, this rhetoric doesn't hold water at all. For foreign enterprises, they seek profits and investment returns in China and share dividends of China's high-speed growth. They don't come to China to act as spies. Given this, what does China's improvement of the anti-espionage law have to do with foreign businesses and investments? There are provisions for the death penalty in China's Criminal Law, but foreign businesses and investors are not afraid of this. If you come to China to traffic drugs, of course, there is a risk of the death penalty, and you will worry about being shot. This is not complicated.

According to foreign media reports, China's recent actions "send a very complex signal," and some analysis hypes that this sent "a chill through the foreign business community." We think that this is a manifestation of guilty conscience. However, the chill in their hearts cannot invade the reality of "warmth." According to data released on May 9, the total value of China's imports and exports in the first four months of this year increased by 5.8 percent year-on-year. Foreign investments in China have also continued to grow. The general public has sharp eyes. Source: Global Times)
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has indicated that the country likely will not address Canadian-caused water contamination in the U.S. through the Boundary Waters Treaty, despite a pledge in March to deal with the toxic mine runoff polluting the Kootenai River.

The Ktunaxa Tribal First Nation in British Columbia has for years been at the fore of pushing the Canadian government to address selenium contamination from runoff water at massive open-pit coal mines around Sparwood and Elkford, northeast of Fernie. In trace amounts, selenium is essential to animal health. But in greater concentrations it accumulates in fish and bird ovaries, which leads to fewer eggs hatching, animals hatching with birth defects, and young that die before they can reproduce. The Ktunaxa Tribal First Nation, Kootenai Tribe of Idaho and Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes in Montana are part of the broader Ktunaxa Nation that was split by white settlers' boundaries.

The toxic runoff comes primarily from waste rock at mines operated by mining giant Teck Resources. It flows into the Elk River. The Elk River flows into the Kootenai River at Lake Koocanusa, a reservoir spanning the U.S.-Canada border and held back by the Libby Dam. From the Libby Dam in Montana, the Kootenai River flows through Libby and Troy, and then into Idaho. Selenium levels above what tribal, state and federal regulations allow  and high enough to harm wildlife  have been documented throughout so-called "Lake K" and the Kootenai River (Kootenay in Canada) downstream of where the Elk River flows into it.

In March, U.S. President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau released a joint statement that mentioned selenium contamination in Lake Koocanusa: "The United States and Canada also intend to reach an agreement in principle by this summer to reduce and mitigate the impacts of water pollution in the Elk-Kootenai watershed, in partnership with Tribal Nations and Indigenous Peoples, and in order to protect the people and species that depend on this vital river system."

For years, the tribes of the Ktunaxa Nation in both countries have pushed the U.S. State Department and its Canadian counterpart, Global Affairs Canada, to refer the issue to the International Joint Commission. The commission is a bi-national entity created by the 1909 Boundary Waters Treaty primarily to address disputes over contamination flowing between two countries that share a continental border riddled with lakes, rivers and reservoirs. A reference would spur the IJC to convene a bi-national "watershed board" of experts and stakeholders who would analyze selenium contamination in Lake Koocanusa and advise on solutions. Such a board would likely include scientists, tribes and governments of all levels from both nations. The State Department has indicated willingness to refer the matter to the IJC. In May 2022, the IJC itself urged Biden and Trudeau to issue a joint reference.

But at an April 28 press conference in New York City, Trudeau stated, "We believe that there are processes that are being followed right now that have a better chance of getting to a resolution" than an IJC reference. The remark came one year after Global Affairs Canada turned away from a joint reference on Lake K selenium. In May 2022, the Ktunaxa Tribal First Nation announced that Global Affairs Canada notified the tribe via email the month before that it would not support an IJC reference. Technically, either nation can send a reference to the IJC by itself. But out of dozens of references, that's only happened one time, according to Robert Sisson, a U.S. IJC commissioner.

The tribes have repeatedly called for action from the Canadian government. On Thursday, the three tribes once again blasted the Canadian and British Columbia governments over what the tribes characterized as unwillingness to engage them and the U.S. via the IJC. In a joint statement, the tribes said Canada "continues to stonewall an IJC reference."

"Canada and the United States were expected to commit to the IJC reference a year ago, but at the eleventh hour, Global Affairs Canada walked away," the tribes stated. "Freedom of Information documents later revealed that Canadas last-minute reversal followed intense interference by the Province of British Columbia and the mining industry to defeat the joint reference and override Canadas obligations and commitments to the Boundary Waters Treaty and Indigenous peoples."

When it encouraged a joint reference, the IJC highlighted selenium levels of 9.46 parts-per-billion (ppb) in the Elk River, 4.99 ppb in Lake Koocanusa and 1.4 ppb in the Kootenai River. Levels as high as 150 ppb have been detected around Teck's mines. In the U.S., water quality is more strictly regulated under the federal Clean Water Act than water is in Canada. Montana developed a site-specific standard of 0.8 ppb for Lake Koocanusa, citing state, tribal and university studies that found that current levels of selenium are harming fish there.

In lieu of a joint reference to the IJC, it's unclear how the Canadian government will engage tribes and the U.S. to address those high levels of selenium.

"We are completely baffled by Prime Minister Trudeaus remarks," CSKT Chairman Tom McDonald said. "Canada and the U.S. created the IJC over a hundred years ago, under the Boundary Waters Treaty, to address transboundary water issues exactly like this one. There is no legitimate reason to avoid the tried and tested IJC process  it is transparent, inclusive, accountable, and enforceable. We welcome further efforts in addition to the IJC, but we are skeptical that Canadas insistence on an alternative is a delay tactic designed to produce a watered-down IJC process."
As we survey the landscape of our democracy after Montanas 68th legislative session, two things are clear: extremists are running the show, and a few corporations dictate their marching orders. Bill after dangerous bill passed through both legislative chambers despite Montanans lining up by the dozens to testify against them and only a few paid lobbyists speaking in support. This is a wakeup call. Extremist politicians are treating We the People as irrelevant distractions and, sometimes, even with disdain. We must restore our democracy and reassert the freedoms that allow us to shape the future of our communities.

Meeting our challenges depends on respectful listening and finding common ground. Politicians who deny the voices of the majority, all the while passing laws that raid our pocketbooks, pollute our communities, and dismantle our rights, are corroding democracy. Falling in line after our voices have been ignored wont happen; rigid obedience isnt in our DNA. As responsible Montanans begin to repair this damage, its important to take stock of what just happened. Here are just a few disturbing examples.

SB 228, sponsored by Sen. Jason Small, R-Busby, outlaws local governments from making community-based energy decisions. The bill bans municipalities from creating protections against the use of petroleum-derived fuels including the tools, transportation, or equipment involved. This Big Brother knows best authoritarianism perfectly serves Montanas two monopoly energy corporations, but not us. Communities could be forced to live with dangerous industrial infrastructure next to parks, schools, and homes.

Another pair of bills undermines the rights of ranchers and landowners in coal country. HB 576, sponsored by Rep. Rhonda Knudsen, R-Culbertson, rewrites permitting laws for coal development using murky terms about land and water damage that will make it hard for landowners to hold coal companies accountable when property is harmed. Despite widespread land and water degradation near coal development, this law shields companies from liability, while landowners are forced into courtrooms as their last resort. This is where the second bill comes into play.

SB 392, sponsored by Sen. Steve Fitzpatrick, R-Great Falls, compels individuals to pay the legal bills of coal corporations if a judge rules on behalf of a company in a dispute. This financial intimidation will prevent citizens from seeking justice. Coal corporations will cheer while everyday Montanans find themselves under the coal car.

SB 557, sponsored by Sen. Mark Noland, R-Bigfork, is another pay to play bill requiring Montanans to pony up cash for expensive lawsuits and other fees to challenge government decisions using our bedrock conservation law, the Montana Environmental Policy Act (MEPA). Sen. Noland stated that his bill was inspired by his sympathy for an industrial gold mine right outside Yellowstone National Park that was rejected after a MEPA challenge. Its time to reclaim our democratic processes when legislators proudly declare that keeping one corporations vaults stocked with gold is more important than citizens rights or protecting one of Montanas most celebrated natural treasures.

HB 971, sponsored by Rep. Josh Kassmier, R-Fort Benton, was written to bail out NorthWestern Energy after a recent legal ruling. A Montana judge halted construction of the corporations methane-fired power plant in Laurel until the state can analyze the plants climate pollution. Instead of waiting for that important data, the bill bans state analysis of carbon pollution from environmental reviews altogether. Its worth noting that NorthWesterns $280 million plant, if built, will become a major source of hazardous air pollutants, emitting tons of carcinogenic pollution each year. But health and safety protections dont concern these fringe politicians when corporations demand guaranteed profits.

Lets roll up our sleeves and strengthen the muscles of our democracy. We can join a local nonprofit that empowers regular people, attend community meetings, stay in touch with town officials, run for local office or support others who do. We can commit ourselves to the inclusive power of engaged common people  our friends, our neighbors, We the People.
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by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, May 11, 2023

President Obama comes up with another winner for Netflix with Working: What We Do All Day, his new docuseries on working in America.

This is a very high-quality multi-part series -- one of the most moving and emotional that I have seen in a long while.

It is filled with the stuff of real life as it is lived by millions of Americans -- their struggles, their hopes, their dreams.

It is about the conditions under which Americans work -- from the service positions the rest of us take for granted all the way to the C-suite.

Barack and Michelle Obama are executive producers of this excellent show, which is directed by Caroline Sui.

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Barack Obama is the narrator and occasional in-person visitor to some of the ordinary Americans in the series such as Randi (photo above), a resident of Mississippi who we meet in Episode One as she is working her first day as a home health aide.

The job pays $9 an hour, but she hopes it will lead to something better. But at the same time, she appreciates the opportunity the job gives her to care for others.

She had a former job that paid $16 an hour. It was in a chicken factory where her job was deboning chicken thighs.

It was horrible, she tells the former, two-term President of the United States, 61, as they stroll together through a local Piggly Wiggly.

Despite the challenges she faces making ends meet, Randi is not by nature a complainer. The scenes in the supermarket with President Obama are noteworthy for the incredible ease with which she converses with him with no discernible awe that he just happens to be the ex-President.

One reason for this is Obamas evident affability. In these interactions, he is a gentle listener. Never patronizing, he talks with Randi as if she is his equal, which, in keeping with the American spirit, she is.

In his introductory remarks, Obama identifies his inspiration for the series -- the 1974 book by the late Studs Terkel called Working, for which Terkel interviewed Americans from all walks of life to learn about their working lives.

Subtitled People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do, the book was styled as an oral history.

And so is Obamas Working, in which we hear the subjects stories largely in their own words as Obamas narration fills in the gaps and reports on working conditions in America.

Others who we meet in Episode One include Elba, a housekeeper at the luxe Pierre Hotel in Manhattan who works weekends; and Carmen, a delivery driver for Uber Eats in Pittsburgh.

Almost half of Americans work in low-wage service jobs, he says at one point. The jobs are more like a treadmill than a foothold.

Indeed, when we accompany Carmen the Uber Eats driver on a typical days rounds, we see her earning just $6.73 in a single day.

Despite these factoids, the series is not entirely negative or pessimistic. On the contrary, the subjects we meet do not seem beaten down by their circumstances.

Carmen aspires to be a make-up artist, and her upbeat attitude makes us root for her, as we do for all the participants in the show.

A little over a year ago, Obama played a similar role as narrator of the Netflix docuseries Our Great National Parks, which the TV Blog gave an enthusiastic thumbs-up. Working: What We Do All Day extends his streak to two.

Working: What We Do All Day premieres on Wednesday, May 17, on Netflix.
by Wendy Davis , Staff Writer @wendyndavis, May 11, 2023

When Utah Governor Spencer Cox signed a law banning teens from social media without parental consent, he justified the measure by asserting that social media has been proven to harm teens.

At a March signing ceremony, Cox specifically claimed that recent studies show that spending time on social media causes psychological problems such as anxiety, depression and self-harm. Shortly after Utah enacted the ban, Arkansas followed suit, for similar reasons.

This week, a panel of the American Psychological Association issued a new report that calls these laws into question.

Using social media is not inherently beneficial or harmful to young people, that report states. In most cases, the effects of social media are dependent on adolescents own personal and psychological characteristics and social circumstances -- intersecting with the specific content, features, or functions that are afforded within many social media platforms.

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Mitch Prinstein, chief science officer for the American Psychological Association, tells MediaPost that current science regarding social media and teens is not consistent with an all-or-nothing approach.

Taking it away completely would be ill-advised, he says, referring to laws that prevent teens from using social media.

The organization says in its new report that platforms can promote healthy socialization, but that adolescents should be trained in social media literacy before using social media.

For instance, the report says, teens could be trained to question the accuracy of posts, and to understand how people can use social media to spread lies.

The report also explores the plusses and minuses of teens' social media use.

One possible benefit, according to the authors, is that social media use can help teens in crisis, as well as teens who belong to marginalized groups.

Access to peers that allows LGBTQIA+ and questioning adolescents to provide support to and share accurate health information with one another is beneficial to psychological development, and can protect youth from negative psychological outcomes when experiencing stress, the authors write. This may be especially important for topics that adolescents feel reluctant to or are unable to discuss with a parent or caregiver.

At the same time, the report says some design features -- such as the like button, and recommendations -- should be tailored to the social and cognitive abilities and comprehension of adolescent users.

This new report comes one week after the American Psychological Association endorsed a new version of the controversial Kids Online Safety Act. That bill would require platforms to take reasonable measures to prevent and mitigate potential harms such as depression, eating disorders, and online bullying, when displaying material to users known to be under 17. Civil liberties advocates oppose the bill, arguing it could prevent teens from accessing posts that are protected by the First Amendment.
by Steve McClellan @mp_mcclellan, May 11, 2023

Two multicultural agencies--Brooklyn-based Uniworld Group and Toronto-based Monsoon Communicationsare joining forces to expand their respective footprints in Canada.

The two shops have formed a partnership to create a third agency called UWG Monsoon that will service Canadas growing multicultural marketplace.

According to the agencies the new entity will help brands better understand Canadas numerous ethnic segments.

advertisement advertisement The partners have tapped Monsoon veteran Penelope Chow to lead UWG Monsoon as managing director. She will be on special assignment to take on the new post. Shes been with Monsoon for nearly nine years, most recently as client services director. She is tasked with developing the new agencys client base from scratch and more broadly growing the firm.

Canada's population growth surged to over a million people last year, almost entirely due to immigration, and the federal government plans to welcome 500,000 new immigrants annually by 2025, said Chow. These are staggering numbers, and it's now more important than ever for advertisers to incorporate proven newcomer strategies into their overall marketing plans."

UWG President & CEO Gregory Edwards said the partnership represents is a first step in our international growth plans."

UWG is 49% owned by WPP and the new agency will be housed in WPP Toronto's new campus in the city's Waterfront Innovation Centre.
by Ray Schultz , May 11, 2023

Publishers concerned about the accuracy of content can verify the provenance of files and data with a drag-and-drop feature from RKVST, the company says.

The new product, Instaproof, allows users to instantly verify the authenticity of any file, eliminating the time-wasting, expensive and error-prone processes employed today, says Rusty Cumpston, CEO, RKVST.

This blockchain-based capability is critical in a time of fake news and AI-generated content, the company says.

Think how a doctored photo could lead media to mistakenly report false information, or how incorrect data could lead a bank or its customers to lose significant money, Cumpston says.

Users can determine the provenance of information in files registered with RKVST by dragging the file in question by dragging it onto Instaproof, but they do not need an RKVST account.

"Most of the data businesses use today comes from outside the secure boundaries of the organization and lacks the integrity metadata needed to prove origin, provenance and authenticity, Cumpston argues.
by Ray Schultz , May 11, 2023

The Institute for Nonprofit News has launched a website to support its Rural News Network (RNN), a resource for newsrooms across rural America.

The new website, RuralNewsNetwork.org, features RNNs collaborative series and daily stories pulled from its 68 participating newsrooms in 46 states.

Supported in part, by grants from the Knight Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, the Walton Family Foundation, and other funders, the newsroom consortium has produced five collaborative series featuring rural voices.

In addition, it has hired a dedicated editor, Alana Rocha, invested $300,000 in local newsrooms, and facilitated republication of the series in more than 100 news outlets, including The New York Times and other major publications.

The new platform is an important step to shining a light on the nuances of rural communities, adding a vital but often underheard voice to the national discourse through trustworthy and sustained reporting, says Michael Harvey, a program officer at the MacArthur Foundation.

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Newsroom teams can reference or republish the news stories for free on their own sites. They can also subscribe to the Rural News Spotlight newsletter.

The participants are a subset of the 400+ members of the INN Network.

Its exciting to be able to bring larger newsrooms together with smaller ones who may have a great story but lack the resources to pursue it, said Alana Rocha, who oversees RNN collaborations and curates stories on the RuralNewsNetwork.org website.

Rocha adds, Through our behind-the-scenes collaboration and, now, with this website, more stories will get written and more people will understand the realities of life in rural America today.
Far-right billionaire Vivek Ganapathy Ramaswamy, who is running for President of the United States, wants to make it illegal for people under the age of 25 to vote. The reason he is trying to strip young people's constitutional voting rights is obvious: 18- to 25-year-olds don't vote for people like Ramaswamy, who opposes abortion, teaching critical race theory, and affirmative action.

"Under Ramaswamy's plan," reports The Daily Beast, "Americans under 25 could only vote by joining the military, becoming a first responder, or passing a civics test." As you might expect, Ramaswamy did not partake in any of these activities in his own youth; he was too busy attending Harvard.

Earlier this month, Ramaswamy was caught breaking Wikipedia's rules by secretly hiring an editor to scrub the fact that he had received a Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans. Why? "The late Paul Soros is the brother of George Soros, a Democratic megadonor who is often held up as an evil puppetmaster by far-right figures," says Forbes. "Notably, Ramaswamy announced his candidacy for president on the show of Tucker Carlson before the host was recently booted from Fox News. Carlson often railed against Soros on his top-rated show."
by Sarah Mahoney @mahoney_sarah, May 12, 2023

Bark is best known for BarkBox, monthly boxes filled with toys and treats personalized for your pup. It's also expanded into retail. But as it works harder to add customers, brand partnerships play an increasingly important role in adding to its customer base.

"We're still Target's No. 1 dog brand, but when you go into a Petco or a PetSmart, it's tough to tell our stuff apart. We're flattered, but they're making it a bit tougher," said David Stangle, vice president of activation. That's made customer acquisition even more important, "which means reaching new people in new places."

He told attendees at MediaPost's recent Brand Insider Summit D2C that brand partnerships are vital to building that top-of-funnel awareness. And with the brand sticking with its distinctive "Who's a good boy?" voice  and its commitment to making sure it never takes itself too seriously, it's earned high net promoter scores and 10 million followers on social media.

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Partnerships are also a good fit because of the brand's commitment to cultural currents. When it noticed more people sporting tattoos of their dogs on social media, it created a giveaway to pay for 500 tattoos, generating "thousands and thousands of incredible stories about what their dogs mean to them."

Bark has had long-term partnerships with both Subaru and Dunkin' that, with each iteration, create "the surprise and delight that we are constantly striving for," said Stangle. "We try it bring our partner's brands to life through the eyes of a dog person."

The evolution of its partnership with Dunkin', and its Dogs for Joy Foundation, is a case in point. That organization trains therapy and comfort dogs for pediatric hospitals. "Initially, we thought, 'We'll put a limited amount of toys in stores, give all the donations to the charity, do some PR and see how it goes.'"

The promotion started in 10 regional stores. Several years into the partnership, "we're now in just about every store in the country," said Stangle. "We get tons of press each year, and there's fun storytelling. And we've moved from one point of sale to multiple points, bringing it online and direct-to-consumer."

Stangle says he hopes the partnership will generate $5 million in donations this year. "And in three or four weeks, we'll see everything is sold out."

That creation of scarcity is essential. "We purposely put limited quantities in every single store to ensure that they sell fast. As more stores sell out, that demand moves onto the Bark.com platform, where we have more inventory available."

In essence, the promotion acts as the ecommerce arm. "So Dunkin's audience becomes our audience." With QR codes in stores leading back to Bark, it creates opportunities to upsell, remarket, and provide email contacts.

The success with Dunkin' has led to increased demand, with many brands asking to form partnerships. Usually, "they just want to put their brand in our boxes, which we would never do," said Stangle.

Still, the brand is on the hunt for partners which, like Bark, are light-hearted and irreverent. "Dogs are inherently silly, and for the most part, people are not looking for a serious message about a dog product."

Bark is also looking for a bit of risk-taking. With Dunkin', for instance, Stangle's been angling for a dog doughnut with every iteration. "I've pitched it every year, and the Dunkin' team has said 'No' every year. We're going into year four, and this time, they said, 'Well, we can talk about it.'"

The big idea, he said, always comes back to fun, introducing new people to the tail-wagging vibe the company's 2.3 million subscribers already love: "What Disney does for kids, we want to be able to do for dogs, dog people, and families with dogs."
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We employ other third party entities and people to perform tasks on our behalf and need to share your information with them to provide our Services to you. Unless we tell you differently, such third party entities do not have any right to use the personal information we share with them beyond what is necessary to assist us. User submissions: Any content or personal information that you voluntarily disclose online in a manner other users can view (on discussion boards, in messages and chat areas, etc.) becomes publicly available, and can be collected and used by others.

Any content or personal information that you voluntarily disclose online in a manner other users can view (on discussion boards, in messages and chat areas, etc.) becomes publicly available, and can be collected and used by others. Offers, programs and benefits We may offer certain programs (such as loyalty programs), benefits and offers provided by our affiliates, partners or third parties, which are complementary to our products or services or otherwise offer you a continuum of service offerings similar to the services or products offered on the Platform

We may offer certain programs (such as loyalty programs), benefits and offers provided by our affiliates, partners or third parties, which are complementary to our products or services or otherwise offer you a continuum of service offerings similar to the services or products offered on the Platform With your consent: Except as set forth above, you will be notified when your personal information may be shared with third parties and will be able to prevent the sharing of this information.

Except as set forth above, you will be notified when your personal information may be shared with third parties and will be able to prevent the sharing of this information. Law enforcement agencies and Governmental authorities. We may be required to share your personal data with such governmental authorities and law enforcement agencies in furtherance of any directions, orders, requisitions issued by such authorities, and to meet our regulatory and compliance burden. We may not be able to give you due notice in such circumstances, and we may seek your cooperation, as may be required by the authorities.

Cross Border Data Transfers

Is personal information about me secure?

What personal information can I access?

name and password

email address

What choices do I have?

Changes to this privacy policy

We at Medindia Health and Wellness Portal ('medindia.net') are aware of the privacy rights of our users ('You', 'Your', 'User(s)') and we take your privacy seriously. Please read the following to learn about our privacy policy (Policy) in detail. By accessing, downloading or using our website (www.medindia.net) in any manner, you acknowledge that you accept, and agree to be governed by the terms of this Privacy Policy.We use our website to offer you services related to the practice of healthcare and medical sciences, either through our own personnel, or in conjunction with such other persons who we have entered into a valid and enforceable agreement with (collectively referred to as Services.We reserve the right to make changes to this Policy, and we urge you to keep referring to the Policy that is applicable at such period of time. In the event, we make significant changes to this Policy, we will make efforts to communicate the same to you via the registered e-mail address, as available with us.This Policy deals with our treatment of your personal information or data (as defined at law), as is available with us.We do not offer our Services to any one who has not attained the age of majority in their own jurisdiction. In the event that we learn that we have collected personal information from a child under age 18 without verification of parental consent, we will delete that information as quickly as possible. If you believe that we might have any information from or about a child under 18, please contact us at hello@medindia.net. We collect the following types of information:We receive and store any information you knowingly provide to us, including:- Demographic Details - which includes name, age, gender, location details. We need this detail to create a profile for you, and register you for our Services.- Correspondence Details - E-mail address; mobile number. We need this detail for the purposes of communicating with you, through the course of your engagement with our Services.- Financial Details - we rely on third party service providers to allow financial transactions be effected on our Website, and it is such third party service providers who collect and process these identifiers, and we do not retain or access any such information.- Any other preferences, selections or decisions that you make on our Website is also collected and retained by us. We do this, for the purposes of providing you with personalized services to you, and to ensure that your preferences form the basis of enabling any engagement with the practitioners (medical) who are available or listed on our Website.- Health Information - we need this for the purposes of creating your health profile with us, and also enable access to seeking health counselling, prescriptions from the listed registered medical professionals listed/ available on the Website.- Feedback and Survey Information - in the event where you choose to participate in any surveys or feedback discussions that we create for our users, you may be asked to provide answers in responses to those queries.- Professional information - in case you apply for a job with us, we also process information related to professional qualification, experience, references, and related.- Device information - we collect information about the hardware and software systems that you use to access our Website, and avail our Services. We also retain any information that is derived out of your interaction with our Website, in the form of preferences and visits.- URL information, browser information, time stamps and selections made by you are also stored with us.- Transactions made on the Website.- Cookies - if you have your cookies enabled on your browsers, we will also access and utilize such information during the term of our engagement with you.We, our affiliates and/or the sellers or service providers may access and use your Personal Information and SPDI for the following purposes:Note that you may choose not to provide certain information, but that may limit the access of full functionalities of the Website. Some identifiers are mandatorily required by us to enable our Services due to you, and if you do not provide such information we will be constrained to disable our Services to you. However, the ones which are mandatorily required by us, will be marked as so for your ease of reference.We may have content on the Website which provide information offered by third party platforms, and you may be redirected to such pages owned by the third parties, when you choose to interact with such an ad, or content hyperlinked to the Website. If you choose to interact with such third party services, you will be governed by the privacy policy and terms of use of such third party platforms, and we do not exercise any control over it. We urge you to familiarize yourself with such policies before you continue your interaction with them.We neither rent nor sell your personal information in personally identifiable form to anyone. We share your personal information with third parties only as described below, and to fulfil our contractual obligations, including our obligations to you.In certain situations, businesses or third-party websites we're affiliated with may sell items or provide services to you (either alone or jointly with us). You can recognize when an affiliated business is associated with such a transaction or service, and we will share your personal information with that affiliated business only to the extent that it is related to such transaction or service.We may share your personal information with entities situated overseas, in furtherance of our obligations to you. We will make best efforts to ensure that the third party or the location to which the personal information is transferred affords same level of data protection as would be afforded under Indian law, or, higher. We ensure that the level of security which is afforded to your personal data by us in our transactions, remains unchanged in case of such transfers.We will put in place measures to ensure that Your information in our possession or under our control is destroyed and/or anonymized reasonable after: (a) the purposes for which Your information was collected is no longer being served by the retention of such information; and (b) retention is no longer necessary under any applicable law. Your data may be anonymized, de-identified and/or aggregated, and the resulting data may be held by us, our affiliates, service providers and sellers on associates, agents, representatives, and other authorized third parties, for as long as necessary for us to provide the services effectively or for other purposes.We endeavour to protect the privacy of your account and other personal information we hold in our records, but we cannot guarantee complete security. Unauthorized entry or use, hardware or software failure, and other factors, may compromise the security of user information at any time. We are not responsible for the privacy policies and/or practices on other sites. When following a link to another site you should read that site's privacy policy.Through your account settings, you may access, and, in some cases, edit or delete the following information you've provided to us:The information you can view and update may change as the website page design changes. Please note that any information that is automatically uploaded from a Service, or collected otherwise from You by us, cannot be later changed or updated. We store Your personal data for such time as is necessary, and is permissible by law.We will redress your grievances and concerns surrounding usage of Services through email within specified timelines as per applicable law. If you have any questions about viewing or updating information we have on file about you, or if you wish to raise any complaint/grievances, or object/withdraw your consents, please contact us at info@medindia.net or reach out to our Grievance Officer, appointed in accordance with the Information Technology Act, 2000 and the SPDI Rules, whose contact information is detailed below:Mobile No: +91-44-42612731 / +91 97911 73039Email: info@medindia.net ; andPostal address: A-113,3rd Avenue, Anna Nagar, Chennai-600 102, IndiaPlease provide us with a detailed description of the complaint/grievance, and we will endeavour to resolve Your grievances within 30 (thirty) days from the date of receipt of such grievance or within such timeframe stipulated under applicable laws.You can always opt not to disclose information to us, but keep in mind some information may be needed to register with us or to take advantage of some of our special features / Products. We will retain your personal information for a reasonable period or as long as the law requires. If you'd like us to delete/modify Information that you have provided via browsing our website or otherwise to us, please contact us at info@medindia.net or call us and we will respond in a reasonable time. Please note that some or all of the Information provided by You to us may be required in order for the website / Products to function properly.You may be able to add, update, or delete information as explained in section above. When you update information, however, we may maintain a copy of the unrevised information in our records. Please note that some information may remain in our private records after your deletion of such information from your account. We may use (or transfer to our affiliates, group entities or authorised third parties) any aggregated data derived from or incorporating your personal information after you update or delete it, but not in a manner that would identify you personally. If you do not wish to receive email or other mail from us, please email us at: info@medindia.net or call us. Please note that if you do not want to receive legal notices from us, such as this privacy policy, those legal notices will still govern your use of the website, and you are responsible for reviewing such legal notices for changes.If you wish to opt-out of any services, offers, benefits, etc. offered by us or sellers on the Platform or their group entities or third party business alliance partners, you may do so in accordance with the terms specified to You by such affiliate/group entity. You are requested to carefully track notices sent to you, from time to time. To the extent that you do not expressly choose to opt-out of services, they may be provided to you on the basis that you have opted in to them.We may amend this privacy policy from time to time. Use of information we collect now is subject to the privacy policy in effect at the time such information is used. If we make changes in the way we use personal information, we will notify you by posting an announcement on our website or sending you an email. You are bound by any changes to the privacy policy when you use the website, Product or Service after such changes have been first posted.
Medindia4u.com Private Limited (Medindia, we, us, our) provides general health and medical information, corporate training and educational learning solutions, telemedicine portals (Platform), web-based applications through this Website (www.medindia.net) (all collectively referred to as Services).

By accessing, using, downloading our Service and Website, you indicate to have read, understood, and agree to be bound by these Terms of Use (Terms) and all other applicable laws and regulations, without any limitation or qualification.

THIS IS A LEGAL AGREEMENT BETWEEN YOU AND MEDINDIA4U.COM PRIVATE LIMITED, AND IT GOVERNS YOUR USE OF OUR SERVICES.

Services

Medindia provides general health and medical information, corporate training and educational training solutions, web-based applications, and other related information on the Website. The information provided and available on the Website is solely to the attribution of the author, contributor, of such information, and cannot be treated as medical or legal advice. You must immediately refer to a medical or a legal professional to understand the information provided, and must proceed with caution. Medindia is not liable for the freely available content provided on the Website. You represent that you have attained the age of majority in the country of your residence. You may access our Website, if you can enter into a legally binding contract, and you represent that you are not barred by any law for the time being in force. If you are registering with our Website not as an individual but on behalf of a legal entity, then you should represent that you are fully authorized to do so and the listing, posting, opinion or information placed on the site on behalf of the legal entity is your sole responsibility and you agree to be accountable for the same. Your registration with Medindia, will be on the basis of the representations that you make in respect of your professional memberships, affiliations, and with valid proof thereof. Professionals. If you are a professional who wishes to register for the telemedicine Platform, these additional provisions will apply to you, in addition to the agreement that you execute with Medindia separately. Medindia is only a facilitator and does not validate, substantiate the advice flowing from a listed professional. Medindia does not assume any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, reliability, dependability of the contents opinion on the site including the qualification, experience, credentials quality stands or other data regarding the professional/ listing. Medindia does not assume any responsibility, liability for damage or injury to user arising from the use of any content/information, advice/opinion given on its website. You agree to provide accurate, current, and complete information about your professional membership, professional affiliations, organisation as prompted by the Medindia registration form (Registration Data). You agree to maintain, and promptly update the Registration Data to be accurate, current, and complete. If you provide any information that is inaccurate, not current or, incomplete, or where Medindia has reasonable grounds to suspect that such information is inaccurate, not current or, incomplete, Medindia has the right to suspend or terminate your account. Medindia will then also have the right to refuse any and all current or future use of the Medindia Services, or any portion thereof. You agree that your representations to Medindia for the purposes of listing on the Website are true and there is no fraud caused to the professional memberships, professional affiliations, registrations provided by you. Your use of the Platform will be subject to the express provisions of law, including but not limited to the laws applicable to the practice of telemedicine, healthcare, healthcare professionals, data privacy and protection laws, and relate. You may only access and avail the Services as and when authorized by Medindia. You are not authorized to commercially exploit the Services; anything in that respect will have to be specifically licensed by Medindia. You agree not to reproduce, duplicate, copy, sell, resell, or exploit any portion of the Services, use of the Services, or access to the Services without the express written permission of Medindia. Any use of the information you provide to us is subject to your understanding and acceptance of our Privacy Policy. To find more information about Services offerings of Medindia or if you need assistance with your account, please contact us. Medindia will send you all information pertaining to your account inter alia on payment authorizations, notices, e-reports and authentications in electronic forms only via your registered contact details as per our records. You may not scrape the Website for spamming purposes. Crawling the Services is allowed if done in accordance with the provisions of our robots.txt file, but scraping the Services is totally prohibited.

Subscription and Account

For international subscription no drug prescription will be sent. You need to create a primary account to avail the Services offered by Medindia. You are mandatorily required to submit the following details to create and maintain an account with us: Email and Category. Accurate and complete registration is required to use our Services. At all times, you are responsible for your passwords and for any use of your account. Allowing another person to access and use our Services through your account requires prior registration and authorization.

Medindia Rights

When you use Services of Medindia, you do so under a license granted from us. All right, title and interest in and to the Services and the underlying technology, together with all the intellectual property embodied therein are the sole property of Medindia4u.com Private Limited. We reserve all rights not expressly enumerated in these Terms of Use. All trademarks, brands and content on our Services are the property of their respective owners. Medindia respects the copyright of others, and we persuade our users to do the same. Medindia in appropriate circumstances and at its discretion, disable and, or terminate the access of users who may be repeat infringers. If you believe that your work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, please provide Medindia with such description of the work which is alleged to be infringed at info@medindia.net.

Third Party Applications

If you create a third - party application or other developer product that integrates with the Services provided by Medindia, and make it available for other users, then you must comply with the following requirements: You must comply with these Terms of Use and the Privacy Policy; You must limit your usage of the Personal Information or Content you collect to that purpose for which you are authorized; You must take all reasonable security measures appropriate to the risks, such as against accidental or unlawful destruction, or accidental loss, alteration, or unauthorized disclosure or access, presented by processing the Personal Information or Content; You must not position yourself as acting on behalf of Medindia and must provide sufficient notice of your privacy practices to your Users, such as by posting a privacy policy. Your policy must comply with the principles of privacy, and all the applicable laws.

Submissions

You agree that you will not publish, transmit, or upload any communication or content of any type that infringes or violates any rights of Medindia. or any third-party. The personal information you submit is governed by our Privacy Policy, the terms of which shall survive and govern in the event of any inconsistency with these Terms of Use.

Use of your Information

We only use information you share with us as set forth in our Privacy Policy, and in only in accordance with the applicable law.

Third Party Vendor Interaction

The license for some of our Services may contain additional terms. When such licenses contain additional terms, we will make such terms available to you. Medindia will neither be held liable or responsible for anything outside the Terms of Use of our Services nor for any commissions or omissions of the third-party vendors. Medindia. does not make any representations or warranties on or about the accuracy and durability of the third-party vendor services offered to you. Medindia does not warrant, nor will be in any way responsible for information, software, data, privacy policies, related to or pertaining to the third-party vendors content and services. We understand that you have reviewed the policies of these third-party vendors and you are in agreement with the same.

Termination

If you violate the Terms of Use or the Privacy Policy, your permission to use the Service ends and ceases immediately. We may place limits, modify or terminate your right to access and use the Services at any time. This suspension or termination may delete information, files, and other content previously available to you. Your access to the Medindia Services may also be terminated due to any requests by authorized law enforcement or other government agencies.

Warranties and Limitations

You expressly understand that use of the Medindia Services is at your own risk and discretion. Our Service to you is provided 'as is' and is without any warranty or condition, expressed or implied. Without limitation, we do not warrant fitness for any error-free and uninterrupted Services. Medindia and its subsidiaries, affiliates, officers, employees, or licensors make no warranty that: The Service will meet your requirements; The Service will be uninterrupted, timely, secure, or error-free; That any defects or errors will be corrected; and, The results that may be obtained from the use of the Service will be accurate or reliable. No advice or information, whether oral or written, obtained by you from Medindia or through or from the Service shall create any warranty not expressly stated herein the Terms of Use. You assume full responsibility and any risk of loss resulting from your accessing, downloading, and / or use of the files, information, content or any other material obtained from the Service. However, these terms will not limit any warranties which may not be waived, or any other consumer rights which you may be entitled to under the applicable laws.

Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold Medindia and its subsidiaries, affiliates, officers, agents, employees, partners, and licensors harmless from any claim or demand, including but not limited to reasonable attorney's fees, made by any third party due to your use of the Medindia Services, your connection to the Service, your violation of the Terms of Use, or your violation of any rights of another.

Modification to Medindia's Service

Medindia reserves the right at all times to modify, discontinue, temporarily or permanently, the Medindia Service with notice. You agree that Medindia. shall not be liable to you or any third party for any modification, suspension or discontinuation of the Medindia Services.

Governing Law

These Terms of Use shall be governed by the laws of India, and for resolution of any dispute arising out of your use of our Services.

Dispute Resolution

Any dispute arising out of or in connection with this Terms of Use including any question regarding its existence, validity or termination, shall be referred to and finally resolved by arbitration in accordance with the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, and the amendments thereof, which rules are deemed to be incorporated by reference in this paragraph.The seat, venue and place of the arbitration will be Chennai. The tribunal will consist of 1 arbitrator as appointed by Medindia. The language of the arbitration will be English.

Severability

If any provision or provisions of these Terms shall be held to be invalid, illegal, or unenforceable, the validity, legality and enforceability of the remaining provisions shall remain in full force and effect.

Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, Medindia and its subsidiaries, affiliates, officers, employees, agents, partners and licensors shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, or any loss of profits or revenues, whether incurred directly or indirectly, or any loss of data, use, goodwill, or other intangible losses, resulting from (i) your access to or use of or inability to access or use the Platform; (ii) any act and, or conduct and, or content and, or omission of any third-party on the services including without limitation, any defamatory, offensive or illegal conduct of other users or third-parties; (iii) any content obtained from the Website; or (iv) unauthorized access, use or alteration of your transmissions or content.

Survival

All provisions of these Terms of Use which by their nature should survive termination will survive termination, including, without limitation, ownership provisions, warranty disclaimers, indemnity, and limitations of liability.

Changes to Terms of Use and Assignment
Having trashed his $44 billion impulse purchase, Elon Musk is preparing to set someone up to take the blame. A tweet made by Musk says he's hired a CEO but then details the roles he intends to keep, which sure doesn't sound like this CEO will be in charge of much.

Excited to announce that I've hired a new CEO for X/Twitter. She will be starting in ~6 weeks! My role will transition to being exec chair & CTO, overseeing product, software & sysops. https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1656748197308674048

In addition to destroying the value of Twitter's validation program, Elon's incredible product leadership recently brought poorly encrypted DMs and phone calls to the Twitter app. I have a hard time believing the Executive Chairman, Multi-Dimensional Product Inventor of Note, CTO and whatever the "software & sysops" babble is, will allow the new CEO to run the company.

I bet they allow the CEO to take the blame.

Insider:

Musk has said from the beginning that he had planned for his stint as Twitter's CEO to be temporary. In December, the billionaire said he would eventually resign as CEO of Twitter after he ran a poll asking Twitter users whether he should quit and the majority voted in favor of Musk stepping down. He said earlier this year that he might need until the end of the year before he was able to hire a successor. "I need to stabilize the organization and just make sure it's in a financially healthy place and the product road map is clearly laid out," Musk said at the World Government Summit in Dubai in February.

We know Twitter isn't stabilized, so the only thing this news of Twitter's new CEO really seems to trumpet is that all the sucking butt failed to pay off.
"The image of the arrest of the candidate for Mayor of Himare Mr. Beleri is unacceptable. We have taken all required diplomatic actions and are following the case. We stand by the Greek Minority", stated Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs and candidate MP with the New Democracy party in the regional unit of West Athens, Miltiadis Varvitsiotis, speaking this morning on SKAI 100.3 radio station and journalist Aris Portosalte. He recalled the significance of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis' visit to Himare a few months ago, being the first Greek Prime Minister to visit the region.


Today's discussion on Ukraine, even in the informal Council, is extremely important. Because what is at stake in Ukraine is the European cause as a whole as regards territorial integrity and human rights.

However, Id also like to comment on another really significant issue. The arrest of a member of the Greek National Minority, Fredi Beleri, candidate for mayor in Himare, Albania, and another Greek. Id like to say that the arrest of a mayoral candidate two days before the polls, creates an absolute scandal if theres no concrete evidence.

I have already informed the EU High Representative, Mr. Borrell, and the Swedish Foreign Minister in his capacity as President-in-Office, about this. The Greek government will follow this extremely closely.

I reiterate something that was also acknowledged by Albanian Prime Minister Rama. The arrest of a mayoral candidate two days before the elections, in the absence of irrefutable evidence, constitutes a scandal.






Swastika Mountain in Oregon's Umpqua National Forest outside of Eugene has been renamed Mount Halo to honor a local indigenous leader, Chief Halito of the Yoncalla Kalapuya tribe. The mountain's former name wasn't connected to the Nazi Party but to a cattle ranch from the early 1900s that used the swastika symbol for branding, which originally meant "good fortune" or "well-being."

Last summer, 81-year-old Joyce McClain petitioned to have the peak renamed:
A former golf course clubhouse has been transformed into the home of Archival Brewing.

Overlooking a beautiful park, Archival Brewings taproom in Belmont is open and bright, with outstanding views. A rustic wood bar and timber accents bring majestic lodges up north and out west to mind. Archivals beer garden setup is second to none. From the taproom balcony, you look down upon the gravel and cement patio. You can find fire pits, bocce, cornhole courts, and another 22 taps for your drinking pleasure.

The first time we experienced the historical beers of Archival was at the Michigan Brewers Guild Detroit Fall Beer Festival in 2021. Archival Brewing had just opened in June of 2021, and this was their first guild festival. Our friend Dan Potter had just started working with Archival. His excitement for their beers was infectious. Within minutes we were trying their Sahti; an ancient Finnish farmhouse ale brewed with juniper or spruce instead of hops. Archivals rendition of this historic brew was excellent, and we noted to visit them.

A recent beer adventure to Grand Rapids provided the perfect opportunity to meet up with Potter, now a sales representative for Archival Brewing. There are lots of intriguing items on the beverage menu at Archival. The first to catch our eye is called Grafted. Potter was more than happy to provide the story behind this brew.

We do ciders, Potter said. Currently, we have our Evercrisp cider, which was a collaboration with the MAIA (Midwest Apple Improvement Association). This year they rented out this entire space (the Archival Brewing space), and they brought in all of their farmers and their distributors to promote this new variety of apples (Evercrisp). So we did a cider with the Evercrisp apple. And then, we also made a beer-cider hybrid called Grafted, which is a blend of the Evercrisp cider and our Kolsch beer.

In addition to the hybrid beer-cider and cider offerings, Archival makes mead.

More Information Visit the brewery: Archival Brewing 6266 W. River Dr. NE, Belmont, MI 49306 (616) 278-3194 archivalbrewing.com See More Collapse

We've tried to keep gluten-free options available, Potter said. Out of 22 taps, we have five that are dedicated gluten-free to be either cider or sparkling mead.

I know a lot of people aren't familiar with mead, but it's just a honey wine, he continued. For people that have had meads, a lot of times, they're more like a cordial, very sweet, very high alcohol content. Ours are a little bit different. They're a little bit more traditional, more on the herbal side. We like to call them sparkling mead. I'd say the closest comparison, which isn't a really good comparison, but the closest would be that of a seltzer, but a lot of different types of flavors going on. We like to incorporate gluten-free options because not everybody can drink beer. And then we extend that into the food menu in the tap room with lots of gluten-free options, which appeals to many of the celiac crowd and gluten intolerant.

When you survey the beverage menu at Archival, in addition to a description of what the beer, cider, or mead is like, in terms of taste  dry, floral, hoppy, etc.  you get a snapshot of the history behind it. This typically kick starts a run down the rabbit hole of history behind the beverage using your best friend Google or Potter (if he is around).

One of the things that we like to do is try to find the original recipe for that style of beer and then just recreate it so there are no modern twists, Potter said. We use historic brewing methods to achieve the end result, and then we like to tie a piece of the history to the beer. If you read the descriptions on our menus, it will give you a little piece of history. It's a fun thing for the guests also. People have said, Man, we read the thing and heard a story from you. Then we went online and dug deeper; then we found out about this. I'm like, that's really cool because that ties to this beer over in this country, and then it brings it all together. They're like, No way. I'm like, Yes.

There are a lot of common things that happened in history with beer that were happening all over Europe and the world, he continued. We can recreate them (historic beers) and try to get as close as we can to what it would have been originally. One of my favorite sayings is that everybody out there is trying to reinvent the wheel. We're trying to teach people how the wheel was invented. Another of my favorite sayings is everybody likes to take grandma's recipe and tweak it. Make it their own. But we think that Grandma's recipe was the best. So we're trying just to make it the same way she did.

Potter said that more and more people are now becoming interested in historic beer styles. Many beer enthusiasts, including Potter, say, I've done all the IPAs. I've done all the dark and delicious big bourbon barrel beers. Hey, what's this other beer style that's been around for thousands of years? Ive never had that.

It's kind of cool like we're coming over and reverting into this new, almost like an emerging market, Potter said. But it's not because it's been around forever.

An example of a great beer with a fascinating story is Archivals Scottish ale called Take It To The Grave.

It was a beer brewed by the indigenous people of Scotland, the Pict people, and then they were all slaughtered, Potter said. There's folklore that suggests that there was a father and son left. They (folks who killed off the Picts) were like, if you give us this recipe for your beer will spare your lives. The father was like, Go the hell. They killed him, and the recipe went to the grave with them. Hence the name of the beer; Take it to the Grave.

Somebody unearthed an ancient vessel containing remnants of the beer, he continued. They were able to reverse-engineer a recipe out of it. We recreated it, and it's actually a wonderful beer. It's got this coffee aroma to it when you smell it. When you drink, it actually pulls through that coffee (flavor) and drinks like a nut brown, almost even like a hazelnut brown.

Hearing this story reminded me of our trip to the Orkney Islands in Scotland. We visited Skara Brae. Drinking this historic beer led to more research and this fine article on this old Scottish ale.

I asked Potter to tell us about Archivals plans.

Currently, our big focus is getting out and distribution, he said. Getting our six packs out there and available. Developing our core brands and our seasonal brands. Really trying to figure out how many people we can get this to. Make it readily available.

Potter shared that Archivals President Levi Knoll's vision was to do historic old-world style beers because nobody else is doing anything in West Michigan and distributing it.

On top of Friday night music, Archival is working on various special events. One which is in the works is a historic brew day. No dates or details yet that we can confirm, but hopefully, in the near future, you can get into the old school.

Archival Brewing is working on some collaborations with other breweries. The most recent is with City Built Brewing and their Pitter Patter porter, which uses pre-prohibition kilned malt from Sugar Creek Malt Co.

I mentioned to Potter that Archival should do something with Brewery Becker as they share the same enthusiasm for beer history.

That would be a really great collab, he replied.

Heres to hoping this collaboration comes to be.

Our first encounter with Potter and his infectious optimism was he worked at Jets Pizza in Chelsea. He was our go-to resource for all the fantastic Michigan beers on tap. As we talked with him at Archival Brewing, we asked about his journey from serving beer in Chelsea to working in sales for Archival.

It's actually an interesting journey. Potter said, adding, You know, always kind of being affiliated with the industry but never actually working in it, that transition actually took years.

He told us about owning a car detailing company but needing winter work. An opportunity opened up in the U.P. A planned single winter up north turned into a few years. The pandemic extended his stay. While trying to get a foothold in the brewing industry, Potter worked at a gas station/beer depot/tackle shop sharing his knowledge and love of local beers. He also volunteered to help out at the Michigan Brewers Guild festivals. Eventually, working to shadow the master of the megaphone and keeper of the front gates, Victor Lambert.

The pandemic put the brakes on everyones plans in the brewing industry, including Potter. Looking for a fresh start after the pandemic, he decided to move to Grand Rapids.

I went onto my Google Maps and I saw there was Archival brewing, and there was this badge I'd never seen before, Potter said, explaining how he connected with Archival. It said recently opened, and I was like, recently opened? I was like, who opens up at the end of a pandemic?

He drove over to Archival and struck up a conversation with the bar manager.

I just moved here, Potter said. Looks like you need help. I don't even think there was ever an interview. I think I was hired on the spot.

Not long after getting into the door at the taproom of Archival, Potter met Levi Knoll (who owns Archival with his wife Callee) and impressed him at a beer festival.

He (Levi) looked at me, and he was like, wait, so you know everyone? Potter said. And I was like, yeah. And he's like, no, like everyone. And I was like, yeah. He said, Okay, do you want to help us do this? And I'm like, yeah, that's what I'm here for.

It is wonderful to hear that Potter is making his dreams of working in the Michigan Brewing industry come true. He is a fantastic spokesperson for Archival, as his passion for this magnificent brewery is clear. We look forward to sharing more pints full of history at Archival Brewing with Potter and the rest of their dedicated team.
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VOLOS, Greece (AP)  Greece's prime minister says his government is exploring a win-win solution to one of the worlds most intractable cultural heritage disputes: The fate of the Parthenon Sculptures in the British Museum. But he rules out any deal that would include the word loan.

We will never recognize that these sculptures are owned, legally owned by the British Museum," Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told The Associated Press in an interview during an election campaign stop in the central Greek city of Volos on Thursday evening. "But again, we have to be constructive and we have to be innovative if a solution is to be found.

Mitsotakis government has been in talks over the ancient sculptures, which form a key part of the British Museums collections. In February, the museums chair said the talks had been constructive and that the U.K. and Greece were working on a deal that would have the sculptures displayed in both London and Athens.

I wouldnt like to comment publicly on the discussions that weve had. I would just say that we are, without changing ... our fundamental position about the ownership of the sculptures, were trying to explore a possible win-win proposition that would work for both sides, Mitsotakis said.

Asked whether Greece might consider seeing the sculptures returned as a loan, Mitsotakis was categorical.

No, no, he said. That word loan is not part of ... what I consider a win-win solution.

Greece has been campaigning for decades for the return of the Parthenon Sculptures, which once adorned the Parthenon atop the Acropolis in Athens. The 160-meter-long (520-foot) frieze ran around the outer walls of the Parthenon, dedicated to Athena, goddess of wisdom.

Carved between 447-432 BC, the frieze and other sculptures remained largely intact until the temple, which was being used by a Turkish garrison as a gunpowder store, was blown up during a siege in 1687.

Much was lost in the explosion, and about half the surviving works were removed by British diplomat Lord Elgin in the early 19th century, while Athens was still under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. They have been in the British Museum since 1816.

Greece claims they were illegally acquired during a period of foreign occupation. British officials have rebuffed repeated demands for their return.

Mitsotakis said that although the issue has been parked during the campaign leading up to Greeces May 21 elections, should we get reelected, Im looking to pick up again the momentum and build upon the progress that we have made.

Amidst the global debate on the restitution of cultural artefacts, Greece has already reached two deals that have seen some 2,500-year-old marble fragments of the Parthenon Sculptures returned to Athens from European museums.

In January, the Vatican Museums returned three small parts of the sculptures in a donation from Pope Francis, while another arrived in Athens on loan from a museum in Palermo, Sicily. Viennas Kunsthistorisches Museum is in talks about returning another two fragments.

The Acropolis Museum in Athens contains a gallery dedicated to the marble sculptures, where the missing parts have been replaced by plaster casts.

Other fragments are in Paris, Copenhagen, Munich and Wuerzburg in Germany, and Vienna.

Mitsotakis met last November with King Charles III, but said he didnt broach the subject.

I would never put His Majesty in a difficult position. I fully respect his role," he said.

___

Theodora Tongas contributed to this report.
A new traffic light in a school zone in Brossard, Quebec, Canada, stays red by default, and will only turn green when a car approaching it has been traveling under the speed limit of 30 km/hr.

Article at StreetsBlog Mass, here.

It's called the "feu de ralentissement educatif" (educational traffic-calming light), or FRED

"Fines might be effective, but it's effective after-the-fact," says [Brossard's mayor, Doreen] Assaad. "The beauty of FRED is we reward good behavior, and it's immediate. It doesn't record any private information, it just detects that the vehicle is coming and measures its speed. So it's a carrot instead of a stick."

I didn't find any information on how long it takes for the light to turn from red to green for speeders. If at all.
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CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP)  Hodding Carter III, a Mississippi journalist and civil rights activist who as U.S. State Department spokesman informed Americans about the Iran hostage crisis and later won awards for his televised documentaries, has died. He was 88.

His daughter, Catherine Carter Sullivan, confirmed that he died Thursday in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where he taught leadership and public policy.

Carter never missed an opportunity to speak truth to power in North Carolina, in the south and around the globe, wrote his department chair, Daniel P. Gitterman.

Before moving to Washington in 1977, Carter was editor and publisher of his familys newspaper, the Delta Democrat-Times, in Greenville, Mississippi.

Carter had been co-chair of the Loyalist Democrats, a racially diverse group that won a credentials fight at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, unseating the all-white delegation by Mississippi's governor, John Bell Williams.

Carters campaign work in 1976 for Jimmy Carter, no relation, helped secure him a job as assistant secretary of state for public affairs. It was in this role that he was seen on television news during the 444 days that Iran held 52 Americans hostage.

When Ronald Reagan was elected to the White House in 1980, Carter returned to journalism as president of MainStreet, a television production company specializing in public affairs programs that earned him four national Emmy Awards and the Edward R. Murrow Award for documentaries.

Carter appeared as a panelist, moderator or news anchor at ABC, BBC, NBC, CNN and PBS. He also wrote op-ed columns for the Wall Street Journal and other newspapers. He served twice on the steering committee of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

Carter later was named the John S. Knight Professor of Public Affairs Journalism at the University of Maryland. In 1998 he became president of the John S. Knight and James L. Knight Foundation, based in Miami, Florida.

After leaving the foundation, he began teaching leadership and public policy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2006. He wrote two books, The Reagan Years and The South Strikes Back.

Carter, an ex-Marine who exercised regularly, underwent surgery in 2012 to have a pacemaker installed to help control an irregular heart rhythm.

Progressive politics ran in his family. William Hodding Carter III was born April 7, 1935, in New Orleans, to William Hodding Carter Jr. and Betty Werlein Carter. They moved to Greenville, Mississippi, recruited by a group of community leaders to start a weekly newspaper that evolved into the Delta Democrat-Times.

His father's editorials about social and economic intolerance earned him a national reputation and undying enmity and threats from white supremacists. He also won the Pulitzer Prize, in 1946, for a series of editorials critical of U.S. treatment of Japanese-Americans during World War II.

His mother, from a prominent New Orleans family, was a feature writer and editor who recalled sitting at home with a shotgun across her lap after receiving threats from the Ku Klux Klan.

Carter was the oldest of three sons. His brother Philip Dutarte Carter, reported for Newsweek and served as publisher of the Delta Democrat-Times and Vieux Carre Courier as well as financier of Gambit, a New Orleans weekly. Another brother, Thomas Hennen Carter, died at 19.

Hodding Carter III attended Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire before graduating from Greenville High School in 1953. He graduated from Princeton University in 1953 and married Margaret Ainsworth Wolfe. They had four children before divorcing in 1978.

Carter later married Patricia M. Derian, a veteran of the Civil Rights Movement who sought to transform U.S. foreign policy as President Carter's assistant secretary of state for human rights and humanitarian affairs.

After she died in 2016, Carter married again, in November 2019, to journalist and author Patricia Ann OBrien after the two connected during a reunion at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism.
MANISTEE  The annual Manistee County Republican Party Lincoln Day Dinner was held this month.

During the event on May 4 at the Little River Casino Resort, Adam Dontz introduced his old friend and keynote speaker, Mike Davis.

"For nearly two decades Mike has fought hard for conservative principles at the highest levels in American government," read a news release in part.

Davis serves as president of the Article III Project, which defends constitutionalist judges and the rule of law. Additionally, he leads the Internet Accountability Project, which along with the Unsilenced Majority, "work to lend a more balanced and complete consideration of issues such as how to best govern the enormous influence of technology in our lives."

Davis presented a historical overview of the federal government from its founding until the present time.

He described how our countrys founders understood that our rights came from God and that the role of government was to defend and protect those rights," read a news release in part. "That understanding stands in stark contrast with what Washington has been fundamentally transformed into today."

Davis concluded with a call for conservatives to keep informed, get involved, support conservative candidates and vote.

The event included a social hour and dinner buffet. Manistee County GOP chairman Duane Jones introduced GOP legislators whose districts cover parts of Manistee County, including included Michigan Sens. Michele Hoitenga and Jon Bumstead, from districts 36 and 32 respectively, and Michigan Reps. Curt Vanderwall and John Roth, from districts 102 and 104 respectively. Damon Jordan stood in for U.S. House Rep. John Moolenaar

from the 2nd district.

Each legislator made brief remarks on the political scene in the state and country to the audience of nearly 200 conservatives.
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BALTIMORE (AP)  A teenager critically wounded by Baltimore police Thursday afternoon was shot in the back while running from officers, according to an eyewitness account that raised more questions about whether the shooting was justified.

Baltimore police said the shooting followed a short foot pursuit that began because an officer thought the teen was armed and approached him. The teen ran away, ignoring commands to drop his gun, according to police.

Officials are considering whether to release body-camera footage of the shooting, which has prompted heated criticism of the Baltimores embattled police department.

Other police shootings in cities nationwide have raised similar issues in recent years, with prosecutors, courts and the public considering when an officer should use whatever means necessary to stop a fleeing suspect.

Baltimore police said the 17-year-old was carrying a gun with an extended magazine, but they declined to provide many other details about the shooting, including whether he was shot in the back.

But witness Pat Felder, 36, said he was sitting on his fathers front stoop Thursday afternoon, eating a sandwich and enjoying the spring weather  when suddenly a young man came running around the corner of a nearby intersection, followed by a police officer. He said the officer was yelling at the teen to get on the ground.

Moments later, Felder said, he watched as the officer drew his gun and fired four shots. The young man collapsed.

He was definitely shot in the back, Felder said in an interview Friday morning outside his fathers house in majority-Black southwest Baltimore. He was facing away from the officer, running like he was scared.

Felder said the officer, whom he described as Black, seemed visibly agitated after the shooting. A crowd quickly formed around the injured teen, yelling at police and demanding to know whether the shooting was necessary.

Thats the first time Ive ever seen someone get shot, Felder said. I was ready to start crying.

Baltimore police said the teen ignored numerous orders after displaying characteristics of an armed person. But officials declined to say whether he ever pointed a weapon at police.

Department policy says officers are allowed to use deadly force when they believe its immediately necessary to protect another officer or civilian from imminent danger of death or serious physical injury. In the case of a fleeing suspect, officers can use deadly force to prevent the person from escaping under certain circumstances.

The policy largely aligns with a 1985 Supreme Court decision that said shooting a fleeing suspect whos not an imminent threat violates the persons constitutional rights. The court said that an officers threat assessment in a specific situation should be evaluated as a split-second decision, without the benefit of hindsight.

The teenage gunshot victim was a familiar presence in his neighborhood, where residents have long complained about over-policing and discriminatory treatment from law enforcement  a familiar criticism in a city still reeling from its history of troubled policing practices, despite recent reform efforts.

A friend of the teen, who asked to remain anonymous out of concern for his safety, said he recognized the officer involved because he and his partner have been coming through the neighborhood often in recent months. He said the officers would make derogatory jokes and antagonize residents.

The officers are members of a so-called District Action Team, one of the Baltimore Police Departments specialized units that focuses on proactive patrols and other measures in areas of Baltimore most plagued by violence.

Only one of the officers fired his weapon, according to police. In the minutes preceding the foot pursuit, that officer was sitting on a stoop next to the teen.

Video posted to social media and viewed by The Associated Press shows them sitting side by side while another person yells insults at the officer, who says hes there to interact with community members, not bothering anyone.

The video stops before the chase. But according to the friend, the teen got up and started walking away, then took off running when the officer tried to grab him.

Other neighborhood residents said the shooting was just the latest example of Baltimore police treating Black communities poorly, making them doubt whether ongoing reform measures are having any real impact.

The department started seriously pursuing reform after a U.S. Department of Justice investigation found longstanding patterns of excessive force, unlawful arrests and discriminatory policing. Those findings led to a 2017 consent decree, which mandated a series of changes to eliminate unconstitutional policing practices and improve community trust.

The DOJ investigation was launched after Freddie Grays 2015 death from spinal injuries in Baltimore police custody. Not long after the consent decree was announced, the Gun Trace Task Force scandal also revealed extensive abuse and corruption inside an elite plainclothes unit  revelations that further ruptured public trust.
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ACANDI, Colombia (AP)  Migrants who have hiked into the dense Darien jungle covering the Colombia-Panama border while the U.S. government moved to lift pandemic-related asylum restrictions have found an increasingly organized migration route.

The majority who spoke with The Associated Press had not heard anything about the policy change, and the few who did had a very limited understanding.

The Darien Gap is the most imposing physical barrier for migrants heading north until they reach the U.S. border. They must hike over steep mountains, endure torrential rain and ford swift running rivers. They are easy prey for bandits who rob and rape.

But on the Colombian side of the border, locals have become increasingly organized in recent years as it became a major migration route.

Migrants begin their crossing in Acandi, Colombia, where there is now a camp at the edge of the jungle. This week, hundreds of migrants, many carrying young children, waited there for their turn to start the walk, paying $175 to cross.

At the camp, some first aid is available, as well as porters to carry belongings for a price. Along the Colombian sections of the route are now stands selling food and drinks. The path is less organized and more dangerous on the Panamanian side.

Johnny Ramirez, 33, arrived in Acandi with 10 more members of his extended family from Venezuela. They had left their country four days earlier.

Where we are theres no future, theres no work, Ramirez said. He had heard the U.S. asylum restriction Title 42 was being lifted, but was unclear on what it would mean for him. Who knows what it will be like to get in.

Welington Galarza Macias, 49, had fled violence in his native Ecuador. It took him four days to reach Acandi. A heavy equipment operator, Galarza hoped to find work in the United States.

Panamanian authorities have said that more than 100,000 migrants crossed the Darien this year and the United Nations has warned some 400,000 could come through by years end, shattering last years record of nearly 250,000.
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MANILA, Philippines (AP)  A former Philippine opposition senator and justice secretary was acquitted of drug charges Friday after key witnesses recanted and said they had lied about her involvement in narcotics trafficking.

Leila de Lima, 63, remained jailed, however, as she has one outstanding charge against her.

De Lima has been detained since 2017 on drug charges she says were fabricated by former President Rodrigo Duterte and his officials in an attempt to muzzle her criticism of his deadly crackdown on illegal drugs. His campaign left thousands of mostly petty suspects dead and sparked an International Criminal Court investigation as a possible crime against humanity.

Duterte, who has insisted on de Limas guilt, left office last June at the end of his turbulent six-year term.

Trial court judge Abraham Alcantara said in his ruling that a former senior police official's recantation led to his decision to acquit de Lima.

Without his testimony, the crucial link to establish conspiracy is shrouded with reasonable doubt, he wrote, which warrants the acquittal.

As supporters surrounded her police escort and chanted free Leila de Lima outside the court, she said she felt vindicated.

Answered prayers, this is a glorious day, this is the beginning of my vindication. May I say this to my oppressors: You can never crucify the truth, she said as she was surrounded by police.

Prosecution witness Rafael Ragos, a former head of the Bureau of Corrections, retracted a claim to have delivered money from drug lords to de Lima and said he had been forced by government officials to make it.

De Lima said through her attorney that she was looking forward to her full acquittal on all charges. She has been held in pretrial detention since her arrest without any convictions.

I have no doubt from the very beginning that I will be acquitted from all the cases the Duterte regime has fabricated against me based on the merits and strength of my innocence. Thats already two cases down and one more to go, she said in a statement read out by lawyer, Boni F. Tacardon.

I am of course happy that with this second acquittal in the three cases filed against me, my release from more that six years of persecution draws nearer. I am extremely grateful to those who stood by and prayed for me all these years," she added.

___

Quinn contributed from Bangkok.
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In Philadelphia's first mayoral race since crime spiked during the coronavirus pandemic, the crowded Democratic field is trying to make public safety a campaign cornerstone, advocating approaches that range from mental health interventions and cleaner streets to echoes of tough-on-crime Republican rhetoric.

Six Democrats are considered serious contenders to succeed term-limited Mayor Jim Kenney. Because Philadelphia weighs heavily Democratic, their May 16 primary will likely determine who leads the nations sixth-largest city.

They're talking not only about gun violence  473 people were fatally shot and 1,789 were wounded by gunfire last year, according to city statistics  but also about how they would address other public health and safety detriments, including darkened streetlights and issues with trash pickup.

A two-year spike in crime leaves deep scars on cities and were seeing that in this election cycle, said John Roman, director of the nonpartisan Center on Public Safety and Justice, part of the NORC social research organization at the University of Chicago. Roman also serves on the Crime Trends Working Group at the Council on Criminal Justice, a nonpartisan group that develops policy suggestions for tackling crime.

The lone Republican running for mayor, former councilman David Oh, took aim at the defund the police movement  which seeks to tackle crime through modes other than more policing  and called for fully staffing the department. Some of the Democratic candidates have leaned into targeting crime through policing too.

Former city councilwoman and state lawmaker Cherelle Parker, who previously fought to stop unconstitutional and discriminatory use of the police tactic known as stop-and-frisk, says police should be able to use their discretion to stop someone when they witness something suspicious.

Its not an either/or  you will be held accountable, we will also have reform, but we will use every tool in the toolbox to ensure that our city is safer and cleaner and greener," Parker said in one debate.

Also supporting strong policing solutions are candidates Jeff Brown and Allan Domb. Brown, a political outsider who franchises grocery stores, earned the local Fraternal Order of Police endorsement and pledged more officers and funding for police in city budgets. Domb, a former councilman, said he would convene a group of local, state and federal agencies to tackle crime. He said bringing the agencies together could help reduce homicides, crack down on retail theft and prosecute people who obtain guns illegally.

State Rep. Amen Brown, whose experience as a gunshot victim has informed his tough-on-crime policy, pledged to work with law enforcement, not against law enforcement.

Im the only candidate who has never flip-flopped on pro-cop or not, he said. And thats a fact.

Rebecca Rhynhart, the former city controller who released a critical review of the police department before announcing her bid for mayor, has rebuked the idea of moving backwards to law-and-order policies that were racist and pushed for intervention and therapy programming that would help people at risk of becoming violent or committing crimes. She has also backed preventive measures, such as long-term investments in programs that would help to alleviate poverty and provide opportunities for those who don't have them.

In the short term, however, she said what the city needs is consequences and rules.

"Right now, we have chaos on the street, and thats not acceptable, she said. Of course, we need compassion, but we also need consequences.

Helen Gym, who has been endorsed by progressive organizations in the city and nationally, has proposed radically different solutions to eradicate crime, including funding mental health first responders, guaranteeing employment for young adults and providing effective city services to keep the citys streets clean. She denounced a top-down police-heavy focus.

I think thats one of our biggest problems that weve got, she said. Ive been very clear that the violence in our city is directly rooted in disinvestment in individuals and in neighborhoods and communities, and thus a safety agenda really needs to lean into an investment agenda.

Voters responding to polls tend to agree, listing mental health and substance abuse needs; access to opportunity, education and housing; and getting illegal guns off the street as the primary solutions to crime, said Insha Rahman, vice president of advocacy and partnerships for the Vera Institute of Justice, an organization that works to transform the legal and immigration systems.

In fact, the public has become less punitive over the past three decades and their desire to see that shift in public policy is reflected both in the voting booth and how politicians conduct themselves to win approval, said Justin Pickett, a researcher at the University of Albany.

They follow the trends in public opinion and in that direction, they look at the policies that have really high support, he said.

John Fetterman, who won the U.S. Senate race in Pennsylvania last year, appeared to heed that message. During his campaign, he discussed ensuring public safety in a way that never rose to tough-on-crime rhetoric. It's a route that few Democrats choose, Rahman noted.

He made crime and safety a kitchen table issue and said, We can have safety and justice, we deserve it and need both. That actually really appealed to voters, she said.

Thats a remarkable sort of change in how voters see Democrats in their handling of crime and safety, she said.

Progressive Brandon Johnson won Chicago's recent mayoral race after he dialed back his previous support to defund the police, while also rejecting his opponent Paul Vallas' suggestion that Chicago should hire hundreds more officers. Instead, Johnson called for investing more in mental health care, affordable housing and jobs for young people.

The outcome of that race and the contest in Philadelphia could determine how the Democratic Party addresses crime and public safety in future national elections, said Michael Sances, an associate professor at Temple University.

It tells us about the intraparty politics in the Democratic party  where they stand with policing, how to reconcile with reform, he said.

___

Brooke Schultz 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.
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CAIRO (AP)  The U.N. envoy for Sudan on Friday welcomed a deal between the country's warring generals promising safe passage to civilians fleeing the conflict and protection for humanitarian operations in the East African nation.

The envoy, Volker Perthes, said the agreement was an important first step toward a cease-fire to the fighting which is about to enter its fourth week.

The Sudanese military and the countrys paramilitary, the Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, signed a pact late Thursday vowing to alleviate humanitarian suffering across the country, although a truce remains elusive.

Both sides also agreed to refrain from attacks likely to harm civilians. The violence has already killed over 600 people, including civilians, according to the U.N. healthy agency.

The most important element is that both sides commit to continue talks," Perthes said during an online U.N. news conference from his office in Port Sudan. International efforts to turn the deal into a cease-fire have already started, he added.

The Associated Press obtained a copy of the agreement, which outlines a series of shared pledges and promises to "facilitate humanitarian action in order to meet the needs of civilians.

The deal signing-ceremony, brokered by the United Sates and Saudi Arabia, was aired by Saudi state media in the early hours of Friday morning. Neither the military nor the RSF immediately issued statements acknowledging Thursday's pact.

It does not provide any detail on how the agreed-on humanitarian promises would be upheld by troops on the ground. Previously, both sides agreed to several short cease-fires, since the fighting broke out on April 15, but all have been violated.

In a post on Twitter, Amjad Farid, a Sudan analyst and former aid to the countrys prime minister, said the deal is unlikely to bring any real change on the ground. Other commentators expressed similar skepticism.

It is composed of texts that are already in the international humanitarian law and treaties related to the treatment of civilians in times of war, Farid wrote.

Despite the signing, residents in Khartoum said fighting continued throughout Friday morning.

I woke up to an airstrike (landing) nearby, said Waleed Adam, a resident living in the east of the capital.

Over the past weeks, the fighting has turned the capital Khartoum into an urban battlefield, and triggered deadly ethnic clashes in the western Darfur region. Around 200,000 people have fled the country, said UNHCR spokeswoman Olga Sarrado, who was also present at Friday's news conference.

The U.S. State Department late Thursday said talks in Jeddah will now focus on arranging an effective cease-fire of up to approximately 10 days.

The U.N. and several rights groups have accused both sides  the military, led by Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces, commanded by Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo  of numerous human rights violations. The army has been accused of indiscriminately bombing civilian areas, while the RSF has been condemned for widespread looting, abusing residents, and turning civilian homes into operational bases. Both continue to level blame at each other for the violations.

Perthes, who has received death threats and calls to resign, said he is committed to staying in Port Sudan and overseeing the humanitarian effort taking place in the coastal city. He described those who threatened him as marginal extremists and said that there is a wide appreciation of U.N. efforts in Sudan.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the signing of the agreement, which could boost relief operations for millions of Sudanese in need, spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

The U.N. chief reiterated his call for a halt in fighting but the organization would continue to deliver humanitarian aid, ceasefire or not, Dujarric said.
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP)  Authorities in Bangladesh and Myanmar prepared to evacuate hundreds of thousands of people Friday, warning them to stay away from coastal areas as a severe cyclone churned in the Bay of Bengal.

Cyclone Mocha is expected to hit land on Sunday with wind speeds of up to 160 kilometers (100 miles) per hour and gusts up to 175 kph (110 mph) between Coxs Bazar in Bangladesh and Kyaukpyu in Myanmar, India's Meteorological Department said.

Bangladesh, a delta nation with more than 160 million people, is prone to natural disasters such as floods and cyclones. The evacuation of nearly 500,000 people is expected to start Saturday with 576 cyclone shelters ready to provide refuge to those who are moved from their homes along the coast, said Bangladesh government administrator Muhammad Shaheen Imran.

The International Rescue Committee said in a statement the cyclone posed a threat to Rohingya refugees who fled from neighboring Myanmar and are living in camps in Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh.

"Still reeling from a devastating fire in March that destroyed more than 2,600 shelters and critical infrastructure, over 850,000 refugees risk losing their homes and livelihoods," the statement said.

The committee said it was scaling up its emergency response by deploying mobile medical teams to offer services to vulnerable groups such as women, girls, the elderly, and people with disabilities. The IRC is a global humanitarian aid, relief and development nongovernmental organization.

This is the first cyclone system in the north Indian Ocean this year, said Rajendra Kumar Jenamani, a senior scientist at the Indian Meteorological Department. The cyclone is severe and will likely affect millions of fishers and coastal communities in Bangladesh and Myanmar."

In May 2008, Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar with a storm surge that devastated populated areas around the Irrawaddy River delta. At least 138,000 people died and tens of thousands of homes and other buildings were washed away.

Myanmar authorities warned of possible flash floods and landslides in coastal areas as residents stocked up on essential supplies, said Hla Tun, a director at the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology.

Roxy Mathew Koll, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology in Pune city, said cyclones in the Bay of Bengal are becoming more intense more quickly, in part because of climate change.

The state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported that emergency response exercises were being conducted in various regions. It said thousands of people living along the western coast of Rakhine state where the storm is expected to pass are being evacuated.

In Bangladesh, control rooms in cyclone-prone areas were ready for emergency support. Three ports were put on alert, Imran said.

He said the government has allocated dry food, rice and cash and organized thousands of volunteers for relief work under the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society.

Cyclone Mocha is expected to hit coastal districts including Chattogram, Coxs Bazar, Noakhali and Bhola in Bangladesh on Sunday.

Indias Meteorological Department said the storm was centered more than 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) southwest of Coxs Bazar and 930 kilometers (580 miles) southwest of Sittwe in Myanmar on Friday and was moving northward at 9 kph (5 mph).

Fishermen and ships were advised not to venture into the southeastern Bay of Bengal and northern Andaman Sea, it said.

The department said it was expecting heavy to very heavy rainfall in Andaman and Nicobar Islands and parts of India's remote northeast.

Climate scientists say cyclones can now retain their energy for many days, such as Cyclone Amphan in eastern India in 2020 which continued to travel over land as a strong cyclone and caused extensive devastation. "As long as oceans are warm and winds are favorable, cyclones will retain their intensity for a longer period, Koll said.

Cyclones are among the most devastating natural disasters in the world, especially if they affect densely populated coastal regions in South Asia.

___

Associated Press climate writer Sibi Arasu in Bengaluru, India, contributed to this report.

___ Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about APs climate initiative at https://www.ap.org/press-releases/2022/ap-announces-sweeping-climate-journalism-initiative. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
David Flitham discovers an off-shore treasure-trove of British military heritage.

Situated some 48km west-south-west of Lands End, the Isles of Scilly are Englands most southern and westerly outpost. This granite archipelago comprises some 150 outcrops, only five of which, St Marys, Tresco, St. Martins, Bryher and St. Agnes, are inhabited. Its strategic importance was summed up in 1602 by Sir Francis Godolphin (1540-1608) who stated no other place can so aptly permit or restrain the traffic of Ireland and the north of Scotland with France or Spain. And from the middle of the 16th century onwards, national government realised the strategic significance of the islands, heralding 4 centuries of military history, a history that can be traced to this day.

Scillys military heritage focuses on the two largest islands, St. Marys and Tresco. Before 1548, the only fortification was Ennor Castle, overlooking Old Town Bay on St. Marys, probably dating from the 13th century. Whilst traces of the castle were visible in 1756, only a small wooded mound is visible today.

Tudor Defences

The Scilly Isles did not feature as part of the Henrician programme of coastal defences, but this changed during the reign of his son, Edward VI. In 1548, work commenced on Tresco Castle (later named King Charles Castle), a polygonal gun battery for five guns, located on Castle Down on Trescos west coast, guarding both New Grimsby harbour and the northern approach to St. Marys. At the same time, work commenced on the Old Blockhouse, on the opposite coast, overlooking Old Grimsby harbour.

St Marys main harbour is situated on St. Marys Pool, on the west of the island, facing Tresco. During the 1550s, construction began on a state-of-the-art bastioned fort overlooking the eastern side of the harbour. Known as Harrys Walls, it was never completed. In 1570, Elizabeth I leased the islands to Francis Godolphin, who, in 1593, as a result of the on-going conflict with Spain, built the Star Castle, an eight-pointed star-shaped fort on the Hugh, the headland to the west of St. Marys harbour. Two years later, Scillys defences were nearly put to the test as in July 1595 Spanish forces landed at Mousehole, close to Penzance on the mainland. Godolphin had realised the threat beforehand (thanks to the warning from an escaped English gunner) and, as deputy Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall, requested reinforcements from Lord Essex. As it was, the Spanish ignored Scilly, concentrating their attacks on Mousehole, Newlyn and Penzance where Godolphin led the defence. Back on St. Marys, early in the 17th century, Godolphin constructed a pier for the harbour as well as a curtain wall across the neck of land joining the Hugh to the rest of the island. Not only did this mark the start of the fortification of what became known as The Garrison, but also the early development of Hugh Town, the capital of the islands.

The Civil Wars

By the 1620s, Scillys defences were in need of repair and improvement. Earthworks were built surrounding King Charles Castle and the magazine, still standing today (albeit with 18th century alterations), was built by The Garrison gate. Further defences were to be added in the years up to 1651, particularly by the Royalist garrison who made particularly good use of the coastal geography, placing batteries where rocky points occurred, thus making direct frontal assaults very difficult.

During the first Civil War (1642-46), the Scilly Isles were in Royalist hands, under the governorship of another Sir Francis Godolphin (1605-1667, grandson of the builder of Star Castle). From here a small fleet of Royalist privateers operated and following the final surrender of Royalist forces in the south-west of England in March 1646, it was to Scilly that Charles, Prince of Wales fled. Following Charles departure to Jersey, a Parliamentary naval blockade led to the surrender of Scilly. But in 1648, the garrison rebelled against the governor and declared for the King.

Sir John Grenville (1628-1701, the son of Sir Bevil Grenville, who was killed at the Battle of Lansdowne in 1643), was installed as the Royalist governor and under his command, Scilly became a major privateering base, preying on both Dutch and Commonwealth (declared in 1649 following the execution of Charles I) vessels. The Dutch took this threat more seriously than the Commonwealth and a fleet under the command of Admiral Maarten Harpertszoon Tromp was dispatched to deal with the islands (according to Whitelockes Memorials Tromp came to Pendennis and related that he had been to Scilly to demand reparation for the Dutch ships and goods taken by them; and receiving no satisfactory answer, he had, according to his Commission, declared war on them. Therefore, Scilly was technically at war with the Dutch until 17th April 1986 when 335 years of war was brought to an end with a peace treaty between Scilly and the Netherlands). In the end it was the prospect of Dutch occupation of Scilly rather than the action of the privateers which prompted a Commonwealth expedition in April 1651.

Admiral Blake

The strength of the fortifications on St. Marys, led the commander of the expedition, Admiral Robert Blake, to rule out a direct assault and instead focused attention on Tresco. Following an unsuccessful initial attempt (soldiers were actually landed on the uninhabited island of Northwethel, close to Tresco), Blake landed on Trescos east coast, taking Old Grimsby and its blockhouse before moving inland and striking against Kings Charles Castle whose defenders chose to blow it up to prevent its capture. By 20th April 1651, Tresco was in Blakes hands. He established a battery at Carn Near, the southern-most point, from which he could bombard St. Marys Pool and harbour (not without incident, however, as the first cannon to be fired exploded, and Blake narrowly avoided serious injury). With the harbour now under bombardment and with assault imminent, on 5th May, Grenville surrendered.

Following its capture, many of Scillys existing fortifications were maintained, whilst on Tresco, a new fortification was erected in 1651/2, immediately below King Charles Castle. What became known as Cromwells Castle, it was a tall, round rubble-built gun tower, with an appearance that appears to anticipate the later Martello towers. It is a two-storey tower, 6.1m wide and 15m high, with walls 4.0m thick, mounting six cannon on a roof-top gun platform. The original entrance was high up on the south side and was reached by external wooden stairs. It was built on the site of an earlier blockhouse (probably dating from the mid-16th century), and would itself be modified during the 18th century, when a new gun platform was added, and the original entrance replaced by an entrance from the new gun platform. But following the Restoration, Scillys defences declined. In 1715, the engineer, Colonel Christian Lilly found the islands defences in a poor state of repair and set about a series of improvements as part of a wider review of the defences of the south-west coast of England.

But Scillys worst military tragedy was only indirectly the result of war. In 1707 the British Mediterranean fleet, under Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell, was returning to England from an attack on the French port of Toulon. On 22nd October 1707, the fleet found itself in the treacherous waters off Scilly where six ships struck the Western Rocks and Association, Eagle, Romney and Firebrand were lost, and with them at least 1,450 sailors. Shovells body was washed ashore 8 miles away at Porthellick Cove on St. Marys where it was robbed of an emerald ring.

It was the War of Austrian Succession (1740-48) which brought about the next chapter in the story of the defence of Scilly. Under the guidance of Abraham Tovey, the Board of Ordnances representative on Scilly, a major programme of construction commenced. This focused principally on The Garrison where, over a period of seven years a line of stone ramparts was constructed along the coastline. Most of the circuit was provided with redans (two-sided angled positions protruding from the main ramparts) with only occasional batteries. The ramparts were built between 1741 and 1747 in five phases. There are distinct changes in construction with the regular smaller stones of the first phase giving way to larger blocks of stone. Another feature of the latter phases of construction were the sprouted drainage holes. Today, the walls of The Garrison make for an excellent coastal walk.

Whilst the defences were never put to the test, during the Napoleonic Wars they were rearmed, the size of the garrison was increased (the size of the local population was insufficient to provide an adequately sized local volunteer force, meaning that troops had to shipped in from the mainland), and, in 1804, a signal station was established on St. Martins (only to be moved to St. Marys the following decade). There were several naval actions in the waters surrounding the Scilly Islands, including, in 1796, the capture of the French 44-gun warship Virginie by HMS Indefatigable. Possibly coincidentally a former ECW redoubt on Tolls Island, just off St. Marys east coast was rebuilt and named after Captain Edward Pellew.

More than 40 years after Waterloo, when in response to the growing strength of the French Navy, the 1860 Royal Commission on the Defence of the United Kingdom set in motion the construction of coastal defences which were to become known as Palmerstons Follies, Scilly was excluded, to the extent that its own garrison was disbanded in 1863. Yet, developments and refinement of breech-loading guns in the latter years of the 19th century soon made the Palmerston forts obsolete. In response, in 1882, the Morley Committee investigated the defences of mercantile ports and recommended the creation of a series of defended ports including a protected anchorage for Scilly.

The plan was for two batteries each mounting a pair of the latest 6in. breech-loading guns (with a range of 11.5km) to be constructed facing south south-west, above the 18th century Woolpack Battery, on The Garrison. These would be supplemented by a pair of Defence Electric Lights (DEL), capable of illuminating enemy shipping in St. Marys Sound. As a defence against torpedo boats, two further batteries, each mounting a pair of 12-pounder Quick-Firing guns (with a range of 7.3km) were to be established, one facing west at Steval Point on The Garrison and the other facing north at Bants Carn, just over 2km north-east of The Garrison. In addition, there would be barracks, magazines, generators and control stations.

The scheme was approved in 1898 and construction seems to have been complete by 1905, a year after the Entente Cordiale brought to an end centuries of hostility with France. In 1906, the defences became virtually obsolete with the launching of HMS Dreadnought, and as a result, the defences were disarmed.

The U-boat threat

Less than a decade later, Scilly would find itself on the front line against a new foe and in a totally new form of warfare where the islands location made them of strategic importance in this war against the U-boats. It wasnt long before the Admiralty established a base for its anti-submarine patrols, with a flotilla of tugs and armed trawlers. An airship station was also proposed but this idea was soon abandoned and it was to be in another form of aerial warfare that Scilly would come to prominence.

With the onset of unrestricted submarine warfare in 1917, the number of anti-submarine air-bases had to be increased. The location of Scilly meant that any aircraft operating from the islands would automatically increase the air-cover above the Western Approaches by nearly 50km. This led to the establishment of a sea-plane base at Porthmellon, just east of Hugh Town. But the warnings of the locals that this location was too exposed proved right and before the base was operational, it was moved to a new location at New Grimsby on Tresco.

The new base consisted of hangars, offices, stores and officers and ratings quarters, and a slipway which is still visible today. The base was initially equipped with Curtis Large America flying boats and Short 184 seaplanes, and later, Felixstowe flying boats. The base was operational in February 1917 and on 18th May 1917, a Scilly-based flying boat flew the first escort over a convoy. Less than a fortnight later, a Large America spotted a surfaced U-boat near Bryher. In the subsequent attack, the flying boat was hit in the engine (a crew-member patched the damage with his handkerchief), but dropped 2 bombs and the U-boat was believed sunk. In August 1918, the unit became 234 Squadron RAF, and in all made 13 U-boat sightings and nine attacks.

In 1937, a civil aerodrome was established on St. Marys, but despite this air-link, Scilly was militarily underprepared when war came in September 1939. Civil preparations were well in hand, yet Scilly had just one company of soldiers, no anti-aircraft defence and hardly any naval presence. As a result of bombing raids in August 1940, Scillys garrison was increased to 1,000 troops and two 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns were installed.

The raids continued into the next year, so on 19th May 1941, a flight of six Hawker Hurricanes from 87 Squadron was transferred to the aerodrome. Almost immediately, one of the Hurricanes was scrambled to intercept a German seaplane and 1449 Flight soon had its first kill. In just over a year, 1449 Flight would claim six enemy aircraft destroyed, two probable and two damaged and in 1942, the Luftwaffe declared a 90-mile daylight no-fly zone around the islands and so there were no further raids. But these successes were not without incident, however, as on 12th August 1943, one of the Scilly Hurricanes crashed into the masts of the Scillonian (the mainland ferry). This was one of several losses  another occurred in February 1944 when a Liberator crash-landed by the aerodrome, the skill and courage of the pilot saving the crew but tragically, not himself. Altogether, 23 servicemen lost their lives on or around Scilly during the Second World War, 16 of whom are buried in Old Town Churchyard.

In 1941, some 30 pillboxes were constructed around St. Marys coast, several cunningly camouflaged (such as the one built into the Woolpack Battery). From May that year, Motor Torpedo Boats were stationed in St. Marys Pool, which also became an RAF Air-Sea Rescue base and an emergency base for Coastal Command flying-boats. New Grimsby became a base for the small boats running agents in and out of France.

In 1944, first Scillys Hurricanes and then the garrison were withdrawn. Whilst the war continued around Scillys coasts for the remainder of the war (in June 1944, HMS Warwick was sunk by U-413, a merchant ship was torpedoed on 12th January 1945 and on 11th March, U-681 was sunk by a Liberator), the de-commissioning of Star Castle in December 1944 brought Scillys war to its close and in so doing, ended some 397 years of military activity throughout the islands.

There can be few other places anywhere in the UK which can match Scilly for the scope and depth of its military heritage and today, much of this is in the care of English Heritage (Star Castle, however, is in private hands and is a hotel). There are nearly 50 sites  two on the smaller islands, six on Tresco and 39 on St. Marys (14 of these on The Garrison). Finally, in Hugh Town, there is Scillys small but fascinating Isles of Scilly Museum, a fine starting point for any exploration of the Scilly Isles.
Michael Flynn, the disgraced former national security adviser who pleaded guilty twice to lying to the FBI about conversations with Russia's ambassador, is suing a QAnon conspiracist named Jim Stewartson who claims Flynn invented QAnon.

You would think Flynn would enjoy being credited as the inventor of the crackpot conspiracy. After all, he's profited handsomely by associating himself with Q-minded folks.

From The New York Times February 6, 2021 article "Pushing QAnon and Stolen Election Lies, Flynn Re-emerges":

Mr. Flynn's dark view of Islam and eagerness to cultivate President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia have given way to an embrace of QAnon, the pro-Trump conspiracy theory, and a readiness to question the very fabric of American democracy. He has swapped a government job and an obsessive focus on "radical Islamic terrorism" for selling QAnon-branded T-shirts and a new media partnership with conspiracy theorists called Digital Soldiers.

But Flynn doesn't want the credit, he wants $150,000.

From Vice:
Army helicopter pilots are flying significantly less than they were a decade ago, according to data reviewed by Military.com, as the service grapples with a string of recent deadly incidents.

Since 2012, flight hours across the Army's top three helicopter platforms have dipped dramatically. Flight time with the Apache has dropped about 50%; Chinook pilots have 36% less time in the air; and the Black Hawk, the service's premier workhorse, is flying 25% less.

Much of that dip in flight time is attributable to the Global War on Terror winding down, with combat operations slowing down and a commensurate dip in training time. The Army did not provide an aviation expert or senior leader in that field for an on-the-record interview for this story.

Read Next: Inside One of the Army's Most Chaotic Brigades

But that decline has coincided with a surge in recent deadly helicopter accidents.

Last month, Gen. James McConville, the Army's top officer, ordered a safety stand-down following back-to-back high-profile helicopter crashes: one involving two Black Hawks that killed nine 101st Airborne Division troops and another in Alaska in which two soldiers were killed and a third injured when two AH-64 Apaches collided. Aviation units were tasked with reviewing maintenance of their crafts and going over safety procedures.

The crash in March involving the 101st Airborne was one of the deadliest non-combat incidents in the Army's history and, while it's unclear what caused it, it is one of many fatal helicopter crashes outside of a war zone in the past decade leading to new scrutiny on whether the service's helicopters are safe and its pilot training adequate.

"If we have known issues with certain helicopters, we need to know so we can resource your Department in a manner that protects the lives of our brave women and men in uniform," Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., wrote in a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin earlier this month. The letter requested further info on recent issues with helicopters, including total figures for incidents and whether there were any common themes to the causes.

Army officials have said that they don't see a connection between flight hours and accidents.

"The overall reduction in rotary-wing flying hours executed over the past decade is directly attributable to the drawdown in overseas contingency operations executed in Iraq and Afghanistan during that period," Jason Waggoner, a service spokesperson, said in a statement to Military.com. "The Army has not identified any correlation between flight hours and accidents. The Army's manned aviation accident rate steadily declined over the past decade as flight hours executed also declined."

The Army National Guard also has had a large number of incidents over the past decade, with 45 serious crashes killing 28 Guardsmen, according to an April report from the Government Accountability Office. In addition to missions overseas in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, the Guard also heavily uses helicopters on domestic missions in disaster relief and search and rescue, which governors have increasingly relied on.

Amongst other incidents, two Tennessee National Guard soldiers died in a Black Hawk crash in February; a 2021 Black Hawk crash killed three New York Guardsmen; and a 2015 Black Hawk crash killed four Lousiana Guard soldiers and seven Marines.

The report found significant issues in the National Guard, particularly a lack of flight hours among its pilots, who need a minimum of 6.77 hours a month, with nine hours being considered optimal. Between 2017 and 2019, the bulk of Guard pilots flew around five hours per month.

The service is still compiling findings for its aviation stand-down, which ended May 5 for active-duty units and is still in effect for the National Guard until the end of the month. The stand-down grounded aircraft until the units completed maintenance and safety reviews.

-- Steve Beynon can be reached at Steve.Beynon@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @StevenBeynon.

Related: In Wake of Fatal Black Hawk Crash, Renewed Scrutiny of the Helicopter's Safety Record
The Islamic State's Khorasan Province, also known as ISIS-K, has rapidly become the new boogeyman in the Middle East -- specifically in Afghanistan, where the overall ISIS apparatus has spread its influence.

The State Department has issued warnings about the group and has previously designated its leaders as top-priority terrorists. Over the last few years, top military generals have said that the group must be eradicated. And perhaps most recent in Americans' minds is the group's claim to the Abbey Gate suicide bombing, an explosion that killed 13 U.S. service members and at least 160 Afghans during the chaotic military withdrawal from Afghanistan almost two years ago.

Last month, the Taliban -- the reigning draconian regime in Afghanistan that the U.S. fought over the last 20 years of conflict in the country -- claimed that they had killed the ISIS-K leader behind the Abbey Gate plot.

The claim marks renewed attention in a new era of conflict for the region. Our guest, Andrew Mines, spent years as a researcher with the George Washington Program on Extremism warning of ISIS-K's rise, as did other academics. And reporters like Dan Lamothe with The Washington Post have uncovered U.S. documents that indicate Afghanistan is once again a staging ground for global terrorism -- this time, with ISIS-K.

Main Topics

Drew F. Lawrence and Rebecca Kheel interview extremism researcher Andrew Mines and Washington Post military reporter Dan Lamothe.

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Transcript:

SPEAKERS

Rebecca Kheel, Dan Lamothe, Drew F. Lawrence, Andrew Mines

Drew F. Lawrence

The Islamic State's Khorasan Province, also known as ISIS-K has been rapidly becoming the new boogeyman in the Middle East -- specifically in Afghanistan where the overall ISIS apparatus has spread its influence. The State Department has issued warnings about the group and has previously designated their leaders as top priority terrorists. Over the last few years, top military generals have said that the group must be eradicated. And perhaps most recent in American's minds is the group's claim to the Abbey Gate suicide bombing, an explion that killed 13 U.S. service members and at least 160 Afghans during the chaotic military withdrawal from Afghanistan almost two years ago. Last month, the Taliban -- the reigning draconian regime in Afghanistan which the U.S. fought over the last 20 years of conflict in the country -- claimed that they killed the ISIS-K leader behind the Abbey Gate plot. The claim marks renewed attention in a new era of conflict for the region. Our guest, Andrew Mines, spent years as a researcher with the George Washington Program on Extremism warning of ISIS-K's rise, as did other academics. And reporters like Dan Lamothe with the Washington Post have uncovered U.S. documents that indicate Afghanistan is once again a staging ground for global terrorism -- this time, with ISIS-K. Join us for this special episode where we talk to Andrew, Dan and my co-host Rebecca Kheel about ISIS-K and the worldwide threat the group poses -- a prescient conversation held just days before the Taliban claimed responsibility for killing the leader of the Abbe Gate plot.

Hey, thanks guys for being here and Andrew before we kind of get into Dan's reporting here, I want to talk a little bit about ISIS and ISIS-K in general. I think I'd suggest that the US population probably knows a little bit about ISIS, but maybe not recently. So can you kind of put that group into perspective and tell us a little bit about what ISIS is now?

Andrew Mines

Sure. So ISIS-K really starts back in 2015. And even in the months prior in 2014. What happens after the announcement of the caliphate in 2014 in Iraq and Syria is, all these problems start to form around the globe. And at the start of 2015, the Islamic State announces the official formation of its province in Afghanistan and Pakistan IS Khorasan, also known as the Islamic State in Afghanistan in Pakistan. What happens over the course of a few years is the group forms based on membership from a number of local organizations. We're talking Pakistani Taliban is the central node that really kicks things off alongside some al Qaeda defectors, Afghan Taliban, other regional militant groups like the Islamic movement of Uzbekistan and others and so over time they're able to entrench themselves in the region, eventually administer territory somewhat similar to what we saw in Iraq and Syria, and engage in a campaign of violence that by 2018 leads them to be the fourth deadliest terrorist organization on the planet, according to some estimates. At the same time this is all happening, the US and its allied partners in Afghanistan engaged on a really intensive counterterrorism and at once, counterinsurgency operations that when they take out a number of top leadership. Leadership turnover in this organization has been quite tumultuous to say the least. Thousands of rank and file losses on top of that, and eventually the recapture of territory that IS-K or ISIS-K had started administering in the region and so by 2020 This is really an organization pretty much in decline, some calling it defeated. But what happens in 2020 is the formation of a new leadership council under a new leader was announced in about mid-2020. That kicks off this new kind of urban warfare campaign that takes the group through the period of the signing of the Doha deal in early 2020 takes us through 2020 and into 2021. And by this point IS-K has does most people bombings that folks might be familiar with. In 2020, there was a bombing of [a] maternity ward in Kabul. That'll be familiar to some folks -- it was pretty awful -- but really leading up to the Kabul airport attack this is an organization that's just starting to resurge and just starting to find its feet again in urban warfare operations. And that takes us into the Kabul bomb, which of course is very familiar to everybody, I'm sure.

Drew F. Lawrence

Right, Dan, I want to pivot to you too, because that I think, was probably one of the last large points that the US population had heard about ISIS-K was during the Abbey Gate bombing in the withdrawal. ISIS-K claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing. So Dan, I was wondering if you could kind of take us from that last point of recognition on ISIS-K and then bring us into your reporting and explaining what this group is doing in Afghanistan and how big their presence is?

Dan Lamothe

Sure. I mean, I think an important thing that that bombing highlighted, in addition to the immense human suffering that was caused by it in the moment is that the Taliban can't control ISIS-K. They're a separate entity. They don't agree on a lot of things. They're openly fighting with each other. You're seeing Taliban raids on ISIS compounds. You know, they you know, while they both have overlapping views of the West and the United States and why they think, you know, kind of a western view is a problem. ISIS-K is even more extreme, and has been targeting the Taliban and the Taliban has not been fully successful in stopping that. So you expand that, you know, extremist groups like this often with the ungoverned spaces. The Taliban is able to govern a portion of Afghanistan. They are obviously imposing their will on Afghan people every day. But you know, these documents would highlight that they are unsuccessful in fully stopping you know, ISIS in Afghanistan from planning, plotting, reaching out to the outside world, trying to inspire attacks in other places, and you know, as a result you know, we saw not only us reactions to my story, but actually the Taliban, putting out statements pushing.

Rebecca Kheel

You have a quote in your story from an official I want to read the quote, because it's pretty crazy. The official says, quote, I would never want to say that we had mortgaged our counterterrorism to a group like the Taliban, but it's a fact that operationally they put pressure on ISIS-K in a strange world, we have mutually beneficial objectives there. But what you're suggesting is that the Taliban hasn't actually really been successful at that. Right?

Dan Lamothe

I would say probably partially successful. You know, there is open source reporting of Taliban raids on ISIS compounds there is, you know, I think a sense that the Taliban is trying to keep pressure on ISIS. I think that probably has had a role in what ISIS is effectively able to do. The documents on one hand point out that there is a effort to expand influence, expand operations. There's an increasing number of plots that the United States was tracking, as when these documents were put together in February. But the flipside is there was also a lot of ambitions that were highlighted that have not been able to kind of fully for, you know, ISIS seeking out a greater level of knowledge on drone warfare, on chemical warfare, things like that. They have not been able to expand. So I thinkconsequently, the most likely sorts of things that that they're concerned about at this point are things like driving trucks through crowded, crowded areas, gun attacks, sort of the ISIS inspired stuff that could happen anywhere. And has happened in the past.

Drew F. Lawrence

And with Dan's reporting, we're talking about ISIS in Afghanistan, but as both of you in you know, Andrew, you'd mentioned in beginning and then Dan, your reporting you'd mentioned... his is ISIS has a global influence in terms of their their terror, and I'm wondering if you could kind of give us that scope right outside of Afghanistan, what ISIS is doing and Andrew, I'll toss it over to you first, and then Dan, if you could kind of tell us a little bit about how your reporting fit into that scope.

Andrew Mines

Here's the thing I think I think the most dangerous thing is that in that resurgence period I was describing really starts back in 2020. IS started is honestly in Afghanistan and Pakistan has already started pivoting to be more of this kind of regional hub. My and I've reported foreign fighters from over a dozen nationalities that have at some point get involved with IS-K killed in counterterrorism operations from France all the way over the Philippines on the other side, actually, an American tried to join them back in 2018. Some people might not be fully aware. But what happens during this resurgence period is that the group really starts to through its propaganda output, and also through its attacks in terms of who is attacking and who is highlighting this propaganda showing that it's a regional force. So we see starting in 2020 2021 2022, Uzbek, Uighur, Indian Tajik and other fighters of different ethnicities and nationalities conducting attacks across the border into their countries, or at least trying to find embassies and other diplomatic presences in the country that still remain even after the withdrawal on the on the airport, of course, 2021. And in 2022 this is an organization that is a third deadliest terrorist organization on the planet. So I think that that point that Dan made about the Taliban trying having the objective of constraining IS-K there certainly they have been at odds since is key information. But this is this is really an environment in which IS-K can thrive. And I think that that last data point that comes out and Dan's reporting about them really seeking this external operation model, that's a model that benefited IS in the caliphate in Iraq and Syria. That's something actively tried to do in setting up higher structures staffed by operatives that were their sole focus was external operations in countries like the United States, United Kingdom, Europe and elsewhere. So I think this is this is a really delicate period. And I'd be interested to see Dan your perspective on on the reporting and how that came out pf the leaks, but, you know, this is, from our perspective, there are a number of data points that should be really concerning.

Dan Lamothe

Yeah, I mean, I would say the documents highlight communication between ISIS operatives in places like Afghanistan, but then reaching out back to Britain, France, Turkey. And those are the things that are doing better to a degree trackable by the US government and others. But you never know what you're missing until it's too late. You know, and, you know, if they're able to stop 98 attacks, the other two will still be a concern. So, you know, there you see in these documents, specific examples, some of which, you know, trying to be responsible, we were very vague with not wanting to you know, kind of cut off, you know, active US efforts to try and stay on top of this. So, we left things out deliberately trying to do that. So, you know, in the vague broad sense, you do see things like Tajikistan come up, you do see Turkey come up if you see the Britain come up, we alluded to an example where there was a discussion between you know, this ISIS facilitator and an individual in Britain, you know, and the discussion and the instructions that were passed. Those are the sorts of things that are, you know, they're tracking it, they're they're you know, they have a number of narratives that they're following and a number of plots that they're following. But it would also raise the question, what do you not know about?

Rebecca Kheel

In my congressional hearings I've watched, it seems like military leaders often put the timeline for the threat of an external attack at six months. A year ago, they had you had a quote from general Kurilla a few months ago or a month ago, where he also used the six month timeline. Dan, in your reporting, what are military leaders saying about the threat of an external attack by ISIS-K?

Yeah, there seems to be broad acknowledgement and overlap speaking to senior defense officials in uniform and out that this is a concern and it is an increasing concern. I think there is probably differences of opinion on what what's six months, what's four months, what's 12 months? You know, that can be kind of hard to peg. So, you know, I raised that comment from general Kurilla, which came up in open testimony in March before the House Armed Services Committee, and speaking with others you know, they they agree with him broadly, that there's a rising concern, but you know, that they weren't really willing to peg it or agree with the idea that six months is a thing.

Drew F. Lawrence

And Andrew before Dan's report came out, you had done work about ISIS-K attacking humanitarian aid. And when we're talking about Afghanistan, you know, after withdrawal that has been a huge, not just the attacks, but humanitarian aid to the country after the withdrawal has been an absolutely huge point coming out of the United States and for service members and for veterans. And ISIS-K has disrupted that. Can you talk about some of those disruptions and maybe how this fits into the broader Afghan diaspora and post withdrawal that's happening and then that goes to you as well, since I know you've, you've covered a lot especially for servicemembers and veterans who are still kind of talking about and reckoning with that withdrawal.

Andrew Mines

So the campaign against humanitarians in Afghanistan, one of the number of campaigns that I escaped undertakes, we feature tax of course, but also propaganda and official invited senior senior ideologues. So what what's happened the last couple of years now actually is that ISK senior officials and ideologues turn to humanitarians and said, accepting aid from any Western Affiliated Organization. Whatever, wherever that aid is coming from is not permissible and where possible, Afghans should actively target and push out humanitarian still servicing the country. So this is part of this broader campaign to destabilize the country. When you look at Islamic State doctrine. This is doctrine that IS-K ISIS K adopts but it's really coming from Iraq and Syria where a lot of the movements core kind of strategists formulating an insurgency warfare strategy, but this is this is a campaign that's meant to precede that period where you destabilize the current government discredit those who are attempting to serve as the population and create those gaps where is then seeks to fill down the road right that's that's that's the whole model. It's it's an insurgency one on one. And so this is this is just one campaign that's part of a broader effort to both discredit the Taliban broken window fallacy. You're creating the problems that you then seek to solve at the end of the day, and then painting them as puppets of the West no better than the previous Rudy, right or previous government. And so this is this is all part of IS-K broader, broader insurgency warfare strategy. So I think that just coming back to the you know, what we mean when we talk about IS-K attacks on the west, you know, there's a humanitarian still servicing the country. Is it on regional diplomatic residence? Is it on homeland on the homeland right to targets here in the US and using some kind of model whether it's virtual planning, or sending operatives overseas? What have you. So we really need some clarity, I think about what it is that senior officials mean, when they see an Islamic state threat coming from Afghanistan, on Western interests that can be quite vague and it can be quite confusing to the public. I think, to some clarity there. It's really important.

Dan Lamothe

I would add on on the other side, you know, the Taliban has accepted a large amount of money at this point from the western United States in particular, they are allowing NGOs to continue their work. And there is a great deal of suffering and starvation and drought and other things that the Taliban does not seem to have been able to get their arms around and take care of their own citizens at this point if they're going to be the governing party. So you look at that and you end up with in these weird, awkward situations where a story like this highlights that ISIS still just in Afghanistan, still concerned that politically is a problem for a lot of people in Washington. But it's also a problem for the Taliban. Because you know, they're having to kind of sit on the fence to a degree. They're accepting the money from the West, but trying to make it clear to Afghan people that they are not of the West. You know, and they are trying to kind of push back this ISIS threat, but at the same time, make the case in the United theater to the United States and others that they've got it there's no problem here. Consequently, one of the things we saw from my story is kind of a weird situation we see unfold, and we had some uncomfortable conversations prior to the story being published, about you know, you know, what can be reported what should be reported? Obviously, these are leaks that makes it extra sensitive as well. But then on the flip side, after publication, you see the Taliban come out, pushing back against the reporting saying, "Hey, this is Western propaganda. You know, these are military documents that were released to the Washington Post." I can assure you, these are not handed to us under any circumstances that the Pentagon was thrilled with. So you know, like, even in Taliban, the characterization of this is, you know, it kind of flips it on a ear again, in a weird way.

Rebecca Kheel

Now,you just alluded to this, but we should probably take a step back and talk about where this information came from, because that in of itself is a big story. What are the discord leaks?

Dan Lamothe

Yeah. So there's there's this ongoing case in which the allegation at least, is that a relatively junior member of 21 years old of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, was basically pulling in documents through you know, illicit means and sharing them within a discord chat app with his online friends, some of which were teenagers. You know, some of these documents lead to other chat rooms, and, you know, that's kind of how it ended up in employment, public realm. But but it's to, to this point, still unclear exactly how many documents are kind of out in the wild? How broadly they are out there, you know, and who has access to them? You know, some of these I think they'd be access has been limited now that this case is out in public, you know, you've seen servers that are deleted and things of that sort. We, as the Washington Post had sorted through several 100 pages. This this is an example of a story in a doc a set of documents that hadn't really service widely, hadn't been reported on elsewhere. But I'm not sure what the full universe of those documents is, at this point. I just know we're combing through them. You know, we're doing what we can to report on them to verify them, you know, and it puts the government in an awkward position of, you know, having to address some of this stuff. And generally, it seems like at this point, they've reached a place where they're not going to verify or, you know, confirm that a given slide is accurate, but they are starting to talk more broadly about the issue. You know, if you're going to be writing on, you know, of the rise of ISIS in Afghanistan, what the threat is of ISIS at this moment, you know, they wouldn't confirm the documents exist, but they were willing to engage more broadly on the subject.

Drew F. Lawrence

And Dan is the Washington Post military reporter, you're obviously in tune with service members and veterans. And I'd be remiss if I didn't ask about how this fits into the broader conversation about Afghanistan. The reason why I want to ask that is because we are 20 months out of the withdrawal at this point. And now, you know, we're learning that Afghanistan, despite, you know, efforts over the last 20 years, is still very much a hotbed for terrorism, the very thing that United States and servicemembers and veterans were they're fighting to combat or where they're combating. So I'm wondering if you could kind of give us a lay of the land or give us some scope about, you know, maybe how veterans or service members might be perceiving the news that you know, even after all this time, there's still a lot of terrorism and, frankly, new terrorism going on in Afghanistan.

Dan Lamothe

Yeah, I'm wrestling with that myself just haveing spent so much time there. You know, I think as we look at this, you know, kind of looking at the possible counterfactuals if you know, what the other big fork in the road might have what might have led us to obviously the recommendation from General Miller, General McKenzie, Defense Secretary Esper and on up I mean, including that, you know, the current leadership at the Pentagon, they recommended leaving a 2500 or 1000, depending on you know, what the recommendation was on a given month, a reasonably small force there. That would have been very much focused on this issue that was not palatable to the Taliban. That does not appear to have been palatable to President Trump. It does not appear to have been palatable to President Biden. So you are left where you are now with zero US troops on the ground. Them trying to keep a track of this as in as many ways as they can, which I assume includes signals intercepts, you know, satellite monitoring, trying to make sure you're not seeing training camps pop up from the air, all of those sorts of things. You know, and at the end of the day, I think that discussion will probably end up landing on you know, if you see one of these attacks, it's seven people get killed in an ISIS inspired ISIS enabled you know, ISIS facilitated sort of attack you know, that like They run the gamut. Some of these are very much like, ISIS did this. Some of these are more like well, ISIS talk somebody into doing different, different different discussion there. But let's say one of those happens next year, not on unforeseeable, something like that could pop up. You're gonna end up seeing probably a pretty hot political conversation of whether we are doing enough as a nation at that point. And I think the discussion will end up being you know, does it make sense to put people back on the ground with all of the other things that come with it? deployments, larger budgets, at least focused on this issue? American casualties on the ground would not be unforeseeable? Or do you kind of just take it on the chin with these occasional tacks to to slip through, and you catch 95-98% of them? And occasionally one of them's going to happen and, you know, that, that, you know, that sort of a worse bad option and I don't know what the ultimate right answer is. on that. I just know we need to talk about it.

Andrew Mines

I think it's really important to highlight that the Taliban have been battling ISIS-K since 2015. And they've had the benefit of a US led coalition that's been hammering this group the entire time too. And even then, it took several years to really do great and push this group into some kind of position where people felt comfortable saying they were defeated. Obviously, that was premature. But to I think, to say that, again, I did this too earlier, but to say that the current Taliban regime is an effective counterterrorism force I think is quite a bit of a stretch it's easy to take their propaganda and they're quite good at pushing it out to Western audiences, and we've got this under control. Everything that you're seeing is over employed. And what you're seeing in the news is is Western directed us by propaganda efforts against us, but, you know, historically, they've been clashing since 2015. IS-K poses an existential threat to the Taliban as a movement if it's able to move from a position where it's a few 1000 or so fighters to a larger insurgency that's capable of undermining the regime. period we're seeing now to, you know, something that more resembles the caliphate from Iraq and Syria in 2014. That's the goal. That's the vision. And I think what we ended the book with is this quote, I'll paraphrase it we say when, when IS it over when the Islamic State took over Iraq and Syria in 2014, they're they're kind of these two things that kept coming up in America, that we as public and American public's repeat over and over again, that it was unprecedented. And then it happened rapidly. Right? That is the way that the as long as they swept across Iraq and Iraq and Syria was just just unimaginably fast. And that looks like it, right, that's what it appears to be. But that is a several years long campaign that really starts since the US withdrawal in 2011 that the Islamic State core group is really seeking to push through and then slowly rebuild. And then build this insurgency and take on all these campaigns, the same ones that we're seeing IS-K take on today, itt was taking on Iraq and Syria. And so I I would just echo Dan, you know, the question we should be asking is, worst case scenario. Are we comfortable with a caliphate in Afghanistan run by ISIS-K? Is an unacceptable outcome and what are the real things that we should be doing to counteract that? Because I'm not sure that over the horizon is an effective way to do that, to conduct that that campaign.

Dan Lamothe

I would add, I mean, the other the other side of the coin, here is al Qaeda. You know, and we haven't talked about that yesterday, but that often comes up in the discussion and it is quick discussion when you talk to current US officials, because they point to drone strike that killed SWAT hearing the al Qaeda leader in Afghanistan, a stone's throw from a former US military headquarter, just by the way, I mean, like right next to downtown Chicago as an example of how this current model can work in you know, there's I think there's there's there's a couple threads worth discussing. One is that, you know, these documents don't have much about al Qaeda in there. The sense is from a number of experts that al Qaeda at least, has been diminished to a degree that they you know, are not a major concern at the moment. You know ISIS is, but these individuals often jump one group to another based on which one seems more effective, which one, you know, you know, they protrude from one another. And we've seen that with, you know, ISIS in Afghanistan as well. I mean, they have members that were former Taliban you know, they had members that were former tapping involved in Pakistani groups. So where this goes and how this evolves, I think is unpredictable. But you know, the discussion at least of what is the best model probably needs to evolve with it. In an I think everybody is weary of doing anything that includes another 20 year commitment on the ground in Afghanistan. But I think people need to keep their eyes open and you know this will continue to ebb and flow and evolve based on how good the Taliban is at going after ISIS. Based on how well the United States is able to kind of monitor this remotely, you know, through signals intelligence to satellite intelligence, whatever else, whatever other means they can without actually having troops on the ground. And, you know, ISIS will evolve with it, they'll probably get smarter over time as well. So you know, it's going to be a complex issue for a long time.
Dr. Robert Haley still has questions.

"You're always just trying to relieve this frustration that you don't know the answer," Haley said.

The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center researcher is among those who have studied an illness afflicting thousands of Gulf War veterans since the mid-1990s.

"First we proved that it was a disease and that it was an injury," Haley said. "Then we proved that Sarin gas did it and then we've got this gene-environment interaction and the guys that are sick -- it's not their fault; they were born with a susceptibility."

From the beginning, it was considered a mystery disease due to a lack of records of what every person was exposed to every day, according to Haley.

"This is no longer a mystery disease," he said.

Using genetics, a study released by Haley and others last year linked the malady noted to cause respiratory complaints, sleep disturbances, forgetfulness, and muscle and joint pain, to the deadly chemical weapon Sarin. This study was another step in theory about the illness that afflicts roughly one-third of the 700,000 veterans deployed to the Persian Gulf is brain inflammation.

Before the first Gulf War, Saddam Hussein "had the second largest arsenal of nerve gas in the world," said Haley.

Earlier this month, the VA and National Institutes of Health began a five-year pair of studies to better diagnose and potentially discover a treatment for the illness.

After 10 years researching epidemiology, Haley met in 1994 with Ross Perot, the Texas business magnate who had just failed in an independent candidate bid for the presidency.

Perot was looking for advice about a troubling trend he was hearing from veterans of the Gulf War. Perot, also a veteran, went on to describe "Gulf War Syndrome" and wasn't sure the soldiers were getting the care they needed.

Haley said he remembers Perot showing him photos of soldiers who he described as looking like Arnold Schwarzenegger before the war and then like the prisoners of a concentration camp in years following the conflict.

Perot, who died in 2019, had resources and was looking to help the veterans and wanted an independent study into what he was meeting with veterans of the conflict, according to Haley.

"He had really piqued my interest -- basically what he was describing was an epidemic," Haley said.

Haley then agreed to do one study. Previous complaints about what would become known as Gulf War Illness were considered post-traumatic stress disorder at first and other psychological disorders, according to Haley.

Haley's first investigation was on a reserve unit of construction troops who were civilians after the conflict. With 250 of the reservists signed up thanks to Perot's help, Haley found two-thirds of them had this mystery illness through a questionnaire and neuropsychological battery. From there, the study expanded to more cities.

At first, Haley was skeptical, "but boy, talking to them and talking to their wives particularly this was something really serious and was impairing their function," he said.

He brought the data back and analyzed it.

"Clearly, there was a disease and the symptoms were pretty uniform," Haley said.

The data pointed to risk factors primarily as being in areas with exposure to levels of nerve gas in the air, according to Haley.

"We had all these high-tech weapons and nuclear capability and all this stuff, but we had a really primitive defense against nerve gas," Haley said -- rubber suits, gas masks, alarms and a common drug to make nerve gas less lethal.

A Sarin gas storage facility was blown up in the air campaign and though much of the gas had dissipated, alarms went off and soldiers donned protection gear. But the levels were so low, the alarms were figured to be false, according to Haley.

"Now we know, 30 years later, there's been tons of research showing that even low-level exposure can produce permanent brain effects," Haley said.

Jim Tuite, former lead investigator for the Senate committee looking into the syndrome, produced a report about such a situation to the committee.

Haley asked Perot to fund another study with about 40 soldiers. These sorts of efforts in the 90s proved the illness was its own disease.

Next, evidence pointed to a gene that different soldiers had which provided the effects of Sarin gas, Haley said.

"Our theory was then that if Sarin was the cause, then we would expect people who have the illness to be born with the weak form of that gene," Haley said.

As research was compiled, more people contributed -- such as Congress and the Department of Defense, he said.

In 2007, they designed a huge study telephone questionnaire for which the military helped researchers to contact soldiers, according to Haley.

He said 8,000 soldiers from the Gulf War era responded to a questionnaire with more of an emphasis on contacting those who deployed in the conflict. The questionnaire included if a nerve gas alarm went off.

From there, they were able to get 2,000 for DNA to again examine the soldier's gene's strength against Sarin.

Those soldiers who said they had heard a nerve gas alarm and had a weak form of the gene: "whoosh," Haley said, as it explained many cases. However, he added that even those with stronger forms of the gene who heard multiple chemical weapon alarms over and over could still develop symptoms.

That paper was released in May 2022 in the toxicology journal Environmental Health Perspectives, supported by one NIH institute after over a year of review to ensure correlation was in fact causation in this case, Haley said.

Like the VA and NIH, Haley continues to work to find a cure. He said when breakthroughs have occurred, like any good scientist, his first question is always to question his own findings and ensure they are solid.

"You go over and over them, reproduce them in another, test it another way to see if it stands up and by the time you get to where we are now and right now I don't even think about what we've done I'm just totally into trying to figure out how do we now nail this finding down about inflammation," he said.

"I'll have great satisfaction then when hearing a bunch of veterans say they feel better," he said.

 2023 The Virginian-Pilot.

Visit pilotonline.com.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Joan Palumbo wasn't told the danger she was in when she stepped under the showerhead in her bathroom in Jacksonville, North Carolina.

She wasn't told about the toxins mixing into her daughter's food every time she blended formula with water from the kitchen sink.

Or that cooking her own food in that same water would eventually lead to her death.

Palumbo didn't know that in 1953, toxic chemicals had begun seeping through the ground into two of the eight water treatment plants on Camp Lejeune, the Marine Corps base near Jacksonville where she and her husband, Fred, lived in the Tarawa Terrace neighborhood.

Trichloroethylene, perchloroethylene, benzene and vinyl chloride, deadly chemicals known to cause health problems including miscarriages, birth defects, cancers and childhood leukemia, leaked from underground fuel storage tanks, an off-base dry cleaning facility, industrial area spills and waste disposal sites. The contamination of the base's waters continued through 1987 and mostly affected the Tarawa Terrace and Hadnot Point neighborhoods.

It is estimated that more than 1 million people were likely exposed to the toxic waters on Camp Lejeune. Beginning in August, half of those people had filed claims asking for the government to make right what happened to its Marines and their families -- but no offers from the government have been extended. And without those offers, the claimants have been forced into litigation -- potentially for years -- if they want justice.

Palumbo is among those people. The Palumbos moved in 1962 to Camp Lejeune and together had their first child. Fred deployed overseas in 1963.

Subtle Signs Include Miscarriage, Premature Births

The first signs of trouble for the Palumbo family from drinking Lejeune's water were subtle. While Fred was serving across the world from his wife, Joan suffered a miscarriage.

That same year, Joan became pregnant, this time with twin daughters. They were born three months premature, and entered the world fighting for their lives. The Palumbos' daughter, Kristine, died after three days, on New Year's Day. Her sister's fight continued for six long months before she was able to leave the hospital and join the rest of her family at home.

The Palumbos went on to have six children, and it seemed that tragedy had left them.

When their youngest entered grade school, Joan Palumbo returned to her job as a pediatric nurse. She would eventually become a psychiatric nurse. Fred continued serving in the Marines until retiring in August 1981.

Less-than-Subtle Signs? Breast Cancer, Multiple Myeloma

Then, in 1997, Joan's own health took a drastic turn. Her husband calls it her "medical nightmare."

Breast cancer led to a lumpectomy in her right breast.

Another lump in her left breast led to a bilateral mastectomy.

Then she needed a spinal fusion.

A new diagnosis: multiple myeloma.

She had a mitral valve in her heart replaced.

Then she went into renal failure.

If all of that wasn't bad enough, she was inflicted with shingles before her death in January 2011.

Learning about Camp Lejeune's Contaminated Water

Fred Palumbo told McClatchy he and his wife pored through her family's medical history. Heart problems and cancer weren't part of their story. Nothing made sense.

"We couldn't determine what the problem was," Palumbo said. "And I didn't realize there was a problem until after she died."

He can't remember exactly how he learned about the water contamination. He believes it was a news segment on television that led him to connect with Jerry Ensminger.

Ensminger, a retired Marine, has become the face of the fight for justice for those who lived and worked on Camp Lejeune. Ensminger lost his 9-year-old daughter born on the base, Janey, to leukemia in 1986.

Ensminger led efforts to uncover what happened with the water on the North Carolina base, hold the government accountable for covering up the contamination and ensure that no one who served at Camp Lejeune was left in the dark.

Fighting for Justice and the PACT Act

Ensminger spent decades traveling to Washington fighting for the government to take responsibility for what happened to his fellow Marines at Camp Lejeune.

In 2012, President Barack Obama signed into law the Janey Ensminger Act, which ensured family members of veterans who lived on Camp Lejeune during the years of the water contamination had access to health care.

Last summer, Ensminger's "Oorah," the Marine's battle cry, echoed in the Senate chamber when Congress passed the PACT Act, giving anyone exposed to and affected by the water on Camp Lejeune two years to file claims with the U.S. Navy. The bill also allowed service members to file claims if they were exposed during specific dates to burn pits -- a form of waste disposal that can give off toxic fumes -- or had illnesses connected to service in the Gulf War, southwest Asia or the Vietnam War.

More than 500,000 claims have been filed because of the PACT Act, Biden announced on April 26.

The claims detail when someone was on the base, their exposure to the water and what health issues they developed.

The Navy can then do one of three things: offer a settlement, deny the claim or do nothing.

If a settlement is offered, the person filing the claim can then accept it or litigate it.

If an offer isn't made within six months or the claim is denied, then the person can pursue litigation.

Attorneys Work with Victims to File Lawsuits

In February, when Camp Lejeune victims could first file lawsuits, a name repeatedly popped up on the court documents: attorney Eric Flynn with Bell Law Group, a firm out of South Carolina, who has since opened an office in Raleigh to help handle the Camp Lejeune claims.

"I couldn't be prouder to represent these clients," Flynn told McClatchy. "These people have suffered tremendously and I think it only takes talking to a handful of them, hearing their stories to hear the suffering they went through."

Bell Law Group's namesake, Edward Bell, began working with victims of Camp Lejeune more than 15 years ago. In the beginning, Flynn's firm tried to sue over the effects of the water, but ran into two hurdles: a time limit for how long after exposure someone could sue, and the government's immunity.

Until the PACT Act, the law firm ran into roadblock after roadblock to get their clients justice.

Flynn can rattle off their stories with ease: the women who suffered miscarriages while their husbands fought in Vietnam, the members of the military who developed neurological effects, the Marine with Parkinson's, the wife with multiple sclerosis. The divorces as medical problems and losses became too much for a couple to handle. The missing faces at family gatherings.

"There have been times where I think any attorney that has talked to these folks have walked out in tears because what these people have gone through is horrible," Flynn said. "To be able to fight for these folks, to be able to bring their claims and hold people accountable is extremely gratifying."

Civil Case Could Become Largest in US History

Flynn said that while the government lost sovereign immunity and the time limit constraints, officials still have a lot of arguments they can make.

He said he won't predict what they'll do, but they could raise challenges based on the government's liability, on whether the water caused someone's health issues, or on the length of time they were exposed.

"On top of that, we still have to go through the process of getting experts to review all the documents, picking the jury, getting in front of the jury, convincing the jury of our case," Flynn said.

Catherine Dunham, a professor of law at Elon Law School, told McClatchy that the largest civil case in U.S. history saw 300,000 claims filed due to 3M military earplugs. Camp Lejeune's claims are expected to far exceed that number.

Despite victims being scattered worldwide now, and attorneys as far away as at least Puerto Rico fighting for their business, the case is not multidistrict, meaning all of the lawsuits are being filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina.

District Judge James Dever told parties in March that he would handle the cases expeditiously. If he were to handle each lawsuit filed so far individually, it would take four judges 1,900 years, Public Radio East reported.

"We don't have a court system that could ever hear all those cases," Dunham said

Finding a Lawyer

Meanwhile, victims of Camp Lejeune's toxic waters still need to navigate finding a lawyer. Once the PACT Act passed Congress, commercials flooded the airwaves for lawyers who could help secure money for people who lived on the base and even off base.

"The honest to God truth is if they don't advertise, then no, the injured people aren't going to know what to do," Dunham said.

But she understands that some of the commercials leave people uneasy.

"I'll tell you what my philosophy is, is that the justice system has to be available," Dunham said. "You have to have access points for regular people, because it's always regular people who are injured."

Dunham said if that means lawyers need to flood television to reach those who are injured, so be it. She added that someone is at greater risk of being taken advantage of if they walk into a random attorney's office who doesn't have experience but wants to go after a few claimants so they can take his share of the settlement.

Flynn said it's important that people aren't victimized once again, this time by lawyers, through this process. Bell Law Group does not advertise on television.

Flynn said to do your homework on law firms. Call around and ask to talk to attorneys to see if they're the right fit.

"The good ones will do that, and you should be able to speak to somebody that you just click with and feel like this person really knows what they're talking about," Flynn said.

Commercials predicting a specific payout amount have frustrated Flynn. It's impossible for a lawyer to make that promise since none of these cases have been heard and there's no precedent.

In the original draft of the bill to help Camp Lejeune water victims, lawmakers included a 25% cap on attorneys' fees so that lawyers couldn't take advantage of their clients. That cap was taken out before the PACT Act passed into law.

Bloomberg reported in March that Bell Law Group spent more money than any other legal firm lobbying federal lawmakers over the past two years, and one of its requests was for the cap to be removed. Bell said he wouldn't object to a cap but believed lawyers should be able to charge up to 40%, Bloomberg reported.

When asked about the cap, Flynn said the legislation was supported by an overwhelming and bipartisan majority of senators and representatives.

"We, too, support the law as enacted and are eager for these veterans and their families to finally get the justice they have long been entitled to," Flynn said.

Ensminger told McClatchy he had felt that years ago Bell, who he had previously recommended to people like Palumbo, took advantage of Ensminger's connections to drive up business. Ensminger has since cut ties with the firm, and is now working with Mikal Watts out of Texas.

Despite that and the attorneys' fees, Palumbo said he is grateful to the Bell group for helping him navigate through the legal system.

Cancer After Drinking, Cooking and Bathing in Poisonous Water

Jeff Freuler, 57, a Townsville resident, also said he was thankful to the law firm as he navigates the long legal process ahead of him.

Like the Palumbos, Freuler had no idea he drank, cooked with and bathed in poisonous water while stationed on the Marine base in the 1980s.

Almost immediately after leaving the military, he began noticing neurological problems doctors couldn't explain: anxiety, depression, irritability, poor concentration, and changes in his mood and personality.

Freuler did receive a letter in the early 2000s from the U.S. government warning him that he had been exposed to toxins at Camp Lejeune. But details in the letter were sparse and Freuler dismissed it.

"It was a very generic letter that held very little information," Freuler said.

Then, things got serious.

"In 2012, I was diagnosed with prostate cancer," Freuler said. "At a very young age, according to my urologist."

Freuler underwent a robotic prostatectomy the week of Thanksgiving. The surgery was a success and the tissues taken from around his prostate came back negative for any spread.

Initially, Freuler had to return to his doctor every few weeks to ensure the cancer didn't return. He now goes once every year.

"I was still in the dark," Freuler told McClatchy. "I mean, there was really no information out there that could tie everything together -- the cancer that I had to the chemicals -- until just a few years ago."

But as Ensminger continued to work, word reached Frueler, who said that as more information surfaced, the more he could connect both his neurological ailments and his cancer to the toxin exposures.

"Continuing to do the research and reading stuff, I mean, it just all started making a little bit more sense," Freuler said.

What Happens Next?

It's an emotional process for the Marines to come to terms with what happened and that the government was not upfront about it when officials first learned about the toxins.

"I signed up to serve my country, and I'll never regret it," Freuler said. "What I do get emotional over is the fact that so much was done to cover this up, and it was some very hard work by a handful of people that wouldn't give up that brought all this to the surface.

"When we asked to join the military, when we were assigned to Camp Lejeune, we didn't have to get treated like this, to get poisoned like this by that water," Freuler said.

For Frueler, there's always the question of what's next.

"It's always in the back of my mind, as long as you're walking around with a ticking time bomb and that's cancer, yeah it's not a matter of if it's going to go off, but when it's going to go off, and that plays with your mind," Freuler said.

He said he had to compartmentalize that and push it to the back of his mind every day just to function.

Then there's Palumbo. The illnesses didn't end with his wife. His oldest daughter, Kimberly, born on Camp Lejeune, died last June just months before the PACT Act passed, at age 59. Like her mother, she suffered from a series of painful health conditions before her death.

"I look back and I've said to myself many times if I just didn't live in the village rather than going to Tarawa Terrace, maybe my life would be different now," Palumbo said. "I don't know. I'm just following what God's put in my path and trying to do the best I can with my children that I have now."

Freuler said he filed his lawsuit to lend a voice to those of people like Palumbo, but also to look out for both himself and his daughter, because if another health issue arises because of the water, he doesn't know what they would do -- and they were only given until 2024 to figure it out.

 2023 McClatchy Washington Bureau.

Visit mcclatchydc.com.

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WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Abrams tanks needed for training Ukrainian forces have arrived in Germany slightly ahead of schedule and are on their way to the Grafenwoehr Army base where the training will begin in two to three weeks, U.S. officials said Thursday.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee that the U.S. had moved "a number of tanks over into theater" so the Ukrainians could begin training on them. By the time they complete the training, expected to last about 10 weeks, the Abrams tanks currently being built for the Ukrainian forces will be ready, he said.

A U.S. official said the 31 M1A1 Abrams tanks needed for the training arrived at the port in Bremerhaven, Germany, last weekend and they will get to the base by early this coming week. Their arrival at Grafenwoehr is a couple of weeks ahead of the schedule that was mapped out when military leaders from around Europe and elsewhere met in Germany last month to discuss Ukraine's needs for the war against Russia.

The tanks the U.S. is providing Ukraine are being built to its military's specifications and will get to Ukraine by early fall, just as the troops are finished with their instruction. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details of the delivery not publicly released.

The tank training will be the latest and most lethal new layer of combat instruction the U.S. is providing Ukraine's troops to give them the best chance to overwhelm and punch through Russia's battle lines. Over the past few months U.S. troops have trained more than 8,800 Ukrainians, including on how to use Stryker and Bradley fighting vehicles and M109 Paladins together on the battlefield. The Bradleys and Strykers are armored and armed vehicles used to ferry troops, and the Paladin is a self-propelled howitzer gun.

During Thursday's hearing, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, pressed Austin to move quickly to get the tanks into Ukrainian troops' hands and onto the battlefield.

"We are doing everything possible to accelerate the delivery of these tanks, and early fall is a projection," Austin said.

Collins and others noted the urgency of the fight in Ukraine, and she told Austin and Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to be blunt about Ukraine's needs. Defense leaders should not let budget concerns dissuade them from seeking more weapons if that's what Kyiv needs to be successful in a counteroffensive, said Collins, the ranking Republican on the panel.

"It is critical that the administration provide Ukraine with what it needs in time to defend and take back its sovereign territory," she said. "We expect the administration not to wait until the 11th hour if the Ukrainians seek more before the end of the fiscal year."

Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., noting the broader implications of the war, questioned Milley on the impact a Russian victory could have on China and its deliberations on whether to move to take the self-governing island of Taiwan, which Beijing claims.

"I think that the Chinese are watching the war between Russia and Ukraine very carefully," Milley said, adding that if Russian President Vladimir Putin succeeds, "China will learn certain lessons."

"It may not be the single decisive point, but I think it will calculate into their decision-making process as to whether or not they attack to seize the island of Taiwan. So I think the outcome of Ukraine is critical to much broader issues than just Ukraine," Milley said.
Rumors began to swirl in 2020 that Tom Cruise, the actor who loves to do his own stunts, would soon make history, filming the first feature-length movie to be shot in space. According to the BBC, Cruise began talks with NASA and Elon Musk's SpaceX to produce a movie aboard the International Space Station.

That film is still expected to happen, but Russian filmmakers beat them all to the historical punch, releasing "Vyzov" ("The Challenge"), filmed entirely aboard the ISS in 2021 and released this year.

"Vyzov'' is about Zhenya Belyaeva (Yulia Peresild, "Battle for Sevastopol"), a surgeon who has to go to the International Space Station to perform heart surgery on an ailing cosmonaut who cannot return to Earth. Real-world cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy plays the fictional cosmonaut with a heart problem.

The titular challenge for Belyaeva isn't just performing open heart surgery in zero gravity, it's also being taken seriously by an all-male crew aboard the ISS.

The movie was produced by Russian state media to promote the Russian Space Agency, Roscosmos, which helped to produce the film. Roscosmos also held the casting call that hired Peresild for the movie. Not only did she have to submit an audition tape like any other actress, she had to undergo the same kind of medical, mental and physical tests as any other cosmonaut.

She was, after all, going to space for real.

Peresild and her understudy had to prepare for the shoot with centrifuge and vibration testing, zero-gravity training flights and parachute training. Their preparations for the film were extensively documented by Russian state media leading up to their departure for the space station.

Yulia Peresild, Anton Shkaplerov and Klim Shipenko pose for a portrait before taking off for the ISS. (Roscosmos Media)

Anton Shkaplerov, another real-life cosmonaut, accompanied Peresild and director Klim Shipenko to the ISS in October 2021. They filmed "Vyzov" there in 12 days before returning to Earth via a parachute landing in Kazakhstan. The actress and director had to then undergo a 10-day rehabilitation program to readjust to the effects of gravity.

It was "part of a large-scale scientific and educational project, which also includes a series of documentaries to be shot about the rocket and space industry enterprises and specialists involved in the manufacturing of launch vehicles, spacecraft and ground space infrastructure," Roscosmos said in a statement.

Russia invaded Ukraine just a few months after principal photography wrapped on the film. In July 2022, Russia announced it would leave the International Space Station entirely by 2024.

"Vyzov" premiered in theaters across Russia on April 20, 2023, and while it's the first feature-length film shot entirely in space, it's not the only movie shot aboard the ISS.

In 2002, the documentary IMAX: Space Station, narrated by Tom Cruise, was released. It was the first 3D film shot in space. In 2012, Richard Garriott, a businessman and space tourist, released the eight-minute-long "Apogee of Fear," the first narrative film shot aboard the ISS.

As of January 2023, SpaceX and Cruise were still planning to make a movie aboard the ISS, and still had plans for making history: the first spacewalk for a feature film.

-- Blake Stilwell can be reached at blake.stilwell@military.com. He can also be found on Twitter @blakestilwell or on LinkedIn.

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Well, I'll be!

FOX "News" is one of the few outlets that doesn't have a lot of room to criticize CNN's move to publicize Trump's 2024 campaign. Under the guise of a "town hall," CNN did just that! They gave Trump national airtime to lie! However, the bleating becomes more entertaining as Fox's "anger" turns into a complaint that CNN's fact-checking was lackluster.

It is just wild to hear Fox, who just paid out a 787 million dollar settlement over their lies, complaining that CNN isn't doing a good enough job fact-checking.

Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.

RawStory:
The Cubs announced theyve placed second baseman Nico Hoerner on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to May 9, due to a left hamstring strain. Utility player Miles Mastrobuoni was recalled from Triple-A Iowa to take his spot on the active roster. Chicago also reinstated reliever Brandon Hughes from the IL and optioned swingman Javier Assad to Iowa.

Hoerner has gotten off to a nice start to the year. After signing a three-year extension in Spring Training, the 25-year-old infielder has put together a .303/.348/.395 line over 164 plate appearances. Hes already stolen 12 bases in 14 attempts and has kept his strikeout rate to a customarily excellent 10.4% clip. The Stanford product has gotten typically strong reviews from public metrics for his defense at second base.

The Cubs have deployed Hoerner at the top of the lineup. Since he came up with the hamstring issue a few days ago, Nick Madrigal and Christopher Morel have gotten some looks at second base and in the leadoff spot. Thatll continue for at least the next week, with Mastrobuoni also again in the picture after hitting .291/.494/.455 over 18 games in Iowa.

Hughes, 27, figures to return to a high-leverage role out of the bullpen. The southpaw was excellent as a rookie last year, tossing 57 2/3 innings of 3.12 ERA ball with a strong 28.5% strikeout rate. Hed seen some time in the ninth inning by years end and picked up eight saves. Hes twice gone on the IL because of left knee inflammation thus far in 2023, though, limiting him to five MLB appearances.
The Marlins have officially selected top prospect Eury Perez to both the active and 40-man rosters. The 20-year-old right-hander will start tonights game against the Reds. To clear room for Perez on the roster, Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald notes that the club has designated right-hander Chi Chi Gonzalez for assignment.

The move comes as little surprise, as Perezs pending promotion had been reported earlier this week. A consensus top 10 prospect in the entire sport, Perez will skip the Triple-A level entirely and make his MLB debut less than a month after celebrating his 20th birthday. So far this season, Perez has posted a 2.32 ERA, 35.9% strikeout rate, and 51.6% groundball rate through six starts at the Double-A level.

Making room on the roster for Perez is Gonzalez, a former first round pick by the Rangers in the 2013 draft. Gonzalez made his MLB debut in 2015, but over seven seasons in the major leagues has struggled to match the promise of his former top prospect status, with a career 5.64 ERA in 287 1/3 innings of work. Having been used primarily as a starter throughout most of his career, Gonzalez has found some success with the Marlins as a reliever in 2023, albeit in a microscopic sample. In 2 2/3 innings of work with Miami this season, Gonzalez has allowed one run on four hits while striking out two and walking one.

Should Gonzalez go unclaimed on waivers, he will have the option to reject an outright assignment to the minor leagues, both as a player with more than three years of service time and as a player who has already received an outright assignment in the past.
The Orioles recalled utility player Terrin Vavra from Triple-A Norfolk earlier in the week. Vavra has MLB experience at second base and in both corner outfield spots, so it was clear hed add some defensive flexibility to the Baltimore bench, but hes expanding his versatility in an interesting way.

As Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com writes, the Orioles have experimented with Vavra as a possible emergency catcher. He appeared behind the plate twice with Norolk during his most recent optional assignment, logging four combined innings. Vavra didnt start any games  the Tides deployed him only in mop-up work  but its possible he eventually logs time behind the dish a little more frequently.

Kubatko notes the Os have considered giving Vavra some catching time since last year. He did some work there in Spring Training drills and the Minnesota product tells Kubatko hed caught some offseason bullpen sessions from Dodger reliever J.P. Feyereisen (who lives near Vavra over the winter). The four innings with the Tides marked his first game action behind the dish since high school, however.

The Os arent going to throw Vavra into an important catching role out of the gate. Baltimore has one of the sports top backstops in Adley Rutschman, while veteran James McCann is on hand as the backup. The Os dont have any other catchers on the 40-man roster, though Luis Torrens is presently in DFA limbo. Manager Brandon Hyde confirmed itd take an emergency situation, presumably injury substitutions from the top two backstops, for Vavra to log any MLB time there in the short term. The 25-year-old is clearly amenable to working on the position in an effort to increase his value off the bench over the longer haul.

A left-handed hitter, Vavra has tallied 31 MLB plate appearances this year. Hes up to 134 trips to the dish in his career, posting a .252/.333/.313 batting line with one home run. The former third round draftee has walked in a quality 11.2% of his plate appearances against a decent 20.1% strikeout rate.
George Santos, the new standard bearer for the Republican Party, confessed to theft in Brazil in exchange for having the case dropped against him. This must be a great relief to this ex-drag queen turned anti-drag queen crusader. Now, Kitara only has to deal with criminal charges in a single country now.

From The Washington Post:

According to authorities, Santos, then 19, entered a small clothing store in Niteroi called the Salt in 2008 and wrote two bad checks worth $430 for clothing and shoes, court documents show. The merchant soon after went to the police and reported it, leading to a criminal embezzlement charge against Santos.

"I remember because I had to pay that value out of my own pocket," merchant Carlos Bruno Simoes told Folha de S.Paulo last year.

Simoes attended the Thursday hearing, which lasted less than a half-hour. He said he was disappointed in how little Santos will be forced to pay him.

"He got off super cheap," he said.
Comedian Walter Masterson posted this video today of an exchange he and a colleague had with United States Representative Paul Gosar (R-AZ 4). He explains in his tweet: "I spoke with Congressman Paul Gosar about shooting immigrants and this was his exact response." Here's the transcript:

Masterson/Under Current (UC): I'm actually a huge fan of everything you've done for election integrity and everything. I'm just, especially protecting our Southern border.

Paul Gosar (PG): [nods] MmmHmm.

UC: My family's ranch is down in Yuma and we have illegals on our land.

PG: Absolutely

UC: We've shot at them and you know, our Second Amendment rights to stand our ground. I'm worried that the Democrats are gonna send me to jail, you know, if I hit one of them.

PG: MmmHmm.

UC: Right?

PG: They have more rights than we do.

UC: Yeah, it's like I can't shoot at them, when you know, as they cross the border and stuff.

PG: [nods]

UC: I think I might have hit someone. I might have hit someone. And I'm like, I was distressed about it for a week.

PG: MmmHmm.

UC: Yeah, and so I just thank you for everything you're doing.

PG: You're certainly welcome.

UC: Welland everything and for election integrity.

PG: Say a prayer because this country needs you. There's a bunch of people that are ready to go into action.

UC: Yeah, actually, yeah. And could you help support pardons for people that were using their Second Amendment rights against people trying to come to the border?

PG: Well, I tell you, if Kari is going to do what she says she's going to do, and call, charge the emergency order out of the State of Arizona, and she puts the National Guard on the border, I guarantee you, you're gonna have a response.

UC: Okay, Good.

PG: You're gonna have a response.

UC: My parents immigrated here legally. That's the way you have to do it

PG: Absolutely, absolutely. There's a right way and a wrong way.
I got to know Berla Mundi through the 8th edition of Charterhouse's "Miss Malaika" beauty TV reality show. She participated in it as one of the contestants and I took to her after watching the first episode of the show on TV.

Throughout the 13-week period of this beauty pageant, which was aired on GTV and TV Africa, Berla exuded confidence, charisma, charm and queenly qualities which appealed to me. Everything about her, especially her mannerism and gesticulation, was very refined. And this was as far back as 2010 when she was just an ordinary undergraduate student of the University of Ghana  my alma mater (Wink! Wink!).

Each week, the delegates (as the Miss Malaika contestants are called) were assigned tasks to perform and afterwards one of them adjudged as the winner by the astute judges, namely Mary-Anne Sekyi and Mrs. Kay Bentsi-Enchill, with a guest judge chosen specially for each weeks task.

During the contest, Berla emerged winner in two of the tasks  Miss Photogenic and Miss Catwalk. For winning the Miss Photogenic task, her photograph was splashed across the front page of the Graphic Showbiz newspaper published on Thursday, September 23 of that same year (2010). Out of admiration for her, I decided to archive my personal copy of that issue of the Graphic Showbiz, which is still neatly tucked in my newspaper archives.

There were 16 ladies gunning for the coveted crown, car and all the goodies that came with the Miss Malaika prize, and Berla was the one I was rooting for. She was simply peerless among her peers. But alas, she placed 3rd (2nd Runner-Up) in the finals, which was equally a great feat.

Unlike most of the 2010 Miss Malaika contestants, Berla didnt fade into oblivion after the pageant. She boldly stepped into the slippery world of Show Business (ShowBiz), and since that time I have been religiously following every step of this stunningly beautiful Ghanaian damsel named Berlinda Berla Addardey (where from the "Mundi" at all? LOL.).

It is interesting to note that, the person who hosted the 2010 Miss Malaika competition was no other person but the ever smiley Naa Ashorkor Mensah-Doku, one of the two MCs Berla co-hosted this years Vodafone Ghana Music Awards (VGMA) with. Following the departure of the long serving host Jessica Opare-Saforo (formerly of Citi FM/TV) in 2010, Naa Ashorkor was given the nod to step in Jessicas big shoes, making her the new host of the Miss Malaika. Small world, huh?

Over the years, Berla has grown to become a formidable media practitioner in the country, carving a special niche for herself. As a unique fashionista (please don't use "Slay Queen" for Berla! LOL.), she was constantly praised for her good fashion sense, which further endeared her to the masses.

For the average human being, nice clothes make them look good. But for Berla, she rather makes clothes look good. Owing to this, some of her social media followers sometimes take screenshots of her pictures, roving about town looking for similar ones to purchase. Unfortunately, the kind of stylish apparels "Teshie Beyonce" (as she is affectionately called sometimes) wears, especially when she is on official duties, are as rare as "white tigers".

At the just ended Ghana Music Awards (do I always have to add "Vodafone"? LOL.), Berla was one of the three MCs for the show. As usual, she looked absolutely resplendent in all the outfits she donned on the night.

But out of the three frocks that she wore, it was the first one that really captured my imagination. This floor-sweeping body-hugging hooded silver garment really accentuated Berlas perfectly slender physique, and also tastefully revealed the hollow between her bosoms which made her looked quite alluring and gorgeous.

For me, this was her best look on the night, and even wished that she never took it off till the end of the event. I was therefore taken aback when I logged in to social media and saw scads of people expressing strong disapproval of this particular attire.

It is no denying the fact that Berla looked extremely "hot" in the silver gown, and could even make "Angel Gabriel" drool excessively like a newborn baby. But fellow Ghanaians, don't we all aspire to become the cynosure of all eyes? So what is all this fuss about?

If it was Beyonce, Rihanna or any of those Hollywood glitterati who had worn this same low-cut dress, I am very sure some of these sanctimonious characters would have been all over social media gushing over their looks. In fact, the two-faced attitude of some folks in this country can be very annoying sometimes, and you just dont know which of their two faces to slap (dont take it literally).

In our part of the world, women are not required to cover up their body from "hair" to "toe". Here (I mean the Republic of Ghana), such draconian and repressive law do not exist and so women turn up in all manner of fashionable clothes, et cetera et cetera.

It is very important for people to understand that, we humans dress according to the weather. If the weather is cold, people would wear dresses that cover every part of their body. However, the reverse is the case if it is warm. If you take socialite Efia Odo (who is well-known for putting on scanty clothing) to Oymyakon in Russia, which is the coldest permanently inhabited place on earth, she would always cover up like an Eskimo.

So you see, the way we dress has nothing to do with morality and/or decency. Those stuff are actually about our character and behaviour.

Berla should not allow anyone out there to moralise her. She should continue to be herself and wear whatever she feels comfortable in. After all, we are not squeaky clean. I hope that one day society realises how inappropriate it is to police and subjugate womens body. Hmmmm.!

No hard feelings, just exercising my right to freedom of speech.

Long live, Berla "Monday"! Oooppppsssss.... Berla Mundi!!

By: Eugene Selorm Owusu
"Bail out the banks, loan art to the churches"

Satanic Reverses. Michael Franti

Before Michael Franti created the genre-bending collective Spearhead that effortlessly mixed Hip Hop, funk, reggae, and pop music, inviting listeners to travel on the Chocolate Supa Highway, there was the experimental ensemble "The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy." Teaming up again with DJ and percussionist Rono Tse (they had already together produced The Beatnigs) and guitarist Charlie Hunter, Franti traced the ongoing consequences of colonialism, domination, empire, capitalism and homophobia, as well as the resistances and refusals of people not acquiescing to the status quo.

Franti intended the name of the band and their first album ("Hypocrisy Is the Greatest Luxury") to be critical of the contradictions of contemporary capitalist culture, "If you're a young black person, your only role models are athletes and entertainers. You see, these people used by the corporate system to make money, after which they're thrown on the scrap heap. They're disposable heroesthe name Hiphoprisy deals with the fact that, inevitably, there is hypocrisy in all of our lives, including mine"

The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy critiqued sellout artists in "Famous and Dandy (Like Amos and Andy)"; climate change, the threat of nuclear fallout, and the faux white supremacist environmental movement in "Everyday Life Has Become A Health Risk"; and the generative, introspective, and revelatory musings and confessions of "Music and Politics."

"Language of Violence" tells the story of a young person being bullied and attacked for his sexuality. As reported by KQED last year, "On Feb. 4, 1992, the musician, rapper poet Michael FrantiTse's partner in the alternative-rap group Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisyheld a press conference to announce their latest single, "Language of Violence." They were accompanied by the late activist Barbara Cameron of the Community United Against Violence, award-winning filmmaker Marlon Riggs, and Namane Mohlabane and Neico Slater of the Oakland Men's Project. It marked the first time a major-label hip-hop act mounted a marketing campaign around supporting the LGBTQ+ community.

I always appreciate albums and songs that risk making predictions about future history by projecting forward the possible consequences of the past. "Satanic Reverses" is that type of joint. The title is a play on Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses, a novel that put his life in continual precarity as Iranian leaders called for Rushdie's death. Recently, Hadi Matar attacked Rushdie, stabbing him in the neck and eye at the Chautauqua Institution literary festival in Western New York last year.

Franti emphasized how censorship of ideas and art is tied to US foreign policy of imperial designs and the conservative backlash during the 1980s in the United States. Invoking OPEC, the rise of Japan as an economic superpower in the 1980s, and the people's revolutions in Eastern Europe, the Disposable Heroes reminded us of the ongoing influence of reactionary fascism and censorship on civil rights.

Franti's lyrics seduce the phat beats produced by Rono Tse and Charlie Hunter  who cut his recording teeth with Franti. Jack Dangers, of Meat Beat Manifesto, mixed the album.

"While in the United States civil rights have

Collapsed at the hands of fundamentalists

And national insecurity's at an all-time high

Exxon and on and on and on

The ministers of double speak

New meanin' of clean they tried to teach us

They staged the phoney shampoo of the Valdez greases

Completely jheri curled the beaches

Pipe bomb for the NAACP

And a hit on Salman Rushdie, the Berlin Wall comes down

And the U.S. cracks down on illegal aliens

Ban the freedom of choice for those wantin' abortion

And enforce capitol punishment

Twenty four hour radio ban

For indecency determined by the F.U.C.C.

Why are we so anesthetized to the lies?

Because we do it in our own lives

We believe all the things that we want to hear

But then we also love to criticize."

"Television, the Drug of the Nation," received the most airplay. The track, first recorded by The Beatnigs, focused on addition to television, you can essentially Madlib the internet for television, and the implications would be similar today in terms of the "social dilemma" of a handful of corporations colonizing our attention span and imagination.

"T.V. (The Internet) is the reason why less than ten percent of our

Nation reads books daily

Why most people think Central America

means Kansas

Socialism means unamerican

and Apartheid is a new headache remedy.

T.V. (The Internet) is the stomping ground for political candidates

Where bears in the woods

are chased by Grecian Formula'd

bald eagles

T.V. (The Internet) is mechanized politic's

remote control over the masses

co-sponsered by environmentally safe gases

watch for the PBS special.

One Nation under God

has turned into

One Nation under the influence

of one drug."



The internet is not a unidirectional tool for fascism  despite Rocket Twitter Boy's efforts. When used by social movements, internet technologies can produce liberatory outcomes. Cory Doctorow has written several novels and short stories about these same themes. As Cory Doctorow reminds us in the acknowledgments to the third novel from the Little Brother series, Attack Surface, with a hat tip to Tom Eastman for the inspiration, the one drug proffered by "The Web is five giant services filled with screenshots of the other four."

Check out Mosi Reeves 2022 profile article about Rono Tse, "on being one of the earliest Asian American performers to achieve mainstream visibility in hip-hop music. The impact of his two pioneering industrial groups, the Beatnigs and Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy, echoes through modern rap names like JPEGMAFIA and Death Grips. He toured and hung out with some of the biggest acts of the 1990s, including U2, Public Enemy, Kurt Cobain and Sonic Youth. He mentored Mystik Journeymen, one of the key figures of the indie-rap era. Most importantly, he demonstrated how hip-hop can draw participants of all colors, races and genders without being compromised or losing its Black-centered origins."

Michael Franti and Spearhead are touring this summer.

So too is Charlie Hunter.

Check out Tse's new project Panther Products Oakland.
12.05.2023 LISTEN

Blakk Rasta, a media personality has criticized his colleague Abeiku Santana for what he described as "glorifying theft."

He warns Kwame Despite, the CEO of Despite Group of Companies, to put CCTV cameras around him to monitor his dealings.

This comes after Abeiku Santana criticized Pizzaman for jailing two of its workers for allegedly stealing 20 cartons of chicken wings and gallons of vegetable oil.

">

Reacting to Abeiku Santanas comments, Blakk Rasta said on his radio show on 3Fm, that he would put CCTV around Abeiku Santana if he were Kwame Despite for glorifying theft.

He said, Now, If I were Kwame Despite, I would start getting very shocked and frightened at Abeiku Santana and at the same time, I would start putting CCTV wherever Abeiku Santana is around Kwame Despite. Because this is glorifying theft.

Abeiku Santana, according to Blakk Rasta, did not show any respect for the employer by "glorifying theft," adding that there was even no evidence that the Pizzaman employees were denied their salaries or maltreated.

My brother, this is what were talking about - people have no respect for the employer anymore, yet they are the same people who walk around crying that there is unemployment.

"Two members of Pizzaman worked for this company, where there is no evidence that they were denied their salaries. There was no evidence that they were ever maltreated. Now within a period of two years, they gradually stole up to 20 cartons of chicken wings. They stole a lot of gallons of oil, Blakk Rasta added.

Blakk Rasta further lamented the attitude of people stealing at their workplaces right from the presidency down to the common man which is getting out of hand.

Right from the Presidency, everytime, all the way down to the common man, we hear about thievery - stealing night and day. It looks like everytime in this country, we dont have a democracy, what we have is a kleptocracy, a government of thieves, he lamented.

Watch Blakk Rastas reaction below:



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Former President John Dramani has criticized the performance of the New Patriotic Party administration despite the many promises.

He said Ghanaians should not be expecting and hoping for anything better from Akufo-Addo barely one and a half years to end his term of office.

We have experienced NDCs administration- after Professor Evans Atta-Mills, I took over from him making it 8 years and we have experienced NPP for almost 7 years. They are left with one and a half years more, no miracle is going to happen. What they have done is all that they can do, they are not going to add anything to it so anybody thinking that there will be a miracle is just tickling himself and dreaming. What you have is all there is, theres going to be nothing more, he said

During his campaign tour in the Wa East constituency of the Upper West Region, the former President noted that the Akufo-Addo-Bawumia administration can only boast of inflicting hardship on Ghanaians in almost 7years in government.

His come at a time the government is still in talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a $3 billion bailout to shore up the sinking economy.
The Builsa South Directorate of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) held sensitization sessions on Prevention and Containment of Violent Extremism (PCVE), with two Fulbe (Fulani) groups at Gbedembilisa and Wiesi in the Builsa South District in the Upper East Region on Wednesday 10th May 2023.

This is part of the Commissions awareness program around the PCVE action in the Northern Regions of Ghana sponsored by the European Union.

The main objective of the PCVE is to prevent and control violent extremism through the promotion of social cohesion, peace, and tolerance in the five (5) northern regions and other hotspots in Ghana.

The sensitization was led by the District Director; Ms. Caroline Aliko, and facilitated by the Civic Education Office (CEO); Mr. Moisait Dapah. The entire session was translated by the Fumbisi Fulbe (Fulani) Chief; Mr. Tampuri.

Mr. Dapah spoke about the mandate of the NCCE and emphasized the importance of the constitution, tolerance, and the need for peaceful coexistence. He explained some human rights enshrined in the 1992 constitution of Ghana which includes all persons, especially the minority groups.

He went further to create awareness of the need to be vigilant in their communities. "They should have a keen interest to know more about strangers joining their communities. Especially, getting to know and understand more about their mission and interest in staying there due to the bad press these strangers can give them. Everyone should play a part to combat violent extremism."

Using various illustrative analogies, the facilitator underscored the need to conduct themselves right, root out trouble causers in their midst and trust that the narrative will change.

Ms. Caroline Aliko ended the sensitization by encouraging parents to send their children to school and to take inspiration from well-educated tribes men and women.

The NCCE Director noted since there were also complaints about them as well, they should closely monitor each other to ensure that those with bad behaviors do not hinder the progress of being completely accepted in the communities in which they settle.
During a recent address to the National Democratic Congress delegates in the Wa East constituency, former President, John Dramani Mahama slammed the New Patriotic Party (NPP) for failing to restore the country's economy before the end of 2024.

Mahama stated that the NPP does not have the ability to turn around Ghana's fortunes in the remaining year and a half in office.

He advised Ghanaians not to expect any miracles from the NPP.

Mahama said, We have experienced NDCs administration- after Professor Evans Atta-Mills, I took over from him making it 8 years. And we have experienced NPP for almost 7 years. They are left with one and a half years more, no miracle is going to happen. What they have done is all that they can do, they are not going to add anything to it. So anybody thinking that there will be a miracle is just tickling himself and dreaming. What you have is all there is, theres going to be nothing more.

Mahama's remark follows government's engagement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a $3 billion bailout to resuscitate the ailing economy.

The government has implemented policies and initiatives aimed at restoring macroeconomic stability and debt sustainability.

John Kumah, the Deputy Finance Minister reassured Ghanaians that discussions towards securing the IMF bailout support have been productive.

Ghana is very hopeful, the Minister for Finance just returned from the spring meeting from the US and took the opportunity to meet our bilateral partners and multilateral partners and I can say that we are very hopeful that we will secure the Paris Club financing agreement very soon.

Im unable to give timelines, but I can assure you that discussions are going very well and very soon Ghana will get the good news, he said while addressing the media in Parliament.
There are six women among the 31 aspiring parliamentary candidates to contest the parliamentary primary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the nine constituencies of the Oti Region.

The six women are Madam Helen Adwoa Ntoso, incumbent Member of Parliament (MP) for Krachi West, Madam Magdalene Ndemele and Madam Esther Asetena Mensah all in the Krachi West Constituency.

The others are Jean Marie Formadi and Madam Alberta Atakora in the Biakoye Constituency and Madam Rita Ama Narlyn Wurapa for the Guan Constituency.

Mr Joseph Asekere, the Regional Election Director, who disclosed this to the Ghana News Agency (GNA), said all was set for the primaries to be held on Saturday.

He called on the candidates to conduct a clean campaign that would unite the party for victory in 2024.

The NDC had an ambition of winning the 2024 election but before it pulled the breaks on the New Patriotic Party's eight-year reign, it needed to do extra work, Mr Asekere said.

He explained that paving the way for more women in the civic arena was an investment for a just, equitable and peaceful society, he said.

Women had a right to engage in civil society, vote in elections, be elected to government offices, serve on boards and make their voices heard.

The right to political participation is a necessary step to achieving global gender equality and democratic governance, he said.

The Regional Director of Elections said about 8,977 delegates are expected from 961 polling stations to vote in the partys parliamentary and presidential primaries, which would be held on May 13, 2023.

The delegates comprise nine executives each from all the 961 polling stations and constituency and regional executives in the nine constituencies in the region.

The delegates will converge at a particular centre in each of the constituency to cast their ballots and elect a preferred parliamentary candidate as well as a flagbearer to lead the party in the 2024 general election.

He told GNA that all the aspirants were being engaged in the election process and was hopeful that they would have transparency and smooth elections.

He urged media practitioners to secure their accreditation from the various district directors of election before the event at the weekend.

GNA
Science and Technology have been seen as the preserve of males, and females have historically been side-lined in the quest for education, especially in these fields.

A lot of efforts have been made to correct this anomaly, including the inception of the Girls in ICT Day by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) of the United Nations, to inspire and encourage girls to pursue a future in the ICT space.

As was stressed by the Union, "For girls and young women to thrive in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers, they need to acquire skills to become both ICT users and creators in the digital world." For this reason, the theme for the 2023 Girls in ICT Day was "Digital Skills for Life".

The Institute of ICT Professionals Ghana (IIPGH), a professional association and capacity-building organization has always supported female inclusion in the ICT Sector. This is evident in its campaigns and initiatives over the years, especially in its Coding Education for Ghana Initiative with a focus on the 'Early Start'. This initiative is to introduce coding to children from the ages of six (6) years to teenagers and professionals. This initiative encourages the participation of more girls by giving a discount to female students who sign up for the Program. One of the campaigns aimed at driving female inclusion in the ICT space is the celebration of Girls in ICT Day.

This year, with its partner, the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications (GCT), IIPGH decided to celebrate this day by organizing its maiden Coding Caravan for the year with 200 girls from different schools in the Birim Central Municipal, Akim Oda, Eastern Region, on the 27th of April 2023. This was led by the women's wing of the Institute. The girls who were a mix of Primary and Junior High School students were introduced to the concept of Computer Programming using Scratch, a fun, interactive, and easy-to-use platform, developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). They created some simple animations and were shown the 3D Printer, which is used to print three-dimensional objects designed with an application like Tinkertoys.

The municipal's director of education, Mrs. Esther Quaye-Sowah; deputy director for finance and administration, Mrs. Ruth Kyere Fekaah from the Ministry of Finance representing the substantive minister of communicationMrs. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful; the CEO of the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications-Dr. Ing. Kenneth Ashigbey; the executive director of the Institute of ICT Professionals, Ghana-Mr. David Gowu were some of the key personalities present.

Mrs. Esther Quaye-Sowah, in her address, expressed her desire for Ghana to also embrace the positive transformation and socio-economic development STEM education offers, as other countries have, and stressed their determination as a municipal, to collaborate with individuals and establishments who were working towards promoting the improvement of participation of girls in STEM. She ended by encouraging the girls to attain the skills necessary for them to help address the current social problems, in addition to creating an avenue for more women to find a career in the technology space.

She advised that females utilize the vast opportunities technology is making available by pursuing a career in ICT.

Dr. Ing. Kenneth Ashigbey engaged the girls through questioning to realize the various issues in the community and how they can be addressed with innovations in ICT. He advised the girls to take full advantage of the benefits offered by technology while being wary of the negative consequences presented by the same. Mr. David Gowu reiterated IIPGH's resolve to tackle the gender disparity in the ICT space.

During the session, IIPGH coding facilitators, Miss Deborah Ofori-Dartey and Miss Barbara AsiamahDigital Skills Training Supervisors; Miss Blessing Momoha Coding instructor and Mr. Opuni FrimpongLead Tutor, IIPGH, helped the girls create simple animations using the Scratch Programming Software and showed them how Tinkertoys, a 3D development platform can be used together with 3D Printers to create simple 3D items. There were 2 groups of 100 students with one facilitator leading at a time, and the other facilitators, the GCT team, and female volunteers from the IIPGH Women's Wing assisting students who needed additional support.

At the end of the session, some girls who actively participated in the training by asking and answering questions were rewarded with some 3D-printed materials and some GCT and partner-branded souvenirs. The session was very impactful considering the many coding concepts taught with the limited time available.

The Coding Caravan

Technology education and skills development should not be the preserve of the affluent in our society, it must be democratized and accessible by all. This is because emerging technology skills are now essential tools for employment in the 21st century, and in the next decade, may become a requirement for any type of job. To prepare the next generation and equip them with the skills needed to fit into the demands of the future, the Coding Caravan was birthed in August 2021. They are carried out as workshops where laptops with coding software installed, are made available for students to learn. Instructors from IIPGH and staff from the partner organizations move from community to community, engaging these young minds. It usually begins with curious minds having little or no knowledge in the use of basic ICT tools and coding, to satisfy and excite children hungry for more.

The Coding Caravan helps spark the interest of students in Tech, who might otherwise not have heard of such. This initiative must be replicated across all regions, and in all communities, especially the remote areas. An example to drive home this point is that, after all the buzz around the recently introduced ChatGPT platform, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology-powered tool that is developed to have human-like conversations, no student among the 200 girls had heard of it. Students in African countries like Rwanda, Kenya, South Africa, and Uganda are leading innovations in the adoption of technology in the education space. In an era where most services are rendered using technology, where e-learning is becoming a norm, and where access to jobs has shifted from the traditional paper CV and interview sessions in physical spaces to skills-based and online interview sessions, there cannot be a better time for Ghana to increase the campaign for tech skills development at a tender age.

The Institute of ICT Professionals, Ghana calls on Government and Private agencies and Individuals to support in cash and kind to spread their reach across the country.

Similarly, IIPGH has been involved in many other skills training programs and provides support towards Female-Inclusion in the Tech Industry.

Code Like a Girl

IIPGH and its implementation partner, GoDi Africa, collaborated with Vodafone Ghana to train 1000 girls in coding dubbed, "Code Like a Girl". The trained professionals from IIPGH, assigned to 40 virtual classes, conducted a 5-week intensive coding program for girls from ages 718 years, trained in Block Coding, 3D Design, and Web Design.

Seats for Ladies in STEM initiative (S4LIS)

Seats For Ladies in STEM (S4LIS), is an initiative to fast-track Africa's sustainable development through STEM, by increasing the percentage of ladies taking up STEM-related jobs from 30% in 2021 to 40% by 2031. The Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications being the brainchild, aims to achieve this by advocating for the education, training, and hiring of more women and other underrepresented groups in STEM, which can lead to better scientific and financial outcomes. This initiative was outdoored in December 2022 with companies being encouraged to provide permanent employment, internships, national service, and mentorship opportunities for Ladies in STEM Fields.

The Institute of ICT Professionals, Ghana signed up to be a key supporter of this initiative by reserving more of their roles for women.

Previous Girls in ICT Days

In 2022, the Institute celebrated the day with Achievers Ghana Foundation Girls in Nima, Accra by introducing the girls in the Muslim Community to Coding. In 2019, the Accra Chapter of the Institute together with the MTN Women in Tech Wing interacted with and mentored the girls of Adonten Senior High School, asking relevant technology questions to open their minds to the endless possibilities available to them in this area. The Brong Ahafo Chapter engaged the girls of Sunyani High School in a similar direction.

The Institute is forever poised in its resolve to use all available avenues to achieve balanced gender participation in STEM and calls on stakeholder support to achieve this goal.

Author: Deborah Ofori-Dartey, Digital Skills Training Supervisor (IIPGH)

For comments, contact 0242912027, or email [email protected]
12.05.2023 LISTEN

Parliamentary aspirant of the National Democratic Congress for Sege Constituency Richard Kumadoe has donated medical theater materials to the Health Directorate of Ada West District for onward distribution to the only Polyclinic in the Sege Constituency.

According to him, quality healthcare delivery has become a major and topical issue is most parts of Ghana, and every effort has to be made by governments, corporate bodies and private individuals to help improve health facilities, motivate healthcare practitioners, and allied staff to give their very best to clients.

He emphasised that the provision of healthcare screening activities in any Constituency is an important way of taking healthcare services directly to the people and allowing them to freely access the various diagnostic screens and resources available.

Mr. Kumadoe stressed it is also important for all to work together, to ensure healthcare facilities within Constituencies become a prioritised responsibility.

"I am glad to be working with our international partners to make this first, in the series of many medical service donations possible at this crucial time," the parliamentary aspirant stated.

He was grateful to the Health Directorate Staff, and all frontline healthcare practitioners in the Ada West District for their enormous contributions to healthcare delivery in the District.
In line with the Ministry of Educations policy to establish smart classrooms in some basic schools across the country, which aims at improving the learning outcomes in the education sector, the Member of Parliament for the Mpohor constituency, Hon. John Sanie presented teaching and learning items to the Ghana-China Friendship Basic School at Mpohor.

The items include a teacher laptop with learning management and classroom system, 50 tablets, a projector, content analysis point, storage unit, virtual library, coding robotics and AI kit and curriculum, a teacher 4.0 curriculum and training kit as well as other accessories.

The Ghana-China Friendship Basic School at Mpohor and BOPP Basic School at BOPP all in the Mpohor District were successfully selected as part of basic schools across the country to benefit from this innovative smart classroom policy.

The District Education Director, Mr. Opoku Nkoom who received the items was grateful to the Government and the Ministry of Education for this transformational initiative which will go a long way to facilitate learning in schools, particularly to match up with modern technological advancements.

The Member of Parliament advised the beneficiary schools to put the items to good use to serve the intended purpose.

Hon. John Sanie was optimistic that other schools in the district can also be selected to be part of this initiative based on the successes chalked by the previous ones.
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) chairman for the Hemang Lower Denkyira Constituency in the Central Region has urged delegates to maintain the current Member of Parliament Lawyer Bright WirekoBrobby for another term.

Mr. Abubakar Farouk says there is no need to change an MP who is bringing developmental projects to the constituency, creating jobs, and supporting needy but brilliant students to complete their education.

Addressing party delegates at a reflection meeting organised by constituency executives and the MP to discuss party unity going into the 2024 general elections, Mr. Farouk said the party cannot risk gambling with the fortunes of the MP who has shown he has the constituents at heart.

This election is not just about becoming an MP. It is about leading the party to win a third consecutive term for the first time under the Fourth Republic This MP has been able to achieve a lot by supporting the interest of the youth in various ways in the communities and has helped women who needed support to boost their businesses.

Majority of us believe that the MP has kept faith with the constituents and this is not time to try another person, the chairman added.

The NPP, Mr. Farouk noted, could not afford to disappoint Ghanaians by not winning the 2024 elections, saying all the impactful policies implemented by the government could collapse under another National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration. He said the NPP had proven to be the best party for Ghanaians and urged the delegates to choose the right leaders to ensure continuity of progress and development.

The constituency chairman called on party faithfuls to be decorous in their campaign and desist from character assassination and politics of insults, reminding them that the battle is not members of the party but the opposition.

We need unity to break the eight and we cannot take our own party members to the cleaners during this campaign and expect them to join us for the main task ahead, Mr. Farouk said.

Present at the reflection meeting were Daniel Anane Otoo (1st Vice Chairman), Peter Ofori (2nd Vice Chairman), Timothy Terry Tweneboah (Former Chairman), Francis Asare (Regional Treasure), Faustina Ampah (Women Organizer), Linda Amissah (Deputy Women Organizer), Pious Gyabeng (Youth Organizer), Samuel Baidoo (Deputy Organizer), Isaac Ofori Donkor (Communications Officer), Bernard Nana Ayebeng (Secretary), Abu Iddrissu (NASARA Coordinator), Alhaji Mohammed Saani (Deputy NASARA Coordinator) and Vida Oduro (Deputy Organizer).
The Executive Director of Africa Center for Energy Policy (ACEP), Mr Benjamin Boakye, says theres nothing wrong with companies in the oil and gas industry flaring gas if theres no basis and capacity to keep such resources.

He observed that Ghana lacks the capacity to invest in extra plants to process and store excess gas hence the flaring by industry players.

Parts of the country in recent times have been experiencing intermittent power supply, but the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) blamed the power outages on Ghanas inability to get gas from Nigeria.

The 2022 annual Public Interest Accountability Committee (PIAC) report disclosed that a total of 25.3 billion cubic feet (bcf) of natural gas worth about $169 million was lost in the upstream petroleum sector through flaring.

The report added that the volume of gas flared in 2022 increased by 19.3 per cent compared to a volume of 21.2 bcf recorded in 2021. This constituted about 10 per cent of the total 253.56 bcf of both Associated Gas (AG) and Non-Associated Gas (NAG) produced from the three oil fields of Jubilee, Sankofa Gye-Nyame (SGN) and Tweneboa-Enyenra-Ntomme (TEN).

Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show hosted by Bernard Avle, Mr. Boakye indicated that the issue of Ghana acquiring plants to process gas at the Jubilee Fields has been on the drawing board for many years.

If theres no commercial avenue to use gas, you cannot compel them not to flare gas for operational reasons. If there are no commercial applications for the market, they have to flare the gas. We need investment to unlock the gas, once you produce it, you need to process it. We dont have enough capacity to construct another processing plant. We will need to build a new site to store the additional gas from TEIN and Jubilee Fields.

Once we have the capacity challenge, then we need to flare. That is why we are where we are, we are flaring the gas, and we are looking for liquid fuel, he said.

He charged the government to diversify fuel sources by implementing policies that will help the country to have processing plants in order to get excess gas for other purposes.

I always say we are getting the policy action wrong, that is why we are where we are. If we have ENI producing in a more constant way, you could discuss with investors to help you pump in more gas by setting up a new processing plant. We have to think politically along the value changewe havent done the policy right, he suggested.

-citinewsroom
Chardanay Young-Ford makes sure to drive past the Tops Markets store on Jefferson Avenue every day.

And in her desk at the Buffalo United Resiliency Center, a couple of blocks away from the supermarket, the mental health counselor has a drawer full of obituaries for the 10 Black people who were killed at that Tops nearly one year ago by a racist gunman from the Binghamton area.

On the many difficult days over the last year, Young-Ford always remembered who she was serving  the victims' families and the Tops associates and customers who survived  and why she had to keep going.

"You have to remember your 'why,' " she said.

For the past year, Young-Ford and other counselors like her have done the heavy, challenging and necessary work to help the community begin to heal following the worst mass shooting in Buffalo's history. Young-Ford, in particular, has sought to amplify the voices of the families, survivors and community members who had long felt unseen and unheard in a city that is severely segregated and intensely inequitable.

Young-Ford, who goes by Char, is a leading player in these efforts as the interim director of the Buffalo United Resiliency Center, which was born last year out of the Resource Council of WNY in response to the May 14 shooting. The center, originally established with federal funds and largely focused on victim services, is now in the midst of expanding its staffing, its resources and its community reach with the infusion of new state funding and a new administration.

Gov. Kathy Hochul in late March announced new funding from the state Office of Victim Services to support the center, which is due to get $2.5 million in state money each year through June 2025. As part of the announcement, the Buffalo Urban League now leads a new partnership with Community Health Center of Buffalo to operate the center.

Thomas Beauford Jr., president and CEO of the Urban League, said the transition allows the Resiliency Center to plug into an existing network of services provided by his organization and Community Health Center of Buffalo. That should give Young-Ford and the Resiliency Center, he said, more support and greater infrastructure to expand its geographical reach and address more community needs  needs that have only increased since May 14.

"The community needs it," Beauford said. "The need is so great sometimes, it just outweighs, outpaces the resources."

Hochul announces $2.5M to fund additional services for those affected by Tops massacre "New York State will not waiver in its support for the Jefferson Avenue neighborhood and its residents as it continues to heal from this tragedy," Gov. Kathy Hochul said.

In a private, secure space on the ground floor of a building at the intersection of Jefferson Avenue and Dodge Street, the center offers case management, counseling services, supportive gatherings, wellness programs, workshops and other needed offerings to help the community find the resilience to push forward.

"We will never forget what took place on May 14, but we can move forward as a community united to make change," Young-Ford said.

And without Young-Ford, the Resiliency Center would not have been able to accomplish as much as it already has, said Dina Thompson, who is chair of the center's Steering Committee and also executive director of the Erie County Restorative Justice Coalition.

Young-Ford, she said, has been able to create, maintain and build relationships in the community, relaying their needs and what the center should become.

"When there is a tragedy or trauma that happens, there are people who automatically empathize and connect with people naturally," Thompson said. "That's what Char did. She connected naturally, with survivors, Tops associates and community members to tell their story and be able to actually meet their physical, mental, spiritual needs."

'Be part of change'

Young-Ford was raised in the Kensington-Bailey neighborhood and today lives just two blocks away from the home she grew up in.

Her father, Aaron Young, now chief of schools for Buffalo police, taught her to stay committed to and never forget her roots.

"I think that's why I'm so attached to my community," she said.

She graduated from Leonardo da Vinci High School and then attended Niagara County Community College for general studies, unsure of which path she wanted to take. But she knew she wanted to be in a helping profession.

Her parents made her aware growing up that she was privileged, urging her to be an advocate and an ally for those who didn't have the same experience.

She saw that certain parts of her community were impoverished and disadvantaged. She watched as some peers were pulled into crime. And she recognized that some residents didn't have access to  or didn't know how to tap into  resources that were available.

She wanted to be part of the solution, though she didn't know where it would lead.

After two years at NCCC, she went to University at Buffalo, graduating with a bachelor's degree in legal studies.

Naturally curious, she felt she needed to gain a deeper understanding of people  who they are, the environment in which they are raised and how their experiences influence their choices. That pushed her into the mental health field, and she received a master's degree in clinical mental health counseling from Medaille University.

She started her career as an intern and later a counselor with BestSelf Behavioral Health at the provider's location at 951 Niagara St. on the West Side. There, she was able to engage with individuals from all backgrounds, including the immigrant, Hispanic and Black populations.

"That's where I began to really get an understanding of who people are," she said. "They present in many forms but at heart, we're all the same."

'Cycle of grief'

Young-Ford can vividly recall where she was and what she was doing when news began to break that a gunman had opened fire at about 2:30 p.m. at Tops on what had been a beautiful spring day in Buffalo.

She was at home and had just put her two young children down for a nap when a close friend messaged her: "Hey, I know you have family on Jefferson. Are you seeing what's happening right now?"

Young-Ford immediately grabbed her phone and found a live feed on Facebook, watching police apprehend the gunman but also seeing the bodies through her screen.

As more details emerged and it became clear the shooting was racially motivated, Young-Ford felt a strong need for the community to come together and support those in need. Not long after, she got a call from BestSelf President and CEO Elizabeth Woike-Ganga, who asked if she wanted to be part of the community response.

Young-Ford, who at the time was on leave after having her second child, sped up her transition back to work, arranged child care and responded on May 18, four days after the shooting.

"I said, 'I have an obligation to my community to be of service to them during this time,' " she said.

Young-Ford said community providers gathered at a location on East Ferry Street. BestSelf had a table set up, as did the American Red Cross, Endeavor Health Services and many others.

Counselors were called on to do the initial interviews with those affected and to help relay information to FBI investigators about who might have been in the store at the time of the shooting.

Young-Ford wasn't sure what to expect.

Some of the people who came in spilled all of their emotions at once  "like a dam broke," she said.

Some wanted to process their thoughts out loud with another person.

Others were apprehensive  they didn't want to talk much but still wanted support.

As the on-site counseling and her work continued, Young-Ford built strong relationships with many of the victims' families, the survivors, first responders and the larger community. Within months, that propelled her into the role as director of the Resiliency Center, created in the aftermath of May 14.

And as her work continued, some of those people who didn't want to talk much days after the tragedy slowly began to open up.

"They came back and they had more to say each time, because they realized that each day was different," she said. "It was like a cycle of grief for the community at large."

The center put on events for survivors, Tops associates and first responders. That included a Thanksgiving and then a holiday toy drive for Tops associates. There was a holiday treat decorating event for survivors and their families.

And then when the December blizzard hit  another event that exposed Buffalo's inequities, particularly around housing  the Resiliency Center made resources available to those affected.

Though the Resiliency Center went through a transition with the administration change, Young-Ford has been a mainstay the whole time, providing continuity to the community.

She was there the day the Tops reopened in mid-July. And on the six-month anniversary, when a moment of silence was held at the store, Young-Ford and a small team came to the supermarket to offer support to anyone who needed it.

'Our hearts continue to ache': Tops marks 6 months since racist mass shooting with moment of silence A moment of silence Monday afternoon marked six months to the day that a young gunman's racist rage led him to take the lives of 10 African Americans at the Tops on Jefferson Avenue.

On May 5, the day Young-Ford spoke to The Buffalo News, she picked up balloons for a balloon release that happened the next day with the family of victim Celestine Chaney, who would have been 66 on May 6.

Even a year later, the emotions for many are still very fresh, she said, and there is anxiety with the anniversary approaching.

Some survivors are further along in the healing process, while others still don't want to think about what happened May 14. And some have good days intermixed with challenging ones.

No matter where they are in their timeline, Young-Ford sees it as her job to amplify what the survivors and the community are telling her. That is the "why" that drives her in her position, especially on the difficult days.

"I'm very committed to them because I'm an advocate first," she said. "They'll always have me."
The World Health Organization declared that mpox no longer constitutes a global health emergency on Thursday, almost exactly a year after the disease formerly known as monkeypox started spreading globally.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the decision was prompted by sharply falling case numbers worldwide, but emphasised that the disease remains a threat, particularly in areas of Africa where it has long been endemic.

The announcement comes a week after the UN agency also declared that Covid-19 no longer constitutes a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), its highest level of alarm.

"However, as with Covid-19, that does not mean that the work is over," Tedros told an online press conference.

"While the emergencies of mpox and Covid-19 are both over, the threat of resurgent waves remains for both. Both viruses continue to circulate and both continue to kill," he added.

Though some countries in Central and West Africa have suffered local outbreaks for decades, in May last year mpox cases started emerging in Europe, North America then elsewhere, mostly among men who have sex with men.

The WHO declared mpox was a PHEIC in July. The number of people infected with the disease -- which causes fever, muscular aches and large boil-like skin lesions -- has consistently fallen since.

More than 87,000 cases and 140 deaths have been reported from 111 countries during the global outbreak, according to a WHO count.

The countries with the most cases during the global outbreak have been the United States, Brazil, Spain, France, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and the UK, according to the count.

'Steady progress'

Almost 90 percent fewer cases were recorded over the last three months compared to the previous three-month period, Tedros said.

"We now see steady progress in controlling the outbreak based on the lessons of HIV and working closely with the most affected communities," Tedros said.

Because the global cases were overwhelmingly among men who have sex with men, there were fears that discrimination would mar the response to the outbreak.

"While stigma has been a driving concern in managing this epidemic and continues to hamper access to care for mpox, the feared backlash against the most affected communities has largely not materialised," Tedros said.

"For that, we are thankful."

For non-endemic countries, infections spread by travellers represent an ongoing threat, Tedros said, calling on countries to maintain surveillance of the disease and access to tests and vaccines.

People who have untreated HIV are at particular risk of severe forms of mpox, he added.

"While we welcome the downward trend of mpox cases globally, the virus continues to affect communities in all regions, including in Africa, where transmission is still not well understood," Tedros said.

Mpox continues in Africa

The monkeypox virus -- which causes mpox disease -- was first discovered in humans in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1970.

Until a year ago, its spread among humans had been mainly limited to certain West and Central African nations, where local outbreaks are thought to be caused by the virus jumping over to humans from small animals.

Rosamund Lewis, the WHO's technical lead on monkeypox, said these countries "were dealing with mpox long before this outbreak began and will continue dealing with it for some time to come".

WHO emergencies director Mike Ryan said he was "shocked" that little international funding had been donated for the fight against mpox in the African countries where it is endemic.

"Maybe it's an issue of the continued prejudices that exist in this world," he said.

The virus is transmitted through close contact with infected humans or animals, as well as via materials such as contaminated sheets.

After the emergency status was lifted for Covid and mpox, there is now just one WHO-declared PHEIC -- for poliovirus, which was declared in May 2014.
An 18-year-old Ghanaian lady living in Royston, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom, has been sentenced to three years in prison for committing a heinous crime against her friend.

Princess Owusu Ansah poured hot water on her friend after accusing her of having a sexual affair with her boyfriend.

The incident was filmed by the accused herself and quickly went viral on Snapchat, leading to her arrest and subsequent prosecution.

In the Snapchat video, Owusu-Ansah's friend was seen screaming under a blanket as she (Owusu Ansah) grabbed a kettle of boiling water and poured it over her.

According to reports, the accused then threatened her friend with a knife, adding to the traumatic experience for the victim.

The incident was reported to local authorities by a concerned citizen who had seen the video and alerted them to the crime.

Following an investigation, Owusu-Ansah was arrested on February 5 and subsequently pleaded guilty to grievous bodily harm with intent, criminal damage, and theft at the Inner London crown court.

She was sentenced to three years in prison for her actions on May 9.
The Bawku conflict is pushing some teachers at the Bawku Senior High School to seek a transfer, the Reverend Dr Sylvester Agalga, Headmaster of the School, has revealed.

He said teachers who were posted to the School were also declining the postings.

Dr Agalga said this at the 60th-anniversary launch of the Bawku SHS in Accra.

It was on the theme, Promoting Moral and Academic Excellence in the midst of the Challenges of the 21st Century: The Role of Stakeholders.

The 60th anniversary will be commemorated on October 28, 2023 at the Bawku SHS.

The headmaster said the situation was affecting student enrolment and punctuality, saying, most students missed school whenever the conflict escalated.

Dr Agalga said the School was also faced with infrastructural challenges, inadequate furniture for both staff and students, under-resourced ICT laboratory and library, and a broken fence wall.

He added that the broken fence posed a security threat to the School, as it allowed unauthorised entry.

He called on government and old students to immediately help the School management to fix it.

Dr Agalga said despite the challenges, the School was doing well academically and had over 60 per cent pass rate in the recent 2022 West African Senior School Certificate Examination.

The School is well positioned to deliver on its mandate despite the challenges and threats. The strength and advantages of the School have progressively resulted in the current appreciable academic performance in the WASSCE results, he added.

Alhaji Abdallah Achuluwor Otito, Bawku SHS Old Students Association Global President, urged all old students to rally behind the management to uplift the image of the School.

He asked the old students to contribute their quota in kind and cash to help address the infrastructural needs of the School.

Bawku Senior High School is a co-educational institution established on October 11, 1963 in Bawku, Upper East Region.

The School currently has a population of 2,448 students with a 189 staff  121 teaching and 68 non-teaching.

GNA
Advocacy to Decolonize Education in Africa

12.05.2023 LISTEN

Introduction

Undoubtedly, education is a powerful tool that nations use to facilitate socioeconomic development. During the colonial administration in Africa, it was used generally to facilitate trade and commerce, maintain law and order, and promote missionary activities, particularly evangelism. In the immediate pre- and post-independent era, university colleges were established to operate as affiliates of parent universities in Europe to produce the needed manpower to replace departing expatriates in the colonial civil service and parastatals.

These newly established institutions were seen as a source of pride, symbols of national identity, and agents of development. Nnamdi Azikiwe of Nigeria published that with 12 million pounds there is no reason why the best libraries, laboratories, professors cannot be produced right here, and this continent can become overnight A Continent of Light. (Azikiwe, Renascent Africa , 1937). Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia, also noted that:

We in Zambia are immensely proud of our university. The pride is not simply that this is our first and only university. It is also because the university of Zambia is our own university in a very real sense. The story of how the people of this country responded so enthusiastically to my appeal for support is a very thrilling one. Humble folk in every corner of our nation  illiterate villagers, barefooted school children, prison inmates and even lepers  gave freely and willingly everything they could, often in the form of fish, or maize or chicken. The reason for this extraordinary response was that our people see in the university the hope of a better and fuller life for their children and grandchildren. (Addresses at the Installation, University of Zambia, 1966, pg. 28)

The vision for these African universities, in the words of J. E. Casely Hayford, was a (native) Fante University teaching in native Fante and making the development of African languages and cultures its major area of concern (excerpts from Ethiopia Unbound). Pan-Africanists the likes of Marcus Garvey, William DuBois and Kwame Nkrumah all clamoured for indigenous universities whose degrees would have worldwide recognition, and provide access for its holders into responsible, decision-making posts in the civil service, hitherto reserved for Europeans.

The rhetoric of Africanizing these educational institutions to promote race consciousness and regard for African culture and traditions was, on the one hand, used by politicians in the newly independent states to assert the sovereign rights of these institutions, and, on the other hand, to control them and make them more responsive to development plans. Indeed, the interventions of the politicians were welcomed by the African staff in their bid to defend academic autonomy and maintain universal standards. However, the failure to defend academic autonomy in the long-run is seen as one of the most enduring legacies of colonialism. The inherited position of Chancellor as an intermediary between the university and the Government is seen as a tool for appointments to academic positions to ensure administrative control and also court political support. The French colonialists left higher education under the control of the Minister of Education and had all academic staff as employees of the Ministry.

In advocating for a sense of purpose, Kwame Nkrumah noted that it is clear that we must find solutions to our problems and that can only be found in African unity. Divided, we are weak; united, Africa could become one of the greatest forces for good in the world.

The call for the decolonization of African higher education has been articulated rampantly since the turn of the 21st century by voices on the continent and in the Diaspora. Here are a few themes that this author wants to highlight.

Revisiting African History

Colonization imposed the language, education systems, and cultural norms of Europeans on African societies, which has had an impact on the way African people view themselves and their place in the world. Revisiting African history requires an examination of the past that has shaped the entire continent (history, politics, economy and culture) to gain a deeper understanding of the impact on African societies and chart a more just and equitable future. Molefi Kete Asante notes that there are two things over which you have complete dominion, authority and control  your mind and your mouth.

Revisiting African history to break free of the mental chains of inferiority, change the narrative and assert Africas place in history as the center of civilization should come through conscious effort. According to John Henrik Clarke if you expect the present day school system to give history to you, you are dreaming. This, we have to do ourselves. The Chinese didnt go out in the world and begged people to teach Chinese studies or let them teach Chinese studies. The Japanese didnt do that either. People dont beg other people to restore their history; they do it themselves! This is buttressed by Cheikh Anta Diop who posited that intellectuals ought to study the past not for the pleasure they find in so doing but to drive lessons from it.

Decolonization of the Curricula

The African university curricula are still seen as an inherited colonial legacy, be it from the British, French, Belgian or Portuguese. The British imposed their favoured degrees in Arts and Sciences on their colonies; the French system had philosophy as basic to all higher education; and the Belgians incorporated African Studies within the degree structure. The Portuguese curriculum development focused on the teaching of science and the training of technicians.

Achieving complete decolonization of the African academic system will include the indigenization of the pedagogy and curricula by integrating African languages, and incorporating indigenous knowledge into the African education system. To what extent can Africans at home and in the Diaspora fast-track the restructuring and transformation processes to make the systems more representative, inclusive, and centered on African knowledge systems?

Data Decolonization

Data guides decision-making and Africa needs to reclaim and assert ownership of its data to drive the continents development agenda. Data decolonization also entails controlling data that has been historically collected, processed, and analyzed by external actors. The process will involve the concerted efforts of Africans both at home and abroad to work together with African data scientists, policymakers, and civil society organizations to advocate for the development and implementation of data localization policies that require data captured in Africa to be processed and stored within their countries of origin to prevent exploitation and abuse.

To what extent can African academics contribute to minimizing the power dynamics and inequalities that have historically characterized global data governance? How can data sovereignty be attained for Africa through dependence on the continents data science experts and data science infrastructure?

Digital Decolonization

In parallel with promoting data sovereignty in Africa is the quest to transform the development, deployment and use of digital technologies and platforms on the continent. Africa needs a strong voice to promote local ownership and control of digital infrastructure, including hardware, software, and data. It also needs new frameworks, policies and regulations that ensure that digital technologies and platforms are accessible and affordable to all Africans, regardless of their socio-economic status or location. It calls for the breaking of barriers and biases inherent in digital technologies such as digital monopolies and exploitation of user data.

Decolonization of Partnerships

Africa has historically been a net recipient of foreign aid and grants due to how colonization shaped the economy, politics, and trajectory of the continents development path. Many bilateral and multilateral arrangements have been anchored on historically characterized dependency and unusual power relations that inure to the African losing control and ownership and the grant provider mostly taking charge of the decision-making processes. The expertise and exposure of African academics, particularly those in the Diaspora who are more accustomed to the dealings of the superpowers, is critical in re-evaluating historical partnership arrangements, particularly those established during the colonial era, and providing guiding frameworks and legal counsel to African Governments in the development of new frameworks that based on mutual respect, cooperation, and equity.

Conclusion

It is about time Africa wakes up and is mindful of the creeping neocolonialism into the system while at the same time, it hastens the decolonization process, with education at the forefront.
Residents of Nsutam and Bunso in the Eastern Region clashed over the ownership of a piece of land near Bunso Junction, located off the Accra-Kumasi Highway.

The dispute, which is said to have been ongoing for some time now, escalated on Wednesday, May 11, 2023, leading to a clash between the two communities.

According to reports, the land in question has been a bone of contention between the two communities for several years, with both sides claiming ownership of the property.

The situation escalated when a group of Bunso residents reportedly attempted to raise a new signboard at Bunso Nkwanta, near the Bunso junction.

This caused the Nsutam followers and their chief to clash with the people of Bunso over ownership of that boundary leading to chaos.

Eyewitnesses say the clash resulted in some injuries, as both sides pelted each other with stones and other objects, including shovels.

The situation was eventually brought under control by the timely intervention of the police, who were called in to restore calm.

The matter has been put before the chief of the town, Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin.

Watch video for more details:


Warplanes roared overhead as explosions rocked Khartoum on Friday, just hours after Sudan's warring parties signed a commitment to respect humanitarian principles in their spiralling conflict, without a truce in sight.

Nearly one month after the outbreak of the fighting that has killed more than 750 people and displaced hundreds of thousands, the two sides signed the agreement late Thursday during talks in the Saudi city of Jeddah.

But already by the next morning the situation on the ground appeared unchanged, with the forces of two rival generals again exchanging fire in the Sudanese capital, which is home to five million people.

A witness in south Khartoum reported "fighter jets overhead and the sound of clashes and explosions", while another in the city's north reported "air strikes and the sound of anti-aircraft missiles".

Map of Sudan and neighbouring countries as civilians flee the country. By Sophie RAMIS (AFP)

Envoys in Jeddah representing the two generals -- army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and paramilitary commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo -- agreed to "affirm our commitment to ensure that civilians are protected at all times".

The agreement commits both sides to let in badly needed humanitarian assistance after looting and attacks targeting aid in the impoverished country, Africa's third largest in area.

The declaration calls for the restoration of electricity, water and other basic services, the withdrawal of security forces from hospitals and "respectful burial" of the dead.

Caution over talks

The United States and Saudi Arabia, which together led the diplomatic drive, said talks were ongoing with a proposal on the table for a 10-day truce, which would lead, in turn, to negotiations on a longer-term end to fighting.

Trenches have been dug into the streets of Khartoum as fighting shows no signs of abating. By - (AFP)

But as fighting and looting raged, US diplomats were frank about the obstacles in the nearly week-long talks in the Saudi port city.

"This is not a ceasefire. This is an affirmation of their obligations under international humanitarian law," said a US official involved in the negotiations, who called the two sides "quite far apart".

"We are hopeful, cautiously, that their willingness to sign this document will create some momentum that will force them to create the space" to bring in relief supplies, she said.

Almost 200,000 people have fled Sudan in addition to hundreds of thousands who have been displaced inside the northeast African country, the UN said Friday.

"As violence in Sudan continues for a fourth week, nearly 200,000 refugees and returnees have been forced to flee the country, with more crossing borders daily seeking safety," UN refugee agency spokeswoman Olga Sarrado told reporters in Geneva.

A man off loads a belongings of refugees from Sudan in Metema, Ethiopia on May 4. By Amanuel Sileshi (AFP/File)

At least 18 humanitarian workers have been killed since the conflict flared on April 15, with many NGOs and United Nations agencies suspending their work at least temporarily.

The UN's World Food Programme said millions of dollars' worth of food was looted in Khartoum alone.

Only 16 percent of the capital's hospitals remain fully functional, with health facilities systematically looted, bombarded or suffering severe shortages of food and supplies.

Ulterior motives?

The conflict broke out after a power struggle between Burhan and Daglo, most recently over the integration of the latter's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces into the army under a planned transition to civilian rule.

The RSF was set up and groomed by former autocratic president Omar al-Bashir for a scorched-earth campaign in the western region of Darfur.

The Forces of Freedom and Change, the pro-democracy force sidelined in a 2021 putsch by the two generals now at war, saluted the Jeddah declaration as "a first step in the right direction".

A combination of pictures shows Mohamed Hamdan Daglo (top), leader of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, and army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan (bottom). By Ashraf SHAZLY (AFP/File)

The UN-led support mission for Sudan, which also includes the African Union and regional IGAD bloc, also welcomed the declaration and called on the warring factions to "convey clear and unequivocal instructions to lower ranks" to allow humanitarian access and "translate these commitments to meaningful action on the ground".

In a statement Friday, Sudan's northern neighbour Egypt welcomed the declaration, which it said should "pave the way" for "a comprehensive and permanent ceasefire".

After previous truces evaporated, the United States said the two sides also agreed in Jeddah for the first time on ways to monitor any ceasefire.

A second US official said the negotiations were "very tough" and acknowledged both sides may have ulterior motives for ceasefire monitoring.

"Candidly, there is some hope on both sides that the other side would be seen as being the perpetrator of violations," he said.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been uprooted by the conflict. By - (AFP/File)

"Frankly, we've seen violations by both sides in all the ceasefires to date and don't expect that to change."

But he added that the length of time spent in brokering the first step would at least make the ceasefire more "effective" if reached.

Diplomats and experts have questioned whether the two sides want peace or if they are more interested in vanquishing the other.

burs-bha/dv
The Kumasi Kejetia New Market in the Ashanti Region has been taken off the national grid by the Electricity Company of Ghana bringing trading activities at the facility to a halt.

The ECG on Tuesday cut power to the facility over outstanding debt.

A trusted source at the facility disclosed to this reporter that, the market authorities owe ECG over Ghc5.9 million.

Traders at the market however accused management of refusing to pay the bills to ECG leading to the disconnection.

A visit to the market on Thursday, May 11, 2023 by this reporter showed that most of the traders were relying on their mobile phones and torch as a source of light.

Some of the traders who could not endure using torch lights in the pitch-dark market were forced to close their shops.

An Executive Member of the Combined Kejetia Traders Association, Mr Frank Antwi described the situation as worrying.

He noted that the use of one bulk metering system was making it difficult for managers of the facility to pay electricity bills.

"We have over 8,000 shops using one bulk meter, and the problem is, while others are paying their bills some are not paying, making it difficult to gather enough revenue to settle the bills.

"We are appealing to management of the market to first work hard and collect outstanding bills from the traders and also provide individual meters to shops to avoid this problem," he said.
Traders at the Racecourse Market in the Kumasi Metropolis of the Ashanti Region have summoned the Major of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA), Hon Sam Pyne to the Asantehemaa's court at the Manhyia Palace over the poor state of the market.

The aggrieved traders reportedly dragged officials of KMA to Manhyia Palace over poor roads, death trap bridge and the muddy nature of the market.

Speaking to this reporter, the traders disclosed that, KMA has refused to develop the area with the excuse that, Manhyia Palace has not given them the green light.

They added they are therefore meeting the Mayor in the presence of the Asantehemaa to settle the problem once and for all.

Hundreds of traders from Racecourse were spotted in red armbands at the Manhyia Palace on Thursday, May 11, 2023 for the first hearing of the case but Sam Pyne who was out of the city pleaded to the court for the case to be adjourned.

Dozens of traders after KMA's failure to show up at the Asantehemaa's court said they have suspended the payment of market tolls and any type of taxes until the case is decided.

They noted that they have consistently paid these taxes and tolls to the KMA but are still working in a muddy-filled market.
A teacher with the Chinekope M/A Primary School in Kete Krachi Municipality of the Oti Region has met his untimely death.

Sampson Adu, 29, died when the boat he was travelling on capsized

Mr Adu has since been buried in his hometown in the Eastern Region, 3news.com has gathered.

This comes barely 24 hours after a boat carrying some pupils from Faana to Kelee in the Weija Gbawe Municipality also capsized.

Nine pupils were killed, leaving only three survivors.

The Ghana Education Service (GES) has commiserated with families of all the departed.

With a heavy heart, Management expresses its deepest condolences to the bereaved families, and assure them that our hearts and prayers are with them in these trying moments.

-3news.com
Pupils who have to cross rivers before getting to their schools should be taught how to swim, a private legal practitioner Mr Kwame Jantuah has said.

This, in his view, will prevent fatalities in the event of boat accidents.

Isnt it a good thing to teach the pupils how to swim? he asked on the Big Issue on TV3 Friday May 12.

His comments come after a boat carrying some pupils from Faana to Kelee in the Weija Gbawe Municipality capsized.

Nine pupils were killed, leaving only three survivors.

The Ghana Education Service (GES) commiserated with families of all the departed.

'With a heavy heart, Management expresses its deepest condolences to the bereaved families, and assure them that our hearts and prayers are with them in these trying moments.

3news.com
Resident doctors and fellows at University at Buffalo have voted to unionize, joining a nationwide movement to revamp the conditions, culture and compensation that physicians-in-training have long encountered.

Of those who cast ballots, 270 voted in favor of unionizing with the Union of American Physicians & Dentists, while 114 voted no. There also were 46 challenged ballots  not enough to sway the outcome, according to a count of the ballots at the National Labor Relations Board office in Buffalo on Thursday afternoon.

Dr. Armin Tadayyon, a second-year anesthesiology resident, called it a "great day for the future of medicine and patient-centered care," noting UB resident physicians are at their tipping points and working 80 hours a week while struggling to pay down student loans.

"With this unionization, we can now fight for a fair and just contract and advocate for our patients," he said.

A total of 799 interns (first-year residents), resident doctors and fellows at UB were eligible to vote in the mail-in election.

The residents and fellows are employed by University Medical Resident Services and staff hospitals across Western New York, including Buffalo General Medical Center; Oishei Children's Hospital; Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital; the Buffalo Veterans Administration Medical Center; Erie County Medical Center; Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center; and Catholic Health's hospitals.

'Overworked and underpaid': University at Buffalo resident doctors and fellows launch union campaign The group, which includes 810 residents, fellows and interns at UB, announced their intent to organize with the Union of American Physicians and Dentists.

The votes counted Thursday will need to be formally certified by the NLRB, and UB has seven days from the vote count to file any objections. Union representatives on Thursday said they plan to demand bargaining immediately because the election results were clear.

In a statement, UB's Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences said it was aware of the results and called its trainees "integral parts of the Western New York health care community."

"The Jacobs School and its graduate medical education programs remain committed to providing excellent patient care to the WNY community and a first-class education for our residents and fellows," the school said.

The unionization effort started more than a year ago, when residents and fellows received their contract and salaries for the then-upcoming academic year that began in July 2022.

University at Buffalo resident doctors, fellows begin voting in union campaign About 800 interns (first-year residents), resident doctors and fellows are eligible to vote in an election to join the Union of American Physicians & Dentists, with results scheduled to be announced May 12.

The residents and fellows have pointed out they make less than colleagues in similar cost-of-living cities, such as Rochester, Syracuse and Albany.

According to information on the UB Office of Graduate Medical Education's website, the annual salary for medical residents, as of Jan. 1, ranges from $57,492 for postgraduate year one to $65,067 for postgraduate year seven. And that salary doesn't change whether a resident works a 40-hour work week or up to the maximum 80 hours a week.

In past statements, UB's Jacobs School has noted the salaries posted online don't reflect the full picture. For example, UB fully pays health benefits for residents and fellows.
At a market outside Sudan's capital, where battles continue to rage, Ibrahim Abdelqadir sat for hours waiting for customers to buy his produce but by the end of the day, it remains unsold.

With fighting in Khartoum showing no signs of abating, small business owners are struggling to stay afloat.

Getting produce to market represents a significant challenge, let alone selling it -- with fuel prices skyrocketing 20-fold and trucks loaded with goods at risk of getting caught in the crossfire.

"Buyers are offering 2,000 Sudanese pounds ($3.40) for 10 kilograms (22 pounds) of tomatoes, which doesn't even cover the transport cost," said Abdelqadir at the Al-Kamlin market in Gezira state south of Khartoum.

"This is all because of the war," he said.

Deadly violence broke out on April 15 between forces loyal to Sudan's de facto leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who commands the army, and his deputy turned rival Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

At least 750 people have been killed and 5,000 wounded.

Significant challenges exist for Sudanese farmers getting produce to market, let alone selling it -- with fuel prices skyrocketing and trucks carrying goods at risk of getting caught in the crossfire. By - (AFP)

For Abdelqadir, who used to travel from Gezira, his home state, to Khartoum to sell his goods, the conflict has eroded his livelihood.

Many Sudanese, especially in the capital of five million residents, have been unable to afford the inflated prices required to escape, sheltering instead in their homes as they run desperately low on food and water supplies, amid frequent power cuts.

Al-Khatib Yasin, 40, grows peanuts in his village north of Khartoum and says he has "one problem: there are no more buyers".

Dashed hopes

Agriculture generates 35-40 percent of impoverished Sudan's gross domestic product, according to the World Bank, and employs 70-80 percent of the workforce in rural areas, according to the International Fund for Agricultural Development.

Hussein al-Amin, another farmer growing five acres of okra, says he made his last sales the day before the fighting erupted in Khartoum.

Since then, his crops have been left to rot.

Well before the conflict began, 65 percent of Sudan's population was already living below the poverty line, according to a 2020 UN report. By - (AFP)

"The crops are starting to go bad," said Amin, adding that severe fuel shortages made it difficult to water his fields.

"We hoped the war would stop quickly, but this seems far-fetched."

Well before the conflict began, 65 percent of Sudan's population was already living below the poverty line, according to a 2020 UN report.

Nearly 16 million people face severe food insecurity in Sudan, according to World Food Programme, which warned the fighting could plunge a further 2.5 million more into hunger.

Haram Adam had to abandon her Khartoum business selling tea with mint and aromatic coffees with ginger and cardamom.

The mother of three fled the fighting to Hasaheisa, a city some 120 kilometres (75 miles) south of Khartoum.

"My daily income used to be 100,000 Sudanese pounds... now it's no more than 10,000 pounds per day," she said, seated on the street near other women tea vendors.

Fearing the worst

Adam Eissa, a tailor, had to abandon his livelihood of three decades as his sewing machine was too heavy to bring with him when he fled Khartoum's fighting.

He now sits with a rented machine in the alleyways near shops in Hasaheisa, drinking coffee and waiting for business to trickle in.

"I had three sewing machines in my shop in Khartoum. Now I am renting one and paying rent for this new shop," he said, adding that he can barely cover the basic needs of his family of six.

Zaher Dafaallah, a former steel factory worker in Khartoum, had to change jobs entirely due to the war.

The fighting has seen tens of thousands of Sudanese fleeing to safety in neighbouring countries like Egypt, Chad, Ethiopia and Central African Republic. By - (AFP)

As the conflict continued the factory shut down and Dafaallah took his family to safety in a village south of the capital.

The fighting has seen around 200,000 Sudanese fleeing to safety in neighbouring countries like Chad, the UN refugee agency said Friday.

The agency, the UNHCR, had previously said it is bracing for "the possibility that over 800,000 people may flee the fighting in Sudan for neighbouring countries".

"I hope that the owners of the factory have not decided to leave Sudan permanently," Dafaallah said.
Director of Legal Affairs of the National Democratic Congres (NDC) Abraham Amaliba has said that the presidential and parliamentary primaries of the NDC will take place tomorrow Saturday, May 13 as scheduled.

Speaking to journalists after the withdrawal of the injunction application by a flagbearer aspirant, Dr Kwabena Duffuor, Mr Amaliba said As to whether the elections will take place or not, the party has already issued a press statement signed by the General Secretarythat that the elections are coming off tomorrow. I can announce to the whole of NDC fraternity that this election will take place tomorrow Saturday.

Lawyers of Dr Duffuor told the court on Friday, May 12 that they had been instructed by their client to discontinue the case.

Mr Amaliba who was in court told journalists that we are aware the matter has been discontinued, lawyers for Dr Duffuor announced to the court that they had instructions to discontinue the matter and so as we speak the matter has been discontinued.

I will like to use this opportunity to thank the Council of Elders of the party, National Chairman, General Secretary for the effort put in place in resolving this matter.

I also want to thank Dr Duffuor, the Presidential aspirant for his magnanimity and to accept to withdraw this matter from court. What this shows is that the NDC is united.

Dr Duffuor filed the injunction application at the High Court on Tuesday, May 9 seeking to stop the primaries over concerns about the electoral album.

The plaintiff avers that the partial delivery of the Photo Album to his representatives on 4th May 2023 was in itself out of time considering the magnitude of the verification exercise required of them before the internal elections of 13th May 2023, portions of the application said.

The campaign team Dr Duffuor earlier demanded postponement of the May 13 Presidential Primaries over what it describes as a flawed register.

A petition sent to the Electoral Commission, Ghana (EC) and Elections Committee of NDC on Monday, May 8, under the signature of Kofi Kukubor, the Head of Research and Strategy with the campaign team of Dr Duffuor, stated that an extensive review of the voters' register or photo album for 220 constituencies have identified several discrepancies that render the register incomplete or inaccurate.

The campaign team said going into the election with such a register undermines the credibility and integrity of the election and is capable of causing irreparable damage to the flagbearer hopeful Dr Kwabena Duffuor.

3news.com
President Nana Akufo-Addo has conceded that galamsey is still around and threatening the survival of Ghanaians.

At the natural resource stakeholders dialogue in Accra on Thursday, 11 May 2023, the president said: "Even though a lot has been achieved in this area between 2017 and 2021, illegal small-scale mining remains a challenge and continues to pose as a threat to our very survival."

"But," he noted, "we cannot rest while these illegalities still persist."

A few weeks ago, the presidency described as "hearsay" a 37-page galamsey report authored by Prof Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, who served as a minister of environment, science, technology and innovation as well as the chairman of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining, in which he named government appointees and officials at the presidency, of either supporting or being involved in galamsey.

Jubilee House said the report was a collection of personal grievances of the world-renowned heart surgeon in his galamsey fight.

One of those he named, Mr Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, a relative to President Nana Akufo-Addo, has sued the former minister for defamation.

Others, such as Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah and the Director of Operations at the Jubilee House, Mr Lord Commey, have denied being involved in galamsey or frustrating the fight against it.

Meanhwile, the attorney general has also said the report only contains the views of Prof Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng.

In Mr Godfred Dame's opinion, the former IMCIM chairman did not give the full perspective of things in the leaked report.

"I realise that even if the report made reference to Heritage Imperial  which you just brought up significantly, it omitted reference to the judgment that has been set aside and all that. I think that these are very important matters and all that," Mr Dame told Kojo Yankson in a yet-to-air interview.

"Preliminarily, I indicate or suggest that it is not the full perspective of issues that were addressed by the respected professor, and its just his view on certain matters," Mr Dame noted.

He, nonetheless indicated that "it is being put through the processes and I understand that there are some petitions at CHRAJ and Special Prosecutors office, and that is the process that we all have to subscribe to."

He insisted the report is the surgeon's view of things when asked if that description was fair.

"Yes, because even an as attorney general, when I take a matter to court, its my view on the matter, and many a time, the court does not subscribe to our view," he explained.

Mr Dame said "there were some convictions in the Eastern Region" relating to galamsey, explaining: "Two persons were sentenced to terms of, at least, 18 years.

"This morning, I confirmed with my Eastern regional head that [with] one of them, the conviction was set aside on appeal, and the convictions relating to one of them were affirmed."

"So, really, a report or a statement by the attorney general does not constitute evidence against any person. The evidence would have to be adduced before the proper forum. So, the statement set out in a report, emanating from a person respected, yes, in my view, has to be tested. There is no basis for a person to accord any sanctity to such a report," the Attorney General insisted.
[Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, May 10, 2023]: AATF has unveiled its new strategy for 2023-2027, that outlines an ambitious plan to enhance technology development and commercialization for farmers in Africa. With focus on Scaling for Impact, the strategy aims to achieve a prosperous, resilient, food and nutrition-secure Africa. The strategy complements key commitments to agricultural transformation as envisioned in the African Union Agenda 2063.

A key plank of the new strategy is the deployment of Next Generation (NextGen) agricultural technologies and a renewed focus on effective scaling to achieve transformation.

H.E. Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, former President Federal Republic of Nigeria and AATF Ambassador for Agriculture Technology in Africa expressed his pleasure with AATFs goal of a food-secure and economically vibrant Africa. He emphasized agricultures role in meeting the food needs of a growing global population in Africa that is estimated to reach 1.8 billion by 2035.

In a recorded speech to participants, Dr. Goodluck said he looked forward to spreading the message on the benefits of technology for Africas farmers, particularly smallholders. The long-term vision and objectives outlined in the AATF Strategic Plan 2023-2027 will build on our continental and global commitments to end hunger and poverty on this continent, he observed.

Speaking at the launch of the strategy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in May 2023, Dr Aggrey Ambali, the Chairperson, AATF Board of Trustees, noted that the organisation will place emphasis on improving existing technologies and transforming them into super NextGen technologies capable of effectively addressing the many challenges faced by African farmers due to emerging challenges in the region.

The launch marks an exciting moment for AATF as it re-energises for the future with learnings from the past and promises to ensure African farmers get a better, brighter future through results-based approaches, said Dr Ambali.

He reaffirmed AATF commitment in intensifying efforts to forge partnerships with like-minded organizations including governments, political leaders, scientists, development agencies, and farmers alike, to harness the latest advancements in Science, Technology, and Innovation (STI) for the promotion of sustainable agricultural transformation across the continent.

According to Dr. Canisius Kanangire, the AATF Executive Director, the organization will contribute to changing Africas agriculture through a three-tier approach of diversifying agricultural technologies and expanding frontiers for NextGen products in Africa; acceleration of commercialization and scaling of agricultural technologies; and promotion of a functional enabling environment for increased uptake of agricultural technologies and efficient markets.

Dr. Kanangire said the new strategy demonstrates AATFs renewed commitment to work closely with partners to continue providing farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa with practical technology solutions to overcome farm productivity constraints. The new strategy also expressly focuses on increasing the participation and benefits for youth and women in agriculture.

While delivering his goodwill message at the launch, Hon. Dr. Belete Molla, Cabinet Minister, Ministry of Innovation and Technology, Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, noted that Africa is no longer in the era of talking about embracing technologies, but rather choosing modern technologies that have been proven to transform economies.

Africa should aggressively invest in STI to cushion the continent from ravaging poverty that is still affecting most countries in the region, said Dr. Molla, adding that an Africa-led organisations such as AATF, is practically working to respond to agricultural challenges through technology and ultimately creating wealth for farmers in Africa.

In the last two decades, AATF has dedicated itself to promoting innovative agricultural technologies that address farmer productivity constraints, working with partners across the continent to access 24 innovative and cutting-edge agricultural technologies worth over US$650 million spread across 24 countries and reaching 4.8 million smallholder farmers with new interventions during the last five years.

About AATF (www.aatf-africa.org)

Founded in 2003 to address Africas food security prospects through agricultural technology, AATF believes that the agricultural sector is a key foundational pillar as Africa consolidates its economic growth and carves out its new position as a major global economic powerhouse and the next growth market in the world. It was formed in response to the need for an effective mechanism that would facilitate and support negotiation for technology access and delivery and formation of appropriate partnerships to manage the development & deployment of innovative technologies for use by smallholder farmers in SSA:
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has warned that Ghana should not do with its Bauxite and iron ore as the country did with its gold resources over the years.

Making reference to minerals mined in the country and how they are exported in their raw state without value addition, President Akufo-Addo assured that these minerals would no longer be exported out of Ghana in their raw state very soon.

President Akufo-Addo was speaking at the opening of a stakeholders dialogue on natural resource management, organised by the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL), in partnership with the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources in Accra on Thursday.

The President said all necessary laws and policy documents are being finalised on the exploitation, utilisation and management of crucial minerals in Ghana.

Retaining the minerals value chain, ensuring stricter enforcement of laws to tackle illegal activities in the mining and forest sectors, as well as eliminating barriers to effective land administration was a discussion among policymakers and stakeholders who have gathered in Accra.

President Akufo-Addo disclosed that the policy document initiated and being finalised by the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources on the exploitation, utilisation and management of crucial minerals in Ghana, would be tabled before Cabinet for consideration in the next few weeks.

I assure you that we will do whatever it takes to ensure that the exploitation and utilisation of these green minerals are done not only in an environmentally sound manner but also in a way that ensures optimum benefit to the people of Ghana, the president said.

This, we will never compromise, he added.

By Section 28 of the Ghana Integrated Aluminium Development Corporation (GIADEC) law and Section 30 of the Ghana Integrated Iron and Steel Development Corporation (GIISDEC) law, the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources is empowered to make regulations to ensure that no bauxite or iron ore in their raw state is exported out of the country after five years of the coming into force of these laws.

With the policies and measures we are putting in place, we intend to invoke these provisions of our laws and soon, bauxite and iron ore will longer be exported in their raw state from the country [Ghana].

We will ensure that the highest values of these minerals are retained in our country, President Akufo-Addo assured.
12.05.2023 LISTEN

Consultant Pathologist at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in the Ashanti Region, Professor Paul Poku Sampene Ossei says a recent study has found large quantities of heavy metals in the womb of women in the country.

The women, according to the renowned pathologist, are mostly found in illegal mining areas (galamsey) in the country.

The Associate Professor at Department of Pathology, School of Medical Sciences, KNUST observed that, the heavy metals found in women is as a result of illicit use of common metals in the extraction of gold, including mercury, cyanide and lead.

Speaking to Captain Koda on the Kumasi based OTEC 102.9 FM's morning show dubbed Nyansapo on Friday May 12, 2023, Prof Sampane noted that, these chemicals are mostly inhaled and ingested into the bloodstream of the miners and residents of mining communities causing irreversible health damage to them.

Profesor Sampene added that, children born in illegal mining areas are suffering cognitive impairment and other deformities due to the high use of heavy metals in gold extraction by galamsey operators.

"Children and infants can absorb up to 50% of these heavy metals when they inhale these substances or eat food contaminated by these heavy metals. Adults have the capacity to absorb 15-20 per cent of the metals.

The childs gastrointestinal tract has a very high affinity to all those metals, which includes lead, and these chemicals causes severe damage to the unborn children," he stated.

Call to stop Galamsey

Prof Sampene has therefore called for effective and pragmatic strategies to address the raging illegal mining activities in the country immediately.

He said illegal mining activities were not only affecting the health of the citizenry but the countrys forests water bodies and other social lives of the people.

If you look at the pollution of heavy metals, I dont think any single segment of society in this country can be isolated from the negative effects of galamsey.

"All sectors, including health, economics, environment and agriculture, are affected and thwarting the efforts of research and innovation and impeding all activities in the country," he emphasized.
Ghana's 2024 elections is set to revolve around the state of the economy and voters' financial well-being, with political analyst and private legal practitioner Kwame Jantuah stating that it will be a yardstick to determine the current government's ability to provide economic stability.

Speaking on TV3's morning show monitored by ModernGhana News, Mr Jantuah said the state of the Ghanaian economy, and whether Ghanaians can afford three square meals a day will be the deciding factor in the upcoming elections.

Elections 2024 is not got to do with individuals in the NDC. Its got to do with the state of the economy - that is where the elections will be fought. I dont see how this thing should create a problem for voters. Because they couldnt build A, they couldnt build B, we shouldnt vote for them - itll be peoples pocketsnobody should take the 2024 election for grantedits the economy, what people feel in their pockets, he stated.

According to Jantuah, the cost of living in Ghana has risen sharply in recent times, with many Ghanaians struggling to make ends meet. He also said, few days to the elections, Ghanaians will critically consider their pockets to make a decision as to whether government has stolen their monies.

Can they afford three-square meals a day? Can they pay school fees? Is the government stealing their money? These are some of the things the people will stand to vote on, he said.
Twitter is set to have a new CEO in the next six weeks, according to Elon Musk, the current CEO of the social media platform.

The announcement was made in a tweet on May 11, in which Musk also revealed that the new CEO will be a woman.

"Excited to announce that Ive hired a new CEO for X/Twitter. She will be starting in ~6 weeks! My role will transition to being exec chair & CTO, overseeing product, software & sysops," Mr. Musk wrote.

Although the identity of the new CEO has not been officially announced, sources suggest that Linda Yaccarino, the head of advertising at NBCUniversal, is tipped for the job.

Yaccarino has a wealth of experience in the media industry, having worked at NBCUniversal for over a decade.

She has been responsible for the company's advertising sales and client partnerships, making her a strong candidate for the role of CEO at Twitter.

Musk's tenure as CEO has been controversial, with many Twitter users critical of some of his decisions.

One of the issues that has caused concern is the removal of blue legacy account checkmarks in favor of Twitter's paid Blue option, which many say makes it difficult to verify authentic accounts.

Musk will now take on a new role as executive chairperson and chief technology officer, overseeing the product, software, and sysops of the platform.

This move is expected to allow the new CEO to focus on the day-to-day running of the platform and address some of the concerns that have been raised.

The news of a new CEO has been welcomed by many Twitter users, who are hopeful that the new leadership will bring positive changes to the platform.
The head of the electoral commission, Jean Mensa, cannot absolve herself of the blame for the political and economic catastrophe that has befallen our country because she is a component of this destructive regime. In actuality, she is the mastermind behind the entire tragedy and sorrow that has engulfed the country, causing despair, the collapse of enterprises, suicides, and a decline in both local and foreign investment. This Jezebel woman's hands will forever be stained with the innocent victims' blood.

Global economists and institutions, such as the International Monetary Fund, that keep an eye on economic and political developments, have noted that massive corruption, embezzlement, unmanageable debt, and egregious ineptitude are the main causes of Ghana's economy's downfall. Although the NPP government is given all the responsibility, many forget that Jean Mensa's tribal bigotry, incompetence, dishonesty, and lack of accountability, were the causes of our predicament.

Ghanaians will never have peace and suffering will never come to an end, so long as we have people like Jean Mensa, serving the failed and fallen kingdom of Akufo Addo and his political party.

It seems to me that you don't deserve to be named as the head of the Electoral Commission to serve Ghanaians, thus the phrase "someone like you" means a lot to me. Even though you were chosen to serve Ghanaians, you can admit that you are not doing anything for them. You are one of the hundreds of Ghanaian politicians who took an oath in the presence of the Bible promising to serve the people, but you disgraced God and the Bible by allowing the dust to settle on it and acting oppositely.

The host of 'Loud Silence TV,' Kevin Taylor, my favorite investigative journalist, has done the best that journalism can offer; he has exposed many politicians, including K. T. Hammond, the president, Akufo Addo, and others who have been passing themselves off as lawyers without certificates, but one thing that he hasn't done yet is to delve deeply into your educational background, Jean Mensa. From my perspective, I am confident that if he does that, he will probably find you with false credentials somewhere.

Yes, I agree that Miss or Mrs. Jezebel Adukwei Mensa shouldn't have been chosen to work for the electoral commission since she is a cold-blooded killer much like the president, Akufo Addo, who chose her. You are to blame for the innocent people who were killed in Asawaso; their parents are still in grief and inconsolable; while you enjoy time with your family, and waste taxpayers money by being guarded everywhere you go with soldiers or whatever.

In his time, did the police or the army accompany Afari Gyan? Not at all, no, Ghanaians didn't go through anything similar because he was a real person who was acting in the public interest, as opposed to you, who is a fake and a criminal who is shielded by the military around the clock. How can the world be free for Jesus Christ, who didn't do anything wrong to suffer like that? You will also soon experience your fair share of upcoming, unseen agony.

You will always be held accountable for the anguish, suffering, and pain you have brought upon Ghanaians, mothers, and fathers there, Jean Mensa. I've written about you in several articles, but never in such depth. You are a purely wicked individual who will reap the consequences of your evil deeds toward humanity, just as the person who appointed you has already done so and is now aware of his futility as a human being. This message to you will come to pass just like what I said to Akufo Addo did.

Your kingdom will follow very soon or in the latter part of your life as the false Akufo Addo has already collapsed, crashing to the ground like the statue of King Nebuchadnezzar. You can choose to disregard what I'm saying, but when things start to go sour in your life, you won't even remember that you have a bible in your room since the holy book that you swore an oath to can no longer be of any assistance due to the dust that has accumulated on it. Your only chance is to visit a fetish priest or a pastor, but none will be able to because it is already too late for you.

This article is direct to you as I envision sitting before you. My heart hasnt been so sad in such a manner, considering how you and NPP politicians have destroyed our country beyond remedy and it still hurts me when you dont realize the damage you have caused to humanity and yet, still havent changed and bent on to cause more harm and destruction to the populace, all because of corrupt power and the fear of paying for your crimes when a new government comes to power.

Even though you may not go to prison for your crimes under a new government, I am sure that fear and guilt will cut your life short. I dont know if you are married and have children if you have, I wonder what advice your husband or children tell you. In the latter days of your life, youll be devoured and wasted before them because they are also responsible for your satanic acts. Since you have ignored the suffering Ghanaians and chosen to serve Akufo Addo, youll get your share of all his disgrace and embarrassment.

The curses of those you have wronged and deeply hurt will hang over you for the rest of your life, and when your miserable career comes to an end and no domestic or foreign company will hire you or employ your children and family, at that point you'll fully understand the consequences of your Jezebel-rebellious attitude on earth and your failure before foreign ambassadors serving their nations in Ghana.
12.05.2023 LISTEN

Head of the Security Detail of Dr Kwabena Duffuor, James Agbey has tackled the special aide of Former President John Dramani Mahama , Joyce Bawah Mogtari for allegedly making an ethnocentric comment about Dr Duffuor.

Even though Madam Bawah Mogtari has denied making those comments, James Agbey said in a statement that In the said publication, Joyce Bawah Mogtari, who also speaks for John Mahama remarked that; It is always the Ashantis! Always causing problems with their unnecessary egos. This defeatist approach wont work. John Mahama is NDC and NDC is John Mahama

It is the most explosive tribal tirade ever. Very disingenuous, deplorable, treacherous and unacceptable, and I forcefully oppose this obvious denigration of the Ashantis. I am unnerved by her outburst, and her stance. Equally troubling is her assertion that John Mahama is the NDC and NDC is John Mahama.

Below is the full statement

For Immediate Release

Thursday 11th May 2023

Joyce Bawah Mogtari is anti-Ghanaian. She must be sacked from the NDC.

-

In a moment of Twitter madness last night, John Mahamas spokesperson, Joyce Bawah Mogtari made a daminng and explosive tribal conclusion that seeks to slander Ashantis and portray them as dangers to society.

In the said publication, Joyce Bawah Mogtari, who also speaks for John Mahama remarked that; It is always the Ashantis! Always causing problems with their unnecessary egos. This defeatist approach wont work. John Mahama is NDC and NDC is John Mahama

It is the most explosive tribal tirade ever. Very disingenuous, deplorable, treacherous and unacceptable, and I forcefully oppose this obvious denigration of the Ashantis. I am unnerved by her outburst, and her stance. Equally troubling is her assertion that John Mahama is the NDC and NDC is John Mahama.

Obviously, this ethnic and tribal sentimentalism being used as factional weapon in NDC by Mahama's spokesperson is geared towards the ostracization of hard working Ashantis in the NDC.

And this showed, once again, why the NDC have been struggling to win national elections since 2016.

Sadly, while Mahama is presiding over this toxic atmosphere in the party, the bigotry of his followers keep

growing and breeding further hatred, and hes doing nothing to restore dignity within the ranks of the party.

He has failed to call his aides, who have engaged in one irresponsibility or the other to order.

How can any reasonable NDC member reason that the Ashantis are the problem of the NDC simply because Dr Kwabena Duffuor is insisting on holding the party leadership accountable?

Again, how conveniently self-serving of Joyce Bawah Mogtari? She is following Mahama campaigning for votes in the Ashanti Region and at the same time calling Ashantis names?

Need I remind Joyce Bawah Mogtari that the NDC needs the Ashanti votes more than the Ashantis need the NDC?

Is she aware that without at least 30% of the Ashanti votes, the NDC can never win any national elections any more?

Joyce Bawah Mogtaris pathetic display of hysteria and freak show does not help the cause of the NDC and she must be sacked now if the party want to make any credible showings in the 2024 elections.

I am by this public statement calling on the National Executive Committee of the NDC to sack Joyce Bawah Mogtari from the party for bringing the name of the party into disrepute.

This is a woman who together with her husband have been feeding fat on the party. She was a minster of state while the husband occupied the CEO position of the Food and Drugs Board. Now, both husband and wife still want to continue to eat with both hands and so they are out there engaging in tribal sentimentalism.

It is a tragedy that in AD 2023, ethinic politics and the hatred for the Ashantis has re-entered the NDC mainstream politics through a toxic amalgam of spillover from vilification of Dr Kwabena Duffuor.

Surely, the NDC can do better than this, and recognise the fact that Joyce Bawa is a liability, and that she deserves to be sacked from the party.

To deny the Ashantis their rightful place in the NDC and national politics is to assault the values of freedom and justice for all.

Enough is enough!!

Signed:

James Agbey (NDC Operative, and head of Duffuor 2024 Security Detail)
This community and this nation must have difficult conversations about the historic racial inequities that created the conditions for last year's racist massacre in Buffalo, a panel of speakers said Friday.

"Racism and hate are part of our American story," said John B. King Jr., chancellor of the State University of New York system. And it's important to recognize that, he continued, despite efforts in other states to avoid teaching this painful part of the nation's psyche.

King, a former U.S. secretary of education, spoke at "Beyond Hate: A Panel Discussion," held Friday morning at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo. The event was the first of several organized by the 5/14 Remembrance Committee to mark the one-year anniversary of the horrific May 14 attack at the Tops Markets on Jefferson Avenue.

"It is a somber milestone. Our city is still grieving. Our city is still healing," Buffalo Mayor Byron W. Brown said in opening the event attended by about 600 people. A part of the healing process is us examining what caused the mass shooting in the first place: white supremacy and hate.

Panelists and a featured speaker over nearly three hours confronted the nations legacy of mistreatment of Black people; addressed how to put this individual act of racist violence in that needed larger context; and assessed what has and hasnt improved in Buffalo in the 12 months since the attack.

Melissa Harris-Perry, host of National Public Radios "The Takeaway" and a professor at Wake Forest University, moderated the discussion.

She introduced herself as a native of Charlottesville, Va., where extremists in 2017 led violent demonstrations, who is married to a man from New Orleans, scene of the devastating Hurricane Katrina floods that disproportionately harmed the citys Black residents.

I have a strong sense of what happens when your city becomes a hashtag, Harris-Perry said. And when outsiders and press parachute in, presuming they know your story  presuming they have the right pathway forward for you.

Harris-Perry asked Brown what he thought media coverage of the attack, which killed 10 Black people, missed.

Brown said he thought it didnt fully capture how the community came together instead of turning on itself in its rage and grief.

The full depth of how the community handled this horrible, horrible incident  the darkest day in the history of the City of Buffalo  was truly amazing, Brown said. And I think that really has to be lifted up.

In addition to King and Brown, the other panelists were two Buffalo-area natives: the Most Rev. Michael Curry, the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States, and Spelman College President Helene Gayle.

Curry said anger in response to the killings is more than understandable and it's crucial to face and transform this anger.

"Love begins with truth telling," Curry said, "and healing begins with truth telling."

Curry said he grew up in a Buffalo that he saw at its worst, a city where people struggled to overcome poverty and inequality, but he also saw acts of kindness and human decency.

I learned the capacity and power of love to heal, to save, to liberate, to set free  I learned about that here in Buffalo, N.Y., he said to applause.

Gayle, a pediatrician and epidemiologist by training, said the unresolved legacy of racism in a city like Buffalo made it fertile ground for the attack.

"There is something wonderful about the Buffalo community," Gayle said. "At the same time there are real issues that have not been dealt with."

Those issues include, Gayle said, the longstanding mistrust between Roswell Park, host of Fridays event, and the largely Black neighborhood nearby, something she said she discussed that morning with President and CEO Candace Johnson.

I had the opportunity to talk to the director a bit about this, how she's come in and has tried to really think about how to build a different relationship with this community, Gayle said.

King said one way SUNY is helping lead this conversation is by introducing a requirement that all students must take a course that wrestles with issues of diversity, social justice and inclusion.

And, so, were doing the opposite of Florida, right? King said, drawing laughs, a reference to Gov. Ron DeSantis campaign in that state against so-called woke indoctrination in public schools.

Harris-Perry asked Brown about the Kensington Expressway, built as an urban renewal project in the 1960s that cut through a thriving Black neighborhood.

Brown noted that billions of public dollars are in line to be spent to deck a portion of the expressway.

The mayor then brought up those who survived, but remain traumatized by, the Tops massacre. He linked the two under a broader point that any public funding must be spent in a way that, he said, benefits Black people that live in East Buffalo."

Its important, added Gayle, for the community to play a role in deciding where those dollars are spent.

The speakers also lamented the failure of the federal government to act to limit access to the kind of powerful weapons used by the Tops shooter.

Harris-Perry then led a conversation with the event's featured speaker, Ibram X. Kendi, the professor, anti-racism activist and author of numerous books including "How to be an Antiracist."

Kendi said he was in Buffalo in 2023 but he could just as well be sitting in Memphis, Tenn., in 1866 or Chicago in 1919  other communities victimized by racial terror, as he put it.

"I'm feeling not only connected to the Black community here, but I'm also feeling connected to Black communities over the course of history," he said.

Kendi said it was notable, over this history, that Black people most worried about a white mob invading their community, as in the case of the Tulsa Race Massacre in 1921.

But today, because of the availability of the assault rifle, there are lynch mobs of one, he said. And as a result, it's much harder for Black communities, for Jewish communities, for women, for communities that have historically been subjected to white supremacist terror, to recognize it and defend against it.
The Nordic Chapter of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) once again congratulates all aspirants for our upcoming elections on Saturday 13 May 2023. We wish you well and may the will of our distinguished delegates be the ultimate voice that reflects the outcome of the election.

There are many reasons why this years election is very crucial to the National Democratic Congress and the people of Ghana at large. The Elephant in the room, obviously, is the huge economic challenges that we are faced with as a country due to the irresponsible, incompetent, and cluelessness of the Akuffo Addo - Bawumia government. We cannot, as a country, afford to allow this corrupt and incompetent leadership to continue in 2025. Therefore, our election on Saturday is very critical.

It is of utmost importance that our election is free, fair, and peaceful, devoid of violence, intimidation, or anything that will tarnish the integrity of our electoral process. Lets safeguard the envious democratic values we hold as a party. The whole country is watching us. The Nordic Chapter of the NDC has absolute confidence in our delegates and aspirants, and we affirm our unwavering support to the democratic process of the election. We have no doubt that in the end NDC will emerge the winner.

This internal election is the beginning of our journey to win the 2024 election and take power from an incentive Akuffo Addo - Bawumia government. It is paramount that our conduct before, during and after the election is one that brings unity and togetherness to the party. After all is done and gone, lets quickly come together, iron out our differences, regroup, unite and be ready to conquer 2024. The reckless elephant in front of us can only be removed through a united front.

The Nordic Chapter is with you as we make history, again. Remember, Your Vote, Your Voice, Our Peace. Long live the NDC! Long live Ghana.

Yours sincerely,

Patrick Osei

Chairperson,

NDC-NORDIC CHAPTER (DENMARK, FINLAND, NORWAY & SWEDEN)
Iran on Friday released two French citizens jailed in separate cases and they are both now returning to France, the French Foreign Minister said.

Bernard Phelan, who also holds Irish nationality, and Benjamin Briere, were freed from their prison in the north-eastern city of Mashhad and are "on their way to France", Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said in a statement published by the Foreign Ministry.

The pair were among some two dozen foreigners jailed in Iran who campaigners see as hostages held in a deliberate strategy by Tehran to extract concessions from the West.

French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted: "Free at last. Benjamin Briere and Bernard Phelan will be reunited with their loved ones. It's a relief. I greet their release. Thank you to everyone who was involved in it. We will continue to work for the return of our fellow countrymen still detained in Iran."

Phelan, 64, a Paris-based travel consultant, was arrested in October in Mashhad and has been held ever since.

In April, he was jailed for six and a half years on national security charges strongly rejected by his family.

Phelan's family had said his health deteriorated considerably in detention. Phelan went on a dry hunger strike in January to protest his detention but stopped the action at the request of his family, who feared he would die.

Briere, 37, was first detained while travelling in Iran in May 2020 and later sentenced to eight years in prison for espionage.

He was then acquitted by an appeals court but remained in prison in a situation deemed "incomprehensible" by his family.

Held like Phelan in the prison of Vakilabad in Mashhad, Briere also went on hunger strikes to protest his conditions.

Four more French citizens, described previously as "hostages" by the French foreign ministry, are still being held in prison by Iran.

Colonna said she had spoken earlier Friday to her Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir Abdollahian and made clear "France's determination to ensure that the other French citizens still detained in Iran also rapidly regain their full freedom."

The Iranian foreign ministry also said the two had spoken by telephone about the release of Briere and Phelan, which it described as a "humanitarian action".

(with wires)
The Malian army and foreign fighters executed at least 500 people during an anti-jihadist operation in Mali in March 2022, according to a much-awaited UN report released on Friday.

The figures by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)'s "fact-finding report" amount to the worst atrocity the Sahel country has experienced since a jihadist insurgency flared in 2012.

It is also the most damning document yet against Mali's armed forces and their foreign allies.

Their nationality is not explicitly identified in the report, although Mali has brought in Russians that western countries and others say are Wagner mercenaries.

Describing events that unfolded in the central town of Moura between March 27-31 2022, the OHCHR said it had "reasonable grounds to believe that at least 500 people were killed in violation of norms, standards, rules and/or principles of international law".

The victims were "executed by the FAMa (Malian Armed Forces) and foreign military personnel" who had complete control over the area, it said.

The report was published after a lengthy investigation by the human rights division of the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali, Minusma.

Around 20 women and seven children were among those killed, while evidence suggests 58 women and girls were victims of rape and other forms of sexual violence, the report said.

Acts of torture were carried out on people who had been detained, it added.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk called the findings "extremely disturbing".

"Summary executions, rape and torture during armed conflict amount to war crimes and could, depending on the circumstances, amount to crimes against humanity," he said in a statement.

Wagner

Mali is ruled by a military junta which in 2020 toppled the country's elected president amid protests over the failure to roll back the jihadists.

Since then, the junta has brought in Russian operatives and warplanes to help its beleaguered armed forces and severed ties with France, the country's traditional ally.

It says the Russians are providing military training and denies accusations that they are Wagner mercenaries.

The UN report does not explicitly say who the foreign fighters were.

However, it cites Malian official statements on Russian military "instructors," as well as comments attributed to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wagner's presence in Mali.

The report also cites local testimony, collected by UN investigators, describing the foreigners as white men in fatigues speaking an "unknown" language  indicating they were not speaking French, the official language, or English.

Witnesses said the foreign soldiers "supervised" the operations, according to the report.

Bloodbath

Moura, in the Mopti region of central Mali, has for years been known as a stronghold of the Katiba Macina, a group affiliated with the Al-Qaeda-linked Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM).

The report details the arrival of Malian soldiers and their allies, supported by five helicopters, in the late morning on March 27, 2022.

A livestock fair had that day attracted thousands of civilians who had come to buy supplies in preparation for Ramadan.

About 30 Katiba Macina members were mingling with the fairgoers and civilians that day, the report said.

A helicopter reportedly opened fire "indiscriminately" in the direction of the market, and the jihadists returned fire.

Around 30 people, including a dozen jihadists, were killed.

The Malian army took control of the area within a few hours and arrested around 3,000 people, rounding them up in four locations, according to the report.

They reportedly continued to sweep the area in the following days.

Malian soldiers and their allies "allegedly selected several hundred people who were summarily executed over at least four days," the report said.

The men executed were allegedly chosen on the basis of signs such as having long beards.

The victims were reportedly buried in mass graves.

Minusma tensions

On April 1, 2022, the junta described the events in Moura as a successful anti-jihadist operation that had put 203 "terrorists" out of action.

But five days later, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in the report "Mali: Massacre by Army, Foreign Soldiers" that 300 civilian men, some of them suspected jihadists, were summarily killed. White foreigners, identified by several sources as Russian, took part, it said.

A Malian military court prosecutor announced an investigation in April 2022.

The new report comes as the UN is preparing to consider whether to renew the mandate of the 10-year-old MINUSMA mission.

The Malian authorities frequently attack MINUSMA'S activities in the field of human rights, and earlier this year expelled the head of its rights division.

The report is based on a seven-month investigation between March and October 2022 and on 157 individual interviews and 11 group interviews.

The junta persistently denied access to Moura for the investigators, apart from one initial flyover.

(with wires)
Inusah Fuseini, a former Member of Parliament for Tamale Central has said Dr. Kwabena Duffour, a flagbearer hopeful for the NDC, has destroyed his chance to lead the party.

Fuseini made this statement in an interview with JoyNews monitored by ModernGhana News after Dr. Duffour instructed his lawyers to withdraw an injunction case in court.

According to Mr. Fuseini, Kwabena Duffours fate after this action, you dont need to look far to see that hes destroyed any remote chance that he had to lead the party."

He added that the people are "livid" about Duffour's actions causing some disaffection towards him.

He said, You need to go to the grounds and hear what people are saying. People are livid. They have been waiting for this time for a very long time. Theyve been preparing since the (NDC) party lost the elections in 2020. The party has since embarked on reorganisation of the party to elect someone who can lead us to the 2024 elections. So all the preparations towards 2024 appear to have been put on hold because of a single action by Dr. Duffour which could have been resolved. This has made the people simply livid. I think that the earlier he gets his people the better.

Fuseini also revealed that there was a scripted attempt by the party to have the matter heard yesterday at 3pm but Duffour's people were not cooperating with the elders of the party.

Again, my information is that, yesterday there was a scripted attempt by the party to get the matter further abridged to be heard yesterday at 3pm and Dr, Kwabena Duffours people said they were not prepared. So clearly, is it a time wasting venture? What did they seem to achieve?

One of the three aspirants for president, Dr. Duffuor filed an injunction in court on Tuesday restraining the party from holding the May 14 presidentialandparliamentaryelections.

Due to the ongoing legal challenge, the Electoral Commission said it will not oversee the NDC elections.

The NDC expects election observers, including the EC, to conduct and monitor the elections, according to Fiifi Fiavi Kwetey, the party's general secretary.

With the injunction withdrawn the party is set to go ahead with the elections as planned.
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has denied claims by some members of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) that it is behind the injunction filed against their upcoming primaries.

The Director of Legal Affairs of the NDC, Abraham Amaliba in an interview on Accra-based TV3s Big Issue on Friday, accused the NPP of interfering in the NDC primaries.

He quizzed, "We know they are sponsoring these things. Nana Obiri Boahen said he foresees a court case, truly, it has come to pass. Is Nana Obiri Boahen a soothsayer?"

However, NPP Communications Director Richard Ahiagba said it was 'irresponsible and laughable' for the NDC to blame the NPP for their own problems.

According to him, the opposition party is just incompetent in handling their own elections.

In a tweet on Friday, Ahiagba said "The idea that the NPP is behind the NDC's incompetent handling of their internal election processes is irresponsible and laughable.

"The NDC must tell Ghanaians just how the NPP from its Headquarters, is preventing the NDC from compiling a credible delegates list, album, or whatever they choose to call it," he added.
A Ghanaian man living in Columbus, Ohio has been arrested and charged with murder for allegedly shooting dead a 53-year-old man.

Kenneth Baffour and Joseph Mansaray have been charged for the alleged murder of Edgar Romero-Gutierrez who was found liveless in the North Columbus area on April 29.

Baffour, a Ghanaian national, turned himself in to Columbus Police after a warrant was issued for his arrest, according to an update from the police on Thursday, May 11.

Columbus Police have charged two suspects with murder who are responsible for the deadly shooting of a 53-year-old man in north Columbus, the Columbus Police Division announced on Facebook.

On April 29, 2023, Columbus Police officers were dispatched to the 2200 block of Webster Canyon Ct. on a reported shooting. Officers located Edgar Romero-Gutierrez suffering from a gunshot wound. Responding medics pronounced the victim dead at the scene, the police added.

Before his arrest, the Baffour's whereabout was not known.

The Columbus Police Homicide Bureau had urged anyone with knowledge about Baffours whereabouts to contact them.

Central Ohio Crime Stoppers was also offered a cash reward for information leading to Baffours arrest.

Baffour eventually surrendered to police, and he and Mansaray are now being held in police custody pending further investigation into the shooting.

Their motive, according to the police, remains unknown.

Find the statement from the Columbus Police Division below;

SUSPECTS IDENTIFIED IN NORTH COLUMBUS HOMICIDE

Columbus Police have charged two suspects with murder who are responsible for the deadly shooting of a 53-year-old man in north Columbus. A warrant for the arrest of Kenneth Baffour has been filed. SWAT officers were able to arrest Joseph Mansaray without incident.

On April 29, 2023, Columbus Police officers were dispatched to the 2200 block of Webster Canyon Ct. on a reported shooting. Officers located Edgar Romero-Gutierrez suffering from a gunshot wound. Responding medics pronounced the victim dead at the scene.

Anyone with information about the whereabouts of Kenneth Baffour is asked to call the Columbus Police Homicide Bureau at (614) 645-4730. Tips can also be made to Central Ohio Crime Stoppers at (614) 461-TIPS.

UPDATE ON 5/11/2023: Kenneth Baffour, the Ghanaian and second suspect charged in this homicide, turned himself into a Columbus Police facility.
The Youth Arise Organisation (YAO) recently wrapped up its fifth annual Sharpening Your Saw Conference, aimed at training youth workers from various universities across Ghana.

Hosted at the Commonwealth Hall on the University of Ghana campus, the five-day event ran from Tuesday, May 2, to Saturday, May 6, 2023, with approximately 155 attendees hailing from all 16 regions of the country.

Themed "The Generational Mandate," the conference featured a keynote address by YAO's Global Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Moses Baffour Awuah, who charged young people to develop their leadership skills and take on critical roles in Ghana, Africa, and beyond.

Mr. Awuah urged participants to use their time, talents, and skills to serve others and live purposeful lives.

Attendees spoke glowingly about the conference, praising the enlightening sessions and workshops they experienced. Lina Asante Boakye, a student from the University of Cape Coast, noted how the conference emphasized the importance of maintaining one's values and principles in a rapidly changing world.

Kofi Agyemang Gambrah, a participant from Kumasi Technical University, cited a quote from Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, urging attendees to be prepared for the special moments in life that require one's unique talents.

YAO has established a system of agencies to help fulfil its generational mandate and contribute to the world's seven spheres of influence.

At the conference's climax, agency heads and national leaders of YAO were inducted into office.

Story by Samuel Nii Adjetey, student-UniMAC-GIJ
12.05.2023 LISTEN

A Deputy Communications Director of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Ernest Owusu Bempah has criticized the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for the issues that have characterized the conduct of the presidential and parliamentary election which have resulted in the injunction application filed by a flagbearer aspirant Dr Kwabena Duffuor.

Portions of Dr Duffuors application said.The plaintiff avers that the partial delivery of the Photo Album to his representatives on 4th May 2023 was in itself out of time considering the magnitude of the verification exercise required of them before the internal elections of 13th May 2023,

The campaign team Dr Duffuor earlier demanded postponement of the May 13 Presidential Primaries over what it describes as a flawed register.

A petition sent to the Electoral Commission, Ghana (EC) and Elections Committee of NDC on Monday, May 8, under the signature of Kofi Kukubor, the Head of Research and Strategy with the campaign team of Dr Duffuor, stated that an extensive review of the voters register or photo album for 220 constituencies have identified several discrepancies that render the register incomplete or inaccurate.

Commenting on this issue in a press statement, Mr Owusu Bempah said In fact, I have never doubted the NDCs incompetence, and their insistence on not following the rules of engagement regarding their own elections really jumps at me. It also shows a fundamental disdain for the concept of accountability. If the NDC as a political organisation can do this to themselves in their intra-party elections, do they expect the Electoral Commission(EC) to be fair to them in the run-up to election 2024?

Can the NDC accuse the EC of electoral malfeasance and corruptible conduct when the party is trapped in the same scheme in its own backyard all in an attempt to give Mahama an undue advantage over other candidates?

What is the point of intra-party politics and leadership if they cant even publicly correct the record when they are wrong?

Below is his full statement:

Mahama and the NDC experiment is a failure. Ghanaians must not take them serious

The depths the National Democratic Congress (NDC) have plumbed and still they continue to drag themselves lower is hilarious to say the least.

Justifiably, the NDC have long since abandoned even the slightest pretence of trying to look better, nor speak anything remotely truthful. Their sole goal is to appease their cult leader, John Mahama and lie all they can while they can.

Sadly, for the NDC, one of their own, Dr Kwabena Duffuor isnt playing with his presidential bid.

Duffuor has formally injuncted the NDC presidential primaries slated for Saturday, 13th May, 2023.

The charges against the NDC as alleged by Dr Kwabena Duffuor include the inability of the party to compile accurate voters register for the elections.

Dr Kwabena Duffuor is also accusing the NDC leadership of siding with Mahama to desecrate the integrity of the partys internal election process.

This is incredible. Isnt it?

Mahama is out there promising to come back and govern compassionately with integrity, and accountability. And yet hes supervising corruption and rigging machinery regarding the NDCs intra-party elections?

How can these NDC people run a country if they cant analyse, compile and put together a solid election data and their own internal collation system?

Is the inaccuracies, the impersonation and the bloted register of the NDCs own intra-party elections that Dr Duffuor is accusing them of, a dress rehearsal for election 2024?

Is this what the NDC is planning for election 2024?

First, it was their inability to collate their own election results and now the compilation of a mere party register has exposed their incompetence.

What exactly is the Mahama NDC planning to offer Ghanaians?

In fact, I have never doubted the NDCs incompetence, and their insistence on not following the rules of engagement regarding their own elections really jumps at me. It also shows a fundamental disdain for the concept of accountability. If the NDC as a political organisation can do this to themselves in their intra-party elections, do they expect the Electoral Commission(EC) to be fair to them in the run-up to election 2024?

Can the NDC accuse the EC of electoral malfeasance and corruptible conduct when the party is trapped in the same scheme in its own backyard all in an attempt to give Mahama an undue advantage over other candidates?

What is the point of intra-party politics and leadership if they cant even publicly correct the record when they are wrong?

When you think about it, this is just the tip of the iceberg.

The malaise and the incompetence goes deeper  to the absence of a purpose beyond clearing up the mess they have found themselves in. If the Mahama NDC has a vision of what to achieve in government, its fulfilment lies across a slurry pit filled with the incompetence in handling their internal elections.

Quite frankly, the NDC have no answers to anything which benefits society. What they have are prompts from paid agitators on how to harness the necessary lying propaganda so that the self-serving mendacious egos of Mahama and friends are voted for by the duped and the deluded.

The Greek philosopher Plato once said that worse than an absence of direction is the loss of any sense of direction. That is exactly the crisis that the NDC has found itself in. They have no sense of direction and desperately trying to stay relevant by engaging in theatrics.

Its time we got rid of these shysters permanently.

Ernest Kofi Owusu Bempah Bonsu

(Deputy Director of Communications, NPP)
12.05.2023 LISTEN

The international community needs to understand the reality of military confrontations currently taking place in Sudan and to take serious note of the heinous crimes against humanity being committed by the mutineer. Rapid Support Forces (RSF), under the leadership of Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemmeti) and members of his direct family.

Since they fired the first bullet on the morning of April 15, throwing the country into a war that the Sudanese government has long sought to avoid for the good of the Sudanese people, RSF has been committing grave atrocities against civilians, diplomats and public amenities.

To put the crisis currently unfolding in Sudan in perspective, we have to look into how RSF came into existence and why it became a threat to the very survival of Sudan as a nation -state and the regional security.

Created in 2013 as the Border Guard to help the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) protect Sudans long and porous borders, RSF evolved into a sort of special force characterized by high mobility and flexibility.

By 2017, the Parliament passed an act making it a part of the regular armed forces that operates under the command of SAF and tasked to help fighting outlawed armed groups and human trafficking syndicates, besides its original mandate; protecting the countrys international borders.

The rise of Dagalo Dynasty:

When the Omer Al-Bashir Government was ousted in April 2019, following the victorious 18th December 2018 Revolution, the manpower of the RSF had been around 20,000 armed with light weapons and largely confined to the border states.

However, with Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, becoming Vice Head of the Transitional Council, formed in April 2019, following his decision to side with the Revolution, most of RSF personnel were brought to Khartoum, under the pretext of protecting their leader. Simultaneously a process

of mass recruitment into the RSF began and saw the total number of its soldiers grow to fivefold, with the introduction of new weaponry similar to what traditional armies have.

There is growing evidence that large numbers of citizens of neighboring countries were recruited, along specific ethnic lineages and including children. Holders of foreign IDs were found among those who were killed or captured fighting alongside the RSF in the past two weeks. In the same time the leadership of RSF, now exclusively entrenched in the hands of the Dagalo Dynasty (the deputy Commander of RSF is Hemmatis brother while all other key posts are occupied either by his other siblings or cousins), accumulated mass wealth through taking control of major gold mines in Darfur and exporting fighters to Yemen and Libya, along with other business enterprise run by the family.

One nation, two armies?

With the signing of the, Framework Agreement, on December 5, 2022, between the military component, and a number of political forces, in preparation for the formation of a Civilian Transitional Government, the issue of integrating the RSF into the national army has emerged as a contentious issue. The RSF leadership insisted to remain a separate army parallel to the SAF for at least 10 years. The SAF maintains to complete the merger within two years inly. The rationale was that the existence of a single professional national army that monopolizes the use of weapons and protects civil rule, is a prerequisite for the establishment of a sound democratic system.

Amidst this fierce disagreement, the RSF began to mobilize large numbers of its forces, fully and heavily armed, in various parts of the capital, Khartoum and its environs, and some other cities including Merowi in the far North, where there are an international airport and important military base, without the approval of or mere coordination with the Command of SAF in an act of defiance.

On April 13, thus, the Sudanese army warned against the deployment of Rapid Support Forces (RSF) without its consent in the capital Khartoum and in the town of Merowi.

RSF fires the 1st bullet:

The unfortunate course of events, which began on Saturday, April 15, 2023 is, therefore, a result of mutiny by the RSF and its unprovoked attacks on several strategic locations in the capital and some other cities, beginning with an attack by the RSF on the residence of the President of the Transitional Sovereign Council/Commander in Chief of the SAF, located within the complex headquarters of the General Command of the Armed Forces.

The attack took place on the same day that a scheduled meeting between the President of the Transitional Sovereignty Council, the Commander-in-Chief of SAF and the Commander of the RSF was to take place, in an attempt to settle the disagreement on the question of integrating

RSF in SAF. This is clear evidence of RSFs premeditated plan to seize power and take control of the national army.

The Armed Forces; were therefore, left with no option but to respond with full force to the aggressors driven by their national duty and responsibility to provide security to the population, which is the sovereign right and responsibility of any army, and to repel the attack and drive the RSF out of the vicinity of the General Command headquarters and other headquarters that the rebels attempted to capture, such as the Republican Palace, Khartoum Airport, and the National Radio and Television Station.

The President of the TSC and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces has issued a decree to dissolve the RSF due to their insurgency, declaring them an anti-state rebel group that will be dealt with on that basis.

In the ongoing clashes with the disbanded remnants of the RSF, the armed forces have adopted a combat strategy to minimize casualties and damage among civilians and to private and public property. In addition, the competent authorities have taken all necessary measures to protect all premises and staff of diplomatic missions accredited in Khartoum.

Targeting the civilians:

After being defeated in the direct military confrontation, RSF resorted to methods of urban terrorism to terrify the population to give in for unsatisfied thirst for power.

Due to its lack of sufficient training in the fields of international humanitarian law and the internationally agreed on rules of engagement and in the light of its hasty massive enlargement, the mutineer RSF committed an incredible number of serious violations against civilians. Below are just few examples:

Detaining the families of senior officers of the armed forces, senior state officials and university professors residing in the Airport neighborhood next to the Complex of SAF General Command, including women and children, as hostages, and using them as human shields in the worst forms of terrorism.

Attacking civilian aircraft at Khartoum Airport and passengers, killing some of them and taking others hostage.

Occupying hospitals and turning them into military bases, forcing medical staff to treat their wounded fighters while ignoring ordinary patients.

Breaking into the homes of ordinary citizens and expelling them to use their homes for military actions, or detaining them as human shields; while using rooftops as sites for snipers. In some cases, the process of storming the private homes of citizens was filmed and presented as a military victory by falsely claiming that it was the residences of members of the Sovereign Council.

Stealing citizens cars and private property.

Establishing random and illegal checkpoints, targeting certain groups of citizens, confiscating government vehicles, and kidnapping and killing medical staff.

Looting banks, stores, private and public companies.

Occupation of some hotels, clubs and halls.

Occupying police stations, attacking prisons, and releasing criminals and detainees.

Targeting basic service centers, such as water, electricity and communications stations, hospitals and an oil refinery in an intentional strategy to inflicting maximum suffering on civilians.

Though protected by international law and the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, diplomatic missions in Khartoum are not exempt from mutineer RSFs atrocities. Here are some instances:

Assaulting the Ambassador of the European Union in his residence on April 17, 2023.

Attacking the French Embassy evacuation convoy on April 22, 2023.

Killing the Assistant Administrative Attache at the Egyptian Embassy on April 23, 2023.

Shooting at a US Embassy vehicle.

Assaulting the Malaysian Ambassador and stealing his car.

Numerous attacks on the headquarters of Diplomatic Missions, and shooting of bullets at the Indian Embassy in the Amarat area, Street 1, in addition to multiple reports from the embassies of Korea, Switzerland, Russia, Ethiopia, Yemen, Syria, Morocco, Spain, stationing the rebel militia forces near the headquarters of these Missions, and smashing their external surveillance cameras, in addition to the notification of the Korean Ambassador requesting evacuation of members of his community, due to rebel attack on his residence, and the destruction of protection caravans outside the headquarters of the Mission.

As a result of these irresponsible acts, the humanitarian situation has deteriorated especially in parts of the capital city. The clashes have caused a large number of civilians to move from their areas to other, safer cities and regions of Sudan. Living conditions in general are also worsened due to the food shortages, insecurity and lack of medical supplies, electricity, and potable water.

Currently, as the Government observes the 63-day ceasefire, the relevant authorities in Sudan are working tirelessly to improve the humanitarian situation by providing assistance to those affected, restoring and improving basic services such as health care, electricity and drinking water, and enhancing security.

It is pertinent to indicate that the government of Sudan including SAF have taken serious and pivotal measures to address the humanitarian suffering since the first day of the confrontations; these measures include the following:

Adoption of a combat strategy aimed at minimizing casualties and damage among civilians and private and public properties, even if this will delay the complete defeat of rebel forces.

The President of the Transitional Sovereignty Council and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces issued a decision pardoning all officers and soldiers of the RSF who lay down their arms.

The Sudanese Armed Forces, in cooperation with various national institutions, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, have succeeded in evacuating foreign nationals and diplomatic missions from more than 40 countries.

I would like to conclude by quoting a Foreign Policy article by Yasir Zaidan on April, 24, 2023 entitled Hemetis Rise in Sudan Is a Threat to Regional Stability, quote:

The best outcome of the ongoing war would be the Sudanese Armed Forces eliminating the RSF to prevent a second Somali scenariowhere militants have long vied with the state for controlin a volatile region. Therefore, the international and regional actors should avoid addressing the fight in Sudan as a fight between two generals. Instead, it is a fight between the remains of national state institutions against a tribal, corrupt militia founded by the Bashir dictatorship. Unquote

By: The Executive Director, Centre for Creative Leadership Africa (CCLA),

Mr. Adil Awadelseed, The Charge daffaires of the Embassy of the Republic of Sudan.
12.05.2023 LISTEN

Every now and then someone sends me a really grotesque video portraying human nature at its nadir. Some of these videos are the stuff of which nightmares are concocted. Having previously heard the story of about some vigilantes who took the law into their own hands in Haiti did little to prepare me for the horror of the human immolation so graphically recoded and circulated by witnesses of this latest episode in the ongoing tragic saga of the people of Haiti.

According to the news reports addressing the incident, a mob in Port Au Prince, the capital of Haiti, beat and burnt 13 suspected gang members to death. The men were reportedly pulled from police custody at a traffic stop. After being beaten and stoned, the men were set ablaze using tyres and gasoline. In the macabre video, some victims could be seen fighting desperately to escape the devouring flames. For pure shock value, this video beats hands down anything that Hollywood has ever been able to devise.

This act of vigilante justice further underscores the growing need for a strong military force to restore calm and peace to the badly battered and besieged nation of Haiti. The post-revolutionary history of the people of Haiti has been filled with suffering, misery, betrayal, and death. The tragedy in Haiti commenced after the Haitian people defeated the almost unstoppable armies of Napoleon Bonaparte. Haiti was immediately transformed into a pariah state.

In 1825, France recognized the independence of Haiti after extorting in excess of 100 million francs from the Haitian people. The French demand for reparations from the Haitian people was as ridiculous as the notion of Germany seeking reparations from the Allies after being defeated in World War I. The concept of the spoils going to the victor was turned on its head and the Haitian people were forced to pay reparations to the French after enduring centuries of exploitation and suffering at their hands.

The crippling debt imposed by France on Haiti sabotaged any possibility of Haitian economic development. The pariah status of the nation especially in its early history also helped to significantly retard the economic development of the island. Haiti devolved from being the wealthiest and most profitable colony in the world to becoming the sick man of the Western Hemisphere.

People of African ancestry both on the continent and in the Diaspora have been quite content to stand on the sidelines and watch Haiti implode. Totally oblivious to the deep meaning the Haitian revolutions encapsulates for all Black people, we have turned our backs to the plight of our kith and kin on the island of Haiti. Some of us have gone so far as to join those who chant the chorus that Haitis misfortunes stem from a pact made by the island with the Devil.

Those of us who are mindful of history would remember that troops from the Caribbean have fought in both noble and ignoble causes in Africa. Cuban troops fought alongside freedom fighters in Angola, Mozambique, and Guinea Bissau. African leaders are currently reminding the world that it was nations like Cuba and the Soviet Union that came to Africas assistance in their independence struggles.

The support that some African leaders are currently extending to Russia is a quid pro quo for the role played by the Soviet Union in the African independence struggles. There is a real possibility that Africans could enter the Ukrainian theater of warfare on the side of the Russians. This of course brings me to my main point which centers on the role the African Union can play in the ongoing tragedy in Haiti.

In January of 2008 the executive Council of the African Union suggested that the African Diaspora be treated as Africas sixth region. A call for the involvement of the African Union in the affairs of Haiti is therefore nothing out of the ordinary. Haiti is a part of the sixth region of the African Union and as such deserves the attention of the African Union. The deployment of African troops in conjunction with armed units from CARICOM to Haiti may very well prove to be the balm needed to restore calm and security in Haiti.

The US, France and other European powers have historically been a part of the problem in Haiti. Involving these nations in the ongoing Haitian crisis will only result in more of the same in the near future. The Monroe Doctrine and its Corollary need to be tested. The Caribbean is not the playground of the US neither should Caribbean nations allow the US or the former European colonial powers to dictate who should be chosen to act as mediators in crises in the Caribbean.

Mother Africa needs to set her house in order. Kwame Nkrumahs dream which envisaged a continental army under the control of the United States of Africa may have receded into oblivion but that dream or one of its derivatives still constitutes the best hope for the African continent. The global scramble for resources demands that Mother Africa be prepared to defend her territory from outside aggression. Mother Africa must also evolve to a position of strength that would enable her to meaningfully engage in the affairs of her children in the Diaspora.

Lenrod Nzulu Baraka is the founder of Afro-Caribbean Spiritual Teaching Center and the author of The Rebirth of Black Civilization: Making Africa and the Caribbean Great Again

By

Lenrod Nzulu Baraka
Jamestown police are looking for a 34-year-old man following a woman's death and two early morning fires Thursday in the city.

Jamestown Police Chief Timothy Jackson described Michael C. Burham as armed and dangerous, and warned members of the public to avoid approaching him.

"If anyone has any information as to his whereabouts, please contact us immediately," Jackson said during a news conference, which was published by WGRZ-TV.

Authorities provided no specific information about Burham's alleged connection to the incidents, which began with the discovery of a fire at about 4 a.m. inside Danielson Oil Co., 258 Crescent St.

Shortly thereafter, Jackson said, police were called to 125 Williams St. for a report of an unresponsive female who turned out to be dead. Then, at about 4:33 a.m. officers were sent to a northside address in the city for a reported vehicle fire.

Jamestown Police Capt. Bob Samuelson identified Burham as a suspect.

Jackson said all of the incidents remain under investigation by Jamestown police and several other investigating agencies inside and outside of Chautauqua County.

He said police have already received dozens of tips in the case, which led to authorities locating a 2018, red Dodge Ram pickup truck in Warren, Pa., that Burnham was believed to have been operating.

Chautauqua District Attorney Jason Schmidt said the district attorney in Warren County, Pa., assisted his office in getting a search warrant filed. Otherwise, Schmidt said there was little information he was able to share about the investigation.

Matthew Coon, deputy fire chief for the Jamestown Fire Department, said the fire at Danielson Oil started in a first-floor break room. It was the result of a faulty appliance and took about two hours to extinguish.

"Our investigation has revealed that the fire was accidental in nature," Coon said.

He added that fuel oil was stored on the site, along with various lubricants, greases, motor oils and diesel fuel. Coon said the site was investigated by the state Department of Environmental Conservation and the Chautauqua County Hazmat team, which determined that no hazardous chemicals had migrated off the site and, therefore, did not pose a danger to nearby residents or wildlife. No injuries were reported as a result of the fire.

The subsequent vehicle fire took about 15 minutes to put out and was determined to have been incendiary in nature, according to Coon.

Authorities did not release the identity of the deceased woman found at the Williams Street location pending notification of next of kin. Jackson said the identity of the victim may be released on Friday.

Seven agencies in New York and Pennsylvania, including the FBI, were involved in the investigations, police said.
China Gold International Resources Corp. Ltd. (OTCMKTS:JINFF  Get Rating) was the target of a significant increase in short interest during the month of April. As of April 30th, there was short interest totalling 210,000 shares, an increase of 782.4% from the April 15th total of 23,800 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 3,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 56.8 days.

China Gold International Resources Price Performance

Shares of JINFF traded down $0.26 during trading on Thursday, reaching $4.93. 245 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,126. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $4.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $3.44. China Gold International Resources has a twelve month low of $2.30 and a twelve month high of $5.59.

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China Gold International Resources Corp. Ltd. engages in acquisition, development, and exploration of gold and base metal mineral properties. Its project portfolio includes CSH Gold Mine and Jiama Copper Gold Polymetallic Mine. The company was founded on May 31, 2000 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

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Shares of Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget SCA (publ) (OTCMKTS:SVCBF  Get Rating) were up 10.5% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $14.00 and last traded at $14.00. Approximately 300 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 98% from the average daily volume of 15,273 shares. The stock had previously closed at $12.68.

Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget SCA (publ) Trading Up 0.7 %

The stocks 50-day moving average is $13.08 and its 200 day moving average is $13.33.

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Svenska Cellulosa AB SCA engages in the provision of products from forests. It operates through the following segments: Forest, Wood; Wood, Pulp, and Containerboard, and Renewable energy. The Forest segment consists of forest business. The Wood segment includes five sawmills in Sweden, wood processing units with planning mills in Sweden, the United Kingdom & France and a distribution and wholesale business.

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Shares of United Lithium Corp. (OTCMKTS:ULTHF  Get Rating) traded down 4.2% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $0.17 and last traded at $0.17. 21,340 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 52% from the average session volume of 44,305 shares. The stock had previously closed at $0.18.

United Lithium Trading Up 0.1 %

The businesss fifty day simple moving average is $0.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $0.18.

About United Lithium

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United Lithium Corp. engages in the acquisition, exploration, and evaluation of natural resource properties. It explores for lithium deposits. The company holds 100% interest in the Bergby Lithium Project, located in Sweden. It also holds an option to acquire a 100% interest in the Barbara Lake property comprising 56 mining cell claims that covers an area of approximately 2,147 hectares land in the Barbara Lake Area of the Thunder Bay Mining District, Ontario, Canada.

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Trellis Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT  Get Rating) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 1,872 shares of the healthcare product makers stock, valued at approximately $206,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 2.4% during the third quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 21,523 shares of the healthcare product makers stock worth $2,083,000 after buying an additional 495 shares in the last quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,141 shares of the healthcare product makers stock worth $674,000 after purchasing an additional 389 shares in the last quarter. Oak Family Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 15.4% during the 4th quarter. Oak Family Advisors LLC now owns 12,735 shares of the healthcare product makers stock worth $1,398,000 after purchasing an additional 1,703 shares in the last quarter. Calton & Associates Inc. lifted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 24.4% during the 4th quarter. Calton & Associates Inc. now owns 2,859 shares of the healthcare product makers stock worth $314,000 after purchasing an additional 561 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prudential PLC increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 20.1% in the 4th quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 136,388 shares of the healthcare product makers stock worth $14,974,000 after acquiring an additional 22,858 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.93% of the companys stock.

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Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Abbott Laboratories stock traded down $0.25 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $109.80. 411,662 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,138,854. The stock has a market capitalization of $190.94 billion, a PE ratio of 33.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.99 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.22. Abbott Laboratories has a 12-month low of $93.25 and a 12-month high of $118.23. The businesss 50-day moving average is $104.01 and its 200-day moving average is $105.74.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

Abbott Laboratories ( NYSE:ABT Get Rating ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 19th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $9.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $9.64 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 22.36% and a net margin of 13.98%. Abbott Laboratoriess revenue for the quarter was down 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.73 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 15th. Investors of record on Friday, April 14th will be issued a $0.51 dividend. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.86%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 13th. Abbott Laboratoriess dividend payout ratio is 62.01%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Bank of America decreased their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 30th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $136.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $132.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, April 20th. Raymond James lifted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $116.00 to $123.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 20th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $110.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Thursday, January 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $122.37.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 8,226 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.56, for a total value of $909,466.56. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 70,427 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $7,786,409.12. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Abbott Laboratories news, SVP Julie L. Tyler sold 260 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.24, for a total value of $26,842.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 40,896 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,222,103.04. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 8,226 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.56, for a total value of $909,466.56. Following the completion of the transaction, 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. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 60,197 shares of company stock valued at $6,659,607. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Company Profile

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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.

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Achmea Investment Management B.V. reduced its stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM  Get Rating) by 4.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 113,817 shares of the companys stock after selling 5,774 shares during the period. Achmea Investment Management B.V.s holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland were worth $9,902,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Coastline Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland in the 4th quarter worth $1,992,000. Aviva PLC raised its stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 270,806 shares of the companys stock worth $25,144,000 after buying an additional 21,383 shares during the period. Foster & Motley Inc. raised its stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. now owns 35,748 shares of the companys stock worth $3,319,000 after buying an additional 1,073 shares during the period. Denali Advisors LLC raised its stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 12.2% during the 4th quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 4,600 shares of the companys stock worth $427,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the period. Finally, HBK Sorce Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland during the 4th quarter worth $253,000. 78.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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Archer-Daniels-Midland Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE ADM traded up $0.32 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $75.22. The company had a trading volume of 323,649 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,120,706. The company has a market capitalization of $40.97 billion, a PE ratio of 9.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.80. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $78.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $85.53. The company has a current ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Archer-Daniels-Midland Company has a one year low of $70.02 and a one year high of $98.28.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Announces Dividend

Archer-Daniels-Midland ( NYSE:ADM Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 25th. The company reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.71 by $0.38. The company had revenue of $24.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $24.09 billion. Archer-Daniels-Midland had a return on equity of 18.39% and a net margin of 4.36%. Archer-Daniels-Midlands revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.90 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Archer-Daniels-Midland Company will post 6.8 EPS for the current year.

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 7th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 16th. Archer-Daniels-Midlands payout ratio is currently 22.58%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on ADM shares. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $94.00 to $85.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 13th. Barclays dropped their price objective on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $105.00 to $99.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on Archer-Daniels-Midland in a research note on Thursday, April 13th. They set an outperform rating and a $100.00 price objective on the stock. 92 Resources reissued a maintains rating on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland in a research note on Thursday, April 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $87.00 to $85.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Archer-Daniels-Midland currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $100.78.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Profile

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Archer-Daniels-Midland Co engages in the production of oilseeds, corn, wheat, cocoa, and other agricultural commodities. It operates through the following segments: Ag Services and Oilseeds, Carbohydrate Solutions, Nutrition, and Other. The Ag Services and Oilseeds segment includes activities related to the origination, merchandising, transportation, and storage of agricultural raw materials, and the crushing and further processing of oilseeds such as soybeans and soft seeds cottonseed, sunflower seed, canola, rapeseed, and flaxseed into vegetable oils and protein meals.

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Estee Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL  Get Rating) was downgraded by investment analysts at Argus from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Friday, The Fly reports.

EL has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Raymond James reduced their price objective on Estee Lauder Companies from $315.00 to $240.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Estee Lauder Companies from $274.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, January 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on Estee Lauder Companies from $300.00 to $288.00 in a research report on Monday, March 20th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Estee Lauder Companies from $287.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Friday, May 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Estee Lauder Companies from $290.00 to $225.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Estee Lauder Companies has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $264.21.

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Estee Lauder Companies Price Performance

Shares of EL opened at $201.79 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $72.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 67.04, a PEG ratio of 6.62 and a beta of 1.01. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $238.98 and a 200-day moving average of $240.96. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. Estee Lauder Companies has a 52 week low of $186.47 and a 52 week high of $284.45.

Insider Activity at Estee Lauder Companies

Estee Lauder Companies ( NYSE:EL Get Rating ) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 3rd. The company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.70 billion. Estee Lauder Companies had a return on equity of 23.99% and a net margin of 6.88%. Estee Lauder Companiess revenue was down 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.90 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Estee Lauder Companies will post 3.35 EPS for the current year.

In related news, EVP Carl P. Haney sold 9,741 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Monday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $253.90, for a total transaction of $2,473,239.90. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 4,773 shares of the companys stock, valued at $1,211,864.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 12.75% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Estee Lauder Companies by 0.7% in the first quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,154 shares of the companys stock valued at $2,010,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Korea Investment CORP grew its stake in Estee Lauder Companies by 25.7% in the first quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 262,306 shares of the companys stock valued at $64,648,000 after purchasing an additional 53,671 shares in the last quarter. Rathbones Group PLC grew its stake in Estee Lauder Companies by 1.2% in the first quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 769,074 shares of the companys stock valued at $189,546,000 after purchasing an additional 9,425 shares in the last quarter. First Republic Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Estee Lauder Companies by 29.8% in the first quarter. First Republic Investment Management Inc. now owns 236,396 shares of the companys stock valued at $58,262,000 after purchasing an additional 54,269 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC grew its stake in Estee Lauder Companies by 18.6% in the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 33,630 shares of the companys stock valued at $8,288,000 after purchasing an additional 5,283 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.74% of the companys stock.

Estee Lauder Companies Company Profile

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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.

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Nine Energy Service, Inc. (NYSE:NINE  Get Rating)  Equities researchers at Atb Cap Markets dropped their Q2 2023 EPS estimates for shares of Nine Energy Service in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, May 9th. Atb Cap Markets analyst W. Syed now forecasts that the company will post earnings of ($0.01) per share for the quarter, down from their previous estimate of $0.09. The consensus estimate for Nine Energy Services current full-year earnings is $0.43 per share. Atb Cap Markets also issued estimates for Nine Energy Services Q3 2023 earnings at ($0.02) EPS, Q4 2023 earnings at ($0.03) EPS, FY2023 earnings at ($0.06) EPS, Q1 2024 earnings at $0.07 EPS, Q2 2024 earnings at $0.12 EPS, Q3 2024 earnings at $0.18 EPS, Q4 2024 earnings at $0.13 EPS, FY2024 earnings at $0.51 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $0.21 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $0.85 EPS.

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Separately, EF Hutton Acquisition Co. I reissued a buy rating and set a $18.00 target price on shares of Nine Energy Service in a report on Monday, January 23rd.

Nine Energy Service Price Performance

NINE opened at $3.10 on Friday. Nine Energy Service has a fifty-two week low of $2.03 and a fifty-two week high of $17.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $107.64 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.60 and a beta of 3.33. The companys 50 day moving average price is $5.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $8.84.

Nine Energy Service (NYSE:NINE  Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 7th. The company reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.34 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $166.67 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $166.30 million. Nine Energy Service had a net margin of 2.37% and a negative return on equity of 59.38%.

Insider Transactions at Nine Energy Service

In other news, CAO S. Brett Luz sold 8,253 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.12, for a total value of $58,761.36. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 70,995 shares in the company, valued at approximately $505,484.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, major shareholder Warren Lynn Frazier sold 215,772 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.12, for a total value of $888,980.64. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 2,903,315 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,961,657.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO S. Brett Luz sold 8,253 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Friday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.12, for a total transaction of $58,761.36. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 70,995 shares in the company, valued at approximately $505,484.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 343,262 shares of company stock worth $1,730,671. Company insiders own 6.20% of the companys stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Nine Energy Service by 302.5% during the 1st quarter. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC now owns 41,527 shares of the companys stock valued at $231,000 after acquiring an additional 31,211 shares during the period. Tucker Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Nine Energy Service during the first quarter worth $71,000. Icon Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in Nine Energy Service during the first quarter worth $149,000. Guggenheim Capital LLC acquired a new position in Nine Energy Service during the first quarter worth $204,000. Finally, Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. acquired a new position in Nine Energy Service during the first quarter worth $75,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.61% of the companys stock.

About Nine Energy Service

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Nine Energy Service, Inc is an oilfield services business, which engages in the provision of services integral to the completion of unconventional wells. It offers cementing services, completion tools, wireline services, and coiled tubing services. The company was founded on September 26, 2011 and is headquartered in Houston, TX.

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Bank of Ireland Group plc (OTCMKTS:BKRIY  Get Rating) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of April. As of April 30th, there was short interest totalling 4,200 shares, an increase of 200.0% from the April 15th total of 1,400 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 25,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 0.2 days.

Bank of Ireland Group Price Performance

OTCMKTS BKRIY traded down $0.40 during trading on Thursday, reaching $9.70. 8,903 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,096. Bank of Ireland Group has a fifty-two week low of $5.42 and a fifty-two week high of $11.44. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $10.32 and a 200-day moving average price of $9.60.

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About Bank of Ireland Group

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Further Reading

Bank of Ireland Group Plc is a holding company, which engages in financial and banking solutions. It operates through the following business segments: Retail Ireland, Wealth and Insurance, Retail UK, Corporate and Markets, and Group Centre. The Retail Ireland segment offers financial products and services including current accounts, savings, mortgages, credit cards, motor finance and loans to personal and business banking customers, and is managed through a number of business units, namely distribution channels, customer segments and propositions, products, and business banking.

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Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE:BK  Get Rating) had its price objective lowered by stock analysts at Evercore ISI from $49.00 to $46.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, The Fly reports. Evercore ISIs target price indicates a potential upside of 13.08% from the companys previous close.

Several other research firms also recently commented on BK. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Bank of New York Mellon from $52.00 to $51.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 19th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Bank of New York Mellon from $44.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 19th. StockNews.com began coverage on Bank of New York Mellon in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a hold rating on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on Bank of New York Mellon from $42.00 to $41.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 19th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Bank of New York Mellon from $64.00 to $62.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Bank of New York Mellon has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $51.61.

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Bank of New York Mellon Trading Down 0.8 %

BK opened at $40.68 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.69. The stocks 50 day moving average price is $44.39 and its 200-day moving average price is $45.91. Bank of New York Mellon has a one year low of $36.22 and a one year high of $52.26. The stock has a market cap of $32.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.07.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bank of New York Mellon

Bank of New York Mellon ( NYSE:BK Get Rating ) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 18th. The bank reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $1.09 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $4.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.40 billion. Bank of New York Mellon had a return on equity of 11.45% and a net margin of 11.98%. The businesss revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.86 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Bank of New York Mellon will post 4.75 EPS for the current year.

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Bank of New York Mellon by 2.9% during the first quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,423 shares of the banks stock worth $655,000 after buying an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Bank of New York Mellon by 50.2% in the first quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,276,821 shares of the banks stock valued at $58,019,000 after buying an additional 426,715 shares during the last quarter. Korea Investment CORP boosted its stake in Bank of New York Mellon by 46.6% during the first quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 705,659 shares of the banks stock worth $32,065,000 after buying an additional 224,208 shares during the period. Rathbones Group PLC raised its stake in shares of Bank of New York Mellon by 11.5% in the 1st quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 16,052 shares of the banks stock valued at $729,000 after acquiring an additional 1,651 shares during the period. Finally, First Republic Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Bank of New York Mellon by 4.1% during the 1st quarter. First Republic Investment Management Inc. now owns 113,435 shares of the banks stock worth $5,154,000 after purchasing an additional 4,482 shares during the period. 82.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Bank of New York Mellon Company Profile

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The Bank of New York Mellon Corp. is a bank holding company, which engages in the provision of financial services. It operates through the following segments: Securities Services, Market and Wealth Services, Investment and Wealth Management, and Other segment. The Securities Services segment includes Asset Servicing business, which provides global custody, fund accounting, integrated middle-office solutions, transfer agency and data and analytics solutions.

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BlackRock Greater Europe Investment Trust plc (LON:BRGE  Get Rating) insider Paola Subacchi bought 1,083 shares of BlackRock Greater Europe Investment Trust stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 11th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of GBX 544 ($6.86) per share, with a total value of 5,891.52 ($7,434.09).

BlackRock Greater Europe Investment Trust Stock Performance

BRGE stock opened at GBX 546 ($6.89) on Friday. The firm has a market cap of 551.46 million, a PE ratio of -274.37 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a quick ratio of 2.71, a current ratio of 2.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The business has a 50 day moving average of GBX 526.02 and a 200-day moving average of GBX 502.96. BlackRock Greater Europe Investment Trust plc has a 12-month low of GBX 396 ($5.00) and a 12-month high of GBX 548 ($6.91).

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BlackRock Greater Europe Investment Trust Company Profile

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BlackRock Greater Europe Investment 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 Europe, excluding the United Kingdom. It seeks to invest in stocks of companies operating across diversified sectors.

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Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC lowered its stake in BlackRock MuniYield Quality Fund III, Inc. (NYSE:MYI  Get Rating) by 5.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 42,654 shares of the investment management companys stock after selling 2,544 shares during the quarter. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC owned about 0.06% of BlackRock MuniYield Quality Fund III worth $478,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of BlackRock MuniYield Quality Fund III by 9.3% during the 3rd quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 12,125 shares of the investment management companys stock valued at $126,000 after acquiring an additional 1,029 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted its position in BlackRock MuniYield Quality Fund III by 539.8% during the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,252 shares of the investment management companys stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 1,900 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock MuniYield Quality Fund III by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 110,739 shares of the investment management companys stock valued at $1,241,000 after purchasing an additional 2,097 shares during the period. Kestra Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock MuniYield Quality Fund III by 20.2% during the third quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 14,656 shares of the investment management companys stock worth $153,000 after purchasing an additional 2,465 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in BlackRock MuniYield Quality Fund III by 23.9% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 13,149 shares of the investment management companys stock worth $165,000 after buying an additional 2,536 shares in the last quarter.

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BlackRock MuniYield Quality Fund III Stock Up 0.1 %

NYSE MYI opened at $10.99 on Friday. BlackRock MuniYield Quality Fund III, Inc. has a 1-year low of $9.96 and a 1-year high of $12.41. The firms fifty day simple moving average is $11.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $10.99.

BlackRock MuniYield Quality Fund III Dividend Announcement

BlackRock MuniYield Quality Fund III Company Profile

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 paid a dividend of $0.0405 per share. This represents a $0.49 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 12th.

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BlackRock MuniYield Quality Fund III, Inc operates as a closed-end investment fund. It intends to provide shareholders with current income exempt from federal income taxes as is consistent with its investment policies and prudent investment management. The company was founded on April 13, 1992 and is headquartered in Wilmington, DE.

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BNP Paribas SA (OTCMKTS:BNPQY  Get Rating) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in April. As of April 30th, there was short interest totalling 17,700 shares, a growth of 70.2% from the April 15th total of 10,400 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 277,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.1 days.

BNP Paribas Trading Up 1.1 %

BNPQY traded up $0.33 during trading on Friday, reaching $31.68. The company had a trading volume of 118,215 shares, compared to its average volume of 345,958. The firms 50-day simple moving average is $31.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $30.20. The company has a market cap of $78.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.09, a PEG ratio of 0.35 and a beta of 1.47. BNP Paribas has a 12-month low of $20.19 and a 12-month high of $35.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.69.

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BNP Paribas (OTCMKTS:BNPQY  Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 7th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.86 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $12.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.74 billion. BNP Paribas had a net margin of 22.04% and a return on equity of 9.17%. Equities research analysts anticipate that BNP Paribas will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current year.

BNP Paribas Company Profile

BNP Paribas SA engages in the provision of banking and financial services. The company operates through the following business: Retail Banking and Services, and Corporate Institutional Banking. The Retail Banking and Services business includes the retail banking networks and specialized financial services in France and around the world.

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Shares of Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT  Get Rating) have received a consensus rating of Hold from the nine analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $357.86.

Several analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Gartner in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a buy rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Gartner from $358.00 to $366.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 8th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Gartner from $357.00 to $337.00 and set a market perform rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Gartner from $387.00 to $380.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 19th.

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Gartner Stock Up 0.4 %

Gartner stock opened at $305.85 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $24.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 1.28. Gartner has a 52 week low of $221.39 and a 52 week high of $358.25. The businesss 50-day moving average price is $312.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $327.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.19.

Insider Activity

Gartner ( NYSE:IT Get Rating ) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 2nd. The information technology services provider reported $2.88 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.04 by $0.84. The firm had revenue of $1.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.37 billion. Gartner had a return on equity of 772.55% and a net margin of 16.56%. Gartners revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.33 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Gartner will post 10.19 earnings per share for the current year.

In other news, CEO Eugene A. Hall sold 5,604 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $350.83, for a total value of $1,966,051.32. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,145,665 shares in the company, valued at $401,933,651.95. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Eugene A. Hall sold 5,604 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $350.83, for a total value of $1,966,051.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,145,665 shares of the companys stock, valued at $401,933,651.95. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Valentin Sribar sold 348 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $322.61, for a total value of $112,268.28. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,189 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $3,932,293.29. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 24,941 shares of company stock worth $8,611,320 over the last quarter. 3.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Gartner

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. US Bancorp DE increased its stake in Gartner by 6.0% during the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 2,563 shares of the information technology services providers stock worth $762,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Aviva PLC increased its stake in Gartner by 53.3% during the first quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 42,028 shares of the information technology services providers stock worth $12,502,000 after acquiring an additional 14,618 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its stake in Gartner by 9.5% during the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 27,043 shares of the information technology services providers stock worth $8,044,000 after acquiring an additional 2,347 shares during the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its stake in Gartner by 25.2% during the first quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 98,889 shares of the information technology services providers stock worth $29,415,000 after acquiring an additional 19,892 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Gartner by 1.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,198,161 shares of the information technology services providers stock worth $2,736,085,000 after acquiring an additional 102,709 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.86% of the companys stock.

Gartner Company Profile

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Gartner, Inc is a research and advisory company, which equips business leaders with insights, advice, and tools that help build organizations. It operates through the following segments: Research, Consulting, and Conferences. The Research segment provides executives with objective insights and advice through reports, briefings, proprietary tools, access to the firm?s research experts, peer networking services, and membership programs.

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Shares of Canada One Mining Corp. (CVE:CONE  Get Rating) rose 9.1% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as C$0.12 and last traded at C$0.12. Approximately 31,500 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 14% from the average daily volume of 27,675 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$0.11.

Canada One Mining Stock Up 9.1 %

The company has a fifty day moving average price of C$0.12 and a 200-day moving average price of C$0.12. The stock has a market capitalization of C$2.71 million, a P/E ratio of -12.00 and a beta of 2.09.

Canada One Mining Company Profile

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Canada One Mining Corp., an exploration stage company, engages in the acquisition, exploration, and development of mineral deposits in British Columbia, Canada. The company primarily explores for base and precious metals. It holds a 100% interest in the Zeus claims located in Lillooet, British Columbia; and the Princeton Cooper project consisting of 30 claims and covering an area of 2258.0827 hectares.

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StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of China Green Agriculture (NYSE:CGA  Get Rating) in a report published on Monday. The firm issued a sell rating on the basic materials companys stock.

China Green Agriculture Stock Performance

NYSE CGA opened at $3.33 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. China Green Agriculture has a 52 week low of $3.16 and a 52 week high of $8.43. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $3.92 and a two-hundred day moving average of $4.41.

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China Green Agriculture (NYSE:CGA  Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 21st. The basic materials company reported ($0.27) EPS for the quarter. The company had revenue of $24.54 million during the quarter. China Green Agriculture had a negative net margin of 37.35% and a negative return on equity of 36.71%.

Institutional Trading of China Green Agriculture

About China Green Agriculture

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in China Green Agriculture stock. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in China Green Agriculture, Inc. ( NYSE:CGA Get Rating ) by 67.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,051 shares of the basic materials companys stock after purchasing an additional 7,700 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC owned approximately 0.22% of China Green Agriculture worth $192,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Institutional investors own 0.14% of the companys stock.

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China Green Agriculture, Inc engages in the research, development, production, and sale of various types of fertilizers and agricultural products. It operates through the following segments: Jinong, Gufeng, and Yuxing. The Jinong segment includes fertilizer products, with focus on humic acid-based compound fertilizer.

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Coastline Trust Co grew its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN  Get Rating) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 19,390 shares of the information technology services providers stock after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the quarter. Coastline Trust Cos holdings in Accenture were worth $5,174,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Accenture by 502.3% in the 3rd 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 purchasing an additional 1,827,551 shares during the last quarter. UBS Asset Management Americas Inc. lifted its stake in Accenture by 41.6% in 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 third quarter worth approximately $318,306,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Accenture by 1.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 58,473,666 shares of the information technology services providers stock worth $15,045,274,000 after acquiring an additional 816,734 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP lifted its position in Accenture by 2,831.4% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 747,761 shares of the information technology services providers stock worth $192,399,000 after acquiring an additional 722,252 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.97% of the companys stock.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Accenture from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Friday, May 5th. Piper Jaffray Companies lifted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $245.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a research note on Monday, March 27th. Wedbush reaffirmed an outperform rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research note on Monday, March 13th. Edward Jones raised shares of Accenture from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $335.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, March 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $314.00.

Insider Activity at Accenture

Accenture Price Performance

In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,250 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.90, for a total transaction of $1,448,475.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 26,908 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,423,917.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link . In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,250 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.90, for a total value of $1,448,475.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 26,908 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,423,917.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website . Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 556 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.82, for a total transaction of $153,911.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 42,739 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,831,009.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here . In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 15,010 shares of company stock worth $4,180,030. 0.08% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Shares of NYSE:ACN traded up $1.12 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $273.39. 336,853 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,348,674. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $242.80 and a 12 month high of $322.88. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $271.38 and a 200-day moving average price of $276.47. The company has a market cap of $172.75 billion, a PE ratio of 25.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN  Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 23rd. The information technology services provider reported $2.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $2.49 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $15.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.59 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.00% and a return on equity of 30.73%. The firms quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.54 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 11.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 15th. Shareholders 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 yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 12th. Accentures payout ratio is 41.25%.

Accenture Company Profile

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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.

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Applied Digital (OTCMKTS:APLD  Get Rating) and SOS (NYSE:SOS  Get Rating) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, dividends, profitability, risk and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

This table compares Applied Digital and SOSs net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

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Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Applied Digital -100.29% -16.57% -7.74% SOS N/A N/A N/A

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Applied Digital and SOS, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Applied Digital 0 0 4 0 3.00 SOS 0 0 0 0 N/A

Valuation & Earnings

Applied Digital currently has a consensus target price of $6.12, suggesting a potential upside of 75.26%. Given Applied Digitals higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Applied Digital is more favorable than SOS.

This table compares Applied Digital and SOSs gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio Applied Digital $40.88 million 8.10 -$23.52 million ($0.46) -7.59 SOS $306.01 million 0.13 -$49.25 million N/A N/A

Applied Digital has higher earnings, but lower revenue than SOS.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

48.4% of Applied Digital shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.9% of SOS shares are owned by institutional investors. 28.9% of Applied Digital shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.7% of SOS shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

Applied Digital has a beta of 4.85, indicating that its share price is 385% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, SOS has a beta of 1.26, indicating that its share price is 26% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Applied Digital beats SOS on 7 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Applied Digital

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Applied Digital Corp. operates as a technology company, which engages in the development and operation of data centers which provide computing power. The company was founded in May 2001 and is headquartered in Dallas, TX.

About SOS

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SOS Ltd. is a holding company, which provides marketing data, technology and solutions to the emergency rescue services in China. It focuses on the research and development of big data, cloud computing, Internet of Things, block chain and artificial intelligence. The firm created a SOS cloud emergency rescue service software as a service (SaaS) platform with three major product categories, including basic cloud (medical rescue card, car rescue card, financial rescue card, mutual assistance rescue card), cooperative cloud (information rescue center, intelligent big data, intelligent software and hardware), and information cloud. The company was founded by Zheng Yu Wang and Andrew Mason in 2001 and is headquartered in Qingdao, China.

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Decisive Dividend (CVE:DE  Get Rating) announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The company reported C$0.12 EPS for the quarter, reports. The firm had revenue of C$30.85 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of C$26.80 million. Decisive Dividend had a return on equity of 14.50% and a net margin of 4.14%.

Decisive Dividend Trading Down 0.9 %

Decisive Dividend stock traded down C$0.06 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting C$6.30. 28,255 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,197. The firm has a market capitalization of C$107.48 million, a P/E ratio of 21.93 and a beta of 1.19. Decisive Dividend has a fifty-two week low of C$4.03 and a fifty-two week high of C$7.50. The company has a quick ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 114.29. The companys 50 day simple moving average is C$6.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is C$5.47.

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About Decisive Dividend

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Decisive Dividend Corporation, through its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells wood and gas burning stoves, and fireplace inserts in Canada, the United States, and New Zealand. It operates in two segments, Finished Product and Component Manufacturing. The company also designs, manufactures, and markets air blast sprayers for use in agricultural industry under the Turbo Mist brand; and wastewater evaporator systems that are used in mining, oil and gas, and waste management industries.

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Quaker Chemical (NYSE:KWR  Get Rating) had its target price hoisted by Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft from $220.00 to $235.00 in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning, The Fly reports.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Quaker Chemical from $203.00 to $227.00 in a research report on Monday. StockNews.com started coverage on Quaker Chemical in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a hold rating for the company.

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Quaker Chemical Trading Down 1.6 %

NYSE:KWR opened at $205.06 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.99 and a current ratio of 2.79. The firms fifty day moving average is $191.57 and its 200-day moving average is $186.48. The firm has a market cap of $3.69 billion, a P/E ratio of -569.61 and a beta of 1.43. Quaker Chemical has a 52 week low of $129.06 and a 52 week high of $216.45.

Quaker Chemical Dividend Announcement

Quaker Chemical ( NYSE:KWR Get Rating ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.54. Quaker Chemical had a negative net margin of 0.32% and a positive return on equity of 8.74%. The company had revenue of $500.15 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $485.29 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.42 EPS. Quaker Chemicals quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Quaker Chemical will post 6.47 earnings per share for the current year.

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 17th will be given a dividend of $0.435 per share. This represents a $1.74 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.85%. Quaker Chemicals dividend payout ratio is currently -483.33%.

Insider Activity at Quaker Chemical

In other news, SVP Robert T. Traub sold 3,650 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $205.00, for a total transaction of $748,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 3,150 shares in the company, valued at $645,750. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Quaker Chemical news, Director Michael F. Barry sold 200 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Friday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $40,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 90,126 shares in the company, valued at $18,025,200. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Robert T. Traub sold 3,650 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.00, for a total value of $748,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 3,150 shares in the company, valued at $645,750. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 20,023 shares of company stock valued at $4,076,803. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Quaker Chemical

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Strs Ohio acquired a new position in Quaker Chemical during the 1st quarter worth approximately $39,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Quaker Chemical in the first quarter valued at about $59,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Quaker Chemical by 327.5% during the third quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 436 shares of the specialty chemicals companys stock valued at $63,000 after acquiring an additional 334 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its stake in Quaker Chemical by 17.6% in the first quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 327 shares of the specialty chemicals companys stock worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE lifted its holdings in Quaker Chemical by 30.2% in the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 754 shares of the specialty chemicals companys stock worth $131,000 after acquiring an additional 175 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.91% of the companys stock.

Quaker Chemical Company Profile

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Quaker Houghton engages in the business of developing, producing, and marketing formulated chemical specialty products. It operates through the following geographical segments: Americas, Europe, Middle East and Africa, Asia Pacific, and Global Specialty Businesses. Its products include can making lubricants, cleaners, coatings, cold rolling oils, corrosion preventives, die casting lubricants, dust suppressants, greases, ground control agents, hot rolling oils, hydraulic fluids, industrial lubricants, longwall fluids, metal forming fluids, metal removal fluids, pickle oils, surface treatments, temper fluids, and tin plating.

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East Africa Metals Inc. (CVE:EAM  Get Rating) shares dropped 7.7% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as C$0.12 and last traded at C$0.12. Approximately 1,500 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 94% from the average daily volume of 27,244 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$0.13.

East Africa Metals Stock Performance

The companys fifty day moving average is C$0.14 and its 200 day moving average is C$0.13. The company has a market capitalization of C$24.51 million, a P/E ratio of -4.00 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.99.

About East Africa Metals

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East Africa Metals Inc, a mineral exploration company, focuses on the identification, acquisition, exploration, development, and sale of base and precious mineral resource properties in the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and the United Republic of Tanzania. The company primarily explores for gold, copper, silver, and zinc deposits.

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A jury's concerns over a lack of a police investigation and inconsistencies in the testimony of the victims contributed to Thursday's acquittal in a case involving a stabbing in a downtown restaurant 2 years ago, according to the defendant's attorney.

Buffalo police never assigned a detective to investigate the case and officers didn't take the names or contact information of anyone who was inside the restaurant at the time, said defense attorney Florina Altshiler, who represented Christian Hodges in Erie County Court.

The jury acquitted Hodges, 30, of charges of first-degree assault and second-degree attempted assault for a stabbing inside Senor Tequila, 414 Pearl St., on Nov. 19, 2020. Hodges faced a prison sentence of potentially 25 years or more if he had been convicted of both charges.

"For a case this serious, one would expect there to be an investigation, and the evidence showed there really was no investigation, which was troubling," Altshiler said.

Prosecutors failed to establish Hodges had the intent to cause a serious physical injury, she said.

The jury began deliberating Wednesday afternoon and delivered the verdict about 12:40 p.m. Thursday.

A spokeswoman for the Erie County District Attorney's Office said she couldn't comment because cases are automatically sealed after acquittals.

The lone defense witness was a cousin of Hodges, who testified about a phone call between the two while Hodges was at the restaurant. Hodges told his cousin someone threatened to kill him and to hurry to the restaurant, Altshiler said.

Police-worn body-camera footage shows the cousin showing up at the restaurant as Hodges is getting arrested, she said. He tried to speak with three officers, but was unable to, she said the footage showed.

There also were inconsistencies about where in the restaurant the victim, attorney Dennis Garvey, was stabbed, said Altshiler, who said she spoke to jurors after the verdict.

Garvey testified Friday he found Hodges banging on the walls of a bathroom stall and that Hodges came after him with a knife after he left the bathroom.

Garvey told jurors he was stabbed in the open area of the restaurant, but can be heard on body-camera footage telling paramedics he was stabbed in the bathroom, Altshiler said.

The man prosecutors says Hodges tried to stab was Richard Hamilton, a friend of Garvey's who preceded him into the men's room and then alerted Garvey to the situation.

Hamilton, owner of Deep South Taco, could be heard on body-cam footage telling police Garvey was stabbed either inside the bathroom or just outside it, Altshiler said.

"There were a lot of inconsistencies," she said.

Some on the jury also were troubled because a police lieutenant wore the same gloves to touch the recovered weapon after touching the victim, she said.

Garvey testified after the attack he went to his office, which is located above the restaurant, to retrieve his cellphone and legally-owned handgun, which he testified he did not have on his person before the stabbing.
Eldorado Gold Co. (TSE:ELD  Get Rating) (NYSE:EGO)s share price passed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Wednesday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of C$12.14 and traded as high as C$16.01. Eldorado Gold shares last traded at C$15.62, with a volume of 288,030 shares.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. National Bankshares boosted their price objective on Eldorado Gold from C$13.50 to C$16.50 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 5th. National Bank Financial cut Eldorado Gold from an outperform overweight rating to a sector perform spec overwgt rating in a report on Monday, January 16th. Stifel Nicolaus cut Eldorado Gold from a buy rating to a hold rating and upped their price target for the company from C$16.00 to C$16.50 in a report on Thursday, April 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Eldorado Gold from C$12.00 to C$14.00 in a report on Friday, February 24th.

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Eldorado Gold Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of C$2.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 152.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 56.20 and a beta of 1.34. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of C$14.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of C$12.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 15.71, a quick ratio of 2.28 and a current ratio of 2.92.

Eldorado Gold Company Profile

Eldorado Gold ( TSE:ELD Get Rating ) (NYSE:EGO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 23rd. The company reported C$0.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of C$0.07 by C$0.12. The company had revenue of C$334.27 million for the quarter. Eldorado Gold had a positive return on equity of 0.36% and a negative net margin of 1.64%. On average, research analysts expect that Eldorado Gold Co. will post 0.5806335 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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Eldorado Gold Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the mining, exploration, development, and sale of mineral products primarily in Turkey, Canada, Greece, and Romania. The company primarily produces gold, as well as silver, lead, and zinc. It holds a 100% interest in the Kisladag and Efemcukuru gold mines located in western Turkey; 100% interest in Lamaque gold mines located in Canada; and Olympias, Stratoni, Skouries, Perama Hill, and Sapes gold mines located in Greece, as well as the 80.5% interest in Certej development projects located in Romania.

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Ensign Energy Services (OTCMKTS:ESVIF  Get Rating) had its target price decreased by Royal Bank of Canada from C$4.50 to C$4.00 in a research report released on Tuesday morning, The Fly reports.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the company. TD Securities reduced their target price on Ensign Energy Services from C$6.00 to C$5.50 in a research note on Tuesday. CIBC raised their target price on Ensign Energy Services from C$4.75 to C$5.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 17th.

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Ensign Energy Services Price Performance

Ensign Energy Services stock opened at $1.51 on Tuesday. Ensign Energy Services has a 1-year low of $1.46 and a 1-year high of $3.90. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $2.19 and a 200-day moving average price of $2.50.

Ensign Energy Services Company Profile

Ensign Energy Services, Inc engages in the provision oilfield services to the crude oil and natural gas industries. It operates through the following geographical segments: Canada, United States, and International. Its services include drilling, directional drilling, and well servicing. The company was founded on March 31, 1987 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.

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Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS  Get Rating) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, May 12th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, June 30th will be given a dividend of 2.31 per share by the real estate investment trust on Friday, July 14th. This represents a $9.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.29%.

Essex Property Trust has increased its dividend by an average of 4.1% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 30 consecutive years. Essex Property Trust has a payout ratio of 154.5% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities analysts expect Essex Property Trust to earn $15.31 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $9.24 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 60.4%.

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Essex Property Trust Trading Down 0.8 %

ESS traded down $1.66 during trading on Friday, hitting $215.32. The companys stock had a trading volume of 313,508 shares, compared to its average volume of 485,875. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.38, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.75. Essex Property Trust has a twelve month low of $195.03 and a twelve month high of $300.33. The stocks fifty day moving average price is $212.76 and its 200-day moving average price is $217.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Essex Property Trust

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ESS. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 24.8% during the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 2,261 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $781,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 88,915 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $30,718,000 after acquiring an additional 1,050 shares during the last quarter. Prudential PLC purchased a new stake in Essex Property Trust during the 1st quarter valued at about $475,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Essex Property Trust by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,614,782 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $3,667,195,000 after acquiring an additional 184,047 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Essex Property Trust by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 53,635 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $18,530,000 after purchasing an additional 1,847 shares during the period. 91.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on ESS shares. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on Essex Property Trust in a report on Wednesday, March 29th. They issued an underweight rating and a $208.00 target price on the stock. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Essex Property Trust from a neutral rating to an overweight rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $242.00 to $271.00 in a report on Monday, May 1st. BMO Capital Markets lowered shares of Essex Property Trust from a market perform rating to an underperform rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $239.00 to $200.00 in a report on Monday, April 17th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Essex Property Trust from $242.00 to $246.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 1st. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $219.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Essex Property Trust presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $248.33.

About Essex Property Trust

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Essex Property Trust, Inc operates as a real estate investment trust. It engages in the ownership, operation, management, acquisition, development, and redevelopment of predominantly apartment communities. The company was founded by George M. Marcus in 1971 and is headquartered in San Mateo, CA.

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22nd Century Group reiterated their maintains rating on shares of Estee Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL  Get Rating) in a research report released on Tuesday, Benzinga reports.

EL has been the subject of a number of other reports. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Estee Lauder Companies in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a hold rating for the company. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Estee Lauder Companies from $287.00 to $230.00 in a report on Friday, May 5th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Estee Lauder Companies from $290.00 to $265.00 in a report on Thursday, May 4th. Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Estee Lauder Companies in a report on Tuesday, March 14th. They issued a buy rating and a $280.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Estee Lauder Companies from $290.00 to $225.00 in a report on Thursday, May 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $264.21.

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Estee Lauder Companies Stock Up 0.3 %

NYSE:EL opened at $201.79 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $238.98 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $240.96. Estee Lauder Companies has a fifty-two week low of $186.47 and a fifty-two week high of $284.45. The firm has a market cap of $72.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 67.04, a P/E/G ratio of 6.62 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.46.

Estee Lauder Companies Dividend Announcement

Estee Lauder Companies ( NYSE:EL Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 3rd. The company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.90 earnings per share. The businesss revenue was down 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Estee Lauder Companies will post 3.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 31st will be given a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 30th. Estee Lauder Companiess dividend payout ratio is presently 87.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Estee Lauder Companies

In other Estee Lauder Companies 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 4,773 shares in the company, valued at $1,211,864.70. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 12.75% of the companys stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. United Bank boosted its stake in shares of Estee Lauder Companies by 1.8% during the first quarter. United Bank now owns 4,879 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,329,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the period. Cibc World Market Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Estee Lauder Companies by 78.4% during the first quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 17,748 shares of the companys stock valued at $4,833,000 after purchasing an additional 7,797 shares during the period. Prudential PLC purchased a new stake in shares of Estee Lauder Companies during the first quarter valued at $1,147,000. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in shares of Estee Lauder Companies by 2.4% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 3,932 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,071,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the period. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 210 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 55.74% of the companys stock.

About Estee Lauder Companies

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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.

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Finning International (TSE:FTT  Get Rating) had its target price increased by Raymond James from C$42.00 to C$43.00 in a research report released on Tuesday, BayStreet.CA reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Raymond James also issued estimates for Finning Internationals Q2 2023 earnings at $0.83 EPS, Q3 2023 earnings at $0.82 EPS, Q4 2023 earnings at $0.75 EPS, FY2023 earnings at $3.30 EPS and FY2024 earnings at $3.25 EPS.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. CIBC upped their target price on Finning International from C$43.00 to C$45.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 8th. Scotiabank increased their price target on Finning International from C$44.00 to C$45.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 8th. National Bank Financial downgraded Finning International from an outperform market weight rating to a sector perform market weight rating in a research report on Monday, February 6th. National Bankshares downgraded Finning International from an outperform rating to a sector perform rating and set a C$40.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, February 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Finning International from C$38.00 to C$43.00 in a report on Thursday, February 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of C$43.29.

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Finning International Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of TSE:FTT opened at C$35.47 on Tuesday. The businesss 50-day moving average is C$34.29 and its 200 day moving average is C$34.04. Finning International has a 1 year low of C$23.46 and a 1 year high of C$39.48. The firm has a market capitalization of C$5.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.91, a P/E/G ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 1.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 94.60, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 0.59.

Finning International Increases Dividend

Finning International ( TSE:FTT Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 6th. The company reported C$0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of C$0.79 by C$0.10. The business had revenue of C$2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of C$2.28 billion. Finning International had a return on equity of 20.86% and a net margin of 5.42%. On average, research analysts predict that Finning International will post 3.2583333 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.82%. This is an increase from Finning Internationals previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 24th. Finning Internationals dividend payout ratio is 28.92%.

About Finning International

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Finning International Inc sells, services, and rents heavy equipment, and power and energy systems in Canada, Chile, the United Kingdom, Argentina, and internationally. The company offers telehandlers, articulated trucks, asphalt pavers, backhoe loaders, cable assist vehicles, cable yarding systems, chip dozers, cold planers, compactors, dozers, drills, electric rope shovels, excavators, material handlers, motor graders, off-highway trucks, pipelayers, remixing transfer vehicle, road reclaimers, road wideners, skid steer and compact track loaders, tack distributors, track loaders, underground-hard rock, wheel loaders, wheel tractor-scrapers, and windrow elevators, as well as attachments.

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Shares of flatexDEGIRO AG (OTCMKTS:FNNTF  Get Rating) have been assigned an average recommendation of Hold from the eight ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $12.17.

Separately, Citigroup assumed coverage on flatexDEGIRO in a research report on Monday, February 27th. They issued a neutral rating for the company.

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flatexDEGIRO Price Performance

flatexDEGIRO stock opened at $8.35 on Friday. flatexDEGIRO has a 1-year low of $6.10 and a 1-year high of $18.85. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $8.35 and a 200-day moving average price of $7.68.

About flatexDEGIRO

flatexDEGIRO AG operates as a brokerage platform in Europe. It offers a wide range of independent products with execution on top of Tier 1 exchanges. The firm provides a full-service and full-product approach to allow clients to take ownership of their financial wealth in a self-directed manner. Its technological edge as well as its high efficiency and strong economies of scale enable flatexDEGIRO to continuously improve its service offerings to customers.

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Nicolet Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX  Get Rating) by 25.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,954 shares of the natural resource companys stock after acquiring an additional 1,830 shares during the period. Nicolet Advisory Services LLCs holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $406,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Holowesko Partners Ltd. increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 30.7% in the 4th quarter. Holowesko Partners Ltd. now owns 506,000 shares of the natural resource companys stock worth $19,228,000 after purchasing an additional 119,000 shares during the last quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 98.4% in the 4th quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 20,824 shares of the natural resource companys stock worth $791,000 after purchasing an additional 10,329 shares during the last quarter. Thomist Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the 4th quarter worth about $18,430,000. Atalanta Sosnoff Capital LLC acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the 4th quarter worth about $38,596,000. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 677,236 shares of the natural resource companys stock valued at $25,735,000 after acquiring an additional 32,160 shares during the last quarter. 77.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of FCX stock opened at $34.54 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $38.98 and a two-hundred day moving average of $39.42. The company has a current ratio of 2.79, a quick ratio of 1.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 12 month low of $24.80 and a 12 month high of $46.73. The company has a market capitalization of $49.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.30 and a beta of 2.00.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

Freeport-McMoRan ( NYSE:FCX Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 21st. The natural resource company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.05. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 11.07% and a net margin of 12.07%. The company had revenue of $5.39 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.25 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.07 EPS. The companys quarterly revenue was down 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 2.06 EPS for the current year.

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 14th were given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 13th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.74%. Freeport-McMoRans dividend payout ratio is currently 16.76%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FCX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Barclays increased their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a report on Friday, April 21st. TheStreet raised Freeport-McMoRan from a c rating to a b rating in a report on Wednesday, January 25th. Raymond James lowered their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a report on Sunday, April 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $40.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a report on Thursday, January 26th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $32.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Monday, February 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $38.42.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 11,678 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.17, for a total transaction of $504,139.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 32,333 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,395,815.61. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.72% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Freeport-McMoRan

(Get Rating)

Freeport-McMoRan, Inc engages in the mining of copper, gold, and molybdenum. It operates through the following segments: North America Copper Mines, South America Mining, Indonesia Mining, Molybdenum Mines, Rod and Refining, Atlantic Copper Smelting and Refining, and Corporate and Other. The North America Copper Mines segment operates open-pit copper mines in Morenci, Baghdad, Safford, Sierrita, and Miami in Arizona and Chino and Tyrone in New Mexico.

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Fukuoka Financial Group, Inc. (OTC:FKKFF  Get Rating)s share price hit a new 52-week low on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $17.36 and last traded at $17.36, with a volume of 0 shares. The stock had previously closed at $17.36.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Daiwa Capital Markets lowered Fukuoka Financial Group from an outperform rating to a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 5th.

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Fukuoka Financial Group Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $14.92 billion, a PE ratio of -32.14 and a beta of 0.03. The businesss 50 day moving average price is $17.36 and its 200-day moving average price is $17.36.

About Fukuoka Financial Group

Fukuoka Financial Group, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides various banking services to individual and corporate customers. The company accepts various deposits, such as current deposits, ordinary and other demand deposits, time deposits, and negotiable certificates of deposit, as well as provides loan products.

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Hemispherx BioPharma, Inc (NYSEAMERICAN:HEB  Get Rating) shares passed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $0.00 and traded as high as $0.50. Hemispherx BioPharma shares last traded at $0.49, with a volume of 29,971 shares.

Hemispherx BioPharma Stock Down 4.1 %

About Hemispherx BioPharma

(Get Rating)

Hemispherx Biopharma, Inc, a specialty pharmaceutical company, engages in the clinical development of drug therapies based on natural immune system enhancing technologies for the treatment of viral and immune based chronic disorders in the United States. The company's products include Alferon N Injection, an injectable formulation of natural alpha interferon to treat a category of genital warts, a sexually transmitted disease; and Ampligen for the treatment of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS).

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H&R Block (NYSE:HRB  Get Rating) issued an update on its FY23 earnings guidance on Tuesday morning. The company provided earnings per share guidance of $3.65-$3.80 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of $3.83. The company issued revenue guidance of $3.440-$3.465 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $3.54 billion. H&R Block also updated its FY 2023 guidance to $3.65-$3.80 EPS.

H&R Block Stock Up 1.3 %

HRB stock opened at $31.65 on Friday. H&R Block has a twelve month low of $28.28 and a twelve month high of $48.76. The company has a market cap of $4.82 billion, a PE ratio of 10.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 0.67. The businesss 50-day simple moving average is $34.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.67.

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H&R Block (NYSE:HRB  Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 9th. The company reported $4.20 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $4.46 by ($0.26). The firm had revenue of $2.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.09 billion. H&R Block had a negative return on equity of 337.61% and a net margin of 14.57%. The firms quarterly revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $4.11 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that H&R Block will post 3.86 EPS for the current year.

H&R Block Dividend Announcement

Analyst Ratings Changes

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 6th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.29 per share. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.67%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 6th. H&R Blocks payout ratio is 40.00%.

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on HRB shares. Barrington Research cut their target price on shares of H&R Block from $48.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of H&R Block from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a sell rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 8th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of H&R Block from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Thursday.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in H&R Block in the 4th quarter worth approximately $73,000. Money Concepts Capital Corp raised its position in H&R Block by 25.2% in the 4th quarter. Money Concepts Capital Corp now owns 2,597 shares of the companys stock worth $95,000 after purchasing an additional 522 shares during the last quarter. First Manhattan Co. bought a new position in H&R Block in the 4th quarter worth approximately $183,000. State of Wyoming raised its position in H&R Block by 20.1% in the 4th quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 5,003 shares of the companys stock worth $183,000 after purchasing an additional 836 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Republic Investment Management Inc. raised its position in H&R Block by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. First Republic Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,927 shares of the companys stock worth $216,000 after purchasing an additional 284 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.05% of the companys stock.

About H&R Block

(Get Rating)

H&R Block, Inc engages in the provision of tax preparation and other services. The firm offers assisted income tax return preparation and related services through a system of retail offices operated directly by the company or by franchisees. It also develops and markets DIY income tax preparation software online, as well as through third-party retail stores and direct mail, and provides DIY tax services, including federal and state income tax returns, access to tax tips, advice, and tax-related news, use of calculators for tax planning, and error checking and electronic filing.

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Payton Gendron was the gunman who killed 10 people, wounded three others and traumatized a supermarket full of people and the community around it last May 14.

There is no doubt about that.

He has admitted his guilt and a state judge sentenced him earlier this year to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

But the families of those he murdered and the people he terrorized at the Tops Markets on Jefferson Avenue believe many other people and entities share responsibility for the hate-fueled massacre.

On Friday, they announced a civil lawsuit aimed at holding them to account.

The families of Katherine "Kat" Massey, Andre Mackniel and Heyward Patterson and Latisha Rogers, a survivor of the massacre, filed a wide-ranging 142-page wrongful death suit in New York State Supreme Court.

They are suing social media platforms they say helped radicalize the killer with algorithms that pushed racist, anti-Semitic and violent content and also allowed him to livestream his deadly rampage that was uploaded and shared on other sites.

They are going after the most powerful social media companies in the world: Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook); Snap, which runs Snapchat; Alphabet Inc. (Googles parent company); Discord; Reddit; and Amazon.com Inc., which operates the Twitch livestreaming service.

They are also suing the body armor manufacturer in Iowa who made the tactical vest that was marketed to civilians and that stopped a bullet fired by the armed security guard at Tops.

They are also suing the gun shop in Endicott that sold him firearms including the one used in the attack along with a "lock" that they say was falsely advertised as making an AR-15 compliant with New York State gun laws but in fact makes it easy to use an illegal high-capacity magazine.

They are suing the Iowa-based part manufacturer, too.

And finally, they are suing Paul and Pamela Gendron, who they argue knew that their son was a threat and should have done more to stop him.

The families are represented by attorneys with the Social Media Victims Law Center, Buffalo attorneys John V. Elmore and Kristen Elmore-Garcia; and the Giffords Law Center.

Barbara Massey Mapps, whose sister Kat Massey was murdered, said the lawsuit is essential.

"It means everything," Mapps told reporters at a news conference inside Elmore's offices on Main Street in Buffalo. With tears in her eyes, she spoke alongside her niece and the daughters of Andre Mackniel.

Kat Massey was at Tops that day to do a little grocery shopping.

"She was there for 20 minutes," Mapps said.

"We lost our sister. They lost their dad. They lost a loved one," she said.

Social media platforms bear guilt for feeding violent images and guns and ideas about white supremacy and white replacement to young minds, she said.

"There's only one way to stop everything in America: Money, money, money. They're all about the dollar bill. Nothing's important," she said.

Adrienne Massey said she's still dealing with the trauma of losing her aunt, Kat Massey.

"My emotions are awful," she said. "One minute I'm my normal character. The next I'm thinking the worst. I've never thought like this before. I'm always wondering if somebody's looking at me or watching me or my kids. ... Nobody should have to live like this.

Leandra Elliott, one of Mackniel's daughters, spoke about him. She said they didn't have a relationship until she was 15 years and they had been growing closer ever since. A resident of Cleveland, she was on vacation in New York City when she noticed on social media that there had been a mass shooting in Buffalo. She was soon bombarded with messages. It was her dad.

"I wanted to say so much to my father before my father died," she said.

Shawanda Rogers, who was Mackniel's oldest daughter, said she never got a chance to meet her father in person. But they had connected through MySpace and later through Instagram  much happier ways to use social media. She recalled getting a text from him on the Sunday before the massacre. It's Mother's Day  her first as a mom.

"He said: 'My shining light. I can't wait to meet up,' " she said. They never had the chance. "The first time I met him was him in his casket," she said.

The attorneys and families know that they will face fierce resistance, especially from the social media giants.

They said Friday, as the City of Buffalo prepared for the one-year mark of the domestic terror attack, that they are prepared to do everything they can to prevent another mass killing.

"There are other people out there, other entities that were responsible for this," Elmore said. "Our goal is to make this community safer. Our goal is to make this country safer. Our goal is to make sure that there's never a mass shooting in this country again."

The need to act is only growing more urgent, he said. The mass shooting at an outlet mall last week in Texas, he said, appears to have been committed by another radicalized white supremacist.
IDT Co. (NYSE:IDT  Get Rating)s stock price crossed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $29.77 and traded as high as $32.92. IDT shares last traded at $32.61, with a volume of 48,083 shares traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on IDT. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of IDT in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a buy rating on the stock. TheStreet upgraded shares of IDT from a c+ rating to a b- rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 15th.

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IDT Trading Down 1.9 %

The company has a market cap of $829.21 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.99 and a beta of 1.04. The stocks 50-day moving average is $32.86 and its 200-day moving average is $29.80.

Insider Activity at IDT

IDT ( NYSE:IDT Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter. IDT had a net margin of 3.68% and a return on equity of 27.09%. The business had revenue of $313.94 million during the quarter.

In related news, EVP Joyce J. Mason sold 3,407 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.89, for a total transaction of $112,056.23. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 36,119 shares in the company, valued at $1,187,953.91. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other IDT news, EVP Joyce J. Mason sold 3,407 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.89, for a total transaction of $112,056.23. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 36,119 shares of the companys stock, valued at $1,187,953.91. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Eric F. Cosentino sold 1,100 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.17, for a total transaction of $37,587.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 705 shares in the company, valued at $24,089.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 5,803 shares of company stock worth $193,422. 14.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On IDT

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in IDT by 8.5% in the third quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 1,315,980 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $32,676,000 after acquiring an additional 102,831 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in IDT by 12.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,155,764 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $28,698,000 after buying an additional 129,726 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its position in IDT by 27.9% during the first quarter. FMR LLC now owns 726,232 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $24,750,000 after buying an additional 158,521 shares during the period. Alta Fox Capital Management LLC lifted its position in IDT by 96.9% during the third quarter. Alta Fox Capital Management LLC now owns 649,681 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $16,132,000 after buying an additional 319,663 shares during the period. Finally, Newport Capital Group LLC purchased a new position in IDT during the first quarter valued at $17,236,000. 42.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About IDT

(Get Rating)

IDT Corp. operates as a holding company. The firm engages in the distribution and market of communications and payment services. It operates through the following segments: Fintech, net2phone-UCaaS and Traditional Communications. The Fintech segment offers money transfer services. The net2phone-UCaaS segment comprises cloud-based PBX services offered to enterprise customers mainly through value-added resellers, service providers, telecom agents and managed service providers, SIP trunking, which supports inbound and outbound domestic and international calling from an IP PBX and cable telephony.

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Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Ingersoll Rand (NYSE:IR  Get Rating) from an in-line rating to an outperform rating in a research note released on Tuesday morning, The Fly reports. The brokerage currently has $71.00 price objective on the industrial products companys stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on IR. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Ingersoll Rand from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 22nd. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Ingersoll Rand from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Monday, April 10th. Barclays raised their target price on Ingersoll Rand from $64.00 to $65.00 in a report on Friday, May 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Ingersoll Rand from $62.00 to $61.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 13th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Ingersoll Rand from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Friday, May 5th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $60.36.

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Ingersoll Rand Stock Performance

Ingersoll Rand stock opened at $57.95 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $23.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.77 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 2.16 and a quick ratio of 1.50. Ingersoll Rand has a 1-year low of $39.28 and a 1-year high of $60.39. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $56.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $55.05.

Ingersoll Rand Announces Dividend

Ingersoll Rand ( NYSE:IR Get Rating ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 21st. The industrial products company reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $1.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $1.54 billion. Ingersoll Rand had a return on equity of 10.69% and a net margin of 10.66%. The companys revenue was up 14.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.64 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Ingersoll Rand will post 2.39 EPS for the current year.

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 24th will be paid a $0.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 23rd. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.14%. Ingersoll Rands dividend payout ratio is currently 4.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Vicente Reynal sold 25,000 shares of Ingersoll Rand stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.50, for a total value of $1,437,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 189,345 shares in the company, valued at $10,887,337.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.75% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ingersoll Rand

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ingersoll Rand by 81.3% during the 3rd quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 638 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 286 shares during the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its position in shares of Ingersoll Rand by 87.0% during the 3rd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 705 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 328 shares during the last quarter. Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ingersoll Rand during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Compass Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ingersoll Rand in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Field & Main Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Ingersoll Rand by 42.3% in the 1st quarter. Field & Main Bank now owns 673 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. 99.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ingersoll Rand Company Profile

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Ingersoll Rand, Inc provides a broad range of mission critical air, fluid, energy, specialty vehicle and medical technologies, providing services and solutions to increase industrial productivity and efficiency. It operates through the following segments: Industrial Technologies and Services, Precision and Science Technologies, High Pressure Solutions, and Specialty Vehicle Technologies.

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Hubbell Incorporated (NYSE:HUBB  Get Rating) Director Carlos M. Cardoso sold 560 shares of Hubbell stock in a transaction on Friday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $273.16, for a total value of $152,969.60. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,711 shares of the companys stock, valued at $467,376.76. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Hubbell Price Performance

Hubbell stock opened at $272.75 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.05, a PEG ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.99. Hubbell Incorporated has a 1 year low of $170.21 and a 1 year high of $282.19. The business has a 50-day moving average of $244.69 and a 200-day moving average of $242.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58.

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Hubbell (NYSE:HUBB  Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $3.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.46 by $1.15. Hubbell had a return on equity of 27.72% and a net margin of 11.15%. The business had revenue of $1.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.25 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.12 EPS. Hubbells quarterly revenue was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Hubbell Incorporated will post 13.81 EPS for the current year.

Hubbell Dividend Announcement

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hubbell

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 31st will be given a $1.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 30th. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.64%. Hubbells dividend payout ratio is presently 42.79%.

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Hubbell by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,542,232 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $1,235,918,000 after acquiring an additional 57,469 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Hubbell by 69.4% in the 3rd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,870,982 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $1,086,230,000 after acquiring an additional 1,995,155 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Hubbell by 13.2% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,582,249 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $606,003,000 after acquiring an additional 301,775 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Hubbell by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,007,156 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $488,361,000 after purchasing an additional 50,956 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Hubbell by 133.8% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,543,481 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $283,646,000 after purchasing an additional 883,272 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.71% of the companys stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on HUBB shares. StockNews.com cut Hubbell from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report on Friday, May 5th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Hubbell from $226.00 to $238.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 1st. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Hubbell from $252.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 26th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Hubbell from $225.00 to $221.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Hubbell from an underweight rating to a neutral rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $200.00 to $205.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $237.33.

Hubbell Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Hubbell, Inc engages in the designing, manufacturing, and sale of electrical and electronic products for non-residential and residential construction, industrial, and utility applications. It operates through the Electrical Solutions and Utility Solutions segments. The Electrical Solutions segment manufactures and sells wiring and electrical, lighting fixtures, and controls for indoor and outdoor applications as well as specialty lighting and communications products.

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Installed Building Products (NYSE:IBP  Get Rating) had its target price hoisted by Stephens from $115.00 to $132.00 in a research note released on Monday morning, The Fly reports.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on IBP. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Installed Building Products from a hold rating to a buy rating and increased their target price for the company from $90.00 to $124.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 10th. BTIG Research initiated coverage on Installed Building Products in a research note on Wednesday, May 3rd. They issued a neutral rating on the stock. StockNews.com cut Installed Building Products from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 29th. Royal Bank of Canada raised Installed Building Products from an underperform rating to a sector perform rating and increased their target price for the company from $85.00 to $111.00 in a research note on Friday, May 5th. Finally, Loop Capital upped their price target on shares of Installed Building Products from $108.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Friday, May 5th. 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, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $117.14.

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Installed Building Products Trading Up 0.7 %

Installed Building Products stock opened at $114.53 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $3.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.70 and a beta of 1.69. Installed Building Products has a fifty-two week low of $69.44 and a fifty-two week high of $125.87. The firms fifty day moving average price is $113.34 and its 200-day moving average price is $101.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 2.19 and a current ratio of 2.73.

Installed Building Products Cuts Dividend

Installed Building Products ( NYSE:IBP Get Rating ) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 22nd. The construction company reported $2.34 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $686.49 million for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $682.28 million. Installed Building Products had a return on equity of 57.73% and a net margin of 8.71%. Equities research analysts forecast that Installed Building Products will post 8.14 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 Thursday, June 15th will be given a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 14th. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.15%. Installed Building Productss payout ratio is 15.79%.

Insider Transactions at Installed Building Products

In other news, CAO Todd R. Fry sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.24, for a total transaction of $57,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 5,943 shares in the company, valued at $678,928.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CAO Todd R. Fry sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.24, for a total transaction of $57,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 5,943 shares in the company, valued at $678,928.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Edwards sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.91, for a total transaction of $5,795,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,591,194 shares of the companys stock, valued at $184,435,296.54. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 119,326 shares of company stock worth $13,863,351. Company insiders own 17.30% of the companys stock.

Institutional Trading of Installed Building Products

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of IBP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Installed Building Products by 16.9% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 20,337 shares of the construction companys stock worth $1,718,000 after buying an additional 2,940 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can increased its stake in shares of Installed Building Products by 2.6% during the first quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 8,295 shares of the construction companys stock valued at $730,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Installed Building Products by 51.7% during the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 12,596 shares of the construction companys stock valued at $1,064,000 after purchasing an additional 4,291 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers increased its stake in shares of Installed Building Products by 8.9% during the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 58,380 shares of the construction companys stock valued at $4,933,000 after purchasing an additional 4,791 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS increased its stake in shares of Installed Building Products by 14.1% during the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 20,232 shares of the construction companys stock valued at $1,709,000 after purchasing an additional 2,494 shares in the last quarter. 77.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Installed Building Products

(Get Rating)

Installed Building Products, Inc engages in the business of installing insulation for the residential new construction market. Its products include garage doors, rain gutters, shower doors, closet shelving, and mirrors. The company was founded in 1977 and is headquartered in Columbus, OH.

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InterContinental Hotels Group PLC (LON:IHG  Get Rating) insider Daniela Barone Soares purchased 150 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price of GBX 5,428 ($68.49) per share, with a total value of 8,142 ($10,273.82).

InterContinental Hotels Group Stock Up 0.2 %

LON IHG opened at GBX 5,326 ($67.21) on Friday. The stock has a market cap of 9.15 billion, a PE ratio of 3,189.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.95. InterContinental Hotels Group PLC has a fifty-two week low of GBX 4,174 ($52.67) and a fifty-two week high of GBX 5,796 ($73.14). The business has a 50 day moving average price of GBX 5,418.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of GBX 5,212.69.

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InterContinental Hotels Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 30th will be given a $0.95 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 1.4%. This is a positive change from InterContinental Hotels Groups previous dividend of $0.44. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 30th. InterContinental Hotels Groups dividend payout ratio is presently 6,826.35%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

InterContinental Hotels Group Company Profile

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on InterContinental Hotels Group from GBX 6,000 ($75.71) to GBX 6,200 ($78.23) and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Tuesday. Redburn Partners cut InterContinental Hotels Group to a sell rating in a report on Tuesday, March 21st. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on InterContinental Hotels Group from GBX 5,500 ($69.40) to GBX 6,200 ($78.23) and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, January 25th. Barclays cut InterContinental Hotels Group to an equal weight rating in a report on Monday, March 6th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a hold rating and set a GBX 5,850 ($73.82) target price on shares of InterContinental Hotels Group in a report on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of GBX 5,836.67 ($73.65).

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InterContinental Hotels Group PLC owns, manages, franchises, and leases hotels in the Americas, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Greater China. The company operates hotels under the Six Senses, Regent, InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, Vignette Collection, Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, Hotel Indigo, EVEN Hotels, HUALUXE, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Holiday Inn Club Vacations, avid, Staybridge Suites, Atwell Suites, Candlewood Suites, voco, and Crowne Plaza.

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Peel Hunt upgraded shares of International Consolidated Airlines Group (OTCMKTS:ICAGY  Get Rating) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, The Fly reports.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. UBS Group downgraded shares of International Consolidated Airlines Group from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a report on Friday, January 13th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of International Consolidated Airlines Group from GBX 170 ($2.15) to GBX 215 ($2.71) in a report on Monday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of International Consolidated Airlines Group from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Friday, March 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $133.95.

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International Consolidated Airlines Group Stock Performance

OTCMKTS:ICAGY opened at $3.82 on Tuesday. International Consolidated Airlines Group has a 1 year low of $2.06 and a 1 year high of $4.21. The firms fifty day simple moving average is $3.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $3.46.

About International Consolidated Airlines Group

International Consolidated Airlines Group SA is a holding company, which engages in the provision of passenger and freight air transportation services. It operates through the following segments: British Airways, Iberia, Vueling, Aer Lingus, and Other Group companies. The company was founded on January 21, 2011 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

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Invesco Bond Fund (NYSE:VBF  Get Rating)s stock price passed below its 50-day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a 50-day moving average of $15.75 and traded as low as $15.36. Invesco Bond Fund shares last traded at $15.37, with a volume of 21,174 shares changing hands.

Invesco Bond Fund Trading Down 0.3 %

The stocks fifty day moving average price is $15.72 and its 200 day moving average price is $15.74.

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Invesco Bond Fund Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 31st. Investors of record on Monday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.0635 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 12th. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.96%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

About Invesco Bond Fund

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Citigroup Inc. increased its stake in shares of Invesco Bond Fund by 108.3% in the first quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 3,228 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 1,678 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Invesco Bond Fund by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 54,614 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $842,000 after buying an additional 1,220 shares in the last quarter. ProVise Management Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Invesco Bond Fund by 207.1% in the 1st quarter. ProVise Management Group LLC now owns 93,820 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $1,446,000 after buying an additional 63,270 shares in the last quarter. Oak Harbor Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Invesco Bond Fund by 126.1% in the 1st quarter. Oak Harbor Wealth Partners LLC now owns 29,055 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $448,000 after buying an additional 16,203 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Invesco Bond Fund by 103.5% in the 1st quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 65,316 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $1,007,000 after acquiring an additional 33,227 shares during the last quarter. 44.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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Invesco Bond Fund is a close ended fixed income mutual fund launched by Invesco Ltd. The fund is co-managed by Invesco Advisers, Inc, INVESCO Asset Management (Japan) Limited, INVESCO Asset Management Deutschland GmbH, INVESCO Asset Management Limited, Invesco Hong Kong Limited, INVESCO Senior Secured Management, Inc, and Invesco Canada Ltd.

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John Hancock Financial Opportunities Fund (NYSE:BTO  Get Rating)s stock price crossed below its 50 day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a 50 day moving average of $29.40 and traded as low as $23.50. John Hancock Financial Opportunities Fund shares last traded at $23.87, with a volume of 108,578 shares traded.

John Hancock Financial Opportunities Fund Trading Down 0.6 %

The businesss fifty day moving average price is $28.91 and its 200 day moving average price is $33.02.

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John Hancock Financial Opportunities Fund Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 13th were issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 11.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 10th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On John Hancock Financial Opportunities Fund

John Hancock Financial Opportunities Fund Company Profile

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BTO. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of John Hancock Financial Opportunities Fund by 7.3% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 429,635 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $13,121,000 after purchasing an additional 29,262 shares in the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its position in shares of John Hancock Financial Opportunities Fund by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 369,231 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $12,299,000 after purchasing an additional 22,494 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its position in shares of John Hancock Financial Opportunities Fund by 9.3% during the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 241,717 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $7,382,000 after purchasing an additional 20,598 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in John Hancock Financial Opportunities Fund by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 190,809 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $7,670,000 after acquiring an additional 3,346 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates increased its position in John Hancock Financial Opportunities Fund by 23.7% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 187,549 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $5,728,000 after acquiring an additional 35,885 shares in the last quarter. 19.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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John Hancock Financial Opportunities Fund is a closed-end diversified management investment fund. Its objective is to provide a high level of total return consisting of long-term capital appreciation and current income. The company was founded on August 23, 1994 and is headquartered in Boston, MA.

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StockNews.com upgraded shares of KBR (NYSE:KBR  Get Rating) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Tuesday.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on KBR. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of KBR from $60.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday, February 17th. DA Davidson upped their price target on KBR from $60.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 21st. Finally, Cowen upped their price target on KBR from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, February 23rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, KBR presently has a consensus rating of Buy and an average price target of $66.33.

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KBR Stock Down 0.3 %

KBR stock opened at $59.11 on Tuesday. KBR has a one year low of $41.96 and a one year high of $59.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.02 billion, a PE ratio of 25.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99. The company has a fifty day moving average of $55.41 and a 200-day moving average of $52.79.

Insider Activity

KBR ( NYSE:KBR Get Rating ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 1st. The construction company reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.09. KBR had a net margin of 5.30% and a return on equity of 26.13%. The business had revenue of $1.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.61 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.62 earnings per share. The companys quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that KBR will post 2.89 EPS for the current year.

In other news, EVP Jennifer Myles sold 4,714 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.49, for a total transaction of $256,865.86. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 69,902 shares in the company, valued at $3,808,959.98. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Lester L. Lyles sold 17,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.81, for a total value of $931,770.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 60,462 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,313,922.22. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Jennifer Myles sold 4,714 shares of KBR stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.49, for a total transaction of $256,865.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 69,902 shares of the companys stock, valued at $3,808,959.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.03% of the companys stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Belpointe Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in KBR during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Fred Alger Management LLC bought a new stake in KBR during the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its stake in KBR by 113.7% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 750 shares of the construction companys stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 399 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp acquired a new position in KBR during the 1st quarter valued at about $48,000. Finally, WFA of San Diego LLC acquired a new position in KBR during the 4th quarter valued at about $53,000.

About KBR

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KBR, Inc engages in the provision of differentiated professional services and technologies across the asset and program life-cycle within the government services and hydrocarbons industries. It operates through the following segments: Government Solutions, Technology Solutions, Energy Solutions, Non-strategic Business, and Other.

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Manulife Financial Co. (TSE:MFC  Get Rating) (NYSE:MFC) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, May 10th, TickerTech reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 24th will be paid a dividend of 0.365 per share by the financial services provider on Monday, June 19th. This represents a $1.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.66%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 23rd.

Manulife Financial Stock Down 1.5 %

Manulife Financial stock traded down C$0.39 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting C$25.80. The companys stock had a trading volume of 1,100,429 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,846,176. The firms 50 day moving average is C$25.66 and its 200 day moving average is C$25.01. The company has a market cap of C$47.73 billion, a PE ratio of 7.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.96 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 43.99, a current ratio of 4.70 and a quick ratio of 2.58. Manulife Financial has a 52-week low of C$20.81 and a 52-week high of C$27.50.

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Manulife Financial (TSE:MFC  Get Rating) (NYSE:MFC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 15th. The financial services provider reported C$0.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of C$0.81 by C$0.07. The firm had revenue of C$15.40 billion during the quarter. Manulife Financial had a return on equity of 12.46% and a net margin of 47.00%. On average, analysts anticipate that Manulife Financial will post 3.4177378 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Insider Buying and Selling

A number of research analysts have recently commented on MFC shares. CSFB increased their price objective on Manulife Financial from C$27.00 to C$28.00 in a report on Friday, February 17th. CIBC increased their price objective on Manulife Financial from C$23.00 to C$27.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 25th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Manulife Financial from C$26.00 to C$28.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a report on Friday, February 17th. Barclays raised their target price on Manulife Financial from C$30.00 to C$31.00 in a report on Monday, February 27th. Finally, National Bankshares raised their target price on Manulife Financial from C$26.00 to C$27.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a report on Thursday, February 16th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of C$27.77.

In other Manulife Financial news, Director Marianne Harrison sold 36,995 shares of Manulife Financial stock in a transaction on Friday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$26.78, for a total value of C$990,607.72. In other Manulife Financial news, Director Marianne Harrison sold 36,995 shares of Manulife Financial stock in a transaction on Friday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$26.78, for a total value of C$990,607.72. Also, Director Donald Richard Lindsay acquired 50,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 9th. The stock was acquired at an average price of C$26.64 per share, with a total value of C$1,332,005.00. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Manulife Financial

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Manulife Financial Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides financial products and services in Asia, Canada, the United States, and internationally. The company operates through Wealth and Asset Management Businesses; Insurance and Annuity Products; And Corporate and Other segments. The Wealth and Asset Management Businesses segment provides mutual funds and exchange-traded funds, group retirement and savings products, and institutional asset management services through agents and brokers affiliated with the company, securities brokerage firms, and financial advisors pension plan consultants and banks.

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The students from Frederick Law Olmsted School 64's fourth-grade orchestra scrambled into Buffalo Toronto Public Media's main studio, tuned their strings quickly and launched into a spirited rendition of Susan Day's "King's Court."

The cameras then pivoted to the opposite side of the room, where 12 Buffalo Public Schools elementary students sat on beanbags and listened to Buffalo Bills offensive lineman Dion Dawkins read "I Am Every Good Thing" by Derrick Barnes before sharing why they are worthy and why they can achieve their dreams.

Youth participation was integral to the Educational Day of Healing and Restoration, a daylong collaboration between Buffalo Public Schools, BOCES and Buffalo Toronto Public Media in remembrance of and in response to the May 14 mass shooting at Tops Markets on Jefferson Avenue one year ago.

The itinerary was split into three segments: for kindergarten through fourth grade, the focus was on empowerment; for fifth through eighth grade, the emphasis was on letters of comfort to families; and for ninth through 12th grade, a healing circle and panel discussion was the thrust. Recorded messages by Vice President Kamala Harris, Mayor Byron W. Brown and Buffalo Schools Superintendent Tonja M. Williams introduced all three sections.

These tributes and activities were balanced by performances, such as African dance and spoken word, and it was all live-streamed on Buffalo Toronto Public Media's YouTube channel and embedded on the district homepage, BuffaloSchools.org. Classrooms across the district watched the section of the day that corresponded with their grade levels.

Dalphne Bell, Buffalo Public Schools director of the Office of Culturally & Linguistically Responsive Initiatives, joined Dawkins in engaging students after the read-aloud and facilitated other discussions throughout the day. She said messaging to each of the age groups was intentional.

"It deeply impacts all of us differently," Bell said, referring to May 14. "As adults, we're a little more mature, we're able to process things, but kids  we really have to process it at their level."

Bell lingered on the last line of Barnes' book: "I am worthy to be loved," while Dawkins was struck by a different message. "When it repeats 'I am strong,' it hits a little harder than ever," he said.

While the elementary approach was uplifting, Buffalo high school students grappled with their memories of 5/14 in a panel discussion, reflecting on their feelings as well as hopes and fears for the future.

"It's really hurting  it took time to even go out in public again after the massacre," said Paul Wilson, a student at Hutchinson Central Technical High School. "Going into that Tops, you still get a wary feeling  something doesn't feel right. A year has passed and it's still affecting me."

Anaya Morrell, a City Honors student, said the reality of the shooting did not sink in until she realized the Tops was two or three blocks from her school. Morrell and her peers elaborated on how news of the shooting touched their families; they remarked how astute younger siblings were about the gravity of the event, even if they did not fully understand what happened.

"He could feel how everybody was really scared," Morrell said of her younger brother.

Participants throughout the day emphasized that healing is ongoing, and it's not something to be pushed aside.

"You have to heal in order to move forward," said Bell, who described the CLRI office's youth summit in April as another avenue for healing. "You can't just sit in silence, sit in sorrow."

She stressed the link between healing and excellence, the two chief themes of the day.

"The main message is don't hold  let it go  and then we can focus on brilliance and empowerment," Bell said.
HBK Sorce Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET  Get Rating) by 98.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 48,228 shares of the financial services providers stock after acquiring an additional 23,894 shares during the quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLCs holdings in MetLife were worth $3,490,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MET. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 41.1% during the 3rd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,165,769 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $1,225,676,000 after acquiring an additional 5,876,930 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its stake in MetLife by 92.5% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 5,264,670 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $319,989,000 after buying an additional 2,530,149 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank increased its stake in MetLife by 564.8% during the 4th quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 2,097,455 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $151,703,000 after buying an additional 1,781,934 shares during the period. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can purchased a new stake in MetLife during the 3rd quarter worth $63,934,000. Finally, Ensign Peak Advisors Inc increased its stake in MetLife by 309.7% during the 1st quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 1,364,265 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $95,881,000 after buying an additional 1,031,277 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.15% of the companys stock.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of MetLife from $83.00 to $76.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 20th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of MetLife in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a hold rating for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of MetLife from $79.00 to $65.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 5th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of MetLife from $82.00 to $74.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 5th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of MetLife from $83.00 to $79.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $77.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at MetLife

MetLife Trading Down 1.1 %

In other news, EVP Bill Pappas sold 11,345 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.96, for a total value of $816,386.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 46,231 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $3,326,782.76. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink . 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

NYSE MET opened at $51.23 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.13 and a current ratio of 0.13. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $58.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $67.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.23 billion, a PE ratio of 23.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.05. MetLife, Inc. has a one year low of $50.78 and a one year high of $77.36.

MetLife (NYSE:MET  Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 3rd. The financial services provider reported $1.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $1.85 by ($0.33). The firm had revenue of $16.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.84 billion. MetLife had a net margin of 2.80% and a return on equity of 16.86%. The companys revenue for the quarter was down 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.08 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current year.

MetLife Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.06%. This is a positive change from MetLifes previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 8th. MetLifes payout ratio is presently 93.69%.

MetLife announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, May 3rd that authorizes the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to repurchase up to 7.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the companys management believes its stock is undervalued.

About MetLife

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MetLife, Inc provides insurance and financial services to individual and institutional customers. It offers life insurance, annuities, automobile and homeowners insurance and retail banking services to individuals as well as group insurance, reinsurance and retirement and savings products and services.

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Want to see what other hedge funds are holding MET? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET  Get Rating).

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Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE  Get Rating) Director Scott Gottlieb purchased 1,000 shares of Pfizer stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 5th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $38.42 per share, with a total value of $38,420.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 5,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $192,100. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Scott Gottlieb also recently made the following trade(s):

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On Monday, May 8th, Scott Gottlieb bought 1,000 shares of Pfizer stock. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $38.58 per share, with a total value of $38,580.00.

Pfizer Price Performance

NYSE PFE opened at $37.58 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $44.80. The company has a market cap of $212.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 0.63. Pfizer Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.21 and a 1 year high of $54.93.

Pfizer Dividend Announcement

Pfizer ( NYSE:PFE Get Rating ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 2nd. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $18.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.49 billion. Pfizer had a net margin of 31.25% and a return on equity of 38.46%. Pfizers quarterly revenue was down 28.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.62 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Pfizer Inc. will post 3.35 EPS for the current year.

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 9th. Investors of record on Friday, May 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.36%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 11th. Pfizers dividend payout ratio is currently 32.28%.

Institutional Trading of Pfizer

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Lam Group Inc. bought a new stake in Pfizer in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Worth Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Pfizer in the 1st quarter valued at $29,000. My Personal CFO LLC bought a new stake in Pfizer in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. 25 LLC bought a new stake in Pfizer in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Finally, Mendota Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Pfizer in the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. 67.62% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on PFE. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Pfizer from $55.00 to $53.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 1st. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a buy rating for the company. Daiwa Capital Markets downgraded shares of Pfizer from an outperform rating to a neutral rating and set a $38.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Pfizer from $45.00 to $44.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 10th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Pfizer from $43.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 3rd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $47.33.

Pfizer Company Profile

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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.

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Quaker Chemical Co. (NYSE:KWR  Get Rating) SVP Robert T. Traub sold 3,650 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.00, for a total value of $748,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 3,150 shares of the companys stock, valued at $645,750. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Quaker Chemical Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:KWR opened at $205.06 on Friday. The businesss fifty day moving average price is $191.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $186.48. Quaker Chemical Co. has a fifty-two week low of $129.06 and a fifty-two week high of $216.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -569.61 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 2.79 and a quick ratio of 1.99.

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Quaker Chemical (NYSE:KWR  Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Friday, May 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.54. The company had revenue of $500.15 million for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $485.29 million. Quaker Chemical had a positive return on equity of 8.74% and a negative net margin of 0.32%. The businesss revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.42 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Quaker Chemical Co. will post 6.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Quaker Chemical Dividend Announcement

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.435 per share. This represents a $1.74 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.85%. Quaker Chemicals payout ratio is presently -483.33%.

KWR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Quaker Chemical from $220.00 to $235.00 in a research note on Monday. StockNews.com began coverage on Quaker Chemical in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a hold rating on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Quaker Chemical from $203.00 to $227.00 in a research report on Monday.

Institutional Trading of Quaker Chemical

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Quaker Chemical by 2.5% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 130,739 shares of the specialty chemicals companys stock worth $25,880,000 after purchasing an additional 3,215 shares during the last quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp grew its holdings in shares of Quaker Chemical by 32.1% during the first quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 19,583 shares of the specialty chemicals companys stock worth $3,876,000 after purchasing an additional 4,764 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Quaker Chemical by 3.9% during the first quarter. FMR LLC now owns 163,713 shares of the specialty chemicals companys stock worth $32,407,000 after purchasing an additional 6,096 shares during the last quarter. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP bought a new position in Quaker Chemical in the first quarter valued at about $957,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Quaker Chemical by 19.1% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,260 shares of the specialty chemicals companys stock valued at $437,000 after acquiring an additional 363 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.91% of the companys stock.

About Quaker Chemical

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Quaker Houghton engages in the business of developing, producing, and marketing formulated chemical specialty products. It operates through the following geographical segments: Americas, Europe, Middle East and Africa, Asia Pacific, and Global Specialty Businesses. Its products include can making lubricants, cleaners, coatings, cold rolling oils, corrosion preventives, die casting lubricants, dust suppressants, greases, ground control agents, hot rolling oils, hydraulic fluids, industrial lubricants, longwall fluids, metal forming fluids, metal removal fluids, pickle oils, surface treatments, temper fluids, and tin plating.

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Finning International Inc. (TSE:FTT  Get Rating)  Analysts at Raymond James raised their Q2 2023 EPS estimates for shares of Finning International in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, May 9th. Raymond James analyst B. Fast now anticipates that the company will earn $0.83 per share for the quarter, up from their prior forecast of $0.79. Raymond James has a Outperform rating and a $43.00 price objective on the stock. The consensus estimate for Finning Internationals current full-year earnings is $3.26 per share. Raymond James also issued estimates for Finning Internationals Q3 2023 earnings at $0.82 EPS, FY2023 earnings at $3.30 EPS and FY2024 earnings at $3.25 EPS.

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Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Finning International from C$38.00 to C$43.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 9th. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Finning International from C$44.00 to C$45.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 8th. CIBC increased their target price on shares of Finning International from C$43.00 to C$45.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 8th. National Bankshares downgraded shares of Finning International from an outperform rating to a sector perform rating and set a C$40.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, February 7th. Finally, National Bank Financial downgraded shares of Finning International from an outperform market weight rating to a sector perform market weight rating in a report on Monday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Finning International has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of C$43.29.

Finning International Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of TSE:FTT opened at C$35.47 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 94.60, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 1.41. The stock has a market capitalization of C$5.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.91, a PEG ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 1.71. Finning International has a 1-year low of C$23.46 and a 1-year high of C$39.48. The company has a 50 day moving average price of C$34.29 and a 200 day moving average price of C$34.04.

Finning International (TSE:FTT  Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 6th. The company reported C$0.89 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of C$0.79 by C$0.10. The firm had revenue of C$2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of C$2.28 billion. Finning International had a net margin of 5.42% and a return on equity of 20.86%.

Finning International Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 25th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.82%. This is an increase from Finning Internationals previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 24th. Finning Internationals dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.92%.

Finning International Company Profile

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Finning International Inc sells, services, and rents heavy equipment, and power and energy systems in Canada, Chile, the United Kingdom, Argentina, and internationally. The company offers telehandlers, articulated trucks, asphalt pavers, backhoe loaders, cable assist vehicles, cable yarding systems, chip dozers, cold planers, compactors, dozers, drills, electric rope shovels, excavators, material handlers, motor graders, off-highway trucks, pipelayers, remixing transfer vehicle, road reclaimers, road wideners, skid steer and compact track loaders, tack distributors, track loaders, underground-hard rock, wheel loaders, wheel tractor-scrapers, and windrow elevators, as well as attachments.

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RENASANT Bank bought a new stake in shares of ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW  Get Rating) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 548 shares of the information technology services providers stock, valued at approximately $213,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in ServiceNow by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,866,914 shares of the information technology services providers stock valued at $6,369,116,000 after acquiring an additional 320,130 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in ServiceNow by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 14,107,929 shares of the information technology services providers stock valued at $5,342,228,000 after acquiring an additional 90,051 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in ServiceNow by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,969,975 shares of the information technology services providers stock valued at $3,009,542,000 after acquiring an additional 182,606 shares in the last quarter. Polen Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of ServiceNow by 26.5% during the third quarter. Polen Capital Management LLC now owns 3,953,299 shares of the information technology services providers stock worth $1,492,805,000 after buying an additional 827,285 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. grew its holdings in shares of ServiceNow by 8.6% during the third quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,378,372 shares of the information technology services providers stock worth $898,098,000 after buying an additional 187,393 shares in the last quarter. 86.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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ServiceNow Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE NOW opened at $453.00 on Friday. ServiceNow, Inc. has a 12 month low of $337.00 and a 12 month high of $521.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.17. The company has a market capitalization of $92.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 230.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.19 and a beta of 1.04. The companys fifty day moving average price is $450.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $426.04.

Insider Buying and Selling at ServiceNow

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

In other ServiceNow news, insider Lara Caimi sold 2,975 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $431.58, for a total transaction of $1,283,950.50. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 98 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,294.84. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink . In other ServiceNow news, insider Lara Caimi sold 2,975 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $431.58, for a total transaction of $1,283,950.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 98 shares of the companys stock, valued at $42,294.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website . Also, Director Anita M. Sands sold 1,315 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.75, for a total transaction of $604,571.25. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 14,443 shares in the company, valued at $6,640,169.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here . Insiders have sold 19,070 shares of company stock worth $8,581,516 in the last ninety days. 0.28% of the stock is owned by insiders.

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wolfe Research lifted their price target on shares of ServiceNow from $500.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, January 26th. Cowen lifted their price target on shares of ServiceNow from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, January 26th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of ServiceNow from $612.00 to $586.00 in a report on Tuesday. 92 Resources reiterated a reiterates rating on shares of ServiceNow in a report on Thursday, April 27th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded shares of ServiceNow from an underperform rating to a neutral rating and set a $410.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, April 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $525.47.

About ServiceNow

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ServiceNow, Inc engages in the provision of enterprise cloud computing solutions. The firm delivers digital workflows on a single enterprise cloud platform called the Now Platform. Its product portfolio is focused on providing Information Technology, Employee and Customer workflows. The company was founded by Frederic B.

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Impala Platinum (OTCMKTS:IMPUY  Get Rating) and Pure Energy Minerals (OTCMKTS:PEMIF  Get Rating) are both basic materials companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, risk, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends and profitability.

Risk and Volatility

Impala Platinum has a beta of 1.65, suggesting that its share price is 65% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Pure Energy Minerals has a beta of 1.58, suggesting that its share price is 58% more volatile than the S&P 500.

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Profitability

This table compares Impala Platinum and Pure Energy Minerals net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Impala Platinum N/A N/A N/A Pure Energy Minerals -26.25% -0.39% -0.38%

Analyst Ratings

Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Impala Platinum 0 0 1 0 3.00 Pure Energy Minerals 0 0 0 0 N/A

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Impala Platinum and Pure Energy Minerals, as reported by MarketBeat.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Impala Platinum and Pure Energy Minerals revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio Impala Platinum $7.79 billion 0.99 $2.11 billion N/A N/A Pure Energy Minerals $400,000.00 55.49 $60,000.00 N/A N/A

Impala Platinum has higher revenue and earnings than Pure Energy Minerals.

Summary

Impala Platinum beats Pure Energy Minerals on 7 of the 8 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Impala Platinum

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Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd. engages in the business of mining, refining, and marketing of platinum group metals. Its products include platinum, palladium, rhodium, ruthenium, iridium, gold, and silver as well as base metals such as nickel, copper, cobalt, and chrome. It operates through the following segments: Mining, Impala Refining Services, Chrome Processing, and Other. The Mining segment comprises of Impala, Zimplats, Marula, and Afplats. The Impala Refining Services includes metals purchased and toll-refined materials. The Other segment consists of South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Investment in Associates. The company was founded in 1924 and is headquartered in Northlands, South Africa.

About Pure Energy Minerals

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Pure Energy Minerals Ltd. is a mineral resource company, which engages in the exploration and development of mineral properties. It focuses on lithium brine projects that are located in Clayton Valley, Nevada and Salta Province, Argentina. The company was founded by Jeremy Poirier on June 7, 1999 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

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Oak Associates Ltd. OH trimmed its stake in shares of Science Applications International Co. (NYSE:SAIC  Get Rating) by 4.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,972 shares of the information technology services providers stock after selling 693 shares during the period. Oak Associates Ltd. OHs holdings in Science Applications International were worth $1,661,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Science Applications International by 68.3% in the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,035,190 shares of the information technology services providers stock valued at $179,971,000 after acquiring an additional 825,670 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Science Applications International by 9.4% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,699,458 shares of the information technology services providers stock valued at $525,321,000 after acquiring an additional 491,167 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in shares of Science Applications International by 3,897.3% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 100,932 shares of the information technology services providers stock valued at $9,303,000 after acquiring an additional 98,407 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. lifted its position in shares of Science Applications International by 2.0% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,887,542 shares of the information technology services providers stock valued at $450,486,000 after acquiring an additional 94,874 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Science Applications International by 39.0% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 316,718 shares of the information technology services providers stock valued at $29,191,000 after acquiring an additional 88,891 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.40% of the companys stock.

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Insider Activity at Science Applications International

In other Science Applications International news, insider Michael W. Larouche sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.19, for a total transaction of $643,140.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 49,192 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $5,272,890.48. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, Director Katharina G. Mcfarland sold 1,193 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.48, for a total value of $129,416.64. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $847,554.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Michael W. Larouche sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.19, for a total value of $643,140.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 49,192 shares in the company, valued at $5,272,890.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 33,430 shares of company stock valued at $3,589,623. 1.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Science Applications International Price Performance

SAIC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded Science Applications International from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report on Monday, May 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Science Applications International from $90.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a sell rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 5th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Science Applications International from $141.00 to $127.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 4th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Science Applications International from $110.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Science Applications International from $121.00 to $118.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $113.30.

Shares of SAIC traded up $0.76 on Friday, reaching $99.50. The stock had a trading volume of 33,500 shares, compared to its average volume of 297,690. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.39 billion, a PE ratio of 18.35 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $104.58 and a 200 day moving average of $106.54. Science Applications International Co. has a twelve month low of $79.33 and a twelve month high of $117.94.

Science Applications International (NYSE:SAIC  Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 3rd. The information technology services provider reported $2.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $1.63 by $0.41. The business had revenue of $1.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $1.86 billion. Science Applications International had a return on equity of 25.20% and a net margin of 3.89%. The companys revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.50 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Science Applications International Co. will post 6.95 EPS for the current year.

Science Applications International Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 28th. Investors of record on Friday, April 14th were paid a $0.37 dividend. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 13th. Science Applications Internationals payout ratio is currently 27.51%.

Science Applications International Profile

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Science Applications International Corp. is a provider of technical, engineering and enterprise information technology (IT) services. Its offerings include engineering, systems integration and information technology offerings for large, complex government projects and offer a broad range of services with a targeted emphasis on higher end, differentiated technology services, and end-to-end services spanning the entire spectrum of its customers IT infrastructure.

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SFL (NYSE:SFL  Get Rating) will announce its earnings results before the market opens on Monday, May 15th.

SFL (NYSE:SFL  Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 15th. The shipping company reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $197.82 million for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $163.86 million. SFL had a net margin of 30.25% and a return on equity of 14.48%.

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SFL Stock Up 0.3 %

SFL opened at $8.88 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $9.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $9.70. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56. The company has a market cap of $1.23 billion, a PE ratio of 5.58 and a beta of 0.77. SFL has a 52 week low of $8.43 and a 52 week high of $11.60.

SFL Increases Dividend

Analyst Ratings Changes

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 14th. This is an increase from SFLs previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.81%. SFLs dividend payout ratio is currently 60.38%.

Several analysts have commented on SFL shares. DNB Markets downgraded SFL from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 14th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on SFL in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They set a hold rating for the company. Finally, B. Riley increased their target price on SFL from $11.50 to $12.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, February 16th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On SFL

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of SFL by 10.0% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,610,917 shares of the shipping companys stock worth $57,119,000 after buying an additional 511,358 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of SFL by 36.0% in the 2nd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,148,989 shares of the shipping companys stock worth $20,394,000 after acquiring an additional 568,675 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of SFL by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,046,431 shares of the shipping companys stock worth $20,832,000 after acquiring an additional 30,763 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of SFL by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,038,457 shares of the shipping companys stock worth $19,345,000 after acquiring an additional 47,611 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of SFL by 11.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,025,060 shares of the shipping companys stock worth $20,615,000 after acquiring an additional 204,722 shares during the period. 31.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About SFL

(Get Rating)

SFL Corp. Ltd. engages in the ownership and operation of vessels and offshore related assets. It is also involved in the charter, purchase, and sale of assets. The firm operates through subsidiaries located in Bermuda, Cyprus, Malta, Liberia, Norway, the United Kingdom, and the Marshall Islands. The company was founded on October 10, 2003 and is headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda.

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DNB Bank ASA (OTCMKTS:DNBBY  Get Rating) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of April. As of April 30th, there was short interest totalling 10,300 shares, a growth of 543.8% from the April 15th total of 1,600 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 215,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 0.0 days.

DNB Bank ASA Stock Performance

Shares of OTCMKTS:DNBBY traded down $0.38 on Thursday, hitting $17.13. 137,506 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 109,542. DNB Bank ASA has a 12 month low of $15.58 and a 12 month high of $21.03. The businesss 50 day simple moving average is $18.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $18.60. The company has a quick ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.48.

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DNB Bank ASA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 27th will be given a dividend of $1.0048 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 5.44%. This is an increase from DNB Bank ASAs previous dividend of $0.90. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 26th.

About DNB Bank ASA

DNB Bank ASA provides financial services for retail and corporate customers in Norway and internationally. The company offers personal banking products and services, including savings and investment products; loans, such as home mortgages, and car and consumer loans; pet, home and property, travel, and personal insurance products, as well as insurance products for vehicles; retirement savings products; foreign exchange and treasury activities; and Internet and mobile banking services, as well as cards.

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Hugo Boss AG (OTCMKTS:BOSSY  Get Rating) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of April. As of April 30th, there was short interest totalling 1,200 shares, an increase of 140.0% from the April 15th total of 500 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 0.5 days.

Hugo Boss Trading Down 0.8 %

OTCMKTS:BOSSY traded down $0.11 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $14.50. 1,016 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 898. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $14.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $12.50. Hugo Boss has a fifty-two week low of $9.02 and a fifty-two week high of $15.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.31 and a beta of 1.24.

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Hugo Boss Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 19th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 11th will be given a dividend of $0.1335 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 10th. This is an increase from Hugo Bosss previous dividend of $0.10. This represents a yield of 1.53%. Hugo Bosss dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

About Hugo Boss

Several equities analysts have commented on BOSSY shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of Hugo Boss from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Friday, March 10th. Societe Generale raised their price target on shares of Hugo Boss from 49.00 ($53.85) to 60.00 ($65.93) and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 17th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Hugo Boss from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Thursday, February 2nd. Finally, Bank of America downgraded shares of Hugo Boss from a neutral rating to an underperform rating in a research note on Friday, January 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $60.63.

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Hugo Boss AG is a fashion and lifestyle company that offers womens and mens apparel. Its brands include BOSS and HUGO. It also focuses on the development and distribution of fragrances, eyewear, watches, and childrens fashion. The company was founded by Hugo Ferdinand Boss in 1924 and is headquartered in Metzingen, Germany.

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A binational gathering of Americans and Canadians whose families were separated during the three-year-long Covid-19 pandemic was held Friday at Pat Sole Park near the Peace Bridge to mark the end of U.S.-imposed border mandates.

Marcella Picone insisted that the reunion was not a celebration because she and the others still harbored resentment over U.S border policies, which ended Thursday, that kept families apart. Picone and her Canadian fiance have two American-born children together. She was able visit him in Canada, but he was barred from entering the U.S. to see her and their daughters because of his vaccination status.

Technically, the border in both directions was opened by January 2021, but the U.S. began requiring all noncitizens and all nonpermanent residents to show proof of vaccination prior to entry. Canada required a negative Covid-19 test for Americans and others traveling into the country until lifting that and other pandemic restrictions last October.

The 1,149-day wait for Canadians without a Covid-19 vaccine to return to U.S. soil "was just unnecessary," said Picone, who founded "Families are Essential" as an outlet for family members stranded on either side of the international border.

"The science and the policies just weren't justified for this long," she said. "Hopefully, it never happens again."

John and Debbie Peters of London, Ont., have an adult son and daughter who are both married to American citizens.

"Our daughter actually did try to come to the States last fall with her American husband and their children, and she was denied," Debbie Peters said. "They were trying to go see his family. Because she was not vaccinated, they had to go back home."

The U.S. and Canada closed their borders to nonessential travel on March 24, 2020, two weeks after Covid-19 began to spread rapidly in both countries.

"I was working from home. I could quarantine," Picone said. "Other people didn't have that luxury. And to say that it was a privilege that another country allowed me to come in is just so mind-boggling to me as an American citizen. That we made exemptions for Ukrainians. We made exemptions for illegals.

"We made exemptions, which is what the U.S. should do. We're not saying that there never should have been exemptions, but why not us? Why not my family? Why not my grandparent? And that is what is so infuriating, that the administration never heard us."

U.S. Rep. Brian Higgins, D-Buffalo, agreed such families weren't sufficiently heard.

"It's the untold story of the tragedy of the border restrictions that were in place for the past 36 months," Higgins said Friday. "I tried to give voice to it as best as I could, but it's a consequence of U.S. and Canadian federal governments failing during all of this to take a personal view of what people have had to endure."

In January 2021, Higgins and Rep. Elise Stefanik, a Republican whose district includes U.S.-Canadian border communities across the New York North Country, teamed up on a bipartisan plan to restore travel across the border and allow separated families across the border to safely reunite. Higgins continued to advocate for reciprocal reunification measures in the months afterward, to little avail.

Picone and the Peters expressed surprise that the U.S. did not lift its border restrictions before Canada. Picone said the U.S. was the 166th country to end its border mandates.
Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical Company Limited (OTCMKTS:SPTJF  Get Rating) was the target of a large growth in short interest in the month of April. As of April 30th, there was short interest totalling 1,709,100 shares, a growth of 1,590.5% from the April 15th total of 101,100 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 34,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 50.0 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on SPTJF. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical from an underweight rating to a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday, February 15th. HSBC raised Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical from a reduce rating to a hold rating in a report on Tuesday, April 11th.

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Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical Stock Performance

OTCMKTS SPTJF remained flat at $0.17 on Thursday. The stocks fifty day moving average price is $0.19. Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical has a 12 month low of $0.17 and a 12 month high of $0.22.

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Sibanye Stillwater Limited (NYSE:SBSW  Get Rating) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest in the month of April. As of April 30th, there was short interest totalling 11,010,000 shares, a decrease of 19.3% from the April 15th total of 13,640,000 shares. Approximately 1.6% of the companys stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 4,200,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.6 days.

Sibanye Stillwater Price Performance

NYSE:SBSW traded up $0.01 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $7.87. The stock had a trading volume of 1,462,994 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,829,469. The companys 50 day simple moving average is $8.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.76. Sibanye Stillwater has a twelve month low of $7.77 and a twelve month high of $13.38. The company has a current ratio of 3.01, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

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Sibanye Stillwater Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a Semi-Annual dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 24th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 8.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 23rd.

Institutional Trading of Sibanye Stillwater

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Sibanye Stillwater by 21.0% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,504,344 shares of the companys stock valued at $37,493,000 after purchasing an additional 781,346 shares during the period. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC boosted its position in Sibanye Stillwater by 37.0% during the first quarter. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC now owns 860,181 shares of the companys stock worth $7,157,000 after purchasing an additional 232,465 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Sibanye Stillwater by 20.5% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 654,231 shares of the companys stock worth $5,443,000 after purchasing an additional 111,182 shares during the period. Profund Advisors LLC boosted its position in Sibanye Stillwater by 10.4% during the first quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 70,721 shares of the companys stock worth $588,000 after purchasing an additional 6,668 shares during the period. Finally, Bramshill Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Sibanye Stillwater by 1.8% in the first quarter. Bramshill Investments LLC now owns 170,127 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,415,000 after purchasing an additional 3,001 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 6.81% of the companys stock.

SBSW has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on Sibanye Stillwater from $13.00 to $9.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada raised Sibanye Stillwater from a sector perform rating to an outperform rating and lowered their price target for the company from $11.00 to $10.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $11.33.

About Sibanye Stillwater

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Sibanye Stillwater Ltd. engages in the provision of precious metals mining services. Its portfolio includes the platinum group metal (PGM) operations in the United States, South Africa, and Zimbabwe; gold operations and projects in South Africa; and copper, gold and PGM exploration properties in North and South America.

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Singapore Airlines Limited (OTCMKTS:SINGY  Get Rating) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of April. As of April 30th, there was short interest totalling 2,600 shares, a growth of 766.7% from the April 15th total of 300 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 14,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.2 days.

Singapore Airlines Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of OTCMKTS:SINGY traded up $0.09 on Thursday, hitting $8.85. The company had a trading volume of 930 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,065. Singapore Airlines has a 52-week low of $6.82 and a 52-week high of $9.10. The business has a 50 day moving average of $8.61 and a 200 day moving average of $8.37.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Citigroup raised Singapore Airlines from a sell rating to a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, April 19th.

Singapore Airlines Company Profile

Singapore Airlines Ltd. engages in passenger and cargo air transportation. It operates through the following segments: Singapore Airlines, SilkAir, Budget Aviation and SIAEC. The Singapore Airlines segment provides passenger air transportation under the Singapore Airlines brand with a focus on full-service passenger serving short and long haul markets.

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JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV  Get Rating) from an overweight rating to a neutral rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning, The Fly reports. They currently have $39.00 target price on the airlines stock, down from their prior target price of $64.00.

A number of other equities analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Susquehanna lowered shares of Southwest Airlines from a positive rating to a neutral rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, January 11th. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a hold rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $68.00 to $63.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 30th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 9th. Finally, Barclays cut Southwest Airlines from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $42.00 to $38.00 in a report on Friday, March 10th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Southwest Airlines has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $44.71.

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Southwest Airlines Trading Down 0.9 %

NYSE:LUV opened at $28.97 on Monday. Southwest Airlines has a 12 month low of $28.76 and a 12 month high of $46.46. The firm has a market cap of $17.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.97, a P/E/G ratio of 0.36 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The companys 50 day moving average is $31.25 and its 200-day moving average is $34.56.

Insiders Place Their Bets

Southwest Airlines ( NYSE:LUV Get Rating ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The airline reported ($0.27) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of ($0.21) by ($0.06). Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 6.99% and a net margin of 2.65%. The company had revenue of $5.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.73 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.32) EPS. The companys revenue was up 21.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines will post 2.62 EPS for the current year.

In other Southwest Airlines news, EVP Ryan C. Green sold 4,936 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.94, for a total transaction of $147,783.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 26,361 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $789,248.34. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.32% of the companys stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Southwest Airlines

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Securian Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Southwest Airlines by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc. now owns 48,345 shares of the airlines stock valued at $1,491,000 after acquiring an additional 423 shares during the period. Dfpg Investments LLC bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the 4th quarter valued at $410,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its stake in Southwest Airlines by 69.9% in the 3rd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,248,280 shares of the airlines stock valued at $38,497,000 after acquiring an additional 513,580 shares during the period. Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. raised its stake in Southwest Airlines by 84.8% in the 3rd quarter. Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. now owns 16,558 shares of the airlines stock valued at $524,000 after acquiring an additional 7,597 shares during the period. Finally, New England Capital Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.71% of the companys stock.

Southwest Airlines Company Profile

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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.

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Standard Life UK Smaller Companies Trust plc (LON:SLS  Get Rating) shares passed below its 50-day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a 50-day moving average of GBX 732 ($9.24) and traded as low as GBX 732 ($9.24). Standard Life UK Smaller Companies Trust shares last traded at GBX 732 ($9.24), with a volume of 84,315 shares trading hands.

Standard Life UK Smaller Companies Trust Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of 715.41 million and a P/E ratio of 3.37. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of GBX 732 and a two-hundred day moving average price of GBX 732. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.92, a current ratio of 0.60 and a quick ratio of 0.60.

Standard Life UK Smaller Companies Trust Company Profile

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Standard Life UK Smaller Companies Trust plc is a closed-ended equity mutual fund launched by Standard Life Investments Limited. The fund is managed by Standard Life Investments (Corporate Funds) Limited. It invests in the public equity markets of the United Kingdom. The fund seeks to invest in stocks of companies operating across diversified sectors.

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STAR Financial Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU  Get Rating) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 3,590 shares of the financial services providers stock, valued at approximately $357,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of PRU. Fairfield Bush & CO. bought a new position in Prudential Financial in the 1st quarter valued at $36,000. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd grew its position in Prudential Financial by 160.3% in the 4th quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 367 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 226 shares during the last quarter. VitalStone Financial LLC bought a new position in Prudential Financial in the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Archer Investment Corp grew its position in Prudential Financial by 66.7% in the 4th quarter. Archer Investment Corp now owns 375 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Alliance LLC bought a new position in Prudential Financial in the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 56.33% of the companys stock.

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Insider Buying and Selling at Prudential Financial

In other news, EVP Andrew F. Sullivan sold 4,126 shares of Prudential Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.20, for a total value of $409,299.20. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,241 shares of the companys stock, valued at $1,214,307.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Andrew F. Sullivan sold 11,405 shares of Prudential Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.95, for a total transaction of $1,151,334.75. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 12,300 shares in the company, valued at $1,241,685. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Andrew F. Sullivan sold 4,126 shares of Prudential Financial stock in a transaction on Friday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.20, for a total value of $409,299.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 12,241 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,214,307.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.37% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Prudential Financial Stock Performance

Prudential Financial stock traded down $0.82 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $79.69. 375,577 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,278,594. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.09 billion, a PE ratio of 894.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 1.38. Prudential Financial, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $75.37 and a fifty-two week high of $110.96. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $84.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $96.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.07 and a current ratio of 0.07.

Prudential Financial (NYSE:PRU  Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 2nd. The financial services provider reported $2.66 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.02 by ($0.36). Prudential Financial had a return on equity of 14.05% and a net margin of 0.09%. The company had revenue of $15.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.29 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.17 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Prudential Financial, Inc. will post 12.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Prudential Financial announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Tuesday, February 7th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 2.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the companys leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Prudential Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 23rd will be issued a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 22nd. Prudential Financials payout ratio is currently 5,555.56%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PRU has been the topic of several research analyst reports. 92 Resources reaffirmed a maintains rating on shares of Prudential Financial in a research report on Thursday, May 4th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Prudential Financial from $97.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a research report on Monday, February 13th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Prudential Financial from $99.00 to $89.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Prudential Financial from a neutral rating to an overweight rating and set a $114.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 4th. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on Prudential Financial in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a hold rating on the stock. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $99.83.

Prudential Financial Company Profile

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Prudential Financial, Inc engages in the provision of insurance, investment management, and other financial products and services to both individual and institutional customers. It operates through the following segments: PGIM, U.S. Businesses, International Businesses, Closed Block, and Corporate and Others.

Further Reading

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Karnataka Elections 2023 Live: "The decision is done. It's taken. We will announce it to the public when it is right time to," senior JD(S) leader Tanveer Ahmed told NDTV in an exclusive interview. The BJP has denied it had contacted the JD(S) and continued to exude confidence about a clear mandate. 113 needed to win Karnataka. Click for counting day action BJP's Shobha Karandlaje said there is "no question of coalition at all, the BJP has not contacted the JD(S)", according to a report by NDTV "We are sure to get 120 seats. After gathering information on the ground from our karyakartas yesterday, we have arrived at a number -- 120," she added, as quoted in the report. Despite BJP denials, the JD(S) reiterated that it has approached the party about forming a government. "Yes, both (BJP and the Congress) have tried reaching out to us... The JD(S) is in such a position today that parties would like to reach out to us," said Tanveer Ahmed.

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The government will invest $2 billion in the Semiconductor Laboratory (SCL) in Mohali for research and prototyping, Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said at a semiconductor design roadshow in IIT-Delhi on May 12. According to a previous plan, the government was going to invest around $1.3 billion in the facility, but now that amount has been raised by about 50 percent. The minister also said that the government will establish the India Semiconductor Research Institute which will serve as a centre of excellence, which will work with institutes like IIT Delhi, IIT Chennai and others in a hub-and-spoke model. At the roadshow in one of the country's top technology institutions, the minister exhorted students to work and start-up in deeptech areas such as semiconductors, quantum technology, and artificial intelligence. "You are the most fortunate generation of students in the history of independent India," he said. The minister said that the government has designed a semiconductor education curriculum for higher education institutions, in consultation with the industry, which will enable India to become a global pool of talent in semiconductor design. Chandrasekhar told the gathering that around 27 startups have come up in the semiconductor arena in the country in recent times. It is the government's focus to take this number rapidly up to 100. While the government has allocated around Rs 1,100-1,200 crore to support semiconductor design startups in the country, it has also come up with a Rs 76,000 crore production-linked incentive scheme to attract chip manufacturing companies to set up fabs in the country.
Three companies controlled by billionaire Gautam Adani are considering a fundraising that may draw as much as $5 billion, according to people familiar with the matter, in a pivotal test of investor confidence in the tycoons empire less than four months after a scathing short-seller report plunged it into crisis. Adani Enterprises Ltd., the flagship, as well as Adani Green Energy Ltd. and Adani Transmission Ltd., may raise between $3 billion and $5 billion for a war chest to bolster the businesses, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private. The boards of the three firms are meeting Saturday to consider raising funds via the sale of shares or other securities, according to exchange filings late Wednesday. They didnt disclose how much they intend to raise or who theyre working with for potential deals. Adani Group stocks, which climbed Thursday, were largely lower in early Mumbai trading Friday as MSCI Inc. said it will remove two companies from its India gauge. The companies boards usually approve fundraising plans to enable management to quickly tap markets when opportunities arise. Discussions are still underway and theres no certainty the companies will announce a sum theyre looking to raise after the Saturday board meetings, the people said. A representative for the Adani Group declined to comment on the fundraising details. Any move by the Adani Group companies to tap a broader group of investors for funds could backfire if the market isnt convinced that the cloud hanging over the stocks has lifted  or find the prices still too high. Despite the coal-to-cement conglomerate denying fraud allegations made by Hindenburg Research in January, the broadside triggered a weeks-long stock rout that wiped out more than $100 billion of market value, forcing the billionaire to scrap a $2.4 billion share sale by his flagship firm priced at pre-attack levels. Global index provider MSCI said that two Adani Group companies  Adani Transmission and Adani Total Gas Ltd.  will be excluded from its India gauge at the end of May. Both stocks fell as much as 5% on Friday. Adani Enterprises erased its early gains and was trading 0.6% lower in Mumbai. Removal from MSCIs India gauge will lead to a combined outflow of about $390 million from the two stocks, according to according to estimates by Brian Freitas, an independent equities analyst who publishes on Smartkarma. Freitas, who had seen this exclusion coming, said the passive selling will keep the two stocks under pressure. Especially Adani Transmission, where there could also be some fundraising, he added. Damage Repair The Adani family in early March raised about $1.9 billion selling shares in four firms to US investment firm GQG Partners, held investor roadshows and prepaid debt as they raced to bolster confidence and repair the damage from short sellers accusations. Adani company board meetings every year include proposing enabling resolutions to raise capital, which is part of their annual financial planning, the people said. An analysis by Bloomberg of exchange filings shows Adani Enterprises and Adani Transmission have sought board approval for fundraising every year in April or May since at least 2019. Adani Green Energy secured such permission every year except in 2021, the data shows. The three firms raised almost $2 billion from Abu Dhabi-based International Holding Company PJSC in April last year. The current round of fundraising, once finalized, will be the first for Adani companies after the Hindenburg attack and the ensuing market rout. A successful share sale would go a long way toward cementing Adanis recovery from the crisis, though much would also depend on the terms of the deal and the profile of investors. The stock meltdown earlier this year also cooled Adani companies heated valuations. Added to the rout, a further discount could make them more attractive to investors. Adani Enterprises posted a 138% jump in its latest quarterly profit while revenue rose 26%, boosted partly by the mining and airport businesses, and gross debt shrank by 6.5%. Adani Greens profit more than quadrupled for the March quarter and its operational capacity surged by almost half to more than 8 gigawatts. It is targeting a capacity of 45 gigawatts by 2030. Adani Transmission hasnt announced March quarter earnings yet.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on May 12 suspended the Pilot-In-Command of Air India AI-915 flight, which flew from New Delhi to Dubai on February 27. The Air India pilot operating from Dubai to Delhi on February 27 entertained a female friend in the cockpit, violating aviation regulator DGCA's safety norms, according to a complaint by a member of the cabin crew made to the regulator. The license of the Air India Pilot-In-Command who operated the flight has been suspended for three months, the regulator said in a statement. The DGCA has also imposed a penalty of Rs 30 lakh on Air India for the delay in reporting the episode. ALSO READ: Air Indias pilot unions fold in standoff with airline, pilots free to sign new contracts The regulator, in its statement, also said that the co-pilot of Air India's AI-915 flight has also been warned for not being assertive in preventing the violation. The aviation watchdog has also asked Air India to take administrative action against the passenger who had entered the cockpit of Air India's AI-915 flight. The DGCA has indicated that the passenger may be employed in a managerial role at the airline and has asked Air India to remove them "from any managerial functions in the organization for a specified period." The complaint filed by one of the operating crew members of the flight alleges that the captain wanted the crew to make sure the cockpit appeared welcoming before inviting his friend in and asked that she be served food served in business class. In its response on May 12, Air India said while it accepts the regulator's decision, it does not agree with the charge on lack of action on the airline's part. We acknowledge and accept the DGCAs ruling. However, we reject the assertion that no action was taken by Air India in response to the complaint. There were a number of allegations which needed to be worked through with due process and confidentiality, and which commenced immediately upon the complaint being lodged, said an Air India spokesperson. Last month, Air India said that it had constituted a committee to investigate the issues raised and confirmed that the airline received the crews complaint on March 3. According to the complaint, issues on AI 915 began even before boarding. The cabin crew waited for the pilots beyond their reporting time, then proceeded to the aircraft without meeting them. The pilots boarded the flight along with the passengers. Then, according to the complaint, the captain asked the crew to inform him if there were vacant seats in business class as he had a friend who was travelling in economy class and he wanted her to be upgraded. The crew informed him that there werent. According to the complainant, the captain asked her to get his woman friend to the cockpit and also told her to fetch some pillows from the bunk for her comfort. She sat on the first observer seat. He said the cockpit should appear welcoming, warm and comfortable, as though he was preparing his living room for a lady friend. Also, to take her drinks and snacks order and serve her in the cockpit. I told him, Captain, I am not comfortable serving alcohol in the cockpit. This seems to have upset him a lot and his entire attitude changed from that moment onwards. He became very snappy and rude and from there on started treating me like a servant working exclusively for him, the crew member said in her complaint. According to DGCAs Civil Aviation Regulation (CAR) : An employee of the aircraft operator, who has the permission of the pilot-in-command (PIC) and whose duties are such that his/ her entry into the cockpit is necessary for safe operation of the aircraft can only be allowed in the cockpit provided they have done the mandatory BA tests. It also specifies that only people who have completed breath analyser tests are allowed to enter the cockpit. The complaint says that the woman spent over an hour in the cockpit. While she was inside, the crew was summoned multiple times, during the passenger service on the short Delhi- Dubai sector, to offer her business class fare food and snacks. Though it interrupted the flow of service all requests were promptly catered to, the complaint said. The complainant also claimed that when the passenger was inside the cockpit, she went to speak to the Captain when she noticed the pilots were not in their usual positions. I noticed that the first officer was sleeping reclined fully with a pillow and the pilot in charge was sitting across facing the passenger in the rear observer station to chat. The pilot in charge indicated that the first officer (co-pilot) was taking a controlled rest and sleep, the complaint stated. The complainant noted that both the pilots accompanied the passenger till the immigration area. The complainant also alleged that the captain was angry with her and made sexist remarks during the return flight. She added that she believed the pilots behaviour required his psychiatric evaluation at an independent Air force Medical testing station through DGCA, as he posed risk to passenger safety. Air India this year has been filed multiple times for not promptly and effectively addressing safety-sensitive issues on its flights. In January, the DGCA had imposed two fines of Rs 30 lakh and Rs 10 lakh on the Tata Group airline due to multiple incidents of a passenger "urinating" on a fellow co-passenger on board an Air India flight.
National Travel and Tourism Week, which ends May 13, coincides with the start of Buffalos busy tour season for many of our local tourist attractions. While organizations such as ours provide public tours year-round, the period from May to October is when we see the majority of our visitors.

After the pandemics downturn, we are thrilled to once again be seeing visitors from across the country and around the world. Last year, visitors from 36 states participated in an Explore Buffalo tour and visitors from 48 states made a stop at Graycliff.

Buffalos history has bestowed our community with unique stories, remarkable buildings and beautiful landscapes. As a result, Buffalo provides a level of tourism opportunities that meets and exceeds many larger American cities. Architectural Digest named Buffalo one of its 23 Places to Travel in 2023, selecting it alongside global destinations such as Amsterdam, Paris and Sydney.

But tourism in Buffalo is not just for visitors who trek long distances to come here. Our attractions are also here for Western New York residents to experience and enjoy! World-renowned attractions are right in our own backyard and we should all be taking advantage. Being a tourist close to home goes beyond simply a fun way to spend an afternoon  it is a way to contribute to our local tourism economy, building a stronger and more vibrant community.

WNY residents gain a deeper understanding of our community through participation in tours that explain what has happened here, why it happened and who contributed. Through increased understanding of and engagement with our regions unique history, we can better plan our communitys future.

Tours go beyond being solely educational  they are also valuable social experiences. Our tours bring people together in a way that is increasingly rare in todays culture. In the wake of the pandemic, there is hunger for social interaction. Guests on a tour often connect and engage with one another as well as the docent. Typically, everyone starts a tour as complete strangers, but by the end each has made a lasting connection or had a meaningful exchange with at least one other person on the tour.

Tourism is a vital economic engine for our region. When you spend some of your tourism dollars in Western New York, you support local jobs and ensure that organizations like ours are sustainable and will be here for future generations to enjoy. We challenge everyone in Western New York to be a tourist in their own backyard this spring!

Anna Kaplan is the executive director of Graycliff and Brad Hahn is the executive director of Explore Buffalo.
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Shares of Eicher Motors Ltd surged nearly 7 percent in the morning trade on May 12, a day after the company reported better-than-expected earnings for the March quarter despite a two-wheeler downturn. At 9.50 am, the stock was trading at Rs 3,626 on BSE, up 6.5 percent from its previous close even as the benchmark Sensex was 0.44 percent at 61,632 points. The firm reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 905.58 crore, up 48.42 percent from Rs 610.14 crore in the year-ago quarter. The higher profit was primarily due to higher-than-expected average selling prices (ASPs), favourable raw material (RM) tailwinds, and an increased mix of higher-margin spare parts, the company said on May 11. Revenue from operations came in at Rs 3,804.32 crore, rising 19.13 percent from Rs 3,193.32 crore in the year-ago quarter, the Royal Enfield maker said in an exchange filing. Improving the supply side, new product launches, and ramp-up in exports would drive the next phase of growth for Royal Enfield, Motial Oswal said in a report on May 12. Consequently, we are building in for 14% volume CAGR for RE over FY23-25E, resulting in monthly run rate increasing to 80k/90k for FY24/25E (v/s 73.3k in 2HFY23 since Hunter launch). This coupled with stable commodity prices is expected to support margins and drive earnings CAGR of 30% over FY23-25E, the report said. Follow our live blog for all the market action Brokerages view Amid anticipated heightened competition, several brokerages have sounded caution. The upcoming launches from Bajaj-Triumph and Hero-Harley in the above-250 cc motorcycle segment are expected to intensify the competition. "(This) may weigh on the companys growth prospects, said Kotak Institutional Equities. The brokerage house has retained its sell rating and kept the target price at Rs 2,900 a share. Jefferies remains positive on Eicher, citing factors such as the expected recovery in two-wheeler demand, industry premiumisation, and growth in exports. But in the face of upcoming launches from the rivals, Jefferies has lowered Eicher in its priority list. It still has a "buy" rating on the stock. "We believe this wave of competition could be more intense than earlier launches by Jawa in 2018 and Honda in 2020 as Harley and Triumph have better brand recognition in India, in our view. We factor RE's market share in 125cc+ bikes dropping from 32% in FY23 (4Q: 34%) to 28% in FY25, but remaining the dominant player in the segment. We see RE's volumes rising 12%/12% in FY24E/FY25E to 78K/87K units/month (2HFY23: 73K)", Jefferies analysts said in a note. Brokerage firm Motilal acknowledges that the current valuations of 24.5x/19.3x adequately reflect the anticipated rebound in volume and margins. It, however, said the valuation does not adequately account for the potential risks associated with the upcoming launches of Bajaj-Triumph in the mid-size segment in both Indian and global markets. Motilal has downgraded the stock from "buy" to "neutral". "We value RE at 20x FY25E EPS and VECV at 10x EV EBITDA (v/s 12x earlier, as CV cycle is close to its peak) on FY25E," Motilal analysts said in a report. Disclaimer: The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts on Moneycontrol.com are their own and not those of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.
Himachal Congress president Kuldeep Singh Rathore on Friday said the central government should increase the import duty on Apple from 50 to 100 per cent to protect farmers. The statement came days after the government banned the import of apples if their imported price is less than Rs 50 per Kg. Rathore, in a statement, maintained that the apple growers are not getting remunerative prices because apple is being imported in large quantities from other countries. "BJP leaders should...urge him (the Prime Minister) to increase the import duty from 50 to 100 per cent," he added. The Himachal Pradesh BJP on Tuesday hailed the central government's decision to ban the import of apples if their imported price is less than Rs 50 per kilogram, saying it will benefit the apple growers in the state. The state BJP had raised the issue with the Centre many times, and finally, the government has accepted the suggestion, former chief minister and BJP leader Jai Ram Thakur said in a statement. The value of apples imported into India was USD 385 million, and the local producers are suffering due to heavy apple imports. Apples are grown on over 94,000 hectares of land in the state, and Himachal has a Rs 4,500-5,000 crore apple economy. About 1.75 lakh to two lakh families are directly or indirectly involved in apple cultivation, Fruit Vegetable Flower Growers Association president Harish Chauhan said.

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Petrol and diesel prices remained unchanged on Thursday, May 12 across New Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Bengaluru. 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. Petrol in Kolkata is priced at 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. In other news, oil markets regained some ground in early Asian trade on May 12 as traders engaged in short-covering ahead of the weekend, but uncertainties regarding the U.S. debt ceiling and renewed fears over a U.S. regional banking crisis capped gains. Brent crude futures rose by 36 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $75.34 a barrel by 0051 GMT. U.S. crude futures gained 41 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $71.28. They recovered from losses of about 3 to 4 percent over the past two sessions. Earlier this week the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas said that the report by an oil ministry panel which recommended a ban on diesel four-wheelers by 2027 is yet to be accepted by the government. A report by Energy Transition Advisory Committee (ETAC), headed by former petroleum secretary Tarun Kapoor, said India should ban the use of diesel-powered four-wheelers by 2027 in cities with over 10 lakh population and switch to electric and gas-fuelled vehicles, in a bid to limit emissions from four wheelers The oil ministry said on May 9 that the suggestions by the panel relate to multiple ministries and a range of stakeholders. Consultations with various stakeholders on the report are yet to be initiated, the ministry said in a tweet. No decision has yet been taken on the recommendations by ETAC, the ministry added.
Banks are not looking at lending to the cash-strapped Go First before the completion of the resolution process of the airline, a senior executive of one of the lenders has said, refusing to be identified. As of now, we are looking at a resolution. We are not looking at any further lending, said the executive. This comes after the airline said it was looking for a one-time settlement with its lenders. The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on May 10 accepted the airlines voluntary application for insolvency proceedings. In line with the initiation of the process in NCLT, the senior executive said that there are positive chances for the airline to revive but we are waiting for the resolution process. The moratorium is there and the planes are not going out but there's a good chance of the airline getting back and maybe in some months back to normal. Lets see how the resolution comes out and who the interested players are, said the executive. Also read: Will Go Firsts voluntary insolvency set a precedent for future IBC cases? Heres what experts say Banks exposure to Go First Go Firsts insolvency and bankruptcy petition was filed under Section 10, instead of Sections 7 and 9. While Section 10 allows a debtor to initiate insolvency proceedings against itself, Sections 7 and 9 allow creditors to take the debtor to the NCLT to recover dues. Go First owes lenders, including Bank of Baroda, Central Bank of India, Deutsche Bank and IDBI Bank Rs 6,521 crore, according to the airlines filing. Also read: Go First extends flight cancellations till May 23 Central Bank of India had the highest exposure of Rs 1,987 crore, followed by Bank of Baroda at Rs 1,430 crore, Deutsche Bank at Rs 1,320 crore and IDBI Bank at Rs 58 crore, Acuite Ratings and Research said in a January 19 report. Moneycontrol earlier reported that lenders to the airlines, which are owed over Rs 6,000 crore, have adopted a wait-and-watch approach before deciding to provide the airline with additional funds. Insolvency proceedings The airline filed for voluntary insolvency in the National Company Law Tribunal in New Delhi on May 10 under Section 10 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, which allows a debtor to initiate insolvency proceedings against itself. It also suspended flights. Section 10 of the IBC deals with the initiation of the corporate insolvency resolution process by corporate applicants that have defaulted on loans. The NCLT admitted Go Firsts petition on May 10, granting it bankruptcy protection and disallowing lessors from repossessing the carriers aircraft. In its application, Go First blamed Pratt & Whitney for its situation, saying the engine maker refused to comply with the award issued by the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) in favour of the airline. The SIAC asked Pratt & Whitney on March 30 to provide Go First with 10 serviceable engines by April 27, 2023, and 10 engines each month till December this year. Also read: MC Explains: What is Section 10 and 14(1) of IBC and what it means for crisis-ridden Go First The airline is seeking compensation from Pratt & Whitney for the faulty engines. However, with fewer operating aircraft, its market share shrank, leading to a loss of revenue and delayed payments to vendors. On April 28, Go First moved a petition before the Delaware court, seeking enforcement of the Singapore arbitration panel's award. Pratt & Whitney said in a statement on May 3 that it is committed to the success of its airline customers. We continue to prioritise delivery schedules for all customers. P&W is complying with the March 2023 arbitration ruling related to Go First. As this is now a matter of litigation, we will not comment further, it said. Also read: Trouble deepens for Go First as international aviation body issues watchlist notice to IRP Kaushik Khona, Chief Executive Officer of Go First Airlines, said Go First needs at least 20 aircraft to return to service and break even on daily operations. He said the airline had been spending about Rs 200 crore every month since November.
Wadia-Group-owned budget carrier Go First said on May 12 that it will extend flight cancellations further till May 23, instead of the earlier announced May 19. The cash-strapped airline said that they are cancelling all flights till May 23 due to operational reasons. The airline, which recently filed for insolvency, said in a notification: Due to operational reasons, Go First flights until 23rd May 2023 are cancelled. We apologise for the inconvenience caused and request customers to visit https://t.co/qRNQ4oQROr for more information. Requesting customers to be patient, Go First said: We acknowledge the flight cancellations might have disrupted your travel plans and we are committed to providing all the assistance we can. As you are aware, the company has filed an application for immediate resolution and revival of operations We will be able to resume bookings shortly. Thank you for your patience. ALSO READ: Go First to resume flights on May 24 with reduced schedule, aircraft: Report The airline also promised that a full refund of the ticket prices would be made to the original mode of payment soon. Due to operational reasons, Go First flights until 23rd May 2023 are cancelled. We apologise for the inconvenience caused and request customers to visit https://t.co/qRNQ4oQROr for more info. For any queries or concerns, please feel free to contact us. pic.twitter.com/si1c5e9hz4  GO FIRST (@GoFirstairways) May 12, 2023 The low-cost carrier, recently rebranded as Go First, has said its financial crisis was sparked by "faulty" Pratt & Whitney engines that grounded about half its 54 Airbus A320neos. The US engine maker, part of Raytheon Technologies, has called the claims without evidence. Go First had first suspended flights and filed for insolvency on May 2. Also read: Will Go Firsts voluntary insolvency set a precedent for future IBC cases? Heres what experts say Meanwhile, aircraft lessor SMBC Capital has told appellate tribunal NCLAT that the Indian aviation sector is being seen as a risky jurisdiction in light of the fate of Kingfisher and Jet Airways, as it vehemently opposed cash-strapped Go First's insolvency resolution proceedings. Describing Go First's petition as "malicious and a smokescreen", SMBC Capital also said that voluntary insolvency proceedings cannot be an escape route by promoters who have run the corporate debtor/ corporate applicant into the ground to escape the consequences of such defaults. The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on May 10 admitted the airline's voluntary insolvency resolution petition and appointed an Interim Resolution Professional (IRP) to manage the carrier. Besides, there is a moratorium on the assets and liabilities, which also means that lessors cannot take back the planes leased to the crisis-hit Go First during the process.
Aircraft lessors to Go First, such as SMBC aviation capital, SFV aircraft holdings and GY Aviation Lease, on May 12 argued at the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) that the cash-strapped airline is using the insolvency proceedings to hold on to aircraft that it does not own. Aircraft lessor SMBC called into question the rationale behind the Go First filing for voluntary insolvency despite having 26 functional aircraft and taking bookings for future dates. SMBC Aviation claimed that it has unpaid dues of Rs 700-800 crore from Go First. SMBC further argued that the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) did not provide them with an opportunity to present their side of the case and admitted Go First's plea for insolvency without ascertaining the entire situation. ALSO READ: Go First extends flight cancellations till May 23 The aircraft lessor argued that they had already terminated the leases before the NCLT-ordered moratorium, however, they are not able to obtain possession of aircraft owing to the tribunal's order. Citing aviation rules, the leasing company argued that Go First cannot operate aircraft once the lease is terminated. SMBC further argued that there will be no sanctity to commercial contracts if such an arrangement is permitted to continue. The leasing company further argued that Go First will incur a cost of $4.2 million a month to maintain and pay charges just for the aircraft that it had leased. SFV Aircraft Holdings argued that the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has told the lessors that the aircraft cannot be deregistered owing to the moratorium. GV Aviation argued that Go First is trying to create rights for itself in relation to the aircraft using the insolvency proceedings and diffuse rights of aircraft lessors. Go First argued that it had initiated insolvency proceedings with bonafide intentions to protect the 7,000 employees in its rolls and ensure that the country's aviation sector enjoys healthy competition. The airline dismissed the claims made by lessors stating that it had malafide intentions. Go First's Interim Resolution Professional (IRP), represented by his lawyer, argued that the airline owes over Rs 1,000 crore to its vendors and that the insolvency process will only help it repay its dues. He further argued that the lessors should challenge the insolvency order at NCLT by filing an application, as opposed to filing an appeal against it in NCLAT. The IRP further stated that aircraft is the key to generating revenue and if they are repossessed and deregistered, the airline cannot resume its operations or generate revenue to repay its creditors. Despite being urged by the lessors to order status quo on the aircraft, the tribunal did not pass any such orders and deferred the hearing of the case to May 15. The tribunal had on May 11 deferred the hearing by a day due to paucity of time. On May 10, the principal bench of NCLT at Delhi admitted Go First's voluntary plea to initiate an insolvency resolution process. The tribunal appointed an IRP while suspending the board and putting a moratorium on the debt-ridden airline's financial obligations. Founded by billionaire Nusli Wadia, Go First, earlier GoAir, filed for bankruptcy on May 2, blaming US engine maker Pratt & Whitney for the grounding of half of its fleet. The ultra-low-cost airline has liabilities worth around Rs 11,000 crore.
Amid aircraft lessors' concerns in the wake of the Go First crisis, US aircraft maker Boeing on Friday said it will work with stakeholders to the best of its abilities to mitigate the issues. India has huge sales potential, Ryan Weir, Vice President of Commercial Sales and Marketing for India, Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said here. Lessors have raised concerns about the National Company Law Tribunal's (NCLT) decision to impose a moratorium on Go First assets that also bar the deregistration of planes leased by the airline. To a query on the Go First crisis and lessors' concerns, Weir said it is working with stakeholders and will do the "best of our abilities to mitigate the issues". "We don't know what the impact is going to be," he added. India is one of the fastest-growing aviation markets in the world. Earlier this year, Boeing projected that India will require around 2,210 new planes in the next two decades and out of them, 1,983 units will be single-aisle jets. It also estimated a nearly 7 per cent annual domestic air traffic growth through 2041 for the Indian market.

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Domestic sales of passenger vehicles this April was the highest recorded in any April, according to a senior official of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM). Domestic sales of Passenger Vehicles of April 2023 has been the highest ever in April, returning a growth of 12.9%, compared to April 2022, said Rajesh Menon, Director General of SIAM, when releasing numbers on the auto industrys performance for April 2023. Follow live updates on the market and analysis here The total number of units sold in this category was 3,31,278 units versus 2,93,303 units a year ago. Vinod Aggarwal, President, SIAM, said all the segments -- passenger vehicles, two-wheelers and three-wheelers -- have posted growth in April 2023, compared to April 2022. He sees it as a clear indication the industry has been able to transit very smoothly to BS-VI Phase 2 Emission Norms, which came into effect from April 1, 2023. Domestic sale volumes of two wheelers went up by 15.1 percent to 13,38,588 units, three-wheeler volumes more than doubled year on year to 42,885 units, and quadricycle numbers went up 2.3x to 61 units. In the two wheeler segment, scooter/scooterettee sub-segment grew at the fastest pace at 19.5 percent YoY to 4,64,389 units while motorcycles/step-throughs grew around 14 percent YoY to 8,39,274 units. Moped volumes fell by nearly 10 percent YoY to 34,925 units. In three wheelers, e-rickshaws more than tripled YoY to 2,591 units while e-carts rose 20.8 percent YoY to 319 units. According to an ICRA report released this March, the electric segment is likely to account for 14-16% of new three-wheeler sales (excluding rickshaws) by FY2025, up from 8% currently. Penetration is estimated to rise to 35-40% by FY2030 as the product gains more acceptance, and financing-related challenges subside. As we gradually get into the monsoon season, among other factors, good rainfall can also help the Auto Industry sustain its growth, added Aggarwal. The total production of passenger vehicles, three wheelers, two wheelers, and quadricycle in April 2023 was 19,57,599 units. Nifty Auto was around 13,893, or 0.65 percent higher than yesterday's close, at 12.30 noon today.
Here are the top stories this afternoon: Foreign investors reduce stake in paint stocks amid growing competition Foreign investors cut their holdings in paint stocks in the March quarter due to the anticipation of increased competition. The announcement of Grasim Industries' entry into the paints sector is expected to intensify competition, according to analysts. Asian Paints, Kansai Nerolac Paints Ltd, Indigo Paints Ltd, and Berger Paints India have seen substantial reduction in foreign investors's stake during the quarter, according to shareholding pattern data on BSE. Read here BSE jumps 3% post solid Q4 results BSE reported Q4 numbers on May 11, 2023, with a 24 percent jump in net profit to Rs 88.61 crore for the three months ended March. The exchange had posted a net profit of Rs 71.52 crore in the same quarter of the preceding fiscal, BSE said in a regulatory filing to the National Stock Exchange (NSE). Shares of BSE Ltd rallied 3 percent in early trade post robust Q4 results. At 10:55 am the BSE Ltd shares were trading 3.18 percent higher at Rs 556.75 on NSE. Read here Jupiter Life Line Hospitals files documents for IPO Private hospital chain Jupiter Life Line Hospitals Ltd has filed draft papers with the Securities Exchange Board of India to raise funds via initial public offerings. The IPO comprises a fresh issue of Rs 615 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) of up to 4.45 million shares by its existing shareholders and promoters. Read here Domestic PV sales reaches historic high in April 2023: SIAM Domestic sales of passenger vehicles this April was the highest recorded in any April, according to a senior official of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM). Domestic sales of Passenger Vehicles of April 2023 has been the highest ever in April, returning a growth of 12.9%, compared to April 2022, said Rajesh Menon, Director General of SIAM, when releasing numbers on the auto industrys performance for April 2023. Read here Tourism industry continues to demand incentives, government not in an accommodative mood Indias tourism industry has continued its demand for government incentives in view of the losses the industry suffered during the coronavirus pandemic. This has come in light of the new Foreign Trade Policy that was released by Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal on March 31. While the policy had already done away with the Service Export from India Scheme (SEIS), the tourism sector, one of the worst hit by the pandemic, expected incentives either in the form of a revamped SEIS or other rebates. Read here FM Nirmala Sitharaman meets IMF MD Kristalina Georgieva on sidelines of G7 meeting Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday met International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director Kristalina Georgieva on the sidelines of G7 Finance Minister Central Bank Governors meet. She is on a two-day visit to Japan. The G7 meeting is taking place in Niigata. Read more, here
Its hard these days to turn around without encountering legitimate fears about the state of Americans mental health. You hear it from school officials, from health leaders and, now, from the governor of New York. Thats a sign: When the state pours $1 billion of new money into mental health care, its because of demand. If its not a crisis, its one in the making.

The causes run the gamut. For children, especially, social media and online bullying are significant factors. Other issues include performance pressures, unemployment, abuse of alcohol and drugs, family dissolution and other stressful events. And those factors only exacerbate any genetic predisposition to mental illness.

The need is glaring. At Erie County Medical Center, CEO Thomas Quatroche has raised an alarm about high-demand and low funding for psychiatric hospital beds. As the largest safety net mental health emergency department in the Buffalo Niagara region, ECMC sees an average of about 9,000 to 10,000 mental health patients annually. Gov. Kathy Hochul has noted studies showing that 41% of American adults and 60% of those between the ages of 18 and 29 have experienced psychological distress.

How surprising can this be? Americans are living in a time of high stress. Repeated mass shootings, many of them targeting students, draw little more than a shrug from politicians, even allegations that the survivors were crisis actors. A lethal, once-in-a-century pandemic produced historic levels of isolation, with students again prominently among the sufferers. A vaccination with the power to ease the crisis was politicized, increasing the death count and prolonging the crisis. Through it all, media outlets such as Fox News made billions of dollars by widening public divisions  even to the point of spreading lies.

In retrospect, it seems inevitable that we would end up here, needing a huge public investment in mental health care, especially given that for decades, New York reneged on a key component of its 1970s policy of deinstitutionalization. The promise of that program was to move patients who didnt require hospital care into less costly, more appropriate outpatient services.

The state accomplished the first part quickly enough, but never followed through on providing the community care. As a result, police have become first responders to mental health calls, sometimes with tragic consequences. In his push for a new jail, Erie County Sheriff John C. Garcia cites the need for mental health care for inmates.

Its appropriate, then, that Hochul pushed for mental health funding as part of New Yorks $229 billion 2023-24 state budget. Indeed, she cited it as a moral imperative, which it surely is, especially in her hometown of Buffalo, which on Sunday will mark the one-year anniversary of a horrifying hate crime.

The budget will help, providing new inpatient hospital beds, expanding the number of community walk-in clinics, adding housing for people needing mental health services and, crucially, requiring health insurance companies to cover the costs of critical mental health services.

Call it a down payment. Government has a lot of ground to make up, as do Americans generally. Only in recent years have we begun to find it easier even to broach the subject of mental health.

It will be important to evaluate what this spending accomplishes, especially as it regards a generation of children enduring stresses the rest of us never had to consider.

  

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Delhi's AAP-led government on Friday moved the Supreme Court alleging that the Centre is not implementing the transfer of its services secretary and there could be contempt of the apex court order delivered just a day earlier. On Thursday, the apex court ruled that the Delhi government has legislative and executive powers over the administration of services, except for public order, police and land. Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud said he would constitute a bench to hear the matter next week. Senior advocate A M Singhvi, appearing for the Delhi government, mentioned the matter before a bench of the chief justice and Justice P S Narasimha, saying the top court delivered the judgment just yesterday and now there can be contempt. Under Article 141 of the Constitution, there can be contempt of this court's order and a bench needs to hear this urgently, Singhvi said. "They are saying we will not transfer anybody. I can file contempt in view of judgement passed yesterday. But it will take time. So kindly list the matter," he said. Ashish More, secretary of the Delhi government's Services Department, was removed from his post on Thursday, hours after the Supreme Court gave the AAP dispensation control over the transfer and posting of officers in the city. Former Delhi Jal Board CEO A K Singh, a 1995-batch (AGMUT cadre) IAS officer, will replace More. A five-judge constitution bench headed by the CJI gave a unanimous verdict, putting an end to the eight-year dispute between the Centre and the Delhi government. Against the backdrop of frequent run-ins between the AAP government and the Centre's point person, the lieutenant governor, the apex court asserted that an elected government needs to have control over bureaucrats, failing which the principle of collective responsibility will be adversely affected.
PhonePes app for the Open Network for Digital Commece (ONDC), Pincode, on May 12 said it is delivering over 5,000 orders per day and has more than 50,000 downloads across both Play Store and App store. Pincode, which is available only in Bengaluru for now, is being used for groceries and food deliveries. It was understood that groceries orders accounted for over 60-65 percent of the 5,000 daily orders, while food delivery enjoyed a smaller share. The company did not comment on the split across categories. The milestone at Pincode comes after Zomato-backed Magicpin, also a seller app on the network, said it was processing 10,000 orders per day, thanks to the growing popularity of the ONDC across cities, especially Bengaluru  which accounts for about 40 percent of total orders placed on ONDC. Driven by discounts in its initial days, ONDC was clocking about 25,000 orders during its peak but as offers were tightened, order volumes fell to about 19,000 earlier this week, as reported by Moneycontrol earlier. The app offers products across six major categories, including grocery, food, pharma, electronics, home decor, and fashion. While the app is currently available only in Bengaluru, it plans to expand to other cities in the coming weeks but will not begin operations in more than 10 cities during its first year. Customers can search for stores by browsing categories and have multiple carts with one active cart per store. They can also save multiple carts for future use. "We are thrilled to witness the rapid growth and acceptance of the Pincode app among consumers," said Lalit Singh, general manager at Pincode. Pincode remains committed to enhancing the shopping experience for its users by consistently expanding its selection of stores and adding more categories within the app, Singh added. Walmart-owned PhonePe launched Pincode, a separate app for its integration with the open network and weeks later, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said he would tell ONDC CEO T Koshy to exclude apps which are not coming to the network with their main platforms, likely hinting at Pincode and/or Axis Bank, both of which rolled out dedicated apps for the ONDC. If you do that (launch a separate app for ONDC), while you are taking the benefit of ONDC by availing of the sellers, but you are not giving your consumer base the benefit of choice of buying from any of the sellers," the minister added. That was especially important as the government, with the ONDC, aims to increase e-commerce penetration in the country to 25 percent in the next two years, reaching 900 million buyers and 1.2 million sellers through the network and reaching a gross merchandise value of $48 billion.
In what could be described as killing two birds with one stone, the Noida and Greater Noida Authorities - which manage the two satellite cities of Delhi - are contemplating introducing a co-developer policy by way of which hundreds of legacy real estate projects that are stalled in the twin cities will get the requisite funds to pay up the pending land costs to the authorities on account of which registries have come to a halt, and stuck projects will finally get completed. The proposed policy may benefit lakhs of homebuyers who have been waiting to get their flats registered for years. Homebuyers, builders and legal experts say that the move is 'much needed' to resolve homebuyers issues but it should be brought in in earnest to ensure that more dues do not pile up, making the projects unviable. Under the proposed policy that was suggested by the builders body Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (CREDAI) to the Uttar Pradesh government, co-developers may be allowed to infuse money into stuck projects and complete them under the provisions of the policy ratified by the two authorities, instead of developers themselves striking co-developing agreements on their own that may not be legally recognised by the authority concerned. Under the scheme, co-developers will partner with the original developers of stalled projects that are commercially viable and invest funds to complete the projects as well as take the onus for clearing land dues amounting to a collective Rs 39,000 crore that are pending with the authorities. CREDAIs proposal It should be noted that a co-developer policy was introduced in 2017 but it failed to take off. CREDAI had given a presentation before the Uttar Pradesh government recently on how such a policy could help resolve the problems of more than 2 lakh homebuyers. In its presentation, CREDAI had suggested to the authorities that they acknowledge the new real estate company as a joint venture/joint development agreement/working partner/party with the existing promoter at respective authorities, the Uttar Pradesh Real Estate Regulatory Authority (UPRERA), etc., as it is a mandatory requirement of the new lender. The body had also suggested extending the registration period of UPRERA to allow more time for construction and completion of the respective project as home loans and construction finance can only be availed with legitimate registration. It had asked the authorities to ascertain the dues towards various heads under the lease conditions of the said land parcels and provide a confirmation on revision/revalidation of maps subject to regularising the account through reschedulement/restructuring. It had also sought confirmation on issuance of permission to mortgage to the construction finance lender/home loan lender to the respective projects subject to regularising the account. The authorities have to issue permission to mortgage when developer raise project loans. The builders body had also suggested that the policy consider projects that are under the insolvency process so that corporate resolutions can move faster. After receiving their proposal, we decided to work out the idea of allowing co-developers to develop projects that have been left incomplete or have been delayed owing to a funds crisis. We are considering a proposal that would allow a new developer to take over the delayed project if the new developer is willing to pay the land costs owed to us, Ritu Maheshwari, the chief executive officer of the Noida and Greater Noida Authorities, was quoted as saying. There are approximately 200 projects that are currently stuck in Noida and Greater Noida. Gaurav Gupta, secretary of CREDAIs Delhi-NCR (National Capital Region) chapter, told Moneycontrol that the government should bring about a co-developers policy along with a land dues rationalisation policy. Once the land dues policy is finalised, the co-developers should be brought in to infuse the funds. All along the authority should act as an enabler while revalidating maps and providing new timelines and permissions. This is important as until all these formalities are cleared, the funding tap for the project will not open for both the project loan as well as the home loan for buyers, he explained. Adding that a co-developer will come into the project only when the receivables are more than the costs incurred to complete the stuck project. Land cost is an important component of project cost and a co-developer will calculate the viability of the project and the total amount that will be received and paid before deciding to complete it. He also said that the policy should be introduced soon so as to ensure that the authorities and banks dues do not pile up to such an extent that the projects become unviable. If all permissions are renewed, the original promoter may also be given an opportunity to complete the project, he added. Amit Modi, director, ABA Corp and president, CREDAI Western UP, said that the proposed scheme is a 'good step' but may work well in cases where the projects are net-worth positive. Manoj Gaur, chairman at CREDAI National, explained the policy is important as the new/co-developer developer was not being recognised by the authorities earlier. Corroboration agreements were not being allowed. The co-developer was not being recognised under the authoritys lease deed and allotment documents. If this policy is introduced, it will be good for stalled projects. At least the projects that have juice left in them will be completed. Having said that, a co-developer will be encouraged to bring in the funds only if his rights are safeguarded, he added. Homebuyers take Abhishek Kumar, president of Noida Extension Flat Owner Welfare Association, a homebuyers association, said that the proposed policy may benefit a few positive net-worth projects that are stalled. At the end of the day, it all boils down to trust. If the co-developer who is brought in to complete the project has a good execution track record, homebuyers would be willing to pay up the remaining amount due to them to ensure that funds are available to kick-start the project. Legal view Legal experts, however, say that while the proposed policy is a welcome move, only a few projects may benefit. Also, the co-developer would have to get the consent of two-thirds of the buyers invested in the project as per Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act (RERA) provisions. Homebuyers should also take into account the changes that may be brought about in the project by the co-developer. A co-developer will agree to infuse funding for a stuck project only if there is profit to be made. What about legacy projects that are sold but are stuck? Also, the views of homebuyers should be considered before the policy is finalised, said Mihir Kumar, an advocate. If the primary builder fails and has no funds left, will buyers be able to recover their funds from the co-developer? Will he be liable to the buyers for any failure, he asks. Venkat Rao, founder and managing partner, Intygrat Law Offices LLP, welcomed the move but said that under Section 15 of RERA, in the event of a change in a developer or rights being given to a third party, two things need to happenyou need the consent of two-thirds of the buyers and consent from the authority. This can be a challenge, he said. Section 15 of RERA lays down that The promoter shall not transfer or assign his majority rights and liabilities in respect of a real estate project to a third party without obtaining prior written consent from two-third allottees, except the promoter, and without the prior written approval of the Authority, provided that such transfer or assignment shall not affect the allotment or sale of the apartments, plots or buildings as the case may be, in the real estate project made by the erstwhile promoter. Also, in the event of a particular project getting transferred in favour of a third party, the new developer will have to abide by all that had been promised by the original builder. What if allottees ask for delay compensation, he asks.
Following lukewarm response to its ambitious Global City project, the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) has decided to extend by a month the last date of application and auction for the bids of three mixed-use sites in Global City, officials privy to the development said. The three sites cumulatively measure about 142.52 acres. The new last date for submitting the application is June 1, which was earlier May 1, while the tentative date of the e-auction has been moved to June 19, from May 19. HSIIDCs Global City is coming up in Gurugram sectors 36B, 37A, and 37B. Global City will be spread across around 1,000 acres, consisting of residential zones, industrial clusters, and commercial zones. It is planned as a self-sufficient township with focus on modern technology and future-oriented industries, low-carbon green infrastructure, ease of living, skilling of people, and employment generation. Also Read: MC Explains: All about the upcoming 1,000-acre Global City in Gurugram A senior HSIIDC official said that with the extension of the last date of tenders, the start of construction work on ground may also get delayed. The official said that the response was not much encouraging and potential bidders were also seeking an extension of the last dates. So, HSIIDC decided to modify the dates. The last date to register for e-auction of the three mixed-use land parcels has now been extended to June 1 from May 1, and similarly the date for e-auction has also been pushed to June 19 from the earlier date of May 19. The extension has been granted on the demands of potential bidders, the HSIIDC official, who did not wish to be named, told Moneycontrol. The three plots put up for sale measure 78.53 acres, 23.76 acres, and 40.23 acres. The reserve price for the 78.53-acre plot is Rs 4,957 crore, while for the 23.76-acre plot it is Rs 1,298 crore, and for the 40.23-acre plot it is Rs 1,562 crore. These plots cumulatively measure about 142.52 acres. Officials said that only 20 percent of the total area in the two plots measuring 78.53 acres and 23.76 acres can be developed for residential use, and for the third plot measuring 40.23 acres, it is 30 percent. The remaining area in these three plots is reserved for non-residential use. In April 2023, Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala had reviewed the progress of Global City and directed the officials to expedite the project. He had said Global City will be developed in line with international standards and will also house a university. During the meeting, which was also attended by Additional Chief Secretary (Industries and Commerce Department) Anand Mohan Sharan, the Deputy CM directed officials to maintain quality during construction. Background Global City is being developed across 1,000 acres in Gurugram, the land for which has already been acquired. According to HSIIDC officials, five roundtable conferences were held in India and abroad to attract investments for the development of Global City. Two conferences were held in Dubai, two in Gurugram, and one in Mumbai. Real estate companies, such as Sobha Group, Emmar Group, and Lulu Group have evinced interest in the Global City project, and some have visited the site. Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal conducted the conference in Dubai in October, which was attended by Emmar Group, Sobha Realty, Lulu Group, and Dubai Investments, among others. The upcoming Global City will have a unique utility tunnel beneath the roads that will be used to house electricity lines, water pipelines, and telephone network lines. With such a tunnel in place, there will be no need for road digging for repairs in the future. HSIIDC's Global City will be a pedestrian-friendly city, with dedicated pathways for walkers and cyclists. Various modes of public transport systems, such as the Gurugram-Bawal metro corridor, will pass through the city. Interstate and intercity bus terminals will be developed near the futuristic township that will boost connectivity in the region. In the second phase of the project, an additional 500 acres will be developed, which will include a Metro corridor.
More the diversification, the more performance is likely to be average, at best. ~Lou Simpson April equity mutual fund inflows came in as a nasty surprise, but it is not all gloom. Inflow through systematic investment plans (SIPs) continue to remain robust, even if lower by around Rs 500 crore month-on-month. This is will be a key number to keep an eye out for, and the best indicator of how retail investors are looking at mutual funds. Fund managers say many HNIs and even a section of small retail investors are now trading in mutual funds, particularly index funds and ETFs, the way they trade stocks. They now have a long term MF portfolio as well as small short term portfolio which they play around with depending on market conditions. When the market goes down, these HNIs start loading up in their short term portfolio, and if the rebound is sharp, they cash out. Fund managers say unlike in the past, lumpsum investments surge whenever there is a steep decline in the market. This could partly explain why mutual funds were mostly sellers or not buying heavily in April even as foreign funds were aggressively mopping up shares and pushing the market higher. BSE The stock has quietly rallied 32 percent since late March and the latest quarterly numbers appear to give cause for hope. Gross operating margins were up sharply to 49 percent (31 percent in Q3) as the bourse managed to trim costs significantly. New BSE boss Sundararaman Ramamurthy has scrapped the incentive programme for liquidity providers in the derivatives segment from April this year, and so there will be further costs savings for the bourse. The key challenge however will for BSE to grow its topline. Revenues have risen close to 50 percent over the last couple of years, thanks to the rush of retail investors into the stock market. But things have begun to normalise, as can be seen from the slowdown in new account openings at broking firms, in demat account openings and of late, in inflows into equity mutual fund schemes as well. The stock is down around 45 percent from its record high seen in March 2022. At peak valuation, the stock was discounting one year-forward earnings by 58 times. That kind of heady price earning multiple looks unlikely near term. Also, BSEs biggest problem is that it does not have a meaningful presence in the derivatives segment, which is where arch rival NSE is making money hand over fist. How BSE manages to do that will be key to the valuation it can command in the days to come. Quick bytes Godrej Consumer Products CEO Sameer Shah said his company is targeting high single digit volume growth in FY24 and an expansion in gross operating margins. He also expects a significant improvement in the Indonesia and Africa businesses. The stock has been stuck in a narrow range since August, but is up 28 percent year-on-year. Valuations are not exactly cheap, so market may be waiting for visible signs of improvement in volume growth before firming up a view. Apollo Tyres MD Neeraj Kanwar expects the Indian tyre industry to log a double digit growth in FY24. The company does not have any major capex plans for the next 2-3 years, he said, adding that demand for passenger vehicle tyres is back and that the commercial vehicles space too was looking positive. The stock has more doubled from its July lows, so a consolidation near term could be in order. Dr Reddys CEO Erez Israeli said his company has lined up multiple product launches in the US and sees the strength in that market to continue. He also maintained the long-term EBITDA margin guidance of 25 percent. Market is yet to warm to the stock, and the latest quarterly numbers have done little to boost investor confidence. Escorts Kubota expects a flat performance in Q1, partly due to the unseasonal rains in April and the high base effect. The company is aiming for a 25 percent growth in exports for this fiscal. The price earning multiple rerating story appears to be over for the time being. And with the company admitting that the growth of the last 2-3 years may not be seen any time soon, investors may need to be more patient. Via Dubai A casual stroll through Moscow shows how the latest iPhones are available for same-day delivery, stores still stock Western brands like Gucci, Prada and Burberry, and gleaming Land Rovers, Audis and BMWs beckon the uber-rich. More than a year into the Ukraine war, the impact of Western sanctions is scarcely felt in Russias luxury sector. The reason? Dubai. As per this NYT report, traders in Dubai are doing brisk business catering to the Russian demand for expensive cars, designer wear and electronics. Its an open secret thing, a shop owner said. Competition is very tough right now for Russia. Mans top women Kssshhhhnnnk!!! Did you hear that? Thats the sound of glass ceiling shattering at Man Group. The London-listed hedge fund player with more than $144 billion in assets will be led by two women for the first time in its history by the end of this year. The company announced that its long-time CEO Luke Ellis will be succeeded by current president Robyn Grew in September. Chairman John Cryan will make way for Anne Wade towards the end of 2023. The shakeup is a milestone for the hedge fund industry, often seen as a shadowy, unapologetic old boys club with a devil-may-care approach towards life. (Abhishek Mukherjee contributed to this piece)
Alpha Wave-backed 1K Kirana Bazaar has raised $2-3 million from existing investors in a bridge round to tide over its current phase of business slowdown, multiple sources in the know said. This comes a month after the start-up laid off 40 percent of its workforce. The Kirana-tech start-ups existing investors include Alpha Wave, Kae Capital and Info Edge, apart from prominent angel investors and start-up founders of Zetwerk and GoMechanic. According to sources, the start-up had failed to raise a bigger round from investors like Alpha Wave in Series C as investors are increasingly focussing on profitability amidst a funding winter. 1K Kirana was in talks to raise a larger Series C round earlier this year, following its Series B round of $25 million in May 2022, sources said. This $2-3 million funding will help the start-up sustain the current tide, said one of the sources. Multiple sources said that the start-up was also exploring a possible sale to DealShare a couple of months ago. Though Co-founder Kumar Sangeetesh had previously said that 40 percent of the staff was laid off, several employees said that it was atleast about 60 percent and over 600 employees who lost their jobs. To further cut costs, the start-up has recently shifted its office.  1K Kirana, from May onwards gave up their previous office and shifted to a smaller space. It has about 150 employees now, down from 1,000-1,200 people. Full and final payments of previous employees are pending, and salaries of March too for some existing employees are yet to be cleared, said one former employee. Detailed queries sent to 1K Kirana and DealShare did not elicit any response at the time of publishing. Any comments from the start-ups will be updated later to reflect in the article. Earlier in April, he had said, "We are currently in the process of restructuring as our growth forecasts have changed. We are changing our focus areas and moving out of a few geographies. Due to this, we have to let go of 40 percent of our employees. All the employees will be given severances and we will assist them with outplacements." What went wrong? Founded in 2018 by Sangeetesh, Abhishek Halder and Sachin Sharma, 1K Kiranas business model involves partnering with offline kirana shops to organise them by providing its own branding and online access. The start-up even managed sourcing and distribution of goods selling at these shops, cutting off middlemen, in turn improving margins for kirana merchants. According to one of the employees Moneycontrol had previously spoken to, 1K Kirana also paid the rent and electricity bills of these shops which added to its expenses. The start-up operates over 1,000 stores across Rajasthan, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Gurugram and Delhi. Sources had said that the Gurugram-based start-up was burning a lot of cash in its day-to-day cash-heavy operations, which made investors uncomfortable. The company used to burn a lot of cash. Take the example of conveyance reimbursements. Employees with a salary of Rs 30,000 are filing Rs 40,000 as reimbursement, this used to be a common practice, said another employee in April, who was let go last year, requesting anonymity.
Vedanta Limited on May 12 reported a 56.3 percent year-on-year decline in profit at Rs 2,634 crore in the March quarter against Rs 6,027 crore in the same quarter of the previous fiscal. Net profit attributable to owners of the company fell over 67 percent YoY to Rs 1,881 crore. Revenue, too, dropped 5.4 percent to Rs 37,225 crore from Rs 39,342 crore in Q4 FY22. On the operating front, the company's EBITDA decreased 33.4 percent to Rs 8,754 crore. "We have delivered the highest-ever free cash flow (pre-capex) of Rs 28,068 crore, enabling us to reinvest for business growth and provide our valued shareholders with attractive dividends," Vedanta chief executive officer Sunil Duggal said. "We finalised 1,868 MW renewable power delivery agreements, which brings us one step closer towards becoming carbon neutral by 2050 or sooner." Coming to segmental performance, revenue from zinc, lead and silver fell 4 percent to Rs 8,254 crore. Aluminium revenue was down 19.8 percent at Rs 12,396 crore, while copper and iron ore segments saw an uptick. For FY23, the company has estimated a capex of $1.7 billion, higher than $1.2 billion this year. The stock closed at Rs 275.10 on the National Stock Exchange, over 2 percent lower from the previous day.

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Online brokerage firm Zerodha has created an internal artificial intelligence (AI) policy to give clarity to the team in light of the rising anxiety among people about tech eliminating jobs, CEO Nithin Kamath said on the social media platform. "We will not fire anyone on the team just because we have implemented a new piece of technology that makes an earlier job redundant, he shared Zerodhas stance while announcing the policy on Twitter. Reiterating his 2021 claim of not founding AI use cases, he shared a screenshot of his associate Mr K who said, ...apart from a commodity image recognition tool for processing images during onboarding, we use no other AI or ML systems. We have not come across any problems yet where we felt the need to turn to ML solutions. The development comes in light of a Goldman Sachs report that said that the rise of artificial intelligence could put 300 million jobs at risk. The report predicted significant disruption to the labour market, noting that two-thirds of jobs in the United States and Europe could be automated to a certain extent. Kamath said that in today's capitalistic world, businesses prioritise shareholder value creation above stakeholders like employees, customers, vendors, the country and the planet. Markets incentivize business leaders to prioritise profits over everything else; if not, shareholders vote them out. Weve just created an internal AI policy @zerodhaonline to give clarity to the team, given the AI/job loss anxiety. This is our stance: "We will not fire anyone on the team just because we have implemented a new piece of technology that makes an earlier job redundant." 1/8  Nithin Kamath (@Nithin0dha) May 12, 2023 According to him, companies will likely let go of employees and blame it on AI. In the process, companies will earn more and make their shareholders wealthier, worsening wealth inequality, he said, adding, This isn't a good outcome for humanity. Though Kamath feels it is unlikely that humans will be able to compete with intelligent machines in many walks of life, he feels it'll take a few years to see the real impact of AI on humanity. Businesses with financial freedom should, if nothing else, give their teams that helped build the business time to adapt. I know some of this might sound weird coming from the CEO of a broking firm, he said. Recently, International Business Machines Chief Executive Officer Arvind Krishna said the company expects to pause hiring for roles it thinks could be replaced with artificial intelligence in the coming years. Hiring in back-office functions  such as human resources  will be suspended or slowed, Krishna said in an interview. These non-customer-facing roles amount to roughly 26,000 workers, Krishna said. I could easily see 30 percent of that getting replaced by AI and automation over five years.
Indias tourism industry has continued its demand for government incentives in view of the losses the industry suffered during the coronavirus pandemic. This has come in light of the new Foreign Trade Policy that was released by Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal on March 31. While the policy had already done away with the Service Export from India Scheme (SEIS), the tourism sector, one of the worst hit by the pandemic, expected incentives either in the form of a revamped SEIS or other rebates. The reintroduction of SEIS, which was discontinued in FY21 after the World Trade Organisation ruled against subsidy schemes, has been a long-pending demand of the industry. The scheme provided freely transferable duty credit scrips to exporters at 3-5 percent of the net foreign exchange earned. These SEIS scrips could be used to pay import duty or were encashed by selling them to any importer. The concerns of the industry were also voiced by the sector in a meeting held on April 19, in the presence of industry representatives and top officials of the commerce ministry. However, as per officials who attended the meeting, even though the industry presented a host of proposals, requesting incentives be provided for sectors including tourism and healthcare, the government has made its stance clear, reiterating that no incentives will be provided. Goyal has time and again stated that no incentives will be provided to the industry. Services industry must be competitive and not seek subsidies to boost exports, Goyal had said on September 22 last year, while addressing an event organised by the Services Exports Promotion Council (SEPC). The services sector needs to dream big and march ahead to become competitive in the global markets without incentives and subsidies, the minister had added. What were incentives under SEIS used for? The tourism industry used these incentives extensively for international marketing and market research purposes. The scheme was especially instrumental for inbound tour-operating companies, which used the scrips for business-to-business marketing. An inbound tour operator company plans and sells packages to foreign tourists for their travel and stay in India. Ravi Gosain, vice president of the Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO), says, All inbound tour operators have to undertake marketing at foreign bases to run our businesses," he adds. The IATO members go to travel trade fairs and exhibitions and tie up with counterparts overseas who channel tourists to their Indian partners. How is its absence affecting the industry? In the absence of any supportive scheme, our advertisements abroad have dropped. Work coming in has slowed down. With zero marketing, what else can you expect? asks Rajiv Mehra, president, IATO. Most people in the industry, explains Mehra, had used this scheme as a tool to go to foreign countries, find new markets and bring in work. This not only generated profits for us but benefited the government as well. They were receiving foreign currency as well, he points out. Offering the example of countries that have expanded their tourism base, Mehra adds, Exemplar countries like Vietnam or Thailand offer special incentive schemes to their businesses. Almost every country in the Middle East and Far East is working with some strategy to help out operators and increase tourism. But India is running without any policy framework in this regard. What is the industry demanding? The industry, in a letter to the prime minister on April 27 made several demands to place the tourism industry at par with foreign tour operators and help them compete with neighbouring countries. Its demand is either the restoration of SEIS or the introduction of an alternative scheme in the new Foreign Trade Policy, as the inbound tourism sector is still suffering and needs handholding by the government. Besides, it has also sought the rollback of TCS (tax collected at source) of 5 percent to 20 percent on overseas tour packages announced in the budget. Post revival of international flight operations and tourist visas, only 35 percent of inbound tourism to India has been revived, which the government itself accepts, says Mehra. The letter says that it took nine years to increase foreign exchange earnings to $30.05 billion in 2019 from $14.49 billion in 2010. However, at present we have gone back to 2004 levels, which was $6.17 billion in terms of foreign exchange earnings. This is indicative of the stress this sector is undergoing, the letter adds. We need to compete. But it becomes very difficult as the government has withdrawn marketing and promotion support in foreign countries. SEIS has ended and no alternative benefit has been given. GST (goods and services tax) is as high as 20-23 percent without any input tax credit, whereas neighbouring countries are charging 6-8 percent," Mehra says.
A day after Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan was arrested in Islamabad, an actor and social activist from the neighbouring country has blamed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and RAW (Research and Analysis Wing) for creating chaos and terror in Pakistan. Sehar Shinwari even sought to file a complaint against them to the Delhi Police. Taking to Twitter, she wrote, "Anyone knows the online link of Delhi Police? I have to file a complain against Indian Pm & Indian Intelligence Agency RAW who are spreading chaos and terrorism in my country Pakistan. If the Indian courts are free (As they claims) then I am sure Indian Supreme Court will provide me justice (sic)." In separate tweets, Shinwari added, "I am going to file FIR against Narendra Modi in police station because he is the main source behind terrorism in Pakistan... India is trying to escalate tensed political situation in Pakistan. I request UN to take immediate action against India." Responding to it, the Delhi Police wrote, "We are afraid we still do not have jurisdiction in Pakistan. But, would like to know how come you are tweeting when the internet has been shut down in your country!" We are afraid we still do not have jurisdiction in Pakistan. But, would like to know how come you are tweeting when the internet has been shut down in your country! https://t.co/lnUCf8tY59  Delhi Police (@DelhiPolice) May 9, 2023 Pakistan on Tuesday suspended social media and internet services across the country after former Prime Minister and Tehreek-e-Insaf party chairman Imran Khan's arrest. According to Pakistan's The Nation newspaper, internet services in major cities have been shut down, while mobile services have been suspended in most areas of Lahore, Islamabad, and Rawalpindi. Global internet monitor NetBlocks also confirmed the disruption of Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube on multiple internet providers in Pakistan on Tuesday after Khan's arrest. Read more: Imran Khans arrest: Pak plunges into further chaos
For evidence of the sickness within American society, look no further than the changes New York State legislators made in last years Concealed Carry Improvement Act. Among the reason lawmakers revised that important measure was the demand of pastors to be able to pack heat in the pulpit.

Imagine that as a public issue even just 25 years ago. But today, as mass shootings kill with a desperate regularity, the worry is inevitable, especially soft public targets like schools and, yes, churches. Pastors who want the right to carry guns in holy places arent the sickness, they are a dismal symptom of a nation that has lost its way. What other conclusion is possible when politicians, courts, advocates and others ignore the national will  driven by rivers of spilled blood  in the name of the most fuzzy and indecipherable of the amendments to the Constitution?

It's unconscionable that military-style weapons are readily available to just about anyone who wants one. Given that they are, though, its inconceivable that obvious safeguards such as background checks, age restrictions and thoughtful red flag laws are controversial. Yet, here we are: In one of the states where residents are least likely to be shot, men of the cloth feel the need to be ready to kill.

The issue most recently arose when the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a century-old law regulating where concealed weapons could be carried. In response to that preposterous decision, New York updated its law which, predictably, has been challenged  including by pastors. Thus, as part of the state budget, legislators cleared the way to allow persons responsible for security to carry guns in places of worship. Less controversially, they also narrowed in the Catskill and Adirondack parks to public areas, not privately held land.

Plainly, gun violence can occur anywhere. Buffalo saw some of the worst of it a year ago Sunday. But when it becomes reasonable to believe that grocery stores, schools and even churches are not reliably safe, something fundamental has gone awry. A sickness is on the loose. Issues such as mental health and broken families may count as part of the illness, but that doesnt explain why gun violence in this country is so much worse than in any other. Its guns and money.

The Bible warns against love of money, a caution that goes to the heart of the official devotion to guns. Theres a lot of it to be made, by the firearms industry and by the politicians who take its money. Were in a bad place and an armed pastor isnt likely to make much of a difference.

  

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The Union government has shot a letter to the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) asking it to consult the Ministry of Power before issuing any regulations henceforth. Asking the power regulator to function in a transparent manner, the government in its letter said that CERC has been issuing regulations on critical issues in the recent past, many of which necessitated the Power Ministrys intervention after feedback from industry stakeholders. The CERC is required to consult all stakeholders before framing (any) regulation and the government is the most important stakeholder. In view of this, CERC must consult the Ministry of Power in detail at the stage of formulating regulations. This will ensure that the regulations are consistent with the rules framed by the government and the governments reforms agenda, and will also obviate the necessity of any subsequent policy direction the Government under Section 107. This is issued with the approval of the competent authority and is a policy direction under Section 107 of the Act, read the letter dated May 8, issued by the Ministry of Power to CERC. Moneycontrol has a copy of the letter. CERC is the primary regulator of Indias power sector. It is a statutory body functioning with quasi-judicial status under Section 76 of the Electricity Act, 2003. It is responsible for regulating tariffs of power generating companies (gencos), inter-state transmission charges, and inter-state trading of electricity in India. It also adjudicates disputes involving gencos or transmission licensees, apart from also having certain advisory functions. To avoid frequent amendments in electricity regulations so as to ensure a stable and predictable system, the government asked the CERC to share all its proposed regulations with the Power Ministry before it is floated to the public and stakeholders for their objections and suggestions. According to law, the power regulator acts autonomously, and the government can issue directional and policy inputs to the CERC whenever necessary. The Union government is empowered to do so under Section 107 of the Electricity Act. Moneycontrol has sent mails to CERC Chairperson Jishnu Barua and all three members of the central power regulator seeking a comment on the matter. This report will be updated when a response is received from the concerned persons. Officials from power utilities said such a letter by the government was unheard of before. It signifies that there is a simmering discord between the CERC and the government, said a senior functionary of a leading distribution company. THE TRIGGER While there have been several regulations in the past where the government of India intervened under Section 107 to suggest regulatory changes, senior officials privy to the development told Moneycontrol that the practice became frequent in the recent past. One important trigger was the Deviation Settlement Mechanism (DSM) rules which the CERC issued in March 2022 for the wind energy industry. It led to a legal case and the government had to intervene by forming a sub-committee to resolve the problems in the regulations, said a senior official privy to the development, requesting anonymity. According to wind developers, the initial DSM regulations issued by the CERC drastically narrowed the band within which energy companies were exempted from penalties for deviating from the power supply schedules they would have given to the grid operator on the previous day. The developers said the existing technology still cannot predict wind flows accurately because of which it is not possible to always stick to the power supply schedules. The second important trigger was transmission charges for renewable energy. The government of Indias policy is to rather waive off inter-state transmission charges for renewable energy. But CERC issued the General Network Access (GNA) rules without keeping that in mind, which spread discontent among a lot of developers as they alleged that what the government had promised to them was being taken away. The Power Ministry had to intervene and resolve the issue. There are many policy issues where a lot of investors are concerned, therefore, formulating such regulations should be done under mutual understanding, cooperation and transparency, said a second official privy to the development, requesting anonymity. The governments May 8 letter stated, The Ministry of Power is responsible to the Parliament and the people for the growth and development of the power sector. In the recent past, the Ministry of Power came across a number of critical issues to address which it had to issue policy directions to CERC necessitating amendments in its regulations. Frequent changes in regulations are not in the interest of a predictable and stable regulatory framework in the country. It further requested the CERC to work in accordance with the Electricity Act, the rules framed by the Union government under the Act, the electricity policy, the National Electricity Plan, the Tariff Policy and policy direction the Union government may give under Section 107 of the Act.
A new Starbucks advertisement, promoting the rights of transgender people, is being talked about online, with a section of social media slamming the coffee giant for its purported messaging. The ad features a transgender woman meeting her father after several years and eventually reconciling over cold coffee at a Starbucks outlet. The woman, who was named Arpit by her parents, now identifies herself as Arpita. She shares a close bond with her mother, who too has come to the Starbucks outlet to meet her. Her father is yet to accept her new identity. The ad begins with the parents waiting for her at Starbucks. The father, visible uncomfortable, dials her number (with her named still saved as Arpit). Finally, Arpita walks in and gently hugs her parents. The father then proceeds to the cafe counter to place an order for their coffee. Arpita is pleasantly surprised when the Starbucks barista says, Three cold coffees for Arpita. The moment, thus, revealed that her father had accepted her new name and identity by giving Arpita as the name that would be written on the coffee cup, a quintessential Starbucks tradition. Beta, you are still by kid. Only a letter has got added to your name, the father tells her. Your name defines who you are - whether it's Arpit or Arpita. At Starbucks, we love and accept you for who you are. Because being yourself means everything to us, Starbucks India tweeted, with the hashtag #ItStartsWithYourName. Your name defines who you are - whether it's Arpit or Arpita. At Starbucks, we love and accept you for who you are. Because being yourself means everything to us. #ItStartsWithYourName. pic.twitter.com/DKNGhKZ1Hg  Starbucks India (@StarbucksIndia) May 10, 2023 to see something inclusive and non-judgemental in these days of polarizing communications and weaponized hate... is genuinely welcome, communications strategy consultant Karthik Srinivasan tweeted. 7/7 It's also a bit ironic if you consider the number of experiences floating on social media about misspelt and mispronounced names Still, to see something inclusive and non-judgemental in these days of polarizing communications and weaponized hate... is genuinely welcome!  Karthik (@beastoftraal) May 10, 2023 Initiatives like this that will help rid our heavily prejudiced world of transphobia. Bravo, Twitter user Sanjeev Verma posted. This is superlative from @StarbucksIndia. #ItStartsWithYourName It draws me further to a brand I have always liked. Deep or Deepa. Paul or Paula. Arpit or Arpita. It does not matter. Initiatives like this that will help rid our heavily prejudiced world of transphobia. Bravo. https://t.co/yq581rg8tT  Sanjeev Verma (@sanjeevve) May 11, 2023 However, another section of the internet targeted Starbucks for the ad. Indian-American writer Sadanand Dhume termed the ad a large dose of extremist American gender ideology. "Starbucks brings wokeism to India by transcampaign," another user tweeted. Starbucks does a great job here of ensuring that the vast majority of Indians will never step into its premises. Only thing worse than overpriced, tasteless coffee is overpriced, tasteless coffee with a large dose of extremist American gender ideology. https://t.co/WH4NhN5RLr  Sadanand Dhume (@dhume) May 11, 2023 Starbucks is not the first brand in India to face backlash for an advertisement. In 2020, popular jewellery brand Tanishq faced massive social media trolling over an ad featuring an interfaith baby shower, forcing it to take down the ad. In 2021, ethnic wear brand FabIndia faced boycott calls from a section of social media for its Jashn-E-Riwaaz festive collection.
Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, has hinted that a new chief executive officer (CEO) will be leading Twitter soon. The Wall Street Journal reported that Linda Yaccarino, an NBCUniversal executive, is touted to become the next CEO of Twitter. During a conversation last month in Miami with Yaccarino, Musk discussed the future of marketing on Twitter, hiring and retention of employees, and the importance of becoming a multi-planetary species. When asked by Yaccarino about why it is important to become a multi-planetary species, Elon explained that it is critical to ensure the continuation of consciousness in case of calamities that could potentially wipe out civilization as we know it. There's a bunch of reasons why it's important to become a multi-planetary species. One is, to ensure the continuation of consciousness as we know it, in case some calamity befalls Earth. And the probability of a calamity occurring that could potentially wipe out civilization as we know it, is actually quite high. I mean, this has occurred many times in the past. And we have records of it happening, but we don't know exactly when it could happen again, Musk, 51, said. Musk also emphasized that it is essential to extend life beyond Earth because it may never be possible again if some calamity befalls Earth. This is the first time in the four-billion-year history of Earth that it is possible to extend life beyond it, Musk said. The billionaire believes that we should take advantage of this window of opportunity while it is open. Moreover, he added that becoming a spacefaring civilization and a multi-planetary species is the next step in human evolution. And then, ultimately, we want to become a spacefaring civilization, and a multi-planetary species, because it's the right thing to do. It's the next step in human evolution, he added. When asked about talent acquisition and retention, Musk highlighted that talent is distributed randomly throughout the population and not concentrated in any one place or demographic or gender. It's important to have a strategy that is capable of attracting and retaining talent from a very broad pool of people. And so, that's what we try to do at Tesla, and SpaceX, and other companies, is to have a very broad recruitment strategy, and to be as inclusive as possible, and to create an environment where people can do their best work, he told Yaccarino. He continued: And it's not just about having a good recruiting strategy, it's also about creating an environment where people can do their best work. And that means having a culture of innovation, where people are encouraged to think outside the box, and to come up with new ideas, and to take risks. And it also means having a culture of excellence, where people are really focused on doing great work, and delivering the best possible results. And I think, if you have those two things, you can create an environment that's very attractive to great talent. Musk also added that while benefits, compensation and work life balance are key, it's really about creating a culture that people want to be a part of. Yaccarino praised Musk and said: And I think that's one of the things that's so interesting about the work that you do, is that you're doing things that are really changing the world, and that are really making a difference. And I think that's something that people really aspire to. Musk responded: I think, if you can provide people with that sense of purpose, and that sense of meaning, it's incredibly powerful, and it can really help you attract and retain great talent. Yaccarino wrapped the interview up by saying that Musk had done amazing things and inspired a lot of people. Read: Who is Linda Yaccarino, the woman rumoured to become new Twitter CEO? Linda Yaccarino is an NBCUniversal veteran, having been with the organisation since 2011. Musk announced on Twitter that the new CEO will start in six weeks. While he mentioned it was a she, he didnt take any names. Excited to announce that Ive hired a new CEO for X/Twitter. She will be starting in ~6 weeks! My role will transition to being exec chair & CTO, overseeing product, software & sysops.  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 11, 2023 Excited to announce that I've hired a new CEO for X/Twitter. She will be starting in ~6 weeks! My role will transition to being exec chair & CTO, overseeing product, software & sysops, he tweeted sending rumour mills buzzing.
In a pioneering IVF procedure, the first UK baby has been born with DNA from three people, according to reports. The child was developed through a process called mitochondrial donation treatment (MDT), which involves taking the nucleus from one of the mother's eggs, containing her DNA, and implanting it into a donor egg that had its nucleus removed but retained the donor's healthy mitochondrial DNA. This innovative technique has been developed to create IVF embryos that are free from harmful mutations that mothers carry and are likely to pass on to their children. Mitochondrial DNA, which provides power for the cell and is often compared to a battery, has been found to be a major cause of genetic diseases. Although mitochondrial DNA only makes up a tiny fraction of an individual's genetic material, defects in it can cause a range of serious and life-threatening disorders, including muscle weakness, blindness, deafness, and neurological problems. MDT is a means of replacing defective mitochondrial DNA with healthy DNA from a donor, allowing for healthy embryos to be created and preventing the transmission of mitochondrial diseases. Many scientists in the field argue that the term "three-parent baby" is inaccurate for this reason as more than 98.8 percent of the DNA is still from two people. The UK Parliament approved the procedure in 2015, and the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), a regulatory body, considers requests for its use. The first British "three-parent child" was discovered through a Freedom of Information request to the HFEA. The clinic reportedly said a small number of babies have now been born in the UK after MDT, but doctors at the clinic do not release details of births from its MDT programme due to concerns that specific information could compromise patient confidentiality. Britain is not the first country to see children born through MDT. In 2016, a child was born in Mexico through the procedure, and since then, there have been several successful cases in countries like the US and Ukraine. Professor Alison Murdoch, head of the Newcastle Fertility Centre at Life, Newcastle University, who has been at the forefront of research in this area in the UK, said at the time of the birth that it was "great news." MDT has the potential to revolutionize the field of IVF and offer new hope to families affected by mitochondrial disease. However, the procedure is still highly controversial, with some critics questioning its safety and ethics.
Wesleyan University in the US has announced it will help cover the cost of abortion procedures for its students. The announcement comes nearly a year after the countrys Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade in June 2022  a decision that paved the way for individual states to restrict or completely ban abortions. Wesleyan is located in Middletown, Connecticut, where abortion is legal until 24 weeks. Wesleyan University has long provided financial support for those in need beyond what their medical insurance might cover, the private liberal arts university said in a statement. At a time when reproductive freedom is being threatened around the country, Wesleyan is dedicated to providing students with support for free emergency contraception or for the decision to terminate a pregnancy. Along with financing abortion related-costs after insurance, Wesleyan will also provide free emergency contraceptives to its students. The university already provides birth control free of charge, according to media reports. "Wesleyan Universitys Davison Health Center offers birth control, emergency contraception, sexual health screening and testing as part its overall services. Starting in the fall semester 2023, DHC will provide all emergency contraceptives (Plan B and Ella) free of charge. Consistent with the health centers mission to provide education and support in the decision-making process, students will be able to access emergency contraceptives by consulting with a nurse at DHC, a spokesperson for the university told Fox News.

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Airlines are reinvigorating first class as deep-pocketed customers embrace travel again, taking luxury to new heights up in the sky. First-class cabins are increasingly resembling mini hotel rooms, with sofas, double beds, televisions, desks, wardrobes, minibars and in some cases, walk-in showers. The more creative, the better. You can even book a chef. The investment is happening despite slowing economic growth and a cost-of-living squeeze. Airlines are betting that enough people are willing to splurge on flying in style after being grounded by Covid and denied the chance to travel. Leisure travelers in particular continue to book flights in business or even first class, Deutsche Lufthansa AG Chief Executive Officer Carsten Spohr said during an earnings call in March. This year is the first year all my team tell me, Spohr, we need to grow first class, he told investors last week. The German airline is investing $2.7 billion over two years to revamp its long-haul aircraft under a program it has named Lufthansa Allegris. Qantas Airways Ltd. is also showcasing a plush new first class, a realm thats typically beyond the reach of ordinary passengers  the closest most people get is a stolen glance as they shuffle conga-line style to the planes exit doors. Why Now? The International Air Transport Association estimates that airlines suffered about $200 billion in losses over the past three years as Covid wreaked unprecedented havoc. They desperately need to claw some of that back, and first class has become a potential goldmine. Premium travel, which also includes business class, is back to 86% of 2019 levels, according to IATA, while total air travel demand, including economy class, is at 81%. Even with first class fares going for more than 10 times as much as standard economy seats, demand is there - either for bookings with cash or the rare opportunity to use up miles accumulated on credit cards during the pandemic. There is still a large amount of excess savings, said David Mann, chief Asia economist at Mastercard Inc. The willingness and the ability to spend doesnt look like its going away anytime soon, which most likely explains why airlines are making announcements. Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. is also planning an upgrade of first class. Theres already strong demand for its current top-of-the-range seats, which are available on one of its Hong Kong-London services. The cabins include one of the widest fully flat beds in the sky, various soft pillows and pillow mist, according to the airlines website. Of course, travelers in first class also get access to the best airport lounges. And pajamas. What Else Is On Offer? Qantas and Lufthansa have both unveiled new-look first-class cabins that can be fully closed off with doors, joining trailblazers Singapore Airlines Ltd., Emirates and Etihad Airways PJSC in converting seats into suites. The seats in Lufthansas new rooms can be heated or cooled, while there are also wardrobes for extra storage. Thats quite the transformation from what was previously an open-plan arrangement with little privacy. At its Frankfurt hub, a personal assistant is on hand to greet first-class customers and take care of all travel formalities swiftly and discreetly, the German airline says. Pressure to keep up with the times may be sufficient justification for such a large investment, Daniel Baron, managing director of Tokyo-based Lift Aero Design, said of airlines plowing money into cabin makeovers. Splashing Out A return Sydney-Los Angeles flight in Qantas first class costs almost $18,000, while Frankfurt-Tokyo on Lufthansa is about $15,000. Thats still significantly less that what some ultra-wealthy travelers fork out for private jets, a segment that experienced a boost during the pandemic as people looked to avoid crowds and virus-related restrictions. Airlines New First Class Arriving Air France, Japan Airlines Winter 2023 Lufthansa, Swiss 2024 Qantas, Qatar Airways, Cathay Pacific 2025 The aviation industry is responding to that demand, said Melanie Lieberman, a managing editor at The Points Guy travel website. First class is a very safe, reliable sector where people are willing to pay up for space, privacy and exclusivity, even during difficult economic downturns. More Luxury Lufthansas newest Boeing Co. 787s and Airbus SE A350s will have two single suites in first class as well as a double called Suite Plus that can fit a couple of people. Those have ceiling-high walls and a closable door and will be introduced in 2024. The suite conveys the feeling of privacy and individuality similar to a hotel room, only at an altitude of 11 kilometers, senior Lufthansa executive Jens Ritter said at the products launch in Berlin in February. As part of the fleet revamp, Lufthansa business class will also have suites with chest-high walls and sliding doors. Qantas, meanwhile, has space for 14 passengers in first class on its A380 superjumbos. Its newer, smaller A350s can fit six. Individual cabins currently feature armchairs and a 212-centimeter (83 inches) flat bed with memory foam mattress, as well as cotton throws, a duvet and pillow menu. The cabins are designed so they can seat two people in case travelers want to eat together. These exclusive zones occupy plenty of space on aircraft. A standard first-class suite on A380s flown by Singapore Air, which tops Skytrax industry rankings for the segment, takes up about 50 square feet, which is almost a third of the size of an average Hong Kong apartment. Coming Next Lufthansa and Qantas are some of the first airlines to release details about their plans for first class in smaller, long-haul jets, which will potentially be used on a greater number of routes. Others entering the fray include Air France and Japan Airlines Co., with new cabins as soon as this winter. The French airline says it will offer the longest suite in the market, with five windows, a seat, bed and sofa. Qatar Airways is also due to revamp first class on its delayed Boeing 777-9s.
Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan arrived at an Islamabad court on Friday under heavy security cover as his supporters clashed with the security forces elsewhere in the city, broadcaster Geo TV reported. Television footage showed heavily armed paramilitary troops and police outside the court as Khan was brought in a motorcade of nearly a dozen vehicles. Khan, wearing dark glasses and dressed in a sky blue shalwar kameez, the loose shirt and trousers popular in Pakistan, walked into the court surrounded by lawyers and security forces, the broadcaster said. Geo said supporters of Khan clashed with police elsewhere in the city as police cleared roads for his convoy. His arrest earlier this week, which sparked deadly unrest in the nuclear-armed nation, was ruled "invalid and unlawful" by the Supreme Court on Thursday. Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) party said thousands of "peaceful Pakistanis" will gather in Islamabad in solidarity with their leader, who police said was allowed to meet 10 people on Thursday night in a police guesthouse.

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A special bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday granted bail to former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan for two weeks in a corruption case. A division bench comprising Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb and Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz heard the Al-Qadir trust corruption case, a day after the Supreme Court termed Khan's arrest from the IHC premises on Tuesday as 'invalid and unlawful'. Khan, 70, arrived at the court shortly after 11:30 am local time amid tight security and underwent the biometric identification process and other formalities. The hearing was delayed for nearly two hours due to security reasons. Earlier, the two judges left the courtroom amid pro-Khan slogan shouting by a lawyer. The upset judges later announced that the hearing will resume after Friday prayers. Dawn News reported that Khan's lawyers had filed four additional requests which urged the IHC to club all the cases against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and to direct authorities to provide details of the cases registered against him. Khan was arrested from the premises of the IHC on Tuesday in the Al-Qadir Trust case after the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) issued an arrest warrant against him. His arrest by paramilitary Rangers sparked widespread protests across Pakistan, prompting the deployment of the Army here as well as in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces. The IHC upheld his arrest but a three-member Supreme Court bench on Thursday declared his detention 'illegal' and ordered his immediate release. The apex court directed police to keep him in the Supreme Court's protection and produce him before the high court at 11 am.

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U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Thursday said many members of the Group of Seven advanced economies shared U.S. concerns about China's use of "economic coercion" against other countries, and were considering how to counter such behavior. Yellen told a press conference that Washington had also long considered the possibility of imposing further, narrowly targeted restrictions on outbound investment to China, and had been discussing that prospect with G7 allies. She said the U.S. government had been discussing the possibility internally for some time, but had not finalized its approach. The Biden administration was committed to discussing the issue with partners and allies, and viewed coordinated action by like-minded countries as most effective and useful. China is much on the minds of G7 finance leaders as they meet in Niigata, Japan this week, with current G7 president Japan leading fresh efforts to diversify supply chains and reduce their heavy reliance on China, the world's second-largest economy and the second biggest external holder of U.S. debt. U.S. lawmakers have been pushing the administration to boost oversight of investments by U.S. companies and individuals in other countries, particularly China, citing concerns over national security and supply chain issues, and have urged President Joe Biden to issue an executive order. "We have been engaging in discussions with our G7 colleagues, and I would expect that that would continue these meetings, at least in some informal way," Yellen said, when asked about the long-awaited executive order. She said any U.S. action would be "narrowly scoped and targeted at technologies where there are clear national security implications," without giving a timetable for action. The United States already has a strong commitment to protect its national security, in part through reviewing inbound investment and through export controls. Some restrictions on outbound investment would be a complement to that, she said. "My own view is that this should be national security focused. It's not focused at undermining, say, China's economic competitiveness or ability to advance economically," she added. Yellen said the G7 -- which groups the U.S., Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Canada, as well as the European Union -- would also keep working to mitigate geostrategic risks and counter economic coercion, Yellen said, citing a speech last month in which she said Washington would push back against Chinese actions to dominate foreign competitors. She told reporters that China had clearly used economic coercion with Australia and Lithuania, adding, "that's a matter that should be of concern to all of us." She said she was aware of examinations China had conducted recently of consultancies operating in China, but was not sure that belong in "the same bucket." Chinese authorities have launched a sweeping crackdown on consultancy firms aimed at stopping the theft of state secrets, including technology and defence, state media has reported.
A team of Lahore police has left for Islamabad to arrest Pakistan's former prime minister Imran Khan in a number of cases registered against him in Punjab province, according to a media report on Friday. The police team is headed by the deputy inspector general (investigation), the Dawn newspaper reported. It was reported that the joint investigation team probing cases against Imran has informed the Islamabad High Court that it seeks the arrest of chief of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party. Khan faces 121 cases across the country, including for committing treason and blasphemy and inciting violence and terrorism. Twelve cases of terrorism have been registered against Khan in Lahore and 14 cases have been registered in Faisalabad. Khan, 70, appeared before a special bench of the Islamabad High Court for a hearing on his bail plea in a graft case amid tight security. The bench, comprising Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb and Justice Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz, took up the ex-premier's bail plea.

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News / National

by Staff reporter

THE recent higher levels of load-shedding is temporary while the new 300MW Hwange Thermal Power Station's Unit 7 goes through evaluation after the Unit successfully completed its reliability run.Zimbabwe Power Company expects the Unit to be back online "within the next few days".Its removal from the grid is also affecting Botswana as the Botswana Power Corporation (BPC) notified its citizenry to brace for tight power supply as Zambian imports were affected by the need to take out of operation of the link via Zimbabwe while Unit 7 was checked out.ZPC said they were working flat out to ensure the power situation returns to normalcy soon."We would like to advise our valued stakeholders that the Hwange Unit 7, which is still undergoing commissioning tests has successfully completed the reliability run. Our engineers have taken it off the grid for evaluation of all systems in preparation of the final phase of commissioning, the performance guarantees test."This entails temporary removal of 300MW from the grid resulting in our customers not enjoying the general power stability that had been obtaining in the past days. The Unit is expected back online within the next few days," said ZPC.In an interview with The Herald, Energy and Power Development Permanent Secretary Engineer Gloria Magombo said Government was pulling all the stops to ensure the sustainable operation of the Unit."From a safety point of view, we want to ensure it is able to behave in a way that if there is any challenge it should be able to remain operational without having to go off or even explode. It is a very critical period for us as a sector and we would like the public to bear with us. Yes, we are getting the 300MW but at times we have to take it off to make sure that we test at different levels," she said.Eng Magombo said Unit 7 was being prepared to commence commercial operation scheduled for next month."Between now and that time, the Unit will be coming in and out and producing power in the process, that is the difference between cold commissioning before you synchronise and hot commissioning when you have synchronised," she said.Botswana Power Corporation said the 400kV transmission line which links Botswana and Zimbabwe was out of service from 5 May until 9 May and so affecting the imports of 130MW from Zambia with Botswana seeking cover in the Southern African Power Pool."We would like the public to be aware of the tight power supply situation occasioned by the power line outage, which may force the Corporation to implement Rotational Load Shedding should we lose a Unit at Morupule B Power Station," said BPC in a statement.
Toyota Motor Corp said on Friday the vehicle data of about 2.15 million users was left publicly available in Japan for about a decade from November 2013 to mid-April. The leak, attributed to a setting error in the cloud environment, could encompass details such as vehicle locations and identification numbers of vehicle devices, but there were no reports of malicious use, the company said. Affected customers included those who signed up for the T-Connect network service from the start of 2012 until April 17, Toyota said, apologising for causing concern. Also affected were users of G-Link, a similar service for owners of the luxury Lexus-branded vehicles, that provides features such as emergency support. Toyota said steps to block outside access to the data were taken after the issue was discovered and an investigation into all cloud environments managed by Toyota Connected Corp was ongoing.

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The boss of Swiss bank UBS promised a "360 degree investigation" into its stricken domestic rival Credit Suisse, ahead of the two merging into a new megabank. The Swiss government strongarmed UBS into buying its rival for $3.25 billion after the collapse of three US lenders in March raised concerns about Credit Suisse's own financial health, following a series of scandals in recent years. UBS CEO Sergio Ermotti, who returned to Switzerland's biggest bank last month to handle the merger, said it was "crystal clear, the situation hasn't developed in the last six weeks, but in the last six or seven years". "This comprehensive, 360-degree investigation must go back a long way," Ermotti told the Swiss Media Forum in Lucerne, reported the Swiss news agency ATS. A full review into the causes of the troubles at Credit Suisse is important because of the speed with which it was agreed that UBS would take over the troubled bank, he said. "A lot of things happening now would take a year in normal circumstances," Ermotti said. Credit Suisse was shaken by a series of scandals in recent years, including the bankruptcy of British financial firm Greensill. UBS agreed to buy its stricken domestic rival, backed up by some hefty Swiss government guarantees. Ermotti has said that the takeover will create a superbank in charge of $5 trillion of invested assets, and has hinted that the merger could be completed by the end of May.

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Opinion / Columnist

DEAR President Mnangagwa,So the news out there is that your government has written to Al Jazeera demanding evidence. At least that breaks the silence, but the demand is a bit suspicious. My view is that government should have demanded evidence from the people who featured in the Gold Mafia documentary.Al Jazeera's role was to expose what was happening by airing the documentary. Why does the government not take a cue from the British government which is investigating its citizens who were implicated?Known people featured in the video, but we have not heard the government demanding explanations.In my view, which is shared by many, Al Jazeera played its part to expose the rot as part of its investigative journalism and authorities should demand answers from those implicated in the scam.Government should have suspended its ambassador-at-large Uebert Angel pending investigation if it is serious about curbing corruption. Government should also have questioned First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa and Henrietta Rushwaya who were allegedly called by Angel and were heard talking to him over the phone in the documentary.Since this is a serious matter, Angel should be pressed to identify the people he called.If government is not willing to investigate, it is my hope that the United Kingdom government can, in its investigation of Angel, establish the phone numbers he called.Also worrying is the fact that while Angel said they were actually investigating the Al Jazeera team indicating that the country's intelligence was involved, the Central Intelligence Organisation has disowned the claim.Cleopas Chidodo has since made an apology that he falsely implicated former First Lady Grace Mugabe, and Angel and his team should consider following suit since lies have short legs.Zanu-PF must stop playing games with the people of Zimbabwe.Enough is enough.
The new black-and-white ruffed lemur pup at the Wilder Institute/Calgary Zoom pictured on May 5. (Calgary Zoo/Wilder Institute - image credit)

A bright-eyed, black-and-white ruffed lemur will soon be seen bouncing around the Calgary Zoo.

The baby lemur is one month old, born on April 7 to parents Eny and Menabe. It's the first of its species to be born at the zoo since 1987.

"The successful birth of this newest addition is especially exciting and important for Eny and Menabe's species," said Dr. Typhenn Brichieri-Colombi, conservation research and strategy advisor, in a new release from the Wilder Institute/Calgary Zoo.

"With black-and-white ruffed lemurs being critically endangered in the wild. This pup already plays an important role in the survival and well-being of its species."

The zoo hasn't determined the sex of the baby. Staff will likely wait until the pup receives its first vaccines  which happens at about 10 weeks old  to do a full examination.

Then, they'll determine how they want to give the infant its name.

Wilder Institute/Calgary Zoo

Menabe arrived at the Calgary Zoo in 2017. The zoo works with other accredited zoos and aquariums taking part in a species survival plan (SSP) to find the right breeding partners for animals, supporting at-risk species. Eny came from a zoo in the Czech Republic in 2021.

So far, the little family is beginning to bond.

"[Eny's] just doing such wonderful mothering behaviour. So she's cleaning it. She's cuddling it. She's keeping it warm," said Colleen Baird, interim associate director of animal care and welfare at the zoo, in an interview with The Homestretch.

"They're not like a gorilla or other primate species, where [babies] cling to the back or the front of the mom. The mom  she has these nests high up in the canopy, and she'll travel with this pup in her mouth, moving it from nest to nest as she forages and feeds."

LISTEN | Colleen Baird explains why and how they acquire animals from other zoos:

Black-and-white ruffed lemurs are native to Madagascar. Habitat loss, agriculture, mining, deforestation and climate change have led to their decline, according to Baird.

Story continues

The zoo works to protect three species of lemur in collaboration with the Madagascar Biodiversity Partnership and the University of Calgary, the release says, helping communities to develop reforestation activities, plant future habitats and improve local livelihoods.

They also work to educate people on why lemurs are so important.

Wilder Institute/Calgary Zoo

"Sometimes they eat food with berries or seeds, and then they poop those seeds around. They are actually planting seeds in places for trees to grow," Baird said.

"This species is quite important for diversity in Madagascar, and if we just ignore them, then we lose some of those special moments."

The lemur walk-through at the zoo will be reopened on May 19, but the new baby won't join the conspiracy  what a group of lemurs is called  just yet. Baird says the pup needs to get stronger, first, but it may be seen later in the summer.
May 12, 2023 False Claims About Russia Continue To Cloud The 'West's' Vision The pro-Ukrainian Spectator states correctly that the sanctions on Russia have failed. But its reasoning is dubious: The West embarked on its sanctions war with an exaggerated sense of its own influence around the world. As we have discovered, non-western countries lack the will to impose sanctions on either Russia or on Russian oligarchs. The results of the miscalculation are there for all to see. In April last year, the IMF forecast that the Russian economy would contract by 8.5 per cent in 2022 and by a further 2.3 per cent this year. As it turned out, GDP fell by just 2.1 per cent last year, and this year the IMF is forecasting a small rise of 0.7 per cent. And that is all in spite of the war in Ukraine going much more badly than many imagined it would in February of last year. The Russian economy has not been destroyed; it has merely been reconfigured, reorientated to look eastwards and southwards rather than westwards. Yes, the 'West' had an "exaggerated sense of its own influence around the world". But that is only a part of the problem. The 'West' still thinks it is superior to other countries even as at least some other countries have caught up with it and are, in parts, superior in the use of science and technology. Moreover the 'West' thought that Russia was inferior to it. In 2015 the late Senator John McCain called it a "gas station masquerading as a country": "Look, Russia is a gas station masquerading as a country," McCain said. "It's kleptocracy. It's corruption. It's a nation that's really only dependent upon oil and gas for their economy, and so economic sanctions are important." In the early 1990s Russia surely was down. But it wasn't out. It had a heavy industry and everything it needed to feed it. It had well educated people and large scientific community. When McCain spoke, 25 years after Russia's downfall, the country was largely back in the upper league. Its per head production of steel, cement, energy and food was and is higher than in most 'western' countries. Those are the basics numbers one needs to judge an industrial country and its capabilities, not some dubious number like the Gross Domestic Product which includes 'services' of dubious value. (For example the share of health expenditure in the quite high U.S. GDP is 16.8% with a worse outcome for the general population than in less spending European countries.) As it has now become clear even to the Spectator that the sanctions on Russia have failed one would hope that the 'West' would come to a more realistic view of itself and of Russia economic capabilities. Unfortunately that is not yet the case. Witness Florida's governor Ron DeSantis who in March 2023 basically repeated McCain's false claim: ... DeSantis said of Putin. "And so, he's basically a gas station with a bunch of nuclear weapons and one of the things we could be doing better is utilizing our own energy resources in the US." The 'West' will continue to underestimate Russia's capability as long as such false claims are still believed. Only a realistic assessment and more respect for Russia's capabilities can correct the mistake of waging and losing a proxy war against it. Posted by b on May 12, 2023 at 15:19 UTC | Permalink Comments next page  next page 
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HUDSON, Wis. (AP)  Some 1,500 law enforcement officers from several states were among 3,000 mourners paying final respects Friday to a Wisconsin sheriffs deputy who was fatally shot by a suspected drunken driver during a traffic stop.

The funeral for St. Croix County Sheriffs Deputy Kaitlin Kaitie R. Leising was held in the gymnasium of Hudson High School while a montage of photos from her life were shown on a large screen overhead. Leising's family, including her wife, Courtney, and their 3-month-old son, Syler, stood to the side of the casket, hugging visitors.

In less than a year with the sheriff's office, Leising earned commendations and the admiration of her colleagues, Sheriff Scott Knudson said.

There was so much to like about Kaitie, he said, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.

Services lasted more than six hours as officers first arrived for three hours of visitation, then sat for the funeral before silently marching to the high school parking lot for an honor guard, gun salute and helicopter flyover. A law enforcement procession drove the casket to a private gathering of family in Baldwin, Wisconsin.

Courtney Leising said she was completely heartbroken that their son will grow up without Kaitlin. Leisings sister, Jordyn Stevens, remembered her as inspiring and confident, with a competitive streak that went beyond golf and basketball to board games and cribbage.

Mourners included a large delegation from the Pennington County, South Dakota, Sheriffs Office, where Leising worked before moving to St. Croix County last year.

Leising, 29, was slain May 6 in Glenwood, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) east of Minneapolis. Leising and the driver she pulled over, Jeremiah Johnson, were discussing field sobriety tests when he drew a handgun and shot her, the Wisconsin Department of Justice has said. She discharged her weapon three times, but none of the rounds hit Johnson before he fled to a nearby wooded area. Leising was pronounced dead at a hospital.

An hour after the shooting, an officer heard a gunshot in the woods. Johnson, 34, killed himself, investigators said.

Leisings death was the third fatal shooting of an on-duty law enforcement officer in western Wisconsin in a month, the Star Tribune reported.
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WASHINGTON (AP)  The Biden administrations number two diplomat is retiring after decades of U.S. government service.

Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman will step down from the post this summer, having been involved in some of the most consequential, and controversial, foreign policy decisions during Democratic administrations since Bill Clinton was president.

Sherman, 73, said in an internal note to State Department staff that her retirement would be effective at the end of June.

The arc of history will only bend toward justice if people of conscience steer it in the right direction, she said. That it is our job to have courage, to collaborate with others and seek out common ground, to persist against the odds, to use our voice and our power for goodto keep faith with the promise of our democracy and to never, ever lose hope.

Diplomacy is not for the faint of heart, she added.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken lauded Shermans career, saying that President Joe Biden chose her for the number two post at the State Department because he believed she could revitalize Americas relationships around the world.

President Biden asked Wendy to serve in this role because he knew he could count on her to help revitalize Americas alliances and partnerships and manage our complex relationships with competitors, Blinken said in a statement.

Sherman has been a key part of the Biden administration's efforts to compete with China in the Indo-Pacific and was particularly active in engagement with Pacific island states while also meeting with senior Chinese officials on numerous occasions.

She also had a significant role in marshaling international diplomatic support for Ukraine after Russia's invasion.

As counselor to former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Sherman was a lead negotiator in the Clinton administrations ultimately unsuccessful talks to end North Koreas ballistic missile program in the late 1990s.

Then, as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs during the Obama administration, she was the lead negotiator with Iran on the 2015 nuclear deal.

For each of those endeavors  North Korea and Iran  Sherman was heavily criticized by Republicans who alleged she had made unnecessary concessions.

Her remarkable career  which spans more than three decades, three presidents, and five secretaries of state  addressed some of the toughest foreign policy challenges of our time, Blinken said. Our nation is safer and more secure, and our partnerships more robust, due to her leadership.
The Midland County Commissioners Court will meet Monday to take up matters related to the termination of Horseshoe complex operator Horseshoe Hospitality Services.

An agenda sent out Thursday reported that the following items will be part of a special meeting, set for on or after 8:30 a.m. Monday in the Commissioners Courtroom, located at the Midland County Courthouse, 500 North Loraine St.

The agenda includes:

- 1. Conduct Executive session pursuant to Texas Government Code Section 551.071 to consult with County Attorney regarding pending and prospective litigation and other matters;

- 2. Conduct Executive session pursuant to Texas Government Code Section 551.074 to discuss personnel matters;

- 3. Discuss and take action on management and operation at the Horseshoe;

- 4. Discuss and take action on contract services and/or personnel;

- 5. Discuss and take action hiring outside counsel.

During Mondays meeting of the Midland County Commissioners Court, County Judge Terry Johnson, Precinct 3 Commissioner Luis Sanchez and Precinct 4 Commissioner Dianne Anderson voted to terminate the countys contract with Horseshoe Hospitality Services.

During the meeting, when Joe Kelley, owner and president of Horseshoe Hospitality, asked Johnson the reason for the termination, Johnson said I dont need one.

On Tuesday, an attorney representing Horseshoe Hospitality sent a letter to Johnson and Midland County that the county not permitted to immediately terminate without cause.

The firm stated in the letter that county representatives have communicated directly with Horseshoe Hospitality Services employees to discuss the contract. The firm added that communication by the countys representatives to Horseshoe Hospitalitys employees pertaining to the contract constitutes improper interference with the Horseshoes business operations. The firm demanded the county cease all such communication.

The contract, according to the letter from Hal Brockett Jr. of the law firm Brockett, McNeel & Pocsik, has less than 17 months left on its 60-month term. The letter states instead of going through stressful and expensive litigation, Kelley is willing to meet with Johnson and the county to try to find an amicable solution and honor the contract for its remaining approximate 17 months.
The UK was ranked 14th by the worldwide LGBTQ+ rights organisation the previous year (Alamy/PA)

The UK has fallen in the rankings for the top LGBTQ-friendly countries in Europe and is number 17 on this year's Rainbow Map. The UK was ranked 14th by the worldwide LGBTQ+ rights organisation the previous year, meaning the UK has dropped three spots.

ILGA-Europe emphasised that even if the UK's percentage is the same as the previous year (53.39 per cent), the country dropped since other European nations passed this.

Since 2022, Ireland (53.67 per cent), Germany (55 per cent) and Greece (56 per cent) have all surpassed the UK.

What are the top 20 countries in the list, the lowest three and why has the UK dropped in rankings? Heres what we know.

What are the most LGBTQ-friendly countries?

1. Malta - 89.29 per cent

2. Belgium - 76.37 per cent

3. Denmark - 75.54 per cent

4. Spain - 74.10 per cent

5. Iceland - 70.62 per cent

6. Finland - 69.62 per cent

7. Luxembourg - 68.03 per cent

8. Sweden - 67.97 per cent

9. Norway - 67.42 per cent

10. France - 63.30 per cent

11. Portugal - 62.03 per cent

12. Montenegro - 61.43 per cent

13. Greece - 56.69 per cent

14. Netherlands - 55.99 per cent

15. Germany - 54.94 per cent

16. Ireland - 53.67 per cent

17. United Kingdom - 53.39 per cent

18. Croatia - 49.41 per cent

19. Austria - 49.08 per cent

20. Switzerland - 47.38 per cent

What are some of the worst countries for LGBTQ+ people?

Azerbaijan, Turkey and Armenia are the three worst nations in Europe for LGBTQ+ individuals (2 per cent, 4 per cent and 8 per cent, respectively). Each nation has been near the bottom for the past two years, although Armenia has gained some points for lifting its prohibition on gay men donating blood.

Why has the UK dropped on the scale?

The UK is lacking certain crucial puzzle pieces, according to ILGA-Europe.

It cited the conversion therapy prohibition, which has been stalled for years and is riddled with loopholes, the lack of official recognition for intersex individuals, and a rise in anti-trans rhetoric in the media across the nation.

Story continues

Prime minister Rishi Sunak said in a debate in October that trans women are not women, trans individuals were also excluded from a long-sought conversion therapy prohibition.

ILGA-Europe added trans rights are increasingly in ruins. Reforms to the law governing gender recognition have failed, gender-affirming healthcare is at best inconsistent, and trans-inclusive education is currently a target.

Plans to send certain asylum seekers to Rwanda also endanger LGBTQ+ people who may have already fled poverty and persecution.
BANGKOK (AP)  Seven Buddhist monks are among nine suspects who are being held in pretrial detention after being arrested for allegedly embezzling assets worth about 300 million baht ($8.9 million) from donations received by a temple in Thailands northeast, authorities said Thursday.

The Criminal Court for Corruption and Misconduct Cases said the actions of the ringleaders in the case gravely undermined Buddhism.

Five monks and a driver were sent to pretrial detention on Thursday, according to a statement from the court in Bangkok. They were arrested at Wat Pa Thammakhiri in Nakhon Ratchasima province when police conducted a raid Tuesday and uncovered property worth about 100 million baht ($2.9 million) allegedly hidden by the suspects.

Cash, jewelry and amulets were found in many spots, including the monks private quarters, police said. Some items were buried underground.

The first arrests in the case occurred last Friday, when police took into custody the temple abbot and a famous monk, Kom Kongkaew, who were accused of stealing over 180 million baht ($5.3 million) of the temples money.

Kom, his sister, and the abbot were denied bail Monday. The court said that after he was taken into custody, Kom instructed the six suspects arrested this week to hide the valuables that were discovered by police. The court deemed all nine to be flight risks who might tamper with evidence.

Police said the abbot, Wutthima Thaomor, told them that Kom advised the monks to use some of the stolen funds to purchase jewelry.

The abbot, along with Kom and his sister, are accused of taking the donation money by withdrawing cash from the temples bank account and handing it over to be deposited in the sister's bank account, in which police discovered 130 million baht ($3.8 million). Another 51 million baht ($1.5 million) in cash was found at her home.

Some Buddhist temples in Thailand are extremely wealthy because their followers donate large amounts as a way of making religious merit.
FILE PHOTO: A person tries out a handgun during the National Rifle Association (NRA) annual convention in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S., April 15, 2023. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
Staff Reporter

Richelle obtained a bachelor of arts degree in mass communications from the Far Eastern University in Manila, the Philippines. She was a junior reporter for Marianas Variety from 2009 to 2010, and from 2014 to 2015. In the Maldives, she worked as a news reporter and marketing executive. In her free time, shes a painter, pianist, and mom baker.
The entrance to the Guam Department of Education headquarters in Tiyan is shown April 4, 2023. GDOE employees under the General Pay Plan, which includes administrative and support staff, wont see the promised 22% raise this pay period.
FILE PHOTO: Philippine police escort Leila de Lima, a senator detained on drug charges, on her way to a local court to face an obstruction of justice complaint in Quezon city, metro Manila, Philippines March 13, 2017. REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco
The Oliver Henry crew completed the medical evacuation, returning to Saipan around 6 a.m. Monday, May 8, 2023.
Fernando Perez is hoping to help bring the love of Jesus to the Columbus community with the establishment of a new church, Iglesia Cristiana Conexion, later this year.

Perez, who comes from Mexico, said he has been a Christian all of his life, having always been involved in the church. His background, however, may differ from traditional pastors.

Perez has an engineering degree in mining. He said he worked in the states of Chihuahua and Durango in Mexico for three years, programming underground electrical devices to detonate TNT.

He married his wife, Sarai Guerrero, in 2014, and the couple had a son, Matias Perez, in September 2017.

Once they had a child, Perez said, he decided to go into ministry full-time. He attended Colegio Biblico, which is a Bible college that students attend for two and a half years in Mexico and another two years in Eagle Pass, Texas.

Perez noted he had enjoyed his work at the mines but had trouble fulfilling his church duties with his schedule.

It was hard to attend the church, to serve the church, Perez said. We didn't feel good with God in our relationship, we felt more separate from God and his church. We felt in our heart a desire to serve God full time.

The story of how he came to Nebraska dates back to 2009 when a missionary from Kearney arrived in Perezs town to help replace a roof at a church.

Ten years later while attending Bible college, that same individual and Perez were at an International Conference on Missions event in Virginia.

I talked with him for a little bit and I expressed to him my desire to learn more English and he said, I can help you with that, Perez said.

Perez attended an English-speaking course this past summer at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. He also took advantage of an opportunity to speak with area pastors, including one at the Connection Christian Church in Columbus.

Mike Moser, pastor at Connection Christian Church, and Perez then had conversations about starting a Hispanic church in Columbus.

Moser said he saw a need for services that were more moderate in the Christian community and also able to reach multiple generations of Hispanic immigrants.

We just kind of thought, What would it look like if we started a Hispanic church in Columbus and maybe shared some resources in doing so? Moser said.

Moser and Perez continued communication over the next year.

Perez came back to the Columbus area in January. The hope, Perez added, is that Iglesia Cristiana Conexion can start its services in the fall.

Moser noted that while both groups will be located in the same building, they will have separate services and separate leadership.

Perez is very intelligent, Moser said, and his unique background will prove beneficial.

I think (that) will help them to relate to the blue-collar nature of Columbus but also a heart for God, a heart for ministry that will help take them to another level in their spiritual faith as well, Moser said.

There's a church that regardless of where they come from, regardless of where they call home that Iglesia Cristiana Conexion is a place where they can they can connect and find family.

Perez said his goal is to provide an opportunity for people to make a relationship with Jesus.

Some people forget to make a relationship with God because they are busy, they are working a lot and they lost (their) focus on God, Perez said.

That, of course, is what happened to him and what led to his path to starting a church in Columbus.

We hope to bring an option for people (to) come in our service, have worship time and learn about the Scripture, the Bible, Perez said. Our desire is bringing to the people one place, one family to learn more about God and people can have a relationship with God.
Illinois College alumnus Nick Bustos has joined Michael Morthland in expanding the Midwest presence of bipartisan public strategy firm Mercury, for which each will serve as a senior vice president in Illinois.

Mercurys Illinois team is led by former Democratic Congresswoman Cheri Bustos, a Springfield native who represented northwestern Illinois 17th District from 2013 until she retired in January.
Illinois State Police/Provided

KINCAID  A Christian County man has been arrested on a charge of drug-induced homicide in the February death of a Kincaid man.

Illinois State Police agents and Christian County sheriff's deputies arrested Bradley P. Graham, 39, of Kincaid on Thursday. He was being held Friday in Christian County Jail in lieu of $1 million bail.
Jacksonville Police

ARRESTS, CITATIONS

 A 16-year-old boy was arrested at 11:39 p.m. Wednesday on a disorderly conduct charge after police said he went to an apartment in the 800 block of Illinois Avenue and tried to fight the resident.

 Nathaniel J. Hamilton, 39, homeless, was arrested at 8:41 p.m. Wednesday on a retail theft charge after being accused of stealing a pack of beer from Circle K, 602 N. Main St.

ACCIDENTS

 A woman suffered serious injuries after being run over by her car, police said.

Joann Stubblefield, 81, of South Jacksonville stepped out of her car at 5:29 p.m. Wednesday while in the 1500 block of West Lafayette Avenue to remove debris from under the vehicle. The car, which police said was not in park, backed over her right ankle and foot, according to a police report.

She was taken to Jacksonville Memorial Hospital for treatment.

VANDALISM

 About $620 in damage was done between 12:09 and 4:43 a.m. Wednesday to a vehicle parked in the 1100 block of North Diamond Street.
BANGKOK (AP)  Soldiers from Myanmar's military government raided a village in the country's central region, killing 19 villagers including four children and burning their bodies, independent media and a resident said Friday.

The killings on Wednesday in Nyaung Pin Thar village in Bago regions Htantabin township may have been in retaliation for an attack by resistance forces opposed to army rule.

Radio Free Asia, a U.S.- funded news service, quoted a member of the locally formed Peoples Defense Force as saying the killings occurred after fighting the same day between the army and his group and its allies from the Karen National Liberation Army, an ethnic rebel group that operates in the area. He said the resistance forces killed 20 soldiers and captured three officers.

A farmer from the village told The Associated Press that he lost his wife, 7-year-old daughter and nine other relatives in the raid by about 10 soldiers.

The farmer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared arrest, said he had been working in the fields and did not return on Wednesday after he was informed soldiers had entered the village, so he did not witness the killings.

When he returned the next day, his family members were gone and he found bodies, charred beyond recognition, in two spots in the small village.

They kill people as easily as killing a chicken or bird. At least they should have released the children, who dont understand anything, on humanitarian grounds, the farmer said.

He said 19 people had been killed, and it appeared they had been shot in the head before their bodies were burned using gasoline and diesel fuel taken from a store in the village. He said the soldiers also took beer and alcoholic drinks which they consumed.

Reports of the killings, along with what were said to be photos and videos of the remains of the victims, also appeared in independent Myanmar media and social media on Friday, the same day a human rights monitoring group released a report charging that Myanmars military is deliberately carrying out atrocities, including beheadings, to instill terror in those fighting the army and in a public already dismayed by the militarys barbarity.

The rights group, Myanmar Witness, singled out an army unit nicknamed the Ogre Column for its brutality in the central region of Sagaing, which is considered part of Myanmars traditional heartland.

Sagaing is a stronghold of armed resistance to the ruling military, which seized power on Feb. 1, 2021, from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. The armys takeover triggered mass nonviolent protests which were suppressed with lethal force, triggering armed resistance around the country.

Myanmar Witness said its investigation of eight incidents between late February and early April found that at least 33 villagers were killed, 12 of whom were beheaded and two dismembered by the Ogre Column and other units.

Most of the beheaded victims were left on grotesque display.

In a number of these cases the individuals were killed and then beheaded. As the beheadings serve no functional purpose, they represent a dramatic and horrific warning to those resisting military rule, the report said.

It said the Ogre Column is part of the armys 99th Light Infantry Division.

A leader of the local defense force who cremated the bodies of two beheaded boys killed by the Ogre Column in April told The Associated Press then that it "is harsher in killing than other groups of soldiers.

The report says the 99th Light Infantry Division, based in Sagaings neighboring Mandalay region, and the No. 8 Military Training School in Sagaings Shwebo township have been repeatedly blamed by villagers for most of the killings.

Myanmar Witness said the 99th Light Infantry Division has a history of violence, with allegations of involvement in a brutal 2017 counterinsurgency campaign in the western state of Rakhine that prompted more than 700,000 members of the Muslim Rohingya minority to flee to neighboring Bangladesh for safety.

Myanmar Witness said its findings are based on investigations of images and videos of the aftermath of the incidents and reports in pro-military and independent media.
Since the 1860s, many states have stripped the voting rights of those convicted of felonies. In recent decades, however, some have revisited the issue and created pathways for restoring the voting rights of people who have served their sentences.

A majority of Americans support voting rights for all  including felons  leading to support for ballot initiatives across the country aimed at restoring the franchise for the formerly incarcerated. Americans of all political stripes should endorse limited government and not stand in the way of restoring voting rights to those who have already done their time.

Unfortunately, on this issue, Republicans, in particular, have played into the public narrative that they oppose democratic norms and disrespect our representative form of government. The most striking example is in Florida, where Republicans defied the will of the voters on Amendment 4, which automatically restored voting rights for felons who completed their sentences.

Republicans in Virginia also were on the wrong side of this issue. Gov. Glenn Youngkin unilaterally walked back Virginias felon enfranchisement program, a process that was essentially automatic under his predecessors. Those looking to restore their voting rights must go through an application-and-review process. Youngkins office still has not disclosed the criteria by which applicants are evaluated.

In both of these instances, high-profile governors defied conservative orthodoxy by increasing the reach and role of the government. Their actions decreased transparency in governing and occurred without the support of the people or respect for the constitutional rights of affected individuals.

Importantly, formerly incarcerated felons do not lose any other constitutional rights due to their convictions. Upon completing their sentences, they can exercise their rights to free speech, petition the government, contribute to and volunteer on behalf of political campaigns, and almost every other right guaranteed to American citizens.

To understand why those within the Republican Party should support the restoration of voting rights for felons, it is worth discussing why they might oppose it in the first place. Some of their opposition can be explained by the widely held belief that more voters spell bad news for Republican candidates. However, this is a myth, and Republicans should not fear expanding the electorate.

Perhaps the opposition is borne from pure electoral politics  a fear that this move would disproportionately benefit Black voters who overwhelmingly vote for Democratic candidates. While it is true that Black Americans are disproportionately incarcerated, the majority of inmates are White Americans, which undermines this particular challenge.

Another source of opposition is how voters perceive the two major parties on various issues. Overwhelmingly, Republicans are seen as better on crime, and there may be a fear that support for felon enfranchisement would jeopardize that. However, this is not a crime issue; it is a voting rights issue, and supporting voting rights for the formerly incarcerated allows Republicans to maintain their standing concerning crime while simultaneously improving views toward them on issues related to voting rights, an area in which Democrats have recently led.

Simply put, support for individual voting rights will not tip the scale on crime toward the party of Defund the Police and Abolish ICE, but it may help narrow the gap on other issues.

Moving away from these arguments does not require a wholesale ideological shift for Republicans. For example, another right lost to felons is that they cannot own firearms, but many Republicans supported legislation that would create a pathway for them to have their Second Amendment rights restored. As Colorado Republican Ken Buck said, America is a land of second chances. One mistake should not define your future.

The same logic should apply to the right to vote. If the Republican Party is serious about defending individual rights and freedoms, it should support voting rights for those who have served their time and paid their dues to society.
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In last years elections, more than 4.6 million Americans found themselves unable to vote due to a felony conviction. No other country bars so many people from voting because of their history with the criminal legal system. America is an outlier.

This exclusion from the ballot box disproportionately affects Black and Latinx citizens. In 2022, more than 1.5 million voting-eligible Black Americans and at least half of a million voting-eligible Latinx Americans were banned from voting nationwide.

A new report from The Sentencing Project makes a compelling case to re-enfranchise justice-impacted individuals so that all citizens can participate in our democracy: Having the right to vote and the act of voting is related to increased community safety.

The report offers a wealth of research on the topic. For example:

 Justice-impacted individuals whose voting rights were restored post-incarceration were 10 percent less likely to recidivate than their counterparts in states that continued to restrict voting rights post-incarceration.

 In multiple studies, justice-impacted individuals said they connected their right to vote to their intention and perceived ability to remain law-abiding.

 Being denied the right to vote also shaped their community re-entry experiences. Being banned from voting made justice-impacted individuals feel ostracized  like they were not community members. They wanted a say in the laws and policies governing their lives and communities.

These felony voting bans affect real people, our fellow citizens. For example, take Justin Allen, who served 17 years in New Mexicos prison system. After restoring his voting rights, Allen says: It meant I was no longer state property. It meant I was a citizen. He emphasizes that voting is like welcoming people back into society and letting people know that we belong here.

There is a racist history underlying laws that ban citizens from voting because of a felony conviction. Many of these laws are rooted in the post-Civil War era when Southern states aimed to suppress the political power of Black Americans. Many were explicitly designed to target Black voters and prevent them from exercising their right to vote. We see the erosion of Black political power continue today.

In eight states  Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi, South Dakota, Tennessee and Virginia  more than 10% of their voting-eligible Black citizens cannot vote because of felony voting bans.

States around the country are recognizing the role the right to vote can have as a strategy to improve community safety, bolster community reintegration and enhance Americas democracy.

This year, Minnesota and New Mexico restored the right to vote for more than 57,000 people under probation or parole. In 2020, the District of Columbia joined Maine, Vermont and Puerto Rico in allowing people who are incarcerated because of a felony conviction to vote.

Now is the time for us to build on this momentum and work toward building a country where every citizen has the right to vote  regardless of their involvement in the criminal legal system.

It will make our democracy stronger and our nation more just  it is another strategy we can use to make our communities safer.
Help is on the way for Newville after the December discovery of financial discrepancies that launched a Cumberland County District Attorneys Office investigation and led to the dismissal of longtime Borough Manager Fred Potzer in January.

The investigation includes an ongoing forensic audit to determine if a crime has been committed, and while Cumberland County District Attorney Sean McCormack said hes not sure when the audit will be complete, the borough is moving forward with developing a strategic management plan.

At a special meeting on Tuesday, the Borough Council hired PFM, a financial advice and consulting agency, in conjunction with Eckert Seamans, a Pittsburgh-based law-firm with an office in Harrisburg, to develop the plan. The two firms, which are working together, were one of four agencies that responded to the boroughs request for a vendor to develop the plan. Representatives from each of the four vendors made presentations at the meeting.

PFM and Eckert Seamans proposed the creation of a plan to meet the boroughs financial obligations for the rest of the year and to develop a five-year financial plan. They also discussed a review of municipal areas such as staffing, utility systems, revenue enhancement, labor strategies and strategic investments.

I think what youre getting [and] what youre paying for is a team thats really going to drill into your ... circumstances, your specific challenges and to create a custom, detailed analysis and recommendations to address your issues, said Eckert Seamans attorney Jonathan Cox, who is also the boroughs bond counsel.

PFM and Eckert Seamans representatives said they would focus on creating a clear, concise report catered to the borough.

What I have found works in doing this is, one, to take a look, to commit yourself to understanding the situation and not bringing a preconceived notion because youve done this 50 times and heres number 51, PFM Managing Director Gordon Mann, who will serve as the overall engagement manager, said.  ... The other thing is you have to make it relevant to people.

He said this involves explaining what numbers mean and why they matter.

PFM and Eckert Seamans representatives said the agencies can also support the boroughs search for either an interim or permanent borough manager.

I have never worked in a place that has financial distress where you walk in really the more than 12 months later [and] everybodys still there, Mann said. Somebody leaves.

Representatives said that while the situation is new to the borough, its not new to the state and they cited experience working with other municipalities in similar positions.

Borough Solicitor Marcus McKnight said that in Newville, the borough and the water and sewer authority that were both handled by Potzer were harmed.

Youve got repair work to do, he said to PFM and Eckert Seamans representatives. Youve got to show both boards that their situations can be repaired, because the numbers could amount to be daunting.

McKnight said that while the exact numbers still remain unknown as the forensic audit progresses, the borough has large financial burdens to deal with including unpaid bills.

The cost to develop the plan will be covered by a $200,000 grant the borough received from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development in March.

Of the four vendors that presented at Tuesdays meeting, PFM and Eckert Seamans was the most expensive option, totaling approximately $100,000. The cost for each of the other agencies fell between about $46,000 to just under $62,000.

I got the sense of theyre very strong with financial reports, council member Joe Kindon said. Are they going to be strong in the process of helping us find an interim manager? Because thats part of what we need in the next steps. If we feel confident that they will do that well, and we can comfortably hire an interim manager ... that price might be worth it.

Andrew Sheaf, who serves as a local government policy manager with Community and Economic Develpment and has been referred to by Newville officials as the fixer, wasnt concerned about using half the grant funding to establish the plan, which will have to address borough funds and water and sewer authority funds.

He said the grant is large, which gives the borough flexibility.

We provided a $200,000 grant to do the best work that we could, Sheaf said.

Remaining grant funds will help cover forensic audit costs and the hiring of an interim or permanent borough manager.

Sheaf the way the departments Strategic Management Planning Program works is the borough first receives a grant to establish the plan. Once the plan is developed, the borough can apply to receive additional grant funding for its implementation.

McKnight said the borough intends to develop a contract with PFM and Eckert Seamans immediately to begin the planning process and that this could be approved at the councils May 30 meeting.

Photos: Newville Little League's 2023 opening day celebration Newville LL Opening Day 51.JPG Newville LL Opening Day 52.JPG Newville LL Opening Day 50.JPG Newville LL Opening Day 1.JPG Newville LL Opening Day 2.JPG Newville LL Opening Day 3.JPG Newville LL Opening Day 4.JPG Newville LL Opening Day 5.JPG Newville LL Opening Day 6.JPG Newville LL Opening Day 7.JPG Newville LL Opening Day 8.JPG Newville LL Opening Day 9.JPG Newville LL Opening Day 10.JPG Newville LL Opening Day 11.JPG Newville LL Opening Day 12.JPG Newville LL Opening Day 13.JPG Newville LL Opening Day 14.JPG Newville LL Opening Day 15.JPG Newville LL Opening Day 16.JPG Newville LL Opening Day 17.JPG Newville LL Opening Day 18.JPG Newville LL Opening Day 19.JPG Newville LL Opening Day 20.JPG Newville LL Opening Day 21.JPG Newville LL Opening Day 22.JPG Newville LL Opening Day 23.JPG Newville LL Opening Day 24.JPG Newville LL Opening Day 25.JPG Newville LL Opening Day 26.JPG Newville LL Opening Day 27.JPG Newville LL Opening Day 28.JPG Newville LL Opening Day 29.JPG Newville LL Opening Day 30.JPG Newville LL Opening Day 31.JPG Newville LL Opening Day 32.JPG Newville LL Opening Day 33.JPG Newville LL Opening Day 34.JPG Newville LL Opening Day 35.JPG Newville LL Opening Day 36.JPG Newville LL Opening Day 37.JPG Newville LL Opening Day 38.JPG Newville LL Opening Day 39.JPG Newville LL Opening Day 40.JPG Newville LL Opening Day 41.JPG Newville LL Opening Day 42.JPG Newville LL Opening Day 43.JPG Newville LL Opening Day 44.JPG Newville LL Opening Day 45.JPG Newville LL Opening Day 46.JPG Newville LL Opening Day 47.JPG Newville LL Opening Day 48.JPG Newville LL Opening Day 49.JPG Newville LL Opening Day 53.JPG
Though her name was off the ticket, Audrey Adams was happy about the grand prize.

She knew that someone special was going to receive $100 in gift certificates redeemable on merchandise from any of the 70 participating stores.

It was May 12, 1966, and The Sentinel was reporting on the results of a Mothers Day contest sponsored by the Retail Merchants Bureau of the Greater Carlisle Area Chamber of Commerce.

This is the first time I ever won anything, Adams told the newspaper. Im glad it was for my mother.

An employee of the Cumberland County Sheriffs Office, Adams entered the name of Margaret Clara Fortney of Harrisburg on the ticket for the prize drawing.

Marguerite Grove, owner of the Hub, picked the winning ticket during an event at the G.R. Kinney store in downtown. Grove then informed Adams that her mother had won the contest.

A day later, on May 13, the bureau was granted permission to block off sections of Courthouse Avenue, Market House Avenue and Louther Street one block east and west from North Hanover Street. The space was needed for the second Downtown A Go Go on May 27.

Five bands were selected from a pool of 34 applicants to participate in the promotional event sponsored by the radio station WHYL and the Retail Merchants Bureau.

Voting for the most popular band will be done in bureau downtown member stores from Saturday through June 4, The Sentinel reported. Several local merchants have scheduled special sales during the three hours immediately preceding the street dances. Unlimited voting will not be permitted but one ballot per person may be cast each day.

Each band was designated to play at a different downtown location, accompanied by a WHYL disc jockey who acted as a master of ceremonies.

Program Director Jack O. Lantern predicted a larger crowd based on the first Downtown A Go Go promotional event held in October 1965. In a follow-up report published May 28, Lantern estimated the attendance the night before was about 8,000 to 10,000.

The five bands provided a wide sampling of teen music of today from soul music to twist and shout numbers, the newspaper reported. A week later, on June 6, The Sentinel published an article announcing the results.

Peter and the Wolfs of Harrisburg took the top prize of $100 followed by the Continentals of Shippensburg. The three other bands were the Triumphs of Chambersburg, the Centuries of Lebanon and the Pinafours, an all-girl group from Harrisburg.

Tour Through Time runs Saturday in The Sentinel print edition. Reporter Joseph Cress will work with the Cumberland County Historical Society each week to look at the county through the years. Send any questions, feature ideas or tips to jcress@cumberlink.com.
Japan, South Korea agree on visit to Fukushima nuclear plant ahead of planned water release View Photo

Japanese and South Korean officials held hourslong talks into early Saturday and agreed on a visit later this month by South Korean experts to the Fukushima nuclear plant before it begins the controversial release of treated but radioactive water into the sea. The safety of the water is a major sticking point as the two sides work to improve long-strained ties.

Discussions were held Friday in Seoul and online, in which the Japanese government also provided an update on the status of the tsunami-wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. Officials are preparing to release the water, saying its an unavoidable step for the decommissioning process.

Japans Foreign Ministry, after a nearly 12-hour meeting that ran past midnight, issued a statement early Saturday saying the two sides agreed to have a four-day visit by a South Korean delegation to Japan that includes a Fukushima nuclear plant tour, and that further details, including its program need to be finalized.

The government and the plants operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, say the water release will begin between spring and summer and take decades to finish.

A massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011 destroyed the Fukushima Daiichi plants cooling systems, causing three reactors to melt and release large amounts of radiation. Water used to cool the three damaged reactor cores, which remain highly radioactive, leaks into the basements of the reactor buildings and is collected, treated and stored in about 1,000 tanks that now cover much of the plant.

The government and TEPCO say the tanks must be removed to make room to build facilities for the plants decommissioning and to minimize the risk of leaks in case of another major disaster. The tanks are expected to reach their capacity of 1.37 million tons in early 2024.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, during his May 7-8 visit to Seoul for a summit with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, announced that Japan would receive a team of experts at the plant later in May to address South Koreas concerns in a show of his desire to further improve relations.

South Koreas Foreign Ministry said Saturday the two sides held in-depth discussions on what the South Korean experts would see and do at the plant and that further consultations were planned to finalize the details.

Seoul wants to send some 20 government experts to visit the Fukushima Daiichi plant on May 23-24, although the groups actual size will be determined after further talks with Japan, Park Ku-yeon, first vice minister of South Koreas Office for Government Policy Coordination, said Friday.

Park said the plant visit is aimed at reviewing the safety of the entire ocean discharge process, including Japans water treatment facility and its operation and technologies to measure contamination levels in treated water.

Asked whether Seoul would consider lifting its import ban on seafood from Fukushima if it determines Japans water release plan is safe, Park replied absolutely not, citing South Korean public concerns and a need for deeper investigations into the environmental impact of the 2011 disaster.

Japanese officials said the Korean delegations plant visit is not an inspection and does not involve a safety assessment, review or evaluation of the water discharge plan, because its already under review by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Japan has been assisted by the IAEA for credibility and transparency.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said Thursday the visit would not affect the timing of a planned release of the water and that Japan continues to provide explanations about safety measures to aid understanding.

Japanese officials say the water will be safely filtered to below releasable levels by international standards and further diluted by large amounts of seawater before release, making it harmless to human health or marine life.

The plan has faced fierce protests from local fishing communities concerned about safety and reputational damage. Neighboring countries, including South Korea, China and the Pacific Island nations, have also raised safety concerns. South Korea and China ban food imports from around Fukushima and describe the water as contaminated instead of treated despite the Japanese governments repeated protests.

Some scientists say the impact of long-term, low-dose exposure to tritium and other radionuclides on the environment and humans is still unknown and the release should be delayed.

Historical disputes have strained ties between Tokyo and Seoul  most recently over the compensation of wartime Korean forced laborers during Japans 1910-1945 colonization of the Korean Peninsula. But their relationship has thawed rapidly since March, when Yoons government announced a local fund to compensate some of the former laborers. Tokyo and Seoul, under pressure from Washington, share a sense of urgency to mend ties amid growing security threats in the region.

___

Associated Press writer Kim Tong-hyung in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report.

By MARI YAMAGUCHI

Associated Press
Australia trade minister seeks to mend ties on visit to China View Photo

BEIJING (AP)  Australian Trade and Tourism Minister Don Farrell held meetings and visited businesses in Beijing on Friday, in a sign of progress in restoring a nearly decade-long rift in relations with China.

In Sydney, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Friday that the two sides need to develop understanding and dialogue and Ive said well co-operate with China where we can, well disagree where we must, and well engage in a national interest.

China is Australias biggest trading partner, with two-way trade totaling $287 billion in 2022. China recently resumed imports of Australian coal, cotton and copper, and Farrell has said on his visit he would push for a review of tariffs on Australian barley.

China blocked such imports in retaliation for moves targeting alleged Chinese interference in Australian elections and political life and in social organizations in the large Australian-Chinese community.

While trade ties seem to be improving, the two countries remain far apart on political and security issues in the Asia-Pacific region.

On his arrival Thursday, Farrell said he hoped his visit would continue that process of stabilizing our relationship and work through a successful pathway for the resolution of all of our outstanding trade differences.

The issues didnt occur overnight and theyre not going to be resolved overnight, he said.

At a news conference late Friday, Farrell said he raised concern over the cases of Cheng Lei, a Chinese-born Australia journalist who formerly worked for Chinas state broadcaster, and Yang Jun, a Chinese-Australian writer. Both are under detention in China with only vague accusations lodged against them and no word on when they might be tried or released.

In April, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said bilateral relations were unlikely to return to the level of the early 2000s, when trade was separated from political and strategic priorities.

Since then, Australia has expanded security cooperation with the United States, Chinas main rival for influence in the Asia-Pacific.

Beijing has strongly criticized Australias participation in the so-called AUKUS partnership, which links it with the United States and Britain to create an Australian fleet of eight submarines powered by U.S. nuclear technology, largely in response to Chinas growing military assertiveness in the South China Sea, the South Pacific and the East China Sea.

Albanese will host U.S. President Joe Biden and the leaders of India and Japan  countries with which China has active land and sea border disputes  for a May 24 summit of leaders of the so-called Quad nations.

Australia has also blocked the sale of assets, including critical infrastructure, to Chinese companies on national security grounds in recent years.

Farrell also said he would meet with Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao following a commitment in February to improve dialogue at all levels as a pathway towards the full resumption of trade.
US Abrams tanks for training Ukrainian forces arrive in Germany ahead of schedule View Photo

WASHINGTON (AP)  The U.S. Abrams tanks needed for training Ukrainian forces have arrived in Germany slightly ahead of schedule and are on their way to the Grafenwoehr Army base where the training will begin in two to three weeks, U.S. officials said Thursday.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee that the U.S. had moved a number of tanks over into theater so the Ukrainians could begin training on them. By the time they complete the training, expected to last about 10 weeks, the Abrams tanks currently being built for the Ukrainian forces will be ready, he said.

A U.S. official said the 31 M1A1 Abrams tanks needed for the training arrived at the port in Bremerhaven, Germany, last weekend and they will get to the base by early this coming week. Their arrival at Grafenwoehr is a couple of weeks ahead of the schedule that was mapped out when military leaders from around Europe and elsewhere met in Germany last month to discuss Ukraines needs for the war against Russia.

The tanks the U.S. is providing Ukraine are being built to its militarys specifications and will get to Ukraine by early fall, just as the troops are finished with their instruction. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details of the delivery not publicly released.

The tank training will be the latest and most lethal new layer of combat instruction the U.S. is providing Ukraines troops to give them the best chance to overwhelm and punch through Russias battle lines. Over the past few months U.S. troops have trained more than 8,800 Ukrainians, including on how to use Stryker and Bradley fighting vehicles and M109 Paladins together on the battlefield. The Bradleys and Strykers are armored and armed vehicles used to ferry troops, and the Paladin is a self-propelled howitzer gun.

During Thursdays hearing, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, pressed Austin to move quickly to get the tanks into Ukrainian troops hands and onto the battlefield.

We are doing everything possible to accelerate the delivery of these tanks, and early fall is a projection, Austin said.

Collins and others noted the urgency of the fight in Ukraine, and she told Austin and Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to be blunt about Ukraines needs. Defense leaders should not let budget concerns dissuade them from seeking more weapons if thats what Kyiv needs to be successful in a counteroffensive, said Collins, the ranking Republican on the panel.

It is critical that the administration provide Ukraine with what it needs in time to defend and take back its sovereign territory, she said. We expect the administration not to wait until the 11th hour if the Ukrainians seek more before the end of the fiscal year.

Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., noting the broader implications of the war, questioned Milley on the impact a Russian victory could have on China and its deliberations on whether to move to take the self-governing island of Taiwan, which Beijing claims.

I think that the Chinese are watching the war between Russia and Ukraine very carefully, Milley said, adding that if Russian President Vladimir Putin succeeds, China will learn certain lessons.

It may not be the single decisive point, but I think it will calculate into their decision-making process as to whether or not they attack to seize the island of Taiwan. So I think the outcome of Ukraine is critical to much broader issues than just Ukraine, Milley said.

By LOLITA C. BALDOR and TARA COPP

Associated Press
USAID chief optimistic on Serbia-Kosovo talks, pledges support View Photo

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP)  The United States top international development official on Friday said Washington is focusing on the urgency of normalizing relations between Kosovo and Serbia in EU-brokered talks between the two former war foes.

USAID Administrator Samantha Power has been in Kosovo for the past two days, following a three-day visit to Serbia.

As the most senior representative of U.S. President Joe Biden to visit Kosovo recently, she said her countrys focus now was on the importance of implementation of the agreements that will produce a normalization that will be incredibly important for Kosovo and for Serbia.

Over the two days of her trip, Power visited a local farm and food processing facility. She met with young entrepreneurs at a hub for innovation and also spoke to young peacemakers bridging divides between Kosovo and Serbia.

Normalization is going to be really, really good for business, she said at a news conference. The good that normalization will do for the young people of this country cannot be overstated.

In February, Kosovos Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic met and gave tacit approval to the EUs 11-point plan. During a March summit in North Macedonia, the two leaders tentatively agreed on implementation.

We are hopeful that the parties will come to the next stage of EU-mediated discussions with very specific proposals, said Power.

Washington and Brussels have stepped up efforts to help solve the dispute, fearing further instability in Europe as the war rages in Ukraine.

Both Serbia and Kosovo have been told they must normalize relations to advance in their intentions to join the EU. The two sides have tentatively agreed to back an EU plan on how to proceed, but tensions continue to simmer.

Power acknowledged the political choices ahead for both countries were very difficult.

Thats why they lie ahead. If they were easy, they would have been choices made a long time ago, she said.

Power spoke on two contesting issues, first urging Kosovo to proceed on the establishment of an association of Serb-majority municipalities in Kosovo, which would coordinate work on education, health care, land planning and economic development at the local level.

A 2013 agreement on that plan was later declared unconstitutional by Kosovos Constitutional Court, which ruled that it wasnt inclusive of other ethnicities and could entail the use of executive powers.

Power also urged Kosovo Serbs to return to their jobs in local government institutions in the north of the country, where most of the ethnic Serb minority is located. They boycotted those posts in November and a snap election vote last month in protest at the establishment of the association.

The conflict in Kosovo erupted in 1998 when separatist ethnic Albanians rebelled against Serbias rule, and Serbia responded with a brutal crackdown. About 13,000 people, mostly ethnic Albanians, died. NATOs military intervention in 1999 eventually forced Serbia to pull out of the territory.

Washington and most European Union countries have recognized Kosovo as an independent state but Serbia, along with Russia and China, has not.

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Semini reported from Tirana, Albania.

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Follow Llazar Semini on Twitter: https://twitter.com/lsemini

FLORENT BAJRAMI and LLAZAR SEMINI

Associated Press
PARIS (AP)  French prosecutors are seeking to send former President Nicolas Sarkozy and 12 others to trial on charges that his 2007 presidential campaign received millions in illegal financing from the government of late Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.

After a decade of investigation, the French national financial prosecutors office announced its decision Friday to seek a trial. Its now up to judges to determine whether to move ahead. In general, judges in France follow such prosecutors requests, though not always.

The case is the biggest and most shocking of multiple corruption investigations involving Sarkozy. He has been convicted in two others. He denies wrongdoing in all cases.

In the Libya case, he is charged with illegal campaign financing, embezzling, passive corruption and related counts.

Sarkozy has been under investigation in the Libya case since 2013. Investigators examined claims that Gadhafis government secretly gave Sarkozy 50 million euros for his winning 2007 French campaign. The sum would be more than double the legal campaign funding limit at the time, 21 million euros, and would violate French rules against foreign campaign financing.

The investigation gained traction when French-Lebanese businessman Ziad Takieddine told news site Mediapart in 2016 that he had delivered suitcases from Libya containing 5 million euros ($6.2 million) in cash to Sarkozy and his former chief of staff. Takieddine later reversed course and Sarkozy sought to have the investigation closed.

After becoming president in 2007, Sarkozy welcomed Gadhafi to France with high honors later that year. Sarkozy then put France at the forefront of NATO-led airstrikes that helped rebel fighters topple Gadhafis government in 2011.

In an unrelated case, Sarkozy was sentenced to a year of house arrest for illegal campaign financing of his unsuccessful 2012 reelection bid. He is free while the case is pending appeal.

He also was founded guilty of corruption and influence peddling in another case and sentenced to a year in prison. A decision on his appeal is expected soon.

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This version corrects the number of people sent to trial besides Sarkozy to 12.
As a kid, Joey Perales was always interested in firefighting.

When he learned that a junior firefighting program for teens ages 14 to 17 existed, he did a little research and put in an application to volunteer for New Kingstown Fire Company in May 2022.

... You always see them go by, Joey said. You hear the house siren go off, and it was always a rush to see that, so I wanted to be a part of [that].

This June, the now 16-year-old Silver Spring Township resident will celebrate one year of volunteer service.

Perales one-year mark will come just weeks after the Capital Region Firefighter Recruitment Campaign celebrated its own first anniversary.

The campaign launched on April 27, 2022, and came from a four-year $2.2 million grant awarded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to the Capital Region Council of Governments, or CapCOG. It united 21 capital region fire companies with the goal of recruiting a total of 200 volunteers throughout its lifespan, which extends through 2025.

Now a year in, participating companies have gained a combined total of 71 new volunteer firefighters, 21 over the annual goal of 50 new volunteers.

When volunteer fire companies and municipalities work together toward a common vision, good things can happen, said Jerry Ozog, a member of the CapCOG Advisory Committee and executive director of Pennsylvania Fire and Emergency Services Institute. This collaborative project between the local governments and volunteer fire companies has exceeded my expectations.

New Kingstown Fire Company is one of many Cumberland County departments participating in the campaign, including Union Fire Company, Monroe Fire Company, Silver Spring, Hampden, West Shore Bureau of Fire, East Pennsboro, Camp Hill, Carlisle Fire & Rescue Services, Lisburn, Lower Allen, Upper Allen and New Cumberland.

Chief Curtis Hall of New Kingstown Fire Company said the department gained 10 volunteers in 2022 and two more so far this year.

He described the campaign as a tool that helps get the word out about a need for members, including firefighters, fire police, junior members and administrative volunteers that spans departments across the region.

If were not advertising, then people dont know, they just assume that were good, Hall said. They see the fire trucks rolling down the street and they assume that theres people on them, so if we dont get that word out there that we need help, then they dont know.

During year one of the Capital Region Firefighter Recruitment Campaign, Hall said New Kingstown has shared information as much as possible on social media.

He said the grant funding the campaign is helping to cover the cost of training, which is free for volunteers. This allows the department to reallocate a portion of its budget typically dedicated to training costs for other uses, such as buying equipment.

The retention side of the grant will also provide an up to $500 stipend for Firefighter-I certified members who responded to at least 12% of the prior years calls, according to the grants program manager, Scot Ryno. While this stipend only exists through the life of the grant, Hall said departments could choose to build the amount into their annual budgets.

We know that theres there [are] people that live in our communities that are capable of assisting and maybe receiving the training for firefighters, Hall said. Now through the grant is the perfect opportunity that they can try that out.

Since he joined the company, Joey has responded to fires, crashes and other calls. Hes also participated in multiple community events and trainings, including a structural burn class on April 30 at a building on Hempt Road in Silver Spring Township.

Ive learned a lot about fire safety [and] kind of the science behind fire development, he said, adding that he plans to further his training and continue his fire service.

More information about the campaign and how to volunteer is available at www.capitalregionfirefighter.org.

Photos: Firefighter training in Silver Spring Township
Swiss parliamentary panel seeks easing of export controls on weaponry View Photo

BERN, Switzerland (AP)  A parliamentary committee in Switzerland on Thursday recommended easing export controls for Swiss-made war materiel to help prop up the domestic defense industry as Western neighbors urge the country to do more to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia.

The passage of two motions by the Security Policy Commission of the upper house of parliament, the Council of States was largely a procedural step, but it highlighted the economic and political pressures on Swiss lawmakers.

The Council commission took into consideration Switzerlands longtime policy of military neutrality and the effects of export restrictions on Swiss defense contractors. Its sister commission in parliaments lower house took a similar position in January.

The war in Ukraine has prompted Swiss government officials to grapple with their countrys longtime conception of neutrality, which is enshrined in the constitution and prohibits exporting weaponry to active war zones.

The policy also bars countries like Germany, Spain and Finland that have bought Swiss arms from re-exporting such items to countries like Ukraine.

However, Switzerland has joined European Union sanctions against Russian interests in the wake of President Vladimir Putins war in Ukraine.

Werner Salzmann, the president of the Security Policy Commission said the committees main interest in softening export controls was ensuring the viability of the Swiss defense industry. While Switzerland maintains its own army and all young men are required to do military service, the countrys defense needs are not substantial enough for the domestic industry to survive and thrive at current levels.

The measure is now expected to go to the broader parliament next month, although Salzmann said any changes would not take effect before March 2024 at the earliest.

The commission approved two separate motions that, if approved, would allow the executive branch to lift some restrictions on the export of weaponry and war materiel in exceptional circumstances and if required to ensure national security.

Another motion said the law on the export of war materiel could also be adapted to allow deliveries to countries that are committed to our values and have similar export controls to Switzerland, a text provided by the commission said.

Buyer countries could re-export Swiss-made weapons after five years within certain parameters. Re-export to countries that severely violate human rights would be banned, and the risk that the weapons could be used against civilians would have to be averted.

The destination country could not be at war domestically or internationally unless the country was engaged in a struggle of legitimate self-defense under international law.

Strict criteria would apply so that no Swiss war material would be used in conflicts, Salzmann told reporters. However, the re-export of war material to a country at war would be possible if this country made use of its right of self-defense under international law.

Last month, the Group of Seven industrial countries  Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States  sent a letter to Swiss authorities seeking more action to strengthen international sanctions against Russia over the invasion of Ukraine.

Both sides of the neutrality debate acknowledge that weaponry and other war materiel from Switzerland, a small but wealthy Alpine country of about 8.7 million people, is unlikely to tip the balance in the war. But Switzerlands stockpiles have remained mostly intact as many other countries in western Europe have delivered weapons to Ukraine, and theyre looking to replenish their stocks as well as re-export Swiss war materiel there.

Any decision from Switzerland, which is known internationally for its neutrality, could set the tone for other countries  like Japan  that have been bound by their own laws to avoid exporting weapons to active conflict zones.

Celine Vara, a Green party lawmaker on the commission who doesnt want Switzerland to ship weapons to Ukraine, said the debate was emotional because what is certain is that there is indeed a desire to support Ukraine in its defense against this Russian invasion.

On the other hand, what is also certain is that there is a lot of motivation and personal interests in this discussion, because we know that the market for weapons of war represents billions, she said. These are colossal sums  and there are also many personal interests within the commission.

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Follow APs coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

By JAMEY KEATEN

Associated Press
Migrants crossing dense Darien jungle at Colombia-Panama border find increasingly organized route View Photo

ACANDI, Colombia (AP)  Migrants who have hiked into the dense Darien jungle covering the Colombia-Panama border while the U.S. government moved to lift pandemic-related asylum restrictions have found an increasingly organized migration route.

The majority who spoke with The Associated Press had not heard anything about the policy change, and the few who did had a very limited understanding.

The Darien Gap is the most imposing physical barrier for migrants heading north until they reach the U.S. border. They must hike over steep mountains, endure torrential rain and ford swift running rivers. They are easy prey for bandits who rob and rape.

But on the Colombian side of the border, locals have become increasingly organized in recent years as it became a major migration route.

Migrants begin their crossing in Acandi, Colombia, where there is now a camp at the edge of the jungle. This week, hundreds of migrants, many carrying young children, waited there for their turn to start the walk, paying $175 to cross.

At the camp, some first aid is available, as well as porters to carry belongings for a price. Along the Colombian sections of the route are now stands selling food and drinks. The path is less organized and more dangerous on the Panamanian side.

Johnny Ramirez, 33, arrived in Acandi with 10 more members of his extended family from Venezuela. They had left their country four days earlier.

Where we are theres no future, theres no work, Ramirez said. He had heard the U.S. asylum restriction Title 42 was being lifted, but was unclear on what it would mean for him. Who knows what it will be like to get in.

Welington Galarza Macias, 49, had fled violence in his native Ecuador. It took him four days to reach Acandi. A heavy equipment operator, Galarza hoped to find work in the United States.

Panamanian authorities have said that more than 100,000 migrants crossed the Darien this year and the United Nations has warned some 400,000 could come through by years end, shattering last years record of nearly 250,000.

By IVAN VALENCIA

Associated Press
New Mexico woman accused in January death of her newborn son, who was found in a hospital trash can

ARTESIA, N.M. (AP)  A New Mexico woman has been charged with first-degree murder in the January death of her newborn son, whose body authorities said she placed in a trash can.

Alexee Trevizo, 19, also was charged this week with tampering with evidence, according to a criminal complaint filed in Eddy County in southeastern New Mexico.

Trevizo went to the emergency room in late December for back pain, and lab tests showed she was pregnant and in labor, according to Artesia police. Trevizo then locked herself in a bathroom, where she gave birth to a boy Jan. 27, then placed the baby in a bag that she concealed under other trash, investigators said.

By the time the baby was found, the baby had died and Trevizo had left the hospital, investigators said. An autopsy listed the cause of death as a homicide.

Gary C. Mitchell, an attorney for Trevizo, said Thursday that said his client has no criminal record and should not be facing a murder charge.

He said there are major discrepancies about what happened in the hospital and this isnt a classic child abuse case.

A court hearing is scheduled Friday to review conditions of release.

Its the second high-profile case involving a mother and a newborn baby in New Mexico lately.

Jurors convicted Alexis Avila, 19, of throwing her newborn into an outdoor trash receptacle in January 2020 in Hobbs, New Mexico. The child survived. Avila was sentenced May 1 to 16 years in prison.
Mexico arrests 2 more in March kidnap, killing of Americans View Photo

MEXICO CITY (AP)  Prosecutors in Mexico said Thursday they have arrested two more men in the March 3 kidnapping of four Americans and the killing of two of them.

The Gulf drug cartel turned over five men to police soon after the abduction in the border city of Matamoros, and prosecutors said the two newly arrested suspects also appeared to be members of the same cartel.

The two were arrested during raids in the northern border state of Tamaulipas on Sunday and flown to Mexico City on a military plane. It was not immediately clear why the arrests were not announced at the time.

Federal prosecutors did not provide the full names of the suspects, but the details and first names match two men listed on a federal database as being arrested in Tamaulipas that day. Those names  Axel Alfredo Cardenas and Alan Alexis Cardenas  suggest they are related to Osiel Cardenas Guillen, the Gulf cartel leader captured in 2003.

Prosecutors confirmed the two were sons of Osiel Cardenas nephew, Jose Alfredo Cardenas Martinez, who was arrested in 2022. They also said the pair assumed leadership roles in the cartel following their fathers arrest.

The two allegedly headed up the gangs of cartel gunmen known as the Scorpions and the Cyclones. They were caught in an early morning raid in which police found six guns and over a thousand doses of synthetic drugs, a term used in Mexico to refer to either methamphetamines or fentanyl.

The statement did not specify the charges the men would face, but it said they had been engaged in drug and migrant smuggling, kidnappings and extortion in the Matamoros area.

In March, less than a week after the abductions, a letter claiming to be from the Gulf cartels Scorpions faction condemned the violence and said the gang had turned over to authorities its own members who were responsible. A Mexican woman also died in the March 3 shootings.

We have decided to turn over those who were directly involved and responsible in the events, who at all times acted under their own decision-making and lack of discipline, the letter reads, adding that those individuals had gone against the cartels rules, which include respecting the life and well-being of the innocent.

Five men were found tied up inside one of the vehicles that authorities had been searching for, along with the letter.

The four Americans crossed into Matamoros from Texas so that one of them could have cosmetic surgery. Around midday, they were fired on in downtown Matamoros and then loaded into a pickup truck.

Americans Zindell Brown and Shaeed Woodard died in the attack; Eric Williams and Latavia McGee survived. Most of them had grown up together in the small town of Lake City, South Carolina.

A Mexican woman, Areli Pablo Servando, 33, was also killed, apparently by a stray bullet.
UNITED NATIONS (AP)  The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court announced Thursday that judges have issued four new arrest warrants stemming from his investigations of alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Libya.

Prosecutor Karim Khan also said he recently applied for two additional warrants.

He told the U.N. Security Council that he has applied to the courts independent judges to unseal the four new arrest warrants, and they will decide in due course.

Khan called the warrants an important step in the rights of victims and survivors for accountability, but only a first step.

The Security Council unanimously referred Libya to The Hague, Netherlands-based ICC in February 2011 to launch an investigation into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. The referral followed Moammar Gadhafis brutal crackdown on protesters that was then taking place. The uprising, later backed by NATO, led to Gadhafis capture and death in October 2011.

Oil-rich Libya was then split by rival administrations, one in the east, backed by military commander Khalifa Hifter, and a U.N.-supported administration in the west, in the capital of Tripoli. Each side is supported by different militias and foreign powers. Libyas current political crisis stems from the failure to hold elections in December 2021, with rivals at odds including over the current prime minister and eligibility requirements for presidential candidates.

Khan, who visited Libya last November, said the arrest warrants are part of the ICCs renewed activity and greater focus on Libya. He told the council a team from his office will travel to the country again in the coming weeks and he hopes to establish a field office in Tripoli.

Since November, he said, the ICC has supported prosecutions in Italy and the Netherlands stemming from acts in Libya.

The ICC prosecutor stressed the importance of partnerships and the urgency of galvanizing the Security Council and the international community to act to bring justice to victims. In November, Khan said his office had joined a coalition of nations investigating human trafficking in the country.

Khan spoke movingly of talking to victims and survivors in the western town of Tarhuna where hundreds of corpses were uncovered in several graves after militia fighters loyal to eastern Libyan military leader Gen. Khalifa Hifter retreated from the area in June 2020 after failing to take the capital Tripoli.

Theyre not seeing that their lives matter, he said. There is a gap between the promise of justice, the prayer of never again (after World War IIs atrocities), the specter of international institutions working for them. They see that they are still in refugee camps. They are dislocated. Theyre living in fear around the world.

Khan said the victims dont trust the 15-member Security Council, the ICC and the U.N. which they see as all talk because theyre not seeing enough change in their lives  and this is something every country and all people need to recognize and make efforts to improve.

A statement from the 10 Security Council nations that are parties to the Rome Statute that established the ICC said the court plays an important role in international peace and security and welcomed its concrete actions in Libya.

We encourage the ICC to continue its efforts to enhance its engagement in Libya and hope to see further cooperation from Libyan authorities, said the statement from Albania, Brazil, Ecuador, France, Gabon, Ghana, Japan, Malta, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

The United States is not a party to the court, but the U.S. Missions legal adviser, Mark Simonoff, told the council that the work of the ICC in Libya plays a critical role in support of out collective pursuit of accountability, peace and security.

By contrast, Russias new deputy ambassador, Maria Zabolotskaya, delivered a vitriolic denunciation of the ICC.

She called it a puppet tribunal with a puppet prosecutor that serves the interests of the collective West. She said it acted as a full-fledged accomplice in NATOs military aggression against Libya, which completely ruined its statehood and triggered a protracted civil war.

By EDITH M. LEDERER

Associated Press
Heres what it looks like at the US-Mexico border as Title 42 expires

Heres what it looks like at the US-Mexico border as Title 42 expires View Photo

From the Rio Grande Valley in Texas to San Diego and Tijuana, many migrants gathered along sections of the U.S.-Mexico border questioned when or whether they would cross into the United States to seek asylum once pandemic-related restrictions known as Title 42 ended.

Some migrants who had traveled from Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia, Peru and Central America feared it could be harder for them to stay on U.S. soil with the restrictions lifted.

Here are some of the stories from along the 1,950-mile (3,140-kilometer) international boundary:

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Ludin, a Honduran man who asked that his last name not be used out of fear for his safety and that of his family, arrived Friday at Tijuanas El Chaparral port of entry with his pregnant wife and 5-year-old son.

He stood just feet from U.S. soil, conflicted over how to proceed.

Do you think we can cross and ask for asylum? he asked.

He said he had been trying to use an app that border officials created for people to request asylum in the U.S.  CBP One  every day for weeks, repeatedly uploading his case information and photos including scars on his body from being shot nine times during a 2021 robbery. One large scar snakes down his neck from an operation to remove one of the bullets that struck him.

The app never worked for him, only displaying an error screen or saying no more slots for applicants were available.

Blaine Bookey, an immigration lawyer helping people at the crossing, said U.S. officials were telling asylum-seekers at the port to keep trying the app.

There seems to be no option right now for people to ask for asylum if they dont have an appointment through the CBP app, she said.

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Some migrants were arriving at the border after months of travel.

Jesus Bravo and his wife, Jhohan Miperasa, arrived in Matamoros across the border from Brownsville, Texas, with infant twin daughters who were born along the way.

They had left their native Venezuela nine months earlier, crossed the treacherous Darien Gap dividing Colombia and Panama, then stopped in Panama where the girls were born.

On Friday, they stepped off a bus, pushed the babies in a double stroller across the city and headed straight to the banks of the Rio Grande.

I am tired of the app, they never reply, they never give me an appointment, said Bravo, 23. So I have to cross through the river, like everybody else.

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Aylin Guevara, 45, hurried her steps the evening before as she walked through the scorching desert of Ciudad Juarez toward the border.

She was accompanied by her two children, ages 16 and 5, and her husband. The family fled their coastal city in Colombia after receiving death threats, and hoped to seek refuge in the U.S.

After spending the previous night in a hotel, they were eager to get to the border, to get in and go with the help of God and baby Jesus, Guevara said.

But when they arrived with just hours to go before the end of Title 42, a U.S. immigration officer said they could not pass.

Not anymore, its over, he told them in a firm voice, instructing them to go to bridges 10 miles (16 kilometers) to their left or right.

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Jose Manuel Bueno was among the last people sent back to Ciudad Juarez late Thursday under Title 42.

The 28-year-old Venezuelan said he didnt know the exact whereabouts of his pregnant wife and three children, who were in custody in the U.S. Bueno said he was earlier advised to use the app, but he decided it would be better to cross the border and turn himself in.

They didnt have to split my family, Bueno insisted. I have my childrens birth certificates.

Bueno set up camp for the night next to a bridge with about a dozen other men after they charged their cellphones from a connection in the street.

Its the safest place now, he said.

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Diana Rodas, an elementary school teacher from Colombia, spent the night shivering with her two daughters, ages 7 and 13, sleeping on the ground between two towering border walls dividing San Diego and Tijuana. The girls cried all night.

At about 2 a.m. Friday, U.S. agents took away between 15 and 20 families with children under age 2 who had been among the hundreds sleeping under plastic tarps and blankets.

We never expected all this, said Rodas, who fled her homeland after her life was threatened. She feared deportation but wanted to stay optimistic. Hope is the last thing that goes.

The hundreds of migrants, mostly families, sat in two dozen rows between the border walls while Border Patrol agents walked by and decided who would be processed.

When some were selected, those left behind cheered.

One woman yelled Suerte! or Good luck! as those chosen were loaded into a Border Patrol van.

Gloria Inigo of Peru said she hoped she, her husband and their daughters, ages 5 and 8, would be next. They crossed the border Wednesday before the rules changed.

I have faith, Inigo said.

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Authorities in the remote desert community of Yuma, Arizona, expressed alarm after the average daily number of migrant arrivals grew this week from 300 to 1,000.

Mayor Doug Nicholls asked for the federal government to declare a national disaster so Federal Emergency Management Agency resources and National Guard troops could be rushed to his and other small border communities.

Most migrants are transported to shelters operated by nonprofit organizations farther away from the border, but border officials will release them into communities if enough transportation isnt available. Nicholls said officials told him they would release 141 people in Yuma County on Friday.

The question keeps coming up: What now? Ive been asking that question for two years, with no answers, Nicholls said. We are at a situation weve never been at before.

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Venezuelan Dayana Ybarra and her husband crossed two weeks ago through a gap in the wall near El Paso because they feared it would be much harder after Title 42 expired.

They were apprehended. She was detained for three days and her husband for nine.

On Friday, they were waiting at the Sacred Heart shelter in El Paso hoping to raise the money necessary to get to North Carolina, where she has two brothers and a court date in two months.

The couple left their three children behind.

Its because of them she and her husband decided to take the risk, Ybarra said.

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On a stretch of border wall in Tijuana, migrants asked passersby for blankets, food and water as the sun set over a steep hill.

Gerson Aguilera, 41, got to Tijuana around 4 p.m. with his three kids and wife to try to cross and ask for asylum. From Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Aguilera said he and his family fled after organized criminals started demanding he pay twice the extortion money he was already paying of 2,000 Honduran lempira (roughly $81) a week.

Its very hard. For a payment, they will kill you, Aguilera said with tears in his eyes.

The owner of a welding shop, Aguilera said he left his home once before in 2020 because of threats, but returned when things calmed down. That wasnt an option anymore.

We ask that God helps us, Aguilar said.

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Associated Press journalists Gerardo Carrillo in Matamoros, Mexico; Maria Verza in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico; Giovanna DellOrto in El Paso, Texas; and Julie Watson and Suman Naishadham in Tijuana, Mexico, contributed to this report. Snow reported from Phoenix.

By ANITA SNOW

Associated Press
Former Trump prosecutor mostly mum before Congress on details of hush-money investigation

Former Trump prosecutor mostly mum before Congress on details of hush-money investigation View Photo

WASHINGTON (AP)  An ex-prosecutor who once oversaw Manhattans investigation of former President Donald Trump declined to substantively answer questions at a closed-door deposition Friday of the House Judiciary Committee, according to a Republican lawmaker in the meeting. The prosecutor and his boss said he was merely abiding by grand jury rules.

Rep. Darrell Issa, a California Republican, exited the meeting after roughly one hour and said Mark Pomerantz, the former prosecutor, repeatedly invoked the Fifth Amendment that protects people from providing self-incriminating testimony.

Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in a scheme to bury allegations of extramarital affairs that arose during his 2016 White House campaign. GOP lawmakers have decried the investigation as a political persecution and launched an oversight probe.

Pomerantz in a written opening statement called the committees inquiry itself an act of political theater. He also explained he was invoking the Fifth Amendment because the Manhattan District Attorneys office had previously warned him before he published a book on the investigation that he could face criminal liability if he revealed grand jury material or violated a provision of the New York City Charter dealing with misuse of confidential information.

Pomerantz, who left Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Braggs office after disagreements over the direction of the Trump investigation, was subpoenaed by the Republican-controlled House committee. The panel, chaired by GOP Rep. Jim Jordan, is probing how Bragg handled Trumps historic indictment.

This deposition is for show, Pomerantz also said in prepared remarks. I do not believe for a moment that I am here to assist a genuine effort to enact legislation or conduct legislative oversight.

Bragg had sued to halt Jordans subpoena of Pomerantz, but last month agreed to Pomerantzs testimony after a delay and a condition that lawyers from the prosecutors office be present. The committee has said it would have allowed the district attorneys lawyers even without the agreement.

Pomerantz had argued in court papers that the subpoena left him in an impossible position and would potentially require him to violate his ethical obligations.

Issa, the GOP lawmaker, told reporters, This is an obstructing witness who has no intention of answering any questions.

Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz, another member of the committee, also said lawmakers were not getting many answers.

Jordan exited the meeting room after a deposition that lasted well over five hours and told reporters he was surprised at some of the answers, but declined to provide further details, citing committee rules.

Pomerantzs attorney, Ted Wells, told reporters that his opening statement explaining why he would not be answering questions made it very clear as to what happened.

Pomerantz is allowed to refuse to answer certain questions that touch on legal privilege and ethical obligations, but Jordan could also rule on those assertions on a case-by-case basis. The Republican lawmaker said he would be conferring with the committees attorneys and members about taking legal action against Pomerantz, including holding him in contempt of Congress.

A contempt of Congress charge would require a full committee vote before going to the floor of the Republican-majority House.

Pomerantz recently wrote a book about his work pursuing Trump and discussed the investigation in interviews on 60 Minutes and other shows. But Issa said he was not answering questions even on previous statements he had made.

Issa suggested the fight over testimony will return to the legal system, saying it would be for the court to decide when we object to his failure to answer any questions.

Braggs office said in a statement, Consistent with the agreement we reached with the committee last month, the District Attorneys Office is participating in todays deposition and asserting our rights to oppose disclosure of confidential information protected by law.

By STEPHEN GROVES

Associated Press
Whitmer meets with government, business leaders on Europe trip View Photo

LANSING, Mich. (AP)  Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer conducted her second international trade mission of the year this week, spending two days in Austria and Latvia meeting with both business and government leaders.

Whitmer, who spoke with The Associated Press upon returning to Michigan on Friday, said the international trips are an important part of the job, as the state looks to grow relationships and secure additional economic opportunities for our state.

In Latvia, the second-term Democratic governor and close ally of U.S. President Joe Biden met with Latvian President Egils Levits and other ranking officials before visiting Michigan national guard troops stationed in the country.

Latvia is Michigans European ally, Whitmer said. The partnership between the country and state has reached 30 years. Former Gov. Rick Snyder visited the country in 2018 for the unveiling of a roadway being named Michigan Avenue.

Whitmer also used the visit to Latvia, which borders Russia, to show support for Ukraine in what she described in a statement following the visit as Russias illegal war.

It has become more important than ever to support our allies around the world to protect democracy, Whitmer said in the statement.

The comments stand in contrast to those of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who characterized the war earlier this year as a territorial dispute, before walking back the comment. Whitmer told the AP that its sad to see these political points being scored with Kremlin talking points.

In Austria, she met with business executives at AVL List GmbH, a global automotive supplier. The companys North American headquarters are in Michigan, and Whitmer said she discussed future expansion in the state.

Whitmer spent five days in Europe in January, where she spoke at the World Economic Forums annual meeting in Davos and visited Norway. The trip, according to her office, was vital in securing a $400 million hydrogen facility in the state announced by Norwegian green hydrogen company Nel last week.

Whitmer has been frequently mentioned as a future presidential candidate, but she shot down any speculation that the overseas trips may signal any future ambitions.

No one should read anything more into it other than it was an economic development trip and an opportunity to see our troops, she said.

By JOEY CAPPELLETTI

Associated Press
Virginia joins list of GOP states leaving bipartisan effort to combat voter fraud amid conspiracies View Photo

RICHMOND, Va. (AP)  Election officials in Virginia have announced plans to withdraw the state from a bipartisan effort designed to ensure accurate voter lists and combat fraud  but that also has been caught up in conspiracy theories spread since the 2020 presidential election.

When Virginia formally withdraws later this year, it will become the eighth Republican-led state to leave the Electronic Registration Information Center, known has ERIC, since the group was targeted in a series of online stories last year that questioned its funding and purpose. Former President Donald Trump has been among those calling on Republican state officials to leave.

Virginia Elections Commissioner Susan Beals, in a letter sent Thursday to ERIC, listed several reasons for the decision to end the states membership. That included the recent state departures, incomplete participation by Virginias bordering states and increasing concerns regarding stewardship, maintenance, privacy, and confidentiality of voter information.

Virginia was one of the founding members when ERIC was formed in 2012, an effort promoted by then-Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell.

In short, ERICs mandate has expanded beyond that of its initial intent  to improve the accuracy of voter rolls, Beals wrote. We will pursue other information arrangements with our neighboring states and look to other opportunities to partner with states in an apolitical fashion.

Virginia joins Alabama, Florida, Iowa, Louisiana, Missouri, Ohio and West Virginia who have either withdrawn or notified ERIC that they plan to do so. Texas election officials have said they are working on an alternative data-sharing effort but have not provided a notice of withdrawal.

ERIC uses data-sharing among member states to identify voters who might have moved out of state or died and should be considered for removal from a states voter rolls. It also flags instances of potential double-voting  ballots cast in more than one state by the same voter  that are then used to investigate potential voter fraud.

Beals, a former local election official, was appointed as state elections commissioner last year by Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin. She previously served as an aide to Republican state Sen. Amanda Chase, who since the 2020 election has become a prominent promoter of Trumps false claims of widespread fraud.

There is no evidence of fraud or manipulation of voting machines in the 2020 election. Reviews in multiple states, including ones controlled by Republicans, have upheld the results and affirmed Joe Bidens win. Dozens of judges, including several nominated by Trump, also rejected his claims.

In a statement, Chase praised the decision and claimed, without evidence, that ERIC was used for insidious and nefarious purposes to include an abuse of power in controlling our elections.

Democratic state Sen. Adam Ebbin said he was disappointed in the decision to withdraw from the system.

The net result is we wont have a tool to make sure our voter rolls are as accurate as they could be, said Ebbin, a member of the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee. Its less accurate without as many state partners to verify information.

One conspiracy targeting the system claims that billionaire philanthropist George Soros funded it. While the data-sharing system did receive initial funding from the nonpartisan Pew Charitable Trusts, that money was separate from funding provided to Pew by a Soros-affiliated organization that went to an unrelated effort, according to ERICs executive director, Shane Hamlin. The system has since been funded through annual dues by member states.

Hamlin said in an emailed statement that the group will continue our work on behalf of our remaining member states in improving the accuracy of Americas voter rolls and increasing access to voter registration for all eligible citizens.

With no national voter registration clearinghouse, ERIC is the only data-sharing program among the states. It was started in 2012 by seven states and was bipartisan from the beginning, with four of the founding states led at the time by Republicans.

The system has been credited in Maryland with identifying some 66,000 potentially deceased voters and 778,000 people who may have moved out of state since 2013. In Georgia, officials said nearly 100,000 voters no longer eligible to vote in the state had been removed based on data provided by ERIC.

___

Cassidy reported from Atlanta.

By CHRISTINA A. CASSIDY and DENISE LAVOIE

Associated Press
EL PASO, Texas (AP)  The border between the U.S. and Mexico was relatively calm Friday, offering few signs of the chaos that was feared following a rush by worried migrants to enter the U.S. before the end of pandemic-related immigration restrictions.

Less than 24 hours after the rules known as Title 42 were lifted, migrants and government officials were still assessing the effect of the change and the new regulations adopted by President Joe Biden's administration to stabilize the region.

We did not see any substantial increase in immigration this morning, said Blas Nunez-Neto assistant secretary for border and immigration policy at the Department of Homeland Security. He said the agency did not have specific numbers.

Migrants along the border continued to wade into the Rio Grande to take their chances getting into the U.S. while defying officials shouting for them to turn back. Others hunched over cellphones trying to access an appointment-scheduling app that that is a centerpiece of the new system. Migrants with appointments walked across a bridge hoping for a new life. And lawsuits sought to stop some of the measures.

The Biden administration has said the revamped system is designed to crack down on illegal crossings and to offer a new legal pathway for migrants who often pay thousands of dollars to smugglers to get them to the border. On Friday, Biden commended Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez for his countrys collaboration with the U.S. and Canada to establish migration hubs in Latin America where asylum seekers will be able to apply for refuge.

Migrants are now essentially barred from seeking asylum in the U.S. if they did not first apply online or seek protection in the countries they traveled through. Families allowed in as their immigration cases progress will face curfews and GPS monitoring.

Across the river from El Paso in Ciudad Juarez, many migrants watched their cellphones in hopes of getting a coveted appointment to seek entry. The application to register to enter the U.S. had changed, and some were explaining to others how to use it. Most were resigned to wait.

I hope its a little better and that the appointments are streamlined a little more, said Yeremy Depablos, 21, a Venezuelan traveling with seven cousins who has been waiting in the city for a month. Fearing deportation, Depablos did not want to cross illegally. We have to do it the legal way.

The legal pathways touted by the administration consist of a program that permits up to 30,000 people a month from Haiti, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela to enter if they apply online with a financial sponsor and enter through an airport.

About 100 processing centers are opening in Guatemala, Colombia and elsewhere for migrants to apply to go to the U.S., Spain or Canada. Up to 1,000 can enter daily through land crossings with Mexico if they snag an appointment on the app.

If it works, the system could fundamentally alter how migrants come to the southern border. But Biden, who is running for reelection, faces withering criticism from migrant advocates, who say he's abandoning more humanitarian methods, and from Republicans, who claim he's soft on border security.

At the Chaparral port of entry in Tijuana on Friday, a few migrants approached U.S. authorities after not being able to access the appointment app. One of them, a Salvadoran man named Jairo, said he was fleeing death threats back home.

We are truly afraid, said Jairo who was traveling with his partner and their 3-year-old son and declined to share his last name. We cant remain any longer in Mexico and we cant go back to Guatemala or El Salvador. If the U.S. cant take us, we hope they can direct us to another country that can.

Farther east, small groups of Haitian migrants with appointments to request asylum crossed the Gateway International Bridge connecting Matamoros, Mexico, with Brownsville, Texas. They crossed with the assistance of a nongovernmental organization, passing the usual commuter traffic of students and workers lined up on the bridge's pedestrian path.

In downtown El Paso, a few dozen migrants lingered outside Sacred Heart Catholic Church and shelter where as recently as Tuesday nearly 2,000 migrants were camped. Faith leaders in the city are striving to provide shelter, legal advice and prayer for migrants as they navigate new restrictions.

The Rev. Daniel Mora said most of the migrants took heed of flyers distributed this week by U.S. immigration authorities offering a last chance to submit to processing and left. El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser said that 1,800 migrants turned themselves over to Customs and Border Protection on Thursday.

Melissa Lopez, executive director for Diocesan Migrant and Refugee Services at El Paso, said many migrants have been willing to follow the legal pathway created by the federal government, but there is also fear about deportation and possible criminal penalties for people who cross the border illegally.

Ruben Garcia, director of the Annunciation House shelter in El Paso and coordinator for a regional network on migrant shelters, said he fears that migrants passing through Mexico may be diverted by smugglers away from cities with humanitarian infrastructure toward remote, desolate stretches of the border. He said thousands of migrants are currently passing through two U.S. immigration processing centers in El Paso, amid uncertainty about ensuing deportations and monitored releases.

The lull in border crossings follows a recent surge of crossings by migrants in hopes of being allowed to stay in the United States before the Title 42 restrictions expired.

Title 42 had been in place since March 2020. It allowed border officials to quickly return asylum seekers back over the border on grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19. The U.S. has declared the national emergency over, ending the restrictions.

While Title 42 prevented many from seeking asylum, it carried no legal consequences, encouraging repeat attempts. After Thursday, migrants face being barred from entering the U.S. for five years and possible criminal prosecution.

Border holding facilities were already far beyond capacity in the run-up to Title 42's expiration. Officials had orders to release migrants with a notice to report to an immigration office if overcrowding and other factors became critical.

But late Thursday, a federal judge appointed by former President Donald Trump temporarily halted the administrations plans to release people into the U.S. and set a court date on whether to extend the ruling. Customs and Border Protection said it would comply, but called it a harmful ruling that will result in unsafe overcrowding.

Other parts of the administration's immigration plan were also in legal peril.

Advocacy groups including the ACLU sued the administration on its new asylum rules minutes before they took effect. Their lawsuit alleges the administration policy is no different than one adopted by Trump, which was rejected by the same court.

The Biden administration says its rule is different, arguing that its not an outright ban but imposes a higher burden of proof to get asylum and that it pairs restrictions with other newly opened legal pathways.

ACLU National Political Director Maribel Hernandez Rivera said many new required steps were unrealistic.

Asylum is not something you schedule when you are fleeing for your life," she said.

___

Gonzalez reported from Brownsville, Texas, and Spagat from Tijuana, Mexico. Associated Press writers Colleen Long and Rebecca Santana in Washington; Christopher Sherman in Mexico City; Julie Watson and Suman Naishadham in Tijuana, Mexico; Gerardo Carrillo in Matamoros, Mexico; Maria Verza in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico; Gisela Salomon in Miami; and Morgan Lee in Santa Fe, New Mexico contributed to this report.
The Park Hills city council met in regular session on Tuesday evening and listened as citizens expressed concern about the sale of surplus land.

Resident Nancy Warren addressed council members about rumors concerning the sale of a 20-acre, wooded property located between Westwood Drive and West Main Street. Warren asked city council members to consider posting maps of surplus property to be sold instead of coordinates since residents are not familiar with GPS coordinates. Warren said the wooded area has served as a safe haven for wildlife in the area for many years and she is concerned that if the property is sold and developed, the wildlife could become a problem for the city. Warren urged the council to reconsider any sale of the property.

Another resident concerned about the Westwood property was Carrie Wadlow. Wadlow, whose residence backs up to the Westwood property, said a person who claims to have won the bid for the Westwood property repeatedly trespasses across her property to gain access to the lot. She had a question regarding a permanent lease for 14 of the 20 acres and she asked whether a title search had been performed before any bids were taken on the property. Wadlow also expressed her concern the sale of the land would affect its wildlife.

Mayor Stacy Easter addressed the surplus property issue by stating no sale of surplus property has been planned, no bids have been accepted, and that the previous community development director is no longer with the city. Easter explained the process for the creation and sale of surplus property. City Attorney Nathan Bollinger said he would look into the title search issue.

In other business, Jason Durett, the owner of Park Hills Underground, discussed closing part of Rinke Street for a music festival on July 8. The street would be closed for vendors, food trucks, and band performances. The council approved the closure, pending a list of vendors and food trucks for licensing purposes.

Ben King, representing Southeast Missouri Alzheimer's Association, discussed the use of Columbia Park for the Mineral Area Walk to End Alzheimers. Easter said the walk was approved unless ongoing construction for the new aquatic center blocked the trails. The walk is set for Sept. 30.

Greg McWilliams addressed the council and thanked them for their help at the cemeteries. McWilliams expressed his displeasure with another residents attitude toward the council at a previous meeting and said he is pleased with the current administration. McWilliams said he wants residents to unite and do more for the city. He gave a donation for a new sound system for council chambers, and left the meeting.

In unfinished business, the board heard from the Chamber of Commerce and made appointments to councils, commissions, and committees.

Derrick Hulsey with the Park Hills-Leadington Chamber of Commerce, requested permission to place outlets in municipal lot A. Hulsey said the plan is to reduce noise from food truck generators by installing outlets trucks can plug into for a fee. The four light poles currently in the parking lot will be removed, allowing more access to the lot. Hulsey also clarified the plan to reposition two light poles in the middle of the parking lot. He said the current poles will be removed and new poles will be placed on the perimeter of the lot allowing better access to the parking lot and better lighting coverage.

Steve Weinhold was appointed to represent the Planning and Zoning Commission, and Zachary Franklin was appointed to the SEMO Regional Planning Commission.

Committee assignments were made for the council members:

Community Development, Code Enforcement, Ordinance Committee: Chairperson Steve Weinhold, David Easter and Cindi Penberthy

Parks, Library, Senior Center, Pool Committee: Chairperson Donna Dettmer, Spring Gray and Wayne Cook

Administration, Personnel, Finance, ARPA Funds: Chairperson Carl Courtois, Spring Gray and Donna Dettmer

Public Works, Utilities Committee: Chairperson Alan Coleman, Carl Courtois and Steve Weinhold

Police Department, Fire Department, Court: Chairperson Spring Gray, Cindi Penberthy, Alan Coleman

In new business, the council decided to re-invest two maturing CDs, granted ARPA funds and adopted the annual code of ordinances. The CDs are $100,000 each and will be re-invested with First State Community Bank for 18 months at a rate of 4.4% with interest paid quarterly.

Council members adopted bill #1590 which adopts the annual code of ordinances for the city of Park Hills. The second bill adopted, #1591, allows the use of ARPA funds to replace the HVAC system at the senior center.

Two officials were sworn in. Councilwoman Cindi Penberthy for Ward 3 and Wayne Cook will fill the unexpired term of Adam Kell for Ward 3. Both were absent from April's meeting, when the other council members were sworn in.

During the discussion portion of the meeting, City Administrator Zachary Franklin gave his first report to the council. He thanked the mayor and council for hiring him, said he was happy to be home, and expressed his enthusiasm to get started. He updated the council on a recent conference. Franklin also spoke about his desire to create stability for city employees and help them feel empowered.

The city council discussion included comments from Councilman Carl Courtois who represents Ward 1. He thanked city employee Keith Bainbridge for going above and beyond in his duties with animal control by assisting a resident with a snake problem.

Councilman Steve Weinhold for Ward 4 reminded everyone of the Blue Star Memorial on Friday at 1 p.m. in Columbia Park. He also mentioned that stray cats are a problem and options for population control are needed.

Easter updated everyone on the aquatic center progress during her discussion. She also said all surplus property is on hold until a new community development director is hired and more property research can be conducted. Easter asked Utilities Committee chairperson Alan Coleman to review a Busenbark contract pertaining to water lines.

No other reports were made and the council adjourned.
Criminal Case Disposition Report

April 2023

64th District Court

Porschia Michelle Finch-Allen  criminal mischief, at least $2,500 but less than $30,000  convicted  confinement  12 months  State Jail

Carlos Madrigal  evading arrest/detention with a vehicle  convicted  confinement  4 years  Texas Department of Corrections

Henry Morales  possession of a controlled substance, penalty group 1, at least 1 gram, less than 4 grams  dismissed

Ricky Castillo  driving while intoxicated, third or more  dismissed

Marcuis Anthony Martinez  possession of a controlled substance, penalty group 1/1-B, less than 1 gram  convicted  confinement  8 months  Texas Department of Corrections

Yvette Pena Estrada  theft valued at less than $2,500, 2 or more previous convictions  convicted  confinement  90 days  County Jail

Robert Mikell Byrd  assault causing bodily injury to a date/family/house member

Elijah Rene Villegas  manufacture/delivery of a controlled substance, penalty group 1, at least 4 grams, less than 200 grams  convicted  confinement  7 years  Texas Department of Corrections

Elijah Rene Villegas  unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon - dismissed
(Editors note: This project is a collaboration between the Plainview Herald and Saint Francis Ministries to showcase kids who are cleared for adoption.)

Blake is an active, loquacious, and overall fun to be around girl! She enjoys being the center of attention by making others laugh or telling great stories.

The 12-year-old is very mature for her age and often finds that she is good at carrying conversations when around adults. She has experienced so much in such a short life but with all that she has overcome, she has gained so much wisdom as well as insight into the things she does not want for herself. Blake is unsure of what she wants to be or do when she grows up but is open to trying many new things to get to a place where she is sure of what awaits her future.

Blake understands the importance of school and keeping good grades. She works hard to attain and maintain A's and only a few Bs in her grades.

Blake is also very much an outdoorsy and adventures girl! When the weather is warmer, she can be found in a pool swimming and keeping cool. She can also be found exploring nature on her bike! Her curious spirit aids in her love of reading, where she can escape her surroundings for hours at a time.

Like most of her peers, Blake has a love for keeping her appearance well-kept. Not a day goes by when her hair and make up are done with ironed clothes and nails manicured. Blake is also a gymnast, simply cartwheeling and bending her way through life to get to her forever family!

Blake desires to have a two-parent traditional family who will be open to listening to her first before being disciplined. She does well with other children but also hopes to know what it feels like to be doted on for once. Blake would also like to have a mother who is kind and a good communicator but also enjoys going shopping and get manicures/pedicures.

Blake is at an age where she wants more responsibilities in order to save for things like a cell phone and more opportunities to go out with friends. She would need a family with set boundaries but also some flexibility to get her input as well. A family who has raised teenagers in the past would be beneficial as Blake desires to be a normal teenager and experience all the things that are offered. She would also do well with a family who is active both in doing things together and in her life by communicating with her daily.

---

Blake is among the children listed on the Texas Adoption Resource Exchange (TARE) website. Visit https://www.dfps.state.tx.us/Application/TARE/Home.aspx/Default for more details.

Saint Francis Ministries is a nonprofit organization and a community-based care provider for the Texas Department of Family Protective Services Region 1. This region includes 41 counties across the Panhandle and South Plains.

To learn more about fostering or adopting, those interested are encouraged to attend one of the monthly virtual meetings hosted by Saint Francis Ministries and other child placing agencies. The meetings provide information about how to get started, the basic qualifications and more, in addition to providing opportunity for attendees to ask questions.

Those interested can visit Saint Francis Texas on Facebook @SFMtexas to register for the online meetings, which can also be found below:

The meetings are scheduled for the second Thursday of the month (Lubbock area  https://lubbock-area-foster-care-adoption.eventbrite.com) and the third Thursday of the month (Amarillo area  https://amarillo-area-foster-care-adoption.eventbrite.com).

For more information, please contact Erin Baxter at (806) 317-5631 or email texasinfo@st-francis.org. Visit Saint Francis Ministries online at https://saintfrancisministries.org.
Mark Wilkinson lives his life through faith. Its what has led him to help those in need however he can.

Thats what hes doing from Petersburg.

Over the past couple years, he has served the city of Petersburg and the surrounding areas with his own community outreach through a program called The Well.

Nearly three years ago, Mark said he attended a funeral and was told of a church in Petersburg that was looking donate their building that had been empty for three years to that point.

I contacted them, but I told them that I didnt have any money to buy the building. They told me thats OK well do it. Well pay for everything, Wilkinson said.

Wilkinson received the old Methodist church for free and with the building he established a 501 c3 non-profit  The Well at Petersburg.

Over the past couple years, Mark, along with his daughter Nancy Wilkinson, have worked together to renovate the church and add new ways to be of service to the community. One of the first things they did was partner with the South Plains Food Bank to provide a food bank for those in need.

The pantry is available from Tuesday through Thursday. People just stop in and we share what we have, Wilkinson said. We try to give people a good balance of food when they come in.

Wilkinson told the Herald they were able to feed over 220 families last year and are looking to continually increase that number.

We dont want to be a Petersburg pantry. We want to be a community pantry for all of the neighboring communities between Plainview and Lubbock, Wilkinson said.

Mark and Nancy look to fill the pantry with every opportunity they get. One of the problems they face though as a new entity is receiving consistent donations and grants.

When trying to find resources and applying for grants, we have found that we are too far north for Lubbock and too far south for Amarillo. We are in a dead zone, Wilkinson.

Mark has reached out to area cities and Texas representative Jodey Arrington to apply for grants. According to Wilkinson, the Arrington grant is for $300,000 over three years. They were not approved for the Arrington grant due to not being established for three years at the time of the grant application, but they plan to reapply when they reach that milestone.

Despite not receiving the grant, members of the Petersburg community and surrounding communities stop by The Well to give donations when they can.

I met a guy from Houston on Petersburg Day and he had lived in Petersburg a long time ago. When he heard about what we were doing here he was so excited and then he later sent us a $1,500 check. That check helped us get started and now every year on Petersburg Day we get to meet more people and build step by step, Wilkinson said.

Along with the food pantry, The Well has multiple functions for the community to use. The Well collects clothing and household items and sells them for $1. The Well also has a pair of washers and dryers available for us after reaching out to the community to aid a group of children.

We had a group of children that came to us one day and they didnt have food at their house and they didnt have much clothes. We found that they were washing their clothes in the bathtub and so we thought we should try to get a washer and dryer and offer a place for the kids to come to, Wilkinson said.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP)  Kansas' Democratic governor on Friday vetoed Republican legislation that would have provided a financial boost to anti-abortion pregnancy centers and prevented officials fighting outbreaks of contagious diseases from prohibiting public gatherings or ordering infected people to isolate themselves.

The two measures were part of a wave of conservative policies passed by GOP-controlled state legislatures this year, including ones in Kansas rolling back transgender rights and establishing new restrictions on abortion providers. But Gov. Laura Kelly's two vetoes will stand because lawmakers have adjourned for the year, barring any attempt at overriding them.

The anti-abortion measure would have granted up to $10 million a year in new state income tax credits to donors to the more than 50 centers across the state that provide free counseling, classes, supplies and other services to pregnant people and new parents to discourage abortions. Lawmakers included it in a wide-ranging tax bill that also included an expansion of existing tax credits for adoption expenses and purchases from businesses that employ disabled workers. Kelly vetoed the entire bill.

Republican lawmakers pursued anti-abortion measures this year despite a decisive statewide vote in August 2022 affirming abortion rights. Abortion opponents argued that the vote didn't preclude reasonable restrictions and other measures, while Democrats argued that GOP legislators were breaking faith with voters.

Kelly supports abortion rights and narrowly won reelection last year. Last month she vetoed $2 million in the next state budget for direct aid to the centers, but the Legislature overrode that action.

In her latest veto message, Kelly didn't point to any individual provision in the tax bill but said bundling so many proposals together made it impossible to sort out the bad from the good.

In vetoing direct aid to anti-abortion centers last month, Kelly called them largely unregulated and said, This is not an evidence-based approach or even an effective method for preventing unplanned pregnancies.

Abortion opponents argued that providing financial aid to their centers would help make sure that people facing unplanned pregnancies have good alternatives if they're unsure about getting abortions.

House Speaker Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican, accused Kelly in a statement of a "political bias against helping vulnerable new mothers.

Even if lawmakers still had a chance to override Kelly's veto, they didn't pass the tax bill initially with the two-thirds majorities required.

The other bill Kelly vetoed was part of an ongoing backlash from conservative lawmakers against how she, other state officials and local officials attempted to check the spread of COVID-19 in 2020 and 2021. They were particularly critical of orders closing schools and businesses during the pandemic's first months and restrictions on businesses' operations and mask mandates later.

She said no to protecting the health freedom of Kansans and curtailing the powers of unelected bureaucrats, Senate President Ty Masterson, another Wichita-area Republican, said in a statement.

But Republicans split over the measure because some feared it went too far in curbing state and local officials' powers during outbreaks.

It would have stripped local officials of their authority to prohibit public gatherings and repealed a requirement that local law enforcement officers enforce orders from public health officials. Those officials also would have lost their authority to order quarantines for infected people.

The head of the state health department, appointed by the governor, would have lost the power to issue orders and impose new health rules to prevent the spread of disease or to order people to get tested or seek treatment for infectious diseases.

Kelly's veto message said Kansas has been a pioneer in public health policy. A century ago the state's top health official, Dr. Samuel Crumbine, was known internationally for campaigning against unsanitary, disease-spreading practices such as spitting on sidewalks and having common drinking cups on railroads and in public buildings.

Yet lawmakers continue trying to undermine the advancements that have saved lives in every corner of our state," Kelly wrote.

The bill also reflected vaccine opponents' influence with conservative Republican lawmakers.

It would have prevented the head of the state health department from requiring COVID-19 vaccinations for children entering school or day care  something Kelly's administration has said it doesn't plan to do. State and local officials also would not have been able to cite a person's lack of vaccination as a reason for recommending that they isolate themselves.

___

Follow John Hanna on Twitter: https://twitter.com/apjdhanna
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP)  A fourth person pleaded guilty Friday in an investigation of bribery at the now-defunct Michigan marijuana licensing board.

A lobbyist, Brian Pierce, said he conspired to give $42,000 and other benefits to Rick Johnson to help clients with marijuana license applications before the board was disbanded in 2019.

Johnson pleaded guilty in April, admitting that he accepted at least $110,000 in exchange for approving applications. A businessman and another lobbyist have also pleaded guilty in the FBI investigation.

Johnson, a former Republican state lawmaker, served as speaker of the House from 2001 through 2004.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer abolished the medical marijuana board a few months after taking office in 2019 and put oversight inside a state agency.

Michigan voters legalized marijuana for medical purposes in 2008. Voters approved the recreational use of marijuana in 2018.
MERIDEN  The Village at Kensington Place, a Benchmark assisted living and Mind & Memory Care community, has ranked among the best assisted living with memory care communities in Connecticut and the entire U.S. In U.S. News & World Reports second annual Best Senior Living ratings published today, the community was selected following a comprehensive resident and family member survey.

Kensington Place is the only senior living community in the greater Meriden area to have achieved the highest possible rating for both assisted living and memory care. Respondents gave the community high marks in critical areas, such as overall value, management and staff, resident enrichment, dining and food, safety, transportation, maintenance, housekeeping and location.

Forty Benchmark communities throughout the Northeast received a total of 53 U.S. News awards for the second straight year.

We are honored and humbled that our residents and their families, once again, recognized the hard work, compassion, and dedication of our 6,000-plus associates. Its their shared purpose of transforming lives through human connection that earned Benchmark these U.S. News & World Report awards and continues to separate Benchmark communities from other senior living companies, said Tom Grape, founder, chairman and CEO of Benchmark.

The Villages care and experiences spans independent assisted living to specialized memory care assisted living for those who would benefit from a safer, engaging environment, chef-prepared meals, supportive living services, transportation and assistance with daily activities, such as getting dressed and medication management. Residents enjoy access to programs and amenities offered in many common spaces including an art gallery, billiards room, demonstration kitchen, recreation room, library, private dining room and outdoor courtyards with walking paths.

The Villages award-winning Mind & Memory Care program offers carefully created living environments and unique opportunities for those with Alzheimers and dementia to find joy in each new day. Residents are supported by 24/7 care providers who have been hired for heart and educated in memory loss, communication and empathy. Neighborhoods provide the comforts of home and have unique features that help those with memory impairment stay connected to who and what matters most to them. Thoughtful touches, visual cues and purposeful amenities further promote familiarity and wellness.

Our team is committed to keeping our residents connected to who and what matters most through outstanding care and experiences, said Jody Abel, executive director of The Village at Kensington Place. Exceeding expectations every day is what we strive for so its incredibly exciting to have our dedication recognized by an industry leader like U.S. News.

For more than 30 years, U.S. News has served the American public as an unbiased arbiter of quality across a variety of important choices. Whether picking a college, selecting a hospital or moving to a nursing home, consumers go to U.S. News to research and make consequential life decisions.

For the second consecutive year, U.S. News is providing in-depth information to help potential residents and their loved ones find the best place to help meet their needs, said Sumita Singh, senior vice president and general manager of Healthcare at U.S. News. Communities that are highly rated excel in making residents feel safe, well cared for and highly satisfied by the services provided.

For more information about The Village at Kensington Place, click here or go to its U.S. News profile at https://health.usnews.com/best-senior-living/the-village-at-kensington-place-2928.
HARTFORD  The Connecticut Ballet announced that Venezuelan ballerina Carla Hernandez, 21, will close the ballets 42nd season at the Bushnell on Sunday, May 21, as Swanhilda, a principal dancer in ballet classic Coppelia. This debut is three years in the making and marks the first time Hernandez will perform as a principal dancer in a full-length production of the Connecticut Ballet.

Hernandez is originally from Barquisimeto, Venezuela, but moved to Miami in January 2020. She auditioned for the ballet company in February 2020, joined rehearsals for a production of Coppelia in March, rehearsed for a week and then got stranded in Connecticut during lockdown. Nevertheless, she kept up her training, learned English and eventually returned to the Connecticut Ballet.

Im excited, anxious, nervous, ready, she said in her native Spanish. I was going to do this three years ago, but it was canceled because of the pandemic, and Im happy that Im finally going to get a chance to do this.

Hernandez describes the role of Swanhilda as fun-loving and curious. She explained that the ballet tells the story of the young, innocent girl, Swanhilda, and her boyfriend, Frantz. They meet the mysterious Doctor Coppelius who makes a lifelike doll in his enchanted toy workshop. Swanhilda becomes jealous when Frantz blows kisses at the doll and decides to switch places with her, to hilarious results.

Reactivation in the performing arts

This is the fourth production of Coppelia for director, choreographer and Connecticut Ballet co-founder Brett Raphael. However, he still remembers the thrill he got when he first went to see Coppelia when he was 10 years old. The Connecticut Ballet also performed Coppelia in 2010 and closed a two-day run of this production at the Palace Theatre in Stamford last week with Nicole Fedorov in the role of Swanhilda.

Raphael co-founded the ballet 1981 and has seen a lot of changes in the industry, especially since the pandemic. Along with free outdoor ballet productions in the summer, Raphael said that performing a beloved and family-friendly ballet like Coppelia is part of an effort to reach out to younger audiences.

We're fully back, but the audiences are not quite there, he said. A whole generation, I think, has forgotten about the magic of live performance.

Post-pandemic reactivation has been hard on the performing arts. Between 2019 and 2020, the National Endowment for the Arts found that the U.S. arts economy shrank at nearly twice the rate of the economy as a whole.

Connecticut was no exception. About 57,000 people were employed in arts and culture in Connecticut in 2019, according to statistics from the National Endowment for the Arts and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. This dropped to 49,000 in 2020. Although it rose to 53,000 in 2021, it is still below pre-pandemic levels.

Raphael said the pandemic even changed the way ballet is taught. Since he works with different principals, Raphael tweaked the choreography based on the dancers talents and temperaments. However, he said many younger dancers prefer to learn off of a video.

I learned from my maestro and many, many others. I'm passing that on now, he said. [I am] someone who's actually danced it in the flesh, teaching you the very steps that they learned 25 years ago. All of that is part of our tradition and we're very eager to keep it that way.

Diversity in artseducation

Raphael is passionate about preserving some of ballets traditions, but also wants to share the art form with new, more diverse audiences. Raphael remembered there were very few people of color in ballet when he trained at the School of American Ballet about 50 years ago. Even though his classmate, Fernando Bujones, rose to international fame as a Cuban-American dancer, Raphael said Bujones was a prodigy and an exception to the norm.

As part of the Connecticut Ballet Center, the company's affiliated dance school, over 2,500 students have trained on a dance exposure scholarship, which was started in 1991. In fact, students drawn from the centers local dance companies in Stamford and Hartford are also part of Coppelia.

We're all about access to dance, he said. We want to break down those barriers, and we want people to feel comfortable coming to the ballet. Maybe it's something that hasn't been part of the culture, but it's okay.

There has been a shift in discussions about representation and diversity in ballet since Misty Copeland made history in 2015 as the first Black woman to become a principal dancer with the American Ballet Theater. Even though there is growing diversity in the art form, critics say the roots of ballet remain firmly anchored in European wealth and whiteness.

Because of this history, Raphael was very excited for kids to meet Jafet Reinoso and Kaitaro Kodama, the male leads that have been alternating the roles of Frantz. Both dancers are the sons of first-generation immigrants and will be present during a meet-and-greet with the cast after the show.

As an immigrant herself, Hernandez said dancing outside of Venezuela stretched her out of her comfort zone. Hernandez has trained since she was 7 years old and said she is most comfortable in classical roles like Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella. However, she added that learning different kinds of dance has made her a better dancer. For any young dancer just starting out, she advises a lot of discipline, perseverance and patience.

If its your dream, keep on going. Have discipline and dont let anyone stop you. Even if they tell you no or that you cant do it, you can. Someone is going to open a door for you, she said.

Performances will be held on Saturday, May 20, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, May 21, at 2 p.m. at The Bushnell, 166 Capitol Avenue in Hartford. Tickets start at $58 and can be purchased by visiting Bushnell.org or by calling (860) 987-5900. Both performances are fully accessible for people with limited mobility.

lguzm_n

Latino Communities Reporter Lau Guzman is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms. Support RFA reporters at the Record-Journal through a donation at https://bit.ly/3Pdb0re, To learn more about RFA, visit www.reportforamerica.org.
Allison Kite interviews Kristy Trevathan, a member of the Missouri Master Naturalists, during a reporting trip to Monroe City (Rebecca Rivas/Missouri Independent).

Allison Kite, a data reporter covering agriculture and the environment for The Missouri Independent and Kansas Reflector, has been selected to receive the 2023 William E. James Outstanding Young Journalist Award from the Missouri Press Association.

The award recognizes reporters who have demonstrated excellence in the field of journalism and maintained the quality, ethics and standards of The Journalists Creed, written by Walter Williams, founding dean of the University of Missouri School of Journalism.

Jason Hancock, editor-in-chief of The Independent, said Kites sharp news instincts, dazzling writing skills and dogged reporting are only part of the reason she is an ideal candidate for the award.

 she is a wonderful coworker, bringing enthusiasm to everything she does and a level of energy to our staff that is impossible to put a value on, Hancock wrote in his nomination letter. She is selfless with her time, and never turns down the chance to help a colleague.

He added: Allison is a budding star in our industry, with incredible talent that will take her wherever she hopes to go.

Kite will be honored along with three other recipients at the annual Missouri Press Association convention in St. Louis on Sept. 23. Also to be recognized will be Sophia Bales of the Richmond News, Greta Cross of the Springfield News-Leader and Samantha Tucker of the Daily American Republic in Poplar Bluff.

The aim of the Outstanding Young Journalist award is to reinforce the importance of a journalists role by recognizing and nurturing talent to further promote quality journalism.

This year, were recognizing four individuals, two from daily newspapers, one from a weekly and another whose work with a web-based media outlet benefits all of Missouri Press members, said Beth Durreman, president of the Missouri Press Association and publisher of the Laclede County Record.

A graduate of the University of Kansas, Kite covered the statehouse for the Topeka Capital Journal and city hall for the Kansas City Star before joining The Independent in 2021.

Since then, shes helped spearhead several major projects, including last summers Unleaded collaboration with NPRs Midwest Newsroom that looked at high levels of lead in children in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska.

As part of the project, Kite helped mentor two young journalists who accepted fellowships with NPR to assist in the collaboration.

Its a great feeling when you know you can trust a reporter to deliver an ambitious project like Allison did on the lead investigation, said Steve Vockrodt, a former editor with NPRs Midwest Newsroom. She showed both command of the subject and a persistence and desire to discover more. Equally impressive, and maybe even moreso, was the leadership she displayed in guiding two early-career journalists on a complicated but important reporting endeavor.

William E. Bill James, the namesake for the award, served as publisher of the Warrensburg Daily Star-Journal from November 2007 until his death in November 2013. He was publisher of the Cass County Democrat-Missourian in Harrisonville from 1985 to 2000 and was president of the Missouri Press Association in 1998.

He was inducted into the MPA Newspaper Hall of Fame in 2001.
No Mow May encourages homeowners to help bees by letting their lawns grow NBC. Lets make it year-round!

Call combinations and compositional processing in wild chimpanzees Nature. See also.

PwC races to contain widening Australian tax leak scandal FT

Climate

Waller Says Fed Shouldnt Let Climate Concerns Distract From Overall Stability Risks WSJ. Eyes on the prize, in this case making sure those deck chairs are properly arranged.

Water

#COVID19

China?

Myanmar

ASEAN cannot go back to business as usual with Myanmar: PM Lee CNN. Then ASEAN should recognize the NUG.

Syraqistan

Yemen Peace Push Serious But Next Steps Unclear: Saudi Envoy Agence France Presse

Dear Old Blighty

New Not-So-Cold War

Death Merchants? New Left Review

South of the Border

Mexico to send more National Guard troops to the southern border Mexico News Daily

Number of Internally Displaced People Worldwide Hit a Record High in 2022 The Wire

Biden Administration

Washingtons Angriest Progressive Is Winning Over Conservatives  and Baffling Old Allies Politico. From April, still germane. Spoiler: Its Stoller!

The Supremes

Court throws out conviction of former Cuomo aide SCOTUSblog

2024

Spook Country
China continues to pull off big commercial and diplomatic coups in the US direct neighbourhood  this time with Ecuador, whose government is so closely aligned with the US that it recently asked Washington to directly intervene in its drug wars.

Yesterday (May 11), Ecuador became the latest in a series of Latin American countries to sign a free trade agreement with China. Beijing has already signed deals with Chile, Peru and Costa Rica, and is negotiating future agreements with at least five other Latin American states, including Uruguay, Honduras and El Salvador. As I reported last week, it is also taking advantage of the US near-shoring strategy by increasing its presence in Mexico.

The latest deal was signed by Ecuadors Minister of Trade, Production, Investment and Fisheries, Julio Prado, and Chineses Trade Minister, Wan Wentao, after roughly a year of negotiations. The event was also attended by Ecuadors embattled President Guillermo Lasso whose government is closely aligned with US, Ecuadors largest trading partner, on most issues, particularly those pertaining to security.

But China is Ecuadors second largest trading partner as well as its largest bilateral creditor and a major investor and participant in its energy and infrastructure sectors. In 2022, trade between the two countries witnessed double-digit growth for the second year in a row, with bilateral trade reaching $13.1 billion, up 19.7% year on year. Once the FTA comes into effect, as much as 90% of the goods traded between China and Ecuador will be exempted from tariffs. To protect Ecuadorian manufacturers, they will not include Chinese textiles and clothing, school shoes, flat ceramics, tires, furniture, sugar, rice , milk, potatoes and corn.

This is an opportunity to further expand cooperation, Wang Wentao said via video conference.

Beijing has been Ecuadors main source of external finance for over a decade, a trend that dates back to former President Rafael Correas deepening of ties with China during his time in office (2007-17) as well as Ecuadors virtual exclusion from Western sovereign credit markets in 2008 after Correas government defaulted on sovereign bonds deemed to be riddled with irregularities. Beijing was happy to fill the gap. According to the FT, Ecuador owes China around US$18 billion.

The economic partnership between the two countries intensified after they signed a memorandum of understanding in 2018, explained the Chinese Ambassador to Ecuador, Chen Guoyou, in February:

Chinese enterprises have actively participated in the development of local infrastructure such as electricity, transportation, petroleum, and mining, and strategic areas such as oil and mining, as well as the construction of hospitals, housing, schools, and other infrastructure projects At the end of 2018, the Chinese and Ecuadorian governments signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the joint construction of the BRI, which has further deepened the pragmatic cooperation between the two sides in various fields. Looking to the future, we look forward to further deepening cooperation in traditional areas such as trade, investment, and financing, as well as infrastructure, continuously expanding exchanges and cooperation in emerging areas such as 5G and new energy.

Debt for Nature?

This development is interesting for a number of reasons. First, Ecuador was one of the first countries in the world to default on Chinese bonds, which it did in April, 2020, under the presidency of Lenin Moreno, Correas successor who infamously handed over Julian Assange to the British police allegedly in exchange for a $4.2 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund, to which the U.S. is the largest contributor. In September 2022, Lassos government reached an agreement with Chinese lenders to restructure some $3 billion of debt.

In other words, China is perhaps a somewhat more forgiving creditor than Western governments have given it credit for in recent years. But some researchers and NGOs have also called on China to swap some of Quitos debt for commitments to preserve Ecuadors rich biodiversity in what is commonly called a debt-for-nature swap. Debt-for-nature swaps are typically a voluntary transaction in which an amount of debt owed by a financially distressed government of a country rich in biodiversity is cancelled or reduced by a creditor, in exchange for the debtor making financial commitments to conservation.

Debt-for-nature swaps first came to the fore in the late 1970s and early 1980s, as a domino chain of Latin American countries defaulted on sovereign debt in what came to be known as the lost decade for the region, but have waned since the 1990s. They now appear to be making a comeback after the COVID-19 virus crisis plunged many of the regions 33 countries back into unsustainable levels of indebtedness. Just a few days ago, Credit Suisse (now part of UBS) helped Ecuador seal the largest ever debt-for-nature swap, worth $656 million, involving the Galapagos Islands. From Reuters:

Ecuador sealed the worlds largest debt-for-nature swap on record on Tuesday, selling a new blue bond that will funnel at least $12 million a year into conservation of the Galapagos Islands, one of the worlds most precious ecosystems. Having bought back roughly $1.6 billion of the countrys debt at a near 60% discount late last week with the help of Credit Suisse, Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Gustavo Manrique Miranda said biodiversity was now a valuable currency.

The FTA between China and Ecuador is also noteworthy because Ecuador is one of the last remaining governments in South America that is still closely aligned with Washington on a whole raft of issues, particularly security. Like El Salvador which also recently signed an FTA with China, it is also a fully dollarised economy. In fact, following the signing of the FTA with China Lasso sent a message to Washington reminding US policy makers that Ecuador had also sought to establish a free trade agreement with Washington but with little success.

At last years Summit of the Americas, held in Los Angeles, Lasso even proposed creating a Plan Ecuador to combat the rising lawlessness in the country. The plan, he said, would be modelled on Plan Colombia, the disastrous US-designed and -delivered drug-eradication program that burnt through $15 billion of aid funds during more than two decades, worsened the violence in Colombia, bathed more than a million hectares of farmland in a rich brew of toxic chemicals, including Monsantos probably carcinogenic weedkiller glyphosate, exacerbated illegal mining and organized crime while overseeing a significant upsurge in coca production.

Plan Colombia was such a costly debacle that it become effectively unexportable to other parts of Latin America and beyond, says Adam Isacson, lead investigator of the Washington Office on Latin Americas Defense Oversight program, which monitors U.S. cooperation with Latin Americas security forces: The US looked at the Plan Colombia experience and hoped that it had found something it could apply in Afghanistan, or in Mexico, or Central America, and found out that it didnt work there.

But nobody seems to have told this to Lassa, who said in LA last summer:

The background is the same. We could probably call it something else, but in effect, Ecuador wants to present a Plan Ecuador to the United States.

Even Voice of America reported that Lassos comments had stoked controversy at the Summit as well as among many lawmakers back home. Ecuadors former Foreign Minister Maria Isabel Salvador said the proposal betrayed a lack of understanding and comprehension of what Plan Colombia meant in practice for that country.

The Approaching Fall of Another Key US Client State?

Ecuador remains a key US client state in a region where US client states are increasingly few and far between and in many ways Lasso is a perfect partner. Stemming originally from the corporate world, where he headed operations for Coca Cola before setting up Banco Guayaquil with his brother-in-law, Lasso entered politics just over a decade ago. Together with close family members of his family, he was implicated in both the Panama Papers and Paradise Papers scandals. In December 2021 a majority of the countrys legislature voted against a recommendation to dismiss him following Pandora Papers revelations.

Lasso describes himself as of neither of left nor right, though he has expressed admiration for former Spanish PM Jose Maria Aznars Silent Revolution, a series of liberal economic reforms. Lasso is also a member of the board of Aznars Atlantic Institute of Studies together with over half a dozen stalwarts of Latin Americas conservative right (e.g., Mauricio Macri, Felipe Calderon, Sebastian Pinera, Avaro Uribe, Ivan Duque and Jorge Quiroga). Lasso has also declared himself an enemy of the 21st-century socialism promoted by Venezuela and Cuba, once describing the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) as a third world empire.

But as happens every decade or two, the political sands have shifted in Latin America. And the general direction of travel is leftward. Between 2018 and today national elections have brought in left-of-center governments in seven of the regions largest economies: Colombia (for the first time ever); Mexico (where AMLO, now in his fifth year in office, continues to command approval ratings of over 60%); Peru (whose democratically elected president, Pedro Castillo, was toppled a year later in an internal coup), Chile (whose young PM Gabriel Boric is struggling), Bolivia, Argentina and Brazil.

This trend has further exacerbated the US loss of political influence in the region although, as NC reader notes in a comment below, this latest leftist time may already be losing its momentum. At the same time, the US is falling behind China in three key areas, particularly in South America: trade, investment and access to strategic resources. Perhaps most worrisome for Washington, Beijings economic influence has grown even in countries with US-friendly governments. They include Ecuador and Uruguay, whose government is also chomping at the bit to sign an FTA with Beijing, seemingly regardless of the consequences it could bring for Uruguays membership of the South American trade bloc Mercosur.

In response to these developments, the Commander of US Southern Command, Army Gen. Laura J. Richardson, recently reminded the governments of the region, as well as the USs two most important strategic rivals, China and Russia, that both the US government and military, and the corporations whose interests they serve, also have their eyes on the regions strategic resources. Those resources include rare earth elements, lithium, gold, oil, natural gas, light sweet crude, copper, abundant food crops, and fresh water.

Since Lasso came to office in May 2021, Ecuador has received five visits by US state officials, including General Richardson, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken a bipartisan delegation of US senators. In December Lasso visited the White House to discuss, among other things, deepening economic and security cooperation between the two countries. Crucially, the leaders also agreed to strengthen their collaboration as Ecuador prepares to begin a two-year term on the United Nations Security Council.

But Lasso, and his government, may not be around for much longer. This week, Ecuadors National Assembly decided to proceed with an impeachment trial against Lasso for allegedly embezzling public funds.

With a public approval rating of just under 14%, no legislative majority, law and order breaking down across the country, and protests and scandals erupting all over the place, Lasso has two stark options: either face the impeachment vote head on, at the risk of failing to muster enough votes (a third of the house) to prevent his downfall; or deploy an untested constitutional clause  known as muerte cruzada (or crossed death)  that would disband the National Assembly and let Lasso govern by decree for six months. Then, new general elections would be held.

As the Council for Foreign Relations notes, if Lasso falls, he will be replaced by his vice president, Alfredo Borrero, a little-known doctor who has all but vanished from the public since inauguration day. With a weak president in office, Correa and his legislative bloc would gain tremendous power. And

Lasso has not ruled out the second option. But if he were to take it and consequently shutter Congress, both Correa, currently in exile in Belgium, and Leonidas Iza, the left-wing leader of the countrys largest Indigenous organization, have pledged to call mass protests. And remember: according to recent polls, Lasso commands the support of less than one-sixth of voters. As already happened in 2021 and 2022, protests and strikes could engulf the country and bring its economy to a standstill, albeit this time compounded by a constitutional crisis.

As another key US client state in South America begins to wobble, there is a distinct whiff of panic in the air. On March 1, 26 former heads of state and government from Latin America, Spain and Canada  all of them members of the Democratic Initiative of Spain and the Americas (IDEA), a Florida-headquartered non-profit  signed a statement issued by IDEA warning Ecuadors opposition parties, social organizations and National Assembly against removing Lasso as President, describing his untimely and unjustified replacement as not convenient.
The assessor of property and former Metro councilmember says she is ready to step up to the next challenge
This story is a partnership between the Nashville Banner and the Nashville Scene. The Banner is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization focused on civic news and will launch later this year. For more information, visit NashvilleBanner.com.

When Vivian Wilhoite announced she was seeking to become mayor, the overwhelming question from observers was why now? With just under 100 days left before the election, Wilhoite launched her campaign with the endorsement of District Attorney Glenn Funk and a group of supporters in Southeast Nashville pledging to run as hard for this office as she had for Property Assessor and the Metro Council. Wilhoite sat down with the Banner to answer questions about her late entry, what she thinks can be done about transit and more.

Why do you want to be mayor?

So I've always been what is called a lifelong public servant, and I have not stopped being that person. I love people. I love helping people. I just like to see results. So when I was a council person for District 29, during that time there were quite a bit of activities that the community was involved in, whether it was neighborhood cleanups, whether it was neighborhood watch programs. And so as time has passed, I don't see a lot of that, if anything  none of that. Even something as some people may see as small as National Night Out Against Crime, you don't see those activities happening in different communities, other than in communities closer to the downtown area. If we know who's in our community, we will care. My point is, these types of activities help to strengthen neighborhoods. We need to be focusing on neighborhoods, and providing them the resources that have made them stronger before. Being a public servant as I am, I want to help. I feel like I have the energy. I know that I have energy. Some people say what do I operate off of? I say one cup of Starbucks every day. That's the key  and drink lots of water.

So let me ask you about that. There are some people who would say, You know what? I don't want somebody who's been in government their entire life. We need somebody with a different perspective. What do you say to those folks?

Well, I say to those folks what you're saying is experience doesn't count. That's what you're saying. What you're also saying is that you want a new, fresh perspective. Would you say that someone who's been in government  not just been in government, but serving the people  is not worthy? Because that's not the same perspective. They're talking about being The Establishment not listening to the people. You are a one-person show and you don't listen to the people. That's what they're saying. But that's not the type of public servant I've been since I've come to Nashville. I've never been that type of public servant.

Is there something that you think makes you uniquely qualified to be mayor?

I think what makes me uniquely qualified is that I genuinely love people. When I go into a position, I'm going in there to make it better than what it was before. When I went into the assessor of property office, salaries were at an all-time low  $32,000 to $33,000 for intro level in 2016. I had staff that were working part-time jobs. That was not competitive pay. But the entry level for an appraiser 1 is [now] well over [$40,000]. I'm trying to move it to [$50,000 for] entry level by the end of the year. I invest in my staff. I encourage them about getting their classes and getting their credentials. I remind them about the work that they do makes up 59 percent of the city's budget  so what you do is important. It is critically important. And I let them know that they're valued. That's a public servant that is there to help the people and make the situation better. You know, I want my people to know that I see them.

How do you assess the current city-state relationship right now?

Well, you know what it is: It's not good. I want to help make it better. I think that we are going to have to do a hard reset. As I stated before, there are folks who have been a part of the reason why we are where we are. And I know there's been frustration on both sides. But we can find common ground to work for the greater good for the people. And that is the part that I want to do. We may not agree on everything  that's not going to happen. We're not going to agree on everything. But there are some very important issues that we should be able to agree on and be respectful about it. So I think that the situation right now, it does need a hard reset. And it requires, I think, a new perspective  and that new perspective would be Vivian Wilhoite.

Education is something that every mayor says that they want to help move the needle. One of the problems, though, is that you don't really have much control. What's one thing that the next mayor could do in order to make education better in Nashville?

Well, you know, some people say keep throwing something at a situation and hope for it to get better. But education must be fully funded, there is no doubt about that.

What does fully funded look like to you?

Well, working with [Director of Schools Adrienne] Battle, and her providing the needs of the system. I do believe that Dr. Battle has her finger on the button of needs for the Metro public school system. I think that as mayor, I should do my due diligence to also talk with staff, meet with teachers, and meet with those members of the edge of the educational system, to hear from them, in reference to creative ideas of providing for students  the more than 86,000 students in Davidson County  because they're on the front line. They're the ones that are actually seeing and experiencing what is needed. Speak with parents. I mean, you could have a PTO meeting with the mayor. Why not? Why can't you hear from the parents? It doesn't mean you can get everything done. But working with the superintendent of schools, because they know the needs, but also working with parents and working with teachers and staff to hear them directly.

Gov. Lee is going to call a special session in August related to some gun legislation in the wake of the Covenant shooting. Do you think that there's anything that Metro can do about school shootings?

You know, we can't establish red flag laws and things like that. That is not within our authority. But we can assist in reference to reducing crime. We can assist by working with Chief John Drake. And, of course, [Juvenile Court Judge] Sheila Callaway, the DAs office and all of that. It does go to funding in the most traditional way. We can provide resources and go after the root cause of why these crimes are being committed. We need to provide our youth access to community centers and activities.

The city has an affordability crisis right now. What is one way the next mayor can begin to address soaring rents and home prices, for those who are trying to either buy into this market or find an affordable place to live?

I'm very happy about the direction we're going in hearing the mayor's [State of Metro] address and the amount of affordable housing stock, but we can't stop there. I think that one way that would be helpful in dealing with affordable housing is for us to continue to fund the Barnes Fund and ensure that we have the resources there for establishing more affordable housing and workforce housing. And you said one way, but you know, of course, we can't do it alone. So a part of that one way, we have to continue to create public-private partnerships because Metro government cannot just do that alone. That has always been the case when it comes to affordable housing  we've had to do creative initiatives in reference to public-private partnerships, and that is now the situation more than ever. We must utilize that tool more than ever. So yes, I see those I see supporting the buyers buying and also definitely continuing with public-private partnerships that can help us increase the affordable housing stock that is needed.

How high of a priority should transit be for the next mayor?

Yeah, it should be a priority. But we're going to have to be realistic: It's not going to happen tomorrow. And as far as what were investing, we have to, again, look at it realistically to make it a priority. But no, that is not something we can promise people that's going to happen just immediately, but tell the people of Davidson County that we are going to invest. We're going to deal with this big gorilla one bite at a time. We're going to set goals for where we need to be by Year 2, Year 3, Year 4. And in the meantime, we can go after some low-hanging fruit. I was looking at a map the other day while talking with a friend, and one of the things that was pretty clear in regards to Nashville: All the traffic comes through the center of downtown to go to I-65 and I-40 and I-24. And there was that I-840, looking like it needs to be completed going around [the north side] of Nashville. When I was talking about finding common ground, I'm talking about working with the state and getting them to complete I-840. I thought it could be definitely the path for 18-wheeler trucks to go to the other side of Nashville without coming directly through Nashville, but not for all of the trucks that come to Nashville. But that's a low-hanging fruit and something that we can work with the state on, and getting it developed would provide immediate relief  not tomorrow, but much sooner than some folks talking about light rail. And then when we're talking about buses, mass transit is not just about buses. Mass transit is definitely not something that we can do alone. It is not just Davidson County where mass transit is a major issue. It should be important to all of Middle Tennessee, so we need to also have this sitting down at the table in a regional effort in dealing with mass transit and the cost of it should not be borne just by Davidson County residents. So it's going to take all of these Middle Tennessee counties to be able to help address this. Weve got to get on that same page. That's the only way it can happen. It won't happen overnight. But it is regional, in reference to the approach.

The Titans have a $2.1 billion stadium plan that was recently approved by the council. How would you have voted if you were on the council?

What I'm saying to you now is that I don't know all of the details to it, but it seems like it's going to bring some great benefits to Davidson County. But the con of it, and the part that is hard for everyone to swallow, which I do understand, is that you're talking about $2.1 billion. And we have other things that also should be addressed. So guess what? Let's address those.

What's an issue that we're not talking enough about right now?

I would say economic parity. You live in the general service district, or let's just say urban services  either one. And then, say youre in your neighborhood in Antioch. You don't have sidewalks. But if you go to East Nashville, theyve got sidewalks. I'm paying the same tax rate as the person over in East Nashville, but I can't have sidewalks. We're going to close the gap on economic parity and work to get neighborhoods who are paying that same tax rate in another part of the city under that same umbrella and provide them the resources that another neighborhood of Nashville has.

If you promise to put a sidewalk on my street, Ill endorse you right now.

[Laughs] I promise to get sidewalks in areas that are needed and continue to make sure the areas that want it and need it [get sidewalks] and continue to make sure that we keep fulfilling that promise to everyone in Davidson County. Weve got to figure out a way to close that gap. Tell me your address.

You got in with a little over 100 days to go before the election. Is that enough time to run a competitive race?

Well, I say yes. That's why I got in. I think it was enough time, but I had to get into the race when it was the time for me. So that's what I did.

What made it the time for you?

Just seriously, things that you want to talk about with family and look at, and yeah, pray about. That's what I did. Running for mayor was something I had already considered

How much money do you think you have to raise in order to be competitive?

People tell me $350,000 to get to the runoff. I'm not there yet, so I'm working toward that goal. I mean, I start out with name recognition, so I think that's good. So I'm just building on that, and there's some things that I'm probably not going to be able to do traditionally, like five mailers a week. I won't be able to do that. But I will work. There are things that don't require money, but it's going to require hard work and being every place and talking to as many people as possible, and putting a lot of skin in it. People have spent a lot of money and have not been successful in running for offices. So I'm just going to do my very best, and I'm going to let my passion and love for the people of Davidson County show through. And I'm going to do that sincerely, not authentically. And I hope that's what people will see.

Finally, what do you think people should think about when they're considering your candidacy?

This will be a mayor that they can trust. They should think about what she has done in a huge way in government, where she worked in her district in Southeast Davidson, and what she's done in the office of the assessor of property. And maybe once you meet Vivian, you know that she does have the energy and sincerity as a public servant  that she loves people.

Q&A: Mayoral Candidate Heidi Campbell The state senator enters the crowded field touting her experience as a legislator and former mayor

Q&A With Mayoral Candidate Alice Rolli The Republican hopes to make taxes and crime central to the race

Q&A With Fran Bush Despite losing badly in her reelection campaign for school board, Bush says she has been thinking about running for mayor for some time

Q&A: Mayoral Candidate Jeff Yarbro The state senator makes an unexpected entry into the field after John Cooper steps aside

Q&A: Nashville Mayoral Candidate Matt Wiltshire The former economic development and housing executive under four mayors says he is ready to step up to the next challenge

Q&A: Mayoral Candidate Freddie O'Connell The District 19 councilmember says he is ready to tackle issues from transit to affordable housing to expanding the citys investment beyond downtown
(Natural News) Has our rapidly changing culture caused you to significantly alter the way that you live your life? If so, you are definitely not alone. Thanks to rapidly rising crime rates, unchecked illegal immigration, record high mass shootings, rampant homelessness and the worst drug crisis in U.S. history, millions of Americans are now scared to live their lives the way that they once did. Social decay is spreading like a very aggressive form of cancer all over the country, and to a lot of us it seems like a very substantial portion of the population has completely lost their minds. The thin veneer of civilization that we all depend upon on a daily basis is disappearing very quickly, and the outlook for the future of our society is extremely bleak.

(Article republished from EndOfTheAmericanDream.com)

Let me give you a perfect example of what I am talking about.

According to ABC News, mail carriers are now being robbed so frequently that they are formally demanding the U.S. Postal Service to do something about it

Postal carriers have more worries than snow, rain or the gloom of night keeping them from their appointed rounds. Theyre increasingly being robbed, often at gunpoint, from Maine to California. Robberies of postal carriers have exploded, surging 78% to nearly 500 in 2022, according to data provided by U.S. Postal Inspection Service to The Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Act. Letter carriers are demanding action from the U.S. Postal Service.

Once upon a time, being a mail carrier was a pretty good job.

But now there are many communities where you would literally be putting your life at risk just to deliver the mail.

In Portland, the social decay in the streets has become so pervasive that many people are literally afraid to walk outside of their own homes

Shocking new images show Portlands mounting homeless crisis as encampments take over streets and sidewalks  and fed-up residents want the city to take action. Local authorities in Oregon are also considering calling in the National Guard to help with Portlands homeless issue  while residents reveal they now no longer walk in certain areas because of the drug and encampment problem.

Isnt that sad?

But instead of doing something about it, some Democrats in Oregon actually want to decriminalize all of the illegal homeless encampments

This follows news that Democrat lawmakers in Oregon want to decriminalize homeless camps with a law that would allow the people who live in them to sue for $1,000 if theyre harassed or told to leave. The hugely-controversial bill claims decriminalization of rest would allow city leaders to redirect cash from law enforcement into measures that address the root causes of homelessness and poverty.

If that measure becomes law, imagine what life in Portland will be like from now on.

A very large group of drug addicts could establish a tent city in the street right in front of your home, and you would be powerless to do anything about it.

In New York City, many residents refuse to ride the subway any longer because violent crime has become so widespread

In February, the New York Police Department (NYPD) reported 169 cases of major crime on the nations largest subway system.

169 cases of major crime on the subway in just one month?

So how many cases of minor crime were there?

I wish that they would give us that figure.

In some of our largest cities, conditions have now gotten so bad that it is actually motivating many businesses to leave for greener pastures. For instance, last year billionaire Ken Griffin literally moved his entire hedge fund from one city to another

Last September, billionaire Ken Griffin announced he was pulling up stakes and moving Citadelhis gigantic hedge fundfrom Chicago to Miami. The Windy City was out of control, he told Bloomberg, something that dawned on him after a colleague made a coffee run and was robbed by a thief who put a gun to his head.

I certainly cant blame him.

At this point, I dont know why anyone would still want to be in Chicago.

Large numbers of businesses are also leaving San Francisco. In fact, this week we learned that T-Mobile has actually decided to permanently shut down their flagship store in San Francisco

T-Mobile has become the latest major retailer to close a flagship store in San Francisco as the city faces a business exodus due to rampant criminal activity. The decision by the telecoms giant to shutter its premises in Union Square follows similar announcements last week by Saks Off 5th and Nordstrom. T-Mobile said the closure of its two-level, 17,000-sq-ft building in the heart of San Franciscos was part of its nationwide retail strategy to better take care of customers.

T-Mobile is supposed to be an extremely progressive company.

But even they cant put up with the extreme social decay in San Francisco.

Needless to say, I could share countless other examples with you. This mass exodus from blue states and blue cities has been going on for quite some time, and the states and cities that are being left behind are losing staggering amounts of tax revenue

Data show that several populous blue statesCalifornia, New York, and Illinois among themhave been losing population and companies for years. In 2021 Forbes wrote about leftugees fleeing blue states for red ones. A few years before that, a headline in The Hill touched on the great exodus out of Americas blue cities. New IRS data, however, show the speed with which blue states are losing taxpayersand their adjusted gross income (AGI)is increasing. A recent Wall Street Journal analysis found that more than 100,000 people left Illinois in 2021, taking with them some $11 billion in AGI, nearly double its 2019 total. For New York it was $24.5 billion, an increase of more than 150 percent from 2019. California, meanwhile, saw its AGI loss ($29 billion) more than triple since 2019.

Of course some Americans are leaving normal society behind entirely.

Earlier today, I came across a story about a family in Georgia that now lives in a 6,000-square-foot underground bunker

Internet consultant Ruben Romero moved with his wife Joan and their four children Eden, Enoch, Zion and Celestial into a 6,000-square-foot nuclear-resistant former communications bunker in June 2020. The unusual abode  built in the 1960s by telecommunications company AT&T out of reinforced concrete  cost the the family around $300,000 with a 13-acre plot of land included and despite years of toil, the renovation process is still underway.

I couldnt imagine living underground with no windows.

But if nuclear missiles start falling they will be more prepared than most of the rest of us.

I just wish that we could go back to the way that things once were in this country.

Once upon a time, America was a shining example of peace and prosperity for the rest of the world.

But now our society is melting down all around us, and our problems are only going to accelerate throughout the rest of this year and beyond.

Read more at: EndOfTheAmericanDream.com
(Natural News) Before now, most Americans were pretty certain that President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, were corrupt. But a newly issued memo by leading Republicans following a lengthy  and still ongoing  investigation indicates the entire family may be dirty.

A number of GOP lawmakers on Wednesday, May 10, revealed damning evidence allegedly implicating at least nine members of Bidens family raked in as much as $10 million from sources in Romania and China while Biden was serving as Barack Obamas VP.

It is inconceivable that the president did not know it, and the White House refuses to correct the Presidents statement, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) said.

The president is now using the federal government to run interference for his family and his own role in these schemes, Comer added during a press conference announcing the details laid out in a memo Wednesday.

Several other GOP lawmakers took turns at the podium to address the allegations.

Every time we turn over a rock, theres more evidence, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) said. This could be the most corrupt scheme in American politics, where a sitting vice president where we saw members of his family, nine of them so far, there may be more, that were enriched from countries all over the world.

Comer said that the committee has uncovered evidence of payments totaling $1 million from Romania to the Biden family while Joe Biden was working on Romanian issues as vice president. He also claimed that the committee has discovered millions of dollars sent to the Bidens from various Chinese companies, passing through multiple banks, in what he described as a complex web designed to conceal the transfers.

The transactions in Romania and China show related but separate issues identified by the Committee that raise serious questions about financial disclosures and risks to national security, Comers 36-page memo claimed.

The Biden family and associates activities in Romania bear clear indicia of a scheme to peddle influence from 2016 to 2017, the report said. While Vice President Biden lectured Romania on corruption and ethics, Hunter Biden received  through Biden associate Rob Walker  over a million dollars from a company controlled by a Romanian individual accused of corruption (Gabriel Popoviciu).

The report continued: That work appears separate from a Hunter Biden representatives explanation that he referred Popoviciu to a law firm.

The memo also charges that Joe Bidens family collected more than $10 million from foreign entities  mostly while he was vice president.

Documents tell the story of how Biden family members and various business associates created more than 20 companies during Bidens vice presidency. The first family also used business associates companies to receive the foreign money, bank records show, according to the memo, said the report.

The GOP report also noted that there were attempts to conceal large transactions by having incremental payments made to members of the family over time to different bank accounts.

For example, the records document how Chinese nationals and companies with close ties to Chinese intelligence and the Chinese Communist Party tried to hide the transfer of funds by layering in American limited liability companies, the report said.

The Biden family and associates activities in coordination with Chinese nationals and their corporate entities appear to be an attempt to engage in financial deception. To be clear, multiple Biden family members received money from the Chinese after it passed through the Robinson Walker, LLC account. Additionally, Hunter Biden received money directly into his companys account from a Chinese-controlled entity, the memo revealed.

The Bidens received millions of dollars from their Chinese partnership. When Ye was detained by the Chinese, Hunter Biden then attempted to distance himself from the relationship by claiming he had never been paid by CEFC. This was false.

Sources include:

CharlieKirk.com

WND.com
(Natural News) Canada has expressed its intent to join the AUKUS military bloc consisting of the U.S., the U.K. and Australia  albeit limited to non-nuclear aspects.

The Globe and Mail reported on the development, adding that Ottawa wishes to be part of the bloc that was created in a 2021 deal to counter Chinas military influence. A source told the newspaper that the Canadian federal government is now waiting for the reactions of Washington, London and Canberra toward its possible membership. The source noted that Ottawa already shares intelligence with individual bloc members, and it could simply expand those efforts once it is brought on board.

Initially, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had no interest in joining the security pact that would provide Australia with U.S. nuclear submarines. But two unnamed officials told the Globe and Mail that the Canadian leader has changed his mind. (Related: Australia to buy up to 5 nuclear-powered submarines from the US  and China isnt happy about it.)

Canadas reason for wanting to join now is not to acquire nuclear-powered submarines like Australia, but rather to participate in the second pillar of the AUKUS agreement, the outlet reported. This second pillar would include information-sharing and close cooperation on accelerating development of cutting-edge technologies such as undersea defense capabilities, artificial intelligence, quantum technology and hypersonic warfare.

Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand declined to give a direct answer on whether Ottawa had submitted a formal application to become a party to the AUKUS deal. She instead remarked that the Canadian government is highly interested in furthering cooperation on AI, quantum computing and other advanced technologies with a defense nexus with our closest allies.

Our ties with our Five Eyes allies are strong, and indeed we remain interested in furthering cooperation in AI and other innovation efforts with our allies, said Anand.

New Zealand also eyes AUKUS membership

Canada is not the only country to express its intent to join the AUKUS bloc. New Zealand also wants to join the group, but its involvement will only extend to the non-nuclear components of the deal just like Canada.

New Zealands Defense Minister Andrew Little announced the countrys willingness to join AUKUS back in March, according to a report by Russia Today (RT). In a statement, he reiterated that Wellingtons legal and moral commitments to remain nuclear-free still stand. New Zealand also hopes to participate in the development of military technology such as AI, quantum computing and advanced information technology when it becomes part of AUKUS.

We have been offered the opportunity to talk about whether we could or wish to participate in that pillar two [non-nuclear] aspect of it, Little said. Ive indicated, we will be willing to explore it.

But according to the defense minister, the countrys Defense Force may have to upgrade some of its equipment  especially those related to communications  if it wants to join the bloc and keep up with American and Australian standards. According to Little, some of the countrys military technology is increasingly obsolete.

China has repeatedly decried the AUKUS bloc, which was established to deter Beijings influence in the Indo-Pacific region. Wang Wenbin, spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in March that the blocs three founding nations have gone further down the wrong and dangerous path for their own geopolitical self-interest.

Wang warned that the AUKUS deal would only motivate an arms race; damage the international nuclear nonproliferation regime; and harm regional stability and peace.

Visit NationalSecurity.news for more stories about the AUKUS bloc and other countries wanting to join it.

Watch former U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper lauding the AUKUS deal to supply nuclear submarines to Australia as an appropriate deterrent to Beijing.

This video is from the Chinese taking down EVIL CCP channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

China set to have PERMANENT presence near Australia via deals with South Pacific nations.

Thousands of Marines deployed to Australia in preparation for a possible war with CHINA.

U.S. warns China about plans to increase military drills in South China Sea region.

Sources include:

RT.com 1

RT.com 2

APNews.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) Dr. Steve Hotze and security specialist Tim Enlow discussed the unfolding immigration disaster at the southern border during the May 8 episode of The Dr. Hotze Report on Brighteon.TV.

With Title 42 ending Thursday, both Hotze and Enlow expect hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants will cross the border and seek asylum. Title 42 was instituted during the Trump administration as a health policy due to the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. (Related: MASS INVASION about to be unleashed against America as border restrictions end.

Title 42 stopped the entry of illegals at the border, Enlow said. He noted that Title 42 enjoyed more success than the Remain in Mexico policy, which allowed immigrants filing for asylum in the U.S. to remain in Mexico while their cases were being heard.

Almost two million people were turned away at the border because of Title 42, said Enlow, a former security officer who also worked in the military. President Joe Biden ended the Remain in Mexico policy last year.

Now that Title 42 is being lifted as well, immigrants can walk right back into America and file for asylum. They will be issued a blue form by the Border Patrol, which says they will be contacted when a hearing date is set in a year or two.

Enlow said the Bidens government doesnt really intend to assign a court date for these people as they come across the border. He noted that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) offices in New York are currently booked for asylum hearings through 2033. According to Enlow, both the Border Patrol and ICE have admitted that there is no way to effectively track these people entering the border.

Hotze agreed with his guest.

All these illegals are going to be over here. Only God knows where they are going to be dispersed to. And they can be lined up for a hearing to get asylum. But thats going to be a fraction of the people that are here. They are just going to assimilate into the culture and be illegal, Hotze said.

America will be looking at 3.6 million illegals coming every year

Enlow said the Border Patrol and ICE can no longer stop and turn away these people when Title 42 is officially lifted.

The protective security specialist added that America will be looking at 10,000 plus crossers a day coming into the U.S. through the southern border. That would be 3.6 million illegals coming into the U.S. every year.

According to Hotze, there are already 22 million illegal immigrants in America and nearly two million a year are coming over in the last two years under the Biden administration. The host noted that these people are not only coming from Mexico.

Back in the olden days, it would be people from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and other Central American nations. But now they are coming from all over the world, said Enlow, driving home Hotzes point. He added that military-age Chinese men are also coming across the border by the hundreds.

The former security contractor mentioned that thousands of illegals managed to cross the border even when Title 42 and Remain in Mexico policies were in place because Catholic Charities RGV, the Rio Grande Valley and other charities were facilitating their entry. These charities were working on both sides of the border and teaching these people where and how to get in, Enlow said. They were given assistance aside from clothing, food, money and cell phones, among others.

Hotze added that the United Nations and Homeland Security even set up tent cities for illegals all the way into Central America.

Follow BorderSecurity.news more news about the lifting of Title 42.

Watch the May 8 episode of The Dr. Hotze Report below. The Dr. Hotze Report airs every Monday and Saturday starting at 5 p.m. on Brighteon.TV.

More related stories:

As end of Title 42 looms, 90,000 illegals rush to Americas southern border over 10-day period.

Illegals pose as migrant children to get expedited access across U.S. border.

America Unhinged: Americans urgently need to know about US border issues, says border intel expert Jaeson Jones  Brighteon.TV.

Sources include:

Brighteon.com

LinkedIn.com
Dierra Henderson, a budtender at Luxury Leaf dispensary in St. Louis, checks in clients at the front door. (Photo by Rebecca Rivas/The Missouri Independent.)

Everyone working in Missouris cannabis industry would be required to submit to a fingerprint background check under legislation approved Thursday.

Under the constitutional amendment that voters passed in November to legalize recreational marijuana, only the owners of cannabis companies are required to submit their fingerprints to the Missouri Highway Patrol for a criminal background check. Employees currently undergo a background check but arent required to be fingerprinted.

On Thursday, the Missouri Senate voted 32-2 to pass legislation extending the fingerprinting requirement to all employees, contractors and volunteers of cannabis businesses. The bill also makes some revisions to the background check process for schools and child care facilities.

The bill now heads to the governors desk.

The measure had support from both the Department of Health and Human Services (DHSS), which oversees the states cannabis program, and the Missouri Cannabis Trade Association, which represents marijuana professionals and business owners.

However, the fingerprinting requirement could slow down the process of getting new cannabis employees to work, just as the state is seeing a surge in job growth, a cannabis human-resource specialist told The Independent in April.

While there was no discussion about the measure before the Senate vote on Thursday, bill sponsor Sen. Holly Thompson Rehder, R-Scott City, said the fingerprinting measure was a federal requirement, during debate in March.

So its putting us in line with federal regulations, she said.

The federal government doesnt regulate the marijuana industry in any way because its federally illegal. But the feds have given some guidance for states in the past.

The recreational or adult-use of cannabis has been approved in Washington, D.C., and 22 states, and the medical use has been legalized in 40 states.

Every state handles background checks differently.

In California, only owners are required to go through fingerprint-based criminal background checks, not employees. But Arizona requires fingerprint-based background checks for all employees, board members, owners and volunteers.

John Payne, founder and managing member of Amendment 2 Consultants, said lawmakers often refer to whats known as the Cole Memo as the basis for how they go about this process  which is likely what Rehder was referring to as well.

In 2013, then-U.S. Deputy Attorney General James Cole issued a memo to address the rise in states legalizing medical marijuana. Payne says it essentially was an agreement that the federal government was going to leave state marijuana programs alone, as long as they meet certain conditions.

One of those conditions was basically preventing people from organized crime from getting into the marijuana business, Payne said. It depends on what the background check is for, right? If its for people that have that sort of background, that would be reasonable.

Anyone who wants to work in the cannabis industry must get an agent ID badge through the state, which is when the background check occurs.

The 2018 constitutional amendment legalizing medical marijuana in Missouri  which was on the ballot as Amendment 2  required all owners, employees and contractors to go through a fingerprint-based background check for medical marijuana.

However, since Dec. 8 when the constitutional amendment legalizing recreational marijuana (Amendment 3) went into effect, DHSS stopped requiring fingerprinting for the ID badge applications of employees.

You have to attest to not committing disqualifying offenses, said Christy Essex, who runs the largest Missouri-based cannabis staffing company, Se7en Staffing & Employment Solutions. Right now, were able to get people to work within a 48-hour time period.

Adding in the fingerprinting process, she said, takes that up to 14 days to get an employee to work.

The constitution states that people with a disqualifying felony cant work in the industry, though it doesnt specify what types of felony offenses. It exempts marijuana offenses that are eligible for expungement. It also says that if its a nonviolent felony offense, employees are in the clear if it has been more than five years since the charge.

For other felonies, more than five years have passed since the person was released from parole or probation, and he or she has not been convicted of any subsequent felony criminal offenses, it states.

According to DHSS, a lot of their review is subjective.

What is written into law is then applied to each individual record, so it is a case-by-case analysis and cant simply be determined by a checklist of potential offenses, said Lisa Cox, a spokeswoman for DHSS, in an email to The Independent in April.

During committee hearings, DHSS representatives said the department supported the measure because it will help streamline the process, since Amendment 2 requires fingerprinting for medical marijuana while Amendment 3 does not.

Missouris job surge is best seen through the number of ID badge applications the state approves for new employees each month  its quadrupled since November.

In November, DHSS approved 264 badges. It doubled in December to more than 500 badges  and then doubled again to more than 1,000 in both January, February and March.

With the governors signature, the process would revert back to the original fingerprinting process before Amendment 3 went into effect.

Essex said the challenge she sees is that there werent enough vendors that take the fingerprints to keep pace with the employees for medical marijuana, particularly in the larger cities like Kansas City and St. Louis. Employees had a hard time getting appointments with vendors.

Hopefully if they do implement the fingerprinting again, Essex told The Independent in April, therell be more providers in the state of Missouri that will be able to deal with a large quantity of candidates.
(Natural News) Drone footage taken along Rio Grande, the river that serves as the natural border between most of Mexico and the United States, shows sprawling tent encampments stretching out all over the border.

Hundreds of people reside in a massive camp made of tents and other dwellings with thin blue plastic sheets acting as roofs right outside of Brownsville, near the southern tip of Texas. (Related: Thousands of migrants set to flood the US once Title 42 expires this week.)

The drone footage also shows an enormous line of illegal immigrants who recently crossed into Brownsville. Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin, who shared the footage, noted that a large majority of the illegals are single adults.

Nonstop flow of illegal crossings here in Brownsville. Working on scripts in my car and look at the window and see another large group gathering for processing after crossing over, wrote Melugin on his Twitter account. Border Patrol buses have been coming and going constantly. Its going to be a very busy week.

Brownsville is one of the key spots along the border where officials have noted that the illegal immigrants are congregating in the thousands in order to cross, with the other notable crossing points being El Paso, Texas and Yuma, Arizona. But similar situations are developing and getting worse all along the nearly 2,000 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border.

NEW: Remarkable video from our Fox drone team shows an enormous line of hundreds of migrants who just crossed illegally into Brownsville, TX this evening. A large majority of them are single adults. The RGV continues to see a massive surge of illegal crossings ahead of T42 drop. pic.twitter.com/xHDV8sc8PD  Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) May 8, 2023

Hundreds of thousands of illegals expected to pour across the border as Title 42 ends

Title 42, introduced in March 2020 in response to the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, allowed Border Patrol to expedite the removal of migrants who crossed the border illegally, without giving them the opportunity to apply for asylum and be given protections, under the guise of protecting public health.

The policy was controversial from the beginning, with critics arguing that it violated international law and put vulnerable people at risk. President Joe Biden has been slowly chipping away at it since taking office.

In July 2021, a federal judge ruled that Title 42 cant be used to expel families with young children. Earlier this year, Biden announced that he would not be extending Title 42, which would allow potentially hundreds of thousands more illegals to cross the border and be given asylum protections as well as many other taxpayer-funded services by the federal government.

[Department of Homeland Security] and Border Patrol are warning there are an estimated 700,000 migrants in Mexico ready to rush the border when Title 42 is lifted on May 11, said Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia. Migrants are coming because Joe Biden opened our border to the entire world and the American people have to pay for it all and live with the national security implications and dangerous consequences.

Current estimates by Customs and Border Patrol suggest that around 10,000 illegals are crossing the border every day.

Learn more about the coming flood of illegal immigrants at InvasionUSA.news.

Watch this clip of Texas Department of Public Safety spokesperson Lt. Chris Olivarez talking about the illegal crossings along the Rio Grande.

This video is from the Galactic Storm channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott deploys special border force in preparation for influx of illegal aliens as Title 42 expires.

Invasion force of more than 700,000 migrants to be pushed across US border after Biden ends Title 42 this week.

STAGING FOR THE INVASION: Migrants from around the world are FLYING to Americas southern border to enter illegally after Title 42 expires.

As end of Title 42 looms, 90,000 illegals rush to Americas southern border over 10-day period.

Mexico-based cartels gearing up to flood America with up to one million illegal aliens after Biden opens the border by dropping Title 42.

Sources include:

DailyMail.co.uk

NTD.com

BreakingDigest.com

FreeTheWords.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) Recently resurfaced writings by Serbian-American inventor and engineer Nikola Tesla seemingly predicted the development of artificial intelligence and its rise as a groundbreaking piece of technology.

Tesla, a pioneer of technology and of the use of electricity, wrote over 120 years ago some eerily accurate predictions about the emergence of a machine with its own mind. (Related: Entrepreneur Ian Hogarth warns reckless development of AI could lead to the destruction of humanity.)

I purpose to show that, however impossible it may now seem, an automaton may be contrived which will have its own mind,' wrote Tesla in an essay titled The Problem of Increasing Human Energy in the now-defunct monthly magazine, The Century Magazine, in its June 1900 edition.

And by this I mean that it will be able, independent of any operator, left entirely to itself, to perform, in response to external influences affecting its sensitive organs, a great variety of acts and operations as if it had intelligence, continued Tesla.

It will be able to follow a course laid out or to obey orders given far in advance; it will be capable of distinguishing between what it ought and what it ought not to do, and of making experiences or, otherwise stated, of recording impressions which will definitely affect its subsequent actions.

For years before and after this essay, Tesla had been thinking of AI. In one letter to a professor at Purdue University written in the 1890s, Tesla explained how, in his experiments with radio-controlled technology, he was also thinking about future inventions involving machines possessed of their own intelligence. Although he believed that he himself would be the inventor of such a machine.

Since that time I had advanced greatly in the evolution of the invention and think that the time is not distant when I shall show an automaton which, left to itself, will act as though possessed of reason and without any willful control from the outside, wrote Tesla.

This statement cuts very close to the worlds general understanding of AI as non-living beings that are able to simulate human intelligence and can carry out various tasks, either on their own or based on prompts by humans.

Whatever be the practical possibilities of such an achievement, it will mark the beginning of a new epoch in mechanics, wrote Tesla.

Tesla also concerned with unrestricted development of AI

Tesla, born in the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1856 and moved to the United States in his late 20s, is famed for inventions like the Tesla coil, hydroelectric power and his work on developing a radio. He is also known for predicting a variety of modern inventions, like the creation of unmanned vehicles, wireless technology and even modern-day cell phones, which he referred to as vest-pocket technology.

His resurfaced prediction about automatons act as a surprisingly prescient forecast of the development of AI. James Sikorski, a member of the History and Collections Committee at the Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe in Long Island, New York, noted that Tesla previously described AI, to which he gave the name teleautomaton, as having a borrowed mind.

This perhaps better illustrates the potential benefits, yet dangers, of unrestricted AI  for where the mind is borrowed from could make all the difference since it will be built upon the work of human beings who may be unable to contain their inherent flaws or biases, said Sikorski in an interview with Fox News Digital. Tesla did foresee an age of machines thinking independently of humans.

Learn more about the rise of artificial intelligence tech at Robotics.news.

Watch this special video report from Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, about how AI being built by leftists will be used to annihilate the human race.

This video is from the Health Ranger Report channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Godfather of AI quits Google, warns of risks associated with the technology he helped develop.

First AI murder of a human? Man reportedly kills himself after artificial intelligence chatbot encouraged him to sacrifice himself to stop global warming.

Ex-Google engineer warns Microsofts AI-powered Bing chatbot could be sentient.

Microsofts AI chatbot goes haywire  gets depressed, threatens to sue and harm detractors.

AI is currently the greatest threat to humanity, warns investigative reporter Millie Weaver.

Sources include:

FoxNews.com

DailyMail.co.uk

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) An Ohio man who owns a Rivian R1T fully electric pickup truck was just billed $42,000 to get his vehicle fixed following a fender bender.

The victim of this massive repair bill is Chris Apfelstadt, a landscaper from Columbus, Ohio. He recounted the incident in a post on Facebook group Rivian Electric Vehicles Discussion for fans of electric car company Rivians EVs. (Related: EV owners complain about logistical nightmare caused by lack of charging stations.)

According to Apfelstadt, in early February his R1T was rear-ended at a relatively low speed, low enough that no airbags or alarms went off in his vehicle, but clearly fast enough to cause significant damage.

Pictures of the incident he shared on social media show that the accident only caused minor damage to the rear bumper of his pickup  although the damage to the hood and front bumper of the sedan that hit Apfelstadts car look more significant.

Apfelstadt ended up waiting over two months before repairs could finally be done on his vehicle. The insurance company of the driver that rear-ended him assessed that the damage to the other vehicle would cost $1,600 and wrote him a check for that amount. However, he later found out that he would be spending so much more just to repair his own car.

To get his R1T repaired, Apfelstadt contacted Rivian, who told him to go to one of the three certified body shops in Ohio for Rivian vehicles.

The body shop Apfelstadt went to was supposedly very thorough and meticulous about the whole repair process, documenting each step with photographs. But they also for some reason disassembled most of the R1Ts rear section, including the rear window. This additional work on the R1T ended up costing Apfelstadt over $42,000. Fortunately for Apfelstadt, the at-fault drivers insurance covered the entire repair bill.

They did an incredible job and my R1T looks as nice as the day it was shipped, commented Apfelstadt. I have heard that Rivian made some concessions in the repairability in order to keep the aesthetics a certain way. All I know is that this is a very expensive vehicle to fix!

$42,000 repair for a dented rear bumper on a Rivian R1T? Also, something doesnt add up here, why did they remove the rear glass? pic.twitter.com/VJal1jwjtO  13rendan88 ?? (@13rendan88) May 2, 2023

Costly repairs turn people away from EVs

Many of the commenters in the group questioned why the repair bill cost over $42,000, suggesting that something fishy might be going on.

This is 100 percent insurance fraud on behalf of this authorized repair facility, commented one person. Clearly they are taking advantage of the fact this is an extremely new platform to justify egregious costs. Unless it takes 300 hours to remove the bed and rear glass  for no reason at all it would seem  and reassemble, how in the world is this a $42,000 repair? Ive seen [Lamborghini] Aventadors have entire rear carbon sections repaired and repainted for less than that.

Were buying electric cars for sustainability reasons, said Matthew Avery of Thatcham Research, an automotive risk intelligence company. But an EV isnt very sustainable if youve got to throw the battery away after a minor collision.

In an email to Just The News, Apfelstadt stated that he did not buy the Rivian for any political or environmental motive, rather he simply liked the brand and loved the look of the truck.

However, he pointed out that potential EV owners probably should not buy an EV or even a new ICE [internal combustion engine] car if they cant afford the repair costs. This illustrates the broader concern that electric vehicles, despite being touted as supposedly friendlier to people with smaller budgets, could surprise owners with painful hidden costs.

Learn more about the deficiencies of electric vehicles at FlyingCars.news.

Watch this video from TFL Truck showing how the publication conducted a range test showing how the battery-powered Rivian R1T failed to tow a 2,000-lb trailer farther than a regular internal combustion engine Toyota Tundra.

This video is from the channel Daily Videos on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

EV NIGHTMARE: Man spends 15 hours to travel 178 miles, proving EVs are unsuitable for long-distance travel.

Test finds EV Ford F-150 Lightning has abysmally bad towing ability.

Electric vehicle entrepreneur struggles to find charging station for his car during road trip.

GO GREEN, GET BROKE: Test finds new electric Hummer costs over $100 to charge  more than it costs to fill up most gas tanks.

Range test finds gas pickup can tow 2,000-lb trailer 2.8 times farther than new electric pickup.

Sources include:

WND.com

WashingtonExaminer.com

JustTheNews.com

InsideEVs.com

CarScoops.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK Jr.) has made it clear that under no circumstances will he concede and join former President Donald Trump as the latters vice president.

The founder and general counsel of health freedom group Childrens Health Defense (CHD) quashed rumors of him joining Trumps ticket in a May 11 tweet. Just to quell any speculation, under no circumstances will I join Trump on an electoral ticket. Our positions on certain fundamental issues, our approaches to governance and our philosophies of leadership could not be further apart, he wrote.

The tweet from the nephew of former President John F. Kennedy came as a response to former White House chief strategist and podcast host Steve Bannon. Back in April, the Bannons War Room host said the younger Kennedy would be a good running mate for Trump in case former Arizona gubernatorial candidate and news anchor Kari Lake was unavailable.

If [Lake is] not available to be Trumps vice president, [RFK Jr.] would be an excellent choice for Trump to consider, Bannon said. The erstwhile adviser to the Trump campaign said his suggestion purportedly received a standing ovation during a public appearance.

Despite both candidates being on the other side of the fence  Trump under the Republican Party and RFK Jr. under the Democratic Party  both have several things in common.

Both Trump and RFK Jr. are hostile to the Deep State. They also espouse anti-establishment positions such as ending wars driven by the military-industrial complex and promoting free speech. Because of this, the mainstream media also holds a deep hatred of both the real estate mogul and the health freedom advocate.

Some leftist commentators, however, decried both Bannons suggestion and the prospect of RFK Jr. becoming the chief executive.

[RFK Jr.s] anti-vax beliefs have long been associated with far-right figures, remarked LI News Radio host Jay Oliver. He also cited the CHD founders appearances on Fox News to spew so-called conspiracy theories.

Patricia Crouse, a political science practitioner at the University of New Haven in Connecticut, said Bannon is just trying to stir the pot with his remarks. She added that RFK Jr. has zero chance of winning the nomination and that the Kennedy legacy will not help him.

Some Democrats may appreciate his environmental views, but the majority of his other political positions are too extreme for Democrats or even independents, Crouse said. Although he has the Kennedy name, I dont think this will help him  especially considering many in his family have openly opposed his views, specifically his anti-vaccination views.

RFK Jr. slams DNC over no primary debates stance

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) has no plans to organize any primary debates despite the presence of candidates such as RFK Jr. and former California congressional candidate Marianne Williamson.

Because of this, RFK Jr. criticized the lack of primary debates. During an April 2023 appearance on Breitbart News Sunday, he remarked that this refusal to organize primary debates only serves as confirmation that the system is rigged.

The DNC, at this point, has taken the official position that there will be no debate, he said. I think thats unfortunate. (Related: Dems running cover for Bidens cognitive decline as Pelosi claims There shouldnt be any Trump-Biden debates.)

There are too many Americans who already think that the whole system is rigged against them. This is confirmation of that, and I think thats troubling. When you have so many Americans who are concerned about election integrity, we should be doing everything we can  to show that this is not rigged.

Visit RFK.news for more stories about RFK Jr. and the Democratic Party.

Watch this interview between Health Ranger Mike Adams and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. about election integrity, free speech, border security and more.

This video is from the Health Ranger Report channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

ABC News censors Robert F. Kennedy Jr.s criticisms against covid vaccines.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announces potential run against Biden for the 2024 presidency.

RFK Jr. commits to making America an EXEMPLARY DEMOCRACY again in 2024 presidential bid.

RFK Jr. warns: There is no time in history where the people censoring speech were the good guys.

BOLD LEADERSHIP: RFK Jr. blasts Biden in latest campaign speech  My mission  will be to end the corrupt merger of state and corporate power.

Sources include:

YourNews.com

Newsweek.com

Breitbart.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) China and Russia have been preparing for war and building their armed forces for years. For more than a decade, however, Americas military has gone woke and all four branches are facing recruiting shortages.

(Article by David Fiorazo republished from HarbingersDaily.com)

What did the U.S. Navy do? They have a drag queen as a digital ambassador, of course. Some critics suggest the weakening of the military is an intentional part of a larger agenda by the left to drag America down to socialism. Pun intended.

Is this a purposeful attempt to sabotage the armed forces, national defense, and therefore, the nation? Most likely.

But the controversial and desperate move may be backfiring. This in the wake of every U.S. military branch falling short of recruiting goals for the second straight year.

So Navy brass thought Joshua Kelley, an active-duty sailor who identifies as non-binary and performs by the name of Harpy Daniels, would be just the ticket to draw new recruits. What could go wrong?

This Pentagon-approved wokeness may be comparable to popular social media influencer, Dylan Mulvaney, the female imposter endorsed by Bud Light. This has led to a more than 17% dive in sales. We might say Anheuser Busch saw what the Navy had been doing since November of 2022 and literally said, Hold my beer.

Plummeting Bud Light sales and its marketing catastrophe is a joke to American citizens. A weakened military, however, and sailors jumping the proverbial Navy ship is a major national security concern.

According to American Family Network (AFN), the Navy is facing much worse problems than declining sales of watered-down beer.

Tabletop exercises imagining war with China in the Taiwan Straits have ended with nightmare scenarios. In more than one scenario, the U.S. Navy loses two aircraft carriers, and the 10,000 sailors on them, to the Peoples Liberation Army.

Under the Biden Democrats, the Navy lectured sailors last year about proper pronoun usage as public confidence in the U.S. military dropped to 48% according to the Ronald Reagan Institute. Thats down from 70% in 2018 during the Trump administration.

What did people cite as the primary reason for the decline? A politicized military.

The Army also missed its recruiting goal last year by 15,000. For those keeping score at home, thats 25% short of its recruitment goal.

Dan Crenshaw, Texas Representative, retired Navy lieutenant commander, and former Navy SEAL questioned the current direction of the military and suggested China and Russia are watching us closely. In an Instagram post, Crenshaw shared photos of Joshua Kelley in his naval uniform and also in drag. Crenshaw states:

Did we learn nothing from Bud Light? Obviously the Navy didnt.

Crenshaw added that the U.S. cannot afford to suffer in military readiness for the sake of pushing the lefts woke narrative.

How can people not think that military readiness doesnt seem to be a priority. So how about the opportunistic queen himself?

A story about Kelley was published at MilitaryTimes.com entitled, Sailor by day, performer by night  meet the Navys drag queen, Harpy Daniels. He said,

I never knew a man could embrace his femininity in a creative and entertaining way like that, and I knew its what I wanted to do, the sailor said. Doing drag allows me to embrace my feminine side and allows me to bring my diversity and creativity out.

Just what the military needs, men who embrace their feminine side. For some reason, that news release no longer appears at the Navys official website.

Another Veteran, Graham Allen, a conservative commentator, criticized Kelley and the drag videos saying,

This is not the same military I served under Our enemies LAUGH at us; he continued, We stormed the beaches of Normandy. Raised the flag in Iwo Jima. Eliminated Osama Bin Laden. Now we are known for this

Just last week, Kelley responded to Graham and other critics by playing the martyr and claiming the military is the largest diverse, and adaptable organization in the US. He defended his position stating:

You only want to support the military when it benefits you and doesnt involve queer people.  Well, as a service member, a queen, and an open queer person, you dont scare me and you wont stop the LGBTQ+ community [from] thriving,

No ones trying to scare or intimidate you, sir. The problem is whether or not your behavior is appropriate. Youre on the Navys dime and they are losing respect and credibility.

Robert ONeill, a Navy SEAL who helped kill Osama bin Laden in 2011 is fuming over the fiasco. He tweeted:

Alright. The U.S. Navy is now using an enlisted sailor Drag Queen as a recruiter. Im done. China is going to destroy us. YOU GOT THIS NAVY. I cant believe I fought for this bulls__t.

ONeill delivered the fatal blow to bin Laden during the raid in Pakistan and he has since published two books since leaving the military in 2014.

Lets just mention comments from one more Veteran. Matthew Lohmeier, former commander of the 11th Space Warning Squadron in Colorado, was fired in 2021 for criticizing Marxism. He states:

These days, the American people see this and think this has become our military. And so first and foremost, I think its important that I should say thank you to the good men and women who nobly serve our country in uniform every day of their lives  because they show up believing in the greatness of the American ideal, and because theyre willing to lay their life on the line in defense of this country,

Agreed. We know this direction under the Biden administration is likely not supported by most in our military and yet, the strength or in this case, weakness of a nation often reflects its leadership.

The U.S. military has in fact hosted numerous drag queen events for children  on military bases. These include drag queen story hour, bouncy houses, face painting, and goodie-bags. There has been some public backlash, but it is uncertain whether it has made a dent in delusional policies as one military bases spokesman called gender-bending events essential to military morale and readiness.

Host of Washington Watch, Family Research Councils Tony Perkins stated:

It is absolutely important that our military focus on its mission, and that is fighting and winning wars, not promoting drag queen story hours and the rest of this woke agenda,

Its sad this clown-show garbage makes the news rather than countless examples of courage in the military. Its a ridiculous distraction. And thats the point. Secular progressive ideologues are pushing perversion and wokus pocus  while Americas enemies are watching, and likely making strategic plans. This may not end well.

The agenda to grind America down, destroy institutions, and dismantle morality may be exactly what they planned all along. Its not surprising for those of us who pay attention, but just sad to see it being rolled out in our day and on our watch.

Editors Note:

In his article Destabilizing The World, author Hal Lindsey criticized the anti-Christian wokeness engulfing the American Military under President Biden.

The American planners forgot that wars are not won by military equipment, but by men  men who believe in the cause, and whose commitment and trustworthiness make them resolute and courageous. And that should deeply concern every US citizen because in recent years our military has changed, Lindsey explained. Instead of training men to win wars, we train them to be politically correct. Top levels of the military have changed their focus from readiness to wokeness.

Until recently, this country revered God and the Bible. That reverence put steel into Americas backbone, he underscored. The nation often failed to live up to Gods standards, but those standards freed the slaves and inspired the civil rights movement. Those standards became the basis for the Declaration of Independence and for the Bill of Rights. The United States now seems intent on throwing away this great heritage of faith  and with it the rights we once cherished.

Read more at: HarbingersDaily.com
(Natural News) The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin) recommended using wimmin in place of the word women, since the latter contains the word men.

(Article by Travis Morgan republished from CampusReform.org)

The suggestion was initially published on the universitys Financial and Administrative Services website under its Language Matters: Glossary of Terms.

Wimmin: A nonstandard spelling of the word women used by feminists to avoid the word ending in -men, read the glossary before it was removed from their website.

Christopher F. Rufo, a Manhattan Institute fellow and writer for City Journal, alleged it was after his finding of the recommendation that the university removed it from its Financial and Administrative Services website.

After I caught them recommending the word wimmin in place of women, University of Texas administrators have removed their Language Matters guide from the university website, he tweeted. Unfortunately for them, Ive archived the page and will report more next week.

He posted screenshots of the initial recommendation on Twitter:

After I caught them recommending the word wimmin in place of women, University of Texas administrators have removed their Language Matters guide from the university website. Unfortunately for them, Ive archived the page and will report more next week. pic.twitter.com/9z8ocFTaRK  Christopher F. Rufo ?? (@realchrisrufo) May 2, 2023

Jackson Paul, Chairman of the Young Conservatives of Texas chapter at UT Austin, disagreed with the glossary, but considered it totally in character for the UT administration, he told Campus Reform.

His initial reaction was exhaustion with the semantic treadmill wokeness has put us on, where the University continues to invent new words to avoid imaginary harms, serving merely to confuse language and waste resources.

Responding to why UT Austin removed the recommendation from the website, Brian Davis, a Senior Manager of Issues and Crisis Communications at the university told Fox News Digital The page was removed because it was not relevant to the work that Financial and Administrative Services performs.

Paul expressed skepticism, however.

Ultimately, I think the administration is very focused on risk management, and once the media was aware of the page, they decided the best way to minimize risk was to cut their losses and try to make the story go away quickly, he explained to Campus Reform.

This story shows the extent to which the modern University has become dominated by an inordinate focus on symbols over reality, Paul concluded.

We will not stop woke incidents like this from happening until we have fixed the deeper mysticism in our academic culture, which thinks you can change reality merely by changing the words we use to describe it.

Neither UT Austin nor Rufo responded to Campus Reforms request for comment in time for publication.

Read more at: CampusReform.org
(Natural News) Initially, it was thought that Joe Bidens open border policies were bad enough in contributing to a record number of migrants crossing into the U.S. illegally during his term thus far, but it turns out theres much more to it.

In fact, according to a revealing report published this week, the Biden regime has actually been coordinating with the Mexican government to send migrants over into the U.S. by the tens of thousands.

In recent days, large crowds of immigrants have formed on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande fully prepared to swim over well-worn crossing spots to Brownsville  but seemingly held back by unarmed Mexican immigration officials, the Center for Immigration Studies said in its report.

Over the course of several days recently on the Mexican side, a noticeable pattern emerged as approximately 3,000 immigrants per day crossed over to Brownsville without encountering opposition from either side.

An intriguing sequence of events unfolded; when signaled by Mexican immigration officers, a specific group of around 100-150 individuals from the larger crowd would simultaneously rise and swiftly make their way down the riverbank, bypassing the immigration officers and swimming across to reach America, CISs report said.

Upon investigation, it became apparent that this observed pattern was not a mere coincidence, the report states. The Center for Immigration Studies took the initiative to inquire with various Mexican immigration officers about the situation.

Through their inquiries, they discovered that the Department of Homeland Security under President Joe Biden had been coordinating these large-scale swims in collaboration with Mexicos immigration service, INM. These coordination efforts were carried out at senior levels using an encrypted Whatsapp channel, CIS noted.

According to the accounts provided by the officers, their superiors were in communication with officials from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The exchanges involved updates on the number of immigrants gathered and ready to cross the river at any specific moment. The coordination aimed to facilitate the smooth crossing of immigrants into the United States.

Were letting them know that theres a group of people ready to cross, one officer said, CISs report stated.

The report added:

The Americans on the other side would ask the Mexicans to hold back the migrants  not because such crossings are illegal and should be blocked and obstructed, but only until the Americans had finished processing the last batch into the country through Brownsville. Once the Americans felt they could take in more, they message the Mexicans that they are ready to receive them. Then, senior officials would radio the on-ground immigration officers, all of whom are equipped with radios.

Next, the officers signal to the waiting crowd to go forward and, once they figure enough are in the water, they cut off the rest and push and cajole them back into line until the Americans signal theyre ready again.

The Mexican officers said that the U.S. initiated the system beginning in late April. However, the exact reasons behind this initiation could only be speculated upon, with one possibility being the need to improve the management of the substantial surge in border crossings.

Nevertheless, the collaboration sheds light on the presence of Mexican immigration officers stationed at the river, raising numerous inquiries and prompting further investigation, CIS reported.

The process, which has never been publicized, amounts to a controlled-flow system most often used, controversially, by Colombia, Panama, and Costa Rica, to facilitate mass illegal migration to the U.S. border rather than incur the expense and trouble of blocking it in those countries, the organization continued.

The controlled flow facilitated by the Biden administrations Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in coordination with Mexico represents an exceptionally unusual policy by the United States.

Above all, this insane policy showcases a formal acceptance of illegal immigration and a government readiness to accommodate large-scale illegal immigration instead of taking measures to prevent, obstruct, or discourage it, as mandated by the law, CIS noted.

Sources include:

CIS.org

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Once a centrist on this particular issue, fake president Joe Biden and his occupying regime are now officially the most pro-abortion regime in the history of America.

Also wildly unpopular, the Biden regime is gunning for reelection in 2024 on the most pro-death platform in American political history.

Back in the 1970s and 1980s, Biden, a political fossil, held much different views. In 1974, then-Sen. Biden told a reporter that a woman should not have the sole right to say what should happen to her body. Later in 1982, he voted in favor of an amendment that would have allowed individual states to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Fast-forward to today and Biden is promoting child-grooming drag queens; filling his cabinet with mentally ill transgenders; and pushing for as much baby murder as it can possibly get away with while still getting enough votes to steal the show once again in the next election cycle.

(Related: Part of Bidens abortion agenda involves forcing Christian doctors to perform them, thus violating their own religious beliefs and conscience.)

Biden and his puppet master Obama love to murder unborn children

Immediately after stealing office in January of 2021, Biden observed the 48th anniversary of Roe by describing it as a foundational precedent to be celebrated. That same month, the fake president signed an executive order repealing the Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance Policy, which prohibited global health funds from being spent on abortions overseas.

Biden also withdrew the United States from the Geneva Consensus Declaration, a 34-country agreement declaring abortion to not be an international human right.

In March of 2021, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced a Biden regime plan to repeal the rule that blocks family planning funds from going towards organizations or clinics that perform abortions or provide abortion referrals.

Biden and his cronies are also now going after states that, following the overturning of Roe, have taken steps to protect the rights and lives of the unborn. In Texas, for instance, Bidens people filed a lawsuit against the state over its Texas Heartbeat Act.

Then the White House issued a statement supporting the Womens Health Protection Act, which would enshrine into federal law a womans right to murder her unborn baby all the way up to the ninth month of pregnancy.

Biden has also repeatedly delivered speeches supporting and promoting abortion, which on top of all the other things he has done makes him the most pro-abortion president by far in American history.

When Roe was overturned, Biden was trotted out to say that the Supreme Court decision casts a dark shadow over a large swath of the land. A couple days later, Biden called for an exception to the Senate filibuster that would codify into law the right to abortion.

Last summer, Biden issued another executive order calling for a convention of lawyers to sue all pro-life legislation across the land, as well as convene an interagency task force whose purpose it is to promote abortion.

Last September, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs announced that, in alignment with the wishes of the Biden regime, its facilities will now offer free  meaning taxpayer-funded  abortions for veterans.

Since the Biden regime is really just Barack Hussein Obamas third term in disguise, all of this is also a product of that trainwreck of an administration, in which Biden held the second-highest spot as vice president.

In a relatively short time, the Biden administration has secured its place as the most energetic, forceful defender of abortion in the nations history, reports Harbingers Daily.

The president has made it clear through executive orders, statements of administrative policy, personnel appointments, and personal advocacy that expanding access to abortion is among his top priorities.

The latest news about the left wings obsession with baby murder can be found at Infanticide.news.

Sources for this article include:

HarbingersDaily.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Rep. James Comer (R-KY), chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, revealed that different members of the Biden family received money from various individuals in a massive and complicated money laundering scheme.

During a press conference where he was flanked by Republican committee members, Comer said smoking gun bank records serving as evidence to these corrupt deals were uncovered by his committees investigation into the Biden familys influence-peddling schemes. He pointed to financial records tracing at least $10 million from foreign nationals and related companies to nine members of the Biden family and their close associates.

In a memorandum, investigators described examining thousands of bank records and legal documents showing nearly two dozen limited liability corporations (LLCs) established by the crime family members to receive payments from.

Biden family members and business associates created a web of over 20 companies  most were LLCs formed during [incumbent President] Joes vice presidency, the paper included. The committee has identified payments to Biden family members from foreign companies while Joe served as vice president and after he left public office.

The memorandum also explained: Despite creating many companies after Vice President Biden took office, the Biden family used business associates companies to receive millions of dollars from foreign companies. After foreign companies sent money to business associates companies, the Bidens received incremental payments over time to different bank accounts.

These complicated financial transactions appear to conceal the source of the funds and reduce the conspicuousness of the total amounts made into the Biden bank accounts. Chinese nationals and companies with significant ties to Chinese intelligence and the Chinese Communist Party hid the source of the funds by layering domestic limited liability companies, it added. (Related: Hunter Biden, other members of Biden family received MILLIONS from business associate linked to CCP.)

A press release from the committee said it is crafting legislative solutions to prevent this corruption.

FBI rejects Comers request for documents that further implicate Bidens

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), in its tradition of sticking up for the corrupt Deep State, turned down Comers request to access sensitive documents. According to GOP members of Congress, these documents could further reveal criminal activity involving the various members of the Biden family.

Comer and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) originally requested the materials by means of a May 3 letter, specifically asking for an unclassified document detailing an alleged criminal scheme involving then-Vice President Biden and a foreign national relating to the exchange of money for policy decisions. The two lawmakers cited highly credible unclassified whistleblower disclosures as proof of the documents existence.

In a separate letter, Comer requested the law enforcement agency to produce FD-1023 forms created or modified in June 2020 that include the word Biden. FD-1023 forms are records of interactions with confidential sources. The Kentucky congressman also requested that any accompanying attachments or documents to these forms be included in the submission.

Christopher Dunham, FBI acting assistant director for congressional affairs, replied to the congressman that the agency was bound by the policies of the Department of Justice (DOJ)  its parent agency. The DOJ strictly limits when and how confidential human source information can be provided outside of the FBI, he said. Dunham nevertheless reiterated that the agency is committed to beginning the constitutionally mandated accommodation process.

Comer did not take too kindly to Dunhams reply, alleging that the FBI is obviously blocking his request.

Its clear from the FBIs response that the unclassified record the [House] Oversight Committee subpoenaed exists, but they are refusing to provide it, he said in a statement. Weve asked the FBI to not only provide this record but to also inform us what it did to investigate these allegations. The FBI has failed to do both.

BidenCrimeFamily.news has more stories related to the Bidens illegal business dealings.

Watch Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) expounding on the Biden familys influence-peddling scheme below.

This video is from the GalacticStorm channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Biden family member received cut of $3M wire from CCP-linked individuals.

Schweizer: Biden China ties are like if Reagans, Carters took money from KGB-linked businessmen during Cold War.

REVEALED: China sent Hunter Biden a 3-carat diamond at about the same time Joe Biden was stealing and relocating classified documents (VIDEO).

EXCLUSIVE: The Bidens fixed crimes by corrupt actors for a fee  Hunter made $1 million for connecting Chinese actor with US attorney.

Sources include:

YourNews.com

Oversight.House.gov 1

NBCNews.com

Oversight.House.gov 2 [PDF]

Oversight.House.gov 3 [PDF]

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) All eyes are on the southern U.S.-Mexico border anticipating a border crisis with Title 42s expiry last May 11. But according to Michigan gubernatorial candidate Donna Brandenburg, the U.S.-Canada border in the north is also worth looking at due to the indescribable human trafficking that occurs there.

She revealed this fact during the May 5 episode of America Unhinged on Brighteon.TV, with Heather Hobbs filling in for regular program host Dr. John Diamond. Brandenburg, who is running for Michigans governor under the Constitution Party, told Hobbs that border polices at the north are very lax. Even 16-year-old teenagers are given passes solely on the basis that they look 25 years old, she added.

A report by ABC affiliate channel WXYZ 7 highlighted the repercussions of Title 42s expiry on the Great Lakes State, where Brandenburg seeks to become governor of. According to Jane Garcia of Latin Americans for Social and Economic Development, Michigans border with Canada is also a key area for those attempting to enter the U.S. illegally from Central America and South America.

[The illegal immigrants] are going to try and come in wherever they can. You have to remember: Theres a lot of people  from different countries, said Garcia. Theres a lot of people fearful of whats going to happen, and arent going to know how to react to it.

The gubernatorial candidate also pointed out that aside from human trafficking, the northern border also sees money laundering and drug smuggling. She continued that the Deep State is behind a lot of these crimes, thus they never get addressed.

Every single person in the Michigan Legislature has committed treason, and we have [Gov.] Gretchen Whitmer sitting on top as the tyrannical dictator, Brandenburg said. None of them stood up for the state when they locked us down. It was against the Constitution and none of them are moving to stop the human trafficking and address money laundering. The money going into the corporations is really huge.

CPS being weaponized by leftist groups

Brandenburg recounted how she received backlash with her expose on child trafficking.

I did a special on child trafficking with some investigators on the border. We uncovered a bunch of people who are using it for self-enrichment. They threatened me, but I said: Lets just throw this all into court. I love that because Im gonna find 50 jumps past you and all your connections, and youre all going down. And they got real quiet real quick.

She also denounced the Child Protective Services (CPS) system in Michigan, pointing out that it can be weaponized by leftist groups such as Black Lives Matter and Antifa. The gubernatorial candidate said CPS has its own all-powerful system that allows it to take peoples children even though there are no grounds for doing so.

Ive worked with a lot of police and sheriffs, and theres only so much they can do because CPS has become its own three-letter agency, she lamented. Its legal kidnapping.

Hobbs, who hails from Oregon, also agreed with her guest. She emphasized that corruption and child trafficking within the CPS system are rampant even at the Beaver State. (Related: His Glory broadcast: Child Protective Services is the largest child trafficking ring in history  Brighteon.TV.)

Watch the full May 5 episode of America Unhinged with Heather Hobbs and Donna Brandenburg below. Catch new episodes of the program every weekday at 9-10 a.m., every Saturday at 8-9 a.m. and every Sunday at 9-10 p.m. on Brighteon.TV.

More related stories:

Simply EVIL: States are taking away children from parents to collect money.

Child Protective Services launches Soviet-style armed raid on family to kidnap their 4-year-old autistic child this is REAL family separation, but Dems are silent.

The Zelenko Report: Joe Biden is the US kingpin of human trafficking, says Ann Vandersteel  Brighteon.TV.

Sources include:

Brighteon.com

WXYZ.com
Robust Cannabis has a 75,000-square-foot greenhouse in Cuba, Mo. and uses organic growing methods. (Rebecca Rivas/The Missouri Independent)

Missouris marijuana businesses would have fewer obstacles when it comes to accessing banking, under legislation approved Thursday.

Few banks nationwide serve cannabis businesses and their owners  or even their auxiliary partners  because most want nothing to do with a business that sells a product the federal government still considers illegal. Thats true even in states that have legalized marijuana.

On Friday, the Missouri House passed a bill allowing marijuana business owners to sign a waiver giving permission for state agencies to share their licensing and inspection information with their financial institutions.

The feds have advised banks that they can provide services to the marijuana industry if they follow the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) guidelines.

FinCEN requires banks to inspect every facility and licensee to make sure theyre legal and reputable  something the Department of Health and Senior Services, which oversees the states marijuana program, already does, said Jim Regna, CEO and founder of Triad Bank.

In lieu of doing our own inspections, Regna told lawmakers in March, itd be very, very helpful for us to be able to get this information from the Department of Health and Senior Services to make the program fluid and keep us in compliance with federal regulators.

The provision was part of a wide-ranging public safety bill that also includes requiring fingerprint background checks for all cannabis employees and contractors  language that also passed on a separate bill on Thursday.

The bill is now headed to the governors desk.

Sen. Steve Roberts, D-St. Louis, has sponsored the bill since 2021 and says it has passed out of the Senate committee every year but always stalled after that. His bill this year also passed out of the House Friday, and needs one more vote from the Senate.

Roberts said the information from DHSS on licenses is required for financial institutions to comply with the U.S. Department of Treasurys analysis to combat money laundering and other financial crimes.

This bill also permits agencies involved to share information, Roberts said during a hearing in February, so that the banks or credit unions may ensure the business is a legal cannabis business, paying taxes to the state of Missouri.

Republican Rep. Chad Perkins of Bowling Green also sponsored a bill this year. He told lawmakers during a March hearing that the bill is about giving banking institutions some protection if they chose to provide services to marijuana businesses.

If you were questionable about Amendment 3 last year, you would think that these banking industries have a right to a little more transparency, Perkins said. So I would think you would really want to support this.

The bill has support from the Missouri Division of Finance, the Missouri Bankers Association, the Missouri Credit Union Association, as well as The Missouri Cannabis Trade Association, which represents cannabis professionals and businesses.

Supporters also said helping cannabis businesses get access to banking is a public safety issue. Major credit card companies dont permit cannabis purchases. That means all transactions for cannabis businesses nationwide are done in cash.

Theres this divide between the federal and the state perspective on the topic that puts banks in a kind of tricky position, said Jackson Hataway, president of the Missouri Bankers Association.

That divide has left businesses unbanked, victims of frequent robberies and at the mercy of companies offering banking services for exorbitant fees  some that have now been deemed in violation of federal financial laws.

The association is advocating for the federal Safe Banking Act, which is proposed legislation aiming to allow banks to do business within states that have legalized marijuana. Its cleared the House several times, but has not yet passed.

So we remain in the current quagmire were stuck in, he said, where you have a lot of states like Missouri that have upward pressure from businesses to have a secure and safe banking environment. Because if theyre all cash, theyre very risky.
(Natural News) The Taiwanese government is resisting what is quickly coming into favor among a growing number of American leaders and diplomats: The destruction of the islands highly advanced semi-conductor plants, in order to avoid having them fall into the hands of invading Chinese forces.

Taiwans defense minister on Monday pushed back against the idea of the US bombing the islands semiconductor factories in the event of a Chinese invasion, AntiWar.com reported this week.

Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) recently made a statement suggesting that the United States should convey a strong message to China about the consequences and make it very clear to the Chinese that if you invade Taiwan, were going to blow up TSMC  referring to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, which produces the majority of the worlds advanced semiconductors.

Taiwanese Defense Minister, Chiu Kuo-cheng, responded to Moultons comments by stating that the islands military would not allow such an occurrence.

It is the militarys obligation to defend Taiwan and we will not tolerate any others blowing up our facilities, he said, according to The South China Morning Post.

The concept of targeting Taiwans chip manufacturing facilities to prevent them from falling into Chinese control is gaining traction in Washington. A 2021 paper published by the US Army War College proposed that the United States and Taiwan should strategize for scorched-earth tactics that would make it not just unattractive if ever seized by force, but positively costly to maintain.

The paper went on to say that it could be done most effectively by threatening to destroy facilities belonging to the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, the most important chipmaker in the world and Chinas most important supplier.

The chipmaker is the worlds largest semiconductor manufacturer, with a market capitalization of over $500 billion. Founded in 1987, the company has become a key player in the global technology industry, producing chips for some of the biggest names in electronics.

TSMCs success can be attributed to its focus on innovation and customer satisfaction. The company invests heavily in research and development, constantly pushing the boundaries of what is possible in semiconductor manufacturing. TSMC is also known for its customer-centric approach, working closely with clients to develop customized solutions that meet their specific needs.

One of the key factors driving TSMCs success is its advanced manufacturing processes. The company uses cutting-edge technology to produce chips with smaller and more intricate components, allowing for faster processing speeds and lower power consumption. TSMC is also known for its commitment to sustainability, using renewable energy sources, and implementing environmentally-friendly practices throughout its operations.

TSMC has also played a key role in Taiwans economic development. The company is one of the largest employers in the country, with over 50,000 employees worldwide. TSMCs success has also helped to attract other high-tech companies to Taiwan, creating a thriving ecosystem of innovation and entrepreneurship.

In recent years, the company has seen significant growth in the automotive and Internet of Things (IoT) markets, as well as in the development of artificial intelligence (AI) and 5G technology. TSMC has also expanded its operations globally, opening new facilities  interestingly, in China, as well as the United States and Europe.

Meanwhile, Robert OBrien, who served as President Trumps national security advisor, told the outlet Semafor in March: The United States and its allies are never going to let those factories fall into Chinese hands.

He made a parallel between a historical event and the current situation, referring to the British bombing of the French naval fleet off the coast of Algeria in 1940. The purpose of that attack was to prevent the ships from falling into the hands of Nazi Germany. However, it resulted in the unfortunate loss of nearly 1,300 French sailors lives.

The Brits didnt allow the French fleet to remain intact so that it could have potentially gone to the Germans and changed the balance of power for the battle of the Atlantic, he said.

Sources include:

Semafor.com

TaiwanNews.com

SCMP.com
(Natural News) Ron Armstrong of the American Sovereignty Coalition (ASC) pointed out that the globalist World Health Organization (WHO) wants more authority in all future pandemics.

The WHO has been meeting behind closed doors for the last two months, he told Kristen Meghan during a May 8 appearance on her Vets & Visionaries podcast. They are looking at adopting amendments that have already been written and approved by the existing administration that will grant it further authority in all future pandemics and health-related issues.

Armstrong, a former city mayor, added that Americans need to understand that the people funding the WHO today are not the same ones as decades ago.

They did do very good work; they had an important role to play, he emphasized. But like many things that weve seen in our society, they have been hijacked because of money and because of influence with goals that are made to reduce and bring down the American economy [and] to basically begin to control the American population.

The president of grassroots organization Stand Up Michigan also pointed out that the current head of the WHO is an adherent of Marxism and communism. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has no background in medicine, healthcare or science. Despite this, he ascended to the global health bodys leadership in 2017.

This, Armstrong said, should make the people question those behind Tedros calling the shots when a worldwide health emergency starts. The ASC member ultimately stressed that Americans should not allow unelected bureaucrats inside and outside the U.S. to determine things to be done or step on their rights, freedoms and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution.

CCP is pulling all the strings for the WHO

Meghan, an Air Force veteran turned whistleblower, added that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is basically pulling all the strings for the WHO. She continued that it was evident back in previous outbreaks such as MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV-1.

I remember they got the green light. They believed everything that the CCP had said. Its no different than an organization doing their own investigation on themselves. So, when we hear the term follow the money  we have to follow the strings because the CCP has complete control over this. (Related: World Health Organization positioning to become global health dictator while masses are distracted with lab leaks.)

Meanwhile, Armstrong said the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that began in China was a test of how many Americans would respond, comply, conform and stand up. However, he lamented that the American people failed the test after succumbing to the fear of COVID-19.

The Vets & Visionaries host optimistically called on Americans to unite for a moment and talk about the WHOs plans to supersede national sovereignty during a health emergency. She reiterated that people have the power to contact their elected representatives to ensure this does not become reality.

Meghan also called on people to urge their congressmen to strive for the ultimate goal of the U.S. leaving the global health body. However, Armstrong remarked that this is more difficult than it looks as the Biden administration favors the WHO and the medical tyranny it espouses.

Watch the full conversation between Ron Armstrong and Kristen Meghan below.

This video is from the We The Patriots USA channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

TrustWHO documentary exposes widespread corruption at World Health Organization, driven by Bill Gates.

World Health Organization continues to put mad scientists in charge of global health, promoting medical fascism.

World Health Organization uses celebrities and influencers to try to manipulate the public, but is it working?

US proposes amendments to give WHO total control during health emergencies.

Right Now with Ann Vandersteel: US funnels $1B per year to WHO, says James Roguski  Brighteon.TV.

Sources include:

Brighteon.com

Breitbart.com
(Natural News) The moneychangers over at the World Bank have been actively funding communist Chinas military and human rights abuses, a new federal review of contracts has shown.

The U.S Government Accountability Office (GAO) published a report showing that the World Bank funneled $25 million in 2021 to various Chinese companies that are on the U.S. Treasury Departments Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctions lists, meaning nobody is supposed to be doing business with them.

Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps., for instance, received $7.1 million from the World Bank in 2021 for being a state-run paramilitary corporate conglomerate that is involved in a pervasive program of egregious rights violations that [affect] the most marginalized people in the Uyghur Region, explains another report by the Helena Kennedy Centre at the United Kingdoms Sheffield Hallam University.

The GAO report says that these and other findings could raise national security or foreign policy concerns for the U.S., as well as raise new questions about the role of the U.S. as the top financial contributor to the World Bank, which appears to be very closely aligned with communist China.

(Related: According to the World Bank, a global food crisis is coming  and it is supposedly Russias fault.)

Should the United States contribute anything at all to the World Bank?

In its defense, the World Bank told the Washington Free Beacon that it upholds a principle of universal / open eligibility, which guarantees that bidders from all our 189 member countries are eligible to bid for Bank-financed contracts.

The only exceptions are entities that are subject to sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council, a spokesman added.

Other Chinese-linked companies that received cash from the World Bank in 2021 include the China Communications Construction Company, which received a $6.8 million contract from a World Bank borrower.

The China Communications Construction Company, according to former secretary of state Mike Pompeo, is one of the leading contractors used by Beijing in its global One Belt One Road strategy, engaged in corruption, predatory financing, environmental destruction, and other abuses across the world.

Other Chinese-linked recipients of cash from the World Bank in 2021 include the China National Chemical Corp., Ltd., and China Mobile Communications Group Co., Ltd., both of which were sanctioned for their connections to the Chinese military.

There is also the China National Electronics Import & Export Corporation, which was sanctioned for attempting to undermine the democratic process in Venezuela.

A subsidiary of Huawei, another blacklisted Chinese company that is accused of engaging in corporate espionage and violating U.S. sanctions on Iran, also received $9 million in contracts from the World Bank the year prior in 2020.

The World Bank insists that it screens its contractors against the U.S. sanctions lists, but only for practical concerns related to transfers of money. The bank added that it does not permit use of [U.S. sanctions] or other national lists to determine eligibility for contract awards.

Borrowers are also allowed to find alternative payment routes, the World Bank indicated, in order to work with sanctioned contractors.

Because the World Bank does not include ownership names, addresses, or other identifying information in its public data, the GAO says it was unable to definitively identify all recipients of World Bank cash, despite making every effort to do so.

While the World Bank was created to support developing countries, companies in China  the worlds second-largest economy  are the biggest beneficiaries of its contracts, reports explain.

Businesses in China received 29.2 percent of all contract funding from the World Bank between 2013 and 2022, compared with 2.4 percent for U.S. companies and 4.4 percent for French companies, the GAO analysis found.

The latest news about banking, China, and the globalists can be found at Corruption.news.

Sources for this article include:

FreeBeacon.com

NaturalNews.com
Weather reports said that Washington D.C could expect a warmer and sunny conditions this week, as some parts of the United States could experience a rebound to warmth outlook and severe weather conditions.

The weather conditions in Washington, D.C, can be ideal for outdoor activities and travel plans. However, it is advisable to bring an umbrella if rounds of rain unload.

Recently, AccuWeather reported that Seattle and Portland could record hotter and warmer conditions this week, noting the potential spring heat wave in the Northwest.

Based on AccuWeather's outlook, the warming trend is expected to unfold in Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Salt Lake City.

Warmer weather outlook in Washington D.C

While some parts of the country struggle with severe weather outlook, the weather in Washington D.C could experience a mostly sunny outlook.

In the latest forecast, Washington Post's forecast explained that a hotter outlook could be likely, especially on Friday.

In the weather outlook, sunny conditions are expected, with a warmer outlook expected. The weather forecast said that the chances of stormy conditions could be like this coming weekend.

On the weekend, homeowners and motorists could expect possible showers in parts of Washington, D.C.

Meanwhile, residents in Washington should also check for potential warmer temperatures, especially people not used to hotter outlooks.

Outdoor workers and older adults can be at risk of potentially hotter temperatures. It is best to stay hydrated to avoid heat-related concerns.

Weather in other parts of the U.S

In the latest advisory, the National Weather Service (NWS) reported that severe thunderstorms could unload on Thursday, affecting portions of Central and Southern Plains.

The weather advisory warned of potential large hail and isolated tornadoes. The forecast added that homeowners should cause damaging winds and flooding concerns.

Also Read: US Weather Forecast: Mild Temperatures With Sunny Outlook Likely in New York City This Week

Furthermore, AccuWeather reported that portions of Texas could face potential flooding risks due to the severe weather outlook.

The forecast warned of potential hail and damaging winds that could damage buildings and trees. Power outages could also become possible.

The weather outlook showed severe thunderstorm conditions could unload on Thursday, bringing tornadoes and flooding downpours.

From Friday to Sunday, rainfall conditions could unfold in San Angelo, Dallas, Lubbock, Del Rio, San Antonio and Brownville.

Motorists should consider the weather outlook before traveling to affected areas with potential severe weather.

The rainfall could result in flooding risk and road closures. As mentioned, motorists should avoid flood-prone areas, noting potential slower commutes and travel disruptions.

On the contrary, the hurricane season is on the way. As a result, Americans should prepare for the potential impacts of hurricanes in the coming months.

Hurricane season could result in challenging weather outlook, unloading heavy rain and damaging winds. Preparing your house helps prevent casualties and property damage.

It is best to check for possible home repairs and preparedness, including keeping emergency kits at home.

Related Article: Portland, Seattle Likely to Experience Hotter Temperatures This Weekend As Record-Challenging Heat Unfolds in U.S

For more similar, don't forget to follow Nature World News.
Canadian wildfires have continued for several days as of Thursday, May 11, forcing the evacuation of thousands of people and burning a vast swathe of land in the country's western region.

Local authorities issued several states of emergency, as flames set ablaze the province of Alberta and its adjacent areas. While no fatalities have been recorded yet, the fires continue to remain a threat not only in the country.

Based on the latest reports on Thursday, wildfire smoke has turned skies foggy over major cities in the eastern United States, which could add to the severe weather in the U.S. region. In recent days, the U.S. East Coast experienced new rounds of severe thunderstorms following a week of tornadoes and other weather hazards.

With the Canadian wildfire smoke arriving to the U.S., some parts of the East Coast could experience potentially hazardous air pollutants, causing risk to respiratory health, as seen in previous cases. The hazy skies could also affect air travel, potentially resulting in delayed or cancel flights across North America.

Canada Wildfire Smoke

Ahead of the summer season, the wildfire season is too soon for Alberta at this time of the year, with smoke spreading thousands of miles and reaching major cities in eastern U.S., AccuWeather meteorologists reported. This comes as a 'milky haze' has also covered the skies over parts of Canada in recent days.

Wildfire smoke, in general, is more common during the year's hottest weather such as those during the summer season that spans from June to August in the Northern Hemisphere. In North America, the wildfire season peak is still months ahead. However, infernos are already raging in parts of Canada, above its historical averages, the meteorologists said.

Also Read: Extreme Wildfire in Canada Prompts State of Emergency, Evacuation for 29,000 People

Eastern U.S. Wildfire Smoke

The said massive cloud of smoke has reached south into the Canadian state of Ontario and parts of the U.S., including the New England and the mid-Atlantic regions, affecting major cities like New York City and Washington, D.C. The smoke was spotted from space by the GOES-EAST weather satellite of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), according to AccuWeather.

In particular, smoke from dozens of fires in Canada was massive enough to make its way into the atmosphere and spread to the northeastern U.S., resulting in colorful sunrises and sunsets, according to the website EarthSky.

Despite the ongoing Canada wildfires, there is no reported indication that it would spread into the U.S.

Wildfire Smoke Pollutants

With the smoke continuing to spread beyond Alberta and other Canadian provinces like British Columbia, the risk of air pollutants is increasing due to the presence of carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, and other toxic particulate matter.

Senior scientist Angela Yao from the B.C. Centre of Disease Control said the wildfire smoke can travel miles away from the actual fire and can get deep into the lungs and cause inflammation, as cited by Canada's Global News.

Related Article: Over 100 Wildfires in Western Canada Forces Evacuation of Nearly 25,000 People
Invasive hammerhead flatworms have lately been found in Texas as the climate warms.

Locals are urged by officials to carefully rid their homes of the bothersome annelids.

According to the Texas Invasive Species Institute (TISI), sightings of an invasive species of flatworms are being reported.

These worms are not only poisonous to some animals, but they also prey on other worm species.

Invasive Hammerhead Flatworms in Texas

The hammerhead flatworm is believed to have arrived in the nation in the early 1900s in landscaping supplies, but ever since then, its population has skyrocketed in hot, humid regions of the country.

The flatworms, according to experts, can reach lengths of up to a foot or more and are distinguished by having heads with a hammerhead shape.

According to Ashley Morgan-Olvera, the Texas Invasive Species Institute research director, invasive worms typically get pushed out by severe rains since they reside in the same habitat as earthworms.

The institute stated that whenever it receives a report of the invasive worms emerging from their underground ecosystems after the winter, it typically signifies they have been present in the area for some time but have either not been observed or reported by people.

Impossible Eradication

Complete eradication can be tricky as very few treatments lead to the insects' successful termination, and even when you believe they might be dead, regeneration can lead to the colony growing.

Morgan-Olvera added that they encourage everyone to eradicate the invasive worms from their backyard, but to absolutely declare that the invasive species are removed from the entire county is a highly challenging feat.

She went on to say that splitting a hammerhead flatworm into three parts would actually result in the birth of three young flatworms.

Therefore, authorities urged residents to put the worms they remove in a closed container.

This will ensure that the worms can't migrate and multiply, per FOX Weather.

The TISI advised wrapping the hammerhead flatworms in a Ziploc bag before discarding them to prevent them from crawling away later.

When parts of the hammerhead flatworms' bodies are removed, they can still reproduce.

It is advised to get rid of the entire worm because, according to TISI, if a piece of the worm is removed, a new head will start to grow within 10 days, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Also Read: Sea Lamprey Traps at $1.7 Million Will Protect Lake Huron from Invasive Species, Officials Say

Citrus Oil and Vinegar

In addition to physical removal, both citrus oil and vinegar have proven to be efficient in destroying annelids in addition to physical removal.

According to experts, hammerhead flatworms are major predators of common earthworms and, if not controlled, might cause a large population decline.

Due to unhealthier plants and worse ground compositions, the loss of earthworms can result in a lack of nutrients that are supposerd to be present in the soil and increased erosion.

To disseminate awareness of the problem posed by invasive species, the institution is collaborating with a variety of other organizations, FOX Weather reported.

Related Article: 5000 Polynesian Snails Released in Tahiti Might Eradicate Invasive African Snails
A 5.4 magnitude earthquake in Japan caused injuries and damage near the capital city of Tokyo and its surrounding areas on Thursday, May 11, according to reports. The quake's epicenter was recorded in Chiba Prefecture, located southeast of the capital.

Thursday's tremor occurred a week after a 6.5 magnitude earthquake struck the coast off Japan's western Ishikawa Prefecture, wherein it also resulted in injured people and some collapsed buildings.

The quakes came over a decade after Japan was hit by a powerful earthquake and tsunami, resulting in mass casualties, missing people, and widespread infrastructural damage.

Quake Hits Chiba

Details of the 5.4 magnitude quake hitting Chiba was confirmed by the Japan Meteorological Agency, which also said no tsunami warning was issued, as cited by The Seattle Times.

The tremors led to four wounded individuals. This includes a man who was struck by a falling ceiling light. Some rail service were also cancelled or delayed, according to the country's Kyodo news agency, as reported by Phys.org. There were no deaths reported during Thursday's earthquake.

Also Read: Japan Earthquake 2021: What Happened 10 Years Ago?

Pacific Ring of Fire

Japan sits in the horseshoe-shaped 'Ring of Fire,' a region in the Pacific Ocean where earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are common due to high seismic activities and movement of tectonic plates beneath the ocean. The region covers not only Japan but also coastal areas along the Bering Strait, Southeast Asia, Oceania, and countries across the western portions of the Americas.

In 2016, Melbourne University Associate Professor Mark Quigley told Australia's SBS News that the Ring of Fire received its name due to the volcanic activity around the Pacific plate boundary. Quigley said Japan is more likely to be hit by earthquakes than other countries that sits within the seismically active region.

The professor explains this is the case for the East Asian country since most active volcanoes are found along the Ring of Fire's western edge, throughout the islands of Japan and Southeast Asia to New Zealand. He adds the Pacific plate is moving further toward Japan each year.

2011 Japan Earthquake

In 2011, a calm day in Japan on March 11 turned into a catastrophe when a powerful 9.1 magnitude earthquake struck the nation's Tohoku region. It was followed by a tsunami, resulting in the total deaths of over 18,000 people, including several thousand others whose bodies were never recovered, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

The 2011 Japan earthquake, officially known as the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, was very powerful it forced the Japanese government to reinforce the northeastern coastline, which was hit by the tsunami, with fortified concrete seawalls as high as 50 feet, The Associated Press reported.

Since then, Japan's deadly 2011 earthquake has been known as the country's largest magnitude in recorded history and the world's third largest since 1990, the NOAA said.

Related Article: Japan Hit by 7.4 Magnitude Earthquake, Tsunami Warning Issued
A hammerhead shark weighing 1,000 pounds was caught by fishermen in southern Texas during a "long battle" last week, according to local reports. The anglers spent almost 90 minutes last Friday, May 5, attempting to pull the shark, measuring 14 feet and 4 inches long, in their boat. The size of the recent catch likely surpassed a similar shark species in Texas back in 2018.

Hammerhead sharks are only one of the several shark species in Texas waters, which also include blacktip sharks, bull sharks, bonnethead sharks, and spinner sharks. While catching different sharks are common, capturing giant sharks are rare. This is because there are a total of 40 shark species reportedly found in Texas waters off the Gulf of Mexico.

Southern Texas Shark Catch

One of the fishermen named, Glenn Laskowski, told local news KIII that "it was a battle" while they were catching the large shark, which they were able to land and see its true size. Afterward, they dehooked the fish and took some pictures of it before releasing the fish into the sea again, Newsweek reported. They uploaded the photos of the marine animal on Facebook.

In particular, the catch occurred off the water of JP Luby Beach on Padre Island, where Laskowski and his friend took their kids fishing using a 20-pound cownose stingray as a bait. After waiting two hours, the hammerhead shark finally took their bait, KIII reported.

Catching hammerhead sharks in Texas is legal and this is despite the predators being classified as "critically endangered" by the International Union for Conservation Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) on its 'Red List of Threatened Species,' according to Newsweek.

Also Read: Shark With 300 Teeth That Has Been on the Planet for 80 Million Years Is Captured in Portugal

Texas Shark Population

Texas has a healthy shark population, according to Dr. Kesley Banks of the Harte Research Institute at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, as cited by the Texas local news outlet. In fact, shark population in Texas waters has been increasing in recent years.

In 2019, scientists said the number of sharks are increasing off the Texas coast, News 4 San Antonio reported. The booming shark population comes despite fishermen in the past reported of catching large sharks along Texas beaches.

Shark Conservation Measures

In a local level, Texas authorities are reportedly implementing an effective shark conservation measure, including limitation on fishing for sharks.

According to the Texas Parks & Wildlife (TPWD), Texas angers are only allowed to catch one shark per person on a daily basis with a maximum possession limit of two sharks, based on regulations as of July 2016.

In addition to the said measure, the TPWD also provided a list below of some prohibited shark species that must not be retained and must be released immediately should an angler catch them:

Atlantic angel

Basking

Bigeye sand tiger

Caribbean reef

Galapagos

Related Article: Rare Megamouth Shark Caught Off Japanese Coast
In South Carolina's Congaree National Park, wild hogs are spreading their rage, causing damage to the soil and fireflies while also endangering the area's visitors.

Wild Hogs All Over US

Since the Spanish released wild hogs there in the 1500s, South Carolina's coast has been home to these animals. Their historical distribution was confined to the floodplains of significant river systems.

Early in the 1990s, Eurasian wild hogs were introduced to the state's highlands.

Only 26 counties had wild pigs in the 1980s, and the distribution typically matched that of their historical range.

According to the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, wild pigs had been discovered by 2008 in all 46 counties, including tiny, dispersed populations in Piedmont that were associated with recent human translocations.

The wild animals have been digging in soft dirt in Congaree National Park, which the wild hogs enjoy.

Now, rangers want to stop the wild hogs before they approach park visitors too closely.

No More Fireflies

Hog damage has been observed over the past few weeks, according to park guards like Jon Manchester. To address this issue, the park is now working with the USDA.

Manchester promises to procure as many hogs as possible.

Some of the most recent damage occurred only a stairway away from the visitor center as the hogs slowly started to make their way toward the front of the park.

These enormous creatures may be having an adverse effect on the Congaree National Park's firefly population in addition to digging up the ground.

Manchester clarified that because the firefly larvae live in the soil, they are concerned about the hogs poking around there.

He continued to say that a big concern is the wild hogs killing all the firefly larvae on the soil. There is a chance that there won't be any more fireflies as a result of their impact if they do enough harm over a few years.

Also Read: Swine Reproductive Performance Improvement Research Funded at $650k, Might Solve World Hunger

Scary Wild Hogs

Madison Tankersly, an 18-year-old hog hunter, claims that not only may these wild animals be dangerous to other species, but also to people.

The wild hogs, according to Tankersly, are frightening and not like your typical pink pig that is all cuddly and sweet. The males of the boars have tusks, and when they have young, the females become quite hostile.

The park will start managing the hogs on the nights of May 17 through May 18, and they will do it again on the nights of May 25 through May 26.

The park rangers guarantee that this year's synchronized firefly event won't be affected by feral hog management, News19 reported.

2023 Fireflies Viewing Event

Only three of the more than 2,000 species of synchronous fireflies that exist worldwide are found in North America.

Every year, between the middle of May and the middle of June, Congaree National Park is home to synchronous fireflies for roughly two weeks.

Visitors can witness a breathtaking show of synchronous flashing during this time as the fireflies look for a partner. This rare and uncommon phenomenon is extremely popular among park visitors, the National Park Service reported.

Related Article: Hybrid Super Pigs Running Wild in Canada Are Now Making Their Way to the US
650 million gallons of water are expected to be released from an Arizona dam after a wet winter raised water levels to "Flood Control Space."

Millions of gallons of water were released Wednesday as the spill gates at Roosevelt Dam opened. The Salt River Project tests its two spillways as well as four spill gates every year to make sure they are prepared in the event of flooding.

650 Million Gallons of Water and More

However, this year's test is different since more water is being released as a result of the wet winter.

Numerous people came to watch the test, including Dennis Shelley from Snowflake. According to Shelley, the water release is quite a spectacle.

The test was postponed from August to May this year because Roosevelt Lake's water levels are already in "Flood Control Space," which means more water has to be released.

Earlier this year, the lake experienced its highest level ever as well as its record level for a spillway test.

According to Ivan Insua, director of hydro generation for SRP, they are discharging water at a flow rate of 12,000 cubic feet per second, which is sufficient to give showers to about a million Valley people each minute.

Even with the amount of water being discharged, according to Insua, the lake level won't change much.

He predicted that they would release a volume of water that was closer to 50 million gallons. With all that water, Insua continues, it is also quite surprising that they want to just decrease the lake by less than half an inch.

228 billion gallons of water have been released into the Salt River since March to make sure reservoirs can hold all of the water flow collected from this past winter's snowpack.

On Wednesday, water will burst through the gates, run to Apache Lake, and be stored there for later use, ABC 15 Arizona.

Also Read: Vacation Spot Salton Sea Oasis Now Just Dust Bowls, Receding Waters, Dead Fish - California

Roosevelt Dam in Arizona

About 76 miles northeast of Phoenix or 30 miles northwest of Globe, Arizona, is Theodore Roosevelt Dam, the Bureau of Reclamation's first significant building on the Salt River Project.

According to the Bureau of Reclamation, the spillways were upgraded in 1936 by lowering the crests by 6 feet to enhance their capacities and installing individual gate hoists, working motors, as well as two 5-kilovolt-ampere gasoline-engine fueled generators.

A $430 million upgrade project completed in 1996 increased the dam's height to 357 feet and increased the lake's water storage capacity by 20%, providing adequate water for 1 million people. According to the SRP, the dam today has a 36-megawatt electric hydrogeneration capacity (enough to power 30,000 houses) and offers significant flood control.

In addition to increasing the height of the dam, the modification also involved two new spillways, new outlet works, and changes to the power plant, according to the Bureau of Reclamation. Additionally, Roosevelt Lake's already-existing recreational amenities were upgraded, and new ones were built.

Related Article: Gulf Coasts Break Records as Sea Level Rise Projected to 40 Inches
Book World meets Wine World, a benefit for the Literacy Council of Madison County, will be held on Friday, June 2, 4 p.m. until sunset at Revalation Vineyards. The featured book will be "D-Day and Beyond."

Julie Phend has always been a lover of everything books and not just for her own enjoyment, but also with a purpose to educate. Teaching language arts in Central Virginia, she has had the opportunity to hear many stories, some leaving a lasting impact. One class visit in particular sparked Julies writing. The guest, Stanley Edwards, Jr., a WWII C47 pilot, is the main character in Julies book, "D-Day and Beyond." It recounts Stanleys experience on D-Day when his plane was shot down.

Books will be available for sale and signing. Meet and greet the author and stay for a reading and presentation. A selection of wines and non-alcoholic verjus will be available for purchase. Reservations are not required to attend this event. Ten percent of sales from the tasting room on June 2 will be donated to the Literacy Council. Revalation Vineyards is located at 2710 Hebron Valley Rd., Madison, VA, 22727.
The number of bear sightings and encounters in Virginia has recently increased as spring gets underway.

Spring and Hungry Wildlife

According to the Department of Wildlife Resources, the spring season is a busy time for wildlife, especially black bears that come out of their winter dens hungry and seeking a quick meal.

The DWR advised homeowners to protect all potential food sources during this period of increased activity to minimize bear encounters on their property.

According to the DWR, in the early spring, it can be difficult to get natural foods, therefore bears will search for simple food sources.

These accessible food sources could include outside pet food bowls, compost piles, barbecue grills, bird seeds, and garbage.

According to Nelson Lafon, the manager of the Forest Wildlife Program for the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources, the goal is to make human food sources more difficult for bears to get than what nature provides, particularly food that is high in fat and calories.

Although bears are naturally wary of people, if people provide them with food, whether on purpose by leaving food out or accidentally by failing to secure waste, pet food, or other food sources, they will become less wary.

Bear Sighting and Encounters

This time of year is also when female bears with cubs start to emerge from their winter den and begin exploring the surroundings, in addition to the fact that adult bears are more active.

Bear cubs may experience brief separations from their moms at this time.

Almost universally, the DWR advised leaving the cubs alone and avoiding assistance, ABC13 News reported.

In Virginia, where there is a strong and expanding black bear population, bear sightings in the spring and summer are common.

But bears unexpectedly appearing in places they have never been before can create quite a commotion.

Bears can be found very much everywhere in Virginia, while the Blue Ridge and Alleghany Mountains, as well as the area surrounding the Great Dismal Swamp, have the highest population of bears.

According to a recent survey of DWR field employees, bear sightings have happened in 85 of Virginia's counties and cities over the past four years.

Also Read: 500-Lb Grizzly Bear Slaughtered in Yellowstone National Park

The breeding season for black bears lasts from late spring through early summer.

Adult males may go far outside of their natural habitat in quest of females, while adult females give birth every other year between the middle of January and the beginning of February.

The young are prepared to be independent and establish new home ranges, and females who have been raising cubs for the past 11 and a half years are ready to procreate once more.

Young males may need to move far to establish a new home range, whereas young females often establish a home range close to that of their mother.

Bears typically stay away from people, however, they occasionally stray into residential areas, according to Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources.

Bear-Smart

The Wintergreen Property Owners Association has established a set of guidelines to ensure that bear encounters are kept to a minimum, especially as spring rolls in.

These guidelines include not feeding birds from April 1 to December 31, never leaving food or garbage outside, being aware that open windows and doors increase the risk of a bear getting inside, and locking doors.

The association claimed that bears can and do open car doors.

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350 critically endangered White's seahorses have been restored by Australian authorities into their coastal waterways.

Marine researchers working to restore seahorse populations off the east coast of Australia are thrilled with the best results so far.

The only seahorse or seadragon species on Australia's national endangered species list, White's seahorses, were released in large numbers into the waters north of Newcastle in specially constructed "hotels."

The Department of Primary Industries (DPI), an organization in charge of managing forestry, agriculture, fishing, and hunting, and the Sydney Aquarium, collaborated on the project.

350 Baby Seahorses Reintroduced to Australia Waters

A refuge named Port Stephens outside Sydney Harbor used to be a place where divers could occasionally observe two dozen White's seahorses, but coastal development and boat moorings have destroyed their habitat.

The species has a very productive breeding program at Sydney Aquarium that includes Port Stephens residents as broodstock. The next generation's eggs are raised by the fathers in a belly pouch, a trait that is exclusive to the animal kingdom, and are later gathered in big bags of seawater.

Then they are brought to the refuges and placed in their hotels. In essence, the hotels are cages designed for much larger creatures. The cages make a lot of niches and crevices that act as habitat for them as well as their crustacean prey species.

Dr. David Harasti, a department scientist, recently released 350 newborn seahorses at once from a DPI boat off Nelson Bay.

According to Harasti, this specific release was the best work his team had ever produced. According to ABC News, 350 newborn seahorses are lounging around in their new habitat.

Harasti remarked that it was wonderful to see and that he couldn't wait to return in a few weeks to check on the seahorses.

This coming October, Harasti intends to check in on his charges to see how they're doing, Good News Network reports.

Also Read: 5000 Polynesian Snails Released in Tahiti Might Eradicate Invasive African Snails

Endangered White's Seahorses

Australia's east coast is home to the White's Seahorse. One of four kinds of seahorses known to exist in NSW waters, the species bears the name John White in honor of the First Fleet's Surgeon General. It is now known to exist in eight estuaries throughout the NSW Coast and prefers shallow-water estuary settings, however, it is most prevalent in Sydney Harbour, Port Stephens, and Port Hacking. Hervey Bay in Queensland serves as its northernmost point, and St Georges Basin in New South Wales has previously been noted as its southernmost point.

The degradation of natural habitats throughout their range in eastern Australia, according to the Department of Primary Industries, is the main factor contributing to the White's Seahorse's fall in population abundance. The seahorses can be found in coastal estuaries and embayments, which are populated regions.

At locations where the seahorse used to be common, more than 90% of the sponge and soft coral habitats have disappeared within Port Stephens. The construction of boat moorings, the use of boat anchors, and habitat flooding due to sand migration have all degraded habitat in Port Stephens.

Related Article: 5 Extinct Animals and Endangered Species That Came Back to Life
The Texas man who missed his youngest childs birth because he was jailed on a long-delayed charge from Charlottesvilles infamous 2017 Unite the Right rally weekend will be missing more time with his newborn.

37-year-old William McAffe Williams of Nacona, Texas, charged with using a burning object to racially intimidate, was denied bail for a second time during a Friday morning hearing in Albemarle County Circuit Court by Judge Claude Worrell.

This evidence today is very different from the last time we heard this matter, said Worrell, before calling Williams a danger to his community.

The evidence aired Friday is that, contrary to what his attorney said a week earlier during the initial bail hearing, Williams has a more than passing connection to fugitive racist blogger Robert Azzmador Ray.

There are things to be concerned about now that the court wasnt concerned about before, said Worrell.

Assistant Commonwealths Attorney W. Lawton Tufts highlighted an assertion made at the last hearing by Williams attorney that Williams had only two interactions with Ray. But Tufts showed the court photographs of the men at two additional public events, and Tufts told the court the two men had attended a 2016 speech at Texas A&M University by white nationalist leader Richard Spencer.

He proffered to the court through his attorney that hed been with Robert Ray on only two occasions, said Tufts. And thats a lie.

Tufts said that law enforcement officials have asserted that Williams was a member of the so-called Book Club with Ray and which Tufts has previously characterized as an extremist group. Tufts said Friday that Williams was also part of a bully squad that would provide muscle at public events. Tufts further alleged that Ray has stayed overnight at Williams residence to evade capture by authorities.

Williams attorney, Ryan Rakness, said that Tufts verbal allegations dont constitute evidence.

I dont think there was any lie, said Rakness, who categorized his prior statement about only two meetings as the result of a misunderstanding.

None of this evidence indicates he is a flight risk, said Rakness, noting that Williams has seven children and a long-time job as a truck driver.

Tufts, however, said that the new concern was less about trying to flee justice and more about his clients reliability and danger to the public.

The defendant lied to the court at the last bond hearing, said Tufts.

Williams was arrested in his home state on April 1 and has been incarcerated since April 27 at the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail.

Rakness said that the legal presumption is that his client should be granted bail, and he brought seven letters from friends and family allegedly indicating that Billy Williams is a valued member of his community who should be reunited with his common law wife and his seven children, the oldest of whom is said to be nine years old.

Not one act by my client was proffered; not one word by my client was proffered, said Rakness. It feels like the Commonwealth is saying my client has odious political views and should be held.

It has nothing to do with his views, countered the judge. He has demonstrated that he has some disregard for the law.

At the prior bail hearing, Rakness spoke about the disruption in Williams life that the felony charge was causing, nearly six years after the alleged crime.

But beyond a brief statement alluding to the passage of time when it announced the unsealed indictments last month, the prosecution has not explained why it waited so long.

This is our process regardless of how much time has passed or where the alleged offenders may be found, Tufts and Commonwealths Attorney Jim Hingeley wrote in their April 17 press release.

One delay might have been that Hingeleys predecessor, Robert Tracci, declined to prosecute. Tracci had asserted that Virginias burning-to-intimidate statute did not apply to the notorious torch march on August 11, 2017 at the University of Virginia. Although many marcher shouted Nazi slogans such as blood and soil and Jews will not replace us, Tracci said that torches did not constitute the burning objects that the law, written to outlaw cross-burnings, had attempted to criminalize.

Traccis successor Hingeley took office in December 2019.

At least two other men  Dallas Medina of Ravenna, Ohio and Tyler Bradley Dykes of Bluffton, South Carolina  are facing similar counts. Medina was released on bail in his home state while Dykes was denied bail by Judge Worrell. Another man  Will Zachary Smith, who hails from Williams hometown  accepted a plea deal earlier this month and has been freed in advance of his sentencing, according to Albemarle County court records.

While attorney Rakness appeared disappointed by Worrells decision Friday, the handcuffed and shackled Williams remained stoic. No trial date for him has been set, but he is due back in court on June 5. The crime can put someone in jail for up to five years.
One more flag will be flying outside Albany City Hall  and it's a rainbow.

The progress Pride flag will be raised for the month of June in support of the LGBTQ+ community after a City Council decision at its Wednesday, May 10 meeting.

The decision was not an item on the agenda and came up during business form the council, when Councilor Steph Newton made a motion to put up the flag during Pride month as a symbolic act of inclusion.

I believe it is imperative that Albany City Council raise the Pride flag for the month of June, displaying our commitment to embracing diversity, fostering acceptance, and supporting the LGBTQIA+ members of our community who are frequently marginalized, Newton said.

Displaying a Pride flag is an act of representation that tells people in the community that they belong and dont have to hide who they are, she said.

The progress pride flag that Newton brought to council is a redesign of the 1978 rainbow flag with added colors to represent trans, nonbinary individuals and people of color.

Newton argued that flying the flag was not a political statement.

Supporting human rights and equality should never be a political issue. It is a matter of basic decency, compassion and respect for our fellow citizens, she said.

Being inclusive benefits everyone in Albany, Newton said. It increases diversity, which opens the doors for more perspectives and creates an environment where everyone feels safe. It can even attract individuals and businesses and enhance economic growth, she added.

By proudly displaying the Pride flag, we send a message of love, acceptance and unity, Newton said.

City leaders asked City Attorney Sean Kidd if flying the flag had any legal implications. He said the city had no restrictions against flying the flag and that other cities had done so, even the embassy around the world.

He added, though, while he understood the sentiment behind the motion was not political, any flag that isnt the country's, state's or representing prisoners of war is considered political legally.

Councilor Jackie Montague seconded the motion, and Councilor Matilda Novak asked to remove herself from voting: I dont want to be on either side, she said.

In the end, city councilors voted to fly the flag with four yes votes and one no vote from Councilor Marilyn Smith.

Smith said she voted against the flag because she doesnt believe it is necessary.

I believe that the city's value statements confirm to our community that we recognize and respect all people in Albany, she said in an interview after the meeting.

She believes the values statements and the annual Pride event show that Albany is for all and that a flag pole should be restricted to only government purposes.

Actions speak louder than symbols, she said.

Although he did not vote on the matter, Mayor Alex Johnson II echoed a similar sentiment.

He believes that no flag other than those required by law should be hoisted up the flag pole, he said in an interview after the meeting.

When asked why he didnt want to be pictured with the flag when Newton asked, he said that the action felt like a political statement and it wasnt something all the councilors agreed upon.

Quality journalism doesn't happen without your help Support local news coverage and the people who report it by subscribing to the Albany Democrat-Herald.

Councilor Ramycia McGhee said that having the symbol was important, especially at a time when Black trans women face violence and murder at high rates, she said after the meeting.

Montague said that she purposefully wore a rainbow shirt to show her support of raising the flag.

The flag will be on the City Hall flag pole by June 1 and will remain until the end of the month.

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We have rejuvenated Kutch over years: PM Modi lauds Kadwa Patidar Samaj on its 100th anniversary

New India, May 11: Lauding the Kadwa Patidar Samaj for their commendable work done during the Corona period, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that the hundred-year journey of the community with its futuristic vision is also a medium to understand Gujarat.

We have rejuvenated Kutch over years: PM Modi lauds Kadwa Patidar Samaj on its 100th anniversary

"The journey of any nation is reflected in the journey of its society", the Prime Minister remarked as he underlined that the hundred-year-old history of Patidar Samaj and hundred years journey of Shri Akhil Bhartiya Kutch Kadwa Samaj with its futuristic vision is also a medium to understand India and Gujarat," Modi said while addressing the 100th anniversary of Kadwa Patidar Samaj through video message today.He further said that the problem of the water crisis of the district is solved now."There was a time when Kutch was one of the country's most backward districts, but now over the years together we have rejuvenated Kutch. Together, we solved the water crisis of Kutch, making it the world's biggest tourist destination. I am proud to see that Kutch is one of the most developed districts of the country," PM Modi said.Pointing out the atrocities committed by foreign invaders on India's society for hundreds of years, the Prime Minister said that the ancestors of the land did not allow their identity to be erased and their faith to be fragmented."We are seeing the effect of sacrifices of centuries ago in the present generation of this successful society", the Prime Minister said as he mentioned that the Kutch Kadwa Patidar community are moving forward with their labour and ability in sectors such as timber, plywood, hardware, marble, building material among others.He expressed happiness that the respect and honour for the traditions have only grown year after year and said that the society built its present, and laid the foundation of its future.Reflecting on his political life and association with society, the Prime Minister recalled working with Kadwa Patidar Samaj on numerous subjects as the Chief Minister of Gujarat.The Prime Minister expressed delight that Kutch is one of the fastest-growing districts of the country today and gave examples of improved connectivity, big industries, and agricultural exports from the region.PM Modi said that now Kutch is one of the fastest-growing districts of the country today. PM Modi also expressed happiness that society has put forth the vision and resolutions for the next 25 years which will be realized when the country will celebrate 100 years of independence.The Prime Minister underlined that the resolutions taken, be it social harmony, environment and natural farming, are all linked to the Amrit resolve of the country.He expressed confidence that the efforts of Akhil Bhartiya Kutch Kadva Samaj will give strength to the country's resolutions in this direction and will lead them to success.ANI11 May 2023

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A futuristic Oregon State University research complex has approval from the city of Corvallis.

Sited within the 166-acre OSU National Historic District, the 144,000-square-foot complex required a permit from the Historic Resources Commission to proceed.

The commission was unanimous in approving the permit.

There were no speakers for or against the project at a public hearing for the permit Tuesday, May 9. One person submitted a written comment in favor of demolishing an old building to make way for the complex, as plans indicate.

The three-story complex, anticipated to open in 2025, will be at the northwest corner of campus, along Southwest Memorial Place and Monroe Avenue.

OSU was gifted $50 million from a pair of alumni enabling the college to launch a research and education complex focused on supercomputers, artificial intelligence, materials science and robotics.

Jen-Hsun Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA, and wife Lori  both OSU graduates  made the donation, according to an October announcement from OSU. The building will be named the Jen-Hsun and Lori Huang Collaborative Innovation Complex.

Combined with other large donations, the Huang money took the complex to being halfway funded. In October, OSU spokesperson Steve Clark said the college would seek $75 million from the Oregon Legislature for state-paid bond monies, leaving $25 million to be sought in private funds.

The complex, whose research will focus on climate science, oceanography, sustainability and water resources, will underpin OSUs support of the semiconductor and broader technology industry in Oregon and beyond, a news release said.

The centerpiece of the complex is expected to be a supercomputer that NVIDIA says will be one of the fastest university-based systems in the world. The complex will also reportedly have a state-of-the-art cleanroom and other specialized research facilities.

Weniger Hall, which is not considered a historic building, will be demolished to make way for the new complex. Demolishing the building will erase $70 million of deferred maintenance backlog, and funding for the complex is tied to its removal, according to OSU.

Barring an appeal to the Corvallis City Council, the Historic Resource Commission's decision on the matter is final.

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.
More than 50% of investment projects in Invest Rajasthan implemented

Jaipur, May 11: A review meeting on the progress of MoUs and LOIs, at The Invest Rajasthan Summit 2022, was held under the chairmanship of Rajasthan additional chief secretary, Industries and Commerce, Veenu Gupta, at Udyog Bhavan on Thursday.

More than 50% of investment projects in Invest Rajasthan implemented

Following up on the progress of investments on the ground till date, it was reported that more than 50% of the investments announced in The Invest Rajasthan Summit have already been implemented. Among a total of 2091 projects, 1074 projects have been implemented and 1017 projects are currently in the under implementation stage. A total of 4195 cases were reviewed during the meeting.Veenu Gupta emphasized the importance of establishing enterprises for the all-round development of the state. She urged officials to help industries so that they don't face any difficulty in getting information related to setting up their enterprise or obtaining NOCs from various departments.Gupta also instructed the officers to remain in touch with investors and provide them with all necessary help including immediate redressal of investment-related issues."It's essential for us to provide a supportive environment to industrialists to flourish in Rajasthan," said Gupta. "We're working hard to further ease the process of establishing enterprises in the state and offer a hassle-free experience to investors."IANS11 May 2023

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Indel Money wins Fastest Growing NBFC of the Year Award at the 2nd Annual BFSI Leadership Summit and Awards 2023

Mumbai, May 11: Indel Money, the flagship company of Indel Corporation and a gold loan non-banking finance company (NBFC), won the Fastest Growing NBFC of the Year award at the 2nd Annual BFSI Leadership Summit & Awards 2023 at an event held in Mumbai on May 5, 2023, Umesh Mohanan, ED & CEO and Jijith Raj Thekkayil, EVP & Business Head of Indel money received the award from Mahesh G. Thakkar, Director General, Finance Industry Development Council.

Indel Money wins Fastest Growing NBFC of the Year Award at the 2nd Annual BFSI Leadership Summit and Awards 2023

Indel Money witnessed a staggering 210 per cent growth in disbursement compared to FY 21-22, having disbursed loans worth Rs 3000 crore for FY23. Gold loans take up 92 per cent of its loan portfolio. Indel Money also grew its assets under management (AUM) by 72 per cent to Rs 1,200 crore in FY23. Recording a profit of 31cr ++ for the FY23, 6 times the profitability of the last FY22. The rating agency Crisil has upgraded Indel Money to "BBB+ stable" in this FY. The gold loan company also has done 2 series of public issue on its non-convertible debentures (NCDs) in FY21-22 and FY22-23 each, respectively and attained a 169 per cent subscription.Commenting after receiving the award, Umesh Mohanan, Executive Director and CEO, Indel Money said, "We are thrilled to receive this prestigious award. Our growth has been driven by our unwavering focus on customer-centricity, product and digital innovation and growing presence in untapped markets. Our long-term gold loans aim to safeguard customer interest and have received encouraging responses. This acknowledgement will further motivate us to continue our journey towards emerging as the most preferred gold loan NBFC."Indel Money has been expanding its footprint aggressively and currently has 253 branches spread across 8 states including Maharashtra, Odisha, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. The company has plans to open new 105 branches, by expanding to the states of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan and West Bengal in FY23-24. It also has plans to launch its 3rd Public Issue of Non-Convertible debentures within this month.The 2nd Annual BFSI Leadership Summit and Awards 2023 brings together leaders from the banking, financial services and insurance sectors to discuss and deliberate on the latest trends and challenges in the industry.This story has been provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article.ANI11 May 2023

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Health-Tech Platform Genworks Health raised notable funding of USD 4M from BlackSoil

New Delhi, May 11 a renowned medical technology company headquartered in India has raised an investment of USD 4 Million by BlackSoil, an alternative credit platform based in Mumbai. This investment reflects BlackSoil's commitment to investing in the healthcare sector and is also anticipated to ensure the growth and development of GenWorks Health. It contributes to the growth of groundbreaking healthcare solutions extensively.

Health-Tech Platform Genworks Health raised notable funding of USD 4M from BlackSoil

The GenWorks health program also aims to offer healthcare practitioners the tools needed to offer improved medical care and diagnostics while ensuring that the costs are streamlined. GenWorks aspires to bring a tangible change in healthcare accessibility and affordability. With the new funding that it has received, the efforts will grow manifold as the company will be able to successfully remove limitations in healthcare services with the active use of technological interventions. The new investment will help organizations to expand their network and create a base for their next-generation platform, which will help in establishing their place in the healthcare services sector. This investment is part of a larger plan that will pan out ahead in the future as the company grows.S Ganeshprasad, Founder, Managing Director, and CEO, GenWorks said "The investment from BlackSoil comes at a time when GenWorks is determined to expand its efforts, grow its customer base and maintain the best infrastructure with the many types of equipment such as software, technology, and staffing for supporting the delivery needs. GenWorks is thankful for the investment made by BlackSoil and is also optimistic that moving forward, this investment will reap many positive results."GenWorks Health is extensively involved in the distribution of medical devices and consumables all over India with a track record of serving almost 40,000 clients in as many as 700 districts in India. Moreover, the company is also dedicated to improving healthcare outcomes by using innovative technology and has expanded its product range for covering all aspects of patient care from screening and diagnosis to treatment and monitoring. GenWorks already has a record of big investors such as Somerset Indus Capital Partners, Evolvence, and Morgan Stanley backing its mission to promote healthcare accessibility and affordability in India.With the investment of BlackSoil, the company is expected to catalyze its growth and also consolidate its position as a leading player in the medical technology sector. Mr. Ankur Bansal, Co-founder, BlackSoil said "The investment we have made in GenWorks Healthcare is not just a testimony to their growth potential but also a reflection of our prime belief in the potential of healthcare technology. We want to make the most out of our expertise and resources for making a positive impact on the healthcare industry while improving the lives of countless because we sincerely believe that everyone deserves the best healthcare services."The investment made by GenWorks is sure to expand the company's mission to deliver high-quality healthcare to many underserved regions and make healthcare needs widely accessible in distant parts of India. There is absolute transparency and authenticity in the working of GenWorks which is the reason why the startup continues to shine in the Indian market. The investment made by GenWorks will offer additional resources to support the company's efforts in this direction.GenWorks aims to build wide awareness by leveraging the technology available and providing affordable solutions across wide geographies using digital solutions. By using the best of digitization, GenWorks is focused on improving specialist access to the last mile of India. The company believes it can create an impact with the "care cycle" approach that is focused on connecting all patients to specialists at the need of the hour. GenWorks endeavour to improve healthcare accessibility and affordability has succeeded in touching as many as 200 million lives each day.This story is provided by PNN. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/PNN)ANI11 May 2023

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Assam govt launches Ayushman Asom; 26L families to get free treatment

Guwahati, May 10: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday launched the ambitious 'Ayushman Asom' scheme in line with the Central government's 'Ayushman Bharat' to provide health coverage to 26 lakh families in the state.

Assam govt launches 'Ayushman Asom'; 26L families to get free treatment

As per the newly launched scheme, each eligible family member will get cashless medical treatment up to Rs 5 lakh in empanelled hospitals across the country.Launching the project, Sarma said "Beneficiaries listed under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) who have an Aadhar card and are not covered under Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana shall be eligible for benefits under Ayushman Asom."Stating that out-of-pocket expenditures on healthcare expenses make a huge dent in the well-being of many families, Sarma said that the inclusion of 26 lakh uncovered families in Ayushman Asom would ensure all economically vulnerable families of the state are covered by either central or state government's health insurance schemes.According to the Chief Minister, the number of Below Poverty Line (BPL) families in Assam has increased from the 2011 socio-economic census data and they have been brought under the National Food Security Act."Currently, there are roughly 56 lakh families who have ration cards under the Food Security Act. Among them, 30 lakh families are getting health coverage under Ayushman Bharat. The state government has included the rest of 26 lakh families to get cashless treatment," Sarma said.He also mentioned that another 5 lakh ration cards will be given in the next few months and those families will also be brought under the 'Ayushman Asom' scheme."People can get 1,578 treatment procedures done in 300 empanelled hospitals in Assam. Moreover, they can also have the option of cashless treatment in hospitals in other states where Ayushman Bharat is in effect," Sarma added.However, in states where the Ayushman Bharat scheme is not implemented, the Assam government's Ayushman Asom will also not work.The Chief Minister also stated that improvement of the healthcare sector has been one of the priority areas of the current state government led by him. He said the recent inauguration of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences at Changsari, along with a number of new medical colleges and hospitals across the state, will lead to a never-before-seen positive change in the state's healthcare sector in days to come.IANS12 May 2023

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Multiple factors gives nuke power major push in APAC region: Moodys

Chennai, May 11: A combination of factors like the move towards decarbonization, fuel diversification, geopolitical situations resulting in fossil fuel price hike and climate change affecting solar and wind power provide the base for expansion of nuclear power in the Asia Pacific region, said Moody's Investors Service.

Multiple factors gives nuke power major push in APAC region: Moody's

"Decarbonisation and fuel diversification will drive the nuclear power sector's share of the energy mix in Asia Pacific," said Ada Li, a Moody's Vice President, and Senior Credit Officer."Recent disruptions, such as a spike in fuel fossil prices because of the Russia-Ukraine war, and less stable solar and wind performance due to climate conditions, also underpin a greater role for nuclear power in the region's long-term carbon transition plans," added Li.According to Moody's nuclear power will maintain its 10 per cent share of the global energy mix through 2050, supported by an expanding APAC fleet.Around 60 per cent of new nuclear units under construction globally were in APAC as of the end of April 2023.Nuclear power share of APAC's energy mix will rise from current levels of 5 per cent to 8 per cent by 2050, Moody's said.The stability of nuclear power output - compared to solar and wind power -- increases its cost competitiveness among low-carbon energy options. Recent disruptions, including from the Russia-Ukraine war and climate conditions, have further increased the appeal of nuclear power.China, Japan, and Korea will lead APAC's nuclear power expansion with plans to increase the sector's share in their power mix to more than double-digit percentages.China is the largest builder of nuclear units globally, with the aim to double the share of nuclear power in its energy mix by 2035. Surging fuel costs and tight supply have driven Japan's policy shift to nuclear, with more restarts planned. South Korea relies heavily on nuclear power, with nuclear to contribute 35 per cent of total power in the country by 2036According to the report, technological advances for safer, structurally reinforced and climate resilient reactors, the gradual commissioning of new generation reactors without material cost overruns and delays, and the provision of safe waste disposal and decommissioning plans should help alleviate policy hurdles and public concerns about nuclear power.Moody's said new nuclear power capacity additions, primarily spearheaded by Asia, together with a more open attitude to nuclear power to meet net-zero targets in markets like the UK, will offset retirements and exits of nuclear in markets such as Germany.There have been announcements of lifetime extensions of existing reactors in developed markets that originally had plans to exit nuclear power, such as Belgium, the report said.As regards the number of nuclear power units currently under construction in the APAC region, China leads with 19 units totaling 19,805 MW and is followed by India 8 units, 6,028 MW; Korea 3 units, 4,200 MW; Japan 3 units, 4,038 MW; and Bangladesh 2 units, 2,160 MW.The credit rating agency said construction delays and cost overruns are common in first-of-a-kind projects, especially under tightened safety requirements for new generation reactors.For example, the European Pressurized Reactor (EPR), a third generation nuclear power technology, its debut unit in Finland, Olkiluoto 3, experienced multiple delays and cost overruns. The plant, whose construction began in 2005, started commercial operations only at the beginning of 2023, some 14 years past its original commissioning date.The EPR at Flamanville in France is planning for commercial operation, estimated to cost over 12 billion euros, compared with its original budget of around 3 billion euros. Although China's EPRs at Taishan took shorter time to commission, it still took nearly nine years to complete construction and connect to the grid, Moody's said.In India, the 500 MW Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) is getting delayed for various reasons. The reactor is first of its kind for India and designed by the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research ((IGCAR)."Continuous policy support in the research and development of new civilian nuclear power technologies (for example, small modular reactors (SMRs)) will enhance the long-term competitiveness of nuclear power and cultivate the technical expertise of staff," MoodyaAs said.SMRs are nuclear reactors that have a power capacity of up to 300 MW per unit, which is about one-third of the generating capacity of traditional nuclear reactors.They are intended to have lower initial investment and a shorter construction time than traditional reactors because of their smaller scale, components that can be factory assembled and transported, and lower site requirements.On the other hand, wider application of SMRs is constrained by their overall economics after incorporating infrastructure costs, for example grid connection.Currently there are 50 SMRs globally, most being pilot reactors or reactors constructed for academic research purposes. Wider application of commercially viable SMR technologies will be beneficial to long-term nuclear development because, given the smaller scale investment required, they will more likely attract private investors and therefore make it easier to obtain financing, said Moody's.That apart countries like China, India, Japan, and others are developing or exploring thorium-based nuclear reactors as an alternative to uranium, with thorium over three times more abundant than uranium. However, extraction costs remain high and there are other challenges in terms of handling the materials and waste.IANS12 May 2023

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Kerala doctor murder: CM Pinarayi Vijayan calls for urgent high-level meeting over protection of health workers

Thiruvananthapuram, May 11: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has called an urgent high-level meeting over the protection of health workers after a woman doctor was stabbed to death by her patient, sources said.

Kerala doctor murder: CM Pinarayi Vijayan calls for urgent high-level meeting over protection of health workers

Accused Sandeep was taken into police custody from his house on Tuesday night after a brawl with his neighbours. He was brought to the government hospital by Police for a mandatory medical checkup when he turned violent.According to police, S Sandeep (42) out of the blue stabbed house surgeon, Vandana Das (23) when she was dressing his wounds. Having grabbed scissors from the dressing room, Sandeep, who was reportedly under treatment in a deaddiction centre, stabbed Vandana six times causing injuries to her abdomen and back.He also attacked others and vandalised the hospital. A home guard and a sub-inspector also sustained stab injuries. Dr Vandana was shifted to KIMS hospital in Thiruvananthapuram where she succumbed to her injuries, police said.Dr Vandana was a house surgeon at Azeezia medical college, Kollam and she was on duty at Taluk Hospital, Kottarakkara. She was the only daughter of Mohandas and Vasantha Kumari, residents of Kadunthurity in the Kollam district.On Wednesday, Kerala's Kottarakkara magistrate court remanded accused G Sandeep for 14 days in the house surgeon Dr Vandana Das murder case.ANI12 May 2023

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Will give befitting reply to every step taken against countrys dignity: Rajnath Singh at National Technology Day

New Delhi, May 11: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday asserted that the 1998 Pokhran nuclear tests gave a message to the world that although India is a peace-loving nation which believed in 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam' and 'Ahimsa Paramo Dharma', it will not let anyone harm the sovereignty, integrity and unity of the country.

Will give befitting reply to every step taken against country's dignity: Rajnath Singh at National Technology Day

While addressing National Technology Day 2023, Singh said, "India has not only wished for peace for itself but given the message to the world. Visionaries like Lord Buddha and Father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi are India's gift to the world. We have never invaded any country nor enslaved it. But, the Pokhran tests gave a message that we will give a befitting reply to every step taken against our dignity."Singh termed National Technology Day as an inspiration to adopt a scientific approach while acknowledging the country's technological achievements.He underlined the importance of science in the progress of a nation, describing it as the source of power. He emphasised that the scientific approach motivates the youth to contribute to nation-building and ensures holistic development.The Raksha Mantri believed that India, passing through the phase of demographic dividend, possesses a powerful human resource, which has guided it to a respectable position on the world stage. He called for the optimum utilisation of this human resource to achieve the goal of a strong, prosperous and developed India."Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, we are moving forward with the resolve of Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan, Jai Vigyan and Jai Anusandhan. We have risen in stature on the global stage and the world is witnessing a new ray of hope in India. We will be successful in realising our vision of building a strong and self-reliant 'New India'," Singh stated.ANI12 May 2023

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No possibility of third front: Naveen Patnaik

New Delhi, May 11: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday ruled out the possibility of a 'third front' being formed to contest the next year's Lok Sabha elections.

No possibility of third front: Naveen Patnaik

The Chief Minister, who is in Delhi, was answering queries from reporters about the possibility of a third front in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections amid efforts by some leaders to bring together opposition parties."No, as far as I am concerned. Not now," he said.During his visit to the national capital, Patnaik met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in connection with development works related to Odisha."I met the Prime Minister and we discussed issues related to Orissa's demand. I spoke for the International Airport that we have to set up in Puri, Bhubaneswar is getting too much traffic now that's why we want an expansion. The Prime Minister said that he will definitely help in every way possible," he said.Asked about his meeting with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday, Patnaik said it was a "courtesy" meeting.Nitish Kumar has been meeting opposition leaders in an effort to bring them together against the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha election.Kumar had also said after his meeting with Patnaik that there was no "political intention"."We have old relations, also I had good relations with his father. There is so much mutual respect between us that we do not have to worry about politics. After the coronavirus happened I was unable to pay a visit to him here," Nitish Kumar said.Patnaik had also said there was no discussion on any alliance."Ours is a known friendship and we were colleagues many years ago. No discussion was held on any alliances today. Land in Puri is being given free of cost to the Bihar government to build a Bihar Bhawan there," he said.ANI12 May 2023

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Vinit Mishra appointed Head of Treasury, Trade Finance and Insurance at Absolute

New Delhi, May 11: AbsoluteA, a global bioscience company has announced the appointment of Vinit Mishra as the Head of Treasury, Finance, and Insurance, for their global trade finance, Silkroute. With his experience of more than 17 years, Vinit will assist in supervising all aspects of the company's global trade financial operations, drive business growth and lead the team towards achieving strategic goals. Vinit will be responsible for managing various financial functions related to treasury operations, finance, and insurance activities within Silkroute, global trade finance of Absolute.

Vinit Mishra appointed Head of Treasury, Trade Finance and Insurance at Absolute

At Silkroute, Vinit will oversee and manage the organization's Treasury, Trade Finance, Risk function, including global trade finance activities, including import and export financing, letters of credit, and trade credit insurance. He will work closely with sales, procurement, legal, and other internal teams to facilitate smooth international trade transactions. He will also be responsible for establishing and maintaining relationships with banks, insurance providers, and trade agencies to ensure favorable trade finance terms, mitigate risks, and comply with trade regulations.Neeraj Choudhary, Group Head Finance, AbsoluteA says, " I am thrilled to have Vinit joining our team. As an accomplished financial strategist, Vinit brings invaluable experience and expertise to our organization. I am confident that his exceptional problem-solving skills, strategic thinking, and ability to cultivate strong relationships with both internal and external stakeholders will be instrumental in strengthening AbsoluteA network across the globe"Vinit Mishra, Head of Treasury, Global Trade Finance, and Insurance, Silkroute, AbsoluteA says, "I am committed to leading with integrity, driving innovation, and fostering a culture of excellence. With my industry experience, I look forward to making a positive and resilient impact with the aim to bring in sustained success to the organization by collaborating with the leadership at Silkroute."Prior to joining AbsoluteA, Vinit was Head Treasury and Trade Finance at Louis Dreyfus Company India Private Limited. During his tenure, his efforts were recognized thrice by Adam Smith Awards Asia, and last was in 2022 for Best Sustainable Treasury Financing Solutions for Better Cotton Initiative in India. Vinit's core strengths are Treasury, Trade Finance and Risk Management, Supply Chain Financing, Strategic Financial Management, Management of Investment Portfolio, Funding, Accounting, Taxation, and Financial Planning.Vinit holds an MBA degree in Finance, Chartered Global Management AccountantA (CGMA), and Fellow Certified Management Accountant from Chartered Institute of Management AccountantsA (CIMAA) and Certified Treasury Professional from the Association for Financial Professionals (AFP) -USA. He is also an APAC Treasury Advisory Council Member formed by AFP to promote best practices and innovative solutions, create advocacy and solve problems in the Treasury domain.Silkroute is a technology and AI-driven solution that simplifies the agri import and export business. It solves problems across the entire trading lifecycle, from procurement to finance, and provides a single platform that streamlines the trading process. With Silkroute, businesses can trade securely and extend their reach, all while reducing costs and increasing efficiency.It is an agri-commodity marketplace that connects verified sellers and buyers in over 50 countries, providing solutions for market linkage, price discovery, quality standardization, trade documentation, logistics, shipment, credit insurance, and finance. Silkroute facilitates efficient and effortless agri-trading for small and large businesses.AbsoluteA is a frontier bioscience company leveraging billions of years of nature's evolutionary intelligence to solve humanity's greatest challenges - starting with safe and sustainable solutions for agriculture and extending to biomaterials and biocare.All these segments are powered by cutting-edge research in biology at Absolute's Xenesis Institute. The R and D arm, Xenesis, is building remarkable platforms and solutions using biological data captured in its Nature Intelligence Platform- an all-encompassing approach to discovering powerful interactions and decision-making in nature.This story is provided by GPRC. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/GPRC)ANI12 May 2023

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Tehran, Moscow discuss further improvement of economic ties

Tehran, May 11: Iran and Russia have exchanged views on ways to further expand all-out relations, particularly in the fields of trade and economy.

Tehran, Moscow discuss further improvement of economic ties

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday discussed the issue on the sidelines of a quadrilateral meeting on the Syria issue in Moscow, which were also presented by Syrian and Turkish foreign ministers, according to the Iranian Foreign Ministry's website.Amir-Abdollahian called for greater efforts to accelerate the already improving bilateral relations between Iran and Russia along their current "right" path, saying Wednesday's high-level quadrilateral meeting was a positive outcome of such cooperation, Xinhua news agency reported.For his part, Lavrov said the imminent holding of the Russia-Iran joint economic commission in Tehran will play an important role in the deepening of the bilateral relations, expressing his hope that the trade and economic sectors of Iran would have an active presence in the 14th edition of the International Economic Forum "Russia-Islamic world Kazan Forum" during May 18-19.The two foreign ministers also highlighted the positive impacts of cooperation in developing the International North-South Transport Corridor as well as the financial and banking sectors on improving and deepening the bilateral economic and trade relations, calling for facilitating mutual activities in private sectors and trips between the two countries.Iran and Russia, both under sanctions imposed by the US, have been expanding their political and economic relations to counter the US moves.IANS12 May 2023

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After an unusual 1 1/2 hours of testimony, Lebanon elected officials punted selecting a place where police can move unhoused people from public property.

Residents and business owners told the City Council they were afraid of the people they see camping near one potential site behind a Dollar Tree south of downtown.

Its not fun going back out there to ask them for our carts back, said Chantelle Sellers, a store employee.

Lebanon is among cities across the state attempting to return to local police the power to remove people from camping spots on sidewalks and parks ahead of a July 1 deadline.

After that date, the state may begin enforcing a law that codifies an appellate court decision that says removing homeless individuals from public rights of way when there are not enough local shelter beds to accommodate them is cruel and unusual punishment.

But Mayor Kenneth Jackola said designating a sleeping site is not the solution he wants to hear.

"That opens up everything or the state to come in and say, 'Well, they can go wherever they want, whenever they want,' and I don't think anybody wants that," Jackola said.

Tenants and property owners from nearby apartments and businesses said their property has been vandalized or belongings stolen. They blame people who camp at a city-owned property on Division Way.

More than 80 crammed into Santiam Travel Station on Wednesday, May 10, lining the walls of the usually sparsely attended meeting hall.

Mary Vanover said she believes it was unhoused people who cut the fences at her commercial property. She said people from a nearby camp tried to take equipment from the site where AB Hinderlie Construction is based.

They tried to steal a trailer from one of my tenants, but they couldnt get the hole big enough, she said.

Local governments across the region are scrambling to figure out how to address a ballooning number of unhoused people in light of a decision, out of Idaho but impacting all western states in the U.S. Court of Appeals' Ninth Circuit, which prevents police from enforcing anti-camping ordinances if there is an insufficient number of shelter beds available.

The case was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined to hear it, making it law in the West. A second case, out of Grants Pass, reinforced the ruling.

As of July, Oregon requires local governments to consider all people in their communities when dictating where someone can sleep or stay out of the cold and rain. That includes people who dont have shelter.

By designating a site where police can tell a camper to move, a city effectively is able to restrict where people can sleep in public rights of way.

Lebanon city staff identified five potential sites, but each had downsides  too close to traffic, too far from downtown, or on the sidewalk in front of City Hall.

Residents said they were concerned the Division Way site, a median where homeless individuals currently congregate, puts residents at Park Manor Apartments in close proximity to people who they said they believe have machetes and threaten local tenants.

Sydney Lanz told councilors she is more worried about her safety than how conveniently people can access a designated sleeping site.

With her front door in view of the site, its inconvenient for me to come home with my 2-year-old daughter and not feel safe, Lanz said.

Numbers demonstrating police response or reported crimes at nearby apartments were not immediately available.

Some told councilors they didn't understand why the council is choosing to relocate people who are unhoused rather than fund addiction or mental health services.

Lebanon does not budget for providing mental health or addiction services like those found at shelters with beds, a caseworker, showers and storage for belongings.

"Those are very, very expensive operations, millions of dollars on an annualized basis, and we just don't have the resources to provide that level of service," City Manager Nancy Brewer said. "And we don't see any money coming from the state to do that either."

The city's proposal to designate a site does not include a plan to staff it, but city employees would pick up trash and lay down bark mulch at the property after Lebanon closes the site each morning at 7 a.m.

Lebanon would pay about $3,600 each year for cost of a portable toilet and handwashing station.

Councilor Dave Workman verified that any site selected by the city simply gives police the power to remove campers.

"We're not trying to solve homelessness," Workman said.

Quality journalism doesn't happen without your help Support local news coverage and the people who report it by subscribing to the Albany Democrat-Herald.

"That's correct," Brewer said.

Kandyce Williams, a coordinator at Second Chance shelter in Albany, recommended the city manage whatever site it picks  to staff the lot with someone who ensures sleepers aren't carrying in substances like alcohol and drugs.

She also reminded the council that there is no one solution to moving people into permanent housing. Homelessness includes people with no access to affordable housing, those in mental health crisis and veterans, she said.

"There is a wide range of people and they are all people experiencing homelessness," Williams said.

The council plans to revisit the issue next month.
IPL 2023: Losing three wickets in Power-play stopped us from chasing a gettable target, says DCs Warner

Chennai, May 11: Delhi Capitals skipper David Warner has blamed his batting unit for its failure to provide a good start for their failure to chase a gettable target in the 27-run defeat to Chennai Super Kings in Match No. 55 of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023.

IPL 2023: Losing three wickets in Power-play stopped us from chasing a gettable target, says DC's Warner

Delhi spinners were at their best as they kept the CSK batters at bay with six batters crossing 20 and the highest individual score was 25. But Dhoni's crucial cameo ensured CSK finished with a fighting total of 167/8 in 20 overs.In reply, Delhi got off to a dismal start as they lost their openers in the Power-play. Then, Riley Rossouw and Pandey steadied the ship and built a 59-run stand. But CSK bowlers maintained the stranglehold on the Capital batters to restrict them to 140/8 and notched their seventh win of the tournament.Warner said losing three wickets in the Power-play -- something the Delhi Capitals have done many times in IPL 2023 -- was a big setback as they failed to get a good start from which they could not recover."Losing three wickets in the Power-play is not acceptable. We lost a wicket in the 1st over which has been happening frequently. We understand that our opening combination is crucial but has failed to fire. We lost a wicket to a run-out which did not help the cause either," said Warner after the match on Wednesday night."We threw wickets away not that the bowlers bowled too well. Put too much pressure on ourselves in chasing down a gettable total. To sum it up, we needed a better Power-play. We couldn't rotate the strike in the middle," Warner added.The Australian opener also highlighted his batters' inability to get after the Chennai Super Kings' bowling in the middle overs."We just have to start well and have one of our batters bat long. Then there were four overs in the middle overs when we couldn't even rotate the strike. You can be conservative, but when you hit a wide half-tracker to cover...It was there to be hit. If good balls get you out, it is different. We just need to hit those wide half-trackers better," said Warner.Delhi have three matches remaining in the preliminary stage -- two back-to-back clashes with Punjab Kings and another battle with Chennai Super Kings.Delhi Capitals had a disastrous start in IPL 2023 when they lost their first five matches. Delhi Capitals recovered a bit by winning four matches.IANS12 May 2023

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Changing rooms on floating jetty in Ganga in Varanasi

Varanasi (UP), May 11: Those wanting to take a holy dip in the Ganga river here will soon get the facility to a changing room on the floating jetty.

Changing rooms on floating jetty in Ganga in Varanasi

The foundation stone of the floating jetty equipped with changing rooms, was laid by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March this year and the project is likely to complete by the month end.The facility will be available on the 34 meters long and 8 meters wide floating jetty that is being developed at a cost of Rs 99 lakhs.Devotees, particularly women, will no longer feel uncomfortable while changing clothes at the ghats in the open. The changing rooms along with lockers are being built on the floating jetty.The chief general manager of the Varanasi Smart City Mission, D Vasudevan said that the devotees will also have the facility of lockers on the floating jetty."A total of 30 changing rooms, including 15 for women and 15 for men, are being built on the 34 meters long and 8 meters wide floating jetty," he said.The Prime Minister had laid the foundation stone and dedicated development projects worth more than Rs 1,780 crores in Varanasi on March 24.Apart from the floating jetty, these development projects include the passenger ropeway from Varanasi Cantt station to Godowlia, a 55 MLD sewage treatment plant at Bhagwanpur under Namami Ganga Scheme, Phases 2 and 3 of the redevelopment works of Sigra Stadium, an LPG bottling plant at Isarwar village, Sewapuri to be built by Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd, and a primary health centre in Bharthara village, among others.The PM had also dedicated 19 drinking water schemes under the Jal Jeevan Mission, which will benefit more than 3 lakh people of 63 gram panchayats. He also laid the foundation stone of 59 drinking water schemes under the mission.IANS12 May 2023

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Blinken concerned over China collecting DNA of Tibetans

Washington, May 11: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has publicly expressed concerns over reports of China gathering DNA from Tibetans, making him the senior-most American official to raise the issue to date.

Blinken concerned over China collecting DNA of Tibetans

As the featured speaker at Freedom House's annual Freedom Awards on Wednesday, Blinken stated "We're also concerned by reports of the spread of mass DNA collection to Tibet as an additional form of control and surveillance over the Tibetan population."In September 2022, Citizen Lab reported that Chinese police may have gathered about 920,000 to 1.2 million DNA samples in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), which spans around half of traditional Tibet, over the prior six years.Those figures represent one-quarter to one-third of the region's total population.That same month, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) said China's authorities were systematically collecting DNA from residents of the TAR, including by taking blood from children as young as five without their parents' consent.Blinken's statement met with an accusatory response from China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson.However, the International Campaign for Tibet welcomed the Secretary's remarks."Throughout its brutal occupation of Tibet, China has used Tibet as a laboratory for relentless methods of social control, including this horrific campaign of mass DNA collection," said the ICT, an advocacy group based in Washington D.C. and Europe."The best way to protect Tibetans from China's authoritarian rule is to push for a peaceful resolution to China's illegal occupation of Tibet. The US can and must do that by passing the bipartisan Promoting a Resolution to the Tibet-China Conflict Act that is currently in both Houses of Congress."According to Citizen Lab, China's DNA collection program is unrelated to criminal justice."Our analysis indicates that for years police across Tibet have collected DNA samples from men, women, and children, none of whom appear to be criminal suspects," Citizen Lab says in its report.Police are also not targeting specific groups like activists or government critics. Instead, they are collecting DNA from entire communities.Similarly, the HRW said in its report that, "there is no publicly available evidence suggesting people can decline to participate" in the DNA collection, "or that police have credible evidence of criminal conduct that might warrant such collection".At a press briefing on Wednesday, China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin responded to a question about Blinken's remarks by claiming they "mean nothing except manufacturing sensational news items".Wang then accused the US military of collecting genomic data of Chinese, Arabs and "European Aryans".China has illegally occupied Tibet for over 60 years, forcing the Dalai Lama into exile in 1959.Earlier this year, Democrats and Republicans in both chambers of Congress reintroduced a bill that can help peacefully resolve the occupation.The Promoting a Resolution to the Tibet-China Conflict Act will pressure China to resume negotiations with the Dalai Lama's envoys for the first time since dialogue between the two sides stalled in 2010.The legislation will recognize that Tibetans have the right to self-determination and that Tibet's legal status is yet to be determined under international law.IANS12 May 2023

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Tourism in Italy sets to smash record this year:

Rome, May 11: Tourism in Italy this year is set to smash record levels set before the coronavirus pandemic, new data showed, putting the sector's recovery ahead of pace in Europe as a whole.

Tourism in Italy sets to smash record this year:

Provisional data from the start of the year shows a dramatic improvement in the sector compared to the same period a year earlier, Sandro Cruciani from Italy's National Statistics Institute (ISTAT) told Parliament.Cruciani told the Chamber of Deputies that the number of overnight stays by tourists in January and February was up more than 45 per cent compared to same period a year ago, with a larger increase in foreign tourists (more than 70 per cent) than domestic travellers (29 per cent)."If the data for the coming months confirms this trend, it will be possible to see a full recovery and even to exceed pre-pandemic levels in 2023," Cruciani said.The last full year before the pandemic, 2019, was a record year for Italian tourism.The prediction that 2023 will overtake 2019 "must push us to do more and more, intervening to favour policies of seasonal adjustment and overcome the phenomenon of over-tourism", said Tourism Minister Daniela Santanche after Cruciani's speech.Tourism represents a major element of the Italian economy, accounting for around 13 per cent of its gross domestic product in 2019.The country was Europe's third leading tourism market that year, behind only France and Spain in total tourism arrivals.The crash of the tourism sector due to the pandemic contributed to a 9.04 per cent contraction of the Italian economy in 2020, the year that bore the greatest brunt of Covid-19.The sector then began a slow recovery in 2021, ISTAT said, followed by a large increase so far in 2023.However, the tourism sector in the rest of Europe is recovering more slowly.A report from the European Travel Commission (ETC) shows international tourist arrivals in Europe as a whole were around 18 per cent below the 2019 level through this year as a fourth of destinations covered by the ETC report recorded arrivals more than 10 per cent below 2019 levels.The ETC says the war between Russia and Ukraine, which began in February 2022, "continues to hinder travel sector recovery in Northern and Eastern European destinations".IANS12 May 2023

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Hyundai Motor India to invest Rs 20,000 cr in TN

Chennai, May 11: Car maker Hyundai Motor India Ltd will be investing about Rs 20,000 crore for modernising its plant near here, rolling out new models and to make electric vehicle battery assembly packs and EV charging stations.

Hyundai Motor India to invest Rs 20,000 cr in TN

The Hyundai Motor India and the Tamil Nadu government's Guidance Bureau on Thursday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for this purpose.Speaking at the function, Chief Minister M.K.Stalin said the investment will speeded up the government's target of growing the state economy to one trillion dollars by 2030.Referring to the cabinet reshuffle on Thursday Stalin said the government's support to the industries and the steps taken to grow the sector in the state will continue.Stalin said Tamil Nadu ranks at the top in the production of automobiles and automobile components and as a logical progression the state also ranks at the top in the production of electric vehicles.In March 2023, Hyundai Motor India had announced that it is considering acquiring land and building and some assets of General Motors India's Talegaon plant in Maharashtra with a view to have a plant in a second location.According to Hyundai Motor India, a Term Sheet has been signed for the potential acquisition of identified assets of the plant like -- land and building, certain machinery and equipment situated at the General Motors India's plant in Talegaon.Hyundai Motor India said the proposed acquisition is subject to the signing of the 'Definitive Asset Purchase Agreement' and fulfillment of conditions precedent and receipt of regulatory approvals from relevant Government Authorities and all the stakeholders related to the acquisition.The Indian subsidiary of South Korea's Hyundai Motors has a big manufacturing facility in Irrungattukottai near here.Hyundai Motor India has earlier announced its plans to get into electric vehicle manufacturing.Further another facility outside Tamil Nadu is a sort of de-risking strategy and also being closer to other markets in the country.IANS12 May 2023

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New protocol for hospitals: Kerala Police informs High Court day after doctor on duty murdered

Kochi, May 11: Kerala Police on Wednesday informed the High Court that a new protocol formed for producing a person before a doctor for medical examination at hospitals will be implemented within one week and stated that they had not enough staff to man all hospitals across the State.

New protocol for hospitals: Kerala Police informs High Court day after doctor on duty murdered

"The police do not have enough strength to man all hospitals but there is a force called SISF - State Industrial Security Force. The same could be hired. SISF officers are young, trained and armed," ADGP MR Ajith Kumar told the Division Bench comprising Justice Devan Ramachandran and Justice Kauser Edappagath while it was considering, in a special sitting, the brutal incident of a woman doctor having been stabbed to death while on duty at a government hospital in the State.Kerala Police also made a presentation on the sequence of events of the brutal murder. Senior Government Pleader S Kannan also handed over the preliminary report of the case to the Division Bench.The bench criticised the State Government and said that "what we lack in our State are responsibility and accountability. Imagine that young girl. The system was wrong. The system was failing. All our systems have become very casual. The police force must be a professional force. That discipline should be there."Reminding the police officers of their duty the bench said "She is very young. She was too scared to run away(When the man turned violent) and was transfixed. Where were these officers to help her?""Even if a police officer lost his life, a doctor cannot be exposed since a doctor is not expected to face this situation but a police officer is. Are you not like a soldier? Everybody ran away after getting one stab," the bench added.The bench said that the police failed Vandana, and all of us failed her and her family."We cannot pardon ourselves. We lost a child, it should not happen again. This is why we are asking you to answer," The bench told the state police chief who was also appearing before the bench online.The court said that Police can't simply leave the accused or person in custody before the doctor, stand outside and watch "the show"."You(police) please make sure that doctors are appropriately assuaged and assured. This is what we tried to do yesterday. We are not against anyone. You have protocols but not effective enough," the bench said. .ANI12 May 2023

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PM Modi to attend 29th All India Primary Teachers Federation Conference

Gandhinagar, May 10: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to attend the 29th biennial educational conference of the All India Primary Teachers' Federation in Gandhinagar, an official said on Wednesday.

PM Modi to attend 29th All India Primary Teachers' Federation Conference

The conference is scheduled to be held at Nijanand Farm near GIFT City from May 11-13.An official said that on the second day of the conference -- May 12, PM Modi would be present.The event is expecting participation from more than 91,000 teachers from Gujarat and across the country.The theme of this year's conference, 'Teachers at the Heart of Transforming Education', aptly underscores the pivotal role of educators in shaping the future of education, an official said.The conference will also be attended by a host of dignitaries, including Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, Central Minister of Fisheries Parshottam Rupala, and others.Adding a dash of nostalgia and retrospective, an educational exhibition will be held during the program.The exhibition will feature a series of pictures highlighting the transformative work done in the field of education during Prime Minister Modi's tenure as the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014.It will include glimpses of significant initiatives like the School Admission Festival, Quality Festival, and Kanya Kelavani Rath Yatra, thus showcasing the strides made in education during those years.IANS12 May 2023

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General Hospital actress Jacklyn Zeman passes away at 70

Los Angeles, May 11: Actress Jacklyn Zeman, who played Barbara 'Bobbie' Spencer across more than 800 episodes of 'General Hospital', passed away aged 70.

'General Hospital' actress Jacklyn Zeman passes away at 70

Zeman's death was announced by 'General Hospital' executive producer Frank Valentini on Twitter on Wednesday evening, reports 'Variety'.No further details about her death are available at this time."On behalf of our 'General Hospital' family, I am heartbroken to announce the passing of our beloved Jackie Zeman," Valentini wrote."Just like her character, the legendary Bobbie Spencer, she was a bright light and true professional that brought so much positive energy with her to work.""Jackie will be greatly missed, but her positive spirit will always live on with our cast and crew," Valentini continued."We send our heartfelt sympathy to her loved ones, friends and family, especially her daughters Cassidy and Lacey."The soap's production also released a statement on Zeman's death."Jacklyn Zeman has been a beloved member of the 'General Hospital' and ABC family since she originated the iconic role of Bobbie Spencer over 45 years ago," it reads."She leaves behind a lasting legacy for her Emmy-nominated portrayal of the bad girl turned heroine and will always be remembered for her kind heart and radiant spirit. We are devastated by the news of her passing, and send our deepest condolences to Jackie's family, friends and loved ones."Born in New Jersey on March 6, 1953, Zeman studied ballet as a child and attended New York University to study dance, but she shifted to acting with her first credit coming on "The Edge of Night" in 1976. In the same year, she received a lengthy arc on "One Life to Live," appearing in more than 40 episodes.She joined 'General Hospital' in 1977 and has since appeared in more than 800 episodes over nearly 50 years. She played Bobbie Spencer, the sister to Pat Spencer (Dee Wallace) and Luke Spencer Sr. (Anthony Geary).Zeman is survived by her two daughters, Cassidy and Lacey.IANS12 May 2023

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Uttarakhands Champawat district gets Smart School-Smart Block program

Champawat, May 11: In an effort to revolutionize education in the Champawat district of Uttarakhand, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami inaugurated the Smart School-Smart Block program at the auditorium located at Goralchod in Champawat on Thursday.

Uttarakhand's Champawat district gets Smart School-Smart Block program

According to CMO, the initiative, which aims to improve learning outcomes for over 5,000 children in 137 schools, will provide innovative resources, including TV sets, Smart Shala application, lesson plans, and assessment tools. The program is a joint effort by the Sampark Foundation and the state government to bring modern education to the marginalized sections of society and make Champawat a model district for Uttarakhand.The CM said, "This will give new dimensions in the field of education. Describing it as a step towards making Champawat a model district, he said that it is also a good initiative for ideal Uttarakhand."He said that "Sampark" means "connection", bringing positive change in the lives of the deprived and marginalized people of the society makes the purpose of Sampark Foundation meaningful. For this, he told the efforts of the Sampark Foundation in the interest of society. He said that today's era is of science and technology and Prime Minister Narendra Modi also says that people should make full use of science and technology for the development of the country. He said that through technology we can do more work in less time with ease of tasks. He said that Sampark smart devices have been given to the schools so that children can learn easily, in simple language, in a joyful way.He further said that a new India is being built under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The economy of many countries in the world is deteriorating, while the economy of India has become the economy of 5th place from 11th place even in this difficult time.Dhami said, "In the coming century of independence, India will become the leading India of the world. The social and economic development of any country is the infants and children of that country. It depends on the type of their education, the quality of it. All these tasks are the responsibility of the teachers. The parents give the first sanskar, the second one is given by the teachers. Teachers do the work of educating and taking them forward in life. The children coming out of Champawat will go to different areas to illuminate the name of their parents, as well as illuminate the name of the village, area, district, state, and also illuminate the names of the teachers from where they received education."The Chief Minister said that the mandate has been issued for the campus of Soban Singh Jeena University, Almora being built in Champawat. Along with this, all the school buildings in Champawat district are being renovated and beautified, including necessary facilities are being provided, he said that the work of providing modern education to the people standing at the last end of society is being done with the help of the Sampark Foundation, Government. This partnership of the State Government and Sampark Foundation is an effort for the betterment of education to present an innovative and first-of-its-kind study program in the government schools of the state.He said, "Many innovations are taking place in the field of education as well as many challenges have also come up. In the midst of all these challenges, the new education policy has come. This policy will work to give new dimensions to school education and higher education. The same will provide an opportunity for all classes of people to get education under the right of equality. Under the new education policy, students studying for competitive examinations will get benefits. Uttarakhand is the first state to have a new education policy which has been fully implemented in school education. The smart classes laid by the Sampark Foundation in this work will benefit the children."Welcoming the Chief Minister on the occasion, Founder Chairman of Sampark Foundation, Vineet Nair said that the Government Smart Schools Smart Blocks program aims to improve the learning outcomes of 5484 children by training 274 teachers of 137 schools in Champawat block of Champawat district in the state. After successful implementation for 100 days in the Champawat block, this program will be extended to the Khirsu block of the Pauri district in a time bound manner. Sampark's team will also ensure the capacity building of teachers so that teaching becomes systematic and easy.He informed that Sampark Foundation has brought its entire range of innovative learning resources to the Smart Schools Smart Blocks programme. These resources are in line with the state syllabus and SCERT, and will help in facilitating a complete change in the process of studying in the classroom. The resources provided by Sampark for this program include TV sets for each school, Sampark TV devices, Sampark Smart Shala application, Maths and English kit with Sampark Didi audio box, 500 lesson plans, 1100 lesson videos, TLM's Along with 450 activities, 2000 worksheets as per class and subject, 3000 questions for assessment - Sampark Didi questions in KBC format, videos of science songs and experiments for classes 6 to 8 and a resource book for teachers.ANI12 May 2023

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EAM Jaishnakar calls on Bangladeshi PM Sheikh Hasina

Dhaka, May 11: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar called on Bangladeshi Prime Minister Shiekh Hasina in Bangladesh's capital Dhaka on Thursday. Jaishankar is on a two-day visit to Bangladesh till May 12. After that, he will visit Belgium and Sweden.

EAM Jaishnakar calls on Bangladeshi PM Sheikh Hasina

"Honoured to call on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh. Conveyed personal greetings and warm regards of PM @narendramodi . The guidance and vision of our leaders continues to strengthen India-Bangladesh Maitri," Jaishankar tweeted.External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar reached on Thursday afternoon. EAM was welcomed by the Foreign Minister Affairs Minister of Bangladesh Md. Shahriar Alam. Jaishankar is on a three-nation tour during which he will visit Bangladesh, Sweden and Belgium."Reached Dhaka. Thank Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh @MdShahriarAlam for the warm welcome. Look forward to meeting colleagues and friends from across the world at the Indian Ocean Conference," Jaishankar tweeted upon reaching Bangladesh.Jaishanakar is to stay in Dhaka till May 12 to participate in the 6th edition of the Indian Ocean Conference. The Indian Ocean Conference will be attended by the President of Mauritius Prithvirajsing Roopun, Vice President of Maldives Faisal Naseem, Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina and several ministers from across the world.From Bangladesh, Jaishankar will travel to Sweden. This will be his first visit as EAM to the Nordic country and comes at a time when India and Sweden are celebrating 75 years of establishing diplomatic relations. Sweden currently holds the Presidency of the Council of the European Union.According to a Ministry of External Affairs release, Jaishankar will participate in the second EU Indo-Pacific Ministerial Forum (EIPMF) in Sweden.He will hold bilateral meetings with foreign ministers of several countries on the margins of EIPMF.During his stay, he will call on leadership in Sweden and meet with key ministers.He will also participate in the inaugural session of the India Trilateral Forum (India, Europe and the US) with his Swedish counterpart.In the last leg of the visit, EAM will visit Brussels for bilateral engagements with Belgian and EU officials. He will also attend the first Ministerial Meeting of the India-EU Trade and Technology Council along with Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal and Minister of Communications, Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw.The TTC Ministerial Meeting is scheduled to be held on May 16.ANI12 May 2023

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China nervous over Japans potential military build-up

Tokyo, May 12: After Japan announced last year that it would double its military spending in the next five years and acquire the ability to strike enemy bases, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang lashed out at Tokyo over its planned biggest military build-up since World War II.

China nervous over Japan's potential military build-up

Reminding Japan of its World War II defeat, Qin Gang said the post-war international order must be maintained, Asian Institute for China and IOR Studies (AICIS) reported.As an impact of geopolitical heat, China, which is arraigned by the international community for its aggressive military positioning in the Indo-Pacific region, has expressed its worries about Japan's military build-up in the region."Japan has for the first time shown how its military could target and destroy rival assets by coordinating weaponry, including aerial satellites, submarines, glide bombs, hypersonic cruise missiles and fighter jets," AICIS wrote quoting China's influential military magazine, Modern Ships.AICIS said that the magazine attacked Japan for escalating regional geopolitical tension, triggering an arms race in the Indo-Pacific region and damaging the overall prospect of Beijing-Tokyo relations."[Japan's] Self-Defence Forces turning to an offensive posture shows that Japan's right-wing forces are breaking the post-war system and intervening in regional situations. It will have a serious impact on the regional military balance and strategic stability, and deserves high vigilance," the magazine cautioned.It did not spare Japan on its stand on Taiwan either. "Remarks like 'safeguarding Taiwan is safeguarding Japan' are aimed at suppressing international and domestic worries over worsening Sino-Japan relations," the magazine averred, indicating China is rattled by Tokyo's decision to enhance its budget for military and its repeated stress that safety of Taiwan means safety of Japan.The latest defence spending package for Japan's Self-Defence Forces, approved in December last year, totalled 6.8 trillion yen (USD 52 billion), a 26 per cent increase over the country's previous budget for the military.The current Japan defence budget, unveiled earlier in April, is seen as the first under the country's National Security Strategy, which was launched in December 2022 along with a new National Defence Strategy (NSS).The NSS stresses on enhancing spending on defence and other outlays up to 2 per cent of GDP by 2027, a dramatic shift in Japan's military strategy. Of all these, the most deterring aspect appeared to be Japan's decision to acquire counter-strike capabilities.Since it means the country will acquire long-range capabilities to strike enemy bases in the event of an attack, China feels Japan will hugely damage its defence capabilities if any conflict breaks out.More than this, what alarms China is Japan's gradual push towards becoming a major military power."Once Japan has the ability to conduct long-range strikes, the nation is expected to change from a 'shield' to a 'sword'...push for a complete lift of the ban on the development of its military power, and eventually achieve the country's goal of becoming a major military power," Modern Ships asserted.Among experts, there are opinions that Japan will support the US forces if they choose to defend Taiwan in the wake of China's attack on the self-ruling island. This viewpoint is reflected in the survey by the widely-read Japanese daily, The Asahi Shimbun also.The survey conducted this year in February showed 56 per cent of people want Japan's SDF role to be limited to rear-guard support to the US military over Taiwan. But then 80 per cent of 3000 respondents, as per The Asahi Shimbun, expressed their fear that Japan would be caught up in an armed conflict if the US and China engaged in a war over Taiwan.For Japan, Taiwan is strategically an important neighbour, which is just 110 km away from the East Asian nation's Okinawa prefecture's Yonaguni area. If China invades Taiwan, there is a fear that the PLA may also attack US military bases in Okinawa, thereby automatically dragging Japan into a war with China.On March 18, authorities in Japan's Okinawa prefecture carried out its first simulated exercise, evacuating around 100,000 residents from Yonaguni and other islands close to Taiwan.According to DW, Germany's public broadcaster, the evacuation drill was carried out by Japanese authorities in several cities including those falling in the Sakishima islands, lying 360km away from Taiwan.Japanese media outlets reported that residents on smaller islands in the Okinawa prefecture were first taken to bigger islands like Ishigaki and Miyako and then transferred to Okinawa's main island Kyushu. People on this island were also reportedly asked by authorities to hide indoors.Along with such precautionary civilian exercises, Japan is strengthening defence capabilities and deepening cooperation with the US, South Korea and the Philippines. Relations between Japan and South Korea have improved significantly since March this year as Seoul announced plans to use South Korean funds to compensate forced labourers without requiring contributions from Japan.A formal summit was held between the two countries for the first time in 12 years. Last month, senior officials of the two countries held a security dialogue for the first time in five years and recently, the two sides have made moves to mend ties on the trade front as well.ANI12 May 2023

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Arts cant be a side curriculum anymore for todays school children, say experts at SCRF 2023

Sharjah, May 12: English actor and writer Humza Arshad joined multiple award-winning Emirati artist Sumayyah Al Suwaidi and Kuwaiti publisher Mohammed Shaker Jaraq at the Sharjah Children's Reading Festival (SCRF) on Wednesday in trying to find the best ways to explore passion in young people using creative industries.

Arts can't be a side curriculum anymore for today's school children, say experts at SCRF 2023

Moderated by keynote speaker and presenter Sally Mousa, the session discussed how the creative industry has the potential to play a significant role in the upbringing of children. "It can expose them to a range of imaginative and educational experiences that stimulate minds and encourage overall creativity," said Jaraq, the vice president of leading Kuwait-based Arabic publishers KshMsh. "Our ability to think, imagine and create is what makes the human mind so powerful".When asked how the creative industry impacts a child's overall development and whether it can foster creativity in them and capture their interest, Al Suwaidi, who's exhibited in art exhibitions and fashion shows around the world, said "The Arab world should include creative arts and expression in school. It is the schools where the children spend most of their time of the day and they must spend long hours being creative. [Creative arts] cannot be a side curriculum anymore. It has become more essential than ever before [to include creative arts in the mainstream]. It is a way forward".She further highlighted how arts can help tackle issues like bullying among young people. "If I weren't in arts, I would end up punching sandbags to vent out. I am glad that my art today has touched people's hearts everywhere," said the Emirati whose work was auctioned by Christie's in 2012 as part of the Modern and Contemporary Arab, Iranian and Turkish Art Part II sale and exhibited at Sotheby's Galleries in London as part of the Three Generations exhibition in 2013.Talking about representation in the world of arts, Arshad, who produces the web series Diary of a Bad Man (2010-13) and Badman (2015-present), said "It's all about inclusion. The world needs to see different cultures, different people, different ways of doing things and although we have taken small steps, we have a long way to go.""We just need to encourage expressions from different writers from different backgrounds. We need them to share their stories," said the English comedian of Pakistani descent whose homemade YouTube videos have been viewed more than 100 million times, making him one of the most popular online comedians in the UK. (ANI/WAM)ANI12 May 2023

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DEWA announces early bird registration for MENA Solar Conference

Dubai, May 12: Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has opened early bird registration for the MENA Solar Conference (MENA SC), which will take place from November 15 to 18 in Dubai this year.

DEWA announces early bird registration for MENA Solar Conference

DEWA invited those interested in registering to participate in specialised panel discussions and innovative seminars at the first MENA SC 2023 and to benefit from the early registration discount until 31st July 2023.DEWA has also extended the paper submission deadline until 1st June 2023 to allow more researchers and scientists from around the world to submit their papers for presentation during the conference. The conference aims to be the region's first scientific and technical conference on solar energy systems.The conference will feature prominent experts, speakers, and researchers from around the world and will focus on photovoltaic systems, devices and materials, future technologies, PV system reliability and prediction for performance evaluation.The event supports DEWA's efforts to achieve the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 and the Dubai Net Zero Carbon Emissions Strategy 2050, which aim to provide 100% of Dubai's total power production capacity from clean energy sources by 2050.Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD and CEO of DEWA, said, "DEWA is keen on staying proactive in organising unique global events and bringing them to the region to enhance the participation of the MENA region in global climate action, shape the sustainability agenda, and pave the way for new opportunities for knowledge exchange, discussing quality developments and building bridges of communication." (ANI/WAM)ANI12 May 2023

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Titan launches social media campaign #MOMentsTogether on Mothers Day

Bangalore, May 12: This Mother's Day, Titan, India's leading watch brand, launches #MOMentsTogether, a refreshing social media campaign prodding kids to give their moms a much deserved break from all the trivial questions we usually bombard them with and instead direct them to Titan's Ask A-AAI Chatbot.

Titan launches social media campaign #MOMentsTogether on Mother's Day

From "Mom, what's for dinner tonight?" to "Have you seen my keys?", moms are often our go-to people when it comes to answering questions, no matter how obvious or unnecessary they may be. With ASK A-AAI, you can now get quirky and savage replies to your never-ending list of questions. From witty comebacks to hilarious jokes, ASK A-AAI impersonates all our aais, moms, and mummas, providing entertaining responses that can be shared on social media or WhatsApp, making it a fun and engaging experience for everyone.In the week leading up to Mother's Day, Titan stirred up a social media buzz with moms holding signage demanding time off. As the chatter grew louder, everyone discussed the alarming phenomenon of mothers disappearing. To amplify the conversation, Titan curated reels and memes with responses and welcomed user-generated content for amusing and shareable responses.Sharing his thoughts on the campaign, Prateek Gupta, Brand Communication Head, Titan said, "While our moms are irreplaceable, the #MOMentsTogether campaign urges kids to go celebrate our moms by gifting them a break from being constantly barraged about household chores, meal plans, or other responsibilities. We all know that our moms are the backbone of our families, and they deserve rest too. This Mother's Day, instead of asking your mom all the trivial questions, head over to ASK A-AAI and let your mom spend quality time doing what she loves the most."To further enhance the significance of this campaign, store teams nationwide are joining in the celebration with customers who bring their moms along, extending a warm welcome and presenting them with an exclusive Mother's Day discount of flat 20% off* from May 11th through May 14th on select Titan watches.To engage with ASK A-AAI, visit the microsite for more information and a fun-filled experience.Titan Company Limited (earlier known as Titan Industries Limited) is a joint venture between the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO) and Tata Group, commenced operations in 1987, under the name Titan Watches Limited. In 1994, Titan diversified into Jewellery and subsequently into eyewear with Titan Eyeplus. In 2013, Titan entered the fragrances segment with SKINN and 2019 in sarees with Taneira. Today, Titan Company Limited, India's leading manufacturer / sellers in watches, jewellery and eyewear, is credited with changing the face of all these industries. The Company recorded a revenue of INR 21,052 cr for the year ended 31st March 2020.This story has been provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article.ANI12 May 2023

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Ali Fazal to join Vin Diesel, Jason Mamoa for international premiere of Fast X in Rome

Rome, May 12: Actor Ali Fazal is set to attend the international premiere of 'Fast X' in Rome.

Ali Fazal to join Vin Diesel, Jason Mamoa for international premiere of 'Fast X' in Rome

The actor made his international debut with the seventh installment of the mega-action 'Fast and the Furious', and has been invited to attend the premiere as part of his past involvement with the franchise.Fazal will be seen alongside Vin Diesel and Jason Mamoa at the premiere, which is taking place on May 11 in Rome.Ali said "I am thrilled to be attending the international premiere of Fast X in Rome, and it is an honour to have been invited as part of my past involvement with the franchise. This is where it all began for me when it comes to my work globally, and I am grateful for the opportunities that this franchise has given me.""I am excited to reunite with the cast and crew, and I look forward to seeing what's in store this time of the action magic that they have created ."Since his international debut, Ali Fazal has made headlines with his performances in major international films, including his titular lead in 'Victoria and Abdul' alongside Dame Judi Dench and 'Death on the Nile' alongside Gal Gadot.Ali will soon be flying off to the US, where he will be promoting his next big Hollywood release, 'Kandahar' with Gerard Butler.In addition to his international work, Ali is also busy on the work front in India. He will soon be seen in 'Khufiya' with Tabu, 'Metro In Dino' with Fatima Sana Shaikh and Sara Ali Khan, and the third season of India's biggest OTT series, Mirzapur.IANS13 May 2023

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Champaign, IL (61820)

Today

Cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 54F. Winds ENE at 10 to 20 mph..

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Cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 54F. Winds ENE at 10 to 20 mph.
Champaign, IL (61820)

Today

Cloudy with occasional showers for the afternoon. High 76F. Winds E at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

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Cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 54F. Winds ENE at 15 to 25 mph.
Cross Country Healthcare, Inc., a market-leading, tech-enabled workforce solutions platform and advisory firm, in collaboration with Florida Atlantic University, today announced the results of its annual survey of nursing professionals and students.

The study found that although nurses are passionate about doing meaningful work and earning a good income, only one-third of nurses plan to remain in the profession for the foreseeable future, and about one-fourth plan to leave in just one to two years from now. The survey, conducted in collaboration with FAU's Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing, found that more than half of nurses claim there is insufficient staff to meet demand, which they regard as the worst part of the profession, resulting in burnout and feeling overworked.

May is Nurse Appreciation Month and Mental Health Awareness Month, and to help address some of the mental health struggles facing our nurses today, Cross Country Healthcare is launching the Check Your Vitals initiative, asking nurses to check their vitals, or overall health and well-being, while offering tips and strategies for nurses on maintaining both mental and physical wellness. As part of the campaign, nurses are encouraged to wear green to show support for mental health awareness and post their green on social media using the hashtag #checkyourvitals.

We had hoped that at this point past the pandemic, we would see improvement in the sentiment of our nurses, but that's simply not the case. The decision to choose nursing is more of a calling than a job. Nurses are tireless in their passion for quality patient care, no matter how challenging their working conditions may be. But the profession has reached a breaking point, and it is well past time that industry leaders come together to create reform to revitalize this essential profession." John A. Martins, President and CEO of Cross Country Healthcare

According to the survey, nurses reported experiencing symptoms of anxiety (46 percent), insomnia (35 percent), and depression (32 percent). Most employed nurses (83 percent) do not utilize mental health or well-being counseling, despite employers offering such services. The leading cause for poor mental health was staffing shortages (71 percent), followed by a lack of support resources (55 percent). The nurses' experience with the COVID-19 pandemic has added to feelings of discontent, and nearly 2 in 5 employed nurses said it dramatically increased their desire to leave the profession.

The findings come as the United States Health Resources & Services Administration predicts a national projected shortage of 63,720 full-time registered nurses in 2030 and a projected shortage of 141,580 fulltime licensed practical nurses in 2035.

With regard to mental health in nursing students, 61 percent said their school offers mental health and well-being resources, including student assistance programs, gyms and fitness resources, counseling, food and nutrition services, and a mental health and well-being hotline. Forty-seven percent of students use the mental health offerings from their school, and 53 percent find them useful. When asked if they were satisfied with their decision to become a nurse, 93 percent of student nurses said they are.

"Despite the many challenges and stressors that have contributed to burnout and nurses being on the brink of a breaking point in their professional careers, nurses and nursing students remain overwhelming satisfied with their career choice," said Safiya George, Ph.D., Holli Rockwell Trubinsky Eminent Dean and Professor, FAU's Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing. "Nurses have endured and thrived over the years. The profession as a whole will need a lot more investment of human capital as well as fiscal and other supportive resources moving forward. This national survey has helped to identify innovative ways to improve quality of work and life for current and the next generation of nurses."

The Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing offers accredited programs at all levels to prepare and train students, including Bachelor of Science in Nursing (B.S.N.), Master of Science in Nursing (M.S.N.), Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) and Ph.D. programs. A BSN-DNP program with a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner concentration and post-graduate dermatology and telehealth certificate courses, and other concentrations that combine innovation and technology also are offered to address health care provider shortages.

"Nurses are struggling and have been for years now. They are overworked and understaffed, and addressing their well-being challenges must be a critical priority for health care leaders," said Hank Drummond, Ph.D., M.Div, B.A., RN, senior vice president, and chief clinical officer. "The patient experience is only as good as the caregiver experience, so we need to ensure our caregivers are well and cared for, both physically and emotionally."

Other survey findings include:

Nearly 1 in 5 employed nurses don't know if they would follow the same career path if they could talk to their former selves.

Most nurses overwhelmingly believe that increased pay rates/incentives are necessary to attract and retain staff and increase flexible scheduling.

While many health care organizations offer opportunities for growth and development, 1 in 3 nurses are unaware if their employer has such opportunities, and 1 in 5 said their employer does not.

The most common well-being programs offered include employee assistance programs, hotlines, employer-paid health care, flexibility and time off.

Employed and unemployed nurses greatly believe in the value of national licensure.

To help address some of the challenges facing the nursing profession today, Cross Country Healthcare recommends five ways to revitalize the profession, including:
Researchers have developed new instruments for rigorously quantifying and comparing the light focusing properties of specialized eyeglass lenses that are used to slow the progression of myopia, or nearsightedness. The information gained with this new approach could help inform future lens designs that are even more effective at preventing visual decline.

Nearsightedness is on the rise around the globe, especially among children. If current trends continue, half of the world's population will be nearsighted by 2050, according to a report from the Brien Holden Vision Institute in Australia. Although the drivers of this worrisome trend aren't entirely clear, specialized eyeglass lenses have been shown to keep myopia from getting worse. This is particularly important for children and teens who often experience progression in the condition as their bodies grow.

In Optica, Optica Publishing Group's journal for high-impact research, researchers from the ZEISS Vision Science Lab at the University of Tubingen, in Germany, and the University of Murcia, in Spain, describe their new instruments, which measure lens performance under real-world viewing conditions. They also report results from measuring the light-focusing characteristics of different lenses used to slow myopia progression.

Insights into the link between the optical properties of myopia progression management lenses and effectiveness in real-world scenarios will pave the way to more effective treatments. This could help millions of children and is fundamental in understanding the mechanisms by which these lenses work." Augusto Arias-Gallego, Study Author, ZEISS Vision Science Lab

Capturing real-life viewing conditions

Myopia is typically caused when a persons eyes become slightly elongated. This leads faraway objects to appear blurry because they are focused in front of, rather than onto, the retina. Although traditional eyeglass lenses can correct this blurriness, conventional lenses dont prevent myopia from getting worse. Myopia progression can increase the likelihood of other eye problems and irreversible blindness.

Lenses that modify retinal signals to reduce myopia progression have been clinically tested and are currently available in the market. Researchers hypothesize that these lenses slow the growth of the eyeball, preventing it from becoming more elongated. These lenses incorporate different types of structures, such as microlenses or microdiffusers, to manipulate the image properties at the peripheral retina while correcting the central vision. However, the optical properties of this relatively new technology have not been extensively studied and compared.

In the new work, the researchers wanted to thoroughly characterize the currently available lenses under real-world viewing conditions. After exploring the state of the art, we didnt find a method that could be used to characterize the optical properties of these eyeglass lenses under real viewing conditions, said Arias-Gallego. Therefore, we developed a new instrument that can measure the lenss optical response to different angles of illumination while reproducing the myopic eyes pupil and refractive errors.

The new instrument uses an illumination source that is mounted on an arm that rotates around the lens. After the light passes through the lens, a steering rotating mirror guides it toward a spatial light modulator (SLM), which is composed of tiny liquid crystal cells that modify the propagating light with high spatial resolution.

The SLM is the core of the instrument since it reproduces the refractive errors and pupil shape of myopic eyes. This allowed the researchers to reproduce, for the first time, real aberrations produced by different angles of illumination for different myopic eyes while testing the lenses. Those aberrations were programmed as phase maps using the SLM.

Moreover, programmed amounts of defocus can be induced with the SLM, enabling the researchers to conduct a through-focus test. This test captures the image quality within the proximity of a simulated retinal position, shedding light on how the lens interacts with eye elongation signaled at the retina.

The researchers also quantified the lenses light scattering properties, which was important because one of the tested lenses is based on contrast reduction by adding scattering. For this, they designed a custom setup that does not require the specialized detectors and moving parts conventionally required for scattering quantification.

Comparing lens properties

By combining the through-focus results with light-scattering measurements, we were able to accurately characterize several types of eyeglass lenses, said Arias. We then compared our measurements for each lens with their reported clinical efficacy for slowing myopia progression. The results raised new questions that need to be studied further while also pointing to potential strategies that could increase the efficacy of future designs.

In this work, the lenses were characterized using a single wavelength of light to simplify the analysis of the image properties. Because the illumination in real scenarios contains many wavelengths, the researchers are working to adapt the instrument to include sources with varying wavelengths.
The protection offered by COVID-19 vaccination declines more rapidly in people with severe obesity than in those with normal weight, scientists at the Universities of Cambridge and Edinburgh have found. The study suggests that people with obesity are likely to need more frequent booster doses to maintain their immunity.

Clinical trials have shown that COVID-19 vaccines are highly effective at reducing symptoms, hospitalization and deaths caused by the virus, including for people with obesity. Previous studies have suggested that antibody levels may be lower in vaccinated people who have obesity and that they may remain at higher risk of severe disease than vaccinated people with normal weight. The reasons for this have, however, remained unclear.

Today's study, published in the journal Nature Medicine, shows that the ability of antibodies to neutralize the virus declines faster in vaccinated people who have obesity. The findings have important implications for vaccine prioritization policies around the world.

During the pandemic, people with obesity were more likely to be hospitalized, require ventilators and to die from COVID-19. In this study, the researchers set out to investigate how far two of the most extensively used vaccines protect people with obesity compared to those with a normal weight, over time.

A team from the University of Edinburgh, led by Prof Sir Aziz Sheikh, looked at real-time data tracking the health of 3.5 million people in the Scottish population as part of the EAVE II study. They looked at hospitalization and mortality from COVID-19 in adults who received two doses of Covid-19 vaccine (either Pfizer-BioNTech BNT162b2 mRNA or AstraZeneca ChAdOx1).

They found that people with severe obesity (a BMI greater than 40 kg/m2) had a 76% higher risk of severe COVID-19 outcomes, compared to those with a normal BMI. A modest increase in risk was also seen in people with obesity (30-39.9kg/m2), which affects a quarter of the UK population, and those who were underweight. 'Break-through infections' after the second vaccine dose also led to hospitalization and death sooner (from 10 weeks) among people with severe obesity, and among people with obesity (after 15 weeks), than among individuals with normal weight (after 20 weeks).

Our findings demonstrate that protection gained through COVID-19 vaccination drops off faster for people with severe obesity than those with a normal body mass index. Using large-scale data assets such as the EAVE II Platform in Scotland have enabled us to generate important and timely insights that enable improvements to the delivery of COVID-19 vaccine schedules in a post-pandemic UK." Prof Sir Aziz Sheikh, University of Edinburgh

The University of Cambridge team  jointly led by Dr James Thaventhiran, from the MRC Toxicology Unit and Prof Sadaf Farooqi from the Wellcome-MRC Institute of Metabolic Science  studied people with severe obesity attending Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, and compared the number and function of immune cells in their blood to those of people of normal weight.

They studied people six months after their second vaccine dose and then looked at the response to a third "booster" vaccine dose over time. The Cambridge researchers found that six months after a second vaccine dose, people with severe obesity had similar levels of antibodies to the COVID-19 virus as those with a normal weight.

But the ability of those antibodies to work efficiently to fight against the virus (known as 'neutralization capacity') was reduced in people with obesity. 55% of individuals with severe obesity were found to have unquantifiable or undetectable 'neutralizing capacity' compared to 12% of people with normal BMI.

"This study further emphasizes that obesity alters the vaccine response and also impacts on the risk of infection," said Dr Agatha van der Klaauw from the Wellcome-MRC Institute of Metabolic Science and first author of the paper. "We urgently need to understand how to restore immune function and minimize these health risks."

The researchers found that antibodies produced by people with severe obesity were less effective at neutralizing the SARS-CoV-2 virus, potentially because the antibodies were not able to bind to the virus with the same strength.

When given a third (booster) dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, the ability of the antibodies to neutralize the virus was restored in both the normal weight and severely obese groups. But the researchers found that immunity again declined more rapidly in people with severe obesity, putting them at greater risk of infection with time.

Dr James Thaventhiran, a Group Leader from the MRC Toxicology Unit in Cambridge and co-lead author of the SCORPIO study said: "It is promising to see that booster vaccines restore the effectiveness of antibodies for people with severe obesity, but it is concerning that their levels decrease more quickly, after just 15 weeks. This shows that the vaccines work as well in people with obesity, but the protection doesn't last as long."

Prof Sadaf Farooqi from the Wellcome-MRC Institute of Metabolic Science and co-lead author of the SCORPIO study said: "More frequent booster doses are likely to be needed to maintain protection against COVID-19 in people with obesity. Because of the high prevalence of obesity across the globe, this poses a major challenge for health services".
Rare diseases (RDs) are defined as those that occur in one for every 2,000 people in the European Union and less than 200,000 people in the United States each year. To date, about 7,000 RDs have been identified; however, the diagnosis of RDs remains a challenge.

A new Frontiers in Neurology study describes the outcomes of an automated artificial intelligence (AI)-based methodology to diagnose Pompe disease, a known RD.

Study: An artificial intelligence-based approach for identifying rare disease patients using retrospective electronic health records applied for Pompe disease. Image Credit: SOMKID THONGDEE / Shutterstock.com

Background

Sometimes an isolated symptom of a rare disease is misdiagnosed as a common disease, which leads to premature closure. Other times, a prolonged diagnostic journey that includes consultations with various physicians and a subsequent plethora of examinations and treatments can impair diagnostic judgment. On average, it takes about eight years, with some reporting up to 28 years, to diagnose RDs.

Typically, it takes between 2.5 months and 144 months to correctly diagnose Pompe disease. Estimation methods based on genetic databases have indicated that Pompe disease prevails in one in every 23,232 individuals. However, survey-based investigations, which are based on clinical centers that provide Pompe disease treatment, revealed the prevalence rate of this disease to be 1 in every 350,914 persons.

A significant variation in the prevalence of this disease has been observed geographically. For example, the highest and lowest prevalence of Pompe disease was found among East Asian and Finnish people, respectively.

Pompe disease has been divided into two groups based on the phenotype. These include infantile-onset Pompe disease (IOPD) and late-onset Pompe disease (LOPD).

Electronic Health Records (EHRs) have a comprehensive collection of healthcare data. Unfortunately, this data is extremely heterogenous and often incomplete, thereby causing difficulties for traditional automated diagnostic methods.

Currently, AI-based methods are being designed to extract relevant information from unstructured medical data. This type of automated screening can be used for large-scale rare disease screening, which could increase the rate of diagnosing RDs in a cost-effective manner.

About the study

The current study used an automated AI-based approach developed by Symptoma to detect Pompe disease based on available retrospective anonymized EHRs.

A patient with Pompe disease detected by AI was referred to as flagged. The data of a flagged patient was divided into their patient profile, clinical presentation, and hidden disease patterns.

Once AI determined that adequate evidence was available to support the diagnosis of Pompe disease, it flagged the identified patient for further assessment. This patient was evaluated by generalist physicians (GP), with some subsequently recommended to specialist physicians (SP) for Pompe disease.

Study findings

A total of 104 patients were flagged by AI out of 350,116 patients who were admitted to any of the five Landeskliniken Salzburg clinic groups through the one-time application.

AI detected one possible patient with Pompe disease out of every 3,366 patients screened. These patients were reviewed by GPs, 22 patients of whom were identified for further evaluation by SPs. GPs classified these patients into three groups, including diagnoses, suspected, and reduced suspicion.

All patients presented to SPs were further evaluated and grouped as definite (five patients), probable (two patients), possible (six patients), inconclusive (six patients), and unlikely (three patients).

About four possible Pompe patients for each clinic were identified every month. On average, seventeen patients were examined to identify one suspected patient.

The AI-based automated screening method, including the review round with GPs and SPs, took less than one month to detect 21 suspected patients for every clinic. Therefore, this approach required 5.47 patients to be reviewed manually to identify one suspected patient.

Free-text documentation was used for patient characteristics analysis. Fatigue, lower back pain, and headache were the most common symptoms.

Some of the features related to organ abnormalities included hepatomegaly and splenomegaly. Symptoms related to muscular impairment were found to be important for differentiating patients suspected to be suffering from Pompe disease.

AI identified characteristic features of Pompe disease based on EHRs, including myopathy, muscle hypotony, muscle weakness, scapula alata, and myalgia. However, clinical features can vary, particularly for LOPD.

Fatigue was inversely related to cardiomegaly, which is typically found in IOPD. However, some features are less clinically significant in newborns as compared to older patients.

Conclusions

Like any other RD study, the current study had a small sample size that limited the potential to obtain statistically significant findings. However, the AI-based methodology enabled the analysis of a large dataset that allowed the researchers to obtain statistically significant results.

Another limitation of the study is that AI could only access documented evidence or those present in EHRs. However, it is not uncommon for all relevant evidence to be inadequately documented or the doctors impression not recorded, which can generate biased findings.

Despite the limitations, the current study revealed how AI could be used to diagnose Pompe disease using retrospective EHRs. This method can improve the timing and accuracy of diagnosis of other RDs as well.
Short-term therapy sessions with parents and their children in homeless shelters could help improve parenting skills and reduce parental stress and children's post-traumatic stress symptoms, according to a pilot study published by the American Psychological Association.

Researchers from Florida International University partnered with Lotus House in Miami, one of the largest women's homeless shelters in the U.S. The study included 144 families (mother and one child) with children from 18 months to 5 years of age. The research was published online in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.

Shelter staff worked daily with the families to build trust with the mothers  many of whom weren't seeking therapy  and 99% of them agreed to take part in the study, said lead researcher Paulo Graziano, PhD, a professor of psychology at Florida International University.

We're excited to find that evidence-based parenting interventions can be implemented within a shelter setting with wonderful benefits to the mothers and children. I think more community-university partnerships are essential towards addressing the mental health needs of our most vulnerable families and children in a setting where they normally wouldn't receive it." Paulo Graziano, PhD, Professor of Psychology, Florida International University

More than 2 million children in the U.S. experience homelessness every year, and homeless children face heightened challenges from poverty, traumatic experiences, mental illness and behavioral problems. Previous research has also found that homelessness is associated with increased parental frustration and negative parenting behaviors, including aggression. Those issues can be exacerbated by the parents' chronic medical, mental health or substance use issues and their own histories of trauma.

Graziano and his team trained Lotus House staff to provide two types of evidence-based therapy to the mothers and their children in weekly sessions over three or four months. Half of the participants received Parent-Child Interaction Therapy while the other half received Child-Parent Psychotherapy.

Parent-Child Interaction Therapy includes positive parenting techniques to reduce critical statements and negative interactions with children during observed play sessions. Child-Parent Psychotherapy uses play and language to help identify and address traumatic triggers, provide emotional support and offer assistance with daily living issues.

Mothers in both therapy groups reported reductions in their stress and their children's post-traumatic stress symptoms. The mothers also made more positive statements during observed play sessions. Parent-Child Interaction Therapy also helped reduce children's behavior problems so may be more effective in a shelter setting, the study noted.

With adequate training and supervision, homeless shelter staff may not need mental health degrees to provide effective therapy, Graziano said. His team and Lotus House are working on a larger randomized trial to see if the successes from this pilot study can be replicated at other homeless shelters. He also hopes that other researchers will conduct their own studies.

Constance Collins, president of the Sundari Foundation, which operates Lotus House, said the project has produced dramatic results.

"It was a game changer that transformed homelessness into a window of opportunity for our children," she said. "We're sharing our experiences with other homeless shelters across the country with hopes that critically needed therapy will become more available to homeless parents and their children."
The host

Julie Rovner KFF Health News @jrovner

Julie Rovner is chief Washington correspondent and host of KFF Health News' weekly health policy news podcast, "What the Health?" A noted expert on health policy issues, Julie is the author of the critically praised reference book "Health Care Politics and Policy A to Z," now in its third edition.

The formal end May 11 of the national public health emergency for covid-19 will usher in lots of changes in the way Americans get vaccines, treatment, and testing for the coronavirus. It will also change the way some people get their health insurance, with millions likely to lose coverage altogether.

Meanwhile, two FDA advisory committees voted unanimously this week to allow the over-the-counter sale of a specific birth control pill. Advocates of making the pill easier to get say it could remove significant barriers to the use of effective contraception and prevent thousands of unplanned pregnancies every year. The FDA, however, must still formally approve the change, and some of its staff scientists have expressed concerns about whether teenagers and low-literacy adults will be able to follow the directions without the direct involvement of a medical professional.

This week's panelists are Julie Rovner of KFF Health News, Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico, Tami Luhby of CNN, and Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times.

Panelists

Joanne Kenen Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico @JoanneKenen

Tami Luhby CNN @luhby

Margot Sanger-Katz The New York Times @sangerkatz

Among the takeaways from this week's episode:

The formal public health emergency may be over, but covid definitely is not. More than 1,000 people in the United States died of the virus between April 19 and April 26, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While most Americans have put covid in their rearview mirrors, it remains a risk around the country.

The Senate Finance Committee held a hearing on "ghost networks," lists of health professionals distributed by insurance companies who are not taking new patients or are not actually in the insurance company's network. Ghost networks are a particular problem in mental health care, where few providers take health insurance at all.

Another trend in the business of health care is primary care practices being bought by hospitals, insurance companies, and even Amazon. This strategy was popular in the 1990s, as health systems sought to "vertically integrate." But now the larger entities may have other reasons for having their own networks of doctors, including using their patients to create revenue streams.

Court battles continue over the fate of the abortion pill mifepristone, as a federal appeals court in New Orleans prepares to hear arguments about a lower-court judge's ruling that would effectively cancel the drug's approval by the FDA. In West Virginia, the maker of the generic version of the drug is challenging the right of the state to ban medication approved by federal officials. At the same time, a group of independent abortion clinics from various states is suing the FDA to drop restrictions on how mifepristone can be prescribed, joining mostly Democratic-led states seeking to ensure access to the drug.

Plus for "extra credit" the panelists suggest health policy stories they read this week that they think you should read, too:

Julie Rovner: Slate's "Not Every Man Will Be as Dumb as Marcus Silva," by Moira Donegan and Mark Joseph Stern.

Joanne Kenen: The Baltimore Banner's "Baltimore Isn't Accessible for People With Disabilities. Fixing It Would Cost Over $650 Million," by Hallie Miller and Adam Willis.

Tami Luhby: CNN's "Because of Florida Abortion Laws, She Carried Her Baby to Term Knowing He Would Die," by Elizabeth Cohen, Carma Hassan, and Amanda Musa.

Margot Sanger-Katz: The New Yorker's "The Problem With Planned Parenthood," by Eyal Press.

Also mentioned in this week's episode:

Credits

Francis Ying Audio producer Stephanie Stapleton Editor
In a recent study published in JAMA Network Open, researchers analyzed Twitter content uploaded by academic emergency medicine (EM) physicians and resident physicians to assess changes in language and content as indicators of their emotional well-being during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

Study: Investigating Social Media to Evaluate Emergency Medicine Physicians Emotional Well-being During COVID-19. Image Credit: WoraweeMeepian/Shutterstock.com

Background

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) outbreak has worsened mental health and increased healthcare-related fatigue among clinical workers.

Due to the chaos in healthcare facilities and services, high rates of workplace violence, and continual exposure to critical care events, the frontline aspect of providing acute care in emergency departments (EDs) is associated with factors related to anxiety, stress, burnout, and depression.

The different waves of COVID-19 garnered population health interest in the increased emotional burden and burnout among healthcare workers. Many physicians resorted to publicly accessible social media platforms such as Twitter to vent themselves and release their stress, which was exacerbated during COVID-19.

About the study

In the present cross-sectional study, researchers evaluated changes in EM physicians' social media posts' language and content during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and whether the changes could provide insights into the emotional health of emergency medicine physicians.

The study used pre-trained natural language processing models and machine learning to assess Twitter posts (tweets) by EM physicians before and during different waves of COVID-19.

The study aimed to ascertain key themes in social media language and content associated with mental health and psychological constructs. Posts uploaded by the physicians from March 2018 to March 2022 were assessed.

Only emergency medicine and resident health physicians posting content with 300.0 words across all tweets from the top 10 United States (US) with the highest number of SARS-CoV-2 infections were included. The data were analyzed between June and September 2022. The study exposure was being an emergency medicine or resident health physician with uploaded tweets.

The main outcome measures were themes of Twitter content before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The team evaluated psychological constructs such as anger, anxiety, loneliness, and depression and measured negative and positive language sentiments reflected in the posts.

Tweets uploaded before March 2020 were considered pre-COVID-19 posts, and those uploaded during and after March 2020 were considered posts during COVID-19.

The posts were split into emoticons, punctuation, and words, following which the team excluded words and/or phrases used by less than 1.0% of users.

The team measured effect sizes by Cohen d based on the normalized feature frequencies. The US counties included were Maricopa, Los Angeles, New York, Miami-Dade, Cook, Harris, San Diego, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Broward.

Results

In total, 471 EM and resident physicians who uploaded 198,867.0 tweets were identified, with mean and median values for the words across tweets of 11,403 and 3,445, respectively.

The top five pre-COVID-19 themes were freely available health education accessible to all, residency education, gun violence, quality improvements in the healthcare sector, and professional-level resident relationships, with Cohen d values of 0.4, 0.4, 0.4, 0.3, and 0.3, respectively.

During COVID-19, the themes showed significant associations with healthy behaviors, response to COVID-19, vaccination and vaccines, homelessness and unstable housing, and emotional support for other individuals, with Cohen d values of 0.8, 0.7, 0.6, 0.4, and 0.4, respectively. From the cumulative cases between 1 March 2020 and 31 March 2022, four COVID-19 phases were obtained.

The first phase was between 1 March and 31 October 2020; the second was between 1 November 2020 and 30 April 2021; the third was between 1 May and 31 December 2021; and the fourth was between 1 January and 31 March 2022.

Across different COVID-19 phases, the social media content themes in the tweets were significantly altered.

The number of physicians actively posting changed from 405 EM physicians (67,685 tweets, a mean of 167 tweets per EM physician) in the pre-pandemic period to 536 EM physicians (131,683 tweets, a mean of 246 tweets per EM physician) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In comparison to the pre-COVID-19 period, more pessimistic and significantly less optimistic language was used during the pandemic. In addition, significant increases in anxiety, loneliness, depression, and anger were observed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Conclusions

Overall, the study findings showed that at the start of COVID-19 and throughout, there was a significant increase in mental health strain among EM physicians and residents.

Key theme shifts and vocabulary increases linked to anger, anxiety, loneliness, and depression were also observed in social media content uploaded by emergency medicine and resident health physicians during COVID-19.

During COVID-19, social media may provide a real-time examination of unique and accessible content, themes, and linguistics used by healthcare personnel reflecting their emotional sentiments.

Understanding the unique experiences and attitudes of EM physicians and residents, as well as recording their perspectives, would aid in developing strategies to support the workforce and trainees.

The findings add to the body of scientific literature on the emotional toll of COVID-19 on EM physicians, as well as guide policy-making and the development of in-the-field interventions to improve the emotional well-being of frontline healthcare professionals.
Dysregulation of the dopamine neurotransmitter system has long been associated with schizophrenia and other forms of psychosis, but recently researchers have begun to examine the glutamate and GABA systems as well. Studies have shown that an excitatory-inhibitory imbalance begins with improperly functioning NMDA-type glutamate receptors (NMDAR) in temporal regions of the brain, but much of the evidence comes from studies of the brains of psychotic people, leaving in question whether the imbalance results from psychotic symptoms or precedes them.

Now, a new study in people with the copy variant number 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11DS) probes the excitatory-inhibitory neurotransmitter system prior to the onset of psychosis. Deletion carriers have a strong predisposition for psychiatric illnesses including anxiety and mood disorders, and they have a 30% lifetime risk of developing psychotic disorders, including schizophrenia, by adulthood. These carriers present a unique opportunity for longitudinal studies on neuropsychiatric illnesses because of the possibility of study and follow-up before and after the onset of such illnesses.

The study appears in Biological Psychiatry, published by Elsevier.

Researchers led by Valentina Mancini, PhD, at the University of Geneva School of Medicine, used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) together with proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) to estimate levels of the excitatory neurotransmitters glutamate and glutamine (Glx), and the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA in the brains of 60 individuals with 22q11DS and 45 healthy controls. They focused on three brain regions implicated in schizophrenia pathophysiology: the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), superior temporal cortex (STC), and hippocampus.

Deletion carriers had higher levels of Glx in hippocampus and STC, but not in the ACC, compared to controls. Carriers also had significantly lower levels of GABA in the hippocampus, but not the ACC or STC. Importantly, among 22q11DS carriers, those with psychosis also had higher Glx levels in the hippocampus, suggesting that changes in the hippocampus may drive downstream pathology.

Atrophy of the hippocampus has also been observed in the brains of people with schizophrenia. In the current study, Glx concentration was associated with greater atrophy, perhaps pointing to an elevated vulnerability of the hippocampus.

Our results highlight that temporo-limbic regions, and in particular the hippocampus, undergo a progressive shift in the ratio between the concentration of excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitters. Moreover, we found that those individuals with higher levels of excitatory neurotransmitter also had a higher extent of hippocampal volume loss over time. These individuals also started to experience psychotic symptoms, such as hallucinations and delusions. Our study provides novel insight into potential mechanisms underlying hippocampal atrophy in individuals at risk for psychosis and links these neural abnormalities to the emergence of psychotic symptoms." Valentina Mancini, PhD, University of Geneva School of Medicine

John Krystal, MD, Editor of Biological Psychiatry, said of the work, "This study of 22q.11 deletion syndrome, a syndrome with increased risk for schizophrenia, elegantly builds on prior findings linking excessive glutamate release to smaller cortical volumes, suggestive of atrophy. This form of atrophy may contribute to cognitive and functional impairments."

The work may have clinical implications, Dr. Mancini added. "The current findings can inform novel treatment strategies targeting early glutamatergic dysfunction in individuals at risk for psychosis. Given the essential role of the hippocampus in memory processes, preventing excitatory-inhibitory imbalance and volume loss could potentially mitigate the cognitive decline typically observed in psychotic patients."
Researchers from the Organoid group (Hubrecht Institute) and UMC Utrecht have developed a biobank with organoids derived from patients with head and neck cancer (HNC). They used this biobank to validate known HNC biomarkers and found that treatment responses in the organoids matched those seen in patients. The results of the study will be published in Med on 12 May 2023 and could aid treatment decisions and discovery of novel therapies for HCN patients in the future.

Head and neck cancer (HNC) is an overarching term used for several types of cancer, including the most common form called head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). HNC patients can be treated with a combination of surgery, radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy. Nevertheless, treatment is not always effective. Rosemary Millen, shared first author of the paper, explains: "These treatments cause serious side-effects and some patients are therefore unable to finish the treatment. And even after going through such a harsh treatment, 60 percent of patients relapse." The limited efficacy of treatments might be explained in part by the fact that the genetic makeup of the tumor differs strongly between patients. As a result, the most suitable therapy is different for each patient.

Clinicians currently have limited tools to properly distinguish this. There is therefore an urgent need for better biomarkers: indicators that we can measure in each individual patient in order to determine from which treatment they would benefit most. Ideally, such a personalized approach would prevent you from unnecessarily burdening patients with treatments that might not work, and lead to a better prognosis." Else Driehuis, corresponding author of the paper

Setting up a biobank

A first step towards such personalized treatments is to develop better models that reflect tumor variability more accurately. The researchers therefore set up a biobank of HNC organoids: miniature versions of patient tumors, grown in the lab. Millen: "Ultimately, the goal of such a biobank would be to use the organoids to guide personalized treatment decisions in the clinic. Of course, before we can do that, we first needed to investigate whether the treatment response in the organoids correlates with the response seen in patients." Driehuis adds: "Willem de Kort, shared first author of the paper, was able to collect many HNC patient samples at the UMC Utrecht. He collected tumor tissue from these patients, either during diagnostic biopsies or surgical resections of the tumor, and followed their disease course. We closely collaborated with surgeons, oncologists and radiologists throughout the project. It was a real team effort." The team was able to grow HNC organoids from the patient tissues and confirmed that these 'mini tumors' closely resembled the patient tumors, as they retained the same histological and genetic features. Millen: "We then treated the organoids with several therapy types and measured treatment efficacy by determining how many cells in the organoids died. The next step was to correlate this to treatment response in patients."

Comparing organoids and patients

After treating the organoids with radiotherapy, the team showed that the organoid response resembled treatment responses in patients. "The organoids therefore hold potential for predicting patient outcomes. The correlation between organoid and patient response was there for patients receiving adjuvant radiotherapy, meaning that radiation is used in addition to surgical resection of the tumor. In cases where patients received radiotherapy as a primary treatment, we need to investigate this further," explains Millen. The researchers also studied the effect of chemoradiotherapy, a combination of radiation and chemotherapy. "Here we show that two specific chemotherapy drugs, cisplatin and carboplatin, have a radiosensitizing effect in the organoids. This means that it makes the tumor cells more sensitive to radiotherapy. These results are consistent with what we see in the clinic and therefore underline again the predictive potential of organoids in this setting," says Driehuis.

Clinical implications

Some of the discoveries made by the team could have implications for HNC patients in the near future. For example, they showed that the drug cetuximab made the tumor organoids less sensitive to radiotherapy. Driehuis explains: "This is surprising, because the combination of this drug and radiotherapy is given to some HNC patients in the clinic today. In patients, it's difficult to distinguish the individual contributions of the drug and the radiation therapy to the overall effect of this combination treatment, but in the organoids we can pull that apart. Our results fit with recent published data that show that survival of patients treated with cetuximab and radiotherapy is worse compared to treatment with radiotherapy alone. The clinical implication of these findings would be that it's better to wait with cetuximab until after radiation therapy, but this change in timing of treatment is something you would need to test in patients of course." The team also showed that a so-called PRMT5 inhibitor, a novel drug already in clinical trials for other cancer types, could be effective for a subgroup of HNC patients. Millen: "We sequenced the DNA of the organoids, to investigate the relationship between specific genetic mutations and the response to treatments. By doing so, we found that tumors with loss of the gene CDKN2A were responsive to treatment with this novel drug. It would be very interesting to see whether this effect is also found in patients, especially since this mutation is present in over 50% of HNSCC cases." Driehuis concludes: "Taken together, our results highlight the clinical relevance of organoids derived from patient tumor tissue. One of the next steps would be to design a clinical trial, to really use the organoids to guide treatment decisions in HNC patients."

This study was funded by the Oncode Clinical Proof of Concept fund.
A young researcher from the Geneva University Hospital (HUG) and the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Dr Noemie Lang, wins the prestigious Swiss Group for Clinical Cancer Research (SAKK) Trial Network Award, with the intent to carry out a study evaluating early detection of central nervous system involvement in lymphomas. Using sequencing technology to detect circulating tumour DNA in the blood and the cerebrospinal fluid, this diagnostic approach may result in significantly improved standards of quality and precision compared to available analytical assays currently in use. This innovation is expected to enable early diagnosis and improve targeted therapeutic approaches, two key elements for preventing relapses and optimizing the selection of patients requiring therapy. It would significantly improve outcomes in these particularly aggressive forms of lymphoma.

Lymphomas are cancers that originate from white blood cells and affect the lymphatic system, which plays a major role in immune defense. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), they account for 5% of all cancers. Approximatively two-thirds of lymphomas can be successfully and durably treated. However, certain aggressive subtypes of B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas still present a poor prognosis.

In 2 to 5% of cases, the disease spreads to the central nervous system and life expectancy drops to a few months. "Preventive therapeutic approaches exist; however, they need to be administered in a more targeted manner by an early accurate detection of central nervous system involvement in high-risk individuals, treating positively-detected patients and sparing toxicities to negatively-detected patients", says the SAKK prize laureate. Dr Noemie Lang is an oncologist at the Oncology Department at the HUG and conducts translational research in the team of Professor Jerome Tamburini at the Department of Medicine and the Center for Translational Research in Onco-Hematology (CRTOH) of the Faculty of Medicine at UNIGE.

Increasing detection rates

Dr Noemie Lang points out that currently available assays to measure central nervous system involvement of lymphoma have low performance, with detection rates ranging from 8 to 50%. This reality might change with the use of circulating tumor DNA.

In response to the death of a tumoral cell, tumor DNA is released into the blood, as well as other bodily fluids, such as the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), a liquid that surrounds the brain and spinal cord, representing the central nervous system. With the advent of high-throughput sequencing technologies, circulating tumor DNA can now be easily identified in blood and CSF samples.

This is what Dr Noemie Lang and the SAKK lymphoma group aim to demonstrate through a prospective clinical study. Blood and CSF samples will be collected from over sixty participants harboring a newly diagnosed aggressive lymphoma. Circulating DNA will be extracted and sequenced to determine its origin and make a diagnosis.

Dr Noemie Lang hypothesizes that "the measurement of circulating tumor DNA in the CSF will outperform currently used assays for detecting central nervous system involvement in lymphoma. This study represents a cornerstone in the development of preventive strategies and early detection of asymptomatic central nervous system involvement in lymphoma. Therapeutic strategies can be accordingly applied to prevent the disease from progressing, becoming symptomatic, and more difficult to treat."

The study will be conducted in twelve Swiss centers and aims to address a timely question, given that the early detection and prevention of central nervous system involvement in lymphomas have remained unanswered clinical issues for several decades, all strong arguments for the awarding of the prize by SAKK to Dr Noemie Lang.

Supporting young researchers and clinical research in oncology

SAKK is an independent, non-profit organization that focuses on cancer research. Founded in 1965, it plays a crucial role not only in advancing cancer research in Switzerland, but also in supporting young clinical researchers in their career development. As a center of expertise, its main objective is to network its members. Its creation of the Network Trial Award, endowed with one million Swiss francs (USD 1.12 million), reflects this objective.

Dr Noemie Lang is the first laureate of the award, and she expresses her gratitude to SAKK as well as to the HUG and UNIGE. "It is a unique opportunity in Switzerland to secure sufficient financing to complete the entire study. I am particularly thrilled as it is challenging to secure funds for clinical research, unlike fundamental research. Thanks to SAKK and its commitment to support young investigators, as well as the exceptional opportunity provided by the HUG and UNIGE to commit 50% of time to research in parallel with clinical work, all of this was made possible."
The Economic Offences Wing of the Delhi Police has filed an FIR against BharatPe co-founder Ashneer Grover, his wife Madhuri Jain Grover and family members Deepak Gupta, Suresh Jain and Shwetank Jain for an alleged Rs 81 crore fraud after a complaint by the fintech unicorn.

The FIR, a copy of which has been seen by PTI, was filed on Wednesday under eight sections of the Indian Penal Code.

The case has been registered under sections 406 (punishment for criminal breach of trust), 408 (criminal breach of trust by clerk or servant), 409 (criminal breach of trust by a public servant, or by banker, merchant or agent), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 467 (forgery of valuable security, will, etc.), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged) and 120B (punishment of criminal conspiracy).

According to the FIR, the company undertook an internal reconciliation of transactions and was assisted by independent professionals in this regard. Several irregularities and illegalities have come to the attention of the company, which give rise to the present complaint.

BharatPe in the complaint alleged that Grover and his family caused damages of about Rs 81.3 crore through illegitimate payments to bogus human resource consultants, inflated and undue payments through passthrough vendors connected to the accused, sham transactions in input tax credit and payment of penalty to GST authorities, illegal payment to travel agencies, forged invoices by Madhuri Jain and destruction of evidence.

If convicted, Grover, Madhuri and others can face up to anything between 10 years to life imprisonment.

EOW now has the power to arrest all the accused.

BharatPe welcomed the registration of FIR saying, For the last 15 months, the company has been facing a vicious and malicious campaign run by Grover against the company, the board and its employees".

The registration of the FIR is a step in the right direction, which unearths various suspicious transactions made by the family for their personal pecuniary gains," it said in a statement.

The FIR, it said, will now enable law enforcement agencies to investigate deeper into the criminality and bring the culprits to books.

We have full faith in our countrys judicial and law enforcement systems and are optimistic that this case will reach its logical conclusion. We will continue to extend all possible cooperation to the authorities," it added.

In December 2022, BharatPe filed a criminal complaint against Grover and his family with the EOW of Delhi Police, alleging fraud of Rs 81.28 crore, criminal breach of trust, conspiracy, cheating, forgery and destruction of evidence. The same month, it also filed a civil suit with the Delhi High Court against its former MD and co-founder Grover and his family, seeking up to Rs 88.67 crore in damages for alleged cheating and embezzlement of funds.

The suit, running into 2,800 pages, alleges that Grover, his wife Madhuri Jain and other family members created fake bills, enlisted fictitious vendors to provide services to the company and overcharged the company for recruitment.

Madhuri Jain was the head of controls at BharatPe and was fired earlier in 2022 after a forensic audit revealed several irregularities. Subsequently, Ashneer Grover resigned as CEO in March 2022.

BharatPe, last year, hit the headlines when Grover was accused of using inappropriate language and threatening a Kotak Group employee for failing to secure an allotment and funding for the Nykaa IPO for himself and his wife Madhuri Jain Grover.

Thereafter, BharatPe appointed Alvarez and Marsal, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas and PwC to conduct a corporate governance review and determine whether Grover had committed willful misconduct.

This led to the ouster of Jain and Grover from the company and its board in March.

On May 10, 2022, BharatPe said that after the detailed review, the company had decided to take steps against employees involved in misconduct and claw back Ashneer Grovers restricted shares.

The complaint was received at EOW and enquiry has been conducted into the allegations levelled against alleged persons. From the contents of the complaint and enquiry conducted so far, prima-facie offences punishable under Sections 406/408/ 409/420/467/468/471/120B IPC (Indian penal code) are made out," the FIR copy reads.

BharatPe had filed an arbitration claim in Singapore to claw back restricted shares (1.4 per cent) allotted to Grover and prevent him from using the title of a founder.

In January this year, Bhavik Koladiya, BharatPe cofounder, sued Grover for reclaiming the shares transferred in December 2018.

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Last month, the companys co-founder Shashvat Nakrani sued Grover over unpaid shares".

MZM Legal is advising BharatPe on the criminal complaint.
The online gaming market is growing at a fast pace, and it got impetus especially after the coronavirus-induced lockdown. According to estimates, the industry is expected to grow to $8.5 billion by 2027. The finance ministry is considering classifying online games into those based on skill and chance-based ones with a view to create a differential taxation framework for both categories.

Online Gaming Vs Gambling

With the central government providing the base distinction, state governments have already begun moving the needle when it comes to distinguishing between online gaming and gambling. The Chhattisgarh Gambling Prohibition Act of 2022, which was notified in March of this year, prohibits online gambling and betting, specifically excluding skill-based games. This serves as a reflection of the changing perception of online gaming among the various levels of the Government.

Tax Rules On Online Gaming

The next GST Council meeting is expected to be held in June 2023 and the online gaming industry is hoping for the last part of the puzzle to fall in place for it. Goods and services tax (GST) on the online gaming industry has been the subject of debate and deliberation for some time.

While the industry has been urging for taxation of only gross gaming revenue (GGR), the government has also been deliberating levying GST on the entire prize pool which is the norm for activities that are in the nature of betting, wagering and gambling. This is driven by a perception that gaming is akin to betting and gambling and, therefore, should be subject to similar taxation.

With MeitYs appointment as the nodal ministry for online gaming and the subsequent rules published by them, the industry has been definitively distinguished from betting and gambling. Ideally, to ensure consistency in the law, these changes should be accounted for in the way GST will be levied on the industry. Notably, the direct taxation framework for online gaming in India has also undergone significant changes in this years budget.

Now, the Income Tax Act has decoupled online gaming from lottery and gambling/betting, and all net winnings are now taxed at 30 per cent. This also addresses a core concern of tax authorities around tax evasion by eliminating any potential tax revenue leakages from the prize pool.

This, coupled with the GST that gaming platforms already pay, ensures that every rupee flowing through the online gaming ecosystem is subject to tax. The industry largely feels that taxing the prize pool again by the means of GST will result in repeated taxation and will create an unfair tax burden on the platforms and the user.

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Meyyappan Nagappan, partner at Trilegal, said, MeitYs appointment has given the much-needed legitimacy for the online gaming industry, which is expected to grow up to $8.5 billion by 2027. It has the ability to drive GDP growth and help India meet its target of being a Trillion-dollar digital economy by 2026. Any adverse changes to the GST structure can undo all the positive developments so far, send the wrong policy signal and potentially kill the industry."

According to recent media reports, the finance ministry is considering classifying online games into those based on skill and chance-based ones with a view to create a differential taxation framework for both categories. In light of all these changes, a progressive taxation framework should be adopted for the regulated online gaming industry where GGR is the basis for levying GST.
Health professionals must warn the world about the dangers of artificial intelligence (AI), a group of academics wrote on Wednesday, as clamours grow for work on the technology to be halted. The academics wrote in the BMJ Global Health journal that time was running out to take action because corporations, the military and governments were working so fast to develop AI tools. AI exploded into the public consciousness last year with ChatGPT, a bot capable of generating tracts of coherent text from short prompts.

The wild popularity of the bot sparked a race between tech giants like Google and Microsoft to embed AI in everything from spreadsheets to search tools, and prompted investors to pour money into AI startups.

But the health academics pointed to a range of threats, including powerful AI surveillance systems being developed in dozens of countries, killer robots and disinformation.

For healthcare, they wrote, people with darker skin were at serious risk of harm or reduced care because the datasets used to train" AI algorithms were often biased.

They argued that the window of opportunity to avoid serious and potentially existential harms is closing".

The authors, led by Frederik Federspiel of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and David McCoy of the United Nations University in Kuala Lumpur, wrote that global cooperation would be needed.

Healthcare professionals have a key role in raising awareness and sounding the alarm on the risks and threats posed by AI," they wrote in an analysis piece.

If AI is to ever fulfil its promise to benefit humanity and society, we must protect democracy, strengthen our public-interest institutions, and dilute power so that there are effective checks and balances."

Concern about the direction of AI research is prompting alarm even among those at the centre of the field.

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Earlier this month, computer scientist Geoffrey Hinton, often dubbed the godfather of AI", quit his job at Google to warn of the profound risks to society and humanity" of the technology.

In March, billionaire Elon Musk  whose Tesla carmaker deploys AI systems  and hundreds of experts called for a pause in AI development to allow time to make sure the technology was safe and properly regulated.
The overall percentage of students who cleared the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) Class 12 examination this year decreased by 5.38% when compared to last years pass percentage. But, since this year exams were conducted in the annual mode for the first time since 2019, the pre-pandemic year, the pass percentage has actually surged by 3.93%, according to the results declared on Friday forenoon at cbse.gov.in.

According to CBSE officials, this year, the overall pass percentage in Class 12 results is 87.33%, which betters the pass percentage of 83.40% of 2019, the pre-Covid year. In 2022, the overall pass percentage was 92.71%.

Explaining the dip in pass percentage from last year and the surge in the same when compared to 2019, CBSE Controller of Examinations Sanyam Bhardwaj said that since 2023 was the first time in three years that exams were conducted in annual mode like pre-Covid years, it is only right that the results are compared with that of 2019.

This year is a replica of 2019. So we have to make the right comparison, which is clear that results have bettered since. Last year, the pass percentage was high because exams were conducted in two terms, said Bhardwaj.

Both in 2020 and 2021, exams either could not be held or had to be cancelled midway due to the intensity of the Covid-19 waves and instead an alternative assessment mechanism was used. Classes were not held, there were learning gaps due to long Covid-induced lockdowns.

So, this is the year when students had the full opportunity to prepare. Students worked hard and performed well while credit also goes to schools, who made all efforts to make up for the learning losses that occurred over the past three years, he said.

In 2022, which saw the surge of the Omicron wave and to avoid a repeat of previous two years, for the first time CBSE decided to conduct the exams in two terms. The first term was conducted in objective type format and the second in subjective format for all subjects with a gap of several months between the two terms.

As per CBSE data, this year, a total of 16,80,256 students across the country registered for Class 12 exams, of which 16,60,511 appeared for the test while 14,50,174 passed the exam. In 2022, a total of 14,44,341 students had registered, of which 14,35,366, sat for the exam and 13,30,662 passed the test. The exams were conducted from February 15 to April 5.

Overall, maintaining the trend from many years, girls outshined boys in the performance. While 90.68% girls cleared the exam, the pass percentage for boys is 84.67%. Girls did better than boys by 6.01%.

In Delhi, the overall Class 12th pass percentage is 92.22%. A total of 3,75,941 students registered for the CBSE exam while 3,70,996 appeared for it, out of which, 3,42,128 passed the exam.

In region-wise performance, Trivandrum topped the states with the highest pass percentage of 99.91% followed by Bengaluru (98.64%), Chennai (97.40%), Delhi (92.22%) and Chandigarh (91.84%).

Like previous years, Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JKV) performed the best among all schools.

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan also congratulated students in a tweet: Heartily congratulate my young friends who have cleared the #CBSE Class XII examinations. It is a moment to rejoice the success and cherish the fruits of hard work that you put all year round. Best wishes for a happy and bright future.

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The board, like the last few years, did not announce a merit list of toppers to avoid unhealthy competition. Several students have scored 100% marks in many subjects.

Next year, the exams will be held from February 15, the board said.
The Telangana High Court has granted relief to a Secondary School Certificate (SSC) student from Warangal, who was barred from appearing for two Class 10 board exams over allegations of leaking a question paper. On May 11, the Telangana High Court allowed the student to write the Class 10 supplementary exams, which are scheduled to be conducted in June this year. The court further directed the SSC Board to take the supplementary examination fee from the student.

According to reports, Justice Mummineni Sudheer Kumar of the Telangana High Court ordered the Director of Government Examinations and the Headmaster-cum-Chief Superintendent of the Class 10 exam of Kamalapur Zilla Parishad High School (ZPHS) to allow the candidate to pay for the examination fee for the supplementary exams.

Also read| TS SSC Result 2023 Released: 25 Schools All Fail, 2793 Schools Got 100% Pass Results

On April 4, the student was appearing for the Hindi paper as part of his SSC examination. An unidentified person reportedly barged into the exam hall at Kamalapur ZPHS and forcibly took pictures of the candidates question paper and escaped.

When the student reached the exam hall to appear for the English paper on April 6, the authorities present there seized his admit card and did not allow him to write the test. Reports state that the invigilators accused him of being involved in the leak of the Hindi question paper. The student was not permitted to appear for the examination held on April 8 as well.

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Worried over not being allowed to appear for the annual exam this year - the students father then moved to the Telangana High Court. After hearing the petitioners counsel, Justice Sudheer Kumar allowed the student to appear for the rest of the papers. When the student was marked for malpractice, after the release of the Telangana 10th board results, his father once again appeared before the court to allow his child to appear for the supplementary exams. The court directed the Telangana education board to take the exam fee from the student. The next hearing, in this case, will be heard on June 5.

The Telangana Board recently announced that SSC Advanced Supplementary Examinations will be conducted from June 14 to June 22. On May 10, the Board of Secondary Education, Telangana declared the TS SSC result 2023. The overall pass percentage this year is 86.60 per cent.
The results for the Karnataka assembly elections, voting for which was held on May 10, will be announced on May 13. While exit polls results are already out, Googles Bard responded to a query on who will win the state election tomorrow.

The tech giant revealed on Wednesday at Google I/O 2023 conference that its conversational AI Bard has been introduced in more than 180 countries, including India, and it is powered by Googles own and most advanced large language model PaLM 2.

Even though this chatbot is still under development, just like its rival OpenAIs ChatGPT  Bard can also respond to the queries asked by people. While it tries to provide a human-like response, the chatbot has its limitations too.

Despite that, Bard said it knows so much about Indias political scenario because it has been trained on a massive dataset of text and code, which includes a lot of information about the country.

It shared a detailed answer to the question on the Karnataka election results.

WHO WILL WIN?

Googles Bard was asked to give a response on  Who will win the Karnataka elections? It said the results are still uncertain and shared the names of the major parties in the state  Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress and JDS.

Citing the exit polls, the chatbot then said: The BJP is projected to win most seats, but it is unclear whether they will have enough seats to form a government on their own. The Congress is projected to come in second place and the JDS is projected to come third.

Several exit poll results predicted a hung assembly, with most giving a slight edge to the Congress. Meanwhile, some polls also predicted the Congresss majority, in contrast, others said that the BJP may win. But the common likelihood seen in all these exit polls is a close fight between two major national parties and JDS to play the kingmakers role.

THE FACTORS

Bard continued the response and said that there are four factors which could affect the outcome of the election  economy, religion, caste and incumbency.

However, at the end of the response, Bard said: It is still too early to say who will win the Karnataka elections.

CONGRESSS CHANCES?

Since in the previous response, the chatbot highlighted the BJPs victory, in the next question, it was asked a specific question on Congress chances of winning the Karnataka elections.

Googles chatbot then said that it is possible that Rahul Gandhis party can win in the state. Furthermore, Bard noted: The party has been out of power in the state for six years, and there is a growing sense of dissatisfaction with the BJP government. The Congress has also been able to unite its various factions and it has a strong cadre of workers on the ground.

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But it continued the response, saying the BJP is the incumbent party, and it has strong organization. The BJP is also hoping to capitalize on the Hindutva wave that is sweeping across the country.

Again in this response, Bard recalled four factors which it believes would play a role in deciding the fate of the parties in Karnataka and added that it is still too early to say who will win, but the Congress has a chance.
Gov. Jared Polis has been clear about his position on the reintroduction of wolves.

He's in favor of the plan from the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission.

He's in favor of the anticipated ruling from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on what's known as a 10(j) rule that will allow that CPW plan to go into effect.

The governor is in favor of seeing wolves on the ground by the close of 2023.

What he doesn't like is Senate Bill 256, which requires the state to have that 10(j) ruling in place before wolves can be reintroduced.

Polis alluded to vetoing the measure when asked by reporters about it in a news conference shortly after the legislative session ended.

"There shouldn't be a lot of suspense on that one," Polis said.

He pointed out the Department of Natural Resources testified against it, testimony that came from DNR Executive Director Dan Gibbs.

The state wants to honor the will of the voters, Polis added.

"It's certainty very clear where our agencies were," he said. "I don't think people will be surprised."

He also said legal experts informed the state the legislation would delay the reintroduction, and they want to avoid that delay.

The bill comes after voters, mostly in urban areas, in 2020 approved Proposition 114. The measure would attempt to reestablish the species in Colorado, with wolves placed in central mountain communities. It passed by a narrow margin of 50.91% to 49.09%, with four of the five counties where wolves will be reintroduced voting against the measure.

Wolves are currently classified as an endangered species in Colorado, meaning that if a rancher came upon wolves killing livestock, as has happened several times in Jackson County, the rancher could not kill the wolf.

Once voters approved Proposition 114, Colorado Parks and Wildlife went to work to come up with a plan on how to manage the wolf population, which is expected to start at a dozen breeding pairs and grow from there.

That plan won formal approval from the CPW commission just last week.

The plan is based on the state obtaining the (10j) rule, which the federal Fish and Wildlife Services has been working on and expects to issue by mid-December.

The 10(j) federal rule would allow wolves to be classified as a nonessential, experimental population, with CPW taking the lead role on managing the population. Under the CPW plan, and with wolves listed under 10(j) as a nonessential, experimental population, ranchers could kill wolves attacking their livestock and be compensated for loss of livestock.

Senate Bill 256 started out with requirements that all legal challenges to reintroduction be completed before reintroduction could take place.

But that provision was removed by the Senate after the governor's office made it clear it opposed the language around litigation. Backers of reintroduction said those challenges could take years and would fly in the face of voter intent.

That wasn't good enough for the Polis administration. When the bill surfaced in the House, Democrats, who side with the governor, tried to render it essentially ineffective.

Those efforts failed. The bill won final approval from the House on May 3 and the following day, the Senate signed off on House amendments backed by the bill's sponsors. It's now headed to the governor.

Vetoing SB 256 will not affect the reintroduction, but without the measure  should US Fish & Wildlife not issue the 10(j) ruling  wolves could be reintroduced but only under endangered species status, and with the federal government taking the lead on managing the population.

Backers of SB 256 have said the federal agency does not have the resources or personnel to do that work effectively.

One problem yet to be resolved: Where the wolves will come from.

According to 9News, Colorado has not reached an agreement with anyone who will allow their wolves to go to Colorado. The governor of Wyoming is a firm "no," and officials in Idaho and Montana, where wolf reintroduction has taken place in past years, say they haven't been asked, despite claims in the CPW plan that Colorado has been having discussions with those states.

The governor has until June 7 to sign, veto or allow bills to become law without his signature.
Slamming the BRS government over the TSPSC paper leak issue, Telangana BJP president Bandi Sanjay Kumar has said his party would fill up two lakh job vacancies and annually release job calendars if it came to power in the state.

Addressing a Nirudyoga March (March in support of the unemployed) organised by BJP in Sangareddy town near Hyderabad on Thursday, he alleged that several family members of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao got jobs during BRS rule but unemployed youth are in a dire state.

He demanded that the BRS government order an investigation by a sitting judge into the leak" of the question paper of a recruitment test conducted by the Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC).

He sought ex-gratia of Rs 1 lakh each to the aspirants who suffered a loss due to the alleged paper leak.

Sanjay Kumar, Lok Sabha member from Karimnagar, also demanded the removal of IT Minister K T Rama Rao from his post for his alleged failure in the paper leak.

Expressing confidence that the BJP would come to power in the Legislative Assembly polls scheduled to be held in the state later this year, he said the process to fill up two lakh vacancies as per the report of the Biswal Committee appointed by the state government earlier would be started soon after assuming office.

He said a job calender containing details of vacancies would be released every year and recruitment will be taken up.

The BJP leader hit out at the government for allegedly being unable to pay salaries to employees on time, implementing farm loan waivers and providing relief to farmers hit by unseasonal rains.

Sanjay Kumar announced that similar Nirudyoga March events would be organised at Khammam, Adilabad and Nizamabad and finally with lakhs of people" at Hyderabad.

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The Nirudyoga March was earlier held at Warangal and Mahabubnagar.

Sanjay Kumar, known for his strong Hindutva views, also said the Hindu Ekta Yatra would be organised at Karimnagar on May 14 on the occasion of Hanuman Jayanti.
Who will it be? Months of tireless, high-octane campaigning along with grand road shows and state tours, barbs exchanged and promises made, speculation over who will take the drivers seat  the results of the Karnataka assembly elections held in a single phase on May 10 will be declared after the counting of votes on Saturday.

The elections witnessed a fierce fight between archrivals Congress and BJP, with a majority of the exit polls predicting a tight contest between the two and leaving space for the JD(S) to play the role of kingmaker in case of a hung assembly. While chief minister Basavaraj Bommai said he was confident of a stupendous victory for the BJP, it is to be seen if the saffron camp can rewrite history and emerge as the single largest party once again as it did in 2018. The results will spell out the electoral fortunes of not only Bommai, but also of Congress heavyweights Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar, as well as top leaders like HD Kumaraswamy of the JD(S) among others.

This time, Karnataka registered a record voter turnout of 73.19 percent. But the Election Commission of Indias strategy to beat urban apathy in state capital Bengaluru, by holding the elections midweek, failed to make a difference; the IT capital recorded a dismal 53 percent voter turnout. The counting of votes will begin at 8 am in 36 centres across the state, and election officials expect a clear picture about the outcome is likely to emerge by mid-day. There are elaborate security arrangements in place across the state, especially in and around the counting centres.

Will Congress triumph or is BJP set to break a poll jinx?

The Karnataka legislative assembly has 224 seats and a party has to reach the 113-majority mark to solidify its chances of forming a stable government. Political analysts have said the run-up to polling day had two phases  one dominated by the Congress before April 26 and the other by the BJP after this date.

Many owed the loss in momentum for the Congress to its manifesto promise of banning the Bajrang Dal and party president Mallikarjun Kharges poisonous snake" remark for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In turn, the saffron camp banked on the Modi juggernaut in the last leg of the campaigning; he attacked Sonia Gandhi for her misquoted sovereignty" remark and elaborated on how the Congress had abused him 91 times". The ruling party also pulled out the double engine" development card, looking to break a 38-year-old poll jinx where the people have never voted the incumbent party to power.

A decisive victory in a state as politically complicated as Karnataka would bode well for the electoral future of the Congress ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. There is, however, no clarity about who will ascend to the chief ministers chair if the party wins  between Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar, and now G Parameshwara being the latest entrant in this game.

Will JD(S) be kingmaker again?

Going by the pollsters, it could very well be a hung-assembly situation, which gives the JD(S) and its former prime minister HD Deve Gowda the chance to be the key to government formation yet again. In 2018, too, the party played its cards in such a way that the BS Yediyurappa-led BJP government lasted for only seven days despite emerging as the single largest party by winning 104 seats.

In the previous elections, the Congress won 78 seats while the JD(S) won 37. The BJP could not muster enough support to prove majority in the assembly and was, hence, replaced by a coalition government of Congress-JD(S) with Kumaraswamy as CM. But this arrangement lasted for only 14 months as the government witnessed mass defections to the BJP as 15 Congress and JD(S) MLAs resigned. This led to a collapse of the coalition government and the restoration of a BJP-led government in the state.

Other parties like the Aam Aadmi Party, which is in power in Delhi and Punjab, has also fielded candidates. But the three parties in the main fight have spelt out that they need a clear mandate to form a strong and stable government, unlike what happened after the 2018 polls.

What is the pulse of Karnataka?

Karnataka has mostly seen governments run by a single party with just four coalition governments. If we look at its electoral past, coalitions have failed to provide stability. But when it comes to the states caste arithmetic, it is clear on what, or rather who, drives the state politics.

The keywords of every election in Karnataka are Lingayat and Vokkaliga. These two communities, despite being in the other backward class category, have done much of the power steering in the state due to their sheer political dominance in terms of the number of chief ministers from both. Sixteen out of the 23 CMs have been from these two communities.

The Lingayats, in particular, have been most influential as the community has given nine CMs to the state since its reorganisation in 1956. Even the present CM, Basavaraj Bommai, is a Lingayat leader.

What were the voting figures in 2018?

In the 2018 elections, the Congress got a vote share of 38.04 percent, followed by the BJP at 36.22 percent and the JD(S) at 18.36 per cent. Since none of the parties won a clear majority, Yediyurappa staked claim and formed the government.

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In the outgoing assembly, the ruling BJP has 116 MLAs. The Congress has 69 MLAs, the JD(S) 29, the BSP one, independents two, speaker one and six vacant seats following deaths and resignations.

(With PTI inputs)
Nivedita Saraf, a Marathi actress, has a sizable fan base thanks to her roles in several films, television programmes, and plays. She is currently dominating headlines owing to the huge popularity of her play Mi, Swara Aani Te Dogha, in which she is the lead actress. The actress is quite active on social media and shares professional and personal updates with her followers frequently. Recently, she shared her happiness with her friend and fellow co-star Ashwini Bhave came to meet her at the rehearsal of her play.

Nivedita Saraf shared a beautiful photo with Ashwini Bhave on Instagram with the caption, My dear friend Ashwini Bhave had come to watch my play Mi Swara Aani Te Dogha. It was wonderful to meet you, Ashwini." The two seemed delighted to meet each other and were seen smiling for the camera. The two actresses have worked together on several Marathi projects. Ashwini had also shared the screen with Niveditas husband, Ashok Saraf, in Ashi Hi Banwa Banavi. Ashwini has appeared in several Kannada, Marathi, and Hindi serials. At the moment, Ashwini lives in San Francisco.

Earlier, Nivedita Saraf was also paid a visit by comedian and actor Johnny Lever at her play rehearsals. Nivedita took a photo with him and shared it on social media, writing that it was a wonderful experience to have her favourite star watch and enjoy her performance. She thanked Johnny Lever for his appreciation. She wrote in the caption, It was a great fan moment for me. My favourite actor and person, Jonny Bhai, had come to watch my play Mi, Swara Aani Te Dogha. He appreciated the play and my performance in it. I am so thankful to you, Jonny Bhai." Interestingly, Ashok Saraf has frequently worked with Johnny Lever in Bollywood films such as Karan Arjun and Koyla.

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The play Mi, Swara Aani Te Dogha is currently receiving many favourable reviews. Nivedita is joined by the actors Rashmi Anpat and Suyash Tilak on stage. The drama, which has won numerous accolades, is frequently performed in Maharashtra auditoriums. Nivedita is also working on the TV series Bhagya Dile Tu Mala. In addition to being a talented actress, Nivedita Saraf is also a talented cook. She has a YouTube channel and frequently shares her recipes.
Television actress and presenter Shwetha Changappa is currently on vacation in the Maldives with her family. The actress shared a picture from the trip and it instantly went viral. In the picture posted on her Instagram handle, Shwetha can be seen wearing a black crop top, which she paired with floral black shorts. She looked absolutely beautiful and flawless in her dress and was giving beach vibes to her fans.

In this picture, she can be seen with her son, Jiyaan Aiyappa. Little Jiyaan looked cute and innocent posing with her mother. With my little son-shine Jiyaan Aiyappa in the Maldives. Yes, he is growing up pretty fast. Days are just flying, read the caption to the picture. She also added several emoticons to the caption.

Social media users loved her picture and flooded her comments section with admiration. Commenting on the post a user wrote that she looks like Santoor Mummy. A user went on saying, U raising temp for the guys nowadays", while another wrote Looking so young madam".

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Let us tell you that after hosting the reality show Super Queen, Shwetha Changappa is back with a new project. The actress will be seen hosting the upcoming season of the kids game show Chota Champion Season 3 which is aired on zee kannada.

Shwetha started her acting career with Sumathi, directed by S. Narayan. She was famous as Rani in Maja Talkies. Shwetha is not only famous on the television screen but on the silver screen as well. She acted as Pari in Shivannas 125th movie Veda and was appreciated by everyone for her amazing work. Shwetha was also a contestant in Bigg Boss Kannada Season 2, which was hosted by Kiccha Sudeep. She secured fourth place in the reality show.
Shark Tank Indias Vineeta Singh opened up about sexist encounters in a recent interview. The entrepreneur was talking to Kareena Kapoor Khan in the recent episode of What Women Want when she revealed how she was once told by an investor to get her husband on board or else they wont give her a cheque.

I have had various types of sexist encounters starting with the fact that I was told we dont invest in women founded companies. So only when your husband joins the business, we will give you the cheque, Vineeta said.

Sharing another incident, the Shark Tank India judge claimed how she was once asked to dress differently. Back then, she complied because she wanted a job offer from the company. She mentioned how she called her mother and overnight, changed her wardrobe. However, Vineeta added that if the same thing would have happened today, she would have objected to it.

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When I was doing my internship at ITC, there was a time when I was told that the jeans and the tight tops that I wear to the factory are not okay. So I remember, overnight, I had called my mother from Delhi to Saharanpur with these big baggy shirts, mens shirts, and every single day of my 2 month internship I wore those oversized mens shirts because I didnt want that to be the reason I dont get a job offer, she revealed.

Vineeta Singh became a household name after she featured as one of the Sharks in Shark Tank India. Besides her, other members of the sharks panel include, Anupam Mittal, Aman Gupta, Namita Thapar and Peyush Bansal. Ashneer Grover was also a part of season one but he was replaced by Car Dekho founder Amit Jain in the second season. Shark Tank India 2 concluded earlier this year.
In a judgment that is being viewed as a setback for Maharashtras former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, the Supreme Court order on Thursday in the Sena vs Sena battle means Eknath Shinde will continue in his role as the chief minister despite reaping the benefits of an illegal decision taken by the then Governor.

The court, while noting that Thackerays government could not be restored as he had quit from the chief ministers post, hit out at the Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari for taking decisions that helped the Shinde camp.

The apex court added that the Speakers decision to appoint Bharat Gogawale of the Shinde faction as chief whip of the Shiv Sena party was illegal. To hold that it is a legislature party which appoints the whip would be to severe the umbilical cord with the political party. It means group of MLAs can disconnect from the political party. Whip be appointed by political party is crucial for the 10th Schedule. In Nov 2019, MLAs unanimously resolved to appoint Uddhav Thackeray as the party leader and Eknath Shinde as the group leader. The Speaker did not attempt to identify which of the two persons  Mr [Sunil] Prabhu or Mr Gogawale  was the whip authorised by the political party. Speaker must recognise only the whip appointed by the political party, the court said.

As the judgment triggers a war of words between the two Sena factions, with each claiming legal victory, News18 takes a look at the concept of a whip and what it means in polity:

What is a whip?

In parliamentary terms, a whip can refer to both a written order to members of a party to abide by a certain direction, and to a designated party official of the party who is authorised to issue such a direction.

The origins of the term can be traced to the old British practice of whipping in lawmakers to follow the party line.

A whip may require that party members be present in the House for an important vote, or that they vote only in a particular way. In India, parties appoint a senior member to issue whips and this person is called chief whip.

Different kinds of whips

The types of whips or orders issued by a political party are one-line, two-line or three-line whip, which essentially means the number of times a direction is underlined. A three-line whip is thus the strongest.

A one-line whip is issued to inform members of a party about a vote and allows them to abstain in case they do not want to toe the party line. A two-line whip is an instruction to party members to be present in the House at the time of voting and a three-line whip is issued directing them to vote as per the party line. This is usually used in cases of trust vote.

What happens if you defy the whip?

As per Firstpost, a legislator may be disqualified from the party for disobeying a whip, especially the three-line whip. The anti-defection law allows the speaker/chairperson to disqualify a defiant member. The exception is when more than a third of the legislators vote against a party directive, which effectively leads to a split like in the case of the Shiv Sena.

What was the Shinde factions argument?

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The Shinde camp had argued before the Supreme Court that two political whips were appointed on the same day.

The faction, which has been now recognised officially, had the majority in the political party then. They cant presume and say that we have incurred an ex-facie disqualification. There is an overwhelming discontent in the cadre of the party and didnt want to continue with the alliance, it had said.
Ahead of the Karnataka election results on Saturday, you may be curious how the counting of votes really takes place. After all, it is a massive exercise even in assembly elections because of the sheer number of voters. The Election Commission of India (ECI) has often been praised internationally, too, for smoothly carrying out the process in the largest democracy in the world.

The counting of votes in Karnataka will begin at 8 am in 36 centres across the state, and poll officials expect a clear picture about the outcome is likely to emerge by mid-day.

But, step by step, here is how the counting takes place:

First up, the time and place have to be decided. It is the job of the returning officer (RO)  in simpler terms, a senior government officer put on election duty as incharge of the process  to decide the venue and timings. Usually, the counting starts around 8 am and goes on into the evening. Somewhat decisive trends come in by noon if the contest is not too tight. In Karnataka, if the contest is indeed as tight as predicted by the exit polls, it may take some time before a clear picture emerges. The venue is usually a large place that has halls to seat a lot of people, so schools and colleges are used as counting centres. Inside the centre, those allowed include the returning officer, counting staff, other government and EC staff on poll duty, as well as security personnel. For Karnataka, elaborate security arrangements, especially in and around the counting centres, have been made to avoid any untoward incidents, official sources said. Besides, counting agents of the candidates are also allowed. They are not involved in the counting but only there to observe, so that transparency is ensured. Since it is a massive exercise, each candidate can depute up to 16 agents. The process begins once the RO has inspected the electronic voting machines (EVM) and ballot papers (paper is still used for postal voting for defence and other such staff). The officer can reject the machines or papers that they may notice as having been tampered with. On the counting centre premises, each hall can have a maximum of 14 tables, with the counting staff, clerks, assistant ROs, and counting agents present. There is also an observer deployed by the EC. In each round, 14 EVMs are counted. After each round, the RO seals the counting machine unit that has this data recorded. There is usually no break, but if there is, the RO seals the machines and documents concerned with their own seal. Candidates through their agents can ask for a recount if they sense something wrong. The decision rests with the RO. Finally, after taking a call on any disputes raised, the RO gets the nod of the EC-appointed observer and declares the result; and then conveys it to the EC. Throughout the process, only the ECs official video cameras are allowed inside. After each round, the results are posted on a blackboard inside the centre and also announced outside.

The Karnataka assembly elections, which were held in a single phase on May 10, witnessed a fierce fight between archrivals BJP and Congress even as parties, including the JD(S), wait with bated breath to know the outcome as a hung assembly is a possibility.

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This time, the state registered a record" voter turnout of 73.19 percent to elect representatives to the 224-member assembly. With most exit polls predicting a tight contest between the Congress and BJP, leaders of the two parties seem jittery" over the outcome, while the JD(S) appears to be expecting a hung verdict, which would enable it to play a role in government formation. Most pollsters have given an edge to the Congress over the ruling BJP, while also indicating the possibility of a hung assembly in the state.

(With PTI inputs)
With most exit polls predicting a tight contest between the Congress and BJP in the Assembly polls in Karnataka, leaders of the two parties seem jittery" over the outcome, while the Janata Dal (Secular) appears to be expecting a hung verdict, which would enable it to play a role in government formation. Most pollsters have given an edge to the Congress over the ruling BJP, while indicating the possibility of a hung Assembly in the state.

Counting of votes is tomorrow, on May 13.

The Congress hopes that a victory in Karnataka will be replicated in the other five states that will hold elections later this year: Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, and Mizoram, of which it is in power in two. The grand old party also feels that a positive result in the southern state would provide fresh impetus to the party for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

But will Karnataka results actually have a bearing on the 2023 and 2024 elections? Lets find out:

What Past Trends Show

As per a report by Moneycontrol, it is not necessary that Karnataka results will have a bearing on the upcoming highly-anticipated polls. The BJP won the Karnataka state elections in 2008, and then went on to win MP and Chhattisgarh while losing Rajasthan and Mizoram later that year.

In 2013, the Congress won Karnataka, but it did not benefit the party because it lost three state elections later that year in MP, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan to the BJP, while keeping Mizoram, the report explains.

The BJP was the single largest party in Karnataka in 2018, but lost to the Congress in the three North Indian states later that year, while the NDA defeated the INC in Mizoram.

Except for Nagaland, the party that won the state elections also won the national elections in the 2008-09 Vidhan Sabha and Lok Sabha elections. The BJPs victory in Karnataka did not aid the party nationwide in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, which were won by the UPA.

Almost the same tendency was noticed in the 2013-14 pair of polls. The BJP won the majority of these state elections in the 2014 general election. Because of a schism in the BJP, the Congress might easily win Karnataka, but it lost the Lok Sabha elections in 2014.

A divided verdict was observed in the 2018-19 pair of polls. Despite losing MP, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan, the BJP swept these states in the Lok Sabha elections barely four months later. In Karnataka, the Congress performed admirably in 2018, preventing the BJP from gaining a majority and creating a government, but none of this helped in the Lok Sabha elections a year later.

The lesson of the story, as per the report, is that even if the BJP loses Karnataka or any other state election later this year, it can win in same states in Lok Sabha elections. According to CSDS, the Modi factor, which is 5-10% in state elections, was 32% in national elections in 2019.

Because of the lack of a PM face to match Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a victory for Congress does not guarantee a strong performance in general elections in the states, as shown in MP, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan, it argues.

Possibilities of a Hung Verdict

The ruling BJP, which sought to return to power in the Assembly elections held on Wednesday, said it saw no possibility of a hung verdict, and asserted that it would get an absolute majority in the 224-member Lower House.

Union Minister Shobha Karandlaje on Thursday ruled out the possibility of an Operation Lotus, saying the BJP would get 120 to 125 seats and return to power.

The term Operation Lotus was coined several years ago by the opposition Congress and the JD(S) in the state referring to some alleged attempts by the BJP earlier to poach opposition MLAs" when it failed to get a majority on its own.

Karandlaje said the primary reports" obtained post elections suggest that the party was getting 120 to 125 seats.

Political leaders were finally able to relax on Thursday after weeks of high-voltage campaigning and polling on Wednesday.

Though they exude confidence about their party winning comfortably in the polls to the 224-member Assembly, the exit polls  most of which did not predict a clear winner  have certainly made them anxious to an extent, sources in both national parties told PTI.

No one wants a 2018-like scenario to unfold this time too, they said.

The JD(S) will be the key factor in case of a hung verdict, and may emerge as king or kingmaker, as in 2018.

Party leader H D Kumaraswamy, the man who holds the key to the formation of a coalition government, in case of a fractured mandate, has left for Singapore for a health checkup, and would be back on counting day, sources said.

The JD(S) leader was hospitalised during campaigning for exhaustion and weakness.

There is certainly a scenario of a hung verdict, and the strong possibility of a coalition government with JD(S) playing an active role. Let the results come out formally; things will get revealed one after the other as to who will play what role," a senior JD(S) leader told PTI on grounds of anonymity.

In the previous Assembly elections in 2018, the BJP emerged as the single largest party by winning 104 seats, followed by Congress with 80 seats and JD(S) 37. There was also one independent member, while the BSP and Karnataka Pragnyavantha Janatha Party (KPJP) got one legislator each elected.

With no party getting a clear majority then, and as Congress and JD(S) were trying to forge an alliance, B S Yediyurappa of the BJP, which was the single largest party, staked a claim and formed the government. However, the government was dissolved within three days ahead of a trust vote, as Yediyurappa was unable to muster the required numbers.

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Subsequently, the Congress-JD(S) alliance formed the government with Kumaraswamy as Chief Minister, but the wobbly dispensation collapsed in 14 months, as 17 legislators resigned and came out of the ruling coalition. They defected to the BJP and facilitated the partys return to power.

With inputs from PTI
In the backdrop of multiple blasts being reported near the Golden Temple in a week, data from local police as well as BSF shows an increase in drone movements and seizures in Amritsar from Pakistan.

As per the data, while January and February recorded fewer cases, there has been a steep rise in seizures since March. From every 10th day when major drugs and arms were recovered close to the India-Pakistan border in Amritsar, the incidents occur almost every third day now.

In March and April, there have been almost two dozen incidents reported by the frontier. Most of the drones were carrying drugs, a senior BSF official said.

There has been increased movement of drones majorly carrying drugs. These drugs work as incentives for smugglers and later, Pakistan-based handlers send them weapons as well. We are analysing the fly path of all the drones and troops constantly and manning the border but March and April have seen a steep jump in movements and recoveries, the official told News18.

Officials claimed that there could be multiple reasons behind the uptick, including the high-quality tracing of drone movements, desperation of terror outfits to send consignments to India, the Amritpal Singh menace or planning for an incident. All these recoveries have been made a few kilometres away from the main city.

Importantly, in the three recent blasts near Golden Temple, cops have not ruled out the Khalistan angle as the accused were suspected to be sympathisers of Amritpal Singh who was arrested on April 23 after a month-long hunt.

In the last three days, three blasts have taken place near Golden Temple and police have arrested five accused. It has been found that cracker explosives were used to make the bombs.

We have taken into custody five persons  Azadvir Singh, Amreek Singh, Sahib Singh, Harjeet Singh and Dharmendra Singh. Of them, three were involved in the sourcing of the explosives. One woman is also being questioned, Punjab DCP Gaurav Yadav said.

The fresh blast on Thursday midnight heard near Shri Guru Ramdas Ji Niwas comes after two explosions rocked Heritage Street near Golden Temple on Saturday (May 6) and Monday (May 8). Sources claimed that so far, no terror link has been established but nothing can be ruled out yet as the investigation is at a nascent stage.

Drone Movements in Last 30 Days

On May 7, at about 10pm, Border Security Force (BSF) troops deployed on the outskirts of Daoke village in Amritsar heard the sound of something being dropped in the nearby fields and later recovered 1.590 kilograms of heroin.

In the morning hours of April 28, troops recovered five packets of narcotic substances packed together as a single consignment and dropped from a rogue drone in Kakkar village.

On April 27, BSF troops deployed at the border heard the buzzing sound of a suspected drone entering from Pakistan near Dhanoe Kalan village in Amritsar and shot it down.

Just 11 days earlier, on April 16, BSF launched a search operation in the depth area near Dhanoe Kalan village and found a broken propeller Quadcopter and a battery (5935 mAh) of the drone.

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On April 15, troops heard the buzzing sound of a suspected flying object (drone) entering from Pakistan into Indian territory and shot it down.

On the intervening night of April 4-5, BSF jawans deployed along IB near at Bachiwind in Amritsar detected drone intrusion. After shooting it down, the troops recovered nine packets of Heroin.
Authorities in an Indian state want to ban polygamy as part of a bid by the Hindu-nationalist central government to standardise the civil code across the country.

Polygamy, the practice of having more than one spouse, is illegal under the Indian Penal Code but Muslim men are allowed to have up to four wives under sharia Islamic law, and polygamy also exists in many tribal communities.

I plan to ban polygamy in Assam," Himanta Biswa Sarma, chief minister Assam state in the northeast, told reporters on Thursday.

We want to make this a consensus-building process rather than some kind of a provocation," said Sarma, a senior member of Indias ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The central government wants to impose a uniform civil code to replace a patchwork of religious and cultural codes governing matters such as marriage, divorce, inheritance and adoption.

Supporters of the code see it as a way to ensure gender equality but opponents, including some Muslim leaders, see it as a government strategy to dilute rights sanctioned under Islam.

The federal government in a 2020 study found polygynous marriages were prevalent among more than 30 tribal groups in the remote northeast, including Assam.

Sarma said a team would scrutinise legal provisions along with the religious and personal aspects of Islam and other religious groups and report back to him in 60 days.

In April, another BJP ruled state, Uttarakhand in the north, announced that an expert panel would examine the possibility of applying the uniform civil code there.

The Supreme Court in 2017 outlawed the Islamic practice of triple talaq", by which a Muslim man can divorce his wife by saying talaq" (divorce) three times.

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The BJP championed a campaign by Muslim women and activists to outlaw that divorce practice.
A woman was caught on camera taking petrol from a motorcycle and setting it on fire in south-east Delhis Jaitpur, police said on Friday. She attempted to set another bike on fire but locals apprehended her and turned her over to the police, officials said.

The CCTV footage of the incident captures a woman walking towards an alley in Jaitpur police station region and halting in front of a parked motorcycle. After scanning the surroundings, she crouches down to extract petrol from the vehicle. Following this, she steps back, strikes a matchstick, and sets the two-wheeler ablaze. She subsequently runs away from the scene.

#WATCH | A woman was found taking out petrol from a bike and setting it on fire in Jaitpur police station area of Delhi's South East District last night. She was later trying to put another bike on fire during which locals caught her and handed her over to police: Delhi Police pic.twitter.com/EXqSZ1f8nQ ANI (@ANI) May 12, 2023

Last year, a delivery man had set his bike on fire in south Delhis Saket after an argument with traffic police who fined him Rs 500 for obstructive parking.

Mukesh, 33, who was in a inebriated state according to police misbehaved with the police after his motorcycle was towed away from Khoka Market in Saket and brought to the temporary holding area in Pushp Vihar.

Following the heated argument, Mukesh set the bike ablaze, he said. The traffic police informed the local police and he was handed over to them. A case has been registered and he has been arrested, the officer said.

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In another separate incident in a multi-level parking lot in Delhis Subhash Nagar, a 23-year-old man intentionally set fire to a Maruti Suzuki Ertiga, resulting in the destruction of 20 other parked cars in December last year.

The incident raised concerns over fire hazards regarding modern cars. In addition to a combustible fuel tank, contemporary vehicles comprise a variety of materials such as plastics, foam, wiring harnesses, and fabric, all of which are prone to catching fire and exacerbating the spread of flames. In order to minimize risk, flammable materials and activities should be kept as far away as possible from any vehicle, experts had noted after the incident.
Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud on Friday described as a gentleman judge" Justice Dinesh Maheshwari, who would be demitting office on May 14 after serving more than four years in the Supreme Court.

With the retirement of Justice Maheshwari, the number of judges in the top court, which was working at its full strength, will come down to 33, including the CJI.

Heading the ceremonial bench to bid farewell to Justice Maheshwari, the CJI said, I have known Justice Maheshwari ever since our days in the Allahabad High Court, both at the Allahabad as well as the Lucknow bench. He was my senior judge in Lucknow. Justice Maheshwari has been a gentleman judge, a friendly judge.

Referring to the cool and calm demeanour of the outgoing judge, Justice Chandrachud said, I am sure that even he will not recall the last time he lost his temper. Temper is not a word which figures in Justice Maheshwaris vocabulary. The CJI, in a lighter vein, said he would be revealing some more secrets in his farewell address at a function to be organised by the Supreme Court bar Association (SCBA) this evening.

But on behalf of myself and all the judges of the Supreme Court, all members of staff and members of the Bar, I wish brother Justice Maheshwari all the best in the future and hope that he will continue to do good work, which he has been doing as a judge first of the high court then the Supreme Court, the CJI said.

Justice Maheshwari, the sixth senior most judge of the top court, thanked the CJI, the judges and the members of the Bar for their wishes.

Thank you all. It is very difficult to adequately acknowledge the good wishesno individual can perform these duties without support. We are always together in our work, an emotional Justice Maheshwari said.

It was a great honour to be serving the great institution and with a bit of sadness I will say, I will remember you, Justice Maheshwari said.

Bar leaders, including Attorney General R Venkataramani, SCBA president and senior lawyer Vikas Singh, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, former Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi and senior lawyer A M Singhvi also wished good luck to the outgoing judge.

The SCBA president said he would personally like Justice Maheshwari to serve for the next five years but the decision on increasing the retirement age has to be taken somewhere else.

Born on May 15, 1958, at Udaipur in Rajasthan, Justice Maheshwari was appointed as the Supreme Court judge on January 18, 2019.

His farewell is being organised Friday as his last working day falls on Sunday.

Justice Maheshwari hails from a family of lawyers as his grandfather Jagannath Kahalya had practised in Chittorgarh district and his father late R C Maheshwari was a renowned civil side lawyer at Jodhpur.

After completing B.Sc in physics from Maharajas College, Rajasthan University, Jaipur in 1977, he did LLB from Jodhpur University in 1980 and got himself enrolled as an advocate with the Bar Council of Rajasthan in 1981.

He practised on original and appellate sides before the Rajasthan High Court and other subordinate courts before being elevated as a judge of the same high court on September 2, 2004.

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Justice Maheshwari was then transferred to the Allahabad High Court and took oath on July 19, 2014, and worked as a senior judge in the Lucknow bench from March 3, 2015 He later took oath as the Chief Justice of the Meghalaya High Court on February 24, 2016, and then as head of the Karnataka High Court on February 12, 2018.

Justice Maheshwari became a Supreme Court judge on January 18, 2019.
The district crime branch has taken over the investigation into the killing of a young doctor here recently by a patient she was attending to, police said on Friday. Dr Vandana Das, a house surgeon at Azeezia Medical College Hospital was working at the Kottarakkara taluk hospital as part of her training. She was stabbed to death by a man brought there by the police in the wee hours of Wednesday.

The District Crime Branch will probe the matter now," a senior district police official told PTI. The accused, G Sandeep, a school teacher by profession is currently under judicial custody.

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He was brought to the hospital by police for treatment of a leg injury. He had been brought there by police after he dialled the emergency number 112, claiming his life was in danger. When local police located him, he was standing away from his home, surrounded by local residents and his relatives and had a wound on his leg and a stick in his hand.

He was taken to the hospital accompanied by his brother-in-law and a local political party leader. During the dressing of his wound, he got violent, initially stabbing the politician and the police there and then repeatedly stabbing Das also, who could not escape to safety. Das, who suffered grievous injuries in the attack, died a few hours after the incident. The young doctors killing created a furore in the state, following which the government decided to issue an ordinance to amend the hospital protection law.
Cyclone Mocha Updates: Severe cyclonic storm Mocha over southeast, adjoining central Bay of Bengal, intensified into a very severe cyclonic storm, the IMD said on Friday morning.

The weather department stated that Mocha moved northwards with a speed of 09 kmph during past six hours and intensified into a very severe cyclonic storm.

At 5:30 am on May 12, the cyclone lay centered over central adjoining Southeast Bay of Bengal near latitude 13.2N and longitude 88.1E, about 520 km west-northwest of Port Blair, 1010 km south-southwest of Coxs Bazar (Bangladesh) and 930 km south-southwest of Sittwe (Myanmar)," the Indian Meteorological Department said in a statement.

The weather department further said that it is very likely to move north-northeastwards and intensify further over east-central Bay of Bengal. It is likely to cross southeast Bangladesh and north Myanmar coasts between Coxs Bazar (Bangladesh) and Kyaukpyu (Myanmar), close to Sittwe (Myanmar) around noon of May 14 as a very severe cyclonic storm with maximum sustained wind speed of 150-160 kmph gusting to 175 kmph.

#WATCH | Odisha: Cyclone Mocha has intensified further into a very severe cyclone storm over the South-East Bay of Bengal adjoining with central Bay of Bengal region. Now it is moving with a speed of 9km per hour towards north direction": Umashankar Das, IMD Scientist, pic.twitter.com/A9nYnSV9DK ANI (@ANI) May 12, 2023

As Cyclone Mocha turned severe, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) deployed eight teams and 200 rescuers in West Bengals Digha. Cyclone Mocha will convert into a severe storm on May 12 and a very severe cyclone on May 14, as per the predictions, said Gurminder Singh, Commandant, 2nd Battalion, NDRF. He added that 200 rescuers of NDRF have been deployed on the ground and 100 rescuers are on standby.

Named by Yemen, Cyclone Mocha (pronounced Mokha) is set to intensify on Friday and re-curve north-northeastwards to make a landfall on Sunday between Bangladeshs Coxs Bazaar and Kyaukpyu, close to port city Sittwe in Myanmar.

The cyclone was named Mocha (Mokha) by Yemen after the Red Sea port city Mokha, which introduced coffee to the world 500 years ago.

According to the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), Mocha is expected to have maximum sustained wind speed of 150-160 kmph gusting to 175 kmph.

Where Will Mocha Bring Rain?

The weather department issued rainfall alerts for several northeastern states and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. These areas are likely to receive heavy rainfall due to the movement of the cyclone over central Bay of Bengal.

 The Andaman and Nicobar Islands are likely to receive heavy to very heavy rainfall on May 12, 13 and 14.

 Tripura and Mizoram are expected to receive rainfall at most places on May 13 and May 14. Some isolated areas in the states may receive heavy rainfall.

 Nagaland, Manipur and south Assam are likely to witness rains on May 14 with heavy downpour in certain areas.

Has Any Alert Been Issued for Residents?

On Wednesday, the Indian Coast Guard issued a warning to the fishermen advising them not to venture into the sea. Safety alerts are being initiated by @IndiaCoastGuard in routine air surveillance sorties around low-pressure areas of #AndamanSea. Fishermen being shepherded/ advised not to venture into #Sea & return ashore, the Indian Coast Guard had tweeted.

Preparations in Myanmar

According to Myanmar Now, more than 10,000 people have already left for shelter. Washington Post quoted Roxy Mathew Koll, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, as saying, The Bay of Bengal hosts only 4% of the total tropical cyclones globally. But more than 80% of the fatalities to cyclones are from this region."

Cyclone Mocha will be making a landfall at a time when a civil war is already underway in Myanmar. Washington Post state that with nearly 2 million internally displaced and another 1 million refugees, large populations may come under additional risk.

The landfall region to the south of the Bangladesh border has historically been an active spot for fighting, and there are several giant camps for the displaced in the area, the report stated.

Preparations for Mocha in Other Parts of Bengal

North 24 Parganas district administration has been taking necessary steps in Sundarban area, in the wake of storm warning. A control room has been set in each block near Sundarban, including Sandeshkhali-1, Sandeshkhali-2, Hingalganj and Minakhan.

Civil Defence personnel will be there round the clock. The leave of the employees of irrigation and power department has been cancelled for the next one week, an official said.

Schools in the area are being prepared as shelters. The block administration is inspecting the weak dam along with the officials of the irrigation department. Administrative officials are in touch with the people of the area.

In Sandeshkhali, Hingalganj and Hasanabad areas, where there are weak embankments, guidelines have been issued for speedy repair. On the other hand, the local Panchayat has been instructed to inspect the dam day and night.

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Along with the relief camps, a total of 56 cyclone shelters have been activated along the district coast and health workers have been asked to be vigilant.
India and Bangladesh on Friday stressed on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) at the 6th Indian Ocean Conference in Dhaka.

Speaking at the event, external affairs minister S Jaishankar said that the release of Bangladeshs Indo-Pacific Outlook last month underlined the widespread recognition of the concept of the Indo-Pacific. He noted that the outlook placed emphasis on UNCLOS and said that it is essential for the credibility of the global order that such foundational regimes are respected.

The Indian Ocean Region has significant economic, political, and strategic implications in the Asia-Pacific and African regions. It shares 64% of the global population and 60% of the global GDP.

Jaishankar also spoke about the issue of sustainable debt, which he said was a significant shared concern". He said that encouraging opaque lending practices, exorbitant ventures, and price points that were unrelated to the market were bound to bite us back".

Jaishankar highlighted the importance of the Indian Ocean Region to Indias national interests. He also called for greater cooperation between India and Bangladesh in areas such as trade, investment, and connectivity.

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The minister called for facilitating smooth and efficient connectivity in the region, but added that we need to respect sovereignty and territorial integrity".

The conference was inaugurated by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh. In her remarks, she underscored the importance of regional cooperation in promoting peace, prosperity, and security in the Indian Ocean Region. She also called for greater collaboration on issues such as climate change, maritime security, and economic development. Hasina also asked for the active support of the global community" to repatriate the Rohingya refugees to their homeland in a safe and sustainable manner".
In a move to provide a better and traffic-free experience by accelerating immigration checks during departures and arrivals, the Indian government is preparing to roll out a Trusted Traveller Programme for all Indian passports for holders who are flying overseas in the country.

As the details shared by one of the officials from the aviation sector said that the programme will allow pre-verified international travellers to have fast immigration clearance without spending too much time standing in queues. He said that the trial of the plan will initially start from the Delhi and Mumbai airports. Later, it will be implemented at 15 airports by 2027 and covered the countrys all airports by 2032.

Also Read: Varanasi: Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport Gets First Reading Lounge in India

He also revealed that three electronic gates already have been set up at Delhis Indira Gandhi International Airport for these flyers. Out of them, two are dedicated to arrivals and one for departure.

An official who works for the home ministry said that t a road plan for the trusted traveller programme already has been created by the Ministry of home affairs (MHA), in collaboration with the Bureau of Immigration and civil aviation.

In addition, he said the sole purpose of the initiative is to use technology in order to simplify and speed up immigration processing. He said similar Entry Programmes are also being used by the US Department of Homeland Security, which provides fast security and immigration clearance for pre-approved travellers.

Meanwhile, it has been reported that the Air passenger volume, including domestic and foreign is expected to exceed 395 million passengers in 202324.
Karnataka lections Result Updates: After the thumping victory in Karnataka, the focus in Congress party has now shifted on who will become the Chief Minister. Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah and Karnataka Congress President D.K. Shivakumar are in the forefront for the coveted post and both are looking at the high command for its decision.

Siddaramaiah, while answering a question on who will become the CM, stated on Saturday that the high command will take the opinion of newly-elected MLAs and a decision would be taken accordingly. The observers will be sent here by the high command and a decision would be taken later after consultations and due process, he added. Shivakumar also maintained that the high command will take a call.

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Here are the latest news and counting updates on the Karnataka election results:
The Supreme Court on Friday issued a notice over a plea filed by makers of The Kerala Story seeking to lift the ban on the film in West Bengal and the defacto ban in Tamil Nadu.

A bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud observed that the film is being exhibited across the country and there was no reason to ban it in West Bengal. The film is being exhibited in the rest of the country. There is no reason why it should be banned in West Bengal. The film is running in different parts of the country with similar demographic profiles. This has nothing to do with the cinematic value of the movie- it may be good or bad," the court observed.

The matter was further posted for hearing on Wednesday, May 17.

Directed by Sudipto Sen, The Kerala Story, a movie about Hindu women from Kerala who were converted to Islam and trafficked to ISIS and other Islamic war zones in 2018-2019, has stirred a political commotion. The opposition accused the filmmakers of promoting BJP propaganda in the film.

On May 8, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee ordered an immediate ban on the screening of The Kerala Story in the state to avoid any incident of hatred and violence", news agency PTI reported quoting a senior official.

Reacting to the ban on screening of the movie in West Bengal, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma said banning The Kerala Story will not serve any purpose since the film is not against any community. I do not know what is happening in West Bengal but banning the film will not serve any purpose," Sarma told reporters in Guwahati.

They have banned the film as they are under the impression that it is against the Muslim community but that is not true. They should have first seen the film before banning it. Then, they would have realised that the movie has nothing to do with religion," Sarma added.

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On the other hand, the movie was declared tax-free in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh earlier this week. UP CM Yogi Adityanath announced on Twitter on Tuesday that The Kerala Story was given tax-free status in the state. Adityanaths Uttarakhand counterpart, Pushkar Singh Dhami followed suit shortly after.

Madhya Pradesh was the first state to declare The Kerala Story tax-free. The move came a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned the controversial movie in his speech during a rally in Karnataka and said the film has exposed how terrorism is corroding Kerala.
The Tamil Nadu government is mounting a massive effort to woo industries to the state, with Chief Minister MK Stalin set to leave Chennai on May 23 for a tour of Singapore, Malaysia, Japan and the UK.

The Tamil Nadu government has announced that it will hold a Global Investors Meeting (GIM) in January 2024. Sources in the government said Stalins visit will focus on inviting global corporate leaders to participate in the summit.

The foundation for the Chief Ministers visit was laid by the state industries department and the Guidance Bureau, who visited other countries and participated in workshops and meetings within India as well as abroad over the course of months.

US-based Cisco is geared to set up a manufacturing plant in Tamil Nadu to make two of its highest volume products  switching networks and cutting-edge router platforms. The move is expected to create 1,200 jobs at the outset.

A senior executive of the company said work on the manufacturing facility is already underway and the first batch of products will begin to roll out within the next 12 months. The company said the manufacturing facility will cater to the growing demand from customers in India, with the aim of driving more than $1 billion in combined domestic production and exports in the coming years.

Unlocking Tamil Nadus potential through skilling has paved the way for world-class talent that is now making waves in the global fintech industry, said a Guidance Bureau official as Sagent Lending, a leading SAS firm, chose Chennai for its non-US headquarters.

Similarly, Gabriel India collaborates with Netherlands-based Inalfa Roof Systems to produce sunroofs in India. The companies will invest Rs 170 crore to establish a new manufacturing facility, Inalfa Gabriel Sunroof Systems, in Chennai.

Recently, Mitsubishi Electric India signed an MoU and the foundation stone was laid for its upcoming manufacturing facility in Origins by Mahindra in Tiruvallur. The Chief Minister was present when the MoU was signed.

With an investment of Rs 1,891 crore and an employment potential for more than 2,000 people, this project is a testament to the growing trust and cooperation between these two economies, said an official of the Guidance Bureau.

We have signed hundreds of MoUs since the present government took charge in May 2021. Out of these, more than 70% have started work on their projects. Some others have chosen land and will start work in the coming months, said an additional chief secretary.

Tamil Nadu has enough land, water and power. It is also connected through air, land and sea. Therefore, it is easy for any investor to invest in the state, said the official.

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Land is not a problem except in the western districts. As of now, we have not less than 10,000 acres of land in the land bank. Apart from that we are looking at 45,000 acres of government land across the state to use it for industries. We have enough land, said the official.

Most of the investors are looking at land in and around Chennai and Coimbatore. Even near Chennai we have land for setting up industries but in Coimbatore and nearby districts, we are finding it difficult to find land, and land in these areas are also very costly, said the official.
The Parel TT flyover bridge located on Babasaheb Ambedkar Road in the vicinity of Dadar has been shut down on Wednesday for proposed repair work. The closure will last until May 20 to ensure the safety of the public by avoiding any potential danger, obstruction, or inconvenience", the Mumbai Police said in a statement.

There shall be road closure for all types of motor vehicles on Parel TT for 11 pm to 6 am in order to facilitate smooth movement of traffic during the proposed repair work of the flyover bridge and to prevent danger, obstruction and inconvenience to the people, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (South), Traffic, Mumbai, Gaurav Singh.

The police has suggested two optional routes, one in which traffic towards Dadar TT from North bound of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar road will go through slip road of Parel TT bridge and slip road of Hindmata bridge."

The other route suggested for public is traffic moving towards Byculla from South bound of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar road will go through slip road of Hindmata bridge and slip road of Parel TT bridge."

Meanwhile, the Delisle rail overbridge (ROB) in Lower Parel is expected to be open by July after being closed for public for five years. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has been working on the reconstruction of the bridge in two phases, officials said in April. The first arm was set to open by the first week of May, according to officials in April. The BMC aims to complete the entire bridge construction by June 30.

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The new timeline was announced after the civic body missed its earlier two deadlines in June and December last year.

After an audit report by a team of experts from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay flagged concerns about its structural stability, the bridge was closed in August 2018. The closure resulted in considerable inconvenience for both vehicular traffic and pedestrians in the area.
Hello Readers, in todays News18 digest, we bring you the latest updates on Karnataka Election Result eve, Imran Khans bail order from Supreme Court and other top stories.

Cong, BJP Reach Out To Winnable Independents Amid Hung Assembly Prediction; JD(S) Wary of Poaching

Taking no chances of poaching attempts by the BJP in Karnataka, the Congress has directed the candidates to reach Bengaluru and stay at a particular place until the government is formed. The precautionary move comes ahead of the counting day on Saturday. READ MORE

Ex-Pakistan PM Granted Bail by Islamabad HC in Al-Qadir Trust Case

A division bench of the Islamabad High Court granted bail to former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan in the Al-Qadir Trust case on Friday. This came a day after the Supreme Court declared his arrest from the IHC premises invalid and unlawful. Imran Khans Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) party said thousands of peaceful Pakistanis from across the country will gather in Islamabad in solidarity with their leader. READ MORE

Karnataka Polls: Kingmaker JD(S) Open to Deal With BJP, Cong in Case of Hung Assembly But On Its Own Terms

After exit polls hinted at a hung assembly in Karnataka, all eyes are on Janata Dal (S) which might emerge as a kingmaker if predictions proved true on May 13. But the big question remains where will the JD(S) go? HD Kumaraswamy had shared power with both Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the past. Kumaraswamy has kept his options open this time and said he will extend support to a party which will fulfil his conditions. READ MORE

US Considers Prisoner Swap Using Russians Held in Other Nations to Free Journalist

The United States is exploring the options to free Russian prisoners held in other countries to force a prisoner swap and free Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and other Americans, including former marine Paul Whelan, the Wall Street Journal and New York Post said. READ MORE

Katrina Kaif REFUSED To Do Malliswari For Rs 25 Lakh; Suresh Babu Revealed She Wasnt Even A Star

Did you know that Bollywood star Katrina Kaif had almost rejected her Telugu debut film Malliswari in which she starred alongside Venkatesh Daggubati? Well, an old video of Malliswari producer D Suresh Babu talking about the infamous fiasco has emerged on social media. Malliswari was released in 2004. It was Katrina Kaifs second film in her career. READ MORE

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Vineeta Singh Recalls SEXIST Encounter, Says Was Told, Will Give Cheque Only If

Shark Tank Indias Vineeta Singh opened up about sexist encounters in a recent interview. The entrepreneur was talking to Kareena Kapoor Khan in the recent episode of What Women Want when she revealed how she was once told by an investor to get her husband on board or else they wont give her a cheque. READ MORE
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday inaugurated and laid the foundation stone of projects worth Rs 4,400 crore in Gujarats Gandhinagar. He arrived in Ahmedabad early Friday morning on a one-day visit to launch various projects in the state and allot houses built under the central governments housing scheme to 19,000 beneficiaries.

#WATCH | Gandhinagar: Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurates and lays the foundation stone of various projects worth around Rs 4,400 crores in Gujarat. pic.twitter.com/dCpsq3wJTX ANI (@ANI) May 12, 2023

Indias development is a conviction and commitment for us and nation-building is a continuous responsibility that we work to fulfil. When the poor are less worried about the basic needs of their life, then their confidence increases," the prime minister said during the launch.

After 2014, we did not limit the house of the poor only to a concrete roof, but we made the house a solid foundation for the fight against poverty, a medium of empowerment of the poor, of their dignity," he added.

PM Modi also participated in the 29th Biennial Conference of the All India Primary Teachers Federation in Gandhinagar and said his interaction with teachers helped him formulate policies on the national level. Lakhs of teachers have contributed to the making of the National Education Policy. India is creating new opportunities today as per the needs of the 21st century and the new National Education Policy was made keeping this in mind," the prime minister added.

#WATCH | Gujarat: Lakhs of teachers have contributed to the making of the National Education Policy this timetoday, India, making new opportunities as per the needs of the 21st century and the new National Education Policy was made keeping this in mind": PM Modi at Akhil pic.twitter.com/bTVbB9SS0s ANI (@ANI) May 12, 2023

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The Prime Minister is also scheduled to pay a visit to the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City) to review the status of ongoing development works, news agency PTI reported quoting officials.

He will then inaugurate the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna (PMAY) (rural and urban) project and hand over keys to 19,000 beneficiaries of the scheme. The total outlay of these projects is estimated to be around Rs 1,950 crore, a statement said.
An eight-year-old schoolgirl died after allegedly being run over by a speeding jeep of a Congress leaders son in the Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh, police said on Friday.

The accused was identified as Tushar Chauhan son of Congress leader Naresh Chauhan who unsuccessfully contested the 2022 assembly elections from the Nachan Assembly segment.

The incident occurred when the minor identified as Lakshita was crossing the service line after getting down from the school bus. The Thar jeep coming from the Nerchowk hit her in village Tarot on National Highway near Sundernagar, they said.

The victim was rushed to Medical College Nerchowk and further shifted to PGI Chandigarh in critical condition, where she succumbed to injuries.

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The body was handed over to the family members after post-mortem.

Tushar has been booked for rash driving endangering human life and causing death by negligence under sections 279, 337, 338 and 304A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). His vehicle has been impounded and a forensic team has collected the evidence from the scene of the crime, they added.
Delhi Police investigating sexual harassment charges against Wrestlers Federation of India (WFI) President Brij Bhushan Singh visited four states to collect evidence in the case.

A special Delhi police team went to Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka and Haryana to investigate other angles in the case and collect evidence. The police said that some photo and video evidence have been collected so far, ANI reported.

The team is also in touch with several foreign agencies to probe other accusations about Singhs overseas visits.

Meanwhile, the protesting wrestlers on Wednesday demanded lie-detector Narco Test on Singh under Supreme Court supervision after he claimed innocence to the allegations of sexual harassment.

Those people speaking in favour of the WFI chief and saying that we are lying, I would say that Brij Bhushan should undergo a Narco Test under Supreme Court and also the seven women wrestlers (who have alleged sexual harassment)," celebrated wrestler Sakshi Malik said at a press conference.

After Delhi Police filed two FIRs against him on April 28, Brij Bhushan Singh said he was ready to face any kind of investigation."

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On Sunday, a committee that is advising the protesting wrestlers said if Singh is not arrested by May 21, they will take a significant decision."

(With ANI/PTI inputs)
Two minor tribal girls were allegedly gang-raped on Thursday after they attended a Baishaki Mela in Tripuras Gomati district.

According to the police sources, the girls allegedly went to attend Baishaki Mela, an annual cultural programme at Amarpur town of the district on Wednesday and met a friend named Molarai Jamatia whom they had known from Facebook .

Molarai took the two girls from the fair premises to a rubber plantation at Chechua on Wednesday night on a scooter. Seven to eight youths were waiting there. After reaching there, Molarai and his friends raped the two girls," Assistant Inspector General (AIG), Jyotishman Das Chowdhury told reporters.

The prime accused identified as Molarai Jamatia of Tingharia was arrested but eight remaining accused persons are still absconding" he added.

According to sources, the main accused was allegedly arrested immediately after the statement of the girls were recorded.

As of now, the girls are undergoing medical examination and the investigation in the case is ongoing.

The incident comes a day after a college student was allegedly gang-raped in Tripuras West Tripura district. The police have arrested two men including one who is said to have had an affair with her

According to police, the girl was raped after she got into the mens vehicle on her way back from her college on the outskirts of Agartala on Monday. She was abandoned near her home afterwards.

While ruling and opposition both have demanded justice for the victims ,the Opposition CPM protested in front of the police headquarters.

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Meanwhile, four incidents of crimes against women had been reported in the past ten days including a sexual assault on a school student, the unnatural death of a pregnant woman, two cases of gang rapes.

Tripura stood second in the northeast region in crimes against women, according to the NCRBs 2020 report.
FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE BIRTH ANNIVERSARY 2023: International Nurses Day is celebrated on May 12 in honour of Florence Nightingale, who was born on that date in 1820 in Florence, Italy. It was her caregiving of diseased soldiers during the Crimean War (October 1853 - February 1856) that led to the birth of modern nursing. 2023 marks the 203rd birth anniversary of Florence Nightingale who was given the nickname the Lady with the Lamp.

ALSO READ: Happy International Nurses Day 2023: Wishes, Quotes, Photos and Messages to Appreciate Healthcare Workers

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Florence Nightingale Birth Anniversary 2023: 10 Interesting Facts
Its not hard for television actress Karishma Tanna to wow audiences with her exquisite sense of style. From glamorous red carpet outfits to a chic twist on classic casuals, Karishma slays every ensemble she chooses. If you need the perfect inspiration for a weekend outing, then Kasrishmas Instagram handle is the place to go. The actress left her followers all praise for her latest outfit- a black satin cropped shirt and blue jeans.

The highlight of Karishmas outfit was her accessories. She wore several oxidised bangles, silver earrings, a choker and a silver neck chain. This gave her outfit a Bohemian touch. She nailed the look to a T in black stilettos.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Karishma Tanna Bangera (@karishmaktanna)

Karishma posed for her latest photoshoot with her hair neatly pulled back into a ponytail that had a side parting. Lastly, the Sanju star chose a natural makeup look to go with her ensemble. Karishma looked flawless with nude eyeshadow, black kohl, drawn eyebrows, mascara-coated eyelashes, contoured cheeks, and a nude lipstick hue.

Earlier, Karishma Tanna had presented a bold take on classic denim wear. She chose to wear light denim, and instead of a simple top and shirt, she went for a bright red blazer. The blazer was embellished with black buttons on the waist and the sleeves.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Karishma Tanna Bangera (@karishmaktanna)

She paired it up with a beige square stud, and a golden finger ring. Karishma combed her hair back and loosely tied it up. While posing for the camera, she flaunted the tattoos on her wrist. For her makeup, the actress went for a dewy base, drawn eyebrows, a little blush, and a nude lip colour.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Karishma Tanna Bangera (@karishmaktanna)

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Karishma Tanna recently shared some glimpses of herself from her relaxing vacation in the Maldives. She took inspiration from nature for her outfit. She opted for a green bikini and layered it with a printed full-sleeved sarong. She added white flip flops to complete the perfect beach holiday look.

On the work front, Karishma Tanna will next be seen in the Netflix series Scoop, which will release on June 2. It is based on the life of a crime reporter.
The Andaman and Nicobar Islands are a group of islands located in the Bay of Bengal, near the southeastern coast of India. It is an Indian union territory and is composed of two island groups: the Andaman Islands and the Nicobar Islands. The archipelago consists of over 500 islands, but only a few are inhabited. The capital city is Port Blair, located on the largest island, called South Andaman. These islands have a long history and are popular among tourists all over the world.

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Here are 5 interesting facts about these islands that you must know:
Ali Fazal, known for his roles Bollywood as well as in major international films, is set to attend the international premiere of Fast X in Rome. The actor made his international debut with the mega-action franchise Fast and the Furious 7th instalment film and has been invited to attend the premiere as part of his past involvement with the franchise. Fazal will be seen alongside Vin Diesel and Jason Momoa at the premiere, which is taking place on May 11 in the Italian capital.

Since his international debut, Ali Fazal has made headlines with his performances in major international films, including his titular lead in Victoria and Abdul alongside Dame Judi Dench and Death on the Nile alongside Gal Gadot. Fazal will soon be flying off to the US, where he will be promoting his next big Hollywood release, Kandahar, with Gerard Butler. The actor continues to make waves in both India and the international film industry, and his fans cant wait to see what he has in store for them next.

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Speaking of this, Ali said, I am thrilled to be attending the international premiere of Fast X in Rome, and it is an honour to have been invited as part of my past involvement with the franchise. This is where it all began for me when it comes to my work globally, and I am grateful for the opportunities that this franchise has given me. I am excited to reunite with the cast and crew, and I look forward to seeing whats in store this time of the action magic that they have created ."

Closer home, Ali Fazal is also busy on the work front in Bollywood. He will soon be seen in Khufiya alongside Tabu, Metro In Dino with Fatima Sana Shaikh and Sara Ali Khan and the third season of OTT series, Mirzapur.
Deepika Padukone made her acting debut with Kannada film Aishwarya in 2006, The actress played the titular role in the romantic drama, which released a year prior to Om Shanti Om. An official remake of the Telugu film Manmadhudu, it also featured Upendra and Daisy Bopanna in the leading roles. She then went on to captivate the hearts of millions when she made her Bollywood debut with Farah Khans reincarnation drama, Om Shanti Om, opposite Shah Rukh Khan, in 2007. Since then, her career has flourished with movies such as Piku, Padmaavat, Bajirao Mastani and the recent blockbuster Pathaan.

In an interesting revelation, Farah Khan shared that her initial plan after Main Hoon Na" was to direct Happy New Year" as her next project during an interaction with Komal Nahta, she spilled the beans on how Deepika landed Om Shanti Om. She revealed that during that time, Deepika Padukones manager would frequently call Farah and insist on meeting Deepika. Eventually, Deepika was brought to Farahs house for a meeting. Check out the video here:

I had seen her in a Fanta ad and I remembered her. Woh ad dekh ke laaga tha ke woh heroine banegi," she said, adding that Deepika landed at her house in a traditional salwar kameez and had a simple aura about her.

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Farah spoke to her and told her about she was making Happy New Year. I told her that I test you. If you are good, Ill take you opposite Shah Rukh Khan and if you are not good, I will take you with Zayed."

Farah went on to add that due to a six-month delay in the production of Happy New Year, Deepika was eventually cast in Om Shanti Om after an audition.
Vijay Verma and Tamannaah Bhatia are all over the news following their dating rumours. The couple has been spotted together many times which has sparked their dating rumours but there is no official confirmation from their side. Recently during a Dahaad trailer launch, Vijays co actor Gulshan Deviah was seen teasing him and now in a conversation the Darling actor opened up on the same and revealed how he handle it.

As mentioned by The Times Of India, Vijay was asked how he handles teases. The actor said, Gulshan is made to sit far or else he would give a lot of explosive material. Vijay was blushing when Gulshan teased him again saying, that what one sees on Vijays face is not make-up, its actual blush. When being told that Vijay handles the teasing very well, he was happy about it.

Coming to the Dahaad trailer launch, Sonakshi Sinha and Gulshan Devaiah were seen teasing Vijay about Tamannaah Bhatia Humari wohi tammanna thi," Gulshan Devaiah stated, and Vijay couldnt help blushing.

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Their relationship rumours sparked when a video of them went viral celebrating New Years Eve together in Goa. Later, the two attended Diljit Dosanjhs concert in Mumbai. According to Pinkvilla, Tamannaah Bhatia spoke about her marriage speculations while talking to Hindustan Times. She added: People are constantly getting me married to all kinds of people- from doctor to businessman! I feel I have already been married too many times, I dont know what will happen when I really get married! Will people be excited anymore? People will think it is another speculation."

On the work front, Vijay is currently seen in a web series Dahaad co starring Sonakshi Sinha. The actress has made her digital debut. In the series, Sonakshi is playing a cop role. She is investigating a mystery after a few women were found dead.
Isha Talwar who recently starred in Saas Bahu Aur Flamingo has been receiving rave reviews for her performance as Bijli. The show revolves around women running a drug cartel. In the show, she plays Dimple Kapadias on-screen daughter-in-law.

The actress recently revealed that she was accidentally hit by a squib in the eye while filming an action sequence at night. She added that her co-star Deepak Dobriyal, took her to multiple ophthalmologists, who advised her to rest in the dark. Talking about being hit by a squib, Isha told Mid-Day in an interview, Since we were shooting in the salt pans in the middle of the night and it was too dark to see where the squibs were, the shot accidentally went straight into my left eye. My eye was swollen and I could not open it.

The actors doctor advised her to avoid light, so she stayed in the dark for three days before returning to the shoot. Despite director Homi Adajania suggesting the use of a body double for the action scenes, the actress refused the idea.

Isha has several action scenes in the show. She is seen sharing screen space with Radhika Madan and Angira Dhar. Deepak Dobriyal plays the antagonist in the series.

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The web series Saas Bahu Aur Flamingo is now available for streaming on Disney Hotstar. The shows plot revolves around Savitri (played by Dimple Kapadia), the head of Rani Cooperative, who manages the business with the help of her daughters-in-law Bijli and Kajal, and her daughter Shanta. The story is set in Hastipur, a neglected village located in northwest India. Isha had earlier shared with PTI that working with Homi Adajania was one of the biggest reasons why she wanted to be a part of the series.

Isha Talwar started out as a model and appeared in various commercials. She later made her film debut with the 2012 Malayalam film Thattathin Marayathu. She will reportedly be seen in Rohit Shettys Indian Police Force alongside Sidharth Malhotra, Shilpa Shetty Kundra and Vivek Oberoi.
During a recent interview, Kriti Sanon opened up about her experience as a model before entering the film industry. The actress reminisced about her first photoshoot and how she ended up making mistakes. Kriti described herself as a perfectionist, almost irritatingly so," and admitted that she was in tears when her photoshoot didnt turn out as she had hoped.

My mother is a professor, and she was the first woman in her family to work. In fact, she completed her PhD while she was pregnant with me. And being the firstborn, sometimes you have to shoulder the responsibility of setting an example. So I have always felt the need to be really good at whatever I do  I think its inbuilt. And I am a perfectionist, almost irritatingly so. I remember feeling extremely nervous during my first photoshoot, and I screwed up a little. I came home crying because it bothered me that I didnt do well," the actress told Harpers Bazaar India.

She went on to add that confidence can be built over time. I believe you learn more from your failures than you ever will from your successes  my mantra is to learn from my mistakes and move forward," she added.

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Kriti Sanon is set to appear in the upcoming film Adipurush. Directed by Om Raut, Adipurush is a mythological drama that draws inspiration from the epic Ramayana. The movie stars Prabhas as Lord Ram, Kriti Sanon as Janaki, and Sunny Singh as Lakshman. Saif Ali Khan will portray the character of Lankesh in the film.

Kriti made her acting debut in 2014 with the Telugu psychological action thriller 1: Nenokkadine, playing the love interest of Mahesh Babus character. After completing the first schedule of 1: Nenokkadine, She was then signed on for Heropanti, an action film alongside Tiger Shroff.
As per reports, actor Parineeti Chopra and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Raghav Chadha will be exchanging engagement vows on May 13 in Delhi. The occasion will be graced by approximately 150 guests, comprising their loved ones and close friends. Speculations about their relationship have been circulating ever since they were spotted together on multiple occasions, such as enjoying a meal at a Mumbai restaurant and appearing together at the airport.

As per a report by Hindustan Times, Parineetis cousin, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, will be joining the celebrations in Delhi. The couple will get engaged in a traditional ceremony that will be held at Kapurthala House in Connaught Place. A source close to the development confirms that Priyanka will be reaching Delhi on the morning of May 13. It will be a short trip for Priyanka. She has kept her work aside just to be there for the occasion and be there for her sister. She will be reaching Delhi on the 13th morning. Her husband Nick Jonas is not expected to accompany her, and it is yet to be seen if she brings her daughter, Malti as a surprise for the family, added the source.

Parineeti is currently in Delhi with her family, overseeing the preparations for the big day. The couple intends to keep the ceremony intimate, with only family members and close friends in attendance. They are not trying to keep the engagement a secret, but definitely want to keep it intimate with only family and close friends in attendance. It is a big occasion for the couple and they want to embark on the new beginning with the whole family, said the source.

Divulging details about the engagement, the source shared, The engagement will be in Punjabi style full of naach, gaana and dhoom. The theme of the engagement is pastel, which also reflects in their personalities. The guests have been informed about it, and are expected to be in sync with it."

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On being asked if the couple make a public appearance for the media after the ceremony, the source added, Well, that is what they have not decided yet. They might plan to go for it, but they havent made up their mind for the same yet, shares the source, adding that they have not thought about the wedding yet. The focus is on engagement right now.

Parineeti and Raghav have reportedly planned to wear matching outfits for their engagement ceremony. Raghav has chosen a simple achkan, specially crafted by his maternal uncle, fashion designer Pawan Sachdeva. On the other hand, Parineeti will slip into an elegant traditional ensemble by Manish Malhotra.
Telugu star Samantha Ruth Prabhu on Friday shared a cryptic post on her Instagram account alongside a series of behind-the-scenes photos from the sets of Kushi, which also stars Vijay Deverakonda.

If you become quiet, alone, and still long enough, a higher-vibrational and more empowered you comes out. Solitude is sacred - Lalah Delia," read Samanthas post which she simply captioned with a white heart emoji. In another picture, Samantha looks stunning as she strikes a candid pose wearing a burqa. According to reports, Samantha is playing the role of a Muslim woman in Kushi, which is shot in Kashmir.

Meanwhile, Naga Chaitanya recently revealed that he and Samantha Ruth Prabhu were formally divorced. The former couple, who was married for almost four years, announced their separation in 2021, leaving fans in shock. While the reason of their split is still unknown, Chaitanya admitted that he and Samantha have moved on.

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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," he told The Times of India. Praising her, Chaitanya added, She is a lovely person and deserves all happiness."

Samantha and Chaitanya were dating for a few years before they tied the knot in 2017. However, speculations of their separation began when Samantha removed Chaitanyas family name Akkineni from her social media handles. After growing speculations and rumours, Chaitanya and Samantha issued a joint statement confirming the split.
Suhana Khan, daughter of superstar Shah Rukh Khan, recently set social media on fire with her stunning appearance in a red strappy dress. The budding actress has been making waves with her fashion choices and this latest look has once again won the hearts of her fans.

In the picture, shared by Viral Bhayani, Suhana can be seen wearing a red dress with thin straps, showcasing her toned arms and shoulders. She paired the dress with no accessories and a subtle makeup look with nude colour lipstick. Suhanas friend Orry also looked dashing in a black tee. The duo seemed to be enjoying themselves at the birthday party of Sandeep Khosla. Suhana flashed a bright smile for the camera.

Take a look at the picture here:

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The picture has already garnered a lot of attention on social media, with fans showering Suhana with compliments for her stunning appearance. Many also praised her confidence and grace. Apart from her many other celebrities including Jaya Bachchan, Swara Bhaskar, Abhishek Bachchan, and Tabu also joined the bash. Pictures and videos from the bash are going around on the internet.

On the work front, Suhana is all set to make her grand debut this year. She will be seen in Zoya Akhtars The Archies. The film will also mark the debut of Jahnvi Kapoors sister Khushi Kapoor and Amitabh Bachchans grandson Agastya Nanda. She recently also became the brand ambassador of a popular cosmetic brand. Shah Rukh congratulated her on social media and wrote a special note that read, Congratulations on Maybelline beta. Well dressedwell spokenwell done & if I may take some credit, well brought up! Love u my Lil Lady in Red!"
FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE BIRTH ANNIVERSARY 2023: Florence Nightingale was born on May 12, 1820 in Florence, Italy. Known as The Lady With the Lamp, she was a British nurse, social reformer and statistician best known as the founder of modern nursing. She became famous while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during the Crimean War.

ALSO READ: Happy International Nurses Day 2023: Wishes, Quotes, Photos and Messages to Appreciate Healthcare Workers

Every year, International Nurses Day, which commemorates the birthday of Florence Nightingale, the first professional nurse is observed on May 12. The theme of this year is Our Nurses. Our Future.

ALSO READ: Florence Nightingale 203rd Birth Anniversary: 10 Lesser-known Facts About the Lady With The Lamp

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Here are some motivational quotes by her:
Northeast India is  geographically and strategically  an extremely important region of the country which has been rightly called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi the launch pad for Indias Act East Policy. Likewise, within the Northeast, the state of Manipur is the gateway to Southeast Asia, making it pivotal to the success of Indias Look/Act East Policy. Manipur links other Northeastern states of Nagaland, Assam and Mizoram to Myanmar and onward to Southeast Asian countries like Thailand, completing the linkages of Indias Act East Policy.

The countryside of Manipur is beautiful comprising of a large valley interspersed with lakes and surrounded by low hills on all sides. Rich heritage, favourable terrain and pleasant weather throughout the year make it an ideal destination for tourism, hospitality and adventure sports. It has immensely talented human resources because of which the state contributes a substantial number of athletes and sportspersons  both men and women  to the national teams despite its small size and limited population.

Unfortunately, Manipur has been the hotbed of insurgency for almost three decades. There are numerous insurgent groups fighting against each other and against the Union of India. The identity of the insurgent groups is based on their geographical location like hills or valleys or tribal affiliations like Naga, Kuki or Meiteis. Similarly, the ideologies and demands of these groups vary from secession to a separate state within the Indian Union. Many of them have adopted extortion as their modus operandi which they have institutionalised in some sections of the society and administration. Easy availability of weapons and drugs from the neighbouring countries through porous borders leading to narco-terrorism makes the situation even more complex to handle. It has been experienced that political patronage  which is available to a varying degree  further gives the militants the oxygen to sustain themselves. These factors have been detrimental to the development of Manipur despite all the positive attributes. Having served in that state, it is opined that unlike Nagaland, the insurgency in Manipur can easily be tackled and normalcy restored by a synergised approach combining intense anti-militant operations, anti-drug drive and development initiatives without corruption to wean the masses away from supporting the insurgents.

Northeast India is home to more than 250 ethnic groups and as many languages are spoken in the region which makes ethnic affiliations central to peoples existence and behaviour. The demographic composition and ethnic settlements of people in Manipur have an immense impact on the security situation in the state. Ethnic rivalries between various tribes, as also the tribals and the valley inhabitants, are prevalent in the state. While Meiteis who comprise more than 56 percent of the population live in the valley which includes Imphal (capital city), the hill areas are inhabited by Nagas and Kukis who are tribals and are thus entitled to reservations in academic institutions and jobs under the scheduled tribes quota. Meiteis have been demanding reservations for some time. Another point of conflict involves land ownership. The tribals can buy land in the valley which forms a fraction of the total area of the state whereas the Meiteis cannot buy land in the hill areas which covers the majority of the land holding of the state.

Manipur High Court recently passed an order asking the state government to take necessary action with the Centre on the demand of Meiteis for reservation in jobs and academic institutions. This order has apparently been one of the reasons to trigger the violence between the tribals and the Meiteis though there are many other reasons like the eviction drive by the state government which was the cause of simmering discomfort. Consequent to this court order, the tribal organisations  both Naga and Kuki  who are otherwise divided amongst themselves came together to take out a protest march against the high court order which was followed by incidents of violence, resulting in loss of lives and property. Surprisingly, amongst the tribals, only the Kukis were selectively targeted by the mobs and not the Nagas, which gives rise to the suspicion that the violence may have been planned with vested political interests at play. The Central government had to intervene and impose Article 355 and also issue shoot at sight orders to bring the situation under control.

A peaceful security situation and respect for the law are prerequisites for the economic development of any country or region. In the existing national security environment, when the country is locked in LAC tension with China and proxy war with Pakistan, the leadership and the administration must never take peace in any Indian border state for granted, least of all in Northeastern states which are connected to rest of India through just 23 km wide Siliguri Corridor.

A vicious cycle of insurgency, corruption and lack of development has ensured that the people of Northeast never reap the benefits of Indias growth story. Violence in these states not only instils fear in the minds of locals but also keeps the investors away. The recent announcement of substantial investments by Japan in Indias Northeast and Bangladesh further highlights the economic potential of this region which can only fructify in an environment of peace.

To tackle the above issues and make Manipur and the entire Northeast a developed region, firstly, the administration must be watchful to anticipate potential trouble spots and take preventive action before the occurrence of any untoward incident. In this aspect, control of the drug trade needs special attention. Secondly, the politicisation of local issues must be avoided in these sensitive states because national interests must be placed above individual party interests. Economic development must be the cornerstone of all discussions and relationships, making people economically interdependent to a level which restricts ethnic affiliations only to a social level. Thirdly, integration of the Northeast with the rest of India and economic integration with the neighbouring countries must be given the highest priority so that it becomes an engine of Indias growth rather than being an isolated economy dependent on the rest of India. Fourthly, to attain all the above, the region needs world-class infrastructure and connectivity.

The leadership, both Central and regional, must realise the importance of the Northeast to the national security of our country and continue to give it the required priority to make the region vibrant. A lot has been done during the last few years but a lot more needs to be done.

Lt Gen Balbir Singh Sandhu (Retd) was head of Army Service Corps. He is a distinguished fellow at United Service Institution of India. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the stand of this publication.
The Nitish Kumar-led government in Bihar has moved the Supreme Court challenging the Patna High Courts order to stay the ongoing caste-based survey. The state governments appeal before the SC stated that the high court erroneously examined the merits of the case at the interim stage and touched upon the legislative competence of the state.

Earlier this week, the HC had rejected the states plea for an early hearing in the case. The division bench of Chief Justice KV Chandran had said the hearing will take place on July 3. The state has already completed more than 80% of the survey work; in some districts, less than 10% of the work is pending. The entire machinery is at the ground level and there is no harm in completing the exercise, subject to final adjudication of the dispute. The time gap to complete the survey will adversely affect it since this will not be contemporaneous data The stay on the collection of data itself will cause a huge loss to the state since finally the action of the state is upheld, the state will be required to put logistics in place with additional expenditure, the plea stated.

It further stated that the collection of caste-based data is a constitutional mandate under articles 15 and 16 apart from other provisions as explained in the counter-affidavit of the state. The provisions of the Act can be effectively implemented only when the state has data based on caste, stated the special leave petition (SLP) by the government, filed through advocate-on-record Manish Kumar.

The 105th constitutional amendment reaffirms the power of the state for identification of caste under Article 342A. This can be achieved if the state has contemporaneous data on caste in the state, the SLP submitted.

The state government has also challenged the findings of the Patna HC that its survey amounts to a census. The SLP said the power of the state to carry out such a survey is traceable to various entries of List III, Part 3 and Part 4 of the Constitution.

Bihar advocate general PK Shahi told CNN-News18, Today, we have filed a petition against the interim order of Patna High Court on the caste-based survey. We have questioned the high courts order stalling the caste survey. We will try to expedite the acceptance of our petition. It is up to the CJI to decide the date of hearing, since we have filed the petition today, we will try to expedite it.

Guru Prakash, spokesperson for the BJP, called it a political gimmick. The caste census cannot be the only barometer to judge your commitment to the marginalised sections, its a symbolic and outdated gesture. It is because of the Nitish Kumar-led government that thousands of marginalised people are suffering due to the prohibition policy. Nitish Kumar is just trying to take political leverage instead of walking the talk, he said.

The Bihar government began its caste-based survey on January 7, estimated to cost Rs 500 crore. The first round was held between January 7 and 21, and the ongoing round began on April 16 and was to end on May 15. In January, an SC bench of Justices BR Gavai and Vikram Nath had refused to entertain three PILs challenging the states decision to initiate the caste survey. That bench had, however, granted liberty to the petitioners to approach the Patna HC.

Subsequently, the HC in its order dated May 4, held that the survey is actually a census and can only be carried out by the central government. The surveys were, therefore, put on hold till July 3, which is the next date of hearing in the case.

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Prima facie, we are of the opinion that the state has no power to carry out a caste-based survey, in the manner in which it is fashioned now, which would amount to a census, thus impinging upon the legislative power of the union parliament, the court had said.

On May 9, the bench of Chief Justice Chandran and Justice Madhuresh Prasad rejected the state governments application praying to expedite the hearing of writ pleas challenging the caste-based survey in Bihar. On May 11, the government filed an SLP before the SC challenging the Patna HC order.
As the Supreme Court on Thursday ordered the Speaker to take a final call on the disqualification of 16 MLAs of the Eknath Shinde faction within reasonable time, Maharashtra Speaker Rahul Narwekar, who had before the verdict upheld the right of the Speaker to adjudicate, told CNN-News18 that the SC has spoken rightly.

ALSO READ | Maha Crisis: Shinde will Not Resign Even in Dreams Says Ajit Pawar; Uddhav Threatens to Move to Court Again

In June last year, Shinde and 39 MLAs rebelled against the Sena leadership resulting in the partys split. In the absence of the Speaker, Deputy Speaker Narhari Zirwal had issued disqualification notices to 16 Shiv Sena MLAs, including Eknath Shinde, who were accused of anti-party activities. The disqualification petition was filed by Sunil Prabhu, the Shiv Sena party whip appointed by Uddhav Thackeray, on June 23, 2022, after the MLAs revolted against him and went to Guwahati. Thackeray resigned as the CM ahead of the trust vote, causing the collapse of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government (which also comprises the National Congress Party (NCP) and Congress). Shinde later tied-up with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to form the government in Maharashtra. On June 30, 2022, Shinde was sworn in as the CM along with BJPs Devendra Fadnavis as his deputy.

The Supreme Court observed that Thackerays resignation was a mistake. The bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud added that had Thackeray not resigned, the court would have restored status quo. Status quo cannot be restored since Thackeray resigned, the bench added. While giving the verdict, the SC bench said the Governor was not justified to call the MVA government for a floor test in the Assembly. The Governors actions were not according to the rule of law, the CJI said.

Edited excerpts from the interview:

Talking to NW18 before the big SC verdict, you had said that only the Speaker can decide on the disqualification of MLAs. Now, the top court, too, has ordered you to take a final call on the disqualification of 16 MLAs of the Shinde camp within reasonable time. When can we expect a decision because the current House is nearing its fourth year?

Like I have said earlier, the SC has rightly exercised the powers and the duties of the Speaker of the legislative assembly to adjudicate on issues pertaining to disqualification in accordance with Schedule 10 of the Constitution of India. This is the Constitutional discipline that needs to be followed. The three wings of our Constitution, legislature, judiciary and executive, are equal and neither is superior to the other. They are required to act within the scope of jurisdiction of the work which has been mandated by the Constitution. The authority to adjudicate the disqualification petition lies solely with the Speaker of the legislative assembly and the courts have rightly recognised this. I welcome this judgment.

With regards to the time that will be taken to decide on these petitions, the court has also asked the Speaker to adjudicate as to who really represents the Shiv Sena political party and have laid down guidelines. We have to first look at who really represents the political party. Based on that, we will decide who should and will be the whip of the party in the state assembly and we will then decide on the merits of each petition, whether the claims and allegations made in those petitions are maintainable or not. All the rules of CPC will be applicable to the petition and therefore, under the principle of natural justice, we would have to give every petitioner and the respondent an opportunity to put forth their case. There would be checking of evidence, cross-examination and examination, so the entire process needs to be followed. Only then will we come to a conclusion on this matter.

Under the principle of natural justice, we would have to give every petitioner and the respondent an opportunity to put forth their case. There would be checking of evidence, cross-examination and examination, so the entire process needs to be followed. Only then will we come to a conclusion on this matter.

As you arent giving me a timeline here, the SC judgment has also said that both the Governor and Speaker erred in taking a decision. The SC has gone on to say that the Speakers decision to appoint Bharat Gogawale as the chief whip of the Sena was illegal and that the issue needed to be examined by a larger bench. Clearly, your offices action was declared illegal. How will you defend your office?

The whip isnt appointed by the Speakers office, it is only recognised by the Speaker. And if you look at the provisions of Schedule 10, there is absolutely no clarity with regards to whether the whip should be appointed by the political party and, thus, in the scheme of things, a precedence has been followed in the Maharashtra state legislature, where a resolution is passed by the majority of the elected MLAs and accordingly a whip is recognised by the Speaker. It has been seen in this case as well. Now, the court has explicitly mentioned that the whip has to be appointed in accordance with the direction or desire of the political party.

So we will be able to take a decision on that account now, but I dont think there is any malice attributed to that decision. I think the court has only gone to extension in saying that the appointment, which recognises the will of the legislature party, is perhaps bad in law. But now that they have clarified this issue, I think its going to be easier for any presiding officer to take a decision.

There are certain paras in this judgment which have raised questions on your role. The court has noted that your office didnt take into account the two factions of the Shiv Sena while deciding on the matter and I am quoting, The Speaker didnt attempt to identify which of the two persons Mr Prabhu or Mr Gogawale was the whip that has been authorised by the political party". Is there any scope for rectification here?

I totally believe that several SC judgments have dealt with the issue of a political party being distinct from a legislature party and in the present case, the legislature party had asked a resolution to appoint an individual as his whip. This was the precedent that has been followed in the state legislature for years now. So there was nothing out of line in this decision. As far as deciding who really leads a political party or perhaps is in control of a political party, I dont know how much of that comes into the arena of jurisdiction of the Speaker of the assembly. Thats a wider scope. A political party isnt just affiliated to the state assembly, but also to the parliamentary party, zilla parishad parties and local self-government bodies. Now that the court has said that the Speaker should adjudicate on who really represents the political party, I am happy to do so. But the fact remains that the precedent was different so far.

The top court has questioned your officers decision to keep the disqualification petitions against Mr Shinde and other MLAs of his camp pending until the Election Commissions decision came in its favour. Why did you choose to keep it pending?

At the outset, let me say, we have kept nothing pending. The process is on.

Number two, initially the court itself had passed a decision requesting the Speaker not to take a decision till a bench is constituted after the vacation. Therefore, perhaps, keeping the judiciary in utmost respect, we have a very vibrant and democratic judiciary set-up that calls upon every institution to respect and abide by the Constitutional orders of the judiciary, hence we did. Thereafter, we continued the process and it is ongoing. We will now initiate it further in accordance with the guidelines of the SC. So, theres no stoppage to this.

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Experts say the Thackeray government was legal, but immoral as it dumped its ideological ally and the government that stands today is illegal but moral perhaps. Do you think that this is a correct assessment?

As far as I am concerned, a governments validity and majority is established on the floor of the house. So far, they have stood by a confidence motion in the house. They have got more than the majority numbers. How can I call this government immoral? I will be doing a disservice if I called them so. And I would be doing a disservice to the Constitution.
Even as Rajasthan Congress leader Sachin Pilot has kicked off his Jan Sangharsh Pad Yatra from Ajmer to Jaipur, Rajasthan party in-charge Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa has called a meeting of his three co-in charges and the state unit chief in Delhi on Friday, party sources said.

According to party sources, the meeting will be attended by Rajasthan Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasara, co-incharges Qazi Muhammad Nizamuddin, Amrita Dhawan and Virendra Rathore this noon.

During the meeting, the leaders are expected to discuss the challenge thrown by Pilots Jan Sangharsh Yatra".

Pilot launched a 125-km pad yatra (foot march) from Ajmer to Jaipur on Thursday to raise the issue of corruption and cases of paper leaks in government recruitment exams.

The five-day yatra is being seen as a pressure tactic by Pilot on the party leadership, with just months ahead of the crucial Assembly elections in the desert state.

On Tuesday, the day former party chief Rahul Gandhi visited Rajasthan, Pilot slammed Gehlot saying his leader is Vasundhra Raje and not Sonia Gandhi.

Addressing a press conference in Jaipur, Pilot had said, This fact has become clear from the speech of the Chief Minister, which he delivered the day before yesterday in Dholpur."

Pilot raised questions on Gehlots statement that praised BJP leaders, but tarnished the image of the partys own MPs and MLAs".

On Sunday, Gehlot said that former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and two BJP leaders, namely Kailash Meghwal and Shobharani Kushwaha, helped him save his government.

Speaking on Gehlots statement, Pilot said, Gehlot should explain why there are two faces to his statement. On the one hand, he says that BJP was trying to topple the government and on the other, he says that Raje was trying to save his government. What does he want to say?"

On April 11, Pilot, who is also the former deputy chief minister, had defied a warning from the party to hold a day-long fast targetting Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on inaction" over alleged corruption when the BJP was previously in power.

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Pilot and Gehlot have been engaged in a bitter tussle for power in the state Congress unit and in government.

Pilot is continuously raising the issue of no action being taken against the corruption during BJP rule.
Top leaders in the Congress Rajasthan unit went into a huddle on Friday to chalk out a strategy to tackle the challenge thrown by Sachin Pilot, who has launched a foot march against corruption in the state.

Senior party leaders, including the Congress Rajasthan in-charge Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, state unit chief Govind Singh Dotasra and co-in-charges Qazi Muhammad Nizamuddin, Amrita Dhawan and Virendra Rathore were present at a meeting at the partys Gurdwara Rakab Ganj Road office during which they are likely to discuss Pilots march.

Pilot on Thursday launched a 125-kilometre Jan Sangharsh Yatra from Ajmer to Jaipur to raise the issue of corruption during the previous BJP regime led by Vasundhara Raje and cases of paper leaks in government recruitment exams.

Pilot has said his march is not against anyone but over issues of corruption. He claimed that he has been writing to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot for a year and a half for action on corruption but nothing has been forthcoming.

The five-day yatra mounts pressure on the party leadership months ahead of the assembly elections slated for later this year with the Congress also facing anti-incumbency, apart infighting in the state unit.

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Pilot and Gehlot have been engaged in a power tussle since the Congress formed the government in the state in 2018. In 2020, Pilot led a failed revolt against the Gehlot government after which he was removed from the posts of the partys state unit president and deputy chief minister.

The former Rajasthan deputy chief minister had last month defied a warning from the party and went ahead with a day-long fast targeting Gehlot over his inaction" on alleged corruption during the Raje government.
Post-Supreme Court ruling on the 2022 Maharashtra political crisis the focus has now shifted to the Assembly Speaker with Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray on Friday seeking an early decision on the disqualification of 16 Shiv Sena MLAs, including Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, but the House presiding officer insisted he will not succumb to any pressure while adjudicating on the matter.

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, on the other hand, said it is not right to put pressure on Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar as he will decide on the matter at an appropriate time following due process of law.

Stepping up pressure on the Shinde camp, Thackeray said the rebel MLAs facing disqualification have got only temporary respite from the Supreme Court.

Thackeray made the remarks a day after the Supreme Court gave its verdict on last years political crisis that resulted in the collapse of the three-party Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government led by him following a rebellion by Eknath Shinde, who later joined hands with the BJP to become the chief minister.

Thackerays party colleague Anil Parab said they will write to Narwerkar urging him to take a call on the matter at the earliest.

The gift of life to the 16 MLAs is temporary because the Supreme Court has given a reasonable time and it has limitations. The Speaker must take his decision at the earliest, former CM Thackeray told reporters.

Speaker Narwekar asserted he will not succumb to any pressure while deciding on the disqualification of 16 MLAs of the ruling Shiv Sena and said whatever time is required to complete the process will be taken.

He said the Speakers post does not belong to any party, but it is of the entire House and any person occupying the position takes decisions norms enshrined in the Constitution.

Those who believe in democracy and the Constitution should not put extra-constitutional pressure. As a Speaker, I will not succumb to any pressure. Whatever time is required to dispose of the petition will be taken and there will be no compromise on it, Narwekar, who is in London, told Marathi news channel Zee 24.

Narwekar said the disqualification issue will be decided by taking into account all relevant legal, political and legislative aspects.

It will be seen who controlled the political party and which group represented the political partyall details will be taken as per Supreme Courts directions and will work accordingly. There are many petitionsall rules of the CPC (Code of Civil Procedure) apply to the petitions and all aspects like leading the evidence, cross-examination, examination-in-chief, and giving a hearing to everyoneall points will be followed religiously and only then a decision will be taken, the Speaker said.

Speaking to reporters at the Nagpur airport, Deputy Chief Minister Fadnavis said the Speaker will take a decision on the disqualification of MLAs and other issues at an appropriate time and if anyone tries to pressure him in any way, then it wont be compatible with the countrys free and fair legal process.

To a question about Thackeray hinting that they might approach the apex court if a decision on the disqualification of 16 rebel MLAs is not taken within a month, Fadnavis said the SC has given all such rights to the Speaker and given him reasonable time as well to take a call.

If anyone tries to pressure the Speaker in any way, then it wont be compatible with our free and fair legal process. I dont think the Speaker will give in to any kind of pressure. Besides, the Speaker himself is a very good lawyer. Im sure the Speaker will decide as per the law, the Constitution and the directives of the Supreme Court by giving appropriate hearing and at an appropriate time, he said.

In its eagerly-awaited verdict on the Sena vs Sena political battle, the Supreme Court on Thursday held that it cannot restore the MVA government led by Thackeray as he resigned as CM without facing a floor test in June last year though it passed critical remarks against then-Governor B S Koshyari.

The SC has asked the Speaker to decide on the disqualification of 16 MLAs within a reasonable period".

Citing the Supreme Courts judgment that he could have been reinstated as chief minister had he not resigned, Thackeray said this implies that actions of the governor, like calling upon him for a floor test, were illegal.

This means the existing government is illegal. I am satisfied with my decision because I resigned out of morality, the former CM said.

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He dared the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janta Party to face elections in the final court, which he said is of the people of the state.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Parab said, We have been saying that this government is illegal. The important role is of the whip. The whip of that time was Sunil Prabhu (MLA from the Thackeray camp) and it was violated which has been well established. The Speaker should not take much time to decide on it (disqualification). There is no escape for the rebel MLAs and there is little time left for them, Parab, a former minister, added.
Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday challenged the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party to contest elections in the ultimate court", which he said is the people of the state. The Shiv Sena (UBT) chief made the statement a day after the Supreme Courts verdict on last years political crisis, which resulted in the collapse of the three-party Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government led by him. Eknath Shinde, who rebelled against him and later joined hands with the BJP to become the chief minister.

Lets all face fresh elections and let people take the final decision. As I resigned, the Chief Minister (Eknath Shinde) should also resign on moral grounds," he was quoted as saying at a press conference by NDTV.

Thackeray pointed to the recent Supreme Court ruling which stated that he could have been reinstated as the Chief Minister if he had not resigned, implying that actions taken by the governor, such as calling for a floor test, were illegal.

This means the existing government is illegal. I am satisfied with my decision because I resigned out of morality," Thackeray said. He further said the Speaker must take a decision on the disqualification of 16 MLAs at the earliest.

The gift of life to the 16 MLAs is temporary because the Supreme Court has given a reasonable time and it has limitations. The Speaker must take his decision at the earliest," he said.

Thackerays party colleague Anil Parab said they will write to Speaker Nawerkar urging him to take a call on the matter.

We have been saying that this government is illegal. The important role is of the whip. The whip of that time was of Sunil Prabhu (MLA from the Thackeray camp) and it was violated which has been well established. The Speaker should not take much time to decide on it." There is no escape for the rebel MLAs and there is little time left for them," Parab added.

What was the Supreme Court Verdict on 2022 Maharashtra Political Crisis?

In its verdict on Thursday, the Supreme Court stated that it cannot reinstate the MVA government led by Thackeray as he had resigned without facing a floor test in June last year. The court directed the Speaker to make a decision on the disqualification of 16 MLAs within a reasonable period of time. It also ruled that the appointment of Bharat Gogawale of the Shinde faction as the whip of the Shiv Sena in the Assembly by the Speaker was contrary to law.

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The court further opined that the then Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari was not justified in asking Thackeray to prove his majority on the floor of the House as there were no objective reasons before him to conclude that Thackeray had lost the confidence of the House.

(With inputs from PTI)
The IIT-Madras on Thursday launched a new department for medical sciences and technology, which will combine medical education and engineering to bring innovative practices into clinical settings. The purpose is to provide scientists and engineers with a skillset to advance medical research, as well as train clinicians to take an engineering approach to the human body and give engineers a clinical understanding.

The department has already established collaborations with premier hospitals and medical institutions in India and will have professors of practice, who are top medical doctors in India and abroad, and who also contributed to the development of the curriculum. The courses include BS in medical sciences and engineering (four-year programme), PhD programme for doctors, MS by research for doctors, MS in medical sciences and engineering as well as a PhD programme for science and engineering graduates.

The 4-year course will offer specialisation in a number of areas through elective subjects and will cover emerging areas at the cutting edge of medicine  like the application of artificial intelligence in healthcare, new device development and drug discovery, medical image analysis, and digital twins.

Additionally, as per the website of the PhD programme, as the first-of-its-kind course in India, it aims to train physician-scientists who will lead innovation in healthcare and boost research in vital fields of medicine. The programme will allow clinicians to explore a problem area of their interest, either independently or in collaboration with an engineer who will support the research.

The admission procedure will be through the IISER Aptitude Test (IAT). Candidates must have passed the Class XII (or equivalent) examination with a science stream in 2022 or 2023 from any board recognised by the council of boards of department education in India.

The department was inaugurated in the presence of Lakshmi Narayanan, co-founder of Cognizant; and Prof V Kamakoti, director at IIT Madras among other stakeholders, including medical clinicians on the steering committee of the department.

Kamakoti said: Our mission is to unite professionals from medicine and technology to create groundbreaking solutions for medical issues that were once unsolvable. Our aim is to improve treatment options and revolutionise healthcare. Continuing our mission of IITM for all, we aspire to provide technological interventions in the field of medicine that shall enable quality and affordable medicare to reach every citizen of our country.

With this interdisciplinary approach to improve healthcare outcomes by leveraging engineering and medical knowledge, new technologies can be developed that monitor vital parameters of organs, detect signs of disease, and help to provide targeted prevention and treatment options. As engineering and medicine continue to converge, the possibilities are endless, said Prof Boby George, head of the new department.

Narayanan said collaborative research in medical sciences could make India a global leader in clinical outcomes. He said Indias leadership in space, nuclear, digital and biotechnology had shown research capability and potential, and expanding this capability to medicine was a natural next step.

Innovation can be found at the convergence of nanotechnology, biotechnology, chemistry, microbiomes, cognitive science and other sciences. Investment in such collaborative research and practice is sure to produce outstanding clinical results, he added.

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Dr Akanksha Gupta, Vice President (Media & Communications) at S.K. Educations told News18: IIT Madrass BS program in Medical Science and Technology is game-changing as it heralds a new era of collaboration between medicine and engineering, with the potential to change the way we think about healthcare."

Meanwhile, Anil Sinha, Chief Technology Officer of Fibe, while commenting on this new initiative told News18: It is good to see our institutions have started thinking in this direction and are paving the way for future innovations. We are excited about how this course will help create a more diverse and highly skilled talent pool.
Chinese smartphone brand Xiaomi is all set to launch its new Redmi A2 series handsets in India next week. The new entry-level phones  Redmi A2 and the Redmi A2+ will be launched on May 19 in the country. The phones are expected to be available for purchase online in India soon after the launch.

Both Redmi A2 and the Redmi A2+ phones are likely to be priced around sub-Rs 8,000 price segment. The Redmi A2 series is also expected to feature a leather-like back finish. The Redmi A2 series was launched globally in March this year. The Redmi A2 series in India is expected to have the same specifications as its global counterparts.

Presenting #RedmiA2 series, our #DeshKaSmartphone which will revolutionize the way you connect & communicate.#Giveaway Time!1. Head to the link below and follow the easy steps to win #RedmiA22. Share screenshot below using the hashtagsHurry here: https://t.co/hVagBMgofl pic.twitter.com/sCWZZKrK0l Redmi India (@RedmiIndia) May 12, 2023

According to the reports, the Redmi A2 series will come with a water-drop notch display and a 6.52-inch HD+ resolution screen with a 60Hz refresh rate. Both models will feature an 8MP dual-rear camera system and a 5MP front camera. The Redmi A2+ will come with a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner, which the vanilla A2 lacks.

Under the hood, the phones are powered by a MediaTek Helio G36 chipset, which is an upgrade over the predecessors Helio A22 SoC. The phones will pack a 5,000mAh battery with 10W charging support. They will run on Android 12 Go Edition out of the box with MIUI skin on top.

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These phones offer multiple connectivity options such as Dual-SIM, 4G, 2.4GHz Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS, a 3.5mm audio jack, and a USB type-C port for charging. The phones have a compact design, measuring 164.9  76.75  9.09mm and weighing 192 grams.

While the Redmi A2 and Redmi A2+ share the same specifications, the latter comes with an additional feature of a fingerprint scanner for secure biometric authentication.
WhatsApp has been involved in a flurry of events surrounding the sudden surge of international spam calls that WhatsApp users in India are receivingfrom various country codesincluding the ones belonging to Indonesia (+62), Vietnam (+84), Malaysia (+60), Kenya (+254), and Ethiopia (+251).

Later, Minister of State for IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar, on Tuesday said the ministry is taking note of the matter and will send a notice to WhatsApp on the issue.

Since then, Meta-owned WhatsApp has acknowledged the issue, and has stated that it is taking strict action to curb the international call ruckus. To stop the barrage of calls that users are receiving, WhatsApp said that the company has ramped up its artificial intelligence and machine learning systems to reduce the frequency of such calls.

Our new enforcement will reduce the current calling rate by at least 50 per cent and we expect to be able to control the current incidence effectively. We will continue to work relentlessly towards ensuring a safe experience for our users," a WhatsApp spokesperson said in a statement.

He added, We continue to provide several safety tools within WhatsApp like Block and Report, consistently build user safety education and awareness, as well as, proactively weed out bad-actors from our platform. However, bad actors find different ways to scam users.

The spam calls, which mostly originate from overseas numbers, pose a threat to users in India and across the globe. The exact agenda, however, is unclear at the moment, but it goes without saying that one should not reveal their personal and financial information to random nobodies reaching on call/text on any platformthen be it WhatsApp or email.

Rajeev Chandrasekhar had also called out WhatsApp when a controversial tweet by a Twitter engineer that suggested that the app was snooping on usersusing their microphoneswhen they were not using their phonesbecame viral. Chandrasekhar called it an unacceptable breach of privacy.

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Since then, WhatsApp has come up with an explanation, and has suggested that the alleged invasion of privacy was nothing but a bug present on Googles Pixel smartphones, which was the same phone that the Twitter engineer was using.

Google has acknowledged the matter and said that it is indeed a bug, which should be fixed soon. Based on our current investigation, this reported bug in Android affecting WhatsApp users produces incorrect privacy indicators and notifications in the Privacy Dashboard," a Google spokesperson said.
The father of a newborn baby experiences various emotions and sensations that make him feel special. When a child is born, it becomes the shared responsibility of both the mother and the father to care for the child together. In numerous countries, working women are entitled to six months of maternity leave, while fathers are typically granted only fourteen days. During this period, the mother and father endeavour to adjust to their new roles. Many organisations refuse to provide maternity leave, resulting in many women being compelled to leave their jobs after becoming pregnant. In such situations, the issue of paternity leave is often disregarded. Even in Malaysia, it costs a man dearly to request leave upon becoming a father.

The individual took to social media to express his difficulties, recounting how he was unjustly terminated from his job simply because he accompanied his wife to the hospital. Despite requesting leave, his boss decided to fire him instead. Whats even more astonishing is that the boss terminated his employment not through a phone call, but by sending him a message.

The man shared with others that his wife delivered their child earlier than expected. He had already made plans to take leave on the original due date. However, when his wife gave birth to their first child, he requested a week off from work. Surprisingly, his boss responded by terminating his employment and even labelled him as lazy.

The boss went as far as questioning why the mans wife gave birth early. People criticised the boss and offered ten reasons why he should resign from his position. Despite the backlash, the man apologised and expressed his commitment to ensuring a bright future for his child.

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This is not the only bizarre story of being fired that is circulating on the internet. The boss who fired an employee was facing strong criticism on social media last year because he asked if the employee had completed the assigned work. A user on Reddit posted a picture of the conversation they had with their boss.

The boss messaged, Good morning, did you create an order for this week or an inventory? To this text, the Reddit user replied if their post was removed or not. In reply, the boss replied yes, but said that the employee did inventory and prepared orders on Sunday. He added that he was wondering if the employee completed them. The former employee replied that you dont fire someone and then reach out to them to ask about work because you are unaware.
Police in Pakistans Punjab province on Friday claimed to have arrested 3,000 people, including women, during the violent clashes between the supporters of Imran Khan and security agencies after the former prime ministers arrest earlier this week.

The law and order situation in Punjab province was under control on Friday after Khan, the chief of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf: party, was granted protective bail in a corruption case.

The PTI chief was arrested from the premises of the Islamabad High Court on Tuesday in the Al-Qadir Trust case after the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) issued an arrest warrant against him.

Inspector General Police, Punjab, Dr Usman Anwar, told reporters that 3,000 people were arrested across Punjab, majorly from the provincial capital Lahore, during the violent clashes since Tuesday.

He said the miscreants torched and damaged over 80 vehicles of the law enforcement agencies besides damaging 14 state buildings/installations in the province.

Over 150 police personnel were also injured, Anwar said, adding those arrested would be tried under terrorism charges.

As the law enforcement agencies put the death toll at 10, the opposition PTI party claimed that 40 of its workers were killed in the clashes.

At least 40 workers of the PTI have been killed and over 100 injured during the clashes across Pakistan," PTI leader and former federal minister Murad Saaed said in a video message.

Police on Friday also arrested several PTI leaders, including former ministers Dr Shireen Mazari, Dr Yasmin Rashid, Khusro Bakhtiar and Ijaz Chaudhry.

Law enforcement agencies had already arrested Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Fawad Chaudhry, Asad Umar, Qasim Suri, Ali Muhammad Khan and Maleeka Bokhari, the partys main leadership.

Army was deployed in the countrys capital as well as in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces to maintain law and order after Khans supporters stormed the General Headquarters of the Army in Rawalpindi.

Following the torching of his residence, Lahore Corps Commander, Salman Fayyaz Ghani, had to be shifted from his office.

The PTI protesters also set on fire the Corps Commander House known as Jinnah House in Lahore to vent their anger over the arrest of Khan.

Police have booked Khan and 1,500 of his party leaders and workers for torching the army commanders house, in which two protesters were killed.

Pakistan Army troops on Thursday also held a flag march on the major arteries of Lahore to make their presence felt.

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Khan was ousted from power in April after losing a no-confidence vote in his leadership, which he alleged was part of a US-led conspiracy targeting him because of his independent foreign policy decisions on Russia, China and Afghanistan.

He is the only Pakistani prime minister to be ousted in a no-confidence vote in Parliament.
Daniel Penny, the 24-year-old man, who was filmed putting 30-year-old homeless busker Jordan Neely into a fatal chokehold could be charged with second-degree manslaughter, the Washington Post said. New York City prosecutors are planning to level charges against him after his death was ruled a homicide by New Yorks chief medical examiner.

The video which went viral has sparked outrage from all public officials and led to protests demanding Daniel Pennys arrest. Penny was questioned by authorities but he was released shortly after the incident. The Washington Post said that some eyewitnesses told police officials that Pennys behaviour was hostile and erratic and on May 3, the New York City medical examiner said it was a homicide.

There is absolutely no excuse why three men cannot effectively restrain someone without killing them, regardless of what that person may or may not have done. Life is cheap in New York. #JordanNeely was murdered. pic.twitter.com/c7XJAeVXtV Aaron Hudson (@AaronHudsonUK) May 4, 2023

We can confirm that Daniel Penny will be arrested on a charge of Manslaughter in the Second Degree, Doug Cohen, spokesperson for the Manhattan district attorneys office, said in a statement, accessed by the news agency.

We cannot provide any additional information until he has been arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court, which we expect to take place tomorrow, the statement further said.

The law firm Raiser and Kenniff, PC, representing Penny defended his actions and said that he risked his own life and safety for other subway passengers and highlighted his years of service in the Marine Corps.

The unfortunate result was the unintended and unforeseen death of Mr. Neely. We are confident that once all the facts and circumstances surrounding this tragic incident are brought to bear, Mr. Penny will be fully absolved of any wrongdoing, the law firm representing Penny said.

The incident occurred on May 1 afternoon local time when Neely walked into the F train in the Second Avenue station and started shouting that he was hungry and thirsty. The video was being recorded by many bystanders but freelance journalist Juan Alberto Vazquez, who was aboard the train, recorded Neely being placed in the fatal chokehold.

Penny placed Neely in a chokehold for several minutes, witnesses said and the video also revealed. Two other people were seen helping Neely restrain the person, while Neely flailed his arms and legs

I dont have food, I dont have a drink, Im fed up. I dont mind going to jail and getting life in prison. Im ready to die, Neely reportedly said before removing his jacket and aggressively whipping it to the floor of the train.

People started clearing the train car immediately as Neely kept shouting.

After his mother was murdered when he was 14, Neely, who used to impersonate Michael Jackson by moonwalking on the subway, was put in foster care, the Washington Post said, citing the Gothamist. Neely was put on chokehold for over 15 minutes.

Penny in a letter said that he never intended to harm Mr. Neely and could not have foreseen his untimely death. He serves in the Marines as a rifleman from 2017 to 2021 and reached the rank of a sergeant and is currently a student.

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Democrat leader Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) called Penny a murder and civil rights leader Reverend Al Sharpton demanded authorities to pursue manslaughter or murder charges.

I have the utmost faith in the judicial process, and now justice can move forward against Daniel Penny, New York Mayor Eric Adams (D) was quoted as saying by the Washington Post.
Episode 89: Its summertime, and for many families, that means its time to plan a vacation. But there are two important variables  where to go and how much to spend.

From budget roadtrips across Montana to costly getaways to Walt Disney World, Richard Kyte and Scott Rada discuss why some getaways are worth the money. They also share some of their all-time favorite destinations.

Discussion topics:

21 best family vacations in the USA, by Nicola Wood, U.S. News and World Report

Parents choose vacations over saving for kid's college, by Elaheh Zozari, LearnVest

About the hosts: Scott Rada is social media manager with Lee Enterprises, and Richard Kyte is the director of the D.B. Reinhart Institute for Ethics in Leadership at Viterbo University in La Crosse, Wis.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan left court late Friday after being granted bail, following his arrest in a corruption case that was declared illegal by the Supreme Court.

Khans party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) confirmed he had left the court premises and was heading for the city of Lahore, some 380 kilometers from the capital Islamabad.

We have now left for Lahore. IG Islamabad tried to confine us saying its dangerous out there. When we insisted that you are kidnapping us. Only then they relented. In about three hours we will reach Lahore," Imran Khan said in a video message posted on PTI Twitter.

On Friday, Imran Khan was freed on bail by the Islamabad High Court, after his arrest on corruption charges this week sparked deadly clashes before being declared illegal.

The court also granted bail to Khan in other pending cases and ruled that he could not be arrested again before Monday.

Several thousand of his supporters have rampaged through cities across the country in protest at Khans detention since Tuesday, setting fire to buildings, blocking roads and clashing with police outside military installations.

He left the court premises around 10.30 pm  hours after the hearings ended  to travel to the city of Lahore, his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party said.

Islamabad Police had earlier tweeted that it was responsible for Khans security and was clearing roads, as officers used tear gas to hold back protesters who gathered a few kilometres from the heavily guard court.

Crickerter-turned-politician Khan returned to Islamabad High Court on Friday where he was granted two weeks interim bail in the graft case as well as in all other cases against him, lawyers for Khan said.

The Pakistan interior minister has vowed to re-arrest Khan, who remains wildly popular.

At least nine people died in the unrest triggered by his arrest, police and hospitals said.

Hundreds of police officers were injured and more than 4,000 people detained, mostly in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, according to authorities.

On Thursday, Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial said Khans arrest was unlawful because it took place on court premises where Khan had intended to file a bail application.

Khan had remained in the benchs custody under police protection for his own safety until he arrived on Friday at the Islamabad High Court, where hundreds of security forces were deployed and nearby roads shut.

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Khans arrest came after the army rebuked him for once again repeating allegations they were involved in his assassination attempt. Pakistani politicians have frequently been arrested and jailed since the countrys founding in 1947.

(With agency inputs)
Russias Wagner mercenary group chief has launched a series of criticism against the Russian government and gone vocal issuing outrageous and provocative statements on his Telegram channels.

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin this week claimed that Moscow has suffered humiliating setback as the Russian brigade had fled around eastern city of Bakhmut in Ukraine.

Prigozhin, whose influence has risen hugely in Moscows Ukraine offensive, also accused a Russian military unit of fleeing positions near Bakhmut and said the state was incapable of defending its country.

The situation on the western flanks is developing according to the worst of the predicted scenarios, Prigozhin said in an audio message on Thursday, CNN reported.

Those territories that were liberated with the blood and lives of our comrades are abandoned today almost without any fight by those who are supposed to hold our flanks, he added.

Prigozhin, who was known as Putins chief and his private army, is now publicly launching scathing remarks against Russias military leadership.

Prigozhin announces that the Wagner Group will withdraw from Bakhmut on May 10th. pic.twitter.com/mtentaCKDG  Visegrad 24 (@visegrad24) May 5, 2023

He also marred Russias May 9 Victory Day celebrations with public and profanity-laced criticisms of the countrys top military brass.

Today they (Ukrainians) are tearing up the flanks in the Artemovsk (Bakhmut) direction, regrouping at Zaporizhzhia. And a counteroffensive is about to begin, he said earlier on Tuesday.

Victory Day is the victory of our grandfathers. We havent earned that victory one millimeter, he added.

Prigozhin Wagner Group has spearheaded Moscows fight for the eastern Ukrainian city. He said soldiers were fleeing because of the stupidity" of Russian army commanders, who he said were giving criminal orders".

He recently also made a comment against senior Russian officials that raised eyebrows on social media.

He claimed that Russias uniformed military was starving his troops of shells and suggested that the higher-ups were dithering while Wagner fighters died.

The shells are lying in warehouses, they are resting there. Why are the shells lying in the warehouses? There are people who fight, and there are people who have learned once in their lives that there must be a reserve, and they save, save, save those reserves, he said.

No one knows what for. Instead of spending a shell to kill the enemy, they kill our soldiers. And happy grandfather thinks this is okay, he added, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

However, he quickly backtracked on grandfather comment and clarified that he was referring to the former Defense Minister Deputy Mikhail Mizintsev or Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov.

I spoke about a grandpa in the context of the fact that we are not given shells which are kept in warehouses, and who can be a grandpa? Prigozhin said.

The Wagner chief has been accusing Moscows top generals of trying to deceive" President Vladimir Putin over the Kremlins Ukraine campaign.

If all the tasks are being carried out in such a way as to deceive the commander-in-chief (Putin), then either he will rip your arse or the Russian people will, who will be angry that the war is lost," Prigozhin said.

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Yevgeny Prigozhin, a businessman and an oligarch, is considered close to Russian President Vladimir Putin and known as Putins chef.

He founded the Wagner Group around 2014 and since then he has become a major player in Russias military campaign in Ukraine.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday criticised the Pakistan Supreme Court for extending relief to his predecessor Imran Khan on Thursday in the Al-Qadir Trust case.

According to CNN-News18, Shehbaz Sharif will meet members of the ruling Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) coalition and discuss whether to impose an emergency.

Imran Khan was granted a two-week reprieve from arrest in the Al-Qadir Trust Case by the Islamabad High Court and the PTI chief cannot be arrested until May 17. Criminal proceedings against him in the Toshakhana Reference case were also stayed by the Islamabad High Court.

Double standards have caused the death of justice in Pakistan, the Pakistan Prime Minister Sharif was quoted as saying by Pakistan-based news outlet the Dawn.

When he (Imran) was presented in court yesterday, the chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) said it is good to see you. And he said this in a case of corruption, Sharif further added.

Sharif accused the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) of holding the nations security hostage. He said that such violence was not witnessed during the 1973 fall of Dhaka, referring to the Liberation of Bangladesh, in which the Indian Army helped Bangladeshs Muktijoddhas led by Sheikh Mujibur Rehman oust the Pakistani army from the country.

He also accused Imran Khan of leading the country into an economic crisis. As you know the currency is navigating through difficult times, and the challenges we inherited are contributing immensely to aggravating the situation. The previous government violated an agreement with the IMF and we are making attempts to repair that, Sharif was quoted as saying by the Dawn.

Sharif said that the relief granted by the Pakistan apex court was nothing less than a NRO.

General Pervez Musharraf, enforced the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) in 2007, granting amnesty to politicians, political workers and bureaucrats who were accused of corruption, money laundering, murders and terrorism etc between January 1, 1986 and October 12, 1999  the time between two Martial Law stints in Pakistan.

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If you want to keep favouring this ladla then you should also release all the dacoits behind bars in the country. Let this be free for all, Shehbaz Sharif said.

He further added that such leniency was not shown to members of the PML-N coalition, including Nawaz Sharif, when they were arrested, stating that no one spoke up about the injustices they faced.
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unlawful and invalid and ordered his immediate release after he was produced before a bench on Thursday.

Khan was arrested on Tuesday from the Islamabad High Court and an accountability court Wednesday handed him over to the National Accountability Bureau for eight days remand in connection with the Al-Qadir Trust corruption case.

His arrest sparked widespread protests across Pakistan, prompting the government to deploy the army in the national capital as well as in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces. The violent protests left at least eight people dead.

On Thursday, a three-member apex court bench, comprising Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Athar Minallah, ordered his immediate release. Khan is facing over 120 cases across the country, including for allegedly committing treason and blasphemy and inciting violence and terrorism.

The bench, while hearing the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairmans plea against his arrest, expressed anger at the way he was taken into custody by paramilitary Rangers and ordered the NAB to produce him before it.

Khan, who was ousted from power in April last year, was brought to the court amid heavy security.

It is good to see you, Chief Justice Bandial told Khan. After a brief hearing, the court declared that Khans arrest was invalid and unlawful and ordered that he should be set free.

The manner of execution of the arrest warrant issued by the Chairman, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) dated 01.05.2023 in the Al-Qadir Trust case within the premises of the Islamabad High Court against the petitioner is invalid and unlawful, the ruling said.

The court also directed him to go to the IHC on Friday and seek further legal recourse. You will have to accept whatever the high court decides, the top judge said.

Bandial also said that it is every politicians responsibility to ensure law and order.

During the hearing, Khan told the court that he was kidnapped from the court when he was preparing for the biometric attendance before filing an appeal in a case.

Khan claimed he was subjected to violence, saying he had been beaten with clubs and that such brutality was not even inflicted on criminals.
A group of Indian-origin men, including a father-son duo, have been convicted of running what Scotland Yard described as a large-scale fake pharmaceuticals drugs factory in west London.

The Metropolitan Police said its Cyber Crime Unit led an investigation after it received intelligence from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in the US that the men were selling pharmaceutical drugs on the dark web.

Allen Valentine, his son Roshan Valentine, and Roshans childhood friend Krunal Patel were found to be producing and selling Benzodiazepines, a type of sedative which is a Class C controlled drug.

The police said they made at least GBP 3.5 million in illicit profit with this operation. The trio also had several accounts on different dark web markets and advertised the sale of Xanax, Diazepam and in the past Valium.

The three men ran a sophisticated, large-scale production of fake pharmaceutical drugs sold on the dark web that appeared to be genuine, said Detective Constable Alex Hawkins, of the Met Polices Cyber Crime Unit, who led the investigation.

Their operation was solely for the greed of those involved bearing no concern for the vulnerabilities of those purchasing these drugs. Some of the drugs contained completely different chemicals from those which should be in the genuine tablets; some of them are extremely dangerous, he said.

Hawkins said the investigation led to the first seizure of these chemicals in the UK and legislation will be amended later this year to include these drugs under the Misuse of Drugs Act as Class A banned substances.

Stopping the manufacturing of these drugs has removed a significant risk to the public. We would like to thank pharmaceutical companies Viatris and Teva UK for assisting the Met in our investigation and supporting our prosecution against these dangerous and fraudulent men, he added.

Id urge anyone to seek medical advice and obtain a prescription for medication through a doctor. If you buy from the dark web there is no guarantee what is in the substances, as with this case. All three men were charged with conspiracy to produce Class C drugs and money laundering offences in August last year.

Krunal Patel, 40, and Roshan Valentine, 39, went on to plead guilty at Isleworth Crown Court earlier this year while Allen Valentine, 62, pleaded not guilty to the drugs offences and was found guilty this week following a trial at the same court.

Their charges include conspiracy to produce, possess and supply controlled drugs of Class C, possessing a controlled drug of Class C with intent to supply; conspiracy to sell trademarked goods without authorisation, conspiracy to use a registered trademark for labelling or packaging goods without authorisation, possession of articles designed to make unauthorised copies of registered trademarks, and conspiracy to conceal, convert or transfer criminal property.

All three will be sentenced at a later date and a confiscation hearing to legally obtain their illegal profits will take place in due course.

Our specialist Cyber Crime Unit are experts at infiltrating the sale of illegal items on the dark web. We work collaboratively with International Law Enforcement partners to ensure operations like this are stopped in their tracks, said Detective Superintendent Helen Rance, who leads the Met Police Cyber Crime Unit.

The units detectives began the investigation in January 2022 and, soon after, they discovered the three men were visiting a warehouse unit at Acton Business Park in west London.

It was from here that the drugs were produced, packaged and supplied. The men were operating under the guise of a company called Puzzle Logistics Limited which was formed in 2016, the Met Police said.

Each of the men visited the unit on a daily basis, often staying for much of the day. Krunal Patel would frequently leave with large bags, returning 10 to 15 minutes later without the contents of the bags.

Users would purchase the drugs on the dark web, paying in cryptocurrency, which was then posted.

The Mets Cyber Crime Unit said it has detailed knowledge of the dark web and training in cryptocurrency, allowing them to efficiently progress the investigation.

Detectives utilised specialist cyber tactics to prove it was the Valentines and Patel who were making and selling the illegal substances.

They determined the three men converted GBP 3.5 million from cryptocurrency into fiat currency or pound sterling, and the accounts were frozen by police.

On August 17, 2022, Krunal Patel was arrested near the warehouse, with 15 parcels labelled for posting to addresses across the UK.

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Inside those parcels were tablets imprinted Xanax and Teva, both brand names for licensed medicines within the Benzodiazepine group. Roshan and Allen Valentine were arrested later that same day. Officers searched the warehouse and found a concealed laboratory where a large amount of equipment and several containers of chemical substances were discovered, along with numerous crates of pills manufactured on site.

The pills were analysed and found to contain Class C drugs from the Benzodiazepine group including Deschloroetizolam, Flubromazepam, Bromazolam and Flualprazolam. The Met Police said its enquiries are currently ongoing to verify claims made by Allen Valentine to the jury that he was a doctor with qualifications in pharmacy.
A division bench of the Islamabad High Court granted bail to former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan in the Al-Qadir Trust case on Friday.

This came a day after the Supreme Court declared his arrest from the IHC premises invalid and unlawful."

The former prime minister has been granted two-week protective bail in the Al-Qadir Trust case. The court has ordered that Imran Khan is not to be arrested in any case until May 17. He was also granted bail in cases filed after May 9. The Islamabad High Court further added that the ruling is only applicable within the boundaries of Islamabad.

At the next hearing, all respondents in the case have been instructed to come prepared by a division bench consisting of Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb and Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief has been accused of accepting bribes worth millions of Pakistani rupees to whitewash illegitimate earnings. His wife and former first lady of Pakistan Bushra Bibi is also accused of participating in the scandal.

Pakistan has been witnessing unrest since Tuesday following Imran Khans arrest. The army has been deployed in almost all major cities and Section 144 of the Pakistan Code of Criminal Procedure has been imposed in capital Islamabad.

More than 10 people have died and thousands have been injured as PTI workers clashed with law enforcement officials as well as with cadres of the parties forming the ruling coalition, the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM).

Imran Khans legal team, represented by his lawyer Khawaja Haris, argued that the actions taken by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) were unlawful. He maintained that NAB was only authorized to issue an arrest warrant once an inquiry had been officially transformed into an investigation.

The former prime minister distanced himself away from the protests. According to a report by the Dawn, Imran Khan told mediapersons that he could not have stopped what was going on but said that he warned earlier that the arrest would lead to a reaction.

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Meanwhile, the Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was left fuming as the unrest created allegedly by PTI cadres spiralled out of control. He is expected to hold a meeting with parties forming the ruling coalition to discuss the possibility of declaring an emergency.

(this is a breaking news development, more details will be added)
The Shehbaz Sharif government was left fuming on Thursday after the Pakistan Supreme Court declared the arrest of the former Pakistan prime minister illegal and asked the government to immediately release him.

In a significant ruling on Thursday, Pakistans SC declared the arrest of Khan on corruption charges in the Al-Qadir Trust case to be illegal.

The court has ordered Khans immediate release, acknowledging the argument put forth by his lawyers that his detention from the court premises in Islamabad on Tuesday was unlawful, the Dawn newspaper reported.

PTI Chairman @ImranKhanPTI in Supreme Court today. His arrest has been declared illegal. pic.twitter.com/qDmSp9e3cG PTI (@PTIofficial) May 11, 2023

Since his arrest, violent protests have erupted across the country, resulting in the loss of at least 10 lives and the arrest of around 2,000 individuals.

The incident has further escalated tensions between Khan and the military, exacerbating an already strained relationship, following the leaders ouster from power in April last year.

After the top courts decision was announced, Pakistans Defence Minister Khawaja Asif questioned the double standards in justice after the PTI chiefs arrest was termed invalid and unlawful.

Pakistans Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said the government would arrest PTI chief Imran Khan again if he gets bail from the High Court on Friday.

We will arrest him again. If he gets bail from the High Court tomorrow, we will wait for the cancellation of bail and arrest him again, he told Dunya TV, according to AFP.

On Friday, Khan will once again face the graft charges brought by the National Accountability Bureau, which ordered his arrest after saying he failed to respond to multiple court summonses.

Over the past few days, several thousand supporters have rampaged through cities around the country, setting fire to buildings and blocking roads, incensed by their leaders arrest.

At least nine people have died in the unrest, police and hospitals said.

Hundreds of police officers have been injured and more than 2,000 people arrested, mostly in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, according to authorities.

Security forces have responded with tear gas and water cannon to quell the crowds and on Thursday came equipped with batons and riot shields.

Since Wednesday, soldiers have been deployed in two provinces  including Punjab, the most populous  and in the capital. The military warned of a severe reaction" to any further attacks on state and military facilities.

The interior ministry ordered mobile internet services cut and restricted access to social media sites Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, Pakistans communications agency said.

Authorities have also closed schools nationwide, resulting in the cancellation of year-end exams.

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(With agency inputs)
The US ambassador has apologised unreservedly" for claiming that South Africa sold weapons to Russia, the countrys foreign ministry said on Friday.

US ambassador Reuben Brigety on Thursday said Washington was confident weapons and ammunition had been laden onto a Russian freighter that docked at a Cape Town naval base last year.

South Africans were left angry after Brigetys accusation that their country secretly shipped arms to Russia, a charge that triggered both a government rebuke but also the announcement of an inquiry.

US envoys remarks drew an angry response from President Cyril Ramaphosa, who said a retired judge would lead an investigation into the matter.

On Friday, South Africas the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco) said in a statement that the ambassador Brigety had admitted that he crossed a line and apologised unreservedly for the arms supply remark, public broadcaster SABC reported.

Dirco has said in a statement that the US ambassador to South Africa, Reuben Brigety, had admitted that he crossed a line and apologised unreservedly after he said a Russian ship had picked up weapons in SA last year, causing a diplomatic uproar. https://t.co/drqsari31V SABC News (@SABCNews) May 12, 2023

South Africa finds itself in a delicate diplomatic position regarding Russias invasion of Ukraine.

Despite refusing to condemn the invasion, the country emphasizes the importance of dialogue as a means to resolve the conflict.

The Lady R, a cargo vessel under western sanctions flying a Russian flag, docked at South Africas largest naval base in December, officially to offload an old order of ammunition.

But Brigety said intelligence showed weaponry was loaded onto the vessel before it headed back to Russia.

While South Africa has strong economic and trade ties with the United States and Europe, its relationship with Russia, rooted in historical support during the struggle against apartheid, is comparatively smaller in terms of trade.

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The US State Department said that Secretary of State Antony Blinken had a call with South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor, where he underscored the importance of the US-South Africa strategic partnership".

(With agency inputs)
Migrants rushed across the Mexico border Thursday, racing to enter the U.S. before pandemic-related asylum restrictions are lifted in a shift that threatens to put a historic strain on the nations beleaguered immigration system.

The imminent end of the rules known as Title 42 stirred fear among migrants that the change would make it more difficult for them to stay in the U.S.

With a late-night deadline looming, migrants in Mexico shed clothing before descending a steep bank into the Rio Grande, clutching plastic bags filled with clothes. One man held a baby in an open suitcase on his head.

On the U.S. side of the river, migrants put on dry clothing and picked their way through concertina wire. Many surrendered immediately to authorities and hoped to be released while pursuing their cases in backlogged immigration courts, which takes years.

It was not clear how many migrants were on the move or how long the surge would last. By early Thursday evening, the flow seemed to be slowing in some locations, but it was not clear why or whether the number of crossings would increase again after the restrictions expire.

A U.S. official reported that daily encounters on Tuesday hit 10,000  nearly twice the level from March and only slightly below the 11,000 figure that authorities have said is the upper limit of what they expect after Title 42 ends.

Our buses are full. Our planes are full, said Pedro Cardenas, a city commissioner in Brownsville, Texas, just north of Matamoros.

President Joe Bidens administration has been unveiling strict new measures to replace Title 42, which since March 2020 has allowed border officials to quickly return asylum seekers back over the border on grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19.

The new policies crack down on illegal crossings while also setting up legal pathways for migrants who apply online, seek a sponsor and undergo background checks. If successful, the reforms could fundamentally alter how migrants arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border.

But it will take time to see results. Biden has conceded that the border will be chaotic for a while. Immigrant advocacy groups have threatened legal action. And migrants fleeing poverty, gangs and persecution in their homelands are still desperate to reach U.S. soil at any cost.

William Contreras of Venezuela said Title 42 was good for people from his wracked South American country. He heard that many migrants before him were released in the United States.

What we understand is that they wont be letting anyone else in, said Contreras friend, Pablo, who declined to give his last name because he planned to cross the border illegally. Thats the reason for our urgency to cross through the border today.

While Title 42 prevented many from seeking asylum, it carried no legal consequences, encouraging repeat attempts. After Thursday, migrants face being barred from entering the U.S. for five years and possible criminal prosecution.

Holding facilities along the border were far beyond capacity, and Border Patrol agents were told to begin releasing some migrants with instructions to appear at a U.S. immigration office within 60 days, according to a U.S. official. The official was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter and provided information to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Agents were also told to start releases in any area where holding facilities were at 125% capacity or the average time in custody exceeded 60 hours. In addition, releases could begin if 7,000 migrants were taken into custody across the entire border in one day.

More than 27,000 people were in U.S. Customs and Border Protection custody, the official said.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas warned of more crowded Border Patrol facilities to come.

I cannot overstate the strain on our personnel and our facilities, but we know how to manage through such strain," he told reporters Thursday.

He said the vast majority of migrants would be placed in expedited removal" proceedings and would be expelled quickly if they dont qualify to stay in the U.S.

We have confidence in the lawfulness of our actions," he said.

The stopping of about 10,000 migrants by the Border Patrol on Tuesday made for one of the agencys busiest days ever, according to a second U.S. official who provided information to the AP on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.

The daily average was about 5,200 in March, according to the latest publicly available data.

On Thursday, about 400 migrants huddled in strong winds whipping up the sand on the bank of the Rio Grande east of El Paso as groups of Texas National Guard soldiers constructed concertina wire barriers.

A couple from Colombia approached the wire asking if they could start a fire because a 10-year-old was shivering in the desert cold. Most migrants huddled together under thin blankets.

Maj. Sean Storrud of the Texas National Guard said his troops have explained to migrants the consequences of crossing illegally.

The migrants dont really know whats going to happen, Storrud said.

Even as migrants were racing to reach to U.S. soil before the rules expire, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said smugglers were sending a different message. He said there had been an uptick in smugglers at his countrys southern border offering to take migrants to the United States and telling them the border was open starting Thursday.

On Wednesday, Homeland Security announced a rule to make it extremely difficult for anyone who travels through another country, like Mexico, or who did not apply online, to qualify for asylum. It also introduced curfews with GPS tracking for families released in the U.S. before initial asylum screenings.

The administration says it is beefing up the removal of migrants found unqualified to stay in the U.S. on flights like those that brought nearly 400 migrants home to Guatemala from the U.S. on Thursday.

Sheidi Mazariegos, 26, arrived with her 4-year-old son, just eight days after being detained near Brownsville.

I heard on the news that there was an opportunity to enter, I heard it on the radio, but it was all a lie, she said. Smugglers got her to Matamoros and put the two on a raft. They were apprehended by Border Patrol agents.

Mazariegos, who said she migrated because she is poor, hoped to reunite with her sisters living in the U.S. She left her ill husband and two other children behind in Guatemala.

At the same time, the administration has introduced expansive new legal pathways into the U.S.

Up to 30,000 people a month from Haiti, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela can enter if they apply online with a financial sponsor and enter through an airport. Processing centers are opening in Guatemala, Colombia and elsewhere. Up to 1,000 can enter daily though land crossings with Mexico if they snag an appointment on an online app.

In San Diego, more than 100 migrants, many of them Colombian families, slept under plastic tarps between two border walls, watched over by Border Patrol agents who had nowhere to take them for processing.

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Albino Leon, 51, said the end of Title 42 prompted his family to make the journey.

With the changes they are making to the laws, its now or never, said Leon, who flew to Mexico from Colombia and got past a first border wall to reach U.S. soil.
Ukraine said on Friday it had retaken swathes of ground near the frontline city of Bakhmut, as Russia insisted it had repelled an attack along a broad stretch of the front line.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner mercenary group, who is spearheading Moscows attack on Bakhmut, accused the Russian army of fleeing" from around the eastern Ukraine city.

The conflicting reports from the battlefront indicate an increase in fighting after months of relative stability, as expectations grow over Kyivs spring offensive.

Moscow also denounced as extremely hostile" a British decision to send long-range missiles to Ukraine.

The question of when and where Ukraine might launch its high stakes fightback has been the subject of steady speculation, even as President Volodymr Zelensky insisted earlier this week that his army needed more time to prepare.

The fresh fighting came as China said it would send a special envoy to Europe next week, as Beijing pursues efforts to cast itself as peacemaker.

China plans to send high-ranking diplomat Li Hui to Ukraine, Poland, France, Germany and Russia to communicate with all parties on the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis".

From Ukraine to the Middle East, Beijing in recent months has sought to position itself as a mediator with a leading role in solving the worlds crises.

But while China presents itself as a neutral party on the Ukraine war, it has been criticised in the West for refusing to condemn Moscow for the invasion.

Zelensky is expected in Rome on Saturday for talks with political leaders and possibly Pope Francis, his first visit to Italy since Russias invasion.

- Great losses in Bakhmut fight -

On the battlefield, Ukraine said its forces had advanced two kilometres (around one mile) near Bakhmut  the scene of the longest and bloodiest battle since Moscows more than year-long invasion.

Bakhmut, which once had a population of around 70,000 people, has been destroyed as Russian forces posted incremental gains in recent months, amounting to some 80 percent of the city.

Moscow has denied Ukraine had made any breakthroughs there, adding on Friday that it had repelled Kyivs forces along more than 95 kilometres (60 miles) of front near the eastern town of Soledar.

Russias defence ministry said Ukraine had deployed more than 1,000 military personnel and up to 40 tanks.

Wagner chief Prigozhin however said Moscows conventional army simply went fleeing from the flanks" near Bakhmut.

Prigozhin insisted that the flanks are failing, the front is collapsing" in that area and said Russias leadership was downplaying the gravity of the situation.

For this reason, we must stop lying immediately," Prigozhin said in a video statement released on social media.

The social media accounts of several Russian war correspondents also expressed alarm late on Thursday, with some saying Kyivs long-anticipated counteroffensive had begun.

Zelensky, however, said in an interview published on Thursday that Kyiv needed more equipment before going on the offensive.

But in his evening address on Friday, he said of the Russian forces: The occupiers are already internally ready for defeat.

They have already lost this war in their minds."

Prigozhin, whose long-running feud with Russias conventional army has flared in recent days, acknowledged recent Ukrainian successes.

He even challenged his rival, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, to visit Bakhmut.

The enemy has launched a number of successful counterattacks," Prigozhin wrote to Shoigu on social media, urging him to independently assess the current situation".

- Moscow denounces UK over missiles -

Moscow on Friday denounced the UKs decision to deliver long-range Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine, announced a day earlier.

We see this decision as an extremely hostile step from London, aimed at further pumping weapons into Ukraine and leading to a serious escalation of the situation," said a foreign ministry statement.

Russia said it would take all necessary measures to neutralise the threats" posed by the new missiles.

The Kremlin announced on Friday that Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed to deepen ties with South African leader Cyril Ramaphosa  just a day after the United States accused Pretoria of secretly shipping arms to Russia.

Ramaphosa has already reacted angrily to Thursdays accusation from US ambassador Reuben Brigety, while announcing an investigation into the affair to be led by a retired judge.

Turkey said on Friday that talks to extend a deal allowing grain exports from Ukraine via the Black Sea following the Russian invasion were nearing an agreement.

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We are heading toward an agreement on the extension of the grain deal," Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said in a statement.

The Black Sea Grain Initiative, in place since July after diplomacy by the United Nations and Turkey, allows Ukraine grain exports via port, helping ease shortages and resulting price spikes triggered by Russias invasion of the breadbasket nation.
Prepare to get rejected and dumped by clients, but dont take it personally  its just business! Blake Micola

Blake Micola was born into an entrepreneurial family in Sydney in 1989 and had a keen interest in business and helping others.

Despite working in various fields such as hospitality, fashion, TV advertising, digital marketing, PR, account management, and recruitment through several jobs, Blake realised that building someone elses dream was going to make him unhappy.

At the age of 25, Blake founded his first marketing consultancy brand, M&Co Digital, in 2015. The following year, he launched GMS Media Group to assist businesses in growing through social media advertising. He was a finalist in the Young Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2019, and in 2020, GMS won the Best Marketing Service award at the Australian Small Business Champion Awards. Since 2016, GMS has helped more than 1,000 brands to grow by managing over $117 million in ad budgets. Today, GMS is a well-known agency with a great reputation in the industry.

The key for me was to specialise in one vertical of marketing, which for me was digital advertising. I decided not to try to master everything, as you end up doing a mediocre job, Blake recalls.

I was really lucky to have a stable job in the CBD at an international SaaS company, who were really supportive of me working on my agency on the side.

Eventually, it turned into a part-time relationship, which gave me a couple of days a week to focus on bootstrapping my agency. After about a year of doing this, I was able to 4x my salary with revenue through my consulting, which gave me enough security to jump ship and go full-time with my agency.

Blake went on to explain, I landed some key clients early on that put me on the map, including Vision Personal Training, Culture Kings, F45, Dr Demartini, and the DG Institute, to name a few.

At the same time, I became a member of a business network called CUB (Club of United Business), which allowed me to network with like-minded business owners, win clients, and have a clubhouse to use as an office. These elements helped me tremendously in the first few years, Blake said.

Blake was proud to share, Since 2016, weve managed well over $117M+ in digital paid media budget, which has produced roughly $1B in revenue across over 1,000 clients that weve had the pleasure of representing.

I always had a passion for business, being raised by Entrepreneurial parents ,and seeing the freedom they had to live the life they wanted on their terms which I admired greatly. I also realised from working several corporate jobs that I was never going to be fulfilled building someone elses dream.

Approaching new clients

The three biggest trends for 2023 are AI, a privacy-first digital world, and TikToks influence on social media content

Blake explains that GMS has a unique approach to selecting clients. We have a qualification process for brands that we want to work with, he says. We have learned that we cannot help every business out there, so we have to pick the right ones for us. Therefore, brands must meet certain prerequisites in order for us to represent them.

We dont just talk the talk; we walk the walk, says Blake. We run multiple digital marketing campaigns for ourselves, just like we do for our clients, so we practice what we preach.

According to Blake, this process allows for healthier relationships between GMS and its clients. When we have a deeper understanding of a brands industry and business model, we can provide a higher quality of service and optimal results. We know what works best for them, even before they join us.

Blake recently shared his insights on the hottest trends in digital marketing for 2023. The three biggest trends for 2023 are AI, a privacy-first digital world, and TikToks influence on social media content, he stated.

According to Blake, these trends pose both challenges and opportunities for businesses trying to stay ahead of the competition. Its becoming increasingly complex to navigate the digital landscape, but at the same time, theres a huge opportunity for us as an agency to help brands stay ahead of the curve, he explained.

To help businesses stay on top of these trends, GMS Media Group runs multiple virtual masterminds and has formed close partnerships with major social media platforms and search engines. Our partnerships give us cutting-edge insight into whats coming next. Were often the first to know before the general public knows, Blake said.

He also highlighted the importance of a qualification process for brands looking to work with GMS Media Group. We cant help every business out there, so we have to pick the right ones for us. Brands must meet certain prerequisites before we represent them, which allows for healthier relationships, a higher quality of service, and optimal results, Blake emphasised.

Blake believes that perfectionism can hinder progress. He advises entrepreneurs to identify a niche and clearly understand the problem they are solving for their customers. He suggests testing, reviewing, and refining until there is traction in the market.

Blake also recommends forming partnerships with other agencies that offer complementary services. This can help to grow a businesss database and clientele quickly. He acknowledges that rejection and losing clients can be tough but advises not to take it personally and remember that its just business.

In his own words, There is so much information and clutter out there today, so find a niche and understand clearly what problem you are trying to solve for your customer. From there test, rinse and repeat until you start gaining traction in your market. Also, I recommend forming great partnerships with other agencies that offer complimentary services to you, as that is one of the fastest ways to grow your database and clientele. Prepare to get rejected and dumped by clients, but dont take it personally  its just business!

Challenges faced

Blake shared that starting his business was a challenging journey, especially when it came to financial support. As he said, We are fully self-funded, so there was always a financial struggle early on to support me when I started. Being self-funded meant that he had to find ways to make ends meet while building his business from scratch.

Aside from financial struggles, Blake also faced other challenges as a new entrepreneur, particularly when dealing with clients. He shared, Not only that but not having any prior experience dealing with client issues and having no one to fall back on with support was a learning curve. Blake had to learn how to handle client concerns and issues on his own, without the support of a larger team or resources.

He added that more established businesses have the advantage of having resources and departments dedicated to handling client issues. With a startup, however, one must learn how to handle everything on their own. More established businesses often have tons of resources and departments to handle issues like these, whereas, with a startup, you are doing it all yourself, Blake explained.

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The United States is exploring the options to free Russian prisoners held in other countries to force a prisoner swap and free Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and other Americans, including former marine Paul Whelan, the Wall Street Journal and New York Post said.

The WSJ citing the US State Department said that the most realistic path for the US to ensure freeing Gershkovich and other US nationals is a prisoner swap.

Given the work ongoing to secure Paul and Evans release, we will not offer specific details of the negotiation process, the US State Department told the WSJ on Thursday. They further added that they are engaging with partners regularly around the world to discuss wrongful detention cases and in some cases to seek assistance in effecting a release.

Russia also wants a balanced exchange of prisoners ending US hopes of offering concessions to force a release.

Earlier in December, Viktor Bout, a notorious Russian arms dealer, was freed in exchange for WNBA player Britney Griner. Following Bouts release, the US does not have a trading candidate to force the release of Gershkovich and Whelan.

The State Department is now looking towards other countries who have Russian citizens in custody who can be used for the bargaining pact.

The Wall Street Journal said that Moscow has shown interest in negotiating the repatriation of Vadim Krasikov, a Russian citizen who is currently serving a life sentence in Germany for murdering a former Chechen rebel leader in Berlin under the orders of the Russian government.

Within the bounds of the rule of law and then within presidential approval policy, were open to exploring different types of leverage, the official was quoted as saying by the WSJ.

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The outlets veteran Russia reporter, Gershkovich, has been charged with obtaining state secret information about a military factory, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. He was arrested while on assignment in the city of Yekaterinburg in late March.

Whelan, a former Marine, was deemed by the US as being unjustly imprisoned on espionage charges and serving a 16-year sentence.
Kenyan authorities have reported the unfortunate death of a wild male lion believed to be one of the oldest in the world.

Named Loonkiito, the 19-year-old lion was speared by herders in Olkelunyiet village, near Amboseli National Park in southern Kenya.

Lion Guardians, a conservation group, described Loonkiito as the oldest male lion in their ecosystem and possibly in Africa.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Lion Guardians (@lionguardians_)

It is with heavy hearts that we share the news of the passing of Loonkiito (2004 - 2023), the oldest male lion in our ecosystem and possibly in Africa. He died yesterday, on the 10th of May 2023 at 19 years old," Lion Guardians said in a Facebook post.

He was a symbol of resilience and coexistence. We at Lion Guardians feel privileged to have borne witness to his life and his legacy," the group added.

While most lions in the wild live up to around 13 years, Loonkiito surpassed that average. Human-lion conflicts tend to increase as wild prey becomes scarcer during the end of droughts.

Lions, in their desperation for food, often resort to attacking livestock, leading to tensions with local communities.

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The killing of Loonkiito has highlighted the challenging coexistence between humans and lions.

Paula Kahumbu, a wildlife conservationist and chief executive officer of WildlifeDirect, told BBC This is the breaking point for human-wildlife conflict and we need to do more as a country to preserve lions, which are facing extinction."
The US Justice Department announced on Thursday that a YouTube influencer who staged a fake plane crash in California for a video and then parachuted to safety, agreed to plead guilty to obstructing the investigation by destroying the evidence, news agencies reported.

Trevor Daniel Jacob, along with his attorney, has signed a plea agreement, which was filed in the US District Court in Los Angeles on Wednesday. It is expected that Jacob will appear in court in the next few weeks. Jacob hails from Lompoc, California.

Jacob, a skydiver and experienced pilot, has agreed to plead guilty to obstructing a federal investigation by destroying the wreckage of a plane. This charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

The video titled I Crashed My Airplane" appeared in December 2021 and purported to show Jacobs small plane having engine failure over the mountainous Los Padres National Forest. Already wearing a parachute, he jumped out with a selfie stick camera in hand.

The cameras mounted on the wing and tail of the plane, as well as the camera carried by the individual, recorded his jump and the aircrafts crash. Jacob, then, subsequently hiked to the crash site to retrieve the video from the onboard cameras, government officials told the Associated Press.

According to the plea agreement, Jacob had a sponsorship deal to promote a companys product in a video he would post, and he never intended to complete the Nov. 24, 2021, flight.

According to the US Justice Department, Trevor Daniel Jacob informed federal investigators about the plane crash and was entrusted with the responsibility of preserving the wreckage, but he later lied to investigators by claiming he did not know the location.

In December 2021, Jacob and a friend flew to the site in a helicopter that was used to lift the wreckage and fly it to a trailer attached to his pickup truck, according to the agreement.

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They later cut up the plane and disposed of its parts in trash bins.

His pilot licence was revoked by the US Federal Aviation Administration in 2022.
At its core, the U.S.-Republic of Korea alliance is about building a better future for all of our people, said President Joe Biden in a joint press conference with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol.

Theres no better example than our economic relationship and partnership, which is delivering incredible benefits to both our nations, said President Biden:

Through the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, were advancing economic growth grounded in high standards for our workers, for the environment, and for communities throughout the region. Were standing together against economic influence being leveraged in coercive ways. And since I took office, Korean companies have invested more than $100 billion in the United States, driving innovation and spurring good new jobs for Americans and Korean workers.

Our mutual defense treaty is ironclad, and that includes our commitment to nuclear deterrence, said President Biden:

They are particularly important in the face of the DPRKs increased threats and the blatant violation of ... sanctions. At the same time, we continue to seek serious and substantial diplomatic breakthroughs with the DPRK to bolster stability on the Peninsula, reduce the threat of proliferation, and address our humanitarian and human rights concerns for the people of the DPRK.

The Republic of Korea and the United States are working together, including through their trilateral cooperation with Japan, to ensure the future of the Indo-Pacific is free, open, prosperous, and secure. Both leaders also discussed their commitment to peace and stability in the Taiwan Straits, ensuring freedom of navigation in the South China Sea and beyond.

President Biden thanked the Republic of Korea for its strong support for Ukraine.

The choices we make today, said President Biden, are going to determine the direction of our world and the future of our kids for decades to come.

From tracking the climate crisis and strengthening our effort to fight it, and strengthening global health, declared President Biden, no two countries are better suited to meet the challenges ahead than the Republic of Korea and the United States.
The United States is imposing new sanctions on Russias Federal Security Service, the FSB, and on Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Intelligence Organization, the IRGC-IO, for their involvement in the wrongful detention of U.S. nationals. Additionally, the Department of the Treasury is designating four senior officials of the IRGC-IO.

These are the first sanctions announced under an executive order signed by President Joe Biden last year. The purpose is to impose economic costs on governments and groups that hold hostage or wrongfully detain Americans abroad.

The sanctions mean that all the designees property and interests in property under U.S. control are blocked, and U.S. persons are barred from doing business with those designated.

In a statement, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the actions are a clear and direct warning to those around the world who wrongfully detain U.S. nationals.

He noted that the FSB has repeatedly been involved in the arrest, investigation, and detention of U.S. nationals wrongfully detained in Russia, and that the IRGC-IO is involved in the wrongful detention of at least one U.S. national abroad.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury said in a statement that the IRGC-IO frequently holds and interrogates detainees in the notorious Evin Prison, in addition to [its] direct role in the repression of protests and the arrest of dissidents, including dual nationals. The four IRCG-IO senior officials involved with the detention of foreign nationals designated by the Treasury Department are Ruhollah Bazghandi, Mohammad Kazemi, Mohamad Mehdi Sayyari and Mohammad Hasan Mohagheghi.

Russias and Irans continued pattern of wrongfully detaining U.S. nationals is unacceptable, said Secretary of State Blinken. The United States will never stop working to secure the release of U.S. nationals who are wrongfully detained or held hostage and reunite them with their loved ones. [These] actions are one tool furthering that cause, and we will continue to use all authorities at our disposal to bring people home.
The woman charged in the slayings of her two youngest children and a romantic rival wanted their money, so she used sex and power to manipulate her brother and a lover into carrying out the crimes, Idaho prosecutors told jurors Thursday. "Money, power and sex," Madison County Prosecutor Rob Wood said, urging the jury to convict Lori Vallow Daybell for the deaths of 7-year-old Joshua "JJ" Vallow, 16-year-old Tylee Ryan, and her fifth husbands previous wife, Tammy Daybell. "What does justice for these victims require? It requires a conviction on each and every count," Wood said, per the AP.

Vallow Daybell and her husband, Chad Daybell, are both charged with murder, conspiracy and grand theft in the three deaths. Prosecutors say the two worked with Vallow Daybell's brother, Alex Cox, to carry out the crimes. The two youngest children were receiving Social Security survivor benefits from the earlier deaths of their fathers, and prosecutors say Vallow Daybell continued to collect those checks after the children were killed. Chad Daybell increased Tammy Daybell's life insurance policy, prosecutors said, and Vallow Daybell married him just two weeks after his previous wife was asphyxiated in their home. Both defendants have pleaded not guilty to conspiracy, murder, and grand theft. Vallow Daybell faces up to life in prison if she is convicted. Chad Daybell's trial is still months away.

Vallow Daybell wanted to be "unencumbered by obstacles," Wood said, including her children. "The plan that she set in motion must end today in the verdicts you render in this trial," Wood said. Vallow Daybell's defense attorneys did not call any witnesses, and Vallow Daybell declined to testify. Instead, defense attorney Jim Archibald asserted that they did not believe prosecutors had proven their case, suggesting that there was not enough evidence to find beyond a reasonable doubt that Vallow Daybell committed a crime. The jury has begun deliberations, per CBS News.

(Read more Lori Vallow stories.)
Federally licensed weapons dealers are subject to laws and regulations barring them from selling handguns to anyone under 21but on Wednesday, a judge in Virginia struck those laws and regulations down, ruling that 18- to 20-year-olds cannot be barred from buying handguns. "Because the statutes and regulations in question are not consistent with our Nations history and tradition, they, therefore, cannot stand," the judge wrote, per the Washington Post. The judge noted that other constitutional rights have no such age limitation, and said no court has "squarely determined" that Second Amendment rights "vest at age 21." Those 18 and over can already legally purchase handguns from private, unlicensed dealers, the New York Times reports, and they can purchase long guns from both private as well as federally licensed dealers.

"Eighteen-year-olds can legally buy a Glock in the parking lot of a gun store. This is about letting them walk through the front door, and going through all the same background checks they would undergo if they were buying a shotgun," says the lawyer who represented the young adults who brought the case. The Justice Department is expected to appeal and request a stay, which would mean the ruling would not take effect as higher courts consider the case. Those in favor of the regulations say science has shown teenagers to be more impulsive than older adults, that they are more likely to commit gun violence than those aged 21 and older, and that handguns are more widely used for violent crime.

The ruling, per the Times, is "one of the first successful challenges to gun control laws under the Supreme Courts landmark 2022 Bruen decision," which struck down a New York state law regarding carrying guns in public. The Bruen opinion states that "constitutional rights are enshrined with the scope they were understood to have when the people adopted them," and the judge in the Virginia case said that even though adulthood began at 21 when the country was founded, 18-year-olds were allowed to join militias. "It is not at all clear that the age of majority at the Founding is the appropriate measure for measuring the reach of the Second Amendment," he wrote. (Read more gun laws stories.)
A day after Donald Trump slammed the judge who presided over the Manhattan civil trial in which the former president was found liable for sexual assault and defamation, his lawyer filed official notice that he's appealing the verdict. Attorney Joe Tacopina wrote in the filing posted with the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday that Trump is appealing the amount of the $5 million award, as well as "all adverse orders, rulings, decrees, decisions, opinions, memoranda, conclusions or findings" made by US District Judge Lewis Kaplan. On his Truth Social site, Trump had called Kaplan a "Clinton appointed Judge," a "terrible person," and "completely biased," NBC News reports. Tacopina said outside court after the verdict was read that Trump would appeal.

Also on Thursday, a lawyer for E. Jean Carroll, who brought the case, said she's thinking about suing Trump again in light of the things he said about her during a CNN town hall this week. In that appearance, Trump again said Carroll's accusation that he sexually assaulted her was "fake" and a "made-up story," despite the jury's finding. He also said the trial was rigged. Carroll didn't see the program, said her lawyer, Roberta A. Kaplan, but had a response after reading the first paragraph of the transcript. "It's just stupid, it's just disgusting, vile, foul, it wounds people," Carroll told the New York Times. She added that she's been "insulted by better people." (Read more Donald Trump stories.)
Migrants rushed across the Mexico border Thursday, racing to enter the US before pandemic-related asylum restrictions were lifted one minute before midnight Eastern time in a shift that threatens to put a historic strain on the nations beleaguered immigration system. The imminent end of the rules known as Title 42 had stirred fear among migrants that the changes would make it more difficult for them to stay in the US, the AP reports. With a late-night deadline looming, misinformation and confusion buffeted migrants as they paced the border at the Rio Grande, often unsure of where to go or what to do next. While Title 42 prevented many from seeking asylum, it carried no legal consequences, encouraging repeat attempts. After Thursday, migrants face being barred from entering the US for five years and possible criminal prosecution.

At Matamoros, across from Brownsville, Texas, throngs of migrantssome clutching small childrenwaded across spring river currents, pushed through thickets to confront a border fortified with razor wire. On the US side of the river, many surrendered immediately to authorities and hoped to be released while pursuing their cases in backlogged immigration courts, which takes years. Other migrants settled into shelters in northern Mexico, determined to secure an asylum appointment that can take months to schedule online. Many migrants were acutely aware of looming policy changes designed to stop illegal crossings and encourage asylum seekers to apply online and consider alternative destinations, including Canada or Spain.

It was not clear how many migrants were on the move or how long the surge might last. By Thursday evening, the flow seemed to be slowing in some locations, but it was not clear why, or whether crossings would increase again after the coronavirus-related restrictions expire. Meanwhile, the Biden administration was dealt a potentially serious legal setback when a federal judge temporarily blocked its attempt to release migrants more quickly when Border Patrol holding stations are full; the facilities along the border already are far beyond capacity, the AP reports. The judge blocked the releases for two weeks and scheduled a May 19 hearing on whether to extend his order. (More of the latest here.)
The two men who pleaded guilty to cheating at an Ohio fishing tournament last year were sentenced Thursday to 10 days behind bars, WBAY reports. Jacob Runyan, 43, and Chase Cominsky, 36, also received a year and a half each of probation, USA Today reports, and they will each pay a $2,500 fine, half of which will be donated to a children's fishing charity. Runyan and Cominsky admitted to using lead weights to make their walleye catches heavier. As part of the plea deal, Cominsky also forfeited his $130,000 bass boat, and both men had their fishing licenses suspended for three years.

"This was the end of a long season where Jacob Runyan and Chase Cominsky had a curious run of successsuch that other officials in that tournament suspected foul play," an assistant county prosecutor said at the sentencing. Runyan apologized to the court and "to everybody," calling the incident "the most ignorant decision Ive ever made in my life." Said their defense attorney, "Theres seemingly endless public humiliation for these guys. These guys are going to have to suffer this forever; when they go on a date, when they find a job. When they get Googled, this case is gonna show up forever." (Read more fishing stories.)
George Santos has admitted to forging stolen checks in Brazil more than a decade ago and will pay nearly $5,000 to settle the criminal case that has followed him ever since. A day after pleading not guilty to numerous financial crimes in the US, the embattled congressman appeared for a virtual hearing in the Niteroi suburb of Rio de Janeiro and admitted to stealing $1,350 in clothing and shoes from a shop in 2008 when he was 19. In a signed confession, Santos said he stole the checkbook of his mother's ex-employer from her purse, then went on a shopping spree, per the AP.

An investigation was opened in 2008 and a charge of a criminal embezzlement was filed three years later. However, authorities were unable to locate Santos, resulting in the suspension of the case in 2013. It was revived when Brazilian authorities learned last year that Santos would soon be found in the US House of Representatives. As part of an agreement with public prosecutors, the case against Santos will be dropped once he pays a $2,000 fine plus $2,800 to the shopkeeper, who had to pay the value of the checks out of his own pocket, the Washington Post reports. He has 30 days to pay up. (Read more George Santos stories.)
The US is putting new restrictions into place at its southern border to try to stop migrants from crossing illegally and encourage them instead to apply for asylum online through a new process. The changes come with the end of Title 42 coronavirus restrictions on asylum that have allowed the US to quickly turn back migrants at the US-Mexico border for the past three years. Disinformation has swirled and confusion has set in during the transition. On Thursday night, migrants rushed to cross the border before restrictions ended. A look at the new rules (and the old ones):

What is Title 42 and what did it do? Title 42 is the name of an emergency health authority that began in March 2020 under the Trump administration. The authority allowed US officials to turn away migrants who came to the US-Mexico border on the grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19. Migrants were returned over the border and denied the right to seek asylum. US officials turned away migrants more than 2.8 million times. Families and children traveling alone were exempt. But there were no real consequences when someone illegally crossed the border. So migrants were able to try again and again to cross, on the off chance they would get into the US. President Biden initially kept Title 42 in place after he took office, but the restrictions have ended following the ending of national COVID-19 emergencies.

So what's happening next? The Title 42 restrictions lifted at 11:59pm EDT Thursday. The Biden administration has put into place a series of new policies cracking down on illegal crossings. The administration says it's trying to stop people from paying smuggling operations to make a dangerous and often deadly journey. Now there will be strict consequences. Migrants caught crossing illegally will not be allowed to return for five years and can face criminal prosecution if they do.

The Title 42 restrictions lifted at 11:59pm EDT Thursday. The Biden administration has put into place a series of new policies cracking down on illegal crossings. The administration says it's trying to stop people from paying smuggling operations to make a dangerous and often deadly journey. Now there will be strict consequences. Migrants caught crossing illegally will not be allowed to return for five years and can face criminal prosecution if they do. New asylum rules . Under US and international law, anyone who comes to the US can ask for asylum. But the Biden administration is now turning away anyone seeking asylum who didnt first seek protection in a country they traveled through, or first applied online. This is a version of a Trump administration policy that was overturned by the courts. Advocacy groups sued to block the new rule minutes before it took effect. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in San Francisco by the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies and other groups, alleges the Biden administration doubled down on the policy proposed by Trump that the same court rejected.

. Under US and international law, anyone who comes to the US can ask for asylum. But the Biden administration is now turning away anyone seeking asylum who didnt first seek protection in a country they traveled through, or first applied online. This is a version of a Trump administration policy that was overturned by the courts. Advocacy groups sued to block the new rule minutes before it took effect. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in San Francisco by the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies and other groups, alleges the Biden administration doubled down on the policy proposed by Trump that the same court rejected. Who's allowed in? The US has said it will accept up to 30,000 people per month from Venezuela, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Cuba as long as they come by air, have a sponsor, and apply online first. The government also will allow up to 100,000 people from Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras into the US who have family here if they, too, apply online.

What about families? Families crossing the border illegally will be subject to curfews and the head of household will have to wear an ankle monitoring bracelet. Immigration officials will try to determine within 30 days whether a family can stay in the US or be deported. Usually the process would take years.

Families crossing the border illegally will be subject to curfews and the head of household will have to wear an ankle monitoring bracelet. Immigration officials will try to determine within 30 days whether a family can stay in the US or be deported. Usually the process would take years. Overcrowding. Border Patrol stations are meant to house migrants temporarily and dont have capacity to hold the volume of people coming. Some stations are already too crowded. As a result, agents began releasing migrants into the US with instructions to appear at an immigration office within 60 days or face deportation. Agents were told to begin releases in any area where holding facilities were at 125% capacity or the average time in custody exceeded 60 hours. They also were told to start releases if 7,000 migrants were taken into custody across the entire border in any one day. Florida filed a lawsuit claiming the releases violate an earlier court ruling. Late Thursday, a federal judge agreed and temporarily halted the administrations plan for releases.

(Biden predicted this week that the border will be "chaotic" for a while.)
A Marine veteran who put a fellow New York City subway rider into a fatal chokehold earlier this month was arraigned Friday morning and charged with second-degree manslaughter, a felony. Per the Washington Post, 24-year-old Daniel Penny surrendered at Manhattan Criminal Court at the request of the Manhattan district attorney's office. After his arraignment regarding the death of 30-year-old Jordan Neely, Penny was released on $100,000 bond, though he isn't allowed to leave New York state without getting the OK from the court, and has also been mandated to turn over his passport within the next 48 hours, according to the DA's office. Penny, who grew up on Long Island, was initially released without being charged in the May 1 incident, in which he was shown on video putting Neely, who's recently experienced homelessness, in a chokehold that lasted several minutes.

The freelance journalist who recorded the killing says Penny, a white man, pinned Neely down after Neely, who's Black, entered the train car, started shouting he was hungry and thirsty, and "aggressively" threw his jacket to the floor. Witnesses say Neely was acting "hostile and erratic," per the New York Times. Others can be seen in the video helping Penny restrain Neely, who has a history of mental illness and more than three dozen arrestsmostly for minor incidents, but a handful for punching people. Neely was rendered unconscious by the chokehold, which the witness said lasted about 15 minutes, and was later declared dead at a hospital. Two days later, the city medical examiner deemed Neely's death a homicide. Penny later released a statement saying his actions were in self-defense, and that he "never intended to harm Mr. Neely."

After his Friday arraignment, Neely's family said the charges were too lenient, saying Penny should've been charged with murder, per NBC News. "Is [a manslaughter charge] enough for someone who choked somebody out on the train and took their life?" family attorney Lennon Edwards said at a presser, adding that Penny "intentionally chose a technique ... that is designed to cut off air." It's not yet clear why a manslaughter charge was chosen over a murder charge. In a statement, Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg says there was enough probable cause to arrest Penny after conferring with the medical examiner, conducting witness interviews, and going over pictures and video footage, per the New York Times. "Jordan Neely should still be alive today," Bragg said. Penny is next set to be in court July 17. If convicted, he could see between five and 15 years behind bars. (Read more Jordan Neely stories.)
Eguana Technologies (TSX.V: EGT) (OTCQB: EGTYF) announces it has received a $5 million initial order for its 10kW/28kWh whole home energy storage systems. Shipments have commenced with completed installations in Florida, San Jose, and Calgary.

"Renewable energy markets, and in particular the energy storage segment, are very dynamic with a multitude of applications from solar self-consumption to virtual power plants and power grid infrastructure," commented Eguana CEO Justin Holland. "Consumers want choice, installers want simplicity, and utilities want power and capacity that our 10kW whole home delivers. We are excited by the initial success from the Eguana University training program from the first cohort of certified dealer partners and anticipate further market traction with our products as additional partners complete the program."

The 10kW/28kWh is immediately available in North American markets through distribution and dealer direct channels.

About Eguana Technologies Inc.

Based in Calgary, Alberta Canada, Eguana Technologies (EGT: TSX.V) (OTCQB: EGTYF) designs and manufactures high performance residential and commercial energy storage systems. Eguana has two decades of experience delivering grid edge power electronics for fuel cell, photovoltaic and battery applications, and delivers proven, durable, high quality solutions from its high capacity manufacturing facilities in Europe, Australia and North America.

With thousands of its proprietary energy storage inverters deployed in the European and North American markets, Eguana is one of the leading suppliers of power controls for solar self-consumption, grid services and demand charge applications at the grid edge.

To learn more, visit www.EguanaTech.com or follow us on Twitter @EguanaTech

Company Inquiries

Justin Holland

CEO, Eguana Technologies Inc.

+1.416.728.7635

Justin.Holland@EguanaTech.com

Forward Looking Information

The reader is advised that some of the information herein may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning assigned by National Instruments 51-102 and other relevant securities legislation. In particular, we include: statements pertaining to the value of our power controls to the energy storage market and statements concerning the use of proceeds and the Company's ability to obtain necessary approvals from the TSX Venture Exchange.

Forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance and involves a number of risks and uncertainties. Many factors could cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements, or future events or developments, to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information, which speaks only as of the date hereof. Readers are also directed to the Risk Factors section of the Company's most recent audited Financial Statements which may be found on its website or at sedar.com. The Company does not undertake any obligation to release publicly any revisions to forward-looking information contained herein to reflect events or circumstances that occur after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as may be required under applicable securities laws.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
A jury in Idaho has convicted Lori Vallow Daybellthe so-called "doomsday mom"of murdering her two youngest children. She also was convicted of conspiring in the murder of Tammy Daybell, her husband's first wife, reports CNN. Husband Chad Daybell is accused in the murders as well, and he will be tried separately. Vallow Daybell's youngest children, 7-year-old Joshua JJ Vallow and 16-year-old Tylee Ryan, were killed in 2019 and their remains were later found on Chad Daybell's property. Tammy Daybell died unexpectedly that same year, and the accused couple were married just two weeks later. They reportedly held fringe religious beliefs about a coming doomsday (hence her nickname), and prosecutors say they referred to the two young victims as "zombies."

The AP summary of the trial: "Prosecutors in the case described Vallow Daybell as a power-hungry manipulator who would kill her two youngest children for money, while the defense team said she was normally protective mother who fell under the romantic sway of a wannabe cult leader." The latter refers to her husband. Jurors began deliberations on Thursday after a seven-week trial. Vallow Daybell showed little reaction as the verdicts were read, remaining silent, per NBC News. Relatives of the victims "reacted with tears, sighs of relief and a fist pump," per CBS.

"We want to assure each of you that we remain committed to pursuing justice for Tylee Ryan, JJ Vallow, and Tammy Daybell," said prosecutors Rob Wood and Lindsey Blake in a statement. They added they were pleased with the verdict but declined to elaborate because of the pending case against Chad Daybell. Vallow Daybell faces life in prison at her sentencing, which won't happen for at least three months. Prosecutors say Vallow Daybell's brother, Alex Cox, helped with the killings, though he died in 2019 before he could be charged. (Read more Lori Vallow stories.)
The comments were made during an earnings call, but the questions posed by Disney boss Bob Iger this week were aimed at Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. The two have been sparring for more than a year, with words and actions. Against that backdrop, Bob Iger asked during the call if the governor wants the company to stay or go. "Does the state want us to invest more, employ more people and pay more taxes, or not?" the CEO said, per USA Today. To help that decision along, Iger hinted that Disney's plan to invest $17 billion in Florida over the next decade is subject to change.

The chief executive defended his company's value as a corporate citizen of the state. "We're the largest taxpayer in Central Florida, paying over $1 billion in state and local taxes last year alone," Iger said. "We operate responsibly. We pay our fair share of taxes." Asked on the call how investors should think about the situation, Iger said DeSantis' goal is retaliation; the battle began when the company opposed the state's "Don't Say Gay" legislation. Disney's new lawsuit against the governor says the same thing. "This is about one thing and one thing only, and that's retaliating against us for taking a position about pending legislation," Iger told the investors. (Read more Disney World stories.)
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While working towards their climate goals and increasing their energy independence, countries are focusing more and more on one of the most perspective forms of energy generation, which is wind generation. Active wind farm development is attracting investors at a rapid rate. Edgaras Maladauskas, a representative of Lithuanian Wind Power Association, and Bozena Petikonis-Sabaniene, Head of Human Resources, Baltics & Poland at Ignitis Renewables, an international green energy company, are talking about potential challenges.

According to the representative of Lithuanian Wind Power Association Edgaras Maladauskas, Lithuania is implementing very ambitious wind farm projects. The tender for the development of the first offshore wind farm in Lithuania was announced at the end of March, and the tender for a second Lithuanian offshore wind farm is planned in autumn. The two wind farms with a combined capacity of up to 1.4 GW are expected to start operating in the territorial sea of Lithuania by 2030, and they should generate up to 6 TWh per year. It would cover half of the current electricity demand in Lithuania.

"Installing them would be an important step towards renewables-only energy sector in Lithuania. It is only natural that the projects of such scale are met with certain challenges, which multiplied due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the economic uncertainty. Similar challenges can be observed throughout the world, including rising prices, supply chain and logistical issues, technical issues related to limited grid capacities," said E. Maladauskas.

He adds that Lithuania also has unique challenges related to legal framework and regulation. Finally, it should be highlighted that there's a shortage of specialists required for wind energy development. This acute problem is very important in Lithuania since over the last year engineering studies did not attract much attention and interest from young people.

According to E. Maladauskas, the renewables industry will attract even more investments and create more attractive jobs. More and more professionals will choose developing renewables as their future. He underlines that currently the energy sector is mostly short on engineers with technical knowledge and skills.

Thousands of future jobs are already here - investments are being made into professionals to fill those positions

The European Green Deal explicitly states that the competitiveness of countries will depend on their ability to attract the competences necessary for the green energy sector. Therefore, it's important to make sure that young people become interested in energy. Bozena Petikonis-Sabaniene, Head of Human Resources, Baltics & Poland at Ignitis Renewables notes that the shortage of required specialists is one of the factors limiting the development of renewables. On the other hand, specialists who choose energy or engineering studies have a huge potential to get a well-paid job.

"It is a challenge as well as an opportunity. These opportunities are also closely associated with the values of the next generation. Children and students are starting to recognise their importance and value. Although they still sometimes lack understanding that the implementation of such goals is possible by taking very specific steps, which is choosing a profession related to the energy sector. That's why we started the #EnergySmartSTART programme last year to introduce Lithuanian children and students to the modern energy sector, career opportunities and to encourage them to choose related professions," said B. Petikonis-Sabaniene.

There's plenty of opportunities

B. Petikonis-Sabaniene notes that the modern energy sector, including wind generation, is based on advanced technologies and innovations. Those technologies and innovations will play the deciding role while striving for climate neutrality and climate change mitigation, which is affected by human activity. For example, currently there's a lot of work being done in the development of accumulation and storage solutions necessary to store the energy generated by wind farms and solar parks.

"Working in the green energy sector allows you to directly contribute to solving global problems. It is meaningful as well as interesting work, and it also offers wide growth opportunities. Additionally, the energy sector is vital to all, so professionals in this sector, despite the job market trends in the future, will always remain relevant and in demand," said B. Petikonis-Sabaniene.

According to Eurostat, the environmental economy, including the green energy sector, in 2020 in the EU had 5.1 million jobs and generated EUR 828 billion in revenue. The employment and added-value indicators of the green energy sector in the EU are rising more rapidly compared to the rest of the economy.
A government contractor in front of the Clear Creek access control point takes a step back to ensure the letters are aligned correctly in preparations for the redesignation as Fort Cavazos. (Eric Franklin, U.S. Army)
ELKO  Cadet Katilynn Talbott of Ely said the academics are extraordinary at the Battle Born ChalleNGe Academy, which has become the final school receiving approval to go to a four-day week in Elko County.

She said she got As and Bs elsewhere but just slid through classes, while the academic staff at Battle Born is like no other school Ive been to, including public, private, charter and home schools. She will graduate in June from the academy at Carlin.

Caden Jaden Wilson of Las Vegas told board members that after trying different schools, including prep and boarding schools, he had found his niche at the National Guard academy and will be graduating in June.

He said he had been studying HiSet for a high school equivalency diploma but decided he wanted a regular high school diploma, which meant he was short seven and a half credits.

Ive never received so many credits in just three months, Wilson said. The teachers are very helpful.

The academys program director, Andre Ponder, outlined why Battle Born wants to go to a four-day week, saying there would be several advantages starting with being in alignment with ECSDs 19 schools.

He also said that one fewer day of classes would provide more time for students to participate in other activities and improve their concentration in the classroom.

Ponder said the four-day week could also reduce stress levels for students and provide more time for teachers to spend on grading and planning, as well as provide better opportunities for teacher retention.

With shorter work weeks, teachers may experience less burnout and are more likely to stay in their positions for longer times and future cycles at BBYCA, he said.

Additionally, Ponder told trustees on May 9 that the four-day week would allow more time for guest speakers, academy tours, volunteering, and for students to spend more time with their case managers learning life-coping skills.

Trustee Matt McCarty, who hadnt been in favor of the conversion to four-day weeks for Elko and Spring Creek schools when they were approved earlier this year, said he realized that with the rest of the county on the four-day schedule it made more sense for the academy to switch as well.

Trustees approved the four-day week for the academy beginning in the next school year. The second-to-the-last school to be put on the four-day week was Owyhee, which won approval last month.

The Battle Born academy is part of the Elko County School District, but students must apply and can come from outside Nevada as well as within the state. The academy is open to ages 16 to 18 who can choose to graduate with a regular high school diploma or participate in the HiSet Exam.

The academy has two cycles per year, one from January to June and the other from July to December.

This year, 51 cadets are in the program for the current cycle and four of them will graduate in June with diplomas and four will take the HiSet test, according to LeighAnn, Hill, dean of students and special education teacher at Battle Born.

She said in a May 10 email that there were no classes at the academy for the first cycle of the 2022 year because the National Guard called for a Stand Down to work on outreach to students and families statewide. ECSD staff were an integral part of this plan.

In the second cycle of 2022, 21 cadets were in classes and one regular high school diploma was handed out. There also were 21 cadets in 2021, the year the academy opened.

Before Talbott and Wilson talked about the academy, three other cadets appeared before the school board on May 9 to receive recognition for a History Day event.

Tanner Barker of Evanston, Wyo.; Peter Burke of Cheyenne, Wyo.; and Thaiden Smiley of Elko put together an exhibit on the Wright Brothers.

Hill said History Day is a statewide event that allows students to showcase their talents by building a website, writing a paper, performing a skit or doing group or individual exhibits, and the 11 participating students spent many long hours working on researching, writing and building their projects.

Because classes didnt start until January, they had only four weeks to finish their projects, while other students could have been working on them in the fall, Hill told the school board.
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain has named a consultancy to study the possibilities of replacing the Bahrain International Airport with a new Greenfield airport. According to the Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunications, the plan is to replace BIA when it can no longer effectively handle the airport infrastructure needs of Bahrain.

Reportedly, Netherlands Airport Consultants, a Hague-based airport consultancy and engineering firm, had won the contract to study the possibilities of constructing a new Greenfield airport, which would cost $10 billion.

The multidisciplinary study would focus on formulating a public policy, development strategy, technical, economic, financial and regulatory analysis, and evaluation. NACO (Netherlands Airport Consultants), part of Royal HaskoningDHV, is a world-leading airport consultancy and engineering firm with over 70 years of experience working in aviation and air transport industry  from landmark designs to smaller regional airports.

In November last year, The Daily Tribune reported that the Tender board had four bids for the new Greenfield Airport project. Accordingly, bidding companies were Dar Al Handash Consultants (Shair & Partners) (BHD 1,584,314.000), ADP Ingenierie -Foreign Branch (BHD 1,153,383.000), Netherlands Airport Consultants (BHD 611,380.000) and Hill International (BHD 843,150.000).

Hill Internationals bid got suspended. At that time, the Ministry had also said that the project would have far-reaching implications - not only for the most strategic sectors in Bahrain, but also for the overall economy.

The tender was for naming a lead consultant to manage and coordinate the work of various specialist sub consultants and act as MTTs principal advisor. Latest reports says the Ministry had awarded the contract for BD541,900 and that the airport will be on a reclaimed island north of Muharraq, where the current BIA stands.

Established in 1927, BIA is the regions oldest international airport. It has recently undergone a $1.1 billion expansion and was launched on the 28th of January 2021, boosting its capacity to 14 million passengers annually.

The new terminal features 104 check-in counters to process arrivals, 24 self-check-in kiosks and 44 immigration counters. Further developments are also ongoing around BIA. In June of last year, Bahrain Airport Company (BAC), the operator and managing body of the airport, laid the foundation stone for a 25,000 sqm Express Cargo Village north of the airports runway.

The Cargo Village consists of warehouses, aprons, and infrastructure capable of handling the expected growth in air freight and e-commerce. BAC had also signed a 10-year agreement with FedEx Express, a global logistics giant, allocating 9,000 square meters to it for operating a 5,000 square meters warehouse and a 4,000 square meters open area, which will be handed over in the third quarter of 2023.
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

A seminar organised by the Bahrain Centre for Strategic, International and Energy Studies (Derasat) mulled the future of NATO-GCC partnership, common security threats and priorities.

The seminar, titled A Dialogue between Arabian Gulf Think Tanks and their Partners with NATO, concluded yesterday at the Gulf Hotel in Bahrain.

The event also coincides with Bahrains hosting of the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI) Policy Advisory Group Meeting.

Dr Hamad Ebrahim Al-Abdulla, the Executive Director of Derasat, highlighted the successful partnership between Bahrain and the NATO alliance during his opening speech.

He said the partnership has yielded significant results in various areas of cooperation, including politics, diplomacy, defence, security, counter-terrorism, and crisis prevention.

All nations today face security challenges that demand constant cooperation and strategic partnerships to offset, using practical policies that fulfill the aspired benefits to achieving security in the Arabian Gulf and the wider Middle East.

Javier Colomina, the Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs and Security Policy at NATO, stated that the mutual security threats faced by both NATO and GCC demand further discussions and exchange of perspectives to define their priorities and roles.

Colomina added that this will help to explore future methods of cooperation between NATO and GCC. Speakers included Dr Mohammed Abdulla Al-Ali, Founder and CEO of Trends Research & Advisory in the UAE; Alessandro Politi, Director of the NATO Defence College Foundation in Rome; Dr Haila Hamad Al-Mukaimi, Professor of Political Science at Kuwait University; and Dr Ashraf Mohammed Keshk, Director of the Strategic and International Studies Program at Derasat Centers Directorate of Studies and Research.
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

The Labour Fund (Tamkeen) announced facilitating on-the-job training for 50 Bahrainis at Arla Foods in critical manufacturing areas.

Candidates, who received training in transferable skills and best practices in dairy manufacturing, will be get prioritised for full-time positions.

Bahrainisation rate is rapidly expanding in fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry, which has recorded a 46.24% compound annual growth rate in Bahrains exports since 2017.

Denmark-based Arla Foods brands include brands such as Puck, Lurpak and Kraft. Operating a state-of-the-art factory in Bahrain, the company plans to expand its local production to more than 100,000 tons annually by 2025.

According to Khalid AlBayat, the Executive Director of Business Development at Tamkeen, their goal is to foster a robust pool of local talent in the sector, which would attract more business opportunities and investments to Bahrain.
TOKYO

, May 13 ( Reuters ) - Japan's weather bureau said on Friday that conditions were nearing for the El Nino phenomenon to form in the equatorial region of the Pacific, and that there was an 80 percent chance that it would be seen by the northern hemisphere summer.
Nicholas P. Andersen, 37, of Provo, Utah was arrested May 5, 2023, at 678 N. Buena Vista Drive in West Wendover for battery resulting in substantial bodily harm. Bail: $20,000

Christopher W. Beals, 33, of Spanish Fork, Utah was arrested May 5, 2023, at 680 W. Wendover Blvd. for possession to sell a controlled substance; two felony counts of possession of a controlled substance; intent to utter a fictitious bill, note or check; possession of a hypodermic device; drug paraphernalia; driving with a suspended drivers license; and license plates improperly displayed. Bail: $17,430

Cammie S. Beck, 29, of Spanish Fork, Utah was arrested May 5, 2023, at 680 W. Wendover Blvd. for possession to sell a controlled substance; two felony counts of possession of a controlled substance; intent to utter a fictitious bill, note or check; possession of a hypodermic device; and drug paraphernalia. Bail: $26,880

Justina L. Cleveland, 34, of Provo, Utah was arrested May 5, 2023, at 680 W. Wendover Blvd. for possession to sell a controlled substance; two felony counts of possession of a controlled substance; intent to utter a fictitious bill, note or check; possession of a hypodermic device; and drug paraphernalia. Bail: $26,880

Keith E. Hammork, 57, of Provo, Utah was arrested May 5, 2023, at 680 W. Wendover Blvd. for possession to sell a controlled substance; two felony counts of possession of a controlled substance; intent to utter a fictitious bill, note or check; possession of a hypodermic device; and drug paraphernalia. Bail: $26,880

Mercedes C. Martinez, 29, of Carlin was arrested May 5, 2023, on the dirt road east of Fifth Street for failure to appear after bail on a felony crime and resisting a public officer. Bail: $101,140

Jayce A. Moseley, 19, of Elko was arrested May 5, 2023, on the dirt road east of Fifth Street for driver disobeying peace officer endangering other people, resisting a public officer, reckless driving disregarding personal property or safety, failure to drive properly on divided road, and two counts of failure to yield at stop or yield sign or control. Bail: $8,045

Joice K. Romaine, 30, of Crescent Valley was arrested May 6, 2023, on a felony bench warrant. Bail: $25,000

Oscar A. Sandoval, 21, of Elko was arrested May 6, 2023, at 1806 Winchester Drive for carrying a concealed weapon. Bail: $5,000

Amanda J. Smith, 31, of Elko was arrested May 7, 2023, at Lamoille Highway and Pinion Road for three counts of using a credit or debit card or ID without consent; three counts of receiving property or services by unlawful use of credit or debit card; obtaining credit or debit card without cardholders consent; and failure to prevent truancy after notice. Bail: $35,195

Kory J. Halsted, 42, of Emmett, Idaho was arrested May 8, 2023, at the Gem County Jail for violation of probation or condition of suspended sentence.

Brian J. Ortgiesen, 49, of Boise was arrested May 8, 2023, on U.S. Highway 93 for fugitive felon from another state and driving with a revoked drivers license for DUI.

Christopher S. Adams, 38, of Wells was arrested May 9, 2023, at 519 Camp St. for destroying the property of another, resisting a public officer, false statement to obstruct a public officer, and disturbing the peace. Bail: $5,920

Jacob A. Braunschweig, 30, of Rochester, Washington was arrested May 9, 2023, at 2779 Mountain City Highway for burglary of a business. He was also booked May 11, 2023, on a felony warrant for burglary of a business and possession of a controlled substance. Bail: $31,000

Albaro M. Rodriguez, 54, of Elko was arrested May 9, 2023, at 452 Douglas St. for domestic battery resulting in substantial bodily harm or by strangulation. Bail: $20,000

Alexandra L. Winrow, 37, of Las Vegas was arrested May 9, 2023, at the Ely parole and probation office for violation of probation.

Jesse J. Premo, 41, of Elko was arrested May 10, 2023, for assault on a protected person.

Myranda J. Reich, 29, of Elko was arrested May 10, 2023, at 778 Commercial St. for felony possession of a controlled substance, possession of a dangerous drug without a prescription, six counts of possession of a hypodermic device, and for violation of conditions of suspended sentence.

Jake T. Webb, 23, of Spring Creek was arrested May 10, 2023, on a felony warrant for sexual assault, battery to commit sexual assault on a victim 16 or older, open or gross lewdness, and battery by strangulation. Bail: $805,000

Bradley J. Nye, 44, of Elko was arrested May 11, 2023, at 2050 Idaho St. for driving under the influence with prior felony DUI, driving with a suspended license, and child restraint violation. Bail: $50,550
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SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP)  A man accused of fatally shooting one person and wounding five others at a Southern California church luncheon last year has been charged with dozens of federal hate crimes in connection with the attack, which investigators said was motivated by political hatred of Taiwan.

The indictment announced Thursday by the U.S. Department of Justice charges David Chou, of Las Vegas, with 98 counts including weapons and explosives charges and forcefully obstructing the free exercise of religion.

Messages seeking comment from attorneys who have represented Chou, 69, in a separate case in state court were not immediately returned.

Authorities said Chou chained and nailed shut exit doors before launching the attack on a gathering of older parishioners from the Irvine Taiwanese Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods on May 15, 2022.

Chou had two handguns, bags of ammunition and four Molotov cocktail-style devices, and was motivated by hatred of Taiwan, where he grew up, investigators said.

Among the charges were 45 counts of obstructing free exercise of religious beliefs by force, which resulted in the death of one person, included attempts to kill 44 others, and involved the use of a firearm and attempted use of explosives and fire, the Justice Department said in a statement.

Chou was charged last year by Orange County prosecutors with murder and attempted murder including enhancements for a hate crime and other counts. He pleaded not guilty. Online records show Chou is currently bein held without bail in Orange County and due back in court July 14.

Authorities said Chou had no prior connection to the church. They said he spent an hour with attendees before the attack, apparently to gain their trust, then closed the doors and started shooting.

Dr. John Cheng, the 52-year-old son of a congregant, charged at Chou and was killed, authorities say. His action helped disrupt the shooter, who was hit by a chair thrown by the churchs former pastor and jumped on by several people who tied him up with an extension cord until police arrived.

The wounded victims ranged in age from 66 to 92.

Chou, a U.S. citizen, grew up in Taiwan after his family was forced from mainland China when communists took control, authorities have said.

If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of death or life in prison without parole.

___

Weber reported from Los Angeles.
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From the Rio Grande Valley in Texas to San Diego and Tijuana, many migrants gathered along sections of the U.S.-Mexico border questioned when or whether they would cross into the United States to seek asylum once pandemic-related restrictions known as Title 42 ended.

Some migrants who had traveled from Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia, Peru and Central America feared it could be harder for them to stay on U.S. soil with the restrictions lifted.

Here are some of the stories from along the 1,950-mile (3,140-kilometer) international boundary:

___

Ludin, a Honduran man who asked that his last name not be used out of fear for his safety and that of his family, arrived Friday at Tijuanas El Chaparral port of entry with his pregnant wife and 5-year-old son.

He stood just feet from U.S. soil, conflicted over how to proceed.

Do you think we can cross and ask for asylum? he asked.

He said he had been trying to use an app that border officials created for people to request asylum in the U.S.  CBP One  every day for weeks, repeatedly uploading his case information and photos including scars on his body from being shot nine times during a 2021 robbery. One large scar snakes down his neck from an operation to remove one of the bullets that struck him.

The app never worked for him, only displaying an error screen or saying no more slots for applicants were available.

Blaine Bookey, an immigration lawyer helping people at the crossing, said U.S. officials were telling asylum-seekers at the port to keep trying the app.

There seems to be no option right now for people to ask for asylum if they dont have an appointment through the CBP app, she said.

___

Some migrants were arriving at the border after months of travel.

Jesus Bravo and his wife, Jhohan Miperasa, arrived in Matamoros across the border from Brownsville, Texas, with infant twin daughters who were born along the way.

They had left their native Venezuela nine months earlier, crossed the treacherous Darien Gap dividing Colombia and Panama, then stopped in Panama where the girls were born.

On Friday, they stepped off a bus, pushed the babies in a double stroller across the city and headed straight to the banks of the Rio Grande.

I am tired of the app, they never reply, they never give me an appointment, said Bravo, 23. So I have to cross through the river, like everybody else.

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Aylin Guevara, 45, hurried her steps the evening before as she walked through the scorching desert of Ciudad Juarez toward the border.

She was accompanied by her two children, ages 16 and 5, and her husband. The family fled their coastal city in Colombia after receiving death threats, and hoped to seek refuge in the U.S.

After spending the previous night in a hotel, they were eager to get to the border, to get in and go with the help of God and baby Jesus, Guevara said.

But when they arrived with just hours to go before the end of Title 42, a U.S. immigration officer said they could not pass.

Not anymore, its over, he told them in a firm voice, instructing them to go to bridges 10 miles (16 kilometers) to their left or right.

___

Jose Manuel Bueno was among the last people sent back to Ciudad Juarez late Thursday under Title 42.

The 28-year-old Venezuelan said he didn't know the exact whereabouts of his pregnant wife and three children, who were in custody in the U.S. Bueno said he was earlier advised to use the app, but he decided it would be better to cross the border and turn himself in.

They didnt have to split my family, Bueno insisted. I have my childrens birth certificates.

Bueno set up camp for the night next to a bridge with about a dozen other men after they charged their cellphones from a connection in the street.

Its the safest place now, he said.

___

Diana Rodas, an elementary school teacher from Colombia, spent the night shivering with her two daughters, ages 7 and 13, sleeping on the ground between two towering border walls dividing San Diego and Tijuana. The girls cried all night.

At about 2 a.m. Friday, U.S. agents took away between 15 and 20 families with children under age 2 who had been among the hundreds sleeping under plastic tarps and blankets.

We never expected all this, said Rodas, who fled her homeland after her life was threatened. She feared deportation but wanted to stay optimistic. "Hope is the last thing that goes.

The hundreds of migrants, mostly families, sat in two dozen rows between the border walls while Border Patrol agents walked by and decided who would be processed.

When some were selected, those left behind cheered.

One woman yelled Suerte! or Good luck! as those chosen were loaded into a Border Patrol van.

Gloria Inigo of Peru said she hoped she, her husband and their daughters, ages 5 and 8, would be next. They crossed the border Wednesday before the rules changed.

I have faith, Inigo said.

___

Authorities in the remote desert community of Yuma, Arizona, expressed alarm after the average daily number of migrant arrivals grew this week from 300 to 1,000.

Mayor Doug Nicholls asked for the federal government to declare a national disaster so Federal Emergency Management Agency resources and National Guard troops could be rushed to his and other small border communities.

Most migrants are transported to shelters operated by nonprofit organizations farther away from the border, but border officials will release them into communities if enough transportation isn't available. Nicholls said officials told him they would release 141 people in Yuma County on Friday.

The question keeps coming up: What now? I've been asking that question for two years, with no answers, Nicholls said. We are at a situation we've never been at before.

___

Venezuelan Dayana Ybarra and her husband crossed two weeks ago through a gap in the wall near El Paso because they feared it would be much harder after Title 42 expired.

They were apprehended. She was detained for three days and her husband for nine.

On Friday, they were waiting at the Sacred Heart shelter in El Paso hoping to raise the money necessary to get to North Carolina, where she has two brothers and a court date in two months.

The couple left their three children behind.

Its because of them she and her husband decided to take the risk, Ybarra said.

___

On a stretch of border wall in Tijuana, migrants asked passersby for blankets, food and water as the sun set over a steep hill.

Gerson Aguilera, 41, got to Tijuana around 4 p.m. with his three kids and wife to try to cross and ask for asylum. From Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Aguilera said he and his family fled after organized criminals started demanding he pay twice the extortion money he was already paying of 2,000 Honduran lempira (roughly $81) a week.

Its very hard. For a payment, they will kill you, Aguilera said with tears in his eyes.

The owner of a welding shop, Aguilera said he left his home once before in 2020 because of threats, but returned when things calmed down. That wasnt an option anymore.

We ask that God helps us, Aguilar said.

___

Associated Press journalists Gerardo Carrillo in Matamoros, Mexico; Maria Verza in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico; Giovanna Dell'Orto in El Paso, Texas; and Julie Watson and Suman Naishadham in Tijuana, Mexico, contributed to this report. Snow reported from Phoenix.
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WASHINGTON (AP)  White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told senior Chinese foreign policy adviser Wang Yi during talks in Vienna this week that the Biden administration is looking to move beyond tensions spurred by the U.S. shooting down a Chinese spy balloon that traversed the continental United States, according to a senior Biden administration official.

The meeting was not publicized by Washington or Beijing ahead of the high-level talks on Wednesday and Thursday in the Austrian capital. The White House described the wide-ranging discussions, in which the two leaders spent more than eight hours together, as candid and constructive."

The administration official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity to discuss the private meeting, said that both sides recognize that the February incident was unfortunate" and are now looking to reestablish standard, normal channels of communications.

The talks are the latest in a series of small signs that tensions could be easing between the worlds two biggest economies.

As the political and military rivalry between China and the U.S. intensifies, American officials and analysts are worried that a lack of reliable crisis communications could cause a minor confrontation to spiral into greater hostilities. They cite the ability to communicate with the former Soviet Union as allowing the Cold War to end without a nuclear exchange.

The White House in a statement said the meeting was part of ongoing efforts to maintain open lines of communication and responsibly manage competition," and that Sullivan and Wang discussed key issues in the U.S.-China relationship, Russias ongoing invasion of Ukraine, Taiwan, and more.

The meeting took place in a luxury hotel along Viennas historical Ringstrasse, according to an Austrian official familiar with the matter. The official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said planning for the meeting was closely guarded and Austrian authorities were only given a few days' advance notice that Vienna was chosen for the talks.

Chinese officials saw the discussions as substantive" and said both sides would "continue to make good use of this channel of strategic communication," according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

Sullivan also repeated White House concerns about a lack of constructive engagement by Beijing to use its influence to press Russia to end its invasion of Ukraine and called on China to do more to stop the movement of illegal drugs, according to the administration official. The U.S. in particular has been pressing China to clamp down on the production of precursor chemicals used to make fentanyl.

Sullivan also raised the cases of three American citizens imprisoned in China  Mark Swidan, Kai Li, and David Lin. All three have been designated by the State Departments office of the special presidential envoy on hostage affairs designates as wrongful detainees."

Tensions between the countries spiked last year after then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to democratically governed Taiwan. That visit, the first by a sitting House speaker since Newt Gingrich in 1997, led China, which claims the island as its territory, to launch military exercises around Taiwan.

U.S.-China relations became further strained earlier this year after the U.S. shot down a Chinese spy balloon that had crossed the United States.

Beijing also was angered by Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen's stopover in the U.S. last month that included an encounter with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. The speaker hosted the Taiwanese leader at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in southern California.

But there are signs that the two sides are getting diplomatic communications back on track.

President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks in Bali, Indonesia, in November. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was to travel to China in February, but the trip was postponed after the spy balloon incident. Blinken and Wang, Chinas top diplomat, met later in February on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference after the U.S. had shot down the balloon.

The White House has expressed interest in rescheduling Blinken's visit. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre earlier this week said that Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo also could visit Beijing at some point.

The talks between Sullivan and Wang was their first face-to-face meeting since Wang was elevated last year to the Communist Partys Politburo, the top policymaking body made up of the partys 24 most senior officials.

Wang served as foreign minister for nearly 10 years and was the only diplomat promoted to the Politburo.

U.S. Ambassador Nicholas Burns and Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang also met in Beijing this week, and Biden's special envoy for climate, John Kerry, held a call last month with his counterpart, Xie Zhenhua.

Burns, during a virtual forum hosted by the Stimson Center earlier this month, said communication is improving.

Yes, we did have instances when we wanted to have certain very high-level conversations when it wasnt possible," Burns said. But I have to say, in recent weeks, in the last month or so, theres been a consistent communication between myself and senior officials in the foreign ministry, my colleagues in the U.S. mission and their counterparts in the foreign ministry here.



Stephanie Liechtenstein in Vienna contributed reporting.
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NEW YORK (AP)  Former President Donald Trump is appealing a New York jurys verdict awarding $5 million to a magazine columnist after the jurors concluded Trump had sexually abused her in the 1990s and defamed her last October.

A notice of appeal was filed Thursday in Manhattan federal court, the first step in a process that will move the civil case brought against Trump by writer E. Jean Carroll to a three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The notice was signed by Trump attorney Joe Tacopina, who said after Tuesdays verdict that he believed there were multiple strong grounds for appeal.

The nine-person jury concluded after less than three hours of deliberations that Carroll had failed to prove it was more likely than not that Trump had raped her in the dressing room of a Bergdorf Goodman store in early spring 1996. But it did find that she had been sexually abused.

It also said in its verdict that Trump defamed Carroll in a social media statement last October.

Carroll sued Trump in November minutes after a temporary New York state law took effect allowing sexual attack victims to sue their abusers even if the abuse occurred decades earlier.

In the notice of appeal filed in the lower court Thursday where Judge Lewis A. Kaplan presided over the trial, Trump's lawyers wrote that notice is hereby given that Defendant Donald J. Trump appeals to the 2nd Circuit.

Asked for comment, Tacopina said in an email: Judge Kaplan has been overturned once already in Carroll v. Trump. We are confident it will be twice after this appeal is heard.

He was referencing Kaplan's rejection of an attempt to substitute the United States for Trump as the defendant in an earlier defamation lawsuit filed by Carroll for statements Trump made while he was president. The 2nd Circuit later ruled that Trump was an employee of the government for purposes of the lawsuit, but the appeal has not been fully resolved.

A lawyer for Carroll did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

The verdict was returned after a two-week trial in which Carroll testified that Trump sexually attacked her in the luxury department store's dressing room after a lighthearted and flirtatious chance encounter that took them from the store's entrance to the desolate sixth floor lingerie area, where Trump invited Carroll to help him shop for a gift.

She first publicly disclosed her experience in a 2019 memoir while Trump was still president. She said his public response was so harsh that it spoiled her reputation, cost her a 27-year job with Elle magazine and subjected her to mean social media attacks from his followers.

Trump, who is currently running for president as a Republican, did not attend the trial. He said he didn't know Carroll, that he never encountered her at the department store, and he has repeatedly hurled insults at her, including at a videotaped deposition in October. Portions of that were played for the jury.

He repeated some of his harsh statements during a CNN town hall on Wednesday night.

Outside the courthouse on Tuesday, Tacopina said that he and Trump were very confident on the appellate issues here.

He said one of the issues to be appealed was the inclusion in the trial of the notorious 2005 Access Hollywood video in which Trump was captured on a hot mic speaking disparagingly about women and saying that celebrities can grab women sexually without asking because women let them do it.

There were things that happened in this case that were beyond the pale, Tacopina said.
WASHINGTON (AP)  The U.S. Abrams tanks needed for training Ukrainian forces have arrived in Germany slightly ahead of schedule and are on their way to the Grafenwoehr Army base where the training will begin in two to three weeks, U.S. officials said Thursday.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee that the U.S. had moved a number of tanks over into theater so the Ukrainians could begin training on them. By the time they complete the training, expected to last about 10 weeks, the Abrams tanks currently being built for the Ukrainian forces will be ready, he said.

A U.S. official said the 31 M1A1 Abrams tanks needed for the training arrived at the port in Bremerhaven, Germany, last weekend and they will get to the base by early this coming week. Their arrival at Grafenwoehr is a couple of weeks ahead of the schedule that was mapped out when military leaders from around Europe and elsewhere met in Germany last month to discuss Ukraine's needs for the war against Russia.

The tanks the U.S. is providing Ukraine are being built to its militarys specifications and will get to Ukraine by early fall, just as the troops are finished with their instruction. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details of the delivery not publicly released.

The tank training will be the latest and most lethal new layer of combat instruction the U.S. is providing Ukraines troops to give them the best chance to overwhelm and punch through Russias battle lines. Over the past few months U.S. troops have trained more than 8,800 Ukrainians, including on how to use Stryker and Bradley fighting vehicles and M109 Paladins together on the battlefield. The Bradleys and Strykers are armored and armed vehicles used to ferry troops, and the Paladin is a self-propelled howitzer gun.

During Thursday's hearing, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, pressed Austin to move quickly to get the tanks into Ukrainian troops' hands and onto the battlefield.

We are doing everything possible to accelerate the delivery of these tanks, and early fall is a projection," Austin said.

Collins and others noted the urgency of the fight in Ukraine, and she told Austin and Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to be blunt about Ukraine's needs. Defense leaders should not let budget concerns dissuade them from seeking more weapons if thats what Kyiv needs to be successful in a counteroffensive, said Collins, the ranking Republican on the panel.

It is critical that the administration provide Ukraine with what it needs in time to defend and take back its sovereign territory, she said. We expect the administration not to wait until the 11th hour if the Ukrainians seek more before the end of the fiscal year.

Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., noting the broader implications of the war, questioned Milley on the impact a Russian victory could have on China and its deliberations on whether to move to take the self-governing island of Taiwan, which Beijing claims.

I think that the Chinese are watching the war between Russia and Ukraine very carefully, Milley said, adding that if Russian President Vladimir Putin succeeds, China will learn certain lessons."

It may not be the single decisive point, but I think it will calculate into their decision-making process as to whether or not they attack to seize the island of Taiwan. So I think the outcome of Ukraine is critical to much broader issues than just Ukraine, Milley said.
ISLAMABAD (AP)  Pakistans former Prime Minister Imran Khan left a high court in Islamabad on Friday after being granted broad protection from arrest in multiple legal cases against him. The ruling struck a blow to the government in a stand-off that has sparked days of rioting by Khan's followers and raised the specter of widespread unrest in the country.

After the court granted him bail, Khan spent hours more in the building, as he and his legal team were locked in apparent negotiations over his exit from the site.

As he headed to his home in the eastern city of Lahore, Khan put out a video statement from his vehicle saying the Islamabad police tried to keep him within the courthouse through different tactics, and authorities allowed him to travel only when he threatened to tell the public he was being held there against his will.

Security was extremely tight around the court ahead of Khans departure as authorities expressed concerns for the former leaders safety. In the evening, shots were heard in the area of the courthouse. Police were investigating who opened fire, the interior minister said. Clashes between his supporters and police have periodically erupted outside the building.

The long list of around 100 court cases, on charges ranging from fomenting violence to corruption, still stands against Khan. But the weeks turmoil illustrated the danger of moving against him. After he was abruptly arrested on Tuesday, widescale protests erupted, turning into clashes with police and mob attacks on government buildings and even military installations.

The court's ruling was a victory for Khan, and averted any new arrest for the time being. The Islamabad High Court gave him protection for two weeks on one graft charge and protection until Monday on a host of other charges in a measure called anticipatory bail. The protections in each case can be extended, but it was not immediately clear if that meant a new court hearing on Monday.

The charismatic 70-year-old Khan, a former cricket star turned Islamist politician, has a broad base of support around Pakistan, presenting himself as an outsider victimized by the military and the political dynasties that have long run Pakistan. Opponents, meanwhile, call him a corrupt demagogue stirring his followers into violence. He was removed as prime minister in April last year in a vote of no-confidence by Parliament.

Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan, who is not related to the former prime minister, told independent GEO television that the government will respect the court order. He said he could not say whether another attempt would be made to arrest Khan in the coming days but said all those involved in violence will not be spared prosecution.

When asked by reporters in the court building whether he could be arrested despite the rulings, Khan replied, So who will control my people if I am arrested? He said he had not been aware of the violence that followed his arrest until Thursday.

Fridays broad rulings were unusual, fueling government complaints that the judiciary was biased in favor of the former prime minister.

This is judicial activism and politicizing of the judiciary, legal expert Arfan Qadir told The Associated Press, calling the rulings unprecedented. Such decisions will continue to come until the supremacy of the Parliament is ensured.

The standoff threatens to open a deeper vein of turmoil in a country that has seen multiple military takeovers and bouts of violence. The unrest has echoed what followed the 2007 assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto during an election rally. Her supporters at the time, outraged by her killing, rampaged for days across Pakistan.

It was not clear what prompted Tuesdays arrest of Khan, who had been free despite the multiple cases against him since he was ousted from office.

Whatever the reason, it was startlingly heavy-handed: Agents from the National Accountability Bureau burst into the Islamabad High Court where Khan was attending a session on other charges  the same court where he appeared Friday  and dragged him away, putting him into an armored vehicle.

The response from his followers was swift. Protesters clashed with police, burned vehicles and looted shops in various parts of the country. Mobs attacked the headquarters of the military in Rawalpindi and ransacked and burned the residence of a top general in Lahore, Pakistans second largest city, along with attacks on other military and government buildings.

The violence left at least 10 Khan supporters dead. Dozens of protesters and more than 200 police officers were injured. The government responded with a crackdown, arresting nearly 3,000 people. During Fridays court hearing, Khan supporters set fire to a police vehicle nearby when security forces wouldnt let them approach the building.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court ruled that Khans arrest was unlawful and asked the Islamabad High Court to review its own previous decision allowing the arrest. In the meantime, Khan was released from custody and spent the night under security forces protection in a government rest house.

Fazalur Rehman, the head of the ruling coalition parties, said its supporters would stage a sit-in Monday outside the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court and Islamabad High Court have given protection to a corrupt person, he told a news conference.

Speaking earlier at a special Cabinet meeting Friday, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif said there was a genuine corruption case against Khan, but the judiciary has become a stone wall protecting him.

The various cases against Khan include allegations that he incited violence and threatened police and government officials. A new terrorism charge was filed against him Thursday for allegedly inciting his followers to violence after his arrest.

He also faces at least three graft cases, including accusations from the National Accountability Bureau that he accepted millions of dollars worth of property in exchange for providing benefits to a real estate tycoon.
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BEIJING (AP)  Australian Trade and Tourism Minister Don Farrell held meetings and visited businesses in Beijing on Friday, in a sign of progress in restoring a nearly decade-long rift in relations with China.

In Sydney, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Friday that the two sides need to develop understanding and dialogue and Ive said well co-operate with China where we can, well disagree where we must, and well engage in a national interest.

China is Australias biggest trading partner, with two-way trade totaling $287 billion in 2022. China recently resumed imports of Australian coal, cotton and copper, and Farrell has said on his visit he would push for a review of tariffs on Australian barley.

China blocked such imports in retaliation for moves targeting alleged Chinese interference in Australian elections and political life and in social organizations in the large Australian-Chinese community.

While trade ties seem to be improving, the two countries remain far apart on political and security issues in the Asia-Pacific region.

On his arrival Thursday, Farrell said he hoped his visit would continue that process of stabilizing our relationship and work through a successful pathway for the resolution of all of our outstanding trade differences.

The issues didnt occur overnight and theyre not going to be resolved overnight, he said.

At a news conference late Friday, Farrell said he raised concern over the cases of Cheng Lei, a Chinese-born Australia journalist who formerly worked for China's state broadcaster, and Yang Jun, a Chinese-Australian writer. Both are under detention in China with only vague accusations lodged against them and no word on when they might be tried or released.

In April, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said bilateral relations were unlikely to return to the level of the early 2000s, when trade was separated from political and strategic priorities.

Since then, Australia has expanded security cooperation with the United States, Chinas main rival for influence in the Asia-Pacific.

Beijing has strongly criticized Australias participation in the so-called AUKUS partnership, which links it with the United States and Britain to create an Australian fleet of eight submarines powered by U.S. nuclear technology, largely in response to Chinas growing military assertiveness in the South China Sea, the South Pacific and the East China Sea.

Albanese will host U.S. President Joe Biden and the leaders of India and Japan  countries with which China has active land and sea border disputes  for a May 24 summit of leaders of the so-called Quad nations.

Australia has also blocked the sale of assets, including critical infrastructure, to Chinese companies on national security grounds in recent years.

Farrell also said he would meet with Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao following a commitment in February to improve dialogue at all levels as a pathway towards the full resumption of trade.
Travelers wait to pass through immigration checkpoints in Beijing Capital International Airport on Jan 8, 2023. [Photo by Zou Hong/China Daily]

China will fully restore fast-lane entry and exit services at all ports starting on Monday, facilitating the cross-border travel of Chinese citizens and foreign nationals.

The National Immigration Administration issued a circular on Thursday announcing the adjustments to immigration policies.

Chinese nationals will be allowed to use fast lanes for expedited border inspection on the following travel documents: Chinese ordinary passports, exit-entry permits for travel to and from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, mainland travel permits for Hong Kong and Macao residents, five-year mainland travel permits for Taiwan residents, and multiple entry permits valid for one year, the administration said in a notice.

Foreigners can use the service with their passports and China-issued ID cards for foreign permanent residents, or with their electronic passports and residence permits with a validity period of more than six months, it added.

Chinese crewmembers working on scheduled international flights and foreign crewmembers who are visa-free or have obtained flight attendant/employment visas or residence permits for one year or longer can also use the channel, said the circular.

China will fully resume group travel permits for mainland residents to Hong Kong and Macao. Mainland residents may submit their applications to any national entry and exit administration center, it said.

In addition, mainland residents can apply for permits to visit relatives, and to work and study in Hong Kong and Macao at any exit and entry administration center across the country.

Immigration authorities will also adjust the validity period of the visa for mainland students studying in Macao from a maximum of one year to the match the length of their study in Macao.

Lin Zhizhuo, a manager of Ctrip, a Chinese travel service provider, said that the adjusted policies will benefit people who are not employed where they have registered residence, and it will greatly ease the visa application process for tourists to Hong Kong and Macao.

As immigration policies have become more flexible, more tailored package products will emerge. The policy of applying for travel permits at any immigration center provides great convenience for tourists, who are not restricted to their place of departure, Lin said.

Ways of traveling to Hong Kong and Macao are also becoming more diversified. In April, high-speed rail services to and from Hong Kong resumed from cities such as Chongqing, Zhengzhou in Henan province, Changsha in Hunan province and Kunming in Yunnan province.

According to Ctrip, orders for group tours to Hong Kong and Macao rose about 70 percent in May from April.

Fang Zhibo, head of the border inspection division of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Exit and Entry Frontier Inspection Station in Guangdong province, said that the station has been using fast-lane services since Jan 8, and the latest policy adjustment will further facilitate the entry and exit of residents from the mainland, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and foreign nationals, and the number of cross-border travelers is expected to increase after the implementation of the policy.

"We will complete the inspection system upgrade and optimize the allocation of police officers, strengthen assistance offered to special groups such as the elderly, and serve the vast number of tourists," Fang said.

According to the National Immigration Administration, immigration authorities nationwide conducted about 6.27 million inspections of people exiting or entering the mainland during the five-day May Day holiday this year, and about 3.15 million of them were for those leaving.

In addition, data released on May 3 by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism showed that during the holiday, outbound tourism rose nearly sevenfold year-on-year.

Fanny Yeung, executive director of the Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong, said that the new measures are good news for the tourism industry. However, it is not expected that there will be a large increase in mainland visitors very soon, and Hong Kong's reception capacity also needs to be improved.
TORONTO, May 12, 2023 /CNW/ - Banks in Canada have pledged support to organizations providing on-the-ground relief and help to those affected by fires in Alberta that have devastated communities in the province. To support Albertans, several banks are collecting financial donations in bank branches for Canadian Red Cross relief efforts and making corporate donations directly to the Red Cross and other relief organizations.

Corporate donations

Banks in Canada support Canadians affected by Alberta fires (CNW Group/Canadian Bankers Association)

The following banks are making corporate donations to the Canadian Red Cross' 2023 Alberta Fires Appeal. Donations to the Appeal will be used for immediate and ongoing relief, recovery and resilience efforts in response to fires, and community preparedness and risk reduction for future all-hazard disaster events within Alberta.

BMO

Laurentian Bank

National Bank

Canadian Western Bank

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (Canada)

RBC

Scotiabank

Tangerine Bank

TD Bank Group

BMO, RBC and TD Bank Group will also be making additional donations to organizations supporting recovery efforts in Alberta. CIBC and Simplii Financial will be making a donation to the CIBC Foundation Alberta Emergency Relief Fund, providing short and long-term relief to local organizations affected by the fires.

HSBC Bank Canada also contributes to the Canadian Red Cross' "Emergency Management Program" to build resilience and enable the quick response to natural disasters like the Alberta fires. Support for the Program funds efforts to build disaster response volunteer teams, pre-position supplies and support emergency systems.

How Canadians can help

Canadians who are in a position to donate to the Canadian Red Cross 2023 Alberta Fires Appeal can do so online at redcross.ca, by calling 1-800-418-1111, or at any branch or online where available from the banks listed below from May 15 to June 2, 2023:

BMO

Canadian Western Bank

RBC

Scotiabank

TD Bank Group

The Government of Canada and the Government of Alberta will match donations made to the Canadian Red Cross to support the disaster relief efforts.

Several banks will also be encouraging customers and employees to donate through online portals. Banks in Canada have long supported humanitarian and emergency relief appeals in Canada and internationally to help those affected by extreme weather, natural catastrophes, health crises and conflicts.

Canadians in the affected areas who need help with their finances are encouraged to contact their bank for assistance.

"The Canadian banking sector stands united in its commitment to support communities in Alberta affected by these devastating fires. Donations from individuals and banks will assist the Canadian Red Cross and other relief organizations with providing necessary on-the-ground help. We urge Canadians who are able to support the relief efforts." - Anthony G. Ostler, President & CEO, Canadian Bankers Association

About the Canadian Bankers Association

The Canadian Bankers Association is the voice of more than 60 domestic and foreign banks that help drive Canada's economic growth and prosperity. The CBA advocates for public policies that contribute to a sound, thriving banking system to ensure Canadians can succeed in their financial goals. www.cba.ca.

Follow the CBA on Twitter: @CdnBankers

Watch videos: Youtube.com/CdnBankers

Follow the CBA on LinkedIn

SOURCE Canadian Bankers Association

For further information: Mathieu Labreche, Director, Media Strategy and Communications, [email protected]
Recent data released by the UK government, for example, has found that 48% of all bird species in the UK declined in just the five years between 2015 and 2020. While within this period woodland birds were found to be doing the worst, the government data also showed that, overall, it was the farmland birds that have declined the most.

The BTO data underscores this, showing how there are now 73 million fewer birds in our skies. This number, however, is masked by an increase of some 41 million birds from certain species such as wrens, wood pigeons and blackcaps. The total estimated loss of individual birds is actually and even sharper drop of some 114 million.

While these numbers are extremely concerning, we do at least know what is causing them. The destruction of habitats, be it hedgerows surrounding fields or flower rich meadows, the increase in the use of harmful pesticides and shift in agricultural practices that has resulted in a lower diversity of plants being grown, have all played a role.

'Presenting these results at the local level, so that anyone can see the changes that have happened on their doorstep simply by entering their postcode, delivers a powerful message that the UKs birds are in trouble, and that we all need to do more,' explains Juliet.

The data from the BTO is vital to a get a better understanding of the true state of nature in the UK. We now know what is impacting biodiversity in the UK, and we know how to fix it.
HARTFORD  The company that runs a workforce development center for young people plans to lay off about 100 employees as a result of a new contractor taking over, but it said that many employees probably would be retained by the incoming operator.

The layoffs will affect the employees of the Hartford Job Corps Center, an academic and residential complex at 100 William Shorty Campbell St., according to a letter sent Tuesday by the current operator, Management & Training Corp. (MTC), to Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin. Affected employees include the center director, other directors, managers and supervisors; cafeteria and cooking staff; counselors; instructors; residential advisors; and security officers, according to a list included with the letter.

Employees last day working for MTC will be May 31, 2023. MTCs determination to lay off its staff is expected to be a permanent action, Christina Pignatelli, MTCs deputy general counsel, said in the letter, which was sent to comply with the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act. However, it is likely that many of these employees will be retained at the center by the subsequent contractor.

While the new contractor, ParadigmWorks Group, is set to take over on June 1, the Hartford Job Corps Center is not closing, the letter said. The complex is one of more than 120 Job Corps Centers nationwide, with those facilities operated by private contractors, and, in some cases, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Service. Federally funded and administered by the U.S. Department of Labor, Job Corps provides free vocational training and education for low-income students between the ages of 16 and 24.

In response to an inquiry from Hearst Connecticut Media about the reasons for the Hartford contractor change, a Job Corps spokesperson said in an email Thursday that, DOL awards these contracts to provide the educational, training and support services students need. When contracts expire, changes in operators commonly occur, and it is not uncommon for an incoming contractor to retain most of their predecessors staff.

A message left Thursday for ParadigmWorks Group was not returned, while Bronin was not immediately available to comment.



The experience that Job Corps students gain in the program is intended to prepare them for careers, apprenticeships, higher education or the military, according to the program's website. Training can range from eight months to three years, with the time spent in the program depending on the type of training, students learning pace and whether they pursue additional advanced training opportunities. Throughout their training, students receive a biweekly basic living allowance. As their training progresses, their living allowances increase.



In addition to the Hartford campus, Connecticut has one other Job Corps Center, in New Haven. Job Corps currently has 99 students enrolled in Hartford, 120 students in New Haven and more than 18,000 students nationwide, according to data provided by the program spokesperson.
WALLINGFORD  Local police say they arrested a boy last week in connection with a Chimney Hill Road carjacking that left a delivery driver wounded nine months ago.

The boy was charged with robbery involving an occupied motor vehicle, first-degree reckless endangerment and larceny of a motor vehicle, Sgt. Stephen Jaques, public information officer for the Wallingford Police Department, said in a news release Thursday afternoon. Jaques did not immediately respond to an inquiry about the boy's age.

Police responded to the 40 block of Chimney Hill Road around 4:26 p.m. Aug. 9 for a report of a suspicious older-model black Honda Accord circling the neighborhood, according to Jaques. The car had tinted windows, and its license plate was covered by a white trash bag, Jaques said.

Officers found the Honda traveling east on Chimney Hill Road, according to Jaques. When they attempted to conduct a traffic stop, Jaques said, the car sped away from the scene. Within a short time, Jaques said, a carjacking was reported in the area of Chimney Hill Road and Sullivan Avenue. Two occupants of the Honda had physically confronted a driver delivering food to an address to steal his black Nissan Rogue, Jaques said. One of the suspects was holding an object, Jaques said, but the driver was so shaken he couldnt determine what it was.

The victim was dragged about 500 feet before he detached from the Nissan as the suspects drove away, according to Jaques. In the process, Jaques said, he suffered numerous lacerations to his head, left knee and foot and had to be treated on scene by medics. His Nissan was subsequently recovered on Prospect Terrace in Meriden, Jaques said.

Patrol officers and detectives investigated the carjacking with the assistance of Meriden police, according to Jaques, conducting interviews, reviewing surveillance footage and processing evidence in an attempt to solve the crime. They eventually identified one of the suspects, described as a man wearing a white T-shirt, pink shorts, long white socks and black shoes, and obtained a warrant for his arrest, Jaques said.

The suspect was arrested on May 5, according to Jaques. He was issued a juvenile summons and is scheduled to appear in Middletown Juvenile Court on May 17, Jaques said.
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NEW HAVEN  The Dairy Queen on Kimberly Avenue will stay after all.

Florida-based cannabis company Trulieve Holding Inc. has withdrawn its application to open a retail marijuana store in the city's Hill neighborhood, city officials confirmed Thursday.

Robert Pursell, property owner of the parcel at 254 Kimberly Ave., also confirmed that information to the Register, and said he was notified by Trulieve earlier this week that it would no longer be pursuing the proposed development of a retail cannabis shop.

I believe, as a corporation, they are going to concentrate their expansion efforts in the South, said Pursell, who also owns the Dairy Queen, confirming the franchise will remain at the site. They had approached me with a nice offer and we pursued it a little bit.

When reached by phone Thursday afternoon to follow up on why Trulieve chose New Haven in the first place and ask why it withdrew the application, a company spokesperson said I don't have anything for you on this.

Trulieve submitted an application to the city in April, with a revised version just last week, seeking a special permit to operate a recreational cannabis shop, city records show. As of Friday, a public hearing for it remained on the City Plan Commissions agenda for May 17.

Esther Rose-Wilen, a city planner, said the Special Permit application was noticed so the application remains on the agenda and Staff will inform the public at the meeting that the application was withdrawn.

According to the application, if the city were to issue the company a permit, the existing ice cream store just off Ella T. Grasso Boulevard and Interstate 95 would be demolished to pave the way for a new 2,500-square-foot store.

Trulieve, based in Tallahassee, currently operates 185 cannabis retailers nationwide including one in Bristol.

The news of a possible replacement of the long-standing Dairy Queen with a cannabis store drew criticism on social media, with many suggesting leaving the ice cream chain alone.

Right now, the Dairy Queen is going to stay there and that's the plan for the foreseeable future, said Pursell, who has been operating the franchise for 26 years.

New Havens first retail cannabis store opened earlier in January at Affinity Dispensary, formerly known as Affinity Health and Wellness, along with other sellers in the state as it became legalized.

Another possible retail cannabis store could be at the former site of Long Wharf Theatre on Sargent Drive. Insa Inc., a Massachusetts-based cannabis company, has signed a 10-year lease with the property owner and is currently navigating some zoning hurdles.
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SHELTON  Xavier Sandor was a strong, devoted serviceman who dreamed of adventure when he enlisted in the U.S. Navy, according to his father, John Sandor.

Now, a year after his death, Connecticut's senators are proposing legislation to improve living conditions and mental health care for sailors that could have helped prevent Sandor and two other sailors aboard the USS George Washington from taking their own lives in 2022.

"The Navy ... failed him," said John Sandor at a gathering in Shelton with U.S. senators Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, noting that his son was excited to "travel the world and experience everything he could while serving in the Navy."

Sandor said his son "was not given the chance he should have. We are here today to make sure other servicemen and women are given the chance they deserve."

Blumenthal and Murphy, alongside John Sandor and Mary Graft, Xavier Sandor's mother, introduced new legislation Friday at Shelton's Veterans Memorial Park in honor of the pair's son. The senators have been demanding accountability following the death by suicide of Sandor and two other sailors.

The legislation, called the Seaman Xavier Sandor Support for Sailors Act, would authorize an allowance for junior sailors to pay for housing when their ships undergo overhauls, such as extended maintenance, in a shipyard. It would also allow the Secretary of the Navy to "appoint and retain" two licensed clinicians to serve as counselors on nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, landing helicopter assault ships and large-deck amphibious ships.

The loss of Xavier Sandor is heartbreaking, and its even more devastating that his death was preventable," said Murphy in a statement. "Unlivable conditions aboard the USS George Washington and the lack of mental health services left Xavier and others like him feeling unsupported and desperate.

"This legislation would give the Navy the ability to make much-needed reforms that will improve life for sailors assigned to ships undergoing major overhauls," Murphy added.

The senators introduced the bill in response to a 2022 U.S. Navy report, which investigated the suicides of three crew members of the USS George Washington aircraft carrier. The crew members included Sandor, then 19, who grew up in Shelton and graduated as a master at arms in San Antonio, Texas, before taking on his first Navy role on the ship.

The deaths of the crew members occurred while the aircraft carrier was undergoing a lengthy refitting process for nuclear-powered ships, often known as Refueling and Complex Overhaul, which the announcement said created subpar living conditions for sailors, particularly young sailors like Sandor who can be overwhelmed by the sheer size of an aircraft carrier.

Findings the announcement highlighted from the report include round-the-clock shipyard operations, frequent interruptions of electric power, heating, air conditioning and hot water for weeks, along with no access to welfare and recreation services. It also pointed to a two-month backlog for mental health appointments and how sailors were hesitant to seek treatment "through Navy channels" due to concerns it would affect future career opportunities.

Blumenthal, a Senate Armed Services Committee member, in a statement called the housing allowance and enhanced mental health services "common sense measures to improve quality of life and save lives."

Our legislation will help spare other sailors from the abhorrent conditions confronting Xavier Sandor  no mental health care, unacceptable housing, or access to relief," Blumenthal said. "Xavier Sandors tragic death underscores the Navys failure to care for its sailors, and the clear need for legislation."

In a January letter to Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro, the senators had also criticized conditions aboard the ship during its refueling and complex overhaul, and the barriers sailors faced to receiving mental health care, including a two-month backlog for routine mental health screenings and fears it would affect their future career opportunities.

There were multiple mistakes made by the USS George Washingtons leadership and warnings that could and should have prevented it, the senators state in the letter about Sandor's death. It is completely intolerable for the Navy to place sailors onboard a ship with these conditions and tremendous barriers to accessing care and support.
Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang is on his visit to Germany, France, and Norway from May 8 to 12 at the invitation of their foreign ministers. Against the backdrop of European leaders' visits to China in recent months, Qin's visit to Europe further implements the consensus reached by China-Europe head-of-state diplomacy and continues to strengthen dialogue and trust between the two sides. This signal is clear and welcomed by the world, as EU Ambassador to China Jorge Toledo said that Qin's visit was a welcome step for both China and Europe.

The main theme of Qin's visit is to further promote bilateral practical cooperation. His visit to Germany mainly aimed to prepare for the seventh round of inter-governmental consultation between the two countries. This will be the first offline inter-governmental consultations between the two sides since the outbreak of the pandemic and it is also the first comprehensive engagement between the two countries' new governments, the great significance of which is self-evident. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz responded positively, saying that he is very much looking forward to the consultation and Germany is making active preparations. In addition, the two sides agreed to step up coordination in multilateral fields and strengthen cooperation on COP28 and biodiversity.

The situation is the same in France, where the two sides mentioned they should keep close high-level exchanges and expand exchanges at all levels. French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna also reiterated her stance of attaching great importance to economic relations with China and not engaging in bloc confrontation. Next year marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Norway, and it is believed that Qin's visit to Norway will be a journey to consolidate mutual trust and promote cooperation.

Currently, Europe is undergoing a big reflection and debate on its perception and strategy toward China. Various arguments and opinions are being fiercely contested. At this time, China's new foreign minister arrived in Europe to make a clear, firm, and targeted clarification regarding China's stance, attitude, and interests. This is equivalent to injecting a powerful positive energy into this great debate and allowing Europeans to feel China's sincerity and goodwill at close range. This helps Europe to establish a correct understanding of China and maintain rationality without going off course. Using pragmatic cooperation to add value to bilateral relations, while rationally and calmly addressing the divergences between the two sides, and timely controlling damage in specific fields, this is what mature diplomacy should look like.

During Qin's visit to Europe, the German government approved China COSCO Shipping Corporation's purchase of stake in a Hamburg port-based container terminal on May 10. The German side eventually green-lighted the project, which is a relatively positive signal for both China-Germany and China-Europe relations. However, it's exposed by the media recently that the European Commission proposed sanctions against seven Chinese companies for their alleged sales of equipment that could be used to support Russia's military operations against Ukraine. A Chinese diplomat wrote on social media that "while China is making every effort to promote peace which is in Europe's interest, Europe gives a stab in the back in return, bullying China on economic issues. Can't understand what Europe is up to." More accurately, it is some anti-China forces in Europe that are stabbing China in the back, and this is not the first time they have done so.

From these two issues, we can see the duplicity and complexity of Europe's China policy. The friendly and rational forces in Europe toward China are in a defensive position now. Some Europeans already have deep misunderstandings and misconceptions about China, and they are further influenced by the toxic public opinion in the US and the West today, which further worsens the atmosphere of China-Europe relations.

In summary, there are four main problems in the China-Europe relationship: an unnecessary "Ukraine knot," a dangerous impulse of the Europe to interfere in China's internal affairs, especially the Taiwan question, wrong judgment that deems the interdependence of China-Europe economic and trade relations as a "risk," and submission and dependence on Washington's comprehensive containment strategy against China. Qin focused on these four issues in his communication with the European side, and it is worth mentioning that all the four issues are rooted in some Europeans' one-sided, narrow, and paranoid subjective cognition. As long as Europeans change their perspective and view these issues from a strategic and long-term angle, they can be easily resolved. Some Europeans are currently in an blind alley, and it may be difficult to persuade them to turn back if they aren't taught some lessons. We may need more patience to wait for them to wake up on their own.

The public also pays attention to Qin's positive response to Europe's "de-risking" approach against China. "If the EU seeks to decouple from China in the name of 'de-risking,' it will decouple from opportunities, cooperation, stability, and development," Qin said. Although China-Europe relations have encountered headwinds for a period of time, from January to March, French and German investment in China increased by 635.5 percent and 60.8 percent respectively compared to the same period last year. This is the power of the law. Without political interference from some Europeans, Europe will become more independent and secure due to prosperous foreign cooperation. China-Europe relations need more confidence and ambition, and setting bottom lines and red lines should not be the goal of both sides. China-Europe relations can also have "no limits." If Europe truly listens to China's words, it will be less confused and entangled.
NORTH HAVEN  Disturbing, racist literature has been found in a local neighborhood, according to police, days after the town of Rocky Hill reported a similar discovery.

Police said flyers on the ground in the area contained morally offensive sentiments. While police did not describe the exact nature of the contents, they said detectives have been assigned to determine if this incident rises to the level of a criminal matter. Investigators have spoken with residents of the neighborhood and requested relevant surveillance footage in an attempt to identify the people who distributed the flyers, according to police.

North Haven has zero tolerance for hate speech against any person or group, whether it is based on race, creed, religion, sexual orientation, country of origin, gender identity or any other affiliation, and we condemn this behavior, police said in a Facebook post at 11:45 a.m. Thursday, adding that the Connecticut State Polices Hate Crimes Investigative Unit has been notified.

However, police said the flyers may be protected by the First Amendment, which asserts the right to free speech, since they do not appear to call for, or incite, violence. If investigators determine a crime has been committed, police said, those responsible will be sought for arrest.

The North Haven Public Works Department was contacted to remove the flyers, according to police.

Comparable events have occurred in Rocky Hill as recently as this week.

Inflammatory flyers were left in the area of Old Main Street and Goff Brook Lane and reported to authorities Tuesday, according to police.

In a news release Wednesday, Rocky Hill Mayor Lisa Marotta, town Councilman Christopher Duff and Tom Cosker, chairman of the town Commission on Inclusion & Innovation, said, We are aware of the recent papering of neighborhoods with subversive messaging. We take these actions seriously and continue to work with appropriate law enforcement resources on a prompt resolution. ...While we understand these messages can be alarming, we recognize they are not representative of our community.

Police are working with other law enforcement agencies at the local, state and federal levels to investigate.

The Rocky Hill incident was an echo of one in mid-April.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP)  A crucial radar antenna on a European spacecraft bound for Jupiter is no longer jammed.

Flight controllers in Germany freed the 52-foot (16-meter) antenna Friday after nearly a month of effort.

The European Space Agency's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, nicknamed Juice, blasted off in April on a decade-long voyage. Soon after launch, a tiny pin refused to budge and prevented the antenna from fully opening.

Controllers tried shaking and warming the spacecraft to get the pin to move by just millimeters. Back-to-back jolts finally did the trick.

The radar antenna will peer deep beneath the icy crust of three Jupiter moons suspected of harboring underground oceans and possibly life. Those moons are Callisto, Europa and Ganymede, the largest moon in the solar system.

Juice will attempt to go into orbit around Ganymede. No spacecraft has ever orbited a moon other than our own.

The news wasn't so good for NASA's Lunar Flashlight spacecraft. After struggling unsuccessfully for months to get the Cubesat into orbit around the moon, the space agency called it quits Friday.

Launched in December, the Lunar Flashlight was supposed to hunt for ice in the shadowed craters of the lunar south pole. Now it's headed back toward Earth and then into deep space, continually orbiting the sun.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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BEIRUT (AP)  The leader of Lebanons Hezbollah militant group has denounced as "baseless lies" reports that one of Syrias most well-known drug dealers, who was killed earlier this week in an airstrike near the Jordanian border, was linked to the Iran-backed group.

Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's televised speech on Friday came four days after the rare strike that some Syrian opposition activists claimed was carried out by Jordans air force. The activists and a war monitor said the amphetamine Captagon kingpin killed Monday was among the most wanted by Jordanian authorities for drug smuggling across the border with the backing of a small militia.

Syrian activists say Merhi al-Ramthan, who was killed with his wife and six children, worked closely with militias linked to Syrian President Bashar Assad and Iran-backed Hezbollah.

Western governments estimate that Captagon has generated billions of dollars in revenue for Assad, his Syrian associates and allies. Damascus has denied the accusations.

Had we been making billions of dollars it would have been noticed, Nasrallah joked about the charges. Speaking about linking al-Ramthan to Hezbollah, Nasrallah said these are lies and unjust charges.

Nasrallah added that had it not been for Hezbollahs help, the Lebanese state would not have been able to carry out raids against drug dealers in Lebanon. Hezbollah enjoys wide influence in northeast Lebanon, a region that for decades has been a center of drug production.

Mondays strike in southern Syria that killed al-Ramthan and another that destroyed a factory came a day after Arab governments reinstated Syria to the Arab League following the countrys suspension for its crackdown on protests that ultimately led to a lengthy civil war.

As Arab governments gradually restore ties with Damascus, one of the key topics of discussion has been Syrias illicit drug industry, which has flourished during the ongoing conflict  especially the illegal amphetamine Captagon.

These are baseless lies. For us Captagon and other types of drugs are religiously prohibited, said Nasrallah, a Shiite Muslim cleric and major political figure in Lebanon.

Speaking about reconciliation between Syria and oil-rich Arab countries, Nasrallah said anti-Syrian politicians in Lebanon are disconnected from reality and are working to keep Beiruts relations with Damascus cold.

It is in Lebanons interest to fix relations with Syria, Nasrallah said, adding that the Lebanese government should send a high-ranking delegation to Damascus to discuss ways to address the refugee crisis that has pushed hundreds of thousands of Syrians to flee into in Lebanon.

Sentiments against Syrian refugees have been rising in Lebanon since the countrys massive economic meltdown that started in 2019 that has left three quarters of the Lebanese population living in poverty.

Hezbollah sent thousands of fighters to battle alongside Syrian government forces during the 12-year war, helping tip the balance of power in Assads favor.
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KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  Ukrainian military commanders said Friday that their troops had recaptured more territory from Russian forces at the scene of the wars longest and bloodiest battle, for the eastern city of Bakhmut, but it wasnt clear if this marked the start of Kyivs long-expected counteroffensive.

Russia's Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said Ukrainian forces had stepped up attacks north of the region while denying speculation by Russian military bloggers that the Kyiv forces had achieved defense breakthroughs.

The 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) of territory that Ukrainian forces south of Bakhmut retook this week represented a significant gain and will protect an important supply chain, according to commanders of Ukraine's 3rd Separate Assault Brigade, a special forces unit that led the attack.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he met with the top military commanders Friday, noting that Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi reported his forces stopped the enemy and even pushed him back in some directions.

In his nightly address to the Ukrainian people, Zelenskyy praised his troops and noted the low morale of the Russian forces.

The occupiers are already mentally prepared for defeat. They have already lost this war in their minds," he said. "We must push them every day so that their sense of defeat turns into their retreat, their mistakes, their losses.

In a statement on Telegram on Friday, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar confirmed that Ukrainian forces gained ground around Bakhmut, reiterating statements from military commanders earlier this week.

In Washington, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the U.S. has assessed that Bakhmut remains contested territory.

Ukrainians have not given up their defense of Bakhmut and the Russians havent given up their attempts to take Bakhmut, Kirby said. Every single day, the lines change back and forth. I mean, sometimes block by block.

The U.S. maintains that Bakhmut has limited strategic value but that Russia has absorbed an enormous loss of troops and weaponry in the battle for the former salt-mining town that has been grinding on for eight months.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the millionaire owner of Russia's private military contractor Wagner who is a frequent critic of the Russian military, slammed it again for losing ground around Bakhmut and exposing his forces battling for the city.

In a video statement Friday, Prigozhin mocked the Russian Defense Ministrys report claiming that its forces regrouped to take more favorable positions, saying they effectively fled and our flanks are crumbling.

He warned that the Ukrainian forces have reclaimed key heights around the city and effectively unblocked the key supply link to Bakhmut. Prigozhin again accused the military leadership of refusing to provide sufficient ammunition to Wagner.

You must immediately stop lying, Prigozhin said, addressing Russia's military leaders. If you fled, you must prepare new defensive lines.

Prigozhin  who seems to use harsh criticism to pressure the Kremlin for more support and improve his stature  alleged the Defense Ministrys failure to protect Wagners flanks amounted to high treason and could result in a great tragedy for Russia.

Apparently denying Prigozhin's claim of abandonment, Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Russian airborne units are still supporting ground forces to stop the attempts of the Ukrainian armed forces to counterattack on the flanks.

The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, explained the spat as being reflective of increased panic in the Russian information space over speculations about planned Ukrainian counteroffensives." This indicates increased concern among leaders of Wagner and the Russian Defense Ministry as well as "reflecting Kremlin guidance to avoid downplaying Ukrainian successes, it said.

Ukrainian military officials have dismissed speculation that the fighting and forward movement in Bakhmut signaled that its anticipated counteroffensive was underway. Zelenskyy said in remarks broadcast Thursday that Kyiv was delaying the campaign because it lacks enough Western weapons. Some saw the comments as designed to keep Russia guessing about Ukraines next move.

Addressing the nation Friday evening, Zelenskyy said more arms were coming to defeat the aggressor and restore peace.

The territorial gains occurred near the Siversky-Donets canal, between the villages of Ivanivske and Kurdiumivka, according to a commander of the 1st Assault Battalion of the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade. He spoke on condition he be referred to only by his call sign of Rollo, in line with Ukrainian military protocol.

This was the enemys bridgehead, which they intended to use in their future attacks along the canal, in the direction of Kostiantynivka, he said. We had to neutralize the enemy and push them to the other side of the canal.

Another commander and a military spokesman corroborated his account.

Kostiantynivka is part of an important logistics chain that leads to the city of Kramatorsk.

Rollo said the gains followed other successes, including one that secured an access road near Khromove, north of Bakhmut, and another that allowed Ukrainian forces to reclaim lost positions in the Industrial College inside Bakhmut city.

The assault south of Bakhmut was followed by a reported increase in Ukrainian offensive actions near the city of Soledar on Thursday, Russias Defense Ministry said. Russia repelled 26 Ukrainian attacks carried out by over 1,000 soldiers, the ministry said, adding that up to 40 tanks were involved.

The slow and grinding fight for Bakhmut has been costly for both sides, with Ukraine seeking to deny Russia any territorial gains despite its marginal strategic significance. Ukrainian forces are stationed in the city, while Russian troops are attacking from the north, east and south.

In other fighting, at least two people were killed and 22 injured elsewhere in the country since Thursday, according to figures from the Ukrainian Presidents Office.

Donetsk Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko said a Russian strike hit Kramatorsk, where some Ukrainian military units are based, destroying a school and residential building. Russian shelling hit 11 cities and villages in the region, killing 12 civilians, he said.

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Follow AP's coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine-war
During the industrial heyday of Ontario Road, King Street area, the Blue Star restaurant would serve about 2,000 takeout cups of coffee per week.

Today, they see maybe 500 cups go out the door.

Bryan Moreau, co-owner of Blue Star restaurant at the corner of King Street and Ontario Road recently said the identity of the 76-year-old eatery for a very long time was based on all the success of the industry in Welland, serving workers lunch, dinner and all-day breakfast due to shifts at nearby plants running 24 hours a day.

Rick Alakas recalls the many spinoffs that industry in Welland had on the rest of the local economy.

Union Carbide, Lakeside Steel, John Deere and a number of other factories were in full swing and employing thousands of people collectively.

This meant that other small businesses in close proximity benefited as well, such as restaurants and shops along King Street, said Alakas, a former city councillor who worked closely with employees of multiple factories during his more than 30 years with Unifor, which included roles as president of Local 523 and the national representative for the unions organizing department.

That area did well and the reason for that was the workers in that area, said Alakas when contacted by The Tribune Wednesday.

On Tuesday, ReGen Resource Recovery, a company owned by King and Benton, elaborated on plans for a massive site in south Welland that has been under transformation the last few months, explaining that ongoing work involves an industrial park coming to south Welland.

On Thursday, City of Welland issued a news release explaining that the first company moving onto the property will be Linamar with a new, state-of-the-art giga casting factory, producing significant structural components of electric vehicles.

Alakas, when informed Thursday that Linamar was setting up shop in the city, was excited about the recent news.

When you have a company like Linamar moving to Welland  thats a huge opportunity for the people living here, he said, adding he is aware they are on the leading edge of technology in the automotive industry.

The former home of Union Carbide at 65 Canal Bank St. is being overhauled to extract 2,000 tonnes of high-end graphite per day from the land.

The companies also plan to use one of the former Energex Tube (formerly Page-Hersey, Lakeside Steel) buildings at 200 Dain Ave. to process the material.

Fitz Matheson, a consultant with ReGen and King and Benton said Tuesday that the company she works for will employ about 200 people, and that the number of jobs the park will create will be significantly higher once more clients move in.

An advanced manufacturing company, Linamar offers leading-edge technology and deep manufacturing expertise in creating solutions that power vehicles, motion, work, and lives for the future, the city said.

To me, that speaks to long-term viability, Alakas said, adding it could be a catalyst for more industry moving to the city.

Workers he represented in the union years ago earned decent salaries, had benefits and pensions. There were multiple generations of families employed at the sites as well.

He recalls the plants closures were an extremely difficult time for the local economy.

For every job lost, that works out to at least 10 jobs in the community, he estimated.

It was challenging for the workers and their families, seeing their above-average salaries disappear.

It was just a rough period, he said.

Union Carbide established its Welland site in 1907 and was purchased by Graftech in 1999, and subsequently closed as part of a consolidation process, said ReGens website.

In 2015, Graftech was purchased by Brookfield Asset Management. King and Benton purchased the site from Brookfield in 2017.

Energex was founded in 1910 as Page-Hersey in Crowland Township.

The Welland plant employed 1,250 people by 1950 and made shell forgings, naval boiler tubes and pipe for aircraft frames used in the Second World War.

Stelco bought out Page-Hersey in 1965 and by 1987, the company was renamed Stelpipe, employing 1,300 workers at the time.

By 2005, Stelco had entered bankruptcy protection, and its Stelpipe division was bought by Lakeside Steel, which employed 504 workers before the 2008 recession hit and shrunk the workforce to 390 employees.

In 2012, Lakeside was acquired by JMC Steel and Energex Tube was launched. The company was impacted by cheap foreign steel in the Canadian market and by 2014, the plant was closed and 37,160 square metres of buildings were demolished.

Kris Dube is a reporter for the Welland Tribune. Reach him via email: kris.dube@niagaradailies.com

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Colleen Hood has had two lives.

One before her 19-year-old daughter Maddie was murdered in St. Catharines and she was whole. And one after that July 7, 2012 day when she broke.

Her two selves are distinct.

The person I was before Maddie was killed, I was fearless and fierce. Like Maddie, strong, indomitable in some ways, she says.

And the person I am now is fragile and vulnerable. Its like all my outer layers of skin got ripped away.

Hood has spent the last decade trying to reassemble her broken pieces, knowing she will never be the same person she was before Maddies future, and in turn her own, was stolen.

Its an ongoing process, but one of perseverance.

While dealing with grief, the court system and the stigma of losing a child to homicide, she went back to school and started a second career as a registered psychotherapist to help other bereaved parents.

She continued teaching at Brock University pushing new ground in her field of therapeutic recreation, retiring just last month and creating a new scholarship in Maddies name to mark the occasion.

And her contributions have been so notable, shes been honoured by her students and peers recently with national awards.

Hood says she feels like shes been on a journey to learn how to live well in spite of such an overwhelmingly tremendous loss.

Im not even close to the same person I was before Maddie was killed I am this deeply wounded kind of broken human being whos still trying to live well and do her best in the world.

I think my work over the last 10 years has been a part of trying to do that and trying to figure that out. Figure out how to do it myself, figure out how to share that with other people.

- - -

In July 2012, Hood and her now-wife Judy Bullis were on vacation, spending a week in Paris before arriving at a Tuscan farmhouse.

That first morning in Italy, Hood woke up to find a message on her phone from someone back home in Niagara trying to get a hold of her. She went downstairs to join Bullis in the kitchen and was speculating about what the call was about.

As she came down the stairs, Bullis, then the publisher of The Standard, dropped her coffee in the sink. She was looking at the newspaper on her phone and saw a photo of what looked like the house where Hoods 19-year-old daughter Maddie lived. It was behind police tape. A body had been found.

A quick scan showed it was the same address on East Hampton Road in Glenridge.

What came next was trauma in slow motion.

A phone call with Niagara Regional Police confirming the worst. Bullis on the phone trying to get a flight out of the country, from anywhere. Driving at night through roundabout after roundabout in a rural area to the Florence airport. Leaving the rental car in an empty lot at 3 a.m. Taking a plane to Frankfurt airport. Hood sitting down in a row of empty seats in the terminal and being told she had to move because they were for people with disabilities. Bullis yelling that this woman had just lost her child. Hood crying on the plane. The flight attendants gathering around.

Are you fit to fly? If you cant pull yourself together, were going to have to ask you to get off the plane.

- - -

Hood doesnt remember much from that first year after her only daughter was murdered.

She wouldnt even find out how Maddie died for 12 months.

The pieces of me were scattered all over the floor and in shards and I was trying to figure out how to pick up the pieces and patch something back together, she says.

Thats one reason I went back to work so quickly. It was like the one thing I felt I could do.

Hood, who also has a son, Andrew, is known nationally for her work in the therapeutic recreation field, which helps people with disabilities, illnesses or other limiting conditions choose leisure activities that help them live the best lives possible.

Two months after Maddie was killed, Hood was back in the classroom teaching at Brock. The following September, she was eligible for a year-long sabbatical and took it, thrusting herself into work at Niagara Health hospital system.

She spent a year on site with recreation therapists in outpatient mental health. While interacting with patients, Hood realized she had something in common with them.

They were all shattered.

Turning her own loss into something helpful, she created programs with the hospitals recreation therapists related to identity reconstruction that continue to run today.

Hood also went back to school to become a registered psychotherapist. Her own therapist was a saviour after Maddies murder.

I know that part of my thinking was, how is it possible to make anything positive from this? Like, there just isnt a good thing about it. Theres no silver lining. Theres nothing. Its just pure and utter devastation, she says.

I decided I was going to become a therapist because maybe I could help other bereaved parents, even though I didnt know what the f - - k I was doing myself. Like I wasnt even close to having my feet on the ground at that point.

For three years she travelled once a week to Toronto for the program and later opened her own practice in Niagara.

- - -

Maddie was beaten, strangled, stabbed multiple times and left to burn in her apartment that was set on fire.

Cassell Farnsworth, 21, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and arson in November 2013, receiving life without parole eligibility for 12 years.

Hood said when you lose parents, as she has, you lose your past. When you lose a child, you lose your future.

I had a very clear image of what my life was going to be moving forward with Maddie as a key feature of it. And then she was gone.

Maddie, brilliant, humorous, outspoken, didnt love high school but had been accepted to Brock University that year and was planning to go to Niagara College first as a transition.

She worked part-time at United Way and loved it, telling her mom she could see herself pursuing a career with a non-profit organization to help people.

She had her struggles  the court was told she owed her killer money for drug transactions  but her mother said she was always loved.

We were very, very, very close. And even though she was having her struggles, her late adolescent early adulthood struggles, she knew we were very close. I didnt appreciate the things she was doing in her life, but I never stopped loving her. She never stopped knowing that, I dont think.

At the sentencing hearing, Hood said she will never matter again in the world the way she mattered to Maddie. She still believes that.

- - -

When Maddie was killed, her co-workers at the United Way set up a memorial fund in her name before Hood and Bullis plane had even touched the ground.

The money is now being moved to Brock University to create a scholarship in Maddies name to support graduate students studying the role of leisure and living well with mental illness.

I think the greatest fear of any bereaved parent is that their childs existence wont matter and will be forgotten. And so for me, this is a way for Maddies unrealized legacy to play out in some way, Hood said.

Hoods own legacy as a professor was honoured in April with the Teaching Award of Excellence from the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance.

This month, shes being presented the 2022 Leisure Scholar Award from the Canadian Association for Leisure Studies and with the Gonzaga Da Gama Memorial Award from the Canadian Therapeutic Recreation Association from her peers for her work.

Bullis says Hoods contributions are impressive and even more so knowing everything she has been dealing with.

Surviving it is an accomplishment. But persevering through and accomplishing what she accomplished through, that is admirable.

Hood says she didnt have a choice.

My friends tell me all the time you could have become an alcoholic. You could have gone to bed, never got up. You could have done a million other things, she said.

But I didnt feel like I had a choice. I would not let him steal my life too. It was bad enough that he stole Maddie, I wasnt going to let him kill me too, emotionally.

It wasnt like I said, I am going to overcome. I was just like, what do I need to do every day to try to survive, to get out of bed. I still feel like that some days frankly. Its not like its over. You can see the grief is still very present.

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A Niagara Falls woman says she has been living without heat or hot water for more than two weeks after her furnace stopped working and her landlord refused to get it fixed in a timely manner.

Caroline Jackson, 55, has been living in her apartment on Morrison Street for 12 years and since December has had two separate incidents with her furnace, leaving her without heat or hot water for weeks at a time resorting to using space heaters and her oven for warmth.

Currently, Jackson is entering Week 3 without adequate heat or hot water in her unit.

Im dealing with trying to get my heat and hot water going again, as my son and I called and texted our landlord, Thursday, April 27, but he didnt respond until Monday, May 1, said Jackson.

She added her landlord eventually sent a technician out, but the problem remained unfixed, leaving her to use space heaters at night.

When the heat went out, it was freezing in here, absolutely freezing, she said.

I cant tell you the temperature, but it was just too cold to sleep. My nose was freezing at night.

The impact to Jacksons life, she said, have been negative, either with her mental health or being unable to wash dishes or take a shower.

Ive been extremely affected, she said.

I cant do my laundry, I cant do any of it, I need hot water to be able to do it. Its on and off cold and warm, and at night, its freezing, Ive got my portable heaters.

Jackson worries that by running space heaters and using the oven to heat other parts of the house her landlord will complain.

Jackson is bothered with how she is being treated by her landlord and the lack of help he has offered, expecting her to pay her rent on time and in full, but does not help when something major happens in her apartment.

Jackson said her landlord, Utku Takmaz, has blamed her for the furnace problem saying if something happens in my apartment, I just fix it myself, I dont call my landlord.

In a phone call with The Standard, Takmaz justified his treatment of his tenant reiterating what he said to Jackson.

Im not the one living in this house. If things are getting broken, time after time, you should ask them not me, he said.

If you are the one driving a car, if its getting broken time after time and I fix it time after time, if its a brand-new car, the problem should be the one driving. Maybe you just drive it off the cliff.

Jackson said when it comes to fixing small things around the house, she never calls him as she can fix it herself, but if it is a large repair she tends to call.

If its something small, I have fixed a lot of small things myself since Ive been here, she said.

But this is something that I cannot do. Im not going to touch the furnace because its a very high-tech furnace, so I wont touch it.

About a dozen calls like Jacksons come into the office of Niagara Falls MPP Wayne Gates each month.

We get lots of cases come through our door around rent, eviction and unaffordable rents, because theres obviously an ongoing problem with landlords and evictions are far too common, he said.

Gates suggested Jackson investigate filing a complaint with the city against her landlord, which could benefit her if there is a Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) hearing.

When we spoke with her, we asked her to file a complaint with the property standards department through city hall, as we dont have enforcement powers through our office, said Gates.

As of Thursday night, Jackson said, the furnace technician had returned and replaced a part on the furnace, but heat or hot water were still not working.

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She is an environmental engineer with more than 20 years of development experience and has worked in China, the Philippines, Turkiye, Malawi and other countries. She has a deep insight into China's development over the past 30 years. She is the World Bank official who was in charge of the Wenchuan Earthquake Recovery Project (2009-14) after the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008, and recorded her post-quake observations in an embroidered diary and, later in the same year, served as a volunteer for the Beijing Summer Olympic Games.

Meet Mara Warwick, now the World Bank country director for China. A few days ago, in an exclusive interview with China Daily, Warwick shared her experience of and insight into China.
HALIFAX - A provincial safety official says there will be increased inspections at the Donkin coal mine in Cape Breton now that it has resumed operations after an underground fire prompted a stop-work order in April.

Gary OToole, executive director of the Labour Departments safety branch, confirmed Friday that an investigation into the fire was almost complete, and he said inspectors found no ongoing or imminent risks after repairs were completed.

No one was in the mine when the fire broke out on April 30, but the department has yet to say what caused the fire or where it happened.

OToole said the safety branch could impose penalties or compliance orders once its investigation is completed next week.

We will not hesitate to issue any compliance orders or stop-work orders  to address any imminent risks that we find or are reported to us, he said.

As well, OToole said the department planned to bring in a third party to conduct a safety review, though he did not provide details.

All systems that are in place for safety at the mine are functioning as they should, he told a virtual news conference, adding that inspectors had taken a close look at coal dust controls, mine oversight, ventilation and lighting systems, emergency response and safety plans.

The company has met all health and safety requirements .... This is one of the most regulated and most visited worksites that we have in Nova Scotia.

Inspectors are at the site once every couple of weeks, but their oversight is practically a daily routine because they are often looking at reports and monitoring systems when they are not at the mine, he said. The number of unannounced inspections at the mine would be increased, OToole added.

The mine resumed operations in mid-September after it was shuttered in March 2020 amid slumping coal prices and roof collapses that led to repeated stop-work orders. Operated by Kameron Coal Management Ltd., it received 23 warnings, 28 compliance orders and 11 administrative penalties or fines since it reopened.

OToole has said the number of citations wasnt surprising given the frequency of inspections and the complexities of underground mining.

The only underground mine in Nova Scotia, Donkins twin tunnels extend three kilometres under the Atlantic Ocean. When it started production in February 2017, it was the first underground coal mine to operate in Nova Scotia since 2001.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 12, 2023.

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JACKSON, Miss. (AP)  A federal judge Friday temporarily blocked the appointment of four state court judges in the majority-Black county that is home to Mississippis capital city  appointments that drew protests from local residents who said white state officials were stomping on civil rights.

U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate issued the temporary restraining order at the request of the NAACP, and he set a May 22 hearing to consider extending the order.

The national civil rights organization, its Mississippi chapter and its local chapter in Jackson filed a federal lawsuit April 21, hours after Gov. Tate Reeves signed laws to expand state policing in the capital city of Jackson, establish a court with an appointed judge and authorize four appointed judges to work alongside the four elected circuit court judges in Hinds County.

Members of the majority-white and Republican-led Legislature who pushed for the changes said they were trying to curb crime in Jackson. Local residents protested that state officials were usurping power in Jackson and Hinds County, which are majority-Black and governed by Democrats.

Under one of the laws, Mississippi Supreme Court Chief Justice Mike Randolph was supposed to appoint four circuit judges by this week to serve until the end of 2026  most of the current four-year term.

Thanks to an emergency motion we filed last last night, Chief Justice Randolph cannot begin any undemocratic court packing in Jackson until NAACP v. Reeves moves forward, the national NAACP posted Friday on Twitter. We are prepared to fight for our freedom.

Another lawsuit that challenges the new laws is pending in Hinds County Chancery Court. Three Jackson residents who are plaintiffs in that lawsuit testified Wednesday that having appointed rather than elected judges would rob them of equal rights because the state constitution requires the election of most judges.

Hinds County Chancery Judge Dewayne Thomas was considering a request for a temporary restraining order similar to the one Wingate issued in federal court.

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WASHINGTON (AP)  President Joe Biden commended Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez for his countrys collaboration with the United States and Canada to establish migration hubs in Latin America where asylum seekers fleeing poverty and violence in their home countries can apply for protection.

The two leaders sat down at the White House on Friday for wide-ranging talks on Russias invasion of Ukraine, climate change and other issues. But efforts by the U.S. and Spain to cooperate on asylum processing loomed large over the discussion as the Biden administration rolls out new immigration measures now that COVID-19 immigration restrictions have ended.

The new efforts are designed to crack down on illegal border crossings while opening legal pathways to give migrants incentives to apply for asylum online where they are, instead of making the dangerous journey to the border.

Migrants caught illegally crossing the southern U.S. border cannot return for five years, and they face criminal prosecution if they do. And migrants will be barred from seeking asylum at the border if they do not first ask for protection in a country they traveled through or apply online.

A major piece of the expanded legal pathway is the creation of processing centers in Colombia and Guatemala and up to 100 others in the Western Hemisphere where migrants can go to apply to enter the U.S., Spain or Canada.

Were both facing the challenges of migration in the Western Hemisphere, Biden told Sanchez at the start of the Oval Office meeting.

It was a huge step for the White House to get Spain and Canada to agree to take in asylum seekers from Latin America. And it helps reinforce the Biden administrations argument that the current migration quandary facing the Americas is a global problem that needs a global solution  much like the refugee crises that have impacted Syria, Afghanistan and Ukraine in recent years.

The State Department on Thursday announced a website where asylum seekers can now find information on the process and will eventually be able to request appointments.

The U.S. has increasingly seen migrants arrive at its southern border who are from China, Ukraine, Haiti, Russia and other nations far from Latin America and who are increasingly family groups and children traveling alone. Thirty years ago, by contrast, illegal crossings were almost always single adults from Mexico who were easily returned over the border.

Spain, though it has high overall unemployment, needs workers for agriculture and other hard-to-fill fields, and it will be able to accept migrants who want to go there and have needed skills.

The Spanish ministry has said the pathway will only apply to those who have already received international protection status. That means the migrants it accepts will need to be considered refugees and will be treated in much the same way that Syrian asylum seekers, traveling via Turkey, have been treated by Spain.

Spain and the U.S., we have common interests about democracy, prosperity and safe, regular and orderly migration patterns, Sanchez said.

Plans for the processing centers to be established in Guatemala and Colombia were announced last month, but the centers have yet to begin operating. Once up and running, they are expected to process thousands of applicants a month. United Nations organizations will operate the centers, but U.S. officials will be present as well to help with processing of applications.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the White House expects that the processing centers will open in the relatively near future.

While Biden predicted this week that the situation at the border could be chaotic for a while, his administration is looking to discourage migrants from paying smuggling operations to help them journey to the U.S., particularly through the Darien Gap. Officials hope that by cracking down at the border and opening up other ways to the U.S., they will be able to bring a measure of order.

The coronavirus restrictions, known as Title 42, were a Trump administration endeavor that went into effect in March 2020 amid the global pandemic. Title 42 allowed border officials to turn away migrants to help stop the spread of COVID-19. But there were concerns the policies were put into place merely to keep people out.

While Title 42 was used to deny asylum more than 2.8 million times, it carried no legal consequences, which encouraged repeat attempts by migrants to enter the U.S. The public health emergency officially ended on Thursday night, and with it the restrictions.

Russias invasion of Ukraine was also high on the agenda for Biden and Sanchez, two NATO allies.

Sanchez told reporters following the meeting that he and Biden discussed their countries continuing efforts to support Ukraine as Russias invasion grinds on. Sanchez recently met with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, both of whom have put forward ideas to end the conflict.

White House officials have dismissed Chinas 12-point peace plan, and called on Beijing to use its influence to urge Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war.

Sanchez said that Spain, which will assume the rotating presidency of the European Council in July, is committed to a lasting and just peace to resolve the Ukraine crisis. He made clear that he sides with Biden and other Western allies in condemning Russian aggression.

Make no mistake, in this war there is an aggressor and victim, Sanchez said. And in this war the aggressor is President Putin.

On another subject, Spain has called on the U.S. to conduct further cleanup of contaminated soil left after a nuclear accident in 1966. A midair collision dumped four U.S. hydrogen bombs near a southern Spanish village. None of the bombs exploded.

Kirby said the White House anticipates negotiations between the two countries on the matter will begin soon.

___

Associated Press writers Renata Brito in Barcelona, Spain, and Ciaran Giles and Jennifer OMahony in Madrid contributed to this report.

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Abdullahi Adamu, national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), says the leadership of the party did not make sufficient consultations before picking those who will lead the 10th national assembly.

The party had chosen Godswill Akpabio, a former minister of Niger Delta affairs, and Jibrin Barau, senator representing Kano north, as president of the senate and deputy.

Tajudeen Abbas, a Zaria lawmaker, and Benjamin Kalu were chosen as speaker and deputy.

The decision elicited protest from party members who claim they were not consulted.

Speaking in Abuja on Thursday after receiving a protest letter from Uzor Orji Kalu, senate whip; Abdulaziz Yari, senator-elect; and Sani Mohammed, senator representing Niger east, Adamu said the party found itself in a situation after the elections that prevented it from consulting widely.

The chairman said the party is reviewing the nominations to see if the decision could be reversed.

There was no sufficient or adequate consultations with those who are contesting and it is a simple principle of democracy that you get views and opinions  but the circumstances that we found ourselves in after the elections frustrated our desire, he said.

We must as democrats open up. We will go back to the drawing board. We owe our party that duty to take a look whether what was done can be changed; what was done needs some changes or reviews.

So, hold the fire until the last word is heard from us. We are the custodians of the party as NWC but we are not acting alone. The voice of the president-elect is an essential voice. We must accommodate him, the best we can. I will not compromise on that.
President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday shared in the joy of the occasion as Governor Ademola Nurudeen Adeleke of Osun State celebrates his 63rd birthday, May 13, 2023.

Buhari urged Adeleke, whose victory was recently validated by the Supreme Court, to place the interest of the State and the welfare of the people above all else and seek Gods guidance to deliver on his mandate.

He affirms that the Senator, who represented Osun-West in the Upper Chamber of the National Assembly, solidified his base and gradually built a formidable network of friends and political allies that have helped his many victories, including leading one of the 36 states in the country.

The President believes that Adelekes easygoing outlook on life has become an asset, with a huge following that cuts across all ages.

This was disclosed in a statement by Femi Adesina, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity.

The President prayed that the Almighty God would grant Adeleke the strength, wisdom and courage to serve his people and the nation.




The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has warned banks and compliance officers to stop shielding customers complicit in financial malpractices.





The commission issued the warning on Friday in Ilorin during a meeting with senior compliance staff from Kwara and Kogi States.





Zonal Commander, Michael Nzekwe noted that the officials hold sensitive positions and are key to the fight against economic and financial crimes.





Nzekwe said the parley was to educate banks on new trends in cybercrime and seek areas of further collaboration as stakeholders in the battle.





On Know Your Customer (KYC) and Know Your Customers Business (KYCB), the official advised them to routinely carry out due diligence.





Nzekwe said this would save them from trouble, make the work of EFCC easier, and help to keep fraudulent customers on the radar.





There is no major fraud, especially money laundering, that is ever committed without the connivance of bank officials, he stressed.





Nzekwe advised financial institutions to adhere strictly to bank rules, regulations and be diligent in the discharge of their duties.





Bankers are expected to share necessary information and report suspicious transactions to the commission, the commander added.




The Osun State Police Command has confirmed the arrest of Saheed Wasiu, popularly known as K-Federal.





According to a statement signed by Yemisi Opalola, the Commands spokesperson, Wasiu was earlier wanted by the police for murder and cult related activities.





The statement also revealed that the suspect is a member of the Rasheed Hammed, a.k.a. Oko-Ilu-led Eiye Confraternity and was arrested around Alusekere area, Ede, by detectives from the Special Anti-Cultism unit.





She said, On 07/05/2023 at about 1400hrs, upon tip-off received that, one Saheed Wasiu m popularly known as K-Federal, one of the deadly and notorious members of Rasheed Oko-Ilu led gangster was around Alusekere area, Ede, Osun State, Police detective from Special Anti-cultism unit swung into action and arrested the suspect.





During the interrogation, he confessed to be a member of Eiye confraternity led by one Rasheed Hammed, a.k.a Oko-Ilu who has been arrested and remanded at correctional custody some time ago.





Opalola disclosed that the suspect confessed to taking an active part in the killing of twenty persons in Ede town.





Suspect confessed to having participated in the killing of almost twenty (20) innocent citizens of Ede town and dropped their corpses at Osun River, Sagba area, Ede. Among the victims they have killed are: late Wale, Jamiu, Ganiyu, Azeez and Eyimba and others, she added.





She revealed that the suspect will be charged to court after the completion of investigation.
President Muhammadu Buhari and Aisha, his wife, have moved into the Glass House, a transitional home at the presidential villa for outgoing presidents and their spouses.

The glass house is where the President and his wife would stay till when they will exit the state house.

Bola Tinubu, the president-elect, is expected to assume office on May 29.

Though he is meant to have moved into Defence House, a guest house of the presidential villa located in the Maitama district of the federal capital territory (FCT), Tinubu has received most of his visitors and held meetings at his residence in Asokoro.

In a video on her Instagram post on Thursday, the first lady, after conducting Remi Tinubu, the incoming first lady, on a tour of the villa, expressed hope that the transitional home tradition would be maintained.

I have taken the incoming first lady, senator Remi Tinubu, around. She has seen the main house; we are now at the popular glass house, Aisha said.

Glass house is a transitional home for the outgoing president. Im advising that the Glass House should maintain its tradition of being a transition for the outgoing president.

As I am talking to you now, I am residing here with my husband. Only two of us here, I think it should remain so as a norm of the institution and of the house.

Also speaking, wife of the president-elect, who also represents Lagos central in the senate, thanked the first lady for the tour.

I have gone around, she has magnanimously shown me around the house and graciously explained a lot of things to me which is quite a short time and overwhelming for me to grasp, she said.

I believe God will help me to be able to make an impactful contribution to the nation.
Aminu Masari, governor of Katsina, says northern governors in the All Progressives Congress (APC) supported Bola Tinubus presidential bid to honour the principle of zoning.

In June 2022, APC governors from the north asked northern presidential aspirants to withdraw from the race in national interest. The development culminated in the victory of Tinubu in the partys presidential primary.

Speaking during a farewell visit to Umar Faruq-Umar, the Emir of Daura, on Thursday, the governor said some chieftains in the party rejected the idea of zoning but the governors insisted.

Those with foresight have seen that, especially we the governors from the north under the APC. We have seen attempts to tarnish the image of Buhari, he said.

Everybody knows that all the political parties believe in zoning, but some people in our party wanted to keep that aside, but we rejected their attempt. So, if we had done such, only God would know the situation in the country at the moment. Therefore, we had to stick to our promises.

Thats why the northerners then succeeded and earned respect for our people because once we said yes, its always yes.

Masari said winning the highly contentious election preserved the integrity of President Muhammadu Buhari.

He said Nigerians would have considered the administration of Buhari a failure if the ruling party had not been successful in the elections.

Anyone in this country with foresight should thank God again because had it been our party did not win the election, people may think that the federal government failed Nigerians, he said.

Whatever someone planned in this country, God has helped President Muhammad Buhari to defend his integrity, because if we had failed in the election, he would be the first to be blamed.
New Jerseys health department said this week the state is not proposing to add shots against COVID-19 or other illnesses to the list of vaccines children must get to attend public schools.

That comes as a Republican lawmaker accused Gov. Phil Murphys administration of aiming to sneak those changes through as it replaces health regulations set to expire early next year.
A China-made environmentally friendly tunnel-boring machine (TBM) rolled off the production line Tuesday in Zhengzhou, central China's Henan Province.

It will be exported to Italy for the construction of a railway tunnel in Sicily.

Click here to watch the video.
UPDATE: This post has been updated to correct the number of bills approved and the status of five additional bills being considered by lawmakers.

Calling the educator shortage a crisis, the state Assembly Education Committee unanimously approved seven bills Thursday  and is considering five more  that aim to help New Jersey recruit and retain more public school teachers.

At a press conference introducing the measures earlier that morning, Timothy J. Purnell, executive director of the New Jersey School Boards Association, described a clear need for them.

When our kids are routinely given substitute teachers instead of certified teachers, when our classrooms are overcrowded, and when we dont get the support necessary for children academically, socially, and emotionally, then we have a crisis, Purnell said. And theres not a day that goes by that we dont hear from our members about the difficulty in filling critical positions.

The move comes as more teachers leave the profession while the number of students pursuing teaching degrees has fallen sharply. By many accounts, the COVID-19 pandemic, declining student mental health, the intrusion of politics into the classroom, and overregulation have made the profession less attractive, and teachers and students have suffered.

The bills would:

provide stipends to some student teachers, reduce student teaching to one semester from the recently-added requirement of two, and create a fund to reimburse new teachers for certification-related costs.

expand the student loan forgiveness programs to more teachers in more schools, for more degrees, create an alternate route for teacher aides to become teachers, and expand state tuition reimbursement for up to two semesters of undergraduate or masters level teacher preparation work.

eliminate the Praxis basic skills test as a requirement for future teacher certification, as some consider it redundant for college graduates.

prohibit using tests with 28-day waiting periods before candidates can retake them.

allow students with community college credits to count more of them toward teaching degrees.

provide a tax credit for teachers to purchase their supplies.

allow retired teachers more time to return to the classroom without risking their pensions.

require the state Department of Education to survey districts to identify vacancies and teacher shortages at the school and district levels, information that is not currently available.

The bills, which await introduction in the state Senate, grew out of seven months of collaboration with the help of Gov. Phil Murphys task force on the issue, which released its report in February.

Five additional bills related to the teacher shortage have been referred to the Assembly Education Committee. They include legislation on teacher loan redemption, teacher tax deductions, a tuition remission program, reduced student teaching time, and the removal of basic skills tests with extended retake waiting periods.

The full Assembly and Senate would need to approve the measures before Murphy could decide whether to sign them into law.

Murphy declined to comment on pending legislation, but spokeswoman Christi Peace said, The Governor understands the critical importance of addressing teacher shortages on behalf of both our educational workforce and the students they serve. The administration will continue to work with stakeholders to further address this matter so that our state can continue to provide New Jersey children with the high-quality education they deserve.

In introducing the bills, Assembly Education Committee Chairwoman Pamela Lampitt, D-Camden, said the primary barrier to entering the teaching field is the cost of education, especially as student teachers currently have to work while paying tuition.

State Sen. Vin Gopal, D-Monmouth, chair of the Senate Education Committee, said he had received the bills earlier in the week and is reviewing them. The earliest they could be introduced in the Senate would be at the committees June meeting.

Karen Bingert, executive director of the New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association, praised the bill providing stipends for student teachers.

Not only do they not get paid for a year-long, full-time internship like electricians, plumbers, lawyers, and doctors, Bingert said. They have to pay tuition to do student teaching. When this is added to the cost of testing, fingerprinting, and certification fees, this financial burden is a turn-off for many potential teachers.

Its especially hard for those from disadvantaged backgrounds, she added.

Sean Spiller, president of the New Jersey Education Association, the states largest teachers union, said the bills move the needle in addressing shortages that were over a decade in the making, but much work remains.

This is a complex problem that does not have a single solution, Spiller said. Weve got to look at other pieces, like salaries, benefits, and pensions. Weve seen those things eroded over the last number of years.

Lampitt called the states teachers chronically under-appreciated, or worse. She continued, It is difficult to legislate gratitude and appreciation. But I want to make it clear that the people in this room and throughout the legislature do appreciate and support our teachers.

Colleen Schulz-Eskow, senior director of public policy at New Jersey Childrens Foundation, a nonprofit that promotes cooperation between Newarks traditional and charter schools, noted that the solutions came from all sides of the political spectrum. Todays plan is a culmination of a great collaborative effort to create policies that will result in attracting more diverse individuals to the teaching profession, she said.

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Tina Kelley may be reached at tkelley@njadvancemedia.com.
A jury in Essex County on Friday convicted Montclair attorney James Ray of murder in the fatal shooting of Angela Bledsoe, his long-time girlfriend who who authorities say was about to move out of the house and take the couples young child with her.

The jury deliberated for roughly three hours before it delivered its verdict, rejecting Rays contention that he had no choice but to fire in self-defense when Bledsoe, 44, pointed a gun at him in the living room of their Upper Montclair home on the morning of Oct. 22, 2018.

Ray stared at the desk and appeared to show no emotion as the jury foreman pronounced the attorney guilty on all three counts of murder, unlawful possession of a handgun and possession of a handgun for an unlawful purpose. He faces a maximum term of life in prison when he is sentenced on June 22.

Superior Court Judge Verna G. Leath polled the jury to ensure the verdict was unanimous, then thanked the jurors for their service during the two-month trial before she dismissed them.

Ray, who fled the home after the shooting and headed to Cuba, never denied shooting Bledsoe four times. He didnt testify, but wrote in his journal that he was had laid three handguns on the coffee table in the living room when Bledsoe picked one up and pointed him.

Coming out of the bathroom, he fired four times, hitting Bledsoe with three bullets.

He had no choice but to shoot or be shot, defense attorney Brook M. Barnett told the jury during closing arguments.

The couples six-year-old daughter was in school at the time of the shooting, so there were no witnesses.

Still, the prosecution presented a mountain of evidence  phone texts, computer downloads, recorded phone conversations with relatives, and Rays own narrative of the shooting and escape contained in his journal and letter to his brother  to convince the jury that Ray meant to kill Bledsoe, whod had an affair with an old college classmate in Florida and was planning to move out out of the house with the couples daughter.

As evidence of the plot, the state introduced the pre-nuptial agreement that Ray wrote out ten days before the shooting which contained a clause that Bledsoe would have to pay him $300,000 if he caught her cheating on him. By that time, the prosecution said, Ray had already learned of the affair after he read text messages on Bledsoes phone, the prosecution said.

On the morning she died, Bledsoe had an 11:30 appointment with a realtor to look at house. When Montclair police discovered her body in the kitchen 12 hours later, they found the kitchen clock had fallen off the wall and into the sink. The clock had stopped at 11:14 a.m.

She never made it, Assistant Prosecutor Michele Miller told the jury during closing arguments. Shot three times, Bledsoe slumped onto the kitchen floor. When Montclair police discovered the body some 12 hours later, there was a .9mm pistol in a pool of blood close to the body.

By that time, Ray was on his way to Cuba, after packing a suitcase for his daughter and dropping the girl off with his brother, Robert, at a steakhouse in Piscataway.

Robert Ray testified that he opened the daughters suitcase around 11:30 that night and found the note written by Ray. Inside the suitcase were two checks that Ray had made out to him to cover expenses while he was away, one for $11,500 and the other for $9,500.

Does that sound like a man who plans on coming back? Miller asked the jury.

Ray went to Newark Liberty International Airport, then made his way to Texas. He later crossed the border into Mexico where the hopped a flight to Cuba, arriving in Havana on Oct. 28, 2018, six days after the killing.

By then, an international warrant was out for his arrest, and Ray was detained at the airport in Havana. Nine days later, Cuban authorities handed Ray over to agents from the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security, and he was brought back to the United States.

He has been locked up ever since.

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Richard Cowen may be reached at rcowen@njadvancemedia.com.
A phlebotomist who says she was attacked by a patient while drawing blood in an Essex County hospital has filed a lawsuit against the Newark Police Department, claiming they wrongly arrested her and recorded her on bodycam as she got dressed.

The 51-year-old woman says in court papers she was seeing outpatients at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center on Feb. 9, 2021, when a woman  angered over the lengthy waiting time  charged at her.

The objecting patient began to punch plaintiff in the face with her fist, according to the suit, filed March 6 in Superior Court of Essex County.

The patient also stabbed the phlebotomist in the face with a sharp instrument before the two fell to the floor and were separated by another hospital worker, the lawsuit says.

The phlebotomist says she was treated for her facial lacerations and knee pain. She then went to Newark police headquarters on Clinton Avenue to file a complaint against the patient, expecting the person would be arrested for aggravated assault.

But instead of arresting the patient, four policemen came to the phlebotomists home in Union County on March 22, 2021, and arrested her, the suit states. Municipal court documents show the phlebotomist was charged with two counts of aggravated assault.

A spokeswoman for the Newark Police Department said the citys attorneys had not yet reviewed the complaint and would not comment.

The woman claims she was wearing only a bathrobe when the officers came into her home to arrest her, and that they ordered her to take off her robe and get dressed in front of them.

She told the Newark police officers that she had no clothing on underneath her bathrobe and that she needed to go into the bathroom to get dressed, the suit states.

But she disrobed in front of the men because she was afraid of what would happen to her if she did not comply, the suit states.

The lawsuit says a city police officer later told the woman that he saw the body cam footage of her in her birthday suit and that the video was being passed around the Newark Police Department for others to view.

The lawsuit says police ignored the New Jersey Prevention of Violence in Health Care Facilities Act of 2007 and the 2022 Health Care Heroes Violence Prevent Act that enhanced charges for anyone who attacks a healthcare worker.

The suit says the woman filed her police report first and the patient filed afterward, and the patient was never charged or held accountable.

The woman states police should have charged the patient and not her, and that any physical force she used was to defend herself against the patient.

The phlebotomist, who is Black, alleges police violated the states anti-discrimination laws because they believed the patients complaint was of more value and was more worthy than hers.

Plaintiff is in a protected category based on race and was functioning in her job as a phlebotomist. The differential treatment that plaintiff was subjected to was based on race, the suit states.

The suit also alleges sexual harassment in violation of New Jerseys Law Against Discrimination because the officers allegedly ordered her to get dressed in front of them.

Plaintiff was not comfortable with the requirement that she take off her robe in front of these male police officers naked and get dressed, the suit states.

The womans lawsuit also alleges wrongful arrest, wrongful incarceration, and abuse of process.

Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyAttrino.

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A woman was sexually assaulted and robbed inside a Jersey City store Wednesday night, Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez said.

The prosecutor said the 63-year-old victim told police an unknown man entered the business on West Side Avenue, south of Communipaw Avenue, and robbed and sexually assaulted her. The exact location of the assault is being withheld to protect the identity of the victim and the integrity of the ongoing investigation.

The incident, which was reported to police at 8:24 p.m., is actively being investigated by the Hudson County Prosecutors Office Special Victims Unit and additional information will be released as it becomes available.

Anyone with information is urged to contact SVU at 201-915-1234 or leave an anonymous tip at: http://www.hudsoncountyprosecutorsofficenj.org/homicide-tip/. All information will be kept confidential.
A former counselor at a New Jersey summer camp who admitted last year he inappropriately touched three child campers was sentenced Friday to seven years in state prison, officials said.

Joshua F. Daranijo, 24, of Levittown, Pennsylvania, admitted in March to sexual contact with children under the age of 13, and to possessing child sexual abuse material while a camp counselor at Ridgewood YMCAs Camp Bernie in Lebanon Township, according to a statement from the Hunterdon County Prosecutors Office. He pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual assault by contact and one count of endangering the welfare of a child for knowingly possessing items depicting the sexual exploitation of a child.

Ridgewood YMCA President and CEO Ernest Lamour told lehighvalleylive.com, when the abuse was reported, authorities and families were notified, and the staff member was immediately placed on leave.
The former owner of an asset management firm was arrested Thursday on allegations that he lied to clients and defrauded them of more than $2 million, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said.

Phillip Galles, 57, of Chicago, Illinois, is charged with wire fraud after speaking to a potential client from New Jersey who turned out to be an undercover agent, prosecutors said.

Galles told his investors he would invest their money in commodity futures through his Chicago-based firm, Tyche Asset Management, and falsely claimed his company had annual returns exceeding 100%, according to the criminal complaint.
George Ygarza is a popular educator, community organizer and organic researcher. He says that much like the Lenape, the original inhabitants of New Jersey, Palestinians were forcibly expelled from their lands through violence and repression. Today, many Palestinians wear a key around their necks, a symbol of their hopeful return to the homes they were forced to leave behind.Ed Murray | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
A man is facing weapons charges as officials investigate a fatal shooting that occurred following a fight at his tobacco shop.

Calvin King, 47, of Paterson, was arrested Saturday after investigators alleged that he became involved in a fight with the victim and ultimately shot him at Chrome Tobacco Shop on East Main Street in Paterson, Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia M. Valdes said.

City police officers were flagged down near East Main Street and Hillman Street at 1:14 a.m. on Saturday and located Kyheem Clark, 34, of Paterson, who was suffering a gunshot wound to the chest, authorities said.

He was rushed to St. Josephs University Medical Center, where he was later pronounced dead, prosecutors said.

King has been charged with certain persons not to possess a weapon and unlawful possession of a shotgun, officials said. The circumstances surrounding the fatal encounter are still under investigation, according to Jonathan Barrera, senior assistant prosecutor for the Passaic County Prosecutors Office.

King is being held at Passaic County Jail. Prosecutors have filed a motion for a pretrial detention hearing, which will be heard by a Superior Court judge, authorities said.

The Passaic County Prosecutors Office is asking anyone with information about the encounter to contact their tip line at 1-877-370-PCPO or tips@passaiccountynj.org.

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Nicolas Fernandes may be reached at nfernandes@njadvancemedia.com.
A passenger shot and killed a taxi driver in Somerset County Thursday night, authorities said.

Kofi Addo, 57, of North Brunswick picked up a fare on Rose Street in the Somerset section of Franklin Township before he was shot, the Somerset County Prosecutors Office said in a statement.

Addo was found in a driveway of a home on Sydney Place at around 10 p.m. after the taxi crashed into a parked vehicle, officials said. He was taken to a local hospital where he died of his injuries.
Justus Sheffield has signed a minor league deal with the Atlanta Braves, according to MLB.com.

The Seattle Mariners released the left-hander last month after he had been demoted to the Triple-A affiliate in the offseason. With Tacoma, hes allowed 17 runs in 8 1/3 innings with 11 walks and just four strikeouts.

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The New York Yankees acquired Sheffield from the Guardians in the 2016 trade which sent reliever Andrew Miller to Cleveland. Sheffield appeared in three games for New York in 2018, posting a 10.13 ERA.

The Yankees sent Sheffield to the Mariners in the 2018 trade for left-hander James Paxton. In four seasons with Seattle, the 26-year-old Sheffield was 12-12 in 48 appearances (33 starts) with a 5.47 ERA.

Sheffield was picked 31st overall by Cleveland in the 2014 MLB draft.

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The Braves rotation has been hit with injuries, with Max Fried and Kyle Wright set to miss time.

MORE MLB:

- Ex-Yankee Gary Sanchez keeps impressing in Mets minors | Will he crack big-league roster?

- Reds fans throw baseballs at Mets Jeff McNeil

- Yankees Anthony Volpe handling pursuit of results with flying colors, rewarded with grand slam

- Yankees hitting coach: I dont really give a (bleep) about poor offensive numbers

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Bridget Hyland may be reached at bhyland@njadvancemedia.com.
Vietnamese stall attracts many young people (Photo: VNA)

The festival, an annual event held in mid-May, created a chance for foreign communities in Italy to meet and exchange with each other.

The Vietnamese stall, showcasing Vietnamese traditional conical hats and calligraphy art, attracted many visitors, especially youngsters.

In addition, the Vietnamese community also organized Vietnamese ao dai (traditional dress) shows, dragon dances and martial arts performances, as well as traditional dishes of Vietnam at the event.

Mr. Sergio Vercelli, Head of the Organising Board, expressed his delight at the participation of the Vietnamese community in the event as well as impression at their special performances.

Concluding the festival, a parade to the central square of Borgomanero aimed to spread a message of peace, friendship and common development in diversity among all communities not only in Borgomarero but all countries, regions and the whole world./.
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Vietnam - Ho Chi Minh City tourism roadshow 2023 to take place in Australia

(Photo: HCMC Department of Tourism)

According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Anh Hoa, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) Department of Tourism, the program aims to provide the most up-to-date information about Vietnamese tourismp roducts and services.

The roadshow will help to create opportunities specifically for Vietnamese travel businesses to meet their Australian partners, including outbound tour operators, travel agencies, MICE operators, and media to share and discuss tourism cooperation possibilities.

The event will be organised at The Jackson Sydney Harbor Luxury Cruise and Darling Harbour in Sydney on May 12, Crown Promenade Melbourne Hotel on May 15, and in Brisbane on May 17.

The roadshow has the participation of nearly 200 Australian delegates and 20 Vietnamese representatives from national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines, and travel agencies.

At the roadshow, participants will take part in a wide range of activities such as collecting special publications and gifts from Vietnamese tourist destinations, drawing on Non La (palm-leaf conical hats), making To He (figurine toy), and enjoying performances put on by ethnic musical instruments such as Dan Bau, Dan Tranh, and Dan T-rung.

In addition, festival and cultural activities in Ho Chi Minh City in 2023, as well as new tourism products and services, will be introduced to visitors at the event.

According to Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Vietnam is among the top 10 favourite destinations for Australian tourists, behind some regular destinations including New Zealand, Indonesia, the United States, and the UK.

Vietnam Airlines is operating direct air routes to the majority of the other nine destinations that Australians visit the most, such as the US, the UK, India, and Indonesia, helping Australian travelers be easier to travel from Vietnam to the other popular tourist destinations worldwide./.
Justin Bruhl grew up in Massachusetts and worked in Boston for years before moving to New Orleans. Here, hes cooked at Compere Lapin and Maypop and started his Matchbook Kitchen pop-up at Barrel Proof, where he serves a primarily Asian menu Saturday through Monday. Hes preparing a five-course tasting dinner at Mister Mao on Wednesday, May 17. In June, hell do a collaborative event with Nashville-style hot chicken pop-up Daddy Hot Bird. For more information, visit @matchbookkitchen on Instagram.

Gambit: How did you get into cooking?

Justin Bruhl: I got into cooking when I was a kid. My mom was a really good cook. She was half Japanese and she took us to Chinatown and all the cool stores, and I knew what a dumpling was at a young age. I always had something in the back of my mind about food. I didnt think about it as a profession until I was in high school. Thats when it really started.

Almost all my professional career happened in Boston. I worked at Babbo, which was a Mario Batali restaurant. I spent a lot of time in the North End at a fine dining Italian spot. I spent four years with the Franklin Group, which is Citizen Public House and Franklin Southie.

When I turned 30, I moved to New Orleans for various reasons. I started off at Compere Lapin and was there for a year. I came in without knowing there was such an awesome pop-up scene. I knew it was more open than Boston, where you cant do a damn thing. That was one of the bigger reasons I moved. It was between Chicago and New Orleans. That was the very beginning of 2016. I drove through the blizzard that ripped apart New England to get out.

Gambit: How did you start Matchbook Kitchen?

Bruhl: I did my first thing for myself in Boston. It was a now-defunct startup where you would go on this site and click on what chef you wanted to come to your house and cook either a family-style dinner or a tasting. As a cook, youd put a prix fixe there. Youd need a three or four course menu and a five to seven course. People could click on the menu and your schedule. Id put up my days off, because I was a full-time sous chef. I got my feet wet. I was like, I can make money for myself.

When I came to New Orleans, I wasnt thinking about that quite as hard as having to re-network myself. When I started at Compere Lapin, they brought me to Barrel Proof for drinks after work. I saw there were pop-ups and they could do whatever they wanted. Thats where it started. I took the A.M. spot at Maypop so I could do that stuff as well.

At first it was one day a week, but it grew, and then one day I was quitting my job. I would also be at Courtyard Brewery. I did some fun lunch shifts at Coffee Science. As far as full time at Barrel Proof, that was a pandemic thing.

Now, I always have the fan favorites that I try not to change. I always have salt roasted, smashed and then re-fried potatoes. The crowd favorite is the onion dip. Its from-scratch caramelized onion and nori dip. It tastes like the onion dip you grew up with, with preserved seaweed. Its dank.

A fan favorite I can never touch is dan dan noodles. Thats as traditional as you need it to be, but with a little more sauce. I make it how 70% of Sichuan China makes it, and I dont think it should be changed. I get fresh noodles from the Asian market. I can do it vegan with mushrooms, which got some excited vegans on board.

The fried chicken and rice dish got me on the map. It used to be only General Tsos chicken, but now I try to change it two or three times a year. In the summer, I do lemon-ginger chicken. Ill use nice lemons and fresh ginger and float Sichuan oil on the top. Right now, its orange-sesame chicken. If there are satsumas around or nice oranges, Ill squeeze them and put that in there.

Theyre all made from scratch riffs on the American-Chinese dishes that you get when youre shitfaced in Chinatown at 3 a.m.

I do two at least one or two special things every month. Last month I did a steak tip night. I did an Italian night at Rabbits Foot, with fresh pasta. I found some ramps and did ramp agnolotti.

Hungry Eyes serves up sharable small plates and 80s kitsch The Magazine Street lounge and restaurant is from the team behind Turkey and the Wolf and Mollys Rise and Shine.

Gambit: What will you serve at the dinner at Mister Mao?

Bruhl: I have been thinking about doing a tasting since I started doing pop-ups. Sophina (Uong) reached out to me with her pop-up series. Its a fancier version of what I am doing. Its fresh pasta  everything from scratch  but elevated.

Anytime I put out a menu, its subject to change. Its ideas of where I want to go, but with pop-ups, you dont have purveyors at your fingertips. You might not be able to find ramps.

Snapper aguachile is two of my favorite things in one place. I had an ah-ha moment. Why cant this be a crudo? I love the flavor profile of savory Thai laab and other dishes like it. These are all things that would be great on raw fish  all the mint and toasted rice for crunch. I absolutely love raw bars. I am happy to do ceviche, but at a bar its a little tough.

That dish is a play on the flavor profile of laab with my favorite way of doing raw things, which is aguachile, because Mexico is one of favorite food destinations. Real Mexican in Oaxaca and beach ceviches.
Dozens of new anti-litter receptacles are being distributed in St. Tammany Parish and the rest of the state in a stepped up campaign to encourage a cleaner Louisiana.
Formerly incarcerated Bruce Reilly, Deputy Director of Voice of the Experience, helps read pages of names as Michael Cahoon and Katie Hunter help build a structure honoring over 1,500 people who are currently imprisoned due to non-unanimous jury verdicts, at the Promise of Justice Initiative in New Orleans, Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020. (Photo by Sophia Germer, NOLA.com, The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
Vietnamese Ambassador to Egypt Nguyen Huy Dung (Photo: VNA)

According to the local diplomat, Egypt was the first country in the Africa-Middle East region to establish diplomatic relations with Vietnam in 1963. Late Vietnamese President Ho Chi Minh set the foundation for the ties as he visited the North African nation three times between 1911 and 1946, with the Vietnamese Trade Office in Egypt being established in 1958.

The Vietnamese diplomat emphasised that the bilateral relationship has been increasingly consolidated and developed to reach new heights, with high-level visits made by their leaders in 2017 and 2018 witnessing the signing of a myriad of co-operation pacts.

The Vietnamese and Egyptian foreign ministries hold regular political consultations in order to share consistent views on regional and international issues, whilst closely co-operate within the framework of international organisations for the common good. Most recently, the two countries have supported each other at the UN Human Rights Council. In addition, the Government of Egypt and ASEAN, of which Vietnam is a member, have signed the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC).

Ambassador Dung said Egypt is one of the countrys most important trade partners and represents a market with huge potential in North Africa, with the two countries eyeing US$1 billion in two-way trade turnover in the time to come.

The countrys major export items to the Egyptian market include computers, electronic goods, components, metals, fibers, spare parts, means of transport, peppercorns, coffee, and vegetables. Meanwhile, the nation imports vegetables, plastic materials, fertilisers, and textile materials, among others from Egypt.

He went on to note that there is plenty of room for both sides to boost collaboration across a variety fields, particularly trade, culture, tourism, education, and people-to-people exchanges.

Locality-to-locality co-operation has also been promoted over recent years, said the diplomat. Vietnam's Ninh Binh and Egypt's Luxor have signed a collaboration and friendship agreement, while their respective capitals Hanoi and Cairo are in the process of finalising an agreement to sign in the near future.

The interview took place as part of a 45-minute programme that introduced Vietnamese cultural features, both nations strengths and potential for co-operation in politics, diplomacy, economics, commerce, culture, education, tourism, and people-to-people exchanges./.
State Representative Dodie Horton, R-Haughton, right, sits at the testimony table next to F. Randy Harper, senior pastor at Bossier City's Bellaire Baptist Church, as she presents to the House Education Committee her HB837, which would ban discussions of sexual orientation or gender identity for kindergarten and other students, Tuesday, May 3, 2022 at the State Capitol.
At the inauguration ceremony (Photo: VOV)

The school was constructed in an area of 4.8ha in Na Khoai village, Xaysettha district of Vientiane, Laos with a total budget of over 11 million USD.

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People's Army and Deputy Minister of National Defence Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Tan Cuong said that the project is one of the gifts from the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defence to its Lao counterpart with the desire to help the Lao army improve the quality of education and training of human resources to meet the national construction and defence requirements in the country in the new situation.

He emphasized that the school will help Laos train and foster children of ethnic groups across the country, making important contributions to building a prosperous Laos.

For his part, Deputy Minister of National Defence and Chief of the General Staff of the Lao People's Army Senior Lieutenant General Khamliang Outhakaysone thanked the Party, Government and Ministry of National Defence of Vietnam for supporting Laos in personnel training, especially training next generations of the Lao People's Army.

He affirmed that the project is one of the symbols showing the great friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and Laos in general and the two armies in particular./.
People queue up for customs clearance at an inspection hall of Horgos, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, May 10, 2023. Horgos, a major land pass in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has witnessed a robust increase of rail freight volume and highway freight volume.

According to the data from local frontier inspection departments, highway port in Horgos saw more than 20,900 commercial vehicles leaving by April 30, an increase of 62.3 percent year-on-year. As of May 10, Horgos Port has handled 2,715 China-Europe (China-Central Asia) freight trains in 2023, representing a year-on-year increase of 22.9 percent.

Horgos literally means a place where caravans pass, as it used to be a trading post along the northern route of the ancient Silk Road. (Xinhua/Hao Zhao)

This aerial photo taken on May 11, 2023 shows a hump yard of a railway port in Horgos, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Horgos, a major land pass in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has witnessed a robust increase of rail freight volume and highway freight volume.

According to the data from local frontier inspection departments, highway port in Horgos saw more than 20,900 commercial vehicles leaving by April 30, an increase of 62.3 percent year-on-year. As of May 10 in 2023, Horgos Port has handled 2,715 China-Europe (China-Central Asia) freight trains, representing a year-on-year increase of 22.9 percent.

Horgos literally means a place where caravans pass, as it used to be a trading post along the northern route of the ancient Silk Road. (Xinhua/Hao Zhao)

Police officers of the frontier inspection department of Horgos check an outbound vehicle at a highway port in Horgos, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, May 10, 2023. Horgos, a major land pass in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has witnessed a robust increase of rail freight volume and highway freight volume.

According to the data from local frontier inspection departments, highway port in Horgos saw more than 20,900 commercial vehicles leaving by April 30, an increase of 62.3 percent year-on-year. As of May 10 in 2023, Horgos Port has handled 2,715 China-Europe (China-Central Asia) freight trains, representing a year-on-year increase of 22.9 percent.

Horgos literally means a place where caravans pass, as it used to be a trading post along the northern route of the ancient Silk Road. (Xinhua/Hao Zhao)

A person queues up for customs clearance at an inspection hall of Horgos, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, May 10, 2023. Horgos, a major land pass in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has witnessed a robust increase of rail freight volume and highway freight volume.

According to the data from local frontier inspection departments, highway port in Horgos saw more than 20,900 commercial vehicles leaving by April 30, an increase of 62.3 percent year-on-year. As of May 10 in 2023, Horgos Port has handled 2,715 China-Europe (China-Central Asia) freight trains, representing a year-on-year increase of 22.9 percent.

Horgos literally means a place where caravans pass, as it used to be a trading post along the northern route of the ancient Silk Road. (Xinhua/Wang Fei)

A crane loads containers at a railway port in Horgos, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, May 11, 2023. Horgos, a major land pass in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has witnessed a robust increase of rail freight volume and highway freight volume.

According to the data from local frontier inspection departments, highway port in Horgos saw more than 20,900 commercial vehicles leaving by April 30, an increase of 62.3 percent year-on-year. As of May 10 in 2023, Horgos Port has handled 2,715 China-Europe (China-Central Asia) freight trains, representing a year-on-year increase of 22.9 percent.

Horgos literally means a place where caravans pass, as it used to be a trading post along the northern route of the ancient Silk Road. (Xinhua/Wang Fei)

A police officer of the frontier inspection department of Horgos checks outbound commercial vehicles at a highway port in Horgos, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, May 10, 2023. Horgos, a major land pass in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has witnessed a robust increase of rail freight volume and highway freight volume.

According to the data from local frontier inspection departments, highway port in Horgos saw more than 20,900 commercial vehicles leaving by April 30, an increase of 62.3 percent year-on-year. As of May 10 in 2023, Horgos Port has handled 2,715 China-Europe (China-Central Asia) freight trains, representing a year-on-year increase of 22.9 percent.

Horgos literally means a place where caravans pass, as it used to be a trading post along the northern route of the ancient Silk Road. (Xinhua/Wang Fei)

A police officer of the frontier inspection department of Horgos checks the inner conditions of an outbound train at a railway port in Horgos, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, May 7, 2023. Horgos, a major land pass in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has witnessed a robust increase of rail freight volume and highway freight volume.

According to the data from local frontier inspection departments, highway port in Horgos saw more than 20,900 commercial vehicles leaving by April 30, an increase of 62.3 percent year-on-year. As of May 10 in 2023, Horgos Port has handled 2,715 China-Europe (China-Central Asia) freight trains, representing a year-on-year increase of 22.9 percent.

Horgos literally means a place where caravans pass, as it used to be a trading post along the northern route of the ancient Silk Road. (Xinhua/Hao Zhao)

A staff member inspects a locomotive in a hump yard of a railway port in Horgos, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, May 11, 2023. Horgos, a major land pass in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has witnessed a robust increase of rail freight volume and highway freight volume.

According to the data from local frontier inspection departments, highway port in Horgos saw more than 20,900 commercial vehicles leaving by April 30, an increase of 62.3 percent year-on-year. As of May 10 in 2023, Horgos Port has handled 2,715 China-Europe (China-Central Asia) freight trains, representing a year-on-year increase of 22.9 percent.

Horgos literally means a place where caravans pass, as it used to be a trading post along the northern route of the ancient Silk Road. (Xinhua/Wang Fei)

This aerial photo taken on May 11, 2023 shows a crane loading containers at a railway port in Horgos, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Horgos, a major land pass in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has witnessed a robust increase of rail freight volume and highway freight volume.

According to the data from local frontier inspection departments, highway port in Horgos saw more than 20,900 commercial vehicles leaving by April 30, an increase of 62.3 percent year-on-year. As of May 10 in 2023, Horgos Port has handled 2,715 China-Europe (China-Central Asia) freight trains, representing a year-on-year increase of 22.9 percent.

Horgos literally means a place where caravans pass, as it used to be a trading post along the northern route of the ancient Silk Road. (Xinhua/Hao Zhao)

A police officer of the frontier inspection department of Horgos checks the inner conditions of an outbound train at a railway port in Horgos, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, May 7, 2023. Horgos, a major land pass in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has witnessed a robust increase of rail freight volume and highway freight volume.

According to the data from local frontier inspection departments, highway port in Horgos saw more than 20,900 commercial vehicles leaving by April 30, an increase of 62.3 percent year-on-year. As of May 10 in 2023, Horgos Port has handled 2,715 China-Europe (China-Central Asia) freight trains, representing a year-on-year increase of 22.9 percent.

Horgos literally means a place where caravans pass, as it used to be a trading post along the northern route of the ancient Silk Road. (Xinhua/Hao Zhao)

A staff member disassembles carriages in a hump yard of a railway port in Horgos, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, May 11, 2023. Horgos, a major land pass in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has witnessed a robust increase of rail freight volume and highway freight volume.

According to the data from local frontier inspection departments, highway port in Horgos saw more than 20,900 commercial vehicles leaving by April 30, an increase of 62.3 percent year-on-year. As of May 10 in 2023, Horgos Port has handled 2,715 China-Europe (China-Central Asia) freight trains, representing a year-on-year increase of 22.9 percent.

Horgos literally means a place where caravans pass, as it used to be a trading post along the northern route of the ancient Silk Road. (Xinhua/Hao Zhao)

This aerial panoramic photo taken on May 11, 2023 shows a hump yard of a railway port in Horgos, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Horgos, a major land pass in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has witnessed a robust increase of rail freight volume and highway freight volume.

According to the data from local frontier inspection departments, highway port in Horgos saw more than 20,900 commercial vehicles leaving by April 30, an increase of 62.3 percent year-on-year. As of May 10 in 2023, Horgos Port has handled 2,715 China-Europe (China-Central Asia) freight trains, representing a year-on-year increase of 22.9 percent.

Horgos literally means a place where caravans pass, as it used to be a trading post along the northern route of the ancient Silk Road. (Xinhua/Hao Zhao)

Workers unload imported foods from an inbound truck at a warehouse in Horgos, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, May 8, 2023. Horgos, a major land pass in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has witnessed a robust increase of rail freight volume and highway freight volume.

According to the data from local frontier inspection departments, highway port in Horgos saw more than 20,900 commercial vehicles leaving by April 30, an increase of 62.3 percent year-on-year. As of May 10 in 2023, Horgos Port has handled 2,715 China-Europe (China-Central Asia) freight trains, representing a year-on-year increase of 22.9 percent.

Horgos literally means a place where caravans pass, as it used to be a trading post along the northern route of the ancient Silk Road. (Xinhua/Wang Fei)

A police officer of the frontier inspection department of Horgos checks the credential of a train driver at a railway port in Horgos, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, May 7, 2023. Horgos, a major land pass in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has witnessed a robust increase of rail freight volume and highway freight volume.

According to the data from local frontier inspection departments, highway port in Horgos saw more than 20,900 commercial vehicles leaving by April 30, an increase of 62.3 percent year-on-year. As of May 10 in 2023, Horgos Port has handled 2,715 China-Europe (China-Central Asia) freight trains, representing a year-on-year increase of 22.9 percent.

Horgos literally means a place where caravans pass, as it used to be a trading post along the northern route of the ancient Silk Road. (Xinhua/Hao Zhao)

Editor: Zhang Zhou
Tourists watch a performance at the Datang Everbright City scenic area in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, April 25, 2023. Xi'an, a city with over 3,100 years of history, served as the capital for 13 dynasties in Chinese history. It is also home to the world-renowned Terracotta warriors created in the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BC).

The Datang Everbright City, a tourist landmark of Xi'an featuring a grand street with characteristics of Tang Dynasty (618-907), has a total length of 2,100 meters from north to south and spans 500 meters wide from east to west. (Xinhua/Liu Xiao)

Tourists watch an interactive show at the Datang Everbright City scenic area in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, May 8, 2023. Xi'an, a city with over 3,100 years of history, served as the capital for 13 dynasties in Chinese history. It is also home to the world-renowned Terracotta warriors created in the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BC).

The Datang Everbright City, a tourist landmark of Xi'an featuring a grand street with characteristics of Tang Dynasty (618-907), has a total length of 2,100 meters from north to south and spans 500 meters wide from east to west. (Photo by Zou Jingyi/Xinhua)

This photo taken on April 25, 2023 shows a float parade at the Datang Everbright City scenic area in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province. Xi'an, a city with over 3,100 years of history, served as the capital for 13 dynasties in Chinese history. It is also home to the world-renowned Terracotta warriors created in the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BC).

The Datang Everbright City, a tourist landmark of Xi'an featuring a grand street with characteristics of Tang Dynasty (618-907), has a total length of 2,100 meters from north to south and spans 500 meters wide from east to west. (Xinhua/Liu Xiao)

This photo taken on April 25, 2023 shows a traditional costume show at the Datang Everbright City scenic area in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province. Xi'an, a city with over 3,100 years of history, served as the capital for 13 dynasties in Chinese history. It is also home to the world-renowned Terracotta warriors created in the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BC).

The Datang Everbright City, a tourist landmark of Xi'an featuring a grand street with characteristics of Tang Dynasty (618-907), has a total length of 2,100 meters from north to south and spans 500 meters wide from east to west. (Photo by Zou Jingyi/Xinhua)

Tourists visit the Datang Everbright City scenic area in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, May 8, 2023. Xi'an, a city with over 3,100 years of history, served as the capital for 13 dynasties in Chinese history. It is also home to the world-renowned Terracotta warriors created in the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BC).

The Datang Everbright City, a tourist landmark of Xi'an featuring a grand street with characteristics of Tang Dynasty (618-907), has a total length of 2,100 meters from north to south and spans 500 meters wide from east to west. (Photo by Zou Jingyi/Xinhua)

This photo taken on April 25, 2023 shows a traditional costume show at the Datang Everbright City scenic area in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province. Xi'an, a city with over 3,100 years of history, served as the capital for 13 dynasties in Chinese history. It is also home to the world-renowned Terracotta warriors created in the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BC).

The Datang Everbright City, a tourist landmark of Xi'an featuring a grand street with characteristics of Tang Dynasty (618-907), has a total length of 2,100 meters from north to south and spans 500 meters wide from east to west. (Xinhua/Liu Xiao)

This photo taken on April 25, 2023 shows a float parade at the Datang Everbright City scenic area in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province. Xi'an, a city with over 3,100 years of history, served as the capital for 13 dynasties in Chinese history. It is also home to the world-renowned Terracotta warriors created in the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BC).

The Datang Everbright City, a tourist landmark of Xi'an featuring a grand street with characteristics of Tang Dynasty (618-907), has a total length of 2,100 meters from north to south and spans 500 meters wide from east to west. (Xinhua/Liu Xiao)

Tourists watch a performance at the Datang Everbright City scenic area in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, May 8, 2023. Xi'an, a city with over 3,100 years of history, served as the capital for 13 dynasties in Chinese history. It is also home to the world-renowned Terracotta warriors created in the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BC).

The Datang Everbright City, a tourist landmark of Xi'an featuring a grand street with characteristics of Tang Dynasty (618-907), has a total length of 2,100 meters from north to south and spans 500 meters wide from east to west. (Photo by Zou Jingyi/Xinhua)

Tourists watch an interactive show at the Datang Everbright City scenic area in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, May 8, 2023. Xi'an, a city with over 3,100 years of history, served as the capital for 13 dynasties in Chinese history. It is also home to the world-renowned Terracotta warriors created in the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BC).

The Datang Everbright City, a tourist landmark of Xi'an featuring a grand street with characteristics of Tang Dynasty (618-907), has a total length of 2,100 meters from north to south and spans 500 meters wide from east to west. (Photo by Zou Jingyi/Xinhua)

This aerial photo taken on Jan. 28, 2023 shows the night view of the Datang Everbright City scenic area in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province. Xi'an, a city with over 3,100 years of history, served as the capital for 13 dynasties in Chinese history. It is also home to the world-renowned Terracotta warriors created in the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BC).

The Datang Everbright City, a tourist landmark of Xi'an featuring a grand street with characteristics of Tang Dynasty (618-907), has a total length of 2,100 meters from north to south and spans 500 meters wide from east to west. (Xinhua/Liu Xiao)

This photo taken on April 25, 2023 shows a float parade at the Datang Everbright City scenic area in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province. Xi'an, a city with over 3,100 years of history, served as the capital for 13 dynasties in Chinese history. It is also home to the world-renowned Terracotta warriors created in the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BC).

The Datang Everbright City, a tourist landmark of Xi'an featuring a grand street with characteristics of Tang Dynasty (618-907), has a total length of 2,100 meters from north to south and spans 500 meters wide from east to west. (Photo by Zou Jingyi/Xinhua)

This aerial photo taken on Jan. 28, 2023 shows tourists visiting the Datang Everbright City scenic area in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province. Xi'an, a city with over 3,100 years of history, served as the capital for 13 dynasties in Chinese history. It is also home to the world-renowned Terracotta warriors created in the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BC).

The Datang Everbright City, a tourist landmark of Xi'an featuring a grand street with characteristics of Tang Dynasty (618-907), has a total length of 2,100 meters from north to south and spans 500 meters wide from east to west. (Xinhua/Liu Xiao)

Tourists watch a performance at the Datang Everbright City scenic area in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, May 8, 2023. Xi'an, a city with over 3,100 years of history, served as the capital for 13 dynasties in Chinese history. It is also home to the world-renowned Terracotta warriors created in the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BC).

The Datang Everbright City, a tourist landmark of Xi'an featuring a grand street with characteristics of Tang Dynasty (618-907), has a total length of 2,100 meters from north to south and spans 500 meters wide from east to west. (Photo by Zou Jingyi/Xinhua)

Tourists watch a performance at the Datang Everbright City scenic area in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, May 8, 2023. Xi'an, a city with over 3,100 years of history, served as the capital for 13 dynasties in Chinese history. It is also home to the world-renowned Terracotta warriors created in the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BC).

The Datang Everbright City, a tourist landmark of Xi'an featuring a grand street with characteristics of Tang Dynasty (618-907), has a total length of 2,100 meters from north to south and spans 500 meters wide from east to west. (Photo by Zou Jingyi/Xinhua)

This aerial photo taken on Jan. 28, 2023 shows tourists watching a lantern show at the Datang Everbright City scenic area in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province. Xi'an, a city with over 3,100 years of history, served as the capital for 13 dynasties in Chinese history. It is also home to the world-renowned Terracotta warriors created in the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BC).

The Datang Everbright City, a tourist landmark of Xi'an featuring a grand street with characteristics of Tang Dynasty (618-907), has a total length of 2,100 meters from north to south and spans 500 meters wide from east to west. (Xinhua/Liu Xiao)

Tourists visit the Datang Everbright City scenic area in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, May 8, 2023. Xi'an, a city with over 3,100 years of history, served as the capital for 13 dynasties in Chinese history. It is also home to the world-renowned Terracotta warriors created in the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BC).

The Datang Everbright City, a tourist landmark of Xi'an featuring a grand street with characteristics of Tang Dynasty (618-907), has a total length of 2,100 meters from north to south and spans 500 meters wide from east to west. (Photo by Zou Jingyi/Xinhua)

This aerial photo taken on Jan. 28, 2023 shows the night view of the Datang Everbright City scenic area in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province. Xi'an, a city with over 3,100 years of history, served as the capital for 13 dynasties in Chinese history. It is also home to the world-renowned Terracotta warriors created in the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BC).

The Datang Everbright City, a tourist landmark of Xi'an featuring a grand street with characteristics of Tang Dynasty (618-907), has a total length of 2,100 meters from north to south and spans 500 meters wide from east to west. (Xinhua/Liu Xiao)

This photo taken on April 25, 2023 shows a traditional costume show at the Datang Everbright City scenic area in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province. Xi'an, a city with over 3,100 years of history, served as the capital for 13 dynasties in Chinese history. It is also home to the world-renowned Terracotta warriors created in the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BC).

The Datang Everbright City, a tourist landmark of Xi'an featuring a grand street with characteristics of Tang Dynasty (618-907), has a total length of 2,100 meters from north to south and spans 500 meters wide from east to west. (Xinhua/Liu Xiao)

Editor: WXL
(L-R) President Joe Biden and Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) talk as they depart the U.S. Capitol following the Friends of Ireland Luncheon on Saint Patrick's Day in Washington March 17, 2023. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

A meeting between President Joe Biden and top congressional leaders that had been scheduled for May 12 to discuss the debt ceiling has been pushed back until next week, according to the White House.

The leaders were scheduled to meet to discuss lifting the debt ceiling in order to avoid a default on the countrys debt obligations before the June 1 deadline.

Staff will continue working, and all the principals agreed to meet early next week, a White House spokesperson told The Epoch Times.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told reporters that the postponement doesnt mean that talks with the president have fallen apart, confirming that the meeting had been rescheduled. He said there hasnt been sufficient progress for a follow-up meeting this week.

This is a positive development. Meetings are progressing. Staff is continuing to meet, and it wasnt the right moment to bring it back to principals, a source familiar with meetings told The Epoch Times.

On May 9, Biden met with McCarthy and other congressional leaders at the White House following a three-month deadlock over the debt ceiling.

We agreed to continue our discussions, and were going to meet again on Friday, Biden told reporters after the meeting, noting that until then, staff from both sides will meet daily to discuss progress.

The current limit on federal borrowing in the United States is $31.4 trillion. And although the nation has never defaulted on its debt before, according to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, that could change as soon as early June if the debt limit isnt lifted.

Everybody in this meeting reiterated the positions they were at, McCarthy told reporters outside the White House after the meeting on May 9. I didnt see any new movement.

I think the best thing that we can do is find places where we can eliminate waste, find places that we can grow this economy, and thats exactly what the House bill does.

In April, House Republicans passed the Limit, Save, Grow Act, which would cap federal spending for fiscal year 2024 at 2022 levels to help offset raising the debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion, or through March 2024. The 320-page bill seeks to restore discretionary spending to 2022 levels and limit spending growth to 1 percent per year.

However, the White House dismissed the Republican proposal, accusing House Republicans of proposing harmful cuts to veterans care, public safety, education, and more.

McCarthy has proposed a very different way forward, Biden said after the meeting.

Im not sure, he said. I dont think theyre sure exactly what theyre proposing.

However, Biden didnt rule out a short-term extension of the debt ceiling.

On May 10, the president pressured Republicans again in a speech in New York, calling their threats over the debt ceiling dangerous and meaningless.

If we default on our debt, the whole world is in trouble. This is a manufactured crisis, Biden said. America is the strongest economy in the world. And we should be cutting spending and lowering the deficit without a needless crisis in a responsible way.

When asked if Biden is considering delaying his trip to the Group of Seven (G-7) Leaders Summit in Japan next week, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on May 10 that the president is committed to going to the G-7.  But preventing default is the single most important thing on his agenda.

From The Epoch Times
Participants in a quadripartite meeting in Istanbul to discuss the future of the Black Sea Initiative with senior officials from Ukraine, Turkey, the UN and the Russian Federation on Thursday discussed, among other things, recent UN proposals, namely the resumption of operation of the Togliatti-Odesa ammonia pipeline.

"The meeting discussed (also) the longer extension of the deal, improvements at the Joint Coordination Centre for stable operations and exports, as well as other issues raised by the parties," according to the message of the Joint Coordination Centre (JCC) on the UN page.

Speaking at the meeting, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, congratulated the parties on facilitating the safe export of over 30 million metric tonnes of grain and foodstuffs from Ukraine since the beginning of the Initiative. He reiterated the importance of the Initiative for global food security and also recognized the important contribution of food and fertilizer exports from the Russian Federation in this regard.

"The parties presented their views and agreed to engage with those elements going forward. Mr. Griffiths stressed that the United Nations will continue to work closely with all sides to achieve the continuation and full implementation of the Initiative, in pursuit of their broader shared commitment to addressing global food insecurity," the report notes.

Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Restoration of Ukraine Oleksandr Kubrakov said on Facebook at the end of the meeting that the UN and Turkey, as signatories of the initiative, understand that it is critically important for world food security and must function stably.

"Therefore, at their suggestion, further consultations on unlocking the Initiative will be extended online," he wrote.

According to him, the Ukrainian delegation once again stressed that the grain initiative should be extended for a longer period and expanded.

"This will give predictability and confidence to both the global and Ukrainian markets. But, first of all, it is necessary to resume the registration of the incoming fleet and conduct inspections without artificial delays and in accordance with the JCC procedures," Kubrakov stressed.

The Turkish Defense Ministry on Twitter called the negotiations on the extension of the grain initiative positive and constructive. Earlier, Turkey noted that at these negotiations it would raise the issue of evacuating from Ukraine the ships and their crews under the Turkish flag that had been stuck since the beginning of the war.
The Healthcare Foundation of LaPorte recently helped feed the hungry across LaPorte County.

It provided a $10,000 Meat the Need grant to Hoosiers Feeding the Hungry, making it possible for the organization to distribute 4,500 pounds of food to local food pantries and soup kitchens.

The foundation arranges for hunters and farmers to donate game and livestock to hunger-relief agencies. The donation covered the expense of processing, packaging and transporting the food.

Citizens Concerned for the Homeless helped coordinate the deliveries, using a refrigerated truck funded by grants from HFL and Duneland Health Council to pick up thousands of pounds of ground beef in one-pound bags.

It distributed the food to 16 hunger relief agencies, including the Center Township Trustee, Community Food Pantry of Galena, Hudson, Kankakee and Wills Townships, Downtown Emergency Soup Kitchen at Michigan City First United Methodist Church, First Presbyterian Church, Faith City Assembly of God Church, Interfaith Community PADS, Kingsford Heights Food Pantry, Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church Soup Kitchen, Sacred Heart Food Pantry at St. Mary, Sacred Heart Church Food Pantry, Sand Castle Shelter for Homeless Families, Stepping Stone Shelter for Women, Supplemental United Food Pantry of Hanna, The PAX Center, The Salvation Army-LaPorte and The Salvation Army-Michigan City.

It's part of the Healthcare Foundation's Healthy Living initiative that addresses food insecurity in LaPorte County.

As we all know, the cost of food has increased. Add to that the ongoing supply chain issues, and what we see is that food pantries often struggle to get meat for the people they serve. We are proud to support the work that Hoosiers Feeding the Hungry does, and were so grateful to the team at Citizens Concerned for the Homeless for volunteering to make this tremendous delivery happen. Now the hard-working food pantries and soup kitchens in our community can continue to feed our neighbors, said Maria Fruth, Healthcare Foundation of La Porte president and CEO.
GARY  First-grader Yvonne Crowdner, 7, chose the book The Aristocats because its her favorite movie. Ditto for classmate Maverick Williams, 7, in choosing The Jungle Book.

School House Childrens Charity facilitated a free Mothers Day book giveaway Friday to help encourage early childhood literacy. Throughout the day, students and teachers in every classroom could select a donated book to take home.

Brian Andreshak, a first-grade teacher at Glen Park Academy, and founder of School House Childrens Charity, a nonprofit supporting and supplementing the basic needs of area young people, organized the event.

We are committed to building a future in which all children have access to comfort, safety and the learning tools necessary to support their education, Andreshak said. Our goal is to remove practical obstructions to learning caused by economic scarcity by building community resilience and fellowship that facilitates the sharing and distribution of these resources.

SHCC sources and donates winter clothing and books to public school districts.

Glen Park Academy has 600 students in kindergarten through fifth grade, and each student received an age-appropriate book. Younger students could choose from 101 Dalmatians or Lady and the Tramp, while older students could select the autobiography of Barack Obama, Star Wars or Harry Potter.

Students came by grade to the school library to select a book and read for a while. Volunteers helped students with their selections.

Students choosing their own book is a real benefit, said Mary Gerritsen, a retiree who taught 44 years at Marquette Elementary. I started reading a book to them, and theyd read it back to me. These kids know how to read and they were delighted to read to me.

Gleneva Dunham, president of Local 4 Gary Teachers Union, said the union held three book giveaways around Christmas, distributing 3,000 books to people and churches around the city.

This is special, Dunham said. This way every kid can get a book to take home.

According to research at Maryville University in Missouri, benefits from early childhood literacy can last a lifetime. Reading stimulates brain development, promoting social and emotional skills. Reading also reduces stress and symptoms of depression, and it lowers readers blood pressure and pulse rate.

Other sources, including Nationwide Childrens Hospital of Columbus, Ohio, found six lifelong benefits from language and literacy skills. These include building confidence and self-esteem, strengthening brain function, encouraging independent learning, improving attention span, enhancing cognitive ability and enriching communication skills.

School library paraprofessional Adele Mares noted, The kids are very excited. They get a book they can keep.

Bookmarks were also popular, Mares added, so much so she was running out.

Andreshak plans to donate leftover books to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Northwest Indiana.
VALPARAISO  Charles Trumble broke down in tears Friday, shortly before being handed what amounts to a life sentence for beating his 91-year-old mother to death on Feb. 23, 2020.

"I just want to say I'm deeply, deeply sorry," he said through sobs.

"I hope you can forgive me and don't hate me forever," he told family members. "I can't say any more, there's just not enough words."

Porter Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Clymer accepted the 63-year-old's guilty plea to a charge of murder but mentally ill and the agreed-to sentence of 45 years behind bars.

Clymer first required defense attorney Mark Chargualaf to establish the facts necessary for the charge, voicing concern about Trumble's claim last month to having transferred the soul or consciousness of Dixie Trumble to the afterlife.

When questioned by Chargualaf, Trumble admitted to taking action that ended his mother's life and said it was not an accident.

Trumble has said he beat his mother to death with a sledgehammer at the Portage home they shared because "he is about to be exposed for committing awful crimes" and wanted to shield her from the information, according to court documents.

He reported the killing, and officers arrived to find Dixie on her back in the living room with Charles on his back next to her with a cellphone in his hand, an investigator said.

A police officer who performed CPR on Dixie said he heard Charles say: "My mom was a distinguished woman. I am about to be in trouble for some really bad stuff, and I killed her so she wouldn't be exposed to it."

Valpo man given 10 years, labeled violent predator for repeatedly molesting 8-year-old, records show When asked if he thought the girl was making up the allegations, Kevin Herbert responded, "It certainly as hell does not sound like she is making things up," police said.

Medics arrived and continued giving care to Dixie until a physician was contacted and instructed them to cease their resuscitation efforts, documents state.

A short-handled sledgehammer was found on the floor near Dixie's body, police said.

Porter County Deputy Prosecutor Christopher Hammer said his office has been in contact with Dixie's family members and argued that the plea and sentence are "most appropriate," considering the facts in the case.

Clymer said he was convinced that Trumble carried out the offense.

"In reality what you did was brutally murder your mother with a sledgehammer," he said.

Mental health evaluations were done on Trumble and he claimed to have been suffering psychological effects from Lyme disease, Clymer said.
VALPARAISO  A 49-year-old Valparaiso man was sentenced to 10 years behind bars and labeled a sexually violent predator after pleading guilty to repeatedly molesting an 8-year-old Jackson Township girl, who came forward about the abuse as a result of a body awareness lesson in school, records show.

Kevin Herbert is also required to register as a sex offender upon his release from prison and have no further contact with the girl during his sentencing period, according to the order issued by Porter Circuit Court Judge Mary DeBoer.

Police said in January 2022 that the girl leveled the accusations against Herbert, who was a visiting family member.

Herbert, of Mokena, Illinois, initially denied the claims, saying he thought the girl was making the accusations for attention, according to charging documents.

"He stated that he felt for Victim 1 because she is the forgotten child," police said.

Herbert was charged with three felony counts of child molesting and one count of felony vicarious sexual gratification, court records show. One of the molestation charges, which alleges that Herbert penetrated the girl, carried a potential prison sentence of 20 to 40 years.

He pleaded guilty to one of the felony counts of child molesting in return for prosecutors dismissing the remaining counts, records show.

The abuse occurred between Aug. 6, 2021 and Nov. 29, 2021, official said.

The girl told investigators one incident occurred as she was under a blanket with Herbert while watching a movie in the living room of a house, police said. Herbert had claimed he was cold and put a blanket over them even though the girl did not think he was cold.

"Kevin did not speak about it when this was happening," the girl reportedly told investigators. "After the movie was over, Kevin pretended like nothing ever happened."

Porter County dad on phone with son in jail joins him after hit-and-run crash "John stated he was more worried about the damage to his vehicle and bonding his son out of jail."

The girl further accused Herbert of touching her inappropriately and having her touch him when they were in a pool and hot tub, a charging document states.

She described another incident when she was molested by Herbert while watching a movie in the home, police said.

When interviewed by county police, Herbert reportedly told them he would have his arm around the girl while watching movies and may have touched her bare stomach or her side.

Herbert was unwilling to call the girl a liar and when asked if he touched the girl as alleged, he said, "Not like that," police said. When asked if he could have unintentionally touched the girl as accused, he reportedly said, "Anything is possible."

"Kevin denied intentionally doing it, if he did," a charging document states.

When asked if he thought the girl was making up the allegations, Herbert responded, "It certainly as hell does not sound like she is making things up," police said.

"Kevin advised he wants Victim 1 to be OK, he wants to be OK, and he wants to 'put this behind us,'" Herbert reportedly told police. "He indicated that he doesn't know what to say."
CROWN POINT  Sophie breezed past the first metal can before firmly planting herself in front of the second.

"Good girl," Todd Bennett told the English Labrador retriever before giving the dog a treat.

At just 2 years old, Sophie is already a member of the Crown Point Fire Department. With the official title of "accelerant detection canine," Sophie underwent six months of training to be able to sniff out evidence at fire scenes.

Bennett, a Crown Point firefighter/paramedic and Sophie's handler, led an arson detection demonstration Thursday morning. He had Sophie walk past a line of three metal cans. The second can contained just a few drops of watered down evaporated gasoline. Sophie was able to spot it right away.

"She will not budge, you would have to physically pull her off of it without giving her a reward," Bennett told the crowd.

Sophie is the only active accelerant detection canine in Northwest Indiana. Crown Point Fire and Rescue was able to fund Sophie through a $25,000 grant from State Farm.

At the start of April, Bennett went to Maine for the State Farm Arson Dog training program. After a brief interview process, he was matched with Sophie; the pair trained together for a month, undergoing 12 and 14-hour days.

Bennett and Sophie are one of 87 active and certified teams in North America trained through the State Farm Arson Dog Program.

I became a firefighter to help others in need and working with K-9 Sophie takes that mission to a new level. While our work is fire-related, we will be able to see both sides of the call. In addition to putting out fires, we can also help catch those responsible for intentionally setting fires. Its a win-win," Bennett said in a Crown Point news release.

According to the National Fire Protection Association, municipal fire departments in the United States responded to an annual average of 52,260 intentionally set structure fires from 2014-2018. The fires caused an estimated 400 civilian deaths, 950 civilian injuries and $815 million in direct property damage each year.

Since 2019, Crown Point Fire Rescue has responded to 204 structure fires, according to a city news release.

The Thursday morning demonstration was held in part to highlight Arson Awareness Week, which is from May 7 to May 13.

Crown Point Mayor Pete Land said Sophie will serve as a "regional tool."

"Arson detection dogs are rare," Land said. "Not only will K-9 Sophie and Fire Investigator Bennett help the citizens of Crown Point, but we can assist the Region."

Bennett said Sophie and his poodle Tucker are already "best friends." Sophie is Crown Point Fire and Rescue's second K-9. Eleven-year-old Jake, who specializes in search and rescue, joined the department in 2013.

"As a department, as a city and as a community we're very passionate about dogs and what their capabilities are and Sophie adds to that," said Crown Point Fire Chief Mark Baumgardner Jr.

PHOTOS: Crown Point honors Fire Chief Crane 040822-nws-crane_1 040822-nws-crane_2 040822-nws-crane_3 040822-nws-crane_4 040822-nws-crane_5 040822-nws-crane_6 040822-nws-crane_7 040822-nws-crane_8 040822-nws-crane_9 040822-nws-crane_10 040822-nws-crane_11 040822-nws-crane_12 Gallery
"We want our community to know that we take any threat to the safety of our schools very seriously and will vigorously investigate any threats, and prosecute to the fullest extent of the law," police said.
One might expect paintings from the illustrious collection of the late magazine publisher S.I. Newhouse Jr.  by Picasso, de Kooning, Lichtenstein and Bacon, among others  to generate some fireworks in the art market.

Yet even with that provenance, the Thursday evening sale at Christies that kicked off the spring 2023 auction season was muted. Most of the 16 lots went for solid if predictable prices at, or just above, their estimates, for a total of $177.8 million. This may well be because the market has cooled in response to recession fears and spending sprees during the pandemic.

But it is also because every item had been guaranteed  essentially presold to buyers who had promised to pay undisclosed minimum prices  adding credence to the increasingly common lament that sales have lost the suspense that used to animate bidding in the room and make auctions exciting.

While they may dampen the sense of spectacle, guarantees are now considered a staple of the auction market, as they enable sellers to hedge their risk should consignments go unsold.
Jacklyn Zeman, an Emmy-nominated actress who for nearly a half-century played the role of the nurse Bobbie Spencer on the long-running soap opera General Hospital, died on Tuesday in Thousand Oaks, Calif. She was 70.

Her family said that her death, at Los Robles Regional Medical Center, came after a short battle with cancer.

As Barbara Jean Spencer, better known as Bobbie, Ms. Zeman was among the longest-lasting cast members of any soap opera. She first appeared on General Hospital in 1977 and was seen in nearly 900 episodes of the show, which since 1963 has centered on the lives of characters who work in a hospital and in the wealthy business community in the fictional New York State town of Port Charles.

Bobbie was originally a student nurse who had moved on from her past life as a prostitute and given up a baby for adoption in Florida, and who vied for the affections of a law student named Scotty Baldwin. She was the younger sister of Luke Spencer, played by Anthony Geary, another of the shows most popular characters.
On Thursday, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy approved a comprehensive strategic plan for reforming the system of state law and order.

Today, I approved a comprehensive strategic plan for reforming our law enforcement system - all law enforcement agencies and the prosecutor's office. This is a detailed document designed until 2027, Zelenskyy said in his traditional video address.

In particular, according to the President, it is now necessary to ensure such a system of guaranteeing justice and law and order that will meet the goals of Ukraine's rapid accession to the EU and guarantee the foundations of a new social contract, which are being determined now when protecting the state.

Every element of the state system  law enforcement agencies, first and foremost  must work in such a way that people really feel safe and secure, that people really feel justice, that it is guaranteed at the level of institutions by the daily work of those by whom people judge the state, he said.

Trust within the state and trust in the state are built on trust in those who act on behalf of the state. Law enforcement and the prosecution system are key to this, Zelenskyy added.

The Head of State also noted that it is necessary to ensure maximum security, freedom, respect for the law and the person in Ukraine.

And this is the answer to the question of what kind of Ukraine we are building after the war. A state that respects its people and is respected in the world. A state whose example of life is respected by everyone. The path to this begins now, he concluded.
The executive of Orange County thought that he had an understanding: New York City would hold off on sending buses of migrants to the town of Newburgh, N.Y., about 60 miles to the north, until some sort of agreement on the practice was reached. State officials appear to have been on the same page.

But then a worker from the Bear Mountain Bridge alerted the Orange County executive, Steven Neuhaus, on Thursday morning that he had seen a bus with New York police escorts crossing over.

The city had dispatched two buses of migrants. They arrived at the Crossroads Hotel in Newburgh just 15 minutes after the workers alert, and were met by protesters and supporters, as well as local police officers who had spent the night at the hotel.

Just hours before, on Wednesday night, Mayor Eric Adamss spokesman had announced a temporary pause in such transports.
WASHINGTON  The Central Intelligence Agency announced on Thursday that it would overhaul its process for handling sexual assault and harassment accusations in the wake of allegations that the agency had discouraged people from filing formal complaints or had mishandled them.

Members of Congress have begun investigating the agencys handling of assault and harassment complaints filed by female C.I.A. officers. Also, at the request of the Senate, the C.I.A.s inspector general has begun a review of how the organization processed complaints, officials said.

Lawyers for the women say the C.I.A. has used arguments about classification to make it difficult for women to get legal representation. The agency has also created roadblocks that have made it difficult for people to file federal complaints or get outside law enforcement to investigate the issues, according to the lawyers.

On Thursday, the C.I.A. announced that it had hired Taleeta Jackson from the Navys sexual assault prevention program to lead the agencys Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office. Dr. Jackson will be tasked with improving how the C.I.A. responds to sexual assault allegations, the agency said in a statement.
The News

Recent changes by the Federal Bureau of Investigation appear to have significantly improved compliance with rules limiting when agents may access communications intercepted under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, according to data from the bureaus auditing office.

In the year before the changes were enacted, about 18 percent of queries, or database searches, lacked sufficient justification or were improperly defined, according to the offices survey of a sampling. In a nine-month period after the changes, about 4 percent failed to comply with rules, the bureau said.

The study scrutinized queries of intercept data collected under two different programs. The first, traditional FISA intercepts, involves individual court orders that approve targeting people on domestic soil under a 1978 law. The second, so-called Section 702 intercepts, involves the warrantless surveillance of foreigners abroad under amendments to FISA that Congress enacted in 2008.

Why It Matters

The F.B.I. is trying to persuade Congress that it can be trusted with national-security surveillance powers. In 2019, an inspector general found that the F.B.I. had botched applications to obtain FISA orders from a court targeting a former adviser to the 2016 Trump campaign, Carter A. Page, during the Russia investigation.

The reason for its push is that Section 702 is set to expire at the end of 2023 unless Congress enacts new legislation to extend it. Lawmakers renewed it in 2012 and 2018, but it is expected to face steeper hurdles this cycle. Civil-liberties advocates who have long disliked the law have been joined this time by Republicans who share former President Donald J. Trumps hostility to the F.B.I. and surveillance.

While Section 702 surveillance is different from the type of FISA that the F.B.I. used to get court orders to eavesdrop on Mr. Page, lawmakers have conflated the two.

Background

After the inspector generals findings in 2019, the F.B.I. under the Trump administration instituted several changes, including by creating an Office of Internal Auditing.

Around the same time, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court was scolding the F.B.I. over findings that officials had violated limits on when agents may query Section 702 intercepts about Americans. They can only do so when there is a reason to believe the search will return foreign intelligence or evidence of a crime, but had sometimes done so for other purposes, like vetting maintenance workers for bureau facilities.

In 2021, the bureau further changed its FISA practices ahead of the expected legislative fight over extending Section 702. For one, its computer systems now exclude both types of raw FISA information by default when agents are searching various databases, unless they choose to include them. It also bolstered training about the rules.

A report last month said the number of identifiers of Americans  like a name or email address  used by the F.B.I. to query the Section 702 repository fell sharply as a result, from nearly three million in 2021 to 119,383 last year.

The new report, based on samples of certain categories, suggested that the rate of problematic queries of both types of FISA intercepts has also dropped sharply.

In a background briefing with reporters, a senior F.B.I. adviser, speaking on the condition of anonymity, characterized the report as important and significant. But some privacy advocates who want Congress to impose a warrant requirement before the F.B.I. may query Americans information in the Section 702 repository expressed skepticism that the recent changes went far enough.

Elizabeth Goitein of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law said that given the large total number of queries for Americans information, even a 4 percent failure to meet the standards means a a shocking number of violations.

Whats Next

The senior F.B.I. adviser also said the bureau intended to go further. The auditors made 11 recommendations to Christopher A. Wray, the F.B.I. director, who ordered the bureau to comply, the official said.

The changes include requiring F.B.I. officials to keep a contemporaneous record of why each query they make complies with standards, and to develop a system for continuous auditing of such queries.

In the meantime, as members of Congress debate whether to enact legislation extending Section 702, they are also weighing whether to also impose new limits on either or both types of FISA surveillance.
Mr. Lawler said he attended Mr. Bidens event this week to show that he was not shrinking from the challenge.

Im a big boy  Im not concerned about what is said by the White House press secretary or the DCCC putting out a statement that clearly was contradicted by the president just a few hours later, Mr. Lawler said in an interview, referring to House Democrats campaign arm. Theyre doing whatever they feel they need to do politically to try and win an election in 2024. He added that his goal in attending was to make clear his willingness to engage with, listen to, and work with Democrats to resolve the nations challenges.

Mr. Bidens campaign-style rally in the Hudson Valley on Wednesday was intended to ratchet up pressure on Mr. Lawler to break from his party, which has demanded steep spending cuts in exchange for raising the debt limit, and work with Democrats to avert default. It is part of a strategy by Democrats to weaken the negotiating position of Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who must either unite hard-right and more mainstream Republicans on a fiscal deal or risk defections by lawmakers like Mr. Lawler.

Just last week, White House officials were gleefully pummeling Mr. Lawler and the other 17 House Republicans representing districts the president won in 2020, repeatedly posting their names and headshots on Mr. Bidens official Twitter account and accusing them of advancing an extreme debt ceiling bill that would gut programs that help veterans and older people.

House Majority Forward, a group affiliated with the Democratic Partys main political action committee for House races, released the results of a poll in which they told respondents that Republicans including Mr. Lawler were threatening to default on our debt in order to force cuts to Social Security and Medicare. House Republicans have repeatedly said those programs are off the table in the debt-limit talks, but intentionally did not outline which other programs they would seek to cut, in an effort to avoid accusations that they wanted to gut popular federal services.
Four C-130 military transport planes towered over the tarmac at the international airport in Austin, Texas, idling with the doors open as the sun rose over a news conference called by the states governor, Greg Abbott. As Mr. Abbott began speaking on Monday at a lectern emblazoned with the words Securing the Border, about 200 soldiers from the National Guard hustled onto the planes.

For two years, Texas has engaged in a multibillion-dollar attempt to arrest and deter migrants who cross into the state from Mexico, deploying helicopters and drones; National Guard troops patrolling the border in camouflage; and state troopers racing down highways in black-and-white S.U.V.s. The state has bused thousands of migrants to East Coast cities like New York and lined the reedy banks of the Rio Grande with concertina wire.

But the number of crossings into Texas has only increased.

A new surge arrived at the border this week with the end of a public health measure, known as Title 42, that for the past three years had allowed the government to rapidly expel a large number of migrants. Before the order lifted at midnight, Texas doubled down on its response, not only sending more soldiers and police officers to the border but also pushing legislation that would impose new state penalties on migrants and human smugglers.
Anxiety about new arrivals spread well beyond the border. In New York City, immigration advocates held signs outside City Hall that said, Immigrants are New York, a day after Mayor Eric Adams moved to ease the citys right-to-shelter rules. Mr. Adams has said that the influx of migrants will cost the city more than $4 billion over the next two fiscal years.

This is just wrong, what is happening to New York City, Mr. Adams said on Wednesday.

In Washington, Alejandro Mayorkas, the secretary of homeland security, said officials were as prepared as they could be given the legal and funding constraints of an immigration system that he said still operated under outdated assumptions from the early 1990s, when migration was very different.

He said that more patrol officers, troops and Department of Homeland Security employees had been sent to the border. But he agreed on Thursday with Mr. Bidens assessment two days earlier that the situation along the border was going to be chaotic for a while.

Mr. Mayorkas said it would take time for the administrations tough new policies  including restrictions on asylum that have been condemned by human rights advocates  to serve as deterrence for migrants who were considering whether to flee from their homes.

Our plan will deliver results, Mr. Mayorkas confidently told reporters at the White House on Thursday.
KYIV, Ukraine  President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday that Ukraine needed more time to begin a counteroffensive against Russia because it does not yet have enough military equipment from its Western backers, though Ukrainian officials had repeatedly described the assault as imminent.

In terms of personnel and motivation, Ukraines forces are ready for the operation, Mr. Zelensky said in an interview broadcast by the BBC on Thursday, but they are still waiting for some promised hardware from the West, specifically armored vehicles.

We can go forward, and, I think, be successful, he said. But wed lose a lot of people. I think thats unacceptable. So we need to wait. We still need a bit more time.

Ukrainian military and political analysts said Mr. Zelensky was right about the continuing shortfalls ahead of an operation that Ukraine and its supporters hope will be a turning point in the war. But they also pointed to other possible motives behind his remarks: to pressure the allies to ramp up deliveries, to lower expectations for the counteroffensive, and to confuse the Kremlin about Kyivs intentions.
Finland is another favorite, with a demented entry, Kaarijas Cha Cha Cha, which is basically electronic body music, set in a glittery thunderdome. For Weir, who presents Peacocks Eurovision coverage, this all shows the daring tastes of Eurovision viewers. The fact that the oddsmakers think that Finland will do so well this year shocked me just because I didnt know if everyone could get behind that kind of wild, over-the-top character of Kaarija, he said in a recent phone conversation.

The competitions dark horses include Spain, which has not won since 1969; this year bookies are placing a few euros on Blanca Paloma and her song EAEA, which sounds a bit like Cocteau Twins experimenting with flamenco.

Who are the more surreal acts?

Its often countries most Americans would struggle find on a map that deliver Eurovisions most memorable performances, even if they dont necessarily make it out of the semifinal.

The response I got last year was just how impressed people were that there was an act for Moldova that had them standing on their couches and dancing, Weir said.

This year, the eye-popping numbers include the Austrian song Who the Hell is Edgar?, in which Teya and Salena sing about being possessed by Edgar Allan Poe, and Germanys outre mini-rock opera Blood and Glitter, by Lord of the Lost.

Competition for the most awkward Eurovision lyrics is close, as always, but lets give Israels Noa Kirel a nod of approval for coming up with a tongue-twisting rallying cry in her song Unicorn: Its gonna be phenomen-phenomen-phenomenal/Phenomen-phenomenal/Feminine-feminine-femininal.

Classic Eurovision poetry.
When Ukraine won last years Eurovision Song Contest, it gained the right to hold this years event. And despite Russias invasion, it insisted it would do it.

Ukraines public broadcaster issued plans to host the spectacle in the west of the country, out of reach of Russian missiles, while politicians, including President Volodymyr Zelensky, said the nation would make it work.

Even some foreign leaders backed its cause. Last summer, Boris Johnson, Britains prime minister at the time, told reporters that Ukraine won Eurovision fair and square, so it should host, regardless of the war.

Its a year away, Johnson said. Its going to be fine.

But Ukraines dream of staging this years Eurovision has failed to materialize. On Saturday night, the final of the glitzy contest  which is expected to draw a television audience of around 160 million  will take place 1,600 miles from Kyiv, in Liverpool, England.
There was a lot of conversation on our side of, Oh my God, shes writing this takedown of publishing, is it going to be a problem for Harper? said May Chen, who acquired and edited the book, and noted that parts of the narrative rang painfully true to her as a Chinese American publishing executive. Were like Wow, does she like us?

For Kuang  who at 26 has built a devoted following for her deeply researched and thought provoking fantasy novels  publishing a scorched-earth satirical takedown of the publishing industry was creatively and professionally risky. Shes keenly aware of how she has benefited from publishings hype machine, with its social media marketing campaigns and breathless book deal announcements on industry websites. At the same time, she has started to chafe at the ways in which she and her work have been promoted and sometimes pigeonholed as diverse.

I have participated in all of this, but Im also starting to get very tired of it, she said. Its not just people who think you dont deserve your audience or your place in publishing who will say, Well, youre only there because youre a token diverse author. You also get this rhetoric from people who are trying to support marginalized voices, she continued. I hate the feeling of being read just because somebodys trying to tick off a diversity check box.

Kuang, whose parents immigrated to Texas from Guangzhou, China, when she was 4, started writing her first novel as a way to reconnect with her familys culture and history.
The Presidents Office of Ukraine states that they did not contact the organizers of the international Eurovision Song Contest about the online performance of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy during the final or at any other stage of the contest.

"The information posted by The Times does not correspond to reality. The Presidents Office of Ukraine has not approached the organizers of the Eurovision Song Contest with a proposal for an online performance by Volodymyr Zelenskyy during the final or at any other stage of the contest," press secretary of the head of the Ukrainian state Serhiy Nykyforov said on Facebook.

Earlier, The Times published information that the President of Ukraine was allegedly denied an online performance at the Eurovision 2023 final because it contradicts the rules of the contest.
Crowds but not chaos at the border

Today marked the first day in more than three years that the Biden administration was unable to use pandemic-era restrictions known as Title 42 to expel migrants looking to cross into the U.S. As anticipated, the end of Title 42 spurred thousands of migrants to cross into the country, putting significant pressure on border facilities.

But so far, there has not been the unrest at the border that some officials feared.

It does not feel chaotic or like a crisis, my colleague Eileen Sullivan, who reported today from the border city of El Paso, said. Its certainly not the chaotic moment that had the Biden administration so concerned for so long.

But, Eileen said, the sustained flow of migrants into the U.S. remains at a level that the U.S. has never seen. About 30,000 migrants crossed the border over the past three days, overwhelming holding facilities. As of early Friday morning, the Border Patrol was holding more than 24,000 migrants, according to data obtained by The Times, in facilities meant to hold a maximum of about 18,000. I have never seen it this full, one shelter worker said.

To quell the surge, the Biden administration said that anyone crossing the border without an official appointment would be assumed to be ineligible for asylum. The border is not open, Alejandro Mayorkas, the Homeland Security secretary, said.
The China Development Forum, a high-profile, government-hosted conference with a whos who of international executives in attendance, was a moment for Beijing to renew its efforts to win over foreign businesses.

Businesses from outside China are not foreigners, but family, said Wang Wentao, Chinas commerce minister. State media reported that the chief executives of Apple, Pfizer and Procter & Gamble were at the forum, held in late March. Many of the dozens of business leaders there were on their first trip to China since the country had closed its markets to the world and derailed its economy with harsh Covid policies.

Mr. Wang pledged to remove obstacles preventing firms from investing more  2023, he declared, was Invest in China year.

The good will did not last long.

The recent targeting of consulting and advisory firms with foreign ties through raids, detainments and arrests has reignited concerns about doing business in China. Executives, whether at midsize manufacturers or large corporations, are exploring how to reduce the threats to their businesses and protect their employees.
His intervention echoes calls by the American Bankers Association, a trade group, which called for the Securities and Exchange Commission to act against market manipulation and other abusive short selling practices.

The S.E.C. isnt planning to ban short selling. But DealBook hears that there is growing pressure on the regulator to implement short-seller rules that were required under the Dodd Frank Act. Section 929X of the act requires the S.E.C. to adopt rules around the disclosure of short positions. The S.E.C. never fully followed through with that mandate, and there is some debate over whether it means revealing individual short positions or aggregate investments.

Proponents say this would add much needed transparency to the market, because other investors, the management of targeted companies and policymakers need to understand what is really happening when a stock is under attack.

Opponents say short sellers arent the real problem. They say disclosing who was shorting a stock would give companies a reason to avoid communicating with those investors, preventing important conversations. Theres always been a worry that if you had short-sale disclosure, companies would use that as a weapon to not talk to people, Jay Clayton, the former head of the S.E.C., told DealBook.

And, critics say, disappearing deposits are the real issue in the current crisis.

Asset values decline when buyers are not willing to pay as much as they previously were willing to pay for an asset, Chester Spatt, a finance professor at Carnegie Mellons Tepper School of Business, told DealBook. This argument does not depend upon whether short-selling is allowed or disclosed.
If one considers the extraordinary backlash that has hit Anheuser-Busch and its Bud Light beer brand over a marketing campaign with a transgender influencer, imagine the perils if a corporation puts its head above the parapet to express opinions of geopolitical importance. How business leaders should engage with politics is a vexed question, especially in these febrile times.

Do you quietly try to influence the government via your public affairs experts and lobbyists? Or do you make a splash by going public with political opinions?

Democracy and capitalism are supposed to go hand in hand. In theory, they are both about freedom to choose and develop both our personal and mutual societal interests. The rise of populism is testing this relationship.

Martin Wolf, the chief economics commentator of the Financial Times, argues in his recent book The Crisis of Democratic Capitalism that the two work best for business when each complements and constrains the other. The strengths of democracy are representation and legitimacy, while its weaknesses are ignorance and irresponsibility, he writes. The strengths of capitalism are dynamism and flexibility, while its weaknesses are insecurity and inequality.
China has ordered Tesla, the worlds dominant maker of electric vehicles, to recall 1.1 million vehicles, citing an issue with the acceleration and braking systems of certain models manufactured in China and abroad.

Chinas market regulator announced the decision after carrying out an investigation into a reported defect, according to a statement issued on Friday. The recalled vehicles include some imported Model S, Model X, Model 3 cars, as well as Chinese-made Model 3 and Model Y vehicles that were manufactured between Jan. 12, 2019 and April 24, 2023.

The issue involves the vehicles regenerative braking system, which generates electricity from the cars motion when the driver takes a foot off the accelerator. The State Administration for Market Regulation said in a statement that the cars might not provide a warning when the driver presses hard on the accelerator for a long period.

The defect could lead to increased risk of collisions, the statement said.

Tesla said it would fix the vehicles with a software update sent wirelessly to the vehicles, the regulators statement said.
It kind of reminds me of home, Mr. Marquez, 24, who is half Filipino and Salvadoran, said about the restaurant, especially when I saw the TikTok and all the Asian people speaking in Spanish.

Despite the new publicity, the biggest challenge these restaurants face is staffing. All of the cooks at La Dinastias kitchen are Chinese and have learned to make Cuban dishes over time. Many original cooks and waiters retired during the pandemic. Michael Lan, an owner at La Dinastia who has worked there for decades and is knowledge about the kitchen, is planning his own exit.

Ill be there for him, Mr. Lan, 64, said about the younger Mr. Lam. Im trying to hand him the baton. Hes really pushing it, and he will get there when I finally decide to hang up my shoes.

At Flor de Mayo, inexperienced cooks start off making dishes like lo mein and fried rice, and learn to serve food like lomo saltado from the chefs that have worked there for close to 30 years. But theyre getting old, said Marvin Chu, 40, an owner who operates the restaurants three locations with his brother and great-uncle. Our menu has over 100 types of cooking. For someone thats new coming in and looking, they get scared.
The Artifice Girl

Rent or buy on most major platforms.

Franklin Ritchs feature starts off like a taut thriller: a couple of agents, Deena and Amos (Sinda Nichols and David Girard), are grilling Gareth (Ritch), who has created a digital little girl to bait and catch online predators. Cherry (Tatum Matthews) has the appearance of an 11-year-old and her software is so sophisticated that, as Gareth puts it, she is almost completely on autopilot. Her behavior is so humanlike that a troubled Amos wonders if Cherry has feelings, too.

We reconvene with these four characters a few years later. Cherry looks the same but has continued to evolve. She has been created for a noble purpose, but her seeming realness makes the whole endeavor feel icky to Amos, who points out that if Cherry has evolved into near-sentience, then she would need to be asked to consent to her mission. She disagrees: You should disregard everything I feel, Cherry says. Im not human  Im a tool.

Another fast-forward and the aging Gareth is now in a wheelchair (in a brilliant casting twist, he is now played by Lance Henriksen, who portrayed one of cinemas most memorable androids in Aliens). We are in the last stretch and Ritch narrows his focus even further, so he ends up with a face-off between Cherry and her creator, as they discuss such weighty matters as agency, whats considered real, the importance of the physical realm, whether humanity can result from coding  and if yes, should A.I. get rights?

The Artifice Girl is essentially a three-act play but Ritch has come up with something uncommon: a movie entirely about ideas.
In his 1987 book, Bourgeois Utopias, the historian Robert Fishman pointed out that suburbia was at once the most characteristic product of explosive urban expansion and a desperate protest against it. Many policymakers and homeowners are, in effect, still living within that tension, in denial of the ways the modern suburb already reflects trends in domestic arrangements away from the traditional conception of family and toward a lifestyle and experience that feels distinctly metropolitan. In recent years, it has almost became a cliche for real estate agents to describe commuter towns outside New York as Brooklynish, even though the great virtue of Brooklyn is that nearly 2.6 million people live there, roughly half of them foreign-born, in apartment buildings.

Despite the pretenses we maintain, Mr. Fishman argued, suburbia is not static. Rapid growth in the 1940s and 50s fed the myth that suburbanization was an invention of the postwar period, when it had been part of the American landscape since the late 19th century. Unlike the Levittowns of 1957, these early suburbs were not as homogeneous, because the wealthy people who lived there were so reliant on domestic labor. In the absence of efficient mass transit, the difficulty of getting to these places from big cities meant that a certain amount of work force housing had to be nearby.

Over the past several decades, the phobia around density has run deep, whether a particular community is distinguished by its liberal affluence, barre studios and Alsatian restaurants or by a middle-class law-and-order conservatism. In a survey conducted last year, 63 percent of those living in suburbs said that they believed density increased traffic congestion even though the opposite is often true, given that greater density is typically accompanied by larger investments in public transportation.

The more vaporous claim that density threatens a certain way of life requires us to ask: What way? In 1960, during the high period of the ranch house, 44 percent of American households were made up of married couples with children. By 2020, that figure had dropped to 19 percent. During the same period, the proportion of households containing only a single individual more than doubled, to 28 percent. We treat the single-family house as sacrosanct perhaps out of a desperation to ignore that the primacy of the single family has itself receded.

Across the country, suburbs have become much less racially and ethnically monolithic. In 2010, the population of Nassau County was 66 percent white; now it is 57 percent white. There are vibrant Hispanic, South Asian, Chinese and Korean communities.
Daniel Penny, who while riding the subway last week choked Jordan Neely, a homeless man, to death, was arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court Friday on a charge of second-degree manslaughter, taking his first formal steps as a defendant in a case that has stunned New York City.

Mr. Penny, handcuffed and dressed in a dark gray suit and white dress shirt, stood straight and still before the judge, Kevin McGrath. He did not enter a plea to the charge, as he has yet to be indicted by a grand jury, and spoke only to answer the judges questions and acknowledge that he would next appear in court on July 17. He was released after posting bail.

The Manhattan district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, said in a statement that the arrest of Mr. Penny, 24, a Marine veteran, had come after many witness interviews, a review of photos and video and discussions with the medical examiners office, which had ruled Mr. Neelys death a homicide.

Jordan Neely should still be alive today, and my thoughts continue to be with his family and loved ones as they mourn his loss, Mr. Bragg said.
If Mayor Eric Adams needed a sign that his commencement speech to law students on Friday was not going to go well, the moment came even before he spoke.

As the dean of the City University of New York School of Law, Sudha Setty, introduced the mayor at a Queens College auditorium on Friday, she noted his time spent on the police force. The crowd booed.

When Mr. Adams took to the stage and began to speak, things got much worse. Many of the newly minted doctors of law, in black gowns and mortar boards, turned their backs to him.

There were more boos and heckles, according to video of the event, which was closed to the press, and according to two people who were in attendance. Even a couple of raised middle fingers, one person said.
Ukrainian forces likely broke through some Russian lines in localized counterattacks near Bakhmut, according to the report of the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) for May 11.

Ukrainian Eastern Group of Forces Commander Colonel General Oleksandr Syrsky stated that Russian forces retreated up to two kilometers behind Russian lines in unspecified sectors of the Bakhmut front. Syrskys confirmation of Ukrainian gains prompted a response from Prigozhin, who claimed that Ukrainian forces have started the counteroffensive and recaptured three kilometers of ground in and around Bakhmut, the report reads.

At the same time, analysts note that the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (MoD) acknowledged the Ukrainian counterattacks uncharacteristically quickly, claiming that Russian forces repelled eight ground attacks and three reconnaissance-in-force efforts in the Donetsk direction but denied reports that Ukrainian forces broke through the Russian defensive lines.

The ISW also informs that the deployment of low-quality Russian forces on the flanks around Bakhmut suggests that the Russian MoD has largely abandoned the aim of encircling a significant number of Ukrainian forces there.

It is reported that Russian forces conducted limited ground attacks northeast of Kupyansk in Kharkiv region and along the Svatove-Kreminna line in Luhansk region on May 11. They also attacked Ukrainian positions to the west of Huliai-Pole in Zaporizhia region and in Kherson region.
The push to saturate New York Citys subway with police officers last year was supposed to make the system feel safer after a sequence of shocking crimes rattled commuters and discouraged many from using public transit.

Months later, officials say the surge in police presence has yielded some favorable results: Ridership is rising and major crimes are dropping since the initiative intensified in October.

But after a passenger choked a homeless man to death on the subway last week, a familiar debate has emerged over whether more police officers are the solution to subway violence, especially when they confront people who are mentally ill.

The homeless man, Jordan Neely, 30, was shouting at riders in a train car when another man, Daniel Penny, 24, placed him in a chokehold and killed him. The killing has stirred outrage and divided city leaders and the public. Mayor Eric Adams has since been criticized not just for his reaction to Mr. Neelys death, but also for the aggressiveness with which he has deployed law enforcement and targeted homeless people in the subway.
Federal investigators leading an inquiry into Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey, the powerful Democratic chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, subpoenaed records this week from at least one longtime New Jersey mayor and state senator, Nicholas Sacco, several officials said.

The subpoena was delivered at about 6:30 a.m. on Wednesday, the day after a momentous election in Hudson County, a famously sharp-elbowed political proving ground in northern New Jersey where Mr. Menendez cut his teeth as a lawmaker.

The request for the documents made clear that Mr. Sacco, a Democrat who has served in the State Senate for 30 years and on Tuesday was re-elected to his ninth term as mayor of North Bergen, N.J., was not a target of the inquiry, according to his spokesman, Phil Swibinski.

Mr. Sacco will cooperate fully and provide any requested information, as he would with any law enforcement inquiry, Mr. Swibinski said in an email.
The gunman in last weekends massacre at an outlet mall in Allen, Texas  which left eight people dead and at least seven injured  wore a vest inscribed with the letters RWDS, short for Right Wing Death Squad, and had tattoos of a swastika and an SS lightning bolt insignia.

He was also Latino, a fact that has bewildered some people in the wake of this tragedy.

But Latino participation in extremist political projects has a long history in the United States, going back to the John Birch Society. And with the rise of digital organizing in recent years, Latino involvement in the far-right movement is in fact growing. We must understand the gunman in Allen within this context, or else we risk seeing him as a lone wolf rather than as a member of a growing and dangerous movement that will require focused attention to defeat.

One notable example of Latino involvement in far-right racist politics can be found in the early 1950s, also in the Dallas area. Pete Garcia was working with the South Dallas Adjustment League to prevent Black Texans from moving into the community. Mr. Garcia, a 26-year-old machinist, placed For Whites Only signs in the yards of white neighborhoods. Along with other members of the S.D.A.L., he menaced a white man who threatened to sell a home in a white neighborhood to a Black family, and he was indicted on a charge of bombing the home of another Black family who had dared to purchase a home in a white neighborhood.

Elzina Shelton, one of the residents of the house that was bombed, recalled: The smell was horrible. We knew it was dynamite. She added, We werent totally unexpecting it, knowing how racist these white people were in Dallas. Mr. Garcia was eventually acquitted.
For their part, Democrats do not seem eager to attack or undermine the legitimacy of the Supreme Court. Just a handful of Democrats in the House of Representatives called for Justice Thomass resignation after reports that he accepted lavish trips and gifts from Crow, and Senate Democrats have been careful with the issue. Theres been no attempt to subpoena either Justice Thomas or Chief Justice John Roberts  who was politely asked by letter, last month, to come before the Senate Judiciary Committee  and theres no indication that Democrats have the votes to pass anything like a meaningful Supreme Court ethics law.

Whats more, Democrats still speak as if they hold the Supreme Court in high esteem. They defer to its judgments and trust it enough to think that it could, with a little prodding, handle its own ethics issues. The goal of their questions and investigations is not to delegitimize the court as much as it is to shore up the courts legitimacy  to protect its standing in a world where most Americans take a dim view of most American institutions.

Republicans, in other words, are wrong; Democrats are not out to undermine the Supreme Court.

But they should be.

The problem of the Supreme Court isnt that its members are mired in ethics scandals (although they are). It isnt that its been captured by a network of conservative apparatchiks and right-wing billionaires (although it has).

No, the problem of the Supreme Court is that it is a powerful and unaccountable branch of government whose traditional role has been to protect the rights of property and the prerogatives of the privileged above all other concerns. And on those rare occasions where the court has worked for the interests of ordinary Americans  for workers, for Black Americans, for sexual minorities  it has been to either reverse previous decisions (such as Brown v. Board of Educations reversal of Plessy v. Ferguson) or free Congress to enforce the Constitution as written.
You can analyze these tendencies in terms of several different but mutually reinforcing patterns. One is distilled in the title of this Richard Hanania essay from 2021: Liberals Read, Conservatives Watch TV. Obviously, thats an oversimplification, since conservatives also dominate the talk-radio dial, conservative book-buyers can drive best sellers and so on. But it seems fair to say that liberalism has more of a print culture and conservatism more of an oral one, shaped especially by the rhythms of televised infotainment, with its celebrity hosts, its heroes and villains of the week, and its partisan cheerleading. (Not that the Democrats dont have their own partisan cheerleaders, but MSNBC doesnt shape the left in the same way that Fox News does the right.) It might also be fair to say (as Hanania has argued in a different piece) that conservatives simply care somewhat less about politics overall  or at least its more granular aspects  and therefore constitute less of a natural audience for deep coverage of the kind that sustains much of the political press.

Much of this is connected to class divisions: Our political-ideological landscape is increasingly defined by polarization between populists and meritocrats, the working classes and the professional classes, and the more the Republican Party becomes the party of less educated Americans, the more it naturally reflects more mass-market media consumption patterns.

But then its also influenced by the intellectual shift Ive written about frequently, where the political right has become the natural home for outsider narratives of all kinds, from healthy forms of skepticism to deeper paranoias. This means that even the subset of Republicans who consume the same media sources as professional-class liberals are more likely to read them through a strong hermeneutic of suspicion. And it means that the mass-media figures on the right who arent just partisan entertainers, who are trying to be in the ideas business, tend to be defined by an outsider or autodidacts mentality, where theyre surfacing fringe ideas and voices and consistently defining themselves against whatever the establishment believes. (Im thinking of figures as various as Glenn Beck, Tucker Carlson and the more unclassifiable but increasingly right-coded Joe Rogan.)

All of this creates a very different set of intellectual pressures than what you see at work in mainstream/center-left media. In liberal-leaning cultural institutions, as I argued last week, a mass audience is often the check on the more radical enthusiasms of the activist-academic core, and the great intellectual peril is an ideas-driven conformism within that core  a prison of ideological correctness where the doors are locked on the inside and guarded by would-be commissars.

In conservative culture, by contrast, the mass audience tends to be the source of conformist pressure, but the pressure is not so much to conform to a singular set of True Conservative ideas (we saw in both Donald Trumps ascent and Carlsons success how easily aspects of the catechism could be questioned) as to a set of television-ready narratives, tribal expectations, cults of personality and Manichaean readings of any given situation. And, crucially, this pressure seems to become more intense the bigger your audience gets, until one day youre entertaining Sidney Powell on your show because thats what the people want.
In 2003, a SARS researcher in a top biosafety lab in Taiwan, in a hurry to go on a trip, got infected when he rushed to clean a spill. He traveled anyway and then became very ill. Instead of informing the authorities, he self-quarantined. His father said the man wanted to die at home rather than bring shame to his lab and his country. The incident came to light only after the desperate father threatened to kill himself unless his son sought medical help.

In 2022, a lab worker conducting research on the new coronavirus in Taiwan exposed 110 people to Covid after she got infected when she removed her mask improperly  the blunder wasnt discovered until later, when she tested positive. Back in 2003 her supervisor had been infected with SARS in a lab. Science magazine noted then that this was a grim reminder, experts say, that the very researchers fighting SARS could unleash its next global outbreak.

Of course, a large majority of lab research happens without such mishaps. And scientific research is how we study dangerous pathogens. And obviously, weve had outbreaks and pandemics even before we got the ability to work with pathogens in labs.

But the abilities scientists have developed in the past few decades have increased the threat. In 2012, when some scientists published a paper titled Reconstruction of the 1918 Influenza Virus: Unexpected Rewards From the Past, about a strain of influenza that had killed tens of millions around the world, other scientists argued that any knowledge gained wasnt worth the risk or could be obtained more safely.

Biosafety also involves field research and animals at the labs. Scientists studying animals in the wild can carry back pathogens to their lab and the densely populated areas where they may be situated. A scientist at the Wuhan C.D.C., a few hundred yards from the market where the first known big outbreak of the Covid pandemic was detected in December 2019, was filmed in a video released that month about his field research on bats. The video showed him conducting fieldwork without full protective gear, even though he noted in the video that it is while discovering new viruses that we are most at risk of infection.
To the Editor:

Re Elite School Admits to Failure After Suicide of a Bullied Student (front page, May 1), about the Lawrenceville Schools reckoning with the suicide of a student last year:

Reading the article about Jack Reids suicide brought back unpleasant memories, as I attended the Lawrenceville School between 1968 and 1971.

I was a shy, timid and closeted  even to myself  gay man. Although I received a great education, and went on to have a successful career as a judge, my three years at Lawrenceville were some of my worst.

During my first year, I was called a homophobic slur in Spanish by a housemate, and another housemate wanted to fight me for no particular reason, probably because I was perceived as weak. The assistant housemaster sensed my unhappiness and asked me if I was OK, and, unfortunately, I answered that I was.

To deal with my unhappiness and loneliness, I would calm myself by shaking my legs and arms before I went to sleep, in addition to gleefully marking a big X on my calendar after I completed another day of extreme misery.
Tucker Carlson is taking his talents to Elon Musks Twitter. We should have seen it coming. The pairing, the peanut butter and chocolate of right-wing, edgelord provocation, makes perfect sense: Two great trolls that could troll great together, heaven help us.

Sure, what Carlsons Twitter show will look like  and whether itll be anywhere close to as influential or remunerative as the Fox News gig from which he was recently ousted  is an open question. But Id be lying if I said I wasnt worried. With his racist claptrap, including promoting hateful conspiracy theories like the great replacement, Carlson is a singularly malign media personality. As I wrote in 2019, Ive had a recurring nightmare that he might escape the echo chamber of Fox and become a much larger cultural and political force; Carlson is among the few people I can think of whod be a more dangerous president than Donald Trump.

Had he joined Newsmax, The Daily Wire, Rumble, One America News Network or another murkier corner of the right-wing mediasphere, Id have breathed a small sigh of relief at the almost-certain diminishment of his mainstream influence. But the bird app still affords Carlson a pretty lofty perch from which to spew his particular brand of hate. A sort of D.I.Y. internet show also gives him more creative freedom than he had at Fox; freed from network suits and possibly more insulated from advertiser boycotts, Carlson on Twitter could get away with saying things that would make the Fox News Carlson blush or at least make that scrunched-forehead, faux-dumbfounded face that is his trademark.

What Im saying is: Its not unreasonable to think Carlsons Twitter move could work awfully well.

It could also further tweak the meaning of show. That word once described the thing you saw on TV as you sat on your sofa. Now it means podcasts and YouTube series and Twitch livestreams. But what is a show by cables formerly biggest star on a site that was once known strictly as a place for microblogging? It could be a long video posted every day; it could be short clips posted all the time; it could be something like a Twitter Space, an interactive conversation with fans; it could be some new format entirely.
At the end of World War II, my mother, Phyllis McLaughlin, was sent home after weeks in a battlefront hospital tent, her legs wired and sutured together. She had tumbled off a mountain in the Bavarian Alps in a jeep accident that nearly killed her. Her scars were familiar to me, born 10 years later, but I did not understand that the wounds from her service would never heal.

Her nightmares woke us nearly every night, leaving her hoarse. She had inexplicable outbursts of anger during the day. A battered Army footlocker in the living room held her mementos, but my mother carried World War II inside her like a ghost. She had never been a soldier, but she volunteered to serve with the Red Cross Clubmobile Service and followed the troops into combat.

The Clubmobile Service was essentially a mobile social club for the battlefront. The Donut Dollies drove two-and-a-half-ton GMC trucks, three women to a crew. In the back of the truck: a galley with huge electric urns for making coffee and a doughnut machine, a record player, sometimes letters from loved ones to be delivered. My mother was trained to always be a friendly face, ready to listen, comfort and encourage. Which meant she and the other women were also direct and secondhand witnesses to everything that happened during that brutal war. I now recognize my mother was tortured by PTSD, her nightmares and outbursts classic symptoms of something she would never understand: After all, battle fatigue was for the boys.

I got a brief glimpse of what she survived when she took me at age 15 to see the film Patton. She dragged me out of bed and we marched to the bus stop to see the first showing of the day at San Diegos California Theater. I surreptitiously watched my mother laugh, smile and rock in her seat, weep and sigh as we sat through one, then two and finally three showings of the film. If it hadnt been getting dark outside, we would have sat through two more.
This transcript was created using speech recognition software. While it has been reviewed by human transcribers, it may contain errors. Please review the episode audio before quoting from this transcript and email transcripts@nytimes.com with any questions.

kevin roose Our Uber is going to get here in four minutes. casey newton Perfect. kevin roose And that will be my second Uber of the day  casey newton Do you Uber hear from your house? kevin roose  to the place where I catch the self-driving car. Yes. Do we want to share our ride and save $3? I personally dont. casey newton Can you imagine? Youre trying to get to work and two guys get in your car. And theyre like, were making a podcast. You would jump out of that car so fast. And youd probably sue Uber. kevin roose Yeah. Thats like the cursed version of Cash Cab. [LAUGHING] I thought I was saving $3 but I actually  casey newton Youre in the Cash Cab! [LAUGHING] kevin roose The Cash Cab. casey newton Youre in Cash Cab! kevin roose Oh, god. Someone is pitching that to Netflix. casey newton Yep. Its happening. [THEME MUSIC PLAYING]

kevin roose

Im Kevin Roose. Im a tech columnist at The New York Times.

casey newton

Im Casey Newton from Platformer.

kevin roose

And youre listening to Hard Ford. This week, Casey reports from Googles AI bonanza. Then we hit the streets of San Francisco in a fully self-driving car. And finally, Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt stops by to tell us why the autonomous vehicle revolution is taking so damn long. Casey, where are you?

casey newton

I am in a booth in the press area at Google I/O at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View.

kevin roose

And whats going on there?

casey newton

I mean, what isnt going on, Kevin? Did you even watch the keynote? [LAUGHING]

kevin roose

I didnt. I had a conflict. How was it?

casey newton

Well, people are milling around. Its a few hours after Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google, and recent Hard Fork guest 

kevin roose

Friend of the pod.

casey newton

 spoke, along with his colleagues, for about two hours and laid out everything that the company has been working on over the past year or so. Google I/O is their annual developer conference where they show off what theyve been cooking. And as you might expect, most of what they showed off today had a lot to do with artificial intelligence and how theyre going to try to use that in their products going forward. So compared to other years, this felt more eventful.

kevin roose

Yeah. I mean, Ive missed this years. But Ive been to previous Google I/Os. And its sort of like a combination product reveal and, like, party. Can you just describe the pageantry of Google I/O? Because it is a pretty big budget involved event.

casey newton

Oh yes. Its quite a spectacle. Theyve taken over the Shoreline Amphitheater, which is an outdoor concert venue here in Mountain View. Theyve filled it up with colorful tents and drawings. I wish I could tell you that there were, like, fire dancers or sword swallowers. But its  [LAUGHING] It is a tech conference at the end of the day.

kevin roose

This is still a corporate conference.

casey newton

Yeah.

kevin roose

So then I imagine, as happens most at these things, a series of executives come onto stage and make their presentations about the thing that they are announcing that day. So what were the big announcements from Google I/O?

casey newton

Well, I think the biggest one is just that generative AI results are coming to Google. So things that you might have been using ChatGPT for up until now, youre going to be able to start using in Google itself. So one of the examples they showed off was asking, Of two national parks, which one would be better for a family with children and a dog? And thats not something that you would normally ask Google, because the core Google search engine isnt good at parsing that many different variables. But this generative AI model that they have is able to say, well, of these two parks, you might want to go with this one because at that one dogs actually arent allowed.

kevin roose

Got it. So this is coming to Google search when and for how many people? And how drastically do you think it will change what people see when they go to google.com?

casey newton

So theyre starting small. It is going to be in the United States first. And it is going to be rolling out in the coming weeks. Theyre keeping some of the details vague, I think because they want to give themselves the flexibility to slow it way down if something goes disastrously wrong. But my expectation is that I will probably be able to use it within the next few weeks, and I bet you will too.

kevin roose

Wow. Yeah, what could go wrong? OK. Weve got this Google change to update its search results to have more generative AI answers. What else did they announce today?

casey newton

Well, I have to tell you about the thing that I thought was the coolest. Because I did have a moment where I basically wrote down curse words in my journal because I was so taken aback. Have you ever heard of Project Starline?

kevin roose

No.

casey newton

So this is essentially the fanciest Zoom you have ever seen in your entire life.

kevin roose

Im intrigued. Go on.

casey newton

OK. Do you remember the metaverse?

kevin roose

I have a vague recollection that in the year 2022 people were talking about something called the metaverse. Yes.

casey newton

Right. And one of the big ideas was what they called telepresence, the idea that people in your life, you would be able to interact with them in a way that felt very realistic. And the main thing about this vision, which was mostly being advanced by Meta, was that you had to wear a giant helmet on your head. You remember this?

kevin roose

Yes. We in fact did an episode where we actually wore these clunky VR headsets on our heads and did a podcast in the metaverse.

casey newton

You can actually go back in the archives and hear the episode where we have headsets on. OK. Heres why Im telling you about Project Starline. Imagine if you could have an experience that was 100 times better and you didnt have to wear a headset.

kevin roose

Im sold. Tell me more.

casey newton

OK. So I go into this demo. And you sit down in front of what looks like a TV, like, a big screen TV. OK. And it has little speakers on the sides and something on the top thats clearly some cameras. And right before I had gone into this booth I had met this man who works on Project Starline for Google and saw him in the flesh. And hes like, Im just going to go into my booth and youre going to go into your booth and well start talking. I was like, Great. I go and I sit down. And then this man shows up on the screen. And I am not kidding when I say the resolution of his face is as high as if he were standing in front of me. OK? So that was the first thing that was cool. The second thing he does, Kevin, he reaches through the screen and gives me a fist bump.

kevin roose

No. Come on.

casey newton

Yes. There is something 3D about this technology. And so you can  it looks like youre reaching through the screen.

kevin roose

No, no, no. Ive seen The Ring. I dont want anything coming through my screen. [LAUGHING]

casey newton

The horror movie potential is high. After he did that, he had an apple. He reaches through the screen and he shows me an apple. He starts turning the apple around. And Im moving my head around. And I can, like, see different sides of the apple. I am not kidding you. I have not seen a tech demo that I think was this cool in a super long time. Im all in.

kevin roose

Thats amazing. And it also reminds me of, like, do you remember the stories from when, like, motion pictures first came out? And people would run screaming from the theater because they thought the train was going to jump out of the screen and hit them?

casey newton

Yes!

kevin roose

You were the person 

casey newton

Yes!

kevin roose

 in the theater, running from the train.

casey newton

Completely. Completely. If you put a horror movie on this thing, youre going to traumatize people. It was so amazing. So, look, I mean, the technology  of course Im asking. Im like, how expensive is one of these rigs? Well, youll never believe it but they dont want to talk about it. But, you know, I was asking around afterwards. And they told me that the number one issue with getting this thing into more peoples hands is the cost. So lets just assume its like some astronomical amount.

kevin roose

Yeah. Your $5 million dollar fancy Zoom call is maybe not coming to an office near you.

casey newton

But they told me that they have given some of these to Salesforce, T-Mobile and WeWork. And they are testing them at Google. And they told me that right now theyre just trying to figure out, basically what theyre good for. And Im like, bro, theyre good for everything. Like, put it in my house now. This is how I want to talk to my family now and my friends. Im not even kidding when I say, like, you could have a beer with a friend on a Friday evening and you would truly feel like you hung out with them instead of having a Zoom call. It was 

kevin roose

Wow.

casey newton

Anyway. This thing was amazing.

kevin roose

I got to try this. I mean, between the fully self-driving car and the $5 million fancy Zoom, I feel like we are really living in the future this week.

casey newton

Truly, weve gotten a glimpse at some of the happier parts of the future, which is nice to do every once in a while.

kevin roose

But as fun as your fancy Zoom was, it is not, strictly speaking, an example of generative AI. So 

casey newton

No.

kevin roose

 bring us back to generative AI, which was the sort of focal point of this. What else did Google show off that it has been working on in some of those areas?

casey newton

Sure. So they have something called Help Me Write in Gmail. Its exactly what you think it is. You give it a few keywords of what you want to do. Its going to write your email for you. I think within a year lots of people are going to be using this to draft lots of emails. So.

kevin roose

And it happens right in the Gmail window itself? Or do you have to go to an app and write and then copy and paste it into Gmail?

casey newton

It happens right in Gmail. And then on the dorky side, they showed off this presentation that consisted only of slides. And they took the slides and they said, Write speaker notes for the slide. So essentially write the presentation based on the slides. Snap your fingers and it showed off a bunch of things. So think of how lazy you can be as an office worker now who has to deliver  you dont even have to write your own speaker notes anymore.

kevin roose

Right. I mean, I can see how this is all potentially very exciting and lucrative for Google. At the same time, some of these features have already existed in Microsoft products now. Is this Google playing catch up with what Microsoft has done with its products and generative AI? Or were there things that happen today that struck you as, like, oh, man, they actually are breaking new ground here?

casey newton

Youre absolutely right. Microsoft has been rolling out similar features in their office products. They call their set of features Copilot. Google is calling its features Duet. And there is a lot of tit for tat thats happening here. But the honest answer to your question is that my life is in Google products, not Microsoft products. And so this stuff is just hitting me harder. Because I look at this stuff and I already know how Im going to use it.

kevin roose

Another issue that we talked about, actually with Sundar Pichai is, like, Bard just didnt feel very powerful when it was released. By comparison to ChatGPT it wasnt giving people the kinds of answers and problem-solving abilities and coding abilities that ChatGPT and other generative AI products were. So did they talk about Bard at all at this event today? Are they making it smarter? Is it changing in any way? And do you think its actually going to be competitive with ChatGPT?

casey newton

Yeah. So a couple of things. Number one, they have added buttons, or I should say, they are adding buttons to this that lets you export the output to Sheets and Docs. And I know what youre thinking. Youre, like, Casey, that is the most boring thing youve ever said on this podcast. But Im telling you, like, this is the actual secret sauce of what is going to make this successful. The past six months have just been a Lollapalooza of copying and pasting. Everybodys going to ChatGPT and theyre generating text and theyre bringing it over to some other app. And the smart and obvious thing that Google did was said, hey, come use our thing and click one button and we will pre-populate a Google Sheet for you, a Google Doc for you. The second thing that theyre doing is theyre upgrading the language model that powers it called PaLM. And so PaLM has now gone from PaLM to PaLM 2. Now can I tell you on a query by query basis what thats going to mean? No. But in recent weeks Google has said a lot about how much better they think Bard is at coding challenges, at mathematics, which weve talked about in the past, as these models being really bad at doing. So it is improving over time. Their positioning that as a major upgrade.

kevin roose

OK.

casey newton

Wait. I want to make a point.

kevin roose

Yeah.

casey newton

Kevin, I read a super interesting story today in the information about where Microsoft is at with Bing. And theres a research firm called YipitData. And they told the information that Bings share of global search has grown 0.25 percent since it launched the new Bing.

kevin roose

Thats it?

casey newton

Thats it. Meanwhile, the OpenAI chat bot, which launched six months ago, already draws more visitors on desktop devices than Bing does. And Bing is 14 years old.

kevin roose

Wow.

casey newton

Now why am I bringing this up? This is Googles advantage, right, is youre already using Googles products. And so as the AI starts to creep into m I think theyre just going to have this tailwind that Microsoft doesnt, because people arent used to using Bing. Right. And so to the extent you want to think about this as a horse race, this is where Google really could not just catch up, I think, but pull ahead is that they just have the stuff that everyones already using.

kevin roose

Huh. Its basically, like, this idea that where AI is, is just as important as how good is is. Right?

casey newton

Absolutely.

kevin roose

Maybe more important. You know, I was of the mind, when these chat bots first came out, that all that mattered was the quality of the AI model. That people were really going to only use the state of the art thing that they had access to, and that you would want the most powerful AI. But I think theres a convenience trade-off to. Where if Im asking about something thats sort of the kind of question that you dont actually need the state of the art for, youre probably just going to use the AI that is closest to you, right. The one that is in your Gmail already or your Docs already or your Microsoft Word already. And youre not necessarily going to go shopping for the most powerful model that can maybe refactor a code base, but maybe thats not what youre doing anyway.

casey newton

Absolutely. I think the most natural home for all of this stuff is inside the tools, the operating system that youre already using. And I think Google realizes that too and theyre moving full speed ahead.

kevin roose

So one recurring theme that weve talked about on this show now for several months is this sense of panic inside Google about the generative AI arms race, and the fact that they are, by many accounts, behind OpenAI and Microsoft when it comes to getting these tools into peoples hands. Obviously they had their code red last year. But I also read a story this week based on a leaked internal Google document that was written by a Google employee. And it was called, We Have No Moat. And it was basically an argument that, despite all of the progress that Google is making, despite the fact that theyve invented a lot of this fundamental AI technology thats going into these products, this person, this Google employee in this leaked document was basically sounding the alarm and saying, we dont actually have an advantage here and neither does OpenAI. Because theres this third threat that we dont have a strategy for. And that is the open source AI movement. That basically there are these open source models like the ones that have been coming out from Stable Diffusion for images, more recently like the ones that have come out of Meta, the llama models and the spinoffs of that. And that basically these tools that people are downloading and running on their own computers, their own hardware, are rapidly catching up with the state of the art AI models from Google and OpenAI and other labs. And ultimately that Google is not positioned to stay competitive in a world where everyone can just download AI models and run them on their laptop. So how are you thinking about that threat, the open source threat after listening to this Google event today?

casey newton

Well, so that memo is super interesting and people should check it out. But I just fundamentally disagree with the person who wrote it. Kevin, are you familiar with Linux?

kevin roose

Yes.

casey newton

Linux is an open source operating system. You could probably install it on your computer right now. Except you wouldnt. And you want to know why? Because its a huge pain in the ass. And then after you install it, you spend the rest of your life wondering, can I install that on Linux? Is there a Linux version of that? That is the open source world. OK. So for the same reasons that I dont think Linux poses a threat to Microsoft Windows or iOS, I dont think that these open source models pose a threat to Google, at least not in the way that were talking about, right, for all the reasons that I just said. The underlying technology piece is a huge part of the problem that needs to be solved. Were seeing a lot of progress there. But theres also a product problem. You have to make something that is easy to use, that is pleasant to use. Right. And Google, by the nature of the fact that it makes these tools used by billions of people, just has a huge advantage there. Now, look, could someone come along and take a bunch of open source components and make an incredible new company that winds up challenging an incumbent? Yes, absolutely. And Meta, in particular, has released a bunch of open source stuff, which I think it thinks is going to benefit them hugely by just essentially helping people create a bunch of content that is going to populate Facebook apps. But does the existence of a bunch of open source models running around on phones and laptops mean that people are less likely to use Google search with generative AI? I dont think so.

kevin roose

Right. And what about this other threat that people inside Google have been sounding the alarm on for months now, which is the threat of releasing generative AI to the world before its safe and harmless? What did Google say today about the safety of its AI tools? And were you reassured that theyve actually done what they need to do to make sure these things are safe?

casey newton

Yes and no. Yes, they did talk about it. They talked about their responsible AI principles. It came up several times during the keynote. I was briefed on a few of these things before the event. And everyone I talked to made sure to talk to me about how responsibly theyve developed everything. But I do feel like, on some fundamental level, nobody really knows if its safe or not. You know. Theyve done their tests. Theyve done their red team exercises. Theyve tried to identify obvious misuses and to mitigate those. But at the same time I think that they know that once you give these tools to a billion people, youre just not going to be able to predict users behavior. So the approach that theyre taking is to roll it out slowly. And I do think that if there is some immediate, massive, obvious harm, they will stop the thing in its tracks and they will pull it off the market. But at this point, basically everyone I know  including I think a lot of high ranking executives at Google do wish that things would slow down a little, both to give society a chance to adapt to whats happened so far, and to give them a chance to just kind of see, OK, like, you can do this with this now. Is there some obvious harm that we missed?

kevin roose

Well, but theyre clearly not that interested in slowing down or they wouldnt be holding events and showing off all the generative AI theyre shoving into their products.

casey newton

Thats exactly right. Its a fair criticism. But at the same time, even us  both of us believe that very deeply. And both of us were also like, why is Google moving so slowly on this stuff? Theyre losing. [LAUGHING] Right? So everyone talks out of both sides of their mouth on this, I think, except for maybe some of the most diehard AI safety researchers.

kevin roose

Yeah. So Im curious, just taking sort of a step back at this whole event that youve seen today, what is the vibe there? Is it a company that was caught flat footed and is now mobilizing everything in its power to catch up with OpenAI and Microsoft? Like, what is the vibe of Google I/O this year? And how are you feeling? Have you changed your mind at all about where the company is headed?

casey newton

So I would say two things about the vibe. One is constant reminders that theyve been doing this for a long time. So basically everything that Google announced was prefaced by a statement that was something like, in 2017 we did this. In 2019 we released this. And the point that theyve tried to make is, we truly have been laying the groundwork. That, you know, you jackals and hyenas in the press who accuse us of being asleep at the wheel are ignoring the fact that weve been laying the foundation for years. So thats kind of the first thing. When it comes to the products themselves though, Googles vibe is a little bit more understated. Right. Theyre less likely to come out and say, were the most path-breaking, innovative company in history. Instead theyre going to tell you, we have made a thing that we think is really helpful and we cant wait to show it to you. So thats kind of the vibe. Theres a third thing about the vibe that  maybe this is more of a tech event thing than a Google thing, but it just really struck me, which is that every time something would be announced during this keynote there would be  somebody would, like, scream. Like Woo! Like at the top of their  just like outrageously excited about a development in a language model followed by laughter from everyone else in the audience. Like, look at this nerd. And its such a weird, kind of whipsawing between joy and shame. And you can really only find that at a tech event. Im just so glad theyre back for that reason.

kevin roose

Wow. This is like the tech reporter version of Coachella. This is good stuff. [LAUGHING] Casey, thank you for attending Google I/O on behalf of the Hard Fork podcast. Did they announce that they are renaming their chat bot Bard Fork?

casey newton

They did not. But Im told that Hard Fork is now available on Google Podcasts. So thats an exciting development.

kevin roose

Your $5 million Zoom call from heaven could never approach that level of excitement.

casey newton

Truly. [ELECTRONIC MUSIC PLAYING]

kevin roose

When we come back, self-driving cars made by Cruise are now running around the clock in San Francisco. So Casey and I hailed a ride in one to find out if the driverless car revolution weve all been talking about and waiting for for years has finally arrived.

kevin roose OK. Im going to open up the Cruise app. I want to propose that we go to a coffee shop called Rise and Grind. casey newton You know what? Thats so great, because I think no one exemplifies the rise and grind mindset more than we do. kevin roose OK. Its saying, can you meet us on Ashbury Street? casey newton We are on Ashbury Street. Were at Ashbury and Waller. kevin roose OK. Were getting picked up in a car called Banana Slug. casey newton They all have names? kevin roose Yes, I guess. casey newton You know banana slug is the mascot of UC Santa Cruz. kevin roose OK. Its giving me some reminders. It says, use your phone to unlock the car. casey newton OK. kevin roose Sit in one of the back seats, and cameras will record inside the car for safety and support. So no funny business. casey newton It doesnt say anything about horseplay hijinks? Antics? [LAUGHING] Are antics aloud? kevin roose I dont know. Unclear. casey newton So I should say, Ive never actually been in a self-driving car without a driver in the drivers seat. Have you? kevin roose I havent either. No, I havent either. casey newton Are you scared? kevin roose Im a little scared, although Ive heard that these things can only go, like, 30 miles an hour, which makes me feel a little better. casey newton Thats exactly right. And if we get in a crash, just think how good thatll be for the podcast. Can you imagine? kevin roose Oh, I think I see it. casey newton Oh, I think I see it too. Its white, headlights are on. kevin roose And its got two little, like, nubbins on top. Those are the sensors. casey newton Lets see if it makes a complete stop at the stop sign. It did. kevin roose OK. Weve got a car. Its pulling up. casey newton Hi. kevin roose Hi. casey newton Theres Banana Slug. kevin roose Banana Slut. casey newton It says Banana Slug. kevin roose We got a Banana Slug. OK. So now we have to go get in the car. casey newton Yeah. Its happening. kevin roose Theres no driver. Theres like a little Plexiglas partition like you see in taxis sometimes. casey newton Well, theyve anticipated the first thing that I wanted to do, which was climb into the front seat. But you cant actually do that in this car. kevin roose OK. So I have to buckle up before itll let me start. Good safety feature. casey newton Yeah. Theres like a touchscreen that we have to confirm that everyone is buckled up before Banana Slug will start moving. kevin roose I got to say, Im a little nervous. casey newton Yeah. kevin roose How is this going to go? OK. So now I just push start. casey newton Start this ride. kevin roose And its going to take us. OK. Lets cruise, it says. automated voice A few things to remember during your ride. Please keep your seat belt buckled. Always keep your hands and arms inside. For Cruise support, press the square button on the ceiling in view. To end your ride early, press the larger round button on the ceiling and well pull over. Enjoy your ride.

kevin roose

OK. And now were just going. Holy cow.

casey newton Theres a cute little tablet on the back that is showing us our route. It says were going to be dropped off in 12 minutes. We could  if we wanted we could play a trivia game or listen to the radio. kevin roose Do you want to do either of those things? casey newton I would like to play trivia and see whos better. OK. Number one  [LAUGHING] kevin roose We cant get distracted. casey newton And get into the rhythm when 10 questions about music. Which band did not originate in the Bay Area? Lynyrd Skynyrd, Green Day, or Jefferson Airplane? Obviously Lynyrd Skynyrd. kevin roose Lynyrd Skynyrd, Sweet Home Alabama. casey newton Yep. I think its funny that, like, within 30 seconds of entering the car you were like, I no longer care about the driverless car that Im in with no driver. I want to play trivia. OK. Every time Ive bet in one of these before, I think as with you, there has been a safety driver in the front seat. And there is something a little spooky about just watching the steering wheel turn itself. kevin roose Yes. casey newton Like it sort of feels like youre at the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland, you know? kevin roose Or, like, watching a player piano. You know? casey newton Yeah, right. Exactly. kevin roose OK. So were going downhill now. Were coming to a stop sign at the bottom of the hill. So were turning right. Were waiting for a pedestrian to cross the crosswalk. casey newton And this person probably has no idea that this cars driving itself. kevin roose Theres a  casey newton And theres a dog. kevin roose  man walking a dog. Oh, please dont hit the dog. casey newton Dont hit the dog.

kevin roose

Oh. Oh. OK.

casey newton Oh, wow. That dog just looked the car straight in the eye. I think on some level it knew. [LAUGHING] kevin roose Were not getting as many weird looks from pedestrians as I thought we might. casey newton Well, here  because these cars have been driving around the city for years at this point. And I think  I dont blink when I see one anymore either. Although it is true that often they do have a driver in the front seat and this one doesnt. kevin roose Yeah. Oh god! Were crossing the double yellow line. casey newton Oh wait. OK. That was super interesting. What just  OK. So we were sort of driving straight and the car just sort of veered into the left lane for no apparent reason. kevin roose Yeah. casey newton So that was a surprise. kevin roose Its going very slowly. casey newton Yeah. kevin roose And we did not hit anything. But that was a  casey newton It was like the kind of move you do when youre stuck in traffic and you want to peek out to see how much traffic is ahead of you. Like it kind of felt like that. kevin roose Yep. Yep. Yep. Or like a pothole that youre trying to avoid. casey newton Yeah. But, like, look at  do you see the steering wheel is like rotated all the way to the left for some reason? kevin roose Yeah. It is strange though that they have the steering wheel. Like  casey newton Yeah. kevin roose Because technically in a fully self-driving car, you dont need a steering wheel. casey newton Unless  can these things maybe be, like, remotely taken over by customer support? Like could the CEO of Cruise take over the wheel if he wanted to? kevin roose Oh. Oh god! Oh! casey newton Oh god! kevin roose We, like, actually just almost got driven into a sign. casey newton This thing just made the most erratic, sort of leftward squiggle into a median basically, and then quickly corrected. But  kevin roose Woo. casey newton  it definitely made no sense whatsoever. kevin roose Oh. casey newton Yep. This is a self-driving taxi. man I know. I know. casey newton Yeah. man Did you see that what happened, right? casey newton Yeah, how it swerved to the left? man Yeah. casey newton Yeah. man It almost hit. Im like, yeah. So you probably wonder. We bought that thing. casey newton Were going to. Were going to bring this to justice. [LAUGHING] man Yeah. Be here for me. OK? casey newton Yeah. OK. [LAUGHING] Thank you. That was a close one. This guys onto us. kevin roose I got to say, he had his kid next to him, like, in the passenger seat. And the kid just looked really jealous. casey newton He was so jealous. kevin roose He wanted to be in the car. casey newton How excited are you as a parent to never have to drive your kid to soccer practice in five years? kevin roose Honestly Im like, I dont know if my kid is going to ever drive. Like, hes young enough now. I would bet that he never gets a drivers license. casey newton Really? kevin roose Or that if he does its like a novelty. Its like doing, you know, equestrian or something. casey newton Right. Well, frankly thats for the best. I heard he just got into a huge tricycle accident. So  [LAUGHING]  Im not sure I trust him on the road. [LAUGHING] kevin roose You seem much more relaxed than I am right now. Im finding it hard to just sit back and enjoy the ride. casey newton I mean, I will say, like, this feels like the future to me. It just seems so obvious to me that was in a couple of years, like, people are going to be taking these taxis. Theyre never going to think twice about the fact that the cars driving itself. Theyre just going be on their phones. Theyre going to be playing trivia, playing the radio. kevin roose Yeah. I think for a lot of people they sort of gave up on driverless cars, or at least I did. Several years ago it was like all you could hear was like, these things are coming. Theyre going to be everywhere. And then they didnt. And a lot of the companies that had invested billions of dollars into developing self-driving cars sort of retrenched on those efforts. Like, Uber sold off its self-driving car division. Lyft sort of closed down its self-driving car project. Ford had a big investment in self-driving cars that it sort of shuttered. And so Cruise and Waymo, which is the thing thats spun out of Google, theyre really the last two standing in San Francisco at least. casey newton Well, I never gave up on self-driving cars for one main reason, which is, I just always saw them everywhere in San Francisco. In my neighborhood I see a self-driving car every single day, endlessly cruising around gathering data. And I just always believed at some point this is going to turn into a taxi. And indeed, here we are. Were in a taxi. kevin roose Yep. Thats true. casey newton Its going very slowly, due to traffic. kevin roose Yeah. Were in  casey newton We should say, were in rush hour. kevin roose Yeah. Were in rush hour in San Francisco. So things are crawling. casey newton Now do you have any way of telling Banana Slug to floor it? [LAUGHING] Yeah. You know, Im going to say, if Im getting this as a taxi, I want it to be going the speed limit and maybe even two to three miles faster, not six miles slower. kevin roose No. Im fine with this. casey newton Really? kevin roose Honestly, the experience we had a couple of blocks ago of almost getting plowed into the median, Im fine with us going as slow as this thing  as Banana Slug needs to go. casey newton Do you think it heard that guy and was like, oh my gosh, Im going to  kevin roose Wait. Why is it, like  oh, its turning. OK. Were turning. casey newton Were going right. We must be getting close to coffee. kevin roose It slows down for the speed bump. Thats kind of impressive actually. casey newton Really? Feels like that would be easy to see. [LAUGHING] kevin roose I love how this thing that we both had never experienced until 10 minutes ago, and now youre like, Im over it. OK. Now were making a left at a four-way stop sign. casey newton And once again  kevin roose Oh. Were doing a little game of, like, footsie with the other car. casey newton Yeah. Its extremely cautious at the stop signs, which I guess is what you want. kevin roose And we did just get a horrified glare from the person who just saw that  casey newton They are not happy. kevin roose  theres no one driving this car. casey newton Oh, theyre talking to us now. kevin roose So its saying its arriving soon. OK. Were here. casey newton Were here. kevin roose Im impressed. Are you impressed? casey newton Im impressed. kevin roose OK. casey newton Lets see if it lets us out. [LAUGHING] kevin roose Banana Slug, let us go. Please. It says you have to solve a puzzle before Ill let you  [LAUGHING] casey newton Answer me these questions three! [LAUGHING] kevin roose OK. Arrived at our drop off stop. Here we are. casey newton All right. kevin roose OK. Now it wants a rating. How would you rate that, one to five stars? casey newton Three. kevin roose Three? No. Really? casey newton It would have been much easier and faster to take an Uber. kevin roose You know, Im going to overrule you. Im going to give that a five star review. casey newton OK. Wow. I mean, were safely at our destination, and maybe I have low expectations. But thats sort of all I could hope for. kevin roose True. OK. Lets go get some coffee. glenn Sorry. ... been hearing you guys. kevin roose Yeah. glenn Seeing those things  casey newton Yeah. kevin roose Yeah. glenn  and theyre training. kevin roose Yeah. Were making a podcast. Can I interview you about this? glenn Yeah. Sure. kevin roose OK. So whats your name? glenn My names Glenn. kevin roose Glenn. casey newton Hi, Glenn. kevin roose And Glenn is sitting  a nice man sitting next to us here at the coffee shop. And Glenn, you were just saying something about self-driving cars. glenn Yeah. I used to be a taxi driver. casey newton Oh really? glenn Yeah. So I wonder how those are going to affect taxi drivers. Because theyre already under enough pressure from Uber and Lyft  kevin roose For sure. glenn  for years. I know when I was driving cab they really cut into our business. And it was hard to make a living. kevin roose Do you get, like, what do you feel when you see a self-driving car on the street? glenn Suspicion  casey newton Yeah. glenn  you know, in terms of safety factor. You know, Ive been driving cars for, like, 50 years. And the other day I was over by my apartment and I was crossing the street. And I saw one of these cars going to make a turn onto the street. So I thought, you know, Im going to stand in front of this thing. kevin roose You actually stood in front of the car? glenn Yeah. kevin roose To stop it from making the turn? glenn Yeah. kevin roose Why is that? glenn I wanted to see if it would stop. I left myself enough room to, if it didnt, to get the hell out of the way. casey newton Yeah. glenn But it did stop. casey newton Oh good. kevin roose Thats why youre here. casey newton Thats why youre here with us today. glenn Yeah, exactly. [LAUGHING] So I was impressed with that. kevin roose Well, were about to interview the CEO of the company whose self-driving car that was, Cruse. So what should we ask him, from a former San Francisco cab driver? glenn One, whats the expected impact on cab drivers in terms of making a living? Two, how is it going to impact the Lyft and Uber drivers? And many of those people depend on that income for a living. And I wonder how they intend to address that. And also, how are they going to set the rates? So Im real curious about that. kevin roose Yeah. casey newton Yeah. Its interesting to me to think that, sort of, first Uber and Lyft came along and disrupted folks like yourself who are driving cabs. But now it seems like the self-driving cars are going to come along and disrupt all the people who are driving these Ubers. glenn I know. It seems like its going to disrupt the cab industry. Its going to disrupt Lyft. And its going to disrupt Uber. casey newton Yeah. kevin roose I remember talking with the president of Lyft, John Zimmer about this, many years ago. Because I sort of asked this. Like, I said, like, what happens to all the drivers when the car is just driving themselves? And he says, well, they can do other things. Like maybe theres a self-driving restaurant and they can be servers in the self-driving restaurant that sort of help you get your food as youre driving along the street. So he had other ideas. glenn I think thats ridiculous. [LAUGHING] I dont buy that. That does not  kevin roose Oh look. Theres Wren. Theres another self-driving car. Theyre all over the place. Yeah. casey newton Sometimes I feel like they hear us talking about them and they like to swing over and check it out. [LAUGHING] glenn So thats basically my feelings about the whole situation. kevin roose All right. glenn So well see how it shakes out. kevin roose Yeah. Well see. Well see. glenn Im not diametrically opposed to it. But at the same time there is some serious economic impacts on other people who drive for a living. kevin roose Yeah. That makes a lot of sense. Well ask him about that. casey newton Thats great. kevin roose Thank you. casey newton What a stroke of fortune we bumped into you. kevin roose Yeah. glenn Yeah. Thank you. [ELECTRONIC MUSIC PLAYING]

kevin roose

Well be right back. [ELECTRONIC MUSIC PLAYING] This is our podcast studio. And this is Casey.

casey newton

Hi.

kyle vogt

Hey, good morning.

casey newton

Hows it going? Nice to see ya.

kevin roose

Kyle Vogt, welcome to Hard Fork.

kyle vogt

Hey. Thanks for having me.

kevin roose

So we wanted to talk to you because Cruise has just recently announced that youre are operating 24/7 in San Francisco. And we actually just this morning took a ride in one of your cars named Banana Slug.

casey newton

Yes. I dont know if that one. But 

kyle vogt

Ive seen Banana Slug out there on the roads. Yeah.

casey newton

Yeah, yeah.

kevin roose

What was the naming convention? Like, how did you decide on the names for the cars?

kyle vogt

I mean, one of our interns named one of the early AVs, like, for fun. I think the theme then was bird names. And that stuck. And so we really leaned into it and let people suggest names. And I have no idea where Banana Slug came from. But its not the weirdest one thats out there.

kevin roose

Whats the weirdest one thats out there?

kyle vogt

Id have to come up with a list. But people have a very emotional attachment to the first AV that they rode in. Like, Mary Barra, the CEO of GM, her first car was Tostada. And every time she comes to San Francisco shes like, hows Tostada doing? [LAUGHING]

kevin roose

Actually its been a rough few months. Shes out for repairs. We dont like to talk about it. [LAUGHING] Its a sensitive subject. So, Casey, what were your impressions of the ride?

casey newton

Well, I mean, overall its super fun. This was the first ride that we had taken in self-driving cars where there was not a safety driver. Weve each probably taken half a dozen or so rides in self-driving cars in the past but theres always been a human. And there is something amazing about just seeing the steering wheel turn itself. Kevin was sort of likening it to a player piano, sort of watching that for the first time. You know, at the time it made some herky jerky movements and it drove, like, six miles per hour slower than the speed limit. So we do have some questions.

kyle vogt

Yeah. And it did almost swerve us into a median at one point, which led the human driver on the other side of us to roll down his window and say, you guys should report that thing. So here we are reporting it.

casey newton

Yeah.

kyle vogt

You guys are hilarious. You are moving through San Francisco in a technical marvel that took you across the city with no one behind the seat, in probably half an hour or more, and you found three relatively small things to pinpoint. [LAUGHING] Meanwhile 

kevin roose

This is what I told Casey. Because he wanted to give it three stars at the end of the ride. And I was like, we got safely to our destination during rush hour in a car with no driver. Thats a five star.

casey newton

Im just trying to help them improve. But youre right. It is a technical marvel. Yeah. Yeah, we want to talk about that.

kevin roose

So first of all, I want to ask, like, what does it mean that youre operating 24/7 in San Francisco now? Because as we discovered when we were trying to set up this ride, its actually like, not everyone can just whip out their phones and start hailing autonomous drives.

kyle vogt

Yeah. So weve been rolling things out in phases. Our approach is  we call it envelope expansion where we operate in a small area. We basically have done the analysis. We believe its ready. And then we operate there. We check all the indicators. When everything is green, we expand it. And so this can refer to the area, whether its the full city or a part of the city. It could refer to the hours of the day or the number of people that we allow on it. So right now were operating 24/7. There are a small number of cars that are out there all the time available to employees. And then over the next few weeks or months well open that up to everyone else.

kevin roose

And how do prices compare right now to what people might be used to paying for an Uber?

kyle vogt

Pretty similar. And, in fact, if for whatever reason the AV takes a longer route, we charge you for what the route should have been.

kevin roose

Got it.

kyle vogt

Today though were pricing it at parity with rideshare as it exists. And we expect that  well, rideshare right now, its already about as cheap as its going to get. These companies have optimized it, and theyve found that basically the minimum amount of money they can pay the drivers to keep drivers on the road. But thats limited by the cost of a human wage. Self-driving cars dont have the human. So as we drop the cost of the technology and the cost of operating these cars and increase the size of the fleet so it gets more efficient, we can get way, way, way below the cost of what exists today. And we also know from the data that people who use rideshare are very price sensitive. They want to save a buck on that ride.

kevin roose

Yeah.

kyle vogt

What that means is when you drop the cost a little bit, the number of people using rideshare as their primary mode of transportation is going to go up, which were excited about, because I think it helps with congestion and traffic in cities.

kevin roose

So the last time I really paid attention, close attention to the self-driving car market was in 2017, 2018. At the time there was a huge wave of sort of hype and excitement about driverless cars. Uber was investing tons of money into it. Lyft was telling people that rolling restaurants, you know, self-driving hospitality vehicles were just a couple of years away. You know. And Casey and I both went on a number of rides at that time. And the line that we got then was like, yes, they only work on a predetermined route during certain hours now. But just wait a couple of years. Theyll be everywhere. So we waited a couple of years. And with the exception of a couple cities, theyre not everywhere. So what happened between, lets say, five years ago and now to make you convinced that these vehicles are ready for prime time? Is it some technical breakthrough that made them safer and more reliable? Or is it just that youve had more time to kind of work out some of the kinks?

kyle vogt

I want to answer that in two ways. First of all, they are scaling up rapidly and appearing in more cities now. Like, thats starting to happen. And so were on the verge of that rapid scale. We launched two new cities last year. Theres going to be a lot more big announcements in news on expansion this year. So why did that just happen now instead of five years ago? Two things. First of all, when you have a person behind the wheel and theyre in charge of taking over in all those tricky edge cases, the last one percent of the problem where the system isnt ready, 99 percent of the time it feels like its done. And so you can take an investor or a potential partner or someone on those rides and theyre like, oh, this is here. We need to invest now. Like, throw all the money at it. And that went crazy. It was like a gold rush, like maybe like crypto a couple of years ago or probably like AI and large language models right now.

kevin roose

Yeah.

kyle vogt

Maybe people are a little more excited about that than they should be. And then the rest of the time between then and now was the hard work to continuously grind away at those edge cases, that last one percent of the problem until you can safely remove that human out of the car. And thats just what it took.

kevin roose

So it really was mostly a data collection issue then.

kyle vogt

Data collection was a piece of it. But theres just a lot of engineering challenges that go into things like, what if someone leaves a car door open after they get dropped off? Or, like, what happens if the lane markers have been repainted and theres a police officer waving around traffic? Whats the car supposed to do? Like, these things that dont happen that often, but when they do, the car just cant sit there. You actually have to find a way through it.

kevin roose

So wait, what does happen if somebody doesnt close the door at the end of a ride?

kyle vogt

We just launched this last week. We have auto-closing doors.

kevin roose

Nice.

kyle vogt

So the doors will just like  someone logs in with a camera. When the vehicle says, hey, my door is open, they check that the coast is clear and then the door will slam shut.

kevin roose

What other things did you see in your testing? What other edge cases have you seen that maybe threw you for a loop or caught you by surprise?

kyle vogt

Yeah. So, I mean, theres a lot of things that are weird, like situations. We see sideshows in San Francisco when people will block down an intersection and just do donuts in the middle of an intersection. Didnt have that in our test cases early on. Right. Had to think through that. A lot of stuff with swarms of people rollerblading in the street or segues or bikes. But that stuff, in a way, is kind of expected. Like youd expect a large city to have a diversity of stuff, including some weird things. What I didnt see coming is that a lot of people would essentially risk their lives and try jumping in front of a moving car to see if its going to stop.

casey newton

We literally talked to someone today who did this.

kevin roose

Yes. We were at a coffee shop and there was this guy there who heard us talking about self-driving cars. And he says, oh, Im a retired cab driver in San Francisco, and starts telling us about how he once jumped in front of a self-driving car just to see if it would stop.

casey newton

And great news, it stopped.

kyle vogt

Yeah. I mean, its terrifying to me. Because we want to improve road safety, not create situations where people are creating new opportunities for themselves to get hurt. So I hope that this is a short lived thing and that we all understand that these cars are going to stop and dont need to be being reckless like that.

casey newton

Have you ever thought about just, like, putting like some sort of device that shoots a beanbag at people if theyre 

kyle vogt

We thought about water guns.

casey newton

Yeah. [LAUGHING]

kyle vogt

Maybe those, like, exploding ink things.

casey newton

Yes! Like if youre trying to rob a bank. Ill tell you, if that happened to you, thatd be the last time you ever mess with a Cruise robotaxi. [LAUGHING]

kevin roose

I want to ask a series of questions about safety. Because I think this is first and foremost on peoples minds. And in San Francisco most of the rides, maybe the vast majority of rides go off without a hitch. But there have been some incidents. Earlier this year officials in San Francisco sent letters to state regulators asking them to either halt or slow the expansion of Cruise and Waymo because some of the cars had blocked traffic or gotten in the way of emergency vehicles. How do these incidents affect public support for driverless cars?

kyle vogt

You know, when there arent that many driverless cars, and the only thing you hear about are these relatively rare incidents. Remember, weve gone almost two million driverless miles at this point. On a typical night well do 1,000 rides for people. Theres a lot of stuff happening without incident. But when we do have a stumble or a misstep well apologize for that. Or if appropriate well do a recall and inform members of the public about what we changed to improve these systems. And so, if thats the only thing you hear about, I think thats going to slow things back. But on the other hand, at this point we have tens of thousands of people who have ridden in this and are starting to question, OK, is this whats happening all the time? Or is this sort of the rare events that get sensationalized and picked up and get lots of coverage? And our view is that over time I think people will start to see more that these things do happen, but theyre rare. And I think more importantly, were starting to see evidence that the presence of these vehicles on the road actually is having a positive impact on road safety. And thats priority number one for us.

kevin roose

These cars  not on our ride thankfully, but in some cases they are making very high stakes decisions. Like, do you swerve out of the way of an oncoming car if it means swerving into another car? If it means choosing between hurting one passenger or maybe the driver of a different car? So this is the classic trolley problem where you have to decide who to run over in a hypothetical trolley. But youre actually dealing with a real version of this with your car. So is there any programming in your cars that has to make decisions about which humans to protect in the event of an accident and which not to? How are you approaching these more philosophical debates that you actually have to then build into real products?

kyle vogt

So, a fair question. Its not one weve seen yet in two million miles of driverless operation or in the several million that we did in testing before we went driverless. But I accept that it is a possibility. Right now we program based on trying to minimize injury on the road. And so that generally means we want to give more space to pedestrians and vulnerable road users, even if that means getting closer to a vehicle. And thats because occupants in a vehicle generally have better protection mechanisms, like airbags and seatbelts and other things, than people on the road. So thats a good starting point. And that generally has led to good performance and good decision-making. We have not  because there hasnt been a need to engage in these ethical philosophical debates on if you are in this situation where its equally necessary to go one way or the other, which one are you going to do, which lever are you going to pull? Because the reality is, in almost all the situations weve come across so far, theres a clear choice that you can make that minimizes risk of injury. And it hasnt really been a choice that we need to make. But what I think people should know is that were using all the best research that exists to try to make these cars as safe as they can be on the road, recognizing that there are situations where there will be collisions, and its unavoidable.

kevin roose

One of the things that Ive been struggling with is figuring out what our societal fault tolerance is for self-driving cars. I think if you had asked me 10 years ago, you know, when will society accept self-driving cars, I think I would have said, they just need to be safer on average than human drivers. Right. If they cause a few fewer crashes or fatalities every year then society will say thats a good thing. It seems like, from the evidence we have so far, like, its actually got to be much better than a human for society to say, OK, I want to get into that thing. How do you think about societys, sort of fault tolerance for driverless cars. And does a self-driving car need to be 100 times safer than a human driver before we will feel safe all riding in them every day?

kyle vogt

Yeah, look. I think its a really interesting philosophical debate. And Ill tell you, theres a bunch of different lenses to try to look through to come up with an answer. One is, what do our federal safety regulators look at? And when it comes to any new technology, theyre looking for unreasonable risk and aggregate improvement on road safety. Even our Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg, was out there saying exactly the problem you highlighted. Like, even if robots do result in far fewer people dying on our roadways, even a small number of them is going to have people go nuts. And I guess the last way to look at it is, if you forget the fact that there is no person in the car, but think about it like segmenting different groups of the population, old drivers from young drivers or other things, like, if old drivers are 50 percent worse than new drivers, how do we feel about that? And I think the same could be said for just a different category or grouping of drivers. So I think where were going to land on this is that we want safer roads. And its a really interesting thing to talk about now when humans and robots are maybe relatively close in performance. But over the next couple of years, given the rate of improvement that these systems have had  talking about five years ago they werent ready yet now theyre out there and scaling. I think this is going to be a conversation thats in the rearview mirror. Because theyre going to be so much better than humans and were not even going to have this debate.

kevin roose

And when do you say rearview mirror, is that kind of a self-driving car joke, or?

kyle vogt

That was a good automotive pun. I have too many of those programmed into my head right now. [LAUGHING]

casey newton

Kyle, I have to say, like, I disagree with you. Because I think that the minute that Kyle can get me across town for $3, like, Im not looking at the safety report for a Cruise. Im saying, that is the cheapest way to get from point A to point B. And if the thing shows up with three wheels Im still getting inside because itll probably be fine. Dont you think most people are going to be that way?

kevin roose

I dont know. If you got on a plane and there was no pivot in the cockpit, even if you knew intellectually that plane is just as safe as a human sitting in the cockpit 

casey newton

Yeah.

kevin roose

I think youre still thinking twice about getting on that plane.

casey newton

Well, it is different for me because I have been driving in these things for admittedly only a handful of times. But because its gone back so far in my mind now that it weirdly has lost the novelty a bit. Which as you sort of alluded to earlier is an incredible moment, right, just in the history of technology that a thing that is driving itself feels a little bit boring. But I truly think that after you take your first self-driving car taxi and its basically fine, youre just going to take them a lot more. You dont think thats true?

kevin roose

I dont think so. I think humans are not perfect risk assessors, right. Like thats why we should all be a lot more scared to drive than fly, because flying is much safer statistically. But a lot more people have fears of being in an airplane. So I just think youre working on a problem that is as much about psychology and human, sort of comfort as it is about technology. Would you agree or disagree with that?

kyle vogt

Yeah. I mean, there will be an interesting test for society to see what happens the first time that a driverless car gets into an incident and someone gets hurt, severely hurt. Its not a question of if but when. And even with all the data showing evidence of positive safety impact and other things, we as a society will have a choice at that moment to decide whether we ban something that could potentially save tens of thousands of lives per year over the next several years, or we decide that this is a horrible situation and something awful, but this is something that we need. And were going to learn from this and keep moving forward. And I dont think thats really something that I can say as a CEO of a company in the space. Its really going to be up to our society and our regulators and our government decide what we do in that moment.

casey newton

When we were riding in Banana Slug today, I had the strong feeling that banana slug has been told, please be more cautious than the average car. Is my sense accurate?

kyle vogt

Yeah. Its easier to drive cautiously and slow than really fast while also maintaining safety. And so as the performance of these systems improve, youll see them start to drive in more human-like ways in terms of assertiveness. There are moments when cruise AVs already are at that point. And there are moments when they are around a mid-block crosswalk or a narrow street with lots of parked cars where its hard to see around the corner, that theyll go slower than a human. Were working on that. But were not going to move faster than were comfortable.

kevin roose

You mentioned a second ago that youre seeing evidence that your driverless cars are having a positive impact on road safety. Can you just flesh that out a little bit? Like, are your vehicles safer on average than a human driver? Or are they less safe? Or about the same?

kyle vogt

Well, Ill start by saying its a hard question to answer. Like, what exactly is human driving and under what circumstances? What we have done is partnered with VTTI and UMTRI, which are these transportation research institutes, and try to produce an estimate of how well the human drivers drive in San Francisco, specifically.

casey newton

Horrible. [LAUGHING]

kyle vogt

I mean, actually yes. Because the commonly cited national statistic on collisions is off by a factor of 10 to 20 compared to what we see in San Francisco. And so what we have seen so far  and this is still early. Its only across  we analyze our first million miles of driving. So thats a lot, but also not a lot. Is that the AVs are getting involved in far fewer crashes, 50 percent as many crashes compared to what we observe humans doing in a similar driving environment. Whats more exciting, though, is the more severe crashes that would be more likely to lead to injury. AVs are doing significantly better at avoiding those, I think something like 70 percent fewer.

casey newton

I think you could probably drive way safer than a human just by never going 70 miles an hour.

kevin roose

Right. And never checking your phone while youre driving.

casey newton

Yeah.

kevin roose

I mean, that was my main thought about San Francisco, why it has worse drivers than most cities, because everyones constantly checking for new Bluesky invite codes or whatever.

casey newton

That really should be your whole marketing campaign is, like, Cruise robotaxi, check your phone all you want.

kevin roose

Right. [LAUGHING]

kyle vogt

There it is. There it is.

kevin roose

I mean, is that  thats sort of a joke, but thats sort of not. Like, I feel like a killer moment for the AV industry is when you can actually just watch Netflix in the car 

casey newton

Yep.

kevin roose

 like, while you drive to work. Is that something that youre thinking about? Are you putting in  I mean, we saw the trivia system in Banana Slug today.

casey newton

Which we crushed. I crushed it out, I have to say.

kyle vogt

Its pretty hard. If you did, nice.

kevin roose

So anyway. Are you doing more with entertainment inside the cars?

kyle vogt

Yeah. I mean, so the new car were building, its a six-seater. The seats face each other. Its more of this living room on wheels configuration. Were testing that in Austin right now. And that really makes it clear that, OK, if you dont need the front seat and the seats facing forward and the ghost steering wheel thats moving, this becomes a really social space. And I think that is time that we get to reclaim. And whether you want to watch Netflix or do work or talk to your friend or whatever it is, I think thats pretty compelling. Because these days so many people in companies are competing for our attention and our time and sucking it away from us. And I think the notion of giving that back to people is really exciting.

kevin roose

Kyle, I want to ask you about the other big question, in addition to safety that I think is on peoples minds when it comes to autonomous vehicles, which is jobs and job displacement. Millions of people drive for a living, whether its Uber drivers or cab drivers or delivery drivers, truck drivers. How do you think about the effect that autonomous vehicles could have on those people?

kyle vogt

I mean, I think with any new technology like this youre going to see a shift in the distribution of jobs that people have. And I think actually one of the nice things about self-driving cars, as compared to maybe like, LLMs or ChapGPT  that happened very fast and very suddenly and could be very disruptive in a very short period of time. I think with self-driving cars, you know, almost a nice side effect of the fact that five years ago we thought they were right around the corner and it took longer than people hoped, theres a lot of people know this is coming. And so, anecdotally, when I talk to an Uber Lyft driver in San Francisco, no one is saying this is my long term career. This is the thing Im doing now. When the self-driving cars are here, Ill do something else I think for maybe truck drivers and other things, its maybe a bit more work to enter a different job or change the distribution of jobs. But on the other hand, like, I think we do have to take a step back as a society and say, do we wish the Industrial Revolution never happened? Or do we wish that computers didnt come out and displace a whole bunch of manual data entry jobs? I cant say that we do. And so I think each one of these things looks scary at the beginning, but on the other side it makes a ton of sense.

kevin roose

Yeah. I remember talking with one of the co-founders of Lyft many years ago about this. And he was saying, well, you know, yeah, people wont be driving the cars. But youll have rolling restaurants and rolling gyms and youll need people to staff all of that. And so he was sort of  he did seem to feel some responsibility for making sure that the people who are currently driving for a living and may get displaced by this technology actually found other work. Do you feel a similar sense of responsibility for the people who are currently driving for a living to find them new work or to create new work for them?

kyle vogt

I think we have to contribute to it, for sure. You know, I think  and that could take the form of to the extent were able providing training programs or alternate jobs for people. But more than that, I think its interacting with our government and our regulators and letting them know this is coming, when and how, and giving them some notice so we can plan ahead a little bit. There are a lot of things that can be done if people or states or the federal government makes us a priority to ensure that this is a smooth transition. But some of thats beyond the reach of any one individual company.

casey newton

Can you say more about these rolling gyms? [LAUGHING] This is like a box truck with a Peloton in it and its driving itself?

kevin roose

Yeah, I guess. I dont know. I didnt really ask for more details.

casey newton

Kyle, I would maybe move that one down lower on your product roadmap. I dont know if thats where the consumer demand is at the moment.

kyle vogt

How do showers work for that?

casey newton

Right. Thats what I want to know. [LAUGHING] Like, they have fresh towels?

kevin roose

You hit a bump, all of a sudden the weight plate is crushing you. I want to do some future-casting. But first I want to ask about the business model of self-driving cars. So Cruise, your company, is a subsidiary of General Motors. Last quarter Cruise reportedly lost $561 million, or about $6 million a day in the last quarter. Its a lot of money. A lot of self-driving car companies have lost billions of dollars over the years. So how long do you think you can sustain those kind of losses and when do you expect to be profitable, if ever?

kyle vogt

Well definitely not 

casey newton

Definitely ever. Yeah.

kyle vogt

Yeah, its happening. So it is a lot of money. And I think this is a really unique situation, because you have  typically, like, an independently funded startup would not be able to go after a capital intensive initiative like this. And so what weve seen is that the only companies out there who are willing to invest the necessary capital, kind of the activation energy to make this new technology exist, are a company like the major tech companies who can afford to invest in something on a longer time horizon or an automotive company that understands that this is the future and wants to be on the right side of history when things inevitably shift to people being driven by their cars rather than driving them. On the other hand, we do feel a really strong sense of, I guess, gratitude towards General Motors to getting us to where we are. And we want to return that capital and make sure that GM is wildly successful, financially for making this bet. So we do have an eye towards profitability. And one of the key factors there is driving down the cost of the vehicles, which were doing through investments like building our own chips and machine learning accelerators to take costs out of the vehicle, and then also increasing the scale, which actually makes the cost per ride much, much less. And so if it is the case that this is really hard to do well, only a couple of companies crack it, and you have that opportunity to go after that market, just in the US, thats worth a big investment up front, I think, if you have conviction that we can get there.

casey newton

I mean, my pitch is, like, I probably was never going to buy a GM car. Not because I have anything against GM. But just, like, I dont want to buy a car in general. Its annoying to have a car in the city. But if you guys come up with some sort of subscription program for, like, I dont know, a couple of hundred bucks a month and you give me 40 miles of rides, youre going to make $200 a month off me for the rest of my life. So, I mean, to me it just seems obvious that theres a lot of money in it. Its just insanely expensive to get there.

kyle vogt

I think a lot of people are going to say, why do we even bother owning a car? As long as its there when I need it and it can do everything I want to do with a car, Im not going to own a car. Or at least I wont have so many cars in my driveway.

kevin roose

casey newton

I think one thing that were sort of very bad at as people who write and think about tech for a living is thinking about second order consequences. Right. Like, the car was invented, and we didnt know it at the time but it was going to sort of invent the suburb and change the entire fabric of American civic life. What are some changes that you think this era  if you are correct and autonomous vehicles are coming to cities all over the country, what other effects do you think that could have beyond sort of the obvious, like, itll change the way you get to work?

kyle vogt

Well, I think from a city planning perspective theres a lot of things that, I think, if you had a clean slate we would do differently than what we did decades ago when most of our city plans were laid out. I dont think wed have as much space for parking cars, like inventory or garage inventory on the streets for people. I think wed do a lot more public transit and walking paths and biking paths as a general matter. And I think that AVs will make us a little bit easier for us to do that in the future. If cities do decide that certain parts are AV only, just like the streets in Europe that dont allow cars, walking only. If there are certain streets that are AV only, what that will let you do is get a lot more throughput for a lot less square feet of city space. If you have roads that are only AVs that can travel in caravans, like maybe just three feet apart going at high speed, you can fit, maybe three of them in every two lanes of city traffic that you use today. And so I think well be able to reclaim a lot of that space for other purposes, while still being able to move a large number of people through our cities per square foot of road area that we allocate.

kevin roose

So you think there will be some highways or something where its like, this is the robot only highway. You cant go on that if youre driving the car.

kyle vogt

Yeah. It depends. If a goal of a city is to optimize the efficiency of its transportation system, the benefits of AVs is that they can sort of go at high speed on these AV only highways, but they can go point to point. They can show up at your doorstep, which a bus system wont do and mass transit wont do. So its a pretty powerful tool if we design cities in the right ways.

kevin roose

And one final question that I always like to ask CEOs, which is, if five years from now we call you up and things have not gone according to your plan, if Cruise was never able to reach mass adoption, if GM has shut you down to save money, if none of this comes to pass, why will that have been in your best estimate? Is it because regulators didnt make concessions to the industry? Is it because the hardware costs just never come down? If you fail, what do you think the reasons for that will be?

kyle vogt

Well, Im very confident in the cost coming down. Im confident in the capabilities of the technology improving. Im confident in how attractive and preferential this is going to be, in terms of a ride experience compared to the status quo. And Im confident in the safety performance. And so if it doesnt get there, it would be for something that is valid but maybe not in the best interests of society. Like maybe we do struggle with how to rationalize collisions caused by robots instead of humans, even though there are fewer of them. Like, that could cause delays or cause, like a shift of this deployment to going to other countries first. In particular, if you at China, theyre wide open. The government gets it. Theyre going full speed. I think that is a risk to the US economy if were caught a decade behind on that. Or it could be, if not for that, then maybe one of these other forms of transportation, like electric vertical takeoff and landing plane comes in and were not really talking about cars anymore. But, I mean, you tell me. Like, it really seems like at this point were past the critical gate. Weve gone from R&D to these products scaling out there in the field. And it just seems very obvious that this is the way the world is going. And its a matter of time. And I think from a pure system of constraint standpoint, unless we as a society do something to block this or slow it down, I think its going to happen really soon and I think were all going to benefit.

kevin roose

I think that could be true. I mean, I also felt that way six or seven years ago. So maybe I was just too eager. But when I have friends come in from out of town or colleagues from other cities, one of the most reliable things they say about San Francisco is like, oh my god, there are so many self-driving cars. I didnt realize these things were so ubiquitous in San Francisco.

casey newton

Also, like, the only thing that prevented your enthusiasm from becoming a reality was just that the technology hadnt caught up. Which I think happens to tech reporters all the time. We are constantly seeing stuff that is just not ready to be deployed. But now it actually is being deployed. And I dont know. I think the minute that people can take these taxis, and theyre cheap, theyre going to do it. I think the minute you can own a self-driving car, that becomes such a status symbol. Think of all of the people who are going to be thrilled to be like, oh, youre still driving your car? [LAUGHING] Sucks for you. So the market is ready. You just got to get more of these things on the road, Kyle.

kyle vogt

On it

casey newton

All right. [LAUGHING]

kevin roose

Kyle Vogt, thank for coming.

casey newton

Thanks for coming.

kyle vogt

Yeah. Thanks for having me. [ELECTRONIC MUSIC PLAYING]

kevin roose
SBU exposes former Minister of Education of Yanukovych times on cooperation with FSB, Kadyrov's associate

Investigators of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) have established new facts of criminal activity of the former Minister of Education and Science Dmytro Tabachnyk, suspected of treason, the SBU reports.

"It has been established that he (Tabachnyk) is in direct contact with a staff member of the 9th Directorate of the Department of Operational Information of the 5th FSB Service Oleg Kozlov. After the start of the full-scale invasion, the traitor coordinated his subversive activities against Ukraine with a representative of the Russian special service," the SBU said on the Telegram channel on Friday.

According to the investigation, the ex-minister actively participated in the organization of pseudo-referendums in the occupied areas of Kherson and Zaporizhia regions.

"At the same time, Tabachnyk directly fulfilled Moscow's tasks of reformatting the educational and medical industries to meet the needs of the aggressor country. It was under his coordination that most of the educational institutions and hospitals in the region were converted into barracks of the occupation groups of the Russian Federation, the traitor conducted the corresponding events together with gauleiters Saldo and Balytsky," the report says.

The SBU informs that last autumn Tabachnyk was appointed adviser to the head of the occupation administration in the temporarily occupied part of Zaporizhia region, and he was also included in the local cell of the Kremlin's United Russia party.

In addition, the facts of the defendant's participation in the looting of the property of residents of Melitopol have been established.

"Together with Murad Saidov, the socalled enforcer from Kadyrov for the region, in April last year they organized the export of agricultural machinery to Crimea from the warehouses of the local agricultural holding," the SBU said.

Based on the collected evidence, Tabachnyk was additionally notified of suspicion under two articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine: Article 111-2 (aiding the aggressor state), Article 438 (violation of the laws and customs of war).

The SBU recalls that in November last year, the SBU informed Tabachnyk of suspicion under Part 2 of Article 111 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (high treason committed under martial law).

Subsequently, the Security Service seized the property of the defendant for a total amount of more than $2 million.

The investigation was conducted by SBU officers in Vinnytsia region under the procedural leadership of the regional prosecutor's office.
You see them on Instagram and in design magazines: those perfectly composed coffee tables that tie a living room together and hint at the fabulous taste of the homeowners.

How do those tablescapes come together? How does someone decide which accessories to use? And how can you compose a similar one in your home  without doing too much or too little?

Colin King, an in-demand interiors stylist, welcomed a reporter into his TriBeCa loft to demonstrate how he does it.
The need is worldwide. Anna Dillon, a 42-year-old Irish mother living in Abu Dhabi, decided to create a mommune in 2021 with Emily Winchip, 40, an American. Both are education professors.

Ms. Dillon has been in the United Arab Emirates since 2013, but divorced her husband in 2019. In the first year of the pandemic, she said, the isolation was crushing, and caring for her two children  a daughter, 12, and a son, 13  was challenging while juggling a social life and a full-time job.

Ms. Winchip, her colleague, was facing a similar struggle. She had lived in the Middle East for 13 years, but when the pandemic hit, she was newly separated and alone with her son, now 12.

I told her I wished we all lived in a place where the kids could play together, Ms. Winchip said.

In September 2021, they began renting a three-bedroom apartment in a gated community, splitting the rent evenly and taking turns cooking and watching each others kids. The arrangement isnt forever  Ms. Winchip and Ms. Dillon both have new partners, and plan to eventually move out and start new lives with them  but after living through a pandemic in a foreign country together, they say their partnership has been essential.

I wish we had done it about two years earlier, Ms. Dillon said.

Back in Florida, Ms. Gilder and Ms. Batykefer also dont plan on staying in that four-bedroom house in Jacksonville area forever. The duo hopes to buy and remodel a fixer-upper of their own in the coming year, and to allay costs, theyve signed a deal with a television producer who believes the process of renovating their new mommune could make for entertaining reality television.
What has long, bright white eyes, swims along the deep waters off Australia and attaches its eggs to coral?

A new species of shark, called Apristurus ovicorrugatus.

The discovery process began several years ago, when researchers were going through uncataloged materials in the Australian National Fish Collection, housed in Hobart, where they found a mysterious egg that they were unable to assign.

That led to a fact-finding mission that eventually revealed a new species of demon catshark.

The researchers announced their discovery in a paper published in the Journal of Fish Biology and titled What came first, the shark or the egg?

The Apristurus genus, the second-most diverse group of sharks that counts about 40 species, is commonly known as the ghost or demon catshark. The name is based on the fact that theyre deep dwelling and kind of a bit spooky, said Helen ONeill, a research technician and one of the papers authors. The sharks are bottom feeders and have elongated catlike eyes.
In the red corner, Jupiter, the largest planet orbiting our sun, which shaped our solar system with its gravitational bulk.

In the blue corner, Saturn, the magnificent ringed world with bewildering hexagonal storms at its poles.

These two giant worlds are late in their bout for satellite-based supremacy. But now the fight over which planet has the most moons in its orbit has swung decisively in Saturns favor.

This month, the International Astronomical Union is set to recognize 62 additional moons of Saturn based on a batch of objects discovered by astronomers. The small objects will give Saturn 145 moons  eclipsing Jupiters total of 95.
Allison Alyssa Flynn had a secret crush on Jeffrey Charles Hood from the moment she met him  a secret from Mr. Hood, that is.

The two met in January 2017 in Charleston, S.C., at Trunk Club, a personal styling service no longer in existence. Mr. Hood worked at the Dallas location as a custom clothing trainer, she in Charleston as a stylist, when he came to Charleston to lead training sessions. The first time I saw Jeff, I was immediately drawn to him, and within 24 hours I was fully obsessed, like, Im going to marry this man obsessed, Ms. Flynn said.

But Mr. Hood had a girlfriend then.

Ms. Flynn told her family, friends and co-workers about her crush. I call it manifestation, she said. We stayed connected and I kept telling people, Im going to marry him.

Everyone knew about her crush except for me, said Mr. Hood, who had interacted frequently with Ms. Flynn during work.
Linda Yaccarino, NBCUniversals advertising chief, was preparing to interview Elon Musk, Twitters owner, onstage at a conference last month when she received an email from a peer in the advertising industry.

Rob Norman, a former executive at the ad giant WPP, wanted to know if Ms. Yaccarino had seen the op-ed he wrote after Mr. Musk bought Twitter last year. Mr. Normans column discussed the tech billionaires amplification of misinformation on Twitter and its chilling effect on advertisers.

Ms. Yaccarino said that she had and that she planned to raise such concerns, Mr. Norman said. But the main focus of her talk with Mr. Musk would be on something else: His efforts to revamp the social network into Twitter 2.0.

Now Ms. Yaccarino is set to become the face of Twitter 2.0. Mr. Musk said on Friday that he had selected Ms. Yaccarino, 60, to become the companys chief executive. Hours earlier, NBCUniversal announced that Ms. Yaccarino was leaving, effective immediately.
Dear Tripped Up,

I had booked a 10-day, $4,424 tour to Cuba for last November, but Hurricane Ian hit the island in late September, knocking out the power grid and causing widespread destruction. The tour organizer canceled the trip, citing health and safety issues, and refunded our money. I had bought my airfare ($1,504) separately, so I assumed my GoReady Pandemic Plus insurance policy would cover it. But when I called the company, an agent told me that because the Havana airport was open, and the hotel I planned to stay in was habitable, it was not worth filing a claim that would surely be denied. If travel insurance doesnt cover this, what does it cover? Khatiba, Sebastopol, Calif.

Dear Khatiba,

You are forgiven for thinking that the trip cancellation portion of your policy would cover, say, trip cancellation.

My inbox is flooded with messages from travelers whose similarly reasonable-sounding claims were denied either because of a policys fine print or because the documentation process became so mind-bendingly bureaucratic that they simply gave up.

After looking into your case and others, heres a warning I think should accompany every travel insurance policy:

Most travel insurance covers you against specific hazards listed in the policys fine print, excluding countless scenarios youd never think of and that could ruin your trip through no fault of your own. If you are covered, you might have to persuade doctors, hospitals, airlines, cruise lines and others to provide documentation well beyond what you consider necessary or rational  all in the aftermath of a vacation gone terribly wrong.
A federal judge in Florida issued an order late Thursday directing the U.S. Border Patrol not to release any migrants into the United States without issuing them formal notices to appear in immigration court.

The order does not affect the expiration of the pandemic-era Title 42 immigration restrictions, said Lee Gelernt, the American Civil Liberties Unions lead attorney on litigation related to Title 42. But it could complicate the Border Patrols efforts to process migrants into the country expeditiously, leading to even more backups and forcing people to wait longer outside of overcrowded processing centers in a confined area with little shade.

Over the last two years, the Border Patrol allowed many people to be released into the United States without having to answer a long list of questions that is required before issuing a notice to appear, which can take about 90 minutes. With fewer questions, an asylum interview can be completed in about 15 minutes, and being able to shorten the process was seen by the Border Patrol as a valuable tool in managing surges in migrant crossings. (The Title 42 authority also allowed border officials to swiftly process people.)

Florida challenged an earlier version of the shorter interview process, and the Biden administration stopped the practice. Then after the Border Patrol issued a revised policy this week, Florida again went to court to try to prevent any releases without notices to appear, leading to the temporary restraining order issued on Thursday.
For Ms. Link and others in states with conservative leadership, the emergency had been over for a long time, at least when it came to government rules. Many Republican governors, including the governor of Georgia, Brian Kemp, prohibited localities from requiring masks years ago, leaving the question of pandemic precautions almost entirely up to individuals or businesses.

But even in more liberal places, where masks were the norm throughout the pandemic and are hardly a rarity now, restrictions have long since been lifted.

Id be wearing a mask whether they have a mandate or not, said Karen Stallard, 65, who was carrying groceries from a trip to Trader Joes in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago. She has respiratory problems, she said, and calls masks a medical necessity. But she added that the choice was a personal one, and should be. As for the federal health emergency, she said: The time has come for it to end.

Some said their continued mask wearing was rooted in a sense of social responsibility, out of concern for the elderly stranger one might pass in the supermarket or sit next to on the bus. We never think about our old, said Ariel Hsu, a 61-year-old retiree in Los Angeles. They are the ones who have suffered the most from this.

Others had more particular reasons. Lindsay Kolasa, 46, a herbalist living in Santa Barbara, Calif., said she wore her mask for her 5-year-old daughter, hoping to keep her safe from all kinds of viruses going around. Anastasia McTague, 28, standing at the front desk of a dry cleaner in Maitland, Fla., said she wore hers for her co-worker, whose mother died of Covid. She has been kind of anxious about it the whole time, so I continue to wear the mask because it makes her feel better, she said.

As with vaccine mandates and school closures, there was never a universal embrace of masks. A broad array of medical professionals have strongly encouraged wearing masks and mandates, citing studies that showed that masks slow transmission. But a steadily growing bloc of vocal citizens and public officials have condemned mandates as infringements on personal freedom.
Under the best circumstances, it is challenging for U.S. federal agents to chase drug lords in Mexico, where they are required to work with local partners who can often be unreliable or untrustworthy. But the episode involving Mr. Guzman Salazar  one of four sons of El Chapo who are known as the Chapitos  points to a problem closer to home: the rivalries that can erupt when different law enforcement agencies go after the same targets.

The quarrel in this case pitted officials at the D.E.A., who helped bring a sprawling indictment against the Chapitos in New York, against federal prosecutors and agents in Chicago, Washington and San Diego, who joined forces to bring their own case against Mr. Guzmans sons.

Neither the dispute nor its consequences were visible last month when Attorney General Merrick B. Garland  flanked by representatives from all of the agencies  gathered in Washington to announce the new indictments against the Chapitos. Mr. Garland celebrated the collective charges as a sweeping assault against the ability of the Guzmans organization, the Sinaloa drug cartel, to ship fentanyl and other drugs from Mexico across the U.S. border.

The Justice Department is attacking every aspect of the cartels operations, Mr. Garland said.

This week, taking note of the behind-the-scenes spat, Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, sent a letter to Mr. Garland and to the heads of three federal law enforcement agencies, asking for an explanation about how the pursuit of the New York case in particular may have impacted any attempts to arrest or capture Mr. Guzmans sons.

The letter also requested any records related to how the D.E.A., the F.B.I., several U.S. attorneys offices and Homeland Security Investigation, the investigative section of the Department of Homeland Security, had de-conflicted the various cases concerning the Chapitos.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has initiated the possibility of raising funds for humanitarian demining within the United24 fundraising platform, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has said.

"There are still decisions on restoration on the agenda. As part of the platform of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, United24, a new direction for fundraising will be opened, this is humanitarian demining," Shmyhal said at the Friday government meeting.

In particular, the Cabinet of Ministers officially approved changes in the presidential decree on this issue.

Earlier, Shmyhal said the Ministry of Economy would open a special account to raise funds to finance humanitarian demining.
Hodding Carter III, a crusading Mississippi newspaperman who championed civil rights for Black Americans in the 1960s and who, as a Carter administration official, was the nations prime source of information on the Iranian hostage crisis in 1979 and 1980, died on Thursday in Chapel Hill, N.C. He was 88.

His daughter Catherine Carter Sullivan said his death, at a retirement community, was caused by complications of a series of strokes. Mr. Carter had taught at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill beginning in 2006.

In a career that paralleled the emergence of the New South as a region of rising racial tolerance and changing politics, Mr. Carter, a gregarious, ruddy-faced patrician with a magnolia drawl, was a journalist, author, Democratic Party reformer, national television commentator, press critic and university lecturer.

The son of the journalist Hodding Carter Jr., who won a Pulitzer Prize for editorials calling for racial moderation in the old segregated South, Hodding Carter III succeeded his father as editor and publisher of The Greenville Delta Democrat-Times, and as a voice of conscience in a state torn by violence and social change during the struggles of the civil rights era.
A jury in Idaho found Lori Vallow Daybell guilty on Friday of murdering two of her children and of conspiring to murder her husbands former wife in a case that drew widespread attention for what prosecutors described as her doomsday religious beliefs.

A sentencing date has not been set. Before the trial started, Judge Steven Boyce, of the Seventh Judicial District, granted a request from Ms. Vallow Daybells lawyers to take the death penalty off the table.

The trial, in Boise, Idaho, began on April 3, after years of delays. Ms. Vallow Daybell had initially been declared not competent to stand trial and was required to undergo psychiatric treatment.
Before P-22 died in December, Ill admit I was only vaguely aware that there was a mountain lion living in Griffith Park.

I had heard the name and was familiar with some of the many perils that pumas in the Los Angeles area were facing  shrinking territory and an attendant lack of genetic diversity, speeding freeway traffic and exposure to rat poison  but I didnt know much about what made P-22 singular.

Then, late last year, P-22, who had made an unlikely home in Los Angeless biggest municipal park for more than a decade, started behaving more aggressively. Wildlife officials took it as a sign that after a long, difficult life, his health had deteriorated and that he should be euthanized. After his death, he became inescapable.

There was his feline face on a giant yellow mural at a fitness studio where I sometimes take classes. There was a memorial at the Greek Theater, attended by thousands of locals, including celebrities. The Los Angeles Public Library hosted a reading of love letters to honor him, and issued a limited edition library card. Representative Adam Schiff emailed constituents to say that he was hard at work pushing for a P-22 postage stamp.
The Congressional Budget Office said on Friday that there was a significant risk that the federal government could run out of cash sometime in the first two weeks of June, setting the United States up for a default.

The warning came as the White House and congressional leaders spent the week in negotiations over how to raise the $31.4 trillion borrowing cap. The Treasury Department has been using accounting maneuvers known as extraordinary measures to keep paying the countrys bills without breaching that debt ceiling, which was officially reached on Jan. 19. But the department has said those tools could be exhausted as soon as June 1.

The nonpartisan budget office outlined the fiscal strain facing the government as the legislative standoff continues. It also noted that the timing and revenue coming into the government, as well as its expenditures, were hard to predict.

If the debt limit is not raised or suspended before the Treasurys cash and extraordinary measures are exhausted, the government will have to delay making payments for some activities, default on its debt obligations, or both, the Congressional Budget Office said in a report released on Friday.
President Bidens attempt to deal efficiently with a new surge of migration following the end of Title 42 pandemic restrictions has focused new attention on a severe shortage of judges, the result of longstanding neglect that has overwhelmed the immigration court system with a backlog of more than two million cases.

The court system is riddled with yearslong delays and low morale as a work force of about 650 judges struggles to keep up with the volume of immigration cases, leaving undocumented immigrants who have long waited in the United States in limbo.

The bottleneck shows how the challenges of dealing with a surge in immigration do not end at the southern border. Even as scrutiny has focused on how Border Patrol agents will manage crowds of migrants, public officials and immigration experts say that bolstering the invisible work force of immigration judges is crucial to reforming the system.

Mr. Biden has made some progress  hiring more than 200 judges since he came into office  but is still falling short on his campaign pledge to double the number of immigration judges. Some of the judges will be working seven days a week for a time while the administration confronts the new surge, according to the Justice Department.
A deep-pocketed nonprofit organization founded by the conservative activist Leonard A. Leo gave away $182.7 million in a years time, a new tax filing shows, demonstrating how aggressively it has worked behind the scenes to prop up other groups and causes on the right.

The organization, Marble Freedom Trust, was formed in 2020 and was funded by a gift of more than $1.6 billion  an extraordinary windfall that resulted from a single donors contribution of 100 percent of a companys shares before the company was sold, leaving Marble with the proceeds of the sale, The New York Times reported last year.

Mr. Leo, a lawyer and former executive at the Federalist Society, has been instrumental in conservatives yearslong effort to push the federal judiciary to the right, both through his direct guidance to Republican leaders and by financing conservative causes. In recent years, he has built an opaque, far-reaching network of organizations  many of which have funding sources that are not required to be disclosed  that can influence elections and other matters, including education policy, abortion and campus free speech issues.

In a statement responding to questions about Marbles work, Mr. Leo described it as an attempt to match Democratic efforts in the world of so-called dark money, a term used to describe the vast flow of funds  often from untraceable donors  through nonprofits and other organizations into politics and political causes. Democrats raised and spent more dark money for the 2020 election than Republicans did.
In what looks like a rerun of the 2016 Republican primary, almost none of Mr. Trumps competitors have openly gone after him, despite his glaring vulnerabilities. Instead, they are hoping  now as then  that he will somehow self-destruct, leaving them to inherit his voters.

After a jury found Mr. Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation of the writer E. Jean Carroll on Tuesday, Mike Pence, the former vice president, who is weighing a 2024 campaign, declined to criticize Mr. Trump. In an interview with NBC News, Mr. Pence said it was just one more story focusing on my former running mate that I know is a great fascination to members of the national media, but I just dont think its where the American people are focused.

Other 2024 candidates either defended Mr. Trump, such as the entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, or played down the verdict, including Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor. Ms. Haley, who announced her candidacy in February, even defended Mr. Trump this week for threatening to skip Republican primary debates. With the numbers he has now, why would he go get on a debate stage and risk that? she said.

Only two 2024 hopefuls found the verdict in the Carroll case to be disqualifying for a would-be president: Mr. Christie and Asa Hutchinson, the former Arkansas governor. Mr. Hutchinson criticized Mr. Trumps contempt for the rule of law.

Several months ago, polling had suggested Mr. Trump could be a potentially weak candidate, with only 25 to 35 percent support from Republican voters in high-quality surveys. The Republican National Committee promised an autopsy of the 2022 midterms that was expected to address Mr. Trumps role in the partys surprising losses.
Ukraines planned counteroffensive against Russia has overshadowed talk of a potential negotiated settlement in the conflict, but some U.S. and European officials say the next phase of the war could create momentum for diplomacy.

It is unclear how the officials will define success in the counteroffensive, which could last many months, or how its outcome might affect their approach. Opinions range widely among military strategists about whether Ukraine is likely to regain territory after more than a year of war.

For now, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has shown no signs of wanting to make concessions or engage in meaningful dialogue.

And U.S. officials remain wary of any calls for an immediate cease-fire or peace talks, especially those coming from China. Beijing persists at trying to play peacemaker, despite its obvious strategic alignment with Russia. Foreign Minister Qin Gang has been traveling across Europe this week to try to sell the notion that China can shepherd negotiations.
After Russia had amassed 100,000 troops by Ukraines borders in what appeared to be preparations for an invasion, the Biden administration sent one of its top diplomats to talk with her Russian counterpart to try to dissuade Moscow from a full-scale war.

Wendy R. Sherman, the deputy secretary of state, met with Sergei A. Ryabkov in the U.S. mission in Geneva in January 2022. Mr. Ryabkov, Russias deputy foreign minister, left at lunch and returned demanding that the United States respond in writing to draft treaties on security issues that his country had presented earlier.

The documents had been nonstarters for President Biden, and Ms. Sherman realized then that Mr. Ryabkovs demands were cover for an inevitable war.

We knew that we were going to be off to the races, she said in an interview on Thursday night.

In an email to State Department employees on Friday morning, Ms. Sherman announced her retirement, 30 years after she set foot in the agencys headquarters for her first diplomatic job and as the United States is embroiled in the most consequential military campaign in Europe since World War II. She plans to leave her job on June 30.
Officials in border cities were facing uncertainty as well, as they tried to anticipate how the policy changes would play out.

Oscar Leeser, the mayor of El Paso, told reporters on Friday that about 1,800 migrants had entered the border city on Thursday. We saw a lot of people coming into our area in the last week, he said. But since the lifting of Title 42 overnight, he said, we have not seen any big numbers.

Shelter operators reported that it was too soon to tell what could unfold in coming days, since most people who crossed were still being processed by the U.S. government. But they, too, said that the largest spikes in crossings might have passed.

The number of people that were picked up from the river levee on the other side of the wall yesterday was significant, but not nearly what everyone expected it was going to be, said Ruben Garcia, director of Annunciation House, which assists migrants in the El Paso area. Well have to see what happens in the next few days. There are many variables, he said.
The coalition of 37 states for the creation of the Special Tribunal for Russia's Crime of Aggression has met in Estonia today, Foreign Minister of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba has said.

"The Core Group of 37 states met today in Tallinn to advance its work on the Special Tribunal and solutions for its legal parameters. [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and his henchmen must know: what began as a 'special operation' will finish up as a special tribunal. Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna, thanks for your hospitality," he said on Twitter on Friday.

Currently, the coalition consists of 37 states, including G7 and the EU member states as well as a range of the Global South countries. The result of their work will be the creation of the Special Tribunal and the beginning of its work.

The first meeting of the Core Group was held on January 26. At that time, 21 countries joined the meeting.
The Biden administration on Friday warned migrants heading to the southern border that the expiration of Title 42, a federal policy limited illegal immigration into the United States, would not make it easier for them to enter.

Do not believe the lies of smugglers, Alejandro Mayorkas, the Homeland Security secretary, said just after Title 42 expired at 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on Thursday. The border is not open.

For more than three years, Title 42 had allowed the United States government to swiftly expel many people who crossed the border before they could apply for asylum. Federal border agents were set to return on Friday to the prepandemic rules for enforcing immigration law, known as Title 8.

People arriving at the border illegally will now be deemed ineligible for asylum and face tougher consequences, including a five-year ban on re-entry and potential criminal prosecution, Mr. Mayorkas said in the statement.
As the United States begins imposing border rules making it more difficult for migrants to claim asylum, many will most likely face swift deportation to Mexico, where they will be vulnerable to criminal groups and corrupt officials, according to human rights groups.

Mexicos role as Washingtons enforcement arm to deter migrants from heading illegally to the United States through Mexican territory will become more significant with the lifting on Thursday of a Covid-era policy known as Title 42, which halted the entry of many migrants at the border and allowed the U.S. authorities to rapidly expel them.

In talks last week with the Biden administration, Mexico said it would accept non-Mexican migrants sent back from the United States under the new rules and would process them for Mexican asylum.

But if the asylum system in the United States is plagued by backlogs, the situation in Mexico is just as bad, with asylum cases lingering for years without resolution.
A court in southern China has sentenced one of the countrys most unyielding human rights activists to eight years in prison for essays he wrote and a website he created, in the ruling Communist Partys latest warning blow against political dissent.

The activist, Yang Maodong, was detained in 2021 when he tried to catch a flight to the United States to be with his wife, who was gravely ill. Mr. Yang  who is better known by his pen name, Guo Feixiong  was sentenced at the end of a one-day trial on Thursday in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province. He was accused of inciting subversion of state power.

A guilty judgment from the Communist Party-controlled court seemed assured, but the swiftness of Mr. Yangs conviction and sentencing took his supporters by surprise. Chinese courts often wait a week or longer after a trial before announcing a decision. Mr. Yang was sentenced after a morning hearing that lasted around two hours.

Chinas leader, Xi Jinping, over the past decade in power, has strengthened and emboldened the security apparatus to remove any perceived threats to the partys rule. The police swiftly extinguished a flare-up of protests against harsh zero Covid restrictions in late October last year, when some demonstrators denounced Mr. Xi and the party.
To revive its sluggish economy, China set out this year to woo foreign investors and stabilize its ties with the West. But these goals are colliding with what Chinas leader, Xi Jinping, considers the paramount priority: bolstering national security in a world he sees as full of threats.

Mr. Xi has warned that China must fight back against a campaign by the United States to contain and suppress the countrys rise. In this worldview, foreign rivals are using spies to weaken Chinas economy; Russia is not treated as a pariah but a vital partner in blunting the NATO menace; and the diplomatic stage is a place to assert Chinas influence and reshape the global order in its favor.

At home, the authorities have sent a chill across foreign businesses by launching a nationwide crackdown on consulting firms with international ties. Chinas state broadcaster accused Western countries of trying to steal sensitive information in key industries with the help of consulting firms that help investors navigate the murky Chinese economy.

Abroad, Chinas efforts to improve ties with Europe  to drive a wedge between the United States and some of its most important allies  have been complicated by Beijings closeness to Moscow. On a visit to Germany this week, Chinas foreign minister, Qin Gang, dismissed criticism that Beijing wasnt doing enough to end Russias war in Ukraine. He also warned that China would retaliate if the European Union decided to impose sanctions on Chinese companies accused of supplying Russia with technology for its military.
When Thais go to the polls on Sunday, they will be voting in a closely fought election that is seen, in part, as a referendum on whether it is illegal to criticize the Thai monarchy.

Thailand has one of the worlds strictest laws against defaming or insulting the king and other members of the royal family. Once considered taboo, the topic of the monarchy was brought to the forefront after tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets and called for checks on the institutions power in 2020.

The protests represented two sides of an impassioned struggle to determine the role of the crown in modern Thailand. The election could determine whether the Southeast Asian nation of 72 million will revive its once-vibrant democracy or slide further toward authoritarian rule, with royalists firmly in power.

On one side of the debate are conservative political parties whose standard-bearer is Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, the general who has governed Thailand for nine years after seizing power in a coup. He and his supporters argue that amending the law could lead to abolishing the monarchy altogether, and have vowed to defend the royal family.
A Chinese government envoy will visit Ukraine and Russia next week in an attempt to help negotiate an end to the war, a Chinese government spokesman said on Friday.

China had announced its intention to send the official, Li Hui  the governments special representative for Eurasian affairs  after a phone call last month between its top leader, Xi Jinping, and Ukraines president, Volodymyr Zelensky. Beijing had said that Mr. Li would conduct in-depth communication with all parties to try to reach a political settlement.

Beijing has been trying to position itself as a potential peace broker in the war, especially as Mr. Xi casts himself as a global statesman and China as an alternative to the United States for global leadership. In February, China issued what it described as a 12-point peace plan for Ukraine, though Western officials criticized it as lacking substance.

Still, since the war broke out in February 2022, many in the West have looked to the role that China could play. Kyiv has described China, which has a close partnership with Russia, as potentially the only country with enough sway to persuade President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to end the war. But the close ties between Moscow and Beijing have also spurred concerns in Europe and the United States that China might in fact act to help Russias war effort.
What Im reading: summer snobs edition

Ive made a decision that I feel very good about: the theme of my summer fiction reading this year is going to be snobbery.

This dovetails with my interest in the ways that status and hierarchies limit political change and fuel backlashes. But snob fiction is the fun, lighthearted cousin: books that focus on the odd habits and eccentric preoccupations of people at the top of a particular status hierarchy, and the wild flailing that results when an outsider tries to gain entry  or an insider tries to escape.

Im enjoying Pineapple Street, by Jenny Jackson, which is set among the ultrarich of Brooklyn Heights in New York City. It has a sort of reverse-Edith-Wharton feel  characters at the height of wealth and status who are uncomfortable with the social implications of that privilege. It pairs well with the Crazy Rich Asians trilogy by Kevin Kwan, a humorous take on the marriage plot thats set among Singapores very old and very new moneyed elite.

And I didnt really need an excuse to reread Plum Sykess socialite novels, Bergdorf Blondes and The Debutante Divorcee, which manage the difficult feat of being simultaneously warm and biting satire, but Im happy to do it anyway. Sykes skewers New York high society via peripheral insiders  women who feel the need to economize, but whose idea of doing so is to buy their Chanel bags at sample sales instead of boutiques. They might roll their eyes at social doyennes deforesting the Southern Hemisphere in search of out-of-season pear blossoms to complete their party decor, but theyre still going to the parties anyway.
Two French citizens detained by Iran were released on Friday on humanitarian grounds and made their way back to France, according to French and Iranian authorities.

One of the men, Benjamin Briere, a 38-year-old French tourist, had been held for three years. The other, Bernard Phelan, a 64-year-old French-Irish travel consultant, was arrested in October 2022. The two men left the prison in Mashhad, a city in northeastern Iran, where they had been kept and flew back to France, landing at an airport near Paris on Friday evening.

President Emmanuel Macron of France called their return a relief.

Free, finally, Mr. Macron said on Twitter, adding that France would continue to work for the return of our compatriots still detained in Iran.

Mr. Briere and Mr. Phelan had been accused of spying on Iran and acting against its security interests, charges that the two men and French authorities strenuously denied. The men had gone on intermittent hunger strikes to protest their detention, weakening them and worrying their families, who had urged Iran to free them.
The Serbian authorities have collected thousands of weapons in a sweeping campaign to reduce the number of firearms in the hands of civilians in the week after two mass shootings stunned the country, officials said Friday.

More than 9,000 illegal and legal weapons have been collected, according to Serbias president, Aleksandar Vucic, who called the effort a great step forward for a safer environment for our children and all our people, at a news conference on Friday.

Some people say its not the gun that shoots the bullet but a man, he said. But if that man doesnt have a gun, the evil in his head cant do any harm.

Mr. Vucic did not specify if all the guns had been handed over voluntarily or if some had been seized.
The Ukrainian Army is advancing in attacks near the eastern city of Bakhmut, Ukrainian commanders said on Friday, in fighting that has shifted the front line only slightly but is exposing fissures, confusion and alarm among Russias forces in the war.

Russias pro-war bloggers were quick to claim that Ukraines long-anticipated counteroffensive had begun, but Ukrainian officials downplayed the advances and described them in more local terms. Ukrainian soldiers broke through Russian lines south of Bakhmut on Wednesday, they said, and then exploited that breach, assaulting Russian forces near the city and threatening Russian flanks to the north and south. A video that appears to have been posted first by the Ukrainian news outlet Channel 24, which said it was provided by Ukraines 77th Airmobile Brigade, showed parts of northern Bakhmut on fire on Friday evening.

Bakhmut has been at the epicenter of the war in eastern Ukraine for months: a mostly ruined city where tens of thousands of soldiers are believed to have died, and the only place over hundreds of miles on the front where Russia was consistently on the attack. That changed this week, as Ukraine put Russian forces on the defensive, presenting them with a difficult strategic decision about reinforcing the city and setting off a new round of recriminations between Russian commanders.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has signed decrees on several packages of sanctions, including against Zaporizhstal.

"Today is a sanctions day. There are several packages of sanctions, and respective decree have been signed. The first package of sanctions is against Zaporizhstal. By the decree, I imposed restrictions on 41 entities  13 individuals and 28 legal entities  with the help of which the Russian Federation retained control over the enterprise and caused damage to our economy," the head of state said on the Telegram channel.

"We are launching the procedure of seizing the Russian part  it will work for Ukraine and Ukrainians," Zelenskyy said.
Rocket launchers, precision-guided missiles and billions of dollars worth of other advanced American weapons have given Ukraine a fighting chance against Russia ahead of a counteroffensive. But if even a few of the arms wind up on the black market instead of the battlefield, a Ukrainian lawmaker gloomily predicted, were done.

The lawmaker, Oleksandra Ustinova, a former anti-corruption activist who now monitors foreign arms transfers to Ukraine, does not believe there is widespread smuggling among the priciest and most sophisticated weapons donated by the United States over the last year.

Weve literally had people die because stuff was left behind, and they came back to get it, and were killed, she said of Ukrainian troops efforts to make sure weapons were not stolen or lost.

But in Washington, against a looming government debt crisis and growing skepticism about financial support for Ukraine, an increasingly skeptical Congress is demanding tight accountability for every weapon, every round of ammunition that we send to Ukraine, as Representative Rob Wittman, Republican of Virginia, said last month.
Fierce cross-border fighting resumed on Friday between Israel and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group in Gaza, with the Israeli military killing another of the groups top commanders in a missile strike on a residential building after rockets fired out of Gaza reached as far as the hills around Jerusalem.

The Israeli military identified the person killed on Friday as Iyad al-Husni, the commander of Islamic Jihad military operations in the Gaza Strip. Along with holding a senior position as a military decision-maker, the military said, Mr. al-Husni had replaced Khalil Bahitini, a leader of the groups operations who was killed in Israels opening assault on Tuesday.

The Israeli military said another of the groups operatives was also killed in Fridays strike. Islamic Jihads military wing announced that Mr. al-Husni had been killed. Palestinian health officials confirmed that another person was killed in the Israeli strike and that five more were injured.

Israel also said on Friday that it had struck command centers and rocket-launching sites operated by the militant group as the latest confrontation stretched into a fourth day, despite overnight mediation efforts to reach a cease-fire.
The New York Times News Quiz, May 12, 2023

Did you follow the news this week? Take our quiz to see how well you stack up with other Times readers.
The marriage between a 22-year-old Malaysian man and his 48-year-old former teacher has been making news headlines in South-East Asia.

Muhammad Danial Ahmad Ali first met his future wife, Jamilah Mohd, in 2016, in the classroom, as she was his Malay teacher in junior high school. There was nothing romantic about their relationship last the time, although the 22-year-old claims that he still remembers Jamilahs caring attitude and closeness to students. The two lost contact during Muhammads Form 4 class, but they met again by chance when he had to go to the headmasters office and noticed his former teacher. He said hello, but that was about it until Form 5, when Muhammad started noticing Jamilah more and more. She texted him a birthday message that year and they started chatting. Eventually, Muhammad confessed his feelings for Jamilah, but she rejected him, because of his age and the 26-year age gap between them. But he didnt let a simple number stand in the way of love.

Since I didnt know her address, I went to look for her. Fate helped me find her home, Muhammad Danial Ahmad Ali told the New Straits Times. After that, I met her and we had a sincere conversation.

Despite Jamilahs constant rejection, Muhammad insisted, and eventually, his former teacher let her guard down. With the consent of their families, they planned to get married in 2019 but were forced to push back the wedding to 2021, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The proud husband said that they were married at Jamek Bandar Kota Tinggi Mosque, in a small ceremony, surrounded by family and friends.

Age is just a number and I will do my best to shoulder the responsibilities of a husband, 22-year-old Muhammad said.

As for Jamilah Moahd, she divorced her first husband in 2007, and has been focusing on her work, rather than romance, ever since.

There were people who wanted to get to know me, but I turned them down, the Malaysian woman said, adding that he gave in because of Danials persistence in pursuing her.

My husband comes to me with confidence. He is very serious and does not hide our relationship with his family. Thats also one of the reasons why I accepted his proposal, the 48-year-old woman said.

Muhammad, who works at a water plant, considers himself lucky to have married the woman of his dreams, and doesnt really care about the 26 years between them.
A talk on an all but forgotten Edenderry family, the Bennetts of Monasteroris, will be given by Rhode native and New York resident Danny Leavy on Friday, May 19 next.

Some eighteen months ago an extensive archive collection was discovered in the American Irish Historical Society Building in New York .This collection centered on Cornelius Heeney and the Brooklyn Benevolent Society which he founded .Heeney spent most of his youth in Edenderry before emigrating in 1784.

Last year Ciaran Reilly and Danny Leavy gave a fascinating talk on Heeney and his charitable exploits for the Catholic Church , Schools and public buildings.

The archive collection contains many important documents including some signed by Robert Emmett Jnr ,and the famous Irish American lawyer Charles O Connor .

It also contains letters from Tullamore and Edenderry to Heeney and his family members in NY .from the 1830s to the 1870s.

Many other local connections have come out of these archives Including the story of the Bennett Family from Monasteroris and their Involvement in the American Civil War and the Catholic Church .

During his research Danny Leavy made contact with a descendant of the Bennett family in New York and she provided valuable information on the Bennett family. The most notable of the family was Colonel Michael Bennett born in Edenderry in 1824.

In America he organized the Seventy-second Regiment of militia, composed of men of Irish birth in Brooklyn and was its first colonel. In 1860 he united his command with some military companies and, as the Twenty-eighth Regiment of volunteers. In 1861 at the outbreak of the American Civil War they responded to the first call for troops. Today, Fort Bennett is named in is honour.

Speaking ahead of the talk, organised by Edenderry Historical Society, Dr Ciaran Reilly noted how Danny Leavy has made already made an impressive contribution to Offaly local history by what he has uncovered in the USA in a number of archives.

According to Reilly , 'Leavy is piecing together very important local history which reveals information about emigrant networks and how emigrants stayed in touch with their home communities in the 19th century. This is vital in understanding how communities in Edenderry, Rhode and the wider area operated. It also reveals the impact the emigrants made on America, none more so than the Bennetts'.

The talk takes place in Edenderry Parish Centre on 19 May at 8pm. All are welcome. Admission is 5 (students free).
A judge has returned over 7,000 seized 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 last Friday 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.

Mr 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 five or six 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.
THE lack of consultation by the Office of Public Works with the people of Clonminch in Tullamore over plans for the housing of Ukrainians in the area, is causing outrage among residents.

At the monthly meeting of Tullamore Municipal District, Councillor Tony McCormack said there are plans to have 62 modular homes placed on council owned land in Clonminch.

''I don't think anyone has any problem with housing Ukrainian refugees. As a matter of fact we know it's our duty and we are delighted to do it,'' said Cllr McCormack.

''We had a presentation from the Department and from the OPW who are putting in those houses. We were guaranteed that a consultation would be had with the residents up there before any sod is turned on that site. We now have a situation where the residents are up in arms, not because the site is being used to build modular housing, but because they haven't been taken into consideration and the right planning hasn't gone in to putting it together,'' he stressed.

''At the moment it's like Guantanamo Bay, it has fencing and barbed wire which is going around existing residential units and I think it's very unfair of the Department and the OPW to treat these people with such disdain, to actually ride roughshod over them and not take into consideration their needs and recommendations into how they want to be treated as being on the side of this particular site,'' he said.



Cllr McCormack asked the council to write to the OPW to emphasise the need for the people of Clonminch to be included in the plans.

''This doesn't bode well for them (OPW) trying to do this elsewhere because the fact that we handed over this land to them in a section 183 was because of the assurances we were given. I'll tell you one thing if I thought for one second what happened was going to happen I wouldn't have signed up for it and I wouldn't have voted in favour of allowing it to go through'' said Cllr McCormack.

Agreeing, Councillor Sean O'Brien said, ''it's just not good enough. The council had no say, good bad or indifferent. We had no say with regards to the land, that land was zoned for industry and it was taken out of our hands.

So it's the Government of the day that have to stand up as well. It's easy for people locally to give out, but it's their own party's Government that are making these decisions. I think it's disgraceful the way they are being treated,'' he said.

The Cathaoirleach of Tullamore Municipal District, Councillor Neil Feighery said while there is an obligation to house Ukrainian refugees, the land at Clonminch was handed over in the belief that there would be a full round of consultation with the people of the area.

''It's beyond belief that heavy track machines and heavy construction machinery moved in on site and topsoil was removed without the residents living right beside the site having had any communication with the Department of Children, Equality Disability and Integration or the OPW. It was so heavy handed,'' he said.

''We always want to ensure there is a lot of consultation and as an Executive we have always achieved that. We had no role in that. And to add insult to injury it really has left a sour taste in residents mouths.''

Cllr Feighery said they had met with a representative of the OPW and two and a half weeks later, ''while construction work proceeds at pace we have heard nothing since,'' he added.

''The residents are very clear and they appreciate that these poor Ukrainian refugees who are fleeing war need to be housed somewhere, and they are not objecting to the principle of the development. But it certainly needs an awful lot to be desired. There are so many lessons to be learned for other projects across the country,'' said Cllr Feighery

Before the meeting ended Cllr McCormack said he had been on the the phone to Deputy Barry Cowen on the issue and some progress is being made on the matter.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced five new sanctions packages approved on Friday.

"Today we have a sanctions day. Five sanctions packages have been approved, which we have been very carefully preparing these weeks in the National Security and Defense Council, the Cabinet of Ministers, the Office, in our special services," he said in a video address on Friday.

"The first is the package concerning Zaporizhstal. We are blocking the influence of the terrorist state on this company, which existed thanks to various figureheads and offshore persons. The share controlled by Russia through one of the systemic banks will be confiscated and will work for the sake of Ukraine and Ukrainians," Zelenskyy said.

He said "we will not leave any connection of a terrorist state in Ukraine, which it can use against our state, against our economy or against our people."

In addition, Zelenskyy said "sanctions packages have been approved that continue our course of isolating and blocking the Russian military industry."

"Hundreds of individuals and legal entities of a terrorist state and those associated with Russia are becoming a target of global isolation. We are working very actively with partners so that everyone who actually produces this aggression, who gives weapons, ammunition, equipment and technology into the hands of terrorists, so that all of them are crushed by the world," Zelenskyy said.

He thanked "everyone who is helping Ukraine put pressure on Russia for this war, as well as blocking the terrorist state's attempts to circumvent sanctions."

"I am sure this should be defined as one of the most serious crimes against international law and international peace  attempts to circumvent sanctions imposed to limit the resources of aggression, or assistance in these efforts," Zelenskyy said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine commented on the illegal seizure of the OCU Cathedral in Simferopol by the occupation authorities and said Russia should immediately unblock the free functioning of this cathedral.

"Without any legal grounds, the Russian occupation administration seized and began the forced eviction of ministers and believers from the Cathedral of Saints Equal-to-the-Apostles Volodymyr and Olha of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine in temporarily occupied Simferopol," according to the text of a comment published on Friday.

It is known that the occupiers broke down the doors of the temple, made an inventory of the property and forced the parishioners to leave their prayer places.

"The capture of the Cathedral in Simferopol is yet another suppression of freedom of conscience and religion carried out by Russia in the occupied Ukrainian lands. The list and number of church property stolen by the invaders, destroyed churches, people imprisoned for their faith, tortured laity, kidnapped clergymen are growing daily," the ministry said.

The aggressor country neglects its international obligations under international humanitarian law, in particular, the observance of the right to freedom of religion and belief in the temporarily occupied Crimea.

In addition, the occupying power oppresses religious minorities and communities, and conducts searches, destroys religious buildings, prayer places, forcibly and illegally evicts them, and also persecutes and persecutes parishioners and priests of the OCU, Protestant churches, Muslim communities, and others.

These actions are condemned, in particular, in the resolution of the UN General Assembly 77/229 the situation with human rights in the temporarily occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea and in the city of Sevastopol, Ukraine, as well as in the statements of Chairman of the International Religious Freedom or Belief Alliance On situation in Ukraine and On the anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

"Russia must immediately unblock the free functioning of the Cathedral of Saints Equal-to-the-Apostles Volodymyr and Olha in Simferopol and stop violating the rights of believers of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine in Crimea and other occupied territories," the Foreign Ministry said.

It is noted that all cases of violence by the invaders against Ukrainian clergy, as well as bullying of believers, the destruction of churches, mosques, synagogues and prayer places, and the robbery of sacred buildings are properly recorded and documented by the authorized agency of the Ukrainian authorities.

"None of these cases will go unpunished, not a single Russian criminal will escape responsibility," according to the text.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry calls on the international community, in particular, the participants of the International Crimea Platform, to condemn the oppression of the rights of believers in the temporarily occupied Crimea by the Russian occupation administration and to increase political, diplomatic and sanctions pressure on Russia.
OPINION: Taliban ministers hobnobbing in Islamabad dangerous for India

Feature

lekhaka-Jagdish N Singh

Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi's hobnobbing with the top brass in the Pakistan establishment is full of dangerous implications for India. Islamising modern secular India-Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, in particular-has been among the Taliban's priority goals.

There is a near consensus across the contemporary international strategic spectrum that Islamist terrorism constitutes one of the greatest threats to humanity. But does the United Nations Security Council, which is supposed to ensure peace and stability in the world, care?

Observers say the Council's recent softness towards Muttaqi's hobnobbing with the top brass in the Pakistan establishment offers a concrete evidence as to its non-seriousness in dealing with the evil of Islamist terrorism. Muttaqi is among the notorious Taliban officials who have blood of Afghans on their hands. The Council had thus rightly slapped a travel ban on him.

But, the other day, the Council agreed to allow Muttaqi to travel to Islamabad. Subsequently, from May 5 to May 8, he held talks with various top officials in Islamabad. He also participated in the 5th Trilateral Foreign Ministers Dialogue with his Pakistan and Chinese counterparts Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and Qin Gang.

No justification for terrorism, must be stopped: Jaishankar at SCO meet

Muttaqi's hobnobbing with the top brass in the Pakistan establishment is full of dangerous implications for India. The Afghan Taliban came to power in Kabul in August 2021. What the Taliban conception of the social and world order is has been no secret. Islamising modern secular India-Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, in particular-has been among its priority goals.

The Taliban's linkage with al-Qaeda is well documented. It has throughout facilitated al-Qaeda's presence in the region. Today a significant part of al-Qaeda's leadership remains based in the border region of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Qaeda has an active presence in at least 15 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces. The Haqqani Network, an integral part of the Taliban, has been al-Qaeda's closest ally since the 1980s.

Minister Muttaqi seems determined to carry forward the Taliban agenda. For this, he is working to strengthen the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) which has had ideological linkages with the Afghan Taliban. The TTP is Qaeda-affiliated. It has been very helpful to the Taliban in toppling the previous government in Kabul. Muttaqi today wants Islamabad to hold negotiations with the TTP and patch up their differences.

Muttaqi may succeed in his Islamabad mission. During his sojourn to Islamabad last week, he met Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff General Syed Asim Munir. General Munir reaffirmed Pakistan's commitment to the Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.

Minister Muttaqi's meeting with General Munir cannot be taken lightly. Unlike in any other democratic nation, the Chief of the Army Staff in Pakistan decides the country's foreign agenda. General Munir is the de facto ruler of Pakistan today.

The international community, especially major world powers, must take all appropriate steps to tame the Taliban before it is late. In the wake of the September 11 attacks, the United States launched its mission Operation Enduring Freedom to overthrow the then Taliban regime and dismantle all its jihadist assets, human and material, in the region.

Before the Joe Biden administration in Washington and allies finally withdrew their troops from Afghanistan, they should have seen to it that the very objective of their war on terror in Afghanistan was accomplished and a people-friendly political system installed in the country. Unfortunately, this did not happen.

The Taliban government is a threat to world peace and the cherished values of all modern civilized States. It has little respect for the rights of women and minorities in the country. Historically linked with the violent radical Islamist forces based in the Middle East, this predominantly Pashtun group aims to consolidate its version of Islamic rule across the country and act as a base for global jihadist groups.

The observers add that Washington needs to be tough with Islamabad to rein in the Taliban. Islamabad has long been a partner of radical Islamist forces the world over. During 1980-89, Pakistan's Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) acted as the coordinating centre for the Muslim Brotherhood, al-Qaeda, the so-called charities-such as Muslim World League, International Relief Organization, World Assembly of Muslim Youth and Red Crescent-and radical Wahhabis from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.

After the Soviet Union left Afghanistan, the ISI helped Egyptian terrorists Ayman al-Zawahiri and Omar Abdel Rahman, al-Qaeda supremo Osama bin Laden and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. After 9/11, Islamabad allowed al-Qaeda to move across the border into its remote frontiers. It allowed al-Qaeda and other jihadist groups to plan new terror attacks. After the fall of the Taliban rule-I, Islamabad allowed its Shura Council to locate itself in Quetta.

(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.

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Story first published: Friday, May 12, 2023, 11:23 [IST]
A trip down memory lane: Karnataka's tryst with rocky coalition governments

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

As the results of the Karnataka Assembly election 2023 are eagerly awaited, exit polls suggest that the state is likely headed for a hung assembly. Three prominent exit poll agencies have indicated a possibility of a hung assembly, while others have given the Congress a slight advantage with HD Kumaraswamy's Janata Dal (Secular) playing the role of a kingmaker. However, this is not the first time that Karnataka stares at a possible coalition government with two parties - in this case the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) - coming together to try and form a government in the state.

Political alliances have played a significant role in the formation of governments in Karnataka after elections. Since the state's inception in 1956, the political landscape has witnessed the formation of various alliances between parties to attain a majority in the Karnataka Assembly. These alliances have often resulted in a change of government or have had a significant impact on the policies and governance of the state.

1967

The first political alliance in Karnataka was formed in 1967 between the Congress and the Praja Socialist Party (PSP). The coalition was formed to counter the Swatantra Party's rise, a party that opposed the Congress' socialist policies. The Congress-PSP alliance managed to secure a comfortable majority in the 1967 Assembly elections, and S. Nijalingappa was appointed as the Chief Minister. However, the coalition government did not last long and fell apart due to internal disagreements between the Congress and the PSP.

BJP Has Accepted Defeat In Karnataka Says Congress

1983

In 1983, the Janata Party and the BJP formed a coalition government in Karnataka, marking the first time the BJP was part of a government in any state in India. The alliance was formed to counter the Congress government's dominance in the state, and Ramakrishna Hegde of the Janata Party was appointed as the Chief Minister. The coalition government introduced several reforms, including land reforms and education policies, but it did not last long. The government fell apart in 1988 due to internal conflicts between the Janata Party and the BJP.

1994

In 1994, the Congress and the Janata Dal formed a coalition government in Karnataka after the state elections resulted in a hung Assembly. The coalition government was headed by H. D. Deve Gowda of the Janata Dal, and the Congress provided external support. The coalition government introduced several policies, including the establishment of a separate ministry for minority affairs and the introduction of a reservation policy for economically backward sections of society. However, the coalition government collapsed in 1996 due to internal disagreements between the Congress and the Janata Dal.

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2004

In 2004, the Congress formed an alliance with the Janata Dal (Secular) to form a coalition government in Karnataka. The coalition government was headed by Dharam Singh of the Congress, and H. D. Kumaraswamy of the Janata Dal (Secular) was appointed as the Deputy Chief Minister. The coalition government introduced several policies, including the establishment of a separate ministry for the welfare of minorities and the introduction of a new land acquisition policy. However, the coalition government fell apart in 2006, with the Janata Dal (Secular) withdrawing its support.

DK Shivakumar bats for Congress CM post in Karnataka, A Day Before Result

2018

In 2018, the Karnataka elections resulted in a hung Assembly, with no party securing a clear majority. The BJP emerged as the single largest party, but it fell short of the majority mark. The Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) formed a post-poll alliance and formed a coalition government. The coalition government was headed by H. D. Kumaraswamy of the Janata Dal (Secular), with G. Parameshwara of the Congress appointed as the Deputy Chief Minister. The coalition government introduced several policies, including the waiver of farm loans and the introduction of a new health policy. However, the coalition government fell apart in 2019, with several Congress legislators resigning and defecting to the BJP.

While some alliances have been successful, others have fallen apart due to internal conflicts and disagreements. As the state gears up for the result day, it remains to be seen if political alliances will continue to play a significant role in Karnataka's political landscape.

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Story first published: Friday, May 12, 2023, 15:52 [IST]
High Stake Karnataka Battle: What Is In Store For The Three Major Parties

Four Possible Scenarios And What To Expect In Karnataka

Kumaraswamy Plays Down Reports Of An Alliance In Karnataka

BJP And Congress Guard New MLAs, Approach Independents On Counting Day Eve

India

oi-Deepika S

A day ahead of the counting of votes in the Karnataka Assembly elections, political parties in Karnataka are reaching out to rebels and other independent candidates, who are likely to win the polls, as most pollsters predicted a hung assembly.

On Friday, Congress leaders went into a huddle at party president M Mallikarjun Kharge's residence and reportedly discussed ways to keep the flock, especially the newly elected MLAs together, and also regarding reaching out to independents to reach the 113-member strength in the event of a shortfall.

Karnataka recorded its highest-ever voting 73.19 per cent in Wednesday's polling to the 224-member Assembly.

Several pollsters have given an edge to the Congress over the ruling BJP while indicating the possibility of a hung Assembly.

Former CM Siddaramaiah, who has swelling in his hand and is being treated by doctors, was in touch with the party leaders from his residence.

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai held a meeting with veteran leader B S Yediyurappa and expressed confidence about the BJP crossing the magic figure with a clear majority. He rejected coalition talks with other political parties as he expressed confidence of a win.

BJP leaders are also forming strategies to keep its newly-elected legislators together, and are making attempts to contact independents, mostly BJP rebels, as well as winning candidates of smaller parties.

JDS which is eyeing to play a role in government formation is making all efforts to keep its MLAs together.

Former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda has reportedly contacted party leaders and candidates who may win, over the phone and asked them to stay loyal to the party and its leadership and to not fall prey to allurements by other parties.

The three major political parties in the state have contacted some independents who have chances of winning the polls, to get them on their side, keeping in mind the possibility of a fractured verdict.

Karnataka voted in a single phase to elect a new government in the state and the results will be out on May 13.

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Story first published: Friday, May 12, 2023, 22:18 [IST]
Rahul Gandhi has not said a word': Surjewala on 'collusion with BJP' remark

Coward BJP govt has imposed 'undeclared emergency' in Delhi, 'Satyagrah' to continue, says Cong

BJP Has Accepted Defeat In Karnataka Says Congress

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala said that the BJP has accepted defeat in the Karnataka Assembly elections. He also went on to thank the crores of voters who voted for the Congress.

Surjewala also underlined that the Congress belief that it would claim a comfortable majority in the elections after the votes are counted on Saturday. He also said that the Congress would form the government in the state.

"I want to thank the 6.5 crore people of Karnataka who have voted for the Congress. Let us wait till tomorrow... till the results are out. BJP has admitted their defeat," he said.

When asked by reporters about a post-poll deal with the JD(S), he said, "let

them go wherever they want to go. I am confident about the Congress forming the government with a decent majority."

The comments comes in the wake of the exit polls predicting a tight fight in Karnataka.

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JDS Ready To Ally With BJP Or Congress, But Conditions Apply

Former chief minister, H D Kumaraswamy, whose party is expected to win around 30 seats said that his party is ready to deal with any party.

Surjewala said that the tactics of the BJP have failed in Karnataka.

"Congress members worked hard in taking the party's five major poll promises to people. We are humbled with the numbers that exit polls predicted but let us wait for tomorrow," he said.

All exit polls have given the Congress the slight edge in the state. However many exit polls have predicted a hung house and suggested that the JD(S) may once again end up playing kingmaker.

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Story first published: Friday, May 12, 2023, 15:25 [IST]
PM Modi to campaign in about 20 places in poll-bound Karnataka

Bommai junks pre-polls surveys giving Cong an edge; says BJP will come to power with comfortable majority

BJP Will Cross The Magic Figure, Says Karnataka CM Bommai

India

oi-Deepika S

A day ahead of the counting of votes in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly elections, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Friday reiterated that the BJP is all set to cross the magic number and will get the majority.

"There is no chance of a hung Assembly, we are going to form the government comfortably. Let DK Shivakumar be happy with his 141 seats till tomorrow. We will have a legislature party meeting to decide the CM's face," Bommai told reporters.

The chief minister further said that a legislature party meeting will decide on the Chief Minister's face.

To a question on the JDS leader's announcement that they have decided with whom they will align to form the government, Bommai said "Everyone has the right to do their own assessment. Earlier, Kumaraswamy said he will not be a kingmaker but a king."

BJP Has Accepted Defeat In Karnataka Says Congress

Just a day ahead of the Karnataka election results, JDS made a huge claim saying that they have already decided on its alliance partner.

Speaking to ANI, JDS leader Tanveer Ahmed said that the party had already decided with whom it would form the government in Karnataka.

However, he did not reveal the name of the alliance partner, saying that the party would announce it to the public at the appropriate time.

"We have already decided with whom we are going to form the government. We will announce it to the public when the appropriate time comes. There are certain programmes that we really want to implement for the betterment of Karnataka and Kannadigas... We know who is more capable of doing it and we will go with them," Tanveer told ANI.

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He also claimed that both Congress and BJP have reached out to them.

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Hours later, JDS distanced itself from Tanveer's statement, saying the party has not decided anything on the alliance.

Tanveer Ahmed is not a JDS spokesperson or a member of our party. He is nothing, he quit the party long back. We have not decided anything on coalition govt, we will take a call on alliance after the results," Karnataka JDS President CM Ibrahim.

It is to be noted that most of the exit polls have predicted that there will be a hung assembly, with an edge to Congress over the ruling BJP.

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Story first published: Friday, May 12, 2023, 16:01 [IST]
Cyclone Mocha: Low-pressure area formed over Bay of Bengal; Alert issued in Odisha, WB and TN

Cyclone Mocha: Low-pressure area in Bay turns well-marked, may intensify into severe storm by May 12

Cyclone Mocha Now Turns Into 'Very Severe Cyclonic Storm', Bangladesh Braces For Impact

Hundreds Of Thousands To Be Evacuated As Bangladesh And Myanmar Brace For Severe Cyclone Threat

Cyclone Mocha Set To Intensify As Very Severe Cyclonic Storm: IMD

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has said that the severe cyclonic storm 'Mocha' is set to intensify into a very severe cyclonic storm today. It would head to the Bangladesh-Myanmar coast, the weather department said.

"The SCS "Mocha" lay centred at 0230 hours IST of 12th May 2023 over Southeast adjoining Central Bay of Bengal about 520 km west-northwest of Port Blair", the IMD said in an early morning tweet.

The name 'Mocha' was suggested by Yemen. It was named after the Red Sea port city which is known to have introduced coffee to the world.

"Severe cyclonic storm "Mocha" lay centered at 2330 hrs IST of 11th May 2023 over southeast adjoining Central BoB near lat 12.7N, long 88.1E, about 510 km west-northwest of Port Blair, 1050 km south-southwest of Cox's Bazar (Bangladesh) and 970 km south-southwest of Sittwe (Myanmar)," the IMD said on Thursday.

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Due to this, the states of Mizoram and Tripura are likely to get heavy rains on Saturday. Nagaland, Manipur and South Assam are likely to get rainfall on Sunday.

Eight teams of the National Disaster Relief Force and 200 rescuers have been put on the ground, while another 100 are on standby.

Fishermen, ships, boats and trawlers have been advised not to venture into the central and northeast Bay of Bengal and north Andaman Sea until Sunday. Those who are sailing in central Bay of Bengal and north Andaman Sea have been advised to return to the coast.

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Story first published: Friday, May 12, 2023, 8:09 [IST]
Did Social Media Impact The Karnataka Assembly Elections 2023?

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

The Karnataka Assembly election of 2023 has witnessed a significant influence of social media in shaping public opinion and political discourse. With over 62 million internet users in the state, social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp have emerged as powerful tools for political parties to connect with voters and spread their messages.

The ruling Congress party, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and Janata Dal (Secular) have all actively used social media to reach out to voters and shape their campaigns. Political parties have employed social media teams to create engaging content, run targeted ads, and monitor online conversations around their party and their opponents.

One of the most significant impacts of social media on the Karnataka elections has been its ability to reach out to first-time voters and young people who make up a significant chunk of the electorate. Political parties have used social media platforms to engage with these voters and create a sense of belonging to their respective political ideologies.

BJP Will Cross The Magic Figure, Says Karnataka CM Bommai

The BJP, which has a massive social media presence, has been particularly active in the online space. The party's social media team has been churning out viral content, including videos, memes, and infographics, to create a buzz around their campaign. They have also launched a massive online outreach campaign, called the "Karnataka BJP Social Media Army," which has over 50,000 volunteers who are active on social media platforms.

The Congress, on the other hand, has been using social media to counter the BJP's online propaganda. The party has been running targeted ads to reach out to specific voter groups and has also created social media content to highlight their achievements in the state.

The Janata Dal (Secular), led by HD Kumaraswamy, has also been actively using social media to connect with voters. The party has a significant presence on social media platforms and has been running a campaign to portray themselves as the alternative to the two dominant parties.

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Apart from political parties, social media has also played a crucial role in mobilizing civil society and activists. Several social media campaigns, such as #KarnatakaVotes and #KarnatakaElections2023, have trended on Twitter, with people sharing information, analysis, and opinions about the election.

However, social media's impact on the Karnataka elections has not been entirely positive. Fake news, hate speech, and misinformation have also been rampant on social media platforms. Political parties and their supporters have been accused of spreading fake news to discredit their opponents and sway public opinion.

BJP Has Accepted Defeat In Karnataka Says Congress

To tackle the problem of fake news and hate speech, the Election Commission of India has set up a social media monitoring cell to monitor social media platforms for any violation of the Model Code of Conduct. The cell has been working with social media platforms to remove any content that violates the law.

While social media has played a positive role in mobilising voters and creating a sense of political engagement, it has also been used to spread fake news and misinformation.

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Story first published: Friday, May 12, 2023, 16:12 [IST]
Do Not Dream About It: Ajit Pawar On Whether Eknath Shinde Will Resign as Maha CM

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar said on Friday that there is no demand for the resignation of Maharashtra Chief Minister, Eknath Shinde, in the wake of the Supreme Court's judgment.

"Do not even dream that the chief minster and deputy chief minister would resign on the basis of morality. There is a huge difference between former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and the current lot," Pawar told reporters when asked about Uddhav Thackeray's demand for the resignation of Shinde.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court had said that the then Maharashtra governor, Bagat Singh Koshiyari had erred in concluding that Uddhav Thackeray had lost the majority following a revolt by Shinde. The court also said that the governor had no objective material to call for a floor test.

The court however added that it could have reinstated Uddhav had he refrained from resigning from his post of CM following the rebellion by the Shinde faction.

Will boost party workers: Ajit Pawar on Sharad Pawar's decision to remain NCP chief

Ajit Pawar had said before the decision of the court that there was no threat to the BJP-Shiv Sena government as long as it enjoys the majority 154 MLAs on the floor of the House. "Many call this government unconstitutional. But as long as they have the support of 145 MLAs, there is no danger", Ajit Pawar had said.

There were certain rumblings within the NCP itself and it was being largely speculated that Ajit Pawar may take away with him around 30 MLAs and join the BJP coalition. However that storm seems to have cooled off, with Sharad Pawar announcing his resignation as the chief of the party. He however took back his resignation following a request made by his party.
Gyanvapi Mosque: Allahabad HC Allows Scientific Investigation Of 'Shivling' By ASI

India

oi-Prakash KL

By Pti

The Allahabad High Court on Friday ordered determination of the age of the structure claimed to be a Shivling in the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi using modern technology.

It set aside an October 14 order of the Varanasi District Court that rejected a plea for scientific investigation, including carbon dating, of the structure found in May 2022 during a court-mandated survey of the Gyanvapi mosque located next to the Kashi Vishwanath temple.

The High Court directed the Varanasi district judge to proceed, in accordance with law, on the application by the Hindu worshippers for conducting a scientific probe of the 'Shivling', paving the way for determining the age of the structure. The order said no harm should be done to the structure, which the Hindu petitioners claim is a Shivling. However, the mosque authorities say it is part of a fountain in the 'wazu khana', where ablutions are performed before namaz.

Justice Arvind Kumar Mishra passed the order on a revision petition filed by Laxmi Devi and three others challenging the Varanasi court order. The high court had obtained a report from various institutions, including the IITs in Kanpur and Roorkee and Birbal Sahni Institute of Lucknow, before ordering for determination of the age of the structure. The report says direct dating of the structure is not possible and the age can be ascertained with proxy dating of materials, which can "correlate with the establishment of the lingam if there is any".

"This needs a thorough study of the materials surrounding the lingam," it adds. The report also suggests the dating of some organic materials below the surface can ascertain the age but it needs to be established that they are related to the structure. The court considered suggestions of Prof Javed N Malik of Department of Earth Sciences, IIT Kanpur. Prof Malik suggested that to understand the buried material and structure it would be essential to undertake a detailed subsurface survey through Ground Penetrating Radar (GRP). This will be helpful towards identifying the remains of the ancient structures buried if any at the site, he added.

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) in its 52-page report had given the opinion that the age of the structure can be determined through scientific method without causing any harm to the structure. Its opinion was based on studies conducted by IIT Kanpur, IIT Roorkee, Birbal Sahni Institute, Lucknow, and one more educational institute. Advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain appearing for the revisionists argued that the district judge had "passed the impugned order without any basis" and it should have called for expert opinion from the ASI on whether carbon dating could be done without causing any harm.

Additional Advocate General MC Chaturvedi, assisted by Chief Standing Counsel Bipin Bihari Pandey, appeared for state government. He said, "If carbon dating and nature of the structure can be determined without causing any harm to the structure then the state has no objection to it so that real nature of structure could be found."

On November 4, 2022, the high court had sought the response of ASI in the matter and directed the ASI Director General to submit his opinion whether investigation of the said structure, if examined through carbon-dating, ground-penetrating radar (GPR), excavation and other methods adopted to determine its age, nature and other relevant information, is likely to damage it or a safe evaluation about its age can be done. A suit was filed in the Varanasi District Court seeking the right to regular worship of Ma Shringar Gauri and other deities whose idols the petitioners said are located in the mosque complex.
JDS to play kingmaker again? Here are 5 possible scenarios that may happen

India

oi-Deepika S

Karnataka is heading for a hung assembly again with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress being close contenders and HD Kumaraswamy's Janata Dal Secular likely to play kingmaker.

Several pollsters predicted that the Congress may have an edge in Karnataka, which is BJP's southern citadel, in a hung assembly with a couple of them even projecting that the grand old party may get a majority on its own. Both Congress and the BJP have rejected the exit poll claiming that they will win the election and form the government.

Here are the the five possible scenario you must know ahead of the May 13 Assembly results.

Congress wrests power

Several exit polls have predicted that Congress will emerge as the single-largest party but may fail to reach the majority mark of 113 in the 224-member Assembly.

If Congress wins by a slender margin, such a scenario would work in favour of D.K. Shivakumar, who is known as the troubleshooter for the party. He will be able to use the opportunity to his advantage in the race to become the chief minister.

If Congress registers a landslide victory, then there are chances that Siddaramaih will become the chief minister as he has wide popularity among the party workers.

BJP returns to power

Asianet Suvarna News 24x7 and Jan Ki Baat have predicted that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is most likely to form the next government in Karnataka. In that case, the BJP may script history by retaining power in Karnataka beating the anti-incumbency factor. The party has made an all-out effort in its election campaigning.

JDS plays kingmaker

Five out of 10 exit polls indicated that the JDS may play the role of the kingmaker again. The major exit polls are predicting 14-33 seats for the JDS.

Since the time of its formation in 1999, JDS has never formed a government on its own, but had been in power twice in coalition with both national parties -- for 20 months with BJP from February 2006 and with Congress for 14 months after the May 2018 Assembly polls- with Kumaraswamy as the Chief Minister.

JDS signs pact with Congress

In case of a hung assembly, JDS will have to make an alliance with the Congress to form a government in Karnataka.

It must be noted that during the 2018 Karnataka Assembly Elections, the JDS emerged as the kingmaker by securing 37 seats. After forming a post-poll coalition with the Congress, JDS leader H.D Kumaraswamy was appointed as the Chief Minister.

However, this time, both Congress and JDS have ruled out a post-poll alliance in case of a hung assembly.

Karnataka Congress President DK Shivakumar stated that there was no question of an alliance with JDS to form the government as Congress will have the numbers.

JDS signs pact with BJP

Another scenario is JDS will have to make a pact with BJP as it did in the 2006 Assembly polls. The regional party got 58 seats and formed a coalition government with the BJP, the first stint in power for the saffron party in Karnataka.

Exodus likely from JDS

If the JDS fails to make an alliance with national parties like BJP and Congress, the party may face a series of exodus in the event of a hung assembly.

Will the BJP win or the Congress wrests the power from the saffron party in Karnataka Assembly in 2023? Or will the JDS play the role of a kingmaker again? Which way will the voters swing? All eyes would be on May 13, the day when the votes will be counted.
Russians launch two rocket carriers into Black Sea with total salvo of 12 Kalibr missiles

Two rocket carriers with a total salvo of up to 12 Kalibr-type missiles are currently on combat duty in the Black Sea, the Pivden (South) task force said.

"The enemy has put one surface and one underwater launch vehicle on combat duty in the Black Sea. Thus, up to 12 Kalibr-type missiles may be ready for launch," the task force said on Facebook on Friday evening.

"The level of missile danger is increased," the task force said.
'Not Reaching Out To Anybody': Kharge on Talks With JDS Ahead Of Karnataka Election Results

High Stake Karnataka Battle: What Is In Store For The Three Major Parties

K'taka Polls: JDS In Touch With 'Winnable' Candidates In Case Of Hung House

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

As exit polls predicted a hung assembly in Karnataka, Janata Dal (Secular) sees a bright chance for itself. Amid reports of BJP and Congress leaders approaching JDS winnable candidates, ex-Karnataka chief minister and Janata Dal Secular leader HD Kumaraswamy has contacted JDS candidates and personally requested that they remain independent of any external influences.

Despite being in Singapore, Kumaraswamy is in constant communication with the candidates he believes will win and has assured them that the party will play a crucial role in the formation of the next government.

On Friday, former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, despite ill health, spoke with several potential winning JDS candidates and instructed them to avoid affiliations with both BJP and Congress. He also directed them to meet him after the results are declared in their respective constituencies. Reports indicate that Congress has already begun approaching rebel party candidates who joined other parties, in case of a hung Assembly.

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DK Shivakumar bats for Congress CM post in Karnataka, A Day Before Result

Kumaraswamy is expected to return to Bengaluru on Saturday morning, just before the counting begins in the state. JDS has stated that both Congress and BJP have approached them for a possible alliance in case of a fractured mandate. While most exit polls suggest that Congress has an advantage in the Karnataka polls, BJP leaders remain confident in their ability to retain power in the state on May 13th.
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Karnataka Election Results 2023: Date, Time, When And Where To Watch LIVE Coverage

India

oi-Deepika S

Karnataka assembly election result 2023 will be out on May 13. The state is witnessing a three-cornered contest between the ruling party-BJP, the Congress, and the regional party Janata Dal-Secular.

Arvind Kejriwal-led the Aam Aadmi Party has also fielded its candidates. Also, there are some smaller parties and independent candidates in the fray in a few constituencies.

The exit poll results by various pollsters have predicted a hung assembly in Karnataka. Five out of ten pollsters predicted that the Congress will emerge as the single-largest party in the Karnataka Assembly elections, in a close contest with the BJP.

The fate of prominent leaders like Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, Congress heavyweights Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar, and HD Kumaraswamy will be decided on Saturday.

Karnataka Election Results 2023: Date and Time

The counting of votes for the 224-member Legislative Assembly will begin at 8 am on May 13. You can get a clear picture of the Karnataka election result trends by afternoon. The results for all the 224 constituencies will be out by May 14, 2023.

DK Shivakumar bats for Congress CM post in Karnataka, A Day Before Result

Karnataka Election Results 2023: When and Where to Watch

The counting of votes for Karnataka will begin at 8 am in 36 centres across the state. You can check the live update of the Karnataka Assembly results on the official website of the Election Commission of India - eci.gov.in.

You can also watch the Karnataka Assembly Election Result 2023 live coverage on OneIndia news portal.

Karnataka Election Results 2023: What is at stake for Congress, BJP and JDS

The ruling BJP is looking to break a 38-year-old poll jinx where the people have never voted the incumbent party to power, while the Congress is hoping to wrest power from the saffron party and to give it a much-needed momentum to position itself as the main opposition player in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.The JDS is hoping to play a crucial role in Karnataka state politics, in the event of a hung verdict, as it has done in the past.

Karnataka Election Results 2023: Voter Turnout

Karnataka registered a turnout of 73.19 per cent on May 10, to elect representatives to the 224-memberAssembly.

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Karnataka Election Results 2023: How parties fared in 2018

In the 2018 elections, the BJP had emerged as the single largest party by winning 104 seats, followed by Congress with 80seats. JDS won 37 seats. There was also one independent member, while the BSP and Karnataka Pragnyavantha Janatha Party (KPJP) got one legislator each elected.

In the 2018 elections, Congress registered a vote share of 38.04 per cent, BJP garnered a vote share of 36.22 per cent, and the JDS got 18.36 per cent.
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Karnataka Elections 2023: 7 Interesting Facts

India

oi-Deepika S

With most of the pollsters predicting a hung assembly in Karnataka, all eyes are now on the counting of votes tomorrow.

As the state heads for an interesting contest, here are lesser-known facts about Karnataka Elections 2023.

17,000 voters are centenarians!

Karnataka has the highest-ever number of registered centenarian voters in the State. According to the data released by the election commission, nearly 17,000 people registered in the electoral rolls have already crossed the age of 100 years. Out of 17,000 centenarian voters, 9,985 are women.

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Candidate banned from visiting his own constituency

Congress candidate Vinay Kulkarni, who is contesting from Dharwad can't visit Dharwad, the constituency he is contesting from, following a court-imposed ban. So, his wife Shivaleela filed the nomination on his behalf.

Kulkarni is reaching out to voters through video messages. He was arrested in connection with the murder of BJP leader and Zilla Panchayat member Yogeshgouda Goudar in June 2016.

Shamanur Shivashankarappa oldest candide

At 92, Congress candidate Shamanur Shivashankarappa is the oldest candidate to contest the elections. He is contesting from Davanagere South Assembly constituency and is an industrialist-turned-politician.

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5 rich candidates from Congress

Out of the top 10 richest candidates contesting this election, five are from Congress. Yousuf Shariff,Yousuf Shariff, N Nagaraju, D K Shivakumar, Priyakrishna INC, Suresha B S, N. A. Haris, H K Suresh, K. Narayan Raju JDS, Anil H Lad. eshpande Raghunath feature on the ten richest candidates list.

The smallest constituency

With 27,000 voters, Sringeri is the smallest constituency in Karnataka.

Karnataka Election Results: From Kengal Hanumanthaiah to Bommai, Here is The List of Chief Ministers

Shirahatti factor

All eyes would be on Shirahatti seat. There is a belief among the political pundits and the voters of Shirahatti that whoever wins this Assembly seat will go on to rule Karnataka. This has been the trend since 1972. It will be interesting to see whether the trend will continue this time as well.

Kolar most-diversified constotuency

Kolar looks to be one of the most diverse electoral constituencies. It has elected candidates from CPI, Republican Party of India, CPI(M), AIADMK, Bharatiya Republican Party, BJP and Congress in the past.
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Maha Govt Withdraws All Charges Against Ex-Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh

India

oi-Prakash KL

The Maharashtra government has dropped all charges against former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh, according to news agency ANI.

The state government has also quashed the suspension orders issued in December 2021 and said that he was on duty during the period of suspension.

Deputy CM of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis said, "CAT (Central Administrative Tribunal) gave a judgement under which Param Bir Singh's departmental inquiry was declared wrong and ordered its closure. It labelled his suspension wrong and requested to take back the suspension order. According to that, this decision was taken."

Param Bir Singh was shunted out after police officer Sachin Waze was arrested in connection with the recovery of an SUV with explosives near industrialist Mukesh Ambani's house. Subsequently, Singh, in a letter to then chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, alleged (then) home minister Anil Deshmukh had asked police in Mumbai to collect Rs 100 crore a month from bars and restaurants.

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Deshmukh denied the allegations but soon stepped down from his post. Coming back to Param Bir Singh, he was the first serving IPS officer of DG Rank in the state to be suspended on these charges.

Apart from him, the Thackeray government had suspended Thane Deputy Commissioner of Police Parag Shyam Manere, who was a trusted aide of Param Bir Sing, for similar offences, UNI reported.
Kharge attacks Modi says only his jacket is famous he changes it four times daily

'Not Reaching Out To Anybody': Kharge on Talks With JDS Ahead Of Karnataka Election Results

India

oi-Prakash KL

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday denied having talks with the JDS amid exit polls indicating that Karnataka is heading for a hung assembly.

Kharge expressed his confidence in his party coming to power with a "thumping majority". However, he stated that Congress will decide its next move based on the numbers. "The numbers will tell us what to do," he said.

"Our party has the strategy of discussing things after meeting each other. If we tell you everything, what would remain?," says Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge after a meeting at his residence ahead of Karnataka election results.

He further stated that the Congress is not "reaching out to anybody".

His comments come hours after the JDS leader Tanveer Ahmed claimed that they have already decided which party they would support in forming the government after the results are declared. "We have already decided with whom we are going to form the government. We will announce it to the public when the appropriate time comes," he said.

However, Karnataka JD(S) Chief CM Ibrahim downplayed his comments, stating the party has not decided on the alliance. "We have not decided on an alliance with any party. Tanveer Ahmed is claiming that he is a party spokesperson and told the media that the decision on the alliance is made. Let me clarify that he is not with the JDS anymore, and his comments are baseless. We will wait for tomorrow's result," Ibrahim said.

On the other hand, Jairam Ramesh said that the JDS will be "disintegrate" after the Karnataka assembly election results will be out on Saturday. "I am absolutely sure that JDS will disintegrate... This time I do not think that there is any scope for a coalition government with JDS," said Jairam Ramesh, Congress General Secretary in-charge Communications.

He also said that the Congress' victory in Karnataka will be Prime Minister Narendra Modi's defeat. "Congress' victory in Karnataka is PM Modi's defeat because no one campaigned in Karnataka except him. After (BJP's) Karnataka's defeat, Delhi's door is open for Congress in 2024," he added.

The single-phase election for 224-member Assembly was held on Wednesday and the counting of votes will be held on Saturday in 36 centres across the state.
SC stays promotion of 68 Gujarat judicial officers, including one who convicted Rahul Gandhi

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the promotion of 68 Gujarat lower judicial officers, including Surat Chief Judicial Magistrate Harish Hasmukhbhai Varma who had convicted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a defamation case.

A bench comprising Justices M R Shah and C T Ravikumar said the promotion of the judicial officers was in violation of the Gujarat State Judicial Service Rules 2005, amended in 2011, which states that promotions must be made on principle of merit-cum-seniority and on passing a suitability test, as reported by PTI.

''We are more than satisfied that the impugned list issued by the high court and the subsequent order issued by the state government granting promotion to district judges are illegal and contrary to the decision of this court.The same are, therefore, not sustainable,'' the bench said. ''We stay the implementation of the promotion list. Respective promotees are sent to their original post which they were holding prior to their promotion,'' it said.

The top court passed an interim order staying the promotions and directed that the matter be heard by an appropriate bench as Justice Shah is retiring on May 15.

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The top court was hearing a plea of senior civil judge cadre officers, Ravikumar Maheta and Sachin Prataprai Mehta, challenging the selection of the 68 judicial officers to the higher cadre of district judges.

Varma, the CJM of Surat, is one of the 68 officers of the district lower judiciary whose promotion has also been challenged by Maheta and Mehta, presently working as undersecretary in the legal department of the Gujarat government and the assistant director at the state legal services authority, as reported by PTI.

The top court, which had issued notices to the state government and the Registrar General of the Gujarat High Court on April 13 on the plea of the two judicial officers, was very critical of the decision and the order passed on April 18 to promote the 68 officers despite knowing the pendency of the case before it.

''It is very unfortunate that despite the fact that the respondents, more particularly, the state government, was aware of the present proceedings and the fact that in the present proceedings, this court made the notice returnable on April 28, 2023, the state government has issued the promotion order dated April 18, 2023 i.e. after the receipt of the notice issued by this court in the present proceedings, the top court said in its order on April 28.

In the promotion order, even the state government stated that it will be subject to the outcome of the proceedings pending in the top court, the top court had said.

''We do not appreciate the haste and hurry in which the state has approved and passed the promotion order... when this court was seized with the matter and a detailed order was passed while issuing the notice,'' it had said. It is to be noted that the selection was in 2022 and hence, there was no extraordinary urgency in passing the promotion order, and that too when this court was seized of the matter, the order said.

''We are prima facie of the opinion that it is nothing but overreaching the court's process and the present proceedings. Let the secretary of the state government explain the extraordinary urgency shown in the matter in giving promotion and issuing the notification dated 18.04.2023 granting the promotion, subject to the ultimate outcome of the proceedings, it had said.

The top court had also asked the High Court Registrar General to file a reply specifically on whether the promotions to the post in question are to be given on the basis of the seniority-cum-merit or the merit-cum-seniority and place on record the entire merit list.

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Prior to this, the top court on April 13 had issued the notices on the plea of the two judicial officers. The petition said as per the recruitment rules, the post of district judge is to be filled in by keeping 65 per cent reservation on the basis of the principle of merit-cum-seniority and passing a suitability test.

They said the merit-cum-seniority principle has been given a go-by and the appointments are being made on the basis of the seniority-cum-merit.

The two judicial officers had secured 135.5 marks and 148.5 marks respectively out of 200. Despite this, the candidates who had lower marks were appointed as district judges, they submitted. The CJM Surat on March 23 had sentenced Gandhi to two years in jail in a 2019 criminal defamation case over his 'Modi surname' remark.

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Story first published: Friday, May 12, 2023, 14:42 [IST]
SC Asks West Bengal - Why Should 'The Kerala Story' Be Banned?

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to West Bengal and Tamil Nadu government on the plea against the ban on 'The Kerala Story'.

CJI orally remarked that the movie was being screened in rest of the country and there was no reason for it to be banned in a state.

Senior advocate Harish Salve mentioned the matter for urgent listing before a bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice P S Narasimha. Salve said the petition challenges the ban by the West Bengal government and the "de-facto" ban in Tamil Nadu.

The bench said it had on Tuesday posted for May 15 a separate plea against the Kerala High Court order refusing to stay the release of the movie and the fresh plea would also be heard on that day. However, the bench agreed to list the plea for hearing on May 12 after Salve said, "We are losing money everyday."

'The Kerala Story' starring Adah Sharma was released in cinemas on May 5. The movie depicts the harrowing experiences of three women who are sold as sex slaves to the Islamic State in Afghanistan. Produced by Vipul Amrutlal Shah and directed by Sudipto Sen, the film has elicited strong reactions from different quarters, with some calling for its ban. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has denounced the movie as propaganda by the RSS.

'The Kerala Story Will Remain Tax-Free In Madhya Pradesh, Says Mishra

The film is based on the NIA's investigation into the conversion of Nimisha and Sonia Sebastin, as well as the case filed against 24 people who left Kerala to join the Islamic State in Afghanistan. However, controversy erupted when the film claimed that 32,000 girls from Kerala were forcibly converted and sold to the Islamic State.

Due to the controversy, the West Bengal government has banned the movie in the state. However, Shah has stated that he will pursue legal remedies to challenge the ban on his film. "If the state government refuses to listen to us, we will explore legal options. However, our actions will be based on legal advice," Shah told news agency ANI.

The lead roles in 'The Kerala Story' are played by Adah Sharma, Yogita Bihani, Siddhi Idnani, and Sonia Balani.
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To Ease Congestion At Airports, India To Soon Launch Trusted Traveller Programme

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

The Government of India is set to launch a "Trusted Traveller Programme" for travellers with Indian passports.

The move is aimed at decongesting airports by speeding up immigration checks while departing and arriving.

The programme would allow quick immigration clearances for reverified travellers and would start on a pilot basis at the Delhi and Mumbai airports this year. It would eventually implemented at 15 airports by 2027 and all airports by 2032.

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Three electronic gates, two for arrival and one for the departure passengers have already been established at the Indira Gandhi airport in New Delhi. Trials are however yet to commence, reports said.

"The idea is to make the immigration clearance process simpler and quicker with the help of technology. The United States' department of homeland security has a similar Global Entry Program, which allows for expedited security and immigration clearance of pre-approved, low-risk travellers," a Home Ministry official told Hindustan Times.

All the modalities are being worked out. The modalities include how passports would be stamped, as they are done when someone enters or exits India via any of the immigration checkpoints.

Karan Johar stopped by airport security for not showing his ID

The Ministry of Home Affairs is already in talks with the Civil Aviation Ministry and has prepared a roadmap for the Trusted Traveller Programme."

The decision has been taken as the Indian airports are already under strain. Last year several passengers had complained about the congestion especially at the Delhi airport.
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Watch The Kerala Story With Your Daughter: Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma

India

oi-PTI

Banning the movie 'Kerala Story' will not serve any purpose as the film is not against any community but against terrorism, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Thursday.

Sarma watched the movie with his family members and cabinet colleagues at a multiplex in Guwahati.

"I do not know what is happening in West Bengal but banning the film will not serve any purpose," Sarma told reporters.

The West Bengal government has banned the screening of the film in the state stating that it may cause law and order problems. "The film shows the conspiracy hatched against innocent girls, including those from the Muslim community. So, the decision to ban the film is, I think, wrong," he said.

"They have banned the film as they are under the impression that it is against the Muslim community but that is not true. They should have first seen the film before banning it. Then, they would have realised that the movie has nothing to do with religion," he said.

'The Kerala Story Will Remain Tax-Free In Madhya Pradesh, Says Mishra

The CM said the movie exposes the "brutal designs of terrorist organisations in the name of religion".

Sarma appealed to the people of Assam to watch the film with their families, particularly with girl children. He also urged parents to keep a watch on children and with whom they forge friendships.

He thanked the producer, director and the cast of the film for presenting a movie on such an important issue.

The controversy around the Sudipto Sen-directed Hindi film, 'The Kerala Story' started after makers dropped the trailer, which claimed that 32,000 girls from Kerala had gone missing and joined the terrorist organisation, ISIS.

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Story first published: Friday, May 12, 2023, 10:27 [IST]
What Political Leaders Say About Karnataka Election Results?

India

oi-Prakash KL

A day before the election results of the Karnataka Assembly are announced, all three leading parties have expressed confidence in coming back to power.

Despite expressing confidence, the backroom talks have already begun among parties as most exit polls have predicted a hung assembly. It means the JDS will play the role of a kingmaker again.

So, what do the leaders say about the results a day before it is announced?

Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala said that the BJP has already admitted its defeat and the Congress will form the next government. "I want to thank the 6.5 crore people of Karnataka who have voted for the Congress party. Let us wait till tomorrow, till the results are out. BJP has admitted their defeat. Congress party will form the government and we will serve the people of Karnataka," he said.

BJP Has Accepted Defeat In Karnataka Says Congress

Congress state chief DK Shivakumar said that his party will get a comfortable majority and denied the reports which claimed that Congress was in talks with the JDS in case of a hung assembly. "Exit polls have their own theory. We don't go by those samples, my sample size is too high and in that, we will have a comfortable majority. I do not know about JD(S), let them take their own call. I don't have any backup plan, my only plan is that Congress party will come to power," he stated.

Another Congress MLA Priyank Kharge predicted that the grand old party will secure 120 seats in this Karnataka Assembly polls. "We are going to pass 120 seats. There is no question of a hung government, we are supremely confident that we will form the government on our own," he added.

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On his turn, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said that his party would get 141 seats. "There is no chance of a hung Assembly, we are going to form the govt comfortably. Let him (DK Shivakumar) be happy with his 141 seats till tomorrow. We will have a legislature party meeting to decide the CM's face," he added.

On a question about forming an alliance with JD(S), in case the BJP falls short of a majority, former Karnataka CM and Lingayat strongman said, "At that time, National leadership is going to take a decision. The question does not arise. I am certain that the party will get 115-117 seats".

"All leaders worked hard. I am confident that the BJP will form the government. Let us wait and watch," the BJP veteran said.

Did Social Media Impact The Karnataka Assembly Elections 2023?

K Annamalai, BJP's poll co-in charge, said that the BJP will break two jinxes this election. "I am very confident tomorrow Karnataka BJP is going to break two jinxes. One, after 1985, a political party has not come back to power again twice in succession and second that BJP Karnataka has not crossed 113 on our own till now. We are very confident when BJP is crossing 113 mark of our own and there is no question of seeking anybody's support."

Surprisingly, the JDS national spokesperson Tanveer Ahmed said that they have already decided which party they would support in forming the government after the results are declared. "We have already decided with whom we are going to form the government. We will announce it to the public when the appropriate time comes," he told the ANI.

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Story first published: Friday, May 12, 2023, 16:34 [IST]
On Wednesday, May 17, at 11.00, the press center of the Interfax-Ukraine News Agency will host a press conference entitled: "Presentation of study Economic priorities for post-war Ukraine: reform plan," the organizer is the CASE Ukraine Center for Socio-Economic Research. It covers a wide range of critical issues related to the reform of the country's economy, with a practical focus on strategies for achieving economic growth in the post-war years, while the rule of law in the country will still be in a state of formation. Participants include Senior Program Manager of the Enhancing Governance Accountability and Engagement program (ENGAGE) (USAID/ENGAGE) Aider Khalilov; Executive Director of CASE Ukraine, lead author of the study Dmytro Boyarchuk; founder of the educational initiative The Last Capitalist Valentyn Krasnoperov (8/5a Reitarska Street). The event will be streamed on the Interfax-Ukraine YouTube channel. Admission of journalists requires registration on the spot.
With Fears Of A Hung Verdict In Karnataka, Backroom Operations On In Full Swing

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

Backroom operations are on in full-swing in Karnataka as all parties fear that there could be a hung verdict.

Karnataka voted on May 10 and the results will be out on May 13.

On Thursday, senior Congress leaders, D K Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah held talks with the party general secretaries K C Venugopal and Randeep Singh Surjewala on the way forward in case the verdict turns out to be hung.

BJP sources tell OneIndia that senior leader, Shobha Karandlaje held talks with the BJP central leaders in the event of a fractured mandate. In case the BJP falls short it would have to seek the support of the JD(S), which is projected to get 20 to 30 seats. The magic number in the 224 member Karnataka Assembly is 113.

In the 2018 elections the BJP ended up with 104 seats, while the Congress and JD(S) had 78 and 37 respectively. The Congress and JD(S) joined hands to form the government in Karnataka, only to be toppled a year later.

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The BJP managed to engineer defections from the Congress and JD(S) and managed to form the government with Yediyurappa at the helm. Yediyurappa was however replaced and Basavaraj Bommai took over the reigns.

For the JD(S) the biggest challenge is to keep its legislators together. Like he did in 2018, JD(S) boss, H D Kumaraswamy left for Singapore on Wednesday night. He is expected to return on Saturday, the day counting will be held.

For the Congress, it would be an easy situation if it gets close to the majority mark. It could form the government with the support of the independents. However if it is ten short of the majority mark, then the going would be tough for the party. In the event of such a scenario, the Congress would have to reach out to the JD(S).

However in this event, it would not be possible for either Shivakumar or Siddaramaiah to become the chief minister and they would have to hand over that post to Kumaraswamy, like was the case in 2018.

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Story first published: Friday, May 12, 2023, 8:23 [IST]
Hundreds Of Thousands To Be Evacuated As Bangladesh And Myanmar Brace For Severe Cyclone Threat

International

oi-PTI

Authorities in Bangladesh and Myanmar prepared to evacuate hundreds of thousands of people Friday, warning them to stay away from coastal areas as a severe cyclonic storm called Mocha churned in the Bay of Bengal.

The storm is expected to roar in on Sunday with a wind speed of up to 160 kilometres per hour, gusting to 175 kph between Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh and Kyaukpyu in Myanmar, India's Meteorological Department said.

Bangladesh is a delta nation of more than 160 million people and is prone to natural disasters such as floods and cyclones. Evacuation of nearly 500,000 people is expected to start Saturday with 576 cyclone shelters ready to provide refuge to those moved from their homes along a vast coast, said Bangladesh government administrator Muhammad Shaheen Imran.

Cyclone Mocha Now Turns Into 'Very Severe Cyclonic Storm', Bangladesh Braces For Impact

"This is the first cyclone system in the north Indian Ocean this year," said Rajendra Kumar Jenamani, a senior scientist at the Indian Meteorological Department. "The cyclone is severe and will likely affect millions of fishers and coastal communities in Bangladesh and Myanmar.'' In May 2008, Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar's southwestern Ayeyarwady or Irrawaddy Region with a storm surge that devastated populated areas around the Irrawaddy River delta. At least 138,000 people died and tens of thousands of homes and other buildings were washed away.

Myanmar authorities warned of possible flash floods and landslides in coastal areas as residents stocked up on essential supplies, said Hla Tun, a director at the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology.

The Friday edition of the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar carried reports about rehearsal exercises for emergency management, response, recuse, cooperation, readiness and rehabilitation processes in various regions. According to the reports, thousands of people living in townships along the western coast of Rakhine state where the storm is expected to pass are being evacuated by the respective departments and social rescue groups.

In Bangladesh, control rooms in cyclone-prone areas were ready for emergency support. Three ports were put on alert, Imran said.

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He said the government has already allocated dry food, rice and cash and organized thousands of volunteers for relief work under the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society.

Cyclone Mocha is likely to hit coastal districts including Chattogram, Cox's Bazar, Noakhali and Bhola in Bangladesh on Sunday.

Cyclone 'Mocha Set To Intensify As Very Severe Cyclonic Storm: IMD

India's Meteorological Department said the storm was moving northward with a speed 9 kph. On Friday, it was centred more than 1,000 kilometres southwest of Cox's Bazar and 930 kilometres southwest of Sittwe in Myanmar.

Fishermen, ships, boats and trawlers were advised not to venture into southeast Bay of Bengal and north Andaman Sea until Sunday, it said.

The department said it was expecting heavy to very heavy rainfall in Andaman and Nicobar Islands and parts of India's remote northeast.

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Story first published: Friday, May 12, 2023, 14:26 [IST]
Pak Army Not To Impose Martial Law, Says It 'Believes In Democracy'

Islamabad HC Grants Bail To Imran Khan In Al-Qadir Trust Case, Bars Arrest Till May 17

International

oi-Deepika S

A division bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday granted bail to former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan in the Al-Qadir Trust case, a day after the Supreme Court termed his arrest from the court premises invalid and unlawful.

The court also barred authorities concerned from arresting Imran Khan till May 17 in any new case filed after May 9.

Khan is also expected to address a gathering as his party announced a rally on the occasion and asked followers to gather nearby the court.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif hit out at Imran Khan for pushing the cash-strapped country towards destruction.

"Did the courts ever take notice when we were being sent to jail?" he asked.

The prime minister termed Imran Khan's claim that a US-backed conspiracy led to the ouster of his government as ''untrue''.

Sharif, the president of PML-N, said that PTI Chairman Khan and his party are liars and are pushing Pakistan towards destruction.

Sharif questioned the courts' silence over the jailing of leaders of his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party during Khan's tenure.

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The Pakistan Supreme Court on Thursday declared that Khan's arrest was unlawful, but then asked the Islamabad high court to reconsider its initial decision to uphold the arrest.

"Your arrest was invalid, so the whole process needs to be backtracked," Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial told Khan at a hearing in the capital Islamabad on Thursday.

Was Abducted, Beaten With Sticks: Imran Khan's First Message Post Pakistan SC's Verdict

The bench, which heard Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairman's plea against his arrest in the Al-Qadir Trust case, expressed anger at the way Khan was taken into custody from the premises of the Islamabad High Court.

Khan was arrested on Tuesday from the Islamabad High Court and an accountability court on Wednesday handed him over to the National Accountability Bureau for eight days in connection with the Al-Qadir Trust case.

Following the arrest of Khan in a corruption case by the Pakistan Rangers in Islamabad on Tuesday, his supporters attacked senior officers' residences and the Pakistan Army's installations in different parts of the country.
Pak Army Not To Impose Martial Law, Says It 'Believes In Democracy'

Islamabad HC Orders To Suspend Toshakhana Case Proceedings Against Imran Khan

International

oi-Madhuri Adnal

In a big relief to former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, the Islamabad High Court on Friday ordered the Election Commission to stop the Toshakhana case proceedings against him.

The court issued a restraining order on criminal proceedings related to the case and suspended them until further notice. It is noteworthy that the High Court has declared the indictment against Khan in the Toshakhana case as 'null and void.'

Khan, 70, has been in the dock for buying gifts, including an expensive Graff wristwatch, he received as the premier at a discounted price from the state depository called Toshakhana and selling them for profit.

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Was Abducted, Beaten With Sticks: Imran Khan's First Message Post Pakistan SC's Verdict

Established in 1974, the Toshakhana is a department under the administrative control of the Cabinet Division and stores precious gifts given to rulers, parliamentarians, bureaucrats, and officials by heads of other governments and states and foreign dignitaries.

On Wednesday, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman was indicted in the Toshakhana case.

Khan was present in the District and Sessions Court where judge Humayun Dilawar conducted the hearing.

The case was filed last year by the Election Commission of Pakistan and Khan had skipped several hearings in the past months.
Musk not the right leader for Twitter: Jack Dorsey

Elon Musk says Twitter users will witness drop in followers: Here is why

Linda Yaccarino Is The New CEO Of Twitter, Elon Musk Announces

7 Points on Linda Yaccarino, The Woman Rumoured To Become New Twitter CEO

International

oi-Deepika S

Elon Musk on Thursday announced that he has found a new chief executive for Twitter. The Tesla billionaire said in a tweet that her role will transition to being Twitter's executive chairman and chief technology officer.

"Excited to announce that I have hired a new CEO for X/Twitter. She will be starting in 6 weeks! My role will transition to being exec chair and CTO, overseeing product, software and sysops," Musk tweeted.

However, Musk did not reveal the identity of the person and informed that she will be starting in about six weeks.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Linda Yaccarino, the chairman of global advertising and partnerships at NBCUniversal, is likely to become the new CEO of Twitter.

Here is all you need to know about Linda Yaccarino

As per her LinkedIn profile, Yaccarino has been with NBC Universal since 2011.

Since joining NBCU, her team has generated more than $100 billion in ad sales, expanded the company's reach globally, forged groundbreaking commercial partnerships, launched the company's ad-supported streaming service, and made massive investments in data and technology capabilities.

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Yaccarino had served at Turner as Executive Vice President/COO of Advertising Sales, Marketing, and Acquisitions.

She studied liberal arts and telecommunications at Penn State University.

According to reports, Linda is known to be a supporter of Elon Musk and had interviewed Tesla chief at an advertising conference in Miami last month.

According to India Today report, Yaccarino is known to be very close to former US president Donald Trump. During his term, Trump had named Linda to serve a two-year-term on the President's Council of Sports, Fitness and Nutrition.

Yaccarino has been an industry advocate for finding better ways to measure the effectiveness of advertising, according to the WSJ.

In short, Yaccarino has reengineered NBCUniversal's advertising business for the 21st century-and her approach has set new standards in the marketplace, as competitors follow her lead.
Who is Tarique Rahman and why are there discussions about his situation in the UK?

Heres How To Watch Psycho-Pass Providence Free Online Streaming At Home

Partner Content

oi-Oneindia English Desk

'Psycho-Pass Providence' is finally here. Find how to watch the highly anticipated new Japanese anime movie Psycho-Pass Providence online for free.

Anime Movie()! Here's options for downloading or watching Psycho-Pass Providence streaming the full movie online for free on 123movies & Reddit,1movies, 9movies, and yes movies, including where to watch the anticipated anime movie at home. Is Psycho-Pass Providence available to stream English sub & dub? Is Psycho-Pass Providence streaming? Is watching Psycho-Pass Providence on Crunchyroll, Disney Plus, HBO Max, Netflix, or Amazon Prime? Yes, we have found an authentic streaming option / service.

Watch Now: Psycho-Pass Providence Online Free

The wait is almost over! Psycho-Pass Providence - the latest Japanese animation film - is coming to theaters this weekend. Luckily, we have you covered on all the ways you can watch it!

The next film in the Psycho-Pass series is arriving in a matter of months. Psycho-Pass: Providence has a premiere date in Japan, as well as its first trailer. The latest announcement from the Psycho-Pass production committee dates the film's premiere for May 12, 2023.

Created in part to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the series, Psycho-Pass: Providence will involve members of the original cast, particularly protagonists Akane Tsunemori and Shinya Kogami. Voice actors Kana Hanazawa and Tomokazu Seki will reprise their roles as Tsunemori and Kogami. The movie also bears the tagline "The End of Justice," where the Japanese characters for "Justice" are read as "System.

So where can you watch Psycho-Pass Providence? Is it on HBO Max? What about Netflix? Here's everything we know about how, when, and where you can watch Psycho-Pass Providence:

Psycho-Pass Providence Release Date

Psycho-Pass: Providence premieres in Japan on May 12, 2023. The first two seasons of the show are available to watch on services like Crunchyroll and Netflix, while the third season is licensed by Amazon Prime Video.

While you can't start streaming Psycho-Pass Providence in English yet, here's when the movie will debut in theaters in various countries outside Japan.

May 12, 2023: It will appear in France and Malta.

May 13, 2023: It will appear in Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Central America, Chile, Denmark, Ecuador, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Mexico, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Peru, Slovak Republic, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

May 12, 2023: It will appear in Austria, Belgium, Canada, Estonia, Gibraltar, Ireland, Kenya, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norway, Southern Africa, Spain, Sweden, the UK, and the US.

May 20, 2023: It will appear in Colombia and Portugal.

May 21, 2023: It will appear in Bulgaria, Finland, Poland, and Romania.

May 27, 2023: It will appear in Italy, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.

May 30, 2023: It will appear in Iceland.

Where To Watch Psycho-Pass Providence Online

As of now, the only way to watch Psycho-Pass Providence is to head out to a movie theater when it releases on Friday, May 12. You can find a local showing on Fandango.

Watch Now: Psycho-Pass Providence Online Free

Otherwise, you'll just have to wait for it to become available to rent or purchase on digital platforms like Prime Video, Vudu, Apple and YouTube.

When Will Psycho-Pass Providence Be On Streaming?

While a digital release date for Psycho-Pass Providence has not yet been announced, most movies typically become available to rent or buy around 45 days after their theatrical release. If this film follows the same trajectory, you may be able to watch from the comfort of your home by late May 2023.

Since the film is being distributed in North America by Crunchyroll, it's likely that Psycho-Pass Providence will also join the streamer's library in the future. You can sign up for a subscription for either $7.99, $9.99 or $12.99 - or you have the option to do a 14-day free trial.

How to Watch Psycho-Pass Providence for Free?

There are currently no platforms that have the rights to Watch Psycho-Pass Providence Online. MAPPA has decided to air the movie only in theaters because it has been a huge success. The studio, on the other hand, does not wish to divert revenue. Streaming the movie would only slash the profits, not increase them.

The only easy way to watch Psycho-Pass Providence streaming free without downloading anything is by visiting this web page. You can stream Nope online here right now. This film will be released on 12 May, 2023 and received an average rating with a 0 IMDb vote.You can also find this film in English, French, Spanish. Click on the corresponding flag below to change the language.

As mentioned above, the dark fantasy is only released theatrically as of now. So, people who wish to watch the movie free of cost will have to wait for its release on a platform that offers a free trial. However, we encourage our readers to always pay for the content they wish to consume online and refrain from using illegal means.

Is Psycho-Pass Providence on Crunchyroll?

No, it is currently not available for streaming on Crunchyroll or on any streaming platform.

That being said, the film is being distributed internationally by Crunchyroll with Sony, and they were responsible for bringing the movie to theaters. The movie saw its theatrical release in March 2023, but fans still have to wait for streaming it online.

Since Crunchyroll holds the rights to the anime and currently has the Demon Slayer: To The Swordsmith Village anime series available for streaming, it is believed that the movie as well will eventually find itself on the platform. However, Crunchyroll is yet to give any official confirmation or details regarding the specifics, making the fans

The film is director Shuichi Kusamori's seventh major animated film release, but if the previous two films, namely Your Name and Weathering With You are any indications of how Psycho-Pass Providence will do, then it is likely to be one of this year's best anime movies. Like Psycho-Pass Providence, both Your Name and Weathering With You follow the story of average teenagers who are suddenly forced to come to grips with supernatural forces they do not understand, but must nevertheless overcome. In addition, Psycho-Pass Providence is being produced by Japanese anime production house CoMix Wave Films which has a long history of collaboration with Shinkai dating back to his first video productions.

Will Psycho-Pass Providence Be On HBO Max?

No, Psycho-Pass Providence will not be on HBO Max since it's not a Warner Bros. movie. The company announced last year that they would no longer send their theatrical films directly to the streamer. Instead, they've implemented a 45-day window between theatrical premieres and HBO Max releases.

Will Psycho-Pass Providence Be On Netflix?

No, Psycho-Pass Providence will not be on Netflix - at least not any time soon. While it's possible it may come to the streamer at some point in the future, you'll just have to head out to a movie theater or wait for it to become available on digital platforms in the meantime.

Is Psycho-Pass Providence on Hulu?

Viewers are saying that they want to view the new anime movie Psycho-Pass Providence on Hulu. Unfortunately, this is not possible since Hulu currently does not offer any of the free episodes of this series streaming at this time. It will be exclusive to the MTV channel, which you get by subscribing to cable or satellite TV services. You will not be able to watch it on Hulu or any other free streaming service.

Is Psycho-Pass Providence on Amazon Prime?

Amazon Prime's current catalog does not include Psycho-Pass Providence.' However, the film may eventually release on the platform as video-on-demand in the coming months. Therefore, people must regularly look for the dark fantasy movie on Amazon Prime's official website. Viewers who are looking for something similar can watch the original show 'Dororo.'

Is Psycho-Pass Providence on Funimation?

Since Funimation has rights to the film like Crunchyroll, its official website may include the movie in its catalog in the near future. Meanwhile, people who wish to watch something similar can stream 'Psycho-Pass Providence.'

How To Watch Psycho-Pass Providence Free Streaming on Reddit?

You can watch Psycho-Pass Providence on Reddit without having to create an account or supply your credit card information. Click the play button below to begin viewing the film immediately. There are also no advertising or pop-ups here; instead, you'll find great material! So why not watch Psycho-Pass Providence online right now? It's completely free and easy.

Do you want to watch Psycho-Pass Providence online for free? 123movies, Reddit, and google drive all have Psycho-Pass Providence. You may now watch Psycho-Pass Providence 2023 free here on Hulu!. Click the play button below to begin watching Psycho-Pass Providence streaming online. There's no need to register or provide credit card information!

How to Watch Psycho-Pass Providence Movie Online For Free?

Most Viewed, Most Favorite, Top Rating, Top IMDb movies online. Here we can download and watch 123movies movies offline. 123Movies website is the best alternative to Psycho-Pass Providence (2023) free online. We will recommend 123Movies is the best Solarmovie alternatives.

There are a few ways to watch Psycho-Pass Providence online in the U.S. You can use a streaming service such as Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Prime Video. You can also rent or buy the movie on iTunes or Google Play. You can also watch it on-demand or on a streaming app available on your TV or streaming device if you have cable.

Psycho-Pass Providence Movie Cast and Characters

Psycho-Pass Providence was written by the director Shuichi Kusamori himself and stars the following actors:

Makiko Suzuki as color key artist

Shuichi Kusamori as art director

GEMBA for 3D CGI animation

Eiji Arai as composing director of photography

Yoshinori Murakami as editor

Yugo Kanno as the film composer

Yoshikazu Iwanami as sound director

Returning cast members include:

Kana Hanazawa as Akane Tsunemori

Tomokazu Seki as Shinya Kogami

Kenji Nojima as Nobuchika Ginoza

Shizuka Itou as Yayoi Kunizuka

Miyuka Sawashiro as Shion Karanomori

Ayane Sakura as Mika Shimotsuki

Takahiro Sakurai as Sho Hinakawa

Hiroki Touchi as Teppei Sugo

Takako Honda as Frederica Hanashiro

Kazuhiro Yamaji as Jouji Saiga

Noriko Hidaka as Dominator

Psycho-Pass Providence Storyline:

While attending a meeting as a Chief Inspector of the Public Security Bureau, Akane Tsunemori received a report that an incident had occurred on a foreign vessel. Akane and Atsushi Shindo, head of the Statistics Division of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, who was also attending the conference, rush to the scene, but for some reason, the authority to investigate is delegated to the Action Division of the Overseas Coordination Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From the ship, Dr. Milicia Stronskaya, whom Atsushi had invited as a guest for the meeting, is found dead. Behind the incident was the existence of the "Peace Breakers", which the Action Division had been pursuing for a long time. The Criminal Investigation Department's Division 1 learns that the incident was caused by the "Peacebreaker", who is targeting Dr. Stronskaya's established research, known as the "Stronskaya Document", and forms a team to conduct a joint investigation with the Behavioral Investigation Department. There, they find Shinya Kogami, a former fugitive from the Public Security Bureau. With the cooperation of Joji Saiga, with whom Dr. Stronskaya had last communicated, the team heads for Dejima to obtain the document. Akane and Kogami are confronted with an unexpectedly large case involving the "Stronskaya Document". A truth is hidden that will shake the Japanese government and the Sibyl System.

Disclaimer:

The links given here are not taking the users to pirated streaming contents. In case of any dispute or clarification please feel free to write to the content owner at [email protected]
Based On The Extraordinary Subject, The Trailer Of 'The Creator - Sarjanhar' Was Launched

Who is Tarique Rahman and why are there discussions about his situation in the UK?

Partner Content

oi-Oneindia English Desk

In an interview this week, Sheikh Hasina, the prime minister of Bangladesh, emphasized the importance of international cooperation. She expressed her hope for assistance from the British government regarding a certain individual. This individual is not only a political figure but is also believed to have been involved in an incident that affected Sheikh Hasina herself.

This weekend, Sheikh Hasina will be visiting the UK as an esteemed guest to participate in the celebration of the Coronation of His Majesty The King and Her Majesty The Queen Consort. This occasion provides an opportunity for her to discuss the matter of extradition, seeking legal resolution for an incident she survived in 2004.

During an attack in Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina narrowly escaped harm while addressing an anti-terrorism rally. Unfortunately, lives were lost, and many others were injured when a series of incidents occurred within the crowd.

In 2018, a court in Bangladesh handed down a sentence to Tarique Rahman, a political figure who had been convicted in absentia. He was found guilty of alleged involvement in planning the aforementioned incident, as well as other charges, including mismanagement of funds intended for charitable purposes.

Sheikh Hasina continues to seek justice for the victims and their families. She firmly believes that resolving this matter requires the extradition of Rahman, who has been residing in the UK with his family since 2008.

During her recent visit to Washington, Sheikh Hasina reiterated her call for the British government's assistance in addressing Rahman's situation in an interview with the Voice of America Bangla service. While acknowledging her government's efforts in pursuing his extradition, she emphasized that the final decision rests with the UK government.

Sheikh Hasina stated that her officials have made previous attempts to engage with the UK government, seeking their cooperation in ensuring Rahman's return to Bangladesh. The UK Home Office has chosen not to comment, adhering to its policy of neither confirming nor denying extradition requests.

Rahman currently resides in London, where a significant Bangladeshi diaspora exists. As a political figure associated with the Bangladesh National Party (BNP), he actively engages in political campaigns against the ruling Awami League, utilizing his website to share information and garner support.

To Rahman's supporters, he is seen as a figure who can contribute positively to the Bangladesh government. However, his critics hold differing opinions and question his motivations and actions.

Rahman comes from a politically influential family in Bangladesh. His father, Ziaur Rahman, served as prime minister until his assassination in 1981, and his mother, Khaleda Zia, was the first female prime minister of Bangladesh, holding office in two separate terms.

While Rahman's mother remains in Bangladesh after being convicted for misappropriation in 2018, Rahman himself has faced allegations of impropriety throughout his political career. During his involvement in the BNP-led government, concerns were raised about corruption, affecting the country's economic progress.

Apart from his conviction related to the incident, Rahman has received sentences in cases involving the Zia Orphanage Trust and money laundering.

The trial, initially filed in 2007 during a caretaker government, is set to commence with witness testimonials.

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Friday, May 12, 2023, 19:01 [IST]
Christian Wolfgang Lindner is a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) serving as the Federal Minister of Finance since 8 December 2021. He has been the party leader of the liberal FDP since 2013 and a Member of the Bundestag (MdB) for North Rhine-Westphalia since 2017, previously holding a seat from 2009 until 2012.
Finance Minister Christian Lindner warned of a "fragile" economy and expressed hope for a "grown-up" decision on the US debt ceiling. Meanwhile, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said a default was "unthinkable."
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BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 13. On the evening of May 12, as a result of the ongoing provocation of the Armenian armed forces, a serviceman of the Azerbaijani army Garayev Muhammad Mahir oglu became a martyr, Trend reports citing the press service of Defense Ministry.

The operational situation is under the control of the units of the Azerbaijani army.

The leadership of the Ministry of Defense expresses deep condolences to the relatives of the martyr.
The ruling in Richmond is one of the first successful challenges to gun control laws under the Supreme Courts landmark 2022 Bruen decision.
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Mike Lynch, the British software tycoon, has been extradited to the US weeks after losing a long-running legal battle against the move.
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Russian regular army was fleeing its positions near Bakhmut, the head of Wagner mercenary group said, accusing Moscow's military leadership of downplaying the situation around the Ukrainian town. DW has the latest.
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The US envoy to South Africa accused Pretoria of sending arms to Russia to support its war in Ukraine, saying he's betting "his life" on the accuracy of the allegations. President Ramaphosa's office called for evidence.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 12. The next meeting of the Azerbaijani-Latvian Intergovernmental Commission is expected to be held in Baku, a source at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia told Trend.

According to the source, the parties are yet to agree on a specific time.

"We are happy that it was possible to arrange an in-person meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission after a longer break, in May 2022. During the meeting, the 8th Cooperation Protocol was signed, thus setting out a clear vision for the priority areas of cooperation. The previous meeting in Riga also provided the Azerbaijani delegation with the opportunity to have a true insight into the activities of Latvian companies, especially in areas such as green energy and renewable energy," the ministry said.

At the same time, as the source noted, the business communities of the two countries are actively working on further development of cooperation.

"The Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry is the lead partner in a project titled "LEF network to Azerbaijan" with Estonian and Finnish partners for 2023-2026, where the first promotional activities such as mutual trade missions and business forums began in this March. Transport and logistics is another area for cooperation. Our national airline, airBaltic, will resume direct flights between Riga and Baku on May 17 this year. The official visit of the President of Latvia to Azerbaijan in March this year, together with a delegation of Latvian businessmen, confirmed Latvias interest in further business development and cooperation," the source added.
The setback for Russia, which follows similar reports of Ukrainian advances south of the city, suggests a co-ordinated push by Kyiv to encircle Russian forces in Bakhmut, Moscow's main objective for months during the war's bloodiest fighting.
Daniel Penny, a former U.S. Marine who killed Jordan Neely, a homeless man, by putting him in a chokehold on the New York City subway earlier this month, was charged with manslaughter on Friday in a Manhattan criminal court, hours after he surrendered to police.
Harriet Harman, the chair of parliament's partygate inquiry, was in personal contact with Sir Keir Starmer's incoming chief of staff Sue Gray while she was still a civil servant.
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A federal judge has blocked the Biden administration's moves to release migrants into the U.S. without court dates ahead of the end of the Title 42 public health order.
Sen. Ted Cruz visited the southern border in Brownsville, Texas, just before Title 42's expiration, where he said President Biden and other Democrats were to blame for the crisis.
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President Joe Biden will head to his beach home for the weekend after forcing asylum officers to work through the weekend to deal with the migrant surge.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 12. Relations between Italy and Azerbaijan are developing at a high level in many areas, Italian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Claudio Taffuri told reporters during an event dedicated to Italian culture and the Italian brand "Made in Italy", Trend reports.

"We maintain very warm and friendly relations in full understanding, and the heads of our states have excellent relations. We mutually support each other in different spheres. I especially want to note Azerbaijan's support to Italy during the COVID-19 pandemic," he said.

The ambassador also reminded that the foundation of a 1,280 MW thermal power plant in Azerbaijan was laid in February, the construction of which will be carried out jointly with the Italian Ansaldo Energia company.

"The production of vegetable oil according to the Italian method has been recently launched near Baku. This is an indicator that we produce a product that meets common tastes by combining our efforts," Taffuri said.

On May 12, an event called "Italian Wines - Taste the passion" was held. The purpose of the event was to get acquainted with Italian culture and brands, as well as the promotion of the brand "Made in Italy".
Sydney (AFP) May 12, 2023



Australia's centre-left Labor government said Friday it will approve a new coal mine for the first time since it won power a year ago, sparking an angry reaction from environmental groups. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's government said it would authorise Bowen Coking Coal's Isaac River mine project in Queensland to extract metallurgical coal for making steel. Though relatively small i
As the former Marine who used a fatal chokehold on an agitated New York City subway passenger was freed from custody after surrendering on a manslaughter charge, attorneys for the dead man's family called for justice. (May 12) (AP Video: Ted Shaffrey/Production: Marissa Duhaney)


During a recent call with investors, Disney CEO Bob Iger asked if Florida "want(s) us to invest more, employ more people and pay more taxes, or not?"


Since President Biden announced he would forgive the student loans of millions of Americans last year, the biggest unanswered question about the scheme has been how much it would cost taxpayers.



Its a question that only exists because the U.S. government took over the student loan industry in 2010. The government has...
Rail services across Britain will be severely disrupted on Friday as train drivers stage the first of the latest wave of planned strikes in a long-running pay dispute. Members of the drivers union Aslef will strike for 24 hours across virtually all the big passenger operators in England, stopping



#wales #scotland #avanti #southeastern #goviathameslink #westmidlands #transpennineexpress #crosscountry #rmt #mickwhelan
Officials in Missouris largest city approved a resolution Thursday to declare it a sanctuary for people seeking or providing gender-affirming care, defying state lawmakers who voted a day earlier to ban such care for minors and restrict it for some adults. Democratic Mayor Quinton Lucas praised



#missouri #quintonlucas #kansascitys #legislature #austin #mikeparson #andrewbailey #merriquejenson #transformationskc #kansascity
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Leaders of the Export-Import Bank of the United States voted Thursday to help fund the expansion of an oil refinery in Indonesia.
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BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 12. Deputy Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Fariz Rzayev paid a working visit to Albania on May 10-11, Trend reports citing Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.

During the visit, he held meetings with Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Albania Megi Fino, Adviser to the Prime Minister of Albania on Foreign Policy Odeta Barbullushi, Head of the Cabinet of the Chairman of the Albanian Parliament Kosta Barjaba and others.

Rzayev also met members of the Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Group with Azerbaijan in the Albanian Parliament.

The meetings discussed relations between Azerbaijan and Albania, the current state and prospects for the development of cooperation in the political, economic, energy and humanitarian spheres, as well as within the framework of international organizations, strategic energy and transport projects implemented at the initiative of our country, as well as regional security.

During the visit, at a meeting with representatives of think tanks of Albania, an exchange of views took place on the foreign policy priorities of our country, Albanian-Azerbaijani relations, and the regional situation.
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For many people in India, a trip to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) offers the feeling of travelling to another state in our country, thanks to the presence of numerous friends, family members and more. At the same time, from various architectural marvels to naturally beautiful spots, the country has enough to excite tourists from any part of the world.

The UAE has now announced a multiple-entry tourist visa, with a validity of five years. It enables travellers to enter the country more than once a year without a sponsor and stay up to 180 days during a year. The visa is issued for stays lasting 30, 60 or 90 days, totalling a maximum of 180 days a year.

Applications for the visa could be submitted through the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA) in Dubai. The visa would be of immense benefit to firms deputing their staff to the UAE for meetings, conferences and other events; people travelling to the UAE to visit family members regularly and tourists.

Requirements

The GDRFA says applicants should meet the following conditions to be eligible for the multiple-entry tourist visa:

Their passport should have a validity of at least six months.

They should have booked a round trip ticket to the UAE.

A valid insurance in the UAE is another requirement.

A bank balance equivalent to US Dollars 4,000 (Rs 3,26,841) during the six months before the date of the application.

How to apply

The procedures to apply for the five-year visa are rather easy as the online applications could be submitted through the website of the Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security (ICP) or the GDRFA portal.

Those who wish to apply for the visa from within the UAE can approach the Amer247 immigration service centres or other recognized typing centres.



Visa fees

The GDRFA website says that different fees are charged for the visa depending on the information provided in the application and period of stay in the UAE.

For instance, the visa fee for a visit lasting 30 days is UAE Dirhams (AED) 300; for a 60-day stay AED 500 and for a 90-day stay AED 700. VAT at 5 per cent is charged in addition to these amounts.

Financial guarantee

Other expenses to avail the visa are a guarantee of AED 2,000 and warranty service fee of AED 20.

Health insurance

The cost of health insurance to be granted the five-year visa is as follows: AED 40 for a 30-day visa; AED for a 60 for a 60-day visa and AED 90 for a 90-day visa.

Additional expenses

These fees have to be paid if the sponsor resides in the country: Knowledge fee  AED 10; innovation fee  AED 10 and interior fee  AED 500.

Time to issue visa

According to the GDRFA website, it would take two to five working days to issue the visa.

Steps to avail a five-year visiting visa:

Step 1  Create an account on GDRFA website:

Visit the official website of GDRFA  gdrfad.gov.ae/en click on login in the menu bar.

Individuals should click on the option Register.

Register with your email ID and submit your name and password.

Submit your full name, email ID and date of birth.

Click on send OTP. A one-time password (OTP) will be sent to your registered e-mail ID.

Submit the OTP. Click on the captcha box.

You have now officially registered with the GDRFA.

Step 2  Choose multiple-entry tourist visa service

You can now reach the GDRFA smart services platform.

Click on New application on the dashboard.

Select New five-year tourism entry permit in the drop-down menu.

Click the Apply button.

Step 3  Fill online application form

A  Provide details related to your journey and personal data.

For the purpose of visiting, choose Tourism.

When the Tourism option is chosen, GDRFA platform will self-fill validity as five years and multiple entry permit.

B - Give passport details  category, number and nationality details.

C  Details of applicants to be submitted. If applying from the UAE, you should pay additional fees to change the visa status.

D  Add personal details such as full name of mother in English and Arabic. When the name is filled in English, the Arabic name will be auto-filled.

Specify if married.

Provide the religion and faith of the applicant.

Add the educational qualifications and current employment.

Enter the mother-tongue.

Specify the country from which you would be travelling to the UAE.

Fill in the contact details such as e-mail ID and mobile number.

Choose the language to receive SMS alerts.

E  Provide your address in the UAE, including the emirate, city, area, street, building or villa, the floor, flat/villa number and makani number or the nearest landmark.

F  Give your address outside the UAE  country, city, address and mobile number.

Click Continue.

Step 4  Upload documents

Upload the necessary documents sought by the website. They should be in the PDF or jpeg format.

Step 5  Pay fees

After the application form is filled, pay fees on the GDRFA platform with a debit or credit card.

Step 6  Submit application

After payment of fees, submit the application and you will receive a reference number with which you can track the application.

Step 7  Receive your visa

When your application for a multiple-entry tourist visa is approved, you will be informed through SMS and e-mail. You will also receive a digital copy of the permit in your email.
"Let's look at performance too with the kids that we keep."

- Julie Ward, NVMI Board of Trustees

As recipients of public funding, charter schools are supposed to accept all students who seek to enroll. In the increasingly rare event that demand exceeds capacity, a random lottery is supposed to give all applicants an equal chance of attending. Any preference based on ability or performance is supposed to be expressly forbidden. Screening prospective students based on a need for services is also against the law.



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While it is often difficult to prove that charter schools are overtly breaking these rules, the data does show that these publicly funded private schools serve children with special education needs at rates lower than public schools. This discrepancy is even more pronounced for those with moderate to severe disabilities. During a candidate debate in 2015, Scott Schmerelson shared his experience as an LAUSD principal who would welcome students into his school who had been "counseled out" of charters, usually right before testing time.

Lax oversight by the LAUSD Charter School Division allows charter schools to manipulate their enrollment in other ways. For years, the LAUSD ignored Granada Hills Charter School's violation of the rule prohibiting schools from requiring that IEPs or 504 plans be submitted prior to enrollment. Despite the fact that charter schools are supposed to enroll every interested student, the Citizens of the World charter school chain is one of many that invite parents to "apply" to its schools. The regulators at the LAUSD insist that despite this wording, there is no "information showing that CWC [East Valley] is not admitting all pupils who wish to attend, denying admission for any student, or has any discriminatory admissions policy." The data comparing the charter to a public school that is a half mile away from it shows something different:

As the North Valley Military Institute (NVMI) gets closer to failing, the charter school has embraced exclusionary policies. While announcing an ill-fated attempt to turn the school into a "Middle College" program, "Superintendent" Mark Ryan threatened to eliminate special day classes for children with moderate to severe disabilities if enough students did not enroll to make them financially "viable". He also told parents that IEPs, which are supposed to be legally binding, would not cover college classes, even though these classes were being offered as part of the high school program.

At a meeting of NVMI's Executive Committee last weekend, one of the school's trustees went even further in her comments. Julie Ward, who is also a parent at the school, stated that NVMI should be selective in the students who are allowed to remain at the school, particularly with the classes that are held on the Los Angeles Mission College campus. She went as far as to suggest that "if you can't perform right now in the college program that you're in, you don't need to be in our program. At all."

Knowing that there were "members of the press" and representatives from the authorizers at the Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE) attending, Mark Ryan was quick to say that, despite what he had stated about students with special education needs at the previous meeting, Ward's comments were not the official policy of NVMI. In doing so he threw other charter schools under the bus by declaring that "we are not one of those charter schools that cherry-picks, that says 'if this kid doesn't want to do it or can't do it' then they shouldn't be at our school.'" He went on to acknowledge Ward's viewpoint as a parent's "opinion," ignoring the fact that Ward is a Trustee and helps to set policy at the school.

Ryan's statement is one of the rare times when someone from within the Charter School industry has admitted that there is a problem with "some" of these publicly funded private schools using enrollment practices to cherry-pick their students. It should be a call to action to those held responsible for oversight to investigate and severely punish those schools who are violating the law. It is the only way to ensure that the competition between public schools and charter schools is conducted on a level playing field.



Carl Petersen is a parent advocate for public education, particularly for students with special education needs. He was elected to the Northridge East Neighborhood Council and is the Education Chair. As a Green Party candidate in LAUSD's District 2 School Board race, he was endorsed by Network for Public Education (NPE) Action. Dr. Diane Ravitch has called him "a valiant fighter for public schools in Los Angeles." For links to his blogs, please visit www.ChangeTheLAUSD.com. Opinions are his own.
We very much need World BEYOND War educational and activist events and campaigns in Illinois (and every other location). We also need the people of Illinois (and every other location on Earth) as part of the global movement to end war.

I say that having been in Chicago many times and at least once to Carbondale. Interstate 64 which comes by my house also cuts through Illinois, so a few cups of coffee and I'm there.

We started World BEYOND War in 2014 to work with thousands of existing peace groups but to do three things a bit differently. One is to be global. Another is to go after the entire institution of war. Another is to use education and activism, both and together. I'll say a few words about each of these things.

First, on being global. There's a great peace activist named Bill Astore who has an article this week at TomDispatch where he suggests that if we rid the world of nuclear weapons he could like his country better. I also read yesterday a book by my old philosophy professor Richard Rorty, probably the smartest person in many ways I've ever met, who simply obsesses over the need to view U.S. history as a glass half full, even if it means believing in myths and ignoring ugly facts. Unless one does that, he writes, we cannot do the work of creating a better country. He never even entertains long enough to reject it the possibility of staring at all the facts head-on and doing the work regardless (is the question of whether a country has done more harm or more good even answerable?). Nor does he ever even consider the possibility of identifying with the world or a locality more so than a nation.

What I love most about online World BEYOND War events is that people use the word "we" to mean we people of the Earth. Now and again, you'll have someone "" always it's someone from the United States "" use "we" to mean a military "" always it's the U.S. military. As in "Hey, I remember you from that jail cell we were in for protesting the fact that we were bombing Afghanistan." This assertion would seem like a riddle to a Martian who might wonder how one can bomb Afghanistan from a jail cell and why one would have also protested one"'s own action," but it's understandable to everyone on Earth who all know that U.S. citizens recount the Pentagon's crimes in the first person. No, I don't mind if you feel responsible for your tax dollars or your so-called representative government. But if we don't start thinking as world citizens I see no hope for the survival of the world.

World BEYOND War's book, A Global Security System, describes the structure and culture of peace. That is to say, we need laws and institutions and policies that facilitate peace; and we need a culture that respects and celebrates peacemaking and nonviolent changemaking. We also need structures and cultures of peace activism" to get us to that world". We need our movement to be global in organization and decision making "in order "to be strong and strategic enough to defeat the global and imperial business of war. We also need the culture of a global peace movement, because people who want life on Earth to survive have more in common with people on the other side of the globe who agree with them than they do with the people running their own country.

When a U.S. peace activist identifies with the world, he or she gains billions of friends and allies and role models. It's not just presidents of distant countries proposing peace in Ukraine; it's fellow humans. But the biggest hurdle is humility. When anyone in the U.S. proposes that the U.S. government do better on nuclear weapons or environmental policies or any topic under the sun, it is almost guaranteed that they will ask the U.S. government to lead the rest of the world in a better direction, even though much or even all of the rest of the world has already headed off in that direction.

Second, on the entire institution of war. The problem is not just the worst atrocities of a war or the newest weapons of a war or the wars when a particular political party is on the throne in the White House. It's not just the wars a particular country is involved in or indirectly involved in or supplying the weapons for. The problem is the entire business of war, which risks nuclear apocalypse, which thus far kills far more through directing money away from useful programs than through violence, which is a leading destroyer of the environment, which is the excuse for government secrecy, which fuels bigotry and lawlessness, "and "which impedes global cooperation on non-optional crises. So, we don't just oppose the weapons that don't kill well enough or insist on ending a bad war to be better prepared for a good one. We strive to educate and agitate the world out of the very idea of preparing for or using war, and into viewing war as something as archaic as dueling.

Third, on using education and activism. We do both and try to be doing both together as often as possible. We do online and real-world events and courses and books and videos. We put up billboards and then do events at the billboards. We pass city resolutions and educate the cities in the process. We do conferences, demonstrations, protests, banner displays, blocking of trucks, and every other sort of nonviolent activism. We work on campaigns for divestment, such as for the City of Chicago to cease investing in weapons "" on which we're working in a coalition and with the lessons we've learned from many successful and unsuccessful divestment campaigns elsewhere. We plan local real-world and online educational events, lectures, debates, panels, teach-ins, courses, and rallies. We pass resolutions and ordinances for conversion from military spending, for ending wars, for banning drones, for establishing nuclear free zones, for demilitarizing police, etc. We help with lobbying elected officials, generating handouts and graphics, reaching media outlets, and creating media.

We answer the same relentless questions transmitted through everyone's minds by the U.S. media about a topic like Ukraine, and encourage you to tell others who might tell others who might tell others so that someday the questions might change.

We do campaigns to close or to block the creation of military bases, as we're doing right now in Montenegro. And we work across borders to provide solidarity. In a small country like Montenegro, any sign of support from the United States is of vastly more value than you'd likely imagine. Activism that you can easily do may not move the U.S. Congress but may have a huge impact in a place whose fate is determined by U.S. Congress Members who couldn't find it on a map.

In a place called Sinjajevina, the U.S. military is trying to create a new military training ground against the wishes of the people who live there and who have been risking their lives to prevent it. They would be super grateful and it might even make the news in Montenegro if you were to go to worldbeyondwar.org and click on the first big image at the top to get to worldbeyondwar.org/sinjajevina and find the graphic to print out as a sign, hold up, and take a picture of yourself, in an ordinary place or at an outdoor landmark, and email it to info AT worldbeyondwar.org.

If you don't mind I'll say a few words about Sinjajevina. The flowers are in bloom in the mountain pastures of Sinjajevina. And the U.S. military is on its way to trample them and practice destroying things. What did these beautiful sheep-herding families in this European mountain paradise do to the Pentagon?

Not a damn thing. In fact, they followed all the proper rules. They spoke in public fora, educated their fellow citizens, produced scientific research, listened carefully to the most ludicrous contrary opinions, lobbied, campaigned, voted, and elected officials who promised not to destroy their mountain homes for the U.S. military and a new NATO training ground too large for the Montenegrin military to know what to do with. They lived within the rules based order, and they've simply been lied to when not ignored. Not a single U.S. media outlet has deigned to even mention their existence, even as they've risked their lives as human shields to protect their way of life and all the creatures of the mountain ecosystem.

Now 500 U.S. troops, according to the Montenegrin Ministry of "Defense," will be practicing organized murder and destruction from May 22 to June 2, 2023. And the people plan to nonviolently resist and protest. No doubt the United States will involve some token troops from some NATO sidekicks and call it an "international" defense of "democracy" "operation." But has anyone involved asked themselves what democracy is? If democracy is the right of the U.S. military to destroy people's homes wherever it sees fit, as a reward for signing onto NATO, buying weapons, and swearing subservience, then those who scorn democracy can hardly be faulted, can they?

We've also just released our annual update of what we call Mapping Militarism, a series of interactive maps that let you examine the shape of war and peace in the world. That, too, is on the website.

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When the grief had peaked during the darkest phases of the pandemic, it was spirit of people to help each other that shone bright

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BOBBY RAMAKANT - CNS



Despite the grief and sorrow brimming in people's hearts during the severest of the COVID-19 pandemic waves, the indomitable spirit to help each other survived and shone bright.



"It was not only the COVID-19 pandemic but also cascading humanitarian crises that had caused havoc in people's lives. My faith in humanity became deeper when I saw how despite the grief and sorrow, people had hope and courage to help each other. Perhaps in situations wherein despair is experienced, responding with hope can help us cope with grieving," said Mudit Shukla, who works as an engineer and has volunteered for people's movements since over a decade.





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Citing the extraordinary circumstances of Frank Gables constitutionally invalid conviction in the 1989 killing of Oregon prison chief Michael Francke, a federal magistrate has ordered the state to completely expunge all records of his prosecution.

U.S. Magistrate Judge John V. Acostas nine-page written ruling Friday expands on his brief order Monday that barred the state from retrying Gable for Franckes fatal stabbing and granted Gables full release, lifting his federal supervision.

Considering this courts determination that Gable is entitled to unconditional discharge from the constitutionally invalid conviction obtained against him by the state of Oregon, Gable is entitled to have that conviction and all the effects stemming therefrom completely expunged from his record, Acosta wrote.

Gable, now 63, had served nearly 30 years of a life-without-parole sentence when he left prison on June 28, 2019, shortly after Acosta issued his first stunning ruling in the case, throwing out Gables murder conviction. Gable has remained on federal supervision since then, living in Kansas and working for a concrete contractor.

Francke, 42, bled to death from stab wounds and was found dead on the north porch of the Dome Building, where he worked in Salem. The door of his nearby state-issued Pontiac stood open, its dome light found on.

Acosta found in April 2019 that no reasonable juror would have convicted Gable in light of another mans multiple confessions to Franckes killing, which had been excluded from Gables trial, and because nearly all the witnesses in the case have recanted since the trial. Acosta also found that Gables conviction resulted from improper interrogation of witnesses by investigators and flawed polygraphs that further shaped witness statements to police.

In his latest ruling, Acosta pointed out that many of the witnesses who directly implicated Gable and have since recanted explain they intended to frame Gable after hearing he was a police informant. They attribute their false testimony to significant investigative misconduct, which the Stateremarkablydoes not dispute. He quoted from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which affirmed his original decision to throw out Gables conviction.

If he were to be retried, Gable would be irredeemably prejudiced, Acosta wrote Friday.

But even if somehow the state retried Gable and won a new conviction, the judge wrote that Gable already has served the prison term he would likely get under current state law. The sentence now for aggravated murder is life with the possibility of parole after 30 years.

The state doesnt plan to appeal Acostas latest order, said Roy Kaufmann, spokesperson for the Oregon Department of Justice.

Oregon Federal Public Defender Lisa Hay, whose office represented Gable, declined comment.

Last week, Oregon Solicitor General Benjamin Gutman told Acosta that the Marion County District Attorneys Office didnt plan to retry or reindict Gable within a 90-day deadline Acosta had set, but wanted to reserve the right to reinvestigate the case and rearrest or reindict him in the future.

But the judge made it clear that wasnt ever an option. When the state elected not to retry Gable within the 90-day limit, Gables release became permanent and unconditional, Acosta wrote.

Patrick Francke, Michael Franckes older brother who has been a staunch supporter of Gable and believed in his innocence, said Friday, Im greatly relieved that it is all over and Frank doesnt have to live with his wrongful conviction on his record.

Gable, a local methamphetamine dealer at the time, was arrested 15 months after Franckes death when another man said he saw him stab Francke. The state argued at trial that Francke interrupted Gable as Gable broke into Franckes car to get snitch papers, drawing from the grand jury statement of one witness. The trial jury found Gable guilty of aggravated murder and he was sentenced in 1991.

Many of the witnesses had an antagonistic relationship with Gable, including two who believed Gables cooperation with police had led to their own arrests and another who claimed Gable owed him money. Eight witnesses since trial recanted their statements to police. They had either reported seeing Gable at the scene or said they heard him confess to killing the prisons director, but later all said they lied in implicating Gable.

While lawyers for the state argued the recantations werent credible, Acosta found they were.

Patrick Francke and his brother Kevin Francke have believed that there was a conspiracy to kill Michael Francke to cover up widespread corruption inside the states prison system. No one else has been charged in Michael Franckes killing.

John Crouse, a Salem man who was on parole for a robbery at the time, repeatedly said he killed Francke, telling numerous law enforcement officers as well as his mother, brother and girlfriend that he stabbed Francke when Francke caught Crouse burglarizing his car. The judge in Gables trial had excluded Crouses confession. Crouse is no longer alive.

While Acosta previously noted that Crouse gave conflicting statements to police and later recanted his confession, he found that Crouse knew a plethora of physical details about events immediately before, during, and immediately following the altercation that he could not have known unless he killed Francke. The judge also cited an investigators contemporaneous notes taken of Crouses interview that indicated Crouse was spontaneous and smoothly spoken when he confessed and didnt hesitate answering questions like he did at other times.

Acosta found that the exclusion of Crouses confessions violated Gables due process rights. The 9th Circuit upheld Acostas ruling, calling the facts of the appeal extraordinary. The state petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene and reinstate Gables conviction, but the nations high court last month declined to hear the case.

-- Maxine Bernstein

Email mbernstein@oregonian.com; 503-221-8212

Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian

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Portland police on Thursday identified Justin Joki, 37, as the man fatally shot Tuesday night in Portlands Hazelwood neighborhood.

The medical examiner determined Joki died from a gunshot wound and ruled his death a homicide.

Portland police responded to the shooting at 8:10 p.m. near the intersection of East Burnside Street and Northeast 122nd Avenue where they found Joki dead. Police have revealed few other details about the shooting thus far.

Tuesday nights shooting marked the fourth homicide since August within about three blocks of the Blackburn Center, a drug treatment and housing program run by Central City Concern.

Luci Monroe, 29, said she was standing outside her apartment building Tuesday night sometime after 7 p.m. when she heard a single gunshot and watched a car speed off on East Burnside Street.

Monroe said she knew as soon as police arrived and put up crime scene tape across the street from the East 122nd Avenue MAX station that someone had been killed. She learned several hours later that the victim was her friend, whom she knew only as Justin.

Monroe said she met Joki when she first moved into the Blackburn Center, a drug treatment and housing program run by Central City Concern, about three years ago.

Joki was funny and giving, Monroe said.

He was troubled, but not a bad person, she said. I dont think he was targeted  it was for someone else and he got shot.

Laura Recko, a spokesperson for Central City Concern, said Wednesday she could not comment on the incident as it is under a police investigation. Nor would she confirm whether the victim lived at the center.

Our primary concern is for the health, safety and security of our residents, patients and the community surrounding the Blackburn Center, she said in an email Wednesday to The Oregonian/OregonLive. Its difficult when theres any loss of life. CCC grieves along with all Portlanders.

The Hazelwood neighborhood stretches east from Interstate 205 and is one of Portlands largest. In recent years, its also ranked highest among neighborhoods for injury shootings.

On March 17, Curtis Davies, 62, was attacked inside the Max Mart Deli convenience store across the street from the Blackburn Center. He died two weeks later in the hospital.

Portland police found Brian Logan, 52, fatally shot on Nov. 13, near 122nd Avenue and Ash Street, about two blocks south. Three months earlier, officers found 40-year-old Scott Tovar fatally shot on East Burnside Street and 127th Avenue, about three blocks east of the Blackburn Center.

Jokis death marks the 31st or 32nd homicide in Portland so far this year. It remains unclear if another mans death April 30 will be ruled a homicide. Last year, Portland saw 38 homicides by this time.

-- Catalina Gaitan, cgaitan@oregonian.com, @catalingaitan_

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Details added: first version posted on 10:06

BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 12. Relative peace was established from late May 11 to early May 12 in the direction of Zod settlement of the Basarkechar region on the Azerbaijani-Armenian conditional border, Trend reports via the Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan.

According to the ministry, over the past day, the Armenian armed forces shelled Azerbaijani positions located in other directions 17 times.

The Armenian armed forces units from the positions in the directions of Gulali settlement of the Tovuzgala region, Azizli settlement of the Basarkechar region, and Saybali settlement of Garakilsa region using mortars and various caliber weapons eight times periodically shelled the Azerbaijan Army positions stationed in the directions of Gosha settlement of the Tovuz district, Yellija settlement of the Kalbajar district, and Minkend settlement of the Lachin district.

Moreover, members of an illegal Armenian armed detachment [which remained contrary to trilateral statement of November 10, 2020 signed by Azerbaijani, Armenian and Russian leaders following the second Karabakh war] in the territory of Azerbaijan, where the Russian peacekeeping forces are temporarily deployed [in accordance with the trilateral statement], using various caliber weapons nine times periodically shelled the Azerbaijan Army positions, stationed in the direction of the Tartar, Khojaly, Shusha and Lachin districts.

There are no losses among the military personnel and equipment of the Azerbaijan Army.

The Azerbaijan Army Units took adequate retaliatory measures and control the operational situation in all directions, added the ministry.
Portland police are on track to issue more tickets for drug possession this month than any previous month since Oregons landmark decriminalization law went into effect in early 2021, according to the data from the Oregon Judicial Department.

The latest statistics show Portland police issued 36 tickets in the first eight days of May, doubling the number of citations officers handed out in April.
Tigard police officers arrested 23 people, including a 14-year-old, on shoplifting charges over eight hours on May 4, police said.

Officers partnered with loss prevention employees to watch for people shoplifting at local retail stores in Tigard, including Dicks Sporting Goods and Forever 21, court records show.

Among the accused were 10 minors between the ages of 14 and 17. Officers also recovered about $10,000 in stolen merchandise and blue M30 pills suspected of containing fentanyl, Tigard police said in a statement Wednesday.

Officers issued arrest citations and did not book most of the people they caught on suspicion of shoplifting into the Washington County Jail.

One of the arrestees, Amy Hook, 19, of Portland, pleaded not guilty May 5 in Washington County Circuit Court to a charge of second-degree theft, court records show. She allegedly stole at least $100 in merchandise from a Dicks Sporting Goods, according to court records.

-- Catalina Gaitan, cgaitan@oregonian.com, @catalingaitan_

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We get it. Even though weve recommended making reservations as a line-skipping brunch hack since at least 2017, that doesnt mean we remembered to make ours more than a week ahead of Mothers Day.

If you, like us, forgot to book brunch reservations well in advance, this bakers dozen of Portland restaurants offering reservations for Mothers Day brunch might be able to help.

Though not all have availability on Mothers Day, some still do, and others could have last-minute cancellations. And if all else fails, you could always consider booking a table for a Saturday  or, better yet, Friday  brunch instead.

Alouette

This Northwest Portland neighborhood bistro offers reservations for its Vietnamese-French inspired brunch, which features beef in man forms, including beef pho, sizzling beef and steak frites.

Details: 2764 N.W. Thurman St., 971-380-8084, alouettepdx.com

Besaws

Slabtowns new place to see-and-be-seen saves some room for walk-ins, but youre better off making a reservation for their Besaws pancake drenched in berries, smoked gouda butter and chili maple syrup well in advance.

Details: 1545 N.W. 21st Ave., 503-228-2619, besaws.com

Bullard

Texas meets Oregon at this sleek downtown Portland restaurant, found next to the lobby of the Woodlark Hotel. Anyone up for smoked beef cheeks and eggs for breakfast?

Details: 813 S.W. Alder St., 503-222-1670, bullardpdx.com

Clarklewis

Brunch is back at this airy Central Eastside Industrial District restaurant with Oregon-inspired dishes including hazelnut waffles and an eggs Benedict with wild mushrooms.

Details: 1001 S.E. Water Ave., 503-235-2294, clarklewispdx.com

King Tide

This seafood-focused restaurant from former Andina chef Alexander Diestra still has plenty of reservations for its weekend brunch, including on Mothers Day.

Details: 1510 S. Harbor Way, 503-295-6166 kingtidefishandshell.com

Lazy Susan's bialy plate comes with pickles and "luscious" house-cured lox, our restaurant critic writes. Better yet, you can pick you table should you visit on a Friday.Michael Russell | The Oregonian

Lazy Susan

Open on Fridays  our new favorite weekend brunch hack  this neighborhood charcoal grill has a few deli touches, including a bialy plate with house-cured lox.

Details: 7937 S.E. Stark St., 971-420-8913, lazysusanpdx.com

Mama Bird

House cinnamon rolls, doughnut holes fried to order and grilled chicken and waffles are on the menu at this as-yet undiscovered weekend brunch.

Details: 2145 N.W. Raleigh St., 503-384-2064, mamabirdpdx.com

Mothers Bistro

Chances are youre out of luck for Mothers Day brunch at this well-known downtown restaurant  Mothers is right there in the name, after all  but it never hurts to check.

Details: 121 S.W. Third Ave., 503-464-1122, mothersbistro.com

Olympia Provisions SE

Charcuterie boards, tinned fish and a classic tarte flambe are on the Saturday-Sunday brunch menu at this hip Southeast Portland restaurant.

Details: 107 S.E. Washington St., 503-954-3663, olympiaprovisions.com

Saltys on the Columbia

Another tough ticket this late in the day, Saltys on the Columbia offers a classic Southern-accented brunch menu with berry waffles, shrimp and grits and brunch oysters.

Details: 3839 N.E. Marine Dr., 503-288-4444, saltys.com

Screen Door

Just because this destination brunch restaurant has reservations, doesnt mean people dont line up for fried chicken and waffles most mornings. If the east-side location is jammed, consider trying the new location in downtown Portlands Pearl District.

Details: 2337 E. Burnside St., 503-542-0880; and 1131 N.W. Couch St., 503-542-0882; screendoorrestaurant.com

Toki

This Han Oak sister restaurant offers two paths when it comes to brunch, with Korean street food dishes inspired by viral TikTok trends alongside a more traditional breakfast tray of purple rice, kimchi, trout and rolled omelet.

Details: 580 S.W. 12th Ave., 503-312-3037, tokipdx.com

The Woodsman Tavern

Expect good coffee, Bloody Marys, oysters on the half shell, Berliner-style brioche doughnuts, breakfast sandwiches, Scotch eggs and an excellent Dungeness crab cake eggs Benedict at this clubby Southeast Portland restaurant, which reopened at the end of 2021.

Details: 4537 S.E. Division St., 503-342-1122, thewoodsmantavern.com

Read more:

Fridays are the new Sundays when it comes to Portland brunch

Portlands 10 best new brunches of 2023

 Michael Russell; mrussell@oregonian.com

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Marijuana and other products containing THC, the plants main psychoactive ingredient, have grown more potent and more dangerous as legalization has made them more widely available.

Although decades ago the THC content of weed was commonly less than 1.5%, some products on the market today are more than 90% THC.

The buzz of yesteryear has given way to something more alarming. Marijuana-related medical emergencies have landed hundreds of thousands of people in the hospital and millions are dealing with psychological disorders linked to cannabis use, according to federal research.

But regulators have failed to keep up.

Among states that allow the sale and use of marijuana and its derivatives, consumer protections are spotty.

In many states the products come with a warning label and potentially no other activity by regulators, said Cassin Coleman, vice chair of the scientific advisory committee of the National Cannabis Industry Association.

The federal government has generally taken a hands-off approach. It still bans marijuana as a Schedule 1 substance  as a drug with no accepted medical use and a high chance of abuse  under the Controlled Substances Act. But when it comes to cannabis sales, which many states have legalized, the federal government does not regulate attributes like purity or potency.

The FDA has basically sat on its hands and failed to honor its duty to protect the public health, said Eric Lindblom, a scholar at Georgetown Universitys law school who previously worked at the FDAs Center for Tobacco Products.

Pot has changed profoundly since generations of Americans were first exposed to it.

Cannabis has been cultivated to deliver much higher doses of THC. In 1980, the THC content of confiscated marijuana was less than 1.5%. Today many varieties of cannabis flower  plant matter that can be smoked in a joint  are listed as more than 30% THC.

At one California dispensary, the menu recently included a strain posted as 41% THC.

Legalization has also helped open the door to products that are extracted from marijuana but look nothing like it: oily, waxy, or crystalline THC concentrates that are heated and inhaled through vaping or dabbing, which can involve a bong-like device and a blowtorch.

Todays concentrates can be more than 90% THC. Some are billed as almost pure THC.

Few people personify the mainstreaming of marijuana as vividly as John Boehner, the former U.S. House speaker. The Ohio Republican long opposed marijuana and, in 2011, reportedly declared himself unalterably opposed to its legalization.

Now hes on the board of Acreage Holdings, a producer of marijuana products.

And Acreage Holdings illustrates the evolution of the industry. Its Superflux brand markets a vaping product  pure live resin in a convenient, instant format  and concentrates such as budder, sugar, shatter, and wax. The company bills its THCa crystalline concentrate as the ultimate in potency.

Higher concentrations pose greater hazards, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The risks of physical dependence and addiction increase with exposure to high concentrations of THC, and higher doses of THC are more likely to produce anxiety, agitation, paranoia, and psychosis, its website said.

In 2021, 16.3 million people in the United States  5.8% of people 12 or older  had experienced a marijuana use disorder within the past year, according to a survey published in January by the federal Department of Health and Human Services.

That was far more than the combined total found to have substance use disorders involving cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, prescription stimulants such as Adderall, or prescription pain relievers such as fentanyl and OxyContin.

Other drugs are more dangerous than marijuana, and most of the people with a marijuana use disorder had a mild case. But about 1 in 7  more than 2.6 million people  had a severe case, the federal survey found.

Most clinicians equate the term severe use disorder with addiction, said Wilson Compton, deputy director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Cannabis use disorder can be devastating, said Smita Das, a Stanford psychiatrist and chair of an American Psychiatric Association council on addiction.

Das said she has seen lives upended by cannabis  very successful people who have lost families and jobs. Theyre in a place where they dont know how they got there because it was just a joint, it was just cannabis, cannabis wasnt supposed to be addictive for them, Das said.

Medical diagnoses attributed to marijuana include cannabis dependence with psychotic disorder with delusions and cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome, a form of persistent vomiting.

An estimated 800,000 people made marijuana-related emergency department visits in 2021, according to a government study published in December 2022.

Go directly to detox

A Colorado father thought it was just a matter of time before cannabis killed his son.

In spring 2021, the teen ran a red light, crashed into another car  injuring himself and the other driver  and fled the scene, the father recalled in interviews.

In the wreckage, the father later found joints, empty containers of a high-potency THC concentrate known as wax, and a THC vape pen.

On his sons cellphone, he found text messages and scores of references to dabbing and weed. The teen said he had been dabbing before the crash and had intended to kill himself.

Weeks later, police arranged for him to be held involuntarily at a hospital for psychiatric evaluation. According to a police report, he thought cartel snipers were after him.

The doctor who evaluated the teen diagnosed cannabis abuse.

Stop doing dabs or wax as they can make you extremely paranoid, the doctor wrote. Go directly to the detox program of your choice.

By the fathers account, over the past two years the teen logged several other involuntary holds, dozens of encounters with police, repeated jailings, and a series of stays in inpatient treatment facilities.

At times out of touch with reality, he texted that God spoke to him and gave him superpowers.

The damage was also financial. Health insurance claims for his treatment totaled nearly $600,000, and the familys out-of-pocket expenses came to almost $40,000 as of February.

In interviews for this article, the father spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid undermining the sons recovery.

The father is convinced that his sons mental illness was a result and not a cause of the drug use. He said the symptoms receded when his son stopped using THC and returned when he resumed.

His son is now 20, off marijuana, and doing well, the father said, adding, I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that cannabis use is what caused his psychosis, delusions, and paranoia.

Uneven state regulation

Medical use of marijuana is now legal in 40 states and the District of Columbia, and recreational or adult use is legal in 22 states plus D.C., according to MJBizDaily, a trade publication.

Early in the covid-19 pandemic, while much of America was in lockdown, marijuana dispensaries delivered. Many states declared them essential businesses.

But only two adult-use states, Vermont and Connecticut, have placed caps on THC content  30% for cannabis flower and 60% for THC concentrates  and they exempt pre-filled vape cartridges from the caps, said Gillian Schauer from the Cannabis Regulators Association, a group of state regulators.

Some states cap the number of ounces or grams consumers are allowed to buy. However, even a little marijuana can amount to a lot of THC, said Rosalie Liccardo Pacula, a professor of health policy, economics, and law at the University of Southern California.

Some states allow only medical use of low-THC products  for instance, in Texas, substances that contain no more than 0.5% THC by weight. And some states require warning labels. In New Jersey, cannabis products composed of more than 40% THC must declare: This is a high potency product and may increase your risk for psychosis.

Colorados marijuana rules run more than 500 pages. Yet its disclosure underscores the limits of consumer protections: This product was produced without regulatory oversight for health, safety, or efficacy.

Figuring out the right rules may not be simple. For example, warning labels could shield the marijuana industry from liability, much as they did for tobacco companies for many years. Capping potency could limit options for people who take high doses for relief from medical problems.

Overall, at the state level, the cannabis industry has blunted regulatory efforts by arguing that onerous rules would make it hard for legitimate cannabis businesses to compete with illicit ones, Pacula said.

Pacula and fellow researchers have called for the federal government to step in.

Months after ending his term as FDA commissioner, Scott Gottlieb issued a similar plea.

Complaining that states had gotten far down the field while the feds sat on the sidelines, Gottlieb called for a uniform national scheme for THC that protects consumers.

That was in 2019 and little has changed since then.

Wheres the FDA?

The FDA oversees food, prescription drugs, over-the-counter drugs, and medical devices. It regulates tobacco, nicotine, and nicotine vapes. It oversees tobacco warning labels. In the interest of public health and safety, it also regulates botanicals, medical products that can include plant material.

Yet, when it comes to the marijuana that people smoke, the cannabis-derived THC concentrates they vape or dab, and edibles infused with THC, the FDA appears very much on the sidelines.

The medical marijuana sold at dispensaries is not FDA-approved. The agency hasnt vouched for its safety or efficacy or determined the proper dosage. It doesnt inspect the facilities where the goods are produced, and it doesnt assess quality control.

The agency does invite manufacturers to put cannabis products through clinical trials and its drug approval process.

The FDAs website notes that THC is the active ingredient in two FDA-approved drugs used in cancer treatment. That alone apparently places the substance under FDA jurisdiction.

The FDA has all the power it needs to regulate state-legalized cannabis products much more effectively, said Lindblom, the former FDA official.

At least publicly, the FDA has focused not on THC concentrates derived from cannabis or weed smoked in joints, but rather on other substances: a THC variant derived from hemp, which the federal government has legalized, and a different cannabis derivative called cannabidiol or CBD, which has been marketed as therapeutic.

The FDA is committed to monitoring the marketplace, identifying cannabis products that pose risks, and acting, within our authorities, to protect the public, FDA spokesperson Courtney Rhodes said.

Many/most THC products meet the definition of marijuana, which is a controlled substance. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) regulates marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act. We refer you to the Drug Enforcement Administration for questions about regulation and enforcement under the provisions of the CSA, Rhodes wrote in an email.

The DEA, part of the Justice Department, did not respond to questions for this article.

As for Congress, perhaps its most consequential step has been limiting enforcement of the federal prohibition.

Thus far, the federal response to state actions to legalize marijuana has largely been to allow states to implement their own laws on the drug, a 2022 Congressional Research Service report said.

In October, President Joe Biden directed the secretary of Health and Human Services and the attorney general to review the federal governments stance toward marijuana  whether it should remain classified among the most dangerous and tightly controlled substances.

In December, Biden signed a bill expanding research access to marijuana and requiring federal agencies to study its effects. The law gave agencies a year to issue findings.

Some marijuana advocates say the federal government could play a more constructive role.

NORML does not opine that cannabis is innocuous, but opines that its potential risks are best mitigated via legalization, regulation, and public education, said Paul Armentano, deputy director of the group formerly known as the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

Products have to be tested for purity and potency, he said, and the federal government could have some oversight in licensing the labs that test those products.

In the meantime, said Coleman, adviser to the National Cannabis Industry Association, states are left having to become USDA + FDA + DEA all at the same time.

And where does that leave consumers? Some, like Wendy E., a retired small-business owner in her 60s, struggle with the effects of todays marijuana.

Wendy, who spoke on the condition that she not be fully named, started smoking marijuana in high school in the 1970s and made it part of her lifestyle for decades.

Then when her state legalized it, she bought it in dispensaries and very quickly noticed that the potency was much higher than what I had traditionally used, she said. It seemed to have exponentially increased.

In 2020, she said, the legal marijuana  much stronger than the illicit weed of her youth  left her obsessing about ways to kill herself.

Once, the self-described earth-mother hippie found camaraderie passing a joint with friends. Now, she attends Marijuana Anonymous meetings with others recovering from addiction to the stuff.

KFF Health News, formerly known as Kaiser Health News (KHN), is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs of KFF  the independent source for health policy research, polling and journalism.

2023 KFF Health News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Democratic Party of Oregon officials knowingly filed a false report about the source of a $500,000 donation from Nishad Singh, an executive at disgraced cryptocurrency firm FTX, but state elections officials with strong ties to the party settled the matter without pursuing criminal charges.

Elections officials also agreed to slash a proposed fine for the false report from $35,000 to $15,000.
The windows of the Multnomah County Circuit Courthouse will soon be free of their boards.

Workers began removing the planks reinforcing the three-story glass panes at the front of the new central courthouse May 7, a county spokesperson said, with the job expected to wrap up Friday.

We are working actively on strategies that will help restore the vitality of downtown Portland, especially around the beautiful courthouse, county spokesperson Julie Sullivan-Springhetti said in a statement.

She said she was unable to provide an estimate for the cost of the work.

The grand atrium was boarded up shortly after the $325 million courthouse opened at the westside foot of the Hawthorne Bridge in October 2020  a tumultuous era when protesters routinely besieged the nearby police headquarters and federal courthouse.

Police removed the fence around the entrance to the Multnomah County Justice Center, which houses the central precinct and county jail, later in 2020, but did not remove the boards from some of the ground-floor display windows until this February.

Fortifications remain in place at the towering Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse next to the Justice Center.

Similarly, Sullivan-Springhetti said the wooden perimeter wall surrounding the courthouse block will remain until further solutions can be found.

 Zane Sparling; zsparling@oregonian.com; 503-319-7083; @pdxzane

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BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 12. Servicemen of the Azerbaijani Navy took part in the underwater search and rescue "Kurtaran - 2023" exercises held in the Eastern Mediterranean, the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan told Trend.

Tasks were performed to search for a sunken submarine with the help of robots, assess the situation, as well as rescue the crew, transfer food and medicines to them with the help of divers in accordance with the exercise plan.

As many as 37 representatives of 17 countries took part in the international exercises.

Recently, Azerbaijani servicemen took part in the "Anatolian Eagle - 2023" International Flight-Tactical Exercises, which was held in Turkish Konya.

At the invitation of the Minister of National Defense of the Republic of Turkiye, Hulusi Akar, the Minister of Defense of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Colonel General Zakir Hasanov and the Deputy Minister of Defense  Commander of the Air Force, Lieutenant General Ramiz Tahirov participated in the Distinguished Visitors Day of the international exercises in Konya.

Colonel General Hasanov noted that "Anatolian Eagle - 2023" International Flight-Tactical Exercises, held in Konya, Turkiye, and the "Heydar Aliyev - 2023" Exercises, held in Kars, Turkiye, were aimed at further improving the knowledge and skills of servicemen.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP)  A federal judge in Virginia has ruled that a law banning licensed federal firearms dealers from selling handguns to young adults under 21 violates the Second Amendment and is unconstitutional.

The ruling Wednesday by U.S. District Court Judge Robert Payne in Richmond, if not overturned, would allow dealers to sell handguns to 18- to 20-year-olds.

In his 71-page ruling, Payne wrote that many of the rights and responsibilities of citizenship are granted at the age of 18, including the right to vote, enlist in the military without parental permission and serve on a federal jury.

If the Court were to exclude 18-to-20-year-olds from the Second Amendment's protection, it would impose limitations on the Second Amendment that do not exist with other constitutional guarantees, Payne wrote.

Because the statutes and regulations in question are not consistent with our Nations history and tradition, they, therefore, cannot stand," he wrote.

Payne's ruling is the latest decision striking down gun laws in the wake of a landmark Supreme Court ruling last year that changed the test courts have long used to evaluate challenges to firearm restrictions. The Supreme Court said judges should no longer consider whether the law serves public interests, like enhancing public safety. Governments that want to uphold a gun restriction must look back into history to show it is consistent with the countrys historical tradition of firearm regulation, the Supreme Court said.

Amid upheaval in the months since that ruling, courts have declared unconstitutional laws including federal measures designed to keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers and defendants under felony indictment, as well as a ban on possessing guns with the serial number removed. A federal judge recently cited the high court decision in ruling against a Minnesota law prohibiting 18- to 20-year-olds from getting permits to carry handguns in public. A judge struck down a similar law last year on gun restrictions for young adults in Texas.

Payne, who cited the 2022 Supreme Court ruling repeatedly in his ruling, wrote that the government failed to present any evidence of age-based restrictions on the purchase or sale of firearms from the colonial era, Founding or Early Republic. The lack of similar regulations from those time periods indicates that the Founders considered age-based regulations on the purchase of firearms to circumscribe the right to keep and bear arms confirmed by the Second Amendment, he wrote.

John Corey Fraser, 20, along with several other plaintiffs, challenged the constitutionality of the Gun Control Act of 1968 and the associated regulations from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives after they were turned down when they tried to buy handguns.

Even though it ensures that future buyers can now purchase these firearms in the federal system  one that includes background checks and other requirements  we expect the defendants will appeal," said Elliott Harding, Fraser's attorney. He said he is optimistic that the ruling will be affirmed.

Harding said the lawsuit was aimed at closing a loophole because 18- to 20-year-olds can already buy handguns from private sellers, a process that is completely unregulated.

This allows them to go in and buy a registered firearm, direct from a manufacturer, but theyll also go through background checks," he said. They have to go through the traditional steps in purchasing a firearm.

Everytown Law, a legal group that advocates for gun violence prevention in the courts and has filed a brief supporting the age restrictions, said the law is constitutional and an essential tool for preventing gun violence.

Not only are guns the leading cause of death for U.S. kids and teens, but research shows us that 18- to 20-year-olds commit gun homicides at triple the rate of adults 21 years and older," said Janet Carter, Everytown Law's senior director of issues and appeals.

The Courts ruling will undoubtedly put lives at risk," she said. It must be reversed.

The Justice Department and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives did not respond to emails seeking comment on the ruling.

___

AP Legal Affairs Reporter Alanna Durkin Richer contributed to this report from Boston.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 12. The purpose of the provocation committed by Armenia is to disrupt the peace negotiations, Chair of the Milli Majlis (Parliament) of Azerbaijan, Sahiba Gafarova said at the session of parliament, Trend reports.

On May 10, units of the Armenian armed forces, using various types of small arms, have committed a deliberate provocation against the positions of the Azerbaijani army in the direction of Zod settlement of the Basarkechar district.

"As a result of target fire, the serviceman of Azerbaijani army, Muslim Mahmudlu, was seriously wounded in the head. Decisive measures were taken by the Azerbaijani army to stop the provocation of Armenians. The entire responsibility for the provocation lies with the leadership of Armenia," Gafarova said.

Also as a result of this provocation by Armenian Armed Forces, Azerbaijani serviceman of the extra active military service of the Azerbaijani army Orkhan Novruzalizade was killed.
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NEW YORK (AP)  The end of a pandemic-era immigration restriction could send a new wave of asylum-seekers toward New York City  a place that has long prided itself on welcoming the world's huddled masses. But as migrants gathered at the southern U.S. border, Mayor Eric Adams warned his city would be unable to accommodate the expected influx.

City officials expecting to receive busloads of migrants from Texas and other border states have explored housing the newcomers in airplane hangars, a race track, gymnasiums or even tents in Central Park. Others could wind up on the streets, advocates feared, despite the citys court-ordered commitment to provide all residents with access to a place to stay.

Faced with what he described as a humanitarian crisis, Adams, a Democrat, has taken a series of steps aimed at easing pressure on the citys overcrowded homeless shelter system.

On Wednesday evening, he temporarily suspended portions of New Yorks longstanding law guaranteeing shelter to all residents. A few hours later, he sent roughly two dozen migrants on a bus to a hotel in the upstate town of Newburgh, overriding fierce backlash from local leaders.

Adams' decompression strategy marks the latest escalation in the citys ongoing struggle to handle tens of thousands of migrants, many of whom have arrived in the last year on buses sent by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican.

Several other Democrat-leaning cities, including Chicago and Denver, have also grappled with a growing number of migrants and how to provide them with food, medicine and shelter without significant federal funding.

As the Biden administration prepared to lift a restriction on Thursday night known as Title 42, a COVID-era rule that allowed the government to quickly expel migrants back to Mexico, many expected the numbers to grow even higher.

Adams said New York City in recent weeks has been seeing 500 migrant arrivals per day. More than 61,000 have sought services from the city in the past 12 months. Once the rules change, we could potentially get thousands of people a day in our city, Adams said Thursday.

In recent days, officials have sought to coax nonprofits and business leaders to identify spaces to house migrants, while calling on municipal workers to help greet the asylum-seekers, according to people familiar with the effort.

The city has also turned to the real estate industry, including the owner of the Flatiron Building, who rebuffed requests to turn the iconic skyscraper into a shelter, the New York Times reported.

At a news conference Thursday, Manuel Castro, the commissioner for immigrant affairs, said the city no longer can physically accommodate people that request emergency shelter.

The admission intensified fears among some about the citys ability to fulfill its right-to-shelter commitment, a court-ordered agreement that for decades has required the city to house anyone without a roof over their head. Under an executive order signed by Adams, the city no longer has to meet a strict deadline for providing that shelter.

The Legal Aid Society and the Coalition for the Homeless condemned the change, warning it could "force families with children to languish at the Citys intake facility for extended periods of time.

The city has also faced pushback in its early efforts to escort migrants out of the city. In Rockland County, local officials successfully secured a temporary restraining order banning the city from sending migrants to a hotel.

After two dozen migrants arrived in a Newburgh hotel on Thursday, Orange County Executive Steven Neuhaus, a Republican, blamed Adams for a disorganized disaster, vowing to secure his own restraining order.

Speaking to reporters Thursday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, said the city faced an untenable situation. But she said she also understood the stress faced by county executives and their decision to lash out at the buses.

Our view is to continue working with the counties, but really focusing on continuing to support Mayor Adams because hes receiving the brunt of most of this, she said.

Ilze Thielmann, who leads a group that provides resources to newly-arrived migrants, said her team of volunteers had been preparing for the end of Title 42 for months. She wondered why it seemed other levels of government hadnt done the same.

In a city with this many buildings and this many human beings and this many empty hotels, she said, how can you say youre out of space?
MIAMI (AP)  A South Florida man faces up to five years in federal prison for threatening election workers during the August 2022 primary.

Joshua David Lubitz, 38, of Sunrise, pleaded guilty Wednesday in Miami federal court to threatening election workers, according to court documents. His sentencing is scheduled for July 25.
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Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson spoke to a Midland audience of 270 people Thursday night about the successes of the Democratic Party in Michigan last year and the work that still needs to be done.

Benson's speech was part of the Midland County Democratic Party's Start of Something Blue fundraiser at the Midland Country Club.

Thank you and buckle up, she said. Weve got a lot more work to do. We are just getting warmed up here in Midland and all throughout Michigan.

Benson was an honored guest at the fundraiser, along with Sen. Kristen McDonald Rivet (D-Bay City) and some local elected officials.

Benson spoke to the audience extensively about democracy and the election process.

We are a proud people who believe in democracy, she said. One person, one vote. We agree that when someone wins or loses an election, that we all stand by those results.

However, she also discussed calls to overturn the election and the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S Capitol in 2021.

The battles we thought we had fought and won in 2018, 2020 and 2022 are not over, she said. This is a battle over the soul of our nation. Its really a battle that is going to define the future of our democracy."

Benson discussed the priorities of Michigan Democrats in Lansing so far this year, including protecting children, making the roads safer and smoother, providing healthcare for everyone and establishing a livable wage for everyone.

She also noted the amendments to the state constitution that Michiganders approved in November 2022 that established nine days of early voting and guaranteed reproductive freedoms for women.

Here in Michigan, when our rights are threatened, when our democracy is attacked, we fight back and we win, Benson said.

This was the first time the Midland County Democratic Party held its fundraiser at the Midland Country Club and as a cocktail party. Many members said they were glad to finally be in a large setting with so many others after decades of small gatherings in peoples living rooms.

I didnt ever think that I would be attending a Democratic Party fundraiser at the Midland Country Club, said Brad Bidwell of Midland. Im so excited that I am.

Bidwell enjoyed listening to Benson as well as the other speakers, including McDonald Rivet and Midland County Democratic Party Chairperson Jennifer Austin.

Its been excellent to hear all the progress that weve made, he said. But also the focus on the future and what we need to do in the coming years to help ensure democracy.

Midland County Clerk Ann Manary, who ran in last year's Republican primary for state representative, also attended the fundraiser and enjoyed the speakers and the guests.

These people are genuine, she said.
MANISTEE COUNTY  The following includes reports made to the Manistee County Sheriffs Office from April 29-30

All calls may not be reported. This is part of a lengthy report and is compiled by assistant editor Arielle Breen.

April 29

 A vehicle-deer crash was reported at 12:52 a.m. in Brown Township.

 A vehicle-deer crash was reported at 2:10 a.m. in Manistee Township.

 Trespassing was reported at 6:54 p.m. in Bear Lake Township.

 A suspicious situation was reported at 3:10 a.m. in Bear Lake Township.

 Uttering and publishing in the amount of $10,000 and larceny were reported at 6 a.m. in Marilla Township.

 A suspicious situation was reported at 9:54 a.m. in Dickson Township.

 A neighbor dispute was reported at 9:56 a.m. in Arcadia Township.

 A suspicious situation and neighbor dispute was reported at 11:03 a.m. in Pleasanton Township.

 A traffic hazard was reported at 1:57 p.m. in Bear Lake Township.

 Trespassing was reported at 3:04 p.m. in Bear Lake Township.

 A child custody dispute was reported at 3:18 p.m. in Filer Township.

 A noise disturbance was reported at 4:12 p.m. in Stronach Township.

 A vehicle-deer accident was reported at 11:56 p.m. in Stronach Township.

April 30

 A suspicious situation was reported and deputies conducted a well-being check at 12:26 a.m. in Manistee Township.

 A 911 call was abandoned at 7:58 a.m. in Springdale Township.

 A noise disturbance was reported at 9:17 a.m. in Manistee Township.

 Animal control was called to a suspicious dog death at 1 p.m. in Dickson Township.

 Deputies assisted the Filer Fire Department at 7:01 p.m. in Filer Township.
BIG RAPIDS  Following the Mecosta Animal Rescue Coalitions announcement that it would no longer accept cats due to the impending Gotion North America Manufacturing project construction, a representative with the company has responded to the shelter owners concerns.

On May 8, Mecosta Animal Rescue Coalition, at 18400 220th Ave., in Big Rapids, shared the news via a press release which brought response from the area.

In the release, the Animal Rescue Coalition stated that We had hoped that this would not happen since Gotion has performed absolutely no environmental impact studies, despite all the wildlife and wetlands that will be destroyed. But, it appears they will begin bulldozing in July. We are devastated for our community."

A common concern voiced by some opponents to the Gotion facility has been a request for an environmental impact report.

Chuck Thelen, Gotion North America Manufacturing vice president, told the Pioneer that "there is not one single overreaching environmental study that happens for something like this."

You have to meet several different legs of the stool to get authorization, as I mentioned, air quality, water quality, stormwater detention, these types of things. They are all necessary requirements," Thelen explained.

The Animal Rescue Coalition is Mecosta Countys only animal shelter and one of the few in West Michigan that accepted stray cats.

Animal Rescue Coalition Director Cate Arroe said the construction would cause stress to the animals at the shelter and cause the area to be unsafe.

Since the announcement, new information came to light that Gotion had made the Animal Rescue Coalition a cash offer of several times more than market rate for the property and building.

According to John Whetstone, a Gotion public relations representative, Animal Rescue Coalition was made an offer that Gotion would buy it a new property of at least 10 acres. Their current site is 3 to 4 acres, and Whetstone said the Animal Rescue Coalition was made an offer that Gotion would build them a new building.

Thelen told the Pioneer on May 10 that Arroe had neither accepted nor denied the offers at that point.

I cannot disclose all the details to the offer, because that's private and I will not violate her privacy, Thelen said. She (Arroe) currently has a very small piece of property, and she counts on walking her animals into the neighbor's property. She has mentioned that she needs a place to walk the dogs, so we had secured an option on a property that was much larger than what she currently has so that she could take her animals and do what she needs for her rescue coalition and walking the dogs.

We see her complaints in the media in the last couple of weeks, which lends me to believe that she is not accepting our offer, he added. With that, we will not claim any kind of eminent domain. We will not force any sale. That is not who we are. That's not what we're about. If she does not wish to sell, then we completely respect her privacy.

Thelen said the plan will be to fence in the land where construction will be to protect any property owners near the land.

He additionally noted that Gotion is willing to discuss a strategic purchase with Arroe similar to the courtesy purchases of houses within the construction area, but is unsure of Arroes position on negotiating further.

The groundbreaking for the site will depend on the permit submission and approval from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy, which typically takes three to five months, according to Thelen.

The first step is to level out all of the locations within the facility, Thelen said. We are currently designing how the pads of the buildings will sit on the property, and once all that work is done, we will hire our architectural engineering and general contracting firms. They will hire local contractors for earthmoving, laying of gas lines, laying of water lines and all these types of things.

Since its inception, Animal Rescue Coalition has taken in over 3,200 dogs and over 1,400 cats and is a no-kill shelter. The Animal Rescue Coalition is contracted by the county to take in dogs but not take in cats and is currently exploring all its options.

Arroe did not respond to the Pioneer's request for comment, but in a post made May 8 on the Animal Rescue Coalition official Facebook page said the challenges that would come if moving were required.

Yes, Gotion is trying to buy our land and has offered to buy us land at another location," the post read. "We have been trying to navigate the changing timeline and changing locations for a few months now. We are hoping that it will work out for us to move but we certainly cannot stay in our current location if the battery plant starts groundbreaking.

"The reason we are not taking cats immediately is that we may be put in a situation where we need to transfer our animals as quickly as possible. It is close to impossible to transfer cats. We are contracted by the county to take dogs so that is why we will continue to take dogs as long as we safely can. We do not consider this to be a safe location for either cats or dogs if the battery plant comes.

At a recent Green Charter Township meeting May 8, safety experts from the research and development facility in Independence, Ohio, visited to speak with local first responders about safety, stressing that safety is always Gotion's top priority.

Thelen said working with the community is important to Gotion and the company would prioritize improving transparency.

Gotion is hoping to have a groundbreaking by the beginning of fall this year.

For past coverage of the proposed Gotion battery component manufacturing plant, visit bit.ly/3NzZkRl.
As the summer travel season gets underway, authorities will remind Michigan residents to buckle their seatbelts.

The Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning announced Thursday a Click It or Ticket seat belt enforcement campaign from May 15 to June 4.

Police officers from local departments, sheriffs offices and the Michigan State Police will enforce seat belt use statewide for the three-week campaign, according to a Thursday press release. The campaign is supported by federal traffic safety funds. And Memorial Day weekend is included.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimated that buckling up in the front seat can reduce the risk of severe injury or death in a crash by 45%.

Wearing a seat belt is the most effective thing you can do to reduce injuries and save lives  and buckling up should be an automatic habit for drivers and passengers alike, Katie Bower, OHSP director, said in the Thursday release. Its not just the safe thing to do  its the law.

Michigan law requires drivers, front-seat passengers and passengers 15 and younger in any seating position to be buckled up. The fine and associated costs for not wearing a seat belt are $65. Children must be in a car or booster seat until they are 8 years old or 4 feet and 9 inches tall. Children under 4 years old must ride in the back seat.

In Michigan, 254 people who were killed in traffic crashes in 2021 were not wearing a seat belt, according to the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute. That is an increase of 11.4% over 2020 when there were 228 fatalities.

During the 2021 Memorial Day weekend, 14 fatal crashes on Michigan roadways resulted in 14 fatalities.

From 2019 to 2022, the seat belt usage rate in Michigan fell from 94.4% to 92.9%. Below the state usage rate are nearly 30 Michigan counties. The national seat belt usage rate in 2021 was 90.4%.

As the busy summer travel season gets underway, we want to remind drivers and passengers to stay safe and wear a seat belt, every trip, every time, Bower continued.

Men make up most of those killed in motor vehicle traffic crashes nationwide. In 2020, 67% of the 23,824 passenger-vehicle occupants who were killed were men, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

And men use seat belts at a lower rate than women do  55% of men killed in crashes were unrestrained, compared to 43% of women killed in crashes.

Additionally, young adults are at a higher risk of being killed because of riding unrestrained. Sixty percent of young adults aged 18 to 34 killed in 2020 while riding in passenger vehicles were not buckled up  one of the highest percentages for all age groups.
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The Midland County Democratic Party's fundraiser on Thursday evening had two themes: growth and the color blue.

The party held a fundraiser at the Midland Country Club for the first time and called the event The Start of Something Blue," encouraging attendees to wear blue, the color that is identified with the Democratic Party.

Speakers continually mentioned how the local party used to meet before Democrats built momentum which culminated in gaining a majority in the state legislature for the first time in many years in the November 2022 election.

As Sen. Kristen McDonald Rivet (D-Bay City) put it, We all could have fit in an elevator.

I remember 30 years ago when the County Democratic Party could join in my living room, said host Eric Blackhurst. And I lived in a very small house.

The event wouldnt fit in an elevator, or even someones living room, anymore. More than 270 people attended the fundraiser, including Midland County Clerk Ann Manary, Midland County Commissioner Alaynah Smith, Rep. Amos ONeal (D-Saginaw), Rep. Laurie Pohutsky (D-Livonia), Delta College Trustee Alex Clark and Midland Public Schools board members Phil Rausch, Jennifer Ringgold and John Hatfield.

The guests of honor were Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and McDonald Rivet, who both gave speeches.

Midland County Democratic Party Chairperson Jennifer Austin was the first to speak, commenting on how the organization has grown since 2016 and its efforts toward creating fair and competitive districts.

Austin described the growth of the party by quoting John Green's novel The Fault in Our Stars, saying the party grew slowly, then all at once.

McDonald Rivet continued the conversation on the growth of the Democratic Party in Midland County, commenting on how small the group used to be compared to the crowd that filled the room Thursday night.

This room is so beautiful and so strong, she said. The Midland County Democratic Party is thriving and strong.

She also discussed her time campaigning for the State Senate and remembered when she would knock on a door and introduce herself as a Democrat, how some people would respond, Im a Democrat, too. Ill vote for you, but dont tell anyone.

Other speakers commented on the secrecy among Midland County Democrats before this year and how glad they are to see it end.

Lets just be loud and proud about it, Austin said. I think events like this really allow people to do that, and hopefully that will continue to grow because we had so many Democratic victories in this citytheres no reason for us to hide it anymore.

Benson rounded out the event by talking about the accomplishments of Democrats through voting - noting that 2020 had the highest voter turnout in history even during a pandemic - and the actions of the state legislature so far.

She specifically highlighted the priorities of the state government, including protecting children, fixing the roads, ensuring healthcare for everyone and establishing a livable wage.

The party that stands to protect the fundamental rights and freedoms of citizens all throughout the state no matter who they are, where they are, who they vote for, is a party that a lot of people can get behind here in Midland County and everywhere else.

In addition, Benson commented on the constitutional amendments that Michigan voters approved in 2022, including early voting up to nine days before the election and reproductive rights for women.

She also spoke about the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol and a CNN interview with former President Donald Trump on Wednesday.

I heard the words from the former president, Jan. 6 was a beautiful day, Benson said. I couldnt look away, but I also couldn't take it.

(Jan. 6) was not a beautiful day. It was a tragic day.

The event ended with dessert and the completion of a silent auction as guests remained to chat with friends. Midland resident Tamara McGovern said she enjoyed the speakers and the way they represented the growth of the party.

They were very articulate and certainly spoke to the evolution that we have seen from the Democratic Party, she said. Its almost as though there was a full burst of acceptance of a two-party system in Midland.

Kennedy Kazmierski from Saginaw County - who worked on McDonald Rivets campaign - said it was fabulous to see such a large turnout at the event.

Just from my experience door knocking and doing things throughout the community, Ive definitely seen the discourse and kind of secrecy surrounding being a Democrat, she said. So, being able to see the community that weve gathered has been really amazing.
A 38-year-old Reese man serving life in prison for a 2018 murder appealed the verdict, citing ineffective assistance at trial and victim statements introduced that shouldnt have been allowed in the original hearing.

Midland County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Atea Duso said she doesn't know when the Court of Appeals will issue its opinion from Tuesdays appeal hearing.

Joel Wallace was convicted on March 15, 2019, of murdering his great aunt, Victoria Kilbourne, 74, of Midland.

Kilbourne, a beautician, was reported missing on June 26, 2018. Her remains were found four days later in a shallow grave on Wallace's hunting property near Onaway in Presque Isle County.

Wallace, who is serving a life sentence in the Macomb Correctional Facility in Lenox, was originally represented by attorney Daniel Duke. Attorney Ronald Ambrose is handling Wallace's appeal, which was filed in June 2019 but was not heard in court until this week.

Ambrose told the Court of Appeals on Tuesday that Wallaces brother should have been introduced as a potential suspect during the trial.

The guilty verdict against Wallace came following a nine-day jury trial in Midland County Circuit Court before Judge Stephen Carras. Wallace was found guilty on five criminal charges: first-degree premeditated murder, homicide-felony murder, unlawful imprisonment, forgery, and uttering and publishing.

Wallaces fingerprints were found on the tape that was used to bind Kilbourne's hands, feet, and mouth. Forensic investigator Kenneth Binder of the Michigan State Police said the prints on the tape matched those of Wallace.

More Information Joel Wallace, convicted of killing his great aunt in 2018, is appealing his life sentence, citing issues at trial See More Collapse

Wallace also forged a $2,000 check from Kilbourne that was made out to Wallace's wife, Roberta.

Security footage from the Huntington Bank ATM located at a Meijer supermarket in Saginaw - which Kilbourne and Wallace would often visit to withdraw and deposit money - confirmed that Wallace attempted to deposit the check shortly after 10 p.m. June 25.

Detective Sgt. George Lehman, a forensic document examiner with the Michigan State Police, testified at the trial. Comparing the signature and the denied check with writing samples from Wallace seized under warrant, Lehman concluded that not only was it "highly probable" that Wallace had forged the check, Lehman was "virtually certain" of it.

Several people close to Kilbourne testified that she had mentioned being frustrated with the financial situation with Wallace and was considering "cutting him off" from her finances.

Midland County Prosecutor J. Dee Brooks said the possibility of losing Kilbourne as a source of income may have been motive enough for Wallalce to confront her, and an ensuing argument could have led to her death.

Jason Louchart, a former friend of Wallace, testified in the trial regarding a letter his family had received shortly after Wallace's arrest. In the letter, Wallace pleaded with Louchart to set up a scenario in which he would record a staged conversation between Louchart's cousin and another friend in which his cousin would pose as Wallace's younger brother, Jordan Wallace, and "admit" to murdering Kilbourne.

Louchart's fiancee relinquished the letter to investigators.
ABUJA, Nigeria (AP)  A court in Nigeria has been asked to stop the planned inauguration of the countrys next president and to extend the incumbent's tenure, court documents obtained Friday show.

Five Nigerians made the request to the Federal High Court in Abuja, arguing that President-elect Bola Tinubu was illegally declared the winner of the Feb. 25 presidential election and therefore should not be sworn into office on May 29.

The petition is among several challenges to the ruling partys victory and raised concerns in the West African nation about a possible constitutional crisis should President Muhammadu Buhari remain in office until the case is decided.

Chuks Nwachuku, the plaintiffs' lawyer, said Tinubu's being declared president-elect was unconstitutional because he failed to win at least 25% of the votes cast in Abuja, Nigeria's capital city.

To be elected president, the Nigerian Constitution requires a candidate to win both the highest number of votes overall and not less than one-quarter of the votes in each of at least two-thirds of the country's 36 states and Abuja.

The interpretation of that constitutional provision has remained a subject of debate in Nigeria.

"There can be no swearing in of anyone who has not satisfied the provisions of the constitution. We are asking for a declaration that the president remains in office until the issue of succession is sorted out, Nwachuku told The Associated Press.

Nigerias two main opposition parties previously contested the All Progressives Congress partys presidential victory, alleging the election results were rigged.

While the opposition's election challenge was not expected to stop Tinubu's inauguration, analysts warned that extending Buhari's tenure could create a crisis for a country with a checkered history of long military rule and electoral violence.

The petition is a recipe for crisis. All the previous elections were disputed, but at no point in time did anybody push that the constitutional provision of inaugurating the winner should be stopped, so it is very worrying, Idayat Hassan, who leads the Center for Democracy and Development, a research and advocacy organization based in Abuja.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 12. The military provocations committed by Armenia against Azerbaijan hinder the peace process, political expert Elshad Hasanov told Trend.

According to him, Armenia resorts to provocations when the negotiation process begins.

"We have witnessed this many times. It seems that revanchist forces are trying to prevent peace. President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan are scheduled to meet in Brussels on May 14. The violation of the ceasefire on the eve of the meeting is a clear proof of this. The military provocations once again shows that Armenia has not yet abandoned its revanchist ideas," he said.

Hasanov noted that such actions of Armenia, which damage the negotiation process, should be sharply condemned by the international community.

"Armenia is trying to create an idea in the world community that "the conflict has not ended yet," Hasanov said.

On the evening of May 10, units of the Armenian armed forces, using various types of small arms, have committed a deliberate provocation against the positions of the Azerbaijani army in the direction of Zod settlement of the Basarkechar district. The Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan reported that Azerbaijani serviceman of the extra active military service of the Azerbaijani army Orkhan Novruzalizade was killed, the serviceman of Azerbaijani army, Muslim Mahmudlu, was seriously wounded in the head.
Paducah, KY (42003)

Today

Thunderstorms likely this evening. Then a chance of scattered thunderstorms overnight. Low 67F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms likely this evening. Then a chance of scattered thunderstorms overnight. Low 67F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%.
Dakar, Senegal (PANA) - The European Parliament voted on Thursday in Strasbourg by 536 votes for, four against with 18 abstentions a resolution condemning human rights violations in Algeria, European media reported
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 12. President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev signed a decree on awarding Elchin Afandiyev with the "Honorary Diploma of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Trend reports.

According to the decree, Afandiyev was awarded the "Honorary Diploma of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan" for many years of productive activity in the development of Azerbaijani culture.
Khartoum, Sudan (PANA) - Sudan's warring parties have signed a document in the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah under which they have made a commitment to protect civilians in the raging war that has claimed more than hundreds of lives, destroyed infrastructure and triggered a huge humanitarian crisis in the country and its neighbours
Photo: (Photo : Brandon Bell /Getty Images)

In an effort to combat threats and increase school safety, Grand Rapids Public Schools in Michigan have announced a bbackpack ban on campus.

The decision comes after multiple incidents of guns being brought onto school property, including a loaded handgun found in a third-grader's backpack.

CNN reported that a handgun has been confiscated from a student for the fourth time during the current academic year. As a result, the district has implemented a ban on handguns that will remain in effect until further notice.

Grand Rapids Schools' Backpack Ban

According to GRPS, Dr. Leadriane Roby, the superintendent of Grand Rapids Public Schools, expressed her frustration at having to implement a backpack ban in the schools.

She acknowledged that this decision would cause inconvenience to families but emphasized that safety was the top priority.

Dr. Roby stated that the ban was a necessary step in the ongoing discussion about how best to protect children in a constantly evolving world.

The school district acknowledges that the ban poses a significant inconvenience for families but sees it as a necessary step to ensure the safety of students and staff.

Michigan schools follow Flint Community Schools' lead. Grand Rapids Public Schools' backpack ban comes just days after Flint Community Schools in Michigan also implemented a ban on backpacks as of May 1.

Both school districts cite concerns over safety as the reason for the ban.

In a statement released by officials from the Flint school district, it was acknowledged that tough decisions had to be made to maintain safety in schools.

The statement suggests that the situation had reached a point where such decisions were unavoidable.

They also expressed concern over the increase in threatening behavior and contraband, including weapons, being brought into schools at all levels.

Increase in School Shootings Across the US

The issue of school shootings has become an increasingly concerning problem in the United States.

The Gun Violence Archive reported that there have been at least 202 mass shootings in the country so far in 2023, according to ABC.

A mass shooting is defined as an incident in which four or more victims are shot or killed.

Unfortunately, tragic incidents like the mass shootings in Dallas, Nashville, Buffalo, and Uvalde have continued to occur, leading to calls for gun reform.

In 2022, the Gun Violence Archive recorded more than 647 mass shootings, and in 2021, there were 690 mass shootings.

These numbers illustrate the severity of the issue and the need for action to address it.

Read Also: FDA Advisory Panel Approves Perrigo Birth Control Pill for Over-the-Counter Use

Inconvenience for Families, but Necessary Step for Safety

The ban on backpacks may pose a significant inconvenience for families, especially for students who need to carry textbooks and other school supplies.

However, both Grand Rapids Public Schools and Flint Community Schools see it as a necessary step to ensure the safety of students and staff.

The districts have not yet announced any alternative measures to help students carry their belongings to school.

Overall, the backpack ban in Michigan schools reflects a growing concern over school safety in the wake of an increase in school shootings and threatening behavior.

While banning backpacks may be an inconvenience for families, both Grand Rapids Public Schools and Flint Community Schools see it as a necessary step to ensure the safety of students and staff.

The districts hope that the ban will help to increase security on campus, but acknowledge that this is just one step in an ongoing conversation about how to best protect students and staff.

Related Article: Nashville School Shooting Prompts Nationwide Boost in Active Shooter Training, Childhood Preparedness Protocols
Today Apple announced that it will be opening its first online store in Vietnam on May 18, as it seeks to tap into demand from its younger, tech-savvy population and rapidly growing digital economy.

Expanding into Vietnam is part of the iPhone makers broader business strategy. Apple has begun a bigger push into emerging markets like India and Malaysia to boost sales. Apple also starting manufacturing the iPhone 14 in Brazil.

During Apple's last Financial Conference Apple's CEO noted at one point that "We had a stellar quarter in emerging markets overall. Were putting efforts in a number of these markets and really see, particularly given our low share and the dynamics of the demographics, a great opportunity for us."

There has been no mention of when a retail store might open in Vietnam, but the launch of an online store is likely its precursor. Apple launched its first online store in India in 2020, and finally opened its first retail stores in the country last month.

Vietnams technology boom, by the digits

40%: Estimated pace of Vietnams internet economy growth annually, according to a 2019 report from Google, Temasek, and Bain & Company

$23 billion: Value of Vietnams digital economy in 2022, set to hit around $50 billion by 2025 according to a 2022 report from Google, Temasek, and Bain & Company

5 million: Number of smartphone users in Vietnam as of March 2022, according to Vietnams Department of Telecommunications

5%: Estimated percentage of adults in Vietnam with smartphones as of March 2022

(Click on image to Enlarge)

For more, read the full Reuters report. Apple's Senior VP or Retail Deirdre O'Brien told the Vietnamese news site tuoi tre news, "We're proud to be expanding in Vietnam."
An article of mine appeared in Meridian Magazine last evening: A Mind Built to Believe. I hope that somebody will read it. Also . . .

The religious term you should try to stop using: A growing group of scholars, journalists and others recommend against labeling a faith group as a cult

I think that Ill share another few passages from Eugene England, Brother Brigham (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1980), which I re-read several months ago in preparation for the Interpreter Foundations planned Six Days in August film project. In the passages that follow below, Gene England is discussing Brigham Young and the mission of the Twelve that, relatively new in his role as president of the quorum, he led to Great Britain.

On 10 June 1840, Brigham wrote to his apostolic associate Willard Richards about mission business, including these remarks, with illustrate his self-deprecating sense of humor:

Be carful not to lay this letter with the new testament writings. If you doe, somebody will take it for a text after the [Millennium] and contend about it. (cited on 48)

Near the end of the letter, he cautioned Richards:

Now my Dear Brother you must forgive all my noncense and over look erours. (cited on 48)

And his next letter to Elder Richards, written on 17 June 1840, ended as follows:

Excuse erours and mestakes. You must remember its from me. (cited on 48)

In that same 17 June letter, Brigham responded to a question about how Elder Richards, still in his early thirties and relatively recently married to his British wife Jennetta there in England, might be able to see his wife. The humor is there, but also evident is Brighams sometimes-forgotten kindness:

Now as to the other question about Jennet thus saith the scripter he that provideth not fore his own house has  but perhaps he has no house. Well has he got a famely, yes he has got a wife. Then let him see that she is take care of and her hart comforted. But stop say som why doe you not tak care of your famely. I doe when circumstances doe not render it otherwise. There is a difference betwene 3 months jorny [i.e., Brighams distance from his wife] and a fue ours ride. Now I say to anser my own feelings com as soon as you can leve things there. This is not by revelation nor by commandment so put it not with the anapistles of the new testament but Brigham sayes come and see your wife.

One of the recurring themes of Professor Englands chapter regarding the British Mission is the role that that missionary experience had in shaping the Twelve and equipping them to lead the Church when events eventually required that of them.

Again the Prophet [Joseph Smith] had responded to persecution, this time the near extermination of the Saints in Missouri, with radical courage, sending his strongest group of supporters abroad to build the kingdom rather than clutching them close. Such inspired daring did indeed save the Church  by doubling its membership in one year; by starting the continuous flow of faithful and in many cases skilled converts who would help build Nauvoo and create the Zion in the mountains; and by testing, training, and unifying the group of missionaries (apostles and others) who would have to resolve the great crisis of leadership at Joseph Smiths death and would then provide four of the Churchs presidents, those who would govern it to the dawn of the twentieth century. (36)

Another theme is the role played by the Twelves mission to Great Britain in establishing Brigham Young not merely as the nominal leader of the Quorum but as the apostles recognized natural leader:

The eight apostles [who went on the British mission to] were an exceedingly diverse as well as able group of men  culturally, intellectually, and in their skills and interests; but during their year in England under Brighams close leadership and association they came to work more and more in unity with each other and with the First Presidency in America . . . and it is one of the most significant and neglected evidences of Joseph Smiths and Brigham Youngs similar greatness that they attracted and kept the respect and loyalty of such a group of men. (43)

These then were the gritty, complex, and diverse individuals who under Brigham Youngs leadership in England forged themselves into perhaps the most dramatically effective missionary force the Mormon Church has known and into a devoted, disciplined, and mutually loyal body who were never again, even in the crises of the Nauvoo persecutions and Joseph Smiths death, troubled by the problems that plagued the Quorum in its first four years. What was Brother Brighams contribution? The evidence is not easy to come by, but the details come together from the various writings of the apostles and from the record of their activities and achievements which were like Brighams own or of those he was directly involved in. Perhaps most telling is that he clearly won the respect and devotion of the Quorum members, being able not only to supervise their work from afar but to fit in directly with the extremely varied style and duties of the articulate editor, Parley P. Pratt, in Manchester, the almost frantically successful and curiously perceptive evangelist, Wilford Woodruff, in Herefordshire, and yet again with Elder Woodruff and Heber C. Kimball in the challenging and relatively unrewarding work in London. (49)

One crucial difference between an executive genius [which Brigham Young almost indisputably was] and a prophetic leader is the ability not only to produce followers who are willing disciples  even martyrs  but to produce other prophets as well. Brigham became that kind of prophetic leader as he developed during those two years of preparation and service in England the kind of qualities that come with confirmation from the Lord of spiritual success. He gained the unique confidence that results from daring and successful ventures in faith across a spectrum of supremely important life activities. And that confidence in turn empowered even more successful ventures and brought Brigham Young the crucial, liberating acceptance by himself of his own worth as a servant of God and acceptance by others of him in that role. (53-54)

In these scenes Brigham Young was the commanding figure and is referred to for the first time by Wilford Woodruff simply as The President. (57)

Finally, on a very distinct note  youve been warned!  heres a frightening example from the Christopher Hitchens Memorial How Religion Poisons Everything File of one of the wonderful things that might be lost if people adhere to the health code of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: Nearly One Third of Schizophrenia Cases in Young Men Linked to Heavy Marijuana Use, Study Finds
1) Romans 16:23 (RSV) . . . Erastus, the city treasurer, and our brother Quartus, greet you. (cf. Acts 19:22; 2 Tim. 4:20)

In 1929, a gray slab of limestone was found in Corinth, near the theater. Separate pieces of the same inscription were discovered in 1928 and 1947 in other areas of the theater. The inscription reads: Erastus in return for his aedileship laid (the pavement) at his own expense. Related evidences in the same excavation revealed that this was the same person referred to by Paul. It was dated to A.D. 50. The Greek word that Paul used for treasurer (oikonomos) is equivalent to the Corinthian office of aedile. (1)

2) Luke 2:2 This was the first enrollment, when Quirinius was governor of Syria.

The name Quirinius appears on coins that he issued as governor of Syria, with the date the 36th year of Caesar [Augustus]: that is, A.D. 5/6. (2) An inscription dated A.D. 14 found in Antioch Pisidia known as The Deeds of the Divine Augustus refers to when Publius Sulpicius (Quirinius) and Gaius Valgius were consuls. Roman historian Tacitus noted in his Annals Book III that when Quirinius died in A.D. 21, Tiberius Caesar ordered the Senate to honor him with a public funeral. Jewish historian Josephus wrote in detail about the census of Judea around A.D. 6 that Quirinius conducted as the governor of Syria.

3) Roman, Greek, and Jewish References to Jesus

Josephus refers to Jesus (as the brother of James) (3), and other references include Suetonius in his Lives of the Caesars (4), Tacitus Annals (15.44), Thallus history of Greece from c. A.D. 52, Pliny the Youngers epistle to the emperor Trajan (no. 96), the Jewish Talmud (Sanhedrin 43a), and the Death of Peregrine (11-13), by Lucian, a second-century Greek satirist. (5)

4) Acts 19:35 And when the town clerk had quieted the crowd, he said, Men of Ephesus, what man is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is temple keeper of the great Artemis . . .?

In the late first century, likely during the reign of Domitian, Ephesus was honored for its role as being a seat of emperor worship and was designated with three other cities as neokoroi (temple wardens), though the term in Acts may have referred specifically to Artemis-worship. An inscription found in Ephesus, dated to A.D. 162-164, refers to the patriotic city of the Ephesians, . . . temple-warden of the Augusti two times. (6)

5) Acts 19:24 . . . a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis . . .

In the theater at Ephesus, a Greek and Latin inscription reported that a Roman official created a silver image of Artemis, for display during civic meetings in the theater. (7)

6) 2 Timothy 4:14 Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm . . .

Another inscription discovered in Ephesus (where Alexander the coppersmith lived) refers to Diogenes the charkomatas (coppersmith). (8)

7) 1 Corinthians 15:32 What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus? . . .

This is a sarcastic or otherwise non-literal proclamation from Paul that seems to be a reference to the historical reality of the city. Archaeologist McRay writes,

An inscription found on a part of the north wall of the stadium [in Ephesus] indicates that it was rebuilt during the reign of Nero. . . . A circular area at the eastern end was designated for gladiatorial fights and animal baiting. . . . Paul perhaps compared arena combat with opposition from beasts of a human sort . . . (9) 8) Acts 19:9 [Paul] . . . argued daily in the hall of Tyrannus.

Ekrem Akurgal contended that there was an auditorium (audeitorion) or lecture hall just east of the beautiful library in Ephesus, that was mentioned in a first-century inscription. (10) NIV, NRSV, NAB render this as lecture hall. KJV, Douay, and NASB have school.

9) Acts 17:18-19 Some also of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers met him. And some said, What would this babbler say? Others said, He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities  because he preached Jesus and the resurrection. And they took hold of him and brought him to the Areopagus, . . .

McRay observes (11),

Questions regarding the teaching of Paul, who had been speaking of foreign divinities (Acts 17:18), fell under the jurisdiction of the Areopagus, which had surveillance over the introduction of foreign divinities, according to Daniel J. Geagan. (12)

Encyclopedia Britannia notes in concurrence that the Areopagus at this time was discharging significant administrative, religious, and educational functions. (13)

10) Acts 18:12 But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack upon Paul and brought him before the tribunal,

A bema, or raised speakers platform, was discovered in Corinth in 1935, and is very likely the place where Paul stood before Gallio (18:14). (14)

FOOTNOTES

1) See John McRay, Archaeology and the New Testament (Grand Rapids,. Michigan: Baker Book House, 1991), 331-332.

2) See Ralph Martin Novak, Christianity and the Roman Empire: Background Texts (London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2001), 291.

3) Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Book XX, ch. 9, sec. 1. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2848/2848-h/2848-h.htm#link202HCH0009.

4) Suetonius, Lives of the Caesars (Claudius 25): Since the Jews constantly made disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus, he expelled them from Rome (from Catharine Edwards translation [Oxford University Press, 2009], 184, 203).

5) See McRay, 154.

6) See McRay, 257-258.

7) See Barbara Levick, Two Inscriptions from Pisidian Antioch, Anatolian Studies 15 (1965), 58-59.

8) See McRay, 259.

9) McRay, 260-261.

10) Ekrem Akurgal, Ancient Civilizations and Ruins of Turkey, 2nd ed., (Istanbul: Mobil Oil Turk A. S., 1970), 161.

11) McRay, 309.

12) Daniel J. Geagan, The Athenian Constitution after Sulla, Hesperia, supp. 12 (1967): 32:50.

13) Areopagus: Greek Council, in Encyclopedia Britannia. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Areopagus-Greek-council.

14) See McRay, 333-334.

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Photo credit: The Preaching of St Paul at Ephesus (1649), by Eustache Le Sueur (1616-1655) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons]

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Summary: I document ten additional New Testament archaeological confirmations: all of which support the strong case of profound biblical historical accuracy & trustworthiness.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 12. Azerbaijani Parliament has approved a number of international documents, Trend reports.

At the parliaments meeting, a bill on the approval of the "Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Government of the Republic of Uzbekistan on the establishment of the Azerbaijani-Uzbek investment fund" and the "Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland on international road transport" has been discussed.

Besides, a bill on amendments to the law "On approval of the exchange of notes in connection with amendments to the Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Government of the United Arab Emirates on the exemption of persons holding diplomatic and special/service passports from entry visas and on the approval of the Memorandum of Understanding between Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Government of the United Arab Emirates on the exemption of persons holding diplomatic passports from the entry visas" has been also discussed.

After the discussion, the documents were put to the vote and adopted.
Executive Director, Head of Consumer Banking at Ecobank, Dr Edward Botchway has led the launching of the Ecobank Double Salary Promotion Reloaded to reward existing and new salaried account holders receiving their salaries through Ecobank.



Ecobank first launch of the Double Salary Promotion on January 4, 2022, for the first quarter was a huge success as it increased the number of Salary Account holders remarkably.



Speaking at the launch of the Ecobank Double Salary Promotion Reloaded, Dr Botchway encouraged Ghanaian workers to take advantage of the promotion which would run for three months to have their salaries doubled for them by opening Ecobank Salary Accounts.



we are here to present Ghanaian workers with yet another promotion, the Ecobank Salary Promotion reloaded, which will also run for 3 months, starting today. We expect that many more workers will take advantage of this offer by opening Ecobank Salary Accounts, he said.



He explained that the Ecobank Salary Account, around which the promotion is designed, is a special account that is opened solely for receiving salaries through Ecobank.



It targets workers from all income brackets but has many other special benefits, compared to what one usually gets in a salary account elsewhere.



One such benefit is the free life insurance cover of up to GHS10,000 that comes with it. There are many more reasons why workers should place a premium on this product, as would be discussed subsequently, he noted.



Dr Edward Botchway added that Ecobank had deployed many digital touchpoints to complement its branch network, bringing great convenience to customers.



He, however, said that Salary Account holders at Ecobank are not limited to specific locations and specific time limits within which to perform banking transactions as customers can transact freely anytime, anywhere all year round.



this promotion is open to all Ecobank Ghana customers who receive their salaries through their Current, Savings or the Ecobank Salary Account. To be eligible, one must simply ensure that there is, at least, one months salary payment credited to the account during the promotion period.



I pause here to urge you all to remember that the Ecobank Double Salary Promotion Reloaded is yet another opportunity for you to enjoy the numerous benefits of the Ecobank Salary Account and, more importantly, stand a chance to win multiples of your present monthly salary, he mentioned.



Dr Botchway assured that Ecobank is committed to providing customers with innovative financial solutions to meet their everyday banking needs and rewarding them for their loyalty.

Source: Peacefmonline.com









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

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Vice President Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia inspected the progress of work on the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) operational headquarters at Takoradi and expressed his satisfaction with the ongoing project.



This project was a key part of the ruling New Patriotic Partys (NPPs) campaign promise during the 2016 electioneering campaign.



The aim of this project is to make the Western Region the hub of the petrochemical industry in West Africa Sub-Region.



This project has been a long time coming and has been eagerly awaited by the people of the Western Region.



It is expected to create many job opportunities for the people in the area. The vice president also expressed his gratitude to the chiefs and people of the Western Region for their support of this project.



The GNPC operational headquarters will provide a state-of-the-art facility for its staff. It is expected to improve the efficiency of the operations and enhance Ghanas position in the global petrochemical industry.



This project is one of the many projects aimed at developing the Western Region.



Dr. Bawumia expressed his commitment to the development of the Western Region.



He believes that this project, along with others, will help to reduce poverty in the region and create opportunities for the people there.



The project is well underway, and the vice president is pleased with the progress. The completion of this project will surely be a boost for the region and will help to create more job opportunities for the people there.

Source: dailyguidenetwork.com









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

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Many Ghanaians have been complaining about mobile data charges by network operators in the country.



Mobile data in Ghana, to many people, is very expensive making it difficult for them to enjoy their internet connectivity.



When it comes to data charges in the country, one of the network providers known to be running expensive data bundles or packages is MTN.



With Ghanaians raising lots of concerns over the data charges, the Minister of Communications, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful appeared on Peace FM's "Kokrokoo" morning show today and host of the programme, Kwami Sefa Kayi, asked what the network providers are doing about the charges.



But according to the Minister, data in Ghana is far better as compared to other countries in Africa.



She argued that "we have one of the lowest data charges on the continent. So, it is not that bad at all".



Listen to her full submissions below:





Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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

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A Cultural Association based in Italy, Asanteman Italy, is poised to celebrate Akwasidae festival in a grand style on Sunday, June 11, 2023 in Padova.



This is not the first time Asanteman Italy is celebrating Akwasidae since it was formed five years ago, but June 11 offers a platform for conducive summer environment that can bring all its members in 11 associations together to pour libation and perform other rites connected to celebration of the festival.



Traditionally, Akwasidae is a festival on the Akan calendar which is celebrated every 40-42 days (6 weeks) mostly known as Adaduanan to remember the Akan ancestors.



Element of One Family



Dubbed: Akwasidae Kse, President of Asanteman Italy, King Oppong Akosa, in an interview explained that the festival has been on the annual programme of both the Executive Council and Traditional Council of the Asanteman Italy and has been approved by the Senate (Board of Directors) as part of efforts to promote and protect Asante culture as Asantes living in Italy.



He recalled that since the formation of Asanteman Italy, the association had made many donations to contribute to the development of Asanteman, back home in Ghana.



Example of some contributions made by Asanteman Italy, he mentioned is donation to the Amadies Foundation and renovation of the hostel of the same foundation at Fiankoma near Jacobu in the Amansie Central District of the Ashanti Region in 2021; indicating that this cost the association about 3000 euros.



He also did not forget that Asanteman Italy collaborated with Asanteman Europe to present some health equipment and COVID-19 preventive items to support four different health institutions in Ghana including KATH and Manhyia Hospital.



He disclosed that members of Asanteman Italy live peacefully with other Ghanaians with different cultural backgrounds and that he encouraged all members of Asanteman Italy to continue to maintain such posture as Ghana has diverse cultural identities and for that matter, he invited all traditional associations based in Italy to join the upcoming Akwasidae celebration.



Culture & Tradition to reduce teenage pregnancy



Asanteman Italy Hemaa, Nana Amonu Gyamfua Susubiribipa emphasised the need for Ghanaians living abroad to showcase their culture, as members of the Asanteman Italy had begun to sell Asante culture to the world.



She was confident that while the global population is on the rise, new generations, especially children born to Ghanaian parents in the diaspora need to learn and relearn the culture of their ancestors.



She observed that back home in Ghana, incidence of teenage pregnancy had been on the rise in recent years, attributing the cause to lack of proper exposure to the indigenous culture.



She, however, in her Sankfa Paradigm, recommended that studies on culture and tradition in Ghana be restructured in education curricula, calling on Queen Mothers to collaborate with Chiefs in traditional Ghana to help bring back puberty rites known in Asante culture as Bragor as a mechanism to help reduce the incidence of teenage pregnancy.



She called on anyone who appreciates Asante culture to join the association without delay to celebrate the upcoming Akwasidae which will be the 4th edition of the year 2023.



Asante Culture is not Idolatry



Asanteman Italy Hene, Nanasei Adwenpa Diasmpa Nyamekse, on his part, dealt with some public misunderstanding that Ghanaian indigenous cultures were of idolatry.



He explained that the word Idolatry was created and introduced by European colonisationists who misconstrued the culture and tradition of ancient Ghanaians in Africa and that new generations would need to clear their minds that following the culture of their ancestors is idolatry.



He used Akwasidae celebration as an example to buttress his point that, just like Awukudae festival for Akans, it is a special day of which the Abusuapanin of the extended family would meet all family members to settle disputes in the family and plan for the future.



He added that on this special day, while remembering the ancestors for their great works while they were alive, Nananom would also pour libation and perform other rites to link the living to the dead after which Nananom would plan for developmental projects and that there is nothing like idolatry but cultural and traditional.



Nanasei acknowledged Nananom in Asanteman Italy whose contributions could not be forgotten, especially, Okofo Asenso Ababio (Adwumakaaseksehene), Nana Nyarko Abornoma (Asante Akyem Patrensahemaa), Nana Agyako Ababio (Asante Oyokohene) and Nana Owusu Bempa (Beposo Sompahene).







Source: Joseph Kyei-Boateng/[email protected]









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

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The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) says it is confident its May 13, 2023, presidential and parliamentary primaries will hold despite a court injunction filed by a flagbearer hopeful.



In a statement dated Wednesday, May 10, 2023, the General Secretary of the party, Fifi Fiavi Kwetey assured members of the NDC that the party is doing everything possible to deal with the situation to pave way for Saturdays election.



The National Democratic Congress (NDC), further to a court action on the part of one of the presidential aspirants, wishes to assure presidential, parliamentary aspirants as well as members, supporters, and sympathizers, that the party is taking all legitimate and legal steps to pave way for the presidential and parliamentary primaries on Saturday, May 13, 2023.



We want to urge party members and the people of Ghana to remain calm as the Party, through its legal team, works to resolve the temporary challenge, the statement said.



Dr Kwabena Duffuor, a flagbearer hopeful on Tuesday, May 9, 2023, filed for an interlocutory injunction to prevent the NDC from going ahead with the planned election over some concerns.



In his writ, the flagbearer hopeful alluded to challenges in accessing the delegates list meant to be used for the election and some discrepancies in the album.



But the statement signed by the partys general secretary while assuring members to remain calm over the current situation emphasised that the leadership of the party has so far acted within the law.



While urging calm among our rank and file, we wish to assure that the party as at April 20th, 2023 had made available the full Delegates List to all presidential candidates in line with our commitment stated in our guidelines that, this Primary Document, would be furnished to all presidential candidates.



The party is therefore confident that, this temporary challenge will be quickly overcome to pave way for the holding of the primaries on schedule, the statement added.



Meanwhile, the Electoral Commission has served the NDC notice that it will not be able to supervise the conduct of the election unless the legal matter is settled.



According to the Chairperson of the EC, Jean Mensa, the decision by the Commission to pull out of the election is to prevent the EC from being cited by a court for contempt.







Source: ghanaweb.com









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A total of 106 candidates have been cleared to contest the NDC parliamentary primaries at various constituencies in the Ashanti region.



The party finished the vetting of all the parliamentary aspirants in the region on Tuesday 09, ahead of the conduct of the elections on May 13, 2023.



The vetting of candidates for the Fomena constituency was put on hold following a directive from the national office of the party.



Out of the total number of candidates cleared, seven are going unopposed.



They are Samuel Aboagye- Obuasi East, Joseph Azumah  Akrofouom, Samuel Prempeh Jnr  Bekwai and Kwasi Amankwaa  Kumawu.



The rest are Shamudeen Mohammed Kamil  Old Tafo, Hamzah Swallah  Manhyia North and Ebenezer Ekow Aidoo  Asante Akim Central.



Fifteen females are among the candidates contesting for the elections in the region.



The Ejura Sekyeredumase constituency has the highest number of five candidates contesting the elections.



Dr Frank Amoakohene, Ashanti Regional Secretary of the NDC told the Ghana News Agency that no aspirant was disqualified during the process.



He said the party was satisfied with the outcome of the vetting process and the quality of people who submitted themselves to contest the primaries in the various constituencies.



The atmosphere for the campaigns in the region had been relatively calm, except for the Asawase constituency where the supporters of the two main contenders, Alhaji Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka, the incumbent, and Mubarick Masawudu, have been trading derogatory utterances in their campaigns.





Source: GNA









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The National Democratic Congress (NDC) says it is confident the May 13 Presidential and Parliamentary pimaries will be held as scheduled.



In a statement signed by its General Secretary, Fifi Fivi Kwetey, "the National Democratic Congress (NDC), further to a court action on the part of one of the presidential aspirants, wishes to assure presidential, parliamentary aspirants as well as members, supporters, and sympathizers, that the party is taking all legitimate and legal steps to pave way for the presidential and parliamentary primaries on Saturday, May 13, 2023."



"While urging calm among our rank and file, we wish to assure that the party as at April 20th, 2023 had made available the full Delegates List to all presidential candidates in line with our commitment stated in our guidelines that, this Primary Document, would be furnished to all presidential candidates."



"The party is therefore confident that, this temporary challenge will be quickly overcome to pave way for the holding of the primaries on schedule," a part of the statement said.



Read below Full statement



NDC CONFIDENT THE MAY 13 PRESIDENTIAL AND PARLIAMENTARY PRIMARIES WILL BE HELD AS SCHEDULED



The National Democratic Congress (NDC), further to a court action on the part of one of the presidential aspirants, wishes to assure presidential, parliamentary aspirants as well as members, supporters, and sympathizers, that the party is taking all legitimate and legal steps to pave way for the presidential and parliamentary primaries on Saturday, May 13, 2023.



We want to urge party members and the people of Ghana to remain calm as the Party, through its legal team, works to resolve the temporary challenge.



It will be recalled that Dr. Kwabena Duffuor, one of the three presidential aspirants, on Tuesday filed a suit against the party seeking to injunct the primaries.



While urging calm among our rank and file, we wish to assure that the party as at April 20th, 2023 had made available the full Delegates List to all presidential candidates in line with our commitment stated in our guidelines that, this Primary Document, would be furnished to all presidential candidates.



The party is therefore confident that, this temporary challenge will be quickly overcome to pave way for the holding of the primaries on schedule.



It is our expectation that we shall all put the larger interest of our great party ahead of all considerations, knowing that the good people of Ghana are eagerly looking up to our party, come December 7, 2024, to rescue this nation from the current national collapse.



Thank you



General Secretary

Fifi Fivi Kwetey





Kwabena Duffuor's Case



NDC flagbearer aspirant, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor on Tuesday, May 9, filed an interlocutory injunction against the partys presidential and parliamentary primaries.



The suit by Dr. Duffuor is to bar the NDC and the Electoral Commission from holding the primaries pending the production of a complete photo album register.



The former Finance Minister also wants the party to deliver the complete register to him at least five weeks ahead of the election.



According to the plaintiff, data from only 220 out of the 275 constituencies have been verified. An exceptional list of 74,799 he adds has been created which cannot also be verified because of scanty information.



For no credible reason, 3,910 eligible voters at the 220 constituencies have been disenfranchised, Dr. Duffuors writ read in parts.



He further makes a point, the photo album put out by the electoral directorate of the NDC with the knowledge, consent, and tacit approval of the general secretary of the party would compromise the integrity of the election to his detriment.



The Plaintiff maintains that the reluctance to extend the time for the internal elections and provide a complete and credible photo album register ahead of time to the presidential aspirants for verification smacks of a plan to create an undue advantage for manipulation of the presidential primaries, the motion added.



Kwabena Duffuor had complained of some discrepancies in the partys voter register and called on the National Executive of the party to postpone the upcoming primaries, but the party stated that the primaries will proceed accordingly.

Source: Peacefmonline.com









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BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 12. The Turkish delegation headed by the rector of the National Defense University of the Republic of Turkiye, Professor Erhan Afyoncu visited Azerbaijans liberated territories and the Azerbaijan Army Units stationed here during the visit to Azerbaijan, Trend reports via the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan.

The guests were provided with detailed information about the consequences of vandalism and destruction committed by Armenian armed formations during the occupation, as well as about the restoration work done under the leadership of the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev. Then the delegation laid flowers at the memorial complex erected in memory of the martyrs and paid tribute to their memory.

The Turkish delegation, which visited the commando and other military units, got acquainted with the service-combat and social and living conditions created for servicemen. After getting acquainted with the combat equipment available in the armament of the Azerbaijan Army Units, the delegation watched the demonstrative performances of servicemen and combat training exercises at the training center.

The guests were presented with a briefing on the combat path of the military units, which successfully participated in the battles for the liberation of Azerbaijani territories and ensuring the countrys territorial integrity.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 12. Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, CEO of Masdar of the United Arab Emirates, has sent a letter to President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Great Leader Heydar Aliyev, Trend reports.

"On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the birth of your father, Heydar Aliyev, the national leader of the Azerbaijan people and founder of the independent state of Azerbaijan, please accept my best wishes on behalf of Masdar as you celebrate this momentous occasion.

Heydar Aliyev was a gifted statesman with a bold vision to shape a strong energy economy that contributes to the long-term prosperity of Azerbaijan. Today, that vision continues to thrive under Your Excellencys leadership.

Masdar is honored to be playing an important role in supporting that vision, and we deeply value our partnership with Azerbaijan as we continue to work together to develop world-class clean energy projects.

Once again, please accept my best wishes on the 100th anniversary of the birth of Heydar Aliyev and the Year of Aliyev," the letter said.
Burnt out trucks from a wildfire sit on a property near Drayton Valley, Alta., Wednesday, May 10, 2023. Indigenous Services Canada says wildfires are threatening nine First Nations in Alberta, including the Little Red River Cree Nation, where more than 100 structures have been lost in the community of Fox Creek. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson.
The Demographic Issues Review Council of Georgia, under the leadership of Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili, held a session at the government administration to discuss the main goals of demographic development.According to the press office of the Prime Minister, the council members discussed various initiatives aimed at improving the demographic situation, with a focus on developing and implementing new programs and improving existing ones. The session also covered topics such as employment promotion, migration, healthcare, social sphere, and education.After the council session, Tamar Gabunia, the Deputy Minister of IDPs from Occupied Territories, Labour, Health and Social Protection, stated that a package of initiatives will be prepared as soon as possible. This package will be presented for consideration at the next council session."The first session of the council was held today. The main trends, which are noted from the demographic point of view, as well as the initiatives that are already underway in the health, education and social direction were presented. We discussed the necessary improvements, international practices and the necessary changes that will contribute to the improvement of demographic trends in the future. An agreement was made to prepare a package as soon as possible, which will be presented for discussion at the next meeting", said Tamar Gabunia.Mark Clayton, the British Ambassador to Georgia, has characterized Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision to resume flights with Georgia and cancel the visa regime for Georgians as a 'provocative move'.The British Ambassador to Georgia, Mark Clayton, described Russia's decision to resume flights with Georgia and cancel the visa regime for Georgians as a "provocative step" aimed at increasing Georgia's dependence on Russia and potentially involving them in sanctions avoidance.According to the Ambassador, this move is also an attempt to divert attention from the main issue in the relationship between Russia and Georgia - the continued presence of the Russian army on Georgian territory in violation of international norms."With this provocative move, Russia is clearly trying to increase Georgia's dependence on it. In addition, the risk of Georgia getting involved in sanctions avoidance processes may increase. At the same time, this action is an attempt to divert attention from the main issue of relations between Russia and Georgia. The main issue remains the fact that the Russian army continues to illegally stay on the territory of Georgia in violation of international norms. The United Kingdom supports the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia and continues to support Georgia's joining Euro-Atlantic structures, since this is the wish of the population of Georgia and the declared task of all major political powers," Clayton said.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 12. On May 12, at 17:15 local time, the Armenian armed forces units in the Zod direction of the Basarkechar region using mortars subjected to fire the Azerbaijan Armys opposing positions.

The Azerbaijan Army Units are taking adequate retaliatory measures.

There are no losses among the military personnel and equipment of the Azerbaijan Army.
First version published at 17:45

BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 12. Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov and Russian Foreign Minister's special representative Igor Khovayev have discussed the process of normalization of Azerbaijani-Armenian relations on May 12, Trend reports with reference to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.

During the meeting, the topic of discussion was the process of normalization of Azerbaijani-Armenian relations, negotiations on a peace treaty, as well as the current situation in the region.

During the talks, Bayramov noted the position and priorities of Azerbaijan in the negotiations on the peace agreement, as well as future expectations. He also informed the interlocutor about Armenia's provocative steps undermining the peace process and negotiations.

In turn, Khovayev noted that ensuring peace and stability in the region is extremely important, and the Russian side is ready to provide any support in this direction.

During the meeting, the sides exchanged views on other issues of mutual interest.
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Trumps CNN town hall didnt deliver big ratings, but it did potentially get him a new defamation suit from E. Jean Carroll.

The New Times reported:

Ms. Carroll said on Thursday morning that she had been asleep as Mr. Trump talked about her on the town hall program. She said that her lawyer, Roberta A. Kaplan, had sent her the transcript of his comments, and that she had read only the first paragraph.

Its just stupid, its just disgusting, vile, foul, it wounds people, Ms. Carroll said in an interview with The New York Times, adding that she had been insulted by better people.



On Thursday, Ms. Kaplan said no decision had been made on whether a new defamation suit would be filed in light of Mr. Trumps latest comments.

Everythings on the table, obviously, and we have to give serious consideration to it, Ms. Kaplan said. We have to weigh the various pros and cons and well come to a decision in the next day or so, probably.

Trump did not deliver the big ratings that he promised. The former president was watched by roughly the same number of viewers that would tune in for an average episode of Tucker Carlsons show. There was nothing earth shaking in the ratings that would suggest that Trump is some sort of dominant force with a large audience who deserves free airtime on cable and broadcast networks.

CNN has taken a ton of heat for allowing Trump to run wild.

The only thing that Trump might get out of the town hall is sued again by E. Jean Carroll as the former president appears to have defamed her.

Trump and his team are happy about how things went, but it may end up that the only might be E. Jean Carrolls bank account if she again sues Trump for defamation.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 12. The Armenian Armed Forces have shelled the positions of the Azerbaijani army from artillery installations, Trend reports with reference to the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan.

On May 12, at about 18:00 (GMT+4), units of the Armenian forces from positions in the Zod direction of the Basarkechar district shelled the positions of the Azerbaijani army with D-30 howitzers and mortars.

According to the ministry, the units of the army are taking adequate retaliatory measures, and have no losses among the personnel and equipment.
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Things arent going well for Fox News, which just agreed to pay $787.5 million to settle a brand-undermining defamation case with Dominion Voting Systems only to be hit by another one on Wednesday, this one on behalf of Nina Jankowicz, who specializes in Russian disinformation.

The New York Times reported Jankowiczs suit, citing her claims that the network promoted lies about her that generated serious threats to her safety and harmed her career prospects.

Jankowicz was the executive director of a three weeks long Department of Homeland Security division called the Disinformation Governance Board, which was assigned with coordinating efforts to monitor and address disinformation threats to national security. Right-wing pundits and politicians falsely portrayed her group as part of an Orwellian bid to control the speech and thought of ordinary Americans.

In fact, her work did not try to control speech or thought like a, I dont know, Dont Say Gay law might or a book ban would.

Ironically or predictably, the DHS board on Russian disinformation became a victim of disinformation, as Jankowicz put it to NPR . She told NPR she had been barraged with abuse, harassment and death threats.

The usual suspects targeted and demonized her: In 300 mentions over eight months on Fox last year, she was repeatedly demeaned and defamed in highly personal language, the lawsuit asserts. Hosts including Tucker Carlson, Maria Bartiromo and Sean Hannity said her job was to silence anyone who criticizes the Biden administration and possibly even, as Mr. Carlson warned, get men with guns to tell you to shut up.'

None of that was true, of course. Hence the defamation, but they also said she was fired, and she actually quit due to their targeting of her.

Jankowicz is well known for her work focused on strengthening democratic institutions, so it tracks that Fox News treated Jankowicz as if she were on a hit list.

Their relentless lies about her culminated in finally causing her to quit due to harassment and threats against her, which caused an abrupt suspension of the boards activities  just as Fox and many Republican lawmakers who joined in the harassment wanted.

In yet another layer of right wing billionaire bingo, self-identified brainchild Elon Musk, who is an expert at taking other peoples ideas and making them worse but with better marketing, is bringing Tucker Carlsons show to Twitter, suggesting his goal is amplifying fascist leaning disinformation rather than making profits. Fired for defaming companies or people or being a creep? Twitter wants you! He, also, has worked to amplify Russian disinformation while casting aspersions on experts on Russian propaganda efforts. Its never enough for these guys apparently, and yes, our government is still paying Elon and funding his ventures with our tax dollars. Its almost as if our entire government wants to fail.

In August of 2022, DHS terminated the Disinformation Governance Board and rescinded its charter. In fact, the Biden administration reportedly allowed right-wing attacks to shut this operation down, in yet another bowing down to right wing attacks by a government ostensibly led by people who are not right wing.

It was operating for just weeks when it was paused after Jankowicz was the victim of coordinated online attacks as the administration struggled to respond, as Washington Post put it then.

Its not as if coordinated right wing attacks are a new thing. A year ago Republicans blocked a domestic terrorism PREVENTION bill dealing with hate crimes and gun reform. Yes, we must not prevent domestic terrorism. How then could they plot another and more successful attack on our government? Wont anyone think of the terrorists?

The Times pointed out that the division Fox News helped shut down with lies worked to monitor and defend against disinformation from foreign agents seeking to influence elections; cartels promoting human smuggling operations; and those seeking to undermine the governments public health and safety efforts.

Human smuggling, you know, like Republicans say they are against and accuse everyone else of doing. Foreign agents seeking to influence elections: Same. Undermining public health and safety efforts: Same. Same. Same.

The most pertinent question at this point is what exactly is it about a division meant to protect the U.S. from Russian disinformation that got Fox News hosts so frothy and rabid.
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In Texas, students pressured lawmakers to allow a vote on a bill to raise the age limit on semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21 with large protests at San Antonio City Hall.

They were joined by members of the San Antonio City Council, including Mayor Ron Nirenberg, according to Texas Public Radio news city hall reporter Joey Palacios.

The students are demanding HB 2477 be given a vote in the Texas House. The bill would raise age limits on semi-automatic rifle purchases from 18 to 21.

BREAKING: A large student driven protest against gun violence converged on San Antonio City Hall a few moments ago. The students are demanding HB 2477 be given a vote in the Texas House. The bill would raise age limits on semi-automatic rifle purchases from 18 to 21. pic.twitter.com/uUvymujklJ  Joey Palacios  Texas Public Radio (@Joeycules) May 11, 2023

The Raise the Age Act was introduced by State Rep. Tracy King of Uvalde and was passed out of the Texas House Select Committee on Community Safety several days ago. Heres the celebration after that achievement, which involved getting two Republicans to vote for it (essentially a miracle):

We SHOWED UP in Austin and demanded Texas do-nothing lawmakers do SOMETHING. They called an emergency meeting and PASSED a raise the age out of committee. Our work is not done, but there were tears from survivors  including Uvalde families  for this unprecedented vote. pic.twitter.com/vJ8pNAuY2K  Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) May 8, 2023

Republican gun policy is hard at work in Texas, where lawmakers have approved more than 100 bills loosening gun restrictions since 2000. Gun related deaths in the state are at a level not seen since the 1990s.

Last Saturday, a neo-Nazi white supremacist wearing a patch reading right-wing death squad used an AR-15-style rifle to kill eight people and wound seven others at an Allen, Texas mall. That mass shooting is in the tragic shadow of the Uvalde mass shooting one year ago, during which 19 children and 2 teachers were slaughtered.

Kat Vargas, a volunteer with the Texas chapter of Moms Demand Action, said in a statement, We seem to be in an endless cycle of gun violence taking the lives of our children and neighbors while our lawmakers do absolutely nothing to prevent it. We do not and should not have to live this way.

Republican Governor Greg Abbott is clinging to the Republican talking point about the second amendment being sacred and pivoting to mental health as the issue, which of course makes no sense since every country has mental health challenges, but not relentless mass shootings and gun violence as we do.

Its the guns. Its also gun culture, as recent studies have shown that looser gun laws correlate with higher levels of crime and violence, even when that violence doesnt involve a gun. That fact, in and of itself, condemns the reckless gun culture nurtured into a sickness in this country.

Many critics of Abbott accused him of being a hypocrite, saying he cut mental health services in Texas after he redirected mental health money to fund Operation Lone Star, which WFAA describes as an expensive border mission meant to slow illegal immigration.

However, they note that Texas immediately replenished the funds by shifting federal coronavirus aid to the agency. So its not accurate to accuse Abbott of cutting these funds.

If youre side-eyeing self-styled cowboy Texas-can-do-it-alone Abbott for using federal aid to repay money he took to fund what will no doubt be a cruel and useless show mission at the border, fair enough. But he did use fed money to fill in the money he used for his show.

The biggest critique of Texas Republicans would be their continued opposition to expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, Rice University political scientist Mark P. Jones told WFAA, which pointed out that more than 1 million people in Texas would gain access to mental health help with the expansion of Medicaid (an Obamacare program).

So, thats a lot of talk from Republicans in Texas about mental health, while they hold out as one of the few states left that refuses to expand Medicaid.

One year ago, a San Antonio Police spokesperson expressed concern about an upward trend in gun violence after second double homicide in one week, but said it was hard to determine if constitutional carry was the root cause.

Constitutional carry, which had become law less than a year prior to the upward trend in gun violence, is a very misleading label for what is actually reckless endangerment of the public. The law allows people who can legally own a gun to carry firearms without a license or training. It is actually weaponized Unlicensed Carry.

Even the most staunch Republican NRA members Ive interviewed in real life acknowledge the need for training on a weapon like a gun. Unlicensed carry is a license to kill. The military trains relentlessly to use weapons that Republicans insist 18 year olds should have, sans any training. This is a patently pro-death stance.

What this did was allow people without background checks, without training being allowed to carry firearms, Louis Wichers, vice chair on the board of Texas Gun Sense, told KENS5.

Gun laws have far-reaching impact, as evidenced by new research from the University of Michigan: (S)tates that prevent domestic violence offenders from having guns reduce the total number of intimate partner homicides, not just homicides with guns.

When all seems lost in the morass of corruption thats overtaken U.S. politics and threatens global democracy, young people continue to provide hope that change is still possible.

Showing up to demand change is the first step, without which nothing will happen. Young people who have grown up in the age of school shootings are too familiar with the consequences of the U.S.s grotesquely obscene lack of gun laws.
Aiken, SC (29801)

Today

Partly cloudy this evening followed by increasing clouds with showers developing after midnight. Low 67F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening followed by increasing clouds with showers developing after midnight. Low 67F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
The Aiken City Council could soon take steps to prevent Silver Bluff Road from becoming another Whiskey Road.

The Aiken Planning Commission voted 6-0 Tuesday, May 9, to recommend the Aiken City Council approve an overlay district for Silver Bluff Road from its terminus at Whiskey Road to the end of the area served by the city's utilities near Beaver Creek subdivision.

Jason Rabun made the motion to approve the ordinance. Sam Erb seconded his motion.

What is an overlay district?

The Municipal Association of South Carolina defines an overlay district as an area where a governing body has established additional standards in addition to those standards established by the underlying zoning of a parcel.

The city of Aiken has three overlay districts: the Historic Preservation District, the Old Aiken Overlay District and the Whiskey Road Overlay District.

The Silver Bluff Road Overlay District is based upon the Whiskey Road Overlay District.

Where would the Silver Bluff Overlay District be located?

The area to be included in the Silver Bluff Overlay District is 500 feet on either side of the road's right of way from Whiskey Road until the end of the area served by the city's water and sewer utilities which is currently located near the Beaver Creek subdivision.

Wait a minute: parts of Silver Bluff Road, particularly south of the Village at Woodside, aren't in the city. How can the city regulate development in the county?

The city of Aiken's utility district, the area served by the city's water and sewer lines, extends further than the limits of the city and the city has established additional requirements for property owners looking to connect to the city's water and sewer lines.

Those requirements include agreeing to annex into the city should the property become contiguous  touching city boundaries  with the city limits. Also, there are buffering requirements outlined in the city's zoning code. Mostly these buffering requirements are for commercial or industrial developments.

My property is (partially) located within the overlay district. What does this mean for me?

The short answer: absolutely nothing.

A longer answer: as long as the use of the property doesn't change, the overlay district will mean very little to a current property owner. However, if the use of the property changes  say the new owner wants to turn a residence into a Home Depot  the new owner would have to comply with the overlay district requirements in order to receive city services.

Doesn't this mean the city is trying to annex my property? I moved to Silver Bluff Road to live in a rural area and I don't want to be a part of the city.

No. If a property within the overlay district is not currently within the city, there is nothing in the overlay district ordinance that requires a property owner to annex into the city.

In fact, according to South Carolina law, there are only three ways for a city annex properties: petition of the owner, a petition signed by owners of 75% of the value of the land to be annexed or a petition signed by 25% of the owners of the value of the land to be annexed and an election for the property owners to be annexed.

None of the three cases apply here.

What additional requirements does the overlay district impose?

The additional standards for the overlay district include that each parcel within the overlay district must be rezoned planned residential, planned commercial or planned institutional if and when the use of that parcel changes.

Hold on one second. Does this mean I have to get my property rezoned or that my property will be rezoned?

No. The only way a property would be rezoned under the Silver Bluff Overlay District is if the property was sold and the new owner wanted to change the use of the property and receive city services.

Continue with the additional requirements imposed by the ordinance.

The three zoning districts allowed require the submission of a concept plan and the approval of that plan by the city council after a recommendation is made by the Planning Commission.

The overlay district ordinance also divides Silver Bluff Road into four sections: Whiskey Road to Pine Log/Hitchcock Parkway, Pine Log/Hitchcock Parkway to Town Creek Road, Town Creek Road to the Village at Woodside/Richardsons Lake Road and the Village at Woodside/Richardsons Lake Road to Beaver Creek. And it establishes additional requirements for each section if and when the use of a parcel within the overlay district changes.

In the Whiskey Road to Pine Log/Hitchcock Parkway section, the ordinance would require a minimum of a 10-foot evergreen buffer to be planted at the rear of any development and recommends consideration of cross access easements and stubouts in the final concept plan.

In the Pine Log/Hitchcock Parkway to Town Creek Road section, the ordinance recommends consideration of cross access easements and stubouts in order to reduce the number of curb cuts on Silver Bluff Road.

In the Town Creek Road to the Village at Woodside/Richardsons Lake Road section, the ordinance says architectural features should be residential in character, parking should be in the rear and a minimum of a 10-foot evergreen buffer to be planted at the rear of any development. The ordinance also recommends consideration of cross access easements and stubouts in order to reduce the number of curb cuts on Silver Bluff Road.

In the remaining section, the ordinance would require any commercial development to be constructed within a mixed-use development similar to the Village at Woodside and primarily serve the residents of that development.

An amendment to the ordinance added during the meeting Tuesday adds that any new development coming to the east side of Silver Bluff Road between the Village and Adams Road should be residential in nature with 5-acre lot minimums.

Steven Simmons made the motion to amend. Pete Messina seconded his motion.

Why does the Planning Commission want to establish an overlay district for Silver Bluff Road anyway?

Chairman Ryan Reynolds said Tuesday evening the Planning Commission had asked the city council to request the Planning Commission to develop the overlay district to prevent Silver Bluff Road from turning into another Whiskey Road.

Two recent development projects spurred the Planning Commission to make the request: a Tidal Wave Auto Spa being constructed on the southwest corner of the Silver Bluff Road/Hitchcock Parkway/Pine Log Road intersection and the Your Storage Units building next to Floyd and Green Jewelers.

Multiple members of the Planning Commission have said during worksessions that the storage unit building is too close to the road and that more buffering is needed between the building and the road.

But without the additional requirements of the overlay district, the Planning Commission had no ability to tell the developers of these projects what they could or could not do with the property as long as the requested zoning change was appropriate.

What happens next with the ordinance?

The Aiken City Council is expected to consider the ordinance establishing the overlay district at future meetings. The next city council meeting is scheduled for May 22 but it is unknown if the ordinance will be on that meeting agenda.
Shocked and surprised were some of the words used by Cherell Butler to described how she felt after hearing the announcement that she was being honored as the 2023 Woman of the Year on Thursday during An Evening of Glitz and Glamour.

Im like, Who are they talking about? It cant be me, said Butler, who is the owner and director of Complete Care Counseling LLC.

This is unbelievable, she added after receiving her award from the 2022 Women of the Year, Stephanie Franklin and Keyatta Priester.

Carmen Landy, the emcee for this years event, described Butler as a woman who has gone above and beyond for her community for years.

Her servants heart is evident in the way she chooses to live her life, Landy continued. From her career to her volunteer efforts, she makes it a point to lift others up.  She spent many years working in the school system helping young children build a foundation for successful learning.

In addition, Landy said Butler has been and still is a mentor to other women through her involvement with her sorority and her church. And through Complete Care Counseling, Butler spends her days helping others develop healthy methods for dealing with the stress of life, Landy told the audience.

Butler is a founding member of Women United, which along with the Young Philanthropists Society, organized An Evening of Glitz and Glamour.

Landy said Butler has been a huge part of Women Uniteds success and the positive impact it has had on the lives of women and children in our community.

An emotional Butler accepted the Woman of the Year honor with tears in her eyes.

Im just grateful, she said. Its not that I do things to get awards. I do things because I want to serve people. I took over a big challenge by taking over the ownership of a counseling service, but its all about helping people.

And all I can say is to just thank God for using me as a servant and allowing me to serve other people who have mental challenges, she concluded. Its about helping. Its about serving other people in need. All of these agencies here, most of them are agencies I work with or I volunteer in some way or some fashion.

An Evening of Glitz and Glamour was held at Newberry Hall in Aiken.

Also during the event, grants worth a total of $24,250 were awarded.

The Matthews Foundation received a $1,000 gift presented by the Young Philanthropists Society. The money will be used to provide homeless school children with clothing, toys or other gifts, and hygiene bags during Christmas break.

Mental Health America of Aiken County/Nurture Home received the $4,500 Harriet Jackson Memorial Grant. It will be used to match a gift from the Aiken Safe Communities Initiative to fund a creative arts program for middle and high school students.

Area Churches Together Serving received $5,000 to provide rental assistance for female clients with children under 18 years of age.

The Child Advocacy Center of Aiken County received $2,000 to purchase a refrigerator to store food pantry items and $2,500 to stock its pantry with food and hygiene products.

Helping Hands received $6,750 to expand its job readiness program so that 15 additional young people from families with low incomes can receive training and participate in a subsidized work experience.

The Salvation Army of Aiken received $2,500 to purchase new linens and pillows for the female dorm and four family rooms at its homeless shelter.

Dr. Deidre Martin was An Evening of Glitz and Glamours keynote speaker. She retired as USC Aikens vice chancellor of university advancement in 2015. She currently is the chief advancement officer at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton, Georgia.

Women United and the Young Philanthropists Society both are affiliated with the United Way of Aiken County.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 12. On May 11 and 12, the Armenian armed forces units in the Basarkechar region used attack UAVs from various directions against several Azerbaijan Army positions in Kalbajar region, the Defense Ministry's press service told Trend.

Air targets were detected by Azerbaijan Army Units in time and neutralized before reaching the target as a result of the use of radio-electronic countermeasures.

The presented photo materials show the remains of attack UAVs.
COLUMBIA  For the first time in more than two decades, South Carolina legislators are relying on the governor to call them back to the Statehouse to complete their work.

The regular session ended at 5 p.m. May 11, as required by state law. But legislators know they're returning for several more weeks.

Instead of the normal cheers in the House and Senate celebrating the official close, the chambers were nearly empty when the clock struck 5 o'clock. Both adjourned like it was any other Thursday.

Typically, "people are running around and trying to get things done because everybody turns into a pumpkin at 5 o'clock," Sen. Tom Davis, R-Beaufort, told reporters in the lobby. But there's no urgency when "we already know the governor's going to call us back."

As Davis spoke, Gov. Henry McMaster's office made it official, sending out notice of his May 12 news conference to call a special session.

Top of the priority list is a state budget for the fiscal year starting July 1, the only thing that must get done.

A six-member committee of senators and House members will attempt next week to reach a compromise on the chambers' separate $13 billion spending plans. Differences include hundreds of millions of dollars for local projects requested by legislators.

Debate will also continue on measures banning most abortions, allowing adults to carry handguns without a permit and reforming what law enforcement criticizes as the state's catch-and-release bond system for violent criminals.

Special sessions are normal. What's unusual is the Legislature letting the regular session end without a temporary law limiting when they return and what work can continue before the state constitution requires them to resume in January.

The last time that happened was in 2001, when Democratic Gov. Jim Hodges called them back. Legislators ended up working through September to finish the budget and redraw district lines following the 2020 census.

This time, House Speaker Murrell Smith told his colleagues he has no intentions of keeping them in Columbia beyond June 1.

"We have in essence been in session year-round for three years since COVID, and its time for us to go home and remember were part-time legislators and tend to our business and our families at home," the Sumter Republican, in his first year as speaker, announced from the podium May 10.

Once the budget's finalized, he said, "It is not my intention to bring us back unless its an absolute emergency."

While it's up to McMaster to bring legislators back, only House and Senate leaders control what they debate and when they're done.

First on the House's agenda is a bill banning abortions at roughly six weeks with limited exceptions, which advanced from the Judiciary Committee earlier this week. The chamber's GOP leaders had refused for months to take up the Senate's "fetal heartbeat" bill but changed their tune after another debate in the Senate made abundantly clear a ban from conception had no chance of becoming law this session.

Debate on the House floor will launch May 16 and last as long as it takes to vote on the bill, Smith said, warning his colleagues they may need to bring their own breakfast, lunch and dinner for days. The chamber will not recess once it starts, he said.

His comments came after the House's eight Democratic women marched into the chamber, each carrying a cardboard banker's box full of amendments ready for a prolonged debate. According to Democrats, they collectively held more than 1,000 proposed changes.

"At this point, we are taking every opportunity to make sure that the people of South Carolina understand that we are fighting to protect their freedoms and their rights," said Rep. Spencer Wetmore, D-Folly Beach.

In preparation, the GOP-dominated House voted May 11 for cloture  ending the ability for any more amendments and limiting discussion of those already submitted. Regardless, the existing pile could keep them busy for more than 50 hours.

"Since we're going to be here overnight, I'm going to get some matching pajamas," Rep. Jermaine Johnson, D-Columbia, jokingly told several Republicans at the back of the chamber.

Senators expect to return May 23 to deal with whatever the House sends them on abortion.

If it's fundamentally the same restrictions and exceptions the Senate passed in February, the bill stands a good chance of becoming law, said Davis, who has consistently opposed a ban at conception.

Instead of filibustering, as he did last fall to block the House bill, Davis said he would vote to send a six-week ban to McMaster, depending on the details of any House amendments.

Legislators expect to send McMaster their budget compromise by May 24, come back the following week to handle any of his line-item vetoes, then adjourn for the year. Bills that don't become law before they go home for good stay in play for 2024 at whatever point in the process legislators left them.

Bills that did get wrapped up in the regular session's closing hours include a measure splitting up the Department of Health and Environmental Control into two separate agencies  one for public health and the other for environmental regulation. Legislators' calls for separating the massive agency's functions ramped up amid public anger over its COVID-19 response.

Davis, who led Senate negotiations for the final compromise, noted that while it was a yearslong effort, the issue was not partisan. Votes in both chambers were unanimous throughout the process this year.

The split won't happen right away. The separation will occur in July 2024, allowing time for a study on the state's various health agencies and how to merge their duties.

"Good, effective delivery of public health services isn't a Republican issue. It's not a Democratic issue. It's not a conservative or liberal issue," he said. "Everybody wants to deliver public health services to South Carolinians in the most efficient way possible at the lowest cost."

Alexander Thompson contributed to this report.
Moncks Corner, SC (29461)

Today

Mostly cloudy skies this evening. A few showers developing late. Low near 65F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 30%..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy skies this evening. A few showers developing late. Low near 65F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 30%.
COLUMBIA  The circuit court judge who signed the secret order releasing convicted killer Jeroid Price signed off on several other sentence reduction orders just before his retirement in late-December 2022.

In a quiet, in-chambers deal with a solicitor and defense attorney, Fifth Judicial Circuit Court Judge Casey Manning signed off on an order releasing Price from prison some 16 years early. The S.C. Supreme Court has since voided the order and law enforcement are searching for Price.

The order was signed off on Dec. 30, just one day before Manning retired and his last working day on the bench. But recently released records show he signed off on half a dozen similar orders during his last weeks as a judge.

Manning signed six other sentence reduction orders from Dec. 20 to 28, according to records compiled by the S.C. Department of Corrections following a request from Gov. Henry McMaster. The judge also signed off on another sentence reduction order in March 2022.

The governor called for the review after learning about the quiet deal that reduced Price's 35-year sentence. No formal hearing took place and no input was sought from the investigators and prosecutor who put Price behind bars or from the parents of Carl Smalls Jr., the 22-year-old whom Price fatally shot in 2002.

Criminal defense attorney Todd Rutherford had bargained the deal for Price with the judge and Fifth Judicial Solicitor Byron Gipson, saying Price provided substantial assistance to law enforcement and corrections officials by alerting them about an inmate who escaped.

The order was sealed and kept quiet. Price was released in March and was free for a month before word spread of his release, raising questions and criticism from prosecutors, sheriffs and lawmakers. S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson asked the state's high court to unseal the order for his review, and subsequently asked for bench warrant to put Price back behind bars.

At the request of the governor, the Department of Corrections released 27 sentence reduction orders, including eight from Manning, signed between Jan. 2022 until mid-April 2023. Most make no mention of outreach to the victims, which was also one of the concerns raised in the Price case.
Columbia, SC (29201)

Today

Partly cloudy early followed by cloudy skies overnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 67F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy early followed by cloudy skies overnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 67F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph.
Vivian Howard, the celebrity chef and owner of Charlestons Lenoir and Handy + Hot, didnt dream of cooking when she was growing up.

She wanted to be a food writer.

Howard has since accomplished both, penning cookbooks Deep Run Roots and This Will Make It Taste Good. A big supporter of cookbook authors, Howard's website lists several of her must-haves. Lenoir honors cookbooks, too, with titles from all over the South dotting the bar.

That setting is the backdrop for Howards monthly book club that kicks off May 21. The event returns after launching last year and taking part in the 2023 Charleston Wine + Food Festival, when Howard invited Emily Meggett to talk about her New York Times-bestselling cookbook, Gullah Geechee Home Cooking: Recipes from the Matriarch of Edisto Island.

This year from May through October, Howard will welcome James Beard Award-winning chef Steven Satterfield, North Carolina pitmaster Ed Mitchell and "Dopesick" author Beth Macy, among others.

Everything from food waste to vegetable cookery, smoked meat and the opioid epidemic will be topics of discussion at Vivs Book Club.

Its been a really profound and wonderful thing, Howard told The Post and Courier. Food with a story tastes better. We love eating in peoples restaurants and watching people cook on TV, but having that intimate experience with that person that has written that cookbook or crafted that style of cuisine can really make you appreciate whats on your plate more.

A collaboration with Buxton Books, Viv's Book Club events run from 2-4 p.m. The $75 ticket price includes drinks and bites that reflect the author or their book. Copies of the book and others written by the author will be available for purchase.

On May 21, Howard will welcome Margaret and Irene Li, sisters who wrote "Perfectly Good Food: A Totally Achievable Zero Waste Approach to Home Cooking." The sisters and their brother Andy Li founded Mei Mei Dumplings, a Boston food truck that became a well-known restaurant before transitioning to a dumpling factory.

June 10 will feature Satterfield, co-owner of Miller Union in Atlanta and author of a new cookbook titled "Vegetable Revelations: Inspiration for Produce-Forward Cooking."

For more information, visit dineatlenoir.com.
GREENVILLE  A man is suing Greenville police officers and the department, alleging the officers rammed their vehicle into him, causing him to be put on life support for several weeks.

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Calvin Miller, claims the Greenville Police Department and officers Sergio Rodriguez and Russell Walcott used excessive force against him when they were investigating him for possession of stolen goods.

However, police spokesman Sgt. Jonathan Bragg told The Post and Courier on May 11 that Miller was fleeing the officers. Bragg said he couldn't comment further on the pending litigation but confirmed the department had received the lawsuit.

The officers jerked Miller out of his vehicle during the August 2022 interaction, taking his foot off the brake, Miller alleges in the suit filed in Greenville County court.

The vehicle was in reverse and rolled backward, knocking the officers over and striking their vehicle, the suit alleges.

Miller stepped out of the vehicle with his hands in the air, according to the suit, and the officers rammed their vehicle into Miller, pinning him between both vehicles.

The police offer a different account.

Walcott, one of the officers involved, later signed an arrest warrant charging Miller with attempted murder  a charge that can carry a prison sentence up to 30 years.

According to the warrant, Walcott said Miller instructed Rodriguez to go to the back of Millers vehicle to see if the trunk was open. Then, Miller put his vehicle in reverse and struck Rodriguez, knocking him over.

Rodriguez sustained bruises and scrapes, the Police Department said.

Both Walcott and Rodriguez are still employed, and no disciplinary action was taken against them, Bragg said. Per department policy, the officers supervisors reviewed the incident because of the damage to the patrol vehicle and injuries to Rodriguez and Miller.

But there was no internal affairs investigation for use of force because, Bragg said, the officers didnt utilize force."

Miller is seeking $5 million in damages.
Kingstree, SC (29556)

Today

Mostly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 63F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph..

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Disbarred Hampton attorney Alex Murdaugh, found guilty of murdering his wife and son, will not be able to use any more of his court-controlled assets to pay for an appeal of the verdicts, a judge ruled May 12.

Circuit Judge Daniel Hall denied Murdaughs request to get access to another $160,000 to pay his lawyers as they seek to overturn the March convictions that saw him sentenced to life in prison.

The judge previously allowed him to use $600,000 from his 401(k) retirement account to fund his defense on a raft of criminal charges, including murder.

But shortly after a Colleton County jury found him guilty of killing his wife Maggie and son, Paul, in June 2021, Murdaughs attorneys said those funds didnt survive the six-week trial. Their expenses totaled almost $519,000, they said, and the remainder was grossly insufficient to cover four attorneys fees at trial.

Murdaughs attorneys also argued that mounting an appeal would raise new costs, like ordering an official transcript of the proceedings. That alone cost more than $26,000. Meanwhile, Murdaugh, 54, faces more than 100 additional charges related to alleged financial crimes as state prosecutors have accused him of stealing more than $8.7 million from his clients, law partners and others.

Those alleged thefts are a significant reason Murdaugh doesnt control his assets. Hall appointed receivers to safeguard his funds after an attorney suing Murdaugh in an unrelated case argued he couldnt be trusted not to hide assets given his extraordinary pattern and practice of deceit and fraud.

Murdaugh defense attorneys Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin did not respond to a request for comment on the order and whether they will continue to represent Murdaugh. Their motion requesting more money invoked the possibility of handing his case to a public defender; if it is denied, they wrote, his appeal would fall upon the overworked attorneys and staff at the Division of Appellate Defense.

The court-appointed receivers who control Murdaughs assets opposed his request to take out more money, arguing that he only got the first $600,000 because he agreed to hand over control of the rest of his retirement funds.

Murdaugh remains behind bars in an undisclosed South Carolina prison as he seeks to overturn his convictions in the killings at his family's hunting estate. Maggie Murdaugh, 52, and their 22-year-old son Paul were fatally shot with a pair of guns. Murdaugh, the scion of a wealthy and powerful family in the state's southern corner, has insisted he had nothing to do with their deaths. A jury didn't buy his alibi and found him guilty of both murders.
Charleston Countys clearinghouse for criminal justice has published its annual report, offering a glimpse of how the local courts and jail rebounded from the coronavirus pandemic.

The global health crisis, which descended on the Lowcountry in March 2020, prompted the release of people jailed in the county detention center and shuttered courtrooms, exacerbating a stubborn case backlog in criminal courts.

A 75-page report released May 10 by the Charleston County Criminal Justice Coordinating Council found the countys average daily jail population increased by roughly 15 percent in 2022, still falling short of pre-pandemic levels.

Meanwhile, cases continued to crawl through the court system. The typical case in General Sessions Court lasted 625 days  more than 1 years  marking a 51 percent increase from 2014 and a 5 percent increase from 2021.

CJCC Director Ellen Steinberg called the post-pandemic criminal justice system "a completely new frontier."

People call it a reset or return to normal," she said. "Where we were before COVID is not where we are today."

Steinberg assumed the helm of the CJCC last summer after serving stints as a local public defender, solicitor and magistrate. She succeeded Kristy Danford, who founded the reform group in 2015 and helped secure nearly $7 million in funding from the MacArthur Foundation, which finances efforts throughout the country to reduce mass incarceration. The CJCC partners with local law enforcement, court officials and community organizations to implement data-driven reforms that improve public safety and community well-being.

Since the CJCC's founding, Charleston County has seen a sustained decrease in its jail population. The number of people booked since 2014 into the Sheriff Al Cannon Detention Center has decreased 60 percent from roughly 19,000 people that year to 7,800 people in 2022. The average daily number of defendants jailed on local charges also declined in that period from 1,189 people to 791 people.

Nearly everyone lodged in the Charleston County jail, which is the largest jail in the state, is awaiting trial and considered innocent.

The decline in bookings is thanks in part to efforts by CJCC and its policing partners to divert people from jail who are booked with lower-level charges that disproportionately impact people of color.

Simple possession of marijuana led jail bookings in 2014. Last year, in contrast, marijuana possession dropped to the 13th most booked charge. Firearm possession violations were the most frequently booked charge for the second consecutive year, followed by driving under the influence and trespassing charges, respectively.

For the first time since 2017, slightly more cases  5 percent  were disposed in the 9th Circuit's General Sessions Court than filed  a modest chop at the backlog. Still, more than 14,000 cases remain pending.

South Carolinas criminal courts have been clogged with cases for years amid a tug of war over which court officials control the court calendar. The backlog has its roots in a 2012 S.C. Supreme Court decision that found solicitors' control of the docket was unconstitutional. The decision vested control of the schedule to the courts, but no statewide docket management system has yet to take over.

The longer defendants wait in line for their day in court, the greater the chance they miss a hearing, face rearrest or languish in jail before trial. Victims and witnesses, likewise, may lose touch with the court system or experience loss of memory.

Steinberg said there are no quick fixes to reducing the backlog, which is the upshot of years of inertia.

The 9th Circuit Solicitor's Office continues to dismiss cases to try to free up courtrooms. Prosecutors tossed out nearly 2,600 cases in 2022 and dismissed another 1,500 cases that were already indicted.

"We are continuing to focus on serious, violent cases and develop ways to divert less serious cases that do not have a significant impact on the community," 9th Circuit Solicitor Scarlett Wilson said.

Still, the solicitor said she remains concerned that pending cases are "getting older and older."

Also in 2022, the CJCC gathered further data on pretrial releases  a political lightning rod debated this past legislative session. The state Senate passed a bond reform bill last month that would make it more difficult for defendants repeatedly charged with violent crimes or felonies involving firearms from getting out of jail pretrial. Leaders in law enforcement have long bemoaned a catch-and-release bond system for repeat offenders.

Charleston County is the only county in the state that provides magistrates who preside over bond hearings with pretrial service reports. The reports categorize a defendant's risk of rearrest and failure to appear using information including the defendant's criminal history, probation or parole status and previous failures to comply with bond.

The tool has proved effective at predicting defendants' risk level. More than 91 percent of all defendants in Charleston County were released pretrial, according to the report. Twenty-two percent of defendants released pretrial whom the CJCC identified as level one  the lowest risk  got into trouble while out on bail, while 60 percent of defendants identified as level four  the highest risk violated their bail conditions.

The report found that within each risk level, defendants released on a financial bond violated the terms of their bail at a higher rate than those released on their own recognizance.

"Notably, rates of success on pretrial release decrease as risk level increases," according to the report. "Further, releases on financial bonds consistently have worse outcomes."

Data on pretrial release success rates does not exist at the state level, despite the flurry of legislative activity on bail reform.

"We don't want to make decisions based on anecdotes," Steinberg said. "The numbers are real people."
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 12. On May 11, 2023, the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the OSCE, at a meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council, issued a statement regarding the provocations and aggression of Armenia aimed at disrupting the negotiation process on a peace treaty, Trend reports.

The statement said that on May 10-11 this year, another military provocation was committed by Armenia, as a result of which one soldier of the Azerbaijani army was killed, and another soldier was seriously injured.

It was noted that this deliberate provocation by Armenia, carried out immediately after the meeting in Washington, indicates that Armenia is not interested in advancing the peace agenda.

It was noted that recent events in Armenia, in particular the so-called "trial" of Azerbaijani soldiers, the erection of a monument dedicated to the Nemesis terrorist operation, demonstrate the growing tendencies of revashism that threaten peace and security in the region.

The statement also said that Azerbaijan, which is the initiator of the normalization process and is currently carrying out large-scale restoration work in the territories liberated from occupation, is not interested in tension and has taken all necessary measures to prevent provocation.

It was emphasized that such provocations by Armenia should be condemned by the international community, and the importance of intensifying international efforts to encourage this country to adhere to the peace agenda was stressed.
In 1968, the year the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Tennessee, Christine Jackson was involved in a legal struggle to end the segregation of Charleston's YWCA.

Jackson, who would go on to serve as executive director of the YWCA Greater Charleston for 37 years, prevailed.

The Lowcountry civil rights leader, also the first cousin of King's wife Coretta Scott King, successfully fought to get Charleston's YWCA recognized as an official affiliate of the national group after the city's White YWCA branch refused to integrate.

"Mrs. Jackson not only fought, she won," said current YWCA Executive Director LaVanda Brown, who pointed out the longstanding difficulty of leading a Southern organization whose explicit purpose is challenging inequitable systems.

Jackson played a formidable role in helping to create a more equitable city. Now, the downtown Charleston streets outside of the old YWCA building, where Jackson inspired generations of young girls, bears her name in an attempt to bring attention to her legacy and inspire others to engage in the struggle for justice.

Mayor John Tecklenburg and dozens of elected officials, faith and community leaders unveiled the newly dubbed "Christine O. Jackson Way" signs on May 12 at the corner of Duncan and Coming streets.

Here, the matriarch oversaw a range of programs that included ballet courses, public speaking, home economics, and arts and crafts. She was never shy about asking volunteers to support with their time and money, helping the local nonprofit fulfill its mission of eliminating racism and empowering women.

"We come here to this landmark today to honor this celebrated proponent of women's and civil rights," Tecklenburg said.

Also in attendance was Anthony McAlister, who purchased the 106 Coming St. site from the YWCA a few years back. The land was sold in 2014 for $8.2 million.

"When we finally get around to redeveloping the property, he wants to work with (the family) and have a permanent recognition of the history of this site and the YWCA," Tecklenburg said.

Jackson, 94, is getting older and her health prevents her from going out as much. But she attended the ceremony with her daughter, granddaughter, and other relatives and friends.

Wearing a pink suit with a butterfly broach, she thanked those in attendance for their recognition of her life's work. Jackson challenged everyone to continue volunteering for the betterment of the community.

"It's my honor, joy and pleasure to serve so many of you," she said.

Jackson received a national award, too.

Kim Long, executive director of the Lowcountry Rice Culture Project, said the organization serves as a certifying agency for the granting of The President's Volunteer Service Award.

Long, who presented Jackson with the President's Lifetime Achievement Award on behalf of President Joe Biden, read a letter signed by the nation's leader.

"The American story has been strengthened by those like you who have combined an optimism about what could be done with resilience to turn that vision into a reality," Long said.

Christine and her husband, the Rev. E.L. Jackson, moved to South Carolina in 1963 from Alabama after the minister was fired from his job for marching with the Rev. King in a protest. The couple remained close with the King family during the civil rights movement.

When King visited Charleston on July 30, 1967, at the county hall building to speak before nearly 3,000 guests  his final visit before he was killed the following year  Jackson sat on the stage with the minister.

After King's death, Jackson started the annual MLK Celebration in the city that would go on to become South Carolina's largest event dedicated to honoring the slain activist. The multi-day program includes a renown breakfast, ecumenical service, parade and other events.

The Rev. Byron Benton pastors North Charleston's Mount Moriah Missionary Baptist, where the Jacksons once served as pastor and first lady.

At the ceremony, Benton called Christine Jackson a "living legend" upon whose shoulders many stand. Benton offered the closing prayer, asking that "this sign would be more than a name that people pass by, but that people would know the legacy that it means and aspire to live it out."

"Everything she has done has not been for herself," Benton said. "It's been for others."
Three organizations that long have looked to partner on a shared location for providing mental and behavioral health services in North Augusta made a renewed pitch to city officials May 8, this time with the idea that their co-location could be the courts and records building of the citys existing Public Safety headquarters.

Representatives from Aiken Center for Substance Use Services, Aiken-Barnwell Mental Health Center and South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control said a shared location in North Augusta would greatly improve healthcare access and treatment options for a population that often requires both mental health and substance use services for full recovery.

Completion of North Augustas new headquarters on Georgia Avenue is expected for late in 2025. The city has made no definite call on what to do with the existing buildings on Buena Vista, but officials are entertaining the option of leasing them to one or more nonprofits.

Having space at what now houses the municipal court would allow for expanded treatment options in group or family therapy, said Tamara Smith, executive director for Aiken-Barnwell Mental Health.

Aiken-Barnwell Mental Healths North Augusta office is in the Hartzog building on Martintown Road, but Smith said theyve outgrown that location. The North Augusta office serves about 1,000 clients annually, she said.

Councilwoman Pat Carpenter was receptive. I think this would be wonderful, combining the three. Youre going to touch a lot [of people], she said.

But the prominence of the location could be what sets the idea back.

Mayor Briton Williams said having a single, shared space for all three entities was something that could benefit North Augusta but that the city had to make its decision carefully for what might happen with the old headquarters buildings when theres been renewed developer interest in that section of East Martintown Road and Buena Vista Avenue.

I see where it could be very positive but I, to be quite frank, I could see how that could be considered negative, too, depending on how you want to look at it, he said. Were all supportive of the one-stop shop  I love it  it's just that weve got to figure out, what does that look like?

With greater density happening in and around North Augustas downtown, including the citys recent sale of three nearby properties, Williams said the city would have to be prudent about what happened with the existing headquarters buildings once Public Safety has vacated them.

Beyond substance use and mental health treatment, a presence by South Carolina DHEC would give greater access to preventative care, including family planning and immunizations, services that South Carolina DHECs Tiffany Burke said are now offered at the health departments Beaufort Street address in Aiken. Burke is DHEC operations director for health services in the Midlands region.

Aiken Center Executive Director Margaret Key said she envisioned the one-stop shop presenting an image of overall wellness.

Id love to paint the vision of this being a healthy wellness center with preventative and family classes, she said. Theres so many opportunities for what it exudes to be about health and wellness and destigmatizing substance use [] theres so many things that could be happening there that you dont really know whos going in the building and what for because they could just be a lot about health promotion.
Charleston, SC (29403)

Today

Mostly cloudy skies with a few showers after midnight. Low 68F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy skies with a few showers after midnight. Low 68F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%.
MARION  The Pee Dee Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Assault fulfilled its goal of having a permanent office in each of the eight Pee Dee counties it serves when it opened its Marion office.

While the coalition already had been active in Marion County and was working out of a temporary space, the organizations director, Ellen Hamilton, said the new office will be a visible sign of the coalitions commitment to violence prevention.

These issues arent going away, Hamilton said. I dont think violence is going away anytime in the foreseeable future.

According to the South Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, 42 percent of South Carolina women and 29 percent of South Carolina men experience intimate partner physical violence, sexual violence or stalking in their lifetimes.

In 2021, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division reports that there were 2,515 cases of sexual battery across the state. In Marion County, there were 11.

On May 11, more than 30 people toured the Marion office at 1328 N. Main St. at the official opening, exchanging congratulations and having dinner.

The new facility includes offices, therapy rooms, a conference room and a kitchen, among other spaces. Its appointed with modern furniture in soft, comforting colors. There are plaques recognizing those who helped pay for the building on many of the doors.

A capital campaign that helped fund the new office raised $175,000, surpassing the goal of $150,000, campaign co-chair Al Blake said, adding the campaign is still actively raising money.

We appreciate your support, Blake told the assembled crowd inside the new office. When Marion decides to do something, you all get behind it.

The Pee Dee Coalition formed in 1986 in response to a series of sexual assaults in Lake City. Since then, the organization has expanded to Chesterfield, Darlington, Dillon, Florence, Marion, Marlboro, Sumter and Williamsburg counties.

The coalitions more than 80 employees cover a wide variety of duties working with victims and offenders. The organization operates 24-hour shelters and crisis intervention services, an offender intervention program and child advocacy programs, among many other things.

If it involves violence, we probably have a hand in it, Hamilton said.

Having a permanent office in each of the eight counties is a sign the coalition is in it for the long haul, Hamilton said, and it allows the organization to gain trust among local partners, donors and those in need of violence prevention services.

Linda Adams, a trauma counselor and advocate in Marion who was on call even as she celebrated, said the new offices visibility on Main Street will help connect people in need with the organizations services. Much of the challenge for the coalition is finding the people who need help.

We know there are more people out there who need help, but they're not coming, she said.

The Pee Dee Coalition has offices spread across the region. For more information, go to peedeecoalition.org, or for crisis intervention services, call the 24-hour helpline at 1-800-273-1820.
COLUMBIA  Gov. Henry McMaster has appointed his budget director as South Carolina's new comptroller general, ensuring state employees are paid on time with a pick that makes history.

Brian Gaines, a 16-year veteran of state budgeting and compliance roles, becomes South Carolina's first Black constitutional officer since Reconstruction  a distinction he said he hasn't fully digested.

"I've not had much time for reflection on that point," Gaines told reporters May 12 after being sworn into office at the Statehouse. "In any regard, I think the fact I'm standing here today is a momentous occasion and a great thing not only for this state but also for myself."

McMaster's announcement came in conjunction with him ordering the Legislature back into session to complete their work  an order stemming from behind-the-scenes drama over who should be the state's next chief accountant. The job has been vacant since April 30, the effective day of former Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom's resignation.

Statehouse jockeying for his replacement began shortly after Eckstrom turned in his letter five weeks earlier amid mounting pressure over his office's $3.5 billion accounting error.

It's the General Assembly's job to replace the constitutional officer through a legislative election. But many senators didn't want the House's chosen candidate, former Columbia GOP Rep. Kirkman Finlay, to win. So senators  who always lose in a House-Senate election battle because of their fewer numbers  refused to agree on a date for a joint assembly.

Amid the stalemate, the clock was ticking on the next state payroll for nearly 60,000 employees. A chief duty of the comptroller general is to sign off on their paychecks. Before leaving, Eckstrom did so for May 1 payments.

Gaines' appointment, which actually occurred moments after regular session ended at 5 p.m., came just in time to ensure employees get paid on time May 16. According to the state's posted schedule, next week's checks had to be finalized May 11.

State law is unclear on whether a signoff by the senior deputy Eckstrom put in charge before leaving would suffice, McMaster said.

"There's still a question," he told reporters. "There's no authority answering this question, and that's one reason we're moving quickly."

McMaster's choice puts a seasoned state budget analyst in the role following a $3.5 billion oops.

The error was strictly on paper. No money went missing due to Eckstrom's office mistakenly double-counting some agencies' revenue. And the Legislature doesn't use the comptroller general's annual report for budgeting, so the overstatements did not result in any deficit. But the yearslong accumulated errors infuriated legislators once they found out.

Sen. Larry Grooms, who led the Senate panel investigating the issue, was particularly adamant that the job not go to Finlay. He put Mike Shealy, the Senate's longtime budget guru, up for consideration as an expert who would help transition the comptroller general's job into a strictly administrative role and not run for election himself.

McMaster said he considered both Shealy and Finlay, but "this man is the man for this job," he said about Gaines.

"He's qualified. He's respected by everyone. He has enormous experience," McMaster said about his reasoning. "He's not a political person, and everyone we discussed this with has great respect and confidence in Mr. Gaines."

Gaines actually took a slight pay cut in accepting the job, from $154,500 as budget director for the Department of Administration's executive budget office, to $151,000 as comptroller general. Raising his pay would be up to legislators.

Grooms praised McMaster's pick as meeting his call for a "highly qualified seasoned professional with great knowledge of government accounting."

Gaines "is an excellent choice," said the Berkeley County Republican.

Asked if he would run for the job in 2026, Gaines gave reporters a one-word answer: "No." He also made clear he will not get involved in the debate over whether to make the job an appointed, rather than elected, position. He will concentrate on the duties of the office, period, for as long as he's in the role, he said.

When or whether the Legislature will hold a joint assembly to elect someone to the job is unclear.

Considering the maneuvering that happened to let McMaster make an appointment, it seems unlikely to happen anytime soon. The governor had that authority only because legislators let the regular session end without a temporary law limiting when they can return and what they can take up during the off-session.

The upcoming special session is not so much an "order" of McMaster's as a mutually agreed-to solution.

"This was not a surprise with the House or Senate. They knew they were at loggerheads on a number of important issues and were running out of time," McMaster said. "I wish they'd finish their work."

While he thinks they had plenty of time to do so, he added, "This is allowed, and so that's why I've ordered it."

Primarily, he noted, they must pass a budget for the fiscal year starting July 1.

Other than that, he said it's critical that legislators send him bills that prevent violent criminals from being let out on bond to reoffend while awaiting trial and increase penalties for illegal gun possession.

"We've got to close that revolving door, and there's been work on that, but we know who these criminals are. They do it over and over again," he said. "We have to have graduated penalties for those known criminals who are committing crimes with guns to have increased penalties every time it happens."

He also wants the Legislature to send him a bill banning most abortions, saying "It's high time to go on and make a decision."

But, while McMaster can tell legislators what he wants, he can't actually make them do anything or stay longer than they decide. He's fully aware of that, using the words "I hope" and "they should" throughout the news conference.

House Speaker Murrell Smith has said he has no intentions of keeping the House in session past June 1.

McMaster declined to say whether he'd call legislators back again if they don't complete what he wants before then.

"I hope they will finish," he said. "I think they should be able to finish by then."
For two weeks, Spartanburg County's government has had problems with its email and phone systems due to a ransomware attack.

On April 27, the county posted on its Facebook page that it was having problems with its phone system. Emails to some county addresses werent going through. The county's GIS map has been inaccessible and detention center booking photos haven't been updated since the attack.

I know the attack on the courthouse and the county government has been very difficult, said Doug Brannon, a Spartanburg-based attorney and former legislator. I cant say its delayed discovery responses, but I know I have had difficulty communicating with the solicitors on the telephone.

Officials have declined to comment on the scope of the attack, and said law enforcement had directed them not to say anything.

Seventh Circuit Solicitors Office spokeswoman Amy Goulding referred questions to county communications manager Scottie Kay Blackwell. Blackwell did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Brannon visited the courthouse on May 9 and saw technicians working on computers while he was there.

Its been very stressful on the employees and the staff in the courthouse, Brannon said. Its been impacting them mightily.

On May 10, Spartanburg County Sheriffs Office spokesman Lt. Kevin Bobo said his email system was back up, but he didnt know when booking photos would be updated.

County Councilman David Britt said he couldnt comment on specifics of the ransomware attack, but that the county would have the issues resolved pretty soon. He said the county would send out a news release or hold a news conference once theyre able to talk about the incident.

We want to be completely transparent when its all said and done, Britt said. We want our citizens to know whats happened and what were planning to do in the future.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 13. Cooperation between Turkiye and Azerbaijan is a guarantee of peace and stability in the South Caucasus, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu wrote on his Twitter page, Trend reports.

According to him, Turkiye provided political and moral support to the just cause of brotherly Azerbaijan in the second Karabakh war.

As the FM noted, by signing the "Shusha Declaration", Azerbaijan and Turkiye developed relations from the level of strategic partnership to the level of alliance.

Cavusoglu noted that Turkiye continues to contribute to the reconstruction and revival efforts launched in the lands liberated from occupation.

"Our Presidents jointly opened international airports built in a short time in Fuzuli and Zangilan," he added.

FM also noted that the volume of trade between the two countries reached $6.5 billion.
PR-Inside.com: 2023-05-12 11:00:20

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FAYETTEVILLE, AR / ACCESSWIRE / May 12, 2023 / Compliancely, the KYB (Know Your Business) and KYC (Know Your Customer) compliance solution provider for businesses, recently released multiple new features to provide customers with more options to manage their compliance needs efficiently. The new features include subscription models for TIN matching services, Live Feed Updates, VAT services for thirteen new countries, Global KYB, and more.TIN Matching is one of the standout features of Compliancely's new offerings. This feature allows businesses to verify their employees', vendors, contractors TINs quickly and accurately. Compliancely's TIN Matching service verifies data directly against the IRS database, ensuring that it is accurate and up-to-date. This feature helps businesses stay compliant with laws and avoid penalties."We believe that our TIN Matching feature will be a game-changer for businesses that want to comply with tax laws. We understand that tax compliance can be a daunting task for many businesses, and we want to make it as easy as possible for our users," said Sanjeev Singh, CEO of Zenwork, the parent company of Compliancely."Our TIN Matching feature is accurate, reliable, and designed to help businesses comply with tax laws." He further explained.Compliancely also offers subscription models that allow businesses to choose the model that best suits their needs. Businesses can access the self-serve portal and use Compliancely's services on their terms and schedule. Along with that, a new Live Feed Update feature for TIN Matching service enables users to monitor the status of services and get notified in case of downtime.Compliancely has expanded its VAT services to include more countries, providing businesses with comprehensive VAT services for Spain, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, and nine more. This expansion helps businesses comply with each country's tax laws.Global KYB is another new feature that helps businesses verify the identity of their customers and suppliers. With access to government databases around the world, this feature simplifies the process of complying with anti-money laundering and other regulatory requirements when expanding business into new countries.Compliancely also offers US-based check services, including the FATCA List, OFAC Watchlist, Secretary of State checks, and more. These features are designed to help businesses ensure compliance with US government regulations and maintain good standing with state authorities."We are dedicated to providing our customers with accurate and reliable data verification, ensuring we meet their compliance needs with utmost precision. We unwaveringly commit to building trust in every interaction." says Ed Pratt, Chief Operating Officer of Zenwork. "Real-time capabilities empower our customers to make swift and informed decisions, allowing them to navigate the complex landscape of tax compliance with agility. By leveraging real-time updates, our customers can efficiently adapt to evolving regulations and focus on driving their business forward." Compliancely's new features are designed to simplify compliance for businesses and provide them with the tools they need to stay compliant with laws. By offering accurate and reliable tools, Compliancely is helping businesses avoid penalties and focus on growing their operations.About Compliancely: Compliancely is a compliance and security solution that powers real-time business identity verification and tax compliance checks to make it easier for companies to perform due diligence and stay compliant with their regulatory obligations. It simplifies the process by automating customer information verification and running multiple checks such as TIN Verification, OFAC Watchlist, FATCA List, Specially Designated Nationals, and more. With the help of Compliancely's technology, companies can quickly and accurately verify the identity of their customers, reducing the risk of fraudulent activity and non-compliance.About Zenwork Inc: Zenwork Inc is the parent company of Tax1099, backed by Spectrum Equity. Zenwork Inc is a prominent digital tax compliance and regulatory reporting technology company that aims to provide automated, accurate, and secure solutions for filing tax forms in the United States. With 10+ years of experience in the tax filing industry, Zenwork Inc has been helping over 150,000 Businesses and over 30,000 CPA firms to simplify and streamline the compliance process. Learn more about Zenwork and its products at www.zenwork.com www.tax1099.com , and www.compliancely.com Contact:April Rae MallordZenwork, Inc.April@ zenwork.com SOURCE: ZENWORK INC
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CORRECTION: The property address was corrected to 5104 Express.SHAFTER, CA / ACCESSWIRE / May 12, 2023 / Logistics and mega-distribution center developer Wonderful Real Estate (WRE) has commenced construction on its latest 1 million square foot speculative development located at 5104 Express Avenue in the Wonderful Industrial Park (WIP).Figure 1: Rendering of 5104 Express Avenue with delivery expected in Q2 20245104 Express Avenue will be the fifth speculative development delivered by WRE over the last five years. The building will encompass nearly 1.09 million square feet on a 74-acre lot that will allow for ample parking with 455 auto spaces and 939 trailer stalls. The concrete tilt-up building will have a 40' clear-height and 216-dock high doors and 2 grade-level doors. The building will be ideal for distribution and manufacturing operations. Delivery is slated for Q2 2024.Demonstrating continued success with attracting tenants to its speculative developments, in 2022 WIP developed and leased over 1.3 million square feet, including a 1 million-square foot spec project that was leased by a Fortune 500 food manufacturer and a 309,000 square foot building leased by existing tenant GAF, the nation's largest manufacturer of roofing and waterproofing products. The park's currently occupied footprint is nearly 10 million square feet with occupants including Amazon, Ross, Walmart, Target, American Tire Distributors, Essendant (a division of Staples), FedEx, Hillman, and DMSI. The park's current acreage allows for over 25 million square feet at full buildout.WRE is also in the final stages of design on a 415,000-square-foot speculative building in the park that will break ground in summer 2023 with delivery expected in the first half of 2024.Despite tightening market conditions, WRE is well positioned to pace and build modern logistics facilities as demand dictates, says Jason Gremillion, SVP of Development. "One reason is that we utilize our in-house discretionary capital with no outside construction debt or partners to fund projects. This allows us to streamline our development process, from concept to finish, and deliver high-quality industrial buildings on time and as promised. We also maintain a conservative development schedule of 1-1.5 million square feet annually that has resulted in the park being 100% leased on a consistent basis." Located in Shafter, California, WIP is the geographical nexus for distribution to 11 Western states. The park is thoughtfully designed to create an extensive buffer between industrial and residential areas, directing traffic away from neighborhoods and schools, as well as offering amenities to benefit its local communities.In 2022, WIP opened its Wonderful Career Center, a 40,000 square foot center featuring state-of-the-art classrooms, offices, and lab facilities for use by WIP tenants, local schools, and Wonderful Company employees, providing valuable training and skills needed for upward economic mobility.Gremillion states, "It is our mission to center Wonderful Industrial Park as a hub for the Central Valley that fosters an economic future and quality of life that is cleaner and more sustainable for generations to come".About Wonderful Industrial ParkWIP is a fully entitled 1,625-acre, world-class distribution center located approximately 100 miles north of Los Angeles. The park is a rail-served industrial development, entitled for 26 million square feet, with nearly 10 million square feet completed and under operation to date. WIP provides tenants with access to a workforce population of over 700,000 residents within a 30-minute drive from the park.WIP's central location in California gives companies access to a robust transportation infrastructure. The property is minutes from Hwy-99, I-5 and Hwy-58 and offers convenient port access to the Port of Los Angeles, the Port of Long Beach and the Port of Oakland. The industrial park's location allows access to 14 percent of the U.S. population within 300 miles and same-day delivery to 30 million Californians. It has a FedEx Ground hub onsite and is near a UPS ground hub in Bakersfield, CA with Meadows Field Airport located only seven miles away.The park features an onsite rail yard with more than 17,000 feet of track able to accommodate unit trains with direct access to Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) Railway's mainline. WIP is equipped with an in-place high speed fiber optics network with 10 gigabytes in place with capacity of 40 gigabytes.For more information visit: https://www.wonderfulindustrialpark.com/ About Wonderful Real EstateWonderful Real Estate is a professional real estate development and property management company owned by The Wonderful Company that develops, manages and invests in a diversified portfolio of real estate, with a particular focus on office and industrial properties. Leveraging over 30 years of experience in commercial real estate, Wonderful and its affiliates currently have over 10 million square feet of real estate holdings, consisting of owner-occupied industrial and commercial real estate for its operating businesses and approximately 7 million square feet of actively managed office and industrial properties occupied by third parties located mainly in Southern and Central California.Wonderful Real Estate and its affiliates have invested almost $2 billion since 2008 in commercial real estate development, facility improvements, processing equipment and real estate acquisitions. Wonderful and its affiliates are also currently developing three business parks totaling over 1,865 acres for office and industrial use in California's Central Valley, several parcels of which have already been sold or leased to Fortune 500 companies and other high-quality anchor tenants.Media Contacts: Gary Marsh 415.999.3793 or gary@ marshmarketing.com andErin Poulson Morris 310.966.5748 or erin.poulson.morris@wonderful.com SOURCE: Wonderful Real Estate
PR-Inside.com: 2023-05-12 03:00:24

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Flux is set to unveil a new project on its infrastructure that will ensure AI has a truth model to balance the explosive growth. Welcome to "Project Mayhem".CAMBRIDGE, ENGLAND / ACCESSWIRE / May 11, 2023 / InFlux Technologies announced Flux, a prominent provider of decentralized cloud services, has recently unveiled the upcoming release of "Project Mayhem". It is no longer news that the rapid breakthroughs in artificial intelligence are redefining the world as we know it. AI offers faster access to information and a more robust problem-solving approach, among other perks. First, it was ChatGpt, in all its glory, solving college work in seconds, writing code for multi-tasking developers, and even creating business growth templates for marketers. Not willing to be beaten by OpenAI, other hard hitters joined the AI race, Google released Bard, and Microsoft released BingAI, all with exciting possibilities. Mayhem will be an open-source application that runs on Flux's decentralized network, open source, and allows people and organizations to detect AI-generated content such as deep fakes, content creation, and any AI output.The Big Bane of Generative A.I.Deepfakes are synthetic media that have been digitally manipulated to replace another person's likeness (in appearance, speech, etc.). The name initially had its roots in the underlying technology; deep learning. However, while deepfakes are relatively recent, the massive sophistication of artificial intelligence has now made it a legitimate concern.In 2019, the CEO of a UK-based energy firm lost about 220,000 to a deep fake call that impersonated his boss. Even more recently, last month, an AI-generated track with Drake and Weeknd voice deep fakes had to be taken down across streaming platforms. By the time that would happen, however, the music had already amassed over 8.5 million views from fans of both artists. This ushered in fresh concerns about content infringement.Research is another area where it is essential to protect content integrity. Artificial intelligence could presumably be used to make the process of citing articles relevant to the topic of interest easier. However, an alarming number of ChatGPT users, for example, have highlighted the tendency of the AI chatbot to spit out 'hallucinations". These are references to articles and papers that do not exist or, in other cases, have nothing in common with the topic of focus. Admittedly, there were other times when the AI got it all lined up. But how exactly do you know when your trusted AI partner has suddenly gone 'rogue'?Generative AI comes with the potential for copyright and legal issues. The data source of generated AI content might be unknown, leading to the infringement of intellectual property with severe legal implications. Also, there is the question of the potential for the explosion of fake news on the web. These, coupled with the concerns over data privacy and governance, have necessitated a means to accurately detect AI generative content and distinguish it from authentic information sources.Solving this will go a long way to pave new ways for addressing hoaxes on the web and also nip criminal activities in the bud. As the world transitions into what may ultimately be the 'golden age of AI", Flux offers a new way to differentiate the authentic from the synthetic.Welcome to Project MayhemProject Mayhem is a generative AI detector that runs on Flux's fully decentralized infrastructure. It is designed to evaluate and identify if the data files provided are original or AI-generated content, thus, helping to differentiate deep fake media from accurate data. With Project Mayhem, Flux sets the bar by becoming the first cloud infrastructure provider to provide AI systems with much-needed infrastructure (GPUs) while also developing a tool to mitigate the exploitation of this technology by malicious actors."Project Mayhem will usher in the first of its kind to ensure the balance between AI and truth models. Decentralized, scalable, and open source will ensure we are pushing the boundaries with AI, but also ensuring we have a ying to its yang," Daniel Keller, Co-Founder of Flux and CEO of InFlux Technologies. "There are many challenges around the acceptance of developed AI, with Mayhem; there is a way to allow this aggressive growth to be leveraged and paced correctly," Daniel continued.Flux continues to build and innovate for the future, providing infrastructure to power the new age of AI and adjust to the challenges.For more information on Flux, please join our Discord and check our official website. Visit our marketplace to easily host and run front-ends, nodes, block books, crypto projects, and games with just a few clicks.Flux is redefining the future of the decentralized internet by bridging the tech barrier and allowing end-users to interact easier with the Web3 ecosystem. We are innovating to power the free web smarter, better, and at affordable prices.Contact InformationDaniel KellerCoFounderdaniel@ runonflux.io 717-640-1128SOURCE: InFlux Technolgies Limited
PR-Inside.com: 2023-05-12 08:55:32

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Dhirtek Business Research and Consulting recently released their most comprehensive study on the global needle-free vaccine injectors 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 needle-free vaccine injectors industry, allowing clients to make well-informed business decisions. The report reveals key insights about the global needle-free vaccine injectors 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 needle-free vaccine injectors 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/Needle-Free-Vaccine-Injectors-Market/request-for-sample-report The global needle-free vaccine injectors 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 needle-free vaccine injectors 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 needle-free vaccine injectors 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 Needle-Free Vaccine Injectors Market ReportThe global needle-free vaccine injectors 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 needle-free vaccine injectors 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 needle-free vaccine injectors 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 ReportNeedle-Free Vaccine Injectors Market SegmentsThe market by product type is segmented into prefilled needle-free injectors, fillable needle-free injectors.The market by application is segmented into hospital, clinic, other.Regions Covered in the Global Needle-Free Vaccine Injectors 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 needle-free vaccine injectors 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 needle-free vaccine injectors 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 needle-free vaccine injectors market and its expected trajectory.It is clear that the needle-free vaccine injectors 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 needle-free vaccine injectors market.The following Companies as the Key Players in the Global Needle-Free Vaccine Injectors Market Research Report:Antares Pharma, Inc. (U.S.), Bioject Medical Technologies Inc. (U.S), Crossject SA (France), Endo International plc (U.S.), European Pharma Group (Netherland), INJEX Pharma AG (Germany), Medical International Technology, Inc. (U.S), National Medical Products Inc. (U.S.), PenJet Corporation (U.S), PharmaJet (U.S), Valeritas, Inc. (U.S.)Contact UsDhirtek Business Research and Consulting Private LimitedContact No: +91 7580990088Email Id: sales@ dhirtekbusinessresearch.com
PR-Inside.com: 2023-05-12 01:45:56

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VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / May 11, 2023 / Gold Springs Resource Corp. (TSX:GRC), (OTCQB:GRCAF) (the "Company"), reports the release of its unaudited consolidated financial statements for the three months ended March 31, 2023 and the related management's discussion and analysis of financial position and results of operations ("MD&A"). In this press release, all amounts are expressed in U.S. dollars, unless otherwise indicated.During the three months ended March 31, 2023, general and administrative expenses, excluding non-cash share-based payments, increased to $0.17 million compared with $0.16 million during the three months ended March 31, 2022. Exploration spending during the three months ended March 31, 2023, decreased to $0.17 million from $0.53 million incurred during the same period of last year. During the three months ended March 31, 2023, the Company reported a net loss of $0.21 million ($nil loss per share) compared with a net loss of $0.24 million ($nil loss per share) for the same period in the prior year. As of March 31, 2023, the Company had cash of $0.54 million, arising primarily from the receipt of working capital advances of $0.50 million.About Gold Springs Resource Corp.Gold Springs Resource Corp. (TSX:GRC and OTCQB:GRCAF) is focused on the exploration and expansion of the gold and silver resources of its large Gold Springs project located on the border of Nevada and Utah, USA. The project is situated in the prolific Great Basin of Western USA, one of the best mining jurisdictions in the world.Gold Springs Resource Corp. Contact:Antonio Canton, President and CEOacanton@ goldspringsresource.com Forward-Looking StatementsCertain statements contained herein constitute "forward-looking information" under applicable Canadian securities laws ("forward-looking statements"). Forward-looking statements look into the future and provide an opinion as to the effect of certain events and trends on the business. Forward-looking statements may include words such as "creating", "believe", "would", "continue", "will", "promising", "should", and similar expressions. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and entail various risks and uncertainties. Actual results may materially differ from expectations if known and unknown risks or uncertainties affect our business or if our estimates or assumptions prove inaccurate. Factors that could cause results or events to differ materially from current expectations expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, include, but are not limited to, risks of the mineral exploration industry which may affect the advancement of the Gold Springs project, including possible variations in mineral resources, grade, recovery rates, metal prices, capital and operating costs, and the application of taxes; availability of sufficient financing to fund planned or further required work in a timely manner and on acceptable terms; availability of equipment and qualified personnel, failure of equipment or processes to operate as anticipated, changes in project parameters, including water requirements for operations, as plans continue to be refined; regulatory, environmental and other risks of the mining industry more fully described in the Company's Annual Information Form and continuous disclosure documents, which are available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com . The assumptions made in developing the forward-looking statements include: the accuracy of current resource estimates and the interpretation of drill, metallurgical testing and other exploration results; the continuing support for mining by local governments in Nevada and Utah; the availability of equipment and qualified personnel to advance the Gold Springs project; execution of the Company's existing plans and further exploration and development programs for Gold Springs, which may change due to changes in the views of the Company or if new information arises which makes it prudent to change such plans or programs. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Except as required by law, the Company assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or any other reason. Unless otherwise indicated, forward-looking statements in this press release describe the Company's expectations as of the date hereof.SOURCE: Gold Springs Resources Corporation
PR-Inside.com: 2023-05-12 20:30:13

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Social media influencers are shaping culture for the next generation. Can we harness that power for good?LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / May 12, 2023 / The United States is currently facing a mental health crisis among young adults. Many attribute the cause of the crisis to social media use, which is on the rise with 84% of adults aged 18 to 29 using social media, according to a study by the Pew Research Center. The American Psychological Association warns that young people should be routinely screened for signs of problematic social media use that can impair their ability to engage in daily roles and routines, and may present risks for more serious psychological harms over time.The Pew Research Center and the American Psychological Association are not alone in their findings; the Harvard School of Public Health has warned that social media's toxic content sends teens into "a dangerous spiral." Social media platforms have been used to spread harmful content, including bullying, harassment, and hate speech. For young people who are already struggling with mental health issues, this toxic content can exacerbate their symptoms and make it difficult for them to cope.While the problem of young adult mental health and its correlation to social media is a complex issue, there may be an unlikely solution emerging: social media influencers who are are committed to empowering young adults.One such individual, Rahul Mahajan, is a recording artist and fashion designer with a positive, uplifting message. Mahajan, known artistically as Rah Two Five, is inspiring young people to greatness by encouraging them to use their voice, their platform, their message, and their talents to uplift and inspire others. To that end, Mahajan's upcoming debut rap album, GOD DID THIS, strikes a markedly different tone and message from most other rap out there. Featuring icons of rap like Busta Rhymes and Fat Joe, Mahajan's debut is predicted reach a large audience, which he hopes will change hearts and minds.Mahajan's fashion line is also focused on positivity and empowerment. The line's mission statement is "to inspire, uplift, and empower people around the world through fashion." With 933K followers and counting, it is clear that Mahajan's message of actively doing good, self-care, and mental health awareness is resonating with young adults. By promoting positivity and empowerment, Mahajan is helping young adults to cope with the mental health challenges they face in today's world.Mahajan's message of actively doing good is particularly important in the face of the mental health crisis among young adults. Many young people feel powerless in the face of social media's toxic content and the pressures of daily life. By encouraging young people to take positive action and make a difference in the world, Mahajan is giving them a sense of agency and purpose that can help them cope with mental health challenges.In addition to his message of actively doing good, Mahajan is also a proponent of self-care and mental health awareness. He encourages his followers to take care of themselves and their loved ones, and to seek help when they need it. This message is particularly important in a society that often stigmatizes mental health issues, which discourages people from seeking help.By emphasizing the importance of actively doing good and making a positive impact in the world, and by focusing on positivity and empowerment rather than on the negative aspects that social media so often contains which can lead to and worsen mental health challenges, the positive influencers like Mahajan may be able to turn the tides.While weaning young adults off social media is unlikely going to happen anytime soon, perhaps with this new crop of positive influencers creating compelling content, the world of social media will emerge as a destination that does more good than harm to people's well-being, while also helping young people to develop a sense of purpose and meaning that can help them cope with the ever-changing landscape of their lives.ABOUTRahul Mahajan, known artistically as Rah Two Five, is a recording artist and fashion designer with a positive, uplifting message. Mahajan, is inspiring young people to greatness by encouraging them to use their voice, their platform, their message, and their talents to uplift and inspire others. For additional information on Rah Two Five, visit Instagram.CONTACTRahul Mahajanrahtwofive@ gmail.com SOURCE: Rah Two Five
PR-Inside.com: 2023-05-12 22:30:36

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SAN FRANCISCO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / May 12, 2023 / Hagens Berman urges JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. (NYSE:JKS) investors who suffered substantial losses to submit your losses now.Visit: www.hbsslaw.com/investor-fraud/JKS Contact An Attorney Now: JKS@ hbsslaw.com 844-916-0895JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. (JKS) Investigation:The investigation concerns JinkoSolar's compliance with applicable U.S. laws and regulations.JinkoSolar's business practices came under question on May 8, 2023, when The Florida Times-Union reported that the FBI and Homeland Security executed a search warrant at the company's solar manufacturing plant in Jacksonville, Florida.The paper further reported that the investigation is "part of an ongoing federal investigation'" and "HIS's mission is to investigate transnational crimes and threats, specifically those criminal organizations that exploit the global infrastructure through which international trade, travel and finance moves.'" Then, on May 10, 2023, Reuters reported that the authorities raided not just JinkoSolar's Florida facility, they also raided the company's California office.This news drove the price of JinkoSolar's American Depositary Shares sharply lower."We're focused on investors' losses and whether JinkoSolar may have concealed its violations of well-known U.S. trade restriction laws and possibly engaged in improper accounting," said Reed Kathrein, the Hagens Berman partner leading the investigation.If you invested in JinkoSolar and have substantial losses, or have knowledge that may assist the firm's investigation, click here to discuss your legal rights with Hagens Berman.Whistleblowers: Persons with non-public information regarding JinkoSolar 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 JKS@ hbsslaw.com # # #About Hagens BermanHagens 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.Contact:Reed Kathrein, 844-916-0895SOURCE: Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP
PR-Inside.com: 2023-05-12 17:15:07

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Expansion of LifeFlow Partners to Texas grows footprint to three statesEDINBURG, TX / ACCESSWIRE / May 12, 2023 / LifeFlow Partners - a physician-owned, -led, and -governed platform of vascular surgery and interventional practices - is pleased to announce that it has entered the Texas market with new partner South Texas Vascular Institute, PLLC, located in Edinburg, TX. The physicians will continue to control their practice and clinical decision-making, and LifeFlow will provide management and operations support to optimize the effectiveness and equity value of the practice.South Texas Vascular Institute is the third practice to join LifeFlow Partners' physician-owned, physician-led MSO"We're excited to announce that our first partnership in Texas is with the leading vascular surgery practice in the Rio Grande Valley," said Dr. Hyung Kim, CEO of LifeFlow Partners. "The team at STVI is well known for their commitment to clinical excellence and patient care. Our physician-led private equity model will help them improve and grow their practice." Led by Drs. Ralph H. Brookshire, III, and James E. Chalk, South Texas Vascular Institute provides the full scope of vascular surgery and endovascular services ranging from open vascular surgeries to outpatient endovascular procedures. The team can diagnose and treat peripheral artery disease and provide comprehensive vein management, utilizing advanced techniques and technology to deliver exceptional clinical outcomes to patients in the Valley region of Texas."It's a pleasure to join a group that's aligned with our beliefs and brings real expertise," said Dr. Brookshire. "LifeFlow has already begun to share ideas, make connections, and provide support to improve our practice." "Working with LifeFlow and its network of like-minded practices will reduce administrative headaches and make it easier to grow our practice and optimize our equity value," added Dr. Chalk.LifeFlow Partners brings together best-in-class vascular surgery and interventional physicians who want a better future for their practices and their patients.South Texas Vascular Institute, PLLC, marks LifeFlow's first practice in Texas and third since January 2023. Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, LifeFlow Partners brings together the country's most passionate independent vascular surgery and interventional practices into a physician-owned private equity platform where physicians retain control, obtain scale, and more than double their equity value in preparation for future liquidity events.About LifeFlow PartnersLifeFlow Partners is a physician-owned, physician-led MSO that is paving a new path in the face of consolidation. Our Doctor Equity model puts physicians' futures first by bringing together best-in-class, like-minded outpatient endovascular practices for collective power at sale. LifeFlow Partners exists to share the inside world of private equity with our physician partners to help optimize their EBITDA and realize their practices' full potential. Learn more at lifeflowpartners.com About South Texas Vascular InstituteLocated in Edinburg, Texas, South Texas Vascular Institute is owned by Ralph Brookshire, DO, FAOBS, and James Chalk, MD, FSVS. Their philosophy is to provide a full range of treatment options, including not only open vascular surgery but also medical management and minimally invasive endovascular procedures at their office. They lead an experienced team that cares and creates custom treatment plans that include education and recovery. Learn more at stvi.tech Media Contact:Sara Tumen Weinberg847-682-0802sweinberg@ duneglasscapital.com SOURCE: LifeFlow Partners
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 12. Ambassador of Azerbaijan to Switzerland Fuad Isgandarov has congratulated Elchin Shirinov Trio on a great jazz performance in Geneva, Trend reports via the publication on the ambassador's Twitter page.

"I was delighted to witness the amazing jazz performance by the Elchin Shirinov Trio at prestigious "Alhambra" concert hall in Geneva, organized by "Heritage" Azerbaijani Cultural Association led by charming Mrs. Dilyara Panakhova Proud of our compatriots, who perfectly presented Azerbaijani culture," he said.

Azerbaijani jazz pianist composer and arranger Elchin Shirinov performed in Geneva on May 11 together with Haggai Cohen-Milo on double-bass and Ofri Nehemya on drums.

He was included in All About Jazz's December 2022 poll of the top 200 favorite living pianists in the world. While touring with famous jazz double bassist Avishai Cohens trio from 2018 to 2022 he recorded 3 albums as part of the trio as well as his two own albums "Maiden Tower" and "Waiting".
PR-Inside.com: 2023-05-12 13:00:35

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VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / May 12, 2023 / Musk Metals Corp. ("Musk Metals" or the "Company") (CSE:MUSK) (OTC PINK:EMSKF) (FSE:1I30) is pleased to announce it will start its fifth exploration program for Phase 1, on its 100% owned "Elon'' lithium project in Quebec (the "Property"). The survey will use a motorized auger drill to sample the till below the surface sediments. The purpose of the survey is to better define the dispersion of the plume in the till column in three dimensions (3D). Permitting and communication with the stakeholders is underway to start the work phase during the upcoming summer.The ProgramThe survey will allow the Company to follow up on till anomalies previously defined (See news release dated March 4th, 2023). The survey will also inspect multiple geophysical targets located on the Property. The targets include suspected pegmatite dykes that were interpreted from magnetic and lidar surveys (See news releases dated May 16th, 2022 and June 14th, 2022). Previously, trenching was unable to reach the bedrock to test geophysics anomalies on the Property. The drill for till survey will allow to better define the till anomalies and their possible sources beneath under surficial cover. This will then allow to define a second diamond drill hole program to test the new anomalies and geophysics targets that are up-ice from any till anomalies.The till will be drilled using an auger drill equipped with a split spoon sampler. The Company is expected to test approximately 20 holes in a first phase and will permit many holes to allow flexibility during the survey. Total overburden thickness in the area is approximately 15 to 25m deep, based on overburden measurements from the 2022 campaign drillholes and historical data. The hollow core is expected to reach the basal till material before reaching bedrock where it will collect material within the split spoon sampler. All the till column is planned to be sampled. The sampling stations are approximately 40m apart and perpendicular to the glacial flow.Multiple access points are located on the southern part of the Property and are expected to be used to place the auger drill.Figure 1. Proposed Auger Drill StationsThe Property and Adjacent PropertiesThe Elon Property is strategically located in Abitibi, QC at approximately 600 meters northeast of North American Lithium Project (recently acquired by Sayona Quebec) and formerly known as Mine Quebec Lithium. North American Lithium produced over 907,000 tons of material at 1.40% Li2O between 1955 and 1965 (Boily et al, 1989). In a June 28th, 2022 news release, Sayona Quebec formally approved the restart of North American Lithium operation for lithium extraction and spodumene concentrate production. In September 2022 Sayona announced a 200 million dollars contract for the mining operations (September 27th, 2022 press release). In March 2023, Sayona reported having produced 1200 tons of lithium concentrate from North American Lithium (March 15th, 2023 news release).Jourdan Resources is investigating a pegmatite field approximately 1000m SE of the Elon Property, has reported lithium content of up to 2.38% Li2O over 0.90m and 1.33% Li2O over 5.25m in pegmatites (June 9th, 2022 and July 7th, 2022 news release); 1.23% over 4.15m (February 15th, 2023 press release) and over 0.82% over 8.0m (March 21st, 2023 news release).The Company also announces that it has decided not to further pursue the McDonough Red Lake and the Pakeagama Lithium claims, both of which are in northwestern Ontario. The Company has dropped both options on both properties. Moving forward, the Company will continue to focus on its Elon Lithium Property and is actively pursuing new exploration opportunities.References:Boily, M., Pilote, P., Raillon, H., 1989: La metallogenie des metaux de haute technologie en Abitibi-Temiscamingue. Ministere des Ressources Naturelles, MB 89-29.Jourdan Resources inc., June 9th, 2022 news release. Jourdan Announces First of Eighteen Drillholes Assay Results With Li20 Grades.Jourdan Resources inc., July 7th, 2022 news release. Jourdan Announces More Elevated Li20 Grades From Its Drill Campaign.Jourdan Resources Inc., September 15th, 2022 news release. Jourdan Announces Soil Sampling Program Expansion And Arrival Of Second Drill To Accelerate Completion Of Its Phase 3 Summer Drill Campaign.Jourdan Resources Inc., February 15th, 2023 news release. Jourdan Intersects 1.23% Li2O over 4.15m at Vallee.Jourdan Resources Inc., March 21st, 2023 news release. Jourdan Intersects 0.82% Li2O over 8m at Vallee.Jourdan Intersects 0.82% Li2O over 8 m at Vallee - Jourdan Resources Inc. ( jourdaninc.com) Sayona Quebec inc. June 28th, 2022 news release. Sayona & Piedmont Formally Approve NAL Restart.Sayona Quebec inc. September 27th, 2022 news release. Sayona et L. Fournier & Fils signent un contrat historique pour les operations minieres.Sayona Quebec inc. March 15th, 2023 news release. 1200 Tonnes de Concentre de Lithium Commercialisable Produites au Complexe Lithium Amerique du Nord.Qualified PersonThis press release was prepared by Pierre-Alexandre Pelletier, P.Geo OGQ, and Steven Lauzier, P.Geo OGQ, whom are qualified persons as defined under National Instrument 43-101, and who reviewed and approved the geological information provided in this news release.Make sure to follow the company on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook as well as subscribe for company updates at www.muskmetals.ca About Musk Metals Corp.Musk Metals is a publicly traded exploration company focused on the development of highly prospective, discovery-stage mineral properties located in some of Canada's top mining jurisdictions.ON BEHALF OF THE BOARDNader VatanchiCEO & DirectorFor more informati
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RADNOR, PA / ACCESSWIRE / May 12, 2023 / The law firm of Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP( www.ktmc.com) informs investors that a securities class action lawsuit has been against Norfolk Southern Corporation ("Norfolk Southern") (NYSE:NSC). The action charges Norfolk Southern with violations of the federal securities laws, including omissions and fraudulent misrepresentations relating to the company's business, operations, and prospects. As a result of Norfolk Southern's materially misleading statements and omissions to the public, Norfolk Southern's investors have suffered significant losses.CLICK HERE TO SUBMIT YOUR NORFOLK SOUTHERN LOSSES. YOU CAN ALSO CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING LINK OR COPY AND PASTE IN YOUR BROWSER: https://www.ktmc.com/new-cases/norfolk-southern-corporation?utm_source=PR&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=nsc&mktm=r CANNOT VIEW THIS VIDEO? PLEASE CLICK HERELEAD PLAINTIFF DEADLINE:MAY 15, 2023CLASS PERIOD: OCTOBER 28, 2020 THROUGH MARCH 3, 2023CONTACT AN ATTORNEY TO DISCUSS YOUR RIGHTS:Jonathan Naji, Esq. at (484) 270-1453 or via email at info@ ktmc.com Kessler Topaz is one of the world's foremost advocates in protecting the public against corporate fraud and other wrongdoing. Our securities fraud litigators are regularly recognized as leaders in the field individually and our firm is both feared and respected among the defense bar and the insurance bar. We are proud to have recovered billions of dollars for our clients and the classes of shareholders we represent.NORFOLK SOUTHERN'S ALLEGED MISCONDUCTFor several years leading up to the beginning of the Class Period, Norfolk Southern took a number of measures which put profits and executive compensation over safety. For example, in October 2018, Norfolk Southern adopted "Precision Scheduled Railroading" or "PSR" which was purportedly aimed at producing better service at a lower cost. In actuality, the company sought to increase revenues by cutting operating costs including reducing staff, running fewer, heavier, faster trains and optimizing the company's networks in order to increase efficiency. Norfolk Southern also began tying executive compensation to achieving PSR goals. For example, in 2021, multiple Norfolk Southern executives received millions of dollars in cash bonuses for reducing costs by achieving "record performance for train length and weight." Industry critics have warned that this type of compensation system incentivizes executives to cut costs at the expense of safety and also leads to longer and more dangerous trains which "have greater damage done, greater, larger pileups, fires and so on." At the same time, Norfolk Southern and its lobbyists played a key role in defeating an Obama-era safety rule that was used following a number of oil train accidents, including the "ECP Brake Rule" which was ultimately repealed in 2018.On February 3, 2023, a Norfolk Southern Railway Company general merchandise freight train derailed 38 railcars in East Palestine, Ohio, leaving behind what the Associated Press called "a mangled and charred mass of boxcars and flames." The derailed equipment included 11 tank cars carrying hazardous materials that subsequently ignited, fueling fires that damaged an additional 12 non-derailed railcars.On February 6, 2023, responders engaged in a controlled detonation and burn of the vinyl chloride, spewing massive volumes of chemicals into the vicinity. The chemicals released from the derailment entered the air and water of the surrounding residential areas, the closest of which were only 1,000 feet from the site of the accident. Following this news, the price of Norfolk Southern stock fell on February 6, 2023 - down $5.66 per share from its closing price on Friday, February 3, 2023.Then, on February 8, 2023, after lifting a previously issued evacuation order, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine stated that Norfolk Southern was "the one[] who created the problem. It's their liability. They're the ones who ought to pay for it." Following their return, numerous residents reported hazardous air quality and other health and environmental concerns. Following this news, the price of Norfolk Southern stock fell on February 9, 2023, closing at $238.98 per share - down $7.64 per share from its closing price of $246.62 per share on February 8, 2023.Thereafter, Norfolk Southern's stock price continued to drop in response to several other reports and public officials who spoke out about Norfolk Southern's liability for all of the harm and damage it had caused.On March 4, 2023, another Norfolk Southern freight train derailed near Springfield, Ohio. Two days later, on March 6, 2023, Norfolk Southern announced a 6-part plan to improve operational safety. Following this news, the price of Norfolk Southern stock fell again on March 6 and March 7, 2023, closing at $215.18 per share - down $13.21 per share from its closing price of $228.39 on Friday, March 3, 2023.WHAT CAN I DO?Norfolk Southern investors may, no later than May 15, 2023, move the Court to serve as lead plaintiff for the class, through Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLPor other counsel, or may choose to do nothing and remain an absent class member. Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLPencourages Norfolk Southern investors who have suffered significant losses to contact the firm directly to acquire more information. The class action complaint against Norfolk Southern, captioned Bucks County Employees Retirement System v. Norfolk Southern Corporation, et al. and docketed under 23-cv-0982, is filed in the United States District Court for Southern District of Ohio (Eastern Division) before the Honorable Michael H. Watson.CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE CASEWHO CAN BE A LEAD PLAINTIFF?A lead plaintiff is a representative party who acts on behalf of all class members in directing the litigation. The lead plaintiff is usually the investor or small group of investors who have the largest financial interest and who are also adequate and typical of the proposed class of investors. The lead plaintiff selects counsel to represent the lead plaintiff and the class and these attorneys, if approved by the court, are lead or class counsel. Your ability to share in any recovery is not affected by the decision of whether or not to serve as a lead plaintiff.ABOUT KESSLER TOPAZ MELTZER & CHECK, LLPKessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP prosecutes class actions in state and federal courts throughout the country and around the world. The firm has developed a global reputation for excellence and has recovered billions of dollars for victims of fraud and ot
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SACRAMENTO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / May 12, 2023 / Yesterday, the Port of Hueneme attended the signing of the historic MOU between California's five containerized ports inclusive of the Port of Hueneme, the Port of Long Beach, the Port of Los Angeles, the Port of Oakland, and the Port of San Diego in Sacramento and was proud to be part of this important milestone of launching the California Port Data Partnership alongside state and federal partners.The MOU outlines an agreement between the five ports to jointly advance computerized and cloud-based data interoperability with a common goal of supporting improved freight system resilience, goods movement efficiency, emissions reduction, and economic competitiveness."California's ports are an essential link in the global supply chain. Thanks to the leadership of Governor Newsom and our state Legislature, California is establishing a first-of-its-kind, collaborative data system between all our state's containerized cargo ports," said California Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis. "Today's historic agreement will create a greener, more transparent, and more efficient supply chain - unlocking innovation in how cargo moves in California." Over the past months California's five ports and the State have held bi-weekly roundtables to develop the framework for the MOU. The MOU and partnership will serve as the basis of cooperation for the $27M in grant funds from GO-Biz for port data system development. The funds were included in the Budget Act of 2022 which included a historic multi-billion-dollar state investment in California's goods movement and supply chain sectors."The MOU is a first-of-its-kind agreement on data system development among containerized ports and outlines eleven areas of cooperation, ranging from developing data definitions to ensuring equitable access to data for users," said GO-Biz Director and Senior Advisor to Governor Gavin Newsom, Dee Dee Myers. "This MOU and the funds that follow will build the basis for greater cooperation and standardization when it comes to data in our supply chain. I want to thank all of our partners across the supply chain as well as our ports for their leadership in this effort." (Left to right) Mike LaFleur, VP of Maritime, Port of San Diego; Kristin Decas, CEO & Port Director, Port of Hueneme; Mario Cordero, Executive Director, Port of Long Beach; Toks Omishakin, CalSTA Secretary; Dee Dee Myers, Senior Advisor to the Governor and Director of the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development; Senator Steven Bradford; Assemblymember Mike Gipson; Assemblymember Josh Lowenthal; Bryan Brandes, Maritime Director, Port of Oakland; and David Libatique, Deputy Executive Director, Stakeholder Engagement, Port of Los Angeles ."Under Governor Newsom's leadership, California is making expansive upgrades to our nation-leading supply chain - from infrastructure to workforce development to technology - to create a more dynamic and resilient goods movement system that will power our economy for decades to come," said California Transportation Secretary Toks Omishakin. "This groundbreaking agreement will help develop a world-class data partnership that, coupled with our strategic infrastructure investments, will improve efficiency throughout the supply chain and keep California at the forefront of innovation." The California Legislature additionally emphasized the importance of such investments in the budget in the wake of supply chain challenges in years past."The California Legislature has emphasized the importance of these investments in the budget in the wake of supply chain challenges," said Assemblymember Mike A. Gipson (D-Carson). "As Chair of the Select Committee on Ports and Goods Movement, I am happy to see all of California's containerized ports come together and sign the Memorandum of Understanding that will give $27 million for data system development. I will ensure a continued, collective partnership between the Legislature, state, and ports. Ports are a vital part of California's economy, and I will work to ensure that California is doing everything to support our ports." Each of California's five containerized ports also weighed in on the importance of the MOU and the partnership's opportunity to improve the collective supply chain and further innovation within the freight and goods movement sectors."This historic investment by Governor Newsom leverages the overall competitiveness of California's container Ports through innovation and access to cutting edge technology," said Kristin Decas, CEO and Port Director for the Port of Hueneme. "This strategic technological alignment and partnership will specifically enable the Port of Hueneme to best support the ecosystem of California ports as a resiliency hub and of utmost importance, take the state to the next level by connecting the supply chain with a cloud-based cargo data system that promises to minimize disruptions and prosper fluidity in goods movement." (Left to right) Port of Hueneme team: Paul Lydiate, Financial Analyst, Aaron Valance, IT Services Manager; Kristin Decas, CEO & Port Director; Mike Morrison, Operations & Security Manager; and Letitia Austin, Public & Government Relations Manager. About the Port of HuenemeThe Port of Hueneme is one of the most productive and efficient commercial trade gateways for niche cargo on the West Coast. Five locally elected Port Commissioners govern the Port. The Port consistently ranks among the top ten U.S. ports for automobiles and fresh produce. Port operations support the community by bringing $2.2 billion in economic activity and creating 20,032 trade-related jobs. Trade through the Port of Hueneme generates more than $173.2 million in direct and related state and local taxes, which fund vital community services. In 2017, the Port of Hueneme became the first port in California to become Green Marine certified and was voted the Greenest Port in the U.S. at the Green Shipping Summit. www.portofh.org About GO-BizThe Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) serves as the State of California's leader for job growth and economic development efforts. GO-Biz offers a range of services to business owners including: attraction, retention and expansion services, site selection, permit streamlining, clearing of regulatory hurdles, small business assistance, international trade development, assistance with state government, and much more. For more information visit the GO-Biz website.PRESS CONTACTLetitia AustinPublic & Government Relations Managerlaustin@ portofh.org (805) 271-2205SOURCE: Port
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GENEVA / ACCESSWIRE / May 12, 2023 / RELIEF THERAPEUTICS Holding SA (SIX:RLF)(OTCQB:RLFFD)(OTCQB:RLFTD) (Relief Therapeutics, or the Company), a biopharmaceutical company committed to delivering innovative treatment options with the potential for transformative outcomes to benefit those suffering from select specialty and rare diseases, announced today that it has filed its 2022 Annual Report on Form 20-F with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).Relief Therapeutics became a public reporting company in the U.S. in July 2022. The Company's filings with the SEC are available here.ABOUT RELIEF THERAPEUTICSRelief Therapeutics is a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company committed to advancing treatment paradigms and delivering improvements in efficacy, safety and convenience to benefit the lives of patients living with select specialty and rare diseases. Relief Therapeutics' portfolio offers a balanced mix of marketed, revenue-generating products, our proprietary, globally patented Physiomimic and TEHCLO drug delivery platform technologies and a highly targeted clinical development pipeline consisting of risk-mitigated assets focused in three core therapeutic areas: rare metabolic disorders, rare skin diseases and rare respiratory diseases. In addition, Relief Therapeutics is commercializing several legacy products via licensing and distribution partners. Our mission to provide therapeutic relief to those suffering from rare diseases is being advanced by an international team of well-established, experienced biopharma industry leaders with extensive research, development and rare disease expertise. Relief Therapeutics is headquartered in Geneva, with additional offices in Balerna, Switzerland, Offenbach am Main, Germany and Rome. Relief Therapeutics is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange under the symbol RLF and quoted in the U.S. on OTCQB under the symbols RLFFD and RLFTD. For more information, please visit our website www.relieftherapeutics.com or follow Relief Therapeutics on LinkedIn and Twitter.RELIEF THERAPEUTICS Holding SACatherine DayVice President, Investor Relations & Communicationscontact@ relieftherapeutics.com DISCLAIMERThis press release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, which could cause the actual results, financial condition, performance or achievements of Relief Therapeutics to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. A number of factors including those described in Relief Therapeutics' filings with the SIX Swiss Exchange and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), could adversely affect Relief Therapeutics. Copies of Relief Therapeutics' filings with the SEC are available on the SEC EDGAR database at http://www.sec.gov . Relief Therapeutics does not undertake any obligation to update the information contained herein, which speaks only as of this date.Additional features:File: Ad hocSOURCE: Relief Therapeutics Holdings AG
PR-Inside.com: 2023-05-12 09:31:49

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Dhirtek Business Research and Consulting recently released their most comprehensive study on the global branched stent grafts 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 branched stent grafts industry, allowing clients to make well-informed business decisions. The report reveals key insights about the global branched stent grafts 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 branched stent grafts 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/Branched-Stent-Grafts-Market/request-for-sample-report The global branched stent grafts 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 branched stent grafts 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 branched stent grafts 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 Branched Stent Grafts Market ReportThe global branched stent grafts 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 branched stent grafts 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 branched stent grafts 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 ReportBranched Stent Grafts Market SegmentsThe market by product type is segmented into metallic material, biomaterials, other.The market by application is segmented into metallic material, biomaterials, other.Regions Covered in the Global Branched Stent Grafts 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 branched stent grafts 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 branched stent grafts 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 branched stent grafts market and its expected trajectory.It is clear that the branched stent grafts 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 branched stent grafts market.The following Companies as the Key Players in the Global Branched Stent Grafts Market Research Report:Abbott Laboratories, Alvimedica, Biotronik, Boston Scientific Corporation, Cardinal Health, Cook Medical, Endocor GmbH, Eucatech AG, Medtronic, Merit Medical Systems, TerumoContact UsDhirtek Business Research and Consulting Private LimitedContact No: +91 7580990088Email Id: sales@ dhirtekbusinessresearch.com
PR-Inside.com: 2023-05-12 09:02:35

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Dhirtek Business Research and Consulting recently released their most comprehensive study on the global nicu catheters 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 nicu catheters industry, allowing clients to make well-informed business decisions. The report reveals key insights about the global nicu catheters 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 nicu catheters 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/NICU-Catheters-Market/request-for-sample-report The global nicu catheters 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 nicu catheters 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 nicu catheters 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 NICU Catheters Market ReportThe global nicu catheters 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 nicu catheters 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 nicu catheters 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 ReportNICU Catheters Market SegmentsThe market by product type is segmented into peripherally inserted central catheters [piccs], central venous catheters [cvcs], umbilical venous catheters [uvcs], others.The market by application is segmented into hospitals, specialty clinics, ambulatory surgical centers, others.Regions Covered in the Global NICU Catheters 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 nicu catheters 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 nicu catheters 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 nicu catheters market and its expected trajectory.It is clear that the nicu catheters 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 nicu catheters market.The following Companies as the Key Players in the Global NICU Catheters Market Research Report:Advin Health Care, Angiplast, Argon Medical Devices, B. Braun Melsungen, Bactiguard AB, Becton, Dickinson and Company, Cardinal Health, Footprint Medical Incorporated, ICU Medical, Marian Medical, NeoMedical, Pergo, Smiths Medical, Sterimed Group, Utah Medical Products, Vigmed AB (Greiner Bio-One International GmbH), Vygon SAContact UsDhirtek Business Research and Consulting Private LimitedContact No: +91 7580990088Email Id: sales@ dhirtekbusinessresearch.com
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ROCK HILL, SC / ACCESSWIRE / May 12, 2023 / May 15, 2023, marks a major deadline for tax-exempt organizations across the country. All nonprofit organizations that are classified as 501(c)3 are exempt from filing federal income tax. However, they do still have annual filing requirements with the IRS. These organizations are required to file a Form 990 series return. The 990 Series includes the following forms:Form 990-NForm 990-EZForm 990Form 990-PFForm 990-TFiling Requirements with the State of CaliforniaTax-exempt organizations that operate in the State of California also have an additional filing requirement. The California Franchise Tax Board (FTB) requires organizations with annual gross receipts of $50,000 or more, are required to file Form CA 199. It is important to note that private foundations and all nonexempt charities that are classified under Section 4947(a)(1) are also required to file Form CA 199.Tax990 E-file Solutions for 990 and CA 199 ReturnsWith just a few days until the May 15th filing deadline, Tax990, an IRS-authorized, FTB-authorized e-file provider of 990 Series forms offers a complete solution for these organizations to meet their filing requirements with the IRS and California FTB.Advanced Features for Easy E-filingTax 990 features are designed to streamline the filing process for tax-exempt organizations. Tax990 clients can either copy the information from their approved federal 990 return to simplify their state CA 199 filing. If the client filed the federal 990 return with Tax990, Part II of the CA 199 will be generated automatically, if the client filed elsewhere, they can easily upload their 990 in PDF form.Much like with 990 returns, different schedules may need to be attached based on the size and structure of the organizations. Tax990 supports Schedule M-1 and L and generates these based on the information provided during the filing process.Tax990 allows clients to collaborate with their team members from a single account. There is also an option to share returns with board members for review and approval before transmitting them to the IRS and the State of California.Any forms rejected by the California Franchise Tax Board can be updated and retransmitted at no additional cost.Additionally, Tax990 provides excellent customer support throughout the filing process. Their team offers extended support hours around major 990 filing deadlines, like May 15th. The team can be reached by phone, email, and live chat.When asked about the upcoming deadline on May 15th, Agie Sundaram, the CEO, and Co-founder of SPAN Enterprises, the parent company of Tax990, responded by stating, "The team at Tax990 is dedicated to providing tax-exempt organizations and the professionals that file on their behalf with a solution that is complete, secure, and affordable. Our team will be here over the weekend providing extended customer support to ensure that all our clients are able to meet their deadlines with success." To begin filing Form CA 199 and more, create a free account today at tax990.com About Tax990Tax990 is the premier, IRS-authorized e-file provider of nonprofit tax forms. Tax990 provides solutions for nonprofits that are required to file Forms 990, 990-EZ, 990-N, 990-PF, 990-T, California Form CA-199, and Extension Form 8868 with the IRS. With advanced features and affordable pricing, the goal of Tax990 is to help nonprofits file easily, so they can continue to keep doing good.About SPAN EnterprisesBased in Rock Hill, South Carolina, SPAN Enterprises has been developing industry-leading software solutions for IRS e-filing and business management tools for over a decade.The SPAN Enterprises portfolio of products includes TaxBandits, Tax990, ACAwise, ExpressExtension, 123PayStubs, and TruckLogics.For any media inquiries, please reach out to Stephanie Glanville, Content Writer at stephanie@ spanenterprises.com SOURCE: SPAN Enterprises
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NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / May 12, 2023 / IBMOriginally presented before the Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce DevelopmentGood morning, Chairman Owens, Ranking Member Wilson, and distinguished Members of the Subcommittee. I am Lydia Logan, IBM's Vice President for Global Education and Workforce Development. Thank you for the opportunity to testify on the state of skills development in the United States, the role of employers in providing new skilling opportunities toward career advancement, and the role of government in supporting employer-led programs.In my role at IBM, I create more effective education and workforce programs by leading our community and university skills initiatives. These programs help fulfill IBM's pledge to skill 30 million people worldwide by 2030. Today, I will share IBM's experience leading skills development programs and our perspective about the need for multiple pathways to careers - especially in the technology sector. I will also share some policy recommendations that can holistically expand and scale proven efforts nationwide.Despite economic uncertainties, the current unemployment rate remains historically low. The U.S. is experiencing a massive skills shortage across industries and employers are competing for workers with the right mix of skills and competencies for available positions. According to a recent report, 77% of employers face difficulties finding qualified talent - a 17 year high.1 At the same time, enrollment at traditional higher education institutions continues to decline. And employers estimate 44% of workers' skills will be disrupted or changed in the next five years, according to a World Economic Forum report.2To help solve these workforce challenges, targeted skills development programs with on-the-job experience play a vital role. These programs help ensure workers and job seekers obtain the in-demand skills employers seek and ensure longevity in fulfilling careers.In our experience and research, IBM has found that time and money are two of the greatest barriers for workers as well as businesses looking to create new skills programs. According to a recent study we commissioned with Morning Consult, 60% of students, people seeking new jobs, and people seeking to change careers worry that online learning or obtaining digital credentials may be costly to obtain.3 As a global technology leader, we believe the U.S. must rethink its education and workforce development approach to meet today's market needs in order to create good-paying jobs and opportunities for more Americans.To help close the skills gap, we offer a range of education, skills, and career readiness programs to U.S. students and job seekers at no cost. Our programs help Americans get on the path to technology careers by reskilling people in early or mid-career job roles via our registered apprenticeship program or through collaborative partnerships with nonprofit organizations, education systems, and skilling programs. Employee lifelong learning and development have been a hallmark of IBM's culture since graduating its first class of sales professionals in 1916. Today, we continue to invest in learning and development programs.Our employees are expected to complete a minimum of 40 hours of professional development annually to continuously build their skills and remain competitive in today's marketplace. Our employees exceed that mark: In 2022, IBMers completed an average of 88 hours or 22 million learning hours collectively. As a result, 9 out of 10 IBMers now have skills of the future, compared to 3 out of 10 when we started this initiative more than 5 years ago. Credentials, including digital badges, that provide a measure of learning progress and skills acquisition are a vital part of IBM's robust education and professional development strategy. These credentials provide employees a portable means of carrying their learning achievements along their career journeys.Nonetheless, we also recognize that more needs to be done and done at scale to ensure our country can remain competitive globally.Expanding Career PathwaysSeveral years ago, IBM coined the term "new collar" jobs to describe in-demand, well paying jobs that did not require degrees because for these roles a candidate's skills matter more. Further, a focus on new collar jobs creates opportunities for new sources of talent with diverse backgrounds and skill sets previously excluded by the lack of a college degree. We speak from experience: rewriting job descriptions and removing the four-year degree requirement in more than half of IBM job openings in the U.S. resulted in more diverse applicants - including a 63% increase in underrepresented applicants - and almost 20% of our U.S. hires joining without a degree.To further the point: 62% of Americans 25 years of age or older do not have a bachelor's degree, and traditional four-year degree requirements exacerbate inequality in the workforce, which results in around 79% of Hispanic and 72% of Black applicants being ruled out from consideration for roles with traditional degree requirements. A national skills first - as opposed to degree first - policy would help bridge the gap between job openings and qualified applicants.IBM Apprenticeship ProgramThe IBM Apprenticeship program is another way IBM is expanding pathways to meaningful careers in technology. We started our first-of-its-kind technology apprenticeship in 2017, and in its first year it grew nearly twice as fast as expected. Today, we have more than 30 different apprenticeship job roles, from cybersecurity to AI to digital design.Furthermore, IBM's technology apprenticeship programs allow people to earn and learn at the same time - participants do not have to choose between education and career. Our apprenticeship programs earned official recognition from the American Council on Education (ACE) for more than 40 college credits, which is approximately 80% of the credits needed toward an associate degree, with no cost for the apprentices. To cite one example, our Application Developer role recently was evaluated by ACE for a recommended 51 credit hours. We are currently working with community colleges to seamlessly transfer these credits and add complementary courses that would lead to an associate degree for the apprentices.We know this work-based learning model works because it's positively impacting people's lives4. As Adrianna - an IBM apprentice graduate who now serves as the IBM Recruitment Professional shared, "My life truly changed overnight. I went from putting out fires all hours of the day and night, to being able to actually enjoy a vacation with my family knowing that my team had my back. That's time
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NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / May 12, 2023 / U.S. BankPhoto: The Spicy Olive is one of the 1.1 million small businesses that U.S. Bank serves across the country.Originally published on U.S. Bank company blogMelanie Cedargren, founder of The Spicy Olive in Ohio, brought her passion for the freshest and finest olive oils and balsamic vinaigrettes to life when she opened her first shop in 2012. She has since expanded to three locations and now offers wine tastings and cooking classes to complement her flagship products.U.S. Bank has been there for most of Cedargren's journey. "My U.S. Bank banker, Tony Dubose, has really empowered me to grow and efficiently manage my business," she explained. "I have worked with U.S. Bank for more than 10 years and they have always been there along the way. My advice to aspiring business owners is to follow your dreams. There are people out there willing to help you." The Spicy Olive is one of the 1.1 million small businesses that U.S. Bank serves across the country. Each May, in honor of the Small Business Administration's National Small Business Week, the bank recognizes and celebrates small business owners for their contributions to our communities and economy. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and many other organizations, including U.S. Bank, extend this celebration throughout the month of May.Another thriving business brings their love for Jamaican food and culture to their community in Oakland, California. Restaurant co-owner Roxanne Mosley reopened Sweet Fingers last summer after a two-and-half-year closure due to a one-two punch of the pandemic and a kitchen fire. U.S. Bank has supported Sweet Fingers since the restaurant's beginning in 2009. In March, team members from U.S. Bank visited Mosley and her dynamic staff to celebrate their success."Since we reopened last June, our success has surpassed my expectations," said Mosley. "We have come back even stronger as demand for catering events for community groups and services has skyrocketed." "U.S. Bank shares the passion our business owners have for their local communities," said Sekou Kaalund, head of Branch and Small Business banking at U.S. Bank. "And without that beloved local business just around the corner that we all have, our communities wouldn't have the same charm and vibrancy that they do." To further power the potential of clients and aid in closing the wealth gap, U.S. Bank recently expanded its support for diverse businesses with several community-driven programs, including:Business Access program that provides diverse businesses with one-one support from a Business Access AdvisorBusiness Diversity Lending program that expands lending opportunities for women-, minority-, and veteran-owned businessesA partnership with Meta Prosper to support Asian-owned businesses with tools and resourcesYou can follow us throughout the month on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram where we will feature a new small business every week. #usabanksmallbusiness, #SmallBusinessMonth.View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from U.S. Bank on 3 blmedia.com Contact Info:Spokesperson: U.S. BankWebsite: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/us-bank Email: info@3 blmedia.com SOURCE: U.S. Bank
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Winning $250,000 at an award ceremony held in London on International Nurses Day, Margaret was chosen from over 52,000 registrations from nurses hailing from 202 countries.LONDON, UK / ACCESSWIRE / May 12, 2023 / Margaret Helen Shepherd from UK has been announced as the winner of the Aster Guardians Global Nursing Award 2023 in a prestigious award ceremony held at Queen Elizabeth II Centre in London. The winner was announced by Dr. Azad Moopen, Founder Chairman and Managing Director of Aster DM Healthcare and the award was presented alongside Professor Jamie Waterall, Deputy Chief Public Health Nurse for the Office of Health Improvement & Disparities at Govt. of UK; Ms. Sheila Sobrany - President of Royal College of Nursing; Ms. Alisha Moopen, Deputy Managing Director, Aster DM Healthcare; and Mr. TJ Wilson - Executive Director and Group Head - Governance & Corporate Affairs, Aster DM Healthcare.Launched on International Nurses Day in May 2021 by Aster DM Healthcare, with an aim to recognise the selfless contribution of nurses to millions of patients worldwide, Aster Guardians Global Nursing Award 2023 received an overwhelming response from nurses worldwide with over 52,000 nurses from 202 countries, a 116% growth from the last edition which had received 24,000 applications.The award ceremony also saw a special video message from Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus - Director General of World Health Organisation being played to congratulate all the finalists and thank Aster DM Healthcare for the initiative.On winning the award, Nurse Margaret said, "I am deeply humbled and grateful to receive the prestigious Aster Guardians Global Nursing Award. As healthcare professionals, we are privileged to be able to make a positive impact on the lives of our patients, and I feel blessed to be part of such a rewarding profession. This award not only recognises my personal achievements but also highlights the importance of nursing as a critical component of healthcare. Thank you to all my colleagues, mentors, and patients who have supported me throughout my career." Margaret has been dedicated to improving diabetes care through better diagnosis. She is the leading nurse for monogenic diabetes in the UK and provides advice to clinicians across the world regarding the management of this condition. She set up a national network of genetic diabetes nurses in 2002 to increase awareness of this condition (which is initially misdiagnosed in 80% of cases, resulting in patients being treated with unnecessary insulin injections). She was one of 70 national NIHR70@70 Senior Nurse Research Leaders (driving innovation and new roles to increase research awareness and engagement within clinical care) and has received the prestigious Florence Nightingale Foundation Leadership Scholarship.Dr. Azad Moopen, Founder Chairman and Managing Director of Aster DM Healthcare said, "We are honoured to announce Ms Margaret Helen Shepherd from the United Kingdom as the winner of this year's Aster Guardians Global Nursing Award. She has exemplified the highest standards of patient care and dedication that is inspirational, and it deserves global recognition. Each one of the top 10 finalists have done phenomenal work and the Grand Jury had a tough time assessing and selecting the final winner. We are privileged to offer Aster Guardians Global Nursing Award as a platform to share and honor the accomplishments of exceptional nurses from around the globe." Ms. Alisha Moopen, Deputy Managing Director, Aster DM Healthcare said, "Aster Guardians Global Nursing Award is a small yet significant expression of gratitude that aligns with this year's International Nurses Day theme, Our Nurses. Our Future'. Nurses ensure that patients receive high-quality care and often go beyond their call of duty to ensure that the right care is provided. This often helps them develop into other areas like research, innovation, mentorship, education, digitization among others as the stories of this year's finalists and the winner have showcased. We as individuals and organizations must ensure that they receive the recognition they deserve, and this is where initiatives like Aster Guardians Global Nursing Award come into play. As a group, we will continue to support and celebrate the tireless efforts of nurses and put forth their inspiring stories of excellence." The rest of the 9 finalists, Cathy Cribben-Pearse from UAE, Christine Mawia Sammy from Kenya, Gloria Ceballo from Panama, Jincy Jerry from Ireland, Lilian Yew Siew Mee from Singapore, Michael Joseph Dino from Philippines, Shanti Teresa Lakra from India, Teresa Fraga from Portugal, and Wilson Fungameza Gwessa from Tanzania were also awarded with a monetary prize.These nurses were selected through a stringent review process run by Ernst & Young LLP, a panel of Screening-Jury and the Grand Jury.-ENDS-About Aster DM HealthcareAster DM Healthcare Limited is one of the largest private healthcare service providers operating in GCC and in India. With an inherent emphasis on clinical excellence, we are one of the few entities in the world with a strong presence across primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary healthcare through our 30 hospitals, 125 clinics, 496* pharmacies, 20 labs and 157 patient experience centers in seven countries, including India. We reach out to all economic segments in the GCC states through our differentiated healthcare services across the "Aster", "Medcare" and "Access" brands.* Including 239 Pharmacies in India operated by Alfaone Retail Pharmacies Private Limited under brand license from Aster.For media enquiries on Aster Guardians Global Nursing Awards:Lavanya MandalAster DM HealthcareTel: +971 528126577Charlotte Josephmarkettiers LondonTel: 07725079378asterguardians@ markettiers.com SOURCE: Aster DM
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 12. The Ministry of Culture of Azerbaijan and TURKSOY (International Organization of Turkic Culture) will jointly organize the official opening ceremony of the "Shusha - cultural capital of the Turkic world-2023" event today in Azerbaijans Shusha city, Trend reports.

The event, organized in accordance with the decree of the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev dated December 6, 2022, provides for the participation of local officials, delegations of TURKSOY member countries, heads of cooperation organizations of Turkic countries and other guests.

The opening ceremony will be followed by performances of creative teams from the Turkic countries and familiarization with exhibitions.

The ancient city of Shusha, being the cradle of Mugham art, was declared the 2023 cultural capital of the Turkic world at the meeting of the Permanent Council of TURKSOY in Turkish Bursa City on March 31, 2022.

Musical and dance groups and artists of the member countries of TURKSOY took part in the Khari Bulbul International Musical Festival held on May 9-11, 2023 in Shusha.

The foundations of the "Cultural Capital of the Turkic World" project were laid in 2010 at the 10th summit of the heads of Turkic-speaking countries in Istanbul.

Previously, Astana (2012), Eskisehir (2013), Kazan (2014), Merv (2015), Shaki (2016), Turkestan (2017), Kastamonu (2018), Osh (2019), Khiva (2020) and Bursa (2022) were cultural capitals of the Turkic world.
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First Quarter 2023 Results and Executive Leadership ChangesCALGARY, AB / ACCESSWIRE / May 12, 2023 / Valeura Energy Inc. (TSX:VLE) ("Valeura" or the "Company"), the upstream oil and gas company with assets in the Gulf of Thailand and the Thrace Basin of Turkey, reports its unaudited financial and operating results for the three month period ended March 31, 2023 and changes to its executive leadership team.The complete quarterly reporting package for the Company, including the unaudited financial statements and associated management's discussion and analysis ("MD&A"), are being filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and posted to the Company's website at www.valeuraenergy.com Q1 2023 Operational Highlights of the Mubadala Acquisition Assets(1) Q1 2023 oil production of 20,475 bbls/d; Eight development wells drilled on the Jasmine oil field, including seven which are now on production; Excellent safety performance, with no recorded lost time incidents, injuries or spills; Capital spending of approximately US$34 million; and Operating costs of US$38.0 million, equating to approximately US$21/bbl.(1) Mubadala Acquisition Assets means the upstream oil producing portfolio of Busrakham Oil and Gas Limited acquired by Valeura from Mubadala Petroleum (Thailand) Holdings Limited on March 22, 2023 (the "Mubadala Acquisition"). These metrics relate to the assets' operational performance during the period January 1, 2023 through March 31, 2023 and are presented for future comparative purposes. Valeura was the operator of the Mubadala Acquisition Assets for the nine-day period from March 22, 2023 through March 31, 2023, and accordingly, only a portion of these results are included along with the balance of Valeura's operations during the quarter.Q1 2023 Valeura Financial Highlights(2) Cash and cash equivalent resources of US$268.5 million; Working capital of US$103.8 million; Completion of the Mubadala Acquisition on March 22, 2023 including a bargain purchase gain amount of US$207.6 million; and Acquisition of the remaining 12.5% interest in the special purpose vehicle subsidiary company, Valeura Energy Asia Pte. Ltd (the "SPV") on March 21, 2023, increasing Valeura's effective interest in its entire Thailand portfolio (including all reserves) by 14.3% for a consideration of 9.5 million shares in Valeura.(2) These metrics refer to Valeura's reported performance for Q1 2023, of which, results from the Mubadala Acquisition Assets are included for the period March 22, 2023 through March 31, 2023, in addition to the balance of Valeura's activities for the entire quarter. These figures are as of March 31, 2023.Subsequent Development Highlights Restart of production from the Wassana oil field on April 28, 2023; Increase in working interest to 100% in Licence G10/48, containing the Wassana oil field; Divestment of Valeura's interest in Licence G6/48, containing the undeveloped Rossukon oil field for contingent cash consideration of US$5 million, payable at first oil and a further overriding royalty; and Average oil production above 23,000 bbls/d in recent days.Sean Guest, President and CEO Commented"I am delighted to present our first quarterly report which includes the producing assets acquired through the Mubadala Acquisition. While the operating results only include the nine-day portion during which Valeura was the operator, the financial impact of having completed the transaction speaks volumes about the magnitude of the transformation our Company has undergone.Our aggregate cash position at March 31 has increased to US$268.5 million and, even after accounting for the impact of upcoming tax liabilities, this equates to working capital of US$103.8 million. We are relatively unlevered, with just US$49.9 million in debt at quarter end, leaving us with the capacity to do much more with our financial resources to add value for shareholders as we continue to pursue our growth-oriented strategy.Aggregate oil production from the Mubadala Acquisition Assets averaged 20,475 bbls/d during the quarter. Due to the timing of liftings, no oil was sold during Valeura's nine days of operatorship, however, at the end of the quarter, we were carrying total inventory of US$95.6 million, approximately 2/3 of which is crude oil in storage prior to sale.Meanwhile, our combined team of more than 200 people has continued their strong safety performance, with no lost time incidents or other injuries. The entire organisation is invigorated by the combined operational and financial scale and prospects for our Gulf of Thailand businesses and we are continuing to oversee operations in our customary professional manner. To date, drilling operations have focused on the Jasmine oil field where four months of infill drilling and workovers resulted in seven new oil producers and the field's production has increased approximately 30% relative to the average rate prior to the commencement of drilling. Production at the Wassana oil field was restarted on April 28 and the team is gradually bringing that field back to the expected levels of production. Our focus on growth from these two assets has contributed to average production above 23,000 bbls/d in recent days. Elsewhere, preparations are underway for continued infill drilling at the Nong Yao, Manora, and Wassana oil fields, prior to the expanded development of the Nong Yao oil field in Q4 2023.As we press forward with integration activities, we are continuing to focus on our governance and leadership priorities, and I am pleased to announce certain changes to our executive leadership team. Kelvin Tang has joined Valeura as Executive Vice President of Corporate, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary, bringing with him a wealth of knowledge from his many years in executive roles within the Southeast Asia upstream industry. Yacine Ben-Meriem has joined Valeura as Chief Financial Officer, contributing deep financial acumen garnered through the international investment banking sector around the Southeast Asia region. Ian Warrilow has joined Valeura as Thailand Country Manager, a welcome addition back to the Thailand organisation, after having spent much of his career with Mubadala in various international positions including a previous management role with the team in Thailand. All of these executives have deep experience with the assets we have acquired in Thailand.While Valeura remains a Canadian company, the executive team, including myself, will be based in Southeas
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The new program combines personalized financial assessments with financial literacy education to help employers empower their employees along their financial journeys.WILMINGTON, DE / ACCESSWIRE / May 12, 2023 / Wealth management and retirement planning leader Veery Capital has announced the launch of WellCents, a comprehensive and holistic financial wellness solution. Designed as a guidance-based, beginning-to-end solution to help employers instill confidence in their employees' financial peace of mind, WellCents provides individuals the tools, and a plan, necessary to achieve financial security.Each WellCents participant will undergo a financial wellness assessment and receive a financial wellness score based on their current financial situation, along with a customized action plan that will recommend ways to improve their respective positions. All information gathered and reviewed during the assessment is kept entirely confidential.Financial wellness has become increasingly important to Americans over the past few years as the country has transitioned out of the pandemic era. Employers have become aware of the many financial stresses facing their employees, such as how 70% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck, 40% spend three or more hours per week managing personal finance issues, and how 64% would struggle to cover a $1,000 emergency without borrowing money."At Veery Capital, we are dedicated to working with employers to help them deliver the valuable benefit of a strong financial education to their employees," said Sarah Shaw, Financial Planning Associate at Veery Capital.Whether employees are interested in learning more about short or long-term investments, savings strategies, or retirement plan services, Veery's team of experts can support them in their financial education journey.WellCents customers have access to group education workshops that are tailored to the needs of participants based on employee and peer assessment data, as well as 1:1 meetings in which advisors discuss the financial needs and goals of individual employees, many of which go beyond the scope of their employer-sponsored retirement plan."The WellCents program through Veery has been extremely helpful so far. I have had a couple of Microsoft Teams meetings with Sarah Shaw, and she is great to work with. I can bounce ideas off her relating to current financial decisions and even long-term plans such as my wife and my 401k plans and setting up a 529 for my daughter's college fund. I look forward to continuing to meet with Sarah to grow my financial knowledge and discuss future plans. I highly recommend all our employees to take advantage of the program even if it is just to ask a couple of general investing questions," said Hunter Dann, client at Veery Capital.In addition to these educational sessions, WellCents also includes an extensive resource center that provides employees with the opportunity to improve their financial literacy through a litany of articles, checklists, calculators, and other data covering an array of financial planning topics.Headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, Veery Capital offers tailored institutional and individual client services. The Veery Capital team's diversified portfolio of financial expertise helps them to provide personalized and detailed solutions to client challenges.To learn more about WellCents by Veery Capital, please visit https://veerycapital.com/retirement-plan-services/ About Veery CapitalVeery Capital partners with both institutions and individuals to help achieve their unique goals. In addition to retirement plans for institutions, we advise individuals in personal wealth management, financial planning, and investment management.Contact Information:Kate MuckleMarketing Coordinatorkmuckle@ veerycapital.com 302-660-3350SOURCE: Veery Capital
Social media is currently abuzz as Kizz Daniel returns with another groovy hit entitled Shu Peru, produced by Rewardz Beats, mixed and mastered by renowned engineer Jaycen Joshua.

With its unique and captivating sounds, the track, released early hours of Friday, has sent his global fans into a complete frenzy.

The new song, Shu Peru, his second single of 2023, created a lot of buzz with over 10000 YouTube views within three hours of release.

In addition to the audio release, the music video for Shu Peru  will also be premiered soon. It was directed by TG Omori, who previously directed Kizz Daniels hit single Buga with over 170 million views on YouTube.

Described as one of Africas most talented musicians, Kizz Daniel has had an incredible year so far following his monster hits Buga Cough, R.T.I.D, a testament to his talent and hard work.

The Nigerian Afrobeats sensation and one of the most streamed artistes in Africa is gearing up for a new album, a tour, and a performance at Essence Festival in July.

Vado the Great, fondly called by his fans, continues to push the boundaries in the industry, making headlines for his exceptional music with his creativity and legendary style.

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South Africa Model and Miss Universe 2019, Zozibini Tunzi, has been announced as the co-host of the 9th edition of the Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards alongside foremost Nigerian media personality IK Osakioduwa.

The organisers said IKs return to hosting the prestigious awards for the ninth time is a testament to his mastery and excellence on this stage.

Zozibini Tunzi, a model, actor, social media personality, and beauty pageant titleholder, had previously been Miss South Africa 2019 and won Miss Universe 2019 with resounding global approval.

She made her acting debut with The Woman King in 2022. Zozobini is also a radio and television host and has hosted several prolific events, including Miss South Africa.

Media personalities Toke Makinwa, Uti Nwachukwu, Sika Osei and VJ Adama will also be hosting on the red carpet in their signature styles of fun and fashion. They will be speaking to guests, giving viewers a sneak peek into all the glitz and glam of the red carpet.

Speaking on the announcement, Busola Tejumola, executive head of Content and West Africa Channels, MultiChoice Nigeria, said: We are excited to have IK and Zozibini as the hosts of the 9th edition of the AMVCA. They are both professionals in their craft, and we trust they will bring in the super energy and professionalism and keep the continent entertained as we celebrate our African stars.

The much-anticipated ninth edition of the Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards (AMVCA) will hold over three days, from Thursday, 18 May, to Saturday, 20 May. The events will kick off with the Opening/Cultural Night on Thursday, May 18, and the MTF Day and Digital Content Creators Day on Friday, 19 May, and the Nominee Gala/Runway show will hold later that day. The event will culminate in the awards night on Saturday, 20 May.

Dont miss the ninth edition of the Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards live on all Africa Magic channels on DStv and GOtv from 16:00 WAT (17:00 CAT) on Saturday, 20 May.

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The Federal University Birnin Kebbi (FUBK) has announced the appointment of Aliyu Abdullahi, a professor, as the new Deputy Vice-Chancellor.

Mr Abdullahis appointment was confirmed by the universitys governing council, during its 26th meeting held from 10 to 11 May, Jamilu Magaji, the universitys spokesperson, said in a statement.

He said Mr Abdullahi succeeds Kasimu Shehu, also a professor, adding that the two-year appointment takes effect from Thursday, 11th May, .

Other appointments

Meanwhile, the universitys Vice-Chancellor, Muhammad Umar, a professor, has also approved the appointment of other individuals into various positions in the institution.

He reappointed the immediate past Deputy Vice Chancellor, Kasimu Shehu, as Director, Research and Innovation; Isa Abor, a professor in the Department of Mathematics as Director, Consultancy and Entrepreneurship, and Kabiru Umar of the Department of Chemistry, as Director, School of Basic Studies.

The PREMIUM TIMES also learnt that the Vice-Chancellor also approved the appointment of M.D.A. Bunza, a professor of Biological Sciences, as Director, General Studies; Sirajo Bakura as Deputy Director Students Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES); Abubakar Musa as Deputy Director, Entrepreneurship; Ahmad Saidu as Deputy Director, School of Basic Studies, and Yazid Salihu as Deputy Director, Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

Their appointments take effect from 27th April, 2023, the universitys spokesperson said, adding that The new appointees are charged to bring to bear their wealth of experience in the discharge of their duties and responsibilities.

About new DVC

The new deputy vice chancellor, Mr Abdullahi, was the Director of Academic Planning and Deputy Dean, Postgraduate School from 2021. He also served as deputy director, Academic Planning from 2015 to 2021 as well as Head of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from 2018 to 2023.

Mr Abdullahi holds a Bachelor and Masters of Science degrees in Biochemistry from Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, in 1996 and 2006, respectively. He obtained his Doctorate degree in Molecular Biology at the University of Greenwich, United Kingdom in 2014.

Between 2007 and 2008, he also obtained a Postgraduate Certificate in Food Safety and Certificate in Applied Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) from University of Greenwhich and Royal Institute of Public Health, UK, the university said.

He started his teaching career as a Lecturer at College of Agriculture, Zuru in 1998. He joined the services of Federal University Birnin Kebbi on 26th May, 2015 as Lecturer I at the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, where he rose through ranks to become Professor in 2022.

Qosim Suleiman is a reporter at Premium Times in partnership with Report for the World, which matches local newsrooms with talented emerging journalists to report on under-covered issues around the globe

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Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has called for the revamping of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to regain its important and dominant leadership role in Nigeria and Africa.

The partys presidential candidate in the 2023 general election gave the advice at a programme called Welcome/reception of PDP governors-elect and send forth of the past PDP Governors Forum (PDP-GF) chairmen, on Thursday in Abuja.

The programme with the theme Good Governance at the Sub-national Level: Issues, Perspectives, Expectations and Outcomes was organised by the PDP-GF.

Mr Abubakar said the PDP formed in 1999 as a dominant political party, was passing through challenges that must be addressed.

We have a number of challenges. We started as a dominant political party in 1999, and since then, we have been receding.

I think it is time for us to take stock and find out why we are receding and how we can ensure that our prominent position as the leading political party in this country, as the oldest political party in this country, we regain our position.

This is a very important challenge which I think requires a whole day seminar for us as a party to ensure that we regain our eminent position in the politics of this country and the whole of Africa, he said.

Mr Abubakar, who congratulated all the governors-elect and those re-elected on the partys platform, urged all party members to be united and determined in the partys effort to reclaim its mandate at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT).

Also, a former Vice-President, Nnamani Sambo, advised the party to investigate how members were suspended without recourse to due process.

Mr Sambo said there was a need for the cooperation of all to keep the party members together.

What is happening in some states today already is very unfortunate. For example, in Kaduna State today, people are being suspended from the party front, left, right and centre without due process,

I will seize this opportunity to publicly call on the acting national chairman to look into what is happening in Kaduna State because all the ingredients for trouble and problems in the party are being put in place.

So likewise in other states, I will use this opportunity to call on all party members to cooperate, to let the party continue, Mr Sambo said.

The PDP Acting National Chairman, Umar Damagum, commended the PDP-GF for consistently contributing to the development of the party and projecting it in the areas of good governance.

Mr Damagum, who congratulated the governors elected on the platform of the party, urged them to emulate the outstanding performance that the PDP governors were known for.

For the newly elected governors, I also congratulate you and advise you to follow in the footsteps of your predecessors.

We have made a mark. There is no state that PDP is governed that has not seen development. I believe you will follow in the footsteps of the governors. For those states that were not PDP before, I also believe you will do more, he said.

ALSO READ: Atiku makes first appearance at Presidential Election Petition Court

Mr Damagum called on the judiciary to ensure justice was done on the ongoing election petitions on the presidential election before it.

The Chairman of the governors forum, Aminu Tambuwal, of Sokoto State, said since the formation of the forum in 2014, it had become an alternative voice in the governance of the country, which could not be ignored.

Mr Tambuwal urged the governors-elect to continue to sustain the collaboration and strength the forum is known for.

Also, the newly elected governors of our party, on behalf of my colleagues and governors in the forum, welcome you to this event and into the forum. You are the shining arm of our party going forward.

I am happy to bequeath to you and, indeed, the members of this forum, a forum that is strong, cohesive and vocal in defence of democracy and good governance in the country.

With the calibre of governors-elect I see here today, I can say confidently forum is going to be in good hands, Mr Tambuwal said.

He commended the outgoing governors for their solidarity, comradeship and dedication to moving the party forward.

He expressed confidence that the party would be victorious in the tribunals ongoing presidential election petition.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the former chairpersons of the forum were honoured, while plaques were presented to outgoing governors of the party.(NAN)

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The Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, has commended President Muhammadu Buhari for approving the establishment of the Federal University of Medical and Health Science, Kwale in Delta State.

Mr Omo-Agege said this in a statement in Asaba on Thursday by his Chief Press Secretary, Sunny Areh.

Following persistent strategic and fruitful engagements between the Deputy President of the Senate, Sen. Ovie Omo-Agege and the Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu and a subsequent direct request to His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, the federal government has now approved the establishment of the Federal University of Medical and Health Science, Kwale.

This is a great win for all our people, especially the Ndokwa nation. It is a fulfillment of a major campaign promise by the deputy Senate president to the good people of Ndokwa nation during the last electoral campaigns. We give all the glory to God Almighty, he said.

Mr Omo-Agege said he was eternally grateful to the president for his undeniable patriotic and equitable leadership spirit which has again resulted in the establishment of this much needed institution.

He said that the gesture came at the heels of the establishment of the Federal Polytechnic Orogun in Ughelli North LGA of the state, both for the good of the people.

The deputy senate president also thanked the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, for demonstrating admirable patriotism and respect for positive friendship in managing the huge responsibilities of state.

Mr Omo-Agege said the establishment of the Federal University of Medical and Health Science, Kwale was without question, a worthy achievement.

Its my hope that our leaders will work together to realise its proper take-off and sustainable functioning for the benefits of our youths.

(NAN)

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President Muhammadu Buhari has saluted a former Head of State, Yakubu Gowon, for the wisdom of setting up the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), in 1973.

In a statement by his spokesperson, Femi Adesina, on Friday, in Abuja, Mr Buhari said the scheme had indeed achieved the goal of national integration.

The president said this was by providing opportunities for cross-cultural interactions and establishing formidable bridges for improved understanding.

Mr Buhari congratulated Mr Yakubu, a retired general, and all the former and incumbent directors-general of the corps for inspiring and sustaining a 50-year legacy that had strengthened a web of solidarity and bolstered loyalty to the nation.

He said the scheme had also broadened the horizon of citizens, promoted civic responsiveness, created a better understanding of various individual and ethnic identities and their diversities and underscored the bottom line of the shared values of fairness, justice, peace and unity.

According to him, the NYSC remains one of the most vital ideals of nation-building, institutionally encouraging inter-cultural and inter-religious marriages and removing insularity among citizens.

He said the scheme had also helped in resettling people of various tribes in different parts of the country, exploring entrepreneurship and business opportunities in places, and enabling a new culture of oneness, brotherliness and neighbourliness.

Mr Buhari affirmed that the scheme must be sustained, with a constant reminder of the history, structure and purpose that should not be abused, trivialised or undermined.

This, he said, could be achieved by keeping a focus on the larger picture: Nigerias unity is a process and a collective responsibility that must not be negotiated.

According to the president, he shares the joyous season of the milestone with all those that have enjoyed the adventures of the scheme and have been sharing memories and pictures with nostalgia.

The president wished potential corps members all the best as they moved to different parts of the country to share and explore new experiences of the diversity of Nigeria.

Mr Buhari recalled that one of the joys and highlights of his administration had been the annual ritual of receiving corps members in his country home in Daura, Katsina State, during Eid-el-Fitr Sallah and asking about their welfare.

He noted that two visiting presidents from Niger Republic and Guinea Bissau had participated and enjoyed such interactions.

The president thanked the Nigerian Army, the director-general of the NYSC, and various private and public institutions for providing the enabling environment for the schemes success.

(NAN)

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The Federal University Birnin Kebbi (FUBK) has announced the appointment of Aliyu Abdullahi, a professor, as the new Deputy Vice-Chancellor.

Mr Abdullahis appointment wasnt sure confirmed by the universitys governing council, during its 26th meeting held from 10 to 11 May, Jamilu Magaji, the universitys spokesperson, said in a statement.

He said Mr Abdullahi succeeds Kasimu Shehu, also a professor, adding that the two-year appointment takes effect from Thursday, 11th May, .

Other appointments

Meanwhile, the universitys Vice-Chancellor, Muhammad Umar, a professor, has also approved the appointment of other individuals into various positions in the institution.

He reappointed the immediate past Deputy Vice Chancellor, Kasimu Shehu, as Director, Research and Innovation; Isa Abor, a professor in the Department of Mathematics as Director, Consultancy and Entrepreneurship, and Kabiru Umar of the Department of Chemistry, as Director, School of Basic Studies.

The PREMIUM TIMES also learnt that the Vice-Chancellor also approved the appointment of M.D.A. Bunza, a professor of Biological Sciences, as Director, General Studies; Sirajo Bakura as Deputy Director Students Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES); Abubakar Musa as Deputy Director, Entrepreneurship; Ahmad Saidu as Deputy Director, School of Basic Studies, and Yazid Salihu as Deputy Director, Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

Their appointments take effect from 27th April, 2023, the universitys spokesperson said, adding that The new appointees are charged to bring to bear their wealth of experience in the discharge of their duties and responsibilities.

About new DVC

The new deputy vice chancellor, Mr Abdullahi, was the Director of Academic Planning and Deputy Dean, Postgraduate School from 2021. He also served as deputy director, Academic Planning from 2015 to 2021 as well as Head of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from 2018 to 2023.

Mr Abdullahi holds a Bachelor and Masters of Science degrees in Biochemistry from Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, in 1996 and 2006, respectively. He obtained his Doctorate degree in Molecular Biology at the University of Greenwich, United Kingdom in 2014.

Between 2007 and 2008, he also obtained a Postgraduate Certificate in Food Safety and Certificate in Applied Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) from University of Greenwhich and Royal Institute of Public Health, UK, the university said.

He started his teaching career as a Lecturer at College of Agriculture, Zuru in 1998. He joined the services of Federal University Birnin Kebbi on 26th May, 2015 as Lecturer I at the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, where he rose through ranks to become Professor in 2022.

Qosim Suleiman is a reporter at Premium Times in partnership with Report for the World, which matches local newsrooms with talented emerging journalists to report on under-covered issues around the globe

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The United Kingdom (UK) Court of Appeal has affirmed the jailing of a Nigerian man for 20 years for raping a minor who is also his daughter.

The convict, referred to as RK in the courts judgement seen by PREMIUM TIMES, was sentenced in November 2022 to a custodial term of 15 years imprisonment and an extended licence period of five years.

RK was initially convicted of one count of rape of a child under 13, 0n 26 November 2021 in Crown Court at Croydon. The case was before Judge Gower KC. The child, his daughter, was 10 years old at the time of the offence in the UK.

The victim, who was age two when her mother abandoned her, told UK authorities how she came under serial rape by her father at least from 2011 when she was age 10 both in Nigeria and the UK.

The case also highlights how victims of sexual and domestic abuse hardly get justice and protection in Nigeria. It presents a missed opportunity for the Nigerian police to prove its commitment to protecting such victims.

The UK court heard in evidence and acknowledged that the victim, identified as Susan also referred to being raped by her father on one or two occasions after he had taken her back to live in Nigeria the police in Nigeria were informed, but did nothing in response to the report.

How Mr RK met his Waterloo

Mr RK is a Nigerian with a UK passport, frequently shuttling the UK and Nigeria. He had his daughter, who the court referred to as Susan, in 2001 with his partner, who abandoned him and Susan at two years old.

She was brought up by her paternal grandparents in Nigeria until 2006 when her father arranged for her to travel to the UK to live with him. Shortly after her arrival, he married a woman she did not get on with. The couple went on to have a child together.

On the eve of Susans seventh birthday, her father assaulted her. He inflicted bodily harm on her, which earned him a 12-month imprisonment.

Social services took custody of little Susan after the incident until May 2011, when she was returned to her father (Mr RK).

Mr RKs marriage in the UK broke down in September, which led his wife to leave the house with their child. Susan was left alone with him.

For reasons not stated in the court document cited by this newspaper, Mr RK changed the family name. By January 2012, he moved back to Nigeria with Susan. While in Nigeria, he met a lady the court called Mary and started a relationship with her.

Unlike her fathers wife in the UK, Susan warmed up to Mary. Susan liked Mary very much and regarded her as a mother figure. Little Susan did not have the luxury of spending much time with Mary. She was sent away to boarding school and only returned for school holidays.

Five years later (October 2017), Mr RK left Mary to return to the UK and rekindle his relationship with his estranged wife. The decision sent Susan back to an estranged wife, living with her grandparents; her father tried to get her to leave her grandparents and return to him, but she resisted.

When she refused, he arranged for her kidnap, apparently to send her to a military school. It was only thanks to the efforts made by an uncle that she could escape, the court said.

In January 2018, 16-year-old Susan obtained emergency travel documentation through the British Council in Nigeria. She travelled to the UK alone, intending to stay with another family member.

When she arrived in the UK, the UK border force officials asked why she was an unaccompanied minor and heard her story of how her father had sexually assaulted her.

In response to the border officials in March 2018, she alleged that her father retained her passport and raped her between September and December 2011 when they lived independently in the flat in Croydon (before he whisked her away to Nigeria).

According to the court document, the case could only be prosecuted once Susan decided she wanted to. She eventually decided to in July 2018. By August of the same year, she gave an interview narrating her experience with Mr RK, her father.

She told UK police that after his fathers wife and the other child left the property in Croydon, he began to act differently towards her. She said that he would touch me and that he sexually abused me.

She described the rape as occurring on one occasion only, on a bed in the sitting room of the flat. She also referred to being raped by her father on one or two occasions after he had taken her back to live in Nigeria. She said that he also sexually assaulted her there.

In Nigeria, she told Mary (her fathers partner, who she warmed up to), who took her to her grandmother, and the police in Nigeria were informed but did nothing in response to the report.

Susan also described in detail an occasion when she was around 12 or 13 years old when her father raped her in the family home. She said that it happened a few times and at another point twice but gave no specific details about the other occasions, the court papers said about her testimony of being raped by her father in Nigeria.

However, she described a specific occasion when RK was in the same bed as her in a hotel when he touched her breasts. She also said there were occasions when he put his fingers inside her vagina and rubbed the top part of it.

On entering the UK from Nigeria on 12 September 2018, RK was arrested.

Defence

He denied the rape in Croydon, claiming that the allegation was malicious and prompted by Susans desire for revenge on him for his decision to break up the family home and leave his partner Mary in Nigeria to renew his relationship with his wife, whom Susan disliked.

He also suggested that his mother, with whom he had recently fallen out, was instrumental in encouraging Susan to make the false claim.

He said he was aware of the allegation of rape because it had been made in Nigeria and had found out about it some months earlier when he visited the police station for unrelated reasons. His lawyer would later reveal that he had gone to make some complaints to the police about his mother.

Prosecutions case

Prosecution lawyers initially did not include the tape in Nigeria in the indictment. Still, as time went on, it was brought on board, which the court declared admissible despite protestations by the defence.

The trial judge gave his reason for admitting the case from Nigeria as evidence and described the decision not to charge Mr RK with offences reflecting the allegations of what he did in Nigeria as seriously flawed.

He said that the evidence was admissible on the basis that it was capable of establishing that the defendant (Mr RK) had the propensity for which the prosecution contended, namely to force himself sexually upon his daughter, which in turn was relevant to the central question in the case, which was whether he raped his daughter in this country (UK).

The judge concluded that the admission of the evidence imposed no fundamental unfairness on Mr RK and that it would be inappropriate to exclude it.

The judge viewed it that there was a risk of fundamental unfairness to little Susan if the jury were not to hear this evidence and as a result be presented with an incomplete or partial picture of what she said happened.

Mr RK was convicted and sentenced for raping his daughter. He appealed his conviction and sentence, which the appeal court dismissed.

A three-member panel of the Court of Appeal upheld the findings of the trial judge in Croydon that There is no evidence of prejudice to the defence that would have a materially adverse effect on the fairness of the trial.

The appeal gave many other reasons and declared, The conviction is safe, and the appeal against conviction is dismissed.

The defence also sought to have Mr RKs sentence reviewed.

But rejecting the call, the Court of Appeal noted: the Judge did not err in categorising the offending; the real issue was whether he was justified in elevating the starting point of 13 years to a custodial term of 15 years after balancing the various aggravating and mitigating factors that he identified.

The court acknowledged the convicts decision to remove the child from the jurisdiction to Nigeria within a short time after the offence occurred to minimise the chances of her telling anyone was an aggravating factor.

It said,  whilst 15 years was perhaps towards the upper end of the available sentencing range for this single offence, and other judges might have imposed a custodial period that was nearer to the starting point, we are not persuaded that the term that this experienced judge chose was wrong in principle nor that it was manifestly excessive.

And for these reasons, the appeal against the sentence is also dismissed.

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BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 12. Azerbaijan and the UAE mutually cancel the visa regime for citizens, Trend reports.

This issue was discussed at today's meeting of the Milli Majlis (Parliament) of Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijani citizens will be able to stay in the country for up to three months.

At the meeting, the issue was reflected in the draft law of the Republic of Azerbaijan on the exchange of notes in connection with amendments to the "Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Government of the United Arab Emirates on the exemption from entry visas of persons holding diplomatic and special service passports" and "On the approval of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Government of the United Arab Emirates on the exemption from entry visas of persons holding diplomatic passports".

According to the change, the word "diplomatic" in the Memorandum is replaced by "civil, diplomatic, and special/service". That is if earlier visa-free entry was extended only to holders of diplomatic and special / service passports, after the change it will also apply to holders of civil passports.

After discussions, the amendment was put to the vote and adopted.
A Labour Party candidate for the Edo State House of Assembly elections has petitioned the state election petition tribunal detailing how the last 2023 constituency election was allegedly rigged to deprive him of victory.

Derrick Uhunmwago said in his petition that he won the Egor State Constituency seat convincingly at the end of the first round of the election, but it was unjustifiably declared inconclusive to create room for rigging.

The petitioners (Labour Party and Mr Uhumwago) state that election was successfully conducted in all the wards and units on 18/3/2023 and at the end of the said election, the petitioners had won convincingly, his lawyers, including Stanley Imhanruor, stated in the petition filed at the election tribunal on 5 May.

Media reports have said 10 out of the 14 election petitions filed in the state relate to the 24-member Edo State House of Assembly.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Osawaru Irobosa of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the winner after the main election held on 18 March and the supplementary poll held on 15 April.

Mr Irobosa, according to INEC results, received 12,436 votes, while the Labour Partys Mr Uhumwago, coming closest as the first runner-up, got 11,245 votes. The other nine candidates who participated in the election got tiny fractions of the total votes cast.

But Mr Uhumwago said he had won the election and the supplementary poll was baseless, urging the tribunal in Benin, the state capital, to declare him the winner and be issued the certificate of return.

He said he had received 10,990 votes while the PDP candidate had polled 5,578 at the end of the 18 March election, only for INEC to declare the election inconclusive shockingly.

He said INECs reason for declaring the election inconclusive was that the election had not been validly and successfully conducted in Ward 4.

He described INECs claim as false, maintaining that the election was duly conducted in the said ward and the unit results given to the petitioners agents at the Polling Units.

These results were duly certified by the 1st Respondent (INEC) upon the application of the 1st petitioner. The certified true copies of the Units results in Ward 4 shall be relied upon at the trial of this Petition, the petitioners lawyers wrote.

Mr Uhumwago and his party also said they would bring to the tribunal a video clip showing how the local government collation allegedly flip-flopped by first saying the result of Ward 4 was unavailable and then announcing that the result from the ward was cancelled for now.

The returning officer failed to follow the prescribed procedure where results are not submitted in good time, the petitioners said. In particular, where hardcopy of collated results from the immediate lower level does not exist, the collation officer ought to regenerate the results from the polling Units by either relying on IREV or the duplicate copies issued to the parties agents.

Why ward collation officer was absent

The petitioners indicated that the collation officer for Ward 4 was absent from the state assembly collation centre and provided what they considered to be the reasons for it.

They cited a report of the ward collation officer for Ward 4 of Egor State Constituency, Sunday Igbinosa, confirming that there were disturbances and an attempt to snatch the result sheet, Form EC8B (1).

The report, according to the petitioners, however, said the officer was able to conclude the collation after normalcy returned.

It said further that the officer also noticed disturbances at the state assembly collation centre, as a result of which, he said he had to escape from the centre without making any presentation of his results.

We won

The petitioners insisted they won the election, faulting the decision of the state assembly collation officer, Faith Efosa Oviasogie, a professor, to cancel the result of the entire ward.

They said instead of cancelling the result from the ward; she ought to wait for the ward collation officer to return or generate the result through different means as prescribed by the relevant statute.

They said the result of the ward certified by INEC showed that the Labour Party scored a total valid vote of 497 votes, whilst the PDP candidate scored 1410 votes.

Insisting that declaring the election inconclusive was baseless, they urged the tribunal to add the votes from Ward 4 on Form EC8B (I) (ward election result sheet) dated 18 March to the votes of the parties in the EC8C (I) of 18 March.

This, they said, would give Labour Party 11 487 and PDP 6,988 and make them the winner of the election.

The INEC, PDP and its candidate for the election sued as respondents to the petition are expected to file their defence before the hearing begins.

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Three aggrieved All Progressives Congress (APC) senators have petitioned the partys secretariat over the adoption of consensus candidates for the Senate Presidency of the 10th National Assembly.

The senators are Abdulaziz Yari (APC-Zamfara), Sani Musa (APC-Niger) and Orji Uzor Kalu (APC-Abia).

Presenting their grievances during the visit on Thursday in Abuja, Mr Yari said the fourth senator, Osita Izunaso, couldnt join the group on the visit due to unforeseen circumstances.

We are here to present our letter of grievances to you and also tell this honourable house as a leaders, that we are not satisfied with the arrangement.

What we are expecting from you people is to give us a fair play, at least if nothing, to mention that a particular position is zoned and anybody in that zone cant participate, Mr Yari said.

He added that the lawmakers had done their best to ensure that the party remained in power and deserved to be carried along in its decisions.

Mr Yari added that politics was all about dialogue and communication, saying that all sides should be given a fair hearing.

Responding, the APC National Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu, said the zoning of the Senate Presidency was done in concert with stakeholders and some senators.

Mr Adamu, while welcoming the lawmakers, expressed satisfaction with their visit and decision to come open with their grievance.

As chairman of the APC and members of the NWC, we take responsibility, I take responsibility for what has gone on air, and in that spirit, I welcome you to this office on behalf of my colleagues.

Yes there were no sufficient or adequate consultations with you who are contesting, and it is a simple principle of democracy that you get views and opinions.

But the circumstances that we found ourselves in after the elections frustrated our desire, Mr Adamu said, adding that the partys leadership would revisit the issue in the interest of all.

While appealing to the lawmakers to be calm, the APC national chairman said the contributions of Bola Tinubu were, however, critical on the issue of the 10th National Assembly.

Hold the fire until the last word is heard from us, we are the custodians of the party as NWC, but we are not acting alone.

The voice of Tinubu, the president-elect, is essential. We must accommodate him the best we can. I will not compromise on that.

He is right now outside the country, and by the grace of God, when he comes back, we will go back to the drawing board and put our heads together again and see what we will get.

I cannot preempt that; I will wait until we hold that meeting with the president-elect, Mr Adamu said.

He assured the lawmakers that the partys leadership would go through their memo to address issues contained in it.

Whatever you heard is the art of human endeavour, and we are not perfect as human beings. We can make mistakes.

So, if we find in the course of further consultations the mistakes that need to be looked at, we will look at them. The important thing is that the spirit of the party must be kept alive.

Our eyes must stay on the ball, but in doing so, we must make sure justice will be done; we will do the best as human beings to deliver justice to all and sundry, Mr Adamu said.

Mr Tinubu and the party had endorsed Godswill Apabio ( South-south) and Barau Jibrin (North-west) for the positions of the senate president and deputy senate president, respectively.

They also settled for Tajudeen Abbas (North-west) and Ben Kalu (South-east) for the speakership and deputy speakership of the House of Representatives.

The 10th National Assembly will be inaugurated in June.

(NAN)

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The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) on Friday hinted about its plan to appeal against the court judgement nullifying its powers to fine broadcast stations for breaching its broadcasting codes.

It suggested that the judgement delivered by the Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday conflicted with a previous court decision. The agency did not give details.

The commission will appeal against the judgement when found to be in conflict with the previous judgement of the court, which empowers the commission to regulate broadcasting in Nigeria, the Director-General of the agency, Balarabe Ilelah, said in a statement on Friday.

Suggesting that his agency had yet to be served a copy of the judgement to be certain about its next line of action, Mr Ilelah said global best practice and the ethics of the legal profession, prevented parties to a suit from commenting freely on a judgement it has not seen and read.

He also did not say if NBC would comply with the verdict for the time being.

The Federal High Court in Abuja handed down the order of perpetual injunction in a judgement on Wednesday, cancelling NBCs powers to impose a fine on broadcast stations.

Judgement

The judge, James Omotosho, in a judgement, also set aside the N500,000 fines imposed, on 1 March 2019, on each of the 45 broadcast stations.

Mr Omotosho held that NBC, not being a court of law, had no power to impose sanctions as punishment on broadcast stations.

He further held that the NBC Code, which gives the commission the power to impose a sanction, conflicts with Section 6 of the Constitution, that vested judicial authority in the court of law.

Mr Omotosho said the court would not sit idle and watch a body imposing fine arbitrarily without recourse to the law.

He said the commission did not comply with the law when it sat as a complainant and, at the same time, the court and the judge on its own matter.

The judge agreed that the Nigeria Broadcasting Code, being a subsidiary legislation that empowers an administrative body such as the NBC to enforce its provisions, cannot confer judicial powers on the commission to impose criminal sanctions or penalties such as fines.

He also agreed that the commission, not being Nigerian police, had no power to conduct a criminal investigation that would lead to criminal trial and imposition of sanctions.

The judgement results from a suit filed in 2021 by the Media Rights Agenda, a not-for-profit organisation concerned with promoting press freedom and access to information.

The suit is one in a series of court actions the NBC has faced in the last few years to check the agencys perceived arbitrariness and suppression of reports critical of the government.

Media Rights Agenda said in its suit that NBC fines violated the right to a fair hearing under Section 36 of the Nigerian constitution and Articles 7 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act.

It, therefore, sought a declaration that the sanctions procedure applied by NBC in imposing N500,000 fines on each of the 45 broadcast stations on March 1, 2019, violated the rules of natural justice.

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Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State has ordered immediate payment of salaries to all workers in the state.

In a statement on Friday by the Secretary to the State Government, Chris Ezem, Mr Ikpeazu regretted that an industrial action embarked upon by the Abia State Chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) had paralysed activities across various government offices in the state, including the office of the state accountant-general which is responsible for payment of salary.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that the NLC in the state, Tuesday, resumed its earlier suspended indefinite strike action in the state over unpaid salaries and pensions.

The leadership of the labour union in the state had explained that the resumption of the industrial action, which it suspended in March, was in response to the failure of the state government to pay the salaries of the workers despite promising to do so.

Ikpeazu explains delay

Mr Ikpeazu, reacting to the allegation of non-payment of workers salaries, explained that the recent freezing of the state governments account due to a court order affected payment of the salaries.

Despite the current challenge of the state government with its bankers, Dr Governor Okezie Victor Ikpeazu has directed the office of the accountant-general to commence payment of salaries to ministries and parastatals from today, Friday 12th May 2023, the statement said.

Government hereby directs all affected staff to resume work at their offices immediately and ensure resumption of activities in all ministries and the office of the accountant-general for implementation of this directive, the statement added.

Mr Ikpeazu said failure by the workers to resume work immediately would frustrate an ongoing transition process from his administration to the incoming administration of Alex Otti of the Labour Party.

The governor claimed that no core civil servant and or ministry are owed salaries before now but did not provide details.

Furthermore, salaries of local government staff are up to date save for the inherited five months arrears, out of which three months has been paid and the outstanding two months is being addressed, he claimed.

He said he had also directed local government authorities to commence immediate payment of salaries of health workers across the 17 local government areas of the state.

It is important that all staff of the local governments remain at their duty post as that will ensure completion and commissioning of all ongoing projects for the benefit of our people and a smooth transition process, the governor stated

He said he would remain committed to the workers affairs until he leaves office on 29 May.

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A Court of Appeal in the United Kingdom has granted permission to the family of Nnamdi Kanu, the detained leader of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), to challenge a judgement which okayed the British governments silence on his extraordinary rendition to Nigeria.

Aloy Ejimakor, Mr Kanus special counsel, disclosed this in a statement, Wednesday.

The court had, on 23 March, dismissed a suit filed by Mr Kanus family seeking a judicial review of the UK governments failure to reach a firm view in the IPOB leaders extraordinary rendition to Nigeria.

In the suit, Mr Kanu, a British-Nigerian citizen, wanted the court to compel the UK government to acknowledge and condemn his extraordinary rendition to Nigeria.

The court, presided by Justice Swift, had ruled that the British authorities could lawfully evade reaching any conclusion on whether Mr Kanu was subjected to torture, detention and extraordinary rendition.

Mr Kanus family, through their legal representatives, Bindmans LLP, consequently applied for leave to challenge the court ruling.

Mr Ejimakor said Justice Lewis, a senior judge of the UK court, on 8 May, granted the family the permission to appeal the court ruling.

The grounds of appeal raise important issues concerning the scope of the obligations on the respondent in relation to requests for consular assistance in respect of British nationals detained abroad and the proper interpretation and application of the decision of the Court of Appeal in R (Abassi) v Secretary of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office [2003] UKHRR 76, Mr Lewis, the judge, was quoted as saying.

For those reasons, there is a compelling reason for the appeal to be heard, within the meaning of CPR 52.6(1)(b). Permission is granted on all three grounds, he declared.

The IPOB leaders lawyer added that the court also ordered the hearing of the appeal to be expedited because of the continued solitary confinement of Mr Kanu in Nigeria.

The appeal was fixed to be heard, if reasonably possible, before 14 July or as soon as reasonably possible thereafter, according to a court document posted by Mr Ejimakor on his Twitter handle.

Accordingly, the hearing has been listed for Thursday 22nd June 2023, he stated.

A younger brother to the IPOB leader, Kingsley Kanu, said their family was delighted that the court has unhesitatingly recognised the importance and urgency of the Kanus case, Mr Ejimakor said.

Background

Mr Kanu was first arrested in 2015, but was granted bail in April 2017. He fled the country after an invasion of his home in Afara-Ukwu, near Umuahia, Abia State, by the Nigerian military in September of that year.

He was re-arrested in Kenya and brought back to Nigeria in June 2021, about four years after he fled the country.

The Court of Appeal, Abuja, on 13 October, held that the IPOB leader was extra-ordinarily renditioned to Nigeria and that the action was a flagrant violation of the countrys extradition treaty and also a breach of his fundamental human rights.

The court, therefore, struck out the terrorism charges filed against Mr Kanu by the Nigerian government and ordered his release from the custody of the State Security Service (SSS).

But the government refused to release the IPOB leader insisting that he (Kanu) could be unavailable in subsequent court proceedings if released and that his release would cause insecurity in the South-east.

The government, through the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation, later appealed the court ruling and subsequently obtained an order staying execution of the court judgement at the Supreme Court.

Mr Kanu is challenging the stay of execution order stopping his release from the SSS custody.

The IPOB leader asked the apex court to set aside the stay of execution order on the grounds that the Appeal Court judges erred in law when they halted the execution of their own order which freed him.

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In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Bestower of Mercy

All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of all creation  may He extol the Messenger in the highest company of Angels and send His peace and blessings upon him  likewise upon his family, Companions, and true followers.

Dear brothers and sisters! Know that reconciling people is among the great noble morals. The Shariah urged it in more than one occasion as Allah the Almighty Says:

So fear Allah and amend that which is between you and obey Allah and His Messenger, if you should be believers. [Quran, 8: 1]

And our beloved Messenger of Allah (Peace be upon him) said:

Sadaqah (i.e. charity) is due on every joint of a person every day the sun rises. Administering of justice between two men is also a sadaqah. Assisting a man to ride upon his riding animal, or helping him load his luggage upon it is a sadaqah; a good word is a sadaqah; every step that you take towards prayer is a sadaqah, and removing harmful objects from the pathway is a sadaqah. [Bukhari and Muslim]

Respected brothers and sisters! Due to the importance of this virtue (reconciliation), Islam assigned one of the disbursement channels of Zakah for those who seek to reconcile people. The Prophet (Peace be upon him) said:

The best charity is to reconcile between people. [At-Tabarani]

Even the Poets did not forget the virtue of reconciling people, so they immortalised it in their poems. One Arab poem said a line of verse that means:

All merits are referred to two matters; glorifying the Orders of Allah the Almighty and seeking to reconcile people.

Reconciling people is a branch of faith and an Islamic moral code through which grudges are eliminated, hearts are purified, and flames of fitnah and discord are extinguished. Regarding this quality Allah the Almighty Says:

No good is there in much of their private conversation, except for those who enjoin charity or that which is right or conciliation between people. And whoever does that seeking means to the approval of Allah  then We are going to give him a great reward. [Quran, 4: 114]

Dear servants of Allah! Islam urges the believer to regard reconciling people as one of his most important aims in his worldly life, as it is through reconciliation that the Ummah (Islamic nation/Islamic society/Islamic community) becomes a coherent unit where one part thereof seeks to amend the other part. Thus, it becomes like a single body; if one organ of it complains, the rest of the body suffers sleeplessness and fever. Neglecting this matter leads to the disintegration of the Ummah and the severance of its ties.

That is why Islam considered reconciling people better than many acts of worship. The Prophet (Peace be upon him) said:

Should I not tell you what is better in degree than prayer, fasting, and charity. They (the companions) said: Yes. He (Peace be upon him) said:

Reconciling people, for grudges and disputes are the razor (that shaves faith). [Ahmad, Abu Dawud, and At-Tirmithi]

Reconciliation should be realised by bridging the gaps that occurred because of disputes and conflicts over worldly affairs and by removing their bad effects.

Some scholars maintain that the prayer, the fasting, and the charities that are mentioned in the Prophetic Hadith refer to the voluntary, not the obligatory. Imam Al-Qari may Allah have mercy upon him said:

Allah the Almighty Knows best about the intended meaning. However, it could mean that bringing reconciliation to conflicts and disputes that might lead to shedding blood, plundering money, and violating sanctities is better than fulfilling obligatory acts of worship whose benefits do not extend to others, taking the possibility of making up for them, in case they are missed, into consideration. This is so because such acts of worship are among the Rights of Allah the Almighty and that are less significant in His sight than the rights of the servants.

As regards his saying, Grudges and disputes are the razor, the author of An-Nihayah said: The razor refers to such a bad quality that removes faith, just like a razor removes hair. It was also said that it refers to severing ties of kinship and injustice.

Imam At-Tibi, may Allah have mercy upon him, said:

The Hadith urges reconciling people and avoiding corrupting relations between them, because reconciliation is a reason for holding firm to the rope of Allah the Almighty and avoiding disunity between the Muslims, whereas disputes are a crack in the religion. Whoever seeks to amend the relations between the Muslims and removes the corruption thereof will attain a degree that is greater than that of the fasting person who observes night prayers and is preoccupied with his own benefit only.

From the sum of these Hadiths, we reach an important result, which is that our great religion (Islam) aspires for reconciliation and seeks for it. Allah the Almighty informed us that settlement of disagreements is best. Allah the Almighty Says:

there is no sin upon them if they make terms of settlement between them  and settlement is best. [Quran, 4: 128]

Reconciling people is a great act of worship that Allah the Almighty loves. The one who seeks to reconcile people is the one who offers his effort, money, authority, and power to reconcile the disputing parties. He is a person whose soul loves goodness and yearns for it. He does not care about the peoples opinions or criticism as long as he seeks the pleasure of Allah the Almighty. He exposes himself to embarrassing situations and shares the concerns of his Muslim brothers in order to reconcile two persons.

Many are those homes which were about to collapse because of a simple dispute between the spouses. Then, when a person interfered seeking reconciliation between them by means of a good word, a sincere advice, or sometimes a sum of money, he restored peacefulness between them and saved the family from loss and destitution?

How many ruptures of relations were about to occur between two brothers, friends citizens or relatives because of a mistake or a minor error, but then a person succeeded in reconciling them.

How many lives and properties were saved and satanic temptations were suppressed after they were about to start thanks to the favour of Allah the Almighty and then to those good people who reconcile others!

Congratulations, O Muslims, to those who were guided by Allah the Almighty to reconcile two opponents, spouses, neighbours, friends, partners, citizens or groups.

What further indicates the great virtue of reconciling people is that Islam allows even lying to reconcile quarreling people. The intended meaning of lying here is to exaggerate in describing and confirming the good aspects of the other party so as to reconcile hearts and to assert that such a dispute was not intentional. The Prophet (Peace be upon him) said:

The one who reconciles people is not considered a liar if he exaggerates what is good or says what is good. [Ahmad]

A scholar said:

Allah the Almighty likes lying for the sake of reconciliation and dislikes truthfulness for the sake of corruption.

Thus, pay attention to this.

We have to realise that we are human beings and that disputes breaking up among us is something normal. Rare are those people who are safe from disagreement. It might occur between you and your brother, relative, spouse, or friend This happens often. So, we have to rid ourselves of this by reconciliation, shaking hands, forgiveness, condescendence, love, and brotherhood so that everything becomes alright again.

Let us reflect upon this Hadith of our beloved master, Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) of those who reconcile people. He said:

The gates of Paradise are opened on two days: Monday and Thursday. Every servant who does not associate anything with Allah Almighty is granted pardon, except the person in whose (heart) there is rancour against his brother. It would be said: delay both of them until they reconcile; delay both of them until they reconcile; delay both of them until they reconcile. [Muslim]

Imam Al-Awzai, may Allah have mercy upon him, said:

There is no step that is dearer to Allah the Almighty than a step towards reconciling people. Whoever reconciles two people, Allah the Almighty will grant him safety from Hellfire.

O my loved ones for the sake of Allah Almighty! Someone may say: I want to go to so-and-so to reconcile, but I fear that he rejects me, he refuses to receive me, or he depreciates my visit! But remember that your Prophet (Peace be upon him) is telling you: Go to him even if he dismisses you or he talks badly about you. Go to him once, twice, and thrice and hasten to give him a present, smile at him, and treat him nicely. The Prophet (Peace be upon him) said:

Allah Almighty augments the honour of he who forgives. [Bukhari and Muslim]

If you pardon, Allah the Almighty will increase your honour; if you reconcile people, Allah the Almighty will increase your honour. If you were expelled or the door was not opened for you and you returned, then know that this is one of the wishes of the predecessors of the Ummah because it is proof of the purity of the heart since Allah, the Exalted, Says:

And if it is said to you, Go back, then go back; it is purer for you. [Quran, 24: 28]

So, take care of this, O believer, and do not leave for Satan a way to yourself.

Try reconciliation today. Call the one who is disputing with you and treat him nicely. Perhaps this call might be a reason, after the mercy of Allah the Almighty, for forgiving your sins. Allah Almighty Says:

Would you not like that Allah should forgive you? And Allah is Forgiving and Merciful. [Quran, 24: 22]

Go to him. There are people who went to sit with their opponents for only fifteen or thirty minutes, but they ended up sitting for long hours because of the great happiness, comfort, familiarity, and love they felt.

Try to be the one who takes the initiative of reconciliation and do not let Satans whisper overcome you. The Prophet (Peace be upon him) said:

It is unlawful for a Muslim to forsake his fellow Muslim for more than three consecutive days. When they meet, each of them turns his face away from the other. The better one is the one who starts the greeting. [Ahmad]

The one who seeks reconciliation should keep the etiquettes of settlement in mind so that Allah the Almighty supports him and so that he receives the fruits of his endeavour. The greatest of these etiquettes include:

1. He should make his intention sincere for the sake of Allah the Almighty. He should not intend money, prestige, ostentation, fame or any position with the reconciliation, but he should seek the countenance of Allah the Almighty, Who Says:

And whoever does that seeking means to the approval of Allah  then We are going to give him a great reward. [Quran, 4: 114]

2. He should adhere to justice and completely avoid injustice. Allah Almighty Says:

Then make settlement between them in justice and act justly. Indeed, Allah loves those who act justly. [Quran, 49: 9]

3. Let your conciliation be based upon knowledge. It is preferable that you consult scholars in this regard, study the issue from all its sides, and listen to each of the parties.

4. Do not be rash in your judgment and take your time because hastiness may lead to corrupting more than what has been amended.

5. You should choose the appropriate time for reconciling between the conflicting parties. That is to say that you only start the reconciliation when the issue becomes cool, the severity of the dispute is alleviated, and the fire of anger is extinguished; then you start to reconcile them.

6. What is more important also is using nice words, you should say: O father of so-and-so, you are known for such-and-such. You should mention his merits and good deeds and you may exaggerate even to the point of lying; then warn him against grudges and disputes.

Dear brothers and sisters! The differences between people and citizens is a factual reality and part of the human natural disposition given peoples different morals and natures, and due to their contention and vying for worldly gains like wealth, status, position and the like. Allah Almighty Says:

And if your Lord had willed, He could have made mankind one community; but they will not cease to differ. Except whom your Lord has given mercy [Quran, 11:118-119]

Imam Ibn Kathir, may Allah have mercy upon him, said:

It means that people will always differ in their religions, in their creeds, in their ideologies, in their affiliations and in their opinions.

However, such differences should not lead to conflict, ethno religious crisis, war, shedding blood, breaking off ties and discord.

Respected servants of Allah! Many of the disagreements and problems that occur between a Muslim and his fellow Muslim, a husband and his wife, between friends or between citizens could be traced back to the ill thoughts and doubts that the devil casts in peoples hearts and they yield to them, causing enmity, dissension and discord among them. The Prophet (Peace be upon him) referred to that when he said:

Satan despaired of ever being worshipped by the people of Arabia, but he is still hopeful that he would incite them against each other. [Muslim]

Imam At-Tibi may Allah have mercy upon him said:

It means causing dissension, enmity and killing among them.

It was narrated on the authority of Jabir Ibn Abdullah may Allah be pleased with him that the Prophet (Peace be upon him) said:

Satan places his throne on the water, then he sends his troops to people; the closest of them in position to him is the one who causes the most mischief. One of them comes to him and says: I did such and such. Satan responds: You have done nothing. (This process continues) until one (devil) comes and says: I did not leave so-and-so until I separated between him and his wife. Thereupon, Satan brings him close to him and says: You have done well! [Muslim]

Al-Qadhi Iyad, may Allah have mercy upon him, said:

You have done well means, You are the one who has caused serious damage and achieved the greatest accomplishment. It may also mean, You are the one who sufficed me and fulfilled my desire, or You are the dearest to me, or You are the closest to me of all my messengers  or You are the daring and pleasing one, and the like. His remark is indicative of the gravity of separating spouses or divorce, its serious harm and evil, and the seriousness of the sin of seeking to separate the spouses as it involves severing the solemn bond that Allah, the Exalted, has commanded to maintain, breaking up a relationship in which Allah instilled mutual mercy and affection, destroying a family founded on Islam and making the disputants vulnerable to incurring sin.

The Sirah (biography) of the Prophet (Peace be upon him) abounds in incidents and Hadiths that indicate the prohibition of discord and the warning against it, commanding and urging Muslims to seek to reconcile disputing people, as it involves upholding the ties of kinship that were severed and strengthening the bonds of brotherhood and companionship that were weakened.

When the Prophet (Peace be upon him) learned that some of his Companions in Qubah had a disagreement, he went to reconcile them. It was narrated on the authority of Sahl Ibn Saad As-Saidi, may Allah be pleased with him, that he said:

Once the people of Qubah fought together till they threw stones at each other. When the Prophet (Peace be upon him) was informed of it, he said: Let us go to reconcile them. [Bukhari]

Imam Ibn Hajar may Allah have mercy upon him said in Fat-h Al-Bari:

Among the lessons deduced from this Prophetic Hadith is the virtue of reconciling people, unifying the members of a group, and resolving disputes. It is also inferred therefrom that the Imam (leader) may go personally to his subjects for this reason, and that the like of this may be given priority over leading the prayers himself.

Imam Ibn Battal may Allah have mercy upon him said:

The Hadith reflects how the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) was humble, caring, and keen to resolve disagreements and eliminate the causes of disunity and dissention among his Ummah as Allah, the Exalted, described him.

It was narrated on the authority of Abdullah Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, that:

The husband of Barirah was a black slave called Mughith, as if I am seeing him now, following her and weeping with his tears flowing down his beard. The Prophet (Peace be upon him) said to Abbas, O Abbas! Are you not astonished by the love of Mughith for Barirah and the hatred of Barirah for Mughith? The Prophet (Peace be upon him) then said to Barirah: Why dont you return to him (remarry him)? She said, O Messenger of Allah! Do you command me to do so? He said: No, I am only interceding for him. [Bukhari]

Imam Ibn Hajar may Allah have mercy upon him said:

His statement, I am only interceding for him, means I am only interceding with you for his sake and I am not commanding you to do so.

Imam Ibn Battal may Allah have mercy upon him said:

Imam At-Tabari said, A Fiqh ruling deduced from this Hadith is that it is permissible for the scholar and the Caliph to intercede for the sake of people, offer them their help, and fulfil the needs of those who ask for it, and that it is a manifestation of noble morals. The Prophet (Peace be upon him) said: Intercede for people and you shall earn a reward.

O Allah, purify our hearts from grudge, envy, and cheating.

O Allah, amend our relations with our relatives and between all the citizens.

O Allah, amend our relations with our loved ones.

O Allah, make life an increase for us in every good and make death a relief for us from every evil with Your mercy, O Most Merciful of the Merciful.

I ask Allah, the Most High to grant us success and enable us to be correct in what we say and write.

All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of all creation; may Allah extol the mention of our noble Prophet Muhammad in the highest company of Angels, bless him and give him peace and securityand his family, his Companions and all those who follow him correctly and sincerely until the establishment of the Hour.

Murtadha Muhammad Gusau is the Chief Imam of Nagazi-Uvete Jumuah and the late Alhaji Abdur-Rahman Okenes Mosques, Okene, Kogi State, Nigeria. He can be reached via: gusauimam@gmail.com or +2348038289761.

This Jumuah Khutbah (Friday sermon) was prepared for delivery today, Friday, Shawwal 22, 1444 AH (May 12, 2023).

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Governor Aminu Masari of Katsina State has revealed why he and other northern governors of APC extraction supported the presidential ambition of the President-elect, Bola Tinubu.

The governor made the revelation on Thursday in Daura during a farewell visit to the Emir of Daura, Umar Faruq-Umar.

According to him, the northern governors supported Mr Tinubu to respect the partys zoning formula.

He added: God had saved us from shame during the last general elections in the country where our party, the All Progressives Congress APC recorded huge successes.

Anyone in this country with foresight should thank God again because had it been our party did not win the election, people may think that the federal government failed Nigerians.

Whatever someone planned in this country, God has helped President Muhammad Buhari to defend his integrity because if we had failed in the election, he would be the first to be blamed.

Those with foresight have seen that, especially we, the governors from the north under the APC. We have seen attempts to tarnish the image of Buhari.

Everybody knows that all the political parties believe in zoning, but some people in our party wanted to keep that aside, but we rejected their attempt.

ALSO READ: Nine northern governors pushing for Southern APC presidential candidate

According to Mr Masari, the lack of respect for the zoning arrangement by some opposition parties had brought them into the current crises rocking them.

So, if we had done such, only God would know the situation in the country at the moment. Therefore, we had to stick to our promises.

Thats why the northerners then succeeded and earned respect for our people because once we said yes, its always yes, he added.

(NAN)

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Apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has again asked President Muhammadu Buhari to release Nnamdi Kanu, the detained leader of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

The President-General of Ohanaeze, Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, disclosed this on Thursday in Oguta Local Government Area, Imo State, during the flag-off ceremony of Oguta/Orashi Rivers dredging project which was broadcast live on Channels TV, a Lagos State-based television station.

Mr Buhari was represented at the event by the Vice-President, Yemi Osinbajo.

Our vice-president, tell our brother and our son, Buhari, that the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, (made up of) over 60 million Igbos, requests that he should release Nnamdi Kanu, Mr Iwuanyanwu said at the gathering.

He dismissed claims that the Igbo-speaking people of the South-east would secede from Nigeria if the IPOB leader was released.

Igbos are not seceding (from Nigeria). I dont see why anybody should say Igbos are seceding. Igbos are everywhere. We have investments. Are we going to leave our investments (by seceding)? he said.

Mr Iwuanyanwu said he was passing the message to Mr Buhari because the president had been given honourary membership in the Ohanaeze and therefore under his (Iwuanyanwus) authority despite being Nigerias president.

I am now telling him (Buhari) that Nnamdi Kanu should be released before he (Buhari) departs office, he added.

Not the first time

Ohanaeze Ndigbo and other Igbo groups have repeatedly asked Mr Buhari to release Mr Kanu who has been in the custody of Nigerias secret police, the State Security Service (SSS).

Mr Iwuanyanwu, shortly after emerging as the new president-general of the Ohanaeze last month, resolved to meet with Mr Buhari to secure the release of the IPOB leader.

IPOB is a group leading the agitation for an independent republic, Biafra, which it wants carved out from south-east and some parts of south-south Nigeria.

Background

Mr Kanu was first arrested in 2015, but was granted bail in April 2017. He fled the country after an invasion of his home in Afara-Ukwu, near Umuahia, Abia State, by the Nigerian military in September of that year.

He was re-arrested in Kenya and brought back to Nigeria in June 2021, about four years after he fled the country.

The Court of Appeal, Abuja, on 13 October, held that the IPOB leader was extra-ordinarily renditioned to Nigeria and that the action was a flagrant violation of the countrys extradition treaty and also a breach of his fundamental human rights.

The court, therefore, struck out the terrorism charges filed against Mr Kanu by the Nigerian government and ordered his release from the custody of the SSS.

But the government refused to release the IPOB leader insisting that he (Kanu) could be unavailable in subsequent court proceedings if released and that his release would cause insecurity in the South-east.

The government, through the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation, later appealed the court ruling and subsequently obtained an order staying execution of the court judgement at the Supreme Court.

Mr Kanu is challenging the stay of execution order stopping his release from the SSS custody.

The IPOB leader asked the apex court to set aside the stay of execution order on the grounds that the Appeal Court judges erred in law when they halted the execution of their own order which freed him.

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The Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has said he must be the president of Nigeria.

Mr Obi stated this in Awka, the Anambra State capital, on Friday at the presentation of a book entitled: Peter Obi: Many voices, one perspective, according to a report by the Daily Trust newspaper.

Former Governor of Lagos State and candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, was declared winner of the presidential election by the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission , Mahmood Yakubu, on 1 March.

The APC candidate polled a total of 8,794,726 votes to defeat his closest challenger, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party who scored a total of 6,984,520 votes. The LP candidate, Mr Obi, came third with a total of 6,101,533 votes.

However, Mr Obi and Atiku are currently challenging the victory of Mr Tinubu at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal in Abuja.

Anyone who thinks I am on a transit is wasting his time. Let me tell you, I must be the president of this country. I am sure of that. If it is not today, it must be tomorrow.

Other people who want to be, should come and tell us what they want to do, and how to do it. This is my country; I dont have dual citizenship. If anyone thinks I am going to run away from Nigeria, they are lying, Mr Obi, a former governor of Anambra State, said.

The LP candidate stressed that he was not in a hurry to achieve the dream of becoming the countrys president.

I have three engagements in Anambra and Lagos today. I will be speaking in Lagos tonight. We will not leave Nigeria. I am not in a hurry to become the president, but I know it must happen, he said.

For three years I was in court in Anambra to reclaim my governorship (position), just to challenge the process. Many people tried to discourage me, but I said even if the entire four-year tenure elapsed for us to prove a point and correct the process, I will be fulfilled, Mr Obi added.

The former governor said he was more concerned with the process that brings leaders to an office, and not about who the leader is.

He also said he was committed to the task of achieving a better Nigeria.

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( Read 1418 Times)

Udaipur : As part of its core philosophy Safety First, Hindustan ZinctrainsIndias 1st ever all women mining rescue team to ensure utmost safety maintenance in mining operations. This initiative is one-of-its kind, aligning with the companys Sustainability Development Goalsaimed at ensuring Zero Harm in operations. The rescue team comprising of seven women officersweregiven base training at companysRRRT centre at Rajpura Dariba Complex and were then sent for rigorous training at Mine Rescue Station, Nagpur

The rescue team went through preliminary tests that required members to compete in basic Mine Emergency situations. Techniques to tackle or deal in the case of surface/underground mine emergency scenarios, first aid, technician test, theory exam, self-rescuers, fire types and its extinguishing methods, mine gases and emergency response were some of the key areas covered in the training session.

Speaking on the development, Mr. Arun Misra, CEO, Hindustan Zinc, said, "Our topmost priority at Hindustan Zinc is on developing a safety-first culture amongst all of our employees. With this initiative we have created next-gen safety leaders andalso set on a path of #TransformingTheWorkplace by nurturing a pool of talented women in self-development with our firm belief of providing equal opportunities. This is not just a proud moment for us, but also for the nation as the first line of defence in mining industry is now even stronger and with such initiatives we are all set to make a significant mark in the global mining industry. "

After the rigorous selection training, seven women; four from Sindesar Khurd Mine, one from Rajpura Dariba Mine and two from Zawar Group of Mines werequalified for the initial mine rescue training. After selection, the rescue team underwent 14 days of specialized training at Mine Rescue Station, Nagpur.



Source :
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 12. The body of Azerbaijani serviceman of the extra-active active military service Orkhan Novruzalizade killed following a recent Armenian provocation, was delivered to the house where he lived in Azerbaijans Aghstafa district, Trend reports.

The farewell ceremony for the martyr was held in the house, and then the martyr was buried in Aghstafa cemetery.

Novruzalizade was killed as a result of a provocation by units of the Armenian Armed Forces on May 11.

Besides, the serviceman of the Azerbaijani army Muslim Mahmudlu was seriously wounded in the head.
NEW DOCUMENTARY, SPIRIT, WILL BE AVAILABLE ON PRIME VIDEO AND FOLLOWS THREE BARTENDERS FROM DIAGEO'S WORLD CLASS COMPETITION

WILL BE AVAILABLE ON PRIME VIDEO AND FOLLOWS THREE BARTENDERS FROM DIAGEO'S WORLD CLASS COMPETITION FEATURED TALENT INCLUDES GLOBALLY RENOWNED CHEF ROY CHOI AND COCKTAIL EXPERTS, RYAN CHETIYAWARDANA, AGOSTINO PERRONE AND KAITLYN STEWART

LONDON, May 11, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- SPIRIT, a brand-new feature documentary, launches this week and promises to change the way we think about cocktails forever.

Set against the backdrop of one of the world's most respected and prestigious cocktail competitions  Diageo's World Class Global Bartender of the Year  the documentary reveals the highs and lows of three of the world's best bartenders as they prepare to create the most important cocktails of their career.

SPIRIT : Becoming the World's Best Bartender NEW FEATURE DOCUMENTARY, SPIRIT, CAPTURES THE JOURNEY IN COMPETING FOR WORLD CLASS TITLE (PRNewsfoto/World Class)

Coinciding with World Cocktail Day 2023, the documentary will be available to watch on Prime Video in select markets from May 13th and unveils the world of bartending in an incredible new light. Viewers can expect to witness a flawless display of craft, passion and edge-of-your-seat competitive action from 50 bartenders at the top of their game.

To showcase what it takes to reach the highest levels of bartending, producers Something Originals secured exclusive access to World Class Global Finals in Sydney, Australia  following the journey of competitors and country champions Sahil Essani (India), Liisa Lindroos (Finland) and Yui Ogata (Japan) as they shake, stir and strain their way towards the coveted title of World Class Global Bartender of the Year.

The documentary includes insight from some of the industry's leading trailblazers. From the godfather of the modern food truck movement, Roy Choi, to owner of some of the world's best bars including Lyaness in London and Super Lyan in Amsterdam, Ryan Chetiyawardana; to the Director of Mixology at globally-renowned The Connaught Bar in London, Agostino Perrone, and World Class Global Bartender of the Year 2017, Kaitlyn Stewart; the industry icons share their insider knowledge of what it takes to succeed in the world of luxury hospitality  a journey of determination, craft, and game-changing flavour.

Speaking about the documentary, Marissa Johnston, Global Head of World Class at Diageo said: "SPIRIT so accurately captures the essence of World Class  one of the world's biggest and most respected cocktail competitions. It's a remarkable and compelling insight into what it takes to be a bartender today  we hope people enjoy it and are inspired to consider a career in the hospitality industry."

Director Ross Bolidai remarked: "The aim of this new documentary was to get under the skin of World Class Global Finals to tell a story of tenacity, determination and spirit that reimagines how cocktails are seen globally. It was a privilege to witness the grit each of the competitors displayed from start to finish."

Diageo World Class has also confirmed it will host the 14th edition of its global finals in Sao Paulo, Brazil from 23rd - 27th September 2023.

On the 2023 World Class Global Finals location, Marissa Johnston said: "Following on from the incredible experience of hosting World Class Global Finals in Sydney, Australia, I'm so excited to bring the competition to the incredible city of Sao Paulo. We can't wait to celebrate even more bartending talent in Brazil!"

The SPIRIT documentary can be watched on Prime Video from May 13th. The full trailer is available to watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CQ1koBUKJM For more information on the documentary, visit the IMDB page: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27699377/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2075348/World_Class_documentary_SPIRIT.jpg

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CQ1koBUKJM

SOURCE World Class
American Police Officers Alliance is told to "continue operations as is" after a comprehensive IRS audit covering 2019-2020 finds all organization operations and finances in good stead

ARLINGTON, Va., May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- American Police Officers Alliance received a "clean bill of health" last week from the Internal Revenue Service after a thorough audit of the organization's 2019 and 2020 fiscal years. A letter was provided to the grassroots political organization by the IRS outlining the audit process and all of its findings, all of which show that organization is in good standing in all facets. The audit was conducted by the TE/GE division of the Internal Revenue Service.

American Police Officers Alliance passed both organizational and operational tests, which are outlined below:

The Organizational Test

To be subject to tax only as a political organization under IRC Section 527, a political committee, association, fund, or other organization must meet both:

- The organizational test of Treas. Reg. 1.527-2(a)(2).

- The operational test of Treas. Reg. 1.527-2(a)(3).

To satisfy the organizational test, the organization must have the primary purpose of carrying on exempt function activities as defined in IRC Section 527. The organization does not need a formal charter or to be a corporation, trust, or association.

The organization must use a separate bank account to deposit and disburse political campaign. Rev. Rul. 79-11, 1979-1 C.B. 207.

When there are no formal documents, review the Form 8871 purpose statement.

Consider statements of the organization's members at the time it was formed that they intend to operate the organization primarily to carry on exempt function activities. Treas. Reg. 1.527-2(a)(2).

All organizations claiming exemption under IRC Section 527 are required to obtain EINs, even if they have no employees.

Operational Test:

To satisfy the operational test, the organization's primary activities must be exempt function activities as defined in IRC Section 527. The organization may engage in activities that are not exempt function income activities, but these may not be its primary activities. Treas. Reg. 1.527-2(a)(3).

IRC Section 527(e)(2) defines "exempt function" as "the function of influencing or attempting to influence the selection, nomination, election, or appointment of any individual to any Federal, State, or local public office or office in a political organization, or the election of Presidential or Vice-Presidential electors, whether or not such individual or electors are selected, nominated, elected or appointed."

Promoting the nomination of an individual for an elective public office in a primary election, or in a meeting (or caucus) of a political party is also an exempt function activity. Treas. Reg. 1.527-2(a)(1).

For tax years beginning after December 31, 1986, the exempt function of a political organization also includes making expenditures for a public office that would be allowable as a deduction under IRC Section 162(a) if incurred by the office holder.

Political organizations can continue to qualify under IRC Section 527 between elections even though not supporting a particular candidate, if engaged in activities related to and supporting the selection process.

The Skyles Law Group from Chicago represented the organization in the detailed audit that was exhaustive and lasted almost 6 months. This process cost the organization an extensive amount of time, labor, and money to complete. American Police Officers Alliance worked closely with the IRS agent assigned to this audit. The organization came out with an "all clear" on all of its governance, finances, and exempt activities and programming. These results are a huge vote of confidence in the effectiveness, transparency, and ethical leadership of American Police Officers Alliance.

"The IRS has confirmed that American Police Officers Alliance has been operating within the confines of the law," James Skyles of the Skyles Law Group said in a statement. "This has been a great learning experience on best practices and the organization will continue to implement even stronger best practices and to raise its own standards moving forward."

"It is great to hear from the IRS that we have been given a clean bill of health. These results will put to rest any rumors or misconceptions that we do not follow IRS rules with regards to compliance. We will continue our mission to help stand with police officers in a time when they are under constant attack from the mainstream media," Executive Director Daniel Stuebs commented.

The full audit included the examination, review and analysis of American Police Officer's Alliance finances and governance, including:

- Full financial statements

- A review of every general ledger transaction

- All tax returns since the organization's inception

- Board governance & bylaws

- Board of Directors potential & real conflicts

- Fundraising & consultant contracts

- Direct & indirect exempt activity

- Analysis of any federal activity

This outcome should also be a comfort to all donors, stakeholders, staff and vendors that as a political organization, American Police Officers Alliance is raising and spending funds in accordance with IRS political organization statutes organized under Section 527 and that the organization will be able to continue forward with fulfilling our mission to support our law enforcement within the political process. Thank you to all of our donors and grassroots supporters that have helped build our organization and pro-police movement. The work we have been able to accomplish over the last 6 years is all thanks to you.

American Police Officers Alliance will provide further documentation and updates as they are provided by the Internal Revenue Service.

The mission of American Police Officers Alliance is to help elect local leaders who respect and understand the decisions police officers are forced to make each day, and to fight for their rights and ensure that police officers are receiving the support, tools, training, and compensation they need and deserve so they can remain safe as they protect us. The vision of the organization is to fight for those who protect our nation's citizens, including ensuring that police officers maintain their benefits such as retirement pensions and protect their rights from government and politicians that are blatantly anti-police. American Police Officers Alliance will work to ensure that our officers have the best local leadership possible, which means working to defend strong police leadership and interests in our nation's cities and working to elect officials who will stand up for our police force.

SOURCE American Police Officers Alliance
Initiated and backed by the Embassy of Slovenia in Israel, Slovene Enterprise Fund, SPIRIT Slovenia, the European Fund for Regional Development of the European Union, the second cohort will be held in Tel Aviv between June 12th-15th.

Up to 8 Slovenian startups will be selected for the program and arrive in Israel looking to connect to the Israeli tech ecosystem, investors, industry, and research organizations.

TEL AVIV, Israel, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ Arieli Capital was recently selected to lead a second cohort of the innovation program, which will take place in Tel Aviv on June 12th-15th. 8 Slovenian startups will visit the Israeli market and connect with Israeli investors, industry leaders, academics, and technology companies.

The first cycle of the program was launched in 2021 and included 9 Slovenian startups participating in hundreds of meetings and events with Israeli industry leaders as well as research and investment organizations. Thanks to the program, Israel and Slovenia strengthened their economic ties and advanced agriculture, business, and trade delegations.

The second program is spearheaded by the Slovenian Embassy in Israel, Slovene Enterprise Fund, SPIRIT Slovenia, and the European Union, and will include a long list of meetings and speakers from key organizations in the Israeli innovation industry including APM Law Firm, EIT, SNC, IIA, Startup Grind, Slovenia Israel Chamber of Commerce, Italy Israel Chamber of Commerce, CheckPoint, Amadeus, The Hebrew University, Frontier Agritech Innovation Center, Shaare Zedek Hospital's commercialization department and more.

The program's final event will be attended by an official delegation of Slovenia's Ministry of Economy, Tourism, and Sport, Slovene Enterprise Fund, and SPIRIT Slovenia, leading Slovenian government institutions in charge of the internationalization of companies.

During the program, each startup will have a customized work plan based on its technological and business needs aiming to help startups advance business partnerships, pilots, clinical trials, joint research, and connections with investors.

Andreja Purkart Martinez, Ambassador of Slovenia in Israel: "Slovenia and Israel are both advanced countries with technological backgrounds and capabilities, as well as a shared vision for a better future. It is great to see the accelerator program grow and continue to promote the strategic cooperation between the Slovenian and Israeli innovation ecosystems."

Or Haviv, Partner and Head of Innovation at Arieli Capital: "Europe's innovation industry is growing rapidly. The EU is investing heavily in research, academia, and technology, recognizing that an investment in innovation is an investment in the economic and social future of its communities. The Slovenia-Israel startup accelerator introduces a new deal flow of technology companies, business collaborations, and investments, and in return introduces new markets and growth opportunities for Slovenian startups. We are excited to launch the second cycle of the Slovenia-Israel startup accelerator and keep strengthening the social and economic ties between Slovenia and Israel."

About Slovene Enterprise Fund:

SEF is a leading provider of bank loan guarantees, a central provider of microcredit for micro and small businesses, an active co-creator of the startup ecosystem in Slovenia to achieve the global success of start-ups, a key co-investor of seed and venture capital in Slovenia and an integrator of corporate networks in the international environment.

About SPIRIT Slovenia:

SPIRIT Slovenia Business Development Agency is a single point of contact for businesses and investors looking for new opportunities. The agency's chief tasks include promotion of Slovenia's companies abroad as well as promoting Slovenia's advantages as an FDI location. SPIRIT Slovenia helps both Slovenian companies to increase their exports and international companies to invest and expand in Slovenia and beyond.

About Arieli Capital:

A US-based holding and investment company. Our mission is to build multi-generational wealth by increasing our technology footprint worldwide. Arieli Capital focuses on two main activity pillars: Capital - backed by multi-generation family offices, Arieli invests in prominent cross-vertical and impact-driven startups and funds; Innovation  Arieli is trusted by governments, leading global corporates, and funds to design and conduct official innovation programs, creating an international pre-screened deal flow, market expansion, and investment opportunities while acting as a social and economic growth engine.

Media Contact:

Ella Alfasi

VP Operation

[email protected]

SOURCE Arieli Capital
CLEARWATER, Fla., May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- BayCare announced today that it has promoted James Haislip to vice president of system finance, effective immediately. Haislip has been part of BayCare's finance team for a decade and has served as BayCare's director of financial planning and analysis since 2017.

James Haislip now serves as BayCare's Vice President of System Finance.

In his new role, Haislip will oversee the finance team that supports the regional leaders, including the construction team and information services. The team is also responsible for the overall reporting of financials for BayCare including the audit, tax services, payroll, and accounts payable. In addition, he will continue to oversee and be involved in BayCare's financial planning and analysis (FP&A) activities and report to BayCare's Chief Financial Officer Janice Polo in his new role.

"James has demonstrated the ability to collaborate with leaders and possesses strong analytical skills," said Polo. "He thinks outside the box, is accountable, and is a natural mentor to his team. These qualities will be a strong foundation for success in his new role as vice president of system finance."

Haislip joined BayCare in 2013 as a financial specialist and was promoted to manager of system office finance the following year. As BayCare's director of financial planning and analysis, he led the first corporate level FP&A team and expanded it from traditional functions to include analytic support of value-based agreements and managed care rate negotiations.

"I'm excited and grateful for the opportunity to work with our incredible team to ensure a strong future of providing the best care in our communities," said Haislip. "BayCare's history of excellence has put us in a great position to achieve that goal."

Prior to joining BayCare, Haislip worked 14 years at Progress Energy where he served in a variety of financial and process improvement roles including director of performance solutions. Prior to that, he spent 1 years in public accounting.

Haislip, a Pinellas County native, earned both a Bachelor of Science in accounting and a Master of Accountancy from the University of South Florida and has been a certified public accountant since 1997.

About BayCare

BayCare is a leading not-for-profit health care system that connects individuals and families to a wide range of services at 16 hospitals and hundreds of other convenient locations throughout the Tampa Bay and central Florida regions. The system is West Central Florida's largest provider of behavioral health and pediatric services and its provider group, BayCare Medical Group, is one of the largest in the region. BayCare's diverse network of ambulatory services includes laboratories, imaging, surgical centers, BayCare Urgent Care locations, wellness centers and one of Florida's largest home care agencies, BayCare HomeCare. BayCare Health System is ranked in the top 20% by Fortune/Merative. BayCare's mission is to improve the health of all it serves through community-owned, health care services that set the standard for high-quality, compassionate care. For more information visit BayCare.org.

SOURCE BayCare Health System
Company to Broadcast Conference Call

COLUMBUS, Ohio, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Big Lots, Inc. (NYSE: BIG) today announced it will report the results for the first quarter of fiscal 2023 on Friday, May 26, 2023. The company will host a conference call at 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time on Friday, May 26, 2023.

A live webcast of the call will be available through the Investor Relations section of its website at http://www.biglots.com/corporate/investors/ or by phone by dialing 877.407.3088 (Toll Free) or 201.389.0927 (Toll).

An archive will be available on the Investor Relations section of the company's website at http://www.biglots.com/corporate/investors/ through midnight Friday, June 9, 2023. In addition, a replay of the call will be available through June 9 by dialing 877.660.6853 (Toll Free) or 201.612.7415 (Toll) and enter the Replay Conference ID: 13738614.

About Big Lots, Inc.

Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, Big Lots, Inc. (NYSE: BIG) is one of America's largest home discount retailers, operating more than 1,420 stores in 48 states, as well as a best-in-class ecommerce platform with expanded fulfillment and delivery capabilities. The Company's mission is to help customers "Live Big and Save Lots" by offering unique treasures and exceptional bargains on everything for their home, including furniture, seasonal decor, kitchenware, pet supplies, food items, laundry and cleaning essentials and more. Big Lots is the recipient of Home Textiles Today's 2021 Retail Titan Award. For more information about the company or to find the store nearest you, visit biglots.com.

SOURCE Big Lots, Inc.
Acquired exclusive license for oral, brain-penetrant, dual TYK2/JAK1 inhibitor for immune-mediated brain disorders in March 2023 covering global rights (excluding China )

covering global rights (excluding ) Appointed Nick Kozauer, M.D. as SVP of Clinical Development and Regulatory Strategy following his tenure as Director of the Division of Neurology 2 in the Office of New Drugs of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration

Taldefgrobep alfa granted Fast Track Designation in SMA

Driving strong and consistent progress across six robust drug development platforms in 2023:

in Kv7 activation, targeting Phase 2/3 study start in focal epilepsy and bipolar disorder in the second half of 2023;



Phase 1 study initiation planned with potentially first-in-class TYK2/JAK1 brain-penetrant inhibitor in immune-mediated brain disorders;



three Phase 3 studies gaining momentum with regulatory engagement and enrollment completion expected in programs spanning glutamate modulation in SCA and OCD, respectively, and enrollment ongoing in myostatin inhibition program in SMA;



three IND submissions anticipated in 2023 spanning Kv7 activation, TRPM3 antagonism, and IgG degradation offer potential to drive long-term value creation beyond 2023

NEW HAVEN, Conn., May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Biohaven Ltd. (NYSE: BHVN) ("Biohaven" or the "Company"), a global clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of life-changing therapies for people with debilitating neurological and neuropsychiatric diseases, including ultra-rare disorders, today reported financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2023, and provided a review of recent accomplishments and anticipated upcoming milestones.

Vlad Coric, M.D., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Biohaven, commented, "We have set forth ambitious goals for the balance of 2023, as we continue advancing what we believe is one of the most innovative and exciting neuroscience platform in development. We were energized by the preliminary safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetic data we reported from our SAD/MAD Phase 1 study of Kv7.2/Kv7.3 activator BHV-7000 earlier in the quarter, supported by the preponderance of preclinical efficacy data generated to date with BHV-7000 demonstrating potent anti-seizure efficacy, concentration-dependent hyperpolarization of the resting membrane potential, meaningful increases in action potential threshold, and encouragingly low GABA A activity. We also look forward to unlocking Kv7 platform expansion opportunities across a spectrum of indications with high unmet medical need."

Dr Coric continued, "With our glutamate platform, we look to gain clarity on the regulatory path forward for SCA and expect to complete enrollment in our Phase 3 OCD program in 2023, which we believe are two critically important milestones given the dearth of approved therapies for these distinct patient populations. Regarding our myostatin platform, we continue to activate sites and drive enrollment in our ongoing Phase 3 SMA study. With our recently acquired TYK2/JAK1 platform, we remain focused on starting Phase 1 studies in 2023 and exploring BHV-8000's potential to address an array of immune-mediated brain disorders. And finally, we look forward to submitting IND applications across three separate programs, including BHV-7010, a next-gen Kv7 activator targeting epilepsy and mood disorders, BHV-2011, a TRPM3 inhibitor targeting chronic pain, and BHV-1300, our IgG degrader, following the report of robust preclinical data earlier in the year. We remain as committed as ever to driving data-driven, efficient results for patients and the shareholders who support our continued work, and look forward to executing and delivering continued value in the year ahead."

First Quarter 2023 and Recent Business Highlights

Acquired BHV-8000, a brain-penetrant inhibitor of TYK2/JAK1, from Highlightll - As previously reported, in March 2023 , the Company acquired exclusive rights (excluding China ) to a novel, oral, first-in-class, brain-penetrant, dual inhibitor of TYK2/JAK1 offering wide therapeutic index with TYK2 inhibition and high selectivity for JAK1 inhibition without the severely limiting adverse class effects of JAK2/JAK3 inhibitors. The Company expects to commence Phase 1 development in 2023, exploring its potential to address immune-mediated brain disorders.

- As previously reported, in , the Company acquired exclusive rights (excluding ) to a novel, oral, first-in-class, brain-penetrant, dual inhibitor of TYK2/JAK1 offering wide therapeutic index with TYK2 inhibition and high selectivity for JAK1 inhibition without the severely limiting adverse class effects of JAK2/JAK3 inhibitors. The Company expects to commence Phase 1 development in 2023, exploring its potential to address immune-mediated brain disorders. Delivered oral and poster presentations demonstrating preclinical efficacy and initial Phase 1 safety and tolerability of BHV-7000 on ASENT 2023 virtual platform - In March 2023 , the Company presented data at the 2023 American Society for Experimental Neurotherapeutics Annual Meeting (ASENT 2023) demonstrating that activating Kv7.2/7.3 with BHV-7000, a structurally and pharmacologically distinct compound from ezogabine, produced concentration-dependent hyperpolarization of the resting membrane potential, potentiated meaningful increases in action potential threshold, exhibited significantly lower GABA A activity than ezogabine, and delivered potent anti-seizure efficacy in the maximal electroshock seizure (MES) model, without negatively impacting neurobehavior. The Company also presented data from the Phase 1 SAD/MAD clinical trial, demonstrating BHV-7000 was well-tolerated at single doses up to 100 mg and multiple doses up to 40 mg per day for 15 days. Most adverse events were mild and resolved spontaneously, and there were no serious or severe adverse events or dose-limiting toxicities reported. In BHV-7000 treated subjects in the MAD study, CNS-related adverse events typically associated with other anti-seizure medications were not reported.

In , the Company presented data at the 2023 American Society for Experimental Neurotherapeutics Annual Meeting (ASENT 2023) demonstrating that activating Kv7.2/7.3 with BHV-7000, a structurally and pharmacologically distinct compound from ezogabine, produced concentration-dependent hyperpolarization of the resting membrane potential, potentiated meaningful increases in action potential threshold, exhibited significantly lower GABA activity than ezogabine, and delivered potent anti-seizure efficacy in the maximal electroshock seizure (MES) model, without negatively impacting neurobehavior. The Company also presented data from the Phase 1 SAD/MAD clinical trial, demonstrating BHV-7000 was well-tolerated at single doses up to 100 mg and multiple doses up to 40 mg per day for 15 days. Most adverse events were mild and resolved spontaneously, and there were no serious or severe adverse events or dose-limiting toxicities reported. In BHV-7000 treated subjects in the MAD study, CNS-related adverse events typically associated with other anti-seizure medications were not reported. Taldefgrobep Alfa Granted Fast Track Designation and Orphan Drug Designation - As previously reported, Taldefgrobep alfa, an anti-myostatin adnectin in development for SMA, was granted Fast Track designation and Orphan Drug designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in February 2023 , and December 2022 , respectively. Phase 3 studies are ongoing; the Company expects to enroll approximately 180 patients in this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled global trial.

- As previously reported, Taldefgrobep alfa, an anti-myostatin adnectin in development for SMA, was granted Fast Track designation and Orphan Drug designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in , and , respectively. Phase 3 studies are ongoing; the Company expects to enroll approximately 180 patients in this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled global trial. Reported preclinical data with extracellular target degrader platform technology (MoDE), a pan-IgG degrader - As previously reported, in January 2023 , the Company evaluated the effect of a single dose of IgG degrader, BHV-1300, in cynomolgus monkeys. The Company reported 75% reduction of IgG levels from baseline and noted the observation occurred in three days; the data in this pre-clinical study compares favorably to standard of care therapy efgartigimod, where reduction of IgG levels with efgartigimod was observed to be 50% and had taken 5-7 days. The Company expects BHV-1300 will be ready for IND submission in the second half of 2023.

- As previously reported, in , the Company evaluated the effect of a single dose of IgG degrader, BHV-1300, in cynomolgus monkeys. The Company reported 75% reduction of IgG levels from baseline and noted the observation occurred in three days; the data in this pre-clinical study compares favorably to standard of care therapy efgartigimod, where reduction of IgG levels with efgartigimod was observed to be 50% and had taken 5-7 days. The Company expects BHV-1300 will be ready for IND submission in the second half of 2023. Reported preclinical data with second MoDE in bispecific platform targeting IgA Nephropathy - As previously reported, in January 2023 , the Company reported preclinical data with a second MoDE targeting galactose deficient IgA (Gd-IgA), which is believed to play a pathogenic role in IgA Nephropathy. Specific removal of pathogenic Gd-IgA with preservation of normal IgA potentially permits disease remission without incurring an infection risk. The Company shared preliminary data demonstrating the chimeric antibody-ASGPR ligand conjugate specifically mediated endocytosis of Gd-IgA, as opposed to normal IgA, in an endocytosis assay with HepG2 cells.

- As previously reported, in , the Company reported preclinical data with a second MoDE targeting galactose deficient IgA (Gd-IgA), which is believed to play a pathogenic role in IgA Nephropathy. Specific removal of pathogenic Gd-IgA with preservation of normal IgA potentially permits disease remission without incurring an infection risk. The Company shared preliminary data demonstrating the chimeric antibody-ASGPR ligand conjugate specifically mediated endocytosis of Gd-IgA, as opposed to normal IgA, in an endocytosis assay with HepG2 cells. Leadership team expanded with key appointment - In April 2023 , Biohaven announced the appointment of Nick Kozauer, M.D. as SVP of Clinical Development and Regulatory Strategy following his tenure as Director of the Division of Neurology 2 in the Office of New Drugs of the FDA. Dr. Kozauer had supervised and reviewed the approval of over 15 marketed drugs during his tenure at the FDA.

Upcoming Expected Milestones:

Biohaven is progressing its product candidates through clinical programs in a number of common and rare disorders. The Company expects to reach significant pipeline milestones in the coming periods. Biohaven expects to:

Initiate EEG study with BHV-7000 in the first half of 2023: Following Phase 1 study completion, Biohaven expects to initiate pivotal trials in patients with epilepsy and patients with bipolar disorder in the second half of 2023.

Following Phase 1 study completion, Biohaven expects to initiate pivotal trials in patients with epilepsy and patients with bipolar disorder in the second half of 2023. Submit IND with BHV-7010 in epilepsy and mood disorders: The Company expects to submit an IND with next-generation Kv7 activator BHV-7010 in epilepsy in the second half of 2023.

The Company expects to submit an IND with next-generation Kv7 activator BHV-7010 in epilepsy in the second half of 2023. Submit IND with BHV-2100 in chronic pain: The Company expects to submit an IND with BHV-2100, a TRPM3 antagonist in the Company's ion channel platform targeting a pain disorder in the second half of 2023.

The Company expects to submit an IND with BHV-2100, a TRPM3 antagonist in the Company's ion channel platform targeting a pain disorder in the second half of 2023. Submit IND with BHV-1300: The Company expects to submit an IND with pan-IgG degrader BHV-1300 in the second half of 2023.

The Company expects to submit an IND with pan-IgG degrader BHV-1300 in the second half of 2023. Commence Phase 1 studies with BHV-8000: The Company expects to commence Phase 1 studies with BHV-8000, an oral, brain-penetrant, dual TYK2/JAK1 inhibitor for immune-mediated brain disorders in 2023.

The Company expects to commence Phase 1 studies with BHV-8000, an oral, brain-penetrant, dual TYK2/JAK1 inhibitor for immune-mediated brain disorders in 2023. Complete enrollment in Phase 3 study of troriluzole in OCD in 2023: Two Phase 3 randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled studies are expected to enroll up to 700 patients (in each trial) across nearly 200 global study sites. The Company anticipates completing enrollment in year-end 2023.

Two Phase 3 randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled studies are expected to enroll up to 700 patients (in each trial) across nearly 200 global study sites. The Company anticipates completing enrollment in year-end 2023. Provide an update on troriluzole in SCA: The Company intends to interact with the FDA and/or European Medicines Agency in the first half of 2023 on next steps.

The Company intends to interact with the FDA and/or European Medicines Agency in the first half of 2023 on next steps. Continue advancing Phase 3 clinical studies of taldefgrobep alfa in SMA: The Company expects to enroll approximately 180 patients in the study through patient enrollment in up to 60 clinical sites.

The Company expects to enroll approximately 180 patients in the study through patient enrollment in up to 60 clinical sites. Continue advancements across multiple neuroscience and immunoscience indications: The Company's preclinical pipeline includes molecular degraders of extracellular proteins, CD38 targeting antibody recruiting molecules (ARMs), TRP channels, and other undisclosed targets, including those with disease-modifying potential.

Capital Position:

Cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities as of March 31, 2023 was $392.0 million, including $4.0 million of restricted cash, and excluding $61.5 million of cash payable to Biohaven Pharmaceutical Holding Company Ltd. (the "Former Parent"), compared to $467.9 million, including $2.5 million of restricted cash, and excluding $35.2 million of cash payable to the Former Parent, as of December 31, 20221.

First Quarter 2023 Financial Highlights:

Research and Development (R&D) Expenses: R&D expenses, including non-cash share-based compensation costs, were $63.5 million for the three months ended March 31, 2023, compared to $70.1 million for the three months ended March 31, 2022. The decrease of $6.6 million was primarily due to a decrease of $14.7 million in personnel-related costs including non-cash share-based compensation costs, and a decrease in expenses for verdiperstat, BHV-2100 and BHV-1200, partially offset by an increase in expenses for our clinical programs for Kv7 (BHV-7000 and 7010), troriluzole and BHV-2000. The decrease in personnel-related costs is due to non-cash share-based compensation expense for the first quarter of 2022 being allocated from the Former Parent equity plan based on equity awards with higher grant date fair values, which was partially offset by increased personnel costs related to an increase in headcount for our discovery operations. Non-cash share-based compensation expense was $2.2 million for the three months ended March 31, 2023, a decrease of $22.3 million as compared to the same period in 2022.

General and Administrative (G&A) Expenses: G&A expenses, including non-cash share-based compensation costs, were $14.3 million for the three months ended March 31, 2023, compared to $19.7 million for the three months ended March 31, 2022. The decrease of $5.4 million was primarily due to decreased non-cash share-based compensation costs. This was partially offset by increased personnel costs in the first quarter of 2023 compared to the same period in 2022, due to a majority of the personnel costs in the first quarter of 2022 being allocated to the Former Parent. Non-cash share-based compensation expense was $1.5 million for the three months ended March 31, 2023, a decrease of $14.1 million as compared to the same period in 2022. The decrease in non-cash share-based compensation expense is due to the first quarter of 2022 expense being allocated from the Former Parent equity plan based on equity awards with higher grant date fair values.

Other Income (Expense), Net: Other income (expense), net was a net income of $8.2 million for the three months ended March 31, 2023, compared to net expense of $4.0 thousand for the three months ended March 31, 2022. The increase of $8.2 million was primarily due to an increase in net investment income and an increase of $3.9 million in other income related to our transition services provided to our Former Parent, which is largely non-recurring.

Net Loss: Biohaven reported a net loss for the three months ended March 31, 2023, of $70.5 million, or $1.03 per share, compared to $97.0 million, or $2.46 per share, for the same period in 2022. Non-GAAP adjusted net loss for the three months ended March 31, 2023 was $66.7 million, or $0.98 per share, compared to $56.9 million, or $1.45 per share for the same period in 2022. These non-GAAP adjusted net loss and non-GAAP adjusted net loss per share measures, more fully described below under "Non-GAAP Financial Measures," exclude non-cash share-based compensation charges. A reconciliation of the GAAP financial results to non-GAAP financial results is included in the tables below. For periods prior to Biohaven's spin-off from the Former Parent on October 3, 2022 (the "Spin-Off"), net loss per share and non-GAAP adjusted net loss per share were calculated based on the 39,375,944 common shares of Biohaven distributed to the Former Parent shareholders at the time of the distribution, including common shares issued in connection with the Former Parent share options that were settled on October 3, 2022 and common shares issued in connection with the Former Parent restricted share units that vested on October 3, 2022. The same number of shares is being utilized for the calculation of basic and diluted earnings per share for all periods presented prior to the Spin-Off.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

This press release includes financial results prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (GAAP), and also certain non-GAAP financial measures. In particular, Biohaven has provided non-GAAP adjusted net loss and adjusted net loss per share, which are adjusted to exclude non-cash share-based compensation, which is substantially dependent on changes in the market price of common shares. Non-GAAP financial measures are not an alternative for financial measures prepared in accordance with GAAP. However, Biohaven believes the presentation of non-GAAP adjusted net loss and adjusted net loss per share, when viewed in conjunction with GAAP results, provides investors with a more meaningful understanding of ongoing operating performance and can assist investors in comparing Biohaven's performance between periods.

In addition, these non-GAAP financial measures are among those indicators Biohaven uses as a basis for evaluating performance, and planning and forecasting future periods. These non-GAAP financial measures are not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for GAAP financial measures. A reconciliation between these non-GAAP measures and the most directly comparable GAAP measures is provided later in this news release.

About Biohaven

Biohaven is a global clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of life-changing therapies for people with debilitating neurological and neuropsychiatric diseases, including rare disorders. Biohaven's experienced management team brings with it a track record of delivering new drug approvals for products for diseases such as migraine, depression, bipolar and schizophrenia. The company is advancing a pipeline of therapies for diseases with little or no treatment options, leveraging its proven drug development capabilities and proprietary platforms, including Kv7 ion channel modulation for epilepsy and neuronal hyperexcitability, glutamate modulation for obsessive-compulsive disorder and spinocerebellar ataxia, myostatin inhibition for neuromuscular diseases, and brain-penetrant TYK2/JAK1 inhibition for immune-mediated brain disorders. Biohaven's portfolio of early- and late-stage product candidates also includes discovery research programs focused on TRPM3 channel activation for neuropathic pain, CD-38 antibody recruiting, bispecific molecules for multiple myeloma, antibody drug conjugates (ADCs), and extracellular target degrader platform technology (MoDE) with potential application in neurological disorders, cancer, and autoimmune diseases.

Forward-looking Statements

This news release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The use of certain words, including "continue", "plan", "will", "believe", "may", "expect", "anticipate" and similar expressions, is intended to identify forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that any forward-looking statements, including statements regarding the future development, timing and potential marketing approval and commercialization of development candidates, are not guarantees of future performance or results and involve substantial risks and uncertainties. Actual results, developments and events may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors including: the expected timing, commencement and outcomes of Biohaven's planned and ongoing clinical trials; the timing of planned interactions and filings with the FDA; the timing and outcome of expected regulatory filings; complying with applicable U.S. regulatory requirements; the potential commercialization of Biohaven's product candidates; the potential for Biohaven's product candidates to be first in class therapies; and the effectiveness and safety of Biohaven's product candidates. Additional important factors to be considered in connection with forward-looking statements are described in Biohaven's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including within the sections titled "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations". The forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this new release, and Biohaven does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

1 On May 9, 2022, the Board of Directors of the Former Parent approved and directed Former Parent's management to effect the spin-off of the Kv7 ion channel activators, glutamate modulation and myostatin inhibition platforms, preclinical product candidates, and certain corporate infrastructure then owned by Former Parent in connection with the sale of the Former Parent to Pfizer. On October 3, 2022, the purchase of the Former Parent by Pfizer was consummated and Former Parent completed the distribution to holders of its common shares of all of the outstanding common shares of Biohaven Ltd.

BIOHAVEN LTD. CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS (Amounts in thousands, except share and per share amounts) (Unaudited)





Three Months Ended March 31,



2023

2022 Operating expenses:







Research and development

$ 63,461

$ 70,096 General and administrative

14,321

19,677 Total operating expenses

77,782

89,773 Loss from operations

(77,782)

(89,773) Other income (expense):







Other income (expense), net

8,229

(4) Total other income (expense), net

8,229

(4) Loss before provision for income taxes

(69,553)

(89,777) Provision for income taxes

939

7,255 Net loss

$ (70,492)

$ (97,032) Net loss per share  basic and diluted

$ (1.03)

$ (2.46) Weighted average common shares outstanding basic and diluted

68,206,879

39,375,944

BIOHAVEN LTD. CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (Amounts in thousands)





March 31, 2023

December 31, 2022



(Unaudited)



Assets







Current assets:







Cash and cash equivalents

$ 125,031

$ 204,877 Marketable securities

262,998

260,464 Prepaid expenses

26,400

20,945 Income tax receivable

43,830

46,139 Restricted cash held on behalf of Former Parent

61,548

35,212 Other current assets

24,669

19,331 Total current assets

544,476

586,968 Property and equipment, net

17,494

17,512 Intangible assets

18,400

18,400 Goodwill

1,390

1,390 Other non-current assets

36,761

37,513 Total assets

$ 618,521

$ 661,783 Liabilities and Equity







Current liabilities:







Accounts payable

$ 14,456

$ 10,703 Due to Former Parent

61,548

35,212 Accrued expenses and other current liabilities

38,002

44,106 Total current liabilities

114,006

90,021 Long-term operating lease liability

29,760

30,581 Other non-current liabilities

2,497

2,410 Total liabilities

146,263

123,012 Shareholders' Equity:







Preferred shares, no par value; 10,000,000 shares authorized, no shares issued

and outstanding as of March 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022



 Common shares, no par value; 200,000,000 shares authorized as of March 31, 2023

and December 31, 2022; 68,212,479 and 68,190,479 shares issued and outstanding

as of March 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022, respectively

616,246

615,742 Additional paid-in capital

17,462

13,869 Accumulated deficit

(161,616)

(91,124) Accumulated other comprehensive income

166

284 Total shareholders' equity

472,258

538,771 Total liabilities and shareholders' equity

$ 618,521

$ 661,783

BIOHAVEN LTD. RECONCILIATION OF GAAP TO NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES (Amounts in thousands, except share and per share amounts) (Unaudited)



Three Months Ended March 31,



2023

2022 Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP adjusted net loss:







GAAP net loss

$ (70,492)

$ (97,032) Add: non-cash share-based compensation expense

3,765

40,120 Non-GAAP adjusted net loss

$ (66,727)

$ (56,912)









Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP adjusted net loss per share  basic and diluted: GAAP net loss per share  basic and diluted

$ (1.03)

$ (2.46) Add: non-cash share-based compensation expense

0.05

1.02 Non-GAAP adjusted net loss per share  basic and diluted

$ (0.98)

$ (1.45)

MoDEs is a trademark of Biohaven Therapeutics Ltd.

Investor Contact:

Jennifer Porcelli

Vice President, Investor Relations

[email protected]

+1 (201) 248-0741

Media Contact:

Mike Beyer

Sam Brown Inc.

[email protected]

+1 (312) 961-2502

SOURCE Biohaven Ltd.
MACON, Ga., May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Workers at Blue Bird Corporation's Fort Valley, Ga., facility today voted to join the United Steelworkers union (USW), seeking a voice on the job so they can address urgent concerns including workplace health and safety, work-life balance and fair pay.

United Steelworkers International President Tom Conway welcomed the approximately 1,400 workers to the USW and congratulated them on their successful organizing effort.

"We're proud that Blue Bird workers chose to join our union," Conway said, "and we're ready to help them bargain a fair contract that accounts for their contributions to the company's success."

Blue Bird workers, who make school buses, including low-emission and zero-emission models, represent one of the most significant recent organizing efforts by manufacturing workers in the South.

"Workers at places like Blue Bird in many ways embody the future," said USW District 9 Director Dan Flippo, who represents workers in Georgia and six other Southern states. "They're the ones who are making the investments in our infrastructure a reality, the ones who are building the safer, cleaner communities for generations to come."

Blue Bird has been approved to receive significant funding through the EPA's Clean School Bus program, and Flippo cautioned that with these sorts of federal investments, comes the responsibility to ensure workers have a seat at the table.

"For too long corporations cynically viewed the South as a place where they could suppress wages and working conditions because they believed they could keep workers from unionizing," Flippo said. "Our union has a long history of fighting on behalf of workers in the South and across the country. Now as members of the USW, workers at Blue Bird have the same opportunity to make positive changes in their workplace."

"We work hard, and we deserve fair pay, safe working conditions and to be treated with respect on the job," said Patrick Watkins, a Blue Bird worker who served on the volunteer organizing committee. "It was clear that our only path forward was to take our future into our own hands  and that's what we did today when we voted to organize."

The USW represents 850,000 workers employed in metals, mining, pulp and paper, rubber, chemicals, glass, auto supply and the energy-producing industries, along with a growing number of workers in health care, public sector, higher education, tech and service occupations. For more information: http://www.usw.org/.

CONTACT: Jess Kamm Broomell, 412-562-2444, [email protected]

SOURCE United Steelworkers (USW)
Streetwise: SF Police Department On Duty

by Frank Dunnigan

May 2023

Last year, STREETWISE looked back through the Western Neighborhoods Project photo archive at some examples of the San Francisco Fire Department in action. Now, we explore memories of the San Francisco Police Department  including the many diverse functions performed by the women and men of SFPD throughout the western neighborhoods over the last century.

In a busy metropolitan area, a police force takes on public safety in many ways. In times past when most children walked to school, uniformed officers watched over them, especially when crossing busy streets. This image of Arguello Boulevard near Lake Street in the Richmond District is nearly 100 years old, with the buildings in the background on the east side of Arguello still there today. The empty lot in the middle of the photo became the site of a new home built a few years later.

Public safety also includes responding to injuries on the streets. In this image, an accident victim is placed into a Department of Public Health ambulance outside the Gallenkamps Shoe Store on the northwest corner of Clement Street at 8th Avenue, with the assistance of SFPD. At that time, Gallenkamps operated stores on Chestnut, Clement, Fillmore, Market, and Mission Streets, plus at Stonestown Mall, numerous other locations throughout the Bay Area, and more than 500 stores nationwide; all are now gone. Today, the Clement Street site is home to a cafe.

One can only imagine the reaction of police officers responding to this traffic call at Anza Street and Parker Avenue  a usually quiet street in the western neighborhoods. Seventy years after this mishap, the area remains quiet and residential.

SFPDs Mounted Patrol covers beaches, parks, and developed areas of San Francisco as conditions dictate. Here, the Mounted Patrol assists with crowd control at a 49ers playoff game against the Detroit Lions on a rainy December day in 1957 at Kezar Stadium in Golden Gate Park. The original Kezar Stadium, built in 1925 with nearly 60,000 seats for spectators, was demolished in 1989 and replaced with the present stadium that has a capacity of just 10,000.

Public safety demonstrations show how the Traffic Division investigates auto accidents by measuring skid marks to determine a vehicles speed. This scene was played out for a group of students gathered at right in the empty reservoir site adjacent to City College of San Francisco. Read more about possible future uses of this reservoir site.

Although the San Francisco Fire Department takes charge at the scene of a fire, SFPD provides crucial support  particularly with traffic diversion and crowd control. Here is an image of the in-progress fire that destroyed the Sutro Baths building and adjacent structures in June of 1966. HISTORIC FOOTNOTE: Sutros had already been vacated, with its artifacts removed, and demolition was in progress to prepare the site for a high-rise housing complex when the fire broke out. It was eventually determined to be arson, though no one was ever charged with a crime. According to local history records, the developers received the insurance money and the housing project was never built. Today, the site is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, created by the federal government in 1972.

The Bomb Squad is assigned to investigate incendiary devices, including the one that produced this blast at St. Brendan Church on Rockaway Avenue in Forest Hill. It exploded just before the start of the October 22, 1970 funeral for police officer Harold Hamilton, who was killed in the line of duty during a Richmond District bank robbery a few days prior. No one was injured in the blast at the church, and this incident was never solved. Eight months earlier, SFPD Sergeant Brian McDonnell was killed at a bombing at Park Station  another case that officially remains unsolved. The church and the surrounding residential area remain largely unchanged more than 50 years later.

Public outreach is another important aspect of police work. Police Chief Al Nelder is shown here speaking to a gathering of Sunset District residents at the then-new St. Ignatius College Preparatory on 37th Avenue. Seated at center is Mayor Joseph Alioto, and at far right, a recently elected member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, Dianne Feinstein (then only 37 years old). She had just won her first election to the board less than one year earlier in the fall of 1969. St. Ignatius, founded in 1855, celebrated the 50th anniversary of its 37th Avenue campus in the fall of 2019, and has been fully co-educational for more than 33 years.

Shown here is the Sunset District branch of Hibernia Bank, located at the northeast corner of 22nd Avenue and Noriega Street circa 1976. Two years earlier, on April 15, 1974, it was the site of a robbery by kidnapped newspaper heiress Patty Hearst and the Symbionese Liberation Army. The suspects fled, but were eventually found  some in Los Angeles in May of 1974 and some in San Francisco in September of 1975. Hibernia Bank was acquired by Security-Pacific Bank in 1988 and Security-Pacific itself was acquired by Bank of America in 1992, with the building bearing each of those names for a few years before Bank of America closed the branch. In recent times, the site has been home to a neighborhood health clinic.

Even in quiet residential areas like the Parkside, traffic accidents can be regular occurrences. Here, a late model Buick has just struck a utility pole at the southwest corner of 15th Avenue and Vicente Street in 1977. The area is essentially unchanged today, except that the modest $50,000 homes shown here 46 years ago are now generally selling in excess of $1.5 million each.

Again, the Mounted Patrol coordinates crowd control as Mayor George Moscone leads the festivities to celebrate the reopening of the N-Judah streetcar line at 31st Avenue and Judah Street on September 16, 1978, after extensive renovations had been completed. Sadly, this was one of Mayor Moscones final appearances at a civic event in the Sunset District because ten weeks later, he was shot and killed in his City Hall office. The service station on the southeast corner at far right has long since been replaced with a multi-story apartment building.

Traffic control is needed at times of natural disasters as well as after-the-fact. Here, SFPD provides oversight in April of 1990 at the northwest corner of 7th Avenue and Judah Street during the demolition of an apartment building that was severely damaged six months earlier by the Loma Prieta earthquake on October 17, 1989. A new apartment building was then constructed at the site. Seventh Avenue Presbyterian Church, shown in the distance, first occupied that site in 1907, and the present church building was dedicated in 1929.

It was May of 2004 when Heather Fong, a 27-year veteran of SFPD and a graduate of the University of San Francisco and San Francisco State University, was named Chief of Police  the first Asian-American woman to hold such a position in the United States. Read the San Francisco Chronicles account of her life and some of the early highlights of her career at the time of her appointment to the Chiefs post.

Contribute your own stories about western neighborhoods places!
LACHIN, Azerbaijan, May 12. The trip of international travelers from Sweden, who are members of the Club100 organization, to the Lachin district has begun within the framework of the visit to Azerbaijans Karabakh and Eastern Zangazur, Trends Karabakh Bureau reports.

The participants of the trip, having previously visited the Kalbajar district, then got acquainted with the construction and restoration work in the Lachin district.

This trip is of exceptional importance for the promotion of the territories liberated from occupation within the framework of dark tourism (tourism involving travel to places historically associated with death and tragedy).

Over the past two years, six trips have been organized to Karabakh and Eastern Zangazur by representatives of the world's largest international travel networks - ETIC, MTP, TCC, NomadMania, Travelers Club of Turkiye, the UK "Piki Reels" club. One trip was organized in 2021, four - in 2022, and one trip - in 2023. The current trip is already the seventh in a row.
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Chef Rotanak Ros (known as Chef Nak) has dedicated her life to restoring and elevating traditional Khmer (Cambodian) cuisines, she has worked with researchers, writers, chefs and especially elderly Cambodians across the country to document and share this unique part of Khmer culture with future generations in Cambodia and around the world.

Chef Nak is holding her new cookbook in both English and Cambodian versions (Picture by Thoeun Veasna) Picture of Princess Sobbana with President John F Kennedy in oval office one month before his assassination (Picture by Thoeun Veasna)

The civil war in Cambodia took millions of lives and with them, the memories of our unique Khmer culture, including our national cuisine. Cooking and food reveal the spirit of every culture, but as the people who survived the genocide grow older, those memories and recipes are disappearing.

"In my experience working with Cambodian Living Arts for almost 10 years, I learned that our surviving master artists passed down their knowledge orally, not so much in the form of writing, and it's the same for our traditional cooking. So, I felt I had to do something about it," shared Chef Nak.

Chef Nak shares her expertise with others through books, cooking classes, home dining, homestay, restaurant consultancy, and social media content to advocate for healthy Cambodian cuisine. She also collaborated with organizations like the World Food Program to promote school feeding for young children, with UNICEF to improve the food environment for our future generations, and with the Food Agriculture Organization to inspire organic farming and support farmers and many other NGOs to promote healthy, nutritious food across Cambodia.

Chef Nak published her first cookbook "Nhum" in 2019. "Nhum" was the subject of a glowing NY Times article and set a new standard for Cambodian cookbooks. Her newly published cookbook "SAOY  Royal Cambodian Home Cuisine" is more than just a cookbook  it's a work of art, a forgotten treasure of royal Cambodian home cuisine, featuring stunning images of each irresistible royal dish, of lovely murals from the Royal Palace, and original paintings of the ingredients by gifted young Cambodian artists.

From the zesty Salted Crab Salad to succulent Golden Stuffed Chicken and delectable Sweet and Salty Giant Freshwater Prawns, savor every dish as you uncover the rich cultural and historical significance behind them.

Chef Nak's inspiration for creating her new book, SAOY, was the pioneering work of HRH Princess Norodom Rasmi Sohbana back in 1950's and 60's. Princess was a great advocate for women and Cambodian cuisine. The book includes a photo of the Princess with President Kennedy in the oval office, one of the last people to have a private audience with the President the week before his assassination.

Chef Nak believes that this book will demonstrate to everyone why Princess Sobhana was so passionate about Cambodian food and why she and the Princess both believe it should have a prominent place on the international culinary stage.

"I have a vision that Cambodian culinary arts will become one of the world's great cuisines," says Chef Nak "We should have pride in our national cuisine, and everyone can celebrate it."

With intriguing insights into the history and culture of Cambodian food, innovative recipe ideas, and instructive cooking techniques, this cookbook is a must-have for anyone seeking to discover and indulge in the delectable world of Cambodian cuisine.

Get a copy of "SAOY" as soon as possible here if you are ready to start on a delicious voyage through the vibrant and varied flavors of Cambodian cuisine. You can also try her culinary experience click here , check out her first cookbook on Amazon here , and check out her menu at Rosewood Phnom Penh here .

Media Contact:

Sarin CHHUON

+85512654897

[email protected]

SOURCE Chef Nak
WASHINGTON, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. (CFP Board) announced today public sanctions against 22 current or former CFP professionals, effective immediately or on the date noted in each case. Public sanctions taken by CFP Board, in order of increasing severity, include Public Censures, Suspensions, Temporary Bars, Permanent Bars and Revocations of the right to use the CFP marks.

CFP Board's Enforcement Process

As part of their certification, CFP professionals make a commitment to CFP Board to abide by CFP Board's Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct (Code and Standards) or its predecessor, the Standards of Professional Conduct (Standards), which included the Code of Ethics and Professional Responsibility, Rules of Conduct and Financial Planning Practice Standards. Individuals on the pathway to CFP certification make a commitment to abide by CFP Board's Pathway to CFP Certification Agreement (Pathway Agreement).

CFP Board's Procedural Rules set forth the process for investigating matters and imposing sanctions where violations have been found.

CFP Board enforces its ethical standards by investigating alleged violations and, where there is probable cause to believe there are grounds for sanction, presents a Complaint containing the alleged violations to CFP Board's Disciplinary and Ethics Commission (Commission). The Commission meets at least six times a year to review any matter in which CFP Board has alleged that a CFP professional has violated CFP Board's Code and Standards or its predecessor Standards, or an individual pursuing initial CFP certification has violated the Pathway Agreement. The Commission functions in accordance with the Procedural Rules and reviews all matters on a case-by-case basis, considering the details specific to an individual case. If the Commission determines there are grounds for sanction, then it may impose a sanction. Commission orders may be appealed by a Respondent or CFP Board pursuant to the Procedural Rules.

In certain circumstances, such as when a CFP professional is in default due to failure to acknowledge receipt of a Notice of Investigation or file an Answer, CFP Board staff must deliver an Administrative Order of Suspension, Temporary Bar, Revocation or Permanent Bar. Administrative Orders are subject to appeal.

More information on CFP Board's enforcement process can be found at CFP.net/enforcement. In addition, at CFP.net/verify, CFP Board provides the public with:

An individual's CFP Board disciplinary history and CFP certification status.

Links to other sources of information about CFP professionals that may be more recent or that may contain information that has not led to CFP Board discipline and does not appear on CFP Board's website. This information may include customer disputes, disciplinary actions taken by a regulator or employer, certain criminal matters and certain financial matters (such as bankruptcy proceedings and unpaid judgments or liens).

Links to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority's (FINRA's) BrokerCheck and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC's) Investment Adviser Public Disclosure databases for individuals who are subject to FINRA or SEC oversight.

The Public Sanctions on 22 Individuals

A short summary of each sanction can be found below.

STATE NAME LOCATION SANCTION Florida Richard S. Ewing, CFP Tequesta Public Censure Florida Matthew A. Lapides, CFP Miami Public Censure Massachusetts Gregory M. Doherty, CFP Dedham Public Censure North Dakota Chad Quamme Fargo Temporary Bar Louisiana Robert M. Alvarez Metairie Suspension New York Calvin Lipscomb Brooklyn Suspension Ohio Augustus W. Abel Powell Suspension Texas Alexander D. Cohen Dallas Suspension California Steven P. McCormick Simi Valley Permanent Bar California Richard M. Sanders North Tustin Permanent Bar California Jay A. Weil Mission Viejo Permanent Bar Kansas Marvin R. Fisher Wichita Permanent Bar New York Kathryn Jane Meredith Webster Permanent Bar Texas Annetta Marie Box Plano Permanent Bar California Harold Stephenson Concord Revocation Illinois David R. Geake Northbrook Revocation Illinois Shawn E. Parker St. Charles Revocation Minnesota Michael J. Haglin Hopkins Revocation New Mexico Mark J. Jensen Santa Fe Revocation Texas Paul E. Ferraresi Bellaire Revocation Texas Michael Giannetti Grapevine Revocation Texas Douglas McKelvey South Lake Revocation

PUBLIC CENSURE

FLORIDA

Richard S. Ewing, CFP (Tequesta, Florida): In January 2023, the Disciplinary and Ethics Commission (Commission) issued an order in which Mr. Ewing received a Public Censure. The Commission issued its order after determining that Mr. Ewing violated Rule 4.3 of the Rules of Conduct, which requires a certificant to be compliant with applicable regulatory requirements governing professional services to a client. Mr. Ewing and his firm entered into a Consent Order with the New Hampshire Bureau of Securities Regulation, finding that he and his firm were engaged in investment advisory business in and from New Hampshire without lawful registration from 2006 until 2014 in violation of New Hampshire law. As a result of these violations, Mr. Ewing and his firm were required to pay a fine of $15,000, costs of $15,000, back-owed licensing fees of $800, restitution to the customer for losses and accrued interest totaling more than $17,000, and advisory fees plus interest totaling more than $29,000. Accordingly, the Commission issued to Mr. Ewing an Order of Public Censure.

Matthew A. Lapides, CFP (Miami, Florida): In November 2021, CFP Board issued an order in which Mr. Lapides received a Public Censure. This sanction followed an appeal of a July 2021 decision by the Disciplinary and Ethics Commission (Commission). The Code and Standards Enforcement Committee of CFP Board (Enforcement Committee) affirmed the Commission's findings that the State of Florida Office of Financial Regulation (Regulator) determined on May 28, 2015, that Mr. Lapides had engaged in unregistered activity when he conducted investment advisory business in Florida from January 2014 to June 2015. On July 17, 2015, the Regulator executed a Final Order adopting a Stipulation and Consent Agreement pursuant to which Mr. Lapides agreed that he (a) engaged in investment advisory business in and from Florida without the benefit of lawful registration in violation of  517.12(4), Florida Statutes, (b) shall cease and desist from any further violations of Chapter 517, Florida Statutes and Rules thereunder; (c) shall pay an administrative fine of $5,000; and (d) the Regulator shall approve Mr. Lapides' pending application for registration as an associated person with his firm upon payment of the required fine and entry of the Final Order. The Enforcement Committee also affirmed the Commission's finding that Mr. Lapides failed to timely disclose the Regulator's Final Order to CFP Board within 30 calendar days of entry, or on his 2017 or 2019 CFP Board Ethics Declarations. In addition, the Enforcement Committee affirmed the Commission's finding that Mr. Lapides violated Rule 4.3 of CFP Board's Rules of Conduct, which provides that "a certificant shall be in compliance with applicable regulatory requirements governing professional services to the client," and Rule 6.2 of CFP Board's Rules of Conduct, which provides that a "certificant shall meet all CFP Board requirements, including continuing education requirements, to retain the right to use the CFP marks." Accordingly, CFP Board issued to Mr. Lapides a Public Censure.

MASSACHUSETTS

Gregory M. Doherty, CFP (Dedham, Massachusetts): In December 2022, the Disciplinary and Ethics Commission (Commission) issued an order in which Mr. Doherty received a Public Censure. The Commission determined that Mr. Doherty violated Rule 3.7 of the Rules of Conduct, which provides that a certificant shall not lend money to a client, and Rule 4.3 of the Rules of Conduct, which requires a certificant to be compliant with applicable regulatory requirements governing professional services to a client. From March 3, 2017, through April 2, 2018, Mr. Doherty loaned a total of $38,900 to clients when he transferred funds from his personal account to his clients' accounts. The clients were not members of Mr. Doherty's immediate family, nor did Mr. Doherty work for an institution in the business of lending money. Furthermore, Mr. Doherty entered into a Consent Order with the State of Massachusetts, Securities Division, wherein he agreed that he failed to fulfill an independent verification requirement of the assets under his custody and loaned funds to his clients in violation of  203(a) and  204(a)(2)(G) of the Mass. Gen. Laws Ch. 110A. Pursuant to the Massachusetts Consent Order, Mr. Doherty agreed to a $10,000 fine, to cease and desist from violations of Massachusetts Regulations, and to engage an accountant to conduct an independent audit of all accounts for which his firm had custody. Accordingly, the Commission issued to Mr. Doherty an Order of Public Censure.

TEMPORARY BAR

NORTH DAKOTA

Chad Quamme (Fargo, North Dakota): In January 2023, CFP Board issued an administrative order temporarily barring Mr. Quamme from applying for or obtaining the CFP certification marks for one year and one day. This sanction followed Mr. Quamme's relinquishment of his certification and failure to acknowledge receipt of CFP Board's Notice of Investigation, as required by Article 1.1 of the Procedural Rules. CFP Board sought to investigate a civil judgment filed against Mr. Quamme totaling $59,202. Mr. Quamme's conduct may have violated Standard E.2 of the Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct, which provides that a CFP professional may not engage in conduct that reflects adversely on the CFP professional, the CFP marks or the profession. Under Article 4.1.a. of the Procedural Rules, Mr. Quamme has been deemed in default, and CFP Board issued an Administrative Order of Temporary Bar. Mr. Quamme's administrative temporary bar was effective as of February 20, 2023.

SUSPENSION

LOUISIANA

Robert M. Alvarez (Metairie, Louisiana): In November 2022, CFP Board issued an order in which Mr. Alvarez received a suspension of one year and one day. This sanction followed an appeal of a May 2022 Order of Suspension from the Disciplinary and Ethics Commission (Commission). The Appeals Commission of CFP Board affirmed the Commission's findings that the Louisiana Department of Insurance (DPI) issued Mr. Alvarez a Notice of Fine, finding he "impersonated another licensed producer on the phone in the conduct of the business of insurance regarding a query related to a policy of insurance" in violation of Louisiana Insurance Code, and fined Respondent $500.00. The Appeals Commission also affirmed the Commission's findings that Mr. Alvarez's conduct violated Rule 4.3 of the Rules of Conduct, which provides that a certificant shall be in compliance with applicable regulatory requirements governing professional services provided to the client, and Rule 6.5 of the Rules of Conduct, which provides that a certificant shall not engage in conduct which reflects adversely on his integrity or fitness as a certificant, upon the CFP marks or upon the profession. The Appeals Commission also affirmed the Commission's finding that Mr. Alvarez then made an intentional misrepresentation to CFP Board regarding the event on his Ethics Disclosure, in violation of Rule 6.2 of the Rules of Conduct, which provides that a certificant shall meet all CFP Board requirements to retain the right to use the CFP marks. It further affirmed that, in addition to several aggravating factors and no mitigating factors, Mr. Alvarez had prior discipline by CFP Board in 2015 based on a 2013 Cautionary Action Letter from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), indicating a pattern of misconduct. Pursuant to the decision of the Appeals Commission, Mr. Alvarez's suspension is effective from November 28, 2022, to November 29, 2023.

NEW YORK

Calvin Lipscomb (Brooklyn, New York): In March 2023, CFP Board issued an administrative order suspending Mr. Lipscomb's right to use the CFP certification marks for one year and one day. This sanction followed Mr. Lipscomb's failure to acknowledge receipt of CFP Board's Notice of Investigation, as required by Article 1.1 of the Procedural Rules. CFP Board sought to investigate a civil judgment filed against Mr. Lipscomb for $273,694. Mr. Lipscomb's conduct may have violated Standard E.2 of the Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct, which provides that a CFP professional may not engage in conduct that reflects adversely on the CFP professional, the CFP marks or the profession. Under Article 4.1.a. of the Procedural Rules, Mr. Lipscomb has been deemed in default, and CFP Board issued an Administrative Order of Suspension. Mr. Lipscomb's administrative suspension was effective as of April 24, 2023.

OHIO

Augustus W. Abel (Powell, Ohio): In February 2023, the Disciplinary and Ethics Commission (Commission) issued an order in which Mr. Abel received a three-year suspension of his certification and right to use the CFP marks. The Commission determined that Mr. Abel violated Rule 6.5 of the Rules of Conduct, which provides that a CFP professional may not engage in conduct which reflects adversely on his or her integrity or fitness as a CFP professional, upon the CFP marks or upon the profession, when he was convicted of Physical Control of a Vehicle while Intoxicated in Ohio in 2018, which was his second misdemeanor conviction for an alcohol-related offense. The Commission also found that Mr. Abel violated Rule 6.2 of the Rules of Conduct, which provides that a CFP professional shall meet all CFP Board requirements to retain the right to use the CFP marks, when he failed to notify CFP Board of his September 24, 2018, misdemeanor conviction within 30 calendar days, as required by CFP Board, and when he also answered "No" on his 2019 Ethics Declaration, in violation of Rule 6.2 of the Rules of Conduct. In determining the appropriate sanction, the Commission considered, among other factors, Mr. Abel's statements, including at the hearing, that he continues to engage in risky conduct by driving after consuming alcohol. Accordingly, the Commission issued to Mr. Abel a Suspension of three years. The suspension is effective from March 29, 2023, to March 29, 2026.

TEXAS

Alexander D. Cohen (Dallas, Texas): In February 2023, the Disciplinary and Ethics Commission (Commission) issued an order in which Mr. Cohen received a four-year suspension of his certification and right to use the CFP marks. The Commission determined that Mr. Cohen violated Rule 6.5 of the Rules of Conduct and Standard E.2.d. of the Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct, which provide that a CFP professional may not engage in conduct that reflects adversely on his or her integrity or fitness as a CFP professional, upon the CFP marks or upon the profession, when he incurred a tax liability over multiple years starting from 2013, resulting in the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) filing federal tax liens against him and an outstanding tax balance of approximately $350,000 with accrued interest and penalties. As of the date of the hearing, Mr. Cohen did not have a plan to satisfy his outstanding tax obligations, such as an installment agreement or Offer in Compromise in place with the IRS. Accordingly, the Commission issued to Mr. Cohen a Suspension of four years. The suspension is effective from March 24, 2023, to March 24, 2027.

PERMANENT BAR

CALIFORNIA

Steven P. McCormick (Simi Valley, California): In December 2022, CFP Board issued an administrative order permanently barring Mr. McCormick from applying for or obtaining the CFP certification marks. This sanction followed Mr. McCormick's relinquishment of his certification and failure to file an Answer to CFP Board's Complaint within the required time frame. CFP Board alleged that Mr. McCormick failed to cooperate with CFP Board's investigation into his outstanding federal tax lien. The Complaint alleged that Mr. McCormick accrued an outstanding balance of approximately $397,983 with the Internal Revenue Service, demonstrating an inability to manage his personal finances. CFP Board's Complaint further alleged that Mr. McCormick's conduct violated Standard E.2 of the Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct and Rule 6.5 of the Rules of Conduct, which provide that a CFP professional may not engage in conduct that reflects adversely on his or his integrity or fitness as a CFP professional, upon the CFP marks or upon the profession. Mr. McCormick failed to file an Answer to CFP Board's Complaint within 30 calendar days of the date of service, as required by Article 3.2 of the Procedural Rules. Under Article 4.1.b. of the Procedural Rules, Mr. McCormick has been deemed in default, and CFP Board issued an Administrative Order of Permanent Bar. Mr. McCormick's administrative permanent bar was effective as of January 16, 2023.

Richard M. Sanders (North Tustin, California): In March 2023, CFP Board issued an administrative order permanently barring Mr. Sanders from applying for or obtaining the CFP certification marks. This sanction followed Mr. Sanders' relinquishment of his certification and failure to file an Answer to CFP Board's Complaint within the required time frame. CFP Board alleged that Mr. Sanders violated Standard E.5 of the Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct when he failed to satisfy his Duty of Cooperation by refusing to respond to CFP Board's requests for information and a Notice of Failure to Cooperate. As set forth in the Complaint, CFP Board sought to investigate a client complaint alleging unauthorized trading and dishonesty, and a second client complaint alleging unauthorized trading. Mr. Sanders failed to file an Answer to CFP Board's Complaint within 30 calendar days of the date of service, as required by Article 3.2 of the Procedural Rules. Under Article 4.1.b. of the Procedural Rules, Mr. Sanders has been deemed in default, and CFP Board issued an Administrative Order of Permanent Bar. Mr. Sanders' administrative permanent bar was effective as of April 24, 2023.

Jay A. Weil (Mission Viejo, California): In February 2023, CFP Board issued an administrative order permanently barring Mr. Weil from applying for or obtaining the CFP certification marks. This sanction followed Mr. Weil's relinquishment of his certification and failure to file an Answer to CFP Board's Complaint within the required time frame. CFP Board alleged in its Complaint that Mr. Weil's firm prepared a retirement plan for a law firm. The Complaint further alleged that Mr. Weil's spouse was a founder and partner of the law firm. According to CFP Board's Complaint, in the agreement that set up the retirement plan, the law firm agreed to pay Mr. Weil and his firm 0.75% of the assets in the retirement plan each year. The Complaint also alleged that in the proposal for the retirement plan, Mr. Weil had stated that his firm would "help you administer your plan efficiently and in accordance with the law" and provide a retirement plan that "stays legal and in conformance with all government regulations." Despite those assurances, as set forth in the Complaint, Mr. Weil's firm caused the fiduciaries of the retirement plan to regularly engage in prohibited transactions under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). The Complaint alleged that as a partner of the law firm, Mr. Weil's spouse was a trustee and fiduciary of the retirement plan, and Mr. Weil was a party in interest as the spouse of a fiduciary. Accordingly, the Complaint alleged that the payments to Mr. Weil and his firm were a transfer of the assets of the plan to a party of interest and were prohibited transactions under ERISA. The Complaint further alleged that when interviewed under oath about the matter, Mr. Weil stated that he did not recall having any training regarding the requirements of ERISA. CFP Board's Complaint alleged that Mr. Weil's conduct violated Rule 4.2 of the Rules of Conduct, which provides that a CFP professional shall offer advice only in those areas in which he or she is competent to do so and shall maintain competence in all areas in which he or she is engaged to provide professional services. Mr. Weil failed to file an Answer to CFP Board's Complaint within 30 calendar days of the date of service, as required by Article 3.2 of the Procedural Rules. Under Article 4.1.b. of the Procedural Rules, Mr. Weil has been deemed in default, and CFP Board issued an Administrative Order of Permanent Bar. Mr. Weil's administrative permanent bar was effective as of March 6, 2023.

KANSAS

Marvin R. Fisher (Wichita, Kansas): In December 2022, CFP Board issued an administrative order permanently barring Mr. Fisher from applying for or obtaining the CFP certification marks. This sanction followed Mr. Fisher's relinquishment of his certification and failure to file an Answer to CFP Board's Complaint within the required time frame. CFP Board's Complaint alleged that Mr. Fisher's conduct violated Standard E.5 of the Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct when he failed to satisfy his Duty of Cooperation by refusing to respond to CFP Board's requests for information and a Notice of Failure to Cooperate. As set forth in the Complaint, CFP Board sought to investigate Mr. Fisher's outstanding federal tax liens totaling approximately $180,000. Mr. Fisher failed to file an Answer to CFP Board's Complaint within 30 calendar days of the date of service, as required by Article 3.2 of the Procedural Rules. Under Article 4.1.b. of the Procedural Rules, Mr. Fisher has been deemed in default, and CFP Board issued an Administrative Order of Permanent Bar. Mr. Fisher's administrative permanent bar was effective as of January 3, 2023.

NEW YORK

Kathryn Jane Meredith (Webster, New York): In December 2022, CFP Board issued an administrative order permanently barring Ms. Meredith's right to use the CFP certification marks. This sanction followed Ms. Meredith's relinquishment of her certification and failure to respond to CFP Board's Notice of Investigation, as required by Article 1.1 of the Procedural Rules. CFP Board sought to investigate a June 6, 2022, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Cease and Desist Order (Order) entered into by a firm of which Ms. Meredith was an owner until February 28, 2020, when she retired. The Order stated that the firm breached its fiduciary duty in connection with its receipt of mutual fund fees pursuant to Rule 12b-1 under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (12b-1 fees) and commissions in the form of sales "loads" from advisory client investments without fully and fairly disclosing the conflicts of interest arising from its receipt of that compensation. The Order further stated that, since at least January 2016, the firm invested the vast majority of clients' assets in certain mutual funds that paid 12b-1 fees and charged sales load commissions exclusively through an introducing broker-dealer (the Introducing Broker-Dealer), with whom Ms. Meredith was a registered representative. As a result, the Order concluded, the firm's clients paid 12b-1 fees and commissions to the Introducing Broker-Dealer, a portion of which were shared with the firm. Under Article 4.1.a of the Procedural Rules, Ms. Meredith has been deemed in default, and CFP Board issued an Administrative Order of Permanent Bar. Ms. Meredith's administrative permanent bar was effective as of January 4, 2023.

TEXAS

Annetta Marie Box (Plano, Texas): In January 2023, CFP Board issued an administrative order permanently barring Ms. Box from applying for or obtaining the CFP certification marks. This sanction followed Ms. Box's relinquishment of her certification and failure to acknowledge receipt of CFP Board's Notice of Investigation, as required by Article 1.1 of the Procedural Rules. CFP Board sought to investigate an August 11, 2022, Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (AWC) with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), in which FINRA barred Ms. Box from associating with any FINRA member in any capacity. In the AWC, Ms. Box consented to the sanction imposed by FINRA and to the entry of its findings that she refused to provide information and documents in connection with an investigation of her outside business activities. Ms. Box's conduct may have violated Standard A.8 of the Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct, which provides that a CFP professional must comply with the laws, rules and regulations governing Professional Services. Under Article 4.1.a. of the Procedural Rules, Ms. Box has been deemed in default, and CFP Board issued an Administrative Order of Permanent Bar. Ms. Box's administrative permanent bar was effective as of February 20, 2023.

REVOCATION

CALIFORNIA

Harold Stephenson (Concord, California): In March 2023, CFP Board issued an administrative order permanently revoking Mr. Stephenson's right to use the CFP certification marks. This sanction followed Mr. Stephenson's failure to acknowledge receipt of CFP Board's Notice of Investigation, as required by Article 1.1 of the Procedural Rules. CFP Board sought to investigate Mr. Stephenson's termination from his firm following allegations that he circumvented his firm's supervisory and compliance procedures in facilitating an unapproved securities transaction. Mr. Stephenson's conduct may have violated Standard D.2 of the Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct, which requires a CFP professional to comply with the policies and procedures of his or her firm. Under Article 4.1.a. of the Procedural Rules, Mr. Stephenson has been deemed in default, and CFP Board issued an Administrative Order of Revocation. Mr. Stephenson's administrative revocation was effective as of April 24, 2023.

ILLINOIS

David R. Geake (Northbrook, Illinois): In March 2023, CFP Board issued an administrative order permanently revoking Mr. Geake's right to use the CFP certification marks. This sanction followed Mr. Geake's failure to file an Answer to CFP Board's Complaint within the required time frame. CFP Board alleged that Mr. Geake failed to cooperate with CFP Board's investigation by not appearing for on-the-record testimony. As set forth in the Complaint, CFP Board was investigating Mr. Geake's resignation from a firm for engaging in an unreported private securities transaction and several customer arbitrations. The arbitrations included allegations of unsuitable alternative investments, failure to conduct due diligence on the alternative investments and breach of fiduciary duty. CFP Board's Complaint alleged that Mr. Geake's conduct violated Standard E.5 of the Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct, which provides that a CFP professional must cooperate fully with CFP Board's requests, investigations, disciplinary proceedings and disciplinary decisions. Mr. Geake failed to file an Answer to CFP Board's Complaint within 30 calendar days of the date of service, as required by Article 3.2 of the Procedural Rules. Under Article 4.1.b. of the Procedural Rules, Mr. Geake has been deemed in default, and CFP Board issued an Administrative Order of Revocation. Mr. Geake's administrative revocation was effective as of May 1, 2023.

Shawn E. Parker (St. Charles, Illinois): In December 2022, CFP Board issued an administrative order permanently revoking Ms. Parker's right to use the CFP certification marks. This sanction followed Ms. Parker's failure to file an Answer to CFP Board's Complaint within the required time frame. CFP Board alleged that Ms. Parker submitted inaccurate reimbursement requests to her firm in connection with annual client events and, thus, received reimbursements for expenses not eligible for reimbursement through the firm's program. The Complaint further alleged that Ms. Parker violated her firm's compliance policies by failing to disclose gifts to clients as well as charitable contributions that she made. As a result of her actions as set forth in the Complaint, Ms. Parker was permitted to resign from her firm and consented to a permanent bar from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. CFP Board's Complaint alleged that Ms. Parker's conduct violated Rule 6.5 of the Rules of Conduct, which provides that a CFP professional may not engage in conduct which reflects adversely on her integrity or fitness as a CFP professional, upon the CFP marks or upon the profession, and Rule 5.1 of the Rules of Conduct, which provides that a CFP professional must comply with the policies and procedures of the CFP professional's firm. Ms. Parker failed to file an Answer to CFP Board's Complaint within 30 calendar days of the date of service, as required by Article 3.2 of the Procedural Rules. Under Article 4.1.b. of the Procedural Rules, Ms. Parker has been deemed in default, and CFP Board issued an Administrative Order of Revocation. Ms. Parker's administrative revocation was effective as of January 1, 2023.

MINNESOTA

Michael J. Haglin (Hopkins, Minnesota): In December 2022, CFP Board issued an order permanently revoking Mr. Haglin's right to use the CFP certification marks. This sanction followed Mr. Haglin's failure to acknowledge receipt of CFP Board's Notice of Investigation which sought information concerning an August 2022 arrest for Driving While Intoxicated (DWI). This was Mr. Haglin's third arrest for DWI in the past five years. Mr. Haglin's conduct may have violated Standard E.2 of the Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct, which provides that a CFP professional may not engage in conduct that reflects adversely on his or his integrity or fitness as a CFP professional, upon the CFP marks or upon the profession. Under Article 4.1.a. of the Procedural Rules, Mr. Haglin has been deemed in default, and CFP Board issued an Administrative Order of Revocation. Mr. Haglin's administrative revocation was effective as of January 16, 2023.

NEW MEXICO

Mark J. Jensen (Santa Fe, New Mexico): In March 2023, CFP Board issued an administrative order permanently revoking Mr. Jensen's right to use the CFP certification marks. This sanction followed Mr. Jensen's failure to file an Answer to CFP Board's Complaint within the required time frame. CFP Board's Complaint alleged that Mr. Jensen failed to act in the best interests of 12 financial planning clients by: (1) introducing into their accounts an options-based investment fund that he did not adequately understand; (2) overconcentrating clients in this unsuitable options-based investment fund with some concentration levels reaching 41%; and (3) recommending that at least two of these clients leverage their accounts to purchase the unsuitable options-based investment fund. CFP Board's Complaint also alleged that Mr. Jensen did not adequately understand the options-based investment fund and its risks, believing it to be a conservative investment and safe choice despite the significant risks disclosed in the fund's prospectus and other materials. CFP Board's Complaint further alleged that Mr. Jensen failed to obtain basic client information, such as the clients' investment objective and risk tolerance, necessary to fulfill his obligations to his clients. By virtue of the foregoing, Mr. Jensen's clients lost multiple millions of dollars. CFP Board's Complaint alleged that Mr. Jensen's conduct violated Rules 1.4, 3.3 and 4.5 of the Rules of Conduct. Rule 1.4 requires a CFP professional to place the interests of the client ahead of his or her own. Rule 3.3 requires a CFP professional to obtain the information necessary to fulfill his or her obligations. Rule 4.5 requires a CFP professional to make and implement only recommendations that are suitable for the client. Mr. Jensen failed to file an Answer to CFP Board's Complaint within 30 calendar days of the date of service, as required by Article 3.2 of the Procedural Rules. Under Article 4.1.b. of the Procedural Rules, Mr. Jensen has been deemed in default, and CFP Board issued an Administrative Order of Revocation. Mr. Jensen's administrative revocation was effective as of April 3, 2023.

TEXAS

Paul E. Ferraresi (Bellaire, Texas): In December 2023, CFP Board issued an administrative order permanently revoking Mr. Ferraresi's right to use the CFP certification marks. This sanction followed Mr. Ferraresi's failure to file an Answer to CFP Board's Complaint within the required time frame. CFP Board's Complaint alleged that Mr. Ferraresi: (1) lacked a reasonable basis to make multiple unsuitable recommendations that customers invest in risky alternative investments; (2) failed to exercise his fiduciary duties to his customers by recommending investing in an illiquid alternative investment without conducting adequate due diligence into the product; and (3) filed bankruptcy to avoid actual and potential obligations to customers. CFP Board's Complaint further alleged that Mr. Ferraresi's conduct violated Rules 1.4, 4.5 and 6.5 of the Rules of Conduct. Rule 1.4 requires a CFP professional to place the interest of the client ahead of his or her own at all times. Rule 4.5 requires a CFP professional to make and implement only recommendations that are suitable for the client. Rule 6.5 provides that a CFP professional may not engage in conduct which reflects adversely on his or her integrity or fitness as a CFP professional, upon the CFP marks or upon the profession. Mr. Ferraresi failed to file an Answer to CFP Board's Complaint within 30 calendar days of the date of service, as required by Article 3.2 of the Procedural Rules. Under Article 4.1.b. of the Procedural Rules, Mr. Ferraresi has been deemed in default, and CFP Board issued an Administrative Order of Revocation. Mr. Ferraresi's administrative revocation was effective as of January 11, 2023.

Michael Giannetti (Grapevine, Texas): In September 2022, CFP Board issued an order permanently revoking Mr. Giannetti's right to use the CFP certification marks. This sanction followed Mr. Giannetti's failure to provide evidence to CFP Board that he had complied with the Interim Suspension Order CFP Board issued to him on April 5, 2022, and was no longer using the CFP certification marks. CFP Board obtained evidence indicating that Mr. Giannetti used the CFP certification marks while the Interim Suspension Order was in effect. CFP Board issued the Interim Suspension Order after discovering that Mr. Giannetti had received a permanent bar from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority for refusing to participate in its investigation into his potential participation in undisclosed outside business activities. On July 6, 2022, CFP Board contacted Mr. Giannetti after his failure to fulfill his Interim Suspension compliance requirements, but he did not respond. Under Article 4.1.c. of the Procedural Rules, Mr. Giannetti has been deemed in default, and CFP Board issued an Administrative Order of Revocation. Mr. Giannetti's administrative revocation was effective as of October 7, 2022.

Douglas McKelvey (South Lake, Texas): In January 2023, CFP Board issued an order permanently revoking Mr. McKelvey's right to use the CFP certification marks. This sanction followed Mr. McKelvey's failure to acknowledge receipt of CFP Board's Notice of Investigation and deliver proof of compliance with CFP Board's Interim Suspension Order as required by Articles 1.1 and 2.3 of the Procedural Rules, respectively. On September 21, 2022, CFP Board issued Mr. McKelvey an Interim Suspension Order after receiving evidence that the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority permanently barred him from associating with a member firm in any capacity. In CFP Board's Notice of Investigation, CFP Board sought to investigate Mr. McKelvey's termination from his firm after allegations of unauthorized activity and misappropriation of client funds from client accounts. Mr. McKelvey's conduct may have violated Standard A.8 of the Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct, which provides that a CFP professional must comply with the laws, rules and regulations governing Professional Services. Under Articles 4.1.a. and 4.1.c. of the Procedural Rules, Mr. McKelvey has been deemed in default, and CFP Board issued an Administrative Order of Revocation. Mr. McKelvey's administrative revocation was effective as of February 20, 2023.

ABOUT CFP BOARD

CFP Board is the professional body for personal financial planners in the U.S. CFP Board consists of two affiliated organizations focused on advancing the financial planning profession for the public's benefit. CFP Board of Standards sets and upholds standards for financial planning and administers the prestigious CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER certification  widely recognized by the public, advisors and firms as the standard for financial planners  so that the public has access to the benefits of competent and ethical financial planning. CFP certification is held by more than 95,000 people in the U.S. CFP Board Center for Financial Planning addresses diversity and workforce development challenges and conducts and publishes research that adds to the financial planning profession's body of knowledge.

SOURCE Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc.
CHONGQING, China, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- On the afternoon of May 8, the Annual Performance Briefing of Changan Auto was held. At the briefing, Changan Auto presented its 2022 annual performance, provided planning and strategic interpretation of company's future development.

Changan Auto's sales volume in 2022 reached 2.346 million vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 2%, reaching a new high in five years. Among them, NEV sales increased 160.5% year-on-year to 284,000 units. Changan Auto achieved a net profit attributable to shareholders of RMB 7.798 billion in 2022, a year-on-year increase of 119.52%, with a continuous growth momentum in operational quality and an upward trend in value creation ability. Changan Auto managed to produce outstanding results in both sales volume and profit.

Looking forward, Changan Auto will accelerate the development of new energy vehicles, expand internationally, and firmly transform into an intelligent low-carbon travel technology company. Currently, Changan Auto has released its overseas strategy of Vast Ocean Plan, which will promote overseas development by accelerating the "Five Major Layouts." This includes accelerating layouts in Europe, Americas, Middle East and Africa, Asia-Pacific region, and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), achieving "one policy for one region, one policy for one country," and launching no less than 30 global products by 2025. The plan is to break through 3,000 overseas market outlets. By 2030, Changan Auto aims to achieve the goal of "Four Ones": overseas investment breaking through $10 billion, annual overseas sales volume exceeding 1.2 million units, overseas business employees exceeding 10,000 people, and becoming a world-class automobile brand.

SOURCE Changan Automobile
LONDON, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- At the FutureNet World 2023, which took place in London from May 3rd to May 4th, China Mobile's collaboration with Huawei and their "Digital Twin Solutions for Autonomous Networks" won The Operator Award, the singular honor bestowed by FutureNet World to exemplary operators.

FutureNet World, a premier global summit in the telecom industry, aims to outline the future development direction for the industry, with a focus on network automation and intelligence. China Mobile's project won the award for the first time after meticulous and stringent review implemented by distinguished analysts from various industry organizations, such as Omdia, TM Forum, ABI Research, and Appledore Research.

Over the past few years, China Mobile and Huawei have been engaged in a collaborative partnership to explore the development of high-level Autonomous Networks (AN) based on the concept of digital twin and have implemented various pilot practices, leading to multiple innovative achievements.

Computing Force Network (CFN)

Conventional solutions cannot find adequate computing resources and the optimal network at the same time. To address this challenge, China Mobile and Huawei jointly deployed the OTN transport capacity map across many provinces in China, including Guangdong. This innovative solution is used to visualize a combined networking and computing topology, enabling the evaluation of transport capacity online and the recommendation of an optimal network with compute nodes offering adequate computing resources. Additionally, standard northbound interfaces are used to facilitate quick decision-making and agile service provisioning. All this has dramatically reduced the provisioning duration from days to 30 minutes while also enhancing the usage of compute resources by 17%.

Cloud core network disaster recover (DR) switchover

Conventional solutions rely heavily on manual operations, resulting in prolonged DR evaluation periods. Moreover, these solutions lack the capability to visually represent the DR process. To overcome these limitations, China Mobile and Huawei jointly deployed intelligent DR assistance technologies across many provinces in China, including Zhejiang and Henan, to implement automatic DR simulation and evaluation based on digital twin networks. These technologies have significantly reduced the evaluation time from one week to 10 minutes. They also provide a comprehensive and visual representation of the entire DR process, thereby facilitating its automation. China Mobile has used these technologies to successfully complete over 10 DR drills covering millions of users.

China Mobile remains committed to strengthening its collaboration with Huawei, with the shared objectives of introducing more innovative AN practices and further exploring high-level AN capabilities, including service simulation, AI training, security simulation, and network optimization, by leveraging the power of digital twins, and propelling the evolution toward AN L4 by 2025, empowering a diverse array of industries and catalyzing the digital transformation of the economy and society.

FutureNet World: https://futurenetworld.net/events/futurenet-world-2023/event-awards/

SOURCE Huawei
BEIJING, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- A report from People's Daily: Boasting a civilization spanning more than 5,000 years, China is home to many thousand-year-old cities. According to incomplete statistics, 30 cities in China were built over 2,000 years ago, and 142 cities have been officially designated as national historical and cultural cities.

The history of cities represents the evolution of human civilization, a truth that holds universally without exception. Then, in the 21st century today, can a country design and build a "city of future" with lasting importance for the millennium to come?

Impossible as it sounds, the miracle is happening in Xiong'an New Area, north China's Hebei province.

Six years ago, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced the plan to set up Xiong'an New Area. "We will relieve Beijing of functions nonessential to its role as the capital and use this effort to drive the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region; and we will develop forward-looking plans and adopt high standards for building the Xiong'an New Area," he said.

Xiong'an New Area is a historical heritage for future generations. Xi call for "global vision, international standards, distinctive Chinese features, and future-oriented goals" in the planning and construction of Xiong'an New Area has served as an important guideline for the development of the area.

Xiong'an has caught global attention since its establishment.

Singaporean newspaper Lianhe Zaobao pointed out that Xiong'an New Area will shoulder the strategic mission of searching for a path to the great transformation of the Chinese nation.

British daily business newspaper Financial Times said that Xiong'an New Area boosts strong and clear anticipation of growth in northern China.

An article on the website of the British weekly newspaper The Economist quoted an official statement by China that the development of Xiong'an New Area is a "strategy crucial for the next millennium." However, it said that it would be unwise to bet all on the rise of Xiong'an, because "over the years China has tried to build numerous new cities, several of which have been costly failures."

It's assumed that it must take a long time for Xiong'an New Area to finally take shape, since its development is considered a national project of millennial significance. This is probably why discussions regarding Xiong'an cooled off gradually after it became a hot topic worldwide for a period.

For more than two years after China officially announced its plan to establish, nothing significant was built in the area except for some basic projects and temporary structures designed to ensure necessary operations.

However, a grand blueprint was being formed step by step.

More than 1,000 experts and over 200 teams from home and abroad, together with more than 2,500 professional and technical personnel, have participated in the formulation of the master plan for Xiong'an New Area.

To the surprise of the world, the "city of future" has experienced tremendous changes within a mere six years. It has been transformed from ground zero to an emerging modern city with neatly aligned new buildings, flat and wide streets, and ubiquitous greenery.

On May 10, 2023, Xi made an inspection tour of Xiong'an, which was his third visit to the new area, bringing the new area under the spotlight once again. From the media's focus on the inspection tour, major progress has been achieved in the development of Xiong'an.

The country has basically completed the top-level construction and development of Xiong'an, secured major progress in infrastructure construction, achieved initial results in relieving the non-capital functions of Beijing, improved the ecological environment management and protection of the Baiyangdian Lake in the new area, witnessed positive progress in deepening reform and opening up, gradually improved the conditions for the gathering of industrial and innovation elements, and promoted the relocation and resettlement work in an orderly manner.

The miraculous transformation of Xiong'an has aroused discussions, with many saying they have never before seen a plan for a city be formulated this way, which can take over Beijing's non-capital functions and pays so much attention to the inheritance of fine traditional culture.

They are also surprised by the integrated construction and planning that cover projects above and below ground as well as on online platforms, and such great efforts to improve the ecological environment of the Baiyangdian Lake.

These remarks bear testimony to the historical foresight of the Chinese leadership.

Over the past six years, new changes have taken place in Xiong'an day by day, and major progress has been achieved in the construction of the new area every year. A high-level modern city is sprouting up.

The miracle that is unfolding in Xiong'an has demonstrated that effective city design of "millennial significance" requires not only a well-established civilization, but historical foresight and remarkable wisdom of a country's leadership. Furthermore, the plan will only work when the government of the country has the resolve for continuous implementation.

SOURCE People's Daily
ROME, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Confassociazioni, the organization that promotes and supports professional associations in Italy, announces the opening of a branch in the United States, which joins the foreign delegations already active in the United Kingdom, Spain, United Arab Emirates and Canada.

Confassociazioni USA team

The press conference to present Confassociazioni USA was held at the italian Chamber of Deputies in Rome, offering an important opportunity to discuss the challenges and opportunities related to the internationalization of Italian professional associations and relations between our country and the United States.

The meeting, moderated by Radio Parlamentare's editor in chief, Cristina Del Tutto, saw the interventions of Stefano Potorti, Delegate Councilor for the Coordination of International Structures and President of Confassociazioni UK, Hon. Christian Di Sanzo, italian parliamentarian elected in the North America constituency and Gianni Lattanzio, President of Confassociazioni International.

President of Confassociazioni USA, Carmelo Cutuli, presented the activities, mission and objectives of the new delegation: "Confassociazioni USA - said President Cutuli - is committed to playing an active role in supporting relations between Italy and the United States, promoting joint initiatives, collaborations and exchanges between the respective professional communities. We already have delegates in Texas, Arizona, Illinois and Washington DC. We are receiving numerous availability also in other states and we are meeting with the major organizations representing the Italian-American community, which today counts over 26 million American citizens of Italian descent. "

Following, the interventions of the international marketing expert Salvo Bonanno, Vice President of Confassociazioni USA, connected from Chicago, and delegate for Arizona Clarissa Burt, connected from Phoenix.

President of Confassociazioni, Angelo Deiana, concluded the conference underlining the importance of the initiative and confirming the willingness to continue the path of internationalization of the confederation's activities, which this year celebrates the tenth anniversary of its foundation: "This initiative confirms Confassociazioni's commitment to supporting member professional associations and promoting international relations abroad, in this case in the United States, favoring cooperation and strengthening exchanges between the professional communities of the two countries."

The press conference was broadcasted live on the web channel of the Chamber of Deputies, featuring numerous guests, including representatives from the Rome's lodge of the Order Sons and Daughters of Italy in America (OSDIA), Italian Committees Abroad and foreign trade experts.

About Confassociazioni

Confassociazioni aims to foster the associative system of professions, businesses and the third and fourth sector, enhancing their role, including in terms of equal opportunities, in the Italian constitutional, legislative, economic and social system and in the corresponding European areas.

For more information about Confassociazioni and its initiatives, please visit www.confassociazioni.eu / [email protected].

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2076100/Confassociazioni_USA_team.jpg

SOURCE Confassociazioni
Cybersecurity firm, Curity, announces a significant investment from GRO, a Danish private equity fund, to accelerate its international expansion.

STOCKHOLM, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Cybersecurity firm, Curity, today announced a significant investment from GRO, a Danish private equity fund, to accelerate its international expansion. Curity is a leading provider of API-driven identity management, delivering solutions to a wide range of enterprises seeking to secure access to digital services.

The demand for advanced security solutions is growing as organizations work to meet customer demands for digitalized services with secure and easy access. Curity sought a reputed and experienced investment partner to help facilitate product innovation and business growth. GRO's solid understanding of the B2B tech market, shared vision, and resources made the fund an ideal choice.

Travis Spencer, co-founder and CEO of Curity, says of the investment, "This is an important milestone for Curity, and we are looking forward to working with GRO. They understand our product and market, and most importantly our vision to make the internet safer. This, coupled with their operational skills and portfolio of similar companies, will help us achieve our goal faster. It is great to have GRO with us on the next leg of our exciting journey."

Morten Weicher, Partner at GRO, comments, "Curity contributes significantly to making the digital world safer and more secure, and we are excited to support the company on its ambitious scaling journey by leveraging GRO's operational and software expertise. The investment in Curity builds on GRO's extensive cybersecurity experience, and we are glad to welcome another global leader into the group."

Curity's CTO, Jacob Ideskog, adds, "I'm excited to be working with GRO, and am proud that our product can help so many organizations offer secure access to digital services. With the investment and partnership with GRO, we'll be able to accelerate our growth plans, and make the product even better with a bigger team to support it."

About GRO

GRO is a leading Northern European private equity firm with an exclusive focus on high-quality B2B software companies with strong growth prospects. GRO serves as an active owner developing portfolio companies with a view to create long-term value. GRO has approximately EUR 1bn in AUM.

For more information about GRO please visit www.grocapital.dk and www.linkedin.com/company/gro-capital

About Curity

Curity is a leading supplier of API-driven identity management, providing unified security for digital services. Curity Identity Server is used for logging in and securing millions of users' access to web and mobile applications as well as APIs and microservices. Curity's leadership is built upon open standards and designed for development and operations. Curity is trusted by large organizations in financial services, telecom, retail, energy, and government services that need enterprise-grade API access security. Visit https://curity.io/

Press Contact:

Viktoria Strandlund

+46-70-293 6886

https://curity.io/

SOURCE Curity
SHANGHAI, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Dingdong (Cayman) Limited ("Dingdong" or the "Company") (NYSE: DDL), a leading fresh grocery e-commerce company in China, with advanced supply chain capabilities, today announced its unaudited financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2023.

First Quarter 2023 Highlights:

GMV for the first quarter of 2023 decreased by 6.8% year over year to RMB5,451.2 million ( US$793.8 million ) from RMB5,851.3 million in the same quarter of 2022, primarily due to decreased consumer demand in the first quarter of 2023, as most of the pandemic restrictive measures were lifted. In contrast, consumer demand in the first quarter of 2022 was excessively high due to a series of restrictive measures implemented by local governments to contain the spread of the Omicron variant, in particular, during the city-wide lockdown in Shanghai last March. GMV in the first quarter of 2023 was also adversely affected by the Company's withdrawal from several cities in 2022, due to difficulties in attaining profitability in these markets in the short term. Furthermore, the company reduced using subsidies and discounted pricing to attract and retain customers, which caused a temporary decrease in GMV. Excluding March, GMV generated in January and February 2023 increased by 5.3% year over year to RMB3,600.9 million ( US$524.3 million ) from RMB3,420.7 million in the same period of 2022.

for the first quarter of 2023 decreased by 6.8% year over year to ( ) from in the same quarter of 2022, primarily due to decreased consumer demand in the first quarter of 2023, as most of the pandemic restrictive measures were lifted. In contrast, consumer demand in the first quarter of 2022 was excessively high due to a series of restrictive measures implemented by local governments to contain the spread of the Omicron variant, in particular, during the city-wide lockdown in last March. GMV in the first quarter of 2023 was also adversely affected by the Company's withdrawal from several cities in 2022, due to difficulties in attaining profitability in these markets in the short term. Furthermore, the company reduced using subsidies and discounted pricing to attract and retain customers, which caused a temporary decrease in GMV. Excluding March, GMV generated in January and increased by 5.3% year over year to ( ) from in the same period of 2022. Fulfillment expenses for the first quarter of 2023 were RMB1,196.1 million ( US$174.2 million ), a decrease of 19.4% from RMB1,484.1 million in the same quarter of 2022. Fulfillment expenses as a percentage of total revenues decreased to 23.9% from 27.3% in the same quarter of 2022.

for the first quarter of 2023 were ( ), a decrease of 19.4% from in the same quarter of 2022. Fulfillment expenses as a percentage of total revenues decreased to 23.9% from 27.3% in the same quarter of 2022. Non-GAAP net income for the first quarter of 2023 was RMB6.1 million ( US$0.9 million ), compared with non-GAAP net loss of RMB422.2 million in the same quarter of 2022.

Mr. Changlin Liang, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Dingdong, stated,

"During the first quarter of 2023, there was reduced consumer demand for our products as China lifted its dynamic zero-COVID policy and people were traveling during the Chinese New Year and engaging in spring outings. We also incurred additional expenses and labor costs to ensure timely order fulfillment during the holiday. Despite these setbacks, we are proud that we were still able to achieve our expected non-GAAP breakeven this quarter.

Dingdong is a start-up dedicated to providing safe, healthy, and delicious food to users. Our mission is to innovate relentlessly for the betterment of people's lives. We will leave no stone unturned to create value for consumers and society, while adhering to our roots and maintaining strict discipline. Our beliefs extend far beyond mere profitability, fueling our passion and drive to achieve success both now and in the future."

Ms. Le Yu, Chief Strategy Officer of Dingdong, stated,

"In the first quarter of 2023, we recorded RMB5.45 billion GMV, with a year-over-year decrease of 6.8%, meanwhile our revenue was RMB5.0 billion, with a year-over-year decrease of 8.2%. To break it down, our GMV in January and February increased by 5.3% as compared to the same period of last year, and the decline in March was a comparison with the high base resulting from the lockdown in Shanghai last March. On a year-over-year basis, gross margin, fulfillment expense ratio, sales and marketing expense ratio, G&A expense ratio and product development expense ratio all were optimized. Our success in the first quarter adds confidence in our ability to achieve a full-year non-GAAP breakeven for 2023."

First Quarter 2023 Financial Results

Total revenues were RMB4,997.5 million (US$727.7 million), representing a decrease of 8.2% from RMB5,443.7 million in the same quarter of 2022, which was primarily due to decreased consumer demand in the first quarter of 2023. In contrast, consumer demand in the first quarter of 2022 was excessively high due to a series of restrictive measures implemented by local governments to contain the spread of the Omicron variant, in particular, during the city-wide lockdown in Shanghai last March. Total revenues for the first quarter of 2023 was also adversely affected by the Company's withdrawal from several cities in 2022, due to difficulties in attaining profitability in these markets in the short term. Total revenues for the first two months of 2023 increased by 5.2% year over year to RMB3,302.8 million (US$480.9 million) from RMB3,140.3 million in the same period of 2022.

Product Revenues were RMB4,937.8 million ( US$719.0 million ), a decrease of 8.1% from RMB5,375.1 million in the same quarter of 2022. Excluding March, total product revenues for the first two months of 2023 increased by 5.3% year over year to RMB3,261.8 million ( US$475.0 million ) from RMB3,096.2 million in the same period of 2022.

were ( ), a decrease of 8.1% from in the same quarter of 2022. Excluding March, total product revenues for the first two months of 2023 increased by 5.3% year over year to ( ) from in the same period of 2022. Service Revenues were RMB59.7 million ( US$8.7 million ), a decrease of 12.9% from RMB68.6 million in the same quarter of 2022, primarily because the Company was proactively optimizing its membership structure.

Total operating costs and expenses were RMB5,043.3 million (US$734.4 million), a decrease of 14.4% from RMB5,892.3 million in the same quarter of 2022, with a detailed breakdown as below.

Cost of goods sold was RMB3,462.3 million ( US$504.2 million ), a decrease of 10.7% from RMB3,879.3 million in the same quarter of 2022. Cost of goods sold as a percentage of revenues decreased to 69.3% from 71.3% in the same quarter of 2022, primarily due to improvements in product development capabilities. Gross margin was 30.7%, a significant improvement from 28.7% in the same quarter of 2022.

was ( ), a decrease of 10.7% from in the same quarter of 2022. Cost of goods sold as a percentage of revenues decreased to 69.3% from 71.3% in the same quarter of 2022, primarily due to improvements in product development capabilities. Gross margin was 30.7%, a significant improvement from 28.7% in the same quarter of 2022. Fulfillment expenses were RMB1,196.1 million ( US$174.2 million ), a decrease of 19.4% from RMB1,484.1 million in the same quarter of 2022. Fulfillment expenses as a percentage of total revenues decreased to 23.9% from 27.3% in the same quarter of 2022, mainly driven by the increase in average order value and improved frontline fulfillment labor efficiency.

were ( ), a decrease of 19.4% from in the same quarter of 2022. Fulfillment expenses as a percentage of total revenues decreased to 23.9% from 27.3% in the same quarter of 2022, mainly driven by the increase in average order value and improved frontline fulfillment labor efficiency. Sales and marketing expenses were RMB87.5 million ( US$12.7 million ), a decrease of 50.3% from RMB176.1 million in the same quarter of 2022, as user acquisition cost per new transacting user decreased due to the Company's improved product development capabilities and increasingly established brand image.

were ( ), a decrease of 50.3% from in the same quarter of 2022, as user acquisition cost per new transacting user decreased due to the Company's improved product development capabilities and increasingly established brand image. General and administrative expenses were RMB86.8 million ( US$12.6 million ), a decrease of 26.9% from RMB118.7 million in the same quarter of 2022, mainly due to the improved efficiency of our staff.

were ( ), a decrease of 26.9% from in the same quarter of 2022, mainly due to the improved efficiency of our staff. Product development expenses were RMB210.6 million ( US$30.7 million ), a decrease of 10.0% from RMB233.9 million in the same quarter of 2022, primarily due to the Company's improved R&D efficiency. While advocating on energy and resource saving, the Company will continue its investments in product development capabilities, agricultural technology, data algorithms, and other technology infrastructure, to further enhance its competitiveness.

Loss from operations was narrowed to RMB50.1 million (US$7.3 million), compared with operating loss of RMB461.7 million in the same quarter of 2022.

Net loss was narrowed to RMB52.4 million (US$7.6 million), compared with net loss of RMB477.4 million in the same quarter of 2022.

Non-GAAP net income, which is a non-GAAP measure that excludes share-based compensation expenses, was RMB6.1 million (US$0.9 million), a significant improvement from non-GAAP net loss of RMB422.2 million in the same quarter of 2022. In addition, non-GAAP net margin, which is the Company's non-GAAP net income / (loss) as a percentage of revenues, improved to 0.1% from negative 7.8% in the same quarter of 2022.

Basic and diluted net loss per share were RMB0.17 (US$0.02), compared with net loss per share of RMB1.48 in the same quarter of 2022. Non-GAAP net income per share, basic and diluted, was RMB0.01 (US$0.00), compared with non-GAAP net loss per share of RMB1.31 in the same quarter of 2022.

Cash and cash equivalents and short-term investments were RMB5,700.2 million (US$830.0 million) as of March 31, 2023, compared with RMB6,493.0 million as of December 31, 2022.

Conference Call

The Company's management will hold an earnings conference call at 8:00 A.M. Eastern Time on Friday, May 12, 2023 (8:00 P.M. Beijing Time on the same day) to discuss the financial results. The presentation and question and answer session will be presented in both Mandarin and English. Listeners may access the call by dialing the following numbers:

International:

1-412-317-6061 United States Toll Free:

1-888-317-6003 Mainland China Toll Free:

4001-206115 Hong Kong Toll Free:

800-963976 Conference ID:

7302404

The replay will be accessible through May 19, 2023 by dialing the following numbers:

International:

1-412-317-0088 United States:

1-877-344-7529 Access Code:

5972888

A live and archived webcast of the conference call will also be available at the Company's investor relations website at https://ir.100.me.

About Dingdong (Cayman) Limited

We are a leading fresh grocery e-commerce company in China, with sustainable long-term growth. We directly provide users and households with fresh produce, prepared food, and other food products through a convenient and excellent shopping experience supported by an extensive self-operated frontline fulfillment grid. Leveraging our deep insights into consumers' evolving needs and our strong food innovation capabilities, we have successfully launched a series of private label products spanning a variety of food categories. Many of our private label products are produced at our Dingdong production plants, allowing us to more efficiently produce and offer safe and high-quality food products. We aim to be Chinese families' first choice for food shopping.

For more information, please visit: https://ir.100.me.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures

The Company uses non-GAAP measures, such as non-GAAP net (loss)/income, non-GAAP net margin, non-GAAP net (loss)/income attributable to ordinary shareholders and non-GAAP net (loss)/income per share, basic and diluted, in evaluating its operating results and for financial and operational decision-making purposes. The Company believes that the non-GAAP financial measures help identify underlying trends in its business by excluding the impact of share-based compensation expenses, which are non-cash charges and do not correlate to any operating activity trends. The Company believes that the non-GAAP financial measures provide useful information about the Company's results of operations, enhance the overall understanding of the Company's past performance and future prospects and allow for greater visibility with respect to key metrics used by the Company's management in its financial and operational decision-making.

The non-GAAP financial measures are not defined under U.S. GAAP and are not presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP. The non-GAAP financial measures have limitations as analytical tools, and when assessing the Company's operating performance, cash flows or liquidity, investors should not consider them in isolation, or as a substitute for net loss, cash flows provided by operating activities or other consolidated statements of operations and cash flows data prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP. The Company's definition of non-GAAP financial measures may differ from those of industry peers and may not be comparable with their non-GAAP financial measures.

The Company mitigates these limitations by reconciling the non-GAAP financial measures to the most comparable U.S. GAAP performance measures, all of which should be considered when evaluating the Company's performance.

For more information on the non-GAAP financial measures, please see the table captioned "Unaudited Reconciliation of GAAP and Non-GAAP Results" set forth at the end of this announcement.

Exchange Rate Information

This announcement contains translations of certain RMB amounts into U.S. dollars ("US$") at specified rates solely for the convenience of the reader. Unless otherwise stated, all translations from RMB to US$ were made at the rate of RMB6.8676 to US$1.00, the exchange rate on March 31, 2023 set forth in the H.10 statistical release of the Federal Reserve Board. The Company makes no representation that the RMB or US$ amounts referred could be converted into US$ or RMB, as the case may be, at any particular rate or at all.

Safe Harbor Statement

This announcement contains forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "aims," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates," "confident," "potential," "continue," or other similar expressions. Among other things, business outlook and quotations from management in this announcement, as well as Dingdong's strategic and operational plans, contain forward-looking statements. Dingdong may also make written or oral forward-looking statements in its periodic reports to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), in its interim and annual reports to shareholders, in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. Statements that are not historical facts, including but not limited to statements about Dingdong's beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement, including but not limited to the following: Dingdong's goals and strategies; Dingdong's future business development, financial conditions, and results of operations; the expected outlook of the fresh grocery ecommerce market in China; Dingdong's expectations regarding demand for and market acceptance of its products and services; Dingdong's expectations regarding its relationships with its users, clients, business partners, and other stakeholders; competition in Dingdong's industry; and relevant government policies and regulations relating to Dingdong's industry, and general economic and business conditions globally and in China and assumptions underlying or related to any of the foregoing. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in the Company's filings with the SEC. All information provided in this announcement and in the attachments is as of the date of the announcement, and the Company undertakes no duty to update such information, except as required under applicable law.

For investor inquiries, please contact:

Dingdong Fresh

[email protected]

DINGDONG (CAYMAN) LIMITED

UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

(Amounts in thousands of RMB and US$)











As of







December 31, 2022



March 31, 2023



March 31, 2023







RMB



RMB



US$













(Unaudited)

ASSETS



















Current assets:



















Cash and cash equivalents



1,856,187



1,778,127



258,915

Restricted cash



2,763



7,714



1,123

Short-term investments



4,636,774



3,922,041



571,093

Accounts receivable, net



141,468



103,933



15,134

Inventories



604,884



478,763



69,713

Advance to suppliers



83,835



72,262



10,522

Prepayments and other current assets



170,336



181,256



26,394

Total current assets



7,496,247



6,544,096



952,894























Non-current assets:



















Property and equipment, net



314,980



277,907



40,466

Operating lease right-of-use assets



1,425,117



1,362,000



198,323

Other non-current assets



145,563



145,815



21,232

Total non-current assets



1,885,660



1,785,722



260,021























TOTAL ASSETS



9,381,907



8,329,818



1,212,915























LIABILITIES, MEZZANINE EQUITY AND SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY

Current liabilities:



















Accounts payable



1,886,689



1,464,798



213,291

Customer advances and deferred revenue



253,010



241,289



35,134

Accrued expenses and other current

liabilities



810,963



653,309



95,129

Salary and welfare payable



329,104



334,438



48,698

Operating lease liabilities, current



693,496



704,286



102,552

Short-term borrowings



4,237,978



3,803,576



553,844

Total current liabilities



8,211,240



7,201,696



1,048,648























Non-current liabilities:



















Operating lease liabilities, non-current



678,000



615,025



89,555

Other non-current liabilities



75,000



115,067



16,755

Total non-current liabilities



753,000



730,092



106,310























TOTAL LIABILITIES



8,964,240



7,931,788



1,154,958



DINGDONG (CAYMAN) LIMITED

UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (CONTINUED)

(Amounts in thousands of RMB and US$)











As of







December 31, 2022



March 31, 2023



March 31, 2023







RMB



RMB



US$













(Unaudited)

LIABILITIES, MEZZANINE EQUITY AND SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY (CONTINUED)

Mezzanine Equity:



















Redeemable noncontrolling interests



107,490



109,550



15,952























TOTAL MEZZANINE EQUITY



107,490



109,550



15,952























Shareholders' equity



















Ordinary shares



4



4



1

Additional paid-in capital



13,922,811



13,982,043



2,035,943

Treasury stock



(20,666)



(20,666)



(3,010)

Accumulated deficit



(13,580,086)



(13,634,537)



(1,985,343)

Accumulated other comprehensive loss



(11,886)



(38,364)



(5,586)























TOTAL SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY



310,177



288,480



42,005























TOTAL LIABILITIES, MEZZANINE EQUITY

AND SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY



9,381,907



8,329,818



1,212,915



DINGDONG (CAYMAN) LIMITED

UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE LOSS

(Amounts in thousands of RMB and US$, except for number of shares and per share data)











For the three months ended March 31,







2022



2023



2023







RMB



RMB



US$







(Unaudited)

Revenues:



















Product revenues



5,375,090



4,937,763



718,994

Service revenues



68,582



59,715



8,695

Total revenues



5,443,672



4,997,478



727,689























Operating costs and expenses:



















Cost of goods sold



(3,879,328)



(3,462,337)



(504,155)

Fulfillment expenses



(1,484,142)



(1,196,059)



(174,160)

Sales and marketing expenses



(176,116)



(87,464)



(12,736)

Product development expenses



(233,915)



(210,635)



(30,671)

General and administrative expenses



(118,771)



(86,842)



(12,645)























Total operating costs and expenses



(5,892,272)



(5,043,337)



(734,367)























Other operating expenses, net



(13,066)



(4,197)



(611)

Loss from operations



(461,666)



(50,056)



(7,289)

Interest income



13,234



33,751



4,915

Interest expenses



(30,708)



(28,876)



(4,205)

Other income, net



1,757



2,866



417























Loss before income tax



(477,383)



(42,315)



(6,162)























Income tax expenses



-



(10,076)



(1,467)























Net loss



(477,383)



(52,391)



(7,629)























Accretion of redeemable noncontrolling interests



(1,435)



(2,060)



(300)























Net loss attributable to ordinary shareholders



(478,818)



(54,451)



(7,929)



DINGDONG (CAYMAN) LIMITED

UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE LOSS

(CONTINUED)

(Amounts in thousands of RMB and US$, except for number of shares and per share data)











For the three months ended March 31,







2022



2023



2023







RMB



RMB



US$







(Unaudited)

Net loss per Class A and Class B ordinary share:



















Basic and diluted



(1.48)



(0.17)



(0.02)

Shares used in net loss per Class A and Class B

ordinary share computation:



















Basic and diluted



324,443,234



324,539,178



324,539,178

Other comprehensive loss, net of tax of nil:



















Foreign currency translation adjustments



(24,959)



(26,478)



(3,855)























Comprehensive loss



(502,342)



(78,869)



(11,484)























Accretion of redeemable noncontrolling interests



(1,435)



(2,060)



(300)

Comprehensive loss attributable to ordinary

shareholders



(503,777)



(80,929)



(11,784)



DINGDONG (CAYMAN) LIMITED

UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS

(Amounts in thousands of RMB and US$)











For the three months ended March 31,







2022



2023



2023







RMB



RMB



US$







(Unaudited)























Net cash used in operating activities



(385,203)



(306,839)



(44,679)























Net cash generated from investing activities



885,907



669,811



97,532























Net cash generated from / (used in) financing activities



98,991



(432,873)



(63,031)























Effect of exchange rate changes on cash and cash

equivalents and restricted cash



(3,560)



(3,209)



(468)

Net increase / (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents

and restricted cash



596,135



(73,110)



(10,646)























Cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash at the

beginning of the period



670,432



1,858,951



270,684

Cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash at the

end of the period



1,266,567



1,785,841



260,038



DINGDONG (CAYMAN) LIMITED

UNAUDITED RECONCILIATION OF GAAP AND NON-GAAP RESULTS

(Amounts in thousands of RMB and US$, except for number of shares and per share data)









For the three months ended

March 31,



2022



2023



2023





RMB



RMB



US$





(Unaudited)

Net loss



(477,383)



(52,391)



(7,629)

Add: share-based compensation expenses (1)

55,174



58,462



8,513

Non-GAAP net (loss) / income

(422,209)



6,071



884





















Net loss margin

(8.8 %)



(1.1 %)



(1.1 %)

Add: share-based compensation expenses

1.0 %



1.2 %



1.2 %

Non-GAAP net (loss) / income margin

(7.8 %)



0.1 %



0.1 %





















Net loss attributable to ordinary shareholders

(478,818)



(54,451)



(7,929)





















Add: share-based compensation expenses (1)

55,174



58,462



8,513

Non-GAAP net (loss) / income attributable to ordinary

shareholders

(423,644)



4,011



584

Net loss per Class A and Class B ordinary share:

















Basic and diluted

(1.48)



(0.17)



(0.02)

Add: share-based compensation expenses

0.17



0.18



0.02

Non-GAAP net (loss) / income per Class A and Class B

ordinary share:

















Basic and diluted

(1.31)



0.01



0.00























(1) Share-based compensation expenses are recognized as follows:













































For the three months ended

March 31,





2022



2023



2023







RMB



RMB



US$







(Unaudited)























Fulfillment expenses



12,116



11,970



1,743

Sales and marketing expenses



(255)



789



115

Product development expenses



26,037



28,424



4,139

General and administrative expenses



17,276



17,279



2,516























Total



55,174



58,462



8,513



SOURCE Dingdong (Cayman) Limited
BERLIN, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Driven by its vision to empower lives through technology, Dreame is launching its flagship event Family Day 2023 to celebrate the spirit of family - with giveaways in Germany, France, Spain and the Benelux countries.

Dreame Technology announces Family Day in Southwest Europe - with giveaways

Established in 2017, Dreame Technology is a leading innovative consumer product company that focuses on smart home appliances with the world's No.1 motor technology that offers highest RPM. With spring cleaning season in full swing, you can be in for a chance to win some of Dreame's bestselling smart-cleaning products, including Amazon favourite, the L10s Ultra.

The L10s Ultra in the spotlight

The brand-new hands-free cleaning bot from Dreame is making waves across the globe, from Southwest Europe to Canada. Just as a reminder, with the L10s Ultra, you're getting:

- An all-round cleaning experience with 5300Pa of suction power;

- Automatic carpet detection function that navigates around carpets without needing any manual assistance, so you won't need to pick it up every time it hits a carpet;

- Generous 2.5-litre water tank for clean water for a longer-lasting clean;

- Self-cleaning function so you don't have to worry about cleaning it all the time.

Who knows, this may be one of the products making its way to your mailbox in celebration of Family Day 2023!

How to enter - Germany

Follow @dreame_dach on Instagram; "Like" our announcement post; Tag 3 people in the comment section; To double your chances, fill in your details on our landing page;

Feel free to repost with the hashtag #DreameFamily and tag our official Instagram account to share the fun with other families.

After all, the more people who can ease the burden of cleaning, the more time we'll all have to cherish key moments, spending less time scrubbing grime off floors and more in the living room reminiscing about the good old days.

How to enter - the remaining countries in Southwest Europe

Head on over to the official Instagram accounts for your respective country and look out for the announcement post with further instructions.

France

Spain

Italy

The Netherlands

Don't miss out - keep checking back and don't forget to spread the joy of household convenience with your family and friends! Everybody needs smart cleaning to stop the agony of daily cleaning.

About Dreame

Established in 2017, Dreame Technology is an innovative consumer product company that focuses on smart home appliances with the vision to empower lives through technology. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. For more information please visit: https://de.dreametech.com/.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2074856/img.jpg

SOURCE Dreame Technology
Financial Statements for Q1 2023

DALLAS, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Elah Holdings, Inc. (OTC: ELLH) has released its interim unaudited financial statements and disclosure report for the first quarter of 2023. This report and additional company information can be found at www.elahholdings.com under the Financial Releases section of the website.

About Elah Holdings

Elah Holdings, Inc. (formerly known as Real Industry, Inc.) is a reorganized holding company led by experienced business leaders that is seeking to acquire profitable businesses in the commercial and industrial markets to generate sustainable profitability and cash flows, unlock the value of our considerable tax assets, and use creative deal structures that reduce risk and ultimately create long-term value for our shareholders. For more information, visit www.elahholdings.com. Elah Holdings' stock trades on the OTC Pink Market, which is operated by OTC Markets Group, a centralized electronic quotation service for over-the-counter securities under the symbol "ELLH."

Contact:

Michael Hobey

Elah Holdings, Inc.

+1 (805) 435-1255

@elah_inc

www.linkedin.com/company/elah-holdings-inc/

SOURCE Elah Holdings, Inc.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 12. Goradiz border detachment of the State Border Service (SBS) of Azerbaijan prevented the smuggling of 8 kilograms of drugs into the territory of Azerbaijan, violators of the state border were detained, press center of the State Border Service (SBS) of Azerbaijan told Trend.

A citizen of Algeria, born in 1997, was detained in the territory of the Khudat border detachment, while trying to violate the state border of Azerbaijan in the direction of the Russia on May 9. He was detained along with his guide - Azerbaijani Ilham Mammadov.

Also, Azerbaijani citizen Agil Shiraliyev, was detained on the territory of Goytapa border detachment, while trying to violate the state border and illegally cross from Iran to Azerbaijan on May 10.

Another detainment of an undisclosed person (coming from Iran) was noted on the territory of the Goradiz border detachment on May 11. The violator, taking advantage of the difficult terrain, managed to escape, running back in the direction of Iran.

As a result of the searches and operational measures carried out on the territory of Azerbaijan by the border guards, 8 kilograms of narcotic drugs were found and seized.
SALT LAKE CITY, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- On April 28, 2023, the Malouf Foundation, a Utah-based nonprofit, held their annual education summit at the Utah Capitol in Salt Lake City. The event uses the Foundation's three pillarseducation, healing and advocacyto guide conversation and awareness on sexual violence and exploitation. To watch this year's full event, visit malouffoundation.org/summit2023.

We can become informed. We bring these conversations to our homes. And we can truly make a difference.  Elizabeth Smart Tweet this Kidnapping survivor and advocate Elizabeth Smart delivers her address at the third-annual Malouf Foundation& Summit on April 28 at the Utah State Capitol. Smart joined other survivors and community leaders working to make a difference in the fight against sexual violence and exploitation.

Keynote speakers at the third-annual summit included Elizabeth Smart, founder of the Elizabeth Smart Foundation and senior advisor to the Malouf Foundation; John Walsh, co-founder of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and creator and host of America's Most Wanted; Sayeh Rivazfar, survivor leader and New York State police investigator; Sara Kruzan, survivor leader, advocate and human rights defender; and Kacie Malouf, co-founder and board chair of the Malouf Foundation.

"We're sometimes asked about the goal of this event," Malouf said in her opening address. "The purpose is to think of ways we can work together to combat sexual exploitation and to create resources that will help survivors." She continued, "We all have unique areas of influence, which means we have the power to lead positive change in our communities."

The event kicked off with a session focused on the importance of education and awareness. Speakers included crime fighter John Walsh; Dr. Susan Madsen, the Karen Haight Huntsman Endowed Professor in the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University; and Sarah Gonzales, director of state and local affairs for Delta Airlines.

"You're doing great work here in Utah, and that's what it takes because you're up against some of the smartest, most evil people in the world," Walsh said. "All those years, I caught over 2,000 perpetrators, including 17 people from the FBI's Ten Most Wanted. But I couldn't have done it without the public's help, and we still need your input to put these bad guys away."

Following the first session, survivor leaders discussed their lived experiences and personalized pathways to healing. Sayeh Rivazfar was a keynote speaker, sharing how she has overcome violence and abuse and now advocates for other victims. Afterwards, summit attendees heard from a panel of male survivors, Aaron Crowley and Rabbi Avremi Zippel.

"I share my message to make an impact," Rivazfar said. "I want others to know that you can survive. You can fight. You are not alone. I am proof against all odds that you can be something greater than the horrible trauma and tragedy in your life." She added, "It's not easy. You have to learn to cope, but that doesn't mean it has to be your life. You can move forward."

The final session revolved around advocacy, with survivor leader and advocate Sara Kruzan as the main speaker. Kruzan recounted parts of her story as a formerly incarcerated community member and highlighted programs she's designed to improve the criminal legal system for other victims. Utah Lieutenant Governor Deidre M. Henderson also spoke to Utah's advocacy efforts in this space.

"We have a common goal, and that's protecting children. We can't stamp out evil if we don't call attention to it, and we can't stop abuse if we don't hold abusers responsible," Henderson said in her remarks. "You never want someone to experience something awful. What we can do is take those things and learn from them and work hard to make sure they don't happen to someone else."

To wrap up the event, Elizabeth Smart shared reflections from the day and the advocacy work she's done since her rescue 20 years ago. "When I came home, I felt like the luckiest girl in the world because I was rescued from my nightmare, and I still feel that way today. Everything I do in advocacy is to bring that same happy ending to other children," Smart said. "As a community, we can become informed. We bring these conversations to our homes. And we can truly make a difference."

To watch the summit, and for more information about the Malouf Foundation, visit malouffoundation.org/summit2023.

If you or a loved one has been affected by sexual violence, call 9-1-1 or the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 or via live chat at rainn.org. If you suspect human trafficking in your community, report a tip to the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 888-373-7888 or text "Info" to 233733.

About the Malouf Foundation

Formalized in 2016 and operating out of Logan, Utah, the Malouf Foundation is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to confronting child sexual exploitation, specifically sex trafficking and online abuse. The Foundation fulfills their mission by providing education through OnWatch, Smart Defense and the Raise App; promoting healing through the Juniper Scholarship, Rooms Restored and restorative care services; and advocating for survivors through Heroes Landing and the "We Believe You" campaign. In January 2022, the Elizabeth Smart Foundation officially became a part of the Malouf Foundation to broaden the impact of both organizations. For more information or to make a donation, visit malouffoundation.org.

Press Contact:

Beth Thompson

[email protected]

Work: 800-517-7179

Cell: 540-245-0102

SOURCE Malouf Foundation
Discover Sacred Mausoleum Spaces and Exclusive Deals Before Prices Increase May 22

JERSEY CITY, N.J., May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Holy Name Cemetery and Mausoleum, the only Catholic burial ground in Jersey City, invites the public to an exclusive open house on Saturday and Sunday, May 20 and 21, from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm. This event presents a unique opportunity to explore a variety of burial and cremation options, financial planning, and the exceptional artistry and tranquility Holy Name has to offer.

Join us for a one-of-a-kind Open House weekend at Holy Name Cemetery and Mausoleum in Jersey City, the city's premier Catholic burial location. Don't miss this unique opportunity on Saturday, May 20, and Sunday, May 21, between 8:30 am and 4:30 pm. Holy Name Cemetery offers a magnificent park-like environment with traditional cemetery plots, private family estate lots, and committal sections with in-ground family estates. No appointment is necessary, and there is no obligation. Just stop in before prices increase on May 22, 2023. Our prayerful and sacred mausoleum glass cremation niches and marble crypts provide the perfect environment to remember and celebrate the life of your loved ones. Financing available. Come to Holy Name Cemetery and Mausoleum, Jersey City's premier Catholic Cemetery, to learn more about our magnificent chapel mausoleum, marble crypts, and cremation niches.

Andrew Schafer, Executive Director of Catholic Cemeteries of the Archdiocese of Newark, emphasizes, "Loss is a challenging time, adding uncertainty with last-minute arrangements is avoidable. We continually strive to educate families on the immense benefits of pre-planning."

Visitors will have the opportunity to witness the stunning art that adorns the mausoleum, including grand floor-to-ceiling mosaics and century-old stained-glass art. Holy Name Cemetery provides a variety of burial options, including marble mausoleum crypts, glass cremation niches, and traditional family estate plots, all conveniently located less than five miles from New York City.

The open house provides an excellent opportunity for families to find a deserving resting place for their loved one's cremated remains. Don't miss out on this rare chance to secure a sacred spot at a significantly reduced price before the rate increase on May 22, 2023.

No prior appointment is necessary to attend. Visit Holy Name Cemetery and Mausoleum at 823 West Side Avenue, Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey. To learn more about the event, visit: https://www.rcancem.org/open-house-weekend-holy-name. Spanish speakers are invited to visit: https://www.rcancem.org/en-espanol.

SOURCE Catholic Cemeteries of the Archdiocese of Newark
PARIS, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The EY France Attractiveness Survey was published today. This annual report identifies foreign direct investment projects in Europe and analyzes how decision-makers consider France, measuring real and perceived attractiveness, and comparing France with other European front runners.

For the fourth consecutive year, France confirmed its top position in Europe, with 1,259 investment projects recorded in 2022. In second and third position, the United Kingdom attracted 929 projects, followed by Germany with 832. While France continues to experience an increase in foreign investments, its main competitors (Germany and the UK) are observing a decline.

These results and the country's overall nurturing business environment have been confirmed by the 2022 Annual Report: Foreign Investment in France (issued by Business France and also published today). France has been focusing and reinforcing fundamental assets for a successful implantation on its soil: ready-to-use industrial land, a recognized pool of talents, and the "France 2030" investment plan, which aims to support a rapid transformation of the economy.

"Despite a complex international context, France demonstrates day after day that it is a large, open, dynamic and innovative economy. Since 2019, France has been ranked first in Europe for hosting foreign investment projects. Our stable economic and regulatory environment, which is resolutely pro-business, promotes the confidence of foreign investors in our country," said Laurent Saint-Martin, Chief Executive Officer of Business France.

"On a global scale, France has confirmed the momentum initiated in 2017 in terms of attractiveness, but also innovation. Research and development operations occupy an important place in the French economy, which hosts one in five R&D investments made in Europe by foreign investors. Each year, global tech and industry giants strengthen their presence in France, benefitting the transformation of our economy. The rapid deployment of the "France 2030" plan announced in October 2021 illustrates France's ability to remain a major industrial, innovative and daring nation that knows how to anticipate current and future transformations," says Pascal Cagni, Chairman of the Board, Business France and Ambassador for International Investments.

Once again, France remains the most attractive European country for manufacturing companies, with 547 projects identified (i.e. one in four projects in France dedicated to re-industrialization in 2022, compared with less than one-third in 2016). The "France 2030" investment plan, dedicated to the most innovative industries, and in which foreign investors can really find foothold, is rapidly becoming a major factor of attractiveness for the country.

Re-industrialization remains at the forefront for France, with a specific focus on net-zero, decarbonization, semi-conductors, healthcare, or even decarbonized aircraft and electric vehicles. The latter secured 30% of foreign direct investment in the automotive industry last year, compared to 12% in 2018.

France maintains its position as European innovation champion. A total of 144 research and development center projects were recorded in 2022 (an increase of 8% compared to 2021), ahead of the United Kingdom and Germany. France is recognized worldwide as a land of innovation, with 64% of foreign investors considering it to be more attractive than any other European country when it comes to technology.

For more information, please read the executive summary for EY's Attractiveness survey or Business France's Annual Report about Foreign Investment in France.

Media contact:

Geoffroy Thaumin - [email protected]

About Business France

Business France is the national agency supporting the international development of the French economy, responsible for fostering export growth by French businesses, as well as promoting and facilitating international investment in France.

www.businessfrance.fr @businessfrance

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SOURCE Business France North America
LONDON, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- FullCircl has won 'RegTech Partner of the Year' at the prestigious annual British Bank Awards, for its unique Customer Lifecycle Intelligence solution. FullCircl were also recognised as finalists for 'The Pioneer Award', won by Clear Bank,

RegTech is no longer a niche sector of the FinTech market. It's an inescapable fact that managing compliance is an increasingly complex task, so having the right partner is a real differentiator. Winning this award recognises FullCircl's position as a trusted RegTech partner for the banking industry, delivering futureproof compliance by addressing the critical issues faced throughout the customer lifecycle  from the first sales engagement, through CDD and onboarding, to in-life care and perpetual eKYC.

The British Bank Awards, run by Smart Money People, are recognised as a symbol of excellence in the banking industry, firmly demonstrating the UK's leading role in the global FinTech space.

FullCircl has a successful history at the British Bank Awards, having been recognised as RegTech Partner of the Year in both 2019 and 2020, then trading as DueDil.

FullCircl CEO, Andrew Yates, commented on the win:

"We couldn't be more delighted by the recognition, an accolade that speaks directly to how we continue to set the pace for innovation in the RegTech market, the amazing work of every single member of the FullCircl team and their tireless determination to help our customers do better business, faster. I would also like to thank all our wonderful clients for their votes of confidence, and for continuing to support us as we cement our position as a critical partner for the banking industry."

NOTES TO THE EDITORS

For more information please contact:

Kelly Prior, PR Consultant

Tel: 07730 572878

Email: [email protected]

About FullCircl:

FullCircl is a Customer Lifecycle Intelligence (CLI) platform that helps B2B companies in financially regulated industries do better business, faster. Its solutions allow front and middle office teams to win the right customers, accelerate onboarding and keep them for life. Best-in-class data enrichment provides a comprehensive customer view and a powerful, low-code rules engine reduces the regulatory burden and drives greater automation. Through its web applications and APIs, FullCircl drastically reduces the cost to acquire and serve the right business customers.

FullCircl was formed following the merger of Artesian Solutions and DueDil. Backed by top tier investors including Octopus Investments, Notion Capital, Augmentum Fintech and notable angel investors, FullCircl brings together decades of combined experience serving UK financial institutions. Today, it serves some 600 customers and 15,000 users.

Visit https://fullcircl.com to find out more.

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2075760/FullCircl_Logo.jpg

SOURCE FullCircl
BEIJING, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- From May 8th to 10th, 2023, the 12th Annual Investment Meeting (AIM) was held in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. Ge Jun, Global CEO of TOJOY Shared Holding Group, was invited to talk about the investment paradigm shifting brought by global technological breakthroughs, climate change, pandemic impact and geopolitical tensions.

Ge Jun, Global CEO of TOJOY, Shared China's Investment Opportunities at the Global Leaders Debate Panel Ge Jun, Global CEO of TOJOY, Delivered Keynote Speech at China-Arab Unicorn Summit

"Given the size of the market, the context of government initiatives to pursue sustainable development and improve people's health and well-being, China's economic field has burst out with great potential. Ge Jun emphasized at the Global Leaders Debate panel which was held at the opening session.

Ge Jun cited Hurun's 2023 Global Unicorn List as an example. Currently, there are around 1,300 unicorns in the world, of which 666, or 48% come from the United States and 316, or 23% are from China. According to Ge Jun, despite the gap between the two countries in terms of quantity, unicorns in China, after combining their market size and market value, are of similar scale to their US counterparts. This undoubtedly proves the great potential of Chinese unicorns.

"This round of global epidemic has stimulated people's concern for health and investment in health." Ge Jun said that the outline of the "Healthy China 2030 Plan" issued by the Chinese State Council has set a clear target of 16 trillion yuan of investment by 2030. The healthcare industry will usher in unprecedented opportunities for its development in China. At the same time, China is an advocate and leader of the dual-carbon economy. This will also release huge market opportunities for global investors.

In the keynote speech during the China-Arab Unicorn Summit, Ge Jun shared the topic of SME innovation based on his own experience, which attracted wide attention from global investors and entrepreneurs.

Before joining TOJOY, Ge Jun served as Global Vice President of Intel, Apple and Nvidia, three of the Global Fortune 500 companies, and had unique views on the development of global technology enterprises and business model innovation. When citing Apple as an example, Ge Jun mentioned that Apple's advantage is the establishment of a "super platform" for developers. Such platform has helped tens of millions of APP developers in the world grow rapidly and help them expand their products to the world.

"For start-ups, their advantages are often focused on product capabilities and innovative technologies, but they lack relevant industrial resources and market base"

Ge Jun introduced TOJOY, a company with 32 years of experience in enterprise acceleration and has a tremendous industrial resource pool. The core business of TOJOY is to provide high-quality innovative enterprises with acceleration engines and help realize their business transformation.

Up to now, TOJOY's platform has gathered more than 2.8 million SME owners and over 18,000 potential innovative enterprises, of which 160 are being accelerated.

"In China, about 10,000 innovative enterprises need various resources to support their development every year, and 10 million traditional SME owners to transform and upgrade. That requires empowerment from shared platforms, which is our responsibility.".

Ge Jun's speech was widely praised among the participants, and will enhance investors' confidence in investing and running businesses in the Chinese market.

SOURCE TOJOY SHARED HOLDING GROUP
MIAMI, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Get down from the car. If this expression doesn't sound familiar, you're probably not from Miami.

According to Florida International University (FIU) research published in English World Wide, some expressions unique to the 305 are evidence a distinct dialect is emerging in South Florida. It's the result of a common phenomenon that happens in other regions of the world when two languages come into close contact. In this case, Spanish sayings are being "borrowed" and directly translated into English  then passed down and used by generations who are bilingual.

"When we conduct research like this, it's a reminder there aren't 'real' words or 'pretend' words. There are only words. And all the words come from somewhere and someplace," said FIU sociolinguist Phillip Carter, the study's lead author. "Every word has a history. That goes for all words spoken in Miami."

For nearly a decade, Carter has researched Miami English  a variety of English with subtle structural influence from Spanish, mostly spoken by second-, third- or fourth-generation native English speakers. He previously studied how it sounds. This time, he examined how words are used. Specifically, calques  when a speaker directly translates an expression from one language, considered the "source language" into another language.

This is what's happening in Miami. Spanish expressions are being introduced into English. The translations can be subtle. For example, "bajar del carro" becomes "get down from the car"  not "get out of the car." And "una empanada de carne" becomes "meat empanada" instead of the more specific "beef empanada," since in Spanish, depending on the context, "carne" can refer to all meat (including chicken and pork) or specifically just to beef.

"There's not a single language that doesn't have words borrowed from another language," Carter said. "Borrowing is an inescapable reality of the world's languages. When you have two languages spoken by most of the population, you're going to have a lot of interesting language contact happening."

A series of expressions commonly used in the 305 were given to several groups in Miami with bilingual speakers, focusing primarily on Cuban immigrants and Cuban Americans in two groups: first-generation Cuban Americans born in Cuba and who immigrated to Miami after the age of 12 and second-generation Cuban Americans born and raised in Miami who use English more than Spanish.

Most of the examples were phased out and no longer used by the second-generation participants. They didn't abandon them all, though. "Get down from the car" and "super hungry" stuck around. In fact, "meat empanada" and "give me a chance" were used with the same frequency by both the second generation and the immigrant generation.

Read more here

Media Contact:

Angela Nicoletti

305-348-0272

[email protected]

SOURCE Florida International University
DUBLIN, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Fuel Cell Generator Market Outlook by Type, End-user - Industry Revenue Estimation and Demand Forecast to 2030" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

In 2022, the fuel cell generator market was worth around USD 330 million, and it is projected to advance at a 17.50% CAGR from 2022 to 2030, hitting USD 1,199 million in 2030, as per the report.

This development can be ascribed to several reasons, including the burgeoning need for the minimalization of CO2 emissions, easy availability of fuel cell generators, and demand for the renewable generation of energy.

Variants that Use Hydrogen Are Highest Revenue Contributors

Hydrogen fuel cell generators have the largest market share, of approximately 55%, mainly because they do not release any damaging gases. This, in turn, removes the prices associated with deploying a dedicated CCUS system. Moreover, these generators are dependable and offer 40-60% output efficiency and scalability.

Numerous nations are targeting to decrease their overall releases of CO2 to zero by 2050. This is because governments' focus has amplified on making a decarbonized future over the past few years. To accomplish this aim, the introduction of renewable sources, including solar, biomass, hydro, wind, and geothermal, is vital.

However, the production of electricity from the sun and wind has a few drawbacks, the biggest of which is the output disparities, as these technologies are reliant on weather conditions.

Fuel Cell Generator Usage in Aquaculture To Grow at Highest Rate

Aquaculture will be the fastest-growing end user, witnessing a CAGR of approximately 19.2%, credited to the increasing aquaculture activities and strong ecological impact ascribed to it due to the high-volume consumption of electricity and water.

Thus, to lessen the environmental effects, governments have taken numerous steps for utilizing fuel-cell-based generators as an alternative to diesel generators.

As per the estimates of the NOAA, the aquaculture sector in the U.S. generates USD 1.5 billion every year and supports 1.7 million people engaged in fisheries.

North America Is Leading the Way in Fuel Cell Generator Usage

North America is dominating the industry, and it is projected to continue with the dominance throughout the decade. This can be ascribed to the acceptance of clean sources for generating heat and electricity.

In North America, the U.S. is leading the market, and it will develop with a CAGR of 18.1%, credited to the solid economic support of the government and the private sector.

The growth in the usage of renewable sources and snowballing electricity needs from the aquaculture and data centers industries are the major factors that will boost the industry in the future.

Key Topics Covered:

Chapter 1. Research Scope

Chapter 2. Research Methodology

Chapter 3. Executive Summary

Chapter 4. Voice of Industry Experts/KOLs

Chapter 5. Market Indicators

Chapter 6. Industry Outlook

Chapter 7. Global Market

7.1. Overview

7.2. Market Volume, by Type (2017-2030)

7.3. Market Revenue, by Type (2017-2030)

7.4. Market Revenue, by End-user (2017-2030)

7.5. Market Volume, by Region (2017-2030)

7.6. Market Revenue, by Region (2017-2030)

Chapter 8. North America Market

Chapter 9. Europe Market

Chapter 10. APAC Market

Chapter 11. LATAM Market

Chapter 12. MEA Market

Chapter 13. Competitive Landscape

Chapter 14. Company Profiles

Chapter 15. Appendix

Companies Mentioned

Bloom Energy Corporation

Doosan Fuel Cell Co. Ltd.

PowerCell Sweden AB

Proton Motor Power Systems PLC

Nedstack Fuel Cell Technology BV

Panasonic Holdings Corporation

Siemens Energy

Toyota Motor Corporation

Ballard Power Systems Inc.

Teco 2030 ASA

Cummins Inc.

ABB Ltd.

Powerup Energy Technologies

Plug Power Inc.

SFC Energy AG

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/8nj0si

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

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SOURCE Research and Markets
DUBLIN, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Medical Biomimetics Market Report and Forecast 2023-2031" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The value of the global medical biomimetics market was USD 34.73 billion in 2022, driven by the increasing demand for innovative medical products and technologies across the globe.

The market value is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 6.85% during the forecast period of 2023-2031 to reach a value of 63.06 billion by 2031.

Medical Biomimetics Introduction

Medical biomimetics refers to the imitation of biological systems, structures, and processes to create technologies that can be used in medicine and healthcare. These technologies are designed to replicate the natural functions of living systems, allowing for more effective and efficient treatment of diseases and injuries. The field of medical biomimetics encompasses a wide range of applications, from artificial organs and prosthetics to drug delivery systems and tissue engineering.

Medical biomimetics is based on the principle that nature has already solved many of the challenges faced by medical researchers and engineers. By studying natural biological systems and processes, scientists and engineers can identify design principles and strategies that can be used to develop new medical technologies.

The development of medical biomimetics has the potential to revolutionize healthcare by enabling the creation of advanced medical devices and treatments that are safer, more effective, and less invasive than current options. By leveraging the principles of biology and evolution, medical biomimetics offers a promising path towards the creation of truly transformative medical technologies.

Medical Biomimetics Application and Uses

Medical biomimetics is a field of science that applies principles of biology and nature to the design and development of medical devices and technologies. The applications and uses of medical biomimetics are vast and diverse, ranging from tissue engineering to drug delivery systems. Some of the common applications of medical biomimetics are:

Tissue engineering: Medical biomimetics is used in tissue engineering to create functional tissues and organs that can be used for transplant purposes. Biomimetic scaffolds are used to mimic the natural extracellular matrix of tissues and organs, providing a supportive structure for the growth and development of cells

Drug delivery systems: Biomimetic nanoparticles are used in drug delivery systems to enhance drug delivery efficiency and reduce toxicity. These nanoparticles are designed to mimic natural biological structures, such as cell membranes, to improve drug targeting and penetration

Implantable devices: Medical biomimetics is used in the development of implantable devices, such as prosthetics and artificial joints. These devices are designed to mimic the natural biomechanics and structure of the human body, providing a more natural and comfortable experience for patients

Diagnostics and imaging: Biomimetic materials are used in the development of diagnostic and imaging tools, such as biosensors and contrast agents. These materials can mimic natural biological structures, such as enzymes and proteins, to improve sensitivity and specificity of diagnostic tests

Wound healing: Biomimetic materials are also used in wound healing to create scaffolds that promote tissue regeneration and wound closure. These materials can mimic natural extracellular matrix components, such as collagen and elastin, to enhance tissue repair and regeneration

The global medical biomimetics market is expected to grow significantly in the coming years, driven by increasing research and development activities in the field and rising demand for advanced medical devices and technologies.

Global Medical Biomimetics Market Segmentations

Market Breakup by Product Type

Cardiovascular

Orthopedic

Ophthalmology

Dental

Others

Market Breakup by Application

Plastic Surgery

Wound Healing

Tissue Engineering

Others

Market Breakup by End User

Hospitals

Specialty Clinics

Others

Market Breakup by Region

North America

United States of America

Canada

Europe Medical

United Kingdom

Germany

France

Italy

Others

Asia Pacific

China

Japan

India

ASEAN

Australia

Others

Latin America

Brazil

Argentina

Mexico

Others

Middle East and Africa

Saudi Arabia

United Arab Emirates

Nigeria

South Africa

Others

Global Medical Biomimetics Market Scenario

The global medical biomimetics market is projected to experience significant growth in the coming years. This is primarily due to the increasing demand for innovative medical products and technologies that can better mimic natural biological processes and structures to enhance treatment outcomes.

The rising prevalence of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and orthopaedic disorders is expected to further drive the demand for medical biomimetics. Additionally, the increasing geriatric population, which is more susceptible to these diseases, is also expected to contribute to the market growth.

Geographically, North America is expected to dominate the market due to the presence of many established players and advanced healthcare infrastructure. However, the Asia Pacific region is expected to exhibit significant growth due to increasing investments in healthcare infrastructure and the rising demand for advanced medical devices and technologies.

Key players operating in the global medical biomimetics market include Wright Medical Group N.V., BioHorizons IPH, Inc., Biomimetics Technologies Inc., Applied Biomimetic A/S, and Veryan Medical Ltd., among others. These companies are focusing on developing and launching new products and technologies to strengthen their market position and increase their revenue share.

Key Topics Covered:

1 Preface



2 Executive Summary



3 Global Medical Biomimetics Market Overview



4 Global Medical Biomimetics Market Landscape



5 Global Medical Biomimetics Market Dynamics



6 Global Medical Biomimetics Market Segmentation



7 North America Medical Biomimetics Market



8 Europe Medical Biomimetics Market



9 Asia Pacific Medical Biomimetics Market



10 Latin America Medical Biomimetics Market



11 Middle East and Africa Medical Biomimetics Market



12 Patent Analysis



13 Grants Analysis



14 Funding Analysis



15 Partnership and Collaborations Analysis



16 Regulatory Framework



17 Supplier Landscape



18 Global Medical Biomimetics Market - Distribution Model (Additional Insight)



19 Key Opinion Leaders (KOL) Insights (Additional Insight)



20 Company Competitiveness Analysis (Additional Insight)



21 Payment Methods (Additional Insight)

Companies Mentioned

Blatchford Limited

Vandstrom, Inc.

Veryan Medical Limited

Otsuka Medical Devices Group

Stryker

Abbott

Avinent Science and Technology

Syntouch Inc

Osteopore International Pte Ltd

Biomimetics Technologies Inc

Keystone Dental Group

Corneat Vision

Nanohive Medical LLC

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/z675pc

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ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.

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SOURCE Research and Markets
Bischoff brings more than 25 years of IT experience to his position. Most recently, he held the position of Technology Solution Manager in the Policy Platform Department at American Family Insurance Group.

Previously, Bischoff held technical positions at Selective Insurance Group, Housing Authority Insurance Group, and Travelers Insurance before joining New London County Mutual Insurance in 2015 as Assistant Vice President of IT. His responsibilities at New London County Mutual Insurance included managing IT and Infrastructure and directing the implementation of Guidewire across the organization.

Bischoff holds a Bachelor of Science in Management & Marketing from Syracuse University.

About Harford Mutual Insurance Group

Harford Mutual Insurance Group, founded in 1842 in Harford County, Maryland, provides commercial property and casualty insurance products and services to a regional market. Harford Mutual is a Ward's 50 top performing insurance company that ended 2022 with $327 million in direct written premium sold through nearly 450 independent agents in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and West Virginia. Harford Mutual contributed nearly $490,000 in community support in 2022. Harford Mutual is rated A (Excellent) by A.M. Best, the leading credit rating organization dedicated to serving the global insurance industry. For more information, visit www.HarfordMutual.com.

SOURCE Harford Mutual Insurance Group
The Embassy hosted a renewable energy roundtable focused on sustainable energy design and the recent deployment of Hover's Wind-Powered Microgrid at HMS Eaglet in Liverpool

LONDON, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- During a roundtable discussion hosted by the United States Embassy in London, representatives from HMS Eaglet and Hover CEO Chris Griffin were presented the Sanctuary Award for Innovation by the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD). This award was announced in March of 2023, following the first UK installation of Hover's award winning Wind-Powered Microgrid at the HMS Eaglet in Liverpool.

Ian MacVicar, Task Contract Solutions and Chris Griffin, Hover Energy, with the Sanctuary Award for Innovation at the US Embassy in London.

The roundtable discussion focused on energy security and sustainable energy design, and was attended by US and UK public and private sector leaders. The event was convened by the US Embassy to celebrate the sustainability leadership of the MoD, and share learnings from the successful installation of sustainable energy solutions at HMS Eaglet.

The Hover Wind-Powered Microgrid features a combination of proprietary wind power technology and solar energy generation, with a ground-breaking electronic control system called the Renewable Energy Router for behind-the-meter power integration of multiple sources. As the original equipment manufacturer and the developer, Hover Energy, LLC ("Hover") designs, develops and deploys microgrids through direct equipment sales as well as power purchase and energy service agreements. Hover's exclusive UK partner, Task Contract Solutions, Ltd. ("Task"), completed the project for the MoD, and has partnered with Hover to deploy in many military and commercial locations throughout the UK.

"When King Charles was Prince Charles he famously offered the perfect quote for this day and I may adopt it as a Hover vision statement if he'll allow us. It says, 'As chief stewards of this beautiful planet entrusted to us, it is our decisions alone that will determine its future.' Brilliant! And today, we made excellent decisions . . . together. What an exemplary group of leaders gathered to push sustainable energy design forward. We are indeed making progress, one site at a time."

Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, Hover Energy is dedicated to transforming the way people think about power by accelerating the transition to renewables as the primary source of energy. With our groundbreaking technologies and partnerships, Hover designs, develops, and deploys microgrids that harness the power of nature to generate power where it's consumed. www.hoverenergy.com

Contacts:

Chris Griffin, CEO and Co-Founder

[email protected]

Cal Collier, CMO

[email protected]

SOURCE Hover Energy LLC
LACHIN, Azerbaijan, May 12. It is encouraging to witness the rebirth of Karabakh, Swedish traveler T.Sundberg, who is on a visit to Azerbaijan's liberated lands, told Trend's Karabakh Bureau.

"It's nice to be here and witness the rebirth of Karabakh. We had the opportunity to see the impressive nature here. Indeed, its nature is very beautiful. Of course, there is a mine danger here, but very intensive work is being carried out to clear Karabakh [from mines] and revive it," Sundberg said.

International travelers from the Swedish 'Club100' organization are on a visit to Azerbaijani Karabakh and Eastern Zangazur. The delegation is headed by Bengt Hildebrand, who is represented on the board of the "Club 100". This club unites international travelers of Scandinavian origin. The trip started from the Fuzuli district.

Within three days, the delegation also plans to visit Tartar, Kalbajar, Lachin, Zangilan, and Jabrayil.

This trip is of exceptional importance for the promotion of the territories liberated from occupation within the framework of dark tourism (tourism involving travel to places historically associated with death and tragedy).

Over the past two years, six trips have been organized to Karabakh and Eastern Zangazur by representatives of the world's largest international travel networks - ETIC, MTP, TCC, NomadMania, Travelers Club of Turkiye, the UK "Piki Reels" club. One trip was organized in 2021, four - in 2022, and one trip - in 2023. The current trip is already the seventh in a row.
NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

VANCOUVER, BC, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Infinity Stone Ventures Corp. (CSE: GEMS) (OTC: GEMSF) (FSE: B2I) (the "Company" or "Infinity Stone"), is pleased to announce a non-brokered private placement of up to 18,000,000 units of the Company ("Units") at a price of $0.05 per Unit (the "Offering"), for aggregate gross proceeds of up to $900,000. Each LIFE Unit will be composed of one (1) Class A Subordinate Voting share in the capital of the Company (a "Share") and one-half of one (1/2) Class A Subordinate Voting share purchase warrant (each whole warrant, a "Warrant"). Each Warrant will entitle the holder thereof to acquire one (1) additional Share (a "Warrant Share") at a price of $0.10 per Warrant Share for a period of 24 months from issuance.

In connection with the Offering, the Company may pay certain finders (each, a "Finder") a cash commission and/or issue such Finders non-transferable share purchase warrants, in accordance with Canadian Securities Exchange ("CSE") policies. The Company intends to use the proceeds raised from the Offering for payment of account payables, exploration expenditures and general working capital. The Offering may close in tranches.

The first tranche of the Offering is expected to close on or around May 25, 2023. The Offering is subject to certain conditions including, but not limited to, receipt of all necessary approvals including the approval of the CSE.

The Offering is being completed pursuant to the listed issuer financing exemption under Part 5A of National Instrument 45-106 Prospectus Exemptions and therefore the securities issued in the Offering to Canadian subscribers will not be subject to a hold period in accordance with applicable Canadian securities laws. There is an offering document related to the Offering that can be accessed under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com and at www.infinitystoneventures.com. Prospective investors should read this offering document before making an investment decision.

The securities issued pursuant to the Offering have not, nor will they be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, U.S. persons in the absence of U.S. registration or an applicable exemption from the U.S. registration requirements. This news release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the securities in the United States or in any other jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

About Infinity Stone Ventures

Infinity Stone's mission is to be a diversified, single source supplier for the critical energy metals being used in the clean energy revolution alongside its established SaaS solution portfolio. Infinity Stone is meeting the demand from battery and wind turbine manufacturers, nuclear and hydrogen energy producers, and energy metals speculators by acquiring 100% interest in critical mineral deposits and occurrences in stable mining-friendly jurisdictions, close to final use destinations in North American manufacturing hubs.

To register for investor updates please visit https://infinitystone.ventures .

Connect with Infinity Stone

Email | Website | Facebook | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram |

Infinity Stone Contact

Zayn Kalyan

CEO and Director

Direct: 778-938-3367

[email protected]

The Canadian Securities Exchange has not reviewed, approved or disapproved the content of this news release.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. All statements that are not historical facts, including without limitation, statements regarding future estimates, plans, programs, forecasts, projections, objectives, assumptions, expectations or beliefs of future performance, including statements regarding the Offering, the expected closing date of the first tranche of the Offering and the intended use of proceeds from the Offering are "forward-looking statements." These forward-looking statements reflect the expectations or beliefs of management of the Company based on information currently available to it. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including those detailed from time to time in filings made by the Company with securities regulatory authorities, which may cause actual outcomes to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. These factors should be considered carefully, and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release are made as of the date hereof and the Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements or information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless so required by applicable securities laws.

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1997021/4032710/Infinity_Stone_Ventures_Corp_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Infinity Stone Ventures Corp.
SHANGHAI , May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Global logistics service provider, J&T Express today announced that it has entered into a Share Transfer Agreement with Shenzhen Fengwang Holdings Co., Ltd. ("Fengwang Holdings"), a subsidiary of S.F. Holding Co., Ltd. (002352.SZ). J&T Express' subsidiary J&T Express (Shenzhen) Supply Chain Co., Ltd. will acquire 100% share rights of Fengwang Holding's wholly-owned subsidiary, Shenzhen Fengwang Information Technology Co., Ltd. ("Fengwang Information"), for RMB 1.183 billion. This transaction is subject to several prerequisites, the Examination of Concentrations of Undertakings by the State Administration for Market Regulation, and the transaction consideration being settled in a timely manner according to the Share Transfer Agreement.

J&T Express has been making significant strides in the e-commerce express delivery sector since its entry into the Chinese market in 2020. The company has successfully acquired Best Inc.'s express business in China in late 2021. Shenzhen Fengwang Express Co., Ltd. ("Fengwang Express") is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Fengwang Information. Fengwang Express' network currently covers 27 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions across China, providing high quality services to e-commerce customers. In 2022, Fengwang's revenue exceeded RMB 3.2 billion. The overall network service quality is stable.

J&T Express has expressed its commitment to continuously optimizing the service experience as part of its focus on the e-commerce express delivery service industry. This acquisition will enhance the integrated service capabilities of J&T Express. This move is expected to foster high-quality development of the industry allowing it to further increase its competitive advantage in the e-commerce delivery sector and contribute to the high-quality development of the industry.

S.F. said that the resources of two sides are complementary, this will help ensure the smooth transition of the transaction. Looking forward, S.F. can focus more on the development of its core businesses such as domestic mid-to-high-end express, international express, global supply chain services and digital supply chain services. Meanwhile, S.F. will continue to build e-commerce express delivery products and services and meet the diversified needs of customers in the high-end express delivery market.

About J&T Express

J&T Express is a global logistics service provider with leading express delivery businesses in Southeast Asia and China, the largest and fastest-growing market in the world. Founded in 2015, J&T Express' network spans thirteen countries, including Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia, Singapore, China, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Mexico, Brazil and Egypt. Adhering to its "customer-oriented and efficiency-based" mission, J&T Express is committed to providing customers with integrated logistics solutions through intelligent infrastructure and digital logistics network, as part of its global strategy to connect the world with greater efficiency and bring logistical benefits to all.

About S.F.

SF is the largest integrated logistics service provider in China, and the fourth largest express delivery enterprise in the world, providing domestic and international end-to-end one-stop supply chain services. At the same time, relying on leading scientific and technological research and development capabilities, SF is committed to building the digital supply chain ecology and becoming a leader in the global intelligent supply chain. After years of dedicated operation, SF has earned considerable reputation and popularity in the industry, and has established the "rapid, punctual and safe" brand image. It takes the lead in multiple segments and continues to lead in the industry.

SOURCE JT Express
WASHINGTON, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Charles & Agnes Kazarian Foundation (Kazarian Foundation), a U.S. mid-size non-profit focused on Government Financial Management (GFM) has selected Portugal as the location for its first European headquarters.

The Kazarian Foundation's core competency is to improve Government Financial Management (GFM) and Government Total Balance Sheet (GTBS) literacy.

The Kazarian Foundation seeks to educate both key stakeholders and citizens on the importance of GFM and GTBS literacy through conferences, presentations, communications, articles, master classes, and white papers.

"The Kazarian Foundation cares about Government Financial Management because government financial decisions directly affect the probability of debt, currency, and financial crises, which have a disproportionally large impact on society's most disadvantaged."

The Kazarian Foundation created the Citizens' Wealth Framework 2023, with 10 KPIs that provide a true and fair picture of government financial performance, that is both "a quantum leap in government financial performance management" and "the greatest advance in sovereign risk analysis".

The Foundation and its affiliate JI-Analytics will start in June hiring 10 part-time and full-time instructors, compensated at the high-end of rates paid by multi-national NGOs.

Advisors will be retained to recommend the city or region within Portugal and the entity's corporate structure.

The Kazarian Foundation's spending since its founding plus year-end 2022 assets is over a quarter-billion US dollars (US$278 million). Year-end 2022 assets were $208 million.

The Kazarian Foundation is named in recognition of two outstanding Armenian immigrants to the United States of America who both survived, but lost members of their families, during the first genocide of the 20th century, the Armenian Genocide. Charles Kazarian served with distinction in the French Foreign Legion during World War I as an Armenian Gamavor to show his gratitude to the people of France who welcomed survivors of the Armenian Genocide. Agnes Kazarian inspired her family and all those blessed to know her with the most valuable Armenian Christian wisdoms.

The Charles & Agnes Kazarian Foundation (www.kazarianfoundation.org) is philanthropically supported by Japonica Partners (www.japonica.com) and JI-Analytics (www.jianalytics.com).

The Charles & Agnes Kazarian Foundation

1629 K Street NW, Suite 300 Washington, DC 20006

T/ +1 202 449 9600 E/ [email protected]

SOURCE Charles & Agnes Kazarian Foundation
NEW YORK, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- One in five Americans will develop skin cancer by the age of 70[1] making early detection key. When detected early, the 5-year survival rate for melanoma is 99%[2] and a skin check is an essential and simple way of detecting suspicious moles that may be cancerous.

La Roche-Posay, the worldwide leader in sun protection, is proud to announce that they hosted over 3,000 public skin cancer screenings across two days at their biggest SOS campaign in the USA. La Roche-Posay in partnership with Schweiger Dermatology Group broke the Guinness World Records title for the most skin cancer screenings in eight hours at one location with 1,899 skin cancer screenings, beating the current record of 963!

Throughout a two-day pop-up activation on April 30th and May 1st (Melanoma Monday) at Hudson Yards in New York City, La Roche-Posay kicked off Melanoma Awareness Month to spread the mission of sun safety and encourage life-saving behavioral change. The large-scale activation allowed thousands of people, who may not have access to a dermatologist, to receive a free and private skin check performed by a certified dermatology provider from Schweiger Dermatology Group. La Roche-Posay also handed out full-size sunscreen samples, hats, beach totes and more. Notable attendees included Dr. Daniel Sugai, Dr. Adeline Kikam, influencers Chris Olsen, Vinny Guadagnino, Kristy Sarah, Taryn Smith and more.

Skin cancer is the one cancer that's visible, making skin exams vital to detect potential cancer early when it's easiest to cure.[3] Additionally, for every skin cancer screening conducted, La Roche-Posay donated $5 to the American Cancer Society resulting in a total donation of $15,000.

"I am so proud to work on a brand that is committed to skin cancer support, including prevention, and want to thank my hard working team at La Roche-Posay USA for executing and hosting such an amazing and impactful event. La Roche-Posay has a long history of supporting skin check events through our annual SOS - Save Our Skin campaign. Events like these help provide access for someone who may not visit a dermatologist regularly or even be aware that they need to get their moles checked annually."- Penelope Giraud, General Manager, La Roche-Posay USA.

"Schweiger Dermatology Group is proud to have partnered with La Roche-Posay for this world-record breaking effort. Our dermatology providers were thrilled to participate to help elevate awareness of Melanoma Monday, a very important day. We hope this inspires more people to adopt sun safe habits and make annual dermatology skin cancer screenings a part of their healthcare prevention routine." - Eric Schweiger, M.D., board-certified dermatologist, Founder and CEO of Schweiger Dermatology Group

"We know that 90% of skin cancers, including melanoma (the deadliest type of skin cancer) are caused by sun exposure. That means you can make meaningful changes to protect yourself and loved ones. As the largest private nonprofit funder of melanoma research worldwide, the Melanoma Research Alliance is deeply committed to advancing the research that is urgently needed to save the lives of those impacted by this insidious disease. We are thrilled our partnership with La Roche-Posay and Schweiger Dermatology Group this past Melanoma Monday resulted in life changing change and awareness for all."- Stephanie Kauffman, President & COO, Melanoma Research Alliance.

For thirteen years, La Roche-Posay has led the fight against skin cancer with its annual public health awareness and educational campaign, SOS - Save Our Skin. SOS  Save Our Skin informs the public about the dangers of UV radiation, develops innovative broad-spectrum sunscreens suitable for all skin tones, types, ages, and shows how the public can easily incorporate sun protection into their daily routines including annual skin cancer screenings. Through the campaign, La Roche-Posay has provided 540,000 free skin screenings in thirty-five countries and has handed out hundreds of thousands of free sunscreen samples throughout various events.

La Roche-Posay products can be purchased at CVS, ULTA, Target, Walgreens/Duane Reade, Rite Aid and online at www.laroche-posay.us , Amazon, Dermstore, LovelySkin, SkinStore.

For additional information about La Roche-Posay, visit www.laroche-posay.us and follow La Roche-Posay USA on Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok and Twitter @LaRochePosayUSA

ABOUT LA ROCHE-POSAY

Recommended by 90,000 dermatologists worldwide, La Roche-Posay's mission is to offer life-changing dermatological skincare. La Roche-Posay offers a unique range of daily skincare developed for every skin type to address various skin concerns and complement prescription treatments. At the center of the brand is the exclusive selenium-rich La Roche-Posay Thermal Spring Water, a core ingredient in its skincare formulas known for its soothing and antioxidant properties that is sourced from its Thermal Center in France, the first Dermatology Center in Europe. The products are developed using a strict safety and formulation charter with a minimal number of ingredients and are formulated at optimal concentrations. Additionally, La Roche-Posay products undergo stringent clinical testing for efficacy and safety with over 750+ studies and 25 years of extensive research, even on sensitive skin.

ABOUT SCHWEIGER DERMATOLOGY GROUP

Schweiger Dermatology Group is the largest group dermatology practice in the Northeast with over 90 offices and 300 healthcare providers. Schweiger Dermatology Group provides both medical and cosmetic dermatology services with over 1,000,000 patient visits annually. To learn more, visit schweigerderm.com.

[1] Skin Cancer Foundation

[2] Skin Cancer Foundation

[3] Skin Cancer Foundation

SOURCE La Roche-Posay
Leading U.S.-based manufacturer of boilers and water heaters, celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2023, showcases reliable, innovative products at energy and comfort industry event in Atlantic City May 21-24

ROCHESTER, N.H., May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Laars Heating Systems, a leading U.S. designer and manufacturer of boilers, water heaters, and pool heaters celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2023, will showcase its high-performing and efficient products at the Eastern Energy Expo in Atlantic City, New Jersey, May 21-24.

"As the premier event for the energy and comfort industries, the Eastern Energy Expo is a great opportunity for heating and HVAC professionals to experience the reliable and high-quality products Laars has been known for since 1948," said Chuck O'Donnell, director of marketing for Laars Heating Systems. "We are driven by a commitment to our customers and continue to deliver solutions that help them thrive and succeed as our industry evolves."

Representatives from Laars will be available at Booth #825 during the Eastern Energy Expo with hands-on demonstrations of the following products:

Laars  FT Series Floor Combi Boiler featuring a built-in low loss header for an easy install, and industry-best DHW delivery from a combi floor boiler.

featuring a built-in low loss header for an easy install, and industry-best DHW delivery from a combi floor boiler. Laars  FT Series Wall Combi Boiler with built-in mini-indirect tank technology providing up to one gallon of stored hot water on standby.

with built-in mini-indirect tank technology providing up to one gallon of stored hot water on standby. Laars LT Series Tankless Water Heater, ideal for residential or light commercial applications with a high temp output setting (180 degrees) and the ability to cascade up to 16 units.

The Eastern Energy Expo brings together wholesale and retail liquid fuel marketers, motor fuel distributors, diesel and biodiesel distributors, propane marketers and HVAC service professionals to experience informative business presentations, technical education programs, a two-day trade show and memorable networking opportunities.

For more information about Laars Heating Systems, visit http://www.laars.com .

For more information about Bradford White Corporation, visit https://www.bradfordwhitecorporation.com.

About Laars Heating Systems

Laars Heating Systems, headquartered in Rochester, N.H., manufactures and distributes products widely used in residential and commercial space heating, radiant floor heating, volume water heating, and in industrial process markets. For your home, business or commercial heating needs Laars products are the quality choice. For more information, visit http://www.laars.com .

About Bradford White Corporation

Bradford White Corp. is a full-line manufacturer of residential, commercial and industrial water heating, space heating, combination heating and storage products. The company maintains headquarters in Ambler, Pennsylvania, and has manufacturing facilities in Middleville, Michigan; Niles, Michigan; and Rochester, New Hampshire; and distribution and training centers in Halton Hills, Ontario, Canada. For more information, visit www.bradfordwhitecorporation.com.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Heather Ripley

Ripley PR

(865) 977-1973

[email protected]

SOURCE Bradford White Corporation
DUBLIN, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "MALE and HALE UAV's - Market and Technology Forecast to 2031" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The study examines, analyses, and predicts the evolution of MALE & HALE UAV technologies, markets, and outlays (expenditures) over the next 8 years - 2024-2031 in the aerospace industry.

It also examines markets geographically, focusing on the top 95% of global markets, in the North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa, and Latin America.

The MALE (medium-altitude, long-endurance) and HALE (high-altitude long-endurance) UAV's have versatile mission capabilities that enable them to be used for various applications including Combat Strike and ISTAR (Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition, and Reconnaissance) missions.

Due to their technological superiority, UAV's have become increasingly popular, leading to more spending on UAV programmes and procurement. Their successful deployment in contested warzones has revolutionized military operations in battle areas and thus increased the demand for these platforms. Furthermore, the availability of affordable UAV's has enabled smaller economies to strengthen their autonomous air power without risking human assets by turning to MALE & HALE UAV's.

The report shows how MALE & HALE UAV's are used today to add real value, as well as how will they be used in the near and distant future. To provide the most thorough and realistic forecast, this report provides a twin-scenario analysis.

Covered in this report

Overview: Snapshot of the MALE & HALE UAV's market during 2023-2031, including highlights of the demand drivers, trends, and challenges. It also provides a snapshot of the spending with respect to regions as well as segments and sheds light on the emergence of new technologies.

Market Dynamics: Insights into the technological developments in the market and a detailed analysis of the changing preferences of governments around the world. It also analyses changing industry structure trends and the challenges faced by the industry participants.

Segment Analysis: Insights into the various application, endurance, type and system markets from a segmental perspective and a detailed analysis of factors influencing the market for each segment.

Regional Review: Insights into procurement patterns and development of the technology for top countries within a region.

Regional Analysis: Insights into the application market from a regional perspective and a detailed analysis of factors influencing the market for each region.

Impact Analysis: Analysis on how certain events will impact the MALE & HALE UAV's market. This will give you an indication on which factors are important for the forecast.

Key Program Analysis: Details of the top programs in each segment expected to be executed during the forecast period.

Competitive landscape Analysis: Analysis of competitive landscape of this industry. It provides an overview of key companies, together with insights such as key alliances, strategic initiatives, and a brief financial analysis.

Segmentation

The market in this study is segmented by Region, Range, and Launching platform.

Geographic coverage

North America

European

Asian-Pacific

Middle East and North Africa

and Latin America

Application

Combat Strike

ISTAR

Endurance

Up to 30 hours

31 to 50 hours

> 50 hours

Type

MALE

HALE

System

Avionics

Payload

Engine

Airframe

Software

Others

Reasons to buy

Determine prospective investment areas based on a detailed trend analysis of the global MALE & HALE UAV's industry over the next eight years.

Gain in-depth understanding about the underlying factors driving demand for different application segments in the top spending countries across the world and identify the opportunities offered by each of them.

Strengthen your understanding of the market in terms of demand drivers, industry trends, and the latest technological developments, among others.

Identify the major channels that are driving the global MALE & HALE UAV's business, providing a clear picture about future opportunities that can be tapped, resulting in revenue expansion.

Channelise resources by focusing on the ongoing programmes that are being undertaken by the ministries of different countries within the market.

Make correct business decisions based on thorough analysis of the total competitive landscape of the sector with detailed profiles of the top platform providers around the world which include information about their products, alliances, recent contract wins and financial analysis wherever available.

Key Topics Covered:

1 Introduction

2 Executive Summary

3 Technologies and Developments

3.1 Technology overview

3.2 Avionics

3.2.1 Introduction

3.2.2 Current technology

3.2.3 Future technology

3.2.4 Challenges

3.3 Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML)

3.3.1 Introduction

3.3.2 Current technology

3.3.3 Future technology

3.3.4 Challenges

3.4 Internet of Things (IoT), Edge Computing, and Cloud Computing

3.4.1 Introduction

3.4.2 Current technology

3.4.3 Future technology

3.4.4 Challenges

3.5 Additive Manufacturing (AM)

3.5.1 Introduction

3.5.2 Current technology

3.5.3 Future technology

3.5.4 Challenges

4 Market Overview

4.1 Introduction

4.1.1 Classification

4.1.2 Exclusions

4.2 Market Structure

4.3 MALE & HALE UAV programmes

4.4 Market Dynamics

5 Market Analysis and Forecast Factors

5.1 Market Segmentation

5.2 Drivers

5.3 Trends

5.4 Opportunities

5.5 Challenges

6 Country Analysis

6.1 China

6.2 India

6.3 European Countries

6.4 Turkey

6.5 UAE

6.6 US

7 Global and Regional Market Forecast to 2031

8 Market Forecast to 2031 by Application

9 Market Forecast to 2031 by Endurance

10 Market Forecast to 2031 by Type

11 Market Forecast to 2031 by System

12 Impact Analysis

13 Leading Companies

14 Results and Conclusions

15 About the Publisher

Appendix A: Companies Mentioned

Appendix B: Abbreviations

Companies Mentioned

BAE Systems PLC

Elbit Systems Ltd.

The Boeing Company

China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation

Israel Aerospace Industries

Northrop Grumman Corporation

Bharat Forge Ltd

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc.

Airbus SE

Baykar Tech

Turkish Aerospace Industries Inc.

Adcom Systems

Aviation Industry Corporation of China Ltd.

Sener Aeroespacial

Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/c0lkjc

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SOURCE Research and Markets
WASHINGTON, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- NASA will announce the second phase winners of its Deep Space Food Challenge, a global competition to help develop innovative food systems for future spacefarers on long-term exploration missions, on Friday, May 19.

Teams will showcase their ideas during the NYCxDESIGN Festival in New York, a citywide celebration of design. Media and the public are invited to join the teams to learn more about their technologies during multiple events.

Crew members aboard the International Space Station unpack newly delivered fresh fruit and other goodies in October 2019. From left are NASA flight engineers Jessica Meir, Andrew Morgan, and Christina Koch with ESA Commander Luca Parmitano. Credits: NASA

Friday, May 19

NASA will reveal the winning Phase 2 teams. The awards event will stream live online beginning at 12 p.m. EDT from the Smart Design studio, Building 127, at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

Media are invited to attend the awards event from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. NASA speakers available for interviews in-person and virtually are:

Ralph Fritsche , senior project manager for space crop production at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida

, senior project manager for space crop production at NASA's in Angela Herblet, project manager for the Deep Space Food Challenge at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama

Denise Morris , program manager for Centennial Challenges at NASA Marshall

Reporters interested in covering the event in person must RSVP by 10 a.m., Thursday, May 18, to Molly Porter at [email protected] This event is not open to the public for in-person attendance.

Saturday, May 20

Teams taking part in the challenge will showcase some of their food production technologies beginning at 12 p.m. The event is free and open to the public through 4 p.m. Members of the media and public interested in attending must reserve a spot.

From 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., NASA speakers will take part in a panel discussion hosted by Smart Design and focused on design, innovation, and the future of food. Space is limited, and registration is available online until May 16.

Members of the media may also register for both events by emailing Molly Porter at [email protected].

More About NASA's Challenge

The Deep Space Food Challenge calls solvers around the world to invent new ways of producing food for future astronauts traveling farther from Earth than ever before. Since January 2021, teams have been designing and building new food tech solutions that would help keep astronauts safe, healthy, and productive for missions lasting years at a time.

The competition is a first-of-its-kind collaboration between NASA and CSA (Canadian Space Agency). On April 27, CSA awarded prizes to the teams advancing to the final stage of the Canadian challenge, which runs in parallel with NASA's.

The not-for-profit Methuselah Foundation administers the competition for U.S. and international teams through a Space Act Agreement with NASA. The Deep Space Food Challenge is part of NASA's Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing program in the agency's Space Technology Mission Directorate.

For more information on the challenge, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/spacefoodchallenge

SOURCE NASA
NEW YORK, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The medical device manufacturing outsourcing market is set to grow by USD 46241.15 million from 2022 to 2027 progressing at a CAGR of 10.85% during the forecast period. The report offers an up-to-date analysis regarding the current global market scenario, the latest trends and drivers, and the overall market environment. The market is driven by the growing focus of OEMs on reducing medical device manufacturing costs. The high growth potential and increasing demand for medical device products from end-users have compelled OEMs to outsource their manufacturing capabilities.

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Medical Device Manufacturing Outsourcing Market 2023-2027

Here is an Exclusive report talking about Market scenarios with a historical period (2017-2021) and a forecast period (2023-2027). Download Sample Report in minutes!

The report on the medical device manufacturing outsourcing market provides a holistic update, market size and forecast, trends, growth drivers, and challenges, as well as vendor analysis.

Medical Device Manufacturing Outsourcing Market 2023-2027 - Market Dynamics

Market Drivers

Growing focus of OEMs on reducing medical device manufacturing costs

Growing complexities in product design and development

Emerging countries as a preferred outsourcing destination for medical device manufacturing

Market Trends

Increasing M and A activities

Technological advances for manufacturing medical devices

Increasing consumption of Class I medical devices

Market Challenges

Stringent regulatory environment

Intense competition in the market

Delay in contractual obligations and upgrading new technologies

Medical Device Manufacturing Outsourcing Market 2023-2027: Market Segmentation

The medical device manufacturing outsourcing market is segmented by product (EMS, raw materials, and finished goods), medical device regulatory classification (class ii, class iii, and class i), and geography (North America, Asia, Europe, and Rest of World (ROW)).

The market share growth by the EMS segment will be significant during the forecast period. EMS providers offer effective solutions to reduce cost, besides increasing quality, the value of innovation, and efficiency, thus reducing the time to market a new product and improving supply chain management.

North America is estimated to contribute 36% to the growth of the global market during the forecast period. The benefits of outsourcing include reduced costs, improved quality, access to new geographical and global capabilities, the ability to focus on improving operating margins and core competencies, reduced risks (regulatory), and access to leading experts and technologies.

Technavio's report presents a detailed picture of the market by way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources through an analysis of key parameters- View Sample Report

The medical device manufacturing outsourcing market covers the following areas:

Medical Device Manufacturing Outsourcing Market Sizing

Medical Device Manufacturing Outsourcing Market Forecast

Medical Device Manufacturing Outsourcing Market Analysis

Companies Mentioned

Benchmark Electronics Inc.

Cadence Inc.

Celestica Inc.

Cirtec Medical

Eurofins Scientific SE

Flex Ltd.

Gerresheimer AG

Heraeus Holding GmbH

Integer Holdings Corp.

Jabil Inc.

Kimball Electronics Inc.

NN Inc.

Nortech Systems Inc.

Plexus Corp.

Sanmina Corp.

Tata Sons Pvt. Ltd.

TE Connectivity Ltd.

Tecomet Inc.

TRICOR Systems Inc.

West Pharmaceutical Services Inc.

bench.com- The company offers medical device manufacturing outsourcing for point of care medical device industry.

celestica.com- The company offers medical device manufacturing outsourcing for Patient monitoring devices, Renal dialysis and Dental radiology.

cirtecmed.com- The company offers medical device manufacturing outsourcing for active implantable medical devices.

Related Reports:

North America Medical Device Packaging Market- The North American medical device packaging market size is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 9.84% between 2022 and 2027. The market size is forecast to increase by USD 4,280 million.

Pediatric Medical Devices Market- The pediatric medical devices market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 8.84% between 2022 and 2027. The size of the market is forecast to increase by USD 15.01 billion.

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Medical Device Manufacturing Outsourcing Market Scope Report Coverage Details Base year 2022 Historic period 2017-2021 Forecast period 2023-2027 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 10.85% Market growth 2023-2027 USD 46241.15 million Market structure Fragmented YoY growth 2022-2023(%) 8.88 Regional analysis North America, Asia, Europe, and Rest of World (ROW) Performing market contribution North America at 36% Key countries US, Germany, China, Japan, and India Competitive landscape Leading Vendors, Market Positioning of Vendors, Competitive Strategies, and Industry Risks Key companies profiled Benchmark Electronics Inc., Cadence Inc., Celestica Inc., Cirtec Medical, Eurofins Scientific SE, Flex Ltd., Gerresheimer AG, Heraeus Holding GmbH, Integer Holdings Corp., Jabil Inc., Kimball Electronics Inc., NN Inc., Nortech Systems Inc., Plexus Corp., Sanmina Corp., Tata Sons Pvt. Ltd., TE Connectivity Ltd., Tecomet Inc., TRICOR Systems Inc., and West Pharmaceutical Services Inc. Market dynamics Parent market analysis, Market growth inducers and obstacles, Fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID-19 impact and recovery analysis and future consumer dynamics, Market condition analysis for forecast period Customization purview If our report has not included the data that you are looking for, you can reach out to our analysts and get segments customized.

Key Topics Covered:

1 Executive Summary

1.1 Market overview

Exhibit 01: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Overview



Exhibit 02: Executive Summary  Data Table on Market Overview



Exhibit 03: Executive Summary  Chart on Global Market Characteristics



Exhibit 04: Executive Summary  Chart on Market by Geography



Exhibit 05: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Segmentation by Product



Exhibit 06: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Segmentation by Medical Device Regulatory Classification



Exhibit 07: Executive Summary  Chart on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 08: Executive Summary  Data Table on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 09: Executive Summary  Chart on Vendor Market Positioning

2 Market Landscape

2.1 Market ecosystem

Exhibit 10: Parent market



Exhibit 11: Market Characteristics

3 Market Sizing

3.1 Market definition

Exhibit 12: Offerings of vendors included in the market definition

3.2 Market segment analysis

Exhibit 13: Market segments

3.3 Market size 2022

3.4 Market outlook: Forecast for 2022-2027

Exhibit 14: Chart on Global - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 15: Data Table on Global - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 16: Chart on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 17: Data Table on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

4 Historic Market Size

4.1 Global medical device manufacturing outsourcing market 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 18: Historic Market Size  Data Table on Global medical device manufacturing outsourcing market 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

4.2 Product Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 19: Historic Market Size  Product Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

4.3 Medical device regulatory classification Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 20: Historic Market Size  Medical device regulatory classification Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

4.4 Geography Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 21: Historic Market Size  Geography Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

4.5 Country Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 22: Historic Market Size  Country Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

5 Five Forces Analysis

5.1 Five forces summary

Exhibit 23: Five forces analysis - Comparison between 2022 and 2027

5.2 Bargaining power of buyers

Exhibit 24: Chart on Bargaining power of buyers  Impact of key factors 2022 and 2027

5.3 Bargaining power of suppliers

Exhibit 25: Bargaining power of suppliers  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

5.4 Threat of new entrants

Exhibit 26: Threat of new entrants  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

5.5 Threat of substitutes

Exhibit 27: Threat of substitutes  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

5.6 Threat of rivalry

Exhibit 28: Threat of rivalry  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

5.7 Market condition

Exhibit 29: Chart on Market condition - Five forces 2022 and 2027

6 Market Segmentation by Product

6.1 Market segments

Exhibit 30: Chart on Product - Market share 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 31: Data Table on Product - Market share 2022-2027 (%)

6.2 Comparison by Product

Exhibit 32: Chart on Comparison by Product



Exhibit 33: Data Table on Comparison by Product

6.3 EMS - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 34: Chart on EMS - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 35: Data Table on EMS - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 36: Chart on EMS - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 37: Data Table on EMS - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.4 Raw materials - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 38: Chart on Raw materials - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 39: Data Table on Raw materials - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 40: Chart on Raw materials - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 41: Data Table on Raw materials - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.5 Finished goods - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 42: Chart on Finished goods - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 43: Data Table on Finished goods - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 44: Chart on Finished goods - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 45: Data Table on Finished goods - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.6 Market opportunity by Product

Exhibit 46: Market opportunity by Product ($ million)

7 Market Segmentation by Medical Device Regulatory Classification

7.1 Market segments

Exhibit 47: Chart on Medical Device Regulatory Classification - Market share 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 48: Data Table on Medical Device Regulatory Classification - Market share 2022-2027 (%)

7.2 Comparison by Medical Device Regulatory Classification

Exhibit 49: Chart on Comparison by Medical Device Regulatory Classification



Exhibit 50: Data Table on Comparison by Medical Device Regulatory Classification

7.3 Class II - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 51: Chart on Class II - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 52: Data Table on Class II - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 53: Chart on Class II - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 54: Data Table on Class II - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.4 Class III - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 55: Chart on Class III - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 56: Data Table on Class III - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 57: Chart on Class III - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 58: Data Table on Class III - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.5 Class I - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 59: Chart on Class I - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 60: Data Table on Class I - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 61: Chart on Class I - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 62: Data Table on Class I - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.6 Market opportunity by Medical Device Regulatory Classification

Exhibit 63: Market opportunity by Medical Device Regulatory Classification ($ million)

8 Customer Landscape

8.1 Customer landscape overview

Exhibit 64: Analysis of price sensitivity, lifecycle, customer purchase basket, adoption rates, and purchase criteria

9 Geographic Landscape

9.1 Geographic segmentation

Exhibit 65: Chart on Market share by geography 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 66: Data Table on Market share by geography 2022-2027 (%)

9.2 Geographic comparison

Exhibit 67: Chart on Geographic comparison



Exhibit 68: Data Table on Geographic comparison

9.3 North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 69: Chart on North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 70: Data Table on North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 71: Chart on North America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 72: Data Table on North America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.4 Asia - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 73: Chart on Asia - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 74: Data Table on Asia - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 75: Chart on Asia - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 76: Data Table on Asia - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.5 Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 77: Chart on Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 78: Data Table on Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 79: Chart on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 80: Data Table on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.6 Rest of World (ROW) - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 81: Chart on Rest of World (ROW) - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 82: Data Table on Rest of World (ROW) - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 83: Chart on Rest of World (ROW) - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 84: Data Table on Rest of World (ROW) - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.7 US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 85: Chart on US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 86: Data Table on US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 87: Chart on US - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 88: Data Table on US - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.8 China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 89: Chart on China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 90: Data Table on China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 91: Chart on China - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 92: Data Table on China - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.9 Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 93: Chart on Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 94: Data Table on Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 95: Chart on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 96: Data Table on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.10 Japan - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 97: Chart on Japan - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 98: Data Table on Japan - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 99: Chart on Japan - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 100: Data Table on Japan - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.11 India - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 101: Chart on India - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 102: Data Table on India - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 103: Chart on India - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 104: Data Table on India - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.12 Market opportunity by geography

Exhibit 105: Market opportunity by geography ($ million)

10 Drivers, Challenges, and Trends

10.1 Market drivers

10.2 Market challenges

10.3 Impact of drivers and challenges

Exhibit 106: Impact of drivers and challenges in 2022 and 2027

10.4 Market trends

11 Vendor Landscape

11.1 Overview

11.2 Vendor landscape

Exhibit 107: Overview on Criticality of inputs and Factors of differentiation

11.3 Landscape disruption

Exhibit 108: Overview on factors of disruption

11.4 Industry risks

Exhibit 109: Impact of key risks on business

12 Vendor Analysis

12.1 Vendors covered

Exhibit 110: Vendors covered

12.2 Market positioning of vendors

Exhibit 111: Matrix on vendor position and classification

12.3 Benchmark Electronics Inc.

Exhibit 112: Benchmark Electronics Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 113: Benchmark Electronics Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 114: Benchmark Electronics Inc. - Key news



Exhibit 115: Benchmark Electronics Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 116: Benchmark Electronics Inc. - Segment focus

12.4 Cadence Inc.

Exhibit 117: Cadence Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 118: Cadence Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 119: Cadence Inc. - Key offerings

12.5 Celestica Inc.

Exhibit 120: Celestica Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 121: Celestica Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 122: Celestica Inc. - Key news



Exhibit 123: Celestica Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 124: Celestica Inc. - Segment focus

12.6 Cirtec Medical

Exhibit 125: Cirtec Medical - Overview



Exhibit 126: Cirtec Medical - Product / Service



Exhibit 127: Cirtec Medical - Key offerings

12.7 Eurofins Scientific SE

Exhibit 128: Eurofins Scientific SE - Overview



Exhibit 129: Eurofins Scientific SE - Business segments



Exhibit 130: Eurofins Scientific SE - Key news



Exhibit 131: Eurofins Scientific SE - Key offerings



Exhibit 132: Eurofins Scientific SE - Segment focus

12.8 Flex Ltd.

Exhibit 133: Flex Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 134: Flex Ltd. - Business segments



Exhibit 135: Flex Ltd. - Key news



Exhibit 136: Flex Ltd. - Key offerings



Exhibit 137: Flex Ltd. - Segment focus

12.9 Gerresheimer AG

Exhibit 138: Gerresheimer AG - Overview



Exhibit 139: Gerresheimer AG - Business segments



Exhibit 140: Gerresheimer AG - Key news



Exhibit 141: Gerresheimer AG - Key offerings



Exhibit 142: Gerresheimer AG - Segment focus

12.10 Heraeus Holding GmbH

Exhibit 143: Heraeus Holding GmbH - Overview



Exhibit 144: Heraeus Holding GmbH - Product / Service



Exhibit 145: Heraeus Holding GmbH - Key offerings

12.11 Integer Holdings Corp.

Exhibit 146: Integer Holdings Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 147: Integer Holdings Corp. - Business segments



Exhibit 148: Integer Holdings Corp. - Key news



Exhibit 149: Integer Holdings Corp. - Key offerings



Exhibit 150: Integer Holdings Corp. - Segment focus

12.12 Jabil Inc.

Exhibit 151: Jabil Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 152: Jabil Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 153: Jabil Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 154: Jabil Inc. - Segment focus

12.13 Nortech Systems Inc.

Exhibit 155: Nortech Systems Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 156: Nortech Systems Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 157: Nortech Systems Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 158: Nortech Systems Inc. - Segment focus

12.14 Sanmina Corp.

Exhibit 159: Sanmina Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 160: Sanmina Corp. - Business segments



Exhibit 161: Sanmina Corp. - Key offerings



Exhibit 162: Sanmina Corp. - Segment focus

12.15 TE Connectivity Ltd.

Exhibit 163: TE Connectivity Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 164: TE Connectivity Ltd. - Business segments



Exhibit 165: TE Connectivity Ltd. - Key offerings



Exhibit 166: TE Connectivity Ltd. - Segment focus

12.16 Tecomet Inc.

Exhibit 167: Tecomet Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 168: Tecomet Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 169: Tecomet Inc. - Key offerings

12.17 West Pharmaceutical Services Inc.

Exhibit 170: West Pharmaceutical Services Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 171: West Pharmaceutical Services Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 172: West Pharmaceutical Services Inc. - Key news



Exhibit 173: West Pharmaceutical Services Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 174: West Pharmaceutical Services Inc. - Segment focus

13 Appendix

13.1 Scope of the report

13.2 Inclusions and exclusions checklist

Exhibit 175: Inclusions checklist



Exhibit 176: Exclusions checklist

13.3 Currency conversion rates for US$

Exhibit 177: Currency conversion rates for US$

13.4 Research methodology

Exhibit 178: Research methodology



Exhibit 179: Validation techniques employed for market sizing



Exhibit 180: Information sources

13.5 List of abbreviations

Exhibit 181: List of abbreviations

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Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focuses on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

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Email: [email protected]

Website: www.technavio.com/

Newsroom:

SOURCE Technavio
ALEXANDRIA, Va., May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- National Police Support Fund was given a green light to 'continue operations as is' and an all-encompassing clean bill of health after a thorough audit of fiscal years 2019 & 2020 by the Internal Revenue Service's Tax Exempt/ Government Entities Division. The 6 month long audit process and all of its findings are outlined below, all of which show that the organization is in good standing and full compliance with all laws and regulations for IRS Section 527 political organizations. National Police Support Fund passed both operational and organizational tests based on all applicable IRS laws, 8871 and 8872 filings, organizational bylaws & governing documents. An outline of the IRS organizational test and operational test is available at the end of this memo.

National Police Support Fund's Executive Director Simon Lewis had this to say about the results:

"I'm beyond pleased with the results of this comprehensive organizational and operational audit, and I"m proud of our team, who have helped to set a new, higher standard for accountability and accuracy in political nonprofit operations and reporting. When I helped found this organization in 2018, my vision was to become the preeminent grassroots pro-police political organization in the country, and our hard work pays dividends every day. We continue to fight for law enforcement officers, hold politicians accountable, and shine a light on the anti-police movement, and it's all thanks to our hundreds-of-thousands of supporters."

The Skyles Law Group from Chicago represented the organization in the detailed audit that was exhaustive and lasted almost 6 months. This process cost the organization an extensive amount of time, labor, and money to complete. These results are a huge vote of confidence in the effectiveness, transparency, and ethical leadership of the National Police Support Fund.

In its conclusion, the IRS audit found that the National Police Support Fund should continue operating as is, as it is in full compliance with all applicable laws and regulations. The organization's tax filings were accepted as is, with no excise tax or penalties attached to it. Everything that was listed as exempt activity was declared exempt by the IRS, with no changes or alterations required for direct or indirect exempt activities.

"The results of this audit are a great vote of confidence for the National Police Support Fund. The organization will utilize everything they have learned throughout this process and will implement even more lessons and best practices moving forward," Mr. Skyles of the Skyles Law Group commented.

The Internal Revenue Service audit consisted of going through all financial statements, full review of every general ledger transaction; review of organizational governance, bylaws, and any conflicts; fundraising & consultant contracts; direct & indirect exempt activity conducted by the organization, and a full analysis of any federal activity. The auditor also reviewed fundraising contracts and fundraising materials/scripts.

The Organizational Test

To be subject to tax only as a political organization under IRC Section 527, a political committee, association, fund, or other organization must meet both:

- The organizational test of Treas. Reg. 1.527-2(a)(2).

- The operational test of Treas. Reg. 1.527-2(a)(3).

To satisfy the organizational test, the organization must have the primary purpose of carrying on exempt function activities as defined in IRC Section 527. The organization does not need a formal charter or to be a corporation, trust, or association.

The organization must use a separate bank account to deposit and disburse political campaign. Rev. Rul. 79-11, 1979-1 C.B. 207.

When there are no formal documents, review the Form 8871 purpose statement.

Consider statements of the organization's members at the time it was formed that they intend to operate the organization primarily to carry on exempt function activities. Treas. Reg. 1.527-2(a)(2).

All organizations claiming exemption under IRC Section 527 are required to obtain EINs, even if they have no employees.

Operational Test:

To satisfy the operational test, the organization's primary activities must be exempt function activities as defined in IRC Section 527. The organization may engage in activities that are not exempt function income activities, but these may not be its primary activities. Treas. Reg. 1.527-2(a)(3).

IRC Section 527(e)(2) defines "exempt function" as "the function of influencing or attempting to influence the selection, nomination, election, or appointment of any individual to any Federal, State, or local public office or office in a political organization, or the election of Presidential or Vice-Presidential electors, whether or not such individual or electors are selected, nominated, elected or appointed."

Promoting the nomination of an individual for an elective public office in a primary election, or in a meeting (or caucus) of a political party is also an exempt function activity. Treas. Reg. 1.527-2(a)(1).

For tax years beginning after December 31, 1986, the exempt function of a political organization also includes making expenditures for a public office that would be allowable as a deduction under IRC Section 162(a) if incurred by the office holder.

Political organizations can continue to qualify under IRC Section 527 between elections even though not supporting a particular candidate, if engaged in activities related to and supporting the selection process.

Final documentation & results will be updated when it is provided to National Police Support Fund by the IRS.

About National Police Support Fund

National Police Support Fund is committed to promoting the interests and well-being of American police officers within the public policy process through grassroots political action. This grassroots movement is driven by everyday Americans who believe in supporting the rule of law and honoring the police officers who uphold and enforce it everyday.

National Police Support Fund is dedicated to providing a united voice for true Americans who support our nation's law enforcement officers. We strive to engage the public through political grassroots activity to support political interests that promote officer's interests. We are working to defeat anti-police sentiment and bring honor and respect back to the policing profession.

SOURCE National Police Support Fund
SHANGHAI, May 11, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- An imported version of Nefecon (budesonide) delayed release capsule has been added to the 2023 New Reimbursement Drug List of Specialized Medicines of the "Beijing Puhui Health Insurance Program." Nefecon is a first-in-disease treatment for adults with primary immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN). Nefecon has been approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration under accelerated approval under the trademark "TARPEYO" to reduce proteinuria in adults with IgAN at risk of rapid disease progression, generally a urine protein-to-creatinine ratio (UPCR)  1.5 g/g. Coverage by this and other local insurance plans will help increase patient access to Nefecon, listed in the Beijing Puhui Health Insurance Program as "TARPEYO."

The Beijing Puhui Health Insurance Program is under the supervision of both the Beijing Municipal Medical Insurance Bureau and Beijing Municipal Bureau of Financial Regulation and Supervision, and is an important part of Beijing's multi-tier medical insurance system. In the two years since launch, more than 6 million people have signed up for the program. Beijing Puhui Health Insurance covers 100 specialized drugs that are not listed in the National Reimbursement Drug List and some imported drugs from overseas, including those newly marketed abroad and those that can be prescribed only in designated medical institutions in Boao Lecheng. The maximum insurance coverage for each person is 1 million yuan a year. The updated list, which includes Nefecon, went into effect on May 5, 2023.

"The inclusion of Nefecon into the drug reimbursement list of the Beijing Puhui Health Insurance Program enables patients insured in Beijing to receive reimbursement for up to 60% of the drug costs. This inclusion can help alleviate the financial burden for patients and improve patient adherence to the treatment," said Rogers Luo, Chief Executive Officer of Everest Medicines. "Nefecon was made available for clinical use in Shanghai Ruijin Hospital's Hainan subsidiary in April, and we expect that our application for a marketing approval for Nefecon will receive nationwide approval in the second half of this year. In addition to Beijing, Nefecon has also been included in other local insurance programs, such as those in Kunming city and Shanxi Province. Diversified payment models allow more IgAN patients in China to benefit from this first-in-disease medicine, meeting significant unmet medical needs."

About Nefecon

Nefecon is a patented oral, delayed release formulation of budesonide, a corticosteroid with potent glucocorticoid activity and weak mineralocorticoid activity that undergoes substantial first pass metabolism. The formulation is designed as a delayed release capsule that is enteric coated so that it remains intact until it releases budesonide to the distal ileum. Each capsule contains coated beads of budesonide that target mucosal B-cells present in the ileum where the disease originates, as per the predominant pathogenesis models.

In June 2019, Everest Medicines entered into an exclusive, royalty-bearing license agreement with Calliditas, which gives Everest Medicines exclusive rights to develop and commercialize Nefecon in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and Singapore. The agreement was extended in March 2022 to include South Korea as part of Everest Medicine's territories.

Nefecon was approved in the United States under accelerated approval based on a reduction in proteinuria. Recently announced topline results from the global, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 3 clinical trial NefIgArd demonstrated a statistically significant benefit for Nefecon over placebo in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), a measure of renal function.

About Everest Medicines

Everest Medicines is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing, manufacturing and commercializing transformative pharmaceutical products and vaccines that address critical unmet medical needs for patients in Asian markets. The management team of Everest Medicines has deep expertise and an extensive track record from both leading global pharmaceutical companies and local Chinese pharmaceutical companies in high-quality discovery, clinical development, regulatory affairs, CMC, business development and operations. Everest Medicines has built a portfolio of potentially global first-in-class or best-in-class molecules, many of which are in late-stage clinical development. The Company's therapeutic areas of interest include renal diseases, infectious diseases, mRNA platform and autoimmune disorders.. For more information, please visit its website at www.everestmedicines.com.

Forward-Looking Statements:

This news release may make statements that constitute forward-looking statements, including descriptions regarding the intent, belief or current expectations of the Company or its officers with respect to the business operations and financial condition of the Company, which can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates," "confident" and similar statements. Such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, or other factors, some of which are beyond the control of the Company and are unforeseeable. Therefore, the actual results may differ from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors and assumptions, such as future changes and developments in our business, competitive environment, political, economic, legal and social conditions. The Company or any of its affiliates, directors, officers, advisors or representatives has no obligation and does not undertake to revise forward-looking statements to reflect new information, future events or circumstances after the date of this news release, except as required by law.

SOURCE Everest Medicines
First version published at 16:20

LACHIN, Azerbaijan, May 12. The trip of international travelers from Sweden, who are members of the Club100 organization, to the Lachin district has begun within the framework of the visit to Azerbaijans Karabakh and Eastern Zangazur, Trends Karabakh Bureau reports.

The participants of the trip, having previously visited the Kalbajar district, then got acquainted with the construction and restoration work in the Lachin district.

This trip is of exceptional importance for the promotion of the territories liberated from occupation within the framework of dark tourism (tourism involving travel to places historically associated with death and tragedy).

Over the past two years, six trips have been organized to Karabakh and Eastern Zangazur by representatives of the world's largest international travel networks - ETIC, MTP, TCC, NomadMania, Travelers Club of Turkiye, the UK "Piki Reels" club. One trip was organized in 2021, four - in 2022, and one trip - in 2023. The current trip is already the seventh in a row.
Book offers engaging insights on raising healthier kids and becoming a healthier nation

JACKSONVILLE, Fla., May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- R. Lawrence Moss, MD, president and CEO of Nemours Children's Health, today released a new eBook, Finding Health by Looking in the Right Place: How Understanding What Actually Creates Health Can Fix U.S. Healthcare. The electronic book shares the essential factors for promoting good health outside of medical care and illustrates the connection between children's health and healthier adults. Nemours Children's is making it available to the public free of charge at Nemours.org/larrymossleadership.

"Our system is designed to expect health from medical care alone, but medical care accounts for just 15 to 20 percent of health," said Dr. Moss. "Factors like safe housing, friendships, a good education, neighborhood safety, and a stable home environment determine most of our health."

"Dr. Moss brings to life the many ways that health is all around us, with concrete examples of how health is created in everyday life," said the book's foreword author Michael McGinnis, MD, executive director and senior scholar for the National Academy of Medicine and a former Nemours board member. "He does not just share his opinions but cites existing programs that are successfully promoting the creation of health."

A renowned pediatric surgeon, biomedical researcher, educator and health system executive, Dr. Moss makes important public health topics relatable and engaging for all readers. The eBook addresses the social determinants that play a crucial role in making the lives of children and adults healthier, including:

The people around us : The benefit of a good start in life, inspiration from women for a healthier future, and the power of friendships;

: The benefit of a good start in life, inspiration from women for a healthier future, and the power of friendships; Our environment and health : The power of nature, transportation and health, and helping kids weather summer heat; and

Health through empowerment : Heart health at all ages, nutrition's super-powers, and empowerment through better sleep.

Dr. Moss outlines simple steps that individuals can take to improve their health and that of their families and their communities.

"If our nation's healthcare system focused on addressing all inputs to health instead of medical care alone, we would live longer lives, suffer less, and be less susceptible to illness," Moss said. "I believe that fixing healthcare in the U.S. is a three-point undertaking. Understand what health is. Pay for health (and not just medical care). Start with children. This is my vision for transforming health in America."

About Nemours Children's Health

Nemours Children's Health is one of the nation's largest multistate pediatric health systems, which includes two free-standing children's hospitals and a network of more than 70 primary and specialty care practices. Nemours Children's seeks to transform the health of children by adopting a holistic health model that utilizes innovative, safe, and high-quality care, while also caring for the health of the whole child beyond medicine. Nemours Children's also powers the world's most-visited website for information on the health of children and teens, Nemours KidsHealth.org.

The Nemours Foundation, established through the legacy and philanthropy of Alfred I. duPont, provides pediatric clinical care, research, education, advocacy, and prevention programs to the children, families, and communities it serves. For more information, visit Nemours.org.

SOURCE Nemours Children's Health
DUBLIN, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Non-Thermal Pasteurization Market by Technique (HPP, PEF, MVH, Ultrasonic, Irradiation, and Other Techniques), Form (Solid, Liquid), Application (Food, Beverage, and Pharmaceutical & Cosmetics) & Region - Global Forecast to 2028" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

According to this report, the non-thermal pasteurization market is projected to reach USD 5.7 billion by 2028 from USD 2.3 billion by 2023, at a CAGR of 20.0% during the forecast period in terms of value.

Non-thermal pasteurization products are gaining attention, and consumers are more inclined toward adding more processed and nutritive food. The factors responsible for the growth of the Non-thermal pasteurization industry are the increase in health concerns, evolving protein source preferences, and a thriving food-processing sector that is introducing a wide variety of processed food & beverage products.

By application, Fruits and vegetables is projected in high demand during the forecast period.

The demand for safe and minimally processed fruits and vegetables has been increasing due to consumer preferences for healthier and more natural food options. This has led to a rise in demand for non-thermal pasteurization methods that can preserve the quality and nutrients of fruits and vegetables without using high heat treatments that can cause nutrient loss and affect flavor. According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the demand for minimally processed fruits and vegetables has been increasing steadily over the past decade. To meet this demand, many companies in the food industry are investing in non-thermal pasteurization methods

By form, liquid Non-thermal pasteurization has increased demand due to an increase in shelf life.

The HPP method maintains all the minerals, vitamins, antioxidants, and taste in fruit and vegetable juices. While having a longer shelf life and a guarantee of food safety, it is comparable to drinking freshly squeezed juice. The HPP has seen increased expansion as a result of the diversity of drinks introduced in recent years that benefit greatly from high pressure processing. HPP retains its flavor, color, and composition, which is exactly what today's customer needs.

By region, Asia Pacific to drive market growth due to increased demand for packaged food.

The Asia Pacific region has an increasing demand for packaged food products due to rapid economic growth. The increasing population in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region is driving the demand for food and beverages The region is expected to experience a sharp rise in the demand for advanced food processing machinery that helps to reduce processing time and enhance the efficiency of manufacturing operations. The expected growth in the number of food processing units in this region is further projected to boost the supply and consumption of food & beverage processing equipment. The food processing sectors in this region are also witnessing automation, which is further providing opportunities for equipment manufacturers.

Market Dynamics

Drivers

Increase in Consumption of Convenience Foods

Increase in Demand for Meat, Poultry, and Dairy Products

Process Optimization by Non-Thermal Technologies Resulting in Greater Efficiency During Pasteurization

Rising Demand for Innovative Food & Beverage Products Due to Changing Consumer Trends

Restraints

High Capital Investment

Growing Demand for Organic and Fresh Food Products

Implementation of Extra Regulatory Measures for Labeling Irradiated Food

Opportunities

Government Investment in Food Processing Machinery & Equipment

Growing Usage of High-Pressure Processing (HPP) Toll Processors

Challenges

Lack of Consumer Awareness

Need for Technical Expertise

Key Topics Covered:

1 Introduction

2 Research Methodology

3 Executive Summary

4 Premium Insights

5 Market Overview

6 Industry Trends

7 Non-Thermal Pasteurization Market, by Technique

7.1 Introduction

7.2 High-Pressure Processing (HPP)

7.2.1 High-Pressure Processing Market, by Orientation Type

7.2.1.1 Beverage Sector to Drive Demand for Horizontal Orientation Type

7.2.2 High-Pressure Processing Market, by Vessel Volume

7.2.2.1 Greater Vessel Volume to Drive Demand for High-Pressure Processing

7.3 Pulse Electric Field (Pef)

7.3.1 Rising Demand for Processed Food & Beverages to Drive Growth

7.4 Microwave Volumetric Heating (Mvh)

7.4.1 Need for Energy-Efficient and Sustainable Food Processing Technologies to Drive Market

7.5 Ultrasonic

7.5.1 Support of Governments and Investments by Leading Companies to Drive Growth

7.6 Irradiation

7.6.1 Government Approvals and Initiatives Expected to Contribute to Growth

7.7 Other Techniques

8 Non-Thermal Pasteurization Market, by Form

8.1 Introduction

8.2 Solid

8.2.1 PEF Considered Unsuitable for Solid Items

8.3 Liquid

8.3.1 HPP to be Primarily Used for Processing of Liquids

9 Non-Thermal Pasteurization Market, by Application

9.1 Introduction

9.2 Food

9.2.1 Meat Products

9.2.1.1 Growing Demand for Minimum Processing of Meat Products to Fuel Growth

9.2.2 Fruits & Vegetables

9.2.2.1 Rising Demand for High-Quality, Safe, and Minimally Processed Food to Drive Market

9.2.3 Dairy Products

9.2.3.1 Rising Demand for Nutritional Dairy Products to Encourage Producing Safer Foods at Low Expenses

9.2.4 Ready Meals

9.2.4.1 Demand for Ready Meals to be Driven by Busy Lifestyles and Growing Geriatric Population

9.3 Beverages

9.3.1 Alcoholic Beverages

9.3.1.1 Beer

9.3.1.1.1 Rising Demand for High-Quality and Safe Beer with Extended Shelf Life to Augment Market Growth

9.3.1.2 Wine

9.3.1.2.1 Growing Demand for Premium and Artisanal Wines to Drive Market Growth

9.3.1.3 Other Alcoholic Beverages

9.3.2 Non-Alcoholic Beverages

9.3.2.1 Juices

9.3.2.1.1 Rising Demand for Cold-Pressed Juices to Create Opportunities

9.3.2.2 Carbonated Drinks

9.3.2.2.1 Non-Thermal Pasteurization to Increase Shelf Life of Carbonated Beverages

9.3.2.3 Other Non-Alcoholic Beverage Applications

9.4 Pharmaceuticals & Cosmetics

9.4.1 Gradual Growth in Novel Technologies to Drive Market

10 Non-Thermal Pasteurization Market, by Region

11 Competitive Landscape

12 Company Profiles

13 Adjacent & Related Markets

14 Appendix

Companies Mentioned

Advanced Microwave Technologies

American Pasteurization Company

Bao Tou Kefa High Pressure Technology Co., Ltd

Coolwave Processing B.V.

Dukane

Elea

Exdin Solutions

Freshertech

Harwood Engineering Company, Inc.

Hiperbaric

JBT Corporation

Kobelco Construction Machinery Ltd.

Lyras

Multivac

Nordion

Pulsemaster

Quintus Technologies AB

Stansted Fluid Power Ltd.

Steribar Hpp

Sterigenics U.S., LLC

Symbios Technologies

Syntegon

Thyssenkrupp Ag

Universal Pure

Ypsicon Advanced Technologies SL

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/hnewv7

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

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SOURCE Research and Markets
The national household cleaning brand is thrilled to announce the 2023 CleanTok Awards, celebrating cleaning content creators with up to $10,000 in prizes.

AURORA, Ill., May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- O-Cedar, the category leader in innovative floor care, announced today the launch of its second CleanTok Awards to celebrate the best cleaning content on social media and the launch of its most convenient cleaning product yet, O-Cedar PACS Hard Floor Cleaner. O-Cedar's 2023 CleanTok Awards celebrate the best cleaning hacks on social media  because let's face it, consumers are constantly looking for easy steps to make their homes feel great!

CleanTok Awards

O-Cedar PACS will help you do just that. O-Cedar PACS are perfectly portioned and contain deep cleaning enzymes to tackle the toughest messes. They're specially designed to use with O-Cedar EasyWring and RinseClean spin mop systems, but can be used with any mop and bucket. Just drop one PAC into your bucket, watch the fizz, then get mopping!

O-Cedar PACS may be small, but they pack a punch when it comes to bringing the intense deep cleaning experience that the brand is known for. Available in Crisp Citrus or relaxing Lavender, O-Cedar PACS are made with 97% naturally derived ingredients, including powerful enzymes that dissolve stubborn dirt and grease. Plus, they don't contain any harsh chemicals (no ammonia, no bleach, and no parabens), allowing consumers to feel good about the ingredients they use in their homes.

This year's CleanTok Awards will be hosted by O-Cedar's very own #OCedarCleanSquad. The awards will include an open voting and self-submission portion starting today, and the winners will be announced on June 21. The brand has curated some of the greatest cleaning videos and compiled these nominees into seven entertaining categories. Today through June 2, when consumers vote and RSVP to the virtual awards ceremony, they will be entered to win both an O-Cedar's RinseClean Spin Mop System and O-Cedar PACS.* Additionally, consumers can self-submit a video of themselves using any O-Cedar product with the hashtag #PACSAPUNCH and follow @OCedarClean on Instagram and TikTok for an additional chance to win. Once the votes are in, join @OCedarClean at 12:00 p.m., CST, on Wednesday, June 21 on TikTok, Instagram and right here for a virtual ceremony announcing the winners. With categories like "Best Kid and Pet Cleaning Hacks" and "Best Bathroom Cleaning Hacks," consumers are bound to be entertained while picking up cleaning tips and tricks along the way.

"We know our customers are constantly looking for convenient cleaning products, that make home feel great, and we are thrilled to be able to deliver just that with our new O-Cedar PACS," said Elaine Lohse, U.S. Marketing Director at Freudenberg Home and Cleaning Solutions. "It's only fitting that, in celebration of this launch, we're hosting the second CleanTok Awards to recognize the best cleaning hacks on social media."

O-Cedar PACS retail for $9.99 and are now available at select retailers nationwide. For more information, visit OCedar.com. Or find the brand on Instagram, TikTok and Facebook at @OCedarClean.

*Limit 10 winners.

About O-Cedar

O-Cedar, the category leader in innovative floor care, is an internationally recognized brand, known as O-Cedar, in the US, or Vileda, in Canada and Europe. O-Cedar is part of Freudenberg Household Products, a division of the Freudenberg Group headquartered in Weinheim, Germany. For more information visit http://www.ocedar.com/.

About Freudenberg Household Products

FHP is a division of the Freudenberg Group headquartered in Weinheim, Germany. The company's Household Products Division is a leading international manufacturer of branded goods including household cloths, cleaning products and laundry care products, and is the leader in virtually all markets in which it competes. The Freudenberg Household Products division employs about 2,300 employees globally and is best known in America for its O-Cedar brand and signature tagline "O-Cedar: It Feels Great to Feel at Home!"

CONTACT:

Madeline Zenz

[email protected]

SOURCE O-Cedar
Trust Intelligence Platform enhancements include streamlined Privacy by Design projects, new intelligence data in the Third-Party Risk Exchange, expanded frameworks for Certification Automation, and more

ATLANTA, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- OneTrust, the market-defining leader for trust intelligence, announces new innovations across the Trust Intelligence Platform to help organizations responsibly use data and drive trust intelligence at scale. As companies tackle the challenges of data sprawl, OneTrust's enhancements provide companies with the discovery, automation, and intelligence to manage data responsibly across the entire life cycle, enable regulatory agility, and implement privacy by design. New capabilities also help organizations gain better visibility into their third parties and streamline their compliance programs.

Most organizations already recognize the intrinsic value of being a trustworthy business, but research shows that the value of trust is measurable. According to IDC, "Prioritized investment in trust programs is significantly associated with improved business resilience, operational efficiency, and sustainability worldwide."1

"Companies want to unlock the value of trust, but they need the scalability and visibility of an integrated platform," said Blake Brannon, Chief Product and Strategy Officer at OneTrust. "With these new capabilities, our customers have the foundation to build a resilient business and become good stewards of data  fostering trust with customers, employees, and stakeholders. Rather than reacting to constantly changing privacy, risk, and compliance requirements, we're helping organizations differentiate with trust to drive their business forward."

The Trust Intelligence Platform provides a single, comprehensive foundation to consolidate solutions across privacy, security, ethics, and ESG. Going beyond standalone tools and point solutions gives organizations the improved collaboration across departments and teams, centralized intelligence, and better decision-making capabilities to see the measurable benefits of trust.

OneTrust continues to enhance its privacy management, data discovery and governance, and consent and preferences solutions to enable regulatory agility and responsible use of data across the entire life cycle:

AI-driven document classification for improved governance: Effective data governance requires full visibility into all data in the organization and where it resides. Now, OneTrust Data Discovery is becoming more intelligent by using machine learning to identify documents with sensitive data which can't be detected through traditional pattern matching. Powerful classification capabilities identify data by its content and structure, such as sensitive data within a resume, and automatically apply a retention or deletion policy. This context, intelligence, and automation means less manual work for privacy and security teams to protect and responsibly use data across the organization.

Effective data governance requires full visibility into all data in the organization and where it resides. Now, OneTrust Data Discovery is becoming more intelligent by using machine learning to identify documents with sensitive data which can't be detected through traditional pattern matching. Powerful classification capabilities identify data by its content and structure, such as sensitive data within a resume, and automatically apply a retention or deletion policy. This context, intelligence, and automation means less manual work for privacy and security teams to protect and responsibly use data across the organization. Streamlined Privacy by Design projects: OneTrust has added a new Projects inventory and Privacy by Design template to the assessment template library. This enables users to assess the privacy impact of internal and external products and embed privacy by design into the product or project life cycle. In combination with Data Mapping, this template can be used to associate risks with projects in the data inventory and create relationships across other inventory objects, including assets, vendors, processing activities, and risks. With heightened scrutiny on the development of AI, this new functionality can also help assess privacy risk against AI products and projects to drive responsible AI.

OneTrust has added a new Projects inventory and Privacy by Design template to the assessment template library. This enables users to assess the privacy impact of internal and external products and embed privacy by design into the product or project life cycle. In combination with Data Mapping, this template can be used to associate risks with projects in the data inventory and create relationships across other inventory objects, including assets, vendors, processing activities, and risks. With heightened scrutiny on the development of AI, this new functionality can also help assess privacy risk against AI products and projects to drive responsible AI. Data transfer enhancements: As organizations navigate continually evolving compliance requirements for safeguarding cross-border data transfers, OneTrust helps them more accurately and efficiently track, manage, and evaluate data transfers. Users can achieve visibility across the entire transfer life cycle thanks to an improved cross-border map to visualize transfers, a new data graph visualization, and the ability to directly assess transfer records for risk. This enables organizations to ensure the appropriate measures have been taken, such as delivering appropriate notice to consumers, conducting transfer impact assessments, and implementing safeguards.

As organizations navigate continually evolving compliance requirements for safeguarding cross-border data transfers, OneTrust helps them more accurately and efficiently track, manage, and evaluate data transfers. Users can achieve visibility across the entire transfer life cycle thanks to an improved cross-border map to visualize transfers, a new data graph visualization, and the ability to directly assess transfer records for risk. This enables organizations to ensure the appropriate measures have been taken, such as delivering appropriate notice to consumers, conducting transfer impact assessments, and implementing safeguards. Optimized consent management throughout the data life cycle: OneTrust's consent platform has been enhanced to help organizations deliver the optimal user experience, capture consent, and manage data at scale more effectively and efficiently. Teams can now import historical data and capture new records of consent and data using forms or APIs, and integrate consent-based activation across systems including Adobe Experience Platform (AEP) and Tealium. Acting as an organization's central consent library, OneTrust's consent and preferences solution provides enterprise-grade speed and scale to manage data throughout the life cycle.

The global regulatory and threat landscape changes each day, requiring organizations to understand and manage a multitude of new requirements and risks. OneTrust is also announcing several new innovations designed to scale security and compliance programs, manage regulatory and reputational risk, drive effective ethics and compliance programs, and foster organizational resiliency:

Expanded frameworks for Certification Automation: The fast-expanding compliance landscape means businesses must now navigate a growing number of frameworks and requirements. Now offering 31 frameworks across privacy and security, Certification Automation has added six new frameworks including a proprietary US State Privacy Legislations framework covering US state privacy acts: California (CCPA and CPRA), Virginia (VCDPA), Colorado (CPA), Utah (UCPA), and Connecticut (CTDPA). In addition, InfoSec coverage has been expanded to include NERC CIP, ISO 27017, ISO 27018, NIS 2 , and Cyber Essentials (UK). With the ability to automate evidence collection and test once, comply many, organizations can gain efficiency at scale and better plan and report on their privacy and InfoSec programs.

The fast-expanding compliance landscape means businesses must now navigate a growing number of frameworks and requirements. Now offering 31 frameworks across privacy and security, Certification Automation has added six new frameworks including a proprietary US State Privacy Legislations framework covering US state privacy acts: (CCPA and CPRA), (VCDPA), (CPA), (UCPA), and (CTDPA). In addition, InfoSec coverage has been expanded to include NERC CIP, ISO 27017, ISO 27018, , and Cyber Essentials (UK). With the ability to automate evidence collection and test once, comply many, organizations can gain efficiency at scale and better plan and report on their privacy and InfoSec programs. New intelligence data in the Third-Party Risk Exchange: Organizations need recent and relevant risk data to evaluate their third parties with accuracy and confidence. The OneTrust Third-Party Risk Exchange provides instant access to risk intelligence data from numerous data sources, including Supply Wisdom. Supply Wisdom brings compliance, financial, operations, location based ESG, and cyber risk data about third parties directly into the Third-Party Risk Exchange. Organizations can use this data, along with granular data from SecurityScorecard, RiskRecon, DataGuidance, and ISS Corporate Solutions, to monitor third parties over time and automate actions when risk scores change  enabling more scalable, efficient third-party management programs.

Organizations need recent and relevant risk data to evaluate their third parties with accuracy and confidence. The OneTrust Third-Party Risk Exchange provides instant access to risk intelligence data from numerous data sources, including Supply Wisdom. Supply Wisdom brings compliance, financial, operations, location based ESG, and cyber risk data about third parties directly into the Third-Party Risk Exchange. Organizations can use this data, along with granular data from SecurityScorecard, RiskRecon, DataGuidance, and ISS Corporate Solutions, to monitor third parties over time and automate actions when risk scores change  enabling more scalable, efficient third-party management programs. Leverage HR data for workflows in OneTrust Disclosure Management: An employee's management hierarchy is often best positioned to manage disclosure and conflict of interest risks due to their understanding of the individual and job requirements. Implementing this manually can be time intensive and ineffective. With OneTrust Disclosure Management, organizations can now use their HR data to intelligently route disclosures to different workflows and automate the assignment of approvers within those workflows. This ensures that disclosures are sent to the appropriate individuals at the appropriate time, delivering effective risk management and reducing the need for manual intervention.

An employee's management hierarchy is often best positioned to manage disclosure and conflict of interest risks due to their understanding of the individual and job requirements. Implementing this manually can be time intensive and ineffective. With OneTrust Disclosure Management, organizations can now use their HR data to intelligently route disclosures to different workflows and automate the assignment of approvers within those workflows. This ensures that disclosures are sent to the appropriate individuals at the appropriate time, delivering effective risk management and reducing the need for manual intervention. Beneficial owner screening in Third-Party Due Diligence: Regulations such as the OFAC 50% rule require organizations to verify whether beneficial owners with 50% or greater individual or combined ownership are sanctioned when screening third parties. The new Linked Entities functionality within the OneTrust Third-Party Due Diligence solution allows customers to add and screen beneficial owners against sanctions lists and adverse media concerns. Organizations now have the tools to meet regulatory expectations tied to beneficial ownership while protecting their brand against harmful third-party relationships.

About OneTrust

OneTrust is the trust intelligence cloud platform organizations use to transform trust from an abstract concept into a measurable competitive advantage. Organizations globally use OneTrust to enable the responsible use of data while protecting the privacy rights of individuals, implement and report on their cyber security program, make their social impact goals a reality, and create a speak up culture of trust. Over 14,000 customers use OneTrust's technology, including half of the Global 2,000. OneTrust currently ranks #24 on the Forbes Cloud 100 list of top private cloud companies in the world and employs over 2,000 people in regions across North America, South America, Asia, Europe, and Australia.

1 IDC, Prioritization of Trust Programs Yields Improvements on Key Business Outcomes, Doc #US50475823, March 2023

Media Contact

Ainslee Shea

+1 (404) 855-0803

[email protected]

SOURCE OneTrust
Diana Hrisovescu and Shay McDonnell Will Use the $100,000 O'Shaughnessy Fellowship Grant to Develop Script, Which Enables Individuals to Access Government Support Digitally, on a User-Friendly Platform and in Their Native Language

GREENWICH, Conn., May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- O'Shaughnessy Ventures LLC ("OSV"), an investment firm that empowers creators, has announced that it has awarded an O'Shaughnessy Fellowship to Diana Hrisovescu and Shay McDonnell.

Hrisovescu and McDonnell will use their $100,000 fellowship grant to develop Script. Script aims to enable a greater number of individuals to access social welfare resources and entitlements. It will help immigrants, refugees, asylum seekers, and minority groups access government support digitally, on a user-friendly platform, and in their native language.

O'Shaughnessy Ventures Fellows Diana Hrisovescu and Shay McDonnell

OSV's founder and CEO, Jim O'Shaughnessy, commented as follows:

"Diana and Shay are both impressive individuals who have achieved a huge amount at a young age. We're excited to support them in their mission to address language disparities and enhance digital accessibility to social welfare resources. The potential social benefits have already been demonstrated by Script's fantastic work helping Ukrainian refugees arriving in Ireland."

Hrisovescu said, "We are excited to use the $100,000 fellowship grant to advance language equality and enhance digital accessibility for social welfare resources as fast as possible!"

Script was founded as a SciFest project in January 2020. Hrisovescu was 16 years old at the time. It was subsequently accepted into several accelerator programs. During one such program, Script supported Ukrainian refugees arriving in Ireland. It was later selected as a "30 under 30" Irish business in the Irish Independent's December 2022 issue .

More information about Script is available on its website .

About Hrisovescu and McDonnell

Hrisovescu moved to Ireland from Romania aged 14. She learned English in only three months to help her brother access medical support.

Hrisovescu taught herself web development by building websites from the ground up and has taught children aged 7-18 how to code via the CoderDojo community. She is also a member of Teen-Turn, an organization aiming to provide teen girls with hands-on STEM experience.

Hrisovescu now attends Trinity College Dublin ("TCD"), where she studies Computer Science with Business.

McDonnell also attends TCD, studying Computer Science with Linguistics. He began programming aged 13 and, by leveraging online resources, gained experience developing various Android mobile apps, games, and websites. He joined Script as co-founder and lead technical engineer in April 2022.

About the Fellowship Program

OSV launched the Fellowship Program in 2023. It is a one-year program for ambitious people who want to build something great. Fellows receive a $100,000 grant and access to OSV's network of founders, investors, and experts to support them in bringing their projects to life.

OSV has awarded seven Fellowships previously and will award twelve in total. Applications for the Fellowships remain open through May 2023. Creators interested in applying can do so via OSV's website .

About O'Shaughnessy Ventures

OSV is a creative investment firm that empowers and inspires creators to bring their ideas to life. Founded by Jim O'Shaughnessy, a pioneer in quantitative investing, founder of O'Shaughnessy Asset Management, and author of four books on investing, OSV aims to provide financial support and to partner in growing the next life-changing creative ideas.

OSV combines Jim's deeply rooted interest in all things art, science, investing, and tech with his long-held desire to establish scenarios designed to help promising creators and their inspiring ideas succeed, regardless of age, location, job history, or level of education. For more information, visit https://www.osv.llc/ .

Media Contact:

Ena Gong

O'Shaughnessy Ventures LLC

(917) 355-7420

[email protected]

SOURCE O'Shaughnessy Ventures, LLC
CHICAGO, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas and media personality "Candid" Candace Jordan will take part in a pre-Mother's Day giveaway on Chicago's North Michigan Avenue Saturday, May 13.

The flowers and chocolate giveaway will take place between noon and 1:30 p.m. at the northeast corner of Michigan Avenue and Pearson Street, the day before Mother's Day.

The chocolate treats are being donated by the Svigos family, the proprietors of Fresh Farms International Markets. Owner Dean and his sons Dean Jr., Niko and Alex plan to help out with the giveaway.

The flowers are courtesy of Bloom 'N Toss, a company founded by Catherine Costello that donates and repurposes flowers to hospitals and nursing homes. She plans on handing out hyacinths, roses, tulips, and two dozen white spruce tree saplings.

"This has become a tradition that I like to call random acts of kindness," Pappas said. "This is just a small way of celebrating mothers this weekend and giving people a reason to smile."

Jordan writes Chicago's longest-running lifestyle blog at candidcandace.com and is an associate publisher at Chicago Star Media. She is a former social columnist for the Chicago Tribune and Today's Chicago Woman magazine.

Also taking part in the giveaway will be members of Black Men United, a national community service organization that focuses on the restoration and rebuilding of Black communities.

SOURCE Cook County Treasurer's Office
HOUSTON, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Petrolink, a global leader in Energy Industry data solutions, proudly announced the launch of their latest version of PetroVault, the class leading platform designed to spur innovation and enhance collaboration within the oil and gas industry. The PetroVault Ecosystem aggregates real-time drilling and subsurface logging data from remote locations, enabling users to access and manage information more efficiently. This versatile platform is fully compatible with third-party applications and encourages the development of new solutions tailored to meet the unique needs of the rapidly evolving Energy Industry.

"Our mission has always been to help Energy Companies and their Co-Venture Partners effectively utilize and share the vast amounts of data that they work with," said Richard Abraham, CEO of Petrolink International. "As an independent, neutral party, we are dedicated to promoting Open Data standards, such as WITSML and OSDU, making it easier for people to adopt and implement them. The latest version of PetroVault is the next major step towards that goal, providing unprecedented efficiency and ease of data access for all relevant project stakeholders."

PetroVault  A Platform for Change

Petrolink's commitment to advancing industry standards is once again clearly demonstrated through their support for the latest Energistics standards of WITSML 2.1 and ETP 1.2., thereby offering significant improvements on existing data flows through updated standards. Major enhancements include real-time binary data transmission at up to ten times previous speeds, support for low-latency connections, and enhanced security through multi-factor authentication. PetroVault is a smart accessible environment that also covers additional drilling, completions, and intervention workflows, such as wired drill pipe, wireline logging, and fracking units. Other features include:

In combination with Petrolink's PetroVue, a common visualization framework, through which all users have the capability to display WITSML, OSDU, OPC and other data formats with ease.

The maximum integration and interoperability for a seamless software solution.

Support for all standard industry data formats for complete plug-and-play flexibility.

A centrally managed solution to consolidate data from all remote locations with the target data repositories, including OSDU instances.

The Empowerment of all Users to control their data effectively.

As part of their long-standing support for the Open Standards Community, Petrolink will also be donating core libraries for WITSML 2.1 and ETP 1.2 functions as Open Source under an Apache 2 License. Designed for ease of use, the libraries will enable developers to quickly implement WITSML in their applications and customize solutions to meet specific needs.

"We're excited to offer these free tools to the OSDU community," said Peter Gonzalez, CSO of Petrolink International. "The adoption of Common Data Standards brings immense benefits to the Energy industry and we hope to be a major contributor to their adoption and use. Our commitment to open standards and collaboration reflects Petrolink's broader vision of fostering cooperation, reducing costs, increasing efficiency, and driving innovation in the sector."

Explore the latest upgrades, archived information, and platform announcements by visiting Petrolink online and via social media: LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube.

About Petrolink

Petrolink is a user-driven global wellsite data solutions company that specializes in aggregating, integrating, analyzing, storing, and distributing wellsite data for clients in major oil and gas regions. With expertise in visualization, data analytics, and interoperability, Petrolink leverages innovative technologies and services to enhance efficiency and reduce operational costs. Employing top talent worldwide, Petrolink operates in over 40 countries and maintains offices in the UK, USA, Mexico, Brazil, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, and India. Learn more at: www.Petrolink.com.

SOURCE Petrolink
Finnish company Joensuu Biocoal Oy will use innovative technology from Austria to produce renewable alternatives to fossil coal. The pioneering project demonstrates a potential solution to the industrial push towards carbon neutrality, helping to reduce the environmental impact caused by fossil fuels while providing a renewable energy source.

WEISSENBACH, Austria, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Sustainably harvested forest residues are heated in a low-oxygen environment to produce a carbon-rich end-product. Torrefied biomass, or biocoal, has a higher energy density than traditional woody biomass, and is therefore more efficient to transport and easier to apply in existing coal power facilities or cement plants, due to its properties. It can be used in a range of applications including power generation, heating and in industrial processes e.g. in metal industry as a carbon neutral alternative.

The innovative technology for the torrefaction plant comes from Austria. International technology Group ANDRITZ will design, manufacture, and supply the reactor based on NextFuel AB technology, and POLYTECHNIK will design, manufacture, and supply the lean gas burner and the technology for energy treatment and utilization, which will ensure a cycle-like use of the process energy. Construction is scheduled to start in mid-2023, and production to begin in late 2024.

The new bio-industrial plant will produce up to 60,000 tons of biocoal briquettes per year, which will replace fossil coal in various industrial processes. The plant can utilise sustainably sourced by-products of local forestry, such as bark and low-grade biomass, which show the enormous potential for CO2 savings of large-scale defossilisation technology.

In addition, there are plans to build a cluster around the plant, which includes e.g. Natural Resources Institute Finland, University of Eastern Finland, Karelia University of Applied Sciences and Business Joensuu. The group's goal is to develop products and refine new uses for torrefied biomass.

Contact for inquiries:



Lisa Schmidt

+43 699 17144890

[email protected]

www.polytechnik.com

SOURCE Polytechnik Biomass Energy
PORTO, Portugal, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- For the first time, ICFF, the largest North American fair dedicated to interior design and furniture, will dedicate an exclusive space to Portuguese brands. The Portuguese contingent, whose participation is coordinated by APIMA (Portuguese Association of Furniture and Related Industries), will be represented by a total of 15 brands.

The North American market was, among the main export destinations for Portuguese furniture, the one that grew the most in 2022, with a 27% increase in sales registered by national brands to the USA. This growth, registered in a year in which this cluster recorded the record value of exports, even led the USA to rise to third place among the largest importers of the Portuguese Home Cluster, only surpassed by Spain and France.

These indicators, combined with the instability registered in some of the traditional European markets, led APIMA and AICEP to define an ambitious strategy to focus on the North American market, the largest and most dynamic in the world.

"In the recent past, large American companies have come to recognize the advantages of focusing on quality and innovation, instead of the price. In this context, European brands, and the Portuguese ones in particular, have been able to promote themselves through their commitment to a bold and differentiating design, combined with a unique know-how of many decades", explains Joaquim Carneiro, president of APIMA. "The companies we bring to ICFF perfectly combine the importance of tradition and knowledge with the avant-garde required to impact American buyers and consumers. We are very confident for this edition of ICFF", he adds.

Although some of the Portuguese companies that will be at the event have already participated in the past, this is going to be the first appearance for most of them. The 15 brands that will promote the best of Portuguese production and design are AM Living, Brifour, Dooq, Duistt, Domkapa, Flam & Luce, Frato, Glammfire, Laskasas, Luisa Peixoto, MAB, Mooza, Paulo Antunes, Serip and Wooliv.

The months of May and June are crucial in the international promotion calendar for the Home Cluster. After ICFF, IMM Cologne takes place from the 4th to the 7th of June, followed by the main event to promote this cluster in Portugal, the Portugal Home Week, which takes place between the 15th and 16th of June, at Alfandega do Porto.

SOURCE Portuguese Home Cluster (APIMA)
NEW YORK, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Jakubowitz Law announces that a securities fraud class action lawsuit has commenced on behalf of shareholders of Rite Aid Corporation (NYSE: RAD).

To receive updates on the lawsuit, fill out the form:

https://claimyourloss.com/securities/rite-aid-class-action-loss-submission-form/?id=39270&from=4

The lawsuit seeks to recover losses for shareholders who purchased Rite Aid between April 26, 2018 and March 13, 2023.

Shareholders interested in acting as a lead plaintiff representing the class of wronged shareholders have until May 19, 2023 to petition the court. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as a lead plaintiff.

According to a filed complaint, Rite Aid Corporation issued materially 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; 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.

Jakubowitz Law is vigorous in pursuit of justice for shareholders who have been the victim of securities fraud. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.

CONTACT:

JAKUBOWITZ LAW

1140 Avenue of the Americas

9th Floor

New York, New York 10036

T: (628) 895-0423

F: (212) 537-5887

SOURCE Jakubowitz Law
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 12. On May 11, the traditional Windsor Royal Horse Show was opened in the UK. The first performance of the Azerbaijani delegation consisting of 60 people took place at the event, which takes place on the territory of Windsor Castle, the State Border Service (SBS) of Azerbaijan told Trend.

Despite the rainy weather, the dance ensemble and the cavalry detachment of the SBS with 20 Karabakh horses once again presented Azerbaijan at a high level and won great sympathy from the audience.

The basis of the show composition called "Land of Fire", presented by the country's delegation, were Karabakh horses, well-known to the viewers of the show, distinguished by their special beauty and won an army of fans here, as well as elegant Azerbaijani dances and wonderful national music.

The production director of the show composition prepared with the support of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and the organization of the Equestrian Federation of Azerbaijan is the honored journalist Rovshan Jahangirov, the choreographer is the artistic director of the dance ensemble of the SBS, the honored artist Farid Ibrahimov, and the production instructor of the cavalry unit is Imran Ahmadli.

The show composition consists of the unique sound of the "Karabakh jangi" performed on our national musical instruments - pipes (tutk), zurna, balaban, as well as the incendiary performance of the dance ensemble "Sarhadchi" (Border Guard), the skill of the cavalry detachment on Karabakh horses amazed the British audience.

The show program was enthusiastically welcomed by the participants of the event. The audience gave a standing ovation to the representatives of Azerbaijan.

The performances of the Azerbaijani delegation at the show will continue until May 14.
A "Caregiver Simulation" offers opportunity to experience day-to-day life as a caregiver.

ROCHESTER, N.Y., May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Registration is now open for The New York State Caregiving and Respite Coalition's (NYSCRC) statewide conference, Building Up Respite in Your Community, to be held at the Delta Hotels by Marriott in Utica, NY, July 20 and 21, 2023. Attendees will explore ways of developing respite capacity through volunteerism and education.

The conference opens with a "Caregiver Simulation" where participants will have tasks, dilemmas, and opportunities to navigate. "This experience develops empathy for caregivers, care receivers, and agencies who are involved along the way," says Doris Green, NYSCRC director and member of NY Governor Hochul's Master Plan for Aging Stakeholder Advisory Committee. "The simulation creates a way of better understanding caregivers, so that we may more effectively support and empower them."

The full-day conference (July 21) features NYS Office for the Aging Director, Greg Olsen, and Federal Administration for Community Living Project Officer, Lori Stalbaum. Respite innovator Daphne Johnston will deliver the keynote address. Johnston helped develop a ministry volunteer model in Montgomery, Alabama, supporting families living with dementia and galvanizing a community to change the culture around living with a dementia or Alzheimer's diagnosis.

The remainder of the day involves panel discussions, action planning, and the opportunity to visit with exhibitors, including the AmeriCorps Senior Demonstration Program (SDP). SDP is a $3.1 million workforce initiative and is currently looking to recruit volunteer stations and volunteers 55 and older in six NYS counties. This type of program is needed, as the lack of support for caregivers is compounded by a significant workforce shortage that disproportionately impacts people who need direct care services.

To register for the state conference or to become a sponsor/exhibitor, please visit nyscrc.org/2023conference, or call 585-287-6393. Attendance for faith communities and potential volunteers is free.

NYSCRC, managed by Lifespan of Greater Rochester, is a partnership of dedicated organizations and individuals committed to supporting the millions of our state's family caregivers.

Lifespan of Greater Rochester is a regional nonprofit organization providing information, guidance, and more than 30 services for older adults and caregivers.

www.lifespanrochester.org

www.nyscrc.org

SOURCE Lifespan of Greater Rochester
The new name, brand, logo and website are part of an extensive rebranding effort reflecting the company's expanded focus on non-clinical wellness applications to augment its evidence-based VR digital therapeutics.

BOSTON, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - Rocket VR Health ("RVH" or the "Company"), today unveiled a new brand name, logo and website as part of an extensive corporate re-branding.

The company's rebranding marks a significant expansion in its corporate vision, signaling a commitment to expand beyond the hospital and bring its offerings to a wider audience. As part of this effort, the company will launch a new immersive well-being application on the META Quest store, making its solutions more accessible to people everywhere.

"As our business continues to grow and evolve, our rebranding represents a significant milestone in our journey." said Co-Founder and COO Nik Vassev. "Our refreshed brand identity is designed to resonate with virtual reality users and healthcare providers alike and we believe it will be instrumental in driving growth and establishing us as a leader in the industry."

Novobeing is a term that describes the transformational process of becoming a "new" person who is able to navigate life's challenges with greater ease and resilience. This new name reflects the company's commitment to providing immersive well-being solutions to help individuals live healthier and happier lives.

Novobeing, formerly Rocket VR Health was founded in 2020 and has since developed innovative digital therapeutics for the reduction of distress and anxiety for patients awaiting procedures and patients undergoing long hospital stays. The company has also partnered with multiple leading healthcare institutions and is currently conducting three clinical trials to study, improve upon and show the efficacy of its virtual reality digital therapeutics.

"At the inception of our company, we placed our primary emphasis on utilizing virtual reality technology to assist cancer patients in enhancing their mental health and well-being during some of the most challenging periods of their lives. Today we are broadening our horizons by taking our solutions beyond hospitals, as we believe that promoting optimal health and reducing stress is something everyone should have access to." said Co-Founder and CEO Sid Desai.

Novobeing experiences combine meditation, breathwork, cognitive behavioral therapy and other proven modalities to provide users with immersive, personalized experiences that help them reduce stress and improve their well-being.

About Novobeing

Novobeing formerly Rocket VR Health is a digital health company that is revolutionizing stress management and self-care through the use of virtual reality. The company offers immersive well-being experiences and digital therapeutics that help people manage stress, find clarity and feel their best. Novobeing makes stress relief easy by combining proven modalities like meditation, breathwork, cognitive behavioral therapy, music, and multisensory environments.

Novobeing offers an enterprise version for stress reduction in pre-procedure and prolonged hospitalization settings and a general version for individuals.

For more information, visit www.novobeing.com

To get early access to Novobeing for the META Quest sign up here

SOURCE Rocket VR Health
SEATTLE, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Seabourn, the leader in ultra-luxury voyages and expedition travel, is looking forward to setting sail on its second expedition season in the Arctic. In the early morning hours of May 12, 2023, Seabourn Venture, the line's first purpose-built expedition ship, made its maiden arrival in Greenwich, London in England where it will sail on two voyages to the British Isles and Ireland before embarking on a series of voyages to Greenland and Iceland.

On May 12, 2023, Seabourn Venture arrived in London for the first time. The ultra-luxury purpose-built expedition ship departs for a 12-day voyage to the British Isles and Ireland, followed by a second season in the Arctic. On May 12, 2023, Seabourn Venture arrived in London for the first time. The ultra-luxury purpose-built expedition ship departs for a 12-day voyage to the British Isles and Ireland, followed by a second season in the Arctic.

"Seabourn Venture is a beautiful ship that was purpose built to provide the ultimate expedition experiences and take our extraordinary guests to some of the most fascinating and remote destinations in the world," said Natalya Leahy, president of Seabourn. "The ship delighted our guests in her first year of service from the Arctic to the Antarctic, and we look forward to continuing to deliver unique 'Seabourn Moments' and an unparalleled luxury expedition that can only be experienced with Seabourn."

Second Season of Arctic Expeditions

On May 12, 2023, Seabourn Venture will set sail from Greenwich to Leith (Edinburgh), Scotland on a 12-day "Lands of the Celts" voyage, followed by an 11-day voyage to the Orkney and Shetland Islands on May 24, 2023, from Leith to Reykjavik, Iceland. From there, the ship will begin its second season in the Arctic with a series of 14- and 15-day voyages to Greenland and Iceland. Between June and August 2023, the ship will visit a number of remote destinations such as Scoresby Sound, Greenland, home to the largest and longest fjord system in the world; Pond Inlet, Nunavut, an Inuit community near the eastern entry to the Northwest Passage, and more.

On August 27, 2023, Seabourn Venture will embark on the line's first-ever voyage through the Northwest Passage with a 23-day adventure from Kangerlussuaq, Greenland to Nome, Alaska, that includes a pre- and post-cruise hotel stays in Reykjavik, Iceland, and Anchorage, Alaska. The ship will offer the extraordinary opportunity to travel one of the most infamous and storied passages in the world from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and filled with an abundance of history, wildlife, and unique landscapes.

Following the Northwest Passage voyage, the ship will head down the West Coast of the Americas before reaching Antarctica, where it will explore the "White Continent" between November 2023 and February 2024. In late February 2024, Seabourn Venture will make a once-in-a-lifetime crossing of the Atlantic encompassing the Falkland Islands, South Georgia, Tristan da Cunha, and Ascension Island. In March and April, the ship will take two sailings up the West Coast of Africa and Europe to be in position for the 2024 Arctic season.

Designed for Exploration and Outfitted for Adventure in Luxurious Comfort

Launched in July 2022, Seabourn Venture was designed for guests to enjoy life-expanding moments in exquisite, ultra-luxury comfort. The ship was purpose-built for diverse environments to PC6 Polar Class standards and equipped with the most modern hardware and technology to extend its global employment and capabilities. The ship is a brand-new innovative design, created specifically for the ultra-luxury expedition traveler, and includes many features that have made Seabourn ships so successful.

Along with an attentive crew providing every level of Seabourn's renowned service, the ship is staffed with a world-class 24-person Expedition Team whose role is to give guests the most from expeditions on land and at sea. Comprised of highly regarded wilderness experts, scientists, historians and naturalists, the team will regularly interact with guests, providing in-depth insights into the history, ecology and culture of the places they visit. Their valuable insights are offered both in formal presentations on a variety of topics and in more casual conversations over meals, on deck during scenic cruising or leisure experiences.

Seabourn Venture stretches 558 feet, with close to 30,000 square-feet of deck space apiece. Indoor and outdoor guest areas offer nearly 270-degree views, while a 4K GSS Cineflex Camera mounted on the mast of the ship's Constellation Lounge broadcasts imagery of natural wonders from up to 5 miles away. The ship is equipped with 8 double kayaks and enough Zodiacs to transport every guest on expeditions at once, as well as two custom-built submarines, each with capacity for six and capability of exploring the natural wonders under the sea in luxurious comfort.

Select expedition voyages on Seabourn Venture qualify for Seabourn's latest promotions, including the "Bon Voyage Event" , which offers an air credit up to $2,000 USD per guest, complimentary two-category Veranda Suite upgrade and reduced 10 percent deposit; or the "Finale Sail" , which unlocks savings up to 30 percent when they book a fully non-refundable cruise fare for select suite categories. While not combinable, both promotions are available through July 10, 2023.

For reservations or more details, please contact a professional travel advisor; call Seabourn at 1-800-929-9391 or visit www.seabourn.com.

About Seabourn:

Seabourn represents the pinnacle of ultra-luxury ocean and expedition travel and operates a suite of six modern ships with one under construction. The all-inclusive, boutique ships offer all-suite accommodations with oceanfront views; award-winning dining; complimentary premium spirits and fine wines available at all times; renowned service provided by an industry-leading crew; a relaxed, sociable atmosphere that makes guests feel at home; a pedigree in expedition travel through the Ventures by Seabourn program and two new ultra-luxury purpose-built expedition ships, including Seabourn Venture that launched in 2022 and Seabourn Pursuit scheduled to enter service in 2023. Seabourn takes travelers to every continent on the globe, visiting more than 400 ports including marquee cities and lesser-known ports and hideaways. Guests of Seabourn experience extraordinary offerings and programs, including partnerships with leading entertainers, dining, personal health and wellbeing, and engaging speakers.

For more details about Seabourn, or to explore the worldwide selection of Seabourn cruising options, contact a professional travel advisor, call Seabourn at 1-800-929-9391 or visit www.seabourn.com.

Seabourn is a brand of Carnival Corporation and plc (NYSE/LSE: CCL andNYSE: CUK).

Find Seabourn on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest.

Notes to Editors:

Seabourn is consistently ranked among the world's top travel choices by professional critics and the discerning readers of prestigious travel publications such as Departures, Travel + Leisure and Conde Nast Traveler. Its stylish, distinctive cruising vacations are renowned for:

Purpose-built expedition ships, PC6 ice-strengthened hull, with advanced maneuvering technology for superior stability, safety and comfort

World-class Expedition Team, delivering immersive experiences

All veranda, all ocean-front suites luxuriously appointed

Handcrafted itineraries developed for the expedition traveler to the most coveted and familiar remote destinations in the world

Intimate ships with a private club atmosphere

Intuitive, personalized service provided by staff passionate about exceeding guests expectations

Inclusive expedition experiences with Zodiacs, scuba diving and snorkeling

Optional expedition experiences with kayaks and custom-built, 6-guest submersibles giving the option to extend your expedition further for greater ocean exploration**

Welcome Champagne and complimentary in-suite bar stocked with your preferences

Open bridge policy*, hosted by members of the Expedition Team providing firsthand access to the ship's command center and officers navigating your journey

World-class dining venues are all complimentary, dine where, when and with whom you wish

Tipping is neither required, nor expected

Complimentary premium spirits and fine wines available on board at all times

Meticulous and purposeful adventurers' resort at sea designed for the luxury traveler with unique attributes and spaces to enhance your experience

Spa & Wellness with Dr. Andrew Weil , featuring an exclusive mindful living program**

, featuring an exclusive mindful living program** Committed to environmental stewardship and sustainability

* At the Captain's discretion

** Optional programs, for additional charge

SOURCE Seabourn
BEDFORD, Mass., May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Sealonix announced today that it has closed a $20 million Series A financing. The round was led by Excelestar Ventures with additional participation from AMED Ventures, Sparta Group, Iyengar Capital, J2 Ventures and TiE Boston.

Sealonix is using its biomaterials expertise to develop next generation hemostatic sealants for surgical use. The initial product that Sealonix is developing is a sealant patch providing rapid hemostasis for abdominopelvic and orthopedic procedures. The PramStat patch is designed to bioabsorb within a week following implantation. The proceeds from this round will be used to grow the development team and execute clinical trials.

Dr. William Spotnitz, Professor of Surgery at the University of Virginia Health System with over 20 years in hemostat device research, noted, "Obtaining hemostasis with existing approved devices during surgical procedures can be a challenging and time-consuming task. The PramStat patch has the potential to drastically reduce this time as well as instill confidence in the durability of the hemostatic seal."

"At Excelestar, we are excited to partner with Sealonix's experienced team to bring this next generation hemostatic sealant to market," said Tasneem Dohadwala, Founding Partner at Excelestar Ventures, who will also be joining Sealonix's Board of Directors.

Amar Sawhney, Sealonix CEO, commented, "The PramStat patch builds on many years of research done by this experienced team, and now will move rapidly into clinical development. This capital will allow us to complete clinical development and pursue FDA approval. We look forward to bringing the most advanced device and method to control surgical bleeding to surgeons."

About Sealonix, Inc:

Sealonix, Inc. is a privately held company based in Bedford, MA focused on the development and commercialization of hemostatic sealants using its proprietary biomaterials. The company, founded in January 2023, is the latest by serial entrepreneur Amar Sawhney who also founded Confluent Surgical, Ocular Therapeutix, Augmenix,, Instylla, and Rejoni among others. More information about Sealonix can be found at http://www.sealonix.com

About Excelestar Ventures

Founded in 2009, Excelestar Ventures invests in disruptive businesses led by under-represented founders including minorities and women. Excelestar Ventures generally invests in a strong team leading a B2B company, either in tech or medical devices, that has a clear, disruptive technology. www.excelestarventures.com

SOURCE Sealonix Inc
BRUSSELS, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Secure Identity Alliance (SIA), the global non-profit association representing public and private actors and organizations active across the secure digital identity ecosystem, today announced its participation at ID4Africa in Nairobi, Kenya on 23-25th May 2022.

Across a number of keynote, panel and workshop sessions, SIA intends to explore the development of digital trust frameworks and presents the European digital wallet approach. Collaboration and interoperability will be emphasized, underscoring the crucial role they play in unlocking the full potential of Identity, to enable individuals, economies, and societies to thrive.

On day one, Didier Trutt, Chairman of Secure Identity Alliance, will present on the European Digital Identity (EUDI) Wallet and its role in enabling interoperability of trust within the ecosystem.

SIA will also host its mid-year OSIA Advisory Committee meeting and dinner, inviting government agencies interested in the OSIA open standard to contact them or visit their welcome pod in the exhibition area.

On day two, a panel discussion will feature Debora Comparin, Chair of the OSIA Initiative at SIA, as she discusses collaboration and interoperability.

Finally, on day three, Debora and Stephanie de Labriolle, Public Affairs & International Relations at SIA, will contribute to the workshop focused on building people-centric, demand-driven digital public infrastructure to transform public and private sector services.

Don't miss this opportunity to learn from industry experts and gain valuable insights into the future of digital identity.

DAY 1: TUESDAY 23rd May 2023 - Keynote

PS2 S4: INTEROPERABILITY, FEDERATION & DECENTRALIZED IDENTITY

The European Digital Identity (EUDI) Wallet: Enabling the ecosystem for interoperability of trust

Didier Trutt, Chairman, Secure Identity Alliance

DAY 1: TUESDAY 23rd May 2023 - OSIA DINNER PARTY - 19.00  23.30

DAY 2: WEDNESDAY 24th May 2023  Panel

PS2 S3: ON BEING OPEN: COLLABORATION & INTEROPERABILITY

Debora Comparin , Chair, OSIA Initiative , Secure Identity Alliance (SIA)

DAY 3: THURSDAY 25th May 2023 - Workshop

W1 : Building People-Centric, Demand-Driven Digital Public Infrastructure to Transform Public & Private Sector Services

Debora Comparin , Chair, OSIA Initiative , Secure Identity Alliance (SIA)

Stephanie de Labriolle, Public Affairs & International Relations (SIA)

About the SIA

Secure Identity Alliance (SIA) is a global non-profit association representing public and private actors and organizations active across the secure identity ecosystem and adjacent industries. SIA's mission is to unlock the full power of identity so that people, economy, and society thrive. The association supports the development of the activities of its members and across four broad pillars: Identity for Good, Outreach, Open Standards Development and Industry Services and Solutions.

A digital public good, OSIA is an open standard set of interfaces (APIs) that enables seamless connectivity between building blocks of the identity management ecosystem  independent of technology, solution architecture or vendor. www.osia.io

More at www.secureidentityalliance.org

Follow the Secure Identity Alliance at on Twitter @secureidentity1 and LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/secure-identity-alliance/

Press Contact: Stephanie de Labriolle [email protected]

Follow the Secure Identity Alliance at @secureidentity1

About ID4Africa

ID4Africa 2023 - the Augmented General Meeting  will be held May 23-25 at the Edge Conference Centre, Nairobi, Kenya under the theme Digital Identity as Public Infrastructure. Developed and organized by ID4Africa and hosted by the Ministry of Interior and National Administration, Kenya, this year's edition features a 3-day conference - 2 days of Plenary Sessions and 1 day of Workshops, a Hackathon, and an exposition showcasing innovations from over 100 leading international, regional & local companies. The event brings together a record high 1800+ key identity stakeholders from 90 countries around the world including 800+ government officials from 50 African countries.

The AGM program features over 80 speakers representing African and international governments, international development agencies & humanitarian agencies and the private sector.

The AGM closes with two LiveCasts (virtual seminars) on June 7 and 21 for summaries, recommendations and further discussions from the Plenaries and Workshops.

Stakeholders who are unable to attend the physical event in Nairobi can register to follow the live simulcast of the Day 1 and 2 Plenaries on Zoom. For details about the 2023 program, speakers, and the link to register for the live simulcast, visit: https://www.id4africaevents.com/2023/registration

For more information, contact: [email protected]

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1572174/Secure_Identity_Alliance_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Secure Identity Alliance
The Company's food-centric convenience store ("CVS") business growth strategy is the outcome of our Board's open and constructive discussions to enhance shareholder value, and we will continue to monitor and assess strategic options through the Strategy Committee composed solely of independent directors.

In this letter, a few of our independent outside directors share their opinions that confirm the independence and effectiveness of Board discussions along with the nomination process's transparency, including the assessment of the Shareholder Proposal.

Our Board holds a different opinion to that shared in the report by Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. ("ISS"), and urges shareholders to vote for the Company's slate of highly qualified Board nominees.

TOKYO, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Company's Board of Directors today issued the following letter to shareholders to set the record straight about the Company's strong governance practices and its rigorous Board nomination review process. The Board also expressed its opinion regarding the report issued by ISS that has not accounted for the significant progress the company has made since transforming its Board last year. The Company believes that electing the nominees proposed by ValueAct Capital ("ValueAct") will halt the Company's strong growth momentum and risks the Company's strategy to create long-term value.

Shareholders are urged to vote for the Company's complete slate of Board nominees in connection with its Annual General Meeting on May 25, 2023.

Dear Seven & i Shareholders,

Since going public with its campaign, our promising plan and the Board and management's commitment to creating value for shareholders have not been correctly perceived by ValueAct. Of greatest concern is that they continue to advocate unseating the President of Seven & i just as we are gaining momentum and forcing a hasty spin-off of 7-Eleven in less than a year.

The Board believes it is important for shareholders to understand the following about our governance practices, Board nomination review process, and clear mandate for delivering growth with Board accountability and oversight. Most critically, the Company's strategy has been delivering results, demonstrated most recently by our record FY2022 consolidated results.

Following thorough discussions, all of our directors in the reconstituted Board with a majority of independent directors have affirmed our strategy of driving investments in our CVS business while continuing to prioritize our resources and capital allocation to grow our CVS business with a food-centric focus. The Board conducted an objective strategic review process using external advisors and created a Strategy Committee composed only of independent directors to monitor performance and assess strategic options for the optimal course through which to create value for all stakeholders.

As members of the newly formed Strategy Committee, the Company's independent directors continue to monitor performance and hold management accountable as they advance the Company's transformation.

We have never dismissed any strategic options that could create value for our shareholders, including a separation, spin-off, or IPO - the Board will continue to review optimal corporate structure and strategic alternatives comprehensively and objectively through the Strategy Committee.

Stephen Dacus, Independent Director and the Chair of the Strategy Committee, said: "The entire Board, including my fellow independent directors, stands behind the Company's business plan and is confident that our ongoing investments in CVS and focus on our competitive strength in food will continue to drive global growth. This strategy has already begun to benefit our shareholders, while ValueAct's plan contains many significant unknowns that risk halting our momentum. We are committed to making sure that this performance continues while reviewing opportunities to create further value for shareholders including structural change."

Seven & i has transformed its governance over the past year, installing a highly effective, majority-independent Board in 2022 following discussions with dozens of shareholders and investors including ValueAct. This reconstructed and diversified Board is having effective and constructive discussions supported by the strong underlying independence of each Board member's opinions.

The new Board is comprised of a majority of independent directors and is among the most independent of major Japanese companies. Only 12% of major Japanese companies have a majority of independent directors.

It also has 5 non-Japanese directors (~35% of total) and 3 female directors (~21%), while the averages for Japanese companies are only 5% and 15% respectively.

Meyumi Yamada, Independent Director, said: "The governance transformation Seven & i undertook last year was intended for one reason  holding management accountable for evolving the Company and achieving the ambitious performance targets for the benefit of stakeholders including shareholders. In the past year, our reconstituted and highly independent Board has already driven significant change. The discussions in the Board are truly transparent, and independent directors with various backgrounds freely express their views and engage in deep discussions from various perspectives. I believe that agreeing to form the Strategy Committee composed only of independent directors is strong evidence of the effectiveness and independence of the Board. We will continue to make efforts to accelerate progress, while continuously evaluating opportunities for further corporate and shareholder value creation."

The Board conducted a rigorous and fair review of ValueAct's proposal, with independent outside directors from the three approved by ValueAct conducting interviews with both ValueAct's and the Company's new director candidates. These directors concluded that the Company's candidates were superior to ValueAct's candidates given that three of ValueAct's candidates have no food or retail experience, and the fourth has no relevant recent experience.

Yoshiyuki Izawa, Independent Director, said: "In conducting the process of reviewing ValueAct's new director nominees, we followed all governance best-practices. Specifically, three independent directors, namely Mr. Dacus, Ms. Yamada and myself, interviewed the candidates proposed by both the company and ValueAct. In our interviews, it became clear that the nominees proposed by ValueAct were not the right directors to oversee the next chapter of the Company's growth in light of the other Company-proposed nominees who have the experience of serving as a CEO. Our views were respected and supported by the Nomination Committee, and the Board unanimously approved through an appropriate process. The Company's nominees bring strong track records and experiences as executives and retail leadership and proven expertise in streamlining the Company's portfolio, a process we will ensure continues."

The ISS report has not considered the full implications of the strong governance changes implemented by the Company last year, changes that even ISS states were "massive".

The ISS report has not taken into account the work undertaken by President Isaka and the highly qualified, independent Board in recent years to build a food-focused convenience store business and the fact that ValueAct's plan to spin off 7-Eleven in less than a year would greatly disrupt our business momentum as we advance our transformation.

Additionally, even though the ISS report admits the governance changes implemented last year were "massive," it glosses over the importance of these changes on the effectiveness of the Board in creating sustainable value for shareholders. Those governance changes led to our conducting a focused and fair review of ValueAct's proposal, with the three independent outside directors approved by ValueAct holding interviews with both ValueAct's and the Company's new director candidates. These three directors concluded that the Company's nominees were superior to ValueAct's nominees given that three of ValueAct's nominees have no food or retail experience, and the fourth has no relevant recent experience.

Most disappointingly, ISS's recommendation against the Company's nominees reflects a backward-looking view of the situation, and simply repeats many of ValueAct's one-sided assertions. The Company has achieved strong performance, such as the record-high operating revenue and income in the fiscal year ending February 28, 2023 and the upward revision to the "Medium-Term Management Plan 2021-2025". The ISS report neither credits the Company's track record achieved through transformation, nor appropriately considers the continuous oversight of future transformations by the reconstituted Board.

It's important for shareholders to be aware of the backward-looking view, and the information missing from the ISS report, which disappointingly has not considered the Company's recent governance transformation and the record results the reconstituted Board and management achieved in FY2022.

We urge shareholders to endorse our strong governance model and business plan by voting for the Company's slate of highly qualified Board nominees.

Sincerely,

Seven & i Board of Directors

Media Contacts

Kekst CNC

Ruth Pachman / Nathan Riggs

[email protected] / [email protected]

SOURCE Seven & i Holdings Co., Ltd.
LOS ANGELES, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- In celebration of Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month, SHEIN , a global e-retailer of fashion, beauty and lifestyle products, will be hosting a block party to launch its second SHEIN X Art Discovery Project honoring AAPI artists and designers in the city of Houston, Texas.

SHEIN has commissioned five AAPI artists: Amol Saraf , Amy Malkan , Caroline Truong , Dandee Warhol and Davona Stimpson , who will unveil their murals to the public in the city of Houston. The artists are all a part of the brand's SHEIN X program , which gives indie designers and illustrators a platform to create and design. Through driving authenticity in the art industry and online sales to assist in revitalizing neighborhoods, empowering diverse communities and supporting artists by giving them a platform through mural art.

"We are thrilled that Mayor Turner and the city have welcomed SHEIN to celebrate Asian American Pacific Islander month in the great city of Houston," said Maxine Silva, Senior Director of Brand PR for SHEIN. "We have a large community of AAPI designers and artists in our SHEIN X program and it is important for us to celebrate this cultural heritage past, present and future. With Asian-American and Pacific Islanders being the fastest growing demographic in Houston's suburbs, it felt natural to hold our next Art Discovery program here."

To celebrate, SHEIN and the city of Houston will host a block party with the Mayor of Houston, Sylvester Turner, with live music by The Beat's 93.7 DJ Supastar and Carmen Contreras, featuring:

A SHEIN Sample Sale Pop-up

Food Trucks

Local Vendors: Aquas, AtCha, Community Cloth, Ellicor, ICHIMARU, Mama Vann's, Natural Body Balms, OH MY GOG!, Raameen Artistry, The Bunny Tea and Too Chic & Cute

The free block party event will take place on Saturday, May 13, from 12pm to 8pm at Dun Huang Plaza, 9889 Bellaire Blvd, Houston, TX.



For more information please visit https://us.shein.com/campaign/artdiscoveryhouston .

ABOUT SHEIN X:

From just seven designers when the program launched in January 2021, the SHEIN X incubator program has grown to almost 3,000 designers and artists from around the world, launching more than 25,000 original creations. SHEIN has invested more than $55 million into the program and guides participants through the end-to-end process, from product development, to manufacturing, to marketing and supply chain logistics. Importantly, SHEIN X designers maintain ownership rights to their SHEIN X designs.

ABOUT SHEIN:

SHEIN is a global, integrated marketplace offering extended fashion and lifestyle shopping categories from SHEIN branded apparel to products from a global network of sellers, all at affordable prices. Headquartered in Singapore, SHEIN remains committed to making the beauty of fashion accessible to all, leveraging its industry-leading on-demand production methodology since 2012, for a smarter and more sustainable industry. To learn more about SHEIN, visit www.SHEIN.com .

SOURCE SHEIN Distribution Corporation
Supira's technology features a novel low profile, high continuous flow design that aims to provide full hemodynamic support for high-risk percutaneous coronary interventions (HRPCI) and cardiogenic shock (CS) patients with a single device

Data from the Company's First-in-Human trial to be presented as part of the Late-Breaking Clinical Research Session at SCAI 2023

LOS GATOS, Calif., May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Supira Medical, Inc., a Shifamed portfolio company, announced today that its next generation percutaneous ventricular assist device (pVAD) was selected following a highly competitive review process to be highlighted as part of this year's European Association of Percutaneous Cardiovascular Interventions conference (EuroPCR) Innovator's Day in Paris, France. Gagan Singh M.D., M.S., Director of Clinical Cardiovascular Research at University of California, Davis, will present on behalf of the company during the "Innovations in Heart Failure: Pumps, Remodeling and Monitoring" session beginning at 12:05 pm CET on Monday, May 15th in the Theatre Havane of the Palais de Congres. Additionally, Supira Medical will be at booth M23 where PCR attendees can learn more about the system.

Later in the week, Dr. Singh will present the findings from Supira's first-in-human study as part of the Late-Breaking Clinical Research at the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) 2023 Scientific Sessions. The open-label, single arm, single center prospective study evaluated the feasibility and safety of Supira's novel low profile, high continuous flow pVAD technology to provide temporary cardiovascular hemodynamic support for patients undergoing HRCPI. The data will be presented on Thursday, May 18th at 4:30 pm MST in West 103 on the First Floor of the Phoenix Convention Center.

"We are pleased to have Supira's pVAD technology highlighted at these two prestigious industry conferences," commented Dr. Nitin Salunke, President and CEO of Supira Medical. "Thank you to the PCR Innovator's Day and SCAI committees for selecting Supira's technology, emphasizing the significant potential this novel low profile, high continuous flow system offers for physicians and patients. We look forward to sharing more about the innovative design and results of the initial clinical experience in the coming days."

About Supira Medical, Inc.

Supira Medical, a privately held portfolio company of Shifamed, is focused on development of a next generation percutaneous ventricular assist device for use in high-risk patients undergoing interventional procedures. To learn more about Supira Medical, please visit www.supiramedical.com.

The Supira Medical pVAD System is currently in the research and development phase and is not FDA approved, CE Mark approved or approved for sale worldwide.

About Shifamed, LLC.

Founded by serial entrepreneur Amr Salahieh, Shifamed is a highly specialized medical innovation hub focused on developing solutions that accelerate time to market, reduce risk, increase impact, and forge a path toward a world where patients are able to lead longer, healthier lives. To learn more about Shifamed, please visit www.shifamed.com.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Katie Arnold

SPRIG Consulting LLC

(408) 805-0520

[email protected]

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1754758/SupiraMedical_Logo_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Supira Medical, Inc.
The internationally recognized infectious disease experts were honored for their pioneering research to develop a safe, affordable COVID-19 vaccine technology to benefit the world

HOUSTON, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Texas Children's Hospital is pleased to announce that Dr. Peter Hotez, Co-Director of the Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development and Dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine and Dr. Maria Elena Bottazzi, Co-Director of the Center for Vaccine Development at Texas Children's Hospital and Sr. Associate Dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, received the prestigious 2023 Lyndon B. Johnson Moral Courage Award from the Holocaust Museum Houston, for their efforts researching and developing a patent-free, recombinant protein-based COVID-19 vaccine technology for the world's benefit and use.

Drs. Maria Elena Bottazzi & Peter Hotez; Courtesy of Texas Children's Hospital

The LBJ Moral Courage Award is given annually to individuals who have shown the moral courage to stand up against injustice, hatred, prejudice and apathy and who used their influence to change our world for the better.

"To receive this recognition from the Houston Holocaust Museum is an extraordinary honor for me and my family at a professional level, but also a deeply personal level. For decades our team has been actively pursuing a program of science for humanitarian goals - making vaccines for the world. I've also been leading efforts to combat rising antivaccine disinformation and with it, antisemitism," said Dr. Peter Hotez.

The vaccine technology developed by Drs. Hotez, Bottazzi and their team at Texas Children's Center for Vaccine Development and Baylor College of Medicine has been produced by local manufactures in both India and Indonesia, with millions of people vaccinated. Drs. Hotez and Bottazzi were also honored for dedicating themselves to improving the health of the most vulnerable populations, promoting science-based facts to the misinformed and championing the benefits of vaccinations.

"Since I was a little girl, my calling has been to contribute towards the understanding of health inequities and to solve the underpinnings of poverty. This award named after President Lyndon B. Johnson is a huge honor for me. It exemplifies his legacy and validates our work to achieve a 'Great Society' by applying vaccine science and diplomacy. Having this recognition alongside my science partner, Dr. Hotez, makes it even more special. I dedicate this to scientists and partners around the world who share our philosophy," said Dr. Maria Elena Bottazzi.

In 2022, Drs. Hotez and Bottazzi received a Nobel Peace Prize Nomination for their vaccine development work and received Fast Company's 2022 Most Creative People in Business' Award.

Previous recipients of the Lyndon B. Johnson Moral Courage Award include Steven Spielberg, The Kingdom of Denmark, Colin Powell, Senator Bob Dole Elie Wiesel, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (posthumously) and Justice Ruther Bader Ginsburg (posthumously).

ABOUT TEXAS CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL

Texas Children's Hospital, a not-for-profit health care organization, is committed to creating a healthier future for children and women throughout the global community by leading in patient care, education and research. Consistently ranked as the best children's hospital in Texas, and among the top in the nation, Texas Children's has garnered widespread recognition for its expertise and breakthroughs in pediatric and women's health. The hospital includes the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute; the Feigin Tower for pediatric research; Texas Children's Pavilion for Women, a comprehensive obstetrics/gynecology facility focusing on high-risk births; Texas Children's Hospital West Campus, a community hospital in suburban West Houston; and Texas Children's Hospital The Woodlands, the first hospital devoted to children's care for communities north of Houston. The organization also created Texas Children's HealthPlan, the nation's first HMO for children; has the largest pediatric primary care network in the country, Texas Children's Pediatrics; Texas Children's Urgent Care clinics that specialize in after-hours care tailored specifically for children; and a global health program that's channeling care to children and women all over the world. Texas Children's Global Health program leads efforts that advance health care equity through innovative collaboration in care, education and research for underserved populations globally. Texas Children's Hospital is affiliated with Baylor College of Medicine. For more information, go towww.texaschildrens.org. Get the latest news by visiting the online newsroom and Twitter at twitter.com/texaschildrens.

SOURCE Texas Children's Hospital
Eleuthera, Bahamas emerges as CHTA 2023 Destination Resilience Award Winner

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- This week, delegates from The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, Investments & Aviation (BMOTIA), led by Director General Mrs. Latia Duncombe, are attending the 41st edition of Caribbean Travel Marketplace, the Caribbean's largest tourism marketing event, where they will continue to promote multi-destination awareness of The Bahamas' unique 16-island offerings. The meeting was hosted by the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) in Bridgetown, Barbados May 9-11.

Eleuthera, Bahamas wins CHTA Destination Resilience Category B Award. L-R: Nicola Madden-Greig President of The Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association; Latia Duncombe, Director General, Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, Investments & Aviation and Vanessa Ledesma Acting CEO & Director General of The Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association.

The Hon. Mia Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados, opened the conference on Tuesday, 9 May addressing over 700 representatives inclusive of Tourism Ministers, executives, tour operators, suppliers and more. Keynote addresses continued highlighting the state of the industry by Nicola Madden-Greig, President of CHTA, Olivier Ponti, Vice President of Insights for ForwardKeys; the Hon. Kenneth Bryan, Tourism Minister for the Cayman Islands and Chairman of the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO); Charlie Osmond, Co-founder, Triptease.

CHTA 2023 Destination Resilience Awards were also announced on Tuesday, with Eleuthera Island in The Bahamas being named as the winner in Category B  destinations with total stopover arrivals under 500,000. The Destination Resilience Awards were introduced during the Covid -19 pandemic and recognises destinations that used innovative and timely responses to the global pandemic that led to the island's tourism recovery. Eleuthera demonstrated a commitment to a more sustainable future with initiatives undertaken by entities such as the Island School, Cape Eleuthera Institute, the Eleuthera Sustainability Council Cooperative Society and the Centre for Training Institute.

"I am pleased to see the efforts to promote sustainability in The Bahamas and notably Eleuthera, recognised by the Caribbean community and rewarded with the Destination Resilience Award," said Latia Duncombe, Director General, BMOTIA.

BMOTIA representatives participated in over 40 meetings with prospective priority partners and media outlets to discuss new developments and the future of travel to The Bahamas.

"There's been a keen interest in our destination from European and Latin American representatives," said Duncombe, "Our meetings with them have given way to new and strengthened strategic partnerships."

Said Duncombe, "CHTA Marketplace has presented an unparalleled opportunity to engage in insightful discussions on the optimal use of Artificial Intelligence in capitalising on travel consumer behaviours. Such intelligence is invaluable to our overarching promotional strategy."

"We continuously see the value of the destination's attendance at Caribbean Travel Marketplace," she added.

For more information on recent BMOTIA tourism efforts, please visit www.bahamas.com.

ABOUT THE BAHAMAS

With over 700 islands and cays, and 16 unique island destinations, The Bahamas lies just 50 miles off the coast of Florida, offering an easy flyaway escape that transports travellers away from their everyday. The Islands of The Bahamas have world-class fishing, diving, boating and thousands of miles of the earth's most spectacular water and beaches waiting for families, couples and adventurers. Explore all the islands have to offer at www.bahamas.com or on Facebook, YouTube or Instagram to see why It's Better in The Bahamas.

PRESS INQUIRIES

Anita Johnson-Patty

Bahamas Ministry of Tourism & Aviation

[email protected]

Weber Shandwick

Public Relations

[email protected]

SOURCE The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, Investments & Aviation
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Dean Lane Named General Manager of AAA Four Diamond-Rated Beach Resort in Hollywood, Florida

HOLLYWOOD, Fla., May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Dean Lane has been named as the new general manager of The Diplomat Beach Resort in Hollywood, Florida. Located at 3555 S Ocean Drive the 1,000-room Resort was recently purchased by Trinity Investments, and is operated by Hilton, as a global flagship location of Hilton's Curio Collection.

The Diplomat Beach Resort in Hollywood, Florida Dean Lane Named General Manager of The Diplomat Beach Resort in Hollywood, Florida

Dean Lane will lead the team in all aspects of Resort operations, from team leadership to experiential development, guest services and satisfaction. "We are privileged to have someone of Dean's caliber and industry experience leading the team, and know that his unique experience and industry edge are exactly what is needed at The Diplomat to guide the Resort into its most exciting era yet," said Doug Gehret, Area Vice President at Hilton.

"I look forward to this new opportunity and am proud to be able to lead the phenomenal team at The Diplomat Beach Resort," said Lane. "My ultimate goal is to ensure this premiere Resort remains the unquestionable leader in the South Floridian market for both leisure and business travelers visiting the area, by delivering an unparalleled guest experiences and best-in-class amenities around every bend."

Prior to joining The Diplomat Beach Resort, Lane served as Hilton Area General Manager in the Chicago / Midwest region, overseeing the operations of five Hilton Hotels & Resorts. Prior to his Area General Manager position, Dean served as General Manager of Palmer House, a Hilton Hotel where he played a large role in the four-year, $140 million renovation of the legendary property resulting in subsequent record-breaking revenue and market share gains. With more than 30 years in the hospitality industry, Dean began his hospitality career at the MGM Grand Hotel in Reno, a property featuring 2,000 rooms, wherein he was involved in the $220 million renovation of the property as Executive Assistant Manager. Along Dean's path, he has acquired numerous accolades not limited to Historic Hotels of America's "Historic Hotelier of the Year" in 2014 and the Illinois Hotel and Lodging Association's "Hotelier of the Year" in 2015. In 2017, he was voted Chairman of the Board for the latter association.

Lane is also an active part of the community; he has held roles within the State Street Commission, served board member of the Chicago Loop Alliance, and served on the Board of Directors for Ronald McDonald House Charities of Chicagoland and Northwest, Indiana, keeping in line with Hilton's overall service culture and philosophy of giving back.

About The Diplomat Beach Resort

The Diplomat Beach Resort, South Florida's most iconic beachfront destination resort, is perched on nearly 10 oceanfront acres, overlooking both the Atlantic Surf and the Intracoastal Waterway. The 36-story Resort boasts 1,000 guestrooms and suites, 6 different culinary destinations, two sun-drenched pools, 26 poolside cabanas designed in part by fashion designer Trina Turk, a "Dip + Slide" supervised kids' splash zone, an award-winning 15,000 square foot deluxe Spa & Salon, and a two-story fitness center, among other guest amenities. The Diplomat also offers 209,000+ square feet of meetings and event space, ranking the property as the largest beachfront convention center and meeting space in both Americas and the Caribbean. The Resort is ideally located between the two most significant airports in South Florida, Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport (10 minutes) and Miami International Airport (30 minutes), granting its guests unparalleled access from major markets throughout the United States, Latin America and Europe. For more information or reservations, please call 1-855-689-2911 or visit www.diplomatresort.com .

About Curio Collection by Hilton

The Diplomat Beach Resort serves as the international flagship location of Hilton's esteemed Curio Collection by Hilton ( curiocollection.com ). This upper upscale, global portfolio of nearly 50 one-of-a-kind hotels and resorts are each handpicked for their unique character. Curio Collection properties appeal to travelers seeking unexpected and authentic experiences, and the benefits of Hilton's award-winning guest loyalty program, Hilton Honors.

Media Contact:

TARA, Ink.

Gabi Rodriguez

[email protected]

305.799.0969

SOURCE The Diplomat Beach Resort
Gelpro Australia Is Creating Accessible Supplements That Sustainably Utilize Mother Nature's Best Healing Ingredients

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The modern, science-driven world has countless answers to many of humanity's biggest problems. From healthcare to technology, scientists are discovering new ways to improve life every day. However, a genuine and effective application of modern science shouldn't be used in a vacuum. It should be combined with the well-established wisdom of the past  especially when it comes to something as ancient as health and wellness. This is the philosophy that the creators of Gelpro Australia have had in mind from the very beginning of their brand.

"Gelpro Australia is a family-run health brand based on ancestral wisdom," explains company CEO Nagib Kassis. Kassis himself stepped back from a high-flying life as a corporate executive over a decade ago when he was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. The young professional was informed that he would remain on NSAIDs indefinitely and could be facing joint replacements by his 30s. Nagib's brother-in-law, Anthony, was facing his own personal health struggles. The kickboxer and muscle-training fanatic had hurt his shoulder and was facing a lengthy recovery timeline laced with cortisone injections and surgeries.

The siblings turned to the ancient wisdom of the past in search of a solution. "We knew we had nothing to lose," explains Nagib, "so we started drinking homemade bone broth and massively increasing our collagen uptake. Our health began to improve, not just in the obvious areas, but all around."

The discovery led the two brothers to develop their own line of elite collagen and whole food supplement products. From day one, the goal with each product formula was simple: to channel the slow-simmering ancestral wisdom of their forefathers into accessible products that fit into a busy modern lifestyle.

"Our products have been created to remind the world that our ancestors had most of the answers," says Nagib, "In most cases, you can utilize the wonders of nature for your wellness journey.

Nagib clarifies that this doesn't mean science is left out of the Gelpro approach. All of the brand's formulations are backed by research and science. They use this as a way to reinforce the efficacy of their ingredients, all of which are sourced based on the wisdom of their ancestral heritage.

"We believe that natural ingredients have a strong place in the market," Nagib emphatically declares, "None of our formulations use synthetic ingredients, fillers, or flowing agents, because we focus on ingredient quality. With Gelpro, we're channeling the simple, effective, and natural health and wellness of past generations into a modern format that can improve any lifestyle."

About Gelpro Australia

Gelpro Australia Pty Ltd is a family-run Australian health and wellness company that operates with a holistic approach to health and sustainability at the forefront of its brand philosophy. The company was founded by two brothers-in-law in 2014 after they individually went through their own health challenges and discovered the healing capabilities of natural, high-quality health solutions rooted in ancestral wisdom. Since its inception, Gelpro has become known for its robust line of top-shelf collagens and whole food supplements. The brand is recognized as a health and wellness market leader and educator in the Land Down Under. Learn more at gelatinaustralia.com.au .

Media Contact:

Nagib Kassis

T: 0452 334 489

[email protected]

SOURCE Gelpro
A roundup of the most newsworthy press releases from PR Newswire this week, including new products from Cholula and Tempur Sealy's plans to acquire Mattress Firm.

NEW YORK, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- With thousands of press releases published each week, it can be difficult to keep up with everything on PR Newswire. To help journalists and consumers stay on top of the week's most newsworthy and popular releases, here's a recap of some major stories from the week that shouldn't be missed.

The list below includes the headline (with a link to the full text) and an excerpt from each story. Click on the press release headlines to access accompanying multimedia assets that are available for download.

PR Newswire Weekly Press Release Roundup, May 8-12, 2023. Photo provided by McCormick & Company, Inc. https://prn.to/42m8ZzH

Read more of the latest releases from PR Newswire and stay caught up on the top press releases by following @PRNalert on Twitter.

Can't-Miss Earnings

In addition to these popular releases, several must-read earnings reports crossed the wire this week, including the quarterly results for Warner Bros. Discovery, Airbnb, and USPS.

Catch up on all the latest earnings reports here.

Helping Journalists Stay Up to Date on Industry News

These are just a few of the recent press releases that consumers and the media should know about. To be notified of releases relevant to their coverage area, journalists can set up a custom newsfeed with PR Newswire for Journalists.

Once they're signed up, reporters, bloggers, and freelancers have access to the following free features:

Customization: Users can create customized newsfeeds that will deliver relevant news right to their inbox. Newsfeed results can be targeted by keywords, industry, subject, geography, and more.

Users can create customized newsfeeds that will deliver relevant news right to their inbox. Newsfeed results can be targeted by keywords, industry, subject, geography, and more. Photos and Videos: Thousands of multimedia assets are available to download and include in a journalist or blogger's next story.

Thousands of multimedia assets are available to download and include in a journalist or blogger's next story. Subject Matter Experts: Journalists will have access to ProfNet, a database of industry experts to connect with as sources or for quotes in their articles.

Journalists will have access to ProfNet, a database of industry experts to connect with as sources or for quotes in their articles. Related Resources: Our journalist- and blogger-focused blog, Beyond Bylines, features regular media news roundups, writing tips, upcoming events, and more.

About PR Newswire and PR Newswire for Journalists

For more than 65 years, PR Newswire has been the industry leader with the largest, most comprehensive distribution network of print, radio, magazine, television stations, financial portals and trade publications. PR Newswire has an unparalleled global reach of more than 200,000 publications and 10,000 websites and is available in more than 170 countries and 40 languages.

PR Newswire for Journalists (PRNJ) is an exclusive community that includes over 20,000 journalists, bloggers and influencers who are logging into their PRNJ accounts specifically looking for story ideas. PR Newswire thoroughly researches and vets this community to verify their identity as a member of the press, blogger or influencer. PRNJ users cover more than 200 beats and verticals.

For questions, contact the team at [email protected].

SOURCE PR Newswire
ARLINGTON, Va. , May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Ahead of next week's Kentucky GOP governor primary, Daniel Cameron, Kelly Craft and Ryan Quarles became the first candidates in the country to sign the 1776 Parent Power Pledge, a project of the national education reform-focused group, 1776 Action.

In doing so, they commit to voters that if elected they will take concrete steps to:

Promote a system of thorough and verifiable academic transparency for parents to review and influence both instructional materials and extracurricular activities.

Oppose any efforts to undercut standards of academic achievement or merit in service to an artificially-imposed equality of result, often called "equity."

Promote a curriculum which teaches that all children are created equal, have equal moral value under God, our Constitution, and the law, and are members of a national community united by our founding principles.

Oppose any curriculum that pits students against one another on the basis of immutable characteristics or politicizes civics education by coercing students into partisan political activity.

"It's appalling that Andy Beshear and Joe Biden dismiss these concerns and label parents as part of the problem for demanding a say in their child's education," said Attorney General Daniel Cameron. "We need to focus on teaching our kids critical skills and a well-rounded curriculum, not pushing divisive liberal racial and gender ideologies. The radical left indoctrination of Kentucky's kids will end the day I become Governor."

Kelly Craft, the former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nation said "Career politicians have allowed radical, woke ideologists into the Kentucky Department of Education and Board of Education to indoctrinate our children. I was the first republican candidate for governor to call for the KDE to be dismantled and rebuilt to bring the focus back to kids, parents, and teachers. Parents should have the right to be involved in their children's education. We must eradicate these woke ideologies from the classroom."

"Kentucky is one of just three gubernatorial races this year, said Adam Waldeck, President of 1776 Action, "and the winner of next week's Republican primary will be looking to unseat an incumbent Democrat governor who has repeatedly stood in the way of parental rights. By signing this pledge, these candidates are committing to moving in a new direction and ensuring integrity and transparency in Kentucky's schools."

A previous but similar version of this pledge was signed by over 500 candidates around the country including South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem and now-Governor Glenn Youngkin who made parental rights in education the centerpiece of his winning 2021 campaign in Virginia.

SOURCE 1776 Action
Prestigious list honors 400 industry leaders in Tarrant County

FORT WORTH, Texas, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Acclaimed trial attorney Steven C. Laird has been named to Fort Worth Inc. Magazine's list of the 400 Most Influential People in Fort Worth for 2023, a prestigious recognition that honors Tarrant County residents who wield significant influence in the community.

"Although this acknowledgement means a lot to me, the biggest reward I can achieve is justice for those who have been wronged," said Mr. Laird. "I am very grateful to the legal industry and the Tarrant County community."

The Laird & McCloskey founder is one of the few lawyers to be Board Certified in both Personal Injury Trial Law and Civil Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, as well as designated as a Specialist in both Civil Trial and Truck Accident Law by the National Board of Trial Advocacy.

No stranger to accolades, Mr. Laird has been honored by Best Lawyers in America each year since 2012 and is the only personal injury attorney in Tarrant County named to the "Top 100" list of Texas Super Lawyers for 16 out of the past 17 years.

He has been honored with the annual Professionalism Award from the College of the State Bar of Texas and the Tarrant County Bar Association and has been named Trial Lawyer of the Year by the Tarrant County Trial Lawyers Association. Mr. Laird is also a member of the esteemed American Law Institute, an organization of judges, law professors and attorneys helping to formulate rules of law in various legal areas and produce restatements of law.

The annual 400 listing defines honorees as industry leaders in Tarrant County in the areas of philanthropy, nonprofits, government and public policy, economic development, professional services, education, civic affairs, arts, religion, sports, and media, or within their own spheres.

Click here for more information about the 400.

About The Law Offices of Laird & McCloskey

The Law Offices of Laird & McCloskey is a firm of experienced Fort Worth truck accident lawyers with over 30 years of experience helping victims and their families. The firm is located at 1119 Pennsylvania Ave., Fort Worth, Texas. To learn more about the firm's representative matters or to schedule a meeting with one of its attorneys, call (817) 531-3000 or visit https://www.texlawyers.com/

Media Contact:

Alyssa Woulfe

800-559-4534

[email protected]

SOURCE Law Offices of Laird & McCloskey
NEW YORK, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- UM, a global media agency network of IPG Mediabrands, today announced new U.S. leadership, bolstering the agency's commitment to upleveling craft across all practices. The appointments include Grant Ogburn to Chief Growth Officer, Myia Thompkins to Chief Strategy Officer, Preston Larson to Chief Planning Officer, Brendon Volpe to Chief Intelligence Officer and the elevations of Erin Quintana to Chief Client Officer and Jennifer Wadeyka to Chief Operating Officer. All new leadership reports directly to U.S. CEO, W. Joe DeMiero.

"Grant, Myia, Preston, Brendon, Erin and Jen bring a wealth of experience that translates to powerful business results across their respective areas of expertise for some of the world's biggest brands, and I'm thrilled to welcome them to the UM executive team," said DeMiero. "These leaders will plus up our capabilities and offerings in the marketplace while strengthening our core practices and areas of opportunity for our people, internally."

UM's new leadership bolsters the agency's commitment to upleveling craft across all practices. Tweet this

Grant Ogburn, Chief Growth Officer

Ogburn is the driving force behind UM's new business development strategy, responsible for spearheading pitch strategy and generating leads for new client relationships. He works closely across practices to initiate and optimize growth opportunities, ensuring globally scalable prospecting. In partnership with IPG sister agencies, The Martin Agency, McCann, Black Glass and Momentum, Ogburn harnesses Acxiom data and insights to help brands connect with consumers in new and powerful ways. Previously, Ogburn was President of Publicis Experiential; Chief Marketing Officer of Publicis' creative production division, PXP; co-founder of TiltShift, Publicis' XR content start-up; and worked extensively across Microsoft Xbox Marketing and Advertising. He is actively involved in organizations dedicated to advancing the wellbeing of the AAPI community, and also works with the Make-A-Wish Foundation and the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center.

Myia Thompkins, Chief Strategy Officer

Thompkins is responsible for strengthening the agency's strategy product and capability offering, uncovering new opportunities in the marketplace, and working in partnership with leadership across the agency's practices and accounts to create innovative strategies that deliver exceptional business outcomes for clients. She collaborates closely with Mediabrands Content Studio, the media-fueled creative content agency within IPG Mediabrands, to translate Acxiom insights into inspirational strategies that underpin market-moving branded content. Joining UM from Hero Collective where she led the strategy team, Thompkins also held executive roles at Publicis' Hawkeye. Passionate about advancing diversity, she is a member of the National Black MBA Association, an organization dedicated to the creation of educational, wealth building and growth opportunities for historically underrepresented groups.

Preston Larson, Chief Planning Officer

In this newly-created role, Larson is unifying UM's industry-leading Planning practice. A 20-year industry veteran, he is charged with reinventing and leading the integrated media planning process across multiple lines of business, inclusive of brand and performance activity. He also leverages the scale and strategic media partnerships of MAGNA, the intelligence and investment arm of IPG Mediabrands, to align large scale value with client objectives and opportunities. Previously at Publicis Groupe's integrated media/communications agency, Team One, Larson worked in media leadership positions for high-profile brands like Lexus. Committed to creating inclusive talent pipelines into the industry, he is a sponsor for the 4As 2023 Vanguard program, a platform dedicated to growth, impact and exposure for AA/Black professionals. He is also an original member of the Roku Advisory Board, where he provides guidance, strategic advice and support for go-to-market ad products.

Brendon Volpe, Chief Intelligence Officer

As UM's first Chief Intelligence Officer, Volpe is focused on building, optimizing and advancing the agency's newly established Strategic Intelligence practice. His responsibilities include fueling business growth by uncovering and creating insight from UM's industry-leading data & analytics, strategy, innovation, research and in-house domain experts to drive the agency's differentiated approach and offerings for new and potential clients. As part of his role, Volpe partners with MAGNA's Intelligence unit to identify media trial opportunities and to activate MAGNA's unmatched data and research on client businesses. A consummate team builder focused on development and success, Volpe is passionate about fostering a culture rooted in collaboration, creativity and innovation. He most recently held leadership positions at Hawkeye as the company's Chief Strategy Officer and Conde Nast as Head of Strategy for CNX.

Erin Quintana, Chief Client Officer

In her 15+ years at UM, Quintana has specialized in strategy for iconic Johnson & Johnson brands such as Band-Aid, Neutrogena, Listerine and Johnson's Baby and currently leads the global American Express business. Recently elevated to Chief Client Officer, she is responsible for overseeing all account management; establishing a vision and strategic plan that advances key measures of success across client relationships including team health, work quality and business results; and ensuring growth of client business. Quintana is a key driver of the agency's success, from winning new business pitches to training and mentoring up-and-coming talent. Prior to UM, she held media planning roles at OMD and Carat USA. Earlier in her career, she was inducted into the AAF's Advertising Hall of Achievement, the industry's premier award for outstanding advertising rising stars.

Jennifer Wadeyka, Chief Operating Officer

Wadeyka leads the charge on Business Planning and Operations, Media Operations, Resource Management and New Products and Services to drive efficiencies. She executes all new business transitions and optimizes the agency's commercial and future deal structures with new and existing clients. Over her 13+ years at the agency, Wadeyka has worked on multiple global and US clients and served as a critical member of the new business team. Her leadership has also extended across IPG Mediabrands through various senior business development roles, overseeing all business development and marketing efforts for the network. Wadeyka is a member of She Runs It, an organization committed to removing barriers, creating access, and lifting up women of all identities, ethnicities, and backgrounds through mentorship, development workshops and events, and has previously participated with the NICU Family Advisory Council at Saint Barnabas Medical Center.

DeMiero continued: "These powerhouse leaders are incredibly passionate about driving the growth of our business and our people, and I look forward to the impact they will have on our client relationships, culture and community."

This announcement follows several accolades UM has recently received, including being named a FORTUNE Best Workplace in Advertising & Marketing, a Top Workplace in the US by Great Places to Work several times over and distinctions for "Inclusive Workplace" and "Sustainability Standout" in Campaign's 2023 Agency Performance Review.

About UM

UM is a global media agency committed to Futureproofing our clients' businesses for the now and the next. We leverage the transformational power of rich business analytics and real-time intelligence to maximize growth and activate the full consumer journey across content and connections. Our consultative approach and agile model, rooted in diversity, equity and belonging, drive better business outcomes for brands. As the leading global media network in IPG Mediabrands, UM operates in over 100 countries, with more than 3,500 people innovating on a roster of global clients including Accenture, American Express, ExxonMobil, GoPro, Johnson & Johnson, Levi Strauss & Co, Mattel, Sony and Spotify. For more information, please visit https://www.umww.com/.

SOURCE UM
Ponca Tribe Leader Championed Native American 14th Amendment Rights

LINCOLN, Neb., May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Postal Service issued the Chief Standing Bear Forever stamp today, honoring the Native American civil rights icon, who won a landmark court ruling in 1879 that determined a Native American was a person under the law with an inherent right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

The dedication ceremony for the stamp was held near the Chief Standing Bear Sculpture at the Centennial Mall. News of the stamp is being shared with the hashtag #ChiefStandingBearStamp.

Postal Service Honors Native American Chief, who championed 14th Amendment Rights, with a Stamp.

"Since the 1800's, the Postal Service has used stamps to celebrate the legacy of great Americans and we are proud to do that today with this striking stamp of Chief Standing Bear," said Anton G. Hajjar, vice chairman of the USPS Board of Governors. "Although the United States was founded on the principle that "all men are created equal," it took our country far too long to recognize the humanity in many of its people  including the American Indians who lived in these lands for thousands of years. I hope this stamp will serve as a reminder of the lessons we've learned from Chief Standing Bear, and the brave Ponca people, especially here in the Cornhusker State."

Chief Standing Bear (circa 18291908) was a member of the Ponca tribe, who lived in the Niobrara River Valley in what is now northeastern Nebraska. The tribe's traditional homeland was included in the Great Sioux Reservation established by the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. The federal government later decided to resolve conflicts between the Sioux and the much smaller Ponca tribe by relocating the latter to the Indian Territory in what is now Oklahoma.

The U.S. Army's forced removal of some 700 Ponca began in the spring of 1877. Some members of the tribe died during the 600-mile journey by foot. More than a hundred others, including Standing Bear's only son, died from disease and hunger shortly after the removal to the Indian Territory. Wanting to honor his son's dying request to be buried in the tribe's Niobrara homeland, Chief Standing Bear and a small band of some 29 other like-minded Ponca made the arduous trip back to Nebraska in 1879. They were arrested by the Army and imprisoned at Fort Omaha.

After attracting the sympathy of a newspaper reporter and the Army general who arrested him, Standing Bear sued the federal government for his freedom. Lawyers filed for a writ of habeas corpus on his behalf to test the legality of his detention, the first time in U.S. history such a filing had been made on behalf of a Native American.

In the closely-watched court case, Standing Bear v. Crook, Judge Elmer Dundy ruled on May 12, 1879, that an Indian was a person under the common understanding of the word and that all persons in the United States, regardless of race, had an inherent right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The judge ordered that Standing Bear and his fellow Ponca be released from custody.

"Chief Standing Bear is a pillar for the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska and one of the pivotal civil rights leaders in American history," said Candace Schmidt, the chairwoman of the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska. "The Ponca Tribe is elated that this stamp will help illustrate his story of justice and triumph, which is also our story. It also serves as a symbol of the pride and perseverance for all of our members past, present, and future."

A subsequent congressional investigation concluded that the government had blundered and made a mistake when it gave away the Ponca homeland and later when it forced their removal to the Indian Territory. President Rutherford B. Hayes recommended to Congress that the Ponca be allowed the choice of where to live and that they be compensated for land and other losses. Congress passed legislation to that effect in March 1881.

"It's remarkable, that the story of Nebraska Native American civil rights leader Chief Standing Bear has progressed from a native man being considered a non-person by the U.S. Government in 1879, to today, being recognized by the Postal Service with a stamp honoring him as an American icon," said Judi M. gaiashkibos, executive director of the Nebraska Commission on Indian Affairs. "This story of an indigenous rights hero is truly and necessarily an American story. This stamp further etches his legacy in our national consciousness and provokes necessary conversations about race, sovereignty and equality in the United States."

Standing Bear and the members of the Ponca who had followed him returned to their old Nebraska reservation along the Niobrara River, where the chief died in September 1908. In 1924, one issue that his 1879 trial had raised was finally resolved when Congress adopted the Indian Citizenship Act, which conferred citizenship on all Native Americans born in the United States.

The stamp features a portrait of Chief Standing Bear by illustrator Thomas Blackshear II. who based the portrait on a black-and white-photograph taken in 1877. Derry Noyes served as art director and designer for this stamp.

The Postal Service printed 18 million Chief Standing Bear stamps.

Chief Standing Bear Forever stamps will be issued in panes of 20. Forever stamps, always equal the value of the current First-Class Mail 1-ounce price.

Postal Products

Customers may purchase stamps and other philatelic products through the Postal Store at usps.com/shopstamps, by calling 844-737-7826, by mail through USA Philatelic or at Post Office locations nationwide.

Please Note: The United States Postal Service is an independent federal establishment, mandated to be self-financing and to serve every American community through the affordable, reliable and secure delivery of mail and packages to nearly 165 million addresses six and often seven days a week. Overseen by a bipartisan Board of Governors, the Postal Service is implementing a 10-year transformation plan, Delivering for America, to modernize the postal network, restore long-term financial sustainability, dramatically improve service across all mail and shipping categories, and maintain the organization as one of America's most valued and trusted brands.

The Postal Service generally receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.

For USPS media resources, including broadcast quality video and audio and photo stills, visit the USPS Newsroom. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and LinkedIn. Subscribe to the USPS YouTube Channel and like us on Facebook. For more information about the Postal Service, visit usps.com and facts.usps.com.

National contact: David Coleman

202-425-1476

[email protected]

Local contact: Mark Inglett

816-374-9111

[email protected]

usps.com/news

SOURCE U.S. Postal Service
NEW YORK, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Jakubowitz Law announces that an investigation into potential securities fraud allegations has commenced on behalf of shareholders of United States Cellular Corporation (NYSE:USM).

To be contacted by a member of our team, fill out the form:

https://claimyourloss.com/securities/uscellular-class-action-loss-submission-form/?from=4

Further details on the investigation: After market closed on November 3, 2022, UScellular announced results for the third fiscal quarter ended September 30, 2022, including that service revenues totaled $781 million, versus $788 million for the same period in the previous year, and that net income (loss) attributable to UScellular shareholders and related diluted earnings (loss) per share were $(12) million and $(0.15), respectively, for the third quarter of 2022 compared to $34 million and $0.38, respectively, for the third quarter of 2021. UScellular also announced that it was reducing the Company's fiscal year 2022 outlook, such that the upper bounds for the ranges of fiscal 2022 guidance concerning service revenues, adjusted OIBDA, and adjusted EBITDA were lowered by $50 million, $75 million, and $75 million, respectively.

Following this news, UScellular's stock price fell more than 22%, declining from a closing price of $31.05 per share on November 3, 2022 to a close of $24.09 on November 4, 2022.

Jakubowitz Law is vigorous in pursuit of justice for shareholders who have been the victim of securities fraud. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.

CONTACT:

JAKUBOWITZ LAW

1140 Avenue of the Americas

9th Floor

New York, New York 10036

T: (628) 895-0423

F: (212) 537-5887

SOURCE Jakubowitz Law
ThayerMahan to anchor acoustic mitigation systems headquarters in New Bedford as it expands to further serve the offshore wind industry

NEW BEDFORD, Mass., May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Vineyard Wind, a joint venture between Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) and AVANGRID, Inc. (NYSE: AGR), today announced a pilot program to deploy and test a secondary bubble curtain during foundation installation through a partnership with ThayerMahan, a firm that specializes in seabed surveys, acoustic mitigation and monitoring, and other maritime related services, with facilities in Connecticut and Massachusetts. The $5 million in funding comes from Vineyard Wind's Industry Accelerator Fund, which is administered by the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC).

"For the first time, a US-based company will perform the service of providing a bubble curtain mitigation system." -- Vineyard Wind CEO Klaus S. Moeller Tweet this (PRNewsfoto/ThayerMahan Inc.) Bubble Curtain noise mitigation system.

As a part of the agreement, ThayerMahan will move its headquarters for their bubble curtain acoustic mitigation product line to New Bedford, sharing part of the Foss Marine Terminal. ThayerMahan, partnered with the world leader in Big Bubble Curtain technology  Hydrotechnik-Luebeck (HTL), has committed to hiring locally for a wide array of positions, from deckhands to data scientists. The firm has already established a training/internship program with UMass Dartmouth, in addition to agreeing to assembly and manufacturing operations for future projects in New Bedford. Once this partnership is executed, ThayerMahan will be the first American company to provide bubble curtain services to the US Offshore Wind industry.

"Our agreement with ThayerMahan ensures that for the first time, a US-based company will perform the service of providing a bubble curtain mitigation system for an offshore wind project," said Vineyard Wind CEO Klaus S. Moeller. "We believe this is the first step of getting US firms experience in this new industry and sets the stage for rapid expansion in the coming years, particularly in our hometown of New Bedford."

"The deployment of this bubble curtain by ThayerMahan marks another milestone in the construction of this nation-leading project and demonstrates offshore wind's potential to create local jobs and economic impact," said AVANGRID CEO Pedro Azagra. "We are proud to come to this agreement with a local maritime services firm that will help us deliver on the successful, environmentally responsible installation of this project and launch the offshore wind industry in the United States."

A bubble curtain, which is comprised of large, perforated hoses and specialized air compressors, is designed to absorb and dampen sound during foundation installation. The hoses are placed on the seafloor around the monopile before being filled by compress air. Once the hoses are inflated, the air escapes through the perforations and creates a barrier of bubbles that reduce noise.

These operations will be conducted from the Northstar Navigator, a vessel that will be operated out of the Port of New Bedford.

"We are proud to support Vineyard Wind in the construction of the United States' first large scale offshore wind development," said ThayerMahan Chairman and CEO Michael Connor. We appreciate the support of Massachusetts Clean Energy Center in establishing a world class noise mitigation capability in New Bedford that will serve construction efforts throughout the region. We continue to hire motivated workers who want to be a part of an effort that helps deliver a sustainable energy future."

"We are thrilled to see ThayerMahan bring its innovative solutions and acoustic mitigation operations base to New Bedford, and we commend them for their commitment to building a local workforce. This is yet another first for Massachusetts' offshore wind industry and cements our growing leadership," said MassCEC CEO Jennifer Daloisio. "MassCEC is proud to support Vineyard Wind's Industry Accelerator Fund, which is catalyzing local innovation and job creation in the Commonwealth's growing offshore wind industry."

"We're very happy to welcome ThayerMahan's world leading autonomous maritime solutions to New Bedford's growing ocean cluster and by the company's commitment to hiring local," said Jennifer Downing, Executive Director of the New Bedford Ocean Cluster (NBOC). "ThayerMahan's partnership with UMass Dartmouth is particularly exciting as it will help to prepare our local workforce for future job opportunities as the company continues to expand its operations in New Bedford. We are once again seeing an exciting first for U.S. offshore wind unfold in the Port of New Bedford, further solidifying Massachusetts and New Bedford as a leading hub for the industry."

Vineyard Wind recently submitted its first annual report to the state compiled by UMass Dartmouth and Springline Research Group that found Vineyard Wind more than doubled early estimates for the number of jobs created and dollars invested.

An 800-megawatt project located 15 miles off the coast of Martha's Vineyard, Vineyard Wind will generate electricity for more than 400,000 homes and businesses in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, create 3,600 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) job years, save customers $1.4 billion over the first 20 years of operation, and is expected to reduce carbon emissions by more than 1.6 million metric tons per year, the equivalent of taking 325,000 cars off the road annually.

About Vineyard Wind

Vineyard Wind LLC is an offshore wind development company that is building the first commercial-scale offshore wind energy project in the U.S., to be located 15 miles south of Martha's Vineyard. Vineyard Wind 1, based in New Bedford, Massachusetts, is 50 percent owned by funds of Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) and 50 percent by Avangrid Renewables, a subsidiary of AVANGRID, Inc. (NYSE: AGR). For more information, visit www.vineyardwind.com.

About ThayerMahan



ThayerMahan, Inc. is a maritime technology company dedicated to providing its government and commercial clients with turn-key autonomous marine solutions, including deployment, operations, data gathering, and analysis services, using state-of-the-art acoustic and electronic sensors integrated on a variety of host platforms tailored to specific mission criteria. ThayerMahan is a market leader in marine services support to the USOW industry including Acoustic Mitigation and Monitoring to protect marine mammals, precision seabed surveying, and UXO/MEC survey and remediation. The company is headquartered in Groton, CT with additional locations in Lexington, MA, Boston, Washington, DC and now New Bedford, MA. For more information, please visit www.thayermahan.com/sectors/offshore-renewables or contact Richard Hine at [email protected].

Contact: Andrew Doba | [email protected] | 203-850-7400

SOURCE ThayerMahan
GOTHENBURG, Sweden, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Volvo Trucks and Jiangling Motors Co., Ltd will not pursue the previously announced transaction involving the acquisition of JMC Heavy Duty Vehicle Co., Ltd, and its manufacturing site in Taiyuan, Shanxi province, China.

The two parties will not pursue the transaction due to that the conditions for closing the transaction were not met. Volvo Trucks will continue to export trucks to customers in China.

"Volvo Trucks has a long history of successful business activities in China. We have great opportunities on the Chinese market and we will continue the efforts to develop our presence. Our long-term ambition is to grow our business and continue delivering our high-quality trucks to customers in China, together with our dealer partners in the country," says Roger Alm, President Volvo Trucks.

For further information, please contact:

Claes Eliasson, Volvo Group Media Relations, tel +46 76 553 72 29

Press images and films are available in the Volvo Trucks image and film gallery at http://images.volvotrucks.com.

Volvo Trucks supplies complete transport solutions for discerning professional customers with its full range of medium- and heavy-duty trucks. Customer support is provided via a global network of dealers with 2,300 service points in about 130 countries. Volvo trucks are assembled in 12 countries across the globe. In 2022 approximately 145,000 Volvo trucks were delivered worldwide. Volvo Trucks is part of the Volvo Group, one of the world's leading manufacturers of trucks, buses, construction equipment and marine and industrial engines. The group also provides complete solutions for financing and service. Volvo Trucks' work is based on the core values of quality, safety and environmental care.

The following files are available for download:

SOURCE AB Volvo
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 12. Azerbaijan exported 3.9 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas to Europe from January through April 2023, Trend reports via Azerbaijani Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazovs tweet.

According to the minister, overall, gas export increased by 10.5 percent on annual basis.

In the first four months of this year, Azerbaijan exported 3.4 bcm of natural gas to Turkiye and 1.1 bcm to Georgia, he said.

During the reporting period, 1.9 bcm were exported to Turkiye via TANAP (Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline).

Azerbaijan exported 26.3 million tons of oil in 2022. During the reporting period, oil production amounted to 32.6 million tons, and gas production increased by 6.5 percent compared to the same period in 2021.

In addition, 22.3 bcm of gas were exported, which is 47.7 percent of the total volume (46.7 bcm) of gas production.
BOSTON, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- VUE Health, LLC is proud to announce that it has been officially certified as a Women's Business Enterprise (WBE) by the Women's Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC). This prestigious certification acknowledges that VUE Health is a woman-owned and -operated business that meets the rigorous standards of the WBENC.

Kathryn Wilson, CEO and Managing Partner of VUE Health

The WBENC is the largest third-party certifier of businesses owned, controlled, and operated by women in the United States. Its rigorous certification process involves a detailed review of a company's ownership, management, financials, and operations to ensure that it is at least 51% owned, controlled, and operated by women.

"We are thrilled to have received this certification, which acknowledges our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace and in our community," said Kathryn Wilson, CEO and Managing Partner of VUE Health. "We believe that diversity and inclusivity are critical to our success, and we are proud to be recognized as a woman-owned business."

The WBE certification is highly valued by corporations and government agencies that are committed to supplier diversity and seek to work with companies that are owned and operated by underrepresented groups. As a WBE-certified business, VUE Health will have access to a wide range of resources and opportunities to support long-term growth.

About VUE Health, LLC

VUE Health is a Boston-based, full-service pharmaceutical, biotech and health systems focused advertising and medical communications company focused on innovation, advancement, and the fearless pursuit of bringing science, education, and medicine to those in need.

For more information, please visit https://vuehealth.com/vue-health-receives-wbe-certification/.

Media Contact:

Susan Torres

Executive Assistant

VUE Health

617-501-5287

[email protected]

SOURCE VUE Health
DALLAS, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- In a major development in the Web 3 space, WenMint, a leading NFT launchpad has formed a new entity WEN Token LLC and announced the launch of its novel memecoin  $WEN TOKEN. The company aims to demonstrate to the crypto world that not all memecoins are created equal, and that memecoins can unite communities and create meaning beyond the initial hype.

WenMint Unveils $WEN TOKEN, A New Age Memecoin and a Dynamic Vision Tweet this All memecoins are not created equal.

$WEN TOKEN, backed by the well-established WenMint, is designed around the popular "Wen" meme. This new token will serve as the governance token for WEN DAO and is expected to launch on Ethereum and Polygon almost simultaneously.

Stepping Beyond Pre-Sales

WenMint is committed to ensuring fairness in the launch of $WEN TOKEN. There will be no pre-sale or team allocation. WenMint firmly believes that pre-sales are, in their words, "bullsh*t," and is taking on the responsibility of setting up the initial LP itself and is partnering with other major liquidity providers in the space to add additional liquidity. This commitment stems from two years of hard work in the Web 3 space, building a community and engineering groundbreaking solutions.

Stealth Fair Launch

$WEN TOKEN is set to have a stealth fair launch. No specific time or date will be announced in advance. All official links will be released simultaneously on Twitter. The initial liquidity pool will be locked, and the contract will be renounced, ensuring transparency and fairness.

Decentralized Autonomy with $WEN

The DAO treasury will be seeded with 10% of the total supply of $WEN TOKEN. Each $WEN held equates to one vote, ensuring democratic decision-making within the community. The mission is to build a decentralized community filled with some of the sharpest minds in the crypto world.

No Taxes, No Bullsh*t

WenMint is committed to building an organic community through hard work, good vibes, and without imposing additional transaction fees or "taxes". The team believes that the prevalent gas cost is tax enough in the current trading environment.

$WEN Tokenomics

The $WEN TOKEN will have a stealth fair launch with no team allocation or pre-sale. It will have a total supply of 420 billion, with 10% allocated to a staking pool, 10% for CEXes/DEXes, 10% for the DAO treasury, 10% for marketing, 20% for an airdrop, and 40% for the initial LP.

Historic Airdrop

In a significant move, WenMint is gearing up for the largest memecoin airdrop in Web 3 history. WenMint is forming a decentralized community called WEN DAO and extending an invitation to every NFT community it has collaborated with in the last two years.

For more information about $WEN TOKEN, please visit the website at https://wentoken.org and follow them on Twitter at https://twitter.com/wentokenorg

SOURCE WEN Token LLC
BEIJING, May 11, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, on Thursday visited the city of Cangzhou in north China's Hebei Province, inspecting crop production at drought-alkali fields and a coal port.

During the visit, Xi went deep into a wheat field where he learned about the cultivation of crops tolerant of drought and alkalinity. In inspecting the coal port, he asked about its operation and development planning.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2iHY4w6ysE

SOURCE CCTV+
BEIJING, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- When high-quality development advances all around, China is seeing industrial development transforming from the past production-driven mode to a brand-led one and embracing the best period for building a brand powerhouse now, said Zeng Congqin, board chairman of Chinese Baijiu maker Wuliangye Group on Thursday.

Wuliangye products at the 2023 World Brand Moganshan Conference

Zeng made the remarks on the opening ceremony of the 2023 World Brand Moganshan Conference, highlighting that the three brands incubation peaks in world's brand development history all occurred in countries where both economy and innovation grew by leaps and bounds.

Nowadays, industries of varied types in China are stepping towards the high ends of global value chains and industrial chains and building world class enterprises and crafting brands matching with the modernization path with Chinese characteristics represent an indispensable mission of the times and an opportune strategic choice, noted Zeng.

As a typical national brand and industry-leading company, Wuliangye always bears in mind the top priorities of the country and places branding work in a more important position to seize the chance to strengthen its brand personality and influence, added Zeng.

Among the 2022 World's 500 Most Influential Brands released by World Brand Laboratory, an international brand value research institute, Wuliangye ranked the 239th amid the 45 Chinese brands included and has been on the list of the type for six consecutive years with double-digit ranking rises every year.

Currently, more and more Chinese brands are deeply involved in global market to further sharpen Chinese brands on the world stage.

In China 500 2023 report released on May 9 by Brand Finance, the world's leading brand valuation consultancy, Wuliangye's brand value increased 17 percent from last year to 217.133 billion yuan, marking the seventh straight yearly growth and was rated the highest AAA+ rating.

To further the Chinese Baijiu producer's branding journey, a three-pronged approach was shared by Zeng, prioritizing product quality as the fundamental of branding, culture as the soul of brand value, and adherence to inheritance and innovation in creating world class brands.

The 2023 World Brand Moganshan Conference is jointly hosted by Xinhua News Agency, China Council for Brand Development and Zhejiang provincial government in Deqing County of Huzhou City in east China to promote Chinese brands.

Original link: https://en.imsilkroad.com/p/334043.html

SOURCE Xinhua Silk Road
CHANGSHA, China, May 12, 2023 PRNewswire/-- Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science & Technology Co., Ltd. ("Zoomlion") is hosting a technological achievements exhibition themed "Technology Salute to the New Era" from May 11 to 14 in the Zoomlion Smart Industrial City (the "City") in Changsha, Hunan Province, showcasing its achievements in intelligent manufacturing, intelligent product development, and digital transformation. The event is also the first time the City has opened its doors to the public.

Technological Innovations Drive Product Breakthroughs

Machine cluster collaboration in Zoomlion Smart Industrial City Zoomlion displays product breakthroughs driven by technological innovations Zoomlion's factory in Changsha Smart Industrial City

The exhibition showcases Zoomlion's achievements and milestones in product development across multiple sectors. Zoomlion has adhered to the "Deep Root in Technology with Product as the Center" principle to create products carrying forward technological innovations in construction machinery, agricultural equipment, and new construction materials. Zoomlion has leveraged cutting-edge technologies including 5G, big data, industrial internet, AI, and blockchain to tackle the technological bottlenecks of construction machinery intelligent manufacturing.

Zoomlion has achieved continuous breakthroughs with record-breaking products. It has launched the world's largest 20,000 ton-meter tower crane, the 2,400-ton all-terrain crane with the world's largest hosting capability, the tallest 68-meter aerial work platform, and the world's first excavators and cranes with 5G remote control.

A smart City boasting world-class intelligent manufacturing capabilities

The City, the world's largest construction machinery industry base in terms of both scale and product lineup, is home to eight world-leading lighthouse factories, 300 intelligent production lines, and eight national tech innovation platforms, boasting more than 150 industry-leading technologies and over 600 patented production technologies.

The Earthmoving Machinery Smart Park has the industry's most intelligent smart factory with 61 intelligent production lines, four of which are "lights-out" lines (meaning there is no human involvement). Upon completion, the smart park will reduce the R&D cycle by 30 percent, improve production efficiency by 25 percent, and lower per-unit energy consumption by 12 percent. It will be able to produce an excavator every six minutes on average, boasting an annual production capacity of 50,000 units.

The City has also set up a world-class hoisting machinery park that aims to achieve 100 percent real-time data collection of intelligent equipment and IT-networked production lines, rolling off one crane in 18 minutes and reducing the delivery period by 32 percent. It will also produce the world's most intelligent manufacturing base of aerial working platforms which leverages more than 60 patented production line, and 12 innovative, technologies to shorten product delivery time by 55 percent, producing a scissor-type product every 7.5 minutes and boom-type product every 20 minutes. Additionally, there is an industry-leading concrete pumping machinery smart park that adopts visual identity, AI decision-making, laser scanning, and 3D modeling technologies to achieve a 90 percent automation rate of core production processes, producing a pump truck every 30 minutes.

Zoomlion signed orders totaling 4.691 billion yuan ($675.33 million) on the Exhibition's opening day.

"We are grateful for the tremendous innovations in science and technology in this new era, as well as the support and encouragement from our leadership, trust and inclusiveness from our global customers, suppliers, and competitors from both home and abroad. We appreciate the support and attention given to innovation from our shareholders, investors, and media friends. We also recognize the contributions of our staff to this innovation. With confidence, Zoomlion will continue to lead the new revolution of technology, reaching new heights and broadening our horizons to drive innovation and transformation in the construction machinery industry," said Zhan Chunxin, CEO of Zoomlion.

SOURCE Zoomlion
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 12. The number of labor contracts in Azerbaijan has increased by over 361,000 from 2019, Trend reports via the Economy Minister Mikayil Jabbarovs tweet.

According to the tweet, the number of labor contracts in the state sector has reached 859,884.

During this period [since 2019 to date], the number of labor contracts in the non-oil private sector grew by more than 313,000 and equaled 853,340, he said.

Establishing labor relations offers advantages, such as provision of social rights, transparency in the labor market, and promotion of employment, the minister said.

As of January 1, 2023, the number of labor contracts in Azerbaijan exceeded 1.7 million.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 12. The circumstances under which the inspector cannot conduct inspections in the field of entrepreneurship were determined during a meeting of the Milli Majlis (Parliament) of Azerbaijan, Trend reports.

The amendment to the "On regulation of inspections conducted in the field of entrepreneurship and protection of the interests of entrepreneurs" law was discussed at a meeting of the Milli Majlis (Parliament) of Azerbaijan.

According to the amendment, the inspector cannot conduct inspections in the following cases:

- if he is the founder (participant) of the legal entity being audited;

- if he is a close relative of an individual entrepreneur, founder (participant) of the legal entity, member (heads) of the management bodies of the enterprise where the audit is being conducted.

When these cases are established, the head of the inspection body or the person replacing him/her amends the decision to conduct the inspection and appoints a new inspector, and this decision is submitted to the entrepreneur or his/her authorized representative.

The amendment was put to the vote and adopted in the first reading after discussion.
Jerusalem, May 12 : Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday night that Israel's military campaign in the Gaza Strip will "continue as long as necessary", amid the worst spate of violence between Israel and the Palestinians in months.

Netanyahu made the remarks after a security assessment in the Defence Ministry in Tel Aviv with Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, Shin Bet intelligence agency's director Ronen Bar, army chief Herzi Halevi and other top security officials, Xinhua news agency reported.

Netanyahu and Gallant instructed the army and Shin Bet "to continue to exact a heavy price" from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, according to a statement issued on their behalf. "The campaign will continue as long as necessary," it added.

The efforts to negotiate a truce by Egypt, a frequent mediator between the Palestinians and Israel, have not yet yielded results.

Israel's state-owned Kan TV news reported that an Egyptian team was traveling to Israel for talks but an Israeli official said in a statement on Thursday night that a truce "is no longer on the agenda at the moment." The intense fighting began after Israel killed three senior Islamic Jihad commanders in airstrikes on the Gaza Strip since Tuesday.

According to the Health Ministry in Gaza, 29 Palestinian have been killed since the beginning of the fighting, including six children and three women, and another 93 have been injured, including 32 children and 17 women.

In Israel, a man was killed after a rocket hit a residential building in Rehovot, a city 25 km south of Tel Aviv, while 11 others were injured, according to official Israeli figures.
Jerusalem, May 12 : An Israeli man was killed as rockets from Gaza hit a residential building in southern Israel, after two Palestinian rocket commanders were killed by Israeli airstrikes on Thursday.

The rocket hit the second floor of a four-storey residential building on Thursday afternoon in Rehovot, a city 25 km south of Tel Aviv, Xinhua news agency reported, citing a statement issued by Israel's Fire and Rescue Services.

Israel's Magen David Adom emergency medical service identified the fatality as a male resident of Rehovot. The Kaplan Hospital in Rehovot said in a statement that nine people were injured in the building and needed hospital care.

In the southern regional council of Eshkol, a man, identified by the Magen David Adom as a 30-year-old foreign national, was injured by shrapnel as a rocket hit a community.

In the regional council of Sdot Negev, another rocket hit the backyard of a residential house, lightly injuring an 82-year-old Israeli woman, according to Magen David Adom.

The rocket fire followed the killing of Ali Hassan Ghali, the commander of the rocket force of the Islamic Jihad, and his deputy, Ahmed Abu Daqqa, by two Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip earlier in the day, raising the Palestinian death toll to 28.

At least 547 rockets were fired toward southern and central Israel since the fighting began on Tuesday, with 394 of them crossing into Israeli territory, according to official Israeli figures.

The intense fighting began after Israel killed three senior Islamic Jihad commanders in airstrikes in Gaza on Tuesday.

Efforts to negotiate truces by Egypt, a frequent mediator between the Palestinians and Israel, have not yet yielded results. Israel's state-owned Kan TV news reported that an Egyptian team was traveling to Israel for talks but it was unclear whether any progress has been achieved.
New York, May 12 : The California state Senate passed by 34-1 vote a bill that would make discrimination on the basis of caste illegal in the state.

California would become the first state to protect caste if the state Assembly passes the bill and Governor Gavin Newsom signs it into law.

Introduced by Senator Aisha Wahab in March, SB 403 adds caste as a protected category to an existing law, the Unruh Civil Rights Act, which provides that all people in the state of California are entitled to the full and equal accommodations, advantages, facilities, privileges, or services in all business establishments.

The development comes just weeks after the California Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously passed SB 403 in April.

It also follows the Seattle City Council's historic legislation banning caste discrimination earlier this year. The resolution moved by Indian-American Kshama Sawant was approved by the Seattle City Council by six to one vote.

Wahab, the first Afghan American and Muslim elected to the California state senate, represents the 10th District -- home to a diverse Asian population.

While introducing the Bill, she had said that caste-based prejudices exist in the US, and expanding the understanding of discrimination is necessary given the growing diversity in the country.

In California, caste discrimination occurs across industries, including technology, education, construction, restaurants, domestic work, and medicine, according to civil rights organisation Equality Labs, one of the proponents of the bill.

"On behalf of all Dalit Californians and caste-oppressed people around the world, we are ecstatic that the California Senate has passed SB403 off the Senate floor," Thenmozhi Soundararajan, a Dalit activist and the founder of the caste equity organisation Equality Labs, wrote in a tweet.

"This is a win rooted in years of Dalit feminist organising, and we are just getting started in making the state safe for our entire caste-oppressed community. We know that we have a long journey ahead of us with this bill, but we have made history with this vote and are proud to look forward to working with the California Assembly on this historic bill!" Soundararajan A lot of Hindu groups in the US have expressed strong opposition to SB 403, which would specifically add "caste" to California non-discrimination policy.

Many of them fear that codifying caste in public policy will further fuel instances of Hinduphobia in the US.

"SB 403 unfairly maligns, targets and racially profiles select communities on the basis of their national origin, ethnicity and ancestry for disparate treatment, thereby violating the very laws it seeks to amend, the Unruh Civil Rights Act. It further violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the US and California State Constitutions," The Hindu American Foundation had said in a statement.
Lucknow, May 12 : The family of a 43-year-old woman, declared brain dead, has given a new lease of life to three people by donating her organs.

The woman's liver was transplanted into a 52-year-old man suffering from liver cirrhosis and was on dialysis while her kidney was given to another 46-year-old woman suffering from Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) for the past five years.

Both the transplants were done at Apollomedics Hospital.

The remaining kidney has been sent to SGPGI for a third transplant.

"The woman was brought to Apollomedics Hospital in an unconscious state on Tuesday. Doctors found that she was in critical condition as suffering from co-morbidities like BP, diabetes and heart ailment," said Dr Amit Gupta, who led the kidney transplant surgery.

"Further tests revealed that she had also suffered severe brain haemorrhage. In spite of all efforts for resuscitation, she was declared brain dead on Wednesday. The family members agreed for cadaver donation after we explained to them how it could save lives. The family requested not to make their personal details public," he added.

Thereafter, hospital authorities alerted the state about the cadaver donation to the State Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization (SOTTO)'s committee for approval. It was followed by retrieval of liver and two kidneys and transplantation.

The transplant surgery was performed by Dr Ashish K. Mishra (liver transplant surgeon), Dr Waliullah Siddiqui (liver transplant surgeon), Dr Rajiv Ranjan (gastroenterologist), Dr Suhang Verma (gastroenterologist) and Dr Jayendra Shukla (gastroenterologist).

Chief executive officer of the hospital Dr Mayank Somani said, "This noble cause creates hope for people who are suffering from chronic diseases of liver and kidney."
Bareilly : , May 12 (IANS) A cleric and head of Ittehad-e-Millat Council, Maulana Tauqeer Raza, has been booked by police for allegedly making 'provocative' remarks in support of slain gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmad at a recent public rally.

Raza had purportedly said at an election meeting in Faridpur on May 7, that the "killings of Atiq and his brother Ashraf should be avenged". He further said that people from his community should also avenge the 'insult' and 'humiliation' meted out to senior Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan.

Raza has been booked under IPC section 295-A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings) after videos of his speech went viral on social media.

The FIR was registered on the complaint of sub-inspector Gaurav Kumar, a police outpost in-charge in Faridpur.

In his complaint, Kumar said Raza addressed public meetings in several places where he made provocative speeches and hurt the religious sentiments of people which could have disrupted peace in society.

The case has been handed over to SI Sunil Bhardwaj for investigation.

Meanwhile, reacting to the FIR, Raza said, "It seems now we do not even have the right to speak. We condemn the way Atiq and his brother were murdered in police custody but the statement was clearly misinterpreted and distorted to frame me. I was addressing an election rally. Saying 'revenge' doesn't mean we will take up arms. It means we will cast our vote together to show them the power of democracy." Atiq and Ashraf were recently shot dead by three men disguised as media persons in front of police in Prayagraj.

The cleric said, "I just want to say that I am not scared of these cases. The government cannot silence my voice by piling cases on me. The government is indirectly trying to snatch away our community's right to vote. Look at how they are treating Azam Khan."
San Francisco, May 12 : Elon Musk has announced that he has found a new CEO for Twitter (or X Corp.) who will be starting her role in six weeks.

Musk said he will transition from his role as CEO of Twitter to serving as its executive chair and chief technology officer (CTO).

"Excited to announce that I've a new CEO for X/Twitter. She will be starting in 6 weeks! My role will transition to being exec chair & CTO, overseeing product, software & sysops," he tweeted on Thursday.

According to Musk's announcement, Twitter's new CEO will be a woman, but he did not specify who would fill the role.

However, NBCUniversal Head of Advertising Linda Yaccarino is "in talks" for the position, according to the report by The Wall Street Journal.

Earlier, the tech billionaire announced his intention to step down as CEO and replace himself with a new chief executive by the end of 2023.

Excited to announce that Ive hired a new CEO for X/Twitter. She will be starting in ~6 weeks!



My role will transition to being exec chair & CTO, overseeing product, software & sysops.  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 11, 2023

Meanwhile, Musk has said the company will purge inactive accounts on the platform that have been inactive for years, potentially freeing up a number of long-coveted usernames.

"We're purging accounts that have had no activity at all for several years, so you will probably see follower count drop," Musk tweeted.

-- Syndicated from IANS
New Delhi, May 12 : Almost a fortnight after receiving a bomb threat, the Delhi Public school on Mathura Road received another bomb threat via email, which has turned out to be hoax, said officials on Friday.

The school got the threat email on Thursday evening which claimed to blast the school around 11 a.m. on Friday, said the official.

However, the threat was found to be hoax and during the search nothing suspicious was found in the school.

According to police, on Thursday an information was received regarding a threatening mail, which was received on the mail ID of DPS Mathura Road in which it was mentioned that, "I am gona blast the school at 11 am on May12 ''.

"A police team along with a bomb detection squad reached the school," said a senior police official.

"They checked the computer system/mail of school, wherein it was found the said mail was received on Thursday around at 6:17 p.m. From the technical investigation, we came to know that the said email address belongs to a student, who denied sending the mail," said the official.

"The entire school was manually searched by the police teams and nothing was found suspicious. Further technical investigation/enquiry is in progress," said the official.
New Delhi, May 12 : Microsoft will not give any raise to salaried employees, including senior leaders, this year as global macroeconomic conditions continue to haunt Big Tech.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told employees in a meme, seen by The Verge, that only hourly workers will receive raises this year.

"We are clear that we are helping drive a major platform shift in this new era of AI, and doing so in a dynamic, competitive environment while also facing global macroeconomic uncertainties," Nadella told employees.

"We must maintain a leadership position in our at-scale businesses of today, generating enough yield to invest and lead in the next wave, while staying on the frontiers of both performance and efficiency," he added.

Microsoft will still offer salaried employees bonuses and stock awards, according to the report.

Senior leadership team, including Nadella, will not get salary increases and receive only lower annual performance-based bonuses.

Earlier this year, Microsoft announced to lay off 10,000 employees across the company.

In January, Nadella announced that the company will be "making changes that will result in the reduction of our overall workforce by 10,000 jobs through the end of FY23 Q3 (third quarter)".

Microsoft had more than 220,000 employees, and layoffs affected around 5 per cent of its workforce.

Microsoft-owned LinkedIn also laid off 716 employees, as the company made changes to its Global Business Organisation (GBO) and shut its InCareer app in China.
New Delhi, May 12 : This year, L'Oreal Paris celebrates its 26th year as the Official Makeup Partner to the Festival de Cannes, from May 16 to 27. The beauty brand with women empowerment, scientific innovation, and Parisian luxury at its core, presents the L'Oreal Paris 'Lights on Women' Award.

Founded to celebrate women in cinema, this award honours one promising female short-film director from among the official Cannes Short Films selection, a category created with La Cinef. Academy Award-winner, juror and L'Oreal Paris ambassador Kate Winslet will once again announce the 2023 laureate on May 26, at the Cinema de Demain dinner.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, L'Oreal Paris global spokesperson, has been gracing Cannes Film Festival for over 20 years. A global icon, she was the first Indian female actor to be a Cannes jury member and has since become synonymous with this prestigious festival. Also representing the Indian Film Industry and L'Oreal Paris, Anushka Sharma and Aditi Rao Hydari will be making their highly anticipated debut at Cannes.

The brand ambassadors are not only known for their versatility and talent in showbiz but also for their advocacy on inclusivity and representation. Their personal goals and objectives resonate seamlessly with the brand's core values and cause initiatives. Through this association with L'Oreal Paris, they will further spread the message and encourage millions of people to value and accept their individuality. The festival's 2023 theme, 'Walk Your Worth', is a nod to the brand's ethos, which encourages individuals to embrace their confidence and celebrate themselves - because they are all worth it.

Aditi Rao Hydari - L'Oreal Paris X Cannes 2023

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, on occasion of the 76th edition of Festival de Cannes says, "I look forward to returning to Festival de Cannes as a global spokesperson for L'Oreal Paris. I have been honoured with the privilege of experiencing female artists showcase their talent on a global platform of this stature. The brand's unwavering dedication to empower women has been a constant throughout its illustrious history, and this year's theme serves yet another impactful step in that direction. It has always been a pleasure to celebrate my long-standing association with the brand and the values it upholds."

Anushka Sharma said, "I am looking forward to represent L'Oreal Paris at the Cannes red carpet. I firmly believe that women must embrace their individuality with sheer confidence, and I feel truly aligned with the brand's key principles. This year's theme, 'Walk Your Worth', couldn't be more appropriate as it highlights the value of recognising and commemorating oneself. I'm happy to be a part of this progressive change towards inclusivity and to support millions of women all over the world to value and appreciate themselves. Together, let's celebrate self-worth in all its glory!"

Aditi Rao Hydari, added, "I am elated to be a part of this year's Festival De Cannes as L'Oreal Paris' spokesperson. It has truly been a privilege to have been associated with a brand that has always led the path to women empowerment and has worked towards enabling women to be confident and growth-oriented in every aspect of their lives. This year's theme of 'Walk Your Worth' truly aligns with what the brand stands for, encouraging women across the globe to accept themselves and walk their worth with confidence."

The brand stands for women's empowerment in cinema through a privileged relationship with the actress ambassadors who embody the values of the brand. As official Festival de Cannes makeup partner, it invites actors, actresses and ambassadors to bring this vision of empowered beauty to walk their worth on the red carpet. From the opening to the closing ceremony, it reveals the new season of beauty and innovation, unveiling the brand's new looks created by 30 international makeup artists under the creative direction of Global Makeup Artist Val Garland.

Festival de Cannes partner since 1997, L'Oreal Paris goes further in supporting women in cinema with the Lights on Women Award launched in 2021 to rebalance inequality in the movie industry. Underrepresented in the global film industry, only 17 per cent of those in directorial positions on leading films are women, and just 25 per cent of those behind-the-scenes. In response, L'Oreal Paris created the yearly Lights on Women program, a dotation and full support ecosystem for promising female film directors.

L'Oreal Paris acts for a representation of beauty as inclusive as the women following around the world. Attending Cannes 2023 as guests of the brand are iconic actors and actresses who embody beauty in all its diversity: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

Anushka Sharma

Aditi Rao Hydari

LeAla Bekhti

Cindy Bruna

Gemma Chan

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau

Viola Davis

Elle Fanning

Jane Fonda

Luma Grothe

Liya Kebede

Aja Naomi King

Katherine Langford

Gong Li

Eva Longoria

Andie MacDowell

Helen Mirren

Kate Winslet

Yseult

These exceptional individuals of different backgrounds reflect the diversity of L'Oreal Paris customers -- whatever their age, whatever their origin -- and uphold the feminist values at the heart of the brand.

(IANSlife can be contacted at ianslife@ians.in)

-- Syndicated from IANS
New Delhi, May 12 : A day after the Supreme Court held that the Delhi government will have the power to control its officers, the AAP government has moved the apex court complaining that the Centre isn't initiating the transfer of services secretary ordered by it.

The Kejriwal government removed the Secretary of the Delhi government's Services department on Thursday evening.

Senior advocate A.M. Singhvi, representing the Delhi government, mentioned the matter before a bench headed by the Chief Justice of India. Singhvi submitted that a bench needs to hear this matter. The Chief Justice said he will consider it listing next week.

On Thursday, a five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said: "The ideal conclusion would be that GNCTD (Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi) ought to have control over 'services', subject to exclusion of subjects which are out of its legislative domain. If services are excluded from its legislative and executive domain, the ministers and the executive, who are charged with formulating policies in the territory of NCTD, would be excluded from controlling the civil service officers who implement such executive decisions." The Supreme Court ruled that it is ideal to hold that a democratically elected Delhi government should have control over its officers and the lieutenant governor (L-G) is bound by the advice of the elected government in everything other than public order, police, and land. The top court stressed that if the government is not able to control and hold to account the officers posted in its service, then its responsibility towards the legislature as well as the public is diluted.

The bench -- also comprising Justices M.R. Shah, Krishna Murari, Hima Kohli, and P.S. Narasimha -- observed that in a democratic form of government, the real power of administration must reside in the elected arm of the state, subject to the confines of the Constitution.

The top court had stressed that an unaccountable and a non-responsive civil service may pose a serious problem of governance in a democracy. It creates a possibility that the permanent executive, consisting of unelected civil service officers, who play a decisive role in the implementation of government policy, may act in ways that disregard the will of the electorate, it added.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 12. Gas production in Azerbaijan increased by 2.6 percent to 16.2 billion cubic meters from January through April 2023, Minister of Energy Parviz Shahbazov said in a tweet, Trend reports.

According to the tweet, Azerbaijan exported to foreign markets over half or 8.4 billion cubic meters of natural gas.

"Oil production in Azerbaijan (together with condensate) amounted to 10.2 million tons, while exports amounted to 8.5 million tons from January through April 2023," said the minister.

Azerbaijan exported 26.3 million tons of oil in 2022. During the reporting period, oil production amounted to 32.6 million tons, and gas production increased by 6.5 percent compared to the same period in 2021.

In addition, 22.3 billion cubic meters of gas were exported, which is 47.7 percent of the total volume (46.7 billion cubic meters) of gas production.
New Delhi, May 12: The Taliban government in Afghanistan has expressed its dismay at the civil war-like situation in neighbouring Pakistan. The two Islamic nations share a 2,640-km long boundary known as the Durand line with communities having close ties on both sides of the shared border.

In a video release, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) of the Afghan Interim government expressed its concerns at the poor state of affairs in Pakistan and said that political stability in Pakistan is important for Afghanistan and the entire region. The spokesperson urged all stakeholders in the country to observe tolerance and understanding in the current situation.

The video statement said that the ministry has given instructions to its diplomatic missions in Pakistan to take all measures to ensure the safety and protection of Afghan nationals in Pakistan.

In statement posted on its website on Wednesday, the MoFA said: "The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is saddened by the recent events in Pakistan, leading to large-scale protests and even violence in some instances. The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan considers political stability in Pakistan in the interest of the Muslim people of Pakistan and the broader region, and hopes the sides demonstrate restraint and understanding".

On May 9, former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan was arrested on Tuesday afternoon by Pakistani paramilitary forces from the Islamabad High Court. Khan's arbitrary arrest led to severe violence as his supporters attacked Pakistani Army installations at Rawalpindi, Lahore, Peshawar and Quetta including the residences of corps commanders. The unprecedented rioting brought all of Pakistan to a standstill.

Afghanistan is naturally worried as it had barely days before the civil unrest in Pakistan participated in the China-Afghanistan-Pakistan Foreign Ministers' trilateral in Islamabad on May 6. Afghanistan's Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi had been given special permission by the UN to attend this meeting.

For the Taliban government, the trilateral had meant investments from China as well as international recognition that it has been seeking. The three nations had discussed peace, stability and reconstruction for Afghanistan along with the need to revive the Afghan economy that stands on the verge of collapse under the current regime.

Afghanistan is worried that the severe unrest in Pakistan will have a bearing on Afghanistan at a time when it is looking at economic revival through China. The Taliban government has also been exploring the possibility of making Afghanistan a centre for regional connectivity linking South Asia to the Central Asian Region (CAR) as well as linking up with China as well.

A politically unstable and economically unviable Pakistan, where the masses have led a revolt against their own army has consequences for the Taliban government. The Talibs realise it and would, therefore, want Pakistan to quieten down as soon as possible.

(The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative
Mumbai, May 12 : Shiv Sena (UBT) chief spokesperson and MP Sanjay Raut on Friday called upon the state bureaucracy and police not to 'heed' the orders or directives of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis' government which has been rendered 'unconstitutional and illegal' by the Supreme Court verdict.

"The SC judgement is very clear on this aspect. This 'illegal' government has to go within three months. We are waiting for the decision of the Speaker on the disqualification of 16 MLAs, but the apex court verdict has declared the entire government as 'unconstitutional', and even the remaining 24 MLAs will be disqualified now," said Raut.

He accused the Shinde-Fadnavis duo of spreading 'misinformation' and half-truths about the SC judgement claiming it as a 'victory', and pulled up some sections of the media which termed it as a 'relief' for the state government as "tantamount to potential contempt of the Supreme Court".

"In view of the developments, all the decisions, orders, etc., of the Shinde-Fadnavis government are rendered illegal... I call upon the officials and police not to follow any orders of this 'unconstitutional' regime, or it could spell consequences even for them later," warned Raut darkly.

Training guns on the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar, the Rajya Sabha MP said that he (Speaker) is expected to give his decision on the disqualification of 16 MLAs, including CM Shinde.

"Until then, this government has lost the moral authority to make any decisions or issue orders, the bureaucracy and police must not obey any orders of Shinde-Fadnavis, come what may, or it could result in a situation of anarchy," said Raut.

He also described Narwekar -- who has earlier been with Congress, Nationalist Congress Party, the (original) Shiv Sena and now the BJP -- as a man without ideological commitments and only interested in power.

Raut reiterated that after the SC's directions on Thursday asking the Speaker to take the decision on the matter of 16 MLAs' disqualification within a reasonable period, "this 'illegal and unconstitutional' Shinde-Fadnavis government is destined to collapse very soon".
Seoul, May 12 : The construction of a shooting range used by the US Forces Korea (USFK) in South Korea's southeastern city of Changwon without prior notification to local authorities has raised concerns about noise and safety risks among local residents, local broadcaster KBS reported.

According to the KBS report on Thursday, logging work began in March on a hill in downtown Changwon, about 300 km southeast of the capital Seoul, and the shooting range will be completed in two years.

However, as apartment complexes with over 1,100 units, shopping centres and industrial parks are concentrated within a radius of 1.5 km from the shooting range, nearby residents are greatly concerned about the noise at the site and the risk of emergency accidents, it added.

Local authorities were unaware of the project until residents raised complaints, Xinhua news agency reported quoting the KBS.

Local residents have raised petitions on the city government's website, demanding that the site be shut down immediately.

"The fact that the city government didn't even know about this is utterly dumbfounding. We local (South) Koreans almost got undermined by those Americans," a resident wrote on the city government's website.

Given residents' concerns about potential noise and safety accidents, the Changwon city government said that it would raise such concerns to the defense ministry and urge measures to prevent such incidents from occurring.
New Delhi, May 12 : The Delhi High Court on Friday directed certain news channels, including Sudarshan News, and social media platforms like YouTube, Google and Twitter to block links of news reports accusing a Muslim man of forcefully converting a woman to Islam.

The court's order comes amid a row over 'The Kerala Story' - a movie inspired by four Kerala women who converted to Islam and travelled with their husbands to Afghanistan to join IS.

Justice Prathiba M. Singh was dealing with a plea by one Azmat Ali Khan seeking removal of news content and clips aired on online platforms after a First Information Report (FIR) was lodged against him on April 19.

A Delhi-based woman accusing him of forced religious conversion had lodged an FIR.

According to Khan's argument, the Delhi Police are now looking into the allegations made against him, and the public release of the recordings poses a serious threat to both the independent probe and to Khan's safety and security.

While Google asserted that the originators of the videos should be heard because the FIR has already been filed, the counsel representing News Broadcasting and Digital Standards Authority submitted that none of the respondent news channels were members of News Broadcasters and Digital Association.

However, the counsel representing the Press Council of India stated that Khan's email from May 9 with links to news articles will be investigated.

The court then issued notice to the respondents, including Youtube, Google, Twitter, Sudarshan TV, Orissa TV, Bharat Prakashan and Suresh Chavhanke.

The Delhi Police was also issued a notice directing to place on record a status report on the probe in the matter and to contact the complainant and inform her about the pendency of the petition.

"Considering that there is severe threat as is evident from the comments placed before the court, it is directed that the links set out in the petition shall be immediately blocked for public viewing," the court said.

The movie, 'The Kerala Story' has triggered bans in India to avoid any incident of hatred and violence. Its makers say the film is based on years of research, but some critics have called it propaganda.
Hyderabad, May 12 : Retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Somesh Kumar assumed office as Chief Advisor to Telangana Chief Minister on Friday.

The former chief secretary assumed the chair in his office on the sixth floor of the state Secretariat. Priests performed puja in the chambers of the Chief Advisor.

Later, officials and staff of the secretariat greeted Kumar on assuming office. The Chief Advisor expressed his gratitude to Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao for once again bestowing faith and giving him an opportunity to serve the state.

The state government on May 9 appointed Somesh Kumar as Chief Advisor to the Chief Minister.

According to the Government Order issued by Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari, Somesh Kumar will hold the office in the rank of a Cabinet minister for a period of three years.

His appointment came three months after he took voluntary retirement after he was shifted to Andhra Pradesh following a court order.

Kumar was removed as Chief Secretary of Telangana after the High Court quashed his allotment to that state.

On January 12, he had reported to the Andhra Pradesh government as per orders of the government of India. He had subsequently called on Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.

He was not given any post on his request as he was also not interested to continue in service though it ends in December.

Somesh Kumar, who had served as Chief Secretary of Telangana for three years, is considered very close to Chief Minister KCR.

Telangana High Court on January 12 had set aside the order of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), allocating Somesh Kumar to Telangana in 2016.

The same day the Department for Personnel Training (DoPT) of the government of India relieved him from the state government of Telangana and directed to join the Andhra Pradesh government within two days.

CAT's Hyderabad bench had passed an order on March 29, 2016 allotting Somesh Kumar to Telangana.

Following bifurcation of united Andhra Pradesh into two separate states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in 2014, the union government had re-allotted IAS and IPS officers working in the undivided state to the residuary state of Andhra Pradesh and the newly created Telangana state.

Somesh Kumar, an IAS from the 1989 batch in Bihar,Awas allotted to Andhra Pradesh by the DoPT.

However, Somesh Kumar had moved the CAT and secured an order staying his allotment t o Andhra Pradesh cadre. Since then he continued in Telangana and became Chief Secretary in 2019.

DoPT had filed an appeal in the High Court challenging the stay order of CAT, Hyderabad branch.
New Delhi, May 12 : Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday met International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director Kristalina Georgieva on the sidelines of G7 finance ministers and central bank governors (FMCBG) meet.

She is on a two-day visit to Japan. The G7 meeting is taking place in Niigata.

Meanwhile, she also met Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Lawrence Wong during the sidelines of the meeting.

Both the ministers exchanged their views on strengthening India-Singapore cooperation on issues like digital payment gateway, food security, green transition, crypto assets and Pandemic preparedness among other issues.

Sitharaman highlighted the emerging role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and skilling programmes in the context of setting up of new AI centres.

Both the ministers discussed ways for collaboration between India-Singapore in AI research and Quantum Computing.
Mumbai, May 12 : Ahead of the release of his first-ever Indian hip-hop album 'Karam', Indian-American DJ-producer KSHMR has dropped the video of the first track from the very same album, which also features rapper and 'Bigg Boss 16' winner MC Stan.

Titled 'Haath Varthi', the fiery dance floor banger is a collaborative effort with MC Stan. The track effortlessly merges sublime Indian instrumentation with captivating Western beats, with flute and percussion sounds taking the forefront along with lively lyrics that encourage listeners to unwind.

KSHMR stated: "After playing through some beats, Stan instantly connected with 'Haath Varthi' - perfectly capturing the moment in our story where the gang is partying, celebrating their new wealth."

"Of course, story aside, the song stands on its own through MC Stan's immense charisma. I was blown away by how lyrics just poured out of him, the whole thing was written in just an hour."

"From there, I asked my friend Phenom to co-produce it with me -- he is a master of the baile funk sound and helped give 'Haath Varthi' the authentic percussion it needed. Seeing Stan perform it when he won Big Boss was a surreal, an unbelievable moment. I couldn't be more proud of him."

MC Stan's smooth vocals add an extra punch of excitement and energy to this mesmerising party anthem.

MC Stan stated: "'Haath Varthi' was the track I worked on when I met KSHMR for the first time in Mumbai. I was hyped up because as everyone, I've also used KSHMR's sample packs over the years. From the moment KSHMR played this beat to me, I knew this is a bop. An hour is hardly all it took for the song to be recorded and I'm so excited with how the song has already grown on to people."

KSHMR's star-studded album 'Karam' will feature desi hip-hop frontrunners. The upcoming album serves as a timely reminder about KSHMR's cultural lineage and deep-seated connection with India.

-- Syndicated from IANS
Aybak : , May 12 (IANS) Former governor of Afghanistan's central Bamyan province during the then Afghan government Mohammad Tahir Zuhair has surrendered to authorities in the northern Samangan province, provincial Director for Information and Culture Firuzudin Munib said on Friday.

Munib said Zuhair surrendered to security forces in the Dara-e-Suf Bala district on Thursday and has been shifted to the provincial capital Aybak city, Xinhua news agency reported.

Zuhair, who had also served as Minister for Information and Culture during the past government, used to live secretly since the fall of the former western-backed administration and induction of the Taliban-run caretaker government in Afghanistan in August 2021, local media said.

Hundreds of ranking officials with the ousted government have either been living in exile or joined the new caretaker administration and living inside Afghanistan.

The country's former President Hamid Karzai and the erstwhile head of the Peace Council in the then government Abdullah Abdullah are among the top officials living in Afghanistan's capital Kabul since the fall of the former government in August 2021.
Kolkata, May 12 : Vikas Mishra, brother of the prime accused in the alleged multi- crore coal smuggling scam in West Bengal Vinay Mishra, on Friday was taken into custody by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Vinay Mishra, a former youth Trinamool Congress leader, is currently absconding, and as believed by the CBI, he is currently underground at Vanuatu Island.

CBI originally arrested Vikas Mishra from New Delhi in December 2021. However, the central agency sleuths could hardly get him into custody for questioning as he had spent the major part of that tenure in hospital. Recently he was released on bail by the Calcutta High Court.

However, the CBI challenged that decision of the Calcutta HIgh Court at the Supreme Court. On April 10, the apex court allowed the CBI to take Mishra in custody.

On Friday, as he appeared at the special court of CBI at Asansol in West Burdwan district of West Bengal, the judge of the special court directed CBI to take custody of him at the court premises only. His CBI custody will be four days till May 16 and he will be presented at the same court on that date only.

On Thursday only, the CBI sleuths arrested Sunil Jha, a former director of Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL), a subsidiary of Coal India Limited (CIL), and Anand Kumar Singh, a former inspector of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) in connection with alleged coal smuggling scam.

On Friday, they were presented at the special court of CBI at Asansol, which granted four days of CBI custody for them.

Sources said that both the arrested persons had close connection with the kingpin of the alleged scam, Anup Maji a.k.a. Lala. They were arrested after being questioned at the CBI's Nizam Palace office here on Thursday.

This is for the first time that a (former) CISF official has been netted by CBI in connection to its probe into the alleged coal smuggling scam. Sources said that lots of inconsistencies were detected in the statements given by Jha and Singh during questioning, following which they were arrested.
Tehran, May 12 : Iran and Oman have agreed to start cooperation in the space sector, media reported.

The issue was discussed in a meeting between Iranian Minister of Information and Communications Technology Isa Zarepour and Omani Minister of Transport, Communications and Information Technology Saeed bin Hamoud al-Maawali in Tehran, the report said on Thursday.

Speaking at the meeting, the Iranian Minister said his country is capable of building remote sensing and communications satellites for launch into low Earth orbits and can cooperate with Oman in this area, the official news agency IRNA reported He added that over the past two years, cooperation between the two countries has been enhanced, noting that following the recent visit by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi to Muscat, the cooperation has taken a better form, Xinhua news agency reported.

The two Ministers also agreed to begin cooperation in the fields of data transit and postal services, the report added.

The Omani Minister, for his part, said there are numerous areas for cooperation between the two countries in the fields of communications and information technology, noting that the field of modern technologies is another important area for bilateral cooperation.

The national post companies of the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding at the end of the meeting, IRNA said.

Iran has in recent years built a number of satellites. In August 2022, the country successfully launched the Khayyam satellite into space from the Baikonur space station in Kazakhstan by Russia's Soyuz satellite carrier rocket.
At the invitation of Member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Premier of the State Council Ding Xuexiang, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance of Singapore Lawrence Wong will visit China from May 13 to 17.

At the invitation of State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang, David Francis, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Sierra Leone, will pay an official visit to China from May 15 to 18.

AFP: According to official reports, Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs Wang Yi and US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan held talks for over eight hours earlier this week, but the two sides only issued two short readouts. I have two questions. First, does this mean that the two sides failed to reach any agreement on key issues? Second, have the two sides talked about the possibility to have higher-level meetings during the G7 Summit to be held?

Wang Wenbin: Weve put out a readout on this. On May 10 and 11 local time, Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs Wang Yi and US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan met in Vienna, Austria. The two sides held candid, in-depth, substantive and constructive discussions on ways to remove obstacles in China-US relations and stabilize the relationship from deterioration. Director Wang fully elaborated on Chinas serious position on the Taiwan question. The two sides also exchanged views on the situation in the Asia-Pacific region, Ukraine and other international and regional issues of mutual interest. Both sides agreed to continue to make good use of this channel of strategic communication.

Xinhua News Agency: China announced the visit of Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki. Could you share with us the program and Chinas expectations for the visit? How does China view the current China-Eritrea relations?

Eritrea is an important country in the Horn of Africa. China and Eritrea enjoy long-standing friendship. In 2022, President Xi Jinping and President Isaias Afwerki agreed to elevate our bilateral relations to a strategic partnership. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Eritrea. The two countries have deepened political mutual trust, achieved fruitful outcomes in practical cooperation and maintained close communication and coordination in international and regional affairs.

During President Isaias Afwerkis visit, President Xi Jinping will hold a welcome ceremony and banquet for him, and the two heads of state will hold talks. Premier Li Qiang will meet with President Isaias Afwerki. We believe that President Isaias Afwerkis visit will give a new boost to the all-round, in-depth growth of China-Eritrea relations and further advance our friendly cooperation.

TASS: The EU Indo-Pacific Ministerial Forum will be held in Stockholm, Sweden on May 13. It is learned that inclusive green growth is on the agenda, along with Russia-related topics. Does State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang plan to attend the event?

Wang Wenbin: The Asia-Pacific is a promising region for cooperation and development, not a chessboard for geopolitical contest. Any regional cooperation framework in the Asia-Pacific needs to follow the prevailing trend of peace and development in todays world, aim for greater mutual trust and cooperation among countries in the region and be open, transparent and inclusive. None of such frameworks should be based on the outdated Cold War mentality, draw ideological lines or drive up division and confrontation.

China News Service: A repatriation ceremony of Chinese ancient relics was held recently by Chinese and US officials in New York. Two stone-carved tomb beds dating back to the Northern Wei and Tang dynasties (386 AD  907 AD) were returned to China. Do you have any comment?

Wang Wenbin: On the afternoon of May 9 local time, authorized by Chinas National Cultural Heritage Administration (NCHA), the Chinese Consulate-General in New York and the Manhattan District Attorneys Office in New York held a handover ceremony, during which the US handed to the Chinese government two important Chinese cultural relics which had been illegally transported overseas and seized in investigations. This marks the fifth repatriation of cultural relics to China in recent years from US government agencies and the latest cooperation in the field of cultural heritage between the two countries. As we have learned, following the ceremony, our colleagues have started organizing the transportation of the relics back to China.

China is committed to expanding intergovernmental cooperation on combating and preventing the smuggling of cultural relics, as part of a broader effort to preserve humanitys common cultural heritage. We stand ready to work with the US and other countries to step up exchanges and cooperation in the field of cultural heritage preservation.

Reuters: Are you able to confirm whether Chinas Ambassador to France Lu Shaye will be recalled on May 15?

Wang Wenbin: That is not true.

Peoples Daily: We noted that the Europe-based think tank Bruegel said in a recently-published report that the Belt and Road Initiative has stood the test of multiple challenges over the past ten years and been widely applauded, especially by developing countries. Do you have any comment?

Wang Wenbin: We noted this report you mentioned. The report documents mainstream news coverage in nearly 150 countries and on this basis makes a quantitative analysis of the global attention to and sentiments towards the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). According to the report, the initiative is generally positively received in the world.

The BRI proposed by President Xi Jinping is well received among the world most importantly because it is an initiative of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits. China never imposes its will on other countries, nor does it slip any selfish geopolitical agenda into the initiative. As an open and inclusive international cooperation platform, the BRI aims not for a globalization that serves the interest of only few, but for global common development that is more inclusive, balanced and beneficial for all. Any lies and rumors to smear the BRI and slander Chinas cooperation with BRI partners will be debunked by these solid facts.

China will host the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation later this year. Through this event, we hope to work together with the rest of the international community to take stock of what weve achieved and chart the course for the future, continue to elevate high-quality BRI cooperation and be a source of driving force and hope for world economic recovery and global sustainable development.

CCTV: China announced earlier that the Special Representative of the Chinese Government on Eurasian Affairs will visit Ukraine and other countries. Can you share more information with us?

Wang Wenbin: Starting from May 15, Special Representative of the Chinese Government on Eurasian Affairs Li Hui will travel to Ukraine, Poland, France, Germany and Russia for communication on a political settlement of the Ukraine crisis.

Since the beginning of the Ukraine crisis, China has held an objective and just position and actively promoted talks for peace. President Xi Jinping has put forward four principles, called for joint efforts in four areas and shared three observations on Ukraine, which outline Chinas fundamental approach to the issue. On this basis, China released its Position on the Political Settlement of the Ukraine Crisis, which reflects the above core ideas of Chinas stance and takes into account the legitimate concerns of all parties, and has thus received extensive understanding and recognition from the international community. This upcoming visit by the Chinese representative again reflects Chinas commitment to promoting peace talks and staying on the side of peace.

As the Ukraine crisis drags on and escalates, the world continues to experience the spillover effects of the crisis. The voices for ceasefire and deescalation are building in the international community. China will continue to play a constructive role and build more international consensus on ending hostilities, starting peace talks and preventing escalation of the situation, and help facilitate a political settlement of the Ukraine crisis.

Reuters: Are you able to confirm that State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang will travel to Australia in July?

Wang Wenbin: China and Australia maintain contact and communication at all levels. As to your specific question, I have nothing to share.

Beijing Daily: Can you share more with us on the recent visit by State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang to France?

Wang Wenbin: On May 10 local time, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang held talks with French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Catherine Colonna in Paris and also held consultations with her as the co-chairs of the China-France high-level dialogue on people-to-people exchange. During the visit, State Councilor Qin Gang met with Diplomatic Advisor to the French President Emmanuel Bonne and inaugurated the China House at the Cite Internationale Universitaire de Paris (CIUP).

State Councilor Qin Gang noted that President Emmanuel Macrons state visit to China is a complete success. The two presidents agreed to take the opportunity brought by the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations in 2024 to fully resume exchanges and cooperation in areas of culture, education, science and technology, and take the bilateral relations to an even higher level. China is ready to work with France to follow through on the important common understandings reached by the two heads of state, accelerate the advancement of exchanges and cooperation in various fields, and work for continuous development of the close and enduring comprehensive strategic partnership between China and France.

State Councilor Qin Gang noted that in a world of change and disorder, China and France, as time-honored countries with splendid civilizations, have the responsibility to promote mutual respect and inclusiveness between different cultures and civilizations, eliminate misgivings and bias, and sow the seed of peace in the heart of the people in the world. These were the very purpose of the Global Civilization Initiative proposed by President Xi Jinping. The two sides need to make full use of the high-level dialogue on people-to-people exchange to further deepen people-to-people exchange between the two countries and enhance mutual understanding between the peoples. Priority areas for cooperation can include sports, education, language, science, technology, innovation and tourism.

State Councilor Qin Gang stressed that China has always regarded Europe as a comprehensive strategic partner, supported Europe in strengthening its strategic autonomy and playing an active role in the international arena, and stands for a China-Europe relationship which is not targeted at, subjugated to or controlled by any third party. China, France and the EU need to pursue win-win cooperation by expanding two-way opening up and build a more stable China-EU supply chain partnership of mutual trust.

Foreign Minister Colonna noted that France-China relations are of vital importance. The two heads of state have set the direction, and the two sides need to jointly work for greater development of bilateral relations. She suggested that the two sides fully restart cooperation mechanisms in various fields. France is ready to work with China to plan for events celebrating the 60th anniversary of bilateral relations. France attaches importance to its economic relations with China, believing that such relations are interdependent, mutually beneficial as well as complementary, open and transparent. France does not engage in bloc confrontation and holds that all countries should live in harmony and achieve common development. Noting that China plays an important role in the worlds peace and stability, Colonna said France is willing to strengthen communication with China on major international and regional issues to seek more common ground.

China Daily: The PRC Is Not a Developing Country Act was passed in the US House not long ago, which requires the Department of State to take actions to stop China from being classified as a developing country by international organizations. The US Congress introduced a resolution recently that opposes Chinas status as a developing country in the WTO. Some commentators have said such moves show that the US puts its domestic law above international law, revealing its real motive to keep China down. Whats your response?

Wang Wenbin: China is the worlds largest developing country, a fact that is recognized by the world. The US wants to put a label on China that says developed country. Im afraid this simply will not stick on China.

Chinas status as a developing country is supported by concrete facts. Chinas per capita GDP in 2022 was US$12,741, or one-fifth of that of advanced economies and only one-sixth of that of the US. Chinas GNI ranked 68th and HDI 79th in the world in 2021, which is similar to other major developing countries.

Chinas status as a developing country also has a solid basis in international law. This status is recognized by WTO mechanisms and international agreements such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, and has been accepted by the vast majority of the members of the international community. This status should not be taken away from China.

Over the years, China has stood shoulder-to-shoulder with developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America in the struggle for national liberation and supported each other in national development. We have together vividly demonstrated what a friend in need is a friend indeed means and have long been a community with a shared future. Instead of joining the Western rich countries club, China will always stand with fellow developing countries to work for our common rights and defend our common interests. As President Xi Jinping has pointed out, China will always be a member of the big family of developing countries.

I would also like to stress that it is Chinas legitimate and lawful right to defend our developing country status. China does not use the status as a shield to avoid international obligations or a stepping stone to special privileges. Instead, we have been contributing to world peace and development. From 2013 to 2021, China has contributed about 38.6% of world economic growth annually on average, higher than that of G7 countries combined. China was the first to realize the Millennium Development Goals and accounted for more than 70% of world poverty reduction. We have become the second largest contributor to the UNs regular budget and peacekeeping assessments. In the WTO, the special and differential treatment provisions for China provide far less favorable support than the average level of support enjoyed by developing countries.

The US does not get to decide whether China is a developing country. The US has come up with various false narratives to deny Chinas developing country status with the single objective to suppress and contain Chinas development, to shift responsibility on China, to sow discord between China and fellow developing countries, and to disrupt and stall the momentum of the collective rise of developing countries. But China and other developing countries will not fall into that trap. China will firmly defend its developing country status, deepen solidarity and cooperation with other developing countries, work for greater representation and say of developing countries in the international governance system and defend the legitimate and lawful rights and interests of developing countries.

Hubei Media Group: It was reported that Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg confirmed respectively at interviews that the two sides are discussing opening a NATO liaison office in Japan. Do you have any comment?

Wang Wenbin: NATO has publicly stated on many occasions that it remains a regional alliance and does not seek a geopolitical breakthrough. The Asia-Pacific lies beyond the geographical scope of the North Atlantic and has no need for a replica of NATO. However, we have seen NATO constantly strengthening ties with Asia-Pacific countries, and bent on going east into this region, interfering in regional affairs and inciting bloc confrontation. What is NATO really up to? This calls for high vigilance among countries in the world, particularly in the Asia-Pacific. We hope relevant parties will not undermine regional peace and stability only to pursue so-called geopolitical interests.

In the meantime, the rest of the world are looking closely at whether Japan really wants to spearhead NATOs extension into the Asia-Pacific. Asia is one of the most peaceful and stable regions in the world and a promising place for cooperation and development, not a wrestling ground for geopolitical contest. Given Japans history of militarist aggression during the last century, Japans military and security moves have been closely watched by its Asian neighbors and the international community. We urge Japan to draw lessons from history, stay committed to the path of peaceful development, and avoid doing things that could dismantle trust and affect peace and stability in this region.

CCTV: People familiar with the matter have told the media that G7 member states will announce joint actions to respond to economic coercion so as to send a message to China. Whats Chinas comment?

Wang Wenbin: If any country should be criticized for economic coercion, it should be the United States. The US has been overstretching the concept of national security, abusing export control and taking discriminatory and unfair measures against foreign companies. This seriously violates the principles of market economy and fair competition.

According to media reports, US government sanctions designations soared by 933% between 2000 and 2021. The Trump administration alone imposed more than 3,900 sanctions, or three per day on average within four years. More than 9,400 sanctions designations had come into effect in the US by fiscal year 2021. The US has slapped unilateral economic sanctions on nearly 40 countries, affecting nearly half of the worlds population.

Not even G7 members have been spared from US economic coercion and bullying. Companies such as Toshiba from Japan, Siemens from Germany and Alstom from France, were all victims of US suppression. If the G7 Summit is to discuss response to economic coercion, perhaps it should first discuss what the US has done. As the G7 host, would Japan express some of those concerns to the US on behalf of the rest of the group who have been bullied by the US? Or at least speak a few words of the truth?

Instead of a perpetrator, China is a victim of US economic coercion. We have been firmly opposed to economic coercion by any country in the world and urge the G7 to embrace the trend of openness and inclusiveness in the world, stop forming exclusive blocs and not become complicit in any economic coercion.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 12. TotalEnergies company intends to expand cooperation with Azerbaijan, Trend reports via the Azerbaijani Ministry of Economy.

This issue was discussed during the meeting between the Minister of Economy of Azerbaijan Mikayil Jabbarov and the President of Exploration and Production at TotalEnergies Nicolas Terraz.

"At the meeting, successful cooperation between the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) and TotalEnergies was noted, negotiations were held on expanding partnership in the oil and gas sector, and cooperation in the field of renewable energy production," the ministry added.

SOCAR and TotalEnergies signed an agreement on November 21, 2016, on determining the main contractual and commercial conditions of the first stage of development of the Absheron gas condensate field.

The agreement on exploration, development, and production sharing in the Absheron offshore block was signed on February 27, 2009.

The term of the contract amounts to 30 years. The contract area is 747 square kilometers.

The Absheron field is located in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea, 100 km southeast of Baku, at a depth of about 500 meters. The reserves of the field are estimated at 350 billion cubic meters of gas and 45 million tons of condensate.
Guwahati, May 12 : At least two people, including a woman, sustained injuries after a leopard attacked them in Guwahati on Friday.

The incident happened in the Fatashil Ambari area of the city.

Rohini Ballave Saikia, the Divisional Forest Officer in Kamrup East Division, told IANS, "A leopard attacked a man and a woman at their residence in that area around 6 a.m. Following the incident, the locals immediately rushed them to the Guwahati Medical College and Hospital, and the duo has been undergoing treatment." The injured persons have been identified as Suman Kumar Singh and Munair Devi.

"The forest staff of Fatasil visited the place and accordingly planned to do patrolling today," Saikia added.

He further said that last time, the forest department installed a cage there, but couldn't trap the troubling animal.

The officer said, "We will once again try to trap him by installing a cage with the help of Assam State Zoo officials."
Mumbai, May 12 : Filmmaker Homi Adajania has talked about the most intense scene he shot with veteran actor Dimple Kapadia on the shoot of 'Saas, Bahu Aur Flamingo' and what all went behind creating it.

Talking about the most intense scene he shot with Dimple Kapadia, Adajania said: "I think the most intense scene was when Dimple's character Savitri walks through her atrium to her room after she leaves the celebration when she came back from attacking the Monk and she realises that her master plan has not worked out." "There is something way more devious, which is beyond her at this point in the narrative and she goes through all the tragic milestones that has were extremely sort of prominent for making her the character she is today." He added: So she goes through all the milestones from whether it's the murder of her husband - what made her when she was left to die in the desert, and how she rose like a phoenix rather than crumbled up and died, how Monk shot her, she lost everyone close to her in various tragedies and she goes through those milestones." Homi recalled when Dimple was doing that, it's just a walk and it's difficult for an actor because an actor cannot see you.

"I am as a director seeing the visuals that will be intercut within the scene. But to get that intensity of those visuals, memories for the actor is much more difficult because some of those scenes have not been shot, some have not been seen - so she needed to get that intensity and go through each memory and keep it climbing in that walk." He added: "Then she reaches the pinnacle of emotional threshold where she starts beating this door and she was wearing one of those massive rings, along with our other chunky accessories, which broke one of the fingers because it was swollen like a little watermelon, but she did it in one take." "In spite of me being good with the take, she wanted to do more takes and she actually ended up doing four takes and in fact, it was so emotionally draining to direct it that I can't even imagine what she must have gone through to enact it." Homi said that Dimple won't stop until she's happy or he would tell her to go off the set.

The show also stars Radhika Madan, Angira Dhar and Isha Talwar in pivotal roles along with a talented cast, Ashish Verma, Varun Mitra, Udit Arora, Deepak Dobriyal and Monica Dogra amongst others.

Saas, Bahu aur Flamingo is streaming on Disney+ Hotstar.
New Delhi, May 12 : In the 2022 Gujarat assembly elections, 13 per cent of the MLAs spent less than 50 per cent of the expense limit in their constituency, while the BJP MLAs on an average spent 69.9 per cent of the expense limit, according to a report of the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Gujarat Election Watch.

In its report, the ADR said that out of 182 MLAs analysed, 23 (13 per cent) MLAs have declared election expenses less than 50 per cent of the expense limit in their constituency.

It said that based on the election expense declarations of 182 MLAs from Gujarat Assembly, the average amount of money spent by the MLAs in the elections is Rs 27.10 lakh, which is 68 per cent of the expense limit.

Highlighting the party-wise average election expenses, the report said, "The party wise average election expenses show that the average spending for 156 MLAs from BJP is Rs 27.94 lakh, which is 69.9 per cent of the expense limit." It said that for 17 MLAs from Congress, who won in the elections, the average election expenditure is Rs 24.92 lakh, which is 62.3 per cent of the expense limit, while the average election expenditure for five MLAs from AAP is Rs 15.63 lakh, which is 39.1 per cent of the expense limit.

It also pointed out that the election expenditure for one MLA from SP is Rs 6.87 lakh, which is 17.2 per cent of the expense limit and three Independent MLAs spent Rs 21.59 lakh that is 54 per cent of the expense limit.

In the Gujarat assembly polls that were in December last year, the BJP won 156 out of 182 seats, while the Congress was reduced to 17 seats. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) that made its debut with a high-decibel campaign won five seats. Independents won three seats and the Samajwadi Party picked up one.
New Delhi, May 12 : In the 2022 Gujarat Assembly elections, out of the total 182 MLAs, BJP's three legislators spent the maximum from the poll expenditure limit, according to a report of the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Gujarat Election Watch.

In its report, the ADR said that out of 182 MLAs analysed, BJP MLA from Nizar (ST constituency) Dr Jayrambhai Chemabhai Gamit spent Rs 38.65 lakh out of Rs 40 lakh limit. He spent 97 per cent of the total poll expenditure limit.

BJP MLA from Kalok in the Gandhinagar Assembly seat Thakor Laxmanji Punaji (Bakaji) spent Rs 37.78 lakh out of the 40 lakh limit, which is 94 per cent of the total expenditure limity. He was followed by another BJP MLA from the Dholka Assembly seat, Kiritsinh Sardarsang Dabhi, who spent Rs 36.09 lakh out of Rs 40 lakh limit, which is 90 per cent of the total limit.

However, one MLA each from the Samajwadi Party, Congress and the debutant AAP, spent the least amount in the Gujarat Assembly polls.

The report said that SP's MLA from the Kutiyana Assembly seat, Kandhalbhai Sarmanbhai Jadeja spent Rs 6.87 lakh out of the Rs 40 lakh total expenditure limit. He only spent 17 per cent of the total expenditure. He was followed by Amit Chavda of the Congress, who won from the Anklav Assembly seat. Chavda spent Rs 9.28 out of Rs 40 lakh, which is 23 per cent of the total expenditure limit.

AAP MLA from Botad, Makwana Umeshbhai Naranbhai spent Rs 9.64 lakh, which is 24 per cent of the total expenditure limit.

The report is based on the election expenditure statements submitted after the Gujarat Assembly Election 2022 for the newly elected MLAs. The expenditure limit for the MLAs during the Gujarat Assembly election was Rs 40 lakh.

In the Assembly polls held in November-December last year, the BJP won 156 out of 182 seats, while the Congress was reduced to 17 seats. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) that made its debut with a high-decibel campaign won five seats. Independents won three seats and the Samajwadi Party picked up one.
New Delhi, May 12 : Dell Technologies on Friday launched two new Alienware m16 and x14 R2 gaming laptops in India.

The Alienware m16 and x14 R2 are priced at Rs 1,84,990 and Rs 2,06,990, respectively, and are available to purchase from the company's official website, online and offline stores starting May 12.

"Designed for today's pro-gamers and enthusiasts, our diverse range of Alienware and G-series devices are go-to for gaming," Pujan Chadha, Director for Product Marketing, India Consumer, Dell Technologies, India, said in a statement.

The new laptops feature the latest 13th Gen Intel Core processors and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40-Series GPUs.

With a 16:10 display aspect ratio, both laptops come equipped with the iconic Legend 3.0 design, advanced Alienware Cryo-tech thermal architecture, and the redesigned Alienware Command Centre 6.0 to provide gamers with superior features in compact form factors, according to the company.

Moreover, the company said that the m16 supports up to NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 GPU and up to 9TB of storage along with four M.2 SSD slots for fast booting speeds.

The Alienware x14 R2 encompasses a 165Hz QHD+ display that offers the best charging capabilities along with the lightning fast Express Charge as well as Type-C support for convenient portable gaming.

The m16 is also stocked with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, bringing gaming experiences close to reality.
Islamabad, May 12 : Pakistan's Intelligence Bureau (IB) has written to the Chief Commissioner Islamabad and the Inspector General of Islamabad Police, urging them to take necessary measures to secure state buildings and properties, including police lines, in the event of the release of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, media reported.

The agency has issued two separate letters. In one letter, the agency recommended securing the premises where Imran Khan is currently being held, as well as the adjacent buildings, to prevent any untoward incidents due to the potential threat of attacks by miscreants.

In the letter addressed to Islamabad Chief Commissioner Noor-ul-Amin Mangel and IGP Islamabad Dr Akbar Nasir Khan, the IB stated that Imran Khan has been making inflammatory statements against institutions, which have resulted in violent incidents across the country, Geo News reported.

The letter also pointed out that PTI protesters have damaged government and private properties. Furthermore, the protesters blocked the road leading to Islamabad airport for hours, and food supplies were not allowed to enter the city.

"Protesters in the form of mobs took law into their own hands in Islamabad. Public and private buildings were damaged and torched by the protestors," it added, Geo News reported.

According to the IB letter, the release of the former Pak PM could potentially result in a significant reaction from the protesters against institutions, posing a threat to the lives and property of citizens. Therefore, the security of government buildings and properties, including police lines, must be increased to counter the situation.

"The situation demands that security measures should be taken to thwart the ambitions of the miscreants," it further added, Geo News reported.

The letter warned that the reaction of the mob against institutions could intensify if Imran Khan is released, leading to potential harm to innocent lives and property. The IB has suggested that effective precautionary measures must be taken to counter the nefarious designs of the miscreants.
Lucknow, May 12 : More than 30,000 criminals have been convicted and sentenced in the past three years in Uttar Pradesh.

According to the government spokesman, the highest number of 10,520 criminals was sentenced by the court under the Arms Act between 2020 and 2022.

According to the latest statistics compiled by the Directorate of Prosecution, 4,078 criminals were sentenced under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act; 1,218 under rape cases; 8,646 under crime against women and children; 2,387 under murder charges; 1,152 under cases of dowry deaths, and 1,141 under robberies, and 279 under cow slaughter cases.

Since the formation of the Yogi Adityanath government in March 2017, the UP Police have killed 184 miscreants in encounters, said Ashutosh Pandey, ADG of UP Police Prosecution Wing.

He said that effective pursuance by prosecution officers in the court and 100 per cent testimony of witnesses have ensured the conviction of criminals.

He said that punishments were given to 535 criminals in 2020 and in 2022, 2,313 criminals were sentenced -- an increase of 332 per cent.

The officer said that 671 criminals were punished in 2022 in cases of rape. This figure was 177 in 2020, registering an increase of 280 per cent.

Similarly, in 2020, in the cases of crime against women and children, 1,048 criminals were punished.

While in 2022, 5,351 criminals were punished, recording an increase of 411 per cent.

In murder cases, 420 criminals were awarded punishment in 2020. And in 2022, 1,180 criminals were punished in such cases, logging an increase of 181 per cent.

Further, the Directorate of Prosecution awarded punishment to 182 criminals in 2020 and 572 others in 2022 in dowry death cases.

Similarly, 745 criminals were penalised in 2022 against 177 in 2020 in robbery cases, registering an increase of 321 per cent. In cow slaughter cases, 200 criminals were penalised in 2022 against 29 in 2020.

However, in the last three years, the maximum number of punishments was given in Arms Act cases.

A total of 6,373 criminals were punished under Arms Act in 2022 against 1,960 in 2020, registering an increase of 225 per cent.
Thiruvananthapuram, May 12 : The Kerala unit of Congress on Friday alleged that state Health Minister Veena George used glycerine to cry while visiting the kin of woman doctor Vandana Das who was murdered while on duty.

On Wednesday, 22-year-old Vandana Das was stabbed multiple times by 42-year-old Sandeep, an alleged drug addict brought to state-run Kottarakara hospital by police after he suffered a fall and injured himself.

The Health Minister had come under attack from all quarters for her remarks on the murder of the young house surgeon. Reacting to the murder, George had said, "This happened to the young doctor because she was not experienced enough to handle such attacks." George is being criticised at numerous protests that have broken out against the crime.

Former State Minister and veteran Congress legislator Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan on Friday accused George of shedding crocodile tears at Vandana's house.

"I was observing her since the time she entered the house and her reactions to the parents and before the body. She had used glycerin to fake tears. Her concern was not genuine," said Radhakrishnan.

Another top Congress leader in Kottayam, Natakom Suresh flayed her over her remark.

The minister was also trolled on social media for the same. There were no takers for her rejoinder to her first reaction, that she never meant as what is being made out of it.

On Thursday, when the striking doctors were expressing their ire against George's statement, there was a huge applause, when speaker after speaker condemned her "brash" statement.

Soon came a trail of reactions against the inappropriate curt remarks with one of the woman doctors saying, "So it means we have to learn self defence also apart from learning medicine".

Leader of Opposition V.D. Satheesan termed the statement "untenable" and said it means that doctors should now learn karate and kalaripayattu for their self defence.
New Delhi, May 12 : The Supreme Court on Friday posed a series of queries to the West Bengal government in connection with the ban on the film 'The Kerala Story', saying that the film is being exhibited in the rest of the country and there is no reason why it should be banned in the state.

A bench headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud and P.S. Narasimha told senior advocate A.M. Singhvi, representing the West Bengal government, that: "the film has been released in the rest of the country, West Bengal is no different from any other part of the country..." Senior advocate Harish Salve, representing the filmmakers, said the film ran in theatres for three days.

The Chief Justice said: "If the film can run in peace in other parts of the country, why should the state of West Bengal ban the film?...if the public does not find it worth seeing, they will not see the film..." Singhvi said the film ran for the first three days in West Bengal.

The Chief Justice said: "It is running in different parts of the country, which has a similar democratic profile as the state of West Bengal. Why should you not allow a film to run?" The bench said, "This has nothing to do with the artistic value of the film, the film may be good art, or it may be bad art. It may be irrelevant..." After hearing submissions, the top court issued notice to the West Bengal government.

On May 10, the Supreme Court agreed to examine a plea by filmmakers of 'The Kerala Story' against the West Bengal government's order on the movie.

The filmmakers submitted that the state government has no power to ban a movie which has been certified for public viewing by the Central Board of Film Certification.

The filmmakers claimed that the state government cannot cite law and order issues to stop the screening of the movie. They argued that it will result in the violation of the fundamental rights guaranteed to them.

On May 8, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced the ban on screening of 'The Kerala Story'. She also instructed the West Bengal chief secretary, H.K. Dwivedi to take the necessary steps on this count.

"Certain scenes in the said film can affect the air of peace and harmony in West Bengal. So, we have decided to ban its screening everywhere in the state, including Kolkata and the districts. The decision has been taken to maintain peace and harmony," the chief minister told media persons.
Lucknow, May 12 : As the controversy over 'The Kerala Story' intensifies, a BJP state secretary has put up hoardings in Lucknow saying that opposition leaders are denouncing the film because they take orders from terrorists.

The hoardings, put up by BJP leader Abhijat Mishra, describe fictional conversations in Hindi between a man in a mask holding a gun and opposition leaders Mamata Banerjee, Akhilesh Yadav, Rahul Gandhi and Asaduddin Owasi.

A speech bubble next to the man holding a gun in his hand says, "Somehow get this film banned." The speech bubble next to West Bengal Chief Minister Banerjee says, "Master, I have banned the movie in Bengal." Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's speech bubble says, "Yes, sir, I am trying my best." The speech bubble beside Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav says, "I am opposing, but I am afraid of bulldozers." All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen President, Asaduddin Owasi, shown in the hoarding, says, "Master, neither the government nor the court is listening." At the bottom of the hoarding, the caption says, "Jago Bharat Jago".

Abhijat Mishra, the BJP leader who put up the hoardings, began his career as a student leader from the Lucknow University. He has worked for the youth wing of the BJP and for several Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh functionaries in the past. He was recently appointed the state secretary of the saffron party.
IZMIR, TURKIYE, May 12. SOCAR Turkiye's Mercury project stands on the agenda, Head of the Refinery and Petrochemicals Business Unit at the company, General Manager at Petkim [affiliate of SOCAR Turkiye] Anar Mammadov said at a press conference, Trend reports.

According to Mammadov, bp, with which this project was planned, abandoned investments in the petrochemical sector and withdrew from the project.

"We believe that we will be able to carry out the implementation of the Mercury project with other investors," he said.

In 2018, bp and SOCAR Turkiye signed a cooperation agreement to assess the establishment of a joint venture that will build and operate a world-class petrochemical complex in Turkiye. In 2020, bp completely abandoned the petrochemical sector.
Phnom Penh, May 12 : Cambodia on Friday launched the Partnership for Action on Green Economy (PAGE) to reaffirm its commitment towards sustaining the country's economic growth on a sustainable and inclusive trajectory.

The launching event brought together 100 participants from various relevant ministries, private sectors, civil society, academia, national research institution and development partners.

Being an alliance of five UN agencies, PAGE is increasingly recognised as a model for delivering coordinated support of the UN to countries for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and targets of the Paris Agreement.

PAGE's unique value proposition is its focus on "upstream" economic policies that have the potential to eventually move the whole of the economy on a more sustainable trajectory, Xinhua news agency reported.

Cambodian Ministry of Environment's Undersecretary of State, Chuop Paris, said the project will span over five years, including a one-year inception phase that will be concluded by mid-2023.

"Cambodia has already demonstrated its commitment to green economy principles through the National Strategic Plan on Green Growth 2013-2030 and the submission of its Long-term Strategy for Carbon Neutrality to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in 2021," he added.

Thereby, joining this global partnership will leverage the country's efforts in mobilising additional support in terms of new and advanced knowledge and finance to expedite the transition towards an inclusive green economy, Paris said.

Narin Sok, representative of the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) to Cambodia, reiterated the joint UN commitment to work closely with relevant line ministries to ensure that PAGE contributes to promoting green and inclusive economic growth in Cambodia.

He said the implementation of PAGE programme is fully aligned with and will contribute to the realisation of the overall objectives of the new UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework 2024-2028.
Lucknow : Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, along with cabinet ministers and approximately 300 girls, watched a special screening of the film "The Kerala Story" at Lok Bhawan in Lucknow on Friday, May 12, 2023. (Photo:IANS/Phool Chandra) Image Source: IANS News

Lucknow, May 12 : UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday watched a special show of 'The Kerala Story' film along with his cabinet ministers at the Lok Bhawan in Lucknow.

After watching the film, Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya told reporters that the Congress party was playing appeasement politics. He stated that it is because of Prime Minister Narendra Modi that India is getting an opportunity to watch movies like 'The Kerala Story', and 'Kashmir Files'.

Maurya said, "This movie must be shown in all parts of the country." "The ban on 'The Kerala Story' in West Bengal must be revoked and, in the future, the truth regarding West Bengal will also come out," he said.

Earlier, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had met the team of the recently released film 'The Kerala Story' in Lucknow.

On May 9, the chief minister had declared the film tax-free in the state. "The Kerala Story to be made tax-free in Uttar Pradesh," he had tweeted.

Previously, Madhya Pradesh had made the movie tax-free in the state on May 6.

'The Kerala Story' is based on the 'mass conversion' of young Hindu women in Kerala and their involvement in terrorist activities.
Toronto, May 12 : A 58-year-old staffer at a Sikh temple in Canada's British Columbia province has been arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a 15 year-old girl, the police said.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said they are investigating the incident, which took place earlier this month at or in the area of the Gurdwara Dukh Nivaran in Newton.

The suspect was arrested a day after the incident, and has been released on the condition that he have no contact with the victim and not be in the presence of anyone under 16 without another adult.

No charges have been laid on the temple staffer as yet, and the suspect's employer has been informed of the allegations, the police said.

"Our Special Victims Unit are leading this investigation, with support for the youth victim from Surrey Women's Centre," Corporal Sarbjit Sangha said in a news release.

"We urge anyone with information to come forward, as investigators continue to work to gather evidence and advance the investigation," Sangha said.

Under Canada's criminal code, the maximum punishment for sexual assault charges is 14 years of prison.

The incident follows two more cases of sexual assault on minors reported in the month of May alone by men of Indian-origin.

A 40-year-old Sikh priest and teacher Bhupinder Singh Sonu was charged this month with six counts of sexual offences involving children in British Columbia province.

Before Sonu, a 62-year-old Indo-Canadian homeopathic doctor Sunil Anand was charged with sexual assault and sexual interference of a young patient in Brampton, following an investigation by the Peel Regional Police Special Victims Unit.
Seoul, May 12 : South Korea and Britain on Friday signed a letter of intent (LOI) to establish a bilateral strategic development partnership, Seoul's foreign ministry said.

The LOI was signed by Seoul's Second Vice Foreign Minister Lee Do-hoon, First Vice Finance Minister Bang Ki-sun and Anne-Marie Trevelyan, Britain's minister of state for the Indo-Pacific, at the ministry in Seoul.

The letter calls for the establishment of a bilateral strategic development partnership in the Indo-Pacific based on shared values of freedom, democracy, rule of law and human rights, Yonhap news agency reported.

The two sides also agreed to explore joint cooperation measures with a focus on the areas of digital, climate, environment, public health, private sector collaboration and women, according to the ministry.
Seoul, May 12 : South Korea and Japan should exercise "patience and diplomatic skill" during talks about details of a planned inspection visit by South Korean experts to Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant, US Ambassador Philip Goldberg said on Friday.

Goldberg made the remark during a Q&A session after a lecture at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, as South Korea and Japan opened a working-level meeting in Seoul to determine specifics of the inspection, stressing that the overall objective of such an inspection is to make bilateral relations better.

"So now there's a discussion between the foreign ministries about how exactly that will be carried out. And so again, it needs to be done with patience and diplomatic skill," he added.

"We believe that the overall objective, which is to create a better environment for relationship between two modern and democratic countries that share values, is hugely important for the security in the region and prosperity in the region," Goldberg said.

The inspection trip, set for May 23-24, is one of the outcomes from a recent summit between South Korea President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and shows relations between the two countries are warming after years of fraying over the issue of wartime forced labor, Yonhap news agency reported.

Still, there appears to be a gap between the sides over the nature of the inspection.

South Korea says the inspection is aimed at looking into whether Japan's treatment facilities are working properly, while Japan says the inspection is meant to "help deepen understanding" about the safety of the release, not to evaluate or certify its safety.

Goldberg's emphasis on patience and diplomatic skill could reflect concern about the gap.

Relations between Seoul and Tokyo have warmed significantly since the Yoon administration offered in March to resolve a dispute over wartime forced labor by compensating the Korean victims without contributions from Japanese firms.

That led to the resumption of "shuttle diplomacy" of regular leader visits after 12 years.

Goldberg praised Yoon for making a "quite brave political move" to start mending ties with Japan.

"One of the things that has happened ... is that it has opened up more space for the kinds of projects, programmes, military cooperation that will help secure both countries and that includes through trilateral cooperation with the United States," he said.

During the lecture, the ambassador called on South Korea to "keep speaking out" against Russia's invasion of Ukraine, stressing the importance of the two allies working together on global issues.

"We need you to work with us to find solutions to the climate crisis. We need you to continue standing up for our shared democratic values, such as respect for human rights," Goldberg added.

"And we need you to keep speaking out against atrocities, like Russia's war in Ukraine." The ambassador also reaffirmed the US security commitment to South Korea is firm.

"There should be no doubt that our commitment to South Korea's defence is ironclad, as it has been for the past 70 years," he said.

Goldberg denounced North Korea's destabilising actions, such as missile launches, saying Pyongyang is using its scarce resources to develop weapons of mass destruction, rather than caring for its people.

Still, he said diplomacy is the "only viable way to achieve a safe and stable Korean Peninsula free of nuclear weapons".

The envoy also spoke at length about the recent summit between Yoon and US President Joe Biden, saying the two leaders "looked a lot like old college friends".

"To ensure we are ready to stand against any threat, our presidents announced a new forum to discuss the full range of our combined defensive capabilities, including nuclear, conventional and missile defence," he added, referring to the Washington Declaration adopted at the White House summit.
San Francisco, May 12 : Microsoft is slashing 158 jobs in Washington State and the new layoffs are not part of the 10,000 announced by the tech company in January, the media reported.

According to a new filing with the state Employment Security Department (ESD) in the US, Microsoft is reducing 158 jobs in the Redmond area, reports Geek Wire.

"Organisational and workforce adjustments are a necessary and regular part of managing our business. We will continue to prioritise and invest in strategic growth areas for our future and in support of our customers and partners," a company spokesperson said in a statement.

According to the report, more than 2,700 Seattle-area workers were affected by the layoffs announced earlier this year.

Microsoft had 221,000 employees as of June 30 (when it last reported headcount), an increase of 40,000 people or 22 per cent from the same time-frame the prior year.

Meanwhile, Microsoft will not give any raise to salaried employees, including senior leaders, this year as global macroeconomic conditions continue to haunt Big Tech.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told employees in a memo, seen by The Verge, that only hourly workers will receive raises this year.

"We are clear that we are helping drive a major platform shift in this new era of AI, and doing so in a dynamic, competitive environment while also facing global macroeconomic uncertainties," Nadella told employees.

"We must maintain a leadership position in our at-scale businesses of today, generating enough yield to invest and lead in the next wave, while staying on the frontiers of both performance and efficiency," he added.

Microsoft will still offer salaried employees bonuses and stock awards, according to the report.
New Delhi, May 12 : Delhi Police on Friday filed a charge sheet in the Dwarka court against six accused in the Nikki Yadav murder case, under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) like murder, disappearance of evidence, and more.

The charge sheet, which runs into 576 pages, has been put up for consideration on May 25 by the court.

The accused persons have been charged with offences falling under Sections 302, 201, 202, 212, 120B of the IPC.

The prime accused Sahil Gehlot had allegedly strangled 23-year-old Nikki Yadav near Kashmiri Gate on February 10 and married another woman on the same day. Four days later, Nikki Yadav's body was found in a fridge at a dhaba, owned by Gehlot, in Mitraon village on the outskirts of Delhi.

Gehlot's father, Virender Singh, cousins - Naveen (a constable in Delhi Police) and Ashish - and friends Lokesh and Amar are accused of hatching a conspiracy to get rid of Nikki Yadav, so that he could marry another woman.

According to a senior police official, Gehlot was interrogated at length during police custody when he disclosed that Nikki Yadav was trying to stop him from marrying someone else as they had already solemnised their marriage in 2020.

"She was pleading with him not to go ahead with the marriage fixed by his family with another girl on February 10. However, Gehlot along with his father, two cousins, and two friends hatched the conspiracy and planned to remove the deceased from their way," the official had said.

"He executed the plan and murdered her and informed other co-accused about it on the same day and then all of them went ahead with the marriage ceremony."
Chennai, May 12 : The Export Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) on Friday said it closed FY23 with an after tax profit of Rs 1,556 crore.

According to Exim Bank, the company closed FY23 with a net profit of Rs 1,556 crore up from Rs 738 crore logged during FY22.

During the year under review, the bank had sanctioned loans aggregating Rs 79,764 crore to enhance export capabilities of Indian companies and support development priorities of partner countries.

The Bank has a portfolio of 303 Government of India-supported Lines of Credit (LOCs) with credit commitments aggregating $ 31.85 billion, which are at various stages of implementation.

With ever expanding reach, the LOCs have gained momentum in stimulating economic growth across 68 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Oceania and the CIS region.

During FY23, the Bank supported 37 new contracts valued over $ 1 billion. On behalf of the Government of India, the Bank sanctioned seven LOCs, aggregating $670.32 million, to support export of projects, goods, and services from India.

Last fiscal, the Exim Bank provided support of Rs 72,521 crore to Indian companies to build export capacity and boost export competitiveness under the Commercial Business.

Further, the Bank supported 75 project export contracts valued at Rs 43,421 crore under its commercial portfolio, in 37 countries.

The bank said it had also provided aggregate overseas investment finance of Rs 67,082 crore to support 671 Joint Ventures/Wholly Owned Subsidiaries, set up by 495 Indian companies in 78 countries.

During FY23, Exim Bank had raised aggregate resources of Rs 52,156 crore, including foreign currency resources of $ 3.47 billion.

The bank opened the international markets for Indian issuers with a benchmark sized Sustainability Bond of $1 billion in January 2023, under its Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) Framework.

Proceeds of the bond are being used towards projects such as renewable energy, clean transportation, access to essential services and basic infrastructure, affordable housing, water and waste management, the bank said.
Islamabad, May 12 : Two terrorists and two security personnel were killed in an exchange of firing in Pakistan's southwest Balochistan province on Friday, an Army statement said.

The incident happened in the early hours when a group of terrorists attacked a camp of the paramilitary troops frontier corps in northern Balochistan, the military's media wing Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in the statement.

Three terrorists were also injured in the clash, the ISPR added as quoted by Xinhua news agency report.

"Operation by the security forces is underway to capture the terrorists who have been cornered into a building complex," the statement added.

Identities of the terrorists engaged in the gun battle with the security forces have not been revealed in the statement.
Mumbai, May 12 : The Maharashtra government has withdrawn all charges against former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh -- whose 'letter-bomb' had nailed former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh two years ago -- and also revoked his suspension ordered by the previous Maha Vikas Aghadi government, here on Friday.

Singh was suspended by the MVA government from December 2, 2021 till June 30, 2022 -- the date of his retirement -- which will now be treated as 'on duty', as per an official order of the Home Department dated May 10.

"The memorandum of charges dated 02-12-2021 issued against Param Bir Singh, under Rule 8 of All India Services (Discipline and Appeal) Rule, 1969 is being withdrawn and the said matter is being closed," said the order.

"As per the provisions of the All India Services (Death-cum-Retirement Benefits) Rules, 1958, the suspension of Param Bir Singh, IPS (Retd) is revoked by this order and the period of suspension from 02-12-2021 to 30-06-2022 shall be treated as period spent on duty for all purposes," another order said, adding even the departmental enquiry against him has been closed.

Since Singh -- who is related with a senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader from Nagpur -- has already retired from service, these orders would be beneficial to him for the retirement and other benefits entitled by the government.

Reacting to the developments, Nationalist Congress Party National Spokesperson Clyde Crasto said cryptically: "All those who helped defame the MVA government are now getting washed clean in a washing machine. Param Bir today, who next?" Singh got into a tussle with the MVA government soon after the sensational case of planting a gelatine sticks-laden SUV plus a hand-scrawled threat note a threat note outside the iconic Antilia, the home of industrialist Mukesh Ambani, came to light, followed by the murder of its owner, businessman Mansukh Hiren of Thane.

As the case grabbed global headlines, Singh hit back at the government by penning a letter to former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, alleging corrupt activities indulged in by the then home minister Deshmukh.

The case later attracted the CBI and ED, the Bombay High Court ordered a preliminary enquiry and the state set up a probe panel in the Deshmukh matter, while Singh was questioned by the NIA for the Antilia issue.

The MVA retaliated by lodging five FIRs against Singh alleging extortion and other offences, initiated a departmental probe and suspended him in December 2021, six months prior to his retirement.

As the fracas between Singh and the government raged, Deshmukh was arrested and spent nearly 13 months in jail before getting bail.
Added details (the first version at 09:51)

BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 12. The Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) has adopted a "Cybersecurity Strategy in financial markets", Trend reports via the CBA.

Against the background of innovations introduced in the modern world in the field of digitalization, intensive digitalization activities carried out in the financial markets of Azerbaijan, along with the expansion of the range and availability of financial services provided remotely, form the corresponding risks of information security and cybersecurity in financial institutions.

In this regard, increasing cyber resilience and strengthening information security in financial markets in order to ensure financial stability in Azerbaijan, including implementation of adequate controls against cyber threats and risks, the formation of a regulatory structure and other issues in this direction are in the focus of constant attention of the CBA.

The "Rules for Managing Information Security in banks" came into force from April 1 2022, containing minimum requirements for information security in banks operating in Azerbaijan. As a continuation of the work in this direction, the CBA with the support of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, has developed and approved the "Cybersecurity Strategy in Financial Markets" for a period from 2023 through 2026," the CBA said.

The vision of this strategy is to strengthen cyber resilience in Azerbaijan's financial markets against the backdrop of growing cyber threats in order to ensure financial stability.

The strategy of the CBA is aimed at creating a sustainable cybersecurity environment in financial markets, which includes the following:

- strengthening the regulatory structure and supervision of information security and cybersecurity in financial markets;

- strengthening the culture of cyber risk management in financial markets;

- formation of the information technology management structure in order to strengthen the level of cybersecurity in financial markets;

- strengthening cyber resilience in financial markets;

- formation of a culture of information security and cybersecurity in financial markets.

"The CBA plans to implement measures to ensure information security in the Azerbaijani financial sector, in particular to strengthen cyber resilience," the bank said.
Jerusalem, May 12 : Palestinian militants continued to fire rockets to the Jerusalem area for the first time since the current round of violence started, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed.

Israeli emergency services reported no casualties in the latest barrage of rockets.

Simultaneously, the Israeli military announced it was conducting airstrikes against the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) in Gaza. There were no immediate reports of casualties from the Gaza Health Ministry.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held security consultations on Friday morning with senior defence officials, Xinhua news agency reported.

According to several media reports, ceasefire talks mediated by Egypt have collapsed, following the latest rockets to Jerusalem.

At least 31 Palestinians have been killed and 106 injuried in Gaza since the beginning of the current round of fighting on Tuesday, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health on Friday, while an Israeli was killed on Thursday when a missile struck his home.

Throughout the week, the Israeli Army continued to operate in the West Bank territories in an attempt to thwart attacks from PIJ militants.
Hyderabad, May 12 : London Stock Exchange Group PLC (LSEG) has announced that it will establish a Technology Centre of Excellence in Hyderabad, which will generate employment for about 1,000 people.

The announcement was made after Telangana's Minister for Information Technology and Industries K.T. Rama Rao met Anthony McCarthy, Group CIO, LSEG in London.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in this regard was signed by Jayesh Ranjan, Principal Secretary of IT and Industries Departments, and Anthony McCarthy, Group CIO, LSEG.

The establishment of the Technology Centre of Excellence by London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) in Hyderabad will be a significant boost to the Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI) sector in the city.

The move is expected to create ample employment opportunities and drive growth in the industry, according to a statement released from the minister's office in Hyderabad.

LSEG is a leading global financial market infrastructure and data provider, operating in 70 countries worldwide and serving customers in 190 countries.

With over 2,000 issuers across more than 100 countries and a benchmark of $161 linked to FTSE Russell indexes, LSEG continues to be a major player in the global financial industry.
Peshawar, May 12 : In the aftermath of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan's arrest on May 9, infuriated party activists took to the streets in several cities across the country, vehemently protesting their leader's arrest, local media reported.

Peshawar was one of the cities where supporters of PTI unleashed havoc. In the city, protestors stormed the historic Radio Pakistan building and went on a vandalising rampage that culminated in setting the building ablaze.

Angry protesters not only set fire to the historic building but also plundered it.

The charred interior of the building shows extensive damage as the arson followed vandalism and looting.

The resulting inferno consumed irreplaceable records and other invaluable items, resulting in significant losses, Geo News reported.

The radio station, which dates back to 1935, holds a prominent place in history.

It telecast the monumental news of Pakistan's formation on August 14, 1947, in both Pashto and Urdu languages.

Throughout the years, the station continued to serve as a vital source of information, particularly during critical moments such as the 1965 Indo-Pak war and the Afghan conflict. Notably, Radio Pakistan's past reporting on acts of terrorism earned widespread acclaim, Geo News reported.

The present-day building that houses Radio Pakistan was inaugurated on April 28, 1985, by then-President General Ziaul Haque.
Lahore, May 12 : The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Friday announced that it will be holding countrywide protest rallies in major cities across the country, including Lahore, to showcase their opposition to the decision of releasing former Prime Minister Imran Khan, local media reported.

As per details, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) division bench granted two-week interim bail to Pakistan Tehreek-e Insaf chief Imran Khan in the Al-Qadir Trust corruption case.

PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif has called upon the party leadership to mobilise its supporters for the protests, Samaa TV reported.

The rallies will be held in Lahore, Faisalabad, Sargodha, Gujranwala, and Kasur, with Maryam Nawaz leading the protest in Punjab's provincial capital.

In addition, the PML-N has also planned to hold protest rallies in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Quetta, and Karachi.

Meetings will also be held in Sahiwal, Bahawalpur, and Rawalpindi to discuss the party's strategy and plan of action for the upcoming protests.

The decision to hold the protests comes amid rising political tensions in the country, Samaa TV reported.

Reacting to the Supreme Court of Pakistan's decision ordering the release of Khan, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif criticised the judiciary for being "biased", The News reported.

"The judiciary has become an iron shield for Imran Khan," the prime minister said, highlighting that the "judiciary stands divided".

The Prime Minister, while addressing a cabinet meeting in Islamabad, questioned the judiciary about the treatment given to other politicians in the country, Geo News reported.

The premier's comments came a day after Supreme Court Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial ordered the release of the PTI chairman declaring his arrest on May 9 as "illegal".
Beijing, May 12 : Smartphone maker OPPO has shut down its chip design subsidiary called Zeku, as the semiconductor market goes through a heavy slump, the media reported on Friday.

According to the South China Morning Post, OPPO announced the move in a brief statement, calling it a "difficult decision" and blaming "uncertainties in the global economy and smartphone market".

Zeku employees received less than a day's notice about the unit being shut down, the report claimed.

The global technology brand set up Zeku in 2019 to design chips that could be used in its devices.

Other smartphone makers, including Xiaomi, have also set up their own chip-design verticals.

The move came as chip manufacturing has been severely affected in China by escalating US export restrictions targeting advanced semiconductors.

"Out of 3,243 fabless chip firms in China last year, only 566 had sales above 100 million yuan ($14.4 million), according to Wei Shaojun, president of integrated circuit design at the China Semiconductor Industry Association (CSIA)," the report mentioned.

Global semiconductor revenue is projected to decline 11.2 per cent to reach $532 billion in 2023, and the short-term outlook for the semiconductor market has deteriorated further.

In 2022, the market totalled $599.6 billion, which was marginal growth of 0.2 per cent from 2021, according to the latest forecast from Gartner.

The PC, tablet and smartphone semiconductor markets are stagnating. The combined markets will represent 31 per cent of semiconductor revenue in 2023 and total $167.6 billion.
Raipur, May 12 : With the Assembly elections in Chhattisgarh due later this year, the Congress is aiming to come back to power again in the state due to the strong leadership of Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel. The CM is seen working in complete election mode and is set to pose a tough challenge to the BJP's style of working round the clock for every election, whether small or big.

Chhattisgarh is one of the states where Assembly elections are going to be held this year. The Congress has a total 71 MLAs in the 90-member Assembly and the grand old party is making all-out efforts to remain in power.

The Chief Minister has started a meetings campaign to interact with the public as well as to gauge the voters' pulse on the ground. He has so far visited nearly 85 of the 90 Assembly constituencies.

The state was ruled by the BJP for nearly one-and-a-half decades but in the Assembly elections held in 2018, the Congress stormed to power with a full majority. Following this poll victory, the Congress later won all the by-elections held in four Assembly constituencies.

However, the Congress suffered a major setback during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, except which the grand old party won most of the urban body polls and panchayat elections. Overall, the Congress has gained politically and electorally in Chhattisgarh as compared to the past poll performances.

The working style of Chief Minister Baghel is such that he is seen making bold administrative changes and trying to implement welfare schemes to reach the common man while his efforts are on to strengthen the Congress politically at the grassroots level.

In order to strengthen the rural economy, the Chief Minister started the Godhan Nyaya Yojana by bringing many of the forest produce under the ambit of the minimum support price. Recently, when the Supreme Court rejected the ban imposed by the Chhattisgarh High Court on not extending reservation up to 58 per cent in government jobs, the process of recruitment in government jobs has also been intensified.

Apart from this, efforts are being made by Baghel to give a new identity to Chhattisgarh. Therefore, festivals are being celebrated with pomp right from the Chief Minister's residence to villages across the state.

State BJP president Arun Sao says, "The Chief Minister has created a record of not fulfilling poll promises made before the elections. The credibility of the Congress has ended, the promises made by the party are still pending. The Chhattisgarh government has neither banned liquor nor halved the property tax, unemployed people neither received allowance and poor people from the state did not get free health treatment upto Rs 20 lakh." On the other hand, Congress spokesperson Surendra Verma says that Baghel hails from a farmer's family and has a habit of working selflessly. "While the Congress was in the opposition, he was the state party president and undertook a 'padyatra' in the entire state." "Baghel had taken the padyatra to every village in the state and now when he is the Chief Minister, even then he continues to work hard and visits every Assembly constituency. His visit-meeting campaign is about to be completed and hard work is in his very nature as a farmer." Political analysts say that there are few leaders in the state's politics who work actively as politicians. Chief Minister Baghel is one of those few political leaders who remain active round the clock. While remaining in power he reaches out to the people and is leaving no stone unturned to provide benefits of government welfare schemes to the people.

On the one hand Baghel is leading from the front, on the other hand, he knows the pulse of the party organisation as well. Therefore, the Chief Minister has all the necessary qualities required for a successful politician.
Seoul, May 12 : US Ambassador Philip Goldberg called on Friday for South Korea to "keep speaking out" against Russia's invasion of Ukraine, stressing the importance of the two allies working together on global issues.

Goldberg made the remark during a lecture at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, after tensions flared between South Korea and Russia last month following President Yoon Suk Yeol's suggestion of a shift in South Korea's policy of providing only non-lethal aid to Ukraine in its war with Russia, Yonhap news agency reported.

"We need you to work with us to find solutions to the climate crisis. We need you to continue standing up for our shared democratic values, such as respect for human rights," he said.

"And we need you to keep speaking out against atrocities, like Russia's war in Ukraine." In an interview with Reuters, Yoon said it might be difficult for South Korea to insist only on providing humanitarian or financial assistance if Ukraine comes under a large-scale attack on civilians.

Russia has since warned that supplying military aid to Ukraine would mean Seoul "becoming involved in the conflict to a certain extent" and would represent "an openly hostile anti-Russian move".

"The world has watched in horror as Russia embarked on a senseless war of aggression in violation of international law, killing tens of thousands, destroying civilian infrastructure and wreaking havoc on the global economy," Goldberg said.

"I want to praise the South Korea government for helping Ukraine's vast humanitarian needs and for implementing sanctions on Russia to make sure they pay a price for this pointless destruction," he added.

The Ambassador also reaffirmed the US security commitment to South Korea is firm.

"There should be no doubt that our commitment to South Korea's defence is ironclad, as it has been for the past 70 years," he said.

Goldberg denounced North Korea's destabilising actions, such as missile launches, saying Pyongyang is using its scarce resources to develop weapons of mass destruction, rather than caring for its people.

Still, he said diplomacy is the "only viable way to achieve a safe and stable Korean Peninsula free of nuclear weapons".

The envoy also spoke at length about the recent summit between Yoon and US President Joe Biden, saying the two leaders "looked a lot like old college friends".

"To ensure we are ready to stand against any threat, our presidents announced a new forum to discuss the full range of our combined defensive capabilities, including nuclear, conventional and missile defence," he said, referring to the Washington Declaration adopted at the White House summit.
Bhopal, May 12 : The Lokayukta Police in Madhya Pradesh carried out a raid at the house of a woman assistant engineer in connection with a disproportionate assets case, and found various items, including a TV set costing Rs 30 lakh, over 50 foreign breed dogs and 10 luxury cars.

Assist engineer Hema Meena, who is in-charge on contract at the Madhya Pradesh Police Housing Corporation (MPPHC), drew a monthly salary of Rs 30,000. According to officials, she was found possessing assets that are 232 per cent disproportionate to her known source of income, which means that the engineer should have had a salary of Rs 18 lakh a month, and not Rs 30,000.

Lokayukta DSP Sanjay Shukla said the raid was conducted on the basis of a complaint lodged against Hema Meena in 2020 for allegedly possessing disproportionate assets. After the complaint was received, an investigation was conducted following which the raid was carried out on Thursday.

Shukla added that different teams comprising over 50 cops of Lokayukta's Special Police Establishment (SPE) raided Meena's residence in Bhopal.

As per the police, Meena possessed a 40-room bungalow built on an area spanning 20,000 sq feet registered in her father's name at Bilkhiriya near Bhopal. Its cost is estimated to be more than Rs one crore. Apart from this, more than 50 foreign breed dogs, including Pitbull and Dobermann, were found from her farm house, which are worth lakhs of rupees.
New Delhi, May 12 : The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has suspended the licence of an Air India pilot for three months. The suspension comes after the pilot allowed a woman friend to enter the cockpit mid-air during a Dubai to Delhi flight.

The aviation regulator has also imposed a fine of Rs 30 lakh on Air India for failing to address the safety-sensitive issue in a prompt and effective manner.

Additionally, the co-pilot has been cautioned for not being assertive enough to prevent the unauthorized entry.

The Air India pilot was under investigation for violating safety norms by allowing a friend into the cockpit during a flight from Dubai to Delhi on February 27, violating DGCA safety norms.

In April, a senior DGCA official had said that this act is unacceptable and could have put the passengers' safety at risk.

Air India had also released a statement saying that they have taken note of the reported incident and investigations are underway.

"The airline has a zero-tolerance policy regarding passenger safety and well-being and will take requisite action. The matter has also been reported to the DGCA, and Air India is cooperating with their investigation," said the statement.

"We have taken serious note of the reported incident and investigations are underway in Air India," the statement further said.
New Delhi, May 12 : Three days after lessors requested the aviation regulator, DGCA, to de-register three of the airline's planes, SpiceJet has suspended flight operations from Ahmedabad-Goa, for a month, sources in the know of things said.

However, an official at SpiceJet claimed they keep on suspending operations as per demand and the flights are not grounded.

Earlier, lessors had requested DGCA de-register one aircraft each from Wilmington Trust SP Services, Sabarmati Aviation Leasing, and Falgu Aviation Leasing.

The low-cost carrier, SpiceJet, is facing bankruptcy proceedings as the Ireland-based aircraft lessor Aircastle Ltd has moved the principal bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to launch a bankruptcy process against the airline.

Agreeing to hear the lessor's plea, a two-member bench of the NCLT issued a notice to the airline and posted the matter for further consideration on May 17.

The bench led by NCLT President Ramalingam Sudhakar directed SpiceJet to attend the hearing on the given date.

Claiming default in dues payment, Aircastle has sought initiation of corporate insolvency proceedings against SpiceJet.

A spokesperson for SpiceJet commented that the notice was issued routinely in connection with the Aircastle matter.

"In the Aircastle issue, a notice was issued in normal course. There was no adverse ruling against SpiceJet. The court has recognised the fact that parties are in settlement discussions and they can continue to pursue the same," the spokesperson said.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 12. In 2022, Kaspersky blocked about a million clicks on phishing sites in Azerbaijan, Country Representative of Kaspersky Mushvig Mammadov said in an interview with Trend.

According to Mammadov, the majority, or 60 percent of all attacks were on home users, and 40 percent  on corporate.

"Kaspersky's cybersecurity solutions cover both the corporate segment and home users. According to our surveys, in 2022, people noted an increase in cyber attacks in the form of online fraud. The attackers used fairly traditional methods of social engineering to obtain payment data and other personal information. Also, users very often encountered scammers on social networks and messengers. There are a lot of such cases, and we are working to raise awareness of the population. I would like to note that in general," he said.

He also said companies in Azerbaijan have begun to pay more attention to cybersecurity and are actively implementing advanced solutions to protect their business and prevent cyber risks.

According to Mammadov, the most vulnerable categories of users for cybercriminals are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as well as elderly people.

"The older generation is the least informed about the basic rules of cyber hygiene. As practice shows, this category of people is more trusting: they tend to transfer their payment card data, SMS codes, and security codes to third parties without suspicion. All this helps attackers to deceive their victims and get their financial means. In the corporate sector, the SMEs are most exposed to risks. First of all, because they have a limited or no budget for integrating modern information technology solutions," he said.

According to him, attackers are often primarily interested in corporations that operate with large amounts of money. Knowing this, large organizations implement advanced solutions to prevent cyber attacks, and data loss and preserve their and customers' reputations. However, even large companies that allocate impressive amounts of funding for digital protection are subject to cyber risks.

Moreover, the expert does not recommend holders of salary and pension cards use them as a means of online payments.

"During the pandemic, Azerbaijani residents began to turn to digital payments much more often. Many users who used bank cards for the first time were not sufficiently prepared for such digitalization, which is why they faced problems, including online fraud with the subsequent theft of confidential information, personal data and funds. To conduct safe financial transactions, it is worth following the basic recommendations," the company's representative said.

According to the expert, in order to minimize the risks from online transactions, it is better to use a separate bank card for online payments - physical or virtual. Before paying, it is necessary to make sure that there is a security solution on the device from which the transaction is made and make sure that the payment system is reliable. Special attention should be paid to not transferring money when the device is connected to a public Wi-Fi network.

In addition, the representative of Kaspersky underlined that in 2023 it is expected to maintain the relevance and global growth of cyber attacks.

"Unfortunately, one of the results of the rapid penetration of the Internet, the development of digital solutions and online payments is the increase in cyber-attacks and cases of Internet fraud. In the Azerbaijani market, our company is ready to provide support and assistance in preventing cyber threats to both large companies and SMEs in any situation. I would like to note that Kaspersky offers security solutions for various types of attacks, and based on the specifics of the industry and business needs, we are ready to implement solutions necessary for a specific organization," Mammadov said.

The expert also mentioned that it is especially important for Kaspersky's partners that the company adheres to the policy of information openness: any partner can check the source code of products in the Transparency Centers that operate in Europe, Asia, America, and in 2023 will appear in the Netherlands, Italy and Israel.

He also said that Azerbaijani companies are working on the implementation of solutions for detecting and isolating attacks (Endpoint Detection and Response) in order to be able to quickly stop a cyber attack.

"Today Kaspersky solutions detect about 400,000 malicious files every day. At the same time, the process of countering these attacks has become more complicated  conventional solutions to protect desktops from modern malware cannot be protected. Knowing this, we in Azerbaijan have expanded our product line and offer solutions that can cope with more sophisticated attacks. For example, Kaspersky solutions for detecting and isolating cyber threats," Mammadov said.

He also added that Kasperksy is implementing these tools in Azerbaijani companies will help to stop attacks quickly and cooperate with banks not only in the field of protecting their infrastructure but also in protecting against fraudsters' actions aimed at hacking user accounts, mobile and online banking.

The Baku office of Kaspersky began its work in early 2015. Kaspersky is an international company specializing in the development of protection systems against computer viruses, spam, hacker attacks, and other cyber threats. The company operates in almost all countries of the world.
Bhopal, May 12 : The first woman mountaineer from Madhya Pradesh, Megha Parmar, has been dropped as the brand ambassador of the 'Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao' campaign of the state government, a day after she joined the Congress at an event in Chhindwara.

The 28-year-old, who hails from Ichhawar town in Sehor -- home district of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan -- will now be pursuing a career in politics and will be campaigning for the Congress on the poll promise for women -"Nari Samman Yojna".

Sharing her experience as brand ambassador of the government-run scheme "Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao", Parmar claimed the ground reality for women in the rural areas was very different from what the government presents. She alleged that the government wants only positive things to come out and not pays much attention to women's poor condition.

"I have visited all 52 districts of Madhya Pradesh and I found that even after 75 years of Independence, the women in Madhya Pradesh are surviving in a worst situation. Officials would do nothing, they would follow only political instructions. The government should work on the ground instead of expending huge amounts on image building publicity, and then the situation of women would change," Parmar told IANS.

Parmar said she had no political inclination and she joined the Congress because of ex-CM Kamal Nath. "I was made a brand ambassador during the Kamal Nath government, however, after 2020 things were very different," she stated.

When asked what made her join politics, Parmar said she had no intention to join politics, but Kamal Nath's office approached her. "I know Kamal Nath personally since 2019 and I knew that he is a man of commitment. He does what he promises. This is what made me join the Congress," Parmar added.

When asked about her role in the Congress, Parmar said she is familiar with the ground reality across the state and whatever task will be assigned to her, she would be ready to accept it. On whether she will contest the assembly election, Parmar said "Yes, if the party finds me a suitable candidate from Ichhawar assembly, I would be ready to grab this opportunity. But I have joined the Congress as a worker because of Kamal Nath." The Ichhawar and Budhni assembly seats of Sehore district have been won by the BJP for the last several years and the Congress this time has planned to make a dent in Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's home district Sehore.
Kolkata, May 12 : A fresh political slugfest has erupted in West Bengal over the termination of service of 36,000 primary teachers in the state following an order issued by the Calcutta High Court on Friday.

Commenting on the development, Trinamool Congress spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said the high court must see that no teacher becomes a victim of the court's decision.

"We had been saying since the beginning that only qualified persons should get jobs. But at the same time, it has to be seen that no one becomes a victim of stubbornness. The counsels for the state government and the concerned departments will surely review the order of the court. I am not in a position to make further comments on this issue," he said.

CPI(M) central committee member Sujan Chakraborty said that although he feels bad that the services of 36,000 primary teachers have been terminated by a court decision, it is the state government which is responsible for it.

"Those who sold jobs against money should be arrested and the money should be recovered from them. The Trinamool leaders should be ready now to face the public's ire," Chakraborty said.

According to Bengal Congress President Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the termination of service of so many people is nothing less than a tsunami.

"The entire state is shivering because of the tsunami of corruption. Under the current government, West Bengal will surely figure in the Guinness World Records for corruption," he said.

According to BJP national vice-president Dilip Ghosh, breaking the law is rampant in all the departments of the state government under Trinamool's rule.

"The court is now pointing out the irregularities one after the other. I wonder where this tunnel of corruption ends," he said.
Imphal, May 12 : An Assam Rifles trooper was injured while defusing an improvised explosive device (IED) in Saitan village in Manipur's Bishnupur district on Friday morning, Defence sources said that the injury was not serious. The para-military personnel were defusing the IED in Saitan village, around 60 km south of capital city Imphal.

The police said that the security forces continued their combing operation a day after a Manipur police commando was killed and four policemen were injured when Kuki militants attacked a police patrol party at Tronglaobi in the Bishnupur district on Thursday.

Claiming control over the overall situation in Manipur, officials said that 128 columns of the Army and Assam Rifles continued flag marches in the violence-hit areas in different districts.

The central forces also undertook round-the-clock aerial surveillance using drones and military choppers.

The Army's three-pronged domination strategy in Manipur is helping the state return to normalcy.

The Army is leaving no stone unturned in monitoring the troubled areas, not only in the hinterland, but also along the India-Myanmar border, a defence release said.

The overall situation in the ethnic violence-hit Manipur improved further on Friday with the authorities relaxing curfew in 11 districts, including Imphal West and Churachandpur, for four to nine hours. The Army and central paramilitary forces continued their vigil in the sensitive and mixed population areas.

Mobile internet services continued to remain suspended in the state affecting the banking and other important government and non-government services.

Manipur witnessed violent clashes, attacks, counter attacks and arson in more than 10 districts during and after the May 3 'Tribal Solidarity March' called by the All Tribal Students Union of Manipur (ATSUM) to oppose the demand for inclusion of the Meitei community in the Scheduled Tribe category.

According to the Manipur government's newly appointed Security Advisor Kuldiep Singh the recent ethnic violence has claimed 66 lives.

So far, 284 weapons and 6,700 rounds of ammunition have been recovered after miscreants looted them from the security and police personnel.

After the violence broke out on May 3, the rioters snatched 1,041 weapons and 7,460 rounds of ammunition from the security forces.

The May 3 incidents were preceded by anger and strong opposition to the eviction of Kuki villagers from reserve and protected forest land and destruction of poppy cultivation by the state government leading to a series of agitations and tension between the majority Meiteis and the minority Kukis.
Chandigarh, May 12 : Haryana Chief Secretary Sanjeev Kaushal on Friday held a meeting to speed up the implementation of road connectivity between Delhi and Haryana.

Additionally, the strengthening of the connectivity will alleviate the burden on existing roads and ease the traffic congestion in the region.

Kaushal said it was decided that the Public Works Department (PWD) would take up the issue with counterpart NCT Delhi regarding the road connectivity from Inder Lok Metro Station (New Delhi) to the Delhi-Haryana Border in Sonipat district, utilising the alongside of Western Yamuna Canal.

The PWD has been instructed to prepare and submit the detailed project report (DPR) to the Irrigation Department for approval.

The meeting also entailed discussion on three additional road connections between Gurugram and Delhi. The first proposal involved establishing a 75-meter wide connection from Sectors 114/115 and 108/109 to Najafgarh Road in Delhi.

Gurugram-Mehrauli road as the National Highway 236 and the link connecting the Gurugram-Mehrauli road with Nelson Mandela T-Point, located near the Vasant Kunj Flyover, will be developed by traversing through the Delhi Ridge.

This proposed link holds great potential for enhancing connectivity and streamlining transportation routes in the region.
Chandigarh, May 12 : Punjab NRI Affairs Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal on Friday wrote to S. Jaishankar, Union External Affairs Minister, about Punjabi women stranded in Muscat, the capital of Oman.

He requested to taking up the matter on humanitarian grounds with the embassies to ensure the safety of these women and necessary steps be taken to bring them back to India.

"I would like to draw your kind attention about the video that had gone viral and the news in some newspapers about the Punjabi women stranded in Muscat. Most of them went there in search of employment through an agent from Hyderabad as," Dhaliwal wrote in the letter to Union External Affairs Minister.

He demanded that necessary measures may also be undertaken by the External Affairs Ministry to stop such practices by unscrupulous agents so that innocent women may not be duped.
Thiruvananthapuram, May 12 : K.Shanthakumari, a woman MLA from the Communist Party Of India (Marxist), has been accused of making rude remarks against the doctors who were on duty in a state-run hospital.

Shanthakumari, who is the CPI-M MLA from Kongad (SC Assembly constituency in Palakkad district), visited the hospital in Palakkad district on Thursday evening along with her husband who was unwell.

"The legislator behaved in an angry manner and passed remarks, that no wonder doctors are being taken to task and it happens because of the rude behaviour towards patients. A legislator speaking like this and that too in front of other patients creates a very bad impression," said a woman doctor at the hospital.

Shanthakumari came to the hospital with her sick husband and when she introduced herself, the doctor started examining the patient. Following this the doctor said the husband had fever and started to prescribe medicines for him.

Later, the MLA asked the doctor why her husband was not examined using medical devices.

Meanwhile as the news spread across the media, the first-time legislator said she has never made a remark as was alleged by the doctors.

"Yes. It's true that I asked if they do not want to examine the patient using medical devices, but I never ever said any other thing that is now being circulated," said Shanthakumari.

The doctors have decided to file a complaint against the legislator to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
New Delhi, May 12 : The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the promotion of Gujarat judge Harish Hasmukhbhai Verma, who had convicted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a criminal defamation case, along with 67 other judicial officers.

A bench comprising Justices M.R. Shah and C.T. Ravikumar said: "We are more than satisfied that the impugned select list dated March 10, 2023 issued by the high court and the subsequent notification dated April 18, 2023 issued by the state government granting promotion to the cadre of district judge are illegal and contrary to the relevant rules and regulations, and even to the decision of this court in the case of 'All India Judges' Association and Others'... Therefore, we are more than prima facie satisfied that the same as such are not sustainable." The bench said that taking into consideration the fact that the state government had issued a notification on April 18, during the pendency of the present writ petition and after the receipt of the notice issued by this court in the present proceedings, the state government could have waited till the next date of hearing by this court on April 28.

The bench said: "The respective promotees be sent to their original posts which they were holding prior to their promotion vide the select list dated 10.03.2023 and notification dated 18.04.2023. However, it is clarified that the present stay order shall be confined with respect to those promotees whose names do not figure within the first 68 candidates in the merit list on the basis of the merits, the copy of which is produced by the high court along with the counter." The top court said the high court has adopted the wrong method and "merely because a wrong method is being adopted, it cannot be a ground to perpetuate the same, if it is found to be illegal and/or contrary to the directions issued by this court, more particularly, in the case of All India Judges' Association and Others".

The bench said at present, the respective promotees have not assumed their posting on the promotional post and as such are sent for training.

"We stay the further implementation and operation of the select list dated March 10 issued by the High Court of Gujarat and the subsequent notification dated April 18, issued by the state government," it said.

The bench passed the interim order staying the promotions, and said that the matter be heard by an appropriate bench since Justice Shah is scheduled to retire on May 15.

The top court order came on a plea filed by senior civil judge cadre officers, Ravikumar Maheta and Sachin Pratapraya Mehta, challenging the selection of 68 judicial officers to the higher cadre of district judges. The bench directed the matter to be placed before a bench led by Chief Justice of India, D.Y. Chandrachud, subject to orders on the administrative side.

The top court observed that in the present case, in conducting the written test, the high court has considered the merits only for the purpose of achieving benchmark and thereafter switched to the principle of seniority-cum-merit and thereby has given a go-by to the principle of merit-cum-seniority.

The bench said, "We do not find anything in the Recruitment Rules, 2005 and/or even the Recruitment Notice to consider the merit only for the purpose of achieving a benchmark of 50 per cent." The petitioners had challenged the promotion of senior civil judges to the cadre of district judge (65 per cent quota) as being violative of Article 14 of the Constitution as well as Rule 5 of the Gujarat State Judicial Service Rules, 2005.

Verma, the CJM of Surat, is presently working as under secretary in the legal department of the Gujarat government and as the assistant director in the state legal services authority.

The top court had issued notices to the state government and the Registrar General of the Gujarat High Court on April 13 on the plea of the two judicial officers.
New Delhi, May 12 : The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said that they have registered a case against the then Mumbai zonal chief of NCB, Sameer Wankhede, and four others for allegedly demanding Rs 25 crore bribe from the family of Aryan Khan, the son of actor Shah Rukh Khan, in the alleged drugs-on-cruise case.

The case has also been lodged against Vishwa Vijay Singh, the then Superintendent, NCB; Ashish Ranjan, the then Intelligence Officer; two private persons KP Gosavi and Sanbile D'Souza and unknown others.

The CBI officials on condition of anonymity said that Rs 50 lakh was even paid by Khan's family to save him in the drug case. He said that in coming days, they will summon Wankhede to join the probe and get his statement recorded.

The CBI said that the instant case was registered under Prevention of Corruption Act and relevant Sections of the IPC following a complaint from Narcotics Control Bureau's Vigilance Department.

The CBI official said that the officials of the NCB (Mumbai Zone), in order to obtain undue advantage from few persons in a drug case entered into criminal conspiracy and had allegedly obtained undue advantage in the form of bribes from the alleged accused.

An information was received in the Mumbai Zone of NCB during October, 2021 related to consumption and possession of narcotics substances by various individuals on Cordelia cruise.

Aryan Khan was on board Cordelia cruise, when the NCB officials conducted raids.

The NCB officials allegedly entered into conspiracy in order to extort an amount of Rs 25 crore from the family members of Aryan Khan by threatening them of the accusation of offences of possession of narcotics substances, as per the alleged directions of Wankhede.

The CBI official said that a token amount of Rs 50 lakh as bribe was allegedly obtained in furtherance of this conspiracy by the said persons.

The official said that searches were being conducted at 29 locations across Mumbai, Delhi, Ranchi, Lucknow, Chennai and Guwahati. During the searches, a number of incriminating documents, cash have been seized. In Mumbai, raids are on in Andheri and others premises of Wankhede.

IANS made several attempts to reach out to Wankhede, who is currently posted in Chennai's Income Tax department, for his comments on the matter, but he was not available.

Further investigation in the matter is on.
Bhubaneswar, May 12 : In a major development, Odisha Assembly Speaker Bikram Keshari Arukha along with two ministers, Samir Ranjan Dash and Srikanta Sahu, resigned from their positions on Friday.

Speaking to mediapersons, Arukha said he has resigned on personal grounds. "I have submitted my resignation letter to Deputy Speaker Rajanikant Singh," he said.

Asked if he would be included in the Cabinet of Naveen Patnaik's government, Arukha said: "I will discharge every responsibility assigned to me by the party or in the government." Soon after the resignation of the Speaker, School and Mass Education Minister Samir Ranjan Dash and Labour Minister Srikanta Sahu also resigned from the position of MoS.

Sahu said he has resigned to work for the organisation of Biju Janata Dal (BJD). A few days ago, a woman BJD worker made 'sexual harassment' allegations against Sahu. Even, the matter reached the police station seeking action against Sahu.

Commenting on it, Sahu said: "In politics, a lot of allegations will be made. So, I don't want to make any comment on this. To discharge organisational responsibility, I have resigned." Besides, Samir Ranjan Dash, was also dragged into controversy over the alleged suicidal death of BJD zilla parishad member Dharmendra Sahoo. The ZP member was elected from one seat of Dash's Nimapara Assembly constituency. Recently, a by-poll for the ZP seat was held and the BJP won it.

Dash said he has resigned from the Cabinet to give full time in organisational work.

According to political observers, the two ministers have been asked to resign as both courted controversy.
New Delhi, May 12 : The Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Friday ordered an inquiry into the alleged non-compliance by Google related to the CCI order regarding the Play Store user choice billing policy.

The order was in response to the Alliance of Digital India Foundation (ADIF) submission with the Indian market regulator on Google not complying with the CCI directions and introducing user choice billing (UCB) which is "unfair, irrational and discriminatory".

The CCI had penalised Google for indulging in unfair practices and directed the company to follow certain corrective measures regarding the same.

The CCI in October had imposed a penalty of Rs 936.44 crore on Google for abusing its dominant position with respect to its Play Store policies.

The ADIF reached out to the CCI over the non-compliance by Google and in response, the CCI "has not only stated that an enquiry needs to be made against the compliance by Google" but has also directed "Google to file a detailed response to a set of queries mentioned in the order, including information on its processes and internal policies regarding data sharing, data-steering provisions, UCB policy".

The tech-giant has been provided with 4 weeks to provide its responses to the queries.

Google in January introduced various changes in its Play Store policies and introduced user choice billing as reforms in compliance with the directives of CCI.

The changes, however, were not compliant with the order, according to the ADIF.

The ADIF's spokesperson had slammed the changes and termed them "irrational, unfair and discriminatory" in nature.

ADIF also maintained that the changes will not be beneficial in any manner and will only hurt the startup ecosystem in the long run.

In another Android case, Google has paid the entire penalty amount of Rs 1,337.76 crore imposed by the CCI.
Amaravati, May 12 : BJP's Andhra Pradesh unit president Somu Veerraju has condemned the alleged highhandedness of police while dealing with the protest by BJP workers at Kavali in Nellore district.

The BJP workers were trying to stage the protest by stopping the convoy of Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy who was on a visit to the town on Friday.

While trying to control the protesters, a policeman allegedly pressed the neck of one of the party workers between his two legs.

The state BJP chief posted a picture of the same on his Twitter handle. He alleged that democratic values are being trampled under police shoes.

Somu Veerraju said that voices questioning injustice are being suppressed.

"The judgment of the people is very near when your power and arrogance will be trampled under the feet of the common man," he said, urging the government to release party workers immediately.

"I strongly condemn the behaviour of the police towards our party workers who are protesting in Nellore district. I would like to inform you that by acting undemocratically, you should not deprive society of the trust that people have in the police system and the reassurance that people should get from you," he told the chief minister.

The BJP leader stated that attacking and arresting the BJP leaders protesting against the corruption of local MLA is against the spirit of the Constitution.

He told Jagan Mohan Reddy that his unjust and inefficient governance cannot be covered up for long with these arrests.
Kolkata, May 12 : The West Bengal Board of Primary Education (WBBPE) is set to challenge the order of the Calcutta High Court to terminate the services of 36,000 primary teachers in different state-run schools in West Bengal.

WBBPE President Gautam Pal said that the termination of 36,000 jobs will create a major chaos in the state education system.

"We can say for sure that not a single primary teacher lacks requisite training. We will challenge the decision at the right forum," Pal told mediapersons a few hours after the judgment was pronounced by the single-judge bench of Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay.

He also claimed that all the recruitments were made as per existing legal provisions.

"The WBBPE arranged for the training of each and every primary teacher recruited in the open and distance learning mode and the training process was completed by 2019," Pal said.

He added that the board cannot just deny the responsibility for those teachers whose jobs are being terminated.

"Let us get the copy of the court order first and accordingly we will take a decision," he said.

Earlier on Friday, while passing the order for termination of 36,000 primary teachers, Justice Gangopadhyay had observed that none of these teachers had proper training for getting recruited as primary teachers and they got recruited without appearing for the compulsory aptitude tests.

However, Justice Gangopadhyay directed that these 36,000 primary teachers will be able to attend their respective schools for the next four months and during that period they will be paid the salary of para-teachers instead of that for regular teachers.

If any candidate among these 36,000 completes the requisite training in the interim period, he/she will be eligible for appearing for examinations in the next recruitment phase.
Kanpur, May 12 : A team of researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur has proposed a universal mechanism for turbulent relaxation, which can be applied to a wide range of fluids, including plasmas and complex fluids.

This principle, called the principle of vanishing nonlinear transfer (PVNLT), explains how a turbulent system attains a steady, stable state of relaxation when the driving force is switched off.

The study titled 'Universal turbulent relaxation of fluids and plasmas by the principle of vanishing nonlinear transfers' has been published in the journal 'Physical Review E (Letters)'.

The team comprises professor Supratik Banerjee, and researchers Arijit Halder and Nandita Pan from the Department of Physics, IIT Kanpur.

According to an official release, the researchers used the example of mixing milk in a cup of coffee.

"When we stir the coffee, we create eddies and turbulence that cause the milk to mix quickly. However, when we stop stirring, the system organises itself via 'turbulent relaxation' before it finally ceases to flow. According to PVNLT, this happens when the system gets rid of its nonlinear transfers, terminating the turbulent cascade. In this state, stability is ascertained as a scale-dependent entropy function is maximised when the correlation between different parts of the fluid tends to vanish," said Banerjee.

The PVNLT principle has been shown to give the correct pressure-balanced relaxed states for both two and three-dimensional fluids and plasmas, as previously obtained in numerical simulations.

This means the current principle can correctly predict the way the turbulent relaxation happens in reality. This technique is fundamental and can easily be applied to complex fluids, including compressible fluids, plasmas, binary fluids etc.

"Through the principle of vanishing nonlinear transfer, we have been able to uncover a universal mechanism for understanding how turbulent systems reach a relaxed and stable state. Our research has important implications not only for the study of fluids, but also for plasmas and other complex fluids. We are excited about the potential for future applications of this principle in a wide range of fields," added Banerjee.

This research has important implications for our understanding of cosmological plasmas. Cosmological plasmas are plasmas that exist in outer space, such as in stellar envelopes, gaseous nebulae, and interstellar space. Plasmas are a state of matter that consists of charged particles, such as ions and electrons that interact with electromagnetic fields. These plasmas are often dilute, meaning they are not very dense, but they are still important because they play a crucial role in shaping the universe.

One of the interesting features of these cosmological plasmas is that they often exhibit regular patterns, such as "force-free" magnetic fields with a clear alignment between the magnetic field lines and the current.

This alignment, popularly called a Beltrami-Taylor alignment, is important because it helps to explain the behaviour of these plasmas in outer space. For example, it can explain why some regions of space appear brighter than others in certain wavelengths of light.

The PVNLT principle provides a unified framework for understanding how turbulent systems reach a stable, relaxed state, from a cup of coffee to the cosmological plasmas. The research has the potential to open up new avenues of study and discovery in both laboratory and astrophysical plasmas.
Bhopal, May 12 : Sahdev Bhavedi (55), a Baiga tribal from Dhangaon, lives in a hut that has no power connection. Like most of the Adivasis in Mohgaon block of Mandla district, his family has been growing a variety of crops, including rice, wheat, Kodo millet, maize, gram, pigeon pea, lentil, ramtil (Niger seed) and mustard, on the forest land for generations. To date, he has not received Individual Forest Rights (IFR) under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, also known as Forest Rights Act (FRA).

Sanavver Shafi Bhopal, May 12 (IANS/ 101Reporters) Sahdev Bhavedi (55), a Baiga tribal from Dhangaon, lives in a hut that has no power connection. Like most of the Adivasis in Mohgaon block of Mandla district, his family has been growing a variety of crops, including rice, wheat, Kodo millet, maize, gram, pigeon pea, lentil, ramtil (Niger seed) and mustard, on the forest land for generations. To date, he has not received Individual Forest Rights (IFR) under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, also known as Forest Rights Act (FRA).

Tribals and other traditional forest dwellers in 12 villages of Mohgaon block face a similar plight. "No patta (land title) means no benefits under government schemes like PM/CM Kisan Samman Nidhi, no subsidy on fertilisers or seeds, and not even household power connections. Above all, there is this fear of displacement. If the forest department feels like taking action, we are in for big trouble," he said.

Bhavedi and Siyaram Jharia, another Adivasi whose source of livelihood is eight acres of ancestral property, claimed that they have applied for pattas for years together. They also took the pain to apply on the MP Van Mitra portal twice, though they were not familiar with the online system. Yet, the claims came to a naught. There was no intimation from the government regarding the rejection either.

According to Census 2011, Madhya Pradesh has the highest tribal population (1.53 crore) in the country. The FRA recognises individual and community land ownership claims of tribal and forest-dwelling communities if they submit evidence that they have been residing in the forest on or before December 13, 2005, and have been dependent on it for their livelihood. This way, a tribal household can claim ownership of up to 10 acres of forest land. The claims are scrutinised at the gram sabha and at the sub-divisional and district levels.

In 2008, Wildlife First, the Wildlife Trust of India, Nature Conservation Society, and Tiger Research and Conservation Trust moved the Supreme Court (SC) to assess the constitutional validity of the FRA, while arguing that it would promote deforestation and encroachment. Hearing the petition, the court on February 13, 2019, ordered eviction of all those whose claims were rejected under the FRA. Over one crore tribals across 20 states came close to becoming homeless with this order.

Two weeks later, the court stayed the eviction proceedings on a petition from the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, and directed all states to re-examine whether due process of law was followed while rejecting the claims. Since then, the court has issued around 240 notices to the chief secretaries of different states, ordering them to submit affidavits on the status of FRA implementation. However, no hearing has taken place between January 22, 2020, and September 13, 2022, due to the COVID-19 issue.

The three-judge constitutional Bench had scheduled its final hearing for November 10 last, but it did not take it up due to the retirement of Justice Indira Banerjee. Right now, the formation of a new constitutional Bench is awaited.

In December 2019, in a first-of-its-kind initiative in the country, the Madhya Pradesh government launched Van Mitra portal and mobile app to review the rejected claims and to simplify the process of claim redressal. According to an affidavit filed by the state in the SC, 3,54,787 (61.2%) of the total 5,79,411 IFR claims received between 2008 and January 2019 were rejected.

Once the Van Mitra portal became active, 6,27,513 claims (5,85,326 individual and 42,187 community) were received till November last. Of them, only 2,94,585 claims (2,66,609 individual and 27,976 community) were approved.

With no solution in sight, over 300 tribals recently launched a campaign for pattas in Mandla district and submitted personal memorandum to the district Collector. Sharda Yadav, a Narmada Ghati Navnirman Samiti leader who played a key role in mobilising people for the campaign, informed 101Reporters that tribals and other traditional forest dwellers in 89 tribal development blocks in the state faced problems with claims.

"I am sure most of the tribals will get to know about the rejection of their claims if and when the forest staff take action against them. There is a provision in the FRA to inform the claimant in writing, so that they can appeal against the rejection. But that is not followed," Yadav said.

Suraj Saharia, who helped the Saharia tribals of Guna district to get land titles through social service organisation Ekta Parishad, said several letters have been sent to both the Collector and Chief Minister regarding the claims, but the problem persisted. "As many as 2,822 individual and 4,679 community claims have been rejected in Guna's Bamori tehsil. A March 2022 report of Van Mitra portal and mobile app said 6,202 claims have been rejected in Aron, Guna, Chachoda, Bamori and Raghogarh tehsils." Trial and error

Several members of the Bhil, Bhilala, Barela, Gond and Korku communities in Burhanpur district have not received land rights even years after they made FRA claims. A Bhilala tribal from Sunod in Burhanpur, Tulsia Bai (75) made individual claims on the forest land thrice, but all of them were rejected without any explanation. The first two were offline applications, made in 2010 and 2013. In 2020, she tried her luck again through the Van Mitra portal, but nothing changed for her.

Likewise, Tukaram (90) applied for forest rights on an eight-acre plot 10 years ago, but was rejected three years later by the Sub-Divisional Level Committee (SDLC). The portal raised some hope, so he applied again in 2020. That too was a failure. "If my 20-member family is evicted, where will we go," he asked.

As per the rules, the panchayat should convene a gram sabha meeting to constitute a Forest Rights Committee (FRC) and elect a chairperson and secretary for it. The FRC does the first level of physical verification of claims.

Antram Awase, the FRC secretary for Siwal village in Nepanagar tehsil of Burhanpur, told 101Reporters that the panchayat secretary (an FRC member elected by gram sabha) should visit the plot for physical verification of a claim, along with the talukdar and beat guide of the forest department. "This procedure is mostly ignored. Not only that, the officials are adept in rejecting claims. They even upload fake proposals and old photos by logging into the portal," he alleged.

Denying the allegations, Siwal Panchayat Secretary Sunil Patel told 101Reporters that the plots were duly visited and the gram sabha concerned was informed about it. Any information would be uploaded into the portal only after taking those two steps.

"The FRA gives a tribal family the right to claim up to 10 acres. However, families here occupy 20 to 25 acres each. Only when tribals make the claims that they learn about the 10-acre rule. As they do not want to leave the rest of the land, another claim is filed in the name of a family member, which results in the rejection of both applications," Patel said.

To make FRA claims through Van Mitra, the applicant should create a user login ID and set a password. Once the application is submitted, the FRC officials can review the uploaded documents by logging in with their personal IDs and comment against each submitted document.

It is then forwarded to the SDLC and later to the District Level Committee (DLC) with the required recommendations. The DLC takes a decision on the recommendation only after consulting with the gram sabha. If the claim is allowed, the approved claim certificate is uploaded by affixing the necessary signature and seal. The claimant can download the certificate from the portal. If the claim is rejected, the reason for the same should be mentioned in the portal.

By now, it is clear that the system does not work properly. What more, the portal is functional only in Anuppur, Alirajpur, Umaria, Chhatarpur, Ratlam, Rewa, Sidhi and Narmadapuram districts of the state.

Explaining further, Lakhan Agarwal, Assistant Commissioner, Tribal Welfare Department, Burhanpur, told 101Reporters that the SC had ordered re-examination of 5,944 rejected offline claims. "As fresh claims were also getting filed during this period, the number of claims in the Van Mitra portal increased to 10,173. This created confusion, so the portal was closed in the district in June 2020." Usha Pathak, the Divisional Deputy Commissioner of Gwalior-Chambal Division of Tribal Welfare Department, agreed that the portal was not operational in many districts. "A review process is on in the department headquarters in Bhopal. Reports have been sought from the districts and a decision is expected soon," Pathak told 101Reporters.

Nitin Varghese, an activist working in Burhanpur district under the Jagat Adivasi Dalit Sangathan, said Van Mitra portal has taken away the option of applying offline. Tribals have to contact the government-approved online kiosks to get it done. The state government has fixed a fee of Rs 60 for kiosk operators, but the latter charge Rs 200 to 500. The claimants do not have to pay if they apply on their own, but it is a near-impossible thing for the less educated tribals.

"The kiosk operators upload documents without reading them properly and often end up attaching documents of another person to a given application. The portal was launched for easy review of rejected claims, but what is happening is the exact opposite," Varghese said bluntly.

( is a Bhopal-based freelance journalist and a member of 101Reporters, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters)
New Delhi, May 12 : The Supreme Court on Friday posed a series of queries to the West Bengal government in connection with the ban on the film 'The Kerala Story', saying that the film is being exhibited in the rest of the country and there is no reason why it should be banned in the state.

A bench headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud and P.S. Narasimha told senior advocate A.M. Singhvi, representing the West Bengal government: "The film has been released in the rest of the country, West Bengal is no different from any other part of the country." Senior advocate Harish Salve, representing the filmmakers, said the film ran in theatres for three days.

The Chief Justice said: "If the film can run in peace in other parts of the country, why should the state of West Bengal ban the film? If the public does not find it worth seeing, they will not see the film." The top court sought a response from the governments of West Bengal and Tamil Nadu governments on a plea of the producers of "The Kerala Story" that the movie is not being shown in theatres in these two states.

Though West Bengal has banned the movie after three days of its screening in theatres, Tamil Nadu has not banned the film but the exhibitors have withdrawn from cinema halls owing to security concerns.

The Chief Justice said: "It is running in different parts of the country, which has a similar democratic profile as the state of West Bengal. Why should you not allow a film to run?" The bench said: "This has nothing to do with the artistic value of the film, the film may be good art, or it may be bad art. It may be irrelevant." After hearing submissions, the top court issued a notice to the West Bengal government.

Singhvi said according to intelligence inputs, there may be a law and order problem, and peace among different communities may be breached.

The bench also asked the Tamil Nadu government to specify measures taken to provide adequate security for theatre screening of the movie.

Salve said there is de facto ban in Tamil Nadu as theatres screening the movie are being threatened, as a result they are not screenings.

Advocate Amit Anand Tiwari, appearing for the Tamil Nadu government, contended that there is no ban on the movie.

The bench said the state government cannot say that it will look the other way when theatres are attacked and chairs are being burnt.

Salve stressed that for West Bengal, his clients seek quashing of the ban order.

After hearing submissions, the top court issued a notice to the West Bengal and Tamil Nadu governments and scheduled the matter for further hearing next week.

On May 10, the Supreme Court agreed to examine a plea by the filmmakers of 'The Kerala Story' against the West Bengal government's order on the movie.

The filmmakers submitted that the state government has no power to ban a movie which has been certified for public viewing by the Central Board of Film Certification.

The filmmakers claimed that the state government cannot cite law and order issues to stop the screening of the movie. They argued that it will result in the violation of the fundamental rights guaranteed to them.

On May 8, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced the ban on screening of 'The Kerala Story'. She also instructed the West Bengal chief secretary, H.K. Dwivedi to take the necessary steps on this count.

"Certain scenes in the said film can affect the air of peace and harmony in West Bengal. So, we have decided to ban its screening everywhere in the state, including Kolkata and the districts. The decision has been taken to maintain peace and harmony," the chief minister told media persons.
New Delhi, May 12 : The Special Cell of Delhi Police has arrested three Punjab residents from Sarai Kale Khan in Delhi for their alleged involvement in a drugs nexus linked to Pakistan. The accused were allegedly supplying drugs trafficked from Pakistan via drones in Punjab and other states.

Punjab Police have taken custody of the trio identified as Dharmendra Singh, a resident of Amritsar, Malkit Singh and Harpal Singh, both residents of Tarn Taran in Punjab.

Sources said that they were receiving drugs from a peddler sitting across the border and working at the behest of Pakistan's secret agency ISI.

According to the police, the trio, who even had links with Indian fugitives now based in the Philippines and the United States, was supplying drugs in Punjab and other states since 2011 and the money earned from the process was transferred through a hawala network to Pakistan.

The police have also recovered arms and ammunition from the accused persons' possession.

"We have also found US and Philippines contact numbers when we scanned their phones. It seems that the numbers belong to the persons giving directions to them. We are also trying to find out if they had links with Harwinder Singh Rinda, who was the mastermind of the RPG attack on the Punjab Police intelligence headquarters in May last year," said a source.
New Delhi, May 12 : The Supreme Court said on Friday that trial courts and high courts can consider default bail pleas in criminal cases on the ground of non-filing of charge sheets within the stipulated period of 60 or 90 days.

The apex court clarified that the court should not rely on its recent Ritu Chhabaria judgment in the matter.

A bench headed by Chief Justice of India, D.Y. Chandrachud, made this observation while hearing Centre's application seeking the recall of its verdict which ruled that an accused will be entitled to default bail if an incomplete charge sheet is filed by the investigating agency.

On April 26, a bench comprising justices Krishna Murari and C.T. Ravikumar had said: "We find it pertinent to mention that the right of default bail under Section 167(2) of the CrPC is not merely a statutory right, but a fundamental right that flows from Article 21 of the Constitution." The Supreme Court had then said the investigating agency filing an incomplete charge sheet would scuttle the chances of default bail for the accused.

An accused becomes entitled for statutory bail (default bail), under the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), if the probe agencies fail to file the charge sheet on conclusion of the probe. Investigators are granted 90 days or 60 days, depending on the seriousness of the crime.

The bench headed by justice Murari had observed that the petitioner's husband was denied default bail on filing of supplementary charge sheet by the investigating agency in a cheating case.

"The question of resorting to a supplementary charge sheet u/s 173(8) of the CrPC only arises after the main charge sheet has been filed, and as such, a supplementary charge sheet, wherein it is explicitly stated that the investigation is still pending, cannot under any circumstance, be used to scuttle the right of default bail, for then, the entire purpose of default bail is defeated," the bench had said.

The top court said the filing of a charge sheet or a supplementary charge sheet becomes a mere formality and a tool to ensue that the right of default bail is scuttled.

"It is thus axiomatic that first investigation is to be completed, and only then can a charge sheet or a complaint be filed within the stipulated period, and failure to do so would trigger the statutory right of default bail under Section 167(2) of Cr.PC," said the bench.

The bench added, "With the above findings and conclusions, the interim order of bail passed in favour of the accused is made absolute, and the present writ petition is, accordingly, disposed of." The plea was filed under Article 32 of the Constitution by the woman seeking the release of her husband on default bail.

On Friday, the bench headed by Chief Justice Chandrachud and also comprising justices P.S. Narasimha and J.B. Pardiwala said that the interim order of this court dated May 1, 2023, shall not preclude any trial court or high court from granting of default bail independent of, and not relying upon, the Ritu Chhabria judgment of April 26, 2023.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, submitted that the government was in the process of filing a review against the judgment. After hearing the submissions, the apex court scheduled the plea for hearing in July.

On May 1, the top court had said: "In the meantime, in the event that any other applications have been filed before any other court on the basis of the judgment of which recall is sought, they shall be presently deferred beyond May 4, 2023."
New Delhi, May 12 : A Delhi court on Friday extended by three days the police custody of the six individuals arrested for their alleged involvement in gangster Tillu Tajpuriya's murder inside the Tihar Jail here.

Tajpuriya, 33, was stabbed over 90 times to death by the assailants on May 2. The arrested accused persons are -- Deepak Dabas, Yogesh Tunda, Rajesh Bawana, Riyaz Khan, Ata-ul Rehman and Chavanni.

The Patiala House Courts extended their police custody till May 15.

Tajpuriya, 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 number 8.

He was an accused in the 2021 Rohini court shootout in which gangster Jitender Gogi was killed.

According to a senior police officer involved in the probe, on May 8, after obtaining four days of police custody of the four accused, they were taken to the forensic department at Dr. Baba Sahib Ambedkar hospital.

"The doctors of the forensic department subjected all four of them to a detailed medical examination for injuries sustained by them with their own weapons during the commission of Tillu Tajpuriya's murder in Jail No. 8, Tihar Jail, on May 2. Blood samples and nail clippings were collected and preserved by the concerned doctors," said the official.

During their custody, their confessions regarding planning, preparation, execution, and weapon recovery were recorded during the questioning.

The names of two other accused, identified as Vinod a.k.a. Chavanni and Ata-ul Rehman, also emerged as conspirators and facilitators in committing the murder of Tajpuriya.

"On May 8, the police team assigned to the investigation also visited Tihar Jail and reviewed all relevant CCTV footage of the period in question, regarding Tillu Tajpur's murder, to identify the sequence of events and the specific roles played by the accused persons," said the official.

On the same day, an application was filed before the Patiala House Court, requesting that the jail authorities provide every assistance and facilitate the investigating team in every aspect of the investigation.

The police also seized an exhaust fan whose frame holding iron arms were used by the accused to make four improvised pointed knife-type weapons used in the killing of Tajpuriya.

On Wednesday, the FSL team was taken to Tihar Jail in Delhi to abstract relevant CCTV footage of the 26 cameras installed in ward no-5, Jail No. 8, Tihar Jail, and subsequently, two more days of police custody of Chavanni and Ata-ul Rehman were obtained.

"The police confronted all six arrested accused, and a complete chain of events was established. They were all taken to Tihar along with the FSL team to recreate the crime scene," said the official.
New Delhi, May 12 : In response to a trademark infringement lawsuit filed by the Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL), a member of the Tata group of companies and the registered owner of the 'Vivanta' trademark, the Delhi High Court has permanently barred a hospitality company from using the 'Vivanta' mark.

Vivanta Hospitality Private Limited has also been fined Rs 6 lakh by Justice Amit Bansal, who found that the company's use of the trademark 'Vivanta' in its trade name 'Vivanta Vacation Club' was identical to the mark used by the hotels managed by the Tata Group.

The court noted that the hotel company exploited the contested mark with the intention of drawing an association with Indian Hotels and to ride on its goodwill and reputation to jumpstart its business.

Justice Bansal also noted that under the guise of being affiliated to the Indian Hotels owned by Tata Sons, Vivanta Hospitality Private Limited defrauded a number of customers.

The court stated that the hospitality company had not only unfairly exploited the goodwill and reputation of Indian Hotels' Vivanta mark, but it also misled unwary consumers into believing that they were associated with the latter, which would also cause the mark to become diluted and tarnished.

More than 100 complaints were submitted by the consumers who believed the defendant firm was affiliated to Indian Hotels, according to an inquiry conducted by the investigator for Indian Hotels.

Indian Hotels said that consumers who were not aware were likely to confuse the services or packages offered by the defendant company with those offered by Indian Hotels.

Perusing the report of the local commissioner appointed in the matter, the court observed: "The report of the local commissioner shows that that the defendant is engaged in the business similar to the plaintiff, under the trade name identical/deceptively similar to that of the plaintiff. The inventory prepared by the local commissioner shows that a large stock of infringing material was found at the premises of the defendant. Photographs have been filed along with the report showing that the defendant is using the name 'VIVANTA VACATION CLUB' in its ordinary course of business prominently.

"The user traffic may be diverted due to the use of the same or similar domain name, which could result in a user mistakenly accessing one domain name instead of the one intended. A domain name may, therefore, have all the characteristics of a trademark and could result in an act of passing off. Similarly, the use of 'VIVANTA VACATION CLUB' as part of their trade name is also likely to deceive unwary consumers of their association with the plaintiff." The court also ordered the destruction of the seized goods bearing the mark 'Vivanta' that were found on the defendant company's property while issuing the order of permanent injunction.
New Delhi, May 12 : The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday filed its third supplementary chargesheet at a special court in Hyderabad against another accused in the Mundra Port narcotics case related to the seizure of 2,988 kg heroin.

The consignment was smuggled into India from Afghanistan via Bandar Abbas, Iran in 2021.

With this, a total of 42 individuals and seven firms have so far been named in the chargesheet in the case.

On Friday, the NIA filed chargesheet against one Pankaj Vaid a.k.a. Amit, a resident of Amritsar in Punjab. He has been charged under various sections of IPC and NDPS Act.

"Pankaj is accused of being a part of the organised criminal conspiracy to smuggle illegal consignments of heroin through international trade routes to India from Afghanistan. As per NIA investigations, Pankaj was associated with foreign-based narcotics traders involved in pushing drugs into India," the NIA said.

The NIA investigations have further revealed that Pankaj had facilitated the processing of heroin and later sold the extracted heroin in India.

The case was initially registered by Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) Unit - Gandhidham, Gujarat and later on the probe of the matter was taken over by the NIA on October 6, 2021. After taking over the probe, the NIA filed a chargesheet against 16 accused persons on March 14, 2022.

Later, the NIA filed the first supplementary chargesheet on August 29, 2022 against nine accused.

The second supplementary chargesheet was filed in the matter against seven firms and 15 individuals on February 20, 2023.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 12. Exports of goods and services from Lithuania to Kyrgyzstan amounted to 350.4 million euros in 2022, a source at the Ministry of Economy and Innovation of Lithuania told Trend.

"Lithuania exported services to Kyrgyzstan for an amount of 25.4 million euros in 2022, of them travel services for 15.3 million euros, transport services for 9.7 million euros, and financial services for 100,000 euros," the source said.

Meanwhile, according to the ministry, the exports of goods from Lithuania to Kyrgyzstan amounted to 325 million euros in 2022, including exports of goods of Lithuanian origin - for 6 million euros, and reexports  for 319 million euros.

The main share of goods of Lithuanian origin exported to Kyrgyzstan in 2022 fell on animal products - 44.7 percent or 2.5 million euros.

Lithuanian ministry noted that diversification of export markets is a priority for the government of the country. Kyrgyzstan ranked 30th by trade turnover among 211 Lithuanias trade partners in 2022, 24  by exports, and 45  by imports.

Meantime, Lithuanian imports from Kyrgyzstan totaled 46.8 million euros last year. Overall, trade turnover between Kyrgyzstan and Lithuania amounted to 371.8 million euros in 2022.
New Delhi, May 12 : The Delhi High Court has directed the Delhi State Legal Services Authority (DSLSA) to create a programme aimed at educating teenagers on the legal implications of posting intimate content on social media or the Internet without the consent of their partner.

The directive follows a surge in cases where victims claim to have been sexually abused or blackmailed due to the sharing of inappropriate videos or photographs by their partners on social media.

Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma stated that inappropriate videos and photographs captured without consent or under coercion are often used to blackmail and continue the sexual abuse of the victim.

The judge also noted that there have been instances where young boys have been sexually assaulted and subsequently victimised through blackmail.

"In cases of sexual assault without consent or under some inducement, inappropriate videos and photographs are captured which are used for a long time for blackmailing the victims and continuing the sexual abuse. Even at times, this Court has witnessed cases where young boys have been sexually abused, assaulted and have been victims of such blackmailing," the court said in its order.

The court passed the order while denying bail to one Sakib Ahmed.

The court cited allegations that the accused had befriended a minor girl three years ago and, in January-February 2021, called her to his residence where he allegedly had sexual intercourse with her.

It was also alleged that Ahmed recorded the incident and threatened to post it on social media if she spoke out about it.

The victim further alleged that the accused had again sexually assaulted her a year later and was pressurising her to convert and marry him.

The complaint was lodged after the accused threw eggs and stones at her house.

However, Ahmed's lawyer argued that the relationship was consensual and he was falsely accused.

After considering the case, the judge stated that the record reveals that the applicant not only established physical relations with her on the pretext of getting married to her and had continued to do so, but he had also videographed the same.

"To sum up, had it been a case of consensual adolescent mutual love as argued by the learned counsel for the applicant (Sakib Ahmed), it would have no place of abusing, blackmailing, inducement, threat, violence, pressurising and threatening her to convert to his religion for the purpose of forcibly getting married to her even when she wanted to get out of the abusive relationship," the judge said in its order.

"She was put under fear and threat of social shaming of herself and her family, which does not indicate that it was a consensual, innocent adolescent mutual love relationship," the order further read.

"Rather, the gravity of the offence is aggravated by the fact that the accused was threatening to make public the intimate videos and images that he had captured without consent of the prosecutrix and was using it to blackmail her, and in return was asking for sexual favours," the court noted.

"Thus, he (Ahmed) was using the sexualised photos and videos as a tool to threaten, socially shame, embarrass, defame and blackmail her to coerce her into sexual relationship," the court further noted.
Islamabad, May 12 : Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Friday issued an ultimatum to the federal capitals administration after the law enforcers prohibited him from leaving the Islamabad High Court (IHC) premises, media reports said.

Khan has been at the IHC for hours after he decided to stay within the court premises till he got a written verdict of his bail as he feared that the police might arrest him again once he gets out, Geo News reported.

"Open Islamabad's routes within 15 minutes or I will announce my next plan of action," Khan told police officers stationed at the high court.

When he tried to leave the premises earlier and head towards Lahore, a police officer told Khan that he had "orders from above" not to allow the PTI chief to leave the IHC premises, Geo News reported.

Khan was arrested from the IHC premises by paramilitary forces on Tuesday (May 9), which triggered violent protests across the country. But the Supreme Court nullified his arrest and ordered authorities concerned to release him.

The PTI chief was at the IHC after he appeared there on Friday on Supreme Court's orders to seek bail in multiple cases registered against him, where he got blanket relief.

Meanwhile, intermittent aerial firing took place around the IHC premises, prompting the authorities to put security on high alert. Islamabad police's spokesperson said no one was injured in the firing.

"All police personnel are safe and search teams are investigating the matter," he said.

The Islamabad Police said that gunshots were also heard at H-11 on the Srinagar Highway. Apart from this, gunshots were heard in G-10 near the IHC.

The spokesperson said that policemen came under fire in the G-11 and G-13 areas. Firing also took place in the slum area near the Islamic University.

Police sources attributed the intermittent firing as a reason for restricting Khan within the IHC premises, Geo News reported.
Imphal, May 12 : Amid the ethnic unrest in Manipur, 10 tribal MLAs of various parties, including that of the BJP in a significant development, on Friday, indirectly demanded a separate state for the Kuki tribals.

The 10 legislators -- five of the BJP, two belonging to JD-U, two Kuki People's Alliance (KPA) and one Independent MLA, demanded "Separate Administration" for the tribals, who constitute around 37 to 40 per cent of the total of 27.21 lakhs population (2011 census).

In a signed statement, the MLAs said that the unabated violence that began on May 3 in Manipur perpetrated by majority Meiteis tacitly supported by the state government against the Chin-Kuki-Mizo-Zomi hill tribals has already partitioned the state and effected a total separation from the state of Manipur.

"Our people can no longer exist under Manipur as the hatred against our tribal community reached such a height that MLAs, Ministers, pastors, police and civil officers, common men, women and even children were not spared, not to mention the destruction of places of worship, homes and properties. To live amidst the Meitei again is as good as death for our people," the statement said.

It said, therefore, "as elected representatives of the people, we today represent the sentiments of our people and endorse their political aspiration of separation from the state of Manipur".

"We have also decided to hold a political consultation with our people at the earliest regarding further course of action." "As the state of Manipur has miserably failed to protect us, we seek from the Union of India a separate administration under the Constitution of India and live peacefully as neighbours with the state of Manipur," the statement stated.

The ten MLAs include, Letpao Haokip (Tengnoupal assembly constituency), Letzamang Haokip (Henglep), Nechal Kipgen (Kangpokpi) Paolienlal Haokip (Saikot), Vungzagin Valte (Thanlon), all BJP legislators, Ngursanglur Sanate (Tipaimukh) Aand L.M. Khaute (Churachandpur), both JD-U MLAs, Kimneo Haokip Hangshing (Saikul) and Chinlunthang (Singhat ), both KPA members, and independent MLA Haokholet Kipgen (Saitu).

The hills account for 90 per cent of the state's area and 10 per cent population while the valley occupies 10 per cent land.In the valley, there are Hindu, non-tribal Meitei communities while the hills are inhabited largely by the Christian Naga and Kuki-Zomi communities.

The northeastern state of Manipur witnessed unprecedented violent clashes, attacks, counter-attacks and arsoning of houses, vehicles and government and private properties in more than 10 districts during and after May 3 'Tribal Solidarity March' called by the All Tribal Students' Union of Manipur (ATSUM) to oppose the demand for inclusion of the Meitei community in the Scheduled Tribe category.

Acting on a writ petition filed by the Meetei (Meitei) Trade Union, the Manipur High Court acting Chief Justice M.V. Muralidaran on April 19 had directed the state government to submit the recommendation for inclusion of Meitei (Meetei) community in the Scheduled Tribes (ST) list to the Union Tribal Affairs Ministry.

The High Court order snowballed into a major controversy with thousands of tribals turning up for the 'Tribal Solidarity March' in 10 hill districts on May 3 called by ATSUM.

Earlier a civil writ petition filed by eight members of the Meetei (Meitei) Tribe Union led by union secretary Mutum Churamani Meetei had sought the issuance of a writ of mandamus directing the first respondent (Manipur government) to submit a recommendation in reply to the Union Tribal Affairs Ministry's letter dated May 29, 2013.
Patna, May 13 : RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav went to historic Patna High Court Mazar to offer "chadar" on Friday.

Yadav offered prayers at the mazar and "wished for communal harmony, peace in Bihar and in the country".

Since his return to Patna, this was the first time when Yadav came out from Rabri Devi's 10 circular road's residence and went to a public place. He is suffering from kidney and lung ailment for the last few years.

He reached the High Court in an SUV and then walked to the mazar. He was looking healthy and looks like he is recuperating well from the illness.

When residents of adjoining areas heard about Yadav's visit to the mazar located inside the High Court campus, they turned out to see him. Patna police made necessary arrangements to keep the crowd away from him.

He underwent a kidney transplant in Singapore and returned to Delhi. He stayed in Delhi for four months before coming to Patna on April 28.

The doctors have advised him to stay away from crowded places. He recently hosted lunch for ministers and legislators of Bihar government.
New Delhi, May 13 : A 53-year-old collection agent was allegedly shot dead by two men in Delhi's Shahdara area on Friday, an official said.

The deceased was identified as Dinesh Kumar, a resident of Sahibabad in West Delhi area.

According to police, on Friday, a police control room call was received at around 8 p.m. regarding a firing at GTB Enclave police station following which Emergency Response Vehicle (ERV) was dispatched to the spot at Friends Colony.

"Dinesh was rushed to a hospital by the PCR van but he succumbed to the injuries during the treatment," said Rohit Meena, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Shahdara).

During the initial probe, the police team found that Dinesh was working for one Mukesh Aggarwal, a scrap dealer and had collected Rs 98,500 from one Pradyumn Singh in Friends Colony, when he was shot dead.

"A case is being registered under appropriate sections of the Indian Penal Code. The CCTV footages are being scanned wherein two suspects are seen. Multiple teams have been formed to nab the accused," the official added.
Patna, May 13 : Bursting crackers during a marriage ceremony turned ugly in Bihar's Araria district when relatives of the bride brutally assaulted the bridegroom, his father and three others, an official said on Friday.

Victims were rescued by the police and an FIR has been registered against 15 persons in Jokihat police station of the district.

The incident occurred at Pachaili village under Mahalgarh outposts on Thursday night. The people on the bridegroom's side were continuously bursting crackers during the marriage function and people from the bride's relatives were not happy with that.

This had led to an altercation between the two side and bride's relatives overpowered the people on bridegroom's side. They held five persons - Avinesh Kumar Viswas (bridegroom), Chaman Lal Viswas (bridegroom's father), Nilesh Kumar Viswas, Radhannand Viaswas and one other - captive in an isolated place and brutally assaulted them.

Bridegroom's father Chaman Lal Viswas somehow managed to contact his brother Ramanand Viswas who further contacted the police and gave a written complaint against them.

"After receiving the complaint, we raided the place and rescued the victims. We have also registered an FIR against 15 persons and efforts are on to nab them. The situation turned ugly over the trivial issue of crackers," police said.

The accused have been identified as Dipak Kumar, Pinkesh Kumar, Subodh Kumar, Viaswas Kumar, and Pappu Kumar among others.

The victims also alleged that the accused have taken away 200 gram silver jewellery and 10 gram gold jewellery from them.
Panaji, May 13 : Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has urged parents and adolescents to watch 'The Kerala Story' movie to know how terrorism has begun in the world.

"This movie depicts real story of terrorism. How ISIS is involved in conversion and terrorism, be it in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, and other parts of the world, including some parts of India. It is a real story. Hence, parents and adolescents should watch 'The Kerala story' movie...," Sawant said.

"We should know the reality and should be alert about spread of terrorism. We should take precautions that such incidents don't take place and this slow poisoning stops," he said.

According to Sawant viewers get a clarity about how youngsters are entrapped in the cycle of terrorism.

"Terrorism network is on a rise and there has to be cautious efforts to curb it. We need to know how people are succumbing to it by brain wash and hypnotism. They are being trapped and cheated," Sawant said.

When asked whether his government will make this movie tax free, Sawant replied: "It is not that if made tax free people will watch it. They should watch it to know the importance. Maximum people should watch it along with their adolescent children."
Ankara, May 13 : Negotiations to extend a Black Sea Grain Initiative were nearing an agreement after two days of talks in Istanbul between Ukrainian, Russian, Turkish and UN officials, Turkey's Defence Minister Hulusi Akar has said.

"As part of the first information received, the meeting in Istanbul was positive. We are heading toward an agreement on the extension of the grain deal," Akar said in a statement on Friday.

The Turkish minister noted that Turkey has commercial vessels in Ukrainian ports and the parties also have reached a framework agreement for the safe return of six ships to Turkey, Xinhua news agency reported.

A quadrilateral meeting was held in Istanbul on Wednesday and Thursday to discuss the future of the initiative, which allows the export of Ukrainian grain and other agricultural products from Black Sea ports.

The Black Sea Grain Initiative was signed separately by Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul with Turkey and the United Nations on July 22, 2022. Initially in effect for 120 days, the deal was extended in mid-November 2022 for another 120 days until March 18, 2023. At that point, Russia only agreed to extend the deal for 60 days until May 18, 2023.

The memorandum of understanding between Russia and the United Nations on the facilitation of exports of Russian food and fertiliser 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 fertiliser.
We are excited to have geographically expanded the program so significantly, with the goal of delivering legal services to support sustainable growth and long-term success, LEAP Co-Chair Ade Bakare said. This is a strong group of companies that we are thrilled to collaborate and partner with.

McNees Wallace & Nurick announced the 2023 winners of its Legal Equity Advancement Program (LEAP), with 10 Black-owned businesses each receiving a grant for one years worth of free legal services from the firm.

The announcement was made Wednesday, May 10, during a reception at Historic King Mansion in Harrisburg to honor the LEAP grant recipients. They are:



Now in its third year, LEAP helps Black-owned and Black-controlled businesses overcome barriers to entry that are caused, in part, by institutional racism. Each business chosen for the program is awarded one year of free legal services.

McNees founded LEAP in southcentral Pennsylvania and last year expanded it to include Columbus, Ohio. Starting this year, LEAP also now extends to parts of western, central and eastern Pennsylvania as well as Frederick, Md.

We are excited to have geographically expanded the program so significantly, with the goal of delivering legal services to support sustainable growth and long-term success, LEAP Co-Chair Ade Bakare said. This is a strong group of companies that we are thrilled to collaborate and partner with.

LEAP awardees gain access to nearly every practice area at McNees to help them with a wide range of business needs, including business organization or reorganization, tax, employment, real estate, intellectual property, Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) certification, and contract review, among others. Recipients are also offered educational webinars/seminars and networking opportunities.

To date, 14 Black-owned or Black-controlled businesses have received free legal services through the program. LEAP clients from 2022 included a Columbus-based technology and coding boot camp, an affordable housing development company in York, Pa., and a healthy food and juice bar in Annville, Pa., to name a few.

At the conclusion of this program year, we will have engaged with 24 Black-owned businesses through LEAP. We hope our services provide each LEAP client with meaningful support to meet their business goals, LEAP Co-Chair Esch McCombie said. It has been a highlight of my career to work with these business owners through this program, and Im hopeful that LEAP has positively affected our business communities. If it has, that success is due in large part to the LEAP clients that helped make this program what it has become.

To learn more about LEAP, visit http://www.mcneesleap.com.

McNees is a multidisciplinary law firm founded in 1935 with more than 150 attorneys representing businesses, associations, institutions, municipalities and individuals. The firm serves clients worldwide from offices in Devon, Harrisburg, Lancaster, Pittsburgh, Scranton, State College and York, Pa.; Columbus, Ohio; Frederick and Towson, Md.; and Washington, D.C. McNees is a member of the ALFA International Global Legal Network.
This significant expansion of Shawmuts Asia-footprint demonstrates our long-term commitment to the region, and to the Chinese market." James Wyner, Shawmut CEO

Shawmut LLC and Zhejiang Dejun New Material Co., Ltd. announced an agreement to form an exclusive equity joint venture to produce Shawmuts market-leading automotive interior fabrics in China.

The JV is a continuing step in the 10-year long-term strategic relationship between Shawmuts Asia operations and Dejun. The agreement marks Shawmuts commitment to continue to grow its supply chain investment in Asia to serve global automotive OEM production. The JV gives Shawmuts Asia operations ownership and vertical control of production from yarn warping through knitting, dyeing, finishing and lamination.

This significant expansion of Shawmuts Asia-footprint demonstrates our long-term commitment to the region, and to the Chinese market, said James Wyner, Shawmuts CEO. Wyner and Dennis Hanuschik, Shawmuts Automotive Division President, recently joined representatives of Zhejiang Dejun New Material Co., Ltd. in Haining, China to review next steps in the joint venture production. Hanuschik added, We believe that this collaboration will be a game-changer for our business in China and will provide us with a competitive edge in the global market.

About Shawmut LLC

Founded in 1916, Shawmut LLC is a leading global provider of innovative, engineered textile solutions for a net zero carbon future. Leveraging market leading capabilities in advanced materials, engineered-fabrics, composites, coatings, and web-process innovation Shawmut delivers compelling solutions for automotive, medical, filtration, military, protective apparel and custom applications. Shawmut is also the largest producer of laminated warp knit automotive headliner fabrics in the world.

Shawmut is a fourth-generation, family-owned global corporation, headquartered in West Bridgewater, MA, USA. Shawmut employs over 600 employees worldwide in eight global manufacturing plants and six commercial offices across North America, Europe, and Asia. Shawmut LLC can be found online on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram. To learn more, visit http://www.shawmutcorp.com.

About Dejun Textiles

Zhejiang Dejun New Material Co., Ltd., is a manufacturer of elastic warp- and circular-knitting fabrics with in-house warping, knitting, dyeing, and finishing capabilities. Founded in 1994, it is located in Haining, Zhejiang Province, China.

With a philosophy of high-technology, eco-friendliness and comfort, Dejun has a reputation for consistently conducting fabric development and quality improvement to fulfill the different needs of its customers and their brands, while emphasizing environmental protection and sustainable development. Dejuns products are widely used in apparel fabrics and industrial fabrics, and are mainly exported to Europe, the United States, Japan, Hong Kong and southeast Asia. Dejun holds ISO 9001, OEKO-TEX 100, ISO 14001 and ISO IATF 16949 certifications.

Dejun Textiles can be found online on LinkedIn and Instagram. To learn more, visit http://www.dejuntextile.com.

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Evie King was named the 2023 Armed Forces Insurance Military Spouse of the Year. Her unwavering dedication to advocating for mental health wellness has sparked significant policy changes and generated crucial resources that profoundly impact military families lives.

Evie King was named the 2023 Armed Forces Insurance Military Spouse of the Year for her outstanding commitment to the military community. Her extraordinary leadership and tireless advocacy for mental health support and the overall well-being of military spouses have earned her this esteemed honor. Video of the awards ceremony is available here: https://www.youtube.com/live/Wqvb2q45SGU?feature=share.

Nominated by her peers, King's leadership is dedicated to bridging resource gaps and promoting inclusive mental health programs to ensure that all military spouses feel supported throughout their wellness journey.

As the child of two Army veterans and a military spouse for over a decade, King has gained invaluable insights into the needs and challenges our service members and their families face. As President of InDependent, an inclusive wellness community for military spouses, King's advocacy has drawn attention to the overlooked mental health struggles of military spouses by providing opportunities for healthy decision-making and accessible wellness resources such as the Fuel the Homefront workshop. This program is designed for military families who want to learn how to shop for more affordable, healthy foods and maintain a climate of wellness in their homes to help reduce food insecurity among military families. A 2022 Military Family Advisory Network study found that 1 in 6 military and veteran families was experiencing food insecurity.

"We take immense pride in acknowledging Evie King's exceptional commitment to our military community," shared Lt. Gen. Stanley "Sid" E. Clarke III, USAF (Ret.), Chairman of Armed Forces Insurance. "Her unwavering dedication to advocating for mental health wellness has sparked policy changes and generated much-needed resources that profoundly impact the daily lives of military families. This award is a testament to King's unyielding effort to prioritize and enhance military spouses' well-being. Her innovative leadership and advocacy are pivotal in forging a more resilient, inclusive, and healthier military community."

Before announcing the overall 2023 Armed Forces Insurance Military Spouse of the Year, the finalists from each branch of service were honored at the annual awards luncheon, hosted at the Hilton Arlington National Landing hotel and attended by military, elected officials, and civilian VIPs.

The 2023 Branch Winners are:

2023 Army Spouse of the Year  Evie King

2023 Marine Corps Spouse of the Year  Natalie Ealy

2023 Navy Spouse of the Year  Tonya Murphy

2023 Air Force Spouse of the Year  Ashley Gutermuth

2023 Coast Guard Spouse of the Year  Andrea Cacciola

2023 National Guard Spouse of the Year  Allyson Sue Hash

2023 Space Force Spouse of the Year - Aimee Selix

These Branch Winners emerged from a pool of more than 500 nominees, advancing through three separate rounds of voting and a judges' panel review.

Initially the winner of the local level USAG Rheinland- Pfalz Spouse of the Year award, King was awarded the branch-level Army Spouse of the Year title before ultimately being chosen as the overall 2023 Armed Forces Insurance Military Spouse of the Year.

King is an alumna of The College of New Jersey and an active member of the Association of Latino Professionals for America.

The Armed Forces Insurance Military Spouse of the Year program, in its 16th year, is the nation's top military spouse honor and recognizes the critical role military spouses play in supporting the readiness and resilience of military families. The award recipients are inducted into a year-round program for military spouses to earn leadership credentials, expand their networks, learn valuable life and advocacy skills, and make a difference in their communities.

For more information about the Armed Forces Insurance Military Spouse of the Year award program, please visit msoy.afi.org.

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About Armed Forces Insurance Military Spouse of the Year:

The Armed Forces Insurance (AFI) Military Spouse of the Year Award was founded in 2008 by Chris Hale, CEO of veteran-owned Neptune Holdings, and after nine years as title sponsor, AFI assumed ownership in 2018. The award is presented at a base, branch, and overall level each year to military spouses who are making a difference in their communities and providing a collective voice for spouses worldwide. Through a national nomination and voting process, these nominees are judged on five core criteria: overall involvement in military community, exhibition of leadership skills, community-building capability, communication skills, and overall personal story. With more than one million military spouses worldwide, this award program aims to shine a spotlight on the force behind our armed forces. For more information, please visit http://www.msoy.afi.org.

About Armed Forces Insurance:

Armed Forces Insurance was founded in 1887 by military leaders with a single mission: to protect the property of those who protect our nation. The company provides premium quality, competitively priced property and casualty insurance to military professionals throughout the United States and overseas. Armed Forces Insurance understands that its members have unique circumstances and insurance needs, enabling the company to offer a level of personalized service that's unequaled in the industry. For more information, visit the website at http://www.afi.org or call 1-800-495-8234, and follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Without a doubt the [Vermont Captive Insurance] Division has the deepest bench of technical staff, leadership, and support from lawmakers compared to others around the country. Its the undisputed leader in the space with the most mature captive environment.

The Captive Insurance Division of the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation (DFR) Deputy Commissioner of Captive Insurance Sandy Bigglestone, and Regional Managing Director  Americas for Aon Captive & Insurance Management Nancy Gray, were voted to top spots by their peers in Captive Reviews Power 50 Awards earlier this year. According to the Captive Review, over 7,800 captive insurance professionals around the world submitted their nominations and nominees were then judged on how they best met the criteria of influence, innovation, visibility/accessibility, skill/ability, and how dedicated they are to helping the broader industry.

Bigglestone, #3 on the Power 50 list, is the major reason why Vermont has developed such a strong reputation and is on track to become the worlds largest captive domicile, said Captive Review. Now in the top job, her influence covers not just the captives the state regulates, but also other captive regulators, who often look to Vermont as the model of how to house and regulate captives.

In 2022, Bigglestone was promoted to Deputy Commissioner of the Captive Division, leading Vermonts 30 captive insurance regulators. She spent the previous 13 years as Director of Captive Insurance and has worked for the Division since 1997.

My relationship with the industry has been collaborative, supportive, and responsive. Its often rare that government and industry partner in this way, said Bigglestone. Its important to me to employ the most reasonable regulatory standards for the industry, to be transparent about expectations, while at the same time, flexible to help the industry thrive.

Michael Scott, VP & Associate General Counsel, Insurance for Farmers Business Network, has worked with both Bigglestone and Gray over the last 20 years in the regulation and management of their captive insurance company in Vermont.

Ive enjoyed working with Sandy and the State of Vermont because under Sandys time in the Division, it has become the gold standard of captive regulation, said Scott. The Division has always been the utmost professional, willing to discuss new ideas, and has helped captive owners structure unique programs while still maintaining the proper level of oversight.

Captive Insurance Attorney Kathy Davis, who has been at the forefront of the captive industry in Vermont and the U.S. for over 30 years said, Sandy has been a driver of innovation for the Vermont captive industry and her influence can be seen in captive insurance legislation and quality regulation not just in Vermont, but around the country and even around the world.

Without a doubt the Division has the deepest bench of technical staff, leadership, and support from lawmakers compared to others around the country. Its the undisputed leader in the space with the most mature captive environment, said Robert Moussaid, Director, Global Risk Management, Celanese, which also has a Vermont licensed captive insurance company.

Nancy Gray, #1 on the Power 50 list, was cited as a very popular figure with extensive influence. Nancy is responsible for Aons operations in the U.S., Bermuda, Cayman, Barbados, and Vancouver. With over 30 years of experience in the captive industry, shes been part of Aon since 2001. In addition to her current Aon role, she has served as a director and past chair and treasurer of the National Risk Retention Association and serves as a director and officer for multiple captive clients. Previously, she served as a director and treasurer of the International Center for Captive Insurance Education and as a director and treasurer of the Vermont Captive Insurance Association.

I am a native Vermonter and proud of the reputation that the captive industry has developed in Vermont, said Gray. I was involved in the early days of the Vermont captive industry in the late 1980s and early 1990s as an auditor and then as a captive manager and pleased to have been part of the growth and development of the infrastructure.

Ive enjoyed working with Nancy over the years because she consistently took the time to understand my business needs and the needs of the captive, said Scott. She also consistently brought creative and strategic solutions to the table to help me meet those business needs. She is a problem-solver and is always available.

From our initial contact, I was impressed by her professionalism and depth of knowledge and expertise in the captive space. She became my go to pro for all things captive, said Moussaid.

Gray recommends to anyone who wants to grow in the captive industry to actively participate in the industry, grow connections, and attend seminars and industry courses that are offered. This is an industry that provides a lot of opportunity for career growth in an ever-changing environment that will continue to challenge you.

Bigglestone adds, my advice is to seek different perspectives from all concentrations in the industry and to never be shy to ask questions. I have enjoyed the fact that the industry provides an environment where there is always something to learn, and the industry itself exemplifies innovation.

Other notable mentions in this years Power 50 Awards include captive owners and Vermont-based service providers. About a third of the 20 captive owners listed had Vermont licensed captive insurance companies. Bob Gagliardi, a Vermont-based service provider of captive management company AIG was also listed.

For more information on Vermonts captive insurance industry, visit http://www.vermontcaptive.com, call Brittany Nevins at 802-398-5192 or email Brittany.nevins@vermont.gov.

###

About Vermont Captive Insurance

Captive insurance is a regulated form of self-insurance that has existed since the 1960s and has been a part of the Vermont insurance industry since 1981, when Vermont passed the Special Insurer Act. Captive insurance companies are formed by companies or groups of companies as a form of alternative insurance to better manage their own risk. Captives are commonly used for corporate lines of insurance such as property, general liability, products liability, or professional liability.
"Starting today, customers can bring Googles generative AI into their chatbots right out of the box."

Sendbird, the global in-app conversations platform with over 300 million monthly active users, today announced it has integrated PaLM 2, Google Bards new large language model (LLM), into its low-code chatbot API. Available now, Sendbird is one of the first organizations to power chatbots with Googles latest AI conversational engine for a commercial product.

We were given early access to fully integrate Bards LLM PaLM 2 into our chatbot API by Googles I/Os release, said John S. Kim, CEO and Co-founder of Sendbird. This gives our customers even more ways to supercharge chatbots. Weve already seen fantastic use cases taking off with our ChatGPT integration. Adding Googles generative AI opens the door to additional possibilities and this is only the beginning. We expect to announce more generative AI capabilities throughout this year.

The release of PaLM 2, announced at Google I/O two days ago, improves the quality of Bards conversational responses, offering new generative AI experiences such as creative writing, text analysis, coding, math problem solving, and more. PaLM 2 supports multiple languages, including Japanese and Korean.

Unprecedented Opportunity

Integrated into the Sendbird chatbot API, mobile chat app developers and product managers can quickly tap into generative AIs power to assist users. Businesses can revolutionize their chatbot experience seamlessly with more personalized and sophisticated answers to complicated questions. Sendbirds chatbot API provides instant access to over 1,300 apps transacting 7 billion+ monthly messages on the Sendbird platform, as well as to new businesses looking to deploy conversational intelligence quickly in their apps.

With the advancement of generative AI, businesses will reinvent their chat experience and move away from legacy, scripted bots like Dialogflow with limited ability to understand user context and questions beyond training scope. By taking context into account with first-party data-driven prompts while producing conversational messages, conversational AI chatbots open a new world of possibilities to increase engagement, user satisfaction, and retention.

Sendbird's chatbot API is the perfect middleware for online businesses, particularly in verticals like marketplaces, healthcare, financial services, on-demand, and education. It lets organizations combine the conversational capabilities of Google and OpenAI with customer data to generate answers tailored to their customers exact needs.

Getting Started

Starting today, customers can bring Googles generative AI into their chatbots right out of the box. Those who already have a Sendbird-enabled app only need to copy their API Key in the Sendbird dashboard and create a Bard-enabled chatbot in any of their apps chat channels. And for developers, they just have to integrate a few lines of code to leverage the Sendbird chatbot API. Google AI-powered chatbots can be up and running in web and mobile applications within minutes. Refer to Sendbird docs, tutorials, and start a free 30-day trial.

To learn more, visit https://sendbird.com/docs/chat/v3/platform-api/bot/bot-overview

About Sendbird

Sendbird believes conversations are at the heart of building relationships and getting things done. The companys global conversations platform powers over 7 Billion mobile messages and interactions monthly. Industry leaders like Reddit, Hinge, and Paytm build with Sendbird chat, voice, video, and livestream APIs to create a differentiated user experience that improves customer retention, conversion, and satisfaction.

Headquartered in California, Sendbird is venture-backed by ICONIQ Growth, STEADFAST Capital Ventures, Tiger Global Management, Meritech Capital, Emergence Capital, Shasta Ventures, August Capital, Funders Club, World Innovation Lab, and Y Combinator.
Emaluisa Bustamante As a "Staging Specialist," she is also able to help her clients that want to sell their homes optimize their houses to get top dollar for it.

Emaluisa is a Luxury Realtor that focuses her Real Estate expertise in La Jolla, where she resides, North Pacific Beach, Mission Hills, North Park, Coronado, and Chula Vista Eastlake areas. Her main goal is to help you find your dream home in San Diego and guide you through the whole buying process until she hands you the keys to your new house. As a "Staging Specialist," she is also able to help her clients that want to sell their homes optimize their houses to get top dollar for it.

She is bilingual English-Spanish so she can very easily help potential clients from other countries, helping them understand the differences between the various areas in San Diego and guiding them so they can find a perfect home for their family's specific needs, as well as referring them to a specialist on international home loans and anything they need to get from point A to closing the deal! Being bilingual is also helpful while representing her clients to have a better reach and understanding with potential buyers and sellers. Emaluisa has pledged to make a contribution to her charity on behalf of her clients each time she closes a deal, making working with her a chance to help out children in need, it's a definite win-win!

With roots both in San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico, she is a La Jolla resident who is involved in the local community and has volunteered her time and worked for her charity "Together for Charity" which sponsors an orphanage in Tijuana with 50 children. She did her undergraduate studies at both Boston College and the University of Monterrey, Mexico; Majoring in Communications and Marketing. And continued her post-graduate education at Boston University. She lives in the Muirlands neighborhood with her husband Javier, two little boys Javi and Alex, and their dog Snowflake.

Visit Emaluisa Bustamante's Haute Residence Profile: https://www.hauteresidence.com/member/emaluisa-bustamante/

ABOUT HAUTE RESIDENCE

Designed as a partnership-driven luxury real estate portal, Haute Residence connects its affluent readers with top real estate professionals, while offering the latest in real estate news, showcasing the worlds most extraordinary residences on the market, and sharing expert advice from its knowledgeable and experienced real estate partners. The invitation-only luxury real estate network, which partners with just one agent in every market, unites a distinguished collective of leading real estate agents and brokers and highlights the most extravagant properties in leading markets around the globe for affluent buyers, sellers, and real estate enthusiasts. HauteResidence.com has grown to be the number-one news source for million-dollar listings, high-end residential developments, celebrity real estate, and more.

Access all of this information and more by visiting http://www.hauteresidence.com


Italian Wine Podcast host Victoria Cece interviewing one of the producers exhibiting at Vinitaly 2023 for the Next Generation series One would think - where does one start in all the Vinitaly madness? The IWP Next Generation team knew precisely where - with small producers and under-the-radar wine regions with powerful potential.

If one thing is for sure, the adrenaline of the next generation to define the Italian wine industry was felt in every pavilion of Vinitalys 55th edition. The Italian Wine Podcast team channeled this energy by jumpstarting on-the-spot interviews for the Next Generation segment - airing every Sunday - with host Victoria Cece.

One would think - where does one start in all the Vinitaly madness? The IWP Next Generation team knew precisely where - with small producers and under-the-radar wine regions with powerful potential. A trip to the organic wine pavilion was just the place to spur interviews with young producers and marketers from fascinating regions such as Basilicata, Lazio, and Abruzzo.

Even in more well-established regions like Lombardy, small youthful producers stood out bright. Barbacan - a Valtellina-based winery - was no better example. Dancing their way on Tiktok and Instagram to thousands of followers (and counting,) the winery team are original vine stars of their own, and an interview with young winemaker Luca shed light on just how their perspective. This trend continued over in the Piedmont pavilion, chatting with 22-year-old Lorenzo Lupia, the newest generation of Filippo Gallino, a family-run winery in the Roero. Discussing orange wine, sustainable viticulture, and his own wine label (fit with a pirate flag,) the team got a glimpse of the other, younger side of Piemontese winemaking.

The IWP Next Generation team even stepped out of the wine box slightly, to discuss vermouth. This brought them back to their Verona HQ, interviewing Raffaelle Bellomi, co-owner of Veronas very own Archivio cocktail bar and Amaro bar. Closing the circle of the wines discussion, Bellomi opened up a conversation on what people are drinking these days, and why we cant forget that vermouth is technically part of the wine family.

There are more interviews where these came from, as the IWP Next Gen gathered interviews each day of Vinitaly, chatting about all things ahead in the future, even blockchain technology! Keep an eye out every Sunday as these interviews air, giving you a dose of whats on the horizon for Italian wine anywhere you can get your pods.

Upcoming The Next Generation Episodes:



May 14th: Mckenna Cassidy

May 21st: Isabella Carpineti

May 28th: Valentin Bufolin

June 4th: Barbara Fitzgerald

June 11th: James Marshall Lockyer

June 18th: Jemma Styer

About: The Italian Wine Podcast: Cin Cin with Italian Wine People! launched in 2017 as a project dedicated exclusively to the Italian wine world. The program uncovers the unique world of Italian wine in conversation with some of its key protagonists. Under the umbrella brand of Mamma Jumbo Shrimp (encompassing books, maps, and videos, bringing together a global community of wine, food, and travel), Italian Wine Podcast aims to inform, educate, and entertain listeners with content for wine professionals and casual listeners alike. The only daily wine podcast in the world, content includes wine business, food & travel, diversity and inclusion, wine producers, science, and marketing and communication. Italian Wine Podcast is available on SoundCloud, iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, XimalayaFM (for China), and on the official website. It now boasts almost 1300 recorded episodes with a growing online following of over 5 million listens. Donations to the show are welcomed and help fund a portion of the shows equipment, production, and publication costs. To advertise on the show, please request a prospectus and/or customized advertising plan from info@italianwinepodcast.com. Cin Cin!
Frontline Healing Foundation is honored to be a Carry The Load non-profit partner for their 2023 Memorial May events to restore the true meaning of Memorial Day  for the sixth year. Were grateful to Carry The Load for providing our warrior community, and people all over the world with a meaningful way to honor and remember those who sacrifice for our freedom by putting their lives on the line every day. - Jordyn Jureczki, Frontline Healing Foundation CEO

Frontline Healing Foundation is proud to announce it will be a Carry The Load non-profit partner for the 2023 Memorial May campaign. Carry The Load is a non-profit that provides active ways to connect Americans to the sacrifices of our military, veterans, first responders, and their families. Together, they kicked off Memorial May on Thursday, April 27, 2023, to raise awareness for the true meaning of Memorial Day. Join us as we unite with Carry The Load this year at San Antonio, Texas.

Frontline Healing Foundation CEO Jordyn Jureczki expressed thanks; Were grateful to Carry The Load for providing our warrior community, and people all over the world with a meaningful way to honor and remember those who sacrifice for our freedom by putting their lives on the line every day.

Supporters are encouraged to join Frontline Healing Foundations team at https://frontlinehealingfoundation.org/carrytheload to raise funds and participate throughout the month of May. One hundred percent of funds raised through Frontline Healing Foundations team page now through Memorial Day will go directly back to the Frontline Healing Foundation.

The funds we raise this year will continue to go towards funding hardships for addiction and PTSD treatment programs for warriors (active military, veterans and first responders) struggling,  says Jordyn Jureczki, Frontline Healing Foundation CEO.

How to get involved:



People of all ages can walk with the National Relay team or attend a Rally at a location near them. Registration is complimentary at carrytheload.org/Memorial-May.

Join the Dallas Memorial March.

Host a Carry it Anywhere event on your own.

Educate youth with Carry The Flag activities that help inspire patriotism.

Honoring our nation's heroes is a unifying effort where people come together as a country and pay tribute to the sacrifices made for our freedom, says Stephen Holley, co-founder, president and CEO of Carry The Load and veteran U.S. Navy SEAL. It's truly inspiring to see the positive impact these partnerships have on the lives of so many people around the world.

ABOUT Frontline Healing Foundation (Bandera, Texas)

The Frontline Healing Foundation is a 501(c)(3) that accepts donations to help heal our protectors with their peers. One of the missions of the foundation is to provide financial aid through hardship grants that assist in covering the cost of treatment at Warriors Heart and at other programs to help our military, veterans and first responders get the treatment they have earned and deserve. It is a separate entity from the Warriors Heart treatment facility. https://www.frontlinehealingfoundation.org

Follow our news on social media here:

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/frontlinehealingfoundation

Instagram @frontlinehealingfoundation

https://www.instagram.com/frontlinehealingfoundation

Join the Frontline Healing Foundation Team - Carry the Load - Memorial May Campaign 2023 here:

https://frontlinehealingfoundation.org/carrytheload

MEDIA CONTACT

Liz Kelly

PR for Frontline Healing Foundation

310-987-7207

ABOUT CARRY THE LOAD

Carry The Load is a 501(c)3 nonprofit founded in 2011 by veteran U.S. Navy SEALs Clint Bruce and Stephen Holley. Carry The Load's mission is to provide active ways to connect Americans to the sacrifices made by our military, veterans, first responders, and their families. It focuses on three outreach programs: Awareness, Continuum of Care, and Education. For more, visit http://www.carrytheload.org or http://www.carrytheload.org/media-resources.


National University (NU), the veteran-founded nonprofit university serving 40,000 students nationwide of which one in four are servicemembers or veterans, announces 35 recipients have been awarded one of the new military spouse scholarships of $5,000 per recipient that can be used toward tuition fees for associate, bachelors, and masters programs at NU.

National Universitys innovative approach to education is about supporting the whole student including financial, academic, emotional, career, and family needs. As a top 10% Military Friendly and Yellow Ribbon School, NU is committed to delivering exceptional services and offering financial benefits and resources to assist with educational expenses for our military-affiliated students. Supporting military families has been a priority from our first days, said Dr. Mark D. Milliron, president and CEO of National University. The National University Military Spouse Scholarship program supports military spouses by providing educational and financial resources that open new pathways to possibility.

This year the new Military Spouse Scholarship program application cycle was launched and close to 200 students applied for the $5000 scholarship. After a competitive application process and with a goal of awarding five scholarships for each branch of service including the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, Space Force, Coast Guard, and Gold Star Spouses, 35 students received a scholarship this inaugural year, totaling $175,000 awarded by NU during this application cycle. As an active-duty spouse and mother of three, I can tell you that going back to school is one of the hardest things I have done, said Tania Bogarts, a master's in education student and Military Spouse Scholarship recipient. Having my career line up with my husbands has always been a challenge and finding a program that supports this lifestyle is the most important thing you can do to prepare for taking the next step. As military spouses, our lifes challenges make us resilient and strong. Find your moment, seize it!

National University recently became a member of the Department of Defense Military Spouse Employment Partnership (MSEP), which helps military spouses advance their careers and educational opportunities with hundreds of partner employers that commit to recruit, hire, promote, and retain military spouses. As part of this membership, NU will collaborate in job fairs, recruiting events, and provide opportunities via the partner job portal and help to educate workforce leaders and hiring managers to harness the unique skills that military spouses offer organizations each day. Another option for military spouses that NU supports is the My Career Advancement Account Scholarship Program(MyCAA), which is a workforce development program that provides up to $4000 in financial assistance to eligible military spouses for employment or career options.

As a former Department of Defense employee that led efforts to create the MSEP program, I am committed to advancing this important work at NU, said Meg OGrady, National Universitys Senior Vice President of Military and Government Affairs. Im proud to lead our military, military family, and veteran efforts at a respected institution that fully understands and supports our students.

NU is fully committed to supporting the challenging educational needs of military spouses, said National Universitys Military and Veteran Partnerships Manager Danielle Maloy. I am pleased to announce that NU will offer another scholarship application cycle in Fall 2023. Learn more about the next application cycle HERE.

About National University: National University, a veteran-founded nonprofit, has been dedicated to meeting the needs of hard-working adults by providing accessible, affordable higher education opportunities since 1971. As San Diegos largest private nonprofit university, NU offers over 125 online and on-campus programs and flexible four-week and eight-week classes designed to help students reach their goals while balancing busy lives. Since its founding, the NU community has grown to 40,000 students and 220,000 alumni around the globe, many of whom serve in helping industries such as business, education, health care, cybersecurity, and law and criminal justice. To learn more about National Universitys new possibilities in education including next-generation education, credential-rich education, and whole human education, visit NU.edu.
This event was fantastic, and it was an honor to be a presenter, says Dr. Maurice Khosh.

Well-respected NYC facial plastic surgeon, Dr. Maurice Khosh was a recent lecturer on the topic of non-surgical rhinoplasty at the Minimally Invasive ENT/Open Forum in Saratoga, Florida, in April 2023. At the conference, Dr. Khosh discussed the most recent updates on available non-surgical options for rhinoplasty including liquid rhinoplasty (filler injections) and Botox or other neurotoxin treatments. He described the state-of-the-art techniques for nasal enhancement and reviewed the pearls and pitfalls of the treatments with the surgeons in the audience. Dr. Khosh is a true leader in the world of aesthetic surgery and has excellent credentials and a superior level of training. As a double board-certified facial plastic surgeon, his education and experience allow him to perform facial enhancements that are exceptionally balanced and natural in appearance. Dr. Khosh is also widely recognized for his specialization in treating breathing issues during rhinoplasty and delivers a wide range of reconstructive procedures to address functional, trauma or cancer-related defects of the face, nose and scalp. Beyond plastic surgery procedures, he also offers a full menu of non-invasive services, including rejuvenation treatments for the eyes, cheeks, lips and neck.

This event was fantastic, and it was an honor to be a presenter, says Dr. Maurice Khosh.

More about Dr. Maurice M. Khosh:

Widely known as one of the top professionals in his field, Dr. Maurice Khosh obtained his graduate medical training at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and completed his residency training at Columbia University. He then pursued a fellowship in facial plastic surgery at the University of Washington in Seattle. Dr. Khosh returned to New York where he joined the faculty at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center as the director of Facial Plastic Surgery Clinics, prior to moving into private practice. He is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons, member of the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. As a perennial recipient of Castle Connolly Top Doctors list and Best Doctors in America list, Dr. Khosh is a highly sought-after facial plastic surgeon due to patient-centered focus, unsurpassed surgical skill and vast clinical experience. For more information on the services offered by Dr. Maurice Khosh, please visit http://www.facedoctornyc.com, or contact his office located at 580 Park Avenue in Manhattan at (212) 339-9988.


Were honored to showcase students perspectives on what it means to be bilingual, and the wonderful impact Hispanic heritage has had on communities and schools in the US, said Doris Chavez-Linville, Director of Linguistic and Culturally Diverse Innovation at Renaissance.

Renaissance, a global leader in pre-K12 education technology, today launched the second annual Shine a Light on Bilingualism art contest to celebrate Hispanic culture and bilingualism.

All students in grades K12 are invited to create and submit a painting, drawing, or mixed media piece on the theme of celebrating Hispanic heritage and bilingualism. Entries are due on June 30. In July, a winner will be selected for each grade band of K3, 48, and 912. Each winner will receive a $500 Visa gift card and have their art featured during Renaissances celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, which takes place between September 15 and October 15.

Research shows that bilingualism and biliteracy have benefits beyond academics, including cognitive, employment, and societal benefits. By 2025, 85 percent of English Learners in US schools will have Spanish as their dominant language. Renaissance is excited to celebrate and see every student in this unique group of learners. Additionally, the company looks forward to supporting the educators who honor the knowledge and skills a child has in their home language and seek to build upon those skills to promote learning.

Bilingual students enrich our classrooms in so many ways every day, said Doris Chavez-Linville, Director of Linguistic and Culturally Diverse Innovation at Renaissance. Were honored to showcase students perspectives on what it means to be bilingual, and the wonderful impact Hispanic heritage has had on communities and schools in the US.

Although the art will be created by students, the work must be submitted by an adult, such as a teacher, parent, guardian, or other family member. To enter a K12 student in the contest, an adult must upload a photo of the art to https://www.renaissance.com/bilingual-arts-contest, or mail the original to Renaissance. Questions about the contest should be sent to contest@renaissance.com.

For complete terms and conditions and to submit student art to the contest, visit https://www.renaissance.com/bilingual-arts-contest.

About Renaissance

As a leader in education technology, Renaissance is committed to providing educators with insights and resources to accelerate growth and help all students build a strong foundation for success. For more information, visit https://www.renaissance.com.
Matthew B. Gorson, senior chairman of global law firm Greenberg Traurig, P.A., was recognized as a 2023 Silver Medallion honoree at the annual MCCJ Humanitarian Dinner. The ceremony was held May 7 at the InterContinental Miami, with more than 400 business, political, religious, and other community leaders in attendance.

MCCJ has hosted the annual dinner since 1946 to honor outstanding community leaders who have helped to build a more welcoming, inclusive, just, and cooperative society. Greenberg Traurig was a presenting sponsor of the event.

I am deeply honored to receive the Silver Medallion award and to be recognized by the citys civic and community leadership for my work in helping to ensure that Miami is a place of opportunity for everyone, Gorson said. Now even more than ever, we need organizations like MCCJ to provide a voice for understanding, respect, and compassion. I also want to thank Greenberg Traurig, which has demonstrated a strong commitment to diversity and community service since its inception more than 55 years ago and long before it was a popular trend. The firm and its founders helped make me the lawyer I am today, but also inspired me to give back and make a positive difference in the community.

As senior chairman of Greenberg Traurig, Gorson oversees the day-to-day operations of the firms Southeast and California offices. He previously served as president and chairman. Gorson joined Greenberg Traurig in Miami in 1973 as the firms 14th lawyer and became one of the most in-demand real estate attorneys in South Florida. His work over the last five decades has played a key role in revitalizing the urban landscape and in changing the skylines of downtown Miami, Brickell Avenue, Miami Beach, and Sunny Isles. As the former chair of Greenberg Traurigs Real Estate Practice, he was instrumental in developing the firm's reputation as a real estate powerhouse.

Gorson focuses much of his community involvement on organizations that support mentoring and education for young people from diverse communities. He is founder and chairman of the Downtown Miami Charter School and has served Big Brothers Big Sisters of Miami as a board member since 2012, including two terms as chairman. He also is a former board member and campaign chairman of United Way of Miami-Dade and a former board member of the New World Symphony, Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, the City of Miami Downtown Development Authority, and the Jackson Hospital Foundation. He is a board emeritus member of Tulane University and founder of both Mt. Sinai Hospital and Baptist Hospital.

MCCJ credited the dedication of Gorson and the other honorees for making Miami a community that cares about ensuring opportunity for all.

This years honorees are recognized wherever they go for their amazing accomplishments in business and other areas, but we acknowledge them because they are also indefatigable in building the type of community that makes Miamis success possible, said Alex Fraser, chair of the Board of Directors of MCCJ, which announced that the organizations name is changing to Mosaic Miami.

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 and is recognized for powering its U.S. offices with 100% renewable energy as certified by the Center for Resource Solutions Green-e Energy as a member of the U.S. EPAs Green Partnership Program. The firm is known for its philanthropic giving, innovation, diversity, and pro bono. Web: http://www.gtlaw.com.
In the coming months, SOLV Energy will pursue California Voluntary Protection Program (Cal/VPP) designation for its Desert Center solar sites.

SOLV Energy, an EPC contractor and services provider for the PV solar, high voltage and energy storage markets, received a Golden Gate recognition from Cal/OSHA. Golden Gate is one of four structured partner programs from Cal/OSHA recognizing effective workplace safety and health programs among California employers.

Golden Gate recognition is site-specific. Beginning in June 2022, Cal/OSHA official conducted more than 12 site visits to three SOLV Energy jobsites in Desert Center. The award was received after extensive evaluation of SOLV Energy's written safety program and close monitoring of its implementation on the Oberon I and II, Victory Pass and Arica project sites.

Safety is embedded into our culture at SOLV Energy, said George Hershman, CEO of SOLV Energy. Being recognized as the only solar EPC contractor on the Golden Gate list is a demonstration of our motto, 'Work Safe, Work Smart,' in action and reflects our commitment to continuous improvement of our industry leading safety and health management program."

In the coming months, SOLV Energy will pursue California Voluntary Protection Program (Cal/VPP) designation for its Desert Center solar sites. Cal/VPP is Cal/OSHA's top-level safety and leadership program recognizing employers who have voluntarily managed outstanding safety and health programs. Cal/VPP companies are considered leaders in workplace safety and health, demonstrating high levels of both management commitment and employee participation.

To view all California Golden Gate sites, go to https://www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/cal_vpp/golden-gate-plist.html.
Tim Van Damm Tim Van Damm is the #1 Realtor in Rancho Santa Fe & North County San Diego for Berkshire Hathaway.

Tim Van Damm is the #1 Realtor in Rancho Santa Fe & North County San Diego for Berkshire Hathaway. Tims proven track record of success has earned him a reputation as a knowledgeable, trustworthy, and dedicated professional.

Tim has built a successful career as a Luxury Real Estate Specialist with a niche in Rancho Santa Fe, Santaluz, Del Mar, and La Jolla properties. He has been recognized as a top agent in San Diego by The San Diego Business Journal, ranked in the top half of 1% of all Berkshire Hathaway Agents worldwide, and named America's Best Real Estate Professional by The Wall Street Journal.

In addition, Tim Van Damm and Associates was recently ranked the #6 small teams worldwide for Berkshire Hathaway, a testament to the team's commitment to providing exceptional service to their clients.

Tim's success in the luxury real estate market is due in part to his previous experience in luxury construction giving him the ability to identify aspects of homes that others might miss, his extensive resources, and his dedication to providing exceptional service to his clients.

In addition, Tim Van Damm is a devoted family man and proud father of six children. He is deeply committed to his community and volunteers his time as a member of the Board of Directors for Father Joe's Village and as the leader of the Men's Group at the Church of the Nativity in Rancho Santa Fe.

Visit Tim Van Damm's Haute Residence Profile: https://www.hauteresidence.com/member/tim-van-damm-associates/

ABOUT HAUTE RESIDENCE

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A shot from the 9th edition of wine2wine Business Forum, held in Verona on November 7th-8th 2022 By completing a short survey, participants can communicate to the organizers the topics that are most relevant to their business, the markets they would like to focus on, the speakers they want to hear from, and the main takeaways from the 2023 event.

Following last years 100% face-to-face edition, wine2wine Business Forum returns to Verona on 13-14 November to celebrate its 10th edition. This is a milestone event for the Forum, which over the years has become a reference point for producers and wine professionals seeking to update their skills and expand their businesses interests.

It was in 2014 that the Forum debuted as a stand-alone event. Before that a few seminars were held during Vinitaly, but it soon became clear that the international wine community needed a dedicated event, during which the participants could fully focus on the content. Since then, wine2wine has maintained its original goal of offering wine industry professionals the most up-to-date training and development opportunites available. Not only does the Forum offer in-depth analysis of key wine-business topics, but it takes a practical and targeted approach, with data, insights and ideas that attendees can deploy directly in the field.

On the occasion of this special anniversary, and with the aim of drawing up the most compelling and meaningful program ever, Vinitaly and Veronafiere are involving the wine-business community in the organization of the event. By completing a short survey, participants can communicate to the organizers the topics that are most relevant to their business, the markets they would like to focus on, the speakers they want to hear from, and the main take-aways from the 2023 event. As a gesture of appreciation, all those who complete the survey will receive a 20% discount on the Early Bird fees, valid until July 31st.

To help shape the 10th edition of the event, complete the survey at: https://bit.ly/44QGoUE. Further details about the wine2wine Business Forum 2023, including format, main focus and speakers, will be released soon.

About: wine2wine Business Forum is a dynamic international wine industry forum organized by Veronafiere and held annually in Verona, Italy, since 2014. wine2wine Business Forum 2023 will take place on November 13th and 14th at the Palaexpo in Veronafiere, Verona. The event has established its reputation for offering a comprehensive program of events and workshops for wine producers and wine professionals. Whether youre a buyer, importer, marketing specialist, communicator, wine writer or educator, wine2wine Business Forum provides an invaluable opportunity to get up to speed with the issues currently facing the sector and network with wine professionals and experts. The forum takes place over two days and features keynote sessions, seminars, and interactive workshops which aim to equip participants with practical tools to improve their business. Speakers are renowned experts in their field and among the brightest minds in the wine world from Italy and abroad. Additional information is available at http://www.wine2wine.net or by emailing wine2wine@justdothework.it.
The 2023 Turin International Book Fair (Salone Internazionale del Libro di Torino) will be held from May 18 to 22 at the Lingotto Fiere convention center in Turin, Italy. The book fair is the largest in Italy and attracts over 200,000 visitors each year. The fair offers more than 2,000 events in 40 venues around the city and includes a track for publishing professionals, and a robust rights centerwhich covers book, film, and audio rights salesexpects to host upwards of 400 participants from more than 20 countries.

This years theme is Through the Looking Glass, and the fair will honor the Italian region of Sardinia and the country of Albania as guests of honor. Events included book signings, readings, panel discussions, workshops, and concerts. There are also special exhibitions and areas dedicated to children's books, comics, and graphic novels.

Highlights of this years fair include an opening talk by Nobel laureate Svetlana Alexievich and numerous celebrations to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Italian author Italo Calvino. Among the authors participating are Spaniards Fernando Aramburu, Javier Castillo and Javier Cercas; Basque author Bernardo Atxaga; Americans Peter Cameron, Michael Frank, and Andrew Sean Greer; French author Victoria Mas; and Nigerian Nobel Prize-winner Wole Soyinka.

The fair has also partnered with the Frankfurt Book Fair to launch the Aficionado Award, a new prize to honor an innovative collaboration in publishing. It will be presented on Wednesday, May 17. The finalists are:

The Ake Arts and Book Festival in Lagos, Nigeria, which was nominated for the wide-ranging efforts made to support the promotion of African literature, both locally and abroad.

The book magazine The Passenger, which is a collaboration between Milan publishing house Iperborea and New Yorks Europa Editions, acknowledged for its originality and for the way it embodies an international collaboration, collecting the best new writing, photography, and reportage from around the world.

Meridian Czernowitz, a literary foundation and poetry festival in the Ukrainian city of Chernivtsi that focuses on European-Ukrainian relations and has sustained itself in the midst of the ongoing war.

The 2023 event will be the last for the fair director Nicola Lagioia, who has run the run fair since 2017. author and television presenter Annalena Benini has been announced as the new director starting next year, with an appointment to run through 2026.

Lagioia, whose new novel, The City of the Living is being published in an English translation by Europa Editions in October, said I arrived when the fair was in a crisis and am happy to be leaving it in a state of stability and renewed vigor. In an interview with PW, Lagioia noted that the Italian book business is nearly always the sameneither up nor down, though the past few years have seen a spike in reading as a result of lockdowns from the pandemic. It was up 15% in 2021, which was the best result in a decade, but dropped 3% in 2022. Lets see if we can sustain the higher number.

In March, Lagioia launched a new online literary and culture magazine, Lucy, which along with his own writing, will command his attention.
Covid-19 and its aftermath are still with us, but as of May 11 the national emergency is officially over. And a recent report from the EveryLibrary Institute (EveryLibrary's nonprofit research arm) explores what's next for libraries. The report, Funding Our Priorities, looks at "municipal and state revenue and expenditure priorities through a library lens," EveryLibrary executive director John Chrastka said in a release this week. And with the sunset of federal Covid relief funds and the return of "traditional pressures" on library budgets, it's well worth a read.

"Policymakers continually debate about the priorities of states and municipalities to fund public libraries, education, and the social safety net relative to public safety, including police and sheriff services. This report presents a point-in-time, multi-state snapshot of public library expenditures, staffing, and revenue data and compares that snapshot with other local government agencies," reads the executive summary. "Coming through the pandemic, and with unprecedented support for state and municipal budgets provided in the CARES Act and American Rescue Plan, governments now have surpluses for the first time since the 1990s. But what will happen to municipal and state budgets if or when there is a return to economic austerity? How can libraries better demonstrate their value to obtain additional funding from that surplus, especially if decision-makers face tough questions about local spending allocations?"

The report is authored by A.J. Million, director of the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data at the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) at the University of Michigan, and Jenny Bossaller, associate professor at the iSchool at the University of Missouri. It's available for free on the EveryLibrary Institute website.

In Florida, the state Department of Education announced this week that it has rejected more than a third of social studies textbooks, or, as a Florida DOE press frames it, the state approved over 60% The Miami Herald has a list of the 34 textbooks that were rejected, including books from such major publishers as McGraw-Hill and ABC-CLIO. A report in the New York Times notes that the states approved list of social studies textbooks will have "a significant impact on how history is taught to nearly three million Florida public school students, on topics ranging from slavery and Jim Crow to the Holocaust."

While many have hailed the "first-in-the-nation legislation to prevent book bans" in Illinois, an essay in Truthout this week applauds the aim of the bill but questions the wisdom of it. The bill would condition state grant funding for libraries on adhering to the American Library Associations Library Bill of Rights or adopting a similar policy against banning books. "Any bill that threatens cuts, especially as punishment, rather than providing more, badly misses the mark," argues Jaime Taylor. "To be clear, book bans are bad and we need our legislators to help us stop them. What could our legislators do instead of threatening libraries? They could strengthen labor protections for library workers, so those workers can fight book bans without fear of losing their livelihoods. They could codify something like academic freedom for all library workers. They could reaffirm the freedom to read, including for children and teens, that is based in the U.S. Constitution. They could legislate patron privacy, especially digital privacy... They could do literally anything that supports libraries, library workers and library patrons, instead of punishing them."

 Any bill that threatens cuts, especially as punishment, rather than providing more, badly misses the mark. 

From local affiliate NewsChannel 9, a right wing group in Hamilton County, Tenn., has apparently succeeded in getting a school librarian's Mothers Day-themed lesson canceled because two books to be read were inclusive of families without "traditional" mother figures: "One was a book called Stella Brings the Family, about a girl's awkward feelings about a Mother's Day celebration because she doesn't have a mother. In the book she has two fathers. The other was called Mother Bruce, about a male bear who adopts a gaggle of goslings who think he's their mom." The group argued to school administrators that the books promote "the homosexual agenda."

Greg Sargent at the Washington Post also weighed in with an editorial. "By now, its well understood that the rights efforts to restrict classroom discussion are all about marginalizing LGBTQ people under the guise of protecting children," Sargent writes. "But they also harbor a less obvious aim: to convince parents that kids are under threat in the first place."

In Oregon, Jefferson Public Radio reports that the Klamath County Commissioners have shut down "a social justice book group" hosted by the library. "In April, they planned to discuss a book on police abolition called No More Police by Mariame Kaba and Andrea J. Ritchie. In response, commissioners ordered the library to shut down any programming that could be perceived as political," the report states. "Library director Nathalie Johnston says shutting down the group amounts to censorship, and that the library isnt endorsing the books, but promoting a free and open discussion."

The Providence Journal reports that a "small group" of Rhode Island lawmakers are pursuing an effort to broaden the state's existing obscenity laws to include "cartoon or animated" materials, such as comics and graphic novels, and threatening school librarians with fines and jail time if found in violation. The effort, the article states, "is unlikely to be successful."

From ProPublica, news this week that the deputy director of the Anchorage Public Library Judy Eledge is resigning, ending a contentious chapter at the library. "Eledge, a longtime conservative stalwart in Alaska, was appointed library director by Bronson in August 2021. But after it became clear she would not be confirmed by the Anchorage Assembly, she became deputy director, a role that does not require nomination hearings or approval by the Assembly. In that role, she essentially led the library until late last year, when a new director started work," ProPublica reports. "Eledges tenure was fraught with controversy, as employees accused her of making racist and inappropriate commentssome of which were recordedand fostering a hostile work environment."

At Book Riot, Kelly Jensen kicks off her weekly censorship news roundup with some timely advice for librarians preparing displays for Pride Week: "It is impossible to completely safeguard against what will happen in any library when it comes to Pride displays. But, knowing about the tactics used by book banners ~parental rights activists~ and knowing where and how to advocate on behalf of LGBTQ+ booksand peoplehelp in preparing for the best, most effective library pride displays."

From the Boston Globe, supporters in Danvers, Mass., showed up in force to support a "makeup class for teens taught by a drag queen at the town library. "About a half-dozen people showed up to protest the event Wednesday, compared with the 200 or so who showed up out of solidarity with handheld signs that said 'U Be U,' 'No Place for Hate,' and 'Drag Is Art.'"

Library Journal has released its annual list of Movers & Shakers, and it's another excellent group of world-class librarians doing extraordinary work. "One of the questions Im asked most oftenby friends and colleagues alikeis: What are the biggest issues facing libraries today?" writes LJ Executive Editor Lisa Peet, in her introduction. "Anyone seeking answers would do well to take a look at the 2023 lineup of Movers & Shakers, who are engaging in those issues head on: challenges to intellectual freedom, racism, antisemitism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, food and resource insecurity, and a systemic lack of opportunity for those who are underserved."

The New Yorker has an excellent graphic essay about working as a prison librarian on Riker's Island in New York City. You really have to see this.

From the local CBS affiliate comes this report on the Fairfield Area Public Library in Virginia, near Richmond, which has created a designated area for working parents.

In the Washington Post, a former childrens and youth services librarian writes in praise of busy, noisy libraries in connection with a new picture book, The Loud Librarian by Jenna Beatrice and illustrated by Erika Lynne Jones. "If youre a baby boomer like me, you probably remember libraries as places of silent reading; any loud voices were immediately shushed by a librarian," writes Karen MacPherson. "These days, however, libraries are more like bustling community centers, where being at least somewhat noisy is the new normal, especially when kids are involved. As someone who led hundreds of circle times at my public library, I can tell you theres just no quiet way to do the Hokey Pokey."

And finally this week, the Seattle Times has a great piece celebrating the 25th anniversary of Seattle's groundbreaking one city/one book program. "Twenty-five years ago, librarian Nancy Pearl had an idea: What if all of Seattle read the same book?," the article starts out. "That book was Russell Banks' The Sweet Hereafter'its the kind of book that when you finish it, you just want to talk about it,' Pearl remembered in a 2021 interviewand just like that, with co-founder Chris Higashi and a grant from the Readers Digest Foundation, a yearly citywide book club was launched."

This years 25th anniversary Seattle Reads selection will, for the first time, bring back an author whos participated in the program beforeJulie Otsuka, whose debut When the Emperor Was Divine was the city-wide selection in 2005. She returns in 2023 with her novel The Swimmers.

While the name of the program has changed to "Seattle Reads," not much else has changed with the popular program, the Seattle Times observes, which has since been adopted in numerous towns and cities across the country. "We know that people come together and engage with literature through the program, and engage with one another," Stesha Brandon, literature and humanities program manager for Seattle Public Library and the current steward of the program, told reporters. "And that can be community-building and community-changing."

The Week in Libraries is a weekly opinion and news column. News, tips, submissions, questions or comments are welcome, and can be submitted via email. Previous columns can be viewed here.
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Ta-Nehisi Coates delivered the Arthur Miller Freedom to Write lecture to a sold-out crowd on Thursday evening. Held at the New School Tishman Auditorium, the lecture was part of the PEN America World Voices Festival, happening concurrently in New York and Los Angeles through Sunday.

Coates, a 2019 MacArthur Fellow, writes across genres, from his National Book Award winning 2015 memoir Between the World and Me to his 2019 novel The Water Dancer to his Marvel comics scripts for Black Panther and Captain America. For PEN America, presently rallying against book bans and restricted expression, Coates ventured that present debates and legislation around freedom to read are nothing new: We are part of a long tradition, a long lineage, he said, that includes bans on enslaved peoples literacy, disenfranchisement of voters, school segregation to ensure unequal access to information and resources, and mid-20th century attacks on the right to assembly.

I know we don't usually think about COINTELPRO as a violation of First Amendment rights, but that's exactly what it was, Coates continued, because the government imposed surveillance on people for voicing political, anti-racist opinions. The FBI tracked Black writers such as Lorraine Hansberry and Amiri Baraka, Langston Hughes and Chester Himes. The war extends from them all the way up to my father, a FBI target for his Black Panther party membership. That surveillance continued even after Coatess father, Paul, left the Panthers, because he did something that may have been more dangerous. He opened a small Black bookstore in west Baltimore. (Paul Coates opened The Black Book in 1973 and started Back Classic Press in 1978.)

Coates reflected that here I am, all these years later. Getting calls, answering emails from people about my books being banned. His writing, in which he calls for reparations and teaches Black history, has been cut from coursework including the College Boards Advanced Placement African American Studies curriculum. Even so, Coates said, If my work was not considered, dare I say, ban-worthy, then maybe it's not worthy at all.

To him, books are dangerous, and should not be underestimated, because the overt removal of books accompanies violence against a suite of rights. He points out that debates around free speech, around who can say what, tend to happen on certain axes, namely gender, sexuality, and race, so the natural question is to ask, How free are the people in those categories? He reflected on access to abortion rights, the danger of sexual assault, the rights of trans people to publicly exist, and the problem of mass incarceration, all of which point to what he called "a deep unfreedom" in the U.S.

He also cautioned contemporary thinkers to weigh their understandings of censorship and power, using as an example the 1915 film Birth of a Nation and how it fomented hatred through popular media. At the time, the NAACP and African American leaders who argued for this banning said that Birth of a Nation was literally dangerous, that it would endanger the lives of Black people, Coates explained. And what ultimately prevailed was the idea that free speech should be upheld. The film resulted in the revival of the Klan and contributed to the hatred that drove the Red Summer of 1919, he maintained.

This example of a failed effort at censorship reminded Coates of the saying that the answer to hate speech is more speech. There was in fact more speech, he said, in Black filmmaker Oscar Micheauxs response film, Within Our Gates. That film was censored, ostensibly due to its representations of lynching and violence against a Black woman by a white man, erasing Black perspectives while Birth of a Nation remained available. For Coates, The difference is power. More speech might be the answer to hate speech. But when hate speech has a gun? When hate speech has an army? He left the audience grappling with questions of silencing and threat, and urged listeners to take seriously the sensitivity of young people today, who have "an intense awareness of their unfreedom" in a climate of hostility.

Following his lecture, Coates sat for a Q&A with Yale University professor David Blight, author of Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom, and took audience questions. When Blight asked Coates, Are we in a moral panic?a sort of cultural hysteria around diversity and repressionthe answer leaned to the affirmative. As Coates had said in his talk, The war is old, but it carries with it a history of resistance and a tradition of learning as liberation.
The second Sharjah Booksellers Conference in the U.A.E., held May 12, attracted some 200 booksellers and another 100 publishing professionals from across the world. The event opened with an introduction from Ahmed al Ameri, chairman of the Sharjah Book Authority, and Sheika Bodour al Qasimi, CEO of Kalimat Group and former president of the International Publishers Association. Al Qasimi noted that the U.A.E. will host COP28, the United Nations climate change conference, later this year, and she encouraged the attendees to prioritize sustainability. Climate change poses a profound risk to our industry, she said. We must find ways to do betterto change the way we produce and distribute books.

Markus Dohle, former CEO of Penguin Random House and current Bertelsmann board member, followed. He said the industry is currently in one of the greatest moments of change in publishing since Gutenberg. He added that global revenues are growing, and praised the healthy coexistence between physical and digital products, with physical products accounting for about 80% of all sales. Print has prevailed, and it is the life insurance of the publishing industry, he noted.

Furthermore, Dohle said that as the population of the world grows and literacy spreads, the total market for books grows with it. For years, childrens and young adult books have been the fastest-growing category in the industry, and, he added, that should be reassuring to those at the conference. He also praised the new efficiencies in distribution.

However, book distribution bottlenecks persist around the world. Brexit, for example, means that U.K. distributors that previously had significant export sales to Europe have seen that business grind to a halt; Gardners, the dominant book distributor in the U.K., opened a company in France to accommodate European orders. Ordering from U.K. publishers also has slowed.

It is so difficult to order from the U.K. now, said Sonia Draga, CEO of Sonia Draga Publishing House and Bookstores in Poland. She added that it can take up to three weeks for English-language books ordered from the U.K. to arrive at her stores as a result of customs delays.

As an alternative, publishers in the U.K. and those further afield are looking to the U.S. as a market for expansion. Wonder House and Prakash Books, now the largest publisher in India, have signed a deal with IPG to begin distributing their bestselling childrens board books in June.

That said, U.K. publishers report they have found a newly fertile market in China after several years of stalled rights sales, as diplomatic relations between the U.S. and China have been strained in recent years. China is very interesting, but very tricky now for U.S. publishers, said one international sales director, who asked not to be identified.

The Sharjah Book Authority flew in a wide variety of booksellers from some remote markets, including a coalition from French-speaking West African countries such as Benin, Cameroon, Djibouti, and Niger; others came from Central Asia, including some from Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan; and still others traveled from New Zealand, the Philippines, and Singapore.

After two days of conversations, it became clear that everyone shared the same concerns: how to attract customers to their stores, promote reading, build community, curate stock, reduce returns, and eke out a profit. Attendees included Ivana Simic', the publishing and licensing manager of Dexyco, a chain of 50 childrens goods stores in Serbia; El Kamouni Hassan, director of the Librarie de Paris bookstore in El Jadida, Morocco; and Akshay Routray, founder of the Walking BookFairs bookstore in Bhubaneswar, India.

Many participants said theyre eager to stock more English-language titles, but find them difficult or too expensive to order. Reading books in English is an aspirational activity for some. The desire is there, said Aidai Maksatbekova, owner of IQ Bookstore in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. While were doing fine, we could do even better if we could find a more affordable and efficient way to get English-language books. Bishkek may seem far away from everyone, but the books make us feel close and connected to the international community of book lovers and readers.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 12. Turkmenistan imported 2.43 million euros worth of mineral products from Germany from January through February this year, the source at Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, told Trend.

According to the information, these figures in the reporting period are 3.2 times more than in the first two months of last year (753,570 euros).

According to Eurostat, Turkmenistan imported mineral products from Germany in February 2023 in the amount of almost 840,000 euros, which is 1.8 times, or 750,000 euros less than in January 2023 (1.59 million euros).

In general, Turkmenistan reduced imports of goods from Germany by 32.5 percent from January through February this year compared to the first two months of 2022 (35.09 million euros) to 23.68 million euros.

Meanwhile, the trade turnover between Turkmenistan and Germany for the first two months of 2023 amounted to over 23.97 million euros, which is 31.9 percent less than the same period last year (35.21 million euros).
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Israeli head of NGO, activist and journalist Rachel Abraham posted a comment on her facebook account regarding to Armenia's arresting of Azerbaijani soldiers, who mistakenly had crossed the border from Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan AR to Armenian territory. CEO and founder of Dona Gracia Center for Diplomacy Rachel Abraham has strictly criticized the puppet government's decision of charging Azerbaijani young soldiers with a baseless crime.

"It was recently reported that following a circus court trial, the Armenian government sentenced Azerbaijani soldier Agshin Babirov, an 18-year-old teenager who was recently recruited to the Azerbaijani Armed Forces only to be held hostage together with Huseyn Akhundov, another Azerbaijani soldier, after going into the wrong area due to adverse weather conditions, to 11 years, 6 months, and 15 days imprisonment."

Rachel Abraham has highlighted Armenia's inhumane behavior such as inflicting physical tortures to soldiers without arms as well as condemning Armenia over such a ruthless crime.

"The Armenian government did this after the poor kid was tortured and exposed to psychological abuse. As the CEO of the Dona Gracia Center for Diplomacy, I would like to condemn the Armenian government for this heinous crime.

As a mother of two small boys and one small girl, I look at the picture of this poor kid and cannot help but cry over his fate. Agshin Babirov is nothing more than a boy, who just came of age and started his military service. He has his whole life ahead of him. He has not even started to study in university yet, much less do anything else in life. He is still a teenager and not even age 20," the journalist emphasized.

Unless the international community acts, poor Babirov will have the prime of his youth robbed from him by the time he is liberated from the Armenian dungeons. And for what crime? Experiencing adverse weather conditions in the wrong location? The Armenian government ought to be ashamed of themselves for doing something so cruel to such an innocent kid, Abraham said, adding that they remind her of another young Israeli soldier that was hostage to Hamas.

"I look at Agshin Babirov and I see Gilad Shalit, who was abducted by Hamas at age 19 and was stuck in Hamas custody for five full years till Israel agreed to a prisoner exchange. After he was finally liberated, Shalit was disabled and was discovered with shrapnel lodged into his arm, which remained inside him till he was liberated.

By abducting Agshin Babirov, torturing him and pledging to keep him hostage for the next 11 years, six months and 15 days, the Armenian government is demonstrating how they are no better than the Hamas terrorist regime in the Gaza Strip," the CEO said.

Rachel Abraham also pointed the statement of Azerbaijan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs as reference to the illegal act and crimes of Armenia towards the Azerbaijani soldiers.

As the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry stated, We strongly condemn the fabricated trial process by Armenia against Babirov Agshin and Akhundov Huseyn, and the so-called decision regarding the arrest of Babirov Agshin, who are the soldiers of Azerbaijani Army went missing and captured by Armenia along the border region with the Shahbuz district of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic in April of this year. With such irresponsible behavior, Armenia once again demonstrates that it ignores its legal responsibility under international humanitarian law, the calls of the international community for the release of hostages, and the principles of humanism.

They added: The fact that the Armenian side did not respond to the confidence-building measures made by Azerbaijan shows that Armenia is not interested in reconciliation and confidence-building measures in the region.

According to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, The responsibility for undermining confidence-building efforts with this behavior falls entirely on the Armenian side. Armenia must stop this provocative activity, which is a gross violation of international humanitarian law, and immediately release the hostage soldiers. We call on the entire international community, relevant international organizations, and non-governmental organizations to exert serious influence and pressure on Armenia for the quick release of our hostage soldiers and their reunification with their family members.
Here's what it looks like at the US-Mexico border as Title 42 expires

Many migrants gathered along the U.S.-Mexico border are worried about their chances of claiming asylum in the United States now that Title 42 immigration restrictions have been lifted
Migrants rush across US border in final hours before Title 42 expires

Migrants are rushing across the Mexico border in hopes of entering the U.S. in the final hours before pandemic-related asylum restrictions are lifted at midnight
Jeremy Williams, an Athens-Clarke County firefighter of over 23 years, took his place behind the pulpit to provide public input during the commissions special called session on Dec. 6, 2022.

Williams, who represented the local Professional Firefighters of Athens-Clarke County union Local 2795  expressed concerns that the ACC Fire Department was understaffed and undercompensated, resulting in burn out and excessive turnover rates.
'The CM kept his cool, but his adviser was liberal with filthy language.'

Tamal Bandyopadhyay recreates the diary of a general manager in a public sector bank, providing a glimpse of how they balance their work and life.

Last week's column on the work culture of public sector banks excited many bankers.

Quite a few of them have reached out to me with their stories.

Among their peers in the private sector too, not everybody is enjoying their job.

They say the fear of losing jobs when they miss targets hangs over their head like the sword of Damocles.

From our conversation, I am recreating the diary of a general manager in a public sector bank. It gives an idea of how they balance their work and life.

Sunday

It was not a holiday for me. We have a board meeting slated tomorrow.

I needed to go through a string of large-value credit proposals, which will be discussed at the meeting.

I must know every minute detail. If there are gaps, the government's nominee director may pass snide remarks.

They are addressed to the MD and CEO, but I feel morally responsible.

I had to skip the doctor's appointment for my wife.

Monday

Due to the late arrival of one of the directors, a member of the credit committee, the board meeting could not start in time.

In the meantime, the general manager (recovery) was asked to advance his presentation.

Unfortunately, it was not his day. He was not well-prepared and fumbled too many times.

As expected, the nominee director of the government remarked, "Mr MD, either you have to instruct your GM to be well prepared for presentations or you have to find an alternative ... We are not here to waste our time."

We have managed to arrest fresh slippages, but still the meeting was not exactly cordial.

The ED in charge of recovery was asked to present a road map at the next board meeting on how the NPAs could come down further.

After all, things are looking up for all banks -- low NPAs and record profits are the order of the day!

I was almost exhausted, waiting for my turn to present the credit proposals. Instead of 12.30 pm, I got the opportunity well past 3 pm. I skipped my lunch.

My presentation went off well. The meeting continued till late in the evening and there was dinner and drinks in a five-star hotel.

I was not in the mood to eat or drink. I was given a stiff target for gold loans.

Tuesday

In our parlance, today was the log-in day for the gold loan sanctions -- the launch date of a campaign.

Gold loans are a darling for all banks. We are slow to catch up. On paper, sanction and disbursement of gold loans appear to be a cake walk as gold is the primary security.

If sufficient margin is kept, recovery is not difficult.

In case of a default, we can always sell the gold ornaments kept with us.

But it could be very risky if the assessment is poor and gold turns out to be spurious.

Then, there could be stolen gold offered to us as collateral.

Also, the velocity of gold loans is the highest among all loans as the borrowers are always in a hurry to pay off the debt and take the gold ornaments back home.

I chalked out the strategy, had a video conference with my colleagues, but it was not easy.

We will have to fight it out with other banks and particularly the NBFCs specialising in gold loans.

The performance of the day was not up to the mark. One of the EDs asked me to pull up the socks.

Wednesday

Today, a senior executive of the local office of the Reserve Bank of India dropped by for a discussion with the GMs on the annual financial inspection.

As expected, the focus was primarily on credit and NPAs.

The regulator had many questions for the credit department -- how a finer pricing has been given to certain borrowers even though the credit rating is poor; why further disbursements are proposed even when the assets are showing signs of incipient sickness; AAA/AA+ rated accounts are very few in numbers; the bank guarantee audit has not been carried out for exceptionally large accounts, exposing the bank to huge risk.

We could not answer all queries to the regulator's satisfaction. The RBI executive advised us to be in Mumbai for the closure of the reports. This did not make our MD happy.

In the evening, I went to the airport to receive the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture.

There's a meeting tomorrow to analyse the reasons for poor agri credit flow.

Since we are the lead bank in this state, we need to arrange everything.

Not all committee members were polite. One of them gave his hand bag to me for carrying.

He was not very happy with the AC of the car and questioned why such a car was booked.

He was not pleased with the hotel accommodation either.

He told me to wait outside the room. After half an hour, he called me inside and asked me to arrange some fresh fruits. It was past 10 pm.

Thursday

The chairman of the committee was a decent person. The GM (agriculture) was pulled up for not extending sufficient credit to the farmers.

One of the committee members even commented that the GM should be ashamed of drawing his salary as he has failed to discharge his responsibility.

The ED in charge of agriculture loans made a feeble attempt to defend the GM, but in vain.

As the convenor of the state level bankers' committee, we have called an urgent meeting tomorrow where the chief minister would review the performance of the banks.

I hit the bed early, but sleep came very late.

Friday

I had a strong premonition that the SLBC meeting would not be easy.

The state elections are a few months away and it's only logical that there would be scrutiny of what the banks have been doing.

The adviser to the CM was very caustic in his remarks: The bankers have done nothing to implement the schemes of the state government and there has hardly been any credit extended to the farmers.

He instructed the state treasury not to allocate any funds to those banks, which have not complied with the instructions of the government.

He even said no minister would meet the bankers.

The CM kept his cool all along the meeting, but his adviser was liberal with filthy language.

Saturday

This being the yearly closing month, the central statutory auditors wanted to have one meeting with the recovery and credit team for arriving at the NPA figure.

This exercise is always a pain for the GMs and other senior executives as the rise in bad loans forces a bank to provide for more.

Thankfully, we have been doing well and our operating profit can support higher provisioning.

But the auditors identified more NPAs and, as a result of this, the Tier-1 capital could be eroded.

The discussion continued till midnight. A dinner was planned in a five-star hotel for the auditors, but none could leave the bank.

We ate midnight -- chapati and stone-cold butter chicken with salad. The gulab jamuns were cold and hard.

We returned home in the wee hours. We would need to come to office this Sunday too as the matter could not be settled with the auditors.

Plus, there is another meeting on Monday on a particular account which the lead lender has already declared as fraud. We need to take the call.

Tamal Bandyopadhyay is a consulting editor of Business Standard, is an author and senior adviser to Jana Small Finance Bank Ltd.
The growing mismatch between Go First's losses and other group companies profits was making it tough for the group to fund the losses of the airline venture.

Photograph: Kind courtesy Go First/Facebook

The mounting losses at Go Airlines (Go First) were financially unsustainable for the Mumbai-based Nusli Wadia group.

In 2021-2022, for the first time, the net loss of the air carrier exceeded the combined net profit of listed firms in the group.

Go First reported a net loss of Rs 1,804 crore (Rs 18.04 billion) in FY22.

In comparison, the group's four listed companies -- Britannia Industries, Bombay Dyeing, Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation and National Peroxide -- together reported a combined net profit of Rs 1,305 crore (Rs 13.05 billion).

As a result, the five key group firms together reported a net loss of Rs 499 crore (Rs 4.99 billion) in FY22, against a net profit of Rs 506 crore (Rs 5.06 billion) a year earlier.

In fact, the continued losses at Go Airlines had also started to hurt the balance sheets of group companies.

In FY22, accumulated losses at Go First exceeded the combined net worth of other group firms.

The airline's accumulated losses ballooned to Rs 4,416 crore (Rs 44.16 billion) by the end of FY22 and it reported a negative net worth of Rs 3,323 crore (Rs 33.23 billion) at the end of that financial year.

In comparison, the four listed companies of the group had a combined net worth of Rs 2,949 crore (Rs 29.49 billion) at the end of FY22.

According to analysts, the growing mismatch between Go First's losses and other group companies' profits was making it tough for the group to fund the losses of the airline venture.

The Go Airlines balance sheet suggests that the promoters infused fresh equity capital worth Rs 847 crore (Rs 8.47 billion) in the airline during FY22.

The promoters also pumped fresh equity capital worth Rs 97 crore (Rs 970 million) into the airline during FY20.

The growing losses at the air carrier and the deterioration in its balance sheet were making it tough for the Nusli Wadia group to sustain this cross-subsidy.

On Tuesday, May 2, 2023, Go First cancelled all its flights and stopped taking new flight bookings, citing a severe cash crunch.

The airline also filed an application for voluntary insolvency resolution proceeding before the National Company Law Tribunal.

Besides Go First, the Wadia group's financial position has been weakened by losses at Bombay Dyeing -- once the flagship company and one of the top textile manufacturers in the country.

The company reported a loss before taxes for the fourth consecutive year, including in the first nine months of FY23.

This pushed its net worth into negative territory for the first time in FY21 and its accumulated losses continue to mount.

The company reported a net loss of Rs 270.6 crore (Rs 2.706 billion) during the first nine months of FY23.

Similarly, Bombay Burmah Trading -- the group's main holding company -- also reported a net loss during the first nine months of FY23 both on consolidated and standalone bases.

The company holds a promoter stake in the group's listed and unlisted firms.

This has made the Wadia group highly dependent on profits and equity dividend from Britannia Industries to fund the group operations.

The company has paid large special equity dividends for three consecutive years, including in FY23, funded through a mix of fresh borrowings, liquidation of its cash & equivalents, and current profits.

The company paid a special interim dividend of Rs 1,734 crore (Rs 17.34 billion) for FY23 compared to a final equity dividend of Rs 1,361 crore (Rs 13.61 billion) in FY22.

In comparison, the company reported a net profit of Rs 1,763 crore (Rs 17.36 billion) in M9FY23.

It will be tough for Britannia to maintain such a high payout ratio without curtailing its own growth plans, which will be even worse for the financial future of the Wadia group.
Go First chief executive officer Kaushik Khona and tribunal-appointed interim resolution professional Abhilash Lal on Thursday reached out to the airlines staff, seeking their support for revival.

While Khona said the company had taken all steps for the airlines revival, Lal put forward the view it would have to raise funds.

Employee engagement took place a day after the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) admitted the airlines insolvency plea on Wednesday and ordered a moratorium on recoveries.

We have to get business back running and have to raise funds and make sure we have qualified people running it and above all we have to ensure we continue doing the good work to the highest level of excellence that we have done so far, Lal said in a virtual town hall with the airline staff.

The airline has indicated to the civil aviation ministry it would be able to start operations in around two weeks.

Before it suspended flights it was operating around 200 flights daily with 27 aircraft.

The airline will have to plan its operations based on the deposits available and the expected cash flow.

It will have to retain pilots, the cabin crew, and engineers who have been offered jobs by rivals.

While pilots have to give six months notice before leaving jobs, Air India has offered to accept them without a release letter from previous employers.

Such pilots though will have to give a self-declaration and indemnify Air India from issues arising from previous employment.

I am proud of the team and am sure having come thus far, you will continue to be part of the process to bring Go First back to being the most enviable airline shortly, Khona wrote in a staff email.

We seek your continued support to the company in this process of revival, Khona added.

According to insolvency resolution professional Alok Kumar Agarwal, the airline can seek interim financing from banks, non-banking financial institutions, or third parties to bridge any shortfall and keep operations on during insolvency.

Interim finance is a form of debt and is included in the corporate insolvency resolution process cost.

As such it has priority over all other loans in a resolution plan.

Meanwhile, SMBC Aviation Capital, which is one of the lessors of Go First, told the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Thursday the airline filed the insolvency petition to prevent repossession of their aircraft.

With the declaration of a moratorium, lessors are unable to recover their aircraft.

Senior advocate Arun Kathpalia, appearing for SMBC, said lessors had terminated the leases of the aircraft before the insolvency application was admitted by the NCLT.

They cant retain my aircraft. We request a status quo on the assets, he said.

The NCLAT said it would hear the matter at length on Friday.

SMBC Aviation Capital told the NCLAT in a submission the aviation sector in India was being seen as a risky business in the light of what happened to Kingfisher and Jet Airways.

Due to such difficulties, lessors and international aircraft owners see India as a risky jurisdiction for aircraft leasing.

"Therefore, Indian operators have to pay a premium to take aircraft on lease.

"Thus, the admission of the petition (of Go First) will further shake the confidence of the International Aviation Industry, SMBC told the tribunal in a filing, which was seen by Business Standard.
The government is at a fairly advanced stage of finalising a well-coordinated e-commerce policy and consumer protection rules, which will incorporate provisions of Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh said on Thursday.

E-commerce rules and e-commerce policy will be congruent with each other... That exercise is at a fairly advanced stage, Singh told reporters.

The remarks come on a day the number of daily transactions on the platform has gone up 500 times since the beginning of this year with the number of retail merchants added to its roster growing 40-fold.

ONDC said the number of retail merchants on the network grew to over 35,000, up from about 800 since January.

The total daily order volume has increased from 50 to over 25,000, as of last week.

ONDC has also expanded its geographic footprint from 85 cities at the start of the year to over 230 now.

The government-backed network has also made considerable progress in the mobility space.

It had onboarded Namma Yatra, a Bengaluru-based auto booking app, in April this year to help local businesses compete with bigwigs such as Ola and Uber.

In Kochi, ONDC entered the mobility sector in January.

The two cities combined, it said, are witnessing more than 35,000 rides a day.

ONDC is a network enabler and not a platform, and therefore it has systematically worked towards adding more network participants, merchants, cities and transactions (orders per day) to the network, the company said.

Its network participants have increased from 26 in January to 46.

Notable additions on the buyer side include PhonePes Pincode and Airpay, while enterprises such as HUL and ITC have gone live on the seller side.

The network commenced its Alpha testing, with its first-ever real-world transactions, in April last year.

It subsequently began its beta testing in Bengaluru via the grocery and food delivery segments at the end of September.

ONDC also ventured into other domains such as fashion, beauty and personal care, electronics and appliances in January, which are also gradually expanding.

Since they went live, these segments have recorded over 1,300 transactions, while 600 merchants have been added.

Most of these orders have been intercity, with major logistics providers such as ShipRocket, Delhivery, Loadshare, etc., being a part of the network.

The network recently made a big splash in the online food delivery space, butting heads with Swiggy and Zomato by offering cheaper food items.

As a result, traffic on the network has greatly increased.

The online food delivery space is currently a duopoly.

Zomato is the top player in the market with a 56 per cent share, while Swiggy commands the remaining 44 per cent, as of Q4 of FY23, according to analysts at HSBC.

Amid fears that food aggregators Zomato and Swiggy will be under pressure from competition from government-backed ONDC, Singh said the government doesnt want to move anyone out of business and wants all e-commerce players to be a part of the network.

ONDC, though, is touted to upset this duopoly by cutting out the middlemen between restaurants and customers.

The current market leaders reportedly charge higher commissions of 20-25 per cent as against ONDCs 3-5 per cent.

Despite the recent surge in volumes, the network said it has maintained key performance indicators, such as order fill rate and delivery timelines, that are consistent with current industry standards.

The DPIIT secretary added that the idea behind the ONDC was to try and create a fairly inclusive playing field for different businesses, particularly smaller players, who may not get access to the e-commerce portals directly.

Because of the enhanced competition, the consumer also gains.

"But that is not the immediate intention. It's not like we are trying anybody out of business or we are an upfront competitor to any particular portal or e-commerce provider.

"We want all e-commerce players to be part of this network, he said.
'Whatever duties I have to dispense off as a Speaker, I will do the needful in accordance with the provisions of the law.'

IMAGE: Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Photograph: Kunal Patil/PTI Photo

Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar, on whose shoulders now lies the responsibility to decide the disqualification of 16 MLAs of the undivided Shiv Sena, as ruled by the Supreme Court order on May 11, tells Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com that he will go by the provisions of the anti-defection law as envisaged in the Constitution and the Tenth Schedule.

Narwekar, who is currently in London on a "pre-decided" holiday, and who will now have to decide on the disqualification of 16 Shiv Sena MLAs, was once close to Uddhav and Aditya Thackeray and has had a political stint as an MLC with the Nationalist Congress Party before he quit the NCP in 2019 and got elected from downtown Colaba in Mumbai on a Bharatiya Janata Party ticket.

What is the most challenging task before you now given that the Supreme Court has asked you to decide upon the disqualification of the 16 MLAs of the undivided Shiv Sena?

Every task (before the Speaker) is as challenging or as simple. It becomes simpler when you have the Constitution to fall back upon.

Whatever duties I have to dispense off as a Speaker, I will do the needful in accordance with the provisions of the law.

What will be your guiding principles while giving your ruling?

The provisions of the Constitution as envisaged in the Tenth Schedule, the guidelines issued by the Supreme Court and the rules laid out for disqualification of the members of the House on grounds of defection will act as my guiding principles.

The Supreme Court has given you a 'reasonable period' to give the ruling on the disqualification. Is there a clear-cut guideline or any previous judgment from the Supreme Court that define what constitutes a 'reasonable period'?

No, not really. This is done on a case-by-case basis. (It) depends on the matter at hand and the legal interpretations and nuances involved (in deciding such issues).

There are so many petitions, facts are different and then one needs to follow certain legal procedures that are in consonance with the laws and Constitution.

There was a judgment given by Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman (last year) where he said (such matters) should be decided in three months, but that has been challenged before the larger bench. There is no definition (of what constitutes reasonable period) as such.

IMAGE: Then Maharashtra chief minister and Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray speaks on the occasion of the party's 56th foundation day in Mumbai on June 19, 2022 the day before Eknath Shinde launched his rebellion against Thackeray and ended in him being sworn in as the state's CM on June 30. Photograph: PTI Photo

The Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray has asked for an early decision on the disqualification of 16 MLAs. The assembly session is due in July. Can we expect a ruling before the assembly session or after it?

It is difficult to state right now.

Will you be under pressure from both sides?

There is no question of pressure. I don't act under pressure.

The Supreme Court called your recognition of the chief whip and the leader of the Shiv Sena Legislature Party as contrary to law. How will you ensure neutrality when you set yourself to give a ruling on the disqualification of the 16 MLAs?

What they (the Supreme Court ruling) have mentioned is that the recognition of whip appointed by a section of the SSLP (Shiv Sena Legislature Party) is bad in law. They have said that the recognition of the whip should be on the basis of who has been appointed by the political party.

A political party as it existed before the split or after the split in Shiv Sena?

The political party at the time the petitions were filed.

That is what you would consider while giving your decision?

Yes.
'He's charismatic, a populist, very popular, and indeed a cult of personality.'

'That ensures a powerful reaction from his support base -- even if it's not sustained, it will be quite intense, and that's worrisome for stability.'

IMAGE: An Imran Khan supporter during a protest against the former Pakistan prime minister's arrest in Peshawar, May 10, 2023. All Photographs: Fayaz Aziz/Reuters

"Imran Khan hasn't been controllable since his falling out with the army leadership. The State likely concluded that the only way to control him is to arrest him," explains Dr Michael Kugelman, Director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center, the Washington, DC-based think-tank.

A leading specialist on Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, and their relations with the United States, Dr Kugelman gives an insightful and must-read interview about what is unraveling in Pakistan to Rediff.com's Archana Masih.

The concluding segment of a two-part interview:

Do you believe he can return to power in the elections later this year?

He could return, with a large litany of caveats.

First, there needs to be an election. One can't rule out the government postponing it on the pretext of social unrest, not to mention the economic and security reasons it cited to justify waiting until October to hold the KPK (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) and Punjab elections.

Second, the election would need to be free and fair.

If it is, he would have a strong chance of being reelected, given his popularity and PTI (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf)'s strong performance in multiple local polls since Khan's ouster.

But if the civilian and military leadership try to take steps to hinder his electoral prospects -- pressuring certain parliamentarians to vote against Khan, engaging in rigging, and so on -- then he would face challenges.

Third, Khan would have to be eligible to participate in an election in order to win it. If he's disqualified, he'll be ineligible.

IMAGE: Police officers in riot gear stand guard outside a Radio Pakistan office building after it was set afire in Peshawar, May 11, 2023.

As a longtime observer of Pakistan where every PM has been arrested in the past, is there anything that is different in the way Imran was arrested on Tuesday?

Actually, not really. Pakistani political figures have been arrested in so many different ways -- some banal, some quite dramatic. Khan's came out in the latter category.

But what's different in this context is Khan himself. He's no typical Pakistani political leader. He's charismatic, a populist, very popular, and indeed a cult of personality. That all ensures a powerful reaction from his support base -- even if it's not sustained, it will be quite intense, and that's worrisome for stability.

Pakistan has had political figures like this arrested in the past -- Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto come to mind -- but it's been a long time since there's been one like Khan.

IMAGE: A man covers his face as he walks on a road covered with stones during a protest against Imran Khan's arrest.

Reeling under economic crisis, can Pakistan afford political turmoil at this juncture?

In short, absolutely not.

Shortly before Khan was arrested, Moody's issued an assessment warning that Pakistan would likely default if it doesn't agree to a deal with the IMF to unlock $1.1 billion in support by the end of June.

Getting that funding was unlikely before his arrest; it's now all but impossible. With Pakistan buffeted by political chaos, the IMF isn't about to do any favours for the government.

Also, let's be clear: Image of protestors' attacks on state infrastructure and street battles with security forces aren't exactly going to make potential investors and even trusted bilateral donors -- including Beijing, whose foreign minister made a rare public plea for greater political stability just last weekend -- want to deploy capital to Pakistan.
'The Speaker has to act in an impartial way and in accordance with what the Supreme Court has laid out in its judgment.'

IMAGE: Rahul Narvekar, after his election as Maharashtra assembly speaker on July 3, 2022, with Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis at the Vidhan Bhavan in Mumbai. Photograph: Kunal Patil/PTI Photo

Constitutional expert and former secretary general of the Lok Sabha P D T Achary discusses the intricacies and nuances of the Supreme Court judgment delivered on May 11, 2023 to resolve the Shiv Sena versus Shiv Sena imbroglio.

Achary tells Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com that the whole sum and substance of the apex court's judgment is centred around the premise that Speaker, being a Constitutional Office, will rule in an impartial manner when it decides upon the disqualification of the 16 MLAs who rebelled against the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena in June 2022 and joined hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party to form the government.

Both the Shiv Sena-BJP and SS-UBT are using the Supreme Court judgment and observations to claim political and moral victory. How do you look at this judgment from the prism of legality and constitutionality?

The Supreme Court has said that the governor's action calling for the floor test (of the Uddhav Thackeray government to prove its majority) was wrong, not justified.

The governor had no objective material before him to do so. That was later proved irrelevant when Uddhav Thackeray resigned without taking the floor test.

The question now arises if it was proper for the governor to call Eknath Shinde, who was the member of the same Shiv Sena, whose chief minister had just resigned, to form the government.

It was answered in the affirmative when the Supreme Court said that the governor's action was justified in inviting Mr Shinde to form the government as he had the support of the BJP and had the required numbers to prove his majority.

But this needs to be clarified because that doesn't follow as a logical conclusion from the earlier description given by the Supreme Court about the action of the governor.

The governor, I think, was wrong in calling Mr Shinde to form the government because Mr Shinde was till then still part of the same Shiv Sena whose chief minister (Thackeray) had resigned.

Normally, under these circumstances, when a chief minister resignsm the governor looks for a leader from some other party in the legislative assembly and asks him if he could form a government. This is the normal, Constitutional, process.

The governor failed to act accordingly.

Instead, he chose to call Shinde, who was still the part of the same party (the undivided Shiv Sena). What made the governor call upon Shinde to form the government?

Now this point should have been dealt by the Supreme Court as per the logic of their first description of the action of the governor in calling for the floor test (The Suoreme Court in its conclusions said: 'The Governor was not justified in calling upon Mr Thackeray to prove his majority on the floor of the House because he did not have reasons based on objective material before him, to reach the conclusion that Mr Thackeray had lost the confidence of the House').

I see a little dichotomy in these two positions (taken by the Supreme Court).

So far as the appointment of the chief whip is concernedm the Supreme Court says that the chief whip can only be appointed by the original political party (the undivided Shiv Sena which existed before the split) and not by the legislature party (which Shinde headed after he got the support of 39 Shiv Sena MLAs).

This essentially means that the Speaker was wrong in recognising Shinde as the leader of the Shiv Sena, the appointment of chief whip (Bharat Gogawale) by Shinde's legislature party (which he headed) was wrong, which means that the whip (Sunil Prabhu) recognised by Uddhav Thackeray was legally valid.

Now, since the issue of disqualification of the 16 MLAs has been sent back to the Speaker (Rahul Narwekar), he will have to decide the issue based on the original whip issued by Uddhav Thackeray.

There's still some confusion on this point. In the light of the Supreme Court judgment the Shiv Sena-BJP are interpreting the Supreme Court order as allowing the Shiv Sena to appoint the whip and so there are reports of the Shiv Sena again appointing Bharat Gogawale as chief whip. How legally sound is that?

The basic point is who can issue the whip.

The Supreme Court has said in so many words that only the original party, that is, the political party (and not the legislature party) can issue the whip.

This issue has to be resolved in retrospect and not on the basis of what is happening today or what happened after Shinde's side issued a whip when they split from the Shiv Sena.

The anti-defection law itself makes it very clear. It says that the Speaker has to decide which party a member belongs on the basis of which party gave him the ticket to fight the elections.

It was the Uddhav Thackeray led undivided Shiv Sena which put up these candidates (the 40 MLAs, including Eknath Shinde who rebelled and formed the government with the BJP) to fight the elections under the banner of the Shiv Sena whose election symbol was the bow and arrow.

Does the Supreme Court judgment explicitly say so?

No. That is what I want to explain.

In its conclusion, point (d) the SC says: 'The political party, and not the legislature party, appoints the Whip and the Leader of the party in the House. Further, the direction to vote in a particular manner or to abstain from voting is issued by the political party and not the legislature party.'

'The decision of the Speaker as communicated by the Deputy Secretary to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly dated 3 July 2022 is contrary to law. The Speaker shall recognise the Whip and the Leader who are duly authorised by the Shiv Sena political party with reference to the provisions of the party Constitution, after conducting an enquiry in this regard and in keeping with the principles discussed in this judgment.'

What principles is the court pointing to here?

The principle laid down in the judgment is that only the political party can appoint the whip, not the legislative wing of the party (which then had the support of the 40 MLAs who rebelled against Uddhav Thackeray).

It is only the political party that can appoint the leader (of the legislative wing). These are the principles laid out in this judement.

The Supreme Court is asking the Speaker to resolve the issue (of disqualification of 16 MLAs) on the basis of these principles laid down in the judgment.

How will the wheel then turn in the coming days?

I am sure there will be confusion. Both parties will claim victories (by reading the judgment selectively).

According to me the issue is settled as it was Uddhav Thackeray (Shiv Sena) who had the legal capacity to appoint the chief whip and also appoint the leader (of the legislative wing of the undivided Shiv Sena).

IMAGE: Shiv Sena rebel leader Eknath Shinde with rebel party MLAs at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Guwahati, June 2022. Photograph: ANI Photo

The Supreme Court's judgment also calls upon the Speaker to decide the disqualification petition within a reasonable period.

What could legally constitute a 'reasonable period'? Is there any framework/guideline that will help at objective definition of 'reasonable period'?

I think the Speaker should decide the issue within three months as Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman in one of his judgments had defined the reasonable period and it should be defined in the context of this judgment.

Whichever way the Speaker rules and whenever he does depending on what constitutes a 'reasonable period', what do you think the Speaker's options are?

There are no two ways other than the Speaker of the House deciding the disqualification (of MLAs) in the first instance.

It can come before the Supreme Court in case someone appeals against the Speaker's decision. That is why the Supreme Court referred it to the Speaker.

The Supreme Court has certainly laid the principles based on which the Speaker will give his ruling. And that is what the Supreme Court has done.

The Speaker does not have many options. According to me, the Speaker has only one option --that is to disqualify the MLAs who defied the whip issued by the undivided Shiv Sena led by Uddhav Thackeray.

If you understood this judgement correctly then the Speaker does not have any other option.

Would a Speaker elected by the support of the very same MLAs from the Shiv Sena and BJP disqualify them in the first place?

The Speaker is supposed to be above politics even if he is elected by the elected members in the legislative assembly. He has to be an impartial umpire and so the Supreme Court has invested so much confidence in the office of the Speaker.

If the ruling dispensation is behaving as if the Speaker will favour them just because they elected him then that goes against the spirit of the Constitutionality of the office of Speaker.

The Speaker has to act in an impartial way and in accordance with what the Supreme Court has laid out in its judgement.

That is the whole sum and substance of the judgment delivered by the apex court.

The only option before the Speaker now is to disqualify the MLAs who defied the first whip issued by the original, undivided, Shiv Sena.
'Therefore, these people want Imran Khan out of the elections whenever it is held.'

'For this, he will have to be disqualified from contesting on the basis of cases against him, declaring that he is not sadiq (honest) and ameen (righteous).'

IMAGE: Imran Khan's supporters celebrate in Peshawar after Pakistan's supreme court ruled that his arrest was illegal, May 11, 2023. Photograph: Fayaz Aziz/Reuters

Pakistan has been in turmoil after former prime minister Imran Khan was arrested in a corruption case by Pakistan's National Accountability Bureau on May 9.

At least eight people have died and hundreds injured after protestors clashed with the police and army over the last two days.

On Thursday, May 11, the nation's supreme court called Khan's arrest illegal and ordered his immediate release.

To know more about the situation in Pakistan and what implications it could have on India, Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com spoke to Tilak Devasher, former special secretary, Cabinet secretariat, Government of India, and author of many acclaimed books on Pakistan.

His book Pakistan: Courting the Abyss is a must read for everyone who wants to know how the country fell into the dangerous path of Islamisation leading to permanent chaos.

Among his other books are Pakistan: At the Helm; Pakistan: The Balochistan Conundrum; and The Pashtuns: A Contested History.

The first of a two-part interview:

Is this the first time that Pakistanis are targeting army facilities?

Yes, this is for the first time in the history of Pakistan. Earlier, under (then military dictators) Ayub Khan and Zia-ul Haq there were protests too, but not like the ones that took place on May 9.

It is the Shehbaz Sharif government that is targeting Imran Khan. Why then are people taking their anger out on the army?

Ever since Imran Khan was removed as prime minister last year in April after the no-confidence motion, his narrative has been it was the Pakistan army that had a hand in his removal. He especially blamed the then army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa for this.

He then targeted the ISI's Major General Faisal Naseer for an assassination attempt on him and carrying out attacks on members of his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party.

Therefore, naturally, the supporters of his party are taking out their anger on the Pakistan army.

Though Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's house was also a target of the mobs, it was more the Pakistan army because of the narrative set by Imran Khan.

Has the general public joined the protests? Or are the protests limited to PTI activists?

Very difficult to distinguish as they do not wear party badges, but the bulk of them would be PTI supporters. The public by and large would not participate in the violence directed at the Pakistan army.

One wonders why the Pakistan Rangers and not the Islamabad police that were sent to arrest Imran Khan from the Islamabad high court premises. Did the government fear that the Islamabad police would not follow its order?

Even the judge had asked this question (external link) to the inspector general, why were the Rangers used to arrest Imran Khan as they are a paramilitary force. He was informed that the government had asked for the assistance of the Rangers.

The Rangers are a stronger force than the police. You may recall that about a month ago, when the police went to arrest Imran Khan from his residence in Lahore, they were not allowed entry.

Therefore, the Rangers were called in this time as they are a stronger force because of their training. They picked him and whisked him away on the basis of an arrest warrant issued by the National Accountability Bureau on May 1. He had not got bail in this case.

Does Imran Khan have any support in the Pakistani security establishments and if yes, do you see Pakistan heading towards a civil war?

Imran Khan has support among veterans and families of Pakistan army officers but having support is one thing and taking action against their brother officers is a totally different ball game.

You can be supportive of something, but that does not mean you will take out your gun and start shooting other army officers.

People are mistaking (by assuming) that support for Imran Khan in these families will lead to a civil war. I don't think so as so far it looks like the discipline of the Pakistan army is holding.

So long as the chain of command holds, the army chief's word would be followed. I don't see any brigadier or colonel staging a coup this time or even a general for that matter.

A lot of people say that by arresting Imran Khan the Pakistan army and its government crossed the red line and therefore this resulted in anger against the government.

For his supporters, the arrest of Imran Khan was crossing a red line. However, this will not lead to a civil war in the army. Such statements are all PTI propaganda.

Somebody tweeted stating that the chairman, joint chief of staff, should take over. They are trying to hurt the Pakistan army using social media by creating divisions in the army. This, however, does not seem to be the reality.

What problems does the Shehbaz Sharif government feel can be solved by removing Imran Khan from the picture? Is he destabilising the economy by organising regular protests?

One is human nature.

When Imran Khan was in power, Nawaz Sharif, Shehbaz Sharif and Maryam Sharif were all put behind bars besides a whole lot of other political leaders.

Pakistan politics is so polarised that revenge is the first thing that politicians seek when they come to power.

Secondly, if they go for elections Imran Khan will win hands down due to his popularity.

Therefore, these people want Imran Khan out of the elections whenever it is held. For this, he will have to be disqualified from contesting on the basis of cases against him, declaring that he is not sadiq (honest) and ameen (righteous).

They would also like to see him behind bars for a long time.

Who is this Major General Faisal Naseer whom Imran Khan is targeting in his video?

He is DG (director general) counter intelligence, ISI. All the internal shenanigans are done by him. This is the same post that the former ISI DG, Faiz Hameed, was holding. Hamid had manipulated the elections in which Imran Khan won. So, Imran Khan knows how important this post is and therefore he is targeting Faisal Naseer.

Why did Imran Khan fall out with the Pakistan army when he was so close to it five years ago?

Over a period of time then Pakistan army chief Bajwa realised that Imran Khan was not able to deliver on the economic front. In the three-and-a-half years that he was in power, Imran Khan ran the Pakistan economy to the ground.

Second, he started interfering in army postings. When Bajwa wanted to post Faiz Hameed as corps (army) commander at Peshawar, Imran Khan did not want to let him go as DG ISI.

Technically, the DG ISI reports to the prime minister, but to be in contention for the post of army chief, he has to command a corps. From here, the differences started arising between the army and Imran Khan.

What is the relationship between Imran Khan and current Pakistan army chief, General Asim Munir Ahmed, like?

Imran Khan had removed Asim Munir as DG ISI because he complained to him that his wife (Bushra Bibi) was making money. This was a red line for Imran Khan after which he removed him as DG ISI and made Faiz Hameed DG ISI. So Asim Munir possibly holds a grudge against Imran Khan.

The army had said it will not interfere in politics, but Imran Khan wants the army to interfere in politics, but on his side and not on the side of Opposition parties.
A day ahead of counting of votes in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly elections, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Friday expressed confidence about the Bharatiya Janata Party crossing the 'magic figure' with a clear majority, and said the question of coalition talks with other political parties does not arise now.

IMAGE: Former Karnataka chief minister and BJP leader B S Yediyurappa with Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan, in Bengaluru. Photograph: ANI Photo

Bommai on Friday met BJP veteran B S Yediyurappa along with other party leaders, including ministers Murugesh Nirani, Byrathi Basavaraj, party MP Lehar Singh Siroya and A T Ramaswamy, at the former chief minister's residence.

The state recorded its highest-ever voting (73.19 per cent) in Wednesday's polling to the 224-member assembly.

Most exit polls have predicted a tight contest between the Congress and BJP in the assembly polls.

A majority of them have also given an edge to the Congress over the ruling BJP, while indicating the possibility of a hung assembly.

"My stand has been the same and consistent that we will get absolute majority. We have got our ground report from all constituencies and districts; in some districts we have collected booth-wise (statistics) and we are fully confident that we will reach the magic figure," Bommai told reporters in Bengaluru.

Responding to a question about the Congress having allegedly booked resorts to keep the flock together, he said it means that they will not get an absolute majority and hence they are in touch with other parties and indulging in such activities; also that they don't have trust in their legislators.

On Janata Dal-Secular leader H D Kumaraswamy's reported statement that he was ready to partner with a party that is ready to fulfill his conditions, the chief minister said, "I haven't heard about it. Did he call and speak to you (reporter) over phone?"

Asked about BJP's stand in case of a 'coalition-government-like situation', he said he doesn't want to comment on speculations.

"When we are confident, such a situation doesn't arise at all. That question doesn't arise now, as there are all indications of a clear majority and we will cross the magic figure."

Stating that he has informed the high command of the local situation, the chief minister said they too are confident about BJP getting absolute majority.
The Allahabad high court on Friday ordered authorities to determine the age of the structure claimed to be a Shivling in the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi using modern technology.

It set aside an October 14 order of the Varanasi district court that rejected a plea for scientific investigation, including carbon dating, of the structure found in May 2022 during a court-mandated survey of the Gyanvapi mosque located next to the Kashi Vishwanath temple.

The high court ordered authorities to ensure no harm is done to the structure the Hindu petitioners claim is a Shivling. The mosque authorities say it is part of a fountain in the wazukhana, where ablutions are performed before namaaz.

Justice Arvind Kumar Mishra passed the order on a revision petition filed by Laxmi Devi and three others challenging the Varanasi court order.

The court had obtained a report from various institutions, including the IITs in Kanpur and Roorkee and Birbal Sahni Institute of Lucknow, before ordering the authorities to determine the age of the structure.

The report says direct dating of the structure is not possible and the age can be ascertained with proxy dating of materials, which can "correlate with the establishment of the Lingam if there is any".

"This needs a thorough study of the materials surrounding the Lingam," it adds.

The report also suggests the dating of some organic materials below the surface can ascertain the age but it needs to be established that they are related to the structure.

The court considered suggestions of Prof Javed N Malik of the department of Earth sciences, IIT Kanpur.

Prof Malik suggested that to understand the buried material and structure it would be essential to undertake a detailed subsurface survey through Ground Penetrating Radar (GRP). This will be helpful towards identifying the remains of the ancient structures buried if any at the site, he added.

The high court directed the Varanasi district judge to proceed, in accordance with law, on the application by the Hindu worshippers for conducting a scientific probe of the Shivling, paving the way for determining the age of the structure.

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) in its 52-page report had given the opinion that the age of the structure can be determined through scientific method without causing any harm to the structure. Its opinion was based on studies conducted by IIT Kanpur, IIT Roorkee, Birbal Sahni Institute, Lucknow, and one more educational institution.

Advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain appearing for the revisionists argued that the district judge had "passed the impugned order without any basis" as it should have called for expert opinion from the ASI on whether carbon dating could be done without causing any harm.

Additional advocate general MC Chaturvedi, assisted by chief standing counsel Bipin Bihari Pandey, appeared for state government. He said, "If carbon dating and nature of the structure can be determined without causing any harm to the structure then the state has no objection to it so that real nature of structure could be found."

On November 4, 2022, the high court had sought the response of ASI in the matter and directed the ASI director general to submit his opinion whether investigation of the said structure, if examined through carbon-dating, ground-penetrating radar (GPR), excavation and other methods adopted to determine its age, nature and other relevant information, is likely to damage it or a safe evaluation about its age can be done.

A suit was filed in the Varanasi district court asserting rights to worship Maa Shringar Gauri and other deities which the petitioners said are situated inside mosque complex.

On April 8, 2021, a Varanasi court was directed to conduct a comprehensive survey of Gyanvapi mosque complex and during the survey the purported Shivling was found on May 16, 2022.
The Central Bureau of Investigation has filed an FIR against former Narcotics Control Bureau officer Sameer Wankhede for allegedly seeking Rs 25 crore bribe for not framing Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan in the drugs-on-cruise case, officials said on Friday.

IMAGE: Aryan Khan being taken from the Narcotics Control Bureau office in Mumbai. Photograph: Deepak Salvi/ANI Photo

Aryan Khan was arrested in the alleged drug bust case on the Cordelia cruise ship on October 2, 2021, they said.

A coordinated search operation was launched on Friday at 29 locations in Mumbai, Delhi, Ranchi, Lucknow, Guwahati and Chennai after filing the FIR against the 2008-batch IRS officer Wankhede and four others -- then NCB Superintendent Vishwa Vijay Singh, Intelligence Officer Ashish Ranjan and two private persons K P Gosavi and Sanvile D'Souza -- in the case, they said.

The CBI booked Wankhede and others for alleged criminal conspiracy (Section 120-B of IPC), and threat of extortion (Section 388 of IPC), besides provisions pertaining to bribery under the Prevention of Corruption Act on a complaint from the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).

"It has been alleged that the said officials of the Narcotics Control Bureau of Mumbai Zone, in order to obtain undue advantage from the persons and others in the Case No. 94/2021... registered and investigated under the supervision of then zonal director of Mumbai zone of NCB, had entered into criminal conspiracy with others and allegedly obtained undue advantage in the form of bribes from the alleged accused...", a CBI spokesperson said.

The probe agency alleged the NCB, Mumbai zone, had received information during October 2021 related to the consumption and possession of narcotics substances by various individuals on a private cruise ship.

"It has also been alleged that the said persons entered into conspiracy in order to extort an amount of Rs 25 crore (approx) from family members of the alleged accused of the case No. 94/2021 of NCB, Mumbai, by threatening them of the accusation of offences of possession of narcotics substances as per the alleged directions of then zonal director (Wankhede) being the supervisory officer," he said.

A token amount of Rs 50 lakh as bribe was allegedly obtained in furtherance of this conspiracy by the said persons, he said.

Wankhede and other officers through "improper and dishonest performance" of duty, by "corrupt and illegal means" and "exercise of personal influence" demanded bribe from the suspect in the the case registered by the NCB, the CBI FIR has alleged.

The accused officer was at the helm of the Cordelia ship probe till November 2021 when a Special Investigation Team of the NCB took over the investigation.

Aryan Khan, who was formally arrested by the NCB on October 3, 2021, was granted bail by the Bombay high court on October 28, 2021, after spending 25 days in jail.

The NCB on May 27, 2022, also filed a 6,000-page charge sheet against 14 accused, giving a clean chit to Aryan Khan.

NCB officials said Aryan Khan and five others were not named in the agency's charge sheet due to "lack of sufficient evidence".

Besides the NCB SIT found "grave irregularities" and gaps in the probe, the officials said, adding that the central agency's first team that arrested Aryan did not follow rules like mandatory medical test of accused, video recording of the raids and corroborate evidence for WhatsApp chats.

NCB Director General S N Pradhan had told reporters in Delhi that there were "shortcomings" in the investigation and WhatsApp chat of the accused had no "physical corroborative evidence" as required to prove the charges in the court.

Wankhede, who headed the Narcotics Control Bureau Zonal Unit in Mumbai at the time of Aryan Khan's arrest, was transferred to the DG Taxpayer Service Directorate in Chennai in May last year.

The much hyped case took a twist when an 'independent witness' had claimed in 2021 that Rs 25 crore was demanded by an NCB official and other persons, including a witness Gosavi, to let off Aryan Khan.

Prabhakar Sail, the 'independent witness', now deceased, had told media-persons that he had overheard Gosavi telling D'Souza over the phone about the demand of Rs 25 crore after Aryan Khan was brought to the NCB office after the October 2 raid.

He also claimed NCB officials had asked him to sign nine to ten blank papers.

However, a senior NCB official had denied the allegations, terming them as "completely false and malicious".
A day after the Supreme Court held it has legislative and executive powers over all but three services, the Delhi government moved the apex court on Friday alleging the Centre was not implementing the decision to transfer its services secretary, a potential flashpoint in the running feud between the two.

IMAGE: Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Photograph: ANI Photo

The city's Aam Aadmi Party government said the Centre may be held liable for contempt of court.

In a major victory for the AAP dispensation in its protracted battle with the Centre, the the apex court had ruled on Thursday the Delhi government has legislative and executive powers over the administration of all services, except for public order, police and land.

Senior advocate A M Singhvi, appearing for the Delhi government, mentioned the matter before a bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice P S Narasimha, saying the top court delivered the judgment just yesterday (Thursday) and now there can be contempt.

Under Article 141 of the Constitution, there can be contempt of this court's order and a bench needs to hear this urgently, Singhvi said.

"They are saying we will not transfer anybody. I can file contempt in view of judgement passed yesterday. But it will take time. So kindly list the matter," he said.

Chief Justice Chandrachud said he will constitute a bench to hear the matter next week.

Ashish More, Secretary of the Delhi government's Services Department, was removed from his post on Thursday, hours after the Supreme Court gave the AAP dispensation control over the transfer and posting of officers in Delhi.

Former Delhi Jal Board CEO A K Singh, a 1995-batch (AGMUT cadre) IAS officer, will replace More.

A five-judge constitution bench headed by the CJI Thursday gave a unanimous verdict about control over the services in the national capital, seeking to putting an end to the eight-year dispute between the Centre and the Delhi government.

Against the backdrop of frequent run-ins between the AAP government and the Centre's point person, the lieutenant governor, the apex court had said an elected government needs to have control over bureaucrats, failing which the principle of collective responsibility will be adversely affected.

Elaborating on the Delhi government's powers, the SC said in its Thursday verdict legislative and executive power over services such as Indian Administrative Service, or Joint Cadre services, which are relevant for the implementation of policies and vision of the Delhi government in terms of day-to-day administration of the region, shall lie with it.

The Arvind Kejriwal government has been alleging that bureaucrats belonging to All India Services and joint UT cadres like DANICS (Delhi, Andaman & Nicobar, Lakshadweep, Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli (Civil Services) are not following the administrative directions of the elected government.

Referring to the triple chain of command to ensure democratic accountability, the SC said civil servants are accountable to the ministers and they, in turn, are accountable to Parliament or the state legislatures.

Hours after the SC pronounced the verdict, Delhi government's services secretary was transferred and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced a comprehensive administrative reshuffle will follow.
Secretary of the Delhi government's Services Department, Ashish More was removed from his post on Thursday, hours after the Supreme Court gave the Aam Aadmi Party dispensation control over the transfer and posting of officers in the city, officials said.

IMAGE: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal being garlanded by his cabinet ministers Kailash Gehlot and Saurabh Bhardwaj during the celebrations after the verdict of Supreme Court over Delhi government and LG row, in New Delhi on Thursday. Photograph: ANI Photo

Former Delhi Jal Board CEO A K Singh, a 1995-batch (AGMUT cadre) IAS officer, will replace More.

Sources from the Services Department, however, claimed that the order issued by the government was 'illegal'.

According to officials, the Supreme Court had directed the Centre and states to establish a Civil Services Board.

The Board's mandate was defined to consider transfers of bureaucrats.

The Committee on Minimum Tenure or Civil Services Board shall examine the cases of officers who are proposed to be transferred before completion of minimum tenure, according to rules. It shall seek a detailed justification in the matter.

The Delhi government constituted the CSB in 2014.

However, in the case of More, this rule of first putting up the matter for CSB consideration was not followed.

Earlier in the day, the apex court pronounced that the Delhi government has legislative and executive powers over administration of services except for matters relating to public order, police and land.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, in a press conference, said there will be a major administrative reshuffle in the government, warning of action against officers who 'obstructed' public work.

Prior to the verdict of the court, the Services Department was under the control of Delhi's Lieutenant Governor.
Under attack from opposition parties and medical professionals over the gruesome killing of a young doctor two days ago, the Kerala government on Friday announced more measures to assuage their concerns, including setting up of a panel to address the fraternity's long-pending demands.

IMAGE: Dr Vandana Das murder ccused G Sandeep. Photograph: ANI Photo

Dr Vandana Das, a native of Kaduthuruthy of Kottayam district and the only child of her parents, was working at a taluk hospital in Kollam district when she was stabbed several times.

She later succumbed to her injuries.

Following the attack on her, protests erupted in various hospitals across the state, with healthcare professionals, medical interns, students and house surgeons taking to the streets.

The proposed committee, to be headed by the secretary of medical education, would study various issues raised by postgraduate students and house surgeons and submit a report within one month, health minister Veena George said.

A standard operating procedure would be released soon for those who go to work in other hospitals as part of their medical residency programme.

The deceased Dr Das was employed as a house surgeon at Azeezia Medical College Hospital but was working at the Kottarakkara taluk hospital as part of her training.

Issues being faced by house surgeons would also be looked into by the panel, which would take steps to modernise the residency manual, minister George said in a statement in the state capital.

The manual sets down working patterns, duties and other rules and guidelines for residents and medical officers.

The minister also directed the respective department heads to ensure adequate leave for medical students.

The directions were given to officials during a meeting chaired by the minister with the representatives of various organisations of PG students and house surgeons, the statement said.

Urging doctors to give up their agitation, she said the government stands strong with the healthcare fraternity.

"Healthcare workers should no longer be attacked. Strict action will be taken. A public address system will be implemented in medical colleges," George said.

Stating that safety audits should be implemented in all hospitals in the state in a time-bound manner, she said police outposts would be set up in medical facilities.

Hospitals will also be equipped with CCTV surveillance systems, the minister said, adding that the number of bystanders who accompany patients would be limited to one and two in wards and casualties respectively.

Besides the medical education secretary, various other higher officials including medical college principals and superintendents also took part in the meeting.

On Tuesday, the state government decided to bring out an ordinance to ensure the safety of healthcare professionals in hospitals.

The ordinance to amend the Kerala Healthcare Service Persons and Healthcare Service Institutions (Prevention of Violence and Damage to Property) Act, 2012 would be introduced in the next cabinet meeting, the CMO said.

The decision was taken in the wake of doctors intensifying their demonstrations, seeking justice for Dr Das who was stabbed to death by a man brought to the government hospital by police in the wee hours of Wednesday morning for dressing a wound.

Meanwhile, Dr Das's colleagues on Friday came out against the government and police criticising the law enforcers for failing to take enough precautionary measures at the hospital, which resulted in her death.

If there were enough facilities in the hospital where the doctor was attacked, her life could have been saved, they told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram.

So, it was the failure of the administrative system, the doctors alleged.

They also criticised the Health Minister's attempt at assuaging their feelings with the announcement that a new hospital block would be named after Dr Vandana Das.

Leader of opposition in the state assembly VD Satheesan also continued to criticise the government over the matter and said the top officials and the government are trying to justify the police in the incident despite the embarrassment it brought to the entire force.

"Why is the chief minister silent despite the embarrassment the incident brought to the entire force?" he asked.

Alleging widespread irregularities in the FIR, Satheesan also asked how could the people of the state have faith in the police even if the First Information Report of the murder that shook the state was "written wrongly".
The Enforcement Directorate on Friday arrested the special secretary of the Chhattisgarh excise department in a money laundering case linked to the alleged Rs 2,000 crore liquor syndicate scam in the state.

Arunpati Tripathi was arrested around 4.10 pm in Raipur, said ED's lawyer Saurabh Pandey.

Tripathi is the first government official to be arrested in the case.

He was produced before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court which remanded him in the agency's custody for three days, the lawyer said.

Tripathi, an Indian Telecom Service officer, is posted in the excise department on deputation. He is also the managing director of the Chhattisgarh State Marketing Corporation Limited (which controls retail sale of all kinds of alcoholic beverages in the state), he said.

The scam involved selective grant of licenses to liquor manufacturers for commission, distribution of the collected money and collection of commission from liquor shops, he said.

He told the court that enough evidence was available against Tripathi regarding all three aspects, Pandey said.

The official will be again produced in the court along with co-accused Anwar Dhebar, Nitesh Purohit and Trilok Singh Dhillon alias Pappu (who were arrested earlier) on May 15, he added.

Anwar Dhebar, elder brother of Raipur Mayor and Congress leader Aijaz Dhebar, was the first person to be arrested by the agency in the case last week.

The ED had earlier told the court that in May 2019, Tripathi was made MD of the CSMCL at Anwar's behest.

He was then assigned the task of maximizing the collection of commission on liquor procured by CSMCL and making arrangements for the sale of non-duty paid liquor in CSMCL-run shops, it said.

Tripathi was supported by Anwar and senior IAS Officers, the ED had claimed.

Money was collected for every bottle of liquor sold in Chhattisgarh and evidence of "unprecedented" corruption and laundering of Rs 2,000 crore generated by the syndicate led by Anwar Dhebar has been found, the agency had said.

The money laundering case stems from a 2022 income tax department charge sheet filed against IAS officer Anil Tuteja and others before a court in Delhi.

The ED also alleged that "bribe" was collected from distillers in the state who supplied liquor to CSMCL to allow them to form a cartel.

"This cartel was exclusively a supplier for the state of Chhattisgarh," the ED said.

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday demanded Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel's resignation, claiming that this `scam' could not have continued for more than four years without links to his government.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 12. Uzbekistan and Qatar have agreed on measures to develop ties in the field of trade and investment, Trend reports via Uzbekistans Ministry of Investment, Industry, and Trade.

The matter was discussed between Uzbekistans Minister of Investment, Industry, and Trade Laziz Kudratov, and Qatars Minister of Commerce and Industry Mohammed Al Thani.

During the meeting, the parties agreed to elaborate a joint program for the development of industrial cooperation with the inclusion of fields such as energy, petrochemistry, chemistry, agriculture, food industry, tourism, as well as IT industry.

Throughout the talks, the sides discussed measures to prepare for the signing of Agreements on the avoidance of double taxation, mutual promotion, and protection of investments, as well as to boost the volume of bilateral trade. In 2022, the trade turnover between Uzbekistan and Qatar reached $4.8 million.

Following the meeting, the parties also agreed to organize a joint Uzbek  Qatari business forum in Tashkent with the participation of representatives of large business circles of the two countries.

On May 8-9 2023, Minister of Investment, Industry, and Trade Laziz Kudratov paid a working visit to Qatar, where he held talks with the heads of key Qatari ministries and large companies.
Former Pakistan premier Imran Khan is set to appear before the Islamabad high court (IHC) on Friday for pre-arrest bail amid tight security as his party announced a rally on the occasion and asked followers to gather nearby the court for the leader's address.

IMAGE: Supporters of Pakistan's former prime minister Imran Khan celebrate after the Supreme Court ruled his arrest illegal, in Peshawar, on May 11, 2023. Photograph: Fayaz Aziz/Reuters

Khan was arrested on Tuesday in the Al Qadir Trust case by authorities following the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) order to probe him in the alleged corruption when he was present in the premises of the IHC.

The IHC upheld his arrest but the Supreme Court on Thursday invalidated his incarceration declaring no one could be arrested from inside the court and ordered his release as it directed police to keep him in the Supreme Court's protection and produce him before the high court at 11 am.

'The manner of execution of the arrest warrant issued by the chairman, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) dated 01.05.2023 in the Al Qadir Trust case within the premises of the Islamabad high court against petitioner is invalid and unlawful,' the Supreme Court said in its written orders issued late at night.

Earlier during the hearing, the court remarked that since Khan had surrendered to the high court where he was present to secure pre-arrest bail in the case, the entire process should start from the same point where it was interrupted by his arrest.

'The petitioner is directed to be produced before the Islamabad high court tomorrow i.e. 12.05.2023 at 11.00 am for hearing of his writ petition filed to challenge the NAB action against him in the Al Qadir Trust Case,' the SC said in its orders.

It also directed Khan to follow the decision taken by the high court on his petitions.

'This (Supreme Court) order shall remain valid until the production of the petitioner before the high court in the aforementioned writ petition tomorrow i.e. 12.05.2023 at 11.00 am and shall be subject to any order that is passed by the high court,' the Supreme Court said.

Meanwhile, Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf in a message asked his followers to reach at 10 am to the G-13 area, which is not far away from the IHC, for Khan's address, implying that the party leader intends to make a speech before his appearance in the court as he was not sure if the high court would give him relief.

The Supreme Court also ordered the Islamabad Police to make proper arrangements for the security of the former premier.

Earlier in his statement in the Supreme Court, Khan urged his followers to remain peaceful after two-days of massive violence that witnessed vandalism, arson and bloodshed, stoking concerns about a civil war in the country.

After the apex court intervention in the arrest case, a semblance of calm was restored in the country but permanent peace depends on the ultimate fate of Khan who faces scores of cases and runs from one court to another to secure bails.
A day before counting of votes polled in the Karnataka assembly elections, both the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress on Friday went into a huddle and held strategy sessions on ways to keep their flock together.

IMAGE: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge speaks to the media after a series of meetings at his home ahead of the Karnataka election results, Bengaluru, May 12, 2023. Photograph: ANI on Twitter

They also considered reaching out to independent candidates who are likely to win, as most exit polls predicted a tight contest between the two parties.

Hectic parleys were on at Congress president M Mallikarjun Kharge's residence in Bengaluru, with AICC general secretary and in-charge of Karnataka Randeep Singh Surjewala, party's state unit chief D K Shivakumar and former deputy chief minister G Parameshwara among others.

According to party sources, they discussed ways to keep the flock (of to be elected MLAs) together, and also regarding reaching out to independents to muster numbers in case there was no clear mandate.

The state recorded its highest-ever voting (73.19 per cent) in Wednesday's polling to the 224-member assembly.

A majority of exit polls have given an edge to the Congress over the ruling BJP, while indicating the possibility of a hung assembly.

"We will be careful this time," Parameshwara told reporters in response to a question on whether the Congress faced the threat of its MLAs being poached.

Congress legislature party leader and former CM Siddaramaiah, who is down with a swelling in his hand and is being treated by doctors, was in touch with the party leaders from his residence.

In the BJP camp, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai met veteran leader B S Yediyurappa along with other party leaders, including ministers Murugesh Nirani, Byrathi Basavaraj, party MP Lehar Singh Siroya and A T Ramaswamy, at the former chief minister's residence.

Bommai expressed confidence about the BJP crossing the "magic figure" with a clear majority, and said the question of coalition talks with other political parties does not arise now.

BJP leaders too are said to have planned a strategy to keep its newly-elected legislators together, and are making attempts to contact independents, mostly BJP rebels, as well as "winning" candidates of smaller parties.

The Janata Dal-Secular too is expecting a hung verdict, which would enable it to play a role in government formation, and is making all efforts to keep its MLAs together.

In the absence of JD-S leader H D Kumaraswamy, who is in Singapore for a health check-up and is expected to return on Saturday morning, party patriarch and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda has reportedly contacted party leaders and candidates who may win, over the phone and asked them to stay loyal to the party and its leadership, and to not to fall prey to allurements by other parties.

The three parties are also said to have contacted some independents who have chances of winning the polls, to get them on their side, keeping in mind the possibility of a fractured verdict.
The Maharashtra government has dropped all charges against former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh brought during a departmental enquiry, and also revoked his suspension order issued in December 2021, an official said on Friday.

IMAGE: Former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh speaks to media after appearing before the crime branch, in Mumbai, November 21, 2021. Photograph: ANI Photo

However, the CBI will continue to investigate five cases filed by it against Singh, he said.

The retired IPS officer is facing multiple cases of extortion, corruption and misconduct.

The order revoking the suspension of Singh and withdrawing all charges against him related to the departmental enquiry initiated in 2021 were issued by the state home department on Wednesday, he said.

According to the order, the period of the former IPS officer's suspension should be treated as he was on duty.

At least four cases of extortion were registered against Singh in Mumbai and adjoining Thane.

During his long police career, he served as commissioner of Mumbai and also Thane.

Singh was transferred from the post of Mumbai police commissioner in March 2021 after the arrest of assistant police inspector Sachin Waze by the National Investigation Agency in connection with the seizure of an explosives-laden SUV from near industrialist Mukesh Ambani's residence 'Antilia' in South Mumbai in February that year.

The 1988-batch IPS officer had written an explosive letter to then-Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, alleging home minister Anil Deshmukh of the Nationalist Congress Party had asked police officers to collect Rs 100 crore a month from hotels in Mumbai. Deshmukh has denied the charge.

The then-Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government placed Singh under suspension and put his salary on hold.

The government had initiated a departmental enquiry against the senior police officer and eight serious charges were applied against him during the proceedings, the order mentioned.

Singh had submitted his statement of defence in December 2021 through an email and denied all charges levelled against him during the enquiry.

He had filed a petition in the Bombay high court seeking quashing of enquiry initiated against him by the Maharashtra government, but the plea was rejected.

He had later moved the Supreme Court which had noted certain observations regarding the departmental enquiry and the suspension of Singh, the home department order stated.

Singh also had approached the Central Administrative Tribunal, which decided to withdraw the memorandum of charges against him.

Accordingly the memorandum of charges have been withdrawn and the said matter is being closed, said the order issued by the home department.

Another order said it has been decided by the Competent Authority to withdraw the proceedings of departmental enquiry against the former Mumbai police chief.

"It is under consideration of the Competent Authority to revoke the suspension order dated December 2, 2021, issued against Param Bir Singh in the view of order given by the Central Administrative Tribunal," the order stated.

"As per provisions of the All India Services (Death-Cum-Recruitment Benefits) Rules 1958, the suspension of Param Bir Singh is revoked by the order and the period of suspension from December 2, 2021 to June 30, 2022, shall be treated as period spent on duty for all purposes," it said.
The Supreme Court on Friday sought replies of the West Bengal and Tamil Nadu governments on a plea of the producers of The Kerala Story that the movie is not being shown in theatres in these two states.

IMAGE: BJP supporters take part in a rally to protest over the ban on The Kerala Story at Priya Cinema, in Kolkata on Thursday. Photograph: ANI Photo

While West Bengal has banned the movie after three days of its screening in theatres, Tamil Nadu has not banned the film but the exhibitors have withdrawn from cinema halls owing to security concerns.

A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha questioned the West Bengal government saying the film is being screened in the rest of the country without any problem and there appears to be no reason for the ban.

"Movie is running in the rest of the country including in states having similar demographic composition and nothing has happened. This has nothing to do with the artistic value of the film. If people do not like the movie, they will not watch the movie," the bench told senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for the West Bengal government.

Singhvi said according to intelligence inputs, there may be a situation of law-and- order problem and peace among different communities may be breached.

He said that the state has the power under section 6 of the West Bengal Cinemas (Regulation) Act, 1954 and opposed the grant of the stay of the order.

"This court has asked petitioners who filed petitions on the movie to approach the high court for relief. Now, this petitioner has approached this court, kindly direct them to approach the high court. Also, we have received several intelligence inputs indicating breach of public order", he said, adding that no stay be granted without giving an opportunity to the state to file its reply.

Senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for producers of the movie, said that in West Bengal the movie was screened for three days before it was banned.

The bench told Singhvi that it is issuing notice to the West Bengal government and will not stay the order (banning screening of the movie), without giving an opportunity to the state.

The bench also asked the Tamil Nadu government to specify measures taken to provide adequate security to theatres screening the film.

"The state government cannot say that it will look the other way when theatres are attacked and chairs are being burnt," the bench told advocate Amit Anand Tiwari, appearing for Tamil Nadu government, after he submitted that there is no ban on the movie.

Salve said there is de facto ban in Tamil Nadu as theatres screening the movie are being threatened and they have dropped the screenings.

"For West Bengal, we are seeking quashing of the ban order," he said.

"We are issuing notices to both the states and they may file their response by Wednesday," the bench said.

The Kerala Story, starring Adah Sharma, was released in cinemas on May 5. Directed by Sudipto Sen, the film claims women from Kerala were forced to convert to Islam and recruited by the terror group Islamic State.

On May 10, the top court had agreed to hear a plea by the producers of controversial multilingual film The Kerala Story against the West Bengal government's ban on screening of the movie after the makers said they are "losing money everyday".

On May 8, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had ordered an immediate ban on the screening of the film in the state to avoid "any incident of hatred and violence", a senior state government official had said.

The top court had posted for May 15 a separate plea against the Kerala High Court order refusing to stay the release of the movie and the fresh plea would also be heard on that day.

On May 5, the high court had refused to stay the release of the movie and said the trailer does not contain anything offensive to any particular community as a whole.

The high court had noted the producers' submission 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.

It had said the Central Board of Film Certification has examined the movie and found it suitable for public exhibition.

The high court had also noted that the producers have published a disclaimer along with the movie which specifically says it is fictionalised and a dramatised version of events and that the film doesn't claim accuracy or factuality of historic events.

"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 high court had said.

It was hearing a batch of petitions which sought to set aside the certificate for public display given to the movie by the censor board among other pleas including to ban it.

The petitions before the high court had contended that the movie "falsely portrayed" certain facts which had resulted in "insulting" the people of Kerala, and sought a stay on the movie's impending release.

On May 4, the apex court had refused to entertain for a third time a plea challenging the CBFC certification granted to the movie, saying courts must be very careful while staying exhibition of films.

It had observed that producers have invested money in the film and actors have dedicated their labour, and it is for the market to decide if the movie is not up to the mark.
Top leaders in the Congress' Rajasthan unit went into a huddle on Friday to chalk out a strategy to tackle the challenge thrown by Sachin Pilot, who has launched a foot march against corruption in the state.

IMAGE: Congress leader Sachin Pilot speaks to the media over 'Jan Sangharsh Yatra', in Ajmer, Rajasthan on Thursday. Photograph: ANI Photo

Senior party leaders, including the Congress' Rajasthan in-charge Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, state unit chief Govind Singh Dotasra and co-in-charges Qazi Muhammad Nizamuddin, Amrita Dhawan and Virendra Rathore were present at a meeting at the party's Gurdwara Rakab Ganj Road office in New Delhi, during which they are likely to discuss Pilot's march.

Pilot on Thursday launched a 125-kilometre 'Jan Sangharsh Yatra' from Ajmer to Jaipur to raise the issue of corruption during the previous Bharatiya Janata Party regime led by Vasundhara Raje and cases of paper leaks in government recruitment exams.

Pilot has said his march is not against anyone but over issues of corruption.

He claimed that he has been writing to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot for a year and a half for action on corruption but nothing has been forthcoming.

The five-day yatra mounts pressure on the party leadership months ahead of the assembly elections slated for later this year with the Congress also facing anti-incumbency, apart infighting in the state unit.

Pilot and Gehlot have been engaged in a power tussle since the Congress formed the government in the state in 2018.

In 2020, Pilot led a failed revolt against the Gehlot government after which he was removed from the posts of the party's state unit president and deputy chief minister.

The former Rajasthan deputy chief minister had last month defied a warning from the party and went ahead with a day-long fast targeting Gehlot over his 'inaction' on alleged corruption during the Raje government.
The stage is set for counting of votes cast during the two phases of the urban local body polls and the bye-election to two assembly constituencies in Uttar Pradesh.

Image used for representational purpose only. Photograph: ANI Photo

Officials said most of the preparations are complete and the counting will start at 8 am on Saturday.

They said instructions were given to arrange cold water and sharbat at the counting centres in view of the rising heat.

The State Election Commission said 353 counting centres have been set up.

Lucknow district magistrate Suryapal Gangwar and joint commissioner of police Upendra Agrawal reviewed the preparations.

The bypolls were held in Suar assembly seat in Rampur district and Chhanbey (SC) in Mirzapur district on May 10.

On both the seats, there was a direct contest between the ruling coalition led by the Bharatiya Janata Party and the opposition Samajwadi Party, political analysts say.

The Suar seat fell vacant in February following the disqualification of SP leader Azam Khan's son Abdullah Azam Khan as an MLA after a Moradabad court sentenced him to two years in jail in a 15-year-old case.

The Chhanbey seat fell vacant after the death of Apna Dal (Sonelal) MLA Rahul Prakash Kol in February.

The ULB polls were held in two phases  on May 4 and May 11.

About 53 per cent voters exercised their franchise during the ULB polls out of the total 4.32 crore who were eligible to vote, according to the Election Commission data.

Seventeen mayors and 1,401 corporators will be elected after the results are declared on Saturday. As many as 19 corporators have been elected unopposed.

Shahjahanpur will elect its mayor for the first time this year as the city became a municipal corporation in 2018, a year after the last civil polls were held in Uttar Pradesh.

Meerut and Aligarh had BSP mayors in 2017, while the BJP ruled the rest civic bodies.

The ULB polls will also elect 198 chairpersons and 5,260 members of nagar palika parishads. For nagar panchayats, the fate of 542 chairpersons and 7,104 members will be decided.

There were 83,378 candidates in the fray for 14,522 posts, according to the SEC.

During the campaign, senior leaders of various political parties visited different parts of the state.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, his deputies Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak campaigned extensively for the BJP candidates. State BJP president Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary and former Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma also held election meetings for party candidates.

SP chief Akhilesh Yadav held roadshows. Mainpuri MP Dimple Yadav also campaigned for party candidates.

Whoever wins on majority of seats in the ULB polls will try to showcase their strength before the crucial 2024 general election as UP sends the maximum 80 MPs to Lok Sabha.

The parties and their candidates now anxiously wait for the results.

"The BJP is going to win all 17 mayor seats. It will bag a lion's share in the corporators' category. The party will also perform extremely well in nagar palika parishads and nagar panchayats," UP BJP spokesperson Hero Bajpai said.

SP spokesperson Deepak Ranjan said the ULB polls "will spring up a surprise".

"The cycle (SP's election symbol) has covered a significant distance during the election, while the lotus (BJP's symbol) did not bloom," Ranjan asserted.

UP Congress media convenor Ashok Singh too said the party's performance in the election will surprise everyone.

Rashtriya Lok Dal spokesperson Ankur Saxena said his party's performance will be "very good".

Aam Aadmi Party leader Shekhar Dixit said the people have "blessed us in the civic polls, and the results will prove this".

He added that people have understood that AAP is the "only alternative" to the BJP.

Rajesh Srivastava, spokesperson of the UP unit of the Apna Dal (Sonelal), exuded confidence that "both the candidates of the party will register emphatic wins in the assembly by-elections".
Brattleboro, VT (05301)

Today

A clear sky. Low 38F. NW winds at 10 to 20 mph, decreasing to less than 5 mph..

Tonight

A clear sky. Low 38F. NW winds at 10 to 20 mph, decreasing to less than 5 mph.
Photographer / Multimedia Editor

Has been working as a photojournalist since 2007, before moving into newspapers, he worked with an NGO called Project HOPE. He then went to work for the Press and Sun-Bulletin in New York, and then in New England working for the Brattleboro Reformer.
Japanese and South Korean officials held hourslong talks into early Saturday and agreed on a visit later this month by South Korean experts to the Fukushima nuclear plant before it begins the controversial release of treated but radioactive water into the sea. The safety of the water is a major sticking point as the two sides work to improve long-strained ties.

Discussions were held Friday in Seoul and online, in which the Japanese government also provided an update on the status of the tsunami-wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. Officials are preparing to release the water, saying it's an unavoidable step for the decommissioning process.

Japan's Foreign Ministry, after a nearly 12-hour meeting that ran past midnight, issued a statement early Saturday saying the two sides agreed to have a four-day visit by a South Korean delegation to Japan that includes a Fukushima nuclear plant tour, and that further details, including its program need to be finalized.

The government and the plants operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, say the water release will begin between spring and summer and take decades to finish.

A massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011 destroyed the Fukushima Daiichi plants cooling systems, causing three reactors to melt and release large amounts of radiation. Water used to cool the three damaged reactor cores, which remain highly radioactive, leaks into the basements of the reactor buildings and is collected, treated and stored in about 1,000 tanks that now cover much of the plant.

The government and TEPCO say the tanks must be removed to make room to build facilities for the plants decommissioning and to minimize the risk of leaks in case of another major disaster. The tanks are expected to reach their capacity of 1.37 million tons in early 2024.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, during his May 7-8 visit to Seoul for a summit with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, announced that Japan would receive a team of experts at the plant later in May to address South Korea's concerns in a show of his desire to further improve relations.

South Koreas Foreign Ministry said Saturday the two sides held in-depth discussions on what the South Korean experts would see and do at the plant and that further consultations were planned to finalize the details.

Seoul wants to send some 20 government experts to visit the Fukushima Daiichi plant on May 23-24, although the groups actual size will be determined after further talks with Japan, Park Ku-yeon, first vice minister of South Koreas Office for Government Policy Coordination, said Friday.

Park said the plant visit is aimed at reviewing the safety of the entire ocean discharge process, including Japan's water treatment facility and its operation and technologies to measure contamination levels in treated water.

Asked whether Seoul would consider lifting its import ban on seafood from Fukushima if it determines Japans water release plan is safe, Park replied absolutely not, citing South Korean public concerns and a need for deeper investigations into the environmental impact of the 2011 disaster.

Japanese officials said the Korean delegation's plant visit is not an inspection and does not involve a safety assessment, review or evaluation of the water discharge plan, because it's already under review by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Japan has been assisted by the IAEA for credibility and transparency.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said Thursday the visit would not affect the timing of a planned release of the water and that Japan continues to provide explanations about safety measures to aid understanding.

Japanese officials say the water will be safely filtered to below releasable levels by international standards and further diluted by large amounts of seawater before release, making it harmless to human health or marine life.

The plan has faced fierce protests from local fishing communities concerned about safety and reputational damage. Neighboring countries, including South Korea, China and the Pacific Island nations, have also raised safety concerns. South Korea and China ban food imports from around Fukushima and describe the water as contaminated" instead of treated despite the Japanese government's repeated protests.

Some scientists say the impact of long-term, low-dose exposure to tritium and other radionuclides on the environment and humans is still unknown and the release should be delayed.

Historical disputes have strained ties between Tokyo and Seoul  most recently over the compensation of wartime Korean forced laborers during Japan's 1910-1945 colonization of the Korean Peninsula. But their relationship has thawed rapidly since March, when Yoon's government announced a local fund to compensate some of the former laborers. Tokyo and Seoul, under pressure from Washington, share a sense of urgency to mend ties amid growing security threats in the region.

___

Associated Press writer Kim Tong-hyung in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report.
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BENTLEY, La. (AP)  They were born and raised in captivity, but as they slowly slithered away from their handlers and disappeared into gopher holes in the Kisatchie National Forest, the group of Louisiana pine snakes appeared to be right at home.

The five pine snakes bred at the Memphis Zoo in Tennessee were released into the Kisatchie in early May as part of an ongoing conservation effort involving zoos in Memphis, New Orleans and two Texas cities, Fort Worth and Lufkin. This year, more than 100 pine snakes  a species the federal government lists as threatened  will be released into the central Louisiana forest.

We provide the snakes in our snake factories, which are funded by the U.S. Forest Service, into habitat that the Fish and Wildlife Service and Forest Service have developed, said Steve Reichling, the Memphis Zoo's Director of Conservation and Research. "Its just a perfect marriage, really.

Reichling said the characteristics of the area where the snakes were released  a high tree canopy dominated by longleaf pine, little mid-level vegetation, grassy ground and sandy soil  are all vital to the snakes' survival. The forest is also home to gophers that are both a food source for the snakes and the creators of the burrow system where the snakes live and hibernate.

Unlike some of the other snakes that are here that can survive in different habitats, Louisiana pines, they cannot," Reichling said as the snakes were being released.

Although they bear a resemblance to rattlesnakes, pine snakes are non-venomous constrictors and aren't considered dangerous to humans.

There is no other snake in the world like it, Reichling said. And to me, thats the definition of precious, right?

The release into the Kisatchie of juvenile pine snakes raised at the Memphis Zoo has become an annual event, one that Emlyn Smith, a biologist with the forest service, looks forward to.

I love this, she said. This is why I havent retired yet, because I love this project and its just so exciting. Every time I come out here, theres the potential to see a pine snake that we released and to see that its surviving and its thriving and its making babies and its getting bigger.

___

McGill reported from New Orleans.
WALLINGFORD  Police say they arrested a Woodbury woman who they suspect stole a persons identity and used their information to buy phones and watches.

Audrey Bennett, 22, was charged May 1 with two counts of criminal impersonation, two counts of third-degree identity theft, fifth-degree larceny and criminal attempt of sixth-degree larceny. She was released on a $21,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in state Superior Court in Meriden on May 15.

Wallingford police said they received a fraud complaint on Jan. 17 about someone using a persons information to open an AT&T account and purchase a new iPhone 14. Officers learned the victim previously had their wallet stolen from a car in their driveway.

Almost two weeks later, the victim told police that someone had tried to open two credit card accounts with two different companies in their name, according to the police department.

On Feb. 13, police said officers were notified that the suspect opened a fraudulent account in the victims name at another bank. On that same day, police said someone attempted to take over the victims bank account at a local branch in Meriden, police said.

The suspect tried to obtain a new debit card for the account, presented an identification in the name of the victim, and physically matched the victims description, police said. However, the suspect could not provide the necessary information to complete the banks security questions to confirm the victims identity.

The suspect left the bank without getting new debit cards or withdrawing funds, police added.

On Feb. 21, police said the suspect bought two more iPhones at a T-Mobile in Meriden while using the victims personal information to make the purchase.

Officers also learned that, on Jan. 6, the suspect used the victims information to purchase two Bulova watches at a Zales Jewelers in Trumbull, police said.

Police identified the suspect as Bennett after a long investigation, which included multiple search warrants.
HARTFORD  Tactics including coercion, lying or misinforming juvenile suspects at the hands of police investigators would be prohibited under legislation approved Thursday in the state Senate.

The bill, which was voted along party lines 22-12 after two failed Republican attempts to amend it, would prohibit law enforcement from using physical force and deception or coercive tactics, including in the use of false, misrepresentative, or misleading facts about evidence, potential legal outcomes and promises of leniency or other benefits to suspects.

"It would be a rebuttable presumption that a written or oral admission, a confession of some sort, a statement, is involuntary if it was gotten by using deception or coercive tactics," said Sen. Gary Winfield, co-chairman of the Judiciary Committee during the 90-minute debate. "If the individual to whom this deception or coercive tactics is under the age of 18, it includes tactics that law enforcement or their agents should have known were false or misrepresentative."

Winfield said that in many cases, juvenile suspects are questioned without legal counsel at hand, making them potential targets for manipulation by investigators.

Jessica Hill / Associated Press

Sen. John Kissel, of Enfield, a top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, offered the hypothetical incident of a kidnapping that had occurred, with the urgent need to seek information from a young suspect. "I get the over-arching concern regarding this," Kissel said. "Sometimes you have to get to the truth of the matter and sometimes it's a matter quite literally of life and death."

During a sometimes testy back-and-forth with Kissel, Winfield said that the tactic of lying to juveniles is unacceptable.

"The question is whether the officer knows or should have known, given the limited hypothetical before us, that officer shouldn't have necessarily known anything and definitely did not know," Winfield said. "There are no exceptions in this bill for communicating something we know not to be true to a juvenile."

Kissel then offered the hypothetical scenario of a bomb planted in the State Capitol building. "And a individual under 18 might have key information as to where that bomb was located," Kissel replied. "And I don't know how many minutes are left on that bomb. I can't even state something that I know is false that's calculated to get information to let me know where that bomb is so I can save everybody in the building? There's nothing in the bill that allows that?"

"There isn't an exemption, no matter what the new hypothetical would be," Winfield said. "The person who is in communication  with the person under 18 to be specific  is required to communicate facts that are facts to the individual, or else, as I have suggested, there's this rebuttable presumption  there is potential to overcome it  but that is how the bill works."

"That's a really high bar," said Kissel.

Christian Abraham / Hearst Connecticut Media

Winfield reminded the Senate of the so-called Central Park jogger case of 1989 that resulted in the arrest and incarceration of five young Black men who years later were exonerated and released. "A whole bunch of stuff was on the line, and we put people in jail, and it looked like we had it right and we had it absolutely wrong," Winfield said. "The person who did it was not caught. That's what this is about."

Kissel submitted two amendments that were both defeated along party lines. "There's going to be times when we want law enforcement to act fast," Kissel said. "And unfortunately we're going to tie their hands just a little bit more." Winfield led the party-line defeat of the amendments.

"I don't just want them to get it fast," Winfield said of police investigations. "I want them to get it right. Because when they don't get it right, here's what happens: People who have actually committed crimes continue to walk free. People who are victims of crimes think that the people who committed those crimes are locked up. That's what happens. People who didn't commit the crimes are in prison and lose their freedom because we're concerned more about how fast you can get it done than how correctly you can get it done."

Senate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney, D-New Haven, said that the bill does include a so-called fail safe provision for police if prosecutors can prove by clear and convincing evidence that statements of juvenile suspects were voluntary and not induced by deception or coercion. "It's important for us to establish the principle that juvenile proceedings are, in fact, supposed to be different from adult proceedings," Looney said. "This bill is consistent with what has been our tradition."
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 12. Azerbaijani gas covers about 30% of Bulgarias annual consumption, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Bulgaria to Azerbaijan Rouslan Stoyanov said in an exclusive interview with Trend.

The envoy went on to add that the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) is a huge project and Azerbaijan was an important driving force for its successful realization.

"Its implementation was an example of what can be accomplished when governments, private companies and financial institutions are motivated and willing to work together. I am pleased that Bulgaria is a part of this endeavor from the very beginning. Of course, this would not have been possible without the long-standing and friendly bilateral political relations between our countries, which have naturally developed into a strategic partnership. Now Bulgaria is the only country through which the SGC is not directly passing but is still receiving 1 bcm of Azerbaijani gas annually. This amount represents about 10% of the TAP capacity at this stage and about 30% of Bulgarias annual consumption. Thus, in relation to our country, Azerbaijan becomes a crucial energy partner for Bulgaria and the EU as a whole in our endeavor for real diversification of both the sources and routes for gas supply," noted Rouslan Stoyanov.
Security has been increased across Kashmir ahead of G20 delegates' visit to the Valley, Additional Director General of Police, Kashmir Range, Vijay Kumar said.

Kumar said, We (JKP) along with other security agencies are alert to thwart any possible plan of terrorists to carry out any attacks. Apart from additional deployment of security forces on the ground, modern technology is being used for aerial surveillance across the valley, especially in Srinagar and Baramulla. A thick security cover is being thrown around the SKICC, the main venue of the G20 summit, ADGP Vijay Kumar informed.

Everyday, search and anti-mining drills are being done around the vulnerable locations to avoid any untoward incident during the G20 summit. To avert any kind of Fidayeen attack/eventuality, snipers will be posted at the under-construction building. NSG team along with the Special Operations Group of J&K Police are being deployed to check drone activities/ to counter any threat, he added.

"The Marine Commandos (MARCOS) will be put in place to provide a strong security cover for the water bodies around the summit venue,'' said ADGP Kashmir Zone, Vijay Kumar.

Our intelligence agencies are also working hard, the network is quite strong and with the help of this network, we are getting timely inputs and action is being taken, ADGP added.

Apart from security measures, the J&K Police has specially trained around 600 personnel to understand the tactics and strategies used in invisible policing.

"600 boys have completed their two-week training course at Sher-i-Kashmir Police Academy Udhampur. Their services will be used at various places at the venues and they will be deputed in civvies to ensure comfort for the delegates," Kumar said.

"I along with my team are hopeful that the event will pass off peacefully, as we secure Air, Water and Land of the Valley," ADGP Kashmir Zone, Kumar said. Kumar further informed that some preventive arrests of over-ground workers and suspects were made as a preventative measure.

The 3rd G20 Tourism Working Group Meeting will be held in Srinagar, from May 22nd-24th. This is the first international meeting being held in the Valley after the Centre revoked J&K's special status and bifurcated the erstwhile state into union territories in August 2019. Pertinently, India assumed the G20 Presidency on December 1st, 2022, from Indonesia, and will convene the G20 leaders summit for the first time this year.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met his Nepali counterpart Narayan Prakash Saud for the first time here on Friday and discussed ways to boost bilateral ties in energy, trade, connectivity and hydroelectricity.

The two ministers met on the sidelines of the 6th Indian Ocean Conference being held in Bangladesh's capital Dhaka.

"A good first meeting with FM N.P. Saud of Nepal. Congratulated him on his new responsibility. Discussed further steps in our steadily expanding partnership. Spoke about energy, connectivity, and our enduring people-to-people ties," Jaishankar tweeted.

The two ministers expressed satisfaction over the excellent state of Nepal-India relations and discussed ways to further consolidate cooperation in the areas of trade, transit, connectivity, and hydroelectricity, among others, Nepal's embassy in Dhaka said.

Saud assumed the office of the Foreign Minister of Nepal on April 16.

Jaishankar is in Dhaka to participate in the 6th edition of the Indian Ocean Conference which is being attended by President of Mauritius Prithvirajsing Roopun, Vice President of Maldives Faisal Naseem, Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina, and several ministers from across the world.
Canada brought in the military to help firefighting and recovery efforts in Alberta on Thursday after wildfires forced thousands to evacuate homes and prompted several oil and gas producers to shut operations in Canada's main crude-producing province, Trend reports citing Reuters.

The armed forces were deployed after Ottawa approved Alberta's request for federal support to tackle the more-than 100 wildfires that ignited across the western Canadian province in the last week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said.

The widespread blazes have marked an intense start to wildfire season in Alberta and put Premier Danielle Smith's disaster management skills - as well as her party's policies - under the microscope ahead of a provincial election on May 29.

A couple of days of cooler weather gave firefighters some reprieve and allowed some oil and gas companies to restart shuttered production on Wednesday, though forecasts show temperatures surging higher over the weekend.

"I know there have been some lower temperatures this week and even some rain in a few areas. And though this is always good news, people shouldnt take this as permission to let their guard down," Alberta's Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services Mike Ellis told a briefing Thursday.
Indian mountaineer Anurag Maloo, who was miraculously rescued from a deep crevasse of Mt. Annapurna in Nepal, was on Thursday airlifted to New Delhi for further treatment after his conditions improved.

He was taken to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi by an air ambulance, said Thaneshwor Guragain, a staff at Seven Summit Trek, a body that organised the expedition.

He opened his eyes and also talked a little bit, said Guragain.

Anurag, 34, a resident of Kishangarh in Rajasthan, went missing in mid-April after he fell from around 6,000 meters while descending from Camp III. Mount Annapurna is the 10th highest mountain in the world.

He was found alive in a deep crevasse at some 5800-metre altitude on April 20 after three days of continuous search by a team of rescuers. He was rushed to Manipal Hospital in Pokhara and then airlifted to Kathmandu for further treatment.

Anurag was undergoing treatment at the Medicity Hospital in Lalitpur near Kathmandu where he underwent a successful tracheostomy surgery last week.

He regained consciousness before being discharged from the Medicity Hospital, but he needs further treatment for 3-4 months for full recovery, the Kantipur daily reported, quoting doctors at the hospital.

Anurag was on a mission to climb all 14 peaks above 8,000 metres and the seven highest points in all seven continents to create awareness and drive action towards achieving the UN Global Goals. He has been awarded REX Karam -- Veer Chakra and became the 2041 Antarctic Youth Ambassador from India.
A team of Lahore police has left for Islamabad to arrest Pakistans former prime minister Imran Khan in a number of cases registered against him in Punjab province, according to a media report on Friday.

The police team is headed by the deputy inspector general (investigation), the Dawn newspaper reported.

It was reported that the joint investigation team probing cases against Imran has informed the Islamabad High Court that it seeks the arrest of chief of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party.

Khan faces 121 cases across the country, including for committing treason and blasphemy and inciting violence and terrorism.

Twelve cases of terrorism have been registered against Khan in Lahore and 14 cases have been registered in Faisalabad.

Khan, 70, appeared before a special bench of the Islamabad High Court for a hearing on his bail plea in a graft case amid tight security. The bench, comprising Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb and Justice Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz, took up the ex-premiers bail plea.
China and Canada have carried out tit-for-tat expulsions of diplomats, with Beijing responding in kind after Ottawa showed the door to a Chinese diplomat who was found trying to intimidate a Canadian politician and his family. The ethnic Chinese lawmaker had drawn Beijing's wrath over his sponsorship of a Canadian parliamentary motion condemning China's rough treatment of its Uyghur minority group. Sharp-elbowed, sharp-tongued "Wolf Warrior" diplomats have stoked concerns about Chinese influence operations in a number of host countries with their efforts to stifle exiled critics and opponents.
Supporters of Candlelight Party shout slogans during a rally on the last day of campaigning for the commune elections in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, June 3, 2022.

Theres a growing possibility that Cambodias main opposition Candlelight Party may not be allowed to compete in Julys general elections after the Ministry of Interior is refusing to reissue a registration certificate.

If the Candlelight Party is barred from the July 23 vote, it almost certainly means that Prime Minister Hun Sens ruling Cambodias Peoples Party will waltz to victory, continuing his iron grip on power since he became prime minister in 1985.

The snag appears to be over paperwork.

The Candlelight Party submitted its application, along with other parties, to run in the election on May 6, two days before the deadline, and the Interior Ministry has submitted a statement to the National Election Committee confirming the partys registration.

But the commission says it needs the more formal certificate dating back from 1998, when it first registered itself, Candlelight Party spokesman Kim Sou Phirith told Radio Free Asia on Friday.

That certificate, however, was lost when the offices of the Cambodia National Rescue Party  the previous main opposition party  were raided by government agents in 2017. The Candlelight Party, founded by Sam Rainsy in 1995, was a part of the opposition camp at that time.

And the Interior Ministry has refused to re-issue a registration certificate.

There is no good news, said Kim Sou Phrith. The Ministry of Interior has maintained that the statement the ministry issued is enough.

Harassing and threatening opponents

The crisis is the latest difficulty for the party as it attempts to recruit candidates and campaign for votes.

For months, party activists in the provinces have been monitored, harassed and threatened while top officials in Phnom Penh continue to face legal issues they say are politically motivated.

Going back to 2017, the CNRP was ordered disbanded by the Supreme Court later that year  another way that Hun Sen has tried to eliminate his political opponents.

After the party was dissolved, former CNRP members and others revived the Candlelight Party in 2021.

Kong Mas, a former CNRP activist who was convicted of treason and incitement after he supported Sam Rainsys proposed repatriation in 2019, was one of the nine opposition party activists recently pardoned by Cambodias King Norodom Sihamoni. Credit: Kong Mas Facebook





Interior Ministry officials have left it to the NEC and the party to work out whether the ministrys statement can be adequate verification, Kim Sou Phirith said.

The NEC might think it is an independent organization, but the ministry has registered all the parties and the ministry has recognized us, so why is the NEC still denying us? he said.

Party officials will again resubmit the statement to the NEC on Saturday, Kim Sou Phirith said.

If that doesnt work, he said theyll file an appeal to the Constitutional Council, a judicial body that examines election disputes, among other matters.

Right now, its hard to predict whether the NEC will allow the party to register for the election, he said.

Pardons and defections

Meanwhile, King Norodom Sihamoni has pardoned nine opposition party activists after they apologized to Hun Sen and joined with the ruling Cambodian Peoples Party.

One of the activists is Kong Mas, a former CNRP activist who was convicted of treason and incitement after he supported Sam Rainsys proposed repatriation in 2019. Sam Rainsy has lived in exile in France since 2015.

There have been a number of high-profile defections to the CPP in recent months as Hun Sen and others have sought to co-opt and silence opposition figures. Most defectors have been appointed to government posts.

Also this week, the king agreed to appoint a former U.S.-based political commentator to a government position. So Naro fled to the United States several years ago to seek political asylum after he had a dispute with several senior CPP officials.

Samdech understood my injustice and he investigated the case, he told RFA, using an honorific for Hun Sen. I was a victim and it was unfortunate. Samdech didnt know about it before, now he is responsible and took action to restore my position. I am happy to return to my old position.

So Naro said he will give advice to the prime minister but wont be working in any of the ministries.

I am a U.S. citizen and a free citizen, no one can control me, he said. I have met Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha. I know that Hun Sen has better qualities as a leader.

Finland-based political analyst Kim Sok said Hun Sen has been using all means to convince activists to defect to the CPP by intimidating and bribing them before the election. But hell get rid of them when the CPP doesnt need them, he said.

We should be vigilant against those who have jumped ship for their own benefit, he said.

The ruling party has been generous in giving government positions to defectors, party spokesman Sok Ey San said.

The CPP doesnt care about any criticism about the appointment because this is the CPPs kindness, he said.

Translated by Samean Yun. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.
A woman walks past pictures of victims of the May 12, 2008, Sichuan earthquake that killed nearly 70,000 people at a museum in Jianchuan, Sichuan province, June 12, 2008.

China's ruling Communist Party newspaper marked the 15th anniversary of a devastating earthquake in the southwestern province of Sichuan with a commemorative video on Friday, sparking criticism from bereaved parents who say the causes of the school collapses have never been investigated as promised.

The propaganda video focused on improvements in the lives of survivors over the past decade-and-a-half, while the Global Times reported on improvements in "disaster prevention" on Friday in a bid to put a positive spin on the 15th anniversary of the devastating Sichuan earthquake that killed more than 80,000 people, more than 5,000 of them children.

"It's because so many people refused to give up, that we had so much motivation and energy [to rebuild our lives]," the voice-over says, accompanied by inspiring tales of amputees who have made a success of their lives despite losing limbs in the rubble.

"So many people are still seeing a fresh start in life, like rays of sunlight shining through the cracks, or seeds sprouting afresh, it says.

But parents whose children died due to substandard construction in school buildings said they are still silenced, detained and harassed if they continue to call for an investigation that was promised into the deaths of 5,000 children, which their families largely blame on rampant official corruption.

Forgotten the dead

Sang Jun, whose son died in the Fuxin No. 2 Elementary School in Sichuan's Mianzhu city, said the government has treated the living well, but appears to have forgotten the dead.

"They have forgotten about the victims, and they still haven't investigated [why it happened]," he said. "There is nowhere we're allowed to mourn them now -- we're not allowed to go to the scene [of the collapsed buildings]."

Primary school students take part in an earthquake drill ahead of the 10th anniversary of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, inside a classroom in Handan, Hebei province, May 11, 2018. Credit: Reuters





Many still call for a government response through official complaints channels, yet are harassed and detained when they do so, according to Zhou Xingrong, a bereaved parent from Sichan's Dujiangyan city who has lodged more than 100 complaints with central government in Beijing over the loss of her son.

"When we got to Beijing ... a bunch of four or five burly men with Beijing and Hebei accents grabbed us and forced us into a vehicle, took our backpacks ... our mobile phones and ID cards," Zhou said of a recent petitioning trip in February. "They wouldn't let me speak and threatened to tape up my mouth."

"Then a few people from the Juyuan township of Dujiangyan came and they took us on the bus straight to Shijiazhuang and then bought tickets for the high-speed railway back to Dujiangyan," she said. "When I got back, there was no explanation, and my personal freedom was restricted, and I wasn't allowed to leave the house."

Tofu buildings

The authorities' treatment of victims had been unjust, she said.

"They promised to pursue those responsible back then, but nothing has been done for 15 years," Zhou said. "No-one is being held accountable for the tofu buildings, a reference to buildings believed to have been built shoddily and with leftover materials, similar to the dregs left over from the tofu-making process.

They acted illegally and won't answer up to the injury done to me and my family, she said. "The past 15 years have been so difficult.

Zhou Xingrong poses for a photo during her visit to Beijing to submit a petition in Feb. 2023. "When we got to Beijing ... a bunch of four or five burly men with Beijing and Hebei accents grabbed us and forced us into a vehicle, took our backpacks ... our mobile phones and ID cards, "They wouldn't let me speak and threatened to tape up my mouth." Said Zhou. Credit: provided by Zhou Xingrong

Sang Jun agreed.

"Back then, [then premier] Wen Jiabao said he would investigate illegal construction methods, and told us to go home and wait for news," Sang said.

"Fifteen years and three premiers later ... none of them has even mentioned the Sichuan earthquake, not one of them this whole time."

"I have also been to Beijing [to complain] but they tell us to deal with it back in our local area, so now we have to give up, because trying to stand up for your rights is too hard," Sang said.

Afraid of backlash

He said he has given up in part to avoid any backlash against his second son, born after the disaster.

"My other kid is very good at reading, and it will affect their ability to find a job in future if I go against [the government]," he said. "They always settle accounts, up to three generations later."

"I would like to stand up for my rights, but I'm afraid of the backlash."

Grave of Sang Jun's son Sang Xingpeng, who died in the 2008 earthquake in Mianzhu, Sichuan Province. Sang Jun said the government has treated the living well, but appears to have forgotten the dead. Credit: Undated photo provided by Sang Jun





Lu Biyu said it is particularly hard for bereaved families to get closure because the government places restrictions on public mourning for their lost children.

"The police and government set guards at the scene [of the disaster] every year, and they don't want to let us go there [to make offerings to the dead]," Lu said.

"I would feel better if I could sit with my baby for an hour or two in that place, especially after so many years of unsuccessful petitioning," she said.

"The day of the earthquake was the most painful of my life. It's still all there, in my mind," Lu said. "It's as if it happened yesterday, that feeling of rigidity when I hugged his body."

"I kept thinking, why couldn't it have been me? He died before he had experienced anything, so I can't let him go," she said, adding that only the classroom block collapsed in her home district of Juyuan, leaving all of the private houses around standing.

"If it hadn't been a tofu building, then all of those children wouldn't have wrongfully died," Lu said.

Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.
Wealthy inmates bribe prison officials to get out of hard labor and live in special cells.

Rich prisoners can bribe the right officials so that they are sent to a special cell where they receive preferential treatment and are exempt from hard manual labor.

North Korea is cracking down on prison officials who accept bribes from wealthy prisoners in exchange for preferential treatment while they are incarcerated, two former inmates in the country told Radio Free Asia.

Bribery and corruption are a way of life in North Korea because the average wage from government-assigned jobs is nowhere near enough to live on. For most people, it means they have to get a side gig or run their own businesses.

Police and government officials, however, can make their living by using the power of their position to extract bribes from the public.

In January 2021, the government established the Justice and Discipline Investigation departments. The two offices are tasked with auditing people in positions of authority to uncover any corruption and illegal behavior and report them to the Central Committee, the governing body of the ruling Korean Workers Party.

In April, the two departments spent a week investigating correctional officers at Chungsan Prison in South Pyongan province, north of the capital Pyongyang, a woman sent to Chungsan in 2019 told RFAs Korean Service on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

Special cell

The inspection started when a prisoner who was released from the prison reported to the Central Committee that there was a special cell in prison camp No.11 [Chungsan Prison], she said.

The special cell is where rich prisoners who can afford to bribe the right officials are sent to do their time. They receive preferential treatment and are exempt from hard manual labor unlike most of their fellow inmates.

Those who cant afford to pay the bribe for the special cell can bribe their way into the cafeteria staff or livestock raising teams, according to the source.

This is advantageous because the government does not provide food, and the prisoners must cultivate it for the entire prison population. The cafeteria workers can sneak food away, whereas the livestock raising team can eat food intended for the animals.

In any case, the special cell is the preferred choice.

The source, who was imprisoned for accepting money sent by an escapee relative who had resettled in South Korea, said that several hundred U.S. dollars is all it costs to buy special cell privileges.

If you give US$500 a year to a correctional bureau official, he will give a call to the prison youre going to to set you up, she said. If you dont have a personal connection with a correctional official, then you can give $100 per month to the official in the prison to get into the special cell.

The source said she did not know how many people were in the special cell, but estimated that during her time in Chungsan, there were 20 inmates in the womens side of the prison.

During the inspection, two provincial correctional department officials and the head of Chungsan Prison were fired for receiving bribes and giving special treatment to prisoners, she said.

Inmates also punished

Another source, who was released from Chungsan in April after serving a five-year sentence, told RFA that it was not only the prison officials who accepted bribes that got punished  the special cell inmates who bribed them were also in trouble.

They are temporarily forbidden from family visits and they are also getting three years of hard labor tacked on to the backend of their sentences, she said.

As a result of the inspection, face-to-face family visits for prisoners will only be allowed once per six months. This is an abrupt change, as normal prisoners are allowed a visit every 15 days.

The second inmate said that new prisoners will also now be separated based on their occupation and crime. Executives, wholesalers and meth dealers are separated because they have experience moving large sums of money around on the outside and are more likely to be able to afford bribes.

These measures appear to be aimed at eradicating the source of bribes to the prison officials, but I dont know if they will be effective, she said.

Translated by Claire Shinyoung Oh Lee. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.
The death toll could rise because the area is now like a battlefield, ethnic armed group says.

Myanmar troops burned alive 19 civilians, including eight minors, on Wednesday, relatives of the dead, witnesses and a spokesman for the shadow government said, in the latest atrocity committed by junta soldiers in the countrys civil war.

The attack came in the south-central Bago region, where junta troops were fighting ethnic Karen rebels and members of the Peoples Defense Force, a loose group of ordinary people who have taken up arms since the February 2021 military coup.

The slaughter came hours after remote mine attacks by rebels. Junta forces arrested people living in Nyaung Pin Thar village in Htantabin township and burned them to death around 5 p.m. on May 10, residents said.

Five members of the same family, including a 6-year-old, were killed, said a relative.

The military junta forces just killed them like that, another villager said.

The initial count was 18 dead, but on Friday, the Karen National Union, the political wing of the Karen National Liberation Army, announced that another resident had been burned to death in Nyaung Pin Thar village of Htantabin township.

Junta forces are still near the village and the death toll could be higher because the area is now like a battlefield, the KNUs statement said.

The juntas militarys 44th Battalion and units of 73rd, 599, 590 and 48 Light Infantry Divisions are operating the region and fighting with the KNU and its affiliate armed groups, according to the statement.

Another atrocity

The shadow National Unity Government, or NUG, and witnesses told Radio Free Asia that the victims ranged in age from 5 to 70 years old.

They killed a total of 18 innocent villagers, 10 women and eight men, NUG spokesman Nay Phone Latt said, adding that most of the adults killed were over 50.

This is yet another massacre committed by the military council, he said, referring to the junta which has ruled Myanmar with an iron fist since seizing power in a February 2021 coup.

The troops killed the villagers after a battle broke out between them and joint forces from the Karen National Liberation Army and the anti-junta Peoples Defense Force near Nyaung Pin Thar village, said a local militia member.

We detonated landmines about 15 times and about 30 junta soldiers were killed, he said. After that, the junta troops advanced to Nyaung Pin Thar village. More battles broke out there too.

We only found out last night, after the battles ended, that they had killed the villagers, said a member of the local Peoples Defense Force, a loose grouping of ordinary people who have taken up arms to fight the military. We found the bodies only this morning.

The 73rd and 36th infantry battalions based in Htantabin township raided other nearby villages including Nyaung Pin Thar and killed local villagers, he said.

He also said that during the battle, anti-regime forces killed about 20 junta soldiers and captured three officers.

RFA could not reach Bago region military junta spokesman Tin Oo or junta spokesman Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun for comment.

Junta troops have conducted 64 mass killings across Myanmar between the Feb. 1, 2021 coup and mid-march 2023, resulting in the deaths of 766 people, according to the NUGs Ministry of Human Rights.

Translated by Myo Min Aung for RFA Burmese. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.
Storm is similar in strength to 2008s Nargis, which killed nearly 140,000.

People arrive to take shelter at a monastery in Sittwe town in Myanmars Rakhine state on Friday, May 12, 2023, ahead of the expected landfall of Cyclone Mocha.

Potentially devastating Cyclone Mocha is expected to slam into the shared border region between Myanmar and Bangladesh on Sunday, putting hundreds of thousands of refugees and displaced at risk.

Posting wind speeds of nearly 210 kilometers per hour (130 mph), the storm is similar in strength to Cyclone Nargis, which left nearly 140,000 people dead and missing in 2008, said Hla Tun, director of Myanmars Department of Meteorology and Hydrology.

Its very dangerous, he told Radio Free Asia.

Cyclone Mocha, which formed Thursday in the southern Bay of Bengal, caused heavy rains and coastal surge in western Myanmars Rakhine state on Friday.

It is expected to affect areas stretching from Rakhines Kyauk Phyu township in the east to Coxs Bazar in Bangladesh in the west  where hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees live in makeshift camps.

As Mocha barreled towards that coast, Bangladeshs Meteorological Department on Friday night raised its danger level to eight on a scale of 10.

We cannot stop the cyclone. But we are trying to reduce the extent of damage of the cyclone, A.B. Tajul Islam, chairman of the parliamentary standing committee at the Disaster Management Ministry, told the RFA-affiliated BenarNews on Friday evening.

The government has been trying to relocate people to the cyclone shelters, but it is not possible to shift all of the people, said Islam.



In Myanmar, the Irrawaddy Delta region and Rakhine coast can expect frequent strong winds and torrential downpours, while waves in the Bay of Bengal may reach heights of 4-5 meters (13-16 feet), weather officials said.

Evacuations have begun

Residents in the path of the storm have begun to evacuate.

People shelter at a monastery in Sittwe town in Myanmars Rakhine state on Friday, May 12, 2023. Credit: AFP

About 800 people from four villages have been sheltering in a local monastery since May 8, said Than Htay, a resident of Rakhines Pauk Taw township.

When the storm hits, it will have been too late to run, he said.

On Friday, the International Rescue Committee warned in a statement that "over 850,000 refugees risk losing their homes and livelihoods" if the cyclone hits Cox's Bazar.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said it is "engaging with all relevant stakeholders to ensure timely and unimpeded access to those in need," noting that even before the cyclone hits, there are already about six million people in need of humanitarian assistance and 1.2 million people displaced across Rakhine state and Myanmar's northwest.

Of particular worry is the situation facing 232,100 people who are displaced across Rakhine, it said in a flash update issued on Friday.

Inhabitants of Sittwe, the capital of the Rakhine state, and nearby villages are also evacuating, and state authorities and civil organizations have prepared emergency shelters, said Soe Min Aung, a resident of the city.

The Arakan Army, an ethnic Rakhine rebel group, is also evacuating residents from the coast and low-lying areas. The groups spokesman, Khaing Thu Kha, told reporters that more than 10,000 people had been relocated from 21 villages over the last two days, and are being provided with food and medical assistance.

Rohingya at risk

Thousands of Rohingya displaced by a Myanmar military crackdown in 2017 and living in camps in Myanmar have not been evacuated, officials said.

More than 140,000 are sheltering in refugee camps in Rakhines Sittwe township.

These most vulnerable can only pray that the storm veers off course, said Kyaw Hla, a committee member of the Thae Chaung refugee camp in Rakhine state.

If the storm actually hits here, we won't be able to withstand it, he said. If that is the case, we will have to suffer. We will just have to try to survive all on our own.

Members of the Arakan Army, an ethnic Rakhine rebel group, evacuates residents from the coast and low-altitude areas in Rakhine state, Myanmar. Credit: Arakan Army

Meanwhile, Bangladeshi government officials have instructed Rohingya refugees in Cox's Bazar  where 740,000 live in camps  to shelter in religious schools and schools operated by the NGO community, residents of the camps told RFA.

But they acknowledged that there is little they can do to prepare for the brunt of the cyclone.

We are very worried  if the storm hits here, there will be many negative effects, said Ko Aung Myaing of the Kutupalong refugee camp.

Heavy rains will likely lead to landslides, destroying flimsy homes on the hillsides, he said. The tents we have are not strong enough.

Mohammed Mizanur Rahman, Bangladeshs refugee relief and repatriation commissioner, told BenarNews that there were risks of landslides at some of the refugee camps.

We have identified 500 families living at the camps in Teknaf who face the risk of landslides, he said.

Officials had not yet started to evacuate people from Cox's Bazar on Friday night, but were planning to start evacuations early on Saturday morning. At least 2,000 people had been evacuated from Saint Martin's island and had arrived in Teknaf, a sub-district of Cox's Bazar district, officials said.

Muhammad Shaheen Imran, the Coxs Bazar deputy commissioner told BenarNews that the government readied 576 cyclone shelters in the area that could accommodate up to 500,000 people.

People gather at the beach in Coxs Bazar, Bangladesh, on Friday, May 12, 2023, ahead of the landfall of cyclone Mocha. Credit: AFP

Disaster risk management specialist Abdul Latif Khan told BenarNews that Mocha was likely to cause up to two meters (seven feet) of tidal surge in Teknaf, Coxs Bazar.

Passing the days with anxiety

Mohammad Alam, chairman of the Teknaf Leda Development Committee, told BenarNews that the authorities had been making public announcements to make people aware of the dangers of Mocha.

The people living on hills at risky places have been asked to go to safer places. Pregnant women and children have been advised to take shelter at nearby schools and distribution centers inside the camps, Alam said.

We are passing the days with anxiety, he said.

Translated by Myo Min Aung. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster.
Foreign Minister Tkatchenko is stepping aside to allow an investigation into the incident.

University students in Papua New Guineas capital Port Moresby protest on May 12, 2023 against the countrys Minister of Foreign Affairs Justin Tkatchenko, who called social media critics of his daughter primitive animals.

UPDATED AT 03:46 a.m. ET on 2023-05-12

Papua New Guineas foreign minister is facing an intense public backlash and calls to resign after he labeled critics of his daughters ostentatious TikTok video from a taxpayer funded trip to the U.K. monarchs coronation as primitive animals.

The furor over Australian-born Justin Tkatchenkos comments, which were made to Australias state broadcaster ABC, is happening less than two weeks ahead of U.S. President Joe Bidens stopover in Papua New Guinea to meet leaders of Pacific island countries.

Tkatchenkos adult daughter Savannah accompanied him to the coronation of King Charles III in London last week. She posted a TikTok video of their luxury travel, since deleted, which triggered criticism in Papua New Guinea where poverty is widespread.

In an interview with the ABC on Wednesday about the social media onslaught, Tkatchenko said his daughter was "absolutely traumatized by these primitive animals. He added, And I call them primitive animals because they are.

The comments were perceived as racist in the Melanesian nation of more than nine million people, where there was also anger at a local newspaper's estimate of the expense of sending a large delegation to the coronation.

On Friday, Tkatchenko said he would step aside as foreign minister while any investigations take place. He repeated his apology from the day before when he had said his comments were a reaction to horrible threats of a sexual and violent nature by internet trolls against his daughter and not directed at Papua New Guineans.

Prime Minister James Marape on Thursday said he had been offended by the primitive animals comment, but also urged the county to accept the apology and move on.

Papua New Guinea Foreign Affairs Minister Justin Tkatchenko speaks at a press conference in Port Moresby on Jan. 10, 2023. Credit: Harlyne Joku/BenarNews





Savannah Tkatchenkos video showed her enjoying luxury travel, accommodation and high-end shops such as Hermes at Singapore Airport and doing her skincare routine on a flight to London.

Ive actually packed my whole life into these two big suitcases, Im so proud of myself because I have so much stuff, she said as she strolled through an airport.

So Im traveling with my Dad and our first stop is Singapore and we checked into the first class lounge where we had some cosmos and some yummy food, she said.

Then we did some shopping around Singapore Airport at Hermes and Louis Vuitton. Those of you that dont know, Singapore Airport shopping is honestly so elite.

Calls for the foreign ministers resignation have come from senior politicians such as the opposition leader and organizations including the countrys Trade Union Congress.

Justin deserves no mercy or forgiveness. He must be kicked out of this country. PM James Marape must act immediately, said PNG Trade Union Congress Acting General Secretary Anton Sekum.

Biden visit aims to counter Chinese influence

The rancor over a senior ministers comments comes ahead of landmark visits to Papua New Guinea later this month by Biden and Indias Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Papua New Guinea, the most populous Pacific Island country, is increasingly a focus of China-U.S. rivalry in the region and a U.S. push to counter Beijings influence.

Like some other Pacific island nations, Papua New Guinea is trying to balance increased Chinese trade and investment and its traditional security relationships with countries such as Australia and the United States.

Tkatchenko earlier this month said he hopes a defense cooperation agreement with the United States will be signed during Bidens visit. Papua New Guinea is also working on completing a broad security agreement with Australia.

Chinas influence in the Pacific has burgeoned over several decades through increased trade, infrastructure investment and aid as it seeks to isolate Taiwan diplomatically and gain allies in international institutions. The Solomon Islands and Kiribati switched their diplomatic recognition to China from Taiwan in 2019.

Beijing signed a security pact with the Solomon Islands last year, alarming the U.S. and allies such as Australia who fear it could pave the way for a Chinese military presence in the region.

Marapes statement about Tkatchenko said Papua New Guineas national character was being tested at a time when it would be in the spotlight because of Biden and Modis visits.

We must show the world that we can forgive those who offend us, he said.

This will be a momentous and historic occasion, which should rally our nation together, and we should not let this issue stand in the way.

BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated news service.

Story updated to note that Tkatchenko is stepping aside to allow an investigation.
Germany plans to buy 18 Leopard 2 tanks and 12 self-propelled howitzers to replenish stocks depleted by deliveries to Ukraine, according to procurement documents seen by Reuters on Friday, Trend reports citing Al Arabiya.

The tanks order will come to 525 million euros ($578 million) while the howitzers have a price tag of 190.7 million euros, all of which are to be delivered by 2026 at the latest, said the finance ministry documents meant for the parliament.

The tank purchase includes an option for another 105 tanks for about 2.9 billion euros, said a defense source, who added that the German parliaments budget committee was expected to sign off on the deal at the end of May.

The 12 howitzers are part of defense ministry plans signed off by the German parliament in March to buy up to 28 howitzers as replacements.

The Leopard is jointly manufactured by KMW and Rheinmetall, while the howitzers are made by KMW.

The finance ministry, which is involved with the budgeting process, did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
Case is the latest conviction for violating Article 117, a vague law often used to silence dissent.

Tran Bang in an undated photo posted on Aug. 2, 2019, in his Facebook page.

A court in Vietnams Ho Chi Minh City on Friday sentenced war veteran and democracy activist Tran Van Bang to eight years in prison and three years probation for Facebook posts that were deemed to be anti-state propaganda in a trial that lasted less than three hours.

Tran Van Bang, better known as Tran Bang, is a 62-year-old war veteran who fought during the 1979 Sino-Vietnamese War. He had regularly participated in demonstrations against China for its controversial claims over territories in the South China Sea.

He was arrested in March 2022 for what was initially determined to be 31 Facebook posts between March 2016 and August 2021.

After a subsequent investigation, authorities found that he wrote 39 problematic posts between three Facebook accounts that that were seen as distorting, defaming and speaking badly of the peoples government; providing false information, causing confusion among the people; and expressing hate and discontent towards the authorities, Party, State, and countrys leaders, the Tuoi Tre newspaper reported, citing the indictment.

The posts were in violation of article 117 of the penal code, a vague law that the government has often used to silence dissent.

It was the latest conviction in Hanois ongoing campaign to silence bloggers and activists. Vietnam has convicted at least 60 such people under the same article and sentenced them between four and 15 years in prison, and 13 others to between four and 12 years under the older article 88, because it was the law when the alleged crime occurred, New York-based Human Rights Watch reported.

During Fridays trial, Bang claimed that his Facebook accounts had been hacked and he hadnt used them in a very long time.

But the Procuracy rejected the explanation, and used the posts on the accounts to convict him.

Tran Dinh Dung, Bangs defense lawyer, told RFAs Vietnamese Service following the trial that freedom of speech is guaranteed in Article 25 of Vietnams constitution, and Article 117 does not explain anti-state propaganda.

The current law fails to clarify what freedom of speech is and what anti-state propaganda is, said Dung. In addition, there are some electronic documents and evidence missing, so I requested that the file of the case should be returned to the procuracy and a verdict should only be made when everything was clarified.

Closed trial

Two diplomats, from the U.S. and France, were barred from attending the proceedings. They were made to wait in the courtyard until the trials conclusion.

Family members, meanwhile, were allowed only to watch the proceedings on a television screen from another room in the courthouse.

Bangs brother, who declined to be named, told RFA that the audio of the broadcast was cut several times when the defense lawyer was speaking and was turned very low when Bang spoke in his own defense.

The lawyer requested an additional investigation as some assessments of the investigator about the Facebook stories, which were the ground for accusations, were wrong, Bangs brother said.

The lawyer also said that the accusation grounds were just the investigators viewpoint, and with another viewpoint, other people may find my brother innocent.

According to Dung, his client will appeal the verdict. He told the judging panel that Bang was suffering from a serious health issue as he had a tumor in the groin area, which had not been determined benign or malignant. The verdict noted this information but also said that it needed to wait for the opinion of Bangs detention center clinics, Dung said.

On May 10, I had a working session with the detention center, and they told me that their clinic had recommended removing the tumor, said Dung, adding that red tape is preventing the operation. If the tumor is malignant, i.e. cancer, it would be a very serious health issue.

Human Rights Watch on Thursday issued a media release calling on the Vietnamese government to drop all charges against Bang and immediately release him.

Translated by Anna Vu. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on May 14 accepted the Charlemagne Prize at a ceremony in Aachen, Germany, saying it was a "great honor" to receive the prize on behalf of the Ukrainian people, who have been fighting for their freedom and the values of Europe.

Zelenskiy, who was showered with accolades before he accepted the prize, said every Ukrainian "would deserve to stand here."

In his acceptance speech he stressed that Ukraine wanted nothing more than peace, but this could only be achieved with victory in the conflict, which he said would decide the fate of Europe.

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 in Ukraine, click here.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz thanked Zelenskiy for defending European values and spoke the words "the president is here. We are all here" in Ukrainian, quoting Zelenskiy after the invasion began in February 2022 as he made it clear that the Ukrainian people would not yield to Russia's violence.

"Rarely in history have such brief words had such a great effect," Scholz said.

"Europe owes a lot to the Ukrainian people and personally to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy," he added. "We stand together! We belong together! And our story will continue together."

Scholz also pledged Germany's "full support" to Ukraine on its journey to become a member of the European Union.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki hailed Zelenskiy as "the most outstanding leader on an international stage in the 21st century," while European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Zelenskiy and the Ukrainian people were paying with their blood and their lives as they fight for freedom, humanity, and peace.

Exiled Belarusian opposition leader Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the recipient of the award last year, was also present at the ceremony. She said it was an honor to meet Zelenskiy.

"We stand united with Ukraine for freedom and for democracy," Tsikhanouskaya said on Twitter.

Earlier in Berlin, Zelenskiy thanked Germany for its "powerful support" after Berlin pledged a 2.7 billion-euro ($3 billion) package of arms and said the weapons will be used to "significantly strengthen our defense" but not to attack Russian territory.

The military package includes 20 Marder infantry fighting vehicles, 30 Leopard 1 tanks, 15 Gepard antiaircraft tanks, 200 reconnaissance drones, four additional Iris-T antiaircraft systems including ammunition, additional artillery ammunition and more than 200 armored combat and logistics vehicles.

As Zelenskiy continues his tour of European capitals -- he was expected to travel to Paris later on May 14, according to AFP -- Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar provided an update on the situation on the battlefield.

Malyar said that Ukrainian forces had captured more than 10 Russian positions on the outskirts of Bakhmut and taken captive enemy soldiers of various units.

"Anyone who knows the real situation and is there now understands the gravity of what is happening," Malyar added.

In a rare announcement of battlefield losses, the Russian Defense Ministry said on May 14 that two of its military commanders had been killed in eastern Ukraine, as Kyiv's forces renewed efforts to take back territory near the embattled city of Bakhmut.

The ministry said in a statement that the commander of the 4th Motorized Rifle Brigade, Vyacheslav Makarov, and Yevgeny Brovko, deputy commander of the army corps for military-political work, had been killed in fighting to repel Ukrainian attacks.

It said that Makarov had been leading troops from the front line, and that Brovko "died heroically, suffering multiple shrapnel wounds."

It also said Ukrainian forces had waged attacks in the north and south of Bakhmut over the past 24 hours, but they had not broken through Russian defenses. "All attacks by units of Ukraine's armed forces have been repelled," it said.

It was not possible to independently verify Russia's account of the battlefield situation.

Zelenskiy's trip to Germany comes after the Ukrainian leader received vocal support on May 13 from Italian leaders in Rome and at the Vatican, where Pope Francis called for humanitarian gestures toward the most fragile persons, innocent victims of the conflict."

On the war front, at least one Russian SU-34 warplane and a military Mi-8 helicopter had crashed in the Bryansk region bordering Ukraine, Russian emergency services were quoted by TASS news agency as saying, with several reports claiming the craft had been shot down.

Later, Russian newspaper Kommersant reported that a Russian SU-35 jet and a second Mi-8 helicopter also crashed on May 13, but that report could not immediately be confirmed.

Ukraine did not comment on the reports. Kyiv normally does not comment directly on any incidents occurring within Russias borders.

If confirmed that the aircraft were shot down, it would represent a major coup for the Ukrainian military and an embarrassment for the Kremlin.

On the war front, Ukrainian forces intercepted and destroyed three missiles and 25 drones overnight in the latest aerial attack by Russian forces, Ukraine's air force said on May 14.

Russia attacked "from different directions with Shahed attack drones, Kalibr missiles from ships in the Black Sea, [and] cruise missiles from Tu-95 strategic aircraft," the air force said in a statement.

Russia has increased the number of missile and drone strikes since the beginning of May, which Ukrainian authorities attribute to Moscow's fear of an expected Ukrainian counteroffensive.

Late on May 13, Russian missiles hit the western Ukrainian city of Ternopil, which is home to the electro-pop duo Tvorchi, this year's contestants from Ukraine at the Eurovision 2023 Song Contest, local authorities said.

The attack came as the contest was under way in Britain because Ukraine, last year's winners, could not host it due to the war.

WATCH: After Ukraine was unable to host this year's Eurovision competition, Liverpool stepped in to host the annual song contest and is putting Ukrainian artists and culture front and center.

The strike hit warehouses owned by commercial enterprises and a religious organization, injuring two people, local officials in Ternopil reported on Telegram.

Melinda Simmons, Britain's ambassador to Kyiv, praised Tvorchi for their Eurovision entry.

"The staging was brilliant. And poignant as their university home town of Ternopil was targeted by Russian missiles this evening," Simmons tweeted.

With reporting by Reuters, AFP, and dpa
Welcome back to The Azadi Briefing, an RFE/RL newsletter that unpacks the key issues in Afghanistan. To subscribe, click here.



I'm Mustafa Sarwar, a senior news editor at RFE/RL's Radio Azadi. Here's what I've been tracking and what I'm keeping an eye on in the days ahead.

The Key Issue

At least 120 Afghans were residing in Sudan when war erupted in the African country last month.

Forty-nine Afghans have been evacuated from Sudan to Saudi Arabia, from where they returned to Afghanistan on May 5, according to the Taliban.

Several dozen Afghans, including students and workers, remain trapped in Sudan, where clashes between warring generals have killed hundreds and uprooted hundreds of thousands of people.

Why It's Important: Since the Taliban seized power in 2021, hundreds of thousands of Afghans have fled the country to escape repression and the devastating economic and humanitarian crises.

Many Afghans who have returned in recent days to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan face an uncertain fate, including Mirwais Hamidi, who ran a restaurant in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum.

"About a year ago, I moved to Sudan and opened a restaurant there, he told Radio Azadi. Five other [Afghans] were working there until the war broke out and we had to leave that country.

Khaled was studying medicine at the International University of Africa in Khartoum. Unfortunately, the war is still going on, he told Radio Azadi. I hope to be able to return to continue my studies."

What's Next: The Taliban-led government's ambassador to Saudi Arabia told Radio Azadi that efforts were under way to evacuate the remaining Afghans trapped in Sudan. But he said some Afghans are unwilling to leave Sudan.

The Taliban remains unrecognized by any country in the world, possibly complicating efforts to swiftly evacuate Afghans.

Mohammad Mossadegh, an Afghan who studied in Sudan, said he is in contact with several families and students who are still there. "Afghans who remained in Sudan are in good condition and were transferred to safe areas," he told Radio Azadi.

The Week's Best Stories

The Taliban has ordered all taxi drivers in Afghanistan to change the color of their vehicles from yellow to turquoise. The decision has angered taxi drivers and residents, who say the move is unnecessary, considering the more significant issues the country is facing.

A blacksmith in Kabul is building solar heaters as an affordable and environmentally friendly alternative to using fuels in poverty-stricken Afghanistan. Parabola-shaped solar heaters have grown in popularity as the country grapples with a chronic energy crisis.

What To Keep An Eye On

The United Nations has recently called on the Taliban to end corporal punishment in Afghanistan, including public executions, floggings, and stoning.

In a May 8 report, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said that "in the last six months alone, 274 men, 58 women, and two boys have been publicly flogged."

UNAMA said "corporal punishment is a violation of the [UN] Convention Against Torture & must cease."

The Talibans Foreign Ministry said that "in the event of a conflict between international human rights law and Islamic law, the government is obliged to follow Islamic law."

Two days after the UNAMA report was released, a man and woman were public flogged in the northern province of Parwan, a local member of the Taliban told Radio Azadi.

Why It's Important: The Taliban has reintroduced corporal punishments in recent months, including the public flogging of men and women for crimes including theft, eloping from home, and committing adultery.

Taliban Supreme Leader Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada has ordered the group's courts to employ strict interpretations of Shari'a law, which prescribes punishment such as stoning, execution, amputation, and public lashings. The Taliban handed down similar punishments during its previous rule.

That's all from me for now. Don't forget to send me any questions, comments, or tips that you have.



Until next time,



Mustafa Sarwar



If you enjoyed this briefing and don't want to miss the next edition, subscribe here. It will be sent to your inbox every Friday.
Turkmenistans Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov is a fan of setting obscure world records, and he is now at risk of breaking his own record for consecutive days absent from national news bulletins, recharging speculation around the enigmatic strongmans health.

Berdymukhammedov, 65, is no longer secretive Turkmenistans president, having handed that role to his son, Serdar, last year.

But as of the beginning of this year, he has held a post that is seemingly even more powerful: chairing the Peoples Council that effectively oversees the work of the whole government -- his son included -- as well as assuming the new title of national leader.

People dont know which of the Berdymukhammedovs is really running the country, but whoever is in charge isnt doing a good job.

These self-promotions less than a year after stepping down from the presidency to make way for young leaders have underscored his role as the star of evening news programs, where he often eclipses the 41-year-old Serdar.

But ever since Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov was shown to be on a trip to Germany -- where he was not known to have any official engagements -- there has been an eerie lack of him.

There is a precedent for this from Berdymukhammedovs time as president, which lasted from 2006 until 2022.

In 2019, he was effectively absent from the news for a month between the first week of July and the first week of August of that year.

State media did at one point between those dates show him lecturing a government official about bus stops in the capital, Ashgabat, but at least part of that footage appeared to have been recycled.

This time, there has been no fresh Berdymukhammedov footage since a sequence apparently filmed in Germany on an unknown date and broadcast on the Watan Habarlary news program on April 29.

And before that, there had been no sign of the older Berdymukhamedov for more than a week, with footage of the autocrat shown chairing a session of the Peoples Council on April 20 -- another appearance that is hard to pin down.

Mission To Frankfurt

The April 29 state news broadcast informed viewers about Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedovs trip on behalf of his son, during which he visited a German horse-breeding complex and got acquainted with the peculiarities of keeping horses.

To be sure, this is not an area in which Berdymukhammedov senior should require much instruction.

He was awarded the title of "People's Horse Breeder in 2015, and state propaganda regularly shows him riding, caring for, and authoring books about Turkmenistans famed Akhal-Teke steeds.

Another mysterious element of the Germany visit was the sighting of Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov at the stables alongside the former president.

Turkmen state television on May 1 announced that Meredov, who is also deputy prime minister, had taken his annual leave and was entrusting his duties to deputy Vepa Khadjiev.

This is somewhat earlier than the summer vacations that most Turkmen officials traditionally take.

Flight data from the Flightradar24 website referred to by the Europe-based Chronicles of Turkmenistan certainly supports the idea that Berdymukhammedov made a trip to Germany.

The websites data showed the Boeing 777-200 (LR) aircraft used by Berdymukhammedov senior landing at Frankfurt airport on April 22 and returning to Ashgabat on April 28 -- the day before the news about his visit.

But was Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov inside the plane that returned from Germany? And, if yes, why has he still not made any public appearances, including on April 30 -- national Horse Day -- where his presence at equine festivities has come to be expected?

A government source speaking on condition of anonymity told RFE/RLs Turkmen Service that Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov and Meredov are still in Germany, where they are conducting unspecified meetings. RFE/RL is unable to corroborate this information with other sources.

Intriguingly, Turkmen state media reported on May 2 that a Turkmen government delegation had held talks with Deutsche Bank and another German bank, Commerzbank, as part of wider economic cooperation between the two countries.

The same state media report that referred to the Turkmen delegations talks with German businesses referred to Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedovs recent trip to that country as if it were a separate event, adding more details about the visit to the horse farm that was shown on state television.

The report said the former president had invited Turkmenistans German partners to visit festivities marking the opening of Arkadag -- a new city whose name translates as "Protector" -- the senior Berdymukhammedovs official moniker.

Deutsche Bank is notable as a bank that Turkmenistans first leader, Saparmurat Niyazov, was known to patronize.

As the transparency watchdog Global Witness wrote in a complaint more than a decade ago, Turkmenistans central bank held account number 949924500 at Deutsche Bank, Frankfurt, and used the bank to deposit vast sums from natural gas sales.

Yet various reports from international financial institutions state that money from this account is solely controlled by Saparmurat Niyazov, the president of Turkmenistan, Global Witness added. Niyazov died suddenly in 2006, allowing then-Health Minister Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov to step up to the top job.

The Turkmen Foreign Ministry did not respond to requests for information about Meredov and Berdymukhammedovs trip.

Back From The Dead

Whatever Berdymukhammedov senior was doing in Germany besides riding horses, the visit will inevitably increase speculation about his physical well-being.

By the standards set by heads of state in Central Asia, Berdymukhammedov was still a young man when he decided to resign the presidency after 15 years in the post in February of last year.

In the summer of 2019, his long disappearance prompted false reports of his death -- rumors that he banished in style by driving around the burning Darvaza gas crater known as the Gates Of Hell in the Karakum Desert.

But that did not put the matter to rest, and Serdar Berdymukhammedovs rise through the ranks of government assumed a new rapidity in the years that followed.

The countrys hereditary succession should, in theory, have given Berdymukhammedov senior more leeway to disappear from public view for periods at a time, while also easing uncertainty around the leadership in the event that he were to die.

Just a week after Serdar Berdymukhammedov was elected in an opposition-free vote, his predecessor requested his permission for a holiday to indulge in his hobbies.

"I have been working in leadership positions for 40 years and have been involved in politics for 25 years. Due to the large amount of work during this time, I could not rest in full. I am therefore asking for a vacation from April 1," the Neutral Turkmenistan state newspaper quoted the older Berdymukhammedov as saying at the time, noting that the new president had granted the request.

But the ex-president reinvigorated the rumormongers by returning to public life with a vengeance later that year -- meeting with foreign heads of state, including Russias Vladimir Putin-- and regularly touring the countrys provinces, where residents were reportedly mobilized for extravagant displays of loyalty.

So overwhelming was his public dominance that a veteran Turkmen journalist interviewed anonymously for an RFE/RL report at the end of last year quipped: People dont know which of the Berdymukhammedovs is really running the country, but whoever is in charge isnt doing a good job.

RFE/RL correspondents in Turkmenistan contacted for this report delivered a similar message from a country where the cost of living has soared as a result of sustained mismanagement under the Berdymukhammedovs.

People are now preoccupied with their daily problems. Whether Gurbanguly exists or not, nobody cares. No one even mentions him," said one.

Turkmenistan was represented by President Serdar Berdymukhammedov during a last-minute May 9 visit to Moscow for Russias tightly controlled, scaled-down Victory Day parade and again during talks with the leadership of Tajikistan in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, on May 10.
"In the beginning, numerous children were taken away, and the parents who sent their kids to schools and kindergartens were receiving threats," a resident of Polohy, a Russian-occupied city in Ukraine's southern Zaporizhzhya region, told RFE/RL on condition of anonymity.

As Ukraine gears up for a long-anticipated counteroffensive, officials displaced from the Zaporizhzhya and Kherson regions say Russia is forcibly removing civilians from occupied towns and settlements close to the front line in the south. Reports of what Russia calls evacuations are piling up.

The evacuation of 18 settlements in the occupied part of the Zaporizhzhya region was announced by the Russian-installed administrator, Yevhen Balytskiy, on May 5. In a video message, he said the decision is a "necessary security measure" due to the intensification of shelling and assured that "there is no panic."

Two days later, Balytskiy said that more than 1,600 people, including 660 children, had been moved to Berdyansk, a Russian-occupied port city farther south, on the Sea of Azov. He also promised a payment of 10,000 Russian rubles ($130) to those leaving.

Another representative of the occupation authorities in the Zaporizhzhya region, Volodymyr Rohov, said in his Telegram channel that the so-called "evacuation" was voluntary. He also said that the list of settlements from which the local population will be evacuated may expand.

The anonymous resident of Polohy, who didn't want her name published due to security concerns, said the children who were forced to leave Polohy -- some of them accompanied by their mothers, some not -- were promised to be settled in a vacation camp in Berdyansk.

"But not everyone got accommodated because these camps are filled with occupiers and [Russian] military personnel," she told News of Azov, a project of RFE/RLs Ukrainian Service that covers the Sea of Azov coastal area of Ukraine.

According to her testimony, some people were eventually settled in dire conditions, without the provision of food that had been promised, and others were taken to the city of Rostov-on-Don and other places in Russia.

In addition to children, the woman said that members of the occupation authorities and people who collaborated with them had also left Polohy, as well as some teachers and doctors.

Polohy is on the front line south of Hulyaypole and southeast of Orikhiv, both

of which are controlled by Ukraine. The resident said that while some people were leaving the city, Russian military personnel were bringing in more equipment, building fortifications, and digging trenches -- signs of preparations for the expected counteroffensive.

"They have been dismantling the locomotive depot for several days. They take out the railway cars, cut them into pieces, and put that on their trucks and take it someplace in the fields, where they are digging them in to create makeshift bunkers," the woman said.

She said that people staying in Polohy were stockpiling water and food in anticipation of the counteroffensive of the Ukrainian Army while the Russian military is trying to intimidate them.

Given the ongoing hostilities and Russia's occupation of Ukrainian territory, RFE/RL was unable to obtain official confirmation of this testimony or independently verify it.

But statements by Ukrainian officials displaced from occupied cities and towns in the Zaporozhizhya and Kherson regions suggest that a substantial campaign of forced evacuations has begun.

'Forcibly Taking Children'

The displaced mayor of Polohy, Yuriy Konovalenko, said that residents of the city and surrounding district who have children began to receive messages about the so-called evacuation of mothers with children to occupied Berdyansk. All those who decide to stay must put their refusal in writing, he said.

The displaced chief of the Ukrainian military administration of the nearby Russian-controlled city of Tokmak, Oleksandr Chub, said children were ordered to come to schools with their belongings and documents. Schools, shops, the local market, pharmacies, and utility companies were closed that day, and doctors were not allowed to go home, he added.

Ivan Fedorov, the displaced mayor of Melitopol, a large Russian-held city in the Zaporizhzhya region, said the occupation authorities were planning to move about 70,000 residents from settlements along the front line. He said the occupation authorities were "forcibly taking children away" and that humanitarian conditions in some settlements had deteriorated, with medicines and other goods in short supply.

"They are hiding behind [the claim that they are] taking care of civilians, but in reality, in anticipation of a counteroffensive, they want to set up military bases there," Fedorov said.

The head of the Berdyansk city military administration, Viktoria Halitsyna, confirmed that the occupation authorities' representatives, collaborators, and children from the Zaporizhzhya region are being taken to Berdyansk.

She said that Russian military personnel have been arriving in the city along with civilians, accusing the soldiers of using them as a human shield" for their military movements.

Occupation authorities have also announced evacuations from Enerhodar, the city on the south bank of the Dnieper River where workers from the nearby Russian-held Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant live.

On May 6, International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Grossi said IAEA experts at the plant had received information that the announced evacuation of Enerhodar residents had started, according to an IAEA news release.

The IAEA experts were closely monitoring the situation for any potential impact on nuclear safety and security, it said.

The general situation in the area near the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant is becoming increasingly unpredictable and potentially dangerous. Im extremely concerned about the very real nuclear safety and security risks facing the plant, the news release quoted Grossi as saying.

In a comment to News of Azov, the displaced mayor of Enerhodar, Dmytro Orlov, said that people were being moved out and that goods and services were getting scarce.

"They took out the equipment from the medical-sanitary unit, computer equipment, documentation, and the passport office, which they had on the premises of the plant; they took it all about a week ago. The Internet connection is not working anymore, and grocery stores and pharmacies are closed. There is a rush to buy food and basic necessities. Gas stations and ATMs are also empty," Orlov said.

Most of the locals who have been cooperating with the Russian occupation forces left Enerhodar even earlier, he said.

Meanwhile, reports said that in the occupied part of the Kherson region, Russian troops have been moving into the homes of locals who have left the area. According to the Center for National Resistance, a Ukrainian state agency monitoring the occupied territories, a unit of the Russian National Guard settled in the homes of Ukrainians who had been evacuated earlier from the town of Oleshky by the occupation authorities.

The displaced mayor of Oleshky, Yevhen Ryshchuk, claimed that panic was spreading among the Russian military personnel stationed in the town.

"We see that they have become more active, documents are being checked at checkpoints, more stuff is being taken away, Ryshchuk told News of Azov. There are constant rotations, and each new rotation wants to steal something, to take something away. It is a fact they are in a great panic that there will soon be a counteroffensive by the Ukrainian Army."

Preparation For The 'Goodwill Gesture'

Oleksandr Kovalenko, a military and political observer of the Information Resistance group, a Ukrainian NGO countering Russian propaganda, told News of Azov that Russian forces in the occupied part of the Zaporizhzhya region were conducting the "first phase of preparation" for the "goodwill gesture" -- meaning a withdrawal in the face of a counteroffensive.

The phrase became popular in Ukraine following counteroffensives last year in which Ukrainian forces regained control over swaths of land in the east and south, including Kherson, the only regional capital that Russian forces had taken since the large-scale invasion in February 2022. In some cases, the Russian military said it was pulling back as a gesture of goodwill.

"In the first phase, they are taking medical personnel and the wounded out of the occupied territories, taking out medical equipment, that is, looting all hospitals, even pharmacies -- taking out the medicines that are there," Kovalenko said.

He predicted that Russia would soon start withdrawing artillery in case its troops are forced to retreat quickly, and then removing military communications systems.

"That will mean that the goodwill gesture will take place in one or two weeks," he said.

With expectations of a major spring counteroffensive making headlines around the world for weeks, Ukrainian officials have been trying to play down expectations. But Kovalenko said he believes the public discussion about a counteroffensive is demoralizing for Russian troops.

"Everyone is talking about it; everyone is coming up with theories about it. But no one knows 100 percent how it will happen, whether it will follow the scenario that many people assume, or whether it will be something so unique that no one is ready for it. That's why the Russians, I would say, are panicking for real," he said.

Written by Aleksander Palikot in Kyiv based on reporting by Oleksandr Yankovskiy and Olena Badyuk of RFE/RLs Crimea.Realities and News of Azov.
The Sudanese Army and the Rapid Support Forces signed a preliminary agreement on Thursday in the Saudi city of Jeddah, the AlHadath TV channel reported, Trend reports citing TASS.

According to the TV channel, the parties to the Sudanese conflict "signed a preliminary initial agreement." It is noted that in it the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces "confirmed their firm commitment to the sovereignty of Sudan and its territorial integrity."

According to the "Jeddah Declaration", signed by the parties, the army and special forces will "will take all precautions to spare any harm to civilians" and " join the regulars too pause humanitarian and quiet days, if necessary in Sudan." The document states that the Sudanese army and special forces intend to adopt "simple and rapid procedures for humanitarian relief operations in Sudan" as well as not interfere with the evacuation from the country and respect private and public property in Sudan. The parties also pledged to refrain from recruiting teenagers into their units and using children in hostilities.
5 Before the Russian invasion, Volodymyr, 49, worked at a construction site in Warsaw.



"We need help -- healthy guys who, unfortunately, are hiding [from military service] now." He added: "I would be ashamed to behave like that. They have their own lives, and I chose mine."
An elderly man was evacuated from his home in Chasiv Yar and left almost everything behind. Before he fled, he opened his doors to Ukrainian soldiers who are now looking after his home. After the house was shelled by Russian forces, those Ukrainian soldiers went on a special mission to find the grandfather's irreplaceable family photo albums.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Thursday urged Washington to pursue diplomacy and rapprochement, including with Cuba and Venezuela, as a way to tackle the immigration crisis, Trend reports citing Xinhua.

"How is it going to be possible to maintain harmony, peace and tranquility if there are differences, if there is confrontation with the neighbors?" Lopez Obrador said during his regular daily press conference.

To raise the standard of living in Latin America and the Caribbean region so their people don't feel the need to migrate in search of work, Washington should work with the governments in the regions to address poverty and underdevelopment, he said.

To that end, Lopez Obrador said, the United States must change its foreign policy, especially in regard to countries such as Cuba and Venezuela, to lift the sanctions imposed due to "ideological baggage" and cooperate with those nations to curb mass migration.
By Khurshud Zamanova





Haydar Aliyev, the National Leader of Azerbaijan, is a name that will be forever associated with the saving of his native country. Haydar Aliyev was one of the most influential figures in the modern history of Azerbaijan. His contributions extended far beyond that time.





At the end of the 1950s, the social situation in the country, then-Soviet Azerbaijan, was very tense. Due to the inability of the then-political leader of the country expats were promoted to government positions and management fields rather than local staff.

Polish-American historian and Caucasologist Tadeusz Swietochowski describes that period with grief and emphasized that Moscow appointed him the head of Soviet Azerbaijan to improve the situation. In a short time, the National Leader developed the economy and promoted local staff. The economy of the country became one of the most durable economies after Russia among the Union Republics.





Thanks to Haydar Aliyev, the social situation in the country improved to such an extent that he was invited to Moscow to repeat his achievements in the whole Soviet Union. With Garbachav's coming to power, the Soviet Union began to weaken. Armenians who want to take advantage of the situation are starting to implement the plan to grab Azerbaijani territory which they had prepared for a long time. However, there was an obstacle in front of them, and the name of that obstacle was Heydar Aliyev. The Armenians managed to remove the genius leader from office by using a thousand tricks and pro-Armenian forces in the Politburo; thus the dark days of Azerbaijan began.





Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, an economic and political crisis emerged in Azerbaijan. Breaking out of the Karabakh war, made everything worst. Azerbaijan, a newly independent country, was on the edge of being erased from the map.

Upon assuming the position of president of Azerbaijan in June 1993, Aliyev immediately set about re-estabilising the country. He strengthened diplomatic relations with foreign countries by increasing economic ties and investment opportunities, and opened the door for international aid. The National Leader also improved Azerbaijans standing within the international community, creating a sense of security and cultural pride amongst Azerbaijani citizens.





As the architect of Azerbaijan's modern renaissance, Haydar Aliyev saved his nation from collapse and set it on the path of progress. The great leader of Azerbaijan - Heydar Aliyev was a pivotal figure in the development of the nation's government and economic systems, which he believed should always work towards the betterment of the people.





During this period, Aliyev focused on the establishment of a modern, democratic system of government and economic development. He drafted Azerbaijan's Constitution, which works to guarantee the liberties of all citizens regardless of their religion, race, or ethnicity, and he was highly successful in developing and diversifying the nation's infrastructure and technology.





This year, the 100th anniversary of the national leader was celebrated. It is no coincidence that this year was also declared as the year of Heydar Aliyev by the special decree of the President of Azerbaijan, successor of the great leader, Ilham Aliyev.





It should be noted that the birth anniversary of the national leader was also celebrated in Shusha, the cultural capital of Azerbaijan, under the charming sound of music. What the genius political leader once dreamed of is now coming true in Shusha, which has been freed from enemy occupation. Yes, the great leader wanted exactly this day and that day has come.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was in Istanbul on Friday as part of his penultimate rallies before Sundays elections. In his first stopover, Erdogan addressed a crowd in the Sultangazi district on the European side before heading to Bahcelievler, Trend reports citing Daily Sabah.

The president said some 50,000 people convened for the rally, boasting a high turnout that has been evident in his past rallies.

Erdogan stated that the opposition bloc led by his main rival Kemal Kilicdaroglu acted with the motivation of greed and revenge, after their past defeats.

We cannot accept this ugliness, he said, referring to what he called a smear campaign. Without naming names, Erdogan said it was the same power that forced Meral Akshener back to the opposition bloc after she stepped down, which forced Muharrem Ince to withdraw from the candidacy three days before the election.

Akshener, head of Good Party (IP), had earlier announced that she would leave the six-party alliance before suddenly changing her mind and endorsing Kilicdaroglu. Ince, who challenged Erdogan again in 2018, resigned from the election race, citing a smearing campaign by the Gulenist Terror Group (FETO) against him, supported by the opposition.

Erdogan accused Kilicdaroglu of being a puppet of that power, which saw him cheering Qandil, in reference to the hub of the PKK terrorist group in northern Iraq.

He also criticized Kilicdaroglu over his claims that Russia interfered in Turkish elections through deep fake content. It is a shame. What can you say if I tell you that the United States, Britain and Germany manipulate the elections? he said.

They used the same method to take over a political party and used it again, against a name who challenged me in the last election, from their own party, he said. Erdogan was referring to the resignation of late CHP Chair Deniz Baykal, who stepped down after a sex tape scandal blamed on FETO. Kilicdaroglu succeeded Baykal as CHP's leader.

Erdogan also heaped criticism on the West. We are competing against those trying to disrupt the 'Century of Turkiye,' he said, referring to his ambitious vision of a series of megaprojects and reforms in the centenary of the Republic of Turkiye. Magazines have covers reading Erdogan must go. It is none of your business. The West cannot decide it. It is up to my nation, he added.
POLITICIANS traded blows over the potential closure of a swimming pool, with a campaign under way in the hope preventing the plug being pulled.

A petition has been set up to try and save the facility at Todwick Primary, with parents and teachers among those fighting to save it.

Jake Richards, Labours parliamentary candidate for Rother Valley, set up a petition and said that people are angry about the situation, but MP Alexander Stafford accused him of political opportunism.

Mr Richards said: The reason behind (the closure) is economic.

Most schools are facing budgetary pressures and weve got data that tells us they (Todwick Primary) are facing about 40k cuts so they cant keep it open.

Im working together with a group of residents, including parents with young children who use the pool.

Weve written to the education secretary asking for help and theres apparently a pot of money for swimming pools, which are more in danger due to energy bills rising.

Were realistic  I dont think the government will come and save this.

What were doing is to try and look at alternative ways to keep it open, whether that is via donations or looking at how we can make the pool more economically sustainable.

Weve got over 1,000 signatures (on the petition). People are angry about it.

After Mr Stafford pointed out extra money  more than 2 million  was available, Mr Richards said this was a classic manoeuvre after years of cuts in education spending, adding: It is ridiculous to suggest to the parents and the teachers that school funding in the Rother Valley, and indeed across the UK, is sufficient at the moment.

I dont think anyone really believes it.

Mr Stafford said an additional 2.6m was being made available is to top up budgets of every state funded primary and secondary school in Rother Valley.

He added: I would like the pool to be saved as it is clear that a large number of people in the community wish to preserve the asset.

However, for this to be reality, the real reasons  not the fantasy stated by Labour  need to be addressed to ensure we can come up with a workable plan to secure its future.

The Labour petition is political opportunism started by someone who says he wants to save our pool, but has never even visited the school, never mind the actual pool.

Mr Stafford said Todwick Primary would be able to choose how to invest the money, adding: It should not be for any politician to tell them how best to spend it.

The headteacher told me that there are three reasons why they wish to close the pool.

One is costs  not just increased energy costs, but also the increased maintenance costs of the 50-year-old building and a decision to spend the schools capital budget on other priorities.

A second issue is safe staffing levels required for lessons and no longer being able to rely on parent volunteers due to safeguarding requirements.

The third is that the pool no longer meets the needs of the school swimming curriculum  some children from the school are already sent to Aston Pool for some lessons, as the length of the school pool (less than ten metres) and the depth (waist level) are not adequate for their needs.

Visit https://www.change.org/p/save-todwick-primary-school-swimming-pool to see the petition.
CBSE Declares Class 10th Board Exam Results

93.12% Students Passed this Year: Data

New Delhi: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) declared the Class 10th board examinations results on Friday, in which 93.12 percent students passed. The number of students passed this year is 1.28 percent less than last year. The board has also announced that it will not publish the merit list. Students can check their results on the official website of the board- https://www.cbse.gov.in/.

Officials said that the board has also decided to stop awarding first, second and third classes to students on the basis of marks. Notably, Girls have once again outperformed boys with a pass percentage of 94.25, while boys' pass percentage stood at 92.27.

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A senior board official said, No merit list will be released by CBSE to avoid futile competition among students. However, the board will issue merit certificates to 0.1 percent students securing the highest marks in various subjects. Significantly, Last year the pass percentage was 94.40. This year more than 1.34 lakh students have been placed in the compartment category.


Egyptian public and private and universities started on Saturday accepting transfer applications online from Egyptian students who are returning from Sudan as well as Ukraine and Russia.
Karachi jail

Another batch of 200 Indian fishermen will be released from Karachi jail on June 2

KARACHI: Pakistani Authorities have decided to release 500 Indian prisoners of which 499 are fishermen who have completed their sentences. Indian prisoners will be released from jails in phases. The first batch of 200 prisoners was released from Malir District Jail on Thursday and sent to Lahore.

According to a report, the Edhi Foundation will facilitate the transport of Azad Indian citizens to Lahore by train and they will be handed over to the Indian authorities at the Wagah border on Friday. Another batch of 200 Indian fishermen will be released from Karachi jail on June 2.

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Notably, Arrangements will also be made to send them to India. ARY News reported that the third batch of 100 Indian prisoners will be released on July 3 and repatriated. The report said that Pakistan and India routinely arrest and send each other's fishermen to jail for violating the maritime boundary.
Australia will on Friday see May results for the consumer sentiment index from Westpac Bank, highlighting a busy day for Asia-Pacific economic activity. The index is expected to dip 1.7 percent on month after spiking 9.4 percent in April.

South Korea will release March figures for its M2 money stock, with forecasts calling for an increase of 4.8 percent on month following the 4.4 percent increase in February.

Malaysia will provide Q1 figures for gross domestic product and current account. GDP is predicted to expand 4.8 percent on year, slowing from 7.0 percent in the previous three months. The current account surplus three months earlier was MYR25.70 billion.

Hong Kong will release Q1 data for gross domestic product, with forecasts calling for an increase of 5.3 percent on quarter and 2.7 percent on year. The follows the flat quarterly reading and the 4.2 percent contraction in the three months prior.

Japan will provide April figures for money stock, with forecasts calling for an increase of 2.5 percent on year for M2 - down from 2.6 percent in March.

New Zealand will see April results for the manufacturing PMI from BusinessNZ, with forecasts suggesting a score of 50.7 - up from 48.1 in March.

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What parts of the world are seeing the best (and worst) economic performances lately? Click here to check out our Econ Scorecard and find out! See up-to-the-moment rankings for the best and worst performers in GDP, unemployment rate, inflation and much more.
Indian shares opened lower on Friday, with uncertainty over the U.S. debt ceiling and jitters over the of U.S. regional banks keeping investors nervous.

Traders also looked ahead to the release of domestic CPI data later in the day for directional cues.

The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex was down 280 points, or half a percent, at 61,625 in early trade, while the broader NSE Nifty index was down 86 points, or half a percent at 18,210.

Divis Laboratories led losses to fall about 4 percent while Dr Reddy's Laboratories, JSW Steel, Hindalco and BPCL were down 2-3 percent.

Adani Enterprises fell about 1 percent ahead of a board meet on Saturday to consider fund raising.

Asian Paints dropped 1 percent despite reporting a 45 percent jump in Q4 net profit.



Eicher Motors soared 6.6 percent on posting robust quarterly earnings.

Ujjivan Small Finance Bank jumped 4.4 percent on reporting a two-fold rise in March quarter net profit.

Adani Transmission slumped 4.5 percent, Adani Total Gas lost 5 percent and Indus Towers declined 1.7 percent after they have been removed from the MSCI India Index.

Tata Motors gained half a percent ahead of its earnings release.

ONGC rose half a percent on news it has discovered oil and gas reserves in Mumbai offshore fields located in the Arabian Sea.

Reliance Industries shed 0.7 percent after German retailer METRO AG completed sale of its Indian cash and carry to Reliance Retail.

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The UN-brokered Black Sea Initiative, aimed at ensuring the flow of grain, foodstuffs and fertilizer amid global shortages exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, has now allowed the safe export of more than 30 million tons.

That was the message conveyed by the UN Humanitarian Affairs chief Martin Griffiths to a meeting held in Istanbul, to discuss the future of the Initiative, which remains fragile.

Senior officials from the signatories to the deal, Russia, and Ukraine, together with officials of the UN and Turkiye, which mediated the agreement, attended the meeting.

In a press note issued by the UN Spokesperson's Office on the meeting, Griffiths congratulated the parties to the deal - who also run the Joint Coordination Centre hub, based in Istanbul - on reaching the 30 million metric tons mark from Ukraine, and "reiterated the importance of the Initiative for global food security".

The UN relief chief also recognized the important contribution of food and fertilizer exports from Russia.

The meeting discussed the recent proposals made by the UN to advance the deal, namely the resumption of the Togliatti-Odesa ammonia pipeline, the longer extension of the Initiative, improvements at the JCC, "for stable operations and exports, as well as other issues raised by the parties."

"The parties presented their views and agreed to engage with those elements going forward", said the Spokesperson's Office.

Griffiths stressed that the United Nations would "continue to work closely with all sides to achieve the continuation and full implementation of the Initiative, in pursuit of their broader shared commitment to addressing global food insecurity."

Ukraine has been supplying more than half of the World Food Program's total global wheat procurement in the last two years.

As talks have continued in the past few months about extending the deal, exports have dipped by nearly 30 per cent, with JCC inspection rates dropping significantly to an average of 2.9 completed inspections daily, for the month of May.

As per the latest update from the Office of the UN Coordinator for the deal, the UN and Turkiye's delegation were working closely with Ukraine and Russia, aiming to facilitate movements and inspections of inbound and outbound ships, "within the framework of the Initiative and agreed procedures, while discussions for the future of the Initiative continue."

The Black Sea Initiative, which provides a safe maritime humanitarian corridor for shipping out vital food and fertilizer exports from designated Ukrainian sea ports, came into effect on July 22 last year.

As Russia continues to press hard with its aggression on Ukrainian territories, the progress of the initiative remains fragile and price pressures remain.

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov, who took part in the Istanbul talks, demanded that the deal should be extended for a longer period and expanded.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu was quoted as saying that the grain deal could be extended for at least two months.

While food prices have gone down from their all-time high at the start of the war, they are still high compared to pre-crisis levels, according to UNCTAD's recent report.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
Toyota Urban Cruiser Icon SUV will go on sale in Indonesia first, followed by other ASEAN markets

Aiming to boost its presence in compact SUV segment, Toyota will be introducing an all-new Urban Cruiser Icon SUV for international markets. It is scheduled to make its global debut on May 15. It is an entirely new SUV and does not have any links to the discontinued Urban Cruiser sub-compact SUV and Urban Cruiser Hyryder sold in India.

With rivals like Hyundai Creta, Toyotas new Icon SUV can be expected to get a comprehensive range of hi-tech features. Both petrol and petrol-hybrid powertrains could be on offer. It is to note that made-in-India Urban Cruiser Hyryder is exported to only select overseas markets such as South Africa. It is not available in ASEAN countries.

Toyota Urban Cruiser Icon details

Codenamed D03B, Toyota Urban Cruiser Icon SUV will be underpinned by the Daihatsu DNGA platform. This platform is already in use with cars like Toyota Avanza and Toyota Raize. There are some other models too that use the Daihatsu DNGA platform and are available in ASEAN markets such as Indonesia. It wont be surprising to see Urban Cruiser Icon borrowing quite a few of its hardware and features from Avanza and Raize.

While Toyota has issued a media invite with Icon name, it is possible that the SUV could have a different name at the time of launch. It is possible that the SUV could be named Yaris Cross when it is launched in Indonesia. That would be a bit surprising, as Toyota already sells a Yaris Cross SUV in select international markets. It is not the same, as it is based on the TNGA-B platform.

Toyota Urban Cruiser Icon is expected to be around 4.3 meters long, which is the same as Hyundai Creta. In the companys line-up, Urban Cruiser Icon will sit above the Raize SUV that is 4 meters long. Wheelbase of Icon is likely to be 2,655 mm, which is the same as that of Avanza. In comparison, Creta has a shorter wheelbase of 2,610 mm. On papers, it appears that Urban Cruiser Icon will be more spacious than its primary rival Creta.

Toyota Urban Cruiser Icon powertrain options

Powertrain options for Toyota Urban Cruiser Icon SUV are expected to be borrowed from Raize and other Toyota cars that are underpinned by the DNGA platform. In Philippines, Toyota Raize is available with powertrain options of a 1.0-litre turbo petrol motor and a 1.2-litre petrol motor. Urban Cruiser Icon SUV could also get Toyotas 1.5-litre petrol motor. Both standard and hybrid options could be offered with this engine.

Talking about India launch prospects, it is unlikely that Toyotas new compact SUV will be launched here. Toyota already has the Hyryder, which has been delivering consistent sales every month. Moreover, Toyota has huge pending orders for models like Innova Hycross and Innova Crysta. Waiting period for these cars is in the range of 6 to 12 months. Toyota is also supplying Grand Vitara to Maruti, which has emerged as the second best selling compact SUV in the country.

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Force Motors is getting ready to launch a pickup version of their Gurkha SUV  Here are the first spy shots

Pickup trucks are one of the most versatile forms of automobiles in the world. Currently, there are only two pickup trucks on offer in India. Isuzu V-Cross Hi-Lander starts from Rs. 19.49 lakh and Toyota Hilux starts from Rs. 30.4 lakh (both prices ex-sh). Prospect of a sub Rs. 10 lakh pickup truck died with Tata Xenon XT and Mahindra Scorpio Getaway.

But the prospect of Rs. 15 lakh pickup truck might soon be a reality as Force Motors is testing one based on its Cruiser MUV. When launched, it will slot into Gurkha brand and will be the most affordable pickup truck in India for PV space. The test mule looks production ready too. Launch might be sooner than later.

Force Gurkha Pickup Spied For The First Time

This is not the first time we are seeing this pickup truck. Indonesia-based Republik Motor showcased it first at Defence Expo and Forum under Ksatria brand with intended military use. There, Repulik equipped this pickup truck with a missile launcher too. Force Gurkha Pickups main strength will be Mercedes-Benz G63 AMG 6X6-inspired looks.

Sticking with the test mule in India, it was completely naked, without any camouflage. Automotive enthusiast Aniket Virat spotted this test mule near Pune. One look at this pickup is enough to understand that it is not designed from the ground up to be a pickup truck. Instead, it is based on the Cruiser MUV.

If Force Motors designed it as a pickup from scratch, it would have a physically separated load bay which is standard practice in CV space. Also, a proper truck tailgate instead of a side-hinged bottom half tailgate from Cruiser.

That said, development costs will be lower as it is based on Cruiser MUV. The area behind rear doors is transformed into a loading bay with wheel-well intrusions. This is where Cruiser seated 8 people on side-facing bench seats.

Mercedes-Benz sourced engine with 4X4

Rear occupants get sliding windshield windows to access the load bay. Stuck glass would be less rattly. It has the same 18 alloy wheels as 5-door Gurkha and the same tail lights as Cruiser MUV. The load bay seems to have a bed liner installed, which might be a part of official accessories. Front look will be identical to the Gurkha.

Every Force Motors (PV and CV) vehicle has the same Mercedes-Benz sourced FM CR 2.6L turbo diesel engine. Performance numbers will be around 90 bhp and 250 Nm. A sole 5-speed gearbox and a 4X4 transfer case with front and rear mechanically locking diff are highly likely.
SAIC-owned MG Motor seeks to sell a majority stake in its Indian car business  Is said to be in advanced negotiations so as to close the deal by the end of this year

MG Motor India, a subsidiary of SIAC Motor of China, with operations in Halol, Gujarat, is seeking to dilute its majority stake in the company to Indian entities. This decision comes at a time when there are rising tensions between India and China.

Many companies with links to China are facing constraints with the Government of India in relation to various factors. This could be in the form of approvals for fresh investments, sourcing of spare parts from China, duties and taxes, etc.

MG Motor has also sought government approval in terms of raising funds from its parent company for added investments into its Indian operations. It has been for 2 years now that this sanction has been put forth but to no success. Hence the company has now decided to raise capital via other means particularly through Indian entities.

MG Motor India Majority Stake Sale

MG Motor had initially stated plans to Indianize its board along with its supply chain and other aspects of operation over the next couple of years. However, this decision may come sooner with the company planning to close the deal by the end of this year.

MG has the capacity to produce 1.2 lakh units from its Halol manufacturing plant in Gujarat, a plant it took over from General Motors. There is also a second plant also likely to come up in Halol, taking installed capacity upto 3 lakh units per annum.

The automaker stated that it plans to raise around Rs 5,000 crores capital over next 2-4 years for this second round of growth in India for which it will offer a majority stake to local partners and investors. As on date, the company sees likely investors in the form of Reliance Industries, Hero Group, Premji Invest and JSW Group.

New Electric Vehicle Launches, Increased Workforce

MG currently offers 6 models in India that include the Hector and Hector Plus, Gloster, ZS EV and Astor along with the recently launched Comet EV. MG Motor India has also announced plans to launch 4-5 new cars in India with special emphasis on electric vehicles. This electric car portfolio will contribute up to 65-75 percent of its total sales in the country.

Along with increasing its product lineup, the company also wishes to set up cell manufacturing and hydrogen fuel-cell technology via joint ventures or through third-party manufacturing. With these plans, MG Motor India also plans to expand its workforce to around 20,000 by 2028.
Israel and Palestinian groups traded more heavy fire Thursday, the third day of the worst escalation of violence in months that has killed 25 people in Gaza.

Air strikes by the Israeli army since Tuesday have killed fighters as well as civilians, including several children, said officials in the blockaded Palestinian enclave.

Early Thursday, shops in Gaza were shuttered and the streets were largely abandoned as Israeli military aircraft circled over the territory where several buildings lay in ruins.

The Islamic Jihad group told AFP that rockets were fired again at Israel around 9:00 am (0600 GMT).

Islamic Jihad confirmed it has lost four military leaders in strikes in recent days, the most recent being Ali Ghali, commander of a rocket launch unit.

Another group, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, said four of its fighters had been killed.

Meanwhile , the Israeli military said fighters in the Gaza Strip have fired more than 500 rockets at Israel, causing no casualties so far.

Of these, 368 rockets made it over the border and 154 were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system, while 110 fell inside Gaza, it said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a TV address late Wednesday that "we are still in the midst of the campaign" and "fiercely attacking the Gaza Strip".

"We say to the terrorists and the ones sending them: we see you everywhere, you cannot hide, and we choose the place and the time to hit you.", he claimed.

Wave of escalation

In Gaza City's Al-Rimal district, Mamoun Radi, 48, said: "We hope that the wave of escalation will end, but we support revenge for the martyrs.

"Israel assassinated a leader of (Islamic) Jihad at dawn today because it does not want calm."

Across southern Israel, sirens wailed intermittently through the night and Thursday morning.

Ceasefire efforts

An Islamic Jihad source told AFP that senior member Mohammad al-Hindi, head of the group's political department, would arrive in Cairo on Thursday for talks with Egyptian intelligence officials.

An Israeli official had told AFP on Wednesday that Egypt was "trying to facilitate a ceasefire".

The Arab League has condemned the "barbaric Israeli raids on the Gaza Strip, which targeted civilians, children and women in residential neighbourhoods".

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan reaffirmed Washington's "ironclad support for Israel's security".

This week's Gaza clashes are the worst since a three-day escalation in August killed 49 Palestinians, with no Israeli fatalities.

Violence has also flared in the occupied West Bank, where the Israeli army has staged repeated raids against Palestinians which have often flared into street clashes or gun battles.

On Thursday, a Palestinian died from his wounds after being shot by the Israeli army in a raid the day before in the West Bank city of Qabatiya, the Palestinian health ministry said.

The conflict has escalated since Netanyahu returned to power late last year heading a coalition with extreme right and ultra-Orthodox parties.

Israel has also been shaken by its biggest domestic political crisis in decades as mass protests have flared against plans to reform the justice system, spearheaded by Netanyahu who is also battling corruption charges in court.

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The right to self-defence is indivisible for both the Palestinian and Israeli sides, Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry said, emphasising that "we aim to sidestep it to avoid entering into a vicious cycle of reciprocal violence.



Shoukry spoke during a joint presser of the Munich Group  which also includes Germany, France, and Jordan  on Thursday in Berlin, referring to the foreign double standards concerning the right to self-defence amid the military escalation between Palestine and Israel.

German Foreign Affairs Minister Annalena Baerbock said Israel has the right to self-defence, adding, however, that Israel "has to" maintain proportionality in its reaction.

French Foreign Affairs Minister Catherine Colonna seconded Baerbock concerning the proportionality in reaction but added that in no case should civilians be killed.

Air strikes by the Israeli army since Tuesday have killed 25 people in Gaza, a death tally that comprises fighters and civilians, including children, said officials in the blockaded Palestinian enclave, according to AFP.

In response, Shoukry said rights are complete and indivisible.

No party has rights that exceed the rights of others. Entering the cycle of violence is linked to those who initiate violence, he added.

The right of the Palestinian people to establish their own state must be respected and be acted upon, the Egyptian top diplomat said.

Also, there is certainly a right to self-defense, but it is an indivisible right as it is granted to both parties, but this is what we seek to avoid in order not to enter into a vicious circle of reciprocal violence that does not lead to the interest of both parties and exacerbates the issue, Shoukry noted.

Direct talks needed

The Egyptian foreign minister stressed that an open dialogue between the Palestinians and Israelis is necessary to resolve the conflict.

He noted that the recent meetings in Aqaba and Sharm El-Sheikh, which brought together Palestinian and Israeli officials, represented progress in terms of implementing direct negotiations.

Shoukry added that common ground was reached in these recent meetings on issues such as a cessation of Israeli military operations, refraining from taking unilateral steps, and ending Israeli demolition of Palestinian homes and construction of illegal settlements.

Still, he stressed, agreement on the mechanisms of implementing the outcomes of these meetings remains a paramount goal.

Shoukry added that it is imperative that the Palestinian side address issues surrounding militant groups in the occupied territories to ensure peace and stability.

Egypt will continue to work within the framework of the Munich group to achieve progress on the issue, noted Shoukry while the groups role in addressing the crisis.

He stressed that Egypt bears a special responsibility in safeguarding the rights of the Palestinian people and will continue to play its role as a mediator to resolve the conflict.

Finally, Shoukry reaffirmed Egypt's firm stance on the necessity of a two-state solution based on the 1967 borders and Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian state as the way to end the conflict.

The Munich Group was formed in 2020 as a quadripartite mechanism between Egypt, Jordan, Germany and France to mediate toward reaching a resolution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

This group meeting was called in April by German, the German foreign minister in response to the marked rise in violence in the occupied territories in renecent months, especially after the re-election of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in December 2022.

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East County Mortuary and Cremation Service owner Robert Zakar shows the area in his Magnolia Avenue business where he is hoping to put a cremation apparatus.

Robert Zakar, president of the San Diego Funeral Directors Association, said there continues to be a growing need for cremation in San Diego County.

Even though hes already been turned down several times, Zakar is appealing to the El Cajon City Council this month to grant him a conditional use permit to open a crematorium inside his mortuary at 374 N. Magnolia Ave.

The cremation equipment would be put in a garage attached to the mortuary, unseen by the general public, he said. The machine costs about $120,000; the project altogether for indoor construction, including proper ventilation that meets health code standards, permits, licensing and more, will require an investment of nearly $250,000, Zakar said.

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Cremation services have not been offered in the area for about seven years. In 2011, the San Diego County Air Pollution Control District closed a Neptune Society of San Diego crematorium in unincorporated El Cajon due to concerns about aging equipment. Neptune, operating locally since 1973, has been using off-site cremation services since the cremation part of its business was shuttered.

Cremation involves the combustion, vaporization and oxidation of a dead body into gases, ashes and mineral fragments. Crematories are allowed to operate in San Diego County with permits from the Air Pollution Control district, the Department of Environmental Health, and other state-issued licenses and permits.

Zakar owns East County Mortuary & Cremation Service in El Cajon. Although cremation service is in his businesss title and he says many people mistakenly assume it offers cremation services onsite, the mortuary uses a warehouse in Vista for cremation services for clients.

In February 2017, he was stopped from converting an existing empty industrial building in the citys manufacturing zone on Marshall Avenue into a crematorium by both the commission and the City Council, to which he had appealed.

In June, Zakar was turned down by the El Cajon Planning Commission again. His request was to open a crematorium in the garage of his mortuary, which is on the other side of a wall in the businesss chapel area. The placement of the equipment would allow mourners to witness the cremation process if they choose.

Tony Shute, director of community development for El Cajon, said the Planning Commission took city staffs recommendation to deny a permit because a crematorium is not in line with El Cajons downtown master plan or the citys general plan.

The citys general plan notes that the downtown area around Main Street and Magnolia should be for administrative, civic and cultural activities, and that commercial establishments need to be carefully integrated with the surrounding area. A mortuary has been at the Magnolia site since 1942, Zakar said.

Zakar will appeal the Planning Commissions latest decision to the City Council at its July 24 meeting.

There are only five known crematories open to the public in San Diego County; there is another on the campus of UC San Diego. The closest one available for his clientele is at Cremation Services, Inc., a crematory warehouse on Fortune Way in Vista.

Zakar said family and friends of a deceased person will often make the trip nearly an hours drive north to witness the cremation, and he is tired of families having to travel such a long distance and seeing their loved ones treated like a commodity, especially when we have the ability and technology to treat families and their loved ones so much better.

The need nationwide for cremation services keeps rising. Interest is on the rise for a variety of reasons, Zakar said, including lower cost. While casket-centered burials can cost up to $15,000, cremation funerals typically cost $700.

The Cremation Association of North Americas 2005 survey found 46 percent of Americans planned to choose cremation, compared with 31 percent in 1990. The association reported that in 2017, the United States cremation rate was 51.6 percent. By 2022, the cremation rate is projected to reach 57.8 percent in the U.S., it said.

The 2016 annual report by Funeral Convergence, a group that keeps track of mortuary statistics, said that of 262,325 deaths in California, 164,382 bodies were cremated. In San Diego County that same year, of 21,182 deaths, 16,468 were cremated, Zakar said.

Zakar said the latest statistics out of East County he has are from 2015. That year, of 4,000 funerals conducted in East County, nearly 2,600 of those were by cremation, he said.

The five crematoriums in San Diego County serve a population of 3.3 million, according to statistics from the California Department of Consumer Affairs Cemetery and Funeral Bureau. Comparably, San Bernardino County with 2.2 million people has 11 cremation facilities; Orange County with a population of 3.2 million has 13; Riverside County with 2.4 million has 15; and Los Angeles County with 10.2 million has 27.

Zakar said nothing visible will change if a crematorium is added to the site, that no construction will be taking place outside of the mortuary. He said the location already has bodies coming in and going out, and that a crematorium would minimize the number of bodies going out.

It would also minimize traffic. Zakar said there have been as many as 40 cars taking the ride to Vista for cremation inside the warehouse.

Zakar said public perception is important. He said he conducted a survey of about 200 residences in the area, and said he may share the results with the City Council. He said half of the respondents already think cremation is taking place on the premises and another third said they dont know and dont care.

Zakar also said other California counties allow crematoriums near schools, colleges, residences, shopping centers and businesses. He said in Laguna Hills, there is a Pizza Hut near a crematorium; in Corona Del Mar, a crematorium is located next to an elementary school.

The El Cajon City Council voted 3-1 in March 2017 to uphold the Planning Commissions decision, citing a concern with its location about 1,000 feet from Flying Hills Elementary School and some homes, as well as the El Cajon Animal Shelter. City Councilman Bob McClellan voted in favor of allowing the crematorium with City Councilman Ben Kalasho abstaining.

This time around, Mayor Bill Wells said the council will be listening with fresh ears to Zakars presentation in July.

I dont think anybodys made up their minds, Wells said. Last time at the hearing, there was a lot of discussion and it seemed like it could go either way. There is certainly some validity in the argument that its good for people to be able to do (cremation) close to home.

karen.pearlman@sduniontribune.com
The embassy of Japan in Egypt announced that four distinguished Egyptians, including former Minister of Foreign Affairs Amr Moussa, were honoured in 2023 with the Japanese Order of the Rising Sun.

Established in 1875 by Emperor Meiji, the Order of the Rising Sun is a decoration of honour presented annually in April to recognize Japanese and foreign individuals who have made significant contributions to Japan's development and progress, according to the Japan Foundations website.

The Order has six classes and honours achievements in various areas, including the promotion of culture and international relations, the website explains.

Below, Ahram Online sheds light on the four Egyptians honoured in 2023 for their distinguished endeavors for Japan:

Amr Moussa, Egypts former minister of foreign affairs and former secretary-general of the Arab League

Moussa received Japan's highest honor, the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star, for playing a significant role in promoting Egyptian-Japanese cooperation projects, including the Suez Canal suspension bridge, the renovation of Cairo University's Children's Hospital and the provision of medical equipment to enhance maternal and child healthcare in Egypt.

Additionally, during his tenure as secretary-general of the Arab League, Moussa established the Japan-Arab Economic Forum, laying the groundwork for expanding economic ties between Japan and Arab nations.

Mona Ahmed, former first undersecretary and head of Asian affairs sector at the Ministry of International Cooperation

Mona was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon, for her significant role in achieving more than 17 projects between the Japanese and Egyptian governments and international organizations in various fields, such as irrigation, airports, energy, health, environment, electricity, education, culture and others.

She also served as a member of the board of trustees of the Egyptian-Japanese University of Science and Technology (E-JUST) for nine years (2013-2021).

Moreover, Mona was a member of the board of directors of the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) and contributed to educational cooperation between Japan and Egypt and the establishment of the GEM museum project.

Fareg Barakat El-Sayed, public relations director and Arabic language teacher at the Japanese School in Abu Dhabi

Farag Barakt has been awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, Silver Rays. for delivering Arabic language education and introducing the culture of the United Arab Emirates to approximately 2,300 Japanese children who have attended the Japanese School in Abu Dhabi.

Moreover, he worked to enhance the understanding of Japanese culture and customs for around 130 Emirati children, contributing to the development of human resources with a rich international perspective.

Tarek El-Sayed Mohamed, head of the Urasenke Tankokai Association in Egypt

Tarek received the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold, and Silver Rays for his contributions to promoting Japanese culture, particularly the art of the Japanese tea ceremony.

Japan has been granting this order to many distinguished Egyptians over the past years. Last year, former Minister of Tourism and Antiques Zahi Hawass was granted the Japanese Rising Sun Order, Gold, and Silver Star, and in 2021, Egypts former permanent observer of the Arab League to the UN Maged Abdel-Fattah was honoured with the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star.

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The Minister of Tourism Ahmed Al-Khateeb shared that more than 6 million people performed Umrah during the current season.

The Minister shared this information during a virtual monthly meeting with investors from the Saudi tourism sector. He described the performance of Saudi's tourism sector in the first quarter of 2023 as unprecedented in relation to the number of visitors and the amount of tourism spending.

The number of Umrah pilgrims from inside and outside Saudi Arabia that visited Makkah and Madinah was 6 million and the hospitality sector in both cities recorded historical figures in occupancy rates.

Read More: Saudi Extends the Period of Residence for Sudanese With Umrah Visas

Not only have more than 6 million people performed Umrah in the current season, but the number of tourists visiting the country for leisure purposes increased by 581% in the first quarter of 2023, compared to the same time period in 2019.

The minister also shared that more than SR 600 million has been allocated to develop new tourist destinations within the Kingdom.

The number of tourists from the Gulf and Middle East countries increased by the rate of 107% compared to 2019. Furthermore, the growth rate of tourists from East Asia reached 49% while the rate of tourists from Europe reached 50%.

According to the minister, Makkah was the most visited destination by tourists from outside the country with a total number of 4.4 million visitors. The second most visited destination was Riyadh, followed by Dammam and Al Khobar. The last two cities experienced a 96% increase in visitors in the first quarter of 2023 compared to the same period in 2019.

Visitors to Jeddah increased by 247% in the first quarter of 2023 and the growth rate of tourism reached 419% for Al Ahsa during the same time period.
Saudi Arabia confirmed on Thursday under the directives of King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that it has started extending Umrah visas for Sudanese pilgrims who are in the country but unable to leave owing to the persisting conflict.

Read More: First Two Saudi Planes Carrying Relief Arrive in Sudan

Additionally, the Kingdom has implemented a program that enables Saudi nationals and expats to host Sudanese pilgrims once they have converted their Umrah visas into visit visas. Information on the terms and circumstances of changing the visa is available on the Absher portal.

The newly introduced online service enables Saudi nationals as well as relatives or friends of Sudanese people in the Kingdom with Umrah visas to convert their Umrah visa into a visitor's visa. The name of the host may be changed in the pilgrim's record, and they are not required to pay the first-time visa fees.

Read More: Saudi Arabia Grants Free Visas for Evacuees From Sudan

According to the Jawazat, in order to utilize the service, users must enter the Absher Individuals platform online at https://www.absher.sa and select one of the following options:
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected in Rome on Saturday for talks with political leaders and possibly Pope Francis, in his first visit to Italy since Russia's invasion.

A spokesman for Italian President Sergio Mattarella confirmed to AFP he would meet Zelensky on Saturday, without providing any further details for security reasons.

A Vatican source told AFP earlier that a meeting between Zelensky and Pope Francis was also "possible", although this has not yet been confirmed.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who visited Kyiv in February to emphasise her country's support for Ukraine, is also likely to meet the Ukrainian president during his trip.

Despite a history of warm ties with Moscow, NATO and EU member Italy has sent weapons and money to help Kyiv since Russia invaded in February 2022, and backed Western sanctions against Russia.

Meloni hosted Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal in Rome last month, on the occasion of a conference on how Italian businesses could help rebuild the war-torn country.

It was not clear how long Zelensky would be in Rome, with speculation he is also planning a trip to Germany this weekend.

German media reported earlier this month that Zelensky will visit Berlin for talks with Chancellor Olaf Scholz and President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, before picking up the Charlemagne Prize, for work done in the service of European unification, in the western city of Aachen on Sunday.

German officials have not confirmed the visit, but Berlin police have opened a probe after details of the possible trip attributed to the force appeared in the media.

Calls for peace

Pope Francis, who last received Zelensky at the Vatican in February 2020, has repeatedly called for peace in Ukraine and prays for the victims of the war almost every week.

Last Sunday, talking of "beleaguered Ukraine", he urged world leaders to "listen to the desire of the people who suffer and who want peace!"

During a papal audience during his visit to Rome, Prime Minister Shmyhal invited the 86-year-old pontiff to Ukraine and asked for his help in returning children forcibly taken to Russia.

Speaking to reporters while flying home from a trip to Hungary a few days later, the pope confirmed he wanted to help.

Shmyhal also said they had discussed Zelensky's plan for peace and "the different steps the Vatican could take" to help Kyiv achieve its goals.

In his press conference, Francis said he was willing to do everything necessary for peace in Ukraine, adding: "A mission is under way, but it isn't yet public."

Both Kyiv and Moscow said they know nothing about such a mission.

In the early months of the Ukraine war, Pope Francis drew criticism for failing to blame Russia directly for the conflict.

In a March interview, he said he had offered to go to Moscow to negotiate peace but had been rebuffed, adding that the conflict involved "imperial interests", and not just Russia's.

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After the extinction of non-avian dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous period, many mammals underwent a rapid increase in size. Several hypotheses for this change have been put forward, with much debate about the drivers. In new research, a team of scientists in Spain looked at the record of body size in brontotheres (thunder beasts), an extinct lineage of large herbivorous rhinoceros-like mammals (though more closely related to horses) from the Eocene epoch that experienced orders of magnitude changes in size.

After the end-Cretaceous mass extinction, a chain of events that led to the extinction of non-avian dinosaurs and 75% of life on our planet 66 million years ago, mammals were small and rarely exceeded 10 kg in mass.

However, only 20 million years later, megaherbivores with bodies weighing more than a ton were abundant and profoundly influenced terrestrial landscapes.

This rapid diversification of body size is often considered one of the most extraordinary feats in mammalian evolution.

Although several hypotheses explaining this expansion have been proposed, the evolutionary processes underpinning the increase in mammal size diversity remain poorly understood.

In the new study, Universidad de Alcala paleontologist Oscar Sanisidro and his colleagues tested several competing theories by evaluating the well-known fossil record of the brontotheres, a group that underwent one of the most extreme size increases seen among mammals and one of the first mammal radiations that consistently evolved multi-ton sizes.

While the first known brontotheres were only about 18 kg in size, most brontothere species during their time on Earth were estimated to have grown to be well over 1,000 kg.

Using phylogeny-based trait evolution modeling and diversification analysis, the study authors discovered that brontothere body-mass evolution mainly occurred during speciation.

They also found no evidence of directional selection or the gradual accumulation of microevolutionary changes, as predicted by the popular Copes rule.

The findings suggest that smaller brotothere species who lived in highly competitive ecological settings experienced higher extinction risk, which drove biased diversification towards larger animal sizes, revealing a complex, long-term macroevolutionary pattern of increased survival of larger species due to reduced competition with other herbivores in crowded ecological niches.

Body-mass evolution in brontotheres mainly occurred during speciation and had no preferential direction, the researchers said.

Long-term directional change stemmed from the higher survival of larger lineages in less-saturated herbivore guilds.

Our study emphasizes the role of differential species proliferation in explaining the long-term phenotypic trends observed in the fossil record, which are more than an accumulation of steady microevolutionary changes.

The results appear this week in the journal Science.

_____

Oscar Sanisidro et al. 2023. A macroevolutionary pathway to megaherbivory. Science 380 (6645): 616-618; doi: 10.1126/science.ade1833
For more than a decade, astronomers have been trying to get a closer look at GJ 1214b, an exoplanet 40 light-years away from Earth. Their biggest obstacle is a thick layer of haze that blankets the planet, shielding it from the probing eyes of space telescopes and stymying efforts to study its atmosphere.

NASA's new James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) solved that issue. The telescope's infrared technology allows it to see planetary objects and features that were previously obscured by hazes, clouds or space dust, aiding astronomers in their search for habitable planets and early galaxies.

A team of researchers used JWST to observe GJ 1214b's atmosphere by measuring the heat it emits while orbiting its host star. Their results, published in the journal Nature on May 10, 2023, represent the first time anyone has directly detected the light emitted by a sub-Neptune exoplanet -- a category of planets that are larger than Earth but smaller than Neptune.

Though GJ 1214b is far too hot to be habitable, researchers discovered that its atmosphere likely contains water vapor -- possibly even significant amounts -- and is primarily composed of molecules heavier than hydrogen. University of Maryland Associate Professor of Astronomy Eliza Kempton, lead author of the Nature study, said their findings mark a turning point in the study of sub-Neptune planets like GJ 1214b.

"I've been on a quest to understand GJ 1214b for more than a decade," Kempton said. "When we received the data for this Nature paper, we could see the light from the planet just disappear when it went behind its host star. That had never before been seen for this planet or for any other planet of its class, so JWST is really delivering on its promise."

A 'new light'

Sub-Neptunes are the most common type of planet in the Milky Way, though none exist in our solar system. Despite the murkiness of GJ 1214b's atmosphere, Kempton and her co-authors determined the planet was still their best chance of observing a sub-Neptune's atmosphere because of its bright but small host star.

In their Nature paper, the researchers measured the infrared light that GJ 1214b emitted over the course of about 40 hours -- the time it takes the planet to orbit its star. As day turns to night, the amount of heat that shifts from one side of a planet to the other depends largely on what its atmosphere is made of. Known as a phase curve observation, this research method opened a new window into the planet's atmosphere.

"JWST operates at longer wavelengths of light than previous observatories, which gives us access to the heat emitted by the planet and allows us to create a map of the planet's temperature," Kempton said. "We finally got to see GJ 1214b in a new light."

By measuring the movement and fluctuation of heat, the researchers determined that GJ 1214b does not have an atmosphere dominated by hydrogen.

Potential water world?

The question of whether GJ 1214b contains water has long interested astronomers. Previous observations by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope suggested that GJ 1214b could be a water world -- a loose term for any planet that contains a significant amount of water.

The latest JWST data revealed traces of water, methane or some mix of the two. These substances match a subtle absorption of light seen in the wavelength range observed by JWST. Further studies will be needed to determine the exact makeup of the planet's atmosphere, but Kempton said the evidence remains consistent with the possibility of large amounts of water.

"GJ 1214b, based on our observations, could be a water world," Kempton said. "We think we detect water vapor, but it's challenging because water vapor absorption overlaps with methane absorption, so we can't say 100% that we detected water vapor and not methane. However, we see this evidence on both hemispheres of the planet, which heightens our confidence that there really is water there."

Reflecting on the findings

The researchers made another surprising discovery in their study: GJ 1214b is incredibly reflective. The planet was not as hot as expected, which tells researchers that something in the atmosphere is reflecting light.

Kempton said there is plenty of room for follow-up studies, including ones that take a closer look at the high-altitude aerosols that form the haze -- or possibly clouds -- in GJ 1214b's atmosphere. Previously, researchers thought it might be a dark, soot-like substance that absorbs light. However, the discovery that the exoplanet is reflective raises new questions.

"Whatever is making up the hazes or clouds is not what we expected. It's bright, it's reflective and that's confusing and surprising," Kempton said. "This is going to point us toward a lot of further studies to try to understand what those hazes could be."
Israel treats the Palestinian territories as its colonies, maintaining occupation to get as much land as possible for Jewish people, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied territories said on her first visit to London, reported the Guardian on Friday.

Francesca Albanese, an Italian lawyer and human rights academic, said Israel is a colonial power maintaining the occupation in order to get as much land as possible for Jewish-only people. And this is what leads to the numerous violations of international law.

For me, apartheid is a symptom and a consequence of the territorial ambitions Israel has for the land of what remains of an encircled Palestine  The cause is the colonies, she further said according to the British daily.

Albanese criticized the UK and other Western states, calling on them to do more to support the two-state solution. "If states are truly committed to the two-state solution, as the UK claims to be, they must ensure that Israel's actions are in line with the possibility of having a Palestinian state, which means sovereignty from a political, economic, cultural point of view. The right to self-determination should be the starting point. The UN official, who was appointment last year, said a tragic characteristic of western engagement in the Middle East was its failure to uphold law without double standards, particularly the UK, which was a colonial power in Palestine.

She emphasized that western countries should refrain from simply commenting on occasional violations or escalations of violence, as the violence in the occupied Palestinian territory is cyclical and not simply a random occurrence. Instead, she urged them to take action and ensure that Israel complies with international law in order to address the root causes of the ongoing conflict.

Albanese has faced calls for resignation from Israeli government ministers, including Amichai Chikli, who accused her of promoting "hatred and antisemitism." In response, Albanese's supporters have called on the senior UN officials who appointed her to do more to defend her. While she has described the attacks as "intimidation, no more, no less," she believes they will be as effective as "dogs barking at airplanes."

The UN rapporteur plans to visit the Palestinian embassy in London to observe Nakba Day, which commemorates the displacement of Palestinians from 1947-1949. During her visit, she intends to meet with MPs, Jewish progressive groups, and consult with academics. This year, the UN is officially recognizing Nakba Day for the first time in its history.

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The path of Orthodox-Catholic reconciliation has been a long one, lasting 15 centuries, said Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II.

Pope Tawadros' remarks came during a 60-minute interview with Italian journalists and TV channels on Thursday, the second of his three-day visit to the Vatican to mark the 50th anniversary of Coptic Orthodox-Catholic relations.

The reconciliation between the Catholic and Coptic churches stems from an agreement signed in 1973 between the Coptic Orthodox Church and Roman Catholic Church which resulted in the settlement of a longstanding 1,500-year-old theological dispute.

Tawadros II, pope of Alexandria and patriarch of the See of St Mark, said he sees such reconciliation progressing through several steps, while sharing with the media outlets the gifts exchanged between the two popes, according to a statement by the Coptic Orthodox Church.

Pope Francis gifted relics of Saint Catherine to Pope Tawadros, while Pope Tawadros presented clothing fragments of the 21 Coptic martyrs, who were killed by the Islamic State terrorist group in Libya in 2015, to Pope Francis.

Pope Tawadros II and Pope Francis exchanging presents: photo courtesy of the orthodox church.

In this context, Pope Francis announced that the Roman Catholic Church recognizes the 21 Coptic martyrs as martyrs in the church, indicating that he would create an altar in their name, according to the statement.

In response to a question on human rights in Egypt, Pope Tawadros emphasized that they don't include just only political rights, but also economic and social rights.

Egypt is a country with a limited economy and a poverty rate but the president and the government are working hard to provide a decent life for the poor and for everyone, Pope Tawadros assured this in the statement.

Regarding the Russia-Ukraine war, Pope Tawadros condemned the flow of weapons into the conflict, calling it a senseless war with no value. He prayed for wisdom to end the war, which has affected the whole world, not just Egypt.

On his first day to the Vatican, Tawadros delivered a speech in the presence of Pope Francis during the weekly public hearing in St. Peter's Square, congratulating the latter on his 10th anniversary of being elected as pope and bishop of Rome.

"I appreciate all that you have done during this time to serve the entire world in all fields, and I pray that Christ will keep you in good health and grant you the blessing of a long life," Pope Tawadros said.

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Egypt welcomes the signing of the Jeddah Declaration between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) as an important step towards protecting civilians, announced the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday.

"It is an important step towards protecting civilians and facilitating the delivery of humanitarian aid and evacuation operations," the foreign ministrys statement read.

After nearly a month of fighting that has killed more than 750, injured 5,000 and displaced over 900,000, Sudan's warring factions signed a commitment on Thursday to respect humanitarian principles in their escalating conflict on Thursday.

However, they did not reach a ceasefire during the talks, which were held in Saudi Arabia.

Egypt expressed hope that "all parties involved would adhere to the commitments made in the declaration and work with regional and international partners to reach a comprehensive and lasting ceasefire and resume dialogue."

Egypt praised the efforts of Saudi Arabia and the United States in encouraging the Sudanese parties to participate in the talks, emphasizing the importance of joint efforts to end the current crisis in Sudan as soon as possible.

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The Securities and Exchange Commission has obtained a final judgment against a head trader at "EmpiresX," which the agency charged with a fake trading scheme.

According to the SEC's complaint, filed June 30, 2022, Joshua David Nicholas was the head trader of a purported hedge fund known as EmpiresX that was operated by co-defendants Emerson Sousa Pires and Flavio Mendes Goncalves. Since at least late 2020, EmpiresX sold investments touting daily profits of one percent earned by a trading "bot" or Nicholas' manual trading. The complaint alleges that, in reality, the bot was fake, Nicholas' trading resulted in significant losses, and the defendants only transferred a small portion of investors' funds to EmpiresX's brokerage account. Instead, the defendants allegedly misappropriated large sums of investors' money to lease a Lamborghini, shop at Tiffany & Co., make a payment on a second home, and more.

Nicholas, Pires, and Goncalves were also charged criminally for their alleged conduct in a parallel criminal proceeding, United States v. Joshua David Nicholas, et al., 22-CR-20296-JEM (S.D. Fla.). Nicholas pled guilty and was sentenced to 51 months' imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $3,379,527.18 in restitution. Pires and Goncalves are currently fugitives.

The final judgment against Nicholas, entered on April 19, 2022 by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, enjoins Nicholas from violating Sections 5 and 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder.

The SEC appreciates the assistance of the Department of Justice and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
The SEC recently resolved its litigation against Kevin Gillespie, formerly the CEO of a microcap issuer.

According to the SEC's complaint, beginning in February 2017, Gillespie and others engaged in a scheme in conjunction with a promotion of the stock of Arias Intel Corp. ("ASNT"). In February 2017, Gillespie caused ASNT to issue 200,000 shares of common stock to another defendant, as payment for "consulting services" which were then sold onward to a different defendant. The SEC alleged that in August 2017, the group entered into a second transaction in which Gillespie caused ASNT to issue to a defendant a convertible promissory note. The group agreed that once the stock reached their target price of $5.00 per share, the defendant holding the shares would begin selling them and that the group would then split the proceeds.

The SEC's complaint charged Gillespie with violating Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. On July 11, 2022, the Court entered a bifurcated consent judgment against Gillespie enjoining him from violating the charged provisions and imposing a penny stock bar and officer and director bar. On April 25, 2023, the Commission informed the Court that it did not intend to seek further relief, thereby resolving the litigation as to Gillespie.

The SEC's litigation is being handled by Christopher Dunnigan, Christine Ely, and Lindsay Moilanen of the New York Regional Office and is being supervised by Sheldon L. Pollock. The SEC appreciates the assistance of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The Hobby Lobby building was destroyed by the tornado.

Performance Plus was among the businesses destroyed during the tornado.

Otsego County United Way

Det. Chris Bowen helped other rescuers dig through what remained of the Hobby Lobby building.

Anniversary events

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Ghana has given sufficient assurances to enable the International Monetary Fund (IMF) board to consider approving a $3 billion loan agreement, the lender said in a statement on Friday.

Facing its worst economic crisis in decades, Ghana in December agreed to a three-year credit program with the IMF to strengthen the country's finances and restore confidence.

Since then, talks had focussed on assurances from a committee of Ghana's creditors over whether a proposed debt exchange program would be enough to secure the IMF agreement.

"I welcome the statement from the Official Creditor Committee for Ghana on the importance of an IMF-supported economic program, together with its commitment to negotiate debt restructuring terms accordingly," IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva said.

"This statement provides the necessary financing assurances for the IMF Executive Board to consider the proposed Fund-supported program and unlock much-needed financing."

A major cocoa and gold producer, Ghana also has oil and gas reserves. But its debt load has grown and like other sub-Saharan African nations, it has struggled with fallout from the Covid pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war.

The economic crisis forced President Nana Akufo-Addo's government to reverse its position earlier this year and seek IMF help as economists warned of a default on debt payments.

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Pakistan: liberte sous caution accordee a l'ex-Premier ministre Imran Khan









La liberte sous caution a ete accordee vendredi par un tribunal d'Islamabad a l'ex-Premier ministre pakistanais Imran Khan, apres l'invalidation par la Cour supreme de son arrestation, qui avait declenche des emeutes dans tout le pays.





"Le tribunal a accorde a Imran Khan un interim de deux semaines sous caution et a ordonne aux autorites de ne pas l'arreter" a nouveau durant cette periode dans cette affaire de corruption, a declare a la presse devant le tribunal l'un de ses avocats, Khawaja Harris.





M. Khan, 70 ans, avait ete arrete mardi alors qu'il etait entendu par un tribunal d'Islamabad dans cette affaire, puis place en detention provisoire le lendemain pour une duree de huit jours.





Mais jeudi, la Cour supreme a juge son arrestation "invalide et illegale", car elle n'aurait pas du etre menee dans un tribunal.





Elle l'a toutefois maintenu sous la garde de la police, chargee d'assurer sa protection, jusqu'a l'audience de vendredi devant le meme tribunal ou il avait ete arrete.





Il y est arrive en fin de matinee dans un convoi sous haute protection policiere. Des centaines de policiers et paramilitaires avaient aussi ete deployes autour de l'edifice, a constate un journaliste de l'AFP.





M. Khan est ainsi a l'abri d'une nouvelle arrestation dans ce dossier pour deux semaines. Mais il pourrait encore etre a tout moment arrete pour les dizaines d'autres affaires dans lesquelles il est mis en cause, et qu'il denonce comme une tentative du gouvernement et de l'armee d'empecher son retour au pouvoir.





Le ministre de l'Interieur, Rana Sanaullah, avait d'ailleurs promis jeudi qu'il le serait a nouveau.





Les tribunaux pakistanais sont souvent utilises pour lancer des procedures longues et fastidieuses dans le but d'etouffer l'opposition politique, denoncent les defenseurs des droits humains.





- "Seulement un repit" -





Dans ce contexte, la decision de la Cour supreme "apparait comme seulement un repit, probablement dans le cadre des efforts deployes pour maitriser une situation devenue explosive et reduire les tensions", avait declare jeudi a l'AFP l'analyste Imtiaz Gul.





Le parti de M. Khan, le Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), a appele vendredi ses partisans a se rendre a Islamabad pour le soutenir, mais la police a immediatement annonce l'interdiction de tout rassemblement.





Deux nouveaux hauts responsables du PTI, accuses d'avoir orchestre les violences, ont ete arretes dans la nuit - portant leur total a 10 -, ce qui montre que "le gouvernement ne cherche pas serieusement a regler le probleme", a indique vendredi Faisal Hussain Chaudhry, un autre avocat de M. Khan.





L'arrestation de M. Khan, qui avait ete evince en avril 2022 mais compte sur sa popularite intacte pour revenir au pouvoir lors des prochaines elections cette annee, a provoque de violentes manifestations dans tout le pays.





Des centaines de policiers ont ete blesses et plus de 3.500 protestataires arretes, principalement dans les provinces du Pendjab (centre-est) et du Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (nord-ouest), d'apres la police.





Au moins neuf personnes sont mortes dans des incidents lies aux manifestations, violemment reprimees par les forces de securite, selon la police et les hopitaux.





Chose rare au Pakistan, des milliers de partisans du PTI s'en sont pris aux symboles de l'armee, l'accusant d'avoir contribue a l'eviction de son leader, au pouvoir depuis 2018.





Les autorites ont coupe l'internet mobile, restreint l'acces aux reseaux sociaux tels que Twitter, Facebook ou YouTube, et ordonne la fermeture des ecoles dans le pays.





- Ligne rouge -





L'arrestation de M. Khan, ancienne star du cricket, a marque une aggravation spectaculaire de la crise causee par son renversement.





Imran Khan a ete destitue par une motion de censure apres avoir perdu le soutien des militaires, qui l'avaient appuye en sous-main lors de son accession au poste de Premier ministre.





Depuis son eviction, M. Khan a multiplie les manuvres politiques pour obtenir la tenue d'elections anticipees avant la date limite d'octobre, dans un pays en proie a une grave crise economique.





Il s'est aussi lance dans des diatribes toujours plus virulentes a l'encontre de son successeur, Shehbaz Sharif, et de l'institution militaire.





L'armee exerce une influence politique considerable au Pakistan. Elle a organise au moins trois coups d'Etat depuis l'independance en 1947 et assume le pouvoir pendant plus de trois decennies.





Mais les critiques directes a son encontre sont rares, car considerees comme une ligne rouge a ne pas depasser, au risque de se retrouver dans le viseur de l'appareil securitaire.





L'arrestation d'Imran Khan est intervenue peu apres qu'il a renouvele ce week-end ses accusations a l'encontre d'un officier superieur, auquel il reproche d'avoir complote pour l'assassiner en novembre lors d'un meeting electoral ou il avait ete blesse par balle a une jambe.





Il n'a pas apporte la moindre preuve de ses allegations, qui ont ete denoncees comme "fabriquees de toutes pieces et malveillantes" par l'armee.








avid_creative/Getty Images

A 41-year-old San Francisco man was charged with murder following the fatal stabbing of a 64-year-old woman in the common area of an apartment building on the edge of the Duboce Triangle neighborhood.

District Attorney Brooke Jenkins announced Thursday that Jesus Esparza was charged with stabbing Mei Ran Hu to death at around 10 a.m. on May 5. She was found unresponsive and lying on the floor in the building where both she and Esparza lived on the 400 block of Duboce Avenue. Officers rendered first aid, and emergency medical personnel were summoned to the scene, but she died of her injuries.
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Fast-moving flames destroyed six cars in the Antioch BART Station parking lot Thursday afternoon, a fire authorities said was probably set by gasoline thieves.

Firefighters dispatched to the Slatten Ranch Road station at 2:04 p.m. found the cars engulfed in flames following what the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District described on Twitter as a dangerous and damaging attempted gasoline theft.
Mayor London Breed on Friday spoke for the first time about the killing of a 24-year-old man outside a downtown Walgreens by a security guard who police said was intervening to prevent him from shoplifting.

In a statement to The Chronicle, Breed said Banko Browns killing was a tragedy for his family, friends and community and that she had faith in how District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, who critics say has not been transparent, is handling the investigation.



I understand the sensitivity of investigations and expect the D.A. and SFPD to deliver a thorough, fair and transparent investigation, she said.

Browns death sparked outrage across the city, with Browns supporters calling for charges against security guard Michael Earl-Wayne Anthony, the closure of the Walgreens where Brown was killed, and for businesses not to allow security guards to carry firearms. The case has reignited a debate over how merchants should confront property crimes in San Francisco.

I know what it feels like to lose someone to violence, especially a young person, and I know theres a lot of pain right now in the community and in these tragic moments, we need the truth, Breed said.

She said she believed Jenkins is committed to seeking justice for victims, noting that the district attorney and San Francisco Police Department are continuing to investigate the fatal incident.

Jenkins has drawn significant criticism for declining to press charges against Anthony, saying evidence showed he acted in self-defense. After widespread pushback from community residents and several city supervisors, she reversed course, saying the investigation was still active and leaving open the possibility she might charge him in the future.

If a decision to charge (Anthony) is made, this case will be prosecuted, Breed said. If a decision is made to not charge in this case, the D.A.s Office will release a comprehensive explanation of how the decision was made to the public.

Regardless of how this case concludes, a young person lost their life and that is devastating, she said. We must continue to deliver investments for our communities that we have been working to lift up, like our trans and African American communities, so all of our young people have the support and opportunity they need and deserve.

After Browns killing, his friends noted that he had been homeless at the time of his death, and apparently faced significant challenges trying to find housing. At a vigil in his honor, relatives and supporters blasted Breed for not doing enough to house the citys trans and youth populations.

Breed said Friday that in the last two years, her office has worked to create 400 new housing and shelter placements dedicated to homeless youth.

The city has also spent millions in the citys Our Trans Home SF program, and housing subsidies for trans residents at St. James Infirmary and the Bobbi Jean Baker House, as well as providing funds through the Guaranteed Income for Trans People Program, the Dream Keeper Initiative, and through other investments.
The property builder for the homeless housing portion of UC Berkeleys planned development of Peoples Park has pulled out of the project citing recent court delays.

Berkeley-based nonprofit developer Resources for Community Development said in a statement Thursday that it would quit the project after a California appeals court ruled in February that the universitys plan failed to adequately address environmental concerns.

RCD was supposed to build units available for unhoused people as part of the universitys controversial plan to develop the park site for student dormitories.

The First District Appellate Court ruling brought to a standstill UC Berkeleys $312 million project to turn Berkeleys historic Peoples Park into housing for about 1,100 students and more than 100 of the homeless people who regularly camp on the 2.8-acre site. The news was first reported by Berkeleyside.

Lauren Lyon, a spokeswoman for Resources for Community Development, said the developers decision is a direct result of the courts ruling.

This creates significant delays and new challenges that negatively impact our capacity to move forward, Lyon said in a statement.

Lyon added that the court ruling sets a dangerous precedent for housing development, especially for the creation of new affordable housing which is so desperately needed. Requiring developers to consider who will inhabit the housing, and assess how noisy those residents might be, is inappropriate as a type of potential environmental risk requiring study under CEQA and opens a new pathway for costly and time-consuming lawsuits designed to delay and block housing development.

Dan Mogulof, UC Berkeleys spokesman, said in a statement that the university is committed to building supportive housing at the site and is looking into bringing another nonprofit developer on board.

The universitys commitment to donate a significant portion of the site for the construction of supportive housing is unwavering, as is our commitment to the other, essential elements of the project, including urgently needed student housing; revitalized, open green space; and a commemoration of the sites storied past, Mogulof said. The university also shares the perspectives of RCD, the City of Berkeley, and the Governor regarding the recent appellate court ruling and we look forward to presenting our arguments to the California Supreme Court.

The universitys proposed plan includes a 17-story building that would house 1,100 students and take up about half of Peoples Park. The other half of the park would remain open to the public. The university also plans to construct a separate building with 125 beds for low-income and homeless people, some of whom now sleep at the park. The university provides housing for just 23% of its students, the lowest rate in the state university system.

Mayor Jesse Arreguin, who is running for State Senate, said he was disappointed that RCD pulled out of the project and lambasted the courts decision.

The blame does not fall on RCD, but rather the minority of people who are determined to stop progress, he said. They have used the homeless as a prop to support their campaign of obstruction, all the while denying 125 units of needed permanent supportive housing for our formerly homeless neighbors.

Arreguin said the projects delays have resulted in the loss of millions of dollars and access to Section 8 vouchers. He said the parks current state is a disservice for those that fought for its creation. We can create needed open space, building thousands of beds of student housing and house our homeless. That is why I support UCs plans for Peoples Park and will continue to work towards the completion of this vision.
A growing San Francisco program aims to reduce landfill waste and help restaurants save money with the help of a few new plates and cups.

Since 2021, 120 restaurants have participated in the citys commercial reuse program, receiving $24,500 in grants and diverting thousands of pounds of waste. Now, the San Francisco Environment Department, the city agency working on environmental protection and policy, is expanding the program to reach a yearly 200 restaurants still using throwaway food ware to serve dine-in customers.

The program offers grants of up to $500 per business to cover the costs of buying reusable food ware and related equipment, like bus carts and bins. The move is a means to help achieve San Franciscos 2021 Climate Action Plan, which set a goal of halving landfill waste by 2030.

City staff have conducted case studies from past grant recipients, finding cost savings around $3,000 per restaurant after labor incurred from adopting reusables, such as washing dishes, and around 1,500 pounds of waste diverted in a year. Chinatowns House of Dim Sum saw an outsize effect, saving net costs of $33,561 and reducing its landfill waste by 7 tons.

Single-use items are ubiquitous in San Francisco, said San Francisco Environment Department acting Director Tyrone Jue. The COVID-19 pandemic increased the use of disposable items due to fear of transmission and as takeout became a lifeline for restaurants. People use them at home, when getting takeout or even eating in a restaurant, Jue said. Its impossible to quantify the exact number (of items used), but were starting with the low-hanging fruit.

Michaela Vatcheva/Special to The Chronicle

Food ware made from Styrofoam and other nonrecyclable, non-compostable materials has been banned in San Francisco since 2017, and food accessories made of plastic, like coffee stirrers and toothpicks, have been banned since 2019 (though single-use plastic straws can be available to people with disabilities upon request). Yet even single-use items that are recyclable or compostable can still be wasteful, explained Katherine Baird, associate director of sustainability at UC Berkeleys Haas School of Business. Many cities dont have the infrastructure to break down compostables, and they might just end up in the landfill where they cant properly break down. Plus, moving to reusables offers a way to curb the impact from the mass manufacturing of single-use products.

The most significant portion of an environmental footprint is how (a product) is made, not just if its compostable, recyclable or going into a landfill, Baird said.

The commercial reuse program began in 2018 in collaboration with ReThink Disposable, a program from environmental nonprofit Clean Water Action to prevent the use of disposable food packaging. It started with a test run at restaurants in District Seven, which includes the West Portal and Park Merced neighborhoods. Now with $200,000 in regular Environment Department funding from waste-collection fees, the program will be able to reach 400 restaurants over the next two years.

Que Chulada in the Richmond District is one of them. Co-owners Maritza Castillo and Salvador Cervantes opened just less than a year ago but have already developed a group of lunch regulars who stop by for slow-braised carnitas and dripping birria quesadillas. On a midweek stop, neighbors bit into big burritos and crispy potato tacos while Castillo and Cervantes daughter Alysson doodled by the register.

Castillo used to serve her saucy chicken enchiladas, made with a family recipe from Guanajuato, plus the usual sides of rice and beans, on paper plates. Now, she plates them neatly on new oval dishes.

Michaela Vatcheva/Special to The Chronicle

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The enchiladas are pretty good, but they look even better, and bigger, on actual plates, Castillo said.

Some items like burritos and tacos still come in reusable plastic baskets with a throwaway sheet of wax paper.

Restaurants cant just choose whatever plates they want: Environment Department staff perform an assessment of their needs and recommend what reusables may work best. At Que Chulada, program staff recommended new plates, glasses, mugs, silverware and busing gear, like a cart and bins.

Que Chulada received its complete set three weeks ago, so it hasnt had time to track how much the reusable food ware has reduced its waste or spending on disposables. However, Castillo said that its garbage pickups have gone down from three to two per week, saving money almost immediately. She says a box of 480 paper plates, around $80, lasted the restaurant about a week. The restaurant still uses some disposables for takeout orders, which account for 20% of its transactions.

The commercial reuse program is among a few others around the Bay Area looking to reduce single-use waste coming from restaurants. Environmental nonprofit Surfrider Foundation offers an Ocean Friendly Restaurant certification for restaurants using only reusables and meeting other related criteria. (Twelve San Francisco restaurants are enrolled in the program.) Back in 2019, Bay Area chain Blue Bottle Coffee announced its intent to do away with paper cups, but ultimately shelved the plan after the pandemic.
On May 12, at 11:30, the Armenian armed forces units in the Zod direction of the Basarkechar region used attack UAVs in the direction of the Azerbaijan Armys opposing positions, Azernews reports, citing Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry.

The Armenian side is once again escalating the situation by committing another provocation.

There are no losses among the military personnel and equipment of the Azerbaijan Army.

According to the information provided by the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Azerbaijan, on the evening of May 10, units of the armed forces of Armenia, firing from small arms at the positions of the Azerbaijani army, deliberately committed a provocation, as a result of which a serviceman of the Azerbaijani Army was seriously injured.

Despite the fact that the Armenian side was warned that provocations and deliberate aggravations of the situation would be stopped on its part, on the morning of May 11, the Armenian armed forces further aggravated the situation by firing mortars at the positions of the Azerbaijani Army, as a result of provocations, an Azerbaijani soldier was martyred.
Ukraine said Friday that its forces had recaptured chunks of territory around the embattled city of Bakhmut, even as President Volodymyr Zelensky insists his army needs more time before launching an expected spring offensive.

Kyiv's claimed gains near the epicentre of the war's fiercest battle have been refuted by Moscow, but come as expectations build over the anticipated, high-stakes fightback.

China said it would send a special envoy next week to visit Ukraine, Russia and European nations as Beijing pursues efforts to cast itself as a peacemaker.

Beijing plans to send its high-ranking diplomat Li Hui to Ukraine, Poland, France, Germany and Russia to "communicate with all parties on the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis".

From Ukraine to the Middle East, Beijing in recent months has sought to position itself as a mediator with a leading role in solving the world's crises.

But while China says it is a neutral party in the Ukraine war, it has been criticised for refusing to condemn Moscow for the invasion.

'Great losses' in Bakhmut fight

On the battlefield, Ukraine said its forces advanced two kilometres (around one mile) near Bakhmut -- the scene of the longest and bloodiest battle since Moscow's more than year-long invasion.

Bakhmut once had a population of around 70,000 people. It has been destroyed as Russian forces have posted incremental gains over recent months, amounting to some 80 percent of the city.

"The enemy has suffered great losses of manpower," Deputy Defence Minister Ganna Malyar said in a statement on social media.

"We did not lose a single position in Bakhmut this week."

Russia has denied Ukraine made any breakthroughs in the flashpoint city, saying that reports of its territorial losses around the city did "not correspond to reality".

But the head of the Wagner private military group spearheading Moscow's attack on Bakhmut, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said Kyiv had made "successful counterattacks".

The social media accounts of several Russian war correspondents late at night also spread alarm, with some of them saying Kyiv's long-anticipated counteroffensive had begun.

Zelensky, however, has said in an interview published Thursday that Kyiv needs more time before going on the offensive.

"Mentally we're ready...," the Ukrainian leader noted. "In terms of equipment, not everything has arrived yet.

"With (what we have) we can go forward and be successful. But we'd lose a lot of people. I think that's unacceptable. So we need to wait. We still need a bit more time," he said.

Prigozhin, whose feud with Russia's conventional army has flared in recent days, acknowledged Ukrainian successes and challenged his rival, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, to visit Bakhmut.

"The enemy has launched a number of successful counterattacks," Prigozhin wrote to Shoigu on social media, urging him "to independently assess the current situation".

Talks on renewing grain deal

The message came after the outspoken Wagner chief made unprecedented attacks against Russia's military leadership, accusing Shoigu of being partly responsible for massive Russian losses and saying Russian soldiers were fleeing "criminal" orders in Bakhmut.

Prigozhin has for days acknowledged that some Ukrainian units were successfully breaking through in some areas.

The Russian army, however, denied claims by Prigozhin and pro-Moscow bloggers that Kyiv had made some breakthroughs.

"The individual declarations on Telegram about a 'breakthrough' on several points on the front line do not correspond to reality," the defence ministry said in a statement.

As the fate of Bakhmut hangs in the balance, Turkey said Friday that talks to extend a deal allowing grain exports from Ukraine via the Black Sea following the Russian invasion were nearing an agreement.

"We are heading toward an agreement on the extension of the grain deal," Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said in a statement.

The Black Sea Grain Initiative, in place since July after diplomacy by the United Nations and Turkey, allows Ukraine grain exports via port, helping ease shortages and resulting price spikes triggered by Russia's invasion of the breadbasket nation.

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Moms work in mysterious ways. On the first day of Patty Lus one-and-a-half-year-old Berkeley pop-up, Year of the Snake, known for its flaky layered egg tarts and light-as-air slices of Japanese-style cheesecake, her mother Jennifer Lu showed up out of the blue to help out.

I was like  mom, what are you doing here?  laughed Patty, 33. In an unexpected turn of events, Jennifer, 67, who lives an hour away in Cupertino, stuck around and became a fixture at the Sunday pastry pop-up. In fact, the two have never been closer  even if that sometimes means arguing over the occasional baked good.

Patty, a long-time baker who had previously worked at Tartine and Outerlands and had popped up in the past at Oaklands Sister and Magnolia Mini Mart, had been working part-time at Morells Bread, the West Berkeley bakery that hosts the regular weekend pop-up, when the Sunday slot became available in late December 2021. Shes been there ever since  and so has Jennifer, who normally arrives a couple of hours after Patty starts baking and arranges the display case.

In it, any given week, customers can find a variety of sweet and savory pastries Patty has prepared. Some are based on Chinese recipes her grandmother or Jennifer herself provided, but always with a twist. Theres the black sesame bostock, a customer favorite, round and thick like brioche, resembling a yin yang thanks to a dusting of powdered sugar; a puffy biscuit features garlic, chives and lap cheong, a Chinese sausage; and delicate Portuguese egg tarts that always sell out quickly.

Juliana Yamada/The Chronicle

Newer additions include a round chocolate brioche bun which, when bitten into, explodes with fuschia-pink strawberry cream, and an incredibly flaky pork and tofu meat pie, made with puff pastry and filled with ground pork, tofu, roasted vegetables and Sichuan spices. At first, Jennifer wasnt quite happy with it  too runny, not like the version shed tried on a trip to London  but Patty had eventually found success by freezing the filling first, resulting in her mothers stamp of approval. Some customers come specifically for the tarts, or the chewy salted egg cookies, and others, by the power of Jennifers persuasion, are tempted to try something new.

Currently working part-time as a registered nurse, Jennifer is a natural behind the counter; 16 years of owning a video store in San Jose, in a past career stint, had prepared her for this exact moment. While she asks customers whether theyd like a sweet or a savory pastry, and warms up their selection in a tiny toaster oven, Patty is free to attend to her creations.

More for you The latest Bay Area dessert stunner: intricate Mexican jellied cakes that look like art

Since that opening day, this is how every single Sunday has looked for the mother-daughter duo: collaborating, coexisting, occasionally bickering. She always has something to say, Patty said of her mother, though Jennifer insists she tries her best not to intervene. A recent disagreement over sponge cake has now been peacefully resolved. Patty likes to bake hers slightly darker and smaller than is traditional  its not quite the Chinese bakery version, Jennifer pointed out. I answered  yeah, thats kind of the point, said Patty.

Juliana Yamada/The Chronicle

Before Year of the Snake, the two would rarely spend time together. Both are self-described workaholics who have a hard time keeping in touch with people. Jennifer came to the Bay Area with her family from Taiwan in 1997, soon after finishing college. When Patty and her older sister were young, she was mostly busy working  though, she says, once in a while, a special merchandise buying trip in San Franciscos Chinatown would count as mother-daughter time. The girls tagged along and had the opportunity to watch their mother speak Cantonese and do business. Once a month, the extended family would get together for dim sum, an experience both remember fondly. Then, Patty left for college, and later moved to San Francisco; she now is based in Emeryville.

Food Guide Top 25 Restaurants Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more.

These days, Patty said, the pop-up has brought us together. She has come to rely on her mother who, albeit opinionated, is forgiving of Pattys occasional early morning moodiness. Hiring someone would have been a big financial expense, and Jennifer volunteers her time and company. On her end, she has gotten a rare chance to watch her daughter in action. Im learning so much about her, she said. Ive learned to respect her decisions, keep quiet and let her play.

Juliana Yamada/The Chronicle

On Mothers Day, May 14, theres no place theyd rather be than at the bakery, maintaining their gentle equilibrium. (For a pre-Mothers Day dinner this week, they went out to Benihana.) The fact Jennifer keeps showing up is touching, says Patty. In our family, we dont tend to talk about our feelings, but I feel so much love now.

Year of the Snake. 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sundays. Morells Bread, 2701 Eighth St., yearofthesnake.square.site
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California health regulators have barred John Muir Medical Center from treating some of the states most seriously ill children after flagging dozens of wide-ranging and serious issues in the Walnut Creek hospitals pediatric intensive care unit, The Chronicle has learned.

The violations documented last week by the Department of Health Care Services, or DHCS, call into question the qualifications and competency of the units doctors and nurses, as well as the care they were providing to children in the pediatric intensive care unit, or PICU. The unprecedented move by DHCS means that the unit is now unable to admit patients through California Childrens Services, or CCS, a public health program that has boosted the PICUs profits and profile since it first obtained certification to treat these children in 2017.

The state review of the PICU  which opened in 2015 under the branding and partnership of national health care powerhouse Stanford Medicine Childrens Health  was prompted by a series of Chronicle investigations into four potentially preventable deaths, as well as DHCSs failure to provide oversight of more than two dozen units throughout California with CCS certification.

In a May 2 report reviewed by The Chronicle, state investigators told John Muir they had found moderate to serious issues that merit immediate attention after a review of patient medical records. Their findings indicate that the PICU was operating outside its stated scope of practice.

Ben Drew, a spokesperson for John Muir, denied that the problems cited by DHCS were related to quality of patient care, calling the findings administrative in a statement.

The recommendations are to assist our PICU with coming into compliance and are being implemented, said Drew, adding that more than a dozen of the CCS report findings were resolved prior to our receipt of the report.

Drew did not respond to questions about how many CCS patients John Muir typically admits to its PICU, which has continued to see patients who are not part of the state program.

In an email, a spokesperson for Stanford Medicine Childrens Health said it was working with John Muir to cooperate with the DHCS investigation.

DHCS spokesperson Anthony Cava said in a statement that the patient ban at John Muir is the first time the agency has taken such action against a PICU and did so after finding various health and safety concerns.

DHCS is committed to ensuring approved pediatric intensive care units (PICU) are accountable for delivering quality health care to our youngest and most vulnerable Californians, Cava said.

Earlier this year, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services found that John Muir had violated state and federal laws related to its pediatric program, putting hundreds of millions of dollars in Medicare funding at risk. John Muir has submitted a separate plan of correction to the federal agency, which said it will make an unannounced visit to the hospital this summer.

The states onsite review of John Muirs PICU began in late February and included interviews with 30 staff members and a review of 98 medical records, according to records reviewed by The Chronicle. Investigators detailed 47 deficiencies and made 62 recommendations, including several immediate stop orders, in areas related to patient care, staff qualifications and program oversight.

Among the violations, DHCS found gaps in existing patient care policies and procedures. Officials overseeing John Muirs PICU had not adequately outlined how to treat certain major illnesses, creating concerns for patient care and safety, the investigators wrote.

Additionally, the PICU did not have clear policies regarding which patients to admit to the unit and which to transfer to dedicated childrens hospitals or academic centers  leading the unit to sometimes treat children outside their stated abilities and expertise.

DHCS also determined that the unit did not appear to be tracking whether basic procedures, such as intubations  the insertion of a breathing tube  were being done competently, an issue that arose in two of the pediatric deaths covered by The Chronicle.

The state found that PICU leaders did not appear to have full administrative control or oversight of employees in the unit. Some doctors, nurses and other specialists also lacked documentation of the required certifications or experience to care for children in the CCS program.

As part of its recommendations, DHCS ordered John Muir to immediately remove any nurses that did not have necessary certifications and to start holding monthly, PICU-specific meetings to discuss pediatric critical care issues. The state further requested that John Muir implement a formal policy for annually reviewing the skills of its PICU doctors on intubation and other basic procedures.

Moving forward, DHCS said, John Muir should transfer patients with especially severe conditions to a PICU equipped to provide the appropriate higher level of care and to provide the state with data showing compliance.

In emails sent last week, state officials instructed Bay Area health departments and surrounding local hospitals to not transfer CCS patients to John Muirs PICU, explaining that the hospital could not admit these children until it completed and received DHCS approval of a corrective action plan.

Failure to fix the problems, these officials said, could result in John Muirs PICU permanently losing its CCS certification.

In his statement, Drew denied that John Muir had accepted patient transfers that are outside of our scope of practice, but did not provide additional details. He said that the hospital has addressed all the recommendations which it was asked to immediately complete and plans to submit a full plan of correction by the states May 16 deadline.

Dr. Bela Matyas, director of Solano Countys public health department, called the state action a clear indictment of the management of the (PICU) program. His agency oversees the local CCS program that has referred young patients to John Muir.

This is clearly very concerning, Matyas said. It reflects a failure of the program and the hospital.

Tom Jong, whose 2-year-old daughter, Ailee, died at John Muir during a complex liver surgery in 2019, said the states actions allowed him to feel some sense of purpose to Ailees passing.

We shared Ailees story in hopes that itll spark a chain of events that leads to change and saves childrens lives, Jong said. We hope these changes are sustainable because its even more clear now that the pain and suffering of many families could have been avoided.
What do Jane Fonda and Grubhub have in common? Both have had their work inadvertently advertised next to videos full of climate lies and have said they arent happy with Google about it. Fonda said in a statement she was appalled and found it abhorrent that YouTube would violate its own policy (while) the earth is burning.

In October 2021, Google announced it would no longer sell ads on climate denial content, including on YouTube. But a new report from my group, the Climate Action Against Disinformation Coalition, shows Google has failed to systematically enforce its policy.

Google continues to sell ads on YouTube videos peddling climate lies with millions of views.

Coalition researchers found ads running on 200 YouTube videos that spread climate disinformation. These ads have attracted over 74 million views  18 million of them came from 100 of the videos that meet Googles definition of climate misinformation, which applies only to explicit denial of the existence and causes of climate change. Ads on these videos included well-known businesses and brands including Costco, Politico and Nike.

But even as Google fails to enforce its own policy, researchers found that its not that great of a policy to begin with. An additional 100 videos meet the coalitions more robust and clear definition of disinformation that covers greenwashing, paltering and other tactics to delay action. Those videos have collected at least 55 million views, proof that this kind of content is definitely popular. Googles policy is so narrow that it applies only to the most egregious flat-Earther content that denies that human activity is causing climate change. This approach exempts savvier content from Big Oil and its lobbyist friends, allowing them to peddle the obvious lie that fossil fuels are a solution to climate change and not part of the pollution driving it.

By the time the months-long research concluded, only eight of the videos had advertisements removed even though some of the videos had been around for years  and slowly accumulating millions of views. Once Google was called out by Fonda and GrubHub, and gained access to our data about what was on its platform, it finally began to demonetize content further and very quickly at that.

Within a day, out of the 100 videos we found that fit within Googles policy parameters, 79 more were demonetized. Of the 100 videos that fit the coalitions definition of climate disinformation, an additional 18 were demonetized. Prior to the release of our research, the eight videos Google had taken ads off of had around 2 million views. The day after the release of our research, 103 videos were taken down, representing an additional 15 million views.

Unfortunately, this progress is still overshadowed by the 57 million views on videos that Google is still selling ads on. Tucker Carlsons lies are acceptable to YouTube as well as a video falsely calling the 97% scientific consensus on climate change a myth. Climate lies are being woven into COVID lockdown and great reset conspiracy theories and are rewarded by Google with ad revenue. ExxonMobils greenwashing gets a green light from YouTube, as do other fossil-fuel-front group videos, along with now-fracker-backed Jordan Peterson.

But it wouldnt be hard for YouTube to protect viewers from this harmful false content. The 200 videos came from 96 channels, and if Google were to act on just the top 10, it would account for nearly 62 million views. Going just a little further, the top 25 channels account for a full 71 million of the nearly 75 million total views. Just a little effort would have an outsized impact because climate disinformation mostly comes from obvious sources: the fossil fuel industry and people it has funded to prevent policy that could address its pollution or profits.

Why was a small group of researchers more effective in catching ads on climate lies than a $1.3 trillion Big Tech company? Why wont Google expand its policy to include all forms of climate disinformation? Why does Google support the same problem it claims it wants to stop?

Disinformation persists because its profitable and advances the agenda of the fossil-fueled status quo. Big Techs business model prioritizes clicks and views at the expense of the truth. In order to put an end to the spread of false and misleading content, Big Tech needs to remove the financial incentives that drive it. Without meaningful regulation, disinformation around climate change and climate-change-related disasters will persist and grow. States like California could see the worst of it as disinformation around the cause of wildfires runs as rampant as the fires themselves.

If Big Tech wont step up, lawmakers in Washington, California and around the world need to step up and mandate it. Clearly, companies like Google cant be trusted to keep their promises.
Regarding A Bay Area Catholic diocese filed for bankruptcy in wake of hundreds of sex abuse lawsuits (Bay Area, SFChronicle.com, May 8): The Catholic Diocese of Oakland is declaring bankruptcy because of the costs of litigation in 330 sexual abuse lawsuits. Its amazing to me how quickly they move to shield their assets, but how slowly they moved to protect the hundreds of children abused by pedophile priests.

The diocese was equally quick to prevaricate about the reasons for declaring bankruptcy: We believe this process is the best way to ensure a fair and equitable outcome for survivors.

No. Bankruptcy is simply a way to protect assets. A number of dioceses have done the same thing to avoid legal and financial responsibility.

Someone, apparently no longer important to modern Christianity, once said something about rich men, desert quadrupeds and needles. The same person also said something about children, stumbling and millstones. That person addressed his commentary to liars, pharisees and hypocrites.

The diocese has assets of somewhere between $100 million and $500 million, and it is doing its damnedest to protect that. I wonder what a certain person would think about this.

Ben Janken, Oakland

Shine light on prisons

Regarding Humanizing Elizabeth Holmes is fine  just give women who arent white and rich the same courtesy (Open Forum, SFChronicle.com, May 10): Thank you to Adam Johnson for pointing out the disjunction between the humanizing depictions of Elizabeth Holmes and the ways in which most incarcerated women, who are overwhelmingly poor and people of color, are kept invisible.

No one is writing about the Black woman with six children in San Francisco County Jail who has been held there for over eight years pre-trial. No one is detailing the losses experienced by the family of a woman sentenced to life without parole under the felony murder rule because she was in the car when her abuser killed someone during a robbery.

Hopefully, Johnsons article will prompt reporters to uncover some of these untold stories that deserve at least the same degree of attention that Holmes is receiving.

Diana Block, San Francisco

Spin immigration

Regarding Border policy limits asylum as Title 42 comes to an end (Nation & World, May 11): The solution to our immigration problem can most realistically be solved if our leaders stop asking, How can we get them off the streets or just scare them off? and start asking, How we can put these willing workers to work and make their coming here a positive? Dont we have a lot of jobs not filled?

Many of us Baby Boomers are still functional and able to take care of ourselves, but when we start needing care, there are not nearly enough younger workers to support us all. Perhaps a few million younger new citizens in the labor pool can help with that.

Chad Krimmel, San Francisco

Wearing their beliefs

Regarding Enact gun control laws (Letters to the Editor, May 9): I concur with the writers assessment of the need for anti-gun violence legislation and the slim chances of seeing any enacted by Congress.

However, the good news is that many legislators are no longer hiding behind a false pretense of patriotism by wearing U.S. flag lapel pins. Instead, they have made clear their true allegiances by now sporting nifty AR-15 pins.

Honesty in Congress, who would have thought it?

Stephen Upjohn, San Francisco

Do you hear yourself?

Regarding Jury finds Trump liable for sexual abuse, awards accuser $5M (News, SFChronicle.com, May 9): Do you suppose that Donald Trump is intelligent enough to realize that his statement, I absolutely do not know who that woman is, confirms his attitude and practice of demeaning and discarding women he abuses?

Richard Heilbron, Oakland
There is a chilling formula to an American mass shooting. It goes something like this: Another incomprehensible bloodbath hits the news cycle, the president and the governor of the state where the shooting took place say a few empathetic words  and then politicians go to bat.

Following the latest gun massacre  which left nine people dead, including a 3-year-old boy at a mall in Allen, Texas  Gov. Greg Abbott stuck to his usual message: The long-term solution here is to address the mental health issue.

As a mental health professional, I have every reason to support this solution. But solely addressing the mental health issue will not put a stop to these massacres that have quickly become an all too familiar  and emblematic  part of American life.

That the country is in the midst of multiple overlapping mental health crises is clear: a youth mental health crisis (including increased suicide rates over the past decade), rising drug-involved overdose deaths and a loneliness epidemic just declared this month. Addressing these crises will require increased funding and access to quality mental health services throughout our country as this can help to garner greater resilience and well-being in our communities.

But even in the framework of mental health, experts factor in access to a means of harm in their evaluation. In other words, having the tools to self-harm or harm others matters.

Consider how clinicians evaluate suicidality. Suicidal thoughts are concerning  a plan is a red flag. But what really increases the likelihood of suicide is whether or not a person can actually carry out their plan. Do they have access to means, and how lethal are those means? Is there a gun in the house? Do they have pills? What we try to determine is how likely it is they will successfully carry out a suicidal plan. Access to a gun, along with a plan and intent, ratchets into crisis  requiring a crisis-level response.

You can have all of the anger and intent in the world, but without sufficient means, your scope of lethality is limited. With a semiautomatic weapon in your hands, however, you have all of the power in the world to kill. The same goes for an impulsive act or a premeditated one.

As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported, more Americans died of gun-related injuries in 2021 than in any other year on record. Access to guns is a precipitating cause of mass shootings. Ignoring that fact just guarantees more of the same.

Hope for improved public safety lives (and often dies) in Congress. President Biden has made it abundantly clear that he will support gun legislation. After this latest mass murder, he said: Once again I ask Congress to send me a bill banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. Enacting universal background checks. Requiring safe storage. Ending immunity for gun manufacturers. I will sign it immediately. And we know that its possible for congressional leaders to act; they successfully passed bipartisan gun legislation last year despite political friction.

Lets also not forget that in 1994, President Bill Clinton signed into law an assault weapons ban, which resulted in a decline in national mass shootings over the next decade. Had that ban remained, it could have prevented any number of the mass shootings that ensued involving an AR-15-style weapon  including at Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida (17 lives), at a Las Vegas music festival (60 lives) and at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut (27 lives).

By creating sensible gun legislation  such as an assault weapons ban, requiring background checks, banning high-capacity magazines, raising the purchasing age from 18 to 21 or enacting gun storage laws  we can swiftly tackle this crisis of violence that now punctuates American society.

Although often perceived as a polarized issue, Americans of all backgrounds are asking for stricter gun laws to help keep their communities safe. According to a recent Fox News poll, 61% of Americans support banning assault rifles and semi-automatic weapons. Last year, the bipartisan research group 97% found that a majority of gun owners support laws that protect the public from gun violence. Michael Siegel, a professor at the Tufts University School of Medicine who led the study, indicated that gun safety measures are not as partisan or controversial as perceived.

The take-home is quite simple, really. Americans want stricter gun laws. Now. Its time for elected representatives to respond. No one wants to wake up one more day to another gut-wrenching tragedy; we all deserve a right to live.
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Last Friday afternoon, under blue skies, Adam Danielson stood atop Mount Shastas 14,179-foot summit crag gazing down across a vast, rippling sheet of clouds. The 51-year-old sales manager and father of four had traveled from Wisconsin to boot up the snow-covered peak with his brother and two friends.

That moment capped the groups two-year effort to climb the burly mountain. Their first attempt, last spring, was thwarted by rough weather. This time, they punched through a layer of wet cloud cover en route to the top.

May is prime time for climbing Shasta, and the winters barrage of storms plastered the peaks mighty contours with enough deep snow to quell rockfall on the slopes  a sign of a strong mountaineering season ahead. Between 5,000 and 8,000 climbers a year attempt to summit Shasta, Northern Californias highest peak and a technical mountaineering challenge. About a dozen of them call for emergency help, and one usually dies  due to rockfall, a slip-and-fall or exposure to the elements.

As the four climbers began their descent, they had no idea that hours later one of them would survive one of the most frightening situations on the mountain in recent memory  a night trapped near the summit, in bitter cold, alone on a crevasse-ridden glacier.

Gregory Thomas/The Chronicle 2022

No way down

Danielsons party ascended Shastas south side via the mountains most popular route, up Avalanche Gulch. But breaking with customary conduct, they parted ways for the climb down.

Danielsons three compatriots had humped skis up the mountain, and they planned to cruise back to base camp at Helen Lake while Danielson marched down in crampons, following his buddies ski tracks. Shortly after the three skiers and Danielson separated on the summit plateau, a storm materialized, stirring up fierce winds and blotting out the sun. Within minutes, the weather wiped away the tracks and cut Danielsons visibility, leaving him stranded in an unbroken plain of whiteness.

It was absolutely beautiful right up until it wasnt, Danielson said. Then it was like the inside of a pingpong ball.

GPS maps on Danielsons phone bugged out, bouncing his location around the mountain. Navigating by feel and buffeted by gusts, he kicked down off the summit plateau. One edge of the snowfield leads to Avalanche Gulch and the route back to camp; another gives way to a treacherous section of glaciated terrain on Shastas wilder north side.

Danielson knew something was amiss when the slope steepened under foot  the approach hadnt been so high-angle. Thats when the doubt crept in.

Ive spent enough time outdoors where your spidey sense starts tingling and you know somethings not right, he said. I took full evaluation of the fact that it was getting later in the day and conditions werent improving.

The late-day ambience darkened on the upper mountain. Enveloped in storm clouds, Danielson dialed 911 but the call didnt go through. He could text though, so he messaged his brother down at base camp.

I said, listen, Im now lost, Im scared, and its late, Danielson said. I need you to contact 911 if you get this text.

A terrifying night

When something goes wrong on Shasta, Nick Meyers gets a call.

Hes been the U.S. Forest Services lead ranger there for 20 years and estimates hes worked approximately 200 search-and-rescues. He has extracted injured skiers, hunted for lost climbers, assisted with high-elevation helicopter hoists, and recovered the bodies of people who froze to death. On a tragic day last year, a mountain guide died and four climbers had to be airlifted off the peak.

U.S. Forest Service

Late Friday, from base camp at Helen Lake, Danielsons brother phoned the Siskiyou County Sheriffs Department, and a deputy there contacted Meyers and dialed the missing climber. By then it was nearly 11 p.m.

On the mountain, Danielson was startled when his phone rang  he hadnt been able to dial out but had just enough service to receive calls. By then, he had noticed the hard, icy surface underfoot and concluded he must be skirting the edge of the Whitney Glacier, a snaking body of seracs and crevasses considered nearly unnavigable.

Speaking to the deputy, Danielson ran a supply check: Apart from his down jackets, GoreTex shell, snowshoes, ice ax and trekking poles, he carried a portable avalanche shovel, beacon and probe, a backup phone battery, two headlamps, bar snacks, energy goos and about two-thirds of a liter of water. No camping stove or Jetboil, no sleeping bag or bivy sack  not much protection for a night out in a snowstorm.

The deputy told Danielson that rescuers were mobilizing. To ward off the cold, the climber snapped together his avalanche shovel and began digging a snow cave  a strain given he was crouched on a giant slab of glacier ice.

Courtesy Adam Danielson

While digging, Danielsons phone buzzed with a text message from Meyers. The ranger was blunt: Given the late hour, stormy weather, poor visibility and glaciated terrain, there would be no rescue until the next day.

Danielson confronted two options: dig in, bundle up and stay put, or seek protection from the storm lower, toward the distant treeline. After consulting with Meyers, he began kicking down the sprawling glacier in crampons.

After just a few steps, catastrophe loomed. The solid ice underfoot abruptly gave way to a void in the snow and his leg plunged downward. He pitched forward, landing hard on his elbows on the far lip of the crevasse while his stepping foot kicked for a hold inside its icy chasm.

It was like taking a step into nothing. The snow just fell away in front of me and I was falling forward, Danielson said.

He hauled himself out and peered into the 4-foot-wide gap. Light from his headlamp sparkled off tiny ice crystals in the crevasses far wall but the beam became lost in the black abyss at its center.

Looking into it, I about lost my mind, Danielson said.

Courtesy Adam Danielson

Flurries of snow swirled around the desolate slope. Danielson gathered himself and continued downward. But after a few more steps, the ground dissolved again, sending Danielson careening forward into another crevasse.

Thats when I just broke down. I literally couldnt be in any worse situation at that moment, Danielson said. It took me a bit to collect myself and regain my composure.

Courtesy Adam Danielson

It was after midnight. He texted Meyers. Was climbing back up toward the plateau an option, the ranger asked?

I said theres no way in hell Im going back up there. Id have to jump over those crevasses, Danielson said.

He found a large chunk of calved ice protruding from the glacier surface and hacked into its base to create a meager wind break, then sat on his pack to insulate from the ice, resolved to hunker down until sunrise.

At 12:57 a.m. Meyers sent Danielson a parting message: You can do this. It could be the hardest night of your life. Dig deep my friend. Were going to come for you. Do anything you can to stay warm.

Before clicking off his headlamp for the night, Danielson took a last sip of water, pulled his neck buff over his nose and strapped on his ski goggles to shield his eyelids from the freezing air. Then he folded himself forward and settled in, wind roaring in his ears.

I knew I couldnt go anywhere and that no one could get to me. Youre just alone, Danielson said. I was terrified like no point in my life before.

Body recovery or rescue mission?

Exhausted, Danielson slept in short, sporadic bursts.

Hed wake to find his body convulsing from the cold, with fresh snow piling up around his shins. Then hed stretch and flex his limbs to force blood to his extremities  doing dance kicks while sitting on the pack, he said.

At his home in the town of Mount Shasta, Meyers couldnt sleep. He paced back and forth, concerned for Danielson and thinking about the rescue ahead.

About 6 inches of snow fell on Shasta overnight. At 5:45 a.m., Meyers and three fellow rangers were gearing up for the rescue attempt. But Meyers hadnt received a reply from Danielson to a pair of check-in texts, and he was beginning to worry.

When I didnt get a response, it was like, Oh boy, here we go  body recovery,  Meyers said.

Danielson, tucked in a high corner of the glacier valley, had fallen asleep in the snow around sunrise. He woke to find Meyers texts and replied, saying he was ready to go home.

Courtesy Adam Danielson

Thats when we hit the gas, Meyers said. We didnt know what condition he would be in, but that glimmer of hope got us going.

Climbers in peril are sometimes evacuated off of Shasta by a California Highway Patrol helicopter, but rough weather that morning made an airlift impossible, Meyers said.

Much of the dirt road to Shastas remote north side trailhead was buried in deep snow, so the rangers drove as far as they could and mounted their approach on snowmobiles, venturing into whiteout conditions on the mountain.

After motoring several miles through the woods to the treeline, the four men continued up on skis to the foot of Whitney Glacier, a pale expanse at 10,000 feet framed by jagged windswept ridges. There the weather finally relented, with the clouds parting into blue skies.

The rangers whistled and yelled up the valley. After ascending another hour, they saw a figure several hundred yards higher marching straight towards them.

Courtesy Nick Meyers

Danielson had seen the men working their way up before theyd seen him, and stomped down on a wave of adrenaline, better able to maneuver on the edge of the treacherous glacier in daylight.

I almost wanted to cry, like, Oh my god, Im not alone,  he said.

The rangers were elated to see Danielson moving so well on his own, with no apparent injuries. After a brief pause for Danielson to eat a Clif bar and sip water, Meyers hustled the group back toward the snowmobiles. It was 6 miles back to the trailhead.

Lessons for the future

The rescuers and climber rendezvoused at the trailhead with members of the Siskiyou County Sheriffs search-and-rescue team, who had arrived with a snowcat to shuttle Danielson back to the trucks. There, he reunited with his brother and climbing partners.

Meyers, who would later describe the dawn-to-dusk venture as a mega-rescue, rallied the climbers for a few words on safety and best practices. Theyd made several poor decisions, he said.

Courtesy Nick Meyers

First, they hadnt properly accounted for the stormy weather in the forecast. Shasta climbers are often rebuffed by the conditions Danielsons crew encountered during their summit push and they should have heeded the inclement weather rather than climbed through it, Meyers said.

Second, the climbers summited around 2:45 p.m.  late, considering the time needed to get down the mountain safely before dark.

Third, the climbers decision to part ways with Danielson was a dangerous error, said Meyers, who also directs the Mount Shasta Avalanche Center.

Lastly, having better navigation tools could have spared Danielson from descending off the wrong side of the summit plateau. A just-in-case bivvy sack wouldnt have been a bad idea either, Meyers said.

It could have easily been a different outcome for him, he said. We dont ever want to discourage people from grand adventures  but we advise folks not to jump into the deep end of the pool if youre not experienced. Shasta is a novice endeavor, but it can still kill you.

At home with his wife several days later, Danielson recounted the misadventure over morning coffee.

She made me promise that on any future trip, I only go if I hire a guide  which I gladly agreed to, Danielson said.

Its become clear to me that, when you dont follow the general (mountaineering) guidelines, when you ignore the signs, that youre asking someone else to leave their family and put their own life in danger to come get you, Danielson said. Thats something I wont soon forget.

Adam Danielson agreed to share the details of his ordeal with The Chronicle in the hope that it serves as a cautionary tale to anyone considering climbing a 14,000-foot peak.
Author Dave Eggers has made his home in San Francisco, founding McSweeneys Publishing and co-founding the 826 Valencia writing workshop. His latest book, The Eyes & the Impossible may be his most S.F. book yet, following the adventures and poetic thoughts of a dog in a loosely fictionalized version of Golden Gate Park.

Eggers joins Total SF hosts Peter Hartlaub and Heather Knight to talk about archery, the inspiration he finds in the park, his optimism about San Francisco and the greatness of the movie So I Married an Axe Murderer. More for you Listen: Secrets of the Golden Gate Park bison

Listen: Secrets of the San Francisco International Airport
Caste, the system of dividing society into privileged and subordinate classes, is for many Americans a remote social ailment unique to India and its South Asian neighbors. But for some local residents, particularly in the Silicon Valley and other tech havens, it is a problem much closer to home  and California would become the first state to address it, under a Bay Area lawmakers legislation advancing in Sacramento.

SB403 by Sen. Aisha Wahab, D-Hayward, would prohibit discrimination based on caste in employment, housing, education and other programs under the same state laws that apply to race, religion, sex and sexual orientation. It breezed through the state Senate on a 34-1 vote Thursday and is headed for the Assembly. It has won bipartisan support so far, and Wahab says she is confident it will pass.

Wahab, a daughter of refugees from Afghanistan, became the first Afghan American ever elected to public office in the United States when she won a seat on the Hayward City Council in 2018, then won a state Senate election last November. She says Dalits  the lowest-ranked Hindu caste, once known as Untouchables  suffer some of the same persecution here that they do in India.

Dalit women  have spoken to me about receiving death and rape threats for speaking out about the discrimination they have endured here in California, Wahab told Senate committee staff. While she believes caste is already covered by laws banning discrimination based on race, religion or national origin, she said, an explicit prohibition on caste bias will strengthen our laws and make clear that California does not tolerate any type of discrimination.

Hindu rights organizations oppose SB403 and say it will encourage bias against Hindus. Those views were reflected in a statement by the only senator to vote against the bill, Brian Jones, a San Diego Republican and the Senates minority party leader.

My constituents have shared that this measure is offensive and discriminatory against their heritage in a way never seen before, said Jones, who called SB403 unnecessarily divisive.

Opponents also include the American Hindu Federation, Fremont Hindu Temple and the India Heritage Foundation. The bills supporters include the Asian Law Caucus, the Communications Workers of America labor union and the American Civil Liberties Union.

A nationwide U.S. survey in 2016 by Equality Labs, a Dalit-rights organization based in Oakland that sponsored SB403, found that two-thirds of all Dalits who responded said they had been treated unfairly at work, one-third said they had faced discrimination in education and one-fourth said they had faced verbal or physical assaults because of their caste.

Wherever South Asians have traveled from their homeland, we have seen them bring the trauma of caste, Equality Labs founder and executive director, Thenmozhi Soundararajan, said in an interview. There are thousands of caste-oppressed people in the state of California.

The caste system originated in India, more than 3,000 years ago, and is present in Hindu and other religious communities in additional South Asian nations, including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Based on beliefs in karma and reincarnation, it divides society into four unchangeable groups  Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra, in descending order of prestige and occupation  with Dalits considered outcastes forbidden to live among them.

Soundararajan, who is Dalit and the daughter of Indian immigrants, said caste abuse in the Asian American community has spread beyond the technology industry and has been reported in schools, restaurants, hotels, farms and other settings, where workers have experienced slurs, bullying, sexual harassment, demotions and even termination.

Soundararajan was invited by Google News in April 2022 to speak to employees on caste bias in newsrooms. But she said Google canceled the talk after a group of employees posted messages calling her anti-Hindu, and threats to her and her parents forcing her to move to a safe house for two months.

After the cancellation, Shannon Newberry, a Google spokesperson, said that caste discrimination has no place in our workplace but that the company decided that the proposed talk  rather than bringing our community together and raising awareness, was creating division and rancor. The Washington Post reported that Tanjua Gupta, a senior manager who had invited Soundararajan to speak, resigned over the incident.

Although no state prohibits caste discrimination, California State University, the nations largest higher-education system with more than 437,000 students and 44,000 employees, added caste to its antidiscrimination policy in January 2022, joining Harvard, Brandeis and other universities, including UC Davis. In February, Seattle became the first U.S. city to outlaw caste discrimination.

One participant in the CSU campaign was Prem Pariyar, a member of the Alameda County Human Relations Commission and a Nepalese immigrant of Dalit ancestry.

In a column for The Chronicle last year, Pariyar recalled being invited to lunch by a South Asian acquaintance in 2015, but then being told not to approach the buffet because he would pollute the food.

When I came here in 2015 to flee caste apartheid in my county, I did not expect I would be discriminated against, Pariyar, now 39 and a social worker, said in an interview. But while working at a restaurant in Davis, he said, his co-workers, South Asians from higher castes, refused to share housing provided by the owner, who brushed off his complaints and told him to find work elsewhere.

He said he had similar experiences as a graduate student at Cal State East Bay several years later, but found support among professors and other South Asian students, and eventually won passage of a resolution in the Academic Senate calling for a discrimination ban, a stance later endorsed by the entire CSU system.

This is a civil rights issue, a human rights issue, Pariyar said.

Whether caste discrimination is already prohibited in California may be determined by a suit filed in 2020 by the state Civil Rights Department against Cisco Systems over its treatment of a Dalit engineer at its San Jose headquarters, which has a mostly South Asian workforce.

The suit, still pending, accuses Cisco of paying a lower salary to the engineer and limiting his advancement opportunities, in violation of state and federal laws against discrimination based on race, religion and national origin or ethnicity. A Cisco spokeswoman, Robyn Blum, said the technology company is committed to an inclusive workplace for all and has not violated any laws. A state appeals court agreed last year to let the engineer remain anonymous because of fears for the safety of his family in India.

Soundararajan, who is familiar with the case, said the engineers Cisco supervisors are Brahmin and knew him from their school days in India. Once they started overseeing his work, she said, he started getting bad reviews and fewer work assignments and was siloed from the rest of the team and passed over for promotion.

And even if the courts rule that Cisco violated the engineers rights under current laws, Soundararajan said, you still need to change policy with a law that explicitly bans caste discrimination.
The most violent confrontation in months between Israel and Palestinian resistance factions continued for a third straight day on Friday, as Israeli warplanes struck targets in the Gaza Strip and Palestinian resistance factions fired more rockets at Israel and hopes of securing a truce faded.

Two Palestinians were killed on Friday and at least five others were injured in an Israeli airstrike that targeted a residential apartment in al-Nasser neighborhood to the west of Gaza city, reported by the Palestinian news agency WAFA.

Earlier on Friday, a Palestinian man died from critical injuries sustained in an Israeli airstrike on the northern Gaza Strip, according to medical sources at Indonesia Hospital. The 38-year-old was injured during the israeli airstrike on Thursday night that killed another man aged 22.

Sirens warning of incoming fire meanwhile rang out in Israeli communities close to the border with the Gaza Strip, as well as blaring in an Israeli settlement near Jerusalem in the occupied West Bank.

Islamic Jihad has retaliated to Israel attacks with over 800 rockets fire toward densely populated parts of Israel. The resistance movement said the latest rocket fire, seen by AFP journalists, was a "response to the assassinations and the continued aggression against the Palestinian people". It came after a rocket killed one civilian in the central Israeli city of Rehovot the night before.

Violence broke out very late on Wednesday when Israel killed 21 Palestinians, among them children and women while saying it was trageting three top members of the Islamic Jihad militant group. Subsequent strikes have killed two other senior figures.

On Thursday night, Israeli fighter jets targeted a location near the electric power plant to the north of Nuseirat refugee camp, killing one and injuring several others, including critical injuries, and causing a power outage that left the area in darkness.

Gaza residents reported explosions in farms near the southern city of Rafah. A burst of rocket fire from the Gaza Strip sent air raid sirens wailing near Israel's southern border Friday, breaking a 12-hour lull that had raised hopes that Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations could soon be able to broker a cease-fire.

The ongoing Israeli airstrikes against the besieged Gaza Strip, have resulted in the deaths of 31 Palestinians, at least 19 of them were children, according to the United Nations. Over 95 Palestinians were also injured, the Palestinian Health Ministry reported.

Israeli bombs and shells have destroyed 47 housing units, and damaged 19 so badly they were uninhabitable, leaving 165 Palestinians homeless, Gazas housing ministry reported. In addition, nearly 300 homes sustained some damage.

Daily life in the coastal territory, ruled by Hamas, has largely come to a standstill, while Israel has told its citizens near Gaza to stay close to bomb shelters.

Home 'seriously shaking'

In Gaza's central Deir al-Balah area, farmer Belal Basher stood beside the ruins of the home he said was hit by multiple Israeli strikes.

"Our situation is the same as that of any Palestinian citizen whose house is targeted and whose dream, built over the years, is destroyed," the 33-year-old told AFP.

Palestinians on Friday surveyed the wreckage wrought by the fighting.

The dream that we built for our children, for our sons, has ended, said Belal Bashir, a Palestinian living in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, whose family home was reduced to a heap of rubble in an airstrike late Thursday. He and his family would have been killed in the thundering explosion if they hadnt ran outside when they heard shouting, he said.

We were shocked that our house was targeted, he added as he pulled his young childrens dolls and blankets from a bomb crater.

The decision to renew air strikes on Gaza this week was authorized by Israeli occupation Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who returned to power in December alongside extreme-right and ultra-Orthodox Jewish allies.

In Lebanon, rallies were held in solidarity with Gaza in multiple refugee camps hosting Palestinians.

"Resisters, strike Tel Aviv," protesters chanted in Saida, home to the country's largest refugee camp, according to an AFP photographer.

This week's escalation is the worst since August, when 49 Gazans were killed in three days of fighting between the resistance movement Jihad and Israel.

That conflict followed multiple wars fought between Israel and Hamas since the group took control of Gaza in 2007.

An Israeli blockade imposed since then has made it impossible for the vast majority of 2.3 million residents to leave Gaza, where poverty and unemployment are rife.

Ramping up diploatic efforts

The civilians deaths have drawn condemnation from the Arab world and concern from the United States and Europe. In its past four wars against Gaza, Israel has repeatedly faced accusations of war crimes due to the high civilian death tolls and its use of heavy weapons against the crowded enclave.

Hamas, the de facto civilian government in Gaza, has sought to maintain its truce with Israel while attempting to keep abysmal living conditions in the blockaded enclave from spiraling since a devastating 11-day war in 2021 that killed over 260 Palestinians. The resistance group, which control Gaza since 2007, has sat out this round of fighting  as it did a similar burst of violence last summer.

Both sides had seemed on the brink of a cease-fire before the eruption of Thursday's violence. Friday's relative calm boosted hopes of progress.

Hamas officials told local media that Egypt was ramping up its diplomatic efforts to stop the fighting through intensive contacts with both Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

Jihad figures have sent mixed signals about the cease-fire talks. Senior official Ihsan Attaya complained early Friday that the mediators have been unable to provide us with any guarantees. A sticking point has been Jihad's demands that Israel cease its policy of targeted killings, Attaya said.

Jihad political bureau member Mohamad al-Hindi sounded more optimistic. From Cairo, where he traveled Thursday to hash out the details of a possible truce, he told media that he hoped both sides would reach a cease-fire agreement and honor it today.

The airstrikes and rockets have shifted the focus of conflict back to Gaza after months of surging violence in the occupied West Bank under Israel's most right-wing government in history.

Israel has been carrying out near-nightly arrest raids in the West Bank that have killed 109 Palestinians so far this year  the highest such death toll in two decades. At least half of the dead are affiliated with militant groups, according to a tally by The Associated Press. At least 20 people have been killed in Palestinian attacks targeting Israelis during that time.

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Linda Yaccarino, formerly NBCUniversals top advertising sales executive, will officially take over as Twitters new CEO, Elon Musk announced on Friday.

In a tweet, Musk expressed excitement about Yaccarinos appointment and outlined their respective roles, with Yaccarino focusing on business operations while he concentrates on product design and new technology.

Musk said the new hire would allow him to focus on product design & new technology.

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO, who acquired the social media platform for $44 billion last year, also reiterated his plan to turn Twitter into X, the everything app  a plan he signaled in a tweet last October.

While he has not provided specific details, the Tesla founder has previously noted the convenience of Chinas WeChat, which consolidates various app experiences, including food delivery, ride-sharing and cashless payments, into one service.

Twitter Inc. was reincorporated into Musks X Corp. last month and no longer exists as a separate corporation, though it still uses the brand name.

The rebranding also aligns with Musks other products, including Space X and Tesla Model X, and the website X.com, which he started before co-founding PayPal.

Musk had previously said he was looking for a successor and ran a Twitter poll, in which the majority of voters said he should resign.

While hes stepping back from the CEO title, Musk is far from likely to step back from calling the product shots, said Mike Proulx, research director at Forrester Research.

Twitters future may hinge on the capabilities of Linda Yaccarino, a 60-year-old executive with an impressive track record. Her career at NBCUniversal spans nearly 12 years, during which her team generated over $100 billion in ad sales since 2011, according to her company bio.

Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes

Yaccarino previously held key positions at NBC, including chair for advertising and client partnerships and as president of cable entertainment and digital advertising sales. Prior to her tenure at NBC, she spent two decades at the global entertainment firm Turner.

For Musk and Twitter, attracting advertisers is critical, especially after experiencing a mass exodus in the early months following his takeover of the social media platform when advertisers fled, fearing potential damage to their brands in the ensuing chaos. He mentioned in late April that advertisers had returned, though he provided no specific details.

I will resign as CEO as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job, Musk posted in December.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
One of the first statewide heat waves of the year will be right on San Franciscos doorsteps, with weather models signaling widespread temperatures in the 90s across a large swath of Northern California this weekend.

The Bay Areas natural A.C. will help shave off some of the hot air from reaching the coast, but that protection will be limited for inland residents. To add insult to injury, its also looking like a monsoon-like mass of air will be arriving this weekend. The combination of high temperatures and humid air will make for a Florida-like environment across large portions of the region.

Isnt it May?

The weather models arent backing off their humidity projections. A low-pressure system over the Rockies is forecast to travel east-to-west toward California between Friday and Sunday. Longtime readers might notice something off about the direction of that system, and thats because weather systems normally travel west-to-east. There are some exceptions, including when monsoon-laded thunderstorms travel across the Desert Southwest.

This weekends weather pattern in the Western U.S. will resemble some of the traits youd expect from monsoon season, which normally doesnt start until the middle of June: high humidity and thunderstorms in the deserts and Sierra Nevada. This includes the chance for muggy air across the Bay Area.

Baron/Lynx

Weather models are signaling there will be a pretty saturated air mass across much of the Bay Area on Saturday  and especially by Sunday. But to make matters worse, its also looking like the humidity will team up with the hot air being brought on by another weather system.

An unusually warm high

The driver of this weekends heat wave will be an unusually strong high-pressure system thats forecast to set up shop over the Pacific Northwest. Itll make for a counterintuitive case where the further north you go, the warmer it will get.

Northern California will be at the tail-end of this hot weather system, but the region will be just close enough for some widespread upper 80s and lower 90s to develop this weekend.

Baron/Lynx

Most of the Central Valley can expect humid conditions on Saturday and Sunday as temperatures rise to the 90s. Some of the afternoons excessive heat will spill into the inland valleys of Napa, Sonoma, Solano, Contra Costa and Alameda counties. A moderate heat risk is on tap for cities like Walnut Creek, Dublin, Santa Rosa and San Jose. This means sensitive populations, including those with limited cooling options, will bear the brunt of some of the hot and muggy conditions.

If youre looking for places to escape the worst of the heat, your best bet will be to head to San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Coast. Whats left of the marine layer will act like a natural AC by the water, keeping daytime temperatures from going above 80 degrees.

That said, its likely that many others will also think of heading to the coast, so be sure to plan for busy beaches all weekend long.

Weekend breakdown

San Francisco: Friday is shaping up to be a mostly sunny day, aside from some occasional patches of high fog around Twin Peaks, Mount Davidson and the Presidio. The combination of sunshine and warmer air flowing over San Francisco Bay will allow daytime highs to reach the upper 60s in the Sunset and Richmond districts, along with Stonestown and Lake Merced. Residents east of Sutro Tower are in for even warmer weather, with daytime temperatures rising to the 70-degree mark around downtown, SoMa, the Castro and Mission. Some of the warmth will carry over into Friday night as lows will only fall to the mid-50s by the water and lower 50s on the hillsides.

Clear skies and light, northeast winds raising daytime temperatures will help make Saturday the warmest day of this weekends weather setup, with lower 70s on the west side and mid-70s east of Sutro Tower. A few pockets of the city, including in the Mission, Glen Park and Noe Valley, have a good shot at surpassing 75 degrees.

Expect similar conditions by Sunday, with just a bit more cloud cover shaving off daytime temperatures by about 1 to 3 degrees. Moisture levels are expected to rise alongside temperatures on Saturday and Sunday, leading to humid afternoons and evenings this weekend.

Pacific Coast and Peninsula: Residents along Hwy 1 from Pacifica to Half Moon Bay can expect a steady rise in temperatures Friday and into the weekend. A ridge of high pressure will stomp out some of the marine clouds overhead, leading to daytime temperatures that will reach the lower 60s on Friday and upper 60s by Saturday and Sunday. This warm-up could potentially lead to pockets of 70s on some of the hillsides along Hwy 92 between Half Moon Bay and San Mateo this weekend.

The warming trend is also slated for the rest of the Peninsula. Residents in the San Bruno Gap, including Daly City, Millbrae and South San Francisco, can expect daytime temperatures to climb to the lower 70s on Friday and upper 70s by the weekend. Residents along the foothills of I-280 can look forward to daytime highs in the lower 80s on Saturday, including those in Redwood City and Menlo Park.

Clouds will gradually return by Sunday, shaving off temperatures across the Peninsula by about a degree or two. That said, expect it to feel a little muggier as humidity levels rise over the course of the day.

North Bay: Some of the hottest air in the region is set to flow into the Napa, Santa Rosa and Petaluma valleys starting Friday. Expect daytime temperatures to reach the upper 70s to lower 80s Friday afternoon before they eventually climb to the upper 80s by Saturday. Humidity levels are also expected to rise alongside temperatures, leading to muggy conditions across most of the inland valleys. This also includes inland cities in Solano County like Fairfield and Vacaville, where Saturdays daytime highs have a good chance of reaching the 90-degree mark. Look for pockets of lower 90s across some of the highlands of Sonoma and Napa counties, with towns like Gurneville, Healdsburg and Cloverdale all likely to reach that benchmark.

Looking to escape the heat? Temperatures on the bay shore are forecast to be much cooler on Friday and into the weekend, with towns like Tiburon, Sausalito and San Rafael likely to stay below 80-degrees. That said, expect daytime temperatures on Friday and Saturday to reach the upper 60s to mid-70s by the water and for temperatures to quickly rise to the 80s as you head west of Hwy 101 in Marin County.

More humidity arrives by Sunday, leading to more high clouds overhead. The added shade will shave off daytime temperatures by 3 degrees regionwide, but the moisture overhead is set to make Sunday a hot and muggy day for much of the North Bay.

East Bay: A warm and muggy weekend is on tap for most of Alameda and Contra Costa counties, with Fridays weather pattern starting off the warming trend.

Look for ample sunshine and warm air from the Central Valley drifting into the San Ramon and Livermore valleys over the course of Friday, Saturday and Sunday. This will lead to daytime temperatures climbing to the upper 70s to lower 80s on Friday afternoon and upper 80s by Saturday. This warm-up has the potential to raise temperatures to the lower 90s in cities like Walnut Creek, Dublin and Pleasanton on Saturday and Sunday, raising a heat risk for sensitive populations and those with limited cooling. On top of that, moisture levels are forecast to rise this weekend, leading to humid conditions  especially during peak hours of heating between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m.

Bayside residents in Oakland, Alameda, Hayward and Richmond will escape the worst of the heat this weekend, but daytime temperatures are still expected to reach the mid-70s immediately by the water and upper 70s to lower 80s east of the I-80 and I-880 corridors. Be sure to take plenty of water and avoid the sun as much as possible if you plan to hike along the Oakland and Berkeley hills  Saturday and Sundays daytime temperatures are forecast to reach the mid-80s right as humidity levels increase both afternoons.

South Bay and Santa Cruz: Residents in the South Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains and along Monterey Bay are in for a sharp rise in temperatures this weekend as a ridge of high pressure builds overhead. This system will stomp out most of the marine layer, leading to sunny skies and a steady stream of warm air in the Santa Cruz Mountains that will eventually spill into Capitola, Aptos, Watsonville and Soquel. Look for daytime highs along the Santa Cruz Mountains and in Monterey Bay reaching the lower 70s on Friday and mid to upper 70s by Saturday.

This uptick in warm air will be more pronounced in the Santa Clara Valley, where residents in San Jose, Los Gatos and Cupertino can expect upper 70s to lower 80s on Friday and upper 80s by Saturday. A few hot spots in the eastern foothills of the valley could briefly reach the 90-degree mark, though most of the hotter air is looking to stay to the north.

Humidity levels will steadily increase throughout the weekend, making for muggy afternoons across the region. By Sunday, there should be enough moisture to raise just enough cloud cover so that temperatures fall by 1 to 3 degrees. Weather models hint at a couple lone showers forming in some of the mountains Sunday afternoon, but those chances are slim.

Reach Gerry Diaz: gerry.diaz@sfchronicle.com; Twitter: @geravitywave
San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins reportedly filed a motion on Thursday requesting that all charges be dropped against a San Francisco Police Department officer who shot and critically injured a man in the Mission District in 2019.

In a follow-up interview with KTVU, Jenkins said that the case was politically motivated by her predecessor, Chesa Boudin, and that there was exculpatory evidence  two witness statements that Jenkins alleged were previously not considered in the case  strengthening the officer's self-defense claims.

SFPD officer Christopher Flores was originally indicted on charges of assault with a semi-automatic firearm, assault by a public officer and negligent discharge of a firearm after shooting Jamaica Hampton on Mission and 23rd streets in December 2019.

After being stopped on suspicion of burglary, Hampton struck Flores with a broken glass bottle before being shot multiple times by Flores' partner, officer Sterling Hayes.

Surveillance footage of the incident shows that Flores then shot Hampton while Hampton was crawling on the ground, Mission Local reported.

Hampton was also indicted and charged with assault with a deadly weapon, assault upon a peace officer with force likely to cause great bodily injury, threatening an officer, and vandalism. His leg was amputated as a result of the shooting.

The case was taken to a grand jury by former District Attorney Boudin, whose prosecutors offered to settle the case if Flores agreed to attend a counseling session and meet with Hampton, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. (SFGATE and the Chronicle are both owned by Hearst but have separate newsrooms.) Flores reportedly declined this offer. Charges against Hampton were eventually dropped after he agreed to a mental health diversion program.

I was handed, when I took over, what I believed were politically based and politically motivated prosecutions against police officers where there was clearly not enough evidence to prove their guilt, Jenkins said to KTVU.

Jenkins used the same language earlier this year in announcing her decision to drop charges against SFPD officer Christopher Samayoa, who shot and killed carjacking suspect Keita ONeil in 2017. Jenkins claimed the charges against Samayoa were filed by Boudin's office for political reasons.

Thursday's motion also comes less than two weeks after Jenkins announced her office would not pursue murder charges against a Walgreens security guard who shot and killed Banko Brown, a transgender Black man, for allegedly shoplifting.
UN experts have warned that justice for the killing of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh has been denied, a year after she was shot dead while reporting on Israels raid in the Jenin refugee camp.

Several independent investigations have concluded that Abu Akleh was most likely killed by targeted shots fired by Israeli occupation forces, but Israeli authorities have not opened a criminal investigation or held anyone responsible.

After a year, Israeli authorities have failed to hold the perpetrators of Abu Aklehs killing accountable, while independent investigations have pointed at the culpability of Israeli forces. Justice remains, again, hostage of politics, the experts said.

Abu Akleh was shot dead while reporting on Israel's raid in the Jenin refugee camp, despite wearing clear identification as a journalist.

The experts have called for an effective, thorough, independent, impartial and transparent investigation into her death, in accordance with international standards.

They have also highlighted the high number of Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem in recent months and urged the international community to take action.

In 2022, out of 9000 Israeli operations, 702 targeted refugee camps in the occupied West Bank. In 2023, already more than 100 Palestinians have been killed in the context of such operations, including in Jenin, Nablus and Jericho.

Since 2001, at least 18 Palestinian journalists have been reportedly killed by the IDF in the occupied Palestinian territory and no one has been held accountable for those deaths.

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The Mercury News filed a lawsuit against the city of San Jose on Wednesday after the city refused to release public records regarding details of last years Pink Poodle incident, in which a bikini-wearing woman was dropped off at a strip club by a San Jose fire engine.

The news outlet submitted two public records requests to determine what disciplinary action was taken against the fire department employees and unearth further details surrounding the incident, but both requests were flatly denied, it said Wednesday.

The lawsuit states that the California Public Records Act allows people to view documents so the public is not forced to accept the governments version of events.

Frank Pine, executive editor of Media News Group, said in a statement provided to SFGATE that a fire engine is a critical public asset and that the public deserves to understand the details of its service and the Pink Poodle incident.

City leaders owe taxpayers a more thorough accounting of what happened here and what the city has done to ensure it doesnt happen again, Pine said.

The city of San Jose did not respond to SFGATEs request for comment on the lawsuit.

City officials argued that revealing public records would violate the privacy of the firefighters and that there is no strong public interest in viewing them, the Mercury News reported.

The scandal began Oct. 6, when an Instagram video posted by an account called San Jose Foos showed a woman dressed in a bikini and heels exiting a fire truck that appeared to be parked in front of the Pink Poodle, on the 300 block of Bascom Avenue.

In an Oct. 7 statement from the fire department, San Jose Fire Chief Robert Sapien Jr. called the video concerning and said an investigation would be opened into the incident. The department said that if the investigation revealed any misconduct from its members, the city would take appropriate steps ... to address the matter.

Sapien released a brief statement on March 10 announcing the end of the investigation but didnt offer any specific details about what happened on the night of the incident. He released another statement on April 25 in response to significant public inquiries, in which he shared details regarding the incident that werent included in the March 10 memo  including the whereabouts of the fire engine that night.

He said on Oct. 5, a fire crew transported an unauthorized, male passenger from the fire station at 9 p.m. to his job at the Pink Poodle. After the vehicle arrived at the Pink Poodle at 9:06 p.m., he said, a woman climbed into the truck and asked for a ride.

Sapien said the fire crew initially declined to give the woman a ride, but she persisted. The woman was driven partially around the block and was dropped off at the strip club at 9:10 p.m., he said.

The vehicle made another stop, Sapien said, departing from the strip club at 9:10 p.m. and arriving near AJs Restaurant and Bar, on the 1100 block of Auzerais Avenue, around 9:14 p.m. He said the vehicle remained there for two minutes before going back to the fire station  but, as the Mercury News noted Wednesday, provided no explanation for this stop.

Call records show there werent any service requests at or near the two establishments at that time, according to the Mercury News. Jake Pisani, a spokesperson for the fire department, told SFGATE the department cant provide comment on active litigation beyond the March and April memos from Sapien.

In the April memo, Sapien said transporting unauthorized passengers is against city and fire department policies and that city officials took appropriate disciplinary action and considered the matter closed. But the city refused to release the records that could reveal which disciplinary measures it took, citing the employees privacy, according to the Mercury News.

Public records can sometimes be denied for an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, David Loy, legal director at the government transparency nonprofit First Amendment Coalition, told SFGATE. However, he said that the public has a compelling interest in viewing documents related to an investigation of a public employees misconduct, especially when it's clear that there was in fact misconduct.

[Fire engines] are public resources used only for public service, not for private errands, Loy said. Anytime that there is a significant question of misuse of public resources  the public has a compelling interest in getting the full story, not just the official story.

After both records requests from the Mercury News were denied, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan said he was disappointed he couldnt share more information but said the Mercury News should refer to the City Attorneys Office.

The City Attorneys Office did not respond to SFGATEs request for comment.

Viewing public records is important because it enables the public to examine the process of the citys investigation, Loy said.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP)  OMAHA, Neb. (AP)  Boston Omaha Corp. (BOC) on Friday reported a first-quarter loss of $3.3 million, after reporting a profit in the same period a year earlier.

On a per-share basis, the Omaha, Nebraska-based company said it had a loss of 11 cents.
LOS ANGELES (AP)  A company owned by a billionaire Chinese real estate developer was fined $4 million on Friday for bribing a Los Angeles city councilmember for help in getting a downtown skyscraper approved.

Shenzhen New World I LLC was given the maximum penalty and was also placed on five years of probation, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice.

During the sentencing hearing, U.S. District Judge John F. Walter said the case exposed the crushing costs of public corruption, according to the statement.

A federal jury found the company guilty last year of bribery, honest services wire fraud and interstate and foreign travel in aid of bribery.

Shenzhen's owner, Wei Huang, 57, also was charged in the federal case but he is a fugitive and is believed to be in China, prosecutors said.

From 2013 to 2018, Shenzhen provided more than $1 million worth of bribes to Jose Huizar to help obtain city approval to build a 77-story tower that would have been the tallest skyscraper west of the Mississippi River, prosecutors said.

It was never built.

At the time, the councilmember chaired the citys powerful Planning and Land Use Management Committee.

Huizar allegedly received cash, casino gambling chips, luxury stays in Las Vegas, expensive meals, prostitution services, political contributions and funds to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit.

However, the project wasnt approved.

Prosecutors say the bribes were part of Huizars pay-to-play scheme tied to approval of downtown developments.

Huizar pleaded guilty in January to racketeering conspiracy and tax evasion. He's scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 25. Under a plea agreement, Huizar agreed to seek a sentence of at least nine years in prison, prosecutors said.

Friday's sentencing was the latest step in a sweeping and ongoing City Hall corruption probe.

In addition to Huizar, a half-dozen other people have been convicted or pleaded guilty to federal charges, including Huizars brother, Salvador Huizar; a former Huizar special assistant, a Huizar fundraiser, a lobbyist and another real estate developer.
LANSING, Mich. (AP)  Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer conducted her second international trade mission of the year this week, spending two days in Austria and Latvia meeting with both business and government leaders.

Whitmer, who spoke with The Associated Press upon returning to Michigan on Friday, said the international trips are an important part of the job, as the state looks to grow relationships and secure additional economic opportunities for our state.

In Latvia, the second-term Democratic governor and close ally of U.S. President Joe Biden met with Latvian President Egils Levits and other ranking officials before visiting Michigan national guard troops stationed in the country.

Latvia is Michigan's European ally, Whitmer said. The partnership between the country and state has reached 30 years. Former Gov. Rick Snyder visited the country in 2018 for the unveiling of a roadway being named Michigan Avenue.

Whitmer also used the visit to Latvia, which borders Russia, to show support for Ukraine in what she described in a statement following the visit as Russia's illegal war.

It has become more important than ever to support our allies around the world to protect democracy, Whitmer said in the statement.

The comments stand in contrast to those of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who characterized the war earlier this year as a "territorial dispute," before walking back the comment. Whitmer told the AP that it's sad to see these political points being scored with Kremlin talking points.

In Austria, she met with business executives at AVL List GmbH, a global automotive supplier. The company's North American headquarters are in Michigan, and Whitmer said she discussed future expansion in the state.

Whitmer spent five days in Europe in January, where she spoke at the World Economic Forums annual meeting in Davos and visited Norway. The trip, according to her office, was vital in securing a $400 million hydrogen facility in the state announced by Norwegian green hydrogen company Nel last week.

Whitmer has been frequently mentioned as a future presidential candidate, but she shot down any speculation that the overseas trips may signal any future ambitions.

"No one should read anything more into it other than it was an economic development trip and an opportunity to see our troops, she said.
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NEW YORK (AP)  Elon Musk is welcoming a veteran ad executive to the helm of Twitter, the social media site the billionaire Tesla CEO has been running since he bought it last fall.

Musk announced Friday that he's hiring Linda Yaccarino to be the new CEO of San Francisco-based Twitter, which is now called X Corp. He said Yaccarino's role will be focused mainly on running the company's business operations, leaving him to focus on product design and new technology.

Here's what to know about Yaccarino.

VETERAN AD EXEC

Yaccarino, 60, has worked as an advertising executive for decades. She came to NBCUniversal in 2011, just as Comcast was completing its merger with NBC, and oversaw integrating the companies' ad sales platforms. There, her most recent title was chairman, advertising and client partnerships. She oversaw all market strategy and advertising revenue, which totaled nearly $10 billion, for NBCUniversals entire portfolio of broadcast, cable and digital assets.

Before that, she held a variety of roles at Turner Broadcasting System Inc. from 1996 to 2011, including executive vice president and chief operating officer. That was after she held management positions at several media sales outlets.

Shes a marketers leader, said Mark DiMassimo, founder and creative chief of ad agency DiGo.

She speaks CMO and she understands what marketers need," he added, referring to the role of chief marketing officer.

PUSHING BOUNDARIES

Yaccarino has pushed the ad industry for change on several fronts, including advocating for relying less heavily on Nielsen ratings for measurement, and introducing a digital platform called One Platform that makes it easier to buy ads across a variety of different media in an effort to better compete for ads against social media companies and traditional media companies.

Its worth noting that they built out a big team thats made a lot of innovative products and supported the growth that theyve experienced, said Brian Wieser of strategic advisory firm Madison and Wall. Theyve been pushing the industry on a lot of fronts, you know, trying to make it better.

I think that first and foremost, shell bring to Twitter an understanding of what advertisers need to see to get back on the platform from the brand safety perspective, said Dave Campanelli, chief investment officer of media buying firm Horizon Media. She knows better than anyone what its going to take and I think for advertisers and buyers, the question really is, is she going to have free rein to do all that or is it going to be just the same old, same old (with Musk).

BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS

Yaccarino serves as chairman of the World Economic Forums Taskforce on the Future of Work. A 1985 graduate of Pennsylvania State University, she lives in Sea Cliff, New York, with her husband, Claude Madrazo. They have two children, Christian and Matthew.
A clothing company that sold sexually explicit T-shirts with the Trader Joes name is being sued by the California grocery chain giant.

Late last month, Trader Joes filed a lawsuit against Texas-based T-Shirt AT Fashion for trademark infringement and unfair competition based on the sale of merchandise that used the Trader Joes logo and similar brand images.

In the complaint filed by Trader Joes on April 20 with the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, the chain noted that T-Shirt AT Fashion was selling I got my ass ate at Trader Joes shirts, in addition to items that read Traitor Joes, which featured a photo of President Joe Biden.

Displaying the Trader Joes mark alone would violate Trader Joes intellectual property rights, the filing read in part. T-Shirt ATs profane addition causes further injury by tarnishing Trader Joes reputation in the mind of consumers and diminishing the positive, wholesome reputation of the Trader Joes brand.

Trader Joes added that the President Biden reference would likely impugn Trader Joes reputation in the minds of certain consumers who disagree with that political commentary.

Trader Joes first reached out to T-Shirt AT Fashion in 2021 with a cease-and-desist notice to remove Traitor Joes products from its website. A year later, the grocery chain discovered that T-Shirt AT Fashion had added the sexually explicit T-shirt with the Trader Joe's logo to its online store.

As of the date of filing this lawsuit, T-Shirt AT has yet to cease and desist its unlawful activities, the complaint read. As a direct and proximate result of T-Shirt ATs foregoing acts, Trader Joes has been damaged and has suffered and will continue to suffer immediate and irreparable injury, it added.

Its not the first time Trader Joes has sued for trademark infringement. In 2013, Trader Joes took legal action against Vancouver-based grocery store Pirate Joes, which was reselling Trader Joes products. Trader Joes sued for trademark infringement, unfair competition, false designation of origin and false advertising, according to the New York Times. Pirate Joes permanently closed in 2017 following the suit, according to the BBC.

SFGATE reached out to Trader Joes and T-Shirt AT Fashion for comments but did not hear back by publication.
The heady aroma of basil and garlic wafted from the just-opened doors of Sfizio, where the growing line of customers on Claremont Avenue was starting to spill into the street. Who cares about safety? This Rockridge restaurant debut came with a very desirable offering: steaming bowls of freshly made spaghetti for just $10.

The Oakland restaurant was open all of half an hour and already there was a party vibe: The amaro was flowing, Prophet and Mndsgns funk-boogie Wanna Be Your Man was pumping through the speakers, and those whod already snagged their pasta were smiling through marinara mustaches.

A woman drove up to the light at College Avenue and rolled down her window: What IS this place? A dapper tween declared he was definitely getting the meatballs: Its only three for $6, he told his parents. And several of the patrons at Wednesday nights grand opening were talking about the excitement over Sfizio, one of their favorite pandemic pop-ups, finally opening its own brick-and-mortar.

There were even some industry folks in line.



I just love pasta, said John Hanks, sous chef at Ramen Shop, the restaurant down the street, where Sfizio often popped up since its inception in 2020. There arent a lot of Italian restaurants around here that focus on it. And the price? You cant beat it.

Image courtesy of Sfizio

The Cal-Ital concept is very simple. Sfizio offers three pastas; two of them will run you $16 each, and the other is always that $10 spaghetti. Fresh pasta typically fetches more than $20 a plate in the Bay Area. Chef and owner Matt Solimano, who previously worked as a sous chef at Pizzaiolo, also features three starters and a dessert (currently strawberry shortcake) on the menu. Add some low-proof cocktails to the short list of Italian wines (all alcoholic beverages are under $12), and thats it.

This is the food that I like, Solimano told SFGATE a few days before the opening. I dont feel like I need it to be super fussy. Some of the really nice places that are doing beautiful pastas, it makes sense to have a higher price point, but thats not what were doing here.

Solimano, a former Seattle resident who opened Sfizio with his wife, was partly inspired by Mike Eastons Il Corvo, a Seattle restaurant that served pasta lunches for $10 before closing its doors in 2020. That place was so awesome, Solimano said. Id never seen anyone that had done that or done it since.

When Solimano and his wife moved to the Bay Area, he said they were shocked by the high cost of eating out.

Images courtesy of Sfizio

It felt like there were two options: super expensive or a cheap burrito, he said. I want Sfizio to be a place that is accessible to a wide group of people. A place where you can go on a weeknight, not just special occasions. If not cheap, at least affordable.

The Sfizio team is stepping into some really good juju for that. The bustling corner location at 6099 Claremont Ave. is the former home of Noodle Theory, which supplied the neighborhood with comforting bowls of duck curry and dan dan noodles for 15 years before shuttering in November of 2022 as a result of rising costs and tight margins. The team was clear that it did not want to charge patrons $30 for noodles to mitigate these costs. Solimano remembers that, and takes it to heart.

Once inside, we stepped up to the counter and a friendly host took our order and immediately whipped up our amaro-based cocktails. We liked the refreshingly fizzy bianco spritz ($10), which is made with prosecco and topped with sprigs of fresh thyme. While waiting for our order, we took in the familiar, long and narrow dining room, its walls now painted perky peach, and its counter, deep green. Vintage serving trays and framed black and white photos the Solimanos picked up from a recent trip to Rome decorated the walls.

Image courtesy of Sfizio

Outside, my family of three tucked into a patio table for two just as our food arrived, piping hot and aromatic. The home-run pasta was the fusilli, a verdant flurry of basil pesto, snap peas and grilled scallions that we didnt even bother scooping onto our plates. We just sent the large bowl around, taking turns shoveling the herbaceous corkscrews into our mouths until they were gone. The spaghetti, a generous portion of al dente noodles in basil-flecked marinara, was also quite good. It was hard to pass up an order of the pork meatballs (3 for $6) to go with it. Theyre large and extra-moist, thanks to the kitchens deft use of ricotta, butter and milk.

One dish, a tangle of grilled Monterey Bay squid served with crisp purslane and dark, smoky salsa negra, hinted at something Solimano told me over the phone when he was rolling 60 pounds worth of meatballs. When he was in Italy, he noticed that the chefs were less concerned with the technicality of food  how the carrot is cut, he said  and more about what is done with the carrot.

Its about the feeling you have when you eat it, he said.

Image courtesy of Sfizio

As we ran our fingers over the last drops of salsa negra, I knew exactly what he meant.

Sfizio, 6099 Claremont Ave., Oakland. Open Wednesday through Saturday, 3 to 10 p.m., with happy hour from 3 to 5 p.m. and dinner from 5 to 10 p.m.; www.sfiziopasta.com
CHICAGO (AP)  Two men were killed and three other people were injured in a shooting on Chicago's South Side early Thursday evening, authorities said.

A 19-year-old man and a 26-year-old man were both pronounced dead at the University of Chicago Medical Center after being shot, police said. Their names were not immediately released.
NEW YORK (AP)  Man who fatally choked NYC subway rider Jordan Neely appears in court on manslaughter charge, is freed pending trial.
NORWICH, Conn. (AP)  A body discovered partially buried in a shallow grave in a Connecticut park has been identified as a missing New York City man whose older brother was charged in April with murder and concealing the corpse.

Children of the missing man, Martin Wright, 44, had pleaded with their uncle, McMillian Wright, 45, to reveal the whereabouts of their father's body, but to no avail. Police believe Martin Wright was killed in January in his apartment.
It was hours before Hagar was set to leave her familys house in Khartoum to go back to Cairo where she had been living and working for over eight years.

However, suddenly things turned upside down with the start of the armed conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the centre of the Sudanese capital. Hagar had to rush out of Khartoum to the north of Sudan with her family members.

Once in the safety and comfort of the house of relatives in Al-Welaya Ashamalia (Northern State), Hagar had to think of heading back to Cairo. But with flights suspended, she had no choice but to get on one of the buses transferring people out of the armed conflict.

As a result of a career in development work, Hagar had crossed paths many times with people forced into displacement for one reason or another. And while not being personally forced into displacement, beyond the one that took her family from one governorate to another in Sudan, she hated to be perceived as a refugee.

I felt bad about how I felt. Nobody ever chooses to be a refugee, but once put into a situation of forced displacement one becomes aware of what it means to not know where to go or what to do next, she said.

On the bus that took her from a meeting point in the Northern State on a six-hour drive to the Sudanese side of the Argeen Borders Crossing and during the two-hour inspection at the border and the subsequent 12-hour-ride on an Egyptian bus to the heart of Cairo, Hagar could not help thinking that in reality she too had had to leave the city she was born and brought up in as she pursued a career that could be pursued in a place not so far away from family.

Eventually, Hagar made it to Downtown Cairo, where she got off the bus to find an independent ride to her apartment in the east of Cairo. Received by Layla and other Sudanese friends living in the city, Hagar arrived with serious questions and no answers to the curious question of being at home.

In a sense, Layla said, Egypt is home, maybe because of fate but also because of choice. Born in Cairo in the early 1970s to a Sudanese family that had just come to Egypt to allow her father to pursue postgraduate studies, Layla always knew that she was Sudanese even though she had never lived in Sudan.

This identity was something she shared with many Sudanese friends and schoolmates as a child and teenager when she was living in Kuwait, where her father went in pursuit of a rewarding job, just like many Egyptians and other Arabs were doing at the time.

In Kuwait, Layla said, she knew that the country was not home. However, she added, she did not feel that this was a peculiar situation for her and other Sudanese. The simple fact of the matter is that at the time in Kuwait there was an overwhelming majority of non-Kuwaitis living and working in the country, she recalled. This meant that almost everyone was a wafed (expatriate).

Shortly after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990, Laylas father decided that it was time to go home. Sudan was home for himself, and Egypt was home for his family. He went to work in Khartoum, while the rest of the family went to live in what he believed was the more stable city of Cairo where Layla joined the Engineering Faculty at Cairo University.

It was then that she felt that she was in a minority of expats. It was hard because while I continued to see myself as Sudanese, and while we continued to observe many Sudanese traditions at home, I did not feel that I was out of place in Egypt, she said. It took a bit of an effort for Layla to cross the border of being Sudanese to becoming a Sudanese who was born in Egypt and who comes across just like an Egyptian.

As both Hagar and Layla would admit, the socio-economic background of an expatriate in Egypt makes a lot of difference when it comes to integration. Those, like Layla, who live in a nice apartment building in the west of Cairo, or, like Hagar, who live in a compound in the east, are not perceived in the same light as those economically challenged Sudanese who live in economically challenged parts of the capital or elsewhere in the country, especially as the Sudanese can be among the most disadvantaged of all refugees.

According to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), there are four million Sudanese living in Egypt today. Of these, less than 200,000 are official refugees from Sudan and South Sudan that became independent over a decade ago.

Since the SAF-RSF conflict started in Sudan, some 60,000 Sudanese have found their way to Egypt. This figure is expected to increase significantly in the coming weeks, especially if diplomacy fails to bring the two warring factions to end the conflict.

Some of those forced to leave their homes behind might end up on the lists of the UN refugee agency the UNHCR as the seekers of refugee status, even if they have entered on the visitor visas that the Egyptian authorities have been handing out at the border to those who pass security clearance. Others might have other means or the support of a family living in Egypt to live comfortably or at least decently pending a possible return to Sudan.

But at least some will need help pending the tough hunt for a job in a country whose economy is far from being in the best place, Hagar said. She added that in addition to financial help, which many in the Sudanese community and several Egyptian charities are already involved in, many will need orientation on how to behave without prompting sensitivities about the recent influx of Sudanese.

Hoda, an Egyptian who is contributing to some of the charities, argues for the need for the involvement of Egyptians in the accommodation of the newcomers from Sudan as a buffer against any sense of hostility from either side. It is very important, she said, to be sensitive to the sentiments of those who have had to escape Sudan, or for that matter any other country, under stressful conditions.

They are vulnerable by definition, unlike those who come to work or study, she said.

INTEGRATION: Ahd and Venus, two women from Yemen and Libya, found their way to Cairo and Alexandria through family ties in Egypt that many Yemenis and Libyans had during the heyday of pan-Arabism under the rule of former president Gamal Abdel-Nasser or under former president Anwar Al-Sadat when Egypt was a safe destination for the families of the political opposition in both countries.

Ahds in-laws had been living in Egypt since the 1960s, and it was in Egypt that her husband studied and graduated. It was thus to Egypt that he decided to take Ahd and the children when the security situation in Yemen started to deteriorate in the wake of the failure of the protests to establish a democratic regime in Yemen in 2014.

With such an established presence in Egypt and with a family that subscribes to the economically privileged segment of the Yemeni community in Cairo, the family of Ahd had an easy way forward, she said. Overall, there is a base for Yemenis who have been coming to Egypt, even before the sharp security deterioration of the past decade in Yemen, in pursuit of better education or better healthcare.

It is true that not everyone who comes here stays here, as many end up going to a third destination. But with such a stable flow of Yemenis coming to and living in Egypt for close to 60 years, there are many Yemeni-operated facilities, including some Yemeni schools and even Yemeni charities that are funded by the better-off within the community to help those in need, she said.

The successful businesses that many Yemeni residents have launched in Egypt, particularly restaurants and spice businesses, have secured many Yemenis job opportunities, big and small, she added. This has also helped with social acceptance, given that the Yemeni presence in the country is not associated with economic dependence.

For Ahd, however, the Egypt she is living in as a legal and financially well-off Yemeni resident is different from the Egypt her in-laws knew. Today, there are a lot of limitations, especially in terms of visas for visiting friends, the renewal of resident visas, the opening of bank accounts for male children and so on, she said.

She attributes these restrictions to the security situation across the region. One way or another, Egypt remains a much better place for residence than many other Arab countries, she added.

But when it comes to integration it is a totally different story, Ahd said, adding that those who are more comfortable have easier inroads into Egyptian society and that of other Arab expatriates in the country. Otherwise, Yemenis, like other expatriates on the disadvantaged side of life, tend to cling together in the same neighbourhoods and the same segments of the labour market.

According to Venus, who moved with her family to escape the Gaddafi regime in Libya, first to London and then to Egypt, the issue of integration is a two-way issue. She has hardly any recollection of the place she still feels should be called home  in other words, Libya, prior to a late 1980s family visit.

Despite her long years living in Egypt that have included a one-year marriage with an Egyptian citizen and a son that has Egyptian nationality, her circle of mostly Egyptian friends both in Alexandria where she lived first and now in Cairo, and her almost impeccable Egyptian accent, Venus has neither applied for Egyptian citizenship nor is willing to do so.

For her, this would almost amount to treason towards a home country whose only mistake was to suffer from the rule of a dictator.

According to IOM figures, Libyans and Yemenis now account for one million people in Egypt. Very small numbers of them are registered as refugees or asylum-seekers.

SKILLS AND APPEAL: In an elegant flower shop in eastern Cairo, Sami is impressing clients with his new but graceful touch in arranging bouquets.

Very few of them are aware that the smiling 30-year-old Syrian had to drop a promising design career in his home country and join his family once the regime at home decided to quell calls for democracy and provoke a civil war. The decision to come to Egypt, Sami said, had been prompted by what the family had heard from Syrians who had come to Egypt before them about the Egyptian market that could accommodate skilled workers and professionals.

It is not true that all Syrians are out there selling shawerma sandwiches  although those are very successful and much loved. There are also Syrian doctors who have started clinics, Syrian investors, and Syrian designers, he said.

Having been in Egypt for over five years, Sami has still to find an opportunity that fits his degree. It is not easy with the current economic situation, and for now I am happy using my skills to do these flower arrangements, he said.

When one is displaced, one has to have the courage to think and act in a different way. It is never easy  including the inevitable moments of non-acceptance that one is faced with. But this is our fate, and we have to create our luck even if we have to keep rerouting, he said.

Rerouting was also a decision that Ammar, an Iraqi teacher-turned-baker, opted for when he escaped his country upon the US-led invasion 20 years ago. When he first came to Egypt, coming from Jordan that was at the time saturated with Iraqis fleeing the nightmare to join others who had fled to Jordan to escape the dictatorship of Saddam [Hussein], Ammar was hoping that it was going to be for a few years only before he could go back and resume his career.

To avoid living on his limited savings, he agreed to join a few other Iraqi men in starting a small bakery at the far end of Giza where many Iraqis were going. Eventually, with the success of the project beyond the five years of the intense Iraqi presence in Egypt, Ammar and his partners expanded and started to do packaged goods. Later, they got into a sort of flexible partnership with two fast-food restaurants in Cairo and Giza, one Syrian and one Palestinian.

The Syrians have appeal in the Egyptian market, and they have unmatched marketing skills, and the Palestinians, who have been here for decades, know how things work and how to get things done, Ammar explained.

Today, Ammar has not dropped his plans to go back to Iraq, which for him is home today, yesterday, and forever, but he has postponed it indefinitely. I am Iraqi, and when I die I want to be buried in the land of my birth. But for now, I have a very successful business here that is helping me. I am not sure what I would do if I went back home, he said.

For Ammar, the only way for him to leave Egypt would be to head to either North America or Australia. Otherwise, he is perfectly happy to stay in Egypt for a few more years or for as long as it takes to find a way to head to Canada or Australia or America, he said.

Egypt is a good place to be pending a better opportunity.

This was the idea that led Karina to move from Beirut to Cairo to work in a media company for four years from 2006 to 2010 before she headed to Europe and then back to Lebanon and then, in 2019, back again to Egypt.

It was an easy move overall, she said. With good professional skills, a well-paid job, and the appeal of being Lebanese, Karina landed well in her new stay in the country. But at the end of the day an expat is an expat, and there are always issues that one has to deal with, she said. They might be small things like the challenge of being here without my husband who works elsewhere.

However, for Lebanese investors who have expanded their presence in Egypt during the past few years with high-end restaurants or beauty salons, there are more fundamental issues related to the paperwork of their businesses and of needing an Egyptian partner to get them going.

As Lebanese, we are very welcomed in Egypt, much more than the Syrians and certainly much more than the Sudanese, but still when it comes to work, investments, and business, there are always some issues, said Joe, a partner in a beauty salon in the west end of Cairo.

LEGALITIES AND THE ECONOMY: According to Nour Khalil, a founder of the Egyptian Platform for Refugees (EPR), a NGO, managing paperwork is one of the biggest challenges that refugees and expatriates have to deal with while in Egypt. It includes securing a reference number, which amounts to an identity card, from the Egyptian government upon registration with the UNHCR, renewing a resident-status pass, getting a work permit, and more.

Egypt is party to the 1951 UN Convention on Refugees. However, its signing and ratification came with reservations on the articles that required the state to give refugees equal treatment to that accorded to citizens on education, healthcare, work, social support and personal status.

There have been exceptions accorded at different times to Sudanese and Palestinians, Khalil said. However, the absence of specific laws on the status of refugees has made it difficult to deal with the details.

Meanwhile, he said, there is not enough public awareness about who is a refugee and who is an expatriate. There have been sentiments opposed to the presence of the Arab and African communities in Egypt. In some cases, these sentiments have turned into different forms of aggression. But there have been verdicts issued by Egyptian courts of law in favour of refugees or expatriates, he said.

This is why I joined a group of other lawyers from Egypt and other Arab and African countries to launch the EPR. Our task is to provide help and information, specifically for refugees, and to increase public awareness, Khalil said.

He argued that there is room for an awareness campaign, not just on the status and legal rights of refugees, but also on the economic contribution of expatriates. Not many people know that there are 30,000 Syrian investors in Egypt who operate diverse economic activities including restaurants and textile factories, he said.

According to Amr Adli, a professor of economics at AUC, most expatriates and refugees end up in the informal segment of the Egyptian economy. In a sense, they do get integrated into the informal labour market that constitutes close to 90 per cent of private-sector labour in Egypt, he said.

However, this also means that they lack social protection, just like any Egyptian who works in the informal sector and often a bit more.

A version of this article appears in print in the 11 May, 2023 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.

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BOSTON (AP)  A Boston man worked with Chinese government officials over roughly a four-year period to keep tabs on Chinese activists and dissidents in the area who were calling for pro-democracy reforms in the communist nation, federal prosecutors said Friday.

Litang Liang, 63, a U.S. citizen who lives in Boston's Brighton neighborhood, was charged with conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government and acting as an agent of a foreign government without notice to the U.S. attorney general, the U.S. attorney's office in Boston said.

Liang, who was arrested Tuesday, was released Thursday on $25,000 bond with electronic monitoring after pleading not guilty, according to court documents. He also surrendered his passport and was ordered not to leave Massachusetts or have any contact with Chinese government officials.

An email seeking comment was left with his attorney.

Liang is accused of providing the PRC government with information on Boston-area individuals and organizations; organizing a counterprotest in the United States against pro-democracy dissidents; providing photographs of and information about U.S.-based dissidents to PRC government officials; and providing the names of potential recruits to the PRCs Ministry of Public Security, according to court documents.

PRC is the People's Republic of China.

The goal was to covertly advance the PRC governments goals and agenda within the United States, according to the indictment.

China has been accused in other cases of trying to interfere with activists in the U.S. critical of Beijing.

Last month, two men were accused by U.S. authorities of helping establish a secret police station in New York City on behalf of the Chinese government, and about three dozen officers with Chinas national police force were charged with using social media to harass dissidents inside the United States.

Liang's cooperation with the Chinese government started in 2018 and lasted until at least last year, prosecutors said.

In one case, according to prosecutors, Liang sent a Chinese government official photos and videos of a student activist he believed was responsible for destroying Chinese flags during a 2018 protest in Bostons Chinatown neighborhood.

Liang organized an event in Boston in 2018 that was attended by at least two Chinese government officials, one of whom asked Liang for the name of a person who attended and worked for an elected Boston official. Liang provided the name as requested, authorities said. Court documents did not name the elected official.

Liang also provided video of a dissident attending the Boston Stands with Hong Kong march in August 2019 and the following month sent photographs of dissidents in front of the Boston Public Library to a Chinese government official, calling them a bunch of clowns trying to cause trouble, prosecutors said.

Liang had contacts with high-ranking Chinese diplomats in the United States, the Ministry of Public Security, and the United Front Work Department, which reports directly to the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party to further party goals, prosecutors said. He also visited China in September, where he attended events to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the modern Chinese state.

The Boston man is also accused of providing Chinese government officials with the names and professional affiliations of two people in the Boston area for possible recruitment by Chinas Ministry of Public Security, prosecutors said.

Liang is due back in court on July 6.
SEATTLE (AP)  A court order is allowing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to once again fly detainees in and out of a county-owned Seattle airport.

In 2019, King County Executive Dow Constantine issued an executive order that generally prohibited deportation flights at King County International Airport, more commonly known as Boeing Field. In announcing the policy change, Constantine said the county didn't want to see the publicly owned airport used for the wholesale deportation of immigrant detainees.

Immigration officials were then forced to transport detainees to and from the Yakima airport via bus, which placed the detainees and ICE agents at risk, federal officials said at the time. Yakima is about 140 miles (225 kilometers) southeast of Seattle.

The federal government sued King County over the deportation flight ban and because of the court order, deportation flights resumed this month, KNKX reported on Wednesday.

The order, issued earlier this year, says King Countys decision to not allow deportation flights to land at Boeing Field discriminates against the federal government because other users of the airport are not subject to the limitations found in the Executive Order.

Three deportation flights have occurred this month, but the number of immigrants on the flights out of Boeing Field isn't clear. King County officials said ICE is requiring that they submit a Freedom of Information Act request to get those details.

King County officials said they will update the airports webpage each month on the 15th, starting this month, with information that is available about the deportation flights.

King County remains dedicated to safeguarding the publics right to total transparency regarding any federal actions at our airport that violate our values, Constantine said in a statement. We will continue our longstanding commitment to creating a welcoming community that respects the rights of all people.

Constantine first pledged to shut down ICE air flights in 2018. A report from the University of Washington Center for Human Rights in 2019 revealed that 34,400 detainees had been deported from Boeing Field in the previous eight years.

In a statement, David Yost, an ICE spokesperson, said as of May 8, more than 500 people were detained at the privately run, for-profit Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma.

The agency also said it's committed to ensuring that all those in the agencys custody reside in safe, secure, and humane environments under appropriate conditions of confinement.

Detained noncitizens in transit from one facility to another institution or jurisdiction will be transported in a safe and humane manner under the supervision of trained and experienced personnel, Yost said.

John Parrott, Boeing Fields director, said the county is allowing activists opposed to ICEs deportation and detention system to partially observe the flights.

We are using the airports video system to provide a live view of a portion of the ramp, Parrott told KNKX.

Activists said they are unable to see those detained from the airports observation room. Maru Mora Villalpando, an activist with the group La Resistencia, said more transparency is needed so her group can provide support to immigrants.

We need them to know that theres a group that is supporting them, that is fighting to end detentions and deportations. That is the most critical part of our work. And when the county claims that theres transparency, and theyre collaborating and partnering with us, it doesnt seem like it, she said.
NEW IBERIA, La. (AP)  Police in Louisiana are investigating the death of a fast-food restaurant employee whose body was found in the restaurants freezer.

Police in New Iberia told local news outlets the body was found around 6:30 p.m. Thursday at an Arby's restaurant.
BANGOR, Mich. (AP)  A jury awarded $1.2 million to a former police officer in the city of Bangor who claimed he was fired for complaining about unwanted sexual advances by a boss.

An attorney for the city said jurors chose to completely ignore the testimony of a witness who said Hothman Misane was dismissed for mishandling a criminal investigation.
CONCORD, N.H. (AP)  A man has been indicted on charges of taking more than $230,000 from a New Hampshire charity and gambling much of it away at a casino.

Kyle Fisher, 42, was indicted on four counts of wire fraud, U.S. Attorney Jane Young said Thursday.
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BOISE, Idaho (AP)  Idaho mother Lori Vallow Daybell was convicted Friday in the murders of her two youngest children and a romantic rival, a verdict that culminates a three-year investigation that included bizarre claims that her son and daughter were zombies and she was a goddess sent to usher in the Biblical apocalypse.

For the victims' family members, the verdict is only a temporary balm: Vallow Daybell must be sentenced, and her fifth husband, Chad Daybell, is awaiting trial on the same murder charges. Vallow Daybell herself is also facing another murder trial in Arizona  this one on a charge of conspiring to kill her fourth husband, Charles Vallow.

This isnt the end. Ninety days from today, we will be in Fremont County for Vallow Daybell's sentencing, said Larry Woodcock, the grandfather of the youngest victim. And I will say, Why, Lori? Why?

Prosecutors in the case described Vallow Daybell as a power-hungry manipulator who would kill her two youngest children for money, while the defense team said she was a normally protective mother who fell under the romantic sway of a wannabe cult leader.

The jurors sided with the prosecution, convicting Vallow Daybell of conspiring to commit the murders of 7-year-old Joshua JJ Vallow, 16-year-old Tylee Ryan, and Tammy Daybell. She was also convicted of grand theft as well as first-degree murder of the two children, a charge that indicates a more direct role in the crimes.

JJ's grandparents, Larry and Kay Woodcock, held an emotional news conference after the conviction. When they first stepped outside court, the crowd of onlookers who had gathered to support the family and watch the verdict cheered. Some began singing, We Will Rock You  JJ's favorite song.

JJ, I love you. Papa wishes you were here," Larry Woodcock said, choking up as he used the name JJ used to call him. "Tylee, Papa loves you. Tammy, I never met you, but you are part of our life. I am sorry for what happened.

Asked if he had a message for Vallow Daybell, Woodcock recited the lyrics to a Willie Nelson song.

Turn off the lights, the party's over. They say that all good things must end," he sang, before returning to speaking. Lori, it ended.

He also thanked the jurors, noting that the graphic evidence they had to view was mindboggling, and something that could never be unseen.

The Tammy Douglas Daybell Foundation, created by her family members a year after her death, wrote in a press release that the verdict would bring some measure of closure for everyone. Tammy Daybell was a school librarian, and the foundation works to raise money for libraries and literacy programs in Idaho and Utah.

We love you Tammy. You will never be forgotten, the foundation wrote in a Twitter post. The road is long, but we're grateful this chapter is closed.

Prosecutors said they were not able to comment on the verdict because of pending charges against Chad Daybell. In a statement, they thanked jurors for their service and said they remain committed to pursuing justice for Tylee Ryan, JJ Vallow and Tammy Daybell.

Vallow Daybell wanted the victims' money, so she used sex and power to manipulate her brother and her lover into carrying out the crimes, Madison County Prosecutor Rob Wood told jurors during closing arguments.

 Money, power and sex, Wood said, reprising the arguments his team made at the start of the trial. He claimed Vallow Daybell considered the three victims nothing more than obstacles to her goals.

What does justice for these victims require? It requires a conviction on each and every count, Wood said.

Defense attorney Jim Archibald countered that there was no evidence tying his client to the killings, but plenty showing she was a loving, protective mother whose life took a sharp turn when she met her fifth husband, Chad Daybell, and fell for the weird apocalyptic religious claims of a cult leader. He suggested that Daybell and Vallow Daybell's brother, Alex Cox, were responsible for the deaths.

Daybell told her they had been married in several previous lives and she was a sexual goddess who was supposed to help him save the world by gathering 144,000 followers so Jesus could return, Archibald said.

At times, the testimony in the case has been heartbreaking  such as when Vallow Daybells only surviving child, Colby Ryan, accused her of murdering his siblings in a recorded jailhouse phone call.

Other testimony has been strange, such as when Vallow Daybells former friend Melanie Gibb testified that Vallow Daybell believed people in her life had been taken over by evil spirits and turned into zombies  including JJ and Tylee. Four of the people the defendant described as zombies were later killed or shot at, according to the testimony.

It has also been gruesome, such as when law enforcement officers testified about finding JJ and Tylees remains buried in Chad Daybells yard.

Tylees body was burned beyond recognition. Her body was dismembered in such a grotesque and extreme manner, that the medical examiner couldnt determine the cause of death, Wood said.

JJ Vallows voice was silenced forever by a strip of duct tape over his mouth, Wood said. A white plastic bag was placed over his head, and secured with duct tape around and around from his forehead to his chin.

Tammy Daybell's death was first reported as being from natural causes, after Chad Daybell told authorities she died in her sleep and had recently been coughing, vomiting and suffering occasional shaking fits. Investigators grew suspicious when Chad Daybell married Vallow Daybell just two weeks later, and eventually they had Tammy Daybell's remains exhumed. An autopsy showed she was asphyxiated.

The case began in July 2019, when Vallow Daybell's then-husband, Charles Vallow, was shot and killed by her brother, Alex Cox, at his home in a Phoenix suburb. The husband and wife were estranged, and Cox told police he acted in self defense. He was never charged in the case and died later that year of what authorities determined were natural causes.

Vallow Daybell was already in a relationship with Chad Daybell, and so moved to Idaho with her kids and brother to be closer to him.

The children were last seen alive in September of 2019. Police discovered they were missing a month later after an extended family member became worried. Their bodies were found the following summer.
A roundup of some of the most popular but completely untrue stories and visuals of the week. None of these are legit, even though they were shared widely on social media. The Associated Press checked them out. Here are the facts:

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North Carolina hospitals: We are not transitioning toddlers

CLAIM: Three North Carolina healthcare systems are diagnosing toddlers with gender dysphoria and transitioning them.

THE FACTS: Officials with Duke Health, University of North Carolina Health and ECU Health say that while they do accept young children as patients, staff only provide general counseling to parents and families at that age. They do not offer medical procedures such as gender-affirming surgeries or hormone treatments to toddlers. But as North Carolina lawmakers weigh legislation restricting gender-affirming surgeries to adults, some social media users are suggesting the prominent medical institutions are already offering such medical interventions for toddlers. Many are sharing a graphic that claims Duke Health is starting gender transitions at 2 years old while UNC Health begins it at 3 years old and ECU Health at 4 years old. Top medical schools in the state are now transitioning toddlers and training future primary care doctors on how to engage in the experimental treatment, the text included with the graphic reads. Yes, you read that correctly, wrote one Twitter user who shared the graphic in a widely shared post. If a 2 year old girl picks up a truck instead a Barbie, that is proof to these activist doctors that shes actually supposed to be a boy. The claims stem from a blog post from a conservative group supporting the North Carolina transgender surgery bill, which cites as evidence a 2016 newspaper interview with the head of Dukes gender clinic in which she referenced having patients as young as 2. The blog post also cites a patient form used by UNCs gender clinic which purports to show that children as young as 3 are offered psychoeducation and support for child and family and other services. But Duke Health said clinic staff simply provide support and counsel to families with young children wrestling with their gender identity. For prepubescent children, there is parental support, but no testing, no treatment, not anything, officials said in a written statement. UNC Health, in a separate response, said parents with young children can request a meeting or counseling session, but the psychiatry team wont meet with the actual child until theyre at least school age. To be clear: UNC Health does not offer any gender-transitioning care for toddlers, the statement read. We do not perform any gender-affirming surgical procedures or medical interventions on toddlers. Also, we are not doing any gender-affirming research or clinical trials involving children. ECU Health similarly rejected the claims as dangerous misinformation. To be clear: ECU Health does not offer gender affirming surgery to minors nor does the health system offer gender affirming transition care to toddlers, it said in a written statement. The healthcare providers also stressed that a toddlers toy preference has nothing to do with gender dysphoria, despite what the social media posts suggest. Like providers across the country, the three North Carolina health systems are following medical guidelines that have been in place for decades, according to healthcare experts and transgender advocates. Those standards generally call for small, social changes to help pre-adolescent children dealing with gender dysphoria, such as a new haircut, name, clothing or even a change in pronouns, explained Ash Orr, a spokesperson for the National Center on Transgender Equality, a Washington-based advocacy group. At a young age, all children need love and encouragement to be who they are, do things that make them happy, and enjoy being a kid, he wrote in an email.

 Associated Press writer Philip Marcelo in New York contributed this report.

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Months-old photo of George Santos misrepresented as mugshot

CLAIM: An image of U.S. Rep. George Santos in a gray sweater and blue jacket is a mugshot taken Wednesday after he was indicted on federal charges.

THE FACTS: No mugshot has been released. The image circulating on social media is a cropped and edited version of a news photo taken on Jan. 10, outside a House Republican Conference meeting in the U.S. Capitol. The U.S. Department of Justice generally does not release mugshots as a matter of policy, a spokesperson confirmed. Yet social media users spread the image online, falsely claiming it is his mugshot. Whatever you do, please dont retweet this brand new mugshot of Trumper Congressman George Santos, read one since-deleted tweet. Santos has pleaded not guilty on charges of wire fraud, money laundering, theft of public funds and making false statements to Congress. But the image has nothing to do with his case. It matches a photo that was taken in January by a staff photographer for CQ Roll Call, a congressional news outlet, and shows Santos outside a House Republican Conference meeting in the U.S. Capitol. The version spreading on social media is cropped to show only Santos head and shoulders. Certain details, such as his clothing and the position of his hair, match the original exactly, but it appears that the social media version was edited to give Santos more of a frown and to decrease the color saturation. Video and photos of Santos outside the Central Islip, New York, courthouse where he was arraigned Wednesday show he was wearing a brown sweater and no tie, rather than the gray top and blue tie in the supposed mugshot. Danielle Hass, a spokesperson for the U.S. attorney of the Eastern District of New York, told the AP that its against DOJ policy to release mugshots. The only exception, as the agencys website outlines, is when there is a law enforcement purpose for doing so like in a fugitive situation.

 Associated Press writer Melissa Goldin in New York contributed this report.

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No, CNNs Trump town hall was not cut short, it actually ran overtime

CLAIM: CNN cut short its primetime town hall with former President Donald Trump on Wednesday.

THE FACTS: The cable news network says it had allotted one hour for the forum but it ended up running about 10 minutes longer. The New Hampshire college that hosted the event also confirmed the expected runtime for the event was an hour, not the nearly two hours that some claimed online. The town hall with the former president wrapped up at 9:09 p.m. EST  69 minutes after it began at its scheduled time of 8 p.m. Immediately following the broadcast, however, social media users began claiming that the network had deliberately truncated the event. Lol, CNN ended the town hall with Trump early, one user on Twitter wrote in a post thats been liked or shared more than 21,000 times as of Thursday. Biggest ratings theyve had in years and they tapped out. But CNN officials said the broadcast was planned to run an hour. In fact, they say, it ran slightly over the allotted time. Matt Dornic, a senior vice president at CNN Worldwide, took to social media Thursday to address the claims, noting that network officials were consistent in the days leading up to the town hall that it would last just a hour. We gave it room to bleed over some for editorial flexibility, he explained in a tweet. It was ultimately just shy of 70 mins. The network didnt respond to a follow up email seeking additional information on the tweet, but Paul Pronovost, a spokesperson for Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire, where the forum was held, backed up Dornics comments. I can confirm that is what was shared with the college in advance as well, he said in an email, referencing the one-hour run time. Additionally, TV Guides listing for the Wednesday broadcast shows it was slotted from 8 p.m. to 9:15 p.m., or about 75 minutes. It was then followed by a show analyzing the event that ran until 11 p.m. and featured CNN anchors Anderson Cooper and Jake Tapper and other experts. During the forum, Trump took questions from CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins and a live audience of local voters who intend to vote in the New Hampshire Republican presidential primary. The event came a day after a New York jury found the former president liable for sexually abusing a woman nearly 30 years ago and defaming her when she spoke about it publicly. It also marked something of a denouement between the New York billionaire and CNN, which Trump infamously branded as fake news and refused to grant interviews to during his four years in the White House.

 Philip Marcelo

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Chelsea Clinton did not say its time to force-jab unvaccinated children

CLAIM: Chelsea Clinton said, Its time to force-jab every unvaccinated child in America.

THE FACTS: There is no evidence of Clinton ever making such a comment, and a spokesperson confirmed she has not. The fabricated quote originated on a website that is known to publish false news and misinformation. Clinton recently spoke at a conference on a new global health initiative called  The Big Catch-Up, which aims to boost childhood vaccination rates, but does not involve mandatory immunization and will not focus on the U.S. Still, social media users are sharing a screenshot of a baseless article with a headline reading: Chelsea Clinton: Its Time To Force-Jab Every Unvaccinated Child in America. The headline came from a website called The Peoples Voice, which was previously known as News Punch. The website has published numerous stories based on conspiracy theories and has promoted fabricated information and quotes in the past. The article is based on real remarks Clinton made at a recent conference on global health, where she spoke about the Clinton Health Access Initiative, a nonprofit founded by her father, and a new global initiative its working with called  The Big Catch-Up.  The joint effort between the World Health Organization, UNICEF and other partners aims to boost routine vaccination among kids, which fell off during the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to rising rates of measles, polio and yellow fever, according to a WHO press release announcing the initiative. The campaign will focus on 20 countries, which does not include the U.S. as the headline falsely claims. At no point during her speech did Clinton say that kids should or would be forcibly vaccinated. Sara Horowitz, a spokesperson for Clinton, confirmed in an email to the AP that Clinton did not make the comment. She did not say this but very much believes (and did say) that no one should die of polio or measles or pneumonia including in this country where we also need people to be vaccinating our kids, wrote Horowitz. Daniel Epstein, a WHO spokesperson, pointed to the organizations press release, and added: There are no mandatory vaccinations associated with this effort. Instead, the campaign aims to boost vaccination rates by working with countries to strengthen health care workforces, improve health service delivery, build trust and demand for vaccines within communities, and address gaps and obstacles to restoring immunization, the release states. The Peoples Voice did not return a request for comment.

 Associated Press writer Karena Phan in Los Angeles contributed this report.

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NEW YORK (AP)  Discriminating against someone because of weight when it comes to work, housing or in public accommodation would be barred in New York City under a bill passed Thursday by the City Council.

The measure would amend city law to add weight and height to the list of identifiers that are considered protected, like race, sexual orientation, gender identity and national origin.
Ostracised by Israeli society and repeatedly threatened with death at the hands of her own people, Felicia Langer* has not flinched since the day in 1967 she adopted the Palestinian cause as her own. Faiza Rady met her in Jerusalem

From Al-Ahram Weekly archives: Fifty years of dispossession 1948-1998*

Issue: 5 - 11 November 1998

A beautiful petite woman with intense blue eyes, Felicia Langer radiates extraordinary strength and determination. She needs to. Langer, an Israeli of Polish-Jewish origin, who is married to a Holocaust survivor, spent close to 23 years of her life working as a defence lawyer in the Occupied Territories, representing Palestinian political prisoners. Though she now lives in self-imposed exile in Tubingen, Germany, where she lectures at the university, her life is still dedicated to the cause she first took up in 1967.

Back in Jerusalem to address a conference, Langer has lost none of her disillusionment with the policies of the state.

"The failure of the peace process was already inscribed in the Oslo Accords," she said. "The 'peace of the brave'", she added bitterly, "brought the Palestinians the Israeli bulldozer."

Bitterness and anger at continuing Palestinian dispossession by Israel are not new emotions to the 68-year-old lawyer. Her autobiography, aptly entitled Fury and Hope, expresses her alternating states of being as an Israeli who has adopted the Palestinians' suffering as her own.

Fury at the senseless killings of Palestinian resisters, the razing of entire villages, the bulldozing of houses, the wide-scale confiscation of land, the thousands of administrative detention orders slapped on Palestinian youths -- but most of all, rage at the continued occupation of Arab land and the denial of the Palestinians' aspirations to national self-determination which has precluded any hope for the establishment of a Palestinian state and peace between the two peoples.

"How do you define your love of country," a journalist from the Israeli daily Hadashot asked Langer some years ago. "My love of country fulfills itself in hatred of the occupation," she replied, without a moment's hesitation.

Fury and rage are powerful emotions running as a leitmotiv through Langer's tale, motivating her work as an act of resistance and defiance, and defining her solidarity with the struggle of the Palestinian people.

Born in Poland in 1930, Langer fled her native country for the Soviet Union after the outbreak of World War II. Returning to Poland after the war, she married Mieciu Langer, a Holocaust survivor. Unimpressed with Zionism and happily settled in Poland, the young couple emigrated to Israel in 1950 for personal reasons -- Langer wanted to join her mother, who had settled there.

Deeply disturbed by the racism and class-based inequalities inherent in Israeli society, both Langer and her husband joined the Israeli Communist Party -- which offered them an alternative vision and a channel for political activism.

"1967 was a hard winter, as if nature wanted to add to the catastrophe that had befallen the Palestinians," recalls Langer in her autobiography, who had by then decided to "become active". Having resigned her job in a Tel-Aviv law office, she established a private practice in Jerusalem to assist Palestinian political prisoners.

Her first clients that winter were an imam and his wife, whose son had been jailed in Hebron for "membership in a Palestinian resistance organisation". As he explained the case to Langer, telling her how he had fetched his son's blood-stained shirt from jail, the man's eyes suddenly filled with tears and his wife broke down, sobbing. "There was silence in the room... And what I feared, happened: tears came to my eyes, and instead of radiating authority, strength and confidence, I cried with them. So there we sat, three adults crying over the fate of a tortured son." Looking back on this episode, Langer believes it was necessary to break down the barriers between her and the people she wanted to represent -- "creating a bond of trust and closeness, crucial for both sides."

Over two decades of representing Palestinian political prisoners in the Occupied Territories, Langer relentlessly worked at consolidating this bond -- in solidarity with the Palestinian people. In effect, a major part of her autobiography consists of documenting cases of flagrant Israeli human rights violations in Palestine. Recording the history of the occupation, the writer testifies lest people should ever forget. Since the early days of her work as a defence attorney, Langer has turned to writing -- writing everywhere: in taxis, in prison yards while waiting for her clients, she used the written word to express her personal anguish at the effects of the occupation.

Throughout her 23-year-long struggle against the Israeli military court system, Langer was driven by a stubborn sense of hope -- seemingly against all odds. Motivated by the powerful need to crack the system open -- even if only fleetingly -- so as to be able to defend her clients beyond the available token legal manoeuvres, Langer relentlessly fought her way to the Israeli Supreme Court time and again. Basing her claims on the legality of binding international treaties, Langer cited countless violations of the Geneva Convention -- to which Israel is a signatory -- fighting an uneven and usually losing battle, with a few notable exceptions.

Overturning Bassam Shaka's expulsion orders in November 1979 was such an exception and counted among Langer's most important victories, "the most important of all", she recalls. The celebrated nationalist mayor of Nablus, Shaka had been one of the most vocal and virulent opponents of the Camp David Accords. As a result, the military governor of the West Bank accused Shaka of inciting terrorist attacks and sheltering their perpetrators, arrested him and signed an expulsion order against him. When the Supreme Court overruled the mayor's deportation, the whole town of Nablus celebrated along with Langer, who at that time was briefly able to believe that "reality may sometimes surpass our wildest dreams.".

But the joy was to be short-lived. Shortly following the Nablus celebration, a Jewish terrorist group booby-trapped the mayor's car. Barely escaping with his life and gravely injured, Shaka's legs were amputated. As Langer left her friend on his hospital bed in Nablus, he told her: "I am here and the struggle is just beginning." "What stuff are you made of, Bassam," she wondered as she left the ward.

Yet Langer herself is made of equally 'strong stuff'. An extraordinarily courageous and resilient woman, she kept on working despite appalling conditions, social ostracism, death threats and even physical assaults.

In 1968, when Langer first started publishing articles in the Israeli press to denounce the occupation, she was castigated by the average Israeli. She became an outcast and an alien. It all began with the demolition of Hamdi Tukan's house in Nablus. Tukan's father had shown Langer the bulldozed concrete rubble in the midst of which she could still see the vestiges of flowers stubbornly sprouting among the debris.

Standing on the Nablus hills overlooking the ruins, Langer felt an overwhelming urge to tell Tukan that "this was not the only face of her people." She did so in an open letter addressed to "my brother Hamdi Tukan", published in the Arabic language weekly Al-Ittihad and the Hebrew Zo Haderech. "The day would come," wrote Langer, "when Tukan would be able to build a new house and plant new flowers that will bloom with a myriad of colours."

The reaction to Langer's article was swift and to the point. Returning home to Tel-Aviv from her Jerusalem office one night, she was startled by a growing commotion coming from one her neighbours balconies. "Look at her, look at this piece of shit, this traitor. This dirty Arab is her brother! Let her go to Nablus, we don't need her here," a woman screamed at Langer. "I went out to my balcony with Michael [her son] who had turned white. My neighbours faces were distorted by a hatred I had never seen before. I tried to say something, but my words were drowned out by a flood of insults and hysterical screams. 'Get out of this house,' they shouted, 'we won't stand for you to live here. You want to plant flowers for this Arab? You can have some of these here on your grave.' And they pointed to the well-kept flower beds growing in my part of the yard."

Throughout the years, recalls Langer, her every step was followed by piercing hateful stares, accompanied by the occasional insult. "I walked by with my head held up high, although each and every time something inside me would shrivel," she wrote. "When I was lucky, I didn't bump into those groups of youths who would spit in my direction whenever I walked by."

More ominous than the daily harassment and aggression, were the occasional death threats. "We are a terror organisation against those responsible for terrorist acts. If you don't stop working, you will have a bad and bitter end," warned a sinister voice over the phone on a warm June night of 1974. Ten years later the message was much the same, though more political in tone. "Felicia Langer is a PLO whore. The day of your death is near," the Jewish Defense League, a fascist terrorist group established by Rabbi Meir Kahane, spray-painted on the door of Langer's Jerusalem office.

Beyond the humiliating daily wear and tear of social ostracism and the real fear for her life, Langer was constantly harassed by the authorities. From denying and delaying her the right to consult and meet with her clients, to dismissing her petitions, to overruling her defense arguments in court, her work was obstructed at every step of the way.

But slapping down her clients with inordinately severe prison sentences was the most dramatic way of punishing the Israeli lawyer for defending Palestinian political prisoners. Langer recounts the case of one client, Tawfik Aharam, who was sentenced to ten years in jail for membership of an "illegal terrorist organisation". Since Aharam had never actively opposed the occupation, his sentence should not have exceeded two years. "My client's father was probably right when he told me: 'Felicia, you are the one who is being sentenced here'," she recalls.

In Aharam's case, as in similar cases, Langer appealed such sentences with a measure of success. Determined to defend her clients and often driven by the sheer will to survive, Langer bravely continued to fight her battles against the occupation -- until 1990, the third year of the Intifada.

During the Intifada the military court system had broken down completely, becoming a total travesty of justice, with hundreds of prisoners herded into daily sentencing sessions lacking even a minimal decorum. Said Langer: "They made justice into a farce and I refused to provide them with a stamp of legality... They still hadn't understood that nothing matters when a people fight for their freedom, which to them is dearer than life."

She goes on, "I was supposed to represent clients I had never met before, so I could not prepare myself to defend them. It came to the point where I was no longer physically able to walk into a courtroom and address the judge as 'your honour', I felt I just couldn't say the words anymore. As a gesture of protest I closed my Jerusalem law office and left the country."

Are things any different now? "Absolutely not," replies Langer vehemently. Her visit to Jerusalem has merely reinforced what she knew and felt already. "The time has come to tell the truth about the myth of the Israeli system of justice. Since 1993, Israeli forces have killed and injured hundreds of Palestinians, destroyed the homes of over 500 families, taken away the rights of over one thousand people to live in Jerusalem, arrested, imprisoned and tortured thousands of people, leaving other thousands homeless."

If anything, the rate at which Palestinian dispossession is proceeding has increased since the Oslo Accords. "The pace of settlement has actually spiraled since then," says Langer. "The Labour government headed by Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Yitzhak Rabin, provided three times as much financial support for the building of settlements in the Occupied Territories as the Likud coalition government had done in the past. Fortunately, Netanyahu's right-wing government has not been allowed to pursue its disastrous settlements activity in a quiet atmosphere of tacit consent. This time around, the policy of the bulldozer at Jebel Abu Ghneim and other places has been internationally condemned."

* Felicity Langer has been honoured with the Alternative Nobel Peace Prize for her political and human rights work. She is a long-standing member of the Israeli League for Human Rights and a prolific writer. She is the author of a number of books documenting Israeli human rights violations in Palestine -- among them: With My Own Eyes, Those Are My Brothers, Where Hate Knows No Boundaries, Bridge of Dreams, The Epoch of Stones and Rage and Hope, an autobiography.

* This story was published in Al Ahram Weekly 12 June 1998

*This article was first published in Al-Ahram Weeklys special pages commemorating 50 years of Al-Nakba, the Palestinian catastrophe when Israel was created on 15 May 1948. These pages, published in 1998, were part of a year-long series of articles documenting the history and nature of the Arab-Israeli struggle, as well as that of Palestinian dispossession and exile.

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JACKSON, Miss. (AP)  A federal judge Friday temporarily blocked the appointment of four state court judges in the majority-Black county that is home to Mississippi's capital city  appointments that drew protests from local residents who said white state officials were stomping on civil rights.

U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate issued the temporary restraining order at the request of the NAACP, and he set a May 22 hearing to consider extending the order.

The national civil rights organization, its Mississippi chapter and its local chapter in Jackson filed a federal lawsuit April 21, hours after Gov. Tate Reeves signed laws to expand state policing in the capital city of Jackson, establish a court with an appointed judge and authorize four appointed judges to work alongside the four elected circuit court judges in Hinds County.

Members of the majority-white and Republican-led Legislature who pushed for the changes said they were trying to curb crime in Jackson. Local residents protested that state officials were usurping power in Jackson and Hinds County, which are majority-Black and governed by Democrats.

Under one of the laws, Mississippi Supreme Court Chief Justice Mike Randolph was supposed to appoint four circuit judges by this week to serve until the end of 2026  most of the current four-year term.

Thanks to an emergency motion we filed last last night, Chief Justice Randolph cannot begin any undemocratic court packing in Jackson until NAACP v. Reeves moves forward, the national NAACP posted Friday on Twitter. We are prepared to fight for our freedom.

Another lawsuit that challenges the new laws is pending in Hinds County Chancery Court. Three Jackson residents who are plaintiffs in that lawsuit testified Wednesday that having appointed rather than elected judges would rob them of equal rights because the state constitution requires the election of most judges.

Hinds County Chancery Judge Dewayne Thomas was considering a request for a temporary restraining order similar to the one Wingate issued in federal court.
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LOS ANGELES (AP)  Three men associated with a gang have been arrested in connection with two deadly Los Angeles shootings in a case in which all suspects and victims were from the Chicago area, police said Friday.

Investigators, however, would not specify the motive for the shootings that killed three women and wounded four other people in January and a man in December.

We can't discuss the motive but we can say that it's associated with Chicago, Capt. Jonathan L. Tippet, commanding officer of the Los Angeles Police Department's Robbery-Homicide Division, told a headquarters press conference.

One thing that can be said is that the violence that occurs in Chicago today is having an effect on all of us," he said.

Tippet said the three suspects are involved in and connected to a gang but he could not go into further detail about their relationship with the group.

The arrests followed a nation-spanning investigation involving numerous law enforcement agencies including FBI violent crime task forces, Tippet said.

Dejean Thompkins, 28, was arrested last month in the Chicago area. Dontae Williams, 22, was also arrested in April in Gary, Indiana, and was transferred to Chicago. Daries Stanford, 28, was arrested May 10 in the Manhattan area of New York. All three are awaiting extradition to LA. It was not immediately known if they had attorneys.

Around 2:30 a.m. on Jan. 28, Iyana Hutton, 33, Nenah Davis, 29, and Destiny Sims, 26, were fatally shot in a car as they returned to a vacation rental house in LA's Beverly Crest area after a night out.

The women grew up together and had come out to LA in support of a Chicago rapper, Tippet said. He added that they were not the intended targets of the attack.

Four others were wounded and two others escaped injury in the attack, in which more than 30 rounds were fired. Their identities were being withheld, Tippet said.

Investigators connected that shooting to the Dec. 16 killing of Julian Bynum, 30, on a North Hollywood sidewalk outside an apartment complex.

In both of these cases the suspects used ambush-style tactics on their unsuspecting victims, Tippet said. Planning and coordination was utilized.

The slain women were not connected to Bynum, who is believed to have been targeted, Tippet said.

Public tips about the getaway car used in the Beverly Crest shooting were important in the investigation, he said.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office filed four counts of murder and six counts of attempted murder against Thompkins. Williams and Stanford were each charged with three counts of murder and six counts of attempted murder. All three were also charged with six counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm.

The complaint also alleges special circumstances of lying in wait and multiple murders.
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A Ponca tribe chief whose landmark lawsuit in 1879 established that a Native American is a person under the law was honored Friday with the unveiling of a U.S. Postal Service stamp that features his portrait.

The release of the stamp of Chief Standing Bear comes 146 years after the Army forced him and about 700 other members of the Ponca tribe to leave their homeland in northeast Nebraska and walk 600 miles (965 kilometers) to the Indian Territory in Oklahoma. Chief Standing Bear was arrested and imprisoned in Fort Omaha when he and others tried to return. This prompted him to file a lawsuit that led to an 1879 ruling ordering his release and finding that a Native American is a person with a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

For so long people didn't know his story or the Ponca story  our own trail of tears, Candace Schmidt, chairwoman of the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska said. "We are finally able to tell his story of perseverance and how we as a tribe are resilient."

Judi M. gaiashkibos, executive director of the Nebraska Commission on Indian Affairs, called the issuing of a Chief Standing Bear stamp a milestone that she hopes "provokes necessary conversations about race, sovereignty and equality in the United States.

Its remarkable, that the story of Nebraska Native American civil rights leader Chief Standing Bear has progressed from a native man being considered a non-person by the U.S. Government in 1879, to today, being recognized by the Postal Service with a stamp honoring him as an American icon, gaiashkibos said.

The Postal Service, which released the stamp at a ceremony Friday in Lincoln, Nebraska, has printed 18 million stamps. The stamp features a portrait of Chief Standing Bear by illustrator Thomas Blackshear II, based on a black and white photograph taken in 1877, the Postal Service said.

More than 100 members of the Ponca tribe died during or soon after the forced journey to Oklahoma, including Chief Standing Bear's only son. It was a desire to have his son buried in their homeland in Nebraska's Niobrara River Valley that resulted in the return of Chief Standing Bear and 29 others and their subsequent arrest.

According to the National Park Service, two Omaha attorneys represented Chief Standing Bear at a two-day trial before Judge Elmer S. Dundy in U.S. District Court in Omaha. The government appealed Dundy's ruling that Chief Standing Bear and other arrested members of his tribe were persons but the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the case.

The Ponca members were freed and returned to their old reservation along the Niobrara River, where Chief Standing Bear died in 1908.

A congressional investigation later determined the government wrongly gave away the Ponca homeland and removed the tribe, leading to congressional legislation in 1881 that gave some compensation to members of the tribe. In 1924, an issue that arose in the 1879 trial was resolved when Congress approved a law that conferred citizenship on all Native Americans born in the United States.

The federal government terminated the Ponca tribe of Nebraska in 1966 but the tribe regained federal recognition in 1990. Schmidt said the Ponca now has about 5,500 members, operates three health clinic and offers numerous services to members.

We're doing really well, she said.

There is a separate Ponca tribe in Oklahoma.

Anton G. Hajjar, vice chairman of the Postal Service Board of Governors, said the post office has been issuing stamps that honor the legacy of great Americans since the 1800s. In issuing the stamp of Chief Standing Bear, Hajjar noted, It took our country far too long to recognize the humanity in many of its people  including the American Indians who lived in these lands for thousands of years.

The Postal Service previously has issued stamps honoring Native Americans including Pocahontas, Chief Joseph, Sequoyah, Red Cloud, Sitting Bull and Jim Thorpe.
CHARLESTON W.Va. (AP)  An off-duty deputy sheriff in West Virginia who struck and killed a 13-year-old girl with his marked cruiser last year will not face criminal charges in her death, according to the prosecutor investigating the case.

Special Prosecutor for Cabell County Mark Sorsaia determined the tragic loss of 13-year-old Jacqueline Laney Hudson in December 2022 was a direct result of her own erratic behavior while under the influence of alcohol and marijuana, according to a letter dated Thursday clearing former Cabell County Sheriffs Deputy Jeffrey Racer of negligence.

That severely affected her judgement and ability to make rational decisions, and subsequently led to her running in front of the car," wrote Sorsaia, who is also prosecutor in Putnam County.

But Hudson family lawyer Tyler Haslam said they still have questions that need answering. For one, they want to know how fast the off-duty deputy was driving in the marked sheriff's department cruiser when it struck her.

A state police accident reconstruction expert could not precisely determine how fast the cruiser was moving when it struck Hudson because its black box  which usually records that information  did not activate, according to Sorsaia.

The family was not surprised by the prosecutor's decision, they said in a statement provided by their attorney Friday.

Racers actions precipitated the vehicular death of a juvenile pedestrian and left a family heartbroken, her family wrote. Despite our disappointment about the special prosecutors decision, we remain steadfast in our pursuit of justice.

The family said they look forward to reviewing the States full investigation once it is released in order to compare it to our own.

Hudson was killed on December 30, 2022 just after 10:30 p.m. in the states second largest city of Huntington  populated by just under 50,000  where she was hanging out at an intersection in a group of teenagers.

Racer, who was placed on administrative leave following Hudsons death and resigned months later, was driving his cruiser after hours because he was staying overnight at his girlfriend's house and needed it for work in the morning, the prosecutor said.

Racer drove through the green light at the intersection when Hudson and another teen ran into the roadway, Sorsaia said. He tried stop, but was unable to avoid hitting Hudson. The other child was not injured. Racer stayed on the scene and called 911, according to the prosecutor.

A subsequent autopsy found that Hudson had alcohol and marijuana in her system when she died, according to Sorsaia. Law enforcement officials said Hudson was intoxicated from drinking beer and smoking synthetic marijuana  commonly known as K2 or spice  and was significantly impaired when she ran into the street in front of Racer's vehicle.

A video taken off Hudson's phone by state police after her death showed the kids running around in the street by the intersection prior to the crash.

It is commonly known in law enforcement circles that when a young person smokes marijuana laced with K2, it can severely impact their behavior, impair their judgement and their physical actions, Sorsaia wrote.

Two sobriety tests  including a preliminary breath test resulting in a .000 blood alcohol level  found that there was no sign of impairment in Racer's case.

The prosecutor found no cause for Racer to be charged under the state's negligent homicide statute, which requires evidence of driving with willful wanton disregard of the safety of others."

Even if he was speeding, that wouldn't justify a negligent homicide charge, Sorsaia said.

There must be a conscious decision made where one would know they are putting other lives at risk, he wrote.

Estimates by state police reconstruction teams analyzing skid marks and other factors placed Racers speed between 47 and 55 miles per hour  at least 10 to 20 miles per hour over the speed limit.

Sorsaia said 49 miles per hour was the median speed in February when law enforcement conducted an hour-long radar survey of 63 vehicles passing through the intersection where Hudson died.

Even if the survey doesn't eliminate the possibility that Racer was speeding, it indicated his speed was "well within the average speed limits used by individuals using that particular location on the roadway," Sorsaia concluded.

Haslam, the attorney representing Hudsons family, said his firm is conduction their own investigation and analyzing law enforcement's findings.

Quite frankly, I dont care what the average speed is through that intersection. Theres a posted speed limit," he told The Associated Press Friday. "We expect all citizens, but particularly those in marked patrol vehicles, to go the speed limit, absent some emergency. Very clearly from the report that came out yesterday, there was no emergency."

A negligent homicide conviction could have come with a penalty of a year of incarceration, a $100 to $1,000 fine, or both. Racer's driver's license would have been revoked.
EXCELSIOR, Wis. (AP)  A middle-school student waiting to board a school bus in Wisconsin was struck and killed Friday by a pickup truck that failed to slow down in time, authorities said.

The Sauk County Sheriffs Office said the student at Webb Middle School in Reedsburg was fatally injured about 7:20 a.m. along Highway 23/33 in the Town of Excelsior, northwest of Madison.
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP)  Kentuckys secretary of state has won bipartisan praise during his first term in office for expanding voter access during the COVID-19 pandemic and overseeing elections that have been free of widespread problems.

That record still hasnt paved a clear path to reelection for Republican Michael Adams. He now must persuade primary voters who have been bombarded for years with false claims about rigged elections.

He faces one challenger in Tuesdays GOP primary who has promoted debunked election claims and another who favors pulling Kentucky out of a multistate effort designed to detect voter fraud, an effort being pushed by conspiracy theorists in conservative states.

The battle for Kentucky's top elections post follows similar campaigns during last year's midterm elections, when candidates who denied the results of the 2020 election won GOP primaries in numerous states. A handful of them went on to win the office in deeply Republican states, but each of those candidates lost in the closely contested swing states that typically decide presidential elections.

Adams, a lawyer, soundly defeated Steve Knipper in the primary four years ago. Knipper, who has questioned the result of the 2020 presidential election, is back for another run along with another Republican, Allen Maricle, a former state representative and television station executive. The winner will face Democrat Buddy Wheatley, a former state representative who recently lost reelection. He is unopposed in his primary.

Adams earned praise from both parties for increasing voting opportunities and allowing mail-in ballots in the 2020 elections during the pandemic. He has raised significantly more campaign cash than his two opponents. But he said the political landscape has shifted dramatically for secretary of state races around the country, namely because of a wave of conspiracy theories and false allegations after the 2020 presidential race.

This job has gotten a lot more high-profile than it used to be, Adams said. And I think the big question in this election is, which direction are we going to go in?"

Adams, 47, has had harsh words for election skeptics, calling them cranks and kooks who shouldn't be in charge of Kentucky's election process.

State and local election officials continue to grapple with the fallout from former President Donald Trumps false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him. The lies he continues to tell, including during a televised town hall, earlier this week, not only undermine confidence in elections, particularly among Republicans, but have led to harassment and death threats against election officials and their staff.

Reviews in multiple states, including ones controlled by Republicans, have shown there was no widespread fraud or manipulation of voting machines. Dozens of judges, including several nominated by Trump, also rejected his claims.

Knipper, 52, won the GOP nomination for secretary of state in 2015 before losing to Democratic incumbent Alison Grimes in the general election. The former city council member from a small town across the Ohio River from Cincinnati was a staffer under former Lt. Gov. Jenean Hampton, but was fired by former Republican Gov. Matt Bevin.

Knipper and a former colleague of his in the lieutenant governor's office who also was swept out by Bevin, Adrienne Southworth, have been touring the state together alleging  without evidence  election fraud in the 2019 governors race won by Democrat Andy Beshear and in the 2020 presidential election.

Knipper said he has raised more money and enjoyed more support from the public than during his previous two races, and is running television ads for the first time.

Ive had enthusiasm, but I have never had this much enthusiasm behind me," he said.

Maricle has campaigned on his experience in the Kentucky Legislature, saying he is the only candidate who has a voting record on election legislation. That includes support for a bill in the 1990s that allowed voters who were in line at the time of poll closings to remain in line and finish voting.

Maricle, 60, is critical of Knipper's election skepticism, saying Knipper has provided no evidence.

Hes said these elections have been stolen through the machines  prove it, Maricle said.

But Maricle also has campaigned on moving the state out of a multistate system intended to combat voter fraud. He said he is taking a cue from other Republican secretaries of state critical of it and said it is not doing a good enough job helping states clear their voter rolls.

"Its flawed, he said. You have nine Republican states in the last 90 days do away with that system.

Knipper has also sought to capitalize on the issue, which has divided Republican state election officials. In a March release, he urged supporters to call on Adams to withdraw Kentucky from the bipartisan effort, which has found itself in the crosshairs of conspiracy theories fueled by Trumps false claims.

In the release, Knipper repeated claims that the Electronic Registration Information Center, a voluntary system known as ERIC, was funded by George Soros, the billionaire investor and philanthropist who has long been the subject of conspiracy theories. While ERIC received initial funding from the nonpartisan Pew Charitable Trusts, that money was separate from the money provided to Pew by a Soros-affiliated organization that went to an unrelated effort, according to ERICs executive director, Shane Hamlin.

Knipper's stance on the ERIC system won him the vote of Dae Combs, a 63-year-old Louisville resident who visited an early voting location on Thursday.

Im just concerned that it would be easily manipulated, Combs said. Im not saying thats what happened, but I just think there needs to be more investigation into it.

Combs said she doesn't question the results of the 2020 election despite her support of Knipper.

Biden "is our president and we kind of go with the system. This is our system, its the best system in the world, but I do think there is room to look at things and not just take things at face value.

Louisiana has left a group of states using the ERIC system after a series of online posts early last year questioning its funding and purpose. Alabama, Florida, Iowa, Missouri, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia subsequently provided notice that they, too, would leave. Texas has said it's working on an alternative effort and is unlikely to stay. Kentucky is among six Republican-led states that have so far remained.

Judy Davenport, who was voting in Louisville on her 62nd birthday, said her vote for Adams was influenced by Knippers election skepticsm.

Im not an election denier, she said.

___

Cassidy reported from Atlanta.

___

Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about APs democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
BEIRUT (AP)  A Lebanese man who was detained in the United Arab Emirates on unknown charges has died in custody, rights observers and family members said on Friday, raising questions about his possible mistreatment by authorities.

A committee of family members of Lebanese citizens detained in the UAE, including the man who died earlier this month, alleged in a statement that Ghazi Ezzedine, 55, had died under torture.

The UAE foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Sima Watling, a researcher with Amnesty International focused on the Arab Gulf country, said that according to Ezzedines family, he had been arrested on March 22 along with eight other people, including two of his brothers, on unknown charges.

Ezzedine died on May 4, she said. His family was only notified several days later, when his son was asked by authorities to come to the cemetery and identify the body, she added. Ezzedines son was only permitted to see his fathers face, while his body was kept covered.

UAE authorities denied the familys request to bring him back to Lebanon for burial, Watling said. The two brothers who were detained along with him were subsequently released from detention but banned from leaving the country.

A Lebanese official who is following the case told The Associated Press that Ezzedines cause of death was unknown. He said eight members of the same family were detained for unknown reasons. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because diplomatic contacts between Lebanon and the UAE are ongoing regarding the death and the repatriation of the body.

Afif Shouman, head of a group of Lebanese families with relatives detained in the Gulf country, said Ezzedine had lived in the UAE for 30 years without so much as a traffic ticket.

There were no suspicions about the man that he got involved in political matters or even religious ones, he said.

UAE authorities have detained dozens of Lebanese, mostly Shiites, in the past over alleged links to the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. The UAE, like other Gulf Cooperation Council members, considers Hezbollah a terrorist organization.

In 2019, the UAE sentenced one Lebanese national to life in prison and two to ten years in prison on charges of links to Hezbollah.

Amnesty International said in a statement at the time the trial of the men failed to meet international fair trial standards, as the evidence included confessions that were extracted under duress, and the defendants were detained incommunicado for months and denied access to lawyers during interrogation and investigation.

Watling said Amnesty is concerned about the lack of transparency regarding Ezzedines case and the linked detentions.

If it is found that his death was indeed unlawful, they must ensure that all those suspected of torture and unlawful killing, including those with command responsibility, are held accountable," she said.
LONDON (AP)  Londons top police officer defended the department Friday from complaints of a heavy-handed response to protesters during the coronation of King Charles III, saying his officers intervened to prevent serious disruption and criminality.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mark Rowley said officers responded to rapidly developing intelligence suggesting protests could affect the safety and security of the coronation events last Saturday.

Prompting the concerns were indications that demonstrators planned to use high-volume sound devices that could have panicked horses and to block the procession between Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey by locking onto things along the route, Rowley said in a letter responding to questions from Mayor Sadiq Khan.

Had our officers not acted on the reasonable grounds based on the evidence in front of them in the moment and the potential risk to the event, there would now be much more serious questions to answer about the event, Rowley wrote. Serious and reliable intelligence told us that the risks were very real.

Rowleys assessment came after it emerged that a supporter of the monarchy who was waiting along the parade route in hopes of seeing the new king was arrested and detained for 13 hours simply because she was standing close to protesters in central London on Saturday. Alice Chambers has called on the police department to put new processes in place to prevent a repeat of the incident.

Anti-monarchy groups, environmental campaigners and civil liberties organizations have accused the police, and Britains Conservative government, of stifling the right to protest by using recently enacted police powers to clamp down on peaceful but disruptive demonstrations on coronation day.

Republic, a group that is campaigning to replace the king with an elected head of state, has pledged to take legal action.

The U.K.s recently passed Public Order Act, introduced in response to recent environmental protests that disrupted transportation around the country, allows police to search demonstrators for items such as locks and glue. It allows penalties of up to 12 months in prison for protesters who block roads or interfere with national infrastructure.

The new rules came into effect three days before the coronation.

Rowley said peaceful demonstrations were allowed to continue, including a large group of anti-monarchist protesters along the parade route at Trafalgar Square.

Protest was not banned, he said. While we said that our tolerance for disruption of the coronation celebrations was low, it was not zero.
From Al-Ahram Weekly archives: Fifty years of dispossession 1948-1998*

Issue: 15 - 21 October 1998

In an essay entitled "Culture and Conflict" (Al-Ahram Weekly, 386, 16-22 July), professor emeritus Fawzi Mansour responded to five articles by Edward Said that had appeared in the Weekly between 9 April and 25 June. His argument rested on the following contention: "There is running through Said's articles a constant refrain that jars and it jars because I find it demobilising at a time when we need to gather all our strength."

One of the first issues Mansour raised was Said's suggestion that possible links should be explored between Arabs and Middle Eastern Jews in Palestine/Israel. (These Jews, incidentally, call themselves "Mizrahi", plural Mizrahim, meaning Eastern Jews, not "Sephardic Jews"). Mansour wrote: "I must admit to being surprised at hearing that those Sephardic Jews who emigrated to Israel could be counted among those seeking justice for all. [...] As far as I know, those Sephardic Jews who opposed the creation of a Zionist state in Palestine, or objected to the more extreme practices of that state, either stayed where they belonged or left for Europe. [...] More to the point: aren't Israel's Sephardic Jews the section which most heavily tips the electoral balance in favour of the ultra-chauvinist, ultra-Zionist Likud?"

What first strikes me on reading Mansour's remarks is the diametrical resemblance between such arguments and those advanced daily by the Ashkenazi (European) Zionist "left" in Israel. It would be hard to imagine a statement which better mirrors the confusion, whether conscious or unconscious, that suffuses academic and political perceptions, in Israel and the Arab World alike, of the history of the Mizrahim, both pre- and in-Israel. Since Mansour's statements can be elucidated only within the overall academic/political context of these perceptions, I shall discuss this context first, then provide eight counter-arguments to Mansour's statements. Finally, I shall conclude by my own interpretation of Said's argument.

PALESTINIANS AND MIDDLE EASTERN Jews did not encounter each other in any significant political manner prior to the 1950s for two reasons. First, the indigenous Palestinian Jews were inconsequential when counted vis-a-vis the number of non-Palestinian Middle Eastern Jews. Second, the vast majority of Middle Eastern Jews who ended up in Palestine/Israel were brought there during the 1950s after the Ashkenazi Zionists had completed their 1948 destruction. Hence, any discussion of the pre-1950s deals principally with non-Palestinian Arabs and Jews.

Most academic and political discussions about Middle Eastern Jews address their "pre-Israel" or "in-Israel" history. "Both" histories are rarely discussed conjointly and the reason, as suggested below, is not so mysterious. Within the prevailing trend of "two histories" the academic/political division of labour in the region has long remained as follows.

As far as the "pre-Israel" history of Middle Eastern Jews is concerned, Zionists present it as a history of oppression and religious prejudice within the Arab world from time immemorial. After establishing this ludicrous (a)historical fable, Zionists usually move on to stress the (alleged) ideological commitment of Middle Eastern-Jews to Zionism.

Writers with an Arab orientation, on the other hand, tend to present this period somewhat idealistically, as nearly flawless in terms of inter-religious relationships. They therefore conceptualise the (politically engineered) emigration of Middle Eastern Jews as the exclusive end result of Zionist activities and propaganda.

Zionists present this as a component of the "happy ingathering of the exiles." On those rare occasions when they discuss the sharp divisions in Israeli society along ethnic and class lines, their terminology is duplicitous. Thus one finds that Middle Eastern Jews "suffer" from an "inferiority complex" and "culture shock", or that they "came" from "primitive" Arab societies, which thus explains "the gap". In short, Zionists never employ any of the terms needed to account for the Jewish ethnic split, namely: racism, orientalism, oppression, exploitation, internal colonialism and Ashkenazi anti-Semitic tendencies.

A further glance across the regional continuum reveals that Arab writers outside academia (Palestinian journalists excluded) tend to disregard "in-Israel" issues. Nevertheless, a few Arab-oriented scholars have been able to express some sympathy for the Middle Eastern Jews as far as their "in-Israel" history is concerned.

Take, for example, Abdel-Wahab Elmessiri's The Land of Promise (1980) or Roger Garaudy's The Case of Israel (1985). Both these authors devote paragraphs to the oppression of Middle Eastern Jews under Ashkenazi-Zionism. They feel a little sorry for them, hint at their "false-consciousness" and imply that their interests lie in allying themselves with the Palestinians. Rest assured: nothing is too drastically wrong, according to such studies. But the situation of the Mizrahim as presented in these works is, in fact, a serious problem for the internal consistency of their anti-Zionism.

If these assessments do not originate in purely instrumental considerations -- that is, do not seek simply to use the Jewish split to vindicate their authors' undoubtedly justified opposition to Zionism -- but instead are the result of a genuinely universal, consistent anti-Zionist/anti-racist position, then, one wonders, why is it that even these few Arab scholars almost always restrict their analyses to the "in-Israel" history of Middle Eastern Jews under Ashkenazi Zionism, and never express the slightest concern or solidarity with their "pre-Israel" history? I should like to suggest that the answer is to be found in the deeply dichotomous political/academic context within which these discussions are currently held.

Given the apparent partiality of virtually all the voluminous literature surrounding the modern state of Israel, it is hardly surprising that countless obstacles are placed in the way of those critical Arabs and Mizrahim who actually initiate unorthodox alliances and, in so doing, also come to talk about Middle Eastern Jews in a manner that rejects the primordial/nationalist assumptions generally governing discussion of their "two" histories. Thus, for example, a person who chooses to address the racist policies to which the Mizrahim have been subjected under Ashkenazi Zionism may sometimes be approved of by certain Arab circles and is always disapproved of in Zionist circles.

The Arabs approve because this person demonstrates that Zionist Israel -- in addition to being utterly racist against non-Jews generally and Palestinians in particular -- is also racist against non-Europeans even if they are Jews. The Zionists, for their part, proceed in one of two ways: if this person is not a Jew, s/he is automatically defined as an "anti-Semite"; while if this person is a Jew, s/he is immediately defined as a "self-hating Jew", a "traitor" or a "knife in the back of the nation".

This picture changes slightly when instead of concentrating on the "in-Israel" cultural and educational massacre of the Mizrahim, the very same person chooses to focus on the politics pursued towards their Jewish communities in the 1940s and 1950s by certain Arab regimes and/or groups such as the Egyptian Muslim Brothers, Misr al-Fatat, the Iraqi Istiqlal, and their pseudo-secular or religious analogues in seven other states.

In this case, this very same person will be approved of by the Zionist circles that had just now turned against him or her, and will usually be disapproved of by a majority of the Arab circles who would previously have been supportive. The Zionists approve, because s/he has now chosen to investigate the xenophobic trend within Arab nationalism. The Arabs for their part will express their disapproval in two ways: if this person happens to be an Arab and proclaims his or her solidarity with the situation of these non-Zionist Jews publicly and loudly, then s/he may be defined as "playing into the hands of Zionists" or "a breaker of the united front". If this person is a Jew, however, s/he will instantly be defined as too "hesitant" "confused" non-Zionist Jew or, worse, as really having "hidden" Zionist motives.

FIVE DISTINCT AND INDEPENDENT arguments may be marshalled against Mansour's contention that "Sephardic Jews who opposed the creation of a Zionist state in Palestine, or objected to the more extreme practices of that state, either stayed where they belonged or left for Europe." They are as follows:

1. Focusing exclusively on individual choices which were allegedly wide open to members of the Jewish minorities, Mansour omits one pivotal factor: that the conflict between Ashkenazi Zionists and Arabs in Palestine unleashed religiously-informed feelings which altered the domestic context and created constraints within which "choices" had to be made. This is why Mansour does not consider the political push-and-pull factors behind what are still euphemistically described as "population movements". This vision of "emigration" has been cleansed of all the relevant domestic politics.

2. For the sake of argument, let us freeze these political variables. As an economist, Mansour must know that, even then, the most decisive constituent element determining the destination of Jews had little to do with the ideological, super-structural realm, and was instead primarily rooted in the material infrastructure. Most Middle Eastern Jews who could afford to emigrated to countries other than Israel.

3. Compared to Western states and their "immigration" policies, Israel posed fewer obstacles. The newborn Zionist entity had to import the "black" manpower it needed to kick start its undeveloped economy. As Ben Gurion explained with typical Ashkenazi clarity: "Hitler, more than he hurt the Jewish people,... hurt the Jewish state... He destroyed the substance, the essential building force of the state. The state arose and did not find the nation which had waited for it." Only then were the Arabised Jews suddenly needed.

Middle Eastern Jews were pushed into -- and undoubtedly pulled towards -- Ashkenazi Israel thanks to the coincidence of three political forces far more powerful than themselves. The first was the deliberate "assistance" they received from Israel and its Ashkenazi emissaries throughout the region, who worked hard to consolidate separations between Jews and non-Jews, as their European Zionism dictated.

The second was the equally deliberate "assistance" they received from such regimes as those of Nuri al-Sid or Zaydi Imam Ahmed, which were well-remunerated for delivering their Jewish subjects by air to the promised land. The third was the unintentional "assistance" given to Ashkenazi Zionism by the Arab groups mentioned above. On top of this triple force, the "enlightened" Western states were as ever reluctant to absorb "third world" people, "third world" Jews included. On more than a few occasions, they even refused to take in the Ashkenazi victims of their European-Nazi creation. In so doing, they extended their sins to include the Palestinians, who thus became indirect victims of Nazism, as well as the direct victims of Zionism.

4. Contrary to the prevailing belief among some Arabs, the overwhelming majority of Middle Eastern Jews -- the majority of Egyptian-Jews included -- neither held a foreign citizenship that could enable them easily to emigrate to Europe, nor had they ever benefited from the imperialist legal system of capitulations. In addition, all these Arab Jewish communities were composed of many different classes. With the exception of the ethnically diverse Egyptian community, most mirrored their societies exactly in terms of their relationship to the means of production.

Ergo, "Middle Eastern Jews" and "capitalist compradors" are not, and must never be used as, synonyms. Even in Egypt, no more than 23 per cent of Jews could ever plausibly have been categorised in this way. Moreover, the term itself is a popular neologism which has no recognised place in neo-Marxist economists.

Granted, there were Middle Eastern Jews who were Zionists. Like others around them, during the 1940s and 1950s, some of these Zionists were undoubtedly involved in horrendous acts. Nonetheless, the overwhelming majority of Middle Eastern Jews were non-Zionists -- not "traitors", "collaborators", "capitalist compradors" or a "fifth column" -- and a significant portion of them were anti-Zionists, whether on Marxist, liberal or religious grounds (his Eminence, the Egyptian Grand Rabbi Haim Nahoum, included). This is simply fact, even though it remains "beneficial" for the two nationalistic academic versions of this people's history to argue that most were fully-fledged Zionists by their own free choice.

Critical Jews and Arabs who wish to account properly for the departure of 800,000 Jews from their countries of origin would do well to shift the focus of their research away from the micro-study of the inner, super-structural or ideological, workings of these nine mini-minorities, and towards the colossal interactions going on above their heads between Ashkenazi Zionism and Arab nationalism. It is there that they can find the answers to their questions. This approach would also have the advantage of sparing us the exhausting and tedious nationalistic fervour which sadly governs most existing accounts of the subject.

5. One should also recall here the successful campaign against the participation of Arab Jews in the Theatre de Beyrouth symposium to commemorate the 1948 Nakba -- a campaign which was, once again, implemented exclusively by Ashkenazi Zionists. On these issues, Mansour knows more than he was prepared to say in these columns.

But it is counterproductive for universal anti-racist Arabs and Jews to cut round these thorny corners. Even for anti-Zionist Arab Jews such as Ibrahim Sarfati, Salim Nssib, Edmond Malih and others, it does not always matter whether they "opposed the creation of a Zionist state" or "objected to its practices" or "left for Europe" (Malih and others) or "stayed where they belonged" (Nassib, or Sarfati, the Marxist, in jail). Mansour knows that it is not only several Lebanese newspapers and the Syrian National Party (backed by the Syrian second bureau) who consistently contradict his contentions. He knows that there are other establishments which still manage to have so-called "problems" with (even non-Israeli) anti-Zionist Jews. Why is this so?

Because, as one of the Arab organisers of the Beirut symposium wrote, "we are being accused of collaborating with Israel because ... we discuss with Jews from the Arab world and voice a critique as much against Zionism as against repressive Arab regimes and Arab nationalism." I am familiar with other universal anti-Zionist Arabs who think like this gentleman, and like myself.

Their work has another, crucial contribution to make, beyond its own intrinsic value: it is of primary importance for the non-Zionist consolidation of young, and otherwise "fearful" Jews, whose lives are largely dictated from above by a European, non-Middle Eastern Zionist-Jewish memory. True, this function may be secondary. But is it bad for anyone other than Zionists -- and, perhaps, their diametrical mirror images?

There are three additional arguments I should like to make, with respect to Mansour's surprise that "those Sephardic Jews could be counted among those seeking justice for all" and to his (Ashkenazi) question "aren't Sephardic Jews those who most heavily tip the electoral balance in favour of the ultra-chauvinist Likud?".

First, there is one key issue which divides pro- and anti-normalisation Egyptians. While the small pro-normalisation group believes that it is important to engage "left" Zionism -- meaning sub-sections of the affluent Ashkenazi elite, such as Peace Now and Meretz -- the anti-normalisation camp believes that this is counterproductive. It follows that the anti-normalisation majority-- quite justly -- does not distinguish seriously between the right and left Zionist fists, since it is the same head that decides when to use them, just as it is the same head which they strike against.

But if this is the case, then one wonders why is it that Mansour, as an anti-normalisation intellectual, should suddenly choose to distinguish between right and left Zionism where "Sephardic" Jews are concerned? Anti-Zionism needs to be consistent on this point: it should distinguish always, or never, between right and left. There should be no "Mizrahi exceptionalism".

Second, rereading Mansour, it is depressing to realise how Zionist fallacies can be recycled in the most unusual places. Ashkenazi-controlled Israeli scholarship, newspapers, television and "left" groups have been remarkably successful in their tireless attempts (beginning in around 1977, when the authoritarian "Labour" party lost power) to demonise and scapegoat the Mizrahim for all the ills and contradictions that are an integral part of their creation (i.e. Zionism and Israel). There is no space to g into this issue in depth here.

I can only refer the reader to the writings of one (Iraqi-Jewish) Mizrahi: Ella Habiba Shohat. Her 1988 study of how the Zionist "left" generated this fallacious image of the Mizrahim is available in English, Hebrew and Arabic (in the Palestinian Journal Kan'an), thanks to the long-standing collaboration that exists between Palestinians, critical Mizrahim and others. This Ashkenazi fallacy is responsible for the common and unfounded identification of post-1977 Mizrahim and "ultra-chauvinist Zionism".

Lastly, I must be consistent myself. Critical Mizrahim do not, must not and, unfortunately, cannot argue that there are no Mizrahi Jews who vote for right (and "left") Zionist parties (as do 40% of the oppressed Palestinian "citizens" of Israel, be they Muslims, Christians, Druze, Bedouin or Circassian). Therefore I neither offer here, nor ask for, a primordial apologetic "discount" on their behalf. But circular restatements of well-known Zionist problems do not get anyone anywhere, unless one merely wants to help consolidate the current socio-political impasse and play (again) into the hands of the divide-and-rule camp. This is why critical Mizrahim prefer to invest their precious time in finding solutions to these problems with and within the community.

Such critical Mizrahim do not ask for help or admiration from anyone. Unlike the Ashkenazim and all too many others, they know perfectly well why and how the colossal transformations of the 1940s and 1950s shattered the already heterogeneous Mizrahi community beyond all recognition. Critical Mizrahim also know that because post-1950s Mizrahi Jews were born into Israel's apartheid system of citizenship, they have serious obligations to the victims of Zionism, the Palestinians. They therefore support unconditionally and unequivocally the right of the exiled Palestinians to return to their land, a right which must stand inalienable regardless of whether the Mizrahim themselves wish to remain in this land where they now find themselves or not.

But critical Mizrahim, whose ancestors have a long continuous history across the entire region and are in no sense merely "guests", do retain one right: the right to remain sensitive to the often condescending and moralising tone in which they are addressed by both Ashkenazi Jews and non-Palestinian Arabs.

For the sake of a better future for this remarkable region, perhaps it would be politically advantageous if Ashkenazi Jews and non-Palestinian Arabs would first apply their lucid analytical skills either to their own history, or to each other's, instead of fabricating convenient simplifications of the "pre-Israel" Middle Eastern Jews or the "in-Israel" Mizrahim. Likewise, critical Mizrahim should perhaps devote more time both to the radical political reformation of the disordered Mizrahi block and to the dual de-nationalisation of its current historical representation.

More fundamentally, any truly rigorous analysis of the Jewish collectivity would target socio-political processes without necessarily equating them with voting patterns. These processes affect the Palestinians whether one likes it or not. One thing, in any case, is clear: Mizrahi Jews constitute the only critical mass within the Jewish collectivity that possesses the reservoirs of historical, political, cultural and class-based experience from which a sufficiently large question mark can be extracted and placed at the end of every Zionist, or racist, proposition. I hold this truth to be self-evident, even if Mizrahi Jews -- perhaps like their Arab counterparts across the nine countries from which they originated -- have thus far proved quite incapable of the political unity to which their destiny calls them.

BACK TO EDWARD SAID, who like other Palestinians before him was generous enough to mention the "Sephardic topic". I, for one, was unable to find in his articles that demobilising "constant refrain that jars". All that my (outsider's?) eyes could see was a committed Palestinian who stated firmly what at least some other Arabs, Mizrahim and others can only whisper, because they are less well-known: that the old ways formulated for us by previous generations have failed, first and foremost in terms of the objectives set for them by their inventors.

The previous generation failed to deliver the goods it had promised. Zionism still prevails, and is perhaps "kicking even more strongly than before", as the Mizrahi regional universalist Mordechai Va'anunu wrote from his Israeli jail. In the post-Oslo period, genuine democracy, political and economic equality throughout the region, and, consequently, the possibility of a just peace for the Middle East, are perhaps more remote prospects than ever before.

Hence, in conclusion, I would like to suggest the possibility of exploring certain original, horizontal alliances on the basis of shared political values. These are cross-national, regional alliances which should attempt to transcend truly, not artificially, yet with mutual respect, those religious identities that even Marxist groups throughout the region have ultimately failed to come to terms with. If one happens to wish that some elements of the new South African model is to have even some small chance of influencing the Middle East over the course of the next millennium, then one absolute prerequisite is to institute a new type of society-based political communication, right here, right now.

This means communication between critical human beings across the entire region -- between all Palestinians, all kinds of anti-, non- and post-Zionist Jews, and also progressive Arab nationalists -- because the conflict is regional, and has been at least since the intifada of 1936-39.

This communication should be pursued even if the opening positions of the various parties are far from identical (especially given that non-critical people in the region do not wait for anyone and do communicate with each other). As long as one does not intend to move to heaven soon, or to exchange opinions only with one's own shadow, these positions will most likely never be entirely identical. If I recall right, this is the definition of democracy, anti-Zionist democracy included. I may be wrong but this is my Mizrahi reading of Said.

Permit a final word to some of the most committed readers of the Weekly, the personnel of Israeli authorities. Neither myself, nor other critical Mizrahim have anything personal against Zionists or Ashkenazim as human beings. As many pre-Zionist Ashkenazi knew well, democracy can never be divided along religious, ethnic or racial lines. So please loosen your grip: this is the main reason why we are where we are politically.



* Shiko Behar is the first member of an extended, lower-Middle-class Egyptian Jewish family to be born in Palestine/Israel

*This article was first published in Al-Ahram Weeklys special pages commemorating 50 years of Al-Nakba, the Palestinian catastrophe when Israel was created on 15 May 1948. These pages, published in 1998, were part of a year-long series of articles documenting the history and nature of the Arab-Israeli struggle, as well as that of Palestinian dispossession and exile.

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BELGRADE, Serbia (AP)  Tens of thousands of people marched through the Serbian capital, Belgrade, and blocked a key bridge Friday in the second large protest since two mass shootings that rattled the Balkan country and killed 17 people, including many children.

Protesters gathered in front of the Parliament building before filing by the government's headquarters and onto a highway bridge spanning the Sava River, where evening commuters had to turn their vehicles around to avoid getting stuck. At the head of the column was a black banner reading Serbia Against Violence.

As the demonstrators passed the government buildings, many chanted slogans decrying Serbia's populist president, Aleksandar Vucic, whom they blame for creating an atmosphere of hopelessness and division in the country that they say indirectly led to the mass shootings.

Were here to express a certain kind of rebellion against everything that currently surrounds us, but primarily the violence that occurred in the last ... days, and that is all around us in the past years, Belgrade resident Nevena Matic said.

Pro-government media criticized the bridge blockade, with the Novosti daily newspaper reporting that harassment has begun, hooligans have blocked the bridge."

But opposition politician Srdjan Milivojevic told television station N1 that this is a battle for survival. He said, If the president does not understand his people, its time he resigned."

Police did not intervene. As night fell and the crowd started to disperse, organizers promised to hold more protests unless their demands are met.

Ahead of the protest, Vucic, who holds nearly all the levers of power, said it amounted to violence in politics and the harassment of citizens. But he said police wouldn't get involved unless people's lives are in danger.

What gives them the right to block other people's normal lives? said Vucic, who accused opposition leaders of abusing the tragedy following the shootings that deeply rattled the nation and triggered calls for change.

They are harassing citizens and not allowing them to travel, Vucic insisted. But we don't like to beat protesters, like France and Germany do.

The rally came nearly a week after an earlier protest in Belgrade that also drew thousands and demonstrations in smaller towns and cities around the country. At that protest, demonstrators demanded the resignations of government ministers and the withdrawal of broadcast licenses for two private TV stations which are close to the state and promote violence. They often host convicted war criminals and crime figures on their programs.

The two shootings happened within two days of each other and left 17 people dead and 21 wounded. On May 3, a 13-year-old boy used his father's gun to open fire at his school in central Belgrade. The next day, a 20-year-old man randomly fired at people in a rural area south of the capital.

Opposition parties have accused Vucic's populist government of fueling intolerance and hate speech while taking hold of all institutions. Vucic has denied this. He has called his own rally for May 26 in Belgrade that he said would be the biggest ever.

We do not organize spontaneous rallies in order to play with people's emotions, Vucic insisted. Ours will be a rally of unity, when we will announce important political decisions.

Vucic also told reporters that citizens had handed in more than 9,000 weapons since police announced a one-month amnesty for people to surrender unregistered guns and ammunition or face possible prison sentences after that period.

Serbia is estimated to be among the top countries in Europe when it comes to the number of guns per capita, many of them left over from the wars in the 1990s. Other anti-gun measures after the shootings include a ban on new gun licenses, stricter controls on gun owners and shooting ranges, and tougher punishments for the illegal possession of weapons.
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BANGKOK (AP)  Voters disaffected by nine years of plodding rule by a coup-making army general are expected to deliver a strong mandate for change in Thailand's general election Sunday. But a predicted victory by the allies of Thaksin Shinawatra, whose ouster by coup 17 years ago plunged the country into prolonged instability, has caused concern for an unhindered democratic transition.

Dissatisfaction with the incumbent prime minister running for reelection, Prayuth Chan-ocha, is high, due in part to a slumping economy and his governments mismanaged response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

But weariness and even anger at the militarys habitual interference in politics is a major factor. Thailand has had more than a dozen coups since becoming a constitutional monarchy in 1932, the last one in 2014 carried out by Prayuth when he was army commander. Prayuths governments slapped down democratic reforms and prosecuted activists.

The main factor could be that people are no longer willing to tolerate the authoritarian government that has been in power for over nine years, and there is a significant wish for change among the people. said Pinkaew Laungaramsri, a professor of anthropology at Chiang Mai University.

Seventy political parties are contesting the 500 seats up for grabs in the House of Representatives: 400 are directly elected, with 100 chosen via a form of proportional representation.

Opposition parties endorsing reforms to rein in the army are running strides ahead in opinion polls. But pitching policies that threaten the status quo alarms the ruling conservative establishment. It has repeatedly shown itself capable of bringing down popularly elected governments it didnt like, through rulings in the royalist courts and army coups.

Prayuth represents one pole of the countrys politics, centered around royalists and the military. Thaksin, the billionaire populist ousted in the 2006 coup, represents the other. The power struggle between Thaksins supporters and his opponents has been fought  sometimes in the street, sometimes at the ballot box  for almost two decades.

Prayuth is trailing badly in opinion polls behind Thaksins 36-year-old daughter, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, who inherited the popularity and political style of her father. She campaigned intensively while heavily pregnant and gave birth to a son last week.

She is the favorite among the opposition Pheu Thai Party's three registered nominees for prime minister. Her party looks set to win a majority of seats in the lower house of Parliament.

Recent history strengthens the appearance of this election as a grudge match between the Shinawatras and their foes. Prayuths 2014 coup unseated a government that had come to power with Yingluck Shinawatra  Paetongtarns aunt, Thaksins sister  as prime minister. And Pheu Thai topped the field in the 2019 vote, only to be denied power when the army-backed Palang Pracharath Party found partners to assemble a coalition government.

But a third major player has injected a sharp ideological aspect into the election. The Move Forward Party, led by 42-year-old businessman Pita Limjaroenrat, has galvanized younger voters and is running a strong second to Pheu Thai in the polls. However, for conservative Thailand, its platform is frighteningly radical: reform of the military and reform of the powerful monarchy, a bold move because the institution has been traditionally treated as sacrosanct.

Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a professor at Bangkoks Chulalongkorn University, points out that while Move Forwards agenda would be considered just progressive in other countries, in the Thai context it is revolutionary.

This election is the most important in contemporary Thai politics because its an election thats going to determine Thailands political future, he says, crediting Move Forward with pushing the frontiers of Thai politics into areas where it needs to go.

Pheu Thai largely shares Move Forwards reformist agenda, but the smaller partys more forthright stand poses a dilemma. Adding Move Forward to a coalition government could antagonize the Senate, a conservative body whose support is crucial to taking power.

Thailands 2017 constitution, adopted under military rule, calls for the prime minister to be selected by a joint vote of the 500-member House and the unelected 250-seat Senate, whose members were appointed by Prayuths junta.

In 2019, the Senate voted as a bloc, unanimously backing Prayuth. This time, a party that wins a clear majority of House seats still might need at least 376, or 75% plus one, of the votes in the 500-member lower house if its prime minister candidate was opposed in the Senate.

If Pheu Thai lands in such a position, it could find coalition partners among parties that win some House seats. It could also nominate one of its other candidates for prime minister, most likely 60-year-old Srettha Thavisin, who is not burdened with the Shinawatra name that is anathema to the Senates conservatives.

Most intriguingly, Pheu Thai could ally with another former general, 77-year-old Prawit Wongsuwan, who has been Prayuths ambitious deputy prime minister and is this years prime minister candidate for the Palang Pracharath Party.

He and his party are polling badly, but his presence in government might reassure some senators. Such an alliance would seem like a deviance from Pheu Thais platform, but could be sold to supporters on the basis that Prawit was not actively involved in plotting the 2014 coup.

Until Sundays votes are counted, Pheu Thais path forward will remain unclear.

Many said that this election reflects the peoples hope for change in politics, but at the same time, the greater the hope for change imposed on this election, the more nervous the conservatives currently holding power become, says Chiang Mai Universitys Pinkaew. We will begin to see the retaliation from the conservative side, from provoking a sense of extreme nationalism to obstructing some parties."

___

Associated Press writer Jintamas Saksornchai contributed to this report.
NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP)  Cyprus is working together with Irish and U.S. military experts to help train two groups of Ukrainian personnel in clearing an untold number of unmarked minefields in their homeland, the island nation's defense minister said Friday.

Replying to an Associated Press query, Minister Michalis Georgallas said a first group of 24 Ukrainians was currently undergoing training in Cypriot military installations, with another group expected to arrive next month.

The training was under the auspices of a European Union Military Assistance Mission (EUMAM Ukraine) that was launched last October to meet Ukraines calls for support, he said.

As the situation on the ground in Ukraine now stands, a 5,000-strong team of demining experts would need at least 30 years to clear all mines from unmarked minefields across the front lines, Georgallas said.

He said Cypriot officers are also taking part in training of Ukrainian personnel in Germany.

Cyprus has much experience in demining as many thousands of the deadly munitions remain. The mines are a vestige of defenses set up in the wake of the 1974 Turkish invasion triggered by a coup that aimed to unite Cyprus with Greece.

The United Nations have for years assisted in demining efforts, particularly inside a buffer zone it controls that separates a breakaway, Turkish Cypriot north and an internationally recognized, Greek Cypriot south.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv was delaying its long-awaited counteroffensive against Russias occupying forces because it lacked enough Western weapons to succeed without taking too many casualties.

A Ukrainian counteroffensive against Russias more than 14-month-old invasion has been expected since warmer weather improved battlefield conditions. But Zelenskyy told European broadcasters in an interview aired Thursday that a counteroffensive now would result in too many casualties and that would be unacceptable.

The Ukrainian president said more time was needed since not everything has arrived yet in terms of equipment.

Ukraines troops are receiving Western training, as well as advanced weapons, as they gear up for an assault.

Cyprus has said it won't transfer its Soviet-era tanks, armored personnel carriers and anti-aircraft missile batteries to Ukraine because it continues to face off against 35,000 Turkish troops deployed in the north.
PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP)  The United States top international development official on Friday said Washington is focusing on the urgency of normalizing relations between Kosovo and Serbia in EU-brokered talks between the two former war foes.

USAID Administrator Samantha Power has been in Kosovo for the past two days, following a three-day visit to Serbia.

As the most senior representative of U.S. President Joe Biden to visit Kosovo recently, she said her country's focus now was on the importance of implementation of the agreements that will produce a normalization that will be incredibly important for Kosovo and for Serbia.

Over the two days of her trip, Power visited a local farm and food processing facility. She met with young entrepreneurs at a hub for innovation and also spoke to young peacemakers bridging divides between Kosovo and Serbia.

Normalization is going to be really, really good for business, she said at a news conference. The good that normalization will do for the young people of this country cannot be overstated.

In February, Kosovo's Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic met and gave tacit approval to the EUs 11-point plan. During a March summit in North Macedonia, the two leaders tentatively agreed on implementation.

We are hopeful that the parties will come to the next stage of EU-mediated discussions with very specific proposals, said Power.

Washington and Brussels have stepped up efforts to help solve the dispute, fearing further instability in Europe as the war rages in Ukraine.

Both Serbia and Kosovo have been told they must normalize relations to advance in their intentions to join the EU. The two sides have tentatively agreed to back an EU plan on how to proceed, but tensions continue to simmer.

Power acknowledged the political choices ahead for both countries were very difficult.

Thats why they lie ahead. If they were easy, they would have been choices made a long time ago, she said.

Power spoke on two contesting issues, first urging Kosovo to proceed on the establishment of an association of Serb-majority municipalities in Kosovo, which would coordinate work on education, health care, land planning and economic development at the local level.

A 2013 agreement on that plan was later declared unconstitutional by Kosovos Constitutional Court, which ruled that it wasnt inclusive of other ethnicities and could entail the use of executive powers.

Power also urged Kosovo Serbs to return to their jobs in local government institutions in the north of the country, where most of the ethnic Serb minority is located. They boycotted those posts in November and a snap election vote last month in protest at the establishment of the association.

The conflict in Kosovo erupted in 1998 when separatist ethnic Albanians rebelled against Serbias rule, and Serbia responded with a brutal crackdown. About 13,000 people, mostly ethnic Albanians, died. NATOs military intervention in 1999 eventually forced Serbia to pull out of the territory.

Washington and most European Union countries have recognized Kosovo as an independent state but Serbia, along with Russia and China, has not.

___

Semini reported from Tirana, Albania.

___

Follow Llazar Semini on Twitter: https://twitter.com/lsemini
Its Mothers Day. And Im an angry mother and grandmother.

Im angry with a Supreme Court thats taken away a womans Constitutional right to make her motherhood a choice. Im enraged by a Court thats enabled states to force motherhood upon victims of rape and incest. Im furious with a Court that values the unborn above the lives of the women in whose bodies these unborn exist without viable personhood. I decry this Court that would endanger the health, safety, and well-being of us all.

Its Mothers Day. And Im angry that our country is awash in guns. Im angry that the children of all mothers  small children and adult children alike  are not safe anywhere.

Its Mothers Day, and Im recalling the poignancy of a speech that placed a glaring light on these matters of life and death.

It was Nov. 30, 2021, and Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy was giving an impassioned speech on the Senate floor.

Do not lecture us about the sanctity, the importance of life 

That November day, four students were killed and six injured during a school shooting in Oxford Township, Mich. That was also the day preceding oral arguments before the United States Supreme Court in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization, the eventual outcome of which would result in the June 24, 2022, landmark decision that overturned a half century of legal precedent that affirmed a womans Constitutional right to an abortion as established with Roe v. Wade in 1973.

Murphy was on his way home when he heard reports of the Michigan school shooting. He had earlier been presiding over the Senate while Republicans were giving their so called pro-life speeches. He returned to the Senate and took the floor. And with the Republican pro-life speeches in mind, he called them out for the hypocrisy in their concern for the lives of the unborn while refusing to address the lethal threat that gun violence poses to the lives of human beings who have been born.

Do not lecture us, he said, when 100 people every day are losing their lives to guns, when kids go to school fearful that they wont return home 

I was reminded of that speech in recent days when I received an email from Murphy that asked recipients to join him in calling upon Congress to ban assault weapons, describing these weapons for what they are: instruments of war and tools of mass killers.

Our country has now witnessed more than 200 mass shootings in 2023, Murphy wrote in his email, noting the most recent violence in Texas. Its just incomprehensible that we dont realize this carnage is a choice.

No one needs a weapon that was designed to kill as many people as possible in as short a time as possible. A ban on these weapons would take them out of the hands of potential mass killers.

We can make a different choice, Murphys email says.

Choose life, the Scriptures say: "This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live  " (Deuteronomy 30:19).

Republicans appear to believe government should play a minimal role, maybe even no role, in choosing to save human life when it comes to the regulation of guns. And yet, as I wrote in my Dec.12, 2021 column on this same subject, they would maximize governments role in saving the unborn through extreme regulation and control of womens reproductive lives, without regard for the harmful effects of such regulation.

Such government control over a womans reproductive life in the service of the unborn not only violates her human rights and potentially does her harm, but also violates the First Amendment rights of the many in our country who do not share the religious beliefs that underpin abortion bans. The Jewish religion, for instance, requires that the mothers life always be valued above fetal life.

Its Mothers Day, and Im angry. Thats because Im old enough to remember a womans deadly world before Roe v. Wade. And Im also old enough to remember a country without assault weapons when school shootings were unimaginable.
Odd angles are the star of a retro, Richfield, WI, home in the woods.

Listed for $475,000, the custom-built abode is tucked among the tall trees on a 2.5-acre lot.

You just don't see architecture like this very often, says listing agent Ricky Anderson, with Powers Realty Group. The homes that are newly built are often more cookie cutter properties, so when you see something that has architectural sightlines like this one, it draws a lot of people and it catches a lot of attentionand people want to see it, and they appreciate it.

Architect Gerald Keller designed the 3,038-square-foot home in 1972. The space is replete with large windows, lofted ceilings, and large timber beams.

Just the angles and use of triangles throughout the property is something that's very unique, Anderson says. Nothing is your typical 90 degrees, and there's not a box room. It's got its own geometric shape.

Entry Realtor.com

Living room Realtor.com

The octagonal-shaped kitchen is the centerpiece of the main living area and is crowned by a dramatic, circular light fixture.

Octagonal kitchen Realtor.com

The sellers have had the place for 35 years and recently updated the roof and many of the mechanicals.

They called it home, raised kids in it, and now life has given them an opportunity to move somewhere else, and they're taking it, Anderson explains.

There are only two bedrooms and one full bathroom, which was renovated in the 1990s.

Bedroom Realtor.com

Thats a long time ago already, Anderson says with a laugh, noting that there's reason for all the tan tile used in the remodel. They wanted it to complement the home as much as possible. Thats why you see the brown complementing the outside and the other interior of the house.

Brown bathroom Realtor.com

'It's something different'

The home sits on a hill and surprises you when you pull into the driveway.

It's not your traditional colonial or ranch that we see on a day-to-day basis," Anderson says. "It's something different. It brings art into the architecture and the living space. Not everyone appreciates that, but for those of us that do, it makes every room very comfortable in its own unique way.

The unique dwelling is surrounded by trees, adding to its serene aesthetic.

You have tons of privacy," Anderson says. "It's very peaceful. It's almost like your own retreat or oasis. Its very easy to unplug after a day's work. You walk inside the property, and you're greeted by all these glass windows and big patio doors that open up the backyard. You feel like you're outside, but you're in the comfort of a home.

Still, Anderson acknowledges the place might not be every buyer's cup of tea.

Its for someone who appreciates architecture, someone who can look at the current home and appreciate the bones but also make updates based on their own style," he says.

The post Nestled in Nature: Retro Wisconsin Home Looks To Fetch $475K appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com.
UK pharmaceuticals company GSK said it had sold a 2.5% stake in Haleon at 335p a share, raising 804m.

The sale, a 2.3% discount to Haleon's closing price of 342.85pon Thursday, leaves GSK with a 10.3% stake in the world's biggest consumer health firm, with Pfizer holding 32%. Both have undertaken not to dispose of any further shares in Haleon for a period of 60 days following settlement of the placing.

Haleon is made up of assets from GSK and Pfizer, selling non-prescription drugs, vitamins and oral care products such as Sensodyne toothpaste. It was formed in July 2019 as GSK and Pfizer merged their consumer healthcare businesses. It was spun out and listed on the London Stock Exchange last July.

Last week, the firm reported quarterly profit below expectations as higher costs squeezed margins.

Pfizer last week told the Financial Times newspaper last week that it intends to offload its stake in a "slow and methodical" manner within months.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com
Royal Mail chief executive Simon Thompson has quit after a bitter year-long dispute with the postal workers' union, the company said on Friday.

Thompson, who was in the top job for just over two years, last month finally reached a deal with the Communication Workers Union o pay and conditions after 12 months of strikes that will see staff get a 10% salary increase and a 500 one-off payment.

He said "now the right time to hand over to a new CEO to deliver the next stage of the companys reinvention".

The acrimonious relationship between the boss and the union was highlighted in a post on the CWU's Twitter account, featuring a picture of Thompson with the word's "Thompson gone".

Parent company International Distributions Services said would leave the job at the end of October, but will continue to pick up his salary every month for half a year after that in lieu of notice, giving him around 289,000.

He will also be in line for a bonus and get to claim up to 17,500 towards legal fees linked to his departure and up to 50,000 towards outplacement support.

Thompson, who was also an executive at Ocado and Apple, led the much-maligned 37bn Covid NHS test and trace scheme, and has faced criticisms from several fronts.

First, the former Royal Mail boss Rico Back questioned his experience and handling of the dispute with unions, saying he was too confrontational.

He was later accused of incompetence or cluelessness by MPs on the business committee after appearing before them in January and being recalled over questions about his evidence.

Royal Mail was also hit by a ransomware attack linked to Russian hackers stopped international mail deliveries from the UK.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com
Since the BRI memorandum was signed in 2019, the two countries have made progress in energy manufacturing and joint investment between Italian sovereign funds and Chinese funds, but less so on infrastructure, which is more sensitive for Italys NATO allies and the U.S.

Former Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte had hoped the agreement would boost the Italian economy and increase exports to China. But the deal aroused the concern of allies such as the United States despite Italy's insistence that it was purely commercial.

Italian politics also are a factor. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni criticized the deal, which was negotiated by her predecessor before she came to power last September. In an interview with Reuters last year, Meloni said, "There is no political will on my part to favor Chinese expansion into Italy or Europe."

The deal was sealed in a five-year memorandum of understanding signed during Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Rome in March 2019, making Italy the only country in the Group of Seven advanced economies to participate in China's global infrastructure program. But it has so far failed to produce the hoped-for economic returns, Italian officials told Reuters.

A senior Italian government official has told Reuters that his country is highly unlikely to renew the agreement when it expires early next year, but that it needs time for further discussions with Beijing.

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) deal was on the table during May 5 talks in Rome between Chinese Foreign Ministry official Wang Lutong and his Italian counterparts, according to the Italian news outlet Decode39. It was also under discussion when Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Italy in February this year.

 Two Ports

A key element of the agreement calls for the development of the Italian ports of Genoa and Trieste. These are the busiest ports in Italy, and Trieste is strategically located at the north end of the Adriatic Sea with overland links to Central and Eastern Europe.

Italian Minister of Enterprise and Manufacturing Adolfo Urso recently said the port of Trieste would not fall into Chinese hands, arguing it has become more important than ever since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. "We must understand that rebuilding Ukraine is the engine of European economic revival, just like the Marshall Plan after World War II," he said.

China has said little publicly about Italy's hesitation. Jia Guide, the Chinese ambassador to Italy, acknowledged in an April 26 interview with the Italian news outlet Sole 24 Hours that the memorandum of understanding is not a legally binding treaty.

"It embodies the political will of the two sides to strengthen practical cooperation in various fields. Adhering to win-win cooperation is the unchanging mainstream between China and Italy, and it truly conforms to the fundamental and long-term interests of the two peoples," he said.

China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has cited "fruitful outcomes" since the signing of the agreement and said there is "a need for both sides to further tap into the potential of our Belt and Road cooperation."

Nicola Casarini, a senior research fellow at the Wilson Center, told VOA Mandarin that a renewal of the agreement would lead to more Chinese investment in Italy and provide Italian companies with better market access in China. A decision not to renew, he said, would be seen by Beijing as an unfriendly signal but would likely not prompt retaliatory measures.

"Since China is trying to mend ties with Europe as a whole, I think it is pretty unlikely that the Chinese government will single out Italy in terms of commercial reprisals, as it did in the case of Lithuania," he said. "Why? Because that will elicit a backlash from the rest of the European partners of Italy. In that case, China-Europe relations will worsen." He said China was more likely to adopt "more sophisticated" measures such as diverting trade away from Italy toward other European partners such as France and Germany.

The deal has failed to boost Italy's underperforming economy in the past four years as expected. Italian exports to China totaled $18.1 billion (16.4 billion euros) last year compared with $14.2 billion (13 billion euros) in 2019. Chinese exports to Italy rose to $62.8 billion (57.5 billion euros) from $34.6 billion (31.7 billion euros) over the same period, according to Reuters.

 Taiwan Strait

Meloni, meanwhile, has been more outspoken about the Taiwan Strait issue than her predecessor. In an interview with Taiwan's Central News Agency before being elected, she said she would strengthen cooperation with Taiwan, a move likely to anger Beijing.

Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs is preparing to establish a representative office in Milan, which would be its second official agency in Italy and essentially function as a consulate.

Italy, meanwhile, sent a delegation to Taiwan to discuss cooperation in semiconductors at the end of last month but postponed a visit to Taiwan by a delegation of Italian politicians, also scheduled for April. Chinese officials have yet to react sharply to Italy's warming partnership with Taiwan.
The U.S. on Thursday accused South Africa of supplying arms to Russia for its war in Ukraine in a three-day covert naval operation near Cape Town in early December.

Ambassador Reuben Brigety, the American diplomatic mission chief to South Africa, said in comments carried by multiple South African news outlets that the U.S. was certain that the weapons were loaded onto a Russian-flagged cargo ship, the Lady R, that was secretly docked at the Simon's Town naval base before departing for Russia.

He characterized South Africa's alleged arming of Russia during its invasion of Ukraine as "extremely serious" and said it called into question South Africa's supposed neutral stance in the conflict.

In Parliament, the leader of the South African political opposition, John Steenhuisen, asked President Cyril Ramaphosa if South Africa was "actively arming Russian soldiers who are murdering and maiming innocent people?"

Ramaphosa replied that an investigation was underway. "The matter is being looked into, and in time we will be able to speak about it," Ramaphosa said, but declined further comment.

Later, in a statement, Ramaphosa said U.S. and South African officials had discussed "the Lady R matter... and there was an agreement that an investigation will be allowed to run its course, and that the U.S. intelligence services will provide whatever evidence [is] in their possession."

"It is therefore disappointing," Ramaphosa said, "that the U.S. ambassador has adopted a counter-productive public posture that undermines the understanding reached on the matter and the very positive and constructive engagements between the two delegations."

Brigety told reporters in the capital, Pretoria, "Among the things we [the U.S.] noted was the docking of the cargo ship in the Simon's Town naval base between the 6th and 8th December 2022, which we are confident uploaded weapons and ammunition onto that vessel in Simon's Town as it made its way back to Russia."
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman stressed the government's priority to incentivise and encourage expenditures in India through production-linked incentive (PLI) schemes, that have been grew beyond the initial 14 sectors to include semiconductors and solar components.

Inviting Japanese investors to invest in India, the minister said the country had relaxed various restrictions to ensure greater ease of doing business and draw more investments. Sitharaman interacted with business leaders on the theme of "Rising Investment Opportunities: Destination India."

She is in Tokyo to attend the G7 meeting. India, which has the G20 presidency for the current year, is an invitee to G 7 finance ministers and central bank governors meeting.

The budget for FY24, she said, was prepared keeping in mind the country's requirements over next 25 years to emerge as a developed nation by 2047.

The government had initially earmarked incentives worth Rs 1.97 lakh crore under various PLI schemes over a five-year period to spur domestic manufacturing.

The minister reiterated India's commitment to greening its economy and the goals set under the Nationally Determined Contributions, especially with regard to renewable energy. Using its own funds, the country has already achieved an installed solar power capacity of 175 GW and now aims to scale it up to 300 GW by 2030.
The secretary of the mines ministry stated that startups can assist in addressing technological issues that the mining industry is now facing. She also added that the participation of startups in the sector will pave the way for future growth. Bharadwaj emphasised the ministry's initiatives to support efficiency and innovation in mineral exploration and mining in order to realise the "Atmanirbhar Bharat" vision. He emphasised that startups have a huge potential for utilising new technologies for mining and exploration.

The first Mining Start-up Summit will be held in Mumbai on May 29 and will be organised by the Ministry of Mines in partnership with IIT Bombay. Over 150 startups and 20 significant industries from the fields of exploration, virtual reality, automation, drone technology, consulting, and other areas will attend.

The summit's main topics will be innovation and methods that support and enhance mining and metallurgical performance, safety, and the development of autonomy. The ministry will have the chance to meet with emerging companies in the mining and metallurgy sectors and investigate strategies for accelerating the industry's and ultimately the nation's growth. Leading businesses in the mineral exploration sector, financial institutions, and banks will also attend the conference in addition to startups.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  A 14-year-old boy stands accused in the fatal stabbing of Jamel Carmona, 36, inside the Stapleton Houses on Wednesday, according to police.

Officers responded to 75 Hill St. around 9 p.m on Wednesday and found Carmona, who lives in a different building in the apartment complex, lying in a pool of blood in a second floor hallway area near the stairwell, a source with knowledge of the investigation told the Advance/SILive.com.

Carmona was removed to Staten Island University Hospital in Ocean Breeze where he died, according to a statement from the NYPD.

An investigation ensued and a canvass for video surveillance yielded footage showing Carmona entering 75 Hill St. and walking toward the 14-year-old boy. Words were exchanged, the confrontation turned physical and the boy allegedly stabbed the older man, the source said.

The suspect then fled, according to the source.

Although the initial call to police was for a possible gunshot wound, the victim actually had a puncture wound in the upper left side of his chest. The weapon, thought to be a knife, was not immediately recovered, said the source.

The 14-year-old boy has been charged by police with murder, manslaughter, assault and criminal possession of a weapon.

The NYPD does not identify minors.

MURDER RATE UP 250%

Staten Island has seen a dramatic increase in homicides this year. Murders have increased by 250% on the borough as of May 7, with seven fatalities compared to two at this time last year, according to CompStat, the NYPDs computerized system for tracking crimes throughout New York City.

The most recently available statistics do not include the stabbing on Wednesday that brings the total to eight.

Nearly all of the murders have happened on the North Shore of our borough, according to CompStat.

A 500% increase has been reported so far this year in the 120th Precinct, based in St. George, where six of the murders occurred as of May 7 compared to one last year. Wednesdays stabbing raises the total for the 120th Precinct to seven.

Zero murders have been tallied in two precincts on Staten Island, the 123rd, which polices the South Shore, and the 121st, which encompasses portions of the North and West shores.

OTHER STATEN ISLAND NEWS:

>> Staten Island man accused of boxcutter robbery at retailer, shoplifting at supermarket

>> D.A. McMahon to investigate homicide of 16-month old boy caused by fentanyl, cocaine

>> Source: Detectives trying to determine who fired gun in shooting of teen on Staten Island

>> Source: Suspect who fired into S.I. salon missed gang target, hit innocent teen, woman

>> Death of boy, 1, on Staten Island ruled homicide; caused by fentanyl, cocaine, M.E. rules
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  An alleged Staten Island drug dealer tied to a major bust last summer on the boroughs North Shore failed to appear in court this week, amid what sources described as multiple warrants out for his arrest.

Nathaniel Winfield, 34, pleaded guilty recently to second-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance, stemming from his alleged role in the months-long drug investigation in and around the New Brighton area. He was supposed to be sentenced Tuesday in state Supreme Court, St. George to 5 1/2 years incarceration. But after first missing a court-ordered check-in with a probation officer in the weeks leading up to the sentencing, he was a no-show at the hearing.
International fashion model and finance student, Zuzanna Bijoch, has been named valedictorian of the Columbia University School of General Studies (GS).

On Monday, May 15, she will address the Class of 2023 at the schools graduation ceremony.

Born in Katowice, Poland, Bijoch was consistently ranked as one of the top models in the world before entering Columbia University, in Manhattan. She has walked in all of the major fashion weeks including New York, Paris, Milan, and London.

Bijoch has modeled for Prada, Chanel, Gucci, Valentino, and countless others and has appeared on the covers of Vogue magazine, Harpers Bazaar, and Elle, among others, and was also a guest judge on Polands Top Model.

A published author and a Poland Woman of the Year awardee, Bijoch has written on her experiences growing up in the fashion industry.

At Columbia, Bijoch has worked as a research assistant in Columbias Department of Economics. She has also held leadership roles as a director of the business division at the Columbia Economic Society and as a board member of the Lion Fund, a student-run hedge fund.

Bijoch is a member of the GS Honor Society and Phi Beta Kappa. She graduates summa cum laude with a degree in financial economics. After graduation, she will join BDT&MSD Partners in New York City.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Timothy Cardinal Dolan this week celebrated two health-care sites on Staten Island that provide care to people with autism and seniors.

The two locations -- one at St. Teresa in Castleton Corners and the other at Eger Skilled Nursing Home in Egbertville -- are part of ArchCare, which is the New York Archdiocese health-care system that cares for more than 9,000 seniors, low-income people and those with special needs.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  Retired Marine Daniel Penny, who allegedly placed Jordan Neely in a deadly chokehold aboard a subway train last week, is expected to surrender and face criminal charges, according to the New York Post.

Penny, 24, will turn himself in at the NYPDs 5th Precinct in Manhattan Friday morning, where hell be charged with second-degree manslaughter, the report said.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The New York City Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) reached a major milestone on Thursday, making and surpassing a total of 1,000 city job offers to New Yorkers so far this year through its series of job fairs.

Hundreds of people, resumes in hand, attended DCAS Hiring Hall  its eighth event this year  held at the JCC Gerard Carter Center in Stapleton on Thursday. Various city agencies, such as the Parks Department, the NYPD and the Sanitation Department, were present to provide information about the thousands of open city positions and interview applicants on site.

According to DCAS, 46% of featured jobs at Hiring Halls, on average, result in same-day offers.

Mayor Eric Adams stopped by the center to marvel at DCAS and other city agencies successful Hiring Halls.

We are an out-front, community-driven administration that believes in bringing city government to the neighborhoods they serve  and we are proud these efforts have borne fruit, with our 1,000th job offer being made today, Adams said.

New Yorkers know the type of services they want and expect from their city agencies, and there is no better way to deliver those services than by signing up to work for the city. We are proud to have reached this major milestone, thanks to the tireless work of our team at DCAS, DC 37 Executive Director Henry Garrido, and all our partners in government.

Mayor Eric Adams and Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella speak at Thursday's event. (Staten Island Advance/Owen Reiter)Owen Reiter

Borough President Vito Fossella, who was also the event, said he was excited to see so many people attending the job fair.

Its like a Christmas morning, but instead of giving out presents, theyre giving out jobs. Its transformative in peoples lives, Fossella told the Advance/SILive.com.

He also addressed the crowd.

You know one of the most important things in anybodys life is to get that job, especially if its their first job. The excitement, the glee, Ive made it. I have a purpose. I can now take care of myself. I can be independent. I can take care of my family, my kids. Thats what today is all about. And to those who have come in here and walked out with an offer of employment, I congratulate you as we work together to serve this city that we love, the borough president said.

DCAS has held eight Hiring Halls since February, in various neighborhoods across the five boroughs. Every week, 10 to 21 agencies present specific job titles for positions theyre looking to fill at the hiring events.

These roles range from hourly jobs to entry-level salaried positions -- and even engineering roles paying more than six figures. The breadth of opportunity includes work in social services, civilian roles at the NYPD and the Department of Corrections, administrative and clerical titles, engineering, inspections, and more.

Attendees can also learn more about the citys civil service exams at the Hiring Halls.

We are providing a unique opportunity to New Yorkers who want to build a career in public service by bringing jobs directly to them in their communities and breaking down barriers to municipal employment, civil service and the middle class, DCAS Commissioner Dawn M. Pinnock said. This is how we strengthen our workforce, how we invest in our communities , and how we make city government work for all New Yorkers.

Id like to thank Mayor Adams for his leadership, DC 37s Executive Director Henry Garrido, the New York City Council Members, and especially our team at DCAS who has worked tirelessly to coordinate these events weekly, Pinnock added.

Thursdays event was sponsored by Adams, DCAS, City Council Member Kamillah Hanks, DC 37 and the Jewish Community Center of Staten Island. The event was co-sponsored by: State Senators Jessica Scarcella-Spanton and Andrew Lanza; State Assemblymembers Charles Fall and Sam Pirozzolo; and Council Members David Carr, Council Minority Leader Joseph Borelli and Speaker Adrienne Adams.

DCAS regularly hosts other recruitment events, including Civil Service 101 sessions, where information is provided to job seekers about the civil service process. The agency has also been hosting employer readiness and New York City government readiness workshops to help prepare job seekers and employers on how to navigate the Hiring Halls and strive for successful outcomes.

For more information on employment opportunities with the city of New York, job seekers should subscribe to DCASs monthly NYC Jobsnewsletter.

18 1 / 18 NWS DCAS Job Fair In Stapleton

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FOLLOW GIAVANNI ALVES ON FACEBOOK AND TWITTER.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  U.S. Rep. George Santos was arrested on criminal charges on Wednesday morning and is expected to make an initial court appearance later in the day at a federal courthouse on Long Island.

The 13-count indictment against Santos states he induced supporters to donate to a company under the false pretense that the money would be used to support his campaign, when instead, it alleges, he used it for personal expenses, such as luxury designer clothes and credit card payments.

Santos also is accused of lying about his finances on congressional disclosure forms and applying for and receiving unemployment benefits while he was employed as regional director of an investment firm and running for Congress.

He faces seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, one count of theft of public funds, and two counts of lying to the House of Representatives on financial forms.

U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said the indictment seeks to hold Santos accountable for various alleged fraudulent schemes and brazen misrepresentations.

Taken together, the allegations in the indictment charge Santos with relying on repeated dishonesty and deception to ascend to the halls of Congress and enrich himself, Peace said.

ALLEGED FRAUD REACHED STATEN ISLAND

A dismissed case from 2020 alleged that one of Santos fraudulent actions brought him to Staten Island, according to a published report.

Santos was charged with criminal theft in 2017 in connection with bad checks apparently used to buy puppies from dog breeders, CNN reported.

He said the nine checks, totaling more than $15,000, were from a checkbook that had been stolen from him, and he did not write them himself, leading the case to be dismissed, according to the Associated Press. He said he was not aware the checks were written to dog breeders until he was charged.

According to an Associated Press report, shortly after the bad checks were written, Friends of Pets United -- Santos charity -- held a puppy adoption event at a Staten Island pet store, where people paid hundreds of dollars for the animals.

POLITICO reported the Staten Island pet store is Pet Oasis, which has two locations on Staten Island, one on Victory Boulevard in Bulls Head and one on Hylan Boulevard in New Dorp.

Days after the event, Santos asked the pet store owner at the time to write a check with the amount of the proceeds, but not Friends of Pets United; he asked the check be made out to him personally, according to POLITICO.

The report said the owner refused and later realized the name on the check had been changed to George Santos when he looked at his bank records.

CALLS FOR SANTOS TO RESIGN

Many of Santos fellow New York Republicans have been calling on him to resign since at least January, after his history of lies was revealed, and they have echoed those thoughts since his Wednesday arrest.

Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-Staten Island/Brooklyn) told CNN, Im not surprised. I understand this is where it was headed. I would love to see someone new run, because I can tell you that we will hold that seat, and so the sooner Santos leaves, the sooner we can get someone in there that is not a liar.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., was more circumspect, was reported saying: I think in America, youre innocent till proven guilty.

-- Associated Press material was used in this report.

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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  Against the backdrop of Staten Islands South Shore, a towering red crane stands tall on a construction barge, moving behemoth stones to the fifth of eight Living Breakwaters being constructed in the waters off the borough.

The Advance/SILive.com was granted a first-hand look at the status of the $107 million coastal resiliency project designed to break up waves heading to the Island during severe storms, lessening their force and reducing damage by the time they reach the shoreline.

A crew boat used to reach the Living Breakwaters project. (Staten Island Advance/Joseph Ostapiuk)

A crew vessel speeds toward the site of the Living Breakwaters project. (Staten Island Advance/Joseph Ostapiuk)

A massive crane reaches into a barge to carry stone to individual breakwaters. (Staten Island Advance/Joseph Ostapiuk)

Workers alongside a barge holding material for the Living Breakwaters project. (Staten Island Advance/Joseph Ostapiuk)

Ed Burke, a special adviser to the borough president's office. (Staten Island Advance/Joseph Ostapiuk)

A small crew vessel taking off from a yard in nearby New Jersey kicks off the trip, skimming through the water as the active construction site slowly comes into focus. The crane, situated on a barge that allows it to rotate 360 degrees and travel on rails from one end to the other, becomes visible within minutes.

Approaching the rear end of the barge, workers can be seen giving a watchful eye over a separate barge holding stones that were drilled and blasted from a quarry in Johnstown, N.Y., before being transported down the Hudson River and brought to the ongoing resiliency effort just hundreds of feet from Tottenville.

A barge carrying material to be used for the Living Breakwaters project. (Staten Island Advance/Joseph Ostapiuk)

Workers on a barge containing a massive crane used to transport breakwater materials. (Staten Island Advance/Joseph Ostapiuk)

Workers alongside a barge holding material for the Living Breakwaters project. (Staten Island Advance/Joseph Ostapiuk)

The claw of a crane carrying massive stones used to construct the Living Breakwaters project. (Staten Island Advance/Joseph Ostapiuk)

A massive crane reaches into a barge to carry stone to individual breakwaters. (Staten Island Advance/Joseph Ostapiuk)

A crane operator sitting in a cabin dozens of feet above sea level meticulously grabs the stones and swings around toward the latest breakwater, a feat of engineering that begins with a base layer of material before other objects like stone and eco-concrete are strategically placed on top to weaken the force of waves.

Within seconds, the crane can reach down into the stone-filled barge, clamp down and rotate toward a breakwater located on the opposite side, where an excavator is prepared to perfectly orient the stone to its proper location.

A massive crane reaches into a barge to carry stone to individual breakwaters. (Staten Island Advance/Joseph Ostapiuk)

The claw of a crane carrying massive stones used to construct the Living Breakwaters project. (Staten Island Advance/Joseph Ostapiuk)

The cabin of a crane used to carry materials to breakwater locations. (Staten Island Advance/Joseph Ostapiuk)

A massive crane reaches into a barge to carry stone to individual breakwaters. (Staten Island Advance/Joseph Ostapiuk)

The Living Breakwaters project is on pace to finish in late 2024. (Staten Island Advance/Joseph Ostapiuk)

The arm of a massive crane used to carry materials to individual breakwaters. (Staten Island Advance/Joseph Ostapiuk)

The excavators appear nimble on the breakwater, the fifth of eight to be constructed for the Living Breakwaters project. The sixth and seventh breakwaters have already been started, with the final one beginning this summer, according to Weeks Marine, the company responsible for construction.

The completed structures are especially visible when water levels are low but peek just above the surface during periods of high tide. The smallest of the eight breakwaters is 11 feet from floor to crest; the largest is about double that size. Multiple reef ridges then extend outward from each breakwater to invite marine life, including seals, to the waters off Staten Island.

An excavator constructing a breakwater off Staten Island's coast. (Staten Island Advance/Joseph Ostapiuk)

The transfer of a massive stone that will be placed on a breakwater plot. (Staten Island Advance/Joseph Ostapiuk)

The transfer of a massive stone that will be placed on a breakwater plot. (Staten Island Advance/Joseph Ostapiuk)

An excavator constructing a breakwater off Staten Island's coast. (Staten Island Advance/Joseph Ostapiuk)

From levels above the waterline, the scope of the completed work becomes apparent. Dotting the horizon, four other breakwaters stretch toward the southern crest of Staten Island while the latest plot quickly takes shape.

The eight breakwaters will span 2,400 linear feet when finished and include 800 pre-cast tide pools and 500 armor blocks.

Multiple breakwaters just below Staten Island's coast. (Staten Island Advance/Joseph Ostapiuk)

Multiple breakwaters just below Staten Island's coast. (Staten Island Advance/Joseph Ostapiuk)

An excavator constructing a breakwater off Staten Island's coast. (Staten Island Advance/Joseph Ostapiuk)

Multiple breakwaters just below Staten Island's coast. (Staten Island Advance/Joseph Ostapiuk)

Multiple breakwaters just below Staten Island's coast. (Staten Island Advance/Joseph Ostapiuk)

The Living Breakwaters project is part of the series of coastal resiliency measures expected to be put in place to protect Staten Island, which was devastated by Hurricane Sandy more than a decade ago. Unlike the East Shore Seawalls goal of keeping water out of streets and homes, the breakwaters project is focused on reducing the energy of waves, which can dislodge homes from their foundation.

Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-Staten Island/South Brooklyn) previously said the project would compliment the resiliency measured being developed across the borough. A $52 billion U.S. Army Corps of Engineers proposal could join the trove of plans to shield Staten Island from impacts expected to worsen under continued planetary warming.

After the storm surge from Sandy hit our shores and tragically resulted in loss of life and property, the Living Breakwaters was conceived to protect our southernmost shoreline, said Borough President Vito Fossella, who was on hand to observe the construction. Were pleased to see so much progress being made. This project ultimately will improve safety by mitigating the force of future storm waves and preserving the width of our beachfronts.

Workers alongside a barge holding material for the Living Breakwaters project. (Staten Island Advance/Joseph Ostapiuk)

The claw of a crane carrying massive stones used to construct the Living Breakwaters project. (Staten Island Advance/Joseph Ostapiuk)

In the distance, the construction site of the fifth breakwater. (Staten Island Advance/Joseph Ostapiuk)

An excavator constructing a breakwater off Staten Island's coast. (Staten Island Advance/Joseph Ostapiuk)



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Since it was signed on July 22 in Istanbul, the Black Sea Grain Initiative has facilitated the safe export of more than 30 million metric tons of grain and other foodstuffs from three Black Sea ports in Ukraine to global markets.

"There is no Plan B for the Black Sea," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in response to questions about what will happen if Russia makes good on threats to withdraw from the deal on May 18. "There is the Black Sea. We can't move the ports. We can't move the sea. We can't move the Bosporus [Strait in Turkey]."

The United Nations says it has no backup plan if Russia pulls out of the deal that allows Ukraine to export grain to international markets and has helped facilitate Moscow's grain and fertilizer exports.

A corresponding Memorandum of Understanding between Russia and the United Nations has made inroads in easing concerns of anxious banks, insurers, shippers and other private-sector actors about doing business with Russia. But Moscow has repeatedly complained that it is not benefiting enough from the deal.

Moscow is defending "Russia's national interests, its agriculture producers, producers of fertilizers," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin said. "An initiative that brings unilateral benefits can hardly be recognized and confirmed by all."

However, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield told reporters Thursday, "Russia is exporting just fine. It is exporting grain and fertilizer at the same levels, if not higher, than before the full-scale invasion."

"Russia's threats are about money and power. The more Russia obstructs Ukraine's exports, the higher prices go, and with Russian exports moving well, they are making more profits," she said.

Russia has also forced a slowdown of Ukrainian grain exports via the deal, putting the brakes on mandatory ship inspections. Data from the Istanbul-based Joint Coordination Center, which oversees inspections, shows that inspections of ships headed to Ukraine and departing the country have substantially declined from a high in October of 4.4 inbound inspections daily and 6.3 outbound, to 1.4 inbound and 1.5 outbound daily inspections so far in May.

"In classic form, the Russians are playing with procedures in the Black Sea Grain Initiative," said Ambassador Jim O'Brien, who heads the State Department's Office of Sanctions Coordination. "What they have done is not allow ships to register and then not inspect them."

The JCC says there are currently 26 outbound ships in Turkish waters with more than a million metric tons of grain and foodstuffs. The Ukrainians have informed them that 62 more are waiting to move to Ukrainian ports to collect exports.

On Thursday, the four parties to the deal -- Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the United Nations -- met in Istanbul to discuss the grain deal's future. The United Nations has emphasized the importance of the Black Sea Grain Initiative to keep global food prices stable and food available and affordable, especially to the poorest nations. More than half of the Ukrainian grain exported via the deal has gone to developing countries.

"It's clear if this initiative cannot continue, and its package cannot continue, it will have a negative impact on global food security, on global food prices," UN spokesman Dujarric told reporters. "It's important that everyone who is involved in this, directly or on the periphery, live up to its responsibilities."
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  A U.S. travel advisory is warning travelers to exercise increased caution while traveling to Chile due to crime and civil unrest.

This change to Level 2 status comes in the wake of the January murder of Eric Garvin, a Staten Islander who was slain while visiting Santiago as a tourist.

The United States Department of State Bureau of Consular Affairs changed the travel advisory as street crime, such as muggings, pick-pocketing, and theft is common in Chile.

The Garvin family has advocated for the change to the advisory for Chile, to warn other citizens who choose to travel abroad about the increased violence happening in the country.

Garvins father, retired U.S. military colonel Eric Garvin, said the change makes his family, including his wife, Anna, and daughter, Naomi, feel like his sons death was not in vain. We are using our tragedy into power to make a positive change, he said.

A State Department spokesman said: The U.S. Department of State has no higher priority than the safety and security of U.S. citizens overseas. We take seriously our commitment to provide U.S. citizens with clear, timely, and reliable information about every country in the world so they can make informed travel decisions.

The department also cited increasing rates of violent crime, such as assaults, homicide, carjackings and residential break-ins as a reason the advisory has been changed to reflect the crime, in addition to the civil unrest happening in the area.

Eric Garvin, 38, of Stapleton, is shown in this 2017 file photo. (Staten Island Advance)

RELATED COVERAGE: Death of Staten Islander in Chile

>> Staten Island lawyer fatally shot in Chile honored for dedication to community

>> Staten Island community celebrates the life of Eric Garvin, who was killed in Chile

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>> Familys search for answers ends in heartbreak: Timeline of key events in Staten Island lawyers Chile slaying
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Feeling overwhelmed by climate change? Want to take action but dont know where to start? Co Read moreHow To Take Action on Climate: What You (Yes, You!) Can Do
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A few passing clouds. Low 53F. WSW winds at 10 to 20 mph, decreasing to less than 5 mph..

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Eating outLunch specials 10 of Melbournes best fine-dining restaurant lunch deals How can you experience a top Melbourne restaurant without a side of hip pocket pain? Go during the day. Dani Valent May 12, 2023 Save Log in , register or subscribe to save recipes for later. You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. Save this article for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them anytime. Got it Share

Lunch is the new dinner. Or it should be when you consider the opportunities to try some of the citys best restaurants at prices that are close to daylight robbery. Here are some picks for lunch at a steal. Yes, you can enjoy Flower Drums famous Peking duck for less than you may think. Simon Schluter Flower Drum Dont automatically assume the legendary and highly revered two-hatted Flower Drum is way beyond your budget. When you realise theres a two-course lunch for $55, it starts to seem more approachable. The famous Peking duck is on the carte and you can follow it up with dishes such as John Dory with spicy salt or perhaps chestnut sago crumble. Mon-Sat noon-3pm

17 Market Lane, Melbourne, 03 9662 3655, flowerdrum.melbourne

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Order a la carte at Maha during the day and save money. Supplied Maha A $165 tasting menu is the only dinner option at this Middle Eastern fine diner, but at lunch, you can order a la carte. That means you can build a midday meal of, say, whipped hummus with baharat and foraged mushrooms ($18) with flatbread ($5), and Tunisian pastries with halloumi and anchovy ($15). The hatted restaurants famous and eminently shareable lamb shoulder is $48, and you can seal the deal with Turkish-delight-stuffed doughnuts ($16). Daily noon-3pm

21 Bond Street, Melbourne, 03 9629 5900, maharestaurant.com.au The sirloin steak sandwich layered with smoked cheddar and beetroot slaw at Lillian. Supplied

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Lillian Hatted brasserie restaurant Lillian, part of the glitzy Society set-up, does unlimited oysters for $44 a head at lunchtime  its peak season in southern New South Wales and the Sydney rock oysters are at their salty-sweet best right now. Theres also a selection of lunch mains for $29.50, including smoked trout salad and a sirloin steak sandwich layered with smoked cheddar and beetroot slaw. Flagship big brother Society has just launched a $77 autumn lunch with a $22 supplement for a dessert trolley triple-play. Tues-Sun noon-3pm

80 Collins Street, Melbourne, societyrestaurant.com Enjoy food with a view of Federation Square and beyond at Taxi. Stu Morley Taxi Kitchen

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Its hard to beat the views over the Yarra River and Flinders Street Station while enjoying a great-value meal. The Feed Me Lunch at one-hatted Taxi Kitchen allows diners to select three small dishes and one main from the regular menu for $45 a head. Come with a friend and the two of you could feast on baked scallops, candied pork belly, crispy potato bao and Chinese chopped chicken, and youll save $26 off the menu price. Wed-Sun noon-3pm

Federation Square, Melbourne, 03 9654 8808, transporthotel.com.au Time ceases to matter when youre in Omnia. Eddie Jim Omnia You might as well come to two-hatted Omnia by day, because time ceases to matter once youre sitting in the front conservatory area or ensconced in a horseshoe-shaped booth in the cellar-like back room. The Lunch Express Menu offers two courses for $65, or three courses for $80 with a mini wine pairing starting at $25. Exquisite Corner Inlet rock flathead is one of the larger dishes included.

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Thu-Sat noon-2.30pm,

617 Chapel Street, South Yarra, 03 8080 8080, omniabistro.com.au Enjoy a $50 set menu lunch at Al Dente Enoteca in Carlton. Supplied Al Dente Enoteca Pasta specialists Andrea Vignali and Davide Bonadiman offer a $50 lunch that includes a starter, pasta and a glass of wine. You might begin with burrata with fig and follow up with boar ragu pappardelle seasoned with dark chocolate and a glass of red. Order a la carte at this convivial Italian and the same meal would cost closer to $80. Tue-Fri noon-3pm

161-163 Nicholson Street, Carlton, aldenteenoteca.com

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Enjoy a $49 lunch special with ocean views at Pipis Kiosk. Simon Schluter Pipis Kiosk Situated bang on the foreshore at Albert Park, theres no better place to watch the weather and the wavelets than hatted seafood specialist Pipis. The two-course Winter Warmers menu ($49) begins with a clam chowder made with Goolwa pipis and kicks on with a rotating cool-weather braise. Thu-Sun noon-2.30pm

129A Beaconsfield Parade, 03 9041 2814, pipiskiosk.com.au At hatted Nordic restaurant Frejya, $59 gets you main, dessert, a beverage and tea or coffee. Eddie Jim

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Freyja Relative newcomer Freyja, the citys only Nordic hatted restaurant, is a lovely escape from CBD bustle, especially when theres a sweet lunch deal: $59 gets you main, dessert, a beverage and a tea or coffee. Our pick: the chicken with wild herbs and the Swiss roll with oolong, pumpkin seed and kumquat. Tue-Fri noon-3pm

477 Collins Street, Melbourne, 03 8688 7141, freyjarestaurant.com Have a French fling at lunchtime with two courses for under $60 at Entrecote. Eddie Jim Entrecote

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Any French restaurant worth its sel has a lunch-only Menu Rapide. One-hat darling Entrecote presents two courses for $59.90. You might begin with classic French onion soup and continue with pomegranate-glazed confit duck. A third course is an extra $10, so it seems only right to finish with chocolate mousse or a morsel of cheese. Daily noon-4pm

142-144 Greville Street, Prahran, 03 9804 5468, entrecote.com.au Treat yourself to two courses for $50 at lunch at Chancery Lane. Tania Bahr-Vollrath Chancery Lane In the legal district but much cheaper than hiring a lawyer, hatted Chancery Lanes $50 two-course lunch appeals. Start with charcuterie, perhaps, then move onto steak frites or ricotta gnocchi with cauliflower. If you choose dessert, theres vanilla bavarois with rhubarb or an intense chocolate mousse.

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Whether its lovingly crafted from scratch or a pre-mixed option for the time-poor, a little bit of love goes a long way on Mothers Day.

Lets get one thing straight. A bottomless brunch with lashings of cheap sparkling never ends well, even with a splash of vitamin C.

Dont say, Thanks Mum with a hangover. Instead, express your adoration with a thoughtful line-up of cocktails with which to accompany your thoughtfully prepared spread.

The Bees Knees, made with dry gin, lemon juice and honey syrup. Supplied

The Bees Knees

Corinna Kovner, creative director at Sydneys Ester Spirits, serves the Bees Knees on Mothers Day, especially when hosting a crowd. Its so easy, Kovner says. We personally love serving this towards the end of lunch with some triple-cream brie, oven-roasted grapes, and beautiful bread from your local bakery. Its also a great way to start your celebrations when served in a champagne glass and topped with bubbles  as a riff on the French 75.
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Eating outJust open French dip bagel on the menu at Brooklyn Boys cosy new Surry Hills cafe The snug new site, which has just eight indoor seats and 12 outside, will be serving bagels with exciting schmears from top chefs around town. Scott Bolles May 12, 2023 Save Log in , register or subscribe to save recipes for later. You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. Save this article for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them anytime. Got it Share

Brooklyn Boy Bagels unveils its new cafe and bagel bar in Surry Hills on Friday, May 19. Theres more than bricks and mortar to get excited about, as BBB has also collaborated with chefs to pimp up its bagels. Each month, BBB owner Michael Shafran will bring in a different chef to create a signature special. Well start with a French dip bagel from Leonard Grunbaum at Lenny Briskets, he says. Michael Shafran with a rainbow bagel from Brooklyn Boys. Supplied

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Rare roast beef dipped in broth with horseradish cream and fried eschalots. Over coming months Bar Copains Morgan McGlone, Soul Dinings Daero Lee, Adam Wolfers (ex-Gerards Bistro, Brisbane) and Michael Rantissi (Kepos Street Kitchen) will all turn their hands to innovative bagel schmears. The snug new site at 74 Reservoir Street has just eight indoor seats (plus another 12 outside) and is designed by Varvara Sellies from Sisu Interiors. Shafran has installed a red neon sign and some of fanciest tiling youll see in a cafe and bagel bar. Its in a food-lovers part of Surry Hills, with Single Origin on the strip and Firedoor around the corner. Brooklyn Boy Bagels, which are available at Harris Farm, has chalked up 10 years making what are widely considered among the best bagels in Sydney. The New York-raised Shafran says that mainly comes down to the corners many bakers cut.

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The fermentation, not boiling, using cheaper products, Shafran says while pointing out a new flour hes switched to despite it being more expensive. Aside from bagels, hes also putting a rotating soup line-up on the menu. Matzo ball soup will definitely be one of them, he says. The coffee comes from Barrel One Coffee Roasters, and hes tossing around a few novel beverage ideas. My team mentioned a Boston cream coffee to channel a Boston cream pie [but Im] still working on that one, he says. Im all for it, but coming from New York, Id have to put an asterisk with F--- Boston on the menu, in honour of the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry.

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Open Mon-Fri 7am-3pm; Sat 8am-3pm. Shop 1, 74-80 Reservoir Street, Surry Hills, brooklynboy.com.au

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Eating outMother's Day From hampers to high teas: Last-minute ideas to wow Mum (on a budget) Whether it slipped your mind or youve just been too busy, heres how to plan a winning Mothers Day in less than 24 hours. Bianca Hrovat May 12, 2023 Save Log in , register or subscribe to save recipes for later. You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. Save this article for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them anytime. Got it Share

Merna Taouk from Crumpets by Merna, picking over a brekkie spread. Louise Kennerley Mothers Day is tomorrow, but theres still hope for the forgetful among us whove yet to make plans. Whether your loved one dreams of a luxurious lie-in or a fancy afternoon tea, weve rounded up some of the best last-minute plans in Sydney (even when youre on a budget). DIY a hamper A personalised hamper is an affordable gift that demonstrates youve been paying attention: Does mum love a creamy brie with her sav blanc? Is she always forgetting to buy basil, but loves Italian food? Are sunflowers her favourite flower? Most hampers are 20 per cent what you want and 80 per cent filler, [but] if you know the person you are gifting the hamper to you have a chance of flipping that around, says Good Foods Know How columnist Jill Dupleix.

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I love a good hamper, but they often feel bitsy, even if the small items are the most expensive! Aim for two or three big, cheaper things that take up space. Something fresh will make the hamper sparkle. Tuck in handfuls of fresh herbs tied with twine or ribbon, or a bunch of flowers  and fill in the gaps with oranges and lemons. Native honey and macadamia and Australian gin and tonic lamingtons from Tokyo Lamington and Good Chemistry. Supplied If youre stuck for ideas, go for a theme. An Australiana hamper could include native flowers, the non-alcoholic Davidson plum ale from Sobah and the limited-edition native lamingtons from Tokyo Lamington (currently sold at Good Chemistry at the Ace Hotel). A winter warmer hamper could feature a bottle of Brookies macadamia liqueur Mac (great for adding to an adult hot chocolate); some Gruyere or Fontina cheese from Pennys Cheese Shop (perfect for fondue) and a packet of Fabbrica Pastas hearty slow cooked beef ragu with freshly made pasta (available from Harris Farm Markets).

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Plenty of items to choose from at P&V. Supplied Hamper supplies in Sydney P&V Wine + Liquor Merchants

For locally made condiments, snacks and a generous selection of wine, beer and spirits. This weekend theyre also stocking the limited-edition Pepe Saya buttery popcorn candle ($59).

268 Oxford Street, Paddington and 64 Enmore Road, Newtown; pnvmerchants.com

For locally made condiments, snacks and a generous selection of wine, beer and spirits. This weekend theyre also stocking the limited-edition Pepe Saya buttery popcorn candle ($59). 268 Oxford Street, Paddington and 64 Enmore Road, Newtown; pnvmerchants.com Pennys Cheese Shop

For a massive selection of local and international cheese, cut to order, plus the chance to pick up Sydneys best grilled cheese toastie while youre there.

127-139 Macleay Street, Potts Point; pennyscheeseshop.com.au

For a massive selection of local and international cheese, cut to order, plus the chance to pick up Sydneys best grilled cheese toastie while youre there. 127-139 Macleay Street, Potts Point; pennyscheeseshop.com.au Harris Farm Markets

For everything from Fabricca Pasta kits to gourmet ethical chockies by Birdsnake, plus more than 500 cheeses to choose from at the Lane Cove store.

Various locations; harrisfarm.com.au Host high tea at home Introduce a little pomp and circumstance to your family gathering with an impromptu high tea at home. Dress up, break out your best crockery and have a bit of fun with it, says The Tea Room founder Manuel Spinola. One of the best moments in The Tea Room at [The Queen Victoria Building] is when we see a table with a great-grandmother, grandmother, mother and daughter all in one setting, he says.

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I feel like thats what afternoon tea is, connecting with each other. Ms.Cattea has a selection of teas to sample for your high tea at home. Supplied You can switch things up by purchasing a variety of teas and having family members guess whats in each one. Places like The Tea Centre in Hornsby and T Totaler in the CBD offer sample packs of up to eight teas (starting from $45), while Ms.Cattea in the city sells tasters from $5 each. With flavours like rooibos chocolate bomb, native bush sticky chai and coconut truffle, itll be a delicious reintroduction to the wide variety of teas now available. When it comes to food, warm scones, double cream and freshly made sandwiches (kept from drying out with a damp tea towel) are the secret to a successful high tea, according to The Tea Room. For the full experience, encourage proper etiquette: No slouching, no bending down to sip from your cup and, most of all, no pinkies in the air. The latter has long been considered a sign of rudeness by etiquette experts such as Emily Post.

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The Mothers Day starry night cake will be available at Black Star stores in limited numbers. Supplied High tea supplies in Sydney Ms.Cattea

For a wide selection of teas to try (from $5), from coconut truffle white tea, to lychee black tea and even duck poo dancong tea (a fruity variety of oolong allegedly so-named to deter theft).

1-21 Darlinghurst Road, Potts Point; mscattea.com.au

For a wide selection of teas to try (from $5), from coconut truffle white tea, to lychee black tea and even duck poo dancong tea (a fruity variety of oolong allegedly so-named to deter theft). 1-21 Darlinghurst Road, Potts Point; mscattea.com.au Miss Sina

For plant-based high tea sets ($140) with a selection of sweet and savoury bites, such as mini doughnuts, scones and lox mini bagels. For those on a budget, theres also sets of vegan scones with whipped cream and homemade jam ($32).

132 Illawarra Road, Marrickville and 44 Holt Street, Surry Hills; misssina.com.au

For plant-based high tea sets ($140) with a selection of sweet and savoury bites, such as mini doughnuts, scones and lox mini bagels. For those on a budget, theres also sets of vegan scones with whipped cream and homemade jam ($32). 132 Illawarra Road, Marrickville and 44 Holt Street, Surry Hills; misssina.com.au Black Star Pastry

Catering to your selection of sweets, the stunning, limited edition starry night Mothers Day cake (available in store, without pre-ordering) contains layers of baked cheesecake, pistachio dacquoise, mousse and compote with flavours of blueberry and lavender.

Various locations; blackstarpastry.foodstorm.com Serve a bougie brekkie in bed The time-honoured tradition of a Mothers Day breakfast in bed gets an easy upgrade with a trip to your local farmers markets. From locally made spreads to big bouquets of fresh flowers, theyre a one-stop-shop for all your brekkie in bed supplies. At Carriageworks every Saturday, Merna Taouk sells small-batch fermented crumpets at her Crumpets by Merna stall. She recommends crumpets as a versatile breakfast ingredient, easy to prepare for adults and children alike.

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If Mum prefers more savoury than sweet you can pair cheese and chive crumpets with smoked salmon, tomato relish and creme fraiche, Taouk suggests. For sweet tooths, try blueberry crumpets with stewed rhubarb compote and a dollop of double cream. Taouk also suggests toppings like burrata and strawberries; cinnamon sugar and cream; or whipped labneh with zaatar. There are [so many] delicious options at the market, she says. Alternatively, jump on the breakfast sandwich trend with a couple of thick slices of sourdough bread from AP Bakery, pan-fried bacon from LPs Quality Meats and eggs from Hilltops. While most brekkie sambos call for fried eggs, you could switch it up like Surry Hills sandwich shop Mamas Boy by rolling thin layers of whisked, fried egg into a light, airy tamagoyaki-style omelette. And dont forget the sauce: A fermented hot sauce from Condimental will give just the right amount of kick.

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Carriageworks Farmers Markets. Jacquie Manning Saturday farmers markets in Sydney The Cannery Markets

This Saturday from 9am Cambridge Markets are holding their first Cannery Markets with 40 stalls, including gluten-free bread by Hudsons Bakery, hard-to-find spices from Aroma Herbs and delicious pastries by Tenacious Croissant.

61 Mentmore Avenue, Rosebery; cambridgemarkets.com.au

This Saturday from 9am Cambridge Markets are holding their first Cannery Markets with 40 stalls, including gluten-free bread by Hudsons Bakery, hard-to-find spices from Aroma Herbs and delicious pastries by Tenacious Croissant. 61 Mentmore Avenue, Rosebery; cambridgemarkets.com.au Carriageworks Farmers Markets

The Carriageworks Farmers Markets are held every Saturday from 8am-1pm. Alongside Crumpets by Merna youll find Vannella Cheese, LPs Quality Meats and a fun selection of condiments (like citrus and sake marmalade) from Condimental.

245 Wilson Street, Eveleigh; carriageworks.com.au

The Carriageworks Farmers Markets are held every Saturday from 8am-1pm. Alongside Crumpets by Merna youll find Vannella Cheese, LPs Quality Meats and a fun selection of condiments (like citrus and sake marmalade) from Condimental. 245 Wilson Street, Eveleigh; carriageworks.com.au Bondi Farmers Market

Fresh produce, plant-based cookies from The C Word and condiments from local makers such as Oomami will be available from 9am-1pm at Bondi Beach Public School.

Campbell Parade, Bondi Beach; bondimarkets.com.au

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Korea will lift remaining coronavirus restrictions on June 1 after the government declared the emergency over on Thursday.

In a meeting chaired over by President Yoon Suk-yeol, the government decided to end most remaining restrictions and lower the COVID alert level from "serious" to "caution" from June 1 now the fatality rate has fallen and the World Health Organization has declared an end to the global health emergency.

Mandatory seven-day self-isolation for infected people will be lifted and instead the government recommends that they isolate voluntarily for five days.

The mask mandate will remain in place only in large hospitals with more than 30 beds and medical facilities for high-risk groups like nursing homes.

Mandatory weekly testing for medical staff in such facilities will also be scrapped in favor of testing when staff have symptoms or have attended large gatherings. A recommendation for foreign travelers to have a PCR test three days after arrival will also be dropped.
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 Call it Australias prettiest trade fair, Christmas for peacocks or an insomniacs dream, Afterpay Australian Fashion Week is once again upon us. Starting on Monday, many of the countrys top fashion designers, media, influencers and creatives, including photographers, make-up artists and production whizzes, will turn some of Sydneys most recognisable locations into runways where brands will preview the clothes we will be buying in November (sustainably, of course). Ahead of the first exit  thats runway speak for each look in a show  some of the countrys, and the worlds, top fashion minds shared their predictions for the trends were likely to see, and what working during fashion week is really like. Model Ambar Cristal is walking in her first Australian Fashion Week. Credit:James Brickwood The model: Ambar Cristal The 25-year-old Dominican Republic-born model is based in Boston, and is represented by Chic Management. It is her first Australian Fashion Week. Loading My first runway experience was for Louis Vuitton when I was 20. For Australian Fashion Week I am on standby for several brands, including Alemais and Bianca Spender. Next week, I think we will see lots of colour, 90s-inspired designs and even the odd shoulder pad. Most days start early with hair and make-up, running from show to show, and fittings for the following day. There is a lot of pressure. So much preparation goes into a show that can sometimes go for only 10 or 15 minutes. There is a lot of good tension backstage. Just before we walk out, it is really quiet, no one speaks as the nerves kick in. When the show finishes, you feel this incredible rush.

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The buyer: Libby Page As market director for online retailer NET-A-PORTER, Page uses fashion week to identify new brands, as well as those charting a new course. Londoner Libby Page is a regular at Fashion Week Australia. Credit:Getty We recently launched Aje [on the site], so I am excited to see them return to Australian Fashion Week. We have seen the reinstatement of simple, everyday dressing; event dressing has always been key to our buy, but post-pandemic we have really seen an increase in this category. Now, though, its less high-octane glamour and more understated. At fashion week, the days are usually packed with activity, from shows to meetings. This season, I will be on a speakers panel to share my thoughts on the impact of the event. I am looking forward to seeing shows by Michael Lo Sordo, whose pieces focus on simplicity and elegance, and the Next Gen show for emerging talent. The photographer: Danielle Castano Castano, a photographer and content consultant, has been shooting fashion week for 10 years, with a focus on street style. Photographer Danielle Castano is focused on the street style on day one.

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From a street-style perspective, I am expecting a lot of micro-trends, such as balletcore, as well as indie sleaze, the minimalist crew in their oversized suits, and masculine-style 90s layers. Show wise, I am excited for St Agni and Alix Higgins, a really exciting, forward-thinking designer. During fashion week, I capture street style for a few hours each morning, then edit and upload my first batch of images to my client. I head back to shoot the afternoon shows but around 5pm we lose light, so thats my cue to return to the hotel to keep working. Most nights I end up getting room service, but I always lay out my outfit for the next day before bed. The critic: Luke Leitch Leitch spends the year criss-crossing the globe, reviewing shows for Vogue Runway. This is his first Australian Fashion Week. Luke Leitch covers hundreds of shows a year for Vogue Runway. Credit:Benjamin Storrier We chiefly focus on the big four  New York, London, Paris, Milan  but its also important to take the temperature of other scenes like Shanghai, Copenhagen and Sydney. Im happily unsure what trends to expect, but really hope it wont be too in thrall to what is happening in Europe. Im interested to see [Indigenous designer] Ngali because of what that show represents, and I hear Bianca Spender is excellent. Caroline Reznik is apparently also one to watch. But I get to cover maybe a couple of hundred shows and presentations every year, so I dont waste too much time anticipating. The influencer: Katherine Denton

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Denton creates content for brands for her audiences across TikTok and Instagram. This is her second fashion week. Content creator Katherine Denton thinks quiet luxury will be a key trend next week. Credit:Simon Schluter Fashion week is also a big networking opportunity; meeting people face to face can lead to new work relationships. Depending on what shows and events I have on each day, Im usually up around 6am to get ready and create content. After my first show, Ill shoot content and then go to a lunch or event. After changing outfits for the next show, Ill shoot more, and head back to the venue. Before the night shows, Ill edit my content, wait for approvals and then post to my channels. The shows Im most keen to see include Henne and Wynn Hamlyn. Trend-wise, Im curious to see if the huge push across social media of this quiet luxury and old money style has had an impact on the designers collections. The finale of Yousef Akbars 2021 show at Fashion Week Australia. Credit:Getty The designer: Yousef Akbar The Sydney-based designer is known for his dramatic evening wear and red carpet looks. This will be his third solo show. Designer Yousef Akbar.

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When Finlands outgoing prime minister Sanna Marin announced her divorce this week, both she and her husband were keen to state that theyd remain best friends. I dont speak Finnish but I do speak split relationships, and I reckon theres a good chance they will.

Sanna Marin, Finlands outgoing prime minister, and Markus Raikkonen are divorcing. Credit: Instagram

It also raises the broader question: should you be friends with old flames  even when youre happily partnered with your permanent love?

A resounding yes! Not only is it possible to stay friends with old beaux but, in my experience, it makes you a rounder, more sensitive human being. Im talking of course only of past happy relationships where, say, your man gave you joy most of the time but had picky habits like not letting you inside his car while you ate a sloppy ice-cream. Or got cranky when you screamed out answers on Jeopardy. Or gave you a brown umbrella on your 19th birthday.

Just safe, good-time relationships.
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 This story is part of the May 13 Edition of Good Weekend. See all 16 stories . For 20 years, Ive been called a Nazi collaborator. Traitor. Self-hating Jew. Terror supporter. Anti-Semite. I would rather shake Hitlers hand than yours. Propagandist. Arab lover. Its strange how familiar Ive become with all these expressions of hatred from people Ive neither met, nor spoken to; and yet I understand why  the stakes over Israel and Palestine couldnt be higher, nothing less than a matter of life and death for both. The vicious comments started appearing as soon as I published my first major article in The Sydney Morning Herald. It was 2003, and I argued that many of the Israeli governments actions paralleled apartheid-like policies, that its treatment of Palestinians centred around a racist ideology. I was far from the first Jew to write such things in a mainstream news outlet, but the response was explosive. I had touched a nerve that has followed me ever since. At this point, in my late 20s, Id never actually been to Israel or Palestine  that was all to change soon  but something in my reading and gut told me that what my fellow Jews were doing in the Middle East was wrong; that the control and occupation of millions of Palestinian lives at the barrel of a gun was a stain on the Jewish people. Much of the criticism I was to receive in subsequent years revolved around this central question: how could I, as a Jew, who had lost members of his family to the gas chambers of the Holocaust, not automatically side with a Jewish nation that had been born from this monstrous crime? The answer was  and is  far from simple. Like all Jews, I carry the knowledge of anti-Semitism and its murderous consequences. I carry the fact that, ever since Israels birth in May 1948, sections of the Muslim and Arab world have called for the countrys annihilation. To be Jewish is to be aware of  and constantly fearful of  the harm that can befall one just for being Jewish. I am not immune to this. I grew up on stories of victimhood  tales of exile, wandering, exclusion, pogrom, annihilation  and, finally, redemption and return when the Jews came to form their own state after the end of World War II. (This followed the 1947 United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine, which recommended the creation of independent Arab and Jewish states.)

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This was Zionisms ultimate fulfilment; after centuries of persecution, the Jewish peoples right to a homeland in Palestine, its ancient Biblical land, had been realised. We had returned to Zion, the kingdom of heaven, and Judaism had come to equal Zionism. To not believe in Israel was to somehow forfeit ones name as a good Jew. Where else  after the horrors of history  could Jews feel truly safe? My father, Jeffrey Loewenstein, was born in Melbourne on March 3, 1943, just as his maternal grandparents were being murdered in Auschwitz, the Nazi regimes most notorious death camp. Loewensteins grandparents Fred and Irma in Dresden in 1938, just before Nazis attacked Jewish targets in the eastern German city during Kristallnacht. Credit:Courtesy of Antony Loewenstein Like millions of other Jews throughout Europe during the 1930s, my family had clung to the belief that Hitlers ascent to power in 1933 would be a brief aberration. How could a country that had given the world Bach, Beethoven, Goethe and Einstein be in the hands of an Austrian thug and his gang of criminals? My dads paternal family were from Dresden, the famed city of baroque and rococo architecture on the banks of the Elbe river that was almost completely destroyed by Allied firebombing in 1945 after most of the citys Jewish population had been deported, murdered or both. Seven years earlier, in September 1938, my grandparents, Fred and Irma, had married in a Dresden synagogue in what was to be its last such celebration before Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass, when, over two days and nights in November, the Nazis unleashed a wave of violence against the Jewish population. The mass murder of Jews followed as part of an eradication program that would seek to rid Nazi-controlled Europe entirely of its Jewish population. Anti-Semitism was reaching its apotheosis, even though on my fathers maternal side, the virus of Jewish hatred had already caused great upheaval, forcing my family to move from Poland to Germany in 1915.

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On my mothers side, the pressures were no less calamitous. My mother, Violet Prince, had deep family ties to Austria, Hitlers birthplace, which the Nazis annexed in 1938, precipitating a cultural, social and economic boycott of Jewish businesses and, eventually, the mass migration of more than 110,000 Jews. The majority of Jews who remained in 1942 were killed. This is in my DNA, part of my history. As many as six members of my family perished at the hands of the Nazis, but both my maternal and paternal grandparents managed to find refuge in Australia in 1939. They were among the lucky ones because, only a year earlier, T.W. White, Australias minister for trade and customs, had told an intergovernmental conference on Jewish refugees in France why undue privilege wouldnt be given to Jews (and non-British subjects) who wanted admission into Australia, despite the perils they faced: As we have no real racial problem, we are not desirous of importing one, he said. Australia did raise its Jewish intake after Kristallnacht, though far from enough to satisfy the need of escaping Jews. Loewenstein at his bar mitzvah with his parents in Melbourne in 1987. Credit:Courtesy of Antony Loewenstein In 2005, I visited Israel and Palestine for the first time and began to see what the occupation of a subjugated people looked like: Israeli soldiers screaming orders at Palestinians at militarised checkpoints. Women and children forced to queue for hours under a scorching sun. Summary arrests. Homes demolished by Israeli bulldozers. Every aspect of daily life restricted and monitored by the state; and, of course, the relentless building of illegal Jewish settlements on land that  according to international law  was earmarked for a Palestinian state. Such is the intractable and complex nature of this conflict, however, that the paragraph above this is enough to cause conniptions among many Jews. For them, there are no illegal Jewish settlements and there is no occupation because the land belongs to the Jews, and it belongs to the Jews because it was granted to us by no less a power than God himself. To be Jewish is to argue. It is to debate in ways that bring us closer to the truth. What did God mean? Are these actions or thoughts right? Are they just or fair? To debate is to be part of a rich and proud Jewish tradition of verbal contest, and yet when it comes to the Palestinian people, much of the Jewish community has no desire to question Israeli actions, even though most have not visited the West Bank  where the majority of Palestinians under occupation reside  nor chosen to break bread with a Palestinian. I can understand, from my own family history, why. Our suffering as a people had been too great for far too long and it is now our turn to know peace and security. Never mind that Israel has never known this peace and security and never mind that this collective mindset prevents us from seeing the suffering of another people.

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The creation of the state of Israel in 1948 was the result of a spectacular collision of competing historical forces  Zionism versus Arab nationalism. The Jews, who had survived the most murderous regime in modern history, had founded a state of their own; while the local Palestinian population  after rejecting the legal and moral basis for a Jewish homeland on what they regarded as Arab land  was to be rendered stateless. To debate is to be part of a rich and proud Jewish tradition of verbal contest, and yet when it comes to the Palestinian people, much of the Jewish community has no desire to question Israeli actions. Growing up as a Jew, I never learnt what the establishment of Israel in 1948 meant for the estimated 750,000 Palestinians expelled or forced to flee. Many Palestinians left with nothing more than a key to their home, a potent symbol that still exists today of their desire to return. Entire Arab villages were conquered, in some cases razed to the ground. In his acclaimed 2006 book The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, Israeli historian Ilan Pappe uttered the unutterable when he wrote about the massacre of Palestinian civilians in villages such as Tantura. What took place [on May 22, 1948], he wrote, [] was the systematic execution of able-bodied young men by Jewish soldiers and intelligence officers. Pappe noted that between 1947 and 1949, more than 400 Palestinian villages were destroyed and civilians killed or forcibly removed. This is the attempted obliteration of a people and culture that we Jews find almost impossible to discuss. In 1967, Israels size more than tripled following the Six-Day War when, over the course of six lightning days, the young country seized the West Bank (of the Jordan River), including East Jerusalem, from Jordan; the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza Strip from Egypt; and the Golan Heights from Syria. For Jewish people the world over, this was a moment to savour. Israel had become a regional superpower. It had also become an occupying power, one that immediately concerned Israeli politicians such as then education minister Zalman Aranne. I do not for one minute accept the idea that the world outside will look at the fact were taking everything for ourselves and say Bon appetit, he said, in postwar 1967 cabinet minutes released 50 years later. After all, in another year or half a year the world will wake up; theres a world out there and it will ask questions. Palestinians driven from their homes by Israeli forces and fleeing via the sea at Acre, 1948. Credit:Getty Images

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For the Palestinians, the 1967 war added hundreds of thousands more refugees to those already displaced. They were scattered to all corners of the Arab world and beyond, but many Jews had little or no sympathy. The Palestinian plight was blamed on belligerent Arab leaders and the Arab worlds refusal to accept the creation of a Jewish homeland in its midst. Loading And so, in turn, many Jewish hearts became closed. Closed to the fact that for the next 56 years  up until today  nearly every aspect of daily life for Palestinians in the West Bank, now numbering 3 million, would be dictated by Israel; and, similarly, in Gaza where Palestinians, now at 2 million, would be confined to what is regularly described as the worlds largest open-air prison. In other words, our redemption and return as a people became anothers peoples catastrophe, which is why the Palestinians have always called the creation of the Jewish state the Nakba  the Catastrophe. In 2006, my first book, My Israel Question, was published. My main argument  then and today  was that Israel was brutally occupying the Palestinian people and that this occupation was buttressed by an unquestioning Jewish diaspora. Its publication proved a life-changing event that drew battle lines that exist to this day. Shortly after its release, my parents received emails from four different Jewish couples, most of whom theyd known for more than 20 years. Theyd shared Passover meals, enjoyed holidays together and watched each others children grow up. The wording of the emails was suspiciously similar and the message abundantly clear: none of them now wished to associate with my parents because of their views on Israel and support for my work; support which had only come after years of often fierce debate. The more my parents had come to understand, the more their views had shifted  from an uncritical pro-Israel position to one where it was possible to both support Israels right to exist and the rights of Palestinians. They were not mutually exclusive. The author and Ali, at right, with his mother and father in Jerusalem in 2016. Credit:Courtesy of Antony Loewenstein

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The restoration of Australias longest-running Greek cafe  the Niagara in Gundagai  to when it was bright with 1930s art deco bling and a routine stop for hungry prime ministers may knock the dog off its tuckerbox in popularity.

Its booths are full; the 120-year-old Niagara is back in operation after a restoration by owners Luke Walton and Kym Fraser, and the cafes revamp has won the presidents prize in this years 2023 National Trust (NSW) Heritage Awards.

The Niagara Cafe in Gundagai. A restoration of the cafe has been awarded a major prize. Credit: Kylie Shaw

Matt Devine, the chair of the jury and a lecturer in conservation at Sydney Universitys school of architecture, said the awards  decided by an independent jury  recognised excellence and raised awareness of Australian history.

We need to tell stories of the past. The whole point of heritage is that it is about identity, belonging and a sense of place. It helps create a sense of familiarity and belonging, bringing communities together and connecting us to our shared past, in all its diversity, he said.
Although Molina and Zhai won their wrongful dismissal case, and in August 2022 Galloway paid the pair a total of $65,000, Galloway failed to pay their full entitlement. Further action in the Federal Circuit Court in Sydney in November resulted in further pecuniary penalties against Galloway. He now owes Molina more than $40,000, Zhai $12,000, and legal costs of around $20,000. Milena Molina successfully sued solicitor Brett Galloway for wrongful dismissal. His practice manager, whod worked for him since 2011, told the court that in the lead-up to her firing in March 2020 Galloway had not been paying staff wages on time, nor had he been paying other business expenses such as barristers fees. She said that Galloways clients often paid in cash and at one stage there was up to $80,000 in cash kept in the office safe. Molina said she was worried that Galloway was spending his clients money on his own March 2020 wedding. Deputy president Easton acknowledged Galloways accounting system was shambolic and that Galloway had been twice found to have engaged in unsatisfactory conduct in relation to cash transactions and other financial matters. Molina also told the court of a confrontation with Galloway in July 2019 when she said, I cant believe you are using drugs again. You need help once and for all, Brett  youre an addict. I have seen your bank records, and personal expenses  I do the books, remember. Lets go outside to talk, we need to hash this out.

Galloway claimed that Zhai was rude to him during a trial, but Zhai said Galloway repeatedly fell asleep during the trial and that hed have to nudge him under the bar table to wake him up. Galloway was a no-show at last Novembers hearing, but later tried to have the matter re-litigated claiming that, for the last year, he was suffering poor physical, mental and emotional health which had been exacerbated by the loss of two family pets as well as a failed reconciliation with his wife of two years. To back up his claims he provided a medical report from his GP, Dr Joe Grech. The Herald has previously revealed the well-known eastern suburbs doctor was suspended for six months in 2021 for various matters including giving false and misleading information to the Medical Council and possession of methamphetamine (ice). Joe Grech, who provided a medical report for Galloway, was suspended for six months in 2021 for various matters including giving false and misleading information to the Medical Council and possession of methamphetamine (ice). Grech was arrested in April 2018 after police searched his car, a Jaguar with the number plates 01DUDE. After unlocking a silver suitcase, they found 1.19 grams of ice and an assortment of glass pipes. He told police, I take full ownership for it and its crystal meth.

In 2019 Grech was found guilty of possessing ice and the equipment to administer a prohibited drug. He received a conditional release order of 18 months after the Local Court accepted his explanation that the drug and the equipment belonged to someone else. That someone else was Grechs girlfriend as well as his patient, a fact which he was caught lying about to the Medical Council. That same year Galloway was successful in having drug-driving charges against him dismissed. In September 2018 Galloway was charged after a saliva test returned a positive result for ice. Police recorded that after Galloway left a known drug premises he went through a stop sign in Paddington. The charges were dismissed after Galloway argued that traces of the drug could have entered his system after drinking tea and smoking a cigarette handed to him by his client, who was on a bond for supplying ice. For nearly two decades police have received a steady stream of intelligence suggesting that Grech has been involved in drug supply and possession, and has been providing false medical certificates in return for cocaine, heroin and ice.

The explosive allegations were contained in a lengthy police dossier which was tendered in the 2020 criminal case of one of Grechs patients, the now-jailed criminal lawyer Michael Croke. According to the tendered intelligence report, Grech was a known associate of Galloway, a criminal solicitor accused of regularly using prohibited drugs namely ice. The deputy commissioner said Grechs report along with one from psychologist Tim Watson-Munro were of little probative value as they were based on what Galloway told them. In his report, Watson-Munro said his friend at times has experienced avoidance reactions due to his anxiety, which offers some explanation as to his tardiness/inability to open emails and to attend to his legal responsibilities. A report from Tim Watson-Munro was considered to be of little probative value. Credit: Cole Bennetts The well-known psychologist was previously deregistered for a number of years after pleading guilty to cocaine use and possession. He has sustained a dual life for a series of years that was not only deceitful to his profession, his colleagues, his clients and his family but involved sustained and serious ethical impropriety, the Psychologists Registration Board of Victoria held in 2002.

In a recent scathing judgment, Federal Circuit Court Judge Sophie Given dismissed Galloways attempt to relitigate the matter. She said that despite his evidence that he had been unable to attend to the simplest tasks such as opening his emails, she was of the view that Galloway had an ostrich-like attitude in this matter, burying his head in the proverbial sand and that by paying some, but not all of his employees entitlements, hed hoped he wouldnt have to pay any more and that the matter would go away. She also said that society had a right to be concerned that Galloway, who claimed to be so mentally ill that he is unable to care for himself, has been continuing to practise as a solicitor. Galloway is yet to pay his employees their full entitlements and, to compound his financial woes, he is currently facing bankruptcy proceedings brought by BMW Finance. He was also found guilty of unsatisfactory professional conduct in October 2021 for his failure to pay a barrister who had represented him in this matter.
A senior lab worker who swapped patient tissue samples to deliberately undermine her co-worker at Royal North Shore Hospital has been banned from providing health services for life.

In a decision released on Thursday, the Health Care Complaints Commission found Dianne Reader, 61, had swapped 20 patient tissue samples, leading to the misdiagnosis of at least one patient.

The Healthcare Complaints Commission found a senior lab worker swapped patient tissue samples to deliberately undermine her co-worker at Royal North Shore Hospital. Credit: Kate Geraghty

The commission said Reader, a senior technical officer at the Anatomical Pathology Laboratory with more than 40 years experience, was motivated by a desire to target and discredit her colleague.

Reader was found to have improperly accessed 43 patient records after multiple laboratory staff told the commission there was no reason for her to have accessed the records when she did.
With the NSW election behind us, the media is mulling over what Labor has in store for the premier state. The Sydney Morning Herald recently unpacked the agenda of Education Minister Prue Car. There is much to cheer about, but will she deal with deep-seated problems?

The cheers are well deserved. After a promising start, the Coalition had lapsed back into the resonating but useless school reforms straight out of the Tory playbook. As well-described by John Frew, the bureaucrats running the show increasingly came loaded with tertiary management qualifications, but little in the way of school experience.

Will new Education Minister Prue Car deal with deep-seated problems? Credit: James Brickwood

For the system and its schools this meant that excess supervision and stress increasingly replaced trust and support. Even highly respected principals fell foul of the system  many never to return, and few wanting to take their place. At the classroom end, teachers are in short supply, with little evidence that the best among their students would ever want to join their ranks.

Car seems focused on ending all that and more. She has sacked the education secretary, replaced in the interim by an effective and respected school system leader. Hopefully, some of the business college graduates further down the food chain might take a quiet walk. She plans to reduce the administration workload of teachers and will be reviewing policies on student behaviour, school reports, and more. She has made positive noises about teacher salaries and teacher supply.
Study the watchface closely, however, and you will discern the rusted imprint of the large hand at 2, the small one at 4. George McGrath. Credit: Australian War Memorial Time, then, stopped at 4.10am on Sunday, May 14, 1943, as the Centaur disappeared beneath the sea. McGrath died in Canberra in 2006, the last of the survivors of the hospital ship. Years before he was gone, he ensured his old watch would continue to remind of the precise moment when the Centaur went down with 178 of his comrades from the 2/12 Field Ambulance, all but one of the nurses on board, and most of the ships crew.

McGrath donated it to the Australian War Memorial, where this weekend it will be on display with a precious few other artefacts from the Centaur: flares, life jacket lights, a scalpel, and several other watches worn by survivors who treasured them. It was to Australians at the time more than a tragedy: it was a clear atrocity and a war crime. Loading The Centaurs white hull was adorned with a green band interspersed by three large red crosses on each side. Other large red crosses were placed so the vessels identity as a hospital ship would be visible from sea and air. The internationally recognised markings were illuminated at night by powerful floodlights. The International Committee of the Red Cross had informed the Japanese high command of all these details. Yet in the hours before dawn, the ship of mercy  fitted out to transport wounded soldiers from New Guinea to Australia  was stalked by a Japanese submarine.

Minutes after 4am, the subs commander let loose a torpedo that blew a great hole in the Centaur, setting its fuel tank alight. It took three minutes for the ship to roll and sink, bow first, with most aboard trapped. The few survivors, some of them burned and wounded by flying steel, clung to two damaged lifeboats and rafts cobbled together from wreckage. They saw ships in the far distance, but failed to gain their attention. The following night, survivors believed they saw a submarine surface nearby. One of the survivors prepared to fire a distress signal when his companions stopped him, fearing it was the Japanese submarine returning to the scene. It was a wise move. The submarine that sank the Centaur was, according to an official Japanese history produced after the war, the I-177 under the command of Hajime Nakagawa.

Though Nakagawa was never charged with that particular war crime  Australian investigators couldnt find enough incontrovertible evidence in time  he was found guilty of ordering the machine-gunning of survivors from torpedoed ships on three different occasions while commanding a different submarine. Sister Ellen Savage, survivor of the Centaur. Credit: Australian War Memorial He was sentenced to four years imprisonment as a war criminal. He reportedly died in 1991. The nurse who survived, Sister Ellen Savage, was hailed nationwide as a hero. Though suffering burns, a fractured jaw and broken ribs, she rallied fellow survivors in her liferaft and took their minds off the circling sharks and absence of food and water by organising a sing-along. Eventually, the American destroyer, USS Mugford  itself a survivor of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour in December 1941 rescued the Centaur castaways.

Savage was awarded the George Medal for her courage. The vision of nurses trapped and drowning in the Centaur lit great passions across the nation, and a famous wartime rallying poster called for Australians to Work, Save, Fight, and so Avenge the Nurses! The director of the Australian War Memorial, Matt Anderson, said the impact on Australia of the loss of innocent life on the Centaur was so great and lasting that artist Napier Waller incorporated a depiction of a mythical centaur in the mosaic of the servicewoman in the Memorials Hall of Memory  the only reference in the hall to a specific event. The poster created after the Centaurs sinking. Credit: Australian War Memorial The final resting place of the Centaur was not located until 2009, and is now protected as a war grave.
A Monash University teaching associate who was suspended after using the N-word in class returned to tutorials on Thursday night, after an investigation found he used the racial slur under academic freedom.

Gary Lacey, who has worked at the university for 23 years, was reported for using the word in a class From Freud to Friends: Ethnic Identity in Popular Culture in late February.

Gary Lacey said he apologised to his students when he realised they were upset.

At the time, students were offended and complained.

In an email to students, course coordinator Associate Professor David Slucki said the university had fully investigated the matter and found that Lacey did not engage in serious misconduct or misconduct and has not breached university policy around behaviours in the workplace and integrity and respect.
Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has for the first time granted approval for a new coal mine, sparking accusations from conservation groups that the government is fuelling global warming.

Plibersek last night signed off the final environmental approvals for Australian miner Bowen Coking Coals Isaac River project, a relatively small mine in Central Queensland with a short, five-year lifespan producing steel-making coal for export.

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has rejected coal mine applications previously but approved one in Queensland on Thursday night. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

She said there were no grounds to reject the companys development application, which must be considered on a case-by-case basis and not for its cumulative contribution to greenhouse gas emissions.

The Albanese government has to make decisions in accordance with the facts and the national environment law  thats what happens on every project, and thats whats happened here, she said.
Rena Murshud

"If the negotiations do not bring results, then Azerbaijan will have to resort to other means. An alternative way of these negotiations is a military conflict, war."

This was told by doctor of Philosophy in Political Science, Metin Mammadli in an interview with Azernews while commenting on the upcoming meeting between President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan.

According to Mammadli, currently a new stage of negotiation between Azerbaijan and Armenia begins through the mediation of the President of the Council of the European Union, Charles Michel.

It is of note that so far several meetings have taken place between the two countries. However, the Armenian side has refused to participate in the meeting, which was to be held in December. Later, the Azerbaijani side agreed to participate at a meeting scheduled for May at the initiative of Charles Michel in Brussels.

Speaking about the importance of this meeting, the pundit said the previous one in Washington has not been so successful, despite the US side expressed satisfaction.

"A few days ago, 4-day talks between the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia took place in the United States. According to the statements of Azerbaijan and other officials, despite the fact that the negotiations, which took place in a rather tense atmosphere, did not achieve serious results, it was noted that that some progress has been made. I consider it expedient to continue the negotiations at the forthcoming meeting," the political scientist opined.

As regards the diplomacy of Azerbaijan, the expert stressed that although the opposite side in the negotiations often shows an unconstructive and irrational position, Azerbaijan stands for solving problems between the two countries through negotiations. According to him, if the negotiations do not bring results, then Azerbaijan will resort to other means. An alternative way of these negotiations is a military conflict, war.

Azerbaijan is a peace-loving state and always tries to solve its problems primarily through diplomacy. In other words, this is what Azerbaijani diplomacy consists of," Mammadli said.

The expert also stated that although Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and other officials have recently stated that they are ready to recognize the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, they showed a different position in the negotiations.

Unfortunately, we do not see an adequate position on the part of Armenia. Armenia still insists on the recognition of the full territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. It is possible that certain agreements will be reached in the course of these negotiations. Of course, this in particular depends on the position of Armenia. Azerbaijan's position is based both on the interests of the country and on the norms of international law. If Armenia recognizes the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, including Karabakh, the signing of a peace treaty between the two countries can be realized." he told.

As regards the meeting to be held in Chisinau on June 1, the expert concluded that Azerbaijan has not fully confirmed its participation. If the issues are fully resolved in Brussels, this meeting may not take place at all.
Global investment banks paint a gloomy picture of Korea's economic growth this year. At the most optimistic end, Bank of America and Merrill Lynch expect Korea's economy to grow 1.4 percent this year, but Nomura forecasts a 0.1 percent contraction. At this rate, the International Monetary Fund believes Korea's economy will grow at a slower pace than Japan's 1.8 percent.

That the Korean economy is sputtering from 2.6 percent in 2022 to the low one-percent range this year is largely due to lackluster semiconductor exports and waning demand for Korean products in China. Microchip exports, which account for 20 percent of Korea's shipments, have been declining for the last nine months. Last month they fell 40 percent on-year. Exports to China have also dropped for seven straight months due to the coronavirus lockdown there and the intensifying cold war with the U.S., and now their proportion of Korea's exports has fallen below 20 percent.

Domestic consumption needs to be strong to compensate for declining exports, but Koreans are keeping their wallets shut as surging household debt surpasses W1.8 quadrillion to 156 percent of GDP (US$1=W1,326). The debt of small business owners stands at W960 trillion, and some of it becomes due in September. But the government's coffers, which should serve as a sturdy support, have been weakened by the populist policies of the previous administration. Fiscal debt is rising by W127 million a minute, and Korea must pay W93 trillion in interest alone over the next four years while tax revenues are expected to decline by more than W20 trillion this year.
Before entering parliament in 2008, Farrell spent three decades in the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association. His role running the shoppies union made him the most powerful figure in South Australian Labors right faction, earning him the nickname the Godfather for his ability to make or break political careers. Just two years after arriving in Canberra, Farrell played a leading role in the coup that brought down Kevin Rudd and installed Julia Gillard as prime minister. Gillards reliance on Farrells factional support has often been cited as the reason for her puzzling decision to oppose same-sex marriage throughout her leadership. Wong, then serving as climate minister, thought it was a colossal mistake to knife a first-term prime minister. Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong in the Senate Thursday morning. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen South Australias power-sharing alliance, known as the machine, broke down in 2012 when Farrell won the top spot on the states Senate ticket, relegating the more senior and well-known Wong to second place. Anthony Albanese, a close Wong left-faction ally, went apoplectic, blasting the decision as factionalism gone mad.

Penny Wong is obviously our most talented senator from South Australia, he said. Full stop. End of story. The Albanese-led backlash forced Farrell to hand Wong the top position, a status that would usually have only symbolic value given South Australians routinely elect two Labor senators at each election. But the turmoil of the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd years and the surging popularity of Nick Xenophon meant Labor won just one seat in 2013. Had Farrell stood his ground, Wongs parliamentary career would have been over; instead, he was out of a job. Acrimony flowed after the shock result, with Farrells factional allies accusing Wong of failing to campaign hard enough, a charge she strongly denied. Farrell was soon eyeing a political resurrection: Theres been a number of sequels of The Godfather so maybe therell be one for me into the future, he said after his defeat. He achieved one three years later when he returned to the Senate.

Now he is the sixth most senior member of Albaneses cabinet, placing him above more prominent ministers such as Tanya Plibersek and Chris Bowen. Farrell is currently in Beijing on a high-profile mission to convince China to lift $20 billion worth of sanctions on Australian barley, wine, timber and lobster. Wong laid the groundwork for the rapprochement by visiting her Chinese counterpart in Beijing four months earlier. Asked before his departure whether he and Wong form an odd couple in their portfolios, Farrell releases a lengthy chuckle before offering a one-word answer: Yes. I dont think anybody would say we have the same style, he says. But he insists that theres not a cigarette papers difference between me and Penny on the fundamental question of how to manage the Australia-China relationship.

As he speaks, he glances at a portrait of Mary MacKillop, the canonised Catholic nun, hanging on the wall of his Parliament House office: I leave it there to give me some protection, assistance and guidance. Trade Minister Don Farrell hung a portrait of Saint Mary MacKillop on the wall of his Parliament House wall for guidance. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen Farrell, 68, is 14 years older than Wong but theres no doubt hes the junior member of the duo. Wong is Labors Senate leader and Farrell her deputy; hes still fresh in his portfolio while Wong has spent seven years mastering hers. Saying he was instantly impressed by Wongs abilities when they first met in the 1990s, Farrell predicts: She will end up being regarded as one of Australias great foreign ministers. Describing Farrell as a friend as well as a colleague, Wong says: We spent an earlier part of our careers as competitors, so we long ago learned to take each other seriously and to respect what we each bring to the table.

People always talk about what a formidable political operator Don is and thats true. One of his real qualities is that he approaches people with a deep respect for their point of view. He really tries to understand what motivates them, and people always come away feeling that he understands them. Theres nothing contrived, but if theres common ground, hell find it. Those who know Farrell warn that his determination shouldnt be underestimated. When he turned 65, the grandfather decided to learn how to surf and play piano, proving more successful at the former than the latter. Our backgrounds, our personalities and our roles are complementary, Wong says of their dynamic. Farrell says his long union career cutting deals with corporate giants like Coles and Woolworths offered solid training for the trade ministrys international wheeling and dealing. Farrell has deployed the power of soft diplomacy by hosting foreign counterparts at his family vineyard north of Adelaide. (In a nod to his moniker, Farrell Wines $33-a-bottle cabernet is named The Godfather Too.) As the one-year anniversary of the Albanese government approaches, foreign policy experts say Adelaides odd couple has proven energetic and effective.
A fortnight before Australian Trade Minister Don Farrell landed in Beijing, Chinese officials and business executives laid out the red carpet in Tianjin.

It was a flashy affair in the Shangri-La convention centre in Chinas seventh-largest city. Tesla-like, was how one attendee described it. Rockcheck, one of Chinas largest companies, was celebrating the second anniversary of its merger with Tewoo, a state-owned enterprise.

Trade Minister Don Farrell (right) and ambassador Graham Fletcher enjoy their coffee in Beijing.

It was not the only celebration that night. Rockcheck announced that after three years of bitter diplomatic and investment disputes between Australia and China, it was launching a new headquarters in Melbourne.

The steel, financial services, and investment conglomerate was so confident that Australia-China relations had turned a corner that it was going to set up shop in the Victorian capital.
As Julian Assange continues to languish in prison in the United Kingdom, his supporters are pressing for his freedom  now. They are increasing pressure in Washington and Canberra on the United States government to terminate its efforts to extradite Assange to the US for trial, halt his prosecution, and let him return to Australia.

President Bidens slated visit to Australia for the Quad meeting  although there is now speculation that his deputy Kamala Harris might replace him  has presented a powerful opportunity to further press the case.

Both sides of US politics remain hostile to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. Credit: Getty Images

Impassioned statements by Prime Minister Albanese, Foreign Minister Penny Wong, and Ambassador to the United States (and former prime minister) Kevin Rudd have been registered with urgency.

Last week, Albanese said, I cant do more than make very clear what my position is, and the US administration is certainly very aware of what the Australian governments position is. I continue to say in private what I said publicly as Labor leader and what Ive said as prime minister, that enough is enough. This needs to be brought to a conclusion. It needs to be worked through, were working through diplomatic channels, were making very clear what our position is on Mr Assanges case.
PHILIPSBURG (DCOMM):--- This week marks Caribbean Mosquito Awareness Week which is from May 8-14. The Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) says that mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue, chikungunya, zika, and malaria continue to circulate in CARPHA Member States.



At the 17th Special Session of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Heads of Government on public health threats held in November 2014, the Heads approved a proposal for the establishment of an annual Caribbean Mosquito Awareness Week.



The objective of such a week is to strengthen existing initiatives and mobilize the public to eliminate mosquito breeding sites from public and private places.



The theme for 2023 is Small bite, big threat, and slogan Beat the buzz: Prevent, Protect, Control.

The Collective Prevention Services (CPS) is committed to keeping the public informed and making frequent calls to action to the community to take action and eliminate mosquito breeding sites.



CPS supports the CARPHA campaign this week and appeals to the community to always be on alert to act right after a rainfall event to prevent mosquitoes from breeding.

Mosquitoes can breed in as little as a half-inch of water. This is not a lot of water, and plant saucers are one of those unassuming places that can gather a small amount and still be a huge breeding site for your backyard mosquito.

Source reduction is the key to decreasing the mosquito population. Due to the tropical nature of our climate, breeding habitats are in abundance, and many of them are unfortunately man-made.

For issues surrounding mosquito breeding sites, contact CPS vector control team by calling 542-1222/1570 or 914. Ask to be connected to the vector control team.

You can also email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with supporting pictures and contact information to report a mosquito nuisance or request assistance.

Collectively, we need to minimize the mosquito population at its source!
ION Energy Acquires New Lithium Pegmatite Project Located in the Yellowknife Pegmatite Province

Bliss Lake Lithium Project is 5,798 hectares in area and totals five contiguous licences;

Less then 15km from Li-FT Power Ltda?s aRoad Access Groupa where numerous lithium bearing pegmatites have been identified and sampled with over 1% Li2O;

Numerous pegmatite occurrences identified from Landsat images on the Bliss Lake Project the largest of which is interpreted to be over 300 metres in strike length;

30 kms from Yellowknife, 5 kms from road networks; and

Exploration to commence immediately.

ION Energy Limited (TSXV: ION) (OTCQB: IONGF) (FRA: 5YB) (aIONa or the aCompanya  https://www.commodity-tv.com/ondemand/companies/profil/ion-energy-ltd/) announces that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the Bliss Lake Lithium Pegmatite Project in NWT, Canada in an all equity, milestone driven transaction, which ultimately allows the seller to reach a 5% ownership interest in the Company.

The immediate consideration for the acquisitionA will consist of two equity tranches.A The first tranche will be a value of $150,000 of the Company shares at a deemed value of $0.35 and the second tranche will have a value of $350,000 of Company shares at a deemed value of $0.35 subject to a 4 month hold period. The Company will also grant to the seller a 1.0% Net Smelter Royalty (NSR), with the Company having the right to repurchase one half of the NSR at any time for $500,000.

The Bliss Lake Lithium Project encompasses 5,798 hectares and is located between 13-15 km away from lithium properties held by Li-FT Power Ltd. (CSE:LIFT) (see Li-FT Power press release dated Dec. 20, 2022 as filed on SEDAR) and 20km from Patriot Battery Metals Inc. (TSXV:PMET) (see PMETa?s MD&A report dated 30 June 2022 as filed on SEDAR). Investors should note that exploration results of third parties in the vicinity are not indicative of potential results at the Companya?s project.

Lithium bearing pegmatites in the Yellowknife area are well documented in the published literature and in the records on file with the Mineral Resources Division, Canadian Department of Energy, Mines and Resources, Ottawa. The significant resources occur as steeply dipping tabular, unzoned pegmatite dikes of Pre-Cambrian age dated 2200 million years. The numerous pegmatites are localized in metamorphic aureoles of knotted schists associated with granitic intrusions. Detailed mapping and surface sampling of fourteen properties within the district (Lasmanis, 1978)[1] indicated a mineralized potential of A A 49,000,000 tons of pegmatite to a depth of 152m having an average grade of 1.40% Li2O.

aThe Company is very pleased to have signed a binding definitive agreement for the acquisition of 5,798 hectares Bliss Lake Lithium Project in the Northwest Territories. The prospect is within 10s of kilometers from other proven pegmatite fields and allows ION Energy to be a multi-jurisdictional, multi-asset company that has the ability to serve two major, established geographies.a says Ali Haji, CEO & Director of ION Energy Ltd.

The technical content in this news release was reviewed and approved by Mr. Don Hains, P.Geo, Consulting Geologist, and a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.

Shareholder Summit a Wednesday, May 24, 2023:

With this exciting milestone in ION Energya?s aggressive growth strategy to build a diversified global portfolio of high-quality lithium resources in strategic jurisdictions, join ION\-s CEO, Ali Haji on Wednesday, May 24, 2023 at 11 am EST, to learn more about this new addition to the company\-s portfolio and what else is in store for the Company in the coming months.

REGISTER HERE TO ATTEND: https://my.6ix.com/84wWhLfp

About ION Energy Ltd.

ION Energy Ltd. (TSXV: ION) (OTCQB: IONGF) (FRA: 5YB) is committed to exploring and developing high quality lithium resources in strategic jurisdictions. IONa?s flagship, 81,000+ hectare Baavhai Uul lithium brine project, represents the largest and first lithium brine exploration licence award in Mongolia. ION also holds the 29,000+ hectare Urgakh Naran highly prospective lithium brine licence in Dorngovi Province in Mongolia. With the acquisition of the Bliss Lake project in NWT, Canada, ION will have significantly enhanced its lithium asset and jurisdiction profile. ION is well-poised to be a key player in the clean energy revolution, positioned well to service the worlda?s increased demand for lithium. Information about the Company is available on its website,A www.ionenergy.ca, or under its profile on SEDAR atA www.sedar.com.

For further information:

COMPANY CONTACT: Ali Haji, ali@ionenergy.ca, 647-871-4571

MEDIA CONTACT: Siloni Waraich,A siloni@ionenergy.ca,A 416-432-4920

In Europe:

Swiss Resource Capital AG

Jochen Staiger & Marc Ollinger

info@resource-capital.ch

www.resource-capital.ch

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

Information set forth in this news release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include estimates and statements that describe the Companya?s future plans, objectives or goals, including words to the effect that the Company or management expects a stated condition or result to occur. Forward-looking statements may be identified by such terms as abelievesa, aanticipatesa, aexpectsa, aestimatesa, amaya, acoulda, awoulda, awilla, or aplana. Since forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Although these statements are based on information currently available to the Company, the Company provides no assurance that actual results will meet managementa?s expectations. Risks, uncertainties and other factors involved with forward-looking information could cause actual events, results, performance, prospects and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Forward looking information in this news release includes, but is not limited to, the Companya?s objectives, goals or future plans, statements, potential mineralization, exploration and development results, the estimation of mineral resources, exploration and mine development plans, timing of the commencement of operations and estimates of market conditions. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from ION Energya?s expectations include, among others, uncertainties relating to availability and costs of financing needed in the future, changes in equity markets, risks related to international operations, the actual results of current exploration activities, delays in the development of projects, conclusions of economic evaluations and changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined as well as future prices of lithium. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of any of the securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful, including any of the securities in the United States of America. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the a1933 Acta) or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to, or for account or benefit of, U.S. Persons (as defined in Regulation S under the 1933 Act) unless registered under the 1933 Act and applicable state securities laws, or an exemption from such registration requirements is available.

[1] R. Lasmanis (1977):Lithium Resources in the Yellowknife Area, Northwest Territories, Canada, Energy, Vol. 3, pp. 399-407
The crisis that has shaken the U.S. banking sector since March has left several victims in its wake, and served up a powerful warning. In a matter of days, a financial institution can go from operating normally to being hit by a bank run that leaves authorities scrambling for a rescue package. This is what happened to Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). With a business model focused on tech start-ups, 96% of the banks deposits were above the $250,000 limit which, in theory, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporations (FDIC) Deposit Insurance Fund would cover. As fears grew, people could not know that the FDIC would in fact protect all depositors, regardless of their balance, in a bid to avoid a potential contagion whose effects on the economy could not be predicted. The uncertainty that surrounded SVB was the gunpowder. Now, a study conducted by a group of universities has found that social media provided the spark.

On 10 March, SVB was closed by the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, which appointed the FDIC as receiver. The day before, around $42 billion  about a quarter of all deposits at the bank  was withdrawn in a matter of hours via digital banking, while another $100 billion was about to be taken out before the collapse. Academic researchers in the U.S., France and Spain have concluded that communication via Twitter was the driving force behind the financial panic that led to SVBs failure. The authors have analyzed the evolution of tweets over time, as conversations between investors spread to depositors and the public.

The study was carried out by J. Anthony Cookson (University of Colorado at Boulder), Corbin Fox (James Madison University), Javier Gil-Bazo (Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona), Juan F. Imbet (Universite Paris-Dauphine) and Christoph Schiller (Arizona State University). As explained by the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, where Gil-Bazo works as an associate professor in the Department of Economics and Business, the experts collected every tweet sent between 1 January 2020 and 14 March 2023 that mentioned activity by U.S. banks that trade on the stock market (in total, this amounted to about 5.4 million posts). They analyzed their content, dynamics and the social transmission of bank run ideas, and their impact on banks loss in share value.

Focusing on three key variables  percentage of deposits uninsured by the FDIC, fall in stock-market price, and intensity and tone of social media conversations  the authors determined that the banks most frequently discussed on Twitter had an average of 6 percentage points larger stock market loss during the run period [between 1 and 14 March]. They continue: Using a dictionary of terms associated with depositors withdrawing their deposits (e.g., tweets that mention withdraw), we find that most of the asset declines associated with pre-market social media exposure are driven by banks with more intensive run behavior discussions during the run period. Indeed, from March 8 through March 13, users posted 6,528 run tweets about SVB, which is roughly five times the number of [the] next most run discussed ticker (i.e., First Republic Bank, FRC, which also had a notable run discussion). FRC collapsed at the start of May.

Influence on reality

Among the most interesting takeaways from the study is that Twitter doesnt only reflect reality, but also serves to alter it. We exploit the high frequency nature of the Twitter conversation to provide evidence that social media exposure led to bank run risk, the authors say. To reach this conclusion, they sought to differentiate between Twitter conversations among investors, depositors and the public. Given the prevalence of tech start-ups among SVB depositors, the researchers targeted this group by seeking out tweeters whose profiles included the words entrepreneur or founder  the type of user with decision-making power over money deposited in the bank. Meanwhile, the authors identified conversations among investors by focusing on mentions of SIVB  the name used to refer to Silicon Valley Bank in the investment community.

The use of the ticker SIVB reliably distinguishes investor-contributed tweets from general conversation, the study says. This decomposition is informative: Viewing these series separately, investors began discussing SVB with tweets that reference the ticker SIVB. Distinctly later, these conversations were followed by a much larger volume of general tweets about the bank. This pattern is consistent with depositors communicating on Twitter about withdrawing their deposits from the bank. This case study suggests that investor conversations spilled over into depositor conversations that fueled the run on SVB. And the researchers stress: Social media played a role not only in the bank run on SVB, but the banking instability that affected a broader set of banks.

Earlier in May, in the wake of the studys release, the FDIC itself acknowledged the influence that social media has had on episodes of uncertainty in the U.S.s banking sector. The speed with which information, or misinformation, is disseminated and the speed with which depositors can withdraw funds in response to information may contribute to faster, and more costly, bank runs, the regulator said in a document outlining proposals for adapting deposit coverage to the new reality.

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Prince Harry has become the first British royal to publicly criticize Prince Andrew over the scandal that broke out over his friendship with sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein and allegations he sexually abused Virginia Giuffre when she was a minor  a lawsuit he settled for a million-pound sum.

In his memoir Spare, which was officially released on Tuesday, Prince Harry recounts an incident where his wife, Meghan Markle, asks him if the British royal family would cut their security detail after they left the United Kingdom for North America. Prince Harry replies, no way, pointing out that Prince Andrew continues to get protection despite the sex abuse scandal.

Not in the wake of my Uncle Andrew. Despite being embroiled in a shameful scandal, accused of sexually assaulting a young girl, no one had even suggested removing his security. People have had plenty of reasons to complain about us, sex crimes werent one of them, he writes in Spare.

Following the 2019 scandal, Prince Andrew was ostracized from the royal family and stripped of his royal titles and duties. He has kept a low profile since then, but continues to maintain his innocence.

Virginia Giuffre says she was 17 years old when she was sexually abused by Prince Andrew. She sued the Duke of York in 2021, saying she was coerced into sexual encounters with him in 2001 by Epstein and his longtime companion, Ghislaine Maxwell. Giuffre said she was sexually abused by Andrew at Maxwells London home, at Epsteins New York mansion and his estate in the US Virgin Islands.

Andrew repeatedly denied Giuffres allegations and has said he cant recall ever meeting her, although a photograph of Giuffre and Andrew together in a London townhouse, his arm around her bare midriff, was included in Giuffres lawsuit against him. In 2022, Prince Andrew and Giuffre reached an out-of-court settlement. The exact compensation was undisclosed, but it is estimated to be worth around 12 million ($16.3 million), with some of the money going to Giuffre directly and the rest to her victim support charity.

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Italy probes Apple over app market dominance



Rome, May 11 (AFP) May 11, 2023



Italy's antitrust regulator said Thursday it has opened an investigation into tech giant Apple for allegedly abusing a dominant position in the app market.

At issue is Apple's App Tracking Transparency policy that compels third party developers to secure an opt-in from iPhone users to track their usage for advertising and other purposes.

The policy, launched two years ago, blew a hole in Facebook's revenue and caused a tremor in the online advertising market as many users chose to disallow tracking.

According to the Italian authority, the Silicon Valley titan "has adopted a more restrictive privacy policy for third-party app developers than it applies to itself", the competition watchdog said in a statement.

It said it was also concerned third-party developers and advertisers were "disadvantaged in terms of the quality of the data made available by Apple".

The "alleged discriminatory conduct" could cause a drop in advertising revenues of third-party advertisers and prevent competitors from entering or remaining in the app development and distribution market, benefiting Apple's own apps, it added.

Apple said App Tracking Transparency rules "apply equally to all developers -- including Apple -- and we have received strong support from regulators and privacy advocates for this feature.

"We will continue to engage constructively with the (Italian authority) to address any of their questions," it said in a statement.

Apple reported profit of $24 billion on revenue of $94.8 billion in the first three months of this year.

The business practices of US big tech companies have come under growing scrutiny in Europe, leading to huge fines and legislation to curb their market dominance.

ide-arp/sw

APPLE INC.
Elon Musk says new Twitter chief has been hired



San Francisco, May 11 (AFP) May 11, 2023



Elon Musk on Thursday said that he has hired someone to replace him as boss of Twitter and its newly named X Corporation parent.

"Excited to announce that I've hired a new CEO for X/Twitter," Musk said in a tweet, adding that she would start in the job in about six weeks.

Twitter users in December voted to oust owner Musk as chief executive in an unscientific poll he organized and promised to honor, just weeks after he took charge of the social media giant.

"My role will transition to being exec chair & chief technology officer, overseeing product, software & system operations," the billionaire tweeted.

Musk's running of Twitter has been criticised as taking the billionaire's attention away from his jobs running Tesla and SpaceX.

If Musk follows through on the announcement, he would belatedly fulfill a promise he made at the end of last year to honor the results of a poll he conducted at Twitter.

A total of 57.5 percent of more than 17 million accounts voted for him to step down.

"I will resign as CEO as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job!" Musk tweeted at the time.

Musk has fully owned Twitter since late October and has repeatedly courted controversy as CEO, sacking most of its staff, readmitting far-right figures to the platform, suspending journalists and charging for previously free services.

He recently made the tech firm part of an "X" shell corporation, getting rid of the Twitter company name but continuing to use it for the platform.

The controversial billionaire has talked publicly of using Twitter to build an all-purpose "X" application that combines messages, payments and more.

He this week announced encrypted direct messages at Twitter, and that audio and video calls are going to be added to the platform.

The San Francisco-based company, which generates most of its revenue from advertising, is set to earn less than $3 billion in 2023, down from $4 billion in 2022, according to Insider Intelligence.
Toshiba posts 35% decline in full-year net profit



Tokyo, May 12 (AFP) May 12, 2023



Japanese conglomerate Toshiba on Friday said full-year net profit fell by more than a third due partly to weak sales in electronic devices and other one-off factors.

It also said a planned takeover bid process that is expected to take the company private will likely start in late July.

For the year that ended March, the engineering giant booked a 126.57 billion yen ($940 million) net profit, down 35 percent on-year, on sales of 3.36 trillion yen, up 0.7 percent.

Operating profit dropped 30.4 percent to 110.55 billion yen, mainly because of a contraction of the hard disk drive market, and other one-off factors, Toshiba said.

For the current financial year to March 2024, it forecasts a 110 billion yen operating profit, down 0.5 percent from the previous year, on sales of 3.2 trillion yen, down 4.8 percent.

It did not provide a forecast for full-year net profit.

In 2018, Toshiba sold its prized chip unit Toshiba Memory to a group led by US investor Bain Capital.

Toshiba retains a 40 percent stake in the chip business, which was renamed Kioxia.

In March, Toshiba approved a $15 billion takeover bid by a consortium led by investment fund Japan Industrial Partners.

If the acquisition is successful, it will take the engineering giant private.

The long-awaited move follows years of turmoil for the company, which once symbolised Japan's tech prowess but has more recently faced scandals, financial trouble and high-level resignations.

The JIP-led consortium includes 17 Japanese businesses and six Japanese financial institutions, which are investing in or issuing loans for the deal.

Toshiba, which produces everything from rice cookers to medical equipment and nuclear plants, has been rocked by turbulence since 2015 when a profit-padding scandal erupted.

That led to huge losses, followed by a recovery that brought pressure from new activist shareholders.

Foreign investors have kept Toshiba afloat, but have also pushed for faster growth and a clearer long-term strategy.

In April last year, the firm said it was suspending a plan to split in two after a shareholder vote against the idea and would weigh going private.
The European Union is seeking to rebalance its relationship with China. The bloc currently defines the Asian giant as a partner, competitor, and systemic rival, in that order. However, Brussels believes that the concept of China as a rival has gained greater significance. The balance of these approaches is conditional on Chinas response to our engagement and the evolution of its behavior, says a document prepared by the European External Action Service (EEAS), sent to EU member states and to which EL PAIS has had access. The text, accompanied by a letter from the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell and which will serve as a basis for discussion among EU foreign ministers at a meeting Friday in Stockholm, indicates that the union will respond to any challenge from China with a tougher stance on relations.

How to interact with China is a controversial and divisive issue in the EU, where there is no unified position. There are pragmatic countries  especially in terms of a more commercial approach  such as France and others, including Lithuania and Sweden, who warn that relations with a state they define as repressive at home and aggressive overseas should be curtailed as much as possible. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has also emphasized in recent days that the idea of Beijing as a rival should be strengthened.

Borrell appears also to be leaning more toward pragmatism. While the diplomat stresses that coordination with Washington  which is in the middle of a trade war with Beijing  will remain essential, the EU must avoid becoming embroiled in a competition between the United States and China from which can emerge only one winner. Although the tone of Borrells letter and the working document mark a hardening approach to Beijing, it is also very measured. Much more so than European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who has accused China of wanting to change the world order to impose its dominance. Some of the more hardline member states have already taken Borrells approach to task as they consider him too soft on Beijing.

Brussels has also warned that relations with China will not prosper if Beijing does not exert its influence to pressure Russia into a withdrawal from Ukraine. The EU considers that Beijings stance on the invasion launched by the Kremlin is pro-Russian, but also notes that China will be the geopolitical beneficiary if Moscow is defeated. The no-limits friendship between all-powerful Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin is in fact limited, Borrell said Thursday at the European Security and Defense Conference in Brussels, and the relationship is becoming increasingly unbalanced in favor of Beijing. The EU must maintain clear messages about the serious negative impact on EU-China relations in the case that China circumvents sanctions and provides support to the Russian war effort, EEAS says. Borrell has also pointed out that any supposed neutrality in the conflict is tantamount to siding with the aggressor.

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell. Frederic Sierakowski (AP)

The EU foreign ministers meeting in Stockholm comes amid criticism and threats from Beijing over the European Commissions proposal to sanction seven Chinese companies for helping Russia to evade sanctions. Brussels proposals for its 11th package of sanctions on Moscow has also raised tension with Beijing by a notch. Borrell has also told member states to be prepared for a potentially critical escalation over Chinas claims on Taiwan while noting that any unilateral change in the status quo and the use of force could have enormous economic, political and security consequences globally, especially given Taipeis role as a supplier of advanced microchips.

Having learned lessons from Russias invasion of Ukraine  following years of EU pragmatism toward Moscow based on heavy dependence on its hydrocarbon resources  Brussels believes that measures to de-risk and limit over-dependence on China need to be accelerated and that there is still a window of opportunity to do so.

EU trade with China is deeply imbalanced and risks becoming even more imbalanced, notes the EEAS. China exports almost three times as much to the EU (worth about $1.85 billion per day) as the EU exports to Beijing, with the bloc hampered by state-led nationalist industrial and trade policies covering tariffs, targeted subsidies, intellectual property theft, technology transfer and massive support for state-owned enterprises. Beijing is also the main  and in some cases almost the only  supplier of a large number of products and minerals. To redress the balance in this respect, a few months ago Brussels approved two laws to boost industry and the production of strategic minerals in the EU. The European Commission is also preparing an economic security strategy, with a focus on China, through which it intends to step up relations with other trade partners via pacts such as those it has in place with Mexico, Australia, or Mercosur.

Despite this, the EU is still seeking to reduce excessive dependencies on China with tools to level the economic playing field, reduce national security risks and address the possible ramifications of actions taken by Beijing, from disinformation campaigns to trade practices. Our openness cannot be allowed to become a vulnerability, but neither should it be dismantled, the EEAS document says.

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BROOKLYN  A Connecticut State Police trooper used a Taser, while another fired his handgun, at a local man after repeatedly telling him to put down a knife, according to body cam footage released Thursday by the state Office of Inspector General.

The man, identified as 59-year-old Byron Harvey, was flown to UMass Hospital in Worcester, Mass., where he remains in treatment, the inspector general's office said.

Harvey was listed in critical condition by the hospital Wednesday, but they could not provide an update Thursday.

The inspector general released footage of the incident Thursday. The three-minute video, captured on Trooper Romello Lumpkins body-worn camera, shows troopers in the kitchen of an apartment, talking to Harvey while he sat in a chair about 15 feet away with a knife.

At the end of the video, Lumpkin, could be seen firing a single shot at Harvey.

Lumpkin has been placed on paid administrative duty while the inspector general conducts the investigation, state police said. Lumpkin graduated the State Police Training Academy in August 2021 and is assigned to Troop D in Danielson.

This is not the first time Lumpkin has been investigated while on the force.

As a trooper trainee, state police suspended Lumpkin after they determined he violated the agency's code of conduct when he walked out of a Newington gun shop with a $54 handgun magazine without paying for it in September 2021. Though the store's owner decided not to press charges, they requested Lumpkin be banned from the premises. State police determined in their investigation that there was enough evidence to show Lumpkin committed a misdemeanor larceny.

On Tuesday, Lumpkin was among the troopers who were called to the Brooklyn apartment on Tiffany Street around 9:30 a.m. to help a state marshal evict Harvey under an order issued by the Housing Court. The state marshal had information that Harvey had a large dog at the apartment and arranged for two Animal Control officers to be there during the planned eviction. When no one answered the door, the state marshal called state police for help, the Office of Inspector General said.

The state marshal, a state trooper and the Animal Control officers then entered the apartment using a key provided by the landlord.

Once inside, the state trooper saw Harvey holding a large knife in his right hand, the inspector general said. The trooper then requested backup and two troopers, including Lumpkin, arrived, according to the Office of Inspector General.

The troopers attempted to start a dialog with Harvey and repeatedly asked him to drop the knife, the Office of Inspector General said. Harvey refused to drop the knife and made several suicidal remarks. At one point, he said, 'Youre going to have to shoot me.  If you dont, Im going to get at least one of you,'" the video shows.

Whats the purpose of all that, one officer asked Harvey, according to the video.

So you can hit me, Harvey responded, according to the video. The footage showed a dog sitting next to Harvey, both walled off from troopers by a wheeled walker.

An officer told him he was talking nonsense," the video showed.

If you dont do it, Ill stand up and do something, Harvey said, according to the video. Though some of what he said was unclear in the video, he ended his statement with I dont want that.

Well, nobody wants that, an officer could be heard saying in the footage.

Weve had a good talk today, man. Why would you want to hurt any of us? another officer asked. You dont want to do that, man. Thats not you.

Everybodys trying to have a good day today, an officer said.

We dont want to hurt you, we dont want you to hurt us, another officer said

Theres better options, a third officer chimed in.

Harvey can be heard sniffling and is seen looking up toward the ceiling, the footage shows.

What are you thinking about, man? Tell us whats on your mind, an officer said, according to the footage. Youre looking up to somebody. Who are you looking for? Whoever it is, they dont want you to do this.

Harvey then got up and an officer ordered him to put the knife down, the video shows. Harveys dog started to bark while a trooper raised his gun and pointed it at the man, the footage shows. Harvey moved a walker out of the way and started walking toward the officers with the knife in his hand, the footage shows.

Eight seconds after Harvey got out of his chair, Lumpkin fired a single bullet, hitting him in the abdomen, while another officer used a Taser, the video shows. Harvey fell to the floor, groaning, while officers rushed to him, one telling him to put his hands behind his back, the video shows.

I cant move, Harvey can be heard saying, according to the video.

Thats right, you cant move, OK? an officer responded, the video shows.

The Office of Inspector General said state troopers and emergency medical personnel treated Harvey at the scene. Harvey was then taken to Day Kimball Hospital and then flown to UMass Hospital.

There were no other reported injuries.

The Office of Inspector General and Connecticut State Police are continuing to investigate the shooting.
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FAIRFIELD  A resident of a Steep Hill Road home found occupied by dozens of dogs and cats in April was charged with 48 counts of animal cruelty Friday, according to local police.

Glorianne Marie Lagnese, 59, was released after posting a $5,000 bond, Fairfield police Lt. Michael Paris said. Lagnese is scheduled to appear at state Superior Court in Bridgeport on May 19, Paris said.
The relationship between Colombian President Gustavo Petro and a large sector of retired Armed Forces officers is at its lowest ebb since his government took office last August. Why are they conspiring for a coup detat? Because they are terrified that we will put an end to impunity, Petro wrote on his Twitter account on Thursday while sharing an interview with retired Colonel John Marulanda on W Radio. During the discussion, the former director of the Association of Retired Officers of the Colombian Military Forces said, in reference to the Peruvian political crisis, that there the reserves were successful in defenestrating a corrupt president, in reference to former leftist president Pedro Castillo, who failed in his self-coup attempt last year and whom Petro has defended several times. Here, we are going to try our best to defenestrate a guy who was a guerrilla fighter, Marulanda added, setting off alarm bells.

Since Petro won the elections last year, the fear that the military will not accept a four-year government in the hands of a former guerrilla  a political first in the country  has been ever-present. So far, though, the military has kept its counsel. Colombia prides itself on being the most stable democracy in the Americas, along with the United States, and there has not been a coup detat in decades, since the brief dictatorship of General Gustavo Rojas Pinilla from 1953 to 1957. During the government of former Liberal president Ernesto Samper (1994-1998), there was regular talk of saber-rattling, but it never manifested itself as anything other than rhetoric. Petro has managed to maintain a cordial relationship with the Armed Forces during his first 10 months in government, even after appointing the renowned anti-corruption investigator Ivan Velasquez as Minister of Defense. But his relationship has been much less fluid with retired members of the military.

Military veterans demonstrate in the Plaza Bolivar, Bogota, on May 10, 2023. Santiago Mesa

Following Marulandas statements, although delivered by a non-active officer, and Petros warning of a possible coup, Chief of Staff of the Presidency Laura Sarabia also denounced Marulanda and said that the democratic character of the Colombian Armed Forces was beyond reproach. Disagreeing with the government is very different from inciting a coup detat. And for someone from the reserve to make such a call is not only aggravating, it is a dishonor to the uniform he once wore. The democratic tradition of our Forces should NEVER be called into question, she wrote on her Twitter account.

However, according to W Radio, Marulanda later retracted his statement. I correct what I said. It is not about defenestrating President Gustavo Petro as Peruvian President Pedro Castillo was defenestrated, he clarified. But the colonels mea culpa arrived too late. The fire had already been lit.

Marulandas interview came after hundreds of veterans demonstrated in the Plaza de Bolivar in Bogota on Wednesday, shouting Petro out! and carrying banners that complained of progressive contempt for the Armed Forces. These types of demonstrations always raise the question of how much the political positions of the reserve align with the active military. The latter cannot legally participate in political demonstrations, openly support parties or vote, while retired military personnel can. Ever since the government of former President Alvaro Uribe (2002-2010), the retired arm of the military has traditionally been one of the greatest allies of Uribes conservative wing, the loudest critic of Petros administration.

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Angela Bacares

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Cyber security provision has long been seen as a lucrative area, and Darktrace is both one of the biggest and most controversial UK names in the industry. Angela Bacares now owns most of the stake held in the company by its founding family after her husband, Mike Lynch, set it up.

Lynch, once known as Britains answer to Bill Gates, is caught up in another tech-sector controversy, and could face charges in America, relating to the 9 billion sale of Autonomy, his software firm, to Hewlett-Packard of the US. He lost a High Court case last year over allegations that he and another Autonomy executive misrepresented the company to its US buyers.

Darktrace is in the process of defending itself from short sellers who allege its shares are exposed to questionable accounting, marketing and sales practices. It hired EY in February 2023 to run an independent review of its finances as part of moves to dismiss the claims, which it strenuously denies, saying its run with the greatest integrity.

The Cambridge-based company was established in 2013 by mathematicians and online security experts. It uses self-learning AI to keep clients safe from a range of threats, including ransomware and cloud computing attacks.

View the full rich list here.

View the rich list methodology here.
W inning the AXA Startup Angel competition, which aims to help take the risk out of starting a new business and ensure your idea is a success, can have a big impact on a startup  just ask one. Without winning, we definitely wouldnt have been able to get to where we are today, says Megan Hale of Team Repair, one of two winners in last years AXA Startup Angel competition, pictured above left.

Winning 2022s AXA Startup Angel competition has not only provided Team Repair with access to vital start-up capital but also first-class mentoring from some of the best in the business.

The sustainable subscription service that teaches children science and technology by sending them gadgets with carefully planned faults to fix is set to launch in April, and AXAs 25,000 prize money and mentorship has enabled them to be in negotiations with their first big paying client, and Megan to go full-time in the business.

The prize has been vital to us getting to the point where were nearly at launch, says Megan. The AXA Startup Angels have really helped us with the progression of our business and exploring different revenue streams to align with our goals.

Priceless expertise from the AXA Startup Angels

AXA Startup Angels Raphael Sofoluke, Sharmadean Reid MBE, Henry Firth and Ian Theasby / Barnaby Newton

The Angels have helped develop Team Repairs business model, while Henry Firth and Ian Theasby of BOSH! developed their social media and marketing, and Raphael Sofoluke of UK Black Business Week helped with their workshops.

Team Repair are really passionate and driven and what they want to do is give children the opportunity to fix things and get their engineering juices flowing, says Ian. I thought that was a really great educational opportunity for lots of children and that business could go really far.

Team Repair are a really interesting team, adds Henry. Theyre currently busy refining their product, trying to work out the right way to get that product to market and capitalise on this amazing opportunity theyve got in front of them.

All of the AXA Startup Angels have mentored Team Repair / Team Repair

With their goal of making their product accessible to all, Sharmadean Reid MBE of The Stack World has assisted them to ensure their boxes will be available for free in disadvantaged schools.

Theyve benefited from having a sounding board for whenever they have a new idea, and also someone just telling them to go for it, says Sharmadean. As an entrepreneur you can procrastinate a lot and Im good at helping people realise that the most important thing is to just start.

Valuable insights in a startups early stages

Winner Charlotte Yau, founder of Muihood / Muihood

For winner Charlotte Yau, founder of skincare brand Muihood, which is rooted in traditional Chinese medicine, winning the competition has been amazing and incredible for our business  its helped us open doors and move faster with product development, which ultimately helps us continue to grow and scale to achieve our bigger goals, she says.

The prize has also enabled Muihood to develop a second product which is currently in test phase.

Since winning, Muihood has had its best months in revenue, because it has been able to put more money behind its paid media adverts to reach new customers. The brand has also grown its presence thanks to being featured in magazines such as Grazia and Elle.

Ive been able to meet amazing people along this journey who have inspired me and it feels great to see the business flourish from the seeds we planted over the past years of hard work, Charlotte says.

Charlotte is grateful for all the mentors valuable insights into how theyve grown their businesses, and Sharmadean for connecting her to brands for partnership opportunities.

Its been helpful feedback on how we navigate these early stages of the business, she says. Theyve all been amazing, and provided valuable and actionable takeaways.

I was really impressed by Muihood because they were using a traditional Chinese medicine and bringing it to the now, to London, says Ian. My girlfriend has been using her product and said its the best product that shes used on her face, so not only was the pitch good, but the product is fantastic as well.

Last years winners had a very clear business idea, says Raphael / Muihood

[She] has really progressed her business forward off the back of speaking to us because shes improved her pitch deck no end and shes taken our advice and not just jumped at the first thing. Shes got a great product and theres opportunity to sell it into some retailers, but weve advised her you dont want to do that just yet because having only one shop is nowhere as good as having loads of shops. Thats one thing weve helped her with.

Theyve come really far, says Sharmadean. Charlottes got growing customers and shes about to launch her second product which is a big deal, and Team Repair negotiating with their first big client is a really good milestone. Im really excited for both of their futures. Team Repair are doing something incredible in terms of creating a future of kids who are equipped to feel that they can build hardware and software, and with Muihood I do think that could be a global beauty brand.

Last years winners had a very clear business idea, adds Raphael. They knew their audience, they knew their numbers and they knew exactly how they intended to grow. Its been great working with them this year and you can see that those two businesses are going to go really far.

Have the confidence to enter now

The AXA Startup Angel competition could help set your business up for success. Win 25,000, mentoring from some of the UKs leading entrepreneurs and business insurance for a year, thanks to AXA. Enter now at standard.co.uk/axastartupangel

Terms apply. 18+ UK Residents only. Entry period closes at 23.59 on 4 June 2023. One entry per business. Read full terms here and to enter go to standard.co.uk/axastartupangel

Team Repair are running a series of free workshop events until 26 March (see https://team.repair/)
B illionaire Mike Lynch has been extradited to the US, the Home Office has said, as the entrepreneur faces criminal charges over Hewlett Packards $11 billion acquisition of his software company Autonomy in 2011.

HP previously accused Lynch and former Autonomy finance director Sushovan Hussain of having conducted a systematic and sustained scheme to make Autonomy look like a rapidly growing, pure software company whose performance was consistently in line with market expectations.

HP said those efforts artificially inflated Autonomys reported revenues, misrepresented its rate of organic growth and overstated its gross and net profits.

The American tech firm subsequently wrote off $8.8 billion from Autonomys value.

Lynch has denied any wrongdoing and had been fighting the extradition request by the US, instead arguing he should be prosecuted in Britain.

However, the High Court refused permission to appeal the extradition on April 21.

Dr Lynch was extradited to the U.S. on 11 May, the Home Office said in a statement. A spokesperson for Lynch declined to comment.

Last year, HP won a six-year civil fraud case against Lynch in which he was found to have manipulated Autonomys accounts to inflate the companys value.

HP had been seeking damages of up to $5 billion, but was told by a judge to expect significantly less than that.

Lynch is worth 1.1 billion according to the Evening Standard Tech Rich List, which includes the 500 million he pocketed from the sale of his stake in Autonomy.

The former student of physics, maths and biophysics is one of the biggest names in UK business. Once called the UKs answer to Bill Gates, his expertise in pattern recognition helped take Autonomy all the way to the FTSE 100, before one of the biggest deals of all time also turned into one of most notorious.

Lynch also controls a 4.3% stake in cybersecurity giant Darktrace, and was an early investor in London-based legal AI firm Luminance.

Darktrace CEO Poppy Gustaffson had previously rejected concerns over Lynchs relationship with the company. She told the Standard: Its going to become less of an issue.

Hes a shareholder, he owns 4% of the business but hes not involved operation in the business.

Its not question that our employees ask us about or our customers ask us about.

But Darktraces financial statements have also been called into question in recent weeks after a New York-based investment business expressed its fear that sales, margins, and growth rates may be overstated.

Quintessential Capital Management produced a short-seller report into the firms activity and said it has failed to provide a satisfactory explanation for most of the issues we raised.

Darktrace has rejected the allegations and has commissioned accountancy firm EY to conduct an investigation.

There is no suggestion of criminal activity by Darktrace.
P harmaceutical giant GSK has sold more than 800 million of shares in its spin-off healthcare group Haleon.

The FTSE 100-listed group said it has offloaded 240 million shares  around a 2.6% stake  a week after Pfizer announced it planned to sell its 32% stake in the business.

GSK sold at 335p per share, meaning the stake went for a discount of about 2.3% from the closing price of 342.85p on Thursday.

The discounted sale raised around 804 million, GSK said.

The firm spun off its consumer healthcare business Haleon, which owns household brands including Sensodyne toothpaste and painkillers Panadol and Advil, in July last year.

Haleon, which employs around 22,000 staff around the world, floated on the London Stock Exchange in Europes biggest listing for more than a decade.

In September, the firm reported a double-digit hike in revenue and profits in its first set of company results since splitting from GSK.

The company still has a 10.3% stake in Haleon, while drugmaker Pfizer holds nearly a third of its shares.

However, the boss of Pfizer said it would begin offloading its stake amid efforts to reduce debt, according to a report earlier this month in the Financial Times.

Dave Denton told the newspaper the sell-off would begin within months but in a slow and methodical manner so as not to reduce Haleons market valuation.

Both companies pledged not to dispose of any further shares in Haleon for 60 days after the sale, GSK said.

Russ Mould, investment director for AJ Bell, said: They both said they would sell down their positions in time, but the ease at which GSK has placed 240 million shares in Haleon would suggest it wont have a problem selling the remaining 10.3% stake in the business.

Essentially that is also good news for Haleon and the perceived risk to its share price from the significant overhang  there is nothing worse than two major shareholders openly saying they dont want to keep their shares for long.

Haleons share price edged up by about 0.5% on Friday morning, while GSKs was up by 2%.
R ail passengers face fresh travel disruption over the next few days because of strikes by train drivers and other workers in long-running disputes over pay.

Members of the drivers union Aslef will walk out on Friday at more than a dozen train operators, crippling services across the country.

Further strikes will be held on May 31 and June 3  the day of the FA Cup final at Wembley.

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) will strike on Saturday  the day of the Eurovision Song Contest final in Liverpool.

We do not want to go on strike - we do not want to inconvenience passengers, we have families and friends who use the railway too, and we believe in investing in rail for the future of this country

Passengers are being urged to check before they travel on both days.

Picket lines will be mounted outside railway stations as the unions continue their long-running campaign for a bigger pay rise than has been offered.

Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan said: We do not want to go on strike  we do not want to inconvenience passengers, we have families and friends who use the railway too, and we believe in investing in rail for the future of this country.

But the blame for this action lies, fairly and squarely, at the feet of the employers who have forced our hand over this by their intransigence.

It is now up to them to come up with a more sensible, and realistic, offer and we ask the Government not to hinder this process.

We have been negotiating with employers  the train operating companies  for many months on pay. On several companies we have managed to come to an agreement, and on several others, multi-year deals have been honoured.

Unfortunately a number of companies still have their hands tied by the Department for Transport and arent able to negotiate a reasonable deal with Aslef members.

We are still prepared to negotiate in good faith but, unfortunately, as we have been unable to come to an agreement, we have had to consider industrial action.

Our message to all those travelling, for Eurovision or other reasons, is check before you go, and keep checking. Also, be aware trains that are running may be more crowded than you expect

Aslef said a 4% pay offer was risible and obviously unacceptable.

Steve Montgomery, who chairs the Rail Delivery Group, said: The upcoming rail strikes called by the Aslef and RMT leadership will not only affect our passengers daily commute but will also impact those travelling from outside Liverpool and London to come to Eurovision and the FA Cup final, causing disappointment and frustration for those who have planned to attend.

It will also further burden our people who have already lost thousands of pounds at a time of financial strain.

We understand the impact of these strikes on individuals and businesses alike, and we can only apologise for this unnecessary and damaging disruption.

While we are doing all we can to keep trains running, unfortunately there will be reduced train services across the network between Friday May 12 and Saturday June 3, so our advice is to check before you travel. Passengers with Advance tickets can be refunded fee-free if the train that the ticket is booked for is cancelled, delayed or rescheduled.

Anthony Smith, chief executive of watchdog Transport Focus, said: For those planning to head to Liverpool, strikes could really prove a party-pooper.

Many people will be infrequent or first-time train users so may not have realised how wide the disruption will be.

Our message to all those travelling, for Eurovision or other reasons, is check before you go, and keep checking. Also, be aware trains that are running may be more crowded than you expect.

The Rail Delivery Group said that after many weeks of negotiations with the Aslef leadership it had made a revised and fair offer including a pay rise of 8% over two years.

It would have introduced overdue, common-sense improvements already in place in parts of the network, which would will see more trains running on time for passengers.

Sadly, this has been rejected, said a spokesperson.
T he Scottish Government will be consulting widely on its tax policies, Finance Secretary and Deputy First Minister Shona Robison has pledged.

Ms Robison said she plans to use this months medium term financial strategy to reaffirm her commitment to refreshing the framework for tax.

In the SNP leadership election, Humza Yousaf pledged to create a new band of income tax for earnings between 43,662 and 125,140  saying at the time the money raised could be used to fund increases to the Scottish Child Payment.

Since becoming First Minister, Mr Yousaf has stressed the need to be bold on tax, but as yet no changes to rates or bands have been announced.

Ms Robison said there will be consultation on any tax changes.

Speaking at an event in Edinburgh hosted by the Chartered Institute of Taxation and the Association of Taxation Technicians, she said the SNP has previously taken difficult but necessary decisions on tax.

These changes released significant additional spending to invest in public services and Scotlands economy while protecting those on the lowest incomes, Ms Robison added.

She said the Scottish Government has made tackling poverty a key economic priority, as she told the audience of tax professionals: Good governance begins with sound public finances.

In relation to taxation, this includes continuing to use our limited powers over taxation to advance our fair and progressive Scottish approach to taxation.

Having previously served as health secretary, the biggest spending department within the Scottish Government, Ms Robison said it is quite different being on the other side of the money since taking on the finance brief.

If we as ask people to pay more tax, we have to be clear what that social contract delivers for those taxpayers

The medium term financial strategy will set out the sustained significant fiscal and economic challenges Scotland faces over the medium term, she said.

Ms Robison added she would use this to reaffirm my commitment to refreshing the framework for tax and increasing our programme of engagement on tax policy.

She went on to stress the Scottish Government is committed to consulting widely on our tax policies, saying this will ensure that our decisions are informed by a broad range of public and stakeholder views.

Here she highlighted the social contract between the Government and taxpayers, adding: If we ask people to pay more tax, we have to be clear what that social contract delivers for those taxpayers.

And that ensures people in Scotland have access to a range of social security benefits and public services that go significantly beyond what are provided in other parts of the UK  free tuition fees, prescriptions, the Scottish Child Payment.

It is this unique social contract that continues to make Scotland an attractive place to live, work, study and do business.

She also said ministers would welcome input on how we can make the tax system simpler.
T he leader of a train drivers union says pay negotiations with ministers have stalled over the past four months as fresh rail strikes take place.

Members of the Aslef union walked out on Friday at more than a dozen train operators, crippling services across England.

Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan said the union had seen neither hide nor hair from the Government since the beginning of the year, with one token meeting on January 6.

He told BBC Breakfast: They talk a good game, they dont actually engage, they havent taken any ownership of this process as far as were concerned.

The only people they talk to are the companies, they dont talk to us.

And every time we try and find a middle ground they did something that was deliberately set up to fail.

Mr Whelan said his members dont want to be on strike but felt they had no choice in a bid to find a resolution.

Aslef has previously described the UK Governments 4% pay offer as risible.

Rail minister Huw Merriman confirmed he attended the January meeting, saying he had left unions since then to discuss the UK Governments pay offer with the Rail Delivery Group, the body representing train companies.

Mr Merriman said there was an offer on the table for train drivers and implored union chiefs to put it to members.

The Conservative politician told Times Radio: Im very sorry for the inconvenience that passengers will have to bear.

The sad reality of this situation is that there are offers on the table which have been given to both the train drivers union and the RMT.

The leadership have chosen not to put those offers to their members and I feel if they did, there would be the opportunity for members to decide if they wish to take them.

If you look at the train driver situation, they are paid just under 60,000. The pay offer would take them to 65,000 for a 35-hour week.

We feel these are fair and reasonable, and we need to see those put to their members. So it is not the case that there is not an offer there  the offer is there, we just need it put to members to see what they think about it.

Mr Merriman said ministers are unable to offer a more modern service or pay for more trains while strikes cost the economy and the rail sector money.

The dispute led to Fridays industrial action being agreed by Aslef members, with further strikes due on May 31 and June 3  the day of the FA Cup final at Wembley.

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) will strike on Saturday  the day of the Eurovision Song Contest final in Liverpool.

Passengers are being urged to check before they travel on both days.

Merseyrail is not impacted by the industrial action, meaning it is expected to run a normal service during the international music competition, including for Saturdays final.

Mr Whelan said Aslef had not planned for its Friday walkout to clash with Eurovision.

Strangely enough, I dont really watch Eurovision, I didnt know they had semi-finals, he told BBC Radio 4s Today programme.

If we were targeting Eurovision we would have done Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the only way to end the rail strikes was for the UK Government to get into a room, negotiate and settle this dispute.

He told broadcasters during a visit to the Crick Institute in central London: It has been going on a very long time.

The underlying cause is the fact many people working on the railways feel their living standards havent improved over many years, with costs going through the roof.

The Government has got to stop sitting on its hands, get around the table and sort this one out.

Northern Ireland is not affected by the strikes, while Scotland and Wales will only be impacted on cross-border services.

ScotRail and Transport for Wales were due to run their usual timetables on Friday.
Joran van der Sloot, in a file photo. Leslie Mazoch (AP)

I would never kill a girl, Joran van der Sloot told the press in 2008, when he was still at large but already the prime suspect in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway, a young American girl who had graduated from high school and traveled to the Caribbean island of Aruba in May 2005 to celebrate. She was last seen in the company of Van der Sloot, a Dutch national then aged 17, and Surinamese brothers Satish and Deepak Kalpoe. For Holloways family a tortuous search unfolded, especially as those involved have changed their stories several times.

Van der Sloot, who was arrested twice during the investigation and spent three months in custody, initially said he had left Natalee Holloway at her hotel and never heard from her again, and then that they went to the beach and said goodbye. However, a 2008 Dutch television documentary aired a confession Van der Sloot made to a reporter who had gained his trust and hidden cameras inside a car. Van der Sloot claimed that Holloway suffered a seizure and, as she was unresponsive, he knew she was dead and called a friend to get rid of the body, stating they dumped her in the sea. It all ended better than I could ever have hoped, because they never found her. If they had found her, I would have been in deep shit, he said without emotion on the recording.

With his confession on tape, Van der Sloot said his testimony was a lie and that he had invented the story to impress his companion. Incredible as it may seem, the authorities did not consider the documentary to provide sufficient evidence for an arrest. Two years later, in February 2010, the Dutchman contacted Beth Holloway, the victims mother, and asked her for $25,000 in exchange for information about where Natalees remains could be found. According to the FBI, $15,000 was wired to his bank account and the rest was paid in cash. But Van der Sloot did not honor the agreement and disappeared.

Shortly afterward, at the end of May 2010, he showed up at a poker tournament in Peru where he met Stephany Flores, a 21-year-old Peruvian. He seduced her, invited her to his hotel room, and killed her, beating her and strangling her. He fled but was arrested a few days later in Chile and taken back to Peru, where he pled guilty and was sentenced to 28 years in prison and ordered to pay civil reparations of $75,000. He was initially held in the Piedras Gordas prison and in 2014 was transferred to Challapalca, a maximum-security prison at almost 5,000 meters above sea level in the highlands of the Tacna region.

Van der Sloot, who married and had a daughter in prison, will have served out his sentence in June 2038. Everything indicated that he would remain in Peru. However, the Permanent Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to a request from the United States: a temporary surrender order so that he can be tried for the alleged crimes of extortion and swindling over the $25,000 he took from the Holloway family. Natalees mother issued a statement after the extradition request. I was blessed to have Natalee in my life for 18 years. She would be 36 years old now. It has been a very long and painful journey, but the persistence of many is going to pay off. Together, we are finally getting justice for Natalee. Regarding Van der Sloots extradition, the Peruvian judiciary has made it clear that the United States must keep the defendant in custody throughout the proceedings in its territory. When the U.S. trial has been concluded, Van der Sloot will be returned to prison in Peru.

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Boohoos top three bosses stand to get nearly 100 million from the scheme (Ian West/PA) / PA Archive

Mahmud Kamani

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The son of an Indian-Kenyan father, Mr Kamani was born into a hustle culture in sixties Britain and started off selling handbags from a market stall.

Mr Kamani went on to start a family textile business which would supply New Look and Primark before launching Boohoo Group in 2006 alongside Carol Kane.

The now 58-year-old was an early adaptor to the online demand of the 18-30 clientele the fashion line tends to, and the business grew rapidly as high street brands closed.

After announcing 31 million profits in 2017, Mr Kamani was able to sell shares for millions - before the company announced a bumper pandemic. From 2021, Boohoo was able to then buy its former rival Arcadia brands Dorothy Perkins, Wallis and Burton out of administration for 25 million.

View the full rich list here.

View the rich list methodology here.
Electronics tycoon Mike Lynch is facing extradition to the United States (Yui Mok/PA) / PA Archive

Mike Lynch

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Born in Ireland, raised in Essex, educated at Cambridge and by some measures one of the most successful City of London entrepreneurs ever, Mike Lynch is now no stranger to controversy.

He was extradited to the US to face criminal charges after the 7.4-billion sale of Autonomy, the data-management company he founded, ended in the courts. The buyer, Hewlett-Packard, won a multi-billion dollar fraud case over the deal, having accused Lynch of artificially inflated Autonomys reported revenues, revenue growth and gross margins.

Lynch is now faced with the prospect of fighting the allegations  which he continues to deny  over the Atlantic. He argues he should face trial in the UK.

Whatever the circumstances of the sale, the former student of physics, maths and biophysics is one of the biggest names in UK business. Lynch started his first company in the 1980s. It made products used in the recording industry in the 1980s with a 2,000 loan from the manager of a band. Once called the UKs answer to Bill Gates, his expertise in pattern recognition helped take Autonomy all the way to the FTSE 100, before one of the biggest deals of all time also turned into one of most notorious.

View the full rich list here.

View the rich list methodology here.
A t 8pm on Wednesday, a social media floodgate opened onto my screens, straight out of Stockholm. Beyonce, the global pop star who most intuitively defines her times, had kicked off her Renaissance tour.

But it was not what was going on centre-stage that first caught my eye but an Instagram post from the public passageways of Stockholms Melody Arena. And this is why we love her, read the caption on my friends post, below a picture of a sign printed in the semi-legendary Renaissance font. It read, Gender Neutral Restrooms Renaissance World Tour.

Two years ago, it was this same friend whod first made me aware of the real world consequences of an infuriating thunder cloud hovering over what public toilets transgender women should and should not be allowed to use. This debate added the bladder to the many individual body parts which have been ritualistically sequestered off to be weaponised against them, from Adams apples to shoulders to hand and shoe size to, yes, genitalia.

Wed arranged to meet at Westfield Stratford for a catch-up. I can give you an hour and a half, maximum, she said, before adding that shed rather go home now than use a public convenience. The noise gathering meant she would have to subject herself to shifty looks at the wash basin from people whod been told by an increasingly hostile media to see her presence as a threat to their safety.

This is why Beyonces Gender Neutral bathrooms, a touring edict which will follow the artist around the globe, matters. It may be gestural. It might be commercial. Who wants less audience when you can have more? It may just be a stroke of clever PR, prompted by a fleeting LGBT+ backlash to her dedicating her Renaissance Grammy win for best Electronic album to the queer community, two weeks after playing a blockbuster show in Dubai, where homosexuality is illegal.

Regardless, this practical help has actual repercussions in real time to her real audience. It sends out an unequivocal message on progressive gender politics by a cis-gendered artist at the absolute peak of her powers, furthermore by one feted for her indomitable street-level feminism. It works as a catch-all embrace, saying everyone is invited, unimpeded, no matter what your gender expression happens to be. For all three hours of the show. On May 29, the Renaissance tour makes its way to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

As it reaches the US, the Renaissance tour will pass through states politicising a gender non-conforming minority and currently legislating hard against teenage healthcare, school placements and the rights of children to play games together.

London is a free-thinking city, by instinct. Nobody will blink an eye at the reconfiguration of toilets in Tottenham. But in Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky, Florida, Georgia and Arizona, they constitute a civil rights win. The Renaissance tour gets to honour its name in full.

Campbell Addys stunning exhibition

Beyonce is just one of the many subjects photographed by the wonderful fashion/art photographer Campbell Addy, who this week launched his first major solo exhibition deep in the basement of 180 The Strand.

The editorial cover springs from the first display wall, before reaching into the recesses of Campbells brilliant visual reserve.

Some of the pictures have their retouching annotations embellished, drawing a curtain back on the smoke and mirrors of fashion photography, a smart touch.

Its only five years since Tyler Mitchell made history by becoming the first African-American in history to shoot the cover of US Vogue. Through that door inched open, a wealth of brilliant black talent has become the vanguard of fashion image-making.

Campbells brilliant show is a sublime reminder of how and why that needed to happen.
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For the first time in 25 years, the competition is back on UK soil as we play hosts for last years winner Ukraine.

The party atmosphere is well underway in Liverpool, and now weve had the quarter and semi-finals, its time for the main event - the Eurovision Song Contest 2023.

Experts - and superfans - Dr Paul Jordan, aka Dr Eurovision and Professor Helen Julia Minors, head of the School of Arts at York St John University, are here with their definitive guide of everything you need to know about this years contest.

We look at the runners and riders in the competition, breakdown the rules and criteria, as well as give our predictions for who will take home the iconic glass-microphone trophy.

Want more Eurovision content? You can listen to our special episode looking at what this years contest means to the people of Ukraine with Ukrainian pop star Tina Karol here:

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Listen above, and find us on your Spotify Daily Drive or wherever you stream your podcasts.
R ishi Sunak is disappointed by the decision of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to block Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelensky from addressing the grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest.

The body, which produces the event, said on Thursday night that it had declined Mr Zelenskys request to speak on Saturday over fears it could politicise the contest.

He had wanted to make an unannounced video appearance and had been expected to implore the global audience of millions to continue backing his country in its fight to repel Russian invaders.

The EBU said Mr Zelensky had laudable intentions but regrettably his request was against the rules.

On Friday, the Prime Ministers official spokesman said: The Prime Minister believes it would be fitting for President Zelensky to address the event and were disappointed by the decision from the European Broadcasting Union.

The values and freedoms that President Zelensky and the people of Ukraine are fighting for are not political, theyre fundamental, and Eurovision themselves recognised that last year when they rightly suspended Russias participation from the competition.

There are no plans to intervene and ask organisers to change their mind, Downing Street suggested.

In a statement ahead of the Eurovision final, Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer said our hearts will be with people in Ukraine who are fighting for their sovereignty and survival.

She added: If there was any justice this final would be taking place in Kyiv, but we are honoured in the UK to be able to host this event on their behalf and to welcome legions of fans and media.

Former prime minister Boris Johnson said it would have been right to hear from Mr Zelensky during the final.

Writing on Twitter, he added: There is only one reason the contest is not in Ukraine and that is because of Putins illegal war.

Mr Zelensky later thanked the UK for hosting as he expressed his gratitude for the donation of Storm Shadow long-range precision missiles in a conversation with Mr Sunak.

A Downing Street spokesman said: President Zelensky thanked the Prime Minister for Liverpools role in hosting tomorrows Eurovision Song Contest on behalf of Ukraine.

The Prime Minister said he was proud the UK could do this for the Ukrainian people and looked forward to the day that the contest could be held on Ukrainian soil once again.

Liverpool City Region mayor Steve Rotheram said he would be speaking with both the Ukrainian ambassador and the mayor of Lviv, who are both in the city for the final, to discuss what we can do to provide a platform for Mr Zelesnky.

In its statement on Thursday, the EBU noted that 11 Ukrainian artists, including last years winners Kalush Orchestra, are performing and 37 locations from around Ukraine are being shown.

This war is something that we all feel deeply is wrong and if you watch the broadcast, I don't think you'll have any doubt that this is a celebration across Europe, for freedom, for democracy, and it's quite right we do that

The BBC has said the broadcast of this years contest is expected to be watched by more than 160 million viewers worldwide.

On Friday, BBC Eurovision commentators Rylan Clark and Scott Mills stressed the contest is non-political.

Clark said: At the end of the day we are commentators so we dont get involved in show format. I just think Eurovision, people say it is political  votes here, votes there.

From being on the inside it is the least political experience you could ever have, actually.

Radio DJ Mills added: People always ask, Do you think it is political?. It really isnt. It is a song contest.

Clark continued: It is a song contest and that is what we are here to say.

The pair, who provided TV commentary for the two semi-finals this week and will host radio coverage of the grand final, also stressed that as last years winner, Ukraine and its culture were being celebrated across Liverpool throughout the event.

Clark said: Ukraine, this is their party in our country.

We always said that we would be true to that because they were the winner and I think it is very visible in the city, added Mills.

BBC director general Tim Davie told the Eurovisioncast podcast that he understood the EBU decision as the history of the contest has not been a platform for political statement.

Mr Davie also said: This country, Ukraine, is the victim of an aggressor.

This war is something that we all feel deeply is wrong and if you watch the broadcast, I dont think youll have any doubt that this is a celebration across Europe, for freedom, for democracy, and its quite right we do that.

They spoke at the British Music Experience on the Liverpool waterfront, where Zoe Ball hosted a special edition of her BBC Radio 2 breakfast show which featured guests including last years UK entrant Sam Ryder and The Fizz, featuring members of former Eurovision winners Bucks Fizz.

Claire McColgan, director of Culture Liverpool, told Times Radio it would have been fantastic to hear from Mr Zelensky, especially for the people from Ukraine who have come here wishing it was at home.

Kalush Orchestra piper Tymofii Muzychuk told the PA news agency Mr Zelensky would have only wanted to thank the British people for hosting the contest.

He said: Actually we think that President Zelensky would have wanted to thank all the British people for doing this and, as we can see, Britain took this very responsibly, the UK. And so actually I think it would have been nice for him to talk.

Kalush Orchestra won last years contest but, owing to the Russian invasion of the country, hosting duties were awarded to the runner-up, the UK.

Mr Zelensky said earlier this week that he would have preferred Eurovision to take place in a neighbouring country.

Speaking to the BBC, he said: I have great respect for the United Kingdom and its society. It is an amazing country.

From the very start my opinion has been that if we cant host Eurovision it should take place in one of the countries that share a border with us, such as Slovakia, Poland or any other country which our people can reach easily. Something nearby.

It comes after the full line-up of the grand final was revealed following the second knockout round on Thursday night.

After 16 countries competed, the 10 remaining spots went to Poland, Australia, Cyprus, Albania, Estonia, Belgium, Austria, Lithuania, Armenia and Slovenia.

The 10 countries that qualified from Tuesdays semi-final were Croatia, Moldova, Switzerland, Finland, Czechia, Israel, Portugal, Sweden, Serbia and Norway.

They will join the so-called big five nations  the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain  who each get a free pass because of their financial contributions to the event, along with last years winners Ukraine.

The final is expected to draw a large TV audience after Thursdays semi-final was watched by an average of 2.4 million viewers with a peak audience of 3.4 million.

The Eurovision grand final on Saturday will air live on BBC One.
B BC Eurovision commentators Rylan Clark and Scott Mills have stressed the contest is non-political after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was blocked from addressing the grand final over fears it could politicise the event.

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which produces the contest, said on Thursday night that it had declined Mr Zelenskys request to speak to the events audience on Saturday.

He had wanted to make an unannounced video appearance and had been expected to implore the global audience of millions to continue backing his country in its fight to repel Russian invaders.

The EBU said Mr Zelensky had laudable intentions but regrettably his request was against the rules.

On Friday morning, Clark said: At the end of the day we are commentators so we dont get involved in show format. I just think Eurovision, people say it is political  votes here, votes there.

From being on the inside it is the least political experience you could ever have, actually.

Radio DJ Mills added: People always ask, Do you think it is political? It really isnt. It is a song contest.

Clark continued: It is a song contest and that is what we are here to say.

The pair, who provided TV commentary for the two semi-finals this week and will host radio coverage of the grand final, also stressed that as last years winner, Ukraine and its culture were being celebrated across Liverpool throughout the event.

Clark said: Ukraine, this is their party in our country.

We always said that we would be true to that because they were the winner and I think it is very visible in the city, added Mills.

They spoke at the British Music Experience on the Liverpool waterfront, where Zoe Ball hosted a special edition of her BBC Radio 2 breakfast show which featured guests including last years UK entrant Sam Ryder and The Fizz, featuring members of former Eurovision winners Bucks Fizz.

In its statement on Thursday, the EBU noted that 11 Ukrainian artists, including last years winners Kalush Orchestra, are performing and 37 locations from around Ukraine are being shown.

The BBC has said the broadcast of this years contest is expected to be watched by more than 160 million viewers worldwide.

Kalush Orchestra won last years contest but, owing to the Russian invasion of the country, hosting duties were awarded to the runner-up, the UK.

Mr Zelensky said earlier this week that he would have preferred Eurovision to take place in a neighbouring country.

Speaking to the BBC, he said: I have great respect for the United Kingdom and its society. It is an amazing country.

From the very start my opinion has been that if we cant host Eurovision it should take place in one of the countries that share a border with us, such as Slovakia, Poland or any other country which our people can reach easily. Something nearby.

It comes after the full line-up of the grand final was revealed following the second knockout round on Thursday night.

After 16 countries competed, the 10 remaining spots went to Poland, Australia, Cyprus, Albania, Estonia, Belgium, Austria, Lithuania, Armenia and Slovenia.

The 10 countries that qualified from Tuesdays semi-final were Croatia, Moldova, Switzerland, Finland, Czechia, Israel, Portugal, Sweden, Serbia and Norway.

They will join the so-called big five nations  the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain  who each get a free pass because of their financial contributions to the event, along with last years winners Ukraine.

The Eurovision grand final on Saturday will air live on BBC One.
Review at a glance









I n South Wales in 1973, two teenage girls, Geraldine Hughes and Pauline Floyd, leave a nightclub in Swansea but they do not make it home. Some time later, their bodies are found in Port Talbot, and the hunt for the Saturday Night Strangler begins.

Chilling as it is, the BBCs newest series, Steeltown Murders, is no work of fiction. This four-part show follows the real-life case across two key timelines  1973 and the early 2000s  focusing on one mans commitment to discover the truth.

Back in the Seventies, Paul Bethell, played by Scott Arthur, is an ambitious, persistent young police officer, keen to prove himself in the force. After the girls bodies are discovered just months after the murder of another young woman named Sandra Newton, he strongly believes the two incidents are connected. However, limitations within the investigation means the case goes cold.

Some 30 years later, and now a flamboyantly moustachioed DCI, Bethell (played by Philip Glenister, a PC for the first time since his star turn as the rough-and-ready Gene Hunt in Ashes to Ashes) finds himself with another chance to investigate the murders. And he has cutting-edge DNA evidence to guide him down a better path, though he quickly realises that the science doesnt align with his gut instincts.

Paul Bethell, played by Scott Arthur / BBC/Severn Film/Simon Ridgway

With sensationalist shows like Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story dominating true crimes depiction of serial killers, Steeltown Murders reminds us of how the genre should be approached  that is, respectfully. Written by Ed Whitmore (whos already delivered well-loved crime dramas such as Manhunt and Rillington Place), the series refuses to fetishise the murderer and instead dedicates its time to examining the lives devastated by the killings.

Glenister steals the show as the lead: a man hellbent on finding the truth, yet struggling to stop it bleeding into his personal life once again. While his Welsh accent occasionally slips into the familiar idiolect of the beloved Gene, its easy to forgive him: this is a heartfelt performance.

That goes for the rest of the cast too. In addition to Steffan Rhodri as Phil Bach Rees, Priyanga Burford shines as Sita, the best friend of Geraldine and Pauline who was taken home prematurely by her father the night they were murdered. Throughout the series, we see her confront her grief as the one who got away, and how her guilt has developed as shes grown older and started a family of her own.

Steeltown Murders does not shy away from the difficult issues surrounding violence against women that unfortunately still ring true today. It confronts not just the actions of men but also the lengths women have to go to in order to keep themselves safe  as we know all too well, not enough has changed.

This can make for a depressing watch, but thats kind of the point: Steeltown Murders strengths lie in its depiction of loss. It considers how progressions in science can be world-changing for those left behind  parents, friends, even the falsely accused  and how the coldness of police investigations clash with human grief. For fans of the true crime genre, its a must-watch.

Steeltown Murders will air on BBC One from May 15
Review at a glance









V icky McClure has become the go-to star for taut, gripping British thrillers and her latest project, Without Sin, is no different.

The ITVX show explores the relationship that develops between a grieving mother and the man convicted of murdering her daughter. McClure is perpetually puffer-jacketed Stella, whose 14-year-old daughter Maisy is found dead at their family home with the bloodied, hooded figure of Charles Stone (Johnny Harris) standing over her.

The series picks up Stellas life three years on from her daughters death  she is still hostage to her grief, working as a taxi driver at night and very much a passenger in her own life. She is, as her mother Jessie (Dorothy Atkinson) describes, treading water, but is almost pulled under when she discovers her ex-husband Paul (Perry Fitzpatrick, a fellow Line of Duty alumnus) is expecting a child with his new girlfriend.

Close to rock bottom, she decides to take up the offer of a restorative justice scheme to meet with Charles in an attempt to find closure. Instead, he re-opens her barely-healed wounds by claiming to have been framed in an elaborate and shadowy set-up.

Desperate: Johnny Harris as Charles Stone / ITVX

What follows is a moody and meticulously crafted whodunnit, with riveting twists and turns, excruciating tension and maddening ambiguity surrounding Charless culpability. Is he a violent murderer who has spent the last three years concocting an intricate plot from behind bars to manipulate Stella and walk free? Or is this a troubled man who was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, longing to make amends for his past and clear his name?

Writer Frances Poletti in her debut series pulls off the extraordinary feat of coming up with, and landing, a labyrinthine plot while maintaining tension throughout. She toys with her audience, dangling the answers just out of reach, right up until the last moments of the genuinely unexpected reveal.

The show is co-produced by McClures new production company BYO, established with her partner Johnny Owen, and has her gritty stamp all over it. Set in Nottingham, a strong sense of place grounds the authenticity of the show.

It is a rare day that McClure disappoints, but here she really excels with a captivating and subtle performance.

While it often feels like the McClure show, thats not to discredit the rest of the cast. Harris is superb in portraying a character for whome violence and empathy often sit unsettlingly close to one another.

Atkinson also delivers a heart-warming performance as Jessie. It would have been easy for the role to fall into a caricature, but instead we meet an older single woman unashamed to embrace the duality of parenthood and her own personal life.

Paced to perfection, Without Sin shows McClure at her very best. With complex characters, intense drama and a tantalising mystery, it is worth adding to your to watch list this Christmas.

Without Sin is out on ITVX, and episode one will air on ITV at 9pm on May 14
T o the US Ambassadors residence then, where my presence has been requested at a reception celebrating fabulous female leaders. My thoughts turn to what to wear  the dress code says business, but Americans and Brits famously have wildly different approaches to formal wear. Some frantic googling ensues (has bad outfit ever sparked diplomatic incident?)  but remembering that events like these are about fostering cross-cultural relationships, about soft power (Im warming to this whole diplomat thing), I borrow Michelle Obamas fashion diplomacy playbook. I settle on an ensemble by The Row  a US brand  thereby doing my bit for Anglo-American relations.

At Winfield House, the Ambassadors residence in Regents Park, I arrive on a May evening to a gathering of dignitaries, charity execs and a smattering of artists. Given the setting, I cant help but wonder: what is the current state of the UK-US special relationship (probably not a question Carrie Bradshaw ever contemplated)? President Joe Biden has recently been accused of hating the UK, something his aides deny  although he didnt attend King Charles Coronation, a choice that prompted grumbling from certain establishment figures.

But who can blame him? Recently, a friend and I realised that whenever we meet people whove recently moved to London, we respond with a horrified Why? before reeling off a list of reasons not to. There is the weather, obviously, and of course the crushing expense; the lack of decent, affordable housing; and the managed decline of public services  all of which have given rise to a constitutional misery that seems to permeate every aspect of London life. Ambassadors for this great city, we are not  but it wasnt always thus.

President Joe Bidens aides denied that he hates the UK  but he didnt attend King Charles Coronation

Lately it feels like Britain, and London especially, has lost some of its cultural cachet. Post-Brexit we are no longer perceived as a cosmopolitan, desirable nation worthy of cultivating relationships with. No more breezing through passport control on our way to a Spanish beach  indeed whenever I travel, others tut sympathetically upon hearing my accent. Ive become an emissary from a nation hoist by its own petard.

So whats the solution? Glad you asked  I have some thoughts. First, we need some actual proper nightlife, and more latenight venues. It is laughable that virtually everything shuts by 11pm in a major global city, so please, no more 10.30pm last orders. We also need more free public spaces. There are too few places in London where you can meet friends without having to remortgage your home to buy an overpriced latte. Parks only work a few months of the year, and pubs are not for everyone. And speaking of mortgages, or rather housing, we need subsidised artist living. Writers, poets, musicians; creative folk should be able to apply for (really) cheap housing. It would foster a more diverse creative industry, one of Londons greatest exports.

Finally, I propose some sort of foreign exchange system, like Erasmus for adults, though with fewer of those frankly unconscionable rat-tail hairdos. This city needs  thrives on  new influences. Job swaps, travel stipends, I dont know  someone else can figure out the details, Im really more of an ideas guy. London has always been a city of immigrants and the recent exodus of foreign workers has been disastrous. Without them we are in danger of losing our lifeblood and the soul of this city, its essential id.

So thats my electoral ticket: cheaper housing and better nights out. Where do I apply to be Ambassador of Fun?
I live with my sisters and aunt in a modern-ish terraced house with four bedrooms. I love Islington so much because it is calm and full of great squares, green spaces and restaurants. The houses are so grand and I always feel very inspired just roaming the streets even though I have seen them a million times.

I grew up around here until I was 13 and then my parents moved to the countryside. When I had the chance to move back here for university I did, and I have been here ever since. Overall, I have been in the area for around 24 years.

Eating and drinking

La Vita e Bella, on Theberton Street, has the best spaghetti and chicken wings. On Upper Street, Bewliehill does awesome smoothies while Workers Cafe is a classic builders cafe that does a great breakfast.

Tried and tested: the Workers Cafe on Upper Street is a classic builders favourite / Daniel Hambury/Stella Pictures Ltd

Head to Essex Road for Raabs The Bakers, where the sausage rolls and Danish pastries are so good and so cheap. Kipferl, on Camden Passage, also has an incredible selection of sausages and other classic Viennese dishes. The chicken katsu sandwiches at Jiji on Esther Anne Place are really good.

Hemingford Roads Sunday is a young, cool brunch place though there is always a queue on the weekends. Pophams, on Prebend Street, serves the biggest and tastiest pastries.

I am not sure you can call The Pig and Butcher on Liverpool Road a pub. It is more of a fancy but warm restaurant which serves some delicious dishes.

Class act: the Pig and Butcher on Liverpool Road elevates the traditional pub / Daniel Hambury/Stella Pictures Ltd

Where I work out

I mostly work out at home, to be honest, as I have a treadmill but I have taken a couple of the classes at Third Space just off Islington Square. They are pretty great and the facilities there are the best in the area.

For a culture fix

The Almeida Theatre recently showed A Street Car Named Desire. It is a small but incredibly respected theatre that showcases some of the best productions.

The Almeida Theatre / Daniel Hambury/Stella Pictures Ltd

Odeon Luxe shows a good range of movies, and not just the typical popular ones. The chairs recline and the staff will bring your food to you; it has to be one of the best cinemas that youll find in London.

The Estorick Collection is a fairly hidden gallery and cafe near Canonbury Square that resides in a typically chic Islington mansion. It has regular exhibitions that are cool but it is honestly just a great place to hang out and grab a tea. The grounds are so peaceful.

To commune with nature

Freightliners Farm, where you can also buy plants / Daniel Hambury/Stella Pictures Ltd

Barnsbury Square is great to walk around as there are huge trees and you are surrounded by green spaces.

That said, Freightliners Farm is a great spot, especially in the middle of the day as you can just hang out with the animals and buy plants.

Grocery shopping

We have a few cool local delis such as Da Giovanna Deli on Essex Road and Montes Delicatessen on Canonbury Lane but they are better for specialist items. I get most of my groceries from the M&S towards Angel.

Essex Roads Da Giovanna Deli / Daniel Hambury/Stella Pictures L

Getting around

A combination of walking and taxis. If I am not in a rush I walk as I like taking everything in but if I am late, or carrying a lot of packages, Ill jump in a black cab.

Dream street

Either Islington Square or around Barnsbury Square. Islington Square just has this refinement to it that I love so much; its probably the cleanest part of Islington and so well taken care of. I would happily sit on the floor or steps there for hours on a summer evening.

Houses on Barnsbury Square / Daniel Hambury/Stella Pictures Ltd

Walking around Barnsbury Square and the surrounding streets, especially during spring and autumn, is always so magical; the grand trees, the incredible houses. Living around there is definitely the dream.

Something you only see in Islington

A sculpture of a swimming pool. Yes, it is a plug, but my store and studio, Arva, that is in Islington Square, has a fairly big swimming pool sculpture and everyone is always surprised when they see it as it is not something you usually come across. It is definitely something that only my neighbourhood has.

Abisola at her concept store, Arva, in Islington Square / Matt Writtle

Whats the catch?

It is low-key hilariously expensive.

In three words

Calm. Connected. Chic.

@abimarvel; @studio.arva; arva.co.uk

Schools

Islington Square has several nearby primary schools rated good by Ofsted, including St Marys CofE Primary School, Hanover Primary School and New River College Primary.

For secondary education, City of London Academy Islington is deemed outstanding while The New North Academy is rated good.

What it costs

Buying in Islington

Average flat price: 620,600

Average house price: 1,587,160

Renting in Islington

Average flat, pcm: 2,400

Average house, pcm: 4,480

Source: Hamptons & Land Registry
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda on Wednesday at a hotel in Madrid. Jaime Villanueva

His exquisite manners clash with the forcefulness of his messages. Over the last 15 months, the president of Lithuania, Gitanas Nauseda, 58, has become one of the main allies of the Ukrainian government. Since the beginning of the Russian invasion, he has demanded an ever greater commitment from the West: more and better weapons for Ukraine and the adoption of new sanctions against Russia. The Lithuanian leader urges the members of the EU and NATO to ignore the so-called red lines and to support Kiyv with everything necessary to win the war.

On a recent visit to Madrid as part of a European tour to address the future summit of the Atlantic Alliance, to be held in Lithuania in July, Nauseda spoke to EL PAIS after meeting with Spains Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and before visiting King Felipe VI.

Question. You have argued in recent months that the West needs to deliver many more weapons to Ukraine. Dont you think there is any chance of reaching a negotiated solution?

Answer. We all are interested to see peace negotiations, but those peace negotiations should not be performed at the cost of the territorial integrity of Ukraine. Otherwise, it would be difficult to expect that this will be a frank and honest negotiation, and probably Russia will use the opportunity to consolidate resources and to organize the offensive again. Both sides are too far away from each other to find a compromise on many issues. So this is the reason why right now I am not very optimistic about possible chances to sit at the table and to discuss issues which are relevant. In order to have a frank negotiation, its very important to see the progress of Ukrainian forces on the battlefield.

Q. What does Ukraine need to achieve these gains on the ground?

A. I think that Western countries are living up to the expectations of the Ukrainians, but unfortunately we are being very slow in making important decisions. It has taken us too long to cross the red lines. At first, there were doubts about the possibility of sending any type of weaponry; then one red line after another was crossed, as with missile launcher systems or tanks.

Q. What red lines need to be crossed now? Modern fighter jets and long-range cruise missiles?

A. Yes, I think those red lines can be crossed now too. And we had better do it as soon as possible, because all the hesitations of the past have been a waste of valuable time. All the lost time means more broken lives and more destroyed infrastructure.

Q. The European Commission is working on a new package of sanctions against Russia. What else can be included?

A. Lithuania has consistently advocated for even tougher sanctions, and we would like to see [state-owned energy company] Rosatom and its board of directors added to the sanctions list. Diamonds and dual-use [civilian and military] technology should also be included, in addition to making a greater effort to prevent Russia from circumventing sanctions.

Q. Do you think China can act as a mediator?

A. China can prove that it can be a global player on the international scene, but only with one precondition. It has to condemn the war in Ukraine and clearly state who is the aggressor and who is the victim. From this moment on, China might be very constructive in solving this conflict and especially providing the forum for peace negotiations.

Q. The next NATO summit will be held in July in Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital. What do you expect from that appointment?

A. We have a very ambitious agenda for the summit. One of the main issues will be to implement all the agreements reached last year in Madrid in relation to the Alliances Reinforced Forward Defense operation in the Baltics, which is essential for the defense of the eastern flank and will serve as a deterrent against the unlimited imperialist ambitions of Russia. Its also very important to find a compromise on the defense investment pledge and to treat the 2% [of GDP] as a baseline, not as a ceiling anymore. If we want to increase the productive capacity of the arms industry and continue to supply Ukraine with weapons as before, it is necessary to further increase our military spending.

Another angle is to bring Ukraine closer to the Euro-Atlantic security architecture. It doesnt mean that in Vilnius we will have decisions on the membership of Ukraine, but it should send a very clear signal to Ukraine that we tried to do our best in order to bring them closer to NATO.

Gitanas Nauseda, during the interview. Jaime Villanueva

Q. Lithuania is the EU country that has increased military spending the most in the last decade, and one of the countries that has donated the most military and financial aid to Ukraine in relation to its economy. Can this increase in spending be sustained as long as the war lasts?

A. Of course. The people understand there is no trade-off between social benefits and defense expenditures because they understand that security is number one. If there is no security, there will be nothing else at all. It is important to understand that Ukraine is not the last target of Vladimir Putins regime. There will be next targets. And those countries might be Baltic countries, Poland. But I cannot exclude any country of Europe which could become the target in the future.

Q. Lithuania has been experiencing a migration crisis at its border with Belarus for almost two years. In late April, the Lithuanian Parliament passed legislation authorizing immediate deportations without immigration proceedings. How do you justify a practice that runs contrary to international law?

A. It must be kept in mind that these immigrants are used as a pressure tool by autocrats, first of all by Aleksandr Lukashenko, a close ally of Putin. These vulnerable people become both victims and a weapon for these autocrats. And to stem the flow of migrants, the only option is to take measures that discourage Belarus and Russia from employing these practices. In Lithuania we have been able to stop the arrival of migrants at the border, but we are observing that soon there will be flights again between the Middle Eastern capitals and Minsk and [the Russian enclave of] Kaliningrad, with the only goal to collect these people and to send them again to the border and challenge our security systems. We see attempts at the border of Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. Those are the target countries.
A 29-year-old man suspected of shooting dead a 36-year-old woman during a stand-off with police has died in hospital.

Armed officers and a trained negotiator were called to a terraced house in Priory Road, Dartford, on Saturday after reports of a disturbance.

The woman, Hayley Burke, died on Monday evening after being taken to a London hospital, Kent Police said.

Her death is being treated as murder, the force added.

The suspected gunman, Jacob Cloke, who was also taken to hospital with critical injuries caused by a firearm, died on Thursday evening, a police spokesman said.

No police weapons were fired during the stand-off.

The force spokesman added: An investigation into both deaths will now be led by the coroner.

Officers from the Kent and Essex serious crime directorate will assist the coronial process.

After being called to the home at 12.40pm, police cordoned off Priory Road and told people to stay inside their homes before officers broke through the terraced homes front door, witnesses said.

After an hour-long stand-off, pandemonium broke out and neighbours heard what sounded like two rounds of gunshots.

One woman, who did not want to be named, described events as chilling.

Kent Police made a mandatory referral to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) because police were at the scene at the time of the injuries.

An IOPC spokesman said it was assessing the referral from Kent Police to determine whether any further action is needed by the watchdog.
A former Labour MP has been jailed for more than two years for making and distributing child abuse images.

Paul Clark, 66, who represented Gillingham in Kent from 1997 to 2010, was caught with 1,446 indecent images of children on five electronic devices, including imagery of children as young as three.

Clark, a former parliamentary private secretary to the then-deputy prime minister John Prescott and education secretary Ed Balls, was sentenced to 28 months in prison at Maidstone Crown Court on Friday.

On December 2 2022, he pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children and six counts of distributing indecent images of children between April 2013 and May 2021.

The court heard that when Clark was arrested at his home by the National Crime Agency (NCA) he initially made no comment, but later told officers, I know why youre here, and I kept telling myself to stop.

Devices containing 1,446 indecent images of children and conversations in which Clark received and distributed indecent images to others were found at his home, the CPS said.

Catrin Attwell, specialist prosecutor of the CPS organised child sexual abuse unit, said: Paul Clark knew he was in possession of and shared indecent images of children but did not admit his wrongdoing when interviewed under caution.

When later presented with the overwhelming evidence, he pleaded guilty.

Examination of the electronic devices revealed offences relating to indecent images of children on five devices, this included imagery of children as young as three and a high number of moving images.

The electronic devices also revealed chatlogs in which Clark discussed his sexual desires, distributed indecent images of children to others for their sexual gratification and used social media to identify and talk to users under the age of 18.

Our organised child sexual abuse unit was set up in April 2022 to prosecute child sexual abuse.

We work closely with law enforcement agencies to build strong cases against offenders using the internet and social media to commit sexual offences and are determined to help stop the devastating impact of these crimes on victims and bring offenders to justice.

Clark has also been issued with a 10-year sexual harm prevention order and must sign the sex offenders register.

The court heard there was no evidence that any of the offending took place while Clark was in office.

Clark was a parliamentary under-secretary for the Department for Transport from October 2008 to May 2010
S cotland Yard is to rename a unit tackling violent gun crime because it sounds too aggressive.

Operation Viper, set up in 2016, will be rebranded as the Proactive Firearms Team.

Metropolitan Police bosses expressed concern that the association with venomous snakes portrayed the wrong image, The Daily Telegraph reports.

The Standard can reveal the forces Scorpion team, catching moped watch and mobile robbery gangs, was renamed Venice Interceptors in January after members of a notorious US police squad of the same name were charged with the murder of Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old black man in Memphis, Tennessee.

Other units being considered for rebranding, including Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection where Sarah Everards killer Wayne Couzens and serial rapist David Carrick worked.

Sarah Everard was raped and killed as she walked home in south London (Family handout/CPS/PA) / PA Media

Susan Hall, leader of the City Hall Conservatives, said: I assume they have got their reasons, but a mobile phone is stolen every six minutes, burglaries are not being solved. It is all a bit ridiculous and raises questions about priorities.

A police spokesman said: As part of a review of uniform proactive policing the Mets Specialist Crime Command, Operation Viper team is being renamed to the Proactive Firearms Team.

The name change better reflects the fact, the team focuses exclusively on firearms crime, predominantly by locating and removing firearms from the street of London.

The officers in the unit are not armed, but do often work alongside colleagues from MO19 the Mets Specialist Firearms Command.
A man who died after being found with stab wounds in a car in south east London has been named by police.

Police have launched a murder investigation after Alex Josephs was stabbed to death in Ladywell in the borough of Lewisham.

Police were called at 1.59pm on Wednesday to reports of a stabbing in Malyons Road.

Officers attended along with the London Ambulance Service and Londons Air Ambulance.

Mr Josephs was found inside his car, a grey coloured BMW, suffering from knife wounds.

Despite efforts to save him, he died at the scene.

His next of kin have been informed and continue to be supported by specially trained family liaison officers.

Four men, one aged 23, two aged 24, and one aged 25, were arrested in connection with the murder and have been bailed pending further enquiries.

Detective Chief Inspector Kate Kieran, who is leading the investigation, said: This was a shocking incident that took place on a busy street in the middle of the day. There were a large number of witnesses and I thank those people who have already taken the time to share what they saw.

If you have footage or information but havent yet spoken to police, please do get in touch.

We are building a timeline of the events surrounding Alexs murder and your information could be a missing detail in that picture. If you saw anything, please do take the time to contact us.

Alexs family is reeling from the shock of losing their loved one in such a violent way. Our thoughts are with them as our investigation progresses.

Detective Chief Superintendent Trevor Lawry, leading local policing, said: It saddens me to see another life ended by knife crime in our city.

I know that this incident will send shock waves throughout our community. Please know that I share in your concerns, and while my officers are supporting the murder investigation team, they are also available to provide support and reassurance through enhanced patrols in the area.

We believe that this is an isolated incident, however, if you are worried, please do feel free to approach officers and speak with them.

Police are asking anyone with information or footage relating to te incident to call 101 or Tweet @MetCC quoting 3928/10May.

To speak with officers from the investigation team direct call 020 87214622.

To remain 100% anonymous contact the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or visit Crimestoppers-uk.org.
P olice are looking for a group of men after two teenagers were stabbed close to Stratford station.

Detectives released CCTV images after two groups started arguing in Stratford shopping centres McDonalds at 7pm on April 11.

The argument continued outside the McDonalds and towards the station before two boys, both aged 16, were stabbed.

They were taken to a local hospital for treatment to stab wounds.

They have both since been discharged.

British Transport Police (BTP) officers believe the men in the CCTV images may have information which could assist their investigation.

Anyone who recognises them, or has information relating to the incident, can contact BTP by texting 61016 of calling 0800 40 50 40 quoting reference 490 of 11 April.

Alternatively, call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
A teenager from Essex who plotted an Islamic State terror attack on police officers or soldiers boasted about his murderous plans on Snapchat, telling his girlfriend: I just want to kill people, the Old Bailey has heard.

Matthew King, 19, carried out surveillance at a police station, train station, and magistrates court in Stratford, east London, as well as a British Army barracks.

The teenager  a convert to Islam from Christianity - posted an image of four police officers outside the courthouse to Snapchat with the chilling caption: Target Acquired.

King made searches online for terrorist attacks in London Bridge, Manchester, and Streatham, and described al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden as a great man, the court heard.

In online conversations with a young woman he wanted to marry, King fantasised about killing and torturing UK and US Marines and repeatedly stated his desire for jihad.

He was reported to the Prevent counter-terrorism programme by his own mother over fears of radicalisation, and raised concerns at his local mosque over extremist comments.

King has admitted plotting terrorist acts, either by travelling to Syria to join IS or carrying out an attack in the UK.

Prosecutor Paul Jarvis told the court King had penned a song revealing his violent ambitions, including the lyrics: I sneak round Dere wid a homemade bomb. Press number 1 on the Nokia phone and I watch that ting detonate. Smile on my face no one will escape when they meeting there fate.

He had made searches online for Isis knife tactical training, the court heard, as well as the attackers at London Bridge terrorist Karim Butt and Fishmongers Hall attacker Usman Khan.

Mr Jarvis detailed footage from Kings mobile phone recording himself waiting to cross the road close to Stratford magistrates court.

He also captured four uniformed officers standing outside the court building.

Matthew King carried out surveillance at Stratford magistrates court / PA

On the footage, Mr King then crossed the road and walked east bound, past the officers in the direction of The Broadway. He turned his head to the left and away from the officers as he walked past them.

Mr King later posted an image of the officers to Snapchat with the caption Target Acquired.

In other pieces of footage from spring 2022, King videoed a police officer at Stratford station and took footage of the location of CCTV cameras, and filmed himself walking past Stratford police station noting the entrance and exit used by officers.

Another clip made on the same day had the lyrics terrorise the kuffar, the court was told.

On May 17, 2022, King left the Bin Baz mosque in east London and walked to the nearby barracks belonging to the 7th Rifles Regiment, taking video clips and throwing an unknown item over the front gates.

Snapchat conversations with the woman  referred to in court as Miss A  revealed that she had encouraged his extremism and promised to marry him.

Throughout the chat, Miss A encouraged Mr King, said the prosecutor.

She reminded him of her feelings for him in various ways. For example, she wrote I dont wanna look at other men after telling him he will be her future husband.

Mr King replied to her: I guess jihadi love is powerful and I just want to kill people.

Mr Jarvis said King sent Miss A a voice message including details of how he would get two Marines in a room together and get them to rape each other@.

In other chats online, King discussed his goal to die in battle for IS, saying: I just want to die a martyr.

And he told Miss A: I just want to get my hands on an american marine ... or a British marine.

He also used Telegram to discuss associates the possibility of using cryptocurrency to fund terrorism, the court heard.

When he was arrested at the family home in Wickford, Essex, police found a mass of digital evidence and discovered that King had bought camouflage clothes and military-style combat glasses and gloves.

The court heard he had been banished from a mosque in Chelmsford for uploading an image to WhatsApp of a man holding a knife, referring to jihad and the day of judgment.

He gave the impression that he wanted to go to Syria to fight but at the same time Mr King said he did not subscribe to the views of ISIS, said Mr Jarvis.

On a different occasion, Mr King told someone at the mosque that they should all be doing jihad. He described Osama Bin Laden as a great man.

The court heard King turned aggressive after he dabbled in drugs as a younger teenager and he was expelled from his secondary school. He left education at the age of 16 and would regularly return home while high on cannabis, but his mother reported a marked change in his behaviour in 2020.

He talked of finding faith and began to wear traditional Islamic clothing, eating only Halal food and learning Arabic. But he also began displaying worrying behaviour, calling his sisters slags for the way they dressed, and showing his mother extremist videos online.

When he was arrested, King replied: I dont believe in the UK law, the only law I believe in is the law of Allah.

He has admitted preparation of terrorist acts between December 22 2021 and May 17 2022. Judge Mark Lucraft KC, the Recorder of London, adjourned the sentencing hearing until May 26. .
F ree online skin cancer screenings funded in memory of a 24-year-old who died of the disease have led to nearly 80 people being diagnosed.

Charles Gray, from London, died after GPs reportedly failed to realise a mole under his arm was cancerous until it was too late.

The university student was eventually diagnosed with Stage 4 metastatic melanoma at the end of November 2011, when a biopsy revealed the growth was cancerous.

By then the cancer spread far beyond the mole. At Stage 4, it was considered fast-growing and hard to beat, though success rates are typically high if it is caught early.

Charles had been to see a doctor several times in the months [prior to his diagnosis] and, without a trained eye, the doctor repeatedly told Charles that it was fine and there was nothing to worry about, said a spokesperson for The Charles SLBG Foundation, launched by loved ones in his memory after his tragic death.

It is hard to say what might have been if we had caught the disease earlier but with something like this, time is of the essence.

The foundation - spearheaded by Mr Grays mother Alyson, who died last year - raised 50,000 to help boost quick and effective diagnosis of moles and skin complaints in hope of detecting skin cancers earlier.

It has now funded 5,000 free online screenings, which are being run by dermatology experts FirstDerm.

A new report shows that in the first six months of the scheme 2,071 people aged four to 66 were screened, with the average user being 29 years old.

The screenings have so far identified 74 cases of skin cancer - 28 of which were possible malignant melanoma, which saw patients advised to urgently see a GP in person.

Around 2,500 of the free screnings are still available.

The process allows people to get their moles checked anonymously, using their mobile phones. Users must simply upload photographs of the area of concern, along with a description of the mole and how long it has been there. The submissions are then reviewed by a dermatologist within 24 hours.

FirstDerm is keen to keep the initiative going if it receives further funding, given the wonderful results.

Founder and CEO Dr Alexander Borve said: Nearly 3,000 people die of malignant melanoma in the UK every year, which could have been prevented with early detection and action.

The month of May is Melanoma awareness month and it is important to get the word out to the general public to check any suspicious moles.

A spokesperson for FirstDerm added: Skin cancer is the only form of cancer that you can see with your eyes, but many do not act on a suspicious skin lesion before it is too late.

Not all healthcare providers have been trained to identify skin cancer. If caught early, its spread and possible death can be avoided.
A volunteer who helped transport almost 350 tonnes of aid to front lines in Ukraine has been paralysed in a moped accident while on holiday in Spain.

Friends of 41-year-old Darius Linkus, who has lost the use of both legs, are fundraising for an accessible wet room for him and his wife Saule, also 41, who was the passenger on the moped.

They broke their necks and Mrs Linkus broke her right shoulder and has lost some mobility in her arm.

The couple, who live in Trimley St Mary, Suffolk, are in rehabilitation and a relative is helping to look after their three children.

Friend Oliver Horsman, 43, described Mr Linkus as a proud man who would not ask for help, but said he had finally agreed to Mr Horsman posting an online fundraising page on his behalf.

He ended up doing four or five trips himself and we facilitated 50 or 60 further trips to get that stuff over the border

More than 4,000 had been donated towards an initial target of 10,000 within two days of the page going live, aiming to convert their downstairs toilet into a disabled bathroom and the conservatory into a bedroom.

Mr Horsman said Mr Linkus, who works in import and export, was quick to help after war broke out in Ukraine last year.

The war started and we were like, Right, these people need help, said Mr Horsman, who works with tech start-ups.

He said, Im going to fill up a van, Im going to buy loads of stuff and Im going to drive to Ukraine.

I was like, Lets be a little bit more measured than that, Ill see if I can get some donations and Ill come with you.

He said that within three days of the war starting their Facebook post had been shared thousands of times.

Literally it went insane, said Mr Horsman.

He knew he was paralysed at that point but he was like, 'Ive got to do something'

It ended up generating about 350 tonnes worth of aid.

Through Dariuss connections he managed to sort out all the import/export paperwork, get all the fixers on the borders for these vans that were going over.

I believe we were the first British aid van over the border into Ukraine. Other ones were rejected and not able to get across.

He ended up doing four or five trips himself and we facilitated 50 or 60 further trips to get that stuff over the border.

He was constantly on the phone.

Mr Horsman said that after the crash Mr Linkus was on the phone from his bed trying to arrange for generators to be delivered to people near front lines.

It was a bit of a frog in throat moment, said Mr Horsman.

He knew he was paralysed at that point but he was like, Ive got to do something.

Its pretty crazy that he now needs other peoples help really  pretty tragic.

The aid they took to Ukraine included surgical and first aid kits, incubators and military boots, and they also helped pick up and drop off refugees.

Mr Horsman said Mr Linkuss moped accident happened last September.

He said to his wife, Lets get away for the weekend, its been pretty manic over the last few months, said Mr Horsman.

They bought a ticket to Spain for the weekend, rented a moped and that was that. His front wheel hit a rock in the road.

His wife was on the back of the moped with him. Both wearing helmets, both within the speed limit, nothing silly. It was just how they fell.

They both broke their necks  she, however, can walk, although she has very little mobility in her shoulder because that was shattered.

He said the couple have no income and its been a crazy period for them to try to keep afloat.

Mr Linkus had been sleeping in a hospital bed in the front room and having to be washed with a bowl of water by his bed as he cant get into the bathroom, Mr Horsman said.

He said he wanted to fundraise for the wet room so at least he can have a quality of life.

Hes a very proud man, super giving, will literally give you the shirt off his back, said Mr Horsman. Hes not the kind of person who would put a page out there asking for help.

Hes agreed finally, after months and months of me pushing him, for me to put that post up there.

I just thought I had to help. He kind of inspired me.

Donate at www.gofundme.com/f/dontae-to-help-darius?utm_campaign=p_cf+share-flow-1&utm_content=undefined&utm_medium=chat&utm_source=whatsapp&utm_term=undefined
T he Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has been convicted of speeding just days after he presided over the Coronation of King Charles III.

The 67-year-old religious leader was caught out by a speed camera on October 2 last year, as he drove his Volkswagen Golf along the Albert Embankment in central London towards his official residence at Lambeth Palace.

The Most Rev Welby was prosecuted at a private hearing on Wednesday where he was handed three penalty points and a 510 legal bill.

The conviction and sentence happened on the same day as a headline-grabbing intervention by the Archbishop in the House of Lords against the governments Illegal Migration Bill.

Days earlier, the Archbishop played a starring role crowning King Charles at Westminster Abbey.

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

Court papers obtained by the Evening Standard show the Mr Welby was written to by the Metropolitan Police after he triggered the speed camera, and he admitted being behind the wheel.

The car was travelling at 25mph along the embankment which runs parallel with the River Thames, on a road where Transport for London introduced a 20mph limit three years ago.

The Notice of Intended Prosecution from the police was addressed to Arch Justin Welby, giving his home address as Lambeth Palace, while the Single Justice Procedure letter, sent in March, simply starts Dear Welby.

On 02/10/2022 at 11.05am at A3036 Albert Embankment a motor vehicle activated a speed camera, police worker Andrew Chapman said in a statement to the court.

The speed recorded by means of RedSpeed SpeedCurb was 25 miles per hour.

Mr Welby pleaded guilty online and was prosecuted through the Single Justice Procedure, allowing Lavender Hill magistrates court to deal with the case based on written evidence alone in a private hearing.

A court official said the Archbishop pleaded guilty and was handed three penalty points and a 300 fine. He was ordered to pay 90 in costs and a 120 victim surcharge, bringing the final legal bill to 510.

Lambeth Palace said the Archbishop admitted the offence but was unaware of the case being dealt with in court.

The press office said admin errors hampered three efforts to pay the fine and resolve the matter.
M ore than 100,000 people have signed a petition for the Brixton O2 to stay open after a deadly crush which killed two people and left a third critically injured.

Scotland Yard has called for the music venue to lose its licence to operate over the fatal crush at an Asake gig in December, saying it has lost confidence in the operator, Academy Music Group.

In a witness statement sent to Lambeth Council last week, Met PC Jinelle Caldinez claimed the force has repeatedly asked for assistance in the identification of what went wrong and how it is to be prevented from going wrong again.

She said the Met had written to the operators lawyers in March but that it has resisted engaging with that request. The operator said the polices statement does not reflect the work it has taken after the crush.

Officers raised concerns about the operators analysis of what went wrong before the tragedy, saying it appeared to believe the crush was solely caused by large numbers of people trying to gain entry to the gig.

AMG appears to regard the incident simply as the gathering of the crowd outside the entrance to the Academy and the uncontrolled manner of their entry, said PC Caldinez.

What happened inside, however, is as much a part of the incident as what happened outside, if not more so: the fatalities occurred in the foyer.

Councillors have also been told that police are concerned that the venue denied knowing about issues with the structural integrity of the venues doors in February 2020, until it was presented with evidence.

Part of the document, sent in support of revoking the venues licence, is redacted because of an ongoing criminal investigation.

An AMG spokesperson said AMG it was devastated by what happened and the impact on the families and friends of the victims.

We have engaged collaboratively with the Metropolitan Police and Lambeth Council over the last 5 months, presenting detailed proposals we believe will enable the venue to reopen, the spokesperson said.

The Mets submission to review the Academys license, which remains separate to its ongoing investigation, does not reflect the work we are doing to address issues of concern, or our commitment to work in partnership with all parties.

We will continue to engage in the formal process overseen by Lambeth Council.

A date has yet to be listed for a hearing which will decide the venues future.

The Night Time Industries Association (NTIA), which lobbies for the live music sector, has thrown its weight behind a petition for the venue to stay open, saying it is hugely important to the cultural economy of London.

The venue has submitted a variation application to change the terms of its licence in a bid to stay open.

Councillors will have to decide whether to allow the venue to stay open under changed terms or to strip it of its licence.
The Republicans in the audience laughed when former President Donald Trump mocked a woman who accused him of rape. They cheered when he defended his role during the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. And they applauded again after he said he was honored to terminate Roe v. Wade.

Trumps defiant performance at the CNN town hall on Wednesday may ultimately hurt his standing with key groups of voters in next falls general election, especially women, suburbanites and independents. But the reaction of those who attended also demonstrated his extraordinary grip on the conservative voters who will soon decide the fight for the GOP presidential nomination.

The magnitude of the challenge ahead for Trumps Republican rivals was clear as the former president repeatedly turned his greatest political liabilities into jokes and applause lines for the GOP base. On Thursday, a day after the town hall, Trumps Republican critics conceded they dont know how to stop him.

GOP voters want what Trump gave them last night  the lies, the personal attacks... and the confrontation with the media, said Sarah Longwell, founder of the anti-Trump Republican Accountability Project. I think it was an important wakeup call that Trump is still the likeliest GOP nominee. Its scary, but important we face it and do everything we can to keep him from becoming president again.

The first votes of the GOP primary wont be cast until early next year and the nomination itself wont be formally decided until next summer. But early public polling suggests Trump is the overwhelming frontrunner. And so far, most of his Republican opponents have been unable, or unwilling, to use his most egregious behavior against him for fear that such attacks could alienate the same conservative voters they hope to win over.

Almost none of the GOPs 2024 class has seized on Trumps many legal entanglements, even after a jury this week found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation in a civil case brought by advice columnist E. Jean Carroll. The jury ordered Trump to pay her $5 million.

The verdict was met with silence from most of Trumps Republican competitors. Those forced to respond defended the former president.

Former Vice President Mike Pence, who is preparing to challenge Trump in the 2024 primary with a focus on evangelical voters, suggested in an NBC interview that any focus on the sexual abuse verdict was a distraction from more important issues like the economy and public safety.

Asked if he feels comfortable with someone who found liable of sexual abuse serving as president, Pence said, I would tell you in my four and a half years serving alongside the president I never heard or witnessed behavior of that nature.

Its much the same with the stunning violence on Jan. 6.

Pence, whose life was threatened that day, has been one of the only Republican presidential prospects willing to call out Trump for sparking the insurrection. Most have downplayed the incident given that most Republican voters believe Trumps false claims that sparked the attack despite a mountain of evidence to the contrary.

And on abortion restrictions, an issue that repelled women and other suburban voters in many high-profile elections last year, Trump wont likely suffer any consequences in the upcoming Republican primary for proudly claiming credit for the Supreme Courts decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Quite the contrary. Some Republican opponents have staked out even more aggressive anti-abortion positions, understanding that primary voters overwhelmingly oppose abortion rights.

If Trump is vulnerable to any Republican attack, it may be related to his electability.

In the wake of the GOPs disappointing 2022 midterm performance, party leaders openly opined that Trump and his brand of politics have become toxic among the broader electorate, especially women, independents and college-educated suburban voters.

Such concerns may have faded in recent weeks, however, as the party rallies behind Trump in response to new legal entanglements.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is the latest Republican to try to weaken Trump by raising electability concerns.

In a memo shortly before the CNN town hall, DeSantis super PAC released a memo warning that a Trump nomination would be a disaster for the Republican Party at the ballot box.

The data suggest that if Trump were to become the 2024 nominee, he will likely cost the GOP control of the House and multiple winnable seats in the Senate, wrote Chris Wilson, head of data for the Never Back Down super PAC. In a general election, Trumps endorsements signal ideological extremism to non-Republicans and, ultimately, reduce moderate and Democratic support for Republican congressional candidates.

Its far from certain that electability concerns alone will be enough to knock Trump from his dominant position in the Republican primary.

Democratic President Joe Biden appears to be eager for a re-match.

Its simple, folks. Do you want four more years of that? Biden tweeted immediately after the CNN town hall.

Hours later, the Biden campaign released a video featuring Trumps description of Jan. 6 during the town hall as a beautiful day. At the bottom of the split-screen, Trump supporters on Jan. 6 are shown pummeling police officers fighting to defend the U.S. Capitol.

A handful of lower-profile Republicans are struggling to make the same case to GOP primary voters.

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who is actively preparing to launch another Republican presidential bid, targeted New Hampshire voters with Facebook ads during the CNN event that said Trump PROVOKES VIOLENCE, PAYS HUSH MONEY and ABUSES WOMEN.

Is this really the conduct we want from the president of the United States? the Christie ad asks.

Former Rep. Liz Cheney, who lost her reelection last fall after leading the congressional probe into Jan. 6, paid to run a 60-second ad in New Hampshire during the town hall focused on the insurrection.

Donald Trump is the only president in American history who has refused to guarantee the peaceful transfer of power, Cheney says in the ad. Donald Trump is a risk America can never take again.

But if the Jan. 6 attack is a political liability for Trump in 2024, he doesnt seem worried.

In addition to describing the violence as a beautiful day, Trump also said at the town hall that hes inclined to pardon many of his supporters who were convicted of criminal charges after participating in the attack.

Theyre living in hell, Trump said of his loyalists who sought to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power to Biden. Many of them are just great people.

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L ondon is expected to be hotter than Barcelona this weekend with temperatures set to hit 20C.

A grey Friday was due to bring more downpours but the Met Office says it will make way for a warm, dry couple of days - welcome news to Londoners following a week of tumultuous weather including heavy rain.

Temperatures in London are forecast to hit 20C on Saturday, meaning it will be as warm as Italys capital Rome, and around a degree hotter than Barcelona.

Met Office spokesperson Stephen Dixon told the Standard: Itll be a dry and fine weekend for London, with some warmth to be had in the sunshine.

Saturday will start relatively cloudy but this cloud will quickly dissipate and leave good sunny spells with possible highs of around 20C in London.

Its a similar story on Sunday. Theres a chance of some early patchy fog for some in in the east, though this will once again largely break up leaving a day with some good spells of sunshine and temperatures likely in the high teens.

By Sunday night, some frontal rain is advancing from the northwest of the UK and could set up some more patchy, showery rain through the day on Monday, with temperatures likely dipping slightly from the previous few days.

According to the Met Office, the chance of rain in London is less than five per cent throughout Saturday.

Sunday also looks likely to remain dry, with the likelihood of rain not surpassing 10 per cent for much of the day.

It comes after heavy rain in the UK earlier this week led to a major incident being declared in Somerset, which was hit by severe flooding.

The Met Office also issued a yellow warning after heavy rain, thunderstorms and hail disrupted travel in the area and the forecaster also warned of potential damage caused to buildings by lightning strikes.
D ozens of animal rights activists gathered outside Scotland Yard on Thursday night to hold a candlelit vigil for two dogs shot dead by officers earlier this week.

Protesters from Animal Rising, a group which disrupted last months Grand National, accused the force of murdering Louie Turnbulls pets called Millions and Marshall and held up signs demanding justice.

Police had been called to reports a woman and her dog were being attacked by two dogs in Commercial Road, Limehouse just after 5pm on Sunday. She suffered an injury to her leg but did not require hospital treatment.

Footage posted on social media shows officers approaching Turnbull, 46, who was holding the two animals on a short lead along a canal.

Turnbull was Tasered in a heated exchange, arrested and charged with being the owner of a dog dangerously out of control and in possession of dog whilst disqualified from owning them. He appeared in custody at Thames Magistrates Court.

Turnbull pleaded not guilty to being an owner in charge of a dog dangerously out of control, and will appear at Snaresbrook Crown Court on June 6.

A photo of the dogs in happier times / Instagram

A petition calling for criminal charges against the officers who destroyed Turnbulls pets has hit 100,000 signatures.

Dan Kidby, co-founder of Animal Rising, said at the protest: The police have continued to act out of line with their job to serve and protect us all - now resulting in the shooting of two beautiful dogs, who hours before were happy and full of life.

Were here tonight to show that, as a community, we will stand together, and be peaceful and defiant in the face of injustice.

The Mets Directorate of Professional Standards conducted a thorough review of the incident, including all of the available body worn footage, and were satisfied that there are no concerns around officer conduct, a police spokesman.

But two complaints about the fatal shooting of the dogs are being assessed by the Independent Office for Police Conduct.
A number of organisations backed by the Royal family are still without a patron following the death of Queen Elizabeth. Patronages and presidencies do not automatically transfer to the new monarch at the moment of succession.

Anthony Connolly, president of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters, told us the Queen was our patron. Were still a royal society but we have no patron and its a very slow process.

The society tried to resolve the issue before the Coronation. We got a response but not a response to the questions we were really asking, said Mr Connolly.

London Zoo is in a similar pickle. The King is still its vice-Patron, a role he held as Prince of Wales when Queen Elizabeth was Patron. The Prince of Wales Award for Portrait Drawing, a 2,000 prize, has also lapsed since Prince William became Prince of Wales.

Buckingham Palace says it is reviewing royal patronages. Their Majesties are very grateful to the organisations involved for their patience and understanding throughout the review process, said a spokesperson.

Goodbye for now, Gagosian

Gagosian Britannia Street / Gagosian Britannia Street

After two decades in Kings Cross, American art dealer Larry Gagosian is closing down his London gallery. Gagosian Britannia Street launched in 2004 and has hosted exhibitions by artists including Jeff Koons, Cecily Brown and Damien Hirst but Gagosians landlord has decided to redevelop the property. Instead of finding a new gallery space in London, Gagosian will instead attempt to acquire an outdoor venue in the city for exhibitions of sculpture. A spokesperson for Gagosian says it will continue and expand the tradition of the Britannia Street space beyond the walls of the gallery.

Leaky Labour

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has been bragging lately that he could have an election manifesto ready within two weeks of the Prime Minister calling a general election. No wonder hes feeling confident. Last night an internal policy document that runs to 86 pages leaked from Labour HQ. It lists in detail the partys plans for government. The official manifesto will likely be a copy-and-paste job.

Troubled Tom Holland

Spider-Man Tom Holland says it took a long time to recover from his dark role in new thriller series The Crowded Room. I remember having a bit of a meltdown at home and thinking Im going to shave my head. I need to shave my head because I need to get rid of this character. We were mid-shooting, so I decided not to It was unlike anything Ive ever experienced before, he said.

Last night in town

Londoners Diary 12th May 2023 1 / 8 Londoners Diary 12th May 2023 "A Night On The Tiles" With British Artist Martha Freud And The Wick For London Craft Week Keira Knightley and Martha Freud Dave Benett 886 By The Royal Mint Host Filmmaker's Dinner With Corinthia London Stanley Tucci and Luke Evans Dave Benett "Talk Art: The Interviews" By Russell Tovey & Robert Diament - Book Launch Rose McGowan Jed Cullen/Dave Benett/Getty Images Laura, Countess of Burlington Laura, Countess of Burlington Harrow Club Molly Goddard Harrow Club Mimi Xu Mimi Xu Harrow Club

Last night Keira Knightley appeared at A Night On The Tiles with artist Martha Freud at Claridges ArtSpace Cafe. A Filmmakers Dinner hosted by The Royal Mint drew Stanley Tucci and actor Luke Evans to the Corinthia Hotel. Rose McGowan was at the launch of Talk Art, a new book by actor Russell Tovey and musician Robert Diament. Meanwhile at the Harrow Clubs gala dinner, guests including the Countess of Burlington, designer Molly Goddard and Mimi Xu raised money for at-risk children.
Mr Biden sparked a transatlantic row on Thursday after he claimed his Ireland trip last month was in part to keep the UK in line amid a Brexit trade row.

Asked if he agreed with Mr Bidens comments, transport minister Huw Merriman told Times Radio: No not at all.

My roots are in Ireland so I certainly would not accept that at all.

Huw Merriman / PA Wire

The Windsor Agreement really allows us to preserve the Good Friday Agreement and all that is best.

He can use his own language but in my view Im very proud of it (the Windsor Agreement). We have preserved the Good Friday Agreement. We have celebrated the anniversary of it. Northern Ireland has turned a corner.

On Thursday, the US president travelled to New York for a Democratic National Committee Reception.

While there, he spoke of his trip to Northern Ireland to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement before he travelled south to his ancestral home.

In quotes released by the White House, Mr Biden, 80, said: The basic fundamental values that I find is that most ethnic communities are similar.

And one of the things  I got to go back  not what I had planned on talking about, but I got to go back to Ireland for the  for the  the Irish Accords, to make sure they werent  the Brits didnt screw around and Northern Ireland didnt walk away from their commitments.

His comments sparked anger from some quarters in the UK with former Northern Ireland Secretary Shailesh Vara telling The Standard: This is deeply regrettable that President Biden has to use such language to further his re-election chances in the US.

DUP Brexit spokesman Sammy Wilson added: Its unbelievable and frightening as well to think this is the man who is the leader of the free world.

If you believe that there should be a special relationship between the US and UK then at least show us some respect.

Joe Bidens visit to Northern Ireland 1 / 24 Joe Bidens visit to Northern Ireland AFP via Getty Images REUTERS AFP via Getty Images REUTERS Sky News REUTERS AP AFP via Getty Images REUTERS PA AFP via Getty Images Simon Walker / No 10 Downing Street Simon Walker / No 10 Downing Street AP REUTERS Simon Walker / No 10 Downing Street REUTERS Simon Walker / No 10 Downing Street

Despite Rishi Sunak signing the breakthrough Windsor Agreement with the EU, power-sharing has not been restored in Northern Ireland.

Mr Sunak had hoped to have Stormont restored in time for the anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement where the US president spent less than 24 hours north of the border.

Asked whether the US presidents presence in Northern Ireland had been needed to ensure the Brits did not screw around, the Prime Ministers official spokesman said on Thursday: The Windsor Framework was a culmination of substantive work between the UK and the EU and at its heart the UK priority was always protecting the Good Friday Agreement.

We have been consistent on that point throughout and we are pleased that between the UK and the EU we have been able to reach an agreement which works for the people of Northern Ireland and for the whole UK.

During his three-day trip to the Republic where he met with Irish premier Leo Varadkar who rejected claims Mr Biden was anti-British.

Mr Biden did make one gaffe though when he mixed up the New Zealand rugby with the Black and Tans - the name for part-time officers recruited to bolster Royal Irish Constabulary numbers, many of whom gained a violent reputation during the Troubles.
T he Secretary of State for Business and Trade Kemi Badenoch was given a furious scolding by the Speaker of the House of Commons on Thursday  despite having one of the top jobs in Rishi Sunaks Cabinet.

Sir Lindsay Hoyle was unhappy that the announcement of a U-turn on scrapping EU laws after Brexit had been made in the form of a written statement to MPs rather than being presented to the House of Commons.

During the debate, Sir Lindsay snapped who do you think youre speaking to? after Ms Badenoch said she was sorry the timing of the announcement was not to your satisfaction.

MPs also criticised Ms Badenoch for her tin ear and patronising approach in response to questions over the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill.

Heres everything you need to know about Kemi Badenoch.

How did she become business and trade secretary?

The Conservative MP for Saffron Walden had served as international trade secretary before taking up her current role.

Last summer she put herself forward to replace former prime minister Boris Johnson as a fresh face for the Conservative party. Ms Badenoch showed her right-wing credentials by standing on an anti-woke and small government platform.

There are always tough choices in life and in politics; no free lunches, no tax cuts without limits on government spending, no stronger defence without a slimmer state, she said at the time.

Her bid was backed by more than a dozen Tory colleagues, including Michael Gove. However, she ultimately lost out to Liz Truss in the Tory party leadership campaign, finishing fourth.

Ms Badenoch, 43, had been international trade secretary since September and also holds the position of minister of women and equalities.

Her promotion was part of a wider departmental shake-up, with the prime minister splitting the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy into three new departments.

The move was made as part of a restructuring that began with the departure of Nadhim Zahawi as party chairman.

What is her political background?

Born in Wimbledon, Ms Badenoch lived in the US and Nigeria as a child before returning to the UK aged 16.

She has talked about working in McDonalds while studying for her A-levels in Morden.

After graduating from the University of Sussex with a masters degree in computer systems engineering, she worked for companies including the Royal Bank of Scotland, private bank Coutts and the Spectator magazine.

She joined the Conservative party in 2005, aged 25.

Five years later, she stood as the Tory candidate in Dulwich and West Norwood, coming third in the vote won by Labour's Tessa Jowell.

In 2012, she stood for the Conservatives in the London Assembly election.

The party won only three seats and Ms Badenoch came fifth on the London-wide list, behind Suella Braverman in fourth, meaning she was not elected.

At the 2015 general election, City Hall Tory Victoria Borwick was elected as an MP and resigned her seat on the London Assembly.

Home Secretary Ms Braverman, who contested the Tory leadership alongside Ms Badenoch, also won a seat in the House of Commons that same year and declined to fill the vacancy.

Ms Badenoch was therefore called on to take up the seat in City Hall in September 2015. She went on to retain it at the 2016 London Assembly elections. She was the London Tory spokesman for the economy and also sat on the transport committee and policing and crime committee.

In the 2017 election, she stood in the safe Conservative seat of Saffron Walden in Essex and was elected to Parliament. She has described herself as an example of the British dream, an immigrant who came to the UK aged 16 and who became a parliamentarian in one generation. She cites Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher as two of her heroes.

What was her position on Brexit?

Ms Badenoch was a supporter of Brexit. In a rousing maiden speech in Parliament, she described the referendum as the greatest ever vote of confidence in the project of the United Kingdom.

Her banker husband, Hamish, a former Merton Conservative councillor, was a staunch Remainer.

We have had robust arguments but respect each others view, Ms Badenoch told the Independent in 2017.

Controversies

Ms Badenoch was criticised for publicly shaming journalist Nadine White in 2021.

The HuffPost reporter had asked the equalities ministers office about suggestions Ms Badenoch had refused to participate in a video featuring black cross-party politicians seeking to encourage the take-up of the Covid-19 vaccination.

Screenshots of Ms Whites two emails were shared on Twitter by Ms Badenoch, who branded them creepy and bizarre. Labour called for an investigation and Ms White said the MPs actions set a dangerous precedent, threatening the role of a free press.

Ms Badenoch has admitted hacking Harriet Harmans website in 2008 as part of a foolish prank. She had guessed the Labour MPs password and then posted a hoax blogpost claiming that the then-minister for women and equality was supporting Boris Johnson in the London elections.

In 2018, she told Core Politics: About 10 years ago I hacked into  a Labour MPs website and I changed all the stuff in there to say nice things about Tories.
T he 67th Eurovision Song Contest is taking place in Liverpool this year after the UK was chosen to host on behalf of war-torn Ukraine.

It is the first time the competition has been held in the UK for 25 years  and Russia will not be competing.

 Why is Russia absent from the contest?

Russia, which debuted at the contest in 1994, was banned last year after its invasion of Ukraine, before it had announced its act.

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which produces the show, said the inclusion of a Russian entry at the contest in Turin would bring it into disrepute.

This came after it said it had intended to allow Russia to compete but faced strong criticism from state broadcasters in countries including Iceland, Finland, Norway and the Netherlands.

Russias national broadcasters subsequently suspended their memberships of the EBU in protest, preventing them from taking part in future contests.

 Can Russian viewers vote in the contest this year?

For the first time in the competitions nearly seven-decade history, people from non-competing countries can vote for their favourite act.

Their votes are converted into points with the same weight as a participating country.

This means that despite Russia not competing this year its citizens could still be able to vote.

But organisers clarified this week that Russians are effectively barred from voting due to financial sanctions on the country making it impossible for them to pay the voting fee.

Martin Osterdahl, the EBUs executive supervisor for the event, said: Some territories are subject to sanctions and to payment providers having suspended their operations and that includes Russia.

 Russia and Ukraine have a history of conflict at the contest

Russia won in 2008 with Dima Bilan singing Believe, and in turn hosted the 2009 contest in Moscow.

Tensions between the two nations played out in 2017 when Julia Samoylova was chosen to represent Russia at the contest, which that year took place in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.

She was blocked from the country because she had reportedly toured Crimea without entering the disputed peninsula through the border with the Ukrainian mainland.

Russian television station Channel One then announced that it would not broadcast the contest or take part.

Last years winners were Ukraines Kalush Orchestra but they were not the countrys first choice to perform.

Alina Pash had originally been chosen through a televised national selection show and was due to sing her song, Shadows Of Forgotten Ancestors.

However, she withdrew after facing scrutiny over a reported 2015 visit to Russia-occupied Crimea.

People who enter Crimea through Russia are considered by Ukraine to have illegally crossed the border, although there is no suggestion that Pash did this.
S triking unions were on Friday urged by the rail minister to accept a pay offer and end counter-productive walkouts that risk permanently driving passengers away from the railways.

Huw Merriman warned that commuters were giving up on rail and called on Aslef and the RMT to accept a fair and reasonable offer that would take train driver salaries to about 65,000.

In an interview with the Evening Standard, he said the radical option of bypassing collective bargaining and imposing the pay rise  of nine per cent over two years  was something the train firms may well end up looking at.

His call was backed by commuters, who urged the unions to do the right thing and accept the pay deal, saying the strikes were making their lives a misery.

There were no services on some of the capitals busiest commuter networks on Friday  including Thameslink, Southern and Southeastern  and no Heathrow Express or Gatwick Express trains as drivers belonging to Aslef went on strike for the ninth time since last July, with 16 rail firms affected.

Avanti West Coast was unable to run any trains on the West Coast Main Line, the backbone of the UK rail network.

Tomorrow, train and station staff belonging to the RMT will take action across 14 firms. This is not expected to be as disruptive but many services  including parts of the Elizabeth line, the countrys busiest railway - will start later and finish earlier.

On the Southeastern network, less than a third of stations will be open. There will also be disruption on some parts of the District line and London Overground.

Avanti will on Saturday operate an hourly service to Liverpool, which is hosting the Eurovision song contest, but the last trains will leave around 4.30pm.

Huw Merriman / AFP via Getty Images

Further Aslef strikes are planned for Wednesday May 31 and Saturday June 3  the day of the FA Cup final at Wembley between Manchester City and Manchester United.

Mr Merriman said: The message to the railway unions is: this is the best offer that is available to your members. The best thing to do is take it now, so they have got the pay rise, and we can move on and start building the railways and getting more people using them.

For those of us who support the railway and want to see it thrive, its disappointing. It encourages people to work from home rather than take the train. It impacts on hospitality and retail. It has a big impact not just on rail revenues but the wider economy.

Its really important if we are going to get people on rail, if we are going to get rail to sustain itself, so we can maintain the timetable and maintain the jobs, that we maximise revenues. We can only do that by giving passengers confidence that their service will operate. The union action is actually counter-productive towards good, secure jobs.

The difficulty is where it causes passengers to give up on rail because they cant rely on it. If they do that, it means alternative methods, not just of working but of travelling  and that means the car.

Mr Merriman pointed out that RMT members at Network Rail had already accepted a similar pay deal. He urged the unions to allow their members to vote on the offer.

We believe they are good rises and the workforce deserves a rise as well, he said. We just cant get it put to them.

Asked if the Government was prepared to impose a deal, Mr Merriman said: That ultimately will have to be a matter for the employers  the train operators  but that will be one of the options they may well end up looking at.

Last September the Port of Felixstowe imposed a pay rise after a year of talks broke down. This brought strikes to an end. The bus company Abellio also imposed a pay rise in January to end more than 20 days of strikes in south-west London.

The Government is also aiming to pass legislation this year requiring a skeleton service to operate on strike days, Mr Merriman confirmed.

At Euston on Friday morning, the only trains running were London Overground services to Watford Junction.

Clive Turner, 58, an office manager, said: I was hoping to great a train to the East Midlands but theres nothing doing. The unions need to do the right thing and accept a deal, but they are not even putting it to their members which seems churlish. They are losing any goodwill they had.

People will stop using the trains because they cant be relied on. Its self-harm by the rail workers in a way because people will stop paying the ridiculously high fares if they cannot even rely on there being a train.

Hugo Tobin, 31, a surveyor, said: The damage to the economy is shocking. After the pandemic people have been starting to go back to the office but the strikes are making that difficult. People I know are changing their routines away from train travel because of the unreliability. In the past I would have got a train to see a client but now Ill just go in zoom.

Student Keira Duffy, 21, said: I work part time in London to help pay my way at college. Getting to and from work is becoming a nightmare. Sometimes I have had to take cabs on part of the journey which is wiping out my pay.

I think people have had some sympathy with the strikers but they are making working life a misery for some. They need to negotiate a deal now, people are losing patience.

Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan the pay offer was risible and obviously unacceptable and blamed companies in league with the Government for failures to find a resolution to the dispute.

Speaking on the Today programme, he said: Having demonised train drivers for so long, having a settlement when youve got nurses and teachers and other people out on strike might be difficult for them.
T he Ukrainian ambassador to the UK has said the final of Eurovision would have been a great moment for Volodymyr Zelensky to address a huge audience but he understood the reasons for blocking him.

Vadym Prystaiko spoke as he visited a primary school in Liverpool to see what children had been learning about Ukrainian culture, ahead of the city hosting the song contest on behalf of the war-torn country.

Talking about the decision of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to block Ukraines president from speaking at Saturdays final, he said: We believe that each and every moment when we have this huge audience of people supporting, thats the moment when we can remind why, actually, were having this great celebration here and that was his point.

We understand all the internal politics and the unbiased sort of approach to all this, thats why we dont have to push too much, but it was a great moment when the president (could) address all these people and remind them this is actually why were fighting.

The plans to have it as Ukrainian as possible has actually come to fruition, you can see it yourself

We also want to have this normal celebration and normal life as people are having here.

Mr Prystaiko, who watched children at St Nicholas Catholic Academy in Liverpool do some Ukrainian dancing, said the people of Ukraine were happy the UK was hosting.

He said: The plans to have it as Ukrainian as possible has actually come to fruition, you can see it yourself.

All of those Ukrainians who are here and those Ukrainians who are watching through the cameras, they are quite happy to see the celebrations.

But Mr Prystaiko admitted he struggled with some of the regional dialect.

There are so many coming from all the places, I have trouble understanding the local ones, he said.

I believe I know English but with all the crowd here this task is becoming enormous.

He said he hoped the UK would win the contest this year, so Ukraine could host on its behalf in 2024.

It's good when if you can't host it, your friend could host it

While visiting the school, Mr Prystaiko met pupil Mikhail Kukharchuk, eight, and his mother Mykhailyna, who had come to the country from Kyiv after the Russian invasion.

Ms Kukharchuk said having Eurovision in Liverpool was amazing.

Its like a piece of your home in the UK, its really a very warm feeling, she said.

Its really nice that Liverpool host this Eurovision, that UK host this Eurovision, because Ukraine would like to host it but unfortunately its impossible for this moment.

Its good when if you cant host it, your friend could host it.
T hree million consumers' Tesco Clubcard points and vouchers will expire on May 31, the supermarket has warned.

Customers currently have two years from the time the voucher is issued to use their Clubcard points. The May 31 expiration date applies to coupons that were initially issued in May 2021.

Its worth checking now if you have any vouchers.

If customers still have their vouchers in paper form and are unsure of when they expire, they can check the date on the voucher themselves.

Customers can check on the Tesco Clubcard website or app if they have misplaced their paper vouchers or are unsure of what they have left to redeem.

Tesco supermarket previously prompted backlash from many customers after announcing the value of its Clubcard reward vouchers will be cut.

Shoppers say the decision is unfair, given the cost of living crisis.

Heres what you need to know about the Tesco Clubcard scheme changes.

What are the benefits of the Tesco Clubcard reward voucher scheme?

Under the Clubcard scheme, shoppers have been able to collect points for money spent with Tesco, and the points can be used for in-store discounts.

If a Tesco shopper collected 500 Clubcard points, this would typically be worth 5 to spend in the shop.

Points can also be exchanged for vouchers for things such as restaurant meals or family days out.

More than 100 retailers, attractions and other hospitality industry services are part of the loyalty scheme, including Legoland, Hotels.com, Cineworld and Pizza Express. They are known as reward partners.

If points are spent with reward partners, theyre worth three times as much as points for those spent in-store. So the 500 Clubcard points would be worth 15.

How have the terms of the loyalty scheme changed?

From June 14, 2023, when you exchange your Tesco Clubcard vouchers for a Tesco Clubcard Reward Partner code, theyll be worth twice their value, instead of three times.

Customers will still get up to three times the value until June 13, 2023.

How long are Clubcard points valid for?

Clubcard points are valid for two years, but usually expire after six months when they are swapped for rewards.

However, Tesco is extending the validity of rewards for an additional six months in the run-up to June 14.

To give you extra time to decide when to use your Tesco Clubcard vouchers with Partners, were extending the validity period on Tesco Clubcard Reward Partner codes ordered until 13 June, so that theyre valid for 12 months, rather than the usual six months, Tesco said.

The expiry date on existing Tesco Clubcard Reward Partner codes can be found in your order email or in the my rewards section in the Tesco Grocery and Clubcard app.

Why has Tesco announced the changes?

The supermarket claims the changes have been introduced to enable it to continue providing a wide range of rewards that meet the needs of all its Tesco Clubcard members, while keeping prices low for everyone.

You can read more about the changes here.
D ating shows remain a well-loved format by the British public, but a gay dating show is amazingly the first of its kind in the UK.

The highly anticipated reality TV series, I Kissed a Boy, will premiere on BBC Three and BBC iPlayer this weekend... and the premise means theres no small talk and no swiping!

But who is in the show and how exactly will it work? Heres everything you need to know.

Who is in the show?

The series will be fronted by Dannii Minogue, who herself is a gay icon and was one of the first pop stars ever to play at Londons iconic nightclub G-A-Y in the Nineties.

She commented: I cant believe were in 2023 saying its Britains first gay dating show ever. When those words spill out of my mouth, Im in shock.

The trailer reveals Ms Minogue exclaiming Buongiorno boys! as the singletons meet for the first time in Italy.

How will the show work?

Ms Minogue will supervise the matchmaking of 10 single men, who will meet their prospective lover with a kiss.

The rules of the show mean they cannot say a single word to each until after they have smooched.

Narrator Layton Williams will announce: The path to love is never straight. Its loud, its proud and it all starts with a kiss.

The contestants will be living in an Italian country house, where they will be tasked with getting to know each other and putting their new relationships to the test.

But with so many tempting new lovers readily available, inevitably eyes will start to wander.

There will be a series of Kiss-Offs that will test chemistry and will leave men with a choice whether to stay in their current partnership or move on with another boy.

Its set to mimic the trials and tribulations within the gay dating scene.

The BBC says: Will it be a polite peck? Or a passionate snog? And ultimately, will that first kiss lead to love?

Get ready for the UKs first ever gay dating show, where the path to love is never straight. Its loud, its proud and it all starts with a kiss.

Fly in pop icon Dannii Minogue to play Cupid, and its the party you do not want to miss.

Speaking to The Guardian about the show, contestant Gareth said: I think, unfortunately, to the heteronormative audience there is still a view that homosexuality its all just promiscuous and sinful, and that has stopped it from happening until now.

Another housemate Subomi, said: It has taken people a long time to feel comfortable with the concept. Their discomfort shouldnt be a punishment we have had to bear, but that is how its been.

Subomi added: Its important to remember what brought public perception to its current state - and this is down to all the trans and queer people, who continue to advocate for visibility and resist the discomfort of those trying to push us back into the dark.

When is the show starting?

The first two episodes of I Kissed a Boy arrive on BBC iPlayer from 6am on Saturday 13 May, before the series launches on BBC Three on Sunday 14 May at 9pm.

After that, the series will air weekly.

How can I watch the show?

The show will arrive on BBC iPlayer before launching on BBC Three.
The end of Title 42 hasnt had a drastic effect on the mood in Tijuana. On Thursday morning, just hours before the expiry of the measure, which allowed the United States to quickly turn away migrants illegally entering the country, things remained calm in the city, which is located on Mexicos border with the U.S. Only a few hundred people had set up camp between the two border walls, as they prepared to hand themselves over to the American authorities. Meanwhile, thousands waited patiently in the citys migrant shelters, cell phones in hand, hoping to secure an appointment on CBP One, the U.S.s asylum-request app. In Tijuana, it is smartphones  not the border wall  that are at the center of peoples battle to make it into the States.

At 9 a.m., with breakfast still out on the tables at the Juventud 2000 shelter in downtown Tijuana, Yineysi Olalde held her head in her hands. The 34-year-old Cuban was cursing herself for the slip of the thumb that had led her to accidentally close the CBP One app, in the process losing her place in the virtual line to seek asylum in the U.S. Other migrants consoled her: as has been the case every day since January, therell be another chance tomorrow. Olalde arrived in Tijuana a month ago. She left Havana in December, before traveling through Central America and spending three months waiting in Tapachula, on the southern Mexican border, where she was given a 12-month permit to cross Mexico. Thats her deadline to reach the U.S.; if she doesnt manage it by the time her year is up, Olalde plans to seek asylum in Mexico. Im not going across the border illegally, she declares. The end of Title 42 makes no difference to her: Im not going to risk it.

Yineysi Olalde, a Cuban migrant waiting at a shelter in Tijuana, looks at her cell phone as she waits for an appointment with U.S. authorities. Gladys Serrano

This attitude has become the norm in Tijuana. The information drives carried out by the citys major shelters have served to curb the atmosphere of desperation among migrants, who are waiting calmly for the U.S. authorities to give them an appointment. The Baja California government says the increased flow of people in recent days has led the states 42 migrant shelters to fill up, so two more are going to be opened in Tijuana. Gustavo Banda, the director of the Embajadores de Jesus shelter, the largest on Mexicos northern border, says efforts to provide migrants with the right information have had a crucial effect. Its because of this that migrants are keeping their cool here, Banda explains. For them, nothing has changed with the expiry of Title 42. Its down to the proper information that theyre getting that theyre not trying to enter unlawfully and risking deportation to their home country.

Jose Maria Garcia Lara, the director of the Juventud 2000 shelter, agrees. We urge migrants to wait to enter the U.S. legally, by following the correct procedure, Garcia Lara says. We tell them not to place themselves and their families in danger by risking it, because they could slip into the wrong hands and fall prey to misinformation. And, for now, people are staying calm.

The situation in Tijuana is very different to the images emerging from Ciudad Juarez, where migrant detentions have multiplied in recent days, while thousands of others have been waiting for the expiry of Title 42 to cross the border and turn themselves in. Misinformation remains a hugely significant problem here, says Rodolfo Cruz Pineiro, a migration analyst at Tijuanas Colegio de la Frontera Norte, an institute that specializes in research on border issues. Immigrants should be in no doubt about this: the United States isnt opening its border. Whats more, with the transition to Title 8, the consequences of deportation after crossing unlawfully are heavier.

Diana Alvarez, a migrant from Honduras, at the Embajadores de Jesus shelter in Tijuana. Gladys Serrano

Following the end of Title 42 on Thursday night, illegal migrants deported from the U.S. will be ejected under Title 8, an immigration measure that carries a stiff penalty: they will be barred from re-entry into the U.S. for five years. They will be returned to their home countries, unless they are from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua or Venezuela. Citizens of these nations will serve their five-year bans in Mexico, after U.S. President Joe Biden and his Mexican counterpart, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, agreed that they can be deported across Americas southern border. Its a deal that promises to make Mexico a perennial waiting room for such migrants.

Every day before 8 a.m., thousands of people in Mexico City, Guadalajara and along the border area try their luck on the U.S.s overwhelmed asylum-request app, which is currently handing out a few hundred appointments a day  albeit President Bidens administration has committed to raising that number to 1,000. Some people have been waiting for months for the app to give them their opportunity.

Migrants at a camp set up between the border walls that separate Tijuana and San Diego. Gladys Serrano

Diana Alvarez and her family, who have traveled from Honduras, still havent managed to get an appointment. Theyve been in Tijuana for eight months, with no progress since then. The wait is really hard, says Alvarez, 29, who fled Honduras over threats from gangs. Weve even started thinking about crossing the border illegally, but weve been advised against it. Oscar Diaz and his mother, Catalina Palencia, departed Guatemala for the same reason as Alvarez. We had a taxi company, but we were being extorted to such a degree that we couldnt pay up anymore, says Palencia, 57, who is accompanied by her two granddaughters. We left before they killed us. After nine months in Tijuana, theyve secured an appointment to seek asylum in the U.S. on 20 May.

CBP One has become a virtual border wall that stops migrants from crossing illegally into the U.S. However, Ines Barrios, a researcher at the Colegio de la Frontera Norte, warns: Getting an appointment doesnt guarantee that youre going to be granted residency. In fact, what weve seen is that the amount of successful asylum requests is very low. Weve broken down the numbers by nationality: for Guatemalans, Hondurans and Salvadorans, for example, the success rate is just 6%. In other words, for every 100 people that go through the process, only six are granted residency.

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T he King has marked his coronation with a new photograph of himself and his two heirs, the Prince of Wales and Prince George.

The picture of Charles, alongside his son Prince William and grandson Prince George, was taken in Buckingham Palaces throne room on the day he was crowned, Saturday May 6.

The King sits in the centre on one of a pair of 1902 throne chairs which were made for the future King George V and Queen Mary for use at the coronation of King Edward VII and also used in the background of the 1937 coronation of King George VI.

Charles and Queen Camilla used the throne chairs at Westminster Hall to receive addresses from both Houses of Parliament last year.

The King is pictured wearing the Robe of Estate and the Imperial State Crown, and holding the Sovereigns Orb and Sovereigns Sceptre with Cross.

In the photograph, William and George are stood either side of the King and smiling.

Another picture was released on Friday, showing Charles and Camilla with their Pages of Honour and Ladies in Attendance.

PA Wire

Also taken in Buckingham Palaces throne room on the day of the coronation, the King is once again wearing his Robe of Estate and Imperial State Crown.

The Queen is pictured wearing Queen Marys crown and Robe of Estate.

The second photograph features a smiling Prince George, as well the Queens grandsons Freddy Parker Bowles, Gus Lopes and Louis Lopes and great-nephew Arthur Elliot.

Next to Queen Camilla stands her sister Annabel Elliot and next to the King is the Marchioness of Landsdowne  who was appointed to the Royal Household as a Queens companion in 2022.

The remaining three Pages of Honour, Ralph Tollemache, Lord Oliver Cholmondeley and Nicholas Barclay are stood on the far left of the photograph.

The photographs were taken by Hugh Burnard, who also took Charles and Camillas wedding pictures in 2005.

The two newly released photographs follow a series of portraits which were released on Monday May 8.

The King and Queen called the nations support the greatest possible coronation gift as they released them.

HM King Charles III Coronation: Official Royal Portraits 1 / 9 HM King Charles III Coronation: Official Royal Portraits PA Hugo , Burnand/Buckinham Palace PA via REUTERS PA PA PA

King Charles issued a statement following the three-day festivities, re-pledging to a life of service and thanking countless people who worked tirelessly to make sure coronation celebrations went smoothly.

He added: To know that we have your support and encouragement, and to witness your kindness expressed in so many different ways, has been the greatest possible Coronation gift, as we now rededicate our lives to serving the people of the United Kingdom, the Realms and Commonwealth.

The King also paid tribute to the countless people who have given their time and dedication to ensuring that the celebrations in London, Windsor and further afield were as happy, safe and enjoyable as possible.
A murder investigation has been launched after a 29-year-old was found with fatal stab wounds inside his car in Ladywell, south east London.

Police say the mans family are reeling following the shocking attack which happened in broad daylight in a busy street.

Four people have now been arrested in connection with the stabbing, Scotland Yard confirmed on Friday.

Police were called to Malyons Road in Ladywell just before 2pm on Wednesday, when they discovered the injured man in his grey BMW.

Paramedics and an air ambulance were scrambled to the scene, but attended but the man could not be saved.

DCI Kieran, of the Met Police, said: This was a shocking incident that took place on a busy street in the middle of the day. There were a large number of witnesses and I thank those people who have already taken the time to share what they saw.

If you have footage or information but havent yet spoken to police, please do get in touch.

We are building a timeline of the events surrounding the murder and your information could be a missing details in that picture. If you saw anything, please do take the time to contact us.

The victims family is reeling from the shock of losing their loved one in such a violent way. Our thoughts are with them as our investigation progresses.

A post-mortem examination and formal identification will take place in due course.

Four people have been arrested in connection with this offence. They remain in custody while police continue their urgent investigation.

Detective Chief Superintendent Trevor Lawry, leading local policing, added: It saddens me to see another life ended by knife crime in our city.

I know that this incident will send shock waves throughout our community. Please know that I share in your concerns, and while my officers are supporting the murder investigation team, they are also available to provide support and reassurance through enhanced patrols in the area.

If you are worried please do feel free to approach officers and speak with them.

Anyone with information or footage relating to this incident should call 101 or Tweet @MetCC quoting 3928/10May.

To speak with officers from the investigation team direct please call 020 87214622.

To remain 100% anonymous contact the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or visit Crimestoppers-uk.org.
P olice are reportedly preparing to dig for the remains of a missing student after serial killer Levi Bellfields alleged confession to her murder.

Officers are poised to search for the body of Elizabeth Chau, who was 19 when she vanished 24 years ago, in 1999, from Ealing, west London, Sky News reported on Friday.

The serial killer, 54, allegedly admitted to killing the student during a recorded face-to-face interview with Scotland Yard homicide detectives in prison on Tuesday, the Guardian first reported.

During the interview under criminal caution, Bellfield allegedly named a location in west London where he claims to have disposed of Ms Chaus body, the paper reported on Thursday.

He wants to see justice done because they have had to live this for so long and that's unfair

Ms Chau, a computer studies student at Thames Valley University, went missing on April 16 1999.

A Met Police spokesperson said: On Tuesday 9 May 2023, a 54-year-old male was interviewed under caution. Inquiries continue.

We can confirm we remain in contact with Elizabeth Chaus family.

At this time we will not be providing an ongoing commentary.

We have no comment to make.

According to Sky News, Bellfields solicitor Theresa Clark has said he wants to see justice so Ms Chaus family can have some closure.

Ms Clark reportedly said: He tells me he feels its important that her family have some closure.

He wants to see justice done because they have had to live this for so long and thats unfair.

He gains nothing from it, there is no positive publicity for him.

Bellfield is thought to be the only criminal in UK legal history to be serving two whole-life orders.

He was given a whole life term for murdering Marsha McDonnell, 19, in 2003, murdering Amelie Delagrange, 22, and trying to murder Kate Sheedy, 18, in 2004.

He was already serving his sentence when he went on trial for killing schoolgirl Milly Dowler, who was snatched from the street walking home from school in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, in March 2002.

Bellfield was found guilty of abducting and killing the 13-year-old following a trial at the Old Bailey in 2011.
T he woman confronted by two dogs which were later shot dead by Met officers begged bystanders not to call police, her husband has claimed.

Minutes after the incident on Sunday afternoon the dogs were shot dead by an armed police officer by the Limehouse Cut in front of screaming residents.

The traumatised woman whose dog was injured was also knocked into the busy Commercial Road, her partner reportedly said.

Police confronted the dog owner on Sunday afternoon / .

It came as hundreds of activists held a candlelight vigil for the animals, called Marshall and Millions, attended by their distraught owner Louie Turnbull outside New Scotland Yard on Thursday night.

Addressing the crowd, Turnbull said: They pulled out all their weapons. They were intimidating me and the dogs. And all they were doing was trying to protect me. I had them on the lead, I was pulling them away and they just murdered them. I cant sleep.

An Animal Rising spokesperson said: Louie, Marshall and Millions human companion, was there and seemed incredibly surprised and grateful for the level of support and community that came out to show their love for the dogs and him.

One animal lover held a placard reading Kill police funding not our dogs outside New Scotland Yard as speeches were made.

Activists protest outside New Scotland Yard / Animal Rising

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the husband of the woman confronted by the dogs told MailOnline that his rescue dog from Greece had been attacked, not his wife. Following the shooting, police said they had received a report that a woman had been attacked by a dog in Commercial Road.

He said: My wife was traumatised by what happened to the dogs - we both were.

She didnt want the dogs to get killed.

My wife has been crying for the dogs ever since.

We asked the police why they killed the dogs - they didnt answer. They didnt say why they did it.

My wife didnt call police. She was begging people around not to call police because she was concerned for the dogs and what would happen to them.

Our dog was attacked. My wife wasnt attacked. She had something to her leg but it is not serious. She didnt go to hospital.

We dont know if it happened when she was tangled up on our dogs lead or when she fell.

He added his five-year-old rescue dog, which he lovingly referred to as our baby, was bitten in the head and belly but is expected to make a full recovery in the coming weeks.

Animal Rising, the group that recently disrupted the Grand National, lay vegan candles on the steps of New Scotland Yard on Thursday night.

It came as a petition to hold the Met criminally accountable for the deaths hit 160,000 signatures on Friday.

It has been organised by rescue dog handler Sadie Geoghegan-Dann, who claims horrific video footage portraying the shooting clearly shows both dogs on leads, both under control.

Turnbull, 46, of no fixed address, appeared in custody at Thames Magistrates Court where he pleaded not guilty to being an owner in charge of a dog dangerously out of control. He will appear at Snaresbrook Crown Court on June 6.

In a statement, a Met spokesperson said: Officers attended the location where the aggressive behaviour of two dogs was of considerable concern and posed a significant threat to them.

A man was arrested in connection with the incident for having a dog dangerously out of control and assault offences. He has been taken into police custody.

The statement added a Taser was discharged during the incident and both dogs were destroyed by police at the scene but no-one was taken to hospital.

The Met added: This is never an easy decision for an officer to take, but police have a duty to act where necessary before any further injury is caused.

The Mets directorate of professional standards reviewed the incident, including all of the available body-worn camera footage, and was satisfied that there are no concerns around officer conduct, the force added.
T here is one more night until the Eurovision 2023 final and last years UK representative Sam Ryder is hosting an Ask me Anything on social media to answer questions from fans. Ryder came second in 2022, losing to Ukrainian folk-rap group Kalush Orchestra.

This years Eurovision includes performers such as Swedens Loreen, Finlands Kaarija, Spains Blanca Paloma, Frances La Zarra and Norways Alessandra.

But what is Ask me Anything and how can the public ask Ryder questions? Heres everything you need to know.

What is Ask me Anything?

Ask Me Anything is a feature on social media that allows users to invite their followers to ask them questions about any subject or their own experiences. A celebrity, a subject-matter authority, a businessperson, or anybody else with a distinctive viewpoint to offer can be the subject of the enquiries.

Users are free to ask any questions they wish, and the person or business will answer them in real time or within a predetermined period.

The idea of AMAs first appeared on Reddit but they have spread to other social platforms like webinars, Facebook Live and Instagram Stories. Originally text-based, AMAs can now also be used using interactive stickers or live social video.

When and how to ask Sam Ryder questions

Ryder is using Reddit for his Ask me Anything questions. Questions can be submitted here at r/Eurovision. Keep in mind you will need to register for a Reddit account if you havent already got one.

Ryder will be answering questions in real time from 7pm on Friday May 12. Fans with any questions will need to submit their enquiries before then.

It is not known how long the 33-year-old will go live for and he is not expected to answer all the questions submitted.

Where to watch the Eurovision final 2023?

The final takes place on Saturday, May 13. All of the events will be live streamed and accessible on BBC1, BBC iPlayer and the official Eurovision Song Contest YouTube account. The final will also be shown at Vue cinemas across the nation.
L ondon commuters heading home on Friday are facing travel misery as train drivers stage their latest strike in a long-running pay dispute.

Members of the drivers union Aslef have walked out at more than a dozen train operators, crippling services in and out of the capital on Friday.

The union has described a four per cent pay offer as risible and obviously unacceptable.

But rail minister Huw Merriman hit back on Friday, calling the governments offer fair and reasonable as he urged Aslef and the RMT to put it to its members.

Southeastern and Southern are among the companies running no services, while no Heathrow or Gatwick Express trains will be operating either.

Travellers face further misery on Saturday when members of train workers union RMT stage their latest strike on the day of the Eurovision Song Contest final in Liverpool.

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Two more Aslef strikes are being held on May 31 and June 31 - the day of the FA Cup final at Wembley.
T he boss of Royal Mail has announced plans to step down, just weeks after the postal delivery firm agreed a pay deal with striking staff.

Following a bitter dispute with workers over pay, Simon Thompson said it was the right time to quit, and will leave the role on 31 October.

The board of Royal Mail, which was privatised in 2013, is in advanced stages of appointing a new CEO.

Keith Williams, chairman of Royal Mail parent International Distributions Services, said: On behalf of the board, I would like to thank Simon for his significant contribution over more than five years at Royal Mail, both as CEO and previously as a non-executive director of the Board.

As CEO, his leadership, resilience and unwavering drive to ensure that Royal Mail transforms for the benefit of our customers means we have set a clear path to turn the business around.

Thompson said: I have been incredibly proud to lead Royal Mail during this crucial period in its 507-year history.

The changes we have made, the infrastructure we have put in place, and the agreements negotiated with our trade unions mean that Royal Mail now has a chance to compete and grow.

That is what I have always wanted, and it is now the right time to hand over to a new CEO to deliver the next stage of the companys reinvention.

The delivery service agreed a deal with the Communication Workers Union last month after almost a year of negotiations. That deal included a 10 per cent salary increase over three years and a one-off lump sum of 500.

But what is Royal Mail and who owns it?

Who owns Royal Mail?

Royal Mail is a public service that was once managed under a government department. In 2011, the Government passed the Postal Services Act, which gave the green light for 90 per cent of Royal Mail to be privatised, while 10 per cent remained with Royal Mail employees.

In 2013, Royal Mail was floated on the London Stock Exchange. The Government initially retained a 30 per cent stake in Royal Mail, but sold its remaining shares in 2015 under Chancellor George Osborne.

It is now a public limited company, meaning it is owned by shareholders. It trades on the FTSE 250 as RMG, having been demoted from the FTSE 100 in June.

The Governments decision on the sale is practical, it is logical, it is a commercial decision designed to put Royal Mails future on a long-term sustainable business, Vince Cable said in 2013 when he was business secretary.

Royal Mails privatisation was controversial and led to widespread strikes called by the CWU. The companys share price also shot up after it was floated on the Stock Exchange, leading to accusations it had been undervalued by the Government.

The companys biggest shareholder is Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky, who controls the group Vesa Equity Investment. He has been dubbed the Czech Sphinx, due to his enigmatic business approach.

Kretinsky, who also has stakes in Sainsburys and West Ham United, became the largest shareholder at Royal Mail in 2020. The 46-year-old billionaire is known for keeping a low profile and has not commented publicly on the strikes.
I srael has apologised for the death of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh who was shot and killed in the West Bank.

Ms Abu Akleh was shot in the back of the head while covering an Israeli military operation in Jenin in the West Bank last May.

She had covered the West Bank for the satellite channel for two decades and was well known across the Arab world.

After changing its version of what happened several times, Israel's military said Ms Abu Akleh, who was wearing a clearly marked protective press vest and helmet, was likely unintentionally shot by an Israeli soldier but could have also been hit by Palestinian fire.

Witnesses have said there were no Palestinian fighters firing in the area where Ms Abu Akleh was standing, and her family and Palestinian officials believe Israeli forces killed her deliberately.

In an interview, the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF)chief spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, issued an apology for the journalists death a year after the incident took place.

I think its an opportunity for me to say here that we are very sorry of the death of Shireen Abu Akleh, he told CNNs Eleni Giokos.

She was a journalist, a very established journalist. In Israel we value our democracy and in a democracy we see high value in journalism and in a free press.

We want journalists to feel safe in Israel, especially in war time, even if they criticise us.

The apology comes following a report from The Committee to Protect Journalists which claimed the Israeli military has killed 20 journalists since 2001 and amid heightened tensions in Gaza. It found that no one has been charged or held accountable for the deaths.

"Shireen's killers are free, they haven't been held accountable. Nothing was done to deter them from targeting journalists and killing them in the same way," said journalist Najwan Simri, who was a close friend to Ms Abu Akleh.

Israel insists that its soldiers do not deliberately target journalists and has refused to identify the soldier who probably shot Ms Abu Akleh.

Naftali Bennett, who was Israel's prime minister when Ms Abu Akleh was killed, said last week that soldiers should not be prosecuted when civilians are not killed deliberately.

"If there's a battle going on and there's collateral damage that is not deliberate, then no. Otherwise, what you would do is shackle all the hands of fighters," he said.

On Thursday, the Israeli military launched a missile strike killing a senior member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which is controlled by the Islamist militant group Hamas, in the southern Gaza Strip.

The rockets targeted the a building complex in Khan Younis killing Ali Ghali, and also killed two other senior militants. A seperate attack on the city of Rafah, killing three senior commanders of Islamic Jihad.
A n ex-Marine who kept a fatal chokehold around the neck of an agitated subway passenger in New York City has turned himself in to authorities.

Daniel Penny, 24, a US Marine Corps veteran, has turned himself on a manslaughter charge that could send him to prison for 15 years.

Manhattan prosecutors announced on Thursday they would bring the criminal charge against Mr Penny following the death of Jordan Neely, 30, on May 1.

Mr Penny turned himself in at a Manhattan police station on Friday morning.

AFP via Getty Images

Mr Neelys death, captured on video by a freelance journalist, has raised an uproar over many issues, including how those with mental illness are treated by the transit system and the city, as well as crime and vigilantism.

Thomas Kenniff, one of Mr Pennys lawyers, said his client turned himself in voluntarily and with the sort of dignity and integrity that is characteristic of his history of service to this grateful nation.

In a brief statement to reporters outside the police station, Mr Kenniff said that he expected an arraignment later on Friday and that the process will unfold from there.

Asked how Mr Penny was feeling, Mr Kenniff said his client is dealing with the situation, like I said, with the sort of integrity and honour that is characteristic of who he is and characteristic of his honourable service in the United States Marine Corps.

REUTERS

Mr Pennys lawyers have said he acted in self-defence when he restrained Mr Neely.

According to an onlooker, Mr Neely, who is Black, had been screaming and begging for money aboard the train, but had not been physical with anyone.

Mr Penny, who is white, was questioned by police in the aftermath but was released without charges.

Friends of Mr Neely said the former subway performer had been dealing with homelessness and mental illness in recent years.

He had several arrests to his name, including the 2021 assault of a 67-year-old woman leaving a subway station.

A second-degree manslaughter charge in New York will require the jury to find that a person has engaged in reckless conduct that creates an unjustifiable risk of death, and then consciously disregards that risk.

The law also requires that conduct to be a gross deviation from how a reasonable person would act in a similar situation.
At 9:59 p.m. MDT on Thursday, the United States and Mexico entered a new era of uncertainty in the history of their complex border relations. It is not always easy to pinpoint an exact moment of change, but on this occasion, it was: at that precise moment, 40 months and two judicial extensions later, Title 42, a temporary measure decreed by Donald Trump to halt the advance of the Covid-19 pandemic that allowed for the removal of would-be migrants to the U.S. without due process, ceased to be in force. In its place, Title 8 will remain in effect. The two have operated in tandem for just over three years. In practice, the change heralds a toughening of the conditions required to seek asylum, with unpredictable consequences. The only certainty is that migrants are continuing to arrive at the border in record numbers and that the problems arising between Washington and Mexico City from the crisis remain unresolved.

Hundreds of migrants wait near the border after crossing the Rio Grande, in Ciudad Juarez. Nayeli Cruz

Title 42 profoundly changed the laws governing the Mexico-U.S. border and its end has thrown the dividing line between the two countries, a nearly 2,000-mile frontier reinforced over the past few days by 24,000 additional personnel, into one of the greatest crises in the memory of inhabitants on both sides, spurred by the chronic collapse of living conditions in Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Haiti. Citizens of these nations continued to arrive by foot on Thursday, having traversed as many as six countries, suffering unspeakable hardships and driven by desperation. On Wednesday alone, 10,400 people attempted to cross into the United States before it was too late. Authorities estimate that on the Mexican side of the border, 60,000 people are waiting for their chance. Some media outlets have put that figure at closer to 150,000.

When the clock struck 9:59 p.m., the invasion predicted by the most extremist factions within the Republican Party did not materialize. On the contrary, at Gate 42, located 11 miles to the east of El Paso, one of the hottest spots on the border, the eerie calm of the desert night reigned as around 400 migrants who had surrendered to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) patrols waited on the other side to be processed. Throughout the day, agents placed men and women traveling alone and families with small children into vehicles to transport them to centers where immigration officials would decide whether to apply Title 42 and remove them immediately, or whether they were eligible for Title 8 and a process to determine whether they qualified for asylum. Those that arrived after 10:00 p.m. all fell under Title 8.

A line of migrants at the gates of a border crossing in Ciudad Juarez. Nayeli Cruz

Title 8 was used during the Barack Obama administration to deport more than three million migrants over eight years, but it now has some new features. For example, those who want to apply for asylum and can demonstrate that they have grounds to do so (because they are victims of political persecution or because their lives are in danger in their countries of origin) are required to apply before embarking on their journey through an application called CBP One. If they arrive in the U.S. without having met this requirement, they will be deported. The same fate awaits migrants apprehended while attempting to cross the border illegally. In contrast to Title 42 rules, which gave U.S. authorities the ability to carry out swift removals that carried no legal consequences, Title 8 allows those waiting to be deported to remain on U.S. soil in the meantime but also carries consequences including a ban on re-entry attempts for at least five years. Those caught trying to cross the border again in that timeframe face prison sentences in the United States.

Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz, who had traveled to El Paso from Washington to personally oversee the transition, explained Thursday afternoon from the U.S. side that in the last 48 hours, up to 2,500 people had gathered on the other side of Gate 42, between the Rio Grande and the 20-foot-high fence that separates them from their dreams of a better life, a patch of dusty ground where the sun beats down mercilessly. On paper it is U.S. territory, although in practice it is no mans land. We are working to process and transport these migrants, prioritizing the most vulnerable groups, and in the safest and most efficient way we can, Ortiz said. We will continue this process over the next 24 hours. Ortiz added that the number of people in custody along the entire border stood at 27,000 on Thursday.

A family crossing the Rio Grande. Nayeli Cruz

In Ciudad Juarez, the sensation was one of urgency at the various border crossing points. Jessica, an NGO volunteer, told EL PAIS that she had never seen the area so militarized. Dozens of Border Patrol and Texas State Police vehicles reconnoitered along miles and miles of barbed wire, the latter a detachment sent by Texas Governor Greg Abbott to contain a tsunami that  despite the Republican politicians hyperbole throughout the crisis  did not come. At 9:59 p.m., the calm that is habitual at that time of night was maintained along the three bridges that link the Mexican city to El Paso. There were also no incidents in Yuma, on the Arizona-California border, where a group of 140 received the news that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) plans to release them from detention centers on Friday to avoid overcrowding, on the condition that they report back within 60 days.

It is just one example of the extraordinary measures that federal, state, and local authorities have taken as Title 42 expires. It is hard to overstate how much is at stake for President Joe Biden on this issue, which will be key during the 2024 presidential elections. It is one of his weakest flanks against attacks by the Republicans, who have painted an apocalyptic picture of immigration under his administration and who on Thursday passed a tough draft bill on border policy in the House of Representatives, which however is unlikely to pass through the Democratic-majority Senate. The aim of the bill, conservatives say, is to fix a mess that they claim will allowing criminals and fentanyl to enter the country en masse.

The official line, repeated time and again by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, is that the end of Title 42 does not mean that the border is open. On Thursday, Mayorkas did venture, however, that difficult days and weeks lie ahead. Biden, for his part, went a little further by admitting that the situation could become chaotic for a while. Everything will depend on whether would-be migrants heed Mayorkas plea not to risk their lives to reach the United States, or whether they listen to the words of a paradoxical amalgam of Republicans and human traffickers, who would have them believe that the border will be more porous than ever as of Friday.

A U.S. flag hangs on a barbed wire fence. Nayeli Cruz

Deportations will be immediate, Mayorkas warned, and to countries of origin whenever possible. This will not apply to citizens of Venezuela, Cuba, Haiti or Nicaragua, countries with which the U.S. has no return agreements in place. The Biden administration and the government of Andres Manuel Lopez Obradors have reached an agreement for migrants from these countries to remain in Mexico. Between Wednesday and Thursday, U.S. authorities chartered two planes to carry deported migrants to Honduras and Guatemala from El Paso International Airport.

The last migrants to arrive in El Paso under Title 42 did so in the hope that they would be allowed to remain in the U.S., or that if they were expelled at least it would not be a deportation that would stay on their records. Over the past few days, hundreds of people who crossed the border illegally and slept on the streets agreed to turn themselves in. Some were deported, but many received papers allowing them to travel freely inside the country. Those who have not already embarked on onward journeys, heading for cities like Denver, where they have faith in the benevolence of the local authorities, or New York and Orlando, in search of family and friends, on Thursday morning wandered through the streets near the Sacred Heart Church, where up to 2,500 of them have been housed, asking for help to buy bus tickets. Those leaving ICE processing centers carried a piece of paper with an appointment to report to the immigration authorities  ranging from a few weeks time to four years away  for their cases to be ruled upon. The majority of them, an estimated 80%, never appear before a judge.

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A US YouTuber intentionally crashed an airplane for views while implying it was an accident, according to US prosecutors.

Trevor Jacob, 29, posted the video of the crash to YouTube in December 2021, which has gathered nearly three million views to date.

Prosecutors said he will plead guilty to obstructing a federal investigation by cleaning up the site of the crash.

In a plea agreement, Mr Jacob said he filmed the video for a sponsorship deal.

The YouTuber now faces up to 20 years in federal prison after he purposely destroyed the wreckage of the single-engine plane that he crashed in Californias Los Padres national forest, according to a statement from the US attorneys office.

He has agreed to plead guilty to one felony count of destruction and concealment with the intent to obstruct a federal investigation.

Mr Jacob left Santa Barbara airport on a solo flight with cameras mounted on his plane alongside with a parachute and a selfie stick.

He did not intend to reach his destination, but instead planned to eject from his aircraft during the flight and video himself parachuting to the ground and his airplane as it descended and crashed, the US Attorneys Office for the Central District of California said.

Mr Jacob parachuted out of the plane before it crashed and then uploaded a video to YouTube.

He originally told investigators that his plane lost power and that he did not know where the wreck was.

However, aviation experts doubted his account, finding that he had made no efforts to call air traffic control or land safely.

Despite telling federal authorities he did not know where the crash site was, he hiked to the site to recover video footage.

According to the plea agreement, he later returned by helicopter and removed and destroyed the wreckage.

He admitted doing this in order to mislead investigators, according to the authorities.

He is expected to make his initial court appearance in the coming weeks.
R ishi Sunak and Volodymyr Zelensky have stressed the need for the West to keep up its military, economic and political support for Ukraine as it prepares to imminently launch a counter-offensive against Russian forces.

The Prime Minister spoke with the Ukrainian president on Tuesday afternoon, Downing Street said.

President Zelensky thanked Britain for its donation of Storm Shadow long-range precision missiles. Mr Sunak said he was delivering on the commitment he made in February to provide Ukraine with long-range capabilities.

The leaders discussed the importance of the international community sustaining the level of support it has provided so far to Ukraine, particularly as the country prepares to intensify its military operations, a Downing Street spokesperson said.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace confirmed that the UK is sending such weapons to help Kyiv with its planned counter-offensive which is expected to be launched within weeks.

Mr Wallace told MPs on Thursday that the donation of the weapons was a calibrated and proportionate response to Vladimir Putins war in Ukraine and gave Ukrainians the best chance to defend themselves.

The Kremlin said Moscow would take an appropriate military response to any British-supplied Storm Shadow weapons used by Ukrainian forces.

A Downing Street spokesperson said on Friday: The Prime Minister restated the UKs commitment to ensuring Ukraine prevails and secures a just and lasting peace.

During the call on Friday, Mr Sunak also thanked Mr Zelensky for the Ukrainian First Ladys attendance of the Kings coronation, and Mr Zelensky thanked the city of Liverpool for hosting Eurovision on behalf of Ukraine.

Mr Sunak said he was disappointed Mr Zelensky was barred from addressing the Eurovision Song Contest over fears it would politicise the competition.

A Downing Street spokesperson said: The Prime Minister said he was proud the UK could do this for the Ukrainian people and looked forward to the day that the contest could be held on Ukrainian soil once again.

It comes as around two kilometres (1.2 miles) of territory retaken by Ukrainian forces south of Bakhmut this week has represented a significant gain, and will protect an important supply chain, according to Ukrainian commanders that led the attack.

The battle for Bakhmut, once a salt mining town, has been grinding on for eight months.

Meanwhile the Defence Ministry in Moscow confirmed on Friday that Vladimir Putins troops have retreated from the area near Bakhmut.

It said they had taken up what it described as more favourable positions near the Berkhivka reservoir northwest of Bakhmut.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of Putins private Wagner army whose troops have done the bulk of the fighting in and around Bakhmut, said that what the defence ministry had described was in fact a rout - not a tactical withdrawal.
V ladimir Putins troops have retreated from one area near the eastern town of Bakhmut, the Defence Ministry in Moscow confirmed on Friday.

It said they had taken up what it described as more favourable positions near the Berkhivka reservoir northwest of Bakhmut.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of Putins private Wagner army whose troops have done the bulk of the fighting in and around Bakhmut, said that what the defence ministry had described was in fact a rout - not a tactical withdrawal.

Local experts said the Russian military units appeared to have retreated several kilometres.

Prigozhin, who has been openly feuding with the Defence Ministry for months, has repeatedly accused the top brass of sabotaging Wagners push for Bakhmut and this week accused them of doing too little to protect Bakhmuts flanks thus allowing Ukrainian forces to retake some ground.

Ukrainian forces likely broke through some Russian lines in local counter-attacks around Bakhmut, military experts had said earlier on Friday.

The Washington-based Institute for the Study of War reported Ukrainian Eastern Group of Forces Commander Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi claiming Russian forces had retreated up to two kilometre (1.24 miles) behind their lines.

But the Defence Ministry in Moscow insisted that Rusian forces had repelled a surge of attempted Ukrainian attacks against its positions in eastern Ukraine.

The ministry said in a statement that Ukraine had deployed more than a thousand troops and up to 40 tanks in 26 attempted attacks across a frontline extending over 95 kilometres (59 miles). It said the attacks had taken place in the direction of the town of Soledar, which is held by Moscow's forces.

All the attacks by Ukrainian army units were rebuffed, the ministry said. No breakthroughs in the defensive lines of Russian forces were allowed to take place.

The claims from Moscow could not be independently verified.

Moscow reacted after Russian military bloggers, writing on Telegram, reported what they said were Ukrainian advances north and south of Bakhmut in the eastern province of Donetsk, with some suggesting a long-awaited counter offensive by pro-Kyiv forces had started.

There was little evidence to confirm that such a major assault had begun.

But Ukraines Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said on Friday that her countrys forces had advanced by about a mile around Bakhmut this week.

She urged Ukrainians to disregard what she described as Russian disinformation about the situation in and around the town, where Ukraine has held on to some parts in about 10 months of fierce fighting.

How does the enemy cover the battles in Bakhmut? (It) praises itself, talks about supposed success and invents stories about our military command, Ms Maliar wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

At the same time, the enemy gives false information about the lack of weapons, which probably aims to justify the real situation.

Describing what she called the real situation over the past week, she said the enemy failed to carry out its plans; the enemy suffered great losses of manpower; our defenders advanced 2 km (1.2 miles) in the Bakhmut sector; we did not lose a single position in Bakhmut this week.

Her claims could not be independently verified.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had earlier said the full-scale offensive had yet to start.

Statements circulated by individual Telegram channels about defence breakthroughs that took place in different areas along the line of military contact do not correspond to reality, the Russian defence ministry said in a Telegram post.

The overall situation in the area of the special military operation is under control, it added in a statement, using the Kremlins description of the war in Ukraine.

The fact the Russian ministry felt obliged to release the statement reflects what Moscow acknowledges is a very difficult military operation.

Ukraine said it has pushed Russian forces back over the past several days near Bakhmut, while a full-blown counter-offensive involving tens of thousands of troops and hundreds of Western tanks is still being prepared.

We still need a bit more time, Mr Zelensky said in an interview with European broadcasters.

The Institute for the Study of War tweeted: Ukrainian forces likely broke through some Russian lines in localised counter-attacks near Bakhmut, prompting responses from Wagner Group financier Yevgeny Prigozhin and the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD).

Ukrainian forces continued to conduct successful but localised counter-attacks around Bakhmut on May 11, likely constraining Russian offensive efforts.

It added: The deployment of low-quality Russian forces on the flanks around Bakhmut suggests that the Russian MoD has largely abandoned the aim of encircling a significant number of Ukrainian forces there.

It was not clear if Ukrainian forces were attacking in force or just mounting armed reconnaissance raids.

Prigozhin on Thursday said Ukrainian operations were unfortunately, partially successful.

He called Mr Zelenskys assertion that the counter-offensive had not yet begun deceptive.

The UK is sending Storm Shadow long-range missiles to Ukraine / Crown Copywrite

The Ukrainian president said his forces had already received enough equipment from Western allies for their campaign but were waiting for the full complement of armoured vehicles to arrive.

Seperately, the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) said in its latest update that Russia has resumed missile strikes from its navy ships.

According to the MoD, Russia suspended Russian Navy land attack cruise missile strikes (LACMs) in March in order to restock supplies.

Earlier this month, however, ships launched eight missiles strike suggesting that the Russian military views the tactic as a key capability to strike deep into Ukraine to disrupt anticipated Ukrainian counter-offensives.

More strategically, Russia also sees conventional SAGARIS and other LACMs as having an important role in any hypothetical conflict with NATO, the MoD added.

In a major step up in Western military support for Ukraine, Britain said it was sending Storm Shadow cruise missiles that would give Kyiv the ability to strike deep behind Russian lines.

The missiles are now going into, or are in, the country itself, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace told the Commons, stressing they were being supplied so they could be used within Ukraine.

Western countries including the US had previously held back from providing long range weapons for fear of provoking Russian retaliation.

Mr Wallace said Britain, which has led the West in arming Ukraine, had weighed the risk.

The Kremlin earlier said if Britain provided these missiles it would require an adequate response from our military.

The war in Ukraine is at a turning point, with Kyiv poised to unleash its counter-offensive after six months of keeping its forces on the defensive, while Russia mounted a huge winter offensive that failed to capture significant territory.

Moscows main target for months has been Bakhmut, which it has yet to fully capture despite the bloodiest ground combat in Europe since World War Two.
R estaurant writing at the Evening Standard continues its track record of excellence as ES Magazines own Joanna Taylor was named restaurant writer of the year.

In a glamorous and packed Royal Exchange, Taylor was presented the award by hosts Angela Hartnett OBE and Andi Oliver.

Taylor said of the awards: Everyone says the Fortnum and Mason awards is one of those evenings nobody turns down an invitation to, and it seems last night was no exception. The room was buzzing with excitement with so many familiar faces. Im pretty sure the whole hall turned around when Stanley Tucci entered the room.

Its such a shock to have won the Restaurant Writer award, especially when I look back at those whove won in previous years. Its an honour to have my work recognised in such a way. I hope one day I can match the legacies of those whove won before me.

The evening saw a slew of leading voices from the industry celebrating the best of the best. The judges included Emma Inch, Honey Spencer, Joel Harrison and Tim Hayward, Standard contributor Clare Finney and the Standards chief restaurant critic, Jimi Famurewa. Both Famurewa and Finney have previously won Fortnums awards.

For many, the awards represent the pinnacle of food writing achievement in the UK and serve as a barometer for discovering and promoting the myriad unique, diverse and independent voices across the craft.

Elsewhere at the awards, a number of notable London voices were also celebrated. Cynthia Shanmugalingam of new restaurant Rambutan in Borough received an award for her book Rambutan: Recipes from Sri Lanka, in the debut cookery book category. Meanwhile, chef and restaurateur Jeremy Lee of Quo Vadis received special recognition for his inaugural book COOKING: Simply and Well, for One or Many.

Cynthia Shanmugalingam, Joanna Taylor, Andrea Kristina and Louis Wise at Fortnum & Mason Food and Drink Awards 2023 / Dave Benett/Getty Images for Fortnum & Mason

Tom Athron, CEO of Fortnum & Mason, said of the awards: Fortnum & Mason has been an innovator in the world of food and drink for over 300 years, and were proud to play our part in supporting the unparalleled food and drink scene here in the UK.

The winners are a testament to the strength of the writing and broadcasting on the subjects of food and drink in this country and it is our privilege to encourage such distinction in these media disciplines.

Full list of awards and winners

FOOD BOOK Red Sauce Brown Sauce: A British Breakfast Odyssey by Felicity Cloake

DEBUT FOOD BOOK Breadsong: How Baking Changed Our Lives by Kitty & Al Tait

COOKERY BOOKWest Winds: Recipes, history and tales from Jamaica by Riaz Phillips

DEBUT COOKERY BOOK Rambutan: Recipes from Sri Lanka by Cynthia Shanmugalingam

DRINK BOOK Holy Waters: Searching for the sacred in a glass by Tom Morton

DEBUT DRINK BOOK Wild Brews by Jaega Wise

COOKERY WRITER Fliss Freeborn for work on Student Cuisine for the Gloomy Teen

FOOD WRITER Bee Wilson for work in The Guardian andFT Weekend Magazine

DRINK WRITER Will Hawkes for work inPellicle Magazine

RESTAURANT WRITER Joanna Taylor for work in ES Magazine

PROGRAMME Searching for Italy presented by Stanley Tucci

AUDIO Blasstal, A podcast by Lecker. Presented and produced by Lucy Dearlove and Katie Callin

PHOTOGRAPHER Kim Lightbody

FORTNUMS SPECIAL AWARD COOKING: Simply and Well, for One or Many by Jeremy Lee. Published by 4th Estate

FORTNUMS SPECIAL AWARD Food for Life by Tim Spector

DIGITAL CREATOR OF THE YEAR Giuseppe Federici (AKA @Sepps_eats)

PERSONALITIES OF THE YEAR Si Kingand Dave Myers(AKA The Hairy Bikers)
T he best cheap smartwatches are the saving grace for anyone on a budget, whos still in need of a time-tracking device with some digital bells and whistles thrown in.

Even a basic smartwatch has a lot more than just a digital interface, adding in bespoke applications for smartwatch operating systems, a host of fitness capabilities, and sometimes even some more traditional clock faces for those after a semi-smart hybrid model.

Sports-minded smartwatches may be fully waterproof and sweatproof, with heart-rate trackers and counters that add up your steps throughout the day; others are built for sending you notifications, downloading and streaming music, or even enabling calls.

But the one thing joining all the entries on this list is that theyre all (relatively) cheap, meaning theyre largely entry-level models from across the likes of Samsung, Google, Garmin, and Fitbit  plus one Apple Watch model if you can stretch that far.

Best cheap smartwatches at a glance

If youre in the market for a new smartwatch, weve rounded up some of the best options that wont break the bank.

Shop the edit below

Fitbit Versa 2 Fitbit Best for: Fitness tracking Diameter: 40mm Water resistance: 50m Cellular: No Battery life: 4 days Fitbits Versa 2 smartwatch is still well worth a look, even if newer, flashier versions have since made it to market. At less than 100, this is a great price for a fitness-focused smartwatch, whether youre taking it on runs and bike rides, counting your steps, or tracking how well you sleep throughout the night. Fitbit boasts that you can download over 300 songs onto the smartwatch itself, though when it comes to Spotify it only acts as a remote control for the app running on your phone. With a rounded square design, and AMOLED display, it can just about pass for an Apple Watch at a distance, too. Just keep in mind that theres no GPS or voice calling functionality here, meaning youll need a phone with you for tracking distances, your location, or calling your mum. Buy now  89 , Fitbit {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{/hasItems}} {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}} {{#hasItems}} {{/hasItems}} Apple Watch SE Apple Best for: Apple lovers Diameter: 41mm, 45mm Water resistance: Yes Cellular: Available Battery life: 1-2 days Yes, even the cheapest Apple Watch will be a little pricey for some, but for those wedded to the Apple ecosystem, sporting an iPhone, AirPods and AirTags on their person, the Apple Watch is the perfect complement for their wrist. This slick, lightweight model features the full watchOS operating system, with waterproofing for shallow swimming sessions (up to 50m). Thats alongside the usual suite of fall detection, crash detection, heart-rate tracking and cardio fitness notifications  though youll need a higher-spec model to get pulse oxygen tracking and other, more specialist fitness features. Buy now  259.99 , John Lewis & Partners {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{/hasItems}} {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}} {{#hasItems}} {{/hasItems}} Garmin Vivofit Jr 3 Garmin Best for: Kids Size: Fits 130-175mm wrist Water resistance: 50m Cellular: No Battery life: Up to one year Why splash out on a smartwatch that a kid will likely only break? These durable fitness trackers are built for the knocks and tumbles of an active childhood, with a replaceable battery that should last you up to one year. Better yet, a tie-in app will let parents set tasks and reminders, if they need a little gamified encouragement to wash the dishes. Buy now  79.99 , Garmin {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{/hasItems}} {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}} {{#hasItems}} {{/hasItems}} Garmin Forerunner 45 Garmin Best for: Runners Diameter: 39, 42mm Water resistance: 50m Cellular: No Battery life: 7 days The Garmin Forerunner 45 is a go-to choice for those after a running smartwatch on a budget, packing in an always-on colour display and five buttons along the dial for easily accessing timers and marking laps during workouts. A lot of the more stylistic choices on this list make do with a single button instead, so this is very much the option for those who want immediate functions to hand. Its missing a few more advanced features found in the Forerunner 55  like womens health tracking, and a much longer battery life  but youll find the basics covered here for considerably less cash. Buy now  115.75 , Amazon {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{/hasItems}} {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}} {{#hasItems}} {{/hasItems}} Withings Steel HR Withings Best for: Style Diameter: 36, 40mm Water resistance: 50m Cellular: No Battery life: 1 month The Withings Steel HR is a brilliant choice for those who like the look and feel of traditional smartwatches, but want a couple of modern features thrown in. The Steel HR utilizes a standard clock face, complete with hour and minute hands  digitally controlled so the time is always in sync with your smartphone. A circular micro-screen can cycle through the date, time, pedometer, heart rate, calorie estimate, and distance walked. The watch will also automatically detect when youre running or swimming, and can lightly buzz your wrist with smartphone notifications or gentle morning alarms. So if you want those digital conveniences without the hassle of managing tons of apps, this is the smartwatch for you. Buy now  180 , Currys {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{/hasItems}} {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}} {{#hasItems}} {{/hasItems}} Samsung Galaxy Watch4 Samsung Best for: Samsung phone owners Diameter: 40, 44mm Water resistance: 50m Cellular: Available Battery life: Up to 40 hours The Samsung Galaxy Watch4 is a great low-cost smartwatch, using an altered version of the Wear OS platform that packs in innumerable wearable apps from the Google Play Store. With GPS, and the ability to monitor your heart rate and blood oxygen, theres plenty to recommend it as a fitness device. Its not quite as flashy as the Apple Watch SE, but youre getting about twice the battery life  so whos the real winner here. Buy now  199 , Currys {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{/hasItems}} {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}} {{#hasItems}} {{/hasItems}} Huawei Band 3 Pro Huawei Best for: Value Size: 0.95-inch screen Water resistance: 50m Cellular: No Battery life: 1-2 weeks The Huawei Band 3 Pro may be more of a fitness tracker than a smartwatch outright, but theres no denying how much it achieves in its compact sizing  with step and sleep tracking, an always-on clock display, and even the ability to receive notifications on its 0.95-inch touchscreen. Given the bargain price, its a sound choice for those wanting the key features of a good smartwatch for as little cash as possible, while looking good at the same time. Buy now  74.99 , Amazon {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{/hasItems}} {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}} {{#hasItems}} {{/hasItems}} Amazfit BIP 3 Pro Amazfit Best for: Price Size: 44mm Water resistance: 50m Cellular: No Battery life: 1-2 weeks With a simple interface, large display, and GPS tracking, the Amazfit BIP 3 Pro is a great beginner-friendly smartwatch with the basics of fitness tracking covered. One big perk is how well it integrates with other services, meaning you can send your fitness data to Strava or the Apple Health app on iOS. Just be warned that it doesnt have quite the polish, or comfort of fancier models. Buy now  69 , Very {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{/hasItems}} {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}} {{#hasItems}} {{/hasItems}}
A romatherapy is an increasingly popular means to engage in self-care.

Whether it be through pressure-point fragrances, extra-large candles, or electric diffusers, it seems as though there are more and more ways of inhaling in those precious natural scents during your morning and evening meditation sesh, or throughout the Shavasana stage of your at-home yoga work-out.

Yet there is one ancient aromatherapy material which has stood the test of time. The burning of incense dates back to biblical times and is thought to have originated in Egypt for religious and spiritual ceremonies as an oblation. Incense is made from entirely natural materials, composed of grains of resin derived from fragrant gum trees that grow in Africas most mountainous regions.

This resin is often mixed with spices and essential oils to augment its olfactory power. Though sometimes spread across lighted charcoal to release its fragrance, or packed into a thurible during Catholic ceremonies in particular, incense is most often packed onto and burned via a bamboo stick  known as a joss stick. An alternative, common means of burning incense is via a raw, cone-shaped dhoop, which is commonly placed in a chambered incense holder. Thats right, incense has a much richer history than those mischievous basement scenes in That 70s show suggest.

Re-popularised by the hippie movement throughout the late 60s and early 70s, incense became associated with stoner-culture and the Woodstock crew for an extended period of time. But in the modern day, incense has been reclaimed as a vehicle for engaging in spiritual practices and aromatherapy.

If youre just starting to get into the practice of burning incense and are looking for a stylish holder for your foss sticks or dhoops, weve got you covered. Keep scrolling for a selection of the best incense holders currently on the market.

Shop now
A mber Heard was seen signing an autograph for a fan in Spain after reportedly quitting Hollywood for a quieter life.

The Aquaman actress, 37, was seen out and about in Madrid as she scribbled her moniker for the admirer and posed for a photo with him, as reported by Page Six.

It had been reported last week that Heard had quit Hollywood and moved to the Spanish city with her daughter Oonagh, two.

I can reveal that Heard has quit Hollywood and quietly relocated to Spain with her young daughter Oonagh, Daily Mails columnist Alison Boshoff claimed a friend of Heard told her.

"Shes bilingual in Spanish and is happy there, raising her daughter away from all the noise.

I dont think she is in any hurry to return to work or to Hollywood, but she will probably come back when the time is right, for the right project, the friend added.

The actress, who lost a very public court battle with ex-husband Johnny Depp last year, reportedly fled to the Spanish city amid the ongoing drama from the fallout of the trial.

She sold her Yucca Valley, California home in July 2022 and has spent a lot of time in Spain since then.

This week, she was spotted spending quality time with her toddler  whom she welcomed via surrogate in July 2021  at a park in Madrid. And in photos taken last Friday, Heard was seen going for a run in her new city.

Heard lost the court battle to ex-husband Johnny Depp / getty

Last October, she was snapped enjoying a day out on the beaches of Palma de Mallorca and, a few days before, was spotted playing with her daughter, Oonagh, two, at a park during the holiday.

Heard is expected to be in Tinsel Town, however, for the premiere of the upcoming Aquaman sequel.

It was revealed recently that she is set to reprise her role as Mera.

The actresss future in the film was believed to be uncertain after she lost the six-week televised legal battle with Depp, 59, who accused her of defaming him, last year.

Heard, 37, had claimed during the high-profile court case that her role in the upcoming sequel was reduced, and that she fought really hard to stay in the movie.

Meanwhile, this week, Johnny Depp has been offered upwards of $20 million to renew his contract with Dior Sauvage for the next three years.
F ilmmaker Guy Ritchie has described the denial of safe passage to the UK for some Afghans who served alongside British forces as morally reprehensible.

The 54-year-old Hollywood director is supporting a campaign by The Independent to prevent the deportation of an Afghan pilot who helped Western forces fight the Taliban.

The air force lieutenant, whose identity is protected, flew 30 combat missions against the Taliban, but was forced into hiding after the final withdrawal of Nato troops in August 2021.

He said he came to the UK on a small boat due to a lack of legal routes, and is now being threatened with exile to Rwanda.

Ritchie, whose 2023 action thriller, The Covenant, tells a similar story of a local interpreter left behind in Afghanistan by the US military, has criticised the UKs handling of refugees from the wartorn nation.

He told The Independent: During the course of the Afghanistan conflict, thousands of local Afghans exposed themselves to significant risk by supporting British, American and other Nato forces.

Some worked as interpreters, while others fought alongside these forces.

They did this based on an understanding that they would be offered visas and protection  and this promise must be honoured.

It is morally reprehensible that those who worked loyally for us and alongside us have found their safe passage to a future has been blocked.

Released in April, The Covenant stars Dar Salim as the Afghan interpreter and Jake Gyllenhaal as an American sergeant.

The Home Office said it is relocating Afghan citizens who worked for the UK Government in exposed or meaningful roles via the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP).

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said: We owe a debt of gratitude to those interpreters and other staff eligible under the ARAP scheme who worked for, or with, UK forces in Afghanistan.

Thats why we have committed to relocating all eligible Afghans and their families to the UK under the ARAP scheme  a commitment we will honour.

Our absolute priority is supporting the movement of eligible people out of Afghanistan and to date, we have relocated over 12,200 individuals to the UK under ARAP.
The actor, 55, recently took to Instagram to tell his 17 million followers that he feels blessed and appreciates all their love, followed by praying hands, heart, and fox emojis.

What happened leading up to his hospitalisation?

The beloved Hollywood star was rushed to hospital following a medical complication while working on his upcoming Netflix feature film with Cameron Diaz and Glenn Close, entitled Back In Action.

Foxx had convinced Cameron Diaz to come out of retirement for the project after she had paused her acting career in 2014. His incident, which happened in mid-April, was two weeks before the project wrapped. So the production team had to use body doubles to complete the remaining scenes.

What has his family said?

The incident was addressed by his daughter Corinne last month, who went on Instagram to say: We wanted to share that my father, Jamie Foxx, experienced a medical complication yesterday.

Luckily, due to quick action and great care, he is already on his way to recovery. We know how beloved he is and appreciate your prayers. The family asks for privacy during this time.

Since he has been hospitalised, Foxxs condition has reportedly improved, and a source told People that he is being advised to keep his stress level down while further tests are undertaken.

They said: Jamie is stable and not in a life-threatening situation now. [Doctors] are doing more tests and want to be completely sure that he will be okay before allowing him to leave the hospital.

What the medical complication involved has been kept under wraps so far.

The Evening Standard has contacted representatives of Jamie Foxx for comment.
J ohnny Depp has reportedly been offered upwards of $20 million to renew his contract with Dior Sauvage for the next three years.

The actor, 59, may have struck the largest mens fragrance deal in history, according to Variety.

Depp was paid nearly twice what actor Robert Pattinson earned as a spokesperson for Dior Homme, while Brad Pitt was paid $7 million to promote Chanel No. 5, the publication said.

The new deal comes after reports that his ex-wife Amber Heard fled Hollywood for Spain following their high-profile defamation trial last year.

The luxury fashion house continued working with him during his hollywood blacklisting after Heard accused him of physical abuse and sexual assault. He strongly denied the accusations.

Depp, pictured with his then wife Amber Heard in 2015, defeated the actress in a contentious defamation trial last year / AFP via Getty Images

Dior also stood by the former Pirates Of The Caribbean star throughout his highly-publicised subsequent defamation trial against the actress, although the last major campaign was in 2021.

It was ultimately found that the Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas star had been defamed by his ex, while a single statement that was made by his former lawyer Adam Waldman regarding the actress was also found to have been defamatory.

Sales of Sauvage surged during the case, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The publication stated that Depps cologne was among their top-selling fragrances online last year.

While he is successfully rebuilding his career, Heard has reportedly moved to Madrid with her daughter Oonagh, two for quieter life.

I can reveal that Heard has quit Hollywood and quietly relocated to Spain with her young daughter Oonagh, Daily Mails columnist Alison Boshoff claimed a friend of Heard told her.

Shes bilingual in Spanish and is happy there, raising her daughter away from all the noise.

I dont think she is in any hurry to return to work or to Hollywood, but she will probably come back when the time is right, for the right project, the friend added.

Depp modelled in Rihannas Savage X Fenty Show Vol. 4 show last year / Amazon Prime Video

It was revealed recently that she is set to reprise her role as Mera.

The actresss future in the film was believed to be uncertain after she lost the six-week televised legal battle with Depp, 59, who accused her of defaming him, last year.
Global multidisciplinary engineering company, KPM Engineering (KPM) has announced that it has achieved a record year in 2022 with a 100 per cent increase in revenue growth across the business.

The company secured 6 million sq ft of projects in Saudi Arabia, with 30% of all the organisations GCC projects based in the kingdom last year.

Buoyed by its growth in the kingdom, KPM has set up its first office in Saudi Arabia, which will be fully operational this summer. It also plans to open additional offices to support international projects, including one in the UK.

Saudi Arabia, it stated, will remain the group's key focus for 2023 with nearly 50% of the organisations GCC tally coming out of the kingdom.

This year, the multidisciplinary engineering firm will focus on hospitality, residential and mixed-development projects in the kingdom, working alongside international architecture firms such as DSA Architects International and RMJM.

Its project pipeline includes DoubleTree, a $151 million international hotel in Jeddah, an integrated residential and retail development in Riyadh, and a 4.5 million sq ft mixed-use project in Makkah.

In response to increased demand for KPMs services in Saudi Arabia, the organisation will manage these projects from its first Saudi-based office, which will be fully operational this summer, said a top official.

"The significant growth we have achieved over the last year is evidence of the thriving construction sector across the Middle East. Saudi Arabia is a key focus area for KPM and we aim to continue on our growth trajectory, increasing the number of projects in the Kingdom to make up half of our total global projects," remarked KPMs Director John Guest.

"The opening of our office in KSA will be critical to our ongoing success and we look forward to supporting the kingdom in achieving its Vision 2030 goals. We have had great success across the Middle East and globally, and were confident we will exceed our growth plans for 2023 with all of the notable projects currently in our pipeline," noted Guest.

To support the organisations rapid growth, KPM said it had doubled the size of its team of multidisciplinary engineering specialists with 175 employees globally.

According to Saudi Build, Saudi Arabias construction sector grew by 8.8% in 2022, the highest year-on-year increase on record to date, with the countrys GDP totalling $182.2 billion.

Saudi Arabias construction sector is expected to continue growing, with an anticipated annual average growth rate increase of 4% until 2026, as reported by Global Data.

Kashif Fakih, the Director at KPM, attributes the companys continued success to its service approach, expert engineers, and long-term value partnerships with international architects and developers.

"KPM would not be where it is today without our committed team, increased focus on automation, and concentration on the design and development of intelligent, innovative, and sustainable buildings. As a multidisciplinary global engineering firm, we are proud to have some of the worlds leading talent working with us," he stated.

In addition to the new office, KPM also plans to increase the size of its international team to 300 employees by the end of 2024 and invest in the employment of local talent in key markets, such as Saudi Arabia, he added.-TradeArabia News Service
KYODO NEWS - May 12, 2023 - 12:48 | All, Japan

A total of 914 child mistreatment cases were reported at nurseries nationwide between April and December of 2022, including 90 deemed as abuse, a government survey that for the first time scrutinized all municipal governments showed Friday.

The survey by the Children and Families Agency, set up in April, sheds light on the serious situation surrounding the safety of children at nurseries and adds pressure on local authorities to take action to prevent incidents that could cause children physical or psychological harm.

The poll was conducted following the arrest in December of three women who used to work as teachers at a nursery school in Shizuoka Prefecture for alleged repeated instances of abuse, a high-profile incident that led to revelations of several similar cases in Japan.

In the case in Susono, Shizuoka, teachers mistreated toddlers with one boy being held upside down by his feet, according to the city government.

As each child care facility judges mistreatment cases differently, the government compiled a new guideline outlining cases that are considered abuse.

The government is also considering a law revision to oblige child care facilities to report a case of abuse to the local government.

"I want to realize the law revision swiftly," Masanobu Ogura, minister in charge of policies related to children, told a press conference on Friday.

Facilities for people with disabilities and nursing homes are already obliged by law to report cases of abuse by their staff to local governments.

The poll asked all cities, towns and villages across the country if they have received reports from nurseries regarding cases such as teachers verbally threatening children or being violent.

According to the survey, respondents conducted fact-finding probes on 1,492 cases and confirmed that 914 amounted to incidents of mistreatment, including 90 that were recognized as abuse involving children being shaken or hurt in other ways.

By prefecture, Tokyo reported the most such cases at 173, followed by Gifu in central Japan at 79 and Kanagawa Prefecture, neighboring Tokyo, at 65.

As for abuse cases, Tokyo logged the most at 24, with Shizuoka the second most at 19 and Aichi Prefecture in central Japan the third at 10.

The poll also showed that only 9.5 percent of the municipal governments reported mistreatment cases to the prefectural governments and 27.8 percent of them did so regarding abuse incidents.

By contrast, a separate survey by the agency asking 21,649 child care facilities nationwide showed that 15,757, or 73 percent, answered "child mistreatment cases were zero," while 82, or 0.4 percent, said they had at least 31 cases.

The large disparity between the facilities suggests they judge what constitutes a case of child mistreatment differently.

Related coverage:

120 child mistreatment cases reported in 10 yrs in Japan: survey

Japan city accuses nursery school head of covering up toddler abuse

Abuse of toddlers at nursery school in central Japan revealed
M ichael J. Fox remains optimistic about finding a cure for Parkinsons disease, saying I feel its closer than its ever been.

Canadian-born Fox, 61, was an in-demand Hollywood star when he was diagnosed with early onset Parkinsons disease at 29.

The Back To The Future star has since dedicated his life to finding a cure and helped raise over 2 billion dollars for the cause.

Appearing on ITVs Lorraine on Friday he was asked by host Lorraine Kelly what kind of progress was being made.

I feel its closer than its ever been, Fox replied.

Michael J. Foxs family appear alongside him in new documentary Still /

I think weve found this biomarker which is huge, identifying the disease and therefore being able to treat it earlier.

It was a gigantic breakthrough, we didnt expect to make it this soon. We were working on it for a long time, ten years ago we talked about it.

He is currently promoting his new Apple TV+ documentary Still, which documents his life living with Parkinsons disease, alongside his wife Tracy of 35 years and their four children.

Praising his family for their support, he hailed his other half as amazing.

Our whole family, I always felt this way [that] Tracy is one of the funniest people on this planet and my kids are all funny.

I think funny is our first response to anything. We say Whats funny about this?. It could be some colossal, horrible thing.

We love each other, we have a good time, we laugh a lot.

He added: Im thrilled with life, I love life. Im a very happy person. Its good, Im 61 years old and thats amazing in itself.

To watch the interview and show in full visit itv.com.Lorraine airs weekdays at 9am on ITV1 & ITVX.
S tacey Solomon has been replaced as host of Bake Off: The Professionals after just one series.

The Loose Women star presented the Channel 4 show with Great British Bake Off's Liam Charles, who competed in the eighth series of the programme.

The Great British Bake Off's official Twitter account confirmed the spin-off show's new co-presenter will be comedian Ellie Taylor, who appeared on the celebrity edition of Bake Off for Stand Up To Cancer.

They shared a snap of the Strictly Come Dancing star, 39, posing with a cake alongside Charles, 25, who will return for hosting duties, and judges Benoit Blin and Cherish Finden.

They captioned the post: Pastry chefs beware  judges Benoit Blin & Cherish Finden are also back for pud!

The new series arrives on Channel 4 this summer."

The tweet did not addresss Solomons departure, which led to fans questioning why the 33-year-old, who gave birth to daughter Belle in February, was no longer on board.

One wrote: Ellie is fabulous, she will be great with Liam. Has Stacey left or did she take maternity leave, I wonder?

In April, Solomon, who is married to actor turned presenter, Joe Swash with whom she shares six children, headed to Paris with Belle and her other daughter, Rose, for a secret work project.

Solomon has now moved onto new projects / Bake Off/Channel 4

She told her followers: Ive got my first job back next week so I just really want to get into good habits so its easier.

Ive got my first day back next week, and its like the craziest job ever. Im going to Paris. What the hell!
T om Hanks has said he will boycott books edited for modern sensitivities.

The actors comments come after publisher Puffins recent announcement that books by the late Roald Dahl were being rewritten to edit out any offensive language.

Words such as fat and ugly were removed, with alterations to segments concerning race, gender and mental health so the books can continue to be enjoyed by all today.

The decision sparked debate with many hitting out against the move and calling it woke.

Hanks, who released his debut novel, The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece: A Novel, earlier this month, has now shared his concerns.

A number of Roald Dahl books have been edited to remove offensive language.' / Nick Fewings/Unsplash

He said: Well, Im of the opinion that were all grown-ups here. And we understand the time and the place and when these things were written.

Its not very hard at all to say that it doesnt quite fly right now, does it?

Lets have faith in our own sensibilities here, instead of having somebody decide what we may or may not be offended by... he continued.

Let me decide what I am offended by and not offended by. I would be against reading any book from any era that says abridged due to modern sensitivities.

According to a synopsis of Hanks new book, its a wildly ambitious story of the making of a colossal, star-studded, multimillion-dollar superhero action film, and the humble comic book that inspired it all.

Following the backlash from the censoring of classic works of fiction such as Matilda and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Puffin UK announced it would produce uncensored versions of Dahls stories.

The publisher said it had listened to the debate and understood there were very real questions around how stories can be kept relevant for new generations.
M ore than 400 jobless young Londoners have been upskilled and over 200 have secured jobs or apprenticeships thanks to our Skill Up Step Up campaign.

In a panel discussion this week at the Canary Wharf HQ of Barclays, which backed our two-year initiative with a 1 million donation, once unemployed youths told a 100-strong audience how their lives had been transformed.

I know now that I am enough, said one. I feel there is no ceiling on what I can do, said another. I used to feel despair but now I have hope, added a third.

Our scheme, launched 15 months ago in partnership with The Independent and the Barclays LifeSkills programme, addressed the conundrum of 20 per cent youth unemployment in London in the wake of the pandemic at a time of record job vacancies of 1.2 million countrywide  and it did so by tackling the skills gap and upgrading the competencies of the jobless.

Duro Oye, chief executive of 2020 Change, who along with City Gateway, Springboard, Resurgo and First Rung, has been funded to provide empowerment training to disadvantaged youth as well as entrees to employers, chaired the panel discussion.

Barclays panel discussion with formerly jobless youth for our Skill Up Step Up campaign / Lucy Young

He said: Many youths who come to us have finished school and gone to university, but they dont know how to navigate the corporate space. Our job is to equip them withthe skills and network to complete the last mile. It is also about changing their mindset to believe they can succeed in white collar jobs.

Jess Jones of Nandos, one of over 100 employers who have supported our campaign by hiring upskilled youth, said the high quality of candidates had been borne out by the great labour retention levels of those they hired.

Kate Markey, of The London Community Foundation which managed the initiative, said the extreme inequality between haves and have-nots in the capital compelled us to act.

As a black guy with dreadlocks who grew up in Brixton, I felt they would never accept me, so I didnt try

Emmanuel Darlington, 28

Emmanuel had done all the right things since coming to London as a six-year-old from Nigeria, studying hard and getting a 2.1 in his business management degree from Wolverhampton University, but one insurmountable obstacle prevented him getting started in his career. He could not see himself employed in a corporate setting. I never knew people who looked like me in the corporate world, he said. As a black guy with dreadlocks who grew up in Brixton, I felt they would never accept me, so I didnt try.

Lucy Young

The arrival of his son 15 months ago was a key moment. Until then, Emmanuel had dabbled in business, buying and reselling high-end trainers, but his income was volatile, varying between 3,000 a month and nothing. He needed a steady salary and turned to the youth empowerment organisation, 2020 Change, that had just helped his younger sister get a job with LexisNexis. I saw huge change in my sister, he said. She had dropped out of uni and was lost but they got her on her feet and I thought, maybe they can sort me.

Emmanuel signed up to their 10-week I Am Change Programme last year. My expectations had been to get rich quick and buy my own yacht but I began to realise none of it was real. They got me to plan and strategise, but the biggest shift was in my head. Duro, who heads up the programme, is black like me and he encouraged me to see myself as having a future in the corporate world. I interviewed for a consultancy job at Staffing 360, a recruitment company that I met through a 2020 job fair. I got in and now earn a healthy salary. My niche is pushing diversity and inclusion in recruitment. I love it and feel confident and happy.

With the training and support help I can go far

Michelle Jideofor, 22

Michelle had made more than 25 job applications without success and was feeling demoralised when she came across the youth empowerment programme at 2020 Change last April. As a teenager, Michelle had come over from Botswana full of promise brandishing As at A-level, but she found remote learning over the pandemic at Bristol University tough and lost interest in her civil engineering studies.

Lucy Young

My sister and I were the first in my family to go to university so I finished my degree but I felt aimless and had no direction, she said. At 2020 Change we covered topics they had not taught us in school or university but are essential for life. We had to project ourselves forward five years and speak to our cohort and that boosted my confidence. I said that I was interested in management consultancy and 2020 Change arranged for me to be one of three girls applying for a business analyst job at Warn & Co, a consultancy focusing on business transformation.

Michelle added: I attended a dinner at a business club where we rotated to different staff members. There was a second round of interviews and then I heard I got the job. With the training and support and network I have here, I feel hope and believe I can go far.

I worried I would face unconscious bias at work

Dunsin Adetunji, 18

When Dunsin looks out from the sixth floor at Man Group hedge fund overlooking London Bridge, she sometimes has to pinch herself. The best part is that I used to lack confidence. Now I have an apprenticeship at a company beyond my wildest dreams, she said.

Lucy Young

Dunsin found herself in a cul de sac last year after attending the Fashion Retail Academy post school and realising she did not want to go into the industry. She saw an advert for a programme at City Gateway, a charity that provides free training for disadvantaged young people in east London, and she joined their fast-track course in August. They taught me to present myself: not to swallow my words, to make eye contact, not to spin on my chair and to thoroughly research the company I was applying to.

Six months ago, City Gateway told her of opportunities at Man Group and she secured an apprenticeship in their communications division. At first I would sit in comms meetings and never talk but now I have learned to share my ideas, she said. My parents told me the workplace can be unfair for black people and I worried I would face unconscious bias, but its much more diverse than I thought. It is amazing to realise I can do this.
T he EU is a step closer to passing flagship rules that will govern the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools, such as ChatGPT.

Under the proposals, AI systems will be regulated based on their potential to cause harm. The legal framework classifies the tech into three risk categories, from low to unacceptable, with bans set to be meted out for tools that pose the most serious threats to society.

While the UK is no longer part of the EU, and is developing its own AI rulebook, the new legislation could have a lasting effect on consumers and the tech industry alike. Heres what you need to know about the EUs AI Act.

What is the EU AI Act?

The EU AI Act is a sweeping raft of new rules aimed at ensuring that AI is used safely, ethically, and responsibly. As the worlds first legal framework on AI, the rules could become a benchmark for other countries seeking to pass their own AI regulations.

The European Commission first proposed the EU AI Act in April 2021, and it is expected to come into force in 2025.

In a nutshell, the bill assigns applications of AI to three risk categories: Unacceptable risk AI that poses a serious threat to fundamental rights and freedoms; high-risk AI that poses a significant risk to the health, safety, or fundamental rights and freedoms of people; and low-risk systems that do not pose a risk.

The potential to experiment in a safe space  a regulatory sandbox  may prove very attractive

EU member states and companies using these tools will have to abide by different rules depending on the risk level. As part of the bill, AI tools deemed to be the most harmful will be banned, while high-risk applications will be subject to strict legal requirements, and low-risk systems will be left unregulated.

Which AI applications does the act cover?

Facial-recognition ban

On Thursday, European lawmakers voted to ban facial-recognition technology in public places. The move will likely be welcomed by privacy activists who claim the tech is intrusive and discriminatory.

In Europe, facial recognition was already banned under the General Data Protection Regulation, barring specific use cases including when it is of substantial public interest. Its use is also governed by broader human rights law enshrined in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.

MEPs also voted to obligate companies to conduct a risk assessment before using AI, and to provide users with more information on how their data is being processed.

Social scoring ban

Alongside the ban on facial recognition, the latest rules will also ban the use of AI for social scoring and biometric categorisation.

Social scoring, also known as social credit, are systems that use AI to rank people based on their social and economic activity. The score is calculated using a variety of factors, such as their online activity, their spending habits, and their social interactions.

Social-scoring systems are currently in use in China, the US, and Israel. These systems have been criticised for limiting freedoms, violating peoples privacy, and for being discriminatory when used by government agencies, the courts, the police, insurers or financial institutions to make crucial decisions about individuals lives.

Chatbots

/ Florence Lo / Reuters

In addition, the rules state that companies behind generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT and Midjourney, will have to disclose any copyrighted material used to develop their systems.

The Government said it aims to regulate AI in a way that supports innovation while protecting peoples rights and interests

What does the AI act mean for me?

The AI Act is designed to assess how much of a danger AI models pose to society and make it clear to tech firms what they can and cannot do. In theory, this means EU lawmakers are trying to ensure tech firms cannot use computer algorithms to breach human rights.

The AI Act will play a vital role in ensuring responsible governance, and safeguarding consumer rights and privacy while fostering trust and innovation, Jonathan Boakes, managing director of UK digital solutions consultancy Infinum, which has been advising the UK Government and regulators for the past 20 years, told The Standard.

Gabriela Hersham, co-founder and chief executive of London start-up innnovation accelerator Huckletree agrees: There is a fine balance to be found between using AI to protect us and not allowing it to infringe on our rights. Its reassuring that several of the technologies are still going to be permitted, but only for law enforcement use (and within a strict framework) but that some have been banned altogether.

According to Tom Whittaker, a senior associate in technology at UK law firm Burges Salmon, this means there will likely be more pop-ups with information warning you about how your data is used when you access an online service that makes use of AI models, similar to the warnings about internet cookie collection. You will probably receive more emails too from service providers.

Consumers are most likely to notice the impact of the EU AI Act by increased transparency of when and how an AI system has been used that affects them, he told The Standard.

The other way the AI Act affects consumers is that if you were hoping to use ChatGPT-syle technology to make your job easier, you might not be legally allowed to do so.

For example, a text-generating AI tool might be used to draft patient letters for medical professionals, utilising sensitive patient data, even if this was not its original intention, explains JJ Shaw, a senior associate at technology law firm Lewis Silkin.

Whilst a general purpose AI system might be considered as a great technological development by AI enthusiasts, from the EU law-making perspective, such unpredictable applications are considered high-risk.

What does the AI Act mean for tech firms?

The UK could win by having an AI approach that sits between the EU and the US / Alamy / PA

The other big issue is how the AI Act will impact UK tech firms and other companies that seek to do business with us, due to our proximity to the EU.

One concern is that AI developers in the US will steal a march on European competitors, because all AI systems in the EU will need to be categorised as to whether they pose harm from the get-go, which could slow down innovation, explains Tim Wright, tech and AI regulatory partner at London law firm Fladgate.

The US tech approach  think Uber  is typically to experiment first and, once market and product fit is established, to retrofit to other markets and their regulatory framework, he told The Standard.

However, he thinks this will be good news for UK tech firms: The UK is adopting a similar approach to the US, although the proximity of the EU market means that UK-based developers are more likely to fall into step with the EU ruleset from the outset; however the potential to experiment in a safe space  a regulatory sandbox  may prove very attractive.

But there are lots of rumblings from businesses that the EU way of regulating is restrictive, while equally others believe the UK is being too relaxed in the way it governs AI.

How will the EU AI Act impact the UK?

It is likely that other countries will follow in the EUs footsteps and adopt their own regulations on AI.

For its part, the UK recently set out its own approach to AI governance in a white paper published in March. In essence, the Government said it aims to regulate AI in a way that supports innovation while protecting peoples rights and interests.

Some of the principles laid out in the white paper echo the EUs stance on AI. For example, the Government wants to create a new regulatory framework for high-risk AI systems. It also wants to require companies to conduct risk assessments before using AI tools. However, the white paper proposes that these principles will not be enforced using legislation  at least not initially.
G oogle has announced Bard, its upcoming chatbot and rival to the headline-grabbing ChatGPT, and the service is now available for people to try out in 180 countries around the world.

If youre not a big tech nerd, a pertinent question might not be whether Bard is going to cause the AI apocalypse or kill off your favourite authors career. Its Google Bard: why should I care?

Here, we get to the bottom of that with quick and breezy answers to a few other questions about Google Bard. And, no, none of these was written by an AI.

What is Google Bard?

Google Bard is the chatbot from Alphabet/Google weve been hearing about ever since the public caught wind of the AI chatbot trend. That was largely brought about by ChatGPT, which launched in November 2022. Its powered by a slimmed-down version of Googles LaMDA tech.

The service is also available in Japanese and Korean. Google says it is on track to support 40 more languages soon.

Google says it wants users to provide feedback on how the service works for them.

How do you use Google Bard?

Bard looks quite similar to Googles browser, and that of Google Assistant on phones and smart displays. That means a plain white text entry box, and answers are spewed out below, a bit like ChatGPT. It looks rather dull and simple, in other words.

In the demo, there is a plain white text entry box and answers are spewed out, a bit like ChatGPT / Google

Google CEO Pichai describes Bard as an experimental conversational AI service. The demo of it in action sees someone ask Bard the findings of the James Webb telescope they can tell their 9-year-old child about.

This is something you might type into an ordinary search engine, probably minus the 9-year-old bit. But Bard will offer up the information directly rather than, for example, showing you website links on the subject.

Those who have used one of Google smart speakers will have experienced some of this effect already. Bard takes it to the next level by attempting to simulate a conversation, rather than using these smarts as a limited veneer that will eventually just spit out a load of web links.

Google is introducing new features from next week, which include source citations, so you can see where Bard got its information from; a dark mode thats easier on the eyes; and an export button so people can easily move Bards responses to Gmail and Google Docs.

How is Google Bard different to ChatGPT?

We currently cant outline all the fundamental differences between ChatGPT and Bard. Heres the most important one, however. Bard is made by Google. ChatGPT is made by OpenAI.

OpenAI was founded in 2015 by a bunch of tech luminaries including Sam Altman, Elon Musk, and Peter Thiel. However, the big recent news is that OpenAI has partnered with Microsoft as part of a multiyear, multibillion-dollar plan.

Bard versus OpenAI (and chatGPT) is effectively Google versus Microsoft.

What are these AI chatbots for?

From our perspective, as users of tech, these chatbots will become the way we explore the internet. And when merged with the smart assistant tech weve been getting to grips with over the last decade, they will also help you to organise your life.

From search engine to smart assistant to AI conversation tech, were getting closer to the disembodied voice computer characters seen in sci-fi films.

The question is whether were going to get a sort of Star Trek-style tech utopia, or something a little more crunchy.

What are the dangers of bots such as Google Bard?

ChatGPT has already brought up lots of issues since 2022. Schools and exam boards are worried about students using AI platforms to cheat and do their work for them.

Current-generation AI chatbots are very prone to just making stuff up, too, which has been called a hallucination. Much like talking to a confident know-it-all down the pub, ChatGPT will often just fill gaps with fabricated nonsense that  at times  is the polar opposite of the actual truth. But when relayed with confidence, it can still sound persuasive.

This makes AI chatbots potential spreaders of misinformation and disinformation.

They also raise similar ethical questions as those posed by AI image creation tech. What happens when these AI tools mean the source of information never gets any credit any more?

Picture an interview with your favourite author, published on a website that makes money through display ads, through a newsletter and perhaps through a premium subscription that unlocks full access to the site. While a search engine will direct you to this website, an AI chatbot can just pilfer the information and show you it.

While the user experience is neat, it has the potential to ruin revenue streams for entire industries, starving the very sources AI chatbots thrive off.

All AI models are also susceptible to significant bias. One typical example was highlighted in December 2022, where ChatGPT decided a good scientist should be white or Asian and male.
T hinking of making the ultimate upgrade to a folding smartphone? Heres what you need to know before you dive in to the high-tech world of unfurling gadgets.

While they are no longer a novelty, foldable phones are still a rare sight in the wild. Youll probably be the only one of your friends and family to own one, despite Samsung having pumped them out for years. They also offer more screen real estate, even coming close to tablet size, and can fold right down to fit in your pocket.

Before we start, its worth mentioning the elephant in the room: Apple. Of course, theres no foldable iPhone as of yet, though a team of hobbyists made one by piecing together parts from the iPhone X and a foldable Motorola Razr. Alas, if youre comfortable using an Android operating system, then these are the folding phones you should consider.

With that in mind, here are some things to consider before you get your wallet out, followed by the top foldable picks available today.

The two types of foldable phone

There are broadly two kinds of foldable phones: those that fold in two to become more compact, and those which unfold to become even bigger.

The former is cheaper, and really the 2020s answer to the flip phone of the late 90s. Its all about making your phone more compact, and beyond that, its largely the same experience as using a regular smartphone.

For the latter, its about combining the larger canvas of a tablet with something thats approaching normal phone dimensions. The downside is that these are still typically more expensive than just buying a separate tablet and phone.

What are the pros of foldable phones?

Youre undoubtedly partly paying for the cool factor. Despite now being available for four years, foldables are still pretty rare, and seeing a screen fold in two is still a very neat party trick.

For selfie fans, foldables also offer a better experience than most handsets. Front-facing cameras are typically weaker than rear cameras, but taking a selfie on rear cameras is near impossible without a screen to guide you.

Foldables are different: because there are screens on both sides of the phone, you can use the better-quality rear camera to take your pictures. And as foldables can balance in a half-open state, you can also be more inventive for group shots, too.

Finally, theres the two-in-one factor. The foldables that double up as a phone and tablet give you the best of both worlds. Thats handy if you regularly find yourself missing the big-screen experience of a tablet, but only have limited bag space available.

What are the cons of foldable phones?

The big one is price. While foldable flip phones are available for three figures rather than four, the more useful 2-in-1 tablet/phone combos still sell for upwards of 1,600. Thats roughly the same price as buying an iPhone 14 Pro and iPad mini separately.

That would be okay if the pricey 2-in-1s offered a flawless experience, but you still get the nagging feeling that you have to make sacrifices for the promised convenience.

As phones, such foldables are chunkier and often with an unhelpful tall and thin aspect ratio. As tablets, theyre a bit smaller than most would like. Google may have addressed this with the Pixel Fold  which is the thinnest yet, and has a wider aspect ratio on both screens  but we shall have to wait and see.

Another point is a question of reliability. Foldable screens have a finite number of folds before they stop working altogether. And while that number is higher than most people will ever reach (Samsung claims at least 200,000 folds  enough for more than 100 folds a day for five years), it does potentially limit resale potential.

Battery life is another weak point. Powering a bright screen is one of the main sources of battery drain and foldables, by their nature, have two each. Again, Googles Pixel Fold promises to fix this with beyond all-day battery life, but well have to see third-party benchmarks to see if this goal is achieved in real-world conditions.

What are the main foldable phone options?

Google Pixel Fold

Price: 1,749

Google Pixel Fold / Google

The latest company to show its foldable hand is Google with the Pixel Fold. Boldly, Google has chosen to price it at 1,749  100 more than the fourth generation of Samsungs Galaxy Z Fold series (though pre-orders do come with a free 339 Pixel Watch.)

But, while its yet to be put through its paces in reviews, it does on paper have a few things on its side. For one, its the thinnest foldable yet, measuring just six millimetres thick when open. For another, Google claims its triple camera array  a 48MP main sensor, backed by two 10.8MP lenses for ultrawide and 5x optical zoom  should give it the best photography ever seen on a foldable.

Thirdly, battery life has been a weak spot on foldables, but the Pixel Fold is promised to have beyond 24-hour battery life, which could be a game changer in the space. Finally, Google making the Android software as well as the hardware could make a big difference, and the company has already shown off some clever multi-tasking functionality.

Wait for the reviews, but it could be worth paying the premium, if youre dead set on a foldable.

Motorola Razr 2022

Price: 950

The Motorola Razr 2022 is the latest foldable phone / Motorola

The third-generation Motorola Razr puts a lot right over its predecessors. The latest device in the Razr line-up  which began with the original flip-phone in 2004  is bigger and more refined than its predecessors in many ways.

It boasts a 6.7-inch OLED glass display with a 144Hz refresh rate when unfolded. Gone is the divisive notch that has become a mainstay on many modern phones. To make more room for that display, Motorola also chiselled down its chin.

Additional features include a speedy Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor, 8GB RAM and 256GB storage, which match most rivals in the same price bracket. The dual cameras boast 50MP and 13MP sensors, along with support for 8K video. Finally, the 3500mAh battery also outdoes its predecessor, but doesnt match many premium handsets.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4

Price: 1,649

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 / Samsung

If you have the cash to spare, then the Galaxy Z Fold 4 is definitely worth a look. When unfolded, the main display is relatively large at 7.6 inches, making it the phone for those who want maximum screen space.

The 4,400mAh dual battery is also larger than the Razrs. Additional features include a Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 processor, 12GB of RAM, 256GB storage (or up to a hefty 1TB if you can fork out 2,019). There are also three cameras at the back  a 10MP front-facing camera on the external display, and a 4MP under-display camera for selfies. Still, that price could put it out of the range of many buyers.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4

Price: 999

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 / Samsung

If you have your heart set on a Samsung but cant afford a Galaxy Z Fold 4, then its smaller sibling may for you. The 6.7-inch screen is smaller when unfolded, but the device itself packs the same Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 processor and also starts at 256GB of storage. However, the lower price inevitably means some cutbacks. The 3,700 mAh battery is smaller and there are only two 12MP cameras on the back, plus a 10MP front-facing camera. Still, this is the cheapest foldable option from Samsung right now, which could be enough to sway those on the fence.

Oppo Find N2 Flip

Price: 849

Oppo Find N2 Flip / Oppo

Oppos Find N2 Flip is the first foldable that the company has sold outside of China, and it does so while undercutting Motorola by 100 and Samsung by 150. At 849, the Oppo Find N2 Flip isnt exactly pocket change, but it is a good way of testing the foldable waters.

While its performance is a bit behind its rivals thanks to its use of the Mediatek Dimensity 9000+ chipset, it does boast a nice, bold 3.26-inch external screen, making it more useful than the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 (1.9-inch) and Motorola Razr (2.7-inch) when closed.

It does seem to be a bit harder to find in the UK, but its worth seeking out if you want the most bang for your foldable buck.

Microsoft Surface Duo 2

Price: 929

Microsoft Surface Duo 2 / Microsoft

There arent a whole bunch of foldables on the market right now, especially for those who dont want to export a phone from overseas from a Chinese manufacturer such as Oppo or Vivo. With that in mind, Microsofts Surface Duo 2 could be a good bet for fans of the company. Notably, this isnt a foldable in the truest sense of the word. Instead, it has two 5.8-inch screens joined by a hinge in the middle.

Pitched as a productivity-oriented device on its release in October 2021, the foldable isnt the most crowd-pleasing option. But, it may be ideal for those looking to multi-task across two displays, such as using one screen for note-taking and the other as a keyboard in a laptop-style setup.

Honor Magic Vs

Price: 1,399

Like Oppo, Honor is another Chinese firm looking to take on the big guns with a more competitively priced foldable phone. The companys first folding handset to come to the UK is the Honor Magic Vs, which is available to pre-order now ahead of its May 19 release date.

The upcoming phone looks a lot like the Pixel Fold and Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4. Not only does it open up like a book to a 7.9-inch screen, it also features the same processor as Samsungs phone. Its taken around six months to reach these shores, which may explain why it doesnt pack the latest Snapdragon chipset found inside the regular Samsung Galaxy S23.

With a 4,900mAh battery and 66W fast charging, it looks like it can hold its own against its pricier rivals, on paper at least. Plus, if you snap it up early directly from Honor, it will cost you 1,199, even less than its normal price.
KYODO NEWS - May 12, 2023 - 22:44 | All, G7, World

Finance chiefs from the Group of Seven nations see the need to urgently tackle emerging challenges posed by the widespread use of messaging apps and online banking, despite the financial system so far maintaining resilience in the wake of several U.S. bank failures, a Japanese government official said Friday.

As the possibility of a U.S. default looms over an ongoing three-day meeting of the G-7 finance ministers and central bank governors, the United States explained the current economic situation regarding its debt ceiling, the official added.

The gathering is partly meant to shore up confidence and ensure financial stability while seeking to establish coordination on addressing debt woes affecting low- and middle-income nations. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned of an "economic and financial catastrophe" if the U.S. defaults.

Japan, which holds the presidency this year, is aiming to set a clear schedule for the launch of a "mutually beneficial" partnership with low- and middle-income countries to build robust supply chains for critical products needed to tackle climate change through decarbonization.

During Friday's meeting, many were supportive of the plan, the official said.

One of the G-7's priorities is to make supply chains robust and more resilient to future risks at a time when China's strong position on critical technologies and resources, such as semiconductors and rare earth materials, is causing concern.

The finance chiefs' talks are laying the groundwork for the leaders' summit next week in Hiroshima, where they are expected to stand firm against Russia's war on Ukraine and China's increasing assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific.

The G-7 agreed on the need to support Ukraine "for as long as necessary" and to address efforts by Russia to circumvent sanctions imposed by the West for its unprovoked war on Ukraine.

A joint statement is expected on Saturday when the G-7 member states -- Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States plus the European Union -- wrap up their talks.

In a rare move, six other nations, including Brazil, India and South Korea, joined an outreach session to beef up coordination on debt issues and other global challenges.

The meeting comes as concerns about the global economy grip financial markets following the collapse of three major U.S. regional banks -- Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and First Republic Bank.

"It's become clear that financial worries can spread in an instant via social networking sites. Additionally, online banking, which allows money withdrawals outside business hours, can cause bank runs," Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said Thursday.

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By Keita Nakamura, KYODO NEWS - May 12, 2023 - 22:18 | All, World, Japan

Ukraine's ambassador to Japan said Friday he expects the Group of Seven leaders to send a strong message against using nuclear weapons at their meeting in Japan next week in light of Russia's nuclear blackmailing of his country.

Sergiy Korsunsky also referred to Moscow's attack and control of the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant in southern Ukraine in the war Russia has been waging against the Eastern European nation since February 2022, during an interview with Kyodo News ahead of the three-day G-7 summit from May 19 in Hiroshima.

"Number one, that is nuclear safety and security, taking into account Japan's experiences in both, I mean, nuclear bombs in Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and (the nuclear crisis in) Fukushima," said Korsunsky. Japan knows it "better than anybody else."

The annual G-7 summit brings together leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States, plus the European Union. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has invited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to join virtually.

Kishida, who represents a constituency in Hiroshima, will chair the gathering of the seven major democracies. He has made his signature vision of "a world without nuclear weapons" a key topic.

Korsunsky also aired hopes that discussions will center on "practical" reconstruction in Ukraine, such as how to use frozen Russian overseas assets to help finance the rebuilding.

As for the attendance of guest nations, such as India and Brazil, Korsunsky said it is "important because we need more understanding in the Global South about what is going on in Ukraine," using a term that collectively refers to emerging and developing nations in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

The G-7 members have strengthened economic sanctions on Moscow over its war in Ukraine, while most Global South countries have tried to avoid taking sides.

Among the G-7, Japan is "probably the best" at attracting more support for Kyiv from the Global South, the envoy said, noting that Japan is in a "very trustable position" in Asia and Africa due to its decades-long humanitarian and development assistance to the regions.

Australia, Comoros, the Cook Islands, Indonesia, South Korea and Vietnam are the other six invited countries to the summit.

Korsunsky also welcomed moves in Japan to allow the export of lethal weapons to friendly nations by amending its strict regulations on exporting defense equipment.

Japan's Self-Defense Forces are effectively banned from providing military arms to foreign forces in light of the country's postwar pacifist Constitution.

"I don't see how export of military equipment contradicts traditional pacifist attitude of Japan...they are not intended to kill, they are intended to protect" Ukrainian citizens, Korsunsky said.
Decisiveness needed

As weve seen, Chinas wolf warrior diplomacy seeks to hurt Canada, and our indecisiveness towards this diplomacy has surely only caused Chinas government to laugh at us. CSIS has explicitly warned Canada of political interference and Chinas threats towards democracy.

During my election bid for Niagara Region council, I warned of these threats.

As a teacher in China before the pandemic, I saw first-hand these events unfolding and the bullying and mistreatment of foreigners. China wants Canadians to be at each others throats. This is not good.

We must support western liberal ideology of civil rights and liberties. As Westerners, we support civil and human rights because we believe in social justice for all people. We must support people in their fight for dignity and respect.

What Niagara needs to do is unite behind a boycott of all Communist China (CCP) business investments. And because all business in China is under the umbrella of the CCP, we must be careful who we deal with. A silent war is being waged upon us and we must be decisive in our immediate actions towards China.

Matthew Bradman

St. Catharines

What about landlords?

Re: Family struggling to find housing after landlord evicts them for family members, April 24

Lately it seems everyone has a story about a bad landlord. Especially the ones who evict tenants to boost rent.

But what about the landlords that are happy just getting their rent payment because, after all, we did this to secure our retirement.

I have a tenant that has not paid me in nearly 13 months. Yes over one year! I filed with the landlord and tenant board in March 2022 and still dont have a hearing or file number! I have to carry the bills on top of all of my own living expenses. It is ridiculous that I have to wait this long. I hired a lawyer to make sure everything was done by the book!

I had to change positions at my work so that I am able to pick up some overtime shifts just to pay my bills. How is this right? How does our government allow this to happen?

Not all landlords are bad and also not all tenants are angels! I take pride in handing over clean, fresh well-kept apartments that are reasonably-priced! Not some dirty dump for an outrageous price. How do I get help getting people out so I can go back to a normal life? Why should I have to sell to let them win?

This whole Landlord and Tenant Board system needs a serious overhaul!

Henry Warkentin

Niagara Falls

Letters welcome

We welcome letters from our readers. Send them to letters@niagaradailies.com or mail to PO Box 5031 Stn Main, St. Catharines, Ont., L2R 7T4. Letters should be 250 words or less, and may be edited for length and clarity. Please include your name, address and phone number for verification purposes.

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Freelance writer Carola Vyhnak is leaving her four-acre country home north of Cobourg for a smaller place in a nearby town. This is the third instalment of her diary about her downsizing journey, in which she goes house hunting.

Do the heartstrings thing! Im not kidding! It works!

My doggy daycare provider knows all the angles to clinch a deal when competitors hound a house hunter. She relates the story about a beleaguered buyer in a dog-eat-dog bidding war who triumphed by including her tale of woe in a letter to the homeowner. Cathy also insists the best weapon in this ruthless real estate market is a firm offer with absolutely no conditions.

It may come to that. Three weeks after selling my secluded country property, Ive yet to nab a smaller urban home where I can comfortably navigate the next chapter of my life. So far, spring listings are just trickling in to meet the tidal wave of would-be buyers.

One sweet little cottage got away during the few days before the offer on my place firmed up and allowed me to set a realistic budget and cement my purchasing power. Then there was the mid-century house that needed $70,000-worth of updates, followed by a couple of beautiful bungalows that were snapped up for way over asking.

Hoping for a sneak peek at another desirable property, I mistakenly show up for the open house a day early. The homeowner doesnt bite, mumbling something about legalities.

Another day, the irksome agent at an open house for a rough-looking 1960s place, adds insult to impasse when he asks if a male family member is handy.

The target of a modest preloved bungalow in a quiet, well-treed neighbourhood close to services, amenities and health-care facilities is starting to feel like an impossible dream for this rural-ite who fled Hogtown for Cowtown almost 20 years ago.

An older place may need updating or renos, which will factor into the cost, of course. And the final price tag will rise even more, if I decide to add a rental or in-law suite for a family member.

A contractor friend offers a few examples of common projects: building a four-foot-wide front hall closet is $4,000 to $5,000; adding a three-piece bathroom, $15,000 to $20,000; adding a basement kitchenette, $5,000 to $10,000, plus cabinetry and appliances.

My purchasers predicament echoes whats happening in Toronto. In their latest market update, realtors Paul Maranger and Christian Vermast cite recent transactions in which a downtown townhouse sold for 30 per cent over asking with 21 offers, and a Danforth-area home went for 140 per cent of listing price.

While exceptional, the sales prove we are in a market governed by a lack of supply, say the pros from Paul & Christian Associates.

More data arrives from digital real estate platform Wahi, which reports that 57 per cent of neighbourhoods across the GTA entered overbidding territory in April, meaning that most homes there were selling for over asking.

None of this is good news for house hunters. Early on, I signed up for alerts from my agent and listing sites realtor.ca and HouseSigma. Now Im expanding my search for an affordable sanctuary to a bigger swath of small-town Ontario.

It may not seem like it, but you still have lots of time, says my optimistic realtor, referring to the July closing on my sale. Even so, I feel it may be time to hone those letter-writing skills, just in case I need to tug at some empathetic homeowners heart .

Next: No stone unturned

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At its annual general meeting last month, the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) voted to implement a highly controversial realtor co-operation policy requiring all residential sale listings to be placed on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) after just three days of exclusive marketing.

When the proposal was first introduced last November, a huge backlash from real estate agents across the country caused CREA to refer the decision to its annual meeting in April and postpone potential implementation by one year to Jan. 3, 2024.

CREA is a voluntary association of 75 Canadian real estate boards and associations representing 160,000 members. At its meeting last month, the policy change was approved by more than 82 per cent of voting delegates, not by the individual member agents.

The new policy places realtor members on the horns of an ethical dilemma: do they follow client instructions not to list properties on MLS and market them solely through the listing brokerage, or do they stick to the new policy and post the listing on MLS after three days?

In a Facebook post shortly after the policy was proposed last year, Toronto realtor Barry Lebow tore a strip off the CREA rule, listing 12 types of sellers who may not want their homes publicly listed on MLS.

He reasoned that chronically ill sellers, celebrities, hoarders, pet owners, firearm owners, art collectors and others, might not want their properties exposed to sightseers unless they have been vetted as serious buyers by a trusted agent.

Social media postings have exploded with criticism of the policy. On the website realestatemagazine.ca, Toronto-based real estate agent Penny Dutkowski agreed with Lebows reasoning, writing there is no justifiable reason  for this unfortunate, myopic, industry-selfish move.

Cory Raven wrote, a dark day for realtors, adding I was at a Re/Max broker group meeting in January and 100 per cent of the brokers in the room were against (the policy.)

Patrick Hulley nailed the problem with: Going to MLS should be a decision made between the real estate agent and the client.

Thirty-five years as a realtor, wrote Don Johnson, and this MLS policy is absolutely in the wrong direction.

There are some ways for home sellers to avoid being forced to list on MLS.

Exclusive listings are still permitted by sellers with privacy concerns and who do not want broad exposure of their property to the public.

Any seller who declines to use the MLS system to market their property has to provide confirmation they understand the alleged disadvantages of not using it, and confirm in writing their decision not to market the property publicly.

But agents are not required to inform clients that they have this choice.

Another way around the realtor co-operation policy is for sellers to pre-sign a series of successive, exclusive three-day listings to avoid the need to switch to the MLS after the expiry of each listing.

In my opinion, if realtors across the country really care about their clients, they will toss out their delegates to the CREA national body as soon as possible, and elect representatives who place the public interest first.

Bob Aaron is a Toronto real estate lawyer and a contributing columnist for the Star. He can be reached at bob@aaron.ca or on Twitter: @bobaaron2

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BOURGET, Ont. - Investigators combed through a property in a small village east of Ottawa on Friday as police looked to gather more information on a shooting that left one officer dead and two others injured a day earlier.

Ontario Provincial Police Sgt. Eric Mueller died in hospital following the early Thursday shooting at a home in Bourget, Ont. The 42-year-old and two other officers had been responding to a disturbance call, police have said.

Alain Bellefeuille, a 39-year-old Bourget resident, is charged with one count of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder in the case. Hes expected to appear in court on Thursday in nearby LOrignal, Ont.

In Bourget, police vehicles were parked Friday near the home where the shooting took place and officers went to and from the property. Police barricades remained in place in some areas and officers were seen going door-to-door in the area.

Veronique Poirier-Larabie had set up a small bunch of colourful silk flowers outside her home with Muellers name written on a window above. She said his car had been left outside her house the day before.

I did not know this officer but he does deserve to be remembered, said Poirier-Larabie, who moved to Bourget a month ago from Ottawa in search of a quiet community.

It touched me, she said of the tragedy. I did cry.

Poirier-Larabie said after the shooting, several members of the small village were checking in on one another as they processed what happened.

You dont expect this to happen, she said. This actually brought us probably a little closer.

Poirier-Larabie and several other residents said they did not know the man charged in the case.

OPP Commissioner Thomas Carrique has said Bellefeuilles history would be closely mined for clues. Police have said they found a long gun at the scene of Thursdays shooting.

A members-only shooting range west of Bourget said it had no record of Bellefeuille in its member database or of him having attended the facility.

A forested lot stands between Bertrand Gosselins street and the property where the shooting took place. He said he often hears gunshots through the trees and has seen tree stands for hunting set up further into the woods.

It never bothered me because its not uncommon, he said Friday. Usually, you think someone is just shooting on their property.

He said if the gunshots were closer he might have been more concerned.

Ontarios Ministry of the Attorney General said they had not found previous criminal court files under Bellefeuilles name.

Police alleged the three officers who were shot on Thursday were ambushed when they arrived at the home. The officers had called for backup before they approached, police said.

One injured officer was still in hospital in stable condition on Thursday while the other had been released. Police did not provide an update on the condition of the officer in hospital on Friday.

Funeral plans for Mueller are underway, OPP spokesperson Bill Dickson said Friday.

Mueller, remembered as a mentor and dedicated 21-year-veteran of the OPP, was previously injured on the job, court records show.

He underwent three operations and months of rehabilitation for a broken leg after he was crushed into the side of his cruiser by a tractor-trailer unit during an arrest gone wrong in April 2008.

The driver, who was wanted by police for failing to appear in court, tried to flee when Mueller and other officers stopped him on a highway exit ramp, according to a 2010 ruling in the case.

Mueller is the fifth police officer to be fatally shot in Ontario since September.

On Friday the OPP posted an obituary of sorts on its website to commemorate Muellers life and career.

He received a commissioners citation for lifesaving in 2015 after helping to lift a burning vehicle to remove an injured suspect, the post read.

Sergeant Muellers devotion and courage will never be forgotten, the post said.

A book of condolences for Mueller will be available to sign this weekend at the Bourget Community Centre and the city hall in Rockland, the seat of the local municipality.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 12, 2023.

 With files from Jordan Omstead in Toronto

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KYODO NEWS - May 12, 2023 - 11:04 | World, All

A Hong Kong newspaper said Thursday it would no longer publish the works of the city's most prominent political cartoonist amid allegations of bias by city officials, marking the end of a 40-year-long partnership.

Local newspaper Ming Pao said two cartoon series by artist Wong Kei-kwan, popularly known as Zunzi, will be pulled from the publication starting Sunday but did not provide any justification for the move.

"Ming Pao expresses its gratitude to Zunzi for witnessing how times have changed alongside us over the last 40 years," the statement read.

Known for his political cartoons that explored current issues within Hong Kong society, Wong's work has drawn criticism from several government departments over the past months.

The announcement came after Wong's newest cartoon, which satirized the city government's proposal to overhaul the District Council elections, was condemned by the Home and Youth Affairs Bureau for "smearing" the government authority. The proposal last week called for cutting most directly elected council seats.

Wong declined to comment on the reasons behind the decision but said he would continue to create cartoons.

The move is the latest example of self-censorship among the city's media and artistic communities following Beijing's crackdown on dissent and the imposition of the national security law, after pro-democracy protests in the semi-autonomous region in 2019.

Related coverage:

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DUNCAN, B.C. - British Columbias police watchdog has been deployed to Vancouver Island after an officer shot a man who drove into a detachment parking lot, striking a police vehicle and injuring an officer, the Mounties said Friday.

A statement from the North Cowichan detachment in Duncan, north of Victoria, said an officer was checking the police SUV around 6:30 a.m. when the man drove into the police employee parking lot.

A second officer fired his gun at the vehicle, striking the driver, it said.

A video of the incident shared on social media shows an officer firing as a man stands beside the open door of a black SUV before he falls to the ground.

The front end of the SUV is smashed in, and it appears to have rammed an RCMP vehicle backwards into a ditch next to the Mounties parking lot.

The injured officer and the suspect were taken to hospital with what police said were believed to be non-life-threatening injuries.

Insp. Chris Bear said in a statement that police are not sure of the mans intentions, which they will look into as they investigate the alleged assault.

The incident was very disturbing for RCMP members and staff, he said.

The National Police Federation issued a statement calling for greater protections for police in response to the incident and others across Canada during which officers have been injured or killed over the last year.

The statement from president Brian Sauve said someone rammed a police vehicle in Duncan.

The seven-second video shared on social media shows the police SUV marked NC, indicating it belonged to the North Cowichan detachment.

The man who was shot appears to be checking something in the back seat of the black SUV before he turns toward one of two approaching officers.

The officer appears to fire a single shot, and the man falls to the ground and begins to turn over before the video ends.

The Independent Investigations Office released a statement later Friday, saying its looking at the circumstances surrounding the incident.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the offices witness line at 1-855-446-8477.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 12, 2023.

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Im packing my suitcase for a hiking trip overseas with friends. Its our fifth trip since 2015 (three-year COVID hiatus), when we decided that travel by walking was one way to keep our muscles from atrophying.

As we walk, we talk, often about our smash hit Netflix series, Not the Retiring Kind. It features a group of shady sexagenarians  us!  who solve murder mysteries as they hike. Netflix doesnt know about the series yet. We havent written anything, is one stumbling block. Were light on plot, too, preferring to imagine the movie stars who will portray us.

The selling point of the show is our characters superpowers. We dont swing from spiderwebs; our shoulders dislocate thinking about it. Our secret weapon is our long-life experience. Archibald Mandimple, for example, is a seasoned psychiatrist who uses his feel-good dispensary to sedate or possibly kill our pursuers. The superpower of my character  Mercedes Takamura, retired judge rocketed to fame with her smash-hit memoir, Judge Not  is to keep us and our shifty crime-solving tactics out of jail.

Which, to pivot back to packing (if I must), is where Mercedes and I belong, so manifold are our crimes against sensible luggage.

Im not the only challenged packer in our group. Based on the emails preceding our upcoming trip, I can safely say that packing is not a superpower most of us share. When were jetting from one exotic location to the next for Not the Retiring Kind, someone else will be filling the suitcases. Itll be in the contract.

My packing has begun, announced a fellow hiker, kicking off the conversation. This was one full month before departure date, a new record for packing preparedness.

If any of you have the time or inclination to fill in the details on the attached Packing Guidance Chart, I would be very appreciative, emailed another. I feel every inch and ounce of packing has to be right. This might also be a handy checklist for future trips?

Attached to her email was a graph of 31 necessities, under the headings Quantity, Items and Details. Great idea! responded a third, perhaps not surprisingly for someone who once forgot to pack any underwear.

My own packing history violates the fundamental principle of a good story. It has no arc. I packed big when I was 17, lugging an oversized backpack around Europe. I packed big when I was 40, endlessly loading my family of four into the car for weekend escapes, like The Last of Us With All Our Stuff.

And Im packing big for this trip. My Stonehenge monolith of a suitcase measures 23 by 28 inches and weighs 12 pounds even before I put anything in it. The nerve-wracking uncertainty of travelling in spring, when it could sleet one day and blaze hot the next, as well as the need for two different kinds of clothing and footwear (one for hiking and the other for dining at night), means my luggage is big inside and out. By every measure it violates the Golden Rule of air travel in 2023: Carry-on, good; checked luggage, very, very bad.

The debate over carry-on versus checked is not new. Mostly its been based on practical criteria: ease of movement versus more clothing options, efficiency versus variety. After last year, when 1.5 million checked bags were lost, late or damaged, according to a U.S. Department of Transportation  more than double the number in 2021  carry-on won the debate hands-down. (Canada didnt keep stats.) But again, that was based on experiential criteria, not existential.

Sure, theres always been a bit of judginess around travelling heavy. In 1755 Samuel Johnsons A Dictionary of the English Language defined luggage as anything of more bulk than value. The term emotional baggage popped into the lexicon in the 1950s and gave the big suitcase another knock; too much luggage became associated with the fathomless burden of Mummy loving Timmy more than me.

Its harder to put a date on precisely when carry-on became a morally superior lifestyle, though. Or how packing with the strictness of an astronaut and their six-month supply of freeze-dried pork chops became aspirational.

Traveling with fewer things creates room for more experiences, write the Minimalists Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus, the most successful duo in a vast cast of minimal-packer preachers. The two of them actually are Netflix stars, with their Emmy-nominated documentary The Minimalists: Less Is Now, and theyre also bloggers, podcasters and New York Times-bestselling authors. Theyve launched their own duffel bag, the Pakt One  packed with everything you need and nothing you dont. NBC, BBC, NPR, Harvard, Apple, Google!  theyve all covered Millburn and Nicodemuss story of helping millions of people live meaningfully with less.

I gave it a spin. On my first trip, post-COVID shutdown, I went light to Paris. If joy is a destination, then you have already arrived, advised The Minimalists. (The word joy has been colonized by the under-packer movement.) I considered the pretty blue dress in my suitcase  imagining the possibilities it opened for who I wanted to be on this trip  and decided it was non-essential. I gleefully discarded soaps and socks from my little backpack on wheels.

My joy lessened when I read the fine print: Air France restrictions for international carry-on are even stricter than other airlines, meaning out went the electric toothbrush and the beaded necklace. (Counting every ounce is another hallmark of the under-packer.) The joy became more elusive still when there was no overhead space for miles around my seat on the plane, necessitating lugging my bag from one end of the Boeing 787 to the other.

The drawbacks of carry-on didnt ruin my trip. It was Paris, after all. But it kicked it off with a harried, rule-bound mindset that was counter to my idea of joyous travel.

A couple of weeks after I got home, Marie Kondo, world-famous Goddess of Spareness, told the Washington Post she had kind of given up on the life-changing magic of less stuff after the birth of her third child. Now I realize what is important to me is enjoying spending time with my children.

Im happy for Kondo. And also: Big suitcase back in business!

This time out, my checked bag will almost certainly contain more than I need for my holiday. Im hoping not to overdo it. Franklins lost expedition of 1845 died hauling three years worth of canned soup across the merciless Arctic. The English countryside should be more forgiving, but Id rather not go A-fib lifting 50 pounds up and down the stairs of our bed-and-breakfasts.

As I pack, each item I add and subtract will be a kind of thought experiment. Travel is about discovery, after all, of a new place, an expanded way of thinking, and the next version of who you might yet become. Ill make concessions to the under-packers; the rain pants are ugly anyway. But I might throw in an unexpected paisley shawl for nights when the sea breeze gets cool, because it makes me imagine Virginia Woolf having dinner with her friends in her Cornwall cottage.

I think my fellow hikers had it right after all. Why not start to pack a month before you go, giving yourself time to visualize not just your trip, but how you want to feel on it? Why not send a helpful list to your companions, thinking not only of yourself but of their needs, too? The extreme under-packer movement at its core believes that we are self-sufficient, that all we need is ourselves. But nobody needs just themselves.

No one is useless in this world who lightens the burden of it to anyone else, Charles Dickens put it in Doctor Marigold, uncharacteristically simply. We carry the load of our life burden, and it can be messy, as Marie Kondo discovered.

Shes got some good packing tips, though. Im going to try her rolled-and-stacked-upright method this time. The better to see my manifold choices at a glance.

Cathrin Bradbury is a Toronto-based journalist and freelance contributor for the Star, and author of The Bright Side, published by Penguin Random House. You can reach her at McBradbury@gmail.com

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ISLAMABAD (AP)  Pakistans former Prime Minister Imran Khan left a high court in Islamabad on Friday after being granted broad protection from arrest in multiple legal cases against him. The ruling struck a blow to the government in a stand-off that has sparked days of rioting by Khans followers and raised the specter of widespread unrest in the country.

After the court granted him bail, Khan spent hours more in the building, as he and his legal team were locked in apparent negotiations over his exit from the site.

As he headed to his home in the eastern city of Lahore, Khan put out a video statement from his vehicle saying the Islamabad police tried to keep him within the courthouse through different tactics, and authorities allowed him to travel only when he threatened to tell the public he was being held there against his will.

He arrived at his home in the early hours of Saturday morning and was greeted by thousands of supporters, who danced, distributed sweets, set off fireworks and showered his car with rose petals in celebration of his release.

Security was extremely tight around the court ahead of Khans departure as authorities expressed concerns for the former leaders safety. In the evening, shots were heard in the area of the courthouse. Police were investigating who opened fire, the interior minister said. Clashes between his supporters and police have periodically erupted outside the building.

The long list of around 100 court cases, on charges ranging from fomenting violence to corruption, still stands against Khan. But the weeks turmoil illustrated the danger of moving against him. After he was abruptly arrested on Tuesday, widescale protests erupted, turning into clashes with police and mob attacks on government buildings and even military installations.

The courts ruling was a victory for Khan, and averted any new arrest for the time being. The Islamabad High Court gave him protection for two weeks on one graft charge and protection until Monday on a host of other charges in a measure called anticipatory bail. The protections in each case can be extended, but it was not immediately clear if that meant a new court hearing on Monday.

The charismatic 70-year-old Khan, a former cricket star turned Islamist politician, has a broad base of support around Pakistan, presenting himself as an outsider victimized by the military and the political dynasties that have long run Pakistan. Opponents, meanwhile, call him a corrupt demagogue stirring his followers into violence. He was removed as prime minister in April last year in a vote of no-confidence by Parliament.

Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan, who is not related to the former prime minister, told independent GEO television that the government will respect the court order. He said he could not say whether another attempt would be made to arrest Khan in the coming days but said all those involved in violence will not be spared prosecution.

When asked by reporters in the court building whether he could be arrested despite the rulings, Khan replied, So who will control my people if I am arrested? He said he had not been aware of the violence that followed his arrest until Thursday.

Fridays broad rulings were unusual, fueling government complaints that the judiciary was biased in favor of the former prime minister.

This is judicial activism and politicizing of the judiciary, legal expert Arfan Qadir told The Associated Press, calling the rulings unprecedented. Such decisions will continue to come until the supremacy of the Parliament is ensured.

The standoff threatens to open a deeper vein of turmoil in a country that has seen multiple military takeovers and bouts of violence. The unrest has echoed what followed the 2007 assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto during an election rally. Her supporters at the time, outraged by her killing, rampaged for days across Pakistan.

It was not clear what prompted Tuesdays arrest of Khan, who had been free despite the multiple cases against him since he was ousted from office.

Whatever the reason, it was startlingly heavy-handed: Agents from the National Accountability Bureau burst into the Islamabad High Court where Khan was attending a session on other charges  the same court where he appeared Friday  and dragged him away, putting him into an armored vehicle.

The response from his followers was swift. Protesters clashed with police, burned vehicles and looted shops in various parts of the country. Mobs attacked the headquarters of the military in Rawalpindi and ransacked and burned the residence of a top general in Lahore, Pakistans second largest city, along with attacks on other military and government buildings.

The violence left at least 10 Khan supporters dead. Dozens of protesters and more than 200 police officers were injured. The government responded with a crackdown, arresting nearly 3,000 people. During Fridays court hearing, Khan supporters set fire to a police vehicle nearby when security forces wouldnt let them approach the building.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court ruled that Khans arrest was unlawful and asked the Islamabad High Court to review its own previous decision allowing the arrest. In the meantime, Khan was released from custody and spent the night under security forces protection in a government rest house.

Fazalur Rehman, the head of the ruling coalition parties, said its supporters would stage a sit-in Monday outside the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court and Islamabad High Court have given protection to a corrupt person, he told a news conference.

Speaking earlier at a special Cabinet meeting Friday, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif said there was a genuine corruption case against Khan, but the judiciary has become a stone wall protecting him.

The various cases against Khan include allegations that he incited violence and threatened police and government officials. A new terrorism charge was filed against him Thursday for allegedly inciting his followers to violence after his arrest.

He also faces at least three graft cases, including accusations from the National Accountability Bureau that he accepted millions of dollars worth of property in exchange for providing benefits to a real estate tycoon.

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JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP)  U.S. Army Chief of Staff James McConville met with Indonesias top defense official on Friday to push for stronger security ties amid growing Chinese maritime activity in the Indo-Pacific region.

McConville said he and Indonesian Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto discussed ways to deepen cooperation, including enhanced military exercises between the countries.

We have many friends in the region, and we work closely together. We all share the same interests for the region: peace, security, stability, McConville said. Thats why we work together on maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific for everyone.

Subianto said the promotion and maintenance of peace and stability in the region is our common concern, but stressed Indonesias neutral stance, saying it wants to maintain relationships with all nations, especially all the major powers.

McConville arrived in Jakarta late Thursday from the Philippines, which is locked in an ongoing dispute with China over territory in the South China Sea. His visit there followed joint U.S.-Philippine war drills last month that antagonized Beijing.

On Thursday, leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations met in Indonesia for a summit at which territorial disputes in the South China Sea were high on the agenda. China claims virtually all of the sea, which is also claimed in part by Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.

The South China Sea is home to vital shipping lanes, plentiful fish stocks and undersea mineral resources. China and ASEAN have made little headway in finalizing a code of conduct to avoid conflicts in the area.

The ASEAN leaders renewed a call for self-restraint in the disputes to avoid miscalculations and confrontations, repeating language used in previous ASEAN statements.

While Chinas influence and military strength in the region are growing rapidly, the U.S. remains the dominant military power. Washington has a security alliance with the Philippines and strong relations with several other ASEAN members.

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GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP)  Israeli airstrikes killed a senior militant commander in the Gaza Strip and Palestinian militants fired rockets toward Jerusalem on Friday, further escalating the most violent flare-up in months despite efforts to broker a cease-fire.

An Israeli airstrike killed two Palestinians in a residential building in Gaza City in the afternoon, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

The Israeli military said it had targeted a senior commander of the Islamic Jihad movement. The Islamic Jihad confirmed that the airstrike killed Iyad Al-Hassani, a member of the decision-making council in the groups armed wing. He is the sixth senior Islamic Jihad member to be killed in this round of fighting.

Earlier in the day, bursts of rocket fire from Gaza sent warning sirens wailing as far north as the contested capital of Jerusalem  about 48 miles (77 kilometers) from the Gaza border  breaking a 12-hour lull that had raised hopes regional powers could soon broker a truce.

The fighting, which started on Tuesday, between Israel and Islamic Jihad  the second-largest militant group in Gaza after the territorys Hamas rulers  has killed at least 33 Palestinians in the strip, including women and children, and an 80-year-old woman in central Israel, identified in Israeli media as Inga Avramian.

As Islamic Jihad stepped up its longer-range rocket attacks, a projectile slammed into an open field in the Israeli settlement of Bat Ayin, south of Jerusalem, said Josh Hasten, a spokesperson for the area. Residents in nearby Israeli settlements reported hearing explosions. Dull thuds could be heard inside Jerusalem, home to major sites holy to Christianity, Judaism and Islam.

The bombing of Jerusalem sends a message, Islamic Jihad said in a statement. What is happening in Jerusalem is not separate from Gaza.

In response, the Israeli warplanes struck Islamic Jihad military posts and mortar shell launchers across the Gaza Strip, the military said.

The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was conducting a security assessment to mount a further response. We continue, he tweeted.

The Israeli military urged residents living within 40 kilometers (25 miles) of the Gaza boundary to remain close to bomb shelters and limit public gatherings until Saturday evening. All big events, including the weekly Saturday protest against the governments divisive plans to overhaul the judiciary, were cancelled.

The sirens wailing near Jerusalem on Friday took some back to the spring of 2021, when Hamas fired rockets toward the city, which helped set off a bloody 11-day Gaza war. At that time, the militant group cited a provocative far-right march through the Palestinian neighborhoods of Jerusalem as one of the reasons for its rocket barrage, along with the displacement of Palestinians from the citys east.

Israeli police said they will allow the same Jewish ultranationalist parade  meant to celebrate Israels capture of east Jerusalem  to take place next Thursday.

Since Tuesday, Israeli strikes have killed five senior Islamic Jihad figures and hit at least 215 targets in Gaza, including rocket launch sites and militants preparing to use them. Islamic Jihad has retaliated with over 900 rockets fired toward densely populated parts of Israel.

Israeli bombs and shells have destroyed 47 housing units, and damaged 19 so badly they were uninhabitable, leaving 165 Palestinians homeless, Gazas housing ministry reported. In addition, nearly 300 homes sustained some damage.

Palestinians on Friday surveyed the wreckage from the fighting.

The dream that we built for our children, for our sons, has ended, said Belal Bashir, a Palestinian living in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, whose family home was reduced to a heap of rubble in an airstrike late Thursday. He, his young daughters and two-week-old son would have been killed in the thundering explosion if they hadnt ran outside when they heard shouting, he said.

We were shocked that our house was targeted, he added as he pulled his childrens dolls and blankets from a gaping bomb crater.

The Palestinian dead included six children and four women, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. Two of the children were killed by suspected misfired Palestinian rockets, according to the Israeli military and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights. Over 100 Palestinians have been wounded.

The civilians deaths have drawn condemnation from the Arab world and concern from the United States and Europe. In its past four wars against Hamas, Israel has repeatedly faced accusations of war crimes due to the high civilian death tolls and its use of heavy weapons against the crowded enclave. Israel, in turn, contends that Palestinian militant groups use civilians as human shields by fighting in their midst.

Confrontations between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza have recurred 15 times since Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007. The repeated Israeli bombing campaigns have cast doubt on Netanyahus claims of victory and raised serious questions about what the grim routine achieves.

If the operations were really all that successful, we wouldnt need them once a year on average, with the time between them becoming shorter, Amos Harel, the defense affairs commentator for the Haaretz newspaper, wrote in an analysis Friday. The simple truth is that Israel has no concrete solution for the plight of Gaza or for the security dangers that emanate from the strip.

Hamas, the de facto civilian government, has sought to maintain its truce with Israel while attempting to keep abysmal living conditions in the blockaded enclave from spiraling since the devastating 2021 war that killed over 260 Palestinians. The group has sat out this round of fighting  as it did a similar burst of violence last summer. In a sign of restraint, Israel has limited its airstrikes to Islamic Jihad targets.

Israeli officials and Islamic Jihad figures have sent mixed signals about negotiations for a cease-fire that neighboring Egypt has pushed for. Senior official Ihsan Attaya complained early Friday that the mediators have been unable to provide us with any guarantees. A sticking point has been Islamic Jihads demands that Israel cease its policy of targeted killings, Attaya said.

This week's battles began when Israel launched simultaneous airstrikes that killed three Islamic Jihad commanders along with some of their wives and children as they slept in their homes. Israel said it was retaliating for a barrage of rocket fire launched last week by Islamic Jihad following the death of one of its West Bank members, Khader Adnan, from an 87-day hunger strike while in Israeli custody.

The airstrikes and rockets have shifted the focus of long-running conflict back to Gaza after months of surging violence in the occupied West Bank under Israels most right-wing government in history.

___

DeBre reported from Jerusalem

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BOISE, Idaho (AP)  Idaho mother Lori Vallow Daybell was convicted Friday in the murders of her two youngest children and a romantic rival, a verdict that culminates a three-year investigation that included bizarre claims that her son and daughter were zombies and she was a goddess sent to usher in the Biblical apocalypse.

For the victims family members, the verdict is only a temporary balm: Vallow Daybell must be sentenced, and her fifth husband, Chad Daybell, is awaiting trial on the same murder charges. Vallow Daybell herself is also facing another murder trial in Arizona  this one on a charge of conspiring to kill her fourth husband, Charles Vallow.

This isnt the end. Ninety days from today, we will be in Fremont County for Vallow Daybells sentencing, said Larry Woodcock, the grandfather of the youngest victim. And I will say, Why, Lori? Why?

Prosecutors in the case described Vallow Daybell as a power-hungry manipulator who would kill her two youngest children for money, while the defense team said she was a normally protective mother who fell under the romantic sway of a wannabe cult leader.

The jurors sided with the prosecution, convicting Vallow Daybell of conspiring to commit the murders of 7-year-old Joshua JJ Vallow, 16-year-old Tylee Ryan, and Tammy Daybell. She was also convicted of grand theft as well as first-degree murder of the two children, a charge that indicates a more direct role in the crimes.

JJs grandparents, Larry and Kay Woodcock, held an emotional news conference after the conviction. When they first stepped outside court, the crowd of onlookers who had gathered to support the family and watch the verdict cheered. Some began singing, We Will Rock You  JJs favorite song.

JJ, I love you. Papa wishes you were here, Larry Woodcock said, choking up as he used the name JJ used to call him. Tylee, Papa loves you. Tammy, I never met you, but you are part of our life. I am sorry for what happened.

Asked if he had a message for Vallow Daybell, Woodcock recited the lyrics to a Willie Nelson song.

Turn off the lights, the partys over. They say that all good things must end, he sang, before returning to speaking. Lori, it ended.

He also thanked the jurors, noting that the graphic evidence they had to view was mindboggling, and something that could never be unseen.

The Tammy Douglas Daybell Foundation, created by her family members a year after her death, wrote in a press release that the verdict would bring some measure of closure for everyone. Tammy Daybell was a school librarian, and the foundation works to raise money for libraries and literacy programs in Idaho and Utah.

We love you Tammy. You will never be forgotten, the foundation wrote in a Twitter post. The road is long, but were grateful this chapter is closed.

Prosecutors said they were not able to comment on the verdict because of pending charges against Chad Daybell. In a statement, they thanked jurors for their service and said they remain committed to pursuing justice for Tylee Ryan, JJ Vallow and Tammy Daybell.

Vallow Daybell wanted the victims money, so she used sex and power to manipulate her brother and her lover into carrying out the crimes, Madison County Prosecutor Rob Wood told jurors during closing arguments.

 Money, power and sex, Wood said, reprising the arguments his team made at the start of the trial. He claimed Vallow Daybell considered the three victims nothing more than obstacles to her goals.

What does justice for these victims require? It requires a conviction on each and every count, Wood said.

Defense attorney Jim Archibald countered that there was no evidence tying his client to the killings, but plenty showing she was a loving, protective mother whose life took a sharp turn when she met her fifth husband, Chad Daybell, and fell for the weird apocalyptic religious claims of a cult leader. He suggested that Daybell and Vallow Daybells brother, Alex Cox, were responsible for the deaths.

Daybell told her they had been married in several previous lives and she was a sexual goddess who was supposed to help him save the world by gathering 144,000 followers so Jesus could return, Archibald said.

At times, the testimony in the case has been heartbreaking  such as when Vallow Daybells only surviving child, Colby Ryan, accused her of murdering his siblings in a recorded jailhouse phone call.

Other testimony has been strange, such as when Vallow Daybells former friend Melanie Gibb testified that Vallow Daybell believed people in her life had been taken over by evil spirits and turned into zombies  including JJ and Tylee. Four of the people the defendant described as zombies were later killed or shot at, according to the testimony.

It has also been gruesome, such as when law enforcement officers testified about finding JJ and Tylees remains buried in Chad Daybells yard.

Tylees body was burned beyond recognition. Her body was dismembered in such a grotesque and extreme manner, that the medical examiner couldnt determine the cause of death, Wood said.

JJ Vallows voice was silenced forever by a strip of duct tape over his mouth, Wood said. A white plastic bag was placed over his head, and secured with duct tape around and around from his forehead to his chin.

Tammy Daybells death was first reported as being from natural causes, after Chad Daybell told authorities she died in her sleep and had recently been coughing, vomiting and suffering occasional shaking fits. Investigators grew suspicious when Chad Daybell married Vallow Daybell just two weeks later, and eventually they had Tammy Daybells remains exhumed. An autopsy showed she was asphyxiated.

The case began in July 2019, when Vallow Daybells then-husband, Charles Vallow, was shot and killed by her brother, Alex Cox, at his home in a Phoenix suburb. The husband and wife were estranged, and Cox told police he acted in self defense. He was never charged in the case and died later that year of what authorities determined were natural causes.

Vallow Daybell was already in a relationship with Chad Daybell, and so moved to Idaho with her kids and brother to be closer to him.

The children were last seen alive in September of 2019. Police discovered they were missing a month later after an extended family member became worried. Their bodies were found the following summer.

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Universities are currently in the national security spotlight, but recent coverage has forgotten the unique position that institutions are in when it comes to protecting Canadas national interests.

We are mandated to pursue and transmit knowledge and develop breakthroughs in strategic research areas, which strengthen the Canadian economy. Additionally, we are charged with making sure that same knowledge does not end up in the hands of foreign actors who might use it against Canadians or work against Canadian prosperity.

The world has changed. The geopolitical threat environment is now more complex and is technologically enabled.

So how do we move forward to pursue safe and productive international research relationships in the current geopolitical context?

We develop strategies to proactively safeguard research in keeping with the National Security Guidelines for Research Partnerships, established by the federal government in 2021 and evolve to ever-changing updates and directions. The guidelines provide clarity on which areas of science are considered sensitive and subject to risk.

We build internal capacity around the issue of research security by hiring personnel with experience doing the work of safeguarding science. At The University of Waterloo, in June 2022, we hired a director of research security  a first for a Canadian university. The role is designed specifically to be a liaison between our institution, our researchers and both levels of government in developing and implementing research security provisions and programs.

We engage with our researchers and staff to help them understand how their work may be vulnerable to foreign interference while also mitigating the risk inherent in some of the cutting-edge research theyre doing.

We obtain more information about risk from national security agencies. A transparent and predictable relationship between all stakeholders is the only way to protect Canadians from foreign threats. This is precisely why Waterloo recently sent a memo to many members of our campus community to inform them of their rights when it comes to interactions with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. More information about risk and foreign state intentions needs to be conveyed to universities through a comprehensive dialogue to safeguard research in an inclusive and productive manner.

A critical element here is to ensure we uphold our principles to diversity, inclusion and anti-racism.

We work with other universities to establish sector-wide best practices around international research collaboration that can inform this critical portfolio. Right now, Waterloos leaders are working with the Council of Ontario Universities, Universities Canada and the U15 Group of Canadian Research Universities to develop a standard set of principles and best practices for safeguarding the scientific endeavour and our national security and prosperity.

Moving forward, universities need to be more deliberate about security precautions and they must continue to promote the principles of transparency, predictability, academic freedom, equity and the norms of open science.

Governments and the national security community must understand that many people on the receiving end of their attention of late feel targeted because of their race. Much more consideration for inclusivity must be infused into this conversation to ensure that all researchers can pursue scientific knowledge without fear of being targeted because of their ethnicity.

And finally, Canadian business leaders need to step up to support funding investments in these sensitive research areas to keep Canada at the leading edge of development and training.

Now is a time for Canadian businesses and governments to support critical research  as our country and economy will benefit from the breakthroughs.

Vivek Goel is president of the University of Waterloo.

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A few days ago with the Alberta election campaign in full swing, a 2021 video resurfaced in which Premier Danielle Smith drew a parallel between the 75 per cent of Albertans who had been vaccinated against COVID-19 and followers of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler.

As expected the political fallout was swift and critical. Rachel Notely the NDP leader call her remarks horrifying,

Amazingly, that had not been the first time Smith had made such uninformed and hurtful comments. During her short seven months as premier she suggested that forcing MRNA COVID vaccines on the public was  as if the Nuremberg trials never happened. Yes, the same trials in which Nazi doctors, who engaged in brutal and deadly forced medical experiments on innocent Jews, were brought to justice.

For me these comparisons are mind boggling but sadly not surprising.

The unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany in 1945 marked the end of the wilful mass murder of 6 million Jews, among them 1.5 million Jewish children. They were gassed and shot. They were starved and beaten. They were drowned and burned. And all of this happened for no reason other than that they were Jews.

And lest we forget the millions of other Poles, Russians, Latvians, and so many others that the Nazis deemed unworthy of life relegated to slave labour where countless suffered and were murdered in inhumane conditions.

Following what has become known as the Holocaust there were plaintive exhortations of grief from much of the rest of the world. The grief muted antisemitism for a short time but shockingly it did not take long for antisemites to consider how to rehabilitate Nazism, how to whitewash the genocide.

Holocaust denial. It took some time. We heard whispers post war but they were quickly silenced. After all, the Nazis excelled in keeping documents. Everything was documented from the 22,000 pounds of poisonous zyklon B gas needed for the death camp gas chambers to the hair shorn from Jewish victims to make socks for submarine crews and to manufacture felt stockings for German railroad workers.

There were survivors to contend with, eyewitness testimony, there were photographs and graphic newsreels and lets not forget the death camps themselves, some like Treblinka were razed by the Nazis as they knew the war was ending while others like Majdanek, Chelmno, Auschwitz remained intact with the smell of murder to this very day.

Yet the whispers grew louder. Canada near the end of the 20th century became notorious thanks to one Ernst Zundel, a German national living in Toronto as the Holocaust denial capital of the world. Zundel distributed and published more Holocaust denial books and magazines than anyone on earth.

It took legal action, education and remembrance to dampen the fires of Holocaust denial. And yet we still hear its ugly voice in 2023. Holocaust denial one of the ultimate in conspiracy theories remains the knife point and cutting edge of antisemitism to this day.

But Jew haters required something a bit more sophisticated to cast doubt on the genocide. Outright denial given the mountain of evidence was too much to take root.

Along came a new 21st century idea; Holocaust distortion, minimization and trivialization. This was a tactic that antisemites can use that would not outright deny the genocide but create doubt by misrepresenting facts, trivializing its impact by comparing what was done to Jewish victims to let us say, those who oppose COVID vaccines. After all, if COVID mandates and anti-vaxxers were being treated just like the Jews during the Holocaust how bad could it really have been?

And Holocaust distortion had an added benefit, you neednt be an antisemite to engage. Indeed, Danielle Smith went out of her way to sincerely apologize for her actions. While acknowledging that she always stood against COVID vaccines she walked back her earlier comments claiming that she was always a friend to the Jewish community, and that the horrors of the Holocaust are without precedent, and no one should make any modern-day comparisons that minimize the experience of the Holocaust and suffering under Hitler 

Smith is unfortunately one of too many who have tried to use the Jewish tragedy to buttress political goals. It needs to stop.

Im reminded of a scene at the beginning of Schindlers List, in which a history teacher is told that he is not an essential worker. How, he wonders, can history not be essential?

Bernie M. Farber is chair of the Canadian AntiHate Network and the son of a Holocaust survivor.

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We need to talk about John Tory.

Thats because a second major poll shows Tory, who resigned in February as Toronto mayor, would win the current byelection to fill his job in a landslide if he wanted his old gig back.

How is it that the polls show Tory, who quit after admitting to having an affair with a female staff member, would crush all the candidates seeking to replace him  even though he has expressed zero interest in entering the byelection?

More importantly, what does it say about the current crop of candidates?

A Forum Research poll released this week indicated that if he were running Tory would be the top choice for mayor with 42 per cent of decided and leaning voters, followed by Olivia Chow backed by 21 per cent. No other candidate received more than 9 per cent of support.

Tory held massive leads in every category  gender, age, income and location  over all the contenders for his old job, including Chow. An earlier Forum poll showed similar results. The latest Forum poll of 2,000 Torontonians was conducted on May 6 and 7.

Despite resigning, John Tory maintains significant popularity among voters, said Lorne Bozinoff, president of Forum Research. Torontonians seem to be open to his return to the position of mayor.

Without Torys name in the survey, Chow was the current front-runner with 33 per cent of decided and leaning voters, followed by councillor Josh Matlow and former police chief Mark Saunders with 14 per cent. Grouped around 7 per cent were Liberal MPP Mitzie Hunter, former city councillor Ana Bailao and councillor Brad Bradford.

What the latest poll shows is that none of the current mayoral candidates are seen in the same class as Tory.

All have major drawbacks that could be turning voters off, according to two former city politicians with ties to the Liberal and New Democrat parties.

As they see it, Chow has been out of elected politics for a long time. She last served on Toronto council in 2005 and resigned as a federal MP nine years ago to run and lose in the 2014 mayors race. Matlow is considered to be difficult to work with by other councillors. Bailao is seen as someone who quit city government when she didnt run in last Novembers municipal election and now wants back in only if she can have the top job. Saunders is seen by many as Premier Doug Fords guy.

In short, none has caught the imagination of voters in what so far has been an election with little voter interest or enthusiasm. Thats why Tory remains the top choice for so many Torontonians.

For his part, Tory has made it clear that hes moving on.

He told the Stars Rosie DiManno several days ago in London where he was visiting his younger brother Michael that he has no plans to run again.

A lot of people have been coming to me. But I have been consulting absolutely no one, he told Dimanno. I was sincere in what I said about wanting to fix my family  After what happened, the best thing I can do is put my head down and focus on my family, which Im doing.

A person who knows him well said Tory tried to resign in an honourable way, but was feeling very down at the time. He was pleased with the progress he made as mayor on a number of fronts, especially in what he saw as bringing the city itself together, albeit not perfectly, and making every person and every community feel they mattered. While Tory wont enter the race, theres no stopping voters for launching a write-in campaign.

If they did, I bet Tory would finish ahead of almost all of the 80 some candidates  and possibly even ahead of some of the so-called major contenders.

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VANCOUVER - A British Columbia Supreme Court judge ruling on a First Nations land title lawsuit says it did not prove it had rights to its entire claim area, although he suggested it may be time for the provincial government to rethink its current test for such titles.

The Nuchatlaht First Nation, a community on Vancouver Islands northwest coast, wanted title over an area of Crown land that included a portion of Nootka Island and much of the surrounding coastline.

Justice Elliott Myers said in his decision issued Thursday that there may be areas the nation can establish in its claim, but if it wants to do that another hearing would be required.

I stress that I am not prejudging any of the issues or whether a pleading amendment would be necessary, he said in the decision. I am merely leaving it open to the plaintiff to come back before me to canvass these issues should it wish to do so.

Hes given the nation 14 days to decide if it wishes to proceed on the further claims.

The nation said in a statement issued Friday that it was celebrating the judges finding that it has Aboriginal title within its territory, while its disappointed it has been asked to return to court to identify just where that title is.

Nuchatlaht were victorious on nearly every point at issue in the trial, pushing the state of the law forward, the statement said.

It said it would return to the court to identify the locations of its title and will apply to the B.C. Court of Appeal over the decision to deny awarding the entire claim area.

We need to take this victory and continue fighting for recognition of our rights, Nuchatlaht Councillor Mellissa Jack said in the statement.

The court heard the Nuchatlaht moved to a village on Nootka Island in the 1780s and they say they occupied the area in 1846, when the Crown resolved boundary disputes with the United States and claimed sovereignty over what is now British Columbia.

However, the province denies the Nuchatlaht occupied all of the territory it was claiming.

In the lawsuit filed in 2017, the nation argued that the B.C. and federal governments denied Nuchatlaht rights by authorizing logging and effectively dispossessing the nation of territory.

The B.C. government said the Nuchatlaht did not hold Aboriginal title over the entire 230-square-kilometre area, and said it has met its obligations under agreements with the nation related to forest resources.

Myers said in his decision that the case demonstrates the peculiar difficulties of a coastal Aboriginal group meeting the current test for Aboriginal title, given the marine orientation of the culture.

For example, he said it is difficult to prove the nation had used the land because they primarily travelled by canoe, so there were no established trails between coastal locations.

He wrote that this case may be indicative of the need for a reconsideration of the test for Aboriginal title as it relates to coastal First Nations.

That would be for a higher court to determine, the decision said.

Premier David Eby said the province is looking at the decision to determine how to move forward from it.

Our relationship with coastal First Nations remains critically important as we work together in partnership, he told an unrelated news conference Friday.

At this point, weve only just received (the ruling), but we know our work has to continue with Indigenous people, and in particular with coastal First Nations going forward.

The land claim was the first to be heard since B.C. passed legislation in 2019 to align its laws with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

It was also the first case since the landmark 2014 Tsilhqotin Aboriginal title decision by the Supreme Court of Canada, which recognized the Tsilhqotin Nations rights and title over a swath of its traditional territory in B.C.s central Interior, not only to historic village sites.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 12, 2023.

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KYODO NEWS - May 12, 2023 - 22:05 | All, Japan

The total net profit of listed companies in Japan increased 7.4 percent to 29.3 trillion yen for fiscal 2022, driven by gains in trading houses on the back of a weaker yen and rising prices of natural resources, a tally by a securities firm showed Friday.

The figure is based on earnings results of 754 companies released by Thursday, accounting for 52.6 percent of about 1,400 Japan's major firms surveyed by SMBC Nikko Securities Inc.

The net profit at nonmanufacturers, excluding financial companies, jumped 22.0 percent to 12.82 trillion yen thanks to robust performance in wholesale and inbound tourism sectors.

The nonmanufacturers also excluded SoftBank Group Corp., an investment giant which logged a net loss of more than 900 billion yen.

The wholesale industry, including trading houses, was a bright spot, with its profit up 19.1 percent to 5.04 trillion yen, while the government's relaxation of COVID-19 measures increased by about 15-fold the net profit in the land transportation sector to 952.9 billion yen.

The air transportation sector returned to the black with a net profit of 127.9 billion yen, helped by an increase in travelers to Japan.

In contrast, the utility sector fell into the red, logging a net loss of 63.2 billion yen due to soaring energy prices.

Manufacturers, meanwhile, saw their net profit fall 5.5 percent to 16.27 trillion yen as rising material prices triggered by the war in Ukraine took a toll.

The net profit for the transportation equipment sector, including automakers, was down 4.7 percent to 4.39 trillion yen.

Electric appliance companies posted a total net profit of 4.74 trillion yen, down 3.1 percent, while food companies also saw a nearly 20 percent fall in profit.

Fifteen out of a total of 33 industries booked either a fall in profit or net loss, the tally showed. The 15 included 10 manufacturers.

Hikaru Yasuda, equity strategist at SMBC Nikko, said he expects Japanese companies' earnings to continue improving this fiscal year as the economy recovers from the coronavirus pandemic.

But Yasuda also warned of a potential risk amid signs of a recession in the United States. "Depending on the speed of global economic slowdown, a slump in demand may impact their earnings," he said.
OTTAWAA former Conservative cabinet minister who came within a whisper of winning leadership of that party but then quit to form his own is making another attempt at getting back into the House of Commons.

Maxime Bernier is running in the upcoming byelection in Manitobas Portage-Lisgar riding, calling his drive to return to Ottawa a new version of what the Reform Party managed to do in the late 1980s.

In announcing his candidacy Friday, he positioned his Peoples Party of Canada (PPC) as the lone fighters against a radical leftist agenda, and accused the Conservatives  who have held the riding for decades  of giving up the fight.

Whether it is gender ideology, mass immigration, climate hysteria, the cult of diversity, or abortion, the CPC (Conservative Party of Canada) has refused to fight the necessary cultural battles, he said.

They are too scared of negative coverage from the mainstream media and being called bigots. They have sat on their hands.

After he lost the 2017 Conservative leadership race to Andrew Scheer by 1.9 percentage points, Bernier broke with the party, accusing them of being morally and intellectually corrupt.

He set up the Peoples Party as an alternative, with promises including an end to corporate subsidies for business, a massive reduction in immigration, and slashing foreign aid and multiculturalism funding.

His anti-establishment rhetoric also attracted attention from alt-right groups, and heading into the 2019 general election, a slew of organizers quit over concern the party was being ideologically hijacked by racist and xenophobic ideas.

Bernier has denied those allegations.

COVID injected new energy

Still, he failed to win his own Quebec seat of Beauce in that election, raising questions about whether his party truly had enough momentum to keep going.

Then came the COVID-19 pandemic.

As he told the Star in an interview ahead of the 2021 general election, suddenly his calls for freedoms had new resonance among voters who were chafing under COVID-19 public health guidelines and vaccine mandates.

Bernier himself was arrested at one point for violating the rules in Manitoba.

Nationally, the Peoples Party tripled their vote share, going from 1.62 per cent in 2019 to 4.94 per cent in 2021.

But in Portage-Lisgar, the jump was much higher: 2.6 per cent in 2019 to 21.58 in 2021.

Still, the Conservatives did win the riding with 52 per cent of the vote. Incumbent Candice Bergen resigned in February, triggering the byelection.

Since the Conservative party was formed in 2004, it has held the riding. Before that, it was held by the Canadian Alliance. And before that  the Reform Party.

The upstart political movement was started by Preston Manning in 1987 as a response to emerging sentiment the West was being cut out of decisions being made in Ottawa. There were also concerns that the existing Progressive Conservatives had cut out the more socially conservative supporters in their party.

In the 1988 election, Reform captured two per cent of the vote. Then, Deborah Grey won the Reform Partys first seat in Parliament in a byelection in 1989.

In the next general election, Reformers captured 53 seats.

Bernier drew a direct parallel between what Manning was able to do and what he thinks the Peoples Party can achieve.

All the populist conservative Reform Party needed was a foothold into Parliament, a single seat and then the floodgates opened, he said.

I can tell you, we can make history and do the same with that byelection here.

Bernier and Poilievre are fighting the same war

Whether the culture battles Bernier says hes fighting have the same resonance with voters as the Western existential crisis that turned Reform into a fighting force in 1993 remains to be seen.

The current leader of the Conservatives is trying to find his own way to fight that same war.

This past week, for example, Pierre Poilievre laced into the Liberals over Canadas new passport design, calling it a reflection of their woke and out of touch ideology.

Poilievre is not cut from the same political cloth of Erin OToole, whose response on vaccine mandates is what drove his partys own voters to the Peoples Party in 2021.

In numerous ridings from coast to coast  though most acutely in Portage-Lisgar  the Conservatives saw support bleed to the Peoples Party, and in some spots it even cost them a chance to win.

But the pandemic is now in the rearview mirror and Poilievres leadership victory last year was achieved by drawing tens of thousands of disaffected voters into the party, the same anti-establishment votes courted by the Peoples Party.

The Conservative machine raised $8.3 million in the first three months of the year to keep them motivated and reach new voters, too. Bernier pulled in just under $300,000.

But Bernier suggested Poilievre will have to loosen up on the man of the people mantra he used to win the leadership race.

His goal is to have the seats in the GTA, in Toronto, and in Vancouver, Bernier said Friday.

Theres more seats in the GTA than in all Alberta. So for him to be in government, he will please these leftists and Liberals, voters in the big cities in this country. Poilievre is going to the left.

That will leave voters like those in Portage-Lisgar potentially without a voice, Bernier said.

The goal is to have a strong voice, the goal is not to change the government, he said.

We will still have Justin Trudeau after this byelection.

While the byelection has yet to be called, the Tories have also nominated their candidate, Branden Leslie.

He worked on Parliament Hill during the last Conservative government and was most recently working for the Grain Growers of Canada.

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OTTAWA - Trade Minister Mary Ng is expected to lead a trade mission to India this fall, and says it is not going to be years before Canada signs some form of trade agreement, more than a decade after negotiations began.

She made the comments at the end of a visit this week by Indian Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, who Ng noted brought leaders of large Indian businesses to Ottawa and Toronto.

Having India here  is a testament to our strong bilateral trade relationship and our commitment to keep doing this work, Ng said.

Since March 2022, the two countries have been negotiating whats called an Early Progress Trade Agreement, a deal restricted to certain industries instead of the entire economy.

The talks follow a five-year hiatus, after both countries entered negotiations in 2010 for a comprehensive deal but abandoned the plans in 2017.

In a joint statement, Ng and Goyal said they seek enhanced co-operation in the fields of agricultural goods, chemicals, green technologies, infrastructure, automotive, clean energy, electronics and minerals and metals.

Its unclear which of those fields would be part of an interim deal and which would be held off for later talks about a larger agreement, but Ng said shes not worried about Canada getting stuck in the interim phase.

This is a relationship that we are building, and that will endure, and that is very much a part of Canadas Indo-Pacific strategy, she said.

When asked whether getting the interim deal inked would take months or years, Ng said it was not going to be years.

She noted that since the formal launch of negotiations, there have been seven rounds of talks, and she said a deadline isnt needed.

If we continue at this pace, and make the continued progress that we both wish to see occur, then I think we will get there.

Industry groups have been urging Canada to push for a deal to be signed this year, but a former Canadian envoy to India, Nadir Patel, said a deadline would likely make it harder for both sides to feel like they reached a fair agreement that they actually want to use.

Putting timelines on something like this is not the most effective way at driving towards a conclusion. Because what trumps timelines really would be a desire on both sides to have a win-win agreement, said Patel, a former trade negotiator.

Im cautiously optimistic that a deal can be concluded in relatively short order, but by no means is it a fait accompli.

Patel noted that Goyal is a prominent minister in the government of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and he argued the visit can help get things back on track after the COVID-19 pandemic and elections put talks on pause.

There was clearly a priority placed on forging closer trade, economic and by extension, bilateral ties, and I think that bodes well for Canada and India, said Patel, a senior strategic adviser with Norton Rose Fulbright Canada.

He said the interim deal could lower tariffs in industries that neither side see as sensitive, as a low-hanging fruit that could stimulate more economic growth.

It would also make it clear that the two countries can rely on each other amid a push by the U.S. to limit economic exposure to China by preferring partnerships with likeminded allies  a policy called friendshoring.

Against the backdrop of friendshoring, concluding an early agreement sends a signal to business that Canada is a country that Indian companies can trade with.

He noted that the Liberals seem to be doing the right thing by increasingly meeting in person, since doing business in India requires building relationships.

The momentum is well on a strong trajectory, Patel said.

Ng is scheduled to visit India in August for a G20 trade meeting, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is widely expected to go to New Delhi the next month for the G20 leaders summit.

In October, Ng said shell lead a team Canada trade mission, which generally means a visit of business heads and provincial officials.

While leaks to media have suggested the interim trade deal was gummed up last fall on numerous fronts, Goyal told reporters Monday that teams have made significant progress in recent months.

Early completion of the Early Progress Agreement is something that will send a strong signal to the rest of the world about the strengthening relationship between these two countries, he said.

Neither minister said which sticking points remain, though India has typically protected whole industries from foreign competition, while sudden regulatory changes on agricultural imports have riled up Canadian farmers.

This weeks joint statement also notes that New Delhi wants Canadas top universities to set up campuses in India, and that the countries have relaunched a joint CEO forum.

Meanwhile, the NDP has urged Canada to be more vocal on concerns about Indias treatment of minorities. Human Rights Watch has called out Modis government for a serious regression in human rights and constitutional protections, and the NDP want a boycott of certain G20 events.

Ng said Canadians endeavour to raise really important values with their counterparts while still broadening commerce.

I think that you could stand up for human rights and Canadian values and also pursue a trade relationship with a democracy, she said.

We are both countries who respect the rule of law, and were committed to the rules-based international order.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 12, 2023.

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The first Energy Exploration Centre (E2 Centre) in Europe to run the NuScale small modular reactor (SMR) simulator was inaugurated on Friday at Politehnica University of Bucharest.

"Today we inaugurated and will inaugurate for the whole society a product that is not only aimed at a small group of people (but) for the entire society. A simulator that puts in front of students, teachers a complex activity as if we were in a nuclear power plant, being able to use all the information in a nuclear power plant. (...) This simulator is an extremely important decision not only for Politehnica University, it came with the acceptance and support of the Romanian Government," said the rector of UPB, Mihnea Costoiu.The president of Nuclearelectrica, Cosmin Ghita, said that this is a national project and represents an energy revolution."We will have more clean electricity. (...) A successful nuclear programme is not only about technology and successful technology, it is not only about software and equipment, it is about well-trained people and human resources that can make a programme successful or not," said Cosmin Ghita.Energy minister Virgil Popescu stressed the need for qualified nuclear power engineers, then added that these modular reactors are needed in order have a stable energy system."Politehnica University must become a regional hub for this type of energy centre that is here," the minister said.The E2 Centre, developed as part of the Foundational Infrastructure for Responsible Use of Small Modular Reactor Technology (FIRST) programme, a US Government initiative, will contribute to Romania's goals of becoming a leader in the safe implementation of small modular reactors in Romania and Europe, as well as a hub for education and training of SMR specialists in the region.In May 2022, Nuclearelectrica, NuScale and E-Infra, the owner of the site, signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the development of the first Small Modular Reactor (SMR) in Romania on the site of the former Doicesti Thermal Power Plant, Dambovita County.On 27 June 2022, on the occasion of the launch of the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment, presented at the G7 Leaders' Summit, US President Joe Biden announced the allocation of a USD 14 million grant for the small modular reactor development phase in Romania by NuScale - Preliminary Front-End Engineering and Design (FEED) study for the SMR project in Romania.US company NuScale Power and Romanian company RoPower Nuclear have signed the contract for Phase 1 of the Front-End Engineering and Design (FEED) work for the first small modular nuclear reactor in Romania.
ForMin Aurescu to participate in informal EU foreign ministers' meeting and EU Ministerial Forum on Indo-Pacific region.

Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu will participate on Friday in the informal Gymnich meeting of EU foreign ministers to discuss Russia's aggression against Ukraine and EU-China relations, as well as in the EU Ministerial Forum on the Indo-Pacific region, told Agerpres.

According to a Foreign Ministry (MAE) press release, at the informal meeting, which will be hosted by the Swedish Presidency of the EU Council in Stockholm, European officials will also have an informal exchange of views with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.

The head of the Romanian diplomacy will reaffirm the need for continued support for Ukraine, on multiple dimensions and will welcome, in this context, the adoption of the Council decision on the assistance measure, through the European Peace Facility, in support of the Ukrainian armed forces, says the source.

At the same time, the minister will stress the need to ensure coherence and complementarity of support to Ukraine at EU and NATO level, with a view to making resources more efficient and ensuring the concrete impact of support.

Aurescu will also support the strengthening of the regime of restrictive measures against Russia through the rapid adoption of a new package of sanctions and the effective implementation of those already adopted, as well as measures to avoid the circumvention of sanctions against Russia.

Bogdan Aurescu will reiterate Romania's position on Russia's accountability for the crimes committed against Ukraine and will highlight Romania's involvement in the diplomatic efforts of the EU and its member states to counter the Russian narrative among the states belonging to the Global South, the MAE press release reads.

The head of Romanian diplomacy will also reiterate support for the European path of Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova and Georgia and will stress that "the firm anchoring of these states to the EU represents a long-term commitment of the EU to the region as a whole," according to the source.

As regards the discussions on EU-China relations, MAE says that they "are occasioned by the need to recalibrate the EU's position in the context of Russia's aggression against Ukraine and China's rallying to the Russian narrative."

Following the Gymnich meeting, Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu will participate in the EU Ministerial Forum on the Indo-Pacific region, which will be attended by more than 60 high-level representatives from the two geographical areas.

On this occasion, the officials will discuss strengthening the implementation of the EU Strategy for cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region in a concrete, effective way and with significant regional impact, the MAE added.

Minister Bogdan Aurescu will be one of the moderators of the session dedicated to security issues, organised within the Forum. On this occasion, the Romanian official will highlight the close relationship between the EU and the Indo-Pacific region on "prosperity, growth prospects and security, in a comprehensive definition," the source mentions.

Aurescu will underline the importance of defending the rules-based international order through solidarity, given the current security context marked by growing tensions in both regions.

The Romanian minister will also "highlight the relevance of the EU Strategy for Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific Region for the promotion of an open, free, secure and rule-based environment and will show that, in the process of making the strategy operational, Romania attaches particular importance to an effective approach, calibrated to the expectations of partners in the region," the MAE release reads.
Gendarmerie enforces 87 fines worth over 80,000 RON to participants in AUR protest at Parliament.

The Bucharest Gendarmerie announced on Friday that it had imposed a total of 87 fines to the participants of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) protest at Parliament, worth more than 80,000 RON, told Agerpres.

"In addition to the information of the previous days, we mention that 42 civil sanctions were imposed, totalling 29,800 RON, as follows: 36 civil sanctions, totalling 25,000 RON, in accordance with the provisions of Law No. 60 of 1991 on the organization and conduct of public assemblies, as amended and supplemented; six civil sanctions, totalling 4,800 RON, in accordance with the provisions of Law No. 61 of 1991 on the punishment of violations of the rules of social coexistence, public order and peace, as amended and supplemented," a press release of the Bucharest Gendarmerie mentioned.

In total, the gendarmes imposed 87 civil sanctions worth 80,500 RON.

Further investigations are being concluded in order to identify other people who have committed violations of the legal framework in force.
IGPF: Over 77,000 people enter Romania on Thursday, of whom 8,400 Ukrainians.

The General Inspectorate of the Border Police (IGPF) informs that, on Thursday, a number of 77,439 people entered Romania through border points, of whom 8,436 were Ukrainian citizens, told Agerpres.

According to a release sent to AGERPRES on Friday, approximately 169,100 people, Romanian and foreign citizens, with more than 46,800 means of transport, completed the control formalities at the border crossing points nationwide, both on the way in and on the way out.

As of 10 February 2022 (the pre-conflict period), a number of 4,204,247 Ukrainian citizens have entered Romania.

In the relevant areas - the border crossing points and the "green border," the border policemen discovered 61 illegalities (34 offences and 27 contraventions) committed by both Romanian and foreign citizens, with the amount of fines enforced stands at approximately 36,000 RON.

Assets of an estimated value of over 160,000 RON were impounded.

On Thursday, a number of 16 foreign citizens were not allowed to enter the country because they didn't meet the requirements stipulated by the law, while a number of 10 Romanian citizens were not allowed to leave the country for various legal reasons.
Improving training and conditions for professional activity of nurses is a priority for Health Ministry.

Improving the training and conditions for the professional activity of nurses is a priority for the Ministry of Health, Minister Alexandru Rafila wrote on Facebook on Friday, on the occasion of International Nurses Day, told Agerpres.

"Nurses and midwives in Romania take care of tens of thousands of children, elderly people, people with disabilities and other categories of patients every day! On International Nurses Day, I thank all those celebrating today for their professionalism and dedication to their profession. Improving the training and the conditions of professional activity of nurses is a priority for the Ministry of Health, which works in partnership with professional and trade union organisations of nurses and midwives in Romania," said Rafila.

He told the 150,000 nurses and midwives that he appreciates and respects them. "Happy returns of the day to the 150,000 nurses and midwives in Romania! I appreciate and respect you!" the minister wrote.

The International Nurses Day, established in 1974 at the initiative of the International Council of Nurses, is celebrated worldwide on May 12.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bogdan Aurescu, had a meeting on Friday with his counterpart from the Federal Republic of Germany, Annalena Baerbock, on the sidelines of the Gymnich meeting in Stockholm, the discussions aimed both at the opportunities to strengthen bilateral relations with strategic, as well as current topics on the European agenda, including Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine.

According to a press release sent by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE), the two officials discussed the subject of Romania's accession to the Schengen area, with Minister Aurescu presenting in detail the state of the Romanian side's efforts."The German foreign minister firmly reconfirmed Germany's strong support for Romania's accession as soon as possible, stating, among other things, that the internal discussions in his country regarding the management of internal Schengen borders with other member states do not affect the mentioned position in any way of Berlin", the press release states.Also, the situation of the EU's solidarity corridors, respectively the negotiations regarding the extension of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, was discussed, both ministers expressing the hope that the latter will be achieved.Equally, in the context of the recent establishment - following the political agreement reached at the Foreign Affairs Council on April 24 - of the EU sanctions regime to counter the destabilizing actions against the Republic of Moldova and its constitutional order, an initiative launched by Minister Bogdan Aurescu at the Foreign Affairs Council on 20 February, the head of Romanian diplomacy requested Germany's support for the rapid implementation of the measures regarding the listing of the first batch of persons under this regime. The German foreign minister has confirmed her country's full support for this approach, the MAE mentions.
Minister Bolos: Romania's REPowerEU Plan hasn't been rejected, it is in the informal consultation phase.

Romania's REPowerEU Plan hasn't been rejected, but it is in the informal consultation phase, as the European Commission is asking for additional information about the investments we want to include in the new chapter, the documents following to be submitted after a consensus is reached, Minister for European Investment and Projects Marcel Bolos posted on his Facebook page on Friday.

"How could the European Commission reject a plan that hasn't been yet submitted? It is true that the political life, especially on the verge of electoral campaigns, might sometimes push one to be as 'sincere' as possible, you should however bear in mind that jeopardizing Romania's strategic interests is by no means a virtue. The situation with Romania's REPowerEU plan is as follows: the Plan has not been rejected. We are in the informal consultation phase, the European Commission is asking us for additional information about the investments we want to include in the new chapter, and only when we reach a consensus shall we submit the documents," Bolos wrote.

According to him, Romania, based on the 1.4 billion EUR it receives, aims to ensure the resilience of the energy system by increasing the share of electricity production from renewable sources (solar and hydropower).

"Regulation (EU) 2023/435 on the REPowerEU chapters makes it clear: the member states can submit to the European Commission the new chapters to the Recovery and resilience plans as of 1 March 2023. The European Commission has recommended that member states submit proposals for amendments to the plans, including the new chapter, by the end of April 2023 and no later than 31 August 2023, which is the legal deadline for submitting an amended plan following a loan application," Bolos explains.

In tis regard, the Ministry of European Investment and Projects (MIPE) launched the public consultation process from 17 to 26 March 2023 for the submission of reform and investment proposals for the new REPowerEU chapter by interested stakeholders.

Subsequently, on 24 March, a public consultation took place, attended by representatives of associations, local and regional authorities, civil society, organisations with relevant expertise in the area, as well as stakeholders in the agricultural sector.

"We are now in a constructive dialogue with representatives of the European Commission, whom I thank on this occasion. On Monday, I will leave with the team to Brussels and, based on the mandate received by the Government, we will discuss with the experts there. This is the reality. REPowerEU is a new instrument, approved only in April 2023, and Romania, like all member states, is working on a form that will represent its strategic interests as closely as possible. Moreover, as Siegfried Muresan rightly pointed out, only two countries have submitted the plan so far. And if we continue discussions with the EC in the same note, we have every chance to be among the leading countries that do this thing," the head of the MIPE also noted.
The General Prosecutor's Office maintains that prime minister Nicolae Ciuca cannot be accused of forgery in the file in which he was accused of plagiarism in his doctoral thesis, because the diploma is only a document that certifies/attests the doctorate title and does not constitute a false official document in the sense of the criminal law.

On Friday, the General Prosecutor's Office published the ordinance of March 15, which ordered the closure of the criminal file opened following a complaint in which it was claimed that prime minister Nicolae Ciuca had plagiarized in his doctoral thesis.Nicolae Ciuca was also accused by a whistleblower of using forgery, namely in a continuous form.In reply, the Prosecutor's Office considers that the prime minister cannot be accused of this crime, because the doctor's degree is not considered a false official document, in the sense of the criminal law.The Prosecutor's Office's conclusion: "The fact does not exist".The file was opened in February 2022, and the criminal investigation blocked the doctoral thesis research by the Carol I National Defense University for more than a year.Journalist Emilia Sercan from PressOne published, on January 18, 2022, an article in which she claims that prime minister Nicolae Ciuca, a general in the reserve, would have plagiarized in his doctoral thesis with the title "The dimension of the engagement of the Romanian Army in multinational joint operations", supported in year 2003 at the Carol I National Defense University. Emilia Sercan says that several pages from the prime minister's work were copied without the texts taken having been correctly attributed to the original authors and without having been marked with quotation marks, as required by academic norms.In his turn, prime minister Nicolae Ciuca declared that the choice of the topic of the doctoral thesis was predominantly based on the personal experience accumulated in the international missions in which he participated directly, individually or together with the 26th Infantry Battalion: the UN peacekeeping mission in Angola (1996- 1997), the NATO mission within the SACEUR strategic reserve for the Western Balkans (2000-2001) and the coalition mission in Afghanistan (2002).
KYODO NEWS - May 12, 2023 - 19:24 | All, G7, Japan, World

Science chiefs of the Group of Seven nations kicked off a two-day meeting Friday in Sendai with the goal of ensuring the benefits of scientific research are shared globally while national and economic security is protected.

The G-7 -- Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States, plus the European Union -- are expected to adopt a ministers' communique Saturday in the northeastern Japan city, in which they will agree to reinforce international cooperation in the field of research and development.

In the run-up to the G-7 summit starting next week in the western Japan city of Hiroshima, the ministers are expected to introduce best practices by countries that can share research outcomes and safeguard critical information and technology, which can be diverted to military use.

While it is unclear whether the science and technology chiefs will single out any country of concern, their intent to consider limits or conditions on access to research is believed to have countries like China in mind.

Last year, the ministers opposed practices by "some bad-faith actors" who may not respect justified limits and seek to access and misappropriate knowledge and technology without authorization.

The G-7 science ministers' communique released in June 2022 strongly condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine, calling it an assault on the fundamental principles of freedom, democracy and self-determination, which provide the basis for academic freedom and scientific exchange and cooperation.

Sanae Takaichi, minister in charge of science and technology policy, said at the outset of the ministerial meeting she chairs that it is a great opportunity for them to deepen knowledge on each country's science and technology policies and further boost G-7 cooperation in this area.

This year's conference has the issue of utilizing space on the agenda, as cooperation in the field becomes increasingly vital amid a new era of space exploration.

Cooperation on space activities is also closely linked to finding innovative solutions to mitigate climate change, the destruction of ecosystems and large-scale natural disasters, Japanese government officials said.

The G-7 science chiefs will debate how to effectively reduce space debris, which poses collision risks for satellites and astronauts, the officials said.

Falling space debris, including recent incidents involving Chinese rockets, has been a major menace lately.

Topics on Friday's agenda included two of the three main issues of the meeting -- freedom of research and the promotion of open science -- as well as the importance of research integrity and security, according to the officials.

They will then focus on international scientific and technological cooperation to solve global challenges, including climate change and the utilization of space, and promote efforts to further understand ocean ecosystems on Saturday.
Stephanie Childress wants to make one thing clear: She may be saying farewell to St. Louis, but this is not goodbye.

With a St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra concert May 14, Childress tenure as SLSO assistant conductor and Youth Orchestra music director will have sounded its final note.

Its not the end of my relationship with the SLSO, she insists. Its just a new chapter.

Childress, who is also a fine violinist, was appointed to those positions in January 2021, arriving with an already impressive resume of opera and symphony conducting credits. Incredibly, she was only 20 at the time.

And now Im 24, she says. This has been a huge part of my adult life so far, and I cant overstate how important being in St. Louis and being with this fantastic orchestra has been.

We were very, very lucky to find such a great young talent, says SLSO music director Stephane Deneve. We will certainly miss her, but that is the nature of this position. Its a mission to help young conductors, so you have to have turnover. We have a limited time with them.

He hastens to add, She is part of the family now.

Among her duties as assistant conductor, Childress has had to work with and support guest conductors so their SLSO experience is a good one. She also attended soloist meetings, served as Youth Orchestra music director and conducted family concerts as well as her own subscription concerts.

And of course, she also was here to be mentored by Deneve.

Hes been my closest mentor, without a doubt, Childress says, adding that she and Deneve have gone to a place when the dialogue is very honest and very free flowing. He has taught me so much. I cant put into words the impact that hes had on me as a musician and as a person. But I treasure every moment Ive spent with him.

Asked for a highlight reel of her time with the SLSO, Childress first mentions her audition. Its a special moment in hindsight, because obviously, at the time I didnt know what was going to happen. I look back on it more fondly because I know that it was the start of something very special.

She also cites the SLSOs recent European tour and the March 3-4 concerts she conducted featuring pianist Peter Henderson.

And then, of course, theres the Youth Orchestra.

Theyve improved dramatically. Thats the first thing I should say, Childress says.

Childress time here coincided with the pandemic, and it was difficult to keep the orchestra going as some of its members dropped out, moved on, stopped playing, went to college, or engaged in other pursuits.

We did lose a lot of people, she says. So really, I felt like I was rebuilding the orchestra from the ground up.

Childress also notes that her final YO performance is also the final concert at Powell Hall before it closes for an expansion and renovation.

Thats icing on the cake, she says.

So whats next?

Childress has a number of upcoming commitments to attend to including concerts with Opera Orchestre National Montpellier, Konzerthausorchester Berlin and Orchestre National d Ile-de-France. In July and August, shell serve as the associate conductor of the Sun Valley Music Festival in Ketchum, Idaho.

Until she signed on with the SLSO, Childress had only performed and conducted in Europe. Now that shes got her foot in the door in the U.S., shes determined to keep that door open.

Im very adamant that I want to keep a very wide stance across the Atlantic, she says.

So what will Childress take away from her time in St. Louis?

I never thought I could find a sense of home in the U.S., she says. Im a staunch European girl. Its a very different way of being, a very different way of living and I didnt think I would acclimatize as well as I have. And thats mostly due to the people  the warmth the people have shown me here, within the orchestra but also within the wider community.

I feel very, very fortunate to have made some great friends in and out of the orchestra, which is very important to me. Not just to be friends with musicians but to be friends with people who are living here and whove been here for a while.

Anything else shed like to mention?

Oh yes. In St. Louis, she ate the best burger I ever had.

The place? OConnells, she says. And I will really miss that burger.

Youth Orchestra Season Finale Concert When  3 p.m. May 14 Where  Powell Hall, 718 North Grand Boulevard How much  $10 More info  314-534-1111; slso.org
This is a sentence I didn't expect to write: Sen. Josh Hawley is right about something.

Missouri's senior senator, an elitist Republican with degrees from Yale and Stanford, likes to pretend he is a populist man of the people. More often than not, I disagree with him, or at least find him disingenuous. Not this time.

After Donald Trump was found liable by a New York jury for sexually abusing and defaming writer E. Jean Carroll, Hawley suggested the verdict would have little impact on the Republicans who support the former president.

"Maybe I'm wrong," Hawley told the Kansas City Star. "Maybe it'll affect it. But I just kind of doubt it."

He's not wrong. Almost on cue, the next night in New Hampshire, in the made-for-television Trump rally that CNN pitched as a "town hall," the hand-picked Republican crowd literally laughed away the verdict from Trump's New York peers. Just as Trump's supporters have laughed at the criminal fraud charges the former president is facing in New York, the likely election-related charges out of Georgia and the investigation into Trump's role in the Jan. 6 insurrection and in mishandling secret documents.

It's easy for thinking people of all political persuasions to see this collision of events and become disheartened. Just as they do after Republicans turn their backs on constitutional principles and demonize transgender people and take away their freedom to make health care decisions with their physicians. There's also the fact that in deep-red states like Missouri, the Republicans in charge will do nothing to stop gun violence and instead weaken gun laws year after year.

That's where I found myself this week: disheartened.

Then I received an email from Phil Henning.

Henning is a Republican who lives on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River. He's a conservative and a veteran, the sort of reader who often disagrees with me. Henning writes me regularly, mostly taking me to task for, in his view, not pounding the drum loudly enough about how bad crime is in the St. Louis region.

This week, we found common ground.

"I agree with you on pulling back on recent gun carry laws in Missouri," Henning wrote, responding to my column on the Wild West that has been created by Republicans' aversion to gun safety laws.

"I have no issue with restricting gun ownership to 18 years old for handguns and 21 for rifles except for legal use of personal property," he added. "That protects hunting and home defense. I also believe a training regimen of at least 8 hours on gun safety and citizen use of force is reasonable and a 3-day waiting period (what we have in Illinois) prior to a weapons sale."

Henning agreed to let me share portions of his letter because we both find value in Americans understanding that people of diverse backgrounds can come to some agreement about the current state of gun violence in this country.

Henning is a retired lieutenant colonel in the Air Force.

"While we can't legislate behavior, we can pull back on allowing kids to possess firearms and having no training to carry a deadly weapon," he wrote. "My Air Force unit trained many young airmen in the safe use of weapons and 18 year olds carried M-16s and other weapons with a chambered round and we had almost a perfect safety record of zero 'accidental discharges' across the Air Force with about 8,000 security forces armed in daily duties."

His letter reminded me of the words of retired Army Major Gen. Paul Eaton, who last year wrote on Twitter: "Let me state unequivocally  For all intents and purposes, the AR-15 and rifles like it are weapons of war."

Dozens of the nation's top military leaders have come out in favor of basic gun safety regulations because they know what weapons of war do to children. They've seen the blood and carnage firsthand.

I haven't served our nation like Henning or his fellow veterans have. I appreciate the wisdom that comes with having carried a weapon of war in defense of the country. We'll likely continue to disagree, sometimes vehemently, on some of the topics of the day. But on one of the most volatile subjects  gun safety  we found common ground.

That gives me a modicum of hope amid a disheartening time.

Tony Messenger 314-340-8518 @tonymess on Twitter tmessenger@post-dispatch.com
SANTA ANA, Calif.  Aman accused of killing one person and wounding five others during as hooting a ta Southern California church luncheon last year was charged Thursday with dozens of federal hate crimes in connection with the at tack, which investigators said was motivated by political hatred of Taiwan.

The indictment charges David Chou, of Las Vegas, with 98 counts including weapons and explosives charges and force fully obstructing the free exercise of religion.

Authorities said Chou chained and nailed shut exit doors before launching the attack on a gathering of older parishioners from the Irvine Taiwanese Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods on May 15,2022.

Chou had two hand guns, bags of ammunition and four Molotov cocktail-style devices, and was motivated by hatred of Taiwan, where he grew up, investigators said.
COLUMBIA, S.C.  Republican presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy on Thursday voiced support for changing the overall U.S. voting age to 25, unless younger Americans fulfill at least six months of service in the military or as a first responder  or pass the same citizenship test administered to those seeking to become naturalized citizens.

Ramaswamy's campaign announced the biotech entrepreneur and "anti-woke" activist's push for a U.S. Constitutional amendment promoting "civic duty voting," which he announced in a news release and detailed during a campaign event in Urbandale, Iowa.

Revising the Constitution is no simple task, requiring overwhelming support in Congress and in state legislatures. Still, Ramaswamy said in his release that the "absence of national pride is a serious threat to the future of our country" and argued his proposal "can create a sense of shared purpose and responsibility amongst young Americans to become educated citizens."

On Twitter during his Iowa event, Ramaswamy acknowledged, "I understand not everyone will like this proposal and that it will take persuasion to convince many of its merits, but I'm ready to take that on."

At age 37, Ramaswamy is the youngest person competing for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination in a field that already includes several candidates in their 70s, including former President Donald Trump and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson.

Another rival, former U.N. Ambassador and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, 51, has made the call for a new generation of political leadership central to her campaign, even positing that cognitive testing should be required for older politicians.

Making changes to the U.S. Constitution requires approval by two-thirds of Congress, as well as three-fourths of state legislators.

The 26th Amendment, ratified in 1971, lowered the federal voting age from 21 to 18. The debate had begun decades earlier during World War II, when Congress lowered the minimum draft age to 18, prompting the slogan "old enough to fight, old enough to vote."

States began to move toward lowering their voting ages, following a call by President Dwight Eisenhower made in 1954. More pushes for overall changes came during the Vietnam War, and, in 1970, Congress amended voting rights law, lowering the voting age in federal, state and local elections to 18.

A handful of states sued the federal government, arguing that Congress had no jurisdiction over state voting ages, with which the Supreme Court agreed. A Constitutional amendment, which superseded any state laws with thresholds higher than age 18, was swiftly passed by Congress and ratified by three-quarters of states.

As part of his proposal, Ramaswamy argued that his plan would require "no additional government bureaucracy" to administer, saying debate generated by his proposal "will itself catalyze a long overdue conversation in America about what it means to be a citizen and how to foster civic pride in the next generation."

Here are 20 Republicans considering 2024 presidential runs In: Donald Trump In: Nikki Haley Ron DeSantis Mike Pence Tim Scott Ted Cruz Glenn Youngkin Chris Sununu Kristi Noem Greg Abbott Out: Larry Hogan Asa Hutchinson Chris Christie Mike Pompeo Liz Cheney Will Hurd Keep an eye on: Brian Kemp Keep an eye on: Rick Scott Keep an eye on: Josh Hawley Keep an eye on: John Bolton
LONDON  The breathtaking development of artificial intelligence has dazzled users by composing music, creating images and writing essays, while also raising fears about its implications. Even European Union officials working on groundbreaking rules to govern the emerging technology were caught off guard by AI's rapid rise.

The 27-nation bloc proposed the Western world's first AI rules two years ago, focusing on reining in risky but narrowly focused applications. General purpose AI systems like chatbots were barely mentioned. Lawmakers working on the AI Act considered whether to include them but weren't sure how, or even if it was necessary.

"Then ChatGPT kind of boom, exploded," said Dragos Tudorache, a Romanian member of the European Parliament co-leading the measure. "If there was still some that doubted as to whether we need something at all, I think the doubt was quickly vanished."

The release of ChatGPT last year captured the world's attention because of its ability to generate human-like responses based on what it has learned from scanning vast amounts of online materials. With concerns emerging, European lawmakers moved swiftly in recent weeks to add language on general AI systems as they put the finishing touches on the legislation.

The EU's AI Act could become the de facto global standard for artificial intelligence, with companies and organizations potentially deciding that the sheer size of the bloc's single market would make it easier to comply than develop different products for different regions.

"Europe is the first regional bloc to significantly attempt to regulate AI, which is a huge challenge considering the wide range of systems that the broad term 'AI' can cover," said Sarah Chander, senior policy adviser at digital rights group EDRi.

Authorities worldwide are scrambling to figure out how to control the rapidly evolving technology to ensure that it improves people's lives without threatening their rights or safety. Regulators are concerned about new ethical and societal risks posed by ChatGPT and other general purpose AI systems, which could transform daily life, from jobs and education to copyright and privacy.

The White House recently brought in the heads of tech companies working on AI including Microsoft, Google and ChatGPT creator OpenAI to discuss the risks, while the Federal Trade Commission has warned that it wouldn't hesitate to crack down.

China has issued draft regulations mandating security assessments for any products using generative AI systems like ChatGPT. Britain's competition watchdog has opened a review of the AI market, while Italy briefly banned ChatGPT over a privacy breach.

The EU's sweeping regulations  covering any provider of AI services or products  are expected to be approved by a European Parliament committee Thursday, then head into negotiations between the 27 member countries, Parliament and the EU's executive Commission.

European rules influencing the rest of the world  the so-called Brussels effect  previously played out after the EU tightened data privacy and mandated common phone-charging cables, though such efforts have been criticized for stifling innovation.

Attitudes could be different this time. Tech leaders including Elon Musk and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak have called for a six-month pause to consider the risks.

Geoffrey Hinton, a computer scientist known as the "Godfather of AI," and fellow AI pioneer Yoshua Bengio voiced their concerns last week about unchecked AI development.

Tudorache said such warnings show the EU's move to start drawing up AI rules in 2021 was "the right call."

Google, which responded to ChatGPT with its own Bard chatbot and is rolling out AI tools, declined to comment. The company has told the EU that "AI is too important not to regulate."

Microsoft, a backer of OpenAI, did not respond to a request for comment. It has welcomed the EU effort as an important step "toward making trustworthy AI the norm in Europe and around the world."

15 things AI can (and can't) do AI and its limits Can: Be trained and 'learn' Cannot: Get into college Can: Perpetuate bias Can: Identify images and sounds Cannot : Drive a car Cannot: Judge beauty contests Can: Read and classify text and documents Cannot: Watch (and understand) a soccer match Can: Flip burgers Can: Make investments Cannot: Help itself from buying things Can: Raise billions of cockroaches on a farm Cannot: Be creative Can: Clean your teeth Can: Pollinate flowers
ST. LOUIS  Reducing the citys homicide rate must be the metros top priority, the regions two leading business organizations say in a new policy paper released Friday, signaling a growing consensus that reducing crime needs to be the first item on area leaders to-do list.

The new 32-page white paper comes as regional leaders plan to convene Wednesday for a regional crime summit called for by St. Louis Mayor Tishaura O. Jones and organized by the East-West Gateway Council of Governments.

While its largely a recitation of the grim statistics with which many St. Louisans are familiar, the paper hones in on homicides to make the case that murders, in particular, make St. Louis an outlier compared to other cities and drive a narrative about the wider region that stymies growth.

We are quite an outlier when it comes to our homicide rate, said leading criminologist Richard Rosenfeld, a University of Missouri-St. Louis professor who was tapped by business groups Greater St. Louis Inc. and the Regional Business Council to help compile the policy paper. With respect to violent crime generally and property crime, the St. Louis region ranks somewhere in the middle of metropolitan areas.

The policy brief is an attempt to focus the discussion in advance of next weeks regional crime summit, and it follows weeks of turmoil over the near-collapse of the St. Louis circuit attorneys office under outgoing prosecutor Kimberly M. Gardner. Meanwhile, high-profile violence downtown and at a popular Cinco de Mayo street festival have continued to feed regional anxiety over crime.

Violent crime impacts everyone in the 15-county bi-state St. Louis metro and, right now, we are in the midst of a homicide crisis, reads a joint statement from Greater St. Louis CEO Jason Hall and Regional Business Council President Kathy Osborn. This is taking a tremendous human toll and is a barrier to economic growth and prosperity for people in every community. This is our crisis as a region, and it requires all of us to roll up our sleeves and get to work to fix it.

Its nothing new for business leaders to weigh in or throw money at the regions public safety problems. Theyve funded major studies of law enforcement agencies and even part of new St. Louis police Chief Robert Tracys salary.

But the brief is the latest example of Greater St. Louis, the regions leading business and economic development advocacy group, taking on a more vocal role in confronting public safety issues. When Greater St. Louis formed in late 2020 and released its 2030 Jobs Plan meant to guide its priorities for the decade, critics such as St. Charles County Executive Steve Ehlmann questioned why public safety wasnt more prominent. At the time, Hall said public safety was beyond the scope of the jobs plan but has since said public safety is moving up the priority list for our members.

Now, Greater St. Louis, in the new white paper, says its policy board has determined that crime and public safety are a leading barrier to the implementation and success of the STL 2030 Jobs Plan.

Rosenfeld agreed. Though the regions homicides are disproportionately concentrated in a few neighborhoods in the city of St. Louis, he said their effects ripple throughout the regional economy.

Our homicide problem makes it difficult to recruit businesses to the region, to retain businesses in the region, he said. The economic vitality, the health of the region, really does depend on the regions ability to come together, act as a single entity and mount evidence-based programs that have proven successful elsewhere in reducing homicide.

Chief among those approaches is whats referred to in criminal justice circles as focused deterrence, in which police concentrate resources on the relatively small group of individuals that tend to drive homicides in a region and confront them during in-person home meetings with a choice: social services and help getting out of the life, or the heavy hand of a criminal justice system that already knows who and where they are.

Tracy, the new police chief Jones hired, has touted his use of focused deterrence in driving down the homicide rate in Wilmington, Delaware, and Rosenfeld said St. Louis police have already been using it to a degree. Rosenfeld noted that when homicides here peaked during the pandemic in 2020, home visits under the approach were curtailed. Another focused deterrence pilot here with people convicted of gun crimes but on probation or parole demonstrated a reduction in arrests, Rosenfeld said.

We have shown in the city of St. Louis that that kind of approach can be effective, he said. The effort at the crime summit will be to get a regional commitment to expand that kind of effort.

A leading proponent of the approach, Thomas Abt, a criminologist and author of the 2019 book Bleeding Out, will be the keynote speaker at Wednesdays summit and plans to assist St. Louis leaders in using focused deterrence to reduce its murder rate, Rosenfeld said.

The approach will take years to pay off and needs a sustained commitment from area leaders, Rosenfeld said. The business groups pilot paper says research suggests a 10% reduction in homicides per year is both reasonable and attainable. They recommend the formation of a regional Office of Violence Prevention that tracks progress and reports to the public.

But Rosenfeld said putting the needed resources into homicide reduction while responding to growing calls from the public for more traffic enforcement and quality-of-life policing will require more personnel.

These so-called proactive approaches that have been successful both here and elsewhere in reducing crime, both property and violent crime, with a limited supply of resources, namely police officers, that becomes a real issue when officers are simply responding to the radio, he said. Whatever can be done should be done to recruit more officers to the city department.
HARTFORD  Human remains were found Thursday at a former Metro East copper smelting plant, the Madison County Coroner's office said Friday.

The skeletal remains were found at the former Chemetco Industrial Plant at 3754 Chemetco Lane in Hartford. Authorities are still working to identify them, Coroner Stephen P. Nonn said.

The remains, along with clothing and other property, were discovered by a person creating an aerial map of the property, Nonn said. The person immediately reported the findings, and Nonn's office confirmed the remains were human.

Nonn said investigators believe the remains may be a man reported missing last year from Wood River. Vernon Law, of Randolph County, was last seen July 21.

Illinois State Police and Hartford and Wood River police are assisting in the investigation. Authorities did not release more details Friday, pending forensic tests.

The Chemetco Industrial Plant has been abandoned since it shut down in 2001 after 32 years of operation after the operators were convicted of multiple environmental violations. The 41-acre site was later declared a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site.
ST. LOUIS  St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly M. Gardner met with St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell and several attorneys from his office on Thursday to discuss ways he can help stabilize Gardners office as she prepares to step down June 1.

How exactly Bell and county prosecutors plan to help rebuild Gardners dramatically understaffed team of attorneys was unclear Friday afternoon, but both Bell and Gardner released a statement Friday confirming the two are in talks.

Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican, is expected to appoint a replacement for Gardner before she leaves office. A spokesperson for his office said he was not involved in the conversations between Bell and Gardner.

Parson is taking applications for a new city prosecutor until Monday, he announced this week.

Bell and Gardner released identical statements Friday afternoon announcing the planned collaboration. It read, in part: To ensure that the St. Louis Circuit Attorneys Office continues to carry out its duty to prosecute criminal cases in a manner that seeks justice on behalf of the residents of the City of St. Louis, Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner and St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell are collaborating in the transition. At the request of Ms. Gardner, they are actively collaborating on a plan to ensure a smooth transition of all cases with a priority on public safety and justice.

Bell is not alone in offering Gardner help, but the meeting Thursday is the first confirmation that Gardner has taken him up on the offer. She repeatedly refused or ignored offers of help from other prosecutors, including St. Charles County and the Missouri Attorney Generals Office, who offered to help clear a backlog of thousands of cases in St. Louis in the months before she announced her resignation.

Lincoln County prosecutor Mike Wood and downtown law firms Lewis Rice and Thompson Coburn also publicly offered to help.

County Executive Sam Page was aware that Bell was talking with Gardners office about a collaboration, a spokesperson for Pages office said Friday, but he doesnt know exactly what the relationship will look like yet.

The spokesperson added that theres probably not a more worthy cause than helping the city in the short term.

Gardner and Bell, who took office in 2019, both campaigned on agendas supporting criminal justice reform, police accountability, and increases in diversion programs for low-level offenders.

Gardners roster of attorneys dwindled from about 60 when she took office in 2017 to about 20 as of last week. Nearly all of the most experienced prosecutors from before her term began are gone. With so few attorneys, trials have been long delayed or canceled. Judges have grown frustrated with prosecutors missing deadlines and not showing up to hearings. A backlog of unreviewed applications for charges has grown, and charges are regularly dropped and refiled because prosecutors arent ready for trial.

Gardners office within the last week hired defense attorney Rufus Tate as a special prosecutor to help take the overwhelming number of felony cases created by a series of resignations over the last three months.

One murder case now assigned to Tate was set for trial Tuesday. Circuit Judge Rex Burlison agreed to delay it but gave Tate and assistant prosecutor Rob Huq two weeks to prepare for trial.

The defendant, Sturgeon Stewart, has been in jail for three years awaiting trial, Burlison said. The case had already been dismissed and refiled once by the circuit attorneys office.

I know youre assigned a whole bunch of cases, Burlison told Tate and Huq. But we expect cases to move.

Kelsey Landis and Taylor Tiamoyo Harris of the Post-Dispatch contributed.

St. Louis prosecutor Kim Gardner to resign June 1 after weeks of resistance The news sent shockwaves through downtown courthouses where victims, defense attorneys and judges had complained for weeks about the dysfunction.
By Reito Kaneko, KYODO NEWS - May 12, 2023 - 20:43 | World, Japan, All

Australia's new ambassador to Japan said Friday that his government is wary about China's "destabilizing" actions around Taiwan, calling for international cooperation to ensure regional security.

"Our position is very clear that any conflict or miscalculation or use of violence to change the status quo would be catastrophic," Ambassador Justin Hayhurst said in an interview with Kyodo News, ahead of a summit of Quad leaders from Australia, India, Japan and the United States later this month.

China views Taiwan as a renegade province to be reunited with the mainland by force if necessary.

Tensions over Taiwan have been rising, especially after China conducted a series of war games around the island in response to a meeting between Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California last month.

Hayhurst, who officially took his post last month, said he is "concerned about actions that China has taken that are destabilizing, whether in relation to Taiwan or in the South China Sea," adding that it is vital to "support peace and stability and avoid conflict and aggression."

He also raised concerns about Russia's invasion of Ukraine, saying there is a "clear connection between what happens in that conflict...and peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific."

The Quad summit among four major Indo-Pacific democracies is scheduled to be held on May 24 in Sydney.

The meeting will follow a Group of Seven summit from May 19 to 21 in Hiroshima, with Japan inviting Australia as an outreach country.

"At a time of uncertainty and risk, in the absence of very well-developed regional security mechanisms, then, partners need to work together in collaboration to protect and advance" their security, foreign policy and economic interests, Hayhurst said.

In the upcoming Quad summit, he said, a "new initiative" will be advocated to advance agendas such as regional security, maritime security and cybersecurity.

China has criticized the Quad, saying that countries should not form "exclusive and closed circles," and that it is striving to establish an Asian version of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Amid such a deteriorating security environment, Japan's parliament last month approved legislation for a defense cooperation agreement with Australia, in a veiled counter to China's military rise and aggressive posture in the Indo-Pacific.

The pact sets rules for the transportation of personnel, weapons and supplies. The ambassador said Australia expects to complete its ratification and conduct joint exercises with Japan by the end of the year.

Related coverage:

Quad leaders' meeting to be held in Sydney on May 24
ST. LOUIS  A man was injured Friday after being shot in a home invasion in the city's Tower Grove South neighborhood.

The victim was conscious when officers arrived about 8:30 a.m. in the 4200 block of Humphrey Street, east of Morgan Ford Road.

Police said a man and a woman broke into the man's home and shot him. No arrests have been made.

A police commander at the scene said officers were trying to determine if the victim knew his attackers.

Officers have been called to that address 28 times in the last year, including nine times for disturbances, according to a "calls for service" report provided by St. Louis police.

Police did not release the victim's condition.

Christine Tannous of the Post-Dispatch staff contributed to this report.
DES PERES  This west St. Louis County suburb is on track to become the first in the region to ask residents if they want to ban recreational marijuana businesses  as construction is already underway on a shop in the heart of the city.

Several vocal residents are campaigning for a ban, arguing in recent city council meetings that pot dispensaries are a target for crime and reduce property values, among other concerns.

But aldermen in the bedroom community of about 9,100 residents cant put the question to voters until November 2024, so residents are also pushing for more immediate restrictions in the meantime  including a 120-foot buffer between dispensaries and homes.

Des Peres is a wonderful place to live, and I want it to stay that way, said Eileen Bader, 80, a retired accountant, and one of about a dozen residents who voiced opposition to marijuana businesses during a public hearing earlier this week. Bader said she is concerned about marijuana odor, its effects on the brain including cognitive impairment, and wants protection from any kind of irresponsible behavior on the part of people who use it irresponsibly.

The campaign could be bad news for Root 66, also known as GF Wellness, a medical marijuana dispensary under construction at 12095 Manchester Road. The company wants to sell recreational pot  the first to do so in Des Peres  as it does at four other locations in St. Louis, Wentzville and St. Peters.

But a total ban would stop that. So would the 120-foot buffer, should aldermen enact it.

Joe Delia, chief operating manager for the company, and Dan Welsh, an attorney representing the dispensary, did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Jack Cardetti, with the Missouri Cannabis Trade Association, declined to comment on Des Peres specifically but said the association has seen a few rumblings toward local bans.

The vast majority of cities, he said, have embraced the industry, especially since most cities voters have approved a 3% tax on recreational pot sales  including Des Peres. In February, the first month recreational marijuana could be sold legally, statewide sales reached $103 million.

Most people understand that marijuana legalization is here, its here to stay, its a billion-dollar industry creating jobs and economic opportunity, and they want to be part of that, Cardetti said.

Opposition to pot

Des Peres appears to be only the second city in Missouri to hold a vote on banning recreational pot businesses after Lebanon, a city of about 15,000 residents between Rolla and Springfield. Des Peres officials note that its residents werent overwhelmingly in favor of legalization in the first place.

In 2018, when medical marijuana was passed in Missouri, 62% of Des Peres voters approved it. But four years later, when recreational marijuana was legalized, only 49% of Des Peres voters approved it. Legalization passed with the support of 53% of Missouri voters.

Missouri law allows a city to ban recreational marijuana dispensaries with 60% of voter approval.

Alderman Patrick Barrett said there is enough debate in Des Peres to warrant a public vote.

I think its something that the residents should get to decide specifically for our community, Barret said.

A month before Missouri approved the constitutional amendment legalizing recreational marijuana, Des Peres aldermen adopted a resolution to give residents a vote on banning it locally at the earliest chance.

The resolution coincided with aldermen voting 4-1 to approve Root 66s operating permit, after seven months of pushback from residents and a neighboring real estate company who argued it would hurt nearby homes and businesses, including a youth tutoring center two doors down.

Aldermen ultimately cited state law forbidding cities from banning medical pot businesses, though opponents argued the tutoring center should have triggered the citys existing 1,000-foot buffer for schools or day cares.

Aldermen John Pound, the lone no vote, said he was concerned the city was bringing criminal activity into Des Peres, describing news reports on break-in attempts at other county dispensaries. I dont want those people coming into our city, he said.

Other cities have seen similar pushback. Last year in Olivette, Proper Cannabis pulled its application to grow pot in a warehouse amid strong opposition from residents who voiced concerns about the odor. The city later required a 750-foot buffer between the facilities and any homes.

Delia, Root 66 manager, has said at Des Peres public meetings that the company hasnt had any break-ins or other safety issues at any of their four other locations. The dispensary operates under a tight security detail and strict state regulations, including prohibitions on signage or paraphernalia depicting marijuana, he said. Customers have to show their license to enter the secure area where weed sales happen.

Those details make residents like Bryan McDonald, 69, a former member of the citys planning and zoning commission, more concerned, not less.

When you start telling me your building is going to have all of this, youre telling me youre a target-rich environment, said McDonald, a retired investment broker. Marijuana, he said, remains illegal under federal law, prompting most businesses to handle transactions by cash.

Youre worrying about who is stalking these places.... We dont want it near residential areas or parks where kids are out playing.

McDonald said he thinks the state vote to legalize marijuana reflected the will of voters in large metro areas, but not rural areas or small towns like Des Peres. He worries the 60% threshold for banning marijuana businesses is too large a percentage to reach.

Cardetti said Missouri requires the question be put to voters only during a presidential election because those get the most turnout.

It makes sense that if local communities are going to overturn the will of Missouri voters, that they have a clear majority to do so, he said.

Unduly burdensome

There are 65 marijuana dispensaries operating in the St. Louis area, according to the latest data from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. All but four sell to recreational users in addition to medical users.

Some are a few minutes from Des Peres, with locations in Manchester, Brentwood and Crestwood. A dispensary planned for Kirkwood would, if approved, be the closest to Des Peres yet.

Root 66 won a state license to sell marijuana to recreational users, in addition to medical users, after full legalization in November. But amid concerns from residents, Des Peres aldermen in January enacted a moratorium barring the dispensary from applying for a city permit until the Planning and Zoning Commission considered regulations.

The commission recommended that aldermen add a buffer of 500 feet between pot shops and parks. It split 3-3 on whether or not to recommend a 120-foot buffer between pot businesses and any homes, after discussing concerns it could be challenged as unduly burdensome.

The Board of Aldermen could vote as early as May 22 on the buffer between pot shops and parks. Next up, if the vocal residents have their way, would be the residential buffer.

McDonald is among residents calling for the residential buffer  even if it risks a legal fight.

As a resident, am I not entitled to some type of protection as well? McDonald said.
DALLAS  In the immediate aftermath of the massacre Saturday at Allen Premium Outlets that killed eight people, Twitter became a hotbed of gore and misinformation about the shooter and his motivations.

Within hours of Saturdays shooting, graphic video showing what followed the massacre  an up-close view of several dead, dying, or seriously injured victims, including a child  was shared widely on the platform. Accounts with newly bought blue checkmarks, and a newly acquired reach, spread those graphic videos, along with false and unverified information, quicker than they could be moderated or debunked.

Twitter owner Elon Musk even flirted with the idea that the shooting was a psyop, a term frequently used by conspiracy theorists to suggest the governments involvement in obfuscating the true details of a tragedy.

The Allen shooting appears to have been one of the first live tests for Twitters handling of a public mass casualty incident with a large amount of witnesses, pictures and videos since Musk purchased the social-media site in October.

What happened was predictable after Musk dismantled systems and staff that oversaw content moderation on the platform  and also indicative of his own proclivity toward conspiracies and false information, experts said.

We found that Twitter users were reporting they were being inundated with graphic photos and videos in the aftermath of the shooting, within trending topics, for you tabs and in their search results, said Kayla Gogarty, a deputy research director at Media Matters for America, which published research examining the spread of graphic videos on the platform after the shooting and Musks own amplification of misinformation in the massacres aftermath.

Social-media platforms, including Twitter, often tout the ability of artificial intelligence to identify and remove bad content. But those systems arent perfect and often arent substitutes for human moderators, Gogarty said.

It doesnt always catch everything and sometimes that enforcement can be too late, she said. Some platforms have a combination of human moderators as well as AI. But the AI doesnt catch everything so you sometimes need those human moderators as well.

In response to a request for comment  including whether any lessons were learned from the rapid spread of video that showed the dead body of a child killed in Allen  Twitter sent an email with an automated poop emoji.

Feelings about the spread of graphic photos and videos following a mass shooting can be complex. Some gun-control advocates have endorsed the idea that showing the public the true carnage wreaked by high-powered rifles might help shake citizens and elected officials from a sense of complacency and spur legislative action.

Responding to complaints about graphic content from the Allen shooting, some Twitter users pointed out how publicized pictures of the dead body of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old Black child who was tortured and lynched in Mississippi in 1955, helped galvanize the civil rights movement. But others pointed out that Emmetts mother chose to make the pictures of her son public, while relatives of the Allen victims didnt have that choice.

Sol Messing, a research associate professor at New York Universitys Center for Social Media and Politics, pointed out that blanket bans on graphic content could upset people who want atrocities  war crimes, for example  shared widely.

Its a tricky balance, said Messing, who worked for Twitter from 2021 until the beginning of this year. A lot of this has become human-in-the-loop moderation because you just dont want a machine making that decision. What Twitter has historically done here is to blur out those videos, but I wouldnt be the only person to say it seems like Twitter is falling down on the job here.

The videos  along with misinformation about the shooter and his motivations  were amplified by users who are newly subscribed to Twitter Blue, the platforms subscription service that gives anyone who pays $8 per month a blue checkmark. Those checkmarks previously validated the identity of a user, company, or public agency.

This whole new verification system is extremely problematic because the blue checkmark was a symbol of authenticity and credibility, and now youre just able to buy it, Gogarty said. Having that blue checkmark lends to them a veneer of credibility.

Since Saturday, several posts sharing the graphic videos have been taken down  though Twitter doesnt make clear whether they were removed by the person who posted the videos or the company. Labels have also been added debunking false tweets.

But Musk himself helped spread misinformation and sow doubt about the shooting on his account. Two days after the shooting, Musk alluded to the idea that the shooting might have been a government conspiracy. Its a Psyop and its not even good, one account tweeted in response to posts found on social media apparently belonging to the shooter. This gets weirder by the moment, Musk responded.

That tweet came the same day he appeared with Gov. Greg Abbott during a Tesla groundbreaking ceremony near Corpus Christi. A spokesperson for Abbott did not immediately return a request to comment on Musks apparent openness to the idea that the shooting might have been part of a conspiracy.

The easy availability of graphic videos  along with Musks own behavior  could lead to a continued drip of users abandoning the platform. Research last month from online data provider SimilarWeb shows Twitter traffic had declined for three straight months. Average daily active users and monthly active users were also down from the same time last year.

Advertisers also dont want to see their brands displayed next to unblurred videos of dead bodies.

Weve already seen a lot of advertisers leave due to concern of brand risk, Messing said. This is sort of highlighting how severe that brand risk might be, but its very difficult to predict whether more advertisers will exit Twitter. I dont think youre going to see more leave, but I certainly dont think youll see more come back.

For individual users, the widespread availability of gory, disturbing content might be one more reason youre looking to replace Twitter, he said.
ST. LOUIS  Tod Robberson, the editoria1 page editor for the St. Louis Post Dispatch for the past seven years and a Pulitzer Prize-'winning editorial writer, will retire June 15 after more than 40 years in journalism.

Kevin McDermott, a columnist and editorial writer, will take over as leader of the Post-Dispatch editorial page.

"We will certainly miss Tod's unmatched knowledge of local, national and international topics and his willingness to challenge political leaders regardless of party," Ian Caso, president and publisher of the Post Dispatch, said in a statement. "We are, however, very fortunate to have Kevin McDermott as the next leader of the editorial page. Kevin is extremely well versed on the issues and policies that impact our readers and is uniquely positioned to take this lead role."

Robberson met daily with the editorial board to plan out the opinion lineup for the newspaper. He and the board also met with public figures to discuss stances on local, national and international events driving the news. Among other changes, Robberson recruited columnists and contributors from the community and launched an online video series, "Up for Discussion," as another means to deliver commentary to Post Dispatch subscribers.

After retiring, Robberson will join his wife, a teacher and theater director, in West Hartford, Connecticut.

Robberson came to the Post Dispatch in January 2016 from The Dallas Morning News, where he had been an editorial writer since 2007. He won a Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing in 2010 for his work on social and economic disparities between northern and southern Dallas, proposing solutions to narrow those gaps. He was previously a foreign correspondent for the Morning News, The Washington Post and the Reuters news agency. He covered international affairs in Saudi Arabia, Cyprus, Mexico, Colombia, Panama and the United Kingdom, as well as civil wars in Lebanon, El Salvador and Colombia. He also covered the Iran Iraq war, both U.S. wars with Iraq and the 2001 U. S. invasion of Afghanistan.

A Houston native, Robberson holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from Texas Tech University and a master's degree in Arab studies from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service.

Robberson said his job as editorial page editor was a "roller coaster ride?'

"And I happen to be a big fan of roller coasters:' Robberson said. "I love St. Louis like I've never loved a city before. But there's been an exponential increase in the number of gray hairs on my head be cause of the stress that comes with seven and a half years in the editorial hot seat?'

"I need to get my life back after devoting 40-plus years to daily journalism' he added. "I'm thrilled to know that our pages will pass to the capable hands of Kevin McDermott?'

McDermott, 57, of St. Louis, came to the Post-Dispatch in 1995 and covered politics before becoming a columnist and editorial writer.

"The editorial page has a long, proud history of fostering public debate on the issues of the day," he said. "I'm looking forward to continuing that mission in these interesting times."

Alan Achkar, executive editor of the Post-Dispatch, said Robberson "led our editorial page with insight and intelligence, and he strived every day to present a strong perspective. His dedication and hard work were impressive."

Achkar also said he is looking forward to how McDermott will shape the role.

"Kevin has covered news and politics in our region for years. He knows the key issues and players' Achkar said. "He's a natural to step into this job."
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP)  Israeli airstrikes killed a senior militant commander in the Gaza Strip and Palestinian militants fired rockets toward Jerusalem on Friday, further escalating the most violent flare-up in months despite efforts to broker a cease-fire.

An Israeli airstrike killed two Palestinians in a residential building in Gaza City in the afternoon, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

The Israeli military said it had targeted a senior commander of the Islamic Jihad movement. The Islamic Jihad confirmed that the airstrike killed Iyad Al-Hassani, a member of the decision-making council in the group's armed wing. He is the sixth senior Islamic Jihad member to be killed in this round of fighting.

Earlier in the day, bursts of rocket fire from Gaza sent warning sirens wailing as far north as the contested capital of Jerusalem  about 48 miles (77 kilometers) from the Gaza border  breaking a 12-hour lull that had raised hopes regional powers could soon broker a truce.

The fighting, which started on Tuesday, between Israel and Islamic Jihad  the second-largest militant group in Gaza after the territorys Hamas rulers  has killed at least 33 Palestinians in the strip, including women and children, and an 80-year-old woman in central Israel, identified in Israeli media as Inga Avramian.

As Islamic Jihad stepped up its longer-range rocket attacks, a projectile slammed into an open field in the Israeli settlement of Bat Ayin, south of Jerusalem, said Josh Hasten, a spokesperson for the area. Residents in nearby Israeli settlements reported hearing explosions. Dull thuds could be heard inside Jerusalem, home to major sites holy to Christianity, Judaism and Islam.

The bombing of Jerusalem sends a message, Islamic Jihad said in a statement. What is happening in Jerusalem is not separate from Gaza.

In response, the Israeli warplanes struck Islamic Jihad military posts and mortar shell launchers across the Gaza Strip, the military said.

The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was conducting a security assessment to mount a further response. We continue, he tweeted.

The Israeli military urged residents living within 40 kilometers (25 miles) of the Gaza boundary to remain close to bomb shelters and limit public gatherings until Saturday evening. All big events, including the weekly Saturday protest against the government's divisive plans to overhaul the judiciary, were cancelled.

The sirens wailing near Jerusalem on Friday took some back to the spring of 2021, when Hamas fired rockets toward the city, which helped set off a bloody 11-day Gaza war. At that time, the militant group cited a provocative far-right march through the Palestinian neighborhoods of Jerusalem as one of the reasons for its rocket barrage, along with the displacement of Palestinians from the city's east.

Israeli police said they will allow the same Jewish ultranationalist parade  meant to celebrate Israels capture of east Jerusalem  to take place next Thursday.

Since Tuesday, Israeli strikes have killed five senior Islamic Jihad figures and hit at least 215 targets in Gaza, including rocket launch sites and militants preparing to use them. Islamic Jihad has retaliated with over 900 rockets fired toward densely populated parts of Israel.

Israeli bombs and shells have destroyed 47 housing units, and damaged 19 so badly they were uninhabitable, leaving 165 Palestinians homeless, Gazas housing ministry reported. In addition, nearly 300 homes sustained some damage.

Palestinians on Friday surveyed the wreckage from the fighting.

The dream that we built for our children, for our sons, has ended, said Belal Bashir, a Palestinian living in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, whose family home was reduced to a heap of rubble in an airstrike late Thursday. He, his young daughters and two-week-old son would have been killed in the thundering explosion if they hadnt ran outside when they heard shouting, he said.

We were shocked that our house was targeted, he added as he pulled his childrens dolls and blankets from a gaping bomb crater.

The Palestinian dead included six children and four women, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. Two of the children were killed by suspected misfired Palestinian rockets, according to the Israeli military and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights. Over 100 Palestinians have been wounded.

The civilians deaths have drawn condemnation from the Arab world and concern from the United States and Europe. In its past four wars against Hamas, Israel has repeatedly faced accusations of war crimes due to the high civilian death tolls and its use of heavy weapons against the crowded enclave. Israel, in turn, contends that Palestinian militant groups use civilians as human shields by fighting in their midst.

Confrontations between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza have recurred 15 times since Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007. The repeated Israeli bombing campaigns have cast doubt on Netanyahus claims of victory and raised serious questions about what the grim routine achieves.

If the operations were really all that successful, we wouldnt need them once a year on average, with the time between them becoming shorter, Amos Harel, the defense affairs commentator for the Haaretz newspaper, wrote in an analysis Friday. The simple truth is that Israel has no concrete solution for the plight of Gaza or for the security dangers that emanate from the strip.

Hamas, the de facto civilian government, has sought to maintain its truce with Israel while attempting to keep abysmal living conditions in the blockaded enclave from spiraling since the devastating 2021 war that killed over 260 Palestinians. The group has sat out this round of fighting  as it did a similar burst of violence last summer. In a sign of restraint, Israel has limited its airstrikes to Islamic Jihad targets.

Israeli officials and Islamic Jihad figures have sent mixed signals about negotiations for a cease-fire that neighboring Egypt has pushed for. Senior official Ihsan Attaya complained early Friday that the mediators have been unable to provide us with any guarantees. A sticking point has been Islamic Jihads demands that Israel cease its policy of targeted killings, Attaya said.

This week's battles began when Israel launched simultaneous airstrikes that killed three Islamic Jihad commanders along with some of their wives and children as they slept in their homes. Israel said it was retaliating for a barrage of rocket fire launched last week by Islamic Jihad following the death of one of its West Bank members, Khader Adnan, from an 87-day hunger strike while in Israeli custody.

The airstrikes and rockets have shifted the focus of long-running conflict back to Gaza after months of surging violence in the occupied West Bank under Israel's most right-wing government in history.
DocMorris AG / Key word(s): Bond

DocMorris (formerly Zur Rose Group) announces a tender offer for any-and-all of its CHF 200 million outstanding bonds due 2024



12-May-2023 / 07:00 CET/CEST

Release of an ad hoc announcement pursuant to Art. 53 LR

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.





NOT FOR PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION OR RELEASE IN OR INTO THE UNITED STATES, CANADA, AUSTRALIA OR JAPAN

This announcement is not a prospectus and not an offer of securities for sale in any jurisdiction, including in or into the United States, Canada, Australia or Japan.

Frauenfeld, 12 May 2023

Press release

Ad hoc announcement pursuant to Art. 53 LR

DocMorris (formerly Zur Rose Group) announces a tender offer for any-and-all of its CHF 200 million outstanding bonds due 2024

DocMorris AG which was formerly known as Zur Rose Group AG until its firm name change as approved by the Annual General Meeting on 4 May 2023 and registered in the commercial register on 10 May 2023 (the Company or DocMorris) hereby informs its shareholders and the market of the publication of a tender offer targeting its 2.50% bonds due 21 November 2024 (the Bonds) (the Tender Offer).

The Tender Offer purchase price is CHF 4,900.00 per each bond (CHF 5,000.00) respectively 98.00% of the par value, plus accrued and unpaid interest of CHF 65.97 per each bond respectively 1.32%. Accrued interest is calculated assuming a settlement date of 1 June 2023 and is subject to withholding tax.

The resultant total consideration payable to bondholders who validly tender their Bonds is CHF 4,965.97 per CHF 5,000, respectively 99.32% of the par value. The Tender Offer commences on 12 May 2023 and the expiration date is 26 May 2023. The settlement date is expected to be 1 June 2023.

The Bonds are listed and traded at SIX Swiss Exchange (ISIN: CH0505011897).

The Tender Offer is being made as part of the Companys active management of its balance sheet following the successful closing of the sale of the Swiss business. In light of this recent transaction and given the limited liquidity in the secondary market, the Company wants to offer bondholders an attractive route to sell the bonds at a level above that which can be achieved in the secondary market.

The Tender Offer will be managed by UBS as Tender Agent and Dealer Manager.

Investors and Analyst contact

Dr. Daniel Grigat, Group Head of Investor Relations & Sustainability

Email: ir@zurrose.com, phone: +41 58 810 11 49

Media contact

Lisa Luthi, Group Director Communications

Email: media@zurrose.com, phone: +41 52 724 08 14

Agenda

17 August 2023 2023 Half-Year Results (11 a.m. CEST: Conference Call/Webcast) 19 October 2023 Q3/2023 Trading Update

DocMorris

The Swiss-based DocMorris AG is a leading company in the fields of online pharmacy, marketplace and professional healthcare with strong brands in Germany and other European countries. As Germany's largest online pharmacy, it operates DocMorris, the best-known health platform. Deliveries are mainly from the highly automated logistics centre in Heerlen, the Netherlands, with a capacity of over 27 million parcels per year. In Spain and France, the company operates the leading marketplace for health and personal care products in Southern Europe. With its business model, DocMorris offers its patients, customers and partners a broad range of products and services. In doing so, DocMorris is pursuing its vision of creating a digital health ecosystem for everyone to manage their health in one click. The company was renamed from Zur Rose Group AG to DocMorris AG in May 2023 after the Swiss business was sold to Migros/Medbase. Excluding the Swiss business, about 2,200 employees in Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, France and Switzerland generated an external revenue of CHF 1,159 million serving around 10 million active customers in 2022. The shares of DocMorris AG are listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (securities number 4261528, ISIN CH0042615283, ticker DOCM). For further information, please visit corporate.docmorris.com.

Disclaimer

This announcement regarding the Tender Offer does not constitute an offer or an invitation to participate in the Tender Offer in any jurisdiction in which, or to any person to or from which, it is unlawful to make such invitation or for there to be such participation under applicable securities laws. The distribution of this press release in certain jurisdictions may be restricted by law. Persons into whose possession this press release comes are required to inform themselves about, and to observe, any such restrictions. No action has been or will be taken in any jurisdiction in relation to the Tender Offer that would permit a public offering of securities in any such jurisdiction.

Switzerland and General

This document and the Tender Offer information memorandum (the "Information Memorandum") neither constitute a prospectus nor a similar notice within the meaning of Article 35 or 69 of the Swiss Federal Act on Financial Services (FinSA) nor a prospectus within the meaning of the listing rules of the SIX Swiss Exchange or under any other applicable laws. The Tender Offer will be made based on the Information Memorandum, which is not a prospectus or a similar notice within the meaning of Article 35 and 69 FinSA. The Information Memorandum will be, if and when published, available free of charge from UBS AG, Investment Bank, Swiss Prospectus Switzerland, P.O. Box, 8098 Zurich, Switzerland, Att: Prospectus Library (phone: +41 (0)44 239 47 03, email: swiss-prospectus@ubs.com).

United States

The Tender Offer is not being made, and will not be made, directly or indirectly, in or into, or by use of the mail of, or by any means or instrumentality of interstate commerce of or of any facilities of a national securities exchange of, the United States or to or for the account or benefit of, U.S. persons as defined in Regulation S of the Securities Act (each a "U.S. person"). This includes, but is not limited to, facsimile transmission, electronic mail, telex, telephone and the internet and other forms of electronic communication. The Bonds may not be tendered for purchase pursuant to the Tender Offer by any such use, means, instrumentality or facility from or within the United States or by any persons located or resident in the United States as defined in Regulation S of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act") or to U.S. persons. Accordingly, copies of the Tender Offer Information Memorandum and any other documents or materials relating to the Tender Offer are not being, and must not be, directly or indirectly, mailed or otherwise transmitted, distributed or forwarded (including, without limitation, by custodians, nominees or trustees) in or into the United States or to persons located or resident in the United States or to U.S. persons. Any purported offers to tender Bonds pursuant to the Tender Offer resulting, directly or indirectly, from a violation of these restrictions will be invalid, and any purported tender of Bonds made by a U.S. person, a person located or resident in the United States or from within the United States or from any agent, fiduciary or other intermediary acting on a non-discretionary basis for a principal giving instructions from within the United States or any U.S. person will not be accepted. Each Bondholder participating in the Tender Offer will represent to the Offeror, the Dealer Managers and Tender Agent that it is not located or resident in the United States and is not a U.S. person and is not giving an order to participate in the Tender Offer from within the United States or on behalf of a U.S. person.

United Kingdom

The communication of the Information Memorandum, the Prospectus and any other documents or materials relating to the Tender Offer is not being made and such documents and/or materials have not been approved by an authorised person for the purposes of section 21 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, as amended. Accordingly, such documents and/or materials are not being distributed to, are not directed at and must not be passed on to, the general public in the United Kingdom. The communication of such documents and/or materials as a financial promotion is only being made to persons within the United Kingdom falling within the definition of investment professionals (as defined in Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005 (the "Order")) or falling within Article 43(2) of the Order, or to other persons to whom it may lawfully be communicated (together "relevant persons"). The investment activity to which this document relates will only be engaged in with relevant persons and persons who are not relevant persons should not rely on it.
Proven Aviation, Transportation and Sustainability Executives Join Board as Independent Directors

CALGARY, AB / ACCESSWIRE / May 11, 2023 / FLYHT Aerospace Solutions Ltd. (TSXV:FLY)(OTCQX:FLYLF) (the "Company" or "FLYHT") today announced that the Board of Directors has named Nancy N. Young and Pete Large to the Company's Board of Directors. Ms. Young and Dr. Large will serve as independent directors.

Ms. Young currently is a globally recognized sustainability and environmental attorney and consultant with over 25 years of experience in climate change, aviation environmental matters, environmental social governance, and sustainable aviation fuels. As the Chief Sustainability Officer at Alder Fuels from April 2022 through January 2023, she established the start-up biocrude company's environmental and sustainability legal, policy, and regulatory programs. Immediately prior to joining Alder, Ms. Young served for 14 years as the VP of Environmental Affairs at Airlines for America (A4A). From 2015 through 2016, she served on the UN Secretary-General's High-Level Advisory Group for Sustainable Transport. Prior to joining A4A, Ms. Young was a Director/Partner at the law firm of Beveridge & Diamond, PC.

Dr. Large is a senior technology executive with years of experience spanning transportation, aviation, space, civil infrastructure and construction, including specific expertise in transforming how work is done through data-driven digital technologies that provide better business insights, decision making, efficiency, safety, first-time quality and sustainability. He currently serves as Senior Vice President at global industrial technology company Trimble Inc. He previously held positions as a Research Solutions Strategist within Boeing's Digital Solutions and Analytics Business and as a Director at Inmarsat in the Aviation Safety & Operational Services business. He holds an Ed.D with the Aviation and Space specialization from Oklahoma State University, an M.S. in Management from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, and a BSc(Hons) from the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne.

"Adding proven transportation and sustainability expertise to FLYHT's Board helps validate the progress we have made in establishing our company as a leader in using real-time data and insights to improve aviation and the world around us," commented Captain Mary I. McMillan, FLYHT's non-executive Chairman of the Board. "With Nancy and Pete on our team, we are well positioned to address the important and complex issues of technological change in avionics, operational efficiencies, and environmental necessities. We extend a warm welcome to Nancy and Peter and look forward to working with them."

Following today's AGM, FLYHT granted incentive stock options for an aggregate of 449,400 common shares, subject to regulatory approval, to employees, officers, and directors under the stock option plan approved at the Annual and Special Meeting held on May 11, 2023. The stock options are exercisable at a price of $0.94 per share. The options will vest 1/3 on each of May 11, 2024, 2025 and 2026, and will expire on May 11, 2027.

Incentive stock options were also granted for an aggregate of 9,000 common shares to Satichi Consulting Inc. and 17,500 to FNK IR LLC, both of whom are engaged as investor relations consultants with FLYHT. These incentive stock options are also subject to regulatory approval and were issued under the stock option plan approved at the Annual and Special Meeting held on May 11, 2023. These stock options are exercisable at a price of $0.94 per share. The options will vest  on each of August 11, 2023, November 11, 2023, February 11, 2024, and May 11, 2024, and will expire on May 11, 2027.

A maximum of 10% of the issued and outstanding shares are reserved under the Company's stock option plan. The options are subject to a four-month resale restriction.

The Company previously announced that it would be participating in the upcoming MicroCap Rodeo investor conference in New York City on May 16 and 17. The organizer has informed all participants that it has postponed the event to a later date due to challenges that it is experiencing with the hotel venue.

About FLYHT Aerospace Solutions Ltd.

FLYHT provides airlines with Actionable Intelligence to transform operational insight into immediate, quantifiable action, and delivers industry leading solutions to improve aviation safety, efficiency, and profitability. This unique capability is driven by a suite of patented aircraft certified hardware products. These include AFIRS", an aircraft satcom/interface device that enables cockpit voice communications, real-time aircraft state analysis, and the transmission of aircraft data while inflight. The AFIRS Edge is a state-of-the-art 5G Wireless Quick Access Recorder (WQAR), Aircraft Interface Device (AID), and Aircraft Condition and Monitoring System (ACMS). The Edge can be interfaced with FLYHT's TAMDAR probe or the FLYHT-WVSS-II relative humidity sensor to deliver airborne weather and humidity data in real-time.

CrossConsense, FLYHT's wholly owned subsidiary, offers highly skilled services to the commercial aviation industry and provides preventative maintenance solutions. These include Aircraft Fleet View, a native application that gives a real-time view of airline fleet status; AviationDW, a managed data warehouse for enhanced business intelligence; and ACSIS, a visualization and predictive maintenance alerting tool.

FLYHT is headquartered in Calgary, Canada, and is an AS9100 Quality registered company. CrossConsense, located in Frankfurt, Germany, is an ISO9001 certified operation. For more information, visit www.flyht.com.

Contact Information:

FLYHT Aerospace Solutions Ltd. FNK IR LLC Satichi Consulting Inc. Alana Forbes Matt Chesler, CFA Daniel Kim Chief Financial Officer Investor Relations Corporate Development 403.291.7437 646.809.2183 416.728.5630 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE: FLYHT Aerospace Solutions Ltd.

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The arbitration panel issued a final award against Viracon, Inc., for $20,018,729.63. The amount included $4,000,000 in punitive damages, which the arbitrators intended "will not go unnoticed in the board room of Viracon or its parent company [Apogee Enterprises, Inc.]."

LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / May 12, 2023 / On April 27, 2023, the Superior Court of the State of California, Los Angeles County, entered a punitive damages judgment against Viracon, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Apogee Enterprises Inc., for fraudulently concealing known defects in its Insulated Glass Units (IGUs). IGUs are commercial grade panels that serve as both exterior insulating walls and double-paned vision windows. Viracon used a gray colored primary sealant, Gray PIB, that could not withstand prolonged sun exposure and, after several years, formed a film between the panes of glass.





Hennigh Law Corporation





A three-member arbitration panel of Honorable Robert C. Bonner, G. Christian Roux, Esq., and Michael J. Bayard, Esq. issued an interim award against Viracon, Inc., on June 30, 2022, and the case entered the punitive damages phase. On December 7, 2022, the panel issued its final award of $20,018,729.63.

The arbitrators agreed that the evidence presented showed that Viracon "made a conscious decision to withhold the information regarding the runny PIB issue" and "there was ample evidence pointing to the existence of a corporate culture to keep negative information about Viracon products close to the vest." The amount included $4,000,000 in punitive damages, which the arbitrators intended "will not go unnoticed in the board room of Viracon or its parent company [Apogee Enterprises, Inc.]."

Attorneys for The Pointe were Scott Hennigh, Azadeh Allayee, Garrett Mott, Erik Gonzalez, Mat Troughton, and Sylvia Yang of the Hennigh Law Corporation.

Hennigh Law Corporation is a trial firm for complex construction cases. Scott Hennigh has been repeatedly recognized by Chambers USA for his practice in construction law. Garrett Mott is a firm shareholder and trial attorney with substantial jury trial experience. Azadeh Allayee has been a practicing litigator and trial attorney for almost twenty-five years with extensive experience in complex litigation matters, including heavy civil construction, class actions, employment defense, real estate disputes, and business litigation. Erik Gonzalez is a trial attorney and former fellowship participant with the American Board of Trial Advocates.

Contact Information

Scott Hennigh

Hennigh Law Corporation

[email protected]

415-385-5855

SOURCE: Hennigh Law Corporation

View source version on accesswire.com:
KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA / ACCESSWIRE / May 12, 2023 / HOMEVEST has entered into a memorandum of understanding with Malaysia's Social Security Organization (SOCSO) to provide exclusive living accommodations services, aimed at giving more Malaysians access to suitable living spaces.

Social Security Organization (SOCSO), an organization under Ministry of Human Resources Malaysia, is a statutory body responsible for the registration of employers and employees, collection of contributions from employers and employees, provision of monetary and non-monetary benefits to employees and their dependents when tragedy strikes, or to the employees when loss of employment occurs.

This exclusive partnership aims to help more Malaysians find suitable living accommodations through the eligible participants on the MyFutureJobs platform. HOMEVEST CEO, Marcus Low said" We are excited about this partnership, teaming up with SOCSO will provide more opportunities for aspiring tenants to find a place to settle down. HOMEVEST's goal has always been to make accommodations accessible."

HOMEVEST is a property investment, management, and development company that aims to unlock property values by providing innovative home ownership solutions and transforming real estate into a more digital and sustainable asset class. The company has integrated data enablement and automation technologies into its business model to improve tenant experience and enable seamless communication of customer data and property operators to enhance operations and processes.

HOMEVEST's focus is to create a property ecosystem that empowers property management with the tools and resources needed to streamline the operations, reduce costs, and enhance overall performance. With the support of AI, the whole ecosystem can be revolutionized by elevating customer experiences and leverage on data transparency, data-driven insights and automation. Through their efforts, they are committed to create a sustainable future for property management by adopting innovative technologies solutions.

For more information, visit www.homevestglobal.com

and https://www.facebook.com/HomevestGlobal.

For general inquiries, contact +603-7931 6622 or email [email protected].

Media Contact

Organization: HOMEVEST Sdn Bhd

Contact Person: JK Soo

Website: https://homevestglobal.com/

Email: [email protected]

Address: 36th Floor, Menara Maxis

Address 2: Kuala Lumpur City Centre

City: Kuala Lumpur

Country: Malaysia

PR Contact

King Newswire

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE: HOMEVEST Sdn Bhd

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NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / May 12, 2023 / Kimberly-Clark Corporation



Alison Lewis, Kimberly-Clark's chief growth officer, was a recent guest alongside Pree Rao, the global co-head of Egon Zehnder's marketing and sales practice, on the CMO Podcast with Jim Stengel. In this episode, Alison shared insights on resilient leadership from her recent keynote at the Kellogg Marketing Leadership Summit and discussed the importance of embracing a growth mindset, the power of stepping outside your comfort zone, and the evolving responsibilities and challenges for chief marketing officers (CMOs).

"I want to leave whatever I touch shinier and better, making an impact not only on the business, but on people as well. Inspiring those around you to be better leaders is the greatest legacy you can leave," said Alison.

Listen to the full episode here.

About Kimberly-Clark

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE: KMB) and its trusted brands are an indispensable part of life for people in more than 175 countries. Fueled by ingenuity, creativity, and an understanding of people's most essential needs, we create products that help individuals experience more of what's important to them. Our portfolio of brands, including Huggies, Kleenex, Scott, Kotex, Cottonelle, Poise, Depend, Andrex, Pull-Ups, GoodNites, Intimus, Neve, Plenitud, Sweety, Softex, Viva and WypAll, hold No. 1 or No. 2 share positions in approximately 80 countries. We use sustainable practices that support a healthy planet, build strong communities, and ensure our business thrives for decades to come. We are proud to be recognized as one of the world's most ethical companies by Ethisphere for the fifth year in a row. To keep up with the latest news and to learn more about the company's 150-year history of innovation, visit kimberly-clark.com.

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By Takuya Karube, KYODO NEWS - May 12, 2023 - 09:03 | All, World

U.S. President Joe Biden's top security adviser and China's highest-ranking diplomat held hours of "candid" discussions on key issues in Vienna this week and agreed to keep lines of communication open, the White House said Thursday, amid months of heightened tensions between the two countries.

White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Wang Yi, a Chinese Communist Party Politburo member who is in charge of foreign affairs, spent more than eight hours together over two days from Wednesday in the Austrian capital as part of efforts to "responsibly manage competition," it said.

The issues discussed included Russia's war against Ukraine and the situation surrounding Taiwan, according to the White House, which described their discussions as "candid, substantive and constructive."

"We do anticipate there'll be engagements and visits in both directions over the coming months," a senior U.S. administration official told reporters.

The face-to-face talks were the first between Sullivan and a Chinese official at Wang's level since June last year, according to the U.S. official, who briefed on the meeting on condition of anonymity.

China's state-run news agency Xinhua said the two held talks on "removing obstacles in China-U.S. relations and stabilizing the relationship from deterioration."

It added that Wang "fully expounded China's solemn position on the Taiwan question."

The unexpected meeting between the senior officials took place around a week before a summit of the Group of Seven major industrial nations in Hiroshima, at which Beijing's assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific region and intensifying military intimidation of Taiwan are expected to top the agenda.

The G-7, comprising Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States, as well as the European Union, is preparing to reiterate its strong opposition to any attempts to change the status quo by force, no matter where in the world, in a statement to be issued after the three-day summit ends on May 21, according to officials.

China, which is not a member of the group, claims Taiwan as part of its territory to be brought under its control, by force if necessary.

Taiwan has been a major source of friction between China and the United States, with bilateral ties deteriorating further after a visit to the self-ruled democratic island in August last year by then U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

In early February, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken abruptly postponed his planned visit to Beijing after Washington detected what it described as a Chinese spy balloon traveling over sensitive areas of the continental United States.

The trip was intended as a follow-up to an in-person meeting between Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping in November. It would have been the first visit to China by a ministerial-level official from Washington since the current U.S. administration's inception in 2021.

During his discussions with Wang, Sullivan reiterated, in reference to Taiwan, that the United States remains committed to its "one-China policy" recognizing the People's Republic of China as the sole legal government of China, according to the official.

Related coverage:

Blinken urges world not to be "fooled" by China-backed Russia

Top U.S., China diplomats meet, but at odds over balloon incident

No preconditions for Biden to speak with China's Xi: White House
NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / May 12, 2023 / IBM

Originally presented before the Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development

Good morning, Chairman Owens, Ranking Member Wilson, and distinguished Members of the Subcommittee. I am Lydia Logan, IBM's Vice President for Global Education and Workforce Development. Thank you for the opportunity to testify on the state of skills development in the United States, the role of employers in providing new skilling opportunities toward career advancement, and the role of government in supporting employer-led programs.

In my role at IBM, I create more effective education and workforce programs by leading our community and university skills initiatives. These programs help fulfill IBM's pledge to skill 30 million people worldwide by 2030. Today, I will share IBM's experience leading skills development programs and our perspective about the need for multiple pathways to careers - especially in the technology sector. I will also share some policy recommendations that can holistically expand and scale proven efforts nationwide.

Despite economic uncertainties, the current unemployment rate remains historically low. The U.S. is experiencing a massive skills shortage across industries and employers are competing for workers with the right mix of skills and competencies for available positions. According to a recent report, 77% of employers face difficulties finding qualified talent - a 17 year high.1 At the same time, enrollment at traditional higher education institutions continues to decline. And employers estimate 44% of workers' skills will be disrupted or changed in the next five years, according to a World Economic Forum report.2

To help solve these workforce challenges, targeted skills development programs with on-the-job experience play a vital role. These programs help ensure workers and job seekers obtain the in-demand skills employers seek and ensure longevity in fulfilling careers.

In our experience and research, IBM has found that time and money are two of the greatest barriers for workers as well as businesses looking to create new skills programs. According to a recent study we commissioned with Morning Consult, 60% of students, people seeking new jobs, and people seeking to change careers worry that online learning or obtaining digital credentials may be costly to obtain.3 As a global technology leader, we believe the U.S. must rethink its education and workforce development approach to meet today's market needs in order to create good-paying jobs and opportunities for more Americans.

To help close the skills gap, we offer a range of education, skills, and career readiness programs to U.S. students and job seekers at no cost. Our programs help Americans get on the path to technology careers by reskilling people in early or mid-career job roles via our registered apprenticeship program or through collaborative partnerships with nonprofit organizations, education systems, and skilling programs. Employee lifelong learning and development have been a hallmark of IBM's culture since graduating its first class of sales professionals in 1916. Today, we continue to invest in learning and development programs.

Our employees are expected to complete a minimum of 40 hours of professional development annually to continuously build their skills and remain competitive in today's marketplace. Our employees exceed that mark: In 2022, IBMers completed an average of 88 hours or 22 million learning hours collectively. As a result, 9 out of 10 IBMers now have skills of the future, compared to 3 out of 10 when we started this initiative more than 5 years ago. Credentials, including digital badges, that provide a measure of learning progress and skills acquisition are a vital part of IBM's robust education and professional development strategy. These credentials provide employees a portable means of carrying their learning achievements along their career journeys.

Nonetheless, we also recognize that more needs to be done and done at scale to ensure our country can remain competitive globally.

Expanding Career Pathways

Several years ago, IBM coined the term "new collar" jobs to describe in-demand, well paying jobs that did not require degrees because for these roles a candidate's skills matter more. Further, a focus on new collar jobs creates opportunities for new sources of talent with diverse backgrounds and skill sets previously excluded by the lack of a college degree. We speak from experience: rewriting job descriptions and removing the four-year degree requirement in more than half of IBM job openings in the U.S. resulted in more diverse applicants - including a 63% increase in underrepresented applicants - and almost 20% of our U.S. hires joining without a degree.

To further the point: 62% of Americans 25 years of age or older do not have a bachelor's degree, and traditional four-year degree requirements exacerbate inequality in the workforce, which results in around 79% of Hispanic and 72% of Black applicants being ruled out from consideration for roles with traditional degree requirements. A national skills first - as opposed to degree first - policy would help bridge the gap between job openings and qualified applicants.

IBM Apprenticeship Program

The IBM Apprenticeship program is another way IBM is expanding pathways to meaningful careers in technology. We started our first-of-its-kind technology apprenticeship in 2017, and in its first year it grew nearly twice as fast as expected. Today, we have more than 30 different apprenticeship job roles, from cybersecurity to AI to digital design.

Furthermore, IBM's technology apprenticeship programs allow people to earn and learn at the same time - participants do not have to choose between education and career. Our apprenticeship programs earned official recognition from the American Council on Education (ACE) for more than 40 college credits, which is approximately 80% of the credits needed toward an associate degree, with no cost for the apprentices. To cite one example, our Application Developer role recently was evaluated by ACE for a recommended 51 credit hours. We are currently working with community colleges to seamlessly transfer these credits and add complementary courses that would lead to an associate degree for the apprentices.

We know this work-based learning model works because it's positively impacting people's lives4. As Adrianna - an IBM apprentice graduate who now serves as the IBM Recruitment Professional shared, "My life truly changed overnight. I went from putting out fires all hours of the day and night, to being able to actually enjoy a vacation with my family knowing that my team had my back. That's time well spent with my daughter, and thanks to IBM, I can do that!"5

IBM Z Mainframe Apprenticeship Program/Franklin Apprenticeship Partnership

Another example of how IBM is providing non-traditional pathways for Americans to enter the workforce is through our IBM Z Mainframe Employer Apprenticeship Program. IBM is working with over 30 Fortune 100 companies - and mainframe clients - to recruit and prepare ZSystem mainframe administrators for our clients that hire them into Registered Apprenticeship roles.

Currently, 67% of Fortune 100 companies use the IBM Z mainframe infrastructure but find it challenging to identify talent with the right skills to maintain and innovate on the platform. The IBM Z platform is critical to large-scale enterprise success - delivering core services for cloud and hybrid cloud environments and supporting mission-critical financial services transactions. IBM partnered with Franklin Apprenticeship to offer our IBM Z platform clients a solution to getting the talent they need and providing a rewarding career to capable, committed individuals without a technology degree or prior experience. To date, our mainframe clients - banks, large retailers, automakers - have hired close to 200 apprentices across the country. The validity of this program is demonstrated by the fact that our clients are coming back to us for additional talent.

IBM SkillsBuild

As part of our commitment to skill 30 million people worldwide by 2030, particularly in underrepresented communities, we offer the cost-free IBM SkillsBuild education program to high school and university students, educators, and adult learners. IBM SkillsBuild enables learners to develop valuable new STEM and workplace skills and access career opportunities through customized, practical learning experiences.

IBM SkillsBuild offers over 1,000 courses in up to 20 languages, with the opportunity to earn IBM-branded digital credentials recognized by the market on such topics as cybersecurity, data analysis, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and professional skills. The customized, curated learning experiences include work-based learning projects, direct conversations with IBM's experts and mentors, and connections to career opportunities. The online version at skillsbuild.org is open to anyone and is flexible in meeting individual learning needs for place, pace, and path. Additionally, we offer an enhanced version of the program through partner organizations.

More specifically, these partnerships provide specialized support to learners during their journey, including connecting to career opportunities. For example, in 2022, IBM announced a partnership with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs6 and now offers enhanced resources through IBM SkillsBuild for transitioning service members in need of skills to pursue high-demand technology roles. Our partnership with the VA also serves as an enhancement and support for the Veteran Employment Through Technology Education Courses (VET TEC) program. As part of this partnership, we also provide IBM experts to support U.S. veterans throughout their job application process. Additionally, one of our partners, CompTIA is engaging with multiple state workforce boards, to explore partnerships for the A+ and IBM SkillsBuild cobranded opportunities.

IBM Digital Credentials help democratize education and boost employability, especially for individuals without college degrees, by providing a way to demonstrate knowledge, skills, and abilities in specific areas of technology. In today's rapidly changing job market, traditional college degrees are increasingly financially unattainable for most of the adult working population. Digital Credentials offer an alternative, cost-effective approach to workforce development, and provide incremental skills development options to populations in need of upskilling and reskilling.

Bria, an IBM Apprentice graduate was encouraged by her community college instructor to take IBM SkillsBuild courses and learn new skills for an IT career. Now she works as a consultant at the IBM Client Innovation Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She loves her new tech career, and her future is bright. As Bria shared in a recent blog post, "I can't wait to see what the future has in store for me. In the next five years, I hope to see myself still working in the tech field and at IBM. Having worked on projects that made a difference for people. Being a mentor to others like me to help them see their potential."7

Policy recommendations

Our nation's education and workforce systems are not equipped to meet the market demands of the modern, digital economy. And there is no silver bullet to fix that. Instead, we suggest employers, policymakers, education providers, and other stakeholders act collectively to make the most significant impact to help current and future workers.

To that end, IBM recently launched the Skills First Coalition - an advocacy group comprised of businesses and innovative education providers - to advance policies that align education and workforce development with jobs that are in-demand and growing to expand career opportunities for millions of Americans.8 The coalition has a broad membership of employers representing different industries - retail, advanced manufacturing, and technology, to name a few. Still, we all have one thing in common - we all need workers with the right mix of fundamental, durable, and technical skills. As a result, our member companies are committed to delivering innovative workforce development programs to broaden talent pools while engaging in advocacy to make the public workforce system easier to navigate for employers.

As this Committee explores ways to modernize the workforce development system and coordinate programs more efficiently across government agencies, we offer the following recommendations:

Align higher education and workforce development laws to focus on skills attainment. The need for skills-based education is on the rise and higher education is not keeping pace. It's critical our federal higher education and workforce laws work together to provide the necessary resources to attain indemand skills. We encourage Congress not only to update federal laws, but innovate across the federal landscape and break down programmatic silos. Dedicate Individual Accounts (ITAs) for workforce development. We know that work-based learning works. IBM advises Congress to remove barriers limiting skills attainment within WIOA, including dedicating funding towards Individual Training Accounts, increasing dollar limits on incumbent worker programs, and enhancing work-based learning programs. We encourage Congress to invest in work-based learning opportunities, including earn-whileyou-learn programs, apprenticeships, and internships initiatives. Reform the Eligible Training Provider List (ETPL). More effectively and directly connect the ETPL to the needs of employers with in-demand and growing jobs, ensure flexibility by allowing online and hybrid workforce development programs, and focus on quality and outcome measures. Also, Congress should ensure employers on the ETPL can provide upskilling and reskilling, especially for pre-apprenticeship, apprenticeships, and other on-the-job opportunities. Increase transparency and reviews of outcomes. A recent report9 from Harvard University's the Project on Workforce showed job-seekers do not have access to complete information to help guide their decision to pursue skills development programs. A vital part of this is the availability of the quality and transparency of outcomes data on critical program measures such as completion and employment rates, credential attainment, and earnings. As such, improved access to quality data will lead to more transparency and help move the system toward high-quality, affordable skilling opportunities aligned with the needs of regional, state, and local employers.

Relatedly, we also believe Congress can encourage the development and coordination of an open, interoperable data infrastructure - rooted in strong privacy and security measures - to support increased transparency and provide insights to learners, employers, and job seekers. Coupled with federal convening and coordination, states should also continue to integrate high quality labor market data tools to better connect learners with education and employment opportunities.

We know this work can be done in a way that unlocks opportunities for all Americans, but it's going to require us - industry, government, education institutions and other community stakeholders - to shift the way we approach education, skills development, and hiring. We have an unprecedented opportunity before us to transform our education and workforce systems to uplift more Americans and enrich their lives and our society. Thank you again for the opportunity to share IBM's experience and recommendations with the Committee.

1 https://go.manpowergroup.com/talent-shortage

2 https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Future_of_Jobs_2023.pdf

3 https://newsroom.ibm.com/2023-02-14-New-IBM-Survey-Reveals-the-Greatest-Perceived-Barrier-toProfessional-or-Technical-Skill-Development-is-that-the-Programs-are-Too-Expensive

4 https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/how-apprenticeships-can-bridge-the-employment-gap-for-workerswithout-college-degrees

5 https://www.ibm.com/blogs/jobs/reinvent-your-career-with-the-ibm-apprenticeship-program/

6 https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolinamilanesi/2022/05/12/ibms-new-partnerships-to-address-cybersecuritytalent-shortages-also-drive-social-impact/?sh=7fea3a1e2fdf

7 https://www.ibm.com/blog/how-ibm-skillsbuild-supercharged-a-community-college-students-career-path/

8 https://www.ibm.com/policy/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Skills-First-Coalition-Letter-to-118th-Congress-1.pdf

9 https://www.pw.hks.harvard.edu/post/publicjobtraining





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IRVINE, CA / ACCESSWIRE / May 12, 2023 / Today, the Taco Bell Foundation announced it is awarding more than $10 million in Live Ms Scholarships - the most in the nonprofit's history. The scholarships will be distributed to 980 students, ages 16-26, eager to ignite powerful change within their community and beyond. This year, the Taco Bell Foundation is giving $2.5 million to Taco Bell restaurant team members and $7.6 million to Taco Bell fans nationwide. Award amounts range from $5,000-$25,000 per recipient.

The Live Mas Scholarship is a passion-based scholarship that gives students the tools and resources to boldly pursue their educational dreams. To qualify for the scholarship, applicants must submit a two-minute video describing their passion, a positive change they want to make in the world, and how their education will help them achieve that goal.

This year, the Taco Bell Foundation received its highest number of scholarship applications - nearly 14,000. Recipients include more than 300 fans of the brand, 150 Taco Bell restaurant team members, and over 500 renewal recipients through the Taco Bell Foundation's renewal application, allowing applicants to renew their scholarships up to three times.

Scholarships awarded to Taco Bell fans are funded 100% by customers who participate in the Taco Bell Foundation's Round Up fundraiser by rounding up to the nearest dollar, proving change can change lives. While team member scholarships are funded completely by donations from Taco Bell Corp. and Taco Bell Franchisees.

"The Live Mas Scholarship is more than a check. It provides a community for these young scholars where they can learn from one another and grow outside of the classroom," said Jennifer Bradbury, Executive Director of the Taco Bell Foundation. "The Live Mas Scholarship opens a door of connections, opportunities, and programs to help students flourish in their passions."

Check out the stories of two 2023 Live Mas Scholars who will be using their scholarships to create a better world for us all:

King A.: King is a passionate animator who is currently studying Art and Business Marketing at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL). The son of Togolese immigrants, he hopes to one day open his own animation and art studio that will help first-generation American animators, like himself, succeed in the industry. King is a Taco Bell team member and learned about his scholarship during a surprise party at the Taco Bell where he works and where his dad is the Restaurant General Manager.

King is a passionate animator who is currently studying Art and Business Marketing at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL). The son of Togolese immigrants, he hopes to one day open his own animation and art studio that will help first-generation American animators, like himself, succeed in the industry. King is a Taco Bell team member and learned about his scholarship during a surprise party at the Taco Bell where he works and where his dad is the Restaurant General Manager. Stacy E.: Born deaf in a Spanish-speaking household, Stacy quickly learned the challenges that come with language barriers. Over time and with the proper resources, Stacy learned American Sign Language and fell in love with Deaf Education. Stacy, now working on her Associate of Arts, is planning to continue her education at Stephen F. Austin State University to pursue a degree in Deaf and Hard of Hearing Studies. With this education, Stacy hopes to return to the classroom as a resource for deaf and hard of hearing youth in order to make a difference in their lives and educational journeys.

Live Mas Scholars will have the opportunity to travel to San Diego, California, and attend the Live Mas Scholarship Summer of Connection this July. The in-person conference is designed for attendees to cultivate the necessary skills and connections needed to boldly pursue their careers and make a difference in their community.

About Taco Bell Foundation

Taco Bell Foundation, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) public charity that helps America's young people pursue their educational goals and career aspirations. Since 1992, the Taco Bell Foundation has reached more than 5 million young people across the country and has awarded $155 million in grants and scholarships, focused on education and career readiness. For more information about the Taco Bell Foundation, visit www.tacobellfoundation.org.

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NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / May 12, 2023 / Cisco Systems Inc.



The Transformational Tech series highlights Cisco's grant recipients that use technology to help transform the lives of individuals and communities.

Cisco's purpose is to Power an Inclusive Future for All. One way we fulfill our purpose is through collaborations with organizations that have aligning values. Similarly, with the mission to create impactful, innovative, and successful social enterprises, Villgro has helped build and accelerate startups in India for over 20 years. And when Cisco and Villgro partnered to organize Tvaran, we leaned into both our missions.

Cisco and Villgro selected seven winning startups to explore and accelerate over the coming months through Project Tvaran. An India-based startup accelerator program in its first year, Tvaran means "acceleration" in Hindi. Each winning startup is focused on a facet of climate resilience and is founded and run by women entrepreneurs. Meet our first-ever winners of Tvaran:

GreenGrahi Solutions, co-founder Shivali Sugand

Growing up witnessing Delhi's giant landfills, Shivali Sugand was always keen on changing the paradigm of waste management. In 2021, her purpose found a way, through her startup GreenGrahi Solutions, where she addresses India's three pressing problems: waste management, food insecurity and climate change.

According to World Resources Institute, "the world throws out a billion tons of food each year, while one in nine people remain malnourished." Most of this waste ends up in landfills where it has adverse economic, environmental, and social repercussions on the local population and on the natural ecosystem.

As a circular economy company, GreenGrahi Solutions upcycles food waste into high-quality ingredients for animal and plant nutrition using an insect bio-conversion process. They take food waste from bulk waste generators; let insects use it in climate-controlled chambers powered by a network of sensors and an algorithm, and convert the results into high-quality insect protein, fat, and fertilizer.

"We truly believe that insects and our technology can act as a catalyst to fix the broken food system and empower our farmers," Shivali said. "And can drastically reduce the greenhouse gasses from the current unsustainable waste management and resource-intensive agricultural practices."

Bharat Krushi Seva, co-founder Sharayu Lande

In 2021, 42% of the population in India lived in poverty. And in a overpopulated country with an unknown number of farmers, many do not have access to a quality value chain-like technology, personal advisors, and technical support.

Bharat Krushi Seva (BKS) uses remote sensing technology to drive digital and climate-smart agriculture, to help farmers make more informed decisions and focus on precision farming. This gathered information is critical for farmers who are looking to mitigate the impact of climate change while maintaining sustainable and profitable agricultural practices.

"By having this information in advance," Sharayu explained, "farmers can make better decisions about resource allocation and optimize their production processes."

BKS' technology provides crop-specific, personalized support, equipping farmers with customized, actionable advice based on farming practices and local conditions. This helps them to improve their crop yield, reduce input costs, manage risks, and make better decisions. This tech-based service provides sustainable and climate-smart farming practices, promoting a healthier environment.

Green Delight Innovations Private Limited, founder Niveda Ravi

India faces major social and environmental challenges with plastic waste disposal. Per ResearchGate, in 2010, only 12% of women in India used sanitary pads. By 2016, that number had increased to 57%. Every year the number of feminine hygiene products users grows. This inspired Niveda Ravi to develop a process that benefits both women and the environment.

Niveda founded Green Delight Innovations to solve two significant challenges that stem from plastic waste disposal:

Plastic - Nearly 113,000 tons of hygiene products are disposed of annually in India. And often, these products are burnt for disposal, which may release harmful gases and toxins into the atmosphere. Chemicals - Almost 70% of reproductive diseases in India are reportedly caused by poor sanitary pad hygiene.

Niveda noted that while the "leaves of the Kenaf plant are edible, the stem goes to waste." This inspired her to create a processing technology that can extract fibers from the common plant, using no chemicals or plastics, making it suitable for use in feminine hygiene products. Green Delight Innovations is the first startup in the world to make Bliss hygiene pads from Kenaf, and India's First to offer United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA)-approved and biobased-certified feminine hygiene products. Additionally, Green Delight operates with the aim to offer gender equality with more direct jobs to women and people who are transgender, and economic growth for women and men in local areas.

Niveda revealed, "Women switching to this technology will experience good health and wellbeing. Women will have better hygiene and sanitation practices. [And this product may offer a] reduction in pollution."

KNP Arises - Green Energy Solutions, co-founder Kirtti Vaishnav

Frying cooking oil increases the Total Polar Compounds (TPC) value of an oil. And if the oil is reused, consuming it can cause severe health problems, like "non-communicable diseases, heart ailments, and organ damage." Cooking oils with a TPC value higher than 25% should not be consumed and should be immediately discarded, according to the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). But in India, 60% of used cooking oil can reenter the food chain due to lack of awareness and an unstable food safety infrastructure.

Kirtti Viashnav co-founded KNP Arises to collect used cooking oil and convert it into fuel.

Through KNP's mobile application, anyone who wants to discard used cooking oil can submit a request. The KNP team then coordinates to collect the oil and transfer it to the KNP warehouse. On collection, the vendor gets paid to dispose of their oil, along with a compliance certificate and "green" certificate showing their contribution towards the environment. KNP provides 100% oil traceability through notifications in the mobile application.

"Our work will secure millions of people's health. By providing a strong infrastructure, we can safely guard bodies of water," Kirtti disclosed. "And using this fuel will ensure our environment is cleaner and greener."

Swachha Eco Solutions Pvt Ltd, co-founder Victoria D'Souza

As an environmental activist and social entrepreneur, Victoria D'Souza understood that while plastic is an alternative to metal, there is no alternative to plastic.

The use of packaged products has increased exponentially-especially single-use, multi-layered plastic (MLP), like the plastic wrapping around food or shampoo. Long-time exposure to the chemicals within this multi-layered plastic may produce leachate, resulting in water and soil pollution. Currently, India's Plastic Waste Management (PWM) process for MLP is to recycle about 60% and dump the rest in a landfill.

Victoria explained, "We take a look at a variety of ways a collaborative, collective approach helps in creating a clean, green, and sustainable environment."

Through Swachha Eco Solutions, this MLP can be collected, shredded, and mixed with hot bitumen which is sometimes referred to as asphalt or tar. The formulated plastic waste mixture is added to course aggregate, resulting in a mix that can be used for road construction and repair. Swachha Eco Solutions aims to reduce emissions and lifecycle carbon intensity from dumped single-use plastics.

Mowo Fleet, founder Jai Bharathi

Every city across the world is driving toward the electric vehicle revolution. Many women in India, especially from lower socioeconomic groups, are unaware of this transportation transformation. Jai Bharathi felt it important to include women in sustainable mobility-related livelihoods, so she founded Mowo Fleet.

Through Mowo Fleet, Jai redefined urban mobility by bringing women into the driver's seat-specifically on electric two- and three-wheelers. Mowo Fleet uses technology to optimize and schedule commutes and delivery services to enable women to consider driving for their career and maximize their earning potential.

And while many women are already willing to drive for their livelihood, it can be a challenge for these women to earn maximum revenue for the hours they spend away from home. Through Mowo Fleet's technology, empty rides are mitigated, providing many women with equal footing.

"Being a part of the Villgro-Cisco Tvaran program, we have the opportunity to be mentored as we are at the initial phase of building technology, which will be a game changer in enabling many women to join the sustainable mobility workforce," Jai disclosed.

Farmers for Forests (ClimateSense Pvt Ltd), founder Krutika Ravishankar

"One of the primary reasons why ecosystems like forests, marshes, grasslands, mangroves, peats and bogs are being destroyed at an alarming rate," disclosed Krutika Ravishankar, "is because the services they provide-like carbon sequestration, soil regeneration, fresh water, and pollination-are not being correctly priced by global economic systems." For example, according to data from the IPBES, insects pollinate 75% of crops globally, a service priced at $577 billion.

Thriving ecosystems are key to climate resilience. Krutika co-founded Farmers for Forests to focus on restoring and protecting India's biodiverse forests, in close collaboration with agrarian and Indigenous communities.

"Farmers for Forests compensates farmers and communities for the protection and restoration of biodiverse forest cover," Krutika explained.

Through the use of drones, satellite data, and modified open-source AI algorithms, Farmers for Forests can count trees, identify species, and track forest cover to capture tree health and risk potential for forest fires. This data is used holistically to understand forest health and quantify sequestered carbon and biodiversity levels of the forests and agroforestry plantations-helping to more accurately price services provided by these ecosystems.

So far, Farmers for Forests manages more than 2,940 acres of vulnerable forests each year, has planted 600 acres of new forests and agroforestry plantations, and has generated over 17,000 days of rural employment.

Congratulations to these seven outstanding Tvaran startup winners. We look forward to seeing how these women entrepreneurs will impact and innovate the future of climate resilience around the world. To learn more about Villgro's and Cisco's efforts to help entrepreneurs in India accelerate climate resilience, please visit our Project Tvaran webpage.

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NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / May 12, 2023 / U.S. Bank



Photo: The Spicy Olive is one of the 1.1 million small businesses that U.S. Bank serves across the country.

Originally published on U.S. Bank company blog

Melanie Cedargren, founder of The Spicy Olive in Ohio, brought her passion for the freshest and finest olive oils and balsamic vinaigrettes to life when she opened her first shop in 2012. She has since expanded to three locations and now offers wine tastings and cooking classes to complement her flagship products.

U.S. Bank has been there for most of Cedargren's journey. "My U.S. Bank banker, Tony Dubose, has really empowered me to grow and efficiently manage my business," she explained. "I have worked with U.S. Bank for more than 10 years and they have always been there along the way. My advice to aspiring business owners is to follow your dreams. There are people out there willing to help you."

The Spicy Olive is one of the 1.1 million small businesses that U.S. Bank serves across the country. Each May, in honor of the Small Business Administration's National Small Business Week, the bank recognizes and celebrates small business owners for their contributions to our communities and economy. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and many other organizations, including U.S. Bank, extend this celebration throughout the month of May.

Another thriving business brings their love for Jamaican food and culture to their community in Oakland, California. Restaurant co-owner Roxanne Mosley reopened Sweet Fingers last summer after a two-and-half-year closure due to a one-two punch of the pandemic and a kitchen fire. U.S. Bank has supported Sweet Fingers since the restaurant's beginning in 2009. In March, team members from U.S. Bank visited Mosley and her dynamic staff to celebrate their success.

"Since we reopened last June, our success has surpassed my expectations," said Mosley. "We have come back even stronger as demand for catering events for community groups and services has skyrocketed."

"U.S. Bank shares the passion our business owners have for their local communities," said Sekou Kaalund, head of Branch and Small Business banking at U.S. Bank. "And without that beloved local business just around the corner that we all have, our communities wouldn't have the same charm and vibrancy that they do."

To further power the potential of clients and aid in closing the wealth gap, U.S. Bank recently expanded its support for diverse businesses with several community-driven programs, including:

Business Access program that provides diverse businesses with one-one support from a Business Access Advisor

that provides diverse businesses with one-one support from a Business Access Advisor Business Diversity Lending program that expands lending opportunities for women-, minority-, and veteran-owned businesses

program that expands lending opportunities for women-, minority-, and veteran-owned businesses A partnership with Meta Prosper to support Asian-owned businesses with tools and resources

You can follow us throughout the month on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram where we will feature a new small business every week. #usabanksmallbusiness, #SmallBusinessMonth.

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from U.S. Bank on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: U.S. Bank

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/us-bank

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE: U.S. Bank

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Features the Music of 2X GRAMMY- and EMMY-Nominated Composer Benjamin Wallfisch

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- WaterTower Music is proud to announce todays release of Worlds Collide and Runthe first music to be released from Warner Bros. Pictures upcoming film The Flash. Directed by Andy Muschietti (the IT films, Mama), The Flash serves as the DC Super Heros first-ever standalone feature film. Worlds Collide and Run were created by lauded two-time GRAMMY- and EMMY-nominated composer Benjamin Wallfisch (The IT films, Shazam, Blade Runner 2049 [with Hans Zimmer]) and both are now available for streaming (Standard and Dolby Atmos / Spatial Audio configurations) and digital purchase. The two tracks will also be included on the upcoming The Flash (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), which is scheduled for release the same day the film is set to open in theaters in North America, June 16, 2023.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230512005101/en/

THE FLASH Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Graphic: Business Wire)

Wallfisch describes Worlds Collide as an important cueheard at the climax of the moviewhich features a new theme representing the meshing/coming together of DC eras past and present.

The composer discussed the track in further detail: "'Worlds Collide' was a cue that Andy (Muschietti) and I iterated onprobably over 50 timesto get just right, even as the orchestra was recording it. Andys incredibly creative ideas meant adjusting the music and musicians in real time. The track is built on a chord progression where the outer voices of the chords move towards each other, almost pulled together by a powerful gravitational force, whilst always building in intensity. At the apex, there's about 17 layers of orchestra playing togetherprobably over 1000 musicians! It was one of those moments where we had to 'go big or go home' to match the magnitude of what fans will see on screen!

And Run was the very first music Wallfisch wrote for The Flash, just over three years ago. He described the genesis of the track and how it was integrated into the film: Andy invited me to come onboard for the movie in the summer of 2020. Although the script was still being developed, I was inspired by the film concepts we discussed. 'Run' was basically the first music I envisioned: a restless, searching piano figure, representing Barrys crisis after losing his mother, played against insistent staccato strings that are on the edge of being impossible to perform because of their sheer speed."

A few days later, and months prior to shooting, Wallfisch continued, I played this super rough sketch to Andy, alongside a bunch of other ideas for the film. Then, two years later, as Andy was putting together his first cut, he surprised me by putting this little piano sketch up against picture in one of the key moments in the movie, and it stayed there through to the final, almost unchanged. Andy and I have worked together closely for the last six years, and this was a moment I was especially grateful for our relationship. I feel so fortunate to have such a creative shorthand with someone I consider an absolute genius."

ABOUT THE FLASH

Warner Bros. Pictures presents The Flash, directed by Andy Muschietti. Ezra Miller reprises their role as Barry Allen in the DC Super Heros first-ever standalone feature film. Worlds collide when Barry uses his superpowers to travel back in time in order to change the events of the past. But when his attempt to save his family inadvertently alters the future, Barry becomes trapped in a reality in which General Zod has returned, threatening annihilation, and there are no Super Heroes to turn to. That is, unless Barry can coax a very different Batman out of retirement and rescue an imprisoned Kryptonian albeit not the one hes looking for. Ultimately, to save the world that he is in and return to the future that he knows, Barrys only hope is to race for his life. But will making the ultimate sacrifice be enough to reset the universe?

The Flash ensemble also includes rising star Sasha Calle, Michael Shannon, Ron Livingston, Maribel Verdu, Kiersey Clemons, Antje Traue and Michael Keaton. It is produced by Barbara Muschietti and Michael Disco. The screenplay is by Christina Hodson, with a screen story by John Francis Daley & Jonathan Goldstein and Joby Harold, based on characters from DC. The executive producers are Toby Emmerich, Walter Hamada, Galen Vaisman and Marianne Jenkins.

Warner Bros. Pictures presents a Double Dream/a Disco Factory production of an Andy Muschietti film, The Flash will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures and is set to open in theaters in North America on June 16, 2023 and internationally beginning 14 June 2023.

ABOUT BENJAMIN WALLFISCH

Golden Globe, BAFTA, two-time Grammy, Emmy and five-time World Soundtrack Award nominee, composer Benjamin Wallfisch has worked on over 80 feature films, collaborating with directors including Ron Howard, Ted Melfi, Andy Muschietti, Christopher Nolan, David F. Sandberg, Leigh Whannell, Gore Verbinski and Denis Villeneuve. His latest project is Andy Muschiettis THE FLASH for Warner Bros. Pictures.

A graduate of the Royal Academy of Music in Londonand mentored by Dario Marianelli and Hans ZimmerBenjamins notable projects include IT and IT CHAPTER TWO, BLADE RUNNER 2049 (with Hans Zimmer), SHAZAM!, THE INVISIBLE MAN, MORTAL KOMBAT, THIRTEEN LIVES, A CURE FOR WELLNESS, ANNABELLE: CREATION, KING OF THIEVES, HIDDEN FIGURES (with Pharrell Williams and Hans Zimmer), and music based on Elgars Enigma Variations for DUNKIRK.

Benjamin has performed live in over 100 concerts worldwide, conducting orchestras such as the London Philharmonic, Philharmonia, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and the Sydney Symphony at venues including the Hollywood Bowl, Sydney Opera House and Royal Festival Hall. He is a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences and BAFTA, and is an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music. In 2019 he founded The Scoring Lab, a state-of-the-art scoring production company and Dolby Atmos Certified mix studio in the heart of Santa Monica, California.

ABOUT WATERTOWER MUSIC

WaterTower Music, the in-house label for the WarnerMedia companies, releases recorded music as rich and diverse as the companies themselves. It has been the soundtrack home to many of the worlds most iconic films, television shows and games since 2001.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230512005101/en/

SOUNDTRACK INQUIRIES

WaterTower Music

Joe Kara

[email protected]

Source: WaterTower Music
OLDWICK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- AM Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Ratings of a (Excellent) of Nectaris Re Ltd. (Nectaris Re), the operating subsidiary of Nectaris Holdings Ltd. (both domiciled in Bermuda). The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) is stable.

The ratings reflect Nectaris Res (the Company) balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as strongest, as well as its adequate operating performance, limited business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management (ERM).

The Companys business strategy is to retrocede all of its business to Horseshoe Re II Limited segregated accounts company (Horseshoe Re II) with cells that are funded by insurance-linked securities funds managed by Leadenhall Capital Partners LLP (Leadenhall). Leadenhall is a subsidiary of Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Company, Limited (a subsidiary of MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings, Inc. or MS&AD). Leadenhall, which has a Mutual Cooperation Agreement with Nectaris Re, has had a book of business built since its inception in 2008.

Nectaris Res business originated via both Lloyds Syndicate 2001 (MS Amlin Underwriting Limited) and MS Reinsurance (MS Amlin AG), both whose ultimate parent is MS&AD, accounts for the majority of total limits ceded to Nectaris Re and is 100% retroceded to Horseshoe Re II on a fully collateralized basis. Lloyds Syndicate 2001 and MS Reinsurance-ceded business, is collateralized at the 1-in-1,000 aggregate exceedance probability (AEP) return period and those entities retain the tail risk above the 1-in-1,000 AEP level. Nectaris also sources business via its open market operations to take advantage of the hard reinsurance market, with limited impact on its tail risk and capital. All open market business ceded to Horseshoe Re II is collateralized at the 1-in-2,000 AEP return period, with the associated tail risk retained by Nectaris Re. Collateral provided by Horseshoe Re II, which is composed of cash and highly rated short-term assets, is held in trust accounts for the benefit of Nectaris Re.

AM Best projects Nectaris Res risk-adjusted capital, as measured by Bests Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR), to remain at the strongest level over the near term (i.e., one to three years). The Companys liquidity and quality of assets provide ample support for its balance sheet strength assessment. Partially offsetting these rating factors is Nectaris Res relatively high dependency on third-party retrocession. However, all retrocession ceded limits will be written on a collateralized basis, thus minimizing Nectaris Res counterparty risk. The ratio of the tail risk retained by Nectaris Re to its equity is expected to be low.

AM Best assesses Nectaris Res overall operating performance as adequate based upon the historical operating results of Leadenhall-managed funds and the projected results of the retained tail risk, including income from ceding commissions. The Companys pricing strategy is to focus on underwriting profits and not on investment returns.

AM Best assesses Nectaris Res business profile as limited, as the Company predominantly writes property catastrophe reinsurance contracts. Product concentration is mitigated somewhat by risk diversification across regions, perils and the number of cedants. Pricing sophistication and modeling capabilities, including reliance on vendor models and independent modeling tools, continue to create a favorable environment for management to execute its pricing strategy.

Due to Nectaris Res Mutual Cooperation Agreement with Leadenhall, AM Best assesses the Companys ERM capabilities as appropriate for its risk profile.

This press release relates to Credit Ratings that have been published on AM Bests website. For all rating information relating to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the office responsible for issuing each of the individual ratings referenced in this release, please see AM Bests Recent Rating Activity web page. For additional information regarding the use and limitations of Credit Rating opinions, please view Guide to Best's Credit Ratings. For information on the proper use of Bests Credit Ratings, Bests Performance Assessments, Bests Preliminary Credit Assessments and AM Best press releases, please view Guide to Proper Use of Bests Ratings & Assessments.

AM Best is a global credit rating agency, news publisher and data analytics provider specializing in the insurance industry. Headquartered in the United States, the company does business in over 100 countries with regional offices in London, Amsterdam, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City. For more information, visit www.ambest.com.

Copyright  2023 by A.M. Best Rating Services, Inc. and/or its affiliates. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230512005321/en/

Matt Tuite

Associate Director

+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5518

[email protected]

Christopher Sharkey

Associate Director, Public Relations

+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5159

[email protected]

Wai Tang

Senior Director

+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5633

[email protected]

Al Slavin

Senior Public Relations Specialist

+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5098

[email protected]

Source: AM Best
SINGAPORE--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- AM Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of B++ (Good) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of bbb+ (Good) of Vietnam National Reinsurance Corporation (VINARE) (Vietnam). The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) is stable.

The ratings reflect VINAREs balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as very strong, as well as its strong operating performance, neutral business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management (ERM).

The companys balance sheet strength assessment reflects its risk-adjusted capitalisation at the strongest level at year end 2022, as measured by Bests Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR). This capital adequacy ratio is underpinned by the companys low net underwriting leverage and high quality panel of retrocessionaires. VINAREs regulatory solvency exceeds the minimum requirement by a wide margin and improved during 2022 with a reduction in the companys personal accident premiums. Offsetting factors to the companys balance sheet strength include its moderate investment risk, high dividend payout ratio and exposure to catastrophe risk.

AM Best views VINAREs operating performance as strong, with the company recording a five-year weighted average return-on-equity ratio of 9.9% (fiscal years 2018-2022). The companys strong operating performance is supported by the favourable performance of its commercial risks and stable investment income. Underwriting results improved in 2022, driven by favourable attritional and catastrophe loss experience, and a reduced expense ratio. VINAREs overall earnings are driven predominantly by investment income, despite lower deposit yields in 2022 compared with 2021. Prospectively, AM Best expects the company to maintain its strong level of operating performance, supported by controlled underwriting growth and improved pricing conditions in its core lines of business.

AM Best considers VINAREs business profile as neutral. Benefiting from strong shareholders support and the companys status as a national reinsurer, VINARE has established long-standing relationships with local cedants and government. Although VINAREs geographic spread is largely concentrated in its domestic market, the company has a well-diversified underwriting portfolio by lines of business, with a good balance between commercial and retail risks.

AM Best views the companys ERM as appropriate given the developed reporting system and prudent risk management approach. Risk management framework and risk modelling capabilities have benefited and are expected to continue developing with the technical support provided by 25% shareholder Swiss Reinsurance Company Ltd.

Ratings are communicated to rated entities prior to publication. Unless stated otherwise, the ratings were not amended subsequent to that communication.

This press release relates to Credit Ratings that have been published on AM Bests website. For all rating information relating to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the office responsible for issuing each of the individual ratings referenced in this release, please see AM Bests Recent Rating Activity web page. For additional information regarding the use and limitations of Credit Rating opinions, please view Guide to Bests Credit Ratings. For information on the proper use of Bests Credit Ratings, Bests Performance Assessments, Bests Preliminary Credit Assessments and AM Best press releases, please view Guide to Proper Use of Bests Ratings & Assessments.

AM Best is a global credit rating agency, news publisher and data analytics provider specialising in the insurance industry. Headquartered in the United States, the company does business in over 100 countries with regional offices in London, Amsterdam, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City. For more information, visit www.ambest.com.

Copyright  2023 by A.M. Best Rating Services, Inc. and/or its affiliates. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230512005244/en/

Xin Ya Ong

Associate Financial Analyst

+65 6303 5024

[email protected]

Christopher Sharkey

Associate Director, Public Relations

+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5159

[email protected]

Michael Dunckley, CFA

Director, Analytics

+65 6303 5020

[email protected]

Al Slavin

Senior Public Relations Specialist

+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5098

[email protected]

Source: AM Best
OLDWICK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- AM Best has affirmed the Performance Assessment (assessment) of PA-3 (Strong) of First Indemnity Insurance Agency, Inc. (First Indemnity) (Boston, MA). The outlook of the assessment is stable.

The assessment reflects First Indemnitys strong underwriting capabilities, strong governance and internal controls, strong financial condition, strong organizational talent and strong depth and breadth of relationships.

First Indemnity is a managing general agent (MGA) specializing in professional liability insurance in the U.S. market. For more than 30 years, First Indemnity has proven its expertise in designing professional liability products for legal professionals. This experience and track record of developing staff benefits First Indemnitys underwriting capabilities and is an advantage for association with capacity providers.

First Indemnitys governance and internal controls remain strong given its size and scale. First Indemnity performs continuous internal reviews, covering underwriting and compliance. The company is subject to real-time external audits to reconfirm sufficient integration of systems with (re)insurance partners and ensures successful capture service measures from the perspective of its stakeholders and regulators.

AM Best assesses First Indemnitys financial performance indicators as strong. The company continues to reflect stable and consistent income and cash flow results. The size and scope of the financial position is considered a restraining factor. All insurance risk is placed outside the organization with no exposures retained by First Indemnity.

The company is staffed appropriately with extensive industry experience serving the professional liability needs of the legal community. The organization has concise structure with clear and direct reporting and operational responsibilities.

First Indemnitys diverse programs are centered on providing coverage for the legal industry with the ability to provide coverage nationwide. The company maintains tenured relationships with well-rated capacity providers. The companys tenure in its respective market is considered a strength.

This press release relates to Performance Assessments that have been published on AM Bests website. For all information relating to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the office responsible for issuing each of the Performance Assessments referenced in this release, please see AM Bests website. For additional information regarding the use and limitations of Performance Assessments, please view Guide to Bests Performance Assessments for Delegated Underwriting Authority Enterprises. For information on the proper use of Bests Credit Ratings, Bests Performance Assessments, Bests Preliminary Credit Assessments and AM Best press releases, please view Guide to Proper Use of Bests Ratings & Assessments.

AM Best is a global credit rating agency, news publisher and data analytics provider specializing in the insurance industry. Headquartered in the United States, the company does business in over 100 countries with regional offices in London, Amsterdam, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City. For more information, visit www.ambest.com.

Copyright  2023 by A.M. Best Rating Services, Inc. and/or its affiliates. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230512005276/en/

Riley Parnham

Financial Analyst

+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5495

[email protected]

Christopher Sharkey

Associate Director, Public Relations

+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5159

[email protected]

Robert Raber

Director

+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5696

[email protected]

Al Slavin

Senior Public Relations Specialist

+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5098

[email protected]

Source: AM Best
DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- American Realty Investors, Inc. (NYSE: ARL) is reporting its results of operations for the quarter ended March 31, 2023. For the three months ended March 31, 2023, we reported net income attributable to common shares of $3.0 million or $0.18 per diluted share, compared to net income attributable to common shares of $11.3 million or $0.70 per diluted share for the same period in 2022.

Financial Highlights

Total occupancy was 80% at March 31, 2023, which includes 92% at our multifamily properties and 59% at our commercial properties.

On January 31, 2023, we paid off our $67.4 million Series C bonds from cash received from the sale of the VAA Sale Portfolio.

On March 15, 2023, we entered into an agreement to develop a 240 unit multifamily property in Lake Wales, Florida that is expected to be completed in 2025 for a total cost of approximately $55.3 million. The cost of construction will be funded in part by a $33.0 million construction loan. As of March 31, 2023, we have incurred a total of $8.6 million in development costs.

On May 4, 2023, we paid off the remaining $43.1 million balances of the Series A and Series B Bonds. In connection with the repayment of the bonds, our wholly-owned subsidiary, Southern Properties Capital Ltd. withdrew from the Tel-Aviv Stock Exchange.

Financial Results

Rental revenues increased $3.5 million from $7.5 million for the three months ended March 31, 2022 to $11.0 million for the three months ended March 31, 2023. The increase in rental revenue is primarily due to a $4.1 million increase at our multifamily properties offset in part by a decrease of $0.6 million from the commercial properties. The increase in revenue from the multifamily properties is primarily due to the acquisition of the VAA Holdback Portfolio in 2022.

Net operating loss decreased $1.4 million from $4.5 million for three months ended March 31, 2022 to $3.1 million for the three months ended March 31, 2023. The decrease in net operating loss is primarily due to the $3.5 million increase in rental revenue as noted above offset in part by an increase of $2.8 million in property operating and depreciation expenses. The increase in property and depreciation expenses is due to the acquisition of the VAA Holdback Portfolio.

Net income attributable to common shares decreased $8.3 million from $11.3 million for the three months ended March 31, 2022 to $3.0 million for the three months ended March 31, 2023. The decrease in net income is primarily attributed to $11.1 million gain on sale or write down of assets in 2022, offset in part by approximately $2.0 million of noncontrolling interest. The gain on sale or write down of assets is primarily due to the sale of Toulon, a 240 unit multifamily property in Gautier, Mississippi, in 2022.

About American Realty Investors, Inc.

American Realty Investors, Inc., a Dallas-based real estate investment company, holds a diverse portfolio of equity real estate located across the U.S., including office buildings, apartments, shopping centers, and developed and undeveloped land. The Company invests in real estate through direct ownership, leases and partnerships and invests in mortgage loans on real estate. The Company also holds mortgage receivables. The Companys primary asset and source of its operating results is its investment in Transcontinental Realty Investors, Inc. (NYSE: TCI). For more information, visit the Companys website at www.americanrealtyinvest.com.

AMERICAN REALTY INVESTORS, INC. CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS (Dollars in thousands, except per share amounts) (Unaudited) Three Months Ended March 31, 2023 2022 Revenues: Rental revenues $ 11,009 $ 7,481 Other income 679 306 Total revenue 11,688 7,787 Expenses: Property operating expenses 6,106 4,028 Depreciation and amortization 3,102 2,349 General and administrative 3,161 2,720 Advisory fee to related party 2,405 3,185 Total operating expenses 14,774 12,282 Net operating loss (3,086 ) (4,495 ) Interest Income 11,503 6,782 Interest expense (6,348 ) (6,167 ) Gain on foreign currency transactions 971 3,772 Loss on early extinguishment of debt - (1,639 ) Equity in income from unconsolidated joint ventures 2,419 5,194 Gain on sale or write-down of assets, net - 11,148 Income tax provision (1,240 ) (28 ) Net income 4,219 14,567 Net income attributable to noncontrolling interest (1,241 ) (3,253 ) Net income attributable to the common shares $ 2,978 $ 11,314 Earnings per share - basic Basic and diluted $ 0.18 $ 0.70 Weighted average common shares used in computing earnings per share Basic and diluted 16,512,043 16,152,043

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American Realty Investors, Inc.

Investor Relations

Erik Johnson (469) 522-4200

[email protected]

Source: American Realty Investors, Inc.
PARIS & LONDON & NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Regulatory News:

The shareholders of Antin Infrastructure Partners SA (Paris: ANTIN) (the Company) are invited to attend the Combined Annual Shareholders Meeting (the Meeting) to be held at 2:30 p.m. on 6 June 2023 at 9, Place Vendome, 75001 Paris.

The preliminary notice of Meeting was published in the French legal gazette (BALO) No.47 of 19 April 2023. It includes the Meeting agenda, the draft resolutions that the Board of Directors will submit to the vote of shareholders, and main modalities for attending, voting and exercising shareholders rights.

The notice of Meeting will be published in the French legal gazette (BALO) and a French legal announcement journal within the legal and regulatory deadlines.

The preparatory documents and information relating to the Meeting are made available to shareholders and may be consulted or communicated in accordance with the applicable laws and regulations. They are available on the Companys website www.shareholders.antin-ip.com, section Shareholders Meetings.

About Antin Infrastructure Partners

Antin Infrastructure Partners is a leading private equity firm focused on infrastructure. With over 30bn in Assets under Management across its Flagship, Mid Cap and NextGen investment strategies, Antin targets investments in the energy and environment, digital, transport and social infrastructure sectors. With offices in Paris, London, New York, Singapore and Luxembourg, Antin employs over 200 professionals dedicated to growing, improving and transforming infrastructure businesses while delivering long-term value to portfolio companies and investors. Majority owned by its partners, Antin is listed on compartment A of the regulated market of Euronext Paris (Ticker: ANTIN  ISIN: FR0014005AL0).

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230512005263/en/

Media

Nicolle Graugnard, Communication Director

Email: [email protected]

Shareholder Relations

Ludmilla Binet, Head of Shareholder Relations

Email: [email protected]

Brunswick

Email: [email protected]

Tristan Roquet Montegon: +33 (0)6 37 00 52 57

Gabriel Jabes: +33 (0)6 40 87 08 14

Source: Antin Infrastructure Partners
Indonesian President Joko Widodo(C) holds a press conference at the media center for the 42nd Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in the town of Labuan Bajo in Indonesia, May 11, 2023. The 42nd ASEAN Summit concluded here Thursday with pledged efforts to enhance ASEAN centrality and economic integration in order to better cope with crises and challenges.

Calling the summit a success "with great results," Indonesian President Joko Widodo emphasized ASEAN unity at a press conference after the summit, saying the unity "is very important to" sailing towards common purposes, and "making ASEAN epicentrum of growth and region to be peaceful, stable and prosperous." (Xinhua/Xu Qin)

LABUAN BAJO, Indonesia, May 11 (Xinhua) -- The 42nd Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit concluded here Thursday with pledged efforts to enhance ASEAN centrality and economic integration in order to better cope with crises and challenges.

Calling the summit a success "with great results," Indonesian President Joko Widodo emphasized ASEAN unity at a press conference after the summit, saying the unity "is very important to" sailing towards common purposes, and "making ASEAN epicentrum of growth and region to be peaceful, stable and prosperous."

Widodo also told the press conference that the summit has urged the member countries to protect migrant workers and victims of human trafficking.

A roadmap was adopted at the summit on Timor-Leste's full membership, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi told Xinhua after the press conference.

Last November, ASEAN agreed in principle to admit Timor-Leste to be its 11th member. Timor-Leste's Prime Minister Taur Matan Ruak was present at the summit in observer's status.

This year's summit was themed "ASEAN Matters: Epicentrum of Growth." Indonesia, the current ASEAN chair, has expressed the hope that the bloc will remain a center of regional and global growth, focusing on efforts to make ASEAN a fast-growing, inclusive, and sustainable economic region in the long term.

Multiple documents were issued during the two-day ASEAN summit of leaders. In enhancing the ASEAN centrality, ASEAN leaders at the summit agreed to make joint efforts to improve the regional bloc's capacity and efficiency in order to ensure a timely response to crises and emergency situations.

They also pledged to continue the efforts in realizing the ASEAN Community Vision 2025 for building a resilient, dynamic and people-centered ASEAN Community that contributes to regional peace, stability and development, and to develop a post-2025 vision.

The regional bloc called for joint efforts to develop a regional Electric Vehicle (EV) ecosystem, which is deemed as a vital part of ASEAN's commitment to sustainable transport, energy transition for reducing emissions in the region, and climate change action.

They also agreed to increase the use of local currencies in cross-border trade and investment in order to enhance financial resilience.

ASEAN, founded in 1967, groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

The last time Indonesia chaired ASEAN was in 2011, after hosting the summits in 1976 and 2003. The archipelagic country has scheduled the 43rd summit and the East Asia Summit to be held on Sept. 6-7 in the national capital Jakarta.

ASEAN Summit is held twice a year. 

This photo taken on May 11, 2023 shows the venue for the 42nd Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in the town of Labuan Bajo in Indonesia. The 42nd ASEAN Summit concluded here Thursday with pledged efforts to enhance ASEAN centrality and economic integration in order to better cope with crises and challenges.

Calling the summit a success "with great results," Indonesian President Joko Widodo emphasized ASEAN unity at a press conference after the summit, saying the unity "is very important to" sailing towards common purposes, and "making ASEAN epicentrum of growth and region to be peaceful, stable and prosperous."

(Organizing Committee of the ASEAN Summit 2023/Handout via Xinhua)

Indonesian President Joko Widodo(C) holds a press conference at the media center for the 42nd Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in the town of Labuan Bajo in Indonesia, May 11, 2023. The 42nd ASEAN Summit concluded here Thursday with pledged efforts to enhance ASEAN centrality and economic integration in order to better cope with crises and challenges.

Calling the summit a success "with great results," Indonesian President Joko Widodo emphasized ASEAN unity at a press conference after the summit, saying the unity "is very important to" sailing towards common purposes, and "making ASEAN epicentrum of growth and region to be peaceful, stable and prosperous."(Xinhua/Xu Qin)

Leaders attending the 42nd Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit pose for a group photo outside the venue in the town of Labuan Bajo in Indonesia, May 11, 2023. The 42nd ASEAN Summit concluded here Thursday with pledged efforts to enhance ASEAN centrality and economic integration in order to better cope with crises and challenges.

Calling the summit a success "with great results," Indonesian President Joko Widodo emphasized ASEAN unity at a press conference after the summit, saying the unity "is very important to" sailing towards common purposes, and "making ASEAN epicentrum of growth and region to be peaceful, stable and prosperous."

(Organizing Committee of the ASEAN Summit 2023/Handout via Xinhua)

This photo taken on May 11, 2023 shows the venue for the 42nd Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in the town of Labuan Bajo in Indonesia. The 42nd ASEAN Summit concluded here Thursday with pledged efforts to enhance ASEAN centrality and economic integration in order to better cope with crises and challenges.

Calling the summit a success "with great results," Indonesian President Joko Widodo emphasized ASEAN unity at a press conference after the summit, saying the unity "is very important to" sailing towards common purposes, and "making ASEAN epicentrum of growth and region to be peaceful, stable and prosperous."

(Organizing Committee of the ASEAN Summit 2023/Handout via Xinhua)
VIENNA, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- CEL-SCI Corporation (NYSE American: CVM) today reported financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2023, as well as key clinical and corporate developments.

Clinical and Corporate Developments include:

In addition to pursuing approval by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), CEL-SCI is also pursuing marketing approval for Multikine in the treatment of head and neck cancer in Canada and the European Union.

In April 2023, CEL-SCI had a productive pre-submission meeting with Canadas regulator, Health Canada, to determine the best regulatory path toward market approval. Based on the existing data that was summarized and presented, Health Canada advised CEL-SCI to request advance consideration for approval under a Notice of Compliance with Conditions (NOC/c) policy which facilitates earlier access for physicians and patients to promising new drugs for patients suffering from serious, life-threatening or severely debilitating diseases.

CEL-SCI has engaged a highly regarded regulatory consultancy with expertise in Europe to prepare the documents for a meeting with the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to determine the most efficient pathway to obtain marketing approval for Multikine in Europe. The regulations for conditional approval, similar to Canadas NOC/c, are detailed on the EMAs site at this link: Conditional Marketing Authorisation. Europe has almost twice the number of head and neck cancer patients than the US.

In March 2023, Eyal Talor, Ph.D., CEL-SCIs Chief Scientific Officer, presented a poster titled Leukocyte Interleukin Injection (LI) immunotherapy followed by radiotherapy extends overall survival (OS) in treatment naive locally advanced primary squamous cell carcinoma of the head & neck: the IT-MATTERS Study at the 10th European Congress on Head & Neck Oncology (ECHNO). Key study findings for the intended Multikine patient population who received radiotherapy, as recommended by National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines, following surgery include:

The overall survival advantage accelerated and increased over time, with the benefit of adding Multikine+CIZ to the treatment regimen as compared to Standard of Care (SOC) alone increasing from 2.8% at 3 years (36 months), to 8.3% at 4 years (48 months), to 15.6% at 5 years (60 months), with a 49.7% survival for control vs. 65.3% for the Multikine treated group at 5 years. The hazard ratio was 0.70 (95% CI: [0.49 - 1.00]) which represents a 43% survival extension. Progression free survival was 8.4% higher at 5 years for patients treated with Multikine+ CIZ+SOC as compared to patients treated with SOC control alone. 16.5% of these patients were early tumor responders, including complete tumor responders (confirmed by pathology at surgery), following the 3-week treatment with Multikine as compared to 0% responders of patients who were treated with SOC alone. Multikine patients who had an early tumor response had significantly improved survival. Their death rate was only 15.6% vs. 48.7% death rate for the control patients at 5 years. Even the patients who did not have an early tumor response had a better survival than did the control group patients, with a 43.8% death rate vs. 48.7% death rate for control at 5 years.

CEL-SCI is close to reaching validation of the dedicated Multikine manufacturing facility. This process had been delayed by the US Defense Production Act which gave preference to supplies for companies working on COVID products as described on FEMAs site: Applying the Defense Production Act. Fortunately, the COVID emergency has now officially ended and validation, an important step in the FDA approval process, is moving toward completion.

We are pleased with the results of our discussions with Health Canada regarding approval pathways for Multikine. Our Phase 3 study spanned over 20 countries, and we hope to make Multikine available to head and neck cancer patients in need across all those countries and more, stated CEL-SCI CEO, Geert Kersten. A stellar team of regulatory advisors and top-tier physician consultants are working with us as we are laser-focused on regulatory approval. At the same time, by presenting our growing body of data at leading medical conferences, we are building awareness of Multikine amongst the oncologists who we hope will be integrating our immunotherapy into their practice upon its approval.

Financial Results

CEL-SCI reported a loss per share for the quarter ending March 31, 2023 of $0.19 versus a loss of $0.23 for the quarter of March 31, 2022. CEL-SCI had $10 million in cash and cash equivalents on March 31, 2023. On May 2, 2023, CEL-SCI received $1.4 million in net proceeds from a small financing. Cash used during the six months ended March 31, 2023 included a one-time $2.3 million deposit for the Companys manufacturing facility and various other expenses that are expected to decline as key projects are being completed.

About CEL-SCI Corporation

CEL-SCI believes that boosting a patients immune system while it is still intact should provide the greatest possible impact on survival. Therefore, in the Phase 3 study, CEL-SCI studied patients who were newly diagnosed with locally advanced primary squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck with the investigational product Multikine first, BEFORE they received surgery and radiotherapy or surgery plus concurrent radiotherapy and chemotherapy (the current standard of care for these patients). This approach is unique. Most other cancer immunotherapies are administered only after conventional therapies have been tried and/or failed. Multikine (Leukocyte Interleukin, Injection) received Orphan Drug designation from the FDA for neoadjuvant therapy in patients with squamous cell carcinoma (cancer) of the head and neck. CEL-SCI believes that this Phase 3 study is the largest Phase 3 study in the world for the treatment of locally advanced primary head and neck cancer.

Multikine is designed to help the immune system target the tumor at a time when the immune system is still relatively intact and thereby thought to be better able to mount an attack on the tumor. The Phase 3 study was started in early 2011 and was fully enrolled with 928 patients in September 2016. To test for an overall survival benefit, the study required CEL-SCI to wait until at least 298 (deaths) events had occurred among the two main comparator groups.

The Company has operations in Vienna, Virginia, and near/in Baltimore, Maryland.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. When used in this press release, the words "intends," "believes," "anticipated," "plans" and "expects," and similar expressions, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. Such statements include, but are not limited to, statements about the terms, expected proceeds, use of proceeds and closing of the offering. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include an inability to duplicate the clinical results demonstrated in clinical studies, timely development of any potential products that can be shown to be safe and effective, receiving necessary regulatory approvals, difficulties in manufacturing any of the Company's potential products, inability to raise the necessary capital and the risk factors set forth from time to time in CEL-SCI's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including but not limited to its report on Form 10-K for the year ended September 30, 2022. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly release the result of any revision to these forward-looking statements which may be made to reflect the events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

* Multikine (Leukocyte Interleukin, Injection) is the trademark that CEL-SCI has registered for this investigational therapy. This proprietary name is subject to FDA review in connection with the Company's future anticipated regulatory submission for approval. Multikine has not been licensed or approved for sale, barter or exchange by the FDA or any other regulatory agency. Similarly, its safety or efficacy has not been established for any use.

CEL-SCI CORPORATION

CONDENSED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS

SIX MONTHS ENDED MARCH 31, 2023 AND 2022

(UNAUDITED) 2023 2022 Operating expenses: Research and development $ 11,476,034 $ 12,606,984 General and administrative 4,350,761 5,788,250 Total operating expenses 15,826,795 18,395,234 Operating loss (15,826,795 ) (18,395,234 ) Gain on derivative instruments - 366,791 Other non-operating losses - (30,793 ) Interest expense, net (311,852 ) (546,862 ) Other expense (57,671 ) - Net loss (16,196,318 ) (18,606,098 ) Modification of warrants (171,552 ) - Net loss available to common shareholders $ (16,367,870 ) $ (18,606,098 ) Net loss per common share  basic and diluted $ (0.38 ) $ (0.43 ) Weighted average common shares outstanding  basic and diluted 43,513,571 43,100,070

CEL-SCI CORPORATION

CONDENSED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS

THREE MONTHS ENDED MARCH 31, 2023 AND 2022

(UNAUDITED) 2023 2022 Operating expenses: Research and development $ 6,083,488 $ 6,523,817 General and administrative 2,092,758 3,028,042 Total operating expenses 8,176,246 9,551,859 Operating loss (8,176,246 ) (9,551,859 ) Gain on derivative instruments - 2,195 Interest expense, net (159,063 ) (273,828 ) Other expense (7,500 ) - Net loss (8,342,809 ) (9,823,492 ) Net loss available to common shareholders $ (8,342,809 ) $ (9,823,492 ) Net loss per common share  basic and diluted $ (0.19 ) $ (0.23 ) Weighted average common shares outstanding  basic and diluted 43,588,381 43,122,671

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Gavin de Windt

CEL-SCI Corporation

(703) 506-9460

Source: CEL-SCI Corporation
OSLO, Norway--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Elliptic Labs (OSE: ELABS), a global AI software company and the world leader in AI Virtual Smart Sensors currently deployed in over 500 million devices, is announcing the launch of the 100% software-only AI Virtual Human Presence Sensor on multiple Lenovo ThinkPad P Series mobile workstation laptops. This launch covers the Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 2, P1 Gen 6, P16v i, P16s i Gen 2, and P14s i Gen 4. These laptops will be powered with the latest Intel and AMD chipsets (both Intel and AMD are Elliptic Labs partners), except for the P16 Gen 2, P1 Gen 6, and which will run Intel only. The contract for this launch was previously announced by Elliptic Labs.

Elliptic Labs AI Virtual Smart Sensor Platform utilizes ultrasound, small footprint machine learning networks, and sensor fusion to create AI Virtual Smart Sensors delivering high performing frictionless user experiences at scale. The AI Virtual Human Presence Sensors power and value are being validated and chosen by the largest PC makers, as demonstrated by this launch.

We are thrilled that Lenovo is using our 100% software-based AI Virtual Human Presence Sensor broadly across numerous mobile workstation P-series models. This latest widespread release provides further validation of the scalability, power, and value of the AI Virtual Smart Sensor Platform, said Laila Danielsen, CEO of Elliptic Labs. Our extensive deployment of our AI software platform is propelling us towards our vision of making all devices to become smarter, more user-friendly, and environmentally sustainable.

AI Virtual Smart Sensor, AI Virtual Human Presence Sensor, and AI Virtual Smart Sensor Platform are trademarks of Elliptic Labs.

All other trademarks or service markets are the responsibility of their respective organizations.

Elliptic Labs' AI Virtual Human Presence Sensor

Elliptic Labs AI Virtual Human Presence Sensor detects when a user is present in front of a PC/laptop system. This allows the device to sleep when a user is absent, conserving battery life and electricity and safeguarding it from unpermitted access. Human presence detection is becoming a core capability in the PC/laptop industry, but it is currently featured only in high-end devices due to the cost, risk, and design limitations associated with a dedicated hardware presence sensor. Elliptic Labs' software-only AI Virtual Human Presence Sensor delivers robust human-presence detection that allows OEMs to easily and affordably incorporate human presence detection across a wide range of devices.

About Elliptic Labs

Elliptic Labs is a global enterprise targeting the smartphone, laptop, IoT, and automotive markets. Founded in 2006 as a research spin-off from Norways Oslo University, the companys patented software uses AI, ultrasound and sensor fusion to deliver intuitive 3D gesture, proximity-, presence-, breathing- and heartbeat-detection experiences. Its scalable AI Virtual Smart Sensor Platform creates software-only sensors that are sustainable, human-friendly and already deployed in hundreds of millions of devices around the world. Elliptic Labs is the only software company that has delivered detection capabilities using AI software, ultrasound, and sensor fusion deployed at scale. The company joined the Oslo Brs main listing in March 2022.

Elliptic Labs is headquartered in Norway with presence in the USA, China, South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan. Its technology and IP are developed in Norway and are solely owned by the company.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230511005923/en/

PR Contacts:

Patrick Tsui

[email protected]

Investor Relations:

Lars Holmy

[email protected]

Source: Elliptic Labs
COLUMBUS, Ohio--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Fashion apparel retailer Express, Inc. (NYSE: EXPR) today announced that the Company will report its first quarter 2023 financial results on Wednesday, May 24, 2023, at 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time (ET). Earlier that morning, the Company will issue a press release detailing those results. The conference call will be hosted by Tim Baxter, Chief Executive Officer, and Jason Judd, Chief Financial Officer.

Investors and analysts interested in participating in the earnings call are invited to dial (888) 550-5723 approximately ten minutes prior to the start of the call. The conference call will also be webcast live at www.express.com/investor. A telephone replay of this call will be available beginning at 12:00 p.m. ET on May 24, 2023, until 11:59 p.m. ET on May 31, 2023, and can be accessed by dialing (800) 770-2030 and entering the replay pin number 1790468. In addition, an investor presentation of first quarter 2023 results will be available at www.express.com/investor beginning at approximately 7:00 a.m. ET on May 24, 2023.

About EXPR

EXPR is a fashion retail company whose business includes an omnichannel operating platform, physical and online stores, and a multi-brand portfolio that includes Express and UpWest. The Express brand launched in 1980 with the idea that style, quality and value should all be found in one place. Today, Express is a brand with a purpose - We Create Confidence. We Inspire Self-Expression. - powered by a styling community. UpWest launched in 2019 with a purpose to Provide Comfort for People & Planet.

The Company has over 530 Express retail and Express Factory Outlet stores in the United States and Puerto Rico, the express.com online store and the Express mobile app; and 13 UpWest retail stores and the UpWest.com online store. EXPR is traded on the NYSE under the symbol EXPR. For more information about our Company, please visit www.express.com/investors and for more information about our brands, please visit www.express.com or www.upwest.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230512005342/en/

Investor Contact

Greg Johnson

VP, Investor Relations

[email protected]

614-474-4890

Source: Express, Inc.
NEW YORK & OSLO, Norway & LUXEMBOURG--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- FREYR Battery (NYSE: FREY) (FREYR), a developer of clean, next-generation battery cell production capacity, has announced a change to the 2Q 2023 conference call schedule. To accommodate broader audience participation, the conference call is now scheduled to begin on May 15, 2022, at 8:30 am U.S. Eastern Daylight Time (2:30 pm Central European Time), from a prior scheduled start time of 7:30 am U.S. Eastern Daylight Time (1:30 pm Central European Time).

The first quarter 2023 press release will be issued by 6:00 am U.S. Eastern Daylight Time (12:00 pm Central European Time) as previously indicated.

To access the conference call, listeners should contact the conference call operator at the appropriate number listed below approximately 10 minutes prior to the start of the call. Note that this information has not changed from FREYRs previous announcement.

Participant conference call dial-in numbers:

United Kingdom: +44 20 3936 2999

United States: 1 (646) 787 9445

Spain: +34 919 01 16 44

Germany: +49 32 221098334

Sweden: +46 10 884 80 16

Switzerland: +41 22 518 90 26

The participant passcode for the call is: 230388

A webcast of the conference call will be broadcast simultaneously at https://freyr.eventcdn.net/events/q1-2023-earnings-conference-call on a listen-only basis. Please log in at least 10 minutes in advance to register and download any necessary software.

A replay of the webcast will be available at https://ir.freyrbattery.com/events-and-presentations/Events-Calendar/default.aspx.

About FREYR Battery

FREYR Battery aims to provide industrial scale clean battery solutions to reduce global emissions. Listed on the New York Stock Exchange, FREYRs mission is to produce green battery cells to accelerate the decarbonization of energy and transportation systems globally. FREYR has commenced building the first of its planned factories in Mo i Rana, Norway and announced potential development of industrial scale battery cell production in Vaasa, Finland, and the United States. FREYR intends to install 50 GWh of battery cell capacity by 2025 and 100 GWh annual capacity by 2028 and 200 GWh of annual capacity by 2030. To learn more about FREYR, please visit www.freyrbattery.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230512005169/en/

Investor contact:

Jeffrey Spittel

Vice President, Investor Relations

[email protected]

Tel: (+1) 281-222-0161



Media contact:

Katrin Berntsen

Vice President, Communication and Public Affairs

[email protected]

Tel: (+47) 9920 54 570

Source: FREYR Battery
Company Continues National Expansion; Will Open First Stores in Alabama, Arkansas and New York

DAVENPORT, Iowa--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Dry Goods announced today plans to open 11 additional locations in 2023, including the retailers first stores in Alabama, Arkansas and New York. These new locations are part of the boutiques nationwide growth plans to invite more shoppers to enjoy the latest in young, feminine and contemporary fashion.

Today's announcement will expand Dry Goods' footprint to 81 locations  once opened  across the country. For the first time, customers will experience the unique merchandise offered by this fresh and flourishing brand at:

The Avenue (Murfreesboro, Tenn.)

Bridge Street Town Center (Huntsville, Ala.)

Columbiana Centre (Columbia, S.C.)

Crossgates Mall (Albany, N.Y.)

Destiny USA (Syracuse, N.Y.)

Eastview Mall (Victor, N.Y.)

Hamilton Town Center (Noblesville, Ind.)

Liberty Center (Liberty Township, Ohio)

Pinnacle Hills Promenade (Rogers, Ark.)

Towne East Square (Wichita, Kan.)

Walden Galleria (Buffalo, N.Y.)

We are excited by the success of Dry Goods as we continue to expand our footprint and introduce the brand to new fashion forward shoppers seeking the latest on-trend clothing and accessories, said Melody Wright, chief operating officer of Von Maur, the parent company of Dry Goods. Our ever-changing mix offers new, fresh takes that allow our shoppers to create their own individual look at a reasonable price. Whether customers need the perfect outfit for the weekends party or the coming summer festival season, Dry Goods has all the latest fashion trends.

Situated in a small, rented storefront in downtown Davenport, Iowa, the first Von Maur Dry Goods store was founded back in 1872. While the Von Maur department store exploded in popularity, in 2010 Von Maur returned to its roots by opening the first Dry Goods store in Aurora, Illinois.

The Dry Goods brand was created to bring our tradition of customer service to a new generation of younger, fashion-forward customers, said Lindsay Caltagirone, vice president of stores for Dry Goods.

For those interested in making fashion a career, Dry Goods offers a fun and fast paced work environment where people can start and develop their career with like-minded fashionistas. Growth potential is unlimited with a career at Dry Goods as it continues to expand to new cities and reach more customers. For more information on how to start a career in the fashion industry, visit careers-drygoods.icims.com.

For additional information and a full list of locations, visit www.drygoodsusa.com.

About Dry Goods USA

Dry Goods USA, a subsidiary of Von Maur Department Store, opened its first location in 2010 in Aurora, Ill. The Company currently operates 71 stores in 19 states in addition to an online business at drygoodsusa.com. The Company is known for offering an interest free credit card and the latest in junior contemporary women's fashion. At Dry Goods, customers can find a great selection of apparel, accessories, shoes and giftable items that cater to a fashion driven customer. The ever-changing assortment will always offer something new to help complete your look. For more information, please visit www.drygoodsusa.com.

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Weston Banker

[email protected]

Source: Dry Goods USA
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- ICR, a leading strategic communications and advisory firm, is pleased to announce that Sandra Campos, Board Member, 3x CEO, and CNBC Contributor, recently appeared on Episode 74 of ICRs Welcome to the Arena podcast.

Welcome to the Arena is hosted by Tom Ryan, Co-Founder & CEO of ICR. Tom spoke with Sandra about her upbringing and introduction to retail, her experience working in a male-dominated industry, her career journey and first role as a CEO, the recent transformation in the retail industry, and more.

The Welcome to the Arena podcast has featured discussions with CEOs, CFOs, financial analysts, members of the media, investment bankers, private equity executives, and others who influence and create value for public and private-equity backed companies. The podcast made its debut in August 2021, airing episodes roughly every two weeks, and is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or anywhere else you get your podcasts.

About ICR

Established in 1998, ICR partners with its clients to execute strategic communications and advisory programs that achieve business goals, build awareness and credibility, and enhance long-term enterprise value. The firms highly-differentiated service model, which pairs capital markets veterans with senior communications professionals, brings deep sector knowledge and relationships to approximately 1,000 clients across more than 20 industry groups. ICRs healthcare practice operates under the Westwicke brand (www.westwicke.com). Today, ICR is one of the largest and most experienced independent communications and advisory firms in North America, maintaining offices in New York, Norwalk, Boston, Baltimore and Beijing. Learn more at www.icrinc.com. Follow us on Twitter at @ICRPR.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230512005332/en/

Brian Ruby, ICR, 203-682-8268, [email protected]

Source: ICR
TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Inovalis Real Estate Investment Trust (the REIT) (TSX: INO.UN) announced today that its Board of Trustees has declared the REIT's monthly cash distribution for the months of June, July and August 2023 as per the following schedule:

Month Record Date Distribution Date Distribution Amount June, 2023 June 30, 2023 July 17, 2023 $0.034375 July, 2023 July 31, 2023 August 15, 2023 $0.034375 August, 2023 August 31, 2023 September 15, 2023 $0.034375

About Inovalis REIT

Inovalis REIT is a real estate investment trust listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange in Canada. It was founded in 2013 by Inovalis and invests in office properties in primary markets of France, Germany and Spain. It holds 13 assets. Inovalis REIT acquires (indirectly) real estate properties via CanCorpEurope, authorized Alternative Investment Fund (AIF) by the CSSF in Luxemburg, and managed by Inovalis S.A.

About Inovalis Group

Inovalis S.A. is a French Alternative Investment fund manager, authorized by the French Securities and Markets Authority (AMF) under AIFM laws. Inovalis S.A. and its subsidiaries (Advenis S.A., Advenis REIM) invest in and manage Real Estate Investment Trusts such as Inovalis REIT, open ended funds (SCPI) with stable real estate focus such as Eurovalys (for Germany) and Elialys (Southern Europe), Private Thematic Funds raised with Inovalis partners to invest in defined real estate strategies and direct Co-investments on specific assets

Inovalis Group (www.inovalis.com), founded in 1998 by Inovalis SA, is an established pan European real estate investment player with EUR 7 billion of AuM and with offices in all the world's major financial and economic centers in Paris, Luxembourg, Madrid, Frankfurt, Toronto and Dubai. The group is comprised of 300 professionals, providing Advisory, Fund, Asset and Property Management services in Real Estate as well as Wealth Management services.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230512005380/en/

David Giraud, Chief Executive Officer

Inovalis Real Estate Investment Trust

Tel: +33 1 5643 3323

[email protected]

Khalil Hankach, Chief Financial Officer

Inovalis Real Estate Investment Trust

Tel: + 33 1 5643 3313

[email protected]

Source: Inovalis Real Estate Investment Trust
TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Inovalis Real Estate Investment Trust (the REIT) (TSX: INO.UN) today announced that each of the five individuals nominated for election as a trustee of the REIT at the REIT's Annual General Meeting of Unitholders held on May 9, 2023 was elected. Voting results for the individual trustees of the REIT are as follows:

NOMINEES FOR % WITHHELD % Michael Bonneveld 4,192,443 89.4% 496,611 10.6% Jean-Daniel Cohen 4,411,077 94.1% 277,977 5.9% Marc Manasterski 4,189,425 89.3% 499,629 10.7% Laetita Pacaud 4,159,332 88.7% 529,722 11.3% Robert Waxman 4,185,479 89.3% 503,575 10.7%

The resolution to appoint Ernst & Young Audit (France) as auditors of the REIT for the ensuing year and authorizing the trustees to fix the remuneration to be paid to the auditors was approved by 97.5% of the votes.

The resolution to confirm the rights plan of the REIT, originally adopted on March 29, 2023, was approved by 90.6% of the votes.

About Inovalis REIT

Inovalis REIT is a real estate investment trust listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange in Canada. It was founded in 2013 by Inovalis and invests in office properties in primary markets of France, Germany and Spain. It holds 13 assets. Inovalis REIT acquires (indirectly) real estate properties via CanCorpEurope, authorized Alternative Investment Fund (AIF) by the CSSF in Luxemburg, and managed by Inovalis S.A.

About Inovalis Group

Inovalis S.A. is a French Alternative Investment fund manager, authorized by the French Securities and Markets Authority (AMF) under AIFM laws. Inovalis S.A. and its subsidiaries (Advenis S.A., Advenis REIM) invest in and manage Real Estate Investment Trusts such as Inovalis REIT, open ended funds (SCPI) with stable real estate focus such as Eurovalys (for Germany) and Elialys (Southern Europe), Private Thematic Funds raised with Inovalis partners to invest in defined real estate strategies and direct Co-investments on specific assets.

Inovalis Group (www.inovalis.com), founded in 1998 by Inovalis SA, is an established pan European real estate investment player with EUR 7 billion of AuM and with offices in all the world's major financial and economic centers in Paris, Luxembourg, Madrid, Frankfurt, Toronto and Dubai. The group is comprised of 300 professionals, providing Advisory, Fund, Asset and Property Management services in Real Estate as well as Wealth Management services.

SOURCE Inovalis Real Estate Investment Trust

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230512005378/en/

For further information, please contact:

David Giraud, Chief Executive Officer

Inovalis Real Estate Investment Trust

Tel: +33 1 5643 3323

[email protected]

Khalil Hankach, Chief Financial Officer

Inovalis Real Estate Investment Trust

Tel:+33 1 5643 3313

[email protected]

Source: Inovalis Real Estate Investment Trust
MISSISSAUGA, Ontario--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Jade, a premier advisory, software services, and managed services company since 2003, announces expanding its global presence in North America by opening a Mississauga Office. Jades services include business application implementations, integrations, software product engineering, cloud services, technology advisory, testing, and managed services.

Jades presence in Canada since 2019 and its growth are a testament to its commitment to delivering value to its clients. Jades Canadian expansion will provide top-notch IT Services to the Mississauga market with domain expertise in various industries, including healthcare, life sciences, high-tech, energy, retail, manufacturing, and the public sector. Jade opened this office due to more businesses, investments, and resources in the country. Jade worked closely with Toronto Global, a team of experienced business advisors assisting global businesses to expand into the Toronto Region.

As we celebrate Jades 20th anniversary in 2023, we will continue providing technology excellence with our footprint in Mississauga. Expanding our presence in one of Canadas premier technology hubs is a great pleasure!  Karan Yaramada, Jade Global Founder & CEO

I'm thrilled to welcome Jade as they expand their operations into our vibrant city of Mississauga. As the heart of the second-largest tech cluster in North America, Mississauga offers an innovative ecosystem for companies like Jade to thrive. With over 940 tech companies and a workforce of over 44,000 skilled professionals, our city is a powerhouse of technological advancements. Jades expertise in Healthcare, Life Sciences, and Manufacturing perfectly aligns with Mississauga's strong and diverse economy. Together, we will further propel Mississauga as a leading hub for cutting-edge technology and create new opportunities for our residents and businesses alike.  Bonnie Crombie, Mayor of Mississauga

We are thrilled to be celebrating Jades expansion to Mississauga, demonstrating the Toronto Regions strong pipeline of skilled technology talent and welcoming business environment. We congratulate Jade on 20 years of global business and wish the team continued success and growth here in the Toronto Region.  Stephen Lund, CEO, Toronto Global

About Jade Global

Jade is a premier Advisory, Integration, Testing, Cloud & Consulting Services, Business Solutions, and IT Outsourcing company that services clients across multiple technology platforms. It is headquartered in San Jose, California, with offices throughout the US, Canada, and India. With more than 2,000 employees, Jade is its clients' trusted partner.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230512005239/en/

Payal Mathur

[email protected]

Source: Jade Global
VANCOUVER, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Lucidea, developer of SydneyEnterprise, GeniePlus, and Presto, and global leader in innovative ILS and KM software, will participate in the Australian Library & Information Associations virtual conference on 17th and 18th May.

You can visit the Lucidea team at their virtual exhibit booth. When you do, their ILS and KM specialists will demonstrate why theyre the trusted technology partner to special librarians and knowledge managers around the world. Chat with them about your organizations needs. While in their booth, you can also download free eBooks written by KM expert and author Stan Garfield and library advocate and consultant Stephen Abram, or watch webinars covering topics of importance to special librarians and knowledge managers today.

Ask the Lucidea team about the latest developments to:

SydneyEnterprise the unified KM and ILS application for progressive special libraries

the unified KM and ILS application for progressive special libraries GeniePlus delivers essential KM and ILS capabilities for agile libraries of all sizes and budgets

delivers essential KM and ILS capabilities for agile libraries of all sizes and budgets Prestothe ultimate corporate intelligence solution with combined KM, social sharing, and collaboration tools

For further information about Lucideas ILS and KM software, visit https://lucidea.com, phone 604 278 6717, or email [email protected].

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230512005409/en/

Bradley Luedke

Manager of Marketing Operations

604-278-6717

[email protected]

Source: Lucidea
An artist works on a sand sculpture during a sand sculpture festival in Alexandria, Egypt, on May 10, 2023. The four-day Alexandria Sand Sculpture Festival, the first of its kind held by Alexandria governorate to promote tourism and encourage young talents, concluded on Wednesday evening. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)

ALEXANDRIA, Egypt, May 10 (Xinhua) -- The four-day Alexandria Sand Sculpture Festival, the first of its kind held by Alexandria governorate to promote tourism and encourage young talents, concluded on Wednesday evening.

Thirteen entrants from Alexandria University, Matrouh University and Damietta University took part in the event.

Mohamed Ehab from Alexandria University won first place with his sculpture depicting the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, a main library and cultural center in Alexandria.

Nancy Khaled, also from Alexandria University, won second with her turtle sculpture with a castle on its back.

Omniya Raafat, the third-place winner from Matrouh University, shared her "excellent" but "difficult" experience while making her gorilla sculpture.

"While I was working on my sculpture, half of it collapsed due to the wind, which frustrated me a lot. But many people said they liked my entry and encouraged me to continue," she recalled, saying the prize made all her efforts worthwhile.

Other artworks include a half-face half-book sculpture from Abedel-Rahman Mohamed, a 19-year-old art student from Alexandria University.

"I sculpted a portrait of half a face which is wrapped in chains with the key hidden in the other half -- an open book, symbolizing the importance of reading," the young man explained his artwork to Xinhua.

Alexandria Governor Mohamed Taher Elsherief said they planned to hold the sculpture festival every year.

"It's a beautiful art gathering that sheds light on the talents of our youth in Alexandria and other provinces," the governor added.

The event attracted a lot of visitors who came to admire the displayed sand artwork while enjoying the seaside view.

Saeed Attiya, a retiree who's currently living in Alexandria, hailed the festival as "beautiful and new," saying, "it's a nice festival, and we've had a beautiful day here."

"Art is a beautiful thing, without which one cannot live," the visitor added. 

An artist works on a sand sculpture during a sand sculpture festival in Alexandria, Egypt, on May 10, 2023. The four-day Alexandria Sand Sculpture Festival, the first of its kind held by Alexandria governorate to promote tourism and encourage young talents, concluded on Wednesday evening. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)

People view sand sculptures during a sand sculpture festival in Alexandria, Egypt, on May 10, 2023. The four-day Alexandria Sand Sculpture Festival, the first of its kind held by Alexandria governorate to promote tourism and encourage young talents, concluded on Wednesday evening. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)

An artist works on a sand sculpture during a sand sculpture festival in Alexandria, Egypt, on May 10, 2023. The four-day Alexandria Sand Sculpture Festival, the first of its kind held by Alexandria governorate to promote tourism and encourage young talents, concluded on Wednesday evening. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)

Photo taken on May 10, 2023 shows sand sculptures at a sand sculpture festival in Alexandria, Egypt. The four-day Alexandria Sand Sculpture Festival, the first of its kind held by Alexandria governorate to promote tourism and encourage young talents, concluded on Wednesday evening. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)

An artist works on a sand sculpture during a sand sculpture festival in Alexandria, Egypt, on May 10, 2023. The four-day Alexandria Sand Sculpture Festival, the first of its kind held by Alexandria governorate to promote tourism and encourage young talents, concluded on Wednesday evening. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)
MENLO PARK, Calif. & FRANKFURT, Germany--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Merk Investments, LLC (Merk or the Sponsor), as sponsor of the VanEck Merk Gold Trust (NYSE: OUNZ; the Trust), will change the benchmark price used to value the gold held or receivable by the Trust from the LBMA PM Gold Price to the Solactive Gold Spot Index (SOLAGOLD) effective July 11, 2023 or as soon as practicable thereafter (the Index Change Date).

The Sponsor has determined that SOLAGOLD will fairly represent the commercial value of gold held by the Trust and has instructed The Bank of New York Mellon, the trustee of the Trust, to begin using SOLAGOLD to determine the net asset value (NAV) of the Trust on the Index Change Date. Until such time, the NAV of the Trust will continue to be determined using the LBMA PM Gold Price.

SOLAGOLD aims to track gold spot prices quoted as US Dollars per Troy Ounce using time weighted average prices (TWAP) around the close of trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Specifically, the SOLAGOLD determines TWAP using tick values of XAU gold trading prices provided via ICE Data Services (IDS) for two specified time periods. The TWAP is derived for (1) the period ahead of the index fixing (Time Period 1), which consists of the five minutes before the close of NYSE trading, and (2) the period directly after the index fixing (Time Period 2), which consists of the six seconds after the close of NYSE trading. The TWAPs for Time Period 1 and Time Period 2 are then aggregated, with 90% weighting given to Time Period 1 and 10% weighting given to Time Period 2, to establish the daily SOLAGOLD price level each trading day.

The use of SOLAGOLD as a replacement for the LBMA PM Gold Price could result in materially different net asset values of the Trust.

OUNZ provides investors with a convenient and cost-efficient way to buy and hold gold through an exchange traded product with the option to take physical delivery of gold. According to Merk, SOLAGOLD will provide reliable pricing for purposes of calculating the NAV of the Trusts shares and address some of the limitations of the LBMA PM Gold Price, which is not determined at the NYSE close of trading. Specifically, Merk believes that using SOLAGOLD will provide investors with a NAV calculation that is more closely aligned with U.S. trading hours, thereby promoting liquidity and price stability of shares of the Trust.

"We are thrilled to be working with Solactive AG to facilitate a new gold pricing index of value not only to investors in OUNZ, but potentially a broader range of gold investors," said Axel Merk, President and Chief Investment Officer of Merk. "By changing the pricing index to the Solactive Gold Spot Index, we believe that we are offering a better way to track the price of gold for investors in our Trust.

Merk has been working closely with Solactive AG, a leading index provider, to develop the SOLAGOLD. Together, they have created an enhanced solution that will provide investors with a gold pricing benchmark that may be more suitable for the U.S. market. Solactive AG Chief Markets Officer says: We are excited to cooperate with Merk Investments and provide them with a more appropriate reference index for this important building block in their product offering. At Solactive our goal is to provide our clients with the exact indexing solutions they require across all asset classes including the commodity space.

About Merk Investments

Merks mission is to help our clients achieve superior risk-adjusted portfolio performance. Through a robust investment process, we aim to deliver truly uncorrelated returns that seek optimal profit potential within tailored investment objectives. Merk provides investment advice on liquid global markets, including domestic and international equities, fixed income, commodities and currencies and their respective derivative markets. Merk manages over U.S. $1 billion in gold, gold equities and a stagflation themed ETF.

About Solactive AG

Solactive AG is a leading provider of indexing, benchmarking, and calculation solutions for the global investment and trading community. Headquartered in Frankfurt and with offices in Hong Kong, Toronto, Berlin, and Dresden, the company innovates and disrupts the status quo as the partner of choice for its clients. The unique blend of the companys 250 staffs expertise in data, data science, financial markets, and technology enables its clients continued success through the delivery of a superior experience, unique customization capabilities, and the best value for money available in the industry. With more than 20,000 indices calculated daily, Solactive offers a full suite of solutions, including market-leading ESG and thematic indices.

For important information about the VanEck Merk Gold Trust, including how to obtain a prospectus and how to invest, please visit www.merkgold.com.

This information does not constitute a solicitation or an offer to buy or sell any investment security, nor provide investment advice. Merk Investments LLC.

Important Disclosures

This press release does not constitute legal or tax advice. Please read the prospectus and consult with your tax adviser for tax related questions pertaining to OUNZ.

Before investing, you should carefully consider the Trust's investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. This and other information is in the prospectus, a copy of which may be obtained by visiting www.merkgold.com/prospectus or calling 855-MRK OUNZ. Please read the prospectus carefully before you invest.

Investing involves risk, including possible loss of principal. The Trust is not an investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940 or a commodity pool for the purposes of the Commodity Exchange Act. Shares of the Trust are not subject to the same regulatory requirements as mutual funds. Because shares of the Trust are intended to reflect the price of the gold held in the Trust, the market price of the shares is subject to fluctuations similar to those affecting gold prices. Additionally, shares of the Trust are bought and sold at market price, not at net asset value (NAV). Brokerage commissions will reduce returns.

The request for redemption of shares for gold is subject to a number of risks including but not limited to the potential for the price of gold to decline during the time between the submission of the request and delivery. Delivery may take a considerable amount of time depending on your location.

Commodities and commodity-index linked securities may be affected by changes in overall market movements and other factors such as weather, disease, embargoes, or political and regulatory developments, as well as trading activity of speculators and arbitrageurs in the underlying commodities.

Trust shares trade like stocks, are subject to investment risk and will fluctuate in market value. The value of Trust shares relates directly to the value of the gold held by the Trust (less its expenses), and fluctuations in the price of gold could materially and adversely affect an investment in the shares. The price received upon the sale of the shares, which trade at market price, may be more or less than the value of the gold represented by them. The Trust does not generate any income, and as the Trust regularly issues shares to pay for the Sponsors ongoing expenses, the amount of gold represented by each Share will decline over time. Investing involves risk, and you could lose money on an investment in the Trust. For a more complete discussion of the risk factors relative to the Trust, carefully read the prospectus.

The sponsor of the Trust is Merk Investments LLC (the Sponsor). VanEck provides marketing services to the Trust.

Index Disclosure:

Solactive AG (Solactive) is the licensor of the Solactive Gold Spot Index (the Index). The financial instruments that are based on the Index are not sponsored, endorsed, promoted or sold by Solactive in any way and Solactive makes no express or implied representation, guarantee or assurance with regard to: (a) the advisability in investing in the financial instruments; (b) the quality, accuracy and/or completeness of the Index; and/or (c) the results obtained or to be obtained by any person or entity from the use of the Index. Solactive reserves the right to change the methods of calculation or publication with respect to the Index. Solactive shall not be liable for any damages suffered or incurred as a result of the use (or inability to use) of the Index.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230512005416/en/

Media Contact

Axel Merk

merkinvestments.com/contact

(650) 323-4341

Source: Merk Investments
Armbruster has broad background in HR strategies, plan design, and risk management

IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Gerry Armbruster has joined Alliant Insurance Services as Vice President within its Employee Benefits Group. Based in Nashville, Armbruster will focus on supporting organizations throughout the Southeast by designing and deploying comprehensive employee benefits solutions for a range of diverse clients.

For more than two decades, Armbruster has established a track record of success that includes maintaining and improving client relationships and building client satisfaction through open communication and results. He prides himself on his ability to craft sound HR strategies, maximize benefit plan efficiency, and manage risk to achieve common business objectives.

Gerry has the experience and focus needed to make sense of todays rapidly changing business environment, said Kevin Overbey, President, Alliant Employee Benefits. He understands the market, finds real solutions, and makes it easy for clients to work with him. Gerry has the ability to forge strong and lasting client relationships, and that makes him a valuable addition to the Alliant team.

Prior to joining Alliant, Armbruster was Assistant Vice President, Benefits at a leading healthcare organization that serves patients, clinicians, communities, and partner organizations across the healthcare continuum. He earned his bachelors degree from Belmont Abbey College in North Carolina.

Armbruster can be reached at (615) 308-7866 or at [email protected].

About Alliant Insurance Services

Alliant Insurance Services is one of the nations leading distributors of diversified insurance products and services. We operate through a network of specialized national platforms and local offices to offer our clients a comprehensive portfolio of solutions built on innovative thinking and personal service. The business of managing risk is getting more complex, and Alliant is meeting this complexity head-on, not with more layers of management, but with more creativity and agility. Alliant is changing the way our clients approach risk management and benefits, so they can capitalize on new opportunities to grow and protect their organizations. Visit us at alliant.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230512005003/en/

Nick Kopinga

Vice President

Corporate Marketing and Communications

(949) 260-5004

[email protected]

Source: Alliant Insurance Services
First-in-class Lusvertikimab (OSE-127) is the most advanced anti-IL-7R mAb.

Ongoing clinical Phase 2 trial in Ulcerative Colitis sponsored by OSE Immunotherapeutics after positive futility analysis with the following inflection points: End of enrollment: Q3 2023. Top line results in induction phase: December 2023. First early maintenance data after 6 months of treatment: H1-2024.

OSE Immunotherapeutics retains global and full rights on Lusvertikimab.

Current strategic assessment of medical and market opportunity in Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia based on positive preclinical efficacy data awarded by the 2022 American Society of Hematology.

NANTES, France--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Regulatory News:

OSE Immunotherapeutics SA (ISIN: FR0012127173; Mnemo: OSE) (Paris: OSE) announced that the Company will complete its clinical Phase 2 study in ulcerative colitis on Lusvertikimab (anti-IL7 receptor first-in-class mAb) having earned the full worldwide rights of the asset. OSE Immunotherapeutics and Servier signed a two-step option license agreement in December 2016. The companies decided to mutually terminate this agreement based on OSE Immunotherapeutics strategic commitment in Ulcerative Colitis and following Serviers priority portfolio review after the negative results on their exploratory Phase 2a clinical study in the primary Sjogren Syndrome (sponsored by Servier). OSE Immunotherapeutics is hence actively continuing its sponsored international clinical Phase 2 study in Ulcerative Colitis and is exploring additional strategic opportunities in Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL).

Having full ownership on Lusvertikimab provides us with the ability to recapture the value of the asset and capitalize on key strategic opportunities, including foremost its potential in the attractive Ulcerative Colitis therapeutic area. A major inflection point is expected in less than a year with the clinical readout of our international Phase 2 study. We look forward to demonstrating the clinical interest of Lusvertikimab in the short term based on the strong IL-7 biological rationale1, in an indication with high unmet medical needs," said Nicolas Poirier, Chief Executive Officer of OSE Immunotherapeutics. We highly value the collaboration with Servier who supported us in advancing Lusvertikimab from preclinical research to Phase 2 clinical efficacy study. Together we have generated robust industrial, translational and clinical grounds that position Lusvertikimab as the first anti-IL-7R antagonist program worldwide. We set our target high with the ongoing CoTikiS Phase 2 study in Ulcerative Colitis which explores the potential of Lusvertikimab in both biological naive and refractory patient populations. This disabling chronic inflammatory bowel disease affects 3.3 million people in the U.S., Europe and Japan2. Among them, more than half develop moderate to severe form of the disease requiring biological therapies. Despite new drug approvals these last years, only 25-30% of patients benefit from durable remission3. The Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) market of roughly 23 billion USD in 2022 is expecting to grow up to 28 billion USD in 2028 4. The upcoming Phase 2 top-line results expected in December 2023 represent the major short-term inflection point of the Company with promising durable commercial opportunities thanks to patent exclusivity granted across U.S., Europe, China and Japan. These patents provide protection until at least 2037. Our financial visibility, reinforced until Q2 2024, already includes all the costs necessary to complete this clinical trial."

OSE Immunotherapeutics and Servier mutually decided to terminate the option license agreement based on OSE Immunotherapeutics strategic commitment in Ulcerative Colitis and following Serviers priority portfolio review after the negative results of the exploratory Phase 2a clinical trial conducted by Servier in the primary Sjogren Syndrome. This autoimmune disease with high unmet medical needs5 is a complex pathology mostly characterized by B-Lymphocytes infiltrates for which the role of IL-7 biology still remains uncertain6. OSE Immunotherapeutics is highly engaged to continue the Phase 2 trial in Ulcerative Colitis, an indication where the role of T cells and IL-7 biology in the pathophysiology has been widely described. The Companys scientific research teams discovered and published the strong expression of the IL-7R in IBD patients refractory to anti-TNF or anti-integrin therapies1. Lusvertikimab (OSE-127) Phase 1 positive results were published in February 20237 with a good safety profile showing no signs of lymphopenia, and dose-dependent inhibition of IL-7 pathway. No safety signals have been identified in the primary Sjogren Syndrome study.

The ongoing Phase 2 trial sponsored by OSE Immunotherapeutics is evaluating the efficacy and safety of Lusvertikimab (OSE-127) versus placebo in patients with moderate to severe active Ulcerative Colitis who previously failed or lost response or were intolerant to previous treatment(s). A positive interim futility analysis was observed in the prespecified first 50 patients (i.e., 33% of the total patient enrollment in the study) having completed the induction phase. The upcoming major milestone for this Phase 2 clinical trial is expected in December 2023 with the top-line results after the induction phase (primary endpoint at week 10) and in H1 2024 for the first early assessment in maintenance after 6 months of therapy (CoTikiS trial: NCT04882007).

Besides immuno-inflammation, Lusvertikimab (OSE-127) has also demonstrated great therapeutic potential in immuno-oncology through positive efficacy preclinical results in Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL), a very aggressive tumor. Novel targeted immunotherapies are urgently needed to address relapsed/refractory (R/R) form of the disease, especially in T-ALL where the need for novel therapies is significant. Based on the promising preclinical results awarded by the American Society of Hematology in 2022 and on the high unmet medical need, OSE Immunotherapeutics management will explore the strategy forward in this rare disease.

1 IL-7 receptor influences anti-TNF responsiveness and T cell gut homing in inflammatory bowel disease, Belarif et al., J Clin Invest. 2019

2 EvaluatePharma

3 Drugs Context. 2019; 8: 212572 doi: 10.7573/dic.212572

4 EvaluatePharma

5 Addressing the clinical unmet needs in primary Sjogrens Syndrome through the sharing, harmonization and federated analysis of 21 European cohorts, Pezoulas et al., Comput Struct Biotechnol J., 2022

6 The Multiple Roles of B Cells in the Pathogenesis of Sjogrens Syndrome, Du W et al. Front. Immunol., 08 June 2021 Sec. B Cell Biology

7 First-in-Human Study in Healthy Subjects with the Non-Cytotoxic 1 Monoclonal Antibody OSE-127, a Strict Antagonist of the IL-7R, Journal of Immunology, Feb. 2023

ABOUT OSE Immunotherapeutics

OSE Immunotherapeutics is a biotech company dedicated to developing first-in-class assets in immuno-oncology and immuno-inflammation.

The Companys current well-balanced first-in-class clinical pipeline includes:

Tedopi (immunotherapy activating tumor specific T-cells, off-the-shelf, neoepitope-based): this cancer vaccine is the Companys most advanced product; positive results from the Phase 3 trial (Atalante 1) in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer patients in secondary resistance after checkpoint inhibitor failure. Other Phase 2 trials, sponsored by clinical oncology groups, of Tedopi in combination are ongoing in solid tumors.

(immunotherapy activating tumor specific T-cells, off-the-shelf, neoepitope-based): this cancer vaccine is the Companys most advanced product; positive results from the Phase 3 trial (Atalante 1) in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer patients in secondary resistance after checkpoint inhibitor failure. Other Phase 2 trials, sponsored by clinical oncology groups, of Tedopi in combination are ongoing in solid tumors. OSE-279 (anti-PD1): ongoing Phase 1/2 in solid tumors or lymphomas (first patient included). OSE-279 is the backbone therapy of the BiCKI platform.

(anti-PD1): ongoing Phase 1/2 in solid tumors or lymphomas (first patient included). OSE-279 is the backbone therapy of the BiCKI platform. OSE-127 - lusvertikimab (humanized monoclonal antibody antagonist of IL-7 receptor); ongoing Phase 2 in Ulcerative Colitis (sponsor OSE Immunotherapeutics); ongoing preclinical research in leukemia (OSE Immunotherapeutics).

- (humanized monoclonal antibody antagonist of IL-7 receptor); ongoing Phase 2 in Ulcerative Colitis (sponsor OSE Immunotherapeutics); ongoing preclinical research in leukemia (OSE Immunotherapeutics). FR-104/VEL-101 (anti-CD28 monoclonal antibody): developed in partnership with Veloxis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in transplantation; ongoing Phase 1/2 in renal transplant (sponsor Nantes University Hospital); Phase 1 ongoing in the US (sponsor Veloxis Pharmaceuticals, Inc.).

(anti-CD28 monoclonal antibody): developed in partnership with Veloxis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in transplantation; ongoing Phase 1/2 in renal transplant (sponsor Nantes University Hospital); Phase 1 ongoing in the US (sponsor Veloxis Pharmaceuticals, Inc.). OSE-172/BI 765063 (anti-SIRP monoclonal antibody on CD47/SIRP pathway) developed in partnership with Boehringer Ingelheim in advanced solid tumors; positive Phase 1 dose escalation results in monotherapy and in combination, in particular with anti-PD-1 antibody ezabenlimab; international Phase 1b ongoing clinical trial in combination with ezabenlimab alone or with other drugs in patients with recurrent/metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

OSE Immunotherapeutics expects to generate further significant value from its two proprietary drug discovery platforms, which are central to its ambitious goal to deliver next-generation first-in-class immunotherapeutics:

BiCKI platform focused on immuno-oncology (IO) is a bispecific fusion protein platform built on the key backbone component of anti-PD1 combined with a new immunotherapy target to increase anti-tumor efficacy. BiCKI-IL-7 is the most advanced BiCKI candidate targeting anti-PD1xIL-7.

focused on immuno-oncology (IO) is a bispecific fusion protein platform built on the key backbone component of anti-PD1 combined with a new immunotherapy target to increase anti-tumor efficacy. BiCKI-IL-7 is the most advanced BiCKI candidate targeting anti-PD1xIL-7. Myeloid platform focused on optimizing the therapeutic potential of myeloid cells in IO and immuno-inflammation (I&I). OSE-230 (ChemR23 agonist mAb) is the most advanced candidate generated by the platform, with the potential to resolve chronic inflammation by driving affected tissues to tissue integrity.

Additional information about OSE Immunotherapeutics assets is available on the Companys website: www.ose-immuno.com

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Forward-looking statements

This press release contains express or implied information and statements that might be deemed forward-looking information and statements in respect of OSE Immunotherapeutics. They do not constitute historical facts. These information and statements include financial projections that are based upon certain assumptions and assessments made by OSE Immunotherapeutics management in light of its experience and its perception of historical trends, current economic and industry conditions, expected future developments and other factors they believe to be appropriate.

These forward-looking statements include statements typically using conditional and containing verbs such as expect, anticipate, believe, target, plan, or estimate, their declensions and conjugations and words of similar import. Although the OSE Immunotherapeutics management believes that the forward-looking statements and information are reasonable, the OSE Immunotherapeutics shareholders and other investors are cautioned that the completion of such expectations is by nature subject to various risks, known or not, and uncertainties which are difficult to predict and generally beyond the control of OSE Immunotherapeutics. These risks could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed in or implied or projected by the forward-looking statements. These risks include those discussed or identified in the public filings made by OSE Immunotherapeutics with the AMF. Such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. This press release includes only summary information and should be read with the OSE Immunotherapeutics Universal Registration Document filed with the AMF on May 2, 2023, including the annual financial report for the fiscal year 2022, available on the OSE Immunotherapeutics website. Other than as required by applicable law, OSE Immunotherapeutics issues this press release at the date hereof and does not undertake any obligation to update or revise the forward-looking information or statements.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230512005270/en/

OSE Immunotherapeutics

Sylvie Detry

[email protected]

+33 1 53 198 757

Investor Relations

Thomas Guillot

[email protected]

+33 6 07 380 431

French Media: FP2COM

Florence Portejoie

[email protected]

+33 6 07 768 283

Source: OSE Immunotherapeutics SA
VANCOUVER, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Pan American Silver Corp. (NYSE: PAAS) (TSX: PAAS) ("Pan American" or the "Company") reported the voting results from its annual general and special meeting of shareholders held on May 10, 2023, in Vancouver, British Columbia (the "Meeting"). Each of the matters voted upon at the Meeting are described in detail in the Company's Management Information Circular dated March 17, 2023, which is available on the Company's website at https://www.panamericansilver.com/invest/financial-reports-and-filings/.

A total of 135,458,670 common shares were represented at the meeting, being 64.30% of the Companys issued and outstanding common shares as at the record date. Shareholders voted in favour of all matters brought before the Meeting, including setting the number of directors at eleven, the election of managements nominees as directors, the appointment of auditors for the ensuing year, the acceptance of the Companys approach to executive compensation, known as say-on-pay, and increasing the number of common shares that Pan American is authorized to issue.

Newly elected directors and retirement of Michael Carroll

Pan American would like to welcome the following new members who were elected to our Board of Directors: Chantal Gosselin, John Begeman, Alexander Davidson, and Kimberly Keating. These individuals have a wealth of experience and expertise and the Company believes that they will be excellent additions to our Board.

Michael Carroll, a valued and long-serving member of our Board, did not stand for re-election. Among his many contributions, Mr. Carroll served as the Chair of our Audit Committee since 2011. The Board and Pan American thank Mr. Carroll for his outstanding service over the years.

Number of Directors Resolution Votes For Votes Against Resolution to set the size of the Board of Directors to eleven directors 108,412,514 (99.38%) 678,718 (0.62%)

Election of Directors Director Nominee Votes For Votes Withheld John Begeman 108,237,023 (99.22%) 854,207 (0.78%) Alexander Davidson 96,418,143 (88.38%) 12,673,087 (11.62%) Neil de Gelder 100,831,019 (92.43%) 8,260,212 (7.57%) Chantal Gosselin 106,587,213 (97.70%) 2,504,018 (2.30%) Charles Jeannes 105,429,580 (96.64%) 3,661,650 (3.36%) Kimberly Keating 107,036,155 (98.12%) 2,055,075 (1.88%) Jennifer Maki 106,219,166 (97.37%) 2,872,065 (2.63%) Walter Segsworth 101,482,982 (93.03%) 7,608,248 (6.97%) Kathleen Sendall 108,170,932 (99.16%) 920,298 (0.84%) Michael Steinmann 108,209,948 (99.19%) 881,283 (0.81%) Gillian Winckler 105,797,761 (96.98%) 3,293,469 (3.02%)

Appointment of Auditor Resolution Votes For Votes Withheld Resolution to appoint Deloitte LLP as auditors of the Company until its next annual general meeting and to authorize the directors of the Company to fix the remuneration to be paid to the auditors of the Company 113,254,075 (83.61%) 22,200,420 (16.39%)

Say-on-Pay Resolution Votes For Votes Against Advisory resolution to approve the Companys approach to executive compensation 96,085,785 (88.08%) 13,009,618 (11.92%)

Increase authorized capital Resolution Votes For Votes Against Resolution to approve the increase of the maximum number of common shares of Pan American that Pan American is authorized to issue from 400,000,000 Pan American common shares to 800,000,000 Pan American common shares. 81,359,763 (74.58%) 27,735,642 (25.42%)

About Pan American

Pan American is a leading producer of precious metals in the Americas, operating silver and gold mines in Canada, Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Chile and Brazil. We also own the Escobal mine in Guatemala that is currently not operating, and we hold interests in exploration and development projects, including the Minera Agua Rica Alumbrera ("MARA") project in Argentina. We have been operating in the Americas for nearly three decades, earning an industry-leading reputation for sustainability performance, operational excellence and prudent financial management. We are headquartered in Vancouver, B.C. and our shares trade on New York Stock Exchange and the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol "PAAS". Learn more at https://www.panamericansilver.com/

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230511005995/en/

Siren Fisekci

VP, Investor Relations & Corporate Communications

Ph: 604-806-3191

Email: [email protected]

Source: Pan American Silver
NEW HARTFORD, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- PAR Technology Corporation (NYSE: PAR) a global restaurant technology company and provider of unified commerce for enterprise restaurants today announced that PAR CEO, Savneet Singh, will participate in two upcoming investor conferences.

PAR will participate in fireside chats at the 18th Annual Needham Technology and Media Conference on Tuesday, May 16, and at the J.P. Morgan 51st Annual Global Technology, Media and Communications Conference on Tuesday, May 23. PAR management will also conduct one-on-one meetings with investors and analysts during the conferences.

Event: Needham Technology and Media Conference

Date: Tuesday, May 16, 2023

Time: 12:45 p.m. ET / 9:45 a.m. PT

Event: J.P. Morgan Global Technology, Media and Communications Conference

Date: Tuesday, May 23, 2023

Time: 9:30 a.m. ET / 6:30 a.m. PT

Live webcasts of the Companys presentations will be available by visiting PAR Technologys website at https://www.partech.com/investor-relations/ . Replays of the webcasts will be available following the conclusion of each live presentation broadcast.

ABOUT PAR TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION

For more than 40 years, PAR Technology Corporations (NYSE Symbol: PAR) cutting-edge products and services have helped bold and passionate restaurant brands build lasting guest relationships. We are the partner enterprise restaurants rely on when they need to serve amazing moments from open to close, during the most hectic rush hours, and when the world forces them to adapt and overcome. More than 70,000 restaurants in more than 110 countries use PARs restaurant point-of-sale, customer loyalty and engagement, payments, omnichannel digital ordering and delivery, and back-office software solutions as well as industry leading hardware and drive-thru offerings. To learn more, visit partech.com or connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Additionally, the Company's Environmental, Social, and Governance report can be found at https://www.partech.com/company/ESG.

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Christopher R. Byrnes (315) 738-0600 ext. 6226

[email protected], www.partech.com

Source: PAR Technology Corporation
128GB CXL DRAM based on advanced CXL 2.0 interface to be mass produced this year, accelerating commercialization of next-generation memory solutions

Samsung will continue collaborating with global data center, server and chipset companies to bolster CXL ecosystem

SEOUL, South Korea--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd, a world leader in advanced semiconductor technology, today announced its development of the industrys first 128-gigabyte (GB) DRAM to support Compute Express Link (CXL) 2.0. Samsung worked closely with Intel on this landmark advancement on an Intel Xeon platform.

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Samsung Develops Industrys First CXL DRAM Supporting CXL 2.0 (Photo: Business Wire)

Building on its development of the industrys first CXL 1.1-based CXL DRAM in May of 2022, Samsungs introduction of the 128GB CXL DRAM based on CXL 2.0 is expected to accelerate commercialization of next-generation memory solutions. The new CXL DRAM supports PCle 5.0 interface (x8 lanes) and provides bandwidth of up to 35GB per second.

As a member of the CXL Consortium Board of Directors, Samsung Electronics remains at the forefront of CXL technology, said Jangseok Choi, vice president of New Business Planning Team at Samsung Electronics. This breakthrough development underlines our commitment to expanding the CXL ecosystem even further through partnerships with data center, server and chipset companies across the industry.

Intel is delighted to work with Samsung on their investment towards a vibrant CXL ecosystem, said Jim Pappas, director of Technology Initiatives at Intel Corporation. Intel will continue to work with Samsung to foster the growth and adoption of innovative CXL products throughout the industry.

Montage is excited to mass produce the first controllers to support CXL 2.0, said Stephen Tai, president of Montage Technology. We look forward to continuing our partnership with Samsung to advance CXL technology and expand its ecosystem.

For the first time ever, CXL 2.0 supports memory pooling a memory management technique that binds multiple CXL memory blocks on a server platform to form a pool and enables hosts to dynamically allocate memory from the pool as needed. The new technology allows customers to maximize efficiency while lowering operating costs, which will in turn help customers reinvest resources into reinforcing their server memory.

Samsung plans to start mass producing CXL 2.0 DRAM later this year and is poised to deliver additional offerings in various capacities to address demand for future computing applications.

CXL is a next-generation interface that adds efficiency to accelerators, DRAM and storage devices used with CPUs in high-performance server systems. Given that its bandwidth and capacity can be expanded when used with the main DRAM, the technology's advancement is expected to make waves across the next-generation computing market, where key technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) have led to a rapid rise in demand for high-speed data processing.

About Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.

Samsung inspires the world and shapes the future with transformative ideas and technologies. The company is redefining the worlds of TVs, smartphones, wearable devices, tablets, digital appliances, network systems, and memory, system LSI, foundry and LED solutions. For the latest news, please visit the Samsung Newsroom at http://news.samsung.com.

# # #

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Ujeong Jahnke

Samsung Semiconductor Europe GmbH

Tel. +49(0)89-45578-1000

Email: [email protected]

Source: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
Lawsuit alleges that social media platforms algorithms, which highlighted violent racist and antisemitic material, radicalized gunman Payton Gendron and inspired attack on a predominantly Black community

BUFFALO, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The Social Media Victims Law Center, The Law Office of John V. Elmore, P.C., and the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence have filed a wrongful death lawsuit in response to Payton Gendrons racially motivated attack at Tops Friendly Markets in Buffalo, N.Y., on May 14, 2022. Ten people were killed, all of them Black, and three people were injured.

The complaint, which was filed with the State of New York Supreme Court, County of Erie, alleges that Gendron was radicalized by the algorithms driving the social media products he used, which fed him increasingly racist, antisemitic, and violence-inducing content. These addictive algorithms, in turn, maximized his engagement with the platforms and the corresponding advertising revenue to the companies. These radicalized posts also provided the training, access to equipment, and expertise to plan and execute the massacre.

Those named in the lawsuit are Meta Platforms, Inc., formerly known as Facebook; Snap, Inc.; Alphabet, Inc., Googles parent company; Discord, Inc.; Reddit, Inc.; Amazon.com, Inc., which operates the Twitch livestreaming service; RMA Armament, an Iowa-based body armor manufacturer; Vintage Firearms, a retail gun store located in Endicott, N.Y.; MEAN L.L.C., a manufacturer in Woodstock, Ga., which sells the MEAN MA Lock; and Paul and Pamela Gendron, Gendrons parents.

Gendron was motivated to commit his heinous crime by racist, antisemitic, and white supremacist propaganda fed to him by social media companies, said Matthew P. Bergman, founding attorney of the Social Media Victims Law Center. These posts led him down a rabbit hole of increasingly radical sites, where he was indoctrinated in white supremacist replacement theory and violent accelerationism. This horrible crime was neither an accident nor coincidence, but rather the foreseeable result of social media companies intentional decision to maximize user engagement over public safety.

I and my law partner, Kristen Elmore-Garcia, have been working with the families of this senseless, racially motivated hate crime for the past year, said attorney John V. Elmore. Payton Gendron has pled guilty to these murders and is no longer a danger to society. However, the social media platforms that radicalized him, and the companies that armed him, must still be held accountable for their actions. Our goal, on behalf of our clients, is to make this community and our nation safer and prevent other mass shootings.

According to the lawsuit, Gendron livestreamed his murderous rampage on Twitch, hoping to inspire future acts of mass violence. The ability to livestream his attack was a major factor in convincing him to go forward with the massacre, the lawsuit says.

No one deserves to lose their life at the hands of another, especially when that person was motivated by false and hateful content fed to them online, said attorney Kristen Elmore-Garcia. The combination of racist rhetoric on social media and the availability of combat-style gear created a deadly situation that should never happen again.

The perpetrator of the horrific hate-fueled massacre on May 14 is behind bars, serving life without parole, and that is only right, said Adam Skaggs, Chief Counsel & Vice President, Giffords Law Center. But he alone is not responsible for this tragedy: the social media companies that radicalized him and the companies that profited from outfitting him with body armor and an illegal gun also bear responsibility. The lawsuit filed today will bring accountability to these companies and justice for our clients.

The lawsuit is being brought on behalf of survivor Latisha Rogers, 34, who was working customer service at Tops and called 911 in the midst of the horrific attack; and the families of the following three victims, all of whom were killed in the massacre:

Andre Mackneil, 53, a father of five who was at Tops to buy a birthday cake for his three-year-old sons birthday party.

Katherine Kat Massey, 72, a community activist and retired teacher.

Heyward Patterson, 67, a deacon at State Tabernacle Church of God and a retired security guard.

Planning a Massacre

Gendron, a white male who was 18 at the time of the attack, was fueled by white supremacist ideology. He drove more than 200 miles to carry out a murderous rampage that specifically targeted Black people.

Prior to the shooting, he went to Tops on multiple occasions and created handwritten sketches of its interior. Gendron also outlined his plan in writing on his Discord account. First, he wrote a statement on Discord containing a detailed plan to murder Black people, including an in-depth analysis of the weapon and other equipment he would use during the attack. Second, he chronicled the progress and development of his plan on Discord in the months leading up to the attack.

Gendrons motive for targeting and attacking Black shoppers and employees was clear. The weapons used in the attack and recovered from his vehicle  a bolt-action rifle, a shotgun and an AR-15 assault rifle  were marked with phrases and symbols commonly used by white supremacists.

The lawsuit alleges that, shortly before 2:00 p.m. on May 14, 2022, Gendron invited several other users to a chat room on the Discord platform, where he posted a link to a live stream, as well as a personal statement and personal diary, which he had written to justify his violence and inspire future shootings.

Approximately 22 minutes into the Twitch livestream, fueled by the knowledge that other users were watching him in real-time, Gendron stepped out of his car and began shooting. Gendrons livestream on Twitch lasted approximately 24 minutes and was viewed by roughly two dozen other Twitch users. Twitch stopped the livestream approximately two minutes after the violence started, when the massacre was mostly complete.

While only a small number of people viewed the livestream in real-time, video of the massacre was subsequently re-posted on other numerous online platforms, including 4chan, kiwifarms.net, Facebook, and Reddit, along with many other social media platforms.

About the Legal Team

The Social Media Victims Law Center (SMVLC), socialmediavictims.org, was founded in 2021 to hold social media companies legally accountable for the harm they inflict on vulnerable users. SMVLC seeks to apply principles of product liability to force social media companies to elevate consumer safety to the forefront of its economic analysis and design safer platforms to protect users from foreseeable harm.

Matthew P. Bergman is an attorney, law professor, philanthropist and community activist who has recovered over $1 billion on behalf of his clients. He is the founder of the Social Media Victims Law Center and Bergman Draper Oslund Udo law firm; a professor at Lewis & Clark Law School; and serves on the board of directors of nonprofit institutions in higher education, national security, civil rights, worker protection and the arts.

John V. Elmore has been a practicing attorney for over 35 years and has always served the public. He has served as New York State Assistant Attorney General, Manhattan Assistant District Attorney, and as a New York State Trooper. While his primary focus as an attorney is helping people who have suffered a serious injury or lost a loved one in an accident, he also has extensive experience in both federal and state criminal court matters, including white-collar criminal defense. He has been honored by the Bar Association of Erie County (Lawyer of the Year, 2020); the Buffalo Urban League (Whitney M. Young Award, 2020); and the Buffalo chapter of the NAACP (Medgar Evers Award, 1994).

Kristen Elmore-Garcia is a former Erie County Assistant District Attorney. In addition to her background as a criminal prosecutor, she has experience in insurance defense litigation and personal injury claims. She also has legal experience with the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Western District of New York, the Erie County Department of Law; and the University of Missouri Systems Office of the General Counsel. She serves as a board member for the Charter School for Applied Technologies, as well as on the YMCA Buffalo Niagara Community Leadership Board.

The Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence is the nations leading policy organization dedicated to researching, writing, enacting, and defending proven laws and programs, and is on a mission to save lives from gun violence by shifting culture, changing policies, and challenging injustice.

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Jason Ysais

Consumer Attorney Public Relations

P: 818-330-8878

E: [email protected]

Source: Social Media Victims Law Center
Gross profit increases by ~11% and Adjusted EBITDA by ~46%, driven by strong growth in Software & Cloud solutions

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Softchoice Corporation (Softchoice or the Company) (TSX: SFTC) today announced its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2023 (Q1 2023). Softchoice will hold a conference call/webcast to discuss its results today, May 12, 2023, at 8:30 a.m. ET. Unless otherwise noted, all dollar ($) amounts are in U.S. dollars.

Q1 2023 Summary 1

Gross profit increased by 10.6% to $74.2 million, from $67.1 million in Q1 2023, driven by a 20.1% or $8.1 million increase in Software & Cloud solutions which more than offset a decline in Hardware sales consistent with industry trends.

Gross profit was negatively impacted by approximately $2.0 million in the quarter due to the strengthened U.S. dollar, specifically by the translation of gross profit generated in Canada into the Company's reporting currency of U.S. dollars. Gross profit in Q1 2023 increased by 13.6% or $9.1 million in Constant Currency compared to Q1 2022 driven by 23.9% growth in Software & Cloud in Constant Currency.

Adjusted EBITDA increased by 45.9% to $14.5 million, from $10.0 million in Q1 2022, due to the increase in gross profit, partially offset by a 4.5% increase in Adjusted Cash Operating Expenses. Foreign exchange fluctuations had an immaterial impact on Adjusted EBITDA as the negative impact on gross profit was offset by a similar reduction in Adjusted Cash Operating Expenses.

Income from operations increased to $9.6 million from $3.8 million in Q1 2022.

Net income increased to $4.5 million from $3.7 million in Q1 2022.

Adjusted Net Income increased by 53.5% or $2.5 million to $7.1 million from $4.6 million in Q1 2022, driven by the increase in Adjusted EBITDA.

Adjusted EPS on a diluted basis increased by 71.4% to $0.12 from $0.07 in Q1 2022 due to the increase in Adjusted Net Income combined with a reduction in the total weighted average number of common shares of the Company (each, a Common Share) outstanding, reflecting the Companys repurchase and cancellation of Common Shares under its Normal Course Issuer Bid (NCIB) over the trailing twelve months (LTM).

Vince De Palma, Softchoices Chief Executive Officer, said:

We recorded a solid first quarter led by strong growth in our public cloud and software solutions, and continue to prove our value to our customers by helping them enable software-driven transformation and optimize their IT spend.

Andrew Caprara, Softchoices President & Chief Operating Officer, said: 2

"Our investments in selling capacity and technical capabilities and resources helped us continue to grow our customer base, while also creating deeper engagement with existing customers. Our foundation of software, cloud and services was resilient, and our strategic focus on the most in demand solution areas puts us in a strong position to continue taking market share in the future.

Dividends and NCIB Update 2

On May 11, 2023, the Board declared a quarterly dividend of Cdn. $0.11 per Common Share for the period from April 1, 2023, to June 30, 2023, to be paid on July 14, 2023, to shareholders of record at the close of business on June 30, 2023. The dividend to which this notice relates is an eligible dividend for tax purposes.

During Q1 2023, the Company repurchased and cancelled 561,334 Common Shares at an average price of Cdn. $17.61 per Common Share, under its NCIB program.

Supplementary Measures for the LTM period ended March 31, 2023

Revenue Retention Rate was 105%, illustrating strong sales growth with existing Customers

Gross profit increased by approximately 9.8% to $319.5 million from the prior LTM ended March 31, 2022, due to: an increase in Customers to 4,799 as at March 31, 2023, an increase of 164, or 3.5%, over March 31, 2022 an increase in Gross Profit per Customer for the LTM ended March 31, 2023, to $68,000 from $63,000 for the LTM ended March 31, 2022

Adjusted Free Cash Flow increased by 28.8% to $76.7 million, or 89% of Adjusted EBITDA, compared to $59.6 million, or 87% of Adjusted EBITDA, in the prior LTM period Adjusted Free Cash Flow was used as follows: (i) approximately 21% was used to pay dividends to shareholders, (ii) 52% was used for share buybacks under the NCIB, and (iii) the remainder was used primarily for cash taxes and interest payments.



Financial Summary1

US$ M except per share amounts, percentages and ratios Operations Q1 2023 Q1 2022 Change % Change in Constant Currency* % Gross Sales 506.0 466.6 8.5% Net sales 208.8 222.9 (6.3%) Gross profit 74.2 67.1 10.6% 13.6% Adjusted EBITDA 14.5 10.0 45.9% as a Percentage of Gross Profit 19.6% 14.8% Income from operations 9.6 3.8 151.1% Net income 4.5 3.7 21.7% Net income per Diluted Share $0.08 $0.06 33.3% Adjusted Net Income 7.1 4.6 53.5% Adjusted EPS (Diluted) $0.12 $0.07 71.4% Cash flow LTM to Mar. 31, 2023 LTM to Mar. 31, 2022 Change % Net cash provided by operating activities, excluding change in non-cash operating working capital 50.5 19.7 155.9% Net cash provided by operating activities 37.7 32.6 15.6% Adjusted Free Cash Flow 76.7 59.6 28.8% Adjusted Free Cash Flow Conversion 89% 87% Financial Position, as at: Mar. 31, 2023 Mar. 31, 2022 Net debt** 132.5 108.4 Net debt to Adjusted EBITDA ratio 1.5 1.6

Gross Sales and Gross Profit by IT Solution Type and Sales Channel

US$ M except per share amounts and percentages Q1 2023 Q1 2022 Change % Change in Constant Currency* % Gross Sales by IT Solution Type: Software & Cloud 364.4 299.0 21.9% Services 27.6 24.7 11.4% Hardware 114.1 142.9 (20.2%) Gross Profit by IT Solution Type: Software & Cloud 48.4 40.3 20.1% 23.9% as a percentage of Gross Sales 13.3% 13.5% Services 7.9 6.5 21.6% 21.7% as a percentage of Gross Sales 28.6% 26.2% Hardware 17.9 20.2 (11.7%) (9.5%) as a percentage of Gross Sales 15.7% 14.2% Gross Sales by Sales Channel: SMB 107.8 92.9 16.1% Commercial 244.5 232.6 5.1% Enterprise 153.7 141.2 8.9% Gross Profit by Sales Channel: SMB 16.7 15.1 10.3% 12.6% as a percentage of Gross Sales 15.5% 16.3% Commercial 41.0 36.1 13.7% 16.9% as a percentage of Gross Sales 16.8% 15.5% Enterprise 16.5 15.8 4.0% 7.1% as a percentage of Gross Sales 10.7% 11.2% Amounts may not add to total due to rounding * Q1 2023 in constant currency is translated at the average foreign exchange rate of Q1 2022, which was $0.79 CAD/USD. ** Net debt equates to loans and borrowings plus lease liabilities less cash-on-hand

Quarterly Conference Call

Softchoices management team will hold a conference call to discuss our Q1 2023 results today at 8:30 a.m. (ET).

DATE: Friday, May 12, 2023

TIME: 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time

WEBCAST: https://app.webinar.net/Q9adRYERpYk

A link to the webcast will also be available on the Events page of the Investors section of Softchoices website at http://investors.softchoice.com. Please connect at least 15 minutes prior to the conference call to ensure adequate time for any software download that may be required to join the webcast. An archived replay of the webcast will be available for 90 days.

DIAL-IN: To join the conference call without operator assistance, you may register and enter your phone number at https://emportal.ink/3mggw3f to receive an instant automated call back. You can also dial direct to be entered to the call by an Operator: 416-764-8659 or 1-888-664-6392, Confirmation # 33864706

TAPED REPLAY: 416-764-8677 or 1-888-390-0541, Replay Code 864706 # (Available until May 19, 2023)

Capitalized Terms

Capitalized terms used in this release and terms we use to describe our IT solution types, including Software & Cloud, Services, and Hardware and sales channels including SMB, Commercial, and Enterprise, as well as other measures such as Customer, Gross Profit per Customer, Revenue Retention Rate, and Constant Currency, are described in the Companys Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations for the quarter ended March 31, 2023 (the Q1 2023 MD&A), and/or our annual information form dated March 29, 2023 (the AIF) filed on SEDAR (as defined below) and available on the Companys investor relations website http://investors.softchoice.com.

1 Non-IFRS Measures

This news release makes reference to certain non-IFRS measures and other measures. These measures are not recognized measures under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and do not have a standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS and are therefore unlikely to be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. Rather, these measures are provided as additional information to complement those IFRS measures by providing further understanding of our results of operations from managements perspective. Accordingly, these measures should not be considered in isolation nor as a substitute for analysis of our financial information reported under IFRS. We use non-IFRS measures, including Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA as a Percentage of Gross Profit, Adjusted Cash Operating Expenses, Adjusted Net Income (Loss), Adjusted EPS, Adjusted Free Cash Flow, Adjusted Free Cash Flow Conversion, and Gross Sales. These non-IFRS measures and other measures are used to provide investors with supplemental measures of our operating performance and thus highlight trends in our core business that may not otherwise be apparent when relying solely on IFRS measures. Our management uses these non-IFRS measures and other measures in order to facilitate operating performance comparisons from period to period, to prepare annual operating budgets and forecasts and to determine components of management compensation. We also believe that securities analysts, investors and other interested parties frequently use certain of these non-IFRS measures and other measures in the evaluation of issuers. As required by Canadian securities laws, we reconcile the non-IFRS measures to the most comparable IFRS measures. For more information on non-IFRS measures and other measures, see the Q1 2023 MD&A filed on SEDAR and available on the Companys investor relations website http://investors.softchoice.com

Reconciliations of Non-IFRS Financial Measures

(Information in thousands of U.S. dollars, unless otherwise stated) Three Months Ended March 31, Reconciliation of Net Sales to Gross Sales 2023 2022 Net sales 208,816 222,922 Net adjustment for sales transacted as agent 297,226 243,687 Gross Sales 506,042 466,609 Reconciliation of Operating Expenses to Adjusted Cash Operating Expenses Operating expenses 64,559 63,226 Depreciation and amortization (4,741) (4,873) Equity-settled share-based compensation and other costs (1) (160) (572) Non-recurring compensation and other costs (2) (95) (20) Business transformation non-recurring costs (3) (3) (561) Non-recurring legal provision (4) 115 (87) Adjusted Cash Operating Expenses 59,675 57,113 Reconciliation of Income from operations to Adjusted EBITDA Income from operations 9,640 3,839 Depreciation and amortization 4,741 4,873 Equity-settled share-based compensation and other costs (1) 160 572 Non-recurring compensation and other costs (2) 95 20 Business transformation non-recurring costs (3) 3 561 Non-recurring legal provision (4) (115) 87 Adjusted EBITDA 14,524 9,952 Adjusted EBITDA as a Percentage of Gross Profit (7) 19.6% 14.8% Reconciliation of Net Income to Adjusted Net Income Net income 4,537 3,729 Amortization of intangible assets 3,164 3,208 Equity-settled share-based compensation and other costs (1) 160 572 Non-recurring compensation and other costs (2) 95 20 Business transformation non-recurring costs (3) 3 561 Non-recurring legal provision (4) (115) 87 Loss (gain) on lease modification (5) 4 (209) Foreign exchange loss (gain) (6) 121 (2,654) Related tax effects (7) (848) (675) Adjusted Net Income 7,121 4,639 Weighted Average Number of Shares (Basic) 58,058,765 59,512,239 Weighted Average Number of Shares (Diluted) 60,457,312 63,392,680 Adjusted EPS (Basic) (8) 0.12 0.08 Adjusted EPS (Diluted) (8) 0.12 0.07

The following measures are reported on a trailing twelve-month basis only:

Reconciliation of Net Cash Provided by Operating Activities to Adjusted Free Cash Flow Trailing Twelve-Months Ended March 31, 2023 2022 Net cash provided by operating activities 37,704 32,611 Adjusted for: Share-based compensation and other costs (12) 730 33,361 Non-recurring compensation and other costs (2) 3,900 426 Business transformation non-recurring costs (3) 889 1,861 IPO related costs (9)  2,818 Follow-On Offering costs (10)  287 Non-recurring legal provision (4) 120 1,801 Realized foreign exchange loss (gain) 11,939 (5,908) Finance and other expense (13) 275 806 Cash taxes paid, net 9,335 8,378 Cash interest paid 8,604 4,990 Change in non-cash operating working capital 12,835 (12,862) Adjusted EBITDA 86,331 68,569 Maintenance Capex (3,769) (1,895) IFRS 16 lease payments (5,877) (7,123) Adjusted Free Cash Flow 76,685 59,551 Adjusted Free Cash Flow Conversion 89% 87%

Notes (Refer to the Q1 2023 MD&A for description of the sections with parentheses within these Notes)

(1) These expenses represent costs recognized in connection with the Companys legacy option plan and omnibus long-term equity incentive plan, pursuant to which options granted are fair valued at the time of grant using the Black-Scholes option pricing model and adjusted for any plan modifications, and expenses related to RSUs and DSUs (as defined below). (2) These expenses include compensation costs relating to severance and other costs comprised of professional, legal, consulting, accounting and management fees that are non-recurring and are sporadic in nature. (3) These costs in the trailing twelve-months ended Q1 2022 largely comprised of one-time third-party consulting expenses, personnel costs for dedicated internal resources and software related costs. All non-recurring costs relating to the business transformation initiative were segregated for tracking purposes and are monitored on a regular basis. The costs in Q1 2023, the trailing twelve-months Q1 2023 and Q1 2022 relate to system enhancements post-business transformation. As at March 31, 2023, $51.0 million has been invested in operating and capital expenditures in the business transformation initiative and related system enhancements. (4) The Company has settled certain legal claims, without admission of liability or wrongdoing, in respect of U.S. wage and hour disputes and has incurred $2.0 million in expenses for such settlements to date of which $0.3 million was incurred in Fiscal 2022, which are non-recurring in nature. These legal claims were settled in Q2 2022. In Q1 2023, the Company received $0.1 million related to this matter. (5) Loss on lease modification recognized in Q3 2021 resulting from the recognition of a sublease receivable for an office space that has been subleased and the corresponding derecognition of a right-of-use asset associated with this space. The gain on lease modification recognized in Q1 2022 because of the derecognition of the lease liabilities related to rental parking as the associated office space has been subleased. The gain on lease modification in Q4 2022 resulting from derecognition of a portion of rental parking associated with an office space. (6) Foreign exchange loss (gain) includes both realized and unrealized amounts. (7) This relates to the tax effects of the adjusting items, which was calculated by applying the statutory tax rate of 26.5% and adjusting for any permanent differences and capital losses. (8) Basic Adjusted EPS is calculated using the weighted average number of shares outstanding during the period. Diluted Adjusted EPS includes the dilutive impact of the stock options in addition to the weighted average number of shares outstanding during the period. See Non-IFRS Measures and Other Measures  Non-IFRS Measures  Adjusted Net Income (Loss) and Adjusted EPS. (9) In connection with the IPO, the Company incurred expenses related to professional fees, legal, consulting, accounting and compensation that would otherwise not have been incurred and therefore are non-recurring. These costs have been separately identified and adjusted for clarity. (10) In connection with the Follow-On Offering, the Company incurred expenses related to professional fees, legal, and accounting fees that would otherwise not have been incurred and therefore are non-recurring. These costs have been separately identified and adjusted above. (11) Adjusted EBITDA as a Percentage of Gross Profit is calculated as Adjusted EBITDA divided by gross profit. See Non-IFRS Measures and Other Measures  Non-IFRS Measures  Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA as a Percentage of Gross Profit. (12) Share-based compensation represents costs recognized in connection with RSUs and DSUs. Included in the trailing twelve months ended Q1 2022, there was $16.9 million relating to Cash-Out Agreements in conjunction with the IPO and $7.7 million relating to Cash-Out Agreements in conjunction with the Follow-On Offering, respectively. Other costs are comprised of the employee investment plan and the long-term profit-sharing plan, which were dissolved in connection with the IPO; and fair value adjustments in relation to existing equity-based arrangements. As a result of the IPO, a $6.1 million fair value adjustment in Q2 2021 and a $0.6 million of related payroll taxes in Q4 2022 were triggered on an existing equity-based arrangement which was dissolved and paid thereafter. See Share Information Prior to the Completion of the Offering. (13) Finance and other expense refers to interest income on cash, net of non-controlling interest portion of unrecoverable withholding taxes on royalties. Finance and other expenses also includes the cash portion of the gain on lease modification as referenced in note (5) above.

2 Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws in Canada.

Forward-looking information may relate to our future business, financial outlook and anticipated events or results and may include information regarding our financial position, business strategy, growth strategies, addressable markets, market share, budgets, operations, financial results, taxes, dividend policy, NCIB, operating environment, business plans and objectives. Particularly, information regarding our expectations of future results, performance, growth, achievements, prospects or opportunities or the markets in which we operate is forward-looking information. In some cases, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as plans, targets, expects or does not expect, is expected, an opportunity exists, budget, scheduled, estimates, outlook, financial outlook, forecasts, projection, prospects, strategy, intends, anticipates, does not anticipate, believes, or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, might, will, will be taken, occur or be achieved. In addition, any statements that refer to expectations, intentions, projections or other characterizations of future events or circumstances contain forward-looking information. Statements containing forward-looking information are not historical facts but instead represent managements expectations, estimates and projections regarding possible future events or circumstances.

Forward-looking information may include, among other things: (i) the Companys expectations regarding its financial performance and future market share growth, including among others, organic growth; (ii) the Companys expectations regarding industry and market trends, growth rates and growth strategies; (iii) the Companys business plans and strategies; (iv) the Companys ability to retain customers and increase margin per customer; (v) the Companys relationship and status with technology partners; (vi) the Companys growth strategies, future organic growth, and competitive position in the IT industry; (vii) the Companys dividend program and dividend rates; (viii) the Companys NCIB program and the purchase of Common Shares in connection with such program; and (ix) the impact of macroeconomic conditions and remote and hybrid work on our business, financial position, results of operations and/or cashflows.

Forward-looking information is necessarily based on a number of opinions, estimates and assumptions that we considered appropriate and reasonable as at the date such statements are made, and are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to the risk factors described in our Q1 2023 MD&A and under Risk Factors in the AIF. A copy of the AIF can be accessed under our profile on the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR) at www.sedar.com and on our website at investors.softchoice.com. There can be no assurance that such forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information, which speaks only as at the date made. Softchoice does not undertake any obligation to update such forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required under applicable securities laws.

About Softchoice

Softchoice (TSX: SFTC) is a software-focused IT solutions provider that equips organizations to be agile and innovative, and for their people to be engaged, connected and creative at work. That means moving them to the cloud, helping them build the workplace of tomorrow, and enabling them to make smarter decisions about their technology portfolio. For more information, please visit www.softchoice.com.

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Investor Relations

Tim Foran

(416) 986-8515

[email protected]

Press

Justin Hane

(647) 917-1761

[email protected]

Source: Softchoice Corporation
Xiaowei Zhuang Wins 2023 Dreyfus Prize, Conferred in Imaging in the Chemical Sciences

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation has announced that Xiaowei Zhuang, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and David B. Arnold Jr. Professor of Science, Harvard University, is the recipient of the 2023 Dreyfus Prize in the Chemical Sciences. The international biennial Prize, which includes a $250,000 award, is conferred this year in Imaging in the Chemical Sciences. A public award ceremony is planned to be held at Harvard later this year.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230511005909/en/

Xiaowei Zhuang of Harvard University announced as recipient of the 2023 Dreyfus Prize in the Chemical Sciences (Photo: Business Wire)

Zhuang receives this top honor for her pivotal contributions to Imaging in the Chemical Sciences. She is recognized for pioneering work to develop groundbreaking super-resolution imaging and genome-scale imaging methods and utilizing those methods to gain important new insights about biological molecules and systems. These methods and insights have had a widespread impact in the fields of chemistry, biology, neuroscience, and medicine.

H. Scott Walter, President of the Dreyfus Foundation, remarked, The Dreyfus Foundation is proud to recognize the numerous accomplishments of Xiaowei Zhuang in the field of imaging in the chemical sciences with the Foundations highest honor  the Dreyfus Prize in the Chemical Sciences.

A groundbreaking leader in the field of super-resolution microscopy, Zhuang invented STORM (stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy), one of the earliest and most widely used super-resolution imaging methods. Overcoming the historical limitation of imaging resolution due to light diffraction, she creatively employed photoswitchable dyes and single-molecule imaging to increase the resolution of light microscopy to more than 10-times better than the diffraction limit. This methodology has been a key tool in advancing the understanding of molecular structures in cells, with her original 2006 paper alone garnering more than 8,000 scientific citations.

More recently, Zhuang invented MERFISH (multiplexed error-robust fluorescence in situ hybridization), a powerful method that took imaging to the genome scale. The technique uses error-robust barcoding, combinatorial labeling, and sequential imaging to allow for the determination of the precise copy number and spatial distribution of thousands of RNA species in individual cells, enabling single-cell transcriptome imaging. Zhuang further extended MERFISH to enable 3D-genome imaging and epigenome imaging. MERFISH transformed the studies of gene regulation in cells and the molecular and cellular architecture of biological tissues.

Zhuang has also actively employed these new methodologies to derive new insights into areas such as the cell atlas of the brain, molecular structures in neurons, and 3D organization of the genome.

Xiaowei Zhuangs numerous contributions to the field of imaging, most notably her invention of the STORM and MERFISH methods, have had a widespread impact on the scientific enterprise in fields from chemistry to neuroscience, stated Matthew Tirrell, Chair of the Dreyfus Foundation Scientific Affairs Committee and Dean of the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering at The University of Chicago.

In addition to her roles as Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and the David B. Arnold Professor of Science at Harvard University, Zhuang is the Director of the Center for Advanced Imaging at Harvard. She is a co-founder of the company Vizgen, which commercialized the MERFISH technology, and is on the editorial board for both Science and Cell.

Zhuang is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society, as well as a foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the European Molecular Biology Organization. She is also a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. Her many awards and honors include the Henrich Wieland Prize, J. Allyn Taylor International Prize in Medicine, the Foundation of NIH Lurie Prize in Biomedical Sciences, the Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Science, the Pearl Meister Greengard Prize, the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, the Heineken Prize for Biochemistry and Biophysics, the National Academy of Sciences Award for Scientific discovery, and the MacArthur Fellowship.

Zhuang stated, I am deeply honored to receive the 2023 Dreyfus Prize in the Chemical Sciences. I would like to thank the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation for being a leading supporter of the chemical sciences community for over 75 years.

The Dreyfus Prize in the Chemical Sciences, initiated in 2009, is conferred in a specific area of chemistry each cycle. It is the highest honor of the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation.

About the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation

The purpose of the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, Inc., is to advance the science of chemistry, chemical engineering, and related sciences as a means of improving human relations and circumstances throughout the world. Established in 1946 by chemist, inventor, and businessman Camille Dreyfus as a memorial to his brother Henry, the Foundation became a memorial to both men when Camille Dreyfus died in 1956. Throughout its history the Foundation has sought to take the lead in identifying and addressing needs and opportunities in the chemical sciences through a series of programs and awards. Learn more about the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation by visiting its website.

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Scott A. Siegel, Executive Director, The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation

Email: [email protected]

Source: The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation
Control room simulator demonstrates U.S.-Romanian collaboration and supports capacity building for the Romanian nuclear workforce as NuScale and RoPower advance site preparation for a VOYGR power plant in Doicesti, Romania

PORTLAND, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- NuScale Power Corporation (NYSE: SMR) announced today the opening of a NuScale Energy Exploration Center (E2 Center) at University Politehnica of Bucharest in support of a collaboration with the United States and Romanian governments, and S.N. Nuclearelectrica S.A. (Nuclearelectrica). Key government officials attended the opening, including U.S. Ambassador to Romania Kathleen Kavalec, Romania Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca, and Romanian Minister of Energy Virgil Popescu. As the first international E2 Center, this workforce development tool will enable Romania to develop the next generation of advanced nuclear experts, technologists, and operators and become a hub for deploying small modular reactors (SMR) in Europe.

NuScales SMR nuclear technology is the premier global clean energy solution and can help advance Romanias position as a leader in the secure and safe deployment of SMRs, said John Hopkins, NuScale President and Chief Executive Officer. With the support of the DOS under the FIRST program, we are thrilled to hit another milestone in this remarkable collaboration among our countries and organizations. We look forward to supporting the next generation of clean energy leaders across the region and around the globe.

The E2 Center was funded by the U.S. Department of State (DOS) under the Foundational Infrastructure for the Responsible Use of Small Modular Reactor Technology (FIRST) program. FIRST supports partner countries in advancing their nuclear energy programs to meet their clean energy goals under the highest international standards for nuclear safety, security, and nonproliferation.

"The SMR project at Doicesti, which this E2 Center supports, will showcase Romanian leadership in energy innovation, accelerate the clean energy transition, create thousands of jobs in Romania and the U.S., and strengthen European energy security while upholding the highest standards for nuclear safety, security, and nonproliferation, said Ann Ganzer, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation.

This announcement builds upon NuScale Power and Nuclearelectricas teaming agreement signed in 2021 to deploy a 462 MWe NuScale VOYGRTM-6 power plant in Romania by the end of the decade. Earlier this year, NuScale and RoPower Nuclear S.A. (RoPower), owned in equal shares by Nuclearelectrica and Nova Power & Gas S.A., commenced front-end engineering and design work for a site in Doicesti, Romania, the preferred location for the deployment of the VOYGR power plant.

Romania has the potential to be one of the first deployments of an SMR in Europe and to become a catalyst for SMRs in the region by serving as a base for supporting operations of this new technology in other countries, as well as the production and assembly of plant components.

Building on the strong nuclear experience in safe operations for more than 26 years, we are proud to support Romanias workforce development in the nuclear sector for a new technologically advanced future. Nuclearelectrica has outstanding specialists and operational performance, and is internationally recognized, which not only places Romanian nuclear industry as a top performer, but also as the foundation for Romanias leadership in nuclear energy. Nuclearelectrica has strong assets, which qualifies us to be the first country after the U.S. to deploy a NuScale SMR. The first E2 Center launched in Romania is only the beginning of this new era in technology, human resources, safe, affordable clean energy, with multiple benefits for communities and industries, to which we are happy to contribute, Cosmin Ghita, Chief Executive Officer of Nuclearelectrica.

Nuclear energy and SMRs are included in Romanias energy strategy as a main pillar for energy security and reaching our decarbonation targets. Our commitment to increase energy production from clean nuclear energy sources will create much needed complementarity with renewable resources, increase flexibility in the system, and allow further complex development of former coal-based facilities. The 26 years of Romanian safe operation expertise are the basis for further developing Romanias nuclear energy program. The energy transition is not possible without maintaining and expanding the role of nuclear power and it requires strong international partnerships, like the one we are enhancing today. I thank our American partners for their continuous support, Nuclearelectrica for its leadership in the industry and capability to take on the journey to become a regional preferred operator, and University of Politehnica for their dedication towards performance and workforce development. I want to give a clear message: The Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca, our Government, and Romanian President Klaus Iohannis strongly support the development of nuclear energy and the effort to form experts in this domain, said Virgil Popescu, Minister of Energy, Romania.

The E2 Center is an innovative learning environment that offers users a hands-on opportunity to apply nuclear science and engineering principles through simulated, real-world nuclear power plant operation scenarios. The E2 Center employs state-of-the-art computer modeling to simulate a NuScale VOYGR SMR power plant control room. Users have the opportunity to take on the role of a Control Room Operator at a VOYGR plant to learn about the advanced operational and safety features unique to NuScales technology.

The University Politehnica of Bucharest is one of the elite schools of the Romanian higher education system. The school was established in 1950, and offers highly appreciated academic studies and programs for more than 2,000 students a year.

About NuScale Power

NuScale Power Corporation (NYSE: SMR) is the industry-leading provider of proprietary and innovative advanced small modular reactor nuclear technology, with a mission to help power the global energy transition by delivering safe, scalable, and reliable carbon-free energy. The companys groundbreaking VOYGR SMR plants are powered by the NuScale Power Module, a small, safe, pressurized water reactor that can each generate 77 megawatts of electricity (MWe) or 250 megawatts thermal (gross), and can be scaled to meet customer needs through an array of flexible configurations up to 924 MWe (12 modules) of output.

As the first and only SMR to have its design certified by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, NuScale is well-positioned to serve diverse customers across the world by supplying nuclear energy for electrical generation, district heating, desalination, commercial-scale hydrogen production, and other process heat applications.

Founded in 2007, NuScale is headquartered in Portland, Ore. To learn more, visit NuScale Powers website or follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube.

Forward Looking Statements

This release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of words such as estimate, plan, project, forecast, intend, will, expect, anticipate, believe, seek, target or other similar expressions that predict or indicate future events or trends or that are not statements of historical facts. These forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Actual results may differ materially as a result of a number of factors. Caution must be exercised in relying on these and other forward-looking statements. Due to known and unknown risks, NuScales results may differ materially from its expectations and projections. NuScale specifically disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing NuScales assessments as of any date subsequent to the date of this release. Accordingly, undue reliance should not be placed upon the forward-looking statements.

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Media Contact

Diane Hughes, Vice President, Marketing & Communications, NuScale Power

[email protected]

(503) 270-9329

Investor Contact

Scott Kozak, Director, Investor Relations, NuScale Power

[email protected]

(541) 452-7583

Source: NuScale Power
Flydubai, a Dubai-based carrier, has announced plans to launch flights to Poznan in Poland from October 29, becoming the first UAE carrier to operate direct flights from Dubai to the city.

The start of flydubais three-times weekly service to Poznan expands the carriers network in Poland to three destinations including Krakow and the capital, Warsaw.

Flights to Poznan Airport (POZ) will operate from Terminal 2 at Dubai International (DXB) on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. flydubai also operates a daily service to Warsaw and a five-weekly service to Krakow, which will increase to a daily service from 26 June 2023.

Ghaith Al Ghaith, Chief Executive Officer at flydubai, said: We have seen growing demand for travel between the UAE and Poland since the start of our operations to the market in 2018 with the launch of flights to Krakow.  We are pleased to see our network expand to three points with the launch of flights to Poznan which will offer our passengers more options for travel to Poland and open up opportunities for more trade and tourism. flydubai is committed to enhancing connectivity between different cultures and we look forward to strengthening links between the two countries.

In 2022 the UAE and Poland strengthened their relationship with a joint economic programme that promotes bilateral business and investment opportunities between the two nations, collaborating in sectors including renewable energy, advanced technologies, agriculture, transportation and tourism.

As one of Polands oldest cities, Poznan is known for its rich history and grand architecture, including the Renaissance Old Town. Located in the west-central part of the country, the city today has become a major economic, trade and tourism hub.

Flights will operate three times a week between Terminal 2 at Dubai International (DXB) and Poznan Airport (POZ) from 29 October 2023 on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. - TradeArabia News Service
Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso(R) and Minister for Production, Foreign Trade, Investment and Fisheries Julio Prado display documents of a free trade agreement (FTA) between China and Ecuador in Quito, Ecuador, May 10, 2023. (Ecuadorian presidential palace/Handout via Xinhua)

The recently signed free trade agreement (FTA) between Ecuador and China will enhance trade exchanges and bilateral relations, leading to mutual benefits, according to officials and experts.

by Elena Chuquimarca, Xi Yue

QUITO, May 11 (Xinhua) -- The recently signed free trade agreement (FTA) between Ecuador and China will enhance trade exchanges and bilateral relations, leading to mutual benefits, according to officials and experts.

"I must express the enormous joy I feel at having finalized this free trade agreement between Ecuador and the People's Republic of China," Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso said following the signing of the agreement on Wednesday night.

The pact was signed by China's Commerce Minister Wang Wentao and Ecuador's Minister for Production, Foreign Trade, Investment and Fisheries Julio Prado via video after a year of negotiation, according to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce.

"The FTA will translate into well-being for citizens, development and more income for thousands of families," said Lasso, adding that "both countries win with this agreement."

At a following press conference, Prado called the deal "historic," saying that "the agreement takes into account the interests of both countries and expands opportunities for joint collaboration to achieve the more sustainable development of our countries in the present and in the future."

"It puts Ecuador on the map of Asia, and makes China (Ecuador's) largest supplier of consumer goods, raw materials and capital goods, which will contribute to improving the competitiveness of Ecuadorian industry," said Prado.

China, he noted, is the world's leading market, with more than 1.4 billion consumers. Hence, the agreement "is tremendously interesting for the exporting, productive and consumer sectors, as well as being good business for everyone."

"The specific potential of this agreement, from the perspective of exports, is an additional 3 billion to 4 billion U.S. dollars over the next 10 years," he said, adding that Ecuador's employment outlook is also poised to benefit.

"Through the trade agreement with China and others that are being negotiated with several countries, we estimate that in the next seven years, we will double the number of productive jobs" in the export sector, which currently stands at 1.2 million, he said.

Ecuador is the fourth Latin American country to sign an FTA with China, after Chile, Peru and Costa Rica. The FTA needs to be approved and ratified by the Constitutional Court and the National Assembly (unicameral Congress) of Ecuador before taking effect.

Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso(2nd, R) and Chinese Ambassador to Ecuador Chen Guoyou(1st, R) display documents of a free trade agreement (FTA) between China and Ecuador in Quito, Ecuador, May 10, 2023. (Ecuadorian presidential palace/Handout via Xinhua)

In the meantime, exporters and business leaders hailed the agreement as a boon to growth.

"The size of the Chinese market will allow us to leverage exports much more," especially as China's economy has proven resilient, expanding despite the challenging global landscape, according to Xavier Rosero, vice president of the Ecuadorian Federation of Exporters.

China is Ecuador's second-largest trading partner. In 2022, the two countries witnessed double-digit growth in trade for the second year in a row, with bilateral trade reaching 13.1 billion U.S. dollars, up 19.7 percent year on year, according to data by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce.

"The Chinese economy has shown that it can sustain this dynamism of growth ... It is one of the economies that lead global growth, and that means its purchasing power for imported products has stayed significantly high," said Rosero.

Alberto Acosta, an economic consultant and international analyst, said the signing of the FTA with China "is excellent news" for Ecuador, adding that it would increase trade and strengthen bilateral relations.

"International trade always unites and creates opportunities," said Acosta. "That will mean a much closer relationship because there will be more exchanges." 
WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Today, Utah Attorney General Sean D. Reyes appeared before the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Accountability to provide testimony on the critically important issue of how Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) factors distort the American financial system and harm consumers.

General Reyes has been one of the nation's foremost leaders in identifying and fighting against organizations that promulgate ESG priorities over the financial and economic interests of investors and beneficiaries. The Utah Attorney General's Office has recently called on the Security and Exchange Commission to allow full public input on ESG and climate investing rules, led a motion to protest Vanguards application to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, spearheaded a multistate coalition to challenge the ESG practices of two proxy advisory companies, and joined almost two dozen attorneys general to warn many of the nations largest asset managers about ESG investments being made with Americans hard-earned money.

After testifying before the House Oversight Committee, General Reyes issued the following statement: "I am thankful to Chairman James Comer and the members of the committee who realize the vital nature of the ESG issue. For too long, many Americans have found their financial and economic security compromised through the unlawful and unethical actions of certain organizations conforming to radical environmental standards and policies. All public servants, regardless of political party affiliation, should join the fight to stop this ESG movement and protect the interests of our constituents."

In General Reyes' written testimony to the Committee, he explains why he has taken on an extremely active role in the campaign against ESG: As the elected Attorney General of Utah, I serve as the chief law enforcement officer of a State that is home to over three million people. My fellow state attorneys general and I are charged with enforcing antitrust and consumer protection laws to protect fair competition in our marketplace. Ultimately, our duty in this regard is to protect consumers, and ESG is a clear and present threat to them. I, therefore, welcome the Committees interest.

General Reyes also encouraged Congress to remain vigilant and willing to confront the ESG movement on behalf of the American people: "The third is the recent Department of Labor rule that paves the way for ERISA fiduciaries to consider collateral factors in investments and shareholder voting. I applaud the bipartisan action of Congress to repeal this rule under the Congressional Review Act. As you know, it is only because of the Presidents exercise of his first veto in his entire administration that this rule presently stands. I am proud to be leading a coalition of 26 states, along with private parties, challenging this rule in court. I believe that actions by Congress such as attempting to repeal bad rules under the CRA draws much needed attention to these constitutional concerns. I urge you to keep up that work for future rules that are suspect on legal and policy grounds."

Read General Reyes' written testimony here.

Watch the House Oversight hearing here.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230511005996/en/

Lee Rech

for Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes

P: 801.556.8423

E: [email protected]

Source: Comprehensive Strategic Solutions
CHARLESTON, W.V.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Two eighth grade students enrolled at West Virginia Virtual Academy (WVVA) will receive the prestigious Golden Horseshoe Award during this years Golden Horseshoe ceremony June 13.

This is the first year WVVA students have participated in the test, and after receiving high scores on the test, which focuses on West Virginia history, eighth graders KyAira Anderson from Martinsburg, WV, and Kingston Digman from Frametown, WV will be recognized as Knights of the Golden Horseshoe Society.

Administered each year since 1931, the Golden Horseshoe test is the longest running program of its kind nationwide, not just in West Virginia. The programs origins date back to 1716, when governor of the Virginia colony Alexander Spotswood recognized a delegation of men who explored the land west of the Allegheny Mountains, most of which is now West Virginia. To commemorate their bravery during the expedition, Spotswood presented them each with a small golden pin in the shape of a horseshoe, much like what students receive today, according to the WVDE.

Having two Golden Horseshoe winners is a testament to the outstanding instruction and opportunities that WVVA provides our students, Cheryl Stahle, principal of WVVA, said. As a first-year public charter school, this is another example of how WVVA supports the needs of students and challenges all students, not just our Golden Horseshoe winners, to excel in the classroom.

This win cements a year of building and creating to support the families of West Virginia, Stahle said.

Our entire faculty, including our eighth grade history teacher, excel in the classroom, and students are reaping the success of the educational quality that they are being provided, Stahle said. The Golden Horseshoe is the oldest state history test in the nation and is an honor that will follow the students throughout their academic careers, she continued. Doing well on the Golden Horseshoe test demonstrates a depth of knowledge about our state that ranks among the top of all eighth graders from the 55 counties.

WVVA eighth grader KyAira Anderson enjoys learning about West Virginia history and is excited to receive the Golden Horseshoe.

I really enjoyed this class; it was super fun, and Ms. Godfrey was super patient with me when I was struggling with certain assignments, which was really helpful, Anderson said. I believe this achievement will further help me to get into colleges, and it would help me to find a good career.

The West Virginia Department of Education (WVDE) will recognize 226 eighth grade students from across the state as Knights of the Golden Horseshoe at the Golden Horseshoe Ceremony Tuesday, June 13, 2023 at the West Virginia Culture Center, located at 1900 Kanawha Boulevard, East, Charleston, West Virginia, 25305. For more information about the ceremony, contact Dustin Lambert at [email protected]. A complete list of winners can be found on the WVDE website.

About West Virginia Virtual Academy

West Virginia Virtual Academy (WVVA) is a full-time, tuition-free public school for grades K-10. WVVA provides an online learning program for students statewide, giving families the choice to access the curriculum provided by K12, a Stride, Inc. company. For more information about WVVA, visit https://wvva.k12.com/.

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Jason Hager, [email protected], (304) 951-7156

Ken Schwartz: [email protected]

Source: Stride, Inc.
Wolters Kluwer Finance, Risk & Regulatory Reporting executives will offer banks perspective on achieving a holistic approach to risk management

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Experts from Wolters Kluwer Finance, Risk & Regulatory Reporting (FRR) will offer insights at the 12th Annual Risk Americas Conference on May 23-24, at 360 Madison Avenue in New York City.

Bill Collette, Director of Market Development for Wolters Kluwer FRR, will be a featured speaker for the session, Applying FTP to Drive Better Business Decisions, at 2:55 p.m. Tuesday, May 23. His session will delve into how financial institutions can foster improvements in financial results through the application of Funds Transfer Pricing capabilities to ones balance sheet. FTP methodologies enable organizations with capabilities from enhanced loan and deposit pricing and retention capabilities to managing rate movements in forecasting. These capabilities give institutions the right reports and analyses to assess progress, thereby further empowering better decision-making capabilities for their business.

Earlier that day, Rami Entin, Business Systems Director for Wolters Kluwer FFR, will host a luncheon roundtable at 12:40 p.m. entitled ESG  Sustainable Finance Challenges. On Wednesday, May 24, Entin will moderate the Market & Finance Risk Trends stream.

Risk Americas is a major financial risk, regulation, and innovation convention and hosted by the Center for Financial Professionals (CeFPro). Attendees receive in-depth thought leadership through four separate workstreams that include Advanced Models & Risk Trends; Non-Financial Risk; Market & Financial Risk Trends; and ESG & Climate Risk. Wolters Kluwer is a co-sponsor of this years event. Registration is available at the Risk Americas website.

Wolters Kluwer FRR, which is part of the companys Corporate Performance & ESG division, is a global market leader in the provision of integrated regulatory compliance and reporting solutions. It supports regulated financial institutions in meeting their obligations to external regulators and their own board of directors.

About Wolters Kluwer

Wolters Kluwer (EURONEXT: WKL) is a global leader in information, software, and services for professionals in healthcare, tax and accounting, financial and corporate compliance, legal and regulatory, and corporate performance and ESG. We help our customers make critical decisions every day by providing expert solutions that combine deep domain knowledge with specialized technology and services.

Wolters Kluwer reported 2022 annual revenues of 5.5 billion. The group serves customers in over 180 countries, maintains operations in over 40 countries, and employs approximately 20,000 people worldwide. The company is headquartered in Alphen aan den Rijn, the Netherlands.

For more information, visit www.wolterskluwer.com, follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.

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Paul Lyon

Senior Director, External Communications

Global Branding & Communications

Wolters Kluwer

Office +44 20 3197 6586

[email protected]

Source: Wolters Kluwer
FILE PHOTO: Tesla CEO Elon Musk and his security detail depart the companys local office in Washington, U.S. January 27, 2023. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo

By Akash Sriram

(Reuters) -Elon Musk's appointment of a new Twitter chief may free up the billionaire from a major distraction and allow him to focus more on Tesla Inc, analysts said on Friday.

Tesla shares, which have gained 40% this year, reversed course to trade down about 2% as broader markets fell. The stock had its worst year in 2022, losing 65%, amid Musk's on-again, off-again offer for Twitter.

Musk said on Friday NBCUniversal executive Linda Yaccarino will take over as Twitter's CEO, as he steps aside to take on the role of chief technology officer at the company.

"Tesla investors are likely to celebrate this move too, with Musk's very hands-on approach at Twitter leading to concerns he had taken his eye off the ball at this EV giant," Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Sophie Lund-Yates said.

Ever since Musk bought Twitter in a $44 billion deal, Tesla investors have been worried that he may not be able to pay full attention to the company, which is in a price war with upstarts and legacy automakers.

"This is a fractional positive for Tesla shareholders because he will likely spend a little bit more time on Tesla," said Gene Munster, managing partner at Deepwater Asset Management. "However, there are other things that are competing for his time."

Although Twitter has taken much of Musk's time since its takeover, he still actively manages several other businesses such as SpaceX and Neuralink. Musk recently formed an AI company called TruthGPT to take on OpenAI's ChatGPT and Alphabet Inc's Bard.

Musk's involvement with Twitter has been quite chaotic. He has slashed thousands of jobs at the social media company, fired its top executive team, including its CEO, and has made many changes to its policies and strategy to rely less on ads and more on subscription money.

(Reporting by Akash Sriram and Yuvraj Malik in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)
FILE PHOTO: Hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb speaks during a Reuters Newsmaker event in Manhattan, New York, U.S., September 21, 2016. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly

(Reuters) -Billionaire investor Daniel Loeb is no longer exploring a potential acquisition of SiriusPoint Ltd, according to a regulatory filing on Friday, a month after disclosing his interest in taking the insurance firm private.

Loeb, who runs hedge fund Third Point, and SiriusPoint were unable to reach a consensus on the value of a potential deal, the filing said.

The insurer's shares fell 9.3% to $9.03 in morning trading. The company had a market value of $1.6 billion as of Thursday close.

SiriusPoint in a statement on Friday acknowledged the decision to conclude the acquisition talks and said it had made progress over the last seven months to improve underwriting performance, reduce volatility and rebalance its investment portfolio towards high-quality fixed-income assets.

The announcement in April about considering taking SiriusPoint private came less than three years after Loeb agreed to combine his hedge fund's reinsurance business, Third Point Re, with rival Sirius International Insurance Group to form the global specialty insurer.

SiriusPoint "may be best positioned to execute on its turnaround strategy as a privately held company," he had said in the regulatory filing last month.

Loeb owns a 9.31% stake in SiriusPoint, according to the filing.

(Reporting by Jaiveer Singh Shekhawat in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Manya Saini; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)
Treasury bills have become the largest position for retail traders on trading platform Public, the company revealed.

In a report released Thursday, Public said members have invested more cash in T-bills than any other asset this year, with investors seeking high-yielding places to securely park their cash.

With the Federal Reserve raising rates to a 16-year high, the yield of T-bills yield has been climbing.

"In 2023, more money has been invested in T-bills than any other asset on Public, ranking the 6-month T-bill above VTI, Apple, and Tesla as the largest position held on our platform as of May 11, 2023," the firm said in its report.

Public believes T-bills are acting as a complementary investment for users' portfolios. In addition, they said the median amount invested in T-bills has been 10x greater than investments in stocks and ETFs, with one-third of all new members investing in T-bills since they were launched on the platform.

"While T-bills aren't new, now that investors aren't required to navigate a government website or the secondary markets, we've seen our members use Treasury Accounts as a place to park their cash," the company added.

By Sam Boughedda
(Reuters) -Shares of major U.S. regional lenders edged higher on Friday, reversing early losses in skittish trading as investors bought some battered stocks but remained uncertain about the financial stability of mid-sized banks.

Western Alliance rose 2.1%, Synovus Financial gained 2.2%, and Truist Financial added 1.8%. The KBW Regional Banking index, which has fallen nearly 14% so far this month, was up 0.39%.

But PacWest Bancorp, which lost 23% on Thursday after reporting a decline in deposits, dropped nearly 3%. Comerica Inc, Valley National Bancorp and KeyCorp fell 2.14%, 1.1% and 1.1%%, respectively.

"More U.S. banks have been in the market crosshairs ... despite many of the pressured banks having generally solid credit fundamentals," DBRS Morningstar analysts said, adding that investor fears would likely persist until regulators extended deposit insurance or barred investors from betting against stocks, a practice known as short selling.

Markets are eyeing negotiations over the U.S. debt ceiling, with President Joe Biden's Democrats and Republicans, who control the House of Representatives, at odds over raising the country's borrowing cap.

The U.S. faces a "significant risk" of defaulting on payment obligations within the first two weeks of June without a debt ceiling increase, the Congressional Budget Office said.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will discuss the impasse next week with board members of the Bank Policy Institute - which includes JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser - a Treasury official told Reuters.

All three major Wall Street indexes, including the S&P 500 , closed lower after data showed U.S. consumer sentiment slumped to a six-month low.

"Markets will focus on banking fears, debt ceiling concerns," among other economic indicators, TD Securities analysts wrote in an investor note.

On Thursday, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation said it will replenish its deposit insurance fund by imposing a special assessment fee of 0.125% on uninsured deposits of lenders in excess of $5 billion, although analysts said the levy should not be a worry for banks.

"While the special assessment is meaningful in terms of dollars overall to the industry, it is not as meaningful on a per-bank basis," Raymond James analysts wrote in a note.

Shares of Charles Schwab rose 2.5% after the brokerage firm said that so far in May, it had seen fewer clients move funds away from its accounts to other high-yield products. The pace of such "cash realignment" has slowed for three straight months and will abate during 2023, it said.

(Reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru and Chibuike Oguh in New York; Editing by Michelle Price, Devika Syamnath and Leslie Adler)
SAN DIEGO, May 12, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Benevity, Inc., a leading provider of global corporate purpose software, today announced the winners of its 2023 Corporate Goodness Awards, also known as The Goodies, celebrating the inclusive and creative ways brands are making a difference in the world through their giving, volunteering and community investment programs. The 2023 Goodies Awards were presented to the winners on May 11 at the corporate purpose event of the year, Benevity Live!, held May 9-12 in San Diego, California.

The winners were assessed on the bold, innovative, inclusive and creative ways they are making a difference in the world. Those who were selected demonstrated exceptional efforts in engaging their stakeholders in driving true impact and action, delivering on the S and the E in ESG and embedding purpose into their workplace culture and customer connections. This year, Benevity received 114 total nominations from 74 of the worlds most iconic and purpose-driven brands.

The companies and people who are recognized with Benevitys Goodies Awards are often unsung heroes who work tirelessly to catalyze social impact year-round in the most inspirational ways, said Kelly Schmitt, Benevitys Chief Executive Officer. The world is a better place because of these companies, people and programs.

Companies who were selected as Goodies finalists contributed nearly $117 million in donations and $75 million in grants and tracked more than 920,000 volunteer hours through the Benevity platform in 2022.

Benevitys Goodies Finalists and Winners

The Moonshot AwardThe Moonshot Award recognizes the company that has developed a creative, bold and impactful corporate purpose program and continually optimizes the program to drive greater participation and impact.

Vancouver Airport Authority (WINNER)

American Family Insurance

Hootsuite

LinkedIn

Symetra

The People Power AwardThe People Power Award recognizes the company that builds a culture powered by its people and creates significant impact by putting the power of goodness in the hands of employees to address critical issues.

Visa (WINNER)

Blue Shield of California

Ciena

PagerDuty

RBC

The BeCause AwardThe BeCause Award recognizes the company that finds unique, successful ways to go beyond community impact to drive change at scale within the charitable sector.

CSAA Insurance Group (WINNER)

American Family Insurance

Apollo Global Management

First Command Financial

Raytheon Technologies

The NewB AwardThe NewB Award recognizes new Benevity clients that have created significant impact through a best-in-class corporate purpose program launch.

Toast (WINNER)

Appfire

Gen Digital

Morningstar

Motorola Solutions

The Community Hero AwardThe Community Hero Award recognizes the company taking a progressive approach to community investment to create greater impact with its nonprofit partners.

Motorola Solutions (WINNER)

Ciena

NewRez

Spin Master LTD

Stanley Black & Decker

The Buzz AwardThe Buzz Award recognizes the company that brings its corporate purpose programs to life through communications and storytelling, working cross-functionally across the organization to promote goodness.

HP Inc. (WINNER)

Appfire

Parkland

Relativity

Workiva

The Bestie Award The Bestie Award is selected from all finalists and recognizes the company with the best-in-class approach to corporate purpose, driving impact for their nonprofits, communities and employees.

American Family Insurance (WINNER)

Employee Catalyst AwardThe Employee Catalyst Award recognizes passionate employees who go beyond their day-to-day job to engage employees and community members in opportunities to do good, helping to fuel a culture of purpose.

Julia Coussens, Senior Information Analyst, CITGO Petroleum Company

Scott Woolcott, Associate Director, Quality & Transformation, Morningstar

The Buffy AwardThe Buffy Award celebrates outstanding individuals who exemplify passion, innovation, imagination and leadership in the corporate purpose space.

Fabian Lopez, Global Head of CSR at Appfire

Noah Salata, Community and Social Impact Advisor at American Family Insurance

About Benevity Benevity, a certified B Corporation, is the leader in global corporate purpose software, providing the only integrated suite of community investment and employee, customer and nonprofit engagement solutions. Recognized as one of Fortunes Impact 20, Benevity offers cloud solutions that power purpose for many iconic brands in ways that better attract, retain and engage todays diverse workforce, embed social action into their customer experiences and positively impact their communities. With software that is available in 22 languages, Benevity has processed more than $12 billion in donations and 56 million hours of volunteering time to support 418,000 nonprofits worldwide. The companys solutions have also facilitated 900,000 micro-actions and awarded 1.2 million grants worth $18 billion. For more information, visit benevity.com.

Media ContactMaggie CrouchWalker Sands, for Benevity[email protected]

Source: Benevity
TORONTO, May 12, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Aberdeen International Inc. (Aberdeen or the Company) (TSX: AAB F:A8H, OTC: AABVF) is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Martin Schuermann as Executive Chairman of the Company. Mr. Schuermann replaces Mr. Stan Bharti as Executive Chairman, who has resigned as the Executive Chairman and a director of the Company. The board and management of the Company express their gratitude to Mr. Bharti for his efforts and extensive contributions as Executive Chairman and wish him well in his future endeavours.

ABOUT ABERDEEN INTERNATIONAL INC.

Aberdeen International is a global resource investment company focused on small capitalization companies in the battery metals, clean energy and renewable energy sectors.

For additional information, please visit our website at www.aberdeen.green

For further information, please contact:

Martin Schuermann Chief Executive Officer Aberdeen International Inc. [email protected]

This press release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, without limitation, statements regarding the appointment and resignation of officers and directors of the Company; and the Companys future plans. Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including risks inherent in the mining industry and risks described in the public disclosure of the Company which is available under the profile of the Company on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on the Company's website at www.aberdeen.green/. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

Source: Aberdeen International Inc.
Local elected officials, industry representatives and other distinguished guests join leaders from AECL, CNL and GFP to celebrate the next phase of the SMR demonstration project

CHALK RIVER, Ontario, May 12, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL), Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) and Global First Power (GFP) are pleased to announce that GFP has selected a location at the Chalk River Laboratories to site its proposed Micro-Modular Reactor (MMR) project. AECL Vice-President of Science, Technology and Commercial Oversight, Amy Gottschling, CNL President & CEO, Joe McBrearty, and GFP President & CEO, Jos Diening, were joined by local elected officials, senior industry representatives and other distinguished guests yesterday to celebrate the milestone with a sign unveiling, and to mark the next phase of the exciting clean energy demonstration project.



GFP is proposing to construct and operate a 15 megawatt thermal (MWth) (approximately 5 MW electrical) MMR plant at the Chalk River campus that would serve as a model for future small modular reactor (SMR) deployments to support remote and industrial applications. The demonstration reactor technology, developed by Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation (USNC), is designed to provide a viable clean energy solution to displace fossil fuel use and support Canadas climate change targets. The energy output of the MMR makes it well suited for application in off-grid remote communities and industrial sites.

GFP is thrilled to stand alongside our partners today to mark this milestone toward meeting Canadas clean energy goals, remarked Mr. Diening. This site, in full view of the Chalk River main campus, demonstrates the unique suitability of the MMR to become fully integrated into remote and industrial facilities and their operations. These are precisely the qualities that make advanced nuclear microreactors essential in decarbonizing beyond the electric grid. I am proud to lead this vision and welcome the support of so many along this important path forward.

Todays announcement represents our shared commitment to advancing clean energy technologies, which are critical in the fight against climate change, said Ms. Gottschling. The Chalk River Laboratories have been at the forefront of nuclear innovation for more than 70 years, and we continue to push the envelope, leveraging science to solve problems and benefit Canada and the world.

This is an incredibly exciting day, not just for AECL, CNL and GFP, but for everyone across Canada who believes in the promise of nuclear energy, commented Mr. McBrearty. Once constructed, this proposed reactor can demonstrate the economics, safety and performance of a new and exciting SMR technology, giving the public confidence in this next-generation nuclear solution. Overall, I believe that this location could go down in history as one of many at the Chalk River Laboratories where first-of-a-kind nuclear technologies were brought to life.

The site of the proposed MMR demonstration reactor is currently a staff parking lot that will be repurposed to accommodate the new facility. By selecting this location, GFP will have good access to campus utilities and to CNLs many technical and operational support services. The nearby site also has the potential to benefit CNL once the reactor is operational, who may be able to leverage the energy that is produced by the reactor in order to better operate the campus and conduct related research activities.

GFPs proposal is also subject to regulatory processes and requirements, which are independent of CNLs rigourous review and evaluation process. GFP has submitted an application for a Licence to Prepare Site to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) and an environmental assessment for the project is underway.

To learn more about Global First Power and its MMR demonstration project, please visit www.globalfirstpower.com.

For more information on CNL and its SMR siting program, please visit www.cnl.ca.

About AECL

AECL is a federal Crown corporation with a mandate to drive nuclear opportunities for Canada. AECL enables nuclear science and technology, owns the Chalk River Laboratories and other sites, and manages the Government of Canadas radioactive waste responsibilities. It oversees and evaluates CNLs work through contracts.

In business since 1952, AECL designed and developed the fleet of CANDU nuclear reactors that serve Canada and five other countries. It also delivered more than one billion isotopes worldwide to detect and treat cancer. Today it delivers value for Canadians through supporting 14 federal departments and agencies, as well as the global nuclear industry.

For more information on AECL, visit www.aecl.ca.

About Global First Power

GFP is an energy company whose vision is to contribute to a world where small modular reactors (SMRs) are an inherently safe, clean and cost-effective generation option to provide the energy people need, regardless of their location. Our focus is to take a lead in the global transition to sustainable, inclusive, accessible energy, by being among the first developers to successfully generate power using innovative Micro-Modular Reactor technology.

About CNL

As Canadas premier nuclear science and technology laboratory, and working under the direction of Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL), CNL is a world leader in the development of innovative nuclear science and technology products and services. Guided by an ambitious corporate strategy known as Vision 2030, CNL fulfills three strategic priorities of national importance  restoring and protecting the environment, advancing clean energy technologies, and contributing to the health of Canadians.

By leveraging the assets owned by AECL, CNL also serves as the nexus between government, the nuclear industry, the broader private sector and the academic community. CNL works in collaboration with these sectors to advance innovative Canadian products and services towards real-world use, including carbon-free energy, cancer treatments and other therapies, non-proliferation technologies and waste management solutions.

To learn more about CNL, please visit www.cnl.ca.

AECL Contact:

Maude-Emilie Page

Director, Communications and Government Reporting

343-303-5345

CNL Contact:

Patrick Quinn

Director, Corporate Communications

1-866-886-2325

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/0801662c-742c-4a33-ab89-e1c6ea7ac440
The construction of a shooting range used by the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) in South Korea, without prior notification to local authorities has raised concerns about noise and safety risks among local residents.





Produced by Xinhua Global Service
CALGARY, Alberta, May 11, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Athabasca Oil Corporation (TSX: ATH) (Athabasca or the Company) announces that all matters presented for approval at the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders held May 11, 2023 have been fully authorized and approved. The items on the agenda included fixing the number of directors to be elected at seven, electing seven proposed director nominees and the appointment of Ernst & Young LLP as auditors.

The results of the voting, inclusive of all votes cast and proxies received for each director nominee, which was conducted by ballot, are as follows:

Nominee Votes For Votes Withheld No. % No. % Ronald Eckhardt 197,984,019 98.9% 2,174,482 1.1% Angela Avery 199,664,010 99.8% 494,491 0.2% Bryan Begley 195,028,044 97.4% 5,130,457 2.6% Robert Broen 199,578,446 99.7% 580,055 0.3% John Festival 182,719,877 91.3% 17,438,624 8.7% Marty Proctor 197,394,430 98.6% 2,764,071 1.4% Marnie Smith 199,395,856 99.6% 762,645 0.4%

About Athabasca Oil Corporation

Athabasca Oil Corporation is a Canadian energy company with a focused strategy on the development of thermal and light oil assets. Situated in Albertas Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin, the Company has amassed a significant land base of extensive, high quality resources. Athabascas common shares trade on the TSX under the symbol ATH. For more information, visit www.atha.com.

For more information, please contact: Matthew Taylor Robert Broen Chief Financial Officer President and CEO 1-403-817-9104 1-403-817-9190 [email protected] [email protected]

Source: Athabasca Oil Corporation
Singapore, May 12, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Recently, BIKA has added business lines such as BIKA Research, BIKA Academy, DEX, and financial products. With the rapid advancement of international compliance, BIKA now has products such as spot, perpetual contract, super leverage and walkthrough trading. In order to realize the global industrial chain layout, BIKA starts related business lines such as R&D, investment, incubation and security technology development.

Dual License: US + Canadian MSB License

Legal Compliance, Safe Operation

BIKA Exchange is a global digital asset trading platform that is currently ranked 17th in the world and is based on the "Spot + Contract" development strategy. BIKA is a financial service based on digital assets that has over 5 million users worldwide.

Since the BIKA inception, there have been no hacking incidents in terms of system security, and BIKA has earned the reputation of its users with "0" accident-free operation, always putting the "safety of users' funds" first.

In March 2023, CertiK has worked with and audited many well-known cryptocurrency projects, addressing the biggest barrier to mass adoption in the crypto sector by ensuring the reliability of industry projects. In April, BIKA actively approached the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) Hong Kong to apply for a license to operate a legally compliant crypto currency digital trading platform under regulation.

BIKA Globalization Roadmap in Web3.0

BIKA has been continuously focusing on the Web3.0 field since 2022, fully planning to build Web3.0 products and related ecosystems while embarking on a global development path. Currently, it has begun and successively established operation centers in Singapore, Hong Kong China, South Korea, North America, and some Western European regions, while recruiting local talents in the encryption industry to provide encrypted financial services to over 200 countries. BIKA will continue to work hard in the rapidly changing international environment to build a world-class comprehensive encrypted asset trading platform.

With the development of the crypto industry and the Web3.0 field, BIKA has always adhered to the principle that every transaction is worth trusting, providing more secure, stable, and comprehensive quality services to users worldwide. In the face of an increasingly regulated regulatory system and on the path to globalization, BIKA will vigorously promote compliance operations, accept regulation more proactively, and protect users' interests.

Media Contact

Contact: Harry Lin

Company Name: BIKA TECHNOLOGY LTD.

Website: https://bika.one

Email: bikaglobal(at)bika.one

Source: BIKA
Boca Raton, FL, May 11, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bright Mountain Media, Inc. (OTCQB: BMTM) (Bright Mountain or the Company), a global holding company with current investments in digital publishing, advertising technology, consumer insights, and creative media services, today announced its unaudited financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2023.

Matt Drinkwater, Chief Executive Officer of the Company stated, 2023 has begun as a year of transformation for Bright Mountain. In April, we announced the asset acquisition of Big Villages Insights and Agency divisions. We believe that data driven consumer insights, which are the core of Big Village Insights, are perfect complements to both our publishing and ad tech divisions. The work of integrating Big Village's proprietary data is well under way and is providing a new, important signal for brands and agencies who depend on consumer insights to fuel their business, marketing, and media decisions."

Big Village comes with over 200 talented employees and hundreds of customers that we expect will prove synergistic to our existing partnerships to deliver even more value to clients.

Mr. Drinkwater concluded: The acquisition is expected to add approximately $50.0 million of annualized revenue and to be accretive to adjusted EBITDA. We plan to use this acquisition as a springboard to accelerating growth and maximizing value to shareholders.

Financial Results for the Three Months Ended March 31, 2023

Revenue was $1.5 million, a decrease of $2.0 million or 57% compared to $3.5 million for the same period of 2022.

Gross margin was $528,000, a reduction of 70%, compared to $1.7 million in the same period of 2022.

General and administrative expense was $3.4 million, a reduction of 11%, compared to $3.9 million in the same period of 2022.

Net loss was $3.8 million, an increase of 79%, compared to a $2.1 million net loss in the same period of 2022.

Adjusted EBITDA loss was $2.1 million compared to a loss of $1.6 million in the same period of 2022.

About Bright Mountain Media

Bright Mountain Media, Inc. (OTCQB: BMTM) unites a diverse portfolio of companies to deliver a full spectrum of advertising, marketing, technology, and media services under one rooffused together by data-driven insights. Bright Mountain Medias brands include Big Village Insights, Big Village Agency, Wild Sky Media, and BrightStream. For more Information, please visit www.brightmountainmedia.com.

Forward-Looking Statements for Bright Mountain Media, Inc.

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements that are based upon current expectations and involve certain risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as should, may, intends, anticipates, believes, estimates, projects, forecasts, expects, plans, and proposes, and similar words. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks, uncertainties, and other factors, some of which are beyond our control and difficult to predict and could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or forecasted in the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements made with respect to expectations of our ability to successfully integrate acquisitions, and the realization of any expected benefits from such acquisitions. You are urged to carefully review and consider any cautionary statements and other disclosures, including the statements made under the heading Risk Factors in Bright Mountain Media, Inc.s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022 and our other filings with the SEC. Bright Mountain Media, Inc. does not undertake any duty to update any forward-looking statements except as may be required by law.

Contact:Brian M. Prenoveau, CFAMZ North America561-489-5315[email protected]

BRIGHT MOUNTAIN MEDIA, INC. CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS AND COMPREHENSIVE LOSS(in thousands, except share and per share figures)

Three Months Ended March 31, 2023 March 31, 2022 Revenue $ 1,498 $ 3,460 Cost of revenue 970 1,728 Gross margin 528 1,732 General and administrative expenses 3,428 3,851 Loss from operations (2,900 ) (2,119 ) Financing income (expense) Gain on forgiveness of PPP loan  842 Other income (expense) 278  Interest expense - Centre Lane Senior Secured Credit Facility- related party (1,163 ) (835 ) Interest expense - Convertible Promissory Notes - related party (5 ) (5 ) Other interest (expense) income (6 )  Total financing income (expense) (896 ) 2 Net loss before income tax (3,796 ) (2,117 ) Income tax provision (benefit)   Net loss $ (3,796 ) $ (2,117 ) Dividends Preferred stock dividends  (1 ) Net loss attributable to common shareholders $ (3,796 ) $ (2,118 ) Foreign currency translation 14  Comprehensive loss $ (3,782 ) $ (2,118 ) Net loss per commons share Basic and diluted $ (0.03 ) $ (0.01 ) Weighted-average common shares outstanding Basic and diluted 149,708,905 149,101,377

BRIGHT MOUNTAIN MEDIA, INC. CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS(in thousands, except share and per share figures)

March 31, 2023 December 31, 2022 * (Unaudited) ASSETS Current Assets Cash and cash equivalents $ 784 $ 316 Accounts receivable, net 1,264 3,585 Prepaid expenses and other current assets 408 600 Total Current Assets 2,456 4,501 Property and equipment, net 38 40 Intangible assets, net 4,124 4,510 Goodwill 19,645 19,645 Operating lease right-of-use asset 352 367 Other assets 187 137 Total Assets $ 26,802 $ 29,200 LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS' (DEFICIT) Current Liabilities Accounts payable and accrued expenses $ 8,835 $ 10,317 Other liabilities 1,758 1,838 Interest Payable - 10% Convertible Promissory Notes - related party 33 31 Interest payable - Centre Lane Senior Secured Credit Facility - related party 72  Deferred revenue 974 737 Note payable  10% Convertible Promissory Notes, net of discount - related party 71 68 Note payable - Centre Lane Senior Secured Credit Facility - related party (current portion) 7,696 4,860 Total Current Liabilities 19,439 17,851 Note payable  Centre Lane Senior Secured Credit Facility  net of discount, related party 24,856 25,101 Operating lease liability 304 319 Total Liabilities 44,599 43,271 Shareholders' Deficit Convertible preferred stock, par value $0.01, 20,000,000 shares authorized: Series A-1, 2,000,000 shares designated, no shares issued or outstanding at March 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022   Series B-1, 6,000,000 shares designated, no shares issued or outstanding at March 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022   Series E, 2,500,000 shares designated, no shares issued and outstanding at March 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022; liquidation preference of $0.40 per share   Series F, 4,344,017 shares designated, no shares issued or outstanding at March 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022   Common stock, par value $0.01, 324,000,000 shares authorized, 150,634,636 and 150,444,636 issued and 149,809,461 and 149,619,461 outstanding at March 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022, respectively 1,506 1,504 Treasury stock, at cost; 825,175 shares at March 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022 (220 ) (220 ) Additional paid-in capital 98,851 98,797 Accumulated deficit (118,065 ) (114,269 ) Accumulated other comprehensive income 131 117 Total shareholder's deficit (17,797 ) (14,071 ) Total liabilities and shareholders' deficit $ 26,802 $ 29,200

*Derived from audited consolidated financial statements.

BRIGHT MOUNTAIN MEDIA, INC. RECONCILIATION OF NET LOSS TO NON-GAAP EBITDA AND ADJUSTED EBITDA(in thousands)

Non-GAAP Financial Measure

Non-GAAP results are presented only as a supplement to the financial statements and for use within management's discussion and analysis based on U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). The non-GAAP financial information is provided to enhance the reader's understanding of the Company's financial performance, but non-GAAP measures should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for financial measures calculated in accordance with GAAP.

All of the items included in the reconciliation from net loss to EBITDA and from EBITDA to Adjusted EBITDA are either (i) non-cash items (e.g., depreciation, amortization of purchased intangibles, stock-based compensation, etc.) or (ii) items that management does not consider to be useful in assessing the Company's ongoing operating performance (e.g., M&A costs, income taxes, gain on sale of investments, loss on disposal of assets, etc.). In the case of the non-cash items, management believes that investors can better assess the Company's operating performance if the measures are presented without such items because, unlike cash expenses, these adjustments do not affect the Company's ability to generate free cash flow or invest in its business.

We use, and we believe investors benefit from the presentation of, EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA in evaluating our operating performance because it provides us and our investors with an additional tool to compare our operating performance on a consistent basis by removing the impact of certain items that management believes do not directly reflect our core operations. We believe that EBITDA is useful to investors and other external users of our financial statements in evaluating our operating performance because EBITDA is widely used by investors to measure a company's operating performance without regard to items such as interest expense, taxes, and depreciation and amortization, which can vary substantially from company to company depending upon accounting methods and book value of assets, capital structure and the method by which assets were acquired.

Because not all companies use identical calculations, the Company's presentation of non-GAAP financial measures may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures of other companies. However, these measures can still be useful in evaluating the Company's performance against its peer companies because management believes the measures provide users with valuable insight into key components of GAAP financial disclosures.

A reconciliation of net loss to EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA is as follows:

Three Months Ended March 31, 2023 2022 Net loss before tax plus: $ (3,796 ) $ (2,117 ) Depreciation expense 7 3 Amortization of intangibles 386 396 Amortization of debt discount 305 280 Other interest expense 6  Interest expense - Centre Lane Senior Secured Credit Facility and Convertible Promissory Notes - related party 864 559 EBITDA (2,228 ) (879 ) Stock compensation expense 25 146 Gain on forgiveness of PPP loan  (842 ) Non-restructuring severance expense 122  Adjusted EBITDA $ (2,081 ) $ (1,575 )

Source: Bright Mountain Media, Inc.
Le Sueur, MN, May 12, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FOMO WORLDWIDE, INC. (US OTC: FOMC). Business Media Solutions, Inc.s (BMS) intRAtrain unit has won a contract to develop a series of training modules for a large animal health company in early June. The custom-designed training modules will be used by over 1,000 sales reps in the United States and Canada. An initial five-figure contract development is expected to be completed in late 2023, with potential upside from follow-on work.

intRAtrain will work extensively with the client to design, develop and implement the modules targeted at the core competencies the sellers need to be successful. To encourage learning, modules will be short in nature, covering the key foundational drivers, product details, and economic drivers impacting product sales.

CEO of Business Media Solutions, Inc. Jerry Van Oort noted: We are excited to get started on the development of these modules. As an organization, we have experience in the animal health industry and understand how changing markets can easily impact product success. Our team is driven to design training products that will position the sales organization for success now and into the future. Understanding disease state and technical knowledge is critical for animal health sales reps. Click on this link to view demo clips

Additional phases of development are expected after the completion of the first series in 2023. These phases are expected to increase the audience size and further expand the scope of products and science-based topics covered.

Business Media Solutions, Inc. is currently under definitive agreement to merge into and join forces with FOMO WORLDWIDE, INC.s education technology division. The Companies intend to bring the world custom enterprise content and training married to learning management systems (LMS), which together represent an over $100 billion addressable market in the U.S. and abroad. BMS is currently tracking an active quarterly sales pipeline in its focused areas of agriculture and food verticals in the mid six figures with deal sizes ranging from $25,000 to $200,000 across all service offerings.

For further information on the BMS - FOMO transaction, see the following:

https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2023/04/20/2651289/0/en/FOMO-WORLDWIDE-TO-ENTER-GLOBAL-CORPORATE-E-LEARNING-MARKET-AGREES-TO-ACQUIRE-BUSINESS-MEDIA-SOLUTIONS-INC.html

About Business Media Solutions, Inc.

Business Media Solutions, Inc. (www.intratrain.com & www.inspectitrac.com) is a training, testing, inspections, and management systems company specializing in helping companies in the food, agribusiness, animal health and nutrition, and general industries, grow and realize a positive return on their investment. The BMS approach can result in better trained employees, reduced risk, lower costs, and improved ROI.

About FOMO WORLDWIDE, INC.

FOMO WORLDWIDE, INC. (US OTC: FOMC) (www.fomoworldwide.com) is a publicly traded company focused on business incubation and acceleration. The Company invests in and advises emerging companies aligned with a growth mandate. FOMO is developing direct investment and affiliations - majority- and minority-owned as well as in joint venture formats - that afford targets access to the public markets for expansion capital as well as spin-out options to become their own stand-alone public companies.

Forward Looking Statements

Statements in this press release about our future expectations, including without limitation, the likelihood that FOMO WORLDWIDE, INC. will be able to meet minimum sales expectations, be successful and profitable in the market, bring significant value to FOMOs stockholders, and leverage capital markets to execute its growth strategy, constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and as that term is defined in the Private Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and are subject to change at any time, and our actual results could differ materially from expected results. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or release any revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this statement or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by law. FOMOs business strategy described in this press release is subject to innumerable risks, most significantly, whether the Company is successful in securing adequate financing. Additionally, although the Company has announced letters of intent to acquire additional companies, there is absolutely no assurances that any such transactions will result in a completed acquisition. No information in this press release should be construed in any form, shape, or manner as an indication of the Companys future revenues, financial condition, or stock price.

Investor Contact

Investor Relations(630) 708-0750[email protected]

Source: FOMO WORLDWIDE, INC.
CALGARY, Alberta, May 12, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- (TSX - CJ) Cardinal Energy Ltd. ("Cardinal" or the "Company") held its annual shareholders meeting (the "Meeting") today. A total of 52,335,561 votes representing 33.07% of the total votes entitled to vote at the Meeting, were voted in connection with the matters considered at the Meeting.

Full results for all resolutions are set forth below.

1. Fixing number of Directors

By ordinary resolution passed via ballot, the number of directors to be elected at the Meeting was fixed at five members. The results of the ballot were as follows:

Votes For Percent (%) Votes Against Percent (%) 50,410,329 99.87 65,545 0.13

2. Election of Directors

By ordinary resolution passed via ballot, all of the nominees proposed as directors were duly elected as directors of Cardinal to serve until the next annual meeting or until their successors are duly appointed or elected. The results of the ballot were as follows:

Name of Nominee Votes For Percent (%) Votes Withheld Percent (%) M. Scott Ratushny 50,261,269 99.57 214,605 0.43 John A. Brussa 47,034,981 93.18 3,440,893 6.82 John Gordon 50,004,333 99.07 471,541 0.93 David D. Johnson 47,322,192 93.75 3,153,682 6.25 Stephanie Sterling 46,665,362 92.45 3,810,512 7.55

3. Appointment of Auditors

By ordinary resolution passed via ballot, KPMG LLP, Independent Registered Chartered Professional Accountants, were appointed as auditors of the Company until the next annual meeting or until their successors are duly appointed, and the directors were authorized to fix their remuneration. The results of the ballot were as follows:

Votes For Percent (%) Votes Withheld Percent (%) 51,380,683 98.40 838,099 1.60

4. Advisory Vote on Executive Compensation

By ordinary resolution passed via ballot, the non-binding advisory resolution concerning Cardinal's approach to executive compensation was approved. The results of the ballot were as follows:

Votes For Percent (%) Votes Against Percent (%) 48,574,080 96.23 1,901,794 3.77

About Cardinal Energy Ltd.

Cardinal works to continually improve its Environmental, Safety and Governance profile and operates its assets in a responsible and environmentally sensitive manner. As part of this mandate, Cardinal injects and conserves more carbon than it directly emits making us one of the few Canadian energy companies to have a negative carbon footprint.

Cardinal is a Canadian oil and natural gas company with operations focused on low decline oil in Western Canada.

For further information:

M. Scott Ratushny, CEO or Shawn Van Spankeren, CFO or Laurence Broos, VP FinanceEmail: [email protected]Phone: (403) 234-8681Website: www.cardinalenergy.ca

Source: Cardinal Energy Ltd.
Dayton, Ohio, May 12, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Centric Consulting, an international business and technology consulting firm, announced today that it published a custom-developed application in Salesforces AppExchange called Data Governance Accelerator, focused on helping clients manage their Salesforce data.

Centrics Salesforce Data Governance Accelerator provides an accelerator that enables administrators and users to analyze and correct data more efficiently. With this custom application, Salesforce users can easily view record duplicates and any data entry errors or gaps.

Our Salesforce clients were struggling with data governance, so we developed an application that could efficiently find data errors and expedite the process, said Traci Whetzel, Director of Centrics Salesforce Practice. Partnering with the community-driven solutions in the Salesforce AppExchange allows us to access prebuilt tools for our clients. We are excited to be a contributor  bringing value to not only our clients but to the broader Salesforce user community all over the world.

With the successful development and publication of this new application, Centric has earned AppExchange/ISV Partner status with Salesforce, building on its trusted consulting partnership with Salesforce since 2008.

The publication of Centrics Data Governance Accelerator app within Salesforce AppExchange is another marker of our expanding expertise with the platform and a milestone in our 16-year Salesforce consulting partnership, said Whetzel.

Centric is building a second application focused on Salesforce project management to publish later this year.

About Centric Consulting

Centric Consulting is an international management consulting firm with unmatched expertise in business transformation, hybrid workplace strategy, technology implementation and adoption.

Founded in 1999 with a remote workforce, Centric has established a reputation for solving its clients toughest problems, delivering tailored solutions, and bringing deeply experienced consultants centered on whats best for your business.

Centric Consulting is headquartered in Ohio, with 1,500 employees and 14 locations. In every project, clients get a trusted advisor averaging over 15 years of experience and the best talent across the United States and India. Centric deliberately builds teams that can scale up or down quickly based on client needs, industry and desired outcome.

Centric has been a trusted Salesforce consulting partner since 2008, providing clients with solutions that meet their evolving business needs, eliminating Salesforce challenges and enabling their organizations to thrive. To learn more about Centrics Salesforce Practice and other Salesforce capabilities, visit http://www.centricconsulting.com.

Connect with Centric Consulting: LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

Lindsay Dawson Centric Consulting 5172046734 [email protected]

Source: Centric Consulting
HOUSTON, May 12, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Emerson Firm, PLLC (Emerson) announces a full retraction of its press release of April 12, 2023, entitled Emerson Firm PLLC Announces Ongoing Investigation of Suncoast Credit Union Data Breach.

Emerson apologizes for any misstatement of facts in the prior press release relating to an alleged data breach, alleged theft of data, opening of alleged fraudulent accounts, and any other misstatement of facts in the prior press release.

IMPORTANT: Questions regarding this retraction may be made by to John G. Emerson at [email protected].

Source: Emerson Firm, PLLC
TORONTO, May 12, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Habitat Canada celebrated the achievements of eleven local Habitats during its national conference this week. Habitats were recognized for 2022 accomplishments such as the largest multi-unit Habitat build completed in one phase, a wildly successful Stud-A-Thon holiday fundraising campaign, a Handyman Program for seniors, as well as achieving 93% growth in organizational volunteers. In addition, former Habitat board volunteer Greg Stewart and Habitat for Humanity Manitobas CEO Sandy Hopkins both received the prestigious Terry Petkau Legacy Award.

Id like to congratulate all the winners of this years awards, said Julia Deans, President and CEO of Habitat for Humanity Canada. These awards showcase the exceptional work of local Habitats across Canada that further our mission by providing families in need of housing with a safe, decent and affordable place to call home.

Here are this years award winners:

One Habitat award : Habitat for Humanity Greater Ottawa , which welcomed 16 new families to its recent build projects, is working in collaboration with Habitat for Humanity Thousand Islands on a 15-unit development of townhomes and stacked town houses in North Grenville, Ontario, and demonstrates its commitment to a world where everyone has a safe and decent place to live by continually championing Habitats global work.

, which welcomed 16 new families to its recent build projects, is working in collaboration with Habitat for Humanity Thousand Islands on a 15-unit development of townhomes and stacked town houses in North Grenville, Ontario, and demonstrates its commitment to a world where everyone has a safe and decent place to live by continually championing Habitats global work. Terry Petkau Legacy award  Outstanding Volunteer: Greg Stewart . A passionate and committed former board member, vice-chair, chair and international build volunteer extraordinaire, Greg has played a transformational role in the efforts of Habitat. Gregs Habitat journey began in 2006 as a board member for Habitat for Humanity Regina and in 2013 he joined Habitat Canadas board of directors. Since 2010, Greg has participated in 11 Habitat Canada Global Village builds internationally, recognizing the immense need of housing everywhere.

. A passionate and committed former board member, vice-chair, chair and international build volunteer extraordinaire, Greg has played a transformational role in the efforts of Habitat. Gregs Habitat journey began in 2006 as a board member for Habitat for Humanity Regina and in 2013 he joined Habitat Canadas board of directors. Since 2010, Greg has participated in 11 Habitat Canada Global Village builds internationally, recognizing the immense need of housing everywhere. Terry Petkau Legacy award  Outstanding Staff: Sandy Hopkins, CEO, Habitat Manitoba . Sandys dedication and perseverance in supporting hundreds of families in securing affordable homeownership is truly inspiring. Sandy joined Habitat Manitoba in 2006, leading it from a small team to an organization with more than 55 employees. During his tenure, Habitat Manitoba has developed the largest Habitat chapter network in Canada, built the largest group of Net Zero homes and largest LEED residential development in the province, broke ground on its largest development in 2021  to be home to 55 families, and brought the Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project to Winnipeg.

. Sandys dedication and perseverance in supporting hundreds of families in securing affordable homeownership is truly inspiring. Sandy joined Habitat Manitoba in 2006, leading it from a small team to an organization with more than 55 employees. During his tenure, Habitat Manitoba has developed the largest Habitat chapter network in Canada, built the largest group of Net Zero homes and largest LEED residential development in the province, broke ground on its largest development in 2021  to be home to 55 families, and brought the Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project to Winnipeg. Community Outreach winners: Habitat for Humanity Nova Scotia launched its first ever Stud-A-Thon holiday fundraising campaign in 2022, engaging members of the community to donate 300 studs  the approximate number of studs needed to build a home  to be used in an upcoming build. Habitat Nova Scotia reached its fundraising goal of $75,000, increased its Facebook and LinkedIn reach by more than 130%, and is working with its provinces realty association to grow the campaign with its members in 2023. In 2022, Habitat for Humanity Grey Bruce partnered with the Bruce-Grey Catholic District School Board at St. Marys High School to launch Aspire, a Tiny Home pilot to help fund and construct a Tiny Home for Saugeen First Nation; coordinated a new youth skills training partnership; expanded skills training partnerships with local program Women in Carpentry; hosted 80 volunteer team build corporate events, and developed 41 new team build partnerships.

Environment and Sustainability winner: Habitat for Humanity Greater Vancouver has achieved its provinces Step Code 3 for all new build projects, with its recent 19-unit build attaining impressive results in third-party testing, including lower levels of noise and odour emissions, two of the most difficult areas of sustainability. A leader in deconstruction, Habitat Greater Vancouver has partnered with the City of Vancouver to create the Rebuild Hub, a project salvaging usable materials from construction for resale through its network of Habitat for Humanity ReStores.

has achieved its provinces Step Code 3 for all new build projects, with its recent 19-unit build attaining impressive results in third-party testing, including lower levels of noise and odour emissions, two of the most difficult areas of sustainability. A leader in deconstruction, Habitat Greater Vancouver has partnered with the City of Vancouver to create the Rebuild Hub, a project salvaging usable materials from construction for resale through its network of Habitat for Humanity ReStores. Expanded Impact winners: Habitat for Humanity Sarnia-Lambtons Handyman Program expanded its reach in providing home repairs to seniors, including those living with lower-incomes, to allow them to remain in their homes for years to come  the only service of its kind in the region. In 2022, Habitat Sarnia-Lambton supported 411 families with repairs, with 50% for families living with low income and an 89% increase in families served. Habitat for Humanity Peterborough & Kawartha Region expanded its homeownership eligibility for individuals, couples, and seniors  members of the community in need of affordable housing that had not been eligible for this Habitats affordable homeownership program in the past. The first phase of its Leahys Lane condo project has 41 homeowners comprising 28 individual, couple or sibling homeowners, including one senior couple. This project is the first multi-unit build of its size completed in one phase by a Canadian Habitat and allowed Habitat Peterborough & Kawartha Region to increase its impact in 2022 by 50% from its first 19 years of operation.

Family Partnership winners: Habitat homeowners are our most important partners and ambassadors. Habitats for Humanity Kingston Limestone Region and Northumberland value collaboration by sharing resources, including engaging the same housing partnerships manager to support families in working with both organizations. Both Habitats take a people-centric, individualized approach to building relationships from application right through the entire partnering relationship. They believe in empowering families. They are intentional about showcasing the impact families make on their communities, increasing their strength, stability and self-reliance. Habitat for Humanity Southern Alberta has developed processes to establish and maintain successful relationships with families who have become true ambassadors for the Habitat brand. This includes homeowner applications that start with a 10-question eligibility quiz; reviewing partnership hours monthly; homeowner surveys conducted during the first, fifth and tenth years of occupancy; and families in mortgages receiving ongoing support during thrice yearly touchpoints.

Habitat homeowners are our most important partners and ambassadors. Innovation winners: Habitat for Humanity Newfoundland and Labrador opened a satellite drop-off centre and remote online-only Habitat ReStore as a six-month pilot project on Newfoundlands west coast  eight hours away from its flagship ReStore location. The pilot has increased awareness of Habitat and helped to establish more community partnerships, and its success has led to dialogue about setting up a bricks and mortar Habitat ReStore in the community to replace its online version. Habitat for Humanity Southern Alberta recently completed the largest build in its history, a 32-unit stacked townhouse project, which required improvements and innovations in processes to bring the project to life. Habitat Southern Alberta partnered with IKEA to stage a show suite for families to walk through as part of its homeowner recruitment strategy, enhanced fundraising through storytelling to secure multiple million and half-million-dollar donations, and engaged with the community and municipal politicians to garner support and overcome community hesitation for a build geared to families living with low income.

Volunteer Outreach winner: At the heart of all we do are volunteers. Habitat for Humanity Greater Toronto Area has developed a variety of approaches to recruit and engage volunteers. It connected with local high-school co-op programs and Humber College along with other community partners to help grow its volunteer base, regularly highlights the amazing contributions of volunteers, nominates volunteers for its Guiding Principle Awards, connects volunteers directly to its mission and offers volunteer feedback loops through surveys  adapting its volunteer approach accordingly. In 2022, Habitat GTAs volunteer base grew 93% with volunteers donating over 90,000 hours.

For a full description of each award and award winner, please visit https://habitat.ca/en/news/eleven-local-habitats-recognized-for-their-work-as-national-award-winners-announced

About Habitat for Humanity Canada

Founded in 1985, Habitat for Humanity Canada is a national charitable organization working toward a world where everyone has a decent and affordable place to call home. Habitat for Humanity brings communities together to help families build strength, stability and independence through affordable homeownership. With the help of volunteers, Habitat homeowners and 46 local Habitats working in every province and territory, we provide a solid foundation for better, healthier lives in Canada and around the world. Habitat for Humanity Canada is a member of Habitat for Humanity International, which was established in 1976 and has grown to become a leading global nonprofit working in more than 70 countries. For more information, please visit www.habitat.ca.

For more information:

Whitney Rodricks Senior Manager, CommunicationsHabitat for Humanity CanadaE: [email protected]C: (416) 475-3487

Source: Habitat for Humanity Canada
PASCAGOULA, Miss., May 12, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- HIIs (NYSE: HII) Ingalls Shipbuilding division hosted a signing day ceremony Thursday for the 2023 graduates of its Shipbuilder Academy program. Successfully completing the Academys one-year specialized career technical education program, 23 high school seniors were offered full-time positions at Ingalls Shipbuilding where they will begin their careers after as shipbuilders.



Today we celebrate the students who have committed to a technical career at Ingalls Shipbuilding and will build upon our 85-year legacy of building the most mission-ready ships for our country, Ingalls Shipbuilding Vice President of Operations Donny Dorsey said. Their decision to pursue hands-on training and technical skills while in high school is a testament to their innovative spirit and we applaud their dedication to learning the critical skills needed to have a rewarding career in their chosen trade.

During the ceremony, among parents and special guests, the high school seniors were honored much like high school athletes announcing an intended college. Each student received and signed a contingent offer of employment highlighting their new position at the shipyard. Upon their high school graduation, these students will join the Ingalls workforce as shipbuilders.





Photos accompanying this release are available at: https://hii.com/news/hii-ingalls-shipbuilding-hosts-shipbuilder-academy-signing-day-2023/

The Ingalls Shipbuilder Academy established in 2016 with a mission to provide enrolled students with a strong foundation in the maritime industry and to fill shipbuilding positions at Ingalls. The Jackson County program, now entering its eighth year, expanded to Harrison County in 2019 and is entering into its fifth year. Shipbuilder Academy enrolls students from 13 different high schools along the Gulf Coast including: Biloxi, Gulfport, West Harrison, Long Beach, Pass Christian, Pascagoula, Gautier, Moss Point, East Central, Vancleave, St. Martin, Ocean Springs and Alma Bryant. So far 355 students have successfully completed the program and obtained National Center for Construction Education and Research certifications.

Employing more than 11,000 people, Ingalls Shipbuilding is the largest manufacturing employer in Mississippi and a major contributor to the economic growth of Alabama. For 85 years, Ingalls Shipbuilding has designed, built and maintained amphibious ships, destroyers, and cutters for the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Coast Guard. Our shipbuilders are honored to build tomorrows fleet today.

For more information about a career at Ingalls Shipbuilding, visit hii.com/careers.

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://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

Contact:

Kimberly Aguillard

[email protected]

(228) 935-6821

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b0011105-20f8-469c-9b36-701bb89cc3ba
REGULATED INFORMATION

May 12, 2023, 7:00am CET / 1:00am ET

NYXOAH SA

(Euronext Brussels: NYXH)

Rue Edouard Belin 12, 1435 Mont-Saint-Guibert, Belgium

(hereinafter the Company)

Invitation to Attend the Annual Shareholders Meeting of the Company

to be Held on June 14, 2023

The board of directors of the Company is pleased to invite its securities holders to attend the annual shareholders' meeting of the Company, to be held on Wednesday, June 14, 2023 at 2:00 p.m. CET at the Company's seat, or at such other place as will be indicated prior to such time.

The Company will also set up a video conference to allow holders of securities of the Company who have duly registered for the annual shareholders meeting to follow the meeting remotely and ask questions, as the case may be in writing, during the meeting. The modalities to attend the meeting via video conference will be communicated to the relevant securities holders in due time. The video conference will not qualify as an electronic communication tool to attend and vote at the shareholders' meeting as referred to in Article 7:137 of the Belgian Code of Companies and Associations, but will be an extra facility for securities holders to follow the shareholders' meeting. Holders of securities wishing to attend the meeting via video conference and also validly vote on the items on the agenda, are invited to exercise their voting rights prior to the shareholders meeting by following the rules set out in this convening notice, either by voting remotely by mail, or by giving a proxy to a representative of the Company.

In order to facilitate the keeping of the attendance list on the day of the annual shareholders' meeting, the holders of securities issued by the Company and their representatives are invited to register as from 1:30 p.m. CET.

AGENDA OF THE ANNUAL SHAREHOLDERS MEETING

Acknowledgement and discussion of:

the statutory annual accounts for the financial year ended on December 31, 2022; the consolidated financial statements for the financial year ended on December 31, 2022; the annual report of the board of directors on the statutory annual accounts for the financial year ended on December 31, 2022; the annual report of the board of directors on the consolidated financial statements for the financial year ended on December 31, 2022; the statutory auditor's report on the statutory annual accounts for the financial year ended on December 31, 2022; and the statutory auditor's report on the consolidated financial statements for the financial year ended on December 31, 2022.

1. Approval of the statutory annual accounts for the financial year ended on December 31, 2022 and the proposed allocation of the result





Proposed decision : The shareholders meeting decides to approve the annual accounts for the financial year ended on December 31, 2022 and the allocation of the result as proposed by the board of directors.

2. Discharge of directors





Proposed decision : The shareholders meeting decides to grant discharge to each of the directors who was in office during the financial year ended on December 31, 2022 (including Mr. Donald Deyo, Mr. Jan Janssen and Mr. Raymond Cohen who resigned as directors in 2022) for the performance of their mandate during that financial year.

3. Discharge of the statutory auditor





Proposed decision : The shareholders meeting decides to grant discharge to the statutory auditor who was in office during the financial year ended on December 31, 2022 for the performance of his mandate during that financial year.

4. Acknowledgement and approval of the remuneration report





Proposed decision : The shareholders meeting decides to approve the remuneration report.

5. Acknowledgement and approval of the amended remuneration policy

Upon the recommendation of the remuneration committee, the board of directors proposes to amend the remuneration policy of the Company to include in the remuneration policy the justification for deviating from provision 7.12 of the 2020 Belgian Code on Corporate Governance (the 2020 Code) which requires the board to include, in the contracts with the CEO and other members of executive management, provisions that would enable the Company to recover variable remuneration paid, or withhold the payment of variable remuneration, and specify the circumstances in which it would be appropriate to do so, insofar as enforceable by law.

The board of directors believes that this provision of the 2020 Code is not appropriate and adapted to take into account the realities of companies in the life sciences industry that are still in a development phase nor considers that it is necessary to apply claw-back provisions as (i) the pay-out of the short-term variable remuneration, based on the achievement of one or more individual objectives and one or more Company objectives as set by the board of directors, is paid only upon achievement of those objectives, and (ii) the Company does not apply any other performance-based remuneration or variable compensation.

Furthermore, the ESOP warrant plans set up by the Company contain bad leaver provisions that can result in the unexercised share options, whether vested or not, automatically and immediately becoming null and void if the agreement or other relationship between the holder and the (relevant subsidiary of the) Company is terminated for cause. Notwithstanding the Companys position that warrants are not to be qualified as variable remuneration (when not depending on performance criteria), the board of directors is of the opinion that such bad leaver provisions sufficiently protect the Companys interests and that it is therefore currently not necessary to provide for additional contractual provisions that give the Company a contractual right to reclaim any (variable) remuneration from the members of the executive management.

For those reasons, there are no contractual provisions in place between the Company and the members of the executive management that give the Company a contractual right to reclaim from said executives any variable remuneration that would be awarded.

Proposed decision : The shareholders meeting decides to approve the amended remuneration policy.

6. Appointment of director





On January 8, 2023, the board of directors decided to appoint Wildman Ventures LLC (permanently represented by Mr. Daniel Wildman) on a provisional basis (cooptation) as a director in order to replace Mr. Raymond Cohen in accordance with Article 7:88 of the CCA and article 13 of the Company's articles of association. Based on the information made available by Mr. Daniel Wildman, it was determined that both Wildman Ventures LLC and Mr. Daniel Wildman satisfy the applicable requirements for Wildman Ventures LLC (permanently represented by Mr. Daniel Wildman) to be appointed as an independent director in accordance with Article 7:87 of the CCA and provision 3.5 of the 2020 Belgian Corporate Governance Code. Mr. Daniel Wildman also explicitly declared that neither he nor Wildman Ventures LLC has any connections with the Company or an important shareholder, which would interfere with their independence. The board of directors recommends that the appointment of Wildman Ventures LLC (permanently represented by Mr. Daniel Wildman) as independent director be confirmed and that Wildman Ventures LLC (permanently represented by Mr. Daniel Wildman) completes Mr. Raymond Cohens term of office ending at the annual shareholders' meeting to be held in 2024.

Proposed decision : The shareholders' meeting decides to confirm the appointment of Wildman Ventures LLC, with address at 12520 Sunnydale Drive, Wellington, FL 33414, USA, and permanently represented by Mr. Daniel Wildman, as an independent director of the Company within the meaning of Article 7:87 of the CCA and provision 3.5 of the 2020 Belgian Corporate Governance Code, completing Mr. Raymond Cohens term of office ending at the annual shareholders' meeting to be held in 2024. The mandate of Wildman Ventures LLC (permanently represented by Mr. Daniel Wildman) is remunerated as provided for the non-executive (independent) members of the board of directors in the Companys remuneration policy as adopted by the shareholders meeting and as decided by the annual shareholders meeting of June 8, 2022.

ADMISSION FORMALITIES AND PARTICIPATION IN THE SHAREHOLDERS MEETING

In order to attend the shareholders meeting on June 14, 2023, the holders of shares and subscription rights are requested to comply with articles 26 and 27 of the Companys articles of association and the following formalities.

The holders of subscription rights issued by the Company can, in accordance with Article 7:135 of the Belgian Code of Companies and Associations, only attend the shareholders meeting with a consultative vote.

In order to be able to participate in the annual shareholders' meeting, a holder of securities issued by the Company must satisfy two conditions: (a) be registered as holder of such securities on the registration date and (b) notify the Company, as described below.

Registration date

The registration date is May 31, 2023 at midnight (Belgian time). Only persons registered as securities holders on that date and time will be entitled to attend and (if they are shareholders) vote at the meeting. The number of securities held by the securities holder on the day of the meeting will not be taken into account.

Holders of registered shares or subscription rights must be registered in the Company's share register or subscription rights register, as the case may be, by midnight (Belgian time) on May 31, 2023.





Holders of dematerialised shares must deliver, or have delivered, to the Company, at the latest on June 8, 2023 at midnight (Belgian time), a certificate issued by the authorised account holder or by the settlement institution certifying the number of dematerialised shares registered in the name of the shareholder in its accounts on the registration date, for which the shareholder has declared his intention to participate in the meeting. This certificate must be sent to the Company by e-mail to [email protected]





Intention to participate in the meeting

The securities holders must inform the board of directors of the Company by e-mail to [email protected], no later than June 8, 2023, of their intention to participate in the meeting, indicate the number of securities for which they intend to vote, and, for holders of dematerialized shares, present proof of their registration as a shareholder on the registration date.

In order to attend the meeting, securities holders and proxy holders must prove their identity and representatives of legal entities must submit documents establishing their identity and their power of representation, at the latest immediately before the start of the meeting.

Voting by proxy or by mail

Shareholders can exercise their voting rights prior to the meeting either (i) by voting by mail or (ii) by giving a proxy to a representative of the Company.

If shareholders vote by proxy, the proxy holder will be a representative of the Company. This proxy holder may only exercise the voting right in accordance with the voting instructions contained in the proxy.

The proxy voting form and the form for voting by mail approved by the Company must be used for this purpose. These forms can be downloaded from the Companys website (https://investors.nyxoah.com/shareholder-information > Shareholders' Meetings).

If shareholders vote by proxy or by mail, they must, in addition to the above formalities, send by e-mail to [email protected] a duly completed and signed proxy voting form or form for voting by mail. These documents must reach the Company no later than June 8, 2023.

Note that the proxy voting forms and the forms for voting by mail may be signed by using an electronic signature as provided for in Article 7:143  2 of the Belgian Code of Companies and Associations.

Participation in the virtual shareholders meeting

Securities holders wishing to participate remotely, virtually and in real time, to the Company's annual shareholders meeting are required to confirm their participation and communicate their e-mail address to the Company by June 8, 2023 at the latest by e-mail to [email protected]

A few days before the shareholders meeting, securities holders who have completed this formality will receive by e-mail (at the address they will have communicated to the Company) a link, and as the case may be a user name and a password, enabling them to follow and participate in the shareholders meeting via their computer, tablet or smartphone.

Just before the start of the shareholders meeting, the securities holders will have to click on the link that will have been previously communicated to them by e-mail, and as the case may be enter their user name and password, in order to join the virtual shareholders meeting.

Securities holders attending the virtual shareholders meeting will have the opportunity to view the live broadcast of the meeting in real time and to ask questions to the directors, as the case may be in writing, during the meeting regarding the items on the agenda.

New agenda items, proposed decisions and right to ask questions

Shareholders holding at least 3% of the capital who wish to request the inclusion of new items on the agenda or to submit proposals for decision must, in addition to the above formalities, establish on the date of their request proof of ownership of the required participation in the capital and send the text of the agenda items and the proposed decisions by e-mail to [email protected], no later than May 23, 2023. The request must also mention the e-mail address to which the Company will send the confirmation of receipt of the request.

The case being, the revised agenda will be published no later than May 30, 2023.

Shareholders who wish to do so may send any questions they may have to the Company, relating solely to the agenda of the annual shareholders meeting, by e-mail to [email protected], no later than June 8, 2023. The answers to these questions will be provided during the annual shareholders meeting in accordance with applicable law.

Documentation

All documents concerning the annual shareholders meeting that are required by law to be made available, as well as the total number of shares and voting rights outstanding, are available on the Company's website on: https://investors.nyxoah.com/shareholder-information. The documents are also available at the seat of the Company and can only be consulted by appointment made by e-mail ([email protected]). Shareholders may also obtain a hard copy of these documents free of charge by sending an e-mail to [email protected]

The aforementioned formalities, as well as the instructions on the Company's website and on the proxy voting forms and forms for voting by mail must be strictly observed.

Various

Quorum : There is no particular quorum requirement for the deliberation and voting of the decisions proposed in the agenda of the annual shareholders' meeting.

Voting : Each share entitles the holder to one vote.

Majority : In accordance with applicable law, the decisions proposed in the agenda of the annual shareholders meeting will be adopted if they are approved by a simple majority of the votes validly cast by the shareholders present or represented at the shareholders meeting.

Personal data : The Company is responsible for the processing of personal data that it receives or collects from holders of securities issued by the Company and agents in connection with the Companys shareholders meeting.

The processing of such data will be carried out for the purpose of organizing and holding the shareholders' meeting, including convening, registration, attendance and voting, as well as maintaining lists or registers of securities holders and for purposes of analysis of the Companys securities holders base.

The data includes, but is not limited to, the following: identification data, the number and nature of a holder's securities issued by the Company, proxies and voting instructions. This information may also be transferred to third parties for the purpose of assisting or servicing the Company in connection with the foregoing.

The processing of such data will be carried out, mutatis mutandis, in accordance with the Company's privacy notice available on the Company's website: https://www.nyxoah.com/privacy-notice-nyxoah.

The Company draws the attention of holders of securities issued by the Company and agents to the description of the rights they may have as data subjects, such as, inter alia, the right of inspection, the right to rectify and the right to object to processing, which are set out in the section entitled What rights can you exercise? of the aforementioned privacy notice.

All this is without prejudice to the applicable rules on registration, use of information and participation in shareholders meeting in order to exercise your rights as a data subject. For any other information relating to the processing of personal data by or on behalf of the Company, the Company can be contacted by e-mail at [email protected]

The board of directors

Attachment
UNITED NATIONS, May 11 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese envoy on Thursday warned against external interference in Libya, describing it as the major cause of the protracted crisis in the country.

"Commitment to the principle of Libyan ownership and Libya leadership is the only way to peace and stability in the country," said Minister-Counselor Sun Zhiqiang of China's Permanent Mission to the United Nations.

The international community should provide constructive support for Libya's political stability, national reconciliation, and economic development, and avoid the complex impact of externally imposed solutions on the situation in Libya, he told a Security Council meeting on Libya with regard to the International Criminal Court (ICC) dossier.

Sun said China's position on ICC-related activities remains unchanged.

"We hope that the ICC will continue to strictly follow the principle of complementarity as stipulated in the Rome Statute, fully respect the judicial sovereignty and reasonable opinions of the countries concerned, and avoid politicization and double standards in its work," he said. 
MONTREAL, May 12, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MONARCH MINING CORPORATION (Monarch or the Corporation) (TSX: GBAR) (OTCQB: GBARF) reported its results today for the third quarter ended March 31, 2023. Amounts are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise indicated.

Summary of financial results

(In dollars except per-share data) THREE MONTHS ENDEDMARCH 31 NINE MONTHS ENDEDMARCH 31 2023 2022 2023 2022 Revenues   2,549,995  Cost of sales   (17,546,397 )  Loss from mine operations   (14,996,402 )  Administration expenses (1,427,754 ) (2,003,556 ) (3,655,707 ) (6,292,853 ) Operating expenses  (3,663,503 )  (3,663,503 ) Care and maintenance expenses (789,025 )  (1,662,876 )  Exploration expenses  (930,608 ) (207,868 ) (3,374,774 ) Operating loss (2,216,779 ) (6,597,667 ) (20,522,853 ) (13,331,130 ) Finance expenses (396,484 ) (160,887 ) (1,193,274 ) (450,526 ) Gain on disposal of assets 1,475,000 8,568,855 1,481,959 16,259,338 Impairment of property, plant and equipment   (7,000,000 )  Provision for contractual obligations   (1,200,000 )  Deferred income taxes and mining taxes  (513,314 ) (20,322 ) (1,521,603 ) Net earnings (loss) and comprehensive income (loss) (594,633 ) 758,544 (26,418,974 ) 1,541,472 Net earnings (loss) per share, basic and diluted (0.01 ) 0.01 (0.17 ) 0.02

(In dollars) MARCH 31, 2023 JUNE 30, 2022 Cash and cash equivalents 1,821,853 10,339,558 Total assets 72,083,095 93,895,219

For more information, please consult the Corporations condensed consolidated interim financial statements and managements discussion and analysis for the quarter ended March 31, 2023, which have been filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and posted on the Corporations website at www.monarchmining.com.

About MonarchMonarch Mining Corporation (TSX: GBAR) (OTCQB: GBARF) is a gold mining company that owns four projects, including the Beaufor Mine, which is currently on care and maintenance and has produced more than 1 million ounces of gold over the last 30 years. Other assets include the Croinor Gold, McKenzie Break and Swanson properties, all located near Monarchs wholly owned Beacon Mill with a design capacity of 750 tpd. Monarch owns 29,504 hectares (295 km2) of mining assets in the prolific Abitibi mining camp that host a combined measured and indicated gold resource of 666,882 ounces and a combined inferred resource of 423,193 ounces.

Forward-looking statements All statements, other than statements of historical fact, contained in this press release including, but not limited to those describing the timeline of the initiatives described in this press release, the entering into or more sale agreements, debt settlement agreements, merger or other combination business agreements, the Corporations commitments and initiatives outlined in the press release, the intended results of the initiatives described in this press release, the positive impact of the foregoing on project economics, and those statements which are discussed under the About Monarch paragraph and elsewhere in the press release which essentially describe the Corporations outlook and objectives, constitute forward-looking information or forward-looking statements (collectively, forward-looking statements) within the meaning of Canadian laws, and are based on expectations, estimates and projections as of the time of this press release. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by the Corporation as of the time of such statements, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. These estimates and assumptions may prove to be incorrect.

Forward-looking statements are subject to known or unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated or implied in the forward-looking statements. Risk factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations include, among others, the Corporation's ability to continue as a going concern, the Corporation being a going concern able to realize its assets and discharge its liabilities in the normal course of business as they come due into the foreseeable future, the generation of interest for its review of a range of alternatives, in either the sale of part or all of the Company or its assets, a merger or other business combination with another party, a potential investment in Monarch, a debt restructuring, or other strategic initiatives with the goal of maximizing return in respect of the Companys assets, the ability of the Corporation to successfully implement its strategic initiatives and whether such strategic initiatives will yield the expected benefits, the availability of financing or financing on favorable terms for the Corporation, the business conditions of the Corporation will not change In a materially adverse manner, expectations that the business of the Corporation will continue in the ordinary course, litigation as well as cash flow and capital structure risks and general business risks. A further description of risks and uncertainties can be found in Monarch's Annual Information Form dated September 28, 2022, including in the section thereof captioned Risk Factors, which is available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Unpredictable or unknown factors not discussed in this Cautionary Note could also have material adverse effects on forward-looking statements.

Many of these uncertainties and contingencies can directly or indirectly affect, and could cause, actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements. 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. Forward-looking statements are provided for the purpose of providing information about managements expectations and plans relating to the future. The Corporation disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements or to explain any material difference between subsequent actual events and such forward-looking statements, except to the extent required by applicable law.

Neither the Toronto Stock Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the manuals of the Toronto Stock Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Jean-Marc LacostePresident and Chief Executive Officer 1-888-994-4465 [email protected] Mathieu SeguinVice President, Corporate Development 1-888-994-4465 [email protected]

www.monarchmining.com

Source: Monarch Mining Corporation
TORONTO and MONTREAL, May 12, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Nexus Industrial REIT (the REIT) (TSX: NXR.UN) announced today its results for the quarter ended March 31, 2023.

Highlights

On April 26, 2023, the REIT sold a retail property located in Victoriaville, Quebec for $40.3 million.

On April 21, 2023, the REIT acquired a 264,600 square foot industrial property located in London, Ontario for $36.0 million.

On March 7, 2023, the REIT acquired a newly constructed 532,000 square foot distribution centre located in Casselman, Ontario for $116.8 million.

On March 1, 2023, the REIT entered into senior unsecured credit facilities totalling $375 million with three-year terms (the Unsecured Facilities). The Unsecured Facilities are comprised of a $190 million revolving credit facility, a $175 million term loan facility and a $10 million swingline facility.

Occupancy of 97% at March 31, 2023 was consistent with 97% at December 31, 2022 and at March 31, 2022

Q1 2023 net operating income of $25.7 million increased by $3.7 million or 16.8% as compared to Q1 2022 net operating income of $22.0 million and by $0.8 million or 3.1% as compared to Q4 2022 net operating income of $24.9 million.

Q1 2023 Same Property NOI(1) of $20.4 million increased by $0.9 million or 4.4% as compared to Q1 2022. The increase is primarily driven by rental steps, CPI increases and new and renewal lease lift at certain of the REITs industrial properties.

Q1 2023 general and administrative expense was approximately $0.4 million higher than Q1 2022 and $0.9 million higher than Q4 2022. Q1 2023 general and administrative expense was higher than Q4 2022 primarily due to the timing of vesting of restricted share unit grants and severance costs and higher than Q1 2022 primarily due to severance costs.

Q1 2023 Normalized FFO(1) per unit of $0.187 as compared to $0.203 for Q4 2022 and $0.192 for Q1 2022.

Q1 2023 Normalized AFFO(1) per unit of $0.159 as compared to $0.177 for Q4 2022 and $0.165 for Q1 2022.

Q1 2023 Normalized AFFO payout ratio(1) of 100.7%, as compared to 91.3% for Q4 2022 and 96.7% for Q1 2022.

NAV(1) per unit of $12.13 at March 31, 2023 as compared to $12.19 at December 31, 2022 and $12.35 at March 31, 2022.

Debt to Total Assets of 47.3% at March 31, 2023. $200.2 million undrawn on the REITs lines of credit and a $455.1 million unencumbered asset pool.

Management of the REIT will host a conference call on Monday May 15th at 11AM EST to review results and operations.

(1) Non-IFRS Financial Measure

As anticipated, leasing activity in our Southwestern Ontario portfolio has been extremely favourable. commented Kelly Hanczyk, the REITs Chief Executive Officer. We completed 3 lease renewals in this market in the first quarter for a total of 158,000 square feet of GLA, with a nearly 100% rental rate increase. Our Q1 same store NOI increased 4.4% or $0.9 million as compared to Q1 2022. In the second quarter, we have an additional 140,000 square feet expiring in Southwestern Ontario where we anticipate modest rental rate growth. Partially offsetting will be a lease in Western Canada which expired at the end of April, where we will experience some turnover vacancy and rental rate reduction. Subsequent to the end of the quarter, we completed the sale of our Victoriaville, Quebec retail property, pushing our industrial weighting by NOI to 90%. We are progressing with several high yielding development projects and have entered into contracts and begun work to build out two intensification projects where we will add approximately 312,000 square feet of GLA to a Regina property and approximately 100,000 square feet of GLA to a London, Ontario property. These projects are expected to deliver very attractive yields and to generate sizeable NAV increases.

Summary of Results

(In thousands of Canadian dollars, except per unit amounts) Three months ended March 31, 2023 2022 Financial Results $ $ Property revenues 37,476 31,699 Net operating income (NOI) 25,728 22,024 Net income 3,717 18,064

Financial Highlights Funds from operations (FFO) (1) 16,448 14,724 Normalized FFO (1) (2) 16,451 14,879 Adjusted funds from operations (AFFO) (1) 13,948 12,678 Normalized AFFO (1) (2) 13,951 12,833 Same Property NOI (1) 20,368 19,517 Distributions declared (3) 14,042 12,412 Weighted average units outstanding (000s) - basic (4) 87,741 77,560 Weighted average units outstanding (000s) - diluted (4) 87,843 77,720 Per unit amounts: Distributions per unit - basic (3) (4) 0.160 0.160 FFO per unit - basic (1) (4) 0.187 0.190 Normalized FFO per unit - basic (1) (2) (4) 0.187 0.192 AFFO per unit - basic (1) (4) 0.159 0.163 Normalized AFFO per unit - basic (1) (2) (4) 0.159 0.165 NAV per unit (1) 12.13 12.35 Normalized AFFO payout ratio - basic (1) (2) (3) 100.7 % 96.7 % Debt to total assets ratio 47.3 % 45.4 % Estimated spread between industrial portfolio market and in-place rents as at March 31, 2023 21.8 % N/A

(1) Non-IFRS Financial Measure(2) See Appendix A  Non-IFRS Financial Measures(3) Includes distributions payable to holders of Class B LP Units which are accounted for as interest expense in the condensed consolidated interim financial statements.(4) Weighted average number of units includes the Class B LP Units.

Included in the tables above and elsewhere in this news release are non-IFRS financial measures that should not be construed as an alternative to net income / loss, cash from operating activities or other measures of financial performance calculated in accordance with IFRS and may not be comparable to similar measures as reported by other issuers. Certain additional disclosures for these non-IFRS financial measures have been incorporated by reference and can be found on page 3 in the REITs Managements Discussion and Analysis for the three-month ended March 31, 2023, available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on the REITs website under Investor Relations. See Appendix A of this earnings release for a reconciliation of the non-IFRS financial measures to the primary financial statement measures.

Q1 2023 NOI of $25.7 million was $3.7 million higher than Q1 2022 NOI of $22.0 million. Acquisitions completed subsequent to January 1, 2022 generated $3.1 million of incremental NOI in Q1 2023 as compared to Q1 2022. Q1 2023 Same Property NOI increased $0.9 million as compared to Q1 2022, primarily driven by rental steps and CPI increases at certain of the REITs industrial properties as well as new and renewal lease lift. Straight-line rents also contributed $0.2 million to the increase over Q1 2022, driven primarily by newly acquired properties with steps in rent. The disposal of three retail properties in 2022 and an early surrender payment made to a tenant of the REITs Richmond, BC property reduced NOI by $0.5 million.

Q1 2023 general and administrative expenses increased over Q4 2022 primarily due to the timing of RSU grant vesting, with one third of the RSUs granted in quarter vesting immediately. As a result, RSU related expense was approximately $0.45 million higher in Q1 2023 than quarterly RSU expense is expected to be for the balance of the year.

Earnings Call

Management of the REIT will host a conference call at 11:00 AM Eastern Standard Time on Monday, May 15, 2023 to review the financial results and operations. To participate in the conference call, please dial 416-915-3239 or 1-800-319-4610 (toll free in Canada and the US) at least five minutes prior to the start time and ask to join the Nexus Industrial REIT conference call.

A recording of the conference call will be available until June 15, 2023. To access the recording, please dial 604-674-8052 or 1-855-669-9658 (toll free in Canada and the US) and enter access code 0107.

Annual Meeting Voting Results

Each of the matters set out in the REITs management information circular dated March 27, 2023 (the Circular) for the annual meeting of unitholders held on May 12, 2023 (the Meeting) was approved by the requisite majority of unitholders, and each of the trustee nominees listed in the Circular was elected as a trustee of the REIT. Voting results for the individual trustees are as follows:

Nominee Number of Votes For Percentage ofVotes For Number ofVotes Withheld Percentage ofVotes Withheld Floriana Cipollone 48,245,187 99.91% 43,272 0.09% Bradley Cutsey 48,175,567 99.77% 112,892 0.23% Justine Delisle 46,955,082 97.24% 1,333,377 2.76% Louie DiNunzio 44,893,072 92.97% 3,395,387 7.03% Kelly C. Hanczyk 48,251,305 99.92% 37,154 0.08% Ben Rodney 44,973,920 93.14% 3,314,539 6.86%

Final results on all matters considered at the Meeting are reported in the Report of Voting Results as filed on SEDAR (www.sedar.com).

About Nexus Industrial REIT

Nexus is a growth-oriented real estate investment trust focused on increasing unitholder value through the acquisition of industrial properties located in primary and secondary markets in Canada, and the ownership and management of its portfolio of properties. The REIT currently owns a portfolio of 113 properties (including two properties held for development in which the REIT has an 80% interest) comprising approximately 11.6 million square feet of gross leasable area. The REIT has approximately 68,004,000 Units issued and outstanding. Additionally, there are Class B LP Units of subsidiary limited partnerships of Nexus issued and outstanding, which are convertible into approximately 19,862,000 Units.

Forward Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this news release constitute forward-looking statements which reflect the REITs current expectations and projections about future results. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as plans, expects or does not expect, is expected, estimates, intends, anticipates or does not anticipate, or believes, or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, might or will be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the REIT to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Actual results and developments are likely to differ, and may differ materially, from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements contained in this news release. Such forward-looking statements are based on a number of assumptions that may prove to be incorrect.

While the REIT anticipates that subsequent events and developments may cause its views to change, the REIT specifically disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements except as required by applicable law. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the REITs views as of any date subsequent to the date of this news release. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The factors identified above are not intended to represent a complete list of the factors that could affect the REIT.

For further information please contact:Kelly C. Hanczyk, CEO at (416) 906-2379 orRob Chiasson, CFO at (416) 613-1262.

APPENDIX A  NON-IFRS FINANCIAL MEASURES

(In thousands of Canadian dollars, except per unit amounts) Three Months endedMarch 31, 2023 2022 FFO $ $ Net income 3,717 18,064 Adjustments: Fair value adjustment of investment properties 2,715 (1,925 ) Fair value adjustment of Class B LP Units 2,608 3,692 Fair value adjustment of unit options - 142 Fair value adjustment of restricted share units 9 42 Fair value adjustment of derivative financial instruments 3,829 (8,467 ) Adjustments for equity accounted joint venture (1) 88 (304 ) Distributions on Class B LP Units expensed 3,178 3,205 Amortization of tenant incentives and leasing costs 296 265 Lease principal payments (15 ) (13 ) Amortization of right-of-use assets 23 23 Funds from operations (FFO) 16,448 14,724 Weighted average units outstanding (000s) - basic (4) 87,741 77,560 FFO per unit  basic 0.187 0.190 FFO 16,448 14,724 Add: Vendor rent obligation (2) 604 555 Less: Other income (2) (601 ) (400 ) Normalized FFO 16,451 14,879 Weighted average units outstanding (000s) - basic (4) 87,741 77,560 Normalized FFO per unit  basic 0.187 0.192

(In thousands of Canadian dollars, except per unit amounts) Three months ended March 31, 2023 2022 AFFO $ $ FFO 16,448 14,724 Adjustments: Straight-line adjustments ground lease and rent (1,100 ) (796 ) Capital reserve (3) (1,400 ) (1,250 ) Adjusted funds from operations (AFFO) 13,948 12,678 Weighted average units outstanding (000s) - basic (4) 87,741 77,560 AFFO per unit - basic 0.159 0.163 AFFO 13,948 12,678 Add: Vendor rent obligation (2) 604 555 Less: Other income (2) (601 ) (400 ) Normalized AFFO 13,951 12,833 Weighted average units outstanding (000s) - basic (4) 87,741 77,560 Normalized AFFO per unit - basic 0.159 0.165

(1) Adjustment for equity accounted joint venture relates to a fair value adjustment of swaps in place at the joint venture to swap floating rate bankers acceptance rates to a fixed rate and fair value adjustment of the joint venture investment property.(2) Normalized FFO and Normalized AFFO include adjustments for vendor rent obligation amount related to the REITs Richmond, BC property, which are payable from the vendor of the property until the buildout of the property is complete and all tenants are occupying and paying rent. The vendor rent obligation amount is not included in NOI for accounting, but the estimated total amount of vendor rent obligation is recorded in other income. Normalized FFO and Normalized AFFO exclude estimated future vendor rent obligation amounts included in other income in the consolidated statements of income and comprehensive income and include the scheduled quarterly rents receivable in the form of vendor rent obligation.(3) Capital reserve includes maintenance capital expenditures, tenant incentives and leasing costs. Reserve amounts are established with reference to building condition reports, appraisals, and internal estimates of tenant renewal, tenant incentives and leasing costs. The REIT believes that a reserve is more appropriate given the fluctuating nature of these expenditures.(4) Weighted average number of units includes the Class B LP Units.

(In thousands of Canadian dollars) Three months ended March 31, 2023 2022 Same Property NOI $ $ Property revenues 37,476 31,699 Property expenses (11,748 ) (9,675 ) NOI 25,728 22,024 Add/(Deduct): Amortization of tenant incentives and leasing costs 296 265 Straight-line adjustments of rent (1,017 ) (779 ) Acquisitions (4,713 ) (1,618 ) Disposals - (375 ) Termination fees and other non-recurring items 74 - Same Property NOI 20,368 19,517

Source: Nexus Industrial REIT
PANAMA CITY, PANAMA, May 12, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- KillerPay and kUSDC, the new ETH blockchain based token of Fat Cat Killer, have signed an agreement which guarantees the lowest rate for users of kUSDC on KillerPays payment system. KillerPay partnered with Fat Cat Killers kUSDC as its preferred token for its payment system offering the most robust and complete benefits package, speed, and transaction rates. KillerPay accepts variety of tokens but offers the greatest benefits to users of kUSDC (from Fat Cat Killer).

Some of the KillerPay benefits using kUSDC include the following:

Lowest processing fees on the market, well under 1%

Eliminate chargeback transactions

Nearly instantaneous transaction speed

Expand customer base by accepting various forms of cryptocurrency

Immediate crypto to fiat conversion option

KillerPay enables buyers to purchase goods and services using a multitude of digital assets, allowing them to enjoy extremely low transaction rates with a "cash back" mechanism for our partner token kUSDC and under 1% fee for Merchants using most of the tokens listed on KillerPay. KillerPay's system can be used almost anywhere but has unique operational advantages for both customers and merchants in the hospitality sector and luxury retail brands. Merchants will have an option to convert their crypto payments immediately into their native currency, such as USD, at the time of transaction.

In a nod to investors, kUSDC has the highest non-restricted Staking APY on the market. It is also the preferred token in multiple Crypto Payment Systems and NFT Platforms.

Fat Cat Killers unique Staking contract rewards its holders to use our digital assets to generate a passive income with an unprecedented APY - without selling.

This is a unique tiered system that rewards kUSDC investors based on the duration of staking with progressively increasing APY. It allows a flexibility to un-stake at any time without penalties. In the lottery system, holders can win a variety of coveted prizes.

From an iPad to a luxury watch to increasingly luxurious items, nothing is off the table.

Investors must lock their tokens for a short period of time to be eligible and winners are chosen randomly via its verified smart contract algorithm.

Billy Blatty, Founder of KillerPay, said, as the adoption of crypto becomes more widespread, this partnership will enable customers and venues to meet their patrons where they are, without all the hassle and high fees that accompany current offerings / systems. Im excited to announce weve partnered with Fat Killers kUSDC as a preferred token, and even more excited its on the Ethereum blockchain which has the largest community of big fund investors on the market.

Some of the KillerPay benefits using kUSDC include the following:

Lowest processing fees on the market, well under 1%

Eliminate chargeback transactions

Nearly instantaneous transaction speed

Expand customer base by accepting various forms of cryptocurrency

Immediate crypto to fiat conversion option

Contact Details:Contact person: Billy BlattyEmail: [email protected] 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.

Billy Blatty KillerPay support at killerpay.net

Source: KillerPay
PRESS RELEASE: REGULATED INFORMATION

12 May 2023, 17:40 CEST

Results of the Annual Shareholders Meeting held on 12 May 2023



Mechelen, Belgium, 12 May 2023  Biocartis Group NV (the Company or Biocartis), an innovative molecular diagnostics company (Euronext Brussels: BCART), held its annual shareholders' meeting today at its offices in Mechelen, Belgium.

The shareholders approved all items on the agenda, with the exception of the agenda item regarding the approval of certain features of the Share Option Plan 2023. Following the shareholders meeting of today, the Companys board of directors consists of Christian Reinaudo, Ann-Christine Sundell, Christine Kuslich and Luc Gijsens BV, represented by Luc Gijsens (whose current mandate will end at the annual shareholders meeting to be held in 2024), as well as SBV BV, represented by Herman Verrelst, and Bryan Dechairo (whose current mandate will end at the annual shareholders meeting to be held in 2025).

All documents relating to the annual shareholders meeting can be consulted on the website of the Company.

--- END ---



More information:



Renate Degrave

Head of Corporate Communications & Investor Relations Biocartis

e-mail [email protected]

tel +32 15 631 729

mobile +32 471 53 60 64

About Biocartis

With its revolutionary and proprietary Idylla platform, Biocartis (Euronext Brussels: BCART) aspires to enable personalized medicine for patients around the world through universal access to molecular testing, by making molecular testing actionable, convenient, fast and suitable for any lab. The Idylla platform is a fully automated sample-to-result, real-time PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) based system designed to offer in-house access to accurate molecular information in a minimum amount of time for faster, informed treatment decisions. Idylla's continuously expanding menu of molecular diagnostic tests address key unmet clinical needs, with a focus in oncology. This is the fastest growing segment of the molecular diagnostics market worldwide. Today, Biocartis offers tests supporting melanoma, colorectal, lung and liver cancer, as well as for COVID-19, Flu, RSV and sepsis. For more information, visit www.biocartis.com or follow Biocartis on Twitter @Biocartis_ , Facebook or LinkedIn.

Biocartis and Idylla are registered trademarks in Europe, the United States and other countries. The Biocartis and Idylla trademark and logo are used trademarks owned by Biocartis. Please refer to the product labeling for applicable intended uses for each individual Biocartis product.

This press release is not for distribution, directly or indirectly, in any jurisdiction where to do so would be unlawful. Any persons reading this press release should inform themselves of and observe any such restrictions. Biocartis takes no responsibility for any violation of any such restrictions by any person. This press release does not constitute an offer or invitation for the sale or purchase of securities in any jurisdiction. No securities of Biocartis may be offered or sold in the United States of America absent registration with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission or an exemption from registration under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended.

Forward-looking statements

Certain statements, beliefs and opinions in this press release are forward-looking, which reflect the Company's or, as appropriate, the Company directors' or managements' current expectations and projections concerning future events such as the Company's results of operations, financial condition, liquidity, performance, prospects, growth, strategies and the industry in which the Company operates. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties, assumptions and factors could adversely affect the outcome and financial effects of the plans and events described herein. A multitude of factors including, but not limited to, changes in demand, competition and technology, can cause actual events, performance or results to differ significantly from any anticipated development. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release regarding past trends or activities are not guarantees of future performance and should not be taken as a representation that such trends or activities will continue in the future. In addition, even if actual results or developments are consistent with the forward-looking statements contained in this press release, those results or developments may not be indicative of results or developments in future periods. No representations and warranties are made as to the accuracy or fairness of such forward-looking statements. As a result, the Company expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements in this press release as a result of any change in expectations or any change in events, conditions, assumptions or circumstances on which these forward-looking statements are based, except if specifically required to do so by law or regulation. Neither the Company nor its advisers or representatives nor any of its subsidiary undertakings or any such person's officers or employees guarantees that the assumptions underlying such forward-looking statements are free from errors nor does either accept any responsibility for the future accuracy of the forward-looking statements contained in this press release or the actual occurrence of the forecasted developments. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 11, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Prime Mining Corp. (Prime, or the Company) (TSX.V: PRYM) (OTCQX: PRMNF) (Frankfurt: O4V3) is pleased to report its operating and financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2023. Unless otherwise stated, all amounts are presented in Canadian dollars. Prime is focused on the exploration and development of its wholly owned high-grade Los Reyes Gold-Silver Project in Sinaloa State, Mexico (Los Reyes or the Project).

Prime released an updated mineral resource estimate (MRE1) for the Los Reyes Gold-Silver Project on May 2, 2023 that included Prime drilling results through December 2022. The MRE contains 1.47 million Indicated gold equivalent (AuEq2) ounces at a 1.68 grams per tonne (gpt) average grade. This is 1.0 million ounces of gold at 1.16 gpt and 35 million ounces of silver at 40.4 gpt. The MRE also contains 0.73 million Inferred AuEq ounces at a 1.26 gpt average grade. This is 0.5 million ounces of gold at 0.85 gpt and 18.4 million ounces of silver at 31.5 gpt. The MRE areas remain open along strike and at depth.

Prime is executing an expanded drilling program during 2023 of up to 60,000 metres (m). Prime has already drilled over 20,000 m year-to-date. About one half of the planned 2023 drilling will occur down dip and along strike within the MRE areas and the other half at multiple new target areas such as Las Primas, Fresnillo, Zapote 300 and the Orito trend.

With a current cash balance of $45.5 million, Prime is funded for the increased exploration drilling program in 2023 and for its expected similar-sized drill program in 2024. Work will also continue in technical areas such as ongoing metallurgical test work and geotechnical assessments.

Corporate Highlights During the Quarter

On February 15th, the Company announced granting of incentive securities;

700,000 incentive stock options at price of $1.97 per share granted to management.

307,328 deferred share units granted to board of directors.

On April 11th, the Company announced the acceleration of the expiry date of warrants issued as part of the December 22, 2022 financing. A total of 14,025,410 warrants were exercised for gross proceeds of $28,050,820.

Appointment

Effective April 24, 2023, the Company also announces the appointment of Ms. Indi Gopinathan as Vice President of Capital Markets and Business Development. Her responsibilities include leading Investor Relations functions for the Company and supporting corporate and business development opportunity assessments, in addition to technical leadership in advancing our understanding of the Los Reyes Project.

Ms. Gopinathan started her career with the Falconbridge/Noranda group, before moving on to equity research, senior corporate roles, independent consulting and teaching. She was most recently Vice President, Investor Relations & Corporate Communications at IAMGOLD, responsible for corporate marketing strategy and communications. She joins Prime with a range of experience across the mining industry life cycle: through the exploration, project development and operating stages, and from the perspectives of engineering, logistics, information technology, finance and capital markets. Ms. Gopinathan currently serves on the board of Ascot Resources. Outside of industry, she is a dedicated volunteer, elected in 2022 to the Governing Council of the University of Toronto. Ms. Gopinathan holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Toronto and an MBA from Queens University. She is a designated P.Eng. and CPA, CMA (both Ontario).

Exploration Highlights During the Quarter

On January 11th, the Company announced multiple high-grade intercepts in the Z-T area including bonanza grade intervals, as well as additional drill hole results.

Highlight intercepts include:

10.00 gpt Au and 131.0 gpt Ag over 3.1 m estimated true width (etw), including 28.5 gpt Au and 310.0 gpt Ag over 1.1 m etw;

4.7 gpt Au and 103.0 gpt Ag over 8.7 m etw, including 39.6 gpt Au and 174.0 gpt Ag over 0.7 m etw;

2.7 gpt Au and 451.0 gpt Ag over 4.8 m etw including 4.8 gpt Au and 821 gpt Ag over 2.3 m etw.

On February 7th, the Company announced its 2023 drill program to focus on continued resource expansion and renewed focus on known early-stage exploration targets with a plan for 35,000 m drilling initially. During the quarter, the company subsequently increased the planned 2023 drill program up to 45,000 m.

On February 27th, the Company announced discovery holes in several new gold- and silver- bearing areas with results confirming high potential exploration targets to drive continued expansion beyond existing resource.

Highlight intercepts include:

Fresnillo Area: 1.4 gpt Au and 18.0 gpt Ag over 15.8 m etw, including 4.7 gpt Au and 48.0 gpt Ag over 2.9 m etw;

Fresnillo Area: 1.3 gpt Au and 13.0 gpt Ag over 5.5 m etw, including 7.5 gpt Au and 53.0 gpt Ag over 0.8 m etw and 0.88 gpt Au and 36.0 gpt Ag over 4.6 m etw;

Orito Area: 1.0 gpt Au and 2.5 gpt Ag over 4.7 m etw, including 2.2 gpt Au and 4.4 gpt Ag over 1.5 m etw;

Mariposa Area: 4.9 gpt Au and 22.0 gpt Ag over 34.7 m etw including 41.5 gpt Au and 40.0 gpt Ag over 1.5 m etw.

Maintaining Health and Safety Protocols

The Company continues to successfully mitigate the impact of Covid-19 on operations. To-date Covid-19 has not had a material effect on the Companys activities. Prime remains engaged with local stakeholders and is proactive in monitoring employees and contractors during this uncertain period. The Company continues to closely adhere to the directives of all levels of government and relevant health authorities in Mexico and Canada.

Changes to Mining Laws in Mexico

On April 29, 2023, the Mexican government approved a bill amending several laws relating to mining concessions and on May 8th published the approved laws in the Official Gazette. The Company is reviewing details on these amendments to determine the impact, if any, on the Companys operations.

Community Engagement and Environmental Stewardship Strategy

We continued to gather environmental and community data in the quarter to help support our ESG programs, including completion of a materiality assessment, strategic plan and disclosure matrix. We strive to minimize the environmental impact of our activities and ensure that Los Reyes has a positive impact on our host communities.

The Company released its initial sustainability report during April 2023 which establishes a baseline and a new yardstick to measure our progress in meeting our commitments regarding sustainability and stewardship of the environment, relevant social issues and corporate governance.

Selected Financial Data

The following selected financial data is summarized from the Companys consolidated financial statements and related notes thereto (the Financial Statements) for the three months ended March 31, 2023 and 2022. A copy of the Financial Statements and MD&A is available at www.primeminingcorp.ca or on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Three months endedMarch 31, 2023 Three months endedMarch 31, 2022 Loss and comprehensive loss $5,995,467 $8,038,370 Loss per share  basic and diluted $0.05 $0.07

March 31, 2023 December 31, 2022 Cash $19,240,951 $23,811,434 Total assets $33,829,051 $38,105,206 Total current liabilities $1,140,878 $1,209,140 Total liabilities $2,013,629 $2,092,161 Total shareholders equity $31,815,422 $36,013,045

Notes

Resource estimate is based on economically constrained pits using a $US 1700/ounce gold price, $US 22/ounce silver price, and an assumed 0.22 g/T gold cutoff grade. For more information and other assumptions, please see Primes May 2, 2022 press release, or our website. Gold equivalent grades are calculated as in-situ contained grades, applying the assumed ratio of gold to silver prices using the following formula: AuEq grade (gpt) = Gold grade (gpt) + Silver grade (gpt) x ($US 22 / $US 1700). Relative recoveries are not considered in the in-situ contained grade estimate but are assumed to have mill recoveries of 93% and 83% for gold and silver, respectively and heap leach recoveries of 73% and 25% for gold and silver, respectively. For more information and other assumptions, please see Primes May 2, 2022 press release, or our website.

Qualified Person

Scott Smith, P.Geo., Executive Vice President of Exploration, is a qualified person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the technical content in this news release.

Los Reyes Gold and Silver Project

Los Reyes is a rapidly evolving high-grade, low sulphidation epithermal gold-silver project located in Sinaloa State, Mexico. Historic operating results indicate that an estimated 1 million ounces of gold and 60 million ounces of silver were recovered from five separate operations at Los Reyes between 1770 and 1990. Prior to Primes acquisition, recent operators of Los Reyes had spent approximately US$20 million on exploration, engineering, and prefeasibility studies. The Project remains underexplored and holds potential for additional discovery and resource expansion.

Since acquiring Los Reyes in 2019, Prime has spent approximately US$30 million on direct exploration activities and has completed two phases of comprehensive drilling totaling over 110,000 m. Results to date suggest the three known main deposit areas, Guadalupe, Central and Z-T are much larger than previously reported. Potential exists for new discoveries outside of the current defined resource areas.

About Prime MiningPrime Mining is an ideal mix of successful mining executives, strong capital markets personnel, and experienced local operators focused on unlocking the full potential of the high-grade Los Reyes Gold-Silver Project in Mexico. Prime Mining has a well-planned capital structure with significant team and insider ownership.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Daniel KunzChief Executive Officer

For further information, please contact:

Daniel KunzChief Executive Officer and DirectorPrime Mining Corp.1307 S. Colorado Ave.Boise, Idaho 83706Telephone: +1 (208) 926-6379 officeemail: [email protected]

Scott HicksExecutive Vice PresidentPrime Mining Corp.710  1030 West Georgia StreetVancouver, BC, V6E 2Y3Telephone: +1 (604) 428-6128 officeemail: [email protected]

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward Looking Information

This news release contains certain forward-looking information and forward-looking statements within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation as may be amended from time to time, including, without limitation, statements regarding the perceived merit of the Companys properties, including additional exploration potential of Los Reyes, potential quantity and/or grade of minerals, the potential size of the mineralized zone, metallurgical recoveries, the timing and results of permitting and the Companys exploration and development plans in Mexico. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts which address events, results, outcomes or developments that the Company expects to occur. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Companys management on the date the statements are made, and they involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Certain material assumptions regarding such forward-looking statements were made, including without limitation, assumptions regarding the price of gold, silver and copper; the accuracy of mineral resource estimations; that there will be no material adverse change affecting the Company or its properties; that all required approvals will be obtained, including concession renewals and permitting; that political and legal developments will be consistent with current expectations; that currency and exchange rates will be consistent with current levels; and that there will be no significant disruptions affecting the Company or its properties. Consequently, there can be no assurances that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Forward-looking statements involve significant known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. These risks include, but are not limited to: risks related to uncertainties inherent in the preparation of mineral resource estimates, including but not limited to changes to the cost assumptions, variations in quantity of mineralized material, grade or recovery rates, changes to geotechnical or hydrogeological considerations, failure of plant, equipment or processes, changes to availability of power or the power rates, ability to maintain social license, changes to interest or tax rates, changes in project parameters, delays and costs inherent to consulting and accommodating rights of local communities, environmental risks, title risks, including concession renewal, commodity price and exchange rate fluctuations, risks relating to COVID-19, delays in or failure to receive access agreements or amended permits, risks inherent in the estimation of mineral resources; and risks associated with executing the Companys objectives and strategies, including costs and expenses, as well as those risk factors discussed in the Companys most recently filed managements discussion and analysis, as well as its annual information form dated April 22, 2022, available on www.sedar.com. Except as required by the securities disclosure laws and regulations applicable to the Company, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements if managements beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change.

Source: Prime Mining Corp.
LOS ANGELES, CA , May 12, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A new NFT project is set to launch in May, featuring 1000 hand-drawn pieces that will come together to form one grand canvas. The project aims to raise awareness about the plight of the Uyghur people who are being detained in Chinese concentration camps.

Each of the 1000 pieces in the project will be available to purchase through NFTs, with all proceeds going towards supporting Uyghur communities and promoting awareness of the ongoing humanitarian crisis. The project is a collaboration of talented artists who share the belief that art can serve as a powerful tool for advocacy and social justice.

The Uyghur community has suffered greatly from the Chinese government's oppressive policies, with over a million Uyghurs being held in detention camps, where they have been subjected to torture, forced labor, and other disturbing human rights abuses. The goal of the NFT project is to draw attention to this crisis and encourage people to take action to prevent further human rights violations.

The grand canvas, consisting of 1000 pieces, will tell the story of the Uyghur community and their struggles for freedom, justice, and human dignity. By purchasing a piece of the canvas, individuals can make a meaningful contribution to the cause and show their support for the Uyghur people.

The Uyghur NFT project will be launched in May and will be available for purchase through the Discord server or the official website at 1000angels.xyz For more information about the project and to learn how you can support the Uyghur cause, visit the website today.

About the Company:

This NFT project is a collaboration of talented artists who share the belief that art can serve as a powerful tool for advocacy and social justice. The project aims to raise awareness about the plight of the Uyghur people who are being detained in Chinese concentration camps. Proceeds will be donated to support Uyghur communities and promote awareness of the ongoing crisis.

Media Contact:Abduaziz Mirza[email protected]https://1000angels.xyz/

Abduaziz Mirza The Uyghur NFT contact at 1000angels.xyz

Source: 1000angels
Company invites individual and institutional investors, as well as advisors, to attend interactive, real-time virtual event

ROTTERDAM, The Netherlands, May 12, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Royal KPN N.V. (KPN KON) based in Rotterdam, and focused on Telecommunications, today announced that KPN, Senior Investor Relations Officer Matthijs van Leijenhorst will present at the dbVIC - Deutsche Bank American Depositary Receipt (ADR) Virtual Investor Conference on May 17. This virtual investor conference is aimed exclusively at introducing global companies with ADR programs to investors.



DATE: May 17, 2023 TIME: 16:00 CET / 10:00 AM ET LINK: https://bit.ly/3KUQcoL

This will be a live, interactive online event where investors are invited to ask the company questions in real-time. If attendees are not able to join the event live on the day of the conference, an archived webcast will also be made available after the event.

It is recommended that investors pre-register and run the online system check to expedite participation and receive event updates.

Participation is free of charge.

About KPN

KPN has been the leading provider of telecommunications and IT services in the Netherlands for almost 140 years. Everyone in the Netherlands uses the KPN network on a daily basis, either directly or indirectly, from the high-speed fibre networks in the ground to payment card machines in shops, or the matrix boards above the motorways. Via the network of the Netherlands, in which KPN continuously invests by rolling out fibre and the introduction of new technologies such as the 5G mobile network, KPN serves consumers and business customers with services for telephony, data, television, internet-of-things, cloud, workplaces and security. KPN has an open network on which other providers also offer services. More information is available at www.kpn.com

About Virtual Investor Conferences

Virtual Investor Conferences (VIC) is the leading proprietary investor conference series that provides an interactive forum for publicly traded companies to seamlessly present directly to investors.

Providing a real-time investor engagement solution, VIC is specifically designed to offer companies more efficient investor access. Replicating the components of an on-site investor conference, VIC offers companies enhanced capabilities to connect with investors, schedule targeted one-on-one meetings and enhance their presentations with dynamic video content. Accelerating the next level of investor engagement, Virtual Investor Conferences delivers leading investor communications to a global network of retail and institutional investors.

Contacts

Royal KPN N.V.

Reinout van Ierschot

Head of Investor Relations

+31 70 4460986

[email protected]

Virtual Investor Conferences

John M. Viglotti

SVP Corporate Services, Investor Access

OTC Markets Group

(212) 220-2221

[email protected]
MISSISSAUGA, Ontario, May 12, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Samsung Electronics Canada today announced the Flex Your Design contest, inviting participants from across Canada to showcase their personal style by submitting their unique case designs for the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4. Contest entrants will compete for a chance to win 1 of 3 epic Galaxy prize packs including a cash prize of $2,500, a Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4, a Galaxy Watch5, and a Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra1.

Smartphones have become one of our most expressive accessories, helping to keep us connected and tell our stories. The Galaxy Z Flip4 was designed to spotlight these experiences, unlocking new and exciting opportunities for storytelling and personal expression.

At Samsung, we are inspired by our customers who are embracing and celebrating their differences - from the way they dress to how they express themselves online, said Raj Doshi, Head of Mobile Business at Samsung Electronics Canada. We believe technology should reflect unique user personality and needs - the Galaxy Z Flip4 and Flex Your Design contest is a platform for Canadians to have a part in that.

Through the Flex Your Design Contest, Samsung Canada hopes to inspire and champion creative expression, amplified by partnerships with Canadian artists including Ben Johnston from Toronto, Pony from Montreal and Mega McGrath from Vancouver who have also designed cases for the Galaxy Z Flip4 inspired by their individual artistic styles.

Speaking on the collaboration, multi-disciplinary creative Ben Johnston stated, This phone [the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4] has definitely a nostalgic feel and its foldable feature brings back memories! However, I had to really reflect on my concept: the challenge was to design an image that would be folded. Im very pleased with the design and I think the case enhances the phones experience!

Painter and multi-disciplinary designer, Mega McGrath was also inspired by the innovative design and technology behind the Galaxy Z Flip4: I like ideas that challenge norms and push boundaries, as well as provide a bit of nostalgia. The partnership with Samsung Canada to create an exclusive phone case was a way for me to embrace and collaborate with innovative technologies, while providing an opportunity to encourage young people to explore their own creativity.

Montreal artist Gabrielle Laila Tittley (aka Pony) believes that creativity makes life magical, which is why she is excited to partner with Samsung Canada to inspire that magic. Art brings people together and can act as the voice of a generation. Through the Flex Your Design contest, we hope to bring young people together through art while still celebrating their unique creative voice.

Whether capturing epic dance moves, taking a group or solo selfie, or just exploring a new angle or perspective, do away with tripods and check out FlexCam. Its as simple as putting the Galaxy Z Flip4 in Flex Mode, adjusting to your desired angle and then setting it down for a versatile, hands-free camera experience. Video calling is also easier with FlexCam and dual screen opportunities on Google Duo.

In addition, the Galaxy Z Flip4 provides a plethora of personalization opportunities. Its sleek design is case-customizable to match your individual style, and the Cover Screen allows you to further express yourself: use your own videos, photos or GIFs to personalize the clock face to best match your unique needs.

Canadians interested in participating in the contest can submit their designs today, May 12, 2023 until June 20, 2023 for a chance to win 1 of 3 epic Galaxy prize packs consisting of a cash prize for $2,500, a Galaxy Z Flip4, a Galaxy Watch5, and a Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra2.

Visit http://www.samsung.com/flexyourdesign, download the Galaxy Z Flip4 template, create your unique case design and upload alongside your details before June 20, 2023 for a chance to win. Entrants must be 16 years or older to enter.

For more information on the latest Samsung Galaxy news and offerings, please visit www.samsung.com/ca

About Samsung Electronics Canada Inc.

Samsung Electronics Canada inspires Canadians to reach their full potential through a transformative ecosystem of products and services that deliver innovation and distinct design to every aspect of their connected lives. The company is redefining the worlds of TVs, smartphones, and wearable devices, tablets and digital appliances. In 2022, Samsung was ranked as one of Canada's "Most Reputable Companies" by Leger, named one of Canadas Top 100 Employers and placed first on Forbes 'The World's Best Employers' list. Dedicated to helping make a difference in the lives of Canadians, Samsung's award-winning corporate giving initiatives support public education and health-related issues in communities across the country. To discover more, please visit www.Samsung.ca.

Follow Samsung Canada at facebook.com/SamsungCanada, on Instagram @samsungcanada or on Twitter @SamsungCanada.

Media contactShalynn Mortillaro, Account Manager, North Strategic647-614-1737[email protected]

1 There is a total of three (3) prize packages available to be won (collectively, the Prizes and each individually a Prize) each consisting of a $2500 cash prize (by way of a cheque) plus a Galaxy Prize Pack made up of a Galaxy Z Flip4 smartphone, Galaxy Watch5 smartwatch, and a Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra (valued at $3,719.97 based on MSRP) each selected by the Sponsor.2 There is a total of three (3) prize packages available to be won (collectively, the Prizes and each individually a Prize) each consisting of a $2500 cash prize (by way of a cheque) plus a Galaxy Prize Pack made up of a Galaxy Z Flip4 smartphone, Galaxy Watch5 smartwatch, and a Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra (valued at $3,719.97 based on MSRP) each selected by the Sponsor.

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/846a0c86-274e-4d60-b859-e3df99971fb4https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/4b791b3c-4475-4b78-82c6-9f53ecd2708bhttps://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b36046f6-b307-46bf-b3e1-ca687f1294fe

Ben Johnston for Samsung Canada Flex Your Design Multi-disciplinary creative, Ben Johnston shows off the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 case he designed as part of the Samsung Canada Flex Your Design contest Mega McGrath for Samsung Canada Flex Your Design Multi-disciplinary designer, Mega McGrath works on her Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 case for the Samsung Canada Flex Your Design contest, inspired by the devices innovative technology and nostalgia factor. Pony for Samsung Canada Flex Your Design Montreal artist, Gabrielle Laila Tittley (aka Pony) works on her Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 case for the Samsung Canada Flex Your Design campaign, hopes to bring Canadians together by flexing their own creativity

Source: Samsung Canada
WINNIPEG, Manitoba, May 12, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- (TSX Symbol: NWC): The North West Company Inc. (North West) will hold its Annual General Meeting of Shareholders on Wednesday, June 7, 2023, at 11:30 a.m. (Central Time) (the Meeting) by virtualonly meeting via live audio webcast online at https://web.lumiagm.com/434747831. The webcast will be archived and available at www.northwest.ca.

North West is also hosting a conference call for its first quarter results on June 7, 2023, at 2:00 p.m. (Central Time). To access the call, please dial 1-800-952-5114 or 416-641-6104 with a pass code of 7008952#. The conference call will be archived and can be accessed on or before July 7, 2023, by dialing 1-800-408-3053 or 905-694-9451 with a pass code of 4665813#.

Corporate Profile

The North West Company Inc., through its subsidiaries, is a leading retailer of food and everyday products and services to rural communities and urban neighbourhoods in Canada, Alaska, the South Pacific and the Caribbean. North West operates 226 stores under the trading names Northern, NorthMart, Giant Tiger, Alaska Commercial Company, Cost-U-Less and RiteWay Food Markets and has annualized sales of approximately CAD$2.2 billion.

For further information, please contact: Amanda E. Sutton, Vice President, Legal and Corporate Secretary of The North West Company Inc. at (204) 934-1756, email [email protected].

Visit: www.northwest.ca

Source: The North West Company Inc
Highlights:

High grade gold in rock chip samples from Parisian Target Area including one sample of 11.75g/t gold.

Two zones have so far been detected from assay results.

Parisian Target only 900m along strike from historical Pilot Mine.

Historical workings located within the two zones.

Close proximity to infrastructure and Southern Cross township.

Perth, Australia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 12, 2023) - Altan Rio Minerals Limited (TSXV: AMO) ("Altan Rio Minerals" or the "Company") is pleased to announce further high-grade gold (Au) assay results from rock chip samples at its Southern Cross tenements in Western Australia, including one sample of 11.75g/t Au.

The sampling program focused on the Parisian Target Area, approximately 900m north and directly along strike from the historical Pilot open pit gold mine.

The Company recently received results from a further eight rock chip samples at the Parisian Target Area, the first target tested at the SX North Project in 2023.

Of particular interest, the geochemical assay results from the samples have so far detected two zones along strike of Pilot. Both these zones will be further tested in the short-term. (See Figure 1 and 2)





Figure 1: Location of rock chip sample results over 1 g/t at Parisian Target

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/8288/165939_4cffe633d46438fb_001full.jpg





Figure 2: Rock chip sample results highlight two zones at Parisian Target

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/8288/165939_4cffe633d46438fb_002full.jpg

Geochemical assay results from the eight additional rock chip samples received included the following results:

SXP001 - 11.75 g/t

SXP006 - 1.07 g/t

SXP007 - 0.12 g/t

SXP005 - 0.05 g/t

SXP008 - 0.02 g/t

SXP002 - 0.02 g/t

SXP003 - 0.01 g/t

SXP009 - 0.01 g/t

The samples reported on were collected and analysed using standard techniques for the Australia gold exploration industry.

Altan Rio previously announced mineralised gold results from five surface rock chip samples collected at the Parisian Target1:

JC102 - 2.66 g/t Au

SX028 - 2.14 g/t Au

JC101 - 1.49 g/t Au

SX027 - 0.70 g/t Au

SX026 - 0.26 g/t Au

Commenting on the exploration update, Altan Rio Minerals Chairman and Interim CEO, Graeme Sloan said:

"These latest assay results from an additional eight rock chip samples, which include one sample of 11.75g/t gold, at the Parisian gold target is further evidence of the high prospectivity for gold resources in the SX North Project and our broader Southern Cross tenements. Our focus now is to continue to identify surface targets which will be followed up with an initial RC drill program planned for later this year."

The Parisian target is being reviewed against geophysical anomalies and other information from existing ore bodies within the close proximity of Parisian.

Graeme Sloan continued,"The company is in an enviable position with multiple drill ready targets already identified by our technical team. Prioritising these targets is now being vigorously reviewed. Further updates will be provided to the market when the drill program has been finalised."

Corporate Appointment

The Company has recently boosted its Executive Team with the appointment of Nick Madders to the position of Company Secretary.

Nick has been the General Counsel of a large mining services company since early 2021 and has also held the role of company secretary there since early 2022.

He has extensive experience in M&A and corporate compliance, having spent 5 years working at Gilbert + Tobin in one of Australia's top tier transactions teams.

Since entering the mining industry in early 2021, Nick has successfully led and completed transactions in the gold, lithium and base metals markets.

Chief Operating Officer, Josh Conner said, "Nick Madders expertise will be instrumental in advancing our ASX listing and reinforcing the company's position. We are pleased to have him as part of our team."

On behalf of Altan Rio Minerals Limited

Graeme Sloan

Executive Chairman / Interim CEO

Email: [email protected]

+61 9322 1788

John L C Jones AM

Director

Email: [email protected]

+61 9322 1788

Media

David Tasker

Chapter One Advisors

Email: [email protected]

+61 433 112 936

Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking Information

This release may contain forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements of Altan Rio to be materially different from any future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations and beliefs but given the uncertainties, assumptions and risks, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements or information. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements, and Altan Rio undertakes no obligation to update such statements, except as required by law. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Qualified Person

Mr. Neal Leggo, a member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists (MAIG) and an independent Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, is responsible for the preparation of the technical content regarding the Southern Cross North Project contained in this document. Mr. Leggo is a Principal Geological Consultant with Indeport Pty Ltd. Mr Leggo has reviewed and approved the technical disclosure in this news release.

QA/QC procedures include Certified Reference Materials and/or Intertek Genalysis in-house controls, banks and replicates are analysed with each batch of samples at Intertek Genalysis 544 Bickley Road, Maddington WA 6109.

1Refer to TSX-V announcement dated April 12, 2023 for further information.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/165939
Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, presides over a meeting on promoting the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, in Shijiazhuang, north China's Hebei Province, May 12, 2023. On Thursday and Friday, Xi inspected Hebei Province and presided over a meeting on promoting the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. (Xinhua/Shen Hong)

SHIJIAZHUANG, May 12 (Xinhua) -- President Xi Jinping has called for efforts to reach new heights in the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and to make it a pioneer and example in pursuing Chinese modernization.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks as he inspected Hebei Province and presided over a meeting on promoting the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

On Thursday and Friday, Xi went to the cities of Cangzhou and Shijiazhuang, where he visited the countryside and places including a port and a research institute.

On Thursday morning, Xi visited Cangzhou City, where he learned about the cultivation of crops that are tolerant of drought and high alkalinity at a wheat field.

Xi stressed the need to prioritize the comprehensive use of saline-alkali land, leverage the key role of scientific and technological innovation, expand the cultivation area of suitable crops and develop the intensive processing of farm products.

Later in the day, Xi visited a coal port area of Huanghua Port.

Xi noted the unique locational advantages and convenient shipping conditions of Hebei Province, underscoring the need to upgrade Hebei's ports and optimize their functional layout to play a bigger role in promoting coordinated regional economic development and developing a modern industrial system.

Xi urged the development of Huanghua Port into a modern hub port with multiple functions.

On Friday morning, Xi visited a research institute of China Electronics Technology Group Corporation in Shijiazhuang City. He entered a workshop to observe the chip production process, stressing the need for new breakthroughs in core technologies in key fields.

Xi encouraged researchers to achieve consistent progress in grasping cutting-edge technologies and developing more technological and engineering equipment and projects of great significance.

Later, Xi visited the planning exhibition hall of a biomedical industry park, where he emphasized the importance of strengthening basic research and scientific innovation capacity to keep the lifeline of the biomedical industry firmly in China's own hands.

To achieve this, he called for more research and development of medicines that fit into the genetic and physical characteristics of the Chinese population.

On Friday afternoon, Xi chaired a meeting on promoting the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

During the meeting, he called on Hebei to focus on the primary task of high-quality development and the strategic task of creating a new development pattern to accelerate building the province into an economic powerhouse with a sound environment.

Since the 19th CPC National Congress in 2017, new and remarkable progress has been achieved in the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, especially in the Xiong'an New Area, Xi said.

It has been proven that the CPC Central Committee's major regional development strategies meet the need for the country's high-quality development in the new era, he said, describing the strategies as effective channels for advancing Chinese modernization.

Xi called for solid and orderly efforts to relieve Beijing of functions non-essential to its role as the national capital, urging the planning for the relocation to Xiong'an of another batch of the headquarters of centrally-administered state-owned enterprises in Beijing as well as their subsidiary companies and units of innovation operation.

Work should be done to restrain Beijing's functions non-essential to its role as the national capital from increasing, Xi said.

He called for more progress in developing both the Beijing municipal administrative center and Xiong'an to effectively rid Beijing of "big city malaise."

Xi said the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, with a number of first-rate colleges and universities and abundant high-end research talent, has a solid foundation of innovation.

The region should play an exemplary role in achieving greater self-reliance and strength in science and technology, he said, calling for accelerated efforts to build Beijing into a major hub for independent and original innovation.

Xi stressed the necessity of reinforcing the principal role of enterprises in innovation and cultivating a group of leading innovative enterprises with international competitiveness that hold independent intellectual property rights.

Xi urged efforts to consolidate and enlarge the foundation of the real economy, stressing that strategic emerging industries such as integrated circuit, cyber security, biomedicine, power equipment and emergency response equipment should be the first priority. He also called for efforts to build world-class advanced manufacturing industrial clusters.

The coordinated development in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region should ultimately improve the people's wellbeing and promote common prosperity, Xi said, adding that constant efforts should be made to enhance the people's sense of fulfillment, happiness and security.

Xi stressed the need to promote key ecological conservation and restoration projects such as the sand control belts in northern China and major ecological projects such as the building of ecological shields.

Xi urged efforts to further accelerate the development of transportation and other infrastructure, as well as efforts to advance intra-regional coordination.

Beijing's edge in scientific and technological innovation should be combined with Tianjin's strength in advanced manufacturing research and development, Xi said, calling for strengthening joint efforts to achieve breakthroughs in core technologies in key fields.

Xi urged efforts to help eligible areas in Hebei absorb the scientific and technological spillovers from Beijing and Tianjin as well as the transfer of industries. He also called for building the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region into a national pacesetter in opening-up.

Xi stressed the need to further enhance the political and organizational role of Party organizations at various levels to provide a strong guarantee for the coordinated development of the region.

Premier Li Qiang and Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang, both members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, attended the meeting. Cai Qi, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and director of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee, accompanied Xi in the inspection trip and attended the meeting.

In his remarks, Li Qiang urged efforts to advance the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region more effectively and efficiently, focus on relieving Beijing of functions non-essential to its role as the national capital, and ensure notable results will be achieved in landmark projects in the process.

Ding Xuexiang called for persistent endeavor to prevent and control air pollution and bring the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region to a new level.

The blind development of energy-intensive projects with high emissions and backward production capacity must be curbed, said Ding. He also urged redoubled efforts in developing new and clean energy and preventing and controlling pollution. 

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, presides over a meeting on promoting the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, in Shijiazhuang, north China's Hebei Province, May 12, 2023. On Thursday and Friday, Xi inspected Hebei Province and presided over a meeting on promoting the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. (Xinhua/Li Xueren)

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, learns about the cultivation of crops tolerant of drought and alkalinity in a wheat field in Cangzhou, north China's Hebei Province, May 11, 2023. Xi on Thursday visited the city of Cangzhou in north China's Hebei Province. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, learns about the cultivation of crops tolerant of drought and alkalinity in a wheat field in Cangzhou, north China's Hebei Province, May 11, 2023. Xi on Thursday visited the city of Cangzhou in north China's Hebei Province. (Xinhua/Li Xueren)

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, learns about the cultivation of crops tolerant of drought and alkalinity in a wheat field in Cangzhou, north China's Hebei Province, May 11, 2023. Xi on Thursday visited the city of Cangzhou in north China's Hebei Province. (Xinhua/Li Xueren)

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, visits a coal port to learn about its operation and development planning in Cangzhou, north China's Hebei Province, May 11, 2023. Xi on Thursday visited the city of Cangzhou in north China's Hebei Province. (Xinhua/Li Xueren)

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, visits a coal port to learn about its operation and development planning in Cangzhou, north China's Hebei Province, May 11, 2023. Xi on Thursday visited the city of Cangzhou in north China's Hebei Province. (Xinhua/Li Xueren)

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, visits a research institute of China Electronics Technology Group Corporation in Shijiazhuang, north China's Hebei Province, May 12, 2023. On Thursday and Friday, Xi inspected Hebei Province and presided over a meeting on promoting the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. (Xinhua/Yan Yan)

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, visits a workshop of a research institute of China Electronics Technology Group Corporation in Shijiazhuang, north China's Hebei Province, May 12, 2023. On Thursday and Friday, Xi inspected Hebei Province and presided over a meeting on promoting the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. (Xinhua/Shen Hong)

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, visits the planning exhibition hall of a biomedical industry park in Shijiazhuang, north China's Hebei Province, May 12, 2023. On Thursday and Friday, Xi inspected Hebei Province and presided over a meeting on promoting the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. (Xinhua/Yan Yan)

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, talks with researchers while visiting a research institute of China Electronics Technology Group Corporation in Shijiazhuang, north China's Hebei Province, May 12, 2023. On Thursday and Friday, Xi inspected Hebei Province and presided over a meeting on promoting the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. (Xinhua/Yan Yan)
Vaughan, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - May 12, 2023) - Delota Corp. (TSXV: LOTA) ("Delota" or the "Company"), an established Canadian vape and cannabis retailer, is pleased to announce that the Company has received confirmation from the Canadian Securities Exchange (the "CSE") that the common shares of the Company are expected to commence trading on the CSE effective at market open on May 15, 2023.

In connection with the listing of its common shares on the CSE, the Company has submitted a request to voluntarily delist its common shares from TSX Venture Exchange ("TSXV"). The TSXV delisting is expected to be effective at the close of the market on May 16, 2023.

The Company's trading symbol "LOTA" will remain unchanged, and shareholders will not be required to take any action in connection with the CSE listing.

About Delota Corp.

Delota is an established vape and cannabis retailer that curates and sells vape and nicotine-related products, other smoking cessation products, cannabis products, and accessories where regulations permit. The Company currently operates 28 brick-and-mortar specialty vape stores in Ontario under the 180 Smoke Vape Store banner name, a leading Canada-wide specialty vape e-commerce platform (www.180smoke.ca), and five licensed dispensaries under the Offside Cannabis banner name in Ontario.

For further information, please contact:

Delota Corp.

Cameron Wickham

Executive Vice Chair and CEO

T: (905) 330-1602

E: [email protected]

Neither the TSXV nor its Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements or information." Forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as: anticipate, intend, plan, goal, seek, believe, project, estimate, expect, strategy, future, likely, may, should, will and similar references to future periods. Examples of forward-looking statements in this press release include, among others, the anticipated date that the common shares of the Company will be delisted from the TSXV and statements regarding information about future plans, expectations and overall objectives of the Company.

Forward-looking statements are neither historical facts nor assurances of future performance. Instead, they are based only on our current beliefs, expectations, and assumptions regarding the future of our business, future plans, and strategies, projections, anticipated events and trends, the economy and other future conditions. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict and many of which are outside of our control. Our actual results and financial condition may differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements. Therefore, you should not rely on any of these forward-looking statements. The Company may not actually achieve its plans, projections, or expectations. The forward-looking statements and information are based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by the Company. Important factors that could cause our actual results and financial condition to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements include, among others, the following: the Company not being unable to grow its retail footprint, the adequacy of our cash flow and earnings, the availability of future financing and/or credit, developments and changes in laws and regulations, the impact of Covid-19 or other viruses and diseases on the Company's ability to operate, consumer sentiment towards the Company's products, failure of counterparties to perform their contractual obligations, government regulations, competition, loss of key employees and consultants, and general economic, market or business conditions, the impact of technology and social changes on the products and industry, as well as those risk factors discussed or referred to in disclosure documents filed by the Company with the securities regulatory authorities in certain provinces of Canada and available at www.sedar.com. Given these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.

Any forward-looking statement made by us in this press release is based only on information currently available to us and speaks only as of the date on which it is made. Except as required by applicable securities laws, we undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/165910
Toronto, Ontario and Tel Aviv, Israel--(Newsfile Corp. - May 12, 2023) - NurExone Biologic Inc. (TSXV: NRX) (FSE: J90) (NRX.V) (the "Company" or "NurExone"), a biopharmaceutical company developing biologically-guided exosome therapy ("ExoTherapy") for patients with traumatic spinal cord injuries, announced that it has engaged Litchfield Hills Research, LLC ("Litchfield") to perform investor relations services and activities, as defined in accordance with the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange ("TSXV") and applicable securities laws.

Pursuant to the agreement with Litchfield, the Company will pay an annual cash fee of USD$14,000, of which USD$5,000 is payable upon entering into the agreement, with the remaining amount payable in three equal installments over the following nine months. Certain investor relations services may also be billed on an ad hoc basis. The term of the agreement is for one year, subject to termination by NurExone at any time without penalty. Litchfield does not own or control any securities of the Company. Litchfield operates out of Lakeville, Connecticut and is engaged to publish equity research on the Company on 15 global financial platforms and target its research to institutional investors who are invested in similar companies.

About NurExone Biologic Inc.

NurExone Biologic Inc. is a TSX Venture Exchange-listed pharmaceutical company that is developing a platform for biologically-guided ExoTherapy to be delivered, non-invasively, to patients who suffered traumatic spinal cord injuries.

ExoTherapy was conceptually demonstrated in animal studies at the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology. NurExone is translating the treatment to humans, and the Company holds an exclusive worldwide license from the Technion and Tel Aviv University for the development and commercialization of the technology.

For additional information, please visit www.nurexone.com or follow NurExone on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, or YouTube.

For further information, please contact:

Dr. Lior Shaltiel

Chief Executive Officer and Director

Phone: +972-52-4803034

Inbar Paz-Benayoun, Adv. Head of Communications and Investor Relations

Phone: +972-52-3966695

Email: [email protected]

Investor Relations (Canada)

Phone: +1 905-347-5569

Email: [email protected]

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" that reflect the Company's current expectations and projections about its future results. When used in this press release, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "may," or by such words as "will," "intend," "believe," "estimate," "consider," "expect," "anticipate," and "objective" and similar expressions or variations of such words. Forward-looking statements are, by their nature, not guarantees of the Company's future operational or financial performance and are subject to risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause the Company's actual results, performance, prospects, or opportunities to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements. No representation or warranty is intended with respect to anticipated future results, or that estimates, or projections will be sustained.

Forward-looking statements are necessarily based on estimates and assumptions made by us in light of our experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions, and expected future developments, as well as the factors we believe are appropriate. Forward-looking statements in this press release include, but are not limited to, statements relating to the engagement of Litchfield to perform investor relations services and the fees payable pursuant thereto. In developing the forward-looking statements in this press release, we have applied several material assumptions, including the term of the engagement with Litchfield and the services to be performed by Litchfield.

Many risks, uncertainties, and other factors could cause the actual results of the Company to differ materially from the results, performance, achievements, or developments expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties, and other factors include, but are not limited to, those risk factors identified under the heading "Risk Factors" on pages 62 to 69 of the Company's Filing Statement dated May 12, 2022, a copy of which is available under the Company's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of the press release or as of the date otherwise specifically indicated herein. Due to risks and uncertainties, events may differ materially from current expectations. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required pursuant to applicable securities law. All forward-looking statements contained in the press release are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/165846
Grass Valley, California--(Newsfile Corp. - May 12, 2023) - Rise Gold Corp. (CSE: RISE) (OTCQX: RYES) (the "Company" or "Rise Gold") announces the result of the Planning Commission hearing on the Idaho-Maryland Mine Project (the "IMM Project").

The Nevada County Planning Commission held a public hearing on May 10 and May 11, 2023 to consider the Final Environmental Impact Report (the "FEIR"). At the conclusion of the public hearing the Planning Commission recommended to the Nevada County Board of Supervisors that the FEIR not be certified and that the Use Permit be denied.

The remaining milestone in the Use Permit process, including the consideration of the FEIR will take place at a Board of Supervisors public hearing to consider and make a final decision on the IMM Project. A majority vote of the five supervisors is required for approval. The County has stated that the Board of Supervisors hearing will take place no sooner than August 2023.

About Rise Gold Corp.

Rise Gold is an exploration-stage mining company incorporated in Nevada, USA. The Company's principal asset is the historic past-producing Idaho-Maryland Gold Mine located in Nevada County, California, USA.

On behalf of the Board of Directors:

Benjamin Mossman

President, CEO and Director

Rise Gold Corp.

For further information, please contact:

RISE GOLD CORP.

Suite 215, 333 Crown Point Circle

Grass Valley, CA 95945

T: 530.433.0188

[email protected]

www.risegoldcorp.com

The CSE has not reviewed, approved or disapproved the contents of this news release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/165856
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 12, 2023) - Skyline Wealth Management Inc. - The Skyline Clean Energy Fund, offered by Skyline Wealth Management Inc., aims to provide stable returns by investing in sustainable Canadian solar and biogas infrastructure that is supported by long-term government and power purchase agreements. As Canada's population continues to grow and electrification of transportation increases, new energy investments become critical. Sustainable investing is growing, performing, and influencing the investment industry. When investing in clean energy, you're participating in an opportunity that may generate attractive returns, with far-reaching environmental benefits.





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https://www.b-tv.com/post/skyline-wealth-investing-in-sustainable-options-for-a-cleaner-future-btv-thought-leader-1-60sec

Skyline Wealth Management Inc.

https://skylinewealth.ca/

About CEO Clips:

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Contact: Trina Schlingmann (604) 664-7401 x 5 [email protected]

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/165572
Road Town, Tortola, British Virgin Islands--(Newsfile Corp. - May 12, 2023) - Talon Metals Corp. (TSX: TLO) ("Talon" or the "Company") reported a net loss for the three months ended March 31, 2023 of $0.6 million or nil per share (basic and diluted), which was primarily the result of administration expenses and stock option compensation offset by interest income. This compares to a net loss for the three months ended March 31, 2022 of $1.2 million or nil per share (basic and diluted), which was primarily the result of administration expenses and stock option compensation.

Capitalized exploration costs and deferred expenditures on the Tamarack Nickel-Copper-Cobalt Project for the three months ended March 31, 2023 amounted to $11.7 million. This compares to $16.2 million for the three months ended March 31, 2022. The total capitalized exploration cost to the Tamarack Nickel-Copper-Cobalt Project to March 31, 2023 amounts to $172.1 million.

Condensed Interim Consolidated Financial Statements for the three months ended March 31, 2023 and 2022, together with Management's Discussion and Analysis have been filed on SEDAR and are available at www.sedar.com.

All amounts are presented in Canadian dollars.

ABOUT TALON

Talon is a TSX-listed base metals company in a joint venture with Rio Tinto on the high-grade Tamarack Nickel-Copper-Cobalt Project located in central Minnesota. Talon's shares are also traded in the US over the OTC market under the symbol TLOFF. The Tamarack Nickel Project comprises a large land position (18km of strike length) with high-grade intercepts outside the current resource area. Talon has an earn-in right to acquire up to 60% of the Tamarack Nickel Project, and currently owns 51%. Talon is focused on (i) expanding and infilling its current high-grade nickel mineralization resource prepared in accordance with NI 43-101 to shape a mine plan for submission to Minnesota regulators, and (ii) following up on additional high-grade nickel mineralization in the Tamarack Intrusive Complex. Talon has an agreement with Tesla Inc. to supply it with 75,000 metric tonnes (165 million lbs) of nickel in concentrate (and certain by-products, including cobalt and iron) from the Tamarack Nickel Project over an estimated six-year period once commercial production is achieved. Talon has a neutrality and workforce development agreement in place with the United Steelworkers union. Talon's Battery Mineral Processing Facility in Mercer County was selected by the US Department of Energy for $114m funding grant from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Talon has well-qualified experienced exploration, mine development, external affairs and mine permitting teams.

For additional information on Talon, please visit the Company's website at www.talonmetals.com or contact:

Sean Werger

President

Talon Metals Corp.

Tel: (416) 361-9636 x102

Email: [email protected]

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/165980
Victoria, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 11, 2023) - Tiny Ltd. (formerly, WeCommerce Holdings Ltd.) (TSXV: TINY) ("Tiny" or "the "Company"), a leading provider of ecommerce enablement software and tools for merchants, today announced the financial results for the WeCommerce group of companies for the three-month period ended March 31, 2023 ("Q1 2023"). The financial results relate to the WeCommerce group of companies prior to the merger of WeCommerce Holdings Ltd. with Tiny Capital Ltd. which was completed on April 17, 2023 (the "Merger"). For further details regarding the Merger, please see the Company's management information circular dated March 6, 2023, a copy of which is available under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Currency amounts are expressed in Canadian dollars unless otherwise noted.

Q1 2023 Financial Results

For the three-month period

ended March 31, 2023 2022 Revenue Recurring subscription revenue 8,104,423 7,354,028 Digital goods revenue 4,523,329 3,745,630 Agency service revenue 937,314 994,101 13,565,066 12,093,759 Operating loss (2,525,927 ) (1,280,176 Net (loss)/income (4,315,842 ) 790,114 EBITDA1 530,909 4,493,740 EBITDA %1 4% 37% Adjusted EBITDA1 3,988,174 2,831,783 Adjusted EBITDA %1 29% 23% Cash provided by operating activities 1,218,038 3,907,178

Revenue in Q1 2023 was $13,565,066, an increase of $1,471,307 or 12% (5% on a constant currency basis) compared to Q1 2022.

Adjusted EBITDA ( 1) for Q1 2023 amounted to $3,988,174 or 29% of revenue, compared to $2,831,783 or 23% of revenue in Q1 2022.

for Q1 2023 amounted to $3,988,174 or 29% of revenue, compared to $2,831,783 or 23% of revenue in Q1 2022. Unrestricted cash on hand at March 31, 2023 was $9,129,722 compared to $10,946,852 on December 31, 2022. Total debt outstanding at March 31, 2023 was $46,590,824 compared to $46,935,066 on December 31, 2022.

Net loss was $4,315,842 in Q1 2023 compared to net income of $790,114 in Q1 2022. In Q1 2023, the Company experienced an increase in finance costs, acquisition related costs and severance. Acquisition related costs incurred include $2,467,468 related to the amalgamation transaction with Tiny Capital and severance of $650,503 was incurred as a result of restructuring of executive team in light of the pending transaction.

"WeCommerce, as a standalone entity, had a great start to 2023 with continued growth in both revenue and adjusted EBITDA," said Chris Sparling, Co-Chief Executive Officer. "We are excited for the next chapter of WeCommerce as the combination with Tiny is now complete. We are confident that the company is well positioned to capitalize on acquisition opportunities and to continue strategic investment in our now expanded portfolio."

Tiny is also pleased to announce that commencing market open on May 11, 2023, its common shares are now trading on the OTCQX International under the trading symbol TNYZF. U.S. investors can find current financial disclosure and Real-Time Level 2 quotes for the company on www.otcmarkets.com.

There will be no change to the Company's Canadian listing as the Company's common shares will continue to trade on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol TINY.

Financial Statements

Tiny has posted the consolidated financial statements and Management's Discussion and Analysis ("MD&A") for the WeCommerce group of companies with respect to Q1 2023 is available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Annual General Meeting

Tiny will host its Annual General Meeting and Investor Day at 11 a.m. PT on June 15, 2023 at the Fairmont Empress Hotel in Victoria, BC. Shareholders who plan on attending should RSVP here. Management and board members will be available to answer questions.

About Tiny

Tiny is a leading technology holding company with a strategy of acquiring majority stakes in wonderful businesses. Tiny has three core business segments, Beam, WeCommerce and Dribbble, with other standalone businesses including a private equity investment fund.

Beam, and its subsidiary companies including MetaLab, helps start-ups to Fortune 500 companies to design, build and ship premium digital products for both mobile and web. The Company's capabilities as an end-to-end product partner provide clients with intimate insight into end-user behavior, allowing for a thorough, strategy-led approach to product design, engineering, brand positioning and marketing.

WeCommerce provides merchants with a suite of ecommerce software tools to start and grow their online stores. Our family of companies and brands includes Pixel Union, Out of the Sandbox, KnoCommerce, Archetype, Yopify, SuppleApps, Rehash, Foursixty and Stamped. As one of Shopify's first partners since 2010, WeCommerce is focused on building, acquiring, and investing in leading technology businesses operating in the Shopify partner ecosystem.

Dribbble is a creative network and community that design professionals use to meet, collaborate, and showcase their work. Dribbble also hosts an online marketplace for graphics, fonts, templates, and other digital assets.

Other standalone businesses include several software and internet companies and the operation of a private equity fund where the Company serves as the general partner (the "Tiny Fund"). The Tiny Fund commenced operations in August 2020 and has total committed capital of US$150 million.

For more about Tiny, please visit www.tiny.com or refer to the public disclosure documents available under Tiny's SEDAR profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Company Contact:

David Charron

Chief Financial Officer

Phone: 416-418-3881

Email: [email protected]

Non-IFRS Financial Measures

This news release makes to reference to certain non-IFRS measures and ratios, hereafter, referred to as "non-IFRS measures". These measures are not recognised measures under IFRS, and do not have a standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS and are therefore unlikely to be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. Rather, these measures are provided as additional information to complement those IFRS measures by providing further understanding of the results of operations from management's perspective. Accordingly, these measures should not be considered in isolation nor as a substitute for analysis of the financial information reported under IFRS. The Company uses non-IFRS measures including "EBITDA", "EBITDA %", "Adjusted EBITDA", "Adjusted EBITDA %", and "Constant Currency". Management uses these non-IFRS measures to facilitate operating performance comparisons from period to period, to prepare annual operating budgets and forecasts and to determine components of management compensation. As required by Canadian securities laws, the Company defines and reconciles these non-IFRS measures below:

EBITDA and EBITDA %

EBITDA is defined as earnings (net income or loss) before finance costs, income taxes, depreciation and amortization. EBITDA is reconciled to net income (loss) from the financial statements.

EBITDA % ratio is determined by dividing EBITDA by total revenue for the year.

EBITDA and EBITDA % is frequently used to assess profitability before the impact of finance costs, income taxes, depreciation and amortization. Management uses non-IFRS measures in order to facilitate operating performance comparisons from period to period and to prepare annual operating budgets.. EBITDA and EBITDA % are measures commonly reported and widely used as a valuation metric.

Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA %

Adjusted EBITDA removes unusual, non-cash or non-operating items from EBITDA such as listing expenses, acquisition costs, restructuring charges, asset impairments, non-cash stock-based compensation, fair value adjustments to contingent consideration payable and foreign exchange gains and losses. The Company believes adjusted EBITDA provides improved continuity with respect to the comparison of its operating performance over a period of time. Adjusted EBITDA is reconciled to net income (loss) from the financial statements.

Adjusted EBITDA % is determined by dividing Adjusted EBITDA by total revenue for the year.

Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA % is frequently used by securities analysts and investors when evaluating a Company's ability to generate liquidity from the Company's core operations. It provides a consistent basis to evaluate profitability and performance trends by excluding items that the Company does not consider to be controllable activities for this purpose. Adjusted EBITDA and EBITDA % are measures commonly reported and widely used as a valuation metric.

Constant Currency

Constant currency is determined by applying the same foreign currency exchange rates to the financial results of the current and equivalent prior-year period. The Company's reporting currency is the Canadian dollar but we conduct business in Canadian, U.S. and Singapore dollars. The Company measures its performance before the impact of foreign currency. Constant currency is reconciled to revenue from the financial statements.

The Company believes Constant Currency allows for current financial performance to be understood against comparative periods without the impact of fluctuations in foreign exchange rates against the Canadian dollar.

NON-IFRS MEASURES RECONCILIATIONS

EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA

For the three-month period ended March 31, 2023 2022 Net (loss)/income (4,315,842 ) 790,114 Income tax (recovery)/expense 347,350 41,625 Depreciation and amortization 3,238,400 3,064,477 Finance costs 1,261,001 597,524 EBITDA 530,909 4,493,740 EBITDA Adjustments Share-based compensation (85,691 ) 901,365 Foreign exchange gain (7,898 ) (560,770 Acquisition costs 2,467,468 104,819 Fair value adjustments of contingent consideration 189,462 (2,147,090 Severance costs 650,503 41,316 Non-recurring professional fees 195,921 - Acquisition-related compensation 47,500 - (Gain)/loss on sale of intangibles and property and equipment - (1,597 Adjusted EBITDA 3,988,174 2,831,783

EBITDA % and Adjusted EBITDA %

For the three-month period ended March 31, 2023 2022 EBITDA 530,909 4,493,740 Revenue 13,565,066 12,093,759 EBITDA % 4% 37% Adjusted EBITDA 3,988,174 2,831,783 Revenue 13,565,066 12,093,759 Adjusted EBITDA % 29% 23%

Constant Currency

For the three-month period ended March 31, % Change 2023 2022 As reported Foreign exchange impact Constant currency Revenue Recurring subscription revenue 8,104,423 7,354,028 10% (7%) 3% Digital goods revenue 4,523,329 3,745,630 21% (9%) 12% Agency service revenue 937,314 994,101 (6%) (4%) (10%) 13,565,066 12,093,759 12% (7%) 5%

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains certain forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities law. Such forward-looking statements and information include, but are not limited to, statements or information with respect to: requirements for additional capital and future financing; estimated future working capital, funds available, uses of funds, future capital expenditures and other expenses for specific operations and intellectual property protection; industry demand; ability to attract and retain employees, consultants or advisors with specialized skills and knowledge; anticipated joint development programs; incurrence of costs; competitive conditions; general economic conditions; anticipated revenue growth; growth strategy; and scalability of developed technology.

Forward-looking statements and information are frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "expect" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. Although the Company's management believes that the assumptions made and the expectations represented by such statement or information are reasonable, there can be no assurance that a forward-looking statement or information referenced herein will prove to be accurate. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include risks relating to reliance on the Shopify platform; the Company's limited operating history; reliance on management and key employees; conflicts of interest in relation to the Company's officers, directors, and consultants; additional financing requirements; resale of Common Shares in the publicly- traded market; market price fluctuations for the Common Shares; global financial conditions; management of growth; risks associated with the Company's strategy of growth through acquisitions; tax risks; currency fluctuations; competitive markets; uncertainty and adverse changes in the economy; unsustainability of the Company's rapid growth and inability to attract new customers, retain revenue from existing merchants, and increase sales to both new and existing customers; adverse effects on the Company's revenue growth and profitability due to the inability to attract new customers or sell additional products to existing customers; the successful integration of the Company with Tiny Capital; future results of operations being harmed due to declines in recurring revenue or contracts not being renewed; security and privacy breaches; changes in client demand; challenges to the protection of intellectual property; infringement of intellectual property; ineffective operations through mobile devices, which are increasingly being used to conduct commerce; and risks associated with internal controls over financial reporting. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements and information if circumstances or management's estimates should change except as required by law. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and information. More detailed information about potential factors that could affect results is included in the documents that may be filed from time to time with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities by the Company.

For a more detailed discussion of certain of these risk factors, see the Company's most recent MD&A described in the "Risk Factors" as well as the list of risk factors in the Company's management information circular dated March 6, 2023 available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com under the Company's profile.

NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.

SOURCE: TINY LTD.

1Refer to "Non-IFRS Measures" for further information

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/165814
Paid press release content from The Financial Capital. The StreetInsider.com news staff was not involved in its creation.

Boca Ratons JD Mattera Provides Funding For Tech Students



John Mattera, a leading investor and entrepreneur in the fintech industry, has established a new scholarship to support and inspire the next generation of tech-savvy business leaders. The John Mattera Scholarship for Tech Entrepreneurs provides a one-time award of $1,000 to a deserving undergraduate or high school student pursuing a degree in business or tech at an accredited university in the United States.

To apply for the scholarship, students must submit an original essay of no more than 1000 words that addresses a thought-provoking question about the future of industry and technology. The question asks participants to identify a global industry that is primed for significant transformation and discuss how an innovative tech business idea could revolutionize the way it operates. The winning essay will be chosen based on the writer's ability to think critically and creatively about industry challenges and inefficiencies, as well as their proposed solution's market feasibility, scalability, and potential social, economic, and environmental impacts.

The scholarship's founder, JD Mattera, is passionate about the fintech industry and has been a leading investor and entrepreneur in this field for many years. His investments have helped create and support many successful ventures, particularly in the areas of clean technology, automotive engineering, and alternative energy. Mr. Mattera is also a philanthropist and supports a number of charitable causes through the Mattera Foundation, which supports organizations dedicated to education, healthcare, and community development.

"Through this scholarship, I hope to support and encourage the next generation of innovators who will drive the industry forward," said John Mattera. "I believe that with the right education and support, anyone can achieve their dreams and make a positive impact in their field."

The John Mattera Scholarship for Tech Entrepreneurs is open to current business or tech undergraduate students enrolled at an accredited university in the United States or high school students who have received acceptance to attend a university within the United States with the intention of pursuing a business or tech degree. The deadline to apply for the scholarship is November 15, 2023. The winner will be announced on December 15, 2023.

For more information about the scholarship and how to apply, please visit the scholarship website at https://johnmatterascholarship.com/john-mattera-scholarship/.

About John Mattera

John JD Mattera is a respected figure in the fintech and investment industries, known for his vision, business acumen, and dedication to supporting others. He established the Mattera Reserve Scholarship for Tech Entrepreneurs to provide financial assistance to U.S. undergraduate and graduate students pursuing degrees in technology or entrepreneurship. In addition to his work in private equity and investment firms, Mr. Mattera is a philanthropist and supports a number of charitable causes through the Mattera Foundation, which supports organizations dedicated to education, healthcare, and community development.

Contact Info:

Name: John Mattera

Email: Send Email

Organization: John Mattera Scholarship

Website: https://johnmatterascholarship.com



Release ID: 89097411

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.

Leading digital marketing agency, SEO.co, announces newly redesigned website launch.



SEO.co (https://seo.co/), a leading provider of search engine optimization (SEO) services, has launched its newly redesigned website, which boasts an enhanced user experience and improved features. The new website is the result of a collaboration between SEO.co, Dev.co, and Website.Design.



As one of the most experienced and innovative digital marketing agencies, SEO.co provides top-notch SEO services to its clients. The newly redesigned website is an extension of this commitment, providing an even better user experience and greater access to its services.



In today's digital age, a company's website is often the first point of contact with potential clients. Therefore, it's essential that the website provides a positive and engaging user experience, said Nate Nead, CEO of SEO.co. The new website is designed to do just that, with a streamlined navigation system, improved features, and greater access to the ordering portal.



The website redesign was carried out in collaboration with Dev.co, a leading web development company that specializes in custom software development. Dev.co provided the technical expertise necessary to create a website that is faster, more user-friendly, and optimized for search engines.



Website.Design, a professional web design agency, was also involved in the redesign process. They provided the design expertise necessary to create a website that is visually appealing, engaging, and optimized for the user experience.



The result is a website that reflects SEO.co's commitment to excellence in every aspect of digital marketing. From the streamlined navigation system to the improved features, the new website provides a better user experience for clients looking for SEO services.



The ordering portal has been optimized to improve the registration process, making it easier for clients to place orders. Clients can now easily access their account information, view their order history, and make payments, all through a simple and user-friendly interface.



The new website also features greater video integration, providing users with a more engaging and informative experience. Videos are an effective way to communicate complex concepts and ideas, making it easier for clients to understand SEO and digital marketing strategies.



At SEO.co, we're committed to providing comprehensive digital marketing solutions that utilize the latest technologies and strategies, Nead said. The new website is a reflection of this commitment, featuring the latest technologies and strategies to improve the user experience.



For example, the website has been redesigned for speed, with faster load times and improved performance. This is essential for providing a positive user experience and improving search engine rankings.



Additionally, the website has been optimized for mobile devices, ensuring that clients can access the services of SEO.co on the go. With more and more users accessing websites on mobile devices, it's essential that websites are optimized for mobile devices.



SEO.co's commitment to excellence is reflected in every aspect of the new website, from the user-friendly design to the comprehensive services offered. The company's team of experts provides customized solutions that help clients achieve their online marketing goals.



About SEO.co



For more than a decade, SEO.co has provided search strategy, content marketing, and white hat link building services to Fortune 500 companies, venture-backed startups, and local businesses. The team consists of marketing strategists, writers, and SEO professionals with decades of combined experience in the industry.



Founded in 2010 under the name AudienceBloom, the company took on an outside investment in 2018 and was rebranded as SEO.co in 2019. The company has offices in Washington, Florida, and Arkansas, and has previously been recognized as one of the Inc. 5000 fastest-growing private companies in the United States.



About DEV.co



DEV.co is a custom software development company that partners with Fortune 100 companies across North America to set new industry standards, drive revenue growth, increase profits, and enhance customer experiences. DEV.co is also a leading custom website development firm. DEV.co seeks to help level the playing field by bringing opportunities to startups with innovative solutions first, and allowing them to succeed at scale.



About Website.Design



Website.Design is a leading website design agency consisting of a team of designers, developers and engineers that assist discerning companies in creating the best digital experiences for their audiences.

About Us: If you would like more information about SEO.co, please visit https://seo.co/. For inquiries, please send an email to [email protected]

Contact Info:

Name: SEO.co

Email: Send Email

Organization: SEO.co

Website: https://seo.co/



Release ID: 89097424

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.
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. , May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Angeles Investors  the investment community on a mission to find, fund, and grow the most promising startup ventures  is pleased to announce the top 100 startups in the US with Hispanic or Latino leadership. Awardees will be recognized today during the Angeles Q2 Pitch Night Event & Awards , sponsored by J.P. Morgan. ( view a full list of 2023 Angeles 100 )

The Angeles 100 celebrates a collection of inspiring venture-backed startups driving innovation.

The Angeles 100 celebrates a collection of inspiring venture-backed startups driving innovation. These startups have built, or are building, great companies of the exact kind Angeles supports and invests in. This year's honorees exemplify how startup founders are driving business forward and setting their organizations up for success.

The 2023 awardees were nominated and selected based on their having secured funding (seed through Series E), the founder, co-founder, and/or board member being of Hispanic or Latin descent, being incorporated in the United States and their ability to show year-over-year growth.

"We're excited to be back for a second year at the Computer History Museum in California to celebrate great business achievements, exceptional leadership, create new partnerships, and for the opportunity to learn from top investors and entrepreneurs driving the venture capital landscape," said David Olivencia , Angeles Investors CEO.

Angeles Investors will celebrate the top 100 startup ventures with Hispanic and Latino leadership, called the Angeles 100, during the Angeles Q2 Pitch Night Event & Awards this evening at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California .

Join the celebration virtually or in person . Tickets to this event may be purchased online. Media are invited to attend.

We are now accepting nominations for our 2024 Angeles 100 award. Click here to apply.

Angeles Investors is one of the largest and fastest growing Angel Investing groups in America that brings together people from all ethnicities and backgrounds across the country to support Latino and Hispanic entrepreneurs in building the next great companies.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/angeles-investors-celebrates-top-100-us-startups-with-hispanic-leadership-301822925.html

SOURCE Angeles Investors
People queue up for customs clearance at an inspection hall of Horgos, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, May 10, 2023. Horgos, a major land pass in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has witnessed a robust increase of rail freight volume and highway freight volume.

According to the data from local frontier inspection departments, highway port in Horgos saw more than 20,900 commercial vehicles leaving by April 30, an increase of 62.3 percent year-on-year. As of May 10, Horgos Port has handled 2,715 China-Europe (China-Central Asia) freight trains in 2023, representing a year-on-year increase of 22.9 percent.

Horgos literally means a place where caravans pass, as it used to be a trading post along the northern route of the ancient Silk Road. (Xinhua/Hao Zhao)

This aerial photo taken on May 11, 2023 shows a hump yard of a railway port in Horgos, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Horgos, a major land pass in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has witnessed a robust increase of rail freight volume and highway freight volume.

According to the data from local frontier inspection departments, highway port in Horgos saw more than 20,900 commercial vehicles leaving by April 30, an increase of 62.3 percent year-on-year. As of May 10 in 2023, Horgos Port has handled 2,715 China-Europe (China-Central Asia) freight trains, representing a year-on-year increase of 22.9 percent.

Horgos literally means a place where caravans pass, as it used to be a trading post along the northern route of the ancient Silk Road. (Xinhua/Hao Zhao)

Police officers of the frontier inspection department of Horgos check an outbound vehicle at a highway port in Horgos, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, May 10, 2023. Horgos, a major land pass in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has witnessed a robust increase of rail freight volume and highway freight volume.

According to the data from local frontier inspection departments, highway port in Horgos saw more than 20,900 commercial vehicles leaving by April 30, an increase of 62.3 percent year-on-year. As of May 10 in 2023, Horgos Port has handled 2,715 China-Europe (China-Central Asia) freight trains, representing a year-on-year increase of 22.9 percent.

Horgos literally means a place where caravans pass, as it used to be a trading post along the northern route of the ancient Silk Road. (Xinhua/Hao Zhao)

A person queues up for customs clearance at an inspection hall of Horgos, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, May 10, 2023. Horgos, a major land pass in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has witnessed a robust increase of rail freight volume and highway freight volume.

According to the data from local frontier inspection departments, highway port in Horgos saw more than 20,900 commercial vehicles leaving by April 30, an increase of 62.3 percent year-on-year. As of May 10 in 2023, Horgos Port has handled 2,715 China-Europe (China-Central Asia) freight trains, representing a year-on-year increase of 22.9 percent.

Horgos literally means a place where caravans pass, as it used to be a trading post along the northern route of the ancient Silk Road. (Xinhua/Wang Fei)

A crane loads containers at a railway port in Horgos, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, May 11, 2023. Horgos, a major land pass in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has witnessed a robust increase of rail freight volume and highway freight volume.

According to the data from local frontier inspection departments, highway port in Horgos saw more than 20,900 commercial vehicles leaving by April 30, an increase of 62.3 percent year-on-year. As of May 10 in 2023, Horgos Port has handled 2,715 China-Europe (China-Central Asia) freight trains, representing a year-on-year increase of 22.9 percent.

Horgos literally means a place where caravans pass, as it used to be a trading post along the northern route of the ancient Silk Road. (Xinhua/Wang Fei)

A police officer of the frontier inspection department of Horgos checks outbound commercial vehicles at a highway port in Horgos, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, May 10, 2023. Horgos, a major land pass in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has witnessed a robust increase of rail freight volume and highway freight volume.

According to the data from local frontier inspection departments, highway port in Horgos saw more than 20,900 commercial vehicles leaving by April 30, an increase of 62.3 percent year-on-year. As of May 10 in 2023, Horgos Port has handled 2,715 China-Europe (China-Central Asia) freight trains, representing a year-on-year increase of 22.9 percent.

Horgos literally means a place where caravans pass, as it used to be a trading post along the northern route of the ancient Silk Road. (Xinhua/Wang Fei)

A police officer of the frontier inspection department of Horgos checks the inner conditions of an outbound train at a railway port in Horgos, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, May 7, 2023. Horgos, a major land pass in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has witnessed a robust increase of rail freight volume and highway freight volume.

According to the data from local frontier inspection departments, highway port in Horgos saw more than 20,900 commercial vehicles leaving by April 30, an increase of 62.3 percent year-on-year. As of May 10 in 2023, Horgos Port has handled 2,715 China-Europe (China-Central Asia) freight trains, representing a year-on-year increase of 22.9 percent.

Horgos literally means a place where caravans pass, as it used to be a trading post along the northern route of the ancient Silk Road. (Xinhua/Hao Zhao)

A staff member inspects a locomotive in a hump yard of a railway port in Horgos, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, May 11, 2023. Horgos, a major land pass in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has witnessed a robust increase of rail freight volume and highway freight volume.

According to the data from local frontier inspection departments, highway port in Horgos saw more than 20,900 commercial vehicles leaving by April 30, an increase of 62.3 percent year-on-year. As of May 10 in 2023, Horgos Port has handled 2,715 China-Europe (China-Central Asia) freight trains, representing a year-on-year increase of 22.9 percent.

Horgos literally means a place where caravans pass, as it used to be a trading post along the northern route of the ancient Silk Road. (Xinhua/Wang Fei)

This aerial photo taken on May 11, 2023 shows a crane loading containers at a railway port in Horgos, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Horgos, a major land pass in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has witnessed a robust increase of rail freight volume and highway freight volume.

According to the data from local frontier inspection departments, highway port in Horgos saw more than 20,900 commercial vehicles leaving by April 30, an increase of 62.3 percent year-on-year. As of May 10 in 2023, Horgos Port has handled 2,715 China-Europe (China-Central Asia) freight trains, representing a year-on-year increase of 22.9 percent.

Horgos literally means a place where caravans pass, as it used to be a trading post along the northern route of the ancient Silk Road. (Xinhua/Hao Zhao)

A police officer of the frontier inspection department of Horgos checks the inner conditions of an outbound train at a railway port in Horgos, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, May 7, 2023. Horgos, a major land pass in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has witnessed a robust increase of rail freight volume and highway freight volume.

According to the data from local frontier inspection departments, highway port in Horgos saw more than 20,900 commercial vehicles leaving by April 30, an increase of 62.3 percent year-on-year. As of May 10 in 2023, Horgos Port has handled 2,715 China-Europe (China-Central Asia) freight trains, representing a year-on-year increase of 22.9 percent.

Horgos literally means a place where caravans pass, as it used to be a trading post along the northern route of the ancient Silk Road. (Xinhua/Hao Zhao)

A staff member disassembles carriages in a hump yard of a railway port in Horgos, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, May 11, 2023. Horgos, a major land pass in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has witnessed a robust increase of rail freight volume and highway freight volume.

According to the data from local frontier inspection departments, highway port in Horgos saw more than 20,900 commercial vehicles leaving by April 30, an increase of 62.3 percent year-on-year. As of May 10 in 2023, Horgos Port has handled 2,715 China-Europe (China-Central Asia) freight trains, representing a year-on-year increase of 22.9 percent.

Horgos literally means a place where caravans pass, as it used to be a trading post along the northern route of the ancient Silk Road. (Xinhua/Hao Zhao)

This aerial panoramic photo taken on May 11, 2023 shows a hump yard of a railway port in Horgos, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Horgos, a major land pass in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has witnessed a robust increase of rail freight volume and highway freight volume.

According to the data from local frontier inspection departments, highway port in Horgos saw more than 20,900 commercial vehicles leaving by April 30, an increase of 62.3 percent year-on-year. As of May 10 in 2023, Horgos Port has handled 2,715 China-Europe (China-Central Asia) freight trains, representing a year-on-year increase of 22.9 percent.

Horgos literally means a place where caravans pass, as it used to be a trading post along the northern route of the ancient Silk Road. (Xinhua/Hao Zhao)

Workers unload imported foods from an inbound truck at a warehouse in Horgos, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, May 8, 2023. Horgos, a major land pass in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has witnessed a robust increase of rail freight volume and highway freight volume.

According to the data from local frontier inspection departments, highway port in Horgos saw more than 20,900 commercial vehicles leaving by April 30, an increase of 62.3 percent year-on-year. As of May 10 in 2023, Horgos Port has handled 2,715 China-Europe (China-Central Asia) freight trains, representing a year-on-year increase of 22.9 percent.

Horgos literally means a place where caravans pass, as it used to be a trading post along the northern route of the ancient Silk Road. (Xinhua/Wang Fei)

A police officer of the frontier inspection department of Horgos checks the credential of a train driver at a railway port in Horgos, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, May 7, 2023. Horgos, a major land pass in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has witnessed a robust increase of rail freight volume and highway freight volume.

According to the data from local frontier inspection departments, highway port in Horgos saw more than 20,900 commercial vehicles leaving by April 30, an increase of 62.3 percent year-on-year. As of May 10 in 2023, Horgos Port has handled 2,715 China-Europe (China-Central Asia) freight trains, representing a year-on-year increase of 22.9 percent.

Horgos literally means a place where caravans pass, as it used to be a trading post along the northern route of the ancient Silk Road. (Xinhua/Hao Zhao)
CLEARWATER, Fla. , May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- BayCare announced today that it has promoted James Haislip to vice president of system finance, effective immediately. Haislip has been part of BayCare's finance team for a decade and has served as BayCare's director of financial planning and analysis since 2017.

In his new role, Haislip will oversee the finance team that supports the regional leaders, including the construction team and information services. The team is also responsible for the overall reporting of financials for BayCare including the audit, tax services, payroll, and accounts payable. In addition, he will continue to oversee and be involved in BayCare's financial planning and analysis (FP&A) activities and report to BayCare's Chief Financial Officer Janice Polo in his new role.

"James has demonstrated the ability to collaborate with leaders and possesses strong analytical skills," said Polo. "He thinks outside the box, is accountable, and is a natural mentor to his team. These qualities will be a strong foundation for success in his new role as vice president of system finance."

Haislip joined BayCare in 2013 as a financial specialist and was promoted to manager of system office finance the following year. As BayCare's director of financial planning and analysis, he led the first corporate level FP&A team and expanded it from traditional functions to include analytic support of value-based agreements and managed care rate negotiations.

"I'm excited and grateful for the opportunity to work with our incredible team to ensure a strong future of providing the best care in our communities," said Haislip. "BayCare's history of excellence has put us in a great position to achieve that goal."

Prior to joining BayCare, Haislip worked 14 years at Progress Energy where he served in a variety of financial and process improvement roles including director of performance solutions. Prior to that, he spent 1 years in public accounting.

Haislip, a Pinellas County native, earned both a Bachelor of Science in accounting and a Master of Accountancy from the University of South Florida and has been a certified public accountant since 1997.

About BayCare

BayCare is a leading not-for-profit health care system that connects individuals and families to a wide range of services at 16 hospitals and hundreds of other convenient locations throughout the Tampa Bay and central Florida regions. The system is West Central Florida's largest provider of behavioral health and pediatric services and its provider group, BayCare Medical Group, is one of the largest in the region. BayCare's diverse network of ambulatory services includes laboratories, imaging, surgical centers, BayCare Urgent Care locations, wellness centers and one of Florida's largest home care agencies, BayCare HomeCare. BayCare Health System is ranked in the top 20% by Fortune/Merative. BayCare's mission is to improve the health of all it serves through community-owned, health care services that set the standard for high-quality, compassionate care. For more information visit BayCare.org.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/baycare-promotes-james-haislip-to-vice-president-of-system-finance-301822752.html

SOURCE BayCare Health System
VANCOUVER, BC , May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - BBTV Holdings Inc. (TSX: BBTV) (OTCQX: BBTVF) (the "Company"), a media tech company that uses technology enabled solutions to help content creators become more successful, today announced financial results for Q1 2023 for the period ended on March 31, 2023 .

The Management Discussion and Analysis ("MD&A"), along with full financial statements are posted and available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. All dollar amounts are expressed in thousands of Canadian dollars except where otherwise indicated.

"The first quarter saw early stages of YouTube Shorts monetization, which now represents about 46% of total views in the quarter. With more Shorts content coming online, total views in our Base Solutions business grew year-over-year by 8%, our first growth quarter since the end of the pandemic," said Shahrzad Rafati , Chairperson and CEO of BBTV. "Our outlook for our monetization opportunity for our Base Solutions increases substantially for the remainder of 2023 as a result of growing views. In the first quarter, we began deploying some of the largest Plus Solution contracts signed to date, which should positively impact performance for the remainder of fiscal year 2023. Our pipeline for Content Management solutions for the quarter continues to be the strongest ever and we expect that Plus Solutions revenue should continue to grow by 30% on an annualized basis."

KB Brinkley, CFO of BBTV commented "We extended our cost containment and optimization efforts by re-aligning operations towards Plus Solutions, and removing costs from our increasingly automated Base Solutions line of business. Our cost containment efforts resulted in a 22% decline in operating expenses compared to Q1 2022. Our liquidity remains adequate, allowing us to fulfill our strategic plans while accelerating our path to profitability and helping to create a buffer against potential macroeconomic risks and uncertainties."

Q1 2023 Financial and Operational Highlights:

Management believes the Company's current cash on hand, the sale of trade receivables pursuant to the receivables purchase agreement, available credit, expected debt financing, and ongoing cost optimization programs will provide sufficient liquidity to meet its working capital requirements as well as its financial obligations due.

BBTV ended Q1 2023 with $18.8 million in cash compared to $21.6 million in the previous year Q1. Its long-term debt balance was $69.5 million as of March 31, 2023 with maturities primarily in 2026 or 2027, which is up by $17.0 million from $52.5 million in the prior year first quarter. The increase of debt is primarily related to the $21.5 million MEP loan announced during the quarter, which was partially offset by a reduction in the Company's secured convertible promissory loan note by approximately $12.8 million .

In the past two quarters, and especially during the first quarter of 2023, the Company has worked to optimize margins generated from Base Solutions. In that effort, the Company has discontinued contracts with a number of creators for which margins were very low in comparison to our portfolio of thousands of creators, and to the market generally. These undertakings negatively impacted Base Solutions views, Base Solutions revenue, and total revenue in the short term, although gross margin on Base Solutions revenue should be positively impacted over the coming quarters. Initiatives to optimize gross margins will continue throughout the year. Notwithstanding these optimization efforts, total views for the quarter reached 113.2 billion, an 8% increase compared to the previous year quarter, and a 12% increase compared to Q4. The increase in views was driven by a 143% year-over-year increase in YouTube Shorts viewership to 51.8 billion views in Q1, which is approximately 46% of total views. For the first time since the end of the pandemic, year-over-year views grew organically, despite offsetting contract cancellations initiated by BBTV.

The Company continued efforts to optimize its cash cost base, to re-align operations for maximum performance, and to accelerate towards profitability. Combined with cost optimization completed last year, the Company has reduced cash expenses in the Base Solutions business. The Company continues to focus on operational efficiencies and alignment towards maximum performance, and the expense ratio in the Base Solutions business supports current strategies going forward.

Overall, BBTV's operating expenses of $12.1 million have declined by $3.3 million or 22% compared to the previous year Q1, and 6% compared sequentially to Q4 2022 due to staff reductions and operational realignment. The Company expects to continue to find ways to optimize operations in the coming months.

On February 1, 2023 , YouTube began to share monetization with BBTV for YouTube Shorts. Although the first few months of YouTube Shorts monetization is modest, it is inline with internal forecasts and monetization growth is tracking as expected. Due to this early stage of monetization of Shorts content, Revenue Per Thousand Views (RPMs) declined by 36% to $0.53 compared to Q1 2022. Excluding Shorts, the monetization of 61.6 billion standard form content views remained steady near typical rates at $0.97 , a 5% decline compared to $1.03 in Q1 2022. As YouTube Shorts RPMs track higher, notwithstanding typical seasonality, overall RPMs are expected to increase over time.

Plus Solutions, including popular solutions such as Content Management and Direct Advertising Sales, deliver higher margin monetization opportunities for BBTV. Overall, during Q1, Plus Solutions represented approximately 15% of total revenue and 35-40% of Adjusted Gross Profit compared to 13% and 30-35%, respectively, in Q1 2022. With a large pipeline of mostly global enterprise clients, Plus Solutions should continue to grow as a percentage of total revenue and Adjusted Gross Profit, even as Shorts monetization increases.

As of Q1, Content Management revenue is tracking as our strongest Plus Solution with solid visibility on pipeline conversion. During the quarter, the Company began deploying a major Content Management contract that has the potential to become the single largest Content Management revenue stream. As a result, management expects Plus Solutions revenue to grow by 30% on an annualized basis for fiscal 2023.

Overall, total revenue of $71.8 million declined by 27% compared to $98.8 million in Q1 2022 primarily due to a higher mix of YouTube Shorts views, which are at early stages of monetization, and some cancellations of unprofitable contracts.

Outlook:

BBTV's monetization is closely tied to the performance of YouTube. Consumer preference has shifted from long-form content to micro-content across all major platforms, and while YouTube introduced YouTube Shorts a number of years ago to respond to consumer preferences, BBTV's monetization on YouTube Shorts only began on February 1, 2023 . This format now represents about 46% of BBTV's viewership, up from 20% of viewership in Q1 2022. Once monetization of YouTube Short views matures across the Company's entire library, it could represent significant incremental revenue to BBTV depending upon the uptake. Google has stated publicly that, over time, it expects to close the monetization gap between YouTube Shorts and regular YouTube content.

Plus Solutions continue to represent significant revenue growth potential for the Company as well as viewership and valuable incremental revenue streams for content creators. Led by recent Content Management contract success and a growing overall pipeline for the solution, the Company expects to maintain a 30% annualized growth rate for Plus Solutions for this fiscal year. Additionally, Direct Advertising Sales should continue to grow.

Overall, the diversity of revenue streams, combined with improved liquidity and cost optimization programs, have positioned BBTV to weather future macro uncertainties while also accelerating towards sustained profitability.

Q1 2023 Financial Tables:













Three Months Ended

Q1 2023(1) Q1 2022(1) $ Change % Change Base Solutions revenue $60,897 $86,024 ( $25,127 ) (29 %) Plus Solutions revenue $10,867 $12,812 ( $1,945 ) (15 %) Total revenue $71,764 $98,836 ( $27,072 ) (27 %) Gross profit (loss) (which includes PPA Amortization) ( $795 ) $1,691 ( $2,486 ) (147 %) Gross Margin (which includes PPA Amortization) (1 %) 2 %



Adjusted Gross Profit $ 6,685 $ 9,176 ( $2,491 ) (27 %) Gross Margin Excluding PPA Amortization 9 % 9 %



Net loss ( $14,599 ) ( $12,539 ) ( $2,060 ) 16 % Adjusted EBITDA ( $2,872 ) ( $3,716 ) $844 (23 %) Cash flow from (used in) operating activities ( $10,844 ) ( $8,004 ) ( $2,840 ) 35 %

(1) These figures are derived from the Company's IFRS financial statements. Adjusted Gross Profit and Adjusted EBITDA are non-GAAP financial measures and Gross Margin Excluding PPA Amortization is a non-GAAP ratio. These terms are defined under "Key Metric Definitions" below. A reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures and non-GAAP ratios are set out below under "Non-GAAP Financial Measures and Non-GAAP Ratios Reconciliation Tables".

















Three Months Ended

Q1 2023(1) Q4 2022(1) $ Change % Change Base Solutions revenue $60,897 $94,510 ( $33,613 ) (36 %) Plus Solutions revenue $10,867 $13,985 ( $3,118 ) (22 %) Total revenue $71,764 $108,495 ( $36,731 ) (34 %) Gross profit (which includes PPA Amortization) ( $795 ) $2,088 ( $2,883 ) (138 %) Gross Margin (which includes PPA Amortization) (1 %) 2 %



Adjusted Gross Profit $ 6,685 $ 9,569 ( $2,884 ) (30 %) Gross Margin Excluding PPA Amortization 9 % 9 %



Net loss ( $14,599 ) ( $165,718 ) $151,119 (91 %) Adjusted EBITDA ( $2,872 ) ( $775 ) ( $2,097 ) 271 % Cash flow from (used in) operating activities ( $10,844 ) $944 ( $11,788 ) (1249 %)

(1) These figures are derived from the Company's IFRS financial statements. Adjusted Gross Profit and Adjusted EBITDA are non-GAAP financial measures and Gross Margin Excluding PPA Amortization is a non-GAAP ratio. These terms are defined under "Key Metric Definitions" below. A reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures and non-GAAP ratios are set out below under "Non-GAAP Financial Measures and Non-GAAP Ratios Reconciliation Tables".



Q1 2023 Key Metrics:













Three Months Ended

Q1 2023 Q1 2022 Change % Change









Views (billions) 113 105 8 8 % RPMs (in dollars) $0.53 $0.82 ( $0.29 ) (35 %)













Three Months Ended

Q1 2023 Q4 2022 Change % Change









Views (billions) 113 101 12 12 % RPMs (in dollars) $0.53 $0.94 ( $0.41 ) (44 %)



Conference Call Details:

Friday, May 12, 2023 at 2:15pm Pacific Time / 5:15pm Eastern Time

Operator Assisted Dial-In:

Access Code: 630766

North America (Toll Free): 1 833 470 1428

North America (Local): 1 404 975 4839

Global Dial-In Numbers

Press *1 to ask a question, *2 to withdraw your question, or *0 for operator assistance.

Please connect at least 15 minutes prior to the conference call.

Links to SEDAR filings, conference call recordings and press releases are available on the investor website at: https://investors.bbtv.com/

Telephonic Replay:

Access Code: 761297

North America (Toll Free): 1 866 813 9403

North America : 1 929 458 6194

Replay Expiration Date: Wednesday, May 26th, 2023 at 11:59 PM PDT

Income Statement:







Three Months Ended

March 31 ,







2023 $ 2022 $ % change















Revenue







$71,764 $98,836 (27 %)















Cost of revenue













Content creator and other fees







$64,665 $89,321 (28 %) Amortization







$7,894 $7,824 1 % Total cost of revenue







$72,559 $97,145 (25 %)















Gross profit (loss)







( $795 ) $1,691 (147 %)















Expenses













Sales and marketing







$5,167 $7,741 (33 %) General and administration







$3,993 $4,312 (7 %) Research and development







$1,192 $1,336 (11 %) Share-based compensation







$714 $1,033 (31 %) Amortization and depreciation







$1,024 $1,019 - % Total operating expenses







$12,090 $15,441 (22 %)































Operating loss







( $12,885 ) ( $13,750 ) (6 %)















Foreign exchange gain (loss)







( $60 ) $599 (110 %) Interest expense







( $2,738 ) ( $2,179 ) 26 % Other expense







( $963 ) ( $339 ) 184 % Transaction-related recovery (costs)







$29 ( $485 ) (106 %) Total non-operating expenses







( $3,732 ) ( $2,404 ) 55 %















Loss before income taxes







( $16,617 ) ( $16,154 ) 3 %















Recovery of income taxes







$2,018 $3,615 (44 %)















Loss







( $14,599 ) ( $12,539 ) 16 %















Other comprehensive income (loss)













Exchange differences on translation of foreign operations







$41 ( $392 ) (110 %)















Loss and comprehensive loss







( $14,558 ) ( $12,931 ) 13 %















Basic and diluted loss per share (in dollars)







( $0.68 ) ( $0.60 )

















Weighted average number of shares outstanding

Basic and diluted (in whole numbers)







21,489,682 21,016,374





Non-GAAP Financial Measures and non-GAAP Ratios Reconciliation Tables:

Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin





Three months ended March 31 ,





2023 2022 Net loss



( $14,599 ) ( $12,539 ) Amortization and depreciation(1)



$8,918 $8,843 Share-based compensation



$714 $1,033 Unrealized and realized foreign exchange



$60 ( $599 ) Interest expense



$2,738 $2,179 Other expense (income)



$963 $339 Receivable factoring banking fees



$381 $158 Transaction-related costs



( $29 ) $485 Recovery of income taxes



( $2,018 ) ( $3,615 ) Adjusted EBITDA



( $2,872 ) ( $3,716 ) Total revenues



$71,764 $98,836 Adjusted EBITDA Margin



(4.0 %) (3.8 %)











(1) Includes depreciation and amortization reported in cost of revenue and operating expenses for all periods.



BBTV Share, Adjusted Gross Profit, and Adjusted Gross Margin





Three months ended March 31 ,





2023 2022 Revenue



$71,764 $98,836 Less: content creator and third-party platform fees



( $64,665 ) ( $89,239 ) BBTV Share (A)



$7,099 $9,597









Gross Profit (Loss)



( $795 ) $1,691 Add: amortization associated with intangible assets acquired as part of the Business Combination Transaction



$7,480 $7,485 Adjusted Gross Profit (B)



$6,685 $9,176









Adjusted Gross Margin (B/A)



94.2 % 95.6 %



BBTV Share and Adjusted Gross Profit are non-GAAP financial measures while Adjusted Gross Margin is a non-GAAP ratio. Further details on these measures are included in the "Key Metrics Definitions" section of this press release.

Free Cash Flow





Three months ended March 31 ,





2023 2022 Cash flow from (used in) operating activities



( $10,844 ) ( $8,004 ) Purchase of property and equipment



( $3 ) ( $185 ) Purchase or development of intangible assets



( $402 ) ( $659 ) Free Cash Flow



( $11,249 ) ( $8,848 )



Free Cash Flow is a non-GAAP financial measure. Further details on this measure is included in the "Key Metrics Definitions" section of this press release.

About BBTV

BBTV is a global media and technology company headquartered in Vancouver, Canada . The Company's mission is to help content creators become more successful. With creators ranging from individuals to global media brands, BBTV provides comprehensive, end-to-end Solutions to increase viewership and drive revenue powered by its innovative technology, while allowing creators to focus on their core competency  content creation. In December 2022 , BBTV had the fourth most unique monthly viewers among digital platforms with more than 600 million globally, who consumed more than 30 billion minutes of video content [1]. ( www.bbtv.com )

[1] Calculations and classifications made by BBTV based on data from Comscore's "Top 12 Countries = December 2022 comScore Video Metrix Media Trend  Multi-Platform  Top 100 Video Properties Report"; Top 12 countries represent ~50% of world's digital population.

Links to SEDAR filings, conference call recordings and press releases are available on the investor website at: https://investors.bbtv.com/

Key Metrics Definitions

The information presented within this press release includes certain financial measures such as non-GAAP financial measures, non-GAAP ratios, and supplementary financial measures, as well as a non-financial performance measure (collectively, "Key Metrics") to assist investors in assessing the overall operating performance of the Company. These measures are provided as additional information to complement IFRS measures by providing further understanding of our results of operations from management's perspective. Accordingly, these measures should not be considered in isolation nor as a substitute for analysis of our financial information reported under IFRS. They are not standardized measures under IFRS and do not have standardized meanings prescribed by IFRS, and might not be comparable to similar financial measures disclosed by other issuers. These Key Metrics are used to provide investors with supplemental information on our operating performance and thus highlight trends in our core business that may not otherwise be apparent when relying solely on IFRS measures. We also believe that securities analysts, investors and other interested parties frequently use Key Metrics in the evaluation of issuers. Our management also uses Key Metrics in order to facilitate operating performance comparisons from period to period, to prepare annual operating budgets and forecasts and to determine components of management compensation.

The numbers for the Company's Key Metrics and related information are calculated using external industry data sources and/or internal company data. These measures may be different from non-GAAP financial measures or ratios or other metrics used by other companies and may not be comparable to similar meanings prescribed by other companies, limiting their usefulness for comparison purposes. Moreover, some of these adjustments or measures are provided for period-over-period comparison purposes, and investors should be cautioned that the effect of the adjustments provided herein is not indicative of the actual effect on the Company's operating results.

Non-GAAP Ratios contained in this press release are:

"Adjusted Gross Margin" means Adjusted Gross Profit divided by BBTV Share; and

"Adjusted EBITDA Margin" means Adjusted EBITDA divided by revenue.

"Gross Margin Excluding PPA Amortization" means Adjusted Gross Profit divided by revenue.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures contained in this press release are:

"Adjusted EBITDA" means net earnings or loss, as applicable, before finance expenses, income tax expense (recovery), amortization and depreciation, share-based compensation, unrealized and realized gains or losses due to foreign exchange, transaction-related costs, and certain other items as set out in the reconciliation table;

"BBTV Share" means revenue less content creator and third-party platform fees;

"Adjusted Gross Profit" means gross profit plus amortization associated with intangible assets acquired as part of the Business Combination Transaction;

"Free Cash Flow" means cash flows from (used in) operating activities less purchases of property and equipment and purchase or development of intangible assets;

See the financial tables above for a reconciliation of the non-GAAP ratios and non-GAAP financial measures.

Supplementary Financial Measures

Supplementary Financial Measures contained in this press release are:

"Advertising Revenue" means the revenue generated from advertising sales from the Company's owned and licensed video on demand content across digital platforms, rights management revenue from advertising sales on video on demand content, and in-app advertising on Mobile Gaming Apps.

"RPMs" or "Revenue per one thousand video Views" means the Advertising Revenues for every thousand Views generated by the Company's owned and licensed digital content. The Company does not provide a reconciliation for RPMs as there are no directly comparable IFRS measures for the components that make up RPMs.

"Gross Margin" means gross profit divided by revenue.

We monitor Advertising Revenue and RPMs to help us evaluate our business, measure our performance, identify trends affecting our business, formulate business plans and make strategic decisions. These measures are also used to provide investors with supplemental measures of our operating performance and thus highlight trends in our core business that may not otherwise be apparent when relying solely on IFRS measures. Unless the context otherwise requires, the Company believes that readers should consider the applicable metrics to be indicative of engagement and monetization trends that are key factors that affect the Company's revenue. The Company may or may not update these metrics based on the Company's determination of applicability, circumstance, relevance or other considerations.

Non-Financial Performance Measures

Views are one of BBTV's non-financial performance measures and are defined as the number of views, in billions, of the Company's owned and licensed digital video content on various platforms, notably YouTube, for the stated period. The presentation of Views is reliant on certain third-party industry data and therefore is not comprehensive and may exclude views of the Company's content on certain platforms or in geographies whereby such data sources are unable to or do not track such information. Trends in Views affect revenue and financial results by influencing the Company's volume of salable media inventory, RPMs, as well as its product offerings, expenses and capital expenditures.

While Views are reported using reasonable judgments and estimates of the audience and its engagement with its content for the applicable period of measurement, there are certain challenges and limitations in measuring the usage of its content across its audience. Such challenges and limitations may also affect the Company's understanding of certain details of its business. For example, the methodologies used to measure the Company's Views and RPMs (see "Supplementary Financial Measures" above) may be susceptible to algorithm, calculation or other technical or human errors, and following an acquisition or strategic transaction, certain data may be, among other things, integrated, analyzed and reported differently by the Company than it was by the target or the strategic partner. Moreover, the Company's or its data provider's business intelligence tools may experience glitches or fail on a particular data backup or upload, which could lead to certain customer activity not being properly included in the calculation of Views and RPMs. Although the Company typically attempts to address and correct any such failures and inaccuracies relatively quickly, its reported Views and RPMs are still susceptible to the same and its estimations of such metrics may be lower or higher than the actual numbers.

Forward Looking Statements:

This press release contains "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities laws (collectively, "forward-looking information"). Forward-looking information is not information about historical facts but instead represents the Company's intentions, beliefs, plans, goals, objectives and strategies regarding future events and results, and includes certain financial outlooks. Financial outlooks are provided to aid in understanding management's goals and expectations regarding future financial matters, and, for all the reasons set out below, may not be achieved. Such financial outlooks may not be appropriate for other purposes. Forward-looking information contained in this press release includes statements that our outlook for our monetization opportunity for our Base Solutions increases substantially for the remainder of 2023 as a result of growing views; in the first quarter, we began deploying some of the largest Plus Solution contracts signed to date, which should positively impact performance for the remainder of fiscal year 2023; our liquidity remains adequate, allowing us to fulfill our strategic plans while accelerating our path to profitability and helping to create a buffer against potential macroeconomic risks and uncertainties; management believes the Company's current cash on hand, the sale of trade receivables pursuant to the receivables purchase agreement, available credit, expected debt financing, and ongoing cost optimization programs will provide sufficient liquidity to meet its working capital requirements as well as its financial obligations due; gross margin on Base Solutions revenue should be positively impacted over the coming quarters; initiatives to optimize gross margins will continue throughout the year; the Company continues to focus on operational efficiencies and alignment towards maximum performance, and the expense ratio in the Base Solutions business supports current strategies going forward; the Company expects to continue to find ways to optimize operations in the coming months; as YouTube Shorts RPMs track higher, notwithstanding typical seasonality, overall RPMs are expected to increase over time; with a large pipeline of mostly global enterprise clients, Plus Solutions should continue to grow as a percentage of total revenue and total gross profit, even as Shorts monetization increases; during the quarter, the Company began deploying a major Content Management contract that has the potential to become the single largest Content Management revenue stream; management expects Plus Solutions revenue to grow by 30% on an annualized basis for fiscal 2023; once monetization of YouTube Short views matures across the Company's entire library, it could represent significant incremental revenue to BBTV depending upon the uptake; Plus Solutions continue to represent significant revenue growth potential for the Company as well as viewership and valuable incremental revenue streams for content creators; Direct Advertising Sales should continue to grow; overall, the diversity of revenue streams, combined with improved liquidity and cost optimization programs, have positioned BBTV to weather future macro uncertainties while also accelerating towards sustained profitability. Forward-looking information is necessarily based on a number of estimates and assumptions that the Company considered appropriate and reasonable as of the date such information is given, including but not limited to the assumptions that growth trends in views and RPMs overall will improve and the Company's growth targets will not be adversely affected in any material respect; its internal financial forecasts and models, including its estimates of costs and revenue, are accurate; the monetization of YouTube Shorts will improve RPMs, views and revenue potential over time, with RPMs for YouTube Shorts having similar RPM rates to long-form video content over time; the Company will continue to acquire significant content management clients resulting in the Company's Plus Solutions revenue continuing to grow as expected and to show gross margins 3-4 times higher than its Base Solutions; that BBTV will continue to acquire new content partners of the same nature and type and at least at the same rate or better than it has historically; the Company's business will otherwise expand; the Company will continue to implement cost reductions; our content providers and our strategic and other partners will perform as contractually required; we will be able to seamlessly enter into new markets and diversify to new platforms; we will be able to increase our sales of advertising inventory as planned; we will be able to obtain and maintain financing on acceptable terms on a timely basis; our assumptions regarding foreign exchange rates and other matters are correct; and that there will be no changes in general industry, market and economic conditions adverse to the Company. Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, many of which are beyond the Company's control, that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to the risk that the Company's assumptions on which its forward-looking information is based may not be accurate; the effect of competition; that the Company has a history of losses and negative cash flow; the Company may not become profitable as anticipated by management or at all; the Company's need for additional capital on acceptable terms, which is not assured; the Company's significant reliance on its relationship with YouTube; the impact of the continuing COVID-19 pandemic and of economic uncertainty; the risks of potential claims of infringement by the Company or its content providers of third party intellectual property and other rights; changes in laws and regulations; future market, consumption patterns and other trends may fail to meet or exceed historical trends or current expectations; failure of the Company to realize significant distribution on new platforms or at all; as well as other factors discussed in the Company's Final Long Form Prospectus dated October 22, 2020 , its Annual Information Form dated March 31, 2023 and in our MD&A dated May 12, 2023 each filed on sedar at www.sedar.com and in the Company's other filings with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities at www.sedar.com. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by applicable law.

Contacts:

Media Relations

Mark Funston ,

Head of Marketing and PR,

778-288-4950

[email protected]

Investor Relations

[email protected] Ron Shuttleworth

Partner

Oak Hill Financial Inc

(647)-500-7371

[email protected]

BBTV-F

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bbtv-announces-q1-2023-financial-results-301823742.html

SOURCE BBTV Holdings Inc.
MACON, Ga. , May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Workers at Blue Bird Corporation's Fort Valley, Ga. , facility today voted to join the United Steelworkers union (USW), seeking a voice on the job so they can address urgent concerns including workplace health and safety, work-life balance and fair pay.

United Steelworkers International President Tom Conway welcomed the approximately 1,400 workers to the USW and congratulated them on their successful organizing effort.

"We're proud that Blue Bird workers chose to join our union," Conway said, "and we're ready to help them bargain a fair contract that accounts for their contributions to the company's success."

Blue Bird workers, who make school buses, including low-emission and zero-emission models, represent one of the most significant recent organizing efforts by manufacturing workers in the South.

"Workers at places like Blue Bird in many ways embody the future," said USW District 9 Director Dan Flippo , who represents workers in Georgia and six other Southern states. "They're the ones who are making the investments in our infrastructure a reality, the ones who are building the safer, cleaner communities for generations to come."

Blue Bird has been approved to receive significant funding through the EPA's Clean School Bus program, and Flippo cautioned that with these sorts of federal investments, comes the responsibility to ensure workers have a seat at the table.

"For too long corporations cynically viewed the South as a place where they could suppress wages and working conditions because they believed they could keep workers from unionizing," Flippo said. "Our union has a long history of fighting on behalf of workers in the South and across the country. Now as members of the USW, workers at Blue Bird have the same opportunity to make positive changes in their workplace."

"We work hard, and we deserve fair pay, safe working conditions and to be treated with respect on the job," said Patrick Watkins , a Blue Bird worker who served on the volunteer organizing committee. "It was clear that our only path forward was to take our future into our own hands  and that's what we did today when we voted to organize."

The USW represents 850,000 workers employed in metals, mining, pulp and paper, rubber, chemicals, glass, auto supply and the energy-producing industries, along with a growing number of workers in health care, public sector, higher education, tech and service occupations. For more information: http://www.usw.org/.

CONTACT: Jess Kamm Broomell , 412-562-2444, [email protected]

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/blue-bird-workers-vote-to-join-usw-301823759.html

SOURCE United Steelworkers (USW)
LONDON , May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- At the FutureNet World 2023, which took place in London from May 3rd to May 4th , China Mobile's collaboration with Huawei and their "Digital Twin Solutions for Autonomous Networks" won The Operator Award, the singular honor bestowed by FutureNet World to exemplary operators.

FutureNet World, a premier global summit in the telecom industry, aims to outline the future development direction for the industry, with a focus on network automation and intelligence. China Mobile's project won the award for the first time after meticulous and stringent review implemented by distinguished analysts from various industry organizations, such as Omdia, TM Forum, ABI Research, and Appledore Research.

Over the past few years, China Mobile and Huawei have been engaged in a collaborative partnership to explore the development of high-level Autonomous Networks (AN) based on the concept of digital twin and have implemented various pilot practices, leading to multiple innovative achievements.

Computing Force Network (CFN)

Conventional solutions cannot find adequate computing resources and the optimal network at the same time. To address this challenge, China Mobile and Huawei jointly deployed the OTN transport capacity map across many provinces in China , including Guangdong . This innovative solution is used to visualize a combined networking and computing topology, enabling the evaluation of transport capacity online and the recommendation of an optimal network with compute nodes offering adequate computing resources. Additionally, standard northbound interfaces are used to facilitate quick decision-making and agile service provisioning. All this has dramatically reduced the provisioning duration from days to 30 minutes while also enhancing the usage of compute resources by 17%.

Cloud core network disaster recover (DR) switchover

Conventional solutions rely heavily on manual operations, resulting in prolonged DR evaluation periods. Moreover, these solutions lack the capability to visually represent the DR process. To overcome these limitations, China Mobile and Huawei jointly deployed intelligent DR assistance technologies across many provinces in China , including Zhejiang and Henan , to implement automatic DR simulation and evaluation based on digital twin networks. These technologies have significantly reduced the evaluation time from one week to 10 minutes. They also provide a comprehensive and visual representation of the entire DR process, thereby facilitating its automation. China Mobile has used these technologies to successfully complete over 10 DR drills covering millions of users.

China Mobile remains committed to strengthening its collaboration with Huawei, with the shared objectives of introducing more innovative AN practices and further exploring high-level AN capabilities, including service simulation, AI training, security simulation, and network optimization, by leveraging the power of digital twins, and propelling the evolution toward AN L4 by 2025, empowering a diverse array of industries and catalyzing the digital transformation of the economy and society.

FutureNet World: https://futurenetworld.net/events/futurenet-world-2023/event-awards/

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/china-mobile-and-huawei-collaboration-wins-the-operator-award-at-futurenet-world-2023-301823097.html

SOURCE Huawei
TSX: MFI

www.mapleleaffoods.com

Company announces results of vote for election of directors

MISSISSAUGA, ON , May 11, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - Maple Leaf Foods Inc. (TSX: MFI) today announced the appointment of Curtis Frank as its new President and Chief Executive Officer. Frank, who has built an impressive career at Maple Leaf Foods over more than two decades, takes on the role as Michael McCain steps down as CEO after 25 years of leading the Company. This transition represents the final step in a detailed succession plan that was announced last year, which will also see McCain continuing as Executive Chair of the Board of Directors.

"I am incredibly proud and humbled to lead this great Canadian food company," said Frank. "From my roots growing up on a farm in Saskatchewan to building my career here at Maple Leaf Foods, food and agriculture have always been at the center of my life. I have had the great fortune to work with and to be mentored by Michael. He is a passionate and visionary leader who has established Maple Leaf Foods as an iconic Canadian food company that is admired on the global stage. Drawing on this legacy, I am energized and excited to lead us into our next chapter, as we build on our leading brands, leverage our world class assets, and advance our leadership in sustainability while remaining grounded in our culture and leadership values."

"Curtis is a remarkable leader. He stands out in every dimension of our Leadership Values and has a track record of success delivered through his extraordinary skill in connecting with people," said McCain. "He has the unwavering commitment of my entire family, who will continue to be deeply connected to Maple Leaf Foods as owner/operator shareholders. Curtis and I have executed a meticulous transition, and he knows every inch of this company. He has earned this role and will carry forward our purpose with passion. I know that his extensive tenure at the helm of Maple Leaf Foods will be astonishing in its achievements."

Earlier today the Company also held its Annual Meeting of Shareholders, at which all director nominees were elected to the Board of Directors. The results of the vote were as follows:

Names of Directors Number of Shares Voted For Percentage of Shares Voted For Number of Shares Voted Against Percentage of Shares Voted Against W.E. Aziz 102,428,142 99.27 % 752,884 0.73 % R.G. Close 95,322,299 92.38 % 7,858,727 7.62 % T.P. Hayes 95,400,794 92.46 % 7,780,232 7.54 % K.N. Lemon 102,938,346 99.76 % 242,680 0.24 % A.G. Macdonald 103,082,514 99.90 % 98,512 0.10 % L. Mantia 102,988,782 99.81 % 192,244 0.19 % J.W.F. McCain 102,932,864 99.76 % 248,162 0.24 % M.H. McCain 101,746,349 98.61 % 1,434,677 1.39 % B. Newlands Campbell 102,987,752 99.81 % 193,274 0.19 %



Following the meeting, and in connection with his appointment as President and CEO, Curtis Frank was also appointed to the Board of Directors, while Michael McCain was appointed as Executive Chair and Tom Hayes was appointed as Independent Lead Director.

All other resolutions at the meeting were also successfully approved by shareholders, including:

the reappointment of KPMG LLP as the auditors of the Corporation (92.92% of votes cast in favour); and

as the auditors of the Corporation (92.92% of votes cast in favour); and the advisory resolution on Maple Leaf Foods ' approach to executive compensation (96.44% of votes cast in favour).

In total, 103,417,040 common shares were voted at the meeting, representing 84.61% of the Company's total outstanding common shares. A full report on voting results is available under Maple Leaf Foods' profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

About Maple Leaf Foods

Maple Leaf Foods Inc. ("Maple Leaf Foods") is a carbon neutral company with a vision to be the most sustainable protein company on earth, responsibly producing food products under leading brands including Maple Leaf, Maple Leaf Prime, Maple Leaf Natural Selections, Schneiders, Schneiders Country Naturals, Mina, Greenfield Natural Meat Co., Lightlife, Field Roast and Swift. Maple Leaf Foods employs approximately 14,000 people and does business in Canada , the U.S. and Asia . The company is headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario , and its shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange (MFI).

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SOURCE Maple Leaf Foods Inc.
LOGAN, Utah , May 11, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Cyrusher Electric Bike, a reputable e-bike manufacturer, recently, provides new opportunities for personal mobility, assisting every mother to have a more magical Mother's Day on May 14 . Cyrusher's 'Ride with Mother' campaign honors all mothers everywhere and encourages more family members to share their love for mothers.

"Ride with mother"

Mothers have always taken on a variety of roles in life to ensure family members are better cared for. However, this is at the expense of their own lives. In tribute to the most incredible mothers in life, Cyrusher has launched the 'Ride with Mothers' campaign to encourage more family members to ride with their mothers and share more family time. By using e-bikes, Cyrusher hopes to free up mothers' time and give them more time to engage in the activities they enjoy.

Mothers shed their youthful looks for their families and selflessly dedicate themselves to the family. With children able to put love into action, choosing an e-bike brings the mother wonderful companionship and a boost to her health.

Cyrusher ebike rider Kevin Lieu , whose mother, Lilian Lieu , is passionate about fishing. The constant time taken from her life to care for her children has prevented her from enjoying her hobbies. Kevin wanted to help his mother restart her fishing trips. With the E-bike, Lilian could explore areas she had never been to before without effort.

"We've traveled a lot together, explored many California waters, and caught many trout and bass. And each capture excites me, which is why I enjoy fishing," Lilian explains. "It's fantastic to have portable tools designed to give me more time to spend on the things I enjoy."

Cyrusher Mother's Day Sale

Due to its rich color palette, a Cyrusher electric bike would make a great Mother's Day gift. Customers may select an eye-catching electric bicycle for mother by combining more vibrant models with her favorite color. Cyrusher has a limited-time promotion that offers a step-through ebike collection that is more suitable for mothers to ride. Make the most of the discount and choose the electric bicycle that will suit mother's needs.

Kommoda - $,1899-$,1499

The classic and most popular model for mothers of all ages

Kuattro - $2,099-$1,699

A large frame model with bright colors suitable for taller and heavier mothers

Ovia - $2,499-$2,299

A brightly colored, high-performance model designed for mothers who can't wait to hit the trails

Trax - $2,799-$2,599

A large frame model for taller mothers looking for powerful performance

Inspiration for the best electric bike for mother

In developing the step-through category, the removal of the crossbar design has evolved into a particularly accommodating option for ladies who wear skirts and individuals with leg problems. Basically, it makes getting on and off the bike easier for the rider.

The Cyrusher Kommoda is a classic and best-selling step-through model popular among female riders who are constantly on the go. The Kommoda is ideal for all mothers because it is highly accommodating, does away with the high frame design of a mountain bike and has a low overall frame design. This makes it simpler to get on and off the bike and gives mothers a more satisfying ride. The Kommoda features a high-end configuration that will fit the needs of most riders since it is designed for riders between the heights of 5"3-6"0.

Further, the Kommoda is only $1499 during the Mother's Day promotion, making it a very attractive purchase.

Help mother begin a magical journey with an ebike

Riding is all about redeeming the spirit and independence. Prepare an e-bike for Mother's Day to take her over the hills to freedom and return her to youthful state. The Cyrusher's advanced and improved models will provide mothers with safer and more flexible riding experiences.

About Cyrusher

Cyrusher is a reputable producer of electric bicycles for professionals that have been successfully marketed in more than 10 nations worldwide. The brand's electric bicycles pass rigorous international quality tests and meet CE, UL, Rhos and FCC requirements. Additionally, Australia , China , the EU, Japan , Korea and the USA have registered and approved the brand. An offline store test-ride service has also been introduced in a number of nations, including the USA , UK and France . Cyrusher will keep expanding its range of vehicles to satisfy the needs of more riders, offering a solution for zero-carbon, fast and convenient urban commuting.

Cyrusher Contact:

UK official website: www.cyrusher.co.uk

US official website: www.cyrusher.com

French official website: www.cyrusher.fr

German official website: www.cyrusher.de

Phone: 800778-0116

Email: [email protected]

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SOURCE cyrusher
H.R. 2 Offers a Sustainable Solution to the Worsening Border Crisis, as Title 42 Ends

WASHINGTON , May 11, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- As the Biden administration formally ends Title 42 today, vastly exacerbating an already raging crisis on our southern border, the House of Representatives has passed legislation that would restore order at the border. H.R. 2, the Secure the Border Act, is a landmark piece of legislation that will secure our borders and fulfill the promise the Republican House majority made in the Commitment to America to Americans across the country.

"As recently as yesterday, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayrokas called upon Congress to provide his agency with the resources it needs to end the unprecedented illegal immigration crisis that has raged over the past two years. Today, the House of Representatives responded by approving H.R. 2, which not only provides the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with the manpower, infrastructure and technology it needs, but with statutory reforms that end numerous incentives for people to violate our immigration laws," said Dan Stein , president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR).

"While the Biden administration's preferred approach to the illegal immigration crisis is more resources to process and release millions of migrants into the country, it is neither a sustainable policy nor one that is supported by the American people. These are precisely the policies that created the crisis," Stein continued. "H.R. 2 is aimed at deterring and preventing large-scale illegal immigration. As the situation at the border deteriorates  more than 10,000 illegal entries a day in the week leading up to the termination of Title 42 and even higher levels expected in the coming days  the Secure the Border Act offers a clear and viable alternative.

"The goal must be to end the exploitation of children, curb the growing power of the criminal cartels that control human and drug smuggling operation, end the abuse of our asylum system, and rein in the crushing burdens Biden policies have imposed on the American people. The House has now acted by approving a bill that accomplish all those things. As the crisis at the border is about to grow significantly worse, it is imperative that the Senate act immediately," concluded Stein.

Contact: Ron Kovach , 202-328-7004 or [email protected].



ABOUT FAIR



Founded in 1979, FAIR is the country's largest immigration reform group. With over 3 million members and supporters nationwide, FAIR fights for immigration policies that serve national interests, not special interests. FAIR believes that immigration reform must enhance national security, improve the economy, protect jobs, preserve our environment, and establish a rule of law that is recognized and enforced.

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SOURCE Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR)
MIAMI, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Get down from the car. If this expression doesn't sound familiar, you're probably not from Miami.

According to Florida International University (FIU) research published in English World Wide, some expressions unique to the 305 are evidence a distinct dialect is emerging in South Florida . It's the result of a common phenomenon that happens in other regions of the world when two languages come into close contact. In this case, Spanish sayings are being "borrowed" and directly translated into English  then passed down and used by generations who are bilingual.

"When we conduct research like this, it's a reminder there aren't 'real' words or 'pretend' words. There are only words. And all the words come from somewhere and someplace," said FIU sociolinguist Phillip Carter , the study's lead author. "Every word has a history. That goes for all words spoken in Miami ."

For nearly a decade, Carter has researched Miami English  a variety of English with subtle structural influence from Spanish, mostly spoken by second-, third- or fourth-generation native English speakers. He previously studied how it sounds. This time, he examined how words are used. Specifically, calques  when a speaker directly translates an expression from one language, considered the "source language" into another language.

This is what's happening in Miami . Spanish expressions are being introduced into English. The translations can be subtle. For example, "bajar del carro" becomes "get down from the car"  not "get out of the car." And "una empanada de carne" becomes "meat empanada" instead of the more specific "beef empanada," since in Spanish, depending on the context, "carne" can refer to all meat (including chicken and pork) or specifically just to beef.

"There's not a single language that doesn't have words borrowed from another language," Carter said. "Borrowing is an inescapable reality of the world's languages. When you have two languages spoken by most of the population, you're going to have a lot of interesting language contact happening."

A series of expressions commonly used in the 305 were given to several groups in Miami with bilingual speakers, focusing primarily on Cuban immigrants and Cuban Americans in two groups: first-generation Cuban Americans born in Cuba and who immigrated to Miami after the age of 12 and second-generation Cuban Americans born and raised in Miami who use English more than Spanish.

Most of the examples were phased out and no longer used by the second-generation participants. They didn't abandon them all, though. "Get down from the car" and "super hungry" stuck around. In fact, "meat empanada" and "give me a chance" were used with the same frequency by both the second generation and the immigrant generation.

Read more here

Media Contact:

Angela Nicoletti

305-348-0272

[email protected]

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SOURCE Florida International University
Conference Call Tuesday, May 16, 2023 , at 9:00 AM EDT / 8:00 AM CDT

LANCASTER, Pa. , May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Graham Packaging Company Inc. will host a conference call on Tuesday, May 16, 2023 , at 9:00 AM EDT / 8:00 AM CDT / 13:00 UTC to review its financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2023 .

The call will include prepared remarks and a question and answer session. It will be open in a listen-only mode by telephone. Interested parties may listen to the teleconference by dialing 1-877-407-0784 (callers in the U.S. ) at least ten minutes before the start of the call. International callers should dial 1-201-689-8560. Please request the "Graham Packaging 2023 Q1 Results" conference call. Presentation materials will be available on May 15, 2023 through the Investors link on our website at www.grahampackaging.com via access to our investor Intralinks site.

A telephonic replay of the call will be available from approximately 12.00 PM EDT / 11:00 AM CDT / 16:00 UTC on May 16, 2023 through May 23, 2023 . Callers in the U.S. please dial 1-844-512-2921. International callers should dial 1-412-317-6671. The replay pin number is 13738622.

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SOURCE Graham Packaging Company, L.P.
BEL AIR, Md. , May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Harford Mutual Insurance Group announced today that Jeffery Bischoff has been named Assistant Vice President of Information Technology.

In his new role, Bischoff will oversee the Information Technology (IT) department and will be responsible for developing and leading the company's information technology strategy to enable Harford Mutual's vision to be the regional insurance carrier of choice.

Bischoff brings more than 25 years of IT experience to his position. Most recently, he held the position of Technology Solution Manager in the Policy Platform Department at American Family Insurance Group.

Previously, Bischoff held technical positions at Selective Insurance Group, Housing Authority Insurance Group, and Travelers Insurance before joining New London County Mutual Insurance in 2015 as Assistant Vice President of IT. His responsibilities at New London County Mutual Insurance included managing IT and Infrastructure and directing the implementation of Guidewire across the organization.

Bischoff holds a Bachelor of Science in Management & Marketing from Syracuse University.

About Harford Mutual Insurance Group

Harford Mutual Insurance Group, founded in 1842 in Harford County, Maryland , provides commercial property and casualty insurance products and services to a regional market. Harford Mutual is a Ward's 50 top performing insurance company that ended 2022 with $327 million in direct written premium sold through nearly 450 independent agents in Delaware , Maryland , New Jersey , Pennsylvania , North Carolina , South Carolina , Georgia , Tennessee , Virginia , Washington, D.C. , and West Virginia . Harford Mutual contributed nearly $490,000 in community support in 2022. Harford Mutual is rated A (Excellent) by A.M. Best, the leading credit rating organization dedicated to serving the global insurance industry. For more information, visit www.HarfordMutual.com.

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SOURCE Harford Mutual Insurance Group
Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang holds talks with Kazakhstan's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Murat Nurtleu who visits China for the fourth China-Central Asia Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, April 26, 2023. (Xinhua/Zhang Bowen)

"The summit will have a positive effect on the long-term cooperation and development of our countries. A new format of cooperation will make it possible to involve the Central Asian region with China's large market in close economic ties," said Serik Korzhumbayev, editor-in-chief of the Delovoy Kazakhstan newspaper.

ASTANA, May 12 (Xinhua) -- The upcoming China-Central Asia Summit is "very important" as it will open up broad prospects for and inject impetus into long-term cooperation and development between China and the Central Asian countries in various fields, a Kazakh media outlet leader has said.

It is historic to hold the summit in the Chinese city of Xi'an, where the ancient Silk Road began, ahead of the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) that was put forward in Kazakhstan, Serik Korzhumbayev, editor-in-chief of the Delovoy Kazakhstan newspaper, told Xinhua in a recent interview.

According to Korzhumbayev, the summit will bring together the heads of the five Central Asian states and experts to discuss measures to strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation in various areas.

Within the framework of the BRI, said Korzhumbayev, a lot has been done in recent years.

"A number of joint ventures have been opened between Kazakhstan and China on the territory of our country. A number of projects are also planned to be implemented in the near future," he said.

Korzhumbayev praised the China-Kazakhstan Horgos International Border Cooperation Center as an excellent example of cooperation, saying the center allows the Kazakh people to conduct business and purchase duty-free goods in a convenient way.

He also commended the cooperation between Kazakhstan and China in the auto industry, which has led to a boom in the vehicle production and sales in Kazakhstan.

"We all see a very large number of new high-quality cars on the streets of Kazakh cities that come as part of our joint projects," said the media leader.

He said the Belt and Road cooperation between Kazakhstan and China has yielded fruitful results, with a large number of mutually beneficial investment and production capacity projects successfully launched and bilateral trade volume growing steadily.

He said that Kazakhstan would like to take the 10th anniversary of the BRI as an opportunity to speed up the synergy between the China-proposed initiative and Kazakhstan's "Bright Road" new economic policy, and promote bilateral cooperation in industry, agriculture, infrastructure construction, tourism, people-to-people and cultural exchanges.

"Guided by the notion of building a community with a shared future for mankind, our countries are getting closer and closer to each other in all spheres of interaction," Korzhumbayev stressed.

"The summit will have a positive effect on the long-term cooperation and development of our countries. A new format of cooperation will make it possible to involve the Central Asian region with China's large market in close economic ties," he concluded.
NEW YORK , May 11, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Lument Finance Trust, Inc. (NYSE: LFT) ("we", "LFT" or "the Company") today reported its first quarter 2023 results. Distributable earnings for the quarter was $0.2 million , or $0.00 per share of common stock. GAAP net income attributable to common shareholders for the quarter was $4.6 million , or $0.09 per share of common stock. The Company has also issued a detailed presentation of its results, which can be viewed at www.lumentfinancetrust.com.

Conference Call and Webcast Information

The Company will also host a conference call on Friday, May 12, 2023 , at 8:30 a.m. ET to provide a business update and discuss the financial results for the first quarter of 2023. The conference call may be accessed by dialing 1-888-336-7151 ( U.S. ) or 1-412-902-4251 (international). Note: there is no passcode; please ask the operator to be joined into the Lument Finance Trust call. A live webcast, on a listen-only basis, is also available and can be accessed through the URL:

https://app.webinar.net/JOaqAk069bY

For those unable to listen to the live broadcast, a recorded replay will be available for on-demand viewing approximately one hour after the end of the event through the Company's website https://lumentfinancetrust.com/ and by telephone dial-in. The replay call-in number is 1-877-344-7529 ( U.S. ) or 1-412-317-0088 (international) with passcode 8222665.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

In this release, the Company presents certain financial measures that are not calculated according to generally accepted accounting principles in the United States ("GAAP"). Specifically, the Company is presenting distributable earnings, which constitutes a non-GAAP financial measure within the meaning of Item 10(e) of Regulation S-K and is net income under GAAP. While we believe the non-GAAP information included in this press release provides supplemental information to assist investors in analyzing our results, and to assist investors in comparing our results with other peer issuers, these measures are not in accordance with GAAP, and they should not be considered a substitute for, or superior to, our financial information calculated in accordance with GAAP. The methods of calculating non-GAAP financial measures may differ substantially from similarly titled measures used by other companies. Our GAAP financial results and the reconciliations from these results should be carefully evaluated.

Distributable Earnings

Distributable Earnings is a non-GAAP measure, which we define as GAAP net income (loss) attributable to holders of common stock computed in accordance with GAAP, including realized losses not otherwise included in GAAP net income (loss) and excluding (i) non-cash equity compensation, (ii) depreciation and amortization, (iii) any unrealized gains or losses or other similar non-cash items that are included in net income for that applicable reporting period, regardless of whether such items are included in other comprehensive income (loss) or net income (loss), and (iv) one-time events pursuant to changes in GAAP and certain material non-cash income or expense items after discussions with the Company's board of directors and approved by a majority of the Company's independent directors. Distributable Earnings mirrors how we calculate Core Earnings pursuant to the terms of our management agreement between our Manager and us, or our Management Agreement, for purposes of calculating the incentive fee payable to our Manager.

While Distributable Earnings excludes the impact of any unrealized provisions for credit losses, any loan losses are charged off and realized through Distributable Earnings when deemed non-recoverable. Non-recoverability is determined (i) upon the resolution of a loan (i.e. when the loan is repaid, fully or partially, or in the case of foreclosures, when the underlying asset is sold), or (ii) with respect to any amount due under any loan, when such amount is determined to be non-collectible.

We believe that Distributable Earnings provides meaningful information to consider in addition to our net income (loss) and cash flows from operating activities determined in accordance with GAAP. We believe Distributable Earnings is a useful financial metric for existing and potential future holders of our common stock as historically, over time, Distributable Earnings has been a strong indicator of our dividends per share of common stock. As a REIT, we generally must distribute annually at least 90% of our taxable income, subject to certain adjustments, and therefore we believe our dividends are one of the principal reasons stockholders may invest in our common stock. Furthermore, Distributable Earnings help us to evaluate our performance excluding the effects of certain transactions and GAAP adjustments that we believe are not necessarily indicative of our current loan portfolio and operations, and is a performance metric we consider when declaring our dividends.

Distributable Earnings does not represent net income (loss) or cash generated from operating activities and should not be considered as an alternative to GAAP net income (loss), or an indication of GAAP cash flows from operations, a measure of our liquidity, or an indication of funds available for our cash needs.

GAAP to Distributable Earnings Reconciliation





Three months Ended



March 31, 2023 Reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP Information



Net Income attributable to common shareholders

$ 4,581,733 Adjustments for non-Distributable Earnings



Unrealized losses (gains) on mortgage servicing rights Realized loss on commercial mortgage loans Unrealized provision for credit losses

49,129 (4,271,672) (179,684) Subtotal

(4,402,227) Other Adjustments



Recognized compensation expense related to restricted common stock

3,358 Adjustment for income taxes

(10,246) Subtotal

(6,888)





Distributable Earnings

$ 172,618





Weighted average shares outstanding - Basic and Diluted

52,231,152 Distributable Earnings per weighted share outstanding - Basic and Diluted

$ 0.00

About LFT

LFT is a Maryland corporation focused on investing in, financing and managing a portfolio of commercial real estate debt investments. The Company primarily invests in transitional floating rate commercial mortgage loans with an emphasis on middle-market multi-family assets.

LFT is externally managed and advised by Lument Investment Management LLC, a Delaware limited liability company.

Additional Information and Where to Find It

Investors, security holders and other interested persons may find additional information regarding the Company at the SEC's Internet site at http://www.sec.gov/ or the Company website www.lumentfinancetrust.com or by directing requests to: Lument Finance Trust, 230 Park Avenue , 20th Floor, New York, NY 10169, Attention: Investor Relations.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements included in this press release constitute forward-looking statements intended to qualify for the safe harbor contained in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act, as amended. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties. You can identify forward-looking statements by use of words such as "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "project," "estimate," "plan," "continue," "intend," "should," "may," "will," "seek," "would," "could," or similar expressions or other comparable terms, or by discussions of strategy, plans or intentions. Forward-looking statements are based on the Company's beliefs, assumptions and expectations of its future performance, taking into account all information currently available to the Company on the date of this press release or the date on which such statements are first made. Actual results may differ from expectations, estimates and projections. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements in this press release and should consider carefully the factors described in Part I, Item IA "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022 , which is available on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov, and in other current or periodic filings with the SEC, when evaluating these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to substantial risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict and are generally beyond the Company's control. Except as required by applicable law, the Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

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SOURCE Lument Finance Trust, Inc.
WASHINGTON , May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- NASA will announce the second phase winners of its Deep Space Food Challenge, a global competition to help develop innovative food systems for future spacefarers on long-term exploration missions, on Friday, May 19 .

Teams will showcase their ideas during the NYCxDESIGN Festival in New York , a citywide celebration of design. Media and the public are invited to join the teams to learn more about their technologies during multiple events.

Friday, May 19

NASA will reveal the winning Phase 2 teams. The awards event will stream live online beginning at 12 p.m. EDT from the Smart Design studio, Building 127, at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

Media are invited to attend the awards event from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. NASA speakers available for interviews in-person and virtually are:

Ralph Fritsche , senior project manager for space crop production at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida

, senior project manager for space crop production at in Angela Herblet , project manager for the Deep Space Food Challenge at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama

, project manager for the Deep Space Food Challenge at Marshall Space Flight Center in Denise Morris , program manager for Centennial Challenges at NASA Marshall

Reporters interested in covering the event in person must RSVP by 10 a.m. , Thursday, May 18 , to Molly Porter at [email protected] This event is not open to the public for in-person attendance.

Saturday, May 20

Teams taking part in the challenge will showcase some of their food production technologies beginning at 12 p.m. The event is free and open to the public through 4 p.m. Members of the media and public interested in attending must reserve a spot.

From 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. , NASA speakers will take part in a panel discussion hosted by Smart Design and focused on design, innovation, and the future of food. Space is limited, and registration is available online until May 16 .

Members of the media may also register for both events by emailing Molly Porter at [email protected].

More About NASA's Challenge

The Deep Space Food Challenge calls solvers around the world to invent new ways of producing food for future astronauts traveling farther from Earth than ever before. Since January 2021 , teams have been designing and building new food tech solutions that would help keep astronauts safe, healthy, and productive for missions lasting years at a time.

The competition is a first-of-its-kind collaboration between NASA and CSA (Canadian Space Agency). On April 27 , CSA awarded prizes to the teams advancing to the final stage of the Canadian challenge, which runs in parallel with NASA's.

The not-for-profit Methuselah Foundation administers the competition for U.S. and international teams through a Space Act Agreement with NASA. The Deep Space Food Challenge is part of NASA's Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing program in the agency's Space Technology Mission Directorate.

For more information on the challenge, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/spacefoodchallenge

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SOURCE NASA
Concerned Communities for America: "Congress needs to do its job"

WASHINGTON , May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Black and Hispanic leaders are calling for bipartisan solutions to the humanitarian crisis on our southern border, which is about to get exponentially worse as Title 42 expires and border cities prepare for a huge increase in illegal immigration.

"Illegal immigration is already at crisis levels, and the end of Title 42 is going to make a bad situation worse," said DaQuawn Bruce , executive director of Concerned Communities for America. "Already, cities all over the country  including my hometown of Chicago  are being forced to divert resources from Black communities to feed, clothe, and shelter a rapidly growing population of homeless illegal immigrants."

"The government's actions are sending a signal to the whole world that America's borders are open to all, and that is driving the huge numbers of illegal immigrants we're seeing at the border," said Maria Bello , a legal immigrant who fled Venezuela as a teenager after she spoke out against the communist dictatorship. "This makes it much easier for drug smugglers and human traffickers to evade Border Patrol and bring death and suffering into our cities."

CCA leaders criticized the federal government's failure to properly secure the border or prepare for the end of Title 42, adding that Members of Congress need to come together across party lines to pass legislation to address the ongoing humanitarian and national security crisis at the southern border.

"Current law gives far too much discretion to the executive branch, leading to wild swings in immigration policy every time the White House changes hands," said Bruce. "Congress needs to do its job and pass a comprehensive immigration policy that properly secures our borders and protects our cities."

To learn more about Concerned Communities for America, please visit concernedcommunities.org. You can follow CCA on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/minority-leaders-mourn-preventable-tragedy-on-southern-border-301822966.html

SOURCE Concerned Communities for America
JERSEY CITY, N.J. , May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma America, Inc. (MTPA) today announced two presentations on investigational ND0612 in Parkinson's disease (PD) will be shared at the International Association of Parkinsonism and Related Disorders (IAPRD) XXVIII World Congress on Parkinson's Disease and Related Disorders, being held in Chicago, Ill. , May 13-16 .

"We are excited by the opportunity to share further research from our ongoing Phase 2b and Phase 3 studies investigating ND0612 as a potential treatment option for people with Parkinson's disease experiencing motor fluctuations," said Gustavo A. Suarez Zambrano , M.D., Vice President of Medical Affairs at MTPA. "These presentations focus on growing our understanding of the role ND0612 may play in PD, supporting our determination to research and explore treatment options for people living with this disease."

MTPA's posters will be on exhibition at the meeting on May 14 , 8:00 a.m.  4:30 p.m. CDT and May 15 , 10:30 a.m.  4:15 p.m. CDT .

Poster Presentation Details

Findings from two ongoing studies evaluating investigational ND0612 in people with PD with motor fluctuations will be presented, including details on enrollment characteristics of randomized study participants in the Phase 3 BouNDless study evaluating data on the efficacy, safety and tolerability of ND0612, and patient-reported, quality of life outcomes from an exploratory analysis of the Phase 2b BeyoND study evaluating long-term safety with ND0612. Both studies are being conducted by NeuroDerm Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation (MTPC), MTPA's parent company.

Enrollment characteristics for patients entering a Phase 3 study of subcutaneous levodopa/carbidopa infusion with ND0612

( Joaquim J. Ferreira ; University of Lisbon )

Poster #P-116





Quality of life with continuous subcutaneous levodopa/carbidopa infusion: Exploratory findings from the ND0612 BeyoND study

( Stuart H. Isaacson , M.D.; Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders Center of Boca Raton )

Poster #P-136

About ND0612

ND0612 is an investigative drug-device combination therapy  a 24 hours/day, continuous subcutaneous infusion of liquid levodopa/carbidopa (LD/CD) for people with Parkinson's disease (PD) experiencing motor fluctuations.

About Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma America, Inc.

Based in Jersey City, N.J. , Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma America, Inc. (MTPA) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation (MTPC). It was established by MTPC to commercialize approved pharmaceutical products in North America . For more information, please visit www.mt-pharma-america.com or follow us on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

About Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation

Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation (MTPC), the pharma arm of Mitsubishi Chemical Group (MCG), is one of the oldest pharmaceutical companies in the world, founded in 1678. MTPC is headquartered in Doshomachi, Osaka , the birthplace of Japan's pharmaceutical industry. MCG has positioned health care as its strategic focus in its management policy, "Forging the future". MTPC sets the MISSION of "Creating hope for all facing illness". To that end, MTPC is working on the disease areas of central nervous system, immuno-inflammation, diabetes and kidney, and cancer. MTPC is focusing on "precision medicine" to provide drugs with high treatment satisfaction and additionally working to develop "around the pill solutions" to address specific patient concerns based on therapeutic medicine, including prevention of diseases, pre-symptomatic disease care, prevention of aggravation and prognosis. For more information, go to https://www.mt-pharma.co.jp/e/.

About NeuroDerm, Ltd.

NeuroDerm is a wholly owned subsidiary of Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation (MTPC), based in Israel, inspired to reduce disease burden and improve the quality of life of patients and their families through innovative drug-device combination therapies and technologies. NeuroDerm Ltd. is an integrated pharmaceutical and medical technology company developing central nervous system (CNS) product candidates. For additional information, please visit NeuroDerm's website at www.neuroderm.com or follow the Company on LinkedIn.

Media inquiries:

[email protected]

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SOURCE Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma America, Inc.
WASHINGTON , May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- NASA is holding a public meeting at 10:30 a.m. EDT Wednesday, May 31 , of its independent study team on categorizing and evaluating data of unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP). The agency also will host a media teleconference at the conclusion of the meeting.

The full meeting will air on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency's website through 2:30 p.m. Watch online at:

https://www.nasa.gov/live

NASA defines UAP as observations of events in the sky that cannot be identified as aircraft or known natural phenomena from a scientific perspective. The focus of this public meeting is to hold final deliberations before the agency's independent study team publishes a report this summer.

Outlining how to evaluate and study UAP by using data, technology, and the tools of science is a NASA priority. It is not a review or assessment of previous unidentifiable observations. The report will inform NASA on what possible data could be collected in the future to shed light on the nature and origin of UAP.

Public Comment

In accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act, the meeting includes an opportunity for public comment. NASA will accept questions beginning at 10 a.m. on Friday, May 12 , at:

https://nasa.cnf.io/sessions/hh4r/

NASA Media Teleconference

At 3 p.m. , NASA will hold a virtual post-meeting media teleconference, which the agency will stream audio live on its website. Participants include:

Dan Evans , assistant deputy associate administrator for research, NASA's Science Mission Directorate

, assistant deputy associate administrator for research, David Spergel , president, Simons Foundation and Chair of NASA's UAP independent study team

, president, and Chair of UAP independent study team Other members of the UAP independent study team

To participate by telephone, media must RSVP no later than two hours before the start of the event to Katherine Rohloff at: [email protected].

NASA's media accreditation policy is available online.

The UAP independent study team is a counsel of 16 community experts across diverse areas on matters relevant to potential methods of study for unidentified anomalous phenomena. NASA commissioned the nine-month study to examine UAP from a scientific perspective and create a roadmap for how to use data and the tools of science to move our understanding of UAP forward. Right now, the limited high-quality observations of UAP make it impossible to draw scientific conclusions from the data about the nature of such events.

A clean feed of the meeting will be available on the agency's YouTube channel.

For more information on NASA's UAP independent study team, visit:

https://science.nasa.gov/uap/faqs

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SOURCE NASA
WASHINGTON , May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- NASA, Axiom Space, and SpaceX will provide coverage of the upcoming prelaunch and launch activities for Axiom Mission 2 (Ax-2), the second private astronaut mission to the International Space Station .

NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency's website will feature some prelaunch and launch activities, as well as docking operations.

Liftoff is scheduled for 5:37 p.m. EDT Sunday, May 21 , from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida . The crew will travel to the orbiting outpost aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, named Freedom, after launching on the company's Falcon 9 rocket.

The Ax-2 crew members are Commander Peggy Whitson , Pilot John Shoffner , and Mission Specialists Ali Alqarni and Rayyanah Barnawi representing the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia .

NASA's mission responsibility is for integrated operations, which begins during the spacecraft's approach to the International Space Station , continues during the crew's stay aboard the orbiting laboratory conducting science, education, and commercial activities, and concludes once Dragon exits the area of the space station.

NASA coverage of the Ax-2 launch is as follows (all times Eastern and subject to change based on operations):

Monday, May 15

5 p.m.  Flight Readiness Review Teleconference (NASA expects to host the telecon about one hour after the review is complete. The agency will update its space station blog with a specific start time.)

This media briefing will focus on the readiness of the Ax-2 flight to visit the space station, including arrival, docking, in-orbit, and undocking operations at the orbital complex. NASA will provide a live stream of the audio at:

https://www.nasa.gov/live

Briefing participants include:

Ken Bowersox , associate administrator, NASA 's Space Operations Mission Directorate

, associate administrator, 's Joel Montalbano , manager, NASA 's International Space Station Program

, manager, 's International Space Station Program Angela Hart , manager, NASA 's Commercial Low Earth Orbit Development Program

, manager, 's Commercial Low Earth Orbit Development Program Derek Hassmann , chief of mission integration and operations, Axiom Space

, chief of mission integration and operations, Axiom Space William Gerstenmaier , vice president, Build and Flight Reliability, SpaceX

This event is a teleconference only, and media must register to participate no later than 12 p.m. , Monday, May 15 . For the call-in details, please contact NASA's Johnson Space Center newsroom at: 281-483-5111 or [email protected].

Saturday, May 20

6 p.m.  Prelaunch News Conference (targeted for one hour following the Launch Readiness Review)

The prelaunch news conference will focus on final preparations for the Ax-2 mission. It will discuss the results of the Launch Readiness Review, which evaluates the mission hardware and its readiness for launch. NASA will provide a live stream of the audio at:

https://www.nasa.gov/live

Participants include:

Joel Montalbano , manager, NASA 's International Space Station Program

, manager, 's International Space Station Program Derek Hassmann , chief of mission integration and operations, Axiom Space

, chief of mission integration and operations, Axiom Space Mishaal Ashemimry, microgravity research lead, Saudi Space Agency

Benji Reed , senior director, Human Spaceflight Programs, SpaceX

, senior director, Human Spaceflight Programs, Mike McAleenan , 45th Weather Squadron , U.S. Space Force

This briefing will be via teleconference. Media must register to participate in the call by 12 p.m. Wednesday, May 17 . For the details and to RSVP, please contact the Axiom Space media team at: [email protected].

Sunday, May 21

4:30 p.m.  NASA launch coverage begins

NASA will broadcast the Ax-2 launch on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency's website. Coverage will join the joint Axiom Space and SpaceX broadcast that begins at about 2:10 p.m. at:

https://www.axiomspace.com/live

The broadcast will end after orbital insertion approximately 15 minutes after launch. As it is a commercial launch, NASA will not provide a clean feed for this launch, neither on the NASA Media Channel nor on site at Kennedy.

7 p.m.  Postlaunch Media Briefing (targeted one hour following launch)

Leadership from NASA, Axiom Space, and SpaceX will participate in a postlaunch media briefing to provide an update on the launch and mission operations.

Participants include:

Joel Montalbano , manager, NASA 's International Space Station Program

, manager, 's International Space Station Program Matt Ondler , chief technology officer, Axiom Space

, chief technology officer, Axiom Space Benji Reed , senior director, Human Spaceflight Programs, SpaceX

This briefing will be via teleconference. Media must register to participate in this call by 12 p.m. Friday, May 19 . For the details and to RSVP, please contact the Axiom Space media team at: [email protected].

Monday, May 22

7:30 a.m.  NASA docking coverage begins and airs through the conclusion of the welcome ceremony

9:24 a.m.  Docking

11:13 a.m.  Hatch Opening

11:45 a.m.  Crew Welcome Ceremony

For more information about NASA's low Earth orbit commercialization activities, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/leo-economy/

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SOURCE NASA
Revenues climb by 14.7% to BEUR 1.423

Cloud Subscription segment posts accelerated growth of 57.1%

EBITA up 56.2% from MEUR 63.5 to MEUR 99.2

EBITA margin at 7.0%

Forecast for 2023/24: Revenue expected to increase by between 4% and 6% on like-for-like basis

BIELEFELD, Germany , May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- NTT DATA Business Solutions AG significantly improved all relevant key figures in the past fiscal year, with earnings increasing at an above-average rate. In the fiscal year from April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023 , the company generated significant revenue growth of 14.7% to BEUR 1.42 after BEUR 1.24 in the previous year. Organic growth came to 10.8%. The newly acquired companies contributed growth of +3.9% to this revenue upturn. Earnings before interest, taxes, and amortization (EBITA) exceeded the previous year's level of MEUR 63.5 by 56.2% again at MEUR 99.2. Orders on hand at NTT DATA Business Solutions AG amounted to BEUR 1.657 as of March 31, 2023 , also significantly higher than the previous year's level of BEUR 1.405 as of March 31, 2022 .

Norbert Rotter , CEO of NTT DATA Business Solutions AG, comments: "We seamlessly continued the already excellent development from the previous year and achieved another record year for many key figures. All in all, NTT DATA Business Solutions generated revenue growth well above the sector average. One strong growth driver on the revenue side was cloud subscription and our own software products. We increased the number of our employees by 11.1% to 13,530."

In the revenue segments, consulting business now reached revenues of MEUR 651.6 after MEUR 554.7 in the previous year, representing a year-on-year increase of 17.5%. Revenues in licensing business declined by 23.1% from MEUR 65.4 to MEUR 50.3. The most significant growth in revenue was once again achieved by the Cloud Subscription segment, which was up by 57.1% at MEUR 90.0 after MEUR 57.3 in the previous year. The Managed Services segment increased its revenue by 12.2% to MEUR 626.1 after the previous year's figure of MEUR 558.0. Revenues in the Other segment came to MEUR 5.4 after MEUR 5.9 in the previous year.

Broken down by territory, the DACH region saw revenue growth of 14.8% to MEUR 621.8 after MEUR 541.8 in the previous fiscal year. Western Europe boosted revenues from MEUR 183.9 to MEUR 192.5 last year, representing a 4.7% upturn. At 16.7%, there was strong growth again in Northern and Eastern Europe (NEE), which generated revenue of MEUR 255.3 compared to MEUR 218.8 in the previous year. Revenue in the Americas region continued to grow significantly by 29.9% from MEUR 193.5 to MEUR 251.4. The APAC segment also increased its revenue by 2.2% from MEUR 93.0 to MEUR 95.0. The Other segment contributed revenue of MEUR 7.4 after MEUR 10.3 in the previous year.

NTT DATA Business Solutions AG's earnings improved very significantly again, as in the previous year, and rose at a faster rate than revenue. EBITA for the past fiscal year climbed by 56.2% to MEUR 99.2 after MEUR 63.5 in the previous year. As a result, the EBITA margin rose to 7.0% after 5.1% in the previous year. Indeed, EBIT even improved by 76.6% from MEUR 48.3 to MEUR 85.3, with the EBIT margin climbing from 3.9% to 6.0%. IFRS earnings increased by 139.6% from MEUR 27.0 to MEUR 64.7.

Jurgen Purzer, CFO of NTT DATA Business Solutions AG, comments: "Of course, our very good earnings performance partly results from the revenue increases in our segments. But for the second year in a row, it also reflects our consistent and successful implementation of the global cost and efficiency improvement program. We have thus laid a good foundation for a successful future."

For fiscal year 2023/2024, the Executive Board anticipates further revenue growth of between 4% and 6% on a like-for-like basis. An EBITA margin of around 7.5% is projected with further growth in earnings.

About NTT DATA Business Solutions

NTT DATA Business Solutions drives innovation  from advisory and implementation, to managed services and beyond, continuously enhances SAP solutions to make them work for companies  and for their people. Aiming to help companies to transform, grow and become more successful, NTT DATA Business Solutions connects with a more than in-depth expertise for SAP solutions its clients business opportunities with the latest technologies  individually and across all business areas. As part of the NTT DATA group and as a global strategic partner of SAP, with close ties to other partners, NTT DATA Business Solutions gives clients and prospects access to innovative solutions and developments and thus makes an important contribution to innovation and long-term business success. NTT DATA Business Solutions employs more than 13,000 people in 30 countries.

About NTT DATA

NTT DATA  a part of NTT Group  a trusted global innovator of IT and business services headquartered in Tokyo . We help clients transform through consulting, industry solutions, business process services, IT modernization and managed services. NTT DATA enables clients, as well as society, to move confidently into the digital future. We are committed to our clients' long-term success and combine global reach with local client attention to serve them in over 50 countries. Visit us at nttdata.com.

Contact at NTT DATA Business Solutions AG

Katrin Schlegel

Head of Mergers & Acquisitions

T: +49 521 / 9 14 48 106

E-Mail: [email protected]

Jasmin Straeter

Head of Global Communications

T: +49 521 9 14 48 108

Email: [email protected]

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2075187/Jurgen_Purzer_CFO.jpg

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SOURCE NTT DATA Business Solutions AG
HOUSTON , May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Petrolink, a global leader in Energy Industry data solutions, proudly announced the launch of their latest version of PetroVault, the class leading platform designed to spur innovation and enhance collaboration within the oil and gas industry. The PetroVault Ecosystem aggregates real-time drilling and subsurface logging data from remote locations, enabling users to access and manage information more efficiently. This versatile platform is fully compatible with third-party applications and encourages the development of new solutions tailored to meet the unique needs of the rapidly evolving Energy Industry.

"Our mission has always been to help Energy Companies and their Co-Venture Partners effectively utilize and share the vast amounts of data that they work with," said Richard Abraham , CEO of Petrolink International. "As an independent, neutral party, we are dedicated to promoting Open Data standards, such as WITSML and OSDU, making it easier for people to adopt and implement them. The latest version of PetroVault is the next major step towards that goal, providing unprecedented efficiency and ease of data access for all relevant project stakeholders."

PetroVault  A Platform for Change

Petrolink's commitment to advancing industry standards is once again clearly demonstrated through their support for the latest Energistics standards of WITSML 2.1 and ETP 1.2., thereby offering significant improvements on existing data flows through updated standards. Major enhancements include real-time binary data transmission at up to ten times previous speeds, support for low-latency connections, and enhanced security through multi-factor authentication. PetroVault is a smart accessible environment that also covers additional drilling, completions, and intervention workflows, such as wired drill pipe, wireline logging, and fracking units. Other features include:

In combination with Petrolink's PetroVue, a common visualization framework, through which all users have the capability to display WITSML, OSDU, OPC and other data formats with ease.

The maximum integration and interoperability for a seamless software solution.

Support for all standard industry data formats for complete plug-and-play flexibility.

A centrally managed solution to consolidate data from all remote locations with the target data repositories, including OSDU instances.

The Empowerment of all Users to control their data effectively.

As part of their long-standing support for the Open Standards Community, Petrolink will also be donating core libraries for WITSML 2.1 and ETP 1.2 functions as Open Source under an Apache 2 License. Designed for ease of use, the libraries will enable developers to quickly implement WITSML in their applications and customize solutions to meet specific needs.

"We're excited to offer these free tools to the OSDU community," said Peter Gonzalez , CSO of Petrolink International. "The adoption of Common Data Standards brings immense benefits to the Energy industry and we hope to be a major contributor to their adoption and use. Our commitment to open standards and collaboration reflects Petrolink's broader vision of fostering cooperation, reducing costs, increasing efficiency, and driving innovation in the sector."

Explore the latest upgrades, archived information, and platform announcements by visiting Petrolink online and via social media: LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube.

About Petrolink

Petrolink is a user-driven global wellsite data solutions company that specializes in aggregating, integrating, analyzing, storing, and distributing wellsite data for clients in major oil and gas regions. With expertise in visualization, data analytics, and interoperability, Petrolink leverages innovative technologies and services to enhance efficiency and reduce operational costs. Employing top talent worldwide, Petrolink operates in over 40 countries and maintains offices in the UK , USA , Mexico , Brazil , Indonesia , Saudi Arabia , and India . Learn more at: www.Petrolink.com.

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SOURCE Petrolink
Building on recent scientific advances, methods may speed progress, decrease cost, and simplify engineering

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. , May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Science for America (SfA), a non-profit "solutions incubator," announced today the release of a white paper: "New Opportunities for Fusion Power." Building on recent scientific advances, the SfA white paper describes two different promising approaches for fusion power that have the potential to speed progress, decrease cost, and simplify engineering challenges and might both be tested efficiently on a single, shared "demonstration system." The white paper, developed by scientists and technologists under SfA's Climate & Energy pillar, shares the ideas freely with the aim of spurring public discussion, scientific research, and commercialization efforts to accelerate fusion as a clean, affordable, scalable power source.

Fusion is the process that powers the sun, in which light atoms (like hydrogen) are merged together to form heavier atoms (like helium), releasing massive amounts of energy with no carbon emissions. Because fusion reactions release millions of times higher energy per unit mass than chemical reactions (such as fossil fuel combustion), fusion fuels are effectively limitless and free, with potentially billions of years of easily-accessible energy reserves.

Fusion has been recognized for decades as an ideal complement to other clean energy sources, such as solar and wind power, because it could be available on-demand, readily ramped up and down, and located anywhere. The challenge has been overcoming major scientific and engineering challenges to make practical, inexpensive fusion energy systems.

In the past few years, though, there has been significant progress  including remarkable growth in commercial activity, with dozens of startups worldwide, and major scientific advances. In one breakthrough in 2021, Commonwealth Fusion Systems showed that high-temperature superconducting tape can create the strong magnetic fields needed for compact steady-state magnetic confinement fusion. In a second breakthrough in 2022, the National Ignition Facility showed that inertial confinement of fusion fuels driven by powerful lasers can achieve ignition. (Ignition is the point at which a reaction can burn additional unheated fuel, with the result that fairly small increases in energy input can lead to huge increases in energy output.) However, many challenges still remain to be solved to achieve practical, affordable commercial fusion.

"Science for America brought together strategic advisors and internal experts to explore whether there are promising potential solutions that are currently receiving little attention  particularly ones that might have advantages from an engineering perspective" said Zara L'Heureux Burke , lead scientist of SfA's Climate and Energy pillar. "After studying a wide range of ways in which fusion might be achieved, the group shined a spotlight on two very interesting approaches."

The white paper calls the methods a "Magnetic Igniter" and a "Sweet-Spot Burner," as a shorthand for their notable features. (More formally, they are short-pulse magnetically-driven inertial confinement and intermediate-pulse magnetic confinement.)

Like the National Ignition Facility, the "Magnetic Igniter" aims to achieve ignition  but rather than using lasers, it drives a ultra-fast pulse of electric current through a small fuel container to create a large pulsed magnetic field that compresses and confines the fuel. Relative to laser-driven methods, the magnetic approach has the potential for higher efficiency, smaller scale, lower cost, and simpler/cheaper targets.

The "Sweet-Spot Burner" uses a pulse length in the "sweet-spot" (about one millionth of a second) that balances the minimum required energy and the minimum required power for a viable fusion energy system. The approach has the potential for compact, inexpensive fusion energy systems that could be mass produced to speed deployment around the world.

These two approaches have another potential advantage. Because both use pulsed magnetic confinement (on different timescales), they might be tested on a single shared "demonstration system."  which would speed testing and reduce costs.

"Science for America's goal is to bring together scientists and technologists to look for potential game-changing solutions to urgent challenges that aren't currently happening and then to develop clear vision, strategy and execution plans to make them happen," said SfA's chief scientist, Eric S. Lander .

Other projects underway at SfA are focused on ways to capture and use carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, create ways to speed the development of cancer drugs, increase preparedness for future pandemics, and improve STEM education and equity.

The white paper, "New Opportunities for Fusion Power," has been posted to https://www.scienceforamerica.org/ to share with the scientific community. SfA is inviting input from experts in the field and plans to publish a final version of the paper later in 2023. The SfA white papers are intended to share ideas with the broader scientific community, stimulate discussion and feedback, as well as to encourage research and commercial development of these potential solutions.

ABOUT -- Science for America (SfA) is a non-profit "solutions incubator" that brings together scientists and technologists and works with partners across sectors to identify potential game-changing solutions to urgent challenges: climate and energy crisis; health; STEM equity and education; leadership and responsibility with critical technologies; and new innovative models. SfA's mission is to develop clear vision, strategy, and execution plans, and to ensure the launch and success of those solutions. Possible solutions may include the creation of projects, initiatives, shared facilities, coalitions, new companies, prizes, and advocacy efforts.

Contact:

Kelly Friendly

[email protected]

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SOURCE Science for America
BRUSSELS , May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Secure Identity Alliance (SIA), the global non-profit association representing public and private actors and organizations active across the secure digital identity ecosystem, today announced its participation at ID4Africa in Nairobi, Kenya on 23-25th May 2022 .

Across a number of keynote, panel and workshop sessions, SIA intends to explore the development of digital trust frameworks and presents the European digital wallet approach. Collaboration and interoperability will be emphasized, underscoring the crucial role they play in unlocking the full potential of Identity, to enable individuals, economies, and societies to thrive.

On day one, Didier Trutt, Chairman of Secure Identity Alliance, will present on the European Digital Identity (EUDI) Wallet and its role in enabling interoperability of trust within the ecosystem.

SIA will also host its mid-year OSIA Advisory Committee meeting and dinner, inviting government agencies interested in the OSIA open standard to contact them or visit their welcome pod in the exhibition area.

On day two, a panel discussion will feature Debora Comparin , Chair of the OSIA Initiative at SIA, as she discusses collaboration and interoperability.

Finally, on day three, Debora and Stephanie de Labriolle , Public Affairs & International Relations at SIA, will contribute to the workshop focused on building people-centric, demand-driven digital public infrastructure to transform public and private sector services.

Don't miss this opportunity to learn from industry experts and gain valuable insights into the future of digital identity.

DAY 1: TUESDAY 23rd May 2023 - Keynote

PS2 S4: INTEROPERABILITY, FEDERATION & DECENTRALIZED IDENTITY

The European Digital Identity (EUDI) Wallet: Enabling the ecosystem for interoperability of trust

Didier Trutt , Chairman, Secure Identity Alliance

DAY 1: TUESDAY 23rd May 2023 - OSIA DINNER PARTY - 19.00  23.30

DAY 2: WEDNESDAY 24th May 2023  Panel

PS2 S3: ON BEING OPEN: COLLABORATION & INTEROPERABILITY

Debora Comparin , Chair, OSIA Initiative , Secure Identity Alliance (SIA)

DAY 3: THURSDAY 25th May 2023 - Workshop

W1 : Building People-Centric, Demand-Driven Digital Public Infrastructure to Transform Public & Private Sector Services

Debora Comparin , Chair, OSIA Initiative , Secure Identity Alliance (SIA)

Stephanie de Labriolle , Public Affairs & International Relations (SIA)

About the SIA

Secure Identity Alliance (SIA) is a global non-profit association representing public and private actors and organizations active across the secure identity ecosystem and adjacent industries. SIA's mission is to unlock the full power of identity so that people, economy, and society thrive. The association supports the development of the activities of its members and across four broad pillars: Identity for Good, Outreach, Open Standards Development and Industry Services and Solutions.

A digital public good, OSIA is an open standard set of interfaces (APIs) that enables seamless connectivity between building blocks of the identity management ecosystem  independent of technology, solution architecture or vendor. www.osia.io

More at www.secureidentityalliance.org

Follow the Secure Identity Alliance at on Twitter @secureidentity1 and LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/secure-identity-alliance/

Press Contact: Stephanie de Labriolle [email protected]

Follow the Secure Identity Alliance at @secureidentity1

About ID4Africa

ID4Africa 2023 - the Augmented General Meeting  will be held May 23-25 at the Edge Conference Centre , Nairobi, Kenya under the theme Digital Identity as Public Infrastructure. Developed and organized by ID4Africa and hosted by the Ministry of Interior and National Administration, Kenya , this year's edition features a 3-day conference - 2 days of Plenary Sessions and 1 day of Workshops, a Hackathon, and an exposition showcasing innovations from over 100 leading international, regional & local companies. The event brings together a record high 1800+ key identity stakeholders from 90 countries around the world including 800+ government officials from 50 African countries.

The AGM program features over 80 speakers representing African and international governments, international development agencies & humanitarian agencies and the private sector.

The AGM closes with two LiveCasts (virtual seminars) on June 7 and 21 for summaries, recommendations and further discussions from the Plenaries and Workshops.

Stakeholders who are unable to attend the physical event in Nairobi can register to follow the live simulcast of the Day 1 and 2 Plenaries on Zoom. For details about the 2023 program, speakers, and the link to register for the live simulcast, visit: https://www.id4africaevents.com/2023/registration

For more information, contact: [email protected]

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1572174/Secure_Identity_Alliance_Logo.jpg

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SOURCE Secure Identity Alliance
SHIJIAZHUANG, May 12 (Xinhua) -- President Xi Jinping has called for efforts to reach new heights in the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and to make it a pioneer and example in pursuing Chinese modernization.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks as he inspected Hebei Province and presided over a meeting on promoting the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

On Thursday and Friday, Xi went to the cities of Cangzhou and Shijiazhuang, where he visited the countryside and places including a port and a research institute. 
HONG KONG , May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The results of the May 2023 Index Review on the MSCI China Small Cap Index have been released. Hangzhou SF Intra-city Industrial Co., Ltd. (Stock Code: 9699.HK), the largest third-party on-demand delivery service provider in China , will be added to the MSCI China Small Cap Index, effective after the market closes on 31 May 2023 . It demonstrates that the international capital market has recognized the Group's development prospects and industry influence. This will further enhance its popularity in the global investment community.

The MSCI China Small Cap Index is an equity index compiled by MSCI Inc., a leading provider of critical decision support tools and services for the global investment community, for measuring the performance of the small-cap segment of the China market. The index, widely recognized by the international financial community and institutional investors, serves as a benchmark for global institutional investors to optimize their investment portfolios. SF Intra-city was included in the MSCI China Small Cap Index according to the results of the May 2023 Index Review. This will further enhance its popularity in the global investment community and generate a positive impact on the Group's transaction liquidity as well as valuation improvement.

Since its listing on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in November 2021 , SF Intra-city has been committed to optimizing its business structure and profitability, thereby achieving excellent performance. In 2022, the Group demonstrated robust business resilience by steadily expanding its business while continuing to improve its financial performance significantly. Last year, the Group's revenue increased significantly by 25.6% to approximately RMB10,265.2 million ; gross profit recorded more than a threefold increase from approximately RMB94.8 million in 2021 to approximately RMB413.4 million ; gross profit margin substantially increased from 1.2% in 2021 to 4.0%. The scale of intra-city delivery services for merchants maintained healthy growth, achieving a revenue of approximately RMB 4,649.7 million for the reporting period, increased 19.8% YoY. Revenue from intra-city delivery to consumers was approximately RMB 1,898.7 million for the reporting period, increased by 57.3% YoY. Last-mile delivery service quickly rebounded under the receding impact of pandemic. It recorded a revenue increase of 19.9% to approximately RMB 3,680.4 million .

To cooperate with digital transformation and adopt new technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence, the Group is committed to optimizing the network system, realizing efficient real-time order scheduling as well as logistics systems, and developing intelligent distribution networks. Moreover, the Group launched the "SF lntra-city Delivery Cloud" SaaS real-time logistics system to provide one-stop intra-city logistics solutions for delivery service providers and brands with self-delivery business. In order to further improve the Group's delivery capability and deployment of smart delivery network, it successfully launched the on-demand drone delivery service, providing a new service experience for its customers and the merchants.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sf-intra-city-is-honoured-to-be-included-in-msci-china-small-cap-index-301823318.html

SOURCE SF Intra-city
A roundup of the week's most newsworthy technology industry press releases from PR Newswire, including AI updates from SAS, IBM, and Autodesk.

NEW YORK , May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- With thousands of press releases published each week, it can be difficult to keep up with everything on PR Newswire. To help journalists covering the business technology industry stay on top of the week's most newsworthy and popular releases, here's a roundup of stories from the week that shouldn't be missed.

The list below includes the headline (with a link to the full text) and an excerpt from each story. Click on the press release headlines to access accompanying multimedia assets that are available for download.

Read more of the latest business technology releases from PR Newswire and stay caught up on the top press releases by following @PRNtech on Twitter.

Can't-Miss Earnings

In addition to these popular releases, several must-read earnings reports crossed the wire this week, including the quarterly results for CEVA, Inc., LivePerson, and iRobot.

Catch up on all the latest earnings reports here.

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SOURCE PR Newswire
ARLINGTON , Va. , May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Ahead of next week's Kentucky GOP governor primary, Daniel Cameron , Kelly Craft and Ryan Quarles became the first candidates in the country to sign the 1776 Parent Power Pledge, a project of the national education reform-focused group, 1776 Action.

In doing so, they commit to voters that if elected they will take concrete steps to:

Promote a system of thorough and verifiable academic transparency for parents to review and influence both instructional materials and extracurricular activities.

Oppose any efforts to undercut standards of academic achievement or merit in service to an artificially-imposed equality of result, often called "equity."

Promote a curriculum which teaches that all children are created equal, have equal moral value under God, our Constitution , and the law, and are members of a national community united by our founding principles.

, and the law, and are members of a national community united by our founding principles. Oppose any curriculum that pits students against one another on the basis of immutable characteristics or politicizes civics education by coercing students into partisan political activity.

"It's appalling that Andy Beshear and Joe Biden dismiss these concerns and label parents as part of the problem for demanding a say in their child's education," said Attorney General Daniel Cameron . "We need to focus on teaching our kids critical skills and a well-rounded curriculum, not pushing divisive liberal racial and gender ideologies. The radical left indoctrination of Kentucky's kids will end the day I become Governor."

Kelly Craft , the former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nation said "Career politicians have allowed radical, woke ideologists into the Kentucky Department of Education and Board of Education to indoctrinate our children. I was the first republican candidate for governor to call for the KDE to be dismantled and rebuilt to bring the focus back to kids, parents, and teachers. Parents should have the right to be involved in their children's education. We must eradicate these woke ideologies from the classroom."

" Kentucky is one of just three gubernatorial races this year, said Adam Waldeck , President of 1776 Action, "and the winner of next week's Republican primary will be looking to unseat an incumbent Democrat governor who has repeatedly stood in the way of parental rights. By signing this pledge, these candidates are committing to moving in a new direction and ensuring integrity and transparency in Kentucky's schools."

A previous but similar version of this pledge was signed by over 500 candidates around the country including South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem and now-Governor Glenn Youngkin who made parental rights in education the centerpiece of his winning 2021 campaign in Virginia .

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/top-gop-contenders-for-kentucky-governor-sign-1776-parent-power-pledge-to-boost-transparency-prevent-political-indoctrination-in-k-12-schools-301823811.html

SOURCE 1776 Action
Prestigious list honors 400 industry leaders in Tarrant County

FORT WORTH, Texas , May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Acclaimed trial attorney Steven C. Laird has been named to Fort Worth Inc. Magazine's list of the 400 Most Influential People in Fort Worth for 2023, a prestigious recognition that honors Tarrant County residents who wield significant influence in the community.

"Although this acknowledgement means a lot to me, the biggest reward I can achieve is justice for those who have been wronged," said Mr. Laird . "I am very grateful to the legal industry and the Tarrant County community."

The Laird & McCloskey founder is one of the few lawyers to be Board Certified in both Personal Injury Trial Law and Civil Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, as well as designated as a Specialist in both Civil Trial and Truck Accident Law by the National Board of Trial Advocacy.

No stranger to accolades, Mr. Laird has been honored by Best Lawyers in America each year since 2012 and is the only personal injury attorney in Tarrant County named to the "Top 100" list of Texas Super Lawyers for 16 out of the past 17 years.

He has been honored with the annual Professionalism Award from the College of the State Bar of Texas and the Tarrant County Bar Association and has been named Trial Lawyer of the Year by the Tarrant County Trial Lawyers Association. Mr. Laird is also a member of the esteemed American Law Institute, an organization of judges, law professors and attorneys helping to formulate rules of law in various legal areas and produce restatements of law.

The annual 400 listing defines honorees as industry leaders in Tarrant County in the areas of philanthropy, nonprofits, government and public policy, economic development, professional services, education, civic affairs, arts, religion, sports, and media, or within their own spheres.

Click here for more information about the 400.

About The Law Offices of Laird & McCloskey

The Law Offices of Laird & McCloskey is a firm of experienced Fort Worth truck accident lawyers with over 30 years of experience helping victims and their families. The firm is located at 1119 Pennsylvania Ave. , Fort Worth , Texas. To learn more about the firm's representative matters or to schedule a meeting with one of its attorneys, call (817) 531-3000 or visit https://www.texlawyers.com/

Media Contact:

Alyssa Woulfe

800-559-4534

[email protected]

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/trial-attorney-steve-laird-named-among-fort-worths-most-influential-people-301823464.html

SOURCE Law Offices of Laird & McCloskey
Ponca Tribe Leader Championed Native American 14th Amendment Rights

LINCOLN, Neb. , May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Postal Service issued the Chief Standing Bear Forever stamp today, honoring the Native American civil rights icon, who won a landmark court ruling in 1879 that determined a Native American was a person under the law with an inherent right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

The dedication ceremony for the stamp was held near the Chief Standing Bear Sculpture at the Centennial Mall . News of the stamp is being shared with the hashtag #ChiefStandingBearStamp.

"Since the 1800's, the Postal Service has used stamps to celebrate the legacy of great Americans and we are proud to do that today with this striking stamp of Chief Standing Bear ," said Anton G. Hajjar , vice chairman of the USPS Board of Governors. "Although the United States was founded on the principle that "all men are created equal," it took our country far too long to recognize the humanity in many of its people  including the American Indians who lived in these lands for thousands of years. I hope this stamp will serve as a reminder of the lessons we've learned from Chief Standing Bear , and the brave Ponca people, especially here in the Cornhusker State."

Chief Standing Bear (circa 18291908) was a member of the Ponca tribe, who lived in the Niobrara River Valley in what is now northeastern Nebraska . The tribe's traditional homeland was included in the Great Sioux Reservation established by the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. The federal government later decided to resolve conflicts between the Sioux and the much smaller Ponca tribe by relocating the latter to the Indian Territory in what is now Oklahoma .

The U.S. Army's forced removal of some 700 Ponca began in the spring of 1877. Some members of the tribe died during the 600-mile journey by foot. More than a hundred others, including Standing Bear's only son, died from disease and hunger shortly after the removal to the Indian Territory . Wanting to honor his son's dying request to be buried in the tribe's Niobrara homeland, Chief Standing Bear and a small band of some 29 other like-minded Ponca made the arduous trip back to Nebraska in 1879. They were arrested by the Army and imprisoned at Fort Omaha.

After attracting the sympathy of a newspaper reporter and the Army general who arrested him, Standing Bear sued the federal government for his freedom. Lawyers filed for a writ of habeas corpus on his behalf to test the legality of his detention, the first time in U.S. history such a filing had been made on behalf of a Native American.

In the closely-watched court case, Standing Bear v. Crook, Judge Elmer Dundy ruled on May 12, 1879 , that an Indian was a person under the common understanding of the word and that all persons in the United States , regardless of race, had an inherent right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The judge ordered that Standing Bear and his fellow Ponca be released from custody.

" Chief Standing Bear is a pillar for the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska and one of the pivotal civil rights leaders in American history," said Candace Schmidt , the chairwoman of the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska. "The Ponca Tribe is elated that this stamp will help illustrate his story of justice and triumph, which is also our story. It also serves as a symbol of the pride and perseverance for all of our members past, present, and future."

A subsequent congressional investigation concluded that the government had blundered and made a mistake when it gave away the Ponca homeland and later when it forced their removal to the Indian Territory . President Rutherford B. Hayes recommended to Congress that the Ponca be allowed the choice of where to live and that they be compensated for land and other losses. Congress passed legislation to that effect in March 1881 .

"It's remarkable, that the story of Nebraska Native American civil rights leader Chief Standing Bear has progressed from a native man being considered a non-person by the U.S. Government in 1879, to today, being recognized by the Postal Service with a stamp honoring him as an American icon," said Judi M. gaiashkibos, executive director of the Nebraska Commission on Indian Affairs. "This story of an indigenous rights hero is truly and necessarily an American story. This stamp further etches his legacy in our national consciousness and provokes necessary conversations about race, sovereignty and equality in the United States ."

Standing Bear and the members of the Ponca who had followed him returned to their old Nebraska reservation along the Niobrara River , where the chief died in September 1908 . In 1924, one issue that his 1879 trial had raised was finally resolved when Congress adopted the Indian Citizenship Act, which conferred citizenship on all Native Americans born in the United States .

The stamp features a portrait of Chief Standing Bear by illustrator Thomas Blackshear II. who based the portrait on a black-and white-photograph taken in 1877. Derry Noyes served as art director and designer for this stamp.

The Postal Service printed 18 million Chief Standing Bear stamps.

Chief Standing Bear Forever stamps will be issued in panes of 20. Forever stamps, always equal the value of the current First-Class Mail 1-ounce price.

Postal Products

Customers may purchase stamps and other philatelic products through the Postal Store at usps.com/shopstamps, by calling 844-737-7826, by mail through USA Philatelic or at Post Office locations nationwide.

Please Note: The United States Postal Service is an independent federal establishment, mandated to be self-financing and to serve every American community through the affordable, reliable and secure delivery of mail and packages to nearly 165 million addresses six and often seven days a week. Overseen by a bipartisan Board of Governors, the Postal Service is implementing a 10-year transformation plan, Delivering for America, to modernize the postal network, restore long-term financial sustainability, dramatically improve service across all mail and shipping categories, and maintain the organization as one of America's most valued and trusted brands.

The Postal Service generally receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.

For USPS media resources, including broadcast quality video and audio and photo stills, visit the USPS Newsroom. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and LinkedIn. Subscribe to the USPS YouTube Channel and like us on Facebook. For more information about the Postal Service, visit usps.com and facts.usps.com.

National contact: David Coleman

202-425-1476

[email protected]

Local contact: Mark Inglett

816-374-9111

[email protected]

usps.com/news

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SOURCE U.S. Postal Service
LAKELAND, Fla. , May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The burden of paying for a quality college education is much lower for Florida Polytechnic University students than for those attending many other universities in the country.

The author of a report by My eLearning World, an online education resource, said Florida Poly students work about 77% fewer hours than the average American college student at minimum wage to pay for a year of tuition and fees at a public university.

According to the report, the average American college student must work an average 2,022 hours annually  or 39 hours per week  at minimum wage to pay for a year of tuition and fees at a public university. That number increases to about 4,646 hours annually at a private institution.

In contrast, Scott Winstead , founder and editor of My eLearning World, said Florida Poly students would have to work 449 hours annually  or nine hours per week  to pay for a year of school at minimum wage. That's only about 23% of the national average for those attending a public institution.

"Annual tuition at Florida Poly is certainly very affordable, even for those at a minimum wage job," Winstead said. "For Florida Poly students, this means they won't have to stress as much about working long hours or taking out huge loans to pay for school, whereas if they attended other Florida -area colleges, they would have to work 77% more hours on average to pay for school."

The cost of tuition and fees at Florida Poly for undergraduate Florida residents is $4,940 annually. This is compared to an average of $6,370 for in-state students in Florida , and $10,940 nationally, according to the report. The University was ranked No. 7 nationally in cost and financing in October 2022 by WalletHub.

Additionally, more than 85% of Florida Poly students receive aid from the University, bringing student costs down even more.

"As the No. 1 public college in the region, Florida Poly is delighted to be able to offer students such a strong hands-on engineering and applied sciences curriculum at an affordable price," said Dr. Randy K. Avent , Florida Poly's president.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/work-less-learn-more-florida-polys-affordability-reduces-hours-students-must-work-301823438.html

SOURCE Florida Polytechnic University
BEIJING , May 11, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Chinese President Xi Jinping , also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, on Thursday visited the city of Cangzhou in north China's Hebei Province , inspecting crop production at drought-alkali fields and a coal port.

During the visit, Xi went deep into a wheat field where he learned about the cultivation of crops tolerant of drought and alkalinity. In inspecting the coal port, he asked about its operation and development planning.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2iHY4w6ysE

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/xi-inspects-north-china-city-301823008.html

SOURCE CCTV+
FILE PHOTO: A logo is pictured on the Credit Suisse bank in Geneva, Switzerland, March 15, 2023. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File Photo

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Credit Derivatives Determinations Committee (DC) accepted on Friday to look into a question on whether a "governmental intervention credit event" occurred with respect to Credit Suisse.

The DC overlooking Europe will have to determine specifics of the subordination of Credit Suisses additional tier-1 (AT1) bonds, according to the DC website.

As part of its takeover by UBS Group AG, the Swiss regulator decided Credit Suisses AT1 bonds, with a notional value of $17 billion, would be valued at zero, in a move that angered some holders of the debt.

Questions to the DC are typically raised in the process to determine whether a certain event will trigger payment of default insurance known as credit default swaps.

(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos; Editing by Leslie Adler)
Czech President Petr Pavel reacts after an interview with Reuters at Prague Castle in Prague, Czech Republic, May 12, 2023. REUTERS/David W Cerny

By Jan Lopatka and Robert Muller

PRAGUE (Reuters) - Ukraine's planned counteroffensive to win back territory occupied by Russia has a good chance of success but may bring high casualties if Russia uses its prepared defences well, Czech President and former NATO general Petr Pavel said on Friday.

Pavel, 61, said in an interview that Ukraine needs support for NATO and European Union entry but joining either will be a lengthy process, though talks on the EU accession could start this year.

Pavel, who was Czech army chief and also the principal military adviser to the NATO secretary-general in 2015-2018, said Ukraine would eventually get Western fighter jets it has been calling for but it was impossible to deliver them in time for the upcoming offensive, and there were higher priorities such as ammunition.

"There is certainly high hope that the Ukrainian counteroffensive will be successful, because Ukraine is motivated, well prepared, its troops are experienced and certainly do not succumb to such deficiencies as the Russian army," Pavel said at Prague Castle, the seat of the Czech presidency.

The Russian army had severe problems in logistics and morale, but a collapse of defences should not be expected, he said.

"Russia has had time to prepare a relatively high-quality and in-depth defence in several lines, which, if used effectively, will cost... Ukraine large casualties," he said.

It was impossible to say what size of territory Ukraine could win back as various scenarios were open, he said.

"Things do not always go according to wishes and plans but I think that the chance for a significant Ukrainian success is really high."

Pavel, decorated for saving a French unit during a peace-keeping mission in Croatia in 1993, refused to speculate on when the counteroffensive may start, but said recent Ukrainian attacks on Russian infrastructure and troop concentration spots were marks of preparations.

Ukraine has asked for fast-track membership of NATO, but Pavel said it would take time.

"Supporting Ukraine's entry into the EU and NATO should be our long-term target," Pavel said when asked what NATO should tell Ukraine at a July summit in Vilnius.

"I am not saying it has to be in any given time horizon, because preparations for entry into both these institutions is very complicated, requires long preparation and meeting a whole list of criteria, but we should help Ukraine with it."

Negotiations on EU entry could realistically start at the end this year, he said, which would give Ukraine a springboard to closer cooperation, helping post-war reconstruction, and speed up the alignment with EU standards.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had hoped the EU would put Ukraine on a rapid road to membership, but the EU has not given any rigid time lines.

"When it comes to NATO... the more stable Ukraine is economically, the bigger chance it will be prepared earlier for entry into NATO," Pavel said.

(Reporting by Jan Lopatka and Robert Muller; Editing by Nick Macfie)
Czech President Petr Pavel speaks during an interview with Reuters at Prague Castle in Prague, Czech Republic, May 12, 2023. REUTERS/David W Cerny

By Robert Muller and Jan Lopatka

PRAGUE (Reuters) - The European Union and other democracies need a united and realistic stance towards China because even the largest EU countries cannot play on equal terms with Beijing on their own, Czech President Petr Pavel said.

The EU has been attempting to strike a balance between the views of its 27 member countries and a desire to keep a distinctive EU approach to China, while also preserving a close partnership with the United States.

Speaking to Reuters in an interview, Pavel, 61, said China's actions amid the Ukraine war showed it was not a constructive player. European nations have criticised Beijing for its refusal to describe Russia's war in Ukraine as an invasion, or to call for a Russian withdrawal.

"We see that its strategic aims really are not compatible with ours, that values on which Chinese society is built are not and will not be our values," Pavel said.

"And if we are to be balanced in relation to China, we need to operate in a united way if possible, not only within the EU or Europe but with all democratic countries of the world."

While countries like Germany or France, whose leaders visited China in recent months, are trying to maintain and promote bilateral relations with China, only a united EU could be treated by Beijing as an equal partner, Pavel told Reuters.

"China is glad for any bilateral meeting obviously, for any chance to split the European countries or split Europe from the United States, that is why it is important to stress that we can succeed in our relations with China only in unity," he said.

(Reporting by Jan Lopatka and Robert Muller; Editing by Nick Macfie)
ADEN, Yemen, May 12 (Xinhua) -- At least three Yemeni government soldiers were killed in a drone strike carried out by Houthi militia in Yemen's Marib Province, a government official told Xinhua on Friday.

According to the local government official who requested anonymity, an overnight drone strike conducted by the Houthi group targeted government military installations in the Harib district of Marib, killing three soldiers and critically injuring five others.

"The Houthis targeted our soldiers stationed at Harib sites with an explosive-laden drone late on Thursday night, causing a large explosion," said the official.

The drone attack occurs amid a period of relative calm in the ongoing conflict between government forces and Iran-backed Houthis, which has experienced a notable decrease in hostilities in recent months.

This relative calm coincides with regional and international peace efforts aimed at bringing an end to Yemen's devastating eight-year-long war.

The fight for Yemen's oil-rich Marib province has become a major driving force in the ongoing conflict, as its valuable resources attract various factions vying for control.

Yemen has been embroiled in a civil war after the Houthi militia took control of several northern cities and ousted the Saudi-backed Yemeni government from Sanaa in 2014. The conflict has resulted in a staggering number of casualties and pushed Yemen to the brink of a humanitarian crisis, including widespread famine. 
Migrants hope to get their phones charged by aid workers while they wait between the primary and secondary border fences as the United States prepares to lift COVID-19 era Title 42 restrictions that have blocked migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border from see

By Daniel Trotta and Jorge Garcia

SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - Hundreds of migrants from around the world seeking a better life in the United States have instead found themselves trapped in squalid conditions near the Mexican border, tantalizingly close to their destination, and desperate.

On the eve of the expiration of Title 42, the COVID-era provision blocking most asylum-seekers from seeking legal entry into the United States, hundreds of migrants have camped out at the border between Tijuana, Mexico, and San Diego.

Some of them have been stuck for nearly a week, hoping to turn themselves in to U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials, but instead are waiting in the open air, stuck in a legal limbo.

"We are very tired and hungry and I have been here for six days," said Pham Thanh, 28, of Vietnam, speaking through the bollards of a 30-foot (10-meter) border barrier.

"President Biden, Im asking to save us, please," he said.

Confusion reigns among the migrants - though the expiration of Title 42 once might have offered a better chance for asylum, new rules taking its place will deny asylum to almost all migrants who cross illegally, forcing them to decide whether they have a better shot at life in the U.S. by crossing now or later.

The estimated 400 migrants come from around the world. Reuters spoke to people from Vietnam, Afghanistan and Colombia on Thursday. They are camped out in U.S. territory on a strip of land between two imposing border walls.

The southern wall marks the official U.S.-Mexican border and is relatively easy to traverse. There are some gaps or places where it is easy to climb. The second, northern wall - 30 feet (10 meters) tall in many places - hems them in. Many would like to enter the United States and turn themselves in to seek asylum.

Customs and Border Protection officials did not immediately respond to a Reuters request to explain how they are handling these migrants.

Border Patrol agents have organized them into groups, prioritizing those who arrived first and women traveling with children, according to Reuters witnesses. Each is given a color-coded wrist band - a sort of time stamp to mark their place in line.

The highest priority group is occasionally called away for processing. Agents take pictures of their faces and passports.

'LEFT HERE FOR A WEEK'

I wasnt that well informed. I thought that coming here, asking the country for help, we would be received with open arms. I didnt think wed be left here for a week, in the cold and rain and with very little food, said Luisa Fernanda Herrera Sierra, 22, of Colombia.

On the north side of the second wall, helmeted Border Patrol agents zip about on four-wheeled all-terrain vehicles. When they are present, aid groups stand back. But when they leave, aid workers distribute food and water through the bollards in the wall, again prioritizing women with children.

Beyond food and water, another lifeline volunteers provide is the charging of cell phones, so that migrants can communicate with loved ones back home.

Hashmutallah Habibi, 26, of Afghanistan, said he set out for the United States because we cannot sit at home and wait for good things to happen in our country.

But he never expected to get stuck at the foot of a dusty ravine, without a shower or clean clothes for six days, with a sick sister.

Im just hoping and praying that today they take us in because if they don't take us then my future and my family future is dark because we escaped from dark place," Habibi said.

Many of the migrants know they have a difficult road ahead, as many if not most or all have not applied for asylum in another country before arriving here.

Fabian Camilo Hernandez, 26, of Colombia, who is traveling with his wife and 22-month-old baby, said he would not have set out on the journey had he known what was to lie ahead.

Its hard to see him crying, not sleeping well, Hernandez said. I dont want to think about what might happen. I just hope they let us in.

(Additional reporting by Mike Blake and Alan Devall in San Diego; Editing by Mary Milliken and Deepa Babington)
FILE PHOTO: A smartphone with a displayed Broadcom logo is placed on a computer motherboard in this illustration taken March 6, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - EU antitrust regulators extended on Friday their deadline for a decision on U.S. chipmaker Broadcom's proposed $61 billion bid for cloud computing firm VMware by three days to June 26.

The deadline was extended in agreement with the companies, a European Commission spokesperson said.

Broadcom Chief Executive Hock Tan last week sought to convince the European Commission of the merits of the deal at a closed hearing. The company is expected to offer remedies in the coming days.

(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee, Editing by Louise Heavens)
FILE PHOTO: An attendant walks past EU and China flags ahead of the EU-China High-level Economic Dialogue at Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, China June 25, 2018. REUTERS/Jason Lee

By Andrew Gray and Sabine Siebold

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) -European Union ministers on Friday backed reducing the bloc's economic dependence on China but will now have to figure out how to make that a reality, foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said.

Borrell said foreign ministers gave broad backing to a plan to adjust policy on China to place greater emphasis on its role as a political rival, while continuing also to see Beijing both as a partner on global issues and an economic competitor.

"Colleagues welcomed the paper that we presented. They agree on the basic lines of this re-calibration of our strategy on China," Borrell told reporters after their meeting in Stockholm.

"When a dependency is too big, it's a risk," he declared.

Borrell said the EU had to learn from the "strategic mistake" it made in the years before Moscow's war in Ukraine of becoming too dependent on Russian gas.

He said the EU today was even more dependent on China for key technologies such as solar panels and for critical materials than it had been on Russian energy.

"De-risking is just a word. But behind this word, there is a lot of work that will take time, to review all our economic relations with China," he said.

Borrell stressed the aim was not to "de-couple" the European and Chinese economies but to rebalance the relationship.

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis warned that even if the EU did not want to de-couple from China economically, it needed to be prepared for such a scenario.

"Somebody has to devise a possibility that a de-coupling might happen - not because we wished it, like with Russia, not because we willed it but because the situation, for example in the Taiwan Strait, has been changed by force," he said.

Officials will now refine the proposal to present it to EU leaders, who are expected to discuss China at a summit in June.

The plan is the latest attempt to strike a balance between views of the EU's 27 member countries, keep a distinctive EU approach to Beijing and preserve a close partnership with Washington, which is pushing for a harder line on China.

The document states that coordination with the United States will "remain essential".

But it says the EU "should not subscribe to an idea of a zero-sum game whereby there can only be one winner, in a binary contest between the US and China."

In a letter accompanying the proposal, Borrell said there were at least three reasons for "re-calibrating" China policy.

He said these were "the degree to which China is changing with nationalism and ideology on the rise; the hardening of the US-China competition affecting all policies areas; and the fact that China is a key player in regional and global issues".

The document says the EU should "diversify sources of supply in key sectors, in particular those crucial to our green and digital transition" such as semiconductors, 5G and 6G telecoms, batteries, raw materials and critical minerals.

(Reporting by Andrew Gray; Editing by Sonali Paul and Daniel Wallis)
FILE PHOTO: Tunisian coast guards try to stop migrants at sea during their attempt to cross to Italy, off the coast off Sfax, Tunisia April 27, 2023. REUTERS/Jihed Abidellaoui/File Photo

WARSAW (Reuters) - The European Union could see another record number of people seeking to reach its borders this year via irregular crossings, with more migrants driven by poverty and climate change rather than conflict, the EU's Frontex border agency said on Friday.

Frontex reported some 330,000 unauthorised arrivals via all routes last year, the highest since 2016, with the increased numbers provoking harsher anti-immigration rhetoric in EU states including Denmark, the Netherlands and Austria.

More than one million people - mostly fleeing the war in Syria - reached Europe's shores in 2015, prompting the European Union to tighten external borders and asylum laws.

So far this year, Frontex said, the number of people trying to reach European shores from North Africa via routes heading towards Italy has increased by 292% between January and April compared to the same four months in 2022, to more than 42,000.

Irregular crossings decreased via the less popular western and eastern Mediterranean, as well the Balkans and Poland, with a total of nearly 80,700 people detected.

Hans Leijtens, who took over the helm of Frontex in March, said the number of people from sub-Saharan Africa was on the rise, suggesting a shift in migration patterns towards those fleeing poverty and climate change rather than war.

"This year could be another record high and if you look at the demography of migrants, the question is whether it will be over in a year," he told Reuters. "The composition of the flow is more solid, not triggered by an event."

(Reporting by Justyna Pawlak; Editing by Nick Macfie)
FILE PHOTO: A view shows the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict outside Enerhodar in the Zaporizhzhia region, Russian-controlled Ukraine, March 29, 2023. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko/

By John Irish and Francois Murphy

PARIS/VIENNA (Reuters) - U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi plans to present an agreement with Russia and Ukraine on protecting the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to the U.N. Security Council this month, indicating a deal is close, four diplomats have told Reuters.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Grossi has been trying for months to secure an agreement to reduce the risk of a catastrophic nuclear accident from military activity like shelling at Europe's biggest nuclear power plant, which is in Ukraine and has been occupied by Russia for more than a year.

With Ukraine preparing a counteroffensive in the area, there is a risk that fighting near the plant and its six reactors will intensify. Russia and Ukraine have blamed each other for shelling that has repeatedly downed power lines vital to cooling the reactors and preventing a nuclear meltdown.

"It looks promising," one diplomat said about securing an agreement. Others said Ukraine, which long opposed the plan, now backed it while Russia's position was less clear.

"The plan is (to present it to the Security Council) this month but the exact date has not been fixed yet," the diplomat said, adding that Grossi was liaising with Switzerland, which holds the monthly Security Council presidency, on the date.

Diplomats said Grossi would outline the so-called "principles" on protecting the plant that should by then have the backing of Russia and Ukraine. Some of these have long been known, such as neither firing at or from the plant.

Grossi has repeatedly warned of the risk of a severe accident at the plant and the need for urgent action to protect it. Asked for comment, the IAEA said he "remains engaged in intense negotiations with all the involved parties to secure the protection of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant".

His plan has changed over time as parts have been opposed by one side or the other. It was originally supposed to be a "protection zone" within a defined radius around the plant, but that idea has long been abandoned.

QUESTIONS REMAIN

Other principles that diplomats have been listing for months include barring heavy weapons from the plant, even though there is no clear definition of what heavy weapons are.

Two diplomats said this week that the principles also included no military personnel at the plant, although Russia has argued that armed men present there do not meet that definition. Another recently added item is that there should be no attacks on the Ukrainian staff operating the plant, one diplomat said.

When presented with the list, a third diplomat said the principles had been "refined slightly", without elaborating, indicating that the situation remains fluid.

Grossi has got to a similar stage in talks before, having held discussions with the then-Maltese presidency of the Security Council on presenting the principles in February, diplomats said at the time. That presentation never happened, however, as it became clear Ukraine did not back it.

There are also doubts as to the viability of this plan to protect Zaporizhzhia, given the limited means available to police and enforce it.

The IAEA currently has a handful of staff stationed at Zaporizhzhia - nuclear rather than military officials. Even if their numbers were to increase, while they could tell if damage had been caused to the plant by shelling they would be poorly equipped to determine who had fired the shells and from where.

"I still wonder how anyone is going to enforce or even monitor any of this," one Vienna-based diplomat said.

(Writing by Francois Murphy; Editing by Nick Macfie)
Texas National Guard soldiers stand guard near the banks of the Rio Bravo river while asylum seekers attempt to cross the border to turn themselves in to U.S. Border Patrol agents while Title 42 is lifted, in Matamoros, Mexico May 11, 2023. REUTERS/Daniel

By Daina Beth Solomon

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (Reuters) - Oriana Silva, a 30-year-old Venezuelan mother of two, was so determined to make it to the United States that she entered illegally and was expelled back to Mexico five times in seven months. Now, she is trying another way she hopes will be easier: the U.S. asylum app.

As U.S. COVID-era border restrictions give way to strict new asylum rules on Friday, she and other migrants in Mexico have opted to forgo unlawful crossings and instead heed the Biden administration's calls to request asylum via mobile app.

"It's much better," Silva said on Thursday at the border, scrolling through a WhatsApp chat with tips about the app known as CBP One. "We're already here, we're already one step away."

Silva is in Ciudad Juarez, one of the biggest Mexican border cities, where fear of the tougher U.S. rules led tens of thousands of people to scramble to enter the United States in the past few days before Title 42 COVID policy expired.

Under the COVID-era order, U.S. officials could immediately expel migrants back to Mexico, blocking them from requesting asylum. The new rules bar migrants from re-entering the country for five years if they are caught crossing illegally.

The recent rush has left U.S. authorities overwhelmed and increased the number of migrants being held by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to 28,000 - far beyond stated capacity and at apparent record levels.

But in Ciudad Juarez the scene is now one of relative calm.

After months of struggling to house the constant arrivals of migrants, many shelters in Ciudad Juarez - which lies opposite El Paso, Texas - are now half empty.

"They've left the shelters, they've left the streets," said Enrique Valenzuela, a Chihuahua state official who runs a migrant services center, noting that many had entered the United States.

"The pressure in Juarez has decreased a bit."

That could be good news for the Biden Administration which has worked hard to get the message out that the ending of Title 42 does not mean the border is open, and that migrants need to use the app rather than cross illegally.

It is unclear how widely the views of Silva, and the other nine migrants Reuters talked to about the app, are shared among those hoping to reach the United States.

A spike in the number of migrants crossing the Darien gap linking Panama with Colombia in April and early May suggests many more people will be arriving at the border in the coming weeks and months.

Silva, who left her daughters aged 4 and 10 with their grandmother in Venezuela, said she remains determined to make it.

Silva said she got updates on the shifts in U.S. migration policy via Instagram, including from a Venezuelan business adviser who had just posted a news item in English from El Paso.

Alongside her, two young men from Venezuela said they were also going to seek asylum appointments on the CBP One app.

The app has not been without problems.

Juan Angel Pavon, 52, another Venezuelan, said he has been trying to get a CBP One appointment for three months.

In the meantime, smugglers told him they could quickly bring him and his two daughters, 12 and 14, into the United States, he said. But he was determined to stick at it, and not take the risk.

"We can fall victim to any rumor," he said, seated in a tent in a small migrant encampment near the border. He observed that the latest information circulating via word-of-mouth was that CBP One would soon start offering more appointment slots.

"God willing, that happens. It would be a great solution for this out-of-control situation migrants are going through."

(Reporting by Daina Beth Solomon; Editing by Dave Graham and Aurora Ellis)
FILE PHOTO-The logo with the new company name "Orano" of the French nuclear fuel group Areva is seen on the Areva Tower in La Defense near Paris, France, January 23, 2018. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer

NIAMEY (Reuters) - French nuclear group Orano has evacuated 18 expatriate workers from a uranium mining site in Arlit, northern Niger, to the capital Niamey on Friday, following a security threat, a spokesperson for the company said in statement to Reuters.

Orano ceased exploiting uranium at the mine in 2021 due to the depletion of reserves, but plans to operate in the country to retrain workers and remediate the mining site for at least a decade.

The spokesperson did not give details about the security threat but said it occurred in a village halfway between the border with Mali and Arlit, which lies some 800 km (500 miles) to the northeast of the capital.

Vast areas of Mali's arid northern region, near Niger, are controlled by armed militants linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State who in the past have carried out attacks, raids and kidnapped national and foreign workers in the area.

"In accordance with the procedures, and as a precautionary measure, expatriates and missionaries, identified as potential targets at the living base were evacuated under protection to Niamey by plane," the spokesperson said, adding that they would be returned in a few days once the threat was eliminated.

France redeployed most of its anti-terror troops previously based in Mali to Niger last summer where they are helping the Sahel nation tackle insurgents.

(Reporting by Boureima Balima; Writing by Bate Felix; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel)
(Reuters) -Finance leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) advanced economies set a year-end deadline for launching a new scheme to diversify global supply chains, and vowed to address regulatory gaps in the banking system, according to a final draft of their communique seen by Reuters.

In the draft communique, the G7 central banks said they remained "strongly committed" to achieving price stability and ensuring inflation expectations stayed well-anchored.

"The global economy has shown resilience against multiple shocks including the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, and associated inflationary pressures," the draft communique said.

"Nevertheless, we need to remain vigilant and stay agile and flexible in our macroeconomic policy amid heightened uncertainty about the global economic outlook," it said.

The finance ministers and central bank governors of the G7 rich democracies will issue the communique after their three-day meeting in the Japanese city of Niigata concludes later on Saturday.

The draft communique made no mention of the U.S. debt ceiling stalemate, which overshadowed the G7 gathering as policymakers fretted over the risk of a potential U.S. default.

China has also been much on the minds of the G7 finance leaders, with this year's chair Japan spearheading efforts to diversify supply chains and reduce their heavy reliance on the world's second-biggest economy.

Under the new partnership scheme, the G7 economies would offer aid to low- and middle-income countries so they can play a bigger role in supply chains for energy-related products, such as by refining minerals and processing manufacturing parts.

"Diversification of supply chains can contribute to safeguarding energy security and help us to maintain macroeconomic stability," the draft communique said.

The G7 would work with interested countries and relevant international organizations with the aim of launching the scheme "by the end of this year at the latest," it said.

"Spillovers from Russia's war against Ukraine and disruptions caused by the pandemic have made clear the importance of diversified and resilient supply chains," U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a bilateral meeting with her Japanese counterpart Shunichi Suzuki on Saturday.

The draft communique made no mention of an idea, flagged by the United States, to consider imposing targeted restrictions on investments to China to combat Beijing's use of "economic coercion" against other countries.

But it said G7 countries will work to ensure foreign investment in critical infrastructure "does not undermine the economic sovereignty of host countries."

The discussions among the finance leaders will lay the groundwork for next week's G7 summit in Hiroshima.

The G7 finance chiefs met at a time when worries over the U.S. debt ceiling standoff are adding to uncertainty over the global outlook, already clouded by signs of weakness in China's economy, stubbornly high inflation, and the recent failure of several U.S. banks.

On banking-system woes, the draft communique said the financial system was resilient due to regulatory reforms implemented after the 2008 global financial crisis.

"We will address data, supervisory, and regulatory gaps in the banking system," the draft communique said.

The G7 reiterated their condemnation of Russia's "illegal, unjustifiable, and unprovoked war of aggression" against Ukraine, and said it will continue to strengthen coordination in monitoring cross-border transactions between Russia and other countries, the draft communique showed.

(Reporting by G7 reporting team, writing by Leika Kihara; Editing by David Dolan and Rosalba O'Brien)
FILE PHOTO: Recruits of the Swiss army Tank School 21 perform an attack exercise with the Leopard 2 tank in Bure, Switzerland May 5, 2023. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

(Reuters) -Germany plans to buy 18 Leopard 2 tanks and 12 self-propelled howitzers to replenish stocks depleted by deliveries to Ukraine, according to procurement documents seen by Reuters on Friday.

The tanks order will come to 525 million euros ($578 million) while the howitzers have a price tag of 190.7 million euros, all of which are to be delivered by 2026 at the latest, said the finance ministry documents meant for the parliament.

The tank purchase includes an option for another 105 tanks for about 2.9 billion euros, said a defence source, who added that the German parliament's budget committee was expected to sign off on the deal at the end of May.

Germany has supplied 18 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine since the Russian invasion last year and has said it intends to plug the gap with new tanks as soon as possible.

The 12 howitzers are part of defence ministry plans signed off by the German parliament in March to buy up to 28 howitzers as replacements.

The Leopard is jointly manufactured by KMW and Rheinmetall, while the howitzers are made by KMW.

The finance ministry, which is involved with the budgeting process, did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

Bloomberg first reported the tank order.

($1 = 0.9084 euros)

(Reporting by Sabine Siebold and Andreas Rinke in Berlin and Kanjyik Ghosh in Bengaluru; Editing by Miranda Murray, Friederike Heine and Mark Potter)
BEIRUT (Reuters) - The head of Lebanon's powerful armed group Hezbollah on Friday denied his group was involved in narcotics smuggling and said it had no links to an alleged drug kingpin killed in Syria this week.

On Monday, rare Jordanian air strikes killed a drug smuggler in southern Syria and hit a narcotics factory that local and intelligence sources linked to Hezbollah.

"We don't smuggle drugs, we smuggle weapons," Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised speech, saying the group would never be "contaminated... with the filth of drugs."

Nasrallah said the accusation was "a lie, an injustice, a betrayal, a conspiracy" and hinted that his party was helping curb the drug trade in Lebanon.

"I can say it for the first time. In many areas, had it not been for Hezbollah, would the Lebanese state have been able to do what it is doing now, in terms of dismantling the captagon factories and confronting many drug hotbeds and gangs in Lebanon?" he said.

Captagon is an amphetamine-like drug that regional officials say is produced in Syria and partly along the Lebanese border, then exported to the Gulf. They accuse Hezbollah of having a role in the production and trade and in March sanctioned two people affiliated to the group.

The conservative Shi'ite Islamist faction was founded in 1982 in Lebanon by Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps. It says its arms are needed to protect Lebanon, but its opponents say the group's arsenal undermines the state.

(This story has been corrected to say the kingpin was killed in Syria, not Jordan, in paragraph 1)

(Reporting by Maya Gebeily; Editing by Alex Richardson)
KHARTOUM, May 12 (Xinhua) -- The Sudanese Army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have promised to protect civilians and achieve a short-term ceasefire to facilitate emergency humanitarian assistance, as they signed the Jeddah Declaration of Commitment to Protect the Civilians of Sudan.

In response to various parties' concern over the humanitarian needs in Sudan, the conflicting parties signed the declaration in the Saudi port city of Jeddah on Thursday after talks since Saturday, vowing to "achieve a short-term ceasefire to facilitate the delivery of emergency humanitarian assistance and restoration of essential services."

An effective ceasefire of up to approximately ten days is expected to facilitate humanitarian activities, and further discussions aiming at a permanent cessation of hostilities are scheduled, according to the Saudi Press Agency.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud on Friday tweeted that the talks and the declaration of commitment to protecting civilians came as a first step and other steps will follow. The most important thing is to adhere to what was agreed upon, and Saudi Arabia will work until security and stability return to Sudan and its people.

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday has verified 30 attacks on health facilities in Khartoum and across Sudan.

Establishing safe routes for humanitarian aid is critical and 70 percent of health facilities in areas affected by fighting are out of service, the WHO said, adding that "we have managed to deliver a significant quantity of supplies to Port Sudan, but unless these supplies can be distributed to health facilities, they are of no use."

Catherine Russell, executive director of the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), in a press release Thursday said the brutal conflict in Sudan has exacted a devastating toll on the country's children, with thousands having experienced deeply traumatic events or been driven from their homes in search of relative safety.

Expressing concerns over the children amid the conflicts, she said "their situation remains precarious, and continued support and assistance from the international community and humanitarian partners are critical."

UNICEF also warned that the rainy season is expected to heighten access challenges and increase disease risks. In addition, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Thursday that the fighting in Sudan, which causes food, water, fuel and cash shortages in some regions, triggers almost fourfold price hikes.

More than 164,000 people have sought refuge across borders since the outbreak of the military conflict in Sudan on April 15, according to the UN Refugee Agency. The International Organization for Migration estimates some 736,000 people are newly internally displaced within Sudan since the start of the conflict. Almost 3.8 million people were displaced within Sudan prior to the outbreak of violence.

The deadly clashes have left at least 550 people dead and 4,926 others wounded, according to the figures released by the Sudanese Health Ministry in early May. 
FILE PHOTO: A participant stands near a logo of IMF at the International Monetary Fund - World Bank Annual Meeting 2018 in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia, October 12, 2018. REUTERS/Johannes P. Christo

(Reuters) - International Monetary Fund staff have reached agreement with Senegal on financing facilities totalling about $1.9 billion, the Fund said in a statement.

The deal is subject to approval by the IMF executive board, which is tentatively scheduled to consider it in mid-June.

Most of the money is a new 36-month financing arrangement under an Extended Fund Facility and Extended Credit Facility of over $1.5 billion.

Policy priorities under that arrangement will include reducing debt vulnerabilities through fiscal consolidation, strengthening frameworks combating money laundering and terrorism financing, and delivering job-rich economic growth.

Financing under a Resilience and Sustainability Facility of about $327 million will support Senegal's climate change mitigation and adaptation objectives.

(Reporting by Alexander Winning; editing by John Stonestreet)
FILE PHOTO: Flags wave in front of Illumina's global headquarters in San Diego, California, U.S., November 28, 2022. REUTERS/Mike Blake

(Reuters) -Proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) on Friday backed only one of Carl Icahn's three nominees to Illumina Inc's board, saying that the activist investor's push to remove the company's CEO was too disruptive.

ISS backed Icahn's candidate Andrew Teno and said he could be an adequate replacement for Illumina Chairman John Thompson, but did not support any other Icahn nominee.

The partial backing by ISS comes just two days after another proxy adviser, Glass Lewis, backed Teno and another Icahn nominee, and said shareholders should vote against the re-election of current CEO Francis deSouza and Chairman Thompson.

Illumina, which specializes in gene sequencing, and Icahn have been locked in a months-long proxy battle, where Icahn has been looking to remove deSouza and Thompson from the company's board and criticized Illumina's deal to buy cancer test maker Grail.

"In consideration of the lack of evidence of malfeasance by the CEO, and the fact that the dissident does not have a CEO candidate in hand ... removal of CEO deSouza from the board seems excessively disruptive at this stage," ISS said on Friday.

Withholding support from Thomson, however, "appears to be the most direct approach to achieve the change that is warranted," according to ISS.

Teno has served on the boards of FirstEnergy and Southwest Gas and ISS recommended that he replace Thompson.

The company will hold its annual shareholder meeting on May 25.

ISS recommended that shareholders also withhold support from dissident nominees Vincent Intrieri and Jesse Lynn.

(Reporting by Ananya Mariam Rajesh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)
MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Friday that allegations Russia had interfered in the upcoming Turkish presidential election were false and had been concocted by liars.

Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the main rival to Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, issued a warning to Russia on Thursday, accusing it of responsibility for the release of fake material on social media ahead of Sunday's ballot.

Speaking to reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia valued its bilateral relations with Turkey and that Moscow "strongly rejected" the accusations.

"We officially declare that there is no question of any interference. If anyone has provided such information to Mr. Kilicdaroglu, they are liars," Peskov said.

(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Andrew Osborn)
By Sabine Siebold

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - The European Union needs to be prepared for the fallout from a potential deterioration in relations with China, such as might happen if conflict were to erupt over Taiwan, Lithuania's Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said on Friday.

Landsbergis said he was not advocating a "de-coupling" from China, but pointed to the break with Moscow over Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 as the type of risk for which the bloc needed to be prepared.

Nobody had called for a decoupling from Russia, yet "here were are", he said.

"Somebody has to devise a possibility that a de-coupling might happen - not because we wished it, like with Russia, not because we willed it but because the situation, for example in the Taiwan Strait, has been changed by force," he told reporters as he arrived for a meeting with EU counterparts in Stockholm.

Europe would have to react to such a development, "and the reaction would lead to some sort of a de-coupling", Landsbergis said.

The EU has been struggling to recalibrate its relations with a China, which is seen as much more assertive than in the past, drawing lessons from what is regarded as a failed Russia policy that strongly relied on energy imports from Moscow.

Leaders such as European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz have called for a "de-risking" but not a de-coupling from China.

French President Emmanuel Macron, however, recently provoked a backlash when he called on the EU to reduce dependence on the U.S. and cautioned against being drawn into a crisis over Taiwan driven by an "American rhythm and a Chinese overreaction".

(Reporting by Sabine Siebold, Editing by Charlotte Van Campenhout and Alex Richardson)
French President Emmanuel Macron speaks during a conference titled 'Accelerer notre reindustrialisation' (Speed Up our reindustrialization) with some representatives of French industry at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, 11 May 2023. YOAN VALAT/Pool

By Dominique Vidalon

PARIS (Reuters) -Two French citizens, Bernard Phelan and Benjamin Briere, have been freed from detention in Iran, President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday, calling it "a relief".

French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said in a separate statement that both men were now on their way to France, adding that she spoke to her Iranian counterpart Hossein Amirabdollahian, on Friday morning.

"Benjamin Briere and Bernard Phelan will be reunited with their loved ones. This is a relief," Macron said on Twitter.

Iran's foreign ministry said the releases were carried out "as a humanitarian act in line with relevant laws and regulations", state media reported.

Relations between France and Iran have deteriorated in recent months with Tehran detaining seven French nationals in what Paris has described as arbitrary arrests equivalent to state hostage-taking.

A Franco-Irish citizen, Phelan was sentenced to 6.5 years in prison in March for "providing information to another country", despite his poor health, his family had said.

The tourism consultant was arrested as anti-government protests spread following the death last year of a young Iranian Kurdish woman, Masha Amini, while in the custody of Iran's morality police.

Briere had been held in the Islamic Republic since his May 2020 arrest for flying a remote-controlled mini helicopter used to obtain aerial or motion images near the Turkmenistan-Iran border. An Iranian court sentenced him to eight years in prison on spying charges in early 2022.

Acquitted on appeal in February, Briere was nevertheless detained until his release on Friday.

At least four other French nationals are still imprisoned in Iran.

"We will continue to work towards the return of our fellow nationals who are still detained in Iran," Macron added.

Iran has arrested dozens of foreigners and dual nationals in recent years, mostly on espionage and security-related accusations. Rights groups call that a tactic to win concessions from abroad by inventing charges, an accusation Tehran denies.

(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon and Tassilo Hummel, additional reporting by Dubai newsroom; editing by William Maclean, Richard Lough and Mark Heinrich)
FILE PHOTO: Twitter app logo is seen in this illustration taken, August 22, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

(Corrects syntax in headline)

(Reuters) - NBCUniversal's head of advertising, Linda Yaccarino, is in talks to become the new CEO of Twitter, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the situation.

(This story has been refiled to capitalize 'Twitter' in the headline)

(Reporting by Urvi Dugar in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
OSLO (Reuters) - Norway's prime minister said on Friday he had expressed concerns about human rights in parts of China during a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang in Oslo.

"We are concerned about the human rights situation in Xinjiang and the developments in Hong Kong," Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said in a statement.

(Reporting by Terje Solsvik; Editing by Toby Chopra)
FILE PHOTO: An aerial view shows tugboats helping a crude oil tanker to berth at an oil terminal, off Waidiao Island in Zhoushan, Zhejiang province, China July 18, 2022. cnsphoto via REUTERS

By Laura Sanicola

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices settled more than 1% lower on Friday, falling for the third consecutive week, as the market balanced supply fears against renewed economic concerns in the United States and China.

Brent crude futures settled down 81 cents, or 1.1%, to $74.17 while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) U.S. crude futures fell 83 cents, or 1.2%, to $70.04.

Both benchmarks settled about 1.5% lower week on week.

The U.S. dollar clung to modest gains against the euro on Friday and was headed for its biggest weekly gain since February, as uncertainty around the U.S. debt ceiling and monetary policy prompted a shift to safe havens. [=EUR]

A stronger greenback makes dollar-priced oil more expensive for holders of other currencies.

"Lack of confidence in the economy is translating to a retreat to the safer dollar, and is also causing pessimism about oil demand," said John Kilduff, partner at Again Capital LLC in New York.

Concern mounted that the United States - the world's biggest oil consumer - will enter recession, with talks over the U.S. government's debt ceiling postponed and concern growing over another crisis-hit regional bank.

The U.S. Federal Reserve will probably need to raise interest rates further if inflation stays high, Fed Governor Michelle Bowman said on Friday, adding that data this month has not convinced her that price pressures are receding.

Meanwhile, China's April consumer price data rose at a slower pace than in March, missing expectations, while deepening factory gate deflation refocused doubts about its recovery from COVID restrictions driving oil demand growth.

The U.S. oil and natural gas rig count fell this week to its lowest in nearly a year, as gas rigs slumped by the most in a week since February 2016, energy services firm Baker Hughes Co said in its closely followed report on Friday.

U.S. oil rigs fell by two to 586 this week, their lowest since June 2022, while gas rigs plunged by 16 to 141, their lowest April last year.

The market drew some support from the forecast emerging supply deficit for the second half of the year, even as Iraq's oil minister Hayan Abdel-Ghani told Reuters on Friday he does not expect OPEC+ to decide on further production cuts when it next meets in Vienna on June 4.

An OPEC report on Thursday said the producer group expects July-December demand for its own crude to be 90,000 barrels per day (bpd) higher than previously projected.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) kept its global oil demand forecast for 2023 unchanged on Thursday, expecting economic risks to be offset by higher Chinese demand growth.

The market also drew support after U.S. energy secretary Jennifer Granholm signalled that the country could repurchase oil for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) after completing a congressionally mandated sale next month.

(Additional reporting Rowena Edwards in London, Yuka Obayashi in Tokyo and Andrew Hayley in Beijing; Editing by David Goodman, Kirsten Donovan, Nick Macfie and Daniel Wallis)
FILE PHOTO: Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan attends a joint news conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (not pictured) at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, March 2, 2023. REUTERS/Annegret Hilse/

(Reuters) -Troops from Azerbaijan and Armenia exchanged fire with weapons including mortars and drones on their joint border on Friday, killing one soldier from each side two days before top-level talks on a long-term peace deal.

It was the second straight day of exchanges of fire - ahead of Sunday's planned meeting in Brussels between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azeri President Ilham Aliyev.

One Azeri soldier died in Thursday's hostilities.

The two ex-Soviet states have fought two wars in 30 years focusing on the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, recognised as part of Azerbaijan but populated mainly by ethnic Armenians.

In a six-month conflict in 2020, Azerbaijan recovered swathes of territory lost in an earlier war that gripped the region amid the collapse of Soviet rule.

In the latest skirmish, Armenia's Defence Ministry said its forces came under fire with mortars and small arms near the village of Sotk, close to the border. The ministry said drones were also deployed.

"In the wake of enemy fire, the Armenian side has one killed in action and one wounded," the ministry said, adding the exchanges eventually died down.

Azerbaijan's Defence Ministry said it had cut short a drone attack by Armenia on its positions in the Kalbajar district on its side of the border. It later reported that one of its servicemen had been killed and that Azeri troops controlled the situation.

Tensions have risen while efforts intensify to get the two rivals to reach a peace deal despite differences on border demarcation and other issues. Talks have generally been staged under the jurisdiction of the European Union or Russia - which brokered the truce that ended the fighting in 2020.

Foreign ministers from both sides met last week in the United States.

Azerbaijan last month installed a checkpoint at the entry to the Lachin Corridor - the only road linking Armenia to Karabakh - in a move that Yerevan said was a "gross violation" of the 2020 ceasefire.

On Thursday, both sides said they were acting in self-defence and blamed the other for firing first.

Armenia said four of its servicemen had been injured. Pashinyan said that incident was an attempt by Azerbaijan to disrupt peace talks.

The latest clashes are also seen as a test of Russia's ability to influence events in the South Caucasus.

Russia is a formal ally of Armenia through a mutual self-defence treaty, but also strives for good relations with Baku. Moscow says the 2020 peace accord it brokered is the only basis for a long-term solution.

(Reporting by Ron Popeski; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel and Rosalba O'Brien)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. military will work to bolster the defensive posture in the Gulf region following Iran's seizure and harassment of commercial shipping vessels in recent months, U.S. officials said on Friday.

In the past two years, Iran has harassed, attacked or interfered with the navigational rights of 15 internationally flagged commercial vessels, officials said.

"The Department of Defense will be making a series of moves to bolster our defensive posture in the Arabian Gulf," White House spokesperson John Kirby told a news briefing.

Kirby added that in the coming weeks there would be an attempt to "increase coordination and interoperability" with allies in the Strait of Hormuz.

The U.S. Navy's Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet said it was working with regional allies to increase the rotation of ships and aircraft patrolling around the Strait of Hormuz.

"Iran's unwarranted, irresponsible and unlawful seizure and harassment of merchant vessels must stop," the Fifth Fleet's commander, Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, said in a statement.

A spokesperson from the U.S. military's Florida-based Central Command, which oversees American forces in the Middle East, said the United States was discussing options with regional partners.

"Any decisions about force posture will be made after consulting with our allies and will be consistent with the collective desire to ensure the safety and freedom of navigation for all nation," the spokesperson said.

The moves come after Iran seized a second oil tanker in a week in Gulf waters earlier this month, and the State Department called for its release in the latest escalation in a series of actions against commercial vessels in Gulf waters since 2019.

The U.S. Navy said on May 3 the Panama-flagged oil tanker Niovi was seized by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy while passing through the Strait of Hormuz. Days earlier, Iran had seized a Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman.

Kirby said the United States strongly condemns actions that threaten and interfere with commercial shipping, and will not allow foreign powers to jeopardize navigating Middle East waterways.

About a fifth of the world's crude oil and oil products passes through the Strait of Hormuz, a choke point between Iran and Oman, according to data from analytics firm Vortexa.

(Reporting by Doina Chiacu and Phil Stewart in WashingtonEditing by Daniel Wallis and Matthew Lewis)
by Sanaa Kamal

GAZA, May 12 (Xinhua) -- Intisar al-Masri, a 65-year-old woman from the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahia, could hardly identify the remains of her house that was destroyed by the Israeli warplanes in the current round of tension.

"Only a few days ago, my 20-member family was living here with a lot of love and hopes," the elderly woman told Xinhua standing in front of a hill of rubble.

"My husband and sons spent years scraping up money to construct the two-floor house for our family. However, everything is gone now and we are displaced," the woman said in grief.

On Wednesday night, al-Masri and her family were told by their neighbor to evacuate from the house before it was attacked by the Israeli army. Later, their house was completely destroyed in the airstrike.

"More than 30 houses were damaged and became uninhabitable, while 360 others were partially affected by the Israeli airstrikes," said Salama Maarouf, the Hamas-run government's spokesman, in a press conference held in Gaza on Thursday.

"The Israeli occupation deliberately targets the security in Gaza and displaces civilians since it can not affect the Palestinian resistance in Gaza," he claimed.

Mohammed Bashir, a Palestinian man from Deir al-Balah city in central Gaza, also lost his three-floor house after the Israeli army completely destroyed it.

"I was shocked when the army attacked our house," he said, adding "we are civilians who look forward to living in security and peace in our house."

Both al-Masri and Bashir express their fears as their families have been added to the list of displaced people who have to wait long before receiving the funds to rebuild their residential constructions.

"Soon the current conflict will end, but we will start our real suffering before rearranging our lives again," said Bashir.

Meanwhile, the Israeli army said in a press statement that its forces attacked military sites and underground missile platforms belonging to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) in Gaza that were used to launch rockets at Israeli cities.

Israeli army spokesman Avichai Adraee said that "the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) has bombed 215 PIJ targets in the Gaza Strip, in addition to eliminating five prominent PIJ leaders."

The Gaza-Israel conflict has begun on Tuesday after a surprising Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip killed three senior PIJ leaders.

Since then, the joint chamber of military operations, which comprises several Palestinian factions' armed wings, including the PIJ and the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), has exchanged fire with the Israeli army, leaving 33 Palestinians and one Israeli killed by Friday, according to official statistics.

Egypt, Qatar, and the UN are mediating a ceasefire between Israel and the Hamas-led militant groups, including the PIJ, but fail to reach an agreement on ending this round of tension, said Palestinian sources. 
FILE PHOTO: The Houston Ship Channel and adjacent refineries, part of the Port of Houston, are seen in Houston, Texas, U.S., May 5, 2019. REUTERS/Loren Elliott/File Photo

By Arathy Somasekhar

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Oil pipelines from the top U.S. shale field to Houston that have run half empty are filling again as rising output has absorbed most of the space on lines to the main south Texas export hub in Corpus Christi.

U.S. crude exports climbed to a record of about 4.5 million barrels per day (bpd) in March, spurred by recovering Chinese demand and competitive pricing for U.S. oil. Sanctions on Russian crude purchases by the European Union and Britain also have boosted demand.

Pipelines that move oil from the Permian basin in West Texas to Corpus Christi are more than 90% full as buyers snap up the light, sweet oil, encouraging shippers to seek alternate routes, analysts said.

Houston, previously the top U.S. export hub before an expansion in capacity made Corpus Christi the main export hub, has ample room. Its pipeline utilization averaged 57% in 2022, up from 49% the year before, according to researcher East Daley Capital.

That paves the way for new production from the Permian basin to flow to Houston.

"We don't expect to see those barrels show up at Corpus Christi," said AJ O'Donnell, a director at energy pipeline researcher East Daley Capital.

EXPORT TERMINALS

Crude export volumes from Corpus Christi accounted for about 60% of all U.S. oil exports in 2022, from 28% four years earlier, according to RBN Energy's weekly Crude Voyager report. Houston's share fell to 22% from 33% during the same period.

"Houston becomes the next logical market for those barrels," said Aaron Milford, CEO of Magellan Midstream Partners, which operates a pipeline from West Texas to Houston.

Permian production this month is projected to hit a record 5.7 million bpd, topping Canada's average daily crude output last year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Overall U.S. oil output is projected to touch an all-time high of 12.53 million bpd this year on rising demand and prices.

Plans to widen the Houston ship channel to reduce congestion and a 250,000 bpd expansion of capacity at Exxon's Beaumont refinery, will help boost flows to Houston, analysts said.

Proposed oil export terminals around Houston will add to future flows, they added.

Of the four proposed crude oil export terminals planned for the U.S. Gulf Coast this decade, two are off Freeport, about 60 miles (96.56 km) south of Houston, and a third east of Houston.

DIFFERENTIALS TO WIDEN

During this year and next, "we expect Permian-to-Houston pipeline utilization to post relatively strong growth, partially closing the recent utilization gap between Houston and Corpus Christi-bound corridors," said John Trischan, a research manager at consultancy Wood Mackenzie.

The increased flows to Houston will widen the difference in price for light, sweet West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) at the delivery point in East Houston compared with price at Midland in the Permian as shippers are willing to pay more to get barrels out of the basin and to the coast for export, analysts said.

WTI at East Houston, also known as MEH, is expected to trade about $1 per barrel higher than WTI at Midland by year end, East Daley's O'Donnell estimated. The spread was 35 cents on Thursday.

Oil pipeline companies are proposing to expand capacity to Corpus Christi. Enbridge is considering a 200,000 bpd expansion to its 900,000 bpd Gray Oak pipeline and later add an extension to Houston.

(Reporting by Arathy Somasekhar in Houston; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
FILE PHOTO-The logo of Rheinmetall AG is seen at their Swiss plant in Zurich, Switzerland May 14, 2022. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann

BERLIN (Reuters) - Rheinmetall has founded a joint venture with Ukrainian state-owned conglomerate Ukroboronprom to build and repair tanks in Ukraine, the Handelsblatt daily reported Friday, citing the German arms maker's chief executive.

"The contracts have been signed," Chief Executive Armin Papperger told Handelsblatt, adding that the cooperation would cover the maintenance and repair of armoured vehicles in Ukraine, while the construction of tanks would be prepared in parallel.

Rheinmetall will hold a majority stake of 51% in the new company and will provide the management, added Handelsblatt.

The German company expects to sign contracts for two more joint ventures in the coming days, for ammunition and air defence, according to Handelsblatt.

"Ukraine will benefit from a comprehensive technology transfer as well as a short-term supply of military equipment from Germany," Papperger told Handelsblatt.

The newspaper cited the head of Ukroboronprom, Yuriy Husyev, as welcoming Rheinmetall's willingness to support Ukraine in its fight against Russia.

Rheinmetall has ridden a rise in defence spending since Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year, with Germany also supplying aid and weapons to Kyiv to help repel Russian forces.

Rheinmetall makes ammunition, other military equipment and also the Leopard tanks that Germany decided to send to Ukraine, which the company produces jointly with Krauss-Maffei Wegmann.

The company did not immediately provide comment.

(Writing by Miranda Murray; editing by Matthias Williams)
FILE PHOTO: Move Forward Party supporters show the three-finger salute during an upcoming election campaign event in Bangkok, Thailand, April 22, 2023. REUTERS/Chalinee Thirasupa/

By Panarat Thepgumpanat and Panu Wongcha-um

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai university student Supawut Presangeiam is eager to vote for the first time in a general election on Sunday, hoping that his support for a rising youth-led opposition party will change the country by moving away from old patronage politics.

"I have decided to vote for Move Forward," the 19-year-old Supawut said. "For too long we have compromised, trying to change the system gradually, but what Move Forward wants to do is to challenge the patronage system."

He is among the 3.3 million first-time voters, aged 18 to 22, that parties are trying to woo.

An emphasis on young voters comes three years after student-led protests rocked Thailand by challenging the military's longtime influence over politics and - in a shocking development - even questioned the role of the king in society, a subject previously deeply taboo.

Move Forward was not officially part of the student protests but some activists are running as party candidates and many are party workers.

Its progressive campaign platform incorporates many of the protesters' demands including, most controversially, amending a criminal law that makes insulting the king punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

Other protest demands that Move Forward has adopted include re-writing the constitution to limit the power of the military, scraping military conscription and replacing appointed provincial governors with elected ones.

A late surge in the polls for Move Forward and its youthful leader Pita Limjaroenrat, 42, shows that some of the ethos of the protests seems to have spilled into the wider electorate, tired of old divisions that have racked the country over the past nearly two decades.

Voters aged 18 to 26 make up about 14% of the electorate, but Move Forward has recently been polling at about 34%, indicating it is winning the support of not just the young.

"Now our supporters come from all groups," said the party's deputy leader, Nattawut Buaprathum. "This is an opportunity for us to be in government and truly represent the people."

But the party leading most polls, on about 38%, is another opposition party, Pheu Thai, founded by self-exiled billionaire former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, whose populist, pro-poor governments have been ousted in two military coups.

Thaksin's daughter, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, is Pheu Thai's leading candidate for prime minister.

'BATTLEGROUND HAS MOVED'

For some voters, Move Forward offers a new direction from the years of binary confrontation between the conservative establishment, with its networks of patronage, and Pheu Thai that has at times brought bloody turmoil.

Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political scientist at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University, said the new ideas championed by younger voters may be resonating more broadly and expanding Move Forward's appeal.

"The battleground has moved from populism to structural reform ... Move Forward have the new agenda," said Thitinan, noting that Move Forward and Pheu Thai were running neck and neck in many areas.

Parichat Intarakun said she had voted for the conservative former army chief and current prime minister, Prayuth Chan-ocha, in the last election but was switching her support to Move Forward.

"I will vote for Move Forward because the leader has a very good vision for Thailand," said the 45-year-old office worker.

"He is very clear about the direction he wants to take the country."

If Move Forward does well on Sunday, it could form a coalition with the Shinawatra forces and deny one-time coup leader Prayuth, who is running with one of several conservative parties, another term in power.

But it's not certain if any party would join Move Forward in coalition because its anti-establishment stance, especially its call to amend the royal insult law, makes it for many too combative and antagonistic towards the establishment.

"Bringing Move Forward into a government may be risky and shorten the government's term," said Suvicha Pau-aree, director of the National Institute of Development Administration think tank and polling organisation.

Another huge question hanging over the election is whether the military-dominated establishment will let the will of the people take its course in the establishment of a new government.

Under a constitution drafted by the military in 2017, the party that wins the most seats in the 500-seat House of Representatives could struggle to form a coalition because a 250-seat Senate appointed during military rule also votes for the prime minister.

While there are fears of a return to street protests if parties feel aggrieved, some young voters said they would not abandon hope in electoral politics even if establishment parties still hold power after the vote.

"It's all right, at least there's a party now that has these policies. It's a good beginning," said a first-time voter who gave her name as just May.

(Reporting by Panu Wongcha-um and Panarat Thepgumpanat; Editing by Kay Johnson and Robert Birsel)
(Reuters) - Russian-installed officials on Friday said missiles fired by Ukrainian forces had injured six children and a Russian parliamentarian and damaged two disused factories in eastern Luhansk region's main city, about 100 km (60 miles) behind the frontlines.

Luhansk authorities, in a post on Telegram, said two Ukrainian-made "grom" tactical missiles damaged or destroyed administrative buildings at a packaging plant and a factory producing cleaning materials in the city of Luhansk. Windows had been blown out in five homes, it said.

A photo accompanying the post showed a building largely reduced to rubble with one wall left standing.

Leonid Pasechnik, head of the region annexed by Russia last year, said six children had been injured. Officials said a member of the State Duma lower house of Russia's parliament, Viktor Volodatsky, was also injured.

Videos posted earlier on social media showed a large plume of thick black smoke billowing over Luhansk city, which is around 30 km (18 miles) from the border with Russia.

Because the city lies far from Ukrainian positions, there was speculation among analysts that Ukraine could have used a new missile with a longer range.

Pasechnik said the attack was carried out to disrupt the region's local Republic Day celebrations.

Reuters was unable to verify the claims. There was no immediate official reaction from Kyiv to the claimed strikes.

Ukraine's Suspilne Donbas television station reported explosions in the city, quoting residents.

It is beyond the reach of most of the shorter-range missiles, such as the U.S.-supplied HIMARS, that Ukraine has largely been using in the conflict so far.

Britain this week said it had delivered to Ukraine multiple longer-range cruise missiles, which can hit targets at 300 km - the longest rockets that have been supplied to Ukraine by its Western allies.

The United States earlier this year said it would start providing Ground Launched Small Diameter Bombs, GPS-guided "smart bombs" to Ukraine, with a range of around 150 km.

(This story has been corrected to say six children were hurt, not four, in the headline)

(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Grant McCool)
Suspect in the Laguna Woods church shooting David Chou, 68, of Las Vegas is shown in this police booking photo released by the Orange County Sheriff's Department on May 16, 2022. Orange County Sheriff's Department/Handout via REUTERS

(Reuters) - A man accused of killing a doctor and wounding five other people in a shooting at a Taiwanese-American church banquet in California has been indicted on dozens of federal hate, weapons and explosive crimes, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

The suspect, David Chou, 69, opened fire at the Geneva Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods, California, about 45 miles (72 km) southeast of Los Angeles, on May 15, 2022, in an methodically planned attack, authorities said.

The shooting began as members of a Taiwanese Presbyterian congregation from nearby Irvine, California, were attending a luncheon at the church honoring a former local pastor. Doctor John Cheng was killed in the shooting, and five other people were wounded.

All of the victims were of Asian heritage.

"Chou allegedly acted because of the victims national origin and religion, and he intentionally obstructed the victims religious exercise," the Justice Department said in a statement on Thursday announcing that a federal grand jury returned an indictment against Chou.

Chou, from Nevada, was indicted on 45 counts of obstructing free exercise of religious beliefs by force, 45 counts of hate crimes and eight counts of weapons and explosive violations, the agency said.

If convicted, he faces the death penalty or life in prison without parole. He is being held in jail on state charges.

Chou, described by the sheriff as a U.S. citizen and Las Vegas resident born in China, drove to Southern California the day before shooting.

Before entering the church, he chained the doors, put glue in the locks and placed three bags around the building containing various items, including additional ammunition and four Molotov cocktail-like devices, police said.

Authorities said Chou carried out the attack because he was upset over Chinese-Taiwanese tensions.

(Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Chicago, Editing by William Maclean)
FILE PHOTO-Turkish Red Crescent President Kerem Kinik, with makeshift shelters for migrants in the background, is seen at Turkey's Pazarkule border crossing with Greece's Kastanies, near Edirne, Turkey, March 5, 2020. REUTERS/Murad Sezer

ANKARA (Reuters) - The head of the Turkish Red Crescent resigned on Friday, the relief association said, three months after controversy emerged over the selling of tents to a charity in the first days after devastating earthquakes in Turkey.

The magnitude 7.8 quake shook a huge area in southern Turkey in February, causing more than 54,000 deaths in Turkey and Syria.

People in the region complained of a slow response by authorities in the first days after the disaster, prompting criticism of the government.

President Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday he had been "saddened" by the Red Crescent selling tents.

"Red Crescent cannot sell tents. They should correct this mistake immediately," he said during a meeting with young people that was pre-recorded and broadcast on Thursday.

The resigning chairman, Kerem Kinik, first said that he was aware of the sale and described it as legal, arguing that a subsidiary of the agency conducted sale. But he later denied being aware of the sale and said he would have prevented it if he knew beforehand.

The relief association said in its statement on Friday that it would hold an extraordinary convention following the resignation.

Red Crescent also stirred a public debate after it was revealed that it sold tents to another charity, AHBAP, in the first days after the earthquake instead of directly sending them to disaster zone.

(Reporting by Huseyin Hayatsever and Yesim Dikmen; Editing by Daren Butler and Alex Richardson)
FILE PHOTO: U.S. Representative George Santos (R-NY) leaves Central Islip Federal Courthouse in Central Islip, New York, U.S., May 10, 2023. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) -Republican U.S. congressman George Santos, who has Brazilian heritage, agreed to settle a lawsuit in which he was accused of bouncing checks to buy clothes in a Rio de Janeiro clothing store over a decade ago, a court in Rio said.

Santos was indicted this week for fraud and money laundering in the U.S. and has faced months of allegations related to lies about his career and history.

He denies the new charges, which he has branded a "witch hunt", and has vowed to fight back.

The Brazil case was shelved in 2011, as the Brazilian courts were unable to reach Santos. However, it reopened after the Republican politician was elected to a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives from New York, allowing the Brazil courts to locate him.

He will pay about 24,000 reais ($4,800) within a month to settle the lawsuit.

Santos' lawyer in Brazil, Jonymar Vasconcelos, declined to comment on the basis that the case is now closed and said he is not aware of any other lawsuit against Santos in Brazil.

In the new indictment in the U.S., the 34-year-old Santos has been accused of defrauding potential political supporters by laundering funds to pay for his personal expenses and receiving unemployment benefits illegally while he was employed.

Santos is also accused of making false statements to the House of Representatives about his assets, income and debts. He has resisted calls to resign for lying about his resume.

Republicans control the U.S. House of Representatives by a narrow margin of 222 to 213. Santos has pleaded not guilty and party leaders said he can keep his seat while the case works its way through court.

Santos was released on a $500,000 bail but was ordered to surrender his passport and limit travel. He can return to Washington and vote in Congress, and is due to appear in court next on June 30.

(Reporting by Rodrigo Viga Gaier; Writing by Steven Grattan; Editing by David Gregorio and Nick Macfie)
By Alexandra Ulmer

(Reuters) - Metals magnate and Republican donor Andy Sabin said he has soured on Florida Governor Ron DeSantis over his stance on abortion and Ukraine, and is now planning to back Senator Tim Scott instead in the 2024 Republican White House race.

Sabin had been considering donating to DeSantis, who is expected to officially announce a White House run in June, but changed his mind after the governor signed a new law banning abortions after six weeks and called the war in Ukraine a "territorial dispute."

While Sabin is not a megadonor, his decision not to back DeSantis underscores concerns among some deep-pocketed Republican donors about the governor's viability after he signed the abortion restrictions into law and lost ground in opinion polls to former President Donald Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican nomination.

"I like DeSantis. He's a great governor, but I don't think he can win a national election with his viewpoint on abortion," Sabin, a prominent donor who hosts fundraisers for candidates, said in an interview with Reuters on Thursday.

A spokesperson for DeSantis did not respond to requests for comment.

Sabin, who has donated about $1.7 million to Republican campaigns in the last three election cycles according to the non-profit OpenSecrets, made his money in precious metals. He is the chairman of the board of Sabin Metal Corporation.

DeSantis can still count on the support of some major donors, including billionaire hotelier Robert Bigelow, who recently put $20 million behind his campaign. However, some other big donors are holding fire. Citadel hedge fund founder and top Republican donor Ken Griffin, for instance, has not yet publicly backed a presidential candidate.

Sabin said he will back Scott, a Republican long-shot candidate from South Carolina who has made positivity and unity the main message of his nascent campaign. Scott, the only Black Republican in the Senate, is expected to declare he is running later this month.

"We don't know a lot about Scott at this point, but I think he's a very viable candidate," said Sabin, citing Scott's view that Ukraine should be helped in the conflict with Russia and his stance on abortion. Scott has said that he backs a federal abortion ban after 20 weeks of pregnancy.

A spokesperson for Scott declined to comment.

Sabin said he mailed a check to Scott on Thursday for $6,600, the maximum an individual is allowed to give a candidate for a primary and general election. Sabin said he planned to donate more to Scott, likely be through a fundraising super PAC, and has offered to hold fundraisers for Scott in the wealthy enclave of the Hamptons.

(Reporting by Alexandra Ulmer in San Francisco, additional reporting by Jason Lange, editing by Ross Colvin and Alistair Bell)
FILE PHOTO: A United States Postal Service (USPS) mailbox is seen in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., May 9, 2022. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Postal Service said on Friday it is taking steps to crack down on rising mail theft, robberies of carriers, change-of-address fraud and counterfeit postage.

The postal service said it is installing 12,000 high-security blue collection boxes nationwide to make access more difficult for criminals and is evaluating replacing additional existing blue collection boxes.

USPS will also replace 49,000 antiquated arrow locks with electronic locks to address an increase in letter carrier robberies nationwide. Criminals are targeting letter carriers for their keys to steal mail from secure mail receptacles and commit financial fraud crimes. New locks have been installed in some cities with additional major metropolitan areas to follow.

USPS and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service said they were taking expanded actions "to protect postal employees and the security of the nations mail and packages as threats and attacks on letter carriers and mail fraud incidents have escalated concurrently with a national rise in crime."

Incidents of letter carrier robberies have been rising. In the 2022 budget year, 412 USPS letter carriers were robbed compared with 305 in the six months ending March 30.

USPS also said there have been more than 25,000 reported thefts from mail receptacles including blue collection boxes in the six months ending March 30 compared with 38,500 for all of 2022.

The Postal Service is also strengthening authentication processes for Change of Address requests. In April, USPS adopted dual authentication identity certification. USPS will no longer accept third-party change of address submissions.

Last year, more than 340,000 packages with counterfeit postage and more than 7.7 million counterfeit stamps with an estimated $7.8 million loss were seized. Using new authority, USPS will now dispose of packages with counterfeit postage and is working to close websites and eCommerce accounts selling counterfeit postage.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
LUCERNE, Switzerland (Reuters) -UBS Chief Executive Sergio Ermotti said on Friday that the situation at Credit Suisse has stabilized and he did not think outflows at the embattled bank were continuing.

Addressing the Swiss Media Forum in Lucerne, Ermotti also said he hoped there would be an investigation into the circumstances that pushed Credit Suisse Group to the brink of collapse and led to its takeover by UBS as part of a rescue orchestrated by the Swiss authorities.

Commenting on his decision to include in his new leadership team Ulrich Koerner, a former UBS executive who has led Credit Suisse since last year, Ermotti said the bank's problems were rooted well in the past.

"In my opinion it is crystal clear, this situation did not develop in the last six weeks or six months but over the course of the last six, seven years," he said.

"I hope that, when there will be an investigation, it should be long enough to properly understand everything that happened," Ermotti said, addressing the conference from the MS Diamant boat moored on the Lake of Lucerne.

Switzerland's attorney general said last month the country's federal prosecutor had opened an investigation into the takeover, looking into potential breaches of Swiss criminal law by government officials, regulators and executives at the two banks.

He also said UBS was on track to close the transaction within three months from its March 19 announcement.

Earlier this week, UBS said that following the legal closing of the transaction it would manage two separate parent companies  UBS AG and Credit Suisse AG - throughout the integration process, which it has said could take three to four years.

During that time, each institution will continue to have its own subsidiaries and branches, serve its clients and deal with counterparties.

(Reporting by Noele Illien,Writing by Tomasz Janowski, Editing by Maria Sheahan)
BEIJING, May 12 (Xinhua) -- An international group of astronomers has conducted a 17-month-long study of a repeating fast radio burst (FRB) from a distant galaxy, revealing that it reversed its magnetic field twice, providing clues as to its origins.

The magnetic reversal may indicate that the FRB source orbits in a binary star system, and the companion star may be a black hole or a massive star, the scientists said in a paper published in the journal Science on Friday.

The brightest radio bursts known in the universe, FRBs are very short transients, only several milliseconds in duration. However, their precise origins are unclear and the subject of ongoing research.

Scientists from the National Astronomical Observatories under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with their overseas counterparts, targeted a repeating FRB, coded FRB 20190520B, which was discovered by the FAST telescope, or the "China Sky Eye."

The team monitored the FRB with telescopes located in Australia and the United States for 17 months, detecting hundreds of bursts from it. They found that the FRB's Faraday rotation measure -- an indicator of its magnetic field strength -- was highly variable and twice reversed direction.

Team member Feng Yi, from the research institute Zhejiang Lab, said, "This shows that there is an extreme reversal of the magnetic field around it, which means that FRB 20190520B may be in a binary star system, and the companion star of the binary system may be a black hole or a massive star."

Understanding such changes in the magnetized environment around FRBs is an important step forward and is expected to help further clarify their origins, said Feng. 
GENEVA (Reuters) - A senior U.N. official said on Friday that talks on a ceasefire for Sudan would resume in the next day or two and described a change in the warring sides' stance which could make them more inclined to respect any future deal.

Sudan's military factions committed late on Thursday to a limited agreement to protect civilians and allow humanitarian aid after a week of talks in Saudi Arabia, but there was no commitment to peace and fighting continued on Friday.

Volker Perthes, U.N. Special Representative for Sudan, said he had spoken with one of the sides since and was assured of their willingness to keep talking.

"We expect these talks on a ceasefire to start off again from today or from tomorrow. It shouldn't technically take too long to agree on the modalities of ceasefire," he told a Geneva press briefing from Port Sudan.

Battles between Sudan's army and rival paramilitary forces have killed hundreds and wounded thousands, disrupted aid supplies, sent refugees fleeing abroad and turned residential areas of Khartoum into war zones since mid-April.

Past ceasefires have not held because both sides still felt they could win, he added, noting that he had since observed a change in the parties' stance.

"Both sides have realised that even if they win, it will not be a quick win. And that a dragged out, long war could damage the entire country and then there will not be too much to win," he said.

"You could lose the country, even if you win the battle."

(Reporting by Emma Farge; editing by Matthias Williams, William Maclean)
FILE PHOTO: A person tries out a handgun during the National Rifle Association (NRA) annual convention in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S., April 15, 2023. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

By Brad Brooks

(Reuters) - A federal judge in Virginia has struck down federal laws that block the sale of handguns to buyers under the age of 21, ruling they violate constitutional rights to possess firearms.

The ruling, which the Justice Department is expected to challenge, will not take effect until judge Robert Payne, of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, who was appointed by President George H.W. Bush, issues his final order in the coming weeks.

The ruling would not affect the 19 states that have their own laws barring handgun sales to anyone younger than 21.

Payne's ruling follows on the Supreme Court's significant expansion of gun rights in the past year, which the judge frequently referenced in his ruling issued on Wednesday.

"Because the statutes and regulations in question are not consistent with our nation's history and tradition, they, therefore, cannot stand," Payne wrote in his decision.

Lawyers representing the Justice Department in the case did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Elliott Harding, the attorney for the four original plaintiffs who were ages 18 to 20 and wanted to purchase handguns, said he was pleased with the decision.

"Even though it ensures that future buyers can now purchase these firearms in the federal system, one that includes background checks and other requirements, we expect the Defendants will appeal," Harding said. "Nevertheless, we remain optimistic that the decision will be affirmed in due course."

Gun rights, held dear by many Americans and promised by the country's 18th Century founders, are a contentious issue in a nation with high levels of firearm violence, including numerous mass shootings.

There have been at least 210 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.

(This story has been refiled to change 'sell' to 'sale' in paragraph 1)

(Reporting by Brad Brooks in Lubbock, Texas; Additional reporting by Sharon Bernstein in Sacramento, California; Editing by Gerry Doyle)
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

Form 6-K

REPORT OF FOREIGN PRIVATE ISSUER PURSUANT TO RULE 13A-16 OR 15D-16

UNDER THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

May, 2023

Commission File Number 1-15182

DR. REDDYS LABORATORIES LIMITED

(Translation of registrants name into English)

8-2-337, Road No. 3, Banjara Hills

Hyderabad, Telangana 500 034, India

+91-40-49002900

(Address of principal executive office)

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant files or will file annual reports under cover of Form 20-F or Form 40-F.

Form 20-F x Form 40-F 

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is submitting the Form 6-K in paper as permitted by Regulation S-T Rule 101(b)(1): ______

Note: Regulation S-T Rule 101(b)(1) only permits the submission in paper of a Form 6-K if submitted solely to provide an attached annual report to security holders.

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is submitting the Form 6-K in paper as permitted by Regulation S-T Rule 101(b)(7): ______

Note: Regulation S-T Rule 101(b)(7) only permits the submission in paper of a Form 6-K if submitted to furnish a report or other document that the registrant foreign private issuer must furnish and make public under the laws of the jurisdiction in which the registrant is incorporated, domiciled or legally organized (the registrants home country), or under the rules of the home country exchange on which the registrants securities are traded, as long as the report or other document is not a press release, is not required to be and has not been distributed to the registrants security holders, and, if discussing a material event, has already been the subject of a Form 6-K submission or other Commission filing on EDGAR.

Indicate by check mark whether by furnishing the information contained in this Form, the registrant is also thereby furnishing the information to the Commission pursuant to Rule 12g3-2(b) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

Yes  No x

If Yes is marked, indicate below the file number assigned to registrant in connection with Rule 12g3-2(b): 82-________.

EXHIBITS

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.

DR. REDDYS LABORATORIES LIMITED (Registrant) Date: May 11, 2023 By: /s/ K Randhir Singh Name: K Randhir Singh Title: Company Secretary

ATTACHMENTS / EXHIBITS

EXHIBIT 99.2

EXHIBIT 99.3
Frankfurt, Germany, May 18, 1957: Curious German visitors swarm over American armor during an Armed Forces Day open house at Rhein-Main Air Base. Thousands of local residents attended festivities at bases across Germany that included flyovers, fireworks and parades.

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Beer brewers throughout Europe have been striving for excellence for centuries, and their quest is far from over. Some stick with that which is tried and true; others explore new methods and ingredients to come up with fresh tastes and enhanced attributes to their products. As the new festival season moves outdoors, breweries, brewers associations and other actors offer a heady choice of events at which to sample the beauty of the blend of grain and hops, yeast and water in endless iterations.

Belgium

Liege: The artisanal breweries of Liege are set to host the ninth edition of the Summer Beer Lovers' Festival over the long Pentecost weekend. From May 25-28, the Dalle St-Lambert is the place to sample super beers alongside tasty street foods. DJ music, acts and activities promise a lively and fun atmosphere. Entry to the festival is free, but beers can only be consumed from the official festival glass available at a cost of 3 euros and must be paid for in tokens that go for 2.50 euros each. Online: summerbeerloversfestival.be

Brugges: Some 80 brewers and beer-related companies will be offering around 500 different beers during the BrugsBierFestival, set to unfold June 10-11 at the Meeting and Congress Center on the Beursplein. A starter packet consisting of sampling glass, guide and six tokens goes for 25 euros. Online: brugsbierfestival.be

Antwerp: More than 200 types of beers await sampling on the citys Groenplaats as the Bierpassie Weekend unfolds. From June 23-25, visitors can explore the wares of some 20 Belgian brewers large and small. Entry is free; the festival glass from which all sampling takes place goes for 3 euros. Online: bierpassieweekend.be

England

Cambridge: CAMRA, the acronym for Campaign for Real Ale, is a consumer organization promoting real ales, cider and perry as well as the preservation of traditional British pub culture. CAMRA is also the organizing force behind some 180 beer festivals held across the UK. Soon on the docket is the CAMRA Cambridge Beer Festival, set to unfold May 22-27 on Jesus Green. Dogs and kids are welcome at this spacious park alongside the River Cam, where folks can plop down on the grass with picnic supplies theyve brought from home or indulge in the numerous tasty options offered on site. The beer available ranges from that made by local breweries to international brands and styles. Entry to the site is free from noon-3 p.m. and costs 6 UK pounds (about $7.50) from 5 p.m.-10:30 p.m. May 22-26. On May 27, the festival runs from noon-10:30 p.m. and entry costs 4 UK pounds. Online: cambridgebeerfestival.com

Other upcoming CAMRA events include the Newark Beer and Cider Festival May 26-28; the Colchester Real Ale and Cider Festival May 31-June 3; Ipswich Beer and Cider Festival July 27-30, the Great British Beer Festival in London Aug. 1-5 and the East Anglian Beer and Cider Festival in Bury St. Edmunds Aug. 23-28.

Germany

Bayreuth: As the events name implies, theres one type of beer that takes center stage at the Maisels Weissbierfest, set to rock Bayreuth over four days. The spacious grounds of Maisels brewery can easily accommodate the tens of thousands of visitors expected to turn up to indulge in wheat beer, street foods and live music on stage through May 14. Sundays program includes a fun run and a special play zone for the festival's youngest visitors. Entry is free. Online: weissbierfest.com

Ulm: The city on the Danube supports smaller, local breweries with its annual Kleinbrauer Markt. Those keen on sampling the wares of 10 different brewers, including makers of craft beers, can do so in the scenic surroundings of the Munsterplatz between 1 p.m.-10 p.m. May 12 and 13. About 40 different beers will be on offer, alongside festival fare including bratwurst, burgers and regional specialties. On Saturday, a DJ provides the soundtrack to the proceedings. The purchase of a festival glass is a prerequisite to tasting. Online: kleinbrauermarkt.de

Rastatt: The Bierboerse is the name of a traveling international beer festival that takes place over the warm summer months, calling in at some 16 German cities over the course of its seasonal run. Bierboerse visitors can always look forward to an eclectic mix of German and international beers served alongside street foods and accompanied by live music or DJ tracks. In addition to its stop in Rastatt May 12-15, Bierboerse events are scheduled for Pforzheim May 18-21; Solingen May 18-21; Leipzig May 26-29; Koblenz June 2-4; Borken June 30-July 2; Mainz July 7-9; Cologne July 14-16; Bonn June 21-23; Duesseldorf-Benrath July 28-30; Muehlheim Aug. 4-6; Karlsruhe Aug. 25-27; Andernach Sept. 1-3 and Essen Sept. 8-10. Online: bierboerse.com

Nuremberg: The Franconian Beer Festival has a setting thats hard to beat -- within the now-dry moat surrounding the citys imperial castle. From June 7-11, visitors can sample brews from this region known for its centuries-old brewing traditions. Some 40 local breweries will be joined by this years guest of honor, Batzen Brau of Bozen/Bolzano, Italy. Hearty fare served hot off the grill and live music played on five stages are additional draws. Entry is free. Online: bierfest-franken.de

Regensburg: One of Germanys largest craft beer festivals takes place in the heart of Regensburgs stunning, UNESCO-listed Old Town. From June 23-25, more than 30 exhibitors from Austria and Germany will descend upon the Neupfarrplatz to dole out pours of their finest creations. Live music played by an assortment of bands will add a party vibe to the ambience. Entry is free. Online: craftbierfestival.de
The day after the United States said that both sides fighting in Sudan recognized their basic obligations under international law, paramilitary troops showed no sign of leaving the dozen hospitals they had occupied and Arab militias launched a fresh assault on the western town of El-Geneina in the Darfur region, residents said.

The Jiddah Declaration, negotiated in Saudi Arabia's capital with U.S. and Saudi help, said both the paramilitary Rapid Support Force and the Sudanese military would recognize their obligations to civilians - including a commitment to withdraw from occupied hospitals. The document released Thursday night also spelled out a process for negotiations for a cease-fire and the desire for a monitoring mechanism.

Policing a cease-fire will be hard; it's not yet clear that the commanders of either side have complete control of their troops. Airstrikes by the military have killed many civilians, including children, and residents report rapes, looting and eviction from their homes by the RSF, which is fortifying positions in residential neighborhoods.

Both Howida Ahmed Mohammed Alhassan, a member of the Doctors' Committee, and Hiba Omer, chair of the Preliminary Committee of the Sudan Doctors' Syndicate, said nothing on the ground in Sudan had changed on Friday.

They said at least 59 out of Sudan's 88 hospitals around the country are nonfunctional due to damage from fighting, or a lack of medicines, staff or basic services like water or electricity.

Another doctor, who asked not to be named, said 17 hospitals had been bombed in the fighting and 20 were occupied by the RSF. The doctor spoke on the condition of anonymity because medical personnel have been threatened by commanders for releasing information showing them in a bad light.

On Wednesday, the United Nations' refugee chief, Filippo Grandi, told The Washington Post that the agency estimated around 700,000 people had been forced to flee their homes since fighting erupted on April 15. More than 160,000 have fled the country, he said, noting neighbors Chad and Egypt have kept their borders open, although the flow of people into Egypt has been slow because of long processing times for visas.

Resident Muhammad Ali Yahya from El-Geneina in the western region of Darfur said there had been a fresh attack on the town on Friday by Arab militias allied to the RSF at dawn. The region has seen some of the worst fighting of the conflict.

So far the civilian casualties in all the fighting, estimated in the hundreds but likely much more, have just been those caught in the crossfire rather than being directly targeted, as was the case in Sudan's previous wars, said Jerome Tubiana, a researcher and longtime observer of the region.

"We are just hoping we will not reach the stage of armed forces targeting civilians because of ethnicity, regional origin, political opinions," he said. Both sides had recruited heavily from certain tribes, he said, fueling fears of a return of the kind of ethnic violence that had dominated Darfur's 20-year civil war, when Arab militias fought groups of ethnic sub-Saharan African rebels.

The fighting has also stopped most aid operations. Around a third of Sudan's 46 million people needed food aid before the conflict erupted, but insecurity means the U.N.'s World Food Program has slashed operations. It is reaching only about of a fifth of the people it had planned to provide food to.

Neither force has yet clarified any option for safe corridors for humanitarian aid, a key demand from the international community.

"We need to have absolute clarity about what the two parties are committed to," Martin Griffiths, global head of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told The Washington Post last week by phone from Port Sudan. "Of course we want a cease-fire, but even without a cease-fire operations still need to happen . . . this is not the moon we are asking for."

In a nod to the weak command and control that has characterized the conflict, he also said local alliances would be crucial to securing aid.

"While we get commitments from the two leaders, we need to drill down into what that means for each neighborhood."

The Washington Post's Miriam Berger in Washington contributed to this report.
The warring sides in Sudan have agreed to a framework that U.S. and Saudi facilitators say could lead to a cease-fire, however brief, allowing for humanitarian assistance to resume for millions of suffering civilians.

After six days of talks in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, senior State Department officials said representatives of the Sudanese armed forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have signed a Declaration of Commitment to Protect the Civilians of Sudan, recognizing their moral and international legal obligations in the midst of unrelenting combat.

The officials, who briefed reporters late Thursday, acknowledged the limited nature of the achievement. What have been called pre-negotiations will not stop the fighting or change the withering assaults on the ground that have caused the shutdown of hospitals and schools, cut off electricity and water and confined most of those who have not been killed or fled to their homes since the conflict began on April 15.

The declaration, one official said, is the first step of what we hope to achieve here on the ground in Jeddah while the parties are here. The next step is to focus on specific measures to implement what the official referred to as a short-term cease fire of up to 10 days. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity under rules set by the State Department.

The goal is to come up with specific steps to guide the conduct of the two forces so that we can get in some humanitarian assistance, help begin restoration of essential services . . . arrange for the withdrawal of security forces from hospitals and clinics and allow civilians to perform a respectful burial of the dead.

The officials said they hoped talks on how to accomplish those goals would begin as early as Friday.

Several cease-fires have been agreed to but quickly failed since the fighting for control began between the well-armed forces. The two sides are led by opposing generals who in 2021 jointly overthrew a fledgling civilian government installed when President Omar Hassan al Bashir was ousted after 30 years in power.

The next step, should this first one succeed, the officials said, is to begin actual negotiations over a genuine cease-fire monitored with international assistance.
Two chartered buses from Laredo, Texas, rolled into the Port Authority just before 6:30 a.m. on Friday, transporting men, women and children who had traveled thousands of miles to New York City in a bid to gain asylum in the U.S.

For the migrants from countries such as Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador, it should be the last leg of a long journey. But their future remains uncertain. New York Mayor Eric Adams has warned repeatedly that the city can't absorb any more migrants without additional funding from the federal government.

The two buses, carrying around 90 people, are among the first of many expected over the next weeks as thousands of migrants on the Texas border make their way north to New York, Chicago and other cities after the lifting of a pandemic-era policy that made it easier to turn people away at the border.

Two more chartered buses should arrive in New York on Saturday morning, according to Power Malu, founder of nonprofit organization Artists Athletes Activists. Migrants are also arriving through airports and on passenger lines such as Greyhound.

"We constantly have more people coming in," Malu said.

New York and other major cities are gearing up for an anticipated surge of migrants following the end of a Trump-era policy issued under Title 42 that allowed the U.S. to quickly expel migrants at the border because of the pandemic. The expected wave is sounding alarms because resources are already strained, with newcomers camped out in cheap hotels and bus terminals.

Adams has urged President Joe Biden, a fellow Democrat, to better coordinate the response effort, saying the city is receiving 500 migrants per day from border states. His office has said the numbers could double with the end of Title 42.

On Friday, the city's congressional delegation, led by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Representatives Jerry Nadler and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, asked the White House to expedite work authorizations for asylum seekers, eliminating the federal waiting period of 150 days.

"We write to urge the administration to ease the undue delays in granting work authorizations to asylum seekers," the letter said. "Asylum seekers should be permitted to obtain work authorization from the moment they file their asylum claim."

Volunteers including Malu greeted migrants in Spanish on Friday as they entered the station through a side door near Times Square. Some people appeared to be alone. There were also families with small children, including a girl clutching two dolls.

Inside, the roughly 90 new arrivals gathered in an area enclosed with yellow barricades that had rows of beige, gray and black chairs. Volunteers handed them coconut water and Dunkin' doughnuts. Police officers and about six personnel in U.S. Army and Marine uniforms were also on hand.

The immediate priority was helping people find shelter, Malu said. Some of the migrants have family in the area they can stay with.

Luigi Garcia, 30, was standing outside of the enclosed area when three kids jumped into his arms. He said he arrived from Venezuela a year ago and had been saving money to bring his family over. On Friday, he was finally reunited with his wife and children.

Since last spring, New York has welcomed more than 65,000 asylum seekers, a city official said, and 39,400 are still under its care. The city has opened 130 emergency shelters and eight temporary facilities to manage the surge.

Earlier this week, Adams temporarily suspended some of the rules that require the city to shelter asylum seekers, including the timing for placements in shelters and the accommodations the city has to provide unhoused families. Advocacy groups criticized his decision, saying it could put migrants at risk.

Adams also sent two buses with migrants the town of Newburgh, about 70 miles (113 kilometers) north of New York City, according to Spectrum News.

A 27-year-old Venezuelan man called Gerber, who declined to give his last name, said he arrived by plane from Texas on Thursday night with his 28-year-old wife. They slept at the Port Authority as they waited for help.

He wants to attend free English classes organized by a church so he can get a job. But first, he was trying to get a place to sleep.

Bloomberg's Immanual John Milton contributed to this report.
BEIJING  Australian Trade and Tourism Minister Don Farrell visited China on Thursday as part of a joint effort to repair ties scarred by political rifts over the past decade.

In a statement issued by his office, Farrell said he would be "advocating strongly for the full resumption of unimpeded Australian exports to China."

China is Australia's biggest trading partner, with two-way exchanges totaling $287 billion in 2022. China recently resumed imports of coal, cotton and copper from Australia after a lengthy unannounced trade embargo.

Farrell said he would push for a review of tariffs on Australian barley and represent "the interests of Australian exporters and producers."

China blocked such exports in retaliation for government actions targeting Beijing's alleged interference in Australian elections, civic life and the large Australian-Chinese community.

Despite improvements in economic relations, ties between the two remain tense.

In April, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said bilateral relations were unlikely to return to the level of the early 2000s, when trade was separated from political and strategic priorities.

Since then, Australia has expanded security cooperation with the United States, China's main rival for influence in the Asia-Pacific region.

Beijing has strongly criticized Australia's participation in the so-called AUKUS partnership, linking it with the United States and Britain to create an Australian fleet of eight submarines powered by U.S. nuclear technology, largely in response to China's growing military assertiveness in the South China Sea, the South Pacific and the East China Sea.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will host U.S. President Joe Biden and the leaders of India and Japan  countries with which China maintains active border disputes  for a May 24 summit of leaders of the so-called Quad nations.

Australia has also blocked the sale of assets, including critical infrastructure, to Chinese companies on national security grounds in recent years.

Farrell said he would meet with Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao following a commitment in February to improve dialogue "at all levels as a pathway towards the full resumption of trade."

"Since then, the Australian Government is pleased there have been several positive trade developments," his office quoted him as saying.
MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan  This busy base south of Hiroshima attracts tail spotters from around the world who come to photograph American fighter jets and Japanese search-and-rescue aircraft from just beyond the runway.

Hans Van Der Luit, a retired lawyer from Kleipettenlaan, Netherlands, has been traveling to military bases around Japan to photograph military aircraft that arent common in his home country.

These planes are very rare in the Netherlands; you dont see that much F/A-18s, he told Stars and Stripes just outside the fence at MCAS Iwakuni on April 11. I see the Hawkeye, Greyhound, Poseidon, but you wont see them in the Netherlands or in Belgium.

Carrier Air Wing 5 has squadrons of F/A-18 Super Hornets, E-2 Hawkeyes and C-2 Greyhounds based at MCAS Iwakuni unless theyre at sea aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, homeported at Yokosuka Naval Base south of Tokyo.

The Marine squadrons at Iwakuni fly F-35B Lightning II stealth fighters and KC-130J refuelers. Japans Fleet Air Wing 31 operates its ShinMaywa US-2, P-3 Orion and Learjet Model 36 from the shared air station.

In between photographing military aircraft taking off and landing, Luit pulled out a small notebook while reviewing his freshly taken images, comparing the tail numbers to those in his notebook.

A lot of people have this hobby because they want to collect the numbers, each individual plane they want to have, he said. I can be very happy when I see a plane I dont have.

The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Forces has no issue with tail spotters taking photographs outside the fence at the Self-Defense Forces area of MCAS Iwakuni, said Lt. Cmdr. Tetsuya Morinaga, spokesman for Fleet Air Wing 31, on April 25.

As long as tail spotters take photos for their own pleasure, the Self-Defense Force is not concerned, he said. However, it could become a problem if they come every day to take photos and record data that reveals military operations.

The U.S. Marine Corps also tolerates tail spotters.

We are aware that the air station draws the attention of many aviation enthusiasts, base spokesman 1st Lt. Aaron Ellis told Stars and Stripes by email on April 28.

He declined to discuss specific measures security forces takes to protect the aircraft or if they monitor tail spotters. On any given day, up to several dozen photographers can be seen along a narrow access road near the runway.

What we can say is that we take security seriously and we have a robust posture that ensures the safety and security of the air station and its tenant units, Ellis said.

The U.S. military sometimes connects with aviation enthusiasts at its bases and offers base tours and up-close aircraft opportunities.

I say to people of the American forces that think we are spies, its only personal, Luit said. We are not interested in buildings; we only want to take photos of the planes.

Masafumi Mizuoka, a college student from Osaka, made his first trip to MCAS Iwakuni on April 19 to photograph military aircraft, he said on April 11.

Hes a regular at Komatsu Air Base, a Japan Air Self-Defense Force installation in Ishikawa prefecture. He said he visits bases up to 80 days a year and mainly takes photos of fighter jets.

Mizuoka started tail spotting in junior high. His father, a photographer for an aircraft magazine, got him interested in the hobby by taking Mizuoka with him on assignments.

Mizuoka said hes wanted to visit MCAS Iwakuni ever since he saw Top Gun: Maverick, which he watched several times. He said he was surprised by the number of aircraft that fly from the air station.

"It evokes collectors' desire to take photos of unusual aircraft, or aircraft with unusual paint jobs," he said.
High-level meetings this week between U.S. and Chinese officials suggests Beijing may be open to restarting dialogue, analysts say, after rebuffing American overtures for months after an alleged Chinese spy balloon was found hovering over the United States.

President Biden has been offering for months to talk to his Chinese counterpart, but Xi Jinping has not reciprocated. So this week's sudden flurry of meetings marks a change from Beijing in particular.

In previously unannounced talks on Wednesday and Thursday, U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan and China's top diplomat, Wang Yi, spoke for more than eight hours in Vienna. They had "candid, substantive, and constructive discussions" on key issues including the U.S.-China bilateral relationship, according to a readout from the White House.

In Beijing, Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao met with U.S. Ambassador Nicholas Burns for what the later described as an "open and detailed discussion on the bilateral trade relationship." On Monday Burns and Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang met and spoke about the necessity of "stabilizing" Sino-U. S. relations.

The flurry of activity, the most senior level talks in months, comes as China continues a charm offensive in Europe and leverages recent diplomatic wins, from the brokering of Saudi-Iran ties to Beijing's growing partnership with Russia, to present itself as a credible global leader.

"In a moment when they are actively wooing the Europeans and trying to convince them to strike out a path that's independent of the United States in the way they deal with China, it's in their interest to project an image of responsibly managing the competition," said Amanda Hsiao, senior China analyst at the Crisis Group think tank.

Qin was in Berlin, Paris and Oslo this week for talks. China's special representative for Eurasian affairs, Li Hui, a senior diplomat who previously served as ambassador to Moscow, will travel to Ukraine, Poland, France, Germany and Russia starting Monday, according to an announcement by China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday.

There were glimmers of hope at the end of last year, after Biden met Xi in Bali in November, that the relationship between the world's two largest economies might be improving.

But that all came to a halt when U.S. authorities in February detected a high-altitude Chinese balloon equipped with surveillance capabilities floating over the United States. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, due to visit Beijing to build on the Biden-Xi meeting, canceled his trip and most channels for working-level dialogue were frozen.

Since then China has cold-shouldered Washington while trying to burnish its image as an alternative global leader able to mediate international crises like Ukraine. After releasing a peace plan largely in line with Moscow's stance, Xi spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky by phone in April.

At the same time, China has struggled under U.S. curbs on technology exports and watched as U.S. officials continue to engage its rival, Taiwan, and expand U.S. military access in the Indo-Pacific.

"One theory is that the Chinese concluded that their interests are being harmed by shutting down all dialogue with the U.S., while the U.S. says it's willing to talk," said Bonnie Glaser, director of the Indo-Pacific program at the German Marshall Fund of the United States.

In China, the renewed diplomatic activity has been framed as a win for China's tactics in dealing with Washington.

"In this latest round, China's cold treatment has really put the U.S. on the back foot and made them anxious," one popular commentator, who publishes under the name Niutanqin, wrote in an article on Friday.

The Taihe Institute, a think tank in Beijing, observed that the various U.S. overtures showed how China's "new countermeasures were already influencing U.S. policies toward China."

As the furor over the balloon incident has died down, the two sides have more room to restart talks.

"To communicate or resume dialogue after that incident would have telegraphed the wrong message. It would have made them look weak," said Hsiao. "There had to be a period of time when they played it cool. With these meetings, there's sort of a maneuvering back to some form of dialogue right now. They're creeping back toward that."

The recent meetings may pave the way toward a more high-level visit to China by a U.S. official. Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen and Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo have expressed interest in visiting China, while U.S. climate envoy John F. Kerry said last week that he had been invited to visit China in the "near term."

On Friday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin described the meeting in Vienna between Sullivan and Wang Yi as "candid" and "constructive." He said that both sides agreed to "continue to make good use of this strategic communication channel."

Still, expectations are low that such dialogue on an irregular basis will change the fundamentals of competition between the two countries.

"It's the highest level meeting between U.S. and Chinese officials in a very long time," said Moritz Rudolf, a research scholar at Yale Law School's Paul Tsai China Center, referring to the meeting in Vienna. "It's not a game changer, but it's a good sign in a terrible bilateral relationship right now."

The Washington Post's Pei-Lin Wu and Vic Chiang in Taipei contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON  The U.S. Abrams tanks needed for training Ukrainian forces have arrived in Germany slightly ahead of schedule and are on their way to the Grafenwoehr Army base where the training will begin in two to three weeks, U.S. officials said Thursday.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee that the U.S. had moved "a number of tanks over into theater" so the Ukrainians could begin training on them. By the time they complete the training, expected to last about 10 weeks, the Abrams tanks currently being built for the Ukrainian forces will be ready, he said.

A U.S. official said the 31 M1A1 Abrams tanks needed for the training arrived at the port in Bremerhaven, Germany, last weekend and they will get to the base by early this coming week. Their arrival at Grafenwoehr is a couple of weeks ahead of the schedule that was mapped out when military leaders from around Europe and elsewhere met in Germany last month to discuss Ukraine's needs for the war against Russia.

The tanks the U.S. is providing Ukraine are being built to its military's specifications and will get to Ukraine by early fall, just as the troops are finished with their instruction. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details of the delivery not publicly released.

The tank training will be the latest and most lethal new layer of combat instruction the U.S. is providing Ukraine's troops to give them the best chance to overwhelm and punch through Russia's battle lines. Over the past few months U.S. troops have trained more than 8,800 Ukrainians, including on how to use Stryker and Bradley fighting vehicles and M109 Paladins together on the battlefield. The Bradleys and Strykers are armored and armed vehicles used to ferry troops, and the Paladin is a self-propelled howitzer gun.

During Thursday's hearing, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, pressed Austin to move quickly to get the tanks into Ukrainian troops' hands and onto the battlefield.

"We are doing everything possible to accelerate the delivery of these tanks, and early fall is a projection," Austin said.

Collins and others noted the urgency of the fight in Ukraine, and she told Austin and Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to be blunt about Ukraine's needs. Defense leaders should not let budget concerns dissuade them from seeking more weapons if that's what Kyiv needs to be successful in a counteroffensive, said Collins, the ranking Republican on the panel.

"It is critical that the administration provide Ukraine with what it needs in time to defend and take back its sovereign territory," she said. "We expect the administration not to wait until the 11th hour if the Ukrainians seek more before the end of the fiscal year."

Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., noting the broader implications of the war, questioned Milley on the impact a Russian victory could have on China and its deliberations on whether to move to take the self-governing island of Taiwan, which Beijing claims.

"I think that the Chinese are watching the war between Russia and Ukraine very carefully," Milley said, adding that if Russian President Vladimir Putin succeeds, "China will learn certain lessons."

"It may not be the single decisive point, but I think it will calculate into their decision-making process as to whether or not they attack to seize the island of Taiwan. So I think the outcome of Ukraine is critical to much broader issues than just Ukraine," Milley said.
STUTTGART, Germany  The U.S. Army this month is drilling to rapidly grow an American-led battlegroup in Poland that operates near the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, where soldiers are tasked with defending some of NATOs most vulnerable terrain.

The exercise, called Griffin Shock, calls for expanding the U.S.-led force from a battalion to brigade-sized element of some 3,000 troops, the Armys V Corps said in a statement Thursday.

Griffin Shock will validate our ability to quickly scale the NATO battlegroup in Poland into a full combat brigade under the command and control of NATO Multinational Division-Northeast, V Corps commander Lt. Gen. John S. Kolasheski said in the statement.

The mission comes in response to a new NATO force model that allies agreed to during the alliances leader summit last summer in Madrid, which requires a plan to increase various eastern flank battlegroups into full brigades when needed. NATO battlegroups are made up of several hundred troops each.

In the case of Poland, the U.S. Army is the leading force in the NATO unit, which operates from Bemowo Piskie in the countrys northeast. The location is about 50 miles from Kaliningrad, where Russia maintains a sizable force. The area also is in the vicinity of the so-called Suwalki Gap, which connects Poland to Lithuania.

The small gap has long been considered one of NATOs most vulnerable areas should a conflict with Russia ever develop. The concerns center on whether allies could mobilize fast enough should the Russian military attempt to seal off the Baltic states from the rest of the alliance.

With Griffin Shock, V Corps and NATO Multinational Corps Northeast are rehearsing how it would surge forces into that area in a crisis.

Units from the Armys 4th Infantry Division, the Vilseck, Germany-based 2nd Cavalry Regiment and other Germany-based units will be part of the exercise, along with a mix of international troops.

Through such exercises, allies demonstrate that we are a highly capable  formation that can deter and, where necessary, confront and defend potential aggressors, Lt. Gen. Juergen-Joachim Von Sandrart, commanding general of NATO Multinational Corps-Northeast, said in a statement.

The exercise, which started on May 8, will run until May 26.
KYIV, Ukraine  Ukrainian military commanders said Friday that their troops had recaptured more territory from Russian forces at the scene of the war's longest and bloodiest battle, for the eastern city of Bakhmut, but it wasn't clear if this marked the start of Kyiv's long-expected counteroffensive.

Russia's Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said Ukrainian forces had stepped up attacks north of the region while denying speculation by Russian military bloggers that the Kyiv forces had achieved "defense breakthroughs."

The 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) of territory that Ukrainian forces south of Bakhmut retook this week represented a significant gain and will protect an important supply chain, according to commanders of Ukraine's 3rd Separate Assault Brigade, a special forces unit that led the attack.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he met with the top military commanders Friday, noting that Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi reported his forces "stopped the enemy and even pushed him back in some directions."

In his nightly address to the Ukrainian people, Zelenskyy praised his troops and noted the low morale of the Russian forces.

"The occupiers are already mentally prepared for defeat. They have already lost this war in their minds," he said. "We must push them every day so that their sense of defeat turns into their retreat, their mistakes, their losses."

In a statement on Telegram on Friday, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar confirmed that Ukrainian forces gained ground around Bakhmut, reiterating statements from military commanders earlier this week.

In Washington, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the U.S. has assessed that Bakhmut remains contested territory.

"Ukrainians have not given up their defense of Bakhmut and the Russians haven't given up their attempts to take Bakhmut," Kirby said. "Every single day, the lines change back and forth. I mean, sometimes block by block."

The U.S. maintains that Bakhmut has limited strategic value but that Russia has absorbed an enormous loss of troops and weaponry in the battle for the former salt-mining town that has been grinding on for eight months.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the millionaire owner of Russia's private military contractor Wagner who is a frequent critic of the Russian military, slammed it again for losing ground around Bakhmut and exposing his forces battling for the city.

In a video statement Friday, Prigozhin mocked the Russian Defense Ministry's report claiming that its forces regrouped to take more favorable positions, saying they effectively fled and "our flanks are crumbling."

He warned that the Ukrainian forces have reclaimed key heights around the city and effectively unblocked the key supply link to Bakhmut. Prigozhin again accused the military leadership of refusing to provide sufficient ammunition to Wagner.

"You must immediately stop lying," Prigozhin said, addressing Russia's military leaders. "If you fled, you must prepare new defensive lines."

Prigozhin  who seems to use harsh criticism to pressure the Kremlin for more support and improve his stature  alleged the Defense Ministry's failure to protect Wagner's flanks amounted to high treason and could result in a "great tragedy" for Russia.

Apparently denying Prigozhin's claim of abandonment, Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Russian airborne units are still supporting ground forces to "stop the attempts of the Ukrainian armed forces to counterattack on the flanks."

The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, explained the spat as being "reflective of increased panic in the Russian information space over speculations about planned Ukrainian counteroffensives." This indicates increased concern among leaders of Wagner and the Russian Defense Ministry as well as "reflecting Kremlin guidance to avoid downplaying Ukrainian successes," it said.

Ukrainian military officials have dismissed speculation that the fighting and forward movement in Bakhmut signaled that its anticipated counteroffensive was underway. Zelenskyy said in remarks broadcast Thursday that Kyiv was delaying the campaign because it lacks enough Western weapons. Some saw the comments as designed to keep Russia guessing about Ukraine's next move.

Addressing the nation Friday evening, Zelenskyy said more arms were coming "to defeat the aggressor and restore peace."

The territorial gains occurred near the Siversky-Donets canal, between the villages of Ivanivske and Kurdiumivka, according to a commander of the 1st Assault Battalion of the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade. He spoke on condition he be referred to only by his call sign of "Rollo," in line with Ukrainian military protocol.

"This was the enemy's bridgehead, which they intended to use in their future attacks along the canal, in the direction of Kostiantynivka," he said. "We had to neutralize the enemy and push them to the other side of the canal."

Another commander and a military spokesman corroborated his account.

Kostiantynivka is part of an important logistics chain that leads to the city of Kramatorsk.

Rollo said the gains followed other successes, including one that secured an access road near Khromove, north of Bakhmut, and another that allowed Ukrainian forces to reclaim lost positions in the Industrial College inside Bakhmut city.

The assault south of Bakhmut was followed by a reported increase in Ukrainian offensive actions near the city of Soledar on Thursday, Russia's Defense Ministry said. Russia repelled 26 Ukrainian attacks carried out by over 1,000 soldiers, the ministry said, adding that up to 40 tanks were involved.

The slow and grinding fight for Bakhmut has been costly for both sides, with Ukraine seeking to deny Russia any territorial gains despite its marginal strategic significance. Ukrainian forces are stationed in the city, while Russian troops are attacking from the north, east and south.

In other fighting, at least two people were killed and 22 injured elsewhere in the country since Thursday, according to figures from the Ukrainian President's Office.

Donetsk Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko said a Russian strike hit Kramatorsk, where some Ukrainian military units are based, destroying a school and residential building. Russian shelling hit 11 cities and villages in the region, killing 12 civilians, he said.
Serbians handed in thousands of guns in the first three days of an amnesty aimed at disarming the country following two mass killings last week, including one targeting schoolchildren.

Almost 6,000 unregistered weapons, 300,000 rounds of ammunition, and 470 pieces of mines and explosive devices have been voluntarily surrendered nationwide since Monday, the country's interior ministry said Thursday in an Instagram post promoting the measure.

President Aleksandar Vucic announced a suite of gun-control measures on May 5, pledging to "carry out an almost total disarmament of Serbia."

"We must make a decision to confront this evil," he said. On May 3, a seventh-grader was taken into custody after a mass killing at Vladislav Ribnikar Elementary School in Belgrade, in which eight children and a security guard died. The following night, eight died in a mass killing when a shooter fired from a car in Mladenovac municipality, south of the capital.

Education Minister Branko Ruzic resigned after the tragedy. He said in a statement posted to Twitter on Sunday that seeing pictures from the school shooting and meeting with the parents were experiences he would "carry as a seal on my soul for the rest of my life."

"May God help us to prevent something like this from happening again," he said.

Serbia is among the most heavily armed countries in the world, in part a legacy of conflicts in the former Yugoslavia throughout the 1990s. It has the third-highest rate of civilian gun ownership per capita (tied with Montenegro), according to the 2018 Geneva Graduate Institute's Small Arms Survey. But its government aims to change that with a policy package announced in the aftermath of the two shootings.

The gun amnesty runs from May 8 to June 8, and allows unregistered weapons to be turned in without consequence. Those handing in weapons do not have to show identification or explain the weapons' provenance, authorities said. Owners of illegal guns can also call police to collect them from an address without repercussions.

Additional gun-control policies that Serbia committed to this month include a two-year moratorium on new permits for small firearms and hunting weapons and a review of all existing weapons permits within three months. The government said it would introduce amendments to tighten conditions for keeping and carrying small firearms aimed at reducing the legally-held number by 20 percent; institute checks on those holding weapons permits, including medical, psychiatric and drug tests; and increase penalties for weapons offenses.

Australia, the United Kingdom, Brazil and Argentina have run similar amnesty programs to reduce firearms.

Philip Alpers, founding director of the University of Sydney's GunPolicy.org and associate professor of public health, said in a phone interview that firearms amnesties were effective policies to reduce gun violence when they were comprehensive and overseen nationally.

"It seems that it follows several components of the recipe that works," he said, referring to Serbia's policy, "a national gun amnesty with no exceptions, and run by a federal government."

"It has to be a very large-scale amnesty, backed by serious sanctions like prosecution," he added.

In the United States, which has the world's highest civilian gun ownership, attempts at amnesties have been limited to small communities which were largely ineffective, Alpers said. Australia was the "most spectacular" example, he added.

In Australia, more than a million guns have been turned in during gun amnesties, including buybacks, since 1997. The majority were surrendered during a significant program the year after the Port Arthur massacre, a mass killing in 1996 that claimed 35 lives and prompted an overhaul of the nation's gun laws. Other restrictions included banning automatic and semiautomatic long arms, and legislating the need for a "genuine reason" - not including personal protection - to receive a weapon license.

The number of licensed gun owners has halved since then and the proportion of Australian households with a gun at home has fallen by 75 percent, according to University of Sydney analysis. Incidents of mass killings dropped significantly. Overall, gun deaths dropped by 66 percent, according to a report prepared by Alpers and his colleagues.
VILSECK, Germany  An American soldier serving at a base in Bavaria was sentenced Friday to five years in prison and dishonorably discharged for causing grievous bodily harm to his infant son shortly before the boys death two years ago.

Sgt. Nicholas Gubitosi, 25, had faced murder charges and one related charge of maiming at a two-week court-martial on Rose Barracks.

But he was convicted of the lesser included charge of aggravated assault, suggesting that although jurors believed that Gubitosi seriously abused his 6-week-old son Anthony, they werent convinced that the abuse alone caused his death.

The verdict appeared to stun prosecutors, who earlier had described the crime as an open and shut case of murder.

Gubitosi, who was assigned to a 2nd Cavalry Regiment Stryker squadron at Rose Barracks, told investigators that on Feb. 28, 2021, his frustration over Anthonys crying led him to shake the baby so severely that he needed to be hospitalized.

Dr. Andreas Fiedler, a pediatric neurologist who testified for the prosecution, likened Anthonys injuries to those that a person in a car crash at 60 mph would have.

At the hospital, Anthony was put on life support. Initial scans and examinations indicated hed been abused and suffered from shaken baby syndrome, according to testimony by medical officials, who said blood was detected in every part of his brain.

I destroyed everything. Im a monster, Gubitosi wrote days later in a text message to his wife, according to evidence presented in court.

Anthony was taken off life support on March 23, 2021, and died that day.

I ruined my sons future, Gubitosi told an agent in a recording played for the court.

When asked by the agent whether he would have done anything differently if he could go back in time, Gubitosi can be heard crying and saying, I would have stopped myself.

But on the witness stand Tuesday, Gubitosi said the agent pressured him into admitting to shaking Anthony the day he was hospitalized even though he had no memory of doing so.

Gubitosi said he invented the story because the agent convinced him that his mind had blocked out the traumatic event and that he must have done something to Anthony as he was the only one watching him the day everything happened.

The defense argued that Gubitosis wife was responsible for Anthonys injuries. Gubitosis lawyers provided text messages in which she expressed frustration with the baby, saying that it showed she had a motive.

The defense presented no direct evidence that Gubitosis wife shook Anthony, and she said she never did so, both in court and in her interview with Army criminal investigators. Gubitosi initially told investigators he shook Anthony on three separate occasions.

The trial included several intense moments.

Defense attorney Lt. Col. Jenny Schlack asked one witness whether he was intoxicated because she said she could smell alcohol on him. The judge, Lt. Col. Tom Hynes, denied her request to force the witness take a breathalyzer test.

During the prosecutions closing arguments, Gubitosis mother began screaming in the gallery, ran out of the courtroom and collapsed. An ambulance was called, but she returned later in the day.

Prosecutors argued that Anthonys injuries and irreversible brain damage that led to his death all happened hours before he was hospitalized, during a time period that Gubitosi testified he was alone with the child.

Several medical experts who testified said the baby was likely injured no more than eight hours before emergency services were called and possibly just minutes before.

Aashim Bhatia, a pediatric radiologist and witness for the defense, was the only medical expert to say Anthonys brain injury likely happened days before he went to the hospital. Anthony was also found to have a broken rib that was already healing.

The defense said this evidence suggested that Anthony was abused prior to Feb. 28, 2021, when he may have been in the care of his mother, and that the injuries that led to his death may not have happened all at once.

In addition to the prison sentence and the dishonorable discharge, Gubitosi will be reduced to the rank of E-1 and must forfeit all pay and allowances. He received the maximum sentence for the aggravated assault conviction, as prosecutors requested.
Israeli strikes have pummeled the Gaza Strip for three days, killing at least 28 people, among them several children and five leaders of the Islamic Jihad militant group, according to Gazas health ministry. Israeli officials say their forces are targeting commanders of and weapons stored by the extremist group.

Islamic Jihad has fired more than 400 retaliatory rockets into Israel - with some reaching as far as central Tel Aviv - but most were intercepted by the countrys air defense system, according to the Israel Defense Forces. An Israeli man died Thursday in a rocket attack on the city of Rehovot.

Its another grim cycle of violence - and the stakes are high as a new phase of the Israeli-Palestinian crisis unfolds, with Islamic Jihad emerging as an influential force across the Palestinian territories.

Heres what to know about Palestinian Islamic Jihad and why Israel is targeting it in Gaza.

What is happening in Gaza?

Israel launched its latest round of strikes on targets in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday. Dozens of military aircraft have taken part, hitting apartment buildings, weapons factories and rocket launchers, according to the Israeli military.

In response, Islamic Jihad militants have sent more than 400 rockets into Israel. For the first time since the 2021 war, air sirens also went off in Tel Aviv, more than 40 miles from the Gaza Strip. Most rockets have been intercepted by Israels Iron Dome antimissile defense system, and the handful that werent intercepted have tended to land much closer to Gaza. Israel holds Hamas responsible for any violence originating from Gaza, though the two have not clashed directly in this round of violence.

Israel - which controls and restricts nearly all passage of people, goods and humanitarian services into and out of Gaza - on Tuesday announced a complete border closure for at least several days. The conflict-weary territory, about the size of Philadelphia, is home to some 2 million people, nearly half of whom are children. Unemployment and poverty are sky-high, and Gazans have limited to no access to clean water, stable electricity and medical care, or a way in and out of the narrow strip.

Why is this happening now?

Islamic Jihad is far smaller than Hamas, the extremist group that has ruled inside the Gaza Strip since 2007. But by firing rockets into Israel, Islamic Jihad is testing Hamass leadership and legitimacy. So far, Hamas has refrained from formally entering the air battle: Doing so might boost its standing in the short term, but could prove very damaging for Gazans still recovering from previous confrontations with Israel.

In the West Bank, Islamic Jihad has led attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilians and is increasingly popular among Palestinians disillusioned by the failure of politicians to achieve statehood, ensure safety and end the Israeli occupation. The Palestinian Authority, dominated by the Fatah party and led by aging and ailing President Mahmood Abbas, has only pockets of power and support as Israeli settlers and military rule continue to expand.

Pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to use even greater force against Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Palestinians in general is also continuing to grow. Netanyahu needs to appease the extremist members of his government, with whom he allied to stay in power and fight corruption charges. Southern Israel, where most Islamic Jihad rockets land or are intercepted, is a stronghold of Netanyahus right-wing base.

Tensions crested after Khader Adnan, a 45-year-old father of nine and an influential member of Islamic Jihad, died in an Israeli prison on May 2 after an 87-day hunger strike. Adnan had undertaken hunger strikes and court battles to protest his charges and detention. Palestinian officials called his death an assassination. Shortly after, Islamic Jihad and Hamas launched about a dozen rockets into Israel, and Israeli war planes struck Gaza. The two sides agreed to a cease-fire brokered by Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations.

Last month, a regionwide war appeared on the brink of breaking out after Palestinian militants, including Islamic Jihad, fired rockets into Israel from Gaza, Syria and Lebanon. Israel struck Gaza and Lebanon in retaliation before a temporary cease-fire was reached.

What is Palestinian Islamic Jihad?

The group was established in the 1980s by Palestinian students in Gaza as an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, a global Islamist movement founded in Egypt. Hamas was another offshoot. The United States has designated both as terrorist groups for their attacks on Israelis.

Islamic Jihad is committed to armed resistance against Israel, a self-described Jewish state established in 1948 on land Palestinians claim. Palestinians commemorate their displacement, known as the Nakba, later this month. The group is opposed to the 1993 Oslo accords, which never went into full effect, and any other political agreement with Israel. Though allied with the much larger and politically repressive Hamas, Islamic Jihad is considered more ideologically extreme.

Iran - mired in proxy conflicts with Israel - is the main foreign supporter of Islamic Jihad and provides funding, weapons, training, technologies and political cover, according to Israeli intelligence. Iran has also backed Hamas, though to a far lesser extent. Both groups remain focused on the Palestinian struggle.

Palestinian Islamic Jihad has boycotted the handful of Palestinian elections held since the creation of the Palestinian Authority in 1994. The Fatah-dominated PA, which has an increasingly limited rule in parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, is a rival of both Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Hamass political arm participated in the last legislative election, which it won in 2006. Some Palestinians voted for Hamas out of frustration with corruption among Western-backed Fatah leaders. But when Hamas entered the new government, the U.S.-led Middle East Quartet boycotted it.

Soon after, a Palestinian civil war broke out: Hamas took control of Gaza, where it instituted its own government, while the PA remained in the West Bank and led by Abbas. In response, Israel and Egypt imposed land and sea blockades.

When else have Israel and Islamic Jihad clashed?

Over the past year, Israel has launched near-daily, often deadly raids in Palestinian cities targeting, it says, fighters and militants behind attacks on Israelis. Last year, Israeli forces killed nearly 150 Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, the highest number since the end of the last Palestinian uprising in 2005, according to the United Nations. In the first four months of 2023, Israeli forces have killed nearly 100 Palestinians, per U.N. figures. At least 18 Israelis and one foreign national have died in Palestinian attacks in Israel and the Palestinian territories this year.

Islamic Jihad members and affiliates have been behind many of these operations. They have also gained a following in refugee camps, such as in Jenin and Nablus, where fighters patrol to keep the military out. This new generation of armed groups has largely formed on a local level outside of Fatah and Hamas. Disillusioned by the perceived failures of their aging leaders, some Palestinians are attracted to Islamic Jihad because of its lack of adherence to established political ideology.

In August 2022, at least 47 Palestinians, including 16 children, were killed in the Gaza Strip in a three-day air battle that began after Israel assassinated an Islamic Jihad leader there. It was the deadliest exchange of fire since an 11-day war the year in 2021 - Gazas fourth war with Israel in 12 years, alongside countless skirmishes.

Israel and Palestinian Islamic Jihad also exchanged missiles and rockets for several days in 2019, after Israeli forces killed another of its top commanders in Gaza. Hamas notably sat out the 2019 and 2022 escalations.

In the deadliest war in 2014, more than 2,000 Gazans were killed, including about 500 children, and more than 70 Israelis, according to the United Nations.
Iran continues to supply Houthi rebels with arms and drugs to fund a shadow war in Yemen despite a deal with Saudi Arabia that was supposed to halt such practices, U.S. and Yemeni officials said this week.

The statements come after a U.S. Coast Guard cutter seized $110 million worth of heroin and methamphetamine from two ships in the waters in the Gulf of Oman south of Iran, the Navys 5th Fleet said.

Recent talks between Saudi Arabia and Iran on stopping the war in Yemen, in which opposing sides backed by the two governments have been clashing since 2014, were said to include a provision that Tehran would halt arms shipments to Houthi rebels, The Wall Street Journal reported in March.

But the U.S. has not seen a change in Irans operations, Tim Lenderking, U.S. special envoy for Yemen, said in a phone briefing with reporters Thursday.

The Iranians have continued to smuggle weaponry and narcotics toward the conflict, and we are very concerned that this would continue despite the benefits that could come from a Saudi-Iran deal, Lenderking said.

Yemens information minister, Muammar al-Eryani, also said Thursday that Iran was continuing to supply Houthi rebels, the Turkish state news agency Anadolu reported Friday. Al-Eryani referenced the U.S. seizures this week.

The two ships filled with drugs that were seized by the crew of the USCGC Glen Harris both came from the port of Chah Bahar in Iran, the 5th Fleet statement said.

The Coast Guard cutter seized $30 million worth of methamphetamine and heroin Monday from a fishing vessel and $80 million worth of heroin Wednesday, the statement said.

More U.S. vessels will soon be patrolling the waters of the Strait of Hormuz, off the coast of Iran, the 5th Fleet announced Friday.

The statement said the increase in the rotation of ships and aircraft is due to Irans recent seizure of two oil tankers.

U.S. officials have also repeatedly accused Iran of providing weapons, training and financial support to the Houthis, a Shiite rebel movement, that seized Sanaa, Yemens capital, in 2014, leading to a counteroperation by Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries.

A deal brokered by China to reestablish diplomatic relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia earlier this year raised expectations that the war would end.

Lenderking said the U.S. welcomes the deal, which provides an opening for peace.

Our hope  is that Iran will change behavior and indeed, in the spirit of the agreement with the Saudis, support the peace effort vigorously in Yemen, Lenderking said.
Sirens resumed Friday across Israel, signaling a fourth day of hostilities between Islamist militants in Gaza and the Israeli army as Egyptian-backed cease-fire talks seemed to stall.

Israel reported striking new targets, including in Rafah near the border with Egypt; several of the militants' rockets were intercepted by air defense systems on the outskirts of Jerusalem, the country's seat of government.

More than 30 people have been killed, including at least six children, and more than 100 injured in Gaza since Israeli airstrikes began Tuesday against the second-largest armed group there, Islamic Jihad. The militants have launched more than 800 rockets this week, killing one Israeli and wounding seven more, after one of their most high-profile representatives died on hunger strike in an Israeli prison.

 Two rockets fired from Gaza toward Jerusalem were intercepted, the Times of Israel reported. Authorities in the Israeli Eshkol region, which borders the Gaza Strip, also said that 15 rockets had been launched at the area. One of them struck a greenhouse. No civilian deaths or injuries were reported.

 At least two people were killed and five wounded in an Israeli strike on a residential building in Gaza, according to the Palestinian health ministry. Among the dead, the IDF said, was Ayeed Alhuseni, the sixth senior Islamic Jihad figure to be killed since Tuesday.

 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said that senior officials were conducting a fresh security assessment Friday morning.

 The violence has frozen life across Gaza: Israel has closed a key crossing that allows patients to travel for medical treatment in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank. The Palestinian Red Crescent said Friday that health and humanitarian organizations were running out of fuel and medical supplies needed for lifesaving care.

 Israeli authorities extended restrictions on movement and gathering until 8 p.m. Saturday for those near the Gaza Strip, urging citizens to suspend educational activities and close workplaces, unless they had access to bomb shelters.

 Diplomatic efforts to curtail the fighting continue as governments express concern about the loss of life and the risk of the conflict widening. Although Egyptian media reported that a cease-fire agreement between the two parties had been reached late Wednesday, Israel's public radio station reported Friday that talks have faltered.

 Israel has been wracked with crises since Netanyahu returned to power at the start of this year, helming the most right wing and religiously conservative government in the country's history. The new administration has stepped up raids against Palestinian militants across the West Bank while advancing policies to expand its occupation there.

 The May 2 death in Israeli custody of Khader Adnan, a 45-year-old father of nine and an influential member of Islamic Jihad, inflamed tensions further. Adnan had been on hunger strike for 87 days after spending much of his adult life in prison on terrorism charges.

 Islamic Jihad loosed a barrage of retaliatory rocket attacks; Israel responded with surprise strikes across Gaza early Tuesday that killed at least three of the group's commanders. Two more Islamic Jihad leaders were killed in Israeli strikes Thursday. Although Hamas, the larger militant group ruling Gaza, has publicly pledged support for its smaller rival, it has remained on the sidelines while the confrontation decimates Islamic Jihad's leadership and depletes its arsenal.

 Hamas has a lot to lose by engaging with Israel," said Mkhaimar Abusada, chairman of the political science department at al-Azhar University in Gaza City. If Hamas joined the fray, he said, it would probably mean the revocation of Israeli work permits that thousands of Palestinians in the enclave depend on to make a living.

 Writing in the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth on Friday, columnist Nahum Barnea described Israel's relationship with Hamas in Gaza as "enemy, a partner and a crutch." "IDF officials realized and internalized the unequivocal assessment that if the operation does not last long and get complicated, Hamas will stay out. As of yesterday, that assessment held true," he wrote.
NEW YORK  Manhattan prosecutors said Thursday that they will bring criminal charges against a man who used a fatal chokehold on an unruly passenger aboard a New York City subway train, a death that stirred outrage and debates about the response to mental illness in the nation's largest transit system.

Daniel Penny, a 24-year-old U.S. Marine Corps veteran, will be arrested and face a charge of second degree manslaughter, which could carry a jail term of up to 15 years.

"We cannot provide any additional information until he has been arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court, which we expect to take place tomorrow," the Manhattan district attorney's office said in a statement.

The charges come nearly two weeks after Penny pinned fellow subway rider Jordan Neely, 30, to the floor of a subway car and put him in a chokehold that lasted for several minutes.

According to a freelance journalist who witnessed the struggle, Neely, who is Black, had been screaming and begging for money aboard the train prior to the takedown, but had not physically attacked anyone.

Attorneys for Penny, who is white, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. They previously said their client, along with two other riders who helped restrain Neely, had acted in self-defense.

"Daniel never intended to harm Mr. Neely and could not have foreseen his untimely death," they said in a statement.

A former subway performer known for his spot-on Michael Jackson impression, Neely struggled in recent years with homelessness and worsening mental illness, friends said. He had been arrested several times, and had recently pleaded guilty to assaulting a 67-year-old woman in 2021 as she left a subway station. After pleading guilty, he missed a court date, leading to a warrant for his arrest that was still active at the time of his death.

His death has divided some in New York and beyond, triggering intense debates and protests. Left-leaning advocates described the killing as an act of racist vigilantism, invoking comparisons to the infamous subway shooting carried out by Bernhard Goetz against four teenagers in 1984.

Others, including Mayor Eric Adams, have urged caution, calling on New Yorkers to wait for the full facts and investigations. They note that much is still not known about what precipitated the chokehold.

As the investigation has continued, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has faced pressure to make an arrest. Penny was questioned by police in the hours after Neely died, but released without charges.

A second-degree manslaughter charge in New York will require the jury to find that a person has engaged in reckless conduct that creates an unjustifiable risk of death, and then consciously disregards that risk. The law also requires that conduct to be a gross deviation from how a reasonable person would act in a similar situation.
This aerial photo taken on May 9, 2023 shows the scenery of Haiyuan County, Zhongwei City, northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Yang Zhisen)

YINCHUAN, May 12 (Xinhua) -- In a village 30 km from the county seat of Haiyuan, northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, a willow tree with a V-shaped trunk stands on a hill as witness to a devastating earthquake over a century ago.

On Dec. 16, 1920, an 8.5-magnitude quake ripped through dozens of counties in northwest China, with Haiyuan at the epicenter. The earthquake claimed the lives of over 270,000 people, making it one of the deadliest in the 20th century. This tragic event was recorded by almost 100 seismic monitoring stations across the globe.

Located right on the rupture caused by the quake, the trunk of the willow tree had a deep split down the middle. However, the tree has miraculously survived and thrived.

"The tree is still sprouting, like telling people there is always hope for a better life," said Zhao Tinghu, deputy director of the seismological bureau of Haiyuan.

With a height of 13 meters and covered by a luxuriant crown of over 10 meters in diameter, the tree, which is about 500 years old, has come to be known as "zhenliu," or "earthquake willow," due to its extraordinary experience.

May 12 marks China's national day for disaster prevention and relief, which was established in 2009 to commemorate the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake that left more than 80,000 people dead or missing.

Haiyuan has been a destination for seismologists and historians to conduct research with some well-protected remains from 1920. In 2010, an earthquake museum opened in the county with a displayed collection of pictures, printed articles, and old-time objects that recount the disaster. The museum receives hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.

"The earthquake in Haiyuan reminds people of the importance of always standing prepared and alert for natural disasters. This is done through conducting scientific research, emergency relief preparations, spreading relevant knowledge and establishing a modern mechanism for disaster relief," said Zhao.

The local seismological bureau regularly holds training sessions and educational events to enhance public awareness of disaster prevention and increase self and mutual-rescue skills.

Having weathered over 100 years of vicissitudes after the quake, the willow has also borne witness to the changes in China's rural life.

Haiyuan is situated in Xihaigu, a region crossing the central and southern parts of Ningxia that was once deemed uninhabitable. In 2020, Haiyuan was lifted from absolute poverty, and the county is experiencing rapid revitalization with cattle breeding as its pillar industry.

One can see an exhibition of cows and bulls from all over the world at the "Bull King Valley" in the county, a major beef cattle breeding and production center covering an area of 400 hectares.

"We have a long tradition of cattle raising here. Now we have bought the world's best breeds to create a quality local stock," said Chen Liwen, a staff member at the base.

Ha Peng, a 23-year-old college student majoring in chemistry, returns home during the holidays to help his family on their cattle farm near the base.

"Last year we bought 20 cows and five calves with a low-interest loan of 200,000 yuan (about 28,780 U.S. dollars) provided by the local government. If all goes well, in three years, we will have five newborns, and the total value of my cattle will be around 250,000 yuan," Ha said.

In the Guanqiao Township of Haiyuan, villagers have built a modernized residential area called "Hope Town" with villa-like two-storey houses in it. Small shops have lined up a main street inside and spare rooms are ready for rent to tourists, helping villagers earn more money.

"We have several schools, a kindergarten, a hospital and a small museum on the local revolutionary history in the 1930s. I think we are living a life not so different from in the cities," local villager Feng Zenghu said proudly. 

This aerial photo taken on May 9, 2023 shows landslides created by an earthquake over a century ago in Haiyuan County, Zhongwei City, northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Yang Zhisen)
NEW YORK  CNN is facing a backlash over its town hall featuring former President Donald Trump, an event that swiftly turned chaotic in a stark display of the tightrope facing journalists covering a leading 2024 Republican candidate who refuses to play by the rules.

The town hall Wednesday was the first major television event of the 2024 presidential campaign, and CNN defended its decision to hold it as a chance to put Trump in front of a wider audience, outside of the conservative media bubble he has largely kept to since early in his presidency.

Critics said the event, which was staged in front of Republicans and unaffiliated voters who were expected to vote in the GOP primary, instead turned into a Trump campaign rally and allowed him to repeat longstanding falsehoods while dodging difficult questions

Tom Jones, a senior writer at the media research institute Poynter, said he had favored the idea of CNN holding the town hall at St. Anselm College in New Hampshire. But he said he was surprised by the conduct of the audience, which he had expected to be more neutral.

Instead, the crowd gave Trump a standing ovation when he walked onstage, applauded some of his most provocative comments and laughed at many of his quips, including when he criticized E. Jean Carroll, the advice columnist who accused him of raping her in 1996 and this week won a $5 million judgment against him.

Jones said the atmosphere put CNN's moderator, Kaitlan Collins, in an almost impossible position as she tried to elicit straightforward answers from Trump and fact-check his comments about the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol by his supporters and the 2020 election, which he still falsely insists he won.

"Whenever she might have had him cornered, he was built up by the audience," Jones said. "It just emboldened him. He realized, 'I can do or say anything I want,' and she got steamrolled at that point through no fault of her own. It was her against the entire room."

The event was indicative of the new era of leadership at CNN and management's efforts to lure back viewers who turned to Fox News and other conservative outlets over the past decade.

At a Thursday morning meeting at CNN, Chairman and CEO Chris Licht praised Collins' "masterful performance," saying she asked tough questions in difficult circumstances.

"If someone was going to ask tough questions and have that messy conversation, that damn well should be on CNN," he said in a recording of the meeting obtained by The Associated Press.

He also defended the decision to hold the town hall before a Trump-friendly crowd.

"While we all may have been uncomfortable hearing people clapping, that was also an important part of the story, because the people in that audience represent a large swath of America," Licht said. "And the mistake the media made in the past is ignoring that those people exist. Just like you cannot ignore that President Trump exists."

The event did widen CNN's audience, at least for a night. Nielson said the town hall averaged 3.3 million viewers, compared to the 707,000 who tuned in to CNN during the same time slot a night earlier.

But Jones said he was skeptical that the town hall would help CNN's reputation in the long term, given the backlash. He noted that most of the network's post-event commentary was highly critical of Trump, likely alienating conservative viewers who had tuned in just to watch the former president.

Nick Arama, a writer for the conservative website RedState.com, criticized CNN's Gary Tuchman, who spoke with some of the audience members after Trump's appearance, saying "he didn't act as much like a moderator trying to get their opinion as a Democratic propagandist trying to impose his own opinion on them."

Meanwhile, critics from the left were unsparing, saying CNN should have predicted how chaotic the event would be.

"CNN should be ashamed of themselves. They have lost total control of this 'town hall' to again be manipulated into platforming election disinformation, defenses of Jan. 6th and a public attack on a sexual abuse victim. The audience is cheering him on and laughing at the host," Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, of New York, wrote in a tweet.

Frank Sesno, a former CNN Washington bureau chief now at George Washington University, said the event was a harbinger of the difficult coverage decisions "every news organization needs to wrestle with because Donald Trump is not a normal candidate."

"You can't ignore him, but you can't give him carte blanche either," he said.

A one-on-one interview would have been preferable, though whether Trump would have agreed to that is a different question, said Sesno, who added that he saw value in allowing Trump to speak to a broader audience, including many people who might have mostly tuned him out in recent years.

Sesno noted that although Trump supporters delighted in his performance, Republican critics, including New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, seized on it to to press their concerns about the former president's ability to win a national election.

"As chaotic and weird as the event was, I as a journalist think it's important for people to see this," he said.

Associated Press writer Wyatte Grantham-Philips contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON  Its been more than 55 years since veterans Bill Trump and Ken Wondrack served in the Vietnam War.

But on Thursday in front of hundreds of people near the National Mall, the two men were honored for their military service and sacrifice. The experience was vastly different from when they returned home from the war.

I cant tell you the crap I got called. People hated us, said Wondrack, who joined Marines 1963 and served in Vietnam from 1965-66.

Trump said full water bottles were thrown at him in 1968 when he got back to the United States. And he was called a baby killer.

At that time, I did not know about the protests back home, said Trump, who was drafted out of high school in 1966 and served in the Army. It was not something we were aware of. But now they give us water bottles.

The ceremony honoring the two men is part of a three-day Welcome Home commemoration to honor Vietnam veterans and mark the 50th anniversary of the signing of Paris Peace Accords in 1973 that ended the war. Two months after the agreement was signed, the last U.S. troops were pulled out of Vietnam.

Fifty years may be a long time but not to them, Naval Secretary Carlos Del Toro told veterans and attendees at the opening ceremony for the event. Let me put it plainly, you deserve better than that. You have our respect and our support.

Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., who is the last Vietnam veteran serving in the Senate also attended the ceremony.

Today, we are doing what should have been fifty years ago, he said. Welcome home. Welcome home. Welcome home!

Along the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, 200 posters lined the walkway to honor 200 of the 58,281 service members who died during the war.

One name is Army Spc. Rosendo Montana, a Texas native who was 27 years old when he died in action in April 1970 after serving two tours in Vietnam.

His two sons, Rosendo Montana Jr., visiting from Texas, and Rolando Montana, who lives in Virginia, came to show their support and honor their father.

This is what I get to know of my dad is a picture and his medals, said Rolando, who was 18 months old when his father died. His brother was 4 years old.

Their fathers name is on the Vietnam Memorial Wall, and Rolando said he visits the memorial often to talk with his dad.

Its one place where I can find lots of peace, he said. I bring my five kids out and let them know what their grandfather did. They know what he did and they are definitely proud of him.

As part of the event, Wondrack and Trump were given pins for their service.

I knew we were going to be pinned. I just expected there would be more of us receiving it, he said.

After returning from Vietnam, Wondrack stayed in the military and retired as an Army brigadier general with the New Jersey National Guard.

Trump returned from the war as a sergeant and spent his final five months of service at Fort Knox, Ky, where he helped bury returning dead service members.

Parents would say, How come youre up here and our boy is in that box? said Trump, who later served 20 years with the New Jersey State Police. We learned how to deal with it just like we did in Vietnam.
WASHINGTON  House Republicans passed a sweeping bill Thursday to build more U.S.-Mexico border wall and impose new restrictions on asylum seekers, creating a hard-line counter to President Joe Biden's policies just as migrants are amassing along the border with the end of coronavirus pandemic restrictions.

The bill has virtually no chance of becoming law. Democrats, who have a narrow hold on the Senate, have decried the aggressive measures in the bill as cruel and anti-immigrant," and Biden has already promised he would veto it.

The legislation passed 219-213, with all present Democrats and two Republicans, Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and John Duarte of California, voting against it.

The House GOP pointedly voted on the bill the same day as the expiration of Title 42, a public health emergency rule that allowed border authorities to quickly return many migrants who crossed the border illegally. Biden has conceded that the southern border will be chaotic for a while as migrants weigh whether to cross and U.S. officials use a new set of policies that aim to clamp down on illegal immigration while offering more legal pathways.

Republicans have sought to slam Biden for the increase in illegal immigration during his tenure. Passing the bill would ensure House GOP lawmakers can say they did their part to deliver on a campaign promise to secure the border.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy called the package the strongest border security bill this country has ever seen," saying in a speech on the House floor that "meanwhile, we are seeing a very different record from President Biden.

It took months, however, for Republicans to push the bill through the House amid sometimes public feuds between GOP lawmakers over the legislation. Even as the legislation neared final form Wednesday, it had to be amended to appease concerns from the House Freedom Caucus and other lawmakers.

The 213-page bill represents a compromise in the Republican conference between mainstream lawmakers, who wanted to focus on beefing up border enforcement, and hardline conservatives, who want to see drastic changes to U.S. asylum and immigration law.

U.S. and international law give migrants the right to seek asylum from political, religious or racial persecution, but conservatives say many people take advantage of the current system to live and work in the U.S. while they wait for their asylum claim to be processed in court.

The package would return to many of the same policies pursued by former President Donald Trump, such as building walls along the border. It would also restrict asylum by requiring migrants to cross legally, pay a $50 fee and meet more stringent requirements to show in initial interviews that they have a credible fear of persecution in their home country.

This extreme MAGA Republican piece of legislation will throw out children who are fleeing, in many cases, extreme violence and persecution," Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the top House Democrat, said at a Thursday news conference. It will build a medieval border wall that is a 14th-century solution to a 21st-century problem.

The bill would also scrap a program that has allowed U.S. officials to accept or quickly turn away some migrants from Venezuela, Haiti and Nicaragua. The program is a cornerstone of Bidens immigration efforts, allowing migrants from those countries to apply to come to the U.S. for two years legally and work.

The unwieldy nature of immigration legislation has befuddled Congress for decades, but there is a growing conversation in the Senate on the issue.

A small group of House and Senate lawmakers hopes the House bill could give momentum for a separate package in the works that would incorporate aggressive border enforcement with expanding legal immigration through work visas, as well as potentially a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children.

The bill that were getting, I think, is a good starting point, said Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican. It, by itself, would not get 60 votes to get out of here.

Any final bill would need bipartisan support to pass the Senate and agreement from House Republicans on significant changes.

Some House lawmakers were already raising concerns about whether agriculture businesses would be disrupted by the bill's requirement that agriculture businesses verify the immigration status of employees.

In explaining his vote against the bill, Duarte, who represents a district comprised of farmland in California's Central Valley, said in a statement that the bill would harm many families that work in our Valley and create difficulties for our food producers.

Massie, the other Republican to oppose the legislation, made a libertarian argument against a system that tracks people's immigration status.

Meanwhile, Sen. Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, is introducing legislation that would assist border officials and speed up the asylum application process. And Tillis joined with Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, an Arizona independent who accepts committee assignments from Democrats, to push a bill that would resurrect the government's power to quickly expel migrants, without processing their asylum claims, for another two years.

Its clear that the Biden administration, while it had two years to prepare for the end of Title 42, failed to do so, Sinema told reporters. And in the last several weeks, Ive had the unfortunate job of communicating on a daily basis, sometimes even hourly basis, with the sheriffs, the Border Patrol agents, mayors and even the governor of Arizona to figure out how we can prepare to deal with this crisis.

Biden has received countless barbs from Congress, but one Texas Republican key to immigration negotiations, Rep. Tony Gonzales, is already thinking of how to get the president on board.

Until the president of the United States signs a bill into law, all of this is theater, said Gonzales, who represents a large swath of border country. A lot of people are good at political theater. Meanwhile, back in my district, were dealing with a real crisis.

___

AP Congressional Correspondent Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.
The requirement to live in a state for more than 90 days before applying for citizenship could be waived for military spouses under a new bill introduced Friday by House lawmakers.

Reps. Marilyn Strickland, D-Wash., and Maria Salazar, R-Fla., filed legislation called the Ensuring Security for Military Spouses Act of 2023 after learning about a spouse in Washington state whose application was denied because of the rule, which is part of Immigration and Nationality Act.

Military spouses are the backbone of our nations military, serving the nation right alongside our service members, Strickland said in a statement. In order to ensure national security, address recruitment and retention issues, and maintain readiness, we must support green-card-holding military spouses who want to become citizens.

Service members are already exempt from the rule, and it does not apply to spouses living with service members outside of the United States. Lifting the requirement for foreign-born spouses living in the U.S. creates parity, Stricklands office said.

Lydiah Owiti, who is married to an Army retiree, said military spouses often move more than their service member because they will go back home to be with family during deployments. When she first arrived in the U.S. from Kenya in 2012, she recalled wanting to live close to her brother in another state while her husband was deployed to Kuwait.

I wanted to be with him to feel like I have somebody who I know, something about me that I can relate to, [who] I can share a meal with and I can laugh with because I don't want to be alone, Owiti said.

The bill, which has the support of the National Immigration Forum and Minority Veterans of America, does not change the three-year minimum requirement for spouses of U.S. citizens to maintain legal permanent residence before applying for citizenship, according to Stricklands office.

Owiti said the three-year wait feels long enough without the possibility of an additional three months, particularly when it comes to employment. Unemployment for foreign-born military spouses is more than 40%, which is double the percentage for military spouses overall, said Owiti, who is now a fellow with Blue Star Families, a military family advocacy nonprofit.

She has been raising awareness about the challenges that foreign-born spouses face and the impact those issues can have on recruiting and retention. Citizenship is a huge barrier to finding a job because it is required for government or contractor work at military bases.

Any change that shortens the amount of time for a foreign-born military spouse to get their citizenship is more than welcome, she said. You don't know within those 90 days what can change because things change so fast in the military.

Margaret Stock, an immigration attorney and retired Army Reserve lieutenant colonel who has worked extensively on military cases, said making the change for spouses would be consistent with past efforts to ease the burdens of moving with their service member every two to three years.

The Military Spouse Residency Relief Act passed in 2009 and allowed military spouses to maintain legal residence in the state where they lived before a change in duty station  something already afforded service members. This eased spouses ability to vote, file taxes and maintain a valid driver license.

[The congresswomen] would be bringing the immigration laws in line with this other law Congress passed, Stock said. Congress has been trying to make it easier for military spouses so they don't get all hung up on having to change the residence every time their spouse gets stationed somewhere because the military member isn't affected by it.

Salazar said military spouses should not be penalized for these moves, which are beyond their control.

Our active-duty service members and their families make an enormous sacrifice to keep us safe, she said in a statement. This bill ensures fairness for the spouses of service [members] seeking U.S. citizenship by updating state residency requirements for green-card holders.

Those who would primarily benefit from the change would be people applying for naturalization without the help of a lawyer, Stock said. The forms are not clear about the 90-day requirement, but an attorney would screen clients and advise them to wait until they meet the criteria.

There is no penalty for moving to a new state after filing the form, so she said she does think the impact of the rule-change would be small but important.

When someones application is denied for missing the state-residency requirement, they do not get the $750 application fee refunded, Stock said.

It's a pretty outdated law, she said. A long time ago, it was hard for the government to do background checks on people, and you have to show good character to become a U.S. citizen. So they have this 90-day requirement on the theory that people aren't going to know who you are if you just moved into the state.

However, technology has improved background checks, Stock said.

Owiti said even a small change is important.

Any step that raises awareness and brings the attention of anyone to any of these issues, Ill take it, she said.
JAKARTA, Indonesia  U.S. Army Chief of Staff James McConville met with Indonesia's top defense official on Friday to push for stronger security ties amid growing Chinese maritime activity in the Indo-Pacific region.

McConville said he and Indonesian Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto discussed ways to deepen cooperation, including enhanced military exercises between the countries.

"We have many friends in the region, and we work closely together. We all share the same interests for the region: peace, security, stability," McConville said. "That's why we work together on maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific for everyone."

Subianto said the promotion and maintenance of peace and stability in the region "is our common concern," but stressed Indonesia's neutral stance, saying it wants to maintain relationships with all nations, "especially all the major powers."

McConville arrived in Jakarta late Thursday from the Philippines, which is locked in an ongoing dispute with China over territory in the South China Sea. His visit there followed joint U.S.-Philippine war drills last month that antagonized Beijing.

On Thursday, leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations met in Indonesia for a summit at which territorial disputes in the South China Sea were high on the agenda. China claims virtually all of the sea, which is also claimed in part by Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.

The South China Sea is home to vital shipping lanes, plentiful fish stocks and undersea mineral resources. China and ASEAN have made little headway in finalizing a code of conduct to avoid conflicts in the area.

The ASEAN leaders renewed a call for self-restraint in the disputes to avoid miscalculations and confrontations, repeating language used in previous ASEAN statements.

While China's influence and military strength in the region are growing rapidly, the U.S. remains the dominant military power. Washington has a security alliance with the Philippines and strong relations with several other ASEAN members.
This photo taken by a mobile phone on April 18, 2023 shows Xiao Tikui walking back home after patrolling a forest in Xiaxi Village of southwest China's Guizhou Province. (Xinhua/Zheng Minghong)

GUIYANG, May 12 (Xinhua) -- After breakfast at dawn every morning, Xiao Tikui sets off to patrol a forest of more than 20,000 mu (about 1,333 hectares) covering the rolling mountains of southwest China's Guizhou Province.

"Increasing vegetation coverage has brought tremendous changes to nearby villages," said the forest ranger, 68, who hails from Guizhou's Xiaxi Village.

"In the past, floods would roll down the bare mountains carrying sand and mud when it rained heavily, washing away the farmlands at the foot of the mountains and resulting in serious soil erosion," Xiao said.

In 1984, China introduced a policy allowing farmers to contract out the long-term management of barren hills and beaches. In the same year, when Xiao was 29, he contracted 1,500 mu of barren mountain land in the village and began to plant trees.

"I just wanted to do something for my hometown and save the farmlands from being destroyed," he said.

The first milestone came in 1994, by which time Xiao had spent 10 years planting trees across the once barren hills he had contracted.

"I was more than proud seeing the trees," he said. "However, I knew it was difficult to make a forest by myself. Only by mobilizing other villagers can more wasted mountains be dressed in green."

To gather more people for the cause of afforestation, Xiao went door to door, persuading more residents to join the campaign and witnessing over 20,000 mu of trees gradually planted across the mountains.

This aerial photo taken on April 18, 2023 shows the forest planted by Xiao Tikui and local residents in Xiaxi Village of southwest China's Guizhou Province. (Xinhua/Zheng Minghong)

As more saplings grew taller and thicker, Xiao became a volunteer forest ranger. He built a shed approximately 5 kilometers from his home, living there from September to May each year, during the hay season.

In 1999, Xiao was hired by the local government as a forest ranger, responsible for protecting approximately 20,000 mu of mountain forests that he and other villagers had planted.

To increase efficiency, Xiao moved to live in the mountains full-time with his wife in 2013, walking more than 20 kilometers every day during his forest patrols.

He said that making a life in the mountains is easier and more convenient than it used to be, as the local power department has set up a special electricity line for the couple.

At about 6 p.m. every day, Xiao returns home from his patrol and sits on the bench in front of his house. Rolling up his trouser legs, several scars are clearly visible. During his 39 years of afforestation work and efforts to protect the mountains, Xiao suffered six fractures.

"I've worn out hundreds of pairs of shoes from walking in the mountains all these years," he said. "I have to buy at least two or three pairs of shoes at a time, and the shoe sellers are always happy when they see me."

Xiao said his children are now working in cities, and when he retires, he would like to ask them to return to the village and continue his work.

Looking at the tree-lined hills in the distance and recalling the past, Xiao said he felt all sorts of emotions in his heart. "Floods pouring down with mud during heavy rains have not been seen for more than 20 years." 
Collins claimed she had been injured in a rear ending accident after leaving work at RTE in November 2019

A 60,000 damages claim by former RTE supervisor Phil Collins against a well-known Dublin solicitor smacked of opportunism, a judge said today when throwing out her claim and making an order for costs against her.

Collins, who claimed she had been injured in a rear ending accident after leaving work at RTE in November 2019, became the centre of national attention a year later when her retirement party was revealed to have breached Covid 19 health guidelines.

It led to public apologies by a number of top RTE presenters for having attended the gathering. They included Miriam OCallaghan, Bryan Dobson, David McCullagh, Blathnaid Ni Chofaigh and Eileen Dunne.

In her claim today against Damien Tansey, of Elm Brook, Rosses Point, Co Sligo, a leading personal injuries solicitor, she told Judge James ODonohoe she had suffered whiplash injuries when Tanseys Land Rover collided with her Audi car while she was stopped at traffic lights near the Radisson Blu Hotel on the Stillorgan dual carriageway.

Ms Collins, (67) of Roebuck Downs, Clonskeagh, Dublin 14, told barrister Frank Martin, counsel for Tansey and his Liberty Insurers, that she had not been involved in previous personal injury claims.

Agreeing that complete candour was vital in legal proceedings such as hers she said the reason she had not disclosed to the court having had a claim for a fracture of her hand prior to the Stillorgan accident was because she believed she had been asked about the disclosure only of previous motoring claims.

Mr Martin, who appeared with Declan OFlaherty of Tormey Solicitors, said that from her work for RTE in news and current affairs, and arising from her previous claim for her hand injury, she would have been well aware of the significance of full disclosure in her claim.

Collins said she had been shocked and distressed as a result of the collision and Mr Tansey had paid just under 1,000 for the replacement of her car bumper. For weeks afterwards she had no intention of bringing a personal injuries claim until she had been advised by her GP that she had suffered a whiplash to her neck and shoulders and required medication for pain.

She agreed with Mr Martin it was she who appeared in private investigator photos of her carrying out, without apparent difficulty, activities similar to that of uninjured individuals including the carrying of shopping bags and being able easily get in and out of her car on various occasions.

Tansey told the court that in a moment of inattention he had lifted his foot off the brake in his automatic car in bumper to bumper traffic and it had rolled forward of its own accord no more than a couple of yards into the back of Ms Collinss car.

He said it had been dark at the time and while neither of them could see damage to her car bumper he had told her to examine it the following morning in daylight and contact him if any repairs were necessary. He had paid the bill for the replacement of her bumper and had been flabbergasted at the eventual issuing of a personal injuries claim against him.

The court heard the bill was high because Audi refuses to carry out repairs to bumpers and insists on replacing them.

Judge ODonohoe, a former solicitor who was told neither party had any objection to his hearing the case, said Mr Tansey was well known to the court and had given very detailed evidence of a very minor incident. He had been quite shocked on receiving the initial letter indicating a claim was being taken against him.

Photos taken by the private investigator indicated Ms Collins was a very active lady able to stoop and carry shopping bags although the court was unaware of their weight.

This case smacks of being an opportunistic claim in which she overstates her injury and overstates the whole incident, Judge ODonohoe said. She has had previous injuries to her back which she didnt disclose until this late stage.

Dismissing her claim he awarded Mr Tansey his legal costs.
Victims were systematically deceived in a sophisticated operation which was carried out for over two years

Custom House Capitals John Mulholland, Harry Cassidy and John Whyte in 2003 were three of the four men sentenced today.

Four senior executives of Custom House Capital have been sentenced for their roles in a highly organised and sophisticated operation to defraud investors in the firm over a decade ago.

The company's former CEO Harry Cassidy (67) was handed a sentence of six years and 10 months by Judge Orla Crowe today at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

Judge Crowe said victims were systematically deceived in a sophisticated operation which was carried out for over two years by people who owed them fiduciary duties. She said the offending was most egregious.

She handed John Whyte (53), former head of private clients, a sentence of four years.

Paul Lavery (47), head of finance, received a sentence of three years.

John Mulholland (73), non-executive director of Custom House Capital (CHC), was handed a 12-month sentence.

Cassidy, of Clon Brugh, Aitkens Village, Stepaside, Dublin, Whyte of Beechpark, Lucan, Dublin, and Lavery of Rafeenan, Ballynod, Co Monaghan, pleaded guilty to conspiring with others to defraud investors in and clients and customers of CHC by intentionally misleading them as to where and/or how their assets had been placed contrary to common law.

John Mulholland (73) of The Foxes Covert, Mount Juliet Estate, Thomastown, Co Kilkenny, pleaded guilty to one count of being neglectful in the discharge of his duty of as a non-executive director of CHC.

The court heard this was in relation to the commission by the company of acts of dishonestly by deception inducing clients to entrust funds to the company or to refrain from removing funds previously entrusted to the company with the intention of making gain for itself and causing loss to another.

All of the offences occurred within the State on dates between October 1, 2008 and July 15, 2011.
Gavin Gallagher was told: You are also to abstain from all public consumption of alcohol, absolutely.

A Donegal man charged with the vicious assault of a publican and his brother has been handed a suspended sentence and told he will go to prison if he is found to be intoxicated in public or drinking in public for the next three years.

Gavin Gallagher (29), of Greenhill, Dunfanaghy, Donegal, previously escaped a prison sentence for a similar assault, carried out on a woman just months later in Letterkenny.

He appeared before Judge Kenneth Connolly at Longford Circuit Court this week, where he faced two charges of section three assault, which left a Ballymahon publican and his brother with substantial injuries.

Garda Eamon Fitzpatrick told the court how, in the early hours of April 15, 2018, he was alerted to an altercation outside Skellys pub in Ballymahon, Co Longford.

On arrival, I met with the injured party, Pat Byrne at Skellys. He had sustained facial injuries and Paul Byrne had also been injured with a possible dislocated shoulder, he said.

He told the court that, shortly after 1am, Mr Pat Byrne was proceeding to eject Mr Gallagher from the premises following an altercation inside where the accused had called another man an English bastard.

Pat Byrne had decided to remove him from the pub and was assaulted outside the premises.

His brother, Paul, intervened and was also assaulted. CCTV footage shown in court confirmed this evidence.

In a victim impact statement, Mr Paul Byrne explained that his work as a stone mason has been affected due to restricted movement and a lack of power in his arm.

He said he was also informed he will likely develop arthritis in later years.

He said that seeing his brother in a scuffle on the pavement was unpleasant and unnecessary and that he hopes Mr Gallagher realises his actions have consequences for all involved, particularly for him in his capacity as a stone mason.

Mr Pat Byrne also delivered a short victim impact statement in which he said he feels bad that his brother, who came to his aid on the night, came out worse than myself.

He said he received facial injuries, which affected his ability to work in the pub, but stated he is glad its coming to an end after five years before the courts.

As a barman, he said he has met all manner of people in his pub but said Gavin Gallagher is a danger to people if he consumes alcohol.

The court heard that Mr Gallagher was intoxicated on the night and had attempted to order a pint of vodka but was refused. Mr Gallagher had told Gardai that he felt he was being manhandled and was acting in self defence.

In terms of previous convictions, the court heard that Mr Gallagher had received a two-year prison sentence for a similar assault on a woman in Donegal on June 25, 2018.

The sentence was suspended for 12 months on the condition he pay the sum of 10,000 to the victim.

Gda Fitzpatrick also told the court that Mr Gallagher had eight previous convictions in London and Essex, all of which were of a relevant nature, including public order, threatening behaviour, a battery charge for which he spent 14 days in prison, criminal damage and racial harassment among others.

The racial abuse conviction was particularly relevant in the eyes of Judge Connolly, because this incident arose on reason of racial abuse, where he called someone an English bastard.

Judge Connolly noted the offence occurred in circumstances where the accused was intoxicated but said that such circumstances were no excuse: if you cant handle alcohol, dont have any.

Although it provides context, it doesnt provide mitigation, he said.

For the purpose of sentencing, Judge Connolly listed the nature and extent of the assault as an aggravating factor, calling it a vicious and sustained assault of some duration, which resulted in extensive injuries - horrible injuries.

Addressing the list of previous relevant convictions, Judge Connolly remarked that Mr Gallagher does not seem to be learning his lesson and stated that a minimum sentence of two years and six months would be very appropriate, given the severe nature of the offending.

Gavin Gallagher leaving Letterkenny Circuit Court. (NW Newspix)

Mitigating factors taken into account included a plea of guilt - albeit a late one - cooperation with Gardai, and a sum of 5,000 as a token of remorse for the victims.

Judge Connolly, addressing Mr Gallagher, said you should absolutely, definitely, categorically be going to prison, but he had an obligation to consider mitigation when passing judgement and reduced the sentence to 18 months.

He then suspended the sentence in full for a lengthy three years under stringent conditions to be of good behaviour and keep the peace in every regard.

Any blip whatsoever and you will end up in prison, he said.

Mr Gallagher was also ordered to pay the sum of 10,000 in relation to count one on the indictment - the assault of Pat Byrne - within 12 months.

You are also to abstain from all public consumption of alcohol, absolutely. No drinking in public and you must not be in public while intoxicated, said Judge Connolly.

If any of those conditions are breached, the matter is to come before the court, hopefully myself, and you will go to prison. I feel the system may be letting Messrs Byrne down, but I have to consider all factors and you are very lucky not to be going to prison.

The sentence was handed down in respect of one charge of section three assault. The second charge was taken into consideration.
The stitching was so tight it was cutting into remaining tissue and actually causing additional damage to the ears *GRAPHIC IMAGES*

The practice is illegal in Ireland, according to the ISPCA

The dogs' ears were cropped, the ISPCA says

A man has been convicted in court after two dogs were mutilated by having their ears cropped, a practice that the ISPCA says is illegal in Ireland.

Zeeshan Ali was fined and ordered to pay 923.22 in vets bills following a hearing at Carlow District Court last Thursday, May 4.

He was also disqualified from keeping dogs for life.

The court heard evidence from ISPCA Senior Inspector Fiona Conlon who initially called to Mr Alis property in Tullow, Co Carlow in November 2021.

The practice is illegal in Ireland, according to the ISPCA

Ms Conlon told the court that she found the dogs ears red and inflamed.

According to an ISPCA statement, their ears had been cut to the cartilage by an unknown person whom the accused had handed the dogs over to for an illegal procedure known as cropping.

The charity said it was also pointed out in evidence that the stitches used in the procedure were not of medical grade and that both dogs would have been in significant pain.

The stitching was so tight it was cutting into remaining tissue and actually causing additional damage to the ears, the statement reads. Both dogs were mutilated in order to achieve a particular look for the dogs.

The dogs were left in pain

This barbaric act of cropping is illegal in Ireland, the ISPCA added in the statement.

Mr Ali claimed that he did not know that this procedure was illegal in Ireland. Both animals on the premises were seized and taken into ISPCA care.

Commenting on the case, Senior Inspector Conlon said: The removal of a dogs ears permanently impairs its ability to communicate.

Mr Ali had a duty of care and a legal responsibility towards caring for, and addressing any welfare issues concerning his dogs. It is my opinion that he failed to do this, by arranging for his dogs ears to be cropped resulting in the totally unnecessary suffering of these animals.

One of the affected dogs

"Thankfully both dogs are now both doing well now and have since been rehomed.

The ISPCA encourages members of the public to continue to report any animal welfare concerns to the ISPCAs National Animal Cruelty Helpline in confidence on 0818 515 515 or email helpline@ispca.ie.
David Ennis, 36, died after an incident at Claddagh Court in Ballyfermot on the night of November 8, 2022.

A WOMAN has been remanded in custody after gardai charged her with the murder of a man in a stabbing in a Dublin apartment last year.

David Ennis, 36, died after an incident at Claddagh Court in Ballyfermot on the night of November 8, 2022. The deceased had not been a tenant at the council flat complex for older people.

Shortly after 2.30 am, gardai and emergency services personnel found Mr Ennis with an apparent stab wound.

He was treated at the scene but pronounced dead a short time later. Gardai investigating the circumstances surrounding his death, had arrested a woman, but she was released without charge in November pending a file for the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

Scene of the stabbing. Photo: Collins

Ann Phelan, 48, of no fixed abode, was arrested on Thursday night at Benburb Street in Dublin 7. She was brought to Clondalkin Garda station to be charged and held pending her appearance before Judge Paula Murphy at Dublin District Court on Friday morning.

Dressed in a khaki puffer coat, grey hoodie, green pants and black runners, the woman remained silent throughout the brief hearing. She is yet to indicate a plea.

Detective Sergeant Ronan McDermott of Ballyfermot station told Judge Murphy that the accused made no reply to charge after caution. He added that the DPP had directed prosecution on indictment in the Central Criminal Court. He applied for a one-week remand in custody.

The District Court does not have jurisdiction to hear a bail application in a murder case, which requires a High Court application.

Defence solicitor Katie Dowling asked for the case to be adjourned until Thursday. There was no Garda objection.

Judge Murphy remanded Ms Phelan in custody to appear again on May 18 but said the book of evidence might be ready on that date. It has to be served on a defendant before the District Court can grant a trial order.

The judge noted that the accused intended to apply for legal aid and would provide a statement of means.
Prosecution of an officer over fatal pursuit in 2021 could deter gardai

The Toyota RAV4, above, was later abandoned in Blackrock, Co Dublin

Gardai fear they will be unable to chase burglary gangs in future after the news that an officer is to face prosecution over a pursuit that ended in the deaths of three criminals in 2021.

In the latest incident involving burglars, a garda car was rammed in Monkstown, Co Dublin, on Tuesday after gardai tried to intercept a stolen Toyota RAV4.

A gang had been on a burglary spree in the south Dublin area, but had sped off in the SUV, mounting footpaths and narrowly missing an officer as they tried to escape.

One of the occupants of the car, a woman in her 20s, escaped from the car on foot but was hit by another vehicle. She suffered a broken leg and was taken to hospital, where she was later arrested.

A short distance away the SUV was abandoned and the male driver ran off. A garda helicopter was dispatched and more garda cars were sent. No one else was injured.

Gardai found a trench knife in the RAV4

However senior sources said the incident further highlighted the difficulties that gardai faced when confronting burglary gangs.

The incident happened a day before the Gsoc, the garda watchdog, announced an officer is to face prosecution over his driving in relation to an incident in which three criminals were killed on the N7 in Dublin two years ago while fleeing gardai.

It is a very dangerous business dealing with these gangs

Last night senior sources said that because of this and other long-term issues surrounding the gardais pursuit policy there may be a future and legitimate concern that officers will not be prepared to try to tackle burglary gangs in their patrols on streets and the countrys roads.

It is a very dangerous business dealing with these gangs as this reckless ramming this week shows, a senior source said.

But now gardai trying to tackle this type of crime have very realistic concerns that they could be prosecuted for their driving, as what was seen from the Gsoc announcement, which has caused major disquiet in the organisation.

Some gardai are saying that they are simply not prepared to drive now, putting their lives at risk in keeping the public safe only to face being criminalised.

Dean Maguire (29), Karl Freeman (26) and Graham Taylor (31) were killed when their BMW vehicle burst into flames following a head-on crash with a truck while they were driving on the wrong side of the carriageway on July 7, 2021.

They were members of a Tallaght-based criminal gang that specialised in burglaries,

At a coroners court this week, it was revealed that a south Dublin-based garda is to be charged with a driving offence for his alleged role in the 2021 pursuit of the burglary gang members.

The Garda Representative Association (GRA) and the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) yesterday criticised the move, describing it as extremely concerning.

Meanwhile, it is understood there had been a garda alert in place for the Toyota involved in Tuesdays incident after it was stolen in Rathcoole, west Dublin, earlier this month.

Since then the vehicle has been used by a gang in criminal incidents including thefts, robberies, burglaries and drive-offs from service stations in the greater Dublin area.

Gardai also recovered false registration plates

A trench knife was recovered from the high-powered vehicle, which was later abandoned in Blackrock, Co Dublin.

Gardai also found false registration plates  a common ploy used by organised burglary gangs to avoid detection. Clothes and other items were recovered from the vehicle, which is being forensically examined.

The gang is based in the Ballyogan area of the capitals southside.

The Toyota had been spotted by gardai in Bray, Co Wicklow, on Tuesday afternoon near shops and was next seen by gardai in Monkstown at around 3pm.

A garda car was sent from nearby Blackrock to try to interact with the suspects, which led to the ramming incident.

A garda spokesman said the female occupant of the car was arrested on her on release from hospital for alleged offences under the Road Traffic Acts.

She has subsequently been released pending a file to the DPP.

She is suspected of being linked to gang members, which she denies.

An analysis of CCTV is expected to play a role in the An Garda Siochana investigation.
NANJING, May 12 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier Liu Guozhong has called for efforts to boost self-reliance and accelerate breakthroughs in agricultural technology to ensure China's food security.

Liu, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks during a recent inspection tour in east China's Jiangsu Province.

While visiting research institutions, universities and businesses, Liu said that technological innovation plays a key role in agricultural modernization, and the country must focus on unclogging bottlenecks in the development of agricultural technology.

The country should pool resources for technological innovation, ramp up talent cultivation, and coordinate the development of production, education and research, Liu said.

The development of agricultural technology must be industry-oriented and help ensure the adequate supply of grain and major farm products, the vice premier said.

Agricultural technologies need to meet the diversified demand for development across all agricultural sectors, Liu added.

During his tour, Liu was briefed on the growth of winter wheat and called for solid efforts to secure a bumper summer harvest. 
In the course of this operation a number of residential properties were searched in the North Dublin area.

Three people were arrested after a series of raids across north Dublin resulted in the seizure of cannabis worth 363,000.

Gardai says the raids were an intelligence led operation targeting persons of suspected involvement in organised crime in the North Dublin area.

A man and woman in their 30s were arrested earlier today, while a man in his 20s was arrested on Wednesday and has since been charged in connection with the investigation.

Gardai said in a statement: A joint operation was conducted by personnel attached to the Revenue Customs Service, the Garda National Drugs & Organised Crime Bureau (GNDOCB) and District Drug Units attached to Ballymun, Balbriggan and Coolock Garda Stations over the past number of days.

In the course of this operation a number of residential properties were searched in the North Dublin area. In total, Revenue officers seized approximately 18.16 kilograms of herbal cannabis with an estimated value of 363,000 (analysis pending).

As part of this operation three people have been arrested to date by investigating Gardai.

A male and female both aged in their 30s were arrested and detained under Section 2 of the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act, 1996 at Garda Stations in the North Dublin area."

Both are currently in Garda custody, the statement said.

A male aged in his 20s was arrested in connection with this investigation on Wednesday 10th May, 2023 has since been charged and is before the Courts.

The investigation is ongoing.
David Ennis died following the alleged attack in Claddagh Court flat complex in Ballyfermot on November 8.

The flat in Claddagh Court in Ballyfermot

A woman (40s) is due in court this morning after being charged in connection with the fatal attack on a man in West Dublin.

David Ennis was attacked in the Claddagh Court flat complex in Ballyfermot shortly after 2am on November 8.

He was treated by emergency services at the scene but was pronounced dead shortly afterwards.

Mr Ennis was originally from Co Meath but had been staying in the complex which houses the elderly.

Today, a garda spokesman said a woman has now been charged in connection with Mr Ennis death.

Gardai investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of a man following a fatal assault in Ballyfermot, Dublin on Tuesday 8th of November, 2022 have charged a woman in relation to the matter.

The woman, aged in her late 40s is due to appear before Criminal Courts of Justice, Court Number 3 this morning Friday 12th May, 2023.

Following his tragic death, Mr Ennis was buried in his native Co Meath.

A notice on RIP.ie states that the tragic death has occurred of David Thomas Ennis, on November 8 in Dublin.

Formerly of Ballivor, Co Meath, it adds. Predeceased by his father Peter and his sister Shirley. Sadly missed by his mother Geraldine, his brothers Oliver and Lee, partners, nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, relatives and friends.

Alongside the notice people have taken to the condolences section to offer their sympathies.
This is just one of the ways in which multi-crime organisations try to send cocaine to international destinations

Anti-Narcotics Police at an airport near Medellin in Colombia have seized cocaine concealed amongst bags of blood.

Police made the unusual discovery after being alerted by a sniffer dog to a substance in a box that was in one of the cargo holding areas at Jose Maria Cordova airport in Rionegro.

After a search, cops seized 1,629 grams of cocaine hydrochloride hidden in bags with blood samples, among packages destined for an address in Amsterdam in the Netherlands.

In an operation called Arcangel controls have been carried out by police in the country's air terminals.

Colombian media report that a Belgian shepherd dog of the drug police named Dulce was led around the cargo area of a warehouse of a well-known shipping company where the discovery was made.

A police sniffer dog made the unusual discovery

As soon as the canine inspected the warehouse, uniformed officers were alerted to a cardboard box in which they found three intravenous plastic bags filled with a red liquid and marked with labels that referred to biological blood samples, local media reported.

"This substance was submitted to the PIPH preliminary identification test, which was positive for cocaine hydrochloride, with a net weight of 1,629 grams," an official case report added.

According to the authorities, the cocaine that was intended to enter the European country could have reached a price close to $424 million.

An investigation is underway into the senders and recipients in the Netherlands.

Colonel Edgar Cardenas, director of Anti-Narcotics for the Colombian National Police said this was just one of the ways in which "multi-crime organisations, through different forms of concealment, try to send cocaine to international destinations.
The two posed as agents who claimed they could secure jobs and work permits in Ireland for Zimbabweans seeking to relocate

A couple who tricked people into falling for false job placements in Ireland as well as Canada and the UK have been arrested in Zimbabwe.

The Zimbabwe Republic Police arrested Sitshengisiwe Ndlovu and Alison Unami for fraudulently promoting overseas jobs that led to a loss of $134,552 (123,327) for their victims.

According to police, the two posed as agents of an undisclosed company that claimed they could secure jobs and work permits in Canada, United Kingdom and Ireland for Zimbabweans seeking to relocate.

In a statement seen by Pindula News, police said the arrests were made in connection with 46 counts of fraud between August 2022 and May 3, 2023.

It was reported that on May 3, Police in Bulawayo arrested Alison Unami (30) after a report had been made by one of the complainants.

The suspect was arrested while loading property in a vehicle, as the couple prepared to vacate from their offices.

The other suspect, Sitshengisiwe Ndlovu (46) was later arrested at Bulawayo Police Station, where she had visited her husband.

Police investigations revealed that processing of the purported employment opportunities was promised within three weeks following the payment of US$4,000, with interviews conducted via WhatsApp.

The suspects would then give the complainants excuses after the waiting period lapsed.

Some 46 victims fell for the scam and were defrauded approximately $134 552 in total.

Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi urged the public to exercise caution and thoroughly research individuals and employment agencies claiming to assist with job placements abroad.
Taghis former attorney, Inez Weski, is banged up for participating in a criminal organization.

Dutch crime lord and feared Kinahan associate, Ridouan Taghi, has told an Amsterdam court he will conduct his own defence in the ongoing Marengo trial in the Netherlands.

Dutch-Moroccan Taghi is regarded as one of Europes biggest drugs traffickers and is a key associate of the Kinahan Cartel.

He was one of a number of high-profile criminals who were guests at Daniel Kinahans wedding in Dubai in 2017.

Along with a number of his associates, Taghi is currently facing multiple charges ranging from assassinations, attempted killings and murder plots.

Taghis former attorney, Inez Weski, was arrested on April 21. She subsequently resigned and was suspended by the Bar while her case makes its way through the courts.

Taghi informed the trial this week he will continue to press all inquiries made by Weski.

She had previously asked the court to investigate a claim made by a former Dutch commando who claims to have been approached to neutralise Taghi.

Inez Weski

The ex-Special Forces agent, who is also facing criminal charges, made the unverified claim that Dutch officials considered assassinating Taghi while he was still on the loose in Dubai.

Taghi was ultimately arrested in the Gulf State at the end of 2019 and extradited to the Netherlands.

Weski (68) is suspected of participating in a criminal organization involved in international drug trafficking and money laundering and violating her oath of secrecy.

She is accused of sharing information between Taghi and his contacts while he was incarcerated at the countrys most secure prison, located in Vught.

Since his extradition to the Netherlands, Taghi has been kept in isolation, which forbids him from communicating with anyone other than his legal team.

Weski is currently in prison ahead of a court date next week.

Marengo trial security

Prosecutors have called for Taghi to face a sentence of life in prison.

Five of his co-defendants were also recommended for the longest possible sentence.

The verdict in the case is scheduled for the October 20.

The manhunt for Taghi began six months after he attended Kinahans wedding when officers grasped that Taghi and other global gangsters had joined together as one.

The super cartel allegedly included Kinahan and Raffaele Imperiale, an Italian mafia don, along with a Bosnian outfit known as the Tito and Dino cartel.
Something like this couldve had a very serious impact on the length of time hes got left

Two men who sounded Irish broke into an elderly horses stable and stole his blankets, leaving the aged animal in the cold, it has been reported.

The owner of the horse Melissa Camilleri (49) revealed how she had Toby since he was just six months old.

Now aged 37, he has surpassed the average lifespan of a typical pony by eight years.

He is still going strong, the Swindon Advertiser reported, despite suffering from Cushings disease and having no teeth.

Melissa with Toby in happier times

However, thieves stole Toby's rugs from his home in Red Barn Lane, Wroughton, on April 10, leaving the animal exposed to the elements.

Melissa says she has been left heartbroken following the theft as it has badly affected her longtime companion.

"Due to his age and stiff joints, he wears rugs on cold winter days," the Wroughton woman said.

"Two men who sounded Irish entered Toby's stable and stole his five rugs.

"One of them, shouted at Toby to go away when he came closer."

Melissa had placed CCTV at the stable so that she could keep a closer eye on Toby as he continued to struggle in his old age.

Some of the footage caught the culprits in the act and Melissa has now posted some photos and a video on social media in a public appeal to identify the perpetrators.

"Hes always been my little rock," said Melissa.

"Usually nothing phases him, but just like old people as they get a little bit frailer, he gets frightened when he doesnt understand something, and this incident has left him very scared.

"Something like this couldve had a very serious impact on the length of time hes got left."

Melissa revealed that Toby was a gift to her from her late mother, and his presence has helped her to come to terms with her passing, as well as with other difficult moments in her life.

"There are many moments where he was the reason I got up in the morning, he got me through some very dark times so it is heart-breaking to me that someone could do something like this."

Melissa's Facebook posts received a huge reaction from the community, who quickly came together to donate replacement rugs and offer other things to her and Toby.

"For all the upset this has caused, this has reaffirmed that I do have some faith in human nature. I just want to say thank you to everyone.

"But I want the people that did this to get caught, so please come forward if you know anything," she added.

A spokesperson for Wiltshire Police said: "Anyone with information is encouraged to contact us on 101 quoting reference 54230041697.
The 29-year-old from Liverpool was wanted for armed robbery and a blade attack in 2016 which left the victim with a collapsed lung.

After seven years on the run, hiding out in the white washed surrounds of luxurious Estepona, one of the United Kingdoms most wanted men has been apprehended by police on the sunny Spanish Costa.

Mark Francis Roberts was busted on Wednesday 10 by the National Crime Agency (NCA), Merseyside Police and Spains Guardia Civil in Estepona, Malaga.

Robertss arrest came about after a sustained campaign to trace him and some great work by the Guardia Civil, said Steve Reynolds, NCA manager in Spain.

Roberts was sought for a number of crimes, including a vicious knife attack and an armed robbery over a 60k watch seven years ago which put him on the NCAs most wanted list.

Mark James Roberts (Pic:NCA)

Roberts, whose last known address was Freehold Street, Fairfield, Liverpool, remains in custody awaiting extradition proceedings.

He was wanted by Merseyside Police for alleged grievous bodily harm and the attempted robbery of a mans 60,000 Richard Mille watch.

The victim was attacked by two men with a blade at around 1.30am on 30 September 2016 after he parked his car on his home driveway.

The victim refused to surrender his watch and suffered life-threatening injuries. He was treated in a critical care unit for puncture wounds, a collapsed lung and many lacerations.

This is another excellent result and shows once again that UK law enforcement does not give up on finding those who await justice in the UK.

"Working closely with our colleagues at home and abroad, such as our highly valued Spanish partners, we will continue to hunt those on the run, Mr Reynolds added.

Estepona

Roberts featured in a Most Wanted campaign run by the National Crime Agency, independent charity Crimestoppers and Spanish law enforcement which targeted fugitives with links to Spain and the Canary Islands.

He is the eighth fugitive to be arrested from the campaign  six men remain on the run.

Detective Inspector Katie Coote of Merseyside Police said: "I hope this arrest shows that there is no hiding place for anyone who is evading police.

"Thanks to our ongoing work with National Crime Agency Roberts has been located and is now in police custody.

"These actions with our partners across the UK and beyond are about stopping anyone who could cause fear and harm in our community and we will leave no stone unturned no matter the length of time to find people who are wanted in connection with ongoing investigations or offences.

Lord Ashcroft, founder and chair of Crimestoppers, said: I am delighted that another fugitive has finally been caught and will no longer be able to avoid justice.

"Our Most Wanted campaign with the NCA  supported by the excellent work of Spanish law enforcement  has been an incredible success, Ashcroft added.
Eddie Hutch (58) was shot dead outside his Dublin home in 2016

Eddie Hutch was shot dead outside his Dublin home in February 2016

A senior figure within the Kinahan organised crime group has been arrested in relation to the murder of the brother of Gerry The Monk Hutch.

Eddie 'Neddy' Hutch (58) was shot dead outside his home on Poplar Row in Dublins north-inner city three days after the Regency Hotel murder in February 2016.

The fatal shooting of Mr Hutch was seen as a retaliation attack carried out by the Kinahan gang for the murder of their associate David Byrne at the hotel.

Flowers for David Byrne at the site of the former Regency Hotel (Brian Lawless/PA)   Brian Lawless

This morning, gardai investigating the Hutch murder arrested a man in his early 40s as part of the inquiry.

The suspect is being detained under Section 50 of the Criminal Justice Act 2007 relating to an offence of murder involving a firearm. He can be detained for up to seven days.

Independent.ie understands that the man is originally from the north-inner city and is considered a "key figure" within the Kinahan cartel.

The man has been living abroad, particularly in Spain, in recent years following the Garda crackdown on the crime gang in Ireland.

He is also suspected of being a "driving force" behind attacks on the Hutch family in the early years of the feud.

One source said: "This arrest is highly significant as this man would be seen as a top-level member of the Kinahan gang, involved with organising drug shipments and the movement of firearms."

It is the latest in a series of arrests over the past seven years by gardai investigating the murder.

Last month, one of the cartel's main hitmen, aged in his 40s, was arrested on suspicion of murder while serving a lengthy sentence in Mountjoy Prison. He was not subsequently charged.

Also arrested as part of the long-running probe was a criminal suspected of being the eyes and ears of the cartel in Dublin city centre during the height of the feud.

Men suspected of providing logistical support such as holding ammunition, and withholding information, have also been detained as part of the inquiry.

Eddie Hutch was approached by several gunmen as he pulled up in his taxi outside his home on February 8, 2016.

Eddie Hutch was shot dead outside his Dublin home in February 2016

A silver BMW 3 series vehicle, which was believed to be the getaway car, was found abandoned a short distance away on St Patricks Parade in Drumcondra.

Eddie Hutch was the first of six people associated with the Hutch gang to be murdered by the Kinahan gang in 2016 after the Regency killing.

The gangland feud has claimed a total of 18 lives since the murder of Gary Hutch in 2015.

Eddie Hutchs younger brother, The Monk, walked free from the Special Criminal Court last month after being found not guilty of the murder of Kinahan cartel gangster David Byrne in the Regency attack.
Super duos feet hardly hit the floor with busy showbiz lives but their love remains rock solid

Jake and Karen won Dancing With The Stars and will host a special dance retreat in Spain at the end of August

The besotted pair got together shortly after winning Dancing With The Stars in 2018 and are now locked together in both love and business.

Karen runs her own dance studio, while the couple also have a Jake and Karen Stage School in Dublin.

Carter, a regular panto star, is also actively pursuing a music career. They are also set to run a unique holiday dance retreat in an exclusive Spanish resort near Marbella for Irish tourists at the end of August. We dont have time to go ring shopping just yet, Jake laughs when asked if they are going to throw marriage into the mix of their full-on lifestyle.

Jake and Karen won Dancing With The Stars and will host a special dance retreat in Spain at the end of August

Obviously I see myself being with Karen forever, so it is going to happen at some stage. But were just so busy with work at the minute theres no real time for anything else.

Its tough work and sometimes we dont get a minute with the stage school and the music and pantos and when Karen has got Dancing With The Stars.

We could go weeks and weeks without actually sitting down and chatting to each other were that busy, especially if Im out gigging and Im coming in at four in the morning.

So it can be tough at times, but I was always brought up to believe that you get what you work for. Nobody is going to hand it to you on a plate, so you gotta get out there and graft and that is what were doing. But I wouldnt have it any other way.

Do they have date nights? We do try to get a night out once a week and go to a nice restaurant, but we probably havent had a date night in a few weeks.

Emily Barker (left with Carl Mullan) will be at the Marbella Dance Retreat

Carter still splits his time between living in Dublin with Karen and in Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh with his older country music star brother Nathan. Im still wrecking his head, Jake laughs.

But I love running the school in Dublin with Karen. Like any couple working together we have different ideas and sometimes we do clash, but most of the time Karen just wins with whatever her idea is. When it comes to staging and performing I kind of take over, but when it comes to the actual school, Karen has been running a dance school since she was 16 so shes well used to it. Whos the business person? Id have to say Karen probably pips me on that one as well.

I never thought dancing would be such a big part of my life and my career, but thats all thanks to getting the opportunity to do Dancing With The Stars and meeting Karen. We started the stage school last year and we have a waiting list because there are so many babies looking to start stage school.

Weve got kids that are not even three yet coming in to do stage classes. Its great to see and its very rewarding. Its a huge part of my life now and when Im not gigging, not MC-ing or not away, Im there in the stage school helping out. Its crazy how things can change.

Carter points out that Karen has a great rapport with everyone, which is another key ingredient to the success of her dance studio. Karen is a very likeable character and she gets a great reaction from everyone, Jake says.

The Marbella Dance Retreat

Its funny when people meet her in the street, they cant believe she is exactly like she is on the telly. Because she is so likeable and shes so friendly, thats what makes it work when it comes to the school and everything else that she is so successful with. She seems so normal to people because she is.

The couple will be joined on their Marbella Dance Retreat by DWTS professional Emily Barker, who won this years TV contest with 2fm star Carl Mullan.

Its a four-day holiday in a stunningly beautiful and tranquil private resort set in Calahonda, located close to Marbella, Jake says.

Weve teamed up with a local company, Marbella Fitness Camp, and its going to be a lot of fun. Well only have 50 people on the trip and already its 50 per cent booked with people ranging from the age of 16 to 70. We have a couple coming along to learn a dance for their first dance at their wedding later in the year.

Jake and Karen

Well have an average of three dance classes per day, but people are also free to go sunbathing or shopping or whatever. Im bringing the guitar along, so well have sing-songs around the fire at night. Its going to be four days in the sunshine learning some dance moves, eating delicious freshly made food and meeting new friends.
They say the roads were promised to be made safer by the years end.

Now, a Belk Rd resident says people will have to take State Highway 29 gambles for at least another two years.

Last month, a forum designed to aid Western Bay of Plentys significant infrastructure deficit was launched.

Titled the Western Bay of Plenty Infrastructure Forum, the launch was attended by Finance Minister Grant Robertson, among other local government, business leaders and community representatives.

Grant stated: [The region] is now clearly at a scale and size now where a plan like this is absolutely essential.

Promises broken

Included in the infrastructure projects identified needing investment and prioritisation is short-term improvements to State Highway 29, Tauriko, set for completion in 2025.

Yet Belk Rd resident of 40 years, Leigh Neilson, says the 2025 date isnt good enough.

They promised us this year [2023 end]. Why has it been deferred? Havent they got any money? I think that is the issue right. They cant even fix the potholes so thats not our problem. They need to cut back somewhere elseit was committed.

The key elements of the enabling roadworks include closure of the existing SH29 Belk Rd intersection, a new intersection with traffic lights on SH29 at Tauriko, upgrades to the SH29/ Cambridge Rd intersection including traffic lights, and a new roundabout at SH29/Redwood Lane.

The project is estimated at $258m. Since 2017 Belk Rd residents, Tauriko, have been promised safety enhancements to the road intersection with SH29.

After the learning of the forums action plan timeline for these works, Leigh says it was shock horror.

Its totally shameful.

Delays and risks

The Sun asked Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency why theyd gone back on their 2023 completion project date and pushed it out to 2025?

As part of public engagement in mid-2022, Waka Kotahi NZTA and Tauranga City Council have communicated that construction is expected to start in 2023, says Waka Kotahi regional manager of system design, Jess Andrew.

This timing is subject to the approvals being obtained under the Resource Management Act 1991 and finalisation of all aspects of funding. The RMA approvals are currently being processed by Tauranga City Council.

Western Bay of Plenty councillor Margaret Murray-Benge is supporting Belk Rd residents, and residents from other SH29 intersecting roads.

For the people who live in the Kaimai Range, their challenge is that they have to enter and exit this highway  and doing so is unnecessarily dangerous, says Margaret.

They take their lives in their hands every day. School buses also have to cope with this problem.

Leigh says hes been involved in a minor accident in the SH29/ Belk Rd area before.

Margaret Murray-Benge and Leigh Neilson at the Belk Rd/SH29 intersection. Photo: Brydie Thompson.

Quite often Ive seen the end result of an accidentIve seen cars over the bank smashed up the next day.

Whenever I come out of there [Belk Rd] or my wife comes out of there, we dont go right up to the white line. We stay back about three car lengths because if there was an accident we would get involved.

Fast track?

Reaching out to TCC, who are working on consents and approvals, The Sun asked if there was possibility to fast-track this project?

Project delivery is being led by Waka Kotahi in close consultation with TCC, with the goal to move into construction in late-2023, says TCCs structure planning and strategic transport team lead Alistair Talbot.

The outcome of the current consultation and statutory consenting processes will influence how soon the SH29/Belk Rd intersection closure project can be delivered  works cannot proceed without consents being approved.

Jess, from Waka Kotahi, says its expected the construction of the different elements will be carried out in stages to reduce impact to traffic, and will take about three years.

We will know more about construction methodology, phasing and programme once a contractor is on board, says Jess.

Margaret says we need to raise the profile of the issues that Government has to acknowledge and give some indication as to when the work might be done.

Shes organised a public meeting for residents from SH29 roads concerned, Waka Kotahi and MP Simeon Brown will attend. The meeting is 7pm Tuesday, May 23, at the Kaimai School Hall, 1853 SH29.
SHIJIAZHUANG, May 12 (Xinhua) -- President Xi Jinping has called for efforts to reach new heights in the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and to make it a pioneer and example in pursuing Chinese modernization.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks as he inspected Hebei Province and presided over a meeting on promoting the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

On Thursday and Friday, Xi went to the cities of Cangzhou and Shijiazhuang, where he visited the countryside and places including a port and a research institute.

On Thursday morning, Xi visited Cangzhou City, where he learned about the cultivation of crops that are tolerant of drought and high alkalinity at a wheat field.

Xi stressed the need to prioritize the comprehensive use of saline-alkali land, leverage the key role of scientific and technological innovation, expand the cultivation area of suitable crops and develop the intensive processing of farm products.

Later in the day, Xi visited a coal port area of Huanghua Port.

Xi noted the unique locational advantages and convenient shipping conditions of Hebei Province, underscoring the need to upgrade Hebei's ports and optimize their functional layout to play a bigger role in promoting coordinated regional economic development and developing a modern industrial system.

Xi urged the development of Huanghua Port into a modern hub port with multiple functions.

On Friday morning, Xi visited a research institute of China Electronics Technology Group Corporation in Shijiazhuang City. He entered a workshop to observe the chip production process, stressing the need for new breakthroughs in core technologies in key fields.

Xi encouraged researchers to achieve consistent progress in grasping cutting-edge technologies and developing more technological and engineering equipment and projects of great significance.

Later, Xi visited the planning exhibition hall of a biomedical industry park, where he emphasized the importance of strengthening basic research and scientific innovation capacity to keep the lifeline of the biomedical industry firmly in China's own hands.

To achieve this, he called for more research and development of medicines that fit into the genetic and physical characteristics of the Chinese population. 
Primary sector education and exciting career opportunities will be showcased at the Fieldays Opportunity Grows Here Careers Hub in June.

Fieldays and the Ministry for Primary Industries are hosting the Hub to provide a platform for students, job seekers, and industry professionals to connect and learn more about the many different career pathways available in the food and fibre sector.

Were proud to be working with Fieldays to deliver this exciting Hub for the second year running, says MPI director-general Ray Smith.

Our food and fibre sector continues to power New Zealands economy, with export revenue hitting more than $53 billion last year.

Food and fibre sector careers range from work on-farm, in science, technology, business management, and logistics, to animal welfare, marketing, and research and development across the country.

Were pleased to announce another fantastic programme in the Hub this year. Well have a series of inspiring speakers each day from 9.30-2pm, featuring panel discussions and TED talk type presentations, showcasing the sector, the roles, and various opportunities.

Eleven organisations with a keen focus on future growth and education will also be featured in the Hub.

The Hub builds on the success of our Opportunity Grows Here attraction campaign thats connecting Kiwis with sector jobs.

Fieldays places a huge importance on education, says CEO Peter Nation.

Fieldays is the largest agricultural event in the Southern Hemisphere, and a key focus is on building awareness of education opportunities available and all of the terrific careers available in our food and fibre sector, says Peter Nation.

"We are thrilled to partner with MPI to promote education and get young people excited about a career in Ag.

Education is one of Fieldays strategic pillars, and this Hub provides an excellent platform for learning from and connecting with those who work in the food and fibre sector.

Theres a huge amount of opportunity here in New Zealand, and the future of the sector is exciting. Innovation and the evolving ways of farming means there will be new jobs and new possibilities in the future.

In addition to the Hub, the Opportunity Grows Here Careers Trail will provide visitors with an interactive experience to see career pathway opportunities and engage with potential employers.

Creating the pathway for visitors to learn about the many different career opportunities available in the sector, from hands-on roles in agriculture and horticulture, to technical roles in science and technology, really does prove that opportunity grows here at Fieldays, says Peter Nation.

"To ensure the success of our food and fibre sector, we need the right people. Our Careers Trail will be a valuable resource for our visitors and sector employers by creating important, and potentially life-long, careers and connections.

For more information on the Fieldays Opportunity Grows Here Careers Hub and a full programme of the Engagement Sessions and Panel Discussions during Fieldays, please go to https://www.fieldays.co.nz/attend-fieldays/explore/careers

Download the Fieldays App from the Apple or Google Play Stores to access the Fieldays Opportunity Grows Here Careers Trail.
One of the UK's most wanted fugitives arrested in Estepona for horrific 2016 stabbing The Liverpool man Mark Francis Roberts had been on the run for almost seven years after attacking a man with a knife when he refused to hand over a 60,000 Richard Mille watch

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One of the UKs most wanted fugitives has been arrested in Estepona after nearly seven years on the run.

Mark Francis Roberts, 29, was captured on Wednesday, 10 May and was wanted by Merseyside Police after attacking a man with a knife when he refused to hand over a 60,000 Richard Mille watch in September, 2016 in England.

The victim, who had just parked his car in his home driveway when he was attacked, suffered life-threatening injuries and was treated in a critical care unit for stab wounds, a collapsed lung and many lacerations.

Ampliar NCA

Roberts featured in a Most Wanted campaign run by the National Crime Agency (NCA), Crimestoppers and Spanish police which targeted fugitives with links to Spain and the Canary Islands. He is the eighth fugitive to be arrested from the campaign  six men remain on the run.

Steve Reynolds, NCA regional manager in Spain, said: Robertss arrest came about after a sustained campaign to trace him and some great work by the Guardia Civil.

This is another excellent result and shows once again that UK law enforcement does not give up on finding those who await justice in the UK.

Working closely with our colleagues at home and abroad, such as our highly valued Spanish partners, we will continue to hunt those on the run.

Detective Inspector Katie Coote of Merseyside Police said: I hope this arrest shows that there is no hiding place for anyone who is evading police.

Thanks to our ongoing work with National Crime Agency Roberts has been located and is now in police custody.

These actions with our partners across the UK and beyond are about stopping anyone who could cause fear and harm in our community and we will leave no stone unturned no matter the length of time to find people who are wanted in connection with ongoing investigations or offences.

Lord Ashcroft, founder and chair of Crimestoppers, said: I am delighted that another fugitive has finally been caught and will no longer be able to avoid justice. Our Most Wanted campaign with the NCA  supported by the excellent work of Spanish law enforcement  has been an incredible success.

Should you know the whereabouts of any other Most Wanted fugitives, please contact the charity Crimestoppers on freephone 0800 555 111 or fill out an online form at Crimestoppers-uk.org. Youll stay 100% anonymous. Always.
Malaga-born Javier Calleja heads into the city streets with his art A five-metre-high piece by the artist is on loan from his gallery in Tokyo and it is the first piece of his artwork placed in a public area in Spain

Javier Calleja, with his sculpture at the entrance to Calle Molina Lario in Malaga.

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Javier Callejas art has taken to the streets of Malaga city, after the international artist unveiled his first open-air sculpture in Spain. The five-metre-high artwork presides over the entrance of Calle Molina Lario, near the cathedral.

Heads V2 is a large-scale version of one of Callejas most popular works, a tower of five heads of various sizes and different facial expressions. But they have one thing in common: huge, bright eyes like those of a child smiling after a crying fit. Made of bronze, acrylic glass, urethane paint, steel and stainless steel, it is a street-level celebration of the artists return to Malaga more than a decade after his previous project in the city.

It is the largest sculpture Calleja has made to date and the placing of the street sculpture coincides with his exhibition Mr Gunter, The Cat Show, which is at the cultural centre of the Unicaja foundation until 6 September.

Ampliar Javier Calleja, with his sculpture at the entrance to Calle Molina Lario in Malaga. Marilu Baez

On temporary loan from Tokyo

Heads V2, which weighs 5,700 kilos, is on temporary loan to Malaga from the artists Nanzuka Underground gallery in Tokyo. And that is where the tradition started, Calleja would display his work in the streets every time he opened a new exhibition at his gallery.

Back in March, Calleja opened the most ambitious exhibition of his career at the Unicaja foundation cultural centre in Malaga. It includes 209 works (including 23 canvases and 25 sculptures, plus drawings and exclusive editions of art toys) from 20 different collections across seven European and, above all, Asian countries, where the impact of his art has reached dizzying figures.

A total of 95 people and 17 companies worked on the project.

Calleja is in the process of completing his first individual exhibition in London, with twenty paintings and drawings, and it is set to open its doors on 1 June at Almine Rech London.

He will then turn to Art Basel (15 to 18 June), an important international art fair in which almost 200 galleries and 4,000 artists from the five continents participate.

Calleja will also return to Frieze Seoul (September) and London (October), to end the year with a solo exhibition at Aishonanzuka Hong Kong (November) and Art Basel Miami (December).
Picasso the sculptor takes over his museum to mark the 50th anniversary of his death The Malaga museum is hosting Spain's first exhibition exclusively of the artist's sculptures, officially launching the Year of Picasso

La Femme au Vase (Woman with Vase, 1933) - one of the most important pieces in the exhibition.

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People usually remember that great Picasso exhibition at the Grand Palais in Paris that paid homage to the artist in the 1960s for his paintings. Yet they often forget about the sister exhibition of his sculptures that ended up at the Petit Palais.

This difference in staging and language regarding what we consider great and small was resurrected in Malaga on Monday by the artist's grandson. Bernard Ruiz-Picasso's metaphor defines our perception of this grand master of 20th-century art as solely a painter.

But Pablo Picasso also saw himself as a sculptor, an activity that he enjoyed and maintained throughout his life. Unlike his oil paintings and drawings, he felt that his sculptures were not as highly valued or understood, so he made the decision to keep most of this work for himself.

Those highly personal creations are what the Museo Picasso Malaga (MPM) unveiled on Monday with the inauguration of Picasso Sculptor. Matter and Body, the first exhibition in Spain devoted exclusively to the artist's most monumental work. The show, part of the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Picasso's death, will occupy the temporary exhibition rooms in the Palacio de Buenavista until September,

With some pieces standing more than two metres high, many of them are displayed so visitors can walk around them to view them from different angles, there is a character and grandeur to this collection, bringing together 60 works made between 1909 and 1964.

The exhibition initiates MPM's and Malaga city's participation in the wider, international series of events, Celebrating Picasso 1973-2023 which, driven by the governments of Spain and France, involves a total of 50 exhibitions in Europe and the USA to commemorate, disseminate and reinterpret the work of the Malaga-born artist.

Museum anniversary

The ambitious Picasso Sculptor. Matter and Body coincides with another important event, the 20th anniversary of the inauguration of Malaga's Picasso museum.

Monday also saw the return to the MPM of a very special person, Carmen Gimenez, promoter and first director of the gallery, now curator and author of this pioneering show.

The exhibition will have a second life as, after its closure in Malaga, it will move to the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao. There too, it will make history as it will be the first solo exhibition on Picasso in this museum in the Basque Country, the land of Picasso's most enduring and iconic work: Guernica.

"I wanted only sculptural work to be on show because it never garnered much interest and such a show had never been done in Spain. Moreover, I preferred not to include sketches as these require a different lighting and I preferred to show only the sculptural pieces as a fantastic space has been created in these temporary exhibition rooms of the Picasso Museum to admire them," explained the curator Carmen Gimenez.

She also alluded to the foreword in the exhibition catalogue written by Professor of Art History at New York University, Pepe Karmel, who highlighted that the singularity of this collection is not only that it is re-asserting the value of Picasso's sculpture, but also that the exhibition focuses on the human body "which was the main interest of the artist and is an unprecedented take on showing his sculptural work".

Ampliar Nito Salas

The collection includes some iconic pieces. As with the colossal Femma au Vase (Woman with Vase, 1933), part of the legacy of Guernica.

"This sculpture was also exhibited in the Spain Pavilion at the 1937 World Expo in Paris, which is why Picasso wanted it to return to Spain with democracy," explained the curator, who also indicated that this bronze piece is one of only two made in the 1970s from the plaster original, which was later destroyed by Jacqueline Roque so that no more copies could be made.

The one on show in Malaga comes from the collection at the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid, whereas the second bronze remains in the Chateau of Vauvenargues (France) on Picasso's tomb.

This is a return to the city for Woman with Vase, as it featured in the well-remembered exhibition Classic Picasso (1992), curated by Carmen Gimenez herself and which laid the foundations for the city's reunion with its prodigal son.

"It was shown in the Episcopal Palace which was restored for the occasion and where today a very fun exhibition by Javier Calleja is on display that I recommend," added Gimenez.

For his eyes only

Walking through the exhibition Gimenez has shown how Matter and Body allows us to see Picasso's style evolve from cubist postulates (for instance, use of geometric shapes) to the purest experimentation, assembling statues made with the most curious mix of materials such as plaster, wood, iron, bronze or sheet metal, sometimes even adding some paint.

This can be seen in Standing Woman (1953) - whose arm is one of his used paintbrushes and her head is a pot lid.

"I love this work which comes from the private collection of Almine and Bernard Ruiz-Picasso and is being exhibited for the first time in Malaga," said the curator, who added that the show includes works from the National Picasso Museum in Paris and, above all, "from the family, who have been very generous".

Thus, Bernard, Almine, Paloma and the heirs of the recently deceased Maya Ruiz-Picasso have also loaned out pieces never before exhibited as, since Picasso decided to keep for himself almost all his sculptural output, these pieces passed directly into the hands of his descendants on his death.

Chicago model

Among those pieces never on loan to an exhibition before now is the one that closes this show. Dated 1964, it is the model for the great sculpture that Picasso designed for Chicago city and measures 20 metres high.

"It is a ground-breaking work because it is one of the few that he did for public spaces and it is only on loan for exhibition in Malaga," commented Gimenez, who has displayed this piece in counterpose with another model from 1928, the project for a monument to Guillaume Apollinaire that was rejected, thus causing Picasso to choose not to show his sculptural work in public, keeping it for his eyes only.

Like many of the works by the man from Malaga, these pieces also allow us to learn more about Picasso's life through his art. The exhibition includes busts of Fernande Olivier, Francois Gilot, Marie Therese-Walter or the young Sylvette whom he repeatedly sculpted in the 50s, as well as a curious piece - the hand of Picasso himself.

This same hand, which here is motionless, cast in bronze, yet, when alive, never ceased to create and play.

This exhibition too shows the more playful, fun side of Picasso, according to its curator.

The show has been organised in conjunction with the National Picasso Museum in Paris and the Spanish National Commission to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Pablo Picasso's death and is sponsored by Telefonica and Fundacion Bancaria Unicaja.
The AI corporations from Shenzhen attend the 7th AI Expo Tokyo Spring in Tokyo, Japan, May 10, 2023. The 7th AI Expo Tokyo Spring kicking off Wednesday is showcasing 250 kinds of leading-edge products and services based on artificial intelligence (AI) technology in various fields such as demand forecasting, shipping, fishery, food safety, medical care and machine translation. (Xinhua/Zhong Ya)

by Xinhua writers Zhong Ya, Qian Zheng

TOKYO, May 11 (Xinhua) -- The 7th AI Expo Tokyo Spring kicking off Wednesday is showcasing 250 kinds of leading-edge products and services based on artificial intelligence (AI) technology in various fields such as demand forecasting, shipping, fishery, food safety, medical care and machine translation.

The three-day expo is an important part of NexTech Week TOKYO Spring -- a comprehensive trade show that gathers advanced technologies such as AI, blockchain, and quantum computing -- held at Tokyo Big Sight convention center.

Demand forecasting plays a vital role in optimizing inventory management, purchasing, production, distribution among other processes in such industries as manufacturing and retail. DATAFLUCT, Inc., a Tokyo-based data analytics company, demonstrated its self-developed demand forecast system, which uses machine learning algorithms to analyze internal data such as inventory, prices, and sales, as well as external data like weather and traffic to predict demand with high precision.

In the past, the prediction accuracy of manual calculation was fairly low, which often resulted in either insufficient or excess inventory, according to a staff of DATAFLUCT, Inc., while currently maximizing benefits is possible as AI technology has significantly improved prediction accuracy, thereby reducing the surplus or shortage of inventory.

The system can also automatically calculate the optimal number of delivery vehicles, plan delivery routes and staff the most reasonable number of personnel, thus contributing to minimizing costs and greatly improving efficiency.

Brains Corporation, a Tokyo-based company that develops and sells image recognition devices, presented its AI-based image processing system that detects objects in front of a ship by analyzing images taken by infrared cameras mounted on the bow of the ship.

The system, together with a high-precision GPS and acceleration sensors, can be used for collecting accurate data of the distance, speed and direction of potential obstacles, which thereafter enter the ship automatic control system and help the ship effectively avoid the obstacles.

A total of 20 AI corporations from the southern Chinese metropolis Shenzhen attended the biannual expo as a group, whose creative hardware and software products have grabbed wide attention.

The online translation platform of CloudTranslation Technology Co., Ltd. is based on the company's self-developed third-generation Deep Neural Network machine translation engine, which is trained with hundreds of millions of high-quality industry-specific words and supports accurate mutual translation for more than 80 languages and 20 industries. The platform allows bilingual comparison and editing after translation, and can also translate PDF documents, web pages and images, etc.

Zhang Yifan, the company's project director, said that another multimedia translation platform recognizes dialogues in uploaded audio or video files and translates the dialogues into the target language before automatically generating subtitles.

NexTech Week TOKYO Spring has attracted around 300 exhibitors and 25,000 attendees this year. 

An exhibitor from Shenzhen showcases an electronic nose at the 7th AI Expo Tokyo Spring in Tokyo, Japan, May 10, 2023. The 7th AI Expo Tokyo Spring kicking off Wednesday is showcasing 250 kinds of leading-edge products and services based on artificial intelligence (AI) technology in various fields such as demand forecasting, shipping, fishery, food safety, medical care and machine translation.(Xinhua/Zhong Ya)
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By Rachel Silberstein | Times Union, Albany

Albany, N.Y.  The national Covid-19 public health emergency lapsed Thursday, marking a symbolic end to the health crisis that upended society and killed millions  but the shift will bring few changes to daily life in New York where many Covid-19 restrictions have already been phased out.

And while the federal action lifts the vaccine mandate for government-funded hospitals and nursing homes, local health care workers are not off the hook due to state-level Covid-19 regulations still in place.

New Yorks own pandemic emergency declaration officially ended Sept. 12, 2022. Health care is the last sector to see government mandates on masking, testing and vaccinations eased. The states mask mandate for health care workers lapsed in February, so many health care facilities have since dropped required mask use.

But local health care executives say its also time to ease the vaccine requirements  which do not have an expiration date, but can be amended  so they can rehire staff and ease shortages.

St. Peters Health Partners, which lost about 500 employees when the mandate went into effect, has heard from a number of former workers interested in returning to their jobs, according to hospital President & CEO Dr. Steven D. Hanks.

We do know that there are a certain number of them who would come back to the workplace if the mandate was lifted, Hanks told the Times Union. My hope is that the Department of Health and others in the state will see that its really not required to protect the health of the public at this particular time.

Its been more than a year since the state has experienced a significant Covid-19 outbreak, and new antiviral drugs have been keeping hospitalizations down, health care leaders say. Five St. Peters-affiliated hospitals in the Capital Region collectively see less that one Covid patient per day, Hanks said.

According to state Department of Health spokeswoman Cadence Acquaviva, The department is reviewing next steps for health care workers in hospitals, nursing homes, and other health care facilities.

During the pandemic, health emergency declarations enabled governments to enact hundreds of policies and flexibilities to facilitate the pandemic response effort. Though many of these changes have been dismantled slowly, the end of the federal emergency will still alter health care access in several ways.

Whats changing?

Insurance coverage for Covid-19 tests is ending, but the federal government will maintain a stockpile of testing kits that will be available free of charge in certain community locations, according to U.S. Health and Human Services. Free tests will also be available through Covidtests.gov through the end of May.

The lapse of the federal public health emergency also has implications for long-term care facilities, which will see Covid-19 testing and visitation requirements softened, according to Leading Age NY, which represents 5,600 nonprofit long-term care facilities in the state. For example, new admissions to nursing homes will no longer face a barrage of Covid-19 tests unless they are exhibiting symptoms.

Certain Covid-19 data reporting and surveillance will change. The federal government no longer requires labs to report Covid-19 test results and hospitals will need to report Covid cases weekly instead of daily.

Whats staying?

Access to Covid-19 vaccinations and certain treatments, such as Paxlovid and Lagevrio, for now will generally not be affected, according to U.S. Health and Human Services. But once the federal government is no longer purchasing or distributing Covid-19 vaccines and treatments, payment, coverage and access may change.

Telehealth flexibilities that people with Medicare have come to rely upon during the pandemic will remain in place through December 2024.

Health officials continue to urge all individuals 6 months of age and older in the United States to get the Covid-19 vaccine. The state has launched a new campaign to encourage New Yorkers who have underlying medical conditions to be aware of the risks of contracting Covid-19 and the importance of getting and staying up-to-date with recommended doses.

___

(c)2023 the Times Union (Albany, N.Y.)

Visit the Times Union (Albany, N.Y.) at www.timesunion.com
Olivia and Liam topped the list of the most popular baby names in the U.S. in 2022, according to the Social Security Administration.

Last year was the sixth year in a row Liam was the most popular boys name. Olivia has now been the most popular girls name for four years.

The Social Security Administration released its annual list of most popular baby names earlier Friday.

Only one new name entered the top 10 in 2022, the administration said. Luna was on the list for the first time, at No. 10 for girls.

You can see the top 10 most popular names in 2022 for both boys and girls below:

Girls:

Olivia Emma Charlotte Amelia Sophia Isabella Ava Mia Evelyn Luna

Boys:

Liam Noah Oliver James Elijah William Henry Lucas Benjamin Theodore

The administration began compiling its baby name list in 1997, with names dating back to 1880. The agency gathers the data when parents apply for childrens Social Security cards.

The administration also tracks the names gaining the most popularity each year. The top five in that category for boys in 2022 included Dutton, Kayce, Chosen, Khaza and Eithan. For girls: Wrenlee, Neriah, Arlet, Georgina and Amiri.

The administration will release lists of the most popular baby names in each state in 2022 on May 18. Syracuse.com will publish the lists for New York when theyre available.

Heres a look New Yorks most popular names from 2021:

Girls:

Olivia Emma Sophia Mia Amelia Ava Charlotte Isabella Gianna Leah

Boys:

Liam Noah Lucas Joseph Jacob James Benjamin Ethan Michael Oliver

Contact Kevin Tampone anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 315-282-8598
If you are looking for a glamping site near gorge-ous views youll find it in Upstate New York at a campground that was recently named one of the best in America.

USA Todays Readers Choice awards released a list of the 10 chic glamping locations perfect for a wild and glamorous weekend and Naturluxe & Stars in Watkins Glen, NY came in at number eight on the list.

Located next to the Watkins Glen International racetrack on 48 acres of land, Naturluxe & Stars have been taking glamorous camping to the next level since 2021. USA Todays experts offered this to say about the resort: The well-appointed tents all have a bed with a comfortable mattress, luxury bedding and down alternative pillows. Accommodations also have a floor fan, lamp, a luggage rack and a reading chair.

Naturluxe & Stars website describes the resort as being designed for those who revere both luxury and the outdoors.

According to the CNY Business Journal, guests can choose from three different styles of tents to stay in which includes bell tents, platform tents, and the most luxurious option  safari-style platform tents with in-tent bathrooms, coffee makers, and electrical outlets.

Inside the resorts modern bathhouse, guests will find private full bathrooms. For those wanting to take in as much nature as possible, there is a private outdoor shower with double shower heads for the ultimate under-the-stars experience.

Naturluxe & Stars wont leave their guests hungry either as all will receive supplies for campfire smores.

New for the 2023 season, Naturluxe will offer dog-friendly bell tent accommodations as well as group and corporate retreats.

The Finger Lakes getaway is close to several activities, including the best park in New York, Watkins Glen State Park. With its 19 waterfalls and dramatic gorge views, the park is a must-see in the area. The resort also has on-site hiking trails.

For wine lovers, the nearby Seneca Lake wine trail is a great way to spend the day with stops at historic Belhurst Castle, Damiani Wine Cellars, and Castle Grisch. If beer is more your style, the area has unique offerings like British-style beers by Seneca Lake Brewing Co.s Beerocracy and the makers of a beer for every palate at Lucky Hare Brewing.

The glamping resort has also partnered with local vendors to offer couples massages, guided horseback riding, boating excursions, fishing charters, and more, which can be added on to any stay.

For more details on accommodations and pricing, visit the Naturluxe & Stars website.

READ MORE

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People visit the e-MotorShow 2023 in Beirut, Lebanon. The e-MotorShow Middle East runs from May 10 to 14. (Photo by Bilal Jawich/Xinhua)

A growing number of Lebanese car consumers are shifting to Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) for their good quality, affordable prices, and favorable feedbacks by owners amid lingering economic downturn in the country.

BEIRUT, May 12 (Xinhua) -- Demand for Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) in the Lebanese market has surged over the past two years, according to car exhibitors at the 2nd edition of the E-MotorShow Middle East for Electric & Hybrid cars, who expected that Chinese cars will capture the biggest share in Lebanon's car market in the coming years.

New EV models are exhibited on the e-MotorShow 2023 in Beirut, Lebanon. The e-MotorShow Middle East runs from May 10 to 14. (Photo by Liu Zongya/Xinhua)

Suk Bajwa, a sales consultant at JAC Motors, a Chinese automobile and commercial vehicle manufacturer, told Xinhua that an increasing number of Chinese car brands entered the Lebanese market over the past two years, creating fierce competition against other brands.

"This trend is attributed to Lebanese people's shift to Chinese brands, which offer leather interiors, panoramic roofs, 360 cameras, and more configurations at good prices, compared to other brands," said Bajwa.

Bajwa explained the Lebanese began to know more about Chinese cars from their relatives who live in countries where these cars are popular, such as Africa, Brazil, and other Mideast countries.

A new Chinese Skywell car is launched at the e-MotorShow 2023 in Beirut, Lebanon. The e-MotorShow Middle East runs from May 10 to 14. (Photo by Bilal Jawich/Xinhua)

The e-MotorShow, organized by e-EcoSolutions Sustainability Firm, runs from May 10 to 14 with the participation of 18 car brands and 20 motorbike brands, providing an opportunity to showcase the newly released top brands of EVs arriving in Lebanon.

Gilbert Tegho, CEO of e-EcoSolutions, told Xinhua that around one-third of the car brands participating in the exhibition are Chinese.

Elie Makhlouf, a sales consultant at Ras Motor Co., a distributor of China's Chang'an Automobile and other brands, said his company started importing Chinese vehicles in 2017.

"Demand for Chinese car brands in Lebanon over the past two years increased by over 50 percent, and they may rank among the top three brands soon," said Makhlouf, adding "China is considered a lead manufacturer of EVs."

A new Chinese Skywell car is launched at the e-Motor Show 2023 which kicked off in Beirut, Lebanon, on May 10, 2023. (Xinhua/Bilal Jawich)

Hadi Sidawi, senior sales executive at BYD, a Chinese car manufacturing company, told Xinhua that many of the population now have access to solar energy and generators for recharging EVs, and Chinese brands are "number one in manufacturing batteries for EVs.

The e-MotorShow witnessed the launching of a new Chinese e-vehicle by Gargour Asia company, a renowned vehicle importer in Lebanon, on Wednesday.

Elie Assaf, a business development specialist at Gargour Asia, told Xinhua that Skywell is his company's first Chinese vehicle. He expects the car will be in huge demand in Lebanon with its affordable price, great specs, safety standards, and extended warranty.

Assaf noted that his company is planning on importing other Chinese brands soon, saying "Chinese cars are the future."
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.

New Yorks Cannabis Control Board approved 50 new conditional retail licenses, new regulations and a social equity plan for the states cannabis industry in a Thursday meeting.

CCB members, though, displayed a higher level of scrutiny and criticism for Office of Cannabis Management proposals than usual.

The first significant item on the agenda was approving 50 new Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary licenses, bringing the total number of those dispensaries statewide to 215. A searchable database of all CAURD licenses is included at the bottom of this story.

Forty-five of the CAURD licenses issued Thursday were awarded to applicants among the states four previously enjoined regions  Central NY, Western NY, Mid-Hudson and Brooklyn.

Related: Discontent and despair: NY cannabis entrepreneurs fed up with states problematic industry rollout

Axel Bernabe, OCM chief of staff, said at the meeting that the agencys newest industry regulations address concerns around issues like medical cannabis companies (Registered Organizations, or ROs) entering the recreational market, as well as dispensary buffer zones.



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Bernabe emphasized that the quicker the CCB approves the new rules, the sooner the agency can start general licensing.

I think what youll see in these regulations is a fundamentally updated approach to how states deal with cannabis, Bernabe said. Were excited by the fact that if we can get this done, we would be able to issue final regulations by Labor Day and open the licensing period in the fall.

Bernabe said that details within the 336 pages of proposed regulations would allow New Yorks 10 ROs to enter the states adult-use market after Dec. 29. Previous draft regulations didnt allow ROs to enter for three years.

Related: NYs cannabis regulators sued again, this time by the big players

There was a general consensus that we need more stores, Bernabe said. That would allow some of our brands  some of our upstate farmers  to access retail stores right away.

Under the OCMs latest proposal, ROs would be required to allot 50% of their shelf space to smaller brands in their adult-use shops, expanding opportunities for NYs licensed growers, Bernabe said.

ROs entering the adult-use market would also have to pay $20 million in fees: $5 million upfront, another $5 million when they open their second adult-use retail outlet, and $10 million to be paid in installments tied to the companys revenue. ROs have until 2033 to pay the full $20 million.

Tickets available --- bit.ly/42Qvah2

The updated rules also increase the amount of money an investor can make from a company without being considered a True Party of Interest.

Under the previous proposal, an investor would become a TPI if they made over $100,000 per year from the cannabis company; the new proposal ups that to $250,000.

There was also a slight alteration to buffer zones between dispensaries.

The new rules propose the same buffer zones  1000 feet between dispensaries in dense areas and 2000 feet in more diffuse areas  but allow OCM to make acceptions on a case-by-case basis.

Other changes would allow CAURD licensees to host on-site consumption in a distinct area on premises  with OCM approval.

During the meeting, OCM Chief Equity Officer Damian Fagon introduced the agencys social and economic equity plan. The document  more than 70 pages  didnt make policy prescriptions, but rather outlined the need for social equity in New Yorks cannabis industry, and highlighted existing resources for social equity cannabis entrepreneurs.

Pushback

In a departure from the generally pliant attitude CCB members have taken with OCM proposals, Thursdays meeting saw them vigorously push back on some of the agencys recommendations and criticize some of its work.

CCB member Reuben McDaniel, who is also CEO of DASNY, told Fagon he was disappointed in the long-awaited plan and expected a roadmap with specific deadlines and proposals for funding.

I dont see this as an actionable plan, McDaniel said. I dont see any goals, budgets, metrics or timeframes.

Related: Cannabis Association of NY alleges conflict of interest for Reuben McDaniel, backs criticism of DASNY

Fagon and OCM Executive Director Chris Alexander countered that they intended for the social equity plan to exist as a living document, and that other states have run into problems with their cannabis social equity programs when they over-promised, or set goals that turned out to be unrealistic.

Though CCB members unanimously approved OCMs social equity plan, McDaniel and Chair Tremaine Wright both said they want to see an action plan for social equity license application assistance as soon as possible.

Fagon said OCM could have that within a month.

After Bernabes summary about changes to the regulations, Wright took him to task on a number of items, including certain THC limits and fees for small processors versus microbusinesses.

Proposed rules cap the allowable amount of THC per package of edibles at 100 milligrams, but Wright argued that this could negatively affect innovative business models.

For example, she said, what if someone wanted to sell large amounts of infused syrup to a social consumption business that serves infused meals?

We havent given them that space  at this moment, I dont think they have the tools to make these plans, Wright said. By us saying that its capped at 100 milligrams per total package, thats whats limiting.

When Bernabe countered that OCM included this rule to avoid people over-consuming, CCB member Jennifer Gilbert Jenkins pointed out that liquor stores are allowed to sell fifths of vodka, even though that amount isnt healthy for a person to drink all at once.

I feel like we have to compare apples to apples here  there are going to be people who are drunk on the street because they had too much to drink, that doesnt [force] us to only sell airplane-sized containers, Gilbert Jenkins said.

I think we have to make sure were protecting public health while not making over-cumbersome regulations, she said.

Bernabe and Alexander said regulations enable OCM to make exceptions to the THC cap, however Wright remained skeptical.

The chairwoman also argued for parity in licensing fees for small processors and microbusiness license holders.

According to the MRTA, microbusinesses must be vertically integrated  which means they have to grow their own weed  and proposed regulations would allow them to buy up to 500 pounds of biomass for edibles in an effort to hedge against unforeseen issues like a crop failure.

Microbusinesses pay $4,500 in fees. Meanwhile, processors must pay $4,000 in fees to infuse, blend and package their products, and another $3,000 to distribute.

It is to me a concern that this is a bias that is going to be borne by people who are in communities [where people] are not traditionally farmers, Wright said.

When CCB members eventually approved the updated regulations unanimously, they did so with multiple amendments, including one that reduces fees for small processors.

The regulations package will now go through a 45-day public comment period after entering into the New York State Register..

What a day. This one was a little different, said Alexander, the OCMs executive director.

I hope that the spirited discussion demonstrates  the level of care and commitment that our team  have in making sure that this state and this program is successful.
Ninemile Creek Conservation Council held its annual trout stocking event on Wednesday, transferring 800 two-year-old trout from Carpenters Brook Fish Hatchery in Elbridge to a stretch of Ninemile Creek in Camillus.

Despite the glorious spring weather, things got off to a rocky start when hatchery superintendent Eric Stanzyck couldnt find a volunteer with feet small enough to fit the hip waders hed brought with him.

Thanks for recruiting volunteers who have giant feet, Stanzyck quipped to event organizer, Maude Morse.

Volunteers squeezed into the waders anyway and chased trout around the holding pond while trying not to slip. Using long-handled nets, they scooped up 799 brown trout and one rainbow trout that had somehow managed to infiltrate the pond.

Two scouts from Troop 100 in Lafayette made efficient work of the last few stragglers darting around the pond. In ten minutes they had all the fish loaded into the hatcherys tanker truck, the Big Green Trout Hauling Machine.

Holding tank of the 'Big Green Trout Hauling Machine' gets a load of brown trout from Carpenters Brook Fish Hatchery. Ninemile Creek Conservation Council held its annual trout stocking event on Wednesday, transferring 800 two-year-old trout from the hatchery to a stretch of Ninemile Creek in Camillus.Steve Featherstone | sfeatherstone@syracuse.com

The hatchery, which is run by Onondaga County, stocks the upper reaches of Ninemile Creek with around 20,000 trout each year beginning in February. This is the 26th year NCCC has stocked trout in a two-mile stretch on the lower end of the creek starting in Munro Park in Camillus.

Onondaga County has some of the best fishing, and this is one of our stellar gems, said NCCC president Chris Somerlot. It receives a tremendous amount of fishing pressure.

Nine Mile Creek happens to be a great place to stock trout, especially in this section where you dont see houses every 100 feet or so, said Les Monostory, vice president of Isaac Walton League of Americas Central New York chapter, and NCCC founding member.

To be able to stock a nice section between here and Amboy makes Ninemile that much more fishable, Monostory said.

But the goal of NCCCs trout stocking event isnt just about making anglers happy. NCCCs core mission is protecting Ninemile Creek for everybody. A big part of that is getting people involved at the grass roots level so they have a stake in the creeks future, said NCCCs founder, Fred Miller.

Its worked so far, but there are challenges today, Miller said, citing the rapid conversion of farmland to residential and commercial development in areas around the creek.

How do you build and still preserve water quality? Miller said. Developers dont want to give up one square foot because its profit.

Aeryn Kondratowicz, 8, of Camillus, carries a net full of brown trout down a path leading to Ninemile Creek in Munro Park, Camillus. Aeryn was one of Ninemile Creek Conservation Council's volunteers who helped stock the creek with 800 two-year-old trout on Wednesday.Steve Featherstone | sfeatherstone@syracuse.com

Stanzyck and his colleague, Eric Appleby, stood atop the Big Green Trout Hauling Machine at Munro Park, handing nets squirming with trout to volunteers waiting below.

Hailey Kondratowicz, 6, and her sister Aeryn, 8, both from Camillus, waddled down a path to the creek gripping nets half their weight. Their mother, Abby, helped them release the trout by hand.

I grew up on Otisco Lake, fishing all my life, Abby said, stressing the importance of instilling the spirit of conservation in the next generation.

Youve got to give them the experience now so they want to do it when theyre older, said Abby. They like the water, and they like the fish.

And mud. The girls deeply appreciated the thick, ankle-deep mud on the creek bank. As soon as theyd released their fish, they began stomping in it.

Hey guys! Abby shouted. Thats enough!

Low bridge, everybody down! Ninemile Creek Conservation Council volunteers had to navigate under a fallen tree during the group's annual trout stocking event. Altogether NCCCC volunteers transferred 800 two-year-old trout from Carpenters Brook Fish Hatchery in Elbridge to a two-mile stretch of Ninemile Creek downstream from Munro Park in Camillus.Steve Featherstone | sfeatherstone@syracuse.com

Most of the trout went straight from the hatchery truck into float boxes, a type of floating fish net. A flotilla of 12 canoes piloted by volunteers towed the float boxes downstream. Every 100 yards or so, volunteers released a few trout into the creek until their float boxes were empty.

At a bend in the creek not far from the launch point, a big tree had fallen across the water, leaving perhaps two feet of clearance. It was Ninemile Creeks very own Onondaga Parkway Bridge, an immovable obstacle capable of bonking the unwary and stopping the flow of traffic.

But NCCC volunteers organized an effective warning system consisting of volunteers standing in the creek and straddling the fallen tree. Paddlers laid flat on the bottom of their canoes while volunteers guided the canoes safely under the tree with zero damage to vehicle, human, or fish.



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Steve Featherstone covers the outdoors for The Post-Standard, syracuse.com and NYUP.com. Contact him at sfeatherstone@syracuse.com or on Twitter @featheroutdoors. You can also follow along with all of our outdoors content at newyorkupstate.com/outdoors/ or follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/upstatenyoutdoors.
Editors note: This story first appeared on palabra, the digital news site by the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.

By Allison Salerno

On a steamy spring morning in Lake Worth, Florida, with temperatures in the mid-80s, Alejandrina Velasquez arrives early for a 9:30 a.m. financial literacy class at the Farmworker Coordinating Council of Palm Beach County. Already, the 20 or so plastic chairs, arranged in a small parking lot, are full. Velasquez sits in the back of the makeshift classroom. Half a dozen toddlers, some playing games on their mothers phones, are here too. At times, the teacher pauses her instruction in Spanish because of the thunder of eighteen-wheelers on the nearby highway. She explains to the group of farmworker women that in el sistema capitalista en este pais credit card companies may offer lines of credit to people unable to afford the payments.

Velasquez, 40, migrated about a decade ago to Lake Worth from the Guatemalan highlands, a region plagued by an internal war as she was growing up. In Palm Beach County, she has picked tomatoes and pumpkins under a hot sun, work that has supported her five children. She has no formal schooling. Her parents sent their sons to school, but not their daughters. Still, she said, life in Lake Worth is mucho mejor than in Guatemala.

The Council has been a sanctuary for Velasquez and her family, offering support for basic living needs and the comfort of being part of a community facing similar struggles.

At the nonprofit program, caseworkers tailor services around a familys needs, said executive director Denise Negron. Households qualify for services if they earn 30% below Palm Beach Countys median family income, which categorizes them as extremely low income. That amount varies depending on household size, with a family of four needing to earn $27,750 or less to be considered for services. The agency brings security to them that they dont get anywhere else, Negron said.

Along with financial literacy, the Councils adult classes teach computer and English skills designed to boost families self-sufficiency and confidence. We are teaching them basic things they need to know to make life easier in this country, said Paola Velasquez, (no relation to Alejandrina), a psychologist who runs the Lake Worth education programs. For children, there is an after-school program that is deliberately small and includes language and cultural activities. Negron cited a pen pal program with children in Latin America in which participants have had the opportunity in the past to write about their immigration experiences and their lives in Florida.

Palm Beach County is often associated with wealth. Former President Donald Trumps Mar-a-Lago resort is four miles from Lake Worth. Billionaire Bill Gates owns a horse ranch nearby. But the county is also home to a frequently overlooked farmworking community. Palm Beach County is an agricultural powerhouse, with $1.4 billion in annual sales from sugarcane, corn, and bell peppers, among other crops.

At least 15% of the estimated 2.4 million farmworkers in the United States migrate with the growing seasons. The challenges these workers and their children face are considerable, said Yumary Ruiz, an associate professor of public health at Purdue University, whose research focuses on vulnerable populations with an emphasis on youth. Ruiz and Zoe Taylor, an associate professor in Purdues Department of Human Development and Family Science, conducted research in rural Indiana on migrant childrens external circumstances and their inner lives. Their findings show that the children of migrant farm workers face high levels of depression, anxiety, and economic stress. They spoke of negative experiences with fellow students and their teachers, along with educational disruptions such as having to leave school before the end of an academic year and starting in a new school weeks late.

Negron, whose organization serves both migrant and settled farmworker families, says that many (of the parents) dont have any education. Forty-five percent of her nonprofits clients are undocumented which, she said, often keeps people from seeking public assistance, including health services for heat strokes or accidents while working. They are continually afraid of being deported, she said.

In 1960, CBS News aired Harvest of Shame, a documentary about migrant farmworkers, particularly Black and white workers, and the reality that many of their children were not finishing school. The resulting public outcry helped lead to the establishment of the federal Migrant Education Program in 1965. The program provides grants to state school districts to ensure that migrant children reach challenging academic standards and graduate with a high school diploma or its equivalent. Jorge Echegaray manages the federal program in Palm Beach County, which offers about 2,300 children services ranging from preschool placement assistance and college tours to college scholarship assistance. Academically, I think that were doing a lot, Echegaray said. But, he added, broader challenges remain for migrant families, including a lack of technology at home, insufficient health care, and food insecurity. Once our kids are home, they dont have the resources, Echegaray said.

Nationally, the drop-out rate for children whose parents migrate for farmwork averages 45% to 50%, according to the U.S. Department of Education. Reasons include social and cultural isolation, poverty, and discontinuity in education. The Migrant Education Program dollars solely serve the children of migrant farmworkers who travel more than 75 miles for work.

Nonprofits like the Farmworker Coordinating Council of Palm Beach County, founded in 1978, are able to help a wider range of people, including family members of settled farmworkers, or families who travel less than 75 miles for work. The Councils funding comes from a mix of public funds, private donations, and foundation grants. Last year, the Council assisted 2,737 people with services from after-school tutoring and adult education classes to social support, such as emergency rental assistance and food. It covered one month of rent for Alejandrina Velasquezs family after her partner was injured in a fall while fixing a trailer roof. She has taken three of her children to after-school classes run by the Council, where they have received homework assistance and art enrichment.

The nonprofit operates two sites. One, in Lake Worth, serves farmworkers who have mostly arrived from Guatemala and speak indigenous languages such as Mam, a Mayan language, said Paola Velasquez. A second site, in Belle Glade, on the western edge of Palm Beach County, largely serves farmworker families from Haiti and other parts of Latin America and the Caribbean. They harvest vegetables and sugarcane. (Belle Glade was the location for Harvest of Shame.)

As for the farmworker families, this group of people for me is diamantes en bruto, said Paola Velasquez. I see a lot of potential here. They didnt have access to high school or college and its not their fault. If theyre in the United States, then they want a better life for their children.

On a recent afternoon at the Lake Worth site, Aurora Rincon, an artist from Venezuela, shows a small group of children photographs of narrative quilts  quilts that tell a story through patterns and imagery  by artist Faith Ringgold. Rincon then asks the children to make their own quilts out of paper. Rincon said the weekly art classes help children whose families are in survival mode to learn how to create, how to make sure that they are confident about what they do.

In the next room, Paola Velasquez plays with the younger children because none brought homework that particular day. But when they do, they are learning to read, Velasquez said. They are learning fractions, to count by hundreds, to recognize centimeters and inches, those kinds of things.

Lost in many public conversations about this group of children are the strengths they possess. You look at newspapers, you look at articles, they often talk about Latino populations, how they are low educated, how there is high risk of substance use in this population, especially gangs, early sexual debut, said Ruiz, the professor at Purdue. Theres never the other side of that coin told about this population. In her research, Ruiz found that children were aware of their familys struggles, but were learning lessons from those hard experiences.

For farm working families, parental involvement can look a little different. School teachers and administrators may assume that a parent who doesnt show up for a parent-teacher meeting or volunteer in their childs class is indifferent to academic success, Ruiz said. But work schedules and limited English skills can preclude participation in school activities.

The jagged path to success that the children of migrant farmworkers must follow is clear on a recent Tuesday evening at Hola Fuel on South Military Trail in Lake Worth. Behind the counter, Nory Ortega, in jeans and a Hola work shirt, sells lottery tickets, soda, and gas to a stream of customers. Ortega began working here eight years ago, while she was in college. She continues to work part time even after earning a masters degree in business administration and holding a second job in the admissions office at her alma mater, Lynn University in Boca Raton. Ortegas parents are former migrant farmworkers who followed crops in Florida with their children in tow. Eventually, her parents settled into local jobs, her dad landscaping and her mother cleaning houses.

Ortega participated in Palm Beach Countys Migrant Education Program and, by the time she was in high school, she was engaging in community service and participating in program-sponsored college tours. She also discovered the Farmworker Coordinating Council of Palm Beach County, which awarded her a college scholarship. Her mother also took computer classes at the Council until her work schedule made it too difficult.

The gas station where Ortega currently works is a few blocks from the trailer where she and her family lived after arriving from Mexico. Its near the one-story house she and her husband bought a couple of years ago, where they now live with Ortegas parents, her brother, and an uncle.

Ortegas story is a bright spot among the hurdles farmworker families face. In a WhatsApp conversation, Alejandrina Velasquez said her challenges include the lack of a driving license, along with struggles to pay rent, water, electric, and other bills. A month ago, she stopped bringing her children to the Councils after-school program because the ride they relied on to get there fell through. Its too far to walk.

Still, Velasquez remains hopeful. My dream is to see my kids one day grown up, with a profession, graduated, which is what I never had, she said.

Allison Salerno is an independent multimedia journalist based in both Georgia and South Florida. Her work focuses on food, farming and social innovation. Allison finds threads of a story line that she then weaves together and shares of how larger economic and political forces affect regular people. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, The Christian Science Monitor and on NPR stations.

Saul Martinez is an independent freelance photographer and videographer based in South Florida. He specializes in documentary, portrait, editorial and news photography. Sauls vision and approach to his work flow allows him to document life in a creative, intimate, storytelling way through photographs. He has been working in Florida since 2017, for numerous publications. Before shifting over to freelance work, he was based in Central America since 2009 as a staff wire photographer for EFE and Reuters news agencies for ten years out of Guatemala City, Guatemala.
Bethlehem, N.Y.  Three people were injured when a small plane crashed Thursday afternoon at an Upstate New York airport, police said.

A single-engine Cessna crashed shortly after takeoff at the South Albany Airport, according to WTEN, and crashed about 100 feet away from the runway. First responders rushed to the airport on Old School Road in Bethlehem at 3:42 p.m. and found the plane in tall grass at the south end of the runway, the Bethlehem Police Department said.

All three people inside the plane were hurt.

The pilot and passengers were rushed to a nearby hospital with unknown injuries, police said. An update on the condition of the three people injured was not immediately available.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating, police said.

READ MORE

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by Dana Halawi

BEIRUT, May 12 (Xinhua) -- Demand for Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) in the Lebanese market has surged over the past two years, according to car exhibitors at the 2nd edition of the E-MotorShow Middle East for Electric & Hybrid cars, who expected that Chinese cars will capture the biggest share in Lebanon's car market in the coming years.

Suk Bajwa, a sales consultant at JAC Motors, a Chinese automobile and commercial vehicle manufacturer, told Xinhua that an increasing number of Chinese car brands entered the Lebanese market over the past two years, creating fierce competition against other brands.

"This trend is attributed to Lebanese people's shift to Chinese brands, which offer leather interiors, panoramic roofs, 360 cameras, and more configurations at good prices, compared to other brands," said Bajwa.

Bajwa explained the Lebanese began to know more about Chinese cars from their relatives who live in countries where these cars are popular, such as Africa, Brazil, and other Mideast countries.

The e-MotorShow, organized by e-EcoSolutions Sustainability Firm, runs from May 10 to 14 with the participation of 18 car brands and 20 motorbike brands, providing an opportunity to showcase the newly released top brands of EVs arriving in Lebanon.

Gilbert Tegho, CEO of e-EcoSolutions, told Xinhua that around one-third of the car brands participating in the exhibition are Chinese.

Elie Makhlouf, a sales consultant at Ras Motor Co., a distributor of China's Chang'an Automobile and other brands, said his company started importing Chinese vehicles in 2017.

"Demand for Chinese car brands in Lebanon over the past two years increased by over 50 percent, and they may rank among the top three brands soon," said Makhlouf, adding "China is considered a lead manufacturer of EVs."

Hadi Sidawi, senior sales executive at BYD, a Chinese car manufacturing company, told Xinhua that many of the population now have access to solar energy and generators for recharging EVs, and Chinese brands are "number one in manufacturing batteries for EVs.

The e-MotorShow witnessed the launching of a new Chinese e-vehicle by Gargour Asia company, a renowned vehicle importer in Lebanon, on Wednesday.

Elie Assaf, a business development specialist at Gargour Asia, told Xinhua that Skywell is his company's first Chinese vehicle. He expects the car will be in huge demand in Lebanon with its affordable price, great specs, safety standards, and extended warranty.

Assaf noted that his company is planning on importing other Chinese brands soon, saying "Chinese cars are the future." 
Teagasc Pig Open Day

The Teagasc Pig Development Department held their Pig Open Day this week over two locations, Moorepark Research and Innovation Centre, Fermoy, and Ballyhaise Agricultural College.

Dr Laura Boyle, Teagasc Senior Research Officer at a Teagasc Pig Open Day in Moorepark, Fermoy, Co Cork. Picture: O'Gorman Photography

Teagasc Pig Open Day

This was the first large in person pig research event since 2019. Delegates were welcomed to the event in Cavan by the Director of Teagasc, Professor Frank OMara, and in Cork by the Head of the Animal & Grassland Research and Innovation programme, Professor Laurence Shalloo. The opening session also included an overview of the research programme by the Head of the Pig Development Department, Dr Edgar Garcia Manzanilla.

Over 170 pig producers and industry stakeholders attended over the two day annual event. The format of the day comprised of a new structure, where attendees were guided through interactive stations. This provided an ideal opportunity for attendees to see first-hand the results of the comprehensive research programme undertaken by Teagasc, and to meet and discuss with the researchers, advisors and postgraduate students who carry out the work.

The interactive stations covered a wide range of topics covering many issues aiming to improve the sustainability of the Irish pig industry; managing the pig environment, improving pre- and post-weaning management and nutrition, managing disease, grower and finisher feeding, and the potential for developing added value pig products for the retail and export markets. Also included in the day was a viewing of the newest addition to the Teagasc Pig Research Facility, a state of the art finisher building tailored to conduct low emissions and high welfare research trials.

Speaking at the event, Dr Keelin ODriscoll, Teagasc Researcher said; The Teagasc Pig Department has a strong reputation both nationally and internationally in cutting edge pig research. However as well as showcasing our work, a main aim of the open days was to engage with our stakeholders so that going forward we can effectively target our programme to address their needs. We were absolutely delighted with the high attendance and constructive discussions at all the interactive stations.
Imran.Syed BHPian



Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: YYZ Posts: 44 Thanked: 309 Times

Re: Emigrating to a Foreign Land! Quote: Turbanator Originally Posted by Wow! I will respectfully disagree. Some of the other members have already countered this. Besides, economic reasons are one of the reasons and not the only ones. I have no personal experiences but from what I have heard, not all people from different religions are treated equally in Gulf, at least not the same way as in Canada irrespective of religion.

There are many people from different walk of faiths working and enjoying life in Qatar, Bahrain and UAE. I dont want to comment on this further.



Quote: There's a reduction, but authorities will need to do better. Most of these are sold overseas so exports can be checked. Am sure, things will improve given how the technology is improving. I haven't heard of any Tesla getting stolen from home or parking. Some of the older technologies are prone to theft.



Quote: I don't know what's the number of such thefts vs the cars on the road in Canada, must be a tiny 0.0_ % in my opinion.





Quote: The issue is when a lot of people are going to work or stay in a smaller area. The housing problem or the price increase that you see is mostly in GTA or Vancouver. There's hardly an increase in some of the other cities I have experienced like Edmonton or Calgary. You can still buy a very good detached house in Edmonton at 500K.

Maybe you should go and check the rents in the Calgary, post the Alberta is calling promotion. No doubt it is cheaper, but the gap is closing fast because of the sheer amount of people coming in.

But I still begrudgingly agree with you, crying about high cost of living in ON/BC isn't going to make it lower, practically I will just have to move there.



Quote: You can well imagine the situation of other cheaper ones.

It makes more sense to rent in India than in Canada.





Quote: I think your core problem is something different.



What makes you think that others, including people in GTA, paying 60-70% of their salaries only as rentals are all fools or have made peace with themselves realised their mistakes and committed themselves to the future? No, on the contrary, they all see something good, for themselves and the next generation. Yes, a lot of them were not privileged in their home countries in the first place and find whatever they get rewarding but even the ones who are well settled here, have moved and got blended. They surely have made some compromises but I haven't seen a lot moving back.

Canada is going to be a victim of Brain Drain. It is already happening, you can watch videos and/or read about it. I am not even one of those highly skilled person but it is undeniable that those who are already settled here did it far easily (even though at that time it may have been the toughest too) than what can be achieved from here on.



Quote: I don't think a commoner in Canada needs to pay a pie for anything. On the contrary, it will be a problem if one tries. For the businesses or otherwise, I will have no comments as I have no experience and neither it matters to 99.9999% and more people.

Which does not work if people don't have enough disposable income.



Quote: There's a lot of peer pressure, especially in housing. Even people who have one house, have taken HELOC have spent the money elsewhere. Booking new homes or doing some investments. I will say this is mostly to earn more and expect similar rewards in the past. This may not be a good call for everyone especially ones making investments without knowledge. It's a debt trap and a lot of people have fallen into it.



Quote: What, in your opinion, will be the average salary of that Software person and what will be the salary for his wife in this video?



Given my limited knowledge, I assume they will be at least earning over 100K. Can they not save 50-100K to buy a new home for about 500-800K? Why do they need to look at Million dollars detached homes?

Problem number 2: 50-100k in the beginning of 2022 was different than 2023. You might hear in the news that house prices have come down a bit, but the affordability is completely gone. The same 50-100k won't be able to get you a cheaper-than-2022 house now because interest rates went up so the qualifying rate/mortgage stress test went up too. So you need more money down. Okay, but did your wage go up? Nahhhhh, it did not, not enough to keep up.

Problem number 3: Why hasn't the bubble collapsed? Well.. the amortization went up. Used to be 20-30 year mortgages, now its 45 to even 65 in some cases. Please imagine paying off a small condo or a tiny 2 bedroom house for close to 50 years of your life.

The other reason the bubble hasn't collapsed: The monthly installment of mortgages remained the same but the interest share of the mortgage went up considerably. Can you see the drawback of this measure?

Problem 4: THE MAJOR PROBLEM: The restricted supply. Multiple bids are back. No inspection. Deals being made sight unseen. What does it matter if you get the bank to pay 40k extra now and increase your amortization by a few more years. People have believed that the housing will never be fixed. Students and immigrants will keep coming in, supporting the zombie housing market. The only way this bubble collapses is if the inflow slows down and/or jobs are lost unfortunately and people lose their shirts.. till then the bottom of the pyramid suffers.



Quote: You are talking about Doctors and how people die without care, Yes it's difficult to get dates for any specialised treatments but did you or the guy in the video mention the family clinic? Can you not simply walk into one and see a Doctor usually without waiting (with appointments) or in less than an hour without appointments in most places? I don't see any problems with most lab tests either.



Quote: And, No, usually no one will let you Die waiting for treatment. You are attended promptly if are in serious condition..



Quote: Usually, when someone is trying to help you, I will begin my reply with an apology for missing. This may be a generational thing but I won't say to someone "I got busy" and will instead begin " Sorry, I got busy". I also thought just like VN but as I mentioned, it's just a very personal thing.



Quote: Please tell me how is this different to any other big city in the world. What we have seen in the past Two Years is not going to continue forever.



Quote: Yes but who decides this? I like to live closer to nature, a ravine lot with a creek or a water view, maybe on a hill but the question is can I afford it? Definitely not in Gurgaon and nor in any major city in GTA.

But look at this property, it's about 50 Kms from Toronto Pearson and was sold at around 10 CR. Can you show me anything similar around Banglore or Gurgaon or Mumbai or others in Gulf?



https://housesigma.com/web/en/house/...22762-40346826





Quote: A lot of youngsters move for very different reasons now. My son is happy living independently, managing on a starting salary as any other normal engineer will get in Canada, paying over 30% in taxes and about 70% on house rental on the remainder as I always supported him while studying and have told him to continue as long he wants. But around 8 months into his job, he is looking at a smaller place, a little away from downtown as he doesn't want anything from me now. I feel proud of this. Buying a house is not something on his mind yet, though he can qualify for one.





Quote: Again, this will vary from person and the field. My BIL was a renowned Ortho physician here and with prior experience in UK, the whole family moved last year to Toronto. He cannot do any practice in Canada but goes to a hospital and work under a Doctor, to whom he is much more senior/ qualified and experienced. Even doing operations but all under fellowship earning a fraction of what the other guy earns. On the contrary, his wife currently has three jobs, she is an experienced teacher with PHD and earns about 3 times what her husband earns.



Quote: One of my knowns rents out his basements, mostly to newcomers going as far as picking them up from Airport, and giving cooked/ dry food and utensils for a few weeks until they get settled. So, you will find every type of person. He was helped similarly by a Gentleman 15 Years ago when he first landed.

OT: I do not wish the basement life even on my enemies. I know people move out asap to upper floors but some cant and I shudder when i think of their lifestyle. No other country IMO has a basement culture like the one in Canada.



Quote: Unless you have factored in buying a house for yourself, I don't think anything else has increased by twice. Food and eating out has increased but it's coming lower now. The clothes, I think are about the same.



Quote: Since you have been mentioning a lot about this, can you give us some ballpark figures and how you find things out of reach here and how you could have enjoyed the same things in the Gulf, which comes on top of your list? I will appreciate if you can present some actual figures. household income after tax is 80k. 1bedroom rent inclusive of everything: 36k. Food for two: say 14k, transport and other costs: say another 15k.

Now you might see why the Russian guy in the youtube video is leaving.





APOLITICAL UPDATE: Media is no longer completely free in Canada. Never was completely free anyway apparently. Read more about bill C 11.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65420133 Please note that I have made the list strictly based on economic reasons. Earning more money is a classic and major reason for immigration, and GCC immigration is to this day on the list of top destinations. It is definitely a place to be able to make and save money.There are many people from different walk of faiths working and enjoying life in Qatar, Bahrain and UAE. I dont want to comment on this further.There is no reduction yet and really hurts people. Another case happened in my office today. However the targets are high end, flashy and latest cars which most new immigrants don't really go for.. in that way I feel we are somewhat safe.It will always remain a tiny percentage. Cars sold every day vs. cars stolen cannot be the same, can it?Alberta managed their housing much better than the rest of Canada, that is a fact. But if it was so easy to live in Calgary/Edmonton/Saskatchewan, people would've moved much sooner. The reason GTA/GVA/ON/BC thrive is because all the big businesses of the country are here and the most amount of/or at least the most popular Colleges and Universities as well.Maybe you should go and check the rents in the Calgary, post the Alberta is calling promotion. No doubt it is cheaper, but the gap is closing fast because of the sheer amount of people coming in.But I still begrudgingly agree with you, crying about high cost of living in ON/BC isn't going to make it lower, practically I will just have to move there.Prices have increased but a flat costing 2cr did not become 4cr in a span of two years, this is my personal rough example. And India has way more housing in metro cities compared to Canada, so there is also that. Here people line up for a rental property especially if it is rent controlled.It makes more sense to rent in India than in Canada.Yeah.. I have met people who "blended" in. The happiest ones are realtors, real estate owners, immigration consultants and lawyers and tradespeople. The kinda people who help a country do organic growth? MOST of them dream about moving to the US/EU/other countries where their work will be compensated properly either financially or non-financially.Canada is going to be a victim of Brain Drain. It is already happening, you can watch videos and/or read about it. I am not even one of those highly skilled person but it is undeniable that those who are already settled here did it far easily (even though at that time it may have been the toughest too) than what can be achieved from here on.You are paying with your taxes. It should matter to more people and Canada needs small businesses to generate more jobs.Which does not work if people don't have enough disposable income.Those who were able to struggle and continue to own their houses are now millionaires. Guy in my office makes the same pay I do, except he has an equity of over a million dollars, entirely through owning his house. BTW This guy is on the verge of retirement, so this is his peak income. Two people I know did this back in 2010s: one got a house and one invested an amount of money similar to the house's downpayment in a business. Small Business was very successful but in 2022, the house owner had more equity than the business owner.Problem number 1: making 100k is REALLY tough in CanadaProblem number 2: 50-100k in the beginning of 2022 was different than 2023. You might hear in the news that house prices have come down a bit, but the affordability is completely gone.now because interest rates went up so the qualifying rate/mortgage stress test went up too. So you need more money down. Okay, but did your wage go up? Nahhhhh, it did not, not enough to keep up.Problem number 3: Why hasn't the bubble collapsed? Well... Used to be 20-30 year mortgages, now its 45 to even 65 in some cases. Please imagine paying off a small condo or a tiny 2 bedroom house for close to 50 years of your life.The other reason the bubble hasn't collapsed: The monthly installment of mortgages remained the same but the interest share of the mortgage went up considerably. Can you see the drawback of this measure?Problem 4: THE MAJOR PROBLEM: The restricted supply. Multiple bids are back. No inspection. Deals being made sight unseen. What does it matter if you get the bank to pay 40k extra now and increase your amortization by a few more years. People have believed that the housing will never be fixed. Students and immigrants will keep coming in, supporting the zombie housing market. The only way this bubble collapses is if the inflow slows down and/or jobs are lost unfortunately and people lose their shirts.. till then the bottom of the pyramid suffers.No you cant. I walked into a clinic and waiting 3 hours to be attended to. 15 minutes after the walk-in start time, the clinic stopped accepted new patients. But this is a big city example.Has happened already. Its a triage and availability system. But not significant so far.Must be a generational thing.It's not very different. That is what I am telling people. Canada used to be good, it can be good again but as it stands right now, it is terrible. Dont come in 2023. Maybe 2024 and 2025 once the interest rates start going down a little and inflation cools and/or wages catch up.How do you intend to pay and if it is a loan, how long are do you want to work and pay it off? India does not have the road infrastructure to make it a viable competitor. UAE does not have as many water views as Canada. Assume your office is in Downtown and you have to go 5 times a day, you will be miserable and kicking yourself for the living in St Caledon.I hope the odds are always in his favor.In the same field I have personally met foreign doctors driving Ubers. PhDs too. I cannot read and take someone making a fraction of what they can make or working three jobs as a positive thing. Sounds doable only for a short few years.Glad to report: Many such examples here, even in the DESI community.OT: I do not wish the basement life even on my enemies. I know people move out asap to upper floors but some cant and I shudder when i think of their lifestyle. No other country IMO has a basement culture like the one in Canada.I disagree. Please find research reports of prices and wages from 2019-2023.Please go back a few posts and see that someone decided against moving to Canada with an income of 130k cad or something like that. Exceptional income here that. Most make 55-80k. Medianincome after tax is 80k. 1bedroom rent inclusive of everything: 36k. Food for two: say 14k, transport and other costs: say another 15k.Now you might see why the Russian guy in the youtube video is leaving.APOLITICAL UPDATE: Media is no longer completely free in Canada. Never was completely free anyway apparently. Read more about bill C 11. Last edited by Imran.Syed : 10th May 2023 at 05:00 .
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The latest study by cybersecurity company Surfshark shows that a total of 41.6M accounts were breached in Q1 2023, with Russia ranking first and amounting to a sixth of all breaches (6.6 million) from January through March.

The United States takes second place (5 million) followed by Taiwan (3.9 million), France (3.2 million), and Spain (3.2 million). Taiwan saw the highest quarter-over-quarter increase (21x), the country had only placed 26th in Q4 2022 with 191K breached users. Globally, data breaches declined, dropping to one user account leaked every second in Q1 2023.

Says Agneska Sablovskaja, Lead Researcher at Surfshark:

According to Surfsharks study, data breaches declined globally in the first quarter of 2023 if we compare it to the previous one.

However, the fact that over 40 million accounts were breached in just a few months is still a cause for concern. Those whose data was compromised are at an increased risk of being targeted by cybercriminals as their personal information can be utilized for phishing attacks, fraud, identity theft, and other serious cybercrimes.

In Q1 2023, Europe was also the only region with a significant quarter-over-quarter increase in its statistics on data breaches. The number nearly doubled, growing from 9.9 million in Q4 2022 to 17.5 million in Q1 2023. To put this into perspective, 2 out of 5 accounts breached in Q1 2023 were of European origin, with 38% of these being Russian.

Within the region, the biggest quarter-over-quarter spikes in data breaches were recorded in Czechia (almost 9x), Armenia (around 6x), and Switzerland (6x).

Asia was the second-most vulnerable region, accounting for around a quarter of breaches during this period (10.6 million). The three countries that saw the highest quarter-over-quarter increase overall were all Asian  Taiwan and Saudi Arabia both had around 20 times more leaked accounts in Q1 2023 than in Q4 2022, while South Korea saw its number increase 12 times.

An additional 13% of the accounts were North American (5.3 million). All other regions comprised less than 5% of the quarters total. Out of all regions, Africa saw the greatest quarter-over-quarter decrease.

Some of the biggest breaches by email count were Sberbank (Russia), with 2.9 million accounts leaked, Weee! (United States) with 1.1 million and Zurich Insurance (Switzerland) with 757,000.

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The big picture: As the initial hype surrounding technology trends such as cryptocurrency mining, web3, blockchain, NFTs, and the Metaverse has subsided, many individuals and organizations involved seem to be redirecting their attention towards generative AI. This shift is also affecting hardware originally intended for blockchain and mining, which could potentially repurpose its processing power for AI applications.

Two large cryptomining companies, Hut 8 and Hive Blockchain, have redirected their mining GPU infrastructure toward high-performance computing (HPC), which includes AI workloads. This move could help recoup investments on GPUs the companies originally purchased for cryptocurrency mining, a market that dramatically shifted last year.

Miners bought so many PC graphics cards during past crypto booms to mine Ethereum that it drove up GPU prices, frustrating consumers who wanted to use them for playing games. Ethereum was particularly well-suited to GPU-based mining until the cryptocurrency transitioned its backend late last year. The subsequent crypto winter forced miners to return or resell used GPUs, although Bitcoin has recovered somewhat.

However, GPUs are also one of the main engines powering generative AI like ChatGPT (along with large numbers of contractors earning $15 an hour).

Nvidia believes AI is a much better use of its cards than crypto. The involvement of tech giants like Microsoft and Google further legitimizes AI as an alternative path for companies holding onto GPU-based crypto farms.

Hut 8's HPC business generated approximately $16.9 million last year, accounting for about 11 percent of its overall revenue. This increase is attributed to shifting processing power to AI clients. Similarly, Hive aims to grow its HPC income from $1 million to $10 million in 2024 and $20 million by 2025. The revenue could contribute to recovering the $66 million it paid Nvidia for graphics cards in 2021.

However, most crypto operators will not be able to rely on AI as a lifeline. Miner brokerage service Bitpro Consulting states that only five to 15 percent of mining GPUs can transition to HPC.

Moreover, AI applications demand substantial amounts of hardware that necessitate a large maintenance staff. Attempting this shift also puts prospective HPC companies in competition with Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services, which already offer mature HPC infrastructure to AI clients. Therefore, only the largest mining companies are likely to make the transition. Ordinary GPU buyers probably won't experience a massive influx of AI startups driving up prices anytime soon.
A hot potato: Some Dell employees are fuming about a perceived broken promise regarding working from home. Statements from top executives in 2021 led them to believe they could work from home forever. However, the company now wants them back in the office at least three days per week.

Most of Dell's staff started working strictly from home during the pandemic. The company went to great expense to equip these employees with the tools to do their jobs remotely. At the time, Dell COO Jeff Clarke said the "investment" was such that the company would likely just keep people working from home rather than call them back into the office.

"After all of this investment to enable remote everything, we will never go back to the way things were before," Clarke said in a Q2 2021 earnings call. "Here at Dell, we expect, on an ongoing basis, that 60 percent of our workforce will stay remote or have a hybrid schedule where they work from home mostly and come into the office one or two days a week."

It was a sentiment that even CEO Michael Dell echoed. Dell bragged about company productivity being at an all-time high in a September 2022 LinkedIn blog post, adding that forced office work is "doing it wrong."

Many employees took this to mean they would never have to set foot in the office again. One can imagine the disappointment when Clarke informed everyone via email this week that they would have to start coming back into the office three days per week. Some disgruntled employees have called it a "soft layoff," implying that Dell is only calling them back to the office to shed some employees who would rather quit than return to the office, thus saving the company from having to dole out redundancy compensation.

Clarke said the company would make the transition gradually, and employees would have options and time to work things out regarding their modified work schedules.

"We know many of us have arranged our lives around remote work over the past three years," Clarke said in an internal memo seen by The Register. "This is not a light switch transition. We understand it will take time to prepare and adjust to being in the office more regularly again. This is the beginning of us more clearly defining hybrid work for our company."

Dell is allowing affected workers a loose timeframe to return to the office "as soon as you can arrange it" to ease the transition. The mandate only applies to employees within an hour's commute to the closest Dell office facility. Employees can also choose their three office days.

According to at least one employee, the three-day mandate is inconsistent with Dell's pre-Covid work schedules. Most hybrid employees before the pandemic spent only two days per week in the office. Now it seems to be three days across the board.

Employees have a list of reasons they do not wish to return to Dell offices, including fewer amenities, no child care, shared workspaces, and inadequate parking, resources, and infrastructure. But not all workers agree with the 100% work-from-home "norm."

One 15-year employee stated that since Covid, new hires have gone downhill. He claims that green employees don't get the same training and supervision that makes them good enough at their jobs to work from home effectively.

"It became a joke," said an anonymous employee on TheLayoff forum. "Juniors send memes around about using text is better than phoning people. No initiative to do the work they are given and no one to help them. Because there is no one around them to learn from and their manager is missing and equally as unskilled they just go quiet."
Forward-looking: Quick Resume remains one of the Xbox's most significant advantages over PC gaming. Microsoft previously expressed the desire to bring the functionality to PC, but without any success thus far. Recent statements upon the launch of the Asus ROG Ally suggest the company hasn't given up and that PC gaming handhelds are pushing it to improve Windows.

Roanne Sones, Microsoft's head of Xbox devices, reiterated the company's resolve towards introducing features like Quick Resume to PC gaming at an event celebrating the full unveiling of the Asus ROG Ally  the Windows-based handheld ships on June 13 for $700. Microsoft previously explained why implementing Quick Resume on PC is much more complicated than on Xbox.

Modern Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo consoles let users suspend games while leaving the device in sleep mode or performing other tasks on the system before instantly resuming play without significantly impacting performance. The feature drastically cuts startup times. Moreover, Xbox Series consoles can simultaneously pause and quickly switch between multiple games, something the Switch and PS5 can't even do.

Although Microsoft has successfully migrated features like DirectStorage and Auto HDR to PC, Quick Resume is far trickier. However, the emergence of handheld Windows devices like the ROG Ally gives the company the impetus to continue the effort.

At an Asus event (video above), Sones said the new portable devices have changed how Microsoft thinks about the Windows user experience. She mentions Quick Resume specifically and the prospect of stopping a game on a desktop to immediately continue it on a handheld. Sones made similar comments at another ROG Ally panel late last month.

In an interview last year with Digital Trends, Xbox Series Lead Developer Jason Ronald explained in-depth how Quick Resume works and why bringing it to PC is so challenging. He said the feature silos each suspended game into something similar to a virtual machine and then saves the machine's state to the SSD.

Juggling virtual machines is relatively easy on Xbox because Microsoft fully controls its closed software ecosystem. However, how Steam and other PC game vendors package their software on Windows muddles how it can deal with those games. The sheer variety of PC hardware configurations is another hurdle that Microsoft has yet to solve.

Microsoft's ongoing struggle to bring Quick Resume to Windows is part of a push to improve the portable user experience. Implementing Windows lets the ROG Ally run a broader array of software than Valve's Steam Deck, but it wasn't designed for portable machines or small screens.

Some ROG Ally reviews note how clunky Windows feels in a tiny package, and Sones notes that Microsoft is aware of the problem  so rest assured devs are working on it. Another promising sign is a hackathon project from last year in which Microsoft employees tested a portable-optimized Windows user interface that would make launching games faster.

Whether or not these features ever appear, it's clear that Microsoft wants PC gaming handhelds to help it eventually make Game Pass on the go a reality.
by Elena Chuquimarca, Xi Yue

QUITO, May 11 (Xinhua) -- The recently signed free trade agreement (FTA) between Ecuador and China will enhance trade exchanges and bilateral relations, leading to mutual benefits, according to officials and experts.

"I must express the enormous joy I feel at having finalized this free trade agreement between Ecuador and the People's Republic of China," Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso said following the signing of the agreement on Wednesday night.

The pact was signed by China's Commerce Minister Wang Wentao and Ecuador's Minister for Production, Foreign Trade, Investment and Fisheries Julio Prado via video after a year of negotiation, according to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce.

"The FTA will translate into well-being for citizens, development and more income for thousands of families," said Lasso, adding that "both countries win with this agreement."

At a following press conference, Prado called the deal "historic," saying that "the agreement takes into account the interests of both countries and expands opportunities for joint collaboration to achieve the more sustainable development of our countries in the present and in the future."

"It puts Ecuador on the map of Asia, and makes China (Ecuador's) largest supplier of consumer goods, raw materials and capital goods, which will contribute to improving the competitiveness of Ecuadorian industry," said Prado.

China, he noted, is the world's leading market, with more than 1.4 billion consumers. Hence, the agreement "is tremendously interesting for the exporting, productive and consumer sectors, as well as being good business for everyone."

"The specific potential of this agreement, from the perspective of exports, is an additional 3 billion to 4 billion U.S. dollars over the next 10 years," he said, adding that Ecuador's employment outlook is also poised to benefit.

"Through the trade agreement with China and others that are being negotiated with several countries, we estimate that in the next seven years, we will double the number of productive jobs" in the export sector, which currently stands at 1.2 million, he said.

Ecuador is the fourth Latin American country to sign an FTA with China, after Chile, Peru and Costa Rica. The FTA needs to be approved and ratified by the Constitutional Court and the National Assembly (unicameral Congress) of Ecuador before taking effect.

In the meantime, exporters and business leaders hailed the agreement as a boon to growth.

"The size of the Chinese market will allow us to leverage exports much more," especially as China's economy has proven resilient, expanding despite the challenging global landscape, according to Xavier Rosero, vice president of the Ecuadorian Federation of Exporters.

China is Ecuador's second-largest trading partner. In 2022, the two countries witnessed double-digit growth in trade for the second year in a row, with bilateral trade reaching 13.1 billion U.S. dollars, up 19.7 percent year on year, according to data by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce.

"The Chinese economy has shown that it can sustain this dynamism of growth ... It is one of the economies that lead global growth, and that means its purchasing power for imported products has stayed significantly high," said Rosero.

Alberto Acosta, an economic consultant and international analyst, said the signing of the FTA with China "is excellent news" for Ecuador, adding that it would increase trade and strengthen bilateral relations.

"International trade always unites and creates opportunities," said Acosta. "That will mean a much closer relationship because there will be more exchanges." 
In brief: An engineer who worked for wireless networking products provider Ubiquiti has been sentenced to six years in prison for stealing gigabytes of confidential data from the company and demanding $1.9 million for its return. Nickolas Sharp claimed his plan was an "unsanctioned security drill" to improve network safety, but the judge didn't accept this excuse.

Bloomberg writes that 37-year-old Sharp pleaded guilty to charges of intentionally damaging a protected computer, wire fraud, and making false statements to law enforcement. Prosecutors claim he extorted money from Ubiquiti while purportedly working to fix the security breach he'd created.

Sharp asked United States District Judge Katherine Polk Failla that he receive no prison time as the cyberattack was actually an "unsanctioned security drill" that left Ubiquiti "a safer place for itself and for its clients." Sharp also claimed that Ubiquiti CEO Robert Pera had prevented him from "resolving outstanding security issues," which led to the engineer developing an "idiotic hyperfixation" on fixing the "out of control" and "not rational" security flaws.

Failla did not accept Sharp's excuse. "It was not up to Mr. Sharp to play God in this circumstance," the judge said, adding that he'd had plenty of opportunities to "pull back from the precipice."

Sharp used his administrative access to Ubiquiti's systems to steal the secret information during his time at the company between August 2018 and April 2021. He used his cloud administrator credentials to clone hundreds of repositories over SSH and steal private files from Ubiquiti's AWS infrastructure and GitHub repositories.

Prosecutors said he was discovered copying approximately 155 data repositories when an internet outage temporarily disabled his VPN, resulting in his home IP address being unmasked by Ubiquiti. Sharp admitted to lying to FBI agents during a search of his home in Match 2021.

US attorney for the Southern District of New York, Damian Williams, said Sharp, who earned $250,000 per year, made "dozens, if not hundreds, of criminal decisions" and even implicated innocent co-workers to divert suspicion away from himself. Sharp admitted that his actions were planned for "financial gain."

Ubiquiti spent over $1.5 million trying to remediate Sharp's "breathtaking" theft. Ars Technica writes that he cost the company a lot more after posing as a whistleblower, planting false reports in the media, and contacting US and foreign regulators to investigate Ubiquiti's downplaying of the data breach. He also claimed that Ubiquiti lacked a logging mechanism that would have prohibited it from determining whether the "attacker" had accessed any systems or data. Sharp's actions caused Ubiquiti's stock to crash, wiping $4 billion off its market cap.

"Nickolas Sharp was paid close to a quarter million dollars a year to help keep his employer safe," Williams said in a press release. "He abused that trust by stealing a massive amount of sensitive data, attempting to implicate innocent employees in his attack, extorting his employer for ransom, obstructing law enforcement, and spreading false news stories that harmed the company and anyone who invested in the company. Sharp now faces serious penalties for his callous crimes."

Center image: Office snapshots
A hot potato: The Google Play Store is notorious for harboring apps that contain malware, adware, or some flavor of spyware or fleeceware. A lesser-known fact is that hackers are increasingly targeting pre-installed apps for their misdeeds, and researchers are trying to raise awareness about this growing trend. Millions of affordable Android phones come with numerous pre-installed apps, and hackers only need to subvert one. However, addressing this issue is significantly more challenging than dealing with rogue apps that find their way into the Play Store.

Last month, we learned that malware had been discovered in 60 Android apps with over 100 million downloads  another black eye for the mobile operating system that has an estimated three billion active users worldwide. Malicious developers regularly exploit various loopholes in Google's app vetting process to create apps that steal login credentials or fleeceware that squeeze as much as $400 million per year from users by tricking them into signing up for expensive in-app subscriptions.

However, researchers at Trend Micro are sounding the alarm about the growing trend of Android devices that come with malicious software pre-installed. While you can easily remove an app you've downloaded from the Play Store, addressing malware embedded in system apps or device firmware is a significantly more challenging task.

Android's open nature allows manufacturers to create a wide range of phone models and target price-conscious consumers with more affordable options. However, it also opens the door for hackers to sneak in malicious code before those devices even leave the factory floor. This risk also applies to other Android devices, including smartwatches, tablets, set-top boxes, and smart TVs.

Senior Trend Micro researcher Fyodor Yarochkin says pre-installed malware has become much more common in recent years, partly due to a race to the bottom among mobile firmware developers. Once selling firmware became unprofitable, many developers began offering it for free.

As expected, there's a catch to this new business model  many of the firmware images analyzed by Trend Micro contained bits of code described as "silent plugins." The researchers have discovered over 80 flavors so far, but only a few have seen widespread distribution. The more popular ones are being sold underground and promoted on Facebook, YouTube, and various blogs.

Some of these plugins allow cyber criminals to "rent out" Android devices for up to five minutes at a time and use them to steal login credentials or other sensitive user information. Others are capable of downloading additional malware onto the infected device.

Researchers estimate that millions of infected devices are in use worldwide, with a large portion concentrated in Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia. Interestingly, the criminals themselves claim that 8.9 million Android devices are loaded with their silent plugins.

Trend Micro confirmed the presence of malware in phones from at least 10 vendors, most of them Chinese. The firm suspects an additional 40 vendors are affected, but researchers are more interested in determining where along the supply chain the infection is most likely to occur.

Google has been aware of pre-installed Android malware for years, but it cannot easily solve the problem due to its limited control over the complex OEM Android supply chain. Cheaper phones tend to use the Android Open Source Platform (AOSP) and come with anywhere between 100 and 400 pre-installed apps  all it takes is infecting one of them.

It also doesn't help that as many as 225 device manufacturers regularly leave diagnostic software on Android phones, which essentially enables backdoor remote access for spyware and censorship tools. This behavior has been observed in numerous Chinese brands as well as big names like Oppo, OnePlus, Realme, and Xiaomi. Some, like Chinese-owned Gigaset, which sells phones in the EU, were found to have buried a malware auto-installer in a system update app.

Back in 2019, Google Project Zero researcher Maddie Stone revealed the existence of an SMS and ad fraud botnet called Chamois that had affected at least 21 million Android devices in previous years through pre-installed malware. The company discovered that vendors would often unknowingly incorporate Chamois code into their Android distributions because they were easily fooled into believing it was a legitimate ad service.

Also read: Does Android need saving? If yes, here's how to do it.

Since then, Google has invested significant effort in refining Google Play Protect and expanding its capabilities to monitor pre-installed apps on Android devices for malicious behavior. That said, hackers continue to find ways to bypass these protections, and they're even developing lucrative business models around it on the dark web. A recent Kaspersky analysis found that accessing these malicious services costs anywhere between $2,000 and $20,000.

As for protecting yourself, Yarochkin recommends opting for higher-end devices and sticking to brands like Samsung and Google, which supposedly have better supply chain security. Most mobile antivirus apps are ineffective against real security threats, so it's best not to rely on them, unless you want to end up like thousands of users who downloaded password-stealing malware disguised as antivirus tools.

Image credit: Luis Andres Villalon
In a nutshell: Toyota is in apology mode after recently discovering that a misconfigured server had been exposing some customer data on the web for nearly a decade. The Japanese automaker said human error was to blame for a cloud server being made public since November 2013. Publicly accessible customer data included in-vehicle terminal IDs and chassis numbers as well as vehicle location and time information.

Approximately 2.15 million customers were involved, and all are being notified via the email address Toyota has on file. According to Toyota, the exposed data was sealed on April 17, 2023. A dedicated call center is also being set up to answer questions from concerned customers.

Toyota thus far has not received any reports of misused data, nor is it aware if anyone copied the information during the open period.

The misconfigured system has since been fixed. A spokesperson told Reuters that the company has notified Japan's Personal information Protection Commission about the incident.

The automaker is taking steps to ensure its other online systems are secure and to mitigate the potential of a repeat incident in the future. In addition to better educating employees, Toyota plans to launch a cloud audit program and continually monitor cloud system settings.

Cyberattacks and data leaks are a dime a dozen these days, and Toyota has experienced its fair share of issues over the years. In 2022, Toyota said a subcontractor accidentally uploaded source code and an access key to GitHub that could have been used to access email addresses of nearly 300,000 customers.

In February of the same year, Toyota had to halt production at some of its facilities due to a cyberattack on one of its suppliers. At the time, it was estimated that the attack could cost the company as much as $400 million and set production back by around 13,000 vehicles.

A key cloning-based security flaw in 2020 left millions of vehicles from Toyota, Kia and Hyundai vulnerable to theft.

Image credit: Traffic by Barry Tan, Toyota by Chandler Cruttenden
Tesla's home battery pack Powerwall has now launched in Spain, the company's latest market to get Tesla Energy. Powerwall was launched almost a decade ago but the company continues to expand it to all its markets.

(Photo : Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

LOS ANGELES, CA - APRIL 30: Guests take photographs of the Powerwall system after Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla unveiled suit of batteries for homes, businesses, and utilities at Tesla Design Studio April 30, 2015 in Hawthorne, California.

Launching Tesla Powerwall in Spain

Home batteries Tesla Powerwall has officially landed in Spain. According to a report from Gearrice, customers in the new market will now be able to contact one of the company's authorized installers from its website as they carry out the purchase and implementation of the Powerwall in their households.

Powerwall has been launched by Tesla for a decade now and despite that it has taken so long for these battery packs to land in Spain, this is good news for both company and its consumers, especially those who have an electrical installation in their homes.

Because of the high demand for the product in its home market, Tesla had to focus its limited production capacity in the United States and some markets where it could make the biggest difference due to the increasing electricity rates, such as Australia.

Homes in remote places where power outages occur relatively easily will never again experience power outages via Powerwall as it aims to reduce users' dependence on the conventional electricity grid, energy costs savings, and environmental impact reduction. This also allows users to store solar energy generated via solar panels photovoltaics for later use.

Tesla & Holaluz Partnership

This market expansion follows a new partnership with Holaluz, a solar installer based in Spain. As per the company's announcement, "Holaluz has been chosen by Tesla to boost its road map to build the most impactful green energy community in Europe."

Holaluz is one the leading energy transition companies in Europe that comes with an impact business model, aiming to decarbonize the economy. Electrek reported that the partnership between the two companies will unleash both of the potential electrical energy demands through scaling distributed solar and storage.

As of the moment, Holaluz has 12,000 home solar installations in the country and will now offer its users to upgrade them with Powerwalls. The company has also been planning to offer the home battery pack on future installations to new customers.

Also Read: Tesla's Powerwall Pilot Project With German Electric Company Transnet BW a Success!



Just last month, Tesla decided to open direct orders for Powerwall after a previous strategy of making it available with a solar power system. The company decided to strictly allow orders when they are combined with either rooftop solar or solar roof orders.

But now that they have opened a new offering, it now starts at $9,200 for a single battery pack (without taxes and incentives). This will be directly from Tesla where they can perform installations once purchased.

Related Article: Elon Musk: Tesla Powerwall, Solar to Answer California Blackout Issues? Power Grid Issues Persist

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Elon Musk announced that he will step down as the chief executive officer at Twitter and will now become the company's executive chair and chief technology officer. This was followed by a poll where he asked his followers if he should step down, with 57.5% saying yes.

(Photo : Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

KNUTSFORD, UNITED KINGDOM APRIL 21: In this photo illustration the Twitter account of Elon Musk is seen on a mobile cellphone on April 21, 2023 in Knutsford, United Kingdom. The social media company started removing large numbers of the blue verification check marks, or "blue ticks," that had historically indicated a verified account.

Stepping Down as Twitter CEO

After acquiring Twitter for $44 billion last October, Elon Musk gained the highest position on the platform after dissolving the company board and firing many veteran executives, including former CEO Parag Agrawal. But since this announcement, he clarified that his sole director status is just temporary until he finds a new replacement.

Musk has now announced that he will step down from the position as he finds a new CEO, six months after the whole acquisition. According to a report from Bloomberg, the new chief is a woman and will start in about six weeks. Musk did not name his successor but indicated that she will also be handling X.

Because of this, he will transition from a different position and will remain the sole owner of the company. In his tweet, he stated he will now become the company's Executive Chair and Chief Technology Officer to oversee products, software, and sysops.

Also Read: Twitter's Purge: Elon Musk's Inactive User Policy Requires Logging in Every 30 Days or Lose Account

His departure as the Chief Twit comes after asking his followers in a poll if he should step down, with 57.7% answering yes. Musk revealed that he was planning to step down from the position before the end of 2023 until he appoints his successor, noting that he would honor the results of the poll.

Speculated Replacements

The ones who are the potential replacement for Musk in this position are executives who are with ties to him. The list includes Twitter's Ella Irwin who handles Trust and Safety, Tesla's Board Member Robyn Denholm, SpaceX's President and COO Gwynne Shotwell, and NBCUniversal's Linda Yaccarino who leads Ads and Partnerships.

The Straits Times reported that Yaccarino was in the talks for the top post and she is Musk's choice to lead the company. However, an NBCUniversal spokesperson stated, "Linda is in back-to-back rehearsals for the Upfront," as she gets ready for a presentation for advertisers on Monday.

Musk's Leadership

(Photo : Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Elon Musk, founder and chief engineer of SpaceX speaks at the 2020 Satellite Conference and Exhibition March 9, 2020 in Washington, DC. Musk answered a range of questions relating to SpaceX projects during his appearance at the conference.

Musk's time as the CEO has drawn criticism for his unexpected changes in the operations of the company. Aside from firing the company's top executives, he also laid off hundreds of employees as he believed that it is necessary for the financial health of the company.

Twitter's core advertising business has also suffered under his leadership, where companies halted their promotional campaigns as they saw an increase in hate speech. As a result of the massive decline in advertising, Twitter's revenue has fallen by 50% since then.

CNBC reported that he tried to make up for this failure with a new subscription service called Twitter Blue, offering exclusive features like access to the edit button and the ability to compose longer tweets.

The blue checkmarks are also now executive to Twitter Blue, removing its access to non-paying subscribers even from legitimate and famous accounts that have millions of followers. Government and other private corporate accounts will retain their verification checkmarks through a separate set of icons in silver and gold.

Related Article: Elon Musk Has Twitter Alt Account? Some Users Believe There are Hundreds More

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NASA's Perseverance rover may have uncovered evidence of a wild and powerful river on Mars, challenging previous assumptions about the Red Planet's watery history.

Deep and Fast-moving River

New images captured by the rover reveal intriguing clues that point to the existence of a deep and fast-moving river system in Jezero Crater, the region under investigation.



These findings have significant implications for scientists as they seek to uncover signs of ancient microbial life preserved within Martian rocks.



Perseverance has been exploring a sedimentary rock formation, standing 820 feet (250 meters) tall, displaying distinct layers that suggest the influence of flowing water.

The key question scientists are addressing is whether this water originated from relatively shallow streams or a more forceful river network, contrasting the findings of NASA's Curiosity rover in Gale Crater.



By meticulously stitching together hundreds of images taken by Perseverance's Mastcam-Z instrument, researchers have identified coarse sediment grains and cobbles, indicating a high-energy river system that transported substantial debris.



This discovery aligns with observations made on Earth, adding a familiar touch to the exploration of Martian terrain.

Skrinkle Haven

Of particular interest is an area within the rock formation, dubbed "Skrinkle Haven," featured in one of the newly created Mastcam-Z mosaics.



The curved layers observed here bear the unmistakable imprints of powerful water flow. However, scientists are debating whether they resemble the Mississippi River or the braided Platte River in Nebraska, known for its sandbars.

Closer examination reveals that the curving layers, which appear as rippling rows across the landscape, might be remnants of shifting river banks or sandbars formed within the river itself.



Over time, wind erosion has sculpted these layers, reducing their height. While similar formations exist on Earth, they are often concealed by vegetation, making Mars an unparalleled setting for their study, according to the research team.



Another section of the curvilinear unit, called "Pinestand," presents isolated hills with sedimentary layers reaching impressive heights of up to 66 feet (20 meters).

Scientists suspect that these elevated layers may also have been shaped by a powerful river, though alternative explanations are being explored.

Read Also: Mars Dust Devil: NASA Perseverance Rover Manages to Record its Sound to Help Give More Info on its Atmosphere

Mars' Watery Past

The Perseverance team continues to analyze the Mastcam-Z images, searching for additional insights into Mars' watery past. They are also utilizing the ground-penetrating radar instrument, RIMFAX, to examine the subsurface.



The combined findings will contribute to a deeper understanding of Mars' ancient hydrological environment and its potential to support life.



"What's exciting here is we've entered a new phase of Jezero's history. And it's the first time we're seeing environments like this on Mars," Perseverance's deputy project scientist, Katie Stack Morgan of JPL, said in a statement.



"We're thinking about rivers on a different scale than we have before."

Related Article: NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover Captures the Most Detailed Image of the Martian Surface with 2.5 Billion Pixels

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A huge bang in space may have just made a resounding impact on astronomy! Astronomers have made an extraordinary discovery, uncovering the largest cosmic explosion ever witnessed.

Led by a team from the University of Southampton, the researchers have observed an explosion known as AT2021lwx that surpasses the brightness of any known supernova or tidal disruption event.

Visibly Bright For 3 Years

AT2021lwx has been visibly bright for over three years, a duration significantly longer than typical supernovae. This cosmic phenomenon occurred nearly 8 billion light years away, during a time when the universe was approximately 6 billion years old.



Remarkably, the explosion is still being detected by a network of telescopes, indicating its ongoing intensity.



The team of astronomers proposes that the explosive event is the result of a colossal cloud of gas, potentially thousands of times larger than our sun, that experienced a violent disruption caused by a supermassive black hole.



As the black hole consumed fragments of the cloud, shockwaves reverberated through its remnants, as well as through a surrounding dusty "doughnut" encompassing the black hole. Such a colossal explosion is exceedingly rare, with nothing of this magnitude observed before.



While last year's gamma-ray burst, GRB 221009A, was brighter than AT2021lwx, it lasted only a short time. However, the overall energy released by the AT2021lwx explosion far exceeds that of the gamma-ray burst.



AT2021lwx was initially detected in 2020 by the Zwicky Transient Facility in California and confirmed by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) in Hawaii. But until now, the true scale of this explosion remains shrouded in mystery.



Dr. Philip Wiseman, a Research Fellow at the University of Southampton and the leader of the research team, explains how the discovery came about unexpectedly: "We came upon this by chance, as it was flagged by our search algorithm when we were searching for a type of supernova."



"Most supernovae and tidal disruption events only last for a couple of months before fading away. For something to be bright for two plus years was immediately very unusual."

To gain further insights, the team employed multiple telescopes in their investigation, including the Neil Gehrels Swift Telescope, the New Technology Telescope in Chile operated by the European Southern Observatory, and the Gran Telescopio Canarias in La Palma, Spain.



To measure the explosion accurately, the researchers analyzed the light spectrum, carefully studying the different wavelengths, absorption features, and emission patterns. This analysis enabled them to determine the distance to the object.

Read Also: NASA's Chandra X-ray Captures 'H' in Giant Black Hole

What caused the explosion?

The only known entities in the universe that match the brightness of AT2021lwx are quasars, which are supermassive black holes continuously drawing in gas at high velocities.

Various theories have emerged regarding the cause of the explosion. The Southampton-led team posits that a massive cloud of gas, predominantly hydrogen or dust, veered from its orbit around the black hole, resulting in its expulsion and subsequent propulsion.



To gain further insights, the team aims to collect additional data by measuring various wavelengths, including X-rays, and conducting upgraded computational simulations.



This research expands our understanding of cosmic explosions and underscores the importance of continuous exploration and observation in unraveling the mysteries of the universe.

The study's findings were published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Related Article: NASA's Hubble Space Telescope Captures Bizarre Runaway Black Hole

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A new study presented at the European Congress on Obesity reveals a predominantly negative sentiment surrounding tweets about obesity.

Tweets Surged During Political Events

Researchers from Switzerland and the UK found that Twitter activity surged during major political events, including discussions about Donald Trump's weight during his presidency and an obesity campaign launched by Boris Johnson in the UK.

Dr. Jorge Correia, a researcher from the University Hospitals of Geneva, emphasizes the importance of understanding public attitudes and perceptions toward obesity to develop effective health policies and prevention strategies.



"Understanding the public's attitudes to, and perceptions of, obesity is key to the formulation of effective health policies, prevention strategies, and treatment approaches," Dr. Correia said in a statement.

"In this study, we have leveraged the wealth of information available on Twitter to explore the sentiments of the public, celebrities, and other influential people and important organizations such as the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)."



By leveraging Twitter data, the researchers employed advanced AI methods to perform sentiment analysis and classify tweets into positive, negative, and neutral categories. They also identified the main topics discussed.

Read Also: Obesity Gene: Researchers Find the Reason for One's Overeating, Links to Insulin Resistance, and MORE

Negative Sentiments

The analysis included 25,580 tweets about obesity posted between December 2019 and December 2021. Results indicated that a significantly higher percentage of tweets (72.97%) expressed negative sentiments, followed by neutral (18.78%) and positive (8.25%) sentiments.



Twitter activity surged during notable political events, such as when Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives, referred to Donald Trump as "morbidly obese."



Around 94% of the related tweets displayed negative sentiments. Dr. Correia suggests that negative portrayals of obesity by influential figures can increase stigma and spread misinformation, potentially harming public health.

During the launch of an obesity strategy by Boris Johnson in the UK, there was a notable surge in Twitter activity, which faced considerable public backlash. Around 73.9% of the tweets posted during this time expressed negative sentiments.



The analysis encompassed 243 topics, ranging from childhood obesity, COVID-19 vaccination, and racism to high obesity rates among minorities and many more.

Among these, tweets concerning COVID-19 vaccination for individuals with obesity garnered the most attention, followed by discussions regarding Nancy Pelosi's comments on Donald Trump.



Surprisingly, the third largest group of tweets came from research teams discussing their work on obesity, while racism towards Black people ranked as the fourth most tweeted topic.



Negative tweets frequently emphasized the rise in hospitalizations and fatalities caused by COVID-19 among individuals with obesity while also attributing blame to individuals for their weight.



The researchers stress the need to address obesity holistically. Dr. Correia emphasizes the importance of investments in various aspects of obesity healthcare, including improving health information, raising awareness, reducing stigma, and developing effective interventions.



They suggest running campaigns on platforms like Twitter in collaboration with other social media platforms and public and third-sector organizations to improve public knowledge about obesity.

Related Article: Obesity Rates Rise in the US; Is It Because of Increased Tech Use During the Pandemic?

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In the race to develop powerful quantum computers, engineers at the University of South Wales (UNSW) Sydney have discovered an unconventional solution for quantum computers: jellybeans.

No, not the sugary treats in different colors and flavors that we indulge our sweet teeth in, but rather jellybean quantum dots-elongated regions strategically placed between pairs of qubits, which are the fundamental units of quantum information.

These quantum dots create additional space for wiring within the microchip circuitry without interfering with the interactions between the paired qubits.

While the concept of jellybean quantum dots has been previously explored in materials like gallium arsenide, this study marks the first demonstration of their viability in silicon, a material of immense significance in the field of quantum computing.

Jellybeans to the Rescue

Associate Professor Arne Laucht, the lead author of the study, explains that silicon is particularly valuable due to its existing infrastructure for chip production, as silicon chips are widely used in classical computers.

Additionally, silicon chips offer the advantage of accommodating a large number of qubits, making them an ideal candidate for quantum computing.

Scientists and engineers encounter a unique challenge concerning the proximity of qubits. These quantum units must be positioned close to facilitate information exchange, yet they also require sufficient space for the integration of connecting wires. In the conventional approach, as qubits were moved apart to make room for wiring, their interactions would cease.

However, the introduction of the jellybean solution strikes a remarkable balance in this delicate dance.

By capturing additional electrons between the qubits, a string-like configuration reminiscent of a jellybean is formed. While only the electrons at the ends of this jellybean structure actively participate in computations, the electrons within the jellybean dot ensure a continued influence between the paired qubits, even when separated by distance.

Zeheng Wang, the co-author of the paper, highlights the significance of the number of extra electrons within the jellybean quantum dot.

They found that a few electrons result in the formation of smaller puddles within the dot, whereas a larger number of electrons-around 15 to 20-creates a more continuous and homogeneous jellybean structure.

This organized arrangement of electrons enables well-defined spin and quantum states that facilitate the coupling of qubits.

Read Also: Scientists Unlock Door to Manipulating Quantum Light-Huge Breakthrough in Physics!

Jellybean Quantum Dots

Although this milestone proves the feasibility of jellybean quantum dots, the team acknowledges that there is still much more to accomplish. The next phase of their research involves integrating functional qubits at each end of the jellybean quantum dot and establishing communication between them.

"It is great to see this work realized. It boosts our confidence that jellybean couplers can be utilized in silicon quantum computers, and we are excited to try implementing them with qubits next," said Associate Professor Arne Laucht.

This innovative use of jellybean quantum dots opens up new avenues for the advancement of quantum computing technology.

There is a chance that the once-crowded realm of quantum microchips can breathe a little easier, paving the way for the development of more powerful and efficient quantum computers.

The study's findings were published in the journal Advanced Materials.

Related Article: Caltech Scientists Create a 'Baby Wormhole' with Quantum Computing For the First Time

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In a bold move, the Texas state legislature has passed an unprecedented amendment to its Bill of Rights, paving the way for digital currencies to be recognized as legal tender.

The groundbreaking amendment, which State Representative Giovani Capriglione sponsored, allows people to pay for goods and services using any form of accepted currency, including cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Cointelegraph reports.

This historic decision comes as no surprise, given the meteoric rise of digital currencies and their increasing acceptance by mainstream investors and financial institutions.

The amendment further emphasizes that no government may interfere with an individual's ownership or possession of any form or amount of currency.

With an overwhelming majority of 139 votes in favor and only two against, the amendment is poised to be signed into law. Once passed, Texans will be free to use digital currencies alongside traditional mediums of exchange, like cash, coins, bullion, or scrip, for transactions.

What's Next for the Proposed Amendment?

But the fight is not over yet. The proposed amendment still needs to pass one more House vote before being sent to the Senate for final approval. Once there, the people of Texas will have their say and decide the fate of digital currencies in the Lone Star State.

Read Also: Hackers Are Reportedly Stealing Crypto from AT&T Emails

This move by Texas sets a precedent for other states and countries, indicating a shift towards a more digital economy. It will be interesting to see how other governments respond to this bold move and whether they follow suit. For now, Texas is leading the charge, and the world is watching.

Texas Bill of Rights

Texas is known for its unique take on independence, and now it is taking it to the next level with digital currency.

The state is set to pass an amendment to its Bill of Rights that will add digital currencies as a protected asset. According to the Texas Constitutional Enforcement group, this move is aimed at protecting Texans' financial privacy and safeguarding their wealth from the erosion of an unstable U.S. dollar.

Tom Glass, a founder of the Texas Constitutional Enforcement group, explains on Twitter that the amendment's goal is to use the inclusion of digital currencies in the Texas Bill of Rights to make a legal argument in the federal judiciary. This argument will invoke the ninth amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which recognizes the existence of natural rights beyond those explicitly listed in the first eight amendments.

The Texas Constitutional Enforcement group argues that using alternative currencies is necessary to protect Texans' hard-earned wealth from being eroded by an unstable U.S. dollar.

The group also stresses that Texans should not be forced to rely solely on the services of global financial elites, which could put their financial assets at risk of devaluation and confiscation.

We also reported in March that Texas had become a Bitcoin mining hotspot despite concerns about the industry's heavy energy use. According to findings, bitcoin miners in Texas consume around 2,100 megawatts of the state's power supplies.

Stay posted here at Tech Times.

Related Article: Dubai Crypto Venture Capital Has Elevated the Crypto Thursday Event, Providing A Significant Boost to Startups and Vcs Alike

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Photo taken on May 9, 2023 shows an area hit by flooding and landslides in Kalehe, South Kivu Province, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Flooding and landslides brought by torrential rains in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have killed 438 villagers, local media reported Thursday, citing a government spokesperson. (Xinhua)

KINSHASA, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Flooding and landslides brought by torrential rains in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have killed 438 villagers, local media reported Thursday, citing a government spokesperson.

According to the latest official report, the bodies of the victims have been mostly found in Bushushu and Nyamukubi, two villages in South Kivu province hard hit by flooding caused by heavy rains. The number of missing remains unknown, said Patrick Muyaya, the spokesperson.

The central government has sent a delegation to support rescue operations on the ground, said Muyaya.

Since last week, heavy rains have been reported in this part of the country, where landslides regularly claim the lives of residents during rainy periods.

According to the United Nations, nearly 3,000 houses were affected, of which around 1,200 were completely destroyed. Local authorities estimate that more than 5,000 people remain missing. 

People gather at an area hit by flooding and landslides in Kalehe, South Kivu Province, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), on May 9, 2023. Flooding and landslides brought by torrential rains in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have killed 438 villagers, local media reported Thursday, citing a government spokesperson. (Xinhua)

People mourn for the victims of flooding and landslides in Kalehe, South Kivu Province, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), on May 9, 2023. Flooding and landslides brought by torrential rains in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have killed 438 villagers, local media reported Thursday, citing a government spokesperson. (Xinhua)

Photo taken on May 9, 2023 shows an area hit by flooding and landslides in Kalehe, South Kivu Province, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Flooding and landslides brought by torrential rains in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have killed 438 villagers, local media reported Thursday, citing a government spokesperson. (Xinhua)

People gather at an area hit by flooding and landslides in Kalehe, South Kivu Province, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), on May 9, 2023. Flooding and landslides brought by torrential rains in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have killed 438 villagers, local media reported Thursday, citing a government spokesperson. (Xinhua)
A new Reddit feature now allows Redditors to upload NSFW (Not Safe For Work) images from their desktops.

Before this enhancement arrived, the Reddit mobile app already had a feature similar to it.

Since Reddit wants to make its mobile application and desktop version similar to one another, it also launched the feature on the PC Reddit version.

New Reddit Feature For Uploading NSFW Images From Desktops

Reddit confirmed the arrival of the new feature on May 12.

Also Read: Reddit to Make AI Pay for Accessing its API, Learning from Post Archives from Human-Generated Content

"Starting today, Redditors will be able to upload images directly from the desktop in 18+ communities if you allow posts under the 'post and comment settings' in mod tools," said the discussion website via its official Reddit post.

The company added that this new desktop enhancement would allow its desktop version to have feature parity with its mobile apps.

According to TechCrunch's latest report, Reddit communities need to set their group to "18+" in order to use the new feature.

Why Reddit Released This Feature

Recently, Imgur, an American online sharing website and hosting service company, announced that it would ban NSFW photos.

Imgur confirmed that the adjustment would happen to start on May 15. It explained that its decision to restrict explicit images would protect its community in the future.

However, this is not good news for Reddit since adult Reddit groups rely on Imgur for their NSWF images.

Because of this, Reddit decided to release a new desktop feature that will allow native NSFW photo uploads on the website.

Of course, Reddit reiterated that the explicit images and videos uploaded on its website would be subject to safeguards against illegal or non-consensual content.

"This is also a good opportunity to take a moment to refresh yourself on our rules around the protection of minors, consent, and copyright," added Reddit.

To learn more about Reddit's latest desktop enhancement, you can click here.

Here are other stories we recently wrote about Reddit's enhancements:

Previously, the new Reddit search feature, which allows users to search for comments in a single post, was released. Meanwhile, the Reddit muting feature was released to Android and iOS apps.

For more news updates about Reddit and other similar websites, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

Related Article: Reddit Comments are Now Searchable - a Feature Finally Approved After 17 Years

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The new Facebook auto-sending friend request bug has been fixed by Meta.

The social media glitch started affecting users around May 12 or May 11. The latest Facebook bug alarmed many users because it caused their accounts to send unwanted friend requests.

Just imagine stalking your ex-boyfriend or ex-girlfriend. It would be a drag to accidentally send them a friend request, right?

If you don't want to experience this awkwardness, then here are the details you need to know.

New Facebook Auto-Sending Friend Request Bug Fixed!

According to Android Authority, Meta has already fixed the Facebook auto-sending friend request bug.

Also Read: Facebook Reels is Taking a Page from TikTok with Personalized Content Appearing in the Feed

As of writing, the tech giant firm hasn't shared any statement about what caused the FB glitch. Many affected Facebook users shared their experiences on Twitter. Some took it as a joke, while others were concerned.

"@facebook @Meta why when I search for someone and view their profile does it automatically send them a friend request? Never happened before. #Facebook #meta," said @Ladygoldensun.

@facebook @Meta why when I search for someone an view their profile does it automatically send them a friend request? Never happened before. #Facebook #meta  Heather (@Ladygoldensun) May 12, 2023

"A truly horrific day for #Facebook stalking. Some kind of glitch on the Android app automatically sends a friend request when you view someone's profile," added another disappointed Facebook user.

A truly horrific day for #Facebook stalking. Some kind of glitch on the Android app automatically sends a friend request when you view someone's profile.  Lee, Darling (@zenappetit) May 12, 2023

If you want to see more comments from affected FB users, you can check their Twitter posts below.

When you realize ke Facebook update

hone ke bad bhi apko koi friend request

nahi aaii ... pic.twitter.com/DmcZDS0dLo  Sasta Memer' (Follow_BacK) (@maroofali066) May 12, 2023

What Can Facebook Users Do?

If you are still affected by the Facebook glitch or are not aware if you were affected, then here's what you can do.

Since the newest FB glitch causes your account to automatically send friend requests to people you are checking, the best thing you can do is check your sent friend requests.

To do this, Facebook's official Help website provides the steps you can follow:

First, click you need to click need to click the three-line (burger) icon located at the bottom-left of your profile. After that, choose the Friends option and click the "See All" button. Then, tap on the three-dot option in the top-right corner of your screen. From there, click "View Sent Requests." Once you are there, just cancel all the friend requests you didn't want to send in the first place.

In other news, the Facebook ad platform recently had a glitch that caused advertisers to overspend. We also reported about the previous Facebook Messenger bug that prevented users from accessing the app.

For more news updates about app glitches and other similar internet issues, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

Related Article: Facebook Messenger Glitch Removes Photos, Links, and Files! Who's Affected?

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Last month, the database of the SchoolDude online platform was hit by a sudden data breach which Brightly Software quickly took note of.

According to the US-based tech firm, the hackers were able to steal sensitive information from almost three million customers and users.

SchoolDude Data Breach Hits 3 Million Users

For those unfamiliar with SchoolDude, it's a cloud-based platform that most schools and universities use to manage orders. Globally, over 12,000 organizations utilize this tool, and the majority of the users came from the US, the UK, Canada, and Australia.

According to a report by Bleeping Computer, Brightly Software informed the SchoolDude users that the platform suffered from a cyberattack where an unauthorized actor could steal their personal data.

The software firm says that the hackers behind the incident could have taken away the customer's credentials, such as names, phone numbers, school district names, passwords, and email addresses.

In a notice by the Office of the Maine Attorney General, Brightly said that the April attack affected both the past and present customers of the platform.

Brightly has confirmed that 2,964,292 SchoolDude users were hit by the cyberattack, as per the notification. The systems were breached last April 20, according to the authorities. It was only on April 28 that they discovered the case.

Related Article: T-Mobile Hit by Another Data Breach; User Account PINs, Other Customer Data Leaked

Brightly Urges Users to Change Passwords

In another report by TechCrunch, Brightly urged the users to alter their existing passwords as part of the safety precaution against the hackers.

Additionally, the company also said that it reset the customer passwords to further avoid their information getting exposed by outside attackers.

If Brightly did not do that, chances are hackers can use the user passwords to carry out their future data breaches in SchoolDude. Penetrating other accounts will be much easier, especially if some users have the same passwords.

If you are afraid that a data breach can compromise your files, you can use the best data loss prevention software to back up your important documents even before it happens.

As Tech Times wrote on April 19, the top 5 tools you need to use to heighten your security protection are GTB Technologies Data Security the Works, Forcepoint DLP, Trellix DLP, CoSoSys EndPoint Protector, and Fortra's Digital Guardian.

Investing in these tools could save you a lot of time in retrieving your files in case a sudden cyberattack happens in your workplace, school, or even at home.

It's important to know that these tools will guarantee your privacy and deploy the best features you can get from a reliable data-loss prevention tool on the planet.

Don't forget to regularly check our website for more news about data breaches and hacking. Stay tuned every now and then at Tech Times for daily updates.

Read Also: FCC Issues Order of Blocking One Eye for Enabling Robocall Scams

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Elon Musk hires a new Twitter CEO as he steps down as the social media platform's chief executive officer.

His decision surprised many individuals because the one he hired was Linda Yaccarino, the former ex-NBCUniversal ad chief.

In 2022, the billionaire posted a Twitter poll to ask users if he should resign as Twitter's CEO. The final result of the poll was 57.5% yes and 42.5% no. Although it took months, Elon Musk kept his promise.

Elon Musk Hires New Twitter CEO!

According to CNBC's latest report, Yaccarino resigned from her position as NBCUniversal ad chief on Friday, May 12.

Also Read: Twitter's Purge: Elon Musk's Inactive User Policy Requires Logging in Every 30 Days or Lose Account

Elon Musk confirmed the arrival of the new Twitter CEO via his official tweet. "I am excited to welcome Linda Yaccarino as the new CEO of Twitter!" said the billionaire.

He added that Linda will focus on managing business operations. Aside from this, she will also handle social media's new technologies and product designs.

I am excited to welcome Linda Yaccarino as the new CEO of Twitter!@LindaYacc will focus primarily on business operations, while I focus on product design & new technology.



Looking forward to working with Linda to transform this platform into X, the everything app. https://t.co/TiSJtTWuky  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 12, 2023

"Looking forward to working with Linda to transform this platform into X, the everything app," added Musk.

His surprising Twitter announcement was able to generate over 14 million views, 100,000 likes, and 14,000 retweets.

What will Elon Musk do now?

Technically, since Elon Musk still owns Twitter, his final decisions are still the ones that the social media giant will follow.

Before he named the new Twitter CEO, Musk said that he planned to transition as the platform's chief technology officer and executive chairman.

This means that the billionaire will mainly focus on "overseeing product" decisions. If you want to learn more about the arrival of the new Twitter CEO, you can click this link.

Here are other stories we wrote about Elon Musk:

Elon Musk announced that NPR's Twitter account would be assigned to others if the news agency will not start posting tweets.

Meanwhile, the billionaire's lawyers said that Elon's Autopilot statements could have been deepfaked.

For more news updates about Elon Musk and his upcoming activities, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

Related Article: Elon Musk is Stepping Down as Twitter CEO, Already Finds a Potential Replacement - But Who?

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The U.K. tested a new nuclear sludge removal facility, which can solve its nuclear waste problems.

For the past few years, numerous countries suffered from nuclear waste issues caused by the nuclear industry. This is because elements from nuclear waste can endanger animals, the environment, as well as humans.

Because of this, the United Kingdom needs to have effective nuclear waste removal; and they have successfully tested one.

UK Tests Nuclear Sludge Removal Facility!

According to Interesting Engineering's latest report, the first trials for the new nuclear sludge removal facility were successful.

Also Read: Largest Nuclear Fusion Reactor Might Not Work Due To Fuel Crisis; Tritium Shortage Getting Worst?

The U.K. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) tested it at an indoor site. The experiment is a part of the initiative led by TDA (The Decommissioning Alliance).

"The work we are carrying out at the site has been ongoing since 2010 and has been instrumental in reducing the inventory in the pond, which in turn reduces the overall risk," said TDA Project Manager Scott Bond via World Nuclear News.

For those who are not familiar with sludge, it is a by-product of wastewater processes. It can be found in numerous industries, such as the nuclear sector.

It Works Just Like Vacuum Cleaner!

Based on TDA's official press release, the new nuclear sludge removal facility works by attaching the latest BSRT (Bulk Sludge Retrieval Tool) to a 40-meter umbilical.

The new nuclear tool can function just like a regular vacuum cleaner, removing the nuclear sludge and sending it to a long-term storage facility.

"It's been great to be able to play a part in what is such a major development for the nuclear industry," said Graham Cartwright, the DRF project director.

If you want to learn more details about the new nuclear sludge removal facility in the U.K., you can visit this link.

In other news, Northrop Grumman's anti-radiation missile finally achieved its 5th consecutive successful test. We also reported about Australia's new multi-billion dollar defense budget for nuclear submarine capability acquisition.

For more news updates about defense, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

Related Article: India's Long-Range Agni-V Nuclear Ballistic Missile Recently Tested Despite Tensions with China

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
"I am one of those who believe that the U.S. is behind the attack in terms of technological possibilities and intelligence capabilities," said an Istanbul-based scholar on a recent drone attack on the Kremlin in Russia.





Produced by Xinhua Global Service
Deadly armed clashes between the Sudanese army and the RSF have been raging in Sudan since April 15.

Al Arabiya news channel reported Thursday that the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) signed a declaration in the Saudi port city of Jeddah pledging to protect civilians in Sudan.

The warring parties stressed that the interests of the Sudanese people are a priority and agreed to allow all civilians to leave besieged areas, the report said.

The agreement affirmed Sudan's sovereignty and unity and welcomed mediation efforts by other countries. It also called for a halt to all attacks that could harm civilians, the report said.

The two sides began talks on Saturday in Jeddah to reach a ceasefire to facilitate emergency humanitarian aid to the conflict-torn country.

#Statement | The kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United States of America are pleased to announce that on May 11, 2023 in Jeddah, representatives of the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces signed a declaration commitment to protect the civilians of Sudan. pic.twitter.com/d1boeMH0j7  Foreign Ministry  (@KSAmofaEN) May 12, 2023

On Thursday, Saudi Arabia sent its fourth aid plane to Port Sudan, loaded with more than 10 tons of food and medical supplies, among other relief items, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

Deadly armed clashes between the Sudanese army and the RSF have been raging in Sudan since April 15 in the capital Khartoum and other areas.

The deadly clashes have left at least 550 dead and 4 926 wounded, according to figures released by the Sudanese Ministry of Health in early May.
In the last three months, positive cases have been reduced by 90 percent worldwide.

World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced Thursday that mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, is no longer a global health emergency.

"Yesterday, the monkeypox emergency committee met and recommended to me that the global outbreak of monkeypox no longer represents a public health emergency of international concern," Tedros told a press conference.

According to the WHO chief, there has been a steep decline in mpox over the last three months, with countries reporting 90 percent fewer cases than in the previous three-month period.

"While we welcome the downward trend in mpox cases globally, the virus continues to affect communities in all regions, including Africa," the Director-General said.

The Emergency Committee on #mpox met for the fifth time yesterday, advising @DrTedros that the multi-country outbreak is no longer a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).



The WHO Director-General accepted the Committees advice. Full Statement: pic.twitter.com/kGzbQf2r3v  World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) May 11, 2023

Tedros warned that the decision "does not mean it has ceased to be a public health challenge" worldwide. He urged countries around the world to maintain their testing capabilities and efforts to respond to outbreaks.

"Although the mpox and Covid-19 emergencies have ended, the threat of resurgent waves remains for both. Both viruses continue to circulate and both continue to kill," Tedros said.

WHO declared the mpox outbreak a global emergency last July. According to the agency, more than 87 000 cases and 140 deaths have been reported in 111 countries during the global outbreak.
Elon Musk has hired a woman to replace him at the head of Twitter

INFO EUROPE 1  The French in the sights of the Chinese crooks of Sihanoukville, Eldorado of the online scam

"Reduced by more than half in a century and a half": Russian scientists have found out the speed and scale of melting of Altai glaciers

Elon Musk gives up his place as CEO of Twitter to advertising Linda Yaccarino

The week of God Tweeter: from the beginning of the electoral campaign to Pablo Motos in gayumbos

Came second but won the audience votes: "Was here to win"

"Iconiques" is back with Etienne Daho on Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 May on Europe 1

When Beijing universities encounter exotic styles, what is the experience of "checking in" 32 countries in one day? - China News Network video

Cannes Film Festival: stars, jury, Palme d'or d'honneur... Everything you need to know about the 76th edition

From the street to the concert hall Migrant workers playing piano on the streets take to the concert hall stage

When they are blackmailed by private photos: Most people are afraid to ask for help for fear of losing their privacy

In the short video, Cai Danjun has 38,<> more "students" in "Dream of Red Mansions"

Binturong was born at a zoo in Ehime, and his name is "Chasamaru"

Simon Forsstrom kept up the pressure  took his first victory on the European Tour

Ja Morant sidelined from Grizzlies for appearing with a gun on social media for the second time

"Go up now, clown": Torres, after being sent off, faces the public in a youth derby

Thanks to the efforts of Atayev and Gadzhimagomedov: the Russian team won two gold medals at the World Boxing Championships in Tashkent

"Confidence has returned," says swimmer Florent Manaudou after his victory in the 50m freestyle in Canet.

Three times less than in Europe: annual inflation in Russia for the first time in three years fell to 2.31%

The Cabinet of Ministers submitted to the State Duma for ratification an agreement between Russia and China in the field of gas supplies

Gather consensus and pool strength The three provinces of Xiang, Zhejiang and Lu jointly explore regional cooperation in construction machinery

"Five female doctors" at the bottom: advertisements have been "counterfeited" by Peking University

How to learn children's programming in the AI 2.0 era? Spark programming gives the answer

Truce between Israel and Gaza after five days of war and 35 dead

Tourism: the French are already preparing their summer holidays for the happiness of professionals

Foreign companies invest in Zhejiang and deepen development, and the Chinese market continues to release the "gravitational effect"

Some institutions advertise that the implant is less than 2000,<> yuan

President of Seven & i Isaka "Ito-Yokado maintains a certain number of stores in the metropolitan area"

Rejection of "Friendship": the media reported on the intention of the G7 countries and the EU to ban the restart of Russian gas pipelines

"Thank you for your courage." Former Labour Party leader addresses Palestinians on Nakba anniversary

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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

The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Zaluzhny appeared on Ukrainian TV after rumors of his death

US Time magazine Prime Minister Kishida is introduced on the cover of "I hope my country becomes a military power"

Virginia von Furstenberg, granddaughter of Agnelli, dies after falling from a high floor of the Palace Hotel in Merano

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 Communities 2019 - Privacy

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A tri-colored glazed pottery is exhibited in Shaanxi History Museum in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, May 11, 2023. Xi'an, a city with over 3,100 years of history, served as the capital for 13 dynasties in Chinese history. It is also home to the world-renowned Terracotta warriors created in the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BC).

Shaanxi History Museum, which is situated to the northwestern side of the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda in Xi'an City, was completed and opened to the public in 1991. As China's first national-level modern museum, the establishment of the Shaanxi History Museum marked a milestone in the development of China's museum industry.

The museum houses about 1.7 million collector's items. The highlights of the collections include bronze ware of the Shang and Zhou dynasties (1600 BC-256 BC), ancient pottery figurines, gold and silver objects of the Han Dynasty (202 BC-220 AD) and Tang Dynasty (618-907) and mural paintings of Tang Dynasty. (Xinhua/Li Yibo)

An artifact from the Western Zhou Dynasty (1046-771 BC) is exhibited in Shaanxi History Museum in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, May 11, 2023. Xi'an, a city with over 3,100 years of history, served as the capital for 13 dynasties in Chinese history. It is also home to the world-renowned Terracotta warriors created in the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BC).

Shaanxi History Museum, which is situated to the northwestern side of the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda in Xi'an City, was completed and opened to the public in 1991. As China's first national-level modern museum, the establishment of the Shaanxi History Museum marked a milestone in the development of China's museum industry.

The museum houses about 1.7 million collector's items. The highlights of the collections include bronze ware of the Shang and Zhou dynasties (1600 BC-256 BC), ancient pottery figurines, gold and silver objects of the Han Dynasty (202 BC-220 AD) and Tang Dynasty (618-907) and mural paintings of Tang Dynasty. (Xinhua/Li Yibo)

People take photos at the main entrance of the Shaanxi History Museum in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, May 11, 2023. Xi'an, a city with over 3,100 years of history, served as the capital for 13 dynasties in Chinese history. It is also home to the world-renowned Terracotta warriors created in the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BC).

Shaanxi History Museum, which is situated to the northwestern side of the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda in Xi'an City, was completed and opened to the public in 1991. As China's first national-level modern museum, the establishment of the Shaanxi History Museum marked a milestone in the development of China's museum industry.

The museum houses about 1.7 million collector's items. The highlights of the collections include bronze ware of the Shang and Zhou dynasties (1600 BC-256 BC), ancient pottery figurines, gold and silver objects of the Han Dynasty (202 BC-220 AD) and Tang Dynasty (618-907) and mural paintings of Tang Dynasty. (Xinhua/Li Yibo)

Tourists view mural paintings from Tang dynasty (618-907) in Shaanxi History Museum in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, May 11, 2023. Xi'an, a city with over 3,100 years of history, served as the capital for 13 dynasties in Chinese history. It is also home to the world-renowned Terracotta warriors created in the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BC).

Shaanxi History Museum, which is situated to the northwestern side of the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda in Xi'an City, was completed and opened to the public in 1991. As China's first national-level modern museum, the establishment of the Shaanxi History Museum marked a milestone in the development of China's museum industry.

The museum houses about 1.7 million collector's items. The highlights of the collections include bronze ware of the Shang and Zhou dynasties (1600 BC-256 BC), ancient pottery figurines, gold and silver objects of the Han Dynasty (202 BC-220 AD) and Tang Dynasty (618-907) and mural paintings of Tang Dynasty. (Xinhua/Li Yibo)

A bronze ware from the Warring States Period (770-221 BC) is exhibited in Shaanxi History Museum in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, May 11, 2023. Xi'an, a city with over 3,100 years of history, served as the capital for 13 dynasties in Chinese history. It is also home to the world-renowned Terracotta warriors created in the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BC).

Shaanxi History Museum, which is situated to the northwestern side of the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda in Xi'an City, was completed and opened to the public in 1991. As China's first national-level modern museum, the establishment of the Shaanxi History Museum marked a milestone in the development of China's museum industry.

The museum houses about 1.7 million collector's items. The highlights of the collections include bronze ware of the Shang and Zhou dynasties (1600 BC-256 BC), ancient pottery figurines, gold and silver objects of the Han Dynasty (202 BC-220 AD) and Tang Dynasty (618-907) and mural paintings of Tang Dynasty. (Xinhua/Li Yibo)

Tourists visit Shaanxi History Museum in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, May 11, 2023. Xi'an, a city with over 3,100 years of history, served as the capital for 13 dynasties in Chinese history. It is also home to the world-renowned Terracotta warriors created in the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BC).

Shaanxi History Museum, which is situated to the northwestern side of the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda in Xi'an City, was completed and opened to the public in 1991. As China's first national-level modern museum, the establishment of the Shaanxi History Museum marked a milestone in the development of China's museum industry.

The museum houses about 1.7 million collector's items. The highlights of the collections include bronze ware of the Shang and Zhou dynasties (1600 BC-256 BC), ancient pottery figurines, gold and silver objects of the Han Dynasty (202 BC-220 AD) and Tang Dynasty (618-907) and mural paintings of Tang Dynasty. (Xinhua/Li Yibo)

An artifact from the Tang dynasty (618-907) is exhibited in Shaanxi History Museum in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, May 11, 2023. Xi'an, a city with over 3,100 years of history, served as the capital for 13 dynasties in Chinese history. It is also home to the world-renowned Terracotta warriors created in the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BC).

Shaanxi History Museum, which is situated to the northwestern side of the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda in Xi'an City, was completed and opened to the public in 1991. As China's first national-level modern museum, the establishment of the Shaanxi History Museum marked a milestone in the development of China's museum industry.

The museum houses about 1.7 million collector's items. The highlights of the collections include bronze ware of the Shang and Zhou dynasties (1600 BC-256 BC), ancient pottery figurines, gold and silver objects of the Han Dynasty (202 BC-220 AD) and Tang Dynasty (618-907) and mural paintings of Tang Dynasty. (Xinhua/Li Yibo)

Tourists visit Shaanxi History Museum in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, May 18, 2022. Xi'an, a city with over 3,100 years of history, served as the capital for 13 dynasties in Chinese history. It is also home to the world-renowned Terracotta warriors created in the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BC).

Shaanxi History Museum, which is situated to the northwestern side of the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda in Xi'an City, was completed and opened to the public in 1991. As China's first national-level modern museum, the establishment of the Shaanxi History Museum marked a milestone in the development of China's museum industry.

The museum houses about 1.7 million collector's items. The highlights of the collections include bronze ware of the Shang and Zhou dynasties (1600 BC-256 BC), ancient pottery figurines, gold and silver objects of the Han Dynasty (202 BC-220 AD) and Tang Dynasty (618-907) and mural paintings of Tang Dynasty. (Xinhua/Li Yibo)

A tourist visits Shaanxi History Museum in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, May 11, 2023. Xi'an, a city with over 3,100 years of history, served as the capital for 13 dynasties in Chinese history. It is also home to the world-renowned Terracotta warriors created in the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BC).

Shaanxi History Museum, which is situated to the northwestern side of the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda in Xi'an City, was completed and opened to the public in 1991. As China's first national-level modern museum, the establishment of the Shaanxi History Museum marked a milestone in the development of China's museum industry.

The museum houses about 1.7 million collector's items. The highlights of the collections include bronze ware of the Shang and Zhou dynasties (1600 BC-256 BC), ancient pottery figurines, gold and silver objects of the Han Dynasty (202 BC-220 AD) and Tang Dynasty (618-907) and mural paintings of Tang Dynasty. (Xinhua/Li Yibo)

"Gold dragons in running position," a set of handicrafts from the Tang Dynasty (618-907), is exhibited in Shaanxi History Museum in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, May 18, 2022. Xi'an, a city with over 3,100 years of history, served as the capital for 13 dynasties in Chinese history. It is also home to the world-renowned Terracotta warriors created in the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BC).

Shaanxi History Museum, which is situated to the northwestern side of the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda in Xi'an City, was completed and opened to the public in 1991. As China's first national-level modern museum, the establishment of the Shaanxi History Museum marked a milestone in the development of China's museum industry.

The museum houses about 1.7 million collector's items. The highlights of the collections include bronze ware of the Shang and Zhou dynasties (1600 BC-256 BC), ancient pottery figurines, gold and silver objects of the Han Dynasty (202 BC-220 AD) and Tang Dynasty (618-907) and mural paintings of Tang Dynasty. (Xinhua/Li Yibo)

Tourists visit Shaanxi History Museum in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, May 11, 2023. Xi'an, a city with over 3,100 years of history, served as the capital for 13 dynasties in Chinese history. It is also home to the world-renowned Terracotta warriors created in the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BC).

Shaanxi History Museum, which is situated to the northwestern side of the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda in Xi'an City, was completed and opened to the public in 1991. As China's first national-level modern museum, the establishment of the Shaanxi History Museum marked a milestone in the development of China's museum industry.

The museum houses about 1.7 million collector's items. The highlights of the collections include bronze ware of the Shang and Zhou dynasties (1600 BC-256 BC), ancient pottery figurines, gold and silver objects of the Han Dynasty (202 BC-220 AD) and Tang Dynasty (618-907) and mural paintings of Tang Dynasty. (Xinhua/Li Yibo)

Tourists visit Shaanxi History Museum in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, May 11, 2023. Xi'an, a city with over 3,100 years of history, served as the capital for 13 dynasties in Chinese history. It is also home to the world-renowned Terracotta warriors created in the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BC).

Shaanxi History Museum, which is situated to the northwestern side of the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda in Xi'an City, was completed and opened to the public in 1991. As China's first national-level modern museum, the establishment of the Shaanxi History Museum marked a milestone in the development of China's museum industry.

The museum houses about 1.7 million collector's items. The highlights of the collections include bronze ware of the Shang and Zhou dynasties (1600 BC-256 BC), ancient pottery figurines, gold and silver objects of the Han Dynasty (202 BC-220 AD) and Tang Dynasty (618-907) and mural paintings of Tang Dynasty. (Xinhua/Li Yibo)

A tourist takes photos of an exhibit in Shaanxi History Museum in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, May 18, 2022. Xi'an, a city with over 3,100 years of history, served as the capital for 13 dynasties in Chinese history. It is also home to the world-renowned Terracotta warriors created in the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BC).

Shaanxi History Museum, which is situated to the northwestern side of the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda in Xi'an City, was completed and opened to the public in 1991. As China's first national-level modern museum, the establishment of the Shaanxi History Museum marked a milestone in the development of China's museum industry.

The museum houses about 1.7 million collector's items. The highlights of the collections include bronze ware of the Shang and Zhou dynasties (1600 BC-256 BC), ancient pottery figurines, gold and silver objects of the Han Dynasty (202 BC-220 AD) and Tang Dynasty (618-907) and mural paintings of Tang Dynasty. (Xinhua/Li Yibo)

Tourists select cultural and creative products in Shaanxi History Museum in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, May 11, 2023. Xi'an, a city with over 3,100 years of history, served as the capital for 13 dynasties in Chinese history. It is also home to the world-renowned Terracotta warriors created in the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BC).

Shaanxi History Museum, which is situated to the northwestern side of the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda in Xi'an City, was completed and opened to the public in 1991. As China's first national-level modern museum, the establishment of the Shaanxi History Museum marked a milestone in the development of China's museum industry.

The museum houses about 1.7 million collector's items. The highlights of the collections include bronze ware of the Shang and Zhou dynasties (1600 BC-256 BC), ancient pottery figurines, gold and silver objects of the Han Dynasty (202 BC-220 AD) and Tang Dynasty (618-907) and mural paintings of Tang Dynasty. (Xinhua/Li Yibo)

A tourist views a mural painting from Tang dynasty (618-907) in Shaanxi History Museum in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, May 11, 2023. Xi'an, a city with over 3,100 years of history, served as the capital for 13 dynasties in Chinese history. It is also home to the world-renowned Terracotta warriors created in the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BC).

Shaanxi History Museum, which is situated to the northwestern side of the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda in Xi'an City, was completed and opened to the public in 1991. As China's first national-level modern museum, the establishment of the Shaanxi History Museum marked a milestone in the development of China's museum industry.

The museum houses about 1.7 million collector's items. The highlights of the collections include bronze ware of the Shang and Zhou dynasties (1600 BC-256 BC), ancient pottery figurines, gold and silver objects of the Han Dynasty (202 BC-220 AD) and Tang Dynasty (618-907) and mural paintings of Tang Dynasty. (Xinhua/Li Yibo)

Tourists visit Shaanxi History Museum in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, May 11, 2023. Xi'an, a city with over 3,100 years of history, served as the capital for 13 dynasties in Chinese history. It is also home to the world-renowned Terracotta warriors created in the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BC).

Shaanxi History Museum, which is situated to the northwestern side of the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda in Xi'an City, was completed and opened to the public in 1991. As China's first national-level modern museum, the establishment of the Shaanxi History Museum marked a milestone in the development of China's museum industry.

The museum houses about 1.7 million collector's items. The highlights of the collections include bronze ware of the Shang and Zhou dynasties (1600 BC-256 BC), ancient pottery figurines, gold and silver objects of the Han Dynasty (202 BC-220 AD) and Tang Dynasty (618-907) and mural paintings of Tang Dynasty. (Xinhua/Li Yibo)
LABUAN BAJO, Indonesia, May 12 (Xinhua) -- The economic growth and market in China, the world's second-largest economy with a population of over 1.4 billion people, provide substantial opportunities for ASEAN countries, an Indonesian official has said.

"China's economic influence is a significant driving force behind the RCEP's (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership) development in 2022," Deputy for Coordination of International Economic Cooperation under the Indonesian Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs, Edi Prio Pambudi, told Xinhua in a written interview during the two-day 42nd ASEAN Summit opened Wednesday.

The RCEP free trade pact comprises 15 Asia-Pacific countries including the 10 ASEAN member states of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, and ASEAN's five trading partners, namely China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

"China's participation in the RCEP provides member countries with access to a massive consumer market ... offers substantial opportunities for ASEAN exporters," he said.

Deeming China as an economic powerhouse, the official also said that the inflow of foreign direct investment from China to ASEAN countries "strengthens ASEAN's economic development."

The economic official also highlighted China's key role in ASEAN countries' integration into global value chains.

"The RCEP introduces the regional value chain that provides greater opportunities for ASEAN's manufactured products to participate in the global value chain. China, as a significant player in the global production base for manufacturing and high technology products, is and will remain crucial in this context," said Pambudi.

Noting threats of global geopolitical uncertainties and economic slowdown to ASEAN's post-pandemic recovery and economic outlook, he expressed the hope that the economic ties between ASEAN and China will deepen to help the regional bloc cope with the situation.

"Strengthening trade facilitation measures, reducing trade barriers, and promoting regional integration initiatives like the RCEP can boost intra-regional trade and enhance ASEAN's resilience to global economic challenges," said Pambudi. 
A canopy of stars and the sounds of nature are some of the reasons Isle de Jean Charles residents have resisted moving to higher, safer ground. But decades of land loss, flooding, and devastation from Hurricane Ida have convinced many to leave. (Photo by Ted Jackson, Nola.com | The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
I'm a big movie fan. I'm not an obsessive film buff who can recall the year, producer, director and cast of every movie I've seen. And I can't recite movie lines other than the obvious, everyone-knows lines such as "I'll be back," "I'll have what she's having," or "Bye Felicia."
There is only one winner from Vladimir Putins monstrous war on Ukraine, and that is the Chinese Communist Party. To our eternal shame, Xi Jinping has spectacularly outwitted the West, drastically expanded his global influence, and turned Russia into a Chinese protectorate in all but name.

Russia was meant to have collapsed by now. Britain, America and Europes gambit was that drastic trade, financial and technological sanctions, a cap on the price of Russian seaborne oil, and substantial help to Ukraine would be enough to defeat Moscow. It hasnt worked. For all of the sacrifices of the Ukrainian people, the war has reached a stalemate, at least until Kyivs counter-offensive.

China has helped prop up Russias economy in the face of Western sanctions. Credit: AP

The reason? China has quietly stepped in, bailing out Putins shattered economy on a transformational scale, swapping energy and raw materials for goods and technology. The sanctions are a joke. Russian-Chinese trade rose 41.3 per cent in the first four months of the year to $US73 billion, financing Putins war. Chinas exports to Russia were up 153 per cent in April 2023 alone; their rise more than cancels out the decline in German and French trade, as Robin Brooks, of the Institute for International Finance, points out. Chinas trade has also shot up with Belarus, Kazakhstan, Georgia and Turkey, all with easy, porous access to Russia.

No wonder Russian society hasnt imploded. There may no longer be any McDonalds in Moscow, but sales of Chinese cars are buoyant. We were told Russia couldnt survive without Western technology, but it is switching instead to Chinas rival systems.
Were enjoying a wine thats won three bronze medals and costs only $4.75. How is this possible? Are cheap wines judged against more expensive wines, or in price categories?

M.F., Southport, Qld

Credit: Simon Letch

A: As youve discovered, it is possible to find very good and inexpensive everyday wines that have won medals at competitions. You mention the De Bortoli Sacred Hill Semillon Sauvignon Blanc 2022. There are several varieties under the Sacred Hill label and they often punch well above their weight. Even a bronze-medal wine (scoring between 86 and 89 points out of 100) can be a very good drink and represents, at the price you paid, great value. In most competitions, wines are judged in varietal classes, irrespective of price. So a $4.75 wine will be judged against wines that are almost all dearer, often substantially so. That said, most semillon sauvignon blancs are no dearer than about $25-$30. Chardonnay prices can go much higher.

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A glance at the De Bortoli website reveals that many of the Sacred Hill wines have won not only a bag of bronzes but occasional silver medals. To win a silver, a wine has to score between 90 and 94 points out of 100 (gold is 95-plus). For example, the 2021 Sacred Hill Shiraz Cabernet won silvers at four shows in 2022: Cairns, Cowra, Riverina and Rutherglen. Most Australian wine competitions judge wines blind, meaning the judges are told only the vintage and grape variety. In other words, they cant be influenced by knowing the price. This gives great credibility to the quality of wines that win multiple medals. Shows are a great leveller: when cheap bottles are rated higher than expensive ones, eyebrows are raised.
Rescuers work at the site of a rocket attack, in Rehovot, Israel, on May 11, 2023. (Photo by Gil Cohen Magen/Xinhua)

JERUSALEM, May 11 (Xinhua) -- An Israeli man was killed on Thursday afternoon as rockets from Gaza hit a residential building in southern Israel, after two Palestinian rocket commanders were killed by Israeli airstrikes earlier in the day.

The rocket hit the second floor of a four-story residential building in Rehovot, a city 25 km south of Tel Aviv, Israel's Fire and Rescue Services said in a statement.

Israel's Magen David Adom emergency medical service identified the fatality as a male resident of Rehovot. The Kaplan Hospital in Rehovot said in a statement that nine people were injured in the building and needed hospital care.

An Israeli residential building was severely damaged by a rocket fired from Gaza Strip, in Rehovot, Israel, on May 11, 2023. (Photo by Gil Cohen Magen/Xinhua)

In the southern regional council of Eshkol, a man, identified by the Magen David Adom as a 30-year-old foreign national, was injured by shrapnel as a rocket hit a community.

In the regional council of Sdot Negev, another rocket hit the backyard of a residential house, lightly injuring an 82-year-old Israeli woman, according to Magen David Adom.

The rocket fire followed the killing of Ali Hassan Ghali, the commander of the rocket force of the Islamic Jihad, and his deputy, Ahmed Abu Daqqa, by two Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip earlier in the day, raising the Palestinian death toll to 28.

Rescuers work at the site of a rocket attack, in Rehovot, Israel, on May 11, 2023. (Photo by Muammar Awad/Xinhua)

At least 547 rockets were fired toward southern and central Israel since the fighting began on Tuesday, with 394 of them crossing into Israeli territory, according to official Israeli figures.

The intense fighting began after Israel killed three senior Islamic Jihad commanders in airstrikes in Gaza on Tuesday.

Efforts to negotiate truces by Egypt, a frequent mediator between the Palestinians and Israel, have not yet yielded results. Israel's state-owned Kan TV news reported that an Egyptian team was traveling to Israel for talks but it was unclear whether any progress has been achieved.

A barrage of rockets fired at Israel are seen leaving traces in the sky over Gaza City, on May 11, 2023. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)


For decades, geese and ducks have lived in the centre of the lake at Caulfield Park in Melbournes east, but the birds have been relocated in a bid to attract more native wildlife to the park.

Glen Eira Council has moved the 15 geese and seven ducks to a new home at a farm in central Victoria, which the council documented in a proof of life video on social media.

Watching the ducks at Caulfield Park lake was a popular pastime. Credit: Luis Ascui

Visiting the lake this week, Sue Hallams and her daughter, Phoebe Foldvari, were not entirely sad to see the geese gone after a bad experience with the birds when Foldvari was a child.

When this one [Phoebe] was about two, they did chase after us and I had to scoop her up and run, Hallams said. Weve always been scared of the geese... they just kept chasing us and they were a bit aggressive.
When I was a child we lived in Camberwell, a stones throw from Canterbury Road in a street whose name seemed as pretentious as the neighbours in nearby Mont Albert Road. I never met them but sensed their grandeur from the size of their houses. Huge double-storey mansions with wide sweeping gardens, flat manicured lawns and hedges bordered with hydrangeas, windflowers along with iceberg roses.

I was seven when my mother stuck her head around the lounge room door and asked one of us four kids sitting in front of the television to run down the street for milk. No one wanted to budge midway through a Wile E. Coyote cartoon.

Must I ask again? my mother said. I hated to see her unhappy, so I stretched my legs and arms for the sprint down the side of the house, around the corner and across Canterbury Road. It was six oclock in winter and car lights cast bright flashes across my eyes. I hesitated at the zebra crossing near the corner of our street. It looked as though the cars had stopped for me, but a few steps into the centre, my world went black.

When I woke up, I was lying in sawdust on the floor of the butchers shop next door to Mr Brockhoffs grocery. The whine of an ambulance in the distance, and my mother leaning over me. I saw a wash of relief in her eyes, but my body felt as if it was not part of me.
A Supreme Court jury in the murder trial for accused killer Ricardo Barbaro has been discharged for a second time to review fresh information discovered on the mobile phone of a witness.

During cross-examination earlier this week, prosecution witness and brothel owner Mark Paul Gray, formerly Mark Gdanski, was asked if he would voluntarily hand over his mobile phone for further analysis of text messages he may have sent to members of victim Ellie Prices family.

Ellie Price and (inset) murder accused Ricardo Barbaro. Credit: Supplied

The matter was adjourned for two days before Justice Lex Lasry was told on Friday a large amount of material downloaded from Grays phone was still to be examined.

Legal issues about that download, he said, had also arisen.
I have come to this farm to hunt rabbits with butcher and mobile slaughterer Russell Barnes, who has stalked introduced species since he was a teenager. Hunting deer and rabbits remains a regular part of his lifestyle, providing him with a plentiful source of meat.

Rabbit colonies have savaged this undulating landscape, leaving it pockmarked and scarred. Bald patches spread across the slopes where rabbits have chewed the grass back to dry earth.

The crack of gunfire sends other rabbits scurrying, but I try to hold steady and focus on the target, long after the bullet has cleared the barrel.

Eventually, those eyes pause long enough for my finger to settle on the trigger  the rifles smooth wooden butt pressed against my cheek. Between breaths, I pull back on the trigger in one decisive motion.

In the last glow of dusk, two eyes glint at the foot of the hill, caught in the spotlights powerful green beam. I crouch, then lie down on dry brambly grass that prickles through my T-shirt as I track the twin glimmering specks through the rifle scope.

G raphic content: This story contains descriptions of hunting and photographs of dead animals that may distress some readers.

Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time.

Wild deer populations have exploded and now roam freely over much of Victoria. Rabbits continue their indiscriminate feeding and breeding, threatening native flora and competing with indigenous animals for food.

More than a century after Europeans introduced wild game for hunting in Australia, animals once considered harmless are devastating the natural landscape. They have inflicted billions of dollars in damage to the agriculture sector, caused car accidents and even charged into suburban houses.

Aim for the chest, he said. Youll most likely kill it straight away.

As I prepare to take my first shot, I ask Barnes where to aim for a quick kill.

But this is my first hunt. Before this balmy autumn evening, I had never fired a gun outside the controlled conditions of a rifle range.

A 2021 report from the CSIRO described European rabbits as the single biggest menace to threatened native species in Australia and cost, on average, $216 million a year in lost farm productivity. The report said rabbits had infested two-thirds of Australia.

Biodiversity Council lead councillor and RMIT professor Sarah Bekessy says Victorias ecosystem is in crisis due to introduced species. Research backs this assertion.

Or would this further entrench these introduced animals in the environment by creating an industry with a financial interest in keeping them there?

Could we eat our way out of this catastrophe by harvesting and simultaneously removing invasive species from the Victorian landscape?

But what if we shifted our attitudes to wild rabbits and deer and considered them a sustainable source of protein?

Its not having an impact on feral animal numbers, but its a far more ethical way of eating meat than factory farming.

However, Bekessy argues eating introduced animals when killed humanely has other benefits.

But she believes hunting has so far has delivered limited benefit. The latest figures from Victorias Game Management Authority show the total deer harvest from game licence holders reached 118,900 in 2021  a 49 per cent increase on the 79,700 average since 2009.

Its deer and rabbits that have been responsible for the demise of so many threatened plants, Bekessy says. Its not right to let them roam.

Meanwhile, wild deer numbers have exceeded a million in Victoria alone, according to the Invasive Species Council, covering more than 40 per cent of the state.

The most important thing is that its ethical  a very easy, quick dispatching.

Despite introduced species unwelcome presence, OMeara insists he respects those he kills.

For OMeara, game meat has become a household staple: Youre accessing grass fed, free-range, non-chemical meat at its purest.

He hunts deer, rabbits and ducks in the land surrounding his Mansfield home in the foothills of the Victorian Alps, and says removing introduced species is good for the environment and eases the pressure on farmers trying to keep them away from their crops.

Chef, author and game meat advocate Ross OMeara wants more people to consider eating hunted meat.

For years, I have wondered whether I have the grit to hunt for my dinner. In my late teens I became vegetarian after growing increasingly uncomfortable with the idea of factory-scale meat production where animals make long and stressful trips to abattoirs.

Although I returned to meat about five years later, I have brooded over the welfare of the animals Im eating, how they lived and died.

Last year, I decided to try hunting to learn whether I could give an animal the kind of death my conscience would reconcile.

Hunting for dinner

I applied for a firearms licence. It was a rigorous process that took months, requiring my medical history and background checks.

The compulsory training included an online theoretical course covering firearm parts and how to operate rifles and shotguns safely. It took me more than four hours to complete.

A shot rabbit tied to the fence before being prepared for cooking. Credit:Jason South

Then there was in-person training at a firing range where instructors showed about a dozen of us how to shoot from a range of positions.

Before this moment, I had not even handled an unloaded gun, let alone shot one with live ammunition.

When the order came to begin shooting, I was taken aback by the burst of gunfire and retreated to readjust my earplugs as others began firing at the targets.

The rifle felt heavier than I expected as I lifted it from the rack for my turn at target practice. I loaded the bullets into the magazine with trembling fingers and shoved the bolt in place.

At first, I was happy just to hit any spot on the paper target from a 50-metre distance. But over months of successive practice sessions, my aim and accuracy improved until I was confident I could pick off a stationary rabbit in the open.

Helping the environment, getting a feed

Russell Barnes is keen to point out hunting can be a humane way to source food.

Thats why he takes me to this farm in northern Victoria, 90 minutes drive from Melbourne, where hes been given permission to hunt on the sprawling property  away from other people or livestock.

Dressing a rabbit shot in the field. Credit:Jason South

Were enjoying the outdoors. Were helping the environment, and were getting a feed for our family, he says. I dont think were hurting anybody.

Barnes knows what hes doing. Settling between rocks, Barnes eyes a rabbit  one of the first to emerge into the late afternoon sun. He cocks the rifle and fires a single shot, then dashes off to retrieve the dead animal.

Barnes cuts a series of deft nicks into the carcass, and runs his hand over the rabbits stomach in one swift motion, squeezing out the guts and organs to cool it down.

Soon, its my turn. No turning back now.

My heart thumps as I line up those glinting eyes and fire. I see the rabbit struggle momentarily  the briefest flurry in the failing light  before falling still amid the dry grass and burrows and bald earth.

I breathe, while Barnes runs down the hill. He returns holding the creature by its hind paws and hands it over, pointing to my shot, right through the upper body.

The animals weight feels substantial in my hands, and the fur is much smoother than the stringy texture I imagined. In the strange intimacy of this moment I remember my pet rabbit, Peter, that I had kept as a little boy. We throw the rabbits into the tray of Barnes ute and drive away.

A feral deer in Sherbrooke Forrest. Credit:Alex Maisey

Labels may cloud morals

RSPCA senior scientific officer Di Evans insists introduced species deserve a painless death when killed by humans, preferably by a single shot to the head.

She says only skilled shooters should be able to hunt animals as part of government-controlled programs.

Evans worries recreational hunting may result in high rates of animal wounds that inflict severe pain and prolonged deaths.

I hate to think about how often that happens, she says.

Evans believes even the language used to describe introduced species contributes to their treatment  people may not take sufficient care to prevent pain and suffering with animals regarded as pests.

When you start to label animals as vermin, pests or feral you tend to have a different view of moral considerations, she says. People forget were the cause of the problem.

People forget were the cause of the problem. Di Evans, RSPCA senior scientific officer

Hunting should be monitored more closely to ensure community expectations on animal welfare are met, Evans says, but she concedes this can be difficult in remote areas.

However, Invasive Species Council deer project officer Peter Jacobs says the Victorian government should designate deer as pests, alongside foxes, rabbits and wild pigs.

He explains the Australian landscape evolved without the presence of hard-hoofed animals and deer are now trampling and destroying sensitive environments - particularly in Victorias High Country.

Deer can be hunted in Victoria, but they are classed as game, which means other methods of control, such as poisons, cannot be used.

Theyre clearly a pest. What are we actually protecting any more? Jacobs says. The community is quite confused by that.

The council wants urgent action to control deer numbers, arguing the cost of doing nothing could reach $2.2 billion dollars to agriculture, forestry and road accidents in the next 30 years.

The large deer smashed through the front window of a suburban Melbourne home and became trapped inside. Credit:Alexander Hill

Deer are now pushing further into suburbia. One had to be euthanised after it was found running through the streets of Fitzroy in 2021. In April, a buck smashed its way into an Alphington home.

Hunting deer might help individual landholders to keep the animals off their property. But Jacobs doubts whether creating an industry for wild venison can solve the broader environmental catastrophe.

Instead, he says, it risks creating a perverse outcome where there are incentives for harbouring deer in the wild for commercial benefit.

Were not going to eat our way through the deer problem in Victoria.

Significantly expanding professional shooting programs, Jacobs says, is the only realistic option currently available for curbing deer numbers.

Legal changes by the Victorian government in the past five years have allowed expanded access to wild deer for commercial harvesters.

Yet, the government has given no firm indication of plans to designate deer as pests.

The status of deer as game does not prevent their control when they are causing damage to the environment or property, a government spokesman said.

The government pointed to more than $27 million in funding to manage deer and rabbits in Victoria, but conceded eradicating them altogether is unrealistic.

Benjamin Preiss preparing the rabbit he shot for stew. Credit:Eddie Jim

Brian Cooke, patron of Rabbit Free Australia and University of Canberra adjunct associate professor, says there was a viable commercial market for wild rabbits in the 1940s, but it did nothing to reduce their plague numbers.

It simply didnt work, he says.

Cooke says introduced diseases, including myxomatosis and calicivirus, have had the greatest impact on curbing rabbit populations, although some animal lovers say they inflict cruel deaths.

Fumigating and covering burrows are now common methods for culling rabbits.

But research into genetic manipulation that minimises breeding provides a humane and promising way forward, Cooke says.

From field to plate

In his open outdoor shed, Russell Barnes arranges the gutted rabbits on a white plastic table and hands me a pair of black plastic gloves.

Starting at the bottom of the rabbit, he shows me how to yank back the fur from the animals hindquarters and rip up towards its head, while inspecting the flesh for cysts, ensuring it is free of disease.

Handling the warm rabbit, I somehow feel closer to this animal that I shot an hour earlier.

Rabbit stew prepared with vegetables and white wine. Credit:Benjamin Preiss

Using a heavy cleaver, we break carcasses down into pieces. Then with a boning knife we skirt around the hindquarter bones, so I can use the meat for schnitzel.

The next day I stew the rabbit slowly with carrots, celery and white wine until the meat slides off the bones. The flavour is a rich umami with mild gaminess.

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I crumb the remaining fillets and hindquarters then shallow fry them in olive oil. The meat is firm but not chewy and tastes much like chicken schnitzel.

I serve it to my family, and we eat it with gusto.

Perhaps this meal is less part of an environmental solution than I hoped. But I am proud to have confronted the grisly realities of eating meat. And I have given this animal the most respectful death I could imagine.



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A rare stoush has erupted in parliaments high-powered intelligence and security committee over a government push that could see whistleblower turned independent MP Andrew Wilkie return to the secretive body.

The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Security and Intelligence has only had Labor and Coalition members throughout its history, besides a brief stint when Wilkie served on the committee during the minority Gillard government.

Whistleblower and former intelligence analyst Andrew Wilkie. Credit: Rhett Wyman

Wilkie resigned from his position as an intelligence analyst on the Office of National Assessments in the lead-up to the Iraq War, going public with his concerns that the threat of Saddam Hussein using weapons of mass destruction had been overhyped by the United States and its allies.

The Labor majority on the committee, which receives classified intelligence briefings and oversees agencies such as ASIO and the Office of National Intelligence, is proposing to expand its membership from 11 to 13 MPs, extending membership to politicians outside the two major parties.
Pesutto denied his leadership had been weakened by the turmoil, and declared he was very comfortable with the level of support. Thats a strong endorsement of a process that was very difficult, very challenging, the opposition leader said. Five Liberal MPs, including former leader Matthew Guy, on Sunday co-signed a motion to expel Deeming from the party room after she threatened to launch legal proceedings to challenge her nine-month suspension. Pesutto after Fridays fiery Liberal Party meeting. Credit: Eddie Jim After initially denying she ever intended to sue the party or Pesutto, the first-term MP on Thursday threatened the opposition leader with a defamation lawsuit and told colleagues she would not attend Fridays vote because she had nothing more to add. Pesutto confirmed he would defend any legal action.

Liberal MPs from both camps said there were animated scenes at the party room meeting when Michael OBrien and Georgie Crozier moved a motion to strip Heath of her role as party room secretary. Three MPs said they were blindsided by the sanction against her. Loading Heath was last week accused of inappropriately taking minutes of the March 27 meeting when Deeming narrowly avoided being expelled from the party room over her attendance at the Let Women Speak rally, which was gatecrashed by neo-Nazis. Pesuttos supporters accused Heath of providing three different sets of minutes, claiming MPs contributions were inappropriately reported verbatim. They also accused her of mischaracterising the motion that was passed on March 27. Liberal sources told The Age that Heaths record of the meeting said MPs agreed to suspend Deeming for nine months effective immediately; that the leadership team and Deeming would issue a joint statement; and Pesutto would release a public statement declaring Deeming was not a Nazi sympathiser.

Matt Golding. Credit: The Age However, Pesutto disputes that final clause was part of the agreement. Heath was accused of recording the party room meeting, a breach of the rules, and leaking the minutes to The Australian. Heath denies both. Pesutto said the party room had lost confidence in Heaths ability to fulfil the role. Several MPs told The Age they could no longer trust Heath and decided to move against her. First-term upper house MP Trung Luu was elected the new party room secretary.

Deeming and Heath declined to comment. Frontbencher and former leadership contender Brad Battin, who last week told ABC Radio Melbourne that he did not like that lawyers were being called in, voted to keep Deeming in the party room. Trung Luu has been elected as new party room secretary. Credit: Eddie Jim Other MPs to support her include Heath, Joe McCracken, Kim Wells, Ryan Smith, Bev McArthur, Chris Crewther, Nick McGowan, David Hodgett, Richard Riordan and Bill Tilley, according to two Liberal sources. One Liberal MP said there were two schools of thought on the path forward: move on and forget about the saga that has dogged the Coalition for almost two months, or continued frustration at the purging of MPs.

Loading The party room is evenly split between the two, according to the MP. Three Liberal MPs confirmed the party room last week passed a motion for Pesutto to hold a meeting with David Southwick, Wells and Heath to discuss the conflicting minutes. That meeting was not held, in breach of the rules and the motion agreed to, and the minutes from the March 27 meeting distributed to the party room on Friday by Pesutto were contested, according to the three Liberal sources. MPs voted to endorse those minutes, which stated the party room had agreed to suspend Deeming, that Deeming would issue a statement and that Pesutto would confirm Deeming was not a Nazi sympathiser.

Deemings backers dispute that version of events. What Johns version of events is and what happened is just wrong, one MP said. Why do people feel the need to rewrite history to suit their narrative? Once the dust settles, there will be further discussions of the way people have been treated during this mess. The minutes were changed, and due process was not followed. Will any decision of the party room in the future be binding? Obviously not. Pesuttos office declined to respond to the criticisms.

Loading However, other MPs are furious the saga has dragged on for more than seven weeks and say Deeming has never shown any contrition for her actions. Pesutto declined to reveal in detail why the first-term MP was eventually expelled, but said the reasons were self-evident and on the public record. He said her legal threats and defamation concerns notice did not sit well with the majority of the party room. Three Liberal MPs confirmed the Western Metropolitan Region MP was dumped due to her legal threats. I think people understood that to be a party, you cant really have such litigation between members of the same party room, Pesutto said. This was more about being part of a team and being disciplined. Weve got a lot more work to do. Reform isnt easy and reform takes time. Brighton MP James Newbury, who was one of the MPs to put his name to todays motion, said: You cannot sue your boss and expect to keep your job.

Nepean MP Sam Groth declared the outcome of the meeting was a line in the sand moment for the party, which needed to turn its blowtorch on the Andrews Labor government. Its time for the Liberal Party to start being a viable option, a different alternative government for Victoria, and its time the party becomes one and becomes united and gathers behind John Pesutto, Groth said. Brighton MP James Newbury was one of the five MPs who co-signed a motion to expel Moira Deeming. Credit: Eddie Jim Deeming will continue to represent the Western Metropolitan upper house region on the crossbench. Although Deeming was expelled from the parliamentary party, she is still a member of the wider Liberal Party, a situation that Pesutto said was under active consideration by the partys administrative committee.

Loading However, one committee member told The Age that there was no motion put to them to consider expunging Deeming from the party. In an email sent to Liberal rank-and-file members on Friday night seen by The Age, party president Greg Mirabella urged everyone to get behind Pesutto. He also said reports the administrative committee was actively considering expelling Deeming were incorrect. To date, the matter has been one for the parliamentary party room, and accordingly I refrained from any public comment, specifically in order to minimise the opportunity for unnecessary media stories, Mirabella said.
London: The World Health Organisation has declared the global outbreak of mpox, which spread to more than 100 countries last year, is no longer an international emergency, after a dramatic drop in cases.

Last July, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared mpox, also known as monkeypox, to be an extraordinary situation that qualified as a global crisis. In doing so, he overruled WHOs expert committee, which didnt recommend the emergency designation.

Tedros said the novel way mpox was infecting people, via sexual contact in many countries that had never identified cases, raised numerous concerns that warranted more attention; nearly all cases were in men who were gay, bisexual or had sex with other men. It was the biggest-ever outbreak of mpox.

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the World Health Organisation. Credit: AP

He said at a media briefing on Thursday that his expert committee had concluded that the recent dramatic decline in cases, with about 90 per cent fewer cases in the last three months, was no longer an acute concern.
UNITED NATIONS/KIEV/LUANDA, May 12 (Xinhua) -- The following are the latest developments related to the Ukraine crisis:

The quadrilateral meeting in Istanbul to discuss the future of the Black Sea Grain Initiative was meaningful and substantive, said a UN spokesman on Thursday.

The meeting was held in Istanbul on Thursday with the participation of senior-level officials from Russia, Turkiye, Ukraine and the United Nations, said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Participants in the meeting discussed the recent proposals by the United Nations, a longer extension of the deal, improvements at the Joint Coordination Centre for stable operations and exports, and other issues raised by the parties.

The Black Sea Grain Initiative, which allows the export of Ukrainian grain and other agricultural products from Black Sea ports, was signed separately by Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul with Turkiye and the United Nations on July 22, 2022. Initially in effect for 120 days, the deal was extended in mid-November 2022 for another 120 days until March 18, 2023. At that point, Russia only agreed to extend the deal for 60 days until May 18, 2023.

- - - -

Angolan President Joao Lourenco emphasized the need for dialogue between Russia and Ukraine to establish a ceasefire and pave the way for a final peace negotiation in a speech on Wednesday.

During a meeting with military leaders in Menongue, the capital of Angola's southern Cuando Cubango Province, Lourenco said that the conflict in Ukraine increasingly threatens "global peace and security" and that "efforts must be made to prevent the escalation of the conflict."

He stressed the need for direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, Russia and the United States, and Russia and NATO, to prevent "a dangerous nuclear confrontation."

"The moment is crucial to start taking concrete steps in the search for solutions to achieving peace through negotiation so that we do not regret it later," he said.

- - - -

On Thursday, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov welcomed Britain's decision to supply the Storm Shadow long-range missiles to Ukraine.

Earlier in the day, British Secretary of Defense Ben Wallace announced that Britain has donated Storm Shadow missiles to Kiev to help it push back Russian forces based within Ukraine.

According to media reports, the Storm Shadow cruise missile has a range of over 250 kilometers.

Other countries have provided Ukraine with High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems and Harpoon Anti-ship missiles and launchers. Ukraine also has its own Neptune cruise missiles.

- - - -

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that his country needs more time to launch a counteroffensive against Russia as the military forces are waiting for more aid, the government-run Ukrinform news agency reported Thursday.

"With what we already have, we can go forward and be successful. But we would lose a lot of people. I think this is unacceptable. So we have to wait. We still need a bit more time," Zelensky said.

In particular, Ukraine needs more military vehicles, which "arrive in batches," Zelensky said.

Voicing his confidence that the Ukrainian forces could advance in the confrontation, Zelensky warned of the risks of the "frozen conflict."


WASHINGTON, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Former U.S. President Donald Trump moved on Thursday to appeal a jury's verdict finding him liable for sexually abusing and defaming writer E. Jean Carroll.

Trump's attorneys filed a notice of appeal with the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Thursday afternoon.

Carroll accused Trump of raping her in the mid-1990s at a department store dressing room in Manhattan, New York City, and later defaming her by denying her claims.

Earlier this week, a federal jury in Manhattan did not find Trump liable for rape but found him liable for sexual abuse and defamation. Carroll was subsequently awarded 5 million U.S. dollars in damages.

Trump called the verdict "a disgrace" and "a continuation of the greatest witch hunt of all time" while referring to Carroll as a "whack job" with a "made-up story."

Carroll's lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, reportedly said that they may file another suit based on those comments.

A Republican who held the White House from early 2017 to early 2021, Trump is running again for the U.S. presidency. 
TEHRAN, May 12 (Xinhua) -- Iran has taken back a 10,000-ton oil tanker that had been "illegally" used by a foreign company for five years, an Iranian judicial official said on Friday.

Mojtaba Qahremani, the chief justice of the southern Iranian province of Hormuzgan, identified the oil tanker as "Purity," reported Mizan news agency of the Iranian judiciary.

Certain individuals inside Iran had forged the oil tanker's documents, allowing it to be "illegally" leased to a foreign company and depriving its Iranian owner of its benefits, Qahremani was quoted as saying, without elaborating on the name of the foreign firm.

The Iranian judicial authorities started looking into the case after receiving a complaint from the Iranian company that owns the tanker, which claimed that a foreign company had signed a contract with it for renting the oil tanker but had cut off contact after receiving the vessel, Qahremani added.

Investigations revealed that the foreign company had been using the tanker to smuggle fuel, said Qahremani, adding the Navy of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) seized the tanker a few days ago off the coast of Parsian County in southern Iran.

Qahremani added that the tanker had been moved to the Assaluyeh port in southern Iran to unload its fuel cargo. 
KHARTOUM, May 12 (Xinhua) -- Sudanese political forces and regional and international parties on Friday welcomed the Declaration of Commitment to Protect the Civilians of Sudan signed by the Sudanese Army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Saudi Arabia on Thursday.

The tripartite mechanism of the United Nations, the African Union and the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) described the agreement in a statement on Friday as "an important first step toward alleviating human suffering and protecting the lives and dignity of civilians in Sudan."

The organizations urged the parties to exert all efforts to immediately translate these commitments into meaningful action on the ground.

"The parties must convey clear and unequivocal instructions to lower ranks to abide by the Declaration of Commitments and facilitate the safe passage of humanitarian assistance, the restoration of essential services, the withdrawal of forces from hospitals and clinics, and the respectful burial of the dead," the statement said.

For its part, the Forces of Freedom and Change Alliance (FFC), a civilian political coalition in Sudan, welcomed the signing of the declaration and regarded it as "an important first step towards ending the war," urging the two parties to strictly and seriously adhere to what has been agreed on.

In a statement on Friday, FFC said "we encourage the two parties to move forward to reach a permanent ceasefire and end the differences through dialogue, away from violence and armed force."

The Sudanese Congress Party welcomed the signing of the declaration as "a step on the right path that we should build on to reach a permanent ceasefire."

"We urge the leadership of the Sudanese Armed Forces and the RSF to move forward towards a peaceful and negotiated solution that leads to an integrated political process to restore the path of civilian democratic transition," the party said in a statement on Friday.

Also on Friday, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that "it is an important step that will contribute to providing protection for civilians of Sudan and will give the opportunity for the access of relief and humanitarian aid as well as protecting the public facilities and easing the evacuation operations."

Egypt is hoping the agreement will open the road for the Sudanese two sides with the help of the regional and international partners to reach a comprehensive and permanent ceasefire, the statement added.

On Thursday evening, the Sudanese warring parties signed in the Saudi port city of Jeddah the Declaration of Commitment to Protect the Civilians of Sudan, vowing to "achieve a short-term ceasefire to facilitate the delivery of emergency humanitarian assistance and restoration of essential services."

Under the agreement, the two parties would allow civilians to voluntarily and safely leave areas of hostilities and any besieged areas, safeguard the needs and necessities indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, and protect all public and private facilities and refrain from using them for military purposes.

More than 164,000 people have sought refuge across borders since the outbreak of the military conflict in Sudan on April 15, according to the UN Refugee Agency. The deadly clashes have left at least 550 people dead and 4,926 others wounded, according to the figures released by the Sudanese Health Ministry in early May. 
MOGADISHU, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud on Thursday endorsed bills aimed at combating corruption to help enhance transparency and accountability in the management of financial resources in the country.

The bills, which were passed earlier on Thursday by the cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre, focus on combating corruption and enhancing public financial management.

"The president urges an expedient implementation of the directives (bills)," the presidency said in a statement issued in the Somali capital of Mogadishu.

According to Mohamud, Somalia is at a consequential moment as the government deepens state-building, security, and economic development efforts.

He said central to achieving success in these endeavors is ensuring government systems are built on the sound principles of accountability, transparency, and integrity based on the country's laws.

"The willful lack of adherence to these directives will result in legal consequences," Mohamud said, noting that these directives reinforce current reforms and introduce additional measures that address the most critical priorities, including the strengthening of procurement and concession processes, public asset management, and the audit framework.

The president said the announced steps seek to increase transparency and accountability through financial disclosures by public officials, enhanced enforcement capacity, and expanded merit-based recruitment.

"Tackling corruption is not only a moral imperative but also a prerequisite for sustainable development and a just and equitable Somalia. We are determined to build transparent and accountable systems that serve the Somali people," Mohamud said, vowing to step up commitment to the immediate implementation of the directives as part of a comprehensive and long-term financial governance strategy that engages the Somali public and its international partners. 
BRIAN QUINN/DAILY NEWS Accepting a proclamation for Older Americans Mont was Office of the Aging Director Diana Fox, center, with Legislator Brooks Hawley and OFA Vice Chair Gina Stella.
Batavia, NY (14020)

Today

Partly cloudy skies this morning will become overcast during the afternoon. High 58F. Winds NNE at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 39F. Winds light and variable.
BRIAN QUINN/DAILY NEWS Capish! owner James Frascati came to the states 50 years ago in December. Family and friends made him take a break from work Thursday evening to celebrate the anniversary.
Contributed photo A small group welcomes the arrival of immigrants near the Crossroads Hotel in Newburgh on Wednesday.
JUBA, May 12 (Xinhua) -- South Sudan's Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security in partnership with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Friday launched two cassava crop varieties imported from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Andrea Heath, deputy head of the ICRC Delegation in South Sudan, said the Mayombe and Sawasawa that are resistant to cassava mosaic disease and streak virus will improve food productivity, thus helping mitigate chronic hunger.

"Cassava is a crucial component of household food security in many communities in South Sudan, and it continues to grow in importance. It is affected by various diseases like cassava mosaic disease, brown streak virus, in addition to poor agricultural practices severely undermining production," Heath said during the certification ceremony in Juba, the capital of South Sudan.

More than 7.7 million people, or two-thirds of the population in South Sudan. are facing a crisis or worse levels of hunger. In addition, 1.4 million children under five years of age are facing acute malnutrition, according to the World Food Programme (WFP).

In 2019, the ICRC imported these resistant varieties from the DRC and also introduced them in the Central Africa Republic.

Heath said that the two cassava varieties have proven great success, in terms of improving food productivity and keeping the virus at bay after being piloted in Eastern Equatoria and Western Equatoria states, both in South Sudan.

Loro George Leju Lugor, director-general for research, training and extension service in the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, said they are now planning to hand out these new varieties to specific farmers in selected parts of the country.

George Tadu, director general of research in the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, said cassava remains an important food crop in most parts of the Equatoria region, where cassava roots and leaves are widely eaten.

"Cassava mosaic disease is common in all of the cassava growing areas, and it is really a problem. Cassava streak virus was identified in Western Equatoria state since 2006, it is a much more serious disease than cassava mosaic, and these varieties if released will help increase the farmers' resilience to disease pressure," Tadu said.

He added that these new high-yielding cassava varieties will improve food and income security for farmers in cassava-growing areas.

"We also want to train people who are involved in cassava multiplication, train farm monitors, extension workers to do rapid multiplication of these varieties. Also,we want to disseminate and adapt these cassava mosaic resistant varieties in major parts of the country," Tadu said.

Cassava is a major source of food for more than 200 million people in Africa.

It is also the second most important major source of carbohydrates in Sub-Saharan Africa, and about 40 percent of the population in Sub-Saharan Africa depends on cassava.

Simon Duku, lecturer in the School of Natural Resources at the University of Juba, said South Sudan needs to intensify agricultural research activities in order to find a variety of crops that can adapt to different climatic conditions.

"We still don't have clear crop varieties that are adapted to our climate, so we really need to do a lot of research work to adapt some varieties to some specific regions in South Sudan. We know the challenges of food insecurity that we are encountering; I actually encourage such kinds of activities," he said. 
UNITED NATIONS, May 12 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the signing of a commitment to protect civilians and humanitarian aid delivery in Sudan, a UN spokesman said on Friday.

"The secretary-general welcomes the signing by the parties to the conflict in Sudan of the Declaration of Commitment to protect civilians and guarantee the safe passage of humanitarian aid in the country," said Stephane Dujarric, chief spokesman for Guterres.

"While humanitarian workers, most notably local partners, have continued to deliver in very difficult circumstances, the secretary-general hopes this declaration will ensure that the relief operation can scale up swiftly and safely to meet the needs of millions of people in Sudan," Dujarric said.

The UN chief reiterated his call for an immediate ceasefire and expanded discussions to achieve a permanent cessation of hostilities, the spokesman said.

After almost a week of negotiations in the Saudi port city of Jeddah, the warring Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces signed the declaration on Thursday.

The spokesman said the United Nations would spare no effort to assist in the declaration's implementation and will continue to deliver humanitarian aid, ceasefire or not.

Word of the accord coincided with a fire in a Khartoum factory producing food for the UN Children's Agency. "It is yet another bitter blow to Sudan's most vulnerable children," said the agency's spokesman in Geneva, James Elder. "This is the darkest, most distinct illustration to date of how this conflict threatens the lives of children through multiple means."

He said the SAMIL factory fire destroyed 14,500 cartons of Ready to Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) for the life-saving treatment of 14,500 children. The factory produced 60 percent of the RUTF used to treat children with severe acute malnutrition in Sudan last year.

Elder added that the blaze destroyed the factory's machinery. However, the agency said it has 34,000 cartons of RUTF enroute from France, with another 81,000 cartons to be sent from France at the end of the month.

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) warned that the situation is critical, with the humanitarian response significantly underfunded in Sudan and some of its neighbors: Chad, South Sudan and Ethiopia. The agency deployed teams and is rushing to deliver aid with its partners, but ramping up its operations will require more funding.

Almost 200,000 people have fled the conflict in Sudan so far, UNHCR said.

The World Food Programme reported it delivered food assistance to 50,000 people in the states of Kassala, Gedaref and White Nile. 
Albany Westfield is the latest home of the doughnut giant and anyone who visits them between 9 AM - 6 PM today, Friday the 12th of May, gets a free Original Glazed Donut. You also get a free limited edition Krispy Kreme beanie if youre one of the first 200 people there, which would be very nice right about now (thanks AKL weather).
3 Chicago Gang Members Arrested in Beverly Crest Triple Homicide

Authorities announced on May 12, 2023, the arrest of three reputed gang members from Chicago in connection with a January "ambush-style" shooting in the Beverly Crest area that left three women dead. (Courtesy of Los Angeles Police Department)

LOS ANGELESThree Chicago men with reputed gang ties in that area were in custody Friday and awaiting extradition to Los Angeles to face multiple murder charges stemming from an ambush-style shooting in the Beverly Crest area that left three women dead.

One of the suspects is also believed to be connected to the December killing of a manalso from Chicagoin North Hollywood, police said. Both shootings are believed to be tied to gang activity originating in Chicago, with all of the suspects and the targeted victims from that city, according to investigators.

Daries Stanford, 28, Dontae Williams, 22, and Dejean Thompkins, 28, were all arrested over the past month, police said. Thompkins and Williams are both in custody in Chicago, while Stanford is in custody in New York.

A representative from the Los Angeles District Attorneys Office said the three suspects have all been charged with multiple counts of murder. In a rare move under District Attorney George Gascon, the office has also filed special circumstance allegations of multiple murders and murder while lying in wait, which could lead to sentences of life in prison without parole.

Stanford and Williams were charged on May 8 with three counts each of murder and six counts each of attempted murder and assault with a semiautomatic firearm, while Thompkins was charged with four counts of murder and six counts each of attempted murder and assault with a semiautomatic firearm, according to the District Attorneys Office.

Police said Thompkins is connected to the December killing in North Hollywood, but its unclear if the other two had any involvement in that slaying.

Victims of the triple homicide happened in Beverly Crest, Calif., in January 2023. (Courtesy of Los Angeles Police Department)

Iyana Hutton, 33, of Chicago; Nenah Davis, 29, of Bolingbrook, Illinois; and Destiny Sims, 26, of Buckeye, Arizona, were fatally shot in a parked car in the 2700 block of North Ellison Drive in the early morning hours of Jan. 28, according to the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD).

The shooting was reported at about 2:30 a.m., according to the LAPD.

The women were found fatally shot in the car outside a residence that authorities said was being used as a short-term rental. Police said there was a gathering at the location, and multiple other victims were injured in the shooting but survived.

Authorities said at least 30 shots were fired, and witnesses told investigators that several cars were seen driving away from the area after the gunfire erupted.

Speaking at a news conference on the morning of May 12, LAPD Capt. Jonathan Tippet, commander of the Robbery-Homicide Division, said the three women who died were not the intended targets of the gunmen but were shot during an ambush-style attack aimed at others.

A group of young adults that had known each other growing up came out to Los Angeles in support of a Chicago rapper, Tippet said. They rented a vacation rental, and on the night of the incident, while returning home from a night of bowling, an ambush-style attack occurred that left three people dead and four others shot. Two of those were in critical condition but thankfully survived.

He insisted that the three women who died were not the intended targets of the shooting.

Detectives investigating that shooting ultimately tied the ambush to the Dec. 16, 2022, killing of Julian Bynum, 30, of Chicago, who was shot multiple times on a sidewalk in the 6800 block of Simpson Avenue in North Hollywood, Tippet said. Bynum is believed to have been specifically targeted.

In both of these cases, the suspects used ambush-style tactics on their unsuspecting victims, Tippet said. Planning and coordination were utilized to carry out these murderous attacks.

Police tape in Los Angeles on Dec. 13, 2018. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Tippet declined to specify exactly what led investigators to the suspects or explain any possible motive, saying only that the killings are associated with Chicago. He said the three suspects are involved in a gang and connected to a gang, and come from an area that is within miles of where the intended shooting targets live in Chicago.

The violence that occurs in Chicago today is having an effect on all of us, and weve become aware that it is affecting other states as well, Tippet said.

There was no immediate word on when the suspects would be brought to Los Angeles.

In a statement released shortly after the arrests were announced, Gascon said in a statement, This was a careless and senseless act that has left the victims families stunned and devastated. This is another example of the widespread damage that can be done by gun violence. We must do morewhether it is through legislation or educationto stop mass shootings in order to make every community in Los Angeles County safer.

On the night of the Beverly Crest shooting, the suspects were seen driving a blue four-door Tesla with damage to the right front fender and no license plates, police said at the time.

Tips from people who saw a vehicle matching that description in the West Los Angeles and Beverly Hills areas led investigators to an apartment building in the 8600 block of Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills.

On March 29, detectives served a search warrant at the apartment building. Detectives discovered that the apartment was empty, and processed the scene for possible forensic evidence left behind by the suspects.

Anyone with additional information about the shooting was urged to call the Robbery-Homicide Division at 213-486-6890, 877-LAPD-247, or Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
3 in 4 Canadians Hold Negative View of China: Survey

Flags of Canada and China are placed for the first China-Canada economic and financial strategy dialogue in Beijing on Nov. 12, 2018. (Jason Lee/The Associated Press)

Canadians overwhelmingly view China in a negative light, according to a recent survey conducted by Nanos Research.

The online survey asked Canadians to provide their opinions on several countries and whether each would make a valuable trading partner for Canada. Nearly three in four (73 percent) of the 1,080 Canadian adults surveyed say they have a negative (41 percent) or somewhat negative (32 percent) view of China.

Notably, the percentage of Canadians holding negative views of China has increased by over 10 percent compared with a similar poll conducted by the same company in 2019, where only 25 percent of respondents held negative views. Conversely, about 10 percent of Canadians hold positive or somewhat positive views of China.

This speaks to how strained the relationship is between Canada and China, Nik Nanos, chairman of Nanos Research, told CTV News.

The CanadaChina relationship hit a new low after Ottawa recently expelled Chinese diplomat Zhao Wei over an intelligence report accusing him of threatening Conservative MP Michael Chongs family in Hong Kong. Chong became a target due to proposing a motion to recognize Chinas treatment of Uyghurs as genocide. Beijing denied targeting the MPs family and in retaliation expelled a Canadian diplomat in China, Jennifer Lynn Lalonde.

Conservative Member of Parliament Michael Chong speaks to reporters on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on May 3, 2023. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)

The issue has been referred to the House of Commons Procedure and House Affairs for further study, while members of the opposition continue to question why Zhao was not expelled sooner, given new revelations that the federal government had knowledge for several years that he was spying on Chinese dissidents in Canada and targeting Conservative MP Michael Chong.

Chinas approach to advancing its interests appears unsavoury to some Canadians, Nanos said, citing allegations of Chinese interference as a concern. He noted that other countries prioritize transparency in their diplomatic activity, which is not always the case with China.

As Canada balances its trade potential with China against potential human rights violations, Nanos believes that the relationship with the communist regime will continue to feel like a huge political risk for Canada.

According to the survey, conducted between April 30 and May 3, Atlantic provinces have the highest proportion of those who hold a positive or somewhat positive view of China, at 15.1 percent, followed by those from Quebec at 11.3 percent, Ontario at 11 percent, Prairies at 12.1 percent, and British Columbia at 8.8 percent.

The survey also asked respondents which countries they are comfortable partnering with in terms of energy. Results showed that the majority of Canadians are uncomfortable partnering with China and Russia, with 72 percent and 85 percent respectively holding this view. Meanwhile, Canadians feel most comfortable partnering with Australia, Germany, and the United States as energy partners.

The survey was conducted by a hybrid of telephone and online random calls, carrying a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

Noe Chartier contributed to this report.
COLOMBO, May 12 (Xinhua) -- The Sri Lankan navy has assigned its first group of women to sea duties, according to a press release Friday.

The navy said that the first female group, consisting of two officers and five sailors, was attached to the naval vessel SLNS Gajabahu on May 11, which is a giant step in breaking barriers and shattering traditional gender roles.

The navy offered women the Inshore Patrol Craft Handling Foundation Course in October 2022.

During the course held at the Naval and Maritime Academy, these female officers and sailors enhanced their practical and theoretical knowledge on navigation, seamanship, engineering, electricity, combat medicine, firefighting and communication, the navy said.

While women have been recruited by the navy from the beginning, this is the first time they are being deployed for sea duties. 
300,000 San Diego Instacart Workers Can Now Divide Millions in Settlement

Smartphone with displayed Instacart logo in this illustration taken on March 25, 2022. (Dado Ruvic/Illustration/Reuters)

SAN DIEGOMore than $46 million that grocery delivery company Instacart agreed to pay as part of a settlement with the city of San Diego is ready to be distributed, the San Diego City Attorneys Office said May 11.

The settlement stems from a lawsuit the city filed in 2019, which alleged Instacart improperly classified workers as independent contractors. The city said the alleged misclassification deprived workers of protections and compensation they would have received as employees, such as overtime pay, paid breaks, and reimbursement for expenses including gas mileage and cellphone data.

The $46.5 million settlement was reached last fall and was recently finalized.

Around 308,000 people who worked for Instacart between Sept. 13, 2015, and Dec. 15, 2020, are believed to be eligible for restitution payments, the City Attorneys Office said. Individual reimbursements will vary depending on the number of hours each person worked over that time period.

Fund administrator Simpluris is managing the payment distribution and notices of restitution eligibility are being sent out. Anyone who believes they are eligible for funds can find more information on the City Attorneys website or at CaliforniaShopperSettlement.com.

San Diego City Attorney Mara Elliot said in a statement, Its gratifying to see hardworking Instacart shoppers receive the compensation they deserve. At the height of COVID-19, they provided a lifeline to California families.

The lawsuit was described as the first of its kind against a gig-economy company, which was filed following a California Supreme Court decision that set a three-prong standardthe ABC testfor determining whether a worker was an employee or independent contractor.

Assembly Bill 5, introduced by former Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez and later signed into law, expanded the scope of the ABC test, and set standards that classified many app-based drivers as employees.

Last October, when the settlement was reached, Instacart said in a statement that its California workers were always properly classified as independent contractors and noted the settlement contains no admission of any wrongdoing.

Were pleased to have reached an agreement with the city of San Diego. Instacart has always properly classified shoppers as independent contractors, giving them the ability to set their own schedule and earn on their own terms, the companys statement read. We remain committed to continuing to serve our customers across California while also protecting access to flexible earnings opportunities for Instacart shoppers.
A Victim of Chinas Blood Economy Finds His New Life and Hope to Confront the CCP

Lu Xiaozhong is pictured in an observing ward of Beijing Ditan Hospital on April 13, 2016, after he was injured by a thug from Shanghai Institute of Biological Products when he tried to file a complaint to Sinopharm petition office in Beijing about the tainted clotting factor VIII that caused various complications and generalized joint necrosis. (Courtesy of Lu Xiaozhong)

Lu Xiaozhong, a hemophiliac, contracted HIV and Hepatitis C from the contaminated clotting factor VIII administered to treat his illness in 2004. Since then, rather than receiving proper treatment and medical assistance, he has been a target of the regimes repression for more than 19 years.

On March 17, he finally escaped China and made his way to a refugee camp in Frankfurt.

Its a miracle that I could survive to this day, he said to the Chinese language edition of The Epoch Times recently, and he finally found his dignity and joy of life as a human being.

He is confident that hell soon recover and make the best use of his time in the free world: I will expose the brutality and crimes of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in front of the Chinese consulate when I am physically capable, he said.

Blood Plasma Economy

Lu, 46, was diagnosed with hemophilia as a child. The illness made him drop out of school in fourth grade.

Like many other hemophilia patients who regularly took the Chinese-made clotting factor VIII at that time, he became handicapped by the tainted agent, which led to various complications and generalized joint necrosis, while many others died.

Shanghai Institute of Biological Products (SIBP), a subsidiary of the State-owned pharmaceutical company Sinopharm, produced these agents.

In the 1980s, China engaged in the blood plasma economy in which local governments encouraged poor farmers to earn quick money by selling their blood.

AIDS sufferers Cao Xiaonian (L) and his wife Zhou Xiaoneng (R) hold their 9-month-old baby in their village home in Chinas southern Henan province, on August 2, 2006. (Peter Parks/AFP via Getty Images)

Along with improper blood collection, selling, and transfusion, millions of Chinese became victims of HIV-tainted blood.

In Henan Province, particularly, the practice led to an AIDS epidemic in the 1990s and many AIDS villages.

In Houyang Village, for instance, 38 percent of babies from AIDS-infected parents born after 1996 had contracted AIDS.

Unfortunately, the bureaucratic connections of the pharmaceuticals have determined the fate of the victims.

The regime adopted its typical suppression measures against the victims who sought relief from the government and the company.

Lu said that even though some lawsuits were filed, no court dared to penalize those who were responsible.

He said, SIBPs party secretary was [a] schoolmate of Jiang Zemin [former Chinese leader]  no one dared to touch the case.

When Henan was engaged in the plasma economy, the party chief of Henan was Li Changchun, succeeded by Li Keqiang.

Li Changchun moved from a local governor to a Standing Committee member of the Politburo, despite there being a national outcry to hold him accountable for the national disaster.

Li Keqiang also smoothly stepped up in the party hierarchy and became premier.

A woman, whose son was infected with HIV, wears a face mask bearing the words Blood products infect us with AIDS, as she cries during an AIDS awareness event at Beijings south railway station, on Dec. 1, 2009. (Andy Wong/AP Photo)

Locked up and Beaten

Since 2004, Lu has become a target of the regimes suppression in the name of stability maintenance by the authorities in Suzhou City, south of China.

He was kept in Suzhous Fifth Peoples Hospital.

The day-in and day-out monitoring by the police at the hospital was driving him crazy. He decided to visit the provincial petition office to file a complaint in September 2005. But the police captured him and sent him back to Suzhou.

In an iron fence ward designed for rabies patients, Lu was locked inside with no food and water for three days.

He described his mentality: At the time, I was naive and believed that the CCP would eventually save me and understand me.

But, his experience of petitioning in Beijing woke him up.

In April 2016, he filed a complaint to the petition office of Sinopharm in Beijing, and was only treated with heavy beating by a thug from SIBP, who even broke his crutch.

He called the police and filed a lawsuit in the court.

The police told him they recorded everything and had all the evidence. But, in the trial, they said there was no recording, and Lu did it to himself. He said, That woke me up.

He realized that in the eyes of the local authorities, I was a troublemaker, a parasite, he said.

On sensitive days, local police would confiscate his ID, cellphone, and permit to Hong Kong and Macau. He would get locked up inside the ward; sometimes, it would last for as long as 30 days.

He said for someone like him, with a terminal illness, the authorities would spend so much effort just to keep an eye on him. There was only one reason: The corrupt officials took him as an excuse to get more reimbursement from the central government.

He gave an example. The local staff would get rewarded for tens of thousand of yuan if they are able to interrupt and kidnap one local petitioner before he reaches [the] Beijing petition office, he said.

For the past 19 years, hed been forcibly kept in the hospital, and the number of times he was tortured and locked up was too numerous to count, he said.

Depression Has a Cure

In recent years, Lus developed depression which became more and more severe, and he wanted to go abroad to get some relief.

He needed the authorities permission.

He asked the officials to grant his travel to Serbia.

They wanted him to go to Thailand and said: Why Serbia? Theres a war in Europe. Go to Thailand. He rejected the idea and insisted on his plan.

Perhaps its because of his terrible health conditionhe cant survive without receiving the clotting factor VIIIthe authorities did not stop him from booking an airline ticket.

With many obstacles in the airport, the Chinese police finally let him go seeing hes extremely weak physically. He was lucky to get on board.

In Frankfurt, he did not get on the transit flight to Serbia. Instead, the German police at the airport took a record of him and sent him to a refugee camp, where he was registered as a refugee.

After a week, he was settled in a German hospital with proper care.

After arriving in Germany, he has not had the anti-depressant he brought with him. He said, Its been a while. Now I can sleep at night, and the fear is gone.

He recalled life in China, Its a horror. Even if you sleep in the ward, [youd fear] someone would come in to rob you, or send you to a mental hospital at any time. Its highly intense, and [] depressing.

Now in Germany, he feels the air is sweet and the sky is blue. His body is comforted with the pleasing atmosphere built by people surrounding him. Theyve been telling me: We are here to help, dont worry.

Lu feels that life has finally started for him. He said, My life prior to this was worse than a dog.

Hes confident that hell gain his health, and when hes able to take public transportation, hes ready to visit the Chinese diplomat in Frankfurt, he said.

Li Yuanming contributed to this report.
ACLU Sues Biden Administration Over Revival of Trump-Era Asylum Restrictions

Illegal immigrants are processed by U.S. agents after crossing into Arizona from Mexico on May 11, 2023. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other groups sued President Joe Bidens administration on May 11, alleging that the governments revival of Trump-era restrictions on asylum arent legal.

The new restrictions are illegal in part because they force non-Mexican asylum seekers to enter the United States at ports of entry, the groups stated in a complaint filed in federal court in California.

The rule challenged here attempts to resuscitate and combine the illegal features of the two previous asylum bans that this Court and the Ninth Circuit found to be unlawful, plaintiffs stated. This new rule is no less illegal or harmful. It will effectively eliminate asylum for nearly all non-Mexican asylum seekers who enter between designated ports of entry, and even for those who present at a port without first securing an appointment.

The suit asks the court to permanently block the government from endorsing the restrictions and declare the restrictions illegal.

The defendants are Biden, Attorney General Merrick Garland, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials, and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

This rule seeks to incentivize migrants to use lawful pathways instead of taking the dangerous journey to unlawfully cross the southern border, a DHS spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an email. This rule responds to the elevated encounters we are experiencing at the border and is critical to creating an orderly process to seek protection in the United States at a time when Congress refuses to reform our broken immigration laws or provide the necessary funds to hire sufficient asylum officers and immigration judges to process claims in a timely manner.

CBP declined to comment.

The White House and the Department of Justice didnt respond by press time to requests by The Epoch Times for comment.

New Rule

Federal law enables immigrants to claim asylum or a fear of persecution on the basis of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group if they return to their home country. To be granted asylum, immigrants must come from a country that is unwilling or unable to protect them from persecution. Most claims are denied, with adjudicators ruling that they dont meet the criteria.

Asylum seekers can seek asylum even after entering the United States illegally, a practice at which the Biden administrations restrictions take aim.

The new restrictions, contained in a final rule, automatically reject asylum claims unless they come from immigrants who got an appointment and presented themselves at a port of entry or an official crossing, immigrants who applied for asylum in a country through which they traveled and were denied, and immigrants who received permission from U.S. authorities to travel to the United States.

The only exceptions are for immigrants who experience exceptionally compelling circumstances such as an acute medical emergency and those who go to a port of entry without an appointment. The latter must show that they could not use a new application, called CBP One, for some reasonone potential reason is that a language barrier exists.

The rule presumes those who do not use lawful pathways to enter the United States are ineligible for asylum and allows the United States to remove individuals who do not establish a reasonable fear of persecution or torture in the country of removal, according to a joint statement from DHS and the Department of Justice.

Officials proposed the restrictions in February and accepted public comments for about a month.

Blocked by Courts

When implemented during the Trump administration, the restrictions were blocked in court.

A judge found that the restrictions on immigrants who didnt present at ports of entry didnt comply with a federal law that largely requires agencies to provide a time period for public comments before enacting new policies. The ruling was upheld by higher courts, including the Supreme Court.

An asylum ban on immigrants who traveled through another country was in place for about a year after the nations top court lifted a preliminary injunction. According to government data, it led to a jump in rejections of asylum applications.

The ban was ultimately ruled to be in violation of U.S. law.

The rulings mean the restrictions have not been in place for years.

Although the Biden administration is portraying the new restrictions as different, theyre actually renewing the blocked restrictions, plaintiffs in the new case said.

The rule operates just as the Trump administrations prior asylum bans did: Asylum seekers subject to the ruleall non-Mexicansare categorically barred unless they satisfy one of the enumerated and limited conditions or exceptions. Thats a simple ban with narrow exemptions, and it turns the asylum process on its head, the suit stated.

The plaintiffs are all nonprofits that assist asylum seekers, including some who could not have sought asylum in transit.

The Biden administrations new ban places vulnerable asylum seekers in grave danger and violates U.S. asylum laws. Weve been down this road before with Trump, Katrina Eiland, a managing attorney with the ACLU, said in a statement. The asylum bans were cruel and illegal then, and nothing has changed now.
Activists Protest Near Home of SCOTUS Justice Clarence Thomas Amid Democrat Ethics Probe

Protester Nadine Seiler holds up a banner during an abortion protest near the home of Justice Clarence Thomas on May 11. (Joseph Lord/The Epoch Times)

FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va.Pro-abortion advocates on May 11 gathered outside the Virginia neighborhood of Justice Clarence Thomas for a protest that was potentially illegal under federal law.

With a contingent of Fairfax County police officers nearby guarding the private road leading to Thomas home, the abortion advocacy group Ruth Sent Us mounted the protest as the most recent in a series of controversial protests at the homes of conservative justices.

A contingent of Fairfax County police officers stands by on the other side of the road during a protest near the home of Justice Clarence Thomas on May 11. (Joseph Lord/The Epoch Times)

Protesters flew banners that read, Say no to Christo-Fascism, [expletive] Thomas, and Antifa pride flags.

Another read, An unethical judiciary makes a mockery of this democracy, a reference to allegations that Thomas committed ethical violations by failing to report gifts such as luxury vacations given by his wealthy friend, Texas billionaire Harlan Crow.

Clarence Thomas, have you no shame? read another.

The relationship between Crow and Thomas has generated outrage on the left as well as calls for Thomas impeachment from Democratic lawmakers. Senate Democrats have vowed to pursue ethics reforms on the Supreme Court.

Republicans, meanwhile, say Democrats are conducting a witch hunt against Thomas and the court in general because, after years of liberal dominance, it now has a 63 conservative majority. Crows attorney, in a letter on May 8 to Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), described the campaign as a manufactured ethics crisis at the Supreme Court serving as a ploy to further Democrats efforts to undermine public confidence and change the makeup of the court.

Other protesters, around seven in total, engaged in chants against the Thomases.

Two, four, six, eight, Thomas is a reprobate, went one.

Ginni Thomas is an insurrectionist, went another, targeting Thomas wife.

Another protester flew a Black Lives Matter flag.

An abortion advocate flies a Black Lives Matter flag during a May 11 protest outside the Virginia neighborhood of Justice Clarence Thomas. (Joseph Lord/The Epoch Times)

Under U.S. Code Section 1507, protesters are forbidden from picketing near the homes of judges with the intent of interfering with, obstructing, or impeding the administration of justice, or with the intent of influencing any judge.

Ruth Sent Us and other abortion advocates have organized a series of protests at the homes of conservative justices to protest their decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization. In that case, conservative justices overturned a prior decision that held that abortion was a federal right. In the wake of the case, the right to regulate abortion has been returned to the states.

Law enforcement officers present at the protest refused to answer questions about their refusal to enforce Section 1507.

At least one U.S. Marshal, responsible for the enforcement of federal law, was on scene blocking access to the private road. No arrests or attempts to disperse the protesters were made. The Epoch Times has reached out to the U.S. Marshals Service and Fairfax County police for comment.

In March, Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.) revealed the apparent reason for this failure to enforce the law: the Department of Justice (DOJ) had circulated a training memo explicitly directing Marshals not to make arrests under Section 1507.

Protesters Claims

One of the protesters, Nadine Seiler, discussed why she was at the protest with The Epoch Times, saying it was due to ethical concerns over the Thomases.

Im by myself, Seiler emphasized, saying she was not associated with Ruth Sent Us but was simply protesting the Supreme Court in general and Thomas in particular.

She said her particular concerns about Thomas revolved around the hundreds of thousands of dollars that the justice and his wife allegedly failed to report.

Hes still on the Supreme Court dictating [morality and ethics] to the rest of us? Seiler said, citing these allegations.

Asked about the illegality of the protest under federal law, Seiler replied: We are not trying to change his mind. We are not intimidating him. We dont know where [exactly] he lives.

We are here to let him know that we know what kind of person he is and what hes done. We are not intimidating him. We are not threatening him.

Turning to the issue of abortion, Seiler said that Thomas and the other conservatives were dictating to others on the basis of their religion.

They are Christo-Fascists, Seiler said. Theres a separation of church and state in the First Amendment.

Seiler suggested that the six conservative justices were only opposed to abortion because their God says its murder.

When Seiler was pressed on whether a non-religious person could be opposed to abortion, she conceded they could but said that it didnt matter. She said these were personal values that shouldnt be imposed on others.

Seiler was also pressed on the constitutionality of the decision in Dobbs.

In Dobbs v. Jackson, the Supreme Court ruled that the U.S. Constitution does not confer the right to an abortion. In turn, the right to regulate abortion was returned to the states.

Seiler said that she wasnt concerned about the vaunted Constitution.

Asked whether it could be argued that this transition was democratic inasmuch as it returned the issue to the states, Seiler dismissed the premise of states rights altogether.

Under a system of states rights, a federalist division of powers critical to the U.S. constitutional system, Seiler said, States rights means people like me [black people] dont exist. So I dont care about states rights.

Other protesters refused to speak to The Epoch Times.
An In-depth Look at the Burst of New Revelations on the Biden Familys Foreign Business Dealings

Joe Biden, with son Hunter Biden, arrives at Hancock Field Air National Guard Base in Syracuse, New York, on Feb. 4, 2023. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)

Commentary

Many of the corruption allegations currently swirling around Joe Biden have been around for years, dating back to his son Hunter Bidens early trips to China with him on Air Force Two. But recently, theres been a flood of new information that has come to light.

This information includes two separate whistleblowersone with the IRS involving the Hunter Biden criminal probe and another thats alleging corruption and potential bribes on the part of Joe Biden. We also have allegations from Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) regarding flows of foreign money through shell companies to the Biden family.

The whistleblower accusations of corruption that describe a criminal scheme involving then-Vice President Joe Biden and a foreign national relating to the exchange of money for policy decisions potentially represent the biggest news.

But these allegations may be just the tip of the iceberg.

New Ukraine Revelation

On April 16, 2014, then-Vice-President Joe Biden met at the White House with Hunter Bidens business partner, Devon Archer. Although it isnt known what was discussed at that meeting, it appeared to have set many events in motion.

One week later, on April 21st, Joe Biden traveled to Ukraine, offering not only his political support, but also $50 million in aid for Ukraines shaky new government. During Joe Bidens Ukraine visit, on April 22, 2014, it was announced that Archer had suddenly joined the board of Burisma.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko (L) welcomes US Vice President Joe Biden (R) prior to talks in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Nov. 21, 2014. (Sergei Supinsky/AFP via Getty Images)

As it turns out, Hunter Biden had also joined Burismas board that same month, but curiously Burisma didnt announce Hunter Bidens appointment until May 12, 2014, after his fathers visit to Ukraine had concluded.

Another particularly interesting item within the timeline of events was a very curiously timed trip by Joe Biden on May 21, 2014, to Romania and the island of Cyprusthe first visit by a senior U.S. official in 50 years.

As it turns out, Cyprus is where Burismas headquarters happened to be located. No real explanation has been given for that trip other than a White House statement that noted Bidens intention to provide strong support for a comprehensive settlement to reunify the island as a bizonal, bicommunal federation with political equality.

The timing of Hunter Bidens appointment to the Burisma board doesnt appear to be accidental. Nor for that matter does Joe Bidens trip to Cyprus.

On May 12th, the same day that Hunter Bidens appointment was formally announced, Burisma executive Vadym Pozharskyi sent an email to both Hunter Biden and Archer, telling them, We urgently need your advice on how you could use your influence to convey a message/signal, etc. to stop what we consider to be politically motivated actions.

The politically motivated actions referenced by Pozharskyi were actually ongoing investigations into Burisma and its owner, Mykola Zlochevsky, who had reportedly been issued an unusually large number of permits in Ukraine to extract oil and gas during his time as Minister of Natural Resources. In April 2014, the same month that Hunter Biden joined Burisma, the Ukrainian Prosecutor Generals Office opened an investigation into the company.

Ukraines prosecutor General Vitaliy Yarema speaks on the parliament floor after the parliaments vote in Kyiv, Ukraine, on June 19, 2014. (Sergie Supinsky/AFP via Getty Images)

The Ukraine investigation began after UK authorities froze $23.5 million in assets belonging to Zlochevsky as part of a money-laundering investigation. But just eight months later, in December 2014, the Ukrainian chief prosecutor, Vitaly Yarema, suddenly issued a letter to the London court stating that there was no active case open on Zlochevsky.

As a result, the frozen assets were released by the UK. George Kent, who was the deputy chief of mission in Kyiv at the time, later wrote an email in which he stated that he had been told by Ukraines deputy prosecutor general that Burisma had paid a $7 million bribe to end the investigation into Zlochevsky.

At the time of the alleged bribe payment, Hunter Biden was, according to Burisma itself, in charge of the companys legal affairs.

Yarema resigned on Feb. 9, 2015. His replacement was Victor Shokin, a former prosecutorbrought out of retirement by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenkowho was appointed the following day.

Initially, Shokins appointment was welcomed by U.S. officials, including Obamas assistant secretary for European and Eurasian affairs, Victoria Nuland, who personally wrote Shokin in June 2015, telling him that we have been impressed with the ambitious reform and anti-corruption agenda of your government.

However, the support for Shokin appeared to have changed very quickly after Hunter Biden received another email from Burismas Pozharskyi on Nov. 2, 2015. Pozharskyi demanded that Biden produce deliverables, stating that the ultimate purpose was to close down any cases or pursuits against Burismas owner.

Pozharskyi, who had previously met Joe Biden at a dinner in Washington on April 16, 2015, (more on that later) appeared to be targeting Shokin, who had reopened the investigation into Zlochevsky that had been shut down by his predecessor. Shokin had also successfully sought an order from Ukrainian courts to seize Zlochevskys assets. Those assets were eventually seized on Feb. 2, 2016.

A woman leaves the offices of the Ukrainian General Prosecutor in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Oct. 2, 2019. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

Pozharskyis outreach must have worked. On the very same day that Pozharskyi emailed Hunter Biden about deliverables, the younger Biden reached out to Amos Hochstein, Obamas special envoy and coordinator of international energy affairs.

Hunter Biden met in person with Hochstein four days later, on Nov. 6, 2015. Hochstein later told congressional investigators that Hunter Biden wanted to know my views on Burisma and Zlochevsky.

On Nov. 22, 2015, less than three weeks after Pozharskyis email, Joe Biden demanded the removal of Shokin. After Ukrainian President Poroshenko failed to comply with the demands, Biden leveraged $1 billion in U.S. taxpayer loan guarantees to force Shokins removal. Shokin was finally removed by Poroshenko in March 2016, which Biden later famously bragged about.

As it turns out, theres a fascinating postscript to this story that still needs further expansion and more details. Joe Biden got involved with Ukraine after Nuland had a conversation with then-U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt, which was intercepted and leaked to the BBC.

In the call, Nuland, whos now President Joe Bidens undersecretary of state for political affairs, discussed the ouster of then-Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and the installation of opposition leader Arseniy Yatsenyuk as prime minister. During their conversation, Nuland noted that then-national security adviser Jake Sullivan had informed her that you need Biden, and she concluded by telling Pyatt that Bidens willing.

Biden was appointed as the Obama administrations point man on Ukraine in February 2014. On Feb. 22, 2014, Yanukovych was removed as president of Ukraine and, three days later, Yatsenyuk, the candidate favored by Nuland, was installed as prime minister.

It was during this same time, on Feb. 14, 2014, that Russian businesswoman Elena Baturina wired a $3.5 million payment to Rosemont Seneca, Hunter Bidens investment firm. Baturina is the former wife of the late Yuri Luzhkov, who was the mayor of Moscow.

Baturina also sent a series of payments between May 6, 2015, and Dec. 8, 2015, to Rosemont. The payments by Baturina are detailed in a September 2020 Senate report, but the full story behind Baturinas payments to Hunter Biden has always been elusive and details are sparse.

Several things have always bothered me and Truth Over News co-host Hans Mahncke. How did the Bidens end up being involved with Burisma?

Why did Joe Biden make that curious trip on May 21, 2014, to Romania and Cyprusthe first visit by a senior U.S. official in 50 yearswhere Burismas headquarters just happened to be located?

Joe Biden shakes hands with Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta at the Victoria Palace, the Romanian Government headquarters in Bucharest, on May 21, 2014. (Daniel Mihailescu/AFP via Getty Images)

Why did Baturina suddenly send the $3.5 million in early 2014 to Hunter Bidens investment firm?

Further questions are raised by a short quote from a New York Post article that notes that Baturina met Hunter Biden and his then-business partner Devon Archer for a drink in April 2014 at the Villa dEste  a well-known haunt of Russian oligarchs overlooking Italys Lake Como.

This detail struck me and my co-host as very strange. Why would Hunter Biden and Archer have had an informal meeting in Italy with Baturina at this particular moment in timejust as they joined the Burisma board?

That same article by the Post also adds a very small follow-on note, stating, On the same trip, Hunter also met the Ukrainian-Russian oligarch owner of Burisma, Mykolai Zlochevsky.

Its this bit of information that brings us full circle to the May 12, 2014, email from Burismas Pozharskyi to Hunter Biden that we highlighted at the outset. Pozharskyis email opened with, Following our talks during the visit to the Como Lake and our further discussions, I would like to bring the following situation to your attention.

Pozharskyi then goes on to address Burismas legal issues. All of this leaves us pondering a multitude of issuesas these events surrounding Hunter Biden, Joe Biden, Burisma, and Baturina appear to be somehow interconnected.

Further connections present themselves via a dinner held at Cafe Milano on April 16, 2015the same D.C. dinner attended by Pozharskyi that we referenced earlier.

We know from a series of March 2015 emails that Pozharskyi, whos listed as Vadym, and Baturina, whos listed as Yelena and husband, were both invited by Hunter Biden to attend that April 2015 dinner in Washington. Joe Biden made it a point to stop by for some period of time. While it remains unclear if Baturina actually ended up going to this dinner, the incredible coincidences of timing and overlap leave us in a position where we cant help but wonder.

Was Baturina, along with her February 2014 $3.5 million payment to Hunter Bidens firm, somehow connected to Joe Bidens sudden involvement with Ukraine and his sons sudden placement onto the board of Burisma?

And was her involvement then further connected to Joe Bidens forced firing of the prosecutor who was actually making headway in investigating the owner of Burisma, Zlochevski? Although its too early to say with certainty, we have a strong feeling more will be revealed in this matter.

China Connections

As we mentioned at the start of all this, Hunter Bidens connections to China go back to at least 2010.

According to the previously mentioned September 2020 Senate report, sometime in 2015, his contacts with a Chinese businessman, Ye Jianming, began in earnest.

Hunter Biden, the son of new U.S. President Joe Biden, attends his fathers inauguration as 46th U.S. president at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, on Jan. 20, 2021. (Jonathan Ernst/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Ye was the founder of CEFC China Energy and a frequent figure in the Biden familys financial dealings with China. Ye was also chairman of the board of CEFCs subsidiary, the China Energy Fund Committee. Although CEFC reportedly remained a private company until state-owned enterprises assumed control of it in 2018, the company received financing from the China Development Bank, hired a number of former top officials from state owned energy companies, and had layers of Communist Party committees across its subsidiaries.

The company was also reported to have had intelligence ties within China. In other words, the company was effectively controlled by the Chinese Communist Party.

CEFC was a large, fast-growing company with the backing of the Chinese regime, ranking #229 on the Global Fortune 500 list in 2016, with $42 billion in revenue. The company owned several thousand gas stations in Europe, many of which were purchased from Kazakhstans state oil company. CEFC also owned a million-ton oil storage system in Spain and France that served as a major conduit that extended Chinas connections with the world oil supply. CEFC was an integral part of the regimes Belt and Road Initiative, which was designed to spread Chinas influence and control across the world. Ye was dubbed the Belt and Road billionaire in the press.

In December 2015, Ye flew to Washington and met with Hunter on Dec. 7, 2015. One of Hunter Bidens former associates even told the New York Post that Hunter brought Ye to a Christmas party in order to introduce him personally to his father, Joe Biden. Hunter Bidens associations with Ye would continue into early 2018 when Ye was suddenly detained by the Chinese authorities and disappeared from public view.

In February 2017, Hunter Biden and Ye met at a hotel in Miami, where Ye reportedly offered the younger Biden $10 million a year for three years for introductions alone.

It was at this same meeting that Ye presented Hunter Biden with a 3.16-carat diamond with an estimated value of $80,000. Then, just nine days later, on Feb. 23, 2017, State Energy HK Limited, a Shanghai-based company that was affiliated with CEFC China Energy, sent a $3,000,000 wire to Robinson Walker, a company directly associated with another of Hunter Bidens business associates, Rob Walker.

Another $3 million was sent on March 1, 2017. Although its not yet known with precision what happened with the $6 million, it is known that Hunter Biden received regular payments from Walkers company, along with more than $500,000 from Walker directly. Each of the $3 million wire transfers was flagged by the Department of Treasurys Financial Crimes Enforcement Network in a suspicious activity report.

A CEFC logo is seen at CEFC China Energys Shanghai headquarters in Shanghai, China, on Sept. 14, 2016. (Aizhu Chen/File Photo/Reuters)

In August 2017, a new company named Hudson West III was officially formed. Hudson IIIs primary purpose appears to have been nothing more than a vehicle to transfer money to the Bidens. Ye injected $5 million in capital into Hudson III through his LLC, the similarly named Hudson West V, which in turn was funded by CEFC China. Meanwhile, Hunter Biden contributed no capital to the new venture although he owned 50 percent of the new company.

The operating agreement of Hudson III stipulated that Hunter Biden would receive a $500,000 retainer and $100,000 per month. Joe Bidens brother, James, would receive $65,000 per month. This newly formed entity also made large credit card payments for items purchased by the Bidens. The total payments made from Hudson III to Hunter Bidens personal company, Owasco, totaled $4.8 million in just over one year.

In addition to the $65,000 per month paid to James Biden, payments also flowed to Lion Hall Group, a company he owned. Most of this money, about $1.4 million, appears to have been funneled through Hunter Bidens company, which was funded in turn by the Hudson III joint venturewhose sole source of funds was various affiliates directly tied to Yes Chinese company, CEFC.

In November 2017, another payment from Yes CEFC was made to Hudson IIIthis time for $1 million. A few months later, Hunter Bidens company was paid $1 million to represent Patrick Ho, a business associate of Yes. Ho would later be charged and convicted of international bribery and money laundering offenses stemming from his work for the CEFC-backed China Energy Fund Committee.

Hunter Biden would later refer to Ho in an email as the [expletive] spy chief of China. At the time of Hos arrest in the United States, his first call was to James Biden, who would later claim Hos call was intended for Hunter Biden.

After the formation of Hudson III, Hunter Biden hired a woman named JiaQi (Ja-Chi) Bao. Her involvement with Hudson III was far more extensive than initially thought. According to a letter sent by Rep. Comer, Bao was also working for CEFC employees linked to the CCP. Comer noted that Bao appeared to be effectively running the joint venture under Hunter Bidens name.

When CEFCs Ye was detained in China in March 2018, Bao sent Hunter Biden an email explaining that Yes situation changed and that Hunter Biden needed to take as much money as he could from Hudson West III because if he failed to do so, the money would become nobodys money. At the time of Baos email to Hunter Biden, Hudson III still had about $3.5 million in the companys account.

Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden attend the annual Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, on April 10, 2023. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Its hard to know what to make of the sudden flood of revelations and disclosures.

Are these ongoing disclosures an outgrowth of Republican investigations into the Biden familys convoluted financial dealings? Or are they tied to Bidens announcement to run for a second termperhaps a pre-emptive move by the DNC and/or the Obama faction to remove him as a candidate?

Only time will answer these questions, but one things for sure: nothing happens in our nations capital by accident.

Watch Truth Over News on Friday, May 12, for the full episode on the Bidens foreign business dealings.
ANALYSIS: Floridians Fear Being Left Behind as DeSantis Reportedly Prepares for 2024

'It was just a way to position himself for the next step in his political career.'

Floridas governor has just cut ties with a political action committee (PAC) bearing his name. Many Floridians see this as an indication that hes preparing to abandon Florida for a presidential run.

On May 9, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis severed ties with Friends of Ron DeSantis, a major state-level PAC committed to advancing the governors Freedom Agenda and keeping Florida free. According to the website, the new associated person, is Florida State Senator Blaise Ingoglia.

This is seen as a key move by DeSantis in preparing to run for the presidency, as state law (pdf) prohibits the use of money raised by a state-level PAC for a race at the federal level.

Tim Sharp, a canceled Florida House candidate and host of The Sharp Response on Rumbles Red Voice Media, said, Hes running.

He just wanted to make sure the revision on Resign-to-Run came through, Sharp told The Epoch Times.

As previously reported by The Epoch Times in November of 2022, Florida House Speaker Paul Renner (R) said that he was open changing state law to enable DeSantis to launch a 2024 presidential run at a press conference.

Florida Statute 99.012 the Resign-to-Run lawsays that any officer who qualifies for federal public office must resign from the office.

However, on April 26, Floridas legislature passed Senate Bill 7050 (pdf). Buried deep within the 96-page measure is an exception that would allow state officeholders like DeSantis to run for president or vice president without resigning.

Tim Sharp, host of The Sharp Response on Rumbles Red Voice Media. (Courtesy of Tim Sharp)

State Rep. Angela Nixon (D) said, We in this body are doing the governors bidding.

He needs to resign to run if he wants to run for president, period, Nixon chided. Last time I checked, being governor is a full-time job. Running for president takes a lot of work.

Rep. Ralph Massullo (R) said, This isnt just for our governor; its for anyone in politics.

Sharp says, Now that the path has been cleared for him by the establishment, all thats left is for DeSantis to sign the bill into law.

Once he does that, hell announce within 48 hours, Sharp predicted.

Political Theater

Sharp was critical of the idea that, just after Floridians reelected him as their governor, he would make a run for the White House.

I think all of the promises he made during his reelection campaign had nothing to do with Floridians. It was just a way to position himself for the next step in his political career, Sharp posited. It was all political theater.

Its a sentiment shared by Ken Lovejoy, the host of Charlotte County Speaks on iHeart Radio.

While Lovejoy told The Epoch Times that he and all of his listeners love Ron DeSantis and believe he has done a great job as governor, he said, its obvious to anyone whos been paying attention that hes been running for president ever since the Mar-A-Lago raid.

Ken Lovejoy, host of Charlotte County Speaks on iHeart Radio. (Courtesy of Ken Lovejoy)

Ive taken a lot of heat for my position on Ron DeSantis because a lot of people here love him so much theyve already deified him and want him to run, Lovejoy explicated. Thats great, and I dont mind him running for president. But I think its the dumbest move hes made in his political career.

He campaigned hard for a second term as governor. But now we all know that, in the back of his mind, he had no intention of filling out that term because in less than a month after he wins reelection, hes off on a book tour, which is really just a campaign, Lovejoy said. Everything hes done since Mar-A-Lago has shown a lack of authenticity and a lack of ethics. Hes disingenuous.

While in Japan, a reporter noted that polls show DeSantis is falling behind Trump.

Any thoughts on that? the reporter asked.

Im not a candidate, so well see if and when that changes, DeSantis replied.

A recent CBS News survey shows 58 percent of Americans would vote for Trump in 2024. Only 22 percent chose DeSantis, a staggering spread of 36 percentage points.

The popular betting site, PredictIt, shows Trump with a commanding lead.

As previously reported by The Epoch Times, Tom Bevan of Real Clear Politics finds it interesting how the rating crash by DeSantis appears to coincide with his tour.

He went on his book tour. He gave a speech at the Reagan Library. Hes been going around the country. He went overseas, and nothing has moved his numbers, Bevan noted. If anything, theyve gotten a tad worse over the last five weeks from 24.6 on our average down to 22.9.

The Tours

The detachment from Friends of Ron DeSantis isnt the first move that has fueled the fires of speculation that hes preparing for a presidential bid in 2024.

Just three months after winning his landslide reelection in Florida, DeSantis traveled to New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago to pledge his support for law enforcement.

Days later, he hosted a three-day retreat for his top donors at the Four Seasons hotel in Palm Beach, just four miles away from Mar-A-Lago.

From there, DeSantis launched his book tour, traveling through a string of key primary states, including New Hampshire, Iowa, Ohio, Virginia, Nevada, and Michigan. In April, DeSantis traveled to Israel and Japan. While DeSantis billed it as an international trade mission, some said it was a move to establish foreign policy credibility.

John Thomas, a GOP political strategist and the founder of the pro-DeSantis super PAC, Ron to the Rescue, told ABC News, Any major candidate for the Oval Office needs to check that [foreign policy] box and improve their credentials so that they have credibility when theyre delivering their eventual foreign policy message on the campaign trail and on the debate stage, and this is the first step for Gov. DeSantis to do just that.

Curiously, on May 2, Florida lawmakers approved a bill that would keep the public from having access to the travel records of elected officials like DeSantis. Proponents of the measure say its for security purposes. The bill also includes a retroactive clause specific to DeSantis, which would block the release of some travel records for trips already taken by DeSantis.

Another Super PAC, Never Back Down (NBD), announced plans to place dozens of staff in the first 18 states on the Republican presidential primary calendar, Fox News reported. NBD has also placed about a half-dozen staffers in Iowa, a typical move made by someone preparing for a presidential run. NBD spokesperson Erin Perrine was quoted saying it would put them in a dominant position in the four early primary states.

NBD also released what appears to be a campaign ad attacking GOP frontrunner Donald Trump.

Should DeSantis decide to make his campaign official and make a run for the White House, it wouldnt be the first time he left one office to reach for another.

DeSantis began his political career as a representative of Floridas 6th District, where he served from 2013 to 2018. During that time, DeSantis missed 4.2 percent of roll call votes, nearly twice the median rate of 2.5 percent. On Sept. 10, 2018, DeSantis sent a letter (pdf) to then-U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan, resigning his seat in order to run for governor in Florida, as required by the Resign-to-Run law.

While DeSantis has racked up an impressive list of endorsements in states like Utah, and Michigan, legislators in his home state are considerably less enthusiastic.

According to the endorsement tracker by Axios, DeSantis has the backing of three House members and none in the Senate. Trump has been endorsed by 45 House Republicans and nine Florida senators.

Its Not Okay

Jessico Bowman of Saint Johns, Florida, says he should stay put as governor.

Jessico Bowman at the State Capitol in Tallahassee, Florida, for the Republican Liberty Caucus of Florida Lobby Days event, on January 19, 2022. (Courtesy of Jessico Bowman)

This is going to damage his political career, Bowman told The Epoch Times. As a Floridian, its not okay. We just reelected the guy, and now hes going to leave. I guess hes too concerned with advancing his own political goals to care about Floridians and all the promises he made to us.

Jerry Anders of Sarasota says, I dont think hes ready to take on the presidency just yet.

Florida loves DeSantis. We dont want to see him go anywhere, Anders told The Epoch Times. But I think he still has a few years to learn the ropes. I dont think hes ready. I think he needs to stay.

Jerry Anders of Sarasota, Florida. (Courtesy of Jerry Anders)

William Siegenthaler of South Lake County believes, There are consultants pushing Ron to do this, and Democrats love it because its going to divide the base.

William Siegenthaler of South Lake County, Florida. (Courtesy of William Siegenthaller)

It aggravates me that theyre pushing Ron to do this, Siegenthaler told The Epoch Times. We all know the book tour was a sham. Its a stealth campaign. He has people mobilized all over the state. Its a foregone conclusion, and if someone doesnt dissuade him from running, hes going to announce. Everybody knows.

Former President Donald Trump poses for a photo with Egypt Brown at a private party at Mar-A-Lago, on April 4, 2023. (Courtesy of Egypt Brown)

Egypt Brown of Delray Beach, Florida, believes DeSantis might make a good potential candidate for president someday. But hes better served in Florida.

As a Floridian, I believe Governor DeSantis should finish the job he started, Brown told The Epoch Times. I love that hes being aggressive. But you cant start a war with Disney and just run off. Hes done a great job as Floridas governor. But President Trump is the president we need.

Nancy Soares of Punta Gorda shares the same sentiment as Brown.

I think one day he might be able to run for president. But I dont think right now is the appropriate time, Soares told The Epoch Times. I believe in Promises made. Promises kept, and he promised he was going to be our governor. I dont think the people of Florida or the people of the United States deserve this.

In closing, Lovejoy shared a final thought on the passage of SB 7050.

How confident is [DeSantis] in winning the presidency if he has to change state law to allow him to maintain his office as governor while running?

Sharp agreed, saying, Hes scared of stepping into the batters box, swinging and missing.

The Epoch Times reached out to DeSantis office for comment.

It is demonstrably false that the governor has not fulfilled his promises, Bryan Griffin, DeSantis press secretary, told The Epoch Times in a statement. We have had a press conference nearly every day for the last two weeks and so far in Florida have passed constitutional carry, protected life, banned ESG, reformed higher education, pushed back on Bidens border crisis, raised teacher pay, banned [central bank digital currency] CBDC, protected medical freedom, banned WHO directives, and prohibited gain of function researchto name only a few. And there is much more to come.
ANALYSIS: Governors Race in Kentucky Could Be Sign of Trumps Influence and Red State Democrat Chances in 2024

GOP gubernatorial election pits former Trump official against a Trump-endorsed Attorney General

Weeks after the Kentucky Derby, another race in Kentucky will shine a light on the Bluegrass state as a possible litmus test for 2024s elections. A former Trump official and the states Trump-endorsed attorney general will face off next Tuesday to become the GOP nominee to take on incumbent Democrat Andy Beshear.

Former President Donald Trumps ambassador to Canada and then the United Nations, Kelly Craft, is up against the frontrunner and Trump-endorsed Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron. Craft also released an ad from former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in which he endorsed her for the governorship.

Cameron also served as a former staffer to GOP Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and was the first Republican in 70 years to win the top law enforcement office in Kentucky. Beshear was the former Attorney General prior to running for governor in 2019.

Either Craft or Cameron could make history if they win the primary and then general election, with Craft being the first Republican woman elected to the office in Kentucky and Cameron being the first black Kentucky governor as well as the first black Republican governor in the United States.

2024 Implications

The race is one of only three gubernatorial races in 2023 that all happen to be in states that Trump won in 2020. Kentuckys race is not only a show of Trumps influence among Republican primary voters but a show of how vulnerable Democratic Senators could fare next year in other states Trump won in 2020.

Andy Beshear, governor of Kentucky, speaks during a news conference after a gunman opened fire at the Old National Bank building in Louisville, on April 10, 2023. (Luke Sharrett/Getty Images)

Mississippis gubernatorial race is the only currently GOP-held seat, with Republican incumbent Tate Reeves seeking a safe reelection. Meanwhile, Kentucky and Louisiana races will see two Democrats seeking to retain office in their Trump-won states.

In the Louisiana race, current Democrat Gov. John Bel Edwards is term-limited and cannot seek another term. Trump won Louisiana in 2016 and 2020. Louisianas primary system includes all candidates, regardless of party, running against one another on the same ballot in October. If no candidate secures over 50 percent of the vote, the top two vote-getters will compete in a November runoff election.

How Beshear fares in the election could be a warning sign to Democrats seeking to retain their U.S. Senate seats in West Virginia, Montana, and Ohio. With control of the U.S. Senate so close, one or two seats won or lost could make all the difference in Republicans taking back the Senate or Democrats narrowly retaining it.

The Political Derby

Beshear, the son of a former popular Kentucky governor, has remained relatively popular according to polls through his tenure, being hands-on with Kentuckians through a string of natural disasters as well as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Beshears regular news conferences and press releases come with the branding Team Kentucky updates, as do many other Government funds and websites to appeal to Kentuckians. One website set up by his administration titled Team Eastern Kentucky Flood Relief Fund directs people to donate for flood cleanup incurred in 2022 storms in the eastern part of the state.

Earlier this year, Beshear was coined the most popular Democratic governor in the country, with an approval rate also much higher than that of President Joe Biden.

Beshear does not outwardly tie himself to national Democrats, focusing more on local and state issues. In an interview with The Associated Press in late December, Beshear criticized Trump as well as Biden and made it clear he did not need nor did he seek Bidens help in campaigning for him.

This campaign isnt going to be about national figures, Beshear told the Associated Press. Its not going to be about any other figures. Its going to be about the people of Kentucky. So you shouldnt expect me to bring in anyone, whether theyre popular or not popular in Kentucky. Im willing to run on my record. Im willing to run on my relationship with the people of Kentucky.

His distancing himself from the Democratic party nationally still doesnt stop his GOP challengers from going after Beshear for some woke policy, such as vetoing a bill banning transgender youth from medical treatment, which was ultimately overridden by the GOP-controlled legislature.

Advertising Frenzy

The race has seen mass amounts of money spent on advertising leading up to next weeks GOP primary. The latest data shows over $10 million had been spent as of last week, according to data from AdImpact and NBC News.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is flanked by U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft as he speaks to reporters at the United Nations headquarters in New York, on Aug. 20, 2020. (Mike Segar/AFP via Getty Images)

AdImpact data show Craft had spent $5.3 million, followed by a PAC supporting Cameron and another PAC opposing him.

Commonwealth, the anti-Cameron PAC, has repeatedly run ads painting him as not a true conservative, including one comparing him to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who is prosecuting Trump in New York. The ad continues to call him a soft on crime teddy bear..

Cameron has run ads pushing back against protestors who rallied outside of his home in 2020 amid unrest following the killing of Breonna Taylor.

An ad by the PAC supporting Cameron released in recent weeks attacks Craft as someone who has misled Kentuckians and was absent from her post as Ambassador half the time, referring to a Politico article about her time as Ambassador to Canada that claimed she was absent for more than 300 days during her tenure in Ottawa, Canada.

More on the Race

Several other candidates are seeking the GOP nomination, with the third place spot going to the Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles. Quarles has painted himself as another option to the mud slingin Craft and Cameron.

My mama used to say watch how politicians run their campaigns, and itll tell you a lot about who they are, Quarles said in an ad. Negative ads not, showing up to debates and not even traveling across the Commonwealth to ask for your vote. Thats not me.

A total of 12 Republicans are running in the GOP primary, while Beshear will face two other Democrats in his primary. It is unlikely either of those candidates could win the Democratic nomination due to very low polling numbers and Beshears popularity.

Beshear defeated unpopular Republican governor Matt Bevin in 2019, and according to polls, he is the frontrunner in the mostly red state. Beshear won by only 5,000 votes in 2019 in the state, while Trump carried the state in 2020 by nearly 26 points, according to Politico.

President Donald Trump (R) smiles behind Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin during a rally at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky., on Nov. 4, 2019. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

A poll showed Cameron at 30.1 percent, Craft at 23.9 percent, and Quarles at 14.9 percent, while 20.7 percent were still undecided. FOX 56 noted their poll showed the same order of candidates as a January Mason-Dixon poll, but the gap between Cameron and his opponents closing in.

That January poll indicated Beshear leading his Republican challengers with a 61 percent approval rating by the Mason-Dixon poll. That poll showed Cameron with the closest trail behind the incumbent at nine percent.

Regardless of the advertisements and polls, the primary election on Tuesday will leave one of the GOP candidates standing to go head-to-head in a race that will be closely watched as a potential precursor to 2024.
ANALYSIS: Tennessee Gov. Signs Bill Adding $230 Million for School Safety Following Covenant

State Democrats still want gun control measures

Gun control advocates raise signs in the gallery of the Tennessee House chamber in Nashville, Tenn., on April 6, 2023. (George Walker IV/AP Photo)

A bill adding a $230 million influx of funding for school safety at public and private schools across Tennessee was signed into law by Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, on May 10.

Nothing is more important than Tennessee students and teachers returning home from school safely each day, Lee said in a statement. Every year since 2019, weve worked with the General Assembly to prioritize school safety, and this year, weve passed significant measures to fund an armed SRO for every public school, enhance mental health support and boost physical security at public and private schools across Tennessee.

The enhanced school safety legislation (pdf), along with late budget amendments, will add a Homeland Security officer throughout the state to cover every county, provide funds for an SRO officer at every school in the state, allow districts to boost physical security, and provide additional mental health resources for Tennesseans.

Lee introduced legislation prior to the deadly shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville and added funds and stipulations after the tragedy where three adults and three nine-year-olds were killed at the Christian elementary school.

Governors Proposals Before Covenant

In his February address at the beginning of his second term, Lee spoke of previous actions to strengthen school security in his first term, along with lining out plans for the future.

Since 2019, Tennessee has done a lot of work to strengthen school safety, Lee said at the time. We increased funding, boosted mental health programs, and established a grant to place more than 200 School Resource Officers across the state.

Lee said this years safety focus was on enhancing physical security in classrooms and the proposal to add at least one Homeland Security Agent in each of the states 95 counties. He later clarified some counties would be covered by a regional agent not specifically based in the county but who focuses on it.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee delivers his State of the State address in the House Chamber of the Capitol building in Nashville, Tenn., on Jan. 31, 2022. (Mark Zaleski/AP Photo)

A few months ago, a student at a high school in West Tennessee noticed something suspicious, Lee said in his February address. The student reported their concern in the SafeTN app, bringing it to the attention of one of our Homeland Security agents in the region. The agent pursued the tip, and we have strong reason to believe that this prevented a real threat from becoming a real tragedy.

Lee said a review of that incident showed their SafeTN app worked as long as an agent was available to respond.

Around 122 new Homeland Security agents will specialize in school safety and threat assessment initiatives to prevent events from happening.

After Covenant

Weve done a lot to make schools safer, but I dont want to look up months from now and thinkwe shouldve done more, the governor said. I intend to make this a priority year after year.

A few weeks after that speech, the Covenant tragedy occurred, prompting Lee to request additional funding for his earlier proposals along with additions.

Following the tragic Covenant shooting, Gov. Lee worked with the General Assembly to enhance his legislation and increase funding in the Fiscal Year 23-24 budget to place an armed School Resource Officer (SRO) at every Tennessee public school, boost physical school security at public and private schools, and provide additional mental health resources for Tennesseans, a Wednesday statement from his office said.

Physical security at schools is expected to be strengthened and modernized using a state school safety oversight structure to enhance accountability. This includes first responder preparedness and collaboration between school safety stakeholders.

The enhanced school safety legislation includes a multi-tiered accountability plan to make sure exterior doors are locked while school is in session; a requirement that private security guards receive active shooter training prior to being posted at a school; requiring every school district to establish threat assessment teams and annual safety plans.

Schools will be subject to penalties for repeat violations of the exterior locked door policy. They will also share annually with law enforcement their safety pans, floor plans, and security systems access.

An ambulance leaves The Covenant School, Covenant Presbyterian Church, in Nashville, Tenn., on March 27, 2023. (John Amis/AP Photo)

The threat assessment team is to connect students to support services and behavioral health staff when appropriate. They were previously allowed but not a requirement.

The annual safety plan must include incident command and bus safety drills for school leaders and law enforcement, in addition to current requirements of having armed intruder drills.

Newly built public school facilities are now required to install classroom door locks and secure visitor entry vestibules during construction as well.

Lee applauded this years major influx of school safety funding alongside the Tennessee General Assembly.

Approximately $30 million is going toward the Homeland Security officers, while $140 million will go toward the SROs for every public school. Private schools will receive an input of $14 million for security upgrades, along with $40 million for public schools. An additional $8 million will go toward additional School-Based Behavioral Health Liaisons across the state.

State Leaders React

Governor Lee and my colleagues in the General Assembly have made great strides on school safety over the years, said Lt. Gov. Randy McNally. But more needed to be done, and we answered that call this session. Hardening security at our public and private schools is no longer just a priority; it is an imperative. The safety of our schools is of paramount importance, and I am grateful we were in the financial position to quickly allocate the funds for these improvements.

Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R) said the extraordinary funding would be noticeable for all schools.

Whether adding an SRO in every school, hardening security systems at facilities, and doubling the number of resources for students with mental health issuesour schools, staff, and teachers will now have more resources at their disposal to support the physical, mental, and emotional health of all Tennessee students, Sexton said.

He added more work is to be done, explaining the legislature will continue speaking with other members and Tennesseans about further improvements to school safety, additional resources to improve mental health outcomes, and the best ways forward to keep our children and schools safe.

Tennessee State Troopers block the stairwell leading to the legislative chambers in Nashville, Tenn., on April 6, 2023. (George Walker IV/AP Photo)

Democrats in the legislature have criticized the measures passed for not addressing gun control measures. The measure passed the Senate with bipartisan support and mostly bipartisan support in the House. The Tennessee Three, who were expelled from the chamber for joining in gun control protests shortly after the Covenant tragedy, all voted against the bill, saying it didnt go far enough.

We dont want gun battles at our schoolhouse door, Rep. Gloria Johnson, D, said on the Floor as the bill was being debated.

Special Session

Lee announced on Monday official dates for calling the state legislature back to Nashville to debate public safety and potentially gun-related bills. Lee previously urged his Republican colleagues to pass an extreme risk protection order, but the bill was not taken up before the House and Senate adjourned for the year.

Lees call for an ERPO law, which proposed allowing law enforcement to take guns from citizens who are deemed a danger to themselves, was met with criticism from Second Amendment and gun rights groups, such as the Tennessee Firearms Association, which said Lees call was essentially a call for a red flag law.

His own party in the state House posted on Twitter in early April that red flag laws were a nonstarter, and many Republican members of the legislature said that such a law would never pass in Tennessee.

The special session of the legislature in order to discuss possible gun legislation and public safety begins August 21.
ANALYSIS: Why Was EcoHealth Alliances Grant Reinstated Despite Groups Apparent Failure to Comply With NIH Conditions?

Peter Daszak, right, the president of the EcoHealth Alliance, is seen in Wuhan, China, on Feb. 3, 2021. (Hector Retamal/AFP via Getty Images)

News analysis

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has reinstated a grant that had been terminated by President Donald Trump in April 2020. However, a document first obtained by the House Oversight Committee reveals that the NIHs conditions for reinstatement have not been met.

The grant, titled Understanding the Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergence, was originally awarded in 2014 by Dr. Anthony Faucis National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). Under the terms of the grant, EcoHealth Alliance, a government-funded nonprofit that purportedly engages in research to prevent pandemics, was awarded $3.8 million over five years to assess the spillover potential of bat viruses using reverse genetics, pseudovirus and receptor binding assays, and virus infection experiments in cell culture and humanized mice. Put in simple terms, NIAID was paying EcoHealth to genetically engineer and manipulate bat viruses in labs.

In May 2016, the grant was suspended after Erik Stemmy, a NIAID program officer, noticed that federal government funds may have been used for prohibited gain-of-function experiments at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in China. At the time, the Obama administration had put in place a moratorium on gain-of-function experiments. However, for reasons that remain unclear, the suspension was lifted in July 2016. At the time, EcoHealths president, Peter Daszak, thanked NIAID in an email for lifting the gain-of-function funding pause.

As part of the conditions of the grant, EcoHealth had to file regular activity reports. However, starting in 2018, EcoHealth stopped submitting these reports. EcoHealth would later blame technical difficulties for their failure to submit. The missing reports comprised the critical 20182019 timeframe right before the outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan.

Despite EcoHealths delinquency in filing the status reports, NIAID did not stop funding the project. It was only after a Freedom of Information Act request for the reports was filed in 2021 that EcoHealth was prompted by NIAID to provide the reports. The reports, which were finally submitted by EcoHealth at least two years too late, in 2021, revealed that the NIAID grant had been used by EcoHealth and the WIV in part to create laboratory-engineered bat viruses. Had this fact been reported in a timely manner, the experiments would likely have been shut down by NIAID.

When the connections between the WIV and NIAIDs grant became known in April 2020, Trump terminated the grant. Trumps decision caused an outcry among the media and his critics. However, the NIH, which is NIAIDs parent body, appears to have been well aware that Trumps actions were merited.

On July 8, 2020, Michael Lauer, the NIHs deputy director for extramural research who was in charge of ensuring scientific integrity, public accountability, and effective stewardship of the NIH extramural research portfolio, wrote a letter to EcoHealth, listing seven demands that needed to be fulfilled as a condition for reinstatement of the grant.

NIH Issued 7 Demands

First, EcoHealth needed to provide a sample of the COVID-19 virus which it used to determine the virus genetic sequence. The ostensible purpose of this demand was to compare this original sample with other samples in order to assess when it first emerged.

Second, EcoHealth was required to explain the apparent disappearance of Huang Yanling, a scientist / technician who worked in the WIV lab but whose lab web presence has been deleted. Huang Yanling has long been thought to be patient zero. Her profile was scrubbed from the WIVs website shortly after the outbreak of the pandemic in 2019 and she has not been seen since.

Third, EcoHealth was asked to share the WIVs responses to the 2018 U.S. Department of State cables regarding safety concerns. These cables had warned of a serious shortage of appropriately trained technicians and investigators needed to safely operate the WIVs high-level containment laboratories. They also warned that the National Health and Family Planning Commission, a state agency of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), had denied a request to conduct coronavirus experiments at biosafety level 4. The actual experiments were carried out in low biosafety level 2 facilities.

Fourth, EcoHealth was required to disclose and explain out-of-ordinary restrictions on laboratory facilities, as suggested, for example, by diminished cell-phone traffic in October 2019, and the evidence that there may have been roadblocks surrounding the facility from October 14-19, 2019.

Fifth, the NIH demanded that EcoHealth explain why WIV failed to note that the RaTG13 virus, the bat-derived coronavirus in its collection with the greatest similarity to SARS-CoV-2, was actually isolated from an abandoned mine where three men died in 2012 with an illness remarkably similar to COVID-19, and explain why this was not followed up.

Sixth, EcoHealth was required to arrange for WIV to submit to an outside inspection team charged to review the lab facilities and lab records, with specific attention to addressing the question of whether WIV staff had SARS-CoV-2 in their possession prior to December 2019. The independent inspection team needed to be granted full access to review the processes and safety of procedures of all of the WIV field work.

Seventh, and lastly, EcoHealth had to stipulate to properly and fully report all its subawards in the Federal Subaward Reporting System.

EcoHealth Rejected NIHs Demands

The list of demands issued by the NIH is notable in that it suggests that NIH officials were well aware of the possibility that COVID-19 had emerged from the WIV. This awareness stands in stark contrast to public pronouncements in 2020 from NIH leaders such as Francis Collins and Fauci.

The demands themselves are remarkably onerousin particular, the requirement for an independent inspection of the WIV to ascertain when it came into possession of COVID-19.

It would have been known to NIH leaders such as Lauer that EcoHealth would likely not comply and that, in any case, compliance required cooperation from CCP officials, which would not be forthcoming. With no prospects for compliance, it would have been understood at the time that the list of demands had the purpose and effect of permanently suspending the grant.

Indeed, EcoHealth hired counsel who informed the NIH in August 2020 that EcoHealth refused to answer any of the questions posed. However, shortly after NIH was informed of EcoHealths non-compliance, Fauci awarded EcoHealth a fresh grant totaling $7.5 million, more than double the previous grant that Trump had revoked.

There is no indication that EcoHealth changed its course and no indication that any of NIHs demands were met. NIAID did not respond to an Epoch Times inquiry as to whether EcoHealth had complied with the list of requirements.

Yet, despite EcoHealths apparent failure to comply with the NIHs list of demands, its grant has now been reinstated. The unanswered question is why?

The other question is why House Republicans have not addressed this issue. For instance, Erik Stemmy, the NIAID official who initially suspended EcoHealths grant could have been subpoenaed to explain why the grant was reinstated in 2016 despite funds having been used for prohibited gain-of-function work. Lauer could have been subpoenaed to explain why EcoHealths grant was again reinstated in 2023 despite the NIHs specific requirements regarding the WIV not having been met.

As for EcoHealth, the group has issued a celebratory statement, announcing that NIH reversed itself and reinstated the grant that Trump had terminated. Notably, it concedes that due to concerns about continuing collaborative laboratory research with the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the reinstated grant would not be used for on-the-ground work in China, nor for recombinant virus culture or infection experiments.
Anderson Cooper: CNN Viewers Have Every Right to Never Watch This Network Again

CNN host Anderson Cooper criticized his own network during a Thursday night CNN segment in which he criticized his companys decision to host a town hall event with former President Donald Trump.

It was certainly disturbing to hear that audienceyoung and old, our fellow citizens, people who love their kids and go to churchlaugh and applaud his lies and his continued defamation of E. Jean Carroll, Cooper said in what appeared to be critical comments of the audience.

Trump was found guilty of battery against Carroll earlier this week in a Manhattan case that the former president said was a witch hunt. Trump also said he doesnt know Carroll, whom he suggested had mental issues, and had no contact with her.

Cooper continued to criticize the town halls New Hampshire audience: The audience that upset you? Thats a sampling of about half the country. They are your family members, your neighbors and they are voting, and many said theyre voting for him.

The longtime CNN host, however, said that because there are so many Trump supporters, they cannot be ignored by the mainstream. That man you were so upset to hear from last night, he may be president of the United States in less than two years. It can happen again, it is happening again. He hasnt changed and he is running hard, Cooper said.

Then, Cooper suggestively stated that his viewers should go out and vote, ostensibly for someone other than Trump. You can actually get involved. You can make a difference, whatever side of the aisle youre on, he said, adding that CNNs viewers have every right to be angry and never watch this network again.

While Cooper made entirely derisive comments about Trumps town hall event, he did not say why any of the former presidents campaign promises would be negative for the United States. He also did not elaborate on any of the so-called falsehoods that the former commander-in-chief allegedly aired during the event.

Also during the program, Cooper defended his networks choice to air Trumps town hall amidst widespread left-wing-based criticism against CNN. For example., Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), a professed democratic socialist, essentially called for the former commander-in-chief to be censored or that the town hall not be held at all.

Multiple prominent CNN employees, including host Jake Tapper, appeared exasperated after the town hall and claimed they needed to fact-check Trump after statements he made. A day later, CNN media reporter Oliver Darcy wrote a newsletter in which he explicitly criticized CNNs management before suggesting there was some kind of internal revolt happening within the channel.

Many of you think CNN shouldnt have given him any platform to speak and I understand the anger about thatgiving him the audience, the time, I get that, Cooper said. But he added that the man you were so disturbed to see and hear from last nightthat man is the front-runner for the Republican nomination for president.

According to polling, no other Republican is even close, Cooper continued, referring to a number of recent surveys showing the former president ahead by a wide margin over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and others.

Former President Donald Trump speaks at a CNN Town Hall at St. Anselm College in Manchester, N.H., on May 10, 2023, in a still from video. (CNN/Screenshot via The Epoch Times)

Do you think staying in your silo and only listening to people you agree with is going to make that person go away? he continued. If we all only listen to those we agree with, it may actually do the opposite, added Cooper.

A similar message was delivered by CNN executive Chris Licht during a conference call in which he reportedly said that Americans deserve to hear what Trump has to say. In the conference call held a day after the Trump event, Licht, who took over as CEO last year, also praised moderator Kaitlyn Collins.

I absolutely unequivocally believe America was served very well by what we did last night, Licht told staff, according to multiple news reports. While we all may have been uncomfortable hearing people clapping, that was also an important part of the story, he remarked, adding that people who clapped are a large swath of America.

Later on, Licht reportedly stated the media has failed to properly acknowledge those people ahead of the 2016 election, which Trump won.

Perhaps more importantly for CNN, Trumps town hall was a ratings bonanza, according to Nielsen figures. The normally third-place CNN was first in overall ratings on Wednesday night at 8 p.m., drawing more than 3 million viewers on television aloneone of the highest-rated programs on the struggling network in years.

As for Trump, both he and his allies viewed the town hall as a victory. A number of leading right-wing figures asserted that the former president dominated the event and worked well with the audience.

Hope everyone enjoyed CNN tonight. The New Hampshire audience was AMAZING. Thank you! Trump wrote on Truth Social this week.

Republican West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice said Trump dominated the event, while Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) wrote that she was so proud of the former president. GREAT JOB! He is truly showing everyone why he is the president America needs, she added.
PHNOM PENH, May 12 (Xinhua) -- A Cambodia's pepper association chief on Friday welcomed China's approval for the kingdom's pepper to get direct access to the Chinese market, expressing confidence that farmers will greatly benefit from this move.

"This is good news for our farmers," Nguon Lay, president of the Kampot Pepper Promotion Association, told Xinhua.

"The direct shipment of our pepper to China will not only give a boost to our bilateral trade volume, but also contribute to promoting Cambodia's economic development as well as creating more jobs and income for our farmers," he said.

Lay said China is a huge market for Cambodia, expressing his hope that the renowned Kampot pepper, a product registered as a Geographical Indication in the European Union, will also be well-known in China in the near future.

"We hope that Chinese consumers will enjoy our aromatic and strong spicy taste of pepper," he said.

The General Administration of Customs of China (GACC) on Thursday approved Cambodia's proposal to export pepper directly to China, according to a news release posted on the Facebook page of the Chinese Embassy to Cambodia.

The GACC certified 28 pepper plantations and seven packaging plants to export the commodity directly to China, the news release said.

Pepper is the first Cambodian agricultural product approved to be exported directly to China this year, and it is also the first spice crop allowed to be exported to China, it added.

Cambodian Ministry of Commerce's undersecretary of state and spokesman Penn Sovicheat said the kingdom is pleased to provide high-quality agricultural produce such as milled rice, bananas, mangoes, longans and pepper to China.

"We hope more Cambodian potential agricultural products such as durians and bird's nest will be able to export to the Chinese market in the near future," he told Xinhua. 
Australian Lithium Company Enters into $15.7 Billion Merger with US Partner

Workers walk past 500-kilogram bags of lithium being stored at the El Carmen lithium processing plant in Antofagasta, Chile, on Sept.13, 2022. (Martin Bernetti/AFP via Getty Images)

A new global lithium giant will emerge from the $15.7 billion (US$10.6 billion) merger between one of Australias largest lithium producers and a U.S.-based company.

On May 11, Brisbane-headquartered Allkem and New York Stock Exchange-listed Livent announced that the two companies would enter into a merger of equals. The result of which will be an entity that ranks third in the worlds lithium supply chain, after North Carolina-based Albemarle and Chilean chemical company SQM.

A merger of equals occurs when two companies of similar size come together to create a new firm. The shareholders of both companies then give up their current shares to receive corresponding securities in the new entity.

Following the merger, Allkem shareholders would own 56 percent of the combined company, while Livent shareholders would control the remaining 44 percent.

Livent president and chief executive Paul Graves will become the new companys CEO, while Allkeem non-executive chairman Peter Coleman will hold the chairman position.

Graves said he was excited about what lay ahead of the merger and the role the new company would play in the global energy shift to renewables.

As a combined company, we will have the enhanced scale, product range, geographic coverage, and execution capabilities to meet our customers rapidly growing demand for lithium chemicals, he said.

This transaction will capitalise on our highly complementary business models and our collective strengths, including our best-in-class technologies, assets, and people, to be a leading force in our industry driving growth in electric vehicles (EV) and energy storage applications.

Graves also mentioned that the combined company would have a production presence in Western Australia, Canada and South Americathree major lithium geographies, with an expected production capacity of 250,000 tonnes per year by 2027.

Meanwhile, Allkem CEO Martin Perez de Solay called the merger transformational, saying it marked a significant milestone in the companys development.

We are bringing together two highly complementary businesses to create a leading global lithium chemicals company, building on Allkems demonstrated track record of integration, he said.

The combination brings together teams with strong expertise in project development, product innovation, and marketing and sets us up for a faster and de-risked delivery of the next phase of our growth.

Major Benefits of the Merger

According to the briefing from Allkeem and Livent, the combined company will have access to large, high quality and low-cost lithium deposit bases in Western Australia, Canada and Argentina, as well as processing plants close to customers in Japan, China and the United Kingdom.

It will also capitalise on the lithium processing technology, which Livent excels, and the complementary expertise in conventional brine-based lithium extraction from Allkem.

Lithium-rich brine dries in an evaporation pond at a lithium mine in Salar de Atacama, Chile, on Aug. 24, 2022. (John Moore/Getty Images)

The merger is also expected to save US$125 million a year on top of US200 million in one-off savings due to reductions in operating costs resulting from the use of combined assets in Argentina and Quebec.

At the same time, the combined entity will have a primary listing on the New York Stock Exchange and a secondary listing on the Australian Securities Exchange, providing greater liquidity for investors.

For the merger to go through, Livent and Allkem need the approval of their shareholders and a conclusion from independent experts that the transaction was in the best interest of the shareholders.

The two companies expected the deal to be finalised by the end of 2023.

Northern Territory Lithium Mine Expansion

The merger between Allkem and Livent comes as the Northern Territory (NT) government has approved an expansion to a major lithium mining area in the jurisdiction.

On May 11, Core Lithium announced that it had received approval to open a second mine at its Finniss lithium operation.

The BP33 underground project, which is located 5 kilometres from the Grants open pit, is expected to employ 60 people during construction and around 150 people when operational.

The new mine was estimated to contain 10.1 million tonnes of ores with 1.48 percent of Lithium oxide concentrate.

NT Mining and Industry Minister Nicole Manison believed the new lithium mine would benefit the territorys economy.

Lithium is in high demand right across the world, and the Northern Territory has the resources needed for a renewable future, she said.

Core Lithium has demonstrated their ability to extract and export critical minerals within a short time frame. This latest proposed mine will be no exception and comes with benefits to local suppliers, local jobs and the Territory economy.
Biden Administration Does Not Want to Resolve the Border Crisis: Ex-Homeland Security Official

Even volunteers who usually welcome asylum-seekers are said to be alarmed by the rising numbers of illegal migrants

In an aerial view, immigrants line up to be processed to make asylum claims at a makeshift migrant camp in El Paso, Texas, on May 11, 2023. (John Moore/Getty Images)

Chad Wolf, a former acting secretary at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) during the Trump administration, said that the ongoing illegal migrant crisis at Americas border could have been avoided.

The current border crisis is something that didnt need to occur, Wolf said in an interview with Tony Perkins, host of the Washington Watch radio show, while criticizing the Biden administrations policies for creating such a situation. There has been a jump in illegal migrant crossings, which comes as the Title 42 pandemic-restrictions ended on May 11. Title 42 had allowed for quick expulsion of some migrants citing health concerns.

This is a crisis not because of a lack of resources or a lack of authorities. This is a crisis because of bad policies that were put in place almost two years ago, he said.

So, they could change this crisis, and they can help solve this crisis if they wanted to by implementing certain policies. They dont want to do that. And so they will continue to tell you that they have a plan and that theyre executing this plan. But it doesnt seem to be working. For 27 months now, it hasnt worked.

And so Im not sure that what theyre doing here recently is going to work either. Instead, what we see is astronomically and record-breaking numbers month after month after month.

This week, more than 10,000 migrants per day were processed across the southern border by the border patrol, which is an all-time record for a 24-hour period, a senior Department of Homeland Security official said to CBS News. On Wednesday, over 20,000 were in the custody of border patrol.

In regions like El Paso, Texas, even volunteers who welcome asylum-seekers are said to be alarmed by the rising numbers of illegal migrants.

Im not even sure I would use the word concerned. Im scared, said John Martin, who runs a network of shelters in El Paso. And Im scared because of the sheer number of people that could potentially be involved.

Rising Migrant Numbers

According to data from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), border patrol agents only encountered 458,088 illegal aliens in the Southwest land border in fiscal year 2020.

This jumped to 1.73 million in fiscal 2021, with monthly encounters rising to six digits after Joe Biden became president in January 2021. In fiscal 2022, encounters came in at 2.38 million. The first six months of fiscal 2023 has already seen 1.22 million encounters.

Talking about El Paso, Wolf pointed out that he saw thousands of folks here earlier in the week on city streets because theyre doing mass releases into the streets.

They have no more capacity at CBP centers or in shelters. And so this is their plan that theyve been executing for two years. God help us, because Im not sure that this is going to be successful at the end of the day.

In a May 11 tweet, photojournalist Rebecca Brannon said that roughly 15,000 Haitians were waiting around 50 miles from the border outside of McAllen, Texas.

GOP Criticism

Former president Donald Trump has slammed the Biden administration for allowing Title 42 to expire.

With todays termination of the final remnants of Title 42, Joe Biden has officially abolished what remained of Americas borders and turned the United States into a dumping ground for illegal aliens from all over the world, he said in a May 11 statement.

Because of Biden, our border is gone, our sovereignty is gone, our national security is gone. Since coming to office, over 6.3 million illegal crossings have taken place under the Biden administration, Trump said.

In a May 12 tweet, Senator Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) said that America is witnessing an absolute travesty unfolding at the southern border. In another tweet, Cruz warned that we already have the worst illegal immigration in the history of our country and its about to get worse. Biden needs to stop hiding in the basement and go see this humanitarian crisis.
Border Patrol Agent Charged With Taking Bribes, Attempted Meth Distribution in San Diego

SAN DIEGOA U.S. Border Patrol agent who allegedly agreed to take $25,000 in bribes is facing federal bribery and attempted drug distribution charges, the U.S. Attorneys Office said May 11.

Hector Hernandez, 55, of Chula Vista, is accused of agreeing to let an undocumented migrant across the U.S.-Mexico border illegally. He also agreed to deliver methamphetamine in exchange for cash, prosecutors say.

Hernandez was arrested Wednesday after the U.S. Attorneys Office says he delivered a duffel bag containing what he believed was methamphetamine to an undercover federal agent.

According to the complaint filed against Hernandez, he was introduced to the undercover Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agent after it was discovered that Hernandez was engaged in border corruption activities. The complaint does not state what that other alleged conduct may have been.

Hernandez allegedly agreed to open a gate along the border fence in order to let a migrant in. A probable cause statement from DHS Special Agent Prescilla Gonzales states Hernandez requested that the undercover agent send three migrants instead of one in order to increase his payout.

After opening the fence on Monday evening, Hernandez was paid $5,000 by the undercover agent, who then told Hernandez he was working with people in Mexico who wanted to import drugs, according to the complaint.

A duffel bag was then placed inside a storm drain near the border fence for Hernandez to retrieve, according to the complaint, which states the bag was filled with one pound of actual meth, 10 pounds of sham methamphetamine, and a tracking device. Hernandez allegedly picked up the bag on Tuesday night and took it to his home, then went back to work.

After his shift was over, he allegedly retrieved the bag and met with the undercover agent somewhere in Chula Vista on Wednesday morning, where he expected to get $20,000 for delivering the drugs, the complaint states.
A panel of members of the Texas Public Policy Foundation-led Border Security Coalition hold a town hall on May 11 to discuss with members of the El Paso community the implications of the ongoing border crisis.
British Hong Kong Actor Mei Mac Shows Solidarity With Hong Kong Add Oil Embroidery at King Charles III Coronation Concert Live Interview

Mei Mac(R) and Ncuti Gatwa (L) backstage at the Coronation Concert held in the grounds of Windsor Castle on May 7, 2023 in Windsor, England. The Windsor Castle Concert was part of the celebrations of 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 that took place at Westminster Abbey on May 6, 2023. High-profile performers entertained members of the royal family and 20,000 guests including 10,000 members of the public. (Ian West-Pool/Getty Images)

On May 7, King Charles III held a coronation ceremony and a large-scale concert at Windsor Castle. Many artists performed at the concert.

British Hong Kong actor Mei Mac was one of the performers. Mac caught netizens attention with her fashion attire during a live interview with co-star Ncuti Gatwa.

Before their performance of the theatrical play Romeo and Juliet, they had a live TV interview with the BBC.

Netizens noticed on Macs blazer sleeves there were Chinese characters, Hong Kong Add Oil, embroidered in black.

The British Hong Kong actor used the embroidery to display her solidarity with Hongkongers who had fought for freedom since the 2019 anti-extradition movement.

Netizens around the world admired and appreciated Mac for expressing her solidarity with Hong Kong.

They also thought Macs gesture of backing Hong Kongs freedom on the live broadcast was empowering and worth more than a thousand words.

While the 30-year-old actor was born in the United Kingdom, Mac would describe herself as a British Hong Kong actor.

Mac also stressed her identity as a Hongkonger numerous times.

During the 2019 Anti-extradition Movement, Mac spoke for Hong Kongs democracy and freedom and regularly shared pro-democracy posts online.

Mac performed Romeo and Juliet with Rwandan-Scottish actor Ncuti Gatwa at the Coronation Concert of King Charles III on May 7.
California Report Shows Exodus Continues, Los Angeles Lost the Most People

Population declines continue to plague the Golden State, with a newly released report detailing the losses. While some areas in the Central Valley and Inland Empire saw growth, Southern California led the way in departures.

The states population dipped .4 percent from January 2022 compared to the same time this year, falling below 39 million residents for the first time since 2015, according to the California Department of Finance.

Recent declines are unprecedented in the states history, with data showing growth every year from 1900 until 2020when nearly 1 percent of residents chose to leave during the height of pandemic restrictionsand declines have persisted since.

It is crucial for California policymakers to evaluate and implement measures to reverse this concerning trend, economists at Forensic Economic Services, an economic consulting firm headquartered in Los Angeles, told The Epoch Times in a statement May 8. While individual decisions to relocate can be influenced by a variety of factors, it is essential for California to analyze and understand the root causes behind this significant decline.

Seven of the 10 largest cities lost population according to the most recent data, with Fresno, Sacramento, and Bakersfield bucking the trend with modest gains of .2 percent or less.

Los Angeles lost nearly 37,000 residents between 2022 and 2023, representing the biggest decline, with Anaheims loss of more than 7,000 the second most, according to the finance department.

A homeless encampment fires create smoke in Los Angeles, Calif., on Jan. 2, 2022. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Lathrop in San Joaquin County experienced the most growth, gaining more than 3,500 residents, with the City of San Bernardino ranking second with an increase of approximately 2,700.

Two cities in Riverside CountyMenifee and Beaumontand Ontario in San Bernardino County made up the top five cities in the state gaining population.

Based on percentages, Paradise in Butte County saw the best growth, with population increasing approximately 24 percent to slightly more than 9,000a fraction of the approximately 26,500 that lived there in 2017with residents slowly returning to the area following the 2018 Camp Fireresponsible for the death of 85 people and the destruction of more than 18,000 buildings.

While some areas saw growth, the overarching trend for the state was negative, as approximately 140,000 fewer people reside in California in 2023 than did last year, with 46 of 58 counties experiencing declines.

Orange County lost more than 14,000 residents, a drop of .5 percent, and Los Angeles County lost more than 70,000a decline of .7 percent.

As approximately 230,000 left the state, the overall number was offset by a surge in international immigration, with more than 90,000 newcomers in 2022, triple the amount of the year prior.

The economic impact of this loss extends beyond the direct financial implications for the state, the spokesperson for Forensic Economic Services said. Businesses may face challenges in attracting and retaining skilled workers, which can hinder their growth and expansion plans and the loss of tax revenues to the states coffers could potentially lead to a decline in the overall quality of life for residents.

File photo of a crime scene. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

High taxes, burdensome regulations, unaffordable housing costs, and increasing crime rates are the oft repeated reasons for those choosing to flee the state, according to experts.

For years California was a perpetual draw for families looking to improve their quality of lifeknown for mild weather, diverse geography, picturesque landscapes, and a uniquely talented and diverse populationbut things have changed, as reported in Epoch TVs Leaving California documentary.

With the fifth largest economy in the world and four universities ranked in the top 25 world-wide located in the state, It was very hard to destroy that inheritance, Victor Davis Hanson, historian at the Hoover Institution, a public policy think tank based at Stanford University, said in the film. But we did, and how do you quantify that?

Recently released Internal Revenue Service data also shows more people leaving for Texas than any other state, with Arizona, Nevada, Washington State, and Florida the next most chosen destinations for ex-Californians.

People are going to places that were once known as hellhot Texas and desert Nevadathat have become paradise in their mind, Hanson said. We took paradise and turned it into hell.
Canada Resists Foreign Agent Registry Due to Rampant Elite Capture by China, MPs Hear

Despite concerns of Chinese interference in federal elections and targeting of Canadian politicians, efforts to create a foreign agent registry in Canada remain stagnant. The potential involvement of many Canadian elites with the registry has contributed to the resistance, a House committee heard.

Christian Leuprecht, professor at the Royal Military College of Canada, told MPs that elite capture, particularly by China, is a significant challenge for Canada.

Elite capture by China, both by pecuniary interests, as well as companies and law firms that are related to elite capture  I believe this is the major reason for significant resistance and active lobbying against a foreign agent registry that has been proposed, he testified at the House of Commons Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs (PROC) on May 11.

Leuprecht was responding to a question from Liberal MP Sherry Romanado on whether former Prime Minister Stephen Harper had been soft on China, citing a remark from Michel Juneau-Katsuya, former chief of the Asia-Pacific Unit within the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, who also testified at the PROC on May 11.

Juneau-Katsuya said Harper became soft on China at the end of his mandate because agents of influence were capable to gain access to him and change the course of his decision-making. He also pointed out that agents of communist China have influenced every Canadian federal government from Brian Mulroneys to Justin Trudeaus administrations.

During the hearing, Leuprecht was asked about the issue of a $140,000 donation to the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation made by two Chinese businessmen, Zhang Bin and Niu Gensheng, who are reportedly linked to the regime in Beijing. Conservative MP Michael Cooper asked if Leuprecht believes the donation amounts to foreign interference, considering that it came from a Canadian shell company based in Montreal, controlled by the China Cultural Industry Association, which the MP said is part of Chinas United Front Work Department (UFWD). The UFWD is Chinas primary foreign interference tool, according to a number of reports cited by Public Safety Canada.

In response, Leuprecht acknowledged that concerns about the donation have been raised since 2016 and that there needs to be an honest discussion, adding that people are resisting a foreign agent registry because of the number of Canadian elites that would get in snarled in such a registry.

Alexandre Trudeau, brother of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and member of the Foundation named after their father, said there has been no foreign interference involved, while testifying at the House of Commons ethics committee on May 3.

The PROC has been investigating Chinas interference in the 2019 election after Global News reported last November that Beijing provided illegal funding to at least 11 candidates in the federal race. The committee has also heard testimonies on a number of issues related to the regimes interference in Canada.

Combating Foreign Interference

Leuprecht called for a coherent deterrence strategy that imposes cumulative costs on hostile state actors, particularly from China.

Foreign interference is fundamentally a matter of Canadian sovereignty, he said. Subversion by Beijing is the single greatest threat to Canadas sovereignty and democratic way of life, today.

Too many Canadians and MPs are taking democracy for granted. Instead, a government that claims to have a values-based foreign policy should be defending and protecting Canadian democracy, freedoms, and way of life.

Leuprecht suggested establishing clear thresholds for foreign interference and subversion, as well as punitive consequences for violating Canadian law. He also recommended assigning integrated national security enforcement teams to foreign interference investigations, as they have already proven to be effective against terrorism.

Additionally, he said the Chinese Communist Partys UFWD subversion is bolstered by Chinas large number of foreign diplomatic services in Canada, which he said is unreasonable considering the relatively small number of accredited Canadian diplomats in Canada.

The CCPs United Front Work Department behaves like a state-sponsored transnational organized criminal syndicate, so lets treat it as such and shut down these thugs and their club secret police stations, Leuprecht added, referencing reports of clandestine Chinese police stations operating in Ontario, British Columbia, and Montreal.

The alleged police stations first came to public attention in a September 2022 report released by Spain-based NGO Safeguard Defenders, which was investigating Beijings claims that some of its overseas police outposts contributed to the repatriationdescribed as persuasion to returnof an estimated 230,000 Chinese people living abroad.

Noe Chartier and Peter Wilson contributed to this report.
Care Homes Face Staff Crisis as Workers Refuse to Return After No Jab No Job Policy

British care homes are facing a staffing crisis as thousands of care workers fired for refusing to take the jab are choosing not to return to work.

COVID-19 vaccinations were made compulsory for all staff working in care homes in England from Nov. 11, 2021, until the law was scrapped on March 15, 2022.

At the time it was warned such a policy for care workers would cause unknown staff shortages. However, the government said that there were to be unquantified benefits from the mandate, which it believed were fairly substantial and long-lasting.

An estimated 40,000 social care workers left their jobs as a result, which campaign groups said is a devasting blow. The sector is now struggling to fill around 165,000 vacancies.

Chair of The Social Care Working Group at the Together Association (also called The Together Declaration) Amanda Hunter told The Epoch Times that the reality is that a lot of those people have gone now and they are not coming back.

The Together Declaration, co-founded by Alan Miller, has an ongoing campaign to get the government to apologise, reinstate and compensate fired care workers. He called their firing, a huge loss and a shameful moment for Britain.

His organisation was formed in 2021 in response to COVID-19 measures with the mission to push back against the rapidly growing infringements on our rights and freedoms.

Health Care Assistant Rose Waddington and ninety-eight-year-old resident John Kykot with thank you white roses presented to them by the Mayor of West Yorkshire Tracy Brabin at Norwood House Nursing Home in Keighley, England, on July 4, 2021. (Danny Lawson/PA)

Exodus of Workers

Hunter is also the founder of the campaign group Unlock Care Homes, which wants to put an end to inhumane visiting restrictions, neglect, and abuse in all care settings.

She said that the loss of workers from the vaccine mandate had a huge impact because it was already short-staffed, then this, of course, brought a devasting blow.

The consequences are clear, virtually every day theres a story in the local press about some care home failing, Hunter said.

Staffing was a huge element. Its 165,000 care workers short, but the whole system is on its knees, she added.

The exodus of workers has left care homes struggling to find qualified staff, raising concerns about the quality of care for vulnerable residents.

Hunter added that there is a risk of neglect with low staff, pointing out that she recently read about a care home that was fined 20,000 over the death of a 90-year-old Alzheimers resident who drank cleaning fluid from an unlabelled bottle left in his room.

Despite the easing of pandemic restrictions and the rollout of vaccination programs across the country, many care workers are choosing to work in retail instead of returning to the care sector.

They can get a job in the retail sector that pays them more money without the stress, she added.

She said that an apology from the government would send the right message to care workers and could be an incentive for some to come back into the services, however, in reality, a lot of the workers have now moved on and they were also deeply offended by what happened.

As the mandate was implemented, the provider body National Care Forum said the policy (pdf) was unfair and unjust to single out the care home sector and warned of mounting job losses

The independent regulator of health and social care in England, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) did not want to make a specific comment to The Epoch Times but referred to its most recent State of Care report which covers staffing issues post-pandemic in detail.

The 140-page report states that workers leaving because of the vaccine mandate made a significant impact.

Its Not an Easy Job

In 2021, senior care manager Niccii Gillett told GB News that it was heartbreaking that she had lost six staff due to the mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy.

Reflecting now, Gillett told The Epoch Times that one staff member had come back, but the others left the industry completely, some of whom had been with her for eight years. It was a big change, she said.

The retention isnt as long and they are not as experienced and as skilled as the ones that left, she added.

She said that the staff who left were fearful that the government would make COVID-19 vaccination mandatory again in future winters.

Looking back, Gillett said that care workers were portrayed in a negative way and were scapegoated at the time in the media, even though they had to implement confusing government guidance often at a couple of days notice.

Its not an easy job, physically, mentally, you can get paid a bigger hourly rate to work in a supermarket or Mcdonalds, she added.

She stressed that the vaccine mandate was a factor, but not the singular reason for staff shortages. Providers identified low pay as the key driver of high vacancy rates, which has only intensified with the increased cost of living.

She said she had been in care for 24 years and that it had always been difficult to attract staff because of the stigma around care work, and that young people are not coming into care work.

Legal

In some U.S cities, judges have ordered officials to reinstate any workers terminated as a result of vaccine mandates.

However, in the UK, employment tribunals have mostly ruled that care home workers who refused to get COVID-19 vaccinations were fairly dismissed by their employers.

Stephen Jackson, solicitor at Jackson Osborne Employment Lawyers, had pushed for a judicial review, with a case brought by Julie Peters and Nicola Findlay, respectively a programme director and a full-time support worker at a care home who both lost their jobs. The High Court threw the case out in November 2021.

If someone tried to do that today, then the same claims could be made today and the prospects could be greater, Jackson told The Epoch Times.

Jackson said that it is unlikely that an employer would be able to get away with such a course of action today.

The employers relied on the protection of the government policy, saying that it was justified to have required the injection to attend work, he said.

The government has changed that policy as it cant even be argued to be justified anymore, he said.

Jackson added that an employer who puts requirements for a COVID-19 vaccine today as part of the job description could find themselves exposed to various claims.
Chinese Companies Help CCP Manipulate Global Opinion on Social Media: Report

The CCPs cyber influence campaigns against Western democracies on social media has become more frequent in recent years. (screenshot/ASPI report)

The Chinese Communist Partys (CCP) cyber-influence campaigns against Western democracies on social media have become more frequent, sophisticated, and effective in recent years, with some Chinese companies, such as Qi An Xin, becoming involved.

Named Gaming Public Opinion, the report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) included data collection spanning Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, Sina Weibo, and ByteDance products.

It reveals previously unreported CCP cyber-influence operations, such as one called the Spamouflage network, in which inauthentic accounts are used to spread claims that the United States is irresponsibly conducting cyber-espionage operations against China and other countries.

The CCP has used these cyber-enabled influence operations to seek to interfere in U.S. politics, Australian politics, and national security decisions, undermine the Quad and Japanese defence policies, and impose costs on Australian and North American rare-earth mining companies, the report said.

A Spamouflage account called Erin Chew claimed to live in Sydney. (screenshot/ASPI report)

The most notable Chinese party-state agencies involved include the Peoples Liberation Armys Strategic Support Force, which conducts cyber operations as part of the armys political warfare; the Ministry of State Security, which conducts covert operations for state security; the Central Propaganda Department, which oversees Chinas domestic and foreign propaganda efforts; the Ministry of Public Security (MPS), which enforces Chinas internet laws; and the Cyberspace Administration of China, which regulates Chinas internet ecosystem.

Chinese state media outlets and Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials are also running clandestine operations that seek to amplify their own overt propaganda and influence activities.

In the case of the Spamouflage network, it is found that some operators of the network are based in Yancheng City, Jiangsu Province, some being part of the Yancheng Public Security Bureau.

The account of user 7763546981 has a headshot of a public security bureau. (screenshot/ASPI report)

Private Chinese Companies Assisting Government Agencies

In addition, the authors found that private Chinese companies collaborate with CCP agencies in their operations.

In a recent coordinated CCP propaganda campaign named Operation Honey Badger () by Chinese government-linked entities, for instance, Chinese cybersecurity company Qi An Xin () supports the influence operation.

We uncover new evidence to suggest that the MPS, with the support of cybersecurity company Qi An Xin, may be involved in this campaign, they wrote.

The company has the capacity to seed disinformation about advanced persistent threats to its clients in Southeast Asia and other countries Its deeply connected with Chinese intelligence, military, and security services and plays an important role in Chinas cybersecurity and state security strategies.

As of April 2023, the Operation Honey Badger campaign continues to attribute cyber-espionage operations to the U.S. government.

Evidence that Chinese officials and state media retweeted tweets from Spamouflage accounts. (screenshot/ASPI report)

Clive Hamilton, the Australian academic who authored Silent Invasion, said he agrees with the arguments made in the ASPI report.

Hamilton said he believes the CCPs goal of manipulating public opinion remains the same, but the way it actually does it is changing.

As countries such as Australia have strengthened legislation and law enforcement to counter foreign interference, it has become more difficult for Beijing to carry out on-the-ground missions in those countries. Thats why underground work through networks is all the more important, he told Radio Free Asia.

Clive Hamilton, author of Silent Invasion, speaks at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in A Conversation on Chinese Influence in Australia and Beyond in Washington on Oct. 18, 2018. (Wu Wei/Epoch Times)

Solution: Strengthen legislation, intelligence sharing, and cooperate with social media

The authors suggest governments review foreign interference legislation and consider mandating that social media platforms disclose state-backed influence operations and other transparency reporting to increase the publics threat awareness.

In addition, they appeal to partners and allies to share more intelligence with one another on such influence operations.

Strong open-source intelligence skills and collection capabilities are a crucial part of investigating and attributing these operations, the low classification of which should making intelligence sharing easier, they argued.

On the other hand, social media platforms are urged to remove access to those analytics for suspicious accounts breaching platform policies, making it difficult for identified malicious actors to measure the effectiveness of influence operations.
Chinese Company Fined $4 Million for Bribing Ex-Los Angeles Councilman Huizar

LOS ANGELESA Chinese real estate company was fined $4 million and placed on five years probation May 12 for bribing former Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar with more than $1.5 million in cash, gambling trips, and escorts in exchange for the then-councilmans support of a planned downtown hotel project.

Although he was also charged, Shen Zhen New World Is billionaire owner Wei Huang fled to China after the charges were announced and has never appeared in a Los Angeles courtroom in connection with the case.

The OctoberNovember trial was one of three separate proceedings arising out of a 34-count indictment against Huizar and his associates alleging wide-ranging political corruption centered around the Planning and Land Use Management Committee, commonly referred to as the PLUM Committee, which oversaw commercial and residential development projects in the city and was headed by the ex-councilman.

Evidence presented at the Shen Zhen trial showed the companyon behalf of its ownerpurchased the L.A. Grand Hotel in downtown Los Angeles, located in the 14th Council District, whose representative at that time was Huizar. As part of his role on the council, Huizar oversaw major commercial and residential development projects in the city.

In June 2018, Shen Zhen filed an application with the Los Angeles City Planning Department to redevelop the L.A. Grand Hotel into a 77-story skyscraper featuring a mix of residential and commercial uses.

From February 2013 to November 2018, Shen Zhen, acting through Huang, provided Huizar and an aide with cash, casino gambling chips, flights on private jets, and commercial airlines, stays at luxury Las Vegas hotels and casinos, expensive meals, spa services, prostitution services, political contributions, and a $600,000 loan for Huizar to confidentially settle a pending sexual harassment lawsuit brought by a former staffer that threatened his re-election.

An FBI agent carries a case from the home of Los Angeles Councilman Jose Huizar in Los Angeles on Nov. 7, 2018. (Frederic Brown/AFP via Getty Images)

The jury found the benefits provided to Huizar were intended to secure his approval of the L.A. Grand Hotel redevelopment project, a project the developers said would have been the tallest such structure west of the Mississippi River.

The companys attorneys unsuccessfully argued the proposed development was universally loved at City Hall because of the jobs, tax revenue, and prestige it would bringso there was no reason to bribe anyone.

The November 2020 indictment charged Huang and Shen Zhen with bribery in three forms: bribery of a public official; interstate and foreign travel in support of bribery; and devising and participating in a scheme to defraud the city of Los Angeles and its citizens of Huizars honest services.

Huizar pleaded guilty in January in Los Angeles federal court to felony charges for using his powerful position at City Hall to enrich himself and his associates, and for cheating on his taxes. He faces multiple years behind bars at a sentencing hearing scheduled for Sept. 25.

The federal criminal trial of Huizars co-defendant, former Los Angeles Deputy Mayor Raymond Chan, is on hold until Chan hires a new lawyer. A mistrial was declared in Chans first trial last month after his attorney, Harland Braun, was taken ill and could not continue appearing in court.

Chan is facing a dozen criminal counts, including racketeering conspiracy, bribery, honest services fraud, and lying to federal agents for his alleged role in the pay-to-play scheme linked to Huizar that prosecutors say soaked developers for millions of dollars in exchange for getting their building projects approved at City Hall.

Last June, real estate developer Dae Yong David Lee and one of his companies were found guilty of federal criminal charges for providing $500,000 in cash to Huizar and his special assistant in exchange for their help in resolving a labor organizations appeal of their downtown Los Angeles development project.

Lee and his 940 Hill company are set to be sentenced on July 21.
BISHKEK, May 12 (Xinhua) -- Kyrgyzstan attaches great importance to participating in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) cooperation, and is ready to intensify its interaction with the SCO member states in various fields, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov said Thursday.

The press service of the Kyrgyz president said Japarov made the remarks at a meeting with visiting SCO Secretary-General Zhang Ming in the capital city of Bishkek.

The two sides exchanged views on priority areas of cooperation within the SCO framework and further development of cooperation among the SCO partners in regional security, economy, trade, culture and other fields.

Japarov said that in order to ensure regional security, combat terrorism, extremism, drug trafficking and cross-border organized crime, it is necessary to complete the establishment of the Center for Combating International Organized Crime in Bishkek.

Japarov stressed that the Kyrgyz side is making efforts to organize consultations among the delegations from departments of the SCO member states to discuss issues related to the establishment of the center.

At the same time, Japarov noted the need to strengthen joint measures to ensure cyber security, as well as practically implement the relevant documents on toughening international information security.

In addition, he stressed the importance of continuing the process of setting up effective financial mechanisms, in particular, creating the SCO Development Bank and the SCO Development Fund in order to carry out economic projects.

Zhang informed Japarov of the ongoing work of the SCO Secretariat and cooperation within the SCO in all areas.

He said that the secretariat will continue its efforts to promote and coordinate the implementation of decisions by the heads of the SCO member states. 
Chinese Diplomat Expelled for Allegedly Intimidating Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs Michael Chong

Conservative MP Michael Chong rises during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on May 2, 2023. (The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick)

On May 8, the Canadian government announced that Zhao Wei, a Chinese Consulate diplomat in Toronto, was declared a persona non grata and will be expelled. Zhao is accused of attempting to intimidate Michael Chong, an opposition Conservative Party member and Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs.

In response to Canadas action, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) retaliated on the next day (May 9) by designating Consul Jennifer Lalonde from the Canadian Consulate General in Shanghai as a persona non grata and demanded her departure from mainland China.

Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Melanie Joly stated on May 8, expressing a clear stance of not tolerating foreign interference in Canadas internal affairs. Diplomats in Canada have been warned that engaging in such behavior will result in their expulsion. Joly emphasized that the decision was made after careful consideration. The statement concluded, We remain firm in our resolve that defending our democracy is of the utmost importance.

Zhao Was Alleged to Attempt to Obtain Information on Michael Chongs Family in Hong Kong

The incident stemmed from a report in The Globe and Mail, a Canadian newspaper. On May 1, citing a July 2021 report by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, the news article revealed that Beijing, in response to Chongs parliamentary motion condemning the repression of Uyghurs and other Turkic minority groups, sought to obtain information on Chongs family in Hong Kong, with Zhao being the person in charge of this operation. Chong stated that he was unaware of this situation, as The Globe and Mail reported.

Chongs father is a Hong Kong immigrant, and his mother is of Dutch origin.

According to intelligence sources cited in the report, the CCPs action is intended to warn other politicians against confronting the CCP regime.

CCP Targets Five Groups, Hongkongers Are Among Them

The intelligence documents also reveal that the CCP views supporters of Taiwan, Tibet, Uighur rights, Falun Gong, and the Hong Kong democracy movement as serious threats. In late 2020, a Chinese Ministry of State Security official instructed a Canadian individual to gather information on people associated with these five groups. Once their affiliation was confirmed, upon their return to China, Chinese security officials would create incidents specifically targeting them.

CCPs Retaliations Anticipated

Following the reports publication on May 1, Melanie Joly on May 4 stated that Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, David Morrison, had summoned the Chinese Ambassador to Canada, Cong Peiwu, regarding the affair. She was also assessing the consequences of expelling a Chinese diplomat.

She pointed out that if Canada took action, the CCP would likely resort to economic, consular, and diplomatic threats, similar to how they responded to the arrest of Meng Wanzhou, a Huawei executive, by detaining two Canadians in 2018.

Chong Sanctioned for Condemning CCPs Conduct in Xinjiang as Genocide

In March 2021, Michael Chong, then Vice-Chair of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development, along with the International Human Rights Committee, and Gayle Manchin, Chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, and Tony Perkins, Vice Chair of the same commission, were sanctioned by the CCP. They were banned from entering mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau. Chinese citizens and institutions were prohibited from engaging in transactions with them or their immediate family members.

At the time, Chong responded to the sanctions, stating that in a democratic country, it is important to speak up for those who have been silenced, If that means China sanctions me, Ill wear it as a badge of honor.

The sanctions came after the Canadian Parliament passed a bill on Feb. 22 that year, recognizing the CCPs actions against the Uighur population in Xinjiang as genocide. Michael Chong was one of the bills initiators, urging the Canadian government to acknowledge the motion and strengthen economic sanctions against the CCP in coordination with allies. He described the CCPs actions as threatening Canadian citizens, companies, and fundamental values.

Regarding the sanction on Chong, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said it was unacceptable and emphasized that Canada will continue to promote democracy and human rights alongside civil society and international partners.

In April 2021, when the printing factory of the Hong Kong Epoch Times was attacked by the CCP, Michael Chong released a statement condemning the CCPs violation of international law and the Sino-British Joint Declaration and calling on the Trudeau government to oppose the suppression of freedom of speech in Hong Kong from the CCP.

Canadian Authorities Shut Down Four Illegitimate CCP Police Offices

On another front, the infamous overseas police stations established by the CCP faced scrutiny. Canadian authorities announced the closure of four illegal CCP police stations in Canada on March 2, leading to dissatisfaction expressed by officials from the Chinese embassy.

According to a report released by the human rights organization Safeguard Defenders, the CCP has established at least 102 secret police stations worldwide, with five operating in Canada.

Trudeau Raised Concerns About CCP Interference, Faces Criticism and Intimidation from Xi Jinping

During the G20 summit in November 2022, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau talked with CCP President Xi Jinping for approximately ten minutes. According to Canadian government sources, Trudeau expressed serious concerns about the CCPs interference activities in Canada.

At the time, intelligence agencies in Canada reported instances of interference originating from CCP to Trudeau and his cabinet members. These included CCP funding for at least 11 candidates in the 2019 federal elections. Funding totaling CAD 250,000 (US$ 185,000) was channeled to support these candidates. The CCP also deployed agents to bribe former Canadian officials to influence Canadian policy. During the federal elections, the CCP launched defamatory attacks against politicians perceived as conflicting with its interests.

However, the following day (Nov. 16), Xi Jinping confronted Trudeau, criticizing him for disclosing the details of their conversation to the media. He said to Trudeau that if communication could not be conducted respectfully, the outcome will not be easy to tell. Trudeau responded, In Canada, we believe in free and open and frank dialogue, and that is what we will continue to have, we will continue to work constructively together, but there will be things we disagree on. Xi cut him off and said, Lets create the conditions first. before he walked away and added, How naive.
Chinese State-Owned Baowu Group Eyes Western Australia for New Green Facility

In 2020, more than 60 percent of China's iron ore imports came from Australia. This picture shows Fortescue Solomon iron ore mine located in the Valley of the Kings in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. (David Gray/Reuters)

Chinese state-owned iron and steel company, Baowu Group, has indicated an interest in building a new green steel plant in Western Australia.

During talks with Australias Federal Trade Minister Don Farrell in Beijing on May 11, Baowu Groups chairman Chen Dorong said Western Australias availability of clean energy, and ore made the state an ideal site for a new green facility.

Baowu Group is one of Chinas biggest polluters, and it plans to reduce emissions by 30 percent by 2035 and be carbon neutral by 2050.

Chen told Farrell that the Chinese state-owned company wanted to decarbonise its operations but is also looking at West Africa, South America and Saudi Arabia as alternatives.

China is currently Western Australias largest iron ore market, accounting for 83 percent of exports traded during 2022. Baowu Group was one of the first Chinese companies to resume the purchase of Australian coal in 2023.

In 2022, Baowu produced 132 million tonnes of steel, accounting for about 13 percent of Chinas total.

Chen told Farrell that Baowu Groupwhich is declared the worlds largest steelmaker by Chinese state-controlled media Xinhuawanted to do more business with Australia and proposed a possible clean steel joint venture with Rio Tinto and BHP by potentially using new energy resources like photovoltaic and natural gas.

Despite trade tensions, Rio Tinto and Baowu Group formed a $2 billion joint venture in September 2022 to develop an iron ore project in the Pilbara, Western Australia, which has since secured government approvals.

The agreement between Rio Tinto and Baowu Group would see up to 126.5 million tonnes of iron ore sold at market value over approximately 13 years. Rio Tinto owns 54 percent of the deal, while Baowu owns 46 percent.

Trade Minister Firm on National Security

Farrell, who is currently in Beijing for a two-day diplomatic visit, said Chinese investments were overwhelmingly approved but said the federal government would block deals on national security grounds.

In response, Beijing said on May 11 that the communist regime was willing to work with Australia.

Beijing recently accused Australia of abusing national security grounds to block investments after Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers intervened to prevent a Chinese company from lifting its stake in a Western Australian lithium miner. Chalmers intervened based on advice from the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB).

If national security or national interests are involved, countries do make decisions to reject somevery fewinvestments. And, of course, we reserve the right to do that, Farrell said.

Australian Trade Minister Don Farrell speaks during a meeting via teleconference at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on Feb. 6, 2023. (Lukas Coch-Pool/Getty Images)

Farrell said he would also raise other issues of importance to Australians but did not specify the exact issue. Currently, Australian citizens Cheng Lei and Yang Hengjun are detained in China for alleged espionage.

Farrell is scheduled to meet his Chinese counterpart Wang Wentao on May 12 to discuss a way to end trade sanctions. In 2020, Beijing enacted sanctions against Australian wine, barley, lobster, and beef during the height of tensions between both countries.

What Id like to do over the next couple of days is continue that process of stabilising our relationship and work through a successful pathway for the resolution of all of our outstanding trade differences, Farrell said on his arrival in Beijing on May 11.

The issues didnt occur overnight, and theyre not going to be resolved overnight. What Id like to come back to Australia with is a pathway to resolving all of those outstanding issues. Face-to-face dialogue is the best way to get that progress.

Farrell said that trade between Australia and China totalled $300 billion during the 20212022 financial year but added that we can do more, and we can do better.

Resumption of Trade Exports

Since the Albanese government took office last year, Australian exports of coal, cotton, and copper have resumed with Beijing.

Meanwhile, Beijing has agreed to review its tariffs on Australian barley over the next three to four months, and as a sign of goodwill, the Albanese government will temporarily suspend its sanctions complaint lodged with the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

Farrell will also meet with the head of the state-owned China Oil and Foodstuff Corporation, which is a major importer of Australian-grown sorghum, wheat, barley, and chickpeas. China Oil and Foodstuff Corporation imported approximately 30 percent of its wine from Australia prior to the trade sanctions, reported the Australian Financial Review (AFR).

Bottles of Australian wine are seen at a store selling imported wine in Beijing, China, on Nov. 27, 2020. (Florence Lo/Reuters)

Farrell added that a strong trade relationship with Beijing was vital to ensuring peace in the Indo-Pacific.

Theres no reason why we cant progress our national security and our national interest but also continue our trading relationship, build on that almost $300 billion of trade, and stabilise our relationship with China, Farrell said.

Nothings going to do more to achieve peace in our region than strong trading relationships between Australia and China.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters in Sydney on May 12 that dialogue with China was welcome.

Our major trading partner is important for jobs and for our economy, Albanese said.

And I have said that you dont achieve anything by having no discussion.

What we need is to develop understanding and dialogue  well co-operate with China where we can, we will disagree where we must and will engage in our national interest.

Farrells trip to China comes after Foreign Minister Penny Wongs visit in December 2022.
CNN Defends Hosting Trump Town Hall

Former President Donald Trump (L) speaks at a CNN Town Hall with CNNs Kaitlan Collins at St. Anselm College in Manchester, N.H., on May 10, 2023, in a still from video. (CNN/Screenshot via The Epoch Times)

CNNs on-air personalities are defending the networks decision to host a town hall-style interview with former President Donald Trump on Wednesday night.

While many Republicans and conservatives cheered on Trumps performance on the stage, numerous Democrat politicians criticized the cable news network for giving him such a platform. For instance, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) posted that CNN should be ashamed of themselves and accused the network of platforming election disinformation, defenses of Jan 6th, and a public attack on a sexual abuse victim.

CNN host Anderson Cooper addressed several of the criticisms in the opening monologue of his show on Thursday night. Cooper began his monologue by validating many of the criticisms the network had faced and characterizing elements of Trumps performance as ridiculous and disturbing.

Many of you are upset that someone who attempted to destroy our democracy was invited to sit on the stage in front of a crowd of Republican voters to answer questions and predictably continued to spew lie after lie after lie. And I get it. It was disturbing, Cooper said.

Cooper went on to criticize Trump for a number of comments he made during the town hall, including describing the officer who claimed responsibility for fatally shooting an unarmed demonstrator on Jan. 6, 2021, as a thug during Wednesdays town hall event. Cooper also criticized Trump for calling moderator Kaitlan Collins a nasty person after she repeatedly spoke over him as he described his handling of classified documents. Cooper said viewers may have also been upset to see the live audience members at the town hall event cheering Trump on through several contentious moments in the interview.

In spite of these criticisms of Trump, Cooper presented the town hall as a valuable moment for understanding Trumps position as a 2024 presidential candidate and the people who agree with him.

Many of you think CNN shouldnt have given him any platform to speak, and I understand the anger about that, giving him the audience, the time. I get that, Cooper said. But this is what I also get: The man you were so disturbed to see and hear from last night, that man is the frontrunner for the Republican nomination for president.

Cooper then warned critics that their disdain for CNN hosting the town hall event wont make Trump go away.

You have every right to be outraged today and angry and never watch this network again. But do you think staying in your silo and only listening to people you agree with is going to make that person go away? Cooper said. If we all only listen to those we agree with, it may actually do the opposite. If lies are allowed to go unchecked, as imperfect as our ability to check them is on a stage in real-time, those lies continue and those lies spread. If youre angry or upset, I understand, but you have the power to do something about it. You can actually get involved. You can make a difference.

In a primetime appearance on Thursday night, Collins presented the CNN town hall in similar terms as Cooper, describing the event as a major inflection point in the Republican partys search for its next nominee.

Its important to remember that [Trump] is, right now, the GOP frontrunner, a race that he is running, as noted, while being criminally indicted, found civilly liable and under investigation for everything from his handling of classified documents to his business empire, Collins alleged.

Some Lawmakers See Town Hall as Problem for Trump

Many of Trumps most ardent Republican supporters cheered the comments he made and the positions he took during the town hall.

When asked whether he would support Ukraine and whether he wants to see it win in its fight against Russia, Trump responded that he isnt thinking in terms of a winning or losing side, but rather in terms of reaching a peaceful settlement that ends the fighting.

Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), who had endorsed Trump prior to the town hall appearance, said Trumps calls for a peaceful settlement to the Russia-Ukraine war showed real statesmanship.

During the debate, Collins repeatedly pushed Trump to say he lost the 2020 election, disavow his claims it was stolen or rigged, and promise to accept the results of the 2024 election, no matter the result. Trump instead stood by his 2020 election claims and said he would accept the 2024 election results If I think its an honest election.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), another ardent Trump supporter who has endorsed his 2024 bid, cheered Trump for holding his ground on the 2020 election claims.

I enjoyed congratulating President Trump on his outstanding town hall and undefeated record against CNN. They had to air him telling the truth about how the 2020 election was rigged and stolen. We laughed and laughed, she posted after the town hall ended.

Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) saw the very same views some Republicans cheered as a liability for Trump going forward and a boon for President Joe Bidens 2024 reelection bid.

CNN did @JoeBiden a favor, Lieu posted on Thursday morning. CNN picked an audience of GOP primary voters, including MAGA folks. This egged on Trump to make incredibly damaging statements for the general election. Any non-MAGA American watching was reminded, again, that Trump is a monster.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) told CNN that Trumps town hall performance appealed to his base but likely wont help grow his support.

I dont think he showed anything differently than hes shown people before, Cornyn told CNN. Hes got a unique ability to rally his base, but not to grow beyond his base, which is a problem.

Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.) also criticized Trumps comments on Ukraine, telling CNN, President Trumps judgment is wrong in this case.

Thats why I dont intend to support him for the Republican nomination, Young added.

From NTD News
Conservation Groups Say Australias Federal Budget Fails to Address Murray Darling Basin Plan Target

A veiw of the Hume Weir at sunrise on February 23, 2007 in Albury, Australia. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

Environmental conservation groups across four Australian states have criticised the Albanese government for failing to add additional funding from the federal budget towards meeting targets set under the Murray Darling Basin Plan (MDBP).

Environment Victoria, Nature Conservation Council NSW, Queensland Conservation Council, and the Conservation Council of South Australia have said that while the Albanese government has committed $146.8 million in the recent budget to fulfilling its election promise to complete the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, it has failed to commit funds towards delivering the final 450 gigalitres of water.

Under the plan, the final 450 gigalitres of water are an additional target on top of the legislated 2,750 gigalitres that basin states agreed on meeting back in 2018. So far, only 4.5 of the 450 gigalitres, termed efficiency measures, have been recovered. In total, more than 2,100 gigalitres of water have been relocated back into the environment.

But the Albanese governments commitment of $146.8 million will be mainly spent on scientific studies and work to assess progress.

Tyler Rotche, Environment Victorias Healthy Rivers Campaigner, said that as water prices increase, the Albanese government needs to allocate more money for water recovery.

The government needs to get the most water for the funds already set aside. Purchasing water from willing sellers is the most reliable option. Its by far the most straightforward, aboveboard, and cost-effective method on the table, Rotche said in a statement.

Craig Wilkins, Chief Executive of the Conservation Council of South Australia, said while Federal Water Minister Tanya Plibersek has shown a genuine commitment to deliver more water under the plan, the federal government has not committed additional funding to improve and return the Murray Darling Basin system to health.

As a nation, we wont be able to do what is required to improve the health of Australias greatest river system without the federal government entering the market to purchase water from willing sellers.

However, the federal governments purchase of water from irrigators, termed water buybacks, has been criticised by Victoria, New South Wales (NSW), the federal opposition, the National Farmers Federation, and the National Irrigators Council, who are against the move.

In a previous interview with The Epoch Times, Jan Beer, a representative from the Upper Murray River Catchment Association in Victoria, said that water buybacks will affect the countrys ability to produce food.

If they buy back that water or they take that further water out of the consumptive pool, then food production and food security will be greatly affected because the irrigators get the very last of whats left in the consumptive bucket of water, she said, adding that the economic impacts would be enormous.

Calls to Redirect Money from Closure of Dam Project to Meeting Target

Meanwhile, the Albanese governments withdrawal of funding for the proposed Dungowan Dam in north-west NSW has been applauded by conservation groups, who say the money should be directed towards water buybacks.

The dam was projected to cost $1.3 billion and was promised to be split by the previous Coalition state and federal governments.

While the decision not to fund the dud Dungowan Dam near Tamworth is applauded, the money saved should have been repurposed for water purchases. Funding is critical if we are going to save the Murray Darling Basin, Jacqui Mumford, CEO of the Nature Conservation Council NSW, said in a statement.

But federal Member for New England, Barnaby Joyce, has criticised the decision not to proceed with the proposed dam.

All the work that so many people in the city of Tamworth and New England have done over so many years to fight for this has now come to naught, and thats a terrible shame, Joyce said, reported the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

We have to try and get back into government and reinstall the money.

According to the federal budget, the dam projects business case did not have sufficient support for its construction, and its scrapping would save $595 million over seven years.

The federal budget also states that $19.1 million for another dam projectthe Wyangala Dam near Cowra in central west New South Waleswill be deferred.

Push for Deadline Extension Continues

Victorias water minister, Harriet Shing, is pushing for the legislated deadline of June 30, 2024, to be extended for two years.

Under the MDBP, basin states need to deliver both the legislated 2,750 gigalitres plus 450 gigalitres by that date.

Federal water minister Tanya Plibersek has previously said that delivering the measures by 2024 is next to impossible.

Its about timing, its about funding, its also about the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, Shing said, reported the ABC.

As such, the Victorian state government has paused four major environmental projects under the plan. Harriet said that if there is no extension, the works for the projects would not be completed by 2024 and that the four water projects would deliver 60 gigalitres of water into the basin system.

Federal shadow water minister and Nationals Senator Perin Davey said he understood Victorias push for an extension.

Without the agreement for an extension, the federal funding is not guaranteed, and I can totally understand why the state minister would be reluctant to commence or commission any contracts if they are not sure they are going to get the funding for it, Davey said.

Davey added that without these works, the federal government would need to commence water buybacks in the region.

But Shing said Victoria was committed to its policy against water buybacks, which has also been opposed by NSW.

I would like to see that we can return water, but it has to be with positive or neutral socio-economic outcomes, Shing said.

South Australian Labor Water Minister Susan Close and South Australia Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young have both voiced support for the water buybacks.

A review by the Productivity Commission into how effectively the basin plan has met its objectives is expected to be completed by December. The Commissions 2019 report said that some water projects were unlikely to be delivered by the 2024 deadline.
Cory Morgan: The Body Count Rises While Feds Dither on Bail Reform

Family and friends console each other during a vigil for Carol Ann Robillard and her 11-year-old daughter Sara Miller who were killed outside a school in Edmonton on May 6, 2023. (The Canadian Press/Jason Franson)

Commentary

One of the key responsibilities of a government is ensuring the protection and safety of its citizens. Canadas government has dropped the ball with this obligation and its costing lives. While we are being greeted with regular headlines about violent, repeat offenders harming or killing people, the government doesnt appear to feel any urgency with the issue.

On May 5 in Edmonton, 35-year-old Carol Ann Robillard and her 11-year-old daughter Sara Miller were stabbed to death outside a school. The victims didnt know their murderer, who was identified by sources as a man named Muorater Arkangelo Mashar. Mashar was shot by police while being apprehended and died later in hospital.

Had this been Mashars first offence, it would still be tragic and reprehensible but we could accept that perhaps it couldnt have been prevented. However, the murders of Robillard and Miller were far from Mashars first offence. They were just the final ones from a man with a history of violent crimes spanning over 14 years.

In 2009, Mashar got a four-year prison sentence for a string of robberies. In 2014, he viciously stabbed and nearly killed a man at a bus stop. He got another four-year sentence for that. While in prison at that time, he assaulted a corrections officer and two inmates. His parole was revoked in 2018 after a positive test result for methamphetamine use. In September 2020 he was charged with assaulting a person and then racked up three more convictions for assault with a weapon from a November 2020 offence.

Mashar clearly wasnt in prison for long for his string of assaults in 2020 as he was arrested and charged with several offences in Calgary in March 2021.

In April 2022, Mashar viciously beat a 12-year-old boy who was waiting for a train at an Edmonton LRT station. He was charged with attacking another person later that same month. In August 2022, Mashar garnered another assault with a weapon charge for attacking somebody in the remand centre.

Last April, Mashar was loose again and he allegedly assaulted a person on a scooter and was charged. He was released on bail three days later and murdered two people less than three weeks after that.

Any judge or justice of the peace would have seen Mashars record of violence before considering bail. How did they conclude this man was safe to be released into the public?

Canada direly needs to change policies regarding long-term incarceration for known violent offenders, whether in the prison system or mental health facilities. Far too many habitual offenders like Mashar are being released only to harm innocent citizens.

On the more immediate front, we need to fix our bail system. OPP officer Const. Grzegorz Pierzchala was murdered by a violent offender out on bail. Chard Patrick of Ajax, Ont., was on bail for assault before being charged with the murder of Arun Vigneswararajah last fall. Patrick is again out on bail today. I guess we are just expected to pray he doesnt feel the urge to become violent again before his trial. The list goes on and on.

People charged with murder often have long, violent histories and the number of them out on bail is shocking. In Alberta, over half of the murders committed in Calgary and nearly half of those committed in Edmonton were perpetrated by violent offenders on bail at the time. The story is the same across the country. We had them in custody. We let them out, and they killed people. This is unacceptable to say the least.

Local politicians are losing patience waiting for promised bail reforms to come from the federal government. Police forces are increasing their ranks where possible while politicians examine other ways to keep people safe. In Alberta, Premier Smith has proposed having provincial authorities put tracking bracelets on violent offenders and assigning more workers to keep an eye on them. Municipal and provincial politicians wouldnt have to go to such lengths if the bail system would quit releasing known, violent, repeat offenders. That is Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus responsibility.

It doesnt matter if murders are statistically rare. People dont want to hear academics, progressive politicians, and criminologists saying that people are only perceiving themselves to be unsafe. Perception is reality and citizens have the right to feel safe. People should feel confident that the truly violent people among us will not be easily released once caught. That confidence has been shattered.

The body count is rising while the federal government dithers on the file. Statements from the government telling us they are working on it offer little more than cold comfort to the families of people murdered by offenders out on bail.

We have seen the government act swiftly on less pressing issues. Its time they made bail and justice reform a top priority. There are no excuses left for waiting.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Court Blocks Biden Admin Policy of Releasing Illegal Immigrants Into US Without Court Dates, as Title 42 Expires

DHS Secretary Mayorkas says 'the border is not open' in midnight statement

Illegal immigrants board vans after waiting along the border wall to surrender to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Border Patrol agents for immigration and asylum claim processing upon crossing the Rio Grande river into the United States on the U.S.-Mexico border in El Paso, Texas, on May 11, 2023. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)

A federal judge in Florida has issued a two-week restraining order on the Biden administrations policy of releasing illegal immigrants into the United States without court dates, just hours before Title 42 was due to expire.

Judge T. Kent Wetherell II, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, issued a temporary restraining order on Thursday night against the Biden administrations new parole policy that would have replaced Title 42, the measure that allowed for the immediate expulsion of illegal border crossers to Mexico during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The temporary restraining order comes into place from 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, May 11, according to court filings (pdf).

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, who sued the Biden administration over the policy, announced the ruling on Twitter late Thursday.

We took swift action to protect the American people from [President Joe Bidens] unlawful plan to release thousands of illegal immigrants when Title 42 lifts in an hour. I am grateful for the quick decision by the federal judge, Moody wrote.

Moody argued the new policy is materially identical to a similar program, known as Parole plus Alternative to Detention (Parole + ATD), which was deemed unlawful by a Florida court in March.

The judge agreed, writing in his ruling the policy was materially indistinguishable from Parole + ATD, both in its purpose to reduce overcrowding at detention facilities and manner of operation.

Biden Admin Policy

Under the new policy outlined in a Department of Homeland Security memo, apprehended illegal immigrants could be released into the United States after processing without receiving an alien registration number or a court date.

The memo outlining the policy states that Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has the authority to parole certain noncitizens into the United States temporarily on a case-by-case basis for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit.

The new policy was set to replace the Title 42 public health order, as it expires at midnight, to allow for the release of illegal border crossers under parole with conditions.

The policy does not contemplate that the alien would be taken into custody at the [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] facility and, as was the case with the Parole+ATD policy, aliens released under the challenged policy would not have an immigration case that can continue to be dealt with after the purposes of the parole have been served, Wetherell wrote in his ruling that was issued just hours before Title 42 was set to expire, and as thousands of migrants wait on the Mexico side of the border.

The Biden administration argued that the new policy is a response to a moment of crisis at the border, and that blocking the DHSs parole authority on the eve of the crisis could cause chaos and undermine the security of the border and the safety of border officials.

However, Wetherall said this rhetoric rings hollow because this problem is largely one of [the Biden administrations] own making through the adoption and implementation of policies that have encouraged the so-called irregular migration that has become fairly regular over the past 2 years.

The Border Is Not Open: Mayorkas

At midnight on Thursday, as Title 42 expired, Mayorkas issued a video statement saying that migrants who arrive at the border without using a lawful pathway wont be eligible for asylum and will face tougher consequences.

We are ready to humanely process and remove people without a legal basis to remain in the U.S., Mayorkas said in the video. Do not believe the lies of smugglers. People who do not use available legal pathways to enter the U.S. now face tougher consequences including a minimum five-year ban on reentry and potential criminal prosecution.

Mayorkas said there are 24,000 Border Patrol agents and officers at the southwest border, as well as thousands of troops, contractors, and asylum officers.

Do not believe the lies of smugglers. The border is not open, he said in a written statement.

Starting tonight, people who arrive at the border without using a lawful pathway will be presumed ineligible for asylum. We are ready to humanely process and remove people without a legal basis to remain in the U.S. (1/4) pic.twitter.com/JnpSw6793v  Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas (@SecMayorkas) May 12, 2023

Earlier on Thursday, Mayorkas faced a grilling by White House reporters over the border crisis and Floridas legal challenge to DHSs parole program. He questioned the motives of Moodys legal challenge against the parole program, which Mayorkas said is used to release a fraction of the people whom we encounter.

The judges make the decisions that they believe are warranted under the facts and laws before them, he told reporters. But I will say this: It is  it is interesting to see some of the tools that we employ that are successful or operationally needed to be challenged at the  in  in the courts.

So, for example, the parole process that we announced and implemented on January 5th for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans, he continued. Immediately, that demonstrated a reduction in the number of those individuals arriving at our southern border of over 95 percent. And yet, its been challenged in a court.

He also warned that a large number of illegal immigrant encounters would occur in certain areas for an initial time.

This places an incredible strain on our personnel, our facilities, and our communities with whom we partner closely, he said. We prepared for this moment for almost two years, and our plan will deliver results. It will take time for those results to be fully realized. And it is essential that we all take this into account.
Coyote Killed After Attack on Two-Year-Old Child in Port Coquitlam, BC, Park

A coyote walks through Coronation Park in Toronto on Nov. 3, 2021. (The Canadian Press/Evan Buhler)

A coyote has attacked a two-year-old child in the Metro Vancouver community of Port Coquitlam, resulting in the toddler being sent to hospital with minor injuries.

The B.C. Conservation Officer Service says on Twitter that the attack happened Wednesday after 8 p.m. at Lions Park near the town centre.

The service says Coquitlam RCMP officers killed a coyote near the attack scene, and a search of the park did not turn up other animals.

It says on Twitter the coyote ate non-natural food sources, later clarifying that it had consumed peanuts and dog food.

The service says the public should not feed dangerous wildlife under any circumstances, and violators will incur enforcement action as warranted.

Wildlife experts say feeding coyotes is one of the biggest causes of attacks, as the animals lose fear of people and may then try to test humans as possible prey.
CRA May Take A Look At Auditing Trudeau Foundation, Says Commissioner

Office of the Trudeau Foundation in Montreal on April 19, 2023. (Noe Chartier/The Epoch Times)

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) may take a look at auditing the Pierre Elliot Trudeau Foundation after reports that it received a Beijing-connected $140,000 charitable donation, MPs on a House of Commons committee heard from the agencys commissioner.

As Commissioner Bob Hamilton appeared before the Commons Standing Committee on Public Accounts on May 12, MPs asked him if recent happenings at the Trudeau Foundation would merit a CRA probe, as first reported by Blacklocks Reporter.

What if an organizations entire board resigned? asked NDP MP Blake Desjarlais, referring to the Trudeau Foundations leadership team resigning on April 11 following internal tensions concerning how the controversial donation, made in 2016, was handled.

Hamilton was hesitant to answer questions about specific scenarios pertaining to the Trudeau Foundation, but told MPs that the CRA would generally look at investigating a charitable foundation if it saw turmoil within its leadership or had some suspicions that maybe things arent working as well.

We might not necessarily go in depending on what we think, but it could be something that we factor in and say, Maybe its worth a look,' he said.

The Trudeau Foundation, named after former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, is a charitable organization whose goal is to provide scholarships and mentorship to develop future engaged leaders.

In 2016 it received a $140,000 donation from Beijing-linked Chinese billionaires Zhang Bin and Niu Gensheng.

Conservative MP Kelly McCauley asked Hamilton what specific threshold of suspicious activity needs to be met to trigger a CRA audit of a charitable foundation.

Im just not going to comment on that, Hamilton answered, while adding that if the CRA believed there was enough available information about a charitable organization to assume that some of its behaviour was offside, it might have the potential for an audit.

McCauley asked Hamilton if the Trudeau Foundation would have that potential based on available information through media reports and committee testimony.

The potential for us to take a look? asked Hamilton.

Yes, said McCauley.

Could be, Hamilton said.

Audit

The Trudeau Foundation previously said it would welcome an investigation by Auditor General Karen Hogan into the donation, including a probe of all aspects concerning the receipt and handling of these donations by the foundation.

However, the auditor general said on April 24 that her office would not conduct an investigation into the matter because the amount and private nature of the donation put it outside of the offices authority.

Some days earlier, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre wrote a letter to Hamilton asking for the CRA to audit the Trudeau Foundation.

Allegations suggest that the donation was directed by a state-backed group in Beijing with the stated goal of expanding the communist regimes influence around the globe, Poilievre wrote on April 14.

These facts raise serious questions around foreign influence peddling, attempts to hide the true source of the funds, and potentially, fraud.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has denied having any involvement with or connection to the foundation over the past 10 years.

His brother Alexandre Trudeau, who was the foundations director in 2014 when he met with Zhang Bin and Niu Gensheng, told the Commons ethics committee earlier this month that investigating the donation is a waste of time because there is not a foreign interference issue here.

I refuse the idea that those people [the donors] were trying to interfere, he told the committee on May 3.

Matthew Horwood and Noe Chartier contributed to this report.
David Krayden: Liberal Convention Censorship Resolution Is Nothing Compared to Actual Government Policy

The lectern is installed before keynote addresses at the 2023 Liberal National Convention in Ottawa on May 4, 2023. (The Canadian Press/Justin Tang)

Commentary

The recent Liberal Party convention revealed just how anxious delegates are to censor online media, but thats nothing compared to what the federal government has planned.

There was an abundance of insanity at the convention last weekend. Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus woke speech, where he demanded Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre wake up too and get his ideology in line with the progressive schedule was one of them.

There was the love-in between Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland and failed Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, where the polarizing former U.S. secretary of state lauded the Liberals for inspiring so many other countries to do wonderful things. Can you imagine if the Tories invited former president Donald Trump to their next convention for a self-congratulatory conversation on the couch?

Former prime minister Jean Chretiens pathetic dismissal of Chinas interference in Canadian elections must surely have been another below sea-level moment in a convention that reached the nadir of party politics.

But the real incident that defined exactly where the Liberals are in terms of policy and authoritarian thinking came when the delegates passed a policy resolution that would explore options to force online media to either reveal unnamed sources or have their stories banished from the internet.

This item, of course, was aimed at all the recent revelations about the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) being aware of Chinese interference and communicating that knowledge to the Liberal government. The information came from a whistleblower within the intelligence agencysomeone who knows sharing that information with the media could not only be hazardous to his or her career but perhaps even life threatening.

Some Liberals pretended to be aghast over the resolution passing and insisted it could never become part of Liberal government policy.

Justice Minister David Lametti, in a befuddled attempt to minimize the potential effect of the resolution, actually suggested that what happens at the convention stays at the convention, kind of like bad behaviour in Las Vegas, and that the government will just ignore radical ideas from delegates. The example he used, and this really makes you wonder if the injustice minister thinks before he speaks, was the legalization of marijuana. Lametti said Liberals used to talk about that all the time in the 1980s and it didnt become law. Except it didunder Trudeau.

A Liberal government would never implement a policy that would limit freedom of the press or dictate how journalists would do their work, said Laura Scaffidi, a spokesperson for Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez.

But of course this Liberal government is already doing precisely thatwith much more on the way.

The Senate passed the Online Streaming Act, or Bill C-11, on Apr. 27. It immediately received royal assent and became law, Heritage Canadathe government department entrusted with Trudeaus perverse digital agendaindicated with pride on its website.

C-11 demands that internet platforms provide Canadian contentthat old Liberal standby. As if Canada is so vulnerable a nation that we must force media outlets to talk about us.

The Online Streaming Act will be followed by the Online News Act, Bill C-18what I choose to call the online extortion bill. It will insist that social media platforms pay Canadian media for news stories. Postmedia, which owns virtually all the major dailies extant in Canada, is supporting the bill. Their revenue continues to shrink and they see this bill as a means of assuaging that loss. New media will likely be crushed by it as they cannot afford to litigate agreements with major social media groups.

But the worst is yet to come and you can read all about the Liberal game plan from the very informative Heritage Canada.

The innocuously entitled Online Safety Act has yet to receive a legislative number but could be tabled very soon. The Liberals first introduced the act in June 2021 as Bill C-36 but it died on the order table after the summer Parliamentary recess and a fall election.

Bill C-36 focused on the evils of hate speech on the internet. The new Online Safety bill will also encompass the Byzantine world of disinformation, which as we know can mean just about anything the government decides it should mean.

The Online Safety Act will quite simply be the most insidious and diabolical assault on free speech in Canadian history and is far more dangerous than anything the radical Trudeau acolytes introduced at the Liberal convention. This bill is an ode to censorship, composed by a Trudeau government that is easily offended by critics, opponents, and detractors. Just look at what it did to the Freedom Convoy.

Bill C-36 explained just how the government will deal with people attempting to peddle hate speech on the internet: It amends the Canadian Human Rights Act to provide that it is a discriminatory practice to communicate or cause to be communicated hate speech by means of the Internet or other means of telecommunication in a context in which the hate speech is likely to foment detestation or vilification of an individual or group of individuals on the basis of a prohibited ground of discrimination.

But the Online Safety Bill will also target disinformation. The good folks at Heritage Canada have been meeting with people who share their views and fears over the last two years as they have assiduously prepped this legislation. Session eight of the Expert Advisory Group on Online Safety came to this outrageous but utterly anticipated conclusion about why the government should not even bother to define disinformation: Most experts expressed extreme caution against defining disinformation in legislation. Experts argued that the very process of defining disinformation in legislation is problematic for a number of reasons.

The authors then make the startling admission: First, defining disinformation would put the Government in a position to distinguish between what is true and false  which it simply cannot do.

The summary also noted how problematic it can be to prove someone intentionally posted disinformation. It also pointed out that U.S. President Joe Bidens Disinformation Board that briefly survived under the Department of Homeland Security was unsuccessful because it actually tried to describe what disinformation is.

So if you think the Liberals are up to no good by playing with the idea of forcing a media outlet to reveal its sourcesthey are. But they have much more nefarious plans in the offing and Canadians need to know these facts in order to resolve to resist this naked attack on our most basic freedoms.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
DeSantis Signs Bills Banning Central Bank Digital Currency, Protecting Gun Owner Rights

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signs legislation banning the financial industry's use of ESG principles on May 2. (Courtesy of the Florida Governor's Office.)

After a flurry of bill-signing throughout the week, Florida Gov. Ron Desantis signed into law two more measures on May 12one banning central bank digital currency (CBDC) in the state, and the other protecting the privacy of gun buyers.

Allowing centralized digital currency would give too much power to the federal government, DeSantis said at a press conference in Fort Myers. And credit card companies shouldnt be able to flag transactions of gun retailers and purchasers, he said, before signing the two bills.

The Biden administration is considering the implementation of CBDC, which is much like cryptocurrency, but controlled by the Federal Reserve. Use of it would quickly lead to a Big Brother situation, with the government tracking Americans purchases, DeSantis warned.

It was a reference to a fictional tyrant and symbol in the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, by George Orwell. In the story, Big Brother is watching you is a slogan used as a warning to keep inhabitants submissive to the complete control of the totalitarian state described in the 1949 work.

Former FTX chief executive Sam Bankman-Fried, who faces fraud charges over the collapse of the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange, arrives at the Manhattan federal court in New York on Feb. 16, 2023. (Eduardo Munoz/Reuters)

Use of CBDC could lead to the federal government withholding funds, in an effort to fulfill social agendas, DeSantis said. For example, the government may control how much gasoline a person was allowed to buy, or whether someone could purchase a gun.

It could tie the use of money to social credit scores, like those used in China, he said. Social credit scores can be used to rank citizens, meting out punishment for unauthorized behavior, and rewarding actions considered good or acceptable.

With the signing of Senate Bill 7054 into law, CBDC was banned in Florida, because the states uniform commercial code does not accept it within its definition of money, DeSantis said.

The bill also forbids using CBDCs issued by foreign government reserves and central banks, including Chinas digital yuan.

A worker at the front desk of Prince Ski Town Hotel checks the phone behind a sign saying digital renminbi (e-CNY) is accepted in Zhangjiakou, China, on Dec. 4, 2021. (Andrea Verdelli/Getty Images)

Senate Bill 214, which DeSantis also signed, combats efforts by woke credit card giants to monitor the transactions of firearms retailers through Merchant Category Codes, his office said.

It also imposes fines for violating the states consumer protections against gun owner registries.

The merchant codes are retailer-specific, and a business that sells firearms and sporting goods would be subject to this new code, regardless of their overall sales, his office said.

DeSantis noted that sporting goods stores might sell guns but lots of other outdoor merchandise as well.

According to his office, three major credit card companies have said that the use of MCCs would allow them to manage risk and assisting in combating gun violence by tracking consumer behavior, which is an extreme overreach into the private purchases of a consumer.

DeSantis, in his remarks at Fort Myers Technical College, tied the CBDC ban to the gun purchase bill and other actions hes taken as Floridas chief executive. He signed a bill on May 2 banning the financial industrys use of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) scores.

State actions in favor or against ESG. Source: Standard & Poors

Our bill, the law thats now been signed, protects Floridians against discrimination. It protects you against things like social credit scores.

It makes sure our pension funds are not being manipulated by ESG criteria. Retired cops, retired teacherstheir pension should be run to get the best return on the investment, not to try to impose a political agenda with their money, he said.

Large Wall Street banks and other corporations using ESG criteria, he said, are trying to change the country without accountability, and thats wrong. So basically, what weve said is no social or economic transformation without representation. You have a right to pass judgment on policy. Our ESG bill is really fighting back against that.

President Joe Biden announced last year the government would study the CBDC concept, DeSantis said. And I dont think they would have done that if they didnt intend on implementing this.

DeSantis said a digital dollar would be controlled by an agency like the Federal Reserve.

I think they want to crowd out and eliminate other types of digital assets like cryptocurrency because they cant control that, so they dont like that.

Not Conducive to Freedom

Crypto has become a significant financial industry in Miami.

Once the government has a central digital currency, he said, theyre going to be able to have the window into what youre doing with the money and the ability to control where that money is going.

They could block you if you filled up your gas tank too much. Hey, theyre fighting global warming. You cant do any more. Maybe you bought a firearm last week. I dont want you to buy another one this week.

So that would empower the government to do a lot of things that would not be conducive to freedom.

Americans want to be able to conduct their business without having the government know every single transaction theyre making in real-time, he said. And sometimes the government will do things where they provide a benevolent rationale for what theyre doing. But its really nothing more than a wolf in sheeps clothing.

Well, central bank digital currency, this is a wolf coming as a wolf. This is something that will be a massive transfer of power from individual consumers to a central authority And thats just fundamentally antithetical to a free society.

A movement has begun for the states to permit CBDC by adding it to their respective uniform commercial codes. We looked at that and said, that aint gonna fly in Florida.

It may not take off in some other states.

The Texas Senate is considering a bill that would allow Texas to issue its own digital currency backed by gold which the state would buy and hold in the Texas Bullion Depository, a facility that already exists in the Lone Star State.

This file photo taken in 2014 shows a modern-day replica of the Come and Take It flag in Gonzales, Texas. (Carol M. Highsmith/Library of Congress)

The Texas bill has safeguards that protect it from legislative use. Proponents see it as a way to circumvent Bidens digital dollar, which conservatives fear could be manipulated by the federal government or used for surveillance.

DeSantis railed against a massive out of control bureaucracy that imposes enormous amounts of law never passed by Congress. And its done so recently in everything from regulating coal and natural-gas power plants to home lending.

People with good credit, he said, will be charged more to help pay for people that have poor credit. Thats social engineering. Thats bad economics, but it was never approved by the peoples representatives.

Representatives of different activist and business groups thanked DeSantis and the legislature for the protections.

Were fighting back against the overreach of credit card companies, a veiled attempt to create a national gun registry in our country, said Matt Kennedy, owner of the Alamo gun range in Naples and chief operating officer of the Pint & Pistol range in Cocoa.

Our businesses would be negatively impacted by credit card companies that single out and track firearms and ammunition sales.

Shirley Wattral, Florida state director for the DC Project/Women for Gun Rights, alluded to the harrowing experience that changed her mind about gun ownership.

It wasnt until I was kidnapped and terrorized for 15 hours by a man who claimed he loved me that I decided it was time. I needed to be my own defender. I purchased a firearm, and I trained.

You might be asking yourself, what does this have to do with digital banking? Its simple. Its freedom.

I know what its like to be stalked, to be controlled, to be oppressed. And to lose my freedom.

CBDC allows the government to take the very characteristic of a domestic abuser. They will be able to track me financially, control my finances if they chose to. And basically control me.

With Kennedys business named after the Alamo, he noted one of Texass earlier state flags contains a lone star and a cannon with the statement, Come and take it.'

Floridas action, he said, is the 21st century embodiment of the spirit of the Alamo. Rather than, Come and take it, Id like to take artistic license to invite the rest of the United States to emulate the state of Florida, and Come and partake. Let us stand together against the violation of any and all Constitutional rights.

Darlene McCormick Sanchez contributed to this story.
NEW DELHI, May 12 (Xinhua) -- India's aviation regulator on Friday imposed a fine of 3 million rupees (36,496 U.S. dollars) on Air India after a pilot of the private airline was found violating safety norms by allowing a friend inside the cockpit during a flight.

The investigation into the incident was carried out after a complaint was filed by a cabin crew member of the Dubai-Delhi flight in February, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said.

The DGCA also suspended the licence of the pilot for three months.

Based on the complaint, the DGCA issued a show cause notice to the private airline last month.

During the investigation, the DGCA found the pilot guilty of violating safety norms, and also warned the co-pilot for not being assertive in preventing the violation. 
DeSantis Signs Medical Freedom Bills, Slams Federal COVID-19 Response

Signing four medical freedom bills in Destin on May 11including one making Florida the first state to ban controversial gain of function researchGov. Ron DeSantis recounted his lonely fight against national health authorities during the COVID-19 pandemic.

He spoke to an enthusiastic crowd that gave him such a long-standing ovation when he walked in that he finally had to ask them amiably to sit down.

DeSantis defined the first term of his governorshipand began to make his name nationallywith his leadership pushing back against federally mandated social distancing, masks, lockdowns, and vaccines.

He credited Northwest Florida as an area that itself pushed back against lockdown.

Floridas Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo speaks during a press conference at the University of Miami Health System Don Soffer Clinical Research Center, in Miami, Fla., on May 17, 2022. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

If you were here, you didnt necessarily know there was a pandemic going on. You were able to make your own decisions. And so that, I think, led the way not just for the state of Florida but also for the country and the United States.

At the time everything we were doing in Florida we were getting attacked [for]. We were getting attacked by bureaucrats like [Dr. Anthony] Fauci. We were being attacked by the political left. We were being attacked by corporate media. And we were even attacked by some Republicans.

But we stuck to our guns because we believed we were doing the right thing for the state.

And now you look, and in Florida, we have way more people employed today than prior to COVID.

A massive amount of wealth came into the state. We have a bigger workforce and more businesses.

And you look at some of these other states that we locked down jurisdictions. Perpetual restrictions. What did they end up doing? A lot of them have still not recovered. A lot of them hemorrhaged population. Theyve hemorrhaged wealth. They locked kids out of school for over a year in some of these places like Chicago and other places that are failing.

We can say definitively, Florida did it right. And those states did it wrong.

People visit Clearwater Beach after Gov. Ron DeSantis opened the beaches, in Clearwater, Fla., on May 4, 2020. (Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)

Visitors from other states during the pandemic, he said, would tell him it felt like being in another country.

DeSantis recounted various steps he took contradicting the national medical establishment.

When evidence arose that monoclonal antibodies worked as a treatment against COVID, Florida moved to provide them and did so for thousands of peopleprovoking the federal government to stop it not once, but twice, despite the fact that it worked.

They said, if people know theres a treatment, then they might not want to do the vax, or they might not want to do a booster shot, so they wanted to de-emphasize treatment.

People in other states have told him they learned about the treatment only through watching one of his press conferences online. Their own doctors hadnt told them.

Honestly, its sad that that would be the case. Its sad that someone in another state would only know about a treatment because the governor of Florida is talking about it.

All the physicians should have been talking about this. This was not something that should have been kept quiet.

A police vehicle is seen next to people enjoying spring break, ahead of an 8pm curfew imposed by local authorities amid the COVID-19 pandemic, in Miami Beach, Florida, on March 27, 2021. (Marco Bello/Reuters)

DeSantis sued the federal government on OSHA mandates requiring vaccinations in the workplace and won in the Supreme Court.

He sued and lost on requirements that medical personnel had to get the shots, he said, but Florida refused to provide federal regulators with the data about who was getting it.

So they fined the state, but thats fine. We ended up saving a lot of peoples jobs by standing up for that, which were happy to do.

None of these restrictions were passed by Congress, DeSantis observed.

To Control Your Behavior

This is the bureaucracy acting on its own. The administrative state trying to deprive people of the right to put food on the table for their family, that you either had to do this, or you dont work. Or you dont eat. That was a disgrace to this countryand we fought him every step of the way on that.

Of the mandates, he said, the purpose of them was not to safeguard your health. The purpose of them was to control your behavior. They wanted you to behave the way they thought, and they were willing to use coercion to do it.

What we saw with COVID is the medical establishment really lost its mind. They became very political. They are not listening to data even to this day, DeSantis said.

Pediatricians trying to vaccinate babies are a good example, he said. There is no evidence this does anything beneficial for them. And there may be problems with doing that.

Science isnt about following the crowd. Medicine is not about following the herd. Its about following the evidence and getting the right answers.

And so you may have the crowd taking a position. They may be people that have a lot of credentials, but if theyre wrong, theyre wrong. And there is a right answer when it comes to this stuff.

Floridas Surgeon General, Dr. Joseph Ladapo, talked about how he and his family lived in Los Angeles as he taught at UCLA when the pandemic hit, figuring hed remain there for his career.

Then he got a recruiting call from DeSantis office. He became the target of hostile news coverageIm this mean guy, I push older women out of the way at the grocery store just to get to what I wantbut hes never regretted it.

God-Given Rights

People wanted to make their own decisions about their lives, but someone else decided that Ive got this boot, and Im gonna stick it on your neck, and Im going to say you have to make these decisions. Never mind the fact that so often, they didnt make any sense, or they didnt have any good evidence behind them.

Individuals have absolute God-given rights to make on their own  the decisions we make about our health, and how we take care of our ourselves.

Ladapo said he and his wife decided he should take the job because in the entire country there was one leader, only one leader across 50 states, who decided that  he saw what was wrong and he would not let it stand.

DeSantis signed four bills into law.

Senate Bill 252labeled by his office the most comprehensive medical freedom bill in the nationprohibits businesses and government agencies from requiring vaccine passports, prohibits employment discrimination based on vaccination or immunity status, and prohibits discrimination against Floridians based on COVID-19 vaccination or immunity status.

House Bill 1387which DeSantis said was added to the package late in the legislative session to strengthen the measures, bans gain of function research in Florida. The Wuhan Institute of Virology, funded with Faucis approval with U.S. money, did this kind of research, in which dangerous viruses are strengthened for study purposes. It was likely the source of the COVID-19 outbreak, Ladapo said.

Senate Bill 1580guarantees physicians freedom of speech and other rights. They can opt out of participating in or paying for treatments they have conscientious objections to. It protects whistleblowers among their ranks and it prohibits medical boards or the Department of Health from taking disciplinary action against doctors who speak out against the medical establishment.

Senate Bill 238exempts from public disclosure records about investigations into health care discrimination violations.

Doctor Tells of Pressure

Dr. Joel Rudman, a freshman Republican representing Destin in the state House, said he was just a family physician practicing in nearby Navarre, minding my own business until 2020.

He took to Facebook to reassure his patients and neighbors when the pandemic started. [I said] Look, were physicians. We deal with emergencies every day. We are going to get through this somehow, some way. We are not all going to die tomorrow. Contrary to what Tony Fauci was saying. And you know what? My community embraced it.

But he became the target of outside work activists from California and northern Virginia, who saw my Facebook posts. They hated them. They also hated my stance against masks and against those horrible vaccine mandates.

They reported to the American Board of Family Medicine in the hopes of humiliating me. The board told him he was under investigation and threatened to yank his board certification.

My 25-year record was spotless, he said.

Thanks to this bill, the persecution of Florida doctors stops today, he said.

Navarre and the Panhandle, he said, are the place where Floridas freedom fighters stood their ground and we are also the place where Floridas physicians stared down the big government wokeism of Joe Biden and Tony Fauci.

Others Speak Against Vaccines

Several speakers told of their own travails.

One, occupational therapist Ginger Parsons, said she didnt want to take the first COVID vaccination, but under pressure at work did so and had significant side effects. She had to choose, she said, between her profession and taking an experimental injection with potentially serious medical complications.

She declined the second shot because shed already had COVID, acquiring natural immunity.

I knew the second injection was unnecessary and yet it was still required. It just didnt make any sense. I decided my husband and children would be better off with an unemployed wife and mother, than one who had a vaccine injury or death.

Her religious exemption was eventually accepted, she said. But meanwhile, as the deadline for her termination approached, she faced hostility from coworkers, had to go through mandatory meetings with management, and had to wear different masks. Those who complied had stickers on their badges.

Parsons, whose shyness was apparent as she spokeshe doesnt like public speaking, she saidcalled it all intimidating and invading her privacy.

Sterling Marquez said she was a young single woman working in human resources for a large health care company when the pandemic struck.

She balked at getting the vaccine over concerns for her health and her future children.

She worried about her job but decided she didnt want to work for a company that cared more about a jab, than about job performance.

She remembered an offer DeSantis had made at a press conference, she said and contacted his office about opportunities.

And Im proud to say that just weeks after I made that call, I began working for the Free State of Florida.
DHS Efforts to Police Disinformation Could Threaten Free Speech, House Republicans Warn

The homepage of the CISA website in a file photo. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is a U.S. federal agency under Department of Homeland Security oversight. (Tada Images/Shutterstock)

House Republicans warned that the Department of Homeland Securitys (DHS) cybersecurity arm could threaten online free speech in potential efforts to police disinformation on topics like racial justice, the financial markets, and the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.

Homeland Security Committees Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Accountability, led by Chairman Dan Bishop (R-N.C.), held a May 11 hearing on censorship, citing concerns about the DHS Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).

During his opening remarks, Bishop outlined how CISA will likely work moving forward, including utilizing its switchboard operation and other methods to target areas such as racial justice, the war in Ukraine, financial markets, and other issues by restricting online activity around the information.

DHS documents suggest that CISA wants to target issues as wide-ranging as racial justice, the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, the war in Ukraine, and financial markets, Bishop said. The government supported and funded NGOs, to try to fill the gap of the things that government could not do themselves. That is just incredible.

Im gravely concerned with CISAs efforts in this space; how on earth was this censorship laundering enterprise allowed to metastasize? Where are the civil liberties protectors within DHS, and what are they doing?

Republicans and the panelists expressed concerns on how CISA interacted with the private sector, particularly tech companies, during elections and the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure that certain types of information were censored.

Ranking member Glenn Ivey (D-Md.) had a different take, saying he initially thought the focus of the committee hearing would be on dealing with false information, misinformation, disinformation.

Disinformation, false information is aimed at undermining the United States and creating additional problems for the United States to be used against us, Ivey said, asserting that issues like election denial and cartel false information were likely more pressing issues.

Expert panelists, including investigative journalist Ben Weingarten, epidemiologist Martin Kulldorff, and professor Cynthia Miller-Idriss, testified on the potential consequences of CISAs focused approach. Jonathan Turley, a public interest law expert, also shared insights.

The hearing raised concerns about the impact of CISAs targeted actions on free speech and dissent, as well as discussions on the balance between national security and protecting constitutional rights in the digital age.

As a demonstration of the issues that brought about the hearing, there was a video clip featuring Jen Easterly, CISA director, who outlined her agencys goal. Our mission is critical infrastructure, she said. The most important critical infrastructure there is, is our cognitive infrastructure, and so building that resilience is part of the mission set in my view.

Bishop reacted to Easterlys comments, saying, George Orwell called, and he wants his dystopian future back.

Bishop explained the breadth of the issue of censorship, saying, Its not just for elections, the same network using the same tools censored dozens of purportedly false COVID-19 narratives, many of which have subsequently been acknowledged as being true. So wheres this headed? What is stopping DHS from overreaching its jurisdiction again to censor more Americans on whatever it deems critical infrastructure?

A spokesperson for DHS responded to The Epoch Times request for comment on the hearing saying, The Department of Homeland Security does not censor speech and does not request that content be taken down by social media companies.

When it comes to DHS work, the Department is focused on disinformation that threatens the security of the American people, including disinformation spread by foreign states such as Russia, China, and Iran, or other adversaries such as transnational criminal organizations and human smuggling organizations. Such malicious actors often spread disinformation to exploit vulnerable individuals and the American public, including during national emergencies.
Renowned cardiologist Dr. Aseem Malhotra will be touring down under to raise public awareness about the side effects and possible cardiovascular complications from the COVID-19 vaccine.

Medical and regulatory authorities have supported unethical, coercive, and misinformed policies, undermining the principles of informed consent, he said in a statement.

These regrettable actions are a symptom of the medical misinformation messthe tip of a mortality iceberg where prescribed medications are estimated to be the third most common cause of death globally.

The Australian population is one of the most highly vaccinated in the world after state and federal authorities implemented a swathe of mandates to compel locals to accept the jab.

These include making jabs a precondition to employment, entering venues and shops, and even crossing domestic borders.

The governments now are dealing with the after-effects of such heavy intervention in society, with Australians launching compensation claims for vaccine injuries.

Dr. Malhotra is calling for all COVID-19 mRNA vaccines to be suspended until the side effects are fully investigated.

It is our ethical duty to inform the public about these risks and ensure that they have the information they need to make informed decisions about their health, he said.

He will tour Australias capital cities from May 27 and is supported by the alternative doctors union, the Australian Medical Professionals Society, and TNT Radio.

Heart Concerns and Big Pharma

Maholtra has previously warned that the spike protein from the vaccine, which spreads to all the vital organs of the patient, has either a direct toxic effect to the tissues of the heart or an autoimmune reaction.

The most worrying aspect from my perspective as a cardiologist is that it causes an acceleration of coronary artery disease, he told Epoch TVs American Thought Leaders.

What that means is there will be late effects. For example, my father had a cardiac arrest six months after having the second dose of the vaccine.

From my perspective now looking back, that was most likely the cause of his cardiac arrest because it accelerated something that was relatively mild and became quite severe within the space of a few months. Then, it drove him to have a cardiac arrest.

He has also called for more transparency around the efficacy of vaccines.

It is one of willful blindness by the medical establishment and governments, who are essentially turning a blind eye to the truth about the vaccines because they want to avoid conflict and protect the prestige and reduce anxiety, he added.

Also, we cant underestimate the power of these multinational corporations, big pharma in this instance, who have so much control over governments, over medical bodies, over regulators, that no one wants to take them on. Thats a big problem.

Despite these concerns, governments are picking up the tab for liability related to COVID-19 vaccinesgenerally a precondition to contracting large pharmaceutical firms to create vaccines en masse.

Medical Censorship Fading

In Australia, public discourse around vaccine injuries has gained increasing recognition over the past year. During the pandemic years, however, the issue was taboo and often landed medical practitioners in hot water.

For example, North Brisbane-based Dr. William Bay was suspended after interrupting a national Australian Medical Association conference in late July 2022 and telling attendees to stop forcing vaccines on people.

In September 2021, anaesthetist Dr. Paul Oosterhuis was suspended after two anonymous complaints were lodged regarding his social media activity, where he questioned the efficacy of lockdowns and PCR tests.

While in June 2022, a nursing student successfully overturned a decision by her university lecturer to suspend her after she expressed doubts about the vaccine during a casual conversation at a work placement.

To question the scientific evidence for the safety of a vaccine, so long as it is done rationally, could hardly, if ever, be regarded as contravening [the nursing Code of Conduct]. Nor would pointing to the possibility of long-term effects or the possibility of adverse effects in some clinical situations, wrote Justice Guy Parker in his judgement.
Drill Rappers Who Celebrated Victims Murder After Fleeing to Kenya Are Jailed for Life

Killer posted music videos on YouTube bragging about the stabbing

An undated image of Alex Smith, a drill rapper known as Culprit, who was stabbed to death in Camden, London, on Aug. 12, 2019. (Metropolitan Police)

A drill rapper who fled to Kenya after murdering a 16-year-old rival then recorded songs which bragged about the killing and mocked the victim, has been jailed for life.

Tariq Monteiro, 23, who was known by the drill name Suspect, was convicted at the Old Bailey in London on Wednesday of the murder of Alex Smith, who was associated with a rival gang and had the street name Culprit.

Monteirowho was convicted along with Siyad Mohamud, 24, known as Swaveywere both extradited from Kenya where they had gone on the run after the murder in August 2019.

Sentencing Monteiro to a minimum of 24 years and Mohamud to 23 years on Friday, Judge Sarah Munro, KC, said it was the second time this week she had jailed someone for killing a young man in London, having locked up Marques Walker on Tuesday.

Monteiro and Mohamud both refused to attend Fridays sentencing but Munro went ahead in their absence and said one of the aggravating factors was that they had written and performed while on the run in Kenya which celebrated Smiths death.

Six men from the Agar Grove gangsometimes known as Active Gxngin Camden, north London, are believed to have killed Smith, who was from the rival Cumbo gang, whose name derives from the Cumberland Market estate.

Two menArif Biomy, 22, and Abdirahman Ibrahim, 22have been convicted of the murder of Smith and the trial of Monteiro and Mohamud heard a fifth suspect, Sayid Salaban, had fled to Somaliland in the Horn of Africa and a sixth man, Yassin Abdi, 23, remains on the run.

In a victim impact statement delivered by Smiths mother, Beatriz, she described having to sit through the latest trial as hell and torture.

She said he was a loving and kind son.

She added: On the night he died there were six people in two cars and he was hunted by a pack. I can only imagine how he must have felt.

Mother Says Killers Made Mockery of Sons Death

Referring to the drill songs and videoswhich remain on YouTubeBeatriz Smith said: I cant understand how someone can kill my son and then make a mockery of his death through songs and videos.

Smith was stabbed to death in Euston Road just after 11 p.m. on Aug. 12, 2019.

Prosecutor Brian ONeill, KC, said the murder, Was yet another in a series of tit for tat killings and stabbings amongst street gangs in the London Borough of Camden in recent years.

ONeill said: In the London Borough of Camden there are about eight recognised street gangs. Such gangs have affiliations to post codes, housing estates, and other locations.

He said: There are rivalries and tensions between a number of the gangs which can be attributed to disputes over drugs, money, reputation, respect, and territory. A number of young men have been seriously injured and killed in Camden in recent years as a result of gang-related violence.

The trial heard that while in Kenya, Monteiro aka Suspect put out three new tracks which all made reference to the killing of Smith.

Work of Fiction

In one track, called Freestyle, Monteiro used the lines, Who is the culprit? and Its ironic they suspect me.

Judge Sarah Munro, KC, in her summing up to the jury, said the prosecution claimed they were a rhetorical device but there was a debate about whether the lyrics were a claim of responsibility or a work of fiction.

Drill is a form of rap music that came to Britain from the United States around 2012 and has been associated with a string of gang murders.

Opening the case last month, ONeill said the Agar Grove gang members spotted Smith and other Cumbo gang members in Fitzrovia, an affluent part of central London.

Several young men filming a video for a drill songa form of rap which has become very popular in Britainin Notting Hill, west London, on May 6, 2023. (Chris Summers/The Epoch Times)

They drove around in two stolen cars looking for rivals.

ONeill told the jury Monteiro and Mohamud were in a stolen Ford Fiesta, along with Salaban.

Smith and his friends left a Nandos restaurant at 10.33 p.m. and a short while later were spotted by their rivals, who were armed with knives and machetes.

Monteiro, Mohamud, and Abdi chased after them, caught up with Smith in Munster Square and stabbed him, causing fatal injuries.

ONeill said: The Cumbo group had been targeted by the Agar Grove group, who acted together to chase down Alex Smith with fatal consequences. All of those who were present in those two vehicles, regardless of whether they got out and chased on foot or remained in the cars were party to his murder.

Killers Flew to Africa Within Days

Four of the killers fled to Africa within days of the murder while Biomy and Ibrahim laid low in Southampton but were arrested when they returned to London.

Another gang member, Yusuf Yusuf, 22, was jailed for two years for assisting an offender by setting fire to one of the stolen cars after the killing.

In June 2019 the Labour MP and shadow home secretary Diane Abbott invited several drill artists to the House of Commons for a debate about censorship.

According to Dummy magazine, Abbott told her audience: For as long as anyone can remember people have sought to blame the music they listen to for young peoples bad behaviour  Much of that drill music and the videos are horrifying and appalling but at the end of the day the music is a reflection of the lives and the reality of those young people. It is not a cause of violent crime.

Abbott was suspended from the Labour Party last month after she made comments in a newspaper that compared racism against blacks and Jews and suggested Jewish people were not subject to racism all their lives.

PA Media contributed to this report.
Dutch Cities Sever Ties With Chinese Sister Cities in Uncoupling From Communist Regime

Hongkongers rally against the CCP on China's National Day to protest against the CCP's human rights atrocities, and to call on the UK to end the "sister-city" relationships with China to prevent Chinese agents from infiltrating the country. The rally was held in Birmingham, England, on Oct 1, 2022. (Courtesy of Good Neighbour Church England)

At least eight municipalities and two provinces in the Netherlands have severed ties with their Chinese sister municipalities as Dutch public officials strive to uncouple from communist China, according to a new report.

Some 35 local authorities in the Netherlands currently have sister-city relationships or bonds of friendship with Chinese counterparts for trade and cultural exchange. A quarter of such partnerships have been annulled in the past two years alone because of differences in fundamental values, according to a survey conducted by the Dutch newspaper Rotterdam Handelsblatt (NRC).

And more Dutch cities are preparing to sever their ties with China, according to the NL Times.

Some city authorities have cited the Chinese regimes human rights abuses as one of the main reasons for breaking ties, such as the genocide of the Uyghur minority in Chinas Xinjiang region or the persecution of Falun Gong.

Dutch municipalities such as Breda, Tilburg, and Eindhoven severed ties with their Chinese sister cities at the insistence of local councils, according to the report.

The city of Arnhem ended its sister-city relationship with the central Chinese city of Wuhan in 2021.

We must respect the principles of democracy, the rule of law, freedom of the press and expression, Mayor Ahmed Marchouch said.

Dutch universities are also increasingly reluctant to accept Ph.D. students with scholarships subsidized by the Chinese governmentwith knowledge security listed as the main reason. The Netherlands is also home to strategically important manufacturing companiessuch as ASML, which manufactures machines used to produce high-end computer chips.

The logo of ASML Holding is pictured on the companys headquarters in Eindhoven, Netherlands, on Jan. 23, 2019. (Eva Plevier/Reuters)

The Dutch report came out at the same time that CCP Vice Chair Han Zheng was visiting Portugal and the Netherlands from May 7 to May 12.

Municipalities in the UK, Sweden, and the Czech Republic also have severed sister-city relationships with Chinese cities since the COVID-19 pandemic because of Chinas human rights abuse.

The German port city of Kiel is currently reevaluating its sister-city invitation from the Chinese port of Qingdao over security and potential espionage concerns.

Sister Cities

After World War II, European cities in democratic countries began to establish relationships based on shared values and culture with a view to boosting trade and cooperation as part of their post-war recovery. In 1954, the United States founded the Sister Cities program for worldwide peace and development.

However, communist states have since used their sister-city relationships with Western municipalities to advance their agendas.

According to official data from the Chinese communist regime, from 1973 to 2015, the CCP established sister city (and province) relations with 1,450 cities and 473 provinces in 133 countries.

A British man signs a petition calling on UK city councils to sever ties with their sister cities in China at a rally against the CCP in Newcastle, England, on Oct. 1, 2022. (Ai Ping/The Epoch Times)

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) uses these twin-city relations to export communist ideology, spread the CCPs propaganda, lies, and false information, strengthen its infiltration [into the international community], and seize economic benefits. Epoch Times columnist Cheng Xiaorong wrote previously.

Since 2008, the CCP has held biennial meetings on the subject of International Friendship Cities. At the first meeting, the then-president of the Chinese Peoples Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries put forward the concept of urban diplomacy, emphasizing that such diplomacy should be subordinate to and serve the CCPs diplomacy. Since then, International Friendship Cities have been regarded by the top leaders of the CCP as one of their main channels for building diplomatic relationships.

On Dec. 28, 2016, the official website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CCP published its Notice of the Party Group of the Chinese Peoples Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries on the Inspection and Rectification Situation, stating that people-to-people diplomacy should better serve the central work of the Party and the state.
E. Jean Carroll Considering Suing Trump Again Over CNN Town Hall Comments

(Left) Former President Donald Trump disembarks his plane "Trump Force One" at Aberdeen Airport in Aberdeen, Scotland, on May 1, 2023. (Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images), (Right) Magazine Columnist E. Jean Carroll arrives for her civil trial against former President Donald Trump at Manhattan Federal Court in New York on May 8, 2023. (Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)

Author E. Jean Carroll and the attorneys who helped her win a battery defamation lawsuit against former President Donald Trump are considering whether they could sue Trump yet again over virtually the same defamation arguments.

In 2019, Carroll came forward with claims Trump raped her in a dressing room at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan in 1995 or 1996. Trump denied the allegations at the time and Carroll sued him, arguing that Trump had defamed her by denying her claims.

Carrolls defamation argument stemmed from an Oct. 12, 2022, post on Trumps account on his Truth Social platform. In the post, Trump said, This Ms. Bergdorf Goodman case is a complete con job, and our legal system in this Country, but especially in New York State (just look at Peekaboo James), is a broken disgrace. The Truth social post went on to say, E. Jean Carroll is not telling the truth, is a woman who I had nothing to do with, didnt know, and would have no interest in knowing her if I ever had the chance.

Carrolls civil complaint (pdf) states that in the Oct. 12 statement Trump falsely stated that he did not rape Carroll, Trump falsely stated that he had no idea who Carroll was, and Trump falsely implied and affirmatively intended to imply that Carroll had invented the rape accusation as a hoax, scam, or ploy to increase her book sales.

On Tuesday, a jury in a New York federal court decided that Carroll did not prove that Trump raped her but instead concluded he had committed some act of sexual abuse constituting battery. The jury further concluded that Trump had defamed her by denying the incident. The jury concluded that he should pay $5 million in the civil lawsuit.

Trump denied Carrolls allegations throughout the case and has continued to deny the allegations after the defamation verdict, including during his CNN town hall the day after the jury verdict.

Trumps Town Hall Comments

During his CNN town hall appearance, moderator Kaitlin Collins asked Trump to address whether the verdict disqualifies him as a 2024 presidential candidate. Trump initially responded that his polling numbers are on the rise despite the case and that his legal team had not been able to make certain arguments during the trial.

This was a jury of nine people who found you liable of sexual abuse. Do you think that that will deter women from voting for you? Collins asked.

No, I dont think so because I think the whole thingjust so you understandready: I never met this woman. I never saw this woman, Trump said.

Trump then gave an interpretation of Carrolls claims about how the episode occurred, which stirred laughter from the live audience in attendance.

I met her in the front door of Bergdorf Goodman. I was immediately attracted to her and she was immediately attracted to me. And we had this great chemistry. Were walking into a crowded department store. We had this great chemistry. And a few minutes later, we end up in a room, a dressing room of Bergdorf Goodman, right near the cash register, Trump said of her claims. And then she found out that there were locks in the door. She said, I found one that was open. She found one, she learned this at trial. She found one that was open. What kind of a woman meet somebody and brings them up and within minutes, youre playing hanky-panky in a dressing room, okay?

As the discussion went on Trump noted that the jury had specifically determined that he had not raped Carroll. The CNN moderator then noted the sexual abuse determination.

They said he didnt rape her,' Trump replied. And I didnt do anything else either. You know what? Because I have no idea who the hell she is. I dont know who this woman is, Trump said.

I swear on my childrenwhich I never doI have no idea who this woman. This is a fake story, made up story, Trump added. We had a horrible Clinton-appointed judge. He was horrible. He allowed her to put everything in. He allowed us to put nothing in. This is a fake story.

By continuing to deny having known Carroll, he could potentially expose himself to the same legal arguments that served as the premise for Carrolls original defamation claim; claims for which Trump was already found liable. Carroll and her lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, discussed this very possibility in an interview with The New York Times on Thursday.

According to The NY Times, Kaplan said that a decision would be made soon on whether Ms. Carroll will file another defamation suit in light of Mr. Trumps comments on CNN.

Everythings on the table, obviously, and we have to give serious consideration to it, Kaplan told the publication.

NTD News reached out to lawyers representing Trump, but did not receive a response by the time this article was published.

Trump Team Preparing Appeal

Because the original case was brought in civil court, Carroll was required to establish her battery claim by a preponderance of the evidence and her defamation claim by clear and convincing evidence. Both of these standards are lower than the proof beyond a reasonable doubt requirement to convict a defendant in a criminal case.

Trump and his lawyers have already indicated they will appeal the original jury verdict.

One of Trumps lawyers, Joseph Tacopina, has argued that the rape accusation was a crucial element of Carrolls allegations and that the jurys conclusion that Trump had not raped Carroll was significant.

Strange verdict, Tacopina told reporters outside the courthouse on Tuesday. It was a rape case all along, and the jury rejected that.

Well obviously be appealing those other findings, Tacopina added.

A Wednesday post on Trumps Truth Social account reads, I HAVE NO IDEA WHO THIS WOMAN, WHO MADE A FALSE AND TOTALLY FABRICATED ACCUSATION, IS. HOPEFULLY JUSTICE WILL BE SERVED ON APPEAL!

Alan Dershowitz, a prominent legal scholar who taught at Harvard Law School for 50 years, said Carrolls case should never have been allowed to stand based on procedural grounds alone. Dershowitz specifically criticized allowing the case more than two decades after the alleged incident occurred.

The historical purpose of a statute of limitations is to make sure you dont have to stand trial for something that occurred 25 years agoin this case, even more than that, Dershowitz said. How do you remember things? How do you know where you were? Maybe he was in Europe at the time. She hasnt even given the dates and the times of the year.

In 2019, New York extended the statute of limitations to 20 years for adults filing civil lawsuits over certain sex crimes, but the timeframe did not apply retroactively. Democratic New York Governor Kathy Hochul enacted legislation known as the Adult Survivors Act which granted a one-year lookback window for people to file civil lawsuits over sex crime claims that happened at any point in the past.

From NTD News
Elon Musk Names New CEO of Twitter

Elon Musk attends The 2022 Met Gala Celebrating "In America: An Anthology of Fashion" at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York on May 2, 2022. (Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)

Twitter and Tesla owner Elon Musk on Friday named NBCUniversal advertising chief Linda Yaccarino as the CEO of Twitter, coming just hours after she announced she would be leaving the corporate media outlet.

I am excited to welcome Linda Yaccarino as the new CEO of Twitter! Musk wrote in a post on Friday. The billionaire said she will focus primarily on business operations, while I focus on product design & new technology.

Earlier on Friday, Yaccarino confirmed she is departing the Comcast-owned network in a statement.

It has been an absolute honor to be part of Comcast NBCUniversal and lead the most incredible team, she said in the statement Friday, without saying she was joining Twitter. Weve transformed our company and the entire industry.

Linda Yaccarino speaks during Advertising Week 2015 AWXII at the Times Center Stage in New York City, on Sept. 30, 2015. (Laura Cavanaugh/Getty Images for AWXII)

A day before, Musk wrote that he had hired a new CEO but provided no details. She will be starting in ~6 weeks! Musk wrote in a Twitter post, adding that he will transition to being the executive chair and chief technology officer of Twitter.

After Musk took over Twitter late last year, a number of corporate advertisers paused spending out of concern that content moderation policies under Twitters previous management would be weakened, although a number of companies have resumed spending on Twitter, according to the Wall Street Journal. Musk also reportedly fired thousands of Twitter employees since he took over and said it was needed amid cost-cutting efforts and broader macroeconomic trends.

Questions About Woke Agenda

But ahead of her hiring, some prominent Twitter users expressed concerns that Yaccarino would pursue a woke agenda at Twitter, while some popular accounts expressed worry that the company would again start handing down suspensions over content that violates the companys terms and services.

Some pointed to a 2020 article that she wrote for the World Economic Forum, the controversial Klaus Schwab-led international non-governmental organization that has been accused of pushing large corporations and governments worldwide into embracing left-wing policy agendas.

And some noted that Yaccarnino is also the chair of the WEFs taskforce on future of work, and according to NBCs website, every CEO and executive needs to look inward, and build workplaces that ensure our employees, current and future, can always succeed amid rapid transformation. She also stated via NBCUniversials website that there should be long-term benefits for the unemployed, women, and communities of color that some users flagged.

Yaccarinos Twitter account follows Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican who has been critical of the woke left-wing creep into everyday life, as well a large number of prominent right-leaning accounts such as Libs of TikTok, the Babylon Bee, GOP candidate, Vivek Ramaswamy, Fox News Jesse Watters, conservative filmmaker Dinesh DSouza, New York Post editor Miranda Devine, former Trump intelligence official Richard Grenell, attorney Lin Wood, Sidney Powell, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), host Russell Brand, Zerohedge, and more.

Her account also follows a few left-leaning accounts, including those belonging to Democratic officials.

During a recent industry event with Musk last month, Yaccarino told media outlets that if freedom of speech, as he says, is the bedrock of this country, Im not sure theres anyone in this room who could disagree with that. And she also said, Elon has committed to being accessible to everyone for continual feedback.

Musk has not publicly commented on Yaccarinos WEF membership or public comments that appear to support controversial diversity, equity, and inclusionor DEItraining programs that some critics say is tantamount to left-wing brainwashing.

Commitment  Unchanged

The commitment to open source transparency and accepting a wide range of viewpoints remains unchanged, Musk wrote Thursday in addressing concerns about Yaccarinos potential influence.

A company profile at NBCUniversal shows that she oversees a 2,000-member team, which is likely more people than who work at Twitter. Musk told a BBC reporter that the company is down to 1,500 people after several layoffs under his watch.

A phone screen displays a photo of Elon Musk with the Twitter logo shown in the background in Washington on Oct. 4, 2022. (Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images)

NBCUniversals ad sales team netted more than $100 billion in sales since she joined the company in 2011, according to her website profile. She also made partnerships with tech companies like Apple News, Snapchat, YouTube, and more.

Her exit from NBCUniversal comes just weeks after former CEO Jeff Shell was ousted after admitting to an inappropriate relationship with an employee. Earlier this week, NBC confirmed that CNBC anchor Hadley Gamble would be departing the company amid complaints she lodged about Shell.

In the meantime, some Tesla investors have expressed worry about Musks involvement with Twitter. Analysts have been worried that Musks focus on Twitter was distracting him from the challenges facing the electric car company, which has seen its stock slide significantly over the past 12 months.

The Epoch Times contacted Twitter for comment. The company sent an automated response featuring a smiling poop emoji.
Ex-CIA Chief Testified Hunter Biden Laptop Letter Was Purely Political: Jordan

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Nov. 17, 2022. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Former CIA Director John Brennan privately testified before a House Judiciary Committee panel that the letter he and 50 other current and former intelligence officials signed suggesting that Hunter Bidens laptop could be Russian disinformation had a political motive, according to committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).

He [Brennan] sat for a four-hour interview  and he further confirmed that this thing was all political, Jordan told Fox News Jesse Watters on May 11 after Brennan completed his interview with the committees Weaponization of the Federal Government panel.

Jordan alleged that it was Secretary of State Antony Blinken, then a senior adviser to President Joe Bidens campaign, who set the wheels in motion for the open letter (pdf) by reaching out to the letters eventual author, former CIA Deputy Director Michael Morell, to discuss the laptop story.

And then Blinken, later that same day, Oct. 17, 2020, sends Mike Morell the USA Today article, the story, Jordan noted, referencing an article that suggested the laptop was being investigated as potential Russian disinformation.

That story gets put in the very letter that John Brennan, Mike Morell, and 49 other intel officials sign on to.

Blinken has denied having any role in the letters publication.

Morell, however, drafted the letter to give the [Biden] campaign  a talking point to push back on Trump during an upcoming debate, according to emails between Morell and Brennan released on May 10.

The email exchange also showed that Brennan was not only aware that the letter was a political effort but was also eager to participate.

OK, Michael, add my name to the list, he wrote. Good initiative. Thanks for asking me to sign on.

Election Interference

As first revealed through a bombshell New York Post report published weeks before the 2020 election, the laptop in question contained emails to and from Hunter Biden that many have interpreted as evidence he was using his fathers position and power as vice president for personal gain.

But while Brennan, Morell, and dozens of other intelligence community members signed their names to the view that the laptop had all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation, the laptop has since been widely verified as authentic.

Noting that the intelligence officials who signed on to the letter did so leveraging their titles for credibility, Jordan said, We expect public servants not to use their title to influence an election.

According to a report (pdf) from the Weaponization panel, Morell sent the letter to the CIAs Prepublication Classification Review Board on Oct. 19, 2020, as a rush job seeking approval for its publication, and within hours, it was published by Politico.

Noting this, Jordan said the panel had learned that the review board was also involved in soliciting signatures for the letter.

Mr. [David] Cariens, another individual who signed that letter who had a different matter pending in front of that review board, gets called in October by that review board, and they said, Your book is fine. Oh, by the way, would you like to sign on to this letter? he recounted.

So, a current employee of the CIA was actively soliciting people to sign on to this letter that was used in a total political fashion with all their names associated so Joe Biden would have a talking point in the debate, Jordan said.

Biden, he added, behaved as if his campaign had nothing to do with the letters publication.

He presented it as if it was all organic.  It just happened out of the goodness of all these individuals heartsthey wanted to do this as if there was no political motivation whatsoever. And we know that was not accurate.
Falun Gong Adherents Celebrate Faith in Truth, Compassion, Tolerance

Jennie Sheeks was concerned about the suffering of others from a young age.

It pained me. I was never comfortable pursuing my own happiness in life, knowing that others were suffering, Sheeks, now a 45-year-old communications director at a nonprofit, told The Epoch Times.

In high school in Philadelphia, she often bought an extra sandwich for a local homeless man named John. She said she couldnt just walk past him as if he wasnt there and go buy a sandwich for herself. However, she knew that a small act like that wasnt truly fixing anything. She wanted to make a meaningful difference in others lives.

She said she remembers vividly one day when she was 17. I was walking down a quiet sidewalk in my neighborhood in Philadelphia, and I stopped on the corner, looked up at the sky, and begged God to show me the path; how could I help? I promised that if He showed me the way, I would give my whole life to it.

Raised in a Quaker family, spirituality and connection with the divine were always central in her life, she said.

She searched for ways to help others and studied the intersection of spirituality and activism. Her undergraduate degree is in social change, and she got increasingly involved in activism and participated in non-violent protests. Yet, she wasnt convinced that she had found the solution. She suspected that simply changing structures or laws wasnt the solution, but she kept seeking answers on the same path.

Eventually, she even studied the little red book of Chinese communist leader Mao Zedong with a former member of the Black Panther Party, a Marxist-Leninist and black power political organization. She listened to the case for a violent revolution.

Around the same time, she met her husband and got married in 2006. Though African American, he disagreed with that kind of militant point of view and believed that activism and protesting were meaningless.

In the early years of their marriage, they discussed many things. Sheeks became clear that activism and protesting werent effective at what really needed to happen, which was for peoples hearts to turn toward goodness.

By then, she knew what she was looking for but wasnt sure how to find it. At the same time, she had all three children during her marriages first three years, so she was busy parenting and working a full-time job.

She said she tried letting go of her lifelong desire to make the world better. I tried to believe that life was just about pursuing my own happiness and taking care of my family. But it left a big hole, and I felt farther from God than ever, she added.

Jennie Sheeks and her son in Puerto Rico in April 2019. (Courtesy of Jennie Sheeks)

Finding the Answer to Her Question

She became very stressed, and it became apparent to her husband that she was unhappy. The situation got to its peak in the fall of 2011. So he gave her some spiritual books to read. Those books helped, she said, but she also needed something physical to help her deal with the stress in her body. She thought of qigong, physical exercises developed in ancient China as part of traditional Chinese medicine; a friend had shared a videotape of qigong exercises years ago.

Therefore, she searched for qigong in Philadelphia on the Internet. She found several classes offered for a price at various martial arts schools, but there was oneFalun Dafa or Falun Gongwhich had a free practice site at a public park near the Liberty Bell every weekend morning.

She said she felt that if it was free, it would be people authentically practicing rather than someone trying to make money, so she just showed up at the Liberty Bell on a cold January morning in 2012.

The volunteers there taught her the exercises and told her where to find the books of Falun Dafa teachings online. She also learned that a doctor at Thomas Jefferson University was teaching a Falun Dafa class for free, so she went there once a week on her lunch break.

At home, she began to read Zhuan Falun, the main book of Falun Dafas teachings. I felt that this was exactly what I was looking fora practice of both mind and body where the spiritual teachings that helped me navigate lifes choices were complimented by a physical practice that helped harmonize my body, she recalled.

Through studying the teachings, she said the answer to her questionwhat I should do to make the world a better placebecame simple. I had to start with myself. I had to look within and become a more truthful, compassionate, and tolerant person, she added, referring to Falun Dafas three principles. I began to understand that by focusing on improving myself, there was a ripple effect. Its not like Im just increasing truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance in my own life, but by example and how I treat others, Im increasing the truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance in the world.

Jennie Sheeks in Philadelphia, Pa., in July 2021. (Keyi Shi/The Epoch Times)

And most of all, my faith that the divine arranges our lives was restored. This brought a comfort that I can hardly describe. Even when bad things happen, Im less bothered or worried because I know its all part of the plan and must be a good thing or for a good reason, she shared. Being able to accept whatever comes my way has been the biggest relief to the stress and overwhelm I once felt from lifes constant challenges.

She said she used to worry a lot about parentingher childrens well-being and whether she made the right choice for thembut not so much anymore. She had shared the teachings with her entire family. Although none became Falun Dafa practitioners, they embraced some of the teachings to guide their daily lives.

Her sons are 13 and 16, and her daughter is 15. She is proud that her daughter deleted TikTok, a popular short-video platform, once she told her about its ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The teenage girl also told her friends and teachers about the dangers of TikTok associated with the CCPs disrespect for peoples privacy and dignity.

She also told them about the persecution of Falun Dafa practitioners that began in July 1999, and is still ongoing today. Within eight years of Falun Dafas introduction to the public in China, it had attracted 100 million adherents. The CCP launched nationwide persecution, including torture, psychiatric abuses, and the killing of practitioners for their organs, due to Falun Dafas popularity and beliefs being different from communisms.

Its hard for her sometimes because shes the odd one out, and people think its strange to care about what the CCP is doing. But she perseveres because she feels it would be wrong not to warn people and not to try at least to give them the information, the proud mother shared. Ive even told her that she doesnt have to worry about what other people do, but her compassion for others is unstoppable. I take it as an inspiration, and I try to be more courageous in sharing the truths Im aware of, even if it may be unpopular sometimes.

Certifications of two American flags flown over the U.S. Capitol in honor of the World Falun Dafa Day and the founder of Falun Dafa Mr. Li Hong Zhi on May 13, 2020. (Courtesy of Jennie Sheeks)

Raising the Flag

Sheeks also told others about the persecution in China. To her, its helping those who are suffering in China as well as a part of increasing truth, compassion, and forbearance in the world. In 2020, her representative, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), offered to fly a U.S. flag for World Falun Dafa DayMay 13and a flag for Falun Dafas founder Mr. Li Hongzhi.

On one of the certificates of the flags, the congressman acknowledged Mr. Li for teaching the core principles of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance. Your legacy will continue to touch and instill confidence in our future generation of leaders around the world, he added.

Before that, she hadnt known that flying a flag over the U.S. Capitol was an option. She had thought it was a very nice symbolic action until she met a woman who had escaped the persecution of Falun Dafa in China and came to Philadelphia for asylum. To her surprise, the woman knew about the flag raising from her relatives outside China. I could tell from her expression that the flag raising meant a great deal to her after the suffering she had undergone in Chinese prisons, Sheeks said.

And in July 2020, the congressman attended her sons barbeque birthday party and brought another U.S. flag for the boy as well.

To her, the American flag is a symbol of American values and traditions, primarily freedom or libertyfreedom from tyranny as one of the meanings of liberty. She said she was really touched by her congressmans kind gesture to honor Pennsylvanias legacy as a safe haven for people of various faiths persecuted in Europe at the time of the states founding.

So this year, she asked, and the congressman said he would again sponsor flying the flags over the U.S. Capitol.

A Falun Gong adherent (L) introduces the spiritual practice to people in New York City on May 7, 2023. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

A Spiritual Renaissance

This year, The Epoch Times published Mr. Li Hongzhis articles, teachings used to be reserved for the platforms in the Falun Dafa communities.

Mr. Lis articles drew much feedback from Epoch Times readers. Many saw some commonalities between Falun Dafas teachings and their own beliefs. One of the common themes was that people liked the spiritual autonomyguidance with the whyafforded to them so they could understand the fundamental drivers, make their decisions, and be accountable for their choices. The founder of Falun Gong explains without pressing others to convert, readers said.

A Falun Gong adherent does the exercise in front of the U.S. Capitol on July 18, 2013. (Cat Rooney/Epoch Times)

Frank Cellucci, a self-described interfaith person, both spiritual and religious, is among those who read Mr. Lis article How Humankind Came To Be earlier this year.

Over the years, I began to see the spiritual and religious importance of Falun Dafa, he told The Epoch Times, adding that he started seeing it as a type of physical exercise. He got to know Falun Dafa from a friend about ten years ago. Both were taking ballroom dancing lessons then.

The way it appearswhen I read articles on the internet and see things on YouTubeis that Falun Dafa has existed for a very, very long time, said Cellucci, who spent 30-plus years pursuing spiritual self-development journeys. Qigong is an extension of Falun Dafa. Its a watered-down version with very little spirituality, if any. And when the communists took over China, they attempted to destroy and eliminate all types of religions, including Falun Dafa.

He is aware that Falun Dafa was introduced to the public in 1992. However, the impression I got is that Falun Dafa existed before that. Maybe it wasnt called Falun Dafa, but there were different forms of it, he said.

Certain things that were special, certain things that were sacred to the Chinese culture merged together, and Falun Dafa evolved out of that. He added that the spiritual practice is leading a fundamental cultural change and a spiritual renaissance of some sort that came from within the Chinese people.

They wanted to get back to the original Chinese culture. They were just in dissolution with communism in general. They didnt see how everyone could benefit from it.

With his general construction and real estate business, he splits his time between Pennsylvania and California. Sometimes, he joins the Falun Dafa group exercises in Carmel, California, when he is in the Golden State.

He said Falun Dafa can spiritually help Americans. He foresees it becoming another religion in the United States.

Falun Gong practitioners celebrate World Falun Dafa Day in New York City on May 7, 2023. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

As Falun Dafa enters its fourth decade of being available to the public, the outlook is bright despite the persecution, according to the spiritual practices spokesperson Zhang Erping.

This is the 31st anniversary since Falun Dafa was introduced to the public in 1992, and it is also the 72nd birthday of the founder of Falun Dafa, Master Li Hongzhi. Despite the brutal persecution in mainland China, Falun Dafa has reached over 120 countries with hundreds of millions of practitioners around the world, Zhang told The Epoch Times.

He added: Its principles of Truth, Compassion, Forbearance are widely recognized as universal values of humanity and have positively impacted the well-being of the followers and society. We trust that Falun Dafa will be celebrated one day in China, perhaps very soon, just like elsewhere in the world.
Former ICE Director, CBP Acting Commisioner Warn Fentanyl Deaths, Child Trafficking Cases to Soar as Title 42 Expires

Migrants cross the Tijuana River bed towards the San Diego port of entry to the United States, on May 11, 2023. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Multiple former senior immigration officials and residents of El Paso, Texas, shared their concerns over the implications of Title 42 during a town hall meeting on May 11.

Members of the Texas Public Policy Foundation-led Border Security Coalition held the town hall just hours ahead of the Trump-era public health policy expiring.

Title 42, which allowed Border Patrol agents to turn illegal immigrants back to Mexico immediately over public health concerns amid the COVID-19 pandemic, expired on May 11 at 11:59 p.m.

Thursdays meeting was attended by former U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Tom Homan, who took aim at the Biden administrations handling of the immigration crisis, which experts say will likely worsen in the coming days and months.

This administration has created such a crisis that its not even about immigration anymoreits about border security. And heres the issue, when you cause a crisis this big that it has taken 70 percent of agents off patrol to process [immigrants], that makes the border vulnerable, Homan said.

When Title 42 ends, that means more people coming across the border, which means more agents being pulled off the line, Homan continued, adding that this will result in an increased amount of Fentanyl coming across the border, as well as a rise in child trafficking, and suspected terrorists entering the United States.

Overall, Homan said Title 42 would lead to more deaths among immigrants as well as Americans, the latter of which he said would be due to a rise in Fentanyl overdoses.

Former ICE Director Tom Homan said Arizona is the next ground zero for illegal immigration and fentanyl trafficking at a press conference in Phoenix, on Jan. 26, 2023. (Allan Stein/The Epoch Times)

This Administration Thinks Their Policies Are Humane

So when you open the border up the way that this administration has, all that ugly stuff is going to increase  whats happening in this country right now is the biggest national security failure since 9/11, Homan said.

Homan also noted that under former President Trumps administration, illegal immigration dropped significantly.

This administration thinks their policies are humane, but theyre killing Americans at record numbers, and theyre killing migrants at record numbers, he said, referring to the Biden administration.

Since Joe Bidens been president, over 1,700 migrants have died on U.S. soil, Homan said.

At least 853 migrants died attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border unlawfully in fiscal year 2022, according to internal Border Patrol data obtained by CBS News. In fiscal year 2021, that figure stood at 546 migrant deaths, according to the publication.

However, an April 2022 report (pdf) by the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that Border Patrol has not collected and recorded, or reported to Congress, complete data on migrant deaths, or disclosed associated data limitations.

Elsewhere during the May 11 townhall, Mark Morgan, former chief operating officer and acting commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), told attendees that between 2011 to 2022, 261,000 illegal aliens committed 433,000 crimes in the state of Texas alone, including 800 homicides, 800 kidnappings, and 5,000 assaults.

This isnt about immigration, Morgan, a former FBI agent, said. This is about border security  and I promise you, our borders are a national security threat and vulnerability.

Acting Commissioner for Customs and Border Protection Mark Morgan at a press conference in Washington on March 5, 2020. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

El Paso Residents Share Fears Over Future

Multiple members of the El Paso community also shared their concerns about what the future holds, as roughly 60,000 immigrants were waiting to cross into the U.S. from Mexico, according to officials.

One resident said the current crisis felt like a mountain that were having to deal with in this nation, in this city.

We are to pray like we have never prayed before in our entire lives, she said. This is a situation that we have never dealt with.

At the end of the meeting, residents vowed to take back El Paso, which entered a state of emergency just two weeks ago ahead of Title 42 coming to an end. Multiple other counties along the southern border, including Cameron and Hidalgo, issued disaster declarations on May 11.

Amid growing concerns ahead of Title 42 expiring, the Biden administration announced a string of initiatives aimed at preventing an influx of immigrants, including a targeted enforcement operation in El Paso, focusing on immigrants who crossed the southern border illegally and were not processed for entry into the United States.

The administration has also said that some members of immigrant families who cross the U.S.Mexico border illegally and seek asylum will be fitted with a GPS ankle monitor so that ICE officials can continuously track them.

Early Friday morning, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas told CBS Mornings that the administration had the situation under control.

We have had a plan for more than a year and a half, and we have been executing on that plan, and we continue to execute on that plan, Mayorkas said while acknowledging that the transition will be tough.

People are going to see our plan take hold, he continued. It will take time. It will succeed.
KUALA LUMPUR, May 12 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia's current account Balance (CAB) continued to record a surplus with a value of 4.3 billion ringgit (960 million U.S. dollars), or 1 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in the first quarter, official data showed Friday.

The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) said in a statement that the CAB surplus this quarter was mainly supported by net exports of goods, down from 27.5 billion ringgit, or 5.9 percent of GDP, in the previous quarter.

According to the statement, the goods account recorded a net export of 39.9 billion ringgit in the first quarter, which shrank 30.9 percent quarter-on-quarter.

Exports of goods amounted to 261.5 billion ringgit, which decreased by 17.6 percent against the final quarter of 2022.

The main exports were electrical and electronics (E&E), petroleum and chemicals products, especially to Singapore, China and the United States.

At the same time, imports of goods fell by 14.6 percent quarter on quarter to 221.6 billion ringgit.

Malaysia's major imports were intermediate, capital and consumption goods, particularly from China and Singapore.

Meanwhile, the services account posted a higher deficit of 12.8 billion ringgit in the first quarter, as travel witnessed a lower surplus and construction turned around from a surplus to record a deficit.

Exports of services fell to 41 billion ringgit in the first quarter from 43.8 billion ringgit in the previous quarter, while imports of services fell to 53.8 billion ringgit, from 56 billion ringgit.

It is also noted that the primary income account recorded a higher deficit of 16.9 billion ringgit as compared to 11.6 billion ringgit in the final quarter of 2022, which was mainly due to the lower receipts of 16.7 billion ringgit, particularly from direct investment.

Financial account, on the other hand, registered a net outflow of 2.4 billion ringgit as compared to 1.1 billion ringgit in the preceding quarter.

This was mainly led by outflows in portfolio investment at 33.3 billion ringgit and financial derivatives at 900 million ringgit. (1 ringgit equals 0.22 U.S. dollar) 
Gerry Bowler: Governments Attempt to Erase Canadas Past Follows the Path of French Revolution, Communist Regimes

The new Canadian passport is unveiled at an event at the Ottawa International Airport on May 10, 2023. (The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick)

Commentary

Revolutionaries often dont know when to stop. In France of the 1790s, radicals, not content with creating a constitutional monarchy, abolishing feudalism, and establishing a bill of rights, attempted to create a whole new kind of humanutterly rational, uprooted from old loyalties and places, fitted to be a citizen of a new kind of nation.

The old clock, calendar, and measurements were abolishedtime and space were decimalized, 10 hours in a day, 10 days in a week, distances standardized. The reckoning of years from the birth of Christ had to go, and what had been 1792 A.D. became Year One. The old provinces were erased, replaced by a grid-work of departements of nearly identical shape, regardless of local history, dialect, or geography.

Christianity was forbidden; in its place came the faceless god of the Cult of the Supreme Being. The fleur-de-lys, for a thousand years the symbol of the country and a reference to the Virgin Mary, was erased from banners and a flag of three blocks of colour took its place.

Even the soundscape of the cities and countryside were altered. Church bells which had signalled time, announced the death of parishioners, summoned believers, or warned of impending disaster were silencedtaken down and melted into metal for the cannons of the revolutionary armies.

The citizenry were told that the taxes, secret police, censorship, bloated bureaucracy, and military conscription were just the price to be paid for liberty, equality, and fraternity.

Later dictatorships learned much from the French Revolution. Attacks on religion marked the Russian, Chinese, and Mexican revolutions. Mussolini in Italy and the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia both began time anew with their versions of Year One.

The Royal crown is unveiled by Samy Khalid (L), Chief Herald of Canada at the Canadian Heraldic Authority, and Donald Booth, Canadian secretary to the King, during coronation celebrations in honour of King Charles III in Ottawa on May 6, 2023. (The Canadian Press/Spencer Colby)

Just as the French radicals had mandated citizen as the only permissible title, so communist regimes ordained comrade. Old flags, old songs, old holidaysanything that gave meaning to the pasthad to go.

Christmas was particularly targeted. The Soviet Union tried to suppress it, shifting festivities to New Years Day and replacing St Nicholas with Grandfather Frost; the Nazi version of Silent Night included praise of Adolf Hitler.

In Canada, we have seen a similar, though less violent, series of moves to erase the Canadian past.

Recently, the traditional image of the royal crown has been altered to remove any Christian symbology, replacing the cross and fleur-de-lys with a stylized snowflake and maple leaves. The title of the Canadian monarchy has been stripped of reference to the United Kingdom and Defender of the Faith.

These initiatives are a reminder that the effort to unmoor Canadians from their history has been a long-term Liberal Party project, begun in the 1960s when the flag under which Canadians had fought in world wars was replaced, a move followed by a switch from Dominion Day to the generic Canada Daysurely the worlds lamest name for a national celebration. (Imagine the French changing Bastille Day to France Day or the Dutch changing Liberation Day to Netherlands Day.)

Since then we have seen a prime minister calling Canada a post-national state, a place where there is no core identity, no mainstream and a country steeped in genocide. We are told to despise the founders of Canada as racists and discouraged from viewing our past with anything but shame.

Remember the great celebrations for those battles in 1776, 1814, and 1866 that kept us from American domination? Me neither. The value of attaining Canadian citizenship has been devalued to the point where the government proposed to abolish the ceremonial swearing of allegiance to ticking a box online

The latest act of infamy is the change to our passports. Gone are images of the Fathers of Confederation, Terry Fox, the Vimy Ridge memorial, the Famous Five, the Bluenose, Champlain, the Northwest Mounted Police, and the Houses of Parliamentpeople and things that anchored us to our history and bound us together in pride. In comes pictures of a narwhal, maple syrup, and our most despised species of wildlife, the Canada goose.

These acts are not trivial and they are not accidental. They reflect an attitude on the part of our elites that resents attachments to our past because they hinder their attempts to alter our behaviours, which they view as outdated, parochial, and selfish. It is a stealth campaign that proceeds step by little, undebated, step.

A person without roots, without a memory, without a story can be easily influenced and cause no trouble to the authorities. A nation without a common history in which citizens can take pride cannot long survive.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Many of the corruption allegations currently swirling around Joe Biden have been around for years, dating back to his son Hunter Bidens early trips to China with him on Air Force Two. But recently, theres been a flood of new information that has come to light.

This information includes two separate whistleblowersone with the IRS involving the Hunter Biden criminal probe and another thats alleging corruption and potential bribes on the part of Joe Biden. We also have allegations from Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) regarding flows of foreign money through shell companies to the Biden family.

The whistleblower accusations of corruption that describe a criminal scheme involving then-Vice President Joe Biden and a foreign national relating to the exchange of money for policy decisions potentially represent the biggest news.

But these allegations may be just the tip of the iceberg.
Greens Call for Essential Services to Be Returned to Government Ownership

Party leader of the Australian Greens Adam Bandt addresses the media after the resignation of Senator Lidia Thorpe from the Australian Greens Party at Parliament House on February 06, 2023 in Canberra, Australia. (Martin Ollman/Getty Images)

The Australian Greens want the federal government to turn back the clock and become a net provider of essential services in the Australian energy industry, with party leader Adam Bandt decrying the private ownership of the energy sector.

Bandt, during his address to the National Press Club, said that Australia needed large-scale public investment in the sector to drive the national transition to renewable energy sources.

We need a significant investment, publicly led, to shift Australia to 100 percent renewables and create new export industries, he said.

He argued the government was already involved in the sector through the Snowy Hydro electricity generator, which has a retail arm attached, and that ramping up the project would enable it to replace the current fleet of coal-fired power generators on the eastern seaboard.

We want to see that massively beefed up, he said.

A new revamped Snowy Hydro. A new build of publicly owned renewable energy to replace the approximately 25 gigawatts, which is roughly the size of Australias coal fleet at the moment.

Lets build that again in renewables. A big, significant public investment to build new generations to build new transmission, and critically to build new export industries.

Snowy Hydro Greens Answer to Transition

The Snowy Hydro 2.0 project was first started in 2017 under the Coalition government as an extension to the Snowy Mountains hydro scheme, which was built between 1949 and 1974 to add 2,000 megawatts of generation capacity to the power grid.

It will operate similarly to a natural battery by using excess wind and solar energy to pump water from the lower dam to the higher one and release the water during peak periods to produce electricity.

Bandt also called for the federal government to focus heavily on the countrys energy transmission network, which he said was in a significant state of disrepair.

Lets extend our transmission lines again through significant public investment.

Bandt said that the fact that some of Australias transmission lines and energy interconnections were part-owned by a Cayman Islands registered company was not okay.

This should be in public hands. It is an essential service, and it should be in public hands. So big, significant public investment to build new generation to build new transmission, and critically to build new export industries, he said.

Transition to Renewables By 2030 Misleading

But Bandts call to ramp up the countrys largest renewable project, the Snowy Hydro, comes as it has been revealed the build has been beset by delays, pushing out its deadline by two years to 2030.

The project will connect two dams in southern New South Wales via 27 kilometres of tunnels and a new power station located 800 metres underground. The project was initially estimated to complete in 2021 with a $2 billion budget, which was later revised to $5.1 billion, this has now been expanded by another $2.2 billion.

The delays are said to have struck the federal governments plan to make Australia reach net-zero by 2030 hard.

Former CEO of Snowy Hydro 2.0, Paul Broad, who ran the project for ten years but resigned recently due to differences with the Energy Minister Chris Bowen, said that he was deeply concerned the federal government was rushing the transition.

The notion that we can have 80 percent renewables by 2030 is [expletive], he told Ben Fordhams 2GB radio show on May 4.

The truth is  this transition [to renewables], if it ever occurs, it will take 80 years  not eight.

However, Broad was also concerned about the federal government making out that the transition could happen quickly when it could not.

Im deeply concerned about the rush, the notion that somehow this is all magic. Were gonna wave a magic wand, well close a big baseload power plant thats kept the lights on for years  and all these alternatives are out there, he said.

Well, its not. I can be 100 percent certain its not.

The former renewable energy chief also criticised the governments lack of planning around the transition lines, which he said was a problem that needed to be addressed as there are currently few available forms of power lines to get the energy made by renewable projects to the power plants.

The lack of transmission is going to be a big big problem for us, he said.

So the notion you can have all this occurring without transmission, all the other forms of investment which will cost the consumer a lot. Suggesting you can do all that and the price is going to come down is wrong. Its misleading.
Honduran Teen Dies in US Immigration Custody; Investigation Underway

Groups of asylum-seeking illegal immigrants wait outside the Migrant Resource Center to receive food from the San Antonio Catholic Charities in San Antonio on Sept. 19, 2022. (Jordan Vonderhaar/Getty Images)

A 17-year-old Honduran boy died while in the custody of U.S. immigration on May 10 while being detained at a facility in Safety Harbor, Florida.

The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is deeply saddened by this tragic loss and our heart goes out to the family, with whom we are in touch, the department said in a statement to reporters.

American and Honduran officials confirmed the death on May 12, one day after Title 42 asylum restrictions ended.

The teen has been identified as Angel Eduardo Maradiaga Espinoza, according to a May 11 post on Twitter from Enrique Reina, Honduran foreign relations minister.

Maradiaga entered the United States a few weeks ago, but neither the cause of death nor the circumstances of any sickness or medical treatment were immediately available.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, who were responsible for the facility where Maradiaga was detained, said in a statement that a review of his medical records and a medical examiners investigation were ongoing.

As is standard practice for any situation involving the death of an unaccompanied child or a serious health outcome, HHS Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) Division of Health for Unaccompanied Children (DHUC) is reviewing all clinical details of this case, including all inpatient health care records, HHS said. A medical examiner investigation is underway.

Due to privacy and safety reasons, ORR cannot share further information on individual cases of children who have been in our care, the department said. While in ORR care, children have access to health care, legal services, translation services, and mental and behavioral health counselors and are able to connect with family through a phone call in a private area at a minimum of twice a week.

Karine Jean-Pierre, White House press secretary, commented on the news during the May 12 press briefing saying, It is sad news, it is deeply saddening to hear, and we are certainly aware of the tragic loss, and our hearts go out to the family.

However, Jean-Pierre said she had not spoken to President Joe Biden on the issue, and she was unsure if he had been briefed on the death.

When reporters in the briefing pressed about why HHS has not updated the number of children currently in their custody since January despite previous monthly reports, Jean-Pierre said that information was outside of her purview.

Biden was highly critical of the Trump administrations treatment of migrant children during the 2020 presidential campaign: Over the last year, six children have tragically died in U.S. custody at the border. Its unacceptable, Biden said in 2019.

Its not who we are. And silence is complicity. Its on all of us to stand up and speak out. America is a nation of immigrants. We must guarantee everyones treated with dignity.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
House China Panel Demands Info From TikTok on Data Collection, Censuring of Opinion

A smartphone with a displayed TikTok logo is placed on a computer motherboard in this photo illustration taken on Feb. 23, 2023. (Dado Ruvic/Reuters)

The House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) sent a letter on May 10 to the CEO of the social media video platform TikTok, in which the committee stated concerns about how the CCP can use the platform to spy on Americans and censor and block free expression, and which also requested information and answers.

TikTok, owned by the Chinese company, ByteDance, has 1.8 billion monthly users and is a particular favorite among young people.

Just last week, TikTok suspended a TikTok account from the Acton Institute, which was sharing clips from a documentary about Hong Kong newspaper owner Jimmy Lai, who was imprisoned for his support for Hong Kongs democracy movement, wrote the chairman of the committee, Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), and 12 other members in the letter they sent to TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew.

Hong Kong media tycoon and democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai joins a protest against a controversial extradition bill in Hong Kong on April 28, 2019. (Yu Gang/The Epoch Times)

The letter continued, Recent reporting also revealed that TikTok was tracking individuals who interacted with gay content, and a third report published internal documents showing how TikToks parent company ByteDance tracks and censors sensitive wordsin practice, topics disfavored by the Chinese Communist Party.

Later in the letter, the committee said that TikTok has suppressed information that the CCP disfavors and seeks to shield from public scrutiny, including the CCPs genocide of Uyghur Muslims, the status of Tibet, and the 1989 massacre in Tiananmen Square.

TikTok responded to a request for comment from The Epoch Times, saying that it confirmed it had received the letter from the committee.

Those who worry about how the CCP may use TikTok for practices that can hurt the United States and exploit American vulnerabilities point to the Chinese National Intelligence Law, which includes the directive, any organization or citizen shall support, assist and cooperate with the state intelligence work in accordance with the law.

The Center for International Security (CIS), a leading nonprofit community of IT and security professionals that promotes and offers free practices to protect IT systems and information and intelligence, has published and spoken out on the security and privacy threat of TikToka threat enabled by the quantity and type of data it collects on users.

This data, which TikTok explicitly lists in its U.S. privacy policy, allows the platform and vested parties behind the platform to access a one-stop-shop for preferential psychometric data, which includes attitudes, behaviors, and preferences of a given user, wrote CIS in a post on its blog.

For context, tech firm Cambridge Analytica used psychometric data leading up to the U.S. 2016 presidential election to enhance targeted manipulation as part of efforts to nudge the opinions of a large userbase and influence their votes, noted Intelligencer. The Intelligencer is the news and news analysis site of New York Magazine.

CIS continued in the post, noting, TikToks psychometric collections and history of engaging in influence operations presents the risk that the platform will aim to nudge the U.S. user base in directions favoring CCP interests.

Response to CCPs Growing Threat

Following the new Republican-led House being seated in January, and with the CCP representing a growing threat to U.S. national security and financial interests, GOP members of the lower chamber of Congress stewarded a rare bipartisan effort to create the Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, known by its short formSelect Committee on the Chinese Communist Party.

The vote on the resolution establishing the committee passed 36565, with 146 Democrats joining Republicans and all 65 no votes coming from Democrats, who said they opposed forming the committee because they felt it would become too partisan.
House Passes Bill Incentivizing States to Claw Back Fraudulent Unemployment Insurance Benefits

In this photo illustration, a person files an application for unemployment benefits in Arlington, Va., on April 16, 2020. (Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images)

The House voted on May 11 to pass legislation aimed at incentivizing states to claw back fraudulently paid unemployment benefits made during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The bill, H. R. 1163, known as the Protecting Taxpayers and Victims of Unemployment Fraud Act passed in a 230200 vote, with 10 Democrats joining Republicans in voting for the legislation.

Under the legislation (pdf) states would be allowed to retain 25 percent of any amount recovered from overpayments of Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation or Mixed Earner Unemployment Compensation that were determined to be fraudulently made.

Amounts retained by the state must, however, be used to modernize employment compensation systems and information technology to improve identity verification and validation of applicants.

The money may also be used to cover reimbursement of administrative costs incurred by the state to identify and pursue and recover the fraudulent overpayments, including to pay for the hiring of investigators and prosecutors.

It may also be used for other other program integrity activities as determined by the State, according to the bill.

Additionally, the legislation allows states to keep 5 percent of state unemployment insurance (UI) overpayments, provided they agree to use the money to modernize the states UI technology infrastructure; improve the timely and accurate administration of the states unemployment compensation law; and dedicate the funds to preventing future fraud, among other things.

The legislation also extends the statute of limitations for criminal charges or civil enforcement actions related to UI fraud from 5 to 10 years.

Hundreds of unemployed Kentucky residents wait in long lines outside the Kentucky Career Center for help with their unemployment claims, in Frankfort, Kentucky, on June 19, 2020. (John Sommers II/Getty Images)

Americans Robbed of Billions

According to a report (pdf) released on Sept. 22 by the Department of Labors Office of the Inspector General (OIG), criminals may have fraudulently obtained $45.6 billion in unemployment benefits from U.S. government programs meant to assist Americans during the pandemic.

Republicans say the bill is necessary to prevent further fraud going forward.

Criminal organizations and foreign fraudsters exploited our unemployment benefits system to rob hundreds of billions of dollars from American taxpayers, Rep. Jason T. Smith (R-Mo.), the chief sponsor of the bill, said in a statement after its passing.

Individuals had not just their benefits but their identities stolen to perpetuate this fraud, and sadly when they controlled all of Washington, Democrats refused to lift a finger to recover these funds and hold the criminals accountable, he added.

The White House Office of Management and Budget, however, has opposed the bill, arguing that it will strip state UI programs of the essential resources they need to fight fraud, combat identity theft, and recover overpayments, and would set back the goals of strengthening program integrity and combating systemic fraud.

They further argue that the legislation would unfairly punish workers whose overpayments were the fault of a state agency.

It is unclear how states would be stripped of essential resources, given that the bill allows them to use the 25 percent in recovered overpayments to combat future fraud.

The Epoch Times has contacted the White House for further comment.

Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) looks on as the U.S. House of Representatives convenes for the 118th Congress at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 3, 2023. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

Santos Arrested on Unemployment Benefit Charges

Smiths bill was also co-sponsored by Reps. James Comer (R-Ky.), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), and George Santos (R-N.Y.), among others.

Santos was arrested on May 10 on federal charges of wire fraud, money laundering, theft of public funds, and making materially false statements to the House of Representatives.

The charges also relate to Santos, 34, illegally receiving unemployment benefits while employed.

According to an indictment, the newly elected congressman, who represents New Yorks 3rd Congressional District, applied for government assistance through the New York State Department of Labor in mid-June despite at the time being employed as a Regional Director of a Florida-based investment firm, making him ineligible for unemployment benefits.

From that point until April 2021when Santos was working and receiving a salary on a near-continuous basis and during his unsuccessful run for Congresshe falsely affirmed each week that he was eligible for unemployment benefits when he was not, the indictment states.

As a result, Santos allegedly fraudulently received more than $24,000 in unemployment insurance benefits, according to prosecutors.

Santos has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Asked if Santoss indictment will undermine H. R. 1163, House GOP Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) told The Hill, As Ive said from the very beginning on questions on this subject, this legal process is going to play itself out.

Unfortunately, this is not the first time a member of Congress from either party has been indicted. There are a set of rules and, as the majority leader stated, he voluntarily had stepped down from his committees, Stefanik added.
Idaho Group Still Fighting to Remove Explicit Books From Childrens Library

A child reaches for the book "Johnny the Walrus," a satire by conservative commentator Matt Walsh, which pokes fun at parents who automatically treat as reality children's expressions of wanting to be something they're not biologically. Photographed in Alachua, Fla. on May 11, 2023. (Nanette Holt/The Epoch Times)

After an Idaho library refused to remove sexually explicit books, parents in the town fought back by crafting a plan to try to remove library leadership.

Theyve lost that battle.

But theyre not giving up the war, a group representative told The Epoch Times.

Now theyre placing some hope on a May 16 election of two trustees to the local library districts board, said Michael Hon, a member of Concerned Citizens of Meridian.

But even adding two board members sympathetic to their cause probably wont be enough to result in the changes his group hopes to achieve, at least this time, Hon said. The other three members of the five-person board are against removing the books, he said.

Parental rights activist Michael Hon, a member of Concerned Citizens of Meridian. (Courtesy of Michael Hon)

Hons group is upset about books in the Meridian Library District collection that are sexually explicit and unsuitable for teens and children, they say.

Picture books in the youth non-fiction section instruct on how to engage in a wide range of sex acts, members of the group discovered. The books also include graphic pictures and descriptions of sex.

You dont allow this stuff to be read in a public setting, Hon said. How is it good for kids?

Explicit Offerings

Books group members found shocking on the public librarys shelves describe a wide range of sex acts.

Sex is a Funny Word, by Cory Silverberg and Fiona Smyth, suggests how to experiment sexually with various bodily orifices. The same book includes cartoon illustrations of nude body parts and a girl engaged in a sex act alone.

Also in the childrens section is My Body is Growing by Dagmar Geisler, he said. Labeled for children ages 48, it graphically describes and illustrates sex acts.

Another youth offering they found at the library is Its Perfectly Normal by Robie H. Harris and Michael Emberley. Its illustrations show nude bodies engaged in heterosexual sex, homosexual sex, and sex acts of self-gratification.

In the teen section of Meridians library, youths can find Nick and Charlie by Alice Oseman, which includes graphic descriptions of gay sex between teens, he said. That section of the library also offers This Book is Gay by Juno Dawson, described as a sex guide for teens.

Also found in the youth section is Lets Talk About It: The Teens Guide to Sex, Relationships, and Being a Human by Erika Moen and Matthew Nolan. The book includes illustrations of naked men with enlarged breast tissue resulting from taking estrogen. It also shows naked women with body characteristics resulting from taking testosterone.

Newly donated LGBT books are displayed in the library at Nystrom Elementary School in Richmond, Calif., on May 17, 2022. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

The group found that the librarys adult section includes more books with explicit depictions, including Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe, and Body Music by Julie Maroh.

Also available are books depicting sex acts with children, Hon said. Those include Lawn Boy by Jonathan Evinson, and Flamer by Mike Curato.

The Epoch Times reached out to the Meridian Library District for comment but received no response.

Protecting Children

The battle over Meridians library books began in early 2022 when Hons group discovered library books they believed to be potentially harmful to children.

Group members asked library officials in an April 2022 meeting to put the books in a separate section out of childrens reach.

The group told the library, Were not asking you to remove them, but were asking you to, maybe, segregate them and tell parents that theres sexually explicit material in these books that might be harmful to kids, Hon said.

The library leadership refused, citing First Amendment concerns, he said.

So group members went to library board meetings to complain about the books and ask for their removal.

In response, the library banned group members presence at the boards public meetings, Hon said.

That was essentially taxation without representation because they can take your money all day long, but you cant speak out against what theyre doing, Hon said.

So Concerned Citizens of Meridian dug into the library districts public records.

The Meridian Library Districtthey are a stand-alone taxing district, Hon said. And what that means is they have no accountability to any government organization, whether state, city, or county, except for the citizensus.

By filing Freedom of Information Act requests, Hon and other group members found the Meridian Library District raised $9 million annually in taxes.

Thats more than the combined budgets of the nearby towns of Star and Eagle, Hon said. The two towns have a combined population of 40,000 people.

Records showed the Meridian Library District spent $5 million in 2023 on personnel costs for its 80 employees, Hon said. The district automatically increases its budget by 3 percent yearly, he said.

An Unusual Strategy

After gathering that information, Hon and other group members came up with an unusual strategy to remove the books they believed to be problematic. If library officials didnt remove the books, the group would work to remove library officials from their postsby dissolving the library system.

The group officially asked the Ada County Board of Commissioners to consider putting the dissolution of the Meridian Library District on the ballot on Nov. 8.

If voters agreed, the move would dismantle the library as a legal entity, removing all the librarys trustees and employees, and transferring library property to the county to be sold.

Its not that the group wanted to close the library, Hon said. They were counting on a legal loophole allowing the entity governing the library to be dissolved, then reorganized with new leadership.

No law specifies the library property would have to be sold immediately, Hon said. With a second petition, the county could create a new library system to replace the old one, he said.

Admittedly, asking for the librarys dissolution was a publicity stunt to call attention to the groups concerns about the graphic books, Hon said.

But opponents didnt see it that way. They insisted the group wanted to ban books and shut down the library permanently, Hon said.

They basically portrayed us as extremists, as book banners, he said.

Its an accusation many parental rights activists around the country have faced when theyve asked for explicit library materials to be removed from offerings for children.

In March, about 1,000 people attended a meeting of the Ada County Commission to oppose the groups request to consider dissolving the library system.

Speaking at the meeting, Megan Larsen, board chairman of the Meridian Library District, dismissed concerns about sexual images in the books.

There are lots of examples of literature with adult themes and topics, Larsen told county commissioners.

Ultimately, commissioners decided not to put the dissolution of the library on the ballot.

Not Giving Up

The Meridian activists arent alone in their concern about the issue of explicit materials offered in public libraries in their state.

During the 2023 legislative session, lawmakers passed House Bill 314 that would ensure schools and libraries couldnt promote, give, or make available to a minor any materials depicting human nudity, sexual conduct, or sadomasochistic abuse and that is harmful to minors or materials with explicit and detailed verbal descriptions or narrative accounts of sexual excitement, sexual conduct, or sadomasochistic abuse that would be harmful to minors.

Idaho Gov. Brad Little vetoed the bill on April 5.

You can imagine how furious we were, Hon said.

Having explicit books in the library within reach of children is a problem, Hon said, even if theyre not shelved in the childrens section.

A lot of parents will tell us, I dont take my kids to the library anymore,' he said, because they dont feel its safe.

Even more concerning, Hon said, is a library policy that allows for graphic materials to be loaned out to children without parental consent.

Any kid can go in and pick up an R-rated movie, and they can check it out, and librarians are likely to help them, Hon said.

Additionally, local libraries often join consortiums with other libraries that likely have additional explicit materials, he said.

Any kid can go onto any library website and basically order any book, not just to be delivered to their local libraries, so they can pick it up, but also to their house, Hon said. They have a fleet of vehicles. If they sent that through the mail, they would actually be committing a federal offense.

Hes hopeful the community will elect new library trustees who share the groups concerns. But only two seats are on the ballot.

So even if both oppose giving children sexually explicit books, it wouldnt change policies, Hon said. But it would allow the town to learn whats happening inside the library, he added.

Well see what happens, he said.
Idaho Jury Begins Deliberation in Lori Vallow Daybell Murder Trial

BOISE, IdahoAn Idaho jury is weighing the fate of a woman charged in the slayings of her two youngest children and a romantic rival in what prosecutors say was a strange doomsday-focused plot.

Lori Vallow Daybell wanted the victims money, so she used sex and power to manipulate her brother and a lover into carrying out the crimes, Idaho prosecutors told jurors Thursday at the close of the weekslong case. The panel of 12 jurors began deliberations shortly after 2 p.m.

 Money, power and sex, Madison County Prosecutor Rob Wood said, urging the jury to convict Lori Vallow Daybell in the deaths of 7-year-old Joshua JJ Vallow, 16-year-old Tylee Ryan, and her fifth husbands previous wife Tammy Daybell.

What does justice for these victims require? It requires a conviction on each and every count, Wood said.

Defense attorney Jim Archibald countered that there was no evidence tying his client to the killings but plenty showing she was a loving, protective mother whose life took a sharp turn when she met her fifth husband, Chad Daybell, and fell for the weird apocalyptic religious claims of a cult leader.

Daybell told her they had been married in several previous lives and she was a sexual goddess who was supposed to help him save the world by gathering 144,000 followers so Jesus could return, Archibald said.

Chad Daybell during a court hearing in St. Anthony, Idaho, on Aug. 4, 2020. (John Roark/The Idaho Post-Register via AP)

Why cant people escape religious cult figures, why cant they break out, why cant they break away from that mind control? Archibald said. Promises are marvelous to some people even if they sound like stupid gibberish to the rest of us.

Vallow Daybell and Chad Daybell are both charged with murder, conspiracy, and grand theft in the three killings. Prosecutors say the two worked with Vallow Daybells brother, Alex Cox, to carry out the crimes. Cox died in December 2019 and was never charged.

The two youngest children were receiving Social Security survivor benefits from the earlier deaths of their fathers, and prosecutors say Vallow Daybell continued to collect those checks after the children were killed. Chad Daybell increased Tammy Daybells life insurance policy, prosecutors said, and Vallow Daybell married him just two weeks after his previous wife was asphyxiated in their home.

A boy looks at a memorial for Tylee Ryan and Joshua JJ Vallow in Rexburg, Idaho, on June 11, 2020. (John Roark/The Idaho Post-Register via AP)

Both defendants have pleaded not guilty. Vallow Daybell faces up to life in prison if she is convicted. Chad Daybells trial is still months away.

Vallow Daybell wanted to be unencumbered by obstacles, Wood said, including her children.

The plan that she set in motion must end today in the verdicts you render in this trial, Wood said.

Tylee had her whole life ahead of her, Wood told the jury, when she was killed in September 2019.

Tylees body was burned beyond recognition. Her body was dismembered in such a grotesque and extreme manner, that the medical examiner couldnt determine the cause of death, Wood said. Marks on her pelvis showed she was stabbed, he said.

JJ Vallows voice was silenced forever by a strip of duct tape over his mouth, just two weeks later, Wood said. A white plastic bag was placed over his head, and secured with duct tape around and around from his forehead to his chin.

Evidence shows JJ struggled, Wood said, and at one point the boys arms and legs were bound with duct tape.

He stopped breathing, his heart stopped beating and he died. It was a brutal, horrific murder of a 7-year-old boy with special needs, he said.

Vallow Daybell never reported the children missing but continued to collect the survivor benefit checks each child was receiving because of the earlier deaths of their fathers, Wood said.

Joshua JJ Vallow (L) and Tylee Ryan. (National Center for Missing & Exploited Children via AP)

Wood said Tammy Daybell was slain between Oct. 18 and Oct. 20, 2019.

Tammy Daybell, a loving, active mother of five and a school librarian, was murdered in her own home. She was asphyxiated in her own home, Wood said.

Wood also reviewed the evidence and testimony presented to jurors over the past four weeks and reminded the jurors that under Idaho law, aiding, and abetting, such as by helping in the planning of a crime, is the same as a person committing it herself.

At times, the testimony in the case has been heartbreakingsuch as when Vallow Daybells only surviving child, Colby Ryan, accused her of murdering his siblings in a recorded jailhouse phone call.

Other testimony has been strange, such as when Vallow Daybells former friend Melanie Gibb testified that Vallow Daybell believed people in her life had been taken over by evil spirits and turned into zombiesincluding her two youngest children. Four of the people the defendant described as zombies were later killed or shot at, according to the testimony.

It has also been gruesome, such as when law enforcement officers testified about finding JJ and Tylees remains buried in Chad Daybells yard. JJs body had been wrapped in duct tape and plastic, and Tylees remains had been destroyed and burned with her bones showing evidence of chopping or stabbing marks, the witnesses said. Hair belonging to Vallow Daybell was found on a piece of duct tape used to wrap JJ, a DNA analyst testified.

Vallow Daybells defense did not call any witnesses, and Vallow Daybell declined to testify. Instead, Archibald asserted that prosecutors had not proven their case, suggesting that there was not enough evidence to find beyond a reasonable doubt that she committed a crime.

Of the 15,000 texts you have in evidence, show me one where Lori is part of that conspiracy, Archibald said in closing arguments.

The case began in July 2019, when Vallow Daybells then-husband, Charles Vallow, was shot and killed by her brother, Alex Cox, at his home in a Phoenix suburb. Lori and Charles were estranged, and he had filed divorce documents claiming that she believed she was a goddess sent to usher in the Biblical apocalypse.

At the time, Cox told police he acted in self-defense, and he was never charged in connection with the death. Cox died later that year of what authorities determined were natural causes. Lori Vallow Daybell was later charged in Arizona in connection with Charles Vallows death; she has not yet had the opportunity to enter a plea in that case.

According to prosecutors, Vallow Daybell was already in a relationship with Chad Daybell, who was still married to his wife, Tammy Daybell, at the time. She moved to eastern Idaho with her brother and children to be closer to Chad Daybell.

The children were last seen alive in September of 2019. Police discovered they were missing a month later after an extended family member became worried that she wasnt able to get ahold of JJ. Their bodies were found the following summer.

The case has garnered widespread interest not just in Idaho but around the world, and the judge banned cameras from the courtroom in an effort to limit pretrial publicity. The trial was also moved to the capital city of Boise, where 1,800 potential jurors were called and winnowed to a panel of 18 people.

By Rebecca Boone
IN DEPTH: Federal COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates End, Prompting Relief

President Joe Bidens remaining COVID-19 vaccine mandates have been rescinded, marking the end of requirements supporters say saved lives but critics say were unsupported by science.

The U.S. governments mandates for federal workers, federal contractors, and many foreign travelers ended at 12:01 a.m. on May 12.

I feel a lot of relief and peace, not wondering about my career and my livelihood, a Department of Defense civilian employee, who is not being identified because he fears repercussions for speaking out, told The Epoch Times.

The employee filed for medical and religious exemptions to the federal worker mandate but was in limbo because neither had been adjudicated before U.S. courts blocked the mandate.

Groups fighting the mandates filed several successful challenges that resulted in mandates being struck down or blocked. The groups will seek to continue the litigation to try to ensure the government cant impose similar requirements in the future.

Ending the mandates is a step in the right direction, Marcus Thornton, president of Feds for Medical Freedom, one of the groups, told The Epoch Times. But we still have a long way to go.

Biden said in an order this week that the plunge in COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths led to the mandates ending.

We no longer need a government-wide vaccination requirement for federal employees or federally specified safety protocols for federal contractors. Vaccination remains an important tool to protect individuals from serious illness, but we are now able to move beyond these federal requirements, the president said.

The White House said the mandates bolstered vaccination across the nation, and our broader vaccination campaign has saved millions of lives. Many workers covered by the mandates received a vaccine. As far as the claim about saving so many lives, a White House spokesperson pointed to a modeling study that simulated how the pandemic would have unfolded without vaccination.

The mandates, though, meant that many younger people were forced to get vaccinated without a clear benefit-risk calculus, Martin Kulldorff, a professor of medicine on leave from Harvard Medical School, told The Epoch Times. That meant fewer doses available to the elderly.

By mandating the vaccines to younger people and those with natural immunity from having had COVID, older people in the U.S. and other countries did not have access to them, and many people might have died because of that, Kulldorff said.

Mandates Imposed

The mandates were imposed by Biden or under his direction in 2021. He cited data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that suggested the vaccines reduced the risk of infection, hospitalization, and death. The observational data is largely published without peer review and has been criticized by some experts as insufficient to support mandates because they do not show that vaccines prevent transmission.

The sweeping mandates affected wide swaths of the population, including some 2.9 million federal workers and more than 10 million people who work at health care facilities certified by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

This is a pandemic of the unvaccinated. And its caused by the fact that despite America having an unprecedented and successful vaccination program  we still have nearly 80 million Americans who have failed to get the shot, Biden told America in a prepared speech on Sept. 9, 2021. The president had said previously he would not mandate vaccination.

People who objected to vaccination for religious or medical reasons could apply for exceptions, though many were denied. No exceptions were available for people with robust post-COVID protection, known as natural immunity.

Critics said the mandates didnt make sense in light of how vaccinated people still get sick and spread the virus that causes COVID-19, especially for the naturally immune, who had similar or better protection.

The idea that they were requiring those folks who already had the high antibody levels to get a mandatory vaccine was contrary to science, Mark Chenoweth, president of the New Civil Liberties Alliance, told The Epoch Times.

Some federal workers were terminated over their refusal to get vaccinated, according to Feds for Medical Freedom, including workers with the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is keeping its mandate in place. The White House did not respond to a request for how many workers were fired in total.

The mandates were not rescinded even as a growing amount of data, including data from the CDC, identified shortcomings in the vaccines as Omicron and its subvariants emerged in late 2021. The latest CDC data indicate vaccines bestow transient protection against symptomatic infection and hospitalization, and some studies have found that vaccinated people are more likely to become infected over time.

The CDC also advised in 2022 that COVID-19 prevention recommendations should no longer differentiate based on a persons vaccination status because breakthrough infections occur, though they are generally mild, and persons who have had COVID-19 but are not vaccinated have some degree of protection against severe illness from their previous infection.

Biden said this week that when he issued the mandates he was relying on the best available data and guidance from our public health experts. That group includes Walensky, the CDC director told Congress this month.

Biden attributed high vaccination rates among covered workers98 percent of federal workers either received at least one dose of a vaccine or had a pending or approved exemption requestto the requirements.

Syringes containing the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine in Needham, Mass., in a 2022 file photograph. (Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images)

Blocked by Courts

Bidens mandates originally affected some 100 million people, but the most consequential one that targeted private businesses was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Justices said the Department of Labor had not been authorized by Congress to impose a vaccine-or-test requirement on private businesses. That mandate covered some 80 million people.

The nations top court also upheld the health care worker mandate. That mandate was originally said to affect more than 17 million workers at facilities that get paid by Medicare or Medicaid, but the estimate was revised down to 10.7 million by CMS.

A different court blocked the federal employee mandate, ruling in favor of Feds for Medical Freedom, a coalition of more than 8,000 government workers. Biden was without statutory authority to issue the federal worker mandate, a federal judge said. That ruling has been upheld twice.

Biden also lacked the authority to issue the federal contractor mandate, a different judge ruled as he entered an injunction. An appeals court panel lifted the injunction for parts of the country, but the full court reinstated the block.

To allow this mandate to remain in place would be to ratify an enormous and transformative expansion in the presidents power under the Procurement Act, the majority said. Under Supreme Court precedent, this court cannot permit such a mandate to remain in place absent a clear statement by Congress that it wishes to endow the presidency with such power.

Foreign Traveler Mandate

One mandate, promulgated under Bidens direction, was never blocked.

The mandate, issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Nov. 8, 2021, required that foreigners provide proof of being fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to travel to the United States.

I have determined that it is in the interests of the United States to move away from the country-by-country restrictions previously applied during the COVID-19 pandemic and to adopt an air travel policy that relies primarily on vaccination to advance the safe resumption of international air travel to the United States, Biden said at the time.

The restrictions applied to nonimmigrant noncitizens, with exceptions available for certain groups, including children.

Fully vaccinated meant two shots of certain vaccines and one shot of others, with the requirements being eased in April.

When implementing the order, the CDC cited its own, non-peer-reviewed data as it said that Studies so far show that vaccinated people are five times less likely to be infected and more than 10 times less likely to experience hospitalization or death than people who are not fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

The agency also claimed that vaccination reduces the risk of COVID-19 virus transmission but provided no citations. When asked for evidence the vaccines fully prevented transmission, as CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky has claimed, the CDC pointed to a study in which researchers said the vaccines might reduce transmission.

The clinical trials of the vaccines did not measure efficacy against transmission. The vaccines were authorized to prevent infection, but were never 100 percent effective.

Jessica Rose, an immunologist based outside the United States, was prevented by the mandate from traveling to America for events to which she was invited, including a panel discussion on Capitol Hill in Washington. She also wanted to go see her closest friend, who lives in Texas, but has been unable due to the requirements.

Rose plans to travel to the United States after the mandate is dropped.

I need to do a tour, Rose told The Epoch Times, and just make my way through the people whose invitations I had to turn down.
IN-DEPTH: Legislation Intended to Ban TikTok Can Be a Doubleedged Sword for US Citizens Freedom: Experts

The social media application logo for TikTok is displayed on the screen of an iPhone in front of a U.S. flag and Chinese flag background in Washington, D.C., on March 16, 2023. (Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images)

The Senate bill introduced with the intention to ban TikTok over security concerns could potentially infringe on U.S. citizens freedoms, according to a communication technology provider and experts.

There are attempts to regulate communications tools due to threats posed by technologies connected to foreign adversaries, such as Chinese-owned TikTok, a popular video-sharing app with 150 million users in America.

A bipartisan bill, dubbed the RESTRICT Act, empowers the secretary of commerce to review foreign-linked communication technology products and services like social media apps and to take necessary action if those technologies pose any risk to U.S. national security or the safety of U.S. persons.

The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), does not mention TikTok by name but is intended to target the app, the sponsors said.

The RESTRICT Act comprehensively addresses the ongoing threat posed by technology from foreign adversaries by better empowering the Department of Commerce to review, prevent, and mitigate ICT (information, communications, and technology) transactions that pose an undue risk, Warner and Thune said in a statement.

The challenges addressed by the legislation also include apps from vendors in China, such as WeChat and Alibabas Alipay, according to the statement. The lawmakers pointed out a lack of consistent policies to identify threats posed by foreign communication products and insufficient powers to address those threats, the statement said.

Congress needs to stop taking a piecemeal approach when it comes to technology from adversarial nations that pose national security risks, Thune said in a statement. Im pleased to work with Senator Warner to establish a holistic, methodical approach to address the threats posed by technology platformslike TikTokfrom foreign adversaries.

The legislation has also been endorsed by the White House.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said that the RESTRICT Act is one of the things we will look at, for sure, at a press conference on May 3.

TikTok

Gordon Chang, an expert on China and China-U.S. relations at Gatestone Institute and a proponent of the legislation, wrote that TikTok has not only been used by the Chinese communist regime to steal user data and send it to China, but it is also a propaganda tool at the hands of the regime.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has used TikTok to, among other things, glorify drug use, push critical race theory, and amplify Russian disinformation about the war in Ukraine. The CCP does not allow the Chinese people to use the app. TikToks twin site in China, Douyin, promotes patriotic themes, Chang said.

The Chinese Peoples Liberation Army intelligence unit worked out of the Houston consulatelater closed by the Trump Administrationto identify Americans likely to participate in Black Lives Matter and Antifa protests in 2020 and sent them videos on TikTok regarding how to organize riots, Chang wrote.

TikTok is a very problematic application that is a surveillance nightmare. It is clearly sending information to China that poses a national security threat, said Bill Ottman, co-founder and CEO of the Minds social media network.

But the RESTRICT Act could potentially be used to fine people in the United States for using virtual private networks (VPNs), Ottman told EpochTVs American Thought Leaders program. Its just such a great example of the hijacking of a good cause.

VPNs give users online privacy and anonymity by creating a private network from a public internet connection.

VPN Provider Has Concerns

A spokesperson for Private Internet Access (PIA), a popular VPN provider, said, according to a company blog, Prohibiting the use of certain technologies or social media sites bleakly opposes the vision of an open and free digital world and raises serious concerns about the future of digital freedom in the U.S.

The terminology used in the RESTRICT Act is far too broad,  Kristin Hassel, an Information Systems Specialist at PIA, said in the blog.

Hassel singled out a definition of a category of technology product or services, such as apps, that pose an undue or unacceptable risk of coercive or criminal activities by a foreign adversary with a goal to undermine democratic processes and institutions or steer policy and regulatory decisions in favor of foreign adversaries.

According to Hassel, part of the definition of this category about steering policy and regulatory decisions in favor of foreign governments is vague at best.

It could easily be misinterpreted or, worse, be used to justify anything considered in opposition to U.S. policy and regulatory decisions, Hassel said in the blog.

Moreover, the legislation lacks concrete rules regarding the digital privacy of U.S. citizens during app review, Hassel noted. App monitoring as covered under the RESTRICT Act could lead to large-scale surveillance of U.S. citizens online activity.

The legislation also fails to adequately address content manipulation, which is a primary reason why so many of these apps and services are an issue in the first place, the blogger said.

Hassel also found it worrisome that in order to trigger the assessment of a potential national security risk of an online service under the RESTRICT Act, the government only needs to have data on at least 1 million U.S. residents, which is less than 1 percent of the population.

Those who breach the RESTRICT Act will face penalties of up to $1 million fine or up to 20 years in prison.

Expert Opinions

The Mises Institute raises concerns that the definition of the information and communications technology products and services that can pose a security threat under the RESTRICT Act, as defined by the bill, is expansive and unspecific.

They range from desktop applications, mobile apps, web-based applications, payment platforms, and gaming systems to webcams, Wi-Fi networks, drone cameras, home surveillance systems, and even biotechnology, according to Mises, a research center focused on free market economics and libertarian thought.

Jason Kelley and David Greene, directors at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), said that the foundation opposes the RESTRICT Act. The reasons for opposition are that the bill seeks to protect data from foreign adversaries, the directors said. But under our current data privacy laws, there are many domestic adversaries engaged in manipulative and invasive data collection as well.

The EFF advocated legislation that would prohibit foreign and domestic social media companies from collecting, retaining, and selling user data, Kelley and Greene said, arguing that such a law would prevent foreign adversaries from obtaining consumer social media data.

The RESTRICT Act also gives the government broad power to punish any person for using VPN to get a prohibited app, e.g., TikTok, or using other means to obtain it, Kelley and Greene said. They stated, however, that the U.S. government had not shared information justifying the ban of TikTok.

The directors do not believe that the RESTRICT Act would allow the government to surveil user devices. Still, they pointed out that the power given to the government to investigate potential user data is too broadly described.

The EFF is a donor-funded nonprofit organization defending civil liberties in the digital world, according to its website. Among the organizations donors is Open Society Foundations, funded by George Soros.

Labeling Apps



Regulation in this realm [information and communication technology] is so risky, so it has to be very sensitively crafted, Ottman said, suggesting that apps in the app stores could be labeled for whats going on with them.

App labels can indicate whether an app is surveillance-based or user data is funneled to other countries if it is open source and how it preserves privacy, similarly to how Twitter started labeling media companies, Ottman said.

In April, Twitter began labeling certain media organizations  accounts as state-affiliated or government-founded, but it dropped the labels in a couple of weeks following the backlash from those media.

A large majority of apps in the app store have surveillance mechanisms in them, including applications developed by U.S.-based companies, Ottman pointed out, stressing the need for consistent standards for apps regardless of their country of origin.

It is not known what Big Tech companies do with data behind the scenes, Ottman said. They could be selling that data, he added.

People think that because a company is in the United States, it would never betray their interests, Ottman said. But the likely reality is that they [companies in the U.S.] are betraying our interests. In fact, it could be more nefarious.

More sensible legislation would be an encrypt act, where youre actually protecting citizens, mandating end-to-end encryption throughout the government, and then educating people about the dangers of surveillance applications in the app stores, Ottman suggested.

Jan Jekielek contributed to this report.
Engineering vehicles are busy at a construction site of Hungary-Serbia railway project in Szabadszallas, Hungary, Feb. 22, 2023. At the offices, construction sites, or even out in the fields, experts, workers from different parts of the world joined together for their common goal that is to build and upgrade the railway linking Budapest in Hungary to Belgrade in Serbia, a major project under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), symbolizing deep cooperation between China and Europe. The project, aiming to help the two countries build logistics hubs and enhance the construction of infrastructures to boost the economic development, will significantly shorten the traveling time for passengers and cargo from the two cities when completed. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)

Engineering vehicles are busy at a construction site of Hungary-Serbia railway project in Szabadszallas, Hungary, Feb. 22, 2023. At the offices, construction sites, or even out in the fields, experts, workers from different parts of the world joined together for their common goal that is to build and upgrade the railway linking Budapest in Hungary to Belgrade in Serbia, a major project under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), symbolizing deep cooperation between China and Europe. The project, aiming to help the two countries build logistics hubs and enhance the construction of infrastructures to boost the economic development, will significantly shorten the traveling time for passengers and cargo from the two cities when completed. (Photo by Attila Volgyi/Xinhua)

Engineering vehicles are busy at a construction site of Hungary-Serbia railway project in Szabadszallas, Hungary, Feb. 22, 2023. At the offices, construction sites, or even out in the fields, experts, workers from different parts of the world joined together for their common goal that is to build and upgrade the railway linking Budapest in Hungary to Belgrade in Serbia, a major project under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), symbolizing deep cooperation between China and Europe. The project, aiming to help the two countries build logistics hubs and enhance the construction of infrastructures to boost the economic development, will significantly shorten the traveling time for passengers and cargo from the two cities when completed. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)

Chen Zhongliang looks on at a construction site of Hungary-Serbia railway project in Delegyhaza, Hungary, Feb. 22, 2023. Chen Zhongliang from Shenyang of China arrived in Budapest in August 2019 and joined the Hungary-Serbia railway project. As a chief engineering officer at the project, he is in charge of management work related to design, technology, engineering and skills training. At the offices, construction sites, or even out in the fields, experts, workers from different parts of the world joined together for their common goal that is to build and upgrade the railway linking Budapest in Hungary to Belgrade in Serbia, a major project under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), symbolizing deep cooperation between China and Europe. The project, aiming to help the two countries build logistics hubs and enhance the construction of infrastructures to boost the economic development, will significantly shorten the traveling time for passengers and cargo from the two cities when completed. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)

Workers carry electrical conduits at a construction site of Hungary-Serbia railway project in Szabadszallas, Hungary, Feb. 22, 2023. At the offices, construction sites, or even out in the fields, experts, workers from different parts of the world joined together for their common goal that is to build and upgrade the railway linking Budapest in Hungary to Belgrade in Serbia, a major project under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), symbolizing deep cooperation between China and Europe. The project, aiming to help the two countries build logistics hubs and enhance the construction of infrastructures to boost the economic development, will significantly shorten the traveling time for passengers and cargo from the two cities when completed. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)

Ambrusch Tamas (L) speaks to colleagues at a construction site of Hungary-Serbia railway project in Szabadszallas, Hungary, Feb. 22, 2023. Ambrusch Tamas works as a chief construction manager at the Hungary-Serbia railway project. The size, scale and diversity of the project impress him most during his work. Working with colleagues from different parts of the world, Tamas believes that railway is their common language. The project includes not only the construction of a railway, but also the building of roads and many facilities, which means many job opportunities for local people, according to Tamas. At the offices, construction sites, or even out in the fields, experts, workers from different parts of the world joined together for their common goal that is to build and upgrade the railway linking Budapest in Hungary to Belgrade in Serbia, a major project under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), symbolizing deep cooperation between China and Europe. The project, aiming to help the two countries build logistics hubs and enhance the construction of infrastructures to boost the economic development, will significantly shorten the traveling time for passengers and cargo from the two cities when completed. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)

Bartha Gyorgy Janos works at China Railway Electrification Engineering Group (Hungary) Kft. in Budapest, Hungary, Feb. 22, 2023. Bartha Gyorgy Janos works as a deputy director of office at China Railway Electrification Engineering Group (Hungary) Kft. He joined the Hungary-Serbia railway project in January 2020 as a translator and interpreter. As the work expands, Gyorgy now leads a translation team of five members. The translation work at the project includes much knowledge on railway specialties, which made Gyorgy feel fulfilled. The project may help Hungary become a logistic hub in Central and Eastern Europe, according to Gyorgy. At the offices, construction sites, or even out in the fields, experts, workers from different parts of the world joined together for their common goal that is to build and upgrade the railway linking Budapest in Hungary to Belgrade in Serbia, a major project under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), symbolizing deep cooperation between China and Europe. The project, aiming to help the two countries build logistics hubs and enhance the construction of infrastructures to boost the economic development, will significantly shorten the traveling time for passengers and cargo from the two cities when completed. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)

Chen Zhongliang (R) works with colleagues at a construction site of Hungary-Serbia railway project in Delegyhaza, Hungary, Feb. 22, 2023. Chen Zhongliang from Shenyang of China arrived in Budapest in August 2019 and joined the Hungary-Serbia railway project. As a chief engineering officer at the project, he is in charge of management work related to design, technology, engineering and skills training. At the offices, construction sites, or even out in the fields, experts, workers from different parts of the world joined together for their common goal that is to build and upgrade the railway linking Budapest in Hungary to Belgrade in Serbia, a major project under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), symbolizing deep cooperation between China and Europe. The project, aiming to help the two countries build logistics hubs and enhance the construction of infrastructures to boost the economic development, will significantly shorten the traveling time for passengers and cargo from the two cities when completed. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)

Engineering vehicles are busy at a construction site of Hungary-Serbia railway project in Delegyhaza, Hungary, Feb. 22, 2023. At the offices, construction sites, or even out in the fields, experts, workers from different parts of the world joined together for their common goal that is to build and upgrade the railway linking Budapest in Hungary to Belgrade in Serbia, a major project under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), symbolizing deep cooperation between China and Europe. The project, aiming to help the two countries build logistics hubs and enhance the construction of infrastructures to boost the economic development, will significantly shorten the traveling time for passengers and cargo from the two cities when completed. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)

New railway tracks are seen at a construction site of Hungary-Serbia railway project in Kiskunlachaza, Hungary, Feb. 22, 2023. At the offices, construction sites, or even out in the fields, experts, workers from different parts of the world joined together for their common goal that is to build and upgrade the railway linking Budapest in Hungary to Belgrade in Serbia, a major project under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), symbolizing deep cooperation between China and Europe. The project, aiming to help the two countries build logistics hubs and enhance the construction of infrastructures to boost the economic development, will significantly shorten the traveling time for passengers and cargo from the two cities when completed. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)

Chen Zhongliang (R) instructs the work at a construction site of Hungary-Serbia railway project in Delegyhaza, Hungary, Feb. 22, 2023. Chen Zhongliang from Shenyang of China arrived in Budapest in August 2019 and joined the Hungary-Serbia railway project. As a chief engineering officer at the project, he is in charge of management work related to design, technology, engineering and skills training. At the offices, construction sites, or even out in the fields, experts, workers from different parts of the world joined together for their common goal that is to build and upgrade the railway linking Budapest in Hungary to Belgrade in Serbia, a major project under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), symbolizing deep cooperation between China and Europe. The project, aiming to help the two countries build logistics hubs and enhance the construction of infrastructures to boost the economic development, will significantly shorten the traveling time for passengers and cargo from the two cities when completed. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)
IN-DEPTH: North Carolina Parents Outraged Over School Librarian, Staff Promoting Explicit Books

This screenshot shows a school librarian and other staff members of Palisades High School in Charlotte, N.C., in a TikTok video promoting books with sexually explicit content for a campaign encouraging students to read banned books. (Courtesy of Brooke Weiss)

Parents of students at a North Carolina High School are calling for the termination of a school librarian and an investigation into teachers endorsing age-inappropriate literature through an advocacy campaign to promote what the American Library Association (ALA) classifies as banned books.

The ALA group Unite Against Book Bans, which itself created the Right to Read Day, launched an initiative for high school students to make their own public service announcement (PSA) about why books shouldnt be banned.

As an example, Palisades High School staff, including the schools media coordinator Meghan Sanford, were in a TikTok video promoting various books that have been challenged for explicit content.

The winner of the PSA challenge would get to be the principal for the day. The contest was canceled after parents complained, though the books remain in the library.

Though the videos have now been deleted, parent Wendy Hawley, who spoke with The Epoch Times, took screenshots and included them in a document with email exchanges between her and school officials, as well as descriptions of the contents of the books (pdf).

In a letter she sent to the school board, Hawley said recruiting children to participate in a taxpayer-funded political activist campaign to make pornographic material more accessible to minors sends the message that if you promote profanity, explicit material, pornography, and the LGBTQ agenda you are granted a leadership position.

School Staff Promote Explicit Material

In the promotional video for the campaign, Sanford read from All Boys Arent Blue, a young adult nonfiction collection of essays detailing graphic sexual encounters between two young men. Another staff member read from Flamer, a graphic novel depicting the sexual encounters of a boy in middle school.

In The Bluest Eye, another staff members selection, the author describes child sexual abuse in graphic detail.

These authors leave nothing to the imagination in their writing.

Initially, Hawley said her emails to the school board were bounced back to her by the districts email server because of the profanity in the material she included.

Though the program was shut down after Hawley contacted the superintendent, books can only be removed from the library by a petition to the media advisory committee, which is made up of Sanford and the school principal, Erik Olejarczyk, Hawley said.

In an email to parents, Olejarczyk said the assignment was to encourage exploration of a variety of reading material, but that the competition has proven to be a distraction in the learning environment of the school, and therefore we will not be moving forward with it.

In her letter, Hawley asked for an investigation into why the competition was allowed and for disciplinary action to be taken against staff who participated in the TikTok video.

I am concerned for my minor childs safety because all of the teachers pictured below are pushing explicit child pornography, when will their obsession turn to action or has it already? Hawley asked in an email.

School Response

Nicollete Grant, the Southwest Learning Community Superintendent for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS), said the staff didnt challenge students to read specific books but asked the students to critically evaluate why some books are banned.

The analysis of the reasons why books are banned aligned with the American History classs study of book banning during WWII, Grant wrote in an email responding to objections to the program.

Because the TikTok video showed staff members reading specific books with an invitation to check one of them out at the school library, Hawley said this explanation is a lie, adding that there were no hashtags for WWII, only for #LGBTQIA, #banned, #explicit, #profanity, and #abuseawareness.

Hawley said Sanford pushed these books before when she attempted to hold a National Right to Read Day for transgender children, but the event was shut down after parents complained.

If I offered one of these books to a child on the street I would go to jail, Hawley said.

Both the school code of conduct and state law prohibits obscene literature and exhibitions.

According to state statute, its a felony for anyone 18 or older to disseminate pornographic material to adolescents 16 and under. In addition, its illegal for any person, firm or corporation to create, buy, procure, or possess pornographic material with intent to distribute.

Not Banning Books

Nationwide, there has been a debate over whether age-inappropriate, sexually-charged books found in taxpayer-funded school libraries need to be removed.

Mainstream media platforms have framed the effort as censorship, or the banning of books.

Even in Sanfords own presentation found in Hawleys collection of documents, she said, There have been record-breaking attempts to ban books in recent years throughout the U.S. Ban attempts, AKA challenges, have gone up from 500 in 2019 to over 1,500 in 2022.

Sanford included an ABC News article citing an ALA report claiming 2022 was a record year for book banning with more than 1,200 challenges to books.

Ive never seen anything like this, Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the ALAs Office for Intellectual Freedom, told ABC News. The last two years have been exhausting, frightening, outrage-inducing.

ALA President Lessa Kananiopua Pelayo-Lozada said in a statement to ABC News that librarians sit down with parents every day to decide what children need to be reading.

Now, many library workers face threats to their employment, their personal safety, and in some cases, threats of prosecution for providing books to youth they and their parents want to read, Pelayo-Lozada said.

The problem with this argument, Hawley contends, is that neither she nor any parents shes aware of are calling for the banning of books.

I just dont think pornography should be available in schools funded by our taxpayer dollars, she said. Its not age-appropriate content. They can go to the public library to check it out, or their parents can go buy the book for them if they want them to have this book.

Efforts Compared to Third Reich

Brooke Weiss, chair of the Mecklenburg County chapter of Moms for Liberty and vice chair of the groups North Carolina legislative committee, spoke with The Epoch Times, agreeing with Hawleys clarification on not wanting to ban books.

Comparing parents efforts to restrict explicit books in public schools to the Third Reichs book banning in 1930s Germany is out of line, Weiss said.

At the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School Board meeting on May 9, Weiss spoke during public comment.

Theres a difference between book banning and insisting that their child doesnt have unfettered access to sexually explicit material in schools, she said.

As a Jewish woman, Weiss told the board she takes great offense.

Dont ever compare me as a parent insisting on age-appropriate material to what the Third Reich did to my people in Germany, Weiss said. Dont ever do that.

Screenshot of Brooke Weiss speaking against sexually explicit books at the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School Board meeting in Charlotte, N.C., on May 9, 2023. (Courtesy of Brooke Weiss)

Weiss work with Moms for Liberty advocating against school curriculums that promote critical race theory and the sexualization of children has brought her before multiple school board meetings over the last two years amid the a growing trend of age-inappropriate content surfacing in school libraries.

Frequently, shes been told school officials werent aware of the books in the library, she told The Epoch Times.

Until now, shes also thought only a few teachers were pushing the books.

I was shocked to find out that an entire English department was encouraging kids to read these books, Weiss said. They cant say they didnt know anymore. The staff at this school are actively promoting minor children reading age-inappropriate, explicit material.

It Will Damage Them

Wendy Hawleys husband, Chad Hawley, spoke at the school board meeting, and called the promotion of the books to minor students criminal behavior.

The books arent the problem, he said. We cant stop these books from being written. You cant do it; I cant do it. But we can put a stop to the reviewers that are reviewing these books and the content that they are approving.

Hawley proceeded to read excerpts from a book before calling for the termination of the librarian and an investigation into the staff who are promoting this pedophilia, rape, and incest.

Screenshot of Chad Hawley speaking against age-inappropriate books at the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School Board meeting in Charlotte, N.C., on May 9, 2023. (Courtesy of Brooke Weiss)

Parent Kesha Drake spoke after Hawley, stating that she was shaken by his readings.

I would never sit down with my 17-year-old son and say, Lets read this together,' Drake said. It is so disgusting. Im sorry Im so emotional right now because this right here is the worst of the worst.

She said students can be taught about anatomy and the functions of body parts without going into explicit, sexual detail.

It will damage them, she said. Pornography will damage a child. They will grow up and be just like the people that are promoting it.

Referring to writing about explicit sexual abuse, Drake said one can just write girl molested, instead of taking it any further.

A girl molestedyou know where that goes, she said. These books are so explicit it is ridiculous. You cant even listen to music nowadays. This is way worse than what Ive ever heard in music. And were talking about high school kids that are still developing.

Screenshot of Kesha Drake speaking against age-inappropriate books at the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School Board meeting in Charlotte, N.C., on May 9, 2023. (Courtesy of Brooke Weiss)

In the meeting, interim Superintendent Crystal Hill said staff is in the process of making changes to the policies regulating the selection of library media center and supplementary instructional materials to support academic achievement, equity, and standardization throughout Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools by assuring that each schools collection includes materials chosen from a list of core selection.

Book Rating System

In a later phone interview, Weiss stressed her opposition to banning books and proposed instead a rating system like what movies, television, and video games have.

All that happens now is a book is classified as adult fiction, which tells you nothing, Weiss said. When you watch a movie, a rating comes on and tells you if theres explicit content. I want books to have the same rating.

The Epoch Times contacted the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School System and the ALA for comment.
IN-DEPTH: Rep. Jordan to Grill Ex-Prosecutor Over His Trump Book

In a closed-door session on May 12, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and the House Judiciary Committee will grill prosecutor-turned-author Mark Pomerantz about the New York criminal probe of former President Donald Trump.

Much of what Pomerantz is likely to say is already laid out in a 287-page expose he published earlier this year. But unknowns include what action Jordans committee might take afterwardand what ethical or legal ramifications Pomerantz himself might face.

Jordans committee is trying to determine whether a Democrat-led office was politically motivated in pursuing charges against the Republican former president.

The committee is also considering legislation to block local and state authorities from targeting current or former presidents. Instead, such cases would be handled in federal courts, which is what Trumps legal team argues should happen with his case.

By publishing his unauthorized tell-all amid an active investigation, Pomerantz set himself up for the scrutiny he now faces, New York white-collar crime lawyer Michael Scotto told The Epoch Times.

A former prosecutor, Scotto said if he were on Jordans team, Scotto would try to get Pomerantz to attest to assertions in the book under oath. Then Scotto would assert that Pomerantz waived any privileges to other communications between executives of the office due to his public disclosures.

And if I was representing Mr. Pomerantz, Id say, Get in a time machine and dont write the book,' Scotto said.

Advice for Jordans Committee

David Zuckerman, a contributor to the American Thinker, says Jordans committee should focus its examination of Pomerantz on concerns that prosecutors abuse their power when they use personal animosity as the guiding force of prosecutions.

He said the committee should consider the words of Robert Jackson, a former U.S. attorney general, who later became a Supreme Court justice.

A prosecutors most dangerous power is his authority to pick people that he thinks he should get, rather than pick cases that need to be prosecuted, Jackson said.

With the law books filled with a great assortment of crimes, a prosecutor stands a fair chance of finding at least a technical violation of some act on the part of almost anyone, Jackson said in remarks delivered in 1940.

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) speaks during the House Judiciary Committee hearing on Policing Practices and Law Enforcement Accountability at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, on June 10, 2020. (Michael Reynolds/Pool/Getty Images)

Dual Role

In a somewhat strange twist, when the Judiciary Committee questions Pomerantz, a representative of District Attorney (DA) Alvin Braggs office will sit alongside him. The DAs office could also be seeking legal or disciplinary action against him because of his book.

Scotto, who worked in the Manhattan DAs office long before Bragg became its leader a year ago, said one of Braggs assistant prosecutors stated that the New York City Department of Investigations (DOI) had been contacted about Pomerantzs book. Whether it is an investigation and its status are unknown.

The Epoch Times sought comment from the DOI and Pomerantzs law firm.

While the seemingly dual role of Braggs office in the Pomerantz hearing before the Judiciary panel might appear odd, Scotto said, the General Counsel is likely there to protect DA Braggs privileges, and not Mr. Pomerantz.

Get-Trump Agenda Denied

By publishing revelations about machinations of the Trump probe, Pomerantz may have run afoul of attorney ethical rules or even a New York law, Scotto and others say.

Published three months ago, People vs. Donald Trump traces the tortured path that the Trump investigation took during 2021-22. During that time, Pomerantz served as an unpaid special assistant district attorney. According to his book, he brought focus and order to a chaotic, disorganized investigation.

In the book, Pomerantz asserts that politics werent discussed as he and the DAs team worked on the Trump case. However, in several passages, Pomerantz is critical of Trump and expresses disdain for him.

Experienced as both a prosecutor and a defense lawyer, Pomerantz came out of retirement to help with the Trump probe. He was tapped for his expertise in handling high-profile, complex financial crime cases.

Pomerantz admits he had little regard for Trump or his business ethics but denies pursuing a get-Trump agenda. Instead, Pomerantz said he was motivated to work on a fascinating case of great import.

He became convinced that Trump had committed crimes. But shortly after taking office in 2022, the new DA, Bragg, declined to prosecute Trump. As a result, Pomerantz and fellow Trump investigator Carey Dunne resigned. Pomerantz blamed Bragg for a grave failure of justice.

A year later, despite the DAs protestations, Pomerantz released his book. Scotto thinks Pomerantz may have written the book to help goad the DAs office into charging Trump.

In April, two months after Pomerantz published his book, Bragg announced that Trump had been indicted on 34 felonies. Bragg has denied political motivations, and the former president denies accusations of falsifying business records.

Book Spawned Concerns

Days before the books release, the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys (APA) sent a seven-page letter to Braggs office, responding to the DAs concerns about the possible consequences of Pomerantzs revelations.

All [attorneys], including prosecutors, are prohibited from publicly opining on the guilt of any person, the letter says. Such a breach could result in a formal complaint to the state bar association that he has violated his ethical duties.

The attorney could be suspended or terminated from practicing law, depending upon the severity, motive, frequency of these statements, as well as any benefit, such as a book, that is sought to be gained by the lawyer, the letter said.

Its unclear whether any such complaint was filed against Pomerantz. The Epoch Times sought comment from the APA.

In light of such ethical rules, Scotto said he was unaware of any other attorney who has written a book about a still-active case.

Scotto and the APA point out that New York City Charter Section 2604 forbids public servants from disclosing any confidential informationwhich is not otherwise available to the public or use any such information to advance any direct or indirect financial or other private interest.

However, that section does allow public servants to expose waste, inefficiency, corruption, criminal activity, or conflict of interest.

Former President Donald Trump speaks at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas, Texas, on Aug. 6, 2022. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

In his book, Pomerantz says he became convinced that Trump was engaging in criminal activity. Pomerantzs book says he stayed within ethical bounds by omitting grand jury testimony and information sealed under court orders.

Scotto says he knows of no one who has been prosecuted for violating the anti-disclosure law, which would be a misdemeanor.

Still, Scotto feels uneasy about the book. He started reading it, but quit on page 36, after reading a passage that turned him off.

Pomerantz wrote: The office was the legal equivalent of an old dog that had gone about its routine for years and years. Learning new tricks, or operating at the cutting edge of the criminal law, particularly in a high-profile investigation, was not a prized part of office culture.

Scotto said the arrogance and the inappropriateness of Pomerantzs book turned him off after he read that.

Unable to Thread the Needle

Shortly after joining the DAs team, Pomerantz learned that prosecutors had abandoned the idea of charging Trump in connection with a $130,000 hush-money payment. His ex-lawyer, Michael Cohen, bought the silence of adult film star Stormy Daniels. Her claims of an extramarital affair could have been damaging to Trump if released prior to the 2016 presidential election, so Cohen paid her to keep the story quiet.

Pomerantz said it bothered him that Trump was egging on supporters to chant, Lock her up about his political opponent, Hillary Clinton, while simultaneously engaging in an unsavory hush-money dealand an alleged cover-up of it.

I viewed it as serious criminal conduct, even though it seemed we could not thread the needle of New Yorks antiquated Penal Law to find an appropriate felony charge that was immune from legal challenge, Pomerantz wrote.

After Trump won the election, he allegedly covered up reimbursing Cohen for the hush money with invoices for legal services that Cohen didnt perform.

But, within the DAs office, there were many concerns about the legal sufficiency of such a case, Pomerantzs book says. Because that part of the Trump probe was considered dead and then resurrected, it became known as the zombie case in the DAs office, Pomerantz wrote.

Trump was eventually indicted in connection with Cohens payment to Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.

Stormy Daniels at Linwood Dunn Theater in Los Angeles, Calif., on May 11, 2022. (Phillip Faraone/Getty Images)

Theory Untested

But Scotto and many other legal experts question the wisdom of charging Trump under an untested legal theory. In Trumps case, a New York misdemeanor was elevated to a felony by alleging that it was committed in furtherance of another crime.

The approach, however, isnt novel, Scotto said. He remembers using it while he worked in the DAs office, which he left more than a decade ago.

Still, he questions the wisdom of using this theory in a politically charged case of great significance.

Scotto said bringing a case against a former president, presidential candidate, or anybody whos running for political office must be approached with great care.

You would want it to be a slam dunk so that there wasnt a perception that the case was about anything other than justice being served, he said.

When such a case appears to be built on a shaky foundation, whether you like the former president or not, Scotto said it makes people question: Why is this the case thats been brought?

But Pomerantz said it takes guts to pursue risky cases; there is a large gray area in deciding which cases can be won and which cannot.

Anti-Trump Influence?

Scotto says that, based on what little of the book he read, he suspects that Pomerantzs anti-Trump animus influenced his pursuit of Trumpwhich Pomerantz denies. If you investigate facts, you go where the facts lead you. If you investigate somebody, you know, in many cases, you continue to try to find things to cobble something together, Scotto said.

That may have been what happened here, Scotto says.

Pomerantz said he was excited about his own creative legal theory. Trump, in a tweet, claimed that he was a victim of extortion in the hush-money payment scheme. And Pomerantz wanted to use that against him.

We did not actually have to bring a criminal case against Clifford (or her lawyer), but we would have to allege that Trump had been extorted. If we established the extortion, we could go on to step two: charging Trump with money laundering because he had worked with Cohen to conceal his identity as the source of the extorted funds.

But Pomerantz said the cautious and conservative culture of the DAs office clashed with his creative theorizing.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg speaks during a press conference following the arraignment of former President Donald Trump in New York City on April 4, 2023. (Kena Betancur/Getty Images)

Objectors said that past extortion cases involved threats of physical violence; in contrast, Clifford used her lawyer as a mouthpiece, offering to buy her silence. It was a soft extortion, and therefore might not constitute a crime at all, objectors said, according to Pomerantzs book.

Pomerantz thought there was no substance to these objections.

Pomerantz had a sinking feeling in his stomach after realizing that the money had to qualify as criminal proceeds when Cohen sent it; otherwise, sending it was not money laundering.

Legally, the hush money payment had not become dirty money until Clifford or her lawyer received it, so neither Cohen nor Trump had committed money laundering by sending it, the book says.

And objectors also were dubious about whether Trump had been extorted in the first place, as opposed to simply being the highest bidder for the story that Clifford had threatened to make public, he said.

Zombie Keeps Coming Back

The zombie case went back into the grave in March 2021My novel theory had whiffed, Pomerantz wrote.

He also talks about how it was later resurrected. Meanwhile, the DAs office considered other charges against Trump, too, including allegations that he defrauded Deutsche Bank by inflating his net worth on loan applications. But no one was harmed, and there probably was no way to prove that the bank would have denied the loans if Trump had reported a lower net worth, the book says.

Thus, Pomerantzs pursuit of Trump pivoted back to the zombie case. He describes several meetings in which Bragg and others in the DAs office seemed disinterested in prosecuting Trump.

Pomerantz thinks Bragg may have feared pursuing such a case right out of the gate because it might have defined and ruined his tenure as the new DA.

Toward the end of the book, Pomerantz said he hoped the DAs office does pursue the zombie case.

Scotto thinks the on-again, off-again nature of the case raises serious questions about it.

Its like Pet Sematary, right? Scotto said, referring to the Stephen King horror novel and movie. Most things that die should stay buried.

The fact that the case kept dying and being resurrected again just feeds into the whole narrative that this is a political hit job, Scotto said.
This week on Kashs Corner, we discuss a major new House Oversight memorandum released on Wednesday. Investigators say millions of dollars from China and other foreign entities went to President Joe Biden and nearly a dozen members of his family.

New details have also emerged surrounding the origins of the 51-intel letter discrediting the Hunter Biden laptop story in 2020. The CIA expedited review of the letter for confidential information, allowing former acting CIA director Michael Morell to successfully get it published in Politico just days before the final presidential debate between then-President Donald Trump and Biden, according to a new House Judiciary report. At the debate, then-candidate Biden cited the letter as evidence that the Hunter Biden laptop story was a bunch of garbage.

Furthermore, the report also says that a CIA official helped recruit signers for the letter.



FULL TRANSCRIPT

Kash Patel:

Hey everybody, and welcome back to Kashs Corner. It has been an explosive news week with a verdict in the E. Jean Carroll case in New York, and also with Chairman Comers presentation of evidence and more information from Mike Morell through the House Oversight Committee and Judiciary Committees on the extent of the involvement of the Biden campaign in producing the 51 Intel letter as we call it. Jan, where do you want to kick things off?

Jan Jekielek:

We already covered E. Jean Carroll with your initial reactions in some detail on our new show, American Thought Leaders Now. Thats the Epoch Times show thats going to be coming out throughout the week with very short American Thought Leaders style episodes. But please give me your quick summary on the E. Jean Carroll case.

Mr. Patel:

Absolutely. Jan, congrats on your new show, and I encourage our entire audience and everybody to watch the new show that Jan has over there. Its going to be fun. On the E. Jean Carroll case, it was a New York case that President Trump was found civilly liable for a purported assault that occurred sometime in the nineties, even though the alleged victim in the case, E. Jean Carroll, cant recall the year in which the incident took place. I want to just highlight a few inconsistencies with both the law and the facts and then well move on.

The verdict found President Trump libel not for sexual battery or sexual assault, but for simple battery and for defamation. Legally speaking, from the perspective of a former federal prosecutor and public defender, thats not factually consistent. How can the jury find someone whos accused of sexual assault, guilty of battery, but not the assault itself? Are there any legal deficiencies there? This is what we call jury nullification, Jan.

Its basically a jury disregards the facts from the law and bases a decision on emotion alone. Weve talked about the problems of bringing cases in New York. President Trump has talked about it a lot, whether or not he could receive a fair jury, a fair trial and I think this evidence is a situation in which both the State and the private sector and the jury have combined to reach a verdict that isnt supported by the law.

The other thing I wanted to talk about is that New York State and the law that they were bringing this under, not they New York State, but E. Jean Carroll was bringing this up was a recent change. Theres a statute of limitations on most all criminal cases, which means you have to prosecute someone criminally. This wasnt a criminal case, but you have to within a certain time periodfive, 10, 15, 20 years.

Things like murder dont have a statute of limitations, but remember, were in the civil world. In the civil world, the statute of limitations is even stricter because were talking about monetary judgements that are at stake here, not someones liberties. The law was recently changed in New York to allow someone who is accusing a perpetrator of sexual assault to bring a lawsuit at any time without a statute of limitations. You could bring it 50 years later.

Remember, the reason these statutes of limitation exist is because the courts want these cases brought in a timely fashion. Theyre not saying you have to bring it the next day or week or month or even year. Youve got five or 10 years usually to bring it. So when this case goes on appeal, I think theres going to be a lot to say from both the legal courts to say, is that law constitutional? Did the jury nullify the verdict? Did they act on the law and the facts thats presented?

I think theres a lot of legal questions up in the air and it should and only will be resolved in the appellate process. I do not agree with the verdict based on the facts that were put forth and the evidentiary rulings by the judge in this case, allowing matters that had nothing to do with the alleged assault such as President Trumps statement to a sportscaster from years ago, in my opinion, only prejudiced the jury to say, Please convict Donald Trump of this matter because he said something years unrelated to it. Thats what we call a more prejudicial than probative piece of evidence. Anyway, lots to discuss in this episode. I just want to touch on that real quick.

Mr. Jekielek:

Absolutely. If you want more details, you can look up our recent American Thought Leaders Now episode thats in the American Thought Leaders section on EPOCH TV. Check it out.

Lets jump quickly to this startling and new information in the report before we go to House Oversight. Basically, a CIA official helped recruit signers for this letter that basically said the Hunter Biden laptop had all but earmarked the story, so he had all the earmarks of Russian disinformation. Another startling development, it seems to me.

Mr. Patel:

Yes, what youre talking about is Mike Morell, the former acting head of the CIA, the former deputy director of the CIA. Weve covered him extensively on how he was triggered to produce that 51 Intel letter, what I call the Steele Dossier 2.0. He was triggered at the behest of Tony Blinken. Since weve talked about it last, Jan, Congress has uncovered more emails that show direct engagement from Tony Blinken to the agency and Mike Morell and others about this matter, and well put those up for our audience.

Tony Blinken has a lot of questions to answer because he came out and vociferously said he had nothing to do with that letter. Emails from him to the agency seem to contradict that so hes got a big problem. Ron Johnson, the senator from Wisconsin, has called him out for lying to Congress on it at the very least.

Mr. Jekielek:

What about this letter to Mike Morell?

Mr. Patel:

Right. We had thought it was just that back and forth between Biden Camp and Morell, and then he just went over and got 51 signatures and put it out. But when you are a government employee, and I know this personally, and you produce a manuscript or letter or anything for publication, you have to submit it back to your home agency of last report, for Mike Morell it was the CIA, and say, Im going to put this out. I needed it approved.

That is what is legally required. Whats shocking to me that I learned was, he received almost instantaneous approval, which never happens. Literally overnight. Just to give you an idea, an average manuscript takes three months. Now I know this is a letter and its much shorter, but it still takes months to go out because it has to go to the rest of the Intel community, not just the CIA.

They have to send it out to the NSA, to DOJ, to FBI, to DOD, and all these other agencies for equities checks. Thats the whole reason that exists. Putting aside the fact that they motored through this document to help put out a false narrative to which I think Gina Haspel owes Congress and the American public a whole host of answers as to why she, as director of the CIA, allowed the process to be broken for partisan gain.

Now we have employees under Gina Haspels directorship at the CIA, not only reviewing it, Jan, but taking the document and saying literally, Look at this. I think you, the other CIA operative I know, should sign it and maybe your friend should sign it and I think this is a great idea, Mike Morell. Of course Im exaggerating a little bit, and we could put the letter out for itself in the emails, which we actually now have.

Essentially, the CIA is congratulating Mike Morell for putting together this document and congratulating themselves for moving it through the process with such speed and then getting other people to weigh in on it. Jan, youre probably going to ask me, so what? Whats the big deal? Remember, since its inception in 1947, the CIA has a legal mandate to never interfere domestically, especially with partisan politics.

This letter shows that Gina Haspels CIA broke that mandate, that legal mandate, and did just that. Her employees went out and had signatories added to a letter that they knew contained false information that Mike Morell wanted out for political reasons at the behest of Tony Blinken, at the time then Bidens senior campaign aide so that they could counter the narrative about Hunter Bidens laptop. Remember, thats what it all came down to and the timeline is critical, Jan.

The Blinken contact to Morell is in October, and in a four day span, they have 51 signatories. They have the letter approved from the CIA saying you can publish this information even though its sensitive. The CIA participated in partisan politics and then Candidate Biden used it in a presidential debate and said, Our intelligence community even says my sons laptop is Russian disinformation. That is the definition of election rigging and there better be a whole host of subpoenas going out to Gina Haspel, her leadership team, and every one of those people that have now been identified on that email chain adding signatures to that letter.

Mr. Jekielek:

I want to touch on one thing that you mentioned. You said that they knew it was false, and then you also talked about how they really fast tracked this. I do want to touch on the juxtaposition of how quickly a document like this might have gone through versus how slowly a document like your book is going. But lets talk about that a little bit later.

Mr. Patel:

Sure.

Mr. Jekielek:

Right? At the moment, is there some issue there with the fact that they knew it was false and as a reminder, how did they know that and then that it was fast tracked so quickly?

Mr. Patel:

Thats a great point, Jan. How is it that our intelligence agency, our lead intel agency, was able to determine overnight instantly that Hunter Bidens laptop was Russian disinformation? Did they have the laptop because by all public accounts it was at the FBI lock and key and they hadnt provided it to anyone else because it was supposedly under investigation of Hunter Biden and related evidence, and therefore they had not distributed it to anybody else. Who, at the CIA, authorized such an expeditious review?

Jan, having been in government for 16 years and having handled matters with Gina Haspel, who by the way was station chief in London in 2016, the head intel officer for the United States of America, when the FBI launched its campaign against President Trump to unlawfully surveil him and his colleagues or his campaign advisors, I should say. Remember the whole Papadopoulos incident happened in London under Gina Haspels watch, and it cannot happen without her saying so.

Connecting the dots from her being a political operative back then, in my opinion, to her agency continuing to be a political operative against the same target, President Trump, tells me one of two things. Either everyone at her agency was undercutting her authority and not telling her a single thing about such a high level, high octane matter, or I think the more probable and likely believable is that Gina Haspel and her CIA were coordinated in an effort to continue to target a political candidate and misuse, abuse and break the law as to the mandates of the CIA. There are so many more questions than answers I have right now, and I know everybodys focusing on the contents of the letter and how it rigged the presidential election. But to take a page out of Comers book today, whats the fix? Whats the legislative fix? How did this happen?

How did it happen in 2016? How did it happen under the watchs director of the CIA, and how do we make sure it never happens again? We can only get to that if we hold these people accountable, so whoevers listening in Congress, your subpoenas have only begun. We need more live testimony. You need to get every email of every signatory on that letter and Jan, this is a critical point, the subpoenas need to go out to get every document, every email, every handwritten note, every letter, that back channeled the fast tracking of the 51 Intel letter through the system so we can see who else was in on it, who knew about it, and how far up the chain it went.

Mr. Jekielek:

Yes, with this whole situation, Im with you. There are a lot more questions than answers, but there is an opportunity to get some answers.

Mr. Patel:

Thats what constitutional oversight is for at Congress, right? I dont expect any answers from this DOJ and FBI, and weve talked about that extensively in the past. Why? Weve talked about the two-tier system of Justice, Jan, and it seems to be a common theme, and it doesnt just apply in judicial proceedings. Now were seeing it apply in administrative proceedings outside of the judicial process at agencies like the CIA, the NSA, the DOD; all who had equities in a letter like this that was signed by the 51 Intel heads.

When you see that administrative bifurcation of a system thats supposed to be on one track, you now have a repeated pattern of conduct from Russiagate on forward where you say, its not just in the courts. How come this letter can receive such preferential treatment? Why is it always that President Trump is the target of every single instance of a two-tier system of justice?

Heres the kicker, Jan, and were going to get to this in a minute. How is it that a sitting president, President Biden, the Commander-in-Chief, the head of the DOJ and the IC [Intelligence Community] and all of the U.S. government can come out and declare his sons innocence before the investigation is even concluded? That is the destruction of due process.

Jan Jekielek:

Its interesting that you asked that question because I just sat down with Alan Dershowitz for a very long talk on American Thought Leaders. Its going to be broadcast on Saturday night at 7.30pm and a lot of it is about his book titled,Get Trump. It talks about how all sorts of structures in society, legal and beyond that, have been co-opted by the idea that President Trump was some sort of existential threat, and all sorts of rules and checks and balances could be tossed out to deal with him, so to speakhe makes that case.

Mr. Patel:

Yes. Hes one of the preeminent legal minds and scholars of the time. Im very interested to see what he has to say about all that.

Mr. Jekielek:

Before we jump to the House Oversight Committee work, I wanted to actually ask you about your book because it struck me as you were talking about the fast tracking of this letter. You dont grasp these things unless youre deep in the systemwhat seems very fast and what seems very slow. The flip side of that is, and of course this is with DOD, not with the FBI, is that your book seems to be stuck in limbo, and Im unhappy about that because I want to read it.

Mr. Patel:

I appreciate that, and I wont belabor too much since its about me and my book, but my book is called, Government Gangsters, and as I said, you have to submit it per the requirements of your government tenure back to the government for approval and usually a book takes about three months. I agree with the process, Jan. Its done so you can protect the privacy rights of certain individuals. Its done so you ensure classified information doesnt leak out and things like that.

Its in place for a proper reason, but when folks like Barr and Pompeo, and Ill just give you the facts rather than my opinion on this and let the audience judge for themselves. Former AG Barr, former Secretary Pompeo, former SECDef Esper all had their books reviewed and put out in three months. Former NSA Bolton, he just put his book out and released it with classified information and the DOJ failed to prosecute him upon it.

Having written my book and having my experience, I know it doesnt contain classified information, but its been in limbo for over six months. Were going on month seven of review. Remember, just because it was submitted to the DOD, thats my last position, like the 51 Intel letter was submitted to the CIA, its supposed to go out to all other agencies who have an equity in it.

The FBI most certainly has an equity in both my book and the Intel letter, but why do I have to file a federal lawsuit, go out and hire lawyers, which I just did last week, and Im suing the federal government for the release of my manuscript because they have slow rolled the release of this book, which as you and I have talked about, exposes government corruption and how we solve those problemssome of the problems we just highlighted on this show.

I dont know where its going to go, Jan, but its an example again, of the bifurcation or the preferential treatment of one manuscript versus another document that was submitted for review because of who the target is and because of who might be exposed to have held a high government position but broke the law or broke their oath of office, so well see how it all shakes out.

Mr. Jekielek:

Kash, lets jump to the House Oversight Committee now. In the inaugural episode earlier this week on Wednesday of American Thought Leaders Now, you talked about the need for the House Oversight Committee to provide full banking records. The report which they presented, the so-called banking memo, provides some snippets of this information and frankly, a lot of details.

You talked about why its important to publish the full banking information. You mentioned how its important to release this information to be sure that the committee cant be accused of basically having false information or something like that and then of course, theres also the issue of the whistleblower. Whats your take?

Mr. Patel:

Jan, money doesnt lie. It just doesnt. Ill rewind the tape a little and give you my perspective from the guy that was in charge of running the Russiagate investigation. What did we do? We subpoenaed the banks based upon our sources uncovered during our investigation to find out that the DNC and Hilary had paid for the Steele dossier and laundered it through a law firm with the assistance of Fusion GPS, then tunneled it into the FBI to unlawfully surveil a presidential candidate. Sounds like crazy stuff, right, but we followed the money.

Heres the other thing we did. We put out the Nunes memo outlining akin to what Chairman Comer has done, well call it the Comer banking memo, and we summarized for the American people our investigation to date. I think thats a great first step because as Comer and as then Chairman Nunes and I were talking about, this is thousands of pages of stuff.

Its good to put out a summary on the one hand, but what we also did back then was methodically release the documents in a legal way so that the American public and the world could just see heres the banking document, heres the FISA warrant, heres the FBI 1023 or 302. You all read it for yourselves and see if our summary document holds water.

The summary is important because what the summary shows right now is that there was a years-long campaign between at least two countries and the Bidens. Romania and China, more specifically the CCP and the amount of money to the tune of tens of millions of dollars coming in for what Chairman Comer described as bribery and pay for play schemes with not just Hunter Biden, but eight other, at a minimum, Biden family relatives.

Jan, that is a massive scale if its true bribery and pay for play scheme because theyre saying, Chairman Comer is alleging in this memo, it happened when President Biden was Vice President Biden. Just think of that for a minute. In 21st century America, we have a chairman of one of the most prestigious committees in Congress saying, and I believe credibly, I dont think hes making it up, that during the Obama administration, our number two in command of the United States and his family were taking bribes.

Just let that settle in. I dont want that to happen whether youre a Democrat or Republican or whatever and so this is the most shocking investigatory work by Congress since Russiagate. What I want to see, Jan, are the banking records. What I want to see are the source reporting that James Comer and his committee have taken in from government and private entities through their subpoena process so that the online sleuths, as we always refer to them as, and the American public, can look at them and say, We believe you, because heres what we dont want, Jan.

Comer referenced this in his presentation. We dont want another Adam Schiff moment. We dont want an envelope thats blank where he lies to the world and says, I have all the evidence, and theres nothing in there. I dont think Comer is doing that, for one instance. Look at what the White House did right before Comer took to the sticks, as we say, took to the microphone. They put out an excoriating pre-rebuttal of Comers presser by saying, James Comer is conducting a political witch hunt, a politically driven, made up investigation of the Biden family.

They did that before he even went out there because thats the narrative they want the legacy media to carry and make no mistake about it, Jan, the mainstream media will carry that narrative unless we have the documentation. I know I was involved in Russiagate and was one of the lead guys in it so its what I know and its what I reference.

Remember what happened back then? We put out the information and we put out the documents, and the media still came in over the top and only years later did most of them come around to the fact that they were completely wrong and completely lied to. Comer has a unique opportunity to build off of that and say, We learned, we the media learned from Russiagate. Were giving you the information now, and if you ignore it now, you will have established more than a pattern of conduct of putting out disinformation for political achievement.

I think that is the fulcrum in which Comer has to balance his investigation. I think within a week, certain documents have to come out, and I think theres just got to be a timeline, a methodical production thereafter, every other week, a bulk of documents every month, but theres got to be a continued dispersal.

Mr. Jekielek:

One thing I want to mention, and of course we talk about this often on Kashs Corner and American Thought Leaders. Theres this incredible citizen journalism and citizen deep analysis of documentation thats going on as we speak in all sorts of areas of FOIAs and this is a great opportunity to have the raw information available for some of these sleuths who have shown to be incredibly astute to see what they can find.

Mr. Patel:

Im all in. Im all with you and thats why I think it has to come out in this fashion. I dont know if anyones listening over there, but start putting out the documents. Its great work to date, but you got to start giving us the raw material.

Mr. Jekielek:

Kash, what about this whistleblower and what about this evidence thats supposed to come in? Were taping here on Wednesday, perhaps were going to see some subpoenaed material from the FBI.

Mr. Patel:

Just to narrow it down, I know the whistleblower youre referring to, but for our audience, theres been multiple streams of whistleblowers: the IRS whistleblower, the FBI whistleblowers. What Jan is referring to is that Senator Grassley and Chairman Comer took the extraordinary and I think right step in subpoenaing a very specific whistleblowers documentation from the FBI. A whistleblower that they say they believe provided credible reporting to show that there was an FBI source who provided information directly to the FBI that alleged the bribery scheme that Comer is unveiling today.

Now, what we dont know is the following, Jan. Is it the same whistleblower that has assisted Comer in this investigation? Is it another one? We cant make those assumptions just yet. Are they talking about Romania? Are they talking about the CCP or are they talking about something totally different? We dont know just yet, but with the totality of information we have right now, its logical that that whistleblower has provided specific information to what has been presented to the public today.

Lets talk about the documentation and how this works. Back in Russiagate, we were the first committee in Congress to subpoena whats called an FBI 1023. That is fancy FBI code terminology for a confidential human source report. It simply means that an agent at the FBI came into contact with a recruited source of the FBI and received information and then put it in a memorandum, a FBI 1023 of that source and said, This is what I was told on this and this date, and he conducts almost an interrogation in private, of course, and documents it and files it away. Thats what a 1023 is.

Just to hit pause on that for a second, we now know that happened. To remind our audience, an FBI agent ingesting that information from an FBI informant means that that informant was verified, proved to be credible by the FBIs own internal audits and possibly and likely on the FBI payroll or receiving some sort of benefit outside of pecuniary to provide that information.

Ill remind the audience. That 1023 that Comer is referring to is from 2020. Its been sitting in the FBI vaults for what, three some years, Jan. If this whistleblower provided information to the FBI three years ago, did they act? Did they fail to act? Did they not act because they made a political decision not to act? There are so many more questions that come into play and 2020 was when I believe Bill Barr was the AG and Chris Wray, the director of the FBI.

Theyre probably going to have a lot of questions to answer like Gina Haspel that I referenced at the top of the show. That leads me to a story that broke over the past week about the former DOJ prosecutor who submitted information in 2018 about the Biden corruption scandal. Hes not a whistleblower because he just came out publicly and said, This is what I did.

Hes not the whistleblower in the traditional sense, meaning hes seeking anonymity and protection. Hes just saying, I did this, and someone at the DOJ in 2018 when Rod Rosenstein was running the place, made a decision to quash, to stop that investigation wholesale. Are the two related? I dont know. Maybe more subpoenas are going out in relation to what that individual prosecutor put out in 2018. Well see. Will they intersect?

There are so many more questions we have with the one whistleblower, this prosecutors revelations. This is what Congress must do. Ive talked about it on prior shows. Its what we did in Russiagate. Youve got to take their money. Im not saying you take all the operational funds of the FBI or the IC or anything like that. You take pockets of money where these individuals in senior government positions are just irking to have, and that is a 20 new fleet of Cadillac Escalade suburban vehicles, a brand new headquarters building out in the beachfront properties of Maryland or the like.

You say, Until you give us the lawfully subpoenaed information we have un-redacted, were going to put a fence around this money, were going to seize this money, and youre not going to be able to use it for what you need. You will see how fast those guys come in and operate. I dont know that the FBIs going to produce this. I think this is what theyre going to do. Just a hunch based on the past.

Theyre going to produce either a 90 percent redacted document or theyre going to say to Chairman Comer, You and one other person can come see this in private, but you cant take notes and you cant talk about it, or theyre going to come up with some ruse like, Lets talk about it. It might be involved in an ongoing investigation we cant show you.

Chairman Comer and company and Chairman Jordan have to have the audacity to cut through that government bureaucratic nonsense so that the American people can get the answers theyre owed. The January 6th committee showed us the power of a congressional subpoena and now well see if the Republicans who have the mandate will utilize that subpoena process to its fullest power.

Mr. Jekielek:

All right, Kash. Were going to find out what happens. Its time for our shout out.

Mr. Patel:

Indeed it is, Jan. This weeks shout out goes to Kim Broloff. Thanks so much for your comments on the board for Kashs Corner. Thank you everybody else who provides Jan and I invaluable insight and feedback to our weekly show. It helps us make the show better, it helps us serve your needs and let us know what you want us to be discussing and diving into next. Also, thanks to everybody who participated in our live chat and does so on a weekly basis, and well see you next week on Kashs Corner.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Liberal MP Says Still Much to Learn About Extent of Beijing Manipulation

Liberal MP John McKay rises in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, in a file photo. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)

Following a report that Canadas spy agency had tracked since 2019 a now-expelled Chinese diplomat who was spying on dissident groups, Liberal MP John McKay said these activities could be just the tip of the iceberg.

I dont think I know the extent that the Chinese are just ripping us off and manipulating us, McKay told reporters outside the House of Commons on May 12.

And I dont know that weve actually come to grips with the nature and extent of particularly Chinese foreign interference, intimidation, the whole panoply of ways in which they try to not only manipulate the diaspora, but manipulate our larger society.

According to a Globe and Mail report from May 12, CSIS had a significant counterintelligence file on Toronto-based diplomat Zhao Wei, who was declared persona non grata and ordered to leave Canada on May 8 for targeting an MP and his family.

Zhao reportedly kept track of known opponents of the Chinese Communist Party by taking photographs, monitoring events held by them, and sending their information back to Chinas secret police. He also targeted Conservative MP Michael Chong for moving a House motion in 2021 condemning the Chinese regime for its treatment of Uyghur Muslims.

According to the Globe report, CSIS began monitoring Zhao back in 2019 and shared that information with Global Affairs Canada back in 2020, which has the authority to expel foreign diplomats for engaging in non-diplomatic activities.

Canadians Unaware of Foreign Interference

McKay, who is the chairman of the House of Commons standing committee on national defence, said he was concerned about the report that CSIS knew about Zhao for over three years, but said he wasnt the one making the decision.

What were the elements of going into the decision? Did they feel paralyzed because of the Michaels? McKay asked, referencing the two Canadians arbitrarily detained by the Chinese regime in 2018 after the RCMPs arrest of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou.

I dont know. But it would be a reasonable consideration that they felt restricted in their normal diplomatic/security reactions, if in fact, two of our citizens have been kidnapped.

McKay said that when compared to the Taiwanese, who have been made more alert to Chinese interference in their society, Canadians are relatively unaware of the extent of foreign interference. And until we raise our awareness of the threat environment, I dont know that well develop appropriate reactions, he said.

McKay said while the possible creation of a registry of foreign agents registry is not the be-all end-all, he hopes it will be a wake-up call for Canadians, particularly for politicians and journalists that are susceptible to targeting by Chinese agents.

Government Will Not Hesitate to Act on China

During a press conference on May 12 in Nain, Newfoundland and Labrador, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau did not directly answer a reporters question on why his government took three years to expel Zhao, instead saying his government would not hesitate to stand up for Canadian values.

We will not hesitate to take action, where warranted, to stand up for Canadian values, rules, and laws. We will continue to do everything necessary to keep Canadians safe, he said.

When asked if anyone was being held responsible for not raising the targeting of Chong to the prime minister, Trudeau said he implemented a policy last week that ensured that regardless of how credible the threats are toward parliamentarians, CSIS must raise it to the highest levels.

CSIS regularly makes evaluations about which are serious or credible threats or not. From now on, when it comes to MPs or their families, they will be elevated, he said.
Join us for this recap and live Q&A with Joshua Philipp on the previous episode of Crossroads Tonight!



CNN will never be the same again after former President Donald Trump appeared on the network for a Town Hall Wednesday night. The show lasted over an hour and ended with the live audience of Republicans and undeclared voters, at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire, cheering for Trump.

And they werent cheering so much for CNN interviewer Kaitlin Collins. Immediately after, CNN itself was even attacked by several public figures and establishment news outlets for even giving Trump a platform. So what took place? Well, it may have made Trump look just a bit too human. And for the well-crafted and ongoing attacks to dehumanize the former president, this could be a threat to the narratives.

Also, border expert and war correspondent Michael Yon joins us from El Paso, TX, to talk the end of Title 42 and what it means for the border crisis.

Well discuss this story in this episode of Crossroads.
Long Beach Mourns 12-Year-Old Boy Killed in Shooting

Eric Gregory Brown III (L), shot and killed by unknown suspects while walking down the street in Long Beach, Calif. on May 9, 2023. (Screenshot via GoFundMe.com)

Police continued their search on May 11 for at least two suspects who fled in a vehicle following a shooting in Long Beach that left a 12-year-old boy dead and a 14-year-old girl wounded.

Officers were sent to the 2200 block of Lewis Avenue, between Martin Luther King Jr. and Orange Avenues, at about 11:30 p.m. on May 9, according to the Long Beach Police Department (LBPD).

Eric Gregory Brown III of Long Beach died at a hospital, police said. The wounded girl was treated at a hospital for a non-life-threatening wound to her lower body, police said.

According to police, Eric, the 14-year-old girl, and a 13-year-old girl were walking on the sidewalk when a vehicle approached them, occupied by at least two males.

An unknown number of suspect[s] shot at the victims, police said in a statement.

No description was released of the vehicle or suspects. The younger girl was not injured, police said. Police increased patrols in the area after the crime.

The shooting that took place last night is absolutely devastating, LBPD Chief Wally Hebeish said in a statement. A young boys life has been cut short due to an intolerable act of gun violence. While we mourn this loss as a community, our officers will not stop working to locate and arrest those responsible for this tragedy.

Neighbors told Fox 11 that investigators canvassed home surveillance cameras to help identify the suspects vehicle.

Its kind of crazy. I just heard the shots and five minutes later, the whole block was blocked off, a neighbor who wished to remain anonymous told Fox11.

The wounded 14-year-old girl is now at home, NBC4 reported. Her father, David Chen, said she was shot in the leg.

She was lucky that it didnt hit the bone, he told reporters.

Erics friends and relatives gathered on May 10 outside a relatives apartment to mourn him and light candles, in a vigil that was attended by city officials and some of the boys classmates from Jackson Middle School, the Long Beach Post reported.

I got calls that I was on the five oclock news, Erics grandmother Cynthia Johnson said, according to the Long Beach Post. I hope the shooters saw me. I mean, who kills kids?

Councilors Suely Saro and Al Austin and representatives from Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardsons office also attended the vigil.

A GoFundMe account established for the boys family had raised more than $14,500 as of Thursday afternoon. The account was established by LaQuioa Joseph, whose cousin Angela Washington was Erics mother.

He was just a baby in the wrong place at the wrong time, Joseph wrote on the GoFundMe page. Eric was the 2nd of 5 children leaving behind his mother, his siblings, and a host of family and lots of friends. Eric will be remembered for his loving smile and his dance moves. Unfortunately, as a single mother, Angela was not prepared to have to bury her son. Eric left a void in the family and will be forever missed.

Anyone with information on the shooting was urged to call Dets. Michael Hubbard or Jesus Espinoza at 562-570-7244, or Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS. Tipsters may also use the website.
Lori Vallow Daybell Found Guilty of Murdering Her 2 Children, Romantic Rival

Lori Vallow Daybell glances at the camera during her hearing in Rexburg, Idaho, on March 6, 2020. (John Roark/The Idaho Post-Register via AP)

BOISE, IdahoAn Idaho jury on Friday convicted Lori Vallow Daybell of murder in the deaths of her two youngest children and a romantic rival, a verdict that marks the end of a three-year investigation that included bizarre claims of zombie children, apocalyptic prophesies, and illicit affairs.

Vallow Daybell, who wore a simple black dress, showed no expression as the verdict was read. Some in the courtroom gallery wiped tears from their eyes.

Prosecutors in the case described Vallow Daybell as a power-hungry manipulator who would kill her two youngest children for money, while the defense team said she was normally protective mother who fell under the romantic sway of a wannabe cult leader.

Jurors heard both stories Thursday during final arguments in the seven-week long trial, and deliberated for about four hours before breaking for the evening. They resumed deliberations Friday morning and reached a verdict, which was announced shortly after noon.

Vallow Daybell was convicted of conspiring to commit the murders of 7-year-old Joshua JJ Vallow, 16-year-old Tylee Ryan, and Tammy Daybell. She was also convicted of grand theft as well as first-degree murder of the two children, a charge that indicates a more direct role in the crimes.

Joshua JJ Vallow (L) and Tylee Ryan. (National Center for Missing & Exploited Children via AP)

Vallow Daybells fifth husband, Chad Daybell, faces the same charges, but his trial is still months away.

Prosecutors say the two worked with Vallow Daybells brother, Alex Cox, to carry out the crimes. Cox died in December 2019 and was never charged.

Vallow Daybell faces up to life in prison at sentencing, which a judge said would be in at least three months. Chad Daybells trial is still months away.

Prosecutors said they were not able to comment on the verdict because of pending charges against Chad Daybell. In a statement, they thanked jurors for their service and said they remain committed to pursuing justice for Tylee Ryan, JJ Vallow, and Tammy Daybell.

Vallow Daybell wanted the victims money, so she used sex and power to manipulate her brother and her lover into carrying out the crimes, Madison County Prosecutor Rob Wood told jurors during closing arguments.

Money, power and sex, Wood said, reprising the arguments his team made at the start of the trial. He claimed Vallow Daybell considered the three victims nothing more than obstacles to her goals.

What does justice for these victims require? It requires a conviction on each and every count, Wood said.

Defense attorney Jim Archibald countered that there was no evidence tying his client to the killings but plenty showing she was a loving, protective mother whose life took a sharp turn when she met her fifth husband, Chad Daybell, and fell for the weird apocalyptic religious claims of a cult leader. He suggested that Daybell and Cox were the ones responsible for the deaths, and that Vallow Daybells only crime was lying to police about where her children were.

Chad Daybell during a court hearing in St. Anthony, Idaho, on Aug. 4, 2020. (John Roark/The Idaho Post-Register via AP)

Daybell told her they had been married in several previous lives and she was a sexual goddess who was supposed to help him save the world by gathering 144,000 followers so Jesus could return, Archibald said.

Why cant people escape religious cult figures, why cant they break out, why cant they break away from that mind control? Archibald said. Promises are marvelous to some people even if they sound like stupid gibberish to the rest of us.

At times, the testimony in the case has been heartbreakingsuch as when Vallow Daybells only surviving child, Colby Ryan, accused her of murdering his siblings in a recorded jailhouse phone call.

Other testimony has been strange, such as when Vallow Daybells former friend Melanie Gibb testified that Vallow Daybell believed people in her life had been taken over by evil spirits and turned into zombiesincluding JJ and Tylee. Four of the people the defendant described as zombies were later killed or shot at, according to the testimony.

It has also been gruesome, such as when law enforcement officers testified about finding JJ and Tylees remains buried in Chad Daybells yard.

Tylee had her whole life ahead of her, Wood told the jury, when she was killed in September 2019.

Tylees body was burned beyond recognition. Her body was dismembered in such a grotesque and extreme manner, that the medical examiner couldnt determine the cause of death, Wood said. Marks on her pelvis showed she was stabbed, he said.

JJ Vallows voice was silenced forever by a strip of duct tape over his mouth, just two weeks later, Wood said. A white plastic bag was placed over his head, and secured with duct tape around and around from his forehead to his chin.

Evidence shows JJ struggled, Wood said, and at one point the boys arms and legs were bound with duct tape.

He stopped breathing, his heart stopped beating and he died. It was a brutal, horrific murder of a 7-year-old boy with special needs, he said.

A boy looks at a memorial for Tylee Ryan and Joshua JJ Vallow in Rexburg, Idaho, on June 11, 2020. (John Roark/The Idaho Post-Register via AP)

Vallow Daybell never reported the children missing but continued to collect the survivor benefit checks each child was receiving because of the earlier deaths of their fathers, Wood said.

Wood said Tammy Daybell was slain between Oct. 18 and Oct. 20, 2019.

The defense attorney countered that Vallow Daybell wasnt even in the state when Tammy Daybell was killed. She was in Hawaii, visiting with friends, he said.

Archibald did not call any witnesses during the trial, and Vallow Daybell declined to testify. Instead, Archibald asserted that prosecutors had not proven their case, suggesting that there was not enough evidence to find beyond a reasonable doubt that she committed a crime.

Of the 15,000 texts you have in evidence, show me one where Lori is part of that conspiracy, Archibald said in closing arguments.

Under Idaho law, conspiring to commit a murder carries the same penalty as carrying out a murder. Wood reminded jurors of that law, noting that aiding and abetting a crime is akin to committing it.

The case began in July 2019, when Vallow Daybells then-husband, Charles Vallow, was shot and killed by her brother, Alex Cox, at his home in a Phoenix suburb. The husband and wife were estranged, and he had filed divorce documents claiming that she believed she was a goddess sent to usher in the Biblical apocalypse.

At the time, Cox told police he acted in self-defense, and he was never charged in connection with the death. Cox died later that year of what authorities determined were natural causes. Vallow Daybell was later charged in Arizona in connection with Charles Vallows death; she has not yet had the opportunity to enter a plea in that case.

According to prosecutors, Vallow Daybell was already in a relationship with Chad Daybell, who was still married to his wife, Tammy Daybell, at the time. She moved to eastern Idaho with her brother and children to be closer to Chad Daybell.

The children were last seen alive in September of 2019. Police discovered they were missing a month later after an extended family member became worried. Their bodies were found the following summer.

The case has garnered widespread interest not just in Idaho but around the world, and the judge banned cameras from the courtroom in an effort to limit pretrial publicity. The trial was also moved to the capital city of Boise, where 1,800 potential jurors were called and winnowed to a panel of 18 people.

By Rebecca Boone
Lost Without a Tribe: A Military Veteran Reflects

Commentary

By the end of 2003, I knew I was getting out of the Air Force (AF). I had been stationed at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska since November of 2001, working as an Operating Room (OR) nurse in a busy, understaffed OR. While we toiled away banging out cases, I saw our immediate leadership as mostly lazy white-gloved clipboard nursesand no, thats not a compliment. We had a mixed bag of staff. Many were excellent; hardworking and dedicated. Others purposely dragged their feet just enough to ensure their rooms scheduled cases didnt end firstbecause finishing your scheduled cases meant you got the urgent and emergent add-on cases.

Time is everything in an OR: What time did I interview the patient? What time did anesthesia personnel interview the patient? When did we start opening sterile supplies in preparation for surgery? What time did we enter the OR? What time was the patient intubated? When did the surgeon do the time outa final check that the consent form matched the surgery to be performed? What time did I insert the foley catheter? When did the surgeon make the incision? What time did the surgeon apply intraoperative medications? What time did we count the small items (and instruments depending on incision size) ensuring nothing was left inside a patient? What time did the surgeon close the wound and place the dressing? When did I remove the foley catheter? What time was the patient extubated? What time did we leave the OR with the patient? When did we arrive at PACU (Post Anesthesia Care Unit)? What time was the OR cleaned and ready for the next case? And on to the next patient. Rinse and repeat. Again and again  as fast as you can, day in, day out, holidays, weekends, and in the middle of the night.

Efficiency is everything in an OR. Yet it was well-known who among us took unnecessary extra minutes here and there to open the room or interview a patient. Over the course of a day, and several procedures, those minutes add up. There would inevitably be add-on cases, unscheduled urgent or emergent surgeries, and even if you werent on call, you might get stuck in a room past your normal shift. Why? Because the nurse on call was often stuck in their room that was running late with scheduled cases. Or there might be another urgent or emergent case that ties them up. And the nurse on call had no incentive to work efficiently to relieve you. The more you did, the less the on-call nurse had to do. Also, there was a good chance the on-call nurse, who was already working late, was coming back sometime in the middle of the night for a C-section, appendectomy, cholecystectomy, or a trauma.

Working hard wasnt rewarded. The more you did, the more you got. The only incentive was internal. Integrity and not wanting to leave someone stuck in a room were personal choices. And we knew whod leave you hanging. And in my experience, with rare exceptions, our leadership would leave you hanging too. Most of the time they remained safely in uniform shoved behind a desk tapping away at a keyboard. I say safely in uniform because they werent in scrubs. Theres literally a red line to the entrance of every OR and only staff dressed in proper scrub attire can cross it. More often than not, the nurse running the board (tracking surgeries and staff for each OR) did their 8 hours and left. The bean counters looked out for themselves, not their worn-out staff. There are many surgical specialties and OR nursing skills are perishable. The way I saw it, leadership wasnt only lazy, they couldnt hack working in the rooms.

That lack of support carried over into my personal life. With a father whod been a part of JSOC (Joint Special Operations Command) since age 10 and who remained active in it until almost literally the day he died, military service dominated my family life growing up. It dominated my Air Force life as well. In my mind, family and military service were inextricable. When my son was born in September of 2002, it had been a struggle to take leave to be with my wife (Jen), 3-year-old daughter, and newborn son. Why was this a struggle? We were short-staffed and the mission came first. But also, no one from my family was able to come visit us. It stung. This had become a trend as, three years earlier, no one from my family was on hand to celebrate when my oldest daughter was born in Louisiana. This was hardwe needed support, in the OR and outside of it.

A team of U.S. Army and Rwandan medical personnel perform surgery during MEDRETE 18-5 at the Rwanda Military Hospital, Kigali, Rwanda, Aug. 22, 2018. (DoD photo by Tech. Sgt. Larry Reid)

Thankfully, my wifes parents came when my son was born, just as they had in Louisiana. I had volunteered to deploy in February of 2003I thought it was to Iraq. Growing up, deploying to the worlds worst hot spots was what you did in my family and I wanted to be a good son as much as a good father. But Id been sent to Guam instead of Iraq  yeah, Guam. The deployment was a metaphor: I wasnt doing enough. I hadnt yet earned a place in my family, in my extended tribe. And I wanted so much to be a close-knit family.

Soon after returning from Guam, Jen became pregnant with our third child and we werent having any more. I mentioned this to my mom and asked her to be there for the birth. Im sure my father was deployed or TDY (Army temporary duty) with JSOC. Mom seemed hesitant but agreed, timing her visit with Jens due date of Feb. 21, 2004. But when the due date came and went, she explained if Jen didnt deliver by the 27th, she would have to return to North Carolina. So when Jen didnt deliver on the 27th, I drove my mother to the Anchorage airport at o-dark-thirty on Feb. 28. It stung, like a sliver of ice, worming into my heart. It was a familiar, but now amplified, pain that had been with me since age 10. I didnt recognize it then, but it was the same feeling I experienced as a child realizing that my father prioritized his work over his family. I didnt want to accept it.

After dropping mom off at the airport, I returned home to find Jen in labor and immediately took her to the hospital. We checked her in the hospital at 6:30 a.m. and our daughter, Jenna, was born shortly after noon. Mom had a change of heart during a layover and though she had missed Jennas birth, returned and stayed one more day. And again, I had to fight with my superiors to take leave to be with Jen, our 4-year-old daughter, 17-month-old son, and now newborn daughter. Why? It was always the same: we were short-staffed. My boss said, Dont you have family that can help? It broke my heart to tell him no. Thankfully, Jens mother came up and stayed for three weeks. I dont know what wed have done if she hadnt. I was thankful for them but also wanted my parents to be there too. No, what I really wanted was for them to want to be there.

I refused to accept where my family and I fell among the priorities of my family in North Carolina, and there wasnt enough camaraderie in the AF to fill that space. When my DEROS (date eligible to return from overseas) was up, I planned to separate from the AF and move back to North Carolina to be closer to them. Mom was actively involved in my sisters kids lives. I told myself that I just needed proximity to have the close-knit family Id always wanted.

I reasoned that we had lived in Louisiana, then Alaska when my children were bornwed been too far away. I was asking too much of my family to be there. But my DEROS wasnt until November of 2004. Id have to do my time in an overworked OR with lackluster leadership support (with one notable exception). I didnt realize it at the time, but the disconnected and dysfunctional leadership reflected the experience with my own family. I took it personally. I worked hard, respected those that did, and seethed at those who didnt. I would do my time and get outand find a place in my tribe back in North Carolina.

The 652nd Regional Support Group of the U.S. Army Reserve, out of Helene, Montana, supporting NATO troops in . (DoD photo by Maj. Olha Vandergriff)

When I heard about an upcoming deployment to Iraq in September 2004 I jumped at the chance. I had to go. Although the specific location was undisclosed, this time it was no secret that it was Iraq. Finally, my military service, at least some small part of it, would mean something. I could do something to be proud of; something my family back in North Carolina would be proud of. Except  someone else was tapped to go. So I could go to Iraq only if I switched with him. Hed PCSd to Elmendorf AFB that summer, had recently deployed to Turkey, and was only too happy to swap places with me. And I was only too happy to go.

I remember a fellow nurse eyeing me suspiciously when he found out I volunteered. Whats your angle? he sneered.

Patriotism, I answered not hiding my disgust at his question.

We locked eyes for a few seconds.

No  No  youre getting something out of it, he shook his head, I just cant figure out what it is yet.

Id like to think I told the guy to go [expletive] himself, but I probably just shook my head and moved on. People like that were nothing to me. It just didnt click with himor much of the AF as far as I could tell. Not part of my tribe after all, I guess.

In the Air Force, corporatism, not patriotism, seemed to prevail. Air Force culturesuffused with the ever-present 20-year countdown until retirement. Arrogance permeated the enlisted ranks almost as much as the officers. Though there were definitely some great people in it, it seemed most of the brass werent interested in their subordinates. Most had their eye on the next rung of the AF corporate ladder or else were biding their time until they could get out. The Air Force core values are Integrity First, Service Before Self, and Excellence in All We Do. But in my experience, it wasnt much more than a commercial. I saw precious few who actually conducted themselves that way. I was a true believer in the military, but I didnt belong in the Air Force. While there were some good folks, the AF as a culture wasnt my tribe.

The truth is I didnt want to belong in the AF because, in hindsight, that corporate goon of a nurse had a point. I was practically born a patriotI believed in the mission. I wanted to serve my country. But I also wanted to belong to my family back in N.C. I wanted a place among them, not just for me, but for my wife and three young children. But first I had to go to Iraq. I embraced the sirens call to deploy that Id heard singing since age 10. It promised that we might matter more to them if I did.

That was my angle.

This article first appeared in The Havok Journal.

The appearance of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Loudoun County Love Warriors Facebook Group Targets Parents From School Board Meetings

A crowd is seen at a Loudoun County School Board meeting in Ashburn, Va., on June 22, 2021. (Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters)

Parents in Loudoun County, Virginia, who have spoken out against some school board policies have recently been targeted and allegedly harassed and doxed by a Facebook group that calls itself The Loudoun Love Warriors (LLW).

One of these parents, Elicia Brand, said the LLW has ties to Antifa, a far-left extremist group, and that the group created a book that shows how it is systematically targeting Loudoun County parents by compiling information about them after they speak out at school board meetings.

This group actually has a book, a physical book that they created, and that book is called the Chardonnay Antifas List of Sketch People. And when you open the book, the next page says Problematic Loudoun Republicans and Their Donors, 2022, Brand told The Epoch Times.

On another page, someone wrote Major Players (Racist Bigots & Political Operatives), followed by a list of 115 people with notes next to each name, she said.

Brand sent The Epoch Times some of the photos of this book.

A picture of the alleged Chardonnay Antifas List of Sketch People book, which lists information about parents who have spoken at Loudoun County School Board meetings. (Courtesy of Elicia Brand)

Another page from the Chardonnay Antifas List of Sketch People book. (Courtesy of Elicia Brand)

A page out of the alleged Chardonnay Antifas List of Sketch People in Loudoun County, Va. (Courtesy of Elicia Brand)

The LLW group made threatening remarks about Brand during one of its Facebook conversations.

One of the LLW Facebook group members posted, Please leave me in a room alone with Elicia and She is so lucky there are laws because she would be curb stomped.

As a Jewish American this threat is especially chilling and traumatizing, Brand told The Epoch Times. Its really scary that they want to hurt people. I mean, we never talk like this.

Possible Links to School Board

Brand criticized the school board for not doing enough about these types of threats, which she said emboldens groups like LLW. In addition, the Chardonnay Antifa group has been known to allegedly target those who do not agree with progressive views.

ABC 7News first broke the story about the Facebook group on May 9 after a whistleblower sent the station a copy of hundreds of messages and comments posted in the group.

According to the 7News investigation, many of the LLW group members have possible links to Loudoun County elected officials, including Loudoun County Commonwealths Attorney Buta Bibera; school board Chair Ian Serotkin and school board members Brenda Sheridan, Atoosa Reaser, and Erika Ogedegbe; and Loudoun County Board of Supervisors Chair Phyllis Randall and Supervisor Juli Briskman.

Briskman is the cyclist who famously flashed her middle finger at former President Donald Trumps motorcade in 2017 as the convoy passed her as she rode her bicycle in suburban Virginia.

Although none of the elected officials made any threats directly to parents, The Epoch Times reached out to the above-mentioned Loudoun County officials for comment about what was said in the whistleblower documents.

As mentioned in the report you cited, I was not part of the incidents being discussed here, which I fully condemn along with any and all threats of violence, harassment, and intimidation, Reaser told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement.

Reaser was the only official who responded to requests for comment before press time.

Opponents of critical race theory protest outside of the Loudoun County School Board headquarters in Ashburn, Va., on June 22, 2021. (Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters)

Additional Threats

The whistleblower document shows hundreds of messages in ongoing conversations among the LLW members that were targeting specific parents and plotting ways to harm them. More of LLWs messages show that another parent, Mark Winn, was targeted by LLW in an effort to have him fired.

I was taken back when I received a phone call from the sheriffs department, a deputy saying I was being threatened online, Winn told 7News.

During a 2022 board meeting, Winn had quoted a bible passage about protecting children, which the LLW members claimed was an attack on gay children and began making threats against him.

Mark Winn. Im gonna find his employer, one post said.

Another member responded, If he had said that [expletive] about black kids or autistic kids I would shoot him and his life needs to be PERMANENTLY disassembled. The same person continued to make violent statements.

The first member replied, I want to contact his employer to do just that. Ruin his livelihood.

It shocked me, Winn told 7News about the specific messages.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) presides over a hearing of the Weaponization of the Federal Government Subcommittee in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington on Feb. 9, 2023. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

High-Level Officials Get Involved

Although Brand has not had any Loudoun County school board members reach out to her or her own elected representatives, she is in contact with some members of Congress about the whistleblowers information, including Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Brand told The Epoch Times.

U.S. Reps. Bob Good (R-Va.) and Chip Roy (R-Texas) sent a letter to Serotkin, urging him to condemn the hateful rhetoric of the LLW and open an investigation into the group.

Any attempts by staff and associates of Loudoun County officials or school board members, to further harass, intimidate, or otherwise silence American parents must be fully investigated and those responsible must be held accountable, the letter said.

Virginias Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears condemned the comments of LLW members.

Were destroying America from the inside. This is what our enemies do to us, Earle-Sears told 7News in a follow-up report.

Theres nothing but hate in that group, she said.

Earle-Sears called on all elected officials with alleged ties to the group to disavow the comments from Loudoun Love Warriors.

Nick Minock, the 7News reporter who broke the story, reported that the Loudoun County Sheriffs Office has opened an investigation into potential threats made by those in the Facebook group.
Lyft Driver Accused of Attacking Teen in Santa Ana

An Amp sits on the dashboard of a Lyft driver's car in a file photo. (Kelly Sullivan/Getty Images for Lyft)

SANTA ANA, Calif.A Lyft driver was behind bars May 11 on suspicion of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl last month.

Fredi Rojas, 30, of Orange, was arrested Wednesday and booked on suspicion of kidnapping and sexual assault, according to Santa Ana police Sgt. Maria Lopez. He was being held on $1 million bail, according to jail records.

Rojas was accused of attacking the teen on April 13, Lopez said.

The alleged victim saw Rojas driving by slowly and flagged him down to help charge her phone, Lopez said. Rojas stopped and offered to help and forced her into the car, drove to a parking lot, and sexually assaulted her in the vehicle, Lopez alleged.

Rojas later drove her to another place in the city and dropped her off, Lopez said.

Rojas was driving a rented white Nissan Rogue at the time, the sergeant said.

Investigators suspect there may be more alleged victims and asked the public to call Detective Amanda Miller at 714-245-8363 or email her at amiller5@santa-ana.org. Orange County Crime Stoppers will accept anonymous tips at 855-TIP-OCCS.
Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang (L) shakes hands with Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt during their meeting in Oslo, Norway, on May 12, 2023. (Xinhua/Lin Jing)

OSLO, May 12 (Xinhua) -- China appreciates Norway's firm adherence to the one-China policy and appreciates that the two countries respect and accommodate each other's core interests and major concerns, visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang said here on Friday.

Qin made the remarks when jointly meeting the press with Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt.

Qin said that after candid talks with Huitfeldt, they both have confidence in and expectations for the development of China-Norway relations. He noted that the most important experience of the steady development of bilateral relations lies in adhering to mutual respect, equal treatment, mutual benefit and win-win results, and in seeking common ground while reserving differences.

The two sides exchanged views on the idea of strengthening bilateral cooperation in the next step, and agreed to resume and accelerate bilateral exchanges as soon as possible, promote mutually beneficial cooperation, enhance understanding and deepen friendship through more frequent people-to-people and cultural exchanges, Qin said.

The two sides compared notes on trade and investment, marine affairs, green transition, climate change, cultural exchange, tourism and local-to-local cooperation, Qin said.

China has decided to enlist Norway as one of the eligible countries for the 72/144-hour visa-free transit policy in relevant Chinese port cities, and the two countries have just signed a new version of the bilateral agreement for the avoidance of double taxation, Qin said, adding that relevant cooperation results will bring more dividends to Chinese and Norwegian companies and people.

Noting that next year marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral diplomatic ties, Qin said the two sides have agreed to organize a series of celebration activities to make the bilateral exchanges and cooperation even closer and lay a more solid foundation for the next 70 years of exchanges.

Qin pointed out that the Chinese government has made unremitting efforts to protect human rights, and that Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Tibet-related issues are not human rights issues, but issues related to safeguarding China's sovereignty, security and development interests. China firmly opposes external forces taking advantage of these issues to create instability in China.

The essence of the Taiwan question is a fight against secession, Qin said, adding that China expects the Taiwan Strait to remain peaceful and stable, and to achieve peaceful reunification of China.

It is the "Taiwan independence" secessionist forces and some countries' connivance and support for the "Taiwan independence" that have been undermining the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait, Qin said, stressing the unwavering determination of the Chinese government and people to safeguard sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Qin said that peace and development are the most enduring wishes of mankind, and that both China and Norway believe that the more turbulent the world is, the more necessary it is to strengthen dialogue and exchanges.

Both sides firmly support world peace, globalization and free trade, and support countries to jointly address climate change and achieve sustainable development, he added.

China is willing to join hands with Norway to firmly uphold the international system with the United Nations (UN) at its core, the international order underpinned by international law, and the basic norms of international relations based on the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, Qin said.

China also stands ready to strengthen cooperation in peace and reconciliation affairs with Norway, and promote world peace and development, he added.

Qin emphasized that the top priority for the Ukraine crisis is to facilitate a cease-fire and a cessation of hostilities without delay, and ultimately resolve the crisis through political negotiations. China will always stand on the side of peace and insist on promoting peace talks, he noted.

It is hoped that all parties involved in the crisis will remain calm and restrained, make joint efforts to resolve the crisis through negotiations, and foster a balanced, effective and sustainable European security architecture so as to achieve enduring stability and security in the region, he said. 
Marine Veteran Involved in Fatal NYC Subway Headlock to Be Charged

New York police officers respond to the scene where a fight was reported on a subway train in New York on May 1, 2023. (Paul Martinka via AP)

A former U.S. Marine will be arrested and charged with manslaughter on Friday in the death of a homeless man in the New York City subway, according to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

Daniel Penny, 24, is reportedly expected to turn himself in at the NYPDs 5th Precinct in Chinatown on Friday morning.

We can confirm that Daniel Penny will be arrested on a charge of manslaughter in the second degree. We cannot provide any additional information until he has been arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court, which we expect to take place tomorrow, Bragg said in a statement on Thursday.

The Marine veteran was seen on a viral video putting Jordan Neely, 30, in a chokehold on the F train on May 1, allegedly causing him to die of compression of the neck, according to the medical examiner. Witnesses have reported that Neely has allegedly harassed passengers for years.

Neely was known to impersonate Michael Jackson in the subway system. Witnesses reported that Neely was complaining loudly, allegedly shouting, I want food, Im not taking no for an answer, Im ready to go back to jail, and Ill hurt anyone on this train.

Pennys lawyers said he did not mean to kill Neely, who they allege had been behaving aggressively toward other passengers on the subway car. Neely has a record that includes 40 prior arrests and he had an active warrant out for his arrest related to a felony assault.

Pennys legal team expressed condolences to Neelys family. Neelys familys attorney called for Penny to be imprisoned. A fundraiser to support Pennys legal defense, set up by his lawyers, has raised over $113,000.

Penny was taken into custody following the incident and later released. The delay in charging Penny and the killing itself has sparked protests, with some labeling it white vigilantism against people of color, as Neely was black and Penny is white.

Councilmember Selvena N. Brooks-Powers speaks during a press conference at Park Row in New York City on May 11, 2023. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

Divided Opinions

The video of Neelys death has brought renewed attention to crime in the subway and the citys growing homeless population.

Neelys death has divided opinions, with some seeing it as the murder of an innocent black man who needed compassion during a mental health crisis and others seeing it as protecting the public from a potential threat.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement on May 1 that any loss of life is tragic while noting that there were serious mental health issues in play.

Lets let the DA conduct his investigation with the law enforcement officials. To really interfere with that is not the right thing to do, Adams said.

New York Rep. Alexandria Occasio-Cortez reacted to Adamss statement, expressing frustration that she couldnt outright accuse Perry of murder.

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, she wrote on Twitter. Adamss statement did not include the words too low.

Video footage shared on Twitter by the account Mythinformed shows that Neely and another man who helped restrain him rendered aid by placing Neely into a recovery position after he fell unconscious. The video also shows Neely was still alive after Penny released him from the chokehold.

Following Neelys death, Braggs office released a statement calling it a solemn and serious matter that was being thoroughly probed.

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, the statement read.

On May 3, NYC Comptroller Brad Lander expressed frustration with Pennys use of force to subdue Neely.

NYC is not Gotham. We must not become a city where a mentally ill human being can be choked to death by a vigilante without consequence, he wrote on Twitter.

Responding to the tweet, former NYPD Commissioner Bernard Kerik asserted that the public has a right to defend itself.

You would, rather New Yorkers, be terrified, assaulted and murdered at the hands of lunatics and thugs! If you were doing your job, there would be more police on the subway system, so these things would not happen. But do not tell people that they cannot defend themselves! Kerik wrote.
Marine Veteran Involved in NYC Subway Death Surrenders to Police

A U.S. Marine veteran who held a homeless man who was acting erratically in a chokehold for several minutes on a subway in New York City turned himself in to authorities Friday morning to face a manslaughter charge.

Daniel Penny was captured on video walking into the 5th Precinct in Chinatown together with his lawyers, Thomas Kenniff and Steven Raiser.

In a brief statement to reporters outside the police station, Kenniff said that he expected an arraignment later on Friday and that the process will unfold from there.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg confirmed this week that Penny will be arrested on a charge of second-degree manslaughter in the death of Jordan Neely. The charges carry a maximum penalty of 15 years imprisonment.

We cannot provide any additional information until he has been arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court, which we expect to take place tomorrow, Bragg stated Thursday.

A second-degree manslaughter charge in New York will require the jury to find that a person has engaged in reckless conduct that creates an unjustifiable risk of death, and then consciously disregards that risk.

Pennys law firm, Raiser and Kenniff, said in a statement to news outlets that they are confident he will be fully absolved of any wrongdoing.

Thomas A. Kenniff, attorney for Daniel Penny, speaks to members of media outside at the 5th Precinct in N.Y. on May 12, 2023. (Jeenah Moon/AP Photo)

When Mr. Penny, a decorated Marine veteran, stepped in to protect himself and his fellow New Yorkers, his well-being was not assured, they said. He risked his own life and safety, for the good of his fellow passengers. The unfortunate result was the unintended and unforeseen death of Mr. Neely.

Last week, the law firm alleged in a statement that their 24-year-old client was acting in self-defense when he held Neely in a chokehold on the F train on May 1, which allegedly caused him to die of compression of the neck, according to the medical examiner.

The attorneys also alleged that their client did not mean to kill Neely, a 30-year-old man whose friends say suffered from worsening mental health. They added Neely had been behaving aggressively toward other passengers on the subway and Penny stepped in to do what he thought was right and seemed reasonable.

Witnesses reported that Neely was complaining loudly, allegedly shouting, I want food, Im not taking no for an answer, Im ready to go back to jail, and Ill hurt anyone on this train. They also reported that he had harassed passengers for years.

Neely has a lengthy criminal record that includes dozens of prior arrests and also had a warrant out for his arrest related to a felony assault at the time of his death.

Meanwhile, video footage has emerged online showing Penny and another man who helped to restrain him rendering aid by placing Neely into a recovery position after he fell unconscious. The video also shows Neely was still alive after Penny released him from the chokehold.

Growing Mental Health Crisis

Neelys death has brought renewed attention to several issues in the state, including crime in the subway, how to treat mental health conditions, and the citys growing homeless population.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement on May 1 that any loss of life is tragic while noting that there were serious mental health issues in play.

Lets let the DA conduct his investigation with the law enforcement officials. To really interfere with that is not the right thing to do, Adams said.

New York Rep. Alexandria Occasio-Cortez reacted to Adamss statement, expressing frustration that she couldnt outright accuse Penny of murder.

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, she wrote on Twitter. Adamss statement did not include the words too low.

Last week, Pennys law firm also blamed 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.

On May 3, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander expressed frustration with Pennys use of force to subdue Neely.

NYC is not Gotham. We must not become a city where a mentally ill human being can be choked to death by a vigilante without consequence, he wrote on Twitter.

Responding to the tweet, former New York Police Department Commissioner Bernard Kerik asserted that citizens have a right to defend themselves.

You would, rather New Yorkers, be terrified, assaulted and murdered at the hands of lunatics and thugs! Kerik wrote. If you were doing your job, there would be more police on the subway system, so these things would not happen. But do not tell people that they cannot defend themselves!

The Associated Press and Caden Pearson contributed to this report.

From NTD News
McCarthy Not Asking Rep. Santos to Resign but Wont Back Reelection Plans After Criminal Indictment

Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) presides over the vote on H.R.2 - the Secure the Border Act of 2023, in the House Chamber of the U.S. Capitol in Washington on May 11, 2023. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) ruled out supporting Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) in a potential reelection bid after the freshman lawmaker was hit with criminal charges for fraud on Wednesday.

Santos, who is about five months into his term, faces a 13-count indictment brought by Breon Peace, the U.S. Attorney for New Yorks Eastern District. Santos faces seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, two counts of making materially false statements to the House of Representatives, and one count of theft of public funds.

On Tuesday, after reports broke that Santos would be criminally indicted, McCarthy told reporters that he would let Santos continue to serve unless he is found guilty of criminal charges. McCarthy said this standard of allowing Santos to serve in Congress until he is found guilty is the same standard given to Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and former Republican congressman Jeff Fortenberry when they faced federal criminal charges.

Menendez faced corruption charges, but a mistrial was declared in his case in 2017 and the Department of Justice dropped the charges in 2018. Menendez currently serves as the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Fortenberry was charged with facilitating illegal campaign contributions and making false statements to federal investigators. He was convicted last year in a federal court in California. McCarthy called on Fortenberry to resign after the verdict and Fortenberry left office on March 31, 2022.

Well just follow the same pattern we always have, McCarthy said Tuesday while addressing Santoss case.

If a person is indicted, theyre not on committees, they have the right to vote, but they have to go to trial, McCarthy added. Just like we had Jeff Fortenberry, he had the same ability, I removed him from committees, but he was found guilty and I told him he needed to resign. That is my policies and principles on this, and Id follow the same pattern.

Wont Back Santos Reelection Bid

The criminal complaint (pdf) alleges Santos deceived his supporters into donating to a company under the guise that the funds would be used to support his 2022 congressional campaign. Prosecutors say Santos moved money from this campaign fund over to his personal bank accounts and allegedly then used much of that money for personal expenses including purchasing designer clothing and paying off debts.

The complaint further alleges Santos obtained unemployment insurance through the New York State Department of Labor by falsely claiming to have been unemployed in March 2020. Santos allegedly received $24,000 in unemployment benefits through April 2021.

The complaint also alleges Santos made false statements to Congress by providing incorrect information about his income and assets during his 2020 and 2022 congressional campaigns. In Santoss 2020 campaign, he allegedly overstated his income from one company and altogether failed to report his salary from another investment firm. Santos claimed he received about $55,000 in income from a single company when in fact he received $25,403 from one company and $27,555 from a second, a total of $52,958 between the two income sources.

In his 2022 campaign filings, Santos allegedly claimed he was making $750,000 in earned income through a company he owned, and had between $1 million and $5 million in unearned dividends through that same company, along with up to $5 million more in a savings account. Prosecutors say Santos actually received about $28,107 from an investment firm and $20,304 in unemployment benefits during this time period, both of which he failed to truthfully report as required.

While he didnt call for Santoss resignation on Tuesday, McCarthy did rule out support for a reelection bid for the embattled lawmaker after the Wednesday arraignment hearing.

I think hes got some other things to focus on in his life than running for stuff, McCarthy told a press gaggle.

If convicted, Santos could face up to 20 years in prison.

Santos Vows to Clear His Name

Santos pleaded not guilty during the arraignment hearing on Wednesday and, in comments to the press outside the courthouse, said he would fight the charges.

Im gonna fight my battle, Im gonna deliver, Im gonna fight the witch hunt, Im gonna take care of clearing my name and I look forward to doing that, he said.

NTD News reached out to Santoss office and an attorney representing him in the criminal case. Neither responded by the time this article was published.

From NTD News
McCarthy Says Hell Call Wray After FBI Failed to Give Congress Document Showing Alleged Biden Bribery Scheme

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) speaks to the press after meeting President Joe Biden and other leaders at the White House in Washington, on May 9, 2023. (Madalina ,Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said he would speak to Federal Bureau of Investigation director Christoper Wray after the bureau declined to comply with a House Oversight and Accountability Committee subpoena for a document that allegedly linked then-vice president Joe Biden to a pay-to-play bribery scheme.

Thats unacceptable. Im going to call Director Wray today because we have oversight of the FBI. We have the right, McCarthy said on the Fox News program Fox & Friends on May 11.

[Rep. James] Comer is simply following information that he has found. We should find all the information.

Comer, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, along with Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), revealed in a May 3 letter that they received highly credible unclassified whistleblower disclosures. The whistleblowers tip indicated the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the FBI possessed an unclassified document that describes an alleged criminal scheme involving then-vice president Joe Biden and a foreign national relating to the exchange of money for policy decisions, they said in the letter to Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland.

This specific document goes into great detail, the pay-for-play agreement between Joe Biden as vice president, and the policy outcomes that this foreign national wanted, Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Mo.), a member of the House Oversight Committee, previously told NTD.

On May 3, Comer filed a subpoena to Wray seeking an internal form, called an FD-1023, and gave a week for the agency to produce it.

In response, Christopher Dunham, the acting assistant director for congressional affairs, wrote a letter (pdf) to Comer on May 10 explaining the FBIs confidentiality interests. But the agency didnt turn over any document the House panel requested.

Dunham said the FD-1023 is used by FBI agents to record unverified reporting from a confidential human source. The DOJ policy, he noted, strictly limits when and how confidential human source information can be provided outside of the FBI.

In the six-page letter, Dunham declined to confirm or deny whether the requested file exists.

It is critical to the integrity of the entire criminal justice process and to the fulfillment of our law enforcement duties that FBI avoid revealing informationincluding unverified or incomplete information that could harm investigations, prejudice prosecutions or judicial proceedings, unfairly violate privacy or reputational interests, or create misimpressions in the public, he said.

Often, even confirming the fact of the existence (or nonexistence) of an investigation or a particular piece of investigative information can risk these serious harms. 

Comer said the response indicates that the document exists.

Its clear from the FBIs response that the unclassified record the Oversight Committee subpoenaed exists, but they are refusing to provide it to the committee, Comer said in a statement released Wednesday. Weve asked the FBI to not only provide this record but to also inform us what it did to investigate these allegations. The FBI has failed to do both.

The congressman pledged to follow up with the FBI, without providing further details.

During Thursdays appearance on Fox News, McCarthy said he would have a call with Wray over the document the House panel subpoenaed.

The White House pushed back on May 9, calling it another Republicans unproven, politically motivated attacks.

For going on five years now, Republicans in Congress have been lobbing unfounded, unproven, politically motivated attacks against the president and his family without offering evidence for their claims or evidence of decisions influenced by anything other than U.S. interests, Sams said in a statement to The Epoch Times.

When it comes to President Bidens personal finances, anybody can take a look: he has offered an unprecedented level of transparency, releasing a total of 25 years of tax returns to the American public.

House Oversight and Accountability Committee chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) and other Republican members of the committee hold a news conference to present preliminary findings into their investigation into President Joe Bidens family in Washington, on May 10, 2023. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

McCarthys announcement came after the May 10 press conference by the House Oversight Committee about the investigation into Biden and his alleged involvement in his family members foreign business deals.

Investigators said bank records from subpoenas showing Biden family, their business associates, and their companies received over $10 million from foreign nationals companies, according to a 36-page memorandum (pdf) released on Wednesday.

Isnt it quite interesting that foreign countries give millions of dollars to different LLCs [limited liability companies] that trace down to the entire Biden family, to grandchildren? What are they doing? Why are you hiding money in that direction? And why is foreign money coming from other countries while hes in office? What are they doing? McCarthy said Thursday.

The House speaker underscored that Congress has the authority to oversight the FBI.

Why would you hold that information back? Youre protecting, he said.

As a member of Congress, it doesnt matter if this person is Republican or Democrat. We have oversight of the FBI, he said.

If the FBI at any time think they could withhold information from Congress, we have a severe problem on our hands.
EXCLUSIVE: Migrants Discuss Plans to Sneak Into US as Title 42 Expires

In an aerial view, immigrants line up to be processed to make asylum claims at a makeshift migrant camp on May 11, 2023 in El Paso, Texas. (John Moore/Getty Images)

MEXICO CITY, MEXICOThe COVID-19 pandemic-era immigration policy Title 42 came to an end just before midnight on May 11 and thousands of illegal immigrants are anticipated to surge to the U.S. border when that happens, according to migrants and Mexican charity workers who spoke with The Epoch Times.

We all want to reach the United States as quickly as we can, Anna Maria Estrada told The Epoch Times in Mexico City. Estrada traveled from Guatemala into Mexico illegally with a group of dozens of other migrants.

Theyve been given visas by the Mexican government called Forma Migratoria Multiple, which translates as Multiple Immigration Forms, so they can travel freely through the country.

Estrada said that she and others are trying to get to the United States while there is still time to possibly take advantage of the chaos in the change of immigration regulations.

This idea has been spread widely by transnational criminal organizations to induce migrants to pay to smuggle them into the United States.

DHS expects that encounters at the Southwest Border will increase as smugglers spread disinformation, which will place a strain on our immigration system, our communities, and our dedicated workforce, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement in early May.

Estrada says her group and others are willing to risk everything to get to the United States even if it means taking the dangerous train called la bestia, which translates as the beast or the train of death. The train travels from Guatemala to the outskirts of Mexico City and then up to various parts of the U.S.Mexico border. Hundreds die every day by falling off the train onto the rails below, with the hope of making it to the border.

We are going to the train to see if we can make it if there is still time, Estrada said.

Illegal immigrants board vans after waiting along the border wall to surrender to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Border Patrol agents for immigration and asylum claim processing upon crossing the Rio Grande river into the United States on the U.S.-Mexico border in El Paso, Texas, on May 11, 2023. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)

Mexico City has provided shelter and aid to migrants traveling through, as have local churches like the Basilica of Guadalupe.

Mainly the migrants are devoted to the Virgin of Guadalupe so they will come here to pray for them and their families, Arturo Duran, who works at the church, told The Epoch Times. They have always gathered here as their safe place.

Duran said the migrants are mostly peaceful as they head to the border, wanting only to seek a better life, but some have other intentions.

Some brothers are very angry about what happened in the Juarez prison [a migration center that burned to the ground, killing at least 40 people in March] and are seeking revenge.

Estradas group is part of thousands of other migrants trying to cross into the United States illegally.

10,000 illegal immigrants have been captured daily on Monday and Tuesday of this week, according to Reuters.

End of Title 42

Title 42 allowed border authorities to quickly expel certain immigrants who illegally crossed into the United States seeking asylum, but it did not prevent them from doing so again.

Now that it has ended, a stricter rule entitled Title 8 will be enforced, which would ban illegal immigrants who are captured crossing the border for up to five years.

The new rule would encourage illegal immigrants who are traveling to the United States from Central America to first seek asylum in other countries.

Weve gotten overwhelming cooperation from Mexico. We also are in the process of setting up offices in Colombia and other places where someone seeking asylum can go first, President Joe Biden said at a White House press conference on May 9. But it remains to be seen. Its going to be chaotic for a while.

Texas National Guard soldiers install new rows of barbed-wire near a gate at the border fence in El Paso, Texas, in the early hours of May 11, 2023. (Andres Leighton/AP Photo)

Biden has approved sending 1,500 troops to the border to deal with the influx of illegal immigrants and supplement Border Patrol resources for 90 days, but their time at the border could be extended.

For 90 days, these 1,500 military personnel will fill critical capability gaps, such as ground-based detection and monitoring, data entry, and warehouse support, until CBP [Customs and Border Protection] can address these needs through contracted support. Military personnel will not directly participate in law enforcement activities, said Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder on May 2.

The DHS is launching a digital advertising campaign to counter the lies spread by smugglers about the end of Title 42, informing migrants that immigration laws under Title 8 are tougher.

The messages will run in countries throughout South and Central America, including Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Ecuador, and Colombia, leveraging geotargeting along the migratory path and social media platforms popular among migrants, and including the ability for anyone to share the ads with others.

This campaign adds to our extensive ongoing communications efforts in the region, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said on May 10.

As you can see by the images before us of removal flights and encounters with our Border Patrol agents, we are making it very clear that our border is not open, that crossing irregularly is against the law, and that those who are not eligible for relief will be quickly returned. Do not listen to the lies of the smugglers. This is what will happen to you. You will be returned, Mayorkas said.

Response from Congress

In response to the end of Title 42, a bipartisan group of senators including Sens. Thom Tillis (R-N.C) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) introduced legislation resembling the operations of Title 42, giving the Biden administration a two-year temporary expulsion authority for migrants attempting to illegally enter the United States without inspection or proper documents. The legislation is cosponsored by Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and John Cornyn (R-Texas).

The Biden Administration has failed to secure the border and the situation will get even worse once Title 42 is allowed to expire. Its clear that Congress must immediately step in, and the bipartisan bill Im introducing with Senator Sinema will help prevent the catastrophic fallout at the border we will soon see if no action is taken, said Tillis in a statement on May 4.

Biden has said he would be willing to work with Congress on border security and has tried to tie it to raising the debt ceiling.

Weve had chaos at the border for a number of years. We have to fully fund the border security effort, he said on May 10.
The New Tang Dynasty (NTD) Global Chinese Beauty Pageant combines beauty with a higher purpose through its mission to educate young Chinese women about their heritage.

In its first year, the pageant has invited young women from all nations between ages 18-30, who are of at least one-third Chinese origin and fluent in either Mandarin or English, to participate. It aims to instill in them ancient Chinese values and celebrate the pure, authentic beauty of the Chinese woman.

Recently, two Miss NTD Honorary Advisory Board members spoke about the uniqueness of the NTD Global Chinese Beauty Pageant.

I love that it is about traditions, Jacqui Phillips, author and celebrity make-up artist, said in an NTD interview. Were losing traditions in this world, and they are so important. Having that inner wisdom and trusting thatand kindnessall those things set this pageant apart. I dont think theres anything like it in the world.

It is a beauty pageant that goes beyond beauty, said Pageant Advisor Aleksander Janik, a senior client adviser in the luxury retail sector and a global celebrity stylist.

This is a new generation. I really want to see them, not just the outside, but I love to see more inside, really deep in, Janik said. We look at not just the beauty but the intelligence, wisdom, and knowledge. I want to see them growing to show new generations its not just beauty, but so much they can offer.

Like other major pageants, participants are eligible to win a valuable prize package including $10,000; the Heavenly Phoenix necklace and earring set; designer dresses; a collection of gifts; and the honor of wearing the official and Miss NTD phoenix crown, a beautiful sapphire tiara, for a year.

Participants in the grand finals and coronation will also gain worldwide exposure. The events will be televised to millions of viewers and receive additional promotion and coverage through NTD TV and online platforms as well as The Epoch Times.

All participants will gain a deeper appreciation for the five essential inner virtuesmorality, righteousness, propriety, benevolence, and faithfulnessvalues that serve individuals beautifully in the natural course of a beauty pageant. The distinctive design of the phoenix crown symbolizes the five virtues.

At the live pageant, from Sept. 24 to Oct. 1, judges will consider four categories: an interview with judges; on-stage questions and answers; dancewear to showcase fitness, poise, and posture; and an evening gown. Those who choose may also compete in the optional performing arts categories of creative, singing, or dancing, either classical Chinese or ballet.

The live event will be held at the Performing Arts Center at Purchase College in Harrison, New York.

But before that, participants must pass the online audition phase, which involves an online interview with the selection committee, a video evening gown presentation, a Beauty with a Mission video project highlighting a topic on the significance of women to the family, society, and the continuation of civilization, a speech, and a comprehensive personal biography.

Judges will be looking for inward beauty and confidence.

Using your words kindly and positively can make you the most beautiful person in the world, Phillips said.

The Miss NTD website offers brief descriptions of how the five virtues connect to ancient Chinese history going back to Ban Zhao, a woman in the Eastern Han Dynasty who was born in a Confucian family. Her father, Ban Biao, and brother, Ban Gu, were both famous historians.

Another brother, Ban Chao, was an envoy to the Western Regions and had lived outside the Great Wall for a long time. But at age 70, he wanted to return to the Central Plains Region. Ban Zhao wrote to the emperor and requested on behalf of her brother. Her sincere words helped Ban Chao return home smoothly. Her brother Ban Gu started to write the Book of Han but died before completing it. Ban Zhao inherited her brothers will and completed the remaining parts.

She wrote seven chapters of Precepts for Women to promote womens virtue. She believed that womens most important virtues are humility and meekness and that women should handle the relationships between all parties in their husbands families. She put forward specific requirements for women in four areas: virtue, speech, appearance, and work.

Precepts for Women later became a textbook for womens moral education in ancient times and largely shaped traditional Chinese womens moral character.

Ban Zhaos writings can still be found and read today.
Missouri Close to Banning Gender Surgery for Minors

A man waves an American flag as he walks outside the Missouri State Capitol building in Jefferson City, Mo., on Jan. 20, 2021. (Michael B. Thomas/Getty Images)

Missouris legislature passed a bill on Wednesday that would ban gender transition surgeries for any minor. The bill was passed to the governor, who is expected to sign it.

The bill, SB 49, establishes the Missouri Save Adolescents from Experimentation (SAFE) Act, which, when signed by the governor, will be valid until August 2027.

Under the Act, no health care provider shall provide cross-sex hormones or puberty-blocking drugs to a minor.

A violation of the bill will result in the revocation of the health care providers professional license.

The bill also affects adults, as it states that the States HealthNet program will not cover gender transition surgeries or drugs. It also states that gender surgeries will not be allowed in prisons and correctional centers.

Another bill bans students who have performed gender surgery from joining girls and womens teams in kindergarten through college, both at public and private schools. Schools that violate the bill would lose state funding.

Republican Gov. Mike Parson is expected to sign both bills.

When you have kids being surgically and or chemically altered for life for no good reason, yes, its time for the government to get involved, Republican state Rep. Brad Hudson told colleagues on the House floor on Wednesday.

As the bill cleared the Missouri legislature, Kansas City was preparing to defy the state with a City Council vote on Thursday to create legal protections for gender surgery in the city.

Supporters acknowledged that the city could face retaliation from the state.

Missouris Republican attorney general, Andrew Bailey, now campaigning for the 2024 election, launched an investigation in February into St. Louis Washington University Transgender Center. A former staffer had complained that doctors were prescribing hormones too quickly and without enough mental health wraparound services.

Bailey has since expanded his investigation to any clinic offering pediatric gender transition procedures in Missouri and demanded records from a St. Louis Planned Parenthood where doctors provide such procedures.

At least 16 states have now enacted laws restricting or banning gender surgery for minors, and several states are still considering bills this year to restrict or ban surgery. Florida and Texas have banned or restricted surgeries via regulations or administrative orders, and a bill to restrict surgery is on Florida Governor Ron DeSantiss desk.

California, Minnesota, and Washington have established legal protection for gender surgeries, as have the cities of Chicago; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and West Hollywood, California.

Oklahomas Ban

Oklahomas Republican-majority Legislature passed a similar bill in April, banning health care providers from performing transgender procedures or providing gender-altering medication to minors.

Doctors are also prohibited from prescribing gender-altering medication for people under 18, such as puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones.

Any health professional who violates the act faces hefty penalties, including potential felony charges carrying up to 10 years in prison and a $100,000 fine, as well as revocation of their medical license for a period of not less than one year.

Transgender Treatment for Toddlers

Meanwhile, gender clinics affiliated with three North Carolina medical schools are seeing patients as young as 2 for gender dysphoria, according to documents reviewed by The Epoch Times.

The medical schools at Duke University, the University of North Carolina (UNC), and East Carolina University (ECU) referenced providing treatment for toddlers and grade-school-age children with gender dysphoria on organization websites, in documents, and in news articles.

After information about the programs sparked backlash on social media, all three universities stated that they dont prescribe cross-sex hormones or provide gender-modification surgery on toddlers.

The medical organizations didnt deny that their doctors see preschoolers for gender dysphoria.

The Associated Press, Lorenz Duchamps, and Darlene McCormick Sanchez contributed to this report.
More Chinese Diplomats May Be Expelled From Canada, Liberal MP Says

Liberal MP John McKay speaks to a reporter at the "Taiwan Night in Ottawa" event in Ottawa on May 10, 2023. (Annie Wu/NTD)

A Liberal MP says he is expecting more Chinese diplomats to be expelled from Canada after the recent expulsion of Zhao Wei, who was reportedly involved in targeting Conservative MP Michael Chong and threatening his family members in Hong Kong.

These people bear no relationship to diplomats, said John McKay, also chair of the Standing Committee of National Defence. Theyre not really interested in persuading you, theyre interested in intimidating you.

I expect that more diplomats will be expelled one way or another, he told NTD, The Epoch Times sister media, while at the Taiwan Night in Ottawa event on May 10.

Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly declared Zhao persona non grata two days earlier, after the Globe and Mail reported on May 1 that the Chinese diplomat worked with a Beijing-linked spy service to target Chong and his family in 2021.

The Globes report, later confirmed by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, detailed how Chong was targeted because of a House of Commons motion he sponsored in February that year calling Chinas treatment of Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities a genocide.

On May 9, the Chinese regime retaliated by expelling Jennifer Lynn Lalonde, Canadas diplomat at its Shanghai Consulate, and ordered her to leave China by May 13.

Wolf Warriors

McKay, who represents the riding of Scarborough-Guildwood in Ontario, described Chinas diplomacy with Canada as one that is conducted by wolf warriors for the sole interest of their communist leader.

The reality is that we are allparliamentarians and non-parliamentariansgoing to have to realize that the government of China is not here for the best interests of Canadians. They are there for the best interests of one person, and one person onlyXi Jinping, he said.

The Liberal MP added that the national security law Beijing imposed on Hong Kong in June 2020, which also grants the communist regime broad powers to persecute dissidents, whether abroad or in mainland China, is an operating manual for thugs.

In Canada, weve seen it at a minor level. We have the so-called police stations. Its just nothing other than a mafia shakedown thug operation, he said.

The revelations about Chinas secret police stations were first reported publicly by the Spain-based NGO Safeguard Defenders, which said there are several of them operating in Canada.

The Belt Is for Your Neck

McKay says Canada needs to change its way of dealing with China.

Thats necessarily going to require a change in our attitude, but also our government institutions from the prime minister on down, he said.

In response to Beijings expulsion of Lalonde, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada will not be intimidated.

We will take whatever action is necessary to continue to protect our democracy and show that were standing up for our values and our principles, Trudeau told reporters in Ottawa on May 9.

McKay says the relationship with Beijing will only stiffen the more the regime tries to intimidate us. He warned that there are no deals to be made with the Chinese Communist Party, as it is only interested in turning the rest of the world into vassal states.

Academically, I dont know how we continue to cooperate with Chinese PRC [Peoples Republic of China] scientists, researchers, people of that nature. Economically, you can never be in a position to be dependent upon a Chinese supplier or Chinese buyer, the Liberal MP said.

As Ive said in other times, [regarding] the Belt and Road Initiative: All roads lead to Beijing, the belt is for your neck.

Noe Chartier and Peter Wilson contributed to this report.
MPs Ask Why Chinese Diplomat Who Spied on Falun Gong, Uyghurs Not Expelled Sooner

Conservative MP Michael Cooper rises during question period on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on April 28, 2023. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)

Opposition MPs are again asking why expelled Chinese diplomat Zhao Wei wasnt sent packing sooner, given new revelations that the federal government knew for several years he was spying on Chinese dissidents in Canada, on top of targeting Conservative MP Michael Chong.

For three years, this government knew that a diplomat in Beijings Toronto consulate was spying on Chinese Canadians and sending information back to Beijings secret police, Conservative MP Michael Cooper said in the House of Commons on May 12.

Earlier that day, The Globe and Mail reported that the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) has a significant counterintelligence file on Zhao, a consular officer who was involved in spying on various Chinese communities in Canada.

Zhao was declared persona non grata on May 8 for his involvement with a Chinese spy service in targeting Chong and his family.

CSIS produced an assessment on the matter in 2021 and shared it with other relevant departments, but the prime minister and the minister of public safety said it didnt come to their attention until the Globe broke the story on May 1.

As for the latest report by the Globe, it says that CSIS started physical surveillance on Zhao in 2019, and shared related information with Global Affairs Canada in 2020.

A national security source told the newspaper that Zhao was responsible for keeping tabs on Chinese dissidents in the Greater Toronto Area, including Falun Gong practitioners, Ughuyr human rights activists, Hong Kong pro-democracy activists, and supporters of Tibetan and Taiwanese independence.

Zhao and his proxies would also monitor events held by these groups, photograph participants, and send the information back to a Chinese spy service, the Ministry of State Security, reported the Globe.

For three long years, this government did nothing, Cooper said in the House, suggesting the prime minister has failed to protect Chinese Canadians.

Vance Badawey, parliamentary secretary for indigenous services, responded: While Conservatives try to politicize and play partisan games, were taking real action to keep Canadians safe.

Cooper added that the government only expelled a single diplomat after getting caught doing nothing, and noted other revelations from the Globe.

Two national security sources reportedly told the newspaper that Global Affairs has a list of diplomats who could be considered for expulsion due to their involvement in threat activities and foreign interference.

How many names are on that list? How many more warnings from CSIS is this government ignoring? asked Cooper.

Bloc Quebecois MP Rene Villemure said the inaction on Zhao for several years shows that the Liberals are unmasked, they clearly dont want to act on Chinese interference, nor shed light. When will we have a public and independent inquiry?

Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly responded that her government has appointed former governor general David Johnston to look into the matter and that the minister of public safety is following this closely.

Based on the facts that have been discovered, we decided to declare the diplomat persona non grata, she said.

Joly previously testified before committee that no diplomat had been expelled by her government because they were not involved in nefarious activities.

If there are ever Chinese diplomats that flout the Vienna Convention, then we will take action, she said on March 9.

Its Troubling

Members of the communities targeted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) say all this is nothing new, having experienced their intimidation first-hand for years.

Joel Chipkar, spokesperson for the Falun Dafa Association in Canada, says the interference is ongoing and well known.

For over 20 years, reports have detailed how the CCPs United Front Work Department disguised as Chinese business associations have attacked Falun Gong and others in Canada, to hide their human rights crimes in China, he told The Epoch Times.

Its troubling how the CCP can get away with this here in Canada.

Chipkar noted the last expulsion of a Chinese diplomat was in 2006. The Epoch Times, which broke the story at the time, reported that Wang Pengfei of the Chinese embassy was declared persona non grata for spying and harassing Falun Gong practitioners.

Mehmet Tohti, an advocate for the Uyghurs, an ethnic and religious minority in Chinas Xinjiang region also persecuted by the CCP, says hes really angry after reading the latest report by the Globe.

Tohti, the executive director of the Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project, went as far as calling the government complicit.

He says the threats his community faces have been widely reported since 2007, but there hasnt been any single steps from the government or other ways to introduce any measures for the protection of Uyghur Canadians and others [as they face] the transnational repression by China, even [though] we live in a free country.

The federal government has launched consultations on establishing a foreign agent registry, after a number of national security leaks appeared in the press, painting a picture of widespread Beijing interference in Canada.

A bill to establish such a registry was tabled by Conservative Sen. Leo Housakos in 2021, but the government has not supported it.
Divine Compassion is an original work, composed in collaboration by Shen Yun Performing Arts resident composers, Junyi Tan and Yu Deng. Under the baton of Milen Nachev, Divine Compassion can be found on Shen Yun Zuo Pin, which is Shen Yuns new streaming platform.

The timpani announces the grand opening played by the entire orchestra. The strings and the brass take turns laying down a steady and majestic first theme. Shen Yun Zuo Pin describes it as A feeling of grandeur [that] characterizes the beginning  something monumental is occurring in the universe.

Fast, upbeat sixteenths are played by flutes and piccolo, followed by quick scales on the strings, leading to the grand, brass chorale. This represents the spread of Falun Dafa, a spiritual practice that gained steady popularity in China in the 1990s. The practice taught its followers to abide by the principles of Truth, Compassion, and Tolerance.

The end of the chorale signals the entrance of the next section. The lower brass bellow octaves while the strings tremolo, creating tension. Shen Yun Zuo Pin says this section depicts the deplorable state of todays world and its declining values. Although this section is short, it sets the contrast for when the oboe enters with a new theme.

The brisk tempo gives the listener the impression that life is busy but good. Shen Yun Zuo Pin says that this melody is describing the followers of Falun Dafa. The theme is passed from the oboe and becomes a dialogue between the brass and the strings.

The atmosphere shifts again with the harp taking the listener to a relaxed, heavenly place. The flute enters, and the clarinet answers. The melody that follows, played by the strings, signifies the serenity that Falun Dafa brought to its followers.

Another stormy section enters; this time depicting the persecution that the Chinese Communist Party launched on Falun Dafa in 1999. This persecution has stretched on for 24 years and is still going on today. Although the world was flooded with lies and slander created by the CCP, Falun Dafa practitioners did not waver. They were not defeated and have spent every day since July 20, 1999 clarifying the truth to the world.

The triumphant call of the trumpet announces the return of the first theme. The melody this time represents the steadfast faith of Falun Dafa practitioners. Despite the persecution, Falun Dafa has not been and will never be defeated. This final section is where the name of the piece, Divine Compassion becomes evident. Falun Dafa practitioners believe that goodness is rewarded. One day when the persecution ends, Falun Dafa will be free in China once more and those who persecuted the righteous will meet with justice.

Perhaps that will be the day that China is freed from communism.

Perhaps that will be the day that the world is freed from communism.

Shen Yun Zuo Pin describes this last section as a new era of blessing and prosperity begins for humankind.
MEXICO CITY, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Thursday urged Washington to pursue diplomacy and rapprochement, including with Cuba and Venezuela, as a way to tackle the immigration crisis.

"How is it going to be possible to maintain harmony, peace and tranquility if there are differences, if there is confrontation with the neighbors?" Lopez Obrador said during his regular daily press conference.

To raise the standard of living in Latin America and the Caribbean region so their people don't feel the need to migrate in search of work, Washington should work with the governments in the regions to address poverty and underdevelopment, he said.

To that end, Lopez Obrador said, the United States must change its foreign policy, especially in regard to countries such as Cuba and Venezuela, to lift the sanctions imposed due to "ideological baggage" and cooperate with those nations to curb mass migration.

U.S. and Mexican authorities expect a surge in migrants headed towards the United States with the end of Title 42, a COVID-related restriction used as a tool to turn back migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border. 
Net-Zero Costs Unmanageable for Many Homeowners: Report

British homeowners face financial obstacles to making net-zero upgrades to their homes, according to a new report citing upfront costs and a lack of interest in borrowing as significant factors.

To reach the governments net zero targets almost all homes will require some level of retrofit which will mean significant changes to almost every home but for many homeowners there is currently limited financial support, a new report (pdf) from Citizens Advice has warned.

The charity said that these changes have the potential to be disruptive as well as costly.

It added that improvements needed to meet net-zero targets would be unmanageable for many without significant changes.

The charity estimated that the average cost of improving the energy efficiency of a home or transitioning to low carbon heat is just under 15,000.

The report highlighted that while almost two in five homeowners have over 20,000 in savings, one in two have less than 10,000, and over 1 in 10 have no savings.

Almost two in three homeowners asked in the survey said they arent interested in a heat pump, citing concerns about high costs, the effectiveness of new technology, and suitability for their properties as factors impacting their interest.

It also found that four in five homeowners were unwilling to borrow to fund either energy efficiency measures or low carbon technologies.

It said that these costs will be unmanageable for many without significant changes to either the cost of improvements or the financial incentives surrounding the adoption of energy efficiency and low carbon heat.

Heat Pumps

The UK has signed into law a policy to achieve net zero by 2050 with the Conservative government setting out a strategy called Build Back Greener to decarbonise all sectors of the UK economy.

The UK faces the phasing out of petrol and diesel cars and gas boilers and calls from statutory bodies like the Climate Change Committee to cut meat by 20 percent in 2030 and by 35 percent by 2050.

According to its Heat Pump Investment Roadmap strategy, released in April, reducing the UKs carbon emissions to Net Zero by 2050 means it must decarbonise the heating of over 30 million homes across the UK in a little over 25 years.

The government claims that a heat pump can reduce carbon emissions by up to 70 percent compared with a gas boiler. It plans to phase out the installation of new and replacement natural gas boilers by 2035 at the latest.

Last year the government allocated 450 million to the scheme, which will cover around 90,000 households. Environmental activists have called for the scheme to be extended.

The UKs Climate Change Committee (CCC) projects that by 2050 all heating in British homes will be provided by low-carbon sources, of which 52 percent will be heat pumps, which run on electricity and work like a fridge in reverse to extract energy from the air or ground.

If it is extended to cover all 23 million homes currently using a gas boiler, the scheme could cost 115 billion, according to a study conducted by the TaxPayers Alliance (TPA), a UK pressure group campaigning for a low-tax society.

Hide the Cost

Gordon Hughes, a former professor of Economics at Edinburgh and former senior adviser on energy and environmental policy at the World Bank until 2001, told The Epoch Times that the government should just say that the transition cannot operate at a cost that the public is willing to bare.

Hughes was the co-author of one of the first international analyses of climate change and has criticised the massive scale of expenditures required to implement Net Zero policies.

Of course, people can be persuaded to reduce their emissions of carbon or their use of gas if prices were high enough, but no politician will survive pursuing that policy for very long, he added.

What theyre trying to do is to achieve a change by intervening in the market and thereby trying just hide the costs but the cost turn up is a different form. Instead of very high prices for gas, they turn up in the form of absurdly high costs for trying to convert the housing stock, he added.

As well as part of a report on the decarbonisation of the country, the government wrote in the mandate proposal report on banning new petrol cars by 2030 that the transition cannot happen through market forces alone.

The idea that market forces wont work is simply a political statement, said Hughes.

He said that its a way for the government to say that it doesnt have the consent of the population at large to change the way in which we behave at considerable cost.

In March, the industry body representing gas heating specialists The Energy and Utilities Alliance (EUA) hit out at proposals to require boiler manufacturers to supply a set number of heat pumps as a proportion of their sales, calling it an absurd, Soviet-style production quota.

A Department for Energy Security and Net Zero spokesperson told The Epoch Times by email: The Government is improving energy efficiency and has made significant progress, with the proportion of homes in England with a rating of C or above increasing from 14% in 2010 to 47% in 2022.

Energy efficiency measures can help households to make substantial savings. To make them even more affordable, our Great British Insulation Scheme is set to upgrade around 300,000 of the countrys least energy efficient homes, weve committed to invest 6.6 billion in energy efficiency upgrades this parliament, and a further 6 billion to 2028.

Alexander Zhang contributed to this report.
New Report Sheds Light on Labor Shortage in Hudson Valley

A new report by Pattern for Progress finds that declining birth rates and outward migration are two key reasons behind the labor shortage in the Hudson Vally.

Pattern for Progress CEO Adam Bosch said the report was put together to better understand the hiring difficulties throughout the region and provide local leaders with actionable ideas.

We have in hospitality, food, and tourism, serious shortages in the labor force; in warehousing and logistics, we have shortages; we have school districts putting up posting for teachers and only getting a small handful of applications where they used to get dozens in the past, Bosch said in a May 11 video call.

Employers are having a hard time finding peoplethat was one thing that weve heard time and time and time again, practically everywhere we went across the region last year, he said.

According to the report, in the past 20 years or so, birth rates in the regions nine counties have been steadily on the decline, except for Orange, Rockland, and Sullivan.

Between 1997 and 2019, the regions annual birth counts were down by 3,000, or 10 percent.

The above three counties are only able to buck the trend primarily because of their growing Orthodox Jewish communities, according to the report.

For example, for Orange County, birth rates in the Village of Kiryas Joel increased by 84 percent between 1997 and 2019, whereas all the other towns in the county saw double-digit drops.

More Residents Leaving

Meanwhile, for the past 25 years, the region has seen more residents move out than move in, except for 2020, when the COVID-19 breakout brought an influx of people from the city, according to the report.

Between 1996 and 2021, the region lost a net of 134,505 residents due to outward migration.

Most people moved to nearby counties, such as Fairfield County in Connecticut, Bergen County in New Jersey, and Long Island Counties in New York, according to tax return data between 2020 and 2021.

Others moved down south to South Carolina and Florida.

Data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau indicates that almost half of the people who left Hudson Valley did so out of housing-related reasons, according to the report.

For Orange County residents, the most popular destinations are New York City, Pike County in Pennsylvania, Bergen and Sussex County in New Jersey, and Horry County in South Carolina.

As a result, the prime-age labor pool of the region is shrinking, and employers are having a harder time finding workers, be they line cooks or nurses, according to the report.

The report also disputes the common belief that hiring difficulties arise out of the fact that more people dont want to work in the current climate.

By early 2023, the percentage of working people out of the total New York population was 58 percent, a number that was comparable to the average rates since the 1970s, according to the report.

These demographic trends hurt not only company hiring but also school enrollment, healthcare systems, and volunteer-based services such as firefighters, the report says.

The No. 1 solution identified by the report to reverse the trend is to build up the housing stock so that fewer people will move out and more people get to move in.

Other solutions include reducing the overall tax burdens, spending more money on marketing the region, finding ways to keep local college students, and a rational immigration policy at the federal level.

If you just simply look at this as a mathematics problem: we have a people shortage, and there are people looking for a place to be, Bosch said. Every single [expert] we talked to about these data said they thought legal, well-organized immigration has a role to play in helping us solve our people shortage.

Pattern for Progress is a Newburgh-based nonprofit that conducts objective research on Hudson Valley issues and provides actionable insights to local leaders, according to its website.
New York AG Suing Gun Manufacturer for Aiding Mass Shooter

New York Attorney General Letitia James speaks during a press conference in Manhattan in New York on May 21, 2021. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit against a gun accessory manufacturer on Thursday, alleging that the business facilitated the illegal possession of weapons in the state.

The lawsuit (pdf) has been filed against Georgia-based Mean Arms for allegedly aiding in the illegal possession of assault weapons in New York, including the weapon used in the Buffalo mass shooting in May last year, according to a May 11 press release. The shooting incident in Buffalo ended up killing 10 people and injuring three.

The shooter is said to have purchased a used semiautomatic AR-15 rifle a few months before the incident in January 2022. The AR-15 had a magazine lock (MA lock) installed, which was manufactured by Mean Arms.

If the lock is removed, then detachable magazines, including high-capacity magazines holding over 10 rounds of ammunition, can be inserted into a rifle. In New York, the possession of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines holding over 10 rounds of ammunition is banned.

According to the shooters manifesto, he removed the MA lock from the AR-15 and added 30-round detachable magazines.

The lawsuit alleges Mean Arms deceptively and falsely advertised that installing an MA lock on a weapon makes the weapon legal in New York. However, the attorney general points out that an MA lock does not remove the ability of a semiautomatic rifle to accept a detachable magazine.

Moreover, Mean Arms is said to have provided step-by-step instructions on the back of its product packaging on how to easily remove the lock. The Buffalo shooter reportedly removed the MA lock from his weapon in a few minutes by using the same tool mentioned in the Mean Arms removal instructions.

The lawsuit is seeking to make Mean Arms pay restitution, damages, and civil penalties for alleged illegal practices as well as block it from doing business in New York.

The racist mass shooting at the Tops grocery store in Buffalo was one of the darkest days in the history of our state and our nation, said James. We lost 10 innocent lives because a hate-fueled individual was able to make an AR-15 even deadlier through a simple change at home.

Mean Arms sells the MA Lock device knowing that it can be easily removed to make guns more dangerous and even gives directions on how to take this action. We cannot undo the devastating harm that was done, but this lawsuit against Mean Arms is part of our ongoing effort to pursue justice for the ten innocent lives that were unjustly taken.

The Epoch Times has reached out to Mean Arms for comment.

Protecting Gun Rights

The Mean Arms lawsuit is the latest in a series of steps New York has taken related to guns. On April 29, New York hosted its first-ever statewide community gun buyback program, which saw over 3,000 guns removed in a single day. Since taking office, James has removed more than 7,000 guns.

The state has pushed to make gun laws more stringent. However, courts have struck down these moves. In June last year, the Supreme Court voted 63 to strike down New Yorks law against concealed gun carry, thus recognizing for the first time the constitutional right to carry firearms in public for self-defense purposes.

Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the National Rifle Association (NRA), called the Supreme Court judgment a watershed win for good men and women all across America.

In late December 2022, State Supreme Court Judge Thomas Moran ruled that a New York red flag lawwhich allowed for confiscating guns from people who have not committed a crimeis unconstitutional.

The Extreme Risk Protection Order law allowed individuals, including police officers, to ask the court to seize firearms from people they consider to pose a threat to themselves or others. Since the law came into effect in 2019, over 1,900 removal orders have been issued.

Moran ruled that the law violated the U.S. Constitutions Second Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment as it does not sufficiently protect a citizens rights.
New York Parade Celebrates Falun Gong, Condemns Religious Persecution in China

NEW YORKA golden dragon, a float of fairies seated atop large lotus flowers, and a full Western marching band were part of a contingent of thousands who marched through midtown Manhattan for a yearly celebration.

The New York parade, with 5,000 attendees, marks one of the largest of its kind in the world to commemorate World Falun Dafa Day, which also marks the anniversary of the spiritual disciplines introduction to the public 31 years ago.

Falun Gong practitioners march in Manhattan to celebrate World Falun Dafa Day on May 12, 2023. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

In the 1990s, the spiritual practice, also known as Falun Gong, spread rapidly in China, drawing, by some estimates, up to 100 million people to the practice. But it has been violently persecuted since 1999, when the Chinese communist regime unleashed a bloody campaign aimed at eradicating the faith.

During the nearly 24 years of repression, an untold number of Falun Gong practitioners have been killed through torture, slave labor, and forced organ harvesting, but survivorsand those who took up the practice in more than 100 countries around the worldsaid the communist repression and cruelty cant make them bend their will.

Its adding fuel to the fire, Cathy Han, a Falun Gong adherent at the parade, told The Epoch Times. The more you try to suppress, the more people will want to break out of it.

Falun Gong practitioner Cathy Han at the World Falun Dafa Day parade in New York on May 12, 2023. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

Going Against the Tide

Han was speaking from personal experience.

In July 1999, Han was a graduating college student in the northern Chinese city Taiyuan, when all of a sudden state media started vilifying Falun Gong around the clock.

Han had a good friend and several schoolmates who practiced the meditation discipline.

Her friend, whom she would later marry, was imprisoned by the regime for one year as a punishment for his refusal to give up his belief. She had known him as a kindhearted and gentle person since high school, someone who never quarreled with others but treated people with kindness no matter what happened.

How could such a person do anything bad? she recalled asking herself.

She peppered him with questions about Falun Gong the next time they met. How come you are so brainless and keep on doing what the Chinese Communist Party doesnt allow you to do?

He said that he was simply following the practices tenets of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance to be a good person. He cited a list of people he knew who benefited physically and mentally from the practice.

Han could come up with no counterargument. What kind of party would persecute people for reading a book, exercising to keep healthy, and following truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance?

He was going against the tide, Han said, finding herself respecting the man even more.

Falun Gong practitioners march in Manhattan to celebrate World Falun Dafa Day on May 12, 2023. (Larry Dye/The Epoch Times)

About a year later, Han married him despite pushback from her family that the man had a bad reputation because of the prison sentence.

He stayed in prison not for any wrongdoing but for his faith. He strove to be a good person. Do you not allow someone to be a good person? she told them.

For their belief, the couple experienced constant police visits to their home and the workplace. Their downstairs neighbor, upon moving away, told them that the police had tasked him with monitoring them.

Ive been watching you guys, and you both seem fine, he told Han, she recalled. You have nice manners, you dont disturb others with your coming and going, and you help us repair things whenever we asked. Why do the police want to keep an eye on you?

Its to create a kind of mental pressure, to make you unable to keep your head up, Han said. Just look: Everyones watching you. They want you to live in that gloomy climate every moment. This is how evil the communist party is.

Falun Gong practitioners march in Manhattan to celebrate World Falun Dafa Day on May 12, 2023. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

A Sense of Peace

The practices set of core values is one thing that adherents repeatedly come back to at the parade.

Eliseo Dardon, who worked as an insurance agent for MetLife, has been practicing Falun Gong since 2009, after he came across a group of meditators in a park in Flushing, Queens.

Now I have truthfulness, compassion, and tolerancemy life is complete, the 70-year-old told The Epoch Times. I know what I do has a purpose in life.

Falun Gong practitioner Eliseo Dardon at the World Falun Dafa Day parade in New York on May 12, 2023. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

Bystander Cristina Nolasco, originally from Mexico, said she was struck by the sense of peace from the parade even as participants raise awareness about the abuses happening in China.

I think its really brave of them, and I love how theyre doing it with this peaceful spirit, she told The Epoch Times. I think thats what theyre transmittingpeaceright now.

Zhai Deyun, a former math and physics tutor from Nanjing, a city in southeast China, joined the parade from near Times Square in a show of support for the practice.

Zhai Deyun in New York on May 12, 2023. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

While in China, Zhai initially bought into communist propaganda about Falun Gong, until he started using a software that adherents developed to circumvent the regimes censorship machine, the Great Firewall, allowing him to access unfiltered information from the outside world.

He described Falun Gong adherents as heroes.

The evil nature of the Chinese Communist Party means that it cant tolerate truthfulness and compassion; they cant tolerate for such a group to exist, he told The Epoch Times, adding that he believes the regime will one day be swept into the dust bin of history.

Han came to New York in 2016 to escape the police harassment in China. She said that the perseverance was worth it.

It was fearful and depressing, but in my heart, there was light.

Li Yuanming and Xiao Lusheng contributed to this report.

Falun Gong practitioners march in Manhattan to celebrate World Falun Dafa Day on May 12, 2023. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

Falun Gong practitioners march in Manhattan to celebrate World Falun Dafa Day on May 12, 2023. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

Falun Gong practitioners march in Manhattan to celebrate World Falun Dafa Day on May 12, 2023. (Larry Dye/The Epoch Times)

Falun Gong practitioners march in Manhattan to celebrate World Falun Dafa Day on May 12, 2023. (Mark Zou/The Epoch Times)

Falun Gong practitioners march in Manhattan to celebrate World Falun Dafa Day on May 12, 2023. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

People watch as Falun Gong practitioners march in Manhattan to celebrate World Falun Dafa Day on May 12, 2023. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

Falun Gong practitioners march in Manhattan to celebrate World Falun Dafa Day on May 12, 2023. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

Falun Gong practitioners march in Manhattan to celebrate World Falun Dafa Day on May 12, 2023. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

Falun Gong practitioners march in Manhattan to celebrate World Falun Dafa Day on May 12, 2023. (Larry Dye/The Epoch Times)

Falun Gong practitioners march in Manhattan to celebrate World Falun Dafa Day on May 12, 2023. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

Falun Gong practitioners march in Manhattan to celebrate World Falun Dafa Day on May 12, 2023. (Larry Dye/The Epoch Times)

Falun Gong practitioners march in Manhattan to celebrate World Falun Dafa Day on May 12, 2023. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

People look on as Falun Gong practitioners march in Manhattan to celebrate World Falun Dafa Day on May 12, 2023. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

Falun Gong practitioners march in Manhattan to celebrate World Falun Dafa Day on May 12, 2023. (Mark Zou/The Epoch Times)

Falun Gong practitioners march in Manhattan to celebrate World Falun Dafa Day on May 12, 2023. (Larry Dye/The Epoch Times)

Falun Gong practitioners march in Manhattan to celebrate World Falun Dafa Day on May 12, 2023. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

Falun Gong practitioners march in Manhattan to celebrate World Falun Dafa Day on May 12, 2023. (Larry Dye/The Epoch Times)

Falun Gong practitioners march in Manhattan to celebrate World Falun Dafa Day on May 12, 2023. (Mark Zou/The Epoch Times)

Falun Gong practitioners march in Manhattan to celebrate World Falun Dafa Day on May 12, 2023. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

Falun Gong practitioners march in Manhattan to celebrate World Falun Dafa Day on May 12, 2023. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

Falun Gong practitioners march in Manhattan to celebrate World Falun Dafa Day on May 12, 2023. (Larry Dye/The Epoch Times)
New Zealand PM Invited to Bidens Pacific Summit in Papua New Guinea

New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins speaks during a tree planting ceremony at Parliament in Wellington, New Zealand, on April 26, 2023. (Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)

New Zealands Prime Minister Chris Hipkins will visit Papua New Guinea later this month to attend President Joe Bidens summit with Pacific leaders, his office said on Thursday.

Hipkins will embark on his trip to Papua New Guinea on May 21, marking his first visit to the Pacific nation since becoming prime minister in January. He will be meeting Biden for the first time at the U.S.Pacific summit.

His office provided no further details about the visit.

According to the White House, the leaders will discuss cooperation on challenges critical to the region and to the United States, such as combating climate change, protecting maritime resources, and advancing resilient and inclusive economic growth.

Biden will stop in Papua New Guinea while traveling from Japanwhere he will attend the G-7 Leaders summitto Australia for a Quad Leaders meeting on May 24. He will become the first-ever sitting U.S. president to visit Papua New Guinea.

The United States has increased engagement in the Pacific region after Beijing signed a controversial security pact with the Solomon Islands last year, which would allow Beijing to station troops, weapons, and naval ships on the island.

In February, Papua New Guinea sent a delegation to Hawaii for security talks with U.S. officials. The State Department said they discussed the foundational framework of the U.S.Papua New Guinea Defense Cooperation Agreement (DCA) to establish a mutual understanding of core issues.

When completed and signed, a U.S.Papua New Guinea DCA will be the foundational framework around which our two nations will enhance security cooperation and further strengthen our bilateral relationship, improve the capacity of the Papua New Guinea Defense Force and increase stability and security in the region, it stated.

Taiwan Urges New Zealand to Invest

New Zealands announcement came after Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu urged the country to increase its investment in Pacific countries to help reduce their dependence on China.

Wu warned of the Chinese ambition in the Pacific region. He said that Beijing wanted to sign a security agreement with the Solomon Islands despite the island being geographically distant from China.

When China expands its ties in the Pacific, it is also bringing authoritarian beliefs and policies to those countries, Wu said in an interview with New Zealand broadcaster TVNZ on May 7.

When China expands further, that will be at our cost, the minister remarked.

He said that China has been tremendously increasing its military activities in the Pacific while attention is focused on its actions in the East China Sea, Taiwan Strait, and the South China Sea.

Wu warned that Chinas expansionism also extends to the Indian Ocean and Africa, urging democratic nations to work together to curb authoritarianism from expanding further.

Partners in the Blue Pacific

Last year, New Zealand joined with the United States, Australia, Japan, and the United Kingdom to form an informal group aimed at boosting economic and diplomatic ties with Pacific island nations.

The group, dubbed Partners in the Blue Pacific, will seek to support Pacific regionalism and expand economic cooperation between the Pacific and the rest of the world.

In a joint statement, the countries reaffirmed their shared determination to support the peoples of the Pacific.

We are also united in how we realize this visionaccording to principles of Pacific regionalism, sovereignty, transparency, accountability, and most of all, led and guided by the Pacific Islands, they said.

In June 2022, New Zealand Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta had a virtual meeting with her then-counterpart, Wang Yi, during which she expressed concern about Chinas expanding influence in the Pacific region.

Minister Mahuta acknowledged that China has been present in the Pacific for a long time, but underlined the importance of engagement taking place in a manner that advances Pacific priorities, a statement by the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said.

Rebecca Zhu and Reuters contributed to this report.
New Zealander Migrant Worker Made to Work 72 Hours a Week Without Getting Paid

Table service and seating dining returns to restaurants and cafes on Ponsonby Road on December 03, 2021 in Auckland, New Zealand. (Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images)

A newly arrived immigrant in New Zealand was found to be exploited by her company, working 12-hour days, six days a week, without getting paid.

Haesol Yuk arrived in New Zealand with her family in 2019 from South Korea when her husband got an appointment as the Pastor of the Jesus Aroma Church Trust, according to Stuff.

One of the church trustees, Victoria Jean, also known as Jong Ai Park, was the sole director and shareholder of Elev 8, which managed multiple cosmetic businesses, including Elev 8 Skincare Academy and Beauty Clinic, K-Beauty and Elev 9 Toning Table Centre in Dunedin.

Jean then introduced Yuk to a massage course, a suggestion that Yuk accepted.

Yuk, who did not have a working visa, was told she needed to work until her husbands visa went through.

Then, Yuk was found to be working 72 hours a week, but her employer didnt pay her a penny, saying she was only a volunteer.

Her responsibilities included cleaning and opening the shops, washing sheets and towels, and performing massages.

Yuk was allegedly employed from April 22 to June 9, 2019, for 42 working days. She worked every Monday to Saturday for 12 hours per day and was not paid.

This is not the first time Jean was found to be exploiting newly arrived immigrants.

In April, Jean was fined NZ$164,000 (US$102,582) for exploiting two vulnerable migrant workers. In this case, premiums or payments were taken in exchange for jobs.

Migrant workers are often a target of exploitation, especially if they are working when their visa does not allow them to work, residing in the country unlawfully because their visa has expired, and are worried they will have to leave the country.

In New Zealand, employers who exploit migrants can be imprisoned for up to seven years and be fined up to NZ$100,000 (US$66,964)

Those who are being exploited at work are urged to apply for a Migrant Exploitation Protection Work Visa and report to Employment New Zealand, INZ and New Zealand Police.

Australias Law To Protect Migrant Workers From Exploitation

In Australia, the government seeks to provide safer working conditions for migrant workers by raising the Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold (TSMIT) from $53,900 (US$36,093) to $70,000 (US$76,875)from 1 July 2023.

This means employers must pay migrant workers an annual salary of $70,000 plus superannuation contributions when sponsoring them under an employer-sponsored skilled migration program.

The move aims to protect migrant workers from exploitation and to ensure that their salaries are comparable to those of Australian workers.

This is the first increase to the TSMIT in a decade. It is a down payment on the type of migration system the Albanese Government wants to build, said Clare ONeil, Australias Home Affairs Minister.

Our migration success story is rooted in permanency and citizenship. Giving people the chance to get established in their community, educate their kids, and become Australian.

The government also seeks to reinstate limits on international student work hours from July 1.

Three-Quarters of Migrant Workers Dont Report Underpayment

According to a survey of over 15,000 migrant workers over the past five years by the Migrant Justice Institute, around three-quarters of migrant workers earned below the casual minimum wage in Australia, and a quarter earned less than half that.

Nine in 10 underpaid workers didnt speak up and took no action.

The Albanese government is also looking to establish whistleblower protections that allow migrant workers to report the matter without risking their visas.

Sanmati Verma, Managing Lawyer at the Human Rights Law Centre (HRLC), said the conditions for exploitation are built into our visa system.

If migrant workers cant speak up without fear of losing their place in Australia, most will never come forward. When they leave Australia, new migrant workers will simply replace them in those exploitative jobs, she said.

These whistleblower protections must be a cornerstone of the governments migration reforms.

Associate Professor Laurie Berg, UTS, and Co-Executive Director of Migrant Justice Institute, told the HRLC that without the whistleblower protections, employers know they wont get caught underpaying migrant workers and exploitation will remain business as usual.

Harsh penalties for unscrupulous employers are useless if migrant workers are too fearful to report them.

Associate Professor Bassina Farbenblum, UNSW, and Co-Executive Director of Migrant Justice Institute, also said it is immoral for the government to draw migrants and international students back to Australia knowing full well that it hasnt fixed the problems that will lead to many of them being exploited and unable to speak up.

Enabling exploited migrant workers to speak up is sensible government policy. After a decade of government inaction, these reforms will finally make a dent in migrant exploitation without creating red tape for businesses doing the right thing.
News Corp Should Be Paid for Content Used to Train AI, Says CEO

A visitor watches an AI (Artificial Intelligence) sign on an animated screen at the Mobile World Congress (MWC), the telecom industry's biggest annual gathering, in Barcelona. (Josep Lago/AFP via Getty Images)

Media giant News Corporation should be compensated by artificial intelligence engines for using its content, says company CEO Robert Thomson.

In an investor call on May 12, Thomson said AI would have a profound effect on the media business.

Generative AI may pose a challenge to our intellectual property and to the future of journalism, he said in comments obtained by the News Corp-owned The Australian newspaper.

As those who have experimented with ChatGPT will be aware, the answers are only as insightful and factual as the source material and are more retrospective than contemporary.

Thomson said News Corps content would be aggregated, synthesised, and monetised by other parties.

The News Corp. building on 6th Avenue, home to Fox News, the New York Post, and the Wall Street Journal in New York on March 20, 2019. (Kevin Hagen/Getty Images)

We expect our fair share of that monetisation, Thomson said. Generative AI cannot be degenerative AI.

The difficulty with a payment model is that developers use the wider indexed internet as a source of training for AI enginesmeaning AI bots use content to learn how to sequence words and sentences.

However, AI engines generally use the open web and steer clear of content behind paywalls, which is now increasingly common in many larger news publication websites.

Further, content that is quoted directly by AI is often cited, a capability newer engines like Googles Bard and GPT4 will also have.

AIs Role in the Future?

Thomsons comments come as ChatGPT makes headlines worldwide for being one of the first broadly accessible AI engines that the public can engage withAI has been widely used in a range of other technologies for years, however.

The rise of ChatGPT has prompted questions about the wider role of technology in the future.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) has predicted a dramatic shift in the global economy with The Future of Jobs Report 2023 predicting AI will help create 69 million jobs and eliminate 83 millionleaving a shortfall of 14 million.

The WEF claimed clerical and administrative roles were likely to suffer with over 26 million fewer jobs by 2027 as automation takes over, while jobs in the fields of AI, machine learning, business analysts, and software engineering would see an increase.

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said AI technology could eventually match teachers or tutors.

The AIs will get to that ability to be as good a tutor as any human ever could, Gates told the ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego on April 18.

We have enough sample sets of those things being done well that the training can be done, he added. So, Id say that is a very worthwhile milestone, is to engage in a dialogue where youre helping to understand what theyre missing. And were not that far.

Fellow tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, Tesla CEO, has been more concerned about the direction AI is heading.

AI is more dangerous than, say, mismanaged aircraft design or production maintenance or bad car production in the sense that it has the potentialhowever small one may regard that probability, but it is non-trivialit has the potential of civilizational destruction, Musk told Fox News Tucker Carlson in a recent interview.

He raised a current example of what could be dangerous about AI.

If you have a super-intelligent AI that is capable of writing incredibly well and in a way that is incredibly influential [and] convincing, he said. And its constantly figuring out what is more convincing over timeenter social media like Twitter, Facebookand it potentially manipulates public opinion in a way that is very bad. How would we even know?

Katabella Roberts and Samantha Flom contributed to this article.
Northern Ireland Tourists to Face Immigration Checks

UK legislation will mean tourists entering Northern Ireland from the Republic will have to apply for authorisation

A truck drives past a money changed sign for euro, sterling, and dollar currencies on the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, in Jonesborough, Northern Ireland, on May 19, 2022. (Clodagh Kilcoyne /Reuters)

Tourists crossing into Northern Ireland from the Republic of Ireland are set to be hit by immigration checks.

The regulations, due to be rolled out by the Home Office next year, will mean those visiting the region from abroad will be legally required to hold an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA).

The scheme will legally require travellers to provide biometric details and answer a set of suitability questions before being authorised to enter the UK.

For the first time ever, that will apply to thousands of tourists who enter Northern Ireland from the Republic.

The ETA scheme, aimed at bolstering Britains borders, has been described as extremely concerning by tourism chiefs who fear the regulations will have a detrimental impact on Northern Irelands tourism.

They also fear the border check plans will isolate Northern Ireland and damage the islands tourism reputation as a whole.

Approximately 70 percent of tourists enter Northern Ireland from the Republic across 300 land crossings between the two jurisdictions.

International travellers, including those from North America, make up 25 percent of the regions tourism revenue.

The ETA issue was raised with Minister for Immigration Robert Jenrick at Thursdays Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee.

Asked by Baroness Margaret Ritchie if the scheme would have a detrimental impact on the regions tourism, Jenrick replied that it was a difficult problem.

The Home Office has considered the request to exempt tourists visiting or not from the Republic of Ireland from the ETA requirement, he said.

But ultimately, an exemption in this vein would undermine the rationale for introducing the ETA scheme and the opportunity the scheme provides to further secure the Common Travel Area.

Minister of State for Immigration Robert Jenrick delivers a speech on sovereign borders in an age of mass migration at the Policy Exchange in central London, England on April 25, 2023. (Jordan Pettitt/PA Media)

Tourism Concerns

Jenrick said the government would be working with tourism bodies and stakeholders in both jurisdictions to mitigate any risk of it being seen as an increased barrier to cross border tourism on the island of Ireland.

The minister said he expected the process of obtaining an ETA incredibly simple and straightforward and inexpensive.

And I would hope that the impact can be effectively treated, he said.

Speaking to The Epoch Times, Northern Ireland Tourism Alliance Chief Executive Joanne Stewart said those in the industry held concerns over the ETA plans.

The industry is very concerned given that 70 percent of our overseas visitors will cross the border into Northern Ireland.

A lot of them wont even realise that theyre one, crossing the land border or two, going into the UK, because we are promoted as the island of Ireland.

So there are concerns about the impact on tourism.

The overseas tourism represents about 25 percent of our tourism spend, that doesnt include GB, its more international travel and obviously we would have a lot of day trips.

Stewart said talks with the Home Office were continuing in an attempt to resolve the issue.

The Irish government have been able to negotiate an exemption for residents of Ireland, who are not British or Irish, who will be able to travel.

Theres a lot of people obviously making daily trips across the border, whether thats for leisure or retail or at health, education, whatever.

So they did get an exemption but it doesnt apply to tourists.

And we are working to try and get an exemption for those tourists who are coming to Northern Ireland as part of that trip to Ireland.

Although tourists will require an ETA to travel across the border, there will be no stationary immigration checks at any of the 300 land crossings.

However, if applicable, travellers without an ETA come to the attention of authorities there could legal implications.

In one way, youre not going to be stopped and checked, but its a legal requirement, the tourism chief said.

So if for some reason, you are stopped there could be issues around validity of insuranceif youre in an accident, or if youre stopped for whatever reason, and youre in the UK without an ETA there can be legal implications.

But again, theres confusion because its if you knowingly come into the UK without an ETA, so its a very its a very confusing situation.

Narrow Water Point and Warrenpoint Port seen from from Flagstaff Viewpoint on the hills outside Newry where the Newry River flows out to Carlingford Lough. The UK and Republic of Ireland share a border through the lough. Undated file photo. (Liam McBurney/PA)

Border Check

In a statement to The Epoch Times, Tourism Ireland said it has raised concerns with the Irish government over the ETA scheme.

In evidence provided to the Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport, and Media last June, the tourism body said the immigration requirements had the potential to be very damaging.

Tourism Ireland said it had commissioned research into the plans with feedback from industry and tour operators stating that they foresee an immediate drop in visits to Northern Ireland.

The statement added: This bill has the potential to damage our reputation.

Among those interviewed, it is seen as a step backwards, at a time when tourism needs support and forward momentum.

Northern Ireland will become more isolated and become a harder sell, as an ETA is seen as a border check.

Tour operators will want to adhere to the law, even if it will not be border controlled, and it is feared that any news of potential arrests will present perceptions that it is unsafe and not easy to travel to Northern Ireland.

On Tuesday the Home Office announced that visitors from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, and Jordan, will be the first travellers to be subject to the ETA scheme.

By applying for an ETA in advance, visitors will benefit from smooth and efficient travel, the Home Office said.

As part of the application process, individuals will need to provide biometric details and answer a set of suitability questions.

This will ensure we have information on those seeking to come to the UK helping to prevent dangerous individuals, such as criminals, entering the UK.

Speaking about the scheme, Jenrick said ETAs will enhance our border security by increasing our knowledge about those seeking to come to the UK and preventing the arrival of those who pose a threat.

He added: It will also improve travel for legitimate visitors, with those visiting from Gulf Cooperation Council states being among the first to benefit.

The new scheme will entirely replace the current Electronic Visa Waiver Scheme which requires visitors to the UK from GCC states to pay a higher cost for a single-use visit.

By the end of 2024, ETAs will be a requirement worldwide for visitors who do not need a visa for short stays, including those visiting from Europe.

Visitors from Europe, and other nations such as America and Australia do not currently need to make any form of application to visit to the UK, however, this will be changing with the introduction of ETAs.
The first day after the end of Title 42, Todd Bensman, senior national security fellow with the Center for Immigration Studies, told NTD the Texas Guard has successfully prevented migrants from trying to cross.

On Thursday night, a federal judge temporarily blocked the Biden administration from releasing illegal immigrants without court notices.

In New York City, a U.S. Marine veteran who put a homeless subway passenger in a chokehold is facing charges for manslaughter.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore signed a bill into law legalizing possession of 1.5 ounces of cannabis. However, its been revealed that Moore personally invests almost half of all his assets in cannabis stock.
Officer Deaths Surge in CanadaWe Have Never Seen This Before, Says Police Association Head

Sgt. Eric Mueller was killed responding to a report of a gunshot in Bourget, Ont., on May 11, 2023. (Ontario Provincial Police)

Nine officers have been murdered in Canada since September 2022, the latest of which was Ontarios Sgt. Eric Mueller, who was ambushed during a house call on May 11.

Its as if there is an actual attack on the policing community, Matthew Cox, president of the Ottawa Police Association, told The Epoch Times. We have never seen this before in Canada.

He said members of his association have told him they are scared to go to work right now.

I think that the government needs to get itself involved and start toughening up on the crime bills, Cox said.

He said a decrease in respect for police has also contributed to the problem.

Recent Deaths

Mueller, 39, responded to a disturbance at a house in Bourget, Ont., east of Ottawa about 2 a.m. on May 11. He was with three other officers, all of whom were shot in what the police have called an ambush. The other two officers sustained non-life-threatening injuries. A suspect has been charged with first-degree murder.

Quebec provincial officer Sgt. Maureen Breau, 42, was stabbed to death trying to arrest a suspect in Louiseville, Que., on March 27. She was a mother of two and was only four days away from starting a new job as an investigator.

Edmonton officers Const. Travis Jordan, 35, and Const. Brett Ryan, 30, were shot and killed by a 16-year-old boy when responding to a family dispute on March 16. The boy shot and killed himself afterward. Ryan was expecting his first child.

Ontario provincial officer Const. Grzegorz Pierzchala, 28, was fatally shot on Dec. 27 while responding to a call about a vehicle in a ditch. Two suspects have been charged with first-degree murder; one of them was out on bail at the time of the shooting.

RCMP Const. Shaelyn Yang, 31, was fatally stabbed in Burnaby, B.C., trying to issue an eviction notice to a man living in a tent in a local park. The man has been charged with first-degree murder.

South Simcoe Police Service constables Devon Northrup, 33, and Morgan Russell, 54, were shot and killed by a 22-year-old man on Oct. 11 when they responded to a disturbance call at a home in Innisfil, Ont.

The man wore a ballistic vest and waited in ambush for the officers, Ontarios police watchdog said. The suspect died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Const. Andrew Hong, 48, was also ambushed and shot to death. He was getting coffee for his colleagues at a Tim Hortons in Mississauga, Ont., while on break on Sept. 12. Investigators say the man who killed him later shot three others, two of whom died, before police killed him.

More Officers Needed, Say Associations

The way to make officers safer immediately is to hire more police, Cox said. Toronto Police Association President Jon Reid also told The Epoch Times in February the officers are stretched too thin, making it hard to prevent or deal with the recent wave of violent attacks in the city.

While the city approved a police budget increase of almost $50 million on Feb. 15, Reid said it will still fall far short of whats needed.

Cox said the availability of guns is a big problem. The majority of guns used in crimes in Canada are illegally trafficked across the border from the United States. The U.S. guns are a huge problem, Reid also said. Its upwards of almost 80 percent of the firearms being seized here in Toronto.

In January, several police associations in Ontario said they would work together to find the root causes of the wave of violence against police officers.

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.
OTTAWA, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Wildfire smoke from the blazes in Canada's western province of Alberta now blankets most of the country, CTV News reported Thursday.

As more than 80 wildfires continue to burn throughout Alberta on Thursday, with 23 of them classified as out of control, and nearly 18,000 people remain forced from their homes, smoke from the blazes has now covered most of the country, the report said.

Air quality statements remain in effect for much of Alberta with Environment and Climate Change Canada also warning of poor visibility as a result of wildfire smoke.

"People with lung disease (such as asthma) or heart disease, older adults, children, pregnant people, and people who work outdoors are at higher risk of experiencing health effects caused by wildfire smoke," the national weather agency said.

Alberta's provincial government declared a state of emergency on Saturday, and several provinces are assisting the wildfire fight by sending equipment and firefighters to Alberta, which has already faced more than 420 wildfires so far this year, CTV News reported.

The Alberta government confirmed Thursday that the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) has deployed troops as the province battles "unprecedented wildfires."

"The capabilities the CAF can bring to support Alberta are firefighting support to aid in mop-up operations and basic firefighting duties," a government spokesperson was quoted as saying.

Airlift resources for increased mobility and logistical responsibilities, such as evacuating isolated communities, will also be provided, and engineering support will be provided where required, the spokesperson said. 
Ontario Churches Seek to Challenge Supreme Court Decision on Church Restrictions During Pandemic

The socially distanced choir sings during a drive in service at The Church of God in Aylmer, Ontario, on April 26, 2020. (Geoff Robins/The Canadian Press)

Two Ontario churches have filed an application in the Supreme Court of Canada seeking an appeal to a decision upholding COVID-19 restrictions imposed on religious gatherings by the Ontario government, the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) said.

When fundamental freedomsgiven to us by our Creator and guaranteed in our Constitutionare under attack, we are obligated to stand up and withstand the attack, said pastor Henry Hildebrandt of the Church of God. This was never about defying our government, this was always about defending the freedom to worship and assemble without interference in Canada for all citizens. We didnt pick this fight, our governments unfortunately did.

Under the Ontario governments Reopening Ontario Act, which commenced in July 2020, gatherings were restricted to as few as 10 people. The Superior Court of Justice and the Court of Appeal have upheld the gathering restrictions.

According to the JCCF, some of the parties who challenged the gathering restrictions include the Aylmer Church of God, which held drive-in religious services in their churchs parking lot. During the services, congregants would remain in their vehicles with the windows up, listening to the service on the radio. No more than five members of the worship teamwhich was a number in accordance with the gathering limitwould be outside of their vehicles.

However, after complaints were made by people who saw a photo of the churchs parking lot and assumed congregants were inside the building, the Aylmer police chief threatened that any further services would be considered a breach of the law and subject to financial penalties of $750 to $100,000, or a year in jail.

The Church of God was subsequently ordered to pay $274,000 in fines for allegedly violating the provinces gathering limits, despite JCCFs argument that the risk of outdoor transmission of COVID-19 was negligible.

The Trinity Bible Chapel in Waterloo is also seeking permission to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada, after claiming it could not in good conscience close its doors to parishes. While essential retail was permitted 50 percent capacity with physical distancing, 10-person limits were placed on worship services.

Trinity Bible Chapel received hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines, and under a court order was forcibly locked out of its church building for several months.

The JCCF said the churches have challenged the gathering restrictions for violating the fundamental freedoms of conscience, religion, expression, peaceful assembly, and association, which are guaranteed by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The churches argued that the harm created by the gathering restrictions far outweighed any benefit they provided.
Ontario Schools Must Reverse Decision to Exclude Uniformed Police From Career Day: Education Minister

Ontarios education minister has issued a memo to school boards saying any policies prohibiting uniformed police from entering school grounds for classroom events, such as career day, must reverse this decision.

The uniform is a representation of their duty, and their commitment, Minister Stephen Lecce said in his memo on May 11. School boards who have implemented this type of policy must reverse this decision and ensure our schools remain welcoming to frontline police and all first responders who work around the clock to keep families and schools safe.

The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB) came under criticism from Lecce and Premier Doug Ford last week when its policies prevented a parent from sharing her policing profession with her childs class.

Disproportionate police violence against some communities has caused a level of fear associated with the profession, OCDSB Chair Lyra Evans said in a letter to Ottawa Police Association president Matthew Cox, which Cox shared with The Epoch Times. When police roam the schools, this fear has a detrimental impact on the wellbeing of students, impacting their mental health and academic achievement.

Police Association Head Talks to Board

Cox has since met with the boards director of education, Michelle Giroux, and he said he is hopeful the board will reverse its decision.

If some students have had a fearful experience with police, Cox said, those are the children that we should be spending more time as police officers to try to build that trust and that relationship with.

Giroux is still planning to meet with the citys police chief and have further discussions with the board before making a decision, Cox said, But there was positive dialogue and I feel thatafter seeing Minister Lecces message and memo that came out yesterdayIm hoping that that will push it in the right direction.

I am writing to set out in the clearest terms my expectation that these parents, and others who proudly wear uniforms as part of their occupation, are to be welcomed to attend career fairs, Bring Your Parent to School Day, and other similar engagements that take place in schools, Lecce said in his memo.

Moreover, any parent of a student within a publicly funded school has the right to participate in their childs education and school experience. This is a right that is non negotiable for any parent, including those who serve in uniform from law enforcement to the Canadian Forces.

Lecce said that boards with policies excluding police officers are enabling division instead of bringing all segments of civil society together.

School Boards Reaction

OCDSB spokesperson Darcy Knoll told The Epoch Times that it will take into consideration Lecces guidance while it continues discussions on the topic with the citys police chief and other stakeholders.

These conversations are an opportunity to work together to establish new protocols for police involvement in schools which focus on students, safety, and relationships of trust, respecting the community concerns raised during our police involvement in schools review. The guidance from the Ministry will form part of those discussions, Knoll said via email.

The boards review of police involvement in schools included testimony from community members about how a police presence affects them. It informed the trustees votes to implement the policy prohibiting uniformed officers from school grounds except for emergency situations.

Grand Erie District School Board (GEDSB), overseeing schools in a region about 100 km southwest of Toronto, recently reversed a policy to exclude uniformed officers from school events.

A police officer whose child attends a GEDSB school was initially told he could present for career day only if he refrained from wearing his uniform. But the board retracted that decision and said he could attend in uniform after all, according to a statement it gave to local publication the Simcoe Reformer. The board apologized and said it values the work and dedication of police officers.

Respect for Officers

Cox said its important to keep in mind the recent death of Ontario Provincial Police Sgt. Eric Mueller, who was shot and killed while responding to a disturbance at a home in Bourget, Ont., east of Ottawa.

Weve just gone away from people actually showing respect to the police and respecting what police officers do, Cox said.

That is part of whats to blame for a spate of officer deaths, Cox said, along with the availability of firearms. The majority of guns used in crimes in Canada are illegally trafficked across the border from the United States, as Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino confirmed during a Global News interview on April 30.

Cox said, Ive had several members come to me that fear right now going out to work.
Pakistan Inducts 2 China-Made Warships

Chinese Navy missile frigate Yulin docked at Changi Naval Base during the IMDEX Asia warships display in Singapore on May 4, 2023. Pakistan commissioned two similar vessels made by the Chinese on May 11, 2023. (Roslan Rahman/AFP via Getty Images)

Pakistan commissioned two multi-role naval frigates from China on Wednesday, marking the completion of a four-warship agreement signed between the two countries in 2018.

Pakistans navy chief Admiral Muhammad Amjad Khan Niazi said the induction of the new frigatesPNS Tippu Sultan and PNS Shahjahanushers a new chapter in the Pakistan-China friendship.

The same is manifested in our defense collaborations, Niazi said during the induction ceremony at Hudong Zhonghua Shipyard Shanghai in China, according to the Pakistan Navys statement.

The contract for four Chinese-built Type 054 A/P warships was signed between the two countries in 2018. Pakistan received the first frigate, PNS Tughril, in 2021 and the second one PNS Taimur last year.

China also delivered J-10C aircraft to Pakistan in March last year.

According to the Pakistan Navy, the 4,000-ton frigates are technologically advanced and equipped with surface-to-surface, land attack, surface-to-air and underwater firepower. They were built to engage in multiple naval operations to counter maritime threats, it stated.

These ships will provide deterrence and a mean for averting threats in our region while contributing towards the protection of Sea Lines of Communications (SLOCS), the Pakistan Navy stated.

Pakistan also signed an agreement with China last year to build eight Hangor-class submarines equipped with modern weapons and sensors. The submarines are expected to be completed by 2028.

The ceremony came just days after Niazi held talks with Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu in Beijing on May 8.

China-Pakistan-Afghanistan Talks

Economic ties between the two nations have also deepened in recent years. Chinese leader Xi Jinping had pledged to support Pakistan in stabilizing its financial situation and inject new impetus into their strategic partnership.

On May 6, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang met with his Pakistani counterpart, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, and Afghanistan Talibans acting foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi in Islamabad to discuss trilateral cooperation.

Pakistans Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari (R) addresses a joint press conference with his Chinese counterpart Qin Gang at the foreign ministry in Islamabad on May 6, 2023. (STR/AFP via Getty Images)

Afghanistan and Pakistan both pledged to promote trilateral ties with China in politics, security, and economy in order to safeguard their common interests and achieve mutual benefits and win-win results.

They agreed to support the extension of the ChinaPakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to Afghanistan and pledged to promote connectivity between their countries.

The CPEC is part of Chinas Belt and Road Initiative, started by Xi in 2013. China has invested over $62 billion in infrastructure under the CPEC, including the construction of Pakistans deep-water port in Gwadar, that triggered massive protests in November 2021.

The Taliban, which took power in Afghanistan after the U.S. troop withdrawal from the country in 2021, hasnt been recognized as a legitimate regime by any nation, including China and Pakistan.

K. Siddhartha, a strategic thinker and Earth scientist, told The Epoch Times that Chinas moves in Afghanistan are propelled by the growing needs of the Chinese economy for minerals and raw materials.

Afghanistans geology has helped it to be a reservoir of minerals; its a different matter that the Afghans have not used it, nor will they, said Siddhartha, a former adviser to multiple countries.

Venus Upadhayaya contributed to this report.
Philippine Court Acquits Critic of Dutertes Drug War After 6 Years in Jail

This marks Leila de Limas second acquittal of three drug-related charges

Then-Philippine opposition Senator Leila de Lima arrives at a regional trial court for a brief personal appearance in Paranaque city, southeast of Manila, Philippines, on Feb. 24, 2017. (AP Photo)

Former Philippine Senator Leila de Lima, a vocal critic of ex-President Rodrigo Dutertes anti-drug campaign, was acquitted Friday in the second drug-related charge against her after serving six years in jail.

De Lima, 63, was arrested in 2017 on drug-related charges after she launched a senate investigation into violations committed during Dutertes war on drugs, which human rights groups said may amount to crimes against humanity.

A Philippine court has cleared her from Dutertes allegations that she took payments from jailed drug lords while serving as the countrys justice minister from 2010 to 2015 under then-leader Benigno Aquino, local media reported.

Prosecution witnesses retracted their testimony against de Lima after Dutertes presidential term ended last year, claiming government officials had forced them to testify against her.

I have no doubt from the very beginning that I will be acquitted from all the cases the Duterte regime has fabricated against me based on the merits and strength of my innocence, de Lima stated on Twitter.

This marks her second acquittal following the courts dismissal of the first drug charge in 2021. The human rights defender has one remaining illegal drug trading charge for which she has requested bail.

Thats already two cases down and one more to go, she said. I am of course happy that with this second acquittal in the three cases filed against me, my release from more than six years of persecution draws nearer.

Amnesty International has urged Philippine authorities to drop the remaining charge against de Lima and expedite her bail application in this pending case so she can reunite with her family.

Montse Ferrer, interim deputy regional director for research at Amnesty, said de Limas acquittal was long-overdue given the six years of arbitrary detention and other human rights violations she has endured.

She should not have spent a single day in jail, and it is now time to provide adequate reparations for the human rights violations she has suffered, Ferrer said in a statement.

Politically-Motivated Charges

Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch (HRW), has called for the immediate release of de Lima and urged Philippine authorities to drop all politically-motivated charges against her.

Todays acquittal demonstrates again the bogus, harassing nature of the charges against de Lima, Robertson stated on Twitter.

Freeing her now is critical so she can return to her family, leaving the injustice of years behind bars in pre-trial detention caused by Dutertes vengeful cruelty, he added.



Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte holds a Galil sniper rifle with outgoing Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Ronald dela Rosa (L) during the change of command ceremony at Camp Crame in Manila on April 19, 2018. (Noel Celis/AFP via Getty Images)

According to HRWs 2017 report, Dutertes war on drugs had resulted in the deaths of more than 12,000 Filipinos, with the Philippine National Police being responsible for 2,555 of them.

While there was no evidence that Duterte ordered specific extrajudicial killings, his repeated calls for killings as part of the campaign could constitute acts instigating law enforcement to commit murder, HRW stated.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) began a full investigation into the campaign in September 2021, but it was later suspended after the Philippines pledged to undertake its own investigation. In June 2022, ICC prosecutor Karim Khan called for the ICC probe to restart.

Dutertes successor, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., said on March 28 that hes decided to cut ties with the ICC after the court denied the governments appeal to cease its probe.

[The Philippines] cannot cooperate with the ICC, considering the very serious questions about their jurisdiction and about what we consider to be interference and practically attacks on the sovereignty of the republic, Marcos said.

The ICC stated it rejected the Philippines appeal as there was a lack of persuasive reasons for the court to halt the investigation.
Rail Unions Deny Targeting Eurovision With Strike Action

Music fans dance and watch the Eurovision Song Contest Semi-Final 2 on a giant screen in the Eurovision Village on the riverside in Liverpool, England, on May 11, 2023. (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

Rail unions have denied allegations they are deliberately targeting the Eurovision Song Contest and other major public events with industrial action.

Members of the Rail, Maritime, and Transport union (RMT) will strike on Saturdaythe day of the Eurovision Song Contest final in Liverpool, which the UK is hosting on behalf of Ukraine.

Aslef, the train drivers union, is striking on May 31, and June 3the day of the FA Cup final.

Members of the train drivers union Aslef on the picket line at Euston station in London, on May 12, 2023. (Yui Mok/PA Media)

Transport Secretary Mark Harper has accused the unions of cynically targeting the events.

The Department for Transport also said it is hard to believe Aslef would be unaware of the huge impact on Eurovision of its action.

But Asleft has insisted that it did not plan its Friday walkout to clash with Eurovision.

Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan told the BBC on Friday: Strangely enough, I dont really watch Eurovision, I didnt know they had semi-finals.

If we were targeting Eurovision we would have done Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, he added.

Disappointment and Frustration

The Rail Delivery Group (RDG), which represents rail operators, said there will be reduced train services across the network between May 12 and June 3.

RDG chairman Steve Montgomery said: The upcoming rail strikes called by the Aslef and RMT leadership will not only affect our passengers daily commute but will also impact those travelling from outside Liverpool and London to come to Eurovision and the FA Cup final, causing disappointment and frustration for those who have planned to attend.

A passenger looks at information boards during a train drivers strike, at New Street station in Birmingham, on May 12, 2023. (Jacob King/PA Media)

It will also further burden our people who have already lost thousands of pounds at a time of financial strain.

We understand the impact of these strikes on individuals and businesses alike, and we can only apologise for this unnecessary and damaging disruption.

The RDG said that after many weeks of negotiations with the Aslef leadership it had made a revised and fair offer including a pay rise of 8 percent over two years.

But Aslef rejected the offer, calling it risible and obviously unacceptable.

Party-Pooper

Anthony Smith, chief executive of watchdog Transport Focus, said: For those planning to head to Liverpool, strikes could really prove a party-pooper.

Many people will be infrequent or first-time train users so may not have realised how wide the disruption will be.

Our message to all those travelling, for Eurovision or other reasons, is check before you go, and keep checking. Also, be aware trains that are running may be more crowded than you expect.

Transport Secretary Mark Harper arrives for a governments Cobra emergency committee meeting at the Cabinet Office in London, on Dec. 14, 2022. (Victoria Jones/PA Media)

Harper, the transport secretary, said on April 30 that it was very damaging that the strikes were specifically targeting the Eurovision Song Contest.

He told Sky News: Were hosting it, but were hosting it for Ukraine. And I think cynically targeting events that hard-working, working men and women across the country are spending their money on to try and attend and targeting those I think is very cynical.

But the RMT insisted that its strike on Saturday is not deliberately scheduled to prevent people from getting to the event.

RMT General Secretary Mick Lynch on May 1: The reason we named that date is because its the last day of our mandate. Our mandate runs out and we have to get another one, and we have to give two weeks notice, so when the talks broke down it was the only day.

PA Media contributed to this report.
Revised Spy Law Enables China to Arbitrarily Acquire IPs to Take Over US: Cyber Security Expert

A model of C919 passenger aircraft is on display during the 2022 China International Fair for Trade in Services in Beijing, China, on Sept. 3, 2022. (VCG/VCG via Getty Images)

A newly revised spy law enables China to arbitrarily acquire intellectual properties (IPs) to take over the United States, according to cyber security expert Casey Fleming.

On April 26, the Chinese communist regime passed the new version of its anti-espionage law, which will take effect on July 1.

The revision has expanded the definition of espionage, making it broader and vaguer, which increased the range of information and resources that Beijing considers relevant to national security.

For example, the scope of the subject of stealing secrets is expanded to other documents, data, materials, and items related to national security and interests.

The newly revised anti-espionage law also classifies selling out to espionage organizations and their agents as espionage, as well as conducting cyberattacks against state organs, secret-related units, or key information infrastructure.

Fleming pointed to the new legislative move, saying that it would shake up the business world in China.

Companies doing business in China are ordered by Chinese communist law to share all of their data and all of their IP with the Chinese Communist Party. And theyre ordered to work with a sister company in China, which is completely controlled by the CCP, and they are again ordered to turn over all data and intellectual property, Fleming, CEO of intelligence and security strategy firm BlackOps Partners, recently told the China in Focus program on The Epoch Times sister media outlet NTD.

Now think about that. You want us to turn over all of our research, and the Research and Development (R&D), all of our dollars that would cost us to develop that R&D, and to turn it over to our competitor who we know is going to use it against us economically, to produce our products at a much lower price to our customers, but even more so using our data against us in their weaponization of this data to weaken and take over the free world, he added.

Greater Risks

The vague definition of terms in the law puts foreign firms at even greater risk, in his opinion.

You dont know when youre running afoul because thats why it is vague and ambiguous. So that keeps the CCP in control. And that means that they can take their long arm of their law and exercise it at any point in any time. Not to mention the next step of rating companies for data is holding their executives and their employees in detention, he said.

But you have to understand what the risk is. Its not just money risk, its personal risk for your employees in China. And you have to understand that its a different world thats evolving today. And China wants to completely control that world, and they will never coexist with any other nation state, he added.

Taking Over the US

With the targeting of foreign firms, according to Fleming, the CCP pursues grand strategies to weaken the United States in the free world for takeover.

The biggest issue is they want to destroy the U.S. economy. They want to move our money, our economy into the Chinese Communist regime to support it. And that happens every time they steal intellectual property, [conduct] semiconductor theft, he said.

The expert pointed to the report by the Windenergy Foundation, which states that In the 1940s, during World War II, the largest known wind turbine of the time, a 1.25-megawatt turbine known as Grandpas Knob, produced electric power for the local utility network in Vermont.

Now over almost 80 percent of electronic energy windmills are produced out of China. So all that revenue is funding the CCP and it is not funding our national security, our economy, taxes, schools, hospitals, and so on, he noted.

Fleming singled out the report on the Chinese communist intelligence officer Xu Yanjun, 42, who was found guilty in November 2021 of leading a ring of Chinese agents that targeted U.S. aviation companies, recruiting their employees to travel to China, and soliciting their proprietary information on behalf of the CCP.

CBS News cited Bill Evanina, a former top counterintelligence official, who said that the Chinese-built commercial aircraft Comac C919 is proof of the Chinese regimes espionage.

And now every one of these C919, which is pretty much an exact copy, will take $100 million out of the U.S. economy and the French and EU economy because its also competitive with the Airbus 320 and 321. And that will power the CCP, he said.

Boycott China

To push back on the threat posed by the CCP, the expert called for a boycott of Chinese goods and a halt to investment in China.

The point is, would you still invest in the Nazi regime in World War Two, or the Japanese regime thats hell-bent on taking over the world? Would you still give them oil? Would you still give them capital? Would you still invest in their economy, and even if it meant that its going to weaken and harm American soldiers and American citizens going forward, he said.

So one thing I want everybody to understand, you have to look at your investments, make sure your investments are not investing in China, make sure youre not buying things made in China, because those are being used to buy another bullet to come after our children and our grandchildren, Fleming said.

Eva Fu, Alex Wu, and Andrew Thornebrooke contributed to this report.
Royal Fan Detained for 13 Hours After Being Mistaken for Protester

Woman, 36, was held in cell and had DNA and fingerprints taken

King Charles III and Queen Camilla travelling in the Gold State Coach, goes down The Mall during the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla in London, on May 6, 2023. (Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)

A royal fan who was arrested and detained for 13 hours after being mistaken for a protester at the coronation has said the experience was shocking.

Alice Chambers, 36, said she took her place on The Mall in central London at around 7 a.m. on the Saturday and hoped to see King Charles III and Queen Camilla as they passed, but she was unaware she was standing near a group from Just Stop Oil.

Chambers, originally from Australia but now working in London as an architect, told the BBCs Newsnight programme she was grabbed by a police officer and handcuffed, along with several Just Stop Oil protesters, at 9 a.m.

She was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit public nuisance and was questioned, held in a cell, and had her DNA and fingerprints taken.

But later the Metropolitan Police realised she was an innocent bystander and released her, offering to give her a lift home.

Innocent Bystander

Chambers told the BBC: Its just been so shocking and very emotional because its not something you ever expect, to find yourself in a jail cell for an extended period of time.

I think about all the things I could have done that day, all the parties I could have gone to but I chose to attend the coronation and I got to see none of it, she added.

Chambers said, You would think that this should never happen and clearly theres processes that either need to be put in place, or that werent followed because no one should endure an extended period under arrest just because theyre an innocent bystander.

She said she repeatedly tried to explain she had nothing to do with Just Stop Oil and added, Up until they started protesting, I didnt even know what they were protesting.

The police have been criticised for arresting Graham Smith, the leader of the anti-monarchy campaign group Republic, prior to the coronation.

Smith was later released without charge.

The police, who were using tougher powers under the new Public Order Act, said they had reasonable grounds to believe Smith and five other Republic members who were arrested, were in possession of locking-on devices, which are sometimes used by groups like Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion to disrupt events.

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)

On Monday, Smith wrote on Twitter: This evening three Met police officers visited my home to hand back my phone and the luggage straps. They apologised while wearing a body cam. I made it clear the apology is not accepted as we will be taking further action.

The Met has said 64 people were arrested on Saturday, 52 of whom were arrested over fears they planned to disrupt the coronation, which passed off without incident.

Earlier this week the former Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police, Sir Peter Fahy, said the Public Order Act used to detain the protesters was very poorly defined and far too broad and Conservative MP and former minister David Davis called the legislation too crude.

Legislation Too Broadly Defined

Davis told the BBC: The police and the Home Office have to get straight exactly how they protect our democratic rights at the same time as protecting the day for thousands of people. The whole law is defined really very broadly. Its also true for the stop-and-search powers as well. There are a whole series of elements of law which are just too broadly defined.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: We are aware that a woman was arrested in relation to a protest on May 6. The arresting officer was from Lincolnshire Police and the complaint has therefore been passed to the relevant force to investigate. The Met will assist by providing any relevant information they require.

Chief Inspector Simon Outen, from Lincolnshire Police, said, Our officers were in central London providing mutual aid support to colleagues in the Met on Saturday, May 6, and during that time, a woman in her 30s was arrested in connection with a Just Stop Oil protest.

She was subsequently released with no further action. We have now received a complaint and we are reviewing the incident, and we are in contact with the complainant to establish the full details of her allegations, he said.

In a statement released today by the Metropolitian Police, it said: The commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, has written to the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, to clarify the polices actions regarding protesters.

In the letter, Rowley said, You know I have been more challenging of our need to improve than any commissioner for decadess and will always call out our shortcomings.

I do not see this as one of those occasions, but of course, that does not obviate the need for debrief and learning that will follow any big operation. No major operation is ever perfect and we will always seek to learn and improve, he added.

The Public Order Bill, which became law on May 2, created the offence of locking on, which includes handcuffing yourself to a railing or gluing yourself to a road.

Just Stop Oil protesters block traffic in Parliament Square in London, on Oct. 4, 2022. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

The House of Lords also heard concerns on Thursday about delays in introducing protections for journalists and others monitoring protests.

The specialist protection will not come into force until July 2, two months after the rest of the Public Order Bill.

Home Office minister Lord Sharpe of Epsom was unable to explain the time lag.

Labours shadow attorney general Baroness Chakrabarti said she was bemused and unimpressed.

Chakrabarti, the former leader of civil liberties group Liberty, was the architect of an amendment which added protections for journalists to the act, an amendment which ended up receiving cross-party support.

PA Media contributed to this report.
San Diego City to Repair Almost 6,000 Broken Streetlights

San Diego is fixing over 6,000 broken street lamps after receiving a $3.5 million federal grant in April secured by U.S. Congressmembers Scott Peters (D-San Diego) and Juan Vargas (D-Chula Vista).

Normally, the citys transportation department replaces broken wiring for the citys roughly 54,000 streetlights but a backlog has piled up in recent years due to a lack of city electricians, according to city spokesperson, Anthony Santacroce.

With the new funding, the city will additionally hire outside electricians to hasten the repairs, he said.

City officials have been evaluating the labor market for electricians and comparing what the city can offer to that of surrounding areaswhich led to a competitive 19 percent salary increase for electricians in 2022.

According to a news release by San Diego Councilwoman Jennifer Campbell, there are currently 10 city electricianswith only one vacancybut the total number has risen to 18 with the new independent hires.

Campbell said some of the funding will fix 200 lights and 50 series circuitswhich all go out when one is brokenin Point Loma alone, many of which were installed over 70 years ago.

A lot of the streetlights in our older neighborhoods are like old-fashioned Christmas tree lights, where if one goes out, the entire string goes outand the process to fix it is complex and time-consuming, Mayor Todd Gloria was quoted as saying in the San Diego Union-Tribune in April.

Campbell said the repairs will make the city safer since neighborhoods, pedestrians, and cyclists are more vulnerable to crime in the dark.

Residents can report a broken street lamp on the citys street division page of its website.

According to Santacroce, current repairs take up to 11 months to complete, depending on various factorsincluding loss of staff and complexity of repairs when antiqued or vandalized streetlights are involved.

Of the over 5,000 repairs the city has made, the number of incoming requests continues to outpace the citys ability to address them by 35 percent, Santacroce said.
Second Michigan School District Bans Backpacks After Gun Found

Grand Rapids Public Schools banned backpacks on Wednesday after a loaded gun was found inside a students backpack for the fourth time, according to a press release.

The gun was confiscated from a third-grade students backpack, and district leaders took the decision afterward.

The latest confiscations involved elementary school students and in three of the four instances, the gun was located in a backpack.

This is not a decision weve taken lightly and we know this poses a significant inconvenience for our families. I am more than frustrated that a decision like this is necessary, but we must put safety first and thats what this decision is about, Grand Rapids Public Schools Superintendent Leadriane Roby said. This is just one step in an ongoing conversation about how we can best protect our children in our rapidly-changing world.

The incident took place at Stocking Elementary School.

We have averted at least two tragedies in the last two weeks. We dont want to stand before you again, said Larry Johnson, executive director of public safety and school security.

Flint Community Schools banned backpacks beginning May 1, citing a nationwide increase in threatening behavior and contraband, including weapons, being brought into schools at all levels.

Flint students are allowed to carry belongings in small purses or clear plastic bags that are subject to being searched. Grand Rapids has not yet announced how its students will carry their books and belongings.

Theres an increased concern over guns in schools in Michigan following a mass shooting by a 15-year-old student at Oxford High School in 2021 that left four students dead and seven others injured.

Ethan Crumbley pleaded guilty to the shootings. He has said he used a gun that had been purchased for him by his father that had not been secured at home. Investigators believe the gun was stashed in his backpack on the day of the shooting.

A 6-year-old student shot his teacher in Virginia this year using his mothers 9mm handgun.

Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed safe storage legislation last month that will require gun owners to keep unloaded firearms in a locked storage box or container when it is reasonably known that a minor is or is likely to be present on the premises. The law goes into effect next year.

Whitmer outlined her three-pronged approach to gun reform in January, calling for enacting universal background checks, safe gun storage laws, and extreme risk protection orders, better known as red flag laws, so we can keep guns out of the hands of those who might represent a danger to themselves or others.

She has also touted her Operation Safe Neighborhoods, which she said has taken hundreds of illegal firearms off the street before they could be used in the commission of a crime.

But we must do more so the world that our kids inherit is not more violent than the one we inhabit now, she said.

Democrats have control of both Michigans House and Senate but enjoy only a very slim margin of two seats in both legislative bodies. Whitmer said that she hopes to work across the aisle to build bipartisan support.

This year, lets work together to stop the violence and save lives, she urged lawmakers in her fifth State of the State address in January.

Giffords Law Center, a gun reform advocacy organization led by former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, recently gave Michigan a C+ scorecard grade for its current gun reform efforts, saying that the state has made moderate strides in recent years to improve gun safety, but it can do much more to save lives and prevent shootings.

In 2020, Giffords found Michigan ranked 24th in the highest-gun death rate in the United States.

The Associated Press and Amy Gamm contributed to this report.
Sen. Johnson Condemns Cancellation of Anti-DEI Speaker at Medical School

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) at the Senate Visitor Center in the U.S. Capitol on March 8, 2022. (Terri Wu/The Epoch Times)

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) has denounced the cancellation of a researcher on diversity, equity, and inclusion, John Sailer, by the Medical College of Wisconsin.

Students should be able to freely explore different concepts, ideas, and worldviews so they are equipped to lead successful lives inside a free and open society. Instead, higher education has increasingly devolved into institutions of intolerance, conformist bullying, and intellectual tyranny, he said in a statement to The Epoch Times on May 10.

Fortunately, another venue was found, Johnson added.

Yet, Johnson was less specific about the concrete steps to prevent cancellations and penalize institutions that fold to anti-speech pressure.

Hopefully, I will be able to meet with the leadership of MCW [Medical College of Wisconsin] to discuss why they felt they could not host the event and what that says about academic freedom and diversity of thought on their campus and other institutions of higher education, he said.

A Johnson staffer told The Epoch Times that the lawmaker was hoping to hold such a meeting on the afternoon of May 12. They confirmed on May 12 that the meeting was scheduled.

Sailer, a senior fellow at the National Association of Scholars, has conducted high-profile research on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) into higher education.

Sailer and Johnson were among those slated to speak at the Wisconsin Association of Scholars Spring Symposium at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee.

A view of Milwaukee, location of the Medical College of Wisconsin. (Jill Dutton for American Essence)

But a May 4 letter from the institutions president, Dr. John Raymond, informed the organizers that its campus was no longer available to them.

A fundamental purpose of a university is to facilitate the exchange of ideas, even when those ideas challenge our cherished values or are offensive to members of our university community. However, the exchange of ideas should not disrupt the core functions of a university or jeopardize the safety of our MCW community, Raymonds letter reads.

While I have decided to rescind the use of our facilities for the symposium, I am retaining the possibility to allow the symposium or a similar event to be held at MCW in the future under less disruptive conditions. To be clear, the rescission is not due to the topic or the viewpoints of the speakers, it continues.

In a Twitter thread, Sailer offered a backstory: Students and faculty organized a petition to have the event booted from campus.

Images in the thread show a letter to Raymond condemning the gathering as pseudo-academic and potentially harmful.

Raymonds letter doesnt mention the petition. However, it states that discussions (both internal and external) about the purpose of the WAS [Wisconsin Association of Scholars] symposium have become unacceptably disruptive.

The Epoch Times was unable to confirm the existence of the petition independently. A link to it on the institutions website no longer works.

As Johnson told The Epoch Times, the symposium was moved to Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, as a partly remote event. The conversation could continue in one form or another.

Yet, the damage had been done.

President Raymond canceled the event. A textbook [hecklers] veto, Sailer wrote on Twitter.

Free speech advocates agreed.

The choice to rescind permission for this event sends a message that the exchange of ideas at the Medical College of Wisconsin is not truly free and must pass through an ideological litmus test, said Jeremy C. Young, the Freedom to Learn program director at PEN America, in a May 8 release.

It is the essence of a hecklers veto: denying someone the opportunity to speak because of the reactions it might incite, he added.

A May 8 letter from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) to Raymond demands the institution publicly reverse course and recommit to meeting its binding academic freedom obligations in the future.

The Medical College of Wisconsin is a private nonprofit, not a public institution. However, it is a major beneficiary of federal research funding.

Its website notes it is Wisconsins second-largest recipient of funding from the National Institutes of Health.

It also gets millions from the state for medical student tuition assistance and a family medicine residency program.

The Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison. (Carol M. Highsmith via Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain)

The Medical College of Wisconsin did not respond to questions from The Epoch Times by press time.
Lagos: Emem Isong, who had her foot run over by a car and had two of her toes broken, screamed in agony while seated on a trolley outside the hospital's accident and emergency department in Nigeria's largest city.

The 33-year-old was told to wait by a nurse at the Ebute-Metta federal medical centre in Lagos because there were only three of us on duty. The alternative is for you to go to another hospital. Nurses finally attended to Isong's wounds after a five-hour wait.

Isong explained that she had two options: wait for her turn or be referred to another hospital that would reject her.

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As wealthy nations woo underpaid but skilled professionals, Nigeria, like many other African nations, is witnessing a talent exodus from its precarious health care sector. Nigeria's government hopes to address this issue with new legislation.

More than 11,000 of the union's 150,000 members have left the workforce since the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Michael Nnachi, president of the Nigerian Nursing Union, in search of better pay and working conditions abroad.

The economic downturn in Nigeria has only boosted the trend, said the nursing unions chairman, Olurotimi Awojide.

Also Read: Some steps to know how to strengthen a country's falling economy

"Food, transport, and rent are expensive, and the money they currently pay cannot cover our needs. According to him, nurses believe they must leave the country in order to live better lives.

Nigeria has been included on the WHO's list of nations with a shortage of healthcare workers since 2020. Two-thirds of the states on the list this year are African nations, which deters foreign employers from hiring nurses from them.

However, the list has not been able to stop the exodus, and Nigerian hospital administrators claim that patient care is suffering because there aren't enough new nurses to replace those who are leaving to work abroad.

Also Read: Scandal-hit George Santos, a Republican congressman, was detained in New York on a number of federal charges

While managing Lagos University Teaching Hospital for more than ten years, Wasiu Adeyemo claimed that he had never experienced staff shortages as severe as they are right now.

Four wards with greater than 90 beds remain shut at the facility, one of Nigerias biggest experts hospitals, with no nurses to function them.

Adeyemo told the Thomson Reuters Foundation, "Everyone talks about doctors leaving, when the real problem we're facing is nurses going daily.

Are we saying we're going to hire nurses from Cuba or Sudan at this point? he questioned. "Very few nurses apply for jobs, and of those we do hire, about half leave after three months to work in the UK.

Nigerian nurses frequently travel to Britain.

7,200 Nigerian nurses registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Council, a professional organisation in Britain, last year. In Britain, the Philippines and India had the most nurses.

On what it refers to as the "red list" of nations where the WHO claims there is a shortage of healthcare workers, the British government advises employers not to actively seek out candidates from places like Nigeria. However, candidates from those nations are still eligible to apply for positions posted in Britain.

According to the British Home Office, Nigerians received 12% of the skilled health and care worker visas issued last year. Josephine, a nurse from Nigeria, is about to increase the total. The 28-year-old claimed that after receiving a UK visa last month, she left one of Nigeria's top cancer treatment facilities.

Before starting her new job as a critical care nurse in the private sector in Britain, her husband sold their car, and she is selling furniture and appliances.

The mother of two said it was getting harder and harder to make ends meet on her 100,000 naira ($135) monthly salary.

"I'm working all weekend at the hospital, away from my kids, for peanuts at the end of the month," Josephine said. According to her, her British employers will pay 20 times what she currently makes.

Zimbabwe was the top African country receiving skilled health workers' visas from the UK last year, accounting for 16% of all visas, despite being considerably smaller than Nigeria.

Tendai made about $200 a month as a senior nurse in Zimbabwe before moving to the UK. The mother of three relocated two years ago in search of a better job and a brighter future for her kids.

She earns more than ten times as much money at a hospital in the south of England than she does at home. She must spend half of her income on rent and other expenses due to the high cost of living, but she is exempt from paying for her daughters' education.

"The cost of living in the UK is high, but you can still afford the necessities. In comparison to back home, I am aware that my children have the essentials in terms of food and clothing, Tendai said.

Since 2021, more than 4,000 medical professionals have left Zimbabwe, according to the country's Health Services Board.

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For the first time in March, Zimbabwe was added to the WHO's list of nations where health workers shouldn't be hired. According to Tendai, many nurses who paid to take English-language tests and process travel documents were dissatisfied because it made finding jobs abroad without the assistance of recruiters more difficult.

Because they had done all of these things, "some nurses have lost a lot of money," she said. People take two years to prepare to move to the UK, and just when you think you're about to make it, the red list appears.

According to local media, Zimbabwe's Minister of Health, Constantino Chiwenga, plans are in the works to make hiring foreign medical personnel illegal in order to keep local workers on the job.

Back in Nigeria, lawmakers approved a bill preventing physicians and dentists from receiving licences until they have worked there for five years. Even though the president has not yet signed the bill into law, one legislator already wants to impose the same limitations on chemists and nurses.

In response, medical professionals threatened to go on strike.

Jesse Otegbayo, a professor of medicine at the University College Hospital in Ibadan, in southwest Nigeria, called it a "lazy approach." Instead, he said, the government ought to address the worries of healthcare professionals.

Richer nations should pay countries that had trained health workers, according to James Avoka Asamani, a WHO expert in Africa, to make the process beneficial for both parties.

Asamani stated, "It is only morally justified that you also invest in that health system to prevent it from collapsing if another country has used their public resources to train health workers, and you are recruiting them.

However, Otegbayo claimed that hospitals in Nigeria were currently in danger of collapsing due to the burnout of many nurses. Any health administrator should be concerned about this serious situation, and so should the general public. The patients will suffer as a result of the overworked state of the few remaining nurses, he warned.
Senate Votes to Overturn Biden Wildlife Rules

The U.S. Senate narrowly approved two resolutions on May 11, both on 51-49 votes, that overturned the Biden administrations endangered species regulations.

One of the votes struck down the regulation that not only protects areas from development where endangered species live, but also potential habitats for those species. The Senate vote returns the protection of the narrower designation that the Trump administration had put in place, which only made off-limits to building, construction, and timber farming those places where the threatened wildlife presently live.

The Senate also voted to remove a regulation that protects the northern long-eared bat, which has become endangered due to white-nose syndrome. The disease is caused by a fungus that affects the species when it is hibernating in winter. It represents for mammals among the most lethal of illnesses, reducing bat numbers by 97 percent in some areas.

Every Republican, plus Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), supported the first resolution. Republicans also voted unanimously for the second resolution and were joined again by Manchin, as well as Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.).

The resolutions will now be considered in the House of Representatives. President Joe Biden said he will veto the resolutions if they are passed in the House.

In response to the vote on the first resolution, the White House issued a statement saying, The designation of critical habitat, which only directly affects federal agency actions and federally funded or permitted activities, is essential to avoiding the destruction or degradation of habitat that threatened and endangered species need to survive and recover.

On the second resolution, the White House said it would weaken Americas proud wildlife conservation traditions and places the northern long-eared bat at the peril of becoming extinct.

Seeking a Balance

The Senate votes on the endangered species protections represent, and are part of, a long struggle to strike a balance between protecting and conserving wildlife and natural spaces without unduly hampering economic growth and prosperity.

Then there is the claim of Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) who sponsored the resolution that the Senate passed to dismiss special protection of the northern long-eared bat. Mullin took the position that measures should be taken to protect the bat, and that the Biden administration policy wasnt even doing the bat much good but did stifle needed economic development.

Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill on Sept. 16, 2020. (Alex Brandon/AP Photo)

In November 2022, when Mullin introduced the resolution, he referred to an argument that the regulation he opposed increased the total area of wooded lands that could not be developed so as to make them available for bats during the summer, when they roost in the crevices and under the bark of trees. Yet, those who agree with Mullin point out that the bats are not wanting for warm-weather habitat. They get sick in the winter, when they are hibernating in caves, not in the summer, when they reside in the woods and forest.

This decision will have serious consequences for ongoing infrastructure projects across the state, said Mullin in a statement he released when he introduced the resolution. There is no reason to disproportionately increase regulatory burden and hinder economic development when this rule will not affect the primary cause of decline for the northern long-eared bat.

I am strongly against one-size-fits-all regulation from Washington bureaucrats, and this is no different. We must stop this reclassification and ensure our state and other impacted states can continue efforts to protect this species without the heavy hand of the federal government getting in their way.
Southwest Airlines Pilots Vote Overwhelmingly to Authorize Strike Ahead of Summer Travel Season

Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 MAX aircraft are parked on the tarmac after being grounded, at the Southern California Logistics Airport in Victorville, Calif., on March 28, 2019. (Mark Ralston/AFP via Getty Images)

Southwest Airlines pilots are set to go on strike ahead of what is expected to be a busy summer travel season.

The Southwest Airlines Pilots Association (SWAPA) announced the move on May 11, noting that 99 percent of union members who took part in a vote on the matter opted to authorize a strike.

Turnout was around 98 percent, the union, which represents more than 10,000 pilots of Southwest Airlines, said.

Initially, a vote on strikes was scheduled to run through the end of May, but the union said that Southwest Airlines pilots had voted overwhelmingly to make their voices heard about the operational disasters and the lack of progress after three-plus years of stagnant negotiations.

This is a historic day, not only for our pilots, but for Southwest Airlines, said SWAPA President Casey Murray in a statement. The lack of leadership and the unwillingness to address the failures of our organization have led us to this point. Our pilots are tired of apologizing to our passengers on behalf of a company that refuses to place its priorities on its internal and external customers.

Murray continued, Today, our Pilots have empowered our Negotiating Committee Chair, Captain Jody Reven, to petition the National Mediation Board to release us to self-help imminently at which time we will follow the process set forth by the Railway Labor Act and continue toward a strike.

The union noted that pilots at the Dallas, Texas-headquartered airline did not make the decision lightly, adding that they are disheartened that the airline has gotten so far away from the values set forth by its co-founder, Herb Kelleher.

Southwest Airlines passengers check in at Midway Airport in Chicago, Ill., in a file photo. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Strikes Will Not Impact Operations

It added that customers should be prepared for the path ahead and make arrangements with other carriers so that their summer and fall travel plans are not disrupted.

In a separate statement, Southwest Airlines said the vote result will not impact its scheduled operations, adding that it is well-staffed and prepared ahead of the summer.

The airline also noted that a strike can only occur after multiple steps in the Railway Labor Act (pdf) collective bargaining process are exhausted.

Under that act, carriers and employees must exert every reasonable effort to settle all disputes and complete time-consuming mandatory dispute resolution procedures such as undergoing mediation with the National Mediation Board.

The act is designed to ensure that interruption to interstate commerce is avoided and disputes between carriers and their employee are resolved promptly.

Southwest Airlines said that the majority of agreements between the airline and pilots are reached through direct negotiations or mediation, and 99 percent of mediation cases since 1980 have resulted in agreements between the parties.

Our negotiating team continues to bargain in good faith and work toward reaching a new agreement to reward our Pilots, said Adam Carlisle, vice president Labor Relations at Southwest Airlines. This anticipated authorization vote result does not change our commitment to the negotiation process, and we look forward to continuing discussions with SWAPA at the negotiating table.

An American Airlines plane on the tarmac in a file photo. (Rhona Wise/AFP/Getty Images)

American Airlines Pilots Vote to Strike

Southwest Airlines and the union have been negotiating over a new contract for more than three years, although the May 11 announcement marks the first time in the airlines 51-year history that its pilots have taken such a vote.

During negotiations, the union has been pushing for increased pay and changes to scheduling work rules as well as technology improvements in order to keep up with other carriers and provide passengers with the level of service they expect, according to SWAPA.

The airline has faced growing scrutiny in the past over operational issues that arose during a severe winter storm over the Christmas holiday season which led to more than 16,700 canceled flights.

Southwest Airlines initially blamed severe weather and problems with its scheduling systemwhich have plagued the airline for yearsfor the thousands of flight cancellations, but Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg later said that the delays were actually due to circumstances within the airlines control.

The latest strike vote comes shortly after the union representing American Airlines pilots announced that its members overwhelmingly approved a strike.

Pilots at that airline are negotiating for increased salaries and better working conditions.

American Airlines told The Epoch Times in a statement that it remains confident that an agreement  is within reach and can be finalized quickly.
March 30 was a historic day in America. A former president of the United States was indicted on criminal charges. What is the legal basis of the indictment? Is it a case that would be brought to any other person than former President Donald Trump? What are the political ramifications? How is it going to affect Trumps 2024 campaign?

Since the indictment, Trumps advantage in the polls over his closest potential opponent, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, has increased twofold.

But this indictment is about much more than just the former president himself. As we reflect on much of what has taken place since 2016, amid the endless cycle of charges and attempts to take down members of the other party, we are left to question the true cost of this type of justice. What kind of precedent are we setting for our legal system?

How far are we from the cautionary tales history has left us to reflect upon? What will happen when we cant hold ourselves up to the standards of the rule of law?

NTD Television Network will premiere a new investigative report on the indictment of Trump. NTD correspondent Steve Lance sits down with political insiders and takes a deep dive into the case, exploring its implications for America and how it could shape the future of U.S. politics.

This special report features interviews with:

Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.)

Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, Mississippi

Lt. Gov. William Nungesser, Louisiana

A. Scott Bolden, former assistant district attorney, New York

George Papadopoulos, former adviser, Trump 2016 presidential campaign

Jane Hampton Cook, presidential historian

Jesse Binnall, partner, Binnall Law Group

Jeff Clark, former assistant attorney general

John OConnor, former assistant U.S. attorney

Martha Boneta Fain, policy adviser

Michael Flynn, former national security adviser of the United States

Robert Holden, New York City Council member

Roger Stone, political consultant
State Attorneys General Act to Stop BlackRock from Acquiring Large Stakes in US Electric Utilities

State attorneys general of 17 states filed a motion this week with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to stop BlackRock, the worlds largest asset manager and an outspoken advocate for replacing fossil fuels with wind and solar power, from acquiring large shares in Americas utility companies.

To protect the independence and stability of Americas electric grid, the FERC limits ownership of public utilities by a single entity to a 20 percent stake, although it sometimes allows exceptions for passive investors who do not get involved in management of the utility. If an active investor takes more than a 20 percent stake, they face additional scrutiny and regulationssomething that BlackRock and other large asset managers want to avoid.

In their motion, state attorneys general argue that firms like BlackRock, who are members of clubs such as Climate Action 100+ and the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative (NZAM), whose members pledge to reduce fossil fuels across their investment portfolios, should not be permitted to own large stakes in Americas energy utilities.

I think we see a lot of language from BlackRocks own public statements, and from their actions putting pressure on various companies to achieve certain outcomes, that they are anything but passive, Utah state attorney general Sean Reyes, one of the signers of the motion, told The Epoch Times.

The attorneys general claim that asset managers, who are also climate activists, are attempting to gain control of Americas energy sector by acquiring large stakes in Americas utilities, with the goal of implementing a global transition from coal and gas to wind and solar energy. In this way, they say, progressives are attempting to enact a progressive energy agenda that failed to gain public approval and failed to pass Congress in the form of the Green New Deal.

This is yet another example of radical leftists trying to circumvent the will of the American people in order to implement their draconian mandates, Indiana state attorney general Todd Rokita said. The restrictions these elitists are trying to impose on energy companies and utilities would never win approval at the ballot box.

This action comes at a time when federal regulators warn that Americas electricity grid is becoming increasingly unstable.

Electric Grid Facing a Looming Reliability Crisis

The United States is heading for a very catastrophic situation in terms of reliability, FERC commissioner Mark Christie stated at a Senate hearing on May 5.

Another FERC commissioner, James Danly, warned senators of a looming reliability crisis in our electricity markets.

And FERC acting chairman Willie Phillips stated: We face unprecedented challenges to the reliability of our nations electric system.

In a January interview with The Epoch Times, John Moura, director of reliability assessment at the North American Electricity Reliability Corp. (NERC), said that fossil fuel plants are being retired at a rate that exceeds the capacity of new wind and solar to fill the gap. Running while were tying our shoes is the analogy I would give, he said.

The NERC produces an annual long-term reliability assessment (LTRA). According to the 2022 LTRA, while some areas of the grid are expected to meet demand, several areas are at high risk of falling short.

The projected shortfall continues an accelerating trend  as older coal, nuclear, and natural gas generation exit the system faster than replacement resources are connecting, the LTRA states. In addition, the fact that wind and solar are intermittent and weather-dependent adds additional instability to the grid, compared to gas, coal, or nuclear plants.

Our energy independence and the grid security and stability are all in grave danger, according to those who know best, Reyes said. He argues that FERC should not only scrutinize whether BlackRock is a passive shareholder but also view the many asset managers who have signed pledges with climate clubs like NZAM as a single entity because they are united in the cause of reducing fossil fuel use.

Beyond each individual fund, each individual entity, you should look collectively at the whole of these horizontally agreed entities, Reyes said. This syndicate of power players in the economic ecosystem that all have the same predetermined goal, this isnt just examining data and making the best interest to maximize shareholder value and shareholder profit, this is trying to achieve a specific outcome.

The motion regarding BlackRock follows a motion by 13 state attorneys general that urged the FERC not to approve a similar request from Vanguard, the worlds second-largest asset manager, to acquire large stakes in U.S. utilities. In the wake of this controversy, Vanguard pulled out of the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative last December.

Is BlackRock Too Aggressive or Not Aggressive Enough?

FERC already granted BlackRock an exemption to increase its shareholding beyond the 20 percent limit in April 2022. Even while voting to approve the exemption, however, FERC officials were skeptical that BlackRock would be a passive utility shareholder.

FERC commissioner Mark Christie stated at the time: The claim that huge asset managers such as BlackRock, State Street, and Vanguard are merely passive investors in publicly held corporations, investing purely for the benefit of their beneficiariesmany of whom are retirees receiving pensionsis no longer credible.

BlackRock, in particular, has been openly aggressive in using its massive financial power to influence corporate policy in areas far attenuated from the legitimate money-management goals of protecting the incomes and investment interests of its beneficiaries, Christie said.

Some climate activist organizations also opposed FERCs exclusion for BlackRock, though they did so on the grounds that BlackRock was not activist enough in pursuing climate goals.

Tyson Slocum, director of Public Citizens Energy Program, told The Epoch Times, We noted some statistics, with BlackRock anyway, that they abstain from a number of climate-related votes, that instead of using their voting power to push companies harder on climate change, instead theyre giving management a pass.

By failing to vote, you are sending a message to management: Were an entity that controls a massive amount of your shares, and were not going to pressure you on these issues when the general public who own most of those shares actually want you to do those things, Slocum said.

Membership in progressive clubs like NZAM and Climate Action 100+ is part of the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) movement, in which asset managers use their ownership of corporations to compel them to take actions like reducing their use of fossil fuels, promoting racial and gender equity, and implementing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs for their employees. ESG criteria have been promoted by asset managers as a risk-management tool to enhance investor returns, and for this reason asset managers that promote the ESG agenda claim to be acting in alignment with their fiduciary duty to investors to maximize returns.

However, Vanguard CEO Tim Buckley stated in February that our research indicates that ESG investing does not have any advantage over broad-based investing.

The Epoch Times asked BlackRock to comment for this article but did not receive a response.
State Departments Second-Highest Ranking Diplomat, Wendy Sherman, Set to Retire

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman at a joint press conference with Morocco's foreign minister following their meeting in Rabat on March 8, 2022. (AFP via Getty Images)

After decades in government, the No. 2 diplomat in the Biden administration is retiring.

On May 12, Secretary Of State Antony Blinken announced the retirement of Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman.

Sherman, who has been engaged in some of the most significant and contentious foreign policy choices made by Democratic administrations since Bill Clinton was president, will leave her position this summer.

It is with profound gratitude that I thank Wendy R. Sherman for her service to the department and the American people as deputy secretary of state, Blinken said in a press release.

In a memo to the personnel of the State Department, Sherman, 73, announced that she would be retiring at the end of June.

President Joe Biden nominated Sherman for the second position at the State Department because he thought she could rekindle Americas partnerships abroad, according to Blinken, who praised Shermans record.

President Biden asked Wendy to serve in this role because he knew he could count on her to help revitalize Americas alliances and partnerships and manage our complex relationships with competitors, Blinken said in a statement.

Wendy broke barriers as our first female under secretary of state for political affairs and our first female deputy secretary of state.

Her remarkable career which spans more than three decades, three presidents, and five secretaries of stateaddressed some of the toughest foreign policy challenges of our time.

Our nation is safer and more secure, and our partnerships more robust, due to her leadership.

Sherman was said to be a vital part of the Biden administrations efforts to compete with China in the Indo-Pacific and she was notably active with the United States engagement with Pacific island states and met frequently with senior Chinese officials.

She also played a significant role in rallying international diplomatic support for Ukraine following the invasion by Russia.

Sherman was one of the primary negotiators for the Clinton administration and was involved in the unsuccessful negotiations to end North Koreas ballistic missile program in the late 1990s while serving as a counselor to former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

Then, as the Obama administrations under secretary of state for political affairs, she later worked as the primary negotiator with Iran on the 2015 nuclear agreement.

Blinken ended his comments on Shermans departure, saying, On behalf of the department, I thank Wendy for her service. I wish her and her family all the best in their next chapter.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Supreme Court Finds Journalists Cannot Sue Puerto Rican Control Board

Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan stands during a group photograph of the Justices at the Supreme Court in Washington on April 23, 2021. (Erin Schaff/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

The Supreme Court ruled 81 against journalists seeking documents from a financial control board in Puerto Rico created to deal with the U.S. commonwealths fiscal troubles.

The majority opinion in the case, Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico v. Centro de Periodismo Investigativo Inc., court file 22-96, was released May 11 and written by Justice Elena Kagan (pdf). Justice Clarence Thomas filed the sole dissenting opinion.

When Puerto Rico experienced serious financial difficulties in 2016, Congress approved the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA) to restructure the U.S. territorys debt. The law created the Financial Oversight and Management Board to develop, approve, and certify Fiscal Plans and Territory Budgets,  negotiate with [Puerto Ricos] creditors,  and  commence a bankruptcy-type proceeding on behalf of [Puerto Rico], according to a Legal Information Institute (LII) summary.

After the board was formed, a not-for-profit media group, Centro de Periodismo Investigativo Inc. (CPI), filed a legal complaint against the board in federal district court under the provisions of PROMESA. CPI sought board documents including those about Puerto Ricos fiscal status, internal communications, and financial disclosure forms for board members that the board had withheld. The group claimed the board abridged freedom of the press and contravened the Puerto Rico constitution.

The board said the disclosures sought were blocked by the Eleventh Amendment and that PROMESA overrides the disclosure obligations of the territorial constitution.

The Eleventh Amendment forbids lawsuits against one of the United States by Citizens of another State, or by Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign State. The amendment prevents a state from being sued without its consent but Congress can waive this immunity for states, though the Supreme Court has said the legislative branch must make its intention abundantly clear when doing so. Although Puerto Rico is a territory and not a state, the Supreme Court has previously held it should be treated as a state in some situations.

A federal district court ruled against the board, finding that PROMESA did not preempt the territorial constitution.

Meanwhile, CPI filed another complaint against the board in hopes of obtaining communications between the board, the U.S. government, and the Puerto Rican government. The district court consolidated the two pending cases and denied the boards motion to dismiss. The board appealed to the Boston-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit, which upheld the lower court. The circuit court found that previous precedents and PROMESA and its legislative history abrogated the purported sovereign immunity of the board.

In her opinion, Kagan wrote that the question here is whether the statute [i.e. PROMESA] categorically abrogates (legalspeak for eliminates) any sovereign immunity the board enjoys from legal claims.

We hold it does not, the justice added.

Under long-settled law, Congress must use unmistakable language to abrogate sovereign immunity. Nothing in the statute creating the board meets that high bar, she wrote.

The standard for finding a congressional abrogation is stringent. Congress, this Court has often held, must make its intent to abrogate sovereign immunity unmistakably clear in the language of the statute, Kagan wrote, citing an earlier precedent.

Nothing in PROMESA makes it clear that Congress intended to abrogate the boards sovereign immunity. The statute does not specifically remove the boards immunity or authorize the bringing of claims against it, Kagan wrote.

The Supreme Court reversed the 1st Circuit and remanded the case for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

In his dissent, Thomas wrote that he would have ruled in favor of the Puerto Rican media group.

The board failed to show that it enjoyed the immunity it claimed, he wrote.

It is difficult to see how the same inherent sovereign immunity that the States enjoy in federal court would apply to Puerto Rico, the justice wrote.

The Epoch Times reached out for comment to counsel for the board and the media organization, Centro de Periodismo Investigativo Inc., but had not received a reply from either as of press time.

But Centro executive director Carla Minet told Bloomberg Law that the majority opinion tramples Puerto Ricans right to know.

It is a weak judicial opinion, because its main and crucial argument is to assume that the Board has immunity, without deciding or going into the merits of whether it really has that protection, Minet said.

The consequences of this Supreme Court decision are perverse for the people of Puerto Rico.
Supreme Court Overturns Corruption Conviction of Former Cuomo Aide

The Supreme Court unanimously overturned the public corruption conviction of Joe Percoco, formerly a longtime aide to former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, in a May 11 ruling.

The new decision, a defeat for the Biden administration, is a blow to prosecutors and the federal honest-services fraud statute, which some lawyers and civil libertarians say is vague and overbroad.

In recent years the court has been willing to overturn corruption convictions that involve public officials doing things that some think of as normal political activities.

In May 2020, the court overturned the convictions of two former political operatives who as allies of the then-Republican governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, orchestrated the George Washington Bridge lane closure scandalthe Bridgegate traffic-congestion scandal of 2013.

Before that, in 2016, the court reversed the conviction of the former Republican governor of Virginia, Bob McConnell, for taking gifts from a benefactor without actually taking action to benefit that person.

Federal law makes it a crime to engage in honest-services fraud, which it defines as a scheme or artifice to deprive another of the intangible right of honest services. Although the law was created to combat government corruption, its application isnt limited just to government officials and can cover private citizens. The phrase honest services is not defined, which has allowed the courts to decide on the laws reach.

For honest-services fraud to take place, someone must pay a bribe and someone must be harmed by it. The thinking behind the law is that the person accepting the bribe owes a duty to someone else, such as the citizenry.

In 2018, Percoco was convicted of two counts of conspiracy to commit honest-services fraud for taking money from companies that hoped to gain influence with the Cuomo administration. He was sentenced to six years in prison but was released two years early in 2021. Cuomo, a Democrat, resigned in 2021 over sexual harassment allegations.

Percoco had been executive deputy secretary in the governors office, but at the time of the payments that the federal government characterized as bribes, he had temporarily stepped down from the position to run Cuomos reelection campaign.

Percoco argued he should not have been convicted for taking payments to influence government policy because, at the relevant time, he maintains he was merely a lobbyist who held only informal influence over government decision-making. In other words, Percoco said that because he was not a government official at the time he accepted the funds, no corruption was involved.

The Biden administration argued that despite formally leaving state employment, Percocos non-employee excuse was a sham because he continued to use his telephone and desk in the governors office and made it clear that he was assured a position with Cuomos administration after the election.

The case goes back to 2014 when a state agency known as Empire State Development, advised developer Steven Aiello that his real estate business, COR Development, needed to enter into a Labor Peace Agreement with local unions if he wished to receive state funding for a lucrative project, Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the courts opinion (pdf).

Interested in avoiding the costs of such an agreement, Aiello reached out to Percoco through an intermediary so that Percoco could help us with this issue while he is off the 2nd floor, i.e., the floor that housed the Governors office.

Percoco agreed and received two payments totaling $35,000 from Aiellos company in August and October 2014. On December 3, mere days before returning to his old job, Percoco called a senior official at ESD and urged him to drop the labor-peace requirement. ESD promptly reversed course the next day and informed Aiello that the agreement was not necessary.

The problem, Alito wrote, is that Percoco was convicted of this offense based on instructions that required the jury to determine whether he had a special relationship with the government and had dominated and controlled government business. In addition, the jurys instructions were too vague.

We conclude that this is not the proper test for determining whether a private person may be convicted of honest-services fraud, and we therefore reverse and remand for further proceedings.

Justice Neil Gorsuch filed an opinion concurring in the courts opinion. Justice Clarence Thomas joined Gorsuchs opinion.

To this day, no one knows what honest-services fraud encompasses, wrote Gorsuch. And the Constitutions promise of due process does not tolerate that kind of uncertainty in our lawsespecially when criminal sanctions loom.

Vague laws impermissibly hand off the legislatures responsibility for defining criminal behavior to unelected prosecutors and judges, and they leave people with no sure way to know what consequences will attach to their conduct, Gorsuch wrote, quoting the 2019 Supreme Court decision in United States v. Davis.

Also on May 11, the Supreme Court unanimously overturned the conviction of Louis Ciminelli in a separate but related case. Thomas wrote the courts opinion (pdf) in Ciminelli v. United States, court file 21-1170.

Ciminelli was involved in the scandal-plagued Buffalo Billion development plan in upstate New York when Cuomo was governor. The plan envisioned the construction of a solar panel factory, among other projects, and was aimed at attracting more than $8 billion in investments for Buffalo and the rest of western New York, creating nearly 14,000 jobs.

Prosecutors claimed Ciminelli and others rigged bids for state contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars. They were convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and other charges by a federal court in Manhattan in 2018.

Ciminelli claimed that the right-to-control theory of fraud the government argued and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit upheld in the case, was invalid. The theory holds that the deprivation of complete and accurate information a person needs to make an economic decision constitutes property fraud.

The Supreme Court rejects the right to control theory under which a defendant is guilty of wire fraud if he schemes to deprive the victim of potentially valuable economic information necessary to make discretionary economic decisions, Thomas wrote, citing a 2nd Circuit ruling in the Percoco case.

We have held, however, that the federal fraud statutes criminalize only schemes to deprive people of traditional property interests, the justice added.
At Enoteca Maria, grandmas rule the kitchen.

Hailing from all over the globeArgentina, Sri Lanka, Egypt, Taiwanthey come to cook at this tiny restaurant on Staten Island, New Yorka stones throw away from the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

Theyre known as the nonnas of the worldnonna is Italian for grandmothera rotating cast of dozens of women who make family recipes from their home countries. Come for a meal, and they adopt you as their own.

I wanted to cook just like I am cooking at home for my family, without using additives or artificial flavors, said Yumiko Komatsudaira, who specializes in Japanese food. Whether shes cooking at home or at the restaurant, its the same thing, which is to take care of people you love and provide the food [they] enjoy eating. The outcome is they feel really good about eating great food.

There is no pretension here, no egoonly the generous spirit of people who just want you to eat well. Its a restaurant-sized celebration of that universal truth: Grandmas cooking is the best.

Recreating Comfort

Jody Scaravella, an Italian American born and raised in Brooklyn, opened the restaurant in 2007 after losing his mother and sister within the same year. His grandmother Domenica, who had effectively raised him while his parents worked long hours, had passed in the years prior.

In the throes of grief, I would have done anything, he said. So, with no prior experienceand no business planhe used a small inheritance from his mother to open a restaurant named after her, where all the cooks would be Italian grandmothers. It was trying to backfill everything I lost, he said. Those are the memories that stick out for me: being in my grandmothers house and everybodys sitting around the table and  sharing a meal together. That was my comfort zone.

He put an ad in the local Italian newspaper calling for housewives to cook regional cuisine. The response was enormous.

I invited them into my home. They came with their husbands, their children, their neighborsand they all came with plates of food. I had a house full of kids running around and these ladies chasing after me with dishes of food to try. It was like a Fellini movie.

In 2015, he decided to expand beyond only Italian grandmothers, with the idea that it should be everybodys nonna. Theyve been hiring ever since.

Nonnas, Assemble!

The only requirements for applicants are: They must be at least 50 years oldnot necessarily grandmothersand they must be passionate about cooking. Such a casting call has brought together women from all walks of life.

Maria Gialanella, 89, came to the United States from Naples, Italy, in 1961 and worked as a seamstress. Shes been cooking at Enoteca Maria for nearly a decade, after her daughter told her about the opportunity, and has become a local sensation for her towering lasagna, handmade cavatelli, and propensity for leaving the kitchen to greet all her customers. I talk to everyone, she said, grinning widely. Everyone likes me.

Maria Gialanella, 89, hails from Naples, Italy. (Courtesy of Enoteca Maria)

Komatsudaira, who is in her mid-50s, is one of the few nonnas who arent grandmothersshe has a 17-year-old son. She first came to the restaurant as a student in the nonnas in training program, which allows anyone to sign up for a free cooking class with a nonna as she preps for the days service. She was looking for inspiration for her new seaweed business, after a career change from the fashion industry that had brought her from Japan to New York in her mid-20s.

They see me cooking with passion, Komatsudaira recalled, so they ask me, Why dont you come and start cooking for us? Now, her Japanese dishes are a mainstay on the menu, including crowd favorites like handmade gyozas, along with a medley of seasonal, vegetable-driven dishes highlighting the nutrient-dense sea vegetables and fermented foods she grew up eating.

Ploumitsa Zimnis, 77, found Enoteca Maria in a season of grief. She had just lost her husband, with whom she came to America from the island of Chios, Greece, as newlyweds in 1969. When she first arrived, she had no idea how to cook. But she devoted herself to learning, with the help of her restaurant-owner husband, his aunt, and handwritten recipes mailed from her mother, while working at a New York public school cafeteria. She grew to love and excel at it, becoming famous for her moussaka (meat and eggplant casserole), pastitsio (Greek lasagna), and especially her desserts: baklava roses, loukoumades (honey-soaked fried doughnuts), and mastic syrup-soaked galaktoboureko (a phyllo and semolina custard pie).

For her birthday in September 2016, less than two months after her husbands passing, her daughter, Maria, brought her to the restaurant to try to lift her spirits. There, they discovered what they took as a sign: The neighborhood where Enoteca Maria is located, St. George, shares a name with Zimnis and her husbands village in Chios. With support from Mariaand the kindred spirits she found in the other nonnasshe started coming to cook once a month. Maria set up a YouTube channel and Instagram page for her mothers fans, who now write to her all the time, Zimnis said: When are you coming? When are you coming?

Authentic Flavors

Manager Paola Vento coordinates the nonnas. Its a lot of work on the days off, a lot of planning, she said. But its a lot of fun, too.

Most live in the New York area and come in about once a month; a couple of them make an annual flight just for the occasionone from Louisiana, one from Taiwan. An Italian nonna always works a downstairs kitchen for a set Italian menu, while a visiting nonna cooks upstairs.

Vento treks to specialty stores for the harder-to-find items on their shopping lists: lotus root from the Asian market, curry leaves from the Sri Lankan store, grape leaves from a Mediterranean shop. For the nonnas who have been with them for years, like 72-year-old May Joseph from Sri Lanka, Vento knows exactly what to get: I know the leeks, I know the way that the curry leaves have to look. For newer team members, she may ask for more guidance: On a trip for Nonna Linda from Hong Kong, I did need to FaceTime her to get her approval on the pork ribs.

Cooking To Give

The restaurant is small, run by a tiny team, but they operate with outsized passion.

What we do here, its not designed to make money, Scaravella said. And I can tell you that financially, its a disaster kept alive by infusions of his own money. But I love what I do, and it really helped me through some difficult times.

These ladies have a lot to offer; they actually carry culture forward, he continued. Nonnas in training is meant to further facilitate that passage of knowledge from one generation to the nextand its not only [cross-]generational but cross-cultural. Thats why I love it; thats why we never charge for it.

As for the nonnas, theyre very happy to share their food and culture, said Vento. Diners clap for them every evening when they leave, and theyre so happy. Its the best part of the day.

Komatsudaira is heartened by customers positive reviews of her food, but she tries not to pay too much attention to it. I just try to do a better job today than yesterday; I do my best to represent who I am and the cuisine I want to share with people here.

Zimniss daughter said her mother lives her life around generosity, never showing up empty-handed. My mom is very open, shes always giving of herself. The mindset is, if youre going to give, give all.

If You Go

Enoteca Maria

27 Hyatt Street

Staten Island, N.Y.

Open Friday 3 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., Saturday & Sunday 1 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

Reservations strongly recommended

718-447-2777

EnotecaMaria.com

The list of nonnas is always changing, but heres a sampling of represented countries: Argentina, Armenia, Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Egypt, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Japan, Morocco, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey.

Nonna Knows Best

The cooks of Enoteca Maria share pearls of wisdom, in the kitchen and beyond.

Always wash your rice before you cook it. White rice should be kept in water for at least half an hour after being thoroughly washed. Before cooking, add saltsimple addition, but it makes a difference!

Fardaus Ara Begum, 54, Bangladesh

Signature Dish: Chicken korma with aromatic Kalijeera rice

Find a few key seasoningslike miso, soy sauce, or vinegarwith no preservatives or artificial flavors. These are fermented foods that not only are good for your health but add great flavor. You dont need to do much else to flavor the food.

Yumiko Komatsudaira, mid-50s, Japan

Signature Dishes: Seaweed salad, rice dishes, dumplings

Understand that food is not just for nourishment; it is a communion of being one with what you eat. If you eat processed foods, your body will reflect that. Healthy home cooking and fresh ingredients will make a healthier you.

Irene Rivera, 61, Puerto Rico

Signature Dishes: Empanadas and piononos (stuffed fried plantains)

Dont think of cooking as work. Make it fun and involve your whole family in the process. Put your whole heart into what you are doing every time.

Tammy Ann Finnie, 59, Louisiana, United States

Signature Dish: Chicken, smoked sausage, and andouille gumbo with rice and potato salad

Always be happy in the kitchen.

Maria Gialanella, 89, Italy

Signature Dishes: Lasagna, cavatelli, and stuffed calamari

Stay true to your dreams. Be of good character even when life gets hard. The good always rises to the top!

Pauline Bunny Findlay, 55, Trinidad

Signature Dishes: Stewed oxtails and baked codfish

This article was originally published in American Essence magazine.
In the wilderness of New Hampshire within miles of his home, John Stark, a young frontiersman in the 1700s, was taken captive by a party of Native Americans. He was with three friends, one of whom was killed and scalped. His older brother, William, managed to escape thanks to some quick maneuvering, but John and Amos Eastman, the fourth member of the party, were taken captive.

It all happened at the end of a trapping trip as the foursome packed their canoes for the journey home. The Abenaki tribe, allies with the French, took captives whenever they could and sold most of them in Canada as servants or in exchange for French goods.

On the journey north with the Abenaki, Stark began to make the best of the situation and learn what he could from his captors. For example, when his friend Eastman was forced to run the gauntlet with only a thin pole to defend himself, he took a brutal beating. When it was Starks turn, he did the unexpected. He headed straight at one line of braves, yelling Ill kiss all your women. His attackers were caught off guard, and Stark continued his attack even when his pole broke. It was an act of bravery that his captors respected. Legend also tells us that when Eastman and Stark reached the Indian village of St. Francis, the Abenaki ordered Stark to hoe corn with the women. Stark, understanding the humiliation intended, dug up the corn and left the weeds. He pronounced it the business of squaws and threw his hoe in the river. His action won him new respect. In time, he was included in the Abenaki hunting parties and invited into their cabins. Some say he was adopted into the tribe.

In July 1752, Phineas Stevens, commander of Fort Number Four on the Connecticut River, came north to ransom Massachusetts captives. When he found the New Hampshire men, he decided to expand his missionand he made the Abenaki an offer they couldnt refuse. Youll be pleased to know, Stevens reportedly told Stark later, that youre worth the price of an Indian pony (103 Spanish dollars). History would prove this was money well spent.

Revolutionary War Gen. John Stark, from History of Manchester, Formerly Derryfield, in New Hampshire (1851). (Public Domain)

A Skilled Commander

Because of what Stark had learned about ambush fighting from the Abenaki, he was asked to join the legendary Rogers Rangers, one of the most effective frontier military groups during the French and Indian War. Ranger fighting was indeed a new type of warfare, one which the English considered beneath their dignity.

When the French and Indian War ended, Stark married Elizabeth Molly Page, daughter of the first postmaster of New Hampshire, and settled into life as a family man (ultimately becoming the father of 11 children). He built a sawmill, launched a successful timber business, and increased his land holdings. He also kept an eye on the political scene. During the uproar of the Stamp Act, his brother, William, remained loyal to the Crown, but Stark did not. With the Boston Massacre, the closing of the Port of Boston, and the Boston Tea Party, Starka once-loyal British subject desiring compromisebecame a member of the Sons of Liberty, promoting independence. Soon, he was recruiting local militia.

It was at the Battle of Bunker Hill that Stark and his men first distinguished themselves. A rail fence on the left side of the hill was key to the American defense, but only a few men were defending it. Stark spotted the weakness and had the fence fortified with hay, brush, and mud. Then, he ordered 200 of his men to build a crude stone wall to extend the barricade down to the water. Hammering stakes in the ground about 150 feet in front of the wall, he gave the order not to fire until the British reached the stakes. Stark had learned how to maintain almost continuous fire during his years as a ranger. The front line of militia would fire, then drop back to reload while the second line moved forward and fired, then the third, and back to the first. The first British regiment to reach the wall was decimatedand then another, and yet another. Officers were the main targets, soon leaving several companies leaderless and ineffective. Only a shortage of gunpowder forced Starks militiamen to retreat (in orderly fashion) and let the British claim the hill. But as Gen. Nathanael Greene later said, I wish we could sell them another hill at the same price.

Stark was there for the rest of the Boston action and for the British evacuation. After this initial success, however, things didnt go well for the American cause. Stark continued to serve in prominent battles and was one of the ablest commanders, but his bluntness tended to offend prominent members of Congress. Officers with more political polish and less battlefield knowledge were continually promoted over him. Finally, in March 1777, he had enough. He resigned his commission and went back to his sawmill in New Hampshire.

New Hampshires Contribution

To those who tried to talk Stark into staying in the militia, he said only that the next major threat would come from the British in Canada, and he would be available if needed. He was right. By mid-June, British Gen. John Burgoyne and some 10,000 troops were on the march south from Lake Champlain to capture Fort Ticonderoga and overrun Vermont and New Hampshire. They planned to join up with British forces moving north from New York and the Mohawk Valley, and to cut off the New England colonies from inland support.

The Vermont Council of Safety appealed to New Hampshire for help, as did Col. Seth Warner of Vermonts Green Mountain Boys. But New Hampshire had no troops, no money, and no credit. Fortunately, John Langdon, a Portsmouth merchant and speaker of the New Hampshire Assembly, took charge, saying:

I have three thousand dollars in hard money; my plate [meaning silver] I will pledge for as much more. I have seventy hogsheads of Tobago rum, which shall be sold for the most they will bring. These are at the service of the State. If we succeed, I shall be remunerated; if not, they will be of no use to me. We can raise a brigade; and our friend [John] Stark, who so nobly sustained the honor of our armies at Bunker Hill, may safely be entrusted with the command, and we will check Burgoyne.

Thus, it was settled. Stark agreed to take command as a brigadier general, on condition that he was accountable to no one but the New Hampshire Assembly and Committee of Safety.

Position of the detachment at Walmscock near Benneton. (Public Domain)

There was no lack of recruits. In six days, more than 1,400 enlisted. In many towns, one out of every ten men signed up. In Vermont, Maj. Gen. Benjamin Lincoln, a political appointee with limited military experience, tried to redirect Stark and his brigade. Fortunately, Stark would have none of it. He was accountable to no one but the New Hampshire Assembly, and when he learned that Burgoyne had sent a mercenary troop of Hessians to Bennington, Vermont, to seek food and supplies, he sent word to Seth Warner and other militia men to meet in Bennington. Together, they formulated a workable battle plan. Stark reportedly gathered his men together and issued his famous call to action: My men, yonder are the Hessians. They were bought for seven pounds and ten pence a man. Are you worth more? Prove it! Tonight, the American flag floats from yonder hill, or Molly Stark sleeps a widow!

The Battle of Bennington went to the Americans. A short time later at Saratoga, after successive defeats at the hands of superior American forces, the British were backtracking to Canada when Stark reappeared at the right time and in the right place to close a critical gap and prevent Burgoyne from escaping. The British general ultimately was forced to surrender and return to England. It was an amazing victory for the Americans. It proved that professional soldiers could be beaten, and it signaled to European onlookers that the American rebellion was more than a feeble insurrection.

Live Free or Die

Congress promoted Stark to brigadier general, and he continued to serve during many difficult assignments as a trusted general under George Washingtons command. In 1783, his extraordinary service was finally recognized, and he was promoted to major general. What accounted for John Starks amazing success as a leader? Howard Parker Moores description of Stark gives some clues. The author says:

His troops knew his worth. They would follow him anywhere. They identified with him, loving his candor and common sense and homespun informality. He was their own kind, and they flocked to him when they gave only grudging support to others. In the end it was their devotion that persuaded the establishment to accept him too.

In 1809, Stark was asked by the citizens of Bennington to attend a celebration of the Battle of Bennington. Now 81, he declined because of his physical infirmities but sent this message:
Tory Motion Invites Chinese Ambassador to Testify at Committee on Targeting of MP Chong

Ambassador of China to Canada Cong Peiwu speaks as part of a panel at the Ottawa Conference on Security and Defence in Ottawa, on March 4, 2020. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press)

Conservative MP Michael Cooper has tabled a lengthy motion in committee to investigate Beijings targeting of his colleague MP Michael Chong, while seeking to invite the Chinese ambassador to Canada to testify.

This motion arises from a question of privilege on a matter that is about as serious as it gets, said Cooper, presenting his motion before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs (PROC), on May 11.

The House voted unanimously to investigate the issue on May 10, then referred the matter to PROC.

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) told Chong, on May 2, that a Chinese spy service and a Chinese diplomat in Canada had sought to target him and his family over his advocacy for human rights in China.

The briefing came a day after the Globe and Mail broke the story, citing a leaked CSIS assessment and an anonymous national security source.

This is an attack on this House, on every Member of Parliament. Its an attack on our democracy, said Cooper.

His motion calls for the production of relevant documents and bringing back multiple witnesses to testify before PROC, including ministers and top officials of security agencies.

Cooper also seeks to hear from current and former National Security and Intelligence Advisors (NSIA). The 2021 CSIS assessment of the Chinese regimes threat to MPs was sent to the NSIAs office within the Privy Council Office, but it was reportedly never briefed to the prime minister.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he had only learned of the issue through the Globe and Mail report.

The Conservative motion also calls to have Chinese Ambassador to Canada Cong Peiwu testify, though he will almost certainly not appear before committee.

Debate was adjourned on the motion, to be voted on at a future PROC meeting. Liberal and NDP MPs supported the intention of the motion.

I think theres probably a large degree of agreement on the majority of it, said Liberal MP Ryan Turnbull, but added he needs more time to look at the list of witnesses.

Obviously, we all take this matter very seriously. A question of privilege is obviously something that brings a concern to all of us as Members of Parliament and, in particular, in this case, I think is something that we need to get to the bottom of.

The expanded committee study on foreign interference comes after Canada recently declared persona non grata the Chinese consular official Zhao Wei, who was reportedly involved in activities targeting MP Chong.

The Globe, citing national security sources, reported on May 12 that Zhao was also involved in spying on Chinese diaspora communities.
Reuters

CIUDAD JUAREZ, MEXICO (Reuters) - Tras horas de espera en el lado estadounidense de la frontera y con la esperanza de que la Guardia Nacional de Texas les permitiera solicitar asilo en Estados Unidos, un grupo de 15 migrantes cruzo un rio poco profundo de regreso a Mexico, con la decepcion dibujada en los rostros. Tras viajar desde paises como Republica Dominicana y Guatemala, se encontraban entre las primeras personas que el sabado intentaron entrar en Estados Unidos desde Mexico tras el fin de
Reactions are pouring in on former President Donald Trumps CNN Town Hall Wednesday night. What are Republicans, Democrats, and President Joe Bidens campaign saying?

The main aspects of the GOPs border security bill that hit the House floor Thursday evening include reconstruction of the border wall, asylum process reforms, and more. Find out how lawmakers voted, as Title 42 expires in just hours.

Lawmakers are preparing for the effect of Title 42s expiration on the fentanyl crisis. We speak with a border expert about politicians different approaches.

Democratic Congressman Lou Correa (D-Calif.) shares with us his perspective on the situation at the border. Find out what he says about minimizing the flow through Mexico while boosting the asylum process.

We will also bring you the Republican perspective. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul joins us to give his take on border security.
Trump Decries End of Title 42, Vows Illegal Immigrant Invasion Will Not Stand

President Donald Trump (C) and Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen (R) during a roundtable on immigration and border security at the Border Patrol Calexico Station in Calexico, Calif., on April 5, 2019. (Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)

Former President Donald Trump said that, by allowing his public-health immigration policy to expire, President Joe Biden is opening the floodgates to illegal immigration.

At this very moment, illegal aliens are lined up by the tens of thousands, ready to break into our country, Trump said in a statement released May 11, hours before Title 42 was set to sunset.

Trump implemented Title 42 in March 2020 to rapidly expel illegal immigrants under a public health rule, in connection with the coronavirus pandemic.

With todays termination of the final remnants of Title 42, Joe Biden has officially abolished what remained of Americas borders and turned the United States into a dumping ground for illegal aliens from all over the world, Trump said.

As the midnight expiration of Title 42 approached, TV footage showed waves of immigrants poised to cross the U.S.-Mexico border; NTD News reported many U.S. cities were bracing for the influx.

However, the Biden administration took steps to prepare for the surge and said that it added a new rule (pdf) that would render many illegal immigrants ineligible for asylum. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) says Biden has been trying to expand pathways for legal immigration.

The administration was beefing up the border with 1,400 DHS personnel, 1,000 processing coordinators, and 1,500 troops.

In a videotaped statement, Trump said the illegal immigrants know that even if they are caught, Joe Biden will order them immediately released into American communities, and many of these people are very dangerous.

Staggering Statistics

Trump said that, because of Biden, our border is gone, our sovereignty is gone, our national security is gone.

Trumps campaign asserts that the U.S. Border Patrol has reported three times as many illegal border crossings under Joe Biden when compared to those during Trumps tenure.

The Biden administration continues to break records for historic illegal border crossings, with over 6.3 million illegal crossings since taking office, more than the populations of Los Angeles and Houston combined, the statement said.

Trump also accused Biden of allowing record amounts of deadly fentanyl to accompany illegal immigrants.

Last year alone, agents seized enough fentanyl to kill 379 million peoplemore than the entire population of the United States, the statement said.

Trumps Plans

This invasion will not stand, Trump declared in his video.

He pledged to follow the lead of former President Dwight Eisenhower and use all necessary federal, state, local, and military resources to begin the largest domestic deportation effort in American history. Vetted by Eisenhower, a campaign by U.S. immigration law enforcement resulted in the mass deportation of Mexican nationals in the summer of 1954.

In addition, Trump says he is committed to declare war on drug cartels.

He would deploy all necessary military assets, including the U.S. Navy, to impose a full naval embargo on the cartels, the statement said.

Trump promised to direct the Department of Defense to engage special forces, cyber warfare, and other overt and covert actions to inflict maximum damage on cartel leadership, infrastructure, and operations, according to the statement.

He says he is committed to work with Congress on legislation that would impose the death penalty for convicted drug smugglers and human traffickers.

Trumps video concluded by stating: Our country is being destroyed by very, very stupid people. These are stupid people. We have to get them out. We have to take back the White House.

Jana J. Pruet contributed to this story.
UK Tribunal Finds Crime Agencys Hacking Warrants Lawful

Judges rule National Crime Agency did discharge 'duty of candour'

Campaigners against the National Crime Agency's use of data hacked from EncroChat by French police protest outside the Old Bailey in London on May 27, 2022. (Chris Summers/The Epoch Times)

Three judges have rejected an appeal against the way the National Crime Agency (NCA) obtained a warrant to use data from a hack of an encrypted phone network.

In its ruling, the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT), led by Mr. Justice Edis, declared the warrant was lawfully issued and said, It is declared that the respondent [the NCA] did not fail to discharge its duty of candour and did not mislead the judicial commissioner [Sir Brian Leveson] when it sought approval of the warrant from the judicial commissioner.

French police hacked into an EncroChat server in Roubaix, near Lille, between March 2020 and June 2020.

Data was passed to the NCA which launched Operation Venetic. Hundreds of people have subsequently been convicted of offences ranging from possession of Class A drugs to firearms offences and conspiracy to murder.

In May 2022, Paul Fontaine, 36, and Frankie Sinclair, 34, were convicted of conspiracy to murder after a jury at the Old Bailey accepted evidence that linked Fontaine to an EncroChat handle called Usualwolf and Sinclair to the NudeTrain handle.

Paul Fontaine (L) and Frankie Sinclair, pictured in police mugshots taken in November 2020. (Metropolitan Police)

Judges heard a three-day appeal in December against the granting of a Targeted Equipment Interference (TEI) warrant, which the NCA obtained on March 25, 2020, in order to access up to 9,000 EncroChat devices in the UK and investigate the owners of those devices.

Lawyers for 10 targeted individuals said the NCA knew the French gendarmeries hack of EncroChat, known as Operation Emma, was a live interceptsomething the NCA deniesand should have requested a Targeted Interception warrant but that would not have allowed the evidence from the encrypted devices to be used in an English or Welsh court.

Hundreds of people jailed based on evidence from EncroChatincluding Fontaine and Sinclaircould have had their convictions overturned if the NCAs original TEI warrant for Operation Venetic was set aside.

Many more are still awaiting trial or are under investigation.

On the first day of the hearing an NCA officer, Emma Sweeting, denied deleting a vital document relating to Operation Venetic and said her failure to disclose a second document, a rolling note of a meeting she had with Jeremy Decouthe senior investigating officer in the French policewas a complete error.

Simon Csoka, a barrister for some of the EncroChat appellants, said there had been a closed mind conspiracy and described the NCA as having a three wise monkeys approach to the French hack.

But five months later the 50-page judgement appeared to present a victory for the NCA.

However, the judges rejected the NCAs assertion that the opinion of Professor Ross-Andersonwho said it appeared to have been a live interceptwas irrelevant.

An image of a gun and a wad of notes sent on the EncroChat network in March 2020. (Metropolitan Police)

The tribunal said: It is clear that a TEI warrant cannot authorise conduct in relation to communications other than stored communications  It follows that we are satisfied that it will be necessary to determine whether the interception was of communications in the course of their transmission.

Judges Reject Closed Minds Conspiracy Claim

The judges rejected arguments the NCA had a close-mind conspiracy saying, We accept that NCA officers would have had a preference the data be material capable of being admitted in criminal proceedings, but are not satisfied that they, or any particular officers, had closed their minds on that matter before the Europol meeting.

The judges said, It is declared that the NCA was not required, by reason of section 9 of the Investigatory Powers Act 2016, to obtain a targeted interference warrant in order lawfully to acquire EncroChat data.

They added, The NCA was not required to obtain a bulk equipment interference warrant in order lawfully to obtain EncroChat data.

The judgement also said, It is declared that the tribunal does not have jurisdiction in relation to the question of whether the EIO [European Investigation Order] was made lawfully.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak talking to two unidentified National Crime Agency officers during a visit to the agencys London headquarters on Dec. 13, 2022. (PA)

Edis and the other judges also referred the issue of admissibility of EncroChat data back to Manchester Crown Court and Newcastle Crown Court, where further trials are pending.

The judges ruled the evidence demonstrates that the UK authorities did not know how the [French] operation was to be carried out.

In January, The Epoch Times spoke to several people charged on the basis of EncroChat evidence only who, though they insisted they were innocent, were coming under intense pressure from their lawyers and their family to plead guilty.

On Thursday, Anthony Anderson, a single father from Northamptonshire, said he was facing a chat-only prosecution.

Anderson faces a trial next year for drug dealing which was, he says, is based only on an EncroChat phone being attributed to him.

Anderson told The Epoch Times: They say I ran an operation which made a profit of 100,000 a month. All this they said I did between doing a school run and ironing.

He said the prosecution had failed to prove he was co-located with the EncroChat phone they have attributed to him.

Anderson is adamant he is innocent but he said, I know that if I am found guilty, I will get a sentence much bigger than those people who are actually caught with drugs.

The claimants are expected to appeal to the Court of Appeal in London.

The Epoch Times has reached out to counsel representing the claimants but has not received a reply.

Names of individuals have been changed to protect their identities and to prevent the UKs Contempt of Court Act being breached.
UK Tycoon Accused of Defrauding Hewlett-Packard Extradited to US

A British tycoon who allegedly defrauded Hewlett-Packard when he sold his software company to the U.S. tech giant in 2011 has been extradited to the United States to face criminal charges.

In January 2022, the then Home Secretary Priti Patel ruled Mike Lynchwho founded Autonomy in 1996could be extradited to the United States, where he is wanted on charges of perpetrating a $5 billion (3.9 billion) fraud.

Lynch, 57, denied the charges and appealed against extradition. But a High Court judge rejected his appeal last month.

A Home Office spokesman said: On April 21, the High Court refused Dr. Lynchs permission to appeal his extradition. As a result, the normal 28-day statutory deadline for surrender to the U.S. applies.

Dr. Lynch was extradited to the U.S. on May 11.

According to court documents, Lynch arrived in San Francisco on a commercial flight accompanied by U.S. Marshals.

A court filing said: After lengthy extradition proceedings in the United Kingdom, Defendant Michael Richard Lynch has finally landed on our shores to stand trial, accompanied by the United States Marshals Service.

Appearing in court on Thursday, Lynch pleaded not guilty to all 17 charges.

He was ordered by a judge to pay a $100 million bond, hand over his passport, and to be placed under 24-hour guard to secure his release.

A status conference will be held on May 19 to set a date for the trial.

Fraud Allegations

Autonomy was sold to Hewlett-Packard for $11 billion (8.8 billion) in 2011, but a year later the U.S. firm announced a huge write-down, which reduced HP Autonomys value by $8.8 billion (7 billion).

In 2018, Lynch, who is accused of manipulating the companys accounts to inflate its value, was charged with conspiracy and fraud by a court in California. Also indicted was Autonomys former vice-president for finance, Stephen Chamberlain.

HP has already sued Lynchwho has a Ph.D. in signal processing from Cambridge University and founded the company in the cityand Autonomys former chief financial officer, Sushovan Hussain, for $5 billion (3.9 billion) at the High Court in London.

A High Court judge, Mr. Justice Hildyard, who oversaw that trial, said HP had substantially succeeded in its various claims against the two men but warned the U.S. firm will get substantially less than the amount claimed in damages.

Lynch has said he intends to appeal against Hildyards ruling.

In 2019, Lynchs former colleague, Hussain, was convicted of fraud in the United States and sentenced to five years in prison.

Dreadful Extradition Treaty

After his appeal was rejected in April, Lynch said, The United States legal overreach into the UK is a threat to the rights of all British citizens and the sovereignty of the UK.

His case is covered by the 2003 Extradition Act, which made it easier for British citizens to be extradited to a number of countries, including the United States.

Conservative MP David Davis said on Friday that it is a dreadful treaty, which was drawn up after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York in 2001 and was intended to target terrorists, murderers, and paedophiles.

But the former Brexit secretary told the BBC that two-thirds of people extradited from the UK to the United States have been targeted for non-violent, mostly white collar crimes.

He said Lynchs extradition was devastating and predicted it would have a hideously chilling effect on future London Stock Exchange sales.

If you were a young software writer or bio-chemist with a new drug or new treatment, and you built a company out of it, the last place now you are going to launch your company is on the London Stock Exchange, Davis said.

Chris Summers, PA Media, and Reuters contributed to this report.
Police have arrested a man in Boston, charged with spying for China. The 64-year-old is a U.S. citizen. His indictment says hes been sending information on Chinese dissidents to Beijing, despite them living on U.S. soil.

Topics in this episode:

U.S. Arrests Man for Allegedly Spying for China U.S. Watchdog Finds Fraud in Chinese Firm Audits Shrinking Imports, Slow Exports Growth Darken Chinas Economic Outlook All Lies: Entrepreneur on Chinas Economic Rebound Chinas Falling Birth Rate Pushes Firms to Diversify NATO Doesnt See China as Threat: Top Official Taiwan President Observes Military Reserve Training Australia, China Meet for Trade Talks as Tension Thaws The Chinese Communist Party is a Transnational Criminal Organization: Laugesen

China in Focus is sponsored by Preserve Gold. Click here to claim your $200 and 1% cash-back in free gold and silver*: http://offers.preservegold.com/ntd
US Border Communities Declare Disasters as Title 42 Ends

Several South Texas counties issued disaster declarations as the Title 42 immigration order expired Thursday and amid predictions that waves of illegal immigrants will cross the border in the coming days.

Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez on Thursday issued (pdf) a disaster declaration, allowing his county to obtain relief funds. The county sits across the Rio Grande from Tamaulipas, Mexico, and there have been reports of thousands of would-be illegal immigrants located across the river waiting to cross.

Around the same time, Cameron County Judge Eddie Trevino, too, issued a disaster declaration on Thursday in response to the imminent threat of widespread or severe damage, injury, or loss of life or property resulting from the Border Security Disaster, according to a statement from his office. The Border Security Disaster went into effect immediately and will last for seven days until further review, his office said.

Cortez said that he received word that some 20,000 illegal migrants could potentially surge into Hidalgo County in the coming days. His county is located at the very southern tip of Texas.

I have received credible information from officials with Customs and Border Protection that large groups of migrants are probing our international border in search of crossing points, Cortez told local media outlets. I have decided to declare this emergency as a first step in securing all available state and federal resources to ensure the health and safety of our residents.

He noted that when it comes to illegal immigration, his county has no authority. The federal government is the sole authority in the United States that has the capacity to handle illegal immigration, although Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has taken steps to deal with border security the recent days and month.

Other counties along the border have called on the Biden administration to take emergency action in response to the impending disaster. Federal officials have fought in court to keep Title 42 in place, but it was ordered by courts to be lifted at midnight.

A full response by (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) and the National Guard, like they would in any other disaster where they provide boots on the ground for housing, food, transportation, and health carethat would be the beginning, said Douglas Nichols, the mayor of Yuma, Arizona, in a CNN interview.

Republicans, meanwhile, criticized the Biden administration for what they said was a poor response to the border crisis and illegal immigration.

And there are, right now, over 22,000 illegal immigrants right across the river, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said in a video on Thursday, pointing across the Rio Grande. Theyre waiting. Theyre waiting for Title 42 to expire, and then the invasion were going to see is going to be massive, he added.

Pointing to the camera, Cruz then declared: Joe Biden, this is your fault. He added, The people who are killed crossing illegally: Thats your fault. The women who are sexually abused crossing illegally: Thats your fault. The children who are brutalized crossing illegally: Thats your fault.

Expiration

The expired rule, known as Title 42, has been in place since March 2020 before it expired at around midnight on Friday. It allowed border officials to quickly move people back over the border on grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19. The United States has declared the national emergency over, and with it, the restrictions end.

While Title 42 prevented many from seeking asylum, it carried no legal consequences, encouraging repeat attempts. After Thursday, illegal aliens face being barred from entering the United States for five years and possible criminal prosecution.

Department of Homeland Security Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas (2nd-L) speaks at a press conference in Brownsville, Texas, on May 5, 2023. (Michael Gonzalez/Getty Images)

It was not clear how many migrants were on the move or how long the surge might last. By Thursday evening before the expiration, the flow seemed to be slowing in some locations, but it was not clear why, or whether crossings would increase again.

The days leading up to the expiration have been chaotic. The Border Patrol stopped some 10,000 migrants on Tuesdaynearly twice the average daily level from March and only slightly below the 11,000 figure that authorities have said is the upper limit of what they expect after Title 42 endsone U.S. official said.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas warned of overcrowding. Were seeing precisely the challenge we expected, Mayorkas said Friday on ABCs Good Morning America. We cannot control the movement of people before they reach our border.

More than 27,000 people were in U.S. Customs and Border Protection custody. Holding facilities along the border already were far beyond capacity. Officials had orders to release people with a notice to report to an immigration office in 60 days if facilities reached 125 percent capacity or when they were held 60 hours or more. The quick releases were to also be triggered when authorities stop 7,000 migrants along the border in a day.

But late Thursday, U.S. District Judge T. Kent Wetherell, an appointee of President Donald Trump, temporarily halted the administrations plans to release people into the United States, and set a court date a week from Friday on whether to extend it more.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
US Encourages ASEAN-China to Develop Rules for South China Sea

Delegates attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Finance Ministers' and Central Bank Governors' meeting in Nusa Dua on Indonesia's resort island of Bali on March 31, 2023. (SONNY TUMBELAKA/AFP via Getty Images)

WASHINGTONThe Biden administration is supportive of ASEANs efforts to increase peaceful cooperation with Chinas communist regime in the South China Sea.

ASEAN, a political and economic bloc of nations in southeast Asia, held a summit this week, during which it announced that the group was heartened by ongoing efforts to strengthen cooperation between ASEAN and China, as well as its efforts to craft a Code of Conduct for the South China Sea. China and numerous ASEAN members all lay claim to overlapping portions of it.

The Biden administration supports such initiatives and believes such frameworks are an invaluable avenue for maintaining peace in the region, said State Department Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel during a May 11 press briefing.

as it relates to the South China Sea and as it relates to maritime boundaries and international delineation, we believe that there is important space for those kinds of talks to continue to have some kind of framework and rules of the road as it relates to that part of the world, Patel told the Epoch Times.

Patel noted, however, that he was unaware of the particular announcement, but did not clarify whether others in the administration were aware of ASEANs efforts before the statement was made.

ASEAN on the Front Line of China Expansion

That is not to say that ASEANs relationship with Chinas communist regime is without critical hardships.

ASEAN members Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam all hold claims to various parts of the South China Sea, which China has systematically sought to expand its control over through the creation of artificial islands and mass use of illegal fishing fleets.

The statement put out by the body after its summit this week referred to the issue euphemistically as the situation in the South China Sea without specifically naming China.

concerns were expressed by some ASEAN Member States on the land reclamations, and serious incidents in the area, including damage to the marine environment, which has eroded trust and confidence, increased tensions, and may undermine peace, security, and stability in the region, the statement said.

The blocs pursuit of peace with China on the matter appears less to do with building truly warm ties with that country and more to do with preventing the escalation of hostilities in the region, such as when a Chinese militia ship fired a military grade laser at a Philippine Coast Guard ship earlier in the year.

To that end, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said he hoped ASEAN could avoid entanglement in big power rivalries, meaning the competition between China and the United States, according to Malaysian media outlet Astro Awani.

Regardless, China continues essentially unimpeded in its efforts to expand its access to strategic resources in the region, largely succeeding by targeting small, unaligned nations for intimidation.

For its own part, the United States maintains that communist Chinas claims in the South China Sea are invalid, and experts typically believe the regimes expansionary activities are a clear violation of international law.

All of this is clearly illegal, in contravention of the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, which China helped negotiate, said Greg Poling, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank last year.

Were getting dangerously close to the point where freedom of navigation no longer exists in the South China Sea.
Victorians Liberals Expel Moira Deeming Following Threat of Lawsuit Against Party Leader

Victorian Opposition Leader John Pesutto (2nd R) leaves his party room at the Parliament of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia on May 12, 2023. (AAP Image/Diego Fedele)

The Victorian Branch of the Liberal Party has expelled suspended MP Moira Deeming after a motion was put forth to party members on May 12.

Liberal MPs voted 19 to 11 to expel Deeming for bringing discredit to the party.

In a separate motion, Upper House MP Renee Heath was also removed as party secretary. Heath was responsible for taking disputed minutes from another meeting in March to expel Deeming.

Deeming did not turn up to the May 12 meeting after her lawyers served John Pesutto a May 11 defamation concerns notice, which threatened court action if the party leader did not immediately withdraw the motion, publish an apology to her on his website, and pay her compensation and legal costs.

But even though more than a third of the Liberal Party room voted against the expulsion, Pesutto declared the vote was a show of support for his leadership.

The party needs to move forward, Pesutto told reporters following the vote.

We as a team are committed to being a disciplined, united, focused team.

We know that in order to be an effective opposition  we have to be an inclusive, welcoming and engaged party thats in touch with our local communities, talking about the issues that are relevant to them.

Today, I was very pleased with the strong support I obtained for that vision of the party. Reform isnt easy, and reform does take time.

Backbencher Beverley McArthur, a conservative factional ally of Deeming, was one of the only Liberal MPs willing to say she would vote against the motion publicly.

Pesutto also dismissed speculation that his leadership had been weakened by events leading up to Deemings expulsion.

Deeming will remain on the crossbench as an independent.

Looming Defamation Action Against Pesutto

The looming action against Pesutto would make Deemings expulsion more difficult, Rowville MP Kim Wells has said, adding that Pesuttos leadership was an internal matter, reported AAP.

In an email to The Epoch Times, a spokesperson for Pesutto said that as the matter is likely to be before the courts, no further comments would be made in relation to the defamation lawsuit.

In the defamation concerns notice, lawyers for Deeming allege that Pesutto accused Deeming of being a Nazi sympathiser in his attempt to expel her from the party in March.

The notice asks Pesutto to pay Deeming compensation by reason of the substantial damage, including damage to her reputation, which she has suffered as a result of the publication of the motion.

Although you have 28 days under the act to make amends, noting the serious and ongoing damage to our clients reputation, this offer is open until 9 a.m. on Friday, 12 May 2023.

Deeming was suspended for nine months after appearing at the Let Women Speak rally on March 18. The womans rights rally was overtaken by a neo-Nazi protest that was marred by violent clashes between the police and trans-activists who deemed the rally as having an anti-trans agenda.

These accusations, and the motion to expel her, leaked by you to the media to be published as widely as possible, were defamatory of our client, are false, and have caused serious and potentially irreparable harm to her reputation, her lawyer wrote in the concerns notice, reported The Australian.

If you had contacted our client in an appropriate manner, investigated the events of 18 March 2023 in a meaningful way, or conducted yourself in a manner fitting your position as the Leader of the Opposition and the Parliamentary Liberal Party, the Motion [to expel Ms Deeming] should not have been instigated, according to the letter, reported by the ABC.

Instead of a balanced, considered and fair motion which reflected the events accurately, the Motion promoted a false narrative that the event was fuelled by racist and white supremacist rhetoric and ideology and supported and espoused Nazi ideology and that Mrs Deeming herself supported that rhetoric and ideology. Nothing could be further from the truth.

On May 5, Deeming demanded that Pesutto agree to issue a media statement exonerating her of being a neo-Nazi or Nazi sympathiser or face legal action.

Deeming appeared to back down on May 6, saying she never considered suing the Liberal Party and instead contemplated legal mediation as a way to settle the conditions of her suspension.

If Moira Deeming is going to take action to sue me and effectively the parliamentary Liberal Party  that would be a matter for her to consider. Shes free to do what she wants; Im focused on holding the Andrews government to account, Pesutto said.

On May 6, Deeming issued a statement on Twitter saying: All I have ever wanted, since the leaders failed attempt to have me expelling for allegedly bringing the party into disrepute, was to have my name cleared.

Deeming was preselected for the upper house seat to replace Bernie Finn, who is a former Liberal MP and now state leader for the Democratic Labour Party.

Meanwhile, Federal Opposition leader Peter Dutton appeared to avoid answering questions related to Deemings expulsion on May 11.

Dutton has not ruled out intervening in the Victorian branch of the Liberal Party. A spokesperson for John Pesutto said federal action was unnecessary and that matters related to party governance are for the organisational wing of the party.

Moira Deemings office has been approached for comment.
Why Elite Libertarians Failed so Miserably on COVID

Commentary

A priest friend of mine has been writing for three years against his fellow clerics who went along with the COVID regime, shut their churches, masked their parishioners, and then pushed shots on those who didnt need them. He said that they forgot the first principle: be not afraid. And the second principle too: put not your faith in princes.

An academic friend of mine has been blasting his colleagues for just as long. He is even the author of a book Treason of the Experts.

Many conservatives who had sound opinions on lockdowns and vaccine mandates have gone after National Review and the Trump administration for their apostasies that gave us the biggest expansion of government power probably in world history.

Naomi Wolf has been relentless in calling out the left for their attacks on free association and free speech, in addition to their acquiescence to Big Pharma.

Each of these people say that they have a moral obligation to call out their own tribe.

Now to my own tribe: the libertarians.

For three years, Ive been reluctant to say anything about the elephant in the room, the near-complete failure of libertarians to stand up to the lockdown and mandate regime. It was a moment in history that was tailor-made for them. Everything in their training taught them to be suspicious of government power and relentless in the defense of liberty.

Instead they mostly went silent. Worse, they became the Praetorian Guard of the lockdown Caesars, giving them cover when they deserved it least. The radical libertarians defaulted to a completely conventional careerism, even to the point of manufacturing rationales for terrible attacks on the most vulnerable.

Most organizations associated with the Atlas Network said nothing at all and still have said anything. The Mont Pelerin Society couldnt muster the words either. Plenty of Twitter libertarians (and Reason Magazine) cheered masking as privacy-protecting disease-spread inhibitors while blasting me for criticizing them. Not even the Libertarian Party spoke out in 2020, a failure which led to a total upheaval in the party last year. Now, the anti-lockdowners are running the show.

Many if not most of the top intellectuals in the libertarian space were completely wrong and totally flopped when it mattered most. A book could be written on all the ridiculous excuses they marshaled to defend the worst attack on liberty in our lifetimes. Yes, many came around later and today pretend like that were right all along but the receipts are everywhere on what they said and did when it actually mattered.

Why havent I called them out? I convinced myself that they dont really matter, so such a focus on internal strife achieves nothing. Maybe thats right. It seems more true now than ever since they simply made themselves irrelevant by staying silent when voices of liberty were most needed. Now no one seems to care about them even as donor dollars are rightly drying up. My perception was that they (once we) mattered once upon a time, in any case.

In addition, my level of fury about the situation has been so intense that I did not think I could even pen a calm and persuasive article (even if Ive attacked experts in general).

My bitterness began on March 8, 2020, with the government cancellation of a conference in Austin, Texas, with an edict from the mayor that massively trampled on liberty, contract, and property rights. I wrote against this and warned what was coming. Not one person from my tribe joined me in condemning this, at least not yet. I was shocked but it got worse as the weeks, months, and years went by.

For the most part, and for reasons that remain a bit elusive to me, the libertarians squandered whatever credibility they had to side with the worst practitioners of public-health tyranny and the deletion of everything we previously called freedom.

What reasons did they have for their silence regarding this appalling attack on human rights? It was their job to be defenders of the public interest, and they failed. The deeper reason might simply be class identity: as elite members of the influencer class, they were perhaps glad for the chance to stay home and stay safe while the working classes brought them groceries.

As the Students for Liberty hashtag said at the moment when everyone wanted to know what the libertarians would say, #SpreadLibertyNotCorona. The liberty movement, said the organization in the voice of its well-trained CEO, has stepped up and taken steps to start working remotely, to limit their interactions with people, and to implement best practices during these trying times.

Meanwhile, the working classes could not abide by such exhortations of either Fauci or Students for Liberty. Among those best practices of course was closing churches, gyms, and obeying even travel restrictions and domestic capacity limits. Just obey our masters and then we can all stay safe, with emphasis on the word we.

Its a common thing in history for the elites to hide from germs and force their lessers to bear the burden of inflection. This is how and why whole social systems have been constructed, against which libertarians are supposed to stand. And yet these self-identified libertarians occupy that elite echelon. They are supposed to concern themselves with the common good, one would suppose.

And to be sure, some were great. For example, Porcfest of 2020 was never canceled, God bless them. FreeThePeople never gave in and neither did the Atlas Society. And as always, Ron Paul was 100 percent solid.

But among the elite theorists, people employed to be libertarian intellectuals, they had a serious brain malfunction and it cost us (and them) dearly.

Aside from their class bias, they had their stated reasons. I would like to address those, with focus on a piece published November 2020 (a bit late, wouldnt you say?) on the website of the Cato Institute. The time to speak out is when it matters most. Cato had next to nothing to say during the whole year and waited until Biden was elected to speak.

When the Cato Institute did speak, it was in the voice of the editor of Regulation journal, Thomas A. Firey. The piece is Government in a pandemic. I should add the archived perma link in case he takes it down after this critique. Bottom line: the article deploys every trope drawn from first-year graduate school to justify every evil.

Government does have important roles to play in a pandemic, Firey assured us even as the world we had known was being destroyed by force. However, those roles are consistent with the principles of limited government, which is another way of preparing readers for the weird reality that the Cato Institute was blessing the most expansive government power in U.S. history and slapping a libertarian label on it.

The piece comes to the defense of lockdowns, mask mandates, forced human separation, closures, tax-funded vaccine development, andeven if implicitlyshot mandates. Just so we are clear that Im not exaggerating, Cato later wrote explicitly for such vaccine mandates.

Critics of limited government often equate it with anarchy, the lack of any government activity. That equivalence is false, says he, with a strange and quick segue from condemning anarchy to endorsing totalitarianism.

In this authors view, three failures of the market necessitate extreme actions.

First, there is a negative externality (a regrettable harm) that presents itself in a pandemic, he writes. Second, there is a problem that funding for medical research is caught in the bind of being a public good and therefore taxpayers have to foot the bill. And third, herd immunity itself is in everyones interest but no one particular persons interest and, therefore, government must necessitate meds for everyone, even the unwilling.

At no point in this essay does the author discuss the known peculiarities of this virus, much less reveal any knowledge of infectious disease at all, or stop to examine whether the supposed vaccine for this thing had any hope of success in achieving herd immunity. His confusions would have been easily sorted out by a phone call with an expert but Washington think-tankers long ago gave up the need for doing real-world research.

Lets consider his arguments.

On the matter of negative externality, the author just assumes that every microbial pathogen is an unequivocal threat to human health and hence passing one on constitutes aggression. In the libertarian playbook, aggression is wrong and necessities some legal response. Therefore it is up to the government to stop it. Peoples liberty ends at the point that they put others at involuntary risk, he says, invoking an old cliche.

This is mortifyingly ignorant. Trillions of pathogens make up the world and even the human body. Putting government in charge of policing them would necessitate a totalitarian state of the worst sort, one that was always and everywhere coercive and engaged in constant surveillance. Infectious diseases are constantly circulating everywhere. If the principle prevailed that every infection is aggression, there would never have been a reason for liberty at all.

Virology discovered over time that the best protection against medically significant outcomes from infection of respiratory viruses is exposure itself, which confers lasting immunity. This has always been true. There is no such thing as a world cleansed of exposure, as the book Fear of a Microbial Planet points out.

If there were such a completely sanitized world, it would be a deeply dangerous one, as the native population of the United States and Latin America discovered hundreds of years ago: due to immunological naivete, some two-thirds of the native population was lost to the wicked killer Smallpox, which is now eradicated.

The only thing more dangerous to human life than government itself is an unprotected immune system, which is one that is insufficiently scaled to beat back a new pathogen with preexisting immunity.

A good vaccine itself relies on exposure to stimulate an immune response. That alone should be a clue to these armchair theorists that this is not merely a case of aggressing against people. Before calling something an unmitigated instance of a negative externality, pundits really should make some effort to discover basic facts of the case in question, lest they confuse the cure of protective immunity with the problem itself.

In any case, there is a word for a person who wants to unleash the police to stop the spread of a textbook respiratory virus: a despot. Thats true even if a one-time anarchist like my old friend Walter Block endorses the sneeze police, as he did as recently as this year. It implies total societal control, including such preposterous practices like universal mask mandates and forced human separation, of which our brilliant Cato expert also approves:

Distancing and universal wearing of facemasks reduce the chance of transmission in two ways: by reducing the number of droplets expelled by infected persons wearing masks and by reducing the number of droplets absorbed by healthy persons who are both masked and some distance away.

Of course he was wrong on the empirics of the matter too, not that he bothered to check. Meanwhile, the rights of people were trampled and viciously so. Think about the timing too: he wrote all this fully nine months after whole towns had been wrecked and the entire population (in most all countries in the world) was brutalized by the public-health hegemon.

Dont worry about it, he wrote; this is liberty in action!

To the second issue, our writer says there are market incentives for research into the virus and disease and distribution of the findings. But the benefits from that work are difficult to confine to the individuals who pay for it which causes private funding to be below optimal levels.

The point of this riff was to defend Operation Warp Speed and hundreds of billions squandered on bureaucratic boondoggles.

To be sure, private funding is always below optimal levels for things that are most important to you personally, so this critique of freedom would pertain in every case imaginable. It so happens that we have a system in place to fund research that doesnt bestow financial remuneration. It is called the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Like the CDC, the NIH is captured by Big Pharma, and did almost none of the research on therapeutics that would have been necessary. That was left to private individuals, and the results of their labors were banned by government itself. You could hardly buy basic therapeutics in most pharmacies in this country, simply because they werent the great vaccine, the approval of which required that everyone pretend that there was no other choice.

In other words, the reality is opposite of what the Cato Institute author says. The government massively overproduced proprietary vaccine products while neglecting and then banning repurposed generics, even those that had been long approved. The result of the authors writings was to generate a global tsunami of mRNA drugs that had never been tested sufficiently for safety or effectiveness.

To the third issue, our author alleges that markets fail to incentivize vaccine acceptance sufficient to accomplish the goal of herd immunity and hence mandates may be necessary. Without them, a third to more than half of the population could freeride on others bearing the cost of the vaccine, allowing for a public goods problem.

As it turns out, the vaccine did not protect against infection or transmission and thus made little or no contribution to herd immunity, as anyone who has studied coronaviruses and vaccines could have predicted. The truth is that 90-plus percent of the public never needed to take the vaccine but were forced to anyway, precisely because of these delusions that the market was failing and thus needed government to step in.

With friends like these

And speaking of real negative externalities, meaning genuine harm imposed by outside forces, have a look at the millions of vaccine injuries, among which there were many deaths. In many if not most of those cases, they were a result of government coercion. Where is the Cato Institute treatise on that topic?

Its strange to have to lecture libertarians on human liberty. But as with my other friends in other tribes, priests should not have to remind bishops not to trust princes, leftists should not have to tell others of their bent of the importance of universal rights, and conservatives should not have to preach the rule of law to their ideological compatriots.

And libertarians should not have to remind each other of the importance of liberty, bodily autonomy, and property rights, or to distrust the state and its establishment organs of opinion.

But such are the times in which we live. Everything has been scrambled.

Im mortified to say that many in leadership positions of what we call libertarianism completely failed the test and are thus discredited for a generation if not forever. They are dealing with this failure by pretending like it never happened.

Its all deeply tragic. While they continue to play their intellectual parlor games, the goal of which is to be seen holding the fashionable and safe opinion at precisely the right time, liberty continues to slip away. We needed them in this battle. We need them now! And we need honesty and truth about what happened.

Billions have suffered unspeakable pain. The so-called libertarians might have made a difference. Those chose instead their class privileges, the safety of their jobs, and rhetoric and opinions no better than the CDC. Lets put a fine point on it: they have betrayed us.

Therefore Ive done my duty: Ive decried the apostasies of my own tribe, as painful as that truly is.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
World Falun Dafa Day Celebrated in San Diego

Members of the spiritual practice Falun Dafa demonstrate the practice's exercises as they celebrate World Falun Dafa Day at the San Diego County Administration building in Downtown San Diego on May 7, 2023. (Jane Yang/The Epoch Times)

About 60 members of the spiritual practice Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong, gathered at the San Diego County Administration building in Downtown San Diego on May 7 to celebrate World Falun Dafa Day.

The annual event is celebrated by Falun Gong practitioners worldwide on May 13, which is the birthday of Falun Dafas founder, Li Hongzhi.

This years event in San Diego was held a week early to acknowledge County Supervisor Joel Andersons support by proclaiming May 7, 2023 as Falun Dafa Day throughout San Diego County.

San Diego County Supervisor Joel Andersons Chief of Staff Maggie Sleeper holds lotus flower decorations as she presents a proclamation to Falun Dafa practitioners in San Diego on May 7, 2023. (Jane Yang/The Epoch Times)

Members of the spiritual practice Falun Dafa gather to celebrate World Falun Dafa Day at the San Diego County Administration building in Downtown San Diego on May 7, 2023. (Jane Yang/The Epoch Times)

Andersons proclamation recognized Falun Dafa for its moral philosophy, worldwide acceptance, and health benefits. He also mentioned that practitioners have persevered under brutal persecution in Chinawhere the practice was first introduced to the public in 1992by the Chinese Communist Party that began in 1999.

The proclamation was delivered by Andersons Chief of Staff Maggie Sleeper.

Local practitioners shared their experiences with the practice at the celebration.

Falun Dafa tells people to forgive and not blame others, and to look inward for how you can improve yourself, Gwendalle Cooper told The Epoch Times.

Cooper, 94, is a proud Cherokee and professor emerita from San Diego State University. She has traveled to Kenya and Bangkok promoting the practice.

After receiving the proclamation, the practitioners demonstrated the five sets of exercises of Falun Gong. With peaceful classical Chinese style music playing softly in the background, the practitioners gracefully moved in unison to the gentle instructions coming from the music box speakers.

Members of the spiritual practice Falun Dafa demonstrate the practices exercises as they celebrate World Falun Dafa Day at the San Diego County Administration building in Downtown San Diego on May 7, 2023. (Jane Yang/The Epoch Times)

Members of the spiritual practice Falun Dafa hand out fliers as they celebrate World Falun Dafa Day at the San Diego County Administration building in Downtown San Diego on May 7, 2023. (Jane Yang/The Epoch Times)

Its very similar to what I did growing up, a kind of qigong, said a woman named Aquila, as she commented on the exercises after being introduced to it. It looks like a very serene practice, she said.

Other practitioners handed out fliers to people walking by. The fliers explain the benefits of the practice and about the persecution currently happening in China.

Some passersby encouraged the practitioners and said Thank you for letting us know about this, and Keep up what youre doing.

In addition, the practitioners displayed a set of paintings that use art to communicate both the beauty of the practice and the harsh reality of the persecution.

This painting, titled Coming for You, is based on a photograph taken at Tiananmen Square in Beijing when 36 Falun Dafa practitioners from around the world coordinated a peaceful appeal to ask the Chinese government to end the persecution of Falun Gong. (Mark Mathews/The Epoch Times)

Bystanders look at paintings on display as members of the spiritual practice Falun Dafa celebrate World Falun Dafa Day at the San Diego County Administration building in Downtown San Diego on May 7, 2023. (Jane Yang/The Epoch Times)

Daniel from Ocean Beach said that he was drawn to the art. Its a beautiful message. Were all searching for the same thing, he said. We cant forget the benefits of truthfulness and compassion for others.

The events organizer, Sophia Fang, said she hopes everyone can come to know about Falun Dafa and help the world to become a better place.

Jane Yang contributed to this article.
Prostock-Studio / iStock.com

Buying your first home is an exciting venture, but it can also be complicated. Many first-time homeowners end up overlooking some important purchases that would have made their lives easier down the road. Others get caught up in the process and buy things they don't really need and later regret.

Good To Know: 5 Expensive Renovations Homeowners Always Regret

See: How To Build Your Savings From Scratch

Here are the top things first-time homeowners tend to regret spending money on -- and the things they might want to hold off on.

ViktorCap / iStock.com

New Furniture and Decor

"It's natural to want to personalize and decorate your new home, but some new homeowners overspend on furniture and decorative items that may not fit their long-term needs," said Adie Kriegstein, a licensed real estate salesperson and founder of the NYC Experience Team at Compass.

I'm a Real Estate Agent: Here Are the 6 Cities Where You Should Avoid Buying a Home This Summer

Find Out: 8 Places in California Where Home Prices Have Plummeted

Jonathan Rundlett, regional owner at EXIT Mid-Atlantic, added, "Oftentimes, a new homeowner will want to purchase new furniture for their new house and may want to buy new appliances for the kitchen. If the seller did not convey window coverings, you will want to buy new shades or blinds. This can all quickly add up."

That doesn't mean you shouldn't buy anything at all. After all, you want your new home to feel like your own. "Maybe that means investing in some nice bedroom furniture, dressers, and new couches for your living room," said Scott Bergmann, realtor with Realty ONE Group Sterling. "Just remember to keep your priorities in mind and budget accordingly!"

eclipse_images / Getty Images

Renovations or Upgrades

It might be necessary to upgrade or renovate parts of your home, especially if it's an older structure. You might also do this if you're looking to increase the value of the home. But while certain renovations can add value to your home, not all of them will. "Sometimes, these upgrades and renovations are too personalized or specific, making it more challenging to sell the home later," Kriegstein said.

Story continues

One way to potentially reduce costs is to do any renovations or upgrades yourself. But even then, you could end up spending more than you should. When it comes to DIY projects, Kriegstein added, "It's easy to overspend on tools and materials, or underestimate the scope of a project, leading to costly mistakes and regret."

See: 9 Cheap Aldi Household Essentials To Start Buying Now

PC Photography / Getty Images/iStockphoto

New or Luxury Appliances

Luxury appliances can cost thousands of dollars apiece, if not more. But many new homeowners still purchase them -- only to find out they don't use or need them as much as they anticipated.

"Most homes are sold with appliances included these days, so unless you want to replace them, you can usually avoid having to do so," said Maureen McDermut, realtor at Sotheby's International-Montecito. Even if your home doesn't come with appliances, stick with non-luxury options. They often last as long as their expensive counterparts, but cost much less.

And for those who do want newer appliances, a new construction home might be a better way to go. "Many buyers lean toward new construction because they receive the appliances with the home," said DeLisa Dawkins, realtor with Realty ONE Group Freedom. "This can be a savings of $8,000 to $10,000."

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Movers

The cost of moving is a major upfront expense. It's also one that many new homeowners don't budget for, but wish they had. "The cost of hiring professional movers or renting a moving truck can be significant, especially if you're moving long distances," said Alex Shekhtman, LBC Mortgage CEO and founder.

Moving costs vary depending on several factors, including how much you need to move and how far. "Moving an entire home might end up costing you anywhere from $7,000 to $15,000, depending on the distance," McDermut said.

It's a good idea to factor in moving fees as part of the cost of buying a home. "Whether you are hiring a professional moving company or renting a U-Haul or POD, this will be one of the most important costs you need to obtain estimates for," said Amy Cherry Taylor, realtor and associate broker at Amy Cherry Taylor & Associates.

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Insulation

Another thing many new homeowners overlook is insulation, but this can lead to some great savings in the long run. "One thing I always encourage new homeowners to do is invest in attic insulation, as it can help keep energy bills down over time," McDermut said. "An investment of $1,500-$2,500 can save $5,000-$10,000 over the time you live in the home."

Check Out: 7 Luxury Goods That Are Cheaper at Costco

MartinPrescott / Getty Images

Home Warranties

Home warranties are another important, often overlooked expenditure for new homeowners. But having these warranties can protect you from unforeseen expenses like new appliances or plumbing issues. This could mean saving hundreds or thousands of dollars in repairs or replacement parts.

PeopleImages / iStock.com

HUD-Approved Counseling Program

There are several first-time buyer programs available to help with the initial costs of homeownership. This includes things like down payment or closing cost assistance. Through one of these programs, you could end up saving thousands of dollars on these costs.

"If it is your first time purchasing a home, it is recommended to take a class with a HUD approved First Time Homebuyer Counseling Program," Rundlett said. "In these classes, they teach about all of the costs associated with buying a home and ongoing expenses to budget for as well. Completing the class will also earn you a certificate that is good for one year to qualify for loan programs that offer down payment and closing cost assistance."

RossHelen / Getty Images/iStockphoto

Energy-Efficient Upgrades

Energy-efficient upgrades can be a great investment, but many new homeowners overlook them due to their initial costs. "Upgrades such as new windows, insulation, and a programmable thermostat can help reduce energy costs and save money in the long run," Shekhtman said.

Kriegstein corroborated this by adding, "It's also not uncommon for people to regret not upgrading their appliances to smart ones that are energy-efficient. Not investing in a higher-end HVAC system that would provide better air quality, easy temperature control, and be more energy-efficient is another common regret buyers have."

Find Out: 6 Household Staples That Are a Waste of Money

andresr / Getty Images

Smart Home Technology

Similar to energy-efficient upgrades, smart home technology can be another good investment. "With the increasing popularity of smart homes, some people regret not investing in a home automation system that can control lighting, shades, HVACs, security, and other systems remotely," Kriegstein said.

"Smart thermostats, security systems, and lighting can not only make your home more convenient and efficient, but they can also add value to your property," Shekhtman said.

fstop123 / iStock.com

Home Inspectors and Structural Engineers

Some new homeowners skip out on hiring a home inspector or structural engineer, but this can be a costly mistake. This is especially true for homeowners who want to remodel their new home. That's because remodeling -- like renovating -- comes with many unforeseen costs that these professionals can help prevent."

Once a remodel begins, unforeseen issues often arise," said Shannon Livingston, president of RREAF Communities. "Issues with the foundation, plumbing, wiring, and HVAC systems tend to be items that need attention. These translate into unexpected and unbudgeted costs. When considering the purchase of a home for remodel it is always a good idea to engage a home inspector and a structural engineer to preview and provide feedback on the condition of the home."

More From GOBankingRates

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 10 Things First-Time Homeowners Always Regret Buying  And Not Buying
In our youth, sleep comes easily. Those precious minutes after our heads hit the pillows and before we drift off to sleep were frequently filled with joyous imaginations and rosy possibilitiesWhat new excitement will tomorrow bring?

Yet, for one little 8-year-old, each night was just a harbinger of another awful morning to come. One night in second grade, he asked God to take his life.

Heaven Must Be Real

Artist Russell Ricks was born with complete agenesis of the corpus callosum (CACC)a neurological disorder in which the nerve bundle connecting the left and right hemispheres of the brain is completely missing. Though Rickss brain compensated by creating other pathways to transmit information, he still had difficulties with social and mental processing.

Due to this condition, Ricks struggled in school and was looked down upon by his peers. He was frequently bullied and beaten. In a time when learning disabilities were not understood, all his parents could tell him was, Youve just got to toughen up and deal with it.

When kids were picking teams to play, everyone would say, No, I dont want Russell! So, when I wasnt physically beaten, I was emotionally beaten. Nobody wanted to be my friend. They called me a retard and tease me on and on, Ricks recounted on the podcast Round Trip Death.

As he lay in bed that night, terrified of the school year to come, Ricks thought about his baptism a week prior. He had felt the presence of Goda special feeling that was comfortable, good, peaceful, and calm.

Then, his mind drifted further back, to the single clear memory of his babyhood.

Rickss mother had been a gifted soprano and was on the verge of signing with The Warner Brothers when she decided to give up her career and raise a family.

She raised seven kids and would sing to us every day. For a period of time, whenever she sang, I saw people dressed in white come into our home and surround her. Theyd linger for a while and after a few songs they would leave, Ricks said.

I remembered being frustrated with my family because they couldnt see what I saw. I was too young to talk but I wanted to ask, Who are these people? After a while, I just decided that they were relatives who had passed on but came to visit because they enjoyed my moms music.

In that line of thought Ricks reasoned, If what I felt at my baptism was God, and those people dressed in white came from heaventhen God must be real! Therefore, if anyone can end the bullying, it would be God.

Ricks fell onto his knees and begged.

Heavenly Father, I need your help, I cant face another day like this. So, either youve got to take this away or take me away.

In Rickss mind, he had just been baptized, so his slate was clean. If there ever was a perfect time to die, this would be it.

He said to God, I know its wrong for me to take my life but if you do itthen its okay. Im begging you to end my mission on earth and let me go to a place where Ill be safe, loved, and not have to face the abuse.

After his prayers, little Ricks climbed back into bed and cried. Then, just as he was giving in to sleep, the room began to spin.

A Realm of Colors and Lights

Ricks thought he was going to black out. Suddenly, he felt a separationlike he was being pulled in multiple directions. When he finally looked down, he saw his body on the bed below.

I thought I was having a conscious dream because how can I be in two places at once? Above me was this tiny, bright light and I felt incredible love emanating from it. It was like a magnetI was being pulled toward that light.

Ricks floated past the ceiling, through the rafters, and into the starry night sky before being pulled onto a planet surrounded by a sea of clouds. He was set down in a clearing amidst the aspen grove on a mountaintop.

I sensed that I was in a spiritual realm thats not on earth. I still felt a connection to my body, so I knew my experience in this beautiful world was temporary and I would have to go back. Yet, my prayers had been answered, Ricks said.

In that world, each blossom, each blade of grass, the birds, the trickling brook, the treesall vibrated with their own unique frequency, and together, it translated into an incredible and heavenly piece of music.

Everything was alive and praising God, even the light was praising God.

Connected As One

Ricks looked around as he walked through the clearing and was drawn to a particularly large aspen. For him, it represented life and the love of God.

God could have answered [my prayers] in any other way but he chose to give me this experience. He gave me what I needed to feel loved and to feel assured.

During his experience, Ricks also felt connected to all his ancestors from generations past.

He would later learn that Pando, the one-tree aspen forest in Utah, is the worlds largest living organism. Its 40,000 trees shared a communal root systemso, even if a tree is chopped down, it will not die because all other trees in the forest will pitch in to provide vital nutrients through their shared roots.

The root system was symbolic of my ancestorsthey were expressing their love, their concern, and their support for me. I sensed that they were there even though I didnt see them.

A Meeting With His Savior

As Ricks lifted his leg to step out of the clearing, a voice stopped him. If you take one more step, thats the point of no return. But you have no choice, you must return to mortality.

Ricks broke down and sobbed.

I knew I would [have to go back] but I wasnt ready. I didnt want to go, he said. A few moments later, I felt a touch on my shoulder and a gentle voice asking, Whats the matter? Why are you crying?

Ricks turned and saw a being floating a few inches off the ground, dressed in a white robe. His beard and hair were snowy.

His eyes enthralled me. They were so bright they appeared to be on fire. I would see shades of blue, then they would flash with a golden glow. I saw eternity in his eyes, Ricks described.

He looked into my soul with complete love, mercy, and no judgment. I allowed him to lookI trusted him completely. He could read my soul, my pain, and my fear.

When the being reached down to scoop the boy into his arms, Ricks recognized instinctively that this was Jesus Christ.

[His embrace] felt similar to being held in my mothers arms. You feel safe and securea warmth from deep inside that was magnified 10,000 times.

A Re-Interview

Together, they left the aspen grove through the clouds and into a city of light. The buildings, the walls around the city, and even the streets were paved with gold.

Sitting on a bench, Ricks told Jesus all his fears. I told him how afraid I was to face life outside of my home and of having to return to school. I said, This is my home, why cant I stay? Ricks recounted.

To which Jesus replied, Russell, you have things to do, so you need to go back. But because of what youve done here, you are blessed. He also mentioned that it was important for Ricks to return, because he would become a father and have other missions to fulfill.

Looking back, Ricks said it was like deja vu, he felt each one of us had an interview with Christ prior to being born onto Earth to assure us of our roles. His experience felt like a replay of what had transpired long ago.

When Ricks expressed his fear of making mistakes in the human world and losing his chance to return to heaven, Jesus chuckled lightly and said that was all taken care of.

All you have to do is just follow me and be a good boy. Everything will be fine and Ill see you again. Are you ready? Jesus asked.

Yeah, Im ready.

When Ricks next opened his eyes, the sun was streaming through the window and he was back in bed.

Forging Ahead

Right before Ricks was sent back to his body, Christ promised the boy that he will always know of Gods presence.

Ive had so many experiences to let me know that the Lord is here. I know can count on him. When I fail, I can repent, and he will still love me. Looking back, despite my struggles, I became a stronger person.

For many years after, Ricks attempted to paint this realmfull of colors hed never seen beforewith limited success.

How can you capture something thats beyond words? All the plant life and flowers were filled with light from within. Our palette on Earth is far inferiorin our light prism, we only have this little range of visible light. In the other realm, its much broader than that. Our naked eyes cant see it, only our spiritual eyes can, he said.

Now, Ricks gladly shares his story with anyone willing to listen. A few years back, he received a message from a girl in her 20s also struggling with CACC and wondering if life was worth living.

Rickss story gave her hope to continue.

All of us, we all have a disabilitynone of us are perfect. Whether youre struggling with something visible that everyone can see or something invisible like ACClife is worth it, Ricks said.

Im not angry at God for creating me this way. There was a purpose. Even if my book helped just that one person, it was well worth it. My story needed to be told because more people out there need to know that there is hope. Life is good, God is aware of us, and he loves us very, very much.
Space on Wheels will bring awareness about space technology, ISRO: Chouhan





Staff Reporter

Space on Wheels was launched on Thursday to acquaint students of different districts of the State with innovations happening in the field of science and achievements related to science of India. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan flagged off this special mobile van prepared by compiling important information related to science. On the occasion of National Technology Day, this program took place at Smart City Park. In this program organized by the Madhya Pradesh Council of Science and Technology(MPCST), the Chief Minister first planted saplings with the scientists present and then flagged off the Space on Wheels. On the occasion, Science and Technology Minister Om Prakash Sakhalecha, Director General of Council of Science and Technology Dr. Anil Kothari, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Bhopal, Center for Advanced Technology Indore, IIT Indore, CSIR Bhopal, AIIMS Bhopal, MANIT Bhopal, BHEL Bhopal, Indian Council of Agricultural Research Bhopal, Vice Chancellor, scientists and officials of Rajiv Gandhi Technological University Bhopal participated. While congratulating all the scientists, engineers, technicians and students of these streams on National Technology Day, Chief Minister Chouhan said that it is a day of pride for all Indians.

On this day in the year 1998, former Prime Minister Bharat Ratna respected Atal Bihari Vajpayee increased Indias prestige in the world by conducting nuclear tests in Pokhran. The achievements of science will reach the masses: During the programme, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan inspected the mobile van and expressed happiness on seeing the achievements related to science. The Chief Minister said that this mobile van will inform the state and the general public about the technology and achievements of ISRO since independence. The bus will visit schools across the state to raise awareness about space technology and ISRO.
Dr Raman Singhs scathing attack on Congress Govt





Staff Reporter

RAIPUR,

Former Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh and National Vice-President of BJP Dr Raman Singh participated in the Mahadharna demonstration organised in Rajnandgaon district on Thursday.

At the demonstration, Dr Singh fiercely targeted the corruption of the Congress government led by Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel. Talking to journalists, Dr Raman Singh said that the Enforcement Directorate has submitted a dossier based on seized evidence of a liquor scam of over Rs 2000 crore from 2020-21 to 2021-22. Along with this, Dr Singh also cornered the State Government over illicit liquor and said that the government is selling 30 to 40% liquor illegally, collecting Rs 2000 crore in the name of PCM in the government shop without the hologram, weight and excise duty. There couldnt be a bigger proof of corruption than that the government itself is involved in corruption. Dr Singh also said that the BJP government made a policy to stop illegal liquor in the year 2017, which was changed by Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel in the year 2019 and opened the way for the illegal liquor business. Congress Government also minted Rs 25 percent commission in coal.

The rice scam is over Rs 5000 crore. All these are the series of corruption of this government. After so many scams came to the fore, Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel no longer has the moral right to hold the post of Chief Minister. While discussing the rice scam, the former Chief Minister said that we raised the big scam in the rice coming from the centre for the poor people of the state in the assembly and requested the centre to investigate it, after which a team of four members went to the ration shops. Regarding Congress MLA Chhanni Sahu, Dr Singh said that being troubled by the corruption of the government headed by Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, Congresss own woman MLA Chhanni Sahu had to keep Mangalsutra on the table of the RTO office. There couldnt be anything more shameful than this incident for the Bhupesh Baghel Government.
India marks 25th anniversary of Pokhran N-tests





NEW DELHI,

THE 1998 Pokhran nuclear tests sent a message to the world that although India is a peace-loving nation, it would not let anyone to harm its sovereignty, integrity and unit, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Thursday on the 25th anniversary of the tests. India conducted five nuclear tests of advanced weapon designs between May 11 and 13 at Rajasthans Pokhran desert that propelled the country into a select group of nations having capabilities to develop nuclear weapons. The tests, carried out during the then Atal Behari Vajpayee-led Government, were the culmination of a committed team effort and backed by the development of the necessary know-how and expertise over decades.

The tests triggered strong reactions from many countries. India maintained that it carried out the tests to have credible minimum deterrence and it will follow the approach of no first use, noting that it would not be the first one to launch a nuclear weapon.

In 2003, India officially came out with its nuclear doctrine that clearly elaborated on the no first use policy. The Defence Minister spoke about the 1998 nuclear tests at an event organised to mark their 25th anniversary. Singh asserted that the tests gave a message to the world that although India is a peace-loving nation that believes in Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (the world is one family) and Ahimsa Paramo Dharma (non-violence is the best religion), it will not let anyone to harm its sovereignty, integrity and unity.

India has not only wished for peace for itself, but given the message to the world. Visionaries like Lord Buddha and father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi are Indias gift to the world, he said. We have never invaded any country nor enslaved it. But, the Pokhran tests gave a message that we will give a befitting reply to every step taken against our dignity, he said. The department of atomic energy had said that the tests were fully successful in terms of achieving their scientific objectives and the capability to build fission and thermonuclear weapons with yields up to 200 kt (kilotons.) The 1998 tests were the second instance of nuclear testing by India. The first was carried in May 1974.
India uses technology to speed up development, says PM Modi





Delhi Bureau & Agencies

NEW DELHI,

PRIME Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday hailed the 1998 nuclear tests in Pokhran as one of the most glorious days in Indias history, and asserted that technology for the country is not about showing its dominance but a tool to speed up its development.

Addressing an event on the National Technology Day, which marks the 25th anniversary of the Pokhran tests, Modi said his Government has used technology as a source of empowerment and to ensure social justice.

The Prime Minister said, the Pokhran nuclear tests carried out under the leadership of the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee not only helped India prove its scientific capabilities but also gave a boost to its stature at the global level. To say in Atal jis words: We have never stopped on our journey and never surrendered to any challenge that has come our way, Modi said.
Nitish meets Pawar, Uddhavin Mumbai







MUMBAI,

BIHAR Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and NCP president Sharad Pawar on Thursday discussed efforts to strengthen Opposition unity ahead of next years Lok Sabha elections, the two leaders said. Kumar, who visited Pawar at the latters residence in south Mumbai along with deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav, told reporters that what the ruling BJP is doing is not in the interest of the country. Earlier, he met Uddhav Thackeray at the Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders Bandra home. What BJP is doing nowadays is not in the interest of the country. In such a situation, if more and more Opposition parties unite, it would be better for the country, he said.

Nitish Kumar, who along with Bihar deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav also met Uddhav Thackeray at the Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders residence in Mumbai. Kumar said many parties have got in touch with them. All I can say now is that it is happening in the interest of the country, he said. Pawar said these discussions are part of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA). We all have been together and we are bringing in more parties and groups, he said. Kumar said they are trying hard to form a larger coalition in the country. We will discuss it with all the stakeholders and can give it a new name, he said.
Nitish meetsPawar, Uddhavin Mumbai





MUMBAI :

BIHAR Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and NCP president Sharad Pawar on Thursday discussed efforts to strengthen Opposition unity ahead of next years Lok Sabha elections, the two leaders said. Kumar, who visited Pawar at the latters residence in south Mumbai along with deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav, told reporters that what the ruling BJP is doing is not in the interest of the country. Earlier, he met Uddhav Thackeray at the Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders Bandra home. What BJP is doing nowadays is not in the interest of the country. In such a situation, if more and more Opposition parties unite, it would be better for the country, he said. Nitish Kumar, who along with Bihar deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav also met Uddhav Thackeray at the Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders residence in Mumbai. Kumar saidmanyparties have got in touch with them.

All I can say now is that it is happening in the interest of the country, he said. Pawar said these discussions are part of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA). We all have been together and we are bringing in more parties and groups, he said. Kumar said they are trying hard to formalarger coalition in the country. We will discuss it with all the stakeholders and can give it a new name, he said. Asked if Pawar will be the main face of the Opposition alliance, Kumar said, There will be nothing moredelightfulthanthat.Ihavetold him that he has to work with more vigour not only for his party butfor the entire country. The more Opposition parties come together, thebetteritis inthe interestofthe country,Kumar said. Pawar said, To save democracy, it is important to work together.

After lookingatthe conditionofthe country, it seems that if we work together, there will be support for the alternative. The NCP chief said BJP will lose in the Karnataka assembly elections. As per my info, people there will oust BJP and elect a secular government, he said. WelcomedtheChiefMinisterof Bihar Shri Nitish Kumar ji and deputy Chief Minister Shri Tejashwi Yadav ji at my Mumbai residence today.We hada briefdiscussion to strengthen the Opposition unity ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Pawar tweeted after meeting Kumar. Kumar has been meeting Oppositionleaderstostrengthenthe bloc against the BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha polls due next year.
Shinde to continue asMah CM after SC ruling





NEW DELHI/MUMBAI :

 Thackeray cant be restored as CM as he resigned without facing floor test: SC

Speakers decision to appoint Bharat Gogawale of Shinde faction as whip of Shiv Sena party was illegal: SC

EKNATH Shinde will continue to be the Chief Minister of Maharashtra after the Supreme Court held on Thursday it cannot reinstate the MVA coalition Government headed by Uddhav Thackeray since the Shiv Sena leader chose to resign without facing the floor test in the wake of a rebellion in his party. The unanimous verdict by a fivejudge Constitution bench came as a relief for Shinde even as it censured former Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari over his decision calling upon Thackeray to prove his majority in the Assembly based on a request by the Shinde faction T HE Supreme Court verdict in the matter pertaining to Maharashtra political happenings of the recent past lays down certain things clearly but has left scope for further interpretation. As such, there are certain issues that remain. Those issues will continue to be part of the political and legal discourse for more time to come. The Supreme Court has observed clearly that the then Maharashtra Governor Mr. Bhagat Singh Koshyari was not justified in calling upon the then Chief Minister and Shiv Sena chief Mr. Uddhav Thackeray to prove his majority on the floor of the House because he did not have reasons based on objective material before him to conclude that Mr.Thackeray had lost the confidence of the House.

Thackeray camp is celebrating this as their moral victory. However, at the same time, the Supreme Court has made it clear that thestatus quo ante (Mr. Thackeray being reinstated as Chief Minister) cannot be restored because Mr. Thackeray did not face the floor test and tendered his resignation. The camp led by Chief Minister and Shiv Sena rebel Mr. Eknath Shinde is celebrating this. There is more for Shinde camp to celebrate as the apex court has stated that the then Governor wasjustified in inviting Mr. Shinde to form the Government on the basis of letter of support of 106 BJP legislators and Independents and Shinde camp legislators. So, the Supreme Court verdict has left Thackeray as well as Shinde camp both somewhat happy and somewhat unhappy. Interestingly, the Supreme Court has also observed that it cannot ordinarily adjudicate petitions for disqualification under the Tenth Schedule in the first instance.While observing so, it has left it to the Speaker of Maharashtra Legislative Assembly to decide disqualification petitions of legislators within a reasonable period. Thus, it will take some more time for the remainder of political drama to unfold. There are certain areas that will require more time and churning of legal brains to decipher and give legal firmament to. For instance, the Supreme Court has stated that the political party and not the legislature party appoints the Whip and the Leader of the party in the House.

Now, it is open to interpretation whether directions in the letters issued by the then Shiv Sena Whip Mr. Sunil Prabhu would be considered while deciding disqualification of legislators of Shinde camp. To add to complications of interpretation, the apex court has asked the Speaker to prima facie determine who the political party is for the purpose of adjudicating disqualification petitions. Thus, whichever action is taken by the Speaker is likely to attract lot of political criticism as well as support from different sides. Add to these the issues of political morality with specific reference to Mr. Thackeray breaking away from pre-poll alliance with BJP after elections, and the Constitutional Morality that requires interpretation of even the discussed parameters of jurisprudence. All these put together indicate only one thing as of now -- the political battle is not over.While the Thackeray camp will leave no stone unturned to capitalise on the Supreme Court observations regarding the then Governors actions, the Shinde camp will obviously keep invoking political morality issues and weakness of Mr. Thackeray as reflected in his resignation before facing the floor test. Of course, one remembers that the Supreme Court had refused to stay the floor test then. In this scenario, the next few months will surely see some hot political activity. Thackeray and Shinde camps will be in focus. Which side is successful in convincing the electorate about correctness of its stand, will determine the pitch for the upcoming Maharashtra Legislative Assembly elections. Till then, the issues remain.
Vaastuvision expo from today at Bishop Cotton School ground





Business Bureau

Central Indias most prestigious event - Vaastuvision Exhibition will be from Friday at Bishop Cotton School ground, Sadar, Nagpur. The exhibition will remain open for the visitors till May 15 from 4pm to 10 pm.

The mega event will showcase residential and commercial furniture, commercial kitchen, mattress, space saving furniture, wrought iron furniture, ethnic, antique furniture, artificial flowers, mosquito net, wall paper and covering, coolers, office chairs, carpets, shoe rack, kitchen appliances etc. Nagpurs most popular builders will also display their models of properties, flats, row-houses and plots. Todays most needed E-vehicles will also be put on display.

All the leading brands of electrical scooters and bikes will showcase their newest models and offering best deals. The special attraction of event will be the Lions Mega Summer Food Festival. All traditional, Chinese, continental, Italian cuisines will be waiting for the food lovers of Nagpur. Lions is organising salad decoration competition, painting and colouring competition, fancy dress competition etc.

The event is sponsored by Orbiyo Premium Ice Cream by Cake Links and this event will be organized by Lions Noble Chapter. The exhibition is a must visit place. Vijay Rathi, Director of Vaastuvision, and Ln Sanjay Kinariwala, President Lions Noble Club, appealed to the masses to visit the grand event.
In this piece, we will take a look at the 35 best destinations in the world for cultural tourism. For more cities, head on over to 5 Best Destinations in the World for Cultural Tourism.

One sector that has been hit hard over the past couple of years is the tourism industry. The outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic sapped global travel and forced populations all over the world into lockdowns. Estimates from the United Nations' World Tourism Organization (WTO) show that the virus almost decimated the global tourism industry. This is due to the fact that international travel shrank by 72% in 2020 leading to 1.1 billion fewer trips taken and setting back the industry three decades in terms of the number of travelers. The monetary impact of this disruption was perhaps as bad as it can get. Estimates from the UNWTO show that international tourist arrivals, export revenues from tourism, and tourism gross domestic product (TGDP) had stood at 1.5 billion visitors, $1.7 trillion, and $3.5 trillion in 2019, respectively. Then, as the virus spread and the industry collapsed, these metrics dropped to 406 million, $651 billion, and $1.7 trillion, respectively, in 2020.

However, by 2022 the situation had stabilized quite a bit. International tourism recovered to 65% of pre-pandemic levels, with the number of tourists sitting at 900 million and further expected to reach up to 95% of pre-pandemic levels in 2023. Regionally, Europe outpaced the broader market in terms of recovery as total arrivals stood at nearly 80% of 2019 and Western Europe recovered even faster at 87% and the Caribbean came in second place with the total number of visitors sitting at 84% of 2019 levels.

Even as the industry started to recover in 2022, the Russian invasion of Ukraine gave a second shock to the global economy last year. While the invasion did not stop global travel, it did cause historic inflation in nearly every country and ended up straining budgets that would otherwise have been reserved for luxury or recreational spending. Higher fuel prices reduced the distance that people would travel for their trips and preferred fewer international destinations as air fares surged. However, even though global air travel did not stop, countries closest to the conflict suffered the most. More data from the UNWTO reveals that flights to Moldova, Slovenia, Latvia, and Finland dropped by 69%, 42%, 38%, and 36%, respectively.

Story continues

Building on this, several countries in the world have large portions of their GDP dependent on tourism. ReportLinker Research shares that Spain, Iceland, and the Philippines rely heavily on tourism as it accounted for 12.5%, 9.5%, and 9.3% of their GDP in 2020, respectively. Iceland was the fastest growing region with a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.37% between 2015 and 2020. However, neither of these countries broke into the top five global destinations for cultural tourism. In fact, in 2021, Hungary ranked first in the number of global cultural attraction enterprises with 46,280 units, and the U.K. and Austria came in second and third places, respectively.

Additionally, tourism is divided into several categories, such as business tourism, adventure tourism, luxury travel, medical travel, and others. Each of these segments is worth billions of dollars. Starting from business tourism, research from Allied Markets Research believes that this subsegment was worth $696 billion in 2020 and will grow at a CAGR of 13.2% between then and 2028 to sit at $2 trillion by the end of the forecast period. Grand View Research takes a look at adventure tourism and outlines that the market was worth $282 billion in 2021 and will grow at a faster rate of 15.1% to be worth $1 trillion in 2030. Grand View Research also has estimates for the luxury travel industry, sharing that it was the most valuable sector out of the ones discussed so far and was worth $1.28 trillion in 2022. This segment is expected to post a growth rate of 7.6% and be worth $2.32 trillion in 2030. Finally, Precedence Research analyzes the medical tourism segment to find out that it generated $115.6 billion in revenue in 2022 and will grow by 11.59% for a final value of $346 billion by 2032.

To take a look at how the industry is doing right now, let's see what executives of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) said during the firm's latest earnings call:

The international mix of our total room nights in Q1 was about 53% which was the highest quarterly mix since 2019 but still a couple of percentage points below Q1 2019. Our cancellation rates in the first quarter were below Q1 2022 and Q1 2019. For our alternative accommodations of Booking.com, our Q1 room night growth rate was about 45% year-on-year and the global mix alternative accommodation room nights was about 33% which was higher than about 31% in Q1 2022. We are pleased with the progress we made in North America alternative accommodations where growth in the first quarter was much stronger than the global average. Q1 gross bookings increased 44% year-over-year or 52% on a constant currency basis. The 44% increase in gross bookings was 6 percentage points higher than the 38% room night increase due to 9% higher accommodation constant currency ADRs and also due to a couple of points from strong flight booking growth, partially offset by the 8 percentage points of negative impact from FX movements.

With these details in mind, let's take a look at the best destinations in the world for cultural tourism.

35 Best Destinations in the World for Cultural Tourism

Pixabay / Public Domain

Our Methodology

To compile our list of the world's top cultural tourism destinations, we used the list of global heritage sites most visited by the members of the Word Heritage Site a private community of travelers dedicated to visiting the locations listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The number of visits of WHS travelers to the top sites related to cultural tourism is a great indicator to find the best destinations in the world for cultural tourism.

Best Destinations in the World for Cultural Tourism

35. Great Wall of China

Number of WHS Visitors: 550

The Great Wall of China is one of the most famous historic and cultural sites in the world and a rare man made structure visible from space.

34. City of Luxembourg

Number of WHS Visitors: 583

The City of Luxembourg is the capital of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and a perfect place for cultural tourism as the entire city is a World Heritage Site.

33. Krakow

Number of WHS Visitors: 584

Krakow is one of the largest and oldest cities in Poland. The Krakow Old Town has a history starting from the ninth century.

32. Museumsinsel (Museum Island)

Number of WHS Visitors: 591

Museum Island is a German town located in Berlin. It is one of the most visited destinations in Berlin.

31. Naples

Number of WHS Visitors: 499

Naples is one of the largest cities in Italy and has countless historical buildings that have stood for thousands of years.

30. City of Bath

Number of WHS Visitors: 499

The City of Bath is a British city that has stood since the time of the Romans.

29. Seville

Number of WHS Visitors: 600

Seville is a Spanish city and has three historic sites that are linked to Christopher Columbus and the discovery of America.

28. Granada

Number of WHS Visitors: 606

Granada is a Spanish city with cultural sites documenting the rise of modern day religions.

27. Belem

Number of WHS Visitors: 606

Belem is a Portuguese city that once stood at the heart of the Portuguese Empire.

26. Grand Canyon

Number of WHS Visitors: 609

The Grand Canyon is located in America and is central to Native American culture in the U.S.

25. Stonehenge

Number of WHS Visitors: 619

Stonehenge is one of the oldest sites on our list, built thousands of years back.

24. Pompeii

Number of WHS Visitors: 636

Pompeii provides one of the best glimpses into daily Roman lives, as the city was frozen in time due to a volcanic eruption.

23. Salzburg

Number of WHS Visitors: 654

Salzburg is central to European culture as it is full of cathedrals and fortresses.

22. Cologne Cathedral

Number of WHS Visitors: 688

The Cologne Cathedral took over six centuries to build and is a work of Gothic architecture.

21. Istanbul

Number of WHS Visitors: 691

Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey and full of museums and other places.

20. Bruges

Number of WHS Visitors: 700

Bruges is a Belgian city with one of the biggest belfries in the world.

19. Schonbrunn

Number of WHS Visitors: 704

Schonbrunn is located in Vienna and was home to one of Europe's most consequential political dynasties.

18. Edinburgh

Number of WHS Visitors: 708

Edinburgh is the capital of Scotland, providing it with a unique taste of Scottish history.

17. Piazza dei Miracoli

Number of WHS Visitors: 710

Piazza dei Miracoli is a historic cathedral square in the Italian city of Pisa.

16. Acropolis

Number of WHS Visitors: 722

Acropolis is a citadel in Athens - the city at the root of modern day civilization.

15. Works of Antoni Gaudi

Number of WHS Visitors: 775

The works of Antoni Gaudi are mostly located in Barcelona and sit at the heart of Spanish culture.

14. Versailles

Number of WHS Visitors: 780

Versailles is one of the most historic cities in the world, which was once the heart of the French monarchy.

13. Budapest

Number of WHS Visitors: 797

Budapest is a city in Hungary.

12. Grand Place, Brussels

Number of WHS Visitors: 805

The Grand Palace of Brussels is the central square of Brussels, Belgium, and marks the country's journey through history.

11. Statue of Liberty

Number of WHS Visitors: 822

The Statue of Liberty sits right at the heart of American history and freedom from the British.

10. Prague

Number of WHS Visitors: 849

Prague is the capital of the Czech Republic and an important reminder of the perils of war.

9. Florence

Number of WHS Visitors: 885

Florence is an Italian city known for its artistic history.

8. Venice and its Lagoon

Number of WHS Visitors: 886

The Venetian Lagoon is made of hundreds of canals and bridges and is a landmark for European trade.

7. Vatican City

Number of WHS Visitors: 888

The Vatican is the heart of Catholic Christianity and has stood for centuries.

6. Vienna

Number of WHS Visitors: 900

Vienna is Austria's largest city and the origin point of classical music and psychoanalysis.

Click to continue reading and see 5 Best Destinations in the World for Cultural Tourism.

Suggested Articles:

Disclosure: None. 35 Best Destinations in the World for Cultural Tourism is originally published on Insider Monkey.
NORWALK  Laoise King, chief of staff for Mayor Harry Rilling, is departing to become a deputy commissioner for the state Department of Transportation, officials said.

King, a former Common Council candidate and member of the Board of Estimate and Taxation, was hired in 2016. She previously held roles in the office of former New Haven Mayor John DeStefano and the United Way of Greater New Haven, according to officials. As his chief of staff, Rilling said King has helped to recruit and hire diverse employees and establish new city departments.

"While Laoise King's decision is a significant loss for the city, I am happy for her in taking this next step in her career, where I know she will flourish and continue to use her dynamic and impressive skillset to make a lasting impact in communities across (the state), Rilling wrote in a statement.

In addition to King, the Department of Transportation is also adding Karen Kitsis, who works for a network of regional transit systems in Washington State, to its senior leadership team, according to officials.

Karen and Laoise bring significant experience to our team and will complement our already incredible leadership team well, DOT Commissioner Garrett Eucalitto said in a statement.

Our new deputy commissioners will be a much-needed support to our team, and help ensure we can complete more work, and best serve our residents, Eucalitto added.

King and Kitsis will start their new jobs in June, officials said.

"Having Laoise as my chief of staff has been a true blessing for me, and the City of Norwalk," Rilling said. "Through our shared vision, she has made her mark on Norwalk, trying to lead the city forward and keeping it the place where people want to come and live and work and play."

King was born in Ireland to American parents, raised in Saugatuck and went to college at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, graduating in 1995. She received her law degree from the University of Denver Sturm College of Law in 1999, according to her LinkedIn page, and is licensed to practice law in Connecticut, New York and Colorado. Her duties in DeStefanos office included advising the then-mayor on public policy matters and assisting his chief of staff with running the citys day-to-day operations, officials said.

In his statement, Rilling said he has already begun to assemble a search committee to find a replacement for King.

But, he said, someone will need big shoes to fill her role.
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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP)  Kansas' Democratic governor on Friday vetoed Republican legislation that would have provided a financial boost to anti-abortion pregnancy centers and prevented officials fighting outbreaks of contagious diseases from prohibiting public gatherings or ordering infected people to isolate themselves.

The two measures were part of a wave of conservative policies passed by GOP-controlled state legislatures this year, including ones in Kansas rolling back transgender rights and establishing new restrictions on abortion providers. But Gov. Laura Kelly's two vetoes will stand because lawmakers have adjourned for the year, barring any attempt at overriding them.

The anti-abortion measure would have granted up to $10 million a year in new state income tax credits to donors to the more than 50 centers across the state that provide free counseling, classes, supplies and other services to pregnant people and new parents to discourage abortions. Lawmakers included it in a wide-ranging tax bill that also included an expansion of existing tax credits for adoption expenses and purchases from businesses that employ disabled workers. Kelly vetoed the entire bill.

Republican lawmakers pursued anti-abortion measures this year despite a decisive statewide vote in August 2022 affirming abortion rights. Abortion opponents argued that the vote didn't preclude reasonable restrictions and other measures, while Democrats argued that GOP legislators were breaking faith with voters.

Kelly supports abortion rights and narrowly won reelection last year. Last month she vetoed $2 million in the next state budget for direct aid to the centers, but the Legislature overrode that action.

In her latest veto message, Kelly didn't point to any individual provision in the tax bill but said bundling so many proposals together made it impossible to sort out the bad from the good.

In vetoing direct aid to anti-abortion centers last month, Kelly called them largely unregulated and said, This is not an evidence-based approach or even an effective method for preventing unplanned pregnancies.

Abortion opponents argued that providing financial aid to their centers would help make sure that people facing unplanned pregnancies have good alternatives if they're unsure about getting abortions.

House Speaker Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican, accused Kelly in a statement of a "political bias against helping vulnerable new mothers.

Even if lawmakers still had a chance to override Kelly's veto, they didn't pass the tax bill initially with the two-thirds majorities required.

The other bill Kelly vetoed was part of an ongoing backlash from conservative lawmakers against how she, other state officials and local officials attempted to check the spread of COVID-19 in 2020 and 2021. They were particularly critical of orders closing schools and businesses during the pandemic's first months and restrictions on businesses' operations and mask mandates later.

She said no to protecting the health freedom of Kansans and curtailing the powers of unelected bureaucrats, Senate President Ty Masterson, another Wichita-area Republican, said in a statement.

But Republicans split over the measure because some feared it went too far in curbing state and local officials' powers during outbreaks.

It would have stripped local officials of their authority to prohibit public gatherings and repealed a requirement that local law enforcement officers enforce orders from public health officials. Those officials also would have lost their authority to order quarantines for infected people.

The head of the state health department, appointed by the governor, would have lost the power to issue orders and impose new health rules to prevent the spread of disease or to order people to get tested or seek treatment for infectious diseases.

Kelly's veto message said Kansas has been a pioneer in public health policy. A century ago the state's top health official, Dr. Samuel Crumbine, was known internationally for campaigning against unsanitary, disease-spreading practices such as spitting on sidewalks and having common drinking cups on railroads and in public buildings.

Yet lawmakers continue trying to undermine the advancements that have saved lives in every corner of our state," Kelly wrote.

The bill also reflected vaccine opponents' influence with conservative Republican lawmakers.

It would have prevented the head of the state health department from requiring COVID-19 vaccinations for children entering school or day care  something Kelly's administration has said it doesn't plan to do. State and local officials also would not have been able to cite a person's lack of vaccination as a reason for recommending that they isolate themselves.

___

Follow John Hanna on Twitter: https://twitter.com/apjdhanna
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EDWARDSVILLE  An Alton man faces a felony count after allegedly attempting to take an Alton police officers Taser on Sunday.

Harold W. Denninger, 40, was charged May 8 with disarming a police officer, a Class 2 felony. The case was presented by the Alton Police Department.
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SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE  With the Scott Air Force Base Airshow slated for this weekend, the Blue Angels arrived in full force on Thursday morning.

Blue Angels pilots, on seven Boeing F/A 18 Super Hornets, flew into the base to prepare for the show on Saturday and Sunday. They were joined by Fat Albert, a reconfigured U.S. Marine Corps Lockheed C-130J Super Hercules. The Blue Angels use Fat Albert for their logistics, carrying spare parts, equipment, and to carry support personnel between shows.

Lt. Commander Thomas Zimmerman, who is Blue Angel No. 7, arrived at the base on Wednesday to give flights for a pair of key influencers, including Collinsville High School Principal Daniel Toberman.

Among the team members to meet with the media on Thursday was Lt. Commander Phillippe Warren, who is the flight surgeon and squadron doctor for the Blue Angels.

The airshow is the first at Scott since 2017, as the 2020 show was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

It will be the first airshow at Scott since 2010 for the Blue Angels, who were scheduled to be part of the 2020 show.

Its exciting for us and its a part of the country thats a little bit far from where were stationed in Pensacola (Florida), said Warren, who joined the Blue Angels in November. To get to come up here and do an airshow and perform outreach in the community someplace where we dont get to spend a lot of time is huge for us.

Scott AFB is the latest stop on the airshow circuit for Warren and his fellow Blue Angels.

Since the beginning of March, weve been going to airshows every single weekend and the ones before this have been in Florida and Texas and we started out west in California, Warren said. This is our first one in the Midwest, which makes it even more exciting.

We like to be able to inspire people to join the military, but beyond that, we like to come to place like this and get out into the community. Its far beyond the Navy and we want to inspire people to be the best they can be.

Fostering hope

As the chief doctor for the Blue Angels for this weekends airshow, Warren will visit St. Louis Childrens Hospital along with some team members.

We get to visit some sick kids who could use that inspiration and one of the messages I like to send is that hope is medicine, said Warren, who spoke in front of jet No. 3. I want to bring that hope to kids here at the hospital and try to inspire them.

Warrens primary duty as squadron doctor is to make sure that all the team members stay healthy and to take care of any medical issues that occur. Beyond that, he is also in charge of safety for the flight demonstrations.

During the demonstrations, Ill be at show center on a headset, and Ill be in communication with the pilots, Warren said. If they have any issues that pop up, Im the one that walks them through emergency procedures. My goal is to make sure that the show is safe.

A native of Williamsburg, Virginia, Warren grew up near the Norfolk Naval Station. While he was in college, his older brother joined the Navy and that inspired him to join soon afterward.

I decided to go to medical school around the same time, so the Navy paid for that, Warren said. After graduation, I went on active duty and did my training in pediatrics the first year.

Warren then went to flight school, inspired by his parents, who both worked for NASA. He served the Marines for two years with an Osprey squadron and applied for the Blue Angels at the first opportunity.

When I was medical school, I got the opportunity to see the Blue Angels visit sick patients in the hospital and when I say hope is medicine, its real, Warren said. Some kids were struggling hard to get better and when the Blue Angels came to the hospital and talked to patients one-on-one, those kids lit up and they got better.

That motivation to want to get better, just by spending time with folks who were so excited about what they did, was so inspiring. When I saw the opportunity to be part of that team, I wanted to travel around the country to inspire people to get better and be better.

After spending the next two years with the Blue Angels, Warren plans to return to pediatrics.

Navy doctors do a unique thing where we go out and do operational tours and then go back to the hospital in our primary specialty, Warren said.

'An awesome show'

For anyone who hasnt been to an airshow before, Warren encourages them to come to Scott AFB this weekend.

Theyll get to see a lot of fast planes, but the big thing about the Blue Angels compared to other airshows is the precision flying, Warren said. They can get excited to see planes flying really close to each other with very precise movements.

It will also be pretty loud, so I recommend using hearing protection all the time.

In addition to the F/A 18 jets, another highlight of a Blue Angels performance is Fat Albert, which will perform its own routine at the show.

A lot of the team flew up on Fat Albert today and it usually transports our team personnel and supplies, Warren said. During the airshow, Fat Albert will showcase a lot of different things that the C-130 can do.

Also on hand at jet No. 3 for Thursdays event was AD1 Cat Henry, who is part of the quality assurance crew and works as a maintainer for the Blue Angels jets.

The entire maintenance team is made up of roughly 100 individuals from all different grades of the military, specifically the Navy and the Marine Corps, Henry said. We work on the jets themselves and the C-130 (Fat Albert) as well.

Behind the scenes administratively, we have the supply group and the actual mechanics. We all want to make sure the jets are doing what theyre supposed to be doing.

As part of the quality assurance team, Henry makes sure everyone is doing their job in preparation for the airshow. Her job during the actual demonstration is to operate the runway truck, a pickup truck that can deal with any issues regarding the jets.

We want to make sure we can get the jet up and flying with no issues, Henry said.

From the maintenance team to the pilots, the airshows themselves are where all the hard work and preparation pays off.

The airshows are the reason why we love this job, Henry said. We see all the smiling faces and thats an instant reward. People get to see the jets and its an awesome show.

Henry, who grew up in Moline, Illinois, joined the military in 2006 as an engine mechanic.

I joined the Navy mainly because my grandfather was an Army Air Force pilot, Henry said. I wanted to work in aviation and the Air Force was there and they said they would give me a good job. Ive been doing it for 17 years and I love it.

Joining the Blue Angels is a selection process, and you can apply for it in the military when youre an E5 or E6 (non-commissioned officer ranks). I had heard about the Blue Angels when I was working on F/A 18s in the fleet, and I knew multiple maintainers and pilots who had been on the team. They told me I would be a good fit for it, so I applied and got accepted.

A first for demo pilots

Blue Angel No. 3, who is the pilot of the jet where Warren and Henry conducted their interviews, is Lieutenant Amanda Lee. She is the first woman to serve as a demonstration pilot.

A native of Mounds View, Minnesota, Lee enlisted in the U.S. Navy as an Aviation Electronics Technician (AT) and reported to her first command, VFA-136 "Knighthawks."

She was selected to commission as a pilot through the Seaman-to-Admiral (STA-21) commissioning program in 2009. The following year, Lee attended the Naval Science Institute (NSI) for officer training in Newport, Rhode Island, and simultaneously began her studies at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, where she received a Bachelor of Science in biochemistry.

Lee joined the Blue Angels in September 2022. She has accumulated more than 1,400 flight hours and over 225 carrier-arrested landings. Her decorations include four Navy Achievement medals and various personal and unit awards.

On Saturday and Sunday, gates for the Airshow at Scott AFB will open at 9 a.m. and close at 5 p.m.

For more information on the Airshow, including parking options, visit https://www.scott.af.mil/Airshow/.
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EDWARDSVILLE  A Collinsville man faces attempted burglary and drug charges after trying to enter an occupied home.

Dustin J. Turner, listed as homeless out of Collinsville, was charged May 8 with attempted residential burglary, a Class 2 felony; unlawful possession of methamphetamine, a Class 3 felony; and possession of burglary tools, a Class 3 felony.
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FARMERSVILLE  The name of the seventh person who died in a massive crash on Interstate 55 during a dust storm has been released by Illinois State Police.

Otto Medina-Salazar, 58, of Carthage, Missouri, was fatally injured May 1, near Farmersville in Montgomery County. It took almost 10 days for the Montgomery County Coroner's Office to identify Medina-Salazar.
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SPRINGFIELD  Illinois lawmakers have approved a measure that reforms criminal sentencing for minors, particularly victims of child sex trafficking.

House Bill 3414 adds to the factors that judges must consider in the process of sentencing children found guilty of a crime. The bill would require a judge to consider a childs involvement in the child welfare system, whether they have a history as victims of domestic abuse or sexual exploitation and the results of any mental health evaluations the child has gone through.

This is in addition to existing factors that judges already consider, such as age, maturity and potential for rehabilitation.

The bill also creates a method for judges to depart from sentencing guidelines, including mandatory minimums, or to transfer a minor offender to juvenile court for sentencing.

This would only be allowed if the child commits a crime against a person who had, in the previous three years, been convicted of one of several specific crimes including aggravated sexual abuse, sexual abuse of a child or engaging a child in prostitution, among other crimes.

The bill also adds to the factors judges must consider when a prosecutor asks to transfer a case to adult court. These new factors include whether the child has any involvement in the child welfare system, whether the child was subjected to outside pressure and the childs degree of participation in the crime.

The measure passed 33-20 in the Senate on Wednesday after passing the House on a 67-40 vote on March 22. It can become law with a signature from the governor.

Part of a trend

Proponents of the bill say it is part of a nationwide movement to include protections in law for victims of child sex trafficking. These laws are sometimes called Saras Law after Sara Kruzan, a survivor of child sex trafficking who killed her trafficker in 1995. After being sentenced to life in prison, Kruzans sentence was later commuted, allowing her to be paroled in 2013. In 2022, Kruzan was granted a pardon by California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Were giving the courts extra opportunities to check and see: Was this victim brought into this situation because of some sort of trauma? the bills sponsor, state Sen. Mike Simmons, D-Chicago, said.

The bill was supported by a coalition of state and national advocacy groups including the Juvenile Justice Initiative, the Womens Justice Institute, Rights4Girls, the Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence and the Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault.

The Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Assault, or CAASE, took a leading role in pushing for the bill.

Theres an understanding that youth require more support and more compassion than our system gives them, Madeleine Behr, CAASEs policy director, said in an interview.

Behr also said the bill is part of an ongoing movement toward racial justice in the criminal legal system.

This is going to be really important for Black and brown girls in particular, Behr said.

A U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics report from 2011 found that over a two-year period, victims of sex trafficking were disproportionately Black and disproportionately Hispanic.

'Not minor crimes'

In the past few years Illinois has passed several high-profile criminal justice reform laws, including the broad-ranging SAFE-T Act that is currently under review by the Illinois Supreme Court.

The high court heard oral arguments in March around several constitutional questions related to the bill. Republicans in the Senate raised concerns with the bill, mostly around the fact that judges will have to consider additional factors even when the perpetrator has not been the victim of abuse or trafficking.

The crimes we are talking about, where a person is being transferred to adult court, these are not retail theft, state Sen. Steve McClure, R-Springfield, said. These are not minor crimes. These are the worst of the worst.

McClure added that some of the provisions in the bill already have similar considerations in law, such as if there was involvement in the Department of Children and Family Services or if the parent had been found to be neglectful or abusive.

In situations where there should be leniency, the tools are already in our statute to provide for leniency, he said.

Sen. Jason Plummer, R-Edwardsville, said the bill is a get-out-of-jail-free card for young offenders.

Senate Minority Leader John Curran, R-Downers Grove, said the bill would make it more difficult for prosecutors to crack down on things like carjacking in the city and suburbs, something he called an epidemic of violence.

This bill is going to make it more difficult in prosecuting ... those crimes, Curran said.

Curran also criticized the expanded list of factors judges would have to consider in sentencing.

This bill now has a factor that a judge must consider: Was the accused offender subject to peer pressure? Not sure how thats relevant, he said.

Simmons defended the bill after it passed by saying it would not require judges to do anything other than take more information into consideration.

This legislation gives judges the space to look at these other categories, Simmons said. But the legislation does not put a thumb on the scales of justice.
SPRINGFIELD  Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Thursday said the state remains on a great trajectory from a fiscal perspective, even as his office decreased its current-year revenue estimates in light of falling tax revenues.

The Governors Office of Management and Budget this week shaved $616 million off its estimate for current-year revenues, marking a downward revision of about 1.1 percent. The move corresponded with a $532 million, or roughly 1 percent, increased revenue estimate for the upcoming fiscal year.

The governors office now projects the current year will end with $50.7 billion in revenues collected. In his February budget proposal, he had proposed about $790 million in supplemental spending for the current year that would have brought total spending to $51.2 billion  an amount exceeding the new revenue estimate.

The proposed supplemental spending included $490 million in increased appropriations for state agencies, a $200 million added pension payment and $100 million for additional capital improvements at early childhood centers across the state.

Pritzker suggested at an unrelated news conference Thursday that spending for the current year could be brought in line with revenues by slowing the pace of agency spending.

We're talking about approximately 1 percent of the entire budget, he said. So knowing that this might be coming, we've ramped down some of the spending here and there within all of our agencies to make sure that we could cover that 1 percent difference.

'Slowing down a bit'

The downward revision to the current Fiscal Year 2023 estimate was due to revenues for the month of April coming in $849 million below what GOMB had projected, an indicator that pandemic-era state revenue spikes are beginning to slow.

We understand that the broader economy is slowing down a bit, Pritzker said at a Wednesday news conference. And we also understood that the benefit to the economy of some of the stimulus that was put into it in prior years will also wane.

As for the upcoming Fiscal Year 2024 that begins July 1, GOMBs revenue estimate rose to nearly $50.5 billion. The governors office now projects to have $840 million more in revenues than the $49.6 billion spending amount he proposed for FY 2024.

That increase was partially driven by an expected influx of income tax revenue tied to an annual reconciliation process for prior-year business taxes. Recent changes to state and federal tax codes have led to a greater-than-normal amount of money being subject to the statutory reallocation process, according to the Illinois Department of Revenue, although GOMB warns some the revenue bump will be one-time in nature.

Still, that upward revision for the upcoming year would not be enough to cover a shortfall created by a cost overrun related to a state expansion of health care to noncitizens who would otherwise be ineligible for Medicaid benefits.

Those programs, which provide health care benefits similar to Medicaid to noncitizens aged 42 and older, are now expected to cost about $1.1 billion next year  a 400 percent increase from the original estimate of $220 million included in Pritzkers February budget proposal.

The program was an initiative of Illinois Legislative Latino Caucus, passed in 2020 during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic when Latinos were getting sick at a higher rate than white Illinoisans. It officially launched in 2021 for those age 65 and older but exceeded its anticipated cost within one month.

It has since been expanded twice to cover noncitizens age 42 and older, and the Democratically controlled legislature is considering expanding the program to noncitizens between the ages of 19 and 42. Under the states pre-existing AllKids program, noncitizens age 18 and under are already eligible for Medicaid benefits.

The Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services noted recently that the agency expects the federal government to cover about $100 million to $120 million in health care costs in FY 2024 for noncitizens who are seeking asylum in the U.S.

'Reining in the cost'

Pritzker said Wednesday that he is hopeful lawmakers will come up with a solution for defraying some of the rest of that projected cost. On Thursday, he gave suggestions for solutions that he said were made possible by the flexibility the state has since the program is not subject to the same regulation as Medicaid, which is a joint program administered by the state and federal governments.

It is possible, for example, that there could be  for some people at certain income levels  copays that would defray the costs of the program, he said.

Another example, he said, would be to reexamine reimbursement rates.

These are all things that I think are reasonable to consider to make sure that we're reining in the cost but also serving the people who most need this health care, Pritzker said.

The recent upward revisions to estimated program costs have prompted sharp criticism from Republicans. But in a news conference earlier in the week, state Rep. Lilian Jimenez, D-Chicago, pushed back against calls to end the program.

Many immigrants in the state of Illinois do contribute to taxes. They pay their taxes when they work, they file their taxes with an ITIN number, she said. They are taxpaying members of this state and should be treated as such. And they're also human beings, most of all, and we have to remember that when we talk about cutting this or cutting that.
Delmaine Donson / iStock.com

Saving for retirement can be a struggle. You might have many years left in your career, and it can seem almost impossible to save the necessary hundreds of thousands or even a million dollars. While a million dollars is still a lot of money, there are some simple habits you can start today that will help you save for retirement.

Social Security: 20% Cuts to Your Payments May Come Sooner Than Expected

Find Out: 3 Ways To Recession-Proof Your Retirement

Everyone has different goals, of course, and you may not quite be aiming for a million bucks. Whatever dollar amount you have your sights set on, the basic principles for retirement savings are the same. Put the right systems in place, and you wont even have to think about it very much.

Lets dive into five simple, yet effective ways to get started on your retirement savings.

Start Investing at Work

For most of us, the first way to start investing is to do so at work. If your employer offers a retirement plan (or multiple plans), be sure to contribute to those plans monthly. Some employers may opt you in automatically, but double-check to ensure you are contributing. Retirement plans are tax-advantaged, so they will make your money go further.

Richard Tatum, president of retirement services at Vestwell, recommends opening an IRA if you dont have a 401(k) or a similar plan at work. If your employer doesnt offer one, ask your financial advisor about opening an IRA (individual retirement account), which is also a tax-advantaged retirement savings account, but it doesnt require a company to sponsor the account to open one.

Social Security: No Matter Your Age, Do Not Claim Benefits Until You Reach This Milestone

Take Advantage of Employer Matching

Employer-sponsored retirement plans such as the 401(k) often come with employer matching, and thats something everyone should maximize. No matter what your retirement goals may be, employer matching is one of the easiest ways to increase how much you save.

Story continues

The way employer matching works is simple: any time you contribute to your retirement plan, your employer matches that contribution. There are usually limits on how much they will match and the percentage may be different in some cases, but you are guaranteed to have extra retirement savings if you take advantage.

Employers will often match a certain percentage of your retirement plan contributions, says Tatum. Make sure youre putting in enough to at least get the maximum they will contribute  its free money!

Save Money Before Anyone Knows You Have It

Lets face it: getting paid can be very exciting. You see your paycheck come through and you immediately start thinking about all the things you can buy with it. A new phone, some new clothes, or whatever it is that interests you. But if you never see that money come through, youll probably be less tempted to spend it!

Try bumping up your 401(k) contribution by just $50 to $100 each paycheck, says Paul Tyler, chief marketing officer at Nassau Financial Group. If anyone is watching the bank deposits, they probably wont notice. But you will be surprised even in the first year how much faster your account will grow.

Build Up a Cash Stockpile

One of the most important principles of retirement savings is to invest early, and invest often. In other words, youll want to be sure you are regularly contributing to a retirement plan so you have enough when its time to call it quits.

That includes building up a cash stockpile so you know where you stand, says Ben McLaughlin, president at SaveBetter. It is also important to save a certain percentage of your paycheck (again, as much as you can) so that you can build up your cash (or cash alternative) stockpile, which you determine based on how far away you are from retirement and on your risk tolerance, McLaughlin says.

McLaughlin recommends investing in low-cost, diversified investments, even after investing in your 401(k). Low-cost funds such as exchange-traded funds (ETFs) will give you broad market exposure while minimizing fees.

Make It Automatic

One of the most useful tools available to savers these days is the ability to transfer funds automatically, on a schedule. For example, you can set up monthly transfers to a savings account or automatically transfer money into a 401(k) or IRA every time you get paid.

You can opt to contribute $500 to your Roth IRA every time you get paid or transfer $250 to your high-yield savings account every month. Of course, you can also do both; there is no limit to the variety of ways you can set up your automatic savings.

However you decide to set things up, make it automatic. Not only will you not have to manually make those transfers, but you wont even have to think about them. That means you wont forget or put it off or decide youd rather spend your money.

More From GOBankingRates

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 5 Simple Habits That Will Help You Save for Retirement
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MARYVILLE  After wearing a gun and a badge for about 32 years, Maryville Police Department Chief Rob Carpenter is ready for his next chapter.

His last day as village police chief is Sunday after 20 years of service. Sunday is Maryville police Sgt. Steve Howe's last day too, ending more than 24 years of police service.

"I really love this job and I love this town," Carpenter said Thursday.

Carpenter, 55, began his law enforcement career in January 1991 with the East St. Louis Police Department.

"They put me through the police academy and upon graduation, I was immediately assigned to the Metropolitan Enforcement Group of Southwestern Illinois (MEGSI). I did that for a few years and I ended up being the field supervisor."

He said that during his rookie year, they had 67 homicides but he didn't work homicides; he worked undercover. The early 1990s was the era during which crack cocaine was one of the predominant street drugs in the area.

Carpenter said he worked for the East St. Louis police until the end of 1994, when he moved to Nashville, Illinois, in early 1995 and worked for that police department as a lieutenant who was second in command. He remained there until 2003, when he shifted to Maryville.

'Honor and privilege'

In Maryville, he said he started at the bottom as a probationary patrolman and climbed the ladder.

"I worked my way up. I enjoyed being a patrolman but the unique thing about me with Maryville is that I've occupied every office in this building  patrolman, investigations, sergeant, I was deputy police chief for 3.5 years and I was police chief for 9.5 years."

"Words cannot express what an honor and privilege it has been to serve as your Police Chief since being appointed in December 2013," according to an excerpt from his retirement letter to the mayor and board of trustees, dated April 14. "I feel that during my tenure with the Maryville Police Department, we have moved forward and accomplished many goals, making the department one of the best in the entire Metro East."

Carpenter's next chapter includes a shift away from police work and a new address.

"I've owned a lake house for the last couple of years and I'm going to live there," he said. "I've also accepted a position outside of law enforcement."

He and his wife own a second home at Table Rock Lake near Branson, Missouri, and that will become their full-time residence. He will begin a work-from-home position as an investigator for an insurance company on May 30, he said.

The time between Sunday and Memorial Day will be spent transitioning from Illinois to Missouri. He added that the house has a boat and a boat slip and is all ready for them to live there.

"I've been dying to live there," he said.

A lot of changes

He said Maryville has changed dramatically since he started working there.

"The population has probably doubled," he said. Today the village has a population of 8,221 residents.

"The police department has grown in size. When I got here, they had 10 full-time officers and still had part-time ones. Now, we have 16 full-time officers and no part-timers."

He said Illinois Route 159, which is also North Center Street, was a two-lane highway in those days, not the four-lane road with a bi-directional center left-turn lane present today.

"We had several bars in Maryville back then, so that kept the night shift busy," he recalled. Most, if not all of those bars have evaporated since then.

Staffing his department was an issue, he remembered. For 15 years, he said they were stuck at 13 sworn officers while the village's population rose dramatically and the number of service calls doubled, he recalled. Over the past two years, he finally got approval to hire three more sworn officers.

In January, partnering with the Collinsville school district, Maryville police embarked on its first school resource office program.

"We have had a full-time police officer, Frank Leffler, in their grade schools and the school district actually pays 80% of that officer's salary and benefits," Carpenter said. "I'm getting great reviews from that program. The teachers love it and the superintendent is a big fan of it and it gives us extra manpower in the summertime. When he's not in the schools, we can use him to cover for vacations and so forth."

"Our district is fortunate to have effective relationships with our law enforcement officials to help provide not only a safe environment for students and staff, but also positive role models and mentors," Collinsville Superintendent Dr. Mark Skertich said Thursday. "Chief Carpenter was a driving force behind adding elementary SROs to the Collinsville school district."

Carpenter said he had an associates degree in administration of justice from Belleville Area College (BAC), which is now Southwest Illinois College (SWIC), before he first became a law enforcement officer. He has a bachelor's of science in criminal justice from Lindenwood University and he's a graduate of Northwestern University's school of police staffing command.

Making a difference

Out of the thousands of calls he was sent on, went on and assisted on over the years, he related one that stood out.

"I can tell you how police officers make a difference and most of the time, they never see it," he said.

In 2004 or 2005, he responded to a traffic crash at Keebler and Sugarloaf roads in southwestern Maryville. "The woman's vehicle had rolled over several times. When I pulled up, this woman, who I did not know, she had blood on her face, and she ran up to me and hugged me."

While Carpenter tried to figure out the reason for the unexpected embrace, she said that she had hated seatbelts, she had never worn one and a month prior, he had issued her a citation for failing to wear one while driving.

"She said that ever since then, she had cursed me every day as she put her seat belt on and that day, she said, 'Look at my car! I would be dead!'" he remembered. He said her words stuck with him and that ticket made a difference.

Leaving a legacy

He noted that the department's rank structure has changed. He said there was no deputy chief position when he joined and that has become an important position. He said his predecessor, Rich Schardan, was police chief for 10 years, despite starting two weeks after Carpenter did, and Carpenter served as Schardan's deputy chief between 2009 or 2010 and 2013.

"That's why Maryville has been able to go in-house since 2003 with [their] police chiefs because typically [the deputy chief becomes the next chief.] It gives me the opportunity to mentor and train my replacement."

According to the abovementioned departure letter, Carpenter noted who he would like to see as his successor.

"Lastly, my strong recommendation is that the mayor and village board appoint Tony Manley as their next police chief," he wrote. "As most of you know, I have spent the last several years mentoring Tony for this position and I have the utmost confidence that Tony has the integrity and knowledge to keep the department moving in a positive direction."

Mayor Craig Short confirmed last week that Manley will be the interim chief and Carpenter said Thursday that Manley will be sworn in as his permanent successor. Manley is currently participating in a 10-week FBI Command Training program in Quantico, Virginia. He won't return until mid-June.

In his absence, Sgt. Brandon Ponce will handle the department's day-to-day operations, said Short. Ponce and Manley are in contact on a daily basis, the mayor added.

When Carpenter is not working, he enjoys boating, riding motorcycles and driving classic cars.

"Realistically, I've been a workaholic my whole life," he said. "My wife will tell you I have no hobbies; this job is my hobby. I feel like I've been on duty 24/7 for over 30 years but that's just my personality."

He and his wife, Connie, have been married for 23 years. They have five children, the youngest of which turned 21 this month, and they have two grandchildren.

"It's really hard to walk away from a job that you love going to every day, but when it's time, it's time," Carpenter said.
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ALTON  One person has died following a shooting Wednesday night in Alton.

At about 7:35 p.m. Wednesday, Alton police officers and firefighters responded to a house in the 1600 block of Rock Spring Drive near Edwards Street for the report of a gunshot victim. Authorities reportedly found a man in a driveway at 1601 Rock Springs Drive with a gunshot wound in his upper torso.

Authorities on Thursday morning identified the victim as Tyrone M. Williams, 20, of Alton.

Alton fire department paramedics treated the man and rushed him to nearby Alton Memorial Hospital to meet a summoned Arch medical helicopter. The helicopter landed at the hospital about 7:55 p.m. and the gunshot victim lifted off the hospital pad bound for St. Louis at 8:14 p.m.

According to Alton Police Department Chief Jarrett Ford, Williams later died from his injuries.

Multiple shell casings could be seen in the street Wednesday night, and police sealed off the area with crime tape while they interviewed people. On Wednesday, police were seeking a vehicle of interest described as a silver-colored Impala last seen heading north on Rock Spring Drive.

The ongoing investigation into Williams' death is being conducted by members of the Alton Police Department's Criminal Investigations Division in conjunction with the Madison County Coroners Office and Illinois State Police. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Alton Police Department at 618-463-3505.
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Linkedin Aditya Hadi (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, May 12, 2023

Garibaldi Thohir, president director of coal miner PT Adaro Energy Indonesia, has questioned the economic viability of projects to convert coal into dimethyl ether (DME) in Indonesia, one of the governments many proposed downstream coal projects.

Garibaldi raised the doubts when asked about the substitute for natural gas at a media briefing on Thursday but said the firm would continue exploring possibilities and opportunities in the downstream coal industry.

"I don't understand how the math would [make DME projects feasible]. For example, if coal prices rose significantly, the calculation would not make sense," Garibaldi told reporters.

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Linkedin Sylviana Hamdani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, May 12, 2023 08:45 2 5fceed71997e5776a1634d25dc66bdff 1 Lifestyle art,painting,Indonesian-artists,autism Free

Sylviana Hamdani

(Contributor/Jakarta)

Children with autism often have hidden artistic talents that can be uncovered with the right approach

Anugrah Fadly stood between the paintings exhibited during the Bianglala Seribu Imajinasi (Ferris Wheel of a Thousand Imaginations), an art exhibition by Yayasan Autisma Indonesia (Indonesia Autism Foundation, YAI) in Bentara Budaya Jakarta on Apr. 8 with a big smile.

One of his paintings, a 100 x 70-centimeter acrylic on canvas titled Pendidikan Robot (Robot Education, 2023), portrays a giant droid standing amid colorful houses.

According to the artist, the robot represents the Zoom app many depended on during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Zoom replaced the role of teachers during the pandemic, the artist, nicknamed Uga, said during an interview with The Jakarta Post.

And Uga painted it in just two hours, Samodro, the artists father, who was standing beside him, said.

Anugrah is indeed very talented. The artist paints beautiful clay, wood, stone and metal sculptures. And despite his autism, the 25-year-old has just graduated from the Indonesia Institute of Arts (ISI) in Yogyakarta with flying colors.

Parents love, acceptance and support are key to children with autism in finding and developing their talents, Melly Budhiman, psychiatrist and cofounder of the YAI, said.

Understanding: Timotius Suwarsito explains to an audience how to discover artistic talent in children with autism. (JP/Sylviana Hamdani) (JP/Sylviana Hamdani)

From weakness to strength

For parents, raising children with autism and nurturing their talents is not an easy task.

I think almost all parents of children with autism have experienced being summoned to school only to be told that their children cannot cope [with normal education] and have to be expelled, Sofwan Farisyi, father of teenage artist with autism Muhammad Salman Farisyi, said in a talk show in Bentara Budaya Jakarta on Apr. 8.

Through it all, we as parents must be sure of our children and be able to tweak their weaknesses into strengths.

Sofwan introduced art as therapy to his son in 2020. Salman immediately loved it. The young artist started painting many different objects from his surroundings. He was captivated by sakura trees during a trip to Japan and started painting them.

[Sakura trees] have now become his signature style, Sofwan said.

The 14-year-old artist displayed his paintings in several exhibitions, including his solo show at Grand Sahid Jaya Hotel Jakarta in Dec. 2022.

We returned to Japan earlier this year and met with Japanese artists that specialized in [painting] sakura trees, Sofwan said. Theyve invited [Salman] to exhibit his works with them in Kyoto Art this year.

Anugrahs and Salmans success looks fascinating but it is all the result of many years of commitment and hard work between these young artists and their loving parents.

Below are some tips on how to explore and develop artistic talent in children with autism.

Early detection is key

As with any health issue, early detection is vital in managing autism.

Parents have to be very vigilant with their children during their early development stages, Melly said. They must be wary and immediately consult a doctor for any developmental delay.

Children with autism usually have speech delays. They also show little or no interest in interacting with others.

Its important to diagnose [autism] before the age of three so that we can conduct the right therapy and maximize their capabilities, the psychiatrist said.

Art as therapy

Art is usually an effective therapy for children with autism as they are often more visual and express their ideas and feelings better in drawings.

[Drawing] can also help them become calmer and focused, Timotius Suwarsito, known as Kak Toto, an art tutor specializing in children with autism, said.

According to the art tutor, it is essential to introduce children with autism to many different art media from early childhood.

Allow them to play around with clay, crayons, pencils and paints from a young age, Kak Toto said. Then, well see in which [medium] they work most happily and willingly for a long time. Thats usually where their talents lie.

Build a support system around your child

From a young age, Anugrah loved playing with paints in his fathers art studio.

Uga loved to paint fish, bicycles and robots as a toddler, Samodro said.

Recognizing his sons artistic talents, Samodro, a visual arts lecturer, taught him to paint and sculpt. And after Anugrah graduated from senior high school, Samodro enrolled him in ISI Yogyakarta.

All his friends and lecturers [at ISI Yogyakarta] are very supportive of Uga and encourage his talents to grow, Samodro said.

Samodro also introduced his son to circles of artists in Yogyakarta to help nurture his career.

Approximately 98 percent of artists living in Yogyakarta know Uga, Samodro said.

Kak Toto, the art tutor, commended Samodros acts.

Its indeed necessary to build a supportive community around the young artist to help grow his skills and career, Kak Toto said.

[The supportive community] can be a group of family members, friends or colleagues that watch over the young artist, nurture his talent and promote his work.

Going all out

Last but not least, developing artistic talent in children with autism requires a strong commitment and continuous support from the parents.

Salman is both a gift and a test for us, Sofwan said. And yet, weve decided to love and support him all the way.

Parents should also stand united in raising children with autism.

Dont divorce, Samodro said. Children with autism are [usually] susceptible. Theyll be deeply hurt if their parents decide to separate.

In developing their talents, children with autism often require the help of exceptional tutors. Even though the costs can be substantial, parents should make the effort.

Dont hesitate to sell houses or land if needs be, Samodro said. [Your children] are your biggest asset and deserve all the love and support you can provide.
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Linkedin AFP Seoul, South Korea  Fri, May 12, 2023 14:15 2 d5259e4d93052b0e76bee70b0566d817 2 Entertainment BTS,BTS-ARMY,K-pop,Entertainment,South-Korea Free

K-pop megastars BTS will release a memoir in South Korea and the United States in July, its US publisher said, triggering feverish excitement from the supergroup's global fanbase.

BTS has become a global cultural phenomenon, selling out stadiums and dominating charts around the world while raking in billions for South Korea's economy.

Titled "Beyond the Story: 10-Year Record of BTS", the book was co-written by South Korean journalist Kang Myeong-seok and members of the band, according to the publisher.

"Who is excited?... #BTSbook," US publisher Flatiron Books said Thursday on its Instagram account, sharing a news article about the launch.

Online forums and social media sites had been awash with speculation about a potential celebrity book release in July, with some commenters saying that it may be authored by Taylor Swift.

The mystery book shot to the top of Amazon and Barnes and Noble bestseller lists after pre-orders by fans.

The K-pop group's 544-page memoir will be released on July 9, according to the book's Amazon page.

It is a tribute to a significant date in the septet's history: the megastars' loyal international fan base known as ARMY came into being that day, 10 years ago.

"I'm so looking forward to the book... It's so cool to be able to look back on the last 10 years with BTS," one fan wrote on Twitter in Korean.

"Will I be able to buy it since the competition is so global?" another feared.

The US edition of the book was translated by Anton Hur with Clare Richards and Slin Jung, Hur said in a tweet.

BTS are currently on a "hiatus", with members pursuing solo projects while two of the group have enlisted for mandatory South Korean military service.

All able-bodied men in South Korea must serve at least 18 months in the military and, after a years-long debate about whether BTS deserved an exemption, Jin, the oldest member of the group, enlisted last year.

BTS star J-Hope started his mandatory South Korean military service last month, South Korean media reported at the time, becoming the K-pop juggernaut's second member to enlist.

Before the pause, BTS bagged six No. 1 hits on the Hot 100 and all seven members of the boyband have reached the top songs chart with solo tracks, Billboard said.
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, May 12, 2023

Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto said on Thursday that existing Law No. 34/2004 on the Indonesian Military (TNI) has been implemented effectively and has achieved the target of curbing corruption within the institution.

Prabowo added that the existing military law has also served as guidance for the TNI to engage professionally in their work.

"The TNI law has been implemented for a long time and has worked well. We managed to prevent leakage and corruption. The President himself wants a strong oversight and I think that also has worked well," Prabowo was quoted by Antara, on Thursday. The senior minister was asked for his comment on the ongoing process to amend the military law.

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Linkedin Editorial board (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, May 12, 2023 03:39 3 d5259e4d93052b0e76bee70b05662608 1 Editorial ASEAN,summit,Myanmar,humanitarian-aid,airstrikes,Timor-Leste,community Free

Turning ASEAN into the epicentrum of growth for the global economy and establishing its Vision 2045 are the central goals of Indonesias chairmanship of the bloc this year under the broad tagline ASEAN Matters.

The resort town of Labuan Bajo in East Nusa Tenggara served as a picturesque backdrop for ASEAN leaders to meet and hammer out ideas this week. But beyond the joint declarations and other documents that came out of the summit, we need to ask if ASEAN really matters to the peoples it purports to represent, and if so, how.

Typical of the bloc, the two-day summit largely avoided addressing tough questions in favor of quick wins, although we must give credit to Indonesia for putting the civil war that has engulfed member country Myanmar in sharp focus, even though overall progress remains slow.



After all, why get bogged down by an issue no one can resolve overnight, some have asked, and why not discuss topics that everyone can all agree on? It is a tempting thought, but as long as Myanmar is a member state and as long as its crisis is unresolved, it will be hard to expect ASEAN to make any real progress elsewhere.

More than two years since the Myanmar military overthrew the countrys democratically elected civilian government, ASEAN has yet to make a dent in changing the situation on the ground. If anything, the conflict has gotten worse, with signs of even more brutal suppression by the junta.

An airstrike at a village in the countrys Sagaing region last month that killed 186 people, including 40 children, was not enough to move ASEAN and the international community to take action beyond standard condemnations. ASEANs humanitarian aid is only beginning to be distributed in Myanmar, and even then, the blocs diplomats were shot at by unknown gunmen earlier this week.

Indonesia disclosed last week that it had been holding talks with some opposition groups in Myanmar since the beginning of the year as part of its efforts to broker peace in Myanmar. This is commendable, but Indonesia needs to share this information with a number of other important parties, including countries and institutions that are carrying out work in Myanmar. Indonesia may call it quiet diplomacy, but others see it as a lack of transparency.

It is not only the Myanmar people who may feel that ASEAN has little relevance in their lives. People in the other nine member states have the right to ask how ASEAN matters to them. Surveys in the past have shown that ASEAN has barely touched peoples lives and that most people feel very little connection to the work of the organization.

The ASEAN community project is a prime example of governments failing their own people. Officially launched in 2015, the program quickly postponed its target of forming a closer bloc-wide community to 2025. And even that appears to have been overly ambitious.

This is not to deny the valuable work that ASEAN has done, but the lack of a sense of community among the peoples of the region suggests the limits of ASEANs reach in its current incarnation.

Now under Indonesia, the bloc has set the foundation for a new vision for 2045 and an even more ambitious goal of turning Southeast Asia into an epicenter of economic growth. How does ASEAN plan to pull this off with the ongoing civil war in Myanmar? Will that thorn in the blocs side, that source of cognitive dissonance, not further alienate people, particularly the people of Myanmar, from the whole ASEAN project?

One noteworthy development at the Labuan Bajo summit was the attendance of Timor-Leste Prime Minister Taur Matan Ruak ahead of his nations formal admission to ASEAN later this year. This move will add to the 600-million-strong population of ASEAN and should serve as a reminder to governments that they need to do a lot more for their people to make ASEAN truly matter.

For now, the summit feels like nothing more than photo ops and wordy, lofty declarations that barely touch the lives of the people they supposedly represent.
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Linkedin Deni Friawan (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, May 12, 2023

Since July 2016, Indonesia and the European Union have been negotiating a comprehensive economic partnership agreement as part of efforts to strengthen economic ties, boost trade and investment and build sustainable mutual prosperity.

However, the Indonesia-EU Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IEU-CEPA) has remained elusive, even though the two have gone through 13 rounds of negotiations, both in person and virtually.

Following the latest meeting in Bali in February of this year, both parties are now regrouping for another round of talks from May 8 to May 12 in Brussels. Wrapping up the IEU-CEPA talks is of great importance as the pact is key to promoting trade, investment and other forms of economic cooperation between the two partners.

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Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post.
5E Resources' (Catalist:NLC) stock is up by a considerable 5.8% over the past month. Since the market usually pay for a companys long-term fundamentals, we decided to study the companys key performance indicators to see if they could be influencing the market. Specifically, we decided to study 5E Resources' ROE in this article.

Return on equity or ROE is a key measure used to assess how efficiently a company's management is utilizing the company's capital. In short, ROE shows the profit each dollar generates with respect to its shareholder investments.

Check out our latest analysis for 5E Resources

How Is ROE Calculated?

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 5E Resources is:

13% = RM12m  RM96m (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2022).

The 'return' is the yearly profit. So, this means that for every SGD1 of its shareholder's investments, the company generates a profit of SGD0.13.

What Is The Relationship Between ROE And Earnings Growth?

We have already established that ROE serves as an efficient profit-generating gauge for a company's future earnings. We now need to evaluate how much profit the company reinvests or "retains" for future growth which then gives us an idea about the growth potential of the company. Generally speaking, other things being equal, firms with a high return on equity and profit retention, have a higher growth rate than firms that dont share these attributes.

A Side By Side comparison of 5E Resources' Earnings Growth And 13% ROE

To start with, 5E Resources' ROE looks acceptable. On comparing with the average industry ROE of 6.4% the company's ROE looks pretty remarkable. This certainly adds some context to 5E Resources' decent 11% net income growth seen over the past five years.

As a next step, we compared 5E Resources' net income growth with the industry and were disappointed to see that the company's growth is lower than the industry average growth of 14% in the same period.

Story continues

Earnings growth is a huge factor in stock valuation. The investor should try to establish if the expected growth or decline in earnings, whichever the case may be, is priced in. Doing so will help them establish if the stock's future looks promising or ominous. One good indicator of expected earnings growth is the P/E ratio which determines the price the market is willing to pay for a stock based on its earnings prospects. So, you may want to check if 5E Resources is trading on a high P/E or a low P/E, relative to its industry.

Is 5E Resources Making Efficient Use Of Its Profits?

With a three-year median payout ratio of 35% (implying that the company retains 65% of its profits), it seems that 5E Resources is reinvesting efficiently in a way that it sees respectable amount growth in its earnings and pays a dividend that's well covered.

Conclusion

On the whole, we feel that 5E Resources' performance has been quite good. Particularly, we like that the company is reinvesting heavily into its business, and at a high rate of return. As a result, the decent growth in its earnings is not surprising. If the company continues to grow its earnings the way it has, that could have a positive impact on its share price given how earnings per share influence long-term share prices. Remember, the price of a stock is also dependent on the perceived risk. Therefore investors must keep themselves informed about the risks involved before investing in any company. You can see the 3 risks we have identified for 5E Resources by visiting our risks dashboard for free on our platform here.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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Linkedin Kevin Zhang and Napon Jatusripitak Singapore  Fri, May 12, 2023 20:30 2 d5259e4d93052b0e76bee70b056742c1 2 Academia Thailand,Malaysia,election,corruption,Islam,Bumiputera,Youth,Reform,military,lese-majeste-law Free

Since Malaysia implemented UNDI-18 last year which lowered the voting age from 21 to 18, it is apparent that young Malays are turning toward the conservative Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition.

PN comprised primarily of the Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), which champion for Islam to play a greater role in society, and the Malaysian Indigenous United Party (Bersatu), which seeks to maintain, if not enhance, the existing race-based privileges for ethnic Malays.

As Malaysian voters are segregated into various streams in polling booths based on their age, the broad voting patterns for youths can be observed. Based on the available stream data, PN was the most popular coalition nationally among Malay youths, followed by Barisan Nasional (BN) and Pakatan Harapan (PH). The Malay youth vote played a vital role for PN to expand into seats which were previously held by BN and to a smaller extent PH in the recent 2022 General Election (GE2022).

In contrast, Thai youths are gravitating toward the Move Forward Party (MFP), which campaigns on a progressive platform with an anti-establishment undertone. Its core policies include welfare policies, protection of LGBTQ+ rights, military conscription reform, and amendment of the lese majeste law. The MFP is the reincarnation of the now-defunct Future Forward Party (FFP), led by Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, a wealthy and charismatic figure with an overwhelming social media presence and popularity among the youth.

The greenhorn FFP arose on the back of overwhelming youth support in the 2019 General Election. In 2019, the FFP secured third place with 6.2 million votes, defying predictions by even the most informed experts. Although support for the FFP among Thai youths cannot be observed directly since polling in Thailand is not segregated based on age, this conclusion can be extrapolated from advance vote where FFP performed incredibly well among the outstation university students vote.

After the Constitutional Court dissolved the FFP in February 2020, the partys followers, many of whom are high school and university students, took to the streets to voice their grievances and resentment against the political system they saw as unjust. This youth-led social movement has created a powerful, progressive force that the MFP is now banking on for the upcoming general election.

To account for the divergence in the pattern of youth participation in politics in Thailand and Malaysia, it is important to address the broader historical context.

Starting from 1971, Malaysia had implemented extensive affirmative action for the ethnic Malays (and other Bumiputra) with the goal to create a indigenous middle class. Decades of affirmative action have resulted in widespread expectations among Malays  including youths  that the government is responsible for uplifting their economic fortunes. By the 1990s, a Malay middle class was established and the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) was generally credited as the agent responsible for promoting Malay rights and interests. UMNO is the lynchpin within the BN coalition and had ruled Malaysia uninterrupted from independence till 2018.

However, the outbreak of 1MDB and other high-profile corruption scandal involving senior UMNO politicians in the past decade has severely tarnished the partys credibility to champion for Malay interests. Unlike their parents who remained somewhat grateful for the benefits of affirmative action, young Malays  together with Malaysian youths of other races  experienced negligible wage growth in the past decade.

In the authors conversations with Malay youths, inadequate financial income and economic opportunities are commonly raised with the blame placed on corruption in UMNO and its tenure as government. The outbreak of COVID-19 and economic lockdown dealt a further blow.

PN deftly tapped onto Malay youths perception of economic stagnation, with its campaign revolving almost entirely on anti-corruption and improved governance. Conversely, conservative social values such as Islam playing a greater role in societal behavior was not the main campaign message. PN succeeded in gaining widespread traction among Malay youths with clean governance presented as the economic solution to their predicament, and the restoration of Malay privileges and pride which in recent years was squandered by UMNO.

A researcher with extensive work in Malaysias Islamic politics commented that Malay youths overwhelmingly voted for PN in GE2022 not because of an ideological attraction to political Islam, but because Malay youths like PAS as a party which is perceived as clean and welfare-driven. PNs conservative narrative proved to be a combustible among Malay youths.

On the other hand, the recent progressive turn among young voters in Thailand represents a successful mobilization of new voters who have no prior attachment to political parties or interest in politics. This has been achieved through the use of digital and social media platforms in pursuit of ideological ends inherited from the legacy of student-led pro-democracy movements, which have historically been successful in bringing down military governments.

In 1973, Thai university students formed alliances with farmers organizations and labor unions and staged a mass demonstration that toppled the military regime of Field Marshal Thanom. The demonstration brought to light not only the regimes failure to deliver on the promise of economic prosperity and stability, but also its abuses of power, corruption, and violations of individual rights.

Although the movements success was short-lived, interrupted only three years later by the Thammasat University massacre in 1976 which returned Thailand to authoritarian rule, the role of students as a democratizing force against military generals has become a blueprint for later generations of activists, including those who participated in the 1992 Black May popular uprising that eventually led to Gen. Suchinda Kraprayoon stepping down.

It is through this historical lens that younger generations of Thais make sense of their experiences with the countrys political system. Many of these individuals have grown up in an era of political polarization marked by military coups, protests, and government crackdowns.

Recently, their frustrations with the established way of doing things in Thailand and their aspirations for a better future have grown beyond measure, involving even younger demographics and calling for unprecedented reforms, including those concerning the military and the monarchy.

In parallel, the MFP, whose supporters have shifted from merely following the party to actively participating in protests, has evolved into a movement party that aims to channel these demands into the formal political process. The partys reliance on social media has reinforced its ability to communicate directly with its supporters, circumventing traditional electoral gatekeepers and intermediaries that typically form the local roots of other parties.

In the upcoming general election, Thailand may once again witness a strong turnout by young voters who are no longer content to sit on the sidelines. However, if younger voters preferences fail to be reflected in the Thai parliament or translate into meaningful change, youth participation in politics may be marked by disillusionment and apathy.

Youths are often perceived globally to throw their weight  and even lives  for progressive values and political parties. However, the divergent trend between Malaysias Malay and Thai youths indicate that the political orientation of youths is highly context dependent, with progressive leanings not a given.

In Malaysia, Malay youths dissatisfaction with stagnant economic fortunes coupled with rampant corruption in the context of affirmative action compelled them to seek a political alternative whilst maintaining status quo for social policies. Conversely, in Thailand, the entrenchment of the military, along with the historically ordained role of students as diametrical opposition to that authoritarian status quo, has led Thai youths to seek a break from conservative politics in search of greater political freedoms and democratic reforms.

***

Kevin Zhang is senior research officer with the Malaysia Studies Programme and Regional Economic Studies Programme at ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute, where Napon Jatusripitak is visiting research fellow. The article is republished from Thai Enquirer. Read the original article here.
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Linkedin Kornelius Purba (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, May 13, 2023

On May 4 in Medan, I thought about the good Samaritans who had helped a young girl reach her nearly impossible dream when attending the graduation ceremony at the University of North Sumatra (USU). Being one of 2,437 graduates the state university produced this year, she completed her studies in the Developmental Economics Program of the USUs School of Economics with honors (cum laude).

The graduation ceremony was opened by rector Muryanto Amin at 2.30 p.m. sharp. My wife and I were seated in the front row, thanks to the help of vice rector Edy Ikhsan, because my wife is a wheelchair user. We received two invitations due to his generosity. We were there to act as the parents of the young girl.

I write this column as an expression of my deep gratitude to the generous people who assisted three orphans, including the young girl, to continue their studies at the prestigious state university. Their mother died in October 2015, followed by their father not long after.
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Linkedin Editorial board (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, March 1 2021

Indonesia counts among the rudest nations on Earth when it comes to the internet and social media usage, according to Microsoft. Granted, its a survey involving only 16,000 respondents in 32 countries, but Indonesians rank 29th along with Mexicans in the 2020 Microsoft Civility Index published last week. We can take heart that Russians and South Africans are worse than we are.

Considering what we see in our cyberspace, this news should not come as shocking to internet users in the country. What rankled many Indonesian netizens is their wounded national pride; that when it comes to online civility, we should come behind neighbors Singapore (fourth-most civil), Australia (seventh), Malaysia (10th), the Philippines (13th), Thailand (19th) and Vietnam (24th).

Not surprisingly, their response was swift and at times, rude. According to a CNN report, Microsoft closed the comment section of its Instagram page after it was flooded by some 2,000 postings from Indonesia.

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Linkedin Paula Ramon (The Jakarta Post) Agence France-Presse/Ciudad Juarez, Mexico  Fri, May 12 2023

The fate of tens of thousands of people seeking asylum at the United States' southern border will, from Friday, hinge on an app that has just 2.5 stars in the App Store.

For immigration managers, a sleek, computerized way to manage the wave of people expected to arrive when COVID-era rules lapse must have been tempting.

But for poor, exhausted people whose phones do not work, or who have no access to wifi or electricity, it is just another almost-impossible hurdle.

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Linkedin Editorial Board (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, May 12 2023

Turning ASEAN into the epicentrum of growth for the global economy and establishing its Vision 2045 are the central goals of Indonesias chairmanship of the bloc this year under the broad tagline ASEAN Matters.

The resort town of Labuan Bajo in East Nusa Tenggara served as a picturesque backdrop for ASEAN leaders to meet and hammer out ideas this week. But beyond the joint declarations and other documents that came out of the summit, we need to ask if ASEAN really matters to the peoples it purports to represent, and if so, how.

Typical of the bloc, the two-day summit largely avoided addressing tough questions in favor of quick wins, although we must give credit to Indonesia for putting the civil war that has engulfed member country Myanmar in sharp focus, even though overall progress remains slow.



After all, why get bogged down by an issue no one can resolve overnight, some have asked, and why not discuss topics that everyone can all agree on? It is a tempting thought, but as long as Myanmar is a member state and as long as its crisis is unresolved, it will be hard to expect ASEAN to make any real progress elsewhere.

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Linkedin Reuters (The Jakarta Post) Beijing  Fri, May 12 2023

Australia's trade minister arrived in Beijing on Thursday to meet his Chinese counterpart as Canberra pushes for the removal of all trade barriers and for diplomatic relations to stabilize.

Trade Minister Don Farrell said he would meet Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao in Beijing and "be advocating strongly for the full resumption of unimpeded Australian exports to China  for all sectors  to the benefit of both countries and in the interests of Australian exporters and producers".

There had been goodwill on both sides but more needed to be done, he told reporters at Beijing's Capital Airport.

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Linkedin Khalid Abdelaziz and Aidan Lewis (The Jakarta Post) Reuters/Dubai  Fri, May 12 2023

Fighting in Sudan's capital escalated on Wednesday with fierce clashes and air strikes, but rival military factions were reported to be close to a ceasefire agreement in talks in Saudi Arabia.

Residents reported ground battles in several neighborhoods of Khartoum between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), as well as heavy gunfire in the north of Omdurman and the east of Bahri, two adjacent cities separated from Khartoum by the Nile River.

The army has been pounding targets across the three cities since Tuesday as it tries to root out RSF forces that have taken control of large residential areas and strategic sites since early in the conflict that erupted on April 15.

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Linkedin Yvette Tanamal (The Jakarta Post) Labuan Bajo, East Nusa Tenggara  Fri, May 12 2023

President Joko Jokowi Widodo on Thursday spotlighted the need for 10-nation ASEAN to unite, just as Indonesia concluded hosting the first bloc summit this year amid tense Indo-Pacific rivalry, with some quarters describing the geopolitical landscape as gravely concerning.

The association, which has pledged to remain neutral despite strong pull factors in opposing directions, has for years attempted to establish itself as the main convenor of countries in a highly contested region.

With many of its member states exposed to security challenges as wide-ranging as overlapping territorial claims, coup detats and the threat of nuclear warfare, heavy is the burden on Jakarta to ensure that Southeast Asia remains a peaceful, stable and prosperous region.

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Linkedin Deni Friawan (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, May 12 2023

Since July 2016, Indonesia and the European Union have been negotiating a comprehensive economic partnership agreement as part of efforts to strengthen economic ties, boost trade and investment and build sustainable mutual prosperity.

However, the Indonesia-EU Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IEU-CEPA) has remained elusive, even though the two have gone through 13 rounds of negotiations, both in person and virtually.

Following the latest meeting in Bali in February of this year, both parties are now regrouping for another round of talks from May 8 to May 12 in Brussels. Wrapping up the IEU-CEPA talks is of great importance as the pact is key to promoting trade, investment and other forms of economic cooperation between the two partners.

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Where are the most expensive ZIP codes in the United States? Home Bay ranked the 10 most expensive U.S. ZIP codes and findings revealed seven ZIP codes are in California.

Read: 5 Expensive Renovations Homeowners Always Regret

More: 3 Things You Must Do When Your Savings Reach $50,000

The good news is if you can't afford one of the pricier ZIP codes, there are plenty of affordable alternatives available for those who want to buy a home in California. Let's see the most expensive California ZIP codes and six affordable alternatives.

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Atherton, San Francisco Metropolitan Area: 94027

Typical home value in 2023: $7.36 million

See: 15 Cities Where Houses Are Best Bargains Right Now

Florida's Retirees Are Fleeing: Here's Where They're Going Instead

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Beverly Hills, California: 90210

Typical home value in 2023: $5.11 million

Take Our Poll: Are You Planning To Buy or Sell a House This Year?

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Los Altos Hills, California: 94022

Typical home value in 2023: $4.26 million

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Santa Monica, California: 90402

Typical home value in 2023: $4.17 million

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Montecito, California: 93108

Typical home value in 2023: $3.94 million

See: 7 Florida Cities That Could Be Headed for a Housing Crisis

Bill Bonebrake for Pacific Sothebys International Realty

Rancho Santa Fe, San Diego Metropolitan Area: 92067

Typical home value in 2023: $3.9 million

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Newport Beach, California: 92657

Typical home value in 2023: $3.86 million

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Affordable ZIP Code Alternatives in California

Now that you've seen which ZIP codes are the most expensive in California, here are some inexpensive cities for first-time homebuyers to check out.

Explore: 10 US Cities With Plenty of Jobs and Cheap Housing

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Santa Clarita, California: 91321

Efraim Oren, founder of Professional Mortgage Associates, said while homes in Santa Clarita have slightly gone up in price, this city is still a fantastic choice for first-time homebuyers.

"Santa Clarita has always been safe and clean, and now the city is experiencing an increase in the amount of homes and apartments being built," Oren said.

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Agoura Hills, California: 91301

Buyers who want to be close to Los Angeles and Ventura may move to Agoura Hills for the best of both worlds.

"Agoura Hills is a beautiful location with several parks, hiking trails and recreational activities, which makes it an attractive choice for homeowners," Oren said. "It's only a 25-to-30-minute commute to both Ventura and Los Angeles, which is great if you want to be close to major metropolitan areas."

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Barstow, California: 92311

Pete Evering, business development manager at Utopia Property Management, said Barstow, in San Bernardino County, is a reasonably priced city to consider moving to. The median home price is roughly $159,000 and the cost of living is cheaper compared to other California cities.

Housing Market 2023: Prices Are Now So High That Banks Are Losing Money on Mortgages

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Clearlake, California: 95422

Clearlake is a Lake County town known for its inexpensive housing.

The median home price is roughly $160,000, making it more affordable for new homeowners to buy. Evering adds the Clearlake community has lower costs of living than other California cities, meaning residents can save money on necessities like housing, groceries and utilities.

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Crescent City, California: 95531

In Realtor.com's 10 most affordable beach towns for homebuyers report, Crescent City ranked at No. 9 on the list.

Located 20 miles south of the Oregon border, Crescent City is the northernmost location of any beach town on Realtor's list for 2023. According to a Realtor representative, the median price within 1 mile of a beach is $329,000. The median price per square foot within 1 mile of a beach is $248.

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Riverside, California: 92501

While Riverside may have an undersupply of homes, Mike Hardy, managing partner at Churchill Mortgage, said the city still has reasonable affordability.

"There's lots of migration from Los Angeles, which is due to a combination of the price point being less than LA County and people realizing they can get much more per dollar if they move further outside the city center," Hardy said.

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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 7 Most Expensive California ZIP Codes  And 6 Affordable Alternatives
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Linkedin Reuters Washington, United States  Fri, May 12, 2023 10:00 2 d5259e4d93052b0e76bee70b05669dfc 2 Asia and Pacific China,US,Wendy-Sherman,State-Department,Antony-Blinken,tension,Taiwan Free

US Deputy Secretary for State Wendy Sherman is expected to leave her post in the summer, CNN reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Her replacement is not known, CNN reported. It gave no reason for the change.

Sherman, a foreign policy veteran, has been in the role since April 2021 and has been involved in various policy areas including US-China relations.

Secretary of State Anthony Blinken had largely delegated China policy duties to Sherman, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The department is likely to see another change with senior State Department sanctions official James O'Brien most likely to be nominated as the assistant secretary for European affairs, a source informed Reuters.

The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
El Castillo de Jagua 2, a beloved local Dominican restaurant located on Grand Street, looks to be shuttered due to back taxes. A seizure sign was seen by Lilah Mejia, who first posted it on Instagram.

May 12 We received an update from El Castillo this afternoon, along with the photo above. They are back in business. They will reopen tomorrow at 8am. They write: Thank you so much and for everyones support. We are ready to serve our community.
iShares Paris-Aligned Climate MSCI USA ETF (NYSEARCA:PABU  Get Rating) traded down 0.5% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $45.11 and last traded at $45.11. 175 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 98% from the average session volume of 8,619 shares. The stock had previously closed at $45.35.

iShares Paris-Aligned Climate MSCI USA ETF Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $963.90 million, a P/E ratio of 22.14 and a beta of -1.11. The firms 50-day moving average is $44.22 and its 200-day moving average is $43.24.

About iShares Paris-Aligned Climate MSCI USA ETF

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The iShares Paris-Aligned Climate MSCI USA ETF (PABU) is an exchange-traded fund that mostly invests in stocks based on a particular theme. The fund tracks an index of tier-weighted US large- and mid-cap stocks selected and weighted based on ESG criteria that is compatible with the Paris Climate Agreement and carbon reduction goals.

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National Bank of Canada (OTCMKTS:NTIOF  Get Rating) was the target of a significant drop in short interest during the month of April. As of April 30th, there was short interest totalling 5,210,000 shares, a drop of 39.2% from the April 15th total of 8,566,100 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2,368.2 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, National Bank Financial raised their price target on shares of National Bank of Canada from C$102.00 to C$104.50 in a report on Thursday, March 2nd.

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National Bank of Canada Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of OTCMKTS NTIOF traded down $0.25 during trading on Thursday, hitting $74.88. The company had a trading volume of 1,570 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,932. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $72.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $71.75. National Bank of Canada has a fifty-two week low of $59.42 and a fifty-two week high of $78.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.41 and a beta of 1.08.

National Bank of Canada Cuts Dividend

National Bank of Canada ( OTCMKTS:NTIOF Get Rating ) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, March 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. National Bank of Canada had a net margin of 20.66% and a return on equity of 18.28%. The business had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter.

The firm also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 27th were given a dividend of $0.7131 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 24th. This represents a yield of 3.83%. National Bank of Canadas payout ratio is presently 39.34%.

About National Bank of Canada

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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.

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Nuveen Minnesota Quality Municipal Income Fund (NYSE:NMS  Get Rating) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in April. As of April 30th, there was short interest totalling 20,700 shares, a drop of 41.5% from the April 15th total of 35,400 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 11,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.8 days.

Nuveen Minnesota Quality Municipal Income Fund Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE NMS traded down $0.03 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $11.34. The company had a trading volume of 5,215 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,654. Nuveen Minnesota Quality Municipal Income Fund has a 1-year low of $10.33 and a 1-year high of $15.79. The businesss 50-day simple moving average is $11.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $11.70.

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Nuveen Minnesota Quality Municipal Income Fund Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 1st. Investors of record on Monday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.036 per share. This represents a $0.43 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.81%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 12th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nuveen Minnesota Quality Municipal Income Fund

Nuveen Minnesota Quality Municipal Income Fund Company Profile

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Captrust Financial Advisors purchased a new stake in Nuveen Minnesota Quality Municipal Income Fund in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Access Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Nuveen Minnesota Quality Municipal Income Fund during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $266,000. UBS Group AG lifted its position in shares of Nuveen Minnesota Quality Municipal Income Fund by 12.6% during the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 25,425 shares of the companys stock valued at $306,000 after acquiring an additional 2,854 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in shares of Nuveen Minnesota Quality Municipal Income Fund by 26.2% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 29,297 shares of the companys stock valued at $330,000 after acquiring an additional 6,076 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in shares of Nuveen Minnesota Quality Municipal Income Fund by 731.5% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 31,598 shares of the companys stock valued at $355,000 after acquiring an additional 27,798 shares during the period.

(Get Rating)

Nuveen Minnesota Quality Municipal Income Fund is a closed ended fixed income mutual fund launched by Nuveen Investments, Inc The fund is co-managed by Nuveen Fund Advisors LLC and Nuveen Asset Management, LLC. It invests in the fixed income markets of the United States. The fund primarily invests in investment grade municipal securities that are exempt from regular federal and Minnesota personal income taxes.

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Achmea Investment Management B.V. raised its stake in The Travelers Companies, Inc. (NYSE:TRV  Get Rating) by 14.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 53,080 shares of the insurance providers stock after acquiring an additional 6,743 shares during the period. Achmea Investment Management B.V.s holdings in Travelers Companies were worth $9,325,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can acquired a new position in shares of Travelers Companies during the 3rd quarter worth $42,750,000. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of Travelers Companies by 74.7% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 625,735 shares of the insurance providers stock worth $95,863,000 after buying an additional 267,460 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Travelers Companies during the 4th quarter worth $37,535,000. Twinbeech Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of Travelers Companies during the 3rd quarter worth $24,033,000. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama acquired a new position in shares of Travelers Companies during the 4th quarter worth $26,469,000. 81.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Travelers Companies Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of Travelers Companies stock traded up $0.12 on Friday, hitting $182.93. The company had a trading volume of 77,578 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,444,215. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.60. The Travelers Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $149.65 and a 1 year high of $194.51. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $174.64 and a 200-day moving average of $182.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 0.33.

Travelers Companies Increases Dividend

Travelers Companies ( NYSE:TRV Get Rating ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 19th. The insurance provider reported $4.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 13.41% and a net margin of 7.41%. The companys quarterly revenue was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $4.22 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that The Travelers Companies, Inc. will post 14.31 earnings per share for the current year.

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 9th will be paid a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 8th. This is an increase from Travelers Companiess previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.19%. Travelers Companiess dividend payout ratio is 34.10%.

Travelers Companies announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, April 19th that allows the company to buyback $5.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the insurance provider to repurchase up to 12.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the companys management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Roth Capital reaffirmed a buy rating on shares of Travelers Companies in a report on Friday, April 21st. Citigroup upped their target price on Travelers Companies from $182.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Friday, April 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Travelers Companies from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, March 31st. Barclays upped their price target on Travelers Companies from $179.00 to $185.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets began coverage on Travelers Companies in a research report on Thursday, January 19th. They issued an outperform rating and a $212.00 price target on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $191.73.

Insider Transactions at Travelers Companies

In related news, EVP Diane Kurtzman sold 2,914 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.01, for a total transaction of $539,119.14. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,735 shares of the companys stock, valued at $320,992.35. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Diane Kurtzman sold 2,914 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.01, for a total transaction of $539,119.14. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,735 shares of the companys stock, valued at $320,992.35. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Gregory C. Toczydlowski sold 5,420 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.19, for a total value of $998,309.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 18,416 shares of the companys stock, valued at $3,392,043.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 57,222 shares of company stock valued at $10,281,414 over the last ninety days. 1.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Travelers Companies Company Profile

(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.

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Alaska Air Group (NYSE:ALK  Get Rating) had its price objective cut by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $91.00 to $70.00 in a report released on Monday, The Fly reports.

ALK has been the topic of several other research reports. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Alaska Air Group from $57.50 to $58.50 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, January 31st. Barclays raised shares of Alaska Air Group from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and boosted their price target for the company from $54.00 to $62.00 in a report on Friday, March 10th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Alaska Air Group from an outperform rating to a peer perform rating in a report on Friday, January 27th. Raymond James raised shares of Alaska Air Group from an outperform rating to a strong-buy rating and boosted their price target for the company from $60.00 to $68.00 in a report on Monday, April 3rd. Finally, Susquehanna upped their target price on shares of Alaska Air Group from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a positive rating in a report on Thursday, February 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $63.86.

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Alaska Air Group Price Performance

Shares of Alaska Air Group stock opened at $43.05 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $42.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $45.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Alaska Air Group has a 1-year low of $37.19 and a 1-year high of $53.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 93.59, a PEG ratio of 0.28 and a beta of 1.51.

Insider Buying and Selling

Alaska Air Group ( NYSE:ALK Get Rating ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 20th. The transportation company reported ($0.62) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of ($0.48) by ($0.14). Alaska Air Group had a return on equity of 17.03% and a net margin of 0.58%. The company had revenue of $2.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.19 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($1.33) EPS. The companys revenue was up 30.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Alaska Air Group will post 6.3 earnings per share for the current year.

In other Alaska Air Group news, Director J Kenneth Thompson sold 3,500 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.58, for a total transaction of $170,030.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 29,907 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,452,882.06. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.68% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Coastwise Capital Group LLC lifted its position in Alaska Air Group by 6.9% during the 1st quarter. Coastwise Capital Group LLC now owns 12,381 shares of the transportation companys stock valued at $520,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp lifted its position in Alaska Air Group by 25.7% during the 1st quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 7,622 shares of the transportation companys stock valued at $320,000 after purchasing an additional 1,558 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Alaska Air Group by 32.3% in the 1st quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 39,675 shares of the transportation companys stock valued at $1,665,000 after acquiring an additional 9,686 shares during the period. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC raised its position in shares of Alaska Air Group by 4.3% in the 1st quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 266,972 shares of the transportation companys stock valued at $11,202,000 after acquiring an additional 11,060 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Alaska Air Group by 24.7% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 48,216 shares of the transportation companys stock valued at $2,023,000 after acquiring an additional 9,549 shares during the period. 77.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alaska Air Group Company Profile

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Alaska Air Group, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of air transportation services. It operates through the following segments: Mainline, Regional, and Horizon. The Mainline segment includes scheduled air transportation on Alaskas Boeing and Airbus jet aircraft for passengers and cargo throughout the U.S., and in parts of Mexico, Costa Rica and Belize.

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The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. (NYSE:HIG  Get Rating) EVP Amy Stepnowski sold 336 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Monday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.25, for a total value of $23,604.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,172 shares in the company, valued at $222,833. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Amy Stepnowski also recently made the following trade(s):

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On Thursday, April 6th, Amy Stepnowski sold 336 shares of The Hartford Financial Services Group stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.56, for a total value of $23,372.16.

On Monday, March 6th, Amy Stepnowski sold 336 shares of The Hartford Financial Services Group stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.59, for a total value of $26,070.24.

The Hartford Financial Services Group Price Performance

Shares of HIG stock opened at $69.87 on Friday. The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $60.17 and a 52-week high of $79.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.85. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $69.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $73.39.

The Hartford Financial Services Group Dividend Announcement

The Hartford Financial Services Group ( NYSE:HIG Get Rating ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts consensus estimates of $1.68. The firm had revenue of $5.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.70 billion. The Hartford Financial Services Group had a return on equity of 18.45% and a net margin of 8.33%. The Hartford Financial Services Groups quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.66 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. will post 7.94 earnings per share for the current year.

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 6th were issued a $0.425 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.43%. The Hartford Financial Services Groups dividend payout ratio is presently 29.26%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HIG. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of The Hartford Financial Services Group by 29.5% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 24,773,081 shares of the insurance providers stock valued at $1,878,543,000 after acquiring an additional 5,638,368 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in The Hartford Financial Services Group during the 4th quarter worth $277,618,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in The Hartford Financial Services Group during the 4th quarter worth $215,742,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in The Hartford Financial Services Group by 425.0% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,004,275 shares of the insurance providers stock worth $27,060,000 after buying an additional 1,622,525 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Great Lakes Advisors LLC purchased a new position in The Hartford Financial Services Group during the 1st quarter worth $88,128,000. 89.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HIG has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. 888 reissued a reiterates rating on shares of The Hartford Financial Services Group in a report on Monday, May 1st. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on The Hartford Financial Services Group in a report on Thursday, January 19th. They set a market perform rating and a $77.00 price target for the company. Citigroup cut their price target on The Hartford Financial Services Group from $92.00 to $85.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 18th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on The Hartford Financial Services Group from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a report on Monday, February 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded The Hartford Financial Services Group from a neutral rating to a buy rating and set a $84.00 price target for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 29th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, The Hartford Financial Services Group presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $86.15.

About The Hartford Financial Services Group

(Get Rating)

The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc is an insurance and financial services company. It operates through the following segments: Commercial Lines, Personal Lines, Property & Casualty Other Operations, Group Benefits, Hartford Funds, and Corporate. The Commercial Lines segment provides workers compensation, property, automobile, liability and umbrella coverage under several different products.

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Research analysts at StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Banco Itau Chile (NYSE:ITCB  Get Rating) in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday. The firm set a hold rating on the banks stock.

Banco Itau Chile Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $1.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.50 and a beta of 0.98. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $3.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $3.30. Banco Itau Chile has a twelve month low of $2.50 and a twelve month high of $3.94.

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Banco Itau Chile (NYSE:ITCB  Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 28th. The bank reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.12 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $311.23 million during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $426.47 million. Banco Itau Chile had a return on equity of 14.11% and a net margin of 12.62%. On average, analysts expect that Banco Itau Chile will post 0.58 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Banco Itau Chile

About Banco Itau Chile

A hedge fund recently bought a new stake in Banco Itau Chile stock. Northern Trust Corp acquired a new stake in Banco Itau Chile ( NYSE:ITCB Get Rating ) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 11,830 shares of the banks stock, valued at approximately $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 0.20% of the companys stock.

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Banco Itau Chile engages in the provision of banking and financial services. It specializes in banking products such as financing, leasing, loans, insurance and credit cards. It operates through the following geographical segments: Chile and Colombia. The Chile segment consists of commercial and corporate banking, real estate and construction, large companies, retail banking, personal banking, small business, retail companies, Banco Condell consumer banking, international and treasury and other financial services.

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Builders FirstSource, Inc. (NYSE:BLDR  Get Rating) insider Michael Alan Farmer sold 12,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.97, for a total transaction of $1,362,125.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 62,122 shares of the companys stock, valued at $6,769,434.34. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Builders FirstSource Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BLDR opened at $117.27 on Friday. Builders FirstSource, Inc. has a one year low of $48.91 and a one year high of $117.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.57 and a beta of 1.98. The companys fifty day moving average price is $91.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $79.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.83 and a quick ratio of 1.10.

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Builders FirstSource (NYSE:BLDR  Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 3rd. The company reported $2.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $1.63 by $1.33. The company had revenue of $3.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $3.57 billion. Builders FirstSource had a net margin of 11.68% and a return on equity of 55.42%. The firms revenue was down 31.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.90 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Builders FirstSource, Inc. will post 8.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Builders FirstSource by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,422,176 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,124,428,000 after acquiring an additional 86,484 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Builders FirstSource by 14.8% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,277,012 shares of the companys stock valued at $727,819,000 after purchasing an additional 1,455,580 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Builders FirstSource by 1.4% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,563,913 shares of the companys stock valued at $268,900,000 after purchasing an additional 64,900 shares in the last quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC lifted its holdings in Builders FirstSource by 13.4% during the third quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC now owns 2,176,584 shares of the companys stock valued at $128,244,000 after purchasing an additional 256,436 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in Builders FirstSource by 34.0% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,845,728 shares of the companys stock valued at $108,750,000 after purchasing an additional 468,391 shares in the last quarter. 94.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

A number of equities research analysts have commented on BLDR shares. Robert W. Baird cut shares of Builders FirstSource from an outperform rating to a neutral rating and set a $96.00 price target for the company. in a report on Thursday, May 4th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Builders FirstSource from $92.00 to $100.00 in a report on Friday, May 5th. Zelman & Associates upgraded shares of Builders FirstSource from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Monday. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Builders FirstSource from $107.00 to $150.00 in a report on Thursday, May 4th. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Builders FirstSource in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a buy rating on the stock. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Builders FirstSource presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $111.42.

About Builders FirstSource

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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.

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No investment is completely immune to the effects of a recession, but some definitely hold up better than others. This is particularly true in the world of vacation rentals. Even when money gets tight, Americans -- and indeed, workers from around the world -- need to take a vacation, so there will always be demand in the right places.

Next: 5 Affordable Up-and-Coming US Locations To Buy Vacation Property in 2023

Read: 3 Things You Must Do When Your Savings Reach $50,000

Recession-resistant vacation rentals tend to be in affordable areas that still have a "wow factor" in terms of things that appeal to tourists. Depending on the vacationer, this can be anything from beautiful beaches to a happening nightlife to plenty of activities for adults and families alike. Here are seven of the best choices for vacation rentals that will make money -- even in a recession.

YinYang / Shutterstock.com

Cancun

Cancun has a reputation as being a party town at the tip of the Yucatan Peninsula. But in addition to gorgeous, palm-lined beaches and an active nightlife, Cancun offers a host of other attractions -- such as Mayan ruins -- that keep visitors coming back again and again.

Good To Know: 6 Vacation Splurges You'll Almost Always Regret

More: 10 All-Inclusive Resort Hacks That Can Help You Save Big

Those looking to venture further afield can travel south down the Riviera Maya to other famous beach destinations such as Playa del Carmen and Tulum. All of this lies just a few short hours from the U.S., making it perennially popular.

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Phuket

Phuket offers an appealing combination of amenities for a wide variety of travelers. The most noteworthy are the island's beautiful beaches, some of which are among the best in the world. Its nightlife is also legendary. By virtue of Phuket's location in Thailand, visitors also enjoy great food, kind locals, low costs and a peaceful and beautiful culture.

Take Our Poll: Are You Planning To Buy or Sell a House This Year?

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Bali

Bali is a bucket list destination for many travelers, as it has so many riches it feels almost mythical. Bali's beaches are legendary, but so too is its nightlife to go along with its cheap prices.

Story continues

Ubud, far inland from the beaches, has developed a reputation as a wellness destination, and it also offers more rugged outdoor options, from mountain biking to hiking Mt. Batur and other volcanoes. By virtue of its location, the island is extremely popular with Australians, helping to provide it with near-constant rental opportunities.

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Dominican Republic

The Caribbean is often lumped together as a single entity, but the truth is it's chock-full of islands with different characteristics. Those looking for an affordable destination in the sun-soaked Caribbean frequently head to the Dominican Republic. In fact, the Dominican Republic is the most-visited island in the Caribbean.

The tropical destination offers not just gorgeous beaches and water sports, but also a rich Spanish heritage. As it's much closer to the U.S. than its more far-flung competitors, such as those in Southeast Asia, visitor numbers tend to remain high.

JamesBrey / Getty Images/iStockphoto

Hawaii

Hawaii isn't the cheapest destination in the world, but it's always one of the most popular. Many Americans dream of a holiday in Hawaii for a number of reasons, from its famed beaches like Waikiki and Kaanapali to its Kona coffee to its unique food and culture.

An added benefit for many Americans is that it is still in the United States, meaning it doesn't require a passport or any of the hassles that come with international travel. Even though food and groceries can be expensive in Hawaii, those who plan ahead can actually score cheap flights and moderately priced lodging, helping to keep Hawaii always in demand.

Sean Pavone / Getty Images/iStockphoto

Orlando

Orlando is a domestic destination that is a constant draw in good times and bad. The area is primarily a theme park mecca, hosting everything from Universal Studios Florida to Disney's Magic Kingdom, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and many others.

Orlando's famed Space Coast is also only 45 minutes east of Orlando, where visitors can take in the historic sites at the Kennedy Space Center and enjoy beautiful beaches too.

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Los Cabos

Los Cabos, at the tip of the Baja California peninsula, has long been a favorite with travelers and includes the famed Cabo San Lucas. It's particularly convenient for Americans, as it's only a relatively short flight from most points in the U.S.

Upon arrival, guests are welcomed with warm, deep blue seas, golden beaches and as many margaritas as they want. If lying on a beach with an umbrella drink in your hand isn't your idea of vacation, Los Cabos also offers a wide range of water sports, from snorkeling to diving to deep-sea fishing. As it's a relatively easy-to-get-to destination, it's constantly popular.

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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 7 Places Where Vacation Rentals Will Make Money Even in a Recession
Callon Petroleum (NYSE:CPE  Get Rating) Director Steven A. Webster purchased 10,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 11th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $30.24 per share, for a total transaction of $302,400.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 592,824 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $17,926,997.76. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Callon Petroleum Trading Down 1.4 %

CPE opened at $30.44 on Friday. Callon Petroleum has a 1-year low of $28.91 and a 1-year high of $64.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The company has a market cap of $1.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 2.73. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $34.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $37.96.

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Callon Petroleum (NYSE:CPE  Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 3rd. The oil and natural gas company reported $1.94 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.96 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $560.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $535.29 million. Callon Petroleum had a return on equity of 27.29% and a net margin of 46.15%. The companys revenue was down 27.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.43 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Callon Petroleum will post 9.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Callon Petroleum

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CPE. Strs Ohio bought a new stake in Callon Petroleum in the 1st quarter worth about $26,000. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise bought a new stake in Callon Petroleum in the 1st quarter worth about $33,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its position in Callon Petroleum by 220.4% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,147 shares of the oil and natural gas companys stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 789 shares in the last quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Callon Petroleum in the 4th quarter worth about $50,000. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in Callon Petroleum by 25.2% in the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,296 shares of the oil and natural gas companys stock worth $135,000 after purchasing an additional 462 shares in the last quarter. 83.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on CPE shares. Royal Bank of Canada restated an outperform rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Callon Petroleum in a report on Wednesday, March 22nd. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Callon Petroleum in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a hold rating on the stock. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Callon Petroleum from $65.00 to $54.00 in a report on Friday, March 10th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Callon Petroleum from $55.00 to $71.00 in a report on Monday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Callon Petroleum from $56.00 to $58.00 in a report on Thursday, April 27th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Callon Petroleum presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $56.63.

About Callon Petroleum

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Callon Petroleum Co engages in the exploration, development, acquisition, and production of oil and natural gas properties in the United States. It focuses on unconventional oil and natural gas reserves in the Permian Basin. The company was founded by Sim C. Callon and John S. Callon in 1950 and is headquartered in Houston, TX.

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Central Asia Metals plc (LON:CAML  Get Rating) crossed below its two hundred day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of GBX 249.46 ($3.15) and traded as low as GBX 200.50 ($2.53). Central Asia Metals shares last traded at GBX 209 ($2.64), with a volume of 850,589 shares traded.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on CAML. Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a buy rating and set a GBX 265 ($3.34) target price on shares of Central Asia Metals in a research report on Wednesday, April 12th. Berenberg Bank reiterated a buy rating and set a GBX 320 ($4.04) target price on shares of Central Asia Metals in a research report on Wednesday, April 12th.

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Central Asia Metals Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 4.17 and a quick ratio of 1.97. The firm has a fifty day moving average of GBX 236.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of GBX 249.16. The stock has a market capitalization of 367.80 million, a P/E ratio of 1,464.29 and a beta of 1.16.

Central Asia Metals Dividend Announcement

Insider Activity at Central Asia Metals

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 27th will be issued a GBX 10 ($0.13) dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 27th. This represents a dividend yield of 3.98%. Central Asia Metalss payout ratio is currently 14,285.71%.

In other news, insider Mike Armitage bought 8,334 shares of Central Asia Metals stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 29th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of GBX 240 ($3.03) per share, for a total transaction of 20,001.60 ($25,238.61). In other news, insider Mike Armitage bought 8,334 shares of Central Asia Metals stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 29th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of GBX 240 ($3.03) per share, for a total transaction of 20,001.60 ($25,238.61). Also, insider Mike Prentis bought 5,000 shares of Central Asia Metals stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 27th. The stock was purchased at an average price of GBX 216 ($2.73) per share, with a total value of 10,800 ($13,627.76). 7.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Central Asia Metals

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Central Asia Metals plc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a base metals producer. The company produces copper, zinc, silver, and lead. It owns a 100% interest in the Kounrad solvent extraction- electrowinning operation located near the city of Balkhash in central Kazakhstan; and a 100% interest in the Sasa mine located in north eastern Macedonia.

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China Resources Beer (Holdings) Company Limited (OTCMKTS:CRHKY  Get Rating) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest during the month of April. As of April 30th, there was short interest totalling 200 shares, a decline of 93.3% from the April 15th total of 3,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 6,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.0 days.

China Resources Beer Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of OTCMKTS CRHKY traded down $0.12 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $13.79. The stock had a trading volume of 2,330 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,715. China Resources Beer has a fifty-two week low of $9.35 and a fifty-two week high of $16.64. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $15.49 and a 200-day moving average of $14.40.

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About China Resources Beer

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China Resources Beer (Holdings) Company Limited, an investment holding company, manufactures, distributes, and sells beer products. The company offers its products under the Heineken, Li, Lowen Fruit Beer, Snow Xiao Pi Qi, Amstel, and Edelweiss brand names. As of March 24, 2022, it operated 65 breweries in 24 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions in Mainland China.

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Cloud Peak Energy Inc. (OTCMKTS:CLDPQ  Get Rating) shares passed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $0.00 and traded as high as $0.00. Cloud Peak Energy shares last traded at $0.00, with a volume of 106,200 shares changing hands.

Cloud Peak Energy Price Performance

Cloud Peak Energy Company Profile

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Cloud Peak Energy Inc produces coal in the Powder River Basin and the United States. The company operates through Owned and Operated Mines, and Logistics and Related Activities. It owns and operates three surface coal mines comprising the Antelope Mine and the Cordero Rojo Mine located in Wyoming; and the Spring Creek Mine located in Montana.

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Select Medical (NYSE:SEM  Get Rating) had its price target upped by Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft from $35.00 to $37.00 in a research report report published on Monday, The Fly reports.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on SEM. Benchmark reaffirmed a buy rating and set a $39.00 target price on shares of Select Medical in a report on Monday, February 27th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Select Medical in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a hold rating for the company. Finally, Credit Suisse Group upped their target price on Select Medical from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Monday, February 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $35.75.

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Select Medical Price Performance

Shares of SEM stock opened at $28.32 on Monday. Select Medical has a fifty-two week low of $18.86 and a fifty-two week high of $32.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.94, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.66, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.11. The stocks 50-day simple moving average is $27.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $26.50.

Select Medical Announces Dividend

Select Medical ( NYSE:SEM Get Rating ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 5th. The health services provider reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.19. Select Medical had a return on equity of 13.35% and a net margin of 2.82%. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.65 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.37 earnings per share. The companys revenue was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Select Medical will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, May 18th will be given a dividend of $0.125 per share. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 17th. Select Medicals payout ratio is 35.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Select Medical news, CEO David S. Chernow sold 139,550 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Monday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.30, for a total value of $3,809,715.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 839,550 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,919,715. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Select Medical news, CEO David S. Chernow sold 139,550 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Monday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.30, for a total value of $3,809,715.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 839,550 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,919,715. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Chairman Robert A. Ortenzio sold 50,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Monday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.68, for a total value of $1,484,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 6,989,668 shares of the companys stock, valued at $207,453,346.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 199,594 shares of company stock worth $5,589,511. 19.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Select Medical

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Bank of Montreal Can grew its holdings in shares of Select Medical by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 19,733 shares of the health services providers stock worth $491,000 after purchasing an additional 409 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lifted its stake in Select Medical by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 7,386 shares of the health services providers stock worth $163,000 after acquiring an additional 473 shares in the last quarter. AMG National Trust Bank lifted its stake in Select Medical by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 42,896 shares of the health services providers stock worth $1,065,000 after acquiring an additional 503 shares in the last quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can lifted its stake in Select Medical by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 93,400 shares of the health services providers stock worth $2,297,000 after acquiring an additional 604 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC lifted its stake in Select Medical by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 9,922 shares of the health services providers stock worth $246,000 after acquiring an additional 631 shares in the last quarter. 78.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Select Medical

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Select Medical Holdings Corp. engages in the provision of medical rehabilitation services. It operates through the following business segments: Critical Illness Recovery Hospital, Rehabilitation Hospital, Outpatient Rehabilitation and Concentra. The Critical Illness Recovery Hospital segment serves patients with debilitating injuries and rehabilitation needs that cannot be adequately cared in a medically intensive environment, such as a skilled nursing facility.

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StockNews.com upgraded shares of Douglas Emmett (NYSE:DEI  Get Rating) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Monday morning.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Douglas Emmett from $20.00 to $15.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 10th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Douglas Emmett from $13.00 to $12.00 and set an underperform rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Douglas Emmett from $18.00 to $16.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. Credit Suisse Group lowered shares of Douglas Emmett from an outperform rating to a neutral rating and set a $16.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, January 9th. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of Douglas Emmett from $17.00 to $16.00 in a research note on Monday, March 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Douglas Emmett has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $15.78.

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Douglas Emmett Trading Down 2.4 %

Shares of NYSE DEI opened at $11.22 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 2.54 and a current ratio of 2.54. Douglas Emmett has a 52-week low of $10.62 and a 52-week high of $28.65. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $12.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $14.81. The stock has a market cap of $1.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.00 and a beta of 0.94.

Douglas Emmett Announces Dividend

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 31st were issued a $0.19 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 30th. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.77%. Douglas Emmetts dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 149.02%.

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of Douglas Emmett in the 1st quarter worth about $40,000. Signaturefd LLC increased its stake in shares of Douglas Emmett by 400.7% in the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,467 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 1,174 shares in the last quarter. Aspire Private Capital LLC grew its position in Douglas Emmett by 253.2% during the 4th quarter. Aspire Private Capital LLC now owns 1,660 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $26,028,800,000 after purchasing an additional 1,190 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC grew its position in Douglas Emmett by 1,128.4% during the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,506 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 2,302 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ellevest Inc. grew its position in Douglas Emmett by 103.8% during the 1st quarter. Ellevest Inc. now owns 2,981 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 1,518 shares during the last quarter. 97.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Douglas Emmett Company Profile

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Douglas Emmett, Inc is a real estate investment trust, engages in the acquisition, development, ownership, and management of real estate properties. It operates through the following segments: Office, and Multifamily. The Office segment comprises rental of office space and other tenant services, including parking and storage space rental.

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EMX Royalty Co. (NYSEAMERICAN:EMX  Get Rating) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of April. As of April 30th, there was short interest totalling 46,900 shares, an increase of 228.0% from the April 15th total of 14,300 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 136,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.3 days. Currently, 0.1% of the companys shares are short sold.

EMX Royalty Stock Down 1.5 %

EMX Royalty stock traded down $0.03 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $1.98. 104,669 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 142,390. The company has a quick ratio of 5.35, a current ratio of 5.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The firm has a market cap of $219.17 million, a P/E ratio of 49.50 and a beta of 0.78. EMX Royalty has a 12-month low of $1.57 and a 12-month high of $2.23.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, HC Wainwright reaffirmed a buy rating and set a $4.00 target price on shares of EMX Royalty in a research note on Thursday, March 30th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

About EMX Royalty

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Private Advisor Group LLC purchased a new stake in EMX Royalty in the first quarter valued at about $823,000. KCM Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in EMX Royalty in the first quarter valued at about $454,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its stake in EMX Royalty by 24.2% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 101,200 shares of the companys stock valued at $220,000 after buying an additional 19,729 shares during the last quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. raised its stake in EMX Royalty by 441.0% in the first quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 83,848 shares of the companys stock valued at $182,000 after buying an additional 68,348 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in EMX Royalty in the first quarter valued at about $122,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 8.74% of the companys stock.

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EMX Royalty Corp. engages in the acquisition and exploration of precious and base metals properties. The firm focuses on the gold, copper, silver, lead, zinc and molybdenum properties. It conducts exploration on properties located primarily in Turkey, Haiti, Kyrgyz Republic, Europe, Southwest United States, and Asia Pacific.

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Shares of ETRACS Linked to the Wells Fargo Business Development Company Index ETN Series B (NYSEARCA:BDCZ  Get Rating) were down 0.3% on Thursday . The company traded as low as $16.36 and last traded at $16.42. Approximately 647 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 88% from the average daily volume of 5,487 shares. The stock had previously closed at $16.47.

ETRACS Linked to the Wells Fargo Business Development Company Index ETN Series B Stock Performance

The business has a 50-day moving average of $16.63 and a two-hundred day moving average of $17.07.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

An institutional investor recently bought a new position in ETRACS Linked to the Wells Fargo Business Development Company Index ETN Series B stock. Eudaimonia Partners LLC bought a new stake in ETRACS Linked to the Wells Fargo Business Development Company Index ETN Series B (NYSEARCA:BDCZ  Get Rating) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 13,034 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $266,000. Eudaimonia Partners LLC owned about 0.45% of ETRACS Linked to the Wells Fargo Business Development Company Index ETN Series B at the end of the most recent quarter.

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EVRAZ plc (LON:EVR  Get Rating)s stock price crossed below its two hundred day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of GBX 81 ($1.02) and traded as low as GBX 81 ($1.02). EVRAZ shares last traded at GBX 81 ($1.02), with a volume of 13,219 shares traded.

EVRAZ Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of 1.18 billion, a PE ratio of 41.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.05 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 68.87. The business has a 50-day moving average price of GBX 81 and a two-hundred day moving average price of GBX 81.

EVRAZ Company Profile

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EVRAZ plc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the production and distribution of steel and related products in Russia, the Americas, Asia, Europe, CIS, Africa, and internationally. It operates through four segments: Steel; Steel, North America; Coal; and Other Operations. The company offers steel and value-added products, including infrastructure steel, rails, large-diameter pipes, and oil country tubular goods.

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Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Frontline (NYSE:FRO  Get Rating) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning, The Fly reports. The brokerage currently has $17.00 price objective on the shipping companys stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Frontline from $16.50 to $19.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research report on Monday, March 6th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Frontline from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note on Saturday, March 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $15.33.

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Frontline Price Performance

Frontline stock opened at $15.08 on Monday. Frontline has a 52-week low of $7.48 and a 52-week high of $19.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.01 and a beta of 0.21. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $16.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $14.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 2.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93.

Frontline Increases Dividend

Frontline ( NYSE:FRO Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 28th. The shipping company reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.11). Frontline had a net margin of 33.05% and a return on equity of 17.23%. The firm had revenue of $530.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $363.39 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.02) EPS. The companys revenue was up 148.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Frontline will post 3.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 16th were issued a $0.30 dividend. This is an increase from Frontlines previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.96%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 15th. Frontlines dividend payout ratio is presently 199.07%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Frontline

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of FRO. Godsey & Gibb Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Frontline during the 1st quarter worth $25,000. State of Wyoming purchased a new stake in shares of Frontline during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Tucker Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Frontline during the 1st quarter worth $46,000. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Frontline by 2,767.0% during the 1st quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,953 shares of the shipping companys stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 2,850 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Optiver Holding B.V. purchased a new stake in shares of Frontline in the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. 35.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Frontline Company Profile

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Frontline Plc is an international shipping company, which engages in the ownership and operation of oil and product tankers. It also offers the seaborne transportation of crude oil and oil products. The company was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Limmasol, Cyprus.

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The Sunshine State has seen a tremendous amount of increase in the rental market over the past few years. Between 2020 to 2022 alone, rental prices rose 36%, according to Florida Tax Watch. While the rate of rental price increase has slowed, rentals in the state are still in demand.

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If youre drawn to the allure of Floridas beaches and temperate climate but not in a position to buy a home, renting is always an option. However, that might not be so easy, according to Rentdata.org, which states that Florida has the 18th highest rent in the country (out of 56 states and territories). Finding affordable rent may be a challenge, depending upon your income.

The rate of rental increases seems to be slowing, but not stopping. Some forecasts are suggesting that demand for rentals is slowing, and supply is increasing, which may drop prices the further into 2023, but at the moment, prices are still fairly high.

A general rule about rent is that it should not exceed more than 30% of your household income. If rent runs more than that, a household is considered cost burdened.

According to Florida Tax Watch, lower earning Floridians are at risk of being cost burdened when it comes to increasing rental costs. With the average median income for Florida households sitting at $61,777.13, most households in that lower earning wage group are using about 40% or more of their income for rent, meaning they are cost burdened.

To determine whether you can afford rent in Florida, GoBankingRates researched key data on the cost of rent in different parts of the state and the earnings required to pay for it.

Variations in Rental Markets

The fair market rent in Florida is $1,134 for a two-bedroom apartment in the Gainesville Metro area. A studio or efficiency is $854 per month, and a house or an apartment with 4 bedrooms is $1,523 per month, according to RentData.org.

Story continues

In big metro areas, these prices can be significantly higher. The following comes from ApartmentList:

Miamis prices have increased 8.7% from 2022. The median price of a one-bedroom apartment in Miami is $1,622, while a two-bedroom apartment is $2,150.

In Ft. Lauderdale, prices increased by 3.7% from the same time last year. The one-bedroom median price is $1,609, and two-bedrooms are $1,962.

In Tampa, rent prices rose 2.1% year-over-year. The median rent price for a one-bedroom unit is $1,427, and two-bedrooms are $1,806.

Orlandos rent prices rose 3.8% year-over-year. Currently, the median rent price for a one-bedroom apartment is $1,404 while two-bedrooms are $1,733.

While its impossible to predict exactly what rental prices will do, many people hope for a cooling of the rental market. Especially given the fact that approximately 15% of Floridas population qualifies for housing assistance (or around 40,216 people), according to RentData.org.

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What You Need To Earn

According to The National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) as of their 2022 Out of Reach report, the 2022 national housing wage was $25.82 per hour for a modest two-bedroom rental home and $21.25 per hour for a one-bedroom rental home.

With the Federal minimum wage being $7.25 per hour, and the state minimum wage at $11/per hour (to increase to $12 in September 2023), the average Florida worker is put in a tough position. To afford rent, employees may have to work multiple jobs or find someone to share the costs.

According to the NLIHC, even for workers who earn the higher state or county minimum wage in Florida, the average minimum-wage worker would have to put in 96 hours per week (or two and a half jobs worth of hours) to afford a two-bedroom rental, and 79 hours to afford a one-bedroom at the current fair market rate.

Rental Assistance

For people who cant afford the rent in Florida but need to live there, they can turn to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for resources, such as public housing agencies, an eviction prevention toolkit, Federal tax credit housing assistance, and other resources that can either offset the costs of rent or find low-income housing opportunities.

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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Can I Afford Rent in Florida?
StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Golden Star Resources (NYSE:GSS  Get Rating) in a research report sent to investors on Monday. The firm issued a hold rating on the stock.

Golden Star Resources Price Performance

Golden Star Resources has a 12-month low of $2.04 and a 12-month high of $4.04.

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About Golden Star Resources

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Golden Star is an established gold mining company that owns and operates the Wassa underground mine in Ghana, West Africa. Listed on the NYSE American, the Toronto Stock Exchange and the Ghanaian Stock Exchange, Golden Star is focused on delivering strong margins and free cash flow. Since winning the PDAC 2018 Environmental and Social Responsibility Award, Golden Star has remained committed to leaving a positive and sustainable legacy in its areas of operation.

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Sendas Distribuidora (NYSE:ASAI  Get Rating) is one of 51 public companies in the Grocery stores industry, but how does it contrast to its competitors? We will compare Sendas Distribuidora to related businesses based on the strength of its dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, earnings, risk and profitability.

Profitability

This table compares Sendas Distribuidora and its competitors net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

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Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Sendas Distribuidora N/A N/A N/A Sendas Distribuidora Competitors 1.73% 15.29% 4.59%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Sendas Distribuidora and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Sendas Distribuidora 0 1 0 0 2.00 Sendas Distribuidora Competitors 1096 2655 2839 109 2.29

Dividends

As a group, Grocery stores companies have a potential upside of 8.38%. Given Sendas Distribuidoras competitors stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Sendas Distribuidora has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Sendas Distribuidora pays an annual dividend of $0.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Sendas Distribuidora pays out 10.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, Grocery stores companies pay a dividend yield of 3.3% and pay out 58.2% of their earnings in the form of a dividend.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

4.4% of Sendas Distribuidora shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 46.1% of shares of all Grocery stores companies are held by institutional investors. 0.4% of Sendas Distribuidora shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 21.1% of shares of all Grocery stores companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Sendas Distribuidora and its competitors revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

Gross Revenue Net Income Price/Earnings Ratio Sendas Distribuidora $58.17 billion $236.31 million 15.12 Sendas Distribuidora Competitors $30.55 billion $704.32 million 225.01

Sendas Distribuidora has higher revenue, but lower earnings than its competitors. Sendas Distribuidora 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.

Risk & Volatility

Sendas Distribuidora has a beta of 0.77, indicating that its share price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sendas Distribuidoras competitors have a beta of -2.58, indicating that their average share price is 358% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Sendas Distribuidora competitors beat Sendas Distribuidora on 12 of the 15 factors compared.

About Sendas Distribuidora

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Sendas Distribuidora S.A. engages in the retail and wholesale sale of food products, bazaar items, and other products in Brazil. As of March 31, 2022, the company operated 216 stores under the Assai banner, as well as 13 distribution centers. It serves restaurants, pizzerias, snack bars, schools, small businesses, religious institutions, hospitals, hotels, grocery stores, neighborhood supermarkets, and individuals. The company sells its products through brick-and-mortar stores, as well as through telesales. Sendas Distribuidora S.A. was founded in 1974 and is headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

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Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC  Get Rating) Director Gayle A. Crowell bought 7,200 shares of Hercules Capital stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 8th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $13.66 per share, with a total value of $98,352.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 38,845 shares in the company, valued at approximately $530,622.70. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Hercules Capital Price Performance

Shares of NYSE HTGC opened at $13.58 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.93 billion, a PE ratio of 9.24 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 3.31 and a quick ratio of 3.31. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $12.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $13.75. Hercules Capital, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $10.94 and a fifty-two week high of $16.28.

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Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC  Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.05. Hercules Capital had a return on equity of 15.58% and a net margin of 55.30%. The firm had revenue of $100.19 million during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $91.34 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.35 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Hercules Capital, Inc. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hercules Capital Increases Dividend

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 23rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.47 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 15th. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 13.84%. This is a boost from Hercules Capitals previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Hercules Capitals payout ratio is 106.12%.

Several research analysts have recently commented on HTGC shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded Hercules Capital from a market perform rating to an underperform rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $14.50 to $10.50 in a research note on Monday, March 13th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Hercules Capital from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Friday, February 17th. StockNews.com began coverage on Hercules Capital in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a hold rating for the company. JMP Securities dropped their price target on Hercules Capital from $18.00 to $15.00 in a report on Monday. Finally, Piper Sandler raised Hercules Capital from a neutral rating to an overweight rating and set a $16.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, April 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $14.71.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hercules Capital

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. PFG Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Hercules Capital during the 1st quarter worth $303,000. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 100,977 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $1,302,000 after buying an additional 2,828 shares in the last quarter. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. grew its position in Hercules Capital by 18.1% during the 1st quarter. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 216,023 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $2,785,000 after acquiring an additional 33,102 shares during the last quarter. Tucker Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Hercules Capital during the 1st quarter worth $61,000. Finally, Golden Green Inc. bought a new stake in Hercules Capital during the 1st quarter worth $1,800,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 23.77% of the companys stock.

Hercules Capital Company Profile

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Hercules is the largest non-bank lender to venture capital-backed companies at all stages of development in a broadly diversified variety of technology, life sciences, and sustainable and renewable technology industries. With over a decade of experience in venture debt, Hercules is uniquely positioned to quickly create innovative financing solutions that perfectly fit within a companys existing capital structure and map to its business objectives.

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VTEX (NYSE:VTEX  Get Rating) was upgraded by analysts at Itau BBA Securities from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a report released on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage presently has a $6.00 price objective on the stock. Itau BBA Securities price objective indicates a potential upside of 54.24% from the stocks current price.

VTEX has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an overweight rating and set a $5.00 price target on shares of VTEX in a research note on Friday, March 3rd. DA Davidson began coverage on shares of VTEX in a report on Wednesday, March 8th. They issued a buy rating and a $5.00 price target for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $5.40.

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VTEX Stock Up 5.1 %

Shares of VTEX opened at $3.89 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 4.63 and a quick ratio of 4.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $735.18 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -18.52 and a beta of 0.99. VTEX has a 1 year low of $2.66 and a 1 year high of $5.48. The businesss 50 day simple moving average is $3.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $3.88.

Institutional Trading of VTEX

VTEX Company Profile

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Truxt Investmentos Ltda. bought a new stake in shares of VTEX during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $8,396,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in VTEX in the 1st quarter worth about $8,747,000. Riverwood Capital Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in VTEX by 35.6% during the 1st quarter. Riverwood Capital Management Ltd. now owns 5,073,063 shares of the companys stock valued at $19,481,000 after buying an additional 1,333,188 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in VTEX by 19.3% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 4,129,649 shares of the companys stock valued at $25,397,000 after buying an additional 667,849 shares during the period. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new position in VTEX in the 1st quarter worth about $3,245,000. 38.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

(Get Rating)

VTEX provides software-as-a-service digital commerce platform for enterprise brands and retailers. Its platform enables customers to execute their commerce strategy, including building online stores, integrating, and managing orders across channels, and creating marketplaces to sell products from third-party vendors.

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Brookfield (NYSE:BN  Get Rating) was downgraded by equities researchers at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a note issued to investors on Friday, The Fly reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on BN. TheStreet upgraded shares of Brookfield from a d+ rating to a c rating in a research report on Monday, January 23rd. Credit Suisse Group upgraded shares of Brookfield from a neutral rating to an outperform rating and set a $41.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Brookfield from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, February 10th. TD Securities decreased their price objective on shares of Brookfield from $63.00 to $62.00 and set an action list buy rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Brookfield from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, February 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Buy and a consensus price target of $51.00.

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Brookfield Stock Performance

Shares of BN opened at $31.20 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. The firm has a market cap of $51.10 billion, a PE ratio of 26.90 and a beta of 1.41. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $31.39. Brookfield has a 1 year low of $28.25 and a 1 year high of $54.08.

Insider Buying and Selling

Brookfield ( NYSE:BN Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 9th. The company reported ($0.23) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $24.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. Brookfield had a net margin of 2.22% and a return on equity of 1.55%.

In other Brookfield news, Director Multi-Strategy Mast Brookfield sold 24,744 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.96, for a total value of $295,938.24. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 21,104,923 shares in the company, valued at approximately $252,414,879.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 11.00% of the companys stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. RMB Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Brookfield by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. RMB Capital Management LLC now owns 16,707 shares of the companys stock valued at $544,000 after purchasing an additional 350 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC increased its stake in shares of Brookfield by 15.4% during the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,672 shares of the companys stock valued at $87,000 after acquiring an additional 356 shares during the last quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Brookfield by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 15,313 shares of the companys stock worth $499,000 after acquiring an additional 475 shares during the period. ClariVest Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Brookfield by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. ClariVest Asset Management LLC now owns 189,070 shares of the companys stock worth $6,152,000 after acquiring an additional 490 shares during the period. Finally, FirstPurpose Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Brookfield by 5.8% during the 1st quarter. FirstPurpose Wealth LLC now owns 9,311 shares of the companys stock worth $303,000 after acquiring an additional 513 shares during the period. 60.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Brookfield Company Profile

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Brookfield Corp. engages in the management of public and private investment products and services for institutional and retail clients. It operates through the following business segments: Renewable Power and Transition, Infrastructure, Private Equity, Real Estate, and Credit and Insurance Solutions.

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Lenovo Group Limited (OTCMKTS:LNVGY  Get Rating) shares passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $17.81 and traded as high as $19.98. Lenovo Group shares last traded at $19.98, with a volume of 22,475 shares traded.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Lenovo Group from a neutral rating to an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, March 24th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Lenovo Group from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 2nd.

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Lenovo Group Price Performance

The stocks 50-day moving average is $20.42 and its 200 day moving average is $17.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.64. The company has a market cap of $11.89 billion, a PE ratio of 6.64 and a beta of 0.98.

Lenovo Group Company Profile

Lenovo Group ( OTCMKTS:LNVGY Get Rating ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 16th. The technology company reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $0.75 by ($0.06). Lenovo Group had a net margin of 2.89% and a return on equity of 34.03%. The firm had revenue of $15.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $16.96 billion. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Lenovo Group Limited will post 2.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

(Get Rating)

Lenovo Group Limited, an investment holding company, develops, manufactures, and markets technology products and services. It operates through Intelligent Devices Group, Infrastructure Solutions Group, and Solutions and Services Group segments. The company offers commercial and consumer personal computers, as well as servers and workstations; and a family of mobile Internet devices, including tablets and smartphones.

Further Reading

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Mettler-Toledo International (NYSE:MTD  Get Rating) had its price objective reduced by Wells Fargo & Company from $1,675.00 to $1,660.00 in a research report report published on Monday morning, The Fly reports.

MTD has been the subject of a number of other reports. Citigroup increased their price target on Mettler-Toledo International from $1,350.00 to $1,525.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Monday, February 13th. Bank of America reduced their price target on Mettler-Toledo International from $1,650.00 to $1,525.00 in a report on Sunday, May 7th. TheStreet raised shares of Mettler-Toledo International from a c+ rating to a b- rating in a report on Thursday, February 2nd. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Mettler-Toledo International from $1,513.00 to $1,454.00 in a report on Monday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Mettler-Toledo International from $1,700.00 to $1,650.00 in a report on Monday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mettler-Toledo International presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $1,469.50.

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Mettler-Toledo International Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MTD opened at $1,348.08 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $29.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.23, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 76.98, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 1.28. Mettler-Toledo International has a one year low of $1,065.55 and a one year high of $1,615.97. The businesss 50-day simple moving average is $1,491.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $1,465.93.

Insider Activity

Mettler-Toledo International ( NYSE:MTD Get Rating ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 4th. The medical instruments supplier reported $8.69 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.61 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $928.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $921.19 million. Mettler-Toledo International had a negative return on equity of 4,833.51% and a net margin of 22.45%. The companys revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $7.87 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Mettler-Toledo International will post 43.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

In other news, Director Robert F. Spoerry sold 1,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,565.00, for a total transaction of $1,565,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,548 shares of the companys stock, valued at $10,247,620. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Gerry Keller sold 474 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Monday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,540.69, for a total transaction of $730,287.06. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 449 shares of the companys stock, valued at $691,769.81. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert F. Spoerry sold 1,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,565.00, for a total value of $1,565,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,548 shares in the company, valued at $10,247,620. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 18,022 shares of company stock valued at $26,391,416. 2.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Mettler-Toledo International by 8.0% in the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 176 shares of the medical instruments suppliers stock valued at $242,000 after buying an additional 13 shares during the period. Raymond James Trust N.A. raised its holdings in shares of Mettler-Toledo International by 19.7% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 176 shares of the medical instruments suppliers stock worth $242,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Mettler-Toledo International by 48.9% in the 1st quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 834 shares of the medical instruments suppliers stock worth $1,172,000 after purchasing an additional 274 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in shares of Mettler-Toledo International by 4.2% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 16,305 shares of the medical instruments suppliers stock worth $21,817,000 after purchasing an additional 662 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prudential PLC acquired a new position in shares of Mettler-Toledo International in the 1st quarter worth $626,000. 91.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Mettler-Toledo International Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Mettler-Toledo International, Inc engages in the provision of precision instruments and services. The firm manufactures weighing instruments for use in laboratory, industrial, packaging, logistics, and food retailing applications. It also manufactures several related analytical instruments and provides automated chemistry solutions used in drug and chemical compound discovery and development, metal detection and other end-of-line inspection systems used in production and packaging and provides solutions for use in certain process analytics applications.

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Mosaic (NYSE:MOS  Get Rating) had its price objective lowered by Royal Bank of Canada from $50.00 to $45.00 in a research report released on Monday morning, The Fly reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has a sector perform rating on the basic materials companys stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Barclays lowered their target price on Mosaic from $54.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Friday, May 5th. StockNews.com began coverage on Mosaic in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They set a hold rating for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Mosaic from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $60.00 to $46.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 6th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on Mosaic from $54.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Friday, May 5th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on Mosaic from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Monday, February 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Mosaic presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $49.47.

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Mosaic Trading Down 2.6 %

NYSE MOS opened at $35.95 on Monday. Mosaic has a fifty-two week low of $34.70 and a fifty-two week high of $66.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 1.13. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $44.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $47.59. The stock has a market cap of $12.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.49.

Mosaic Cuts Dividend

Mosaic ( NYSE:MOS Get Rating ) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 3rd. The basic materials company reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $1.28 by ($0.14). The firm had revenue of $3.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $3.26 billion. Mosaic had a net margin of 15.08% and a return on equity of 28.64%. The companys revenue for the quarter was down 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.41 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Mosaic will post 6.28 earnings per share for the current year.

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 1st will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 31st. Mosaics payout ratio is currently 12.39%.

Institutional Trading of Mosaic

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Mosaic by 0.5% in the first quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 88,802 shares of the basic materials companys stock worth $4,074,000 after acquiring an additional 460 shares during the period. Shelton Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of Mosaic in the first quarter worth $2,082,000. PFG Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mosaic in the first quarter worth $243,000. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Mosaic by 0.8% during the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 87,227 shares of the basic materials companys stock valued at $4,002,000 after purchasing an additional 653 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Seaview Investment Managers LLC purchased a new position in Mosaic during the first quarter valued at $532,000. Institutional investors own 85.00% of the companys stock.

About Mosaic

(Get Rating)

The Mosaic Co engages in the production and marketing of concentrated phosphate and potash crop nutrients. It operates through the following segments: Phosphates, Potash, and Mosaic Fertilizantes. The Phosphates segment is involved in the ownership and operation of mines and production facilities which produce concentrated phosphate crop nutrients and phosphate-based animal feed ingredients, and processing plants which produce concentrated phosphate crop nutrients.

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Petropavlovsk PLC (LON:POG  Get Rating)s stock price crossed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of GBX 1.20 ($0.02) and traded as high as GBX 1.65 ($0.02). Petropavlovsk shares last traded at GBX 1.20 ($0.02), with a volume of 26,359,046 shares trading hands.

Petropavlovsk Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of 47.51 million and a PE ratio of 120.00. The companys fifty day simple moving average is GBX 1.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is GBX 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 79.95, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 1.86.

About Petropavlovsk

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Petropavlovsk PLC operates as a gold mining company in the Far East of Russia. It principally holds interests in the Pioneer, Albyn, and Malomir mining assets, as well as holds various gold licenses located in Amur region. The company also produces silver deposits. In addition, it provides construction, project and engineering, research, repair and maintenance, and transportation services; and operates educational institutes.

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Laurentian Bank of Canada (TSE:LB  Get Rating)  Stock analysts at Desjardins dropped their Q2 2023 EPS estimates for shares of Laurentian Bank of Canada in a note issued to investors on Monday, May 8th. Desjardins analyst D. Young now anticipates that the company will post earnings per share of $1.06 for the quarter, down from their prior estimate of $1.19. The consensus estimate for Laurentian Bank of Canadas current full-year earnings is $4.89 per share. Desjardins also issued estimates for Laurentian Bank of Canadas FY2024 earnings at $4.95 EPS.

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LB has been the subject of a number of other reports. Scotiabank dropped their target price on shares of Laurentian Bank of Canada from C$39.00 to C$38.00 in a research note on Friday, February 17th. Cormark dropped their price target on shares of Laurentian Bank of Canada from C$45.00 to C$42.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 1st. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Laurentian Bank of Canada from C$36.00 to C$34.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, CSFB raised their price target on shares of Laurentian Bank of Canada from C$34.00 to C$35.00 in a research report on Friday, February 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of C$40.36.

Laurentian Bank of Canada Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of TSE LB opened at C$30.91 on Wednesday. Laurentian Bank of Canada has a 1-year low of C$28.23 and a 1-year high of C$43.32. The company has a market cap of C$1.34 billion, a PE ratio of 6.35, a P/E/G ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a 50-day moving average of C$31.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of C$32.90.

Laurentian Bank of Canada (TSE:LB  Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 28th. The company reported C$1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of C$1.12 by C$0.03. Laurentian Bank of Canada had a net margin of 22.90% and a return on equity of 8.15%. The company had revenue of C$260.07 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of C$259.00 million.

Laurentian Bank of Canada Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 1st. Investors of record on Monday, May 1st were issued a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 31st. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.95%. Laurentian Bank of Canadas dividend payout ratio is presently 37.78%.

About Laurentian Bank of Canada

(Get Rating)

Laurentian Bank of Canada, together with its subsidiaries, provides various financial services to personal, business, and institutional customers in Canada and the United States. It operates through three segments: Personal Banking, Commercial Banking, and Capital Markets. The Personal Banking segment offers financial services, such as financial advisory services to financial intermediaries; and operates digital direct-to-customer platform to retail clients.

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A new rivalry is brewing in the world of AI developments. Google's freshly updated AI chatbot, Bard, is giving OpenAI's ChatGPT a run for its money, threatening to topple its hegemony.

On May 10, Google held its annual Google I/O conference and made Bard accessible to the world, introducing a series of upgrades aimed at keeping it ahead of the curve. Users can access Bard for free, and it's now available in over 180 countries.

Google introduced Bard in February, but it was not too impressive. After hallucinating live and falsely claiming that the James Webb Space Telescope took the very first pictures of "exoplanets," people quickly pointed out its flaws, Googles stock sank, and its parent company Alphabet lost $100 billion.

That version of Bard was trained on a large language model called LaMDA. This new version runs on PaLM 2, which Google says significantly outperforms PaLM while using significantly less compute at inference time.

Google also announced different versions of its model. The lightest one, Gecko, is primed for smartphone integration which means youll be able to run it locally on your own Android device. Google also developed other more capable and powerful versions: Otter, Bison, and Unicorn.

Image: Google

For context, the most powerful version of the previous PaLM was trained on 540 billion parameters (3X the parameters used for GPT-3.5). Google didnt disclose any more characteristics about these PaLM2-based models.

Bard vs ChatGPT: A five-minute comparison

Decrypt compared both models, and the results were very satisfactory. First, we asked it to translate a couple of phrases from English to Spanish and vice versa. These were phrases that, if translated literally, would not make any sense. Both provided a good result, but Google gave us more context to properly understand their meaning, not just their translation.

Bard's reply

ChatGPT's reply

When it comes to coding, Bard is a clear winner. Supporting over 20 programming languages, it can help professionals with code generation, explanation, and debugging. ChatGPT is also able to generate snippets of code, but it takes a considerably longer time. In our test, we asked both chatbots to create a simple HTML file with a button that shows an emoji every time we press it; ChatGPT took about 30 seconds, whereas Bard provided an answer almost immediately.

Story continues

Results using Bard's code

Results using ChatGPT's code

Internet connectivity is also a major plus. We asked the two models for the differences between OpenAIs GPT-4 and Googles PaLM2. ChatGPT couldnt reply because it was limited to information from before 2021. Bard said this:

Bard's reply (cropped)

It then provided more details and technical information about each model.

We cheated a little bit and asked the same question to Microsofts Bingwhich also uses GPT-4. It said: GPT-4 is larger and has been trained on a wider variety of data, which gives it a wider range of capabilities  PaLM 2 is smaller and has been trained on a more focused dataset, which gives it better accuracy and less bias.

Bing provided sources to back up its information. Bard didnt. This can make it easier to spot possible fake news, unbacked claims, and hallucinations. Also, ChatGPT let us access our previous interactions, whereas Bard only showed us the title of our queries and nothing else.

Meet Chaos-GPT: An AI Tool That Seeks to Destroy Humanity

Conclusion

People have been using ChatGPT for a while, which is key for prompt engineering, tips sharing, and social adoption (ChatGPT has become a household name in techBard hasnt yet). However, the fact that Bard is free and the GPT4-powered version of ChatGPT is $20 a month could be key to giving the trophy to Googles chatbot, for now.

OpenAI has promised to update ChatGPT to make it multimodal and compatible with plugins, and Google is doing pretty much the same. In this era of AI-powered chatbots, Google, Microsoft, and Meta are vying to provide the most innovative and powerful offerings.

While OpenAIs ChatGPT had the early mover advantage when it launched in September 2022, Google is not one to be left behind.
StockNews.com cut shares of Quanex Building Products (NYSE:NX  Get Rating) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Tuesday.

Separately, Benchmark reaffirmed a buy rating and set a $28.00 target price on shares of Quanex Building Products in a report on Tuesday, March 14th.

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Quanex Building Products Stock Performance

Shares of NX stock opened at $20.12 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $668.77 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.42 and a beta of 1.35. The companys 50 day moving average is $20.62 and its 200 day moving average is $22.97. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 2.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Quanex Building Products has a 52-week low of $18.00 and a 52-week high of $27.04.

Quanex Building Products Dividend Announcement

Quanex Building Products ( NYSE:NX Get Rating ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 9th. The construction company reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Quanex Building Products had a return on equity of 18.33% and a net margin of 6.50%. The company had revenue of $261.92 million for the quarter.

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 15th were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 14th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.59%. Quanex Building Productss dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.39%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of NX. State of Wyoming raised its position in Quanex Building Products by 40.4% in the 4th quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 1,435 shares of the construction companys stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 413 shares during the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. lifted its position in Quanex Building Products by 229.6% in the third quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 1,661 shares of the construction companys stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 1,157 shares during the period. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd raised its position in Quanex Building Products by 494.3% in the third quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd now owns 2,187 shares of the construction companys stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 1,819 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its holdings in Quanex Building Products by 63.1% in the first quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 2,316 shares of the construction companys stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 896 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC grew its holdings in Quanex Building Products by 43.7% in the second quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,938 shares of the construction companys stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 893 shares during the last quarter. 98.49% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Quanex Building Products

(Get Rating)

Quanex Building Products Corp. engages in the manufacture of components sold to original equipment manufacturers in the building products industry. It also designs and produces energy-efficient fenestration products in addition to kitchen and bath cabinet components. The firm operates through the following segments: North American Fenestration, European Fenestration, North American Cabinet Components, and Unallocated Corporate and Other.

Further Reading

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Shares of Randgold Resources Limited (LON:RRS  Get Rating) crossed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of GBX 6,546 ($82.60) and traded as high as GBX 6,862 ($86.59). Randgold Resources shares last traded at GBX 6,546 ($82.60), with a volume of 51,000 shares traded.

Randgold Resources Stock Performance

The businesss 50 day moving average price is GBX 6,546 and its 200 day moving average price is GBX 6,546.

About Randgold Resources

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Randgold Resources Limited is engaged in gold mining, exploration and related activities. The Companys activities are focused on West and Central Africa. The Company operates through the gold mining segment. The Company operates various mines, such as Morila, Loulo, Gounkoto, Tongon and Kibali. The Company is exploring in African countries, such as Mali, Senegal, Cote dIvoire and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

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Reinsurance Group of America (NYSE:RGA  Get Rating) had its price target raised by Barclays from $146.00 to $149.00 in a research note released on Tuesday, The Fly reports.

RGA has been the topic of a number of other reports. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on Reinsurance Group of America in a research note on Tuesday, April 25th. They issued an overweight rating and a $163.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded Reinsurance Group of America from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Friday, March 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Reinsurance Group of America from $147.00 to $162.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Monday, January 9th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Reinsurance Group of America from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Reinsurance Group of America from $170.00 to $164.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 20th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, Reinsurance Group of America currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $155.80.

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Reinsurance Group of America Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:RGA opened at $149.49 on Tuesday. The companys 50-day moving average is $136.65 and its 200 day moving average is $141.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.13 and a current ratio of 0.14. The company has a market capitalization of $9.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.79 and a beta of 0.91. Reinsurance Group of America has a fifty-two week low of $109.06 and a fifty-two week high of $153.35.

Reinsurance Group of America Dividend Announcement

Reinsurance Group of America ( NYSE:RGA Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 5th. The insurance provider reported $5.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $3.37 by $1.79. Reinsurance Group of America had a return on equity of 23.94% and a net margin of 5.66%. The business had revenue of $4.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $4.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.47 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Reinsurance Group of America will post 16.36 earnings per share for the current year.

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 16th will be paid a $0.80 dividend. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 15th. Reinsurance Group of Americas dividend payout ratio is currently 23.10%.

Institutional Trading of Reinsurance Group of America

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of RGA. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Reinsurance Group of America by 27.3% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 132,902 shares of the insurance providers stock worth $14,548,000 after buying an additional 28,536 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Reinsurance Group of America by 13.0% during the first quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 2,817 shares of the insurance providers stock valued at $309,000 after purchasing an additional 324 shares during the period. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can boosted its stake in shares of Reinsurance Group of America by 11.6% during the first quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 39,323 shares of the insurance providers stock valued at $4,428,000 after purchasing an additional 4,073 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Reinsurance Group of America by 20.9% during the first quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 10,421 shares of the insurance providers stock valued at $1,141,000 after purchasing an additional 1,799 shares during the period. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its stake in shares of Reinsurance Group of America by 47.8% during the first quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 368 shares of the insurance providers stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.46% of the companys stock.

About Reinsurance Group of America

(Get Rating)

Reinsurance Group of America, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of traditional and non-traditional life and health reinsurance products. It operates through the following segments: U.S. and Latin America, Canada, Europe, Middle East, and Africa, Asia Pacific, and Corporate and Other.

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Malaga Financial Co. (OTCMKTS:MLGF  Get Rating) saw a significant decline in short interest in the month of April. As of April 30th, there was short interest totalling 100 shares, a decline of 50.0% from the April 15th total of 200 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 7,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.0 days.

Malaga Financial Price Performance

MLGF remained flat at $22.00 during trading on Thursday. The companys stock had a trading volume of 6,378 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,877. The company has a market cap of $188.06 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.37 and a beta of 0.52. Malaga Financial has a 52 week low of $20.75 and a 52 week high of $24.29. The companys fifty day simple moving average is $22.28 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $23.11.

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Malaga Financial Company Profile

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Further Reading

Malaga Financial Corp. operates as the holding company for Malaga Bank, which engages in the provision of financial services. It offers personal, checking, savings, business, money market, and business banking checking accounts, certificates of deposit, business loans, and business banking and lending services.

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StockNews.com lowered shares of Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO  Get Rating) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report released on Tuesday morning.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on SCCO. Morgan Stanley cut Southern Copper from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and set a $70.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, March 29th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Southern Copper from $53.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Friday, April 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Southern Copper from $55.00 to $56.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 3rd. UBS Group upped their price target on Southern Copper from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a sell rating in a research note on Thursday, February 23rd. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on Southern Copper from $40.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 11th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $62.29.

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Southern Copper Price Performance

SCCO stock opened at $69.45 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 3.38 and a current ratio of 4.17. The stocks 50 day moving average price is $75.36 and its 200 day moving average price is $68.51. The firm has a market cap of $53.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.13, a PEG ratio of 16.83 and a beta of 1.23. Southern Copper has a 1 year low of $42.42 and a 1 year high of $82.05.

Southern Copper Cuts Dividend

Insider Transactions at Southern Copper

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 23rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 9th will be given a dividend of $0.95 per share. This represents a $3.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.47%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 8th. Southern Coppers payout ratio is currently 115.94%.

In other news, Director Bonilla Luis Miguel Palomino sold 500 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.97, for a total transaction of $39,485.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,514 shares of the companys stock, valued at $514,410.58. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, Director Andreve Vicente Ariztegui sold 1,500 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.11, for a total transaction of $114,165.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 4,400 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $334,884. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Bonilla Luis Miguel Palomino sold 500 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.97, for a total transaction of $39,485.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 6,514 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $514,410.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 2,500 shares of company stock valued at $192,900. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southern Copper

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Clearview Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Southern Copper in the 1st quarter worth about $26,000. Accurate Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Southern Copper during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in Southern Copper during the 1st quarter valued at $30,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P bought a new stake in Southern Copper during the 1st quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Boyd Watterson Asset Management LLC OH bought a new stake in Southern Copper during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 7.03% of the companys stock.

About Southern Copper

(Get Rating)

Southern Copper Corp. engages in the development, production, and exploration of copper, molybdenum, zinc, and silver. It operates through the following segments: Peruvian Operations, Mexican Open-Pit Operations, and Mexican Underground Mining Operations. The Peruvian Operations segment focuses on the Toquepala and Cuajone mine complexes and the smelting and refining plants, industrial railroad, and port facilities that service both mines.

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ATB Capital cut shares of TransAlta Renewables (TSE:RNW  Get Rating) from an outperform rating to a sector perform rating in a report issued on Monday morning, BayStreet.CA reports. ATB Capital currently has C$14.00 price objective on the stock, down from their prior price objective of C$15.50.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. CIBC dropped their price objective on shares of TransAlta Renewables from C$13.50 to C$13.00 in a report on Friday, February 24th. TD Securities reduced their price objective on TransAlta Renewables from C$12.50 to C$12.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 24th. CSFB increased their target price on TransAlta Renewables from C$14.00 to C$14.50 in a research report on Wednesday, April 12th. National Bankshares raised their target price on shares of TransAlta Renewables from C$12.75 to C$13.25 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a report on Wednesday, April 19th. Finally, Raymond James decreased their price target on shares of TransAlta Renewables from C$16.50 to C$15.50 in a research note on Friday, February 10th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of C$15.05.

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TransAlta Renewables Stock Performance

TSE:RNW opened at C$12.13 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of C$12.26 and a 200 day moving average price of C$12.58. The stock has a market capitalization of C$3.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.76. TransAlta Renewables has a 12-month low of C$10.63 and a 12-month high of C$18.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 43.77.

TransAlta Renewables Dividend Announcement

TransAlta Renewables ( TSE:RNW Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 23rd. The company reported C$0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of C$0.20 by C($0.05). The business had revenue of C$154.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of C$139.60 million. Equities research analysts forecast that TransAlta Renewables will post 0.753818 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 31st will be given a $0.0783 dividend. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 12th. TransAlta Renewabless dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 313.33%.

About TransAlta Renewables

(Get Rating)

TransAlta Renewables Inc develops, owns, and operates renewable power generation facilities. The company operates through Canadian Wind, Canadian Hydro, Canadian Gas, US Wind and Solar, US Gas, and Australian Gas segments. As of February 24, 2022, it owned and operated 26 wind facilities, 13 hydroelectric facilities, 8 natural gas generation facilities, 2 solar facilities, 1 natural gas pipeline, and 1 battery storage project comprising 2,968 megawatts of net generating capacity located in the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, the States of Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Wyoming, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Washington, North Carolina, and the State of Western Australia.

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VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity Fund Limited (LON:VOF  Get Rating)s stock price rose 0.7% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as GBX 429 ($5.41) and last traded at GBX 429 ($5.41). Approximately 150,251 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 6% from the average daily volume of 159,584 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 426 ($5.38).

VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity Fund Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of 688.50 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -239.66 and a beta of 0.47. The businesss fifty day moving average price is GBX 429.65 and its 200-day moving average price is GBX 439.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 414.57 and a quick ratio of 55.38.

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VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity Fund Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.06 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 1.18%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 6th. VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity Funds dividend payout ratio is currently -670.39%.

About VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity Fund

VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity Fund Limited specializes in private equity investments. The fund seeks to invest 80 percent of its portfolio in private equity and 20 percent in equitization projects will be re-allocated to listed shares. The fund also makes private investments. It invests in stocks of companies operating across the diversified sectors.

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Toast, Inc. (NYSE:TOST  Get Rating)  Research analysts at William Blair lifted their Q3 2023 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for Toast in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, May 10th. William Blair analyst S. Sheldon now expects that the company will post earnings per share of ($0.11) for the quarter, up from their prior forecast of ($0.12). The consensus estimate for Toasts current full-year earnings is ($0.60) per share. William Blair also issued estimates for Toasts Q4 2023 earnings at ($0.10) EPS, FY2023 earnings at ($0.50) EPS and FY2024 earnings at ($0.40) EPS.

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A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Toast from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Friday, February 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on Toast in a research note on Thursday, April 6th. They set a hold rating and a $20.00 target price for the company. DA Davidson reissued a buy rating on shares of Toast in a research note on Monday, April 3rd. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price objective on shares of Toast from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 17th. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group downgraded shares of Toast from an outperform rating to a neutral rating and dropped their target price for the company from $26.00 to $23.00 in a research report on Friday, February 17th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Toast presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $22.76.

Toast Stock Down 1.5 %

TOST opened at $20.80 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $10.96 billion, a PE ratio of -30.14 and a beta of 1.75. Toast has a twelve month low of $11.91 and a twelve month high of $26.03. The company has a fifty day moving average of $17.70 and a 200-day moving average of $19.09.

Toast (NYSE:TOST  Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 9th. The company reported ($0.16) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.18) by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $819.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $763.11 million. Toast had a negative net margin of 10.03% and a negative return on equity of 24.30%. The companys revenue was up 53.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.20) EPS.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Toast

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Raymond James & Associates grew its holdings in shares of Toast by 115.4% in the first quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 24,946 shares of the companys stock valued at $542,000 after acquiring an additional 13,364 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its stake in Toast by 78.2% in the 1st quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 28,356 shares of the companys stock valued at $616,000 after purchasing an additional 12,446 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Toast during the 1st quarter valued at $438,000. Ergoteles LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Toast during the 1st quarter valued at $2,427,000. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP bought a new stake in shares of Toast during the 1st quarter worth $33,356,000. Institutional investors own 50.82% of the companys stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Toast

In other Toast news, COO Aman Narang sold 120,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.72, for a total transaction of $2,486,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 1,613,635 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $33,434,517.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider James Michael Matlock sold 6,091 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.16, for a total transaction of $104,521.56. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 46,006 shares of the companys stock, valued at $789,462.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Aman Narang sold 120,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.72, for a total transaction of $2,486,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 1,613,635 shares in the company, valued at $33,434,517.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 468,834 shares of company stock worth $9,689,269. Insiders own 20.16% of the companys stock.

About Toast

(Get Rating)

Toast, Inc operates a cloud-based and digital technology platform for the restaurant industry in the United States and Ireland. The company offers Toast Point of Sale (POS), a hardware product; Toast Order & Pay, which allows guests to order and pay from their mobile devices; Toast Flex that is used for on-counter order and pay, as well as used as a server station, guest kiosk, kitchen display system, or order fulfillment station; Toast Go, a handheld POS device that enhances the table turn times through tableside ordering and payment acceptance; and Toast Tap, a card reader.

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Woodside Energy Group Ltd (OTCMKTS:WOPEY  Get Rating) shares crossed below its two hundred day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $23.89 and traded as low as $23.06. Woodside Energy Group shares last traded at $23.12, with a volume of 410,552 shares trading hands.

Woodside Energy Group Price Performance

The companys 50 day moving average is $22.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $23.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.55 and a current ratio of 1.63.

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Hedge Funds Weigh In On Woodside Energy Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WOPEY. Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Woodside Energy Group in the 3rd quarter worth $46,000. CWM LLC grew its stake in shares of Woodside Energy Group by 26.6% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,007 shares of the oil and gas exploration companys stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 632 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Woodside Energy Group by 3,900.0% in the 3rd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,400 shares of the oil and gas exploration companys stock worth $68,000 after buying an additional 3,315 shares in the last quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Woodside Energy Group in the 2nd quarter worth $77,000. Finally, Wipfli Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Woodside Energy Group in the 3rd quarter worth $103,000.

Woodside Energy Group Company Profile

Woodside Energy Group Ltd engages in the exploration, evaluation, development, production, marketing, and sale of hydrocarbons in Oceania, Asia, Canada, Africa, and internationally. The company produces liquefied natural gas, pipeline natural gas, condensate, liquefied petroleum gas, and crude oil. It holds interests in the Greater Browse, Greater Sunrise, Greater Pluto, Greater Exmouth, North West Shelf, Wheatstone, Julimar-Brunello, Canada, Senegal, Greater Scarborough, and Myanmar projects.

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American International Group, Inc. (NYSE:AIG) shareholders might be concerned after seeing the share price drop 14% in the last quarter. In contrast, the return over three years has been impressive. In three years the stock price has launched 105% higher: a great result. After a run like that some may not be surprised to see prices moderate. The fundamental business performance will ultimately dictate whether the top is in, or if this is a stellar buying opportunity.

Since the stock has added US$1.9b to its market cap in the past week alone, let's see if underlying performance has been driving long-term returns.

See our latest analysis for American International Group

There is no denying that markets are sometimes efficient, but prices do not always reflect underlying business performance. By comparing earnings per share (EPS) and share price changes over time, we can get a feel for how investor attitudes to a company have morphed over time.

American International Group was able to grow its EPS at 19% per year over three years, sending the share price higher. In comparison, the 27% per year gain in the share price outpaces the EPS growth. This suggests that, as the business progressed over the last few years, it gained the confidence of market participants. It's not unusual to see the market 're-rate' a stock, after a few years of growth.

You can see below how EPS has changed over time (discover the exact values by clicking on the image).

Dive deeper into American International Group's key metrics by checking this interactive graph of American International Group's earnings, revenue and cash flow.

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. As it happens, American International Group's TSR for the last 3 years was 123%, which exceeds the share price return mentioned earlier. The dividends paid by the company have thusly boosted the total shareholder return.

Story continues

A Different Perspective

American International Group shareholders are down 7.4% for the year (even including dividends), but the market itself is up 5.8%. Even the share prices of good stocks drop sometimes, but we want to see improvements in the fundamental metrics of a business, before getting too interested. On the bright side, long term shareholders have made money, with a gain of 2% per year over half a decade. It could be that the recent sell-off is an opportunity, so it may be worth checking the fundamental data for signs of a long term growth trend. 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. Consider risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for American International Group you should know about.

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 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.

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LONDON (Reuters) - Mike Lynch, co-founder of UK software firm Autonomy, has been extradited to the United States to face criminal charges in a near decade-long legal battle and fall from grace for a man once hailed as Britain's answer to Bill Gates.

Lynch faces 17 charges over Hewlett Packard's (HP) $11 billion acquisition of Autonomy, the company he grew into Britain's leading tech company, before it spectacularly unravelled after being bought by HP in 2011.

Britain's interior ministry said on Friday that Lynch was extradited on May 11.

He arrived in San Francisco on a commercial flight accompanied by U.S. Marshals, court documents show.

Appearing in court on Thursday, Lynch was ordered by a judge to pay a $100 million bond, hand over his passport and to be placed under 24 hour guard to secure his release.

Lynch, 57, who has always denied any wrongdoing, could face 20 years in prison.

Once lauded by academics, scientists and politicians for setting up a software giant from his ground-breaking research at Cambridge University, he has spent the last decade fighting lawsuits related to the HP takeover.

The deal quickly soured. Within a year, HP wrote down the value of Autonomy by $8.8 billion and later brought a civil lawsuit in London against Lynch and Autonomys former chief financial officer Sushovan Hussain.

In the lawsuit, a British judge ruled in January 2022 that Lynch had masterminded an elaborate fraud to inflate the value of Autonomy, meaning the Silicon Valley company substantially succeeded in its civil case.

Lynch had said HP did not know what it was doing with Autonomy, and was out of its depth in understanding his technology.

Meanwhile, the U.S. had brought criminal charges against Lynch for wire fraud and securities fraud.

He fought extradition proceedings but on April 21, Britain's High Court refused him permission to appeal. His lawyers had argued that he should be prosecuted in Britain.

"The United States legal overreach into the UK is a threat to the rights of all British citizens and the sovereignty of the UK," Lynch said in April when his appeal was rejected.

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His spokesperson declined to comment on Friday.

Lynch pleaded not guilty to 17 counts in court in the U.S. on Thursday, court documents show, and a status conference will be held on May 19 to set a date for the trial. His wealth was estimated at $450 million by the U.S. courts.

In 2019, Lynch's former colleague, Hussain, was convicted of fraud in the United States and sentenced to five years in prison.

Lynch's high profile legal battles have also raised questions for Darktrace, a FTSE 250 British cyber security company. Lynch was central to its creation and he and his wife Angela Bacares own about 10% of the 2 billion pound company, according to Refinitiv data.

Darktrace said in February Lynch played no part in running it and was not on its board.

(Reporting by Sarah Young; Editing by Kate Holton and Mark Potter)
A Nigerian pastor, Famakinwa, and head pastor of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Ayede Ogbese, in the Akure North council area of the state, has been sentenced to prison for having impregnated a 16 year-old girl through rape.

Following the case in the court, Mrs. Helen Falowo, Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions, at the Ondo State Ministry of Justice , filled a Suit No: AK/195C/2021 on behalf of the Ondo State Government.

The pastor is charged on two crimes by the Ondo State court - the first is the unlawful sexual intercourse with a child, contrary to Section 31(1)of the Childs Rights Law of Ondo State, and secondly is sexually abusing a teen which is an exploitation contrary to Section 32 (1).

According to Mrs. Falow, Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions, the suspect regularly had carnal knowledge of the victim at his home, where the victim's family was a tenant.

She continued by saying that the defendant is also accused of sexually assaulting the woman at the market square, where he took her under the pretense of rescuing her from evil spirits.

He continued in this dastardly act unabashedly till the innocent minor became pregnant in October 2021.she said.

The court however found the pastor guilty and sentenced him to 18 years in prison for rape and impregnating a minor.
(Bloomberg) -- Bank of America Corp. will arrange a $500 million debt swap for marine conservation in Gabon, as these types of deals gain in size and popularity, according to people familiar with the planned transaction.

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The deal, due to be announced in July, will involve The Nature Conservancy, a US-based conservation nonprofit, said the people, who declined to be identified. Until now, Credit Suisse Group AG has dominated this market, having run similar debt conversions for Belize, Barbados and Ecuador.

Bank of America and Gabons environment minister declined to comment. In a statement, TNC said its pleased that Gabonese leaders see value in conservation, but were unable to discuss projects that the nation may be pursuing.

Banks in Europe and the US are vying to play a role in structuring and arranging new debt-for-nature swaps, deals that yield fees and boost their profile in the sustainable debt market. Developing countries with valuable ecosystems are turning to debt-for-nature swaps as a way to lower their debt burden and, at the same time, meet commitments to protect 30% of their land and sea by 2030.

Credit Suisse arranged the first such deal, a $364 million transaction for Belize in November 2021. Last year, the Swiss bank sealed a $150 million swap for Barbados. And this week, it closed the largest ever debt-for-nature swap, a $656 million deal for Ecuador to help fund the conservation of the threatened waters around the Galapagos islands.

Debt-for-nature swaps have been around since the 1980s, but until recently were dominated by nonprofits and bilateral creditors. In their modern guise, a structure conceived of by Credit Suisse and TNC and made possible by credit enhancement from development banks like the US Development Finance Corp. and the Inter-American Development Bank, institutional investors can buy-in via bonds issued to finance the new sovereign debt.

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Gabon has created 20 protected areas covering 26% of its marine waters, or 53,000 square kilometers (20,500 square miles). Those include the largest breeding populations of leatherback and olive ridley turtles, as well as 20 species of whales and dolphins.

The African country has $700 million of debt falling due in 2025 and $1.8 billion due in 2031, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

--With assistance from Antony Sguazzin.

(Adds comment from TNC in third paragraph.)

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2023 Bloomberg L.P.
According to findings, the Federal Government spent $112.35m servicing external debt in January 2023.

Data from the Central Bank of Nigerias Weekly International Payments showed that the amount spent in January was 146.17 per cent higher than the $45.64m spent in December 2022.

In 2022, Nigeria spent $2.4bn to service its external debt, which was a slight increase from the $2.11bn spent in 2021.

It was also reported that the Federal Government deducted over N78bn from allocations made to the states for external debt servicing.

This was according to data from the Federation Account Allocation Committee Disbursement reports published by the National Bureau of Statistics.

The federation account is currently being managed under a legal framework that allows funds to be shared under three major components: statutory allocation, Value Added Tax distribution and derivation principle.

The International Monetary Fund recently disclosed that the Federal Government projected to spend 82 per cent of its revenue on interest payments in 2023.

Similarly, external debt (including that of the private sector) will rise to $121.6bn, with external reserves climbing to $37.5bn.

It disclosed this in a table of projections in its IMF Executive Board Concludes 2022 Article IV Consultation with Nigeria Summary

The projections showed an improvement in the share of the governments revenue used as interest payment, with interest payment falling from 96.3 per cent in 2022 to 82 per cent in 2023.
The Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, has declared that he's very much confident of becoming the Nigerias president with time.

Peter Obi, who was speaking on Friday at the launch of a book written in his honour titled; Peter Obi: Many Voices, One Perspective, held in Awka, Anambra State capital, stated that he's however not in a hurry to become the countrys leader.

It is known that Obi and some other presidential candidates are currently in court challenging the declaration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu of ruling All Progressive Congress by INEC as winner of the February 25th poll.

During the launching of the book, Obi noted that he was not in a hurry to become the next leader of the country, while expressing confidence that he would become Nigerias president now or later.

He said: Anyone who thinks Im on transit is wasting his time. Let me tell you, I must be the president of this country. Im sure of that. If it is not today, it must be tomorrow.

Other people who want to be, should come and tell us what they want to do, and how to do it. This is my country, I dont have dual citizenship. If anyone thinks I am going to run away from Nigeria, they are lying.

I have three engagements in Anambra and Lagos today. I will be speaking in Lagos tonight. We will not leave Nigeria. I am not in a hurry to become the president, but I know it must happen.

Obi recalled how for three years, he was in court in Anambra just to challenge the process of the court to reclaim his governorship victory.

According to him, many people tried to discourage him but he told them even if the entire four years tenure elapsed just to prove a point and correct the process, he will be fulfilled.

He added: My argument is that, lets do what is right. I always tell everyone that I will not give people money to do the wrong thing. I have been the chairman of a committee, TETFUND committee, and Prof Mahmood Yakubu was my member. We know ourselves, but when he became INEC chairman, I had never met him. I told him, youre an umpire, just do what is right.

If you have the chance to do the right thing, and you insist on perpetuating anarchy, then it will consume everybody one day. I insist that we must do the right thing.

I was in an event yesterday in Abuja, and it was World Food Organisation. I listened to a report that stated that Nigeria will face intense hunger in years to come.

It is Nigeria that will face hunger, not Peter Obi. The report listed Borno, Adamawa and Yobe as the states that will be worse hit, but those three states put together are five times larger in the land mass of Israel, yet Egypt exports food, but Nigeria cannot feed itself.

So we must cultivate a habit of doing the right thing. If we dont do the right thing, it will consume us someday, the former Governor of Anambra stated.
Municipality of Brighton council and the community is grieving following the death of an OPP officer while on a call in eastern Ontario, Brightons mayor Brian Ostrander says.

A police sergeant was killed, and two other officers were injured early Thursday morning (May 11) after they were shot in a village east of Ottawa, The Toronto Star reports. The three OPP officers responded shortly after 2 a.m. to a disturbance at a home in Bourget, about 50 kilometres east of Ottawa, where someone reported hearing a gunshot, OPP said. When police arrived at the scene in Bourget, the officers were shot by someone at the home, police said. All three were sent to an Ottawa hospital.

Brighton council and our supportive community grieve with our policing partners today, said Ostrander.

The OPP is a pillar in each community across Ontario in which it serves. In Brighton, the Northumberland detachment officers are embedded in the community, participating in parades, food drives and local festivals, Ostrander noted.

Tragedies like this, especially in a small community, resonate and are a reminder of the danger and risk each and every officer takes when they are in the line of duty.

The commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police has identified the slain officer as Sgt. Eric Mueller. At a press conference, he said one other officer has been treated and released from hospital and another veteran officer remains in hospital.

-with files from The Toronto Star

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Montana Fazi, a 29-year-old mother to twin boys, suffered a massive stroke on April 5.



A GoFundMe campaign has been created for a 29-year-old Kawartha Lakes mother who recently suffered a stroke.

Tina Fazi said her daughter Montana, who gave birth to twin boys just over 10 months ago, had a stroke on April 5 while at her home in Bethany.

She was at home and was feeling ill the day before, like with the stomach flu kind of thing that we all went through the week before, so thats what we thought she had, Fazi said.

I tried to reach her the next morning for about an hour and a half and she never got back to me, so I got her roommate to go check on her, and when she found her, she was on the floor, Fazi said.

According to Fazi, an ambulance was called immediately and it was soon determined that Montana had suffered a massive stroke.

They initially took her to PRHC, but it was already too far gone, so they had to fly her right to St. Michaels Hospital, where she had to have a craniectomy to remove part of her skull to relieve the pressure in her brain, Fazi said.

Montana was on life support for 13 days. And then on April 27, so 23 days later, she was able to be transferred to PRHC, Fazi said.

She is still using a little bit of oxygen support, has no movement whatsoever to the right side of her body, and still cant speak. Three days ago, she just started eating minced food, but she still has a feeding tube in.

So far, the GoFundMe campaign has raised more than $13,000 of its $20,000 goal. According to Fazi, any money raised will be used toward future costs relating to Montanas rehabilitation and recovery, as well as to help with the costs of her babies, Maverick and Emmett.

The babies are in great care with their nonna (Fazi), poppa, aunts, and uncles, but we are praying that they will be reunited with their momma that they adore and miss so much, wrote Montanas aunt, Dee Heacock, on the GoFundMe page.

Fazi said she takes the twins to see Montana every single day. Its been tough. I had to leave work immediately. So now Im not able to make an income right now either, but that's beside the point. Its just  its been scary, she said.

The doctors and specialists are unsure what Montanas future holds, Fazi said.

Every patient who suffers from a stroke is different. It could take three years; it could take nine years. They dont know. Theres been no movement whatsoever, she said.

Basically, the whole left side of her brain is dead, which controls your whole right side and your speech. So, its just about teaching the right side to do some things that the left side was responsible for. Theres no fixing the left side.

Those who know Montana know that shes always the one wanting to help others, Heacock said.

Shes willing to help and support everyone in her life regardless of any obstacles of her own. I am hoping we can all be there for her and her babies in this heartbreaking and most difficult time of her life, she said.

To view the GoFundMe page, search In support of Montana Fazi and her babies.

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Area residents fear failing to stop the imminent closure of the Minden hospital emergency department could have fatal consequences.

If one ER closes, the other will fall, said Patrick Porzuczek, who, along with Richard Bradley, has been leading the charge to have the June 1 closure of the communitys emergency department put off for at least one year.

What happens if the shifts arent filled? What happens to other hospitals when the thousands of people who use the Minden ER each year go elsewhere?

"The level of care will decline, theres no doubt in my mind.

Haliburton Highlands Health Services (HHHS) announced the closure on April 20, stating that emergency and in-patient services in Minden will move to Haliburton. Minden emergency department staff will be transferred to the Haliburton emergency department.

Board chair David OBrien explained the evidence-based decision, which was made in the best interest of our community, is linked to the ongoing global health human resources crisis, which has had a serious impact on operations at HHHS. The shortage of nursing and medical staff has meant the organization has needed to take extraordinary measures to keep both emergency departments operating, which has required significant personal and professional sacrifices from staff.

Porzuczek and Bradley were joined by supporters of the Save Minden Ontario Emergency Room and Minden Matters groups for a second visit to Queens Park on Wednesday (May 10). This time, the group was also armed with a petition signed by more than 17,000 people.

To be honest, it was even more disappointing, said Bradley of Health Minister Sylvia Jones response. She couldnt even get the name of the hospital right  She seems disengaged. Disinterested. And very uninformed.

HaliburtonKawartha LakesBrock MPP Laurie Scott has defended the HHHS boards decision, but told the group the province would intervene should a crisis result.

Nickel Belt MPP and NDP health critic France Gelinas counters that the province needs to act now.

There is no way a hospital can close their emergency department without a transition plan, without a signature from the minister. She has to take her responsibilities seriously. She has to listen to the people of Minden, whore just asking for a one-year moratorium, said Gelinas.

This doesnt even take into account a recent letter penned by the Minden Physician Group, stating they will be returning to their home sites following the closure.

Richard Bradley states that some of the HealthForceOntario doctors, who have been filling in on an ad hoc basis, are considering following suit.

You cant run an emergency department without doctors, so we may not have one operating anywhere in Haliburton County, said Bradley, adding that it would be a tragedy. Its like food for the heart and the soul and the mind. Having an emergency department, and knowing its there should you need it, its a comfort  Somebody is going to die in an ambulance on their way to a hospital somewhere.

That somewhere could be hospitals in Orillia, Barrie or Lindsay, and will impact their emergency departments.

The group plans to continue to pressure the province, speak out and host more protests.

Porzuczek added that there may also be an effort to have the current HHHS board removed.

This is a desperate situation for this community. We have no trusts in HHHS, which this community has supported, donated thousands of dollars to, for years, said Bradley. Theres a lot of dissatisfied people.

For more information on the groups efforts, visit www.mindenmatters.com and Save Minden Ontario Emergency Room on Facebook.

A GoFundMe campaign (www.gofundme.com/f/save-the-minden-er) has been set up to support the cost of the communitys battle. Individuals are also invited to sign an online petition at change.org.

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The Help and Legal Centre of Northumberland's 13th annual Empty Bowls Dinner and Auction raised $14,000 in much-needed funding and critical awareness regarding the impact of poverty within the local community  all over a delicious bowl of soup and stimulating conversations with friends.

During the recent event at the Knights of Columbus Community Centre in Cobourg, guests enjoyed appetizers, compliments of Lalie and The Dutch; cheeses from the Empire Cheese Cooperative; five different artisanal soups donated by Albert Koppelman, The Lass and Ladle, Prep Food Co., and Trattoria Gusto; and desserts from The Shortbread Co. and the K of C Ladies Auxiliary, which also supplied the tea and coffee, read a press release.

Local musicians, Don Owen and Bruce Longman, entertained the crowd throughout the evening.

Organizers recognized and thanked Third Street Law (TSL)  the exclusive Porcelain sponsor of the evening. Ann Logan, a partner at TSL, noted its important to provide support for such a pivotal organization within Northumberland. And, most of all, Empty Bowls was a fun-filled occasion again this year.

The event was wonderful! I loved the tunes by Don and Bruce, and it was fun to run into members of the local community that I havent seen in such a long time, said Logan, in a press release.

Third Street Law is proud to be the platinum sponsor the Empty Bowls event. Stefanie Rudd and I and the members of our team believe it is important, as a small business, to do what we can to support the important work done by amazing staff and volunteers at the Help and Legal Centre of Northumberland. We look forward to next year! she added.

Other supporters of the event included SMM Law Professional Corporation and Ts Landscaping and Snow Removal as Copper sponsors; Karen Chalovich Investment Group, The Northumberland Labour Council, and Lester and Associates as Stoneware sponsors; and Kay and McCourt as the wine sponsor.

And, of course, the event would not be Empty Bowls without the potters, led by Brenda Sullivan, and helped out by Wendy Menary, Terrie MacDonald, and Emoke Wilson who donated 100 bowls to the event.

Everyone in attendance went home with a unique creation as a memento of the night and concrete reminder that there are many who regularly go without in Northumberland, read the release.

The Help and Legal Centre of Northumberland provides a wide range of programs to assist low-income individuals and families living in Northumberland County. Services offered include housing assistance, utility subsidies, income-tax preparation, ESL and literacy programs, seniors supports, workers rights education and legal services.

For more information about the Help and Legal Centre of Northumberland, visit www.thehelpandlegalcentre.ca.



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A 22-year-old Cobourg man is facing a causing disturbance charge after an alleged incident at a park on Thursday evening, says the Cobourg Police Service (CPS).

Police said they were called to Victoria Park in Cobourg on May 11 at 7:30 p.m. for a report of a male causing a disturbance.

Police said they arrived on scene and located a man matching the description provided in an agitated state, allegedly yelling at a group in the park. Police said they drew and pointed a conducted energy weapon, also known as a taser, in order to safely effect the arrest.

Police said as a result of an investigation, a Cobourg man was charged with causing disturbance contrary to section 175(1)(a) of the Criminal Code of Canada.

None of the charges or allegations have been proven in court.

Police said the accused was released on an undertaking with a future court date.

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Port Hopes undergoing a sort of temporary transformation again as filming returns to its picturesque, historic downtown and other areas.

You may have noticed that our beautiful downtown looks a little different lately, shared the Municipality of Port Hope, while confirming upcoming filming activities slated for May 24 to 30. These changes are only temporary to accommodate filming for the production Greetings from Fairview that will be taking place on Walton Street, Queen Street, and in some residential areas throughout May.

Municipal staff shared this information so that residents are aware of upcoming temporary parking impacts, road closures and intermittent traffic stops that may cause delays during filming. However, pedestrian traffic and storefront access will be maintained, added staff. In other words, Port Hope is still very much open for business during filming.

Just recently, Jims Pizza and Pasta on Walton Street in Port Hope shared that the restaurant is among those undergoing a temporary change.

Just wanted to let our customers know that you will see some temporary changes to the front of Jims, shared the restaurant on Facebook recently. We will be transformed slowly into what will appear to be a Chinese restaurant for filming that will be taking place in May.

We are still open to serve you as usual with the only interruptions coming the last week of May on the 24 and 26. Filming will be happening on both those days and we will be closed.

Realtor Erin Brown, with Royal Service Real Estate Inc., which is also on Walton Street, also commented: We are selling musical instruments up the road  I secretly love the confusion!

While the production title shared by the municipality is Greetings from Fairview, theres lots of chatter locally about how this could be the return of It filming. However, theres been no official confirmation.

There have been multiple media/online reports about the official green light for a prequel series to the It franchise in recent months, also suggesting that the prequel series started filming in Toronto this year.

On IMDb, it states in March 2022, HBO and Warner Bros. announced a prequel series to the It franchise  and that the prequel will be titled Welcome to Derry. It also states that the director of the last two It films  both of which featured Port Hope  Andy Muschietti, will work as an executive director on the series with his sister Barbara Muschietti.

Residents will recall that Muschiettis first adaptation of the 2017 It movie filmed in Port Hope in 2016. And, in 2018, the town was transformed again for the filming of It Chapter Two, which was released in 2019.

Residents will recall that filming notices at the time referenced the production title of Largo, despite fans insisting this was the next chapter in the saga of the monster hit  and mega-grossing  horror movies that have made the iconic red balloon a popular staple in Port Hope.

From town hall to the historic downtown and Memorial Park, to the Capitol Theatre and to area businesses transformed  but still known to locals  the two films shot iconic scenes locally, including with Pennywise the Dancing Clown atop the immense Paul Bunyan statue erected in Memorial Park here. There were several other well-known scenes shot locally, including the carnival shots, which saw Lakeland Place overhauled.

Meanwhile, in a City of Toronto release regarding current productions and news, it also indicates that season one of Fairview (as a project title) is filming for a TV series there  and among the names included is Muschietti as director. Camera start dates indicated May, with camera wrap detailed for December 2023.

Meanwhile, back in February, locally, letters were posted online about Welcome to Derry scouting, indicating a want for houses to serve as fictional residences in the show. It appears the letters were dropped off to residents and they indicated that filming would include a couple days in May, but also detailed that the location would recur with a few returns between May and November.

Around this time in February, the municipality also issued a public notice, noting interest from production companies for filming later in 2023  however, they noted, no formal film permit application was submitted at this time.

The notice also indicated that residents and/or business owners might hear from film companies expressing an interest in locations, and that owners had full discretion on whether to choose to participate or not.

The municipality communicates filming occurrences when such activities take place on municipal properties or roads and there are local impacts to accommodate filming.

Port Hope has served as a popular backdrop for the filming of several productions in recent years, including Murdoch Mysteries, The Hardy Boys and more.

The previous local filming of It  which also brought big stars to Port Hope  translated into millions of dollars infused into the local community, as reported by Northumberland News. Port Hopes transformation into the City of Derry also saw about 1,000 people hired as background actors and actresses during the second film.

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Medical officer of health Dr. Thomas Piggott said Peterborough Public Health applauds city staff and councillors for developing an incredibly important plan to help homeless people by installing modular units  plus portable washrooms and storage  at 210 Wolfe St. and the Rehill parking lot where a tent encampment now exists.

Being healthy starts with a home, Piggott said in a video posted to Twitter.

In the video, Piggott called the plan a potential game changer to help homeless people survive and stay healthy; he thanked both city staff and councillors for the really important work.

Councillors voted in favour of the new concept presented to them by city staff at a committee meeting on Monday night. Now the plan needs a final vote at a city council meeting on May 23.

The plan comes after people lived in tents on the property all winter; the city has estimated about 62 people live there.

Meanwhile residents of the neighbourhood expressed concerns about the encampment, saying theyve noticed break-ins, strewn garbage and people relieving themselves in public.

The citys plan calls for porta-potties (for basic sanitation) and storage on the property (so people can lock up their belongings.)

A few people living in tents told The Examiner on Thursday that three or four people had died over the winter, in the encampment.

Alana Parisien, the housing services manager for Elizabeth Fry Society, confirmed Friday that some people died in the encampment this winter due to drug poisonings or exposure to the elements, and that other people lost limbs to the cold.

The winter was horrific, Parisien said. Were leaving people to die outdoors  its embarrassing.

Modular units would be more safe than tents, Parisien said, adding that the modular home plan could be helpful next winter if council votes in favour a final time, May 23.

I think if they (council) dont pass this, well just see the death numbers increase, Parisien said.

A new city staff report states that the plan has the support of Elizabeth Fry Society plus that of FourCast, Canadian Mental Health Association, John Howard Society, United Way, Brock Mission, YES Shelter for Youth and Families and One City Peterborough.

Christian Harvey, the co-executive director of the housing agency One City, said Friday he thinks the plan has huge potential to make a difference in peoples lives.

Its exciting that were beginning to explore creative solutions  and recognizing the depth of the issue, a bit more, Harvey said.

From January until the end of April, One City operated a winter drop-in program called the StopGap, at the former Trinity Church on Reid Street, that was overcapacity every night.

That program was developed quickly with funding pooled from several social agencies; Harvey said its not expected that it will have any funding to run again next winter.

StopGaps capacity was 25 people, Harvey said, and on average they had 29 people every night.

He said they served 229 different people, and that in the last weeks of the program staff asked many guests whether they would use modular units  and many said they would.

StopGap was a low-barrier program, meaning people could come in if they were intoxicated.

Thats the approach recommended by city staff for the modular units theyre proposing for Wolfe Street, and Harvey thinks its a good idea because it honours peoples autonomy  and does not in any way simulate a jail, where security guards can preclude any substance use.

A no-drugs-or-alcohol policy  which Harvey calls a policing model  would discourage people from seeking the shelter of the modular units, Harvey said.

People value their autonomy.

Under the citys plan, the One Roof Community Centre warming room and meal program operated out of St. Johns Anglican Church on Brock Street would be replaced with a drop-in centre in the citys 210 Wolfe St. facility that currently serves as an emergency overflow shelter.

joelle.kovach@peterboroughdaily.com

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St. John School, in the south end of Peterborough, hosted a powwow Friday afternoon in the schoolyard for the school community, including 290 students and 30 staff.

Some Hiawatha First Nation members came to the school to drum, sing and dance for the cultural celebration.

Drummers from the Chippewa Travellers performed along with dancers from Hiawatha First Nation.

Many families of students at the Park Street school self-identify as Indigenous.

 Examiner Staff

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(Bloomberg) -- President Joe Bidens infrastructure czar warns that popular projects will be jeopardized if the US government defaults or if the debt-limit standoff with Congress results in changes to funding sources.

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It could absolutely get in the way, Mitch Landrieu, the White House infrastructure coordinator, told reporters at a Thursday briefing.

In a default, federal officials would be directed to stop working on the projects, Landrieu said. The ripple effect to the economy is going to be dramatic.

A meeting between Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and other congressional leaders set for Friday was postponed as their aides continued negotiations toward a deal to raise the US debt ceiling and avoid a default.

Biden signed a bipartisan $550 billion infrastructure measure in November 2021 with a promise that it would improve Americans lives and keep the American economy moving forward. In the 18 months since, $220 billion has been awarded for about 32,000 projects.

Were pushing the money out of the door very aggressively, Landrieu said.

Starting Monday, the White House will begin Infrastructure Week to mark the 18-month anniversary of the law, which provided new spending on roads and bridges, ports and airports, drinking water, broadband access and electric charging stations across the country.

Biden, who officially announced his 2024 reelection campaign last month, has traveled across the country this year to highlight infrastructure improvements. During a visit to New York City in January, he heralded work on the Gateway tunnel project intended to improve travel for workers crossing the Hudson River between New York and New Jersey.

Story continues

Earlier: Biden Hails NYC Rail Tunnel as Boon to Amtrak, NJ Transit Riders

The infrastructure law invested $66 billion in passenger and freight rail, according to the White House. The administration has made $9 billion available for Northeast Corridor rail projects.

Overall, projects have been announced in 4,500 communities, according to the White House, but very few have been completed so far. More projects, including work on the Hudson tunnel project, will begin this summer.

And where work is taking place, passersby will be greeted by signs underscoring the Biden administrations role in creating it.

Youll start to see signs on all these projects across the country that say this is part of Investing in America, Landrieu said, calling it an effort to boost transparency and accountability.

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Cryptocurrency exchange giant Binance says it will be withdrawing its services from Canada.

In a tweet, it blamed its decision to depart the country on new guidance related to stablecoins and investor limits provided to crypto exchanges.

Binance says the regulations have made the Canadian market no longer tenable for the company.

It says it put off the decision as long as it could while it explored other avenues, but recently found there are none.

Binance promised to send Canadian users emails discussing how the move will impact their accounts.

The companys departure from the market comes after the Canadian Securities Administrators announced stricter requirements for cryptocurrency companies around cash and asset storage and the purchase and deposit of stablecoins.

While we do not agree with the new guidance, we hope to continue to engage with Canadian regulators aimed at a thoughtful, comprehensive regulatory framework, Binance said in a tweet.

We are confident that we will someday return to the market when Canadian users once again have the freedom to access a broader suite of digital assets.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 12, 2023.

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This week, Google unveiled PaLM 2, an AI system that can easily translate languages, enabling users to access more of the internet. But a Canadian company has found an even more impressive use for multilingual AI: translating video calls.

Fibernetics, a telecom provider based in Cambridge, Ont., has developed software that enables almost real time voice-to-voice translation of video calls. Using the technology, an English-speaker connecting to a francophone meeting would hear an English translation of other participants. And, when the English-speaker opens their mouth, the others would hear fluent French.

The AI translation will be part of a new business communications platform, called Nucleus, that Fibernetics launched this week (the translation system will be added in the summer). It will also feature other AI-powered innovations, such as an eye focus system that automatically adjusts a users image so it appears as if they are looking directly into the camera, even if theyre glancing at notes on a second screen.

Fibernetics co-founder John Stix says 4,000 small businesses, entrepreneurs and startups have already signed up to the service. We spoke to Stix about this new technology  and how it could change business meetings forever:

What kind of difference will real-time translation make?

Cultural and language barriers can be a real challenge for businesses. Think of a small accounting firm in Quebec. Because of the language barrier, they could only operate regionally. Now, through Nucleus, they can jump on a video call, select the language they want and have a conversation with English-speaking clients anywhere in the world.

It levels the playing field a bit.

Exactly. There are almost 100,000 new small businesses launching in Canada every year. We want to help them reach beyond our borders and access the international talent pool. Lets enable a startup here to have a talk with software developers in Peru or Nicaragua.

How many languages are available?

Just French and Spanish to start. We hope to have Hindi in the next six months. Eventually, Nucleus will be able to translate 10 major languages. Our dream, on a whiteboard somewhere, is to one day include sign language.

Does it translate in the speakers voice?

For now, youll hear an AI-generated voice. But were not far off from solving that. In the next six months to a year, I should be able to give a 30-minute voice sample and it will learn what I sound like.

How accurate will the translation be? AI transcription can be a little wonky when it comes to things like dialects and accents.

The more I speak, the more the AI will learn how I speak. Eventually, it will pick up on most of the subtle nuances of my speech. There are many tiny important ways we communicate and AI will eventually adapt to them.

And this goes beyond speech, doesnt it?

More than 70 per cent of our communication is non-verbal. This is why Nucleus eye-focus capability is so important. We need to make eye contact with each other. When we talk, we consciously or unconsciously pick up on cues like eyebrows going up and down. Eye-focus gives you the freedom to read from a separate screen and not lose contact with your audience. It looks totally natural. It even mimics blinking.

Where else could this technology be used?

Theres no reason we cant one day launch an app for households. My wife is French Canadian and she has a lovely grandmother who Ive never been able to say more than a few words to. I shouldve learned French a long time ago, but didnt. It would be fantastic to have a real conversation with her.

Howard Akler writes about technology for MaRS . Torstar, the parent company of the Toronto Star, has partnered with MaRS to highlight innovation in Canadian companies.

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TORONTO - BlackBerry director Matt Johnson is enjoying the controversy simmering around his latest film.

Over the past month, some of the most influential people in Canadas technology and business circles settled into sneak preview screenings of his darkly comedic spin on the rise and fall of the beloved Waterloo, Ont.-created smartphone.

And many emerged deeply confounded by what they saw.

After one Toronto viewing a week ago, a group of former employees at BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion gathered over drinks to discuss a mixture of Canadian pride and confusion they were feeling about the films revisionist history of the company.

As BlackBerry heads to theatres nationwide this weekend, amid heaps of buzz and critical raves, the film faces its share of sour notes from those unhappy with how freely  some say even carelessly  it plays with the truth.

Earlier this week, RIMs former chief financial officer Dennis Kavelman published an opinion piece in the National Post calling the film an obvious, lazy portrayal of tech bro culture that seems to go out of its way to diminish and tarnish the legacy of the founders and employees of one of Canadas great technology stories.

And a recent 18-minute YouTube video by former RIM employee Matthias Wandel  who also served as one of the productions consultants  ripped apart the accuracy of the movie trailer without having seen the film itself.

Look, the fact that a Canadian movie is even getting this kind of attention is a miracle, the director said last month during a run of press interviews.

(That) there would be some comment on accuracy in portrayal or whatever, to me, is a compliment.

Understanding Johnsons BlackBerry requires knowing a bit about his work with co-writer Matt Miller. Together, theyre a pair of cinematic pranksters who crashed NASA disguised as a documentary crew for their 2016 film Operation Avalanche and blended fictional characters with real scenarios in their TV comedy Nirvanna the Band the Show.

BlackBerry is very loosely based on Losing the Signal, a 2015 book by reporters Jacquie McNish and Sean Silcoff. The film effectively takes their facts and feeds them through a paper shredder before reassembling the jagged remnants of familiarity.

Johnsons movie is less interested in the finer details of a Canadian business story than he is in following a group of underdogs whose great idea changed the world and then vanished almost as quickly as they were blinded by success.

Former co-CEO Jim Balsillie is played by Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia actor Glenn Howerton as a nefarious troublemaker. His business partner Mike Lazaridis is portrayed by Ottawa-born Jay Baruchel as a socially inept visionary.

Johnson rounds out the trio of leads as RIM co-founder Doug Fregin, a composite of various RIM employees and elements of fiction.

The actors had not met Balsillie and Lazaridis before or during the films production.

Both Howerton and Baruchel are receiving praise from audiences and befuddlement from those who knew the real co-CEOs and say they missed the mark by a mile.

Johnson sums up the negative feedback from former RIM staff as what you might hear from people with an idealized sense of self, unwilling to see their actions as the rest of the world does.

Everybodys John Wick in their head, added a mildly agitated Baruchel, tipping to the invincible action hero.

Some of the films pre-release attention surrounded Howertons portrayal of Balsillie as a firebrand leader with equally ambitious and volatile tendencies. He took the role with the mindset of playing a man who always thought he was the smartest guy in every room.

In order to be someone like Jim, with the amount of drive that he has, you have to be trying to fill some sort of a hole of neglect, Howerton said.

I dont know if that actually exists for Jim, he added.

Even though he is the target of the films greatest misinformation  at one point directly suggesting hes a criminal  the real-life Balsillie has been surprisingly eager to play along.

He called Howertons portrayal a roast in a recent interview with The Canadian Press, a sentiment hes echoed at select appearances tied to the films release. But hes also pointed to finer details he wished the filmmakers got right, including the design of his office.

Johnson, who candidly acknowledges the film wouldve probably benefited more from an agitated Balsillie in the press, takes the businessmans diplomatic stance as a sign hes secretly stung over how he appears in the movie.

Jim, we really got you, my friend  I know it hurts, but thats you, he said, addressing an absent Balsillie.

It may not be the you that you lived day-to-day but it is the character of you sucked from history and put in a painting.

More surprises could be in store with the BlackBerry story following the theatrical release. An extended three-part episodic version of the film will air on CBC later this year.

In the meantime, Johnson is looking at various markers to determine whether BlackBerry is a success. One of them he might not even hear about.

Itll be if the next time Jim sees somebody in the street for real, he said.

(And they say,) Hey, Jim Balsillie, I saw a movie about you.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 12, 2023.

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Actor Will Arnett may have spent three decades south of the border, but hell always be a Toronto boy at heart.

One way the Arrested Development and BoJack Horseman star, and SmartLess podcast host stays connected to his hometown? By hosting Laughter Is the Best Medicine, the high-profile fundraiser gala for the Michael Garron Hospital Foundation.

Over the years, the event has drawn numerous marquee comedy names like Jerry Seinfeld, Steve Martin and Chris Rock to Toronto to raise money for the community hospital. This year, the gala is celebrating a return to in-person festivities on Saturday at the Beanfield Centre with headliner John Mulaney, fresh off his new Netflix special, Baby J.

Arnetts ties to the hospital run nearly as deep as his Toronto roots. His father worked with the hospital board for years, back when it was still Toronto East General. Arnett says he was eager to both continue his dads legacy and to help support the little guy. When it comes to fundraising, a lot of the bigger, fancier hospitals get a lot of attention, but community hospitals need it too.

Arnetts urge to help was instilled in him early, thanks to his grandparents.

His moms father was instrumental in setting up the United Way in Winnipeg. My grandparents were very gentle, kind people and they always stressed the importance of being kind to others, he said. And it got pointed out to me, especially if I was being unkind, they would give me that direction of like, No, no, no, its really important to be this way. That was always my beacon and my compass when it came to doing the right thing, trying to be kind and to give as much as you can.

Arnett said the difference between his homeland and adopted country have become more stark over the years.

The responsibility to help others is such a part of who (Canadians) are culturally that I think that we inherently understand  something that is not as understood in the country that I live in now  that were only as strong as our weakest link, he said. And that we do have an obligation to give back to the very system that helped us.

Arnett said coming to Toronto brings him a sense of calm. He spends time here with his sons, ambling through the neighbourhoods where he grew up.

For my sons, being Canadians born abroad, its important for them to start to connect those dots and make those connections, he said. I want that connection to get deeper and deeper as they get older.

The visits seem to be working their magic. On their last visit here a few months ago, Arnetts oldest son turned to him and said, You know, I think Id like to live in Toronto.

Arnett has those thoughts from time to time himself. Its been a long time since I lived in Toronto full time, over 30 years. But I do think, What if I just moved back to Toronto? I have so many friends, Ive had to come back for various family things and, sadly, for funerals and things like that, and increasingly it reminds me of how deep my roots are here.

For now, Arnett will be happy to be here this weekend, with his family, making people laugh when they need it the most. We live in serious times, but I think that laughter is important  we need levity to help us put things in perspective and to have a laugh at ourselves. I think that Canadians appreciate and understand that.

Arnetts favourite brand of humour? When the joke is on him. (At a previous gala, he wasnt above throwing in a rare reprise of his Arrested Development chicken dance to drive up an auction bid.)

Maybe thats a Canadian notion, like, to keep yourself in check. And if you dont, one of the good things about being in Canada is that theres a line of people who will be right ready to check you the second they get a whiff of you taking yourself too seriously!

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Does she have any regrets about that crop-top wedding dress she oh-so-infamously donned for her wedding (the first of two different weddings filmed for television, years apart, incidentally)?

Hell no!

Has doing reality TV for all these years made her innately more suspicious of people and/or aware of how often people are performing, so to speak (especially in our world of social media feeds)?

Yes. But, OK, no.

Does she think it is nuts that her show, Vanderpump Rules, has become such a pop phenom in recent months that it was even name-dropped at the White House Correspondents Dinner the other week, during the main monologue, while POTUS looked on?

Well, kind of.

Strolling into Soho House in Toronto this week, in vertiginous black platforms and a silver-and-black catsuit that was giving Eurovision, Scheana Shay (gotta love a gal with alliteration) was only too pleased to be quizzed when plopping down with moi at a booth on the second floor. Transparency, after all, is the superpower of someone in the reality TV arts as long as she has been, and transparency was what she was giving.

One of the OGs of the long-gestating Vanderpump Rules  a show that I have often called a kind of sleazier, battier, real-life Melrose Place and also a West Hollywood answer to Downton Abbey  she was here for a little cocktail party, hosted by Hayu Canada, and later a larger Q&A, which would draw a lively, seriously packed house (testament to the chokehold the show has had lately on tabloid culture, courtesy of an extraordinary, friend-group-blowing-up cheating scandal now known as Scandoval).

A bit like going back in time, the 38-year-old charmer told me when I nudged her about the rabbit-hole-ness of having a literal reel of your life, for a decade-plus, and the experience of watching parts of herself back. Weird, but strangely therapeutic.

Hot Tub Time Machine, I quipped, which elicited a laugh.

I actually auditioned for that movie, she came back, pinging me again with the realization of what made Vanderpump Rules (a spinoff of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills) so irresistible to me from the start: its depiction of a certain kind of L.A. hustle. The way it put a lens on a specific breed of restaurant servers who represented a sort of ambition that lands in the city year in, year out, hoping, praying, to make it, while trying to dodge the crush of expectations and negotiate impostor syndromes that have been a mainstay forever in Tinseltown.

That it just happened to be anchored by a messy mix of waiters, working for Lisa Vanderpump, who had all been screwing and feuding for years before there was a show? Well, that  as I have written before  is what gave it an organic-ness that simply was reality TV gold. And so  life became the show, which became life, which became the show, which became 

As much as the series has had its devoted fans  including real celebs like Rihanna and JLaw, who have both publicly declared their loves  none of us Bravoholics (I include myself) could have expected the Richter scale-ness of Season 10 (a point at which most reality shows are long in the tooth).

Long story short (although there is nothing short about it): Scandoval began when one of the other OGs of the show  the Peter Pan-ish Tom Sandoval  was found to be flagrantly cheating on his partner of nine years, the level-headed Ariana Madix, with their close friend, Raquel Leviss, a Bambi-eyed innocent (or so we thought) who herself had been engaged to DJ James Kennedy, until last year, and had crossed a line recently in the middle of the latest, ongoing season with Sandovals BFF, Tom Schwartz, who just divorced his wife of some time, Katie Maloney, another mainstay.

A handy explainer for those still catching up? One that went around the internet after it all went down (and Page Six did over 100 updates in a week, covering the story like it was its Ukraine War)? Well, someone put it in Friends terms: Imagine if Chandler cheated on Monica with Rachel secretly for seven months and Joey knew all along?

I saw that! It was perfect, Shay said when I asked if she had seen that particular meme circulating. Her eyes widened under the allure of her Viva Verano lashes (her hit brand).

Clearly, my judge of character is off, she continued, musing on how she had been a friend and supporter of Raquel: something we are seeing on the show now, as the narrative onscreen catches up to the split-screen of real-life developments, and part of what has made this season so bloody layered. The show essentially making detectives out of its audience, causing us to catch clues and little bread-crumbs of what was actually going on.

From my perspective, it has been super compelling television in the way there is text and meta-text. As much as reality TV is sometimes derided, this is an example of a show asking some pretty knotty questions: How well do we know our friends? How well do we know anyone?

The masks that people wear. And how everyone sees what they want to see and through whatever lens they are sporting. Some of its other undercurrents: the kind of indelible storytelling that explains why even the New York Times did a Scandoval explainer back in March and why JLo, too, was seen weighing in on it with the women of The View last week.

To see the two of them together is the most shocking thing. And just watching back, knowing what we know now, Shay said about her own experience watching the show. I was duped. We all were.

Can she see herself ever talking to her ex-friend Raquel (nee Rachel) again? Or Tom? The million-dollar question. Given the legal brouhaha that occurred with the former  Leviss famously filed a restraining order against Shay after an alleged altercation over Scandoval, one that was later dismissed  it does not seem likely. I am done, she said.

As a student of Bravo, though, I left our conversation not entirely persuaded. Knowing that these shows  essentially modern soap operas  depend on a see-saw of conflict and conflict resolution, I would not be surprised to see more surprising shifts in the friend group. As there have always been. It is, after all, what keeps the series going.

In fact, just this week, Bravo announced that Vanderpump Rules had been renewed for Season 11.

All seasons of Vanderpump Rules are currently streaming on Hayu Canada.

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ORLANDO, Fla. (AP)  More than 74 million visitors came to the Orlando, Florida, area last year, a benchmark just short of pre-pandemic levels, tourism officials said Thursday.

The number of tourists was 25% greater than it was in 2021, when central Florida was still recovering from the blows to tourism caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which restricted international travel and caused convention cancellations. The areas theme parks closed for several months in 2020 in an effort to stop the virus spread.

This past year proved to be a key recovery timeframe for Orlandos tourism industry, with a lot of pent-up demand from our top US and international markets, said Casandra Matej, president and CEO for Visit Orlando, the areas tourism promotion organization.

The Orlando area had more than 69 million domestic visitors, with most of them visiting for vacations, a segment that has fully recovered, tourism officials said. Business visitors still lagged behind pre-pandemic levels.

There were 4.9 million international tourists, making up only about three-quarters of pre-pandemic levels, according to Visit Florida. The two biggest sources of international visitors were Canada and the United Kingdom.

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There has been a recent spate of incidents wherein individuals stranded outdoors have survived for days by subsisting on seemingly random items.

Earlier this month, a woman in Australia survived in dense bushland for five days on nothing but lollipops and a bottle of wine.

In March, an 81-year-old man was found alive after being trapped in his car for nearly a week following a major California snowstorm. He survived by eating snow and croissants, reported local news outlet KTVN.

How did these two people survive for so long on so little? The Star spoke with three experts for their insights and general wilderness survival tips ahead of this summers outdoor season.

It comes down to a multitude of different factors but one of the biggest is their will to survive, said Dr. Teimojin Tan, a wilderness expert and founder of Survival Doctors, an educational institute offering medical tips in survival situations.

Australian officials said the woman found this month, identified as Lillian, 48, took a wrong turn onto a dead-end road. She was stranded in the wilderness without cell service after her vehicle became stuck in mud.

She was only planning a short-day trip so had only taken a couple of snacks and lollies with her but no water, police sergeant Martin Torpey said in a press release. The only liquid Lillian, who doesnt drink, had with her was a bottle of wine she had bought as a gift for her mother so that got her through.

Lillian was found following an aerial search, after loved ones reported her missing. She was taken to hospital for observation and treated for dehydration.

Tan said wine wouldnt be his go-to drink if he was stranded in the wilderness as its a mild diuretic, which can produce more urine and lead to faster dehydration.

However, he noted wine provides calories. The kidneys also go into overdrive when youre dehydrated, and will absorb much of the water in the wine, he added.

So, is there a net negative from drinking wine? That would be hard to discern, said Tan.

Local police praised Lillian for her great common sense to stay with her car and not wander off into bushland.

Stay where you are

Staying put is key, added David Arama, a wilderness survival expert and author of the book How to Start a Fire with Water.

Its a natural thing to try to find your way out and wander in circles, he said. But it makes it really difficult.

The man in California who was rescued in March, identified by his brother as Jerry Alan Jouret, was travelling to his second home in Big Pine when he was caught in the storm. A California Highway Patrol helicopter crew found him six days later, waving from his car, which was buried in snow.

Jouret was taken to hospital but discharged later that day.

I just really believe it was a miracle, his brother Joe Jouret told Patch.

While both Jouret and Lillian spent days stranded, most people are rescued within three days, noted Gerardo Ferri, another outdoor survival expert and the director of Survival in the Bush, an instructional and consulting firm.

These are your priorities if you become lost or stranded

If you were to prioritize your survival needs, it would go in this order, said Tan:

Oxygen: If you are at a location with little oxygen, such as at a high altitude, finding a place with more oxygen should be a priority.

Body temperature: You can survive three hours in a harsh environment  such as in extreme cold or heat  without shelter.

Water: You can survive roughly three days without water. Tan, however, said this is a generous estimate. Many hikers who become lost are already slightly dehydrated and exhausted when they go missing.

Food: This is of the least concern. You can generally last three weeks without food. Arama said he cant recall a case in Ontario of someone dying in the wilderness due to starvation.

Bring a buddy

Another common-sense tip is avoiding hiking solo, said Ferri. Hikers should also always let someone know where they are heading and bring a communication device (such as a satellite phone if theyre heading to a place with poor or no cell service). As well, simply checking the weather beforehand can also save lives, said Arama.

(Remember 127 Hours, Danny Boyles survival movie starring James Franco who had to cut off his own arm to save his life after becoming trapped? Well he didnt tell anyone where he was going either.)

Perhaps most important, however, is not to panic if you are lost, he added.

Panicking is usually what leads to really poor decision making  Its been proven time and time again, that if you lose your will to live and if you panic, youre pretty much going to be dead.

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EDMONTON - The suspect in the stabbing deaths of a mother and child outside a school last week has died in hospital, police said Thursday.

The man was shot by Edmonton police last Friday after a 35-year-old woman and her 11-year-old child were stabbed outside Crawford Plains School in the southeastern part of the city.

Investigators have determined that the 33-year-old male is the sole person responsible for the deaths of the mother and child, police said in a news release.

As the suspect was incapacitated in hospital and has now passed away, charges cannot be laid, and the suspect will not be named.

An autopsy on the man is scheduled for Tuesday.

Family members have identified the mother as Carolann Robillard and the child as Sarah Miller, who had recently started using the first name Jayden.

The Edmonton Medical Examiner determined this week that the woman and child both died of multiple sharp-force injuries, adding that the deaths are considered homicides.

The suspect, who was known to police and had a record of assaulting children, was found by officers shortly after the attack.

Police say he was shot after an altercation with officers and the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team is investigating.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on May 11, 2023.

Note to readers: This is a corrected story; An earlier version said the man was shot Saturday.

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WINNIPEG - Manitobas Opposition New Democrats are accusing the government of planning to cut education, but the Progressive Conservative government says the NDP is using outdated information.

NDP Leader Wab Kinew tabled portions of a document in the legislature from a government group that is reviewing how the province funds the education system.

The five pages, which do not have an authors name, lay out possible funding amounts to each school division.

The document says some divisions would receive less money under a proposed new funding model, but a transitional amount of money would make up the difference.

Kinew says the documents prove the government is looking to cut education and trying to keep it secret until after the election slated for Oct. 3.

But Finance Minister Cliff Cullen says the document is part of a proposal developed months ago by the review group, which was rejected by the government before the spring budget.

They looked at a number of (funding) models, theyre still looking at a number of models, Cullen said Thursday.

What was tabled today was a model that was completely rejected by our government.

The province has long been under pressure to revamp education funding, which is done through a mix of provincial general revenues and property taxes that appear on peoples municipal tax bills.

Critics have said the system is unfair to school divisions in low-income areas, and have pointed out that most other provinces fund education directly.

A new funding model was originally scheduled to be in place this year, but the government announced in December it was delaying the revamp for more consultation.

Kinew said if the government is not planning to cut education, it should reveal the new funding model before voters go to the polls.

The premier is hoping that you wouldnt see this before you had a chance to vote this year, Kinew said.

Cullen said the government has no plans to cut education funding, and pointed to the spring budget that boosted funding for kindergarten to Grade 12 by six per cent.

We are not proposing any reduction in school division funding.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 11, 2023.

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VANCOUVER - The British Columbia housing operator named in a scathing audit says it has returned almost $2 million in surplus funds to the provincial government and formed a task force to oversee a review of its policies and practices.

Atira Womens Resource Society says in a statement that the $1.9 million it returned Thursday is from the 2020 and 2021 fiscal years.

Fridays Atira statement says the task force will include its board chair Elva Kim and finance and governance committee chairs, but does not mention chief executive Janice Abbott, who was the focus of government suggestions about her future at the organization.

B.C. Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon says in a response statement that while he is pleased that Atira has done the right thing in returning the $1.9 million, a separate internal review is redundant.

We already have the results of an independent third-party investigation done by experts in the field, Kahlon says. Atira needs to take action to address the findings of the investigation, instead of delaying and distracting.

The forensic audit by Ernst and Young found mismanagement, risk to public dollars and conflict of interest at the Crown social housing provider BC Housing related to its former chief executive Shayne Ramsay, who is married to Abbott.

Premier David Eby said Monday when the audit was released the government expected the housing provider to take steps to ensure public confidence in its operations, which could include leadership change.

Abbott was not immediately available for comment.

Atira says in its statement it is in discussions to appoint an independent review team.

Having now had an opportunity to review, consider and discuss the Ernst and Young report released earlier this week, the board of directors of Atira Womens Resource Society has established a task force that will oversee a comprehensive third-party review of Atiras policies and practices, including how it makes decisions on real estate matters and deals with potential conflicts of interest, the statement says.

Eby said he had deep concerns about the situation at Atira and the government would restrict its funding, suspend the renewal of agreements and launch inspections of buildings the company manages.

But Ebys handling of the housing issue and the forensic report were sharply criticized in the legislature, with the Opposition BC United saying the premier, a former housing minister, was being evasive about his knowledge of the situation at BC Housing and Atira.

BC United Leader Kevin Falcon accused Eby of burying earlier warning signs about financial mismanagement within Atira while overseeing increases in provincial funding for the housing operator.

Atira says its focus will remain on its staff and the vulnerable populations it has served for decades.

Atira does critical work each day to protect women and children affected by violence by offering supportive housing and delivering education and advocacy aimed at ending all forms of gendered violence, Kim says in the statement.

She says Atiras independent review and a government BC Housing investigation will help ensure we can continue to do the work that serves this community.

Atira says its statement addresses concerns the provider received some housing contracts from BC Housing without going through a more formal request-for-proposals process where awards are based on best criteria.

In some unique circumstances, including during the pandemic, BC Housing asked Atira to operate housing and deliver services when other organizations declined due to lack of immediate capacity, says the statement. We appreciate that this may be viewed with concern.

Atiras statement cites the ongoing opioid overdose crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic and the decision to remove encampments at Vancouvers Downtown Eastside as challenges to housing faced by BC Housing and Atira.

We agree that traditional requests for proposals are the most ideal methodology in most cases, but also appreciate the flexibility of the government of B.C. and BC Housing shown in the face of these generational crises, says the statement.

Atira operates 2,969 units of housing for women, children and gender diverse people in B.C.s Lower Mainland.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 12, 2023.

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(Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy postponed their meeting on the debt ceiling set for Friday as their aides continue negotiations toward avoiding a catastrophic US default.

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The delay signals that staff-level talks on energy permitting reform and government spending have yielded progress, according to people familiar with the talks. The speaker said Biden planned to meet with him and other congressional leaders next week, though neither side specified a date.

McCarthy told reporters at the Capitol that the leaders agreed it would be more productive for staff to proceed with their discussions. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, likewise, said he believed talks are moving along.

White House congressional liaison Louisa Terrell met behind closed doors with McCarthy chief of staff Dan Meyer and other aides for more than two hours Thursday afternoon.

Yet even as both sides touted progress in private talks, McCarthy  who must pacify restive conservatives who demand deep budget cuts  sharply criticized Democrats.

President Biden and Senator Schumer are stuck on no. They have no plan, no proposed savings and no clue, McCarthy told reporters as news of the meeting delay broke. Apparently, President Biden doesnt want to deal. He wants to default.

McCarthy said one of the leaders had to attend a funeral on Friday and that, combined with the lack of progress and seriousness on the part of the White House, led to the postponement. He added, however, that it didnt mean the talks had fallen apart.

The Treasury Department has warned that the US could default on payments as soon as June 1 if lawmakers are unable to strike an agreement to raise the debt ceiling. Doing so would reverberate throughout the economy, economists have warned, projecting increased credit costs and unemployment.

Story continues

Yields on bills that mature in early June were unchanged after the announcement, which came after equity markets closed in the US. Yields on 10-year US Treasuries were also little changed.

Staff level talks have been underway between both sides on government spending, following the Tuesday meeting between Biden, McCarthy and other congressional leaders. An agreement on spending could clear the way for a deal to raise the US borrowing limit.

The spending discussions are also focusing on clawing back unspent Covid-19 funds and capping spending in the upcoming federal fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, said Representative Garret Graves, a Louisiana Republican. The White House wants a short-term caps deal, while Republicans want to cap discretionary spending for 10 years, he added.

Graves, a key adviser to McCarthy in the negotiations, said chances are better than 50/50 that a deal will include some agreement on an overhaul on energy project permits.

--With assistance from Steven T. Dennis.

(Updates with a leader attending funeral on Friday, in paragraph.)

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Anti-corruption advocate James Cohen says Canadas reputation has for years been hammered over its weak record of prosecuting financial crimes.

But now the executive director of Transparency International Canada is hopeful theres political will to tackle the problem, and that the establishment of the Canada Financial Crime Agency will finally start scaring the bad guys.

Cohens group released a white paper this week about the Trudeau governments plan to create the agency, outlined in the latest federal budget, to tackle financial crime across the country.

Hes cautiously optimistic, but his organization also warns that the feds may be missing an opportunity to tackle corruption and securities fraud by focusing solely on money laundering.

The 2023 budget outlined how the Trudeau government intends to make the Canada Financial Crime Agency the lead enforcement agency against financial crime.

It will bring together expertise necessary to increase money laundering charges, prosecutions and convictions, and asset forfeiture results in Canada, the budget said. These actions will address the key operational challenges identified in both domestic and international reviews of Canadas (anti-money laundering/anti-terrorist financing) Regime.

Cohen said its important to take the opportunity to look at the full package of what is financial crime, which includes corruption and bribery abroad by Canadian companies, as well as securities fraud and the often related offence of money laundering.

Cohen, who co-authored the paper with lawyer Julia Webster, law professor Julia Quaid and anti-money laundering advocate Denis Meunier, said establishing the Canada Financial Crimes Agency could improve the countrys weak enforcement record on financial crime.

The paper says questions loom about how the agency would operate with Canadas disjointed enforcement regime, including provincial securities regulators, tax authorities, police and Fintrac, Canadas financial intelligence unit.

The authors urge the Canadian government to ensure that the new organization can co-ordinate effectively between multiple agencies, and create specialized teams of investigators and prosecutors to tackle financial crimes while filling in gaps in enforcement.

Canada could learn from countries such as Australia and the United Kingdom, the paper says, both of which have their own national financial crime enforcement bodies.

Transparency International says the new agencys effectiveness will hinge on many factors, including hiring more federal government prosecutors with the knowledge and expertise to tackle complex financial crimes.

Cohen said staffing issues often hamper enforcement efforts, and its important to retain people for years to build up expertise to effectively deal with complex money laundering and fraud cases.

Other policy developments federally and provincially, Cohen said, show governments have taken notice of the criticisms of Canadas financial crime situation. These have come from the international Financial Action Task Force, the Cullen Commission examining money laundering in British Columbia, and in the wake of the Panama Papers leak about the role and use of anonymous shell companies.

Cohen said beneficial ownership registries unmasking hidden owners of shell companies, coupled with other tools such as unexplained wealth orders and the new Canada Financial Crime Agency, indicate that things are starting to move forward.

I have cautious optimism that were gonna get to a good place, he said.

Maybe we wont get everything we want with this agency, but hopefully well get something better than nothing that will help enforcement in Canada, and help us shed our global image, help us restore Canadian confidence in our markets and our transparency, and give our law enforcement a boost of confidence that theyre getting the tools and the political will to get the job done on this and start scaring the bad guys.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 12, 2023.

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BOURGETAlain Bellefeuille, the 39-year-old man accused of killing an Ontario Provincial Police officer in a village east of Ottawa on Thursday, lived alone in a house tucked into the forest and was unemployed but did odd jobs for cash, according to neighbours and village residents who knew him.

In this close-knit village of 1,200 people, Bellefeuille was known as a hunter, a dog owner and a man who kept to himself and had few close relationships. But many questions still remained as residents looked for answers in the aftermath of the shocking events.

Thalia Cloutier lives with her husband and 10-month-old baby near the edge of a wooded area with a path that leads to the back of Bellefeuilles residence.

Going through the forest he would talk to himself, Cloutier said. He was always alone, she added, and it often sounded like he was shouting.

Sgt. Eric Mueller died in hospital after the shooting, which occurred around 2 a.m. on Thursday as the 42-year-old veteran cop and two other officers responded to a disturbance call.

Police said the three OPP officers who were shot on Thursday were ambushed when they arrived at the home in Bourget. The officers had called for backup before they approached the residence, police said.

Mueller, the latest police officer to be killed in the line of duty in recent months, was a coach and a mentor to colleagues OPP Commissioner Thomas Carrique said Thursday. He was hired as a provincial officer in 2006 and promoted to sergeant in 2018.

We offer our deepest condolences to Sergeant Muellers wife and two young children, to his colleagues and friends. Eric will always be remembered for his service and sacrifice, the OPP association said in a statement.

Bellefeuille is charged with one count of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder.

Cloutier, 29, knew Bellefeuille as the owner of a dog named Phoenix, a mixed-breed pup that would sometimes appear in her backyard, eager to play with her dog. He was polite and friendly on the occasions when he came by to retrieve his dog, though often appeared to be under the influence of drugs, she said.

Bellefeuille told her that he didnt graduate from high school. While some Bourget residents said that Bellefeuille had previously worked as a mechanic, he told Cloutier that he didnt have full-time work but did odd jobs for cash  yard cleanup and minor home repairs.

Bellefeuille owned a gun and would sometimes shoot rabbits in his backyard, Cloutier said, but that didnt strike her as unusual in a rural community.

He appeared in court on Thursday looking dishevelled and tired. A court-appointed lawyer speaking on his behalf said he had barely slept and didnt want to answer any questions until he had some rest.

A 43-year-old officer with 19 years of service remains in hospital in stable condition with serious injuries, the OPP said Friday. A 35-year-old officer with 10 years on the force has been released from hospital and is recovering at home.

Court records show Bellefeuille was charged in 2009 for theft under $5,000 dollars but that was withdrawn, and a traffic violation in 2019 in Ottawa but the outcome is unclear. He filed for bankruptcy in 2008 in Gatineau, Que., declaring $301 in assets and $25,000 in liabilities.

One resident who didnt want to be named said she got to know Bellefeuille and his two dogs while she was working at a local convenience store where he bought cigarettes. She said he steered clear of close relationships but was respectful, polite and nice. He loved to hunt and once brought her boar meat, she said. She hadnt seen him in a couple of years.

Around here people are known for the kind of cigarettes they smoke, said local resident Robbyn Annett-Laub, who lives near the scene of the shooting. He was Talon Red.

In Bourget on Friday police vehicles were parked near the home where the shooting took place and officers went to and from the property. Police barricades remained in place in some areas and officers were seen going door-to-door.

Veronique Poirier-Larabie had set up a small bunch of colourful flowers outside her home, with Muellers name written on a window above. She said his car had been left outside her residence the day before.

I did not know this officer but he does deserve to be remembered, said Poirier-Larabie, who moved to Bourget a month ago from Ottawa in search of a quiet community.

It touched me, she said of the tragedy. I did cry.

Poirier-Larabie said the shooting had resulted in several members of the small village checking in on one another as they processed what happened.

You dont expect this to happen, she said. This actually brought us probably a little closer.

With files from the Stars Omar Mosleh and The Canadian Press.

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RIO DE JANEIRO (AP)  A day after New York Rep. George Santos pleaded not guilty to charges in the U.S., he signed an agreement Thursday with public prosecutors in Brazil to avoid prosecution for forging two stolen checks in 2008.

What would have been the start of a case was ended today, Santos lawyer in Brazil, Jonymar Vasconcelos, told The Associated Press in a text message. As such, my client is no longer the subject of any case in Brazil.

Asked about the details of the non-prosecution agreement, Vasconcelos demurred, citing the fact the case proceeded under seal. The public prosecutors office of Rio de Janeiro state also declined to comment when contacted by the AP.

Court records in Brazil, first uncovered by The New York Times, show Santos was the subject of a criminal charge for using two stolen checks to buy items at a shop in the city of Niteroi, including a pair of sneakers that he gifted to a friend. At the time, Santos would have been 19. The purchase totaled 2,144 Brazilian reais, then equal to about $1,350, according to the charge prosecutors filed in 2011.

That followed an investigation opened in 2008 and Santos signed confession, in which he admitted to having stolen the checkbook of his mothers former employer from her purse and making purchases, including in the store, and recognizing the fraudulent checks as those he had signed, according to the court documents reviewed by the AP.

A judge accepted the charges against Santos in 2011, but subsequent subpoenas for him to appear personally or present a written defense went unanswered and, with authorities repeatedly unable to determine his whereabouts, the case was suspended in 2013. That changed after he won a U.S. congressional seat and the subsequent flurry of media attention focused on his dubious credentials. Rio state prosecutors then petitioned to reopen the case.

Per terms of the non-prosecution agreement, Santos will pay 24,000 reais (almost $5,000), with the majority going to the shopkeeper who received the bad checks and the remainder to charities, newspaper Folha de S.Paulo reported, without saying how it obtained the information. Santos attended the meeting virtually, the paper reported.

Resolution of the case removes the possibility Santos might have been obliged to travel to another country to resolve pending charges; that could have been been complicated after he was forced to surrender his passport after recent charges in the U.S.

On Wednesday in New York, Santos pleaded not guilty to charges he stole from his campaign and lied to Congress about being a millionaire, while collecting unemployment benefits he didnt deserve.

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NEW YORK (AP)  Former President Donald Trump is appealing a New York jurys verdict awarding $5 million to a magazine columnist after the jurors concluded Trump had sexually abused her in the 1990s and defamed her last October.

A notice of appeal was filed Thursday in Manhattan federal court, the first step in a process that will move the civil case brought against Trump by writer E. Jean Carroll to a three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The notice was signed by Trump attorney Joe Tacopina, who said after Tuesdays verdict that he believed there were multiple strong grounds for appeal.

The nine-person jury concluded after less than three hours of deliberations that Carroll had failed to prove it was more likely than not that Trump had raped her in the dressing room of a Bergdorf Goodman store in early spring 1996. But it did find that she had been sexually abused.

It also said in its verdict that Trump defamed Carroll in a social media statement last October.

Carroll sued Trump in November minutes after a temporary New York state law took effect allowing sexual attack victims to sue their abusers even if the abuse occurred decades earlier.

In the notice of appeal filed in the lower court Thursday where Judge Lewis A. Kaplan presided over the trial, Trumps lawyers wrote that notice is hereby given that Defendant Donald J. Trump appeals to the 2nd Circuit.

Asked for comment, Tacopina said in an email: Judge Kaplan has been overturned once already in Carroll v. Trump. We are confident it will be twice after this appeal is heard.

He was referencing Kaplans rejection of an attempt to substitute the United States for Trump as the defendant in an earlier defamation lawsuit filed by Carroll for statements Trump made while he was president. The 2nd Circuit later ruled that Trump was an employee of the government for purposes of the lawsuit, but the appeal has not been fully resolved.

A lawyer for Carroll did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

The verdict was returned after a two-week trial in which Carroll testified that Trump sexually attacked her in the luxury department stores dressing room after a lighthearted and flirtatious chance encounter that took them from the stores entrance to the desolate sixth floor lingerie area, where Trump invited Carroll to help him shop for a gift.

She first publicly disclosed her experience in a 2019 memoir while Trump was still president. She said his public response was so harsh that it spoiled her reputation, cost her a 27-year job with Elle magazine and subjected her to mean social media attacks from his followers.

Trump, who is currently running for president as a Republican, did not attend the trial. He said he didnt know Carroll, that he never encountered her at the department store, and he has repeatedly hurled insults at her, including at a videotaped deposition in October. Portions of that were played for the jury.

He repeated some of his harsh statements during a CNN town hall on Wednesday night.

Outside the courthouse on Tuesday, Tacopina said that he and Trump were very confident on the appellate issues here.

He said one of the issues to be appealed was the inclusion in the trial of the notorious 2005 Access Hollywood video in which Trump was captured on a hot mic speaking disparagingly about women and saying that celebrities can grab women sexually without asking because women let them do it.

There were things that happened in this case that were beyond the pale, Tacopina said.

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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP)  Kansas Democratic governor on Friday vetoed Republican legislation that would have provided a financial boost to anti-abortion pregnancy centers and prevented officials fighting outbreaks of contagious diseases from prohibiting public gatherings or ordering infected people to isolate themselves.

The two measures were part of a wave of conservative policies passed by GOP-controlled state legislatures this year, including ones in Kansas rolling back transgender rights and establishing new restrictions on abortion providers. But Gov. Laura Kellys two vetoes will stand because lawmakers have adjourned for the year, barring any attempt at overriding them.

The anti-abortion measure would have granted up to $10 million a year in new state income tax credits to donors to the more than 50 centers across the state that provide free counseling, classes, supplies and other services to pregnant people and new parents to discourage abortions. Lawmakers included it in a wide-ranging tax bill that also included an expansion of existing tax credits for adoption expenses and purchases from businesses that employ disabled workers. Kelly vetoed the entire bill.

Republican lawmakers pursued anti-abortion measures this year despite a decisive statewide vote in August 2022 affirming abortion rights. Abortion opponents argued that the vote didnt preclude reasonable restrictions and other measures, while Democrats argued that GOP legislators were breaking faith with voters.

Kelly supports abortion rights and narrowly won reelection last year. Last month she vetoed $2 million in the next state budget for direct aid to the centers, but the Legislature overrode that action.

In her latest veto message, Kelly didnt point to any individual provision in the tax bill but said bundling so many proposals together made it impossible to sort out the bad from the good.

In vetoing direct aid to anti-abortion centers last month, Kelly called them largely unregulated and said, This is not an evidence-based approach or even an effective method for preventing unplanned pregnancies.

Abortion opponents argued that providing financial aid to their centers would help make sure that people facing unplanned pregnancies have good alternatives if theyre unsure about getting abortions.

House Speaker Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican, accused Kelly in a statement of a political bias against helping vulnerable new mothers.

Even if lawmakers still had a chance to override Kellys veto, they didnt pass the tax bill initially with the two-thirds majorities required.

The other bill Kelly vetoed was part of an ongoing backlash from conservative lawmakers against how she, other state officials and local officials attempted to check the spread of COVID-19 in 2020 and 2021. They were particularly critical of orders closing schools and businesses during the pandemics first months and restrictions on businesses operations and mask mandates later.

She said no to protecting the health freedom of Kansans and curtailing the powers of unelected bureaucrats, Senate President Ty Masterson, another Wichita-area Republican, said in a statement.

But Republicans split over the measure because some feared it went too far in curbing state and local officials powers during outbreaks.

It would have stripped local officials of their authority to prohibit public gatherings and repealed a requirement that local law enforcement officers enforce orders from public health officials. Those officials also would have lost their authority to order quarantines for infected people.

The head of the state health department, appointed by the governor, would have lost the power to issue orders and impose new health rules to prevent the spread of disease or to order people to get tested or seek treatment for infectious diseases.

Kellys veto message said Kansas has been a pioneer in public health policy. A century ago the states top health official, Dr. Samuel Crumbine, was known internationally for campaigning against unsanitary, disease-spreading practices such as spitting on sidewalks and having common drinking cups on railroads and in public buildings.

Yet lawmakers continue trying to undermine the advancements that have saved lives in every corner of our state, Kelly wrote.

The bill also reflected vaccine opponents influence with conservative Republican lawmakers.

It would have prevented the head of the state health department from requiring COVID-19 vaccinations for children entering school or day care  something Kellys administration has said it doesnt plan to do. State and local officials also would not have been able to cite a persons lack of vaccination as a reason for recommending that they isolate themselves.

___

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OTTAWA - Canada has set the stage with Moldova to start sanctioning people and companies based in that Eastern European country who are helping Russias ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with Moldovan President Maia Sandu in Ottawa just weeks after her cabinet said that hybrid warfare generated by Russia is trying to overthrow her government.

Moldova has been trying to join the European Union for years, and the former Soviet country has helped shelter people fleeing violence in neighbouring Ukraine.

The Liberal government says it will publish new regulations in order to target people in Moldova who are committing systematic human-rights violations, endangering international security or committing corruption.

Ottawa also aims to send Canadian judges to Moldova to help the country strengthen the integrity of its judicial system.

And Canada is pledging $2 million for a program that will help the National Police of Moldova provide security in areas with many asylum seekers, through training, equipment, and technical assistance.

Moldova, which is roughly the size of Vancouver Island, is among the poorest countries in Europe.

Since before the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, an area along the border with Ukraine comprising about 10 per cent of Moldovan territory has claimed independence, and Russian troops have occupied the region called Transnistria since 1992.

Sandu told media in February that Ukraine had uncovered a Russian plot to overthrow Moldovas government, in part by having plainclothes officials with military training occupy state buildings.

Her visit on Thursday marked the first time a Moldovan president has come to Canada since 1992.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 11, 2023.

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OTTAWAThe possibility of Meta blocking Canadians access to news on Facebook and Instagram over the Liberal governments online news bill is ramping up, with the tech giant signalling its ready to make the drastic move should the proposed legislation pass unchanged.

Over the past week, representatives from Facebooks parent company have told senators and MPs probing Bill C-18  and tech platforms opposition to it  that the Online News Act would unfairly force Meta to enter into deals with news publishers.

The bill would compel tech companies like Meta and Google, which share and direct people to online news content, to strike deals with the Canadian media publishers behind those stories. The Liberals have framed C-18 as an attempt to boost an embattled journalism industry it says has been hurt by tech titans dominating the digital advertising market. (Torstar, which owns the Toronto Star, supports the bill, and currently has deals with both platforms for news sharing.)

But Meta and Google oppose the bill and want to see it changed. If that doesnt happen, Google has warned it might cut its existing deals with Canadian publishers as it mulls pulling news content from its search engine entirely. Meta says its ready to block news on Facebook and Instagram if the bill is passed, which could happen within weeks.

Its not the first time the platforms have issued warnings to countries seeking payment for news sharing. Canadas bill, while not identical, is based on Australias News Media Bargaining Code, which infamously triggered a weeklong news ban in that country in 2021.

Heres how the Australian government handled that impasse, and what it could look like for Canadians if the same tactics are rolled out here.

What did Facebook do in Australia?

Facebook, which had yet to be folded under Meta, initially opposed Australias law for several reasons. Among them, the platform felt news businesses would be able to demand payment for content far beyond its commercial value, which would lead to an arbitration process purposefully skewed in their favour. Facebook also argued  as it has in Canada  that the legislation failed to acknowledge how much media outlets benefit from using the social media site to drive traffic back to their stories.

When it became clear the legislation was about to pass, the platform took action. In February 2021, Facebook blocked news publishers and users in Australia from sharing or viewing all local and international news content. That meant anyone outside the country would also be unable to see or interact with any Australian news.

Not only was news wiped from the platform, so too was information posted by government agencies and non-profit groups. Government health information and pages for some emergency services faced the same fate amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, misinformation and conspiracy theories were left untouched.

While some of those changes to public services were reversed, the news ban lasted seven days.

How would those threats impact me if they happened here?

Meta Canadas head of public policy, Rachel Curran, told MPs Monday that the company has already set up crossfunctional teams that are preparing to scrub news from its platforms.

While the company has not explained what that would look like here, it follows from the Australian example that Canadians would not be able to post or see any news content shared on Facebook and Instagram. Users could see warnings pop up on their accounts if they try to share news, and posts could be removed from news pages.

Canadians interested in sharing an article they found interesting, or hoping to share news content in the event of an emergency situation, might be completely out of luck.

What wont happen is Meta blocking access to government pages and emergency services, with Curran telling the House of Commons heritage committee that those errors will not be made in the Canadian context.

How did the Australian government resolve the standoff?

There were intense negotiations over the course of the ban, with Facebook stating it had convinced the Australian government to compromise on a number of changes.

The government pushed through several amendments, including exempting Facebook from being subject to the code if it could prove that it inked enough deals with news outlets. Platforms were also given a month to comply with the code if they were eventually designated under the regime, and changes were made to the final offer arbitration process that would kick in for situations where commercial deals could not be reached.

Facebook continues to warn that it can still block news if Australia ever applies the code to the digital giant.

Rod Sims, the former chair of Australias competition watchdog, has since estimated that Meta and Google have struck deals totalling $200 million annually with local publishers. But he also recommended in a report published last year that it was time for Meta to be designated under the law, because it hadnt signed deals with two Australian outlets.

Will Canada be forced to find a similar compromise?

If Meta makes good on its threat, its worth noting that Canadas proposed legislation and Australias law arent exactly the same.

In Australia, it was up to the countrys treasurer to designate a platform under the code. Here, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission would oversee the regime, and the bill outlines criteria that platforms must meet to be exempted.

Even so, Meta argues that Canadas legislation goes even further than its Australian counterpart.

This legislation would make Canada the first democracy to put a price on free links to web pages, which flies in the face of global norms on copyright principles and puts at risk the free flow of information online, Metas president of global affairs Nick Clegg wrote this week.

Curran told senators last week that the bill also exposes Meta to an unknown liability, because she said the company would not be able to control how much publishers could post to its platforms and how much the tech giant would have to pay.

Its up to senators studying the bill to decide what changes it wants to make, and then the government must weigh whether to accept them.

But Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez has made it clear Canada wont be intimidated, telling The Logic last month that the world is watching the countrys next steps. Sources close to the file, speaking to the Star on the condition they not be named, have also signalled that while they hope a news ban doesnt materialize, Meta will still be forced to abide by the legislation if the bill passes without its approval.

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OTTAWAThe federal fisheries department is under fire from industry and government officials in Nova Scotia who say confusing regulations from Ottawa are blocking tidal energy projects that could be part of Canadas multibillion-dollar drive to remove greenhouse gas emissions from electricity generation.

After declaring earlier in May that it would shut down operations in the Maritime province, a U.K.-based company called Sustainable Marine Energy said Friday it is preparing to declare bankruptcy.

As reported by The Canadian Press, the companys chief executive Jason Hayman said investors are placing their Canadian subsidiary into bankruptcy after failed talks with the federal government on tidal energy proposals in the Bay of Fundy.

The company  hailed in 2022 for opening Canadas first floating tidal energy station in the area known for the highest tides in the world, with the help of $28.5 million from the federal government  did not respond to interview requests from the Star on Friday.

Asked about the situation, a spokesperson for federal Fisheries Minister Joyce Murray said the government is looking at changing the approval process for tidal projects and is still ready to work with Sustainable Marine Energy on its proposals in Nova Scotia.

Minister Murray continues to meet with industry and provincial officials to explore ways to improve the regulatory process and to support this emerging technology, said Jeff Woodland, Murrays press secretary, in an emailed statement.

Tidal energy projects are one type of electricity generation targeted with a new federal tax credit announced in this years budget. Pledging to spend $6.3 billion over the next five years, the government said it will introduce a 15-per-cent tax credit that will be available for a decade to cover the costs of refurbishing and building clean electricity projects.

The program is part of the governments vision for an industrial strategy to spur the private sector to lower greenhouse gas emissions as the country strives to contribute to the global struggle against climate change. The federal government is also preparing to release draft rules to limit emissions from power plants, after it promised to make Canadas electricity grids net zero  with any remaining greenhouse gas pollution cancelled out by nature or technology  by 2035.

Earlier in May, Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston accused the federal fisheries department of holding back the provinces pursuit of tidal energy as it tries to phase out coal-fired electricity generation in line with Ottawas demand that it be eliminated by 2030.

At the time, Murrays office told the Halifax Examiner that the area in question in the Bay of Fundy was narrow, with a fast-moving tide, where two at-risk species  the white shark and inner Bay of Fundy salmon  can be found.

Despite Fridays bankruptcy announcement, the ministers spokesperson said the government has offered a path forward to Sustainable Marine Energy, but did not provide further details.

Lindsay Bennett is executive director of the Fundy Ocean Research Centre for Energy, a non-profit in the region with a facility to help tidal power projects connect to Nova Scotias electricity grid. To her, the emerging sector is at risk of failing to take off because federal regulations under the Fisheries Act and Species at Risk Act are too confusing. She argued there needs to be a common set of guidelines or metrics so companies know exactly what they need to measure and adjust in order to get their projects approved.

Canada needs to build a clear regulatory process, she said. Its very opaque.

Bennett also said the confusion clashes with the federal governments ambitions for net-zero electricity and will make the goal harder to achieve.

The tidal sector is looking for a path  not a pass, Bennett said.

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Low season arrivals to Phuket forecast at 50% of pre-pandemic levels

PHUKET: Tourist arrivals to Phuket during this years low season are expected to be around 50% of the numbers recorded in 2019, the last pre-pandemic year. The key headwinds now are sluggish arrivals from China and the bankruptcy of Go First affecting arrivals from India, said Thaneth Tantipiriyakij, President of the Phuket Tourist Association (PTA).

tourismeconomicstransport

By The Phuket News

Friday 12 May 2023, 03:38PM

Foreign tourists at Phuket International Airport. Photo: TAC Phuket

Speaking to the Bangkok Post, Mr Thaneth added one more negative factor, presented in the article as "the temporary closure of Phuket International Airport from 1 am until 7 am until the beginning of July." This is likely to mean yet another delay in the completion of the runway repair which prevents Phuket airport from servicing any flights at night, as witnessed by FlightRadar24.

According to Mr Thaneth, Chinese airlines had been widely using those night slots before the COVID-19 pandemic and are still interested in them for extra flights. Yet, due to repair works, the slots are not available. Mr Thaneth forecast Chinese arrivals to reach only 30-40% of the pre-crisis levels of 2019 during this low season. The forecast for the whole market stands at 50% of 2019.

Phukets tourist business witnessed seasonal changes in arrivals in April, when visits from India fell 12.3% month-on-month while visits from Russia dropped 32.7% compared to March. China arrivals grew by 3.5% and failed to provide any compensation for the drops in Indian and Russian arrivals.

In this situation, Phukets only choice for this low season would be trying to gain more visitors from the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia. According to Mr Thaneth, the period after the Hajj (annual Muslim pilgrimage to holy places) is popular for tourism in this country. The president of the TPA also noted the improvement of transportation accessibility to Thailand from this region, including both direct flights from various cities and flights through local aviation hubs.

Mr Thaneth stated that he would like to see the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) continue its aggressive marketing strategy in the Middle East.

Regarding the TATs tasks in the Chinese market, Mr Thaneth said the authorities "should deal with the impact of fake news concerning unsafe vacations in Thailand that had circulated on Chinese social media platforms." He did not provide any examples of these "fake news".

At the same time, Mr Thaneth stressed the need for strict measures to eliminate nominee businesses and zero-dollar tours which damage the reputation of Thailand.
National police chief opens Punrak Cafe in Phuket

PHUKET: National Police Chief Pol Gen Damrongsak Kittipraphat was in Phuket yesterday (May 11) to officiate the formal opening of the Punrak Cafe at Phuket Immigration Office in Phuket Town.

policeimmigration

By The Phuket News

Friday 12 May 2023, 10:17AM

Immigration officers from across the island assembled to welcome the countrys top police general, before joining him at a brief meeting.

Also to arrive on the island for the event were Immigration Bureau Deputy Commissioner Pol Lt Gen Phanthana Nuchanart, Immigration Division 6 Commander Pol Maj Gen Praphansak Prasarnsuk, Immigration Division 6 Deputy Commander Pol Col Chalermchon Laemthong and Sumana Kittipraphat President of the Police Housewives Association.

Present to represent Phuket were Phuket Vice Governor Anupap Rodkwan Yodrambam, Phuket Provincial Police Chief Pol Maj Gen Sermphan Sirikong, Phuket Immigration Chief Pol ColThanet Sukchai and Boonwandee Woonciew, who as wife of Phuket Governor Narong Woonciew serves as President of the Phuket Red Cross Society.

Gen Damrongsak explained that the Punrak Cafe branch in Phuket is the fourth Punrak Cafe to open in the country. The other three are in Hua Hin, Prachuap Khiri Khan and Chiang Rai. Another two branches are expected to open this year.

The Punrak Cafe is one of the welfare projects organised by the Police Housewives Association to help create opportunities, create encouragement, generate income and help improve the quality of life of the police, Gen Damrongsak said.

The Punrak Cafe is also a convenience for foreigners who come to use the service. It helps to strengthen the good image of the organisation as well, he added.

He also thanked the Police Housewives Association and the immigration officers in Phuket who have jointly pushed for the opening of Punrak Cafe in Phuket.

Ms Sumana explained that the first Punrak Cafe outlet was launched in 2020 under an initiative by former national police chief Pol Gen Suwat Chaengyodsuk who wanted to create opportunities make extra income and as a welfare for police families, she said.

The foundation concept is Punrak, meaning share love, she added.

The first branch opened at a Border Patrol Police headquarters, the second branch at a Central Investigative Police headquarters, the third branch at a Royal Thai Police headquarters and the fourth branch is now open at Phuket Immigration, which is the first branch in the region, she said.

The coffees at the Punrak shops are made from Arabica coffee beans introduced to Thailand by King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama 9) under his Royal Project initiated in the 1970s for people in Thailands far north to avoid living in abject poverty by having an alternative to growing poppies for opium for income, Ms Sumana said.

The Royal Project focussed on farmers in the Doi Tung area of Chiang Rai. However, Ms Sumana exp[lained yesterday that the coffee beans used by Punrak Cafe outlets were the product of teachers and students from the Benjama Border Patrol Police School 1 in the Doi Sam Muen Community of Wiang Hae District in Chiang Mai Province.

The coffee grown at Doi Sam Muen has been inspected by True Coffee experts through field visits, she noted.

It was found that the coffee beans are of good quality. It should be promoted, extended and its market expanded, she said.

True Coffee has also been involved in ensuring that all employees and baristas at all branches are well trained, she added.
(Bloomberg) -- FWD Group Holdings Ltd. is weighing a private funding round as the Asian insurers long-planned initial public offering is set to be delayed again amid weak market conditions, according to people familiar with the matter.

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Hong Kong billionaire Richard Lis firm has about $800 million in commitments for a pre-IPO round that could take place as early as June, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information isnt public. FWD is contemplating the round in lieu of proceeding in the near term with an IPO in the Asian financial hub, given the performance of recent first-time share sales, the people said.

The size of the pre-IPO round hasnt been confirmed and they could raise more than the initial committed amount, the people said. FWD still plans to move ahead with an IPO when the market improves, they said.

FWDs group chief financial officer Jon Nielsen is leaving and will join Canadian insurer Great-West Lifeco Inc. as its CFO-designate in September, according to a statement Friday. Bloomberg News reported Nielsens planned departure earlier. FWD has identified a potential replacement with experience in corporate finance at a major US insurer, the people said.

Separately, Lis investment flagship Pacific Century Group is set to name Magnus Andersson, former co-head of Asia Pacific equity capital markets at Morgan Stanley, as an executive director, the people said. Andersson would help FWD prepare for a potential IPO, and could join PCG as soon as June, the people added. He retired from the US bank in February.

A new funding round would add to the $1.8 billion that FWD has raised in private placements over the past two years. The firm has repeatedly explored the IPO market in that time without proceeding with a first-time share sale.

Story continues

FWD has filed for a Hong Kong listing three times, most recently in March, and had been targeting a debut as soon as the second quarter to raise as much as $1 billion, Bloomberg News has reported. Before that, the firm had abandoned a New York listing plan that could have raised as much as $3 billion in 2021, people familiar with the matter have said.

Deliberations about the fundraising, IPO plans and staff changes are ongoing and details may change, the people said. A representative for FWD declined to comment, while Andersson didnt immediately respond to a request for comment via LinkedIn. A Pacific Century Group spokesperson declined to comment on Anderssons appointment.

Hong Kong has seen a dearth of larger listings this year amid a global drought for IPOs. Volumes in the financial hub are down 23% in the year to date, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, and the citys biggest first-time share sale so far, baijiu maker ZJLD Group Inc., saw its shares tumble nearly 18% on their first day of trading.

Founded 10 years ago, the insurer has expanded across Asia both organically and via acquisitions. It counts more than 10 million customers across markets in the region. Full year adjusted operating profit before tax rose 83% to $334 million, it said in an exchange filing on Feb. 28.

(Updates with announcement of Nielsens new job in fourth paragraph.)

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Calling itself a practical city building objective, which creates a future where the human spirit does more than survive, the Gaslight District is presenting the Joy Summit.

The July summit will involve discussions and hands-on workshops and guest speakers including designer Bruce Mau and urban designer Ken Greenberg.

The summit begins on July 27, from 6:45 p.m. to 10 p.m., with an outdoor cocktail reception at the Gaslight District. Guests will experience a behind-the-scenes look at the Gaslight District set up prior to the July 28 grand opening; a meet and greet with Mau and Greenberg; a performance of Meander, the living architecture sculpture installed at Tapestry Hall; and a screening of the documentary Mau.

The summit continues on July 28, from 8 a.m.to 5:30 p.m., with a continental breakfast. The kickoff session with Tamarack Institute founder Paul Born includes a presentation by Mau entitled the Redesign of WE; a presentation by Greenberg entitled the Public Realm Within Cities, the Front Lines of Change; a presentation by DTLJ entitled The Infrastructure of the Human Spirit; the Power of Play. There will be a tour of the Gaslight District, lunch, workshops and closing remarks.

The day is hosted by Born, former regional councillor Helen Jowett, Paul Kalbfleisch, co-author of The Joy Experiments, and Scott Higgins, co-author of The Joy Experiments and president of HIP Developments.

Tickets cost $100 each plus HST. All proceeds will go to The Working Centre, The Youth Creativity Fund and Cambridge Food Bank. If you are unable to afford the fee, email info@joysummit.ca to discuss other options.



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The City of Cambridge is feeding some funding to Food4Kids Waterloo Region.

In a Food4Kids release, the program, dedicated to providing food directly to kids over weekends and school breaks, will receive a $50,000 community grant from the city to help feed children living with chronic hunger.

An increase in Cambridge schools requesting Food4Kids Waterloo Region services led to this generous grant to tackle food insecurity in the city, the release stated.

The city is the first municipality in the Region of Waterloo to support the charity, which depends on donations and fundraising to deliver its mission.

Food4Kids Waterloo Region prepares healthy food packages that are tucked into childrens backpacks to ensure they have access to nutritious food on weekends and during school breaks. Food4Kids currently serves more than 1,100 kids in the region, including 290 children from 22 schools in Cambridge.

The welfare of the children in our community is a high priority for us and knowing that their mental health and physical well-being are affected by the nourishment they receive, a decision was made to contribute to those needs in the most effective way possible, said Mayor Jan Liggett in the release.

We are proud to support Food4Kids Waterloo Region. This grant is a way for every Cambridge resident to participate in ensuring that all our wee ones equitably receive the same opportunities and sustenance. We know that feeding vulnerable children strengthens our community now and for the future.

Lorri Detta, Food4Kidss executive director, said the program is most needed now, with rising grocery and housing prices.

We raised the alarm with the city on the spike in requests from Cambridge schools to introduce and expand Food4Kids food distribution services in the city, Detta said.

We are thrilled to accept a grant that will enable us to add more Cambridge children to our program to meet the increasingly urgent need.

Cambridges St. Anne Catholic Elementary School is one Cambridge school benefitting from the program. Maureen Perry King, a St. Anne educational assistant, said the number of students coming to school hungry and without a lunch or snack has increased significantly over the last two years.

We are so happy for the children in our school to have Food4Kids, but there are many more children and schools that need this program.

Children who experience chronic hunger, according to the release, have poorer health, exhibit more behavioural problems and psychosocial deficits and suffer from higher levels of anxiety and depression. They also make slower gains in learning and fall behind in school.

Food4Kids Waterloo Region bridges the gap between in-school feeding programs and a lack of food on weekends and school breaks. It costs more than $1,000 a year to feed a child for the 170 days they are not in school with nutritious packages containing protein, dairy, grains, carbohydrates and fresh vegetables and fruit, the release stated.

Food4Kids volunteers pack and distribute food packages to local schools the day before a weekend. Teachers discreetly give each child food, so they dont suffer stigma from other students. Packages include enough kid-friendly meals and snacks to supply all the under-14 children in a household for a weekend.



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Jamie Montag found out The Hopper was on fire May 6 through a Facebook link sent to him.

Part of the ownership group that bought the King Street East property in 2021, Montag also saw the vitriol directed at the unknown owners by people on social media, saying the fire was a convenient way to clear the property.

Due to extensive damage, The Hopper was taken down on May 7 and 8.

Montag said his group was in the process of getting a demolition order for the property to pave the way for a proposed 48-unit condominium with commercial aspects on the main floor.

Prior to the fire, he said he had extensive communication with the city to get reports and studies done, had worked with police to relocate illegal tenants and community outreach programs to help find homes for legal tenants  the last of the tenants moved out more than two months ago  and conduct an archeological study that suggested the possibility of incorporating the exterior stone wall on Lowther Street into a new building. There was a determination the wall might have some historical significance because it had been a part of the original 184-year-old building, he said.

Besides that, he said, he runs a professional company that buys real estate and redevelops it.

So, the timing really isn't that convenient, Montag said.

Eric Yates, the citys chief fire prevention officer, deemed the fire suspicious and said an individual was seen fleeing from the scene of the fire. Police are investigating, he added.

Montag said he had someone inspect and secure the building on May 5, the day before the fire, so he suspects if someone came in, it happened that evening, or the day of the fire.

At the time of the blaze, the property was up for sale for $2.1 million. Montag said it was normal practice for his company to have the property on the market while redeveloping.

The process of getting site plan approval and whatnot can take quite some time. So, we've done this with a few other properties, we leave them up for sale in case someone is interested in picking up at the point that we are at, Montag said.

Now that the building is down, cleanup will be required. Montag said he wasnt sure of the cost as hes had limited communication with fire prevention, as their focus has been the fire.

He said the worst part of the blaze, however, was knowing residents of St. Peter's Place retirement home were displaced the night of the fire.

Residents were evacuated by the Red Cross, with help from police, and placed on Grand River Transit buses  operated by supervisors  and brought to the Preston Memorial Auditorium due to air quality in the area, according to Ward 3 Coun. Corey Kimpson.

When city staff learned of the situation, Kimpson said, a decision was made to open the Karl Homuth Arena to residents.

Kimpson added residents had to wait for the Red Cross to give an order they werent to return home and locate enough hotel rooms to accommodate them. The residents were taken to Waterloo, with the costs of the rooms and food covered. Transportation was provided to return home on May 7 in the afternoon.

Having to put somebody out of their house is a terrible thing. For something like this to happen and have no control over it, it's not a very nice position to be in, Montag said.



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A Waterloo man is among those facing charges after a traffic stop in northern Ontario resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of illicit drugs being seized.



A Waterloo man is among those facing charges after a traffic stop in northern Ontario resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of illicit drugs being seized.

According to a May 10 news release from the James Bay detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police, an officer conducted the traffic stop in question at approximately 11:30 p.m., May 7 on Highway 11 South in Cochrane, approximately 280 kilometres north of Sudbury.

The driver was arrested on an outstanding warrant, and police located and seized drugs suspected to be cocaine, Percocet, fentanyl and cannabis with a total estimated street value of $400,000, the release states.

Two other occupants of the vehicle were also arrested for drugs offences. Also seized were cellphones, approximately $6,500 in Canadian currency and a loaded handgun. The handgun was identified as stolen out of the State of Florida.

A 24-year-old Waterloo man has been charged with possession of property obtained by crime under $5,000; possession of a firearm, prohibited or restricted weapon obtained by crime; possession of a Schedule 1 substance (opioid); trafficking a Schedule 1 substance (opioid); trafficking a Schedule 1 substance (cocaine); possession of a Schedule 1 substance for the purpose of trafficking (opioid); possession of a Schedule 1 substance for the purpose of trafficking (cocaine); transporting a firearm, weapon, prohibited device or ammunition in a careless manner; unauthorized possession of a firearm; and possessing cannabis for the purpose of selling.

A 25-year-old Brampton man and a 26-year-old Kingston man were also arrested and charged with numerous drug and weapon charges.

All three appeared in court in Cochrane on May 8 and remain in custody.

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Tourists are flocking to El Salvador in record numbers, according to the countrys tourism minister.

The announcement comes as the Central American country ramps up its PR campaign to show the world that it is no longer a tiny backwater plagued by hyper violent street gangsbut rather a Bitcoin and surf paradise.

On Thursday, President Nayib Bukele, the countrys social media savvy, millennial leader, posted a cinematic video on Twitter announcing that El Salvador had just gone 365 days without a single homicide.

We ended on May 10, 2023, with 0 homicides nationwide. With this, it's 365 days without homicides, a full year. pic.twitter.com/SlupO8vN6J  Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) May 12, 2023

El Salvador today is undisputedly the safest country in Latin America, a dramatic voice narrates in the video.

AFP reported that the figure was the total number of days without murders since 2019 rather than consecutive days.

Tourism minister Morena Valdez added on Twitter that the country had received one million visitors so far this year.

Until recently, El Salvador was largely unpopular on the gringo trail, other than with hardcore surfers. That's because it repeatedly dropped in and out of the most violent nations on the planet lists.

In 2015, with at least 6,640 murders, it was ranked the most murderous country in the Western Hemisphere.

But El Salvador made headlines in 2021 when it became the first country in the world to make Bitcoin legal tender. Its eccentric leader has gone on Bitcoin-buying sprees and businesses now have to accept the cryptocurrency by law.

President Bukele has turned things around in the country by launching a historic crackdown on El Salvadors notorious criminal groups. He in turn hopes to transform the country into a tech hub.

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How Easy Is Spending Bitcoin in El Salvador? We Went to Find Out

And Salvadorans seem pleased with the turnaround: Murders are down and Bukele regularly polls well.

But human rights groups have criticized his crime-tackling strategy and institutions like the World Bank and the IMF have slammed the Bitcoin idea.

Real data is hard to get hold of, too: No one other than the Salvadoran government knows how much murders have really dropped byor how much Bitcoin the government owns.

Still, the impact of the Bitcoin and surf tourism campaign is undeniable. Travel guide giant Lonely Planet in November rated El Salvador as one of 11 top countries to visit in 2023.
WILMOT TOWNSHIP  Two children are recovering from injuries after sitting down in a public washroom where a corrosive substance had been placed on toilet seats.

Waterloo Regional Police were called to Sir Adam Beck Community Park at 215 Snyders Rd. E. in Wilmot Township on Tuesday after receiving reports that toilet seats had been tampered with.

Two children  aged three and six  who used the washrooms between May 6 and May 8 got physical injuries from the seats.

The investigation is ongoing and police believe the corrosive substance was placed on the seats intentionally.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 519-570-9777. Anonymous tips can be left with Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.

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KITCHENER  Nearly three-quarters of the existing St. Peters Evangelical Lutheran Church in downtown Kitchener will be transformed into 41 supportive housing units by 2024.

The sanctuary and its congregation will remain in its current location at 49 Queen St. N., but neighbours will soon include 41 men and women living in Indwells second supportive housing project in Waterloo Region.

The St. Peters community believes wholeheartedly that shelter and housing can and should be a basic human right period. Full stop, Rev. Mark Ehlebracht told a crowd gathered at the churchs courtyard Friday to celebrate the construction of the housing project.

The 160-year-old church is offering its space for a 55-year lease, rent free, to the $18-million housing project.

The church reached out to Indwell with a plan to convert its space after a family of three was taking shelter behind the building. The redevelopment became more than just about renovating a building but creating homes, Ehlebracht said.

The Region of Waterloo pledged $8.9 million toward the St. Peters housing project, regional Coun. Jim Erb told the group. The City of Kitchener also waived $250,000 in fees and development charges.

To date, Indwell has collected $1.8 million through fundraising and donations, including many donations from families who attend St. Peters church.

Indwell is a Hamilton-based Christian charity that last year marked more than 1,000 housing units built in southern Ontario. The supportive housing developer and provider has converted old factories, as well as surplus schools, into affordable housing for vulnerable populations.

For its housing projects, Indwell receives about 55 per cent of its dollars from the federal government and 25 per cent from the province.

In Waterloo Region, Indwell has plans for two other supportive housing projects. The first  St. Marks Place  will open by late summer or early fall with 43 studio and one-bedroom apartments in the converted St. Marks Lutheran Church at 825 King St. W. near Grand River Hospital.

The other project, in Cambridge, is set to open in 2025. Indwell bought the former Grand River Hotel in Preston, a 14,000-square-foot building originally built 1820, and plans to build 39 studio and one-bedroom apartments at the King Street East property.

Indwell also supports up to 80 people living in two buildings run by the region  140 Weber St. in Kitchener and Robert Kerr Manor on Concession Street in Cambridge.

Indwell hope to assist up to 250 people in Waterloo Region with housing by 2025. Indwell CEO Jeff Neven said the charity takes Jesus seriously when he says to love your neighbour.

We believe that when we as neighbours reach out and take what we have, like a building like this (St. Peters) and a space like this, and we look at how can we use this to bless our neighbours, something happens thats a beautiful thing, he said.

We have a vision and the vision is hope and homes for all, Neven said. We need a vision that we believe we can do better as a community.

Neven thanked the church congregation and praised them for looking at their underutilized asset in a unique way.

You could have put a Starbucks here. Thats not disparaging to Starbucks but they dont create a lot of housing, Neven said to chuckles from the group.

We have the opportunity to affirm peoples dignity with good-quality housing, he said.

St. Peters 30,000-square-feet housing project will be on the main floor, the second floor and a third floor will be added. The church is retaining the sanctuary and some space for its operations. Historical pieces such as the stained glass in the chapel will be maintained, said Mark Willcock, Indwells community engagement co-ordinator.

Residents living there will come from the regions housing list which has spiked to 7,000 people waiting for subsidized housing.

Each housing project has support staff on site, along with nurses. It will also have community space and a commercial kitchen. Residents contribute to operating costs through monthly rent of about $550.

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Two summer math camps are available in Stoney Creek, designed to help current Grade 8 students manage the transition to Grade 9 math.

Enrolment for both camps is limited.

Frank Rizzuti, head of mathematics at St. John Henry Newman Catholic Secondary School, is providing 15 hours of in-person instruction from the Grade 9 destreamed math program, focusing on key concepts of the curriculum.

The program runs Aug. 21 to 25 at St. John Henry Newman Catholic Secondary School, 127 Gray Rd., with sessions from 9 a.m. to noon each day. The cost is $180. For enrolment inquiries, email rizzutifrank@gmail.com.

Michael Fischer, a math teacher at Bishop Ryan Catholic Secondary School, is also offering a Grade 9 summer math camp designed to help students manage the transition to high school.

Sessions run Aug. 21 to 25, 9 a.m. to noon at Bishop Ryan Catholic Secondary School, 1824 Rymal Rd. E. The math camp has operated continuously since 2007. The cost is $200 and anyone interested is asked to email grade9mathcamp@hotmail.com.



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For Mayor Andrea Horwath, the sun is shining on Hamilton  but through a few storm clouds.

That was the new mayors optimistic, yet sobering message during her inaugural chamber of commerce breakfast address.

I firmly believe that Hamiltons best days are ahead of us, she told 550 people at LIUNA Station on Thursday morning.

Horwath touted the cornerstones of the citys economy, including its manufacturing industry, the port, airport, health-sciences sector, post-secondary institutions and arts-and-culture scene.

She also pointed to the citys budding potential, including the promise of its future LRT line, ArcelorMittal Dofascos plan to decarbonize steelmaking and the emergence of a production sector for film and television.

But as the city aims to land more businesses, Horwath pointed to the housing affordability crunch, resulting in homelessness, unaffordable rents and an impenetrable real estate market.

Mayor Andrea Horwath has a conversation with Mark Stewart at the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce's annual Mayor's Breakfast at LIUNA Station on Thursday. The Hamilton Spectator

Thats a problem as Hamilton aims to retain young talent to fuel the local economy, she suggested.

If young people cant see a way to actually grow roots here in our city when they graduate, well lose them. Well lose them to other communities.

Meanwhile, the city has parked $70 million in its 2023 housing budget, a 30 per cent increase over last year, Horwath said, and is embarking on a team Hamilton approach to tackle the affordability issue.

But she also emphasized the city needs more help from upper levels of government to deal with a crisis of historic proportions.

The ongoing opioid epidemic and a rise in hate crimes are other hurdles to success that Hamilton faces, she said. Theres absolutely no place for hate in Hamilton.

This past fall, Horwath edged rivals Keanin Loomis, the former local chamber leader, and Bob Bratina, an ex-mayor and MP, to become Hamiltons first female mayor.

She started her political life as a city councillor in 1997, eventually making the leap to Queens Park, where she became NDP leader. The mayor is one of 10 new faces on the 16-member city council.

Horwath has been a champion for her city, Riccardo Persi, LIUNA business manager, said by way of introduction to the crowd. We share in much of the mayors vision for Hamilton.

For her part, Horwath said she does love being back home, noting the considerable time she spent traversing Ontario and in the legislature while maintaining her Hamilton address as a provincial leader.

And as mayor, shes done with yelling at one premier or another, Horwath quipped, referring to her former role as opposition leader at Queens Park. Im tired of that stuff. I want to do things. I want to get things done.

That includes efforts to streamline the development approvals process at city hall to get more housing built with a priority on affordable units, and striking a task force to improve trust and transparency, Horwath said.

That was an overarching theme in the election, due in part to community outrage over the past councils initial decision to keep secret the magnitude of a 24-billion-litre sewage leak into a west-end creek.

On LRT, Horwath warned there are going to be challenges for businesses in the corridor as construction on the Metrolinx-led project unfolds in coming years, but touted its positive impacts overall.

I am committed and dedicated to working with all of you to push this city forward and finally realize the potential that we all know that it has, she told the crowd.

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Expect delays along the following routes: The Ministry of Transportation has scheduled 16 closures in Hamilton on May 12, 2023 for roadwork on Highway 403, Highway 407 ETR, Highway 6 and Queen Elizabeth Way.

Highway 403 eastbound between Highway 24 / Rest Acres Road and Oak Park Road / Brant Road 27, Brantford: one alternating lane closed until May 12 at 6 p.m.

Highway 403 westbound between Highway 407 and Highway 407, Burlington: two alternating lanes closed until May 12 at 6 a.m.

Highway 403 westbound on-ramp at Brant Street, Burlington: all lanes closed until May 12 at 6 a.m.

Highway 403 westbound on-ramp at Queen Elizabeth Way Toronto, Burlington: all lanes closed until May 12 at 5 a.m.

Highway 407 ETR eastbound on-ramp at Queen Elizabeth Way Niagara Bound, Burlington: all lanes closed until May 12 at 5 a.m.

Highway 407 ETR eastbound on-ramp at Queen Elizabeth Way Niagara Bound, Burlington: one alternating lane closed until May 12 at 11:59 p.m.

Highway 6 northbound between Highway 5 and East Flamborough Township Con. 5 East, Hamilton: one alternating lane closed until May 12 at 5 a.m.

Highway 6 southbound between East Flamborough Township Con. 5 East and Highway 5, Hamilton: one alternating lane closed until May 12 at 5 a.m.

Highway 6 southbound between Millgrove Sideroad / 6th Con. Road East and Highway 5 / Clappisons Corners, Hamilton: one right lane closed until May 12 at 3 p.m.

Queen Elizabeth Way Fort Erie bound between Guelph Line and Fairview Street / Plains Road, Burlington: one left lane closed until May 12 at 6 a.m.

Queen Elizabeth Way Fort Erie bound between Millen Road and Glover Road, Hamilton. OPP-assisted full closure for 15 minutes. until May 12 at 4 a.m.

Queen Elizabeth Way Toronto bound between Brant Street, Burlington and Bronte Road, Oakville: one left lane closed until May 12 at 5 a.m.

Queen Elizabeth Way Toronto bound between Glover Road and Millen Road, Hamilton. OPP-assisted full closure for 15 minutes. until May 12 at 4 a.m.

Queen Elizabeth Way Toronto bound between Highway 403/407 and Highway 403 / 407, Burlington: one alternating lane closed until May 12 at 5 a.m.

Queen Elizabeth Way Toronto bound between Walkers Line and Burloak Drive, Burlington: one left lane closed until May 12 at 5 a.m.

Queen Elizabeth Way Toronto bound between Woodward Avenue, Hamilton and Burlington Skyway, Burlington: three right lanes closed until May 12 at 5 a.m.

Have further to travel? Highway closures for planned roadwork outside Hamilton

About this story

This story was automatically generated using open data from Ontario 511. These closures are scheduled for short-term or emergency repairs and maintenance of provincial highways around Hamilton, including Burlington, Stoney Creek, Flamborough, Ancaster, Dundas and Glanbrook. The disruptions may be intermittent or ongoing and can change due to weather, emergencies and other factors.

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Vodafone

For a company that has spent the last 20 years lost in a sort-of corporate no-man's land, Vodafone has no shortage of admirers.

What a shame, then, that they are the sort that most sensible people would run a mile from. Yet Vodafone, for reasons that are yet to be made clear, seems determined to roll out the red carpet and ask a succession of unsuitable guests to make themselves at home.

The latest to bang on the window of Vodafones headquarters demanding to be let in is none other than e&, a name that some marketing whizzes employed by the United Arab Emirates presumably came up with in a vain attempt to make Etisalat  the telecoms arm of a repressive, militaristic state  sound more cuddly.

Though surely few other people would fall for such a feeble rebranding exercise, it seems the senior folk at Vodafone sadly have. How else to explain the decision to award a board seat to the boss of an outfit that is 60pc-owned by the UAE?

There are many reasons why Vodafone, a vital national strategic asset, should not be aligning itself with such a regime. By the same token it is hard to think of a single, convincing argument why it would  other than sheer desperation, naivety, or both.

Britains short-sighted help yourself attitude to foreign takeovers has left swathes of critical infrastructure in the hands of overseas investors whose primary concern too often has been to further their own agenda to the detriment of British taxpayers.

In the last two decades, governments of all stripes have collectively surrendered control of most major industries. The water networks, key ports, major airports, steel, nuclear power, and more recently technology champions such as Arm have all fallen into the wrong hands.

And suddenly, our telecoms sector looks increasingly vulnerable to ownership and influence from foreign investors that dont have the countrys best interests at heart.

Vodafones announcement that it has appointed a representative of e& as a non-executive board director should concern anyone who cares about our national security. Vodafone isnt just another faceless multinational that we can allow to be unduly influenced  or worse, controlled  by dangerous state actors. The misguided plans for its UK operations have been an unfortunate reminder of that.

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Vodafones ill-advised UAE courtship comes on top of an equally unwelcome proposal to merge its mobile operations at home with rival operator Three, a company ultimately at the mercy of Beijing.

Three is owned by a private individual, Hong Kongs richest man Li Ka-Shing, and he is also able to point to a string of other UK business interests that help to craft an image of a benign force at work.

However, Li has also spoken out in favour of Chinas security crackdown in Hong Kong. As the Chinese Communist Party has shown in its ruthless crackdown on the countrys most prominent tech tycoons, it is more than happy to impose its will on business executives whenever it sees fit. In an era of growing hostility from Beijing to the West, calls by hawkish senior MPs such as Sir Iain Duncan Smith to block the deal are old-fashioned common sense.

Vodafone has been at the forefront of British telephony for decades. That means it controls, and has access to, untold quantities of personal data belonging to millions of UK citizens. It also works with the security services, holds important government contracts, and provides cybersecurity for critical national infrastructure, as well as operating many of the vital undersea cables that carry internet traffic and are essential for smartphone connection.

It was on similar grounds that Chinas Huawei was eventually booted off the telecoms network, though by the time the Government found the courage to act, its equipment was so embedded in phone mast sites and telephone exchanges that the bill for removal is expected to amount to several billion pounds.

There is a danger we will make the same mistake again unless the Vodafone deal is examined and given the proper scrutiny it deserves under beefed up powers granted to ministers by the National Security and Investment Act.

Its probably too early to be making such a drastic judgement about Etisalat, but there are still serious questions to be asked, both by ministers and the Vodafone board, about whether the UAE is a suitable partner for such an important British institution.

There is certainly no shortage of red flags. Its record in telecoms alone is highly concerning. Online censorship is commonplace in the UAE, and often facilitated by Etisalat. The UAE government has also been accused of routinely spying on its citizens, while in 2009 Etisalat was accused of tricking Blackberry users into installing spyware by telling them it was a software update.

Hatem Dowidar - LinkedIn

The company said at the time that the upgrades were required for service enhancements.

Elsewhere, the UK High Court ruled in 2021 that Dubai leader, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, had hacked into the phones of his ex-wife Princess Haya bint al-Hussein as well as her legal advisers and staff during a row over custody of their two children. He has denied the allegations. Sheikh Mohammed also doubles as the Prime Minister of the UAE.

Yet nothing demonstrates the regions potential to be a malign influence better than the mass sackings that occurred at P&O Ferries. The finger was pointed squarely at its ultimate owners, the Dubai ruling royal family  and this foreign ownership meant that there was little ministers could do. There should be no place for foreign investors so obviously willing to act against British interests.

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The co-chair of a Canadian health panel says theres no need for women to start having routine mammograms at age 40, despite new draft recommendations from an American task force calling for that change.

Dr. Guylene Theriault of the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care said she does not see any reason to change the guidelines. Regular mammography screening is currently recommended in both countries for women between the ages of 50 and 74.

However, Hannah Jensen, a spokeswoman for the Health Ministry in Ontario, said Thursday the province is exploring lowering the breast cancer screening age to 40. British Columbia will also review the U.S. draft recommendations to determine if any changes will be made to its screening program, the provinces health minister said.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force released draft recommendations Tuesday saying screening for average-risk women should start a decade earlier and be done every two years because recent evidence suggests that would have a moderate benefit in reducing deaths.

Theriault said the Canadian task force does not intend to update guidelines set in 2018 because the benefits of earlier screening do not outweigh the risks of false-positive results and overdiagnosis when harmless tumours are detected.

Out of 2,000 women who are screened over a decade between the ages of 40 and 49, one woman would die of breast cancer. About 295 false-positives would be detected among those cases, she said.

Looking at the guidelines, we dont see that there was anything new and we were a bit surprised, Theriault said of the U.S. task forces draft recommendations.

In Canada, what we are saying is women should be empowered. They should have the information that they need to make a decision, she said about the pros and cons of earlier mammograms.

Women should ask a family doctor for screening if there is a history of breast cancer in their family or if they have any specific concerns, Theriault added.

The guidelines are reviewed every five years and are due for an update, the Canadian task force said.

In its draft recommendations, the U.S. task force cited two studies that suggest there is adequate evidence of the small harms of biennial screening mammography, including false-positive results, when younger women are screened. It said false-positives are more likely with annual mammograms compared with longer intervals between screening.

Heather Campbell of Calgary said earlier routine screening could have spared her some painful treatments and surgery. She found a lump in her left breast on Oct. 13, 2017, at age 44 and was diagnosed with breast cancer two weeks later.

I had no family history of breast cancer, she said. The tumours were too large to do radiation.

That meant she first had chemotherapy, followed by surgery to remove about 40 per cent of her breast, then radiation. Two years later, she had a full hysterectomy to remove her uterus because her cancer was fuelled by estrogen, and an oophorectomy to remove both of her ovaries.

One important factor is often not taken into consideration by the medical community when it comes to breast cancer, said Campbell, a chemical engineer.

Im a Black woman. And Black women present with more aggressive cancers at earlier stages.

Even the breast catalogue she looked at before considering reconstruction surgery featured white womens breasts, she said.

The U.S. task force noted Black women are 40 per cent more likely to die of breast cancer than white women, and earlier mammograms could be especially important in addressing that disparity.

Race-based data in health care is not routinely collected in Canada and whats available in the U.S. does not necessarily apply elsewhere, Campbell said.

Its really about understanding diversity within Black women in Canada. Black women in Canada are both African and Afro-Caribbean and European and that presents differently than the population of Black women who are in the U.S. Basically, you have to get to a place where you say, Were going to provide respectful health care to the full plurality of our population.

Dr. Andrea Covelli, a Toronto surgeon who looked at surgical decision-making in breast cancer as part of her PhD thesis, said her experience with patients has her calling for earlier mammography screening in Canada.

I see many, many young patients with self-detected breast cancer. And if we were doing screening, those maybe would have been identified earlier. For some women, that might mean avoiding chemotherapy. For some women, that might mean avoiding mastectomy. So, its not without potential implications, she said of later screening.

And we see a shift in incidence in age of onset of cancers. I think we will eventually go to screening at 40.

Covelli said the Canadian task forces guidelines focus on standard screening for non-high-risk women.

This is where I think people get confused, or say that the task force could be clearer, she said.

A woman of any age should see a doctor about imaging if she has new symptoms, said Covelli, who is also an assistant professor at the University of Toronto.

The challenge with that is that many women come to me who have had some doubts and have wanted to start screening at an earlier age. And their physician has said to them, no. Thats because of the guidelines that say (screening should start at) 50.

She said Canadian guidelines should say the option for screening can start earlier, at the discretion of the patient.

Right now, thats not clear.

The lack of clarity has created ongoing tension about screening guidelines because, according to data from the Canadian Cancer Society, some provinces offer mammograms to women in their 40s if they get a referral, or in the case of British Columbia, women can refer themselves for screening.

While saying that B.C. would take a look at the latest proposed screening guidelines in the U.S., Health Minister Adrian Dix added Thursday that the province has led Canada in providing information on breast density and mammogram results.

Breast density refers to the amount of glandular and fibrous tissue as well as fat in a womans breasts. Dense breasts make it more difficult for radiologists to see cancer on a mammogram because its hard to distinguish between cancer and dense tissue.

Covelli, who provided medical expertise for a program called Every Breast Counts, said its goal is to support Black women because traditionally, breast cancer has been advertised as a white womans disease.

The virtual initiative was launched two years ago by Womens College Hospital in Toronto and helps Black women feel seen and heard because their experience with breast cancer is different, she said.

 With files from Brieanna Charlebois in Vancouver and The Associated Press

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 12, 2023.

Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.

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HALIFAX - A firm that hoped to generate electricity from the Bay of Fundys massive tides is instead winding up operations after a regulatory struggle with the federal Fisheries Department.

Jason Hayman, chief executive of U.K.-based Sustainable Marine Energy, says investors are placing their Canadian subsidiary into bankruptcy after fruitless talks with the department. His firm will wind up all its operations in Canada, resulting in losses of approximately $30 million to $40 million, depending on sales of equipment and assets, he added.

Were out .... The Canadian company will be placed in voluntary bankruptcy, Hayman said in an interview Friday. Its very disappointing for our team and everyone else.

The companys catamaran-style tidal platforms  with turbines resembling inverted windmills  were praised as promising innovations when the firm installed them during a first phase of testing near Nova Scotias Brier Island. The next step  now cancelled  would have been to bring them to the testing site about 200 kilometres northeast in the Minas Basin, where the worlds highest tides flow.

Sustainable Marine Energy planned to produce megawatts of electricity to power Nova Scotia homes; instead, the executive says the firms bankruptcy will discourage other investors. Its going to kill the whole tidal power adventure in Nova Scotia and sterilize the massive investment thats been made by the provincial government, the federal government and private investors, Hayman said.

A letter sent Thursday by the federal Fisheries Department didnt satisfy investor concerns, he said, because they couldnt see a clear way forward for the project. The regulatory hurdles imposed by Ottawa  requiring the company to monitor whether fish would collide with the tidal platforms  proved too difficult to implement, he added.

The firm had been one of four expected to operate turbines at the test facility operated by the non-profit Fundy Ocean Research Centre for Energy, near Parrsboro, N.S. The facility provides berths where tidal companies demonstrate the effectiveness and environmental impact of their technologies.

In the letter, the Fisheries Department said the projects rotors were capable of moving at 15 metres per second and could potentially impact fish. We still dont know how well migratory fish can control their movements and avoid structures, the department said.

The letter acknowledges that sonar systems to detect fish wouldnt work in the upper levels of the water where Sustainable Marines turbines operate. In addition, the cloudy waters of the basin make it difficult for underwater cameras to distinguish objects passing through the turbines.

Amid these significant challenges, the department suggested Sustainable Marine Energy work with researchers on finding a technology that would succeed, repeating an offer made in March to allow the company to install a single turbine in the Minas Basin for one year and monitor whether fish were colliding with the equipment.

It said any further authorizations to test more turbines would depend on the effectiveness of whatever technology the company would develop over the next year to detect fish movements.

But Hayman says the federal government was unclear about how much information it would have needed to satisfy its concerns about potential harm to fish.

In 2020, Sustainable Marine received $28.5 million from Natural Resources Canada in what the Liberal government billed in a news release as a historic investment in tidal energy. The release said the project could reduce greenhouse gas emission by up to 17,000 tonnes annually and demonstrate the ability to harness tides as a reliable source of renewable electricity.

Graham Daborn, a biologist and professor emeritus at Acadia University, said the bankruptcy illustrates the huge scientific challenges in harnessing the worlds most powerful tides.

Daborn  who has studied the Bay of Fundys marine life and ecosystems for more than 50 years  said the scientific problems have their genesis in the selection of the turbulent waters of the Minas Basin as a test site.

The Minas Basin in particular is very, very difficult, he said. The velocity is higher and the turbulence is extreme. All of the devices that have been used elsewhere to look at fish movements in relation to a turbine have been in more moderate conditions.

He said that in the Minas Basin the sonar waves from fish monitors are dispersed by the air bubbles of fast-moving waters, rendering them ineffective as fish trackers. In retrospect, Daborn said, it might have been wiser to select parts of the Bay of Fundy where monitoring technologies already tested elsewhere would have worked.

But in this case, the fundamental question thats not answered is: can fish detect if theyre approaching a working turbine, and if they can, can they avoid getting there?

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 12, 2023.

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Amid stubbornly high grocery prices, which in April had increased by 9.7 per cent compared to a year prior, thousands of Canadians are struggling to feed themselves and their loved ones. Including their pets.

At least one persons financial struggles pushed them to leave their dog in a Toronto park. Max the three-year-old dog was recently adopted by a family after his previous owners left him at a parkette with a note saying they couldnt afford to keep him after losing their job and home.

Many others may be forced to make tough decisions, as well, whether it means sacrificing food for themselves or their pets.

The Toronto Humane Society told the Star last month that while the organization hasnt seen abnormal rates of animal surrenders, there are significant increases in the number of people seeking to access its support services  including its pet food bank.

The phenomenon prompted one person to turn to Reddit to find out if there are any dog food banks in Ontario. Many people responded offering help or suggesting the Redditor contact local human societies, who may be willing to help, or vets, who they said sometimes get food sample bags from suppliers.

Where I am, the humane society has a pet food bank that hands out sealed bags of dog/cat food, and the regular food bank asks how many pets you have and gives you a couple of days worth of the appropriate pet food in margarine containers, one user wrote. The humane society definitely hands out larger portions, so that may be your best bet  I know its hard, but it will be OK.

Here is a list of pet food banks in southern Ontario that aim to support families and their furry friends.

1. Toronto Humane Society Pet Food Bank

The Toronto Humane Society provides temporary feeding assistance for pets at two food bank locations. From Monday to Friday between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m., or Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., people can head to 11 River St., Toronto for help. On the second Thursday of each month, from noon until 3 p.m., they can also pick up food at the St. James Town Community Corner, at 200 Wellesley St. E.

2. Oakville and Milton Humane Society Pet Food Bank

The Oakville and Milton Humane Society (OMHS) Pet Food Bank offers pet food and supplies through a number of community programs that are listed on their website with contact information. They include food banks, churches, community centres and libraries located in both cities. The OMHS can be reached at foodbank@omhs.ca or 905-845-1551 ext. 127.

3. Hamilton/Burlington SPCA

The Hamilton/Burlington SPCA provides short-term help with pet food and basic supplies. Those who are interested can arrange a pickup or delivery through the website by signing up for a date and times slot. The SPCA can be contacted at info@hbspca.com or (905) 574-7722.

4. Darlas Pet Pantry in Stratford

Pet owners in Stratford can look to Darlas Pet Pantry for assistance. The service is active on Facebook and Instagram and can be reached through the social networks or at darlaspetpantry@gmail.com.

5. South Simcoe Food Bank

The South Simcoe Pet Food Bank covers Barrie, Innisfil and Bradford. It is made up of a group of volunteers who will collect donated food and distribute to those in need on an interim basis until they are back on their feet, according to its Facebook page. The group is very responsive to message on Facebook, and receives emails at sspetfoodbank@gmail.com. It recently appealed to donors for help with stock.

6. Rescue Chow Pet Food Bank in Whitby

At 1375 Hopkins St., in Whitby, the Rescue Chow Pet Food Bank serves food on the third Saturday of each month from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Although we can meet you at the pet food bank in an emergency, we ask that you pick up food on Serve Days only, because we arent always here on days that are not our regular Serve Day, it says on its Facebook page.

The organization is seeking donations and advises that it is always in need of litter.

7. Uxbridge Scugog Pet Food Bank

This charity helps families in the North Durham Region to feed their pets. They are active on Facebook, Instagram and can be reached at uxscpetfoodbank@gmail.com.

8. Peterborough Ontario Pet Food Bank

The Peterborough Ontario Pet Food Bank can be reached on Facebook or at Kathi_williams2001@msn.com. It says it is always in need of litter.

9. Ottawa Humane Society Emergency Pet Food Bank

Through a partnership with the humane society, members of the Ottawa Food Bank or those who wish to become a member can find help feeding their pet at their local food bank. Locations can be found here.

The Emergency Pet Food Bank is also available for non-members at 245 West Hunt Club Rd. on Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Pre-registration is required, and can be done on the website or by contacting communityservices@ottawahumane.ca or 613-725-3166 ext. 249.

With files from Marissa Birnie.

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The Toronto police officer who was fired for misconduct for reprehensible tweets about racism and workplace sexual harassment is appealing her dismissal.

Const. Firouzeh Zarabi-Majd was ordered last week to resign in seven days or be dismissed from the police force after she was found guilty of eight counts of professional misconduct.

The firing  a rare penalty at Ontario police tribunals  stemmed in part from tweets she wrote over an 18-month period beginning in 2020 that alleged sexual harassment in the workplace and included material that exposed racist group messages shared by colleagues.

Called libellous, harmful and vulgar by disciplinary hearing officer Robin McElary-Downer in her 87-page decision, Zarabi-Majds tweets  sent from an account with 6,000 followers  name-called senior officers, including former chief James Ramer. She accused the force of covering up sexual assaults, silencing women and protecting perpetrators, the hearing officer said.

Alongside levelling slanderous accusations of patriarchy, discrimination, racism and homophobia, Zarabi-Majd tweeted confidential law enforcement material, she wrote.

Constable Zarabi-Majds tweets were on course to not only damage, but to destroy the reputation of the TPS as a whole, McElary-Downer wrote. Her overall conduct was reprehensible and reflective of someone who did not care what she said, how she said it, or who she hurt.

In a notice filed to the Ontario Civilian Police Commission this week, the lawyer representing Zarabi-Majd appealed the penalty, alleging a series of errors by McElary-Downer. Chief among them: that shed allowed the hearing to proceed without the officer herself.

On leave for post-traumatic stress disorder since 2018, Zarabi-Majd has said she could not attend the hearing due to her condition. McElary-Downer eventually ruled she had the legislative authority to proceed without Zarabi-Majd.

Because (Zarabi-Majd) was unable to attend the hearing either in person or virtually, she was unable to participate in her own defence in any way, wrote Melanie J. Webb, Zarabi-Majds lawyer.

Medical documentation filed at the tribunal, prepared by a doctor with expertise in trauma, said the magnitude of the institutional betrayal and lack of protection Zarabi-Majd experienced left her depressed, anxious and diagnosed with PTSD. Shed described a toxic environment of ongoing, demeaning and sexualized comments as well as exposure to pornographic images, according to the doctor, as quoted in McElary-Downers decision.

Webb also alleges in the appeal that the penalty imposed on Zarabi-Majd was not proportionate to the misconduct.

Both Webb and a spokesperson for the Toronto Police Service declined to comment for this story.

In 2018, the Star reported on Zarabi-Majds complaint to Ontarios Human Rights Tribunal which alleged that she had endured years of demeaning, sexist, racist and Islamophobic comments. The complaint contained a series of allegations, including that shed experienced repeated sexual advances from colleagues and superiors and been sexually harassed by male colleagues in private group chats, including by one who inquired about what her pubic hair looked like.

(The Ontario Human Rights Tribunal did not respond to a request for an update on the complaint by press time).

Webb has said Zarabi-Majd views herself as an advocate and a whistleblower about workplace sexual harassment and racism, according to a summary of her defence in McElary-Downers ruling. Webb acknowledged her client had used profanity and not nice language in her tweets but said Zarabi-Majd was an officer in crisis who was pushed to her breaking point yet had a message for the public, the ruling said.

Im warning the public of the issues  behind closed doors so that to me is part of my job, Zarabi-Majd testified in a recent, separate court hearing, according to McElary-Downers ruling.

Last year, an independent workplace culture review by consulting firm Deloitte found a clear perception that harassment and discrimination regularly occur within Toronto police, including unwanted sexual advances or comments. In a landmark case in 2020, Ontarios Human Rights Tribunal found Toronto police Const. Heather McWilliam was sexually harassed for years by her supervisors.

In her ruling, McElary-Downer acknowledged there is an emerging trend of women in policing speaking out against sexual harassment in the workplace, and noted while the profession has come a long way clearly there is still work to do. In reference to the groupchat message inquiring about Zarabi-Majds pubic hair  evidence heard at the tribunal  McElary-Downer said the comment was unquestionably demeaning and offensive.

Nonetheless, workplace harassment does not entitle nor excuse a victim to commit misconduct. There are appropriate avenues to report such unwanted behaviour  and posting tweets on social media damaging the reputation of the police service and others is not an option.

The same was true for highly offensive and racist material Zarabi-Majd reposted in an effort to expose the misconduct of other officers, including group chat messages where colleagues made racist remarks about students from a racialized neighbourhood visiting the police station. The appropriate course of action was to report the misconduct through the chain of command, McElary-Downer said  not publicly shame the TPS.

McElary-Downer also found Zarabi-Majd guilty of misconduct for behaving like a stalker in an incident in which she went to the home of a former Toronto police officer in an effort to convince her to testify in a separate hearing about allegations of police racism. Zarabi-Majds conduct crossed the line, McElary-Downer found.

Wendy Gillis is a Toronto-based reporter covering crime and policing for the Star. Reach her by email at wgillis@thestar.ca or follow her on Twitter: @wendygillis

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The field for Torontos mayoral election is now set, and one thing is clear: only a handful of candidates are in it to win it. The vast majority are merely in it.

A record number of wannabes are in the running for the June 26 election. At the close of nominations at 2 p.m. Friday, 102 candidates had signed up, the most in any mayors race, at least since Torontos amalgamation in 1998.

Most of those registered remain unknown to the public, and have little prospect of attracting the tens of thousands of votes it will take to get elected. Yet theyve made the effort to collect the 25 signatures required to register, paid their $200 registration fee, and in many cases, launched a website or drafted policy ideas.

Reasons for running vary

The motivations of these legions of the lesser-known can seem unfathomable, but each has their reasons for running for mayor.

Some are repeat candidates who sign up year after year because they believe they have ideas to contribute to the campaign. Others are hoping to draw attention to a single issue close to their heart. Some appear to be self-promoters who hope a mayoral run will boost their career, while others remain mysterious: they sign up but vanish, without fielding a trace of a campaign.

Almost all are men: less than one-fifth of those registered candidates appear to be women.

Since nominations opened in April, a handful of candidates have set themselves apart as strong contenders. On the basis of their ability to put together a campaign team, collect donations and register in public opinion polls, Mark Saunders, Brad Bradford, Olivia Chow, Josh Matlow, Mitzie Hunter and Ana Bailao could all have a shot on voting day.

Mayoral candidates looking to break through

Trailing behind are a half-dozen or so familiar names who are running serious campaigns, but who have not yet broken through with voters. Among them are:

Giorgio Mammoliti: The former councillor for York West placed third in Wasaga Beachs mayoral election last fall, and is seeking the Toronto job on a platform that includes opposition to safe injection sites and bike lanes.

Rob Davis: Also a former city councillor, he became the old city of Yorks first elected Black representative in 1991, and wants to reverse Torontos plans to rename Dundas Street.

Celina Caesar-Chavannes: The former Whitby MP quit the federal Liberal caucus in 2019 saying she felt tokenized, and she said she would secure more funding from the federal and provincial governments while diversifying the citys revenue streams.

Chloe Brown: The policy analyst who came an impressive third place in last falls mayoral election wants to introduce a campus of care model for vulnerable residents and restructure city government around a strong commissioner system.

Anthony Perruzza: The veteran councillor for Humber RiverBlack Creek has as the centrepiece of his campaign a plan for the city to retain the more than $2 billion in annual revenue from the education levy that it currently remits to the province.

Anthony Furey: The former Toronto Sun columnist is on leave from his job as VP of a right-wing website known for its condemnation of COVID-19 protection measures, and has made public safety a focus of his campaign.

The lesser-known candidates running for mayor

The higher-profile candidates will get most of the attention between now and voting day, but the less familiar have already played a role in ensuring the 2023 election is unlike any Toronto has seen before. With so many taking part, the Star isnt attempting to publish profiles of every candidate, a full list of which is available on the City of Torontos website.

Instead, heres a look at some of the lower-profile participants who are representative of the field:

The Professional

Bahira Abdulsalam believes Toronto needs a mayor with a background outside of politics, perhaps one who understands the intricacies of the citys multimillion-dollar infrastructure projects.

Thats why the 53-year-old certified professional engineer and entrepreneur from East York has tossed her name in the hat  to the befuddlement of some close to her. Bahira, how come you are jumping into a mayoral position when you have never been even a trustee? she said everyone asks her.

Abdulsalam is one of a handful of long-shot candidates boasting their experience as engineers, entrepreneurs, accountants, freight shippers, inventors, project managers and other typically apolitical professions.

Talking to the Star, she used the word efficient, or a variation of it, 11 times while describing the change shed like to enact. For instance, the Egyptian mother of three said shed embrace AI and other technological advancements to speed up the development of new housing.

But theres another reason shes running. More than half of the city identifies as a person of colour, Abdulsalam noted, yet they dont see themselves adequately represented in positions of power. She believes that lack of representation helps to explain some of Torontos current struggles.

We have brilliant minds  we are not using those efficiently.

The Comedian

Meir Straus has never voted in an election before, let alone run for office. But when former mayor John Tory resigned in February, days before Strauss eighteenth birthday, the Grade 12 private school student decided to jump into the race.

Straus, who lives in North York, is running a satirical campaign inspired by his name, which is pronounced like the job hes supposedly seeking. I signed up to run for mayor because Ive been Meir all my life, he said.

His platform may not address voters pressing concerns. Take his plan to combat light pollution downtown. What I want to do is turn off the stars, he said, adding hes pretty sure thats within the mayors jurisdiction. Other selling points, according to his website: he would bring down the average age at city hall by about 50 years, and hes not married so he cant have any affairs.

His parents are supportive, as long as his campaign has no impact on the race. Theyre glad for me to run as long as I dont change the history of Toronto with my shenanigans, he said.

While some candidates are running to fix urgent problems like homeless and public safety, Straus has no second thoughts about making light of the election. Im adding some brightness onto the scene, and just making a few people smile is really the ultimate goal, he said.

Strauss fellow challengers include Jack Weenen, who described himself as Torontos biggest loser after he came dead last in the 2014 mayoral election at age 19 with just 52 votes. Weenen vowed to run in every election until he won, and has signed up again this year.

The Movement Leader

Some candidates are using the mayors race to advance a political movement from outside the mainstream.

Mayoral candidate Kiri Vadivelu is carrying the banner of the far left into the election, as a member of the Municipal Socialist Alliance (MSA), a group that seeks to elevate socialists to city hall. His platform calls for immediate mass social housing construction, free public transit and steep taxation of big business and the rich.

Vadivelu, 37, and a founding member of the Scarborough Tenants Union, notes he would be Torontos first Tamil-Canadian mayor. But getting the most votes isnt his primary goal. He said the MSA is committed to offering what he describes as real solutions to problems like homelessness, the mental health crisis and the overpolicing of vulnerable communities, which he asserts are all a product of failed capitalist system.

Im looking for a system change, not just a few tweaks to make capitalism work, he said.

So we are not just looking for an electoral victory. Were actually looking to build social consciousness and to build class conscious, class solidarity.

Vadivelu ran for councillor in Scarborough Centre last fall, and placed fourth with about 10 per cent of the vote.

The chair of the Ontario Libertarian party is also running, as is a man named Corey Deville, who said hes trying to found a political party called the Deville Party of Canada.

The Activist

On Torys last morning as mayor, a homeless advocate sporting a cowboy hat named Jesse Gru Allen hurled three eggs at Torys office window as the embattled mayor sat inside.

Gru felt the act of protest  intended to evoke the idiom of egg on ones face  was an appropriate send-off for a mayor he believes made life demonstrably worse for many Torontonians. (Gru said he was arrested weeks later and charged with mischief under $5,000, which he said hes fighting tooth and nail because he doesnt believe protest should be criminalized.)

The 32-year-old first-time mayoral candidate, who said hes spent more than eight years in Toronto without a fixed address, admits victory is not likely. Still, his campaign has a clear purpose.

In election after election, I have looked at the ballot and not seen anybody with a similar sort of life experience, Gru said. This run for mayor is about trying to [showcase] a community member who understands the struggle.

While Gru wouldnt consider himself a single-issue candidate, housing is top of mind: I do believe that housing intersects through every crisis that Toronto is currently facing. Hes pushing for greater density across Toronto. Hed also reverse recent cuts to the TTC and expand transit, particularly in Scarborough and Etobicoke

Gru isnt the only activist trying to raise awareness through a mayoral run. Disability advocate Isabella Gamk is also in the race, as is Claudette Beals, whose daughter Regis Korchinski-Paquet died during an interaction with police in 2020, and who is focused on police reform.

The Perennial Candidate

Several candidates have been here before. One contender has run in every mayoral race in Toronto since 2000, making this their eighth kick at the can.

Sarah Climenhaga, 51, hasnt reached those numbers yet, but the safe streets advocate is putting her name forward for the third election in a row. (She also ran for the federal Greens in 2019.) She knows shes a long shot, but thats not the point.

I think theres kind of two reasons to run. One is to win, to be the mayor, and one is to speak up for whats important for the city, she said.

Despite running so often, Climenhaga said the high number of candidates this time around could be an indication the city should consider making it harder to sign up. She noted New York City requires candidates collect far more signatures  at least 2,250 in the 2021 election  to enter the mayors race.

Like in the past, Climenhaga is pushing to make streets more accommodating to pedestrians and cyclists, eliminate transit fares and adopt creative solutions to the housing crisis, such as 3D printing houses made from mushrooms, among other proposals.

If elected, Climenhaga said she wouldnt act like a typical mayor, but would cast herself as an anarcho-queen, someone Torontonians could come to for vision, for guidance, for support, but who everyone can pretty much ignore whenever they want.

In the fall, Climenhaga pushed the city to repeal COVID-19 vaccine mandates for its employees, which it did soon after. Shes now calling for Toronto to pull funding from organizations that maintain mandates, which she said are discriminatory.

Public health officials around the world have recognized vaccines as safe and effective measures to protect individuals, and the broader community, against COVID-19. The Ontario Human Rights Commission said in 2021 vaccine mandates did not violate the Human Rights Code, as long as exceptions are made for people who cant receive vaccines for health reasons.

Ben Spurr is a Toronto-based reporter covering city hall and municipal politics for the Star. Reach him by email at bspurr@thestar.ca or follow him on Twitter: @BenSpurr

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Ontarios education minister issued a strongly-worded message to school boards saying uniformed police officers must be allowed to attend career day activities.

I am writing to set out in the clearest terms my expectation that these parents, and others who proudly wear uniforms as part of their occupation, are to be welcomed to attend career fairs, Bring Your Parent to School Day, and other similar engagements, wrote Stephen Lecce in a memo sent Thursday.

Any parent of a student within a publicly funded school has the right to participate in their childs education and school experience. This is a right that is non-negotiable for any parent, including those who serve in uniform from law enforcement to the Canadian Forces.

He said the government had recently become aware of certain school boards and schools not allowing parents in their police uniform to attend such events. That, he said, is enabling division instead of bringing all segments of civil society together as we work to counter very real threats to communities.

School boards that have implemented this type of policy must reverse this decision and ensure our schools remain welcoming to front-line police and all first responders, he wrote. The uniform they wear is a representation of their duty, and their commitment to putting their lives on the line in service to their community.

The move comes after Premier Doug Ford last week scolded the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board for banning uniformed police officers, calling it a disturbing trend that needs to stop.

Police officers are the people we call when we need help, the premier said on social media. They deserve so much better than this.

Earlier this month, as first reported by the Toronto Sun, the Grand Erie District School Board apologized after a parent, who is also a police officer, was initially barred from career day if wearing a uniform  a move that sparked public outrage.

Last week, it became known that the Ottawa board had asked a parent  invited to speak to a class about her work as a police officer  to not wear her uniform or arrive in a cruiser. The board says that in 2021 it undertook a review of police involvement in schools and consulted with community members. It then voted to end the school resource officer programs involving uniformed police and after that its relationship with police was more about emergency-response, and less about having uniformed officers in schools talking to kids.

When asked about Lecces memo, board spokesperson Darcy Knoll said, We appreciate the direction provided by the ministry.

The OCDSB values the engagement of parents and our partnership with police, he said in a statement on Friday. Where there are requests for uniformed officers to provide direct learning to students, we review each request to assess the learning opportunity and consider it in the context of alignment with the board direction to have an emergency-response-based relationship with police.

This week, the boards director met with the president of the Ottawa Police Association to discuss the issue, and a meeting with the citys police chief has also been scheduled.

These conversations are an opportunity to work together to establish new protocols for police involvement in schools, which focus on students, safety, and relationships of trust, respecting the community concerns raised during our police involvement in schools review, said Knoll. The guidance from the ministry will form part of those discussions.

With files from Kristin Rushowy

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Valerie Stevens hadnt gone dancing in ages.

Since the birth of daughter Robyn 16 months earlier, the petite 19-year-old single mother preferred to remain home with her bundle of joy. When Valerie did go out, she repeatedly called the sitter to check on her baby. Then on Sept. 9, 1989, a girlfriend she had known since childhood invited Valerie to a downtown Toronto nightclub. Leaving Robyn at home in their Vendome Place apartment in the care of a trusted couple, Valerie kissed her daughter goodbye for the last time.

Valerie never made it to the club that night and never called to check on Robyn.

Three years later, in October 1992, hunters outside Brantford discovered the young womans remains. Police never determined a cause of death but her death was ruled a homicide. Valerie Stevenss murder remains an open investigation. Almost three and a half decades later, the baby left motherless is a parent herself and wants answers.

Speaking by telephone from her Mississauga home, Robyn Stevens, 35, explains she had a happy childhood, initially unaware of a dark family secret. She did, however, always suspect she was adopted. The curtain was pulled back slightly during a hospital visit for a sprained ankle when she was 12. We were in the waiting room, she recalls, They called my first name, then they called Stevens. Mom said, Lets go, honey, and I said, No, thats not my name 

The innocuous incident began a conversation that overturned her life.

The couple she had assumed were her parents sat her down to tell her an awful truth. Asked how she coped with such news at that age, Robyn replies, Not very well.

It remains difficult for her to articulate how she felt as she heard what happened to her birth mother for the first time.

Besides her young world being turned upside-down, she expressed a sense of betrayal. Others in the family knew, but I didnt, she says, quickly adding, I understand now why they waited to tell me.

Robyn has no memory of her mother or the public housing unit where they lived together so briefly. She learned her birth parents relationship was rocky, and soon after her birth, conditions became untenable. Valerie packed her few belongings and moved her and Robyn into subsidized emergency housing in Torontos Flemingdon Park. After her mom disappeared, Robyn bounced around between family members to avoid being placed with the Childrens Aid Society. At age two, she was adopted by her mothers aunt and uncle, ministers at a Mississauga church; they raised her along with two sons.

With knowledge of the circumstances surrounding her mothers death, Robyns teenage years were difficult. I had a lot of mental health issues that never got solved until adulthood when I started searching for help. She went to therapy because I wanted to heal the broken parts of myself so I dont carry them over onto my children.

In her early twenties, she connected with the Ontario Provincial Polices Criminal Investigation Branch, the police authority that continues to investigate Valeries homicide. Det. Const. Andy Packer was among the first officers assigned to the case in 1992 and was tremendously supportive, visiting her and sharing details about the investigation.

He let her view her moms file, look at photographs, asking if she recognized anyone. Robyn remembers how he explained that investigators were pursuing various leads, including the possibility a migrant worker employed at a local tobacco farm could be responsible for the killing, or that Valerie crossed paths with Alan Craig MacDonald, responsible for the murder of Bramptons Lynda Shaw in 1990.

(MacDonald had earlier served 12 years in prison for gunning down a police officer and a witness in Nova Scotia. Paroled in 1988, he relocated to a Brantford halfway house and stayed in the community after being granted full parole. MacDonald committed suicide in 1994, years before DNA evidence tied him to Shaws death.)

Robyn initiated her own investigation of sorts to help come to terms with her mothers disappearance. In addition to frequent visits to the local library to, as she puts it, do extreme research on my mom, she learned that Valerie had no connection to the community where her remains were found.

Reaching out to friends of her late mother, she says, I heard from so many people my mom was absolutely beautiful. She spoke with the acquaintance Valerie intended to meet that fateful night, and the conversation proved enlightening. Robyn informed authorities that the friend claimed to have called the apartment that night, inquiring if Valerie was on her way, yet authorities reported no record of that incoming call.

Eventually, Robyn found the courage to visit the spot near Brantford where her mothers remains were found. On another occasion, an older cousin who had known her mother accompanied Robyn to Valeries childhood home on Wildwood Crescent in east-end Toronto.

Robyn had discovered Valerie had a challenging upbringing but a caring mother, and relatives told her the period that her mom lived on Wildwood with her family was the happiest time of her childhood. But when Robyn got there, The house was empty, she remembers; no one had lived there for a very long time.

She describes the experience as surreal  as the two women peered in through an open window, the cousin explained the house looked identical to when Valerie had lived there, years before. When Robyn reached through the window to part the frayed curtains, she said they were made from thin fabric similar to a receiving blanket  and they crumbled in my hand.

She discovered that in the months before Valeries life was taken from her, she was making plans to move to Ottawa for a fresh start. Valerie intended to complete high school and study nursing. She wanted to change so badly. She would have figured it out, Robyn says. She would have got her s--t together.

Andy Packer retired in 2017, and OPP Det. Const. Shaun Webb picked up where Packer left off; Robyn says he is just as supportive.

To keep her mothers cold case topical, she periodically posts on social media but no longer obsesses about the topic. It used to consume me back in my 20s, but I had to put a halt on it because of my mental health. I think about it now, but it doesnt consume me.

She is convinced that people associated with her mother know more about her disappearance than they admitted to when questioned by police. I think there were people who were with my mom that night, but fear prevents them from coming forward.

Robyns three children are too young to fully comprehend how their grandmothers life ended. This hasnt prevented Robyn from discussing the topic with them, however. Keeping details age-appropriate, shes told them, She was killed. That she was young. We have no answers.

They visited the cemetery where Valerie was interred. The children express interest in photos of Valerie and the few trinkets in Robyns possession related to their grandmother.

Out of resilience, Robyn puts a positive spin on a dark chapter of her life. I learned to take something good from something horrible, she says, adding, It gives me the motivation to be a great mom. I am committed to my children.

The reality of what happened to her mother will remain with her forever, but Robyn pledges, Before I leave this earth, I want it to be figured out, so that my kids dont grow up and have the same sort of fire within them to continue what Ive been doing.

She is optimistic the day will come when she can tell her children, We figured it out.

Anyone with information should contact OPP at 1-888-310-1122 or 1-800-222-TIPS.

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Toronto is one step closer to legalizing drinking in parks this summer  at least in some parks.

On Friday, city council passed a motion by Coun. Shelley Carroll for staff to report back in July on running a pilot project allowing responsible personal alcohol consumption in some parks from Aug. 5 to Oct. 9.

That would include assessing factors like washroom access, garbage bins and park culture.

In the meantime, city staff will consult with councillors on whether they want a park-drinking test run in their ward  making it more likely that some wards will see pilot projects and some will not. Staff will provide a list of appropriate parks in each ward to assist that consultation, and it is not yet known which parks would participate.

In response to concerns by several councillors including Coun. Gord Perks about the harmful impacts of alcohol, the staff report will also include recommendations for harm reduction, treatment or education programs that should be in place prior to the approval and implementation of any pilot location.

Alcohol comes with harms and is the most dangerous drug in Canada, said Perks, who wanted to wait for the staff report before deciding if a pilot is the way to go.

If you are going to expand access you have to bring programs around it, he said. Instead of waiting for that advice, some headline-seekers have decided to bring it to council ahead of the report.

The fierce debate over the issue raised questions of equity  whether people across the city will have access to these parks and who might be subject to fines  and whether the parks in the trial run will become a magnet for irresponsible behaviour.

Carroll said she expects enough parks to participate to assuage those concerns, and says her proposed approach was successful in Vancouver. If council decided to wait until July to decide if a pilot should be done, it would punt the issue to next year, she said.

Its a big change for the city of Toronto and a pilot approach allows us to make sure staff are at attention, monitoring it and ready to respond and come back to us and tell us what is working.

Council will make a final decision on the pilot project in July. If the pilot is successful, it could be expanded citywide next year.

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

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Toronto police have identified the woman who was fatally shot in an Etobicoke condo early on Wednesday as 23-year-old Viyaleta Lukoshka.

Police said that, at around 4:30 a.m., they were called to the Manitoba Street and Legion Road North area for a possible shooting.

Police added that residents of the condo called security and reported hearing a violent interaction and then the sound of a loud bang. Security investigated and found the woman.

Emergency services attempted life-saving measures but Lukoshka was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police arrested and charged 34-year-old Kadeem Robinson with second degree murder in connection with the shooting.

Police are asking anyone with information to contact them at 416-808-7400, Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477), or at www.222tips.com.

TG Thea Gribilas is a breaking news reporter, working out of the Stars radio room in Toronto. Reach her via email: tgribilas@thestar.ca

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When Chevron announced in January 2022 its plan to exit a large natural gas project in Myanmar, the petrochemical giant cited the ongoing violence and human rights abuses in the country.

By selling its 41.1 per cent stake in the Yadana offshore gas field, it would be cutting business ties with Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE), a state-owned company that benefits the military junta blamed for murdering its own citizens.

In stepped Et Martem Holdings Ltd., an offshore subsidiary of the Canadian company MTI Energy Inc.

The relatively unknown Edmonton-based firms directors have included an assorted cast of Canadian businessmen and a political financier. The price of purchasing Chevrons stake has not been publicly disclosed.

Critics and observers say the gas field, which MOGE profits from, finances war crimes. They question why any firm that cares about its reputation would buy in, and say the deal underscores shortcomings with Canadas sanctions against the Myanmar regime.

I encourage MTI to reconsider its purchase, United Nations special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Tom Andrews, told the Star. The stakes could not be higher for the people of Myanmar who continue to be attacked and held hostage by an illegitimate and brutal military junta.

The terms of Chevrons sale are confidential and the exact sale date is unclear. A Chevron spokesperson said it is expected that the deal will close in the second half of 2023.

MTI Energy did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Canadas Myanmar sanctions too weak, advocate warns

Just months after a democratic election elevated Aung San Suu Kyi to lead the country in 2020, the military took over and put her under house arrest. The junta has silenced dissent and executed democracy activists, resulting in the deaths of more than 3,000 people, according to the United States Institute of Peace. It has cast the Southeast Asia country into a deep economic and humanitarian crisis.

Canadian officials condemned the coup and have since imposed a series of sanctions to curtail the transaction of arms, military equipment and aviation fuel to the country. The sanctions also prohibit Canadians from providing any financial services or activity involving property owned by certain individuals or companies.

The sanctions target 158 Myanmar individuals and entities  but does not include MOGE or its directors.

Yadanar Maung, spokesperson for the advocacy group Justice for Myanmar, says Canadians should be concerned that their nations sanctions are too weak to stop a Canadian-owned company from investing in a project that bankrolls the Myanmar junta.

Canadian sanctions against MOGE are urgently needed, Maung says, in order to prevent the military from receiving tax and royalty payments from the project. Adding MOGE to the sanctions list would help stop payments to the junta and deprive them of crucial revenue needed to buy arms, equipment and jet fuel to sustain their campaign of terror against the people of Myanmar.

The European Union added MOGE to its sanctions list in early 2022. As the largest revenue-generating state-owned enterprise, MOGE contributes to the regimes capabilities to carry out activities undermining democracy and the rule of law in Myanmar, the E.U sanctions state.

The Canadian government said it is aware of MTI Energys purchase through a subsidiary, and that it is continually assessing its measures and actions, in co-ordination with partners, in order to respond to the evolving situations in Myanmar.

In 2021 testimony before a parliamentary committee, Canadian officials said they monitor the effectiveness of their sanctions and will consider additional steps  including against military-owned entities, enterprises and corporations.

A Global Affairs Canada spokesperson said the government follows a rigorous due diligence process to ensure minimal adverse civilian and humanitarian impacts from sanctions.

Canadas ambassador to the UN, Bob Rae, who led Prime Minister Trudeaus special envoy to Myanmar in 2016, said this particular issue is being analyzed closely in Ottawa. He said Canadian companies need to evaluate their operations to determine if Canadian sanctions would apply to their activities.

The men behind MTI Energy

Discovered in 1980, the Yadana field sits in the Andaman Sea some 60 kilometres from Myanmars coast. Most of the gas is exported to Thailand, and what stays in Myanmar reportedly supplies around half of the power generation needs of its largest city, Yangon.

In January 2022, French multinational TotalEnergies announced that it was pulling out of the gas field and giving away for free its 31-per-cent stake to the remaining partners: Chevron, PTTEP (a subsidiary of a Thai national energy company) and MOGE.

The withdrawal was the best solution, TotalEnergies said, explaining it was materially impossible to stop revenues from flowing to the repressive Myanmar regime through MOGE.

Chevron, which had already announced its intent on leaving Yadana, saw its interest in the gas field grow to 41.1 per cent  a stake its now sold to a subsidiary of MTI Energy.

MTI has few online footprints. First incorporated in 2019, it reportedly secured valuable tracts to develop in oil-rich basins of Angola in 2021.

The companys incorporation records list its current directors as Mehtab Khehra, Adewale Olorunsola and Steven Schultz.

Khehra is described in court documents as the founder and president of MTech, an Edmonton company that builds and sells oilfield products. Olorunsola is a businessman who has owned several clothing stores and a merchant bank that provided financing and advisory services to African energy and natural resource companies.

Neither man responded to repeated requests for comment.

A woman who answered the phone at Schultzs listed address in High River, Alta., said he had moved to Toronto and she did not have his contact information.

The companys past directors include Ralph Lean, a prominent business lawyer and sought-after political fundraiser. Lean told the Star he retired from MTI in March 2022 and at that time had no awareness of any interest the firm may have had in the gas field. Lean refused to express an opinion on the purchase, saying, I feel legally and corporate governance wise, that its not appropriate to comment on that.

Subsidiary set up in tax-friendly Bermuda

That purchase was through a subsidiary, Et Martem Holdings Inc, which was registered in Bermuda in April 2022.

Et Martems corporate directors are Khehra and Olorunsola, as well as two Bermuda-based investment managers, one of whom has promoted the island as very much an investor-friendly jurisdiction.

Bermuda imposes no taxes on income, profits, dividends or capital gains. Bermudan corporate registrar records show Et Martem received a tax assurance certificate, which means as an exempted company, it would be protected from paying these kinds of taxes until at least 2035 even if Bermuda changes its taxation laws.

Its unclear what Et Martems role will be at the Yadana gas fields.

John Sifton, the director of Asia advocacy for Human Rights Watch, said he cant believe a Canadian company would take the risk of buying into in a field where one of the partners is sanctioned under EU laws.

It seems pretty risky from a reputational point of view, Sifton said, and from a legal point of view given that the U.S. has (also) been considering sanctioning MOGE.

The Canadian government gave a similar warning to businesses in April 2021, many months before the MTI Energy subsidiary bought into the Myanmar project.

In its advisory, the government warned Canadian companies to undertake thorough responsible business conduct due diligence, including closely examining their supply chains to determine whether their activities support military-owned conglomerates or their affiliates.

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By David Lawder

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States faces a "significant risk" of defaulting on payment obligations within the first two weeks of June without a debt ceiling increase, the Congressional Budget Office said on Friday, adding that payment operations will remain uncertain throughout May.

The non-partisan budget referee agency's new estimate largely tracks Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen's June 1 deadline for a potential default, underscoring the urgency of resolving a bitter standoff between Republicans and Democrats over raising the $31.4 trillion statutory borrowing cap.

Negotiations between White House officials and the staffs of congressional Republicans and Democrats are continuing, but a Friday debt limit meeting between President Joe Biden and top lawmakers was postponed until next week.

Republican U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy said there had not yet been "enough progress for the leaders to get back together."

The CBO's report held out hope for more negotiating time, saying the Treasury can "probably" finance government operations through at least the end of July if available cash and extraordinary borrowing measures can last through June 15, when quarterly estimated tax payments are due.

On June 30, the Treasury will be able to access $145 billion in new extraordinary borrowing measures by suspending investments in two government employee retirement and health funds.

"The extent to which the government will be able to fund the government's ongoing operations will remain uncertain throughout May, even if the Treasury ultimately runs out of funds in early June," the CBO said in a statement.

"That uncertainty exists because the timing and amount of revenue collections and outlays over the intervening weeks could differ from CBO's projections," the CBO said.

The Treasury reported a cash balance of $154.8 billion as of Wednesday and the CBO said it had about $41 billion of borrowing capacity under extraordinary measures as of April 30.

Story continues

The CBO said that in mid-May the Treasury will make outlays of around $50 billion to cover interest due on 10-year notes and on longer-dated bonds, with $10 billion to $16 billion in outlays at the end of May.

On June 1 the government will likely pay out around $25 billion in Social Security payments and pay and benefits to military personnel, civil service employees.

'DISTRESS IN CREDIT MARKETS'

Total resources needed to fund government operations through the end of the 2023 fiscal year on Sept. 30 will be $1.9 trillion to $2.2 trillion, the CBO said. That is far higher than its estimate of about $500 billion in available cash from tax receipts and extraordinary borrowing measures during that same period, making a debt ceiling increase essential.

If the Treasury defaults on debt obligations or delays payments, "those actions could result in distress in credit markets, disruptions in economic activity and rapid increases in borrowing rates for the Treasury," the CBO said.

In a separate report, the CBO also revised upward its baseline budget deficit estimates, which reflect current law.

It said outlays for fiscal 2023 increased because of technical changes related to payments for student loan and other credit programs, along with higher projected spending on bank deposit insurance after recent bank failures, while outlays for the 2024-2033 period were reduced because of lower long-term projected spending on Medicare Advantage health coverage.

These changes increased CBO's fiscal 2023 U.S. deficit forecast by $130 billion compared to a February estimate to $1.539 trillion. The CBO's estimated cumulative deficit through 2033 increased by $51 billion to $20.314 trillion.

(Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Paul Simao)
Good morning. This is the Friday, May 12 edition of First Up, the Stars daily morning digest. Sign up to get it earlier each day, in your inbox.

Heres the latest on a Canadian-owned companys stake in a Myanmar project, Torontos new bail court and an OPP officer killed on the job.

DONT MISS:

Energy companies backed off a Myanmar gas field accused of funding war crimes. So why did a Canadian-owned firm buy in?

Chevron cited ongoing violence and human rights abuses in Myanmar as its reason for exiting a large natural gas project in the Andaman Sea in 2022. It effectively cut business ties with Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE), a state-owned company benefitting the military junta accused of murdering its own citizens. But that didnt deter an Edmonton-based firm from stepping in  Et Martem Holdings Ltd., an offshore subsidiary of MTI Energy Inc., has bought Chevrons stake, Jamin Mike reports. Heres why the UNs special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar is urging MTI to reconsider its purchase.

Why it matters: Months after Aung San Suu Kyi was democratically elected in Myanmar, the military took over and put her under house arrest. The junta has silenced dissent and executed democracy activists, killing more than 3,000 people, according to the United States Institute of Peace.

More: Observers say the purchase raises questions about the effectiveness of Canadas sanctions against the military regime. They target 158 Myanmar individuals and entities  but not MOGE or its directors. The European Union added MOGE to its sanctions list last year.

Torontos new, overburdened bail court is leaving people stuck in jail

It was past 5 p.m. on Tuesday and the Crown attorney had been working since 7:30 a.m. The clerks were set to end work at 5:30 p.m. But there were still numerous people in custody waiting for their bail cases to be heard. The courtroom was juggling matters from jurisdictions of two courthouses that had recently shut down as part of the amalgamation of Torontos provincial courts. As a result, the court had to put over the cases of four people who the Crown agreed should be released. They had to spend a night in jail solely because there wasnt enough time to reach their case. Jacques Gallant reports on the issues resulting from the amalgamation and the long-term consequences they could have.

More: This is the first time in my life that Ive ever put over consent releases, Justice of the Peace Ann Walker said, adding the outcome bothers me a lot. The cases would be added to the following mornings docket with priority, she said.

The aftermath: Will criminal charges be tossed over violations of a persons constitutional rights? Could long days lead to mistakes? And is it even legal for a person to spend a night in jail when the Crown is prepared to consent to their release? All are questions being raised.

A shooting in Bourget, Ont. leaves an OPP officer dead  and a community looking for answers

Sgt. Eric Mueller was a father, mentor and veteran Ontario Provincial Police officer. The 42-year-old was shot dead Thursday, in what police are calling an ambush while responding to a disturbance call in a quiet village southeast of Ottawa. Two other officers were taken to hospital with injuries and a 39-year-old suspect was arrested at the scene. Amy Dempsey, Irem Koca and Omar Mosleh report on what is known so far and what questions remain unanswered.

More: Police have not released the names of the injured officers, but said one is a 43-year-old with 19 years of service and another, who has been treated and released from hospital, is a 35-year-old with 10 years on the job.

Go deeper: The shooting took place at a house tucked into the forest near a row of semi-detached bungalows. Police said they believe the suspect was the resident of the home and are not aware of anyone else who was there. The suspect was not injured during the arrest.

WHAT ELSE:

The Trudeau government is under fire after an anti-abortion group made the shortlist for government funding.

A border wall, a ticking clock and a desperate decision: One migrants story at the Mexico-U.S. frontier.

Not even a Hitler reference has sunk Danielle Smith. Heres why shes withstanding what once would have spelled disaster for her campaign.

Getting approval to build a multiplex in some Toronto neighbourhoods was a process that could take years. Now it could take just days.

Doug Ford is insisting Brampton wont get shafted by Mississauga if Peel Region is separated.

A Toronto cop is appealing her dismissal over tweets she made about workplace sexual harassment and racism.

On the perfect day to kill the Shermans, the killer likely knew it. Listen to episode 8 of The Billionaire Murders podcast.

Stranded, she survived on wine and lollipops, while he ate snow for a week after being buried alive. Heres how they lived off so little.

There wont be subway service between York Mills and Bloor-Yonge Saturday  plus other service changes this week.

Auto insurance premiums have jumped by as much as 37 per cent in some Ontario cities. Take a look at the data.

Why are the Maple Leafs and their stars facing so much pressure? Just follow the money.

A plan for High Park called war on the car has been approved by city council.

POV:

She was a Muslim spy at the forefront of CSISs fight against terrorism. Then, she turned whistleblower.

CLOSE-UP:

MEXICO: Migrants try to get to the U.S. through the Rio Grande as seen from Matamoros, state of Tamaulipas, on Thursday. Today, the U.S. is barring asylum seekers from crossing the Mexican border. Heres what it could mean for migration in and through Canada.

Thank you for reading First Up. You can reach me and the First Up team at firstup@thestar.ca

Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox.

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PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP)  The United States top international development official on Friday said Washington is focusing on the urgency of normalizing relations between Kosovo and Serbia in EU-brokered talks between the two former war foes.

USAID Administrator Samantha Power has been in Kosovo for the past two days, following a three-day visit to Serbia.

As the most senior representative of U.S. President Joe Biden to visit Kosovo recently, she said her countrys focus now was on the importance of implementation of the agreements that will produce a normalization that will be incredibly important for Kosovo and for Serbia.

Over the two days of her trip, Power visited a local farm and food processing facility. She met with young entrepreneurs at a hub for innovation and also spoke to young peacemakers bridging divides between Kosovo and Serbia.

Normalization is going to be really, really good for business, she said at a news conference. The good that normalization will do for the young people of this country cannot be overstated.

In February, Kosovos Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic met and gave tacit approval to the EUs 11-point plan. During a March summit in North Macedonia, the two leaders tentatively agreed on implementation.

We are hopeful that the parties will come to the next stage of EU-mediated discussions with very specific proposals, said Power.

Washington and Brussels have stepped up efforts to help solve the dispute, fearing further instability in Europe as the war rages in Ukraine.

Both Serbia and Kosovo have been told they must normalize relations to advance in their intentions to join the EU. The two sides have tentatively agreed to back an EU plan on how to proceed, but tensions continue to simmer.

Power acknowledged the political choices ahead for both countries were very difficult.

Thats why they lie ahead. If they were easy, they would have been choices made a long time ago, she said.

Power spoke on two contesting issues, first urging Kosovo to proceed on the establishment of an association of Serb-majority municipalities in Kosovo, which would coordinate work on education, health care, land planning and economic development at the local level.

A 2013 agreement on that plan was later declared unconstitutional by Kosovos Constitutional Court, which ruled that it wasnt inclusive of other ethnicities and could entail the use of executive powers.

Power also urged Kosovo Serbs to return to their jobs in local government institutions in the north of the country, where most of the ethnic Serb minority is located. They boycotted those posts in November and a snap election vote last month in protest at the establishment of the association.

The conflict in Kosovo erupted in 1998 when separatist ethnic Albanians rebelled against Serbias rule, and Serbia responded with a brutal crackdown. About 13,000 people, mostly ethnic Albanians, died. NATOs military intervention in 1999 eventually forced Serbia to pull out of the territory.

Washington and most European Union countries have recognized Kosovo as an independent state but Serbia, along with Russia and China, has not.

___

Semini reported from Tirana, Albania.

___

Follow Llazar Semini on Twitter: https://twitter.com/lsemini

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DAKAR, Senegal (AP)  Malian forces backed by foreign military personnel are believed to have killed at least 500 people over several days in a village last year, the U.N. said Friday, significantly raising the death toll from what already has been called the worst single atrocity in Malis decade-long fight against extremist groups.

The new report from the U.N. Human Rights Office details the violence that took place in the village of Moura in central Mali over the course of five days, and raises a previous toll of 300 dead given by Human Rights Watch.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk called the findings extremely disturbing.

Summary executions, rape and torture during armed conflict amount to war crimes and could, depending on the circumstances, amount to crimes against humanity, Turk said.

Malian authorities have said that their operation last March neutralized extremists and didnt allow U.N. investigators to visit the village. U.N. investigators analyzed satellite imagery in addition to speaking with victims and witnesses, the report said.

France and others have alleged that the Malian forces in Moura were aided by Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group. In Fridays report, investigators also cited similar evidence of foreign involvement.

Witnesses reported seeing armed white men who spoke an unknown language operating alongside the Malian forces and at times appearing to supervise operations, the U.N. Human Rights Office said. According to witnesses, Malian troops were rotated in and out of Moura daily, but the foreign personnel remained for the duration of the operation.

Despite nine years of help from the French military and a large U.N. peacekeeping mission, Mali has been unable to stem violence from Islamic extremist groups. In August 2020, an army colonel overthrew the countrys democratically elected president, further destabilizing the West African nation.

Col. Assimi Goita became the countrys leader after mounting a second coup nine months later, and relations between his government and France and the United Nations sharply deteriorated in the months that followed. France ultimately relocated all of its troops in Mali to neighboring Niger, and Malis government reached out to Wagner Group, a Russian mercenary outfit blamed for atrocities in other countries where it operates.

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KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  Ukrainian military commanders said Friday that their troops had recaptured more territory from Russian forces at the scene of the wars longest and bloodiest battle, for the eastern city of Bakhmut, but it wasnt clear if this marked the start of Kyivs long-expected counteroffensive.

Russias Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said Ukrainian forces had stepped up attacks north of the region while denying speculation by Russian military bloggers that the Kyiv forces had achieved defense breakthroughs.

The 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) of territory that Ukrainian forces south of Bakhmut retook this week represented a significant gain and will protect an important supply chain, according to commanders of Ukraines 3rd Separate Assault Brigade, a special forces unit that led the attack.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he met with the top military commanders Friday, noting that Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi reported his forces stopped the enemy and even pushed him back in some directions.

In his nightly address to the Ukrainian people, Zelenskyy praised his troops and noted the low morale of the Russian forces.

The occupiers are already mentally prepared for defeat. They have already lost this war in their minds, he said. We must push them every day so that their sense of defeat turns into their retreat, their mistakes, their losses.

In a statement on Telegram on Friday, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar confirmed that Ukrainian forces gained ground around Bakhmut, reiterating statements from military commanders earlier this week.

In Washington, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the U.S. has assessed that Bakhmut remains contested territory.

Ukrainians have not given up their defense of Bakhmut and the Russians havent given up their attempts to take Bakhmut, Kirby said. Every single day, the lines change back and forth. I mean, sometimes block by block.

The U.S. maintains that Bakhmut has limited strategic value but that Russia has absorbed an enormous loss of troops and weaponry in the battle for the former salt-mining town that has been grinding on for eight months.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the millionaire owner of Russias private military contractor Wagner who is a frequent critic of the Russian military, slammed it again for losing ground around Bakhmut and exposing his forces battling for the city.

In a video statement Friday, Prigozhin mocked the Russian Defense Ministrys report claiming that its forces regrouped to take more favorable positions, saying they effectively fled and our flanks are crumbling.

He warned that the Ukrainian forces have reclaimed key heights around the city and effectively unblocked the key supply link to Bakhmut. Prigozhin again accused the military leadership of refusing to provide sufficient ammunition to Wagner.

You must immediately stop lying, Prigozhin said, addressing Russias military leaders. If you fled, you must prepare new defensive lines.

Prigozhin  who seems to use harsh criticism to pressure the Kremlin for more support and improve his stature  alleged the Defense Ministrys failure to protect Wagners flanks amounted to high treason and could result in a great tragedy for Russia.

Apparently denying Prigozhins claim of abandonment, Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Russian airborne units are still supporting ground forces to stop the attempts of the Ukrainian armed forces to counterattack on the flanks.

The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, explained the spat as being reflective of increased panic in the Russian information space over speculations about planned Ukrainian counteroffensives. This indicates increased concern among leaders of Wagner and the Russian Defense Ministry as well as reflecting Kremlin guidance to avoid downplaying Ukrainian successes, it said.

Ukrainian military officials have dismissed speculation that the fighting and forward movement in Bakhmut signaled that its anticipated counteroffensive was underway. Zelenskyy said in remarks broadcast Thursday that Kyiv was delaying the campaign because it lacks enough Western weapons. Some saw the comments as designed to keep Russia guessing about Ukraines next move.

Addressing the nation Friday evening, Zelenskyy said more arms were coming to defeat the aggressor and restore peace.

The territorial gains occurred near the Siversky-Donets canal, between the villages of Ivanivske and Kurdiumivka, according to a commander of the 1st Assault Battalion of the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade. He spoke on condition he be referred to only by his call sign of Rollo, in line with Ukrainian military protocol.

This was the enemys bridgehead, which they intended to use in their future attacks along the canal, in the direction of Kostiantynivka, he said. We had to neutralize the enemy and push them to the other side of the canal.

Another commander and a military spokesman corroborated his account.

Kostiantynivka is part of an important logistics chain that leads to the city of Kramatorsk.

Rollo said the gains followed other successes, including one that secured an access road near Khromove, north of Bakhmut, and another that allowed Ukrainian forces to reclaim lost positions in the Industrial College inside Bakhmut city.

The assault south of Bakhmut was followed by a reported increase in Ukrainian offensive actions near the city of Soledar on Thursday, Russias Defense Ministry said. Russia repelled 26 Ukrainian attacks carried out by over 1,000 soldiers, the ministry said, adding that up to 40 tanks were involved.

The slow and grinding fight for Bakhmut has been costly for both sides, with Ukraine seeking to deny Russia any territorial gains despite its marginal strategic significance. Ukrainian forces are stationed in the city, while Russian troops are attacking from the north, east and south.

In other fighting, at least two people were killed and 22 injured elsewhere in the country since Thursday, according to figures from the Ukrainian Presidents Office.

Donetsk Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko said a Russian strike hit Kramatorsk, where some Ukrainian military units are based, destroying a school and residential building. Russian shelling hit 11 cities and villages in the region, killing 12 civilians, he said.

___

Follow APs coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine-war

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BEIRUT (AP)  The leader of Lebanons Hezbollah militant group has denounced as baseless lies reports that one of Syrias most well-known drug dealers, who was killed earlier this week in an airstrike near the Jordanian border, was linked to the Iran-backed group.

Sayyed Hassan Nasrallahs televised speech on Friday came four days after the rare strike that some Syrian opposition activists claimed was carried out by Jordans air force. The activists and a war monitor said the amphetamine Captagon kingpin killed Monday was among the most wanted by Jordanian authorities for drug smuggling across the border with the backing of a small militia.

Syrian activists say Merhi al-Ramthan, who was killed with his wife and six children, worked closely with militias linked to Syrian President Bashar Assad and Iran-backed Hezbollah.

Western governments estimate that Captagon has generated billions of dollars in revenue for Assad, his Syrian associates and allies. Damascus has denied the accusations.

Had we been making billions of dollars it would have been noticed, Nasrallah joked about the charges. Speaking about linking al-Ramthan to Hezbollah, Nasrallah said these are lies and unjust charges.

Nasrallah added that had it not been for Hezbollahs help, the Lebanese state would not have been able to carry out raids against drug dealers in Lebanon. Hezbollah enjoys wide influence in northeast Lebanon, a region that for decades has been a center of drug production.

Mondays strike in southern Syria that killed al-Ramthan and another that destroyed a factory came a day after Arab governments reinstated Syria to the Arab League following the countrys suspension for its crackdown on protests that ultimately led to a lengthy civil war.

As Arab governments gradually restore ties with Damascus, one of the key topics of discussion has been Syrias illicit drug industry, which has flourished during the ongoing conflict  especially the illegal amphetamine Captagon.

These are baseless lies. For us Captagon and other types of drugs are religiously prohibited, said Nasrallah, a Shiite Muslim cleric and major political figure in Lebanon.

Speaking about reconciliation between Syria and oil-rich Arab countries, Nasrallah said anti-Syrian politicians in Lebanon are disconnected from reality and are working to keep Beiruts relations with Damascus cold.

It is in Lebanons interest to fix relations with Syria, Nasrallah said, adding that the Lebanese government should send a high-ranking delegation to Damascus to discuss ways to address the refugee crisis that has pushed hundreds of thousands of Syrians to flee into in Lebanon.

Sentiments against Syrian refugees have been rising in Lebanon since the countrys massive economic meltdown that started in 2019 that has left three quarters of the Lebanese population living in poverty.

Hezbollah sent thousands of fighters to battle alongside Syrian government forces during the 12-year war, helping tip the balance of power in Assads favor.

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EAST SHORE, Calif. (AP)  Earthquakes have rattled a large area of Northern California this week, but only minor damage was immediately reported.

A magnitude 5.5 quake centered in the Sierra Nevadas Lake Almanor resort region struck at 4:19 p.m. Thursday and a magnitude 5.2 aftershock occurred at 3:18 a.m. Friday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

ABC10 reported local businesses were cleaning up minor damage in the area about 180 miles (290 kilometers) northeast of San Francisco.

A lot of broken glass, a lot of broken dishes, a lot of broken liquor from upstairs, Stephanie Hughes, a local restaurant manager, told the station after the Thursday afternoon quake.

Everything was shaking. Customers were fleeing onto the lawn, said Hughes.

People reported feeling the earthquake all the way to Sacramento, about 160 miles (260 kilometers) south.

The magnitude 5.5 quake was the largest in California since the magnitude 7.1 Ridgecrest sequence in 2019, according to former USGS seismologist Lucy Jones, who now runs a center focusing on making communities more resilient to disasters.

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BOSTON (AP)  A Boston man worked with Chinese government officials over roughly a four-year period to keep tabs on Chinese activists and dissidents in the area who were calling for pro-democracy reforms in the communist nation, federal prosecutors said Friday.

Litang Liang, 63, a U.S. citizen who lives in Bostons Brighton neighborhood, was charged with conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government and acting as an agent of a foreign government without notice to the U.S. attorney general, the U.S. attorneys office in Boston said.

Liang, who was arrested Tuesday, was released Thursday on $25,000 bond with electronic monitoring after pleading not guilty, according to court documents. He also surrendered his passport and was ordered not to leave Massachusetts or have any contact with Chinese government officials.

An email seeking comment was left with his attorney.

Liang is accused of providing the PRC government with information on Boston-area individuals and organizations; organizing a counterprotest in the United States against pro-democracy dissidents; providing photographs of and information about U.S.-based dissidents to PRC government officials; and providing the names of potential recruits to the PRCs Ministry of Public Security, according to court documents.

PRC is the Peoples Republic of China.

The goal was to covertly advance the PRC governments goals and agenda within the United States, according to the indictment.

China has been accused in other cases of trying to interfere with activists in the U.S. critical of Beijing.

Last month, two men were accused by U.S. authorities of helping establish a secret police station in New York City on behalf of the Chinese government, and about three dozen officers with Chinas national police force were charged with using social media to harass dissidents inside the United States.

Liangs cooperation with the Chinese government started in 2018 and lasted until at least last year, prosecutors said.

In one case, according to prosecutors, Liang sent a Chinese government official photos and videos of a student activist he believed was responsible for destroying Chinese flags during a 2018 protest in Bostons Chinatown neighborhood.

Liang organized an event in Boston in 2018 that was attended by at least two Chinese government officials, one of whom asked Liang for the name of a person who attended and worked for an elected Boston official. Liang provided the name as requested, authorities said. Court documents did not name the elected official.

Liang also provided video of a dissident attending the Boston Stands with Hong Kong march in August 2019 and the following month sent photographs of dissidents in front of the Boston Public Library to a Chinese government official, calling them a bunch of clowns trying to cause trouble, prosecutors said.

Liang had contacts with high-ranking Chinese diplomats in the United States, the Ministry of Public Security, and the United Front Work Department, which reports directly to the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party to further party goals, prosecutors said. He also visited China in September, where he attended events to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the modern Chinese state.

The Boston man is also accused of providing Chinese government officials with the names and professional affiliations of two people in the Boston area for possible recruitment by Chinas Ministry of Public Security, prosecutors said.

Liang is due back in court on July 6.

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LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP)  Kentuckys secretary of state has won bipartisan praise during his first term in office for expanding voter access during the COVID-19 pandemic and overseeing elections that have been free of widespread problems.

That record still hasnt paved a clear path to reelection for Republican Michael Adams. He now must persuade primary voters who have been bombarded for years with false claims about rigged elections.

He faces one challenger in Tuesdays GOP primary who has promoted debunked election claims and another who favors pulling Kentucky out of a multistate effort designed to detect voter fraud, an effort being pushed by conspiracy theorists in conservative states.

The battle for Kentuckys top elections post follows similar campaigns during last years midterm elections, when candidates who denied the results of the 2020 election won GOP primaries in numerous states. A handful of them went on to win the office in deeply Republican states, but each of those candidates lost in the closely contested swing states that typically decide presidential elections.

Adams, a lawyer, soundly defeated Steve Knipper in the primary four years ago. Knipper, who has questioned the result of the 2020 presidential election, is back for another run along with another Republican, Allen Maricle, a former state representative and television station executive. The winner will face Democrat Buddy Wheatley, a former state representative who recently lost reelection. He is unopposed in his primary.

Adams earned praise from both parties for increasing voting opportunities and allowing mail-in ballots in the 2020 elections during the pandemic. He has raised significantly more campaign cash than his two opponents. But he said the political landscape has shifted dramatically for secretary of state races around the country, namely because of a wave of conspiracy theories and false allegations after the 2020 presidential race.

This job has gotten a lot more high-profile than it used to be, Adams said. And I think the big question in this election is, which direction are we going to go in?

Adams, 47, has had harsh words for election skeptics, calling them cranks and kooks who shouldnt be in charge of Kentuckys election process.

State and local election officials continue to grapple with the fallout from former President Donald Trumps false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him. The lies he continues to tell, including during a televised town hall, earlier this week, not only undermine confidence in elections, particularly among Republicans, but have led to harassment and death threats against election officials and their staff.

Reviews in multiple states, including ones controlled by Republicans, have shown there was no widespread fraud or manipulation of voting machines. Dozens of judges, including several nominated by Trump, also rejected his claims.

Knipper, 52, won the GOP nomination for secretary of state in 2015 before losing to Democratic incumbent Alison Grimes in the general election. The former city council member from a small town across the Ohio River from Cincinnati was a staffer under former Lt. Gov. Jenean Hampton, but was fired by former Republican Gov. Matt Bevin.

Knipper and a former colleague of his in the lieutenant governors office who also was swept out by Bevin, Adrienne Southworth, have been touring the state together alleging  without evidence  election fraud in the 2019 governors race won by Democrat Andy Beshear and in the 2020 presidential election.

Knipper said he has raised more money and enjoyed more support from the public than during his previous two races, and is running television ads for the first time.

Ive had enthusiasm, but I have never had this much enthusiasm behind me, he said.

Maricle has campaigned on his experience in the Kentucky Legislature, saying he is the only candidate who has a voting record on election legislation. That includes support for a bill in the 1990s that allowed voters who were in line at the time of poll closings to remain in line and finish voting.

Maricle, 60, is critical of Knippers election skepticism, saying Knipper has provided no evidence.

Hes said these elections have been stolen through the machines  prove it, Maricle said.

But Maricle also has campaigned on moving the state out of a multistate system intended to combat voter fraud. He said he is taking a cue from other Republican secretaries of state critical of it and said it is not doing a good enough job helping states clear their voter rolls.

Its flawed, he said. You have nine Republican states in the last 90 days do away with that system.

Knipper has also sought to capitalize on the issue, which has divided Republican state election officials. In a March release, he urged supporters to call on Adams to withdraw Kentucky from the bipartisan effort, which has found itself in the crosshairs of conspiracy theories fueled by Trumps false claims.

In the release, Knipper repeated claims that the Electronic Registration Information Center, a voluntary system known as ERIC, was funded by George Soros, the billionaire investor and philanthropist who has long been the subject of conspiracy theories. While ERIC received initial funding from the nonpartisan Pew Charitable Trusts, that money was separate from the money provided to Pew by a Soros-affiliated organization that went to an unrelated effort, according to ERICs executive director, Shane Hamlin.

Knippers stance on the ERIC system won him the vote of Dae Combs, a 63-year-old Louisville resident who visited an early voting location on Thursday.

Im just concerned that it would be easily manipulated, Combs said. Im not saying thats what happened, but I just think there needs to be more investigation into it.

Combs said she doesnt question the results of the 2020 election despite her support of Knipper.

Biden is our president and we kind of go with the system. This is our system, its the best system in the world, but I do think there is room to look at things and not just take things at face value.

Louisiana has left a group of states using the ERIC system after a series of online posts early last year questioning its funding and purpose. Alabama, Florida, Iowa, Missouri, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia subsequently provided notice that they, too, would leave. Texas has said its working on an alternative effort and is unlikely to stay. Kentucky is among six Republican-led states that have so far remained.

Judy Davenport, who was voting in Louisville on her 62nd birthday, said her vote for Adams was influenced by Knippers election skepticsm.

Im not an election denier, she said.

___

Cassidy reported from Atlanta.

___

Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about APs democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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PHILADELPHIA (AP)  Cassandra Nunez and her grandmother cast their first ballots in a U.S. presidential election in 2016. She was a first-year college student; her grandmother, a newly minted citizen. They both hoped to elect the first woman president over a man who bragged about grabbing and kissing women at will.

But Donald Trump became president, and it would be nearly seven years before a Trump accuser could press her claims at trial. This week, jurors in a New York civil case said they believed that Trump sexually assaulted writer E. Jean Carroll in a dressing room in the 1990s  making him the first U.S. president found liable by a jury in a sexual battery case. The panel awarded her $5 million in damages.

Its a victorious moment, but why did the people of the United States let this happen? said Nunez, now 25, of Los Angeles, noting the number of sexual misconduct accusations against Trump during the campaign and since his election. Its kind of late.

The verdict  a rare moment of accountability for a former president and powerful men like him  comes as women across the U.S. ponder the cultural landscape amid sweeping threats to their hard-won progress, including Hillary Clintons loss to Trump in 2016, the Supreme Courts repeal of abortion rights last year and the uneven success of the #MeToo movement.

Juliet Williams, a professor of gender studies at UCLA, called it an ambiguous time for women.

Its very hard to feel at this moment that the accounting, the reckoning that we need has yet happened, she said. I feel this is a small step in the right direction.

Some may find yet another day contemplating the behavior of Donald Trump just feels like a colossal waste of attention, Williams said. But she believes its important to address the everyday abuses of power that have real consequences for victims.

With a string of investigations swirling around Trump, the sex-abuse case  a civil verdict, with no criminal prosecution possible  hit only so hard across a news-weary America. Nunez followed the trial and discussed it with a few colleagues at her public relations job. For others, the news barely hit their radar, if they were aware of the decision at all, even as Trump campaigns for the presidency again.

Trumps long list of scandals makes any single moment seem less surprising, said Kelly Dittmar, a scholar with the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. What might certainly derail other candidates or elected officials meets an eye roll among many Trump detractors  and only further mobilizes Trump supporters around the idea that this is a witch hunt against him.

Carroll this week savored the outcome of the lawsuit she filed the day New York, like some other states, opened a one-year window for adults to file suit over old sexual assault claims. Advocates say it can take years for victims like the 79-year-old advice columnist to move past their sense of shame and go public. But its often too late, as it was for her, to pursue criminal charges.

Trump dismissed the accusation as a way to boost sales of Carrolls 2019 book, What Do We Need Men For?

But Carroll, in the wake of the verdict, said the case was never about money. She said she only hoped to clear her name, one the jury  in awarding nearly $3 million for defamation  agreed Trump had sullied.

Trump, in hours of deposition questioning, denied he knew Carroll despite photographic evidence, and he denigrated her as not my type. He also mused that celebrities had gotten away with sexually abusing women for centuries, unfortunately, or fortunately.

Trump doubled down on his insulting, often misogynistic rhetoric about women in a CNN Republican town hall Wednesday evening, mockingly calling Carroll a wack job in a comment that drew glee from the New Hampshire audience.

The day after his inauguration in January 2017, millions of people around the world took part in a Women's March to protest his rise to power. Many sported bright pink hats that were the brainchild of the Pussyhat Project  a cat-eared design meant as a wry clapback to Trumps infamous comments on womens genitals.

The Womens March demonstrated that we are watching, Williams said. But in terms of the scope of sexualized violence, a $5 million fine to somebody who commands immense resources and will certainly not show that this does any material harm to him, theres a grotesque imbalance with this outcome.

Los Angeles screenwriter Krista Suh, who helped launch the Pussyhat Project, is not sure Tuesdays verdict strikes a death knell for Trumps political career.

Hes very good at skirting the truth, and Im just not sure this verdict pins him down, but it definitely helps, the 35-year-old said.

The crowd at the Womens March in Washington included an anonymous observer from Toronto: Andrea Constand, whose sexual abuse claims against actor Bill Cosby would soon go to trial.

In the years that followed, she would see Cosby convicted, sent to prison and then released when his conviction was overturned on appeal. Amid that setback, and the inability of victims like Carroll to pursue criminal cases, she believes the civil court process can alone be effective. Constand had received $3.4 million from Cosby in a civil settlement in 2006, long before the criminal case was reopened, and she used the money to rebuild her life and career.

If thats what it takes to get justice and you have no other option, then it is about the money, because the money helps you heal and move forward and accomplish things that you havent been able to accomplish because youve been gripped by your trauma, she said.

Despite the jurys view that Trump is a sexual offender, millions of women would likely still vote for him given the chance in 2024, to maintain the countrys social, economic or racial order, Williams said. More than half of white women voted for Trump in 2020.

There are people that like Trumps brand of masculinity. They like the bravado, they like the confidence, they like a certain type of patriotism, they like the performance of a certain kind of virility, Williams said. So when these episodes of sexual misconduct come out, I think people are willing to give it a pass.

For Nunez, Trumps victory over Hillary Clinton in 2016 was a double whammy given his behavior. His presidency, and later the #MeToo movement, spanned her time in college at Loyola Marymount University. She sees progress in small victories, like when her workplace required sexual misconduct training.

These beginnings give me hope that one day when I have my own children, she said, leaders will be held accountable for all their actions, and all types of violence against women will not be tolerated.

___

Follow Legal Affairs Writer Maryclaire Dale on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Maryclairedale

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The nailbiter election in Alberta in which former Premier Rachel Notley is facing off against sitting Premier Danielle Smith gives us the illusion that Canada has more women in power than we actually do.

In fact, close to 70 per cent of parliamentarians  including those in the current Alberta legislature  are men. Interestingly, however, that might change once Albertans have gone to the polls. Because the two leaders candidate pools are markedly different.

Less than a quarter of Smiths United Conservative Party candidates are women, in contrast to half of those running under the New Democratic Party banner.

Why does this matter? Because womens lives differ from mens in so many ways.

And if women arent present to influence the formation of policies and spending priorities to reflect their realities, its impossible to ensure that womens needs will be addressed.

On the other side of the Rocky Mountains, British Columbia provides an instructive case study. Since 2019, the B.C. government has been providing funds to ensure girls and women can access free tampons and pads in a bid to end period poverty.

Then, earlier this spring, the province made doctor-prescribed IUDs, morning-after pills and birth control pills available to B.C. citizens free-of-charge.

Which is pretty awesome. For millions of women in this country, menstrual products and contraception are  like toilet paper, soap and water  essentials of life.

Its not a coincidence that these reproductive health measures were introduced in B.C. Unlike almost every other government in Canada, the provinces governing party boasts a slight majority of women MLAs.

This is what a balance of power delivers: a world in which womens experiences and insights inform policies and impact spending.

Representation is fundamental to democracy, and Canadians have always recognized that. Its why Quebecs 22 per cent of the population is matched by 22 per cent of the seats in Ottawa. Its why every Prime Minister in history has ensured that, regardless of their partys geographic base, prairie and maritime provinces have a voice in Cabinet.

But why is geography the sole representation default?

Many other countries have evolved from this approach and prioritized meaningful change to ensure that the 50 per cent of the population who give birth to everyone are equally represented in the halls of power.

Informed Opinions, in collaboration with political scientists who specialize in comparative politics, reviewed the paths to parity they pursued. Heres what we learned:

Some recognized early on the critical benefits that flow from gender equality and started advancing womens access to power decades ago. As a result, northern European nations  Iceland, Sweden and Norway  have all achieved more than 45 per cent womens representation.

Others brought in parity laws or constitutional reforms and imposed sanctions on political parties that dont comply. Mexico, for one, rewrote its constitution, and now fully half of its legislators are women.

Still other countries passed laws requiring all political parties to apply gender quotas when they select candidates. Some have financial penalties, others disqualify those that fail to comply. Costa Rica and Spain both follow this approach.

Finally, some countries, New Zealand included, have reformed their electoral systems abandoning first-past-the-post for alternatives that have a demonstrated impact on ensuring the diversity of the population is reflected more broadly  and not just in terms of gender.

Canada, in contrast, has voluntary quotas. These acknowledge that gender parity is a worthwhile goal, but let parties who dont care much off the hook.

Voters in Alberta will consider many issues when casting their ballots. Those invested in gender equality have a clear choice.

Shari Graydon is the Catalyst/CEO of Informed Opinions , a charitable non profit currently campaigning for women to hold a balance of power in politics.

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(Bloomberg) -- Asias copper industry meets in Hong Kong next week to discuss a market that should be bursting with opportunities after China, the biggest consumer of the metal, called an end to the pandemic restrictions strangling its economy.

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The governments pledge to raise economic growth, and an increasingly outsized contribution to demand from its rapid build out of clean energy, have spurred optimism that Chinas reopening will help offset weaker activity elsewhere in the world. But the reality on the ground is much gloomier as traders seek evidence of a kick-start to consumption that has so far proved elusive in the months since Beijing lifted its Covid Zero curbs.

Many people in the industry are disappointed by Chinese demand so far this year, said Shen Haihua, a portfolio manager at Hong Kong-based hedge fund Entropy Asset Management Ltd. I think most specialists are on the short side.

The London Metal Exchanges gathering is its first in-person meeting in Asia since the pandemic struck, convening more than a thousand executives, traders, bankers and analysts to chew over the latest industry news, and wine and dine old friends in the citys bars and restaurants.

Less than two months ago, few were betting against coppers prospects after the worlds top trader of the metal, Trafigura Group, told a conference in London that it expects prices to hit a record within a year.

Whats changed is a slew of data indicating that Chinas recovery is losing momentum. A survey of purchasing managers showed the factory sector contracting in April for the first time this year, while copper imports dropped to their lowest since October. Chinese imports of the metal in the first four months are lagging 13% behind the pace set in 2022, a year that saw copper purchases boom despite generally weaker demand for other commodities.

Story continues

The metal is down around 8% on the LME so far this quarter. It rose 1.3% to $8,267 a ton as of 12:36 p.m. in London on Friday following a 3.7% tumble in the previous session.

Economic Barometer

That speaks to one explanation for why consumption may have fallen short of expectations. Chinese industry suffered less than other parts of the economy during the Covid-era slowdown, according to Capital Economics Ltd., a London-based research firm, which means that post-virus growth was only ever going to be modest. At the same time, Chinas need for metals like copper is being capped by softer demand for exports as other nations flirt with recession.

Copper prices have long been considered a useful barometer of an economys health because of its widespread usage, from power cables, to pots and pans and mobile phones. As such, its fortunes have been closely tied to Chinas rapid growth in recent decades, and a proxy to test the global demand. Coppers recent slump is telling us the global economy is in real trouble, Societe Generale SA strategist Albert Edwards said on his Twitter feed.

So its instructive that Chinese traders surveyed by Bloomberg ahead of the LME event are tilting toward prices falling in the short term. Some said theyre experiencing the worst margins in over 10 years, while smelters are turning to exports to compensate for a sluggish domestic market.

Copper is too scarce and too valuable to the energy transition to be on the ropes for long. But timing its resurgence is becoming increasingly fraught given the frailty of the world economy and the absence of robust Chinese demand.

From January to April, copper in China has averaged about 400 yuan ($58) a ton less than London prices. The premium at the port of Yangshan, which measures import needs, has more than halved since mid-March and is bumping along near record lows. And thats during a second quarter which is usually considered to be a peak period of consumption among fabricators of the metal.

Tycoon Running a Quarter of Chinas Copper Trade Is on the Ropes

On the LME itself, the worlds premier exchange for metals, volatility  the lifeblood of the market  has slumped. On a 30-day basis, price fluctuations have fallen to their lowest since November 2020, forcing traders to the sidelines.

Lackluster consumption is the biggest problem, but another factor is that Chinas smelting industry is still expanding. That means more demand for ores and concentrates mined overseas, and less for the refined metal that backstops futures markets like the LME. Coppers value as an asset has also waned after the collapse of Chinas biggest trader sent a chill through dealing rooms and subdued the appetite among lenders for using the metal as collateral on loans.

--With assistance from Winnie Zhu.

(Updates prices in seventh paragraph)

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Rule One: Avoid demonization.

Id make this the first principle in forming Canadian policy toward Chinese interference and I offer it for consideration to special rapporteur David Johnston, whos due to rapport to the government on the topic shortly. Its why Im not against the slow government reaction to Chinese actions here. Justin Trudeau said decisions on expelling diplomats etc. should be made very, very carefully and for the life of me, I dont see why doing it in a rush is preferable. (If only theyd been as careful about changing the assisted dying act.) There are consequences.

Some are economic (Western farmers are just getting over Chinas ban on canola), personal (the Michaels) and some involve racism. Florida now has laws preventing Chinese citizens from buying more than two acres of land that must be five miles from military bases. This is the Bugs Bunny-Yosemite Sam version of national security, to crush the U.S.s greatest geopolitical threat: Chinese communists. Texas has land sale bans on Russians, Iranians, North Koreans. This kind of brainless, panicked, overwrought reaction thrived in the Cold War.

The Cold War was about demonization: us good, them evil. Maybe it was clever propagandizing by ruling groups or just reflected deep Manichaean drives in us to perceive reality in absolute moral terms. The result made people on both sides stupider than necessary and shattered many innocent lives.

In reality, most people and societies are morally complex. And most governments pursue self-interest, not absolute good. The U.S. supports Ukraine mainly to foster its goal of keeping Europe militarily subservient, not because its on the side of right. If not, why wouldnt it also offer massive support to Sudan, a country on the verge of catastrophe thats the size of Ukraine but gets scant attention?

I know this sounds like Whataboutism  as in: What about if the U.S. did something as deplorable as Chinas accused of?  which I admit a fondness for. But the real point is to get some perspective instead of being panicked. Great powers, of which China is now one, try to shape reality in their own interests. For those of us on the margins, it helps to see things more calmly as we choose a course.

It turns out that Chinese interference was mainly about suppressing dissent at home in China, via threats to family members still there, not installing a pro-Chinese government in Canada. (There was similar panic in the U.S. about Russia controlling its 2016 election but by 2022 that had faded.) It is truly disgusting policy and deserves criminal charges, diplomatic expulsions and the like. Sadly, its not unusual. The U.S. is probably the champion of political interference and we have our own sad record regarding, say, the 2009 coup in Honduras.

Its deplorable but not unique or demonic, and definitely not cause to panic.

It was panic about perceived unprecedented demonic forces that led to the despicable witch hunts of the Cold War (rather grander than those Trump whines about facing) and the threats of nuclear escalation unto extinction. Its important to get a grip and one way is by hanging onto some perspective.

One of the few mitigating graces of the Cold War was that it didnt draw heavily on racist tropes since the Soviets were perceived as white like us, the good guys. This is not the case with China, cast as the face of evil. The racist tool kit goes back centuries yet stays fresh; Kung flu didnt materialize from nowhere.

Thats another compelling reason to be cautious and, dammit, slow, in forming a response. The call for foreign agent registries for instance, sounds sane but has racist potential. The U.S. has one and has now stood up a Foreign Malign Influence Center, which to me echoes like the Cultural Barbaric practises tip line created by the Harper government in 2015. Slowly, please.

Great powers gonna power and fair warning to the rest of us. The least we can do is formulate our own responses instead of acting on their cues.

Rick Salutin is a freelance contributing columnist for the Star. He is based in Toronto. Reach him via email: salutinrick@gmail.com

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Start spreading the news: They hate each other, April 28

Although not setting out to do so, Susan Delacourts article clearly points out one of the major flaws of our present electoral system.

Highlighted is the constant bickering and juvenile behaviour of two political representatives of different parties squabbling with each other to gain votes.

This behaviour pushes the electorate either to vote against a politician or party, or to not vote at all.

I, for one, want to vote for a representative and not against one. It has been shown that a proportional system will lead to parties working together rather than slinging insults at their opponents.

I think that the beginning of a solution is to call a citizens assembly on electoral reform, where ordinary Canadians with diverse backgrounds will collect information and listen to experts to decide what is best for Canada (and not for a particular party).

Stephen Cohen, Toronto

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Liberals reject balanced budget and mandatory voting as official policy, May 6

This Canadian Press story, authored by Mia Robson and Mickey Djuric, reports the claim that Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joy has been so very involved in every single international initiative.

Not so! There is an important international initiative in whichJoly and the other Ministers of Global Affairs Canada have been remarkably uninvolved, namely, the growing trend toward comprehensive mandatory human rights due diligence legislation.

The Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability reports that such legislation would require Canadian companies to prevent human rights abuse and environmental harms in their global operations and supply chains, or face real consequences for failing to take all reasonable steps to prevent harm.

Very recently, our Prime Minister insisted that we dont use slave labour. Yet, Canadian brands and importers are still sourcing their clothes from garment factories in Bangladesh, where, on April 24, 2013, the Rana Plaza garment factories collapsed, killing more than 1,100 people, most of whom were women, and injuring 2,500 others.

For 10 years, Canadians have been waiting for their government to enact mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence legislation requiring Canadian companies and importers to respect human rights throughout their supply chains.

William Hayes, Oshawa

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Months after two passenger planes flew into the World Trade Center and another crashed into the Pentagon on 9/11, Huda Mukbil joined Canadas spy agency as an intelligence officer.

Months after a white supremacist gunned down six Quebecers praying in a Quebec City mosque in 2017, Mukbil turned whistleblower.

Those 15 intervening years are captured in a recently released book that tells the story of how Canadas first Black Arab-Canadian Muslim spy was treated at the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.

It depicts an agency dragging its heels on recognizing the relevance of diverse staff and describes how biases including misogyny, racism and homophobia obstruct the agency from doing the job with which its tasked: national security.

In the memoir, Mukbil chalks out her service in terms of fulfilment and purpose but also glass ceilings and dashed dreams, with a pit stop at Britains MI5 along the way.

Her story of being a rarity  an Arab (Yemeni) and African (Ethiopian) who grew up in Egypt and Canada and who could speak English, French, Harari and Arabic  along with possessing intelligence and drive meant she quickly became an expert at the forefront of the fight against terrorism.

The way I was made to feel was that I have a certain skill set that they need and so they will tolerate having me there, she writes.

The book states  and this is no spoiler  that the spy agency, which until 1984 was a branch of the RCMP and continues to recruit people from there, operated with the same prejudices as the police force and with the same impunity.

It details the red flags that signalled institutional discrimination, from culturally incompetent hiring practices to women being passed over for advancement for men with fewer qualifications, as well as shocking levels of Islamophobia Mukbil says she experienced.

Mukbils decision to start wearing a hijab in 2004 challenged CSISs fragile tolerance. She expected to have to handle some stereotyping, she writes, but Most managers were former RCMP officers. The culture was deeply conformist and intolerant, and I was an unprepared fool.

After the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, intelligence officers went into Muslim communities in what the head of a Muslim organization in 2004 described to the CBC as fishing expeditions, a witchhunt type of interrogating  that left people very, very confused and very traumatized.

Around the time she decided to wear a hijab, the agencys focus was shifting from middle-aged Muslim men to young first- and second-generation Muslims, she writes. Mukbil says she quickly began to be perceived as an inside threat. Her manager asked her to disclose all her conflicts of interest and her community involvement and told her she needed approval before attending events in the Muslim community.

Soon, she writes, all her managers wanted to know what I was doing on my weekends and in my private life.

Eventually, her performance scores dropped; her manager said she lacked judgment as evidenced by her continued engagement in the Muslim community. He engaged Internal Security, the branch that investigates security breaches and conflicts of interest to determine employee loyalty.

Mukbil underwent 10 hours of interrogation: how often did she pray, why did she decide to wear a hijab, what did she think of Canadian troops in Afghanistan, the Muslim Brotherhood and suicide bombers. When Internal Security found nothing on her, they asked her to return to work, she says.

In the book, Mukbil contrasts this alienation with the warmth and cordiality in Britains MI5. Soon after a series of bomb attacks in London in 2005 that killed 52 people, the MI5 sent out a special communique to the Five Eyes intelligence community (U.S., Canada, Britain, New Zealand and Australia), she writes. They were seeking officers and analysts with top-secret clearance and East African linguistic and cultural background to assist with the investigations. She was almost immediately seconded there.

When she returned to CSIS, the MI5 commendations she received for her help with tracking down the perpetrators shielded her, albeit briefly.

Because its operations are shrouded in secrecy, there appeared to be little incentive for CSIS to take internal complaints seriously, until, it seems, someone was willing to sacrifice their career and blow the whistle.

When Mukbil and four colleagues told CSIS they were preparing to launch a legal challenge in 2017, the agency conducted a Workplace Climate Assessment in the Toronto Region. No surprise, the assessment validated the complaints of an old boys culture, where swearing and demeaning comments about racialized people were rampant.

The Friday night drinking (with select employees) is where decisions were being made on not just operations, but who gets promoted, said Mukbil.

CSIS director David Vigneault called the behaviours categorically unacceptable in a high-functioning, professional organization in a public statement then.

CSIS had just been recognized as one of the countrys top 100 employers in 2017.

After the five claimants $35-million civil lawsuit against the agency caused a media and political outcry, CSIS reached a confidential settlement with the five, who had used pseudonyms in their allegations, as directed by CSIS; Mukbil was Bahira.

Media reported on the lawsuit claims such as managers calling one Muslim analyst a sand monkey, and telling another to complain to Allah. One email referencing a complainant who was often called a gay slur said, OT for the homo is approved.

CSISs post-9/11 culture was also one of conflating Muslims with terrorists and it was affecting assessments, leading to innocent Canadians being tortured abroad with CSIS knowledge. In addition to the damage they were doing inside the agency and to Muslim communities, CSISs prejudicial attitudes were also risking democracy, with rising far-right and white supremacist threats obstinately remaining in the agencys blind spot.

When the Quebec mosque attack took place in 2017, Mukbil says, CSIS were completely surprised.

They didnt see it coming, she says, despite the fact that the FBI was looking at far more seriously prior to 2017 and the phenomenon was growing in Europe.

CSISs database was full of information about Muslims, but had contained almost nothing on the far-right threat. She says it took years for CSIS to determine that the white supremacist threat needed its attention.

It might be tempting to think Mukbils book details past culture and practices that have little bearing on the present.

According to CSISs data, representation of employees from racialized groups nudged up from 16.9 per cent in 2018-19 to 19.8 per cent in 2022-23. After various recruitment and retention initiatives, executives are about 80 per cent white.

While the work of making CSIS more diverse and inclusive is ongoing, we are proud of the significant strides that have been made in recent years and credit employees in helping drive that change, CSIS spokesperson Eric Balsam told the Star via email. Director Vigneault has been very clear in stating to both employees and Canadians that, unfortunately systemic racism exists everywhere across Canada, including at CSIS.

CSIS leadership is actively engaging employees through open and honest conversations to deepen the organizations understanding of racism, diversity and inclusion, Balsam told the Star. It collaborates with employee-led networks such as a womens network, pride network, a BIPOC network, he said.

Mukbil still sees signs of those blind spots, citing the truckers convoy, which laid siege on Ottawa last year and caught the nation unawares.

Where was the intelligence to see that they were going to stay? Mukbil asks. If there was a group of Muslims with trucks full of gasoline sitting in front of Parliament  there would have been like this whole what is going on in this country? 

The CSIS spokesperson told the Star: Ideologically Motivated Violent Extremism (IMVE) poses a significant national security threat and is on par with the religiously motivated violent extremism (RMVE) threat to Canada. IMVE threat actors often target equity-deserving groups including racialized individuals and religious minorities  CSIS now dedicates 50 per cent of its counterterrorism resources to investigating this threat.

When Mukbil began her career, the desk that oversaw al-Qaida-linked investigations was called the Sunni Islamic Extremism Middle East desk. Its interesting to note that when it came to white extremism, the agency shies away from using the identifier white.

Unpacking why it did not have the same qualms with Sunni Islamic Extremism might just get to the heart of one of the knottiest challenges within.

Shree Paradkar is a Toronto-based columnist covering issues around social and racial justice for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @ShreeParadkar

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Listen here or subscribe at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favourite podcasts. Stay updated on episodes via our Twitter page. If you would like to support the journalism of the Toronto Star, you can at thestar.com/subscribingmatters. Please take five minutes to complete this podcast survey for a chance at a $100 gift card.

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When George Floyd was murdered by a Minneapolis police officer, protests erupted around the world. Calls to defund the police rang out and, for a moment, it seemed like change was imminent. But three years on, efforts to revolutionize public safety have varied. Star reporter Wendy Gillis recently visited Minneapolis as part of the ongoing Beyond the Badge series (made possible with the financial assistance of the R. James Travers Foreign Corresponding Fellowship) looking at what cities around the world are doing to combat violence and redesign public safety. Gillis explains whats happened to policing since Floyds murder and what we can learn from Minneapolis, a city thats become a case study in the frustratingly slow pace of systemic change.

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This episode was produced by Alexis Green, Raju Mudhar and Paulo Marques

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The finding by a jury of his peers that Donald Trump sexually abused a magazine writer and then defamed her by calling her a liar, and their award of $5 million in damages to her, ought to be an eye-opener for the American voter. And yet, as the former President pulls ahead in opinion polls, and seems at least for now the man most likely to enter the White House in 2024, questions must be asked about the moral compass by which the country judges its politicians.

For the record, Mr Trump has denied the charges leveled against him as a complete con job and a hoax, and vowed to appeal the verdict of a New York jury. But the preponderance of evidence, including the pieces presented in this trial, bears out that at the very least Mr. Trump is a misogynist, a man who has treated women as sexual objects almost all his adult life.

Two women testified at this trial about his sexual advances, while in another case, Mr. Trump faces prosecution for falsifying business records and concealing payments to a pornographic star with whom he had an affair. But the evangelical right-wing in America continues to support him with many Republicans actually believing that Mr. Trumps troubles are a result of his political opponents targeting him. In the aftermath of a verdict that ought to have been a game changer, and where jurors found Mr.

Trump had recklessly abused a womans rights, analysts say his support base is unlikely to be impacted, with only a small section of suburban women and moderate Republicans likely to be swayed. When you add to these entanglements and charges, the prosecution the former President faces for instigating riots in Americas capital, and for attempting to alter the outcome of the 2020 election, the only reasonable conclusion that can emerge is of a deeply flawed and morally compromised individual, even after making allowance for the partisan nature of some of the allegations.

And yet Mr. Trump, according to the most recent polling aggregations, has a one percentage point lead over President Joe Biden, who has already announced his intention of seeking a second term. As the well-respected Politico magazine has pointed out in an essay published after the jury verdict, this is a qualitatively new development that should make America grapple with the implications of a leading candidate for President having been found liable for conduct as grotesque as sexual assault. Yet, the essay concludes by pointing to the distinct possibility that the verdict will not significantly shift voters preferences. If it does not, it will speak as much of the man as it will of a country that
As the great power competition in the Indo-Pacific intensifies, Bangladesh has come out with its Indo-Pacific outlook. This policy document has been released on the eve of Sheikh Hasinas visit to the United States, the UK and Japan.

These are some of the important players in the Indo-Pacific. Besides, the US and Japan are also important members of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad). The countries Sheikh Hasina intended to visit are important economic and trading partners of Bangladesh.

They are important destinations for Bangladeshi products especially readymade garments. Besides, Bangladesh hopes to engage them as major development partners. Bangladesh has graduated from the least developed category to become a middle income country.

Though this is a welcome development for a country which was considered as a basket case at the time of its liberation, it has also presented new challenges especially in the economic arena.

Bangladesh would be losing certain facilities like the GSP which helped its products penetrate these markets. In the absence of such facilities, the country would be facing increased competition. In a changing environment like this, Bangladesh needed to bring clarity to its approach towards the Indo-Pacific so that it continues getting privileges in its export markets.

It is well known that China has made deep inroads in the countries of the Indo-Pacific, including those in South Asia. The growing great power competition in the Indo-Pacific has made the US and its allied countries come out with their Indo-Pacific Strategy. In most cases, containment of China is the central theme of these strategies.

As China is the largest trading partner and military hardware supplier for Bangladesh it has not been easy for Dhaka to take a stand on the IndoPacific.

Bangladesh is also an active partner in the Chinese Maritime Silk Road project that is part of the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Moreover, China is engaged in a number of infrastructural projects in Bangladesh. It has financed and constructed a submarine base for Bangladesh where two submarines purchased from China are kept.

Actually through these endeavours, China has been trying to penetrate into the Indian Ocean and change its security environment. Recently, similar Chinese activities have also been reported from the Coco Island of Myanmar. China is aware that the IndoPacific strategy of the US and its allies has a security component.

The Chinese ambassador in Bangladesh, Yao Wen pointed this out in a dialogue held in Dhaka. He actually warned Bangladesh from joining the Quad grouping which he felt was directed against China.

Bangladesh strongly reacted to this Chinese warning and considered it as an intervention in its internal matters. It also indicated to China that it wants to maintain autonomy in foreign policy.

To clear the air on its approach towards the Indo-Pacific, Bangladesh has now come out with its Indo-Pacific Outlook. The word outlook has been purposely used instead of strategy as it has a softer connotation. A similar approach has been taken by several Southeast Asian nations.

The document was released by the Bangladeshi state minister for foreign affairs Md Shahriar Alam. He pointed out that the Indo-Pacific areas collective share in global GDP, preponderance in international trade, enhanced climate action and growing technological dynamism can be key determinants for ensuring Bangladeshs long-term resilience and prosperity.

In the document Bangladesh envisions a free, open, peaceful, secure and inclusive IndoPacific for the shared prosperity for all. This highlighted the main thrust of the policy towards the Indo-Pacific. The document has four guiding principles and fifteen objectives.

The main focus of guiding principles is on Sheikh Mujibur Rahmans foreign policy dictum Friendship towards all, malice towards none. It also talks of the principles of the United Nations Charter and renunciation of the use of force in international relations.

It emphasizes adherence to the relevant UN treaties, international conventions and UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). It seeks constructive regional and international cooperation for sustainable development. In the objectives section of the document it wants countries to strengthen existing mechanisms on maritime safety and security in the Indo-Pacific and uphold the exercise of freedom of navigation and overflight in accordance with international law and UNCLOS.

Bangladesh also wants to promote open, transparent rules based multilateral systems that enable equitable and sustainable development in the IndoPacific and beyond. The importance of unimpeded and free flow of commerce in the Indo-Pacific is also highlighted.

Clearly, Bangladesh is interested in trade and commerce. Bangladesh released its Indo-Pacific outlook before Sheikh Hasinas visit to some important countries because it wanted to gain maximum economic advantage from them.

At the same time, by limiting it to only economic aspects it has hinted that it will not be part of any security alliance. By adopting this approach it has tried to placate the Chinese who feared that Bangladesh might join an anti-China alliance.

It has been suggested by some that Bangladesh has moved in this direction because of its closeness with the Indian government. However, this may not be true. For India, China is a hostile neighbor whose containment is desirable. But Bangladesh tries to balance its relationship between India and China.

This approach could also be seen in its Indo-Pacific outlook where Bangladesh has tried to steer clear of any security alliance. Bangladesh is also heading towards elections which are likely to take place in January 2024. In case these elections are not perceived as free and fair by Western countries they might scale back their ties. In this situation, India and China could prove to be its main supporters in the international arena.

Bangladesh has come out with its Indo-Pacific outlook because most of the worlds economic powerhouses are located in this region but it doesnt want to be seen as siding with anyone.

(The writer is Associate Fellow, Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses.)
(Bloomberg) -- Top corn importer China could cancel more purchases of the grain from the US because the country can buy more cheaply from Brazil and as some local producers of hog feed replace corn with wheat in their rations.

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Corn futures in Chicago have come under pressure from Chinese cancellations of 832,000 tons in the past three weeks. Increased competition from Brazil is underscored by forecasts for it to pass the US as the top exporter this year.

China went on a corn buying spree in March, with purchases of almost 4 million tons announced by the US government between March 14 and April 14. But US corn is now less competitive, with supplies from Brazil about $30 a ton cheaper for delivery in the third quarter, traders said. Weak domestic demand for corn as animal feed is also a reason behind the cancellations.

Demand for corn is really poor, said Wang Xiaoyang, a senior analyst with Sinolink Futures in Henan, one of the top grain-growing provinces. Feed producers are using a lot of wheat to replace corn as prices keep falling.

Wheat prices are about 180 yuan ($26) a ton cheaper than corn in Henan, and they may decline further as a bumper harvest is about to arrive on the market. Wheat also has a higher protein content than corn, and can also be used to replace some of the soybean meal used in feed.

Struggling hog farmers are doing all they can to cut feed costs, so replacing corn with wheat is a natural choice, traders and analysts said. The economy is also taking longer than expected to recover from Covid, which is affecting restaurant demand for food and consumption of corn for starch.

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The countrys corn imports hit a record of over 28 million tons in 2021, before dropping to about 21 million tons last year, according to customs. Inbound shipments were 7.5 million tons in the first three months, up 6% from a year earlier, with most of the cargoes coming from the US, Brazil and Ukraine.

The cancellations come as China expects a bumper corn crop. Farmers in the northeast, the top production region for corn and soybeans, are more inclined to grow corn this year due to higher profits and easier management, CITIC Futures said, despite a government push to grow more soybeans.

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It may sound unbelievable that the Visva-Bharati University has filed as many as 72 cases against its teachers, employees and students in the past four years. And to meet the legal expenses, the university authorities spent around Rs 40 lakh, sources informed.

All the cases were filed after Professor Bidyut Chakraborty took over as the vice-chancellor. This has happened at a time when the varsity has received the heritage tag from UNESCO. While responding to an RTI filed by Pijush Kanti Ghosh, a resident of Simanta Pally, Santiniketan, the legal cell of the university furnished details of the court cases.

Visva-Bharati authorities have deducted a days salary from the professors, officers and employees for Amphan relief. Challenging the decision of the university authorities, Sudipta Bhattacharya and others moved the Calcutta High Court.

The high court in its order, said, Unilateral deduction of salary or any portion thereof, from an employee, without any authority of law, without taking his consent, cannot be termed as donation.

The same amounts to illegal deduction. The VB has suspended three students for nine months followed by rustication. The students went ahead with the agitation in 2021.

The VB authorities did not sit with the students and went to the high court to lift the agitation. The HC in its final order, on 15 September, 2021 observed: This Court is compelled to observe that the vice-chancellor and management should take a more convivial, accessible and inclusive approach in dealing with the affairs of the University particularly teachers, professors, staff as well as the students.

Unnecessary confrontation should be avoided. It is expected that the Vice Chancellor would follow the above with letter and spirit. Shrabanti Ganguli, a temporary staff of the university was sacked without any proof.

The high court in 2020, said, The Court directed the respondents to reinstate the petitioner in service with 50% back wages within two weeks from the date of communication of the order. Additionally, the University will pay the litigation charges worth Rs 20,000.

The promotion of Atanu Sasmal, associate professor was denied. He moved court which on 9 September, 2022, observed: The impugned selection proceeding is set aside.

The university will recalculate the salary and other dues of the petitioner treating him to be promoted as professor on the basis of the interview held on 16 March, 2019 and release the same accordingly together with the arrears within two months from the date of communication of this order.

Some past pupils of the university, known as ashramites, maintained that no attempt has been made to revive the academic standard of the University which is going down. When contacted, officials of the legal cell refused to talk.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday exhorted Japanese investors to invest in India, while highlighting the countrys digital public infrastructure revolution and its impact in the areas of health, education, financial inclusion and agriculture.

She said that enhancement in Indias digital infrastructure has helped in reducing pilferage significantly and inducing transparency and accountability.

Sitharaman further apprised investors and business leaders of Indias specific focus on Artificial Intelligence with proposed Centres of Excellence which will benefit not just the present but the future generations as well.

She said this during an interaction with investors and business leaders during an event on Rising Investment Opportunities: Destination India, organised in collaboration with the Japan Chamber of Commerce & Industry (JCCI) and the Indian embassy in Tokyo.

Earlier, the Finance Minister had arrived in Japan on a two-day official visit.

Sitharaman informed the gathering that the Indian government is focussing on skilling people in the fast-developing area of Artificial Intelligence so that the young population can use it towards innovative solutions for all.

She shared the progress made by India in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic and elucidated the various steps and systemic reforms undertaken by the government during and before the pandemic that laid the foundation for Indias strong and sustained recovery.

Referring to Indias commitment to greening of economy and the goals under Nationally Determined Contributions NDCs, especially in renewable energy, Sitharaman said that India already achieved, with its own funds, 175 GW of solar energy and now aims to achieve 300 GW by 2030.
Expressing dismay over the slow progress of investigation by the state police into the alleged rape and murder of a minor girl at Kaliaganj in North Dinajpur district, the Calcutta High Court today constituted a three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT), which includes two retired officers, to probe the matter.

The SIT formed by Justice Rajasekhar Mantha comprises Special Commissioner of Kolkata Police Damayanti Sen, retired IG Pankaj Dutta, and retired Joint Director of the CBI Upen Biswas.

The probe by the SIT will be under the direct supervision of the high court. While ordering the formation of the SIT, Justice Mantha observed that since the current investigating team is under tremendous pressure, the matter is being handed over to the SIT.

At the same time, Justice Mantha also enforced an embargo on the three members of the SIT not to discuss anything related to the case in the public domain.

While passing the order, Justice Mantha also authorised the SIT to arrange for a second autopsy of the victim if the members of the team deem that to be necessary.

He also directed the state police to hand over all the documents related to the case, including the case diary, to the SIT at the earliest. The police have also been directed to present its preliminary investigation report in the matter before the next date of hearing. Justice Mantha also directed the police to make security arrangements for the family members of the victim, a minor girl.

To recall, on 21 April, parts of Kaliaganj turned into virtual battlefields following violent protests by the local people against the alleged rape and murder of the minor girl.

The class-XII girl of Gangua village was found dead near pond in the nearby Palaibari village on 21 April. Claiming that the girl was kidnapped, raped and murdered by a youth from a nearby village, locals and family members had put up a protest, while the same escalated later when police were seen dragging the body of the girl from the spot. Later, the protesters, demanding CBI inquiry into the death, also torched offices at the Kaliyaganj Police Station. Four ASIs were suspended in connection with the minor girls death case, who were seen dragging the body of the teenage victim.

The family of the deceased girl had filed a case in the High court and sought CBI investigations. The family has also buried the body instead of cremating it, hoping for a re-postmortem and further investigations.

The family members and locals claimed that the girl was killed after raping. The family members demanded CBI investigations. We had received reports that the police had been hiding the truth. We were not satisfied with the post-mortem report too. As such we had also sought CBI investigations. The High Court today constituted the SIT. This proves that people have no faith in the police of the state, BJP MP of Raiganj Debasree Chaudhuri said.

The mother of the deceased, on the other hand, said, We came to know that police had been trying to hide the truth. As such we had sought CBI investigations. We hope that the SIT will provide us real justice.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that the governments approach of hundred per cent saturation in covering beneficiaries under welfare schemes, irrespective of religion or caste, ensured true secularism and exclusion of all corruption and discrimination.

Narendra Modi was addressing a gathering after launching projects worth around Rs 4,400 crore in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. The projects were for urban development, water supply, road and transport department and mines and minerals departments.

He said social justice takes place when there is work for the benefit and good of all, and the rights of hundred per cent people are ensured. When basic necessities of the poor are met, they are content and their confidence goes up.

The prime minister said about 40,000 poor families had today acquired pucca houses and he found their confidence had gone up when he interacted with them. He expressed satisfaction at the pace of development in Gujarat under the government formed after the recent election.

Mentioning the recent pro-poor Gujarat Budget of Rs 3 lakh crore, he said benefits to people under various initiatives of the State Government showed the double engine government of Gujarat is working with double speed.

He said that people have been experiencing unprecedented development in the last nine years. There was a time when even basic facilities were rare for the citizens, he said. The country is coming out of that despondency, he said. Nation building for him is an ongoing Maha Yagna, he said.

Highlighting the differences between the work culture of the present government and governments of the past, he said The country cannot transform its fate and become a developed nation by moving forward on the path of failed policies.

The prime minister said roughly 75 per cent of homes in rural areas lacked the facility of a toilet 10 years back, even though policies were already in place. After 2014, the Prime Minister said, the government did not limit itself to only providing a roof for the poor but turned the homes into a basis for tackling poverty and a medium for strengthening their dignity.

Under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), the beneficiaries have a say in the construction of houses where the government transfers the financial aid directly into their bank accounts, the Prime Minister said as he touched upon the geo-tagging of such houses.

The Prime Minister said that the houses being constructed under the PMAY are a package of many schemes. A house has a toilet under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, electricity connection under Saubhagya scheme, free LPG connection under Ujjwala scheme, piped water under JJM, he said. He said apart from these things, free medical treatment and free ration are also working as a security shield for the poor.

The prime minister touched on women empowerment and said about four crore houses have been handed over to poor families and 70 per cent of which are registered in the name of the women.

The prime minister said that the government is working keeping in mind the challenges of the future and the growing urbanization in the country. He mentioned that more than a thousand houses in Rajkot have been constructed using modern technology thereby consuming less time and money, and are equally safe.

He said that the experiment under the Light House Project has been carried out in six cities of the country where technology has helped in building cheaper and modern houses. He also assured that such houses are going to be available to the poor in the coming times.

The prime minister elaborated on the steps to remove bad practices and cheating in the real estate sector that had caused a lot of hardships for poor and middle-class families. The RERA Act has provided legal security to middle-class families for getting the promised facilities when purchasing a house, he said.

He said there was an unprecedented budget subsidy for housing loans for middle-class families. In Gujarat, five lakh families got assistance worth Rs 11,000 crore. The Prime Minister said in the 25 years of Amrit Kaal specially tier-2 and tier-3 cities will give pace to the economy. Today, we are giving equal emphasis on Ease of Living and Quality of Life in urban planning, the prime minister said.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will now demand a CBI probe into the missing names in the voters list in Uttar Pradesh.

AAP spokesperson Vaibhav Maheshwari said that after the second phase of polling in the municipal elections, it had been found that lakhs of names were missing from the voters list.

Initially we had decided to lodge a complaint with the Election Commission but now it seems that only a CBI inquiry will unearth the truth behind the missing names, he said.

He alleged that the administration and the election commission had danced to the tunes of BJP during the election and lakhs of voters had been denied their right to vote.

We have received hundreds of complaints that names were missing from the voters list. If only a small percentage of voters are actually able to cast their votes, what is the point of such an election and are the elected members really representatives of the people, Maheshwari asked.

Maheshwari said they would raise the issue of list revisions in each election and how it had become a tool to deprive voters of their rights.

The party will raise the issue of its own mayor candidate from Lucknow being denied the right to vote after her name was initially missing from the voters list.
The Supreme Court on Friday listed to hear on May 15 (Monday) the Securities and Exchange Board of Indias (SEBI) plea seeking to extend the time to conclude the investigation in the report by US short-seller Hindenburg Research by a period of six months.

The bench, led by the Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chadrachud, and also comprising Justices PS Narsimha and JB Pardiwala, adjourned the matter till May 15. Meanwhile, the court orally remarked that they will extend the time for the probe to SEBI, but not for six months and they can extend the time for the probe by three months.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta insisted on an extension, citing the involvement of bank statements from multiple domestic and international banks.

SEBI application seeking an extension of time has been opposed by the petitioner, Vishal Tiwari.

In an application moved before the Supreme Court, SEBI submitted that keeping in view the forgoing circumstances, it would take further time to arrive at verified findings and conclude the investigation.

SEBI, in the application, also submitted that for ascertaining possible violations, it would take at least 15 months for completion of the investigation of these transactions, but is making all reasonable endeavours to conclude the same within six months.

On March 2, the apex court directed the capital market regulator SEBI to investigate any violations of securities law by the Adani Group in the wake of the Hindenburg report, which led to a massive wipeout of more than USD140 billion of the Adani Groups market value.

Supreme Court, on March 2, set up an expert committee on the issue arising from the Hindenburg Research report on Adani Group companies. The committee will consist of six members, headed by former apex court judge Justice AM Sapre.

The top court had then asked SEBI to file a status report within two months.

The apex court was then hearing petitions pertaining to the Hindenburg report, including on the constitution of a committee relating to regulatory mechanisms to protect investors interests.

There was a loss of investors wealth in the securities market after the Hindenburg report because of a steep decline in the share price of the Adani Group of companies.

The January 24 Hindenburg report alleged stock manipulation and fraud by the conglomerate.

The Adani Group has attacked Hindenburg as an unethical short seller, stating that the report by the New York-based entity was nothing but a lie. A short-seller in the securities market books gains from the subsequent reduction in the prices of shares. (ANI)
In a significant verdict on the Kashi Vishwanath-Gyanvapi mosque controversy, the Allahabad High Court on Friday issued an order to conduct a scientific survey of the alleged Shivling found from the mosque area.

The high court has ordered the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to conduct a scientific survey. Scientific survey will have to be done without harming the object, the court directed.

With this verdict, the high court changed the decision of the District Judge of Varanasi, who had rejected the demand of the Hindu side for carbon dating of the Shivling.

A single-judge bench of Justice Arvind Kumar Mishra, hearing the case, said that the ASI will go for a scientific survey and it will have to be ascertained that how old is the alleged Shivling recovered from the mosque.

The ASI will have to ascertain whether it is really Shivling or something else.

The decision of the high court came on the petition filed for the demand of getting the scientific survey of the alleged Shivling done through carbon dating. The petition was filed on behalf of the women of the Hindu side challenging the order of the District Judge of Varanasi.

In the matter, the Archaeological Survey of India had submitted its report yesterday in a sealed cover.

In May last year, during the proceedings of the court commission, the Shivling was recovered from the mosques washing area. However Muslim side claims that it is a fountain.
The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Friday set aside an order of the state government imposing curbs on public meetings on roads in the state.

Hearing a batch of petitions filed by the leaders of various opposition parties, the High Court struck down the order. It observed that the government order may be detrimental to fundamental rights.

A division bench of Chief Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and Justice DVS Somayajulu, which had reserved the orders on January 24, pronounced the same on Friday.

The Government Order (GO) number one was issued on January 2, 2023 banning public meetings on roads and roadsides, citing public safety.

CPI state secretary Ramakrishna had filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) challenging the GO. He alleged that the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) government issued the GO to muzzle the voice of the opposition. He argued that such types of restrictions were not imposed even during British rule.

The High Court on January 12 had issued an interim order suspending the GO till January 23. It observed that the GO is prima facie in violation of Section 30 of the Police Act.

The state government, however, had moved the Supreme Court challenging the stay order passed by the vacation bench. It argued that the vacation bench cannot take up PIL for hearing.

The government clarified that the GO does not prohibit any public gathering but only regulates such meetings by making prior permission mandatory keeping in view the recent stampede incidents.

On April 24, the Supreme Court directed the division bench of Andhra Pradesh High Court to expedite the hearing related to GO. Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud had suggested that the High Court deliver the final verdict at the earliest.

Former minister and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) politburo member Kollu Ravindra, Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee president G. Veera Venkata Rudraraju, former minister Kanna Lakshminarayana, AISF general secretary Shiva Reddy, AIYF state president Rajendra Babu and others had also filed petitions in the High Court challenging the GO.

The GO was issued in the wake of a stampede during a roadshow by TDP president and former chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu at Kandukur in Nellore district on December 28, 2022. Eight people including two women had died in the incident.

The directions were issued under the Police Act, 1861, which regulates conduct of Assembly and processions on public roads and public streets.

The government asked the respective authorities under Section 30 of the Police Act, 1861, while considering any application for conduct of public meetings on public roads and streets, bear in mind the possibility of recurrence of the Kandukur incident.

The authorities were told that it is ideal not to give permission for meetings on state and national highways.
KPCC president K Sudhakaran on Friday said the fact that the casualty duty doctor of Kottarakkara Taluk Hospital, who suffered serious stab wounds, had to be taken to a private hospital 70 km away for emergency treatment shows the pathetic condition of government hospitals in Kerala.

If this is what happens to a duty doctor, how terrible could the condition of common people be in the state, Sudhakaran asked.

The lives of the doctors and other health workers working day and night in the casualties, which do not have sufficient medical facilities in the state, are at grave risk.

Coming down heavily on the inadequacies at the government hospitals in the state, the Kerala Congress chief said that instead of crying by using glycerine, the health minister should admit her fault, apologise to the people and the family of the doctor who was killed while performing duty. He also demanded the resignation of health minister Veena George taking moral responsibility for the death of the young doctor.

A 22-year-old woman doctor was stabbed to death by a police detainee who was brought for medical treatment by the police at the Government Taluk hospital Kottarakkara in Keralas Kollam district on Wednesday early morning.

In this situation when the Health Department is rotten the chief minister cannot open his mouth and say a single word. The only word that came out of the mouth of the chief minister is that it is only an isolated incident, Sudhakaran said.

Slamming the police, Sudhakaran said they (the police) have prepared an FIR covering up the serious lapses of the police in Vandanas murder. If the statements of the eyewitnesses had not come out in this incident, the police would have gone ahead with the false story, he said.
A day after the Supreme Court held that the Delhi government will have the power to control its officers, the AAP government has moved the apex court complaining that the Centre isnt initiating the transfer of services secretary ordered by it.

The Kejriwal government removed the Secretary of the Delhi governments Services department on Thursday evening.

Senior advocate A.M. Singhvi, representing the Delhi government, mentioned the matter before a bench headed by the Chief Justice of India. Singhvi submitted that a bench needs to hear this matter. The Chief Justice said he will consider it listing next week.

On Thursday, a five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said: The ideal conclusion would be that GNCTD (Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi) ought to have control over services, subject to exclusion of subjects which are out of its legislative domain. If services are excluded from its legislative and executive domain, the ministers and the executive, who are charged with formulating policies in the territory of NCTD, would be excluded from controlling the civil service officers who implement such executive decisions.

The Supreme Court ruled that it is ideal to hold that a democratically elected Delhi government should have control over its officers and the lieutenant governor (L-G) is bound by the advice of the elected government in everything other than public order, police, and land. The top court stressed that if the government is not able to control and hold to account the officers posted in its service, then its responsibility towards the legislature as well as the public is diluted.

The bench  also comprising Justices M.R. Shah, Krishna Murari, Hima Kohli, and P.S. Narasimha  observed that in a democratic form of government, the real power of administration must reside in the elected arm of the state, subject to the confines of the Constitution.

The top court had stressed that an unaccountable and a non-responsive civil service may pose a serious problem of governance in a democracy. It creates a possibility that the permanent executive, consisting of unelected civil service officers, who play a decisive role in the implementation of government policy, may act in ways that disregard the will of the electorate, it added.
A man holds a sign during a rally in support of Amazon workers' on strike, outside the Amazon warehouse, in Coventry, Britain, January 25, 2023 - HENRY NICHOLLS/REUTERS

A 14bn asset manager that invests Church of England funds has called on Amazon to recognise the union rights of its warehouse workers as the tech giant braces for a series of shareholder rebellions.

CCLA Investment Management, which supervises billions of pounds for Church of England parishes, dioceses and charities, is backing a shareholder motion demanding Amazon conduct a third-party audit into allegations of union busting.

It came as the GMB union claimed it had reached the legal threshold for mandatory recognition at Amazons Coventry warehouse.

GMB said it had gathered the support of 700 members at the fulfilment centre, over the 51pc needed to secure official recognition.

However, union officials claimed Amazon was threatening to flood the warehouse with up to 1,000 new staff in a bid to dodge their legal obligations.

The Telegraph understands CCLA wrote to Amazon on Friday urging it to recognise the Coventry union and demonstrate its commitment to collective bargaining rights.

ISS, the shareholder advisory group, has urged investors to back the proposal.

The proxy voting body has also pushed shareholders to rebel against Amazons board and vote in favour of proposals asking for reports on the companys climate change impact, workplace safety and plastic waste. It also asked investors to vote against an advisory motion on directors pay.

Amazon has been dogged by strike action in the UK this year as warehouse workers protest over low pay.

Ahead of its upcoming annual general meeting, Amazon has been hit with a record number of shareholder protests over workers rights, its environmental record and corporate governance.

CCLAs proposal demands that Amazon conduct an independent, third-party assessment of whether it is complying with union rules and the human right to freedom of association.

The shareholder group invests funds on behalf of the Church of England, as well as other Christian denominations, secular charities and local authorities.

Story continues

The investor, which has gained the backing of shareholders who own $660m (527m) of Amazon stock, warned that the company's current approach may expose Amazon to material risks and threaten long-term shareholder value.

Union organizer Christian Smalls (C) celebrates as he speaks following the April 1, 2022, vote for the unionization of the Amazon Staten Island warehouse in New York. - Amazon workers in New York voted Friday to establish the first US union at the e-commerce giant, a milestone for a company that has steadfastly opposed organized labor in its massive workforce. Employees at the Staten Island JFK8 warehouse voted 2,654 to 2,131 in support of the unionizing drive, according to a tally of ballots from the National Labor Relations Board. (Photo by Andrea RENAULT / AFP) (Photo by ANDREA RENAULT/AFP via Getty Images) - ANDREA RENAULT/AFP

The motion, coordinated by shareholder advocacy group SHARE, also has the support of the Third Swedish National Pension fund and $200bn asset manager British Columbia.

In a proxy filing published last month in support of the motion, the shareholders said: Numerous reports indicate that Amazons conduct towards employees seeking unionisation appears to contradict its own human rights commitments.

Amazons board has urged shareholders to vote against the motion, arguing it already respects union rights and has produced a report into its union relations.

The companys response said: We respect the rights of our employees to form, join, or not to join a labor union or other lawful organisation of their own selection, without fear of reprisal, intimidation, or harassment, and our policies and practices protect these rights.

On Friday, Amazon UK workers with the GMB union submitted a formal bid to the Central Arbitration Committee, asking it to force Amazon to recognise their organisation. Last year, Amazon was forced to recognise a workers union in the US for the first time.

Amanda Gearing, a GMB organiser, accused Amazon of threatening to introduce hundreds of new staff that could undermine the unions mandate. She said: They are running scared.

In response to the claims, Amazon said there were currently no open roles at its Coventry centre.

Staff in Coventry have been demanding Amazon boost their pay to 15 per hour amid the cost of living crisis. The tech giant currently offers staff between 11 and 12 per hour, depending on location. It insists its recent pay increases mean wages have gone up 10pc in the last seven months.

In response to the GMB, Amazon said: We offer competitive pay, comprehensive benefits, opportunities for career growth, all while working in a safe, modern work environment. At Amazon, these benefits and opportunities come with the job, as does the ability to communicate directly with the leadership of the company.

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In a snub to Pakistan for protesting against holding of the G20 meeting in Kashmir, a major facelift is being given to Srinagar to showcase the stunning natural beauty and rich cultural heritage to representatives of the member countries.

The three-day meeting of the tourism working group of G20 from 22 to 24 May is the first major international event in the Kashmir Valley after abrogation of Article 370 that has led to complete integration of J&K with the rest of the country.

Although Pakistan is not a member of G20, it has made attempts to scuttle the meeting in Srinagar and Ladakh. Turkey, Saudi Arabia and China, considered friendly to Pakistan, are among the countries that are expected to participate in the meeting.

The meeting will be held in the Sher-i-Kashmir International Conference Centre (SKICC) on the banks of the famous Dal Lake in Srinagar. The waterbody has been dominated by the Indian Navys MARCOS. The NSG and various other central and UT security agencies have been deployed to make the event incident-free.

About 50 delegates, who are expected to participate in the G-20 meeting, will be taken on a tour of the beautiful tourist places of Kashmir along with Dal Lake. They might also be taken to Gulmarg.

Those in Kashmir connected with tourism, culture and handicrafts are excited as the G20 meeting under Indias presidency provides them a unique opportunity to showcase the rich cultural and natural wealth of the valley.

Lt. Governor Manoj Sinha and his team of officers are busy round the clock monitoring the large-scale facelift works in Srinagar and also making fool-proof security arrangements. The smart city project for makeover of the Lal Chowk area is almost complete and the heritage Polo View market, which has many prestigious carpet and handicraft establishments, has already been decked up. The Dal Lake and the boulevard, around which the G20 members will meet, has been given a fresh look.

Important structures and monuments have been decorated with lights, roads have been blacktopped and repair works are underway in Srinagar.

Home Minister Amit Shah is leaving nothing to chance as far as security during the event is concerned. In a recent meeting, Shah discussed the area domination and zero-terror plans with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Jammu & Kashmir LG Manoj Sinha and other senior officers including the Home Secretary, Director (IB), RAW Chief and J&K DGP.

The meeting assumes significance in the wake of Pakistan trying to step up terrorist activities in J&K during the meet.

Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla and Director of Intelligence Bureau Tapan Deka visited Kashmir on Tuesday to review the security preparation for the prestigious meet.

The high-level delegation took stock of the security preparation for the G20 meeting for which international delegates will be in the Valley. Security of the G20 meeting is a top priority for the government for which all possible steps are being taken, sources said.

Bhalla and Deka met top functionaries of the Jammu and Kashmir administration, police, Army and other security agencies and reviewed the security arrangements.

Ahead of the G20 meeting, the Northern Command of the Army held drills against any possible chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear attack.

Security has also been tightened in the Jammu division where the Northern Army Commander Lt. General Upendra Dwivedi, DGP Dilbag Singh and ADGP Mukesh Singh are monitoring the security scenario. Army schools have been shut at ten places.

Multi-tier security by Army, Border Security Force, police, SSB and Central Reserve Police Force besides Village Defence Committees has been activated along the International Border (IB) and the Line of Control (LoC). Security checkpoints have also been established.
India on Friday declared its firm commitment to continue to share its best practices and build capacities with other countries in the agriculture sector, bilaterally as well as in collaboration with international organisations, so that they too become self-reliant and food secure nations.

The welfare of the farmers and overall development of the agriculture sector has been the top priority of the Government of India, Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said.

He was chairing the eighth meeting of agriculture ministers of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member countries held through video conferencing. Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, China and Pakistan participated in it.

The SCO countries adopted the Smart Agriculture project. Expressing satisfaction over the smart agriculture action plan and the initiative of innovation in agriculture, Tomar said that Prime Minister Narendra Modis emphasis was on the overall development of agriculture in the country through technology. In this direction, India has taken several concrete steps to promote smart agriculture.

The Indian minister said that over the years, India has performed well in the agriculture sector, contributing to global food security with food grain production, registering a significant growth in exports, and exports of agricultural and allied products have crossed Rs four lakh crore.

Tomar said that Indias public distribution system and price support system for farmers was unique in the world. It is the good result of the foresight of our policy-makers, efficiency of agricultural scientists and tireless hard work of farmers that today India was self-sufficient in food grains. India was a leading producer of many commodities like cereals, fruits, vegetables, milk, eggs, and fish.

He said the rich agricultural research has played an important role in solving the issue of food security, improving the income of farmers and agriculture workers and also for the sustenance of the people. Efforts were being made by the Government of India to make the country self-reliant in the agriculture sector with concerted efforts in innovation, digital agriculture, climate-smart technologies, development of high-yielding, biofortified varieties, and agricultural research. Efforts were also being made to improve the life and livelihood of the farmers by making their agriculture sustainable and friendly.
Considering the antiquity of the existing Prisons Act, 1894, the Ministry of Home Aairs (MHA) has nalised a comprehensive Model Prisons Act, 2023 which provides for use of technology like video conferencing, and can serve as a guiding document for States for adoption in their jurisdiction.

The Model Act provides for punishment for prisoners and jail sta for use of prohibited items like mobile phones in jails.

The present Prisons Act, 1894 is a pre-Independence era Act and is almost 130 years old. The Act mainly focuses on keeping criminals in custody and enforcement of discipline and order in prisons. There is no provision for reform and rehabilitation of prisoners in the existing Act.

The model Act has been prepared by MHA on the basis of a draft prepared by the Bureau of Police Research and Development which held wide-ranging discussions with State prison authorities and correctional experts.

Along with The Prisons Act, 1894, The Prisoners Act, 1900 and The Transfer of Prisoners Act, 1950 have also been reviewed by the Ministry of Home Aairs and relevant provisions of these Acts have been assimilated in the Model Prisons Act, 2023.

The state governments and Union territory administrations can benet from the Model Prisons Act, 2023 by adopting it in their jurisdictions, with such modications which they may consider necessary, and repeal the existing three Acts in their jurisdictions.

The Model Prisons Act has provision for use of technology in prison administration with a view to bring transparency in prison administration. There are provisions for video conferencing with courts, scientic and technological interventions in prisons.

The model Act provides for security assessment and segregation of prisoners, individual sentence planning; grievance redressal, prison development board, attitudinal change towards prisoners; and separate accommodation for women prisoners and transgenders.

The Act has provisions regarding establishment and management of high security jail, open jail (open and semi open), protecting the society from the criminal activities of hardened criminals and habitual offenders and for legal aid to prisoners, provision of parole, furlough and premature release to incentivise good conduct. There is focus on vocational training and skill development of prisoners and their reintegration into the society.

MHA took note that an altogether new perspective had evolved about prisons and prison inmates, globally. Prisons today are not looked as places of retributive deterrence but are considered as reformative and correctional institutions where the prisoners are transformed and rehabilitated back into society as law abiding citizens.

As per the provisions of the Constitution of India, prisons and persons detained therein is a State subject. The responsibility of prison management and prisoners administration solely vests with State Governments who alone are competent to make appropriate legislative provisions in this regard.

However, given the critical role that ecient prison management plays in the criminal justice system, the Government of India attaches high degree of importance to supporting the States/UTs in this regard.

Over the past few years, the Ministry of Home Aairs (MHA) noted that there are several lacunae in the existing Prisons Act, which regulates the prison administration in the States and Union territories, with the exception of few States which have enacted new Prisons Acts.

Besides the conspicuous omission of the correctional focus in the existing Act, a need was felt to revise and upgrade the Act in tune with modern day needs and requirements of prison management.
The focus of the terror groups in J&K has shifted from terror-infested Kashmir to the areas of Poonch and Rajouri falling in the Jammu district. Out of seven major terror attacks in the past couple of years, five attacks have taken place in the Jammu area  two in Poonch, one in Sunjawan, and one each in Nagrota, and Rajouri.



Those in the know say It is a sign of desperation. The military and police both have largely been able to curb the terror activities in the Valley and now the terrorists have started focusing on the Jammu region. However, this is a shortsighted exercise on their part and will not pay off, said retired DGP of Jammu and Kashmir K Rajendra.



Endorsing his point of view is Major General (retd) DS Rana who has served in the Valley. Kashmir Valley is choc-abloc with security personnel. Also, it is under the direct control of the Centre. As a result, the terrorist group has started focusing on areas south of Pir Panjal which happens to be Jammu and the surrounding areas. Aiding the terrorists with some ease is the increased use of drones for the supply of weapons which has to be addressed. But yes, their focus is the bordering areas of Jammu because the governments focus has mostly been the Valley.



While in Punjab the BSF is able to intercept the drones from across the border with success, in the hills of Jammu, the same is not possible due to irregular topography. On 30 November 2016, seven soldiers were killed when terrorists entered a military camp in Nagrota which is part of Jammu division. Similarly, on 10 February 2018, Sunjuwan Army Camp again in Jammu district was attacked in which six soldiers and a civilian were killed.



After this, there was a lull till the Pulwama suicide bomber attack took the lives of 40 CRPF soldiers. In more recent times, first, the Poonch attack took place on 20 April this year in which five soldiers were killed.



On 5 May the Indian army soldiers cordoned off the area in the vicinity of the interconnected caves in the Kandi forests where terrorists behind the Poonch attack were believed to be hiding.

However, when the soldiers closed in on them, the terrorists exploded an IED and followed it up with indiscriminate firing which killed two soldiers on the spot. The total number of soldiers lost in this particular incident is five.



A retired army general, unwilling to be named, said that a convoy or a single moving (military) vehicle is a soft target and easiest to be targeted. And the attack on April 20 happened precisely due to that. Between the year 2021 and now, the security forces have lost about two-and-a-half dozen soldiers in various militant strikes in this region. At the same time, the casualties in Kashmir have drastically come down compared to before Article 370 was repealed.



Sources say, there are sleeper cells on the entire 225-km long border of Poonch and Rajouri, and that is why the terrorists find themselves facilitated in carrying out terrorist activities in the area.



DGP Jammu and Kashmir Dilbagh Singh said: That support is being provided to the terrorists from across the border. Their modus operandi was to attack the army truck where there was a road bend and the speed of the vehicle was zero.
The Speaker of Odisha Legislative Assembly and two ministers tendered their resignation from their posts on Friday, sparking speculation of a minor reshuffle in the Naveen Patnaik-led Cabinet in the State.

The Speaker Bikram Keshari Arukha, five-time MLA from Chief Minister Naveen Patnaiks home district of Ganjam, cited personal reasons for resigning from the post.

Besides Arukha, Labour Minister Srikant Sahu and School and Mass Education Minister Samir Ranjan Das also quit from their posts on Friday.

I have sent my resignation letter to the Deputy Speaker. I have discharged my duties as Speaker in an unbiased manner with honesty and sincerity. I will continue to serve the people with conviction and commitment, Speaker Arukha said after resigning from the post.

Labour Minister Sahu said I have tendered resignation from the post to devote more time to the partys organizational activities.

Mass Education Minister Samir Ranjan Das was not available for comment.
The Orissa High Court has asked the states director general of police (DGP) to furnish a report on the meager food allowance provided to those lodged in the lockup at police stations.

The state Police Department has fixed a budget of Rs 20/30 for lunch and dinner of persons lodged in lockup at police stations. Those detained in the lockup as suspects are entitled to Rs 20 as food allowance, while it stands at Rs 30 for the arrested person lodged in the police lockup.

A public interest litigation (PIL) filed in the high court had sought revision of the allowance to substantial sum given the steep price rise almost on a daily basis. Its a humanitarian issue. The police officers are forced to divert funds from other heads to feed the detainees or else the persons lodged in the lockup will starve, it said, adding that the detainees are also dependent on relatives to provide them food.
More than 50 per cent of projects announced during the Invest Rajasthan Summit have already been implemented. Of a total of 2,091 projects, 1074 are already implemented while 1017 others are currently at the implementation stage.

This was revealed at a review meeting of Industry and Commerce held here at Udyog Bhawan on Thursday. During the meeting chaired by Additional Chief Secretary Veenu Gupta, a total of 4,195 cases were reviewed.

Its essential for us to provide a supportive environment to industrialists to flourish in Rajasthan. Were working hard to further ease the process of establishing enterprises in the state and offer a hassle-free experience to investors, Gupta said.

She emphasised the importance of establishing enterprises for the all-round development of the state.

Veena Gupta urged officials to help industries if they face any difficulty in accessing information related to setting up their enterprise or obtaining NOCs from various departments. She also instructed them to remain in touch with the investors and provide them with all necessary help including immediate redressal of investment-related issues.

Shiv Prasad Nakate, MD, RIICO, Om Kasera, Commissioner, BIP, Mahendra Kumar Parakh, Commissioner Industries and Commerce; and other senior officials were present in the meeting.
On the visit to his home state Gujarat on Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated and laid the foundation stone for projects worth over Rs 2,450 crore relating to water supplies, roads, urban development and mines.

The prime minister also participated in the Gruh Pravesh (house warming) ceremony of 19,000 beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) by handing over the keys of their houses, worth Rs 1,950 crore.

Addressing a gathering on the occasion, Modi said that his government has made housing a strong base for war against poverty and a tool for empowerment and dignity of the poor.

He added that the government is eliminating inequality, reaching every poor and ensuring 100 per cent saturation. We must understand that a home is more than just a shelter. It is a place of faith where dreams are realized and new possibilities are born, the prime minister said.

He said around four crore homes have been provided to the poor during the last nine years. Nearly 70 per cent of these homes are in the names of women, turning the mothers and daughters into Lakhpati Didi, he added.

The prime minister also participated in the 29th Biennial Conference of the All India Primary Teachers Federation and walked through the exhibition with the theme Teachers are at the Heart of Transforming Education.

Speaking on the occasion, he highlighted the huge contribution of all teachers at a time when India is moving forward with the resolve of Viksit Bharat in the Amrit Kaal. The prime minister said his experience with teachers of Gujarat helped him at the national level and also for creating a policy framework.

He cited the example of constructing toilets in schools for girls in mission mode and talked about starting science education in tribal areas.

School dropout rate in Gujarat was about 40 per cent, and now it is less than three per cent, the Prime Minister pointed out and attributed the feat to the teachers.

He said many world leaders have high regards for Indian teachers and recounted how the Kings of Bhutan and Saudi Arabia and the Director General of WHO had talked highly of their Indian teachers.
Delhis former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Friday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should follow the Constitution. He was responding to the questions of media in Rouse Avenue on the Supreme Court judgement on the power of the Delhi Government.

The Rouse Avenue Court on Friday extended the judicial custody of Manis Sisodia till June 2. The court has also kept the CBI charge sheet for consideration on the next date. The court has also extended the judicial custody of Amdandeep Dhall. The Delhi High court on Thursday reserved the order on the bail plea of Manish Sisodia in the CBI case.

Manish Sisodia was produced before special CBI Judge MK Nagpal in Liquor policy Sisodia was allowed to have a meeting with his counsel Irshad Khan.

After the hearing, he responded to the questions of media and said the constitution was insulted. PM Modi should follow the Constitution.

On the last date, Special Judge MK Nagpal while extending the Judicial Custody also directed CBI to supply an e-copy of the supplementary chargesheet filed by it on April 25, 2023, in the light of the Supreme Court passed by it yesterday.

Advocate Rishikesh appeared for Manish Sisodia had argued that on grounds of an incomplete chargesheet/incomplete investigation, we have a right to statutory/default bail, as per SC order. Prima facie it seems the agency is saying that further investigation regarding me is required/pending. Therefore, we reserve the right to file an application for statutory bail.

Court had asked the CBI why they have not mentioned that investigation qua Sisodia has been completed. You say you have filed a supplementary chargesheet (in the stipulated time), but you have said the investigation is pending in the case. Why have you not mentioned that the chargesheet is filed on completion of the investigation against Sisodia?

Court had said, Sisodias counsels submission noted that a copy of the chargesheet is required by them to see whether the investigation of Sisodia is complete. The court states that though this is not the stage to supply a copy of the chargesheet, an e-copy of the same is directed to be submitted to him.

Court further noted that the bail hearing in the CBI case is going on in Delhi HC, and aspects from this could be used in order to press for bail before High Court.

Court further added that Sisodias right to argue default bail was reserved. He can argue the same before Delhi HC. In order to argue default bail in HC, Sisodias counsels sought supply of copy of chargesheet.

Court has allowed a copy of the chargesheet to be supplied by CBI to Sisodia.

Sisodia was produced physically before the Court on Monday from Tihar, after the end of his Judicial custody period.

Earlier, Special Judge MK Nagpal had denied bail to Manish Sisodia the allegations made against Manish Sisodia are serious in nature and at this stage of the case, he does not deserve to be released on bail as he has been arrested in this case only on 26.02.2023 and investigation even qua his role has still not been completed, what to say about some other co-accused involved in the case whose roles are also yet being investigated.

Further, the applicant/Manish Sisodia does not even satisfy the triple test keeping in view his conduct as reflected from the destruction or non-production of his previous mobile phones of the relevant period and also the apparent role played by him in not producing or missing of the file of one Cabinet Note put up through the then Excise Commissioner Rahul Singh, there may be serious apprehensions of destruction or tampering of some further evidence and even of influencing of some prime witnesses of this case by him or at his instance, in case he is released on bail by the court.

According to the CBI, Sisodia had played the most important and vital role in the criminal conspiracy and he had been deeply involved in the formulation as well as the implementation of the said policy to ensure achievement of objectives of the said conspiracy.

The payment of advance kickbacks of around Rs. 90-100 crores was meant for him and his other colleagues in the GNCTD and Rs. 20-30 crores out of the above are found to have been routed through the co-accused Vijay Nair, Abhishek Boinpally and approver Dinesh Arora and in turn, certain provisions of the excise policy were permitted to be tweaked and manipulated by the applicant to protect and preserve the interests of South liquor lobby and to ensure repayment of the kickbacks to the said lobby, noted the court.

The evidence collected so far clearly shows that the applicant through the co-accused Vijay Nair was in contact with the South lobby and formulation of a favourable policy for them was being ensured at every cost and a cartel was permitted to be formed to achieve monopoly in sale of certain liquor brands of favoured manufacturers and it was permitted to be done against very objectives of the policy.

Thus, as per allegations made by the prosecution and the evidence collected in support thereof so far, the applicant can prima facie be held to be the architect of the said criminal conspiracy, noted the Court Sisodia, in his bail petition in a trial court had stated that no fruitful purpose would be served to keep him in custody as all the recoveries in the case have already been made.

Sisodia also stated that he joined the investigation as and when called for by the CBI. The other accused persons arrested in this case have already been granted bail, Sisodia noted further, adding that he held the important constitutional post of deputy CM of Delhi and has deep roots in the society.

Earlier, the Rouse Avenue Court, while sending Sisodia to CBI remand, directed that the interrogation of the accused during the remand period shall be conducted at some place having CCTV coverage, in accordance with guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court and the said footage shall be preserved by the CBI.

Sisodia was arrested by CBI and ED in an ongoing investigation of a case related to alleged irregularities in the framing and implementation of the excise policy of the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi.
Reiterating its ruling by a five-judge constitution bench, the Supreme Court on Friday said that the Lieutenant Governor (LG) of Delhi has to act on the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers on the nomination of 10 aldermen to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).

A bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha S Narasimha told Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain Why dont you advise the Lieutenant Governor that he cannot nominate members in the MCD. He has to act as per the aid and advice of the government.

ASG Sanjay Jain appeared for the office of the Lieutenant Governor.

As the ASG sought to withdraw the affidavit filed by the office of LG earlier in the case, the bench permitted him to withdraw it in the wake of the top courts judgement delivered on May 11. judgement.

The top court now posted the matter for hearing on May 16 and permitted the LGs office to file a fresh response to the petition.

Earlier, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for the Delhi government, had said that Delhi government offices were sending the files directly to the office of the LG without first sharing them with the Delhi government.

After the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won the municipal elections, the LG appointed 10 aldermen that were opposed by the Delhi government.

The petition of the Delhi government sought quashing of order dated January 3 and 4 whereby the LG nominated 10 persons as nominated members of the MCD.
CIRCOR International (NYSE:CIR) First Quarter 2023 Results

Key Financial Results

Revenue: US$203.1m (up 9.4% from 1Q 2022).

Net loss: US$407.0k (loss narrowed by 98% from 1Q 2022).

US$0.02 loss per share (improved from US$1.06 loss in 1Q 2022).

All figures shown in the chart above are for the trailing 12 month (TTM) period

CIRCOR International Earnings Insights

Looking ahead, revenue is forecast to grow 3.8% p.a. on average during the next 3 years, compared to a 4.9% growth forecast for the Machinery industry in the US.

Performance of the American Machinery industry.

The company's shares are up 12% from a week ago.

Risk Analysis

It's necessary to consider the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 2 warning signs with CIRCOR International (at least 1 which makes us a bit uncomfortable), and understanding these should be part of your investment process.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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A day after Supreme Court ruled that Delhi government was the master of administrative services  transfer and posting of the senior bureaucrats serving under it other than those engaged with public order, police and land  the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Friday again knocked its (top courts) door on the removal of the Secretary of the Delhi governments Services Department.

Heading a bench also comprising Justice Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha, Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud upon a mention by senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi agreed to constitute a bench to hear Delhi governments plea next week.

The top court constitution bench on Thursday (May 11) ruled that the Delhi government would have control over all services and officers serving under it barring those dealing with public order, police and land, and the Lt. governor does not have an all-encompassing supervision over the administration of the national capital.

Armed with the constitution bench hearing, the Kejriwal government yesterday itself removed Ashish More, Secretary of the Delhi governments Services Department, from his post but encountered hurdles from the Centre.

Delhi government has alleged that the Centre is not initiating the transfer of the services secretary serving under it.

Singhvi in his mentioning, while referring to the constitution bench judgment, said that now there can be contempt.

More will be replaced by former Delhi Jal Board CEO A.K. Singh, a 1995-batch (AGMUT cadre) IAS officer.

In a unanimous ruling by a five-judge constitution bench, the top court ended a bitter standoff between the centre and the Kejriwal government on the issue of the control over the posting and transfer of senior ranking bureaucrats.

The government of the national capital territory of Delhi (NCTD) should have control over services except the ones excluded from its legislative and consequent executive domain, the constitution bench had said.

The governance of the national capital has witnessed a running power tussle between the Centre and the Delhi government since the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) came to power in 2014.
The Supreme Court on Friday will hear the pleas on the Adani-Hindenburg row, filed by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) seeking to extend the time to conclude the investigation in the Hindenburg report by a period of 6 months.

The bench led by Chief Justice of India Dr Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chadrachud and also comprising Justices PS Narsimha and JB Pardiwala will hear the matter on Friday almost two months after it had asked market regulator and an experts panel to probe the matter. On March 2, the apex court had directed the capital market regulator SEBI to investigate any violations of securities law by the Adani Group in the wake of the Hindenburg report, which led to a massive wipeout of more than USD140 billion of the Adani Groups market value.

SEBI application seeking an extension of time has been opposed by the petitioner, Vishal Tiwari.

In an application moved before the Supreme Court, SEBI submitted that keeping in view the forgoing circumstances, it would take further time to arrive at verified findings and conclude the investigation.

SEBI, in the application also submitted that for ascertaining possible violations related to misrepresentation of financials, circumvention of Regulations and/or fraudulent nature of transactions in respect of 12 suspicious transactions mentioned herein above, given the complexity of the matter, SEBI in the normal course would take at least 15 months for completion of the investigation of these transactions, but is making all reasonable endeavours to conclude the same within six months.

SEBI, in the forgoing circumstances, most respectfully submits that in order to enable SEBI to conduct a proper investigation and arrive at verified findings, it would be just, expedient and in the interest of justice that this Court may be pleased to extend the time to conclude the investigations as directed in the common order dated 02.03.2023, by at least 6 months, SEBI said.

It had also ordered the setting up of a six-member committee headed by former apex court judge Justice A M Sapre for the assessment of the extant regulatory framework.

The apex court had set up a panel to look at providing protection to investors.

The Expert Committee is headed by Justice Abhay Manohar Sapre, a former judge of the Supreme Court of India along with other five members which include  retired judge Justice J P Devadhar, OP Bhatt, KV Kamath, Nandan Nilekani and Somashekhar Sundaresan.

SEBI has not expressly referred to an investigation into the alleged violation of the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Rules 1957 which provide for the maintenance of minimum public shareholding in a public limited company, and similarly, there may be various other allegations that SEBI must include in its investigation, the court had noted during the last hearing of the case.
All eyes would be on the results of the three-tier two-phase Uttar Pradesh urban local bodies polls to be announced tomorrow.

New mayors would be elected in Prime Minister Nadrendra Modi, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Defence Minister Rajnath Singhs Lok Sabha constituencies in the Saturdays counting of votes.

Along with civic polls, votes will also be counted for two assembly seats of Suar in Rampur and Chanbey in Mirzapur Districts where by-elections were held on May 10.

The elections have been termed a semi-final to the 2024 Lok Sabha polls with popularity of the ruling BJP and functioning of the Yogi Adityanath Government being assessed.

The two-phase civic polls were held on May 4 and 11 with around 52 per cent of voters of the total 4.32 crore voters. In the first phase elections were held in 37 districts including 10 mayor seats while in the second phase 38 districts went to the polls along with seven mayoral post.

While polling in 17 municipal corporations to elect mayors and 1,420 ward members were held through EVMs while in the rest it was done through traditional ballot papers.

Elections were also held for 199 Post of the chairman of Nagar Palikar Parishad and its 5327 wards along with 544 post of chairman of Nagar Panchayat and its 7177 ward members.

State chief election Commissioner Manoj Kumar said here on Friday that all arrangements for smooth conduct of counting of votes have been completed.

While the results of 17 corporations including Mayors would come by the evening as polling had been done through EVMs but counting of votes of Nagar Palika abd Nagar panchayats would conduct in the late evening as polling was done through ballot paper, he said.

SEC said counting trends would be announced after each round of counting.

Special DG Law and Order Prashant Kumar said elaborate security have been made at all the counting centres. Three layer security corden along with CCTV cameras have been installed at all the counting centres, he said.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath participated in 28 rallies and conferences in the first phase and 22 in the second phase. In total, CM Yogi participated in 50 rallies.

Results of Lucknow, Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Mathura-Vrindavan, Ayodhya, Aligarh, Meerut, Saharanpur, Moradabad, Bareilly, Agra, Firozabad, Jhansi, Prayagraj, Kanpur, Shahjahanpur, Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation will be declared.

In the 2017 elections, in 16 Mayor election ,BJP won 14 while BSP won Meerut and Aligarh. This time Shahjahanpur Mayor seat hS been added.
Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Mansukh Mandaviya on Friday arrived in Nagasaki City, Japan for G7 Health Ministers Meeting.

Japan is holding this years G7 presidency. The country will host the Health Ministers Meeting from May 13-14. Meanwhile, it was recently reported that multipronged measures are being taken by the Department of Fertilizers, Government of India to deter any malpractices and ensure quality fertilizers for the farmers on the directions of Mandaviya, also Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers.

These measures have resulted in averting the diversion and black marketing of fertilizers in the country. Talking to ANI, Mandaviya said, The Fertiliser Flying Squads have conducted over 370 surprise inspections across 15 states/UTs which included mixture units, Single Superphosphate (SSP) units and NPK (Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium) units.

Consequentially, 30 FIRs have been registered for diversion of urea, and 70,000 bags have been seized of suspected urea from Gujarat, Kerala, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Karnataka out of which 26,199 bags have been disposed of as per FCO guidelines.

On Wednesday, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman arrived at Haneda Airport at Tokyo in Japan where she was received and welcomed by Indian Ambassador to Japan and Marshall Islands, Sibi George.

The Union finance minister is on an official two-day visit to Niigata, Japan, for a Dialogue with partner countries at the G7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting on May 12, 2023, according to a tweet from the finance ministry.
As Twitters CEO and supreme attention hog Elon Musk is yet to disclose his successor, the guessing game in social media circles is on on the oft-repeated question as to who will be Twitters next CEO.

In February 2023, the billionaire had said he might step aside as CEO of Twitter and hand over the company to someone else by the end of the year. He said he would transition from his role as CEO of Twitter to serving as its executive chairman and chief technology officer (CTO).

Excited to announce that Ive hired a new CEO for X/Twitter. She will be starting in ~6 weeks! My role will transition to being exec chair & CTO, overseeing product, software & sysops.  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 11, 2023



Excited to announce that Ive a new CEO for X/Twitter. She will be starting in 6 weeks! My role will transition to being exec chair & CTO, overseeing product, software & sysops, Musk tweeted on Thursday.

According to Musks announcement, Twitters new CEO will be a woman, but he did not specify who would fill the role. However, NBCUniversal Head of Advertising Linda Yaccarino is in talks for the position, according to the report by The Wall Street Journal.

A Verge report claims that Yaccarino has been wanting the top job at Twitter and has even been talking to her friends about it. Yaccarino recently conducted a session with Elon Musk at the Possible advertising conference in Miami followed by multiple tweets by her on Twitters partnership with NBC for the coverage of Paris Olympics 2024.

Earlier, the tech billionaire announced his intention to step down as CEO and replace himself with a new chief executive by the end of 2023. Last year, the Tesla billionaire said he would resign as Twitters CEO when he finds someone foolish enough to take the job.

Prior to this, Musk had used a Twitter poll to determine whether or not he should remain as CEO, with a promise to abide by the results. 57.5 per cent of the 17.5 million users who partook in the poll, asked for his exit.

Meanwhile, Musk has said the company will purge inactive accounts on the platform that have been inactive for years, potentially freeing up a number of long-coveted usernames. Were purging accounts that have had no activity at all for several years, so you will probably see follower count drop, he tweeted.
Israeli fighter jets continued intensive airstrikes on the Gaza Strip for a third day in a row in response to rockets fired towards Israel, leaving 28 Palestinians killed and 93 injured.

According to an updated casualty toll provided by Palestinian medics and security officials, the conflicts have left 28 Palestinians, including 15 civilians, dead after another two were killed on Thursday afternoon in the town of Abassan, Xinhua news agency reported.

The two freshly killed were members of a minor group called Al-Mujahidin Brigades, a member of the joint chamber of military operations of the Palestinian factions.

The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza confirmed in a statement that the Israeli airstrikes have so far led to 93 injuries.

The exchange of fire between Israel and the joint chamber of military operations, which comprises several Palestinian factions armed wings, including the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), came after a surprising Israeli airstrike on Tuesday in the Gaza Strip killed three senior PIJ leaders.

According to Palestinian sources, Egypt, Qatar, and the UN are mediating a ceasefire between Israel and the Hamas-led militant groups, including the PIJ, but fail to reach an agreement on ending this round of tension.
Days after Congress leader Sukhpal Singh Khaira accused a minister in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government of sexual misconduct, a Congress MLA sought protection for life and liberty from the Punjab Police on Friday.

The three-time legislator from Bholath, who had made the allegation against the minister on the basis of video clips, complained that the state police was working overtime on the directions of the Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to implicate him in multiple false cases.

In a representation addressed to the Chief Justice of India as well as the Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court, All India Kisan Congress chairman Khaira said he is being victimised for raising issues of public importance.

 I am writing this to seek protection of life and liberty at the hands of a vindictive state government, he said.

The Congress leader said recently he brought into the open a conduct of a sitting minster in the state who had appointed his own son as telephone attendant in his office and had further appointed son of his real sister-in-law as assistant besides appointing his personal political companion as a cook in his house just to get money in his pocket.

Another very damaging video of highly-objectionable nature where the same minister was sexually abusing a young boy by alluring him with a job offer which was sent to me. Instead of bringing it in the public domain, I, as a responsible citizen, handed it to the governor of Punjab with a request to get it verified first by forensic examination and then to take appropriate action on it if it was found to be genuine, authentic and not tampered with in any manner, Khaira said.

The Congress leader said he did not disclose the name of the minister to anyone. It (the video) has now come out into the public domain that the video has been found to be authentic and not tampered with in any manner. The Punjab governor has now written to the government of Punjab to take action on the same in accordance with law. The victim of the sexual abuse has approached the Scheduled Caste Commission for taking action and for protecting his life which is under threat, he added.

The Congress leader said instead of taking action against the culprit minister, the state government has initiated vindictive and mala fide action against him by registering false frivolous and motivated cases.

Khaira said a false first information report (FIR) was registered against him on 27 April when he sat on protest at SDM office for not taking timely action to disburse compensation for the crop loss suffered by farmers due to untimely rain in the state.

All the false offences mentioned in the FIR were bailable offences. Now a non bailable offense under section 353 IPC has been added in this FIR after this episode to illegally arrest me, he added.

The Congress leader said he apprehends that the police and to an extent court is being put under pressure as his bail pleas are not being considered in a fair manner while ignoring the recent binding directions issued by the Supreme Court.

I have now learnt that a few more cases are going to be foisted on me to take spite and to take away my liberty. I am left with hardly any option but to approach you, being protector of the liberty of citizens as guaranteed by Article 21 of the Constitution of India, to save me from the tyranny of the government in power which is hell bent to violate the law to have a go at me, he added.
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With device manufacturers making it difficult or impossible for independent repair shops to fix simple issues, many consumers opt to replace their broken phones. (Ben Margot / Associated Press)

For years now, tech companies and manufacturers have been making it harder and harder for consumers to undertake the simple act of fixing their own stuff. They withhold crucial parts and repair manuals, and even install software locks that make it so that only authorized retailers  and the manufacturers themselves  can carry out repairs. At a premium, of course.

This sounds like predatory behavior when you look at it laid out like that, but so far, its mostly worked  think of the last time your phone, smart watch or tablet broke down. Did you try to fix it? Did you consider taking it to a repair shop? Or did you shrug, shove it into a drawer, figuring it was too time-consuming, expensive and inconvenient to fix and, well, you were probably due for a new one anyway?

If youre like most people, you went for the upgrade. And theres absolutely no shame in that  thats exactly what companies like Apple and Samsung have conditioned us to do. Its by design that they make it feel hard.

Which is precisely why California lawmakers should turn the trend around, now that theres a prime opportunity to do so. Democratic Sen. Susan Talamantes Eggman of Stockton has sponsored SB 244 , a bill that would enact whats become known as the right to repair in California.

This would be a huge deal  right to repair is making its way through statehouses across the nation; last year, New York passed the first major law of its kind, and earlier this year, Colorado passed a similar law for farm equipment (a surprisingly big deal, because tractor makers including John Deere had taken to locking down their vehicles with software, making repairing the equipment a major pain, or prohibitively expensive).

If the right to repair passes in California  not only the nations largest economy and most populous state but also home to the tech industry itself  it would be a powerful signal indeed.

The bill would require device manufacturers to do a few key things: give consumers a way to open any digital locks that might prevent them from fixing their stuff, make repair manuals public and sell parts to consumers who might want to buy them.

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Pretty simple, and common sense!

As such, you may not be surprised to learn that right to repair laws are among the most popular pieces of legislation in existence. As in, phenomenally popular  last year, a Politico/Morning Consult poll found that 69% of registered voters supported the right to repair. Nearly 7 in 10 people, left and right combined, like these laws. In an era where support for the president hovers around 44% and no one can agree on much of anything, 69% is a sort of miracle. In California, support levels are even higher, around 75%.

This is probably because it just makes sense: You paid money for a thing, you own it. The company that sold it to you should not have any right to prevent you from fixing it if it breaks down. That company should in fact make it easier to fix the thing it sold you, not harder.

If I were to get all pundity about it, I would say that conservatives support the right to repair because it promotes the DIY spirit and saves money, and liberals like it because it means less landfill and wrests some control out of the hands of the tech monopolies. Maybe both sides like that.

And everyone likes saving money. A report from the consumer advocacy group CalPIRG found that the average American household spends about $1,767 buying new electronics every year.

Sander Kushen, a consumer advocate with U.S. PIRG, told me that, with the right to repair instated, families tend to save about $382 a year off that sum. All told, that would amount to about $5 billion in savings in California alone.

Thats money that people could be spending on food, on their homes, Kushen says, and not on electronics that they shouldnt have to replace anyway. Families are struggling right now, and the opportunity to save on repair is important.

He also points to the environmental benefits, noting that e-waste is the fastest-growing waste stream in the world right now, and right to repair legislation is a serious way to go easier on our landfills  a point the Times editorial board underlined just last week .

Finally, repair is crucial for local economies. Independent repair shops are local businesses that create jobs and provide a genuine social good. And many have been struggling as Apple and other manufacturers have turned the screws on repair.

A lot of the independent repair shops we talked to, Kushen says, theres a lot of urgency for them. There are a lot of reasons for this, but a big one is that they simply cant afford the machines and licenses the big manufacturers now require of repair shops to get certified as authorized  and they cant get the tools and manuals they need to do the repairs at all.

A similar bill made its way to Sacramento last year, but it died in committee. The same thing happened the year before. Kushen says last year, he called up a lot of repair businesses to gin up support for that effort, and he did so again this year. Weve called a lot of these shops back to ask for support  and theyve gone out of business.

For a lot of small shops, its a matter of life and death. So whats the holdup? If the bill is overwhelmingly popular, saves Californians money, helps the environment and creates jobs, what could possibly be preventing it from moving ahead?

Three guesses, and the small ones dont count.

Yes, its Big Tech, which, as weve made clear, has an interest in preventing ad hoc repairs of its stuff. Right to repair would lead people to buy fewer new devices, or decline to shell out for the authorized repair services these companies get a cut of. Now, they dont say that stuff out loud  right to repair is too popular. They say that devices are too complex for regular old repair people to handle, so only they can do right by consumers. They say independent fixers are a security risk. Thats BS, and nothing short of an FTC report has shown it to be so.

No, its a good old-fashioned case of corporate gamesmanship.

Tech lobbyists have a huge presence in California, Elizabeth Chamberlain, the sustainability director of the repair company IFixit, tells me, and we know that the closer this bill gets to passing, the more they'll be working overtime. (Full disclosure: Ive done some editorial advising for IFixit in the past.)

Once the bill makes it through the Appropriations Committee, it goes to the Senate floor, Chamberlain says. If it passes there, it has to run through the state Assembly. "We think it's a great bill and it's got a strong chance. But it'll have to make it past the tech lobbyist gantlet."

The chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Democrat Anthony Portantino of Burbank, has never explained why the prior bills stalled out. But theres good reason to bet it has something to do with that tech lobby.

But Chamberlain and Kushen both think this time could be different  theres a real sense of momentum with right to repair having passed in New York and Colorado, and the public has gotten to know the issue better. For the sake of all the independent repair shops in Burbank and beyond, lets hope that Portantino and company give the bill the stamp of approval. There are so few issues where quite literally everyone wins (except, I guess, Apple and Samsung, two of the richest companies in human history) and everyones happy about a law, but right to repair is one of them.

California deserves to be able to fix its stuff. Lets make it happen.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Massachusetts seafood company denies allegations of discrimination by worker who complained to state

A Massachusetts seafood business says it did not discriminate against an immigrant worker who complained to the state
Illinois State Police released a video from an officer-involved shooting that occurred May 9, which left a New Mexico man dead and an officer injured.

The incident occurred along Interstate 64 eastbound near Mount Vernon in Jefferson County.

Warning: This video may be disturbing to some viewers

Troopers had stopped about 3:30 a.m. May 9 to assist a stranded motorist on the right shoulder of the roadway. During the stop, an altercation occurred and 23-year-old Brandon L. Griffin of Albuquerque, New Mexico, pulled a weapon and shot at the officers, striking one of them. The officers returned fire and Griffin was fatally shot.

The officer was transported to an area hospital before being released to recover at home.

Also present during the incident was Griffin's wife, 31-year-old Christine J. Santos, who was arrested on a no-bond warrant out of New Mexico. According to ISP, the warrant was for bond violations on a pending aggravated assault with a firearm case. Griffin is a co-defendant in the case.

The shooting prompted an investigation by the ISP Division of Internal Investigation. The video was released after consultation and authorization by the Jefferson County State Attorney's Office.

"ISP provided Griffins mother the opportunity to review the video before its release to the public," an ISP release reads. "This remains an ongoing investigation being conducted by ISP and is under review by the Jefferson County States Attorneys Office. No additional information is available at this time."
JERSEYVILLE  The Jerseyville Rotary Club is marking its 70th year.

In October 1924, a committee was formed to determine if Jerseyville was a good location for Rotary to expand. The community was described as a "rural community with retired farmers" and the Internationals Shoe Factory as the principal base for members.

The expansion was rejected, with Jerseyville deemed unable to financially support a Rotary Club, especially with clubs already established in Alton, Carlinville and Gillespie.

As Jerseyville expanded, business owners again approached Rotary about a possible local club. On March 16, 1953, Rotary District Governor Carl Weber said Jerseyville "is a fine little American city and certainly ought to have a Rotary Club."

An application for a new club was submitted on April 13, 1953, and the Jerseyville Rotary Club was admitted on April 17, 1953.

Over the past 70 years the club has grown from 25 members to a club with more than 40 Paul Harris Fellows who have individually donated $1,000 to Rotary International Service Projects. Its biggest annual fundraiser is its Chillifest, with the club donating time and money to local projects such as the JCHS Students of the Month, the Jerseyville Downtown Flag Project, Centennial Rotary Park and supporting school character education, FFA, and Fine Arts, the Jersey County Health Department Scouting and The Salvation Army.

In conjunction with its 70th anniversary, the Jerseyville Rotary Club is encouraging food pantry donations. Items may be dropped off at the main entrance of CNB Bank Jerseyville, Farmer's State Bank - Jerseyville, Jerseyville Banking Center, JCH Wellness Center, Jerseyville Public Library, Jersey State Bank and Royal Banks of Jerseyville.

Next month the club will sponsor a Red Cross Blood Drive 12:30-5:30 p.m. on Monday June 12 at the Jerseyville First Baptist Church at 200 W. Pearl St.

The club also has been involved with many international projects and supporting local students who studied abroad as foreign exchange students. Club members, local professionals and businesspersons have been part of group study exchanges to other countries while those countries sent people here to learn about the Midwest business culture.

For more about the Jerseyville Rotary Club, contact any member or come to a meeting at the Jerseyville First Baptist Church noon-1 p.m. on the second, third and fourth Wednesday of the month. You also can visit http://www.jerseyvillerotary.com.
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EL PASO, Texas (AP)  The border between the U.S. and Mexico was relatively calm Friday, offering few signs of the chaos that was feared following a rush by worried migrants to enter the U.S. before the end of pandemic-related immigration restrictions.

Less than 24 hours after the rules known as Title 42 were lifted, migrants and government officials were still assessing the effect of the change and the new regulations adopted by President Joe Biden's administration to stabilize the region.

We did not see any substantial increase in immigration this morning, said Blas Nunez-Neto assistant secretary for border and immigration policy at the Department of Homeland Security. He said the agency did not have specific numbers.

Migrants along the border continued to wade into the Rio Grande to take their chances getting into the U.S. while defying officials shouting for them to turn back. Others hunched over cellphones trying to access an appointment-scheduling app that that is a centerpiece of the new system. Migrants with appointments walked across a bridge hoping for a new life. And lawsuits sought to stop some of the measures.

The Biden administration has said the revamped system is designed to crack down on illegal crossings and to offer a new legal pathway for migrants who often pay thousands of dollars to smugglers to get them to the border. On Friday, Biden commended Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez for his countrys collaboration with the U.S. and Canada to establish migration hubs in Latin America where asylum seekers will be able to apply for refuge.

Migrants are now essentially barred from seeking asylum in the U.S. if they did not first apply online or seek protection in the countries they traveled through. Families allowed in as their immigration cases progress will face curfews and GPS monitoring.

Across the river from El Paso in Ciudad Juarez, many migrants watched their cellphones in hopes of getting a coveted appointment to seek entry. The application to register to enter the U.S. had changed, and some were explaining to others how to use it. Most were resigned to wait.

I hope its a little better and that the appointments are streamlined a little more, said Yeremy Depablos, 21, a Venezuelan traveling with seven cousins who has been waiting in the city for a month. Fearing deportation, Depablos did not want to cross illegally. We have to do it the legal way.

The legal pathways touted by the administration consist of a program that permits up to 30,000 people a month from Haiti, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela to enter if they apply online with a financial sponsor and enter through an airport.

About 100 processing centers are opening in Guatemala, Colombia and elsewhere for migrants to apply to go to the U.S., Spain or Canada. Up to 1,000 can enter daily through land crossings with Mexico if they snag an appointment on the app.

If it works, the system could fundamentally alter how migrants come to the southern border. But Biden, who is running for reelection, faces withering criticism from migrant advocates, who say he's abandoning more humanitarian methods, and from Republicans, who claim he's soft on border security.

At the Chaparral port of entry in Tijuana on Friday, a few migrants approached U.S. authorities after not being able to access the appointment app. One of them, a Salvadoran man named Jairo, said he was fleeing death threats back home.

We are truly afraid, said Jairo who was traveling with his partner and their 3-year-old son and declined to share his last name. We cant remain any longer in Mexico and we cant go back to Guatemala or El Salvador. If the U.S. cant take us, we hope they can direct us to another country that can.

Farther east, small groups of Haitian migrants with appointments to request asylum crossed the Gateway International Bridge connecting Matamoros, Mexico, with Brownsville, Texas. They crossed with the assistance of a nongovernmental organization, passing the usual commuter traffic of students and workers lined up on the bridge's pedestrian path.

In downtown El Paso, a few dozen migrants lingered outside Sacred Heart Catholic Church and shelter where as recently as Tuesday nearly 2,000 migrants were camped. Faith leaders in the city are striving to provide shelter, legal advice and prayer for migrants as they navigate new restrictions.

The Rev. Daniel Mora said most of the migrants took heed of flyers distributed this week by U.S. immigration authorities offering a last chance to submit to processing and left. El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser said that 1,800 migrants turned themselves over to Customs and Border Protection on Thursday.

Melissa Lopez, executive director for Diocesan Migrant and Refugee Services at El Paso, said many migrants have been willing to follow the legal pathway created by the federal government, but there is also fear about deportation and possible criminal penalties for people who cross the border illegally.

Ruben Garcia, director of the Annunciation House shelter in El Paso and coordinator for a regional network on migrant shelters, said he fears that migrants passing through Mexico may be diverted by smugglers away from cities with humanitarian infrastructure toward remote, desolate stretches of the border. He said thousands of migrants are currently passing through two U.S. immigration processing centers in El Paso, amid uncertainty about ensuing deportations and monitored releases.

The lull in border crossings follows a recent surge of crossings by migrants in hopes of being allowed to stay in the United States before the Title 42 restrictions expired.

Title 42 had been in place since March 2020. It allowed border officials to quickly return asylum seekers back over the border on grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19. The U.S. has declared the national emergency over, ending the restrictions.

While Title 42 prevented many from seeking asylum, it carried no legal consequences, encouraging repeat attempts. After Thursday, migrants face being barred from entering the U.S. for five years and possible criminal prosecution.

Border holding facilities were already far beyond capacity in the run-up to Title 42's expiration. Officials had orders to release migrants with a notice to report to an immigration office if overcrowding and other factors became critical.

But late Thursday, a federal judge appointed by former President Donald Trump temporarily halted the administrations plans to release people into the U.S. and set a court date on whether to extend the ruling. Customs and Border Protection said it would comply, but called it a harmful ruling that will result in unsafe overcrowding.

Other parts of the administration's immigration plan were also in legal peril.

Advocacy groups including the ACLU sued the administration on its new asylum rules minutes before they took effect. Their lawsuit alleges the administration policy is no different than one adopted by Trump, which was rejected by the same court.

The Biden administration says its rule is different, arguing that its not an outright ban but imposes a higher burden of proof to get asylum and that it pairs restrictions with other newly opened legal pathways.

ACLU National Political Director Maribel Hernandez Rivera said many new required steps were unrealistic.

Asylum is not something you schedule when you are fleeing for your life," she said.

___

Gonzalez reported from Brownsville, Texas, and Spagat from Tijuana, Mexico. Associated Press writers Colleen Long and Rebecca Santana in Washington; Christopher Sherman in Mexico City; Julie Watson and Suman Naishadham in Tijuana, Mexico; Gerardo Carrillo in Matamoros, Mexico; Maria Verza in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico; Gisela Salomon in Miami; and Morgan Lee in Santa Fe, New Mexico contributed to this report.
EDWARDSVILLE  Skeletal remains found Thursday in Hartford are being investigated by the Madison County Coroner's Office and the Hartford and Wood River Police Departments.

According to Madison County Coroner Stephen P. Nonn, human skeletal remains have been recovered on the property of the old Chemetco Industrial Plant at 3754 Chemetco Lane in Hartford.
(Bloomberg) -- Indias top court and markets regulator are facing their biggest opportunity to show the countrys determination to police its most powerful companies as they investigate the bombshell allegations lobbed at the Adani Group by Hindenburg Research.

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A six-member expert panel  set up at the Supreme Courts direction on March 2 to look into any regulatory failures and suggest reforms for investor protection  has filed its report, Chief Justice of India D. Y. Chandrachud said on Friday. The court may open it on Friday, a person familiar with the matter had said who did not want to be identified as the information is private. Justice Chandrachud said the judges had not read the panels report and the court will reconvene on Monday.

The court had also asked the Securities and Exchange Board of India, or SEBI, in early March to separately investigate Hindenburgs accusations of corporate fraud, which the group has denied. The regulator has requested for a six-month extension beyond the two-month deadline as it seeks more financial details locally and overseas. SEBI told the court on Friday that it was approaching International Organization of Securities Commissions.

With Indias Prime Minister Narendra Modi largely silent on the controversy despite attacks from opposition parties, these investigations are the most significant way India can signal to the investors that it is willing to scrutinize its largest firms and align them closer to global standards of corporate governance. The Supreme Court is weighing in after a slew of public interest petitions were filed.

Robust Earnings

The expert panel, staffed with veteran Indian bankers, retired judges and technology tycoon Nandan Nilekani, was told by SEBI that theres little threat to investors from Adani companies, said a person familiar with the matter. Most of the firms in the ports-to-power conglomerate have posted robust earnings, and there are no signs of further market volatility, the person said.

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Nevertheless, anticipation is high that the Supreme Court or SEBI may ultimately recommend changes to corporate governance frameworks stemming from the unprecedented market rout and global scrutiny suffered by the Adani Group  or at least tighten rules around practices that US shortseller Hindenburg seized on. SEBI is also looking into possible violations of insider trading regulations and shortselling norms. The Adani Group has called Hindenburgs conduct a calculated securities fraud and an attack on Indian institutions.

This is a chance for them to come out and say: You know what? Its not going to happen again, said Sharmila Gopinath, specialist advisor India at the Asian Corporate Governance Association. You need deep reform, you need regulators who are strong enough to enforce the rules.

Adani Group and SEBI did not respond to emails seeking comments on the court-led scrutiny and the panels report.

Byzantine Web

The Jan. 24 Hindenburg report detailed a byzantine web of Adani-family controlled offshore shell entities in tax havens, from the Caribbean, Mauritius and the United Arab Emirates, that it alleged were used to facilitate corruption, money laundering, stock price manipulation and taxpayer theft.

Even though the Adani Group has repeatedly refuted these claims, the ensuing market selldown has wiped $100 billion off the market value of its listed entities.

One area highlighted by Hindenburg thats received attention is how parties like Gautam Adanis little-known elder brother, Vinod Adani, is a director of several overseas firms which are either investors in or transact with Adanis empire. The US shortseller characterized this as a vast labyrinth of offshore shell entities that moved billions of dollars into Adani firms without disclosure of the related party nature of the deals.

The Adani Group has always maintained that it is fully compliant with disclosures required under Indian laws, while Mauritius Minister of Financial Services and Good Governance, Mahen Kumar Seeruttun, told Bloomberg in February that there has been no breach of regulations in his jurisdiction.

Money often gets routed through several tax havens with loose and differing disclosure requirements, which create another set of challenges for the investigator, said Navajyoti Samanta, associate professor in law at the University of Leicester. He suggested that a streamlined data-sharing standard operating procedure should be established between Indian institutions and foreign counterparts.

The Supreme Court-initiated investigation into allegations against the Adani Group  and the broader regulatory framework surrounding it  is unprecedented for Indian businesses.

While the top court has set up expert panels in the past, those were mostly for political hot-potato issues such as Indias three farm laws and the use of Pegasus spyware on journalists, activists and politicians.

Probes into corporate blow-ups, such as the 2009 audit scam in Satyam Computers, a banking scam by diamantaire Nirav Modi in 2018 and the collapse of the Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Group, were led by sector regulators. Culpability was either confessed by the company managements or there were defaults that compelled regulators to step in.

With the Adani Group, no wrongdoing has been proven so far and neither has it defaulted on any repayments. The judicial and regulatory stance taken in the Adani case could therefore become a precedent as Indian conglomerates increasingly tap global pools of capital.

Runaway Valuations

Another issue SEBI is investigating is unusual market activity in Adani stocks, as the short seller-triggered rout punctured astronomical valuations of the tycoons firms that had come under increasing concern last year.

Adani stocks runaway valuations were constantly under question but not its assets, said Amit Tandon, managing director of proxy advisory, Institutional Investor Advisory Services India Ltd.

Clarity is needed on who owns overseas funds with stakes in Adani firms as well the beneficiaries of the money flowing in and around the conglomerate. The overseas funds came under scrutiny as Adani companies stock prices rose way past the market valuations of local and global peers, buoying Gautam Adani to the position of second-richest man in the world last year.

The lesson is that we perhaps need better disclosures on beneficial ownership and regulatory mechanisms to trace money flows, Tandon said.

--With assistance from Chris Kay, Shruti Mahajan and P R Sanjai.

(Updates with court developments in the second paragraph.)

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ROME (AP)  Pope Francis could meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Vatican this weekend, a Vatican official said Thursday.

Francis has repeatedly called for an end to Russia's war in Ukraine and expressed solidarity with the martyred Ukrainian people. Recently he revealed a secret peace mission was underway but provided no details.

Word of the possible meeting Saturday in Rome followed news, confirmed last week by Berlin police, that Zelenskyy was expected in Germany starting Saturday evening. Italian media, citing unnamed sources, reported Thursday that Zelenskyy might be in Rome earlier that day to meet with Premier Giorgia Meloni and the pope.

A Vatican official said a pope-Zelenskyy audience Saturday is a possibility. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the visit was not confirmed.

On Sunday, Zelenskyy and the people of Ukraine are set to receive the International Charlemagne Prize, awarded annually by the western German city of Aachen for contributions to European unity. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is scheduled to give the speech honoring Zelenskyy.

Francis met with Zelensskyy before the war and last month met with the Ukrainian prime minister, who asked the pontiff's help in mediating the return of Ukrainian children taken to Russia after the Kremlin's invasion. Francis recently told reporters he thought the Vatican could help, given it's previous mediation in prisoner swaps.

On Thursday, Francis bid farewell to the Russian ambassador to the Holy See, Alexander Avdeev, at the end of his seven-year tenure.
A statesman, said the great Prussian diplomat Otto von Bismark, is a politician who thinks of his grandchildren.

Three years ago, former Illinois Governor Jim Edgar and I decided to create the Paul Simon-Jim Edgar Statesmanship Award to shine a spotlight on remarkable leadership that is taking place in our state and our communities.

We were looking for Illinois political leaders who are thinking about their grandchildren  and acting to create a better future for them.

The annual Simon-Edgar Statesmanship Award is presented to an elected state or local government official in Illinois who has demonstrated a pattern of public service characterized by vision, courage, compassion, effectiveness, civility, and bipartisanship.

I believe that Governor Edgar and Senator Paul Simon, the founder of the Institute that Im privileged to lead, represent the best of Illinois statesmanship. Governor Edgar, a loyal Republican, and Senator Simon, a steadfast Democrat, were always willing to work with members of the other party and independents to get things done for Illinois.

Governor Edgar and I are eager to receive and review nominations about inspiring leaders in Illinois  mayors who are crafting creative plans for their cities and making hard decisions to realize their aspirations; city council members who are committed to long-term strategies for their communities; and state legislators and constitutional officers who are willing to break from party orthodoxy to advance solutions that improve the lives of fellow Illinoisans.

For our inaugural award, we selected 11 Republican members of the Illinois General Assembly who supported a critical budget package in July 2017, breaking from their party in the interest of fiscal solvency for Illinois. That budget ended a two-year fiscal stalemate that tarnished Illinois reputation, damaged schools, battered the states credit rating, and led to about $15 billion in unpaid bills. The 2017 budget paved the way for subsequent fiscal progress in the state as reflected in upgrades to Illinois credit by rating agencies.

Last year we selected former House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie as the recipient of the Simon-Edgar Award. We cited her four decades of forceful, creative, consequential, and civil leadership in the Illinois General Assembly. Representative Currie, a Democrat, served in the Illinois General Assembly from 1979 to 2019 and was the House Majority Leader from 1997 to 2019. She helped create Illinois Earned Income Tax Credit, championed clear air and water legislation, pushed for the first Freedom of Information Act, advocated for same sex marriage, drafted critical school funding and juvenile justice reforms, and fought to end the death penalty in Illinois.

The nomination process for this years Simon-Edgar Award opened on April 1 and we are accepting nominations until June 1. To nominate a candidate or candidates, please write a brief letter describing how the person has displayed the qualities of statesmanship outlined above. Please send an email to PaulSimonInstitute@siu.edu or send your letter to Paul Simon Public Policy Institute, Southern Illinois University, Mail Code 4429, 1231 Lincoln Drive, Carbondale, IL, 62901-4304.

Governor Edgar and I are confident that the nominations we receive this year will identify exceptional leaders who are improving Illinois and giving us confidence about the future.

The recipient of the 2023 Simon-Edgar Award will be announced in early August.
The city of Alton has some lost treasure that should be recovered.

No, I am not referring to any buried gold and silver coins. As I demonstrated in my book Murder and Mayhem in Southwestern Illinois, the celebrated pirate Jean Lafitte never took up residence in this area so he couldnt possibly have buried any plundered valuables in our native soil.

The treasure to which I refer isnt composed of precious metals and possesses no intrinsic monetary value.

Everyone reading this column is surely familiar with the abolitionist newspaper editor Elijah Lovejoy and the beautiful monument built to honor his memory that towers over City Cemetery. Lovejoy, who was shot to death in 1837 by a pro-slavery mob, had to wait decades to receive the honor and recognition he deserved. The Maine native was hastily buried with only a handful of supporters present. His murderers were acclaimed as heroes by many local residents and acquitted by a court of law.

Lovejoy's grave, located in what at the time was simply a field, was marked by a pine board with the initials E.P.L. When that board vanished, his grave was lost and forgotten.

Local attitudes toward Lovejoy were slow to change. Thomas Dimmock, son of Alton abolitionist Elijah Dimmock, located Lovejoys grave in 1864 and discovered that the cemetery had built a road over it. At his own expense, Dimmock had the slain editors remains recovered and reburied. Lovejoys new grave even had a tombstone that read, in Latin: Here lies Lovejoy. Spare him now that he is buried.

Dimmock, in 1897, served as principal speaker at the formal dedication of the Lovejoy Monument in Alton Cemetery. However, Lovejoy had been back in the news seven years earlier.

An article in the Nov. 8, 1890 edition of The Telegraph noted that Lovejoy's house, "standing on what is now Cherry street (sic) near Second" (present-day East Broadway), was in the process of being demolished. It was "a two-story double house of wood" that was built in 1835. Readers were told that it "was well-built and is still in a good state of preservation." No specific reason is given for the demolition. Two mantels were taken from the house and "can be seen in the lobby of the post-office." .

The mantel-salvagers were by no means alone. We notice in the demolition of the house in which Lovejoy lived, there was a hustling for relics, The Telegraph stated in an article carried in its Dec. 11, 1890 edition. I do not wonder at it. There must have been a large number of relic hunters combing through the debris. The great wonder is that it was not all absorbed in that way, the reporter contended.

While the crowds desire to find something associated with the martyred abolitionist is understandable, any hope of locating an object directly associated with Lovejoy was slim to nil after so many decades. In all likelihood, these relic hunters generally had to content themselves with pieces of wood from the house itself or stones from its foundation.

The articles unnamed author stated his support for the creation of a monument honoring Lovejoy. The Press regardless of political bias owe that man a monument, he wrote. Lovejoy sacrificed his life for that freedom of speech and the press that is now an accomplished fact and deserves to be handed down to posterity on imperishable marble.

Its not surprising that this reporter celebrated Lovejoy only as a martyr to freedom of speech and the press rather than a casualty of the abolitionist movement as well. Abolitionists werent terribly popular in the late- nineteenth century. Many Americans believed their intransigent opposition to slavery had plunged our nation into the Civil War during which two percent of our nations population died.

As I pointed out in my book Abolitionism and the Civil War in Southwestern Illinois, Dimmock even felt it necessary to deny that Lovejoy had been an abolitionist during his speech at the dedication of the monument in Alton Cemetery.

An article titled Lovejoy Canes in the June 15, 1891 edition of The Telegraph reported, Mr. E.P. Taylor has made a number of handsome canes from the oak timbers of the house in which the martyr Lovejoy lived at the time of his murder. The house was pulled down last fall, and Mr. M. H. Boals, with whom Mr. Taylor is employed, purchased the material. We are told that Taylor is an expert worker in wood and the canes are exceedingly handsome. No mention is made regarding how many canes Taylor made. The article concludes THE TELEGRAPH returns thanks to Mr. Taylor for one of those highly prized souvenirs and notes The cane has the word Lovejoy inscribed on it.

Is there an old cane in your attic, basement or garage? You might want to take a look at it.
Elon Musk. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Ark Invest CEO Cathie Wood said at Axios' BFD event that Elon Musk is the "inventor of our age."

In a Wednesday interview, she defended Musk's leadership at Twitter, and said Tesla stock has room to run.

"[Musk has] enormous capacity to take on new projects."

Cathie Wood praised Elon Musk and his many business ventures ranging from Twitter to Tesla during a Wednesday interview at the Axios BFD event in San Francisco.

Ark Invest's chief executive called Musk a "renaissance man" who is poised to lead Twitter to new heights, according to Axios, and said her firm is looking to ramp up its investment in the social media platform.

"We are so excited by what he's doing," Wood said Wednesday. "He is the inventor of our age."

Since taking over the company, Musk's decisions at Twitter have come under criticism, particularly surrounding the massive layoffs he initiated.

Wood, however, commended his leadership, and disagreed that the billionaire has stretched himself too thin despite running Tesla, Twitter and SpaceX.

"He's surrounded himself by brilliant people," she said, noting that Musk has "an enormous capacity to take on new projects."

In November, she shared a similar vote of confidence for Musk as far as steering Twitter toward success: "If anyone in the US can do this, I think he can. I think he'll surround himself with the right business leaders, he's not going to do this himself."

Tucker Carlson's recent announcement that he would bring his show to Twitter is a sign of the platform's momentum, Wood said Wednesday.

She added that Tesla  which is a top holding at Ark Invest  could still see a massive run-up in its stock price.

"A good part of that is Autopilot," Wood said, referring to the EV maker's partially self-driving technology.

In April, Ark projected that Tesla could rally to $2,000 per share by 2027. On Thursday, Tesla traded at about $167 per share.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Communications Specialist  Kampala

Job Advert

About the Role: GOAL is currently seeking to hire a highly qualified Communications Specialist (1) to join our team in Kampala under the Young Africa Works Markets for Youth Programme. This is an exciting opportunity for you to join an extremely dynamic International NGO and to apply your skills in communication. If you have first class experience in communications, and you are a creative and dynamic personality, you are the one we are looking for!

We are looking for a communication enthusiast who:

Finds fulfillment in developing and implementing a communication and branding strategy , and marketing of the program and overall communications efforts.

, and of the program and overall communications efforts. Exceptional writer. Writing is a key aspect of the job, and you know how to tell a story. You will be tasked to transform research reports and other program documents into lively, attractive products as blogs, newsletters, photo journals, stories, press materials and briefs.

Writing is a key aspect of the job, and you know how to tell a story. You will be tasked to transform research reports and other program documents into lively, attractive products as blogs, newsletters, photo journals, stories, press materials and briefs. Being a social media nerd. You develop and manage our program social media outlets and website with proven experience in communicating with youth, refugees or persons with a disability. You know what young people are interested in, but can easily switch to more formal audiences as our Donor.

You develop and manage our program social media outlets and website with proven experience in communicating with youth, refugees or persons with a disability. You know what young people are interested in, but can easily switch to more formal audiences as our Donor. Paying attention to detail. We want someone who is creative. You strive for perfection: double and triple check texts and graphics before they go out to ensure that there are no errors. This is key to success in this role.

We want someone who is creative. You strive for perfection: double and triple check texts and graphics before they go out to ensure that there are no errors. This is key to success in this role. Being a collaborator . You bring a positive, solutions focused attitude to work every day. This means that you reflect our values and share your positivity with your colleagues. You coordinate and collaborate with colleagues  both nationally as well as internationally, private sector partners, government institutions, refugee or persons with a disability organisations, donor and academic fora. You liaise with our global communications team in Dublin.

. You bring a positive, solutions focused attitude to work every day. This means that you reflect our values and share your positivity with your colleagues. You coordinate and collaborate with colleagues  both nationally as well as internationally, private sector partners, government institutions, refugee or persons with a disability organisations, donor and academic fora. You liaise with our global communications team in Dublin. Most of all you bring a positive, can-do attitude. The team members work hard and with a lot of energy and commitment; we want our colleagues to share in our successes and celebrations.

Qualifications, Skills and Experience:

To be successful in this role, you will need:

Essential Criteria

Postgraduate degree in communications, journalism, or related, relevant subject

Five years work experience and at least 3 years of demonstrated experience in Communication component of a donor  funded project, private enterprise or media house.

Experience with social media: Facebook, twitter, website development and creative design.

Experience collaborating and working with both private and public sectors and academic institutions.

Desirable Criteria

Experience with projects that use a Making Markets Work for the Poor approach (M4P) is desirable.

Excellent computer skills (MS Word and Excel, creative design software)

Ability to prioritize, implement, and deliver high-quality work within tight timelines and with minimal supervision.

Affinity in working with persons with disabilities and / or refugees.

Strong interpersonal skills, including the ability to work and build relationships with team members and partners from diverse backgrounds.

Ability to travel up to 50% of time from base.

Persons living with a disability or with a refugee background are especially encouraged to apply for this position.

General terms and conditions

Code of Conduct and Accountability within GOAL

GOAL is an equal opportunities employer and has values and behaviours framework which defines our code of conduct. Any candidate offered a job with GOAL will be expected to adhere to the following key areas of accountability.

Comply with GOALs policies and procedures with respect to safeguarding, Code of Conduct, health and safety, data protection and confidentiality, do no harm principles and unacceptable behaviour protocols.

Report any concerns about the welfare of a child or vulnerable adult or any wrongdoings within our programming area.

Report any concerns about inappropriate behaviour of a GOAL staff or partner.

Safeguarding

Children and vulnerable adults a must be safeguarded to the maximum extent from deliberate or inadvertent actions and failings that place them at risk of abuse, sexual exploitation, injury, and any other harm. One of the ways that GOAL shows this on-going commitment to safeguarding is to include rigorous background and reference checks in the selection process for all candidates.

GOAL

Established in 1977, GOAL is an international humanitarian agency, with a global team of 2,400 personnel, dedicated to alleviating the needs of the most vulnerable communities. Currently operating in 13 of the worlds most vulnerable countries, GOAL delivers a wide range of humanitarian and development programmes, ranging from humanitarian relief in disaster situations, to focusing on nutrition, food security, and building greater resilience and sustainable livelihoods.

General description of the country programme:

First operational in Uganda in 1979, the current GOAL Uganda country programme focuses on Health (including WASH, Health Accountability and Nutrition programming); and a market-based systems approach to improving agricultural livelihoods and WASH. GOAL Uganda mainstreams gender, child protection, social behaviour change and resilience strategies across all programming. GOAL works on a district focused approach and uses a mixture of direct implementation and partnerships with national and international civil society organizations, local government, the private sector and communities to give effect to our mission.

GOAL Uganda has a skilled team of approximately 120 personnel and manages an annual operating budget of approximately 8.7 million (2018). GOAL is currently operational in the North, South, East and West of Uganda with six established offices in Kampala, Lira, Bugiri, Budaka, Kabarole, Moroto, Hoima, Kaabong and Agago Districts. GOAL Uganda country programme is funded by a number of donors who include Mastercard, charity: water, Irish Aid and some small foundations.

Our package includes a competitive salary, health insurance cover for up to 3 dependents, comprehensive 24-hour personal accident cover, terminal benefits equivalent to one month for each completed year of service, a flexi-work arrangement and our working hours provide for a half day on Fridays. GOAL promotes a learning and development environment with training & study opportunities aligned to our staff development policy.

How to Apply:

All interested applicants who meet the requirements should submit their applications by email with at least 3 reference contacts (current or former Line Manager) from the last three employers and daytime contact number to; recruitment@ug.goal.ie indicating the title Communications Specialist in the subject line by 26th May 2023. PLEASE DO NOT ATTACH CERTIFICATES.

Deadline: 26th May 2023

For more of the latest jobs, please visit https://www.theugandanjobline.com or find us on our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/UgandanJobline
Job Title: Community Services Assistant  Distribution

Organisation: ALIGHT

Duty Station: Oruchinga, Uganda

Salary: UGX 1,100,000  1,300,000 /= per month

About US:

ALIGHT, formerly the American Refugee Committee (ARC), is an international non-profit, non-sectarian organization that has provided humanitarian assistance and training to millions of beneficiaries over the last 40 years. In 2011, Alight helped nearly 2.5 million people get essential services to regain their health and take back control of their lives. Alight works with its partners and constituencies to provide opportunities and expertise to communities of refugees and internally displaced persons in seven countries in Africa, Asia and Europe, including Iraq, Kosovo, and in the Darfur region of Sudan and is currently providing for emergency relief and recovery in Haiti. Alight provides shelter, clean water and sanitation, health care, skills training, microcredit education, protection to help survivors of war and natural disasters to rebuild their lives with dignity, health care, security and self-sufficiency.

Job Summary: The Community Services Assistant will be responsible for empowering Persons with Special Needs to enhance Quality and healthy life for sustainability development. He / she will also be responsible for community involvement and ownership to enhance sustainability and empowerment of Refugees in the Settlement.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:

Under the supervision of the Community Services officer contribute to achieving monthly targets for the sub sector

Develop monthly plans for Community services programs

Follow the standards and or principles of the respective thematic areas as well as ALIGHT guidelines and accountability standards.

Carry out and support all outreach activities in the Refugees settlement such as mobilization, sensitization, counseling etc for Refugee to realize full potentials and build on self-mechanism.

Responsible for effective and efficient follow up of individual cases of beneficiaries for support

Conduct community leaders meetings including planning meetings, AGDM Verification and Needs assessment

CRI:

Active participation in the process of CRI distribution for POCs from Alight side- coordination, pre awareness raising and post monitoring, litigation desk etc. as per standards

Support to PSN:

Participate from Alight the process of PSN profiling and ongoing risks analysis in order to design adequate responses.

Ensure PSN support is provided as per needs assessment and profiling

Strengthening of community structures:

Responsible for providing support of community based structures in the settlement to Community services officer

Responsible for managing the structures assigned by community services officer

Participate and support community services officers in conducting needs assessment and providing, tracking and monitoring of support provided to 1. Community self-management structures 2. Community groups  as per agreed programs of UNHCR and BPRM

Strengthening of community:

Participate and co lead the quality trainings  with pre and post-tests, training reports and clearly documenting impact of trainings on persons trained

Community Complaint Mechanism

Responsible for functionality of all Complaint Response mechanism are fully functional (suggestion boxes, FRRM, Protection desks, Community structures)

Share information on monthly trends on complaints received with community services officer to gauge which methods is working well and or not and putting in corrective actions

Ensure completion of targets/ activities assigned for Accountability to Affected Population Plan (e.g. FGDs etc)  how, what, when, where, who is developed  all data received should be documented as per each sub sector

Share findings of /weekly flash reports on major protection incidents and risks. in the settlement with protection Manager.

Contribute in preparation of monthly and weekly activity and spending plans.

Contribute in drafting weekly, monthly, quarterly, annual and other reports.

Be in charge of organizing, mobilizing and facilitating international events days in the settlement such as Women days, World Refugees days, Youth days, 16 days of activism etc.

Prepare daily, weekly and monthly reports to be submitted to the supervisor.

Conduct strategic development and empowerment village informational meetings with the RWC leader

Perform any other duties assigned to you.









Qualifications, Skills and Experience:

The applicant must hold a Bachelors degree in Social work, Community Psychology, Education, Development studies

Two years of working experience in Community Development services with an INGO

Excellent report writing, communication and analytical skills.

Work with minimum supervision.

Ability to manage multiple tasks at a time and work effectively with colleagues from different backgrounds

Strong computer skills.

How to Apply:

All candidates should apply online at the link below.

Click Here

Deadline: 16th May 2023

For more of the latest jobs, please visit https://www.theugandanjobline.com or find us on our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/UgandanJobline
HERE Technologies

APAC on the move 2023

APAC on the move 2023

HERE Technologies publishes inaugural study of 1,300 business decision-makers from the transportation and logistics sector across Asia-Pacific.

Customer benefits and financial efficiencies top of mind for companies in 2023.

APAC logistic firms eye drones, robotics, artificial learning and machine learning next.

Singapore  HERE Technologies , the leading location data and technology platform, today published an inaugural study, APAC On The Move , to provide insights from transportation and logistics (T&L) professionals across Asia-Pacific (APAC) on the current technology trends and practices that are shaping supply chain, fleet, and logistics management.

A key finding from APAC On The Move 2023 is the extent to which end-to-end asset tracking and shipment visibility remain a challenge for logistics companies three years since the onset of the pandemic. Nearly 90% of APAC logistics companies surveyed have cited technology implementation challenges as their biggest barrier to achieving real-time end-to-end supply chain visibility, despite the motivations to improve customer satisfaction and operational efficiency.

Home to some of the worlds largest manufacturing and exporting economies, the logistics industry in APAC plays a vital role in the global supply chain network. In recent years, T&L firms are under pressure from relentless consumer demands, changing customer expectations, and the arrival of new competition from start-ups and customer-turned-rival logistics operators.

Highlights from the HERE Technologies APAC On The Move 2023 study include:



Technology partnerships and implementations are big challenges

More than half of the firms surveyed (52%) have cited the challenge of identifying the right partners and/or suppliers as their biggest barrier to technology implementation. In mature economies like Australia and Singapore, the concern of potential disruption to existing processes and services ranked high. In India and Malaysia where the logistics industries are fragmented, knowing where to even begin with technology implementation is a concern.

Story continues

Logistics companies surveyed want turn-key solutions that are easy to implement without expensive, time consuming, and labour-intensive system overhauls. According to the study by HERE, software integration challenges with existing infrastructure (52%), the lack of time to implement the solutions (39%), and high implementation costs (39%) are the main barriers to adopting logistics assets tracking and shipment/cargo monitoring solutions.

APAC logistics firms still rely on manual tracking

The pandemic has exposed the vulnerabilities of manual interventions in the global supply chain. Yet, approximately 45% of APAC logistics firms surveyed are using asset tracking and shipment monitoring software in combination with manual inputs to track assets, shipment, and cargo.

Manual processes have a higher chance of creating gaps and vulnerabilities within supply chains, and this shows that a large number of companies still do not have a resilient infrastructure in place. Real-time and automated tracking solutions on the other hand provide opportunities to accelerate innovation and tackle disruptions promptly.

Across APAC, the Japanese logistics industry is leading the way with 70% of companies surveyed having moved to tracking assets in real-time with no manual inputs. Japans logistics sector is facing the looming 2024 Problem as stricter regulations  limiting truck drivers to a total of 960 hours of annual overtime work  kicks in from April 1, 2024. As the industry prepares for this impending crisis, the move to track assets in real-time is a critical step to addressing and alleviating labour shortage in Japan.

Tech investments motivated by customers first and financial benefits a close second

With intensifying competition and rising customer expectations in the region, the logistics sector wants to improve fundamental business performance indicators. The strongest motivator for adopting logistics asset tracking solutions is to increase customer satisfaction (48%).

On the other hand, APAC logistics companies are also prioritising financial benefits, such as to increase revenue (47%) and to gain competitive edge in the market (41%), when purchasing logistics asset tracking solutions.

APAC logistics industry eyeing future technologies and opportunities

The study confirms that most logistics companies in APAC are already using a form of Internet of Things (IoT) technology. IoT applications for inventory management (63%), warehouse management (61%), and order management (50%) are the most popular among logistics companies in the region.

Looking ahead, more than a quarter of logistics companies in APAC are planning to invest in drones (33%), robotics (30%), and artificial learning and machine learning (29%). These technologies have been identified by the logistics sector to seize opportunities and create lasting competitive advantage (41%), improve operational efficiency (40%), and increase customer satisfaction (39%).

Quotes

Regu Ayyaswamy, Senior Vice President and Global Head, Tata Consultancy Services:

India's logistics sector is a critical enabler of economic growth, playing a crucial role in the seamless movement of goods and services across the country. However, the sector is rapidly evolving, and as a leading global IT services provider, TCS is committed to enabling businesses within the logistics sector to digitally transform their operations and drive growth. Our strategic partnership with HERE Technologies is a testament to this commitment. By combining HERE's world-class location intelligence platform with DigifleetTM, TCS logistics solution, we are empowering businesses with real-time visibility and actionable insights.

Yoshikazu Kuwamura, Head of Department, Industry Digital Transformation Dept., Mitsubishi Corporation Singapore Branch:

Digitalisation is key to addressing challenges and unlocking new efficiencies in todays supply chain. However, digitalisation itself is not enough to achieve full end-to-end supply chain visibility. Collaboration across the supply chain is essential to creating more agile and resilient operations. Together with HERE, we believe in helping logistics players in APAC to leverage location intelligence and to develop best practices and more effective strategies for managing risk and uncertainty.





Vivek Vaidya, Global Client Leader for Mobility, Frost & Sullivan:

The supply chain and logistics companies in APAC are at a different stage in evolution as far as asset tracking and shipment monitoring are concerned. On one hand companies are looking to invest in IoT, AI, and drones to improve real-time visibility and on the other hand a large number of companies are still relying on manual processes to achieve the same objective. The companies who are currently relying on manual process are likely to leapfrog to modern solutions. On the whole, the awareness about having real-time visibility on assets and cargo has gone up tremendously in the post-pandemic era and that trend is likely to continue. This underlines a strong growth potential for solution providers like HERE Technologies in this space for the next decade.

William Strugger, Senior Director for Global Market Intelligence, HERE Technologies:

The study indicates that logistics providers  who handle road, sea, or air transportation, or oversee transportation management  are consistently challenged at implementing asset tracking solutions. Their reasons include implementation costs, integrating with existing software/infrastructure, time needed for implementation, and lack of skilled manpower. This speaks to the need for logistics providers to engage professional services to speed the implementation of in-house software development or off-the-shelf turnkey software, or offload the entire effort to system integrators or location consulting boutiques to develop a bespoke solution.

Jason Jameson, Senior Vice President & General Manager for Asia-Pacific, HERE Technologies:

Visibility is essential in the supply chain business, and location technology is the key ingredient for building true visibility for businesses and their end customers. While it is promising to see many APAC logistics firms moved on to tracking their assets in real-time, there is still significant room for improvement, with close to half of the organisations surveyed still relying on some form of manual method for tracking. As a leading location data and technology platform, HERE Technologies plays a critical role in the logistics industry globally to not only turn real-world spatial data into a digital model for companies to utilise, but also to educate the industry on the power of location technology in optimising efficiencies and improving business operations.

Read the APAC On The Move report for the full findings and data by each Asia Pacific sub-region.

Media contacts

HERE Technologies

Camy Cheng

+65 9088 4127

Camy.cheng@here.com

About APAC On The Move

APAC On The Move, published by HERE Technologies, contains insights from transport and logistics companies across Asia Pacific. This inaugural study consists of market research data and analysis from March 2023, based on responses from 1,300 players within the transport and logistics industry across eight countries: Australia, Chinese Taipei, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand. Designed to provide our customers and partners with a deeper understanding of the trends and best practices that are shaping the transport and logistics industry in region, APAC On The Move serves as a guide to help businesses navigate the current opportunities and challenges in supply chain, fleet and logistics management.

About HERE Technologies

HERE has been a pioneer in mapping and location technology for almost 40 years. Today, HEREs location platform is recognised as the most complete in the industry, powering location-based products, services and custom maps for organisations and enterprises across the globe. From autonomous driving and seamless logistics to new mobility experiences, HERE allows its partners and customers to innovate while retaining control over their data and safeguarding privacy. Find out how HERE is moving the world forward at here.com .

Attachments




India has come a long way since 2014 in building a culture of entrepreneurship and innovation. On an international level, its achievements are evidenced by the fact that its ranking in WIPOs Global Innovation Index (GII) improved from 81 in 2015 to 40 in 2022. India is today the worlds third largest startup ecosystem, home to more than 100 unicorns. As of September 2022, these unicorns were valued over $340 billion. In fact, according to Invest India, Indias National Investment Promotion and Facilitation Agency, the years 2021, 2020, and 2019 saw the birth of the maximum number of Indian unicorns  44, 11, and 7 respectively. The Covid-19 pandemic caused immeasurable socio-economic suffering globally, but it is during this time that the resilient Indian entrepreneur worked tirelessly to not only contribute to the economy but also towards Covid-19 relief efforts. This was only possible because the government trusted and encouraged Indian startups to take up the tall challenges presented by the calamity in record times.

Globally, Israel has often been termed as an island of innovation. That is laudable yet ironical since, geographically speaking, almost two-thirds of the country comprises of a desert landscape and is water-stressed. Given this, the fact that Israel produces over 90% of its own food requirements and even exports agricultural produce to the world is no short of a miracle. Perhaps the single most important factor that has enabled Israel to accomplish such an awe-inspiring feat is innovation. The country has been a world leader in innovation and entrepreneurship for the past 15 years. It boasts of having more startups per capita than any other country in the world, thus rightfully claiming the title of Silicon Valley of the Middle East.

Among the several reasons behind Israels success in nurturing more than 6,000 startups and producing over 90 unicorns (as of 2022) that are worth $255 billion  almost half the country's GDP  is the role its government has played in enabling and protecting innovation in the country. For any economy to have a thriving startup ecosystem, it is imperative for the state to proactively support young companies through enabling policies, a predictable regulatory regime, and a conducive business environment, free of threat or fear. That is what facilitates true innovation.

The pandemic reinforced the fact that startups are the crucibles of innovation which help address unmet demands of the economy in an effective and cost-efficient manner. For example, startups like the ones in the edtech space, that presently India dominates across the world, needs to be protected as well. Besides this, startups also act as catalysts for growth, helping drive economic recovery especially after a period of slump, both locally and globally. This becomes particularly relevant in times of today where the global economy is witnessing winds of recession. In periods of sluggish economic growth, startups not only generate employment, but also disrupt the economy by bringing in latest technology and cutting-edge innovation. They also open new markets by either creating new ones or transforming the old ones by introducing products/services that change the world. However, for them to perform and help insulate the economy from external recessionary pressures or even drive the economy out of it, they need to be extended a hand of support from the state, in such times all the more. For example several ed-tech startups have brought about access to education to remote parts of the country and managed to reach the last mile.

There is no denying that startups, like any other entity, need to be kept in check for any unlawful activities performed under the garb of nation building. At the end of the day, they are not charitable organizations with social objectives but corporate entities with a motive to remain going concerns and maximise profits. However, it is important to note that for any startup to raise funds in the market, it must pass multiple rounds of rigorous due diligence that VCs and other investors demand. This is in addition to already adhering to the extant laws of the land that relate to their incorporation, taxation, labour legislations, environmental laws, securities laws, contract law, intellectual property laws etc. Although it is only encouraging that the government is continually striving towards improving ease of doing business and making paperwork less onerous for these young companies, unless they get an atmosphere free of targeted harassment by state authorities, their growth is hampered while also discouraging other law-abiding startups to set up base in India.

Another aspect where the government can contribute constructively is in terms of imparting the right skillset and training to certain historically disadvantaged groups such as women, SCs, STs, Persons with Disabilities (PwD) etc. who aspire to start their own enterprises. Providing practical knowledge and initial handholding to help them understand the nuances of business, relevant laws/regulations, requisite licences, and imparting financial literacy can go a long way in enabling the growth and scaling-up of the micro enterprises already being run by, say, women entrepreneurs. Schemes such as Stand-Up India are a step in the right direction but in addition to financial assistance, the operational aspects of setting up a business may also need some focus.

Startups are, by definition, agents of change  they generate social, financial, and economic value for all. A regulation overkill by way of unnecessary coercion by the state not only erodes the value they have created, but also defeats the vision of Make in India that had set out to making India a hub for manufacturing, design, and innovation by facilitating investment and fostering innovation.

Dr Fauzia Khan is a Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha.

Opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of THE WEEK.
Aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), on Friday, imposed a fine of Rs 30 lakh on Air India for lapses in addressing "safety sensitive issue" related to the incident of a pilot allowing a female friend in the cockpit during a Dubai-Delhi flight on February 27.



The licence of the pilot who operated the flight has been suspended for three months, the regulator said in a statement.



Air India has been fined 30 lakh for not promptly and effectively addressing the safety sensitive issue. The pilot license of the PIC (pilot in command) has been suspended for a period of three months for misuse of his authority vested under the Aircraft Rules 1937 and allowing violation of the applicable DGCA regulations, the statement read.



"The pilot in command of the flight allowed the entry into cockpit during cruise, of an Air India Staff on duty travelling as passenger, in violation of DGCA regulations," DGCA said.



CEO of Air India received a complaint in this regard from one of the operating crew members of the flight. However, the organisation did not take prompt corrective action despite this being a safety sensitive violation. Anticipating delayed response, the complainant approached the DGCA, the regulator said.



The pilot had asked the crew member to bring pillows for his friend and to also serve her drinks and snacks in the cockpit. While she was inside, the crew was summoned multiple times, during the passenger service on the short Delhi- Dubai sector, to offer her business class fare food and snacks. Though it interrupted the flow of service all requests were promptly catered to, the complaint had said.
An actress, who was part of Taarak Mehta ka Oolta Chashmah, has accused the television show's producer Asit Kumarr Modi and two others of sexual harassment, according to reports. Denying the allegations Modi said the actress was let go from the show due to 'misbehaviour', and added that he will take legal action against her for trying to defame him.

The Mumbai Police stated that she lodged a complaint, but an FIR is yet to be registered. We have started an inquiry and soon the statements of some of the people will be recorded, cops told ANI on Friday. According to a report by NDTV, the actress sent a formal letter to the concerned authorities, including the National Commission for Women (NCW) and Mumbai Police on April 8, accusing Modi, project head Sohail Ramani and executive producer Jatin Bajaj of sexual harassment.

"He (Modi) would pass uncharitable comments but I ignored them. In March 2019, in Singapore, he said many things like, Come to my room, let's have whisky'", she alleged. "I kept quiet but shared these things with two of my colleagues. They would often shield me. They are still working on the show, so they can't do much," the actor told PTI.

In a media statement, Ramani and Bajaj denied the allegations, claiming the actress regularly misbehaved with the entire team of the show. "We had to terminate her contract because of her bad behaviour and indiscipline during the shoot. During this incident, Asit ji was in the US. She is now trying to defame us and the show by making baseless allegations, they said.

Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah, which started airing in 2008, is one of the longest-running sitcoms in Indian television history. It also features popular actors Dilip Joshi, Munmun Dutta and Mandar Chandwadkar.

-with agency inputs
A day before the counting of the votes in the Karnataka assembly elections, held on May 10, the leaders of the three major political parties held a series of closed-door meetings with their partymen to discuss the next course of action in case of a hung assembly.



While most exit polls have hinted at the Congress emerging as the single-largest party or even securing a clear majority, the ruling BJP maintained that they will win an absolute majority to retain power in the state. The regional party, the Janata Dal (Secular), which will be the kingmaker in case of a hung verdict, remained non-committal towards the two national parties.



Former chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy flew out of the country to Singapore, citing a medical check-up. However, speculations are rife over the JD(S) leader being in talks with both the Congress and the BJP.



The Congress seemed in high spirits over the exit polls predicting a higher number of seats for the party and held a series of meetings with AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge at the former's residence.



KPCC chief D.K. Shivakumar, who arrived at Kharge's residence along with AICC general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala, told the reporters that he does not trust exit polls. "I don't trust any exit poll as my calculation tells me the Congress will win 141 seats," said Shivakumar.



BJP leaders put up a brave front despite most exit polls suggesting a setback for the ruling party. The party leaders exuded confidence that the BJP will secure an absolute majority in the state.



Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, along with his cabinet colleagues Murugesh Nirani and Byrati Basavaraj, rushed to former chief minister B.S. Yediyurappa's official residence in Bengaluru to discuss the probability of a hung verdict and to assess its position from the feedback received from the booth agents.



"I am very clear that we will reach the magic number. There is no question of an alliance as we will secure an absolute majority. I know the Congress party will not get a clear majority," said Bommai.



Yediyurappa dismissed the exit polls and said he was confident of the BJP forming the government. "I don't accept any exit poll results. I have toured the state and I am confident of the BJP winning 120 seats. I would like to tell my partymen in Bengaluru and elsewhere that there is no cause for concern," said Yediyurappa, and advised BJP workers to closely watch the Congress's moves.



Even as the state BJP leaders were busy compiling the numbers from their polling booth agents, they were also working out possibilities in case of a hung verdict and reached out to independent candidates who are most likely to win.



Meanwhile, both the national parties being in talks with the JD(S) for a post-poll alliance cannot be ruled out. The BJP had lost an opportunity to form the government in 2018 despite emerging as the single-largest party with 104 seats after the Congress, which bagged 78 seats, joined hands with the JD(S) by handing over the CM's post to Kumaraswamy of the JD(S) that had 37 seats.



According to sources, the MLA candidates of all three parties are under the watchful eyes of their party leadership to thwart any attempts of poaching by the rivals. In a state that is plagued by horse-trading and 'resort politics', neither party managing to pull off a clear majority may trigger high drama and chaos.



"We are going to win 108 seats and are facing a close fight in about 35 seats. Even if we win half of those seats, we will cross 120 seats," said minister Nirani.



Revenue Minister R. Ashok pointed out that at least two surveys had predicted a clear majority for the BJP.



"Whatever be the outcome, we are confident of forming the government," asserted Ashok, hinting at an alliance or even 'Operation Kamala', a strategy used by the saffron party to wrest power by poaching rebel MLAs from the rival parties to make good the shortage of seats in the past.



Union minister Shobha Karandlaje asserted that the BJP would win as Yediyurappa had predicted.



JD(S) state president C.M. Ibrahim alleged that the big parties hatched conspiracies, and used money and muscle power to defeat the regional party. "This is a party of the poor and the farmers. We lost some seats due to fund crunch. However, people have supported us. Kumaraswamy has gone abroad for a health check-up and will come back today night," said Ibrahim.



Meanwhile, Kumaraswamy is said to have sent feelers to both camps and is likely to favour the party that would honour the JD(S)' demands. JD(S) patriarch H.D. Deve Gowda made calls to his party MLA candidates in a bid to keep the flock together amid rumours of Congress chief Shivakumar trying to woo a few JD(S) leaders, seeking their support to the Congress party in case of a hung assembly.
In a shocking incident, a minor girl was shot dead in broad daylight in the busy market area of Jaura town in Morena district on Friday, by a youth who was reportedly pressuring the girl to marry him. Vijay Prajapati, 23, killed himself using the same gun, a few minutes after he committed the crime, police said.

The incident occurred just after noon, sending shock waves in the market area. Eyewitnesses told police that initially Prajapati tried to flee after shooting the girl, but then shot himself over the ear, probably thinking he would not be able to escape from the busy area.

Sub-divisional officer of Police (SDOP) Ritu Kevre told THE WEEK that according to preliminary information, Prajapati, who was working along with his brother as a house painter in Pune, had been pressuring the girl, his neighbour in Jaura town, to marry him, but she resisted. Prajapatis marital alliance was on the verge of finalization by his family, hence, he wanted the victim to say 'yes' to his proposal immediately.

The accused was seen talking to the girl, 16, at a roadside shop--where she made garlands for a nearby temple to earn livelihood--for quite some time and had a heated exchange before he shot her. The fact that Prajapati was carrying the gun when he came to meet the girl indicated premeditation to kill, sources said.

The SDOP said the family of the accused told them that Prajapati was in a relationship with the girl, and despite the families asking them to call it off, they continued to be in contact over the phone as Prajapati went away to Pune to work.

The incident created uproar in the market and the police were immediately called to the spot. Prajapati and the minor girl were rushed to a hospital where they were both declared brought dead. Kevre said that since the accused had killed himself, the case would be closed after due procedure.
Amid pre-poll predictions that the JD (S) will emerge as the kingmaker after the election results in Karnataka are announced, the party clarified that it hasn't taken a call on a coalition and will wait for election results.

Refuting the claim of party leader Tanveer Ahmed, state president of JD(S) C. M. Ibrahim claimed that Ahmed is not a party spokesperson and is not even a member of the party.

"He is nothing, he has left us long back. We have not decided anything (on coalition govt), we will wait for the results," Ibrahim was quoted as saying.

In an interview to NDTV, Ahmed said the decision was already taken. "The decision is done. It's taken. We will announce it to the public when it is right time to," he had said.

Ahmed had said no party in the state will be able to form a government without the support of the JD(S). "We could not match the resources of the national parties in terms of money, might, muscle. We were a weak party. But we know we performed enough to be a part of the government" he had told NDTV.

In the last assembly elections in 2018, the BJP emerged as the single largest party by winning 104 seats, followed by Congress with 80 seats and JD(S) 37.

With no party getting a clear majority, and as Congress and JD(S) were trying to forge an alliance, B.S. Yediyurappa of the BJP, which was the single largest party, staked a claim and formed the government. However, the government was dissolved within three days ahead of a trust vote, as Yediyurappa was unable to muster the required numbers.

Subsequently, the Congress-JD(S) alliance formed the government with Kumaraswamy as Chief Minister, but the wobbly dispensation collapsed in 14 months, as 17 legislators resigned and came out of the ruling coalition. They defected to the BJP and facilitated the party's return to power.
Key Insights

Minho (M) Berhad's estimated fair value is RM0.31 based on 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity

Current share price of RM0.30 suggests Minho (M) Berhad is potentially trading close to its fair value

The average premium for Minho (M) Berhad's competitorsis currently 154%

Today we will run through one way of estimating the intrinsic value of Minho (M) Berhad (KLSE:MINHO) by taking the forecast future cash flows of the company and discounting them back to today's value. One way to achieve this is by employing the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model. 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. 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 Minho (M) Berhad

The Model

We're using the 2-stage growth model, which simply means we take in account two stages of company's growth. In the initial period the company may have a higher growth rate and the second stage is usually assumed to have a stable growth rate. In the first stage we need to estimate the cash flows to the business over the next ten years. Seeing as no analyst estimates of free cash flow are available to us, we have extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the company's last reported value. We assume companies with shrinking free cash flow will slow their rate of shrinkage, and that companies with growing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow, over this period. We do this to reflect that growth tends to slow more in the early years than it does in later years.

A DCF is all about the idea that a dollar in the future is less valuable than a dollar today, so we discount the value of these future cash flows to their estimated value in today's dollars:

Story continues

10-year free cash flow (FCF) estimate

2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 Levered FCF (MYR, Millions) RM16.9m RM15.9m RM15.4m RM15.2m RM15.3m RM15.5m RM15.8m RM16.2m RM16.6m RM17.1m Growth Rate Estimate Source Est @ -9.94% Est @ -5.89% Est @ -3.05% Est @ -1.06% Est @ 0.33% Est @ 1.30% Est @ 1.98% Est @ 2.46% Est @ 2.79% Est @ 3.02% Present Value (MYR, Millions) Discounted @ 16% RM14.6 RM11.9 RM9.9 RM8.5 RM7.4 RM6.4 RM5.7 RM5.0 RM4.5 RM4.0

("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St)

Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = RM78m

We now need to calculate the Terminal Value, which accounts for all the future cash flows after this ten year period. The Gordon Growth formula is used to calculate Terminal Value at a future annual growth rate equal to the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield of 3.6%. We discount the terminal cash flows to today's value at a cost of equity of 16%.

Terminal Value (TV)= FCF 2032  (1 + g)  (r  g) = RM17m (1 + 3.6%)  (16% 3.6%) = RM146m

Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= RM146m ( 1 + 16%)10= RM34m

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 RM111m. In the final step we divide the equity value by the number of shares outstanding. Relative to the current share price of RM0.3, the company appears about fair value at a 3.9% 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 Minho (M) 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 16%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.523. Beta is a measure of a stock's volatility, compared to the market as a whole. We get our beta from the industry average beta of globally comparable companies, with an imposed limit between 0.8 and 2.0, which is a reasonable range for a stable business.

Looking Ahead:

Whilst important, the DCF calculation ideally won't be the sole piece of analysis you scrutinize for a company. It's not possible to obtain a foolproof valuation with a DCF model. Instead the best use for a DCF model is to test certain assumptions and theories to see if they would lead to the company being undervalued or overvalued. If a company grows at a different rate, or if its cost of equity or risk free rate changes sharply, the output can look very different. For Minho (M) Berhad, we've compiled three important aspects you should consider:

Risks: For instance, we've identified 2 warning signs for Minho (M) Berhad (1 shouldn't be ignored) 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 Environmentally-Friendly Companies: Concerned about the environment and think consumers will buy eco-friendly products more and more? Browse through our interactive list of companies that are thinking about a greener future to discover some stocks you may not have thought of!

PS. Simply Wall St updates its DCF calculation for every Malaysian stock every day, so if you want to find the intrinsic value of any other stock just search here.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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The Supreme Court (SC) on Friday issued notice to West Bengal and Tamil Nadu states for ban and 'shadow ban' on The Kerala Story film. The SC was hearing the writ petition filed by the makers of the film challenging the ban and screening restrictions on the film.

The makers also alleged that there was a 'shadow' ban in Tamil Nadu and sought protection for screening the film in the southern state. Though TN government has not banned the movie, the theatre owners decided not to screen the movie over law and order issues. The makers called it a 'shadow ban'.

The bench comprising Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud and Justice P.S. Narasimha posted the matter to next Wednesday for hearing counter arguments.

"The film is released in the rest of the country. West Bengal is not different from other parts of the country. If it can run on other parts of the country, why should the State of West Bengal ban the film? If the public does not think that the film is not worth seeing, they will not see it. It is running in other parts of the country which have similar demographic profile as West Bengal. Why should you not allow a film to run," CJI asked, reported LiveLaw.

While appearing for the producer of the film, senior advocate Harish Salve said that the West Bengal chief minister banned the movie after three days of the film's release without any issues. Even in Tamil Nadu, the film is facing a "de facto ban", he said.

Meanwhile, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, argued that there are intelligence reports regarding threats of law and order issues in the state.

Singhvi also pointed out that the State has power under Section 6 of the West Bengal Cinemas (Regulation) Act 1954 to ban the film.

The Kerala Story, directed by Sudipto Sen, narrates the ordeal of three women who are trafficked to the IS terror camp after being converted to Islam. The film has sparked off a political outrage with the opposition parties including Congress and the ruling CPI (M) in Kerala calling it as an "RSS propaganda" to defame the community.

The Trinamool Congress government banned the movie to "maintain peace" and avoid incidents of "hatred and violence" in the state. "Why did they make 'Kashmir Files'? It was meant purely to humiliate a particular section of society. What is The 'Kerala files'? It is a distorted story," Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had said.
The third umpire declared Imran Khan not out. In a twist, the Supreme Court of Pakistan has declared former Prime Minister Imran Khans arrest on Tuesday illegal, effectively giving him a chance to hit another knock. It is a victory for the PTI supremo, yet for Pakistanwhich has been on the boil since the arrestthe situation remains tense.

Supporters of Khan have been on a rampage for the past three days. Mobile services and access to social media sites have been blocked. Over 280 people have been injured in the violence and eight people have lost their lives to the violence that has spiralled out of control. On Wednesday night, PTI workers reached Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharifs house in Model Town and set fire to the vehicles parked there. They also threw petrol bombs inside.

In an unprecedented situation, PTI workers stormed into the General Headquarters and set the house of the Lahore Corps Commander on fire. Military vehicles and installations have been attacked. This widespread anger against the militarywhich has turned violenthas not been witnessed in Pakistan.

Punjab police have arrested 1,500 of Khan's party workers for attacking and setting on fire a top army officer's house in Lahore. An all-powerful institution, the militarywhich has been the power behind the thronehas never been challenged. And Khans arrestand the anger directed at the armyis proof that Kaptaan is emerging as a serious threat to the institution. The question remains as to how the army will now react. It is no secret that Khan has taken them onpublicly, the first civilian leader to do so aggressively and lived to tell the tale.

Khan has distanced himself from the violence, especially as audio leaks allege that PTI leadership had a hand in the attack on the army, but it is proof that he does control the streets. In Karachi, there have been clashes between PTI workers and security forces. Tear gas has been used to dispel the crowds. In Islamabad too, PTI workers have clashed with the police, according to reports.

Khanaccording to media reportshas been allowed to meet his family. He will appear before the Islamabad High Court on Friday. Appearing before the court, Khan has been quoted as saying that he was  kidnapped from Islamabad High Court and was hit with sticks. He also said that he had no idea what happened in the country after my arrest.

For Pakistan which is battling an economic crisis, the spilling of violence on the streets is far from ideal. According to State Bank of Pakistan data, Pakistan's central bank forex reserves fell by 74 million dollars to 4.38 billion during the week ending May 5. The reason was due to the payment of the external debt. But the instability is likely to add to the fragility of the situation. The Pakistani rupee fell 1.9 per cent to close at an all-time low of 290.22 a dollar on Wednesday, according to State Bank of Pakistan data. With the IMF loan that Pakistan is banking on as a lifeline still to materialise, instability is certainly not a desirable situation. In a statement issued by the UN spokesperson, secretary general Antonio Guterres urged all parties to refrain from violence.

The next few days will be crucial for Pakistan, as well as PTI.
A candidate in Turkey's presidential election, Muharrem Ince, announced his withdrawal from the race on Thursday, a move that's likely to benefit President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's main challenger.

The candidate who pulled out, Muharrem Ince, is the leader of the centre-left Homeland Party. He was one of four contenders running in Sunday's presidential election. Turkey holds a parliamentary election on the same day.

Ince had faced criticism for potentially ciphering support from the six-party Nation Alliance, which has united behind the candidacy of opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu, and thereby forcing the presidential contest into a second round. I am withdrawing from the race, Ince told reporters in front of his party's headquarters, following weeks of resisting calls to step down. I am doing this for my country.

Erdogan, who has led Turkey as prime minister and president since 2003, is facing the most challenging election of his 20-year rule. Polls have given Kilicdaroglu a slight lead over Erdogan, although neither candidate was expected to garner more than 50 per cent of the vote required to be elected in the first round.

Ince had polled at around 8 per cent of the vote when his candidacy was first announced, but his popularity had since dropped to around 2 per cent, according to opinion surveys. The firebrand politician didn't throw his support behind another candidate, but analysts said his withdrawal was likely to boost Kilicdaroglu's chances.

Nation Alliance members welcomed Ince's decision to step down, expressing hope for a first-round victory Sunday. Kilicdaroglu called on Ince to join the opposition coalition.

Let's leave old resentments, old grievances behind, Kilicdaroglu wrote on Twitter.

Erdogan meanwhile, said he regretted Ince's decision. Of course, it is impossible to understand why he withdrew. Honestly, I was saddened," Erdogan said during an election rally in Ankara. Now, we will continue (this race) with the remaining candidates. What matters is the decision of my people.

Ince said the Homeland Party, which he formed in 2021, would still participate in the parliamentary election, and he called for votes for the party from each household.

The 58-year-old former physics teacher ran against Erdogan in the 2018 presidential election on the ticket of Kilicdaroglu's CHP party. He had garnered around 30 per cent of the vote but later broke away from the party.

They will have no excuses if they lose the election, Ince said, in an apparent reference to Kilicdaroglu.

Remaining in the presidential race with Erdogan and Kilicdaroglu is 55-year-old former academician Sinan Ogan, who has the backing of an anti-migrant party.
China is sending a special envoy to Ukraine, Russia and a few other European countries to arrive at a solution for the Ukraine crisis, Chinese foreign ministry said on Friday. The visit by the special envoy will be the first by a Chinese higher official since Russia launched its attack on Ukraine.

Li Hui, China's special representative for Eurasian affairs will also visit Poland, France and Germany, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said. Li Hui is a vice-ministerial level diplomat and a former ambassador to Moscow and his visit is expected to begin from Monday.

The visit of Chinese representatives to relevant countries is another demonstration of Chinas commitment to promoting peace and talks. It fully demonstrates that China is firmly on the side of peace, South China Morning Post quoted Wang Wenbin as saying.

China is willing to continue to play a constructive role in building more international consensus on a ceasefire, initiation of peace talks, and prevention of escalation of the situation ... to promote a political settlement of the Ukraine crisis, the publication quoted Wenbin as saying.

China says it remains neutral over Russia's war in Ukraine but has declared it has a no limits relationship with Moscow and blames the US and NATO for provoking the conflict.

Beijing has put forward a peace plan for Ukraine that has been largely dismissed by the country's supporters, who say a resolution can only come when Russia ceases its attacks and withdraws its troops from Ukrainian territory.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping spoke by phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last month, setting the stage for the diplomatic push.

Beijing has previously avoided involvement in conflicts between other countries but appears to be trying to assert itself as a global diplomatic force after arranging talks between Saudi Arabia and Iran in March that led them to restore diplomatic relations after a seven-year break.

China has friendly relations with Moscow as well as economic leverage as the biggest buyer of Russian oil and gas after the United States and its allies cut off most purchases.

Beijing, which sees Moscow as a diplomatic partner in opposing US domination of global affairs, has refused to criticise the invasion and used its status as one of five permanent UN Security Council members to deflect diplomatic attacks on Russia.

(With PTI inputs.)
Former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan arrived at the Islamabad High Court amid high security, a day after the Supreme Court ordered his release. Khan was arrested from the IHC on Tuesday in the Al-Qadir Trust case over allegations of corruption.

Tight security is in place outside the IHC premises as supporters of Khan's PTI are expected to gather and express solidarity for the party chief. Section 144 has been imposed in Islamabad with the police banning gatherings, the Dawn reported. Hundreds of police and paramilitary troops have been deployed around the court and major roads cordoned off. Mobile data services have also been blocked since Tuesday, according to reports.

Khan's arrest earlier this week had sparked deadly violence in the capital. Nearly 2,000 people have been arrested so far and at least eight killed after his supporters clashed with police and paramilitary troops earlier.

In a major relief for Khan and his supporters, the SC on Thursday deemed his dramatic arrest "unlawful" and "invalid" and ordered his immediate release after he was produced before a bench on its orders. He was directed to appear before the IHC on Friday.

Meanwhile, the police on Friday arrested two senior PTI leaders as the government launched a crackdown on the opposition party amid the turmoil following Khan's arrest.





US to monitor the situation

The United States will continue to monitor the situation in Pakistan, the Biden Administration said on Thursday, maintaining that it does not have a position on one candidate or the other.



The official's comments came in the wake of the arrest of former Pakistan premier Imran Khan in a corruption case, which led to violent protests across the main cities of the country and the calling of the army to contain the unruly supporters.



"We continue to monitor the situation in Pakistan closely, and as the US has said before, we don't have a position on one candidate or one political party versus another. What our interest is a safe and secure, prosperous Pakistan. That is in the interest of the US-Pakistan relations, and we call for the respect of democratic principles and the rule of law around the world," State Department Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters.



Imran Khan

The United States, he said, does not have a favoured candidate or a favoured political party, not just in Pakistan but as it relates to any government system around the world. "A prosperous and strong, democratic Pakistan is critical to US interests. That remains unchanged."



"On some of these areas, such as press freedom, human rights, things of that nature, we have consistently raised these issues with our counterparts not just in Pakistan but in other countries where we have a perspective to offer on that," Patel said in response to a question.



(With inputs from PTI)
Austrian sailor Michael Guggenberger aka Captain Gugg finished third in the Golden Globe Race 2022, behind Kirsten Neuschafer (South Africa) and Commander Abhilash Tomy (India). He is reportedly only the second Austrian to complete a solo, non-stop circumnavigation.

He crossed the finishing line in Les Sables-dOlonne on the French Atlantic coast at around 1pm IST. And with him sailing up the channel the Golden Globe Race 2022 has ended. Only the Chichester Class participant Jeremy Bagshaw (South Africa) is left in the race.

Just ahead of the finish line, the GGR media team asked Guggenberger what he wanted to eat, and he said: Coffee on a table that is not wobbling, sitting on a chair that is not wobbling. I would also like a one-hour-long shower!

His boat, the Nuri, is a Biscay 36 named after the main sponsor, an eponymous Portugal-based company that cans sardines the artisanal way.

As with Neuschafer and Tomy, Guggenberger, too, was honoured on stage with an albatross pennant by Jean-Luc Van Den Heedewinner of Golden Globe Race 2018on behalf of the International Association of Cape Horners.

On stage, Tomy quipped that Guggenberger was the reason why he ran his engine so much, as they talked a lot over HF radio, and the batteries needed to be charged. In his typical wry humour, he added that Guggenberger had spent a lot of time in India, while his own connection with Austria was that he had watched The Sound of Music.
Voters disaffected by nine years of plodding rule by a coup-making army general are expected to deliver a strong mandate for change in Thailand's general election on May 14. But a predicted victory by the allies of Thaksin Shinawatra, whose ouster by coup 17 years ago plunged the country into prolonged instability, has caused concern for an unhindered democratic transition.



Dissatisfaction with the incumbent prime minister running for re-election, Prayuth Chan-ocha, is high, due in part to a slumping economy and his government's mismanaged response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Thailand is holding an election nearly after a decade of a government led or backed by its royalist military after a coup in 2014, Reuters reported.

The power struggle between Thaksin's supporters and his opponents has been fought sometimes in the street, sometimes at the ballot box for almost two decades.

Prayuth is trailing badly in opinion polls behind Thaksin's 36-year-old daughter, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, who inherited the popularity and political style of her father. She campaigned intensively while heavily pregnant and gave birth to a son last week. She is the favourite among the opposition Pheu Thai Party's three registered nominees for prime minister. Her party looks set to win a majority of seats in the lower house of Parliament.

Pheu Thai largely shares Move Forward's reformist agenda, but the smaller party's more forthright stand poses a dilemma. Move Forward could bring in youth voters. Adding Move Forward to a coalition government could antagonise the Senate, a conservative body whose support is crucial to taking power.

Then there is incumbent Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha of the newly formed United Thai Nation party, and Palang Pracharat party led by mentor Prawit Wongsuwan. Both parties draw backing from the urban middle classes and are regarded as representing the interests of Thailand's nexus of old-money aristocrats and military elites who have long influenced politics, a Reuters report reads. An important contender is Bhumjaithai, a regional heavyweight whose stature has grown after it successfully moved to make Thailand Asia's first country to legalise the sale of cannabis.

For Pheu Thai, the party controlled by Thaksin Shinawatra, this election seems to be a now-or-never kind of situation. The party largely has power among the rural poor, its long-standing anti-military stance makes it a popular force to reckon with. Thaksin is however 74, which means if Phue Thai doesn't get a majority, it could mean the end of the line for him. Thaksin tweeted Tuesday that he plans to return to Thailand by his 26 July birthday, saying he is ready to face justice in numerous corruption cases against him, AFP reported.

Close to 80 per cent of Thailand's population-- 52 out of 65 million is eligible to vote. The voters will have two ballots-- one for a local constituency representative and the other for their preferred party on a national level.



Thailand's 2017 constitution, adopted under military rule, calls for the prime minister to be selected by a joint vote of the 500-member House and the unelected 250-seat Senate, whose members were appointed by Prayuth's junta. Parties that win over 25 seats can choose a prime ministerial candidate. These candidates will then be put to vote by the freshly elected members of the house. To become prime minister, the winning candidate must have the votes of over 50 per cent of the combined houses or at least 375 members.

--With PTI inputs
Title 42, a public health restriction programme widely used by the Donald Trump administration to curb border crossings, has ended. For the last three years, the US border forces widely used this policy under the premise of increased Covid-19 precautions to expel migrants at the US-Mexico border.

Now that Title 42 has lapsed, President Joe Biden's administration will begin to impose new rules aimed at curbing illegal immigration. This includes denying asylum to migrants who show up at the U.S.-Mexico border without first applying online or seeking protection in a country they passed through. But, things would not be easy. The US expects a surge of migrants and as Biden puts it, "Its going to be chaotic for a while."



But, what is Title 42 and what's next at the southern borders?



Title 42

Though Title 42 (named for the portion of the US code that allowed the CDC director to issue it) was in place for decades, it was the Trump administration that began to use it widely. The policy enables the government to take emergency action in numerous ways, including to "stop the introduction of communicable diseases."



Since March 2020, authorities used to regulate border crossings during the Covid outbreak. According to US Customs and Border Protection data, authorities have expelled migrants more than 2.8 million times at the US-Mexico border since the policy was introduced.

The programme enabled authorities to overrule the US immigration law that allowed people to ask for asylum after entering illegally. Officials argued that the migrants could be sent back since taking them in could be a risk.



But now that the Biden administration is ending the Covid public health emergency, Title 42 has expired.



Migrants boarding Border Patrol vans after waiting along the border wall to surrender to US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents for immigration and asylum claim processing upon crossing the Rio Grande river into the United States on the US-Mexico border in El Paso in Texas | AFP

What's next



There will be a huge spurt of migrants trying to cross into the US. The inflow has already started that Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas had to warn migrants against falling victim to smugglers who spread misinformation that the borders are open.



"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," he said. "The border is not open, it has not been open, and it will not be open subsequent to May 11," he said.



Biden's new rules



Anticipating the chaos, the Biden administration has unveiled a new rule that would curb asylum. The new norms would seek to block migrants from seeking asylum in the U.S. if they passed through another country along the way that also offers asylum.



"We are finalising a new rule to encourage individuals to use available lawful, safe and orderly pathways to enter the United States," Mayorkas was quoted by The Hill. "The rule presumes that those who do not use lawful pathways to enter the United States are ineligible for asylum."



Besides, the new plan will include setting up additional facilities along the border to process migrants, bolstering transportation and leaning on a fast-track deportation process known as "expedited removal."



The new norms will also crack down hard on people who cross illegally. Those who are caught while trying to cross illegally will not be allowed to return for five years. They can face criminal prosecution if they do.


Revenge action thrillers are one of the most overused genres in Hollywood, and 'The Mother' is another addition to the long list. Jennifer Lopez plays a cold-blooded female assassin, known only as 'The Mother.' She has severed ties with her daughter and remains a distant figure who merely oversees her daughter's well-being. However, when her daughter is kidnapped, she emerges from hiding and risks everything to save her child.



Directed by Nicki Carlo and written by Misha Green, Andrea Berloff, and Peter Craig, the movie is entertaining enough with some spectacular action sequences. However, the cliched plot fails to offer anything new. Adrian Lowell and Hector Alvarez, the antagonists, feel hurriedly written.



'The Mother' is never named in the movie. She is not portrayed as someone who is capable of being gentle and chooses to show her affection by teaching the child how to survive while at least two different parties are vying for her life. While she is not capable of expressing love, 'The Mother' still wants to be part of her daughter's life. There is also no mention of the father of the child.



Although not exactly a ground-breaking film, the acting is generally quite good. The CGI could have been better. The filmmakers didn't attempt to make the mother wolf seem more realistic. Although a frantic mother figure has an exciting emotional draw, barely anything was done to explore the character more.



Despite its flaws, it is entertaining to see the transition of Jennifer Lopez from a rom-com lady to a badass action hero.



Film: The Mother

Director: Nicki Carlo

Cast: Jennifer Lopez, Lucy Paez, Omari Hardwick, Joseph Fiennes, Paul Raci, Gael Garcia Bernal

Rating: 2.5/ 5




Mumbai, May 12 (PTI) The Reserve Bank of India on Friday said a special 100 days campaign will be launched under which banks trace and settle their top 100 deposits in every district of the country.

The banks will commence the campaign from June 1, 2023.

Balances in savings/current accounts which are not operated for 10 years, or term deposits not claimed within 10 years from date of maturity are classified as "unclaimed deposits".

These amounts are transferred by banks to "Depositor Education and Awareness" (DEA) Fund maintained by the Reserve Bank of India.

"The Reserve Bank of India today announced a 100 Days 100 Pays' campaign for banks to trace and settle the top 100 unclaimed deposits of every bank in every district of the country within 100 days," the central bank said in a statement.

This measure, it added, will complement the ongoing efforts and initiatives by the Reserve Bank to reduce the quantum of unclaimed deposits in the banking system and return such deposits to their rightful owners/claimants.

Recently, the RBI has also announced the setting up of a centralised web portal for public to search unclaimed deposits across multiple banks.

The Reserve Bank, from time to time, through its public awareness initiatives, has been encouraging members of public to identify and approach the bank concerned for claiming such deposits.

The unclaimed deposits are transferred by banks to "Depositor Education and Awareness" (DEA) Fund maintained by the central bank.

The issues related to unclaimed deposits were also discussed during the meeting of the high-powered Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) headed by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman earlier this week.
(Bloomberg) -- Evercore Inc. has swooped in to hire a top team of media and telecommunications bankers from Credit Suisse Group AG, who are leaving the Swiss lender in the wake of its takeover by UBS Group AG, people with knowledge of the matter said.

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The US advisory firm has recruited managing directors Giuseppe Monarchi, Laurence Hainault and Francesco Gurrieri, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing confidential information. They are set to join in a few months, according to the people.

London-based Monarchi is leaving Credit Suisse after more than three decades. He was most recently head of its investment banking and capital markets division in Europe, the Middle East and Africa and global head of its media and telecom team, where Hainault and Gurrieri worked.

Several junior members of the media and telecom team are also set to join Evercore, the people said. Spokespeople for Evercore and Credit Suisse declined to comment.

Credit Suisse continues to lose senior bankers following its rescue sale to local rival UBS in March. The deal is expected to result in thousands of job cuts at the combined group, with UBS committed to maintaining a streamlined investment bank.

Earlier this week, Bloomberg News reported that at least eight senior Credit Suisse bankers, including mergers and acquisitions chief Steve Geller, were leaving to join Spains Banco Santander SA.

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New Delhi, May 12 (PTI) Regulator Trai on Friday directed telecom operators to take action against misuse of telemarketing messages templates within 30 days to curb pesky messages.

The regulator in the direction said that it has noticed some telemarketers are misusing headers and content templates of enterprises.

"Unsolicited Commercial Communication (UCC) is a major source of inconvenience to the public and impinges on the privacy of individuals and Trai has been taking various steps to curb it. Today, Trai has issued a direction to stop misuse of message templates under Telecom Commercial Communication Customer Preference Regulations, 2018 (TCCCPR-2018)," the regulator said.

Instead of mobile numbers, the authorised telemarketing messages display headers which is indicative of the company from which it has come.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has directed telecom operators to make changes in the code of practices (CoPs) around headers and content templates of telemarketing messages under the TCCCPR 2018 rules and comply with the direction within 30 days.

The regulator said that look-alike message titles or headers are creating confusion among recipients of messages and are being misused by some of the entities for their gains.

Trai said that the number of variables in a template is not defined in CoPs, which leads to misuse of the same, and moreover, the promotional content is being passed in the variable portions of content templates.

"...in order to minimize the said misuse, the number of variables allowed in content template needs to be limited in a way that not only gives PEs (Principal Entities) enough flexibility to phrase their content but at the same time, there are reasonable restrictions on number and placement of variables," the regulator said.

Trai has directed telecom operators to re-verify all headers registered on blockchain based messaging platforms within 30 days and block unverified headers.

It has asked telecom operators to develop a system within 60 days to temporarily deactivate all headers which remain unused for 30 days.

Telecom operators are required to set up an online process to reactivate headers for the messages and ensure that each header is distinct.

Trai's direction requires telecom operators to re-verify all content templates within 60 days and block unverified templates.

Telecom operators are required to incorporate procedures for quarterly re-verification of headers and content templates in their respective CoPs, under the Trai direction.
Mumbai, May 12 (PTI) A special PMLA court here on Friday granted bail to businessman Haroun Yusuf, arrested in 2019 in connection with a money laundering case also involving late gangster and drug smuggler Iqbal Mirchi, holding he had no knowledge regarding the latter's source of money.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED), probing the case, has claimed Yusuf had assisted Mirchi in buying properties in India using money earned through illegal activities.

However, special PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) court judge MG Deshpande, while granting the accused bail, held that except bare allegations, there was nothing to show Yusuf had any knowledge regarding Mirchi's source of money.

The judge also pulled up the central agency for delaying trial in the case.

Based on multiple FIRs registered under provisions of the IPC and the NDPS Act (Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act) against Mirchi, the ED had registered its case against him, his family members and others. Mirchi died at the age of 63 in London in 2013.

There are 21 accused in the case, including the wife and son of Mirchi, realtors Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhwans and some firms.

Yusuf, arrested in 2019, had sought bail on merits of the case and also under section 436A the CrPC (Code of Criminal Procedure), claiming he has completed 3 years and 6 months in jail under judicial custody.

The relevant section stipulates that if a person has undergone detention for a period extending up to one-half of the maximum period of imprisonment specified for that offence, then he shall be released by the court on personal bond.

The ED had opposed his bail plea, saying the accused was involved in serious offence of money-laundering.

The anti-money laundering agency also objected to the accused citing section 436A of the CrPC, arguing one of the scheduled offences under which he has been booked falls under the NDPS Act and maximum limit of imprisonment provided therein was up to 10 years.

The applicant has undergone only three years and six months of imprisonment, which by no stretch of imagination calls for application of the section 436A of the CrPC, the ED added.

The court, after hearing both sides, held the applicant had absolutely no role in any of the alleged criminal activities relating to the scheduled offence for alleged generation of proceeds of crime.

Also, except bare allegations, there is nothing to show he had any knowledge regarding Iqbali Mirchi's source of money. Therefore, contention of the ED that Yusuf had knowledge of such criminal activities relating to the scheduled offence has absolutely no substance, the judge noted.

The court pulled up the central probe agency for delaying the trial and not following provisions mandated under the PMLA.

It has to be noted that undue incarceration of Yusuf is more than half of the maximum punishment provided under the PML Act. He has been without trial for more than 3 years and 7 months, the court observed.

The judge further observed that the ED is purposely keeping the court in dark and deliberately avoiding to scrupulously follow the mandate under Section 44(1)(c) of the PML Act".

There is absolutely no possibility of beginning and conclusion of the trial in near future, he said.

As per section 44(1)(c) of the PMLA, the case relating to the scheduled offence has to be committed to the court which has taken cognizance of the matter.

The ED, in its chargesheet, has claimed Mirchi bought properties in India using money earned through illegal activities and later sold them for redevelopment.

The agency's complaint mentioned that three family members of the gangster were the beneficiaries of the assets earned by Mirchi through proceeds of crime.

The central agency has alleged Mirchi had purchased three real estate assets -- Sea View, Marium Lodge and Rabia Mansion -- in 1986. ED officers claimed the gangster was involved in narcotics smuggling and operated an extortion racket for several years, and listed eight cases to prove his involvement in criminal activities since 1984.

A case filed in 1994 at the MRA Marg police station in Mumbai was taken as the base case to initiate a money laundering inquiry against him.

The ED claimed Mirchi used a trust as a front and negotiated with several realtors to redevelop properties purchased by him. Between 1981 and 2010, the original tenants in these properties were replaced with Mirchi's relatives, it said.
New York, May 12 (PTI) South Korean pop sensation BTS will release a book on the history of the band on July 9, its US publisher, Flatiron Books has announced.

The book, Beyond The Story: 10-Year Record of BTS, will first release in South Korea and then the United States. The release of the book coincides with the date BTS's fanbase ARMY was founded.

It is written by journalist Myeongseok Kang and members of the group, and it will be published in South Korea by the band's label Big Hit Music.

According to the New York Times, the US edition will be 544 pages and contain exclusive photographs, and will have a first printing of one million copies.

The English translation is done by Anton Hur, in collaboration with Clare Richards and Slin Jung.

BTS, comprising RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V and Jungkook, has released nine albums and six EPs. They have emerged as a global sensation with songs like "Dynamite", "Butter", "Life Goes On" and "Permission to Dance".

The band is on a hiatus as two of its members -- Jin and J-Hope -- have enlisted in South Koreas military as required by law. The other members will soon follow.
Peshawar, May 12 (PTI) Hundreds of angry supporters of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party have vandalised the historic Radio Pakistan building here this week after its chief and former premier Imran Khan was arrested on May 9.

Hundreds of violent protesters attacked the Radio Pakistan building in the northwestern city of Peshawar and damaged equipment before setting it ablaze, ARY News reported on Wednesday.

Ousted Prime Minister Khan's arrest on Tuesday in a corruption case sparked violent protests across the country.

Some employees of state-run Radio Pakistan were trapped inside, while police sought to restore order, it said.

Director General of Radio Pakistan, Tahir Hussian confirmed that the building in Peshawar was attacked by violent protesters, the report added. He said that the protesters wreaked havoc in the newsroom and various other sections of the radio station.

The miscreants entered the newsroom and radio audio room and set fire to the furniture inside, he said, adding that a mob also attacked the staff at the office.

Vehicles parked in the building of Radio Pakistan were also set on fire, while the miscreants damaged and looted government property, including cameras, microphones and other office equipment, it said.
Islamabad, May 12 (PTI) Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has expressed optimism that Pakistan would not default on its external repayments despite facing an acute balance of payments crisis with no sign of receiving the IMF bailout anytime soon, a media report said on Friday.

Speaking at a session on the countrys economic challenges during an event titled Islamabad Security Dialogue-2023 on Thursday, Dar reiterated that Pakistan has fulfilled all the IMF conditions [for the revival of its loan programme]", The Express Tribune newspaper reported.

"The government took steps to meet those conditions. It has ensured its external repayments till December, Dar was quoted as saying.

The statement came after the IMF said that Pakistan needs significant additional financing for the successful completion of the long-stalled ninth review bailout package, the report said.

Commenting on a recent report by a global credit rating agency that Pakistan might default on its external repayments, the finance minister said if the IMF sought more time to reach a staff-level agreement with the country, it could proceed ahead with it.

He said that Pakistan had arranged funds to pay off its external repayments to the tune of USD 3.2 billion in May and June on time and that the friendly countries would soon fulfill their pledges to finance the crisis-struck country, the report said.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar have repeatedly claimed that Pakistan met all the prior conditions agreed for reaching a staff-level agreement and there was no reason for holding back the agreement.

Last week the IMF rejected the Pakistan government's claim that it has met all the conditions to reach an agreement with the global financial body to release funds under an already agreed loan facility.

"Our team is very heavily engaged of course with the Pakistani authorities, because Pakistan indeed faces a very challenging situation," Julie Kozack, IMF spokeswoman was quoted as saying.

She added that the large South Asian economy was facing stagflation and had also been battered by a series of shocks including severe floods.

The United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and China came to Pakistan's assistance in March and April with pledges that would cover some of the funding deficit.

A staff-level accord to release a USD 1.1 billion tranche out of a USD 6.5 billion IMF package has been delayed since November, with nearly 100 days gone since the last staff-level mission to Pakistan. That is the longest such gap since at least 2008.

The Washington-based global lender signed a deal in 2019 to provide USD 6 billion to Pakistan on fulfilment of certain conditions.

The plan was derailed several times and the full reimbursement is still pending due to insistence by the donor that Pakistan should complete all formalities.

The State Bank of Pakistan has about USD 4.5 billion in foreign exchange reserves, barely enough to cover one months imports.

Exports are on the decline, while foreign direct investment also dropped during the first nine months of the current fiscal year.

Pakistan, currently in the throes of a major economic crisis, is grappling with high external debt, a weak local currency and dwindling foreign exchange reserves.
Ahmedabad, May 12 (PTI) The MLAs who won the December 2022 Gujarat Assembly elections spent on average Rs 27.10 lakh or 68 per cent of the expense limit on campaigning, a report prepared by the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) said on Friday.

Under the Representation of the People Act, winning candidates are required to file election expenditure statements within 30 days of results. In the case of Gujarat elections, the deadline was January 8, 2023.

An analysis of these affidavits by the ADR showed that the 156 MLAs of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spent average Rs 27.94 lakh.

The 17 Congress MLAs spent on average Rs 24.92 lakh while the five AAP MLAs spent Rs 15.63 lakh, the report said.

For three independent MLAs, the average expenditure stood at Rs 21.59 lakh.

Individually, the BJP's Jayram Ganit (MLA from Tapi) declared the highest expenditure of Rs 38 lakh, followed by Laxman ji Thakor (Gandhinagar) and Kirit Dabhi (Ahmedabad) who declared election expesnes of Rs 37.78 lakh and Rs 36 lakh.

Samajwadi Party's lone MLA Kandal Jadeja declared the lowest expenditure of Rs 6.87 lakh, followed by Amit Chavda of Congress and Umesh Makwana of AAP at Rs 9.28 lakh and Rs 9.64 lakh, respectively.

Besides the usual heads of expenses such as advertising, public meetings and processions of star campaigners, campaign vehicles and workers, 20 legislators also said that they spent funds on virtual campaigns.

A total of 40 MLAs incurred expenses on declaring the criminal cases pending against them in print media, as required under the election rules.

BJP MLAs on average claimed to have spent 21.2 percent of money on public meetings and processions with star campaigners. The same stood at 5 percent and 3.9 percent in the case of Congress and AAP MLAs.

Independent candidates spent 30.5 percent of money on campaign materials.

Average expenditure on electronic media was around 1.5 to 2 percent.

The Samajwadi Party MLA spent the highest 38.4 percent of money on campaign vehicles.

As much as 77 percent of the funds received by the MLAs came from political parties, 16 percent of funds were raised by the candidates themselves, and seven percent of campaign funds were raised from other sources, the ADR report said.

As many as 25 MLAs declared that they received no funds from their party.

Independent MLAs bore on average 31 percent of their campaign expenses themselves. AAP candidates contributed 21.66 percent of own funds for campaigns and BJP candidates contributed 16.63 percent.

Congress MLAs used only 3.62 percent of their own funds for campaigning.

The expenditure limit for MLAs during the Gujarat assembly elections was Rs 40 lakh.

The ADR noted that details of campaign expenditure were not uploaded on the Election Commission's website for long after the deadline.

"The deadline for filing an election petition against any winner is 45 days after the declaration of results. Generally MLAs submit their election expenditure statements towards the end of the 30 day period. This leaves 15 days for any common citizen to file an election petition against a winner," it said.

"The deadline for filing an election petition should be increased so that there is more time to scrutinize election expenditure statements of MLAs and gather relevant documents," it said.
Bhopal, May 12 (PTI) Ratlam in Madhya Pradesh on Friday recorded the highest temperature of 45.5 degrees Celsius, officials said.

The district recorded the second highest temperature in the country after Barmer in Rajasthan which recorded a maximum temperature of 45.7 degrees Celsius, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said in a release.

Heat waves swept Ratlam and Dhar in western Madhya Pradesh with Dhar recording a maximum temperature of 43.9 degrees Celsius.

Temperatures rose above 41 degrees Celsius for the third consecutive day in MP.

Heat wave conditions are very likely to prevail at isolated places in western MP on Saturday and Sunday, the IMD forecast said.

The IMD's Bhopal centre director R Balasubramanian told PTI that heat wave was expected to be 20 per cent above the normal in the state in May.

Presently summer is setting and higher temperatures in Gujarat and Rajasthan were shooting up in west MP. Cyclone Mocha will also influence the weather in MP as north-westerlies will bring more dry and hot weather, he added.
New Delhi, May 12 (PTI) The first ministerial meeting of the India-EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC) will be held in Brussels on 16 May that is expected to deliberate on cooperation in areas critical technologies like artificial intelligence, quantum computing and semiconductors.

The meeting will be co-chaired on the Indian side by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and Communications and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, according to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Friday.

"The first Ministerial meeting of the IndiaEU Trade and Technology Council (TTC) will be held in Brussels on May 16," the MEA said.

The TTC was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen during the latter's visit to India in April last year, it said.

Subsequently both sides established three working groups under the TTC.

The first working group is on strategic technologies, digital governance and digital connectivity. The second one is on green and clean energy technologies and the third one is on trade, investment and resilient value chains.

"Both sides have maintained continuous engagement thereafter within the working groups at various levels and meetings of the three working groups have also taken place leading to the ministerial meeting in Brussels," the MEA said in a statement.

The TTC is expected to facilitate exchange of critical technologies relating to an array of domains including artificial intelligence, quantum computing, semiconductors and cybersecurity.

The TTC with India is the European Union's second such technology partnership after the first one with the United States that was firmed up in June 2021.

The working group on strategic technologies, digital governance and digital connectivity is focusing on areas of mutual interest such as digital connectivity, artificial intelligence, 5G/6G, quantum computing, semiconductors, cloud systems, cybersecurity, digital skills and digital platforms.

The group on green and clean energy technologies is focusing on green technologies, including investment and standards, with emphasis on research and innovation.
New Delhi, May 12 (PTI) Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday lauded the students of classes 10th and 12th for their CBSE results and said they have achieved a milestone.

The CBSE has announced the results for the class 10 and 12 exams where the pass percentage stood at 93.12 per cent and 87.33 per cent respectively.

"Congratulations to the students who have passed the CBSE 10th and 12th exams. You have achieved a milestone, winning smiles for your parents and teachers.

"The students who think their grades fell short of expectations should move ahead with a new resolve to succeed," Shah tweeted.
New Delhi, May 12 (PTI) The Delhi government is ready for a major bureaucratic overhaul even though the implementation of its decision to transfer its services department secretary has run into rough weather, sources said on Friday.

The ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has approached the Supreme Court alleging the Centre was not implementing its decision to transfer Services Secretary Ashish More. Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said he will constitute a bench to hear the matter next week.

The Delhi government claimed in a statement that More has "refused" to put up the file for appointment of a new officer (AK Singh, IAS) to replace him.

"Instead of putting up the file, he left the secretariat without informing the services minister's office," the statement added.

The sources said More went on casual leave on Friday.

The apex court ruled on Thursday that the elected government in Delhi has legislative and executive powers over services department matters, barring those related to land, police and public order that still come under the jurisdiction of the lieutenant governor.

More was removed from his post on Thursday, hours after the Supreme Court gave the AAP dispensation control over the transfer and posting of officers in the city.

The sources claimed that More was still not transferred as he was ordered to be removed from his post against the established procedure.

"Even as the transfer of More has not been effected, the AAP government is ready for large-scale transfers of senior officers, including many principal secretaries and heads of departments. This will happen as soon as the present case is decided by the court," a top source in the government claimed.

Soon after the SC verdict on Thursday, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said a major reshuffle of officers in the city government would be carried out in the coming days. He also warned that officers who allegedly obstructed works would "face the music".

The sources claimed that the decision to transfer More was taken without keeping the Delhi's Civil Services Board (CSB) in the loop. In the case of More, the rule of first putting up the matter for consideration of the board was not followed, they said.

The CSB was constituted by the Delhi government in 2014 as per the All India Service (Cadre) Rules, 1954. The board is mandated to examine the cases of officers who are proposed to be transferred before the completion of their minimum tenure, and seek justification for doing so.

It was also claimed by the sources that the decision to transfer More was taken even as a Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) notification placing the services department under the LG's jurisdiction was yet to be withdrawn in the light of the Supreme Court order on Thursday.

Meanwhile, in the Secretariat, ministers held meetings with officers, taking stock of the situation and discussing pending projects and programmes of the government. The chief minister also reached the Secretariat, officials said.
(Bloomberg) -- Complaints about how cloud service providers try to prevent customers from switching to rivals were the focus of a virtual workshop convened by the US Federal Trade Commission on Thursday.

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Experts invited by the agency said Microsoft Corp., Amazon.com Inc. and Oracle Corp. make it difficult for companies to leave their cloud systems by charging significant fees to migrate data or use their software tools elsewhere.

The workshop, part of an FTC inquiry focused on data security and competition in the cloud computing industry, took place as antitrust agencies globally are stepping up their scrutiny.

Microsoft is facing a formal inquiry from the European Commission into its business practices related to cloud computing. The UKs digital regulator said last month that cloud services firms might be abusing their market power to thwart fair competition and suggested that the competition authority open a market investigation.

The US cloud market is dominated by Amazon, Alphabet Inc.s Google and Microsoft. Licensing practices make it hard for companies to effectively switch among providers, said Frederic Jenny, an economics professor at ESSEC Business School in Paris.

Jenny has been researching potential anticompetitive conduct in cloud markets on behalf of Cloud Infrastructure Services Providers in Europe, a trade association of European cloud providers that includes Amazon, Reevo Spa and Gigas Hosting SA, among others.

There is a great deal of confusion about fairness and competition in the cloud, Jenny said. Because there are many different business models, people are quite confused about what is the norm.

Story continues

Jenny said at the FTC workshop that Microsoft charges additional licensing fees to use its Windows and Office software with rival cloud providers, like Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud Platform. Oracle also charges additional fees for use of its popular database software on other clouds, he added.

Amazon Web Services imposes charges to move data out of its data centers, making migrations difficult and expensive, said Steven Weber, a professor at the University of California at Berkeley School of Information.

Preston Grisham, a spokesman for Amazon Web Services, said in an interview after the event that the company doesnt charge different prices for data transfers to other cloud providers than it does for transfers for other purposes. That practice is standard in the industry, he said. Amazon reduced its fees in November 2021, he noted.

Microsoft made changes to its cloud licensing terms in Europe last year in response to concerns, according to spokesman David Cuddy, who was reached after the event.

Oracle didnt respond to requests for comment.

The dominance of just a few cloud providers could affect innovation in artificial intelligence, said Weber, who heads Berkeleys Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity. Some of the big cloud companies have been offering artificial intelligence startups investments in the form of cloud credits, he added.

That kind of subsidy has the effect of tying a particular companys AI models to a particular cloud provider, he said.

The FTC is accepting public comments on the cloud computing inquiry through June 21.

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New Delhi, May 12 (PTI) Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud Friday hailed the contribution of Supreme Court judge Justice Dinesh Maheshwari, who will demit office on May 14, to the legal profession and said he has shown commitment to ensuring that justice is accessible to all.

Chandrachud said Maheshwari has been a proponent of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms.

The CJI said Justice Maheshwari emphasised the need to streamline the arbitration process to make it more efficient and cost-effective and did not shy away from raising issues of importance for the administration of justice.

Justice Maheshwari, who took oath as an apex court judge on January 18, 2019, will be retiring after serving more than four years at the top court.

The CJI was speaking at a function organised by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) to bid farewell to Justice Maheshwari.

"Throughout his career, Justice Maheshwari has shown a commitment to ensure that justice is accessible to all. He has been a proponent of the alternative dispute resolution mechanisms and has emphasised the need to streamline the arbitration process to make it more efficient and cost-effective," Justice Chandrachud said.

He said Justice Maheshwari authored over 100 reported judgments during his tenure as a judge of the apex court, including the verdict upholding the 103rd Constitutional amendment providing for EWS reservation.

Referring to Justice Maheshwari's speech at the 40th anniversary of CESTAT, Justice Chandrachud said he had specifically pointed out need for the executive to implement its litigation policy ensuring that it does not appeal all cases unnecessarily, adding to the ever-rising docket of courts.

"An advice that he (Justice Maheshwari) often shares with his juniors as well as with us on the bench is about the role that judges and lawyers ought to play. He would often say that, 'As judges, we do not see the person, only the cause'," he said.

Speaking at the function, Justice Maheshwari termed his tenure as a judge of the apex court a "wonderful journey" and said it was a great learning experience for him.

He said judges come and go but the institution keeps on marching ahead from strength to strength because of the continued, permanent and unending contribution of the members of the Bar.

"....as a humble servant of the Constitution, I have tried to contribute my part towards strengthening of our great institution and marching ahead of our great nation for which all of us always work together and I am thankful to the members of the Bar for their immense, great contribution and secondly, reposing faith in us...," Justice Maheshwari said, while thanking the CJI, other judges and members of Bar for their wishes.

Referring to a dialogue from famous movie 'Mughal-e-Azam', Justice Maheshwari said, "Justice is dearer to a judge than anything else..."

Attorney General R Venkataramani and SCBA president and senior advocate Vikas Singh also addressed the gathering which was attended by several apex court judges and lawyers.

Singh said it is indeed a very difficult moment for the Bar when it loses a good judge upon retirement.

With the retirement of Justice Maheshwari, the number of judges in the top court, which was working at its full strength, including the CJI, will come down to 33.
Kochi, May 12 (PTI) The Kerala High Court on Friday condemned the adverse comments made on social media against its initiation of suo motu proceedings on matters such as the recent boat tragedy and the murder of a young doctor, and said it does not intend to administer or micromanage affairs of the state as portrayed in the "cyber attacks". The social media posts criticising the suo motu initiations of the High Court recently drew the ire of Justice Devan Ramachandran, who along with Justice Sophy Thomas, had considered the suo motu PIL on the boat tragedy that occurred on May 7, which claimed 22 lives.

He said the "Lakshmana rekha has been breached" but the "attacks" on social media "will not be able to stifle the voice of the judges".

The judge also charged that when the court speaks for the people, some persons consider it anti-government.

"We are not here to administer or micromanage the affairs of the state. It is when the persons who are in charge fail that we step in," Justice Ramachandran said.

He said the fact that 22 people died or that a young doctor was killed shows that there is a problem.

"Why can't they (social media critics) recognise that? The government is recognising that. That is why you have an investigation. To ensure that it doesn't happen in the future," the court said.

Justice Ramachandran said the suo motu proceedings were initiated due to concerns regarding the overloading of boats, which is an issue that needs to be resolved immediately.

"Overloading cannot be permitted. We cannot let another accident happen... When the court speaks for the people, it becomes anti-government. I don't know how this is interpreted. Even in this we are facing cyber attacks... What kind of systems are we creating where the judges cannot speakout aloud?" the court asked.

Calling the attention of the state government to the issue, the court said, "...we are attacked. and it's the duty of the state to ensure that the judiciary is also able to work without fear..."

Justice Ramachandran said he was mentally exhausted the other day after seeing the recent tragedies and is also worried that "the courts are being attacked left, right and centre".

"My registry is showing me all these and I am asking them not to take action. We know who these people are...," he claimed.

He said the government is ready to accept the suggestions of the court and the pleaders too are supportive but there are some "self-appointed" persons who "make comments and act as authorities", the court said in an apparent reference to those criticising the court's actions on social media.

"...the lakshmana rekha has been broken. It has been breached. There is no doubt, and I hope that the people who are responsible will do something. We are not doing anything because no one can threaten me. They cannot stifle our voice," Justice Ramachandran said, also on behalf of Justice Thomas.

He also said that the bench had considered the suo motu case as directed by the acting chief justice.

"The bench in jurisdiction was directed by the acting chief justice to take action. Any bench would have taken it. We have to ensure that there are no more such accidents," the court said.

Justice Ramachandran also said that he was not against the police and in fact Kerala police is the best in the country.

He said "the government should also be alerted on such incidents as benches cannot work unless a government security system is in place".
SOPHIA GOUVEIA, Wheeler, Girls Lacrosse, Sophomore; Gouveia scored the winning goal with less than a minute remaining to beat St. Bernard. Gouveia finished with six goals in that game and also scored eight times in a win against Griswold-Norwich Tech.

WILL FRENCH, Stonington, Boys Lacrosse, Senior; French won 62 of 66 faceoffs in three Stonington victories. French also scored six goals and contributed an assist in the wins.

RYDER CASADY, Westerly, Boys Lacrosse, Junior; Casady made 30 saves in goal for the unbeaten Bulldogs. Casadys best performance of the week was 13 saves in a win against Burrillville.

KODY POPLASKI, Chariho, Boys Volleyball, Sophomore; Poplaski had 95 assists in two wins for the Chargers. Poplaski contributed 51 in a victory against Classical and 44 against Cranston East.

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Manhattan prosecutors said Thursday that they will bring criminal charges against a man who used a fatal chokehold on an unruly passenger aboard a New York City subway train, a death that stirred outrage and debates about the response to mental illness in the nations largest transit system.

Daniel Penny, a 24-year-old U.S. Marine Corps veteran, will be arrested and face a charge of second degree manslaughter, which could carry a jail term of up to 15 years.

We cannot provide any additional information until he has been arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court, which we expect to take place tomorrow, the Manhattan district attorneys office said in a statement.

The charges come nearly two weeks after Penny pinned fellow subway rider Jordan Neely, 30, to the floor of a subway car and put him in a chokehold that lasted for several minutes.

According to a freelance journalist who witnessed the struggle, Neely, who is Black, had been screaming and begging for money aboard the train prior to the takedown, but had not physically attacked anyone.

Attorneys for Penny, who is white, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. They previously said their client, along with two other riders who helped restrain Neely, had acted in self-defense.

Daniel never intended to harm Mr. Neely and could not have foreseen his untimely death, they said in a statement.

A former subway performer known for his spot-on Michael Jackson impression, Neely struggled in recent years with homelessness and worsening mental illness, friends said. He had been arrested several times, and had recently pleaded guilty to assaulting a 67-year-old woman in 2021 as she left a subway station. After pleading guilty, he missed a court date, leading to a warrant for his arrest that was still active at the time of his death.

His death has divided some in New York and beyond, triggering intense debates and protests. Left-leaning advocates described the killing as an act of racist vigilantism, invoking comparisons to the infamous subway shooting carried out by Bernhard Goetz against four teenagers in 1984.

Others, including Mayor Eric Adams, have urged caution, calling on New Yorkers to wait for the full facts and investigations. They note that much is still not known about what precipitated the chokehold.

As the investigation has continued, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has faced pressure to make an arrest. Penny was questioned by police in the hours after Neely died, but released without charges.

A second-degree manslaughter charge in New York will require the jury to find that a person has engaged in reckless conduct that creates an unjustifiable risk of death, and then consciously disregards that risk. The law also requires that conduct to be a gross deviation from how a reasonable person would act in a similar situation.

(AP)




By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for 5TJT.com

Rav Moshe Sherer was a remarkable individual whose skills and abilities helped shape the Torah World in America, as we know it today. He was a master shtadlan  with an uncanny perception of the political scene and a deep understanding of the psychology of people. This man had dealt with presidents and prime ministers, senators, mayors, business leaders. He was also trained under the greatest of our Gedolim: he worked with Rav Elchonon Wasserman, Rav Reuvain Grozofsky, Rav Aharon Kotler and Rav Moshe Feinstein  and received their advice in shtadlanus.

His selfless devotion to Klal Yisroel and to Agudas Yisroel of America  fashioned this organization into the champion of Torah values that it is.

In Europe, many of the Yeshivos were recognized by the Russian government as legal institutions of higher learning, Slabodka and Telze  to name just two. This was due to the efforst of Rav Reuvain Grozovsky, who was asked to do so by the Alter of Slabodka, In America, however, the Yeshivos would not be approved by any of the existing accreditation agencies registered by the U.S. Dept. of Education. Rav Moshe Sherer saw to it to help create AARTS and was instrumental in ensuring that it got off to a good start. Imagine what the finances of the yeshivos would be without the grants that AARTS helps to provide students.

Some of his pet projects were Camp Agudah and Camp Bnos. He loved what the camp was able to do in terms of inspiring boys and girls with a true bren and love for Torah and Yiddishkeit. He loved bringing gedolim to camp, thus exposing Klal Yisroel to their Gedolim. Under his direction and the able leadership of Meir Frischman, the camp was always completely filled up  months before any other camp was. He also ensured that there were ample scholarships available for those who needed it. He especially took a filial role in ensuring that Russian Jewish children receive their long-forgotten birthright  the birthright of Sinai. There are thousands of families that are Torah-observant and live the ideal of Ki haim chayeinu on account of this man.

Rav Moshe Sherer was at the forefront of saving Iranian Jewry and ensuring that many of them receive a true Torah education. The logistics of such a project were truly amazing and he spearheaded the effort. Our Persian Jewish brothers and sisters are such a strong Torah community largely because his efforts bore remarkable peiros.

The same is true of Rabbi Sherers efforts in meeting the challenge of Soviet Jewry. Rav Sherer saw what his task was and this was the challenge of our dor  he would say. What did we do to ensure the Torah continuity of Russian Jewry who were nearly wiped out on account of Communisim? He took the bull by the horns and areanged for new Yeshivos to open, new scholarship funds, camps, shidduchim  all of these and much more.

His assistance to the Klal was both on a grand scale as well as for individuals.

I recall him relating to me, many years ago, when the AIDS epidemic first came out. Someone who had suffered from hemophilia had, unfortunately, received the dreaded illness from a blood transfusion. That young man was a chosson about to marry his kallah and he refused to inform his kallah about his illness. The doctor who was treating him was a Reform Jew. The doctor could not legally warn her, and Rav Moshe Sherer was asked by the doctors clergyman if he could assist. Painstakingly, Rav Moshe Sherer received psakim from every Admor across the spectrum that one who does such a thing is considered a halachic rodef. The doctor showed the kol korehs to the patient  who informed his kallah of the situation. Rav Sherer ztl saved her life  and created a remarkable Kiddush Hashem in the process.

And Kiddush Hashem was his raison detre. He intensely disliked the word Ultra-Orthodox. He would often lambast the secular press for using this term to describe the Torah-observant community. Ultra means extreme, beyond the pale, too much. How dare they paint an entire group of people with such a pejorative term? Would they do so to any other group? This was one rare area, in which he did not succeed. The term is still used widely.

During the Reagan administration, AIPAC had hired a new executive director, Thomas Dine. Dine had bowled over Washington with his sophistication and aggressiveness. Dine was a veteran of Capitol Hill and had worked on the staffs of Ted Kennedy and Senator Frank Church. Dine was very capable, but had a serious flaw. He had a visceral dislike for religious Jews. In mid June of 1993, he described Orthodox Jews as Smelly and low class and how he disdained sitting in proximity to them on airplanes. Rabbi Sherer was horrified. How could a man who had such feelings be the head of AIPAC? He went to work, writing, cajoling, and within a week, Thomas Dine resigned his position. He later took a consulting position for Alhurrah, an Arab American Satellite Television Organization that has been described in the WSJ as a platform for terrorists.

There was a time when Klal Yisroels leadership was virtually torn apart on account of a messy divorce situation. The Satan had somehow managed to cause a rift within Klal Yisroel. This pained him to no end, and he likened the situation to someone whose parents were going through a divorce. He handed it in such a remarkable and exemplary manner that both sides were impressed with the anivus and gadlus of the man. One even remarked, Both of the two sides could learn a lot from him.

Rav Sherers respect and awe of Gedolei haTorah was a mussar shmuess in and of itself. This author would even venture to say that Rabbi Moshe Sherer was to a large extent the founder of contemporary Kavod HaTorah in the world of Baalei Batim. How so? Now the lay leaders of Agudah have the utmost respect and reverence for the Gedolei HaRosh Yeshiva and Gedolei Torah on Moetzes. In my research, I have been privy to letters written to and about Gedolei HaAgudah prior to Rav Moshe Sherers time. Suffice it to say that they were vastly different than now. The primacy of following gedolei Torah that exists in our world today is due in large part to the efforts of Rav Moshe Sherer.

Rabbi Sherer would often say that he and his wife had actually four children: their daughter, Rochy, (Langer), their daughter Elky (Goldschmidt) , their son, Rav Shimshon Sherer, and their fourth child, Agudath Israel of America.

Always the gentleman, Rav Moshe Sherer recognized the fact that her unwavering support for his avodas haKodesh was what enabled him to achieve his remarkable accomplishments.

One wonders what he would have said and done in the current situation. After just having lost the Novaminsker Rebbe ztl, and 22 years after the passing of Rav Sherer we are truly bereft of leadership.

This Motzai Shabbos, the 21st of Iyar will mark his 25th yartzeit. His legacy to us is three-fold: One, the remarkable Torah community that he helped build. Two, the organization that is Agudah and all that it does for Klal Yisroel. And three, a shining example of what one person can accomplish in a lifetime. Yehe zichro boruch!

The author can be reached at [email protected]




An planned event at the Capitol organized by Rep. Rashida Tlaib to commemorate the Nakba or catastrophe of Israels founding 75 years ago was blocked by Speaker Kevin McCarthy, but Tlaib was bailed out by a Jew  Senator Bernie Sanders.

Sanders allowed the anti-Semitic Tlaib, Rep. Cori Bush, and supporters of the BDS movement  including individuals who support terrorism against Jewish civilians  hold their event in the hearing room of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.

Sen. Jacky Rosen, who co-chairs the Senate Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Antisemitism, criticized the event, saying that calling the establishment of the worlds only Jewish state a catastrophe is deeply offensive, and I strongly disagree with allowing this event to be held on Capitol Hill. Meanwhile, Sen. Bill Cassidy, the ranking member on the HELP Committee, disapproved of the majority permitting the use of the committee room for the event.

The event was held as Palestinian Islamic Jihad fired hundreds of rockets at Israel, following Israeli strikes that killed three PIJ leaders.

Tlaib accused Israeli police of a sustained campaign of terror against Muslim worshippers at the Temple Mount, called Israel an apartheid state and said that U.S. military aid to Israel supports ethnic cleansing.

Jewish groups and organizations condemned the event, and the Anti-Defamation League CEO called for the Senate to condemn it.

(YWN World Headquarters  NYC)




Liberals are losing their minds after CNN hosted a town hall with Donald Trump on Wednesday night, which progressives are now calling appalling, brutal, and an [expletive] disgrace.

During the town hall, Trump repeatedly steamrolled and mocked host Kaitlin Collins in a brutal beat-down of mainstream media talking points.

CNN should be ashamed of themselves. They have lost total control of this town hall, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez complained on Twitter.

CNN insiders told Rolling Stone that the event was appalling, and that the network shouldnt have given Trump a huge platform to spew his lies.

Another insider told the magazine that it was a disgrace and 1000 percent a mistake. No one [at CNN] is happy.

Meanwhile, CNN CEO Chris Licht defended the networks decision to host the event.

I absolutely unequivocally believe America was served very well by what we did last night, Licht said.

But CNNs own media reporter, Oliver Darcy, didnt seem quite as enamored by the town hall as Licht.

Its hard to see how America was served by the spectacle of lies that aired on CNN Wednesday evening, Darcy wrote in a newsletter.

Meanwhile, Trumps camp is ecstatic over how well it went for the former president.

We want to thank CNN for their generous donation to President Trumps campaign! a Trump adviser told Rolling Stone.

Trump should literally do this every night. Nightly CNN hits! another said.

(YWN World Headquarters  NYC)




Following the attack at a shul in Djerba, Tunisia on Lag BOmer that killed two Jews, Hyd, The Jerusalem Post reported that the Israeli government and the Jewish Agency have been monitoring a serious threat to the Jewish community in Djerba for months.

According to the report, a senior Israeli government official told Jewish leaders in a closed discussion two months ago that in a small Jewish community in Tunisia, Jews are being picked on by the press and by local police, with a sense of antisemitism coming from the local government.

Were working on monitoring the situation with the Jewish Agency and with the Aliyah and Integration Ministry, trying to create an impact and try to bring these Jews to Israel.

Is there a secret plan for the mass aliyah of Tunisian Jews? The Post said that no officials agreed to comment but confirmed that the situation for Jews in Tunisia is delicate. Others said that there is a secret plan for aliyah but its not clear at this point whether Tunisian Jews are interested in making aliyah.

Diaspora Affairs Amichai Chikli (Likud) wrote on Twitter in response to reports of the attack that about a month and a half ago, in view of the tensions in the country, we held an emergency discussion of the Diaspora Affairs and Aliyah and Integration ministries, with the Jewish Agency, in which we agreed on a joint action that would help the members of the community who wish to immigrate to Israel.

Israeli diplomats told the Post on Wednesday that the fact that the shooting was carried out by a government employee [a Naval security guard] highlights the concern that the Jewish community is at risk in Tunisia.

The Jewish community has been consistent with internal reports stating that the Tunisian police have been hostile towards the Jews in Tunisia, the source said, adding that we need to offer them an escape plan.

(YWN Israel Desk  Jerusalem)




Thirteen people dead in two mass shootings. Eight immigrants killed when an SUV slams into a crowded bus stop. The likely approval of legislation that would let the Republican governor overturn elections in the most populous county, a Democratic stronghold. All in the past two weeks.

These issues and the forces behind them  anger and guns, immigration turmoil, deep political divisions about what democracy means  are playing out across American life in various ways. But in Texas, with its immense size and a population that grows by more than 1,000 people a day, the stage is far bigger  and often louder.

Its enough to make even the proudest Texan wrestle with how he sees the state.

This is out of control right now, said Jay Leeson, an illustrator and cartoonist who lives in Lubbock, a city in the Texas High Plains. He describes himself as a conservative West Texan whose kids know how to handle guns, know how to ride horses, know how to do all the Texas things.

The Texas things. Texans have heard this all before. Theyve been hearing it for generations. That everyone is armed. That its a wildly conservative place full of oil roughnecks and cowboys and brash braggarts. That its nothing like the rest of the country, really.

Many Texans will tell you theres some truth to this. But Texas is also far more nuanced than a collection of cliches that consider the state through the narrowest of lenses.

Yet lately, things here have felt unrelenting. And what troubles some Texans is not how outsiders see the state, but whether those living here can navigate the divisive political climate  and overcome a complicated and sometimes violent past.

EVEN THOSE WHO SUPPORT GUNS FRET ABOUT THEM

Leeson is furious at how immigration has become a political battleground. Hes furious at how Republicans bleed every vote they can out of West Texas to overcome growing populations in the states heavily Democratic urban centers, from Houston to Dallas, Austin to San Antonio. The Texas Legislature is currently debating various bills that are targeting how Democratic Harris County, the states most populous, runs its elections.

Hes especially furious that his 9-year-old son is so worried about school shootings that he checked all the windows in his classroom to see which would open in case of an attack.

I just think the whole thing is a damn mess, Leeson said.

Mass killings have a deep history in Texas. Arguably the first modern American mass shooting happened here in 1966, when an engineering student opened fire from a building observation deck at the University of Texas. He killed 14 people and wounded dozens more.

But the states strict gun laws didnt begin to crack until a few years after another mass shooting  this one in 1991, when a gunman drove his pickup truck through the window of a central Texas cafeteria and killed 23 people. By then, decades of Democratic control were giving way to Republicans who saw gun rights as a key issue.

In 1995, then-Gov. George W. Bush signed legislation that allowed Texans to carry concealed guns. Today, Texans can carry weapons openly. Some do  passionately.

Chad Hasty, a well-known conservative talk radio host based in Lubbock, mourns the latest killings  I dont want to get to a time where were not shocked by a mass shooting  but is adamant that gun rights be protected. He rarely leaves home without his Sig Sauer P365, a small firearm designed for everyday carrying and one of the best-selling pistols in America.

He dismisses the idea that Texas is particularly prone to violence.

I dont view it as a uniquely Texas thing, he said. Instead, the number of mass shootings is simply a matter of size: Were a huge state  millions and millions of people.

ITS A STATE FAR MORE DIVERSE THAN THE CLICHES

The litany of Texas mass killings in just the last few years is staggering: Sutherland Springs, 26 killed in 2017; Santa Fe, 10 killed in 2018; El Paso, 23 killed in 2019; Midland-Odessa, seven killed in 2019; Uvalde, 21 killed in 2022; Cleveland, five killed on April 28; Allen, eight killed on May 6.

Guns have long been a part of Texas culture  both in the states mythology and in reality. But to equate the number of guns with the number of people killed by guns strikes some as a false equivalence.

Youll never get people to give up their guns, nor do I believe you should, said Vanesa Brashier, the editor and publisher of Bluebonnet News, a site that covers rural areas north of Houston, including the town of Cleveland, where five immigrants were killed in a mass shooting on April 28.

She was deeply shaken by the killings, particularly by how some of the women died shielding their children from gunfire. But she considers herself pro-Second Amendment: I want to be able to defend myself if someone comes calling that shouldnt be at my property.

Like so much in Texas, her politics are complex. Brashier, who calls herself a political independent, sees immigration as a good thing  I just think we need to figure out a better way to do it.

Just two weeks ago she created a Spanish language news site to better inform the areas growing Latino population. She named the site El Amanecer Texas or Texas Sunrise, because I wanted it to be hopeful.

These residents who have moved here deserve to be informed about whats going on around them, she said. But the influx of immigrants has faced backlash from some residents, who feel like theres been an invasion, Brashier said.

This week, Texas and other border states were preparing for the end of a policy that allowed the government to quickly expel migrants to Mexico. Gov. Greg Abbott has deployed more Texas National Guard troops in response to the end of the rule. The goal, Abbott said this week: to secure the Texas border.

Texas border cities have tended to be more welcoming to immigrants than other parts of the state, since many in these areas have long seen themselves and their Mexican neighbors as a big, blended community that transcends governments political borders. In El Paso, for instance, more than 80 percent of nearly 700,000 residents are Latino. Many residents have family just across the border in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

This situation at the border has created a welcoming community that reacts differently to various issues, including immigration, said Richard Pineda, director of the Sam Donaldson Center for Communication Studies at the University of Texas at El Paso. For Texas, he says, its an outlier  a fluid culture that goes back and forth.

BIG CHANGES IN THE STATE CAN LEAD TO TENSION

Texas can feel like a study in contrasts. Famed for its oil industry, but the producer of a quarter of the countrys wind energy and a leader in solar power. Known for its open, undeveloped landscapes but home to some of the largest, fastest-growing cities in the land. Epitomized by the cowboy, but with some of the largest immigrant populations in America.

With more than 30 million people, Texas has long been a destination for outsiders from other U.S. states and abroad. Since 2010, it has gained nearly 4 million residents  more than any other state, according to U.S. Census figures. In 2020, Latino residents accounted for half the population growth, and many demographers believe Latinos will soon surpass whites as the states largest ethnic group.

But its not just Latinos. Texas has large populations of immigrants from India, China, the Philippines, Vietnam and elsewhere. Allen, where a gunman killed eight people at a mall on May 6, is among the Dallas-Fort Worth areas most diverse suburbs.

For nearly a century, Texas has had a one-word state motto: Friendship. But many see that easygoing connection changing.

I always thought of Texas as a friendly place. But to be honest, this last decade, it just feels meaner, said Chris Tomlinson, a fifth-generation Texan and a business columnist with the Houston Chronicle. He has written two best-sellers about Texas history, including Forget the Alamo: The Rise and Fall of an American Myth.

Tomlinson notes that more than 70 percent of Texans over age 60 are non-Hispanic whites, while more than 70 percent of Texans under age 30 are people of color.

That creates the tension that you see around voting rights and cultural issues like critical race theory and LGBTQ issues, he said. When you have that level of demographic change, there is going to be tension.

Texas is among the states, for example, where drag shows have been targeted by right-wing activists and politicians, and Republican lawmakers have proposed restrictions on the shows.

At times, it can seem that the Texas population is shifting faster on many issues than the states politics, which remain solidly conservative and Republican. A Democrat hasnt been elected to statewide office since 1994. Yet Tomlinson notes that polling indicates Texans arent that different from the rest of the country when it comes to many issues, from abortion to immigration.

Then there are the guns  a reputation that, for better and worse, follows Texas everywhere. A survey last year by the University of Houston and Texas Southern University showed overwhelming support for at least some level of gun control. Yet few expect to see that in Texas anytime soon.

Gary Mauro, a longtime commissioner of the Texas Land Office who ran for governor in 1998, is one of those last statewide Democrats. Though he reserves most of his criticism for Republicans, he blames extremists in both parties for focusing on the political fringes  and amplifying some of the very cliches with which Texas continues to struggle.

I keep thinking its going to get better, he said of Texas politics. And it keeps getting worse.

(AP)
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill on Friday banning the use of a "centralized digital dollar," otherwise known as a central bank digital currency or CBDC, in the state.

DeSantis has been relentless in his attacks on a CBDCs, saying last week that they were part of "woke politics" that he wants to combat. Now the portion of Florida law that defines money explicitly notes: "The term does not include a central bank digital currency."

During the press conference, DeSantis posited that President Joe Biden's administration announced it would be studying CBDCs last year because it wants to "crowd out and eliminate other types of digital assets, like cryptocurrency."

Florida Bans a Central Bank Digital Currency https://t.co/S8UfWrLZyc  Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) May 12, 2023

While standing behind a podium that said "Big Brother's Digital Dollar," DeSantis suggested the government might hypothetically use CBDCs to stop people from buying gas to combat global warming or track how often someone purchases firearms.

"Anyone with their eyes open could see the danger this type of an arrangement would mean for Americans who want to exercise their financial independence and would like to be able to conduct business without having the government know every single transaction they're making in real time."

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaks during a press conference to sign several bills related to public education and increases in teacher pay, in Miami, Tuesday, May 9, 2023. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Ron Desantis Renews Attack on CBDCs as Part of 'Woke Politics'

The bill, SB-7054, had only one vote cast against it in its final appearance during a Florida House of Representatives session last week. When DeSantis introduced the legislation in March, he said that a CBDC would be about "surveilling Americans and controlling Americans."

A few days later, DeSantis announced that Florida would accept Bitcoin as payment for state taxesbut only from businesses, not individual tax payers.

Although he hasn't announced his candidacy yet, but DeSantis has been leading polls for potential Republican Party nominees and recently released a book laying out his stance against what he calls "woke" politics.




Migrants rushed across the Mexico border Thursday in hopes of entering the U.S. in the final hours before pandemic-related asylum restrictions are lifted  a change that many feared could make it more difficult for them to stay.

With a midnight deadline looming, migrants in Mexico shed clothing before descending a steep bank into the Rio Grande, clutching plastic bags filled with clothes. One man held a baby in an open suitcase on his head.

On the U.S. side of the river, migrants put on dry clothing and picked their way through concertina wire. Many surrendered immediately to authorities and hoped to be released while pursuing their cases in backlogged immigration courts, which takes years.

President Joe Bidens administration has been unveiling strict new measures to replace the restrictions known as Title 42. The outgoing rules have allowed border officials since March 2020 to quickly return asylum seekers back over the border on grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19.

The new policies crack down on illegal crossings while also setting up legal pathways for migrants who apply online, seek a sponsor and undergo background checks. If successful, the reforms could fundamentally alter how migrants arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border.

But thats a big if. President Joe Biden has conceded that the border will be chaotic for a while. Immigrant advocacy groups have threatened legal action. And migrants fleeing poverty, gangs and persecution in their homelands are still desperate to reach U.S. soil at any cost.

William Contreras of Venezuela said Title 42 was good for people from his wracked South American country. He heard that many migrants before him were released in the United States.

What we understand is that they wont be letting anyone else in, said Contreras friend, Pablo, who declined to give his last name because he planned to cross the border illegally. Thats the reason for our urgency to cross through the border today.

While Title 42 prevented many from seeking asylum, it carried no legal consequences, encouraging repeat attempts. After Thursday, migrants face being barred from entering the U.S. for five years and possible criminal prosecution.

Holding facilities along the border were far beyond capacity, and Border Patrol agents were told Wednesday to begin releasing some migrants with instructions to appear at a U.S. immigration office within 60 days, according to a U.S. official. The official was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter and provided information to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Agents were also told to start the releases in any area where holding facilities were at 125% capacity or the average time in custody exceeded 60 hours. They were also instructed to start releases if 7,000 migrants were taken into custody across the entire border in one day.

The Border Patrol stopped about 10,000 migrants on Tuesday, one of its busiest days ever, according to a second U.S. official who provided information to the AP on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.

Thats nearly double the daily average of about 5,200 in March, the latest publicly available data, and close to the 11,000 that U.S. officials have predicted is the upper limit of the surge they anticipate after Title 42.

More than 27,000 people were in U.S. Customs and Border Protection custody, the official said.

On Thursday, about 400 migrants huddled in strong winds whipping up the sand on the bank of the Rio Grande east of El Paso as groups of Texas National Guard soldiers constructed concertina wire barriers.

A couple from Colombia approached the wire asking if they could start a fire because a 10-year-old was shaking in the desert cold. Most migrants huddled together under thin blankets.

Major Sean Storrud of the Texas National Guard said his troops have explained to migrants the consequences of crossing illegally.

The migrants dont really know whats going to happen, Storrud said.

On Wednesday, Homeland Security announced a rule to make it extremely difficult for anyone who travels through another country, like Mexico, to qualify for asylum. It also introduced curfews with GPS tracking for families released in the U.S. before initial asylum screenings.

The administration considered detaining families until they cleared initial asylum screenings but opted instead for family curfews, which will run from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. and begin soon in Baltimore, Chicago, Washington and Newark, New Jersey, according to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the information was not intended to be public.

Families who do not show up for screening interviews will be picked up by immigration authorities and deported.

At the same time, the administration has introduced expansive new legal pathways into the U.S.

Up to 30,000 people a month from Haiti, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela can enter if they apply online with a financial sponsor and enter through an airport. Processing centers are opening in Guatemala, Colombia and elsewhere. Up to 1,000 can enter daily though land crossings with Mexico if they snag an appointment on an online app.

In San Diego, more than 100 migrants, many of them Colombian families, slept under plastic tarps between two border walls, watched over by Border Patrol agents who had nowhere to take them for processing.

Albino Leon, 51, said the end of Title 42 prompted the family to make the journey.

With the changes they are making to the laws, its now or never, said Leon, who flew to Mexico from Colombia and got past a first border wall to reach U.S. soil.

Miguel Meza, head of migrant programs for Catholic Relief Services, which has 26 migrant shelters in Mexico, estimates that there are about 55,000 migrants in border cities across from the United States. More arrive daily from the south, as well as migrants expelled by the U.S. back to Mexico.

Migrants have strained some U.S. cities over the last year.

Elias Guerra, 20, came to Denver last week after hearing it was a welcoming place where he could get a free bus ticket to his final destination. After four nights in a church shelter, the city provided a $58 ticket to New York. He left Wednesday night.

Here its comfortable, its safe, theres food, theres shelter, theres restrooms, Guerra said as he waited with other migrants in a parking garage where the city processed new arrivals.

(AP)




President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in remarks broadcast Thursday that Kyiv is delaying its long-awaited counteroffensive against Russias occupying forces because Ukraine lacks enough Western weapons to succeed without suffering too many casualties.

His remarks, in an interview with European broadcasters, were aired shortly before Britain said it has sent Ukraine air-launched cruise missiles that would allow pilots to extend their reach farther than possibly any other weapon in their arsenal, to locations deep behind the front line.

A Ukrainian counteroffensive against Russias more than 14-month-old invasion has been expected as winter turned to spring, and Zelenskyy said in an interview that we can go forward and be successful, according to the BBC.

But wed lose a lot of people. I think thats unacceptable, he was quoted as saying in the interview, conducted in Kyiv with public service broadcasters who are members of Eurovision News, including the BBC.

So we need to wait. We still need a bit more time, Zelenskyy was quoted as saying. In terms of equipment, not everything has arrived yet.

Analysts and Ukrainian officials have hinted for months at a coming Ukrainian counterpunch as the weather improves, with various dates speculated for its commencement. Zelenskyys remarks could be designed to keep the Russians guessing, and both sides have difficulty with the supply of ammunition, adding more uncertainty.

Ukraine is receiving Western training, as well as advanced weapons, for its troops as it gears up for such an assault.

Later Thursday, U.K. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace told lawmakers it sent Ukraine the Storm Shadow missiles, a conventionally armed weapon with a range of more than 250 kilometers (150 miles). By contrast, the truck-mounted HIMARS launchers supplied to Ukraine by Washington have GPS-guided missiles capable of hitting targets up to 80 kilometers (50 miles) away.

Wallace said the cruise missiles are now going into or are in the country itself, but he didnt say how many were provided.

The air-launched missiles would allow Ukrainian forces to target locations such as Russia-occupied Crimea. Kyiv has pledged not to use them to attack Russia itself, U.K. media reported. The U.S. and its allies have expressed concern that enabling Ukraine to use their weapons to hit targets inside Russia could provoke the Kremlin to take more drastic actions in the war.

The British delivery adds to the tanks and long-range precision artillery that Western countries have already supplied to boost Ukraines military.

Retired Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, a former commander of the U.S. Army in Europe, tweeted: Well done UK!

This will give Ukraine capability to make Crimea untenable for Russian forces and require Russia to reevaluate the positioning of its Black Sea fleet, Hodges said.

Sidharth Kaushal, a research fellow at Londons Royal United Services Institute, said the Storm Shadow missiles could allow Ukraine to strike Russias fleet and support vessels in its Black Sea headquarters port of Sevastopol, where Moscows Kalibr missiles have been used to target crucial Ukrainian infrastructure.

Patrick Bury, senior lecturer in security at the University of Bath, wasnt surprised at Zelenskyys comments about the delay of spring campaign.

If you are Zelenskyy, you are doing everything you can to make sure you get everything you need before launching the offensive.

On the other hand, I would not be surprised at all if it started in the next couple of weeks, depending on the mud.  As of last week it was still one of the wettest springs theyve had over there in years.  Its just not favorable, he said.

A claim by the Ukrainian military on Wednesday that its troops had advanced up to 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) around the hotly contested eastern city of Bakhmut fueled speculation that the counteroffensive was already underway.

Serhii Cherevatyi, spokesman for Ukraines Operational Command East, told The Associated Press that the fighting and forward movement was not the grand counteroffensive, but its a harbinger showing that there will be more such attacks in the future.

But Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Russias private military force Wagner that has spearheaded Moscows battle for Bakhmut, claimed Kyivs counteroffensive was in full swing, with Ukrainian forces advancing on the flanks around the city.

Unfortunately, in some areas theyre doing it successfully, Prigozhin said.

The Kremlins forces are deeply entrenched in eastern Ukraine with layered defensive lines reportedly up to 20 kilometers (12 miles) deep. Kyivs counteroffensive would likely face minefields, anti-tank ditches and other obstacles.

Russia is acting slow in Ukraine because it wants to preserve infrastructure and save lives there, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with the Bosnian Serb channel ATV on Wednesday night.

Moscow has repeatedly explained its lack of advances on the battlefield as an effort to protect civilians, but those claims have been proven false, with frequent attacks on civilian buildings.

Zelenskyy said Russian President Vladimir Putin is counting on reducing the war to a so-called frozen conflict, with neither side able to dislodge the other, according to the BBC. He ruled out surrendering territory to Russia in return for a peace deal.

Military analysts have warned that Putin is hoping that the Wests costly support for Kyiv will begin to fray.

Ukraines Western allies have sent the country 65 billion euros ($70 billion) in military aid, and with no peace talks on the horizon, the alliance is gearing up to send more.

European Union Foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said delaying a counteroffensive was a sign that the West must step up its military support for Ukraine.

Certainly, they need more preparation, Borrell said at a defense and security conference in Brussels. They need more arms. They need to gather more capacity, and it is us who have to provide for that.

A senior NATO official said that in the coming months, Ukraine will have the edge in quality but Russia has the upper hand in quantity.

The Russians are now starting to use very old materiel, very old capabilities, Adm. Bob Bauer, chair of the NATO Military Committee, told reporters late Wednesday in Brussels.

The Russians will have to focus on quantity, he said. Larger number of conscripts and mobilized people. Not well-trained. Older materiel, but large numbers, and not as precise, not as good as the newer ones.

Over the winter, the conflict became bogged down in a war of attrition, with both sides relying heavily on bombarding each others positions.

A counteroffensive is a major challenge, requiring the Ukrainian military to orchestrate a wide range of capabilities, including providing ammunition, food, medical supplies and spare parts, strung along potentially extended supply lines. The front line extends more than 1,000 kilometers (600 miles).

The Kremlin wants Kyiv to acknowledge Russian sovereignty over Crimea and to recognize Septembers illegal annexation of the provinces of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia.

Ukraine has rejected the demands and ruled out any talks with Russia until its troops withdraw from all occupied territories.

Russias latest long-range barrages killed at least six civilians and wounded 13 others, Ukraines presidential office said.

(AP)




Elon Musk said Thursday he has found a new CEO for Twitter, or X Corp. as its now called  and its a woman. He did not name her but said she will be starting in about six weeks.

Musk, who bought Twitter last fall and has been running it since, has long insisted he is not the companys permanent CEO. The Tesla billionaire said in a tweet Thursday that his role will transition to being Twitters executive chairman and chief technology officer.

In mid-November, just a few weeks after buying the social media platform for $44 billion, he told a Delaware court that he does not want to be the CEO of any company.

While testifying, Musk said I expect to reduce my time at Twitter and find somebody else to run Twitter over time.

More than a month later, he tweeted in December: I will resign as CEO as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job. The pledge came after millions of Twitter users asked him to step down in a Twitter poll the billionaire himself created and promised to abide by.

In February, he told a conference he anticipated finding a CEO for San Francisco-based Twitter probably toward the end of this year.

Shares of Tesla rose about 2% Thursday after Musk made the announcement. Shareholders of the electric car company have been concerned about how much of his attention is being spent on Twitter.

Last November, he was questioned in court about how he splits his time among Tesla and his other companies, including SpaceX and Twitter. Musk had to testify in the trial in Delawares Court of Chancery over a shareholders challenge to his potentially $55 billion compensation plan as CEO of the electric car company.

Musk said he never intended to be CEO of Tesla, and that he didnt want to be chief executive of any other companies either, preferring to see himself as an engineer. Musk also said at the time that he expected an organizational restructuring of Twitter to be completed in the next week or so. Its been nearly six months since he said that.

Musks tenure at Twitters helm has been chaotic, and hes made various promises and proclamations hes backtracked or never followed up on. He began his first day firing the companys top executives, followed by roughly 80% of its staff. Hes upended the platforms verification system and has scaled back content moderation and safeguards against the spread of misinformation.

Bantering with Twitter followers late last year, Musk expressed pessimism about the prospects for a new CEO, saying that person must like pain a lot to run a company that has been in the fast lane to bankruptcy.

No one wants the job who can actually keep Twitter alive. There is no successor, Musk tweeted at the time.

(AP)




Just hours after Rep. George Santos  who claims to be Jewish  was indicted on money laundering, wire fraud, and other charges, an audio of the disgraced congressman came to light in which he jokes about a room full of Jews.

If you sit in a room with a lot of Jews, youre [expletive], Santos says in the audio clip.

Its funny when the -isms start coming out, right? Oh, hes such a mentsch, hes such a mentsch. Then they go on to the next thing, Santos is heard saying.

A former roommate of Santos said the congressman used Jewish-sounding names on online fundraisers because he thought that the Jews will give more if youre a Jew. And after his bogus claims of being Jewish were revealed, he insisted that he was simply saying he was Jew-ish.

(YWN World Headquarters  NYC)




by Rabbi Yair Hoffman for 5tjt.com

When it comes to Shabbos and the permissibility of injections and associated activity, not everyone has full clarity. This is especially true with new advances in technology. This article discusses a number of topics that deal with injections on Shabbos.

There is a new type of Smart-Insulin Pen that, in this authors opinion, is destined to take over the market. One example is the NovoPen 6 & NovoPen Echo Plus. These pens are new, smart insulin pens that automatically record insulin dosing information about each injection. This type of pen, however, complicates things for Shabbos observers. So the question is, Can observant Jews use it?

The biggest challenges for many insulin pen users are:

How much should they inject? When should they inject? What is the quality of the insulin in terms of storage conditions and shelf life?

There is also something called insulin stackingwhen you add more insulin while remaining insulin is still active from previous doses. This can lead to hypoglycemia (low blood sugar, also known as blood glucose), and lying on the floor (very dangerous and embarrassing).

Smart insulin pens can calculate each dose based on current blood sugar levels. They can deliver accurate half-unit doses. They can prevent skipped or missed doses and keep track of the time and amount of each dose, and remind you when its time for the next one.

Notify you when your insulin has expired or exceeded its temperature range, so you can replace the cartridge. They are a nice alternative or back-up to insulin pumps.

This author consulted with Rav Shlomo Miller shlita, perhaps the leading Posaik in North America, and he stated that if someone is advanced in his or her diabetes and has difficulty properly dosing himself or herself, it would be permitted to use a Smart Pen. Many people with diabetes also have a hard time correctly calculating insulin doses. Each person should consult with his or her own Posaik or Rav. If the person is overdosing regularly, it would also be permitted.

It is this authors belief that Smart Pens for insulin are just the beginning. This topic not only applies to insulin-dependent diabetics, but also will perhaps soon apply to:

people who require short-term growth hormone shots,

women who take Ovidrel or Cetrotide (cetrorelix) for fertility issues,

girls with Turner Syndrome,

and a number of others, too.

But aside from the new Smart Pens, there are other issues that have to do with injections and their use or non-use on Shabbos. What follows is a brief discussion of the different injections and their associate halachos. Of course, always ask your Rav or Posaik.

INJECTION TYPES

There are: subcutaneous (under the skin), intramuscular (into the muscle), and intravenous (into the vein) injections.

A subcutaneous injection does not necessarily cause bleeding. It is thus considered no different than other types of medicine and is permitted for a sick person. If one is not sick but is in pain, he may ask a non-Jew to administer it.

CHOLEH SHAIN BO SAKANAH

For a choleh sheein bo sakanah, a sick person who is not deathly ill, it is permitted to inject with a subcutaneous or intramuscular injection, but not an intravenous injection. That may be different for Sephardim, however. Rav Bentzion Abba Shaul, ztl, in his Ohr LTzion (Vol. II #20), ruled that an intravenous injection is a melachah sheaina tzrichah lgufah, a violation that is not for the original purpose in the Mishkan. Generally speaking, an intravenous injection requires taking out a little bit of blood to ensure that it is in the correct place. Thus, Sefardim have a more lenient view.

BUT WHICH MELACHA?

There is a debate among the Rishonim as to what exact melachah is involved when taking out blood. Rashi (Shabbos 107a) states that it is on account of shochet. Tosfos, Rashba, Ritva, and Meiri agree with Rashi. The Rambam, on the other hand (Hilchos Shabbos 8:7) holds that it is on account of mefareik, a subcategory of dosh.

The difference would be (see Biur Halachah 316:8 Hachovel) that according to the Rambam, the amount of blood taken out that would be a Torah violation would be the volume of a fig. According to Rashi, it would be any amount. However, if there is a purpose for the lesser amount, then some may consider it a violation even according to the Rambam.

PREPPING THE NEEDLE OR SYRINGE

Many types of daily injections require putting together the needle. There are needle heads that one must screw onto the insulin pen. Many poskim consider this act a possible violation of boneh or makeh bpatish, a final act.

Makeh bpatish means, when literally translated, the strike of a hammer. However, in general it refers to an act of completion. Any act of perfecting an object or rendering it fit for use may be considered a violation of the melachah of makeh bpatish. Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, ztl (Shulchan Shlomo Refuah Vol. I p. 54), writes that if one throws out the needle head afterward, then one may be lenient if it is necessary. The Chazon Ish, however, forbade it even if the needle head is thrown out.

There are readings of Rav Auerbach (ibid p. 56) that may permit it with the insulin pens that are currently used, but one must consult with ones own rav or posek.

A solution to this problem would be to affix the needle head onto the pen before Shabbos.

MIXING MEDICINE ON SHABBOS

There are some injections that need to be mixed together before use, and delaying that daily shot until motzaei Shabbos can jeopardize the treatment. For example, in fertility treatment, missing a dose of Cetrotide (cetrorelix) or taking it late lowers the chance of successful egg retrieval. When mixing on Shabbos, a shinui may be necessary in order to avoid certain halachic complications.

ALCOHOL SWABBING

There is a longstanding debate between poskim as to whether one may use baby wipes on Shabbos. The issue is that of a possible violation of sechitah, in this case, part of the melachah of laundering.

But what about the use of an alcohol swab to clean injection sites? Is there a difference between baby wipes and alcohol swabs in this regard? Before acting on anything, please consult with your own doctor and your own rav or posek.

Various health organizations, including the WHO, United Kingdoms Department of Health, and Australias Department of Health, have stated that if the skin is visibly clean, disinfecting the skin (or alcohol swabbing) is not necessary and does not actually reduce infection. On the other hand, Canadas Public Health Agency advises the practice of cleaning the skin with a suitable antiseptic solution prior to vaccination or injection.

Alcohol swabs are made of cotton, and one is squeezing out the alcohol onto the injection site when cleaning that site. Unless the skin is visibly dirty, because of the ongoing debate about whether the continued use of alcohol swabbing is clinically necessary and effective for routine subcutaneous injections or vaccinations, some have suggested that people can avoid swabbing the site on Shabbos.

May Hashem send a complete refuah to all who are sick. We beg that it be speedily, kheref ayin! Amen.

The author can be reached at Yairhoffma[email protected]. Read more of Rabbi Hoffmans articles at 5TJT.com.
The chief executive of Royal Mail Simon Thompson is to step-down, drawing a line under a tumultuous two-year tenure that saw him face fierce criticism.

Parent company International Distributions Services said late on Friday morning it was in advanced stages of appointing a new CEO, with Thompson opting to depart now an agreement has been reached between Royal Mail and the Communication Workers Union.

The boss of the 507-year-old postal service and delivery firm has faced a long-running spat with the CWU and recently made a humiliating appearance in front of MPs, with criticism levelled at his tenure from across the house.

The dispute between Royal Mail and its workers dragged on for nearly a year before a deal  which included a 10 per cent raise for staff  was struck last month.

Simon Thompson to leave Royal Mail after two years as chief executive

It followed a bruising period for the company that saw posties walk out on strike for 18 days last year.

The action caused chaos in delivery offices across the UK. And Royal Mail warned it was losing over 1million per day and would need to call in administrators if the situation did not improve.

Thompson, who first joined the IDS board as a non-executive director in 2017, previously held roles at HSBC, Honda, Apple, Motorola and Ocado Group.

IDS, which will report its annual results on 18 May, said he had agreed to remain with the business until 31 October 2023 as part of the transition.

Chairman of IDS Keith Williams will provide additional oversight and support alongside his board colleagues through this period, It added.

Mr Williams said: "As CEO, his leadership, resilience and unwavering drive to ensure that Royal Mail transforms for the benefit of our customers means we have set a clear path to turn the business around. We are grateful for his dedication and what he has achieved at the company, and wish him well for the future.

Mr Thompson added: The changes we have made, the infrastructure we have put in place, and the agreements negotiated with our trade unions mean that Royal Mail now has a chance to compete and grow.

That is what I have always wanted, and it is now the right time to hand over to a new CEO to deliver the next stage of the company's reinvention. I would like to thank my team for their support during a difficult and important time of change.
Olo Inc. (NYSE:OLO  Get Rating) gapped up before the market opened on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $6.83, but opened at $7.37. OLO shares last traded at $7.04, with a volume of 229,958 shares.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on OLO from $10.00 to $9.00 in a report on Wednesday. Piper Sandler reiterated a neutral rating and set a $9.00 price target on shares of OLO in a report on Tuesday, March 7th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on OLO from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, February 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on OLO in a research 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 two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, OLO has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $11.58.

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OLO Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $1.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -24.83 and a beta of 1.20. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $7.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $7.54.

Insider Buying and Selling at OLO

OLO ( NYSE:OLO Get Rating ) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 22nd. The company reported ($0.03) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.05) by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $49.78 million during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $48.47 million. OLO had a negative return on equity of 4.66% and a negative net margin of 24.79%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Olo Inc. will post -0.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

In other OLO news, CFO Peter J. Benevides sold 8,580 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.79, for a total value of $66,838.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 353,004 shares in the company, valued at $2,749,901.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, CRO Diego Panama sold 11,826 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.04, for a total transaction of $95,081.04. Following the transaction, the executive now owns 680,606 shares of the companys stock, valued at $5,472,072.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Peter J. Benevides sold 8,580 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Monday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.79, for a total value of $66,838.20. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 353,004 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,749,901.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 34,491 shares of company stock worth $271,782. 40.52% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of OLO

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of OLO. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of OLO by 17.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,795,930 shares of the companys stock valued at $77,388,000 after acquiring an additional 1,446,531 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in OLO by 25.9% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,600,149 shares of the companys stock worth $127,203,000 after buying an additional 1,975,221 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in OLO by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 6,076,939 shares of the companys stock worth $48,009,000 after buying an additional 114,803 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in OLO by 185.1% in the 3rd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 5,318,549 shares of the companys stock worth $42,016,000 after buying an additional 3,453,136 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tiger Global Management LLC boosted its stake in OLO by 13.5% in the 3rd quarter. Tiger Global Management LLC now owns 5,104,581 shares of the companys stock worth $40,326,000 after buying an additional 606,419 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.93% of the companys stock.

About OLO

(Get Rating)

Olo Inc provides software-as-a-service platform for multi-location restaurants in the United States. The company's platform enables on-demand commerce operations, which cover digital ordering and delivery through online and mobile ordering modules. Its modules include Order Management, an on-demand digital commerce and channel management solutions that enables consumers to order directly from and pay restaurants via mobile, web, kiosk, voice, and other digital channels; and Delivery Enablement, a fulfillment network, as well as a network aggregator and channel management solution, which enables restaurants to offer, manage, and expand direct delivery, as well as allows restaurants to control and syndicate menu, pricing, location data, and availability, while directly integrating and optimizing orders from third-parties into the restaurants' point-of-sale and systems.

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California Public Employees Retirement System grew its holdings in Reinsurance Group of America, Incorporated (NYSE:RGA  Get Rating) by 4.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 157,385 shares of the insurance providers stock after purchasing an additional 6,263 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement Systems holdings in Reinsurance Group of America were worth $22,363,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of Reinsurance Group of America by 22.8% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 79,238 shares of the insurance providers stock valued at $11,256,000 after purchasing an additional 14,705 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in shares of Reinsurance Group of America by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 161,800 shares of the insurance providers stock valued at $22,990,000 after purchasing an additional 2,900 shares during the last quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Reinsurance Group of America by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc. now owns 78,940 shares of the insurance providers stock valued at $11,217,000 after purchasing an additional 3,824 shares during the last quarter. Nuance Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Reinsurance Group of America by 11.8% in the 4th quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 739,965 shares of the insurance providers stock valued at $105,142,000 after purchasing an additional 77,987 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners boosted its stake in shares of Reinsurance Group of America by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 9,254 shares of the insurance providers stock valued at $1,315,000 after purchasing an additional 208 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.46% of the companys stock.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on RGA. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Reinsurance Group of America from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Friday, March 10th. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Reinsurance Group of America in a research report on Tuesday, April 25th. They issued an overweight rating and a $163.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of Reinsurance Group of America from $170.00 to $164.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 20th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Reinsurance Group of America from a sell rating to a buy rating and increased their price target for the company from $133.00 to $158.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 15th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Reinsurance Group of America from $146.00 to $149.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Reinsurance Group of America presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $155.80.

Reinsurance Group of America Stock Performance

Shares of RGA stock opened at $149.49 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.13 and a current ratio of 0.14. The company has a market capitalization of $9.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.79 and a beta of 0.91. The companys 50 day moving average price is $136.65 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $141.25. Reinsurance Group of America, Incorporated has a 52 week low of $109.06 and a 52 week high of $153.35.

Reinsurance Group of America (NYSE:RGA  Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 5th. The insurance provider reported $5.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.37 by $1.79. The company had revenue of $4.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $4.23 billion. Reinsurance Group of America had a net margin of 5.66% and a return on equity of 23.94%. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.47 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Reinsurance Group of America, Incorporated will post 16.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Reinsurance Group of America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 15th. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.14%. Reinsurance Group of Americas dividend payout ratio is currently 23.10%.

About Reinsurance Group of America

(Get Rating)

Reinsurance Group of America, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of traditional and non-traditional life and health reinsurance products. It operates through the following segments: U.S. and Latin America, Canada, Europe, Middle East, and Africa, Asia Pacific, and Corporate and Other.

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UBS Group AG boosted its stake in shares of Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES  Get Rating) by 68.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,148,147 shares of the utilities providers stock after purchasing an additional 466,163 shares during the period. UBS Group AG owned about 0.33% of Eversource Energy worth $96,261,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Eversource Energy by 2.0% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,413,456 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $3,462,474,000 after acquiring an additional 871,683 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Eversource Energy by 2.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,182,412 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $1,963,221,000 after acquiring an additional 499,204 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Eversource Energy by 2.6% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,375,101 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $562,220,000 after acquiring an additional 158,961 shares in the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its position in shares of Eversource Energy by 9.6% in the first quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 4,390,200 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $387,172,000 after buying an additional 384,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS Asset Management Americas Inc. lifted its position in shares of Eversource Energy by 11.1% in the third quarter. UBS Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 3,420,048 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $266,627,000 after buying an additional 342,056 shares in the last quarter. 77.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Wolfe Research downgraded Eversource Energy from an outperform rating to a peer perform rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 21st. Argus reduced their price objective on Eversource Energy from $95.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 30th. Guggenheim reissued a buy rating on shares of Eversource Energy in a research note on Tuesday, March 21st. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Eversource Energy from $91.00 to $86.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Eversource Energy from $82.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Thursday, April 20th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $87.58.

Eversource Energy Price Performance

Shares of ES opened at $76.25 on Friday. The businesss 50-day moving average is $77.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $79.56. The company has a market capitalization of $26.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 0.65. Eversource Energy has a fifty-two week low of $70.54 and a fifty-two week high of $94.41.

Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES  Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 3rd. The utilities provider reported $1.41 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.07. Eversource Energy had a return on equity of 9.51% and a net margin of 11.52%. The firm had revenue of $3.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $3.24 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.30 EPS. The companys quarterly revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Eversource Energy will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Eversource Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 18th will be paid a $0.675 dividend. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.54%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 17th. Eversource Energys dividend payout ratio is presently 64.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Eversource Energy news, insider Frederica M. Williams sold 1,943 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.83, for a total value of $153,166.69. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 20,763 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $1,636,747.29. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.38% of the companys stock.

Eversource Energy Profile

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Eversource Energy engages in the generation, transmission, and distribution of natural gas and electricity. It operates through the following segments: Electric Distribution, Electric Transmission, Natural Gas Distribution and Water Distribution. The Electric Distribution segment distributes electricity to retail customers.

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Belpointe Asset Management LLC lowered its holdings in shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW  Get Rating) by 35.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 10,344 shares of the financial services providers stock after selling 5,717 shares during the period. Belpointe Asset Management LLCs holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $861,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Toronto Dominion Bank grew its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 32,224.4% in the 4th quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 225,994,826 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $18,816,289,000 after acquiring an additional 225,295,680 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 2.1% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 124,437,061 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $8,943,291,000 after buying an additional 2,589,952 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 1.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 65,566,364 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $4,712,255,000 after buying an additional 717,683 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 7.4% in the third quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 20,767,564 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $1,492,565,000 after buying an additional 1,431,879 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 0.4% in the third quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 17,076,247 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $1,227,270,000 after buying an additional 68,423 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 73.49% of the companys stock.

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Charles Schwab Trading Up 0.9 %

SCHW stock opened at $47.73 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $84.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The Charles Schwab Co. has a 1-year low of $45.00 and a 1-year high of $86.63. The businesss 50 day moving average is $54.65 and its 200-day moving average is $71.07.

Charles Schwab Dividend Announcement

Charles Schwab ( NYSE:SCHW Get Rating ) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $5.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.13 billion. Charles Schwab had a return on equity of 27.36% and a net margin of 34.82%. Charles Schwabs revenue was up 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.77 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 12th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.10%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 11th. Charles Schwabs payout ratio is currently 27.32%.

Insider Transactions at Charles Schwab

In other news, Director Marianne Catherine Brown acquired 5,000 shares of Charles Schwab stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 28th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $53.47 per share, with a total value of $267,350.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 9,984 shares in the company, valued at $533,844.48. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Charles Schwab news, Chairman Charles R. Schwab sold 95,030 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Monday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.04, for a total transaction of $7,701,231.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 60,002,584 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,862,609,407.36. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Marianne Catherine Brown bought 5,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 28th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $53.47 per share, with a total value of $267,350.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,984 shares in the company, valued at approximately $533,844.48. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have acquired 81,000 shares of company stock valued at $4,706,960 and have sold 154,808 shares valued at $12,371,232. 6.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on SCHW. Barclays decreased their target price on Charles Schwab from $61.00 to $56.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 14th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Charles Schwab from $70.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 18th. Redburn Partners cut Charles Schwab from a neutral rating to a sell rating in a research report on Thursday, April 20th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Charles Schwab from $83.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 18th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on Charles Schwab from $98.00 to $75.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Charles Schwab presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $69.21.

About Charles Schwab

(Get Rating)

The Charles Schwab Corp. is a savings and loan holding company, which engages in the provision of wealth management, securities brokerage, banking, asset management, custody, and financial advisory services. It operates through the Investor Services and Advisor Services segments. The Investor Services segment includes retail brokerage and banking services to individual investors, and retirement plan services, as well as other corporate brokerage services, to businesses and their employees.

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Exclusive-G7 to vow diversifying of supply chains, filling bank regulatory gaps -draft G7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors' Meeting in Niigata

(Reuters) -Finance leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) advanced economies set a year-end deadline for launching a new scheme to diversify global supply chains, and vowed to address regulatory gaps in the banking system, according to a final draft of their communique seen by Reuters.

In the draft communique, the G7 central banks said they remained "strongly committed" to achieving price stability and ensuring inflation expectations stayed well-anchored.

"The global economy has shown resilience against multiple shocks including the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, and associated inflationary pressures," the draft communique said.

"Nevertheless, we need to remain vigilant and stay agile and flexible in our macroeconomic policy amid heightened uncertainty about the global economic outlook," it said.

The finance ministers and central bank governors of the G7 rich democracies will issue the communique after their three-day meeting in the Japanese city of Niigata concludes later on Saturday.

The draft communique made no mention of the U.S. debt ceiling stalemate, which overshadowed the G7 gathering as policymakers fretted over the risk of a potential U.S. default.

China has also been much on the minds of the G7 finance leaders, with this year's chair Japan spearheading efforts to diversify supply chains and reduce their heavy reliance on the world's second-biggest economy.

Under the new partnership scheme, the G7 economies would offer aid to low- and middle-income countries so they can play a bigger role in supply chains for energy-related products, such as by refining minerals and processing manufacturing parts.

"Diversification of supply chains can contribute to safeguarding energy security and help us to maintain macroeconomic stability," the draft communique said.

The G7 would work with interested countries and relevant international organizations with the aim of launching the scheme "by the end of this year at the latest," it said.

Story continues

"Spillovers from Russia's war against Ukraine and disruptions caused by the pandemic have made clear the importance of diversified and resilient supply chains," U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a bilateral meeting with her Japanese counterpart Shunichi Suzuki on Saturday.

The draft communique made no mention of an idea, flagged by the United States, to consider imposing targeted restrictions on investments to China to combat Beijing's use of "economic coercion" against other countries.

But it said G7 countries will work to ensure foreign investment in critical infrastructure "does not undermine the economic sovereignty of host countries."

The discussions among the finance leaders will lay the groundwork for next week's G7 summit in Hiroshima.

The G7 finance chiefs met at a time when worries over the U.S. debt ceiling standoff are adding to uncertainty over the global outlook, already clouded by signs of weakness in China's economy, stubbornly high inflation, and the recent failure of several U.S. banks.

On banking-system woes, the draft communique said the financial system was resilient due to regulatory reforms implemented after the 2008 global financial crisis.

"We will address data, supervisory, and regulatory gaps in the banking system," the draft communique said.

The G7 reiterated their condemnation of Russia's "illegal, unjustifiable, and unprovoked war of aggression" against Ukraine, and said it will continue to strengthen coordination in monitoring cross-border transactions between Russia and other countries, the draft communique showed.

(Reporting by G7 reporting team, writing by Leika Kihara; Editing by David Dolan and Rosalba O'Brien)
LSV Asset Management lifted its stake in shares of Capri Holdings Limited (NYSE:CPRI  Get Rating) by 10.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 258,000 shares of the companys stock after buying an additional 24,700 shares during the quarter. LSV Asset Managements holdings in Capri were worth $14,789,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of CPRI. AlphaCrest Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Capri by 65.6% in the 1st quarter. AlphaCrest Capital Management LLC now owns 7,288 shares of the companys stock valued at $375,000 after buying an additional 2,888 shares during the period. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can acquired a new stake in shares of Capri in the 1st quarter valued at about $4,352,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Capri by 4.9% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,198,021 shares of the companys stock valued at $112,981,000 after buying an additional 102,439 shares during the period. Bridgefront Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Capri in the 1st quarter valued at $271,000. Finally, Pearl River Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Capri in the 1st quarter valued at $227,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.28% of the companys stock.

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Capri Stock Performance

Capri stock opened at $38.13 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $4.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 2.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 1.34. Capri Holdings Limited has a fifty-two week low of $36.40 and a fifty-two week high of $69.25. The firms fifty day moving average price is $43.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $51.23.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Capri ( NYSE:CPRI Get Rating ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 8th. The company reported $1.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $2.21 by ($0.37). Capri had a net margin of 12.66% and a return on equity of 36.64%. The firm had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $1.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.22 EPS. Capris revenue was down 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Capri Holdings Limited will post 6.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Several research firms recently issued reports on CPRI. Telsey Advisory Group reissued a market perform rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of Capri in a research report on Wednesday, February 8th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Capri from $65.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley restated an overweight rating and set a $55.00 price objective (down previously from $58.00) on shares of Capri in a report on Thursday, February 9th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Capri from $74.00 to $70.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 9th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on Capri from $68.00 to $59.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 29th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $59.07.

Capri Company Profile

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Capri Holdings Ltd. operates as a global fashion luxury group. It engages in the design and distribution of sportswear, accessories, footwear and apparel of branded womens apparel and accessories and mens apparel. The firm operates through the following segments: Versace, Jimmy Choo, and Michael Kors.

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Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC  Get Rating) by 3.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 290,996 shares of the utilities providers stock after buying an additional 10,702 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc.s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $27,286,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Machina Capital S.A.S. boosted its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 239.8% in the 4th quarter. Machina Capital S.A.S. now owns 7,728 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $725,000 after buying an additional 5,454 shares in the last quarter. West Family Investments Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 22.9% in the 4th quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 5,736 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $538,000 after buying an additional 1,067 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 771,520 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $72,339,000 after buying an additional 13,569 shares in the last quarter. Northstar Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $422,000. Finally, Belpointe Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 27.8% in the 4th quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 16,849 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $1,580,000 after purchasing an additional 3,662 shares during the last quarter. 74.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. 888 reaffirmed a maintains rating on shares of WEC Energy Group in a research report on Wednesday, May 3rd. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $106.00 to $103.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 3rd. StockNews.com cut shares of WEC Energy Group from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note on Friday, May 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $99.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on WEC Energy Group from $109.00 to $106.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $98.80.

Insider Transactions at WEC Energy Group

WEC Energy Group Stock Down 0.9 %

In related news, Director Ulice Payne, Jr. sold 1,500 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.36, for a total value of $141,540.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 21,503 shares of the companys stock, valued at $2,029,023.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website . Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the companys stock.

Shares of NYSE:WEC opened at $93.83 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.60 billion, a PE ratio of 21.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.59 and a beta of 0.40. The firms 50-day moving average is $94.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $93.98. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $80.82 and a 1 year high of $108.39.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC  Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.03. WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 14.10% and a return on equity of 11.60%. The company had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.90 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.79 earnings per share. The businesss revenue for the quarter was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.6 EPS for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 12th will be given a dividend of $0.78 per share. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.33%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 11th. WEC Energy Groups dividend payout ratio is presently 72.90%.

About WEC Energy Group

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WEC Energy Group, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the generation and distribution of electricity and natural gas. It operates through the following segments: Wisconsin, Illinois, Other States, Electric Transmission, Non-Utility Energy Infrastructure and Corporate & Other. The Wisconsin segment refers to the electric and gas utility operations.

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Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV trimmed its holdings in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS  Get Rating) by 0.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 96,276 shares of the companys stock after selling 527 shares during the quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADVs holdings in Novartis were worth $8,734,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in NVS. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in Novartis by 103.0% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,992,558 shares of the companys stock worth $174,847,000 after purchasing an additional 1,010,806 shares during the period. MUFG Securities EMEA plc bought a new position in Novartis in the 4th quarter worth approximately $55,110,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in Novartis by 27.2% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,781,596 shares of the companys stock worth $244,085,000 after purchasing an additional 594,194 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Novartis by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,503,191 shares of the companys stock worth $494,313,000 after purchasing an additional 465,677 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in Novartis by 115.7% in the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 649,700 shares of the companys stock worth $49,384,000 after purchasing an additional 348,500 shares during the period. 8.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Citigroup downgraded Novartis from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, January 26th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Novartis in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a strong-buy rating on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Novartis from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, April 26th. Finally, BTIG Research increased their price target on Novartis from $75.00 to $85.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $82.25.

Novartis Price Performance

NVS opened at $103.42 on Friday. Novartis AG has a 12-month low of $74.09 and a 12-month high of $105.56. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The businesss fifty day simple moving average is $93.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $89.73. The company has a market capitalization of $219.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.82, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.54.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS  Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 25th. The company reported $1.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.16. Novartis had a return on equity of 23.29% and a net margin of 13.78%. The business had revenue of $12.95 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.60 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.46 EPS. The businesss revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 6.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Novartis Profile

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Novartis AG is a holding company, which engages in the development, manufacture, and marketing of healthcare products. It operates through the following segments: Innovative Medicines, Sandoz, and Corporate. The Innovative Medicines segment researches, develops, manufactures, distributes and sells patented pharmaceuticals, and is composed of two business units: Novartis Oncology and Novartis Pharmaceuticals.

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Gas Drilling Collapses in US at Fastest Rate in Seven Years

(Bloomberg) -- The US natural gas industry is pulling back on exploration at the fastest pace in seven years amid tumbling prices for the heating and power plant fuel.

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Rigs searching for natural gas declined by 16 to 141 this week, according to data released Friday by Baker Hughes Co. The 10% drop is the sharpest weekly pullback since February 2016.

Some of the worlds biggest contractors have been predicting a slowdown in gas drilling over the past month. Gas prices have plummeted about 75% since reaching a peak last August amid lower demand and constrained export capacity.

Gas futures climbed Friday after the rigs data was released. Prices jumped as much as 6.6%.

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(Bloomberg) -- Ghanas banks that were pushed into losses by a government debt revamp will return to profits this year, the countrys financial rescuer said.

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Thanks to aggressive impairment accounting, the lenders limited most of the losses from a sovereign-debt exchange to last years financial statements, Eric Otoo, managing director of Ghana Amalgamated Trust, said in an interview. They did so even though the regulator had given them the choice to spread the costs over four years, said the head of the institution set up in 2018 to recapitalize select domestic banks.

Ghanas ongoing restructuring of local-currency and overseas debt to qualify for a $3 billion International Monetary Fund bailout resulted in 16 out of the 23 banks posting 7.9 billion cedis ($673 million) loss before tax last year. That trend is already being reversed, with 20 of the banks reporting first-quarter profits, Otoo said.

Because the banks were recapitalized by early 2020, the industry was in a much better position to withstand the shocks, he said. Barring any major unforeseen economic shock, we expect the banks to bounce back early to profit ways as the level of impairments drop substantially.

Excluding National Investment Bank, which is yet to release full-year earnings, domestic banks reported 19.5 billion cedis of impairments in 2022, said Richmond Atuahene, an analyst at Salman Partners and Financial Consult Ltd. Among them, only state-owned Consolidated Bank Ghana Ltd. has shown capital distress, he said.

Absa Bank Ghana, the lender with the highest impairments of 2.1 billion cedis last year, wrote down only 168.1 million cedis in the first quarter through March.

Story continues

Domestic debt restructuring may not be over yet, Toby Iles, the head of Middle East and Africa Sovereign Ratings at Fitch Ratings, said in an online briefing Thursday. The government is not honoring all payments on bonds that werent part of the debt exchange, raising the possibility of some of them being reorganized, he said. Those notes constitute about 35% of the old bonds, he said.

Separately, Otoo said Ghana Amalgamated Trust awaits the next court date in a case relating to its fund-raising plans. Its proposal to sell shares to the public to raise 800 million cedis and pay back the governments seed money has been delayed by a suit by an opposition lawmaker.

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GLENS FALLS  The Capital District Transportation Authority announced Thursday that it will be expanding its service to Warren County by merging with Greater Glens Falls Transit.

The Warren County Board of Supervisors passed a resolution Thursday to merge with the CDTA, marking the sixth county in the Capital Region to join the authority. It expanded its service to Montgomery County last August.
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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP)  Kansas' Democratic governor on Thursday scuttled a small legal settlement favored by top Republican officials between the state and the owner of a Wichita fitness studio forced to shut down during the first months of the coronavirus pandemic and then operate under restrictions.

The settlement would have cost the state $4,305.46 and ended a lawsuit filed in December 2020 by Ryan Floyd and his business, Omega Bootcamps Inc. The case has yet to go to trial in Sedgwick County District Court in Wichita, and Attorney General Kris Kobach asked Gov. Laura Kelly and eight leaders of the Republican-controlled Legislature to sign off, as required by state law.

Six of those eight legislative leaders are Republicans, and all six voted to approve the settlement during a live online WebEx meeting that Kelly convened. But Kelly opposed it, along with the House and Senate's top Democrats, and under Kansas law, the governor's action decided the issue.

Kelly did not explain why she opposed the settlement, though a spokesperson later said in a text that the settlement is not in the best interest of the state. The governor and the lawmakers had no public discussion of the settlement but met in private for 35 minutes with two members of Kobach's staff.

The governor cut off public discussion before the private session with Kobach's staff, even though House Democratic Leader Vic Miller asked to have the case verbally summarized in public. The Associated Press requested by email before the meeting that the discussion be held in public.

We had this meeting here today, and you voted no,  Republican state Sen. Rick Billinger, who chairs the Senate budget committee, told Kelly, as she moved to adjourn the meeting immediately after the decision. I mean, I don't understand that.

Kelly said, I mean it's very clear; I voted no,  and then said they could have a discussion after the group adjourned  out of public view.

Ryan Kriegshauser, an attorney representing Floyd and Omega Bootcamps, called Kelly's action an insult to common sense," and Floyd said the settlement amount represented the rent he still had to pay during 53 days he remained closed because of COVID-19 restrictions.

All the dude ever wanted was his rent back, said Josh Ney, another attorney representing Floyd. Now the state will likely spend untold thousands to continue litigating this case.

The state asked the judge handling the lawsuit to dismiss it without a trial in October 2021. But the judge has not ruled on that request. Miller, a veteran attorney, said he expects the judge to dismiss the lawsuit.

Just in general, when we become an easy target for cases that have no merit, it encourages other cases with no merit to be filed, Miller said. You have to look at the bigger picture.

The lawsuit argued that the state used Floyd's and his business private property for the benefit of the general public when it and local officials imposed restrictions to check the spread of COVID-19. Statewide restrictions started with Kelly's order shutting down most businesses for five weeks, starting in late March 2020.

The lawsuit cited part of the states emergency management law that says people can seek compensation in court if their property is commandeered or otherwise used by state or local officials. Miller said that language doesn't cover COVID-19 restrictions, while the lawsuit contends it does.

Kriegshauser said it's notable that the judge has been struggling for more than 18 months with a decision on whether the case should go forward. Also, the Legislature whittled away over time at the power of the governor and local officials to shutter businesses or issue mask mandates in response to criticism of their actions.

"Of course there is merit to this action, Kriegshauser said of the lawsuit.

According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, Omega Bootcamps received two pandemic relief loans totaling about $24,000 in 2020 and 2021. In his lawsuit, Floyd said he wants an appraiser to be appointed to set the amount of damages owed by the state.

Kelly spokesperson Brianna Johnson noted those loans in defending the governor's action.

Kobach was elected attorney general last year but served as secretary of state, Kansas' top elections official, from 2011 to 2019, and Kriegshauser worked for him as an attorney and policy deputy in 2011-12. Lawyers outside the attorney general's office have handled the state's defense in the lawsuit.

Kelly's action came the same day as the formal end of the U.S. national public health emergency for COVID-19. In Kansas, Republican legislative leaders forced an end to a state of emergency in June 2021, about three months earlier than Kelly wanted.

The lawsuit was put on hold by the judge in 2021 so that Kriegshauser could urge Kansas lawmakers to use federal COVID-19 relief funds to compensate small businesses for their financial losses during the pandemic. Republican lawmakers approved a plan that could have set aside tens of millions of dollars, but Kelly vetoed it, arguing that the well-intentioned measure violated a national coronavirus relief law.

In 2022, Kelly and lawmakers agreed on providing up to $50 million worth of refunds on the local property taxes paid by retail storefront businesses shut down or restricted during the pandemic, up to $5,000 for each business.

But critics have said the process of getting the aid is difficult, and the $5,000 cap discourages businesses from applying. The state Department of Revenue reported Thursday that it had approved 23 applications worth more than $22,000 in aid.

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Follow John Hanna on Twitter: https://twitter.com/apjdhanna
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PORTLAND, Maine (AP)  The U.S. Postal Service is replacing tens of thousands of antiquated keys used by postal carriers and installing thousands of high-security collection boxes to stop a surge in robberies and mail thefts, officials said Friday.

The Postal Service is replacing 49,000 so-called arrow locks with electronic versions to make them less attractive to criminals who have been targeting them to steal mail from secure receptacles, and it is placing 12,000 hardened blue collection boxes in high-risk areas, according to the Postal Service and Postal Inspection Service.

The announcement came days after the National Association of Letter Carriers expressed outrage as The Associated Press reported that nearly 500 postal carriers were robbed last year.

Were doubling down on our efforts to protect our postal employees and the security of the mail. We are hardening targets  both physical and digital  to make them less desirable to thieves and working with our law enforcement partners to bring perpetrators to justice, Postal Inspection Service Chief Gary Barksdale said Friday in a statement.

The spike in postal carrier robberies has put letter carriers on edge.

The robberies have more than quadrupled over a decade, and weapons were used in most of the 496 robberies last year, according to data provided by the Postal Inspection Service to the AP under the Freedom of Information Act. Thirty-one postal carriers were injured, and one of them was killed last year, according to the data.

On Thursday, federal officials announced two more people were charged on allegations of pulling a letter carrier off a homes front steps while stealing an arrow key and using a knife to rob another carrier last year in Massachusetts.

The Postal Service declined to say how many arrow keys are in use with the nation's nearly 250,000 letter carriers.

But efforts by criminals to intercept the mail go beyond robberies to steal those keys. The Postal Service said also there were 38,500 thefts of mail from blue collection boxes in the 2022 fiscal year.

Criminals are targeting the mail, often in an organized fashion, to commit financial crimes, including altering checks to commit check fraud, officials said, but there are steep federal penalties for doing so.

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said the carriers who deliver 162.1 million pieces of first-class mail each day should be able to work in safety and to be free from targeting by criminals seeking to access the publics mail.

Mail theft carries a penalty of up to five years in prison. Possession, concealment or disposal of property carries a sentence of as many as 10 years in prison. Assault carries a sentence of up to 10 years for a first offense, and up to 25 years for any subsequent offense, officials said. Federal prosecutors can also bring other charges, as well.

Postal officials are cracking down on other ways criminals are targeting the service.

The service began implementing dual authentication for identity verification online for changes in address last month, and is starting enhanced in-person change-of-address transactions by month's end to prevent criminals from using change-of-address protocols for identity theft to intercept credit cards, checks and other financial mail. The Postal Service is no longer accepting third-party change-of-address submissions.

The service is also tackling counterfeit postage. It will exercise new authority to take possession and dispose of packages with counterfeit postage and to shut down websites selling counterfeit postage, officials said.

Postal officials seized more than 340,000 packages with counterfeit postage and more than 7.7 million counterfeit stamps, preventing the loss of an estimated $7.8 million in postal revenue, in the last fiscal year, officials said.

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Follow David Sharp on Twitter @David_Sharp_AP
This article was first published on NerdWallet.com.

Its getting easier to quickly determine the true cost of a stay at hotels in the Marriott portfolio.

Beginning this month, the hotel giant is rolling out changes to its online booking platform that will fold resort fees and similar add-on charges into the cost displayed when you first search for a property on its site. Its a move that could help customers sift through the often expensive (and sometimes confusing) web of fees that go into the final price.

The changes are expected to take effect by May 15. This means that the first price you see will be closer to the price you pay (excluding tax). If your nightly rate is $200 and theres a $50 nightly resort fee, Marriott will display $250 as the cost right off the bat.

The changes will apply to all properties with a resort or destination fee across the hotel's brands, and appear on all of Marriotts U.S. booking channels, including its website and mobile app, a spokesperson said via email.

Why is Marriott changing the way it displays prices?

In confirming the news, the company touted the move as a step toward added transparency.

We expect to be the first hospitality company to change its display, leading the industry on this important issue, Marriott said in an email.

In fact, though, Marriott was mandated to make changes as part of a court order involving the company and Pennsylvania, following a 2021 settlement agreement over the companys drip pricing practices.

What we asked of Marriott, and what the settlement demands, is simple: Be up front with consumers and do not hide fees for hotel stays, Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry said in an April 2023 statement.

Marriott resort fees arent going away

To be clear, Marriotts changes will affect what you see when you first search for a hotels price  not what you pay in the end.

In speaking to investors this month, Marriott CEO Anthony Capuano downplayed the scope of the changes, noting the company has always ultimately disclosed all fees during the booking process.

Were simply further clarifying and enhancing that transparency, Capuano said as part of the companys first quarter earnings call, while noting, It is not as though those [fees] were hidden somehow.

What Marriotts new pricing display looks like

A quick check shows Marriott is already beginning to roll out the changes on its website.

A search for hotels in the U.S. Virgin Islands turns up a $484-per-night cost at the Westin Beach Resort & Spa at Frenchmans Reef in St. Thomas. That price includes a $75-per-night resort fee, which is shown at the beginning of the search.

As about 15% of the base room rate, its far from a nominal add-on charge  a key reason guests, politicians and industry analysts have decried these kinds of fees for years, particularly as theyve become more prevalent.

I am absolutely opposed to these fees, says Arun Upneja, dean of the Boston University School of Hospitality Administration, whose work focuses on the hotel industry. I think the fees have been very, very good for the hotels to raise revenue, but theyre not good for the consumers.

Will other hotel brands follow suit?

While these changes by Marriott should make it simpler to decipher the true costs of a hotel stay, customers may still need to dig beyond the room rate itself to avoid an apples-and-oranges comparison with other companies that elect not to disclose fees early in the process.

For instance, a search for Hilton hotels in Mexico turns up, at first glance, a $480 nightly rate at the Waldorf Astoria Cancun.

But when you click View rates in search of more details, youll see that the hotel also plans to tack on a 15% fee.

Marriotts sheer size could inspire changes at other companies, Upneja says.

Anything they do, everyone else in the industry has to take it seriously, he says. I am very hopeful that everyone else will follow this model.

A Hyatt spokesperson said in an email the company is watching the industry closely and actively exploring ways to provide even more transparency for our guests on rates, fees, and inclusions.

The crusade against fees

Hotel fees have drawn ire from the Biden administration as part of a larger campaign against junk fees across a variety of industries.

Well ban surprise resort fees that hotels tack onto your bill. These fees can cost you up to $90 a night at hotels that arent even resorts, Biden said as part of his 2023 State of the Union address on Feb. 9.

For now, though, with no such ban, a little research into the nightly rate and any other charges youll face  no matter the hotel brand  could go a long way toward eliminating surprises when your bill comes due.

Sean Cudahy writes for NerdWallet. Email: articles@nerdwallet.com.

The article Marriott to Display Resort Fees Upfront in Online Searches originally appeared on NerdWallet.
Since the birth of her twins 16 months ago, artist Libby Pratt has had little time to consider creative pursuits, let alone work on them.

Only in the last few months do I feel like Im coming out of a fog, said Pratt, who left New York for Washington state before her babies were born to be near family. She spoke to a reporter while her children napped. I can reassess my life again.

Pratt creates photographic installations that examine familial relationships. Her return to artistic endeavors will get a boost next month when she spends two weeks at Stoneleaf Retreat in Lomontville, N.Y., as the recipient of the 2023 Baxter St Family Residency, now in its third year. The program, which is supported by the 7G Foundation, offers lens-based artists who are mothers an unrestricted grant of $2,500, studio time, one-on-one critiques with members of Baxter Sts Art Advisory Board, and family accommodations on Stoneleafs 22-acre property in Ulster County.

The participants are not required to produce anything tangible. In fact, if they would prefer a walk in the woods to time in the studio, thats perfectly fine.

Its really a gift, Pratt said. There are no stipulations. Im super excited to have this opportunity to think about my work again.

Theres also no application process  artists are nominated by a committee that includes Baxter St leadership and advisory board members. Pratt, who worked at Baxter St from 2014 to 2022, was an almost unanimous choice this year, according to Baxter St Executive Director Jil Weinstock.

Everyone on the jury comes in with a few names, she said. The vote was overwhelmingly in Libbys favor.

The Baxter St Family Residency grew out of a pandemic conversation between Baxter St President Michi Jigarjian and Stoneleaf co-founder and Baxter St Art Advisory Board member Helen Toomer, both of whom have experienced their own struggles as working mothers.

Michi is a mother of three and Im a mum of one, Toomer said. Even before having Harry, I struggled to find balance, and after he was born it really hit home how incredibly difficult it is to be a functioning human, let alone a woman, parent and artist. It can all be too much, and that was really magnified during the pandemic.

Jigarjian said the program was designed to help mothers who are artists reignite their creativity. It allows them to prioritize their artistic practice within the family structure, she said. The division of labor in the family is constantly tipped, and this residency creates a timeframe where the mother is prioritized.

Before the artists arrive at Stoneleaf, Toomer makes sure the cabin has everything they and their families need, such as cribs, strollers and highchairs. I want it to be as easy as possible for them, she said. Artists come up and, in a few hours, they ease into it. The weight falls off their shoulders.



The residency is an initiative of Baxter St at the Camera Club of New York, founded in 1884 on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. It provides lens-based artists with workspace, access to darkrooms and digital labs, and professional development. It also runs an exhibition space and public programs, all free.



Toomer started Stoneleaf in 2017 with her husband Eric Romano, whose company Space design + production has produced more than 160 international art and design fairs. Toomer, who grew up in England, moved with her family to the Hudson Valley from Brooklyn full-time during the pandemic.

We feel so lucky and privileged to live and raise Harry here, she said. We want to share Stoneleaf with as many people as possible.

In 2020, Toomer founded Upstate Art Weekend, which will run this summer from July 21-24. More than 130 art organizations, galleries, museums, residencies and creative projects across the region on both sides of the Hudson will participate. Toomer is also currently producing the first Photofairs New York, a contemporary photography and new technologies art fair at the Javits Center from Sept. 8-10.

In addition to its collaboration with Baxter St, Stoneleaf also runs Art Mamas Residences for womxn artists. There are two sub-programs within Art Mamas, one for artists and their families and the other for a group of womxn artists. Since its inception in 2017, 45 artists have participated in Stoneleaf residencies.

As an artist, professor and mother of two, I was amazed that I could get that much work done and sleep, wrote mixed-media artist Aisha Tandiwe Bell, a 2022 Art Mamas participant, in her post-residency statement. The other artist moms were awesome and helped me shoot a video, and we connected over art and motherhood.

Pratt was looking forward to her two-week residency. Im going to get back into my artistic headspace, first and foremost, she said.
POUGHKEEPSIE  A new report from a Hudson Valley research and policy nonprofit examines a major problem in the region: a lack of available workers.

The report, by Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress, traces the issue back to demographic and migrational trends that have decreased the regions population. The two main factors are a declining birth rate and the out-migration of residents to other parts of the state and country.

The great people shortage is not unique to the Hudson Valley, but instead reflects a global trend as birth rates fall. People who give birth must have 2.1 children to maintain the current population, but the birth rate in many countries  including Germany, Japan, the U.K., China and the U.S.  has fallen below that threshold. The birth rate in New York was 1.57 in 2020, according to the report.

The number of live births in the Hudson Valley has declined by 10 percent since 1997, according to the report. The decline would be far more drastic if not for Orthodox Jewish populations residing year-round in Rockland, Orange and Sullivan counties, who generally have more children than the areas population as a whole.

The report notes that in the town of Ramapo, where Rockland Countys Orthodox Jewish population is concentrated, live births increased by 41 percent from 2002 to 2015. Births in the four remaining towns in the county declined by between 10 and 32 percent over the same period.

Similar declines are seen elsewhere in the Hudson Valley. Live births fell most drastically in Putnam County between 1997 and 2019, with a 35 percent decline, followed by Greene County, with a 26.6 percent decline, according to the report.

That decline has hit the regions schools, which have 34,000 fewer students today than in the early 2000s. Every public school district in Columbia, Dutchess, Greene, Putnam and Ulster counties has seen its enrollments decline since 2007, according to the report. That has led to the shuttering of schools across the region. Last week, an Ulster County school board voted to close two of its elementary schools in the Catskills over the next five years due to declining enrollment.

The decline in births is exacerbated by consistent out-migration. The total net migration for the Hudson Valley  the number of people moving into the region minus the people moving out  was negative every year except for 2020 when the pandemic sent urban residents fleeing to more rural environs.

The report identifies several reasons why people have moved away over the past five years, including personal decisions related to family and residents wanting to move to warmer locales. But the top reason was housing.

Overall, these factors have led to fewer children and teenagers in the Hudson Valley, while the number of people over the age of 55 has increased as the population ages, the report found. Since todays children and teens become tomorrows workers, this will lead to more drastic labor shortages in the future  and the report predicts the problem will only get worse.

Another prediction offered in the report is that more businesses will close, especially small businesses. The region will also be unable to attract new business investment. Available employees may benefit, according to the report, as an intense demand for employees forces businesses to raise wages.

Changes in population would also have a deleterious effect on the Hudson Valleys health care systems. Pattern for Progress Executive Director Adam Bosch, who presented the report to reporters Thursday morning, said hospitals already must hire many temporary employees from other parts of the country to fill workforce gaps, and the hospitals would be dealing with more patients in the future as the population ages. These patients would largely be insured through Medicare, which pays out far less than private insurers, a situation that could signal (a) tough time for our medical centers and hospitals, according to the report.

The report also considers something that would make the Hudson Valleys population fall far faster  what if the trendy region falls out of favor? The great number of short-term rentals, such as Airbnbs, in the region would dry up, and second homeowners  more fickle and mobile than permanent residents  could move to the newest chic spot.

This, among other problems, could cause the local property-tax base to collapse, affect(ing) the long-term fiscal health and solvency of local governments, according to the report.

The report makes several policy recommendations to avoid these problems. The most prominent? More housing.

The problem is not only a general lack of housing  the region has only created 0.45 new housing units for every new job it created over the past 15 years, according to the report  but a lack of housing residents can afford. This issue is especially prominent in Columbia County, where the average resident can afford the average home in only three of the countys 19 municipalities.

New housing was hindered by our local codes and review processes, which make it very difficult to build more of the housing we direly need, according to the report.

The report also suggested lowering property taxes, which it found to be a legitimate reason for people leaving the region. The high cost of living, driven in large part by taxes, has already caused too many people to vote with their feet and leave New York, it states.

The report also suggests state marketing geared toward getting people to live in the Hudson Valley, not just visit it, and an effort to get students from the many colleges in the region to stay in the region after graduation.

The final recommendation encapsulates an issue currently in the headlines: migration from other countries.

Every expert from every field interviewed for the report mentioned immigration as a possible solution to the Hudson Valleys woes.

Forget the politics for a moment, and just think of our demographics like a mathematical problem, the report states. Our region needs people. There are lots of hardworking people who want a place to live in our country. A rational immigration policy at the federal level could help regions like the Hudson Valley, whose significant labor shortages could be allayed by the next wave of new Americans.
What Happens to Your Mortgage When You Die?

If you die owing money on a mortgage, the mortgage remains in force. If you have a co-signer, the co-signer may still be obligated to pay back the loan. A spouse or other family member who inherits a house generally has the right to take over the payments and keep the home. Alternatively, terms of a will may direct that the estates assets be used to pay off the mortgage, and sometimes a life insurance policy will pay off the mortgage if the original borrower dies. If no one will assume the mortgage and there is no provision to pay it off, the lender may foreclose on the property and sell it.

A financial advisor can help you deal with mortgage challenges during the estate planning process.

What Happens to Your Mortgage After Your Death?

Mortgages, unlike most other debts, dont usually have to be paid back from the estate of a deceased person. With credit cards, car loans and similar debts, family members generally arent directly responsible. Instead, debts will be settled with funds from or generated by sales of assets in the estate before anything is distributed to heirs.

When the deceased person was married, the situation is different in community property states. Community property states include Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin. In these states, surviving spouses may be responsible for paying back mortgages as well as other debts assumed by a deceased spouse during the course of the marriage. Note that debts assumed before the start of the marriage are normally not the responsibility of the surviving spouse. The specifics vary significantly from state to state, however.

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With a mortgage, only the specific property that secures the loan is affected. Unless the will specifies otherwise, the other assets in the estate can be distributed to beneficiaries through probate rather than being applied to the mortgage.

Story continues

While the mortgage debt survives the deceased person, the responsibility for paying it back doesnt automatically transfer to anyone other than a surviving spouse in a community property state, again unless there is a co-signer. If there is a co-signer, that person remains responsible for the mortgage debt after the death of the other co-borrower.

If youre ready to be matched with local advisors that can help you achieve your financial goals, get started now.

While spouses are protected against lenders demanding full payment of a mortgage if the original borrower dies, the same is not true for unmarried partners. A live-in or other unmarried partner may have to move out of a home if the original borrower dies without a will naming him or her as the inheritor of the property.

Situations Related to Mortgages After Death

What Happens to Your Mortgage When You Die?

The main thing to know about mortgages taken out before your death is that no one will be required to repay the loan unless they signed up to do it. However, your heirs and beneficiaries will have the option to keep the property and keep paying the mortgage. If the home is worth more than the mortgage, it can be sold and the proceeds used to pay off the loan. Then whatever is left can be distributed to beneficiaries named in the will. If the proceeds from the sale are less than the loan balance, it may represent a loss to the lender, but its not the responsibility of the heirs or estate to make up the difference.

If there is a co-signer, the mortgage will still be in force just as it was before the death of the other co-borrower. The co-signer will therefore be responsible for taking over the payments or otherwise fulfilling the terms of the mortgage.

If the co-signer doesnt want the property or the loan, the property can be sold and proceeds devoted to paying off the mortgage. If the proceeds arent enough to pay the mortgage, it will be up to the co-signer to make up the difference or work it out with the mortgage company.

Mortgage documents typically contain a due-on-sale clause. This clause requires the full amount of the loan to be paid if the ownership of the property transfers, as it would when a will grants the house to a beneficiary. However, legal protections afforded to spouses and the lenders self-interest mean that heirs who want to keep a house often can.

If there is no co-signer, one or more of the heirs may want to keep the property and take over the mortgage. This will require notifying the lender of the original borrowers passing and, potentially, renegotiating the terms of the mortgage to make the payments more affordable.

If the heir who wants to keep the home cant afford the payments, the lender may be willing to consider modifying the loan, such as extending the length, in order to make the payments more affordable. Of course, if more than one beneficiary is entitled to a share of the property, this will likely require more discussions among the heirs to settle on an acceptable way to share ownership.

If no one has co-signed the loan and no one wants to take over the payments, the lender will be able to start the foreclosure process. After taking possession of the home through foreclosure, the lender can sell it to recoup the loan.

Some loans include a life insurance policy that will pay off the loan if the borrower dies. If such a policy exists, the heirs will own the house free and clear, absent any other liens. Sometimes spouses may also purchase life insurance policies on each other in order to provide funds to pay off mortgages and other debts.

Bottom Line

What Happens to Your Mortgage When You Die?

A mortgage lives on after the death of the borrower, but unless there is a co-signer or, in community property states, a surviving spouse, none of the deceased persons heirs are responsible for paying the mortgage. Those who are in line to receive an inheritance may be able to take over payments and keep the house. A life insurance policy may pay off the loan, or a will may specify that assets of the estate pay it off. Otherwise, the lender can foreclose and sell the home.

Tips on Mortgages

Careful planning with the help of a financial advisor can significantly reduce the costs of settling an estate. Finding a qualified financial advisor doesnt have to be hard. SmartAssets free tool matches you with up to three financial advisors who serve your area, and you can interview your advisor matches at no cost to decide which one is right for you. If youre ready to find an advisor who can help you achieve your financial goals, get started now.

Use SmartAssets no-cost mortgage calculator to get an estimate of your monthly mortgage payment with taxes, fees and insurance.

Use SmartAssets mortgage comparison tool to compare mortgage rates from top lenders and find the one that best suits your needs.

Photo credit: iStock.com/Marcus Lindstrom, iStock.com/Cavan Images, iStock.com/RomoloTavani

The post What Happens to Your Mortgage When You Die? appeared first on SmartAsset Blog.
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ALBANY  A woman charged with attempted murder for allegedly trying to drive herself and her son into the Hudson River had been struggling with her mental health and arguing with the child's father in the hours before police found her car stuck at the Corning Preserve boat launch, according to information released during a preliminary hearing Thursday.

Ten family members and supporters of the 23-year-old mother came to the hearing in city criminal court, including one holding a letter-sized photo of the woman and her child. The womans mother declined to speak to a reporter earlier in the week.

The case has drawn significant attention online, with the city police departments Facebook post that announced her arrest drawing nearly 700 comments  with many debating the seriousness of the charge and what mental health help the mother might need.

Officers said they found the woman sitting in her car around 5 a.m. on Saturday, with her 2-year-old son in her lap near the boat launch. In addition to attempted murder, she was charged with endangering the welfare of a child.

The Albany County district attorneys office declined to comment on the case.

Three Albany police officers testified during the hearing, laying out the prosecutions case for the attempted murder charge. Officer Chad McCanney said he was the first officer to respond to the scene. He testified that when he arrived, he found the silver Mazda sedan with the front wheels over the curb of the walking path along the river.

He said that the car door was locked. The woman opened the door after he asked her to and told him she had been attempting to park the car when she accidentally went over the curb.

The boat launch sits near several dozen parking spots beneath I-787. The Mohawk Hudson bike path runs parallel along the river, perpendicular to the parking lot. The woman had driven over the curb and the 8-foot wide path, leaving the front two wheels over a section of curb separating the bike path from the rivers edge.

Later in the hearing, Albany police Det. Jacob Sopchak provided further details on how police came to the attempted murder charge.

Sopchak said the boys father gave police a statement that the two had gotten into a dispute, with the woman arguing the father wasnt present enough in the boys life and growing angry that he might be involved with another woman.

The two spoke multiple times over FaceTime and at one point the woman told the boys father, something to the effect of, youll never see either of us or our child again, and pointed the phone's camera to the Hudson River, Sopchak testified.

The detective said that when he interviewed the woman, who had waived her right to have an attorney present, she confirmed they had been fighting and speaking over FaceTime. She said she had driven her son down to the boat ramp to watch the boats and had accidentally driven too far, going up over the curb and becoming stuck.

The womans attorney, Michael Jurena, argued that nothing she had said or done was a clear indicator that she intended to kill herself or her child. Her statement to the boys father should be taken as phrasing often used in custody disputes, he said.

But Assistant District Attorney Ariel Fallon said the court should be able to infer that the act of showing the boys father the Hudson River, combined with the threat of him never seeing a child again, that the woman meant to harm her child.

The mother did not speak during the hearing other than conferring with her attorney. City Court Judge Joshua Farrell ruled that the case should be sent to a grand jury to consider an indictment.

After the hearing, Jurena said he would ask a county court judge to consider bail to get the woman out of the county jail and into a mental health treatment program.

She has some things shes been dealing with, he said. Earlier this year, the woman wrote on social media about the struggle of holding a full-time job while going to school full-time and being a mother.

Several of the womans family members and supporters broke down sobbing as Farrell made his decision.

We love you T, a supporter shouted as she was led from court.

I love you guys, too, the woman responded.
A Mexican citizen previously arrested in Stamford pleaded guilty Tuesday to illegally reentering the United States after being deported, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of Connecticut.

Jose Guadalupe Castillo Lara, 41, is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 3, the U.S. attorneys office said. His aliases include Jose Castillo, Jose Latta, Francisco Rodriguez and Jose Ruiz, the office said.

In April 2009, Castillo was deported from the U.S. to Mexico after he was convicted of felony assault in Texas, according to the U.S. attorneys office. He reentered the U.S. soon after and was apprehended by law enforcement in Texas, the U.S. attorneys office said. Castillo was sentenced to two years in prison for violating the terms of his probation on July 13, 2009 and deported for a second time in June 2010, the office said.

Nearly a decade later, Castillo was arrested by Stamford police on Nov. 17, 2018, according to the U.S. attorneys office. The following year, a federal grand jury in New Haven returned an indictment charging Castillo with reentry of a removed alien, the U.S. attorneys office said. The next day, the office said, Castillo was convicted in state court of disorderly conduct stemming from his Stamford arrest.

Following the conviction, according to the U.S. attorney's office, Castillo was released from state custody. He remained at large until he was apprehended this year in Massachusetts, the U.S. attorney's office said.

Castillo pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Michael P. Shea in Hartford. He will face up to 10 years in prison at sentencing, the office said.
LINCOLN, R.I. (AP)  Authorities in Rhode Island are searching for whoever vandalized a popular state park by putting up racist and hateful signs that imitate real park signage.

The two brown-and-yellow signs were attached with screws to trees at Lincoln Woods State Park. They were quickly removed after being found last weekend and on Thursday, a spokesperson for the state agency that manages the park, Evan LaCross, said Friday.
SARATOGA SPRINGS  While many school board races around the region are uncontested this year, this citys district vote to fill three seats continues a yearslong ideological battle between those who want police in the halls and those who want to take a broader approach to school safety that includes improving its climate.

Five candidates are running in Tuesday's vote, which includes a $142.7 million budget proposal. Sharon Dominguez and Joe Sabanos are taking issue with incumbents Tony Krackeler and Anjeanette Emeka for voting no last January to hire a fourth school resources officer. Dominguez and Sabanos are lumping in a third candidate, Beth Braxton, with the incumbents to warn parents that these three are not prioritizing school safety.

A concern has been expressed that the reelection of the two incumbents and their running mate could jeopardize preserving the SROs that were added, Sabanos said. This is based on the incumbents' history of voting not to add the two additional SROs.

However, Braxton, Emeka and Krackeler are arguing they are not against SROs and that school safety requires more than armed security.

They have zeroed in on SROs, said Braxton, a mental health counselor and professor at SUNY Adirondack. To me, its a much broader conversation. It shouldnt be just about SROs. It has to be about the emotional well-being of our students and teachers, safe and well-maintained buildings, hiring skilled staff and building a sense of community is all safety ... its foundational and so much more than SROs.

Emeka echoed that, adding the vote to hire a fourth SRO, one stationed at an elementary school, came in the middle of the budget year.

I voted against them because it was not part of the regular budget process, said Emeka, who has sat on the board for six years. I never said if I supported them or did not ... I felt it was inappropriate to add taxpayer dollars to our district's budget in perpetuity when we have all these things we need and want that we have to consider ... that was my 'no' vote. It was the timing and lack of discussion and robust look at the total needs of the following year.

Krackeler said the process was not done right, but added he would renew the contracts for all the current SROs when the vote comes up.

Dominguez, however, said she was thrilled that a fourth SRO was hired and that it aligns with the New York State Insurance Reciprocal recommendation to the district. She also said school safety is one of the pillars of her campaign.

Arming security at the districts eight campuses has been a contentious issue since fall 2018. Thats when Superintendent Michael Patton learned that for decades a group of 14 school monitors were patrolling the campuses with concealed firearms. The school board voted to disarm the monitors, saying they were complying with state law. That angered parents who wanted the board to use their authority to override state law, something that they could have done. And when the board did not, the group of parents vowed to elect school board members who favor armed security.

That effort has resulted in a few wins, but no majority on the nine-member board.

But its not just SROs that the two safety candidates are focused on. Parental rights, a losing proposition statewide in last years school board votes, still linger in Saratoga Springs. Dominguez, a community volunteer, and Sabanos, a corporate safety officer, are still advocating for that, but have soften the language, calling it curriculum transparency.

This is an issue which Dominguez, a co-founder of the group Saratoga Excellence in Education, is particularly committed. Last year, she tried to ban a short story from the ninth-grade reading list that she found offensive. Dominguez, who said she is not comfortable speaking directly to the Times Union, wrote in an email exchange that she didnt want Tracey Baptistes short story Gravity assigned to students because it graphically described a female being sexually assaulted on a dance floor and that our group felt that only trained professionals and/or therapists, should be conducting those lessons in the classroom so that they could properly council (sic) any student who may have been a victim of child sexual abuse.

Her Excellence in Education website has disappeared. Dominguez now says shes interested in educational outcomes. She says she doesn't want to ban the book, but does want to spend time in classrooms and wants reading assignments shared with parents.

Sabanos said he doesnt want to ban books either.



I believe we share the same stance regarding books in schools, which is that age-appropriate books should be chosen by the librarian as they are qualified to do so, Sabanos wrote in an email. A complete and up-to-date list of the books available to students should be readily accessible to parents/guardians. In the event a parent/guardian chooses to challenge the presence of a book, they should follow the proper procedures and protocols which are already established.



Krackeler said hes for librarians and educational professionals selecting the books students read.



I dont think the board has a role in that aside from adjudicating the disputes that are coming through and the 30,000-foot advice that we always give, Krackeler, the board president, said. Its part of one of my big issues, addressing the teacher shortage. There are a lot of reasons for teacher shortages and one of them the teachers cite over and over is just fatigue and having had enough with the intrusion into their classrooms, their libraries and their professional lives. They put up with a lot. Im hoping to block stuff like that.

Krackeler also said that rather than focusing on SROs and getting parental approval for curriculum, his team, endorsed by teachers and staff, is concerned with culture and climate in the buildings. Recently, students of color spoke with the Times Union about how they are regularly bullied about their race and, it seems to them, the district is doing nothing about it.

Teachers and staff say that the culture in the hallways among staff and students is not as good as it used to be, Krackeler said. There is not as much respect. Im not surprised that is the case because we adults are modeling that. We dont know how to disagree with each other anymore.



Emeka said the same. Learning outcomes cannot improve for children who are constantly feeling guarded, she said.



Our buildings culture needs a deeper look," Emeka said. "We need to help it to be more welcoming and accepting, an emotionally safe place. Students cant learn if they have a shield up to block things coming their way.

Also, Emeka said her years on the board help her to remain focused on good governance practice, not feeding the chaos and confusion."

Finally, Braxton said her job at SUNY Adirondack is to enhance the mental health of students and staff, and therefore, she believes she can offer an unique perspective on the board.

I sit on a behavioral intervention team that exists to mitigate the risk of campus violence," she said. "I work with a variety of professionals including public safety. I live it every day. Unfortunately, when a lot of people talk about safety, it starts at SROs and stops at SROs. Its a broader conversation.

Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday at Caroline Street, Division Street, Lake Avenue, Geyser Road, Dorothy Nolan and Greenfield elementary schools. As well as the budget, there is a bus purchase proposition.
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WASHINGTON (AP)  The Biden administration on Thursday approved an $8.5 billion sale of Chinook helicopters to NATO ally Germany.

The approval comes as the war in Ukraine continues to tax the military stocks of Western countries but is not directly related to the conflict.

The State Department said it had notified Congress that the U.S. would sell Germany 60 Chinooks along with engines and associated spare parts, including missile warning systems.

The Chinook is the Armys key heavy-lift helicopter, used to transport troops and equipment, and was a familiar sight in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. Chinooks were the aircraft used to evacuate U.S. embassy personnel from Sudan in April.

The sale is meant to boost Germanys heavy lift military capability and deter regional threats, the department said. The helicopters are not intended to be used in Ukraine.

This proposed sale will support the foreign policy and national security of the United States by improving the security of a NATO ally which is an important force for political and economic stability in Europe, it said.
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP)  A day after New York Rep. George Santos pleaded not guilty to charges in the U.S., he signed an agreement Thursday with public prosecutors in Brazil to avoid prosecution for forging two stolen checks in 2008.

What would have been the start of a case was ended today, Santos lawyer in Brazil, Jonymar Vasconcelos, told The Associated Press in a text message. As such, my client is no longer the subject of any case in Brazil.

Asked about the details of the non-prosecution agreement, Vasconcelos demurred, citing the fact the case proceeded under seal. The public prosecutors' office of Rio de Janeiro state also declined to comment when contacted by the AP.

Court records in Brazil, first uncovered by The New York Times, show Santos was the subject of a criminal charge for using two stolen checks to buy items at a shop in the city of Niteroi, including a pair of sneakers that he gifted to a friend. At the time, Santos would have been 19. The purchase totaled 2,144 Brazilian reais, then equal to about $1,350, according to the charge prosecutors filed in 2011.

That followed an investigation opened in 2008 and Santos signed confession, in which he admitted to having stolen the checkbook of his mothers former employer from her purse and making purchases, including in the store, and recognizing the fraudulent checks as those he had signed, according to the court documents reviewed by the AP.

A judge accepted the charges against Santos in 2011, but subsequent subpoenas for him to appear personally or present a written defense went unanswered and, with authorities repeatedly unable to determine his whereabouts, the case was suspended in 2013. That changed after he won a U.S. congressional seat and the subsequent flurry of media attention focused on his dubious credentials. Rio state prosecutors then petitioned to reopen the case.

Per terms of the non-prosecution agreement, Santos will pay 24,000 reais (almost $5,000), with the majority going to the shopkeeper who received the bad checks and the remainder to charities, newspaper Folha de S.Paulo reported, without saying how it obtained the information. Santos attended the meeting virtually, the paper reported.

Resolution of the case removes the possibility Santos might have been obliged to travel to another country to resolve pending charges; that could have been been complicated after he was forced to surrender his passport after recent charges in the U.S.

On Wednesday in New York, Santos pleaded not guilty to charges he stole from his campaign and lied to Congress about being a millionaire, while collecting unemployment benefits he didnt deserve.
Coronation Street star Michael Turner was accused by fellow cast members of being a mole amid alleged phone hacking by journalists, the High Court has been told.

The actor, who has appeared in the role of Kevin Webster in the Manchester-based soap since 1983, is among a number of individuals describing the upsetting, damaging and long-lasting impact of allegedly being targeted by unlawful information gathering activities.

His former Coronation Street co-star Nikki Sanderson felt like she was public property and experienced abuse in the street following false insinuations in articles published by Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), the court was told.

Fiona Wightman, the ex-wife of TV comedian Paul Whitehouse, received an apology from the publisher over the unlawful gathering of her medical information while she was undergoing treatment for ovarian cancer, court documents revealed.

MGN, publisher of The Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Sunday People, is contesting damages claims brought by the trio, as well as the Duke of Sussex, over alleged unlawful information gathering at its titles.

Their representative claims are being considered by a judge during a seven-week trial which began on Wednesday.

Lawyers for Mr Turner, known professionally as Michael Le Vell, said between 1991 and 2011 he was of considerable interest to MGN due to his career and his 2011 arrest for suspected rape, for which he was later found not guilty.

Mr Turner was also an actors informal union rep, which meant he was privy to private information about his Coronation Street co-stars, his legal team said in a court document.

The actor claims it is likely voicemail messages he left on an associates phone were unlawfully accessed and listened to by MGN journalists.

His barrister, David Sherborne, said in the court document that Mr Turner had set out the enormous and long-lasting impact of these alleged activities explaining that Coronation Street cast members accused him of being a mole due to his position as union rep, which he was absolutely devastated by.

He also became extremely paranoid and blamed people close to him for stories which were public, even abandoning his local pub as a result, the lawyer said.

He is shocked and horrified by MGNs targeting of him for over 15 years.

MGN denies Mr Turners claims, arguing there is no evidence of voicemail interception or unlawful information gathering relating to him.

Ms Sandersons legal team said in court documents that she experienced unusual telephone and media-related activity which was consistent with the unauthorised accessing of her voicemails and other unlawful information gathering, with private information appearing in newspapers with no legitimate explanation as to how it was obtained.

Mr Sherborne said she said it was scary feeling like she was always being watched, and upsetting that MGNs conduct caused the lines between her public and private life to blur, making her believe that she was public property.

The impact of the stories on Nikki Sanderson was aggravated by their false insinuations that she was promiscuous, causing her great upset and giving rise to her being subjected to mental and physical abuse, having people shout at her in the street calling her a whore, slag or slut and even being physically assaulted on numerous occasions, Mr Sherborne said.

It gave rise to her feeling in a constant state of paranoia, distrusting everyone around her.

He added that payment records to private investigators show Ms Sanderson was subjected to very large amounts of unlawful information gathering.

This made her feel angry and distressed, with the actress claiming: I was a young girl and they were hiring random men to follow me  they could have done anything to me.

In its trial defence, the publisher says Ms Sandersons claim is brought too late, but unreservedly apologises over four payments made to private investigators which it admits are evidence of instructions to unlawfully obtain her private information.

The publisher also claims that evidence does not suggest Ms Sandersons phone was successfully hacked.

MGN said it unreservedly apologises to Ms Wightman and admitted she was the subject of unlawful private investigator activity on six occasions, but denied she was targeted through voicemail interception.

Its lawyers said instructions to private investigators, shown in payment records, appear to relate to seeking information about Ms Whitehouses medical treatment.

Mr Sherborne said in a court document: It is difficult to conceive of more intrusive and damaging PI activity.

This was plainly unlawful, and Fiona Wightman explains that she was even door-stepped by journalists in relation to her diagnosis and how she, quite understandably, finds the PI activity to be despicable and deeply shocking, the barrister said.

MGN also argues that Ms Wightman is time barred from bringing her case.
Katharine Wright sits in the Wright Model HS next to older brother Orville Wright. (Photo: Library of Congress)

FreightWaves Classics is sponsored by Old Dominion Freight Line  Helping the World Keep Promises. Learn more here.

Two brothers from Dayton, Ohio, in the early 20th century made history when they created a flying machine and literally launched modern-day aviation. Wilbur and Orville Wright famously went from bicycle repairmen to the fathers of flight on Dec. 17, 1903, when Orville piloted the first flight, which lasted just 12 seconds and 120 feet.

The Library of Congress has an extensive collection of negatives donated by Orville Wrights estate documenting the brothers work as well as their personal lives between 1898 and 1911. Most pictures were taken by the brothers themselves. Family, friends, successes, trials and tribulations make up the collection, showcasing a fulfilling and exciting adventure.

Take a look at some of the photographs:

Orville Wright stands at the left wing of an upended glider. (Photo: Library of Congress)

Wilbur stands at the left holding one end of glider while Orville lies in the machine and employee Dan Tate holds the right side. (Photo: Library of Congress)

The rear side of the Wright family home in Dayton, Ohio, which stayed in the family from 1871 to 1948, when Orville who was occupying the home died. (Photo: Library of Congress)

Orville Wright sits with friends looking through photographs. (Photo: Library of Congress).

Wilbur Wright works in the bicycle repair shop the brothers originally ran. (Photo: Library of Congress)

The glider crumped from the wind and wrecked on Hill of the Wreck, ironically named after a shipwreck. (Photo: Library of Congress)

A left side view of the 1900 Wright glider before a forward horizontal control surface was installed. (Photo: Library of Congress)

A view from the left front side of the Wright brothers reconstructed 1903 motor. (Photo: Library of Congress).

A close-up view of Wright Brothers airplane, including the pilot and passenger seats. (Photo: Library of Congress)

Orville Wrights dog Scipio sitting on the family home front porch to the end the gallery on a happy note. (Photo: Library of Congress)

FreightWaves Classics articles look at various aspects of the transportation industrys history. Click here to subscribe to our newsletter!

Have a topic you want me to cover? Email me at bjaekel@freightwaves.com or follow me on Twitter.

The post History captured in Wright Brothers photographs appeared first on FreightWaves.
A man wanted by Irish authorities has been arrested at Belfast International Airport while trying to take a flight to Spain.

The 28-year-old man is wanted in Ireland on suspicion of hijacking and possession of an offensive weapon.

The PSNIs International Policing Unit arrested the man at the airport on Thursday, working with An Garda Siochana and local officers from Co Antrim.

The man was detained on an Irish extradition warrant and appeared before Belfast Extradition Court later on Thursday.

The subject in this case might have thought that booking a flight from a different jurisdiction would help him evade or avoid detection, Sergeant Davey from the International Policing Unit said.

Unfortunately for him he failed to factor in the close international collaboration efforts with law enforcement partners to identify and apprehend wanted fugitives wherever they may be hiding out.

This arrest shows our continued determination and commitment to work with international partners to effectively tackle criminality and bring those involved to justice.

The man remains in custody.
[May 11, 2023] Ether Capital Corporation Reports 2023 Q1 Financial Results

Ether Capital Corporation ("Ether Capital" or the "Company") (NEO: ETHC) announces the reporting of its unaudited interim consolidated financial results for the three-month period ended March 31, 2023. The Company experienced a strong rebound in portfolio value during Q1 2023 compared to December 31, 2022. Financial highlights for Q1 2023 include: The Company recorded Revenue of $1.18 million in Q1 2023 vs. $1.20 million in Q1 2022, a decrease of 1%.

The Company incurred Operating Expenses of $1.26 million in Q1 2023 vs. $0.80 million in Q1 2022, a 59% increase.

The total value of digital assets held by the Company was $105.5 million as at March 31, 2023 vs. $73.1 million on December 31, 2022, a 44% increase over the three month period.

Cash and cash equivalents were equal to $2.44 million on March 31, 2023 vs. $2.89 million on December 31, 2022.

The Company had no debt in Q1 2023.

Basic Net Income per share for Q1 2023 was $0.55 compared to Net Loss per Share of $0.20 in Q1 2022.

The Net Income after Other Comprehensive Income (OCI) in Q1 2023 was $30.5 million vs. Net Loss after OCI of $22.9 million in Q1 2022.

The total shareholders' equity of the Company was $106.7 million on March 31, 2023 vs. $75.6 million on December 31, 2022. During Q1 2023, the price of Ether increased 53% and ended the period at $2,471 compared to $1,620 on December 31, 2022. The comparative unaudited interim financial statements for Q1 2022 were restated to recognize a Deferred Tax Expense and Liability and facilitate comparison with Q1 2023. Management Commentary "We had a strong start to the year and it was a very productive quarter for the Company," said Brian Mosoff, CEO of Ether Capital. "In Q1 we doubled down on our commitment to staking and launched an analytics tool that provides users with more transparency when it comes to their assets. We also witnessed an overwhelmingly positive response to Ethereum's recent Shanghai upgrade and now have liquidity on our Ether due to staked ETH withdrawals being enabled. This puts us in a financially sound position to explore new business opportunities and additional revenue pipelines in the coming months." "Positive price action for ETH and the decision to stake more of our treasury has reflected well on our balance sheet. To date we are staking 36,000 ETH (79% of our portfolio) and generated yield at approximately 5.6% in Q1," said Ian McPherson, President & CFO of Ether Capital. Revenue Highlights The Company's revenue decreased 1% from $1.2 million in Q1 2022 to $1.18 million in Q1 2023. Total Staked Ether Rewards Revenue, a combination of Consensus Layer Rewards (illiquid) and Execution Layer Rewards (liquid), was $0.932 million in Q1 2023 vs. $0.722 million in Q1 2022, of which 69% was Consensus Layer Rewards and 31% was Execution Layer Rewards. The amount of Staked Ether was much higher at the end of Q1 2023 (36,000 Ether) compared to the end of Q1 2022 (20,512 Ether) as was the amount of Staked Ether Rewards (see table below). The staking yield for the Company averaged 5.64% for Q1 2023 vs. 5.04% in Q1 2022. The average dollar price for Staked Ether Rewards was lower in Q1 2023 ($2,141) compared to Q1 2022 ($3,726), thus offsetting the higher Staked Ether Rewards earned during Q1 2023.







Q1 2023 Q1 2022 Consensus Layer Rewards 299 197 Execution Layer Rewards 132 0 Total Staked Ether Rewards 431 197 Average Staked Ether 30,907 15,392 Yield 5.64% 5.03% Consensus Layer Rewards 69.3% 100.0% Execution Layer Rewards 30.7% 0.0% Revenue $932,231 $721,858

Additionally, the Company earns consulting fee revenue from Purpose Investments that is linked to the assets under management of Purpose Investment's crypto ETFs ("Crypto AUM"). During Q1 2023, the average value of Purpose's Crypto AUM was much lower than Q1 2022 (see table below). This resulted in a 51% reduction of consulting fees from $0.45 million in Q1 2022 to $0.22 million in Q1 2023. Q1 2022 Q1 2023 Consulting Fees $449,882 $222,143 Average AUM $2,057 MM $924 MM Operating Expense Highlights Operating Expenses increased 59% in the quarter to $1.26 million vs. $0.79 million in Q1 2022 primarily due to staff expansion and the building of internal capabilities. Ether Capital is assessing the launch of new products and business lines for which key staff were recruited. Additionally, the Company is in the process of internalizing some functions that it has outsourced historically, such as accounting. The most material Operating Expense incurred by the Company during the three months was staff compensation. As at March 31, 2023, there were 10 full time employees or contractors compared to five on March 31, 2022 and 10 on December 31, 2022. Compensation expenses, both salaries and share-based compensation of employees, were $0.73 million for the quarter vs. $0.29 million in Q1 2022. Revenue less Operating Expenses One measure of operating performance is Revenue less Operating Expenses. For Q1 2023, it was ($0.08) million compared to $0.41 million in Q1 2022. The primary reason for the operating loss in Q1 2023 is due to unexpected professional fees pertaining to a restatement of 2021 audited Consolidated Financial Statements. See table below for a reconciliation for this non-IFRS measure. Q1 2023 Q1 2022 Change Revenue $1,184,946 $1,201,756 (1%) Operating Expenses $1,263,648 $795,056 +59% Revenue less Operating Expenses ($78,702) $406,700 n/a Other Comprehensive Income (Loss) and Net Income (Loss) The Other Comprehensive Income (Loss) ("OCI") incurred a significant reversal in Q1 2023. In Q1 2022, the OCI incurred a loss for shareholders of $16.2 million (restated) due to the fair market value adjustment to the Company's digital assets. During the period, the price of Ether declined 12% and it triggered losses on the value of those assets. By comparison, the OCI generated a gain of $11.8 million for the three months ended March 31, 2023. This reversal was due primarily to unrealized gains on digital assets of $13.6 million offset by the recognition of a deferred tax expense of $1.8 million. As previously mentioned, the price of Ether increased 53% during Q1 2023 and this was the major factor driving the gain in fair market value. Cashflow In general, the cashflows from operations of the Company in Q1 2023 are materially different from the financial statement earnings, whether before or after Other Comprehensive Income, for the following reasons: 79% of the Revenue in Q1 2023 is non-cash. Operating Expenses include a material amount for the amortization of Share Option Expense, a non-cash expense (17% of Operating Expenses). The unrealized gains for the Company's digital assets total $17.9 million. The exercise of share options generated $0.42 million of cash. The Consolidated Statement of Cashflow and the Notes in the Company's Q1 2023 financial statements and the Management Discussion & Analysis (MD&A) include more detail. Net Income (Loss) per Share The Net Income per Share was $0.55 in Q1 2023 compared to a Net Loss per Share of $0.20 in Q1 2022 (restated). The Net Income (Loss) per Share does not include the impact of OCI (Loss), which is material. Assets Cash on the balance sheet was $0.245 million on March 31, 2023 compared to $0.44 million on December 31, 2022. The Company invested excess cash in a listed Purpose High Interest Savings ETF and the balance was $2.20 million on March 31, 2023 vs. $2.45 million on December 31, 2022. This ETF can be sold easily in the normal course and the Company deems it liquid and comparable to a cash equivalent. Combined, the cash and ETF totaled approximately $2.44 million on March 31, 2023. During the three months ended March 31, 2023 there was a material change regarding the valuation of digital assets as discussed above. The Company's digital assets increased in value by $31.4 million to $105.5 million from December 31, 2022, primarily due a 53% increase in the price of Ether during the period. The valuation of the Company's digital assets exceeded the cost base of those assets by $47.1 million as at March 31, 2023. After taking into account tax loss carryforwards, the Deferred Tax Liability of those unrealized gains is approximately $0.91 million on March 31, 2023 ($12.1 million on March 31, 2022), and this is recognized on the Consolidated Interim Statements of Financial Position. Any potential future increase in the valuation of the digital assets will result in an increase in the Deferred Tax Liability of approximately 13.25% of the unrealized gains. March 31, 2023 December 31, 2022 Digital assets valuation $105,537,280 $73,139,574 Digital assets cost base $58,839,614 $57,800,415 Unrealized capital gain on digital assets (excluding Wyre) $47,147,666 $15,339,159 Shareholders' Equity Highlights The shareholders' equity as at March 31, 2023 was $106.7 million compared to $75.6 million on December 31, 2022. The increase was primarily due to the revaluation of the Company's digital assets given the 53% increase in the Ether price during the quarter. The Net Equity Value per Share also increased to $3.13 per share on March 31, 2023 from $2.24 on December 31, 2022. The number of shares outstanding increased to 34.103 million from 33.75 over the quarter. The Company's unaudited interim financial statements and the MD&A have been filed on SEDAR and may be viewed under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com. Capitalized terms used and not defined in this news release have the meanings given to them in the Company's quarterly financial statements and/or MD&A for the period ended March 31, 2023. About Ether Capital Corporation ??Ether Capital (NEO: ETHC) is a public technology company with a long-term objective to become a central business and investment hub for the Ethereum ecosystem. The Company has invested most of its balance sheet in Ethereum's native utility token "Ether" as a core strategic asset and yield-generating instrument. The Company is focused on building financial infrastructure that supports the Ethereum blockchain and delivers corporate value. Ether Capital's management team and Board of Directors are comprised of crypto natives, leading venture capitalists and traditional finance experts, which uniquely positions the company to identify and capitalize on opportunities in the digital asset ecosystem. For more information, visit http://ethcap.co. The content of this document is for informational purposes only and is not being provided in the context of an offering of any securities described herein, nor is it a recommendation or solicitation to buy, hold or sell any security. The information is not investment advice, nor is it tailored to the needs or circumstances of any investor. Information contained in this document is not, and under no circumstances is it to be construed as, an offering memorandum, prospectus, advertisement, or public offering of securities. No securities commission or similar regulatory authority has reviewed this document and any representation to the contrary is an offence. Information in this press release is current only as of the date provided and Ether Capital is under no obligation to update this information, other than in accordance with applicable securities laws. Non-IFRS Measures The Company's condensed consolidated financial statements are prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS"). The Company refers to the Operating Revenue less Operating Expenses, which is a non-IFRS financial measure. This non-IFRS measure is not defined by IFRS, does not have a standardized meaning and may not be comparable with similar measures presented by other issuers. The Company has presented such non-IFRS measure as management believes it is a relevant measure of the Company's operating performance independent of asset valuation changes. Non-IFRS measures should not be considered as alternatives to the information set out in the Company's financial statements. The definition of Revenue less Operating Expenses and its reconciliation is included above in a table within this press release. Forward-Looking Information This press release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. The Company cautions the reader not to place undue reliance upon any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. Generally, but not always, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans," "expects" or "does not expect," "is expected," "budget," "scheduled," "estimates," "forecasts," "intends," "on pace," "anticipates," or "does not anticipate," "believes," and similar expressions or state that certain actions, events or results "may," "could," "would," "should," "might," or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements are based on information available to management at the time they are made, management's current plans, estimates, assumptions, judgments and expectations. Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to the risk factors discussed in the Company's Annual Information Form dated March 23, 2023, the Risk Factors section in its most recently filed Management Discussion and Analysis and its other filings available online at www.sedar.com. Although the forward-looking information contained in this press release is based on assumptions that the Company believes to be reasonable at the date such statements are made, there can be no assurance that the forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking information. In addition, the Company cautions the reader that information provided in this press release is provided to give context to the nature of some of the Company's future plans and may not be appropriate for other purposes. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The Company does not undertake to update or revise any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230511005947/en/

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[May 11, 2023] HealthPRO 2nd Annual Sustainability Rounds conference delivered tools, tactics for sustainable healthcare

OAKVILLE, ON, May 11, 2023 /CNW/ - HealthPRO's recent Sustainability Rounds conference challenged healthcare organizations from across the global supply chain to implement at least three achievable actions to improve sustainability in healthcare. Navigating the Shift: Tools & Tactics for Sustainable Healthcare on April 25, 2023 brought together nearly 200 Canadian and international stakeholder to share tools and tactics to improve the health sector's impact on people and the planet. The virtual event featured topics such as tracking and measuring impact, the future of supplier requirements and steps health organizations could take to begin their sustainability journeys.



Keynote speaker Chris McLeod, CEO and Partner at Northern Strategic Partners, suggested all members of the health sector supply chain could draw sustainability lessons from the Indigenous approach to healthcare, which focuses on wholistic community wellness. "When we talk about community wellness, we're talking about the strength of our people overall," McLeod said. "How do we provide care for our people  not just for me. We need to understand the cultural context of the communities we serve, including how procurement affects them or engages with them."

Polling feedback from conference participants reinforces a growing appetite to improve sustainability in the health sector. When asked, participants overwhelmingly and unanimously voted in favour of introducing changes to supplier requirements to include social and environmental commitments as an important aspect of landing contracts and expanding business. "HealthPRO was proud to host this second annual event gathering stakeholders from across Canada and the globe," said Christine Donaldson, Interim President and CEO of HealthPRO. "We are committed to continue building knowledge and empowering all stakeholders to implement practical solutions to sustainability challenges." Download the 2nd Annual Sustainability Rounds Report highlighting key takeaways:

HealthPRO 2nd Annual Sustainability Rounds Report About HealthPRO Headquartered in Oakville, ON, HealthPRO brings together the national buying power and expertise of 1,300 member organizations to deliver contracts for high-quality products and services, saving both time and money for healthcare institutions across the country. SOURCE HealthPRO Procurement Services Inc.

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[May 11, 2023] Xinhua Silk Road: China Jiangsu's Wuxi to deepen economic and trade co-op with ROK

BEIJING, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- A delegation from Wuxi, east China's Jiangsu Province conducted a series of economic and trade exchange events with the Republic of Korea (ROK) in the country from May 7 to 9, aiming to further promote mutually beneficial cooperation. During the three-day visit to the ROK, the delegation led by Zhao Jianjun, mayor of Wuxi, carried out economic and trade negotiations, held a sci-tech innovation cooperation and exchange conference, visited famous Korean companies and sister cities, and inaugurated a business innovation exchange center. Deals of a batch of bilateral cooperation projects were inked at the sci-tech innovation cooperation and exchange conference held on Monday in Seoul. For example, Wuxi's high-techzone signed an agreement with the ROK's Sungkyunkwan University on jointly building a China-ROK (Wuxi) sci-tech innovation center.



The Wuxi (Seoul) business innovation exchange center was also unveiled at the conference. As an important window for Wuxi to deepen opening-up and international cooperation, it will provide support for Wuxi-ROK cooperation by performing such functions as boosting business negotiations, connecting industrial chain and supply chain, propelling offshore innovation, and enhancing exchanges among talents. When addressing the conference, Zhao expressed his gratitude to the ROK for supporting Wuxi's development.

According to the mayor, Wuxi will work with Korean partners to promote the early implementation and operation of signed cooperation projects in sectors such as integrated circuits, new energy, and biopharmaceuticals where the ROK has competitive edges and Wuxi has industrial foundation. The city will also boost visits and exchanges on key technological fields such as intelligent manufacturing, information communications, and environmental protection between technology enterprises, scientific research platforms, and universities from the two sides. Meanwhile, Wuxi will further explore new opportunities for cooperation in sectors such as culture and arts, education and sports, and healthcare to advance people-to-people exchanges. With long historical connection, Wuxi and the ROK have carried out extensive economic and trade cooperation. Trade value between the two sides reached 16.9 billion U.S. dollars in 2022. As of now, the ROK is Wuxi's largest foreign trade partner and the second largest source of foreign investment. More than 700 Korean enterprises including SK Hynix and Samsung have invested over 25 billion U.S. dollars in Wuxi, and the Chinese city has also invested in 39 projects in the ROK. See the original link: https://en.imsilkroad.com/p/334004.html View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/xinhua-silk-road-china-jiangsus-wuxi-to-deepen-economic-and-trade-co-op-with-rok-301822967.html SOURCE Xinhua Silk Road

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[May 11, 2023] Dachser to establish a joint venture in Japan

HONG KONG, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Dachser has signed a joint venture agreement with the Japanese logistics company Nishi-Nippon Railroad Co., Ltd. "DACHSER Japan K.K." will open its first office in Tokyo at the end of 2023. As part of Dachser's global network, the Japanese location will offer air and sea transport and will be connected to Dachser's close-knit overland transport network in Europe. Yves Larquemin, Managing Director DACHSER South Korea, will be taking on the additional role of leading DACHSER Japan. "We are delighted to be taking the next step of our development in the Japanese market," says Edoardo Podesta, COO DACHSER Air & Sea Logistics. "Customers in Japan and worldwide looking for reliable and resilient door-to-door services will benefit from Dachser's logistics expertise, comprehensive glbal network, and advanced digital information systems."



"Japan is the world's third-largest economy and a key player in the automotive and electronics industries. There is also enormous business potential for pharmaceutical and medical products. The combination of sector-specific expertise and globally connected services means that we can offer our customers logistics that adds value," says Yves Larquemin, future Managing Director DACHSER Japan and DACHSER South Korea. About Dachser

Dachser, a family-owned company headquartered in Kempten, Germany, provides transport logistics, warehousing, and customized services in two business fields: Dachser Air & Sea Logistics and Dachser Road Logistics. The latter consists of two business lines: Dachser European Logistics and Dachser Food Logistics. Comprehensive contract logistics services and industry-specific solutions round out the company's range. A seamless shipping networkboth in Europe and overseasand fully integrated IT systems ensure intelligent logistics solutions worldwide. Thanks to some 32,850 employees at 379 locations all over the globe, Dachser generated consolidated net revenue of approximately EUR 8.1 billion in 2022. The same year, the logistics provider handled a total of 81.1 million shipments weighing 42.8 million metric tons. Dachser is represented by its own country organizations in 41 countries. In Asia Pacific, Dachser has operations in 43 locations across 12 Business Areas with its Regional Head Office located in Hong Kong. For more information, please visit dachser.hk View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/dachser-to-establish-a-joint-venture-in-japan-301821737.html SOURCE Dachser Asia Pacific

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[May 11, 2023] MetLife announces Teoul, Lydia.AI, and Wayne Hill's Bryant AI as winners of Collab 6.0

SEOUL, South Korea, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- MetLife, one of the world's leading financial services companies, announced the top three winners of its Collab 6.0 program. Collab is the open innovation program and MetLife Korea hosted the 6th Collab program held in Seoul. Powered by global innovation platform Plug and Play, MetLife launched the Collab 6.0 program in February aiming at identifying startups from around the world that offer solutions in healthcare, retirement, and new tech. In total, Metlife received over 70 startup applications from across 9 countries.The winners were among seven finalists selected to pitch to a panel of Metlife leaders during a Demo Day held in April 2023. The winners of Collab 6.0 are: Teoul - Provides medication guides for A4 and A5 medications, medical boxes, and a medical wholesale management platform and outpatient prescription information system that uses AI for real-time big data. This enables healthcare companies to procure all medical-related information and requirements. Lydia.AI - A health AI insurtech startup on a mission to insure the next billion people by making insurance personalized, easier to buy, and more inclusive. Wayne Hill ' s Bryant AI - Wayne Hills is developing an algorithm that extracts dictionary meanings from text and voice data with AI technology and automatically converts them into digital content by combining images, animations, and sound effects that match them. Other finalists include - Intellect, Silvia, ????(?), and Mosaic Inc. "We will be able to transfom customer experience when our long-standing experience and expertise are combined with innovative technologies of startups. MetLife will continue to identify and support startups to leverage them to enhance our digital capabilities." we will be able to dramatically improve customer experience." We will continue to do so, and through this, we will develop MetLife's digital competitiveness." said Young-Rok Song, GM of MetLife Korea.



"Plug and Play is thrilled to partner with MetLife for the Collab 6.0 program. As the leading innovation platform globally, we can leverage our extensive experience in corporate innovation and startup acceleration to help founders grow their businesses and unearth groundbreaking technologies." said Jupe Tan, Managing Partner for Plug and Play APAC. "We look forward to the potential results of Metlife's collaboration with the startups." To learn more about MetLife Collab 6.0 program, visit https://www.plugandplayapac.com/metlife-en.

About MetLife About MetLife - MetLife, Inc. (NYSE: MET), through its subsidiaries and affiliates ("MetLife"), is one of the world's leading financial services companies, providing insurance, annuities, employee benefits and asset management to help its individual and institutional customers navigate their changing world. Founded in 1868, MetLife has operations in more than 40 countries and holds leading market positions in the United States, Japan, Latin America, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. For more information, visit www.metlife.com. About Plug and Play Plug and Play is a global innovation platform. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, we have built accelerator programs, corporate innovation services, and an in-house VC to make technological advancement progress faster than ever before. Since inception in 2006, our programs have expanded worldwide to include a presence in over 50 locations globally giving startups the necessary resources to succeed in Silicon Valley and beyond. With over 80,000 startups and 550 official corporate partners, we have created the ultimate startup ecosystem in many industries. Companies in our community have raised over $9 billion in funding, with successful portfolio exits including Danger, Rappi, Dropbox, Lending Club, and PayPal. Find out more: www.plugandplayapac.com View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/metlife-announces-teoul-lydiaai-and-wayne-hills-bryant-ai-as-winners-of-collab-6-0--301821772.html SOURCE Plug and Play APAC

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[May 12, 2023] Aureus Analytics (India) and AxionConnect Info Solutions have announced their partnership to offer a comprehensive suite of analytics solutions to the insurance and banking industry

MUMBAI, India, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Business processes are becoming more agile thanks to cloud technologies, while artificial intelligence and machine learning are having a significant impact on business outcomes and decisions. The partnership between Aureus Analytics (India) and AxionConnect brings together the power of both. This partnership between Aureus Analytics and AxionConnect InfoSolutions Pvt Ltd, will allow the two companies to gain a better understanding of customer needs and market trends in the BFSI sector by combining Aureus' expertise in insurance customer experience analytics solutions with AxionConnect's expertise in analytics services serving BFSI clients. As a result of the combination of analytics capabilities of both companies, a more comprehensive set of analytics solutions and insights will be available to their customers, improving customer satisfaction and experience. "We see this partnership as a perfect combination of Aureus' core expertise in data science and its proprietary product platform, coupled with AxionConnect's expertise in data engineering, business reporting, and policy automation across the BFSI industry," said Sanjay Rao, CEO of AxionConnect InfoSolutions Pvt Ltd. "Together, we will be able to provide a broader range of services. In the future, our customers can expect to engage with us on more comprehensive end-to-end solutions such as ML/AI models, Data Warehouses/ODSs, Business reporting, Policy automation, and Digital Transformations. Additionally, we will be able to leverage each other's operations in countries such as the United States, Singapore, and the Middle East. I am equally excited about this collaboration, which will provide our customers with access to our broader service offerings."



"This partnership is in response to our customers' request to expand our capabilities and offerings so that we can work with them across several more business areas within their organizations. We are very excited to partner with Sanjay and his team, whom we have known and respected for a long time. Our combined offerings will drive tremendous benefits to our customers by delivering to them a unique combination of technology and skills," said Anurag Shah, CEO and Co-Founder of Aureus Analytics. About Aureus Analytics

Aureus Analytics is a customer intelligence and experience company that enables insurers to deliver superior customer experiences leading to higher customer retention, loyalty, and lifetime value. By leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies, actionable insights are delivered in natural language at the point of decision. Globally, the AI platform has processed over 70 million insurance policy data points for mid-sized and large insurers. For more information, visit www.aureusanalytics.com. Media Contact: Prerana Suvarna

Aureus Analytics

[email protected] About AxionConnect InfoSolutions Pvt Ltd AxionConnect is one of the leading services firms specializing in statistical modeling for Quantitative Risk, Acquisitions, Underwriting, Claims, Pricing and other business functions for various industries and associated analytical services. AxionConnect empowers organizations across all verticals to leverage data to improve business performance. For more information, visit www.axionconnect.com. Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2075636/Aureus_AxionConnect.jpg View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/in/news-releases/aureus-analytics-india-and-axionconnect-info-solutions-have-announced-their-partnership-to-offer-a-comprehensive-suite-of-analytics-solutions-to-the-insurance-and-banking-industry-301823056.html

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[May 12, 2023] Sosei Heptares Operational Highlights and Consolidated Results for the First Quarter 2023

Tokyo, Japan and Cambridge, UK, 12 May 2023  Sosei Group Corporation (the Company; TSE: 4565) provides an update on operational activities and reports its consolidated results for the first quarter ended 31 March 2023. The full report can be found here.

Chris Cargill, President & CEO of Sosei Heptares, commented: We are continuing to make good progress in building the foundation Sosei Heptares needs to become a leading international biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Japan by 2030. A key milestone in that journey was the elevation of our shares to the TSE Prime Market from the Growth Market and our inclusion in the TOPIX index. We are confident that this will improve our ability to attract an increasing number of institutional investors who are familiar with the biotech industry, hold a long-term perspective and can support the acceleration of our growth driven by the core strategy we unveiled and began executing last year. This strategy is focused on (1) enhancing our platform; (2) progressing our partnerships; (3) transforming our R&D; and (4) commercializing products in Japan. From a corporate perspective, we have also made great progress in establishing our ESG priorities and published these in our inaugural ESG report. We are working hard to embed these objectives into our business operations as well as our culture and values. I am very proud of what our team members in Japan and in the UK have accomplished so far in 2023 and look forward to the start of first-in-human trials for two of our inhouse programs and further progress across our extensive portfolio over the rest of the year. Operational Highlights for Q1 2023 On 15 March 2023, Sosei Group s share listing was elevated to the Prime Market segment of the Tokyo Stock Exchange from the Growth Market segment - Further, on 27 April 2023, Sosei Group shares were included in the Tokyo Stock Price Index (TOPIX), an important stock market index that tracks all domestic companies mainly on the Prime market segment.

Further, on 27 April 2023, Sosei Group shares were included in the Tokyo Stock Price Index (TOPIX), an important stock market index that tracks all domestic companies mainly on the Prime market segment. Publication of inaugural ESG report  The Report describes the Companys efforts to prioritize, address and measure its progress on a range of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) objectives determined to make a positive impact on its employees, the wider community in which it operates, and the environment.

 The Report describes the Companys efforts to prioritize, address and measure its progress on a range of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) objectives determined to make a positive impact on its employees, the wider community in which it operates, and the environment. Sosei Heptares partner, Tempero Bio, received FDA clearance to advance clinical development of TMP-301 for alcohol and substance use disorders  TMP-301 (formerly HTL0014242) is a selective, orally available mGluR5 negative allosteric modulator (NAM) candidate discovered by Sosei Heptares and out-licensed to Tempero Bio.

TMP-301 (formerly HTL0014242) is a selective, orally available mGluR5 negative allosteric modulator (NAM) candidate discovered by Sosei Heptares and out-licensed to Tempero Bio. Centessa Pharmaceuticals nominated ORX750 as its product candidate with potential to be a best-in-class therapy for narcolepsy and other sleep disorders  ORX750 is an orally administered, selective orexin receptor-2(OX2R) agonist developed using Sosei Heptares platform, and currently in preclinical development and undergoing IND-enabling activities.

 ORX750 is an orally administered, selective orexin receptor-2(OX2R) agonist developed using Sosei Heptares platform, and currently in preclinical development and undergoing IND-enabling activities. Changes to the Board and Executive Management Team  Eiko Tomita (VP, Global Regulatory Affairs at Bristol Myers Squibb) was elected to the Board of Directors and Candelle Chong was promoted to EVP and Chief of Staff (previously Senior Vice President, Corporate Strategy) at the Annual Shareholders Meeting and the subsequent Board of Directors meeting held on 23 March 2023.







Financial Highlights for the Three-month Period ended 31 March 2023 Revenue totalled JPY 943 million (US$7.1 million*), a decrease of JPY 176 million (US$2.5 million) vs. the prior corresponding period. The decrease is primarily due to the decrease in revenue related to royalties and other revenue, partially offset by the increase in revenue related to upfront fees and milestone income due to larger releases of deferred revenue.

R&D expenses totalled JPY 1,957 million (US$14.8 million), an increase of JPY 153 million (a decrease of US$0.7 million) vs. the prior corresponding period. The increase is primarily due to increased investment in discovery activities, but also reflects the impact of the weaker Yen.

G&A expenses totalled JPY 1,109 million (US$8.4 million), a decrease of JPY 245 million (US$3.3 million) vs. the prior corresponding period. This was primarily due to a decrease in restructuring costs.

Operating loss totalled JPY 1,964 million (US$14.8 million) vs. operating loss of JPY 2,206 million (US$19.0 million) in the prior corresponding period. This decrease was primarily due to a reduction in G&A expenses and cost of sales, as well as an increase in net other income.

Net loss before income tax totalled JPY 1,863 million (US$14.1 million) vs. a net loss before income tax of JPY 2,497 million (US$21.5 million) in the prior corresponding period. This decrease reflects the combined effect of all of the movements explained above.

Net loss for the 3-month period ended 31 March 2023 totalled JPY 1,402 million (US$10.6 million) vs. net loss of JPY 2,070 million (US$17.8 million) in the prior corresponding period This decrease reflects the combined effect of all of the movements explained above.

Core operating loss** totalled JPY 1,465 million (US$11.1 million) vs. core operating loss of JPY 1,240 million (US$10.7 million) in the prior corresponding period.

Cash and cash equivalents as at 31 March 2023 amounted to JPY 66,138 million (US$498.5 million) having decreased by JPY 419 million (US$8.5 million) from the beginning of the year. *Convenience conversion to US$ at the following rates: FY 2023: 1US$ =132.32 JPY; FY 2022: 1US$ =116.19 JPY; 31 Mar 2023: 1US$ = 132.68 JPY; 31 Dec 2022: 1US$ = 131.27 JPY

** Core operating profit / loss is an alternative performance measure which adjusts for material non-cash costs and one-off costs in order to provide insights into the recurring cash generation capability of the core business.

-ENDS- About Sosei Heptares

We are an international biopharmaceutical group focused on the discovery and early development of new medicines originating from our proprietary GPCR-targeted StaR technology and structure-based drug design platform capabilities. We are advancing a broad and deep pipeline of novel medicines across multiple therapeutic areas, including neurology, immunology, gastroenterology, and inflammatory diseases. We have established partnerships with some of the worlds leading pharmaceutical companies and multiple emerging technology companies, including AbbVie, AstraZeneca, Genentech (Roche), GSK, Kallyope, Lilly, Neurocrine Biosciences, Novartis, Pfizer, Takeda and Verily. Sosei Heptares is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan with corporate and R&D facilities in Cambridge, UK. Sosei Heptares is the corporate brand and trademark of Sosei Group Corporation, which is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (ticker: 4565). Sosei, Heptares, the logo and StaR are trademarks of Sosei Group companies. For more information, please visit https://soseiheptares.com/

LinkedIn: @soseiheptaresco | Twitter: @soseiheptaresco | YouTube: @soseiheptaresco Enquiries: Sosei Heptares  Media and Investor Relations

Japan

Hironoshin Nomura, Chief Financial Officer

Shinichiro Nishishita, VP Investor Relations, Head of Regulatory Disclosures

+81 (0)3 5210 3399

UK

Candelle Chong, Chief of Staff

Maya Bennison, Communications Manager

+44 (0)1223 949390

[email protected] MEDiSTRAVA Consulting (for International Media)

Mark Swallow, Frazer Hall, Eleanor Perkin

+44 (0)203 928 6900 | [email protected] Forward-looking statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements about the discovery, development, and commercialization of products. Various risks may cause Sosei Group Corporations actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including: adverse results in clinical development programs; failure to obtain patent protection for inventions; commercial limitations imposed by patents owned or controlled by third parties; dependence upon strategic alliance partners to develop and commercialize products and services; difficulties or delays in obtaining regulatory approvals to market products and services resulting from development efforts; the requirement for substantial funding to conduct research and development and to expand commercialization activities; and product initiatives by competitors. As a result of these factors, prospective investors are cautioned not to rely on any forward-looking statements. We disclaim any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.



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[May 12, 2023] KSTAR Reveals Lithium-ion UPS at Data Center World

SHENZHEN, China, May 12, 2023 /CNW/ -- Kstar (002518. SZ), a leading provider of data center infrastructure equipment and solution, announced its debut at the Data Center World Austin 2023 held from May 8-11 at the Austin Convention Center in TX, USA. Data Center World Austin 2023 is the leading digital infrastructure event designed for data center professionals. At the Kstar booth, a variety of uninterruptible power supply (UPS) solutions & modular data center solutions tailored for the North American market attracted the attention of many participants. One of the main highlights of the Kstar's exhibition was the Memopower Li series lithium-ion UPS rating from 1kVA-3kVA. The Memopower Li series is the most up-to-date lithium-ion UPS solution. It boasts several key features: Compact footprint

Online double conversion for robust power protection

Up to 3x the life of lead-acid batteries

Requires less service and replacement Commenting on the growth of the lithium-ion UPS sector in the industry Heidi, Kstar's sales director in North America, said, "Across the world, the pursuit of sustainable energy solutions is increasing at an accelerating pace. Data center is among the highest electric power consumers, forcing operators to turn to energy-saving solutions. With the benefits of smaller size, lighter weight, and longer life, lithium-ion batteries will hold a key role in the green data centers of the future. At Kstar, we proudly lead the way."



Kstar is also leading the way for a more sustainable data center with its IDU series prefabricated data center showcased at the event. The benefits of IDU 4.0 prefabricated data center include: Modular design to accelerate deployment and reduce over-configuration.

Aisle containment & in-row cooling enhance the cooling efficiency.

PUE can be lowered to 1.3, setting a new benchmark for the industry. "Companies are racing to deploy edge infrastructure in new locations to fulfill the demand for digital business. Kstar prefabricated solution is the wise choice for these applications. With 30 years of experience engineering power, thermal, and monitoring management solutions for the data center, our team are experts in providing customized products, solutions and customer support for every project." said Heidi.

About Kstar Shenzhen KSTAR Science and Technology Co Ltd. (KSTAR) is a global leader in R&D and manufacturing Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS), modular data centers, PV, and ESS solutions. According to Omida's latest report, KSTAR ranked No.5 in the global UPS market and according to CCID's report, Kstar ranked No.1 in China's UPS sales among local brands. The company's manufacturing capabilities are supported by nearly 4,200 employees and five huge manufacturing and assembly facilities globally. For more information about Kstar lithium-ion UPS solutions or other solutions, please visit https://www.kstar.com. For sales and technical inquiries, please email [email protected]. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/kstar-reveals-lithium-ion-ups-at-data-center-world-301823064.html SOURCE Shenzhen Kstar Science& Techonlogy Co.,LTD

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DHT Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:DHT) 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 an important date to be aware of as any purchase of the stock made on or after this date might mean a late settlement that doesn't show on the record date. Therefore, if you purchase DHT Holdings' shares on or after the 17th of May, you won't be eligible to receive the dividend, when it is paid on the 25th of May.

The company's next dividend payment will be US$0.23 per share, on the back of last year when the company paid a total of US$0.48 to shareholders. Based on the last year's worth of payments, DHT Holdings stock has a trailing yield of around 5.6% on the current share price of $8.56. If you buy this business for its dividend, you should have an idea of whether DHT Holdings's dividend is reliable and sustainable. As a result, readers should always check whether DHT Holdings has been able to grow its dividends, or if the dividend might be cut.

View our latest analysis for DHT 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. DHT Holdings paid out 97% of its earnings, which is more than we're comfortable with, unless there are mitigating circumstances. A useful secondary check can be to evaluate whether DHT Holdings generated enough free cash flow to afford its dividend. Thankfully its dividend payments took up just 47% of the free cash flow it generated, which is a comfortable payout ratio.

It's good to see that while DHT Holdings's dividends were not well covered by profits, at least they are affordable from a cash perspective. Still, if the company continues paying out such a high percentage of its profits, the dividend could be at risk if business turns sour.

Story continues

Click here to see the company's payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends.

Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?

Businesses with strong growth prospects usually make the best dividend payers, because it's easier to grow dividends when earnings per share are improving. If earnings decline and the company is forced to cut its dividend, investors could watch the value of their investment go up in smoke. It's encouraging to see DHT Holdings has grown its earnings rapidly, up 68% a year for the past five years.

Many investors will assess a company's dividend performance by evaluating how much the dividend payments have changed over time. DHT Holdings has seen its dividend decline 6.7% per annum on average over the past 10 years, which is not great to see. DHT Holdings is a rare case where dividends have been decreasing at the same time as earnings per share have been improving. It's unusual to see, and could point to unstable conditions in the core business, or more rarely an intensified focus on reinvesting profits.

Final Takeaway

Should investors buy DHT Holdings for the upcoming dividend? Earnings per share have been rising nicely although, even though its cashflow payout ratio is low, we question why DHT Holdings is paying out so much of its profit. While it does have some good things going for it, we're a bit ambivalent and it would take more to convince us of DHT Holdings's dividend merits.

On that note, you'll want to research what risks DHT Holdings is facing. To help with this, we've discovered 1 warning sign for DHT Holdings that you should be aware of before investing in their shares.

Generally, we wouldn't recommend just buying the first dividend stock you see. Here's a curated list of interesting stocks that are strong dividend payers.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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[May 12, 2023] Fashion Company DeFacto attends ShopTalk2023 in Barcelona

"To be ahead, you must invest in technology and digitalization today." BARCELONA, Spain, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The global fashion company DeFacto participated in ShopTalkEurope 2023, held from May 9th to 11th, 2023 in Barcelona. Onder Senol, Online General Manager of DeFacto, announced at the event that the company's JUMP UP project, which promotes digitalization, is expected to triple the company's productivity. ShopTalk, launched in the USA in 2016, is considered the world's largest platform for retail developments and innovations. Over 3,000 participants, including retail and technology companies, as well as brand professionals and analysts, present the latest trends and exchange information. Online General Manager, Senol, spoke at the "Supply Chain Innovations" panel At the "Supply Chain Innovations" panel, Onder Senol, Online General Manager of DeFacto, spoke with Cassandra Bergsland, Director of Omnichannel at John Lewis Partnership and Carlos Hernandez Bermejo, General Manager of Just Eat Takeaway Retail, about customer-oriented and cost-effective delivery options. Senol explained that with the JUMP UP digital transformation project, DeFacto successfully combines the competencies of the DeFacto technology unit with the fashion company's know-how, achieving optimal synergy effects. Onder Senol further stated that DeFacto focuses on providing its customers with the best shopping experience and referred to JUMP UP as DeFacto's transformation project for the future. DeFacto has bundled its existing digital expertise and long-standing technological expertise under the name JUMP UP, saidSenol. "More than 700 people are involved in this project, which is a convergence of gamification, an important industry trend, the use of metaverse, and omnichanneling. With JUMP UP, DeFacto aims to triple its productivity this year."



In his speech, Senol added: "The ever-increasing digitalization requires constant innovations in retail. Those who want to remain at the forefront of the digital economy tomorrow should prioritize digitalization and technology at the top of their corporate agenda today." DeFacto is present in 93 countries on five continents with more than 500 stores, websites, and online marketplaces. The company, which has been growing with an omnichannel marketing strategy since 2016, is now a global fashion company that generates 41% of its revenue from international activities. With an integrated marketing strategy based on a comprehensive analysis of customer data, DeFacto continues its development and focuses on customer satisfaction with customized product recommendations, style advice, and versatile delivery options.

DeFacto's vision: Make Customers Fall in Love! According to Onder Senol, the customer is always at the center of all company activities. Senol stated: "Personalization of service and experience is the most important principle for us. A user-friendly design of the website or app, a simple and secure payment system, a clear presentation of products and their features, as well as uncomplicated and comprehensible return and exchange processes are important to reach customers as effectively as possible." According to Senol, customers should be able to find, select and purchase the desired products as easily as possible, wherever and whenever they want, whether in the app, on the website, or in the store. DeFacto aims to provide its customers with a shopping experience that makes them "fall in love" and thus realizes its vision. Shopping at DeFacto guarantees every customer their "perfect fit". About DeFacto Founded in 2005, DeFacto continues its operations with the vision of being global fashion brand. DeFacto operates in 93 countries with more than 500 stores and online platforms. DeFacto, which has turned into a brand that produces not only fashion but also technology, builds the infrastructure of omni-channel technologies with its developer team of more than 300 person. After creating the Smart Store in 2019 and bringing something new to the world, the company initiated the DeFacto Fijital Store concept which is the output of the figitalization strategy that offers both physical and digital retail experience together. Acting in line with the requests and expectations of the consumers, the brand introduced DeFacto COOOL, DeFacto FIT, DeFacto Modest, DeFacto LIFE, DF Plus and Fall in Love sub-brands to the customers all around the world. Furthermore, as a signatory to Global Compact and the United Nations Women's Empowerment Principles (WEPs) and a member of the Better Cotton Initiative, it is determined to fulfill its social and environmental commitments. In 2022 the brand shared its 7th Sustainability Report with the public. Media Contact

Gulsah Tezol

modus factum GmbH

[email protected]

+4940 333 988 78 Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2075349/DE_FACTO_Uk_deutschland.jpg

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[May 12, 2023] Knnex has added strength and successfully obtained the Canadian MSB license, boosting the international market layout.

After successfully obtaining the US MSB license, the Knnex Exchange returned with a great reputation and won the Canadian MSB license, adding luster to its position in the global regulatory system. SINGAPORE, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Recently, the Knnex Exchange has again made important achievements and successfully obtained the Canada MSB (Money Services Business) license issued by the financial crime Regulatory Authority of Canada (FINTRAC). At the same time, the Knnex Exchange has obtained the US MSB license issued by the US Financial Crime Enforcement Network (FinCEN). With these two internationally recognized dual regulatory licenses, Knnex's cross-border regulatory advantages are increasingly prominent, paving the way for its business development in the global market. Introduction to Canadian MSB License Plate The Canadian MSB license is issued by the Canadian government to ensure that financial institutions comply with the corresponding provisions in anti-money laundering (AML) and anti-terrorist financing (CFT). Obtaining an MSB license means that the exchange's legitimate business status in Canada has been recognized by the government and indicates that Knnex Exchange's efforts in compliance management and risk control have been recognized. Obtaining the Canadian MSB license will help the Knnex Exchange expand its business in the global market and provide users with higher-quality financial services. With the support of the Canadian financial regulatory authority, the Exchange will be able to provide users with more secure and convenient cryptocurrency trading services locally and actively participate in the innovation and development of the local financial market. It is reported that after obtaining the US MSB license, Knnex Exchange has actively carried out business layouts and extensive cooperation with local financial institutions. This time, the acquisition of the Canadian MSB license signifies the continuous consolidation of the Exchange's compiant operating foundation in the North American market, laying a solid foundation for its global business development. Against the backdrop of increasingly strict global regulatory environment, the cross-border regulatory advantages of exchanges will help them continue to innovate in the international market and have stronger competitiveness in the cryptocurrency field.



Knnex's strength and determination in compliance operations As a leading global cryptocurrency trading platform, Knnex Exchange always adheres to rigorous compliance management and risk control concepts. It ensures compliance with relevant laws and regulations in all business processes. Obtaining dual MSB licenses in the United States and Canada once again proves the strength and determination of Knnex Exchange in compliance operations.

Knnex Exchange will continue to expand its market globally and provide users with safer and more professional cryptocurrency trading services while complying with national laws and regulations. At the same time, the Exchange will also invest more resources in studying and responding to global regulatory policies to ensure that its business development is always in line with international financial regulatory standards. The Knnex Exchange has successfully obtained dual MSB licenses in the United States and Canada, once again demonstrating its strength in the global regulatory compliance field. This will help the Knnex Exchange further consolidate its position in the global market and play a greater role in future financial technology innovation and business development. As a leader in cryptocurrency trading, Knnex Exchange is bound to continue to provide high-quality financial products and services to global users, becoming a benchmark and model in the industry. In the current era of increasingly fierce industry competition, Knnex Exchange has always regarded regulatory compliance as its core competitiveness while continuously innovating and optimizing its products and services. Knnex will actively embrace regulation, bring more compliant and safe investment opportunities to users, and continue to expand its influence in the global market. Knnex drives the development of the cryptocurrency industry based on compliance. In the future, Knnex will continue to deepen cooperation with national regulators, improve compliance in the global market, and work with local financial institutions to build a cryptocurrency ecosystem. In addition, Knnex will further promote the application and popularization of blockchain technology to realize the value of cryptocurrencies in various fields. In the trend of increasingly diversified global financial markets, Knnex will continue to pay attention to changes in the global market, actively respond to challenges, and achieve a balance between compliance and innovation. In this process, Knnex Exchange will provide more high-quality financial products and services to global users and make positive contributions to the development of the cryptocurrency industry. After successfully obtaining the Canadian MSB license, Knnex Exchange will take this opportunity to further enhance its strength in the global regulatory compliance field. As Knnex's influence in the global market continues to expand, we believe that the Knnex exchange will continue to play an important role in the future cryptocurrency trading market and bring higher-quality financial products and services to global users. Company: Knnex Group Limited

Contact Person: Kz

Email:[email protected]

Website: https://www.knnexb.org/

City: Singapore View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/knnex-has-added-strength-and-successfully-obtained-the-canadian-msb-license-boosting-the-international-market-layout-301823078.html SOURCE Knnex Group Limited

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[May 12, 2023] Indian logistics firms betting big on drones, cloud, IoT and blockchain: HERE Technologies Study

49% of Indian logistics companies surveyed want to increase customer satisfaction when they purchase a logistics asset tracking solution

43% of Indian logistics players believe adopting a mobile asset tracking solution enables end-to-end supply chain visibility

49% of Indian logistics companies want customers to have better end-to-end asset visibility and management when purchasing a shipment and cargo monitoring solution

33% Indian logistics players plan to invest in drones, 31% in cloud computing, and 30% in Internet-of-Things and blockchain MUMBAI, India, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- HERE Technologies, the leading location data and technology platform, today published an inaugural study, APAC On The Move 2023, to provide insights from 1,300 transportation and logistics (T&L) business decision makers across Asia-Pacific (APAC) including India, on the current technology trends and practices that are shaping supply chain, fleet, and logistics management. A key finding from APAC On The Move 2023 is the extent to which end-to-end asset tracking and shipment visibility remain a challenge for Indian logistics companies three years since the onset of the pandemic. Indian logistics companies surveyed have cited technology implementation challenges as their biggest barrier to achieving real-time end-to-end supply chain visibility, despite the motivations to improve customer and financial benefits. The highly fragmented Indian logistics industry is undergoing rapid growth and transformation. With India's logistics costs estimated to be about 14% of the country's GDP (gross domestic product), the introduction of the National Logistics Policy (NLP) is set to lower this cost to about 8% by 2030 and boost the competitiveness of the industry[1]. Highlights from the HERE Technologies APAC On The Move 2023 study include: Technology partnerships and implementations are big challenges About a fifth of the firms surveyed in India (22%) have cited the challenge of identifying the right partners and/or suppliers as their biggest barrier to technology implementation. Knowing where to even begin with technology implementation is also a concern among some Indian logistics players (19%). Logistics companies surveyed want turn-key solutions that are easy to implement without expensive, time consuming, and labour-intensive system overhauls. According to the study by HERE, software integration challenges with existing infrastructure (18%), the high connectivity costs (15%), and high Internet of Things (IoT) costs (14%) are the main barriers to adopting logistics assets tracking and shipment/cargo monitoring solutions. Indian logistics firms still rely on manual tracking The pandemic has exposed the vulnerabilities of manual interventions in the global supply chain. Yet, approximately 41% of Indian logistics firms surveyed are using asset tracking and shipment monitoring software in combination with manual inputs to track assets, shipment, and cargo.



Prioritising customer and financial benefits

Indian logistics companies are putting their customers first when it comes to their considerations for adopting tracking and monitoring solutions. Close to half of the companies (49%) want to increase customer satisfaction when they purchase a logistics asset tracking solution. The same number of companies also want customers to have better end-to-end asset visibility and management (49%) when purchasing a shipment and cargo monitoring solution. To align with the NLP in addressing cost and inefficiency issues within the developing logistics ecosystem in India, companies are also looking for tangible financial benefits when they adopt new tracking and monitoring solutions. Half of Indian logistic players (51%) want a logistic asset tracking solution that could help them highlight areas of inefficiencies for reducing costs and provide continuous improvement, while 49% wants to ensure that they gain competitive advantage. Indian logistics industry eyes future technologies to boost competitiveness Logistics companies can make well-informed decisions thanks to the real-time monitoring and provision of data facilitated by IoT. The study confirms that most logistics companies in India are already using a form of IoT technology. However, the adoption rates for IoT can be improved. IoT applications for warehouse management (26%), inventory management (21%), and order management (19%) are the most popular among logistics companies in the country. Looking ahead, almost a quarter of logistics companies in India are planning to invest in drones (33%), cloud computing (31%), IoT and blockchain (30%). These technologies have been identified by the logistics sector to seize opportunities and create lasting competitive advantage (43%), improve operational efficiency (43%), and increase revenue (40%). Quotes Venkatesan Natarajan , Solutions Leader for Smart Field Services, IoT & Engineering Services Business Unit, Cognizant:

"Logistics in India is deeply unorganised and it's a herculean  but certainly possible  task for the industry as a whole to come together while it's growing so rapidly. Our entire logistics ecosystem needs to first integrate data silos, then aggregate and transform data, before distributing it throughout the industry for all to consume. Location technology can help get us to this first step as it has the power to unify disparate data sets. Only then can we derive value out of shared data and improve the logistics industry as a whole."

"Logistics in is deeply unorganised and it's a herculean  but certainly possible  task for the industry as a whole to come together while it's growing so rapidly. Our entire logistics ecosystem needs to first integrate data silos, then aggregate and transform data, before distributing it throughout the industry for all to consume. Location technology can help get us to this first step as it has the power to unify disparate data sets. Only then can we derive value out of shared data and improve the logistics industry as a whole." Regu Ayyaswamy , Senior Vice President and Global Head, Tata Consultancy Services:

" India's logistics sector is a critical enabler of economic growth, playing a crucial role in the seamless movement of goods and services across the country. However, the sector is rapidly evolving, and as a leading global IT services provider, TCS is committed to enabling businesses within the logistics sector to digitally transform their operations and drive growth. Our strategic partnership with HERE Technologies is a testament to this commitment. By combining HERE's world-class location intelligence platform with Digifleet TM , TCS' logistics solution, we are empowering businesses with real-time visibility and actionable insights."

" logistics sector is a critical enabler of economic growth, playing a crucial role in the seamless movement of goods and services across the country. However, the sector is rapidly evolving, and as a leading global IT services provider, TCS is committed to enabling businesses within the logistics sector to digitally transform their operations and drive growth. Our strategic partnership with HERE Technologies is a testament to this commitment. By combining HERE's world-class location intelligence platform with Digifleet , TCS' logistics solution, we are empowering businesses with real-time visibility and actionable insights." Neil Shah , Vice President of Research, Counterpoint Research:

"Every vertical is undergoing 'digital transformation'. However, the transport and logistics sector in India has been lagging to unlock significant financial and operational benefits to the ecosystem. A coordinated public-private-partnership in the form of the government's latest NLP framework with leading technology companies such as HERE brings advanced capabilities to blend the location, software, connectivity and cloud technologies. This will accelerate the digital transformation of this core sector in one of the largest T&L markets in the world, offering real-time supply chain visibility and optimisations."

"Every vertical is undergoing 'digital transformation'. However, the transport and logistics sector in has been lagging to unlock significant financial and operational benefits to the ecosystem. A coordinated public-private-partnership in the form of the government's latest NLP framework with leading technology companies such as HERE brings advanced capabilities to blend the location, software, connectivity and cloud technologies. This will accelerate the digital transformation of this core sector in one of the largest T&L markets in the world, offering real-time supply chain visibility and optimisations." Abhijit Sengupta , Senior Director & Head of Business for Southeast Asia and India at HERE Technologies:

"In a highly fragmented industry, the logistics sector in India requires secure, reliable, and quality data to improve business operations, logistics efficiencies, and enhance end-to-end supply chain visibility. With the NLP promoting greater technology adoption, location technology will serve as a critical tool to empower a unified logistics interface, which is one of the steps under the NLP to connect various data sources and provide cross-sector use cases for logistics stakeholders." Read the APAC On The Move report for the full findings and data by each Asia Pacific sub-region. [1] National Logistics Policy in India, Invest India, Sep 2022 About APAC On The Move APAC On The Move, published by HERE Technologies, contains insights from transport and logistics companies across Asia Pacific. This inaugural study consists of market research data and analysis from March 2023, based on responses from 1,300 players within the transport and logistics industry across eight countries: Australia, Chinese Taipei, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand. Designed to provide our customers and partners with a deeper understanding of the trends and best practices that are shaping the transport and logistics industry in region, APAC On The Move serves as a guide to help businesses navigate the current opportunities and challenges in supply chain, fleet and logistics management. About HERE Technologies

HERE has been a pioneer in mapping and location technology for almost 40 years. Today, HERE's location platform is recognised as the most complete in the industry, powering location-based products, services and custom maps for organizations and enterprises across the globe. From autonomous driving and seamless logistics to new mobility experiences, HERE allows its partners and customers to innovate while retaining control over their data and safeguarding privacy. Find out how HERE is moving the world forward at here.com. Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2075715/HERE_Logo.jpg View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/in/news-releases/indian-logistics-firms-betting-big-on-drones-cloud-iot-and-blockchain-here-technologies-study-301823110.html

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[May 12, 2023] Social Media Victims Law Center, Law Office of John V. Elmore, Giffords Law Center file wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of victims of 2022 mass shooting at Tops Friendly Markets in Buffalo, N.Y.

The Social Media Victims Law Center, The Law Office of John V. Elmore, P.C., and the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence have filed a wrongful death lawsuit in response to Payton Gendron's racially motivated attack at Tops Friendly Markets in Buffalo, N.Y., on May 14, 2022. Ten people were killed, all of them Black, and three people were injured. The complaint, which was filed with the State of New York Supreme Court, County of Erie, alleges that Gendron was radicalized by the algorithms driving the social media products he used, which fed him increasingly racist, antisemitic, and violence-inducing content. These addictive algorithms, in turn, maximized his engagement with the platforms and the corresponding advertising revenue to the companies. These radicalized posts also provided the training, access to equipment, and expertise to plan and execute the massacre. Those named in the lawsuit are Meta Platforms, Inc., formerly known as Facebook; Snap, Inc.; Alphabet, Inc., Google's parent company; Discord, Inc.; Reddit, Inc.; Amazon.com, Inc., which operates the Twitch livestreaming service; RMA Armament, an Iowa-based body armor manufacturer; Vintage Firearms, a retail gun store located in Endicott, N.Y.; MEAN L.L.C., a manufacturer in Woodstock, Ga., which sells the MEAN MA Lock; and Paul and Pamela Gendron, Gendron's parents. "Gendron was motivated to commit his heinous crime by racist, antisemitic, and white supremacist propaganda fed to him by social media companies," said Matthew P. Bergman, founding attorney of the Social Media Victims Law Center. "These posts led him down a rabbit hole of increasingly radical sites, where he was indoctrinated in white supremacist replacement theory and violent accelerationism. This horrible crime was neither an accident nor coincidence, but rather the foreseeable result of social media companies' intentional decision to maximize user engagement over public safety." "I and my law partner, Kristen Elmore-Garcia, have been working with the families of this senseless, racially motivated hate crime for the past year," said attorney John V. Elmore. "Payton Gendron has pled guilty to these murders and is no longer a danger to society. However, the social media platforms that radicalized him, and the companies that armed him, must still be held accountable for their actions. Our goal, on behalf of our clients, is to make this community and our nation safer and prevent other mass shootings." According to the lawsuit, Gendron livestreamed his murderous rampage on Twitch, hoping to inspire future acts of mass violence. The ability to livestream his attack was a major factor in convincing him to go forward with the massacre, the lawsuit says. "No one deserves to lose their life at the hands of another, especially when that person was motivated by false and hateful content fed to them online," said attorney Kristen Elmore-Garcia. "The combination of racist rhetoric on social media and the availability of combat-stylegear created a deadly situation that should never happen again."



"The perpetrator of the horrific hate-fueled massacre on May 14 is behind bars, serving life without parole, and that is only right," said Adam Skaggs, Chief Counsel & Vice President, Giffords Law Center. "But he alone is not responsible for this tragedy: the social media companies that radicalized him and the companies that profited from outfitting him with body armor and an illegal gun also bear responsibility. The lawsuit filed today will bring accountability to these companies and justice for our clients." The lawsuit is being brought on behalf of survivor Latisha Rogers, 34, who was working customer service at Tops and called 911 in the midst of the horrific attack; and the families of the following three victims, all of whom were killed in the massacre:

Andre Mackneil, 53, a father of five who was at Tops to buy a birthday cake for his three-year-old son's birthday party.

Katherine "Kat" Massey, 72, a community activist and retired teacher.

Heyward Patterson, 67, a deacon at State Tabernacle Church of God and a retired security guard. Planning a Massacre Gendron, a white male who was 18 at the time of the attack, was fueled by white supremacist ideology. He drove more than 200 miles to carry out a murderous rampage that specifically targeted Black people. Prior to the shooting, he went to Tops on multiple occasions and created handwritten sketches of its interior. Gendron also outlined his plan in writing on his Discord account. First, he wrote a statement on Discord containing a detailed plan to murder Black people, including an in-depth analysis of the weapon and other equipment he would use during the attack. Second, he chronicled the progress and development of his plan on Discord in the months leading up to the attack. Gendron's motive for targeting and attacking Black shoppers and employees was clear. The weapons used in the attack and recovered from his vehicle - a bolt-action rifle, a shotgun and an AR-15 assault rifle - were marked with phrases and symbols commonly used by white supremacists. The lawsuit alleges that, shortly before 2:00 p.m. on May 14, 2022, Gendron invited several other users to a chat room on the Discord platform, where he posted a link to a live stream, as well as a personal statement and personal diary, which he had written to justify his violence and inspire future shootings. Approximately 22 minutes into the Twitch livestream, fueled by the knowledge that other users were watching him in real-time, Gendron stepped out of his car and began shooting. Gendron's livestream on Twitch lasted approximately 24 minutes and was viewed by roughly two dozen other Twitch users. Twitch stopped the livestream approximately two minutes after the violence started, when the massacre was mostly complete. While only a small number of people viewed the livestream in real-time, video of the massacre was subsequently re-posted on other numerous online platforms, including 4chan, kiwifarms.net, Facebook, and Reddit, along with many other social media platforms. About the Legal Team The Social Media Victims Law Center (SMVLC), socialmediavictims.org, was founded in 2021 to hold social media companies legally accountable for the harm they inflict on vulnerable users. SMVLC seeks to apply principles of product liability to force social media companies to elevate consumer safety to the forefront of its economic analysis and design safer platforms to protect users from foreseeable harm. Matthew P. Bergman is an attorney, law professor, philanthropist and community activist who has recovered over $1 billion on behalf of his clients. He is the founder of the Social Media Victims Law Center and Bergman Draper Oslund Udo law firm; a professor at Lewis & Clark Law School; and serves on the board of directors of nonprofit institutions in higher education, national security, civil rights, worker protection and the arts. John V. Elmore has been a practicing attorney for over 35 years and has always served the public. He has served as New York State Assistant Attorney General, Manhattan Assistant District Attorney, and as a New York State Trooper. While his primary focus as an attorney is helping people who have suffered a serious injury or lost a loved one in an accident, he also has extensive experience in both federal and state criminal court matters, including white-collar criminal defense. He has been honored by the Bar Association of Erie County ("Lawyer of the Year," 2020); the Buffalo Urban League (Whitney M. Young Award, 2020); and the Buffalo chapter of the NAACP (Medgar Evers Award, 1994). Kristen Elmore-Garcia is a former Erie County Assistant District Attorney. In addition to her background as a criminal prosecutor, she has experience in insurance defense litigation and personal injury claims. She also has legal experience with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of New York, the Erie County Department of Law; and the University of Missouri System's Office of the General Counsel. She serves as a board member for the Charter School for Applied Technologies, as well as on the YMCA Buffalo Niagara Community Leadership Board. The Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence is the nation's leading policy organization dedicated to researching, writing, enacting, and defending proven laws and programs, and is on a mission to save lives from gun violence by shifting culture, changing policies, and challenging injustice. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230511005950/en/

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[May 12, 2023] Golden Agri-Resources' Integrated Business Model Softens Impact of CPO Price Moderation on First Quarter 2023 Performance

Resilient first quarter 2023 EBITDA [1] of US$247 million , with net profit of US$92 million

of , with net profit of Integrated business model helped to mitigate the impact of volatile markets

Financial position remained strong with a low gearing ratio of 0.54 times SINGAPORE, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Financial performance for Golden Agri-Resources Ltd ("GAR" or the "Company") softened in the first quarter of 2023 following a record year in 2022, impacted by normalisation of CPO prices. CPO market price (FOB Belawan) for the quarter dropped by 37 percent year-on-year, averaging US$990 per tonne compared to US$1,579 per tonne during the same period last year. Revenue decreased by six percent year-on-year to US$2.54 billion, with expanded sales volume partly offsetting lower average selling prices. EBITDA stood at US$247 million, maintaining a resilient margin of 9.7 percent, while underlying profit and net profit came in lower at US$112 million and US$92 million, respectively. Overall, first quarter performance demonstrated the Company's resilience amidst lower CPO prices. The plantation business experienced a decrease in output and higher fertiliser costs, which was partly compensated by the higher merchandising volume of the downstream business, a testament to the ability of GAR's integrated business model to mitigate the impact of volatile markets. GAR's financial position remained strong. The Company maintained a gearing ratio of 0.54 times and a low net debt to EBITDA ratio of 0.08 times. On the outlook, Mr Franky O. Widjaja, GAR Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, commented: "Global vegetable oil supply and demand dynamics remain tight. There are various factors that may slow down production recovery such as continuing geopolitical tensions and uncertain weather conditions. As for palm, production growth will be curbed by the industry's ageing trees, replanting activities, and the increasing chance of El Nino that is predicted to start in the second semester of the year. Global palm oil demand is sustained by a robust consumption of food, industrial, and bio-energy products. It is further supported by the increasing biodiesel mixture mandates in various countries, including B35 in Indonesia." OPERATIONAL HIGHIGHTS



As of 31 March 2023, GAR's planted area stood at over 536 thousand hectares, of which 502 thousand hectares were mature. Nucleus and plasma estates made up 421 thousand and 115 thousand hectares of this area, respectively.

Fruit yield for the first quarter of 2023 decreased slightly year-on-year from 4.22 tonnes to 4.16 tonnes per hectare. Palm product output for the quarter was 617 thousand tonnes, compared to 668 thousand tonnes for the same period last year. The decrease was primarily due to preparation of old estates for replanting, smaller purchase volumes of third-party fruits, and high rainfall in the Kalimantan area. The downstream business recorded a substantial increase in sales volume in the first quarter of 2023, in line with more conducive market conditions compared to the same period last year. GAR remains cautious about dynamic market developments, including the uncertain global economic situation. Through continued investment in supply chain traceability and supplier transformation, the Company aims to capture growing demand for sustainable products while navigating regulatory changes, further strengthening the long-term viability of its integrated palm business. The Company continued to move closer towards 100 percent Traceability to the Plantation (TTP) for its palm supply chain in Indonesia, achieving around 98 percent TTP. Having built close relationships with its suppliers through this process, GAR continues to assess their compliance with No Deforestation, No Peat, and No Exploitation (NDPE) requirements using the NDPE Implementation Reporting Framework (NDPE IRF). Under the Agriculture Sector Roadmap to 1.5C issued at COP 27, GAR aims to have all palm volumes in the "Delivering" category of the NDPE IRF by 2025. GAR is also preparing for a challenging dry season, anticipating the return of El Nino weather patterns later this year. The Company has stepped up its fire monitoring efforts using the proprietary GeoSMART Fire-Hotspot Monitoring Site (GSF) app, which can detect fires three times faster than previous methods. Over 100 villages are also enrolled in GAR's community fire prevention programme, Desa Makmur Peduli Api, and the company will continue to work closely with local communities to minimise fire risk. About Golden Agri-Resources Ltd (GAR) GAR is a leading fully-integrated agribusiness company. In Indonesia, it manages an oil palm plantation area of 536,399 hectares (including plasma smallholders) as of 31 March 2023. It has integrated operations focused on the technology-driven production and distribution of extensive portfolio of palm-based products throughout its established international marketing network. Founded in 1996, GAR was listed on the Singapore Exchange in 1999 and has a market capitalisation of US$2.7 billion as of 31 March 2023. Flambo International Limited, an investment company, is GAR's largest shareholder, with a 50.56 percent stake. In addition, GAR has several subsidiaries, including PT SMART Tbk, which was listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange in 1992. As an integrated agribusiness, GAR delivers an efficient end-to-end supply chain, from responsible production to global delivery. In Indonesia, its primary activities include cultivating and harvesting oil palm trees; the processing of fresh fruit bunch into crude palm oil (CPO) and palm kernel; refining CPO into value-added products such as cooking oil, margarine, shortening, biodiesel and oleo-chemicals; as well as merchandising palm products globally. GAR's products are delivered to a diversified customer base in over 100 countries through its global distribution network with shipping and logistics capabilities, destination marketing, on-shore refining and ex-tank operations. GAR also has complementary businesses such as soybean-based products in China, sunflower-based products in India, and sugar businesses. View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/golden-agri-resources-integrated-business-model-softens-impact-of-cpo-price-moderation-on-first-quarter-2023-performance-301823183.html SOURCE Golden Agri-Resources

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[May 12, 2023] GoMining Celebrates Anniversary By Reshaping Infrastructure

SINGAPORE, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- GoMining, a state-of-the-art bitcoin mining project, is celebrating its two-year anniversary by rebranding its infrastructure, reshaping its image and internal structure. According to GoMining's CEO, the primary objective is to underscore an increase in transparency. GoMining's team (which has been in the blockchain business for more than 6 years) has launched a revamped version of its website and mobile app, offering more information on the team's background, data centers, and products. The move towards greater openness sets them apart from other blockchain projects, which often fall short in providing adequate information about their operations. The first product, GoMining Token continues to offer two decentralized staking options, fixed and flexible. With fixed staking, tokens are frozen for 3 months at a stable APY with rewards in native tokens. With flexible staking, tokens are bloced at a variable rate and users receive daily BTC rewards.



The team's efforts in the NFT domain did not end with the collaboration with undefeated MMA superstar Khabib Nurmagomedov. The company has other digital images backed by computing power that mine bitcoins. These NFTs completely eliminate the typical headaches associated with mining and offer two ways to earn rewards: solo mining and pool mining. GoMining (formerly GMT) underwent this process to create a more recognizable brand umbrella for its projects, with the name better reflecting the essence of its token and NFT products. Per CEO Mark Zalan, the team has created a brand that is scalable and adaptable. "By selecting a name that reflects our core values and vision, we believe that we can create a strong and recognizable brand that will continue to evolve and grow," he adds.

The initial issue (100 million tokens) has risen nearly five-fold and is planned to reach 10 trillion. The company has paid out 1,610 BTC to its holders, issued 10,000 NFTs, and increased its overall hash power from 100,000 TH/s to 1,252,467.37 TH/s, with the project raising its market capital to $57 million. As per Zalan, GoMining has "a proven track record of providing top-notch services to our clients and we'll continue to use our experience to build trust among our users." GoMining intends to provide users with additional opportunities to manage their products and offer perks to experienced GoMining users, with the company also planning to use more Web3 technologies. The new version of the website is available here. Contact: [email protected] View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/gomining-celebrates-anniversary-by-reshaping-infrastructure-301823195.html SOURCE GoMining

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[May 12, 2023] White Rivers Media bags the Digital Agency of the Year award at DOD Awards 2022, while Zee Bangla became the Video Enterprise of the Year at vIdea Awards 2023

Innovation and creativity were at the forefront of the Drivers of Digital Awards 2022 and the vIdea Awards 2023 at Inkspell's Mayfest. Nishtha Arora conferred with the Digital Marketer of the Year award. Nikhil Taneja took home the Digital Person of the Year at DOD and Video Leader of the Year trophy at vIdea NEW DELHI, May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Both events recognized and honored organizations and individuals who have leveraged the power of digital and automated processes to achieve business growth and solve pressing global challenges. The Drivers of Digital Awards 2022, hosted under nine major categories, featured an impressive lineup of jurors from various industries. The theme of the event, 'Possibilities Ahead', opened up new discourse on how creativity, data, and revenue tangents fit into the strategic marketing lens. The virtual event witnessed fireside chats with the best of industry experts, providing insights on how business leaders and marketers can efficiently ride into achieving business growth for brands in this era of cut-throat competition and myriad marketing options. Suchir Bhatnagar (BD Fintech & Start Ups of Amazon Web Services (AWS)) and Sachin Vashishtha (CMO of Paisabazaar.com) engaged the audience in an informative Fireside Chat on 'Growth at all costs mindset' - it's Feasibility in Fintech. The winners of the DOD Awards 2023 were announced at the event. The winners in the different categories were: Audi, TVS Credit, Money Control, Comviva, Jio. CCAvenues, Corteva, TMW, Cipla, Moes-art, Bridgestone Sturdo, Watconsult, Fincare, IIFL, SBI Card, HDFC Bank, Kinnect, Amazon, Schbang, Alpenliebe, Servier India, Benzen Digital, Josh, Applabs Media, Columbia Pacific Communities, Big Trunk, Zee Bangla, Adani, Whirlwind, Dell, Timeus, Happydent, ICICI Direct, AGS, ITC, Sunfeast, Center Fruit, Trade India, Bigg Boss, MTV, ARM Worldwide, Shark Tank, Blinkit, Tata AiA, Sony Liv, Teleperformance, McDonald's, Xapads Media, Madison Media, Flipkart, mCanvas, Hershey, WRM, Honda, Amazon mini TV, Moglix, Servewell, PAysense, ivot Root, Tata Neu, Xerxes, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, Robocraze, Intent Farm, Manyavar, Bank of Baroda, Puretech Digital, Urban Company, Savlon, Freyr Digital, Tata Tele Business Services, Yogen Parikh of Astral Pipes, Nikhil Taneja, Sahil Gandotra, Nishtha Arora, Kevin Lee, Sahil Srivastava, eNXT, Yuvaa, Madisson India, ART E Mediatech, Gdiz, Amuratech, Dentsu, Content Advisory Group, Viacom18 and Pixelatedegg.



The vIdea Awards 2023 celebrated the most exceptional ideas from around the globe, recognizing and honoring innovative and groundbreaking ideas that can revolutionize industries and solve pressing global challenges. The virtual event witnessed a fireside chat on the topic 'The Rise of Interactive Video: Exploring the Opportunities and Challenges' by Ankoor Dasguupta (Vice-President  Content of ARM Worldwide and Gaurav Shukla (Senior Vice President- Sales of Sony Pictures Network India). The event, featuring core categories for the Awards, including Video Marketing  Media Specific (Offline), Video Marketing  Digital, Sector Specific, Video in Website and App, Video Enabler, Genre, Apex, and Leadership, brought together some of the brightest minds from various fields, including marketing, technology, healthcare, environment, and social impact. The winners were selected by an esteemed panel of judges.

The winners of the vIdea Awards 2023 in different categories are Quantent, HDFC Securities, Tata Play, Chimp&Z, Adani Sportsline, Yuvaa,Amazon Mini TV, Alpenliebe, Schbang, London Dairy, White Rivers Media, Heshey, Lowe Lintas, Bridgestone Sturdo, Cipla, Dollar Global, mCanvas, Corteva, TMW, ICICI Securities, Saregama, Times Internet, &TV, Moglix, Columbia Pacific Communities, Walnut folks, Confluencr, Art Of Living, ART E Mediatech, The Kashmir Files, Airtel, Thoughtcom, Nikhil Taneja, Tata Tele, Zee Bangla, Thomas Cook India, LogicServe Digital, Dentsu and Watcons. Both events were supported by key partners, including Global Trends Forum, India Creative Industries Council, Kenscio, One India, The Prevalent India, ED Times, 24 Frames Digital, Radio City and Josh app. The events offered participants unique opportunities to learn, connect, and innovate, with interactive sessions and networking opportunities with investors, entrepreneurs, industry leaders, and other like-minded individuals. Inkspell Media, the organizer of both events, specializes in creating high-impact industry events and corporate meetings driven by topical discussions among business leaders, keynote addresses by veterans and experts, networking with peers, learning and development initiatives, and awards programs. The team of specialists from various industry sectors is bound together by the ideology of 'bringing the niche to the mainstream' and helps the entire community of organizations understand novel ideas and concepts, adopting them in contextual best practices. About Inkspell Media: Inkspell Media specializes in creating high-impact industry events and corporate meetings which are driven by topical discussions among business leaders, keynote addresses by veterans and experts, networking with peers, learning and development initiatives, and awards programmes. Our team of specialists from various industry sectors are bound together by the ideology of 'bringing the niche to the mainstream'. Through our enriching sessions, the speakers and evangelists share information and insights on innovative technologies, industrial disruptions, go-to-market strategies, and roadmap for growth, thereby helping the entire community of organizations understand novel ideas and concepts, and adopt them in contextual best practices. Media Contact: Geetika Kaushal

Phone: +91-7863851515

Email: [email protected] View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/in/news-releases/white-rivers-media-bags-the-digital-agency-of-the-year-award-at-dod-awards-2022-while-zee-bangla-became-the-video-enterprise-of-the-year-at-videa-awards-2023-301823196.html

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[May 12, 2023] West Virginia Virtual Academy Students to Receive Prestigious Golden Horseshoe Award

Two eighth grade students enrolled at West Virginia Virtual Academy (WVVA) will receive the prestigious Golden Horseshoe Award during this year's Golden Horseshoe ceremony June 13. This is the first year WVVA students have participated in the test, and after receiving high scores on the test, which focuses on West Virginia history, eighth graders Ky'Aira Anderson from Martinsburg, WV, and Kingston Digman from Frametown, WV will be recognized as Knights of the Golden Horseshoe Society. Administered each year since 1931, the Golden Horseshoe test is the longest running program of its kind nationwide, not just in West Virginia. The program's origins date back to 1716, when governor of the Virginia colony Alexander Spotswood recognized a delegation of men who explored the land west of the Allegheny Mountains, most of which is now West Virginia. To commemorate their bravery during the expedition, Spotswood presented them each with a small golden pin in the shape of a horseshoe, much like what students receive today, according to the WVDE. "Having two Golden Horseshoe winners is a testament to the outstanding instruction and opportunities that WVVA provides our students," Cheryl Stahle, principal of WVVA, said. "As a first-year public charter school, this is another example of how WVVA supports the needs of students and challenges all students, not just our Glden Horseshoe winners, to excel in the classroom."



This win cements a year of building and creating to support the families of West Virginia, Stahle said. "Our entire faculty, including our eighth grade history teacher, excel in the classroom, and students are reaping the success of the educational quality that they are being provided," Stahle said. "The Golden Horseshoe is the oldest state history test in the nation and is an honor that will follow the students throughout their academic careers," she continued. "Doing well on the Golden Horseshoe test demonstrates a depth of knowledge about our state that ranks among the top of all eighth graders from the 55 counties."

WVVA eighth grader Ky'Aira Anderson enjoys learning about West Virginia history and is excited to receive the Golden Horseshoe. "I really enjoyed this class; it was super fun, and Ms. Godfrey was super patient with me when I was struggling with certain assignments, which was really helpful," Anderson said. "I believe this achievement will further help me to get into colleges, and it would help me to find a good career." The West Virginia Department of Education (WVDE) will recognize 226 eighth grade students from across the state as Knights of the Golden Horseshoe at the Golden Horseshoe Ceremony Tuesday, June 13, 2023 at the West Virginia Culture Center, located at 1900 Kanawha Boulevard, East, Charleston, West Virginia, 25305. For more information about the ceremony, contact Dustin Lambert at [email protected]. A complete list of winners can be found on the WVDE website. About West Virginia Virtual Academy West Virginia Virtual Academy (WVVA) is a full-time, tuition-free public school for grades K-10. WVVA provides an online learning program for students statewide, giving families the choice to access the curriculum provided by K12, a Stride, Inc. company. For more information about WVVA, visit https://wvva.k12.com/. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230512005062/en/

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[May 12, 2023] BDA Returns to Toronto for Business Development Mission - May 15-17

The Bermuda Business Development Agency (BDA) will return to Toronto to promote Bermuda's business development opportunities with our important strategic partners in Canada. This trip seeks to build and capitalize upon our mission in September 2022. David Hart, BDA CEO will lead the delegation and will be accompanied by Michael Frith, Chairman - Senior Consul, Carey Olsen, Helen Souza, Business Development Manager, BDA, and Andrew Vaucrosson, Bermuda Captive Network who will represent Bermuda during a series of business development meetings focusing on a wide range of sectors including, risk and insurance, climate risk solutions, asset management, technology, and high net-worth services. Mr. Hart said, "We will be in Toronto next week, May 15-17, to promote the benefits of investing in and doing business with Bermuda, including our safety, stability, and high-quality regulatory environment. We are excited to have a full schedule across three days of meetings, including visits with executives from asset management companies, legal andadvisory services firms, prospective new Bermuda technology businesses and potential captive owners. Of course, we will also take the opportunity to highlight Bermuda's Economic Investment Residential Certificate (EIRC) initiative and invite them to attend our second annual Bermuda Climate Summit, taking place at the Hamilton Princess & Beach Club, from June 26-27."



Canada and Bermuda share a close business relationship, particularly in the areas of (re)insurance and asset management, and we look forward to strengthening our ties in this key market. CONNECTING BUSINESS

The BDA encourages direct investment and helps companies start up, re-locate, or expand their operations in our premier jurisdiction. An independent, public-private partnership, we connect you to industry professionals, regulatory officials, and key contacts in the Bermuda government to assist domicile decisions. Our goal? To make doing business in Bermuda smooth and beneficial. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230512005273/en/

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[May 12, 2023] Bulletproof's Steven Burns Wins The Highest Rotary Recognition, The Paul Harris Award, for Outstanding Community Leadership

FREDERICTON, NB, May 12, 2023 /CNW/ - Bulletproof's President and COO, Steven Burns, was awarded last night with the highest honour of Rotary recognition for Service Above Self: The Paul Harris Award. Steven Burns was recognized, along with nine other outstanding community leaders, during the Rotary Clubs of Fredericton Century of Service Gala yesterday at The Fredericton Inn. This honour was accompanied by a significant donation in the recipient's name to Rotary International, supporting worldwide programs. "To highlight our 100 years of Rotary service to the Fredericton/Oromocto area, and our emergence from the Covid doldrums, we wanted to celebrate 10 outstanding non-Rotarians who have embodied Rotary's motto of "Service Above Self". We polled all Rotarians for nominations and received dozens of nominations, all deserving. Our Selection Committee has been extremely impressed with the level of volunteer service alive in our community as exemplified by tonight's 10 Paul Harris Fellowship recipients," said Brian Dingle, Chair of the Paul Harris Fellowship Selection Committee. Steven Burns has been involved in many volunteer and fundraising activities for local food banks, youth mental health, and women in transition. Working with many volunteer committees, he has helped raise over three million dollars for local charities including Housing First, Liberty Lane, The Chalmers Foundation, and the Fredericton Community Foundation (Sara Burns Forever Fund). He and nine others helped set a world record for consecutive hours of curling and raised $350 thousand for youth mental health; he lived on top of a transport truck for a week in support of local food banks; and he walked from Edmundston to Fredericton in support of women in transitionbut he is most proud of his work in memory of his late wife, Sara Burns, raising close to one million dollars in her memory through local events.



"I'm honoured to be recognized as a Paul Harris Fellow and feel privileged to stand alongside these nine outstanding community leaders," Steven Burns said. "I've always been committed to contributing to my local community and driven to inspire others to do the same. I'm grateful to work for a company [Bulletproof] where our spirit of corporate social responsibility is at the heart of what we believe in as a company, and we will always empower our employees to engage and support initiatives that matter most to them." The award is named after Paul Harris who founded Rotary in Chicago in 1905 and was the first president of Rotary International, the worldwide organization. In 1957, the idea of the Paul Harris Fellow award was first proposed. Soon after, the distinctive lapel pin and certificate became highly respected symbols of a substantial service-above-self commitment. Many notable figures have been named Paul Harris Fellows including U.S. President Jimmy Carter, astronaut James Lovell, and polio vaccine developer Jonas Salk.

About Rotary International The Rotary Foundation is a not-for-profit with a mission to support the efforts of Rotary International and is made possible by voluntary contributions from Rotarians and friends of the Foundation. Rotary International is a global network of 1.4 million people who see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change  across the globe and in local communities. They provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through the fellowship of business, professional, and community leaders. Their 46,000+ clubs work together to: promote peace, fight disease, protect the environment, support education, grow local economies, etc. About Bulletproof? Headquartered in Canada with locations across the US and around the globe, Bulletproof has decades of technology, security, and compliance expertise, protecting its clients' most valuable assets. The company's footprint now includes users on six continents, trusting Bulletproof to secure their identities, networks, data, and devices. Bulletproof's work in the security space has been recognized nationally and globally with Microsoft's global Security Partner of the Year in 2021, four Microsoft Canada Impact Award wins [2019 to present], and Microsoft-verified Managed Extended Detection and Response (MXDR) solution status for Bulletproof 365 Enterprise, our end-to-end MXDR security service for Microsoft-powered organizations. Bulletproof is proud to be a long-standing Microsoft Solutions Partner with Security and Modern Work Designations, a member of the Microsoft Intelligent Security Association (MISA), and a Microsoft Threat Protection Advanced Specialization holder. SOURCE Bulletproof, A GLI Company

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Your sociable, less predictable friends were more likely to indulge in the meme-stock frenzy that captured popular imagination in the heady post-pandemic bull market of 2021, a new paper suggests.

New research explored who is more likely to invest in stocks, whos more likely to avoid them, and whos more likely to follow a meme-stock or crypto-type trend.

The researchers  Dr. Zhengyang Jiang from the Kellogg School of Management from Northwestern University, Cameron Peng from London School of Economics, and Hongjun Yan from DePaul University's Department of Finance  evaluated the personalities of investors by using the Big Five model.

They found that the two personality traits, Neuroticism and Openness, "stand out in their explanatory power for equity investments. Investors with high Neuroticism and those with low Openness tend to allocate less investment to equities."

The study, the researchers argue, could help financial advisors steer investors into smarter investment decisions and help shape better policy around investing. They also said it could lay the foundation for more granular research into financial behavior.

"If you look at the past episodes of GameStop or even more recently FTX, you might wonder: What lured people to invest in those things and whether this is good?" Dr. Jiang, one of the authors of the study, told Yahoo Finance. "And these things would be useful for both brokerage companies or stock investment firms as well as regulators to understand because this helps them to make better regulations or make better products that help people."

'The pessimistic people'

Developed in the 1930s and 1940s, The Big Five model became established as the best approach to understanding personality in the 1990s and early aughts, according Dr. David Condon, a personality psychologist at the University of Oregon who was not part of the study.

"The Big Five is seen as an empirically supported, consensus-phased approach to thinking about personality," Condon said. "Personality psychologists have been building off of the Big Five for a generation now."

Story continues

Based on his analysis, Jiang found that neurotic people tend to be wary of the stock market. For instance, they tend to have pessimistic expectations for stock returns and are more likely to worry about stock market crashes.

"And they also have similarly negative expectations about GDP and inflation, meaning that they believe that GDP growth is lower and inflation is higher," Jiang said. "So all those things align together and paint us a picture that neurotic people are the pessimistic people."

Traders work on the New York Stock Exchange floor in New York City on Tuesday, April 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey)

In contrast, Jiang said, people high in openness tend to have a larger appetite for risk.

"So people who are more open to new ideas, artistic ideas, are also more likely to put their money into the stock market," Jiang said.

The study also found that investors who scored higher on extraversion and neuroticism were "more likely to adopt a certain investment when they became popular with people around them," the study said, such as meme stocks or crypto.

Agreeableness and conscientiousness, on the other hand, played less significant roles in financial decisions, according to the researchers findings.

'This might be relevant for policy recommendation'

Condon agreed with the researchers that personality psychology could alter the way major financial institutions assess investors and cited the example of an investment manager working with family funds and dealing with a customer base higher in neuroticism.

"Those might be the group that you would get with educational advice about adjusting for risk," Condon said. "Or helping them get a better understanding of what the actual risk of tail events are in these black swan events, in hopes that it would help them come up with a more efficient investment."

Similarly, Jiang explained that advisors can use personality psychology to encourage neurotic investors to engage in conservative, index investments that better fit their aversion to risk.

"We could kind of nudge them a little bit to do things that they are not comfortable with based on their personality profile," Jiang said.

And its not just advisors who could benefit. Lawmakers could craft better policies that could help investors avoid their worst impulses.

"If we can take a step back and ask why we would want to study these issues in finance, you can see this might be relevant for policy recommendation," Jiang said. "This could speak to potential education or policies that policymakers can have to help people achieve a better outcome."

'Fruitful direction for future research'

Condon also noted the unprecedented nature of the study.

"It's highly innovative in that it's looking to taking a more holistic approach to the relationship between personality and financial decision-making," Condon said. "Trying to take a more holistic approach of the personality angle is really very novel."

He suggested using the Big Five model of personality could be just the beginning, explaining that researchers have just begun using even more complex personality models to understand investor behavior.

"There are now quite a few and growing all the time, quite a few large datasets that might allow a finer-grain analysis of features and personality below the Big Five," Condon said, "more specific features of personality that are influencing investment decisions."

Jiang agreed while also noting that the study is one of the first to "merge the Big Five personality dimensions with asset pricing or financial applications."

"Of course, we could also look at some of the more granular thingsI think those are also very fruitful direction for future research, Jiang said. For now, we just want to look at the simplest possible framework that we can borrow from psychology."

Dylan Croll is a reporter and researcher at Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter at @CrollonPatrol.

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[May 12, 2023] CRN Spotlights Twenty-Four Ingram Micro Executives on the 2023 Women of the Channel List; Honors Three to Power 100

Ingram Micro Inc. is pleased to announce two dozen executives from the global technology distributor are represented within this year's CRN Women of the Channel list. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230512005306/en/ Congrats to this year's CRN Women of the Channel and Power 100 honorees! (Photo: Business Wire) Among the honorees include Ingram Micro's Vice President of U.S. Sales Therese Ferullo, who made her debut on the Power 100 this year, as well as Ingram Micro's global executives Jennifer Anaya, senior vice president, global marketing and Sabine Howest, senior vice president of global digital operations, being recognized once again for their influence and insight to drive success.



Many of the leaders named to this year's Women of the Channel will be in attendance and speaking next week at the Ingram Micro Global Cloud and Innovation Summit and Ingram Micro Women in Tech: Be Inspired event taking place May 15. #IngramMicroGCIS23 "We are incredibly proud of our executives featured on this year's CRN Women of the Channel and Power 100 lists," said Scott Sherman, executive vice president, human resources, Ingram Micro. "Ingram Micro is transforming the IT channel with the adoption of our digital twin Ingram Micro Xvantage and stands committed to promoting and actioning diversity, equity and inclusion. As a result of these combined efforts, we are showing up stronger together in every region and have seen DEI within our workforce globally increase year-over-year."

Last year, Ingram Micro appointed multi-year CRN Power 100 honoree Susan O'Sullivan to the role of vice president, DEI. In this role, O'Sullivan spearheads the team's DEI awareness and programs, supports employee resource groups and inspires channel partners and vendors doing business with Ingram Micro to think forward and make positive changes within their own organizations. "What I love about my role is having the ability to listen more, learn from and motivate others, not only in our company, but in our industry and within the communities we live in," says O'Sullivan. "Ingram Micro has always been led by incredible individuals and it is my pleasure to work with my fellow Ingram Micro Women of the Channel honorees and serve together as an indispensable partner to the channel." Ingram Micro's 2023 CRN Women of the Channel executives include: POWER 100 Jennifer Anaya, SVP, Global Marketing Therese Ferullo, VP of U.S. Sales Sabine Howest, SVP, Global Digital Operations 2023 Women of the Channel Sophie Barnave, Director, Cloud Supplier Relations Michelle Becka, Director, Global Digital Content Melanie DelValle, Director, Customer Finance Nicole Dziedzic, Senior Vendor Business Manager- Cisco Florencia Gannio, Director, Global Marketing Solutions Holly Hartman Niedzielski, Director, Event Marketing and Partner Communities Hailey Henry, Director, Strategic Partnerships Joyce Hofman, Associate Director, Cloud Growth Practices Stacy Khreis, Director, Global Business Development Ellen Meekels, ??Executive Director, Global Digital Transformation - Business Operations Quinn Novak, Director, Brand Marketing and Programs Susan O'Sullivan, VP US of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Cheryl Rang, Executive Director, Advanced Solutions and Data Center Alyson Rosaler, Director, Marketing Automation, Global Business Intelligence Kelly Sander, Director, SMB Sales Carla Santos, Director, Cloud and Digital Solutions Andrea Short, Executive Director, Marketing Cheryll Tan, Director, Marketing Lynne Thornton, Executive Director, Software and Sales Operations Jana Vondran, SVP, Global Business Services Farrah Zidehsarai, Director, Advanced Solutions "We are ecstatic to announce this year's honorees and shine a light on these women for their significant achievements, knowing that what they've accomplished has paved the way for continued success within the IT channel," said Blaine Raddon, CEO of The Channel Company. "The channel is stronger because of them, and we look forward to seeing what they do next." The Women of the Channel (#WOTC) list will be featured in CRN's June 2023 issue and online at www.CRN.com/wotc. CRN recently awarded Ingram Micro's community programs with three individual 5-Star Partner Program Guide honors: Ingram Micro Cloud, Ingram Micro SMB Alliance, and Ingram Micro Trust X Alliance. Additionally, Ingram Micro was certified as a Great Place to Work in 24 countries in 2022 and continues to attract talent from all over the globe. About Ingram Micro Ingram Micro is the business behind the world's brands with the ability to reach nearly 90 percent of the world's population. Our diverse solutions portfolio spans thousands of technology hardware and services options, as well as XaaS solutions. As part of our commitment to reducing environmental impact, we offer full-service IT Asset Disposal as well as reverse logistics and repair services. We also offer a more intelligent and streamlined way of doing business in the IT industry with our digital platform Ingram Micro Xvantage. Reaching close to 200 countries, we have approximately 27,000 associates and more than 161,000 customers and 1,500 vendor partners worldwide. Learn more at www.ingrammicro.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230512005306/en/

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INVESTIGATION ALERT: Scott+Scott Attorneys at Law LLP Investigates The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.'s Directors and Officers for Breach of Fiduciary Duties - GS

Scott+Scott Attorneys at Law LLP ("Scott+Scott"), an international securities and consumer rights litigation firm, is investigating whether certain directors and officers of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. ("Goldman Sachs") (NYSE: GS) breached their fiduciary duties to Goldman Sachs and its shareholders. If you are a Goldman Sachs shareholder, you may contact attorney Joe Pettigrew for additional information toll-free at 844-818-6982, or [email protected].







Scott+Scott is investigating whether members of Goldman Sachs's board of directors or senior management failed to manage Goldman Sachs in an acceptable manner, in breach of their fiduciary duties to Goldman Sachs, and whether Goldman Sachs and its shareholders have suffered damages as a result.

On May 8, 2023, Goldman Sachs announced that it had agreed to pay $215 million to settle a class action lawsuit alleging widespread bias against women in pay and promotions.

What You Can Do

If you are a Goldman Sachs shareholder, you may have legal claims against Goldman Sachs's directors and officers. If you wish to discuss this investigation, or have questions about this notice or your legal rights, please contact attorney Joe Pettigrew toll-free at 844-818-6982 or [email protected].

About Scott+Scott

Scott+Scott has significant experience in prosecuting major securities, antitrust, and consumer rights actions throughout the United States. The firm represents pension funds, foundations, individuals, and other entities worldwide with offices in New York, London, Amsterdam, Connecticut, California, and Ohio.

Attorney Advertising

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230512005286/en/
[May 12, 2023] Wagstaff & Cartmell Clients Resolve Major Litigation Against Tobacco Giant Altria Group

KANSAS CITY, Mo., May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Wagstaff & Cartmell is proud to announce that it has resolved claims against tobacco giant Altria Group brought on behalf of hundreds of school districts nationwide, including some of the largest public school districts in America located in major cities like New York, San Francisco, Chicago, and others. Wagstaff Cartmell Clients Resolve Major Litigation Against Tobacco Giant Altria Group The claims arise from a youth vaping crisis that has harmed schools and kids nationwide. As reported by Law 360, Altria agreed to pay $235 million dollars to resolve all claims. Plaintiffs, including Wagstaff & Cartmell clients, previously settled in a confidential settlement with Juul Labs and five of its key directors and major investors. The New York Times and Wall Street Journal reported that the previous settlement totaled around $1.7 billion dollars. Together with the previous settlement late last year, this week's settlement with Altria brings te total recovery in the litigation to just under $2 billion dollars, according to media reports.



The global settlement with Altria was reached in the middle of a multi-week federal court jury trial in San Francisco. The plaintiff, San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD), had just finished presenting its evidence to the jury. Wagstaff & Cartmell and its co-counsel had put on 27 witnesses at trial by live and video testimony, including six expert witnesses who are world-renowned leaders in their fields of expertise. Wagstaff & Cartmell Founding Partner Tom Cartmell was lead trial counsel for SFUSD and was lead counsel for many other school districts and young people in this litigation. Explaining why the firm committed so many resources to this litigation, Cartmell said, "From the beginning, this case has always been about getting meaningful relief to school-aged youth and school districts for the harms caused by the youth vaping crisis. Young people are our most valuable resource, and they should be protected from dangerous e-cigarette products that can damage their health and have life-long consequences. Nicotine addiction is a terrible problem, especially for teens. School districts have been plagued with problems too. They have limited resources to address youth vaping in schools. Student vaping disrupts schools for everyone, including teachers, administrators, and other students who aren't vaping. We are proud to have helped these schools and kids obtain meaningful relief."

The settlement avoids the delay from further litigation and resolves all remaining claims against Altria, including personal injury, consumer class action, and school district cases brought in the national MDL and the JCCP in California. Wagstaff & Cartmell was the first law firm in the United States to file lawsuits against JUUL Labs and Altria on behalf of school districts. The global settlement is the culmination of a continuous four-year battle by the plaintiffs and legal teams for the recent upsurge in youth e-cigarette use and nicotine addiction. Wagstaff & Cartmell Partner Jon Kieffer, who also played a major role in the litigation, said, "We take great pride in this result. Our team has worked tirelessly over the past four years on behalf of our clients to get meaningful relief from the youth e-cigarette epidemic. The successful resolution of this case is a testament to the effectiveness of the legal system, and we extend our heartfelt gratitude to the jurors who invested their time in the trial during the recent weeks." View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/wagstaff--cartmell-clients-resolve-major-litigation-against-tobacco-giant-altria-group-301823647.html SOURCE Wagstaff & Cartmell

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[May 12, 2023] IT Leaders Underestimate the Power of Enterprise Networks in Employee Experiences

TMCnet News Global IT leaders are failing to fully recognize the vital connection between their enterprise network and employee experiences, according to recent research conducted by HPE Aruba Networking. Despite the growing demand for hybrid working, only 55% of respondents acknowledge the network's strong relevance to employees' ability to perform their jobs and attract and retain talent. The study, which gathered insights from 2,100 IT leaders in 21 countries, explored how these leaders approach the enterprise network and assessed their understanding of its role as a business-boosting asset.



While 44% of IT leaders view the network primarily as a tool for digital transformation, and an additional 33% recognize its role in broader business transformation, there is a missed connection when it comes to delivering employee experiences. Digitization is deemed fundamental for both talent attraction and employees' job performance by 75% of IT leaders. However, the network's impact in these areas is perceived as the lowest among all the listed business areas. The research also reveals that only 43% of IT leaders believe their network enables staff to work from anywhere, and a mere 34% agree that their network provides seamless connectivity. Additionally, only 29% state that their network facilitates a Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) service.

Sylvia Hooks, CMO of HPE Aruba Networking, highlights the dangerous oversight of not understanding how the network can enhance employee experiences in the prevailing flexible working environment. Hooks emphasizes that the network is indispensable in today's job landscape, extending beyond mere connectivity. She asserts that a seamless, efficient, intelligent, and secure connected experience is essential for organizations embarking on their digital transformation journey. The research also reveals the areas where the network currently delivers the most return on investment (ROI). IT efficiency, operational efficiency, and cybersecurity, all core components of digital transformation initiatives, are identified as the top three connections between the network and various parts of the business. IT leaders report experiencing the greatest impact in these areas, particularly among those who have invested in the network within the past two years. In contrast, respondents who haven't been able to invest in the network reported a 21% lower positive impact on average across all business areas. While investment is crucial for maximizing the network's potential, there is untapped opportunity for it to deliver value in additional business-boosting areas. To unlock this potential, it is essential to allocate budget toward the right infrastructure that modernizes all aspects of network operations. Larry Lunetta, Vice President of Portfolio Solutions Marketing at HPE Aruba Networking, emphasizes that a modern network can enhance employee experiences, attract top talent, and drive impact across all business domains. Lunetta encourages IT leaders to shift their network discussions to focus on business outcomes rather than technical specifications, thus demonstrating the correlation between investment, positive impact, and business value to the C-suite. The findings of the research highlight the urgent need for global IT leaders to recognize and harness the full extent of the connection between their enterprise network and employee experiences. The network is not just a technical infrastructure, but a strategic asset that holds the key to unlocking productivity, talent attraction, and overall business performance. Embracing this understanding and investing in the right network infrastructure will pave the way for organizations to thrive in the digital age, create a competitive edge, and build a future-ready workforce.





Edited by Greg Tavarez



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[May 12, 2023] TRIUMPH PROVIDES HEAT EXCHANGERS FOR NASA'S ORION CAPSULE

RADNOR, Pa., May 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Triumph Group, Inc. (TRIUMPH) [NYSE:TGI] today announced that its Systems, Electronics and Controls business has completed work on the Environmental Control and Life Support Systems (ECLSS) contract with Collins Aerospace, a Raytheon Technologies business. TRIUMPH provided the heat exchangers included in the ECLSS, which is a system on the Orion Capsule. The Orion Capsule is mounted to the top of NASA's new heavy-lift rocket, the Space Launch System. The Orion Capsule will take humans back to the lunar surface in the upcoming Artemis missions, and will provide the crew with life sustaining capabilities, emergency abort, and re-entry from deep space. The design work was completed at TRIUMPH's facility in Forest, Ohio. "TRIUMPH is excited to be a part of NASA's Space Launch System and the ECLSS Orion program with Collins, providing a key component to th life support system," said Justin Wolfanger, President of TRIUMPH Systems, Electronics and Controls. "Our product will fly on the Artemis 3, 4, and 5 missions as part of critical environmental controls for years to come."



TRIUMPH Systems, Electronics and Controls designs and manufactures, repairs, and overhauls a broad portfolio of aerospace and defense components, accessories, subassemblies, systems, and aircraft thermal management systems. We partner with original equipment manufacturers and operators of commercial, regional, and military aircraft worldwide to provide the products and services that solve the hardest of problems. TRIUMPH, headquartered in Radnor, Pennsylvania, designs, manufactures, repairs, and overhauls a broad portfolio of aerospace and defense systems and components. The company serves the global aviation industry, including original equipment manufacturers and the full spectrum of military and commercial aircraft operators.

More information about TRIUMPH can be found on the company's website at www.triumphgroup.com . View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/triumph-provides-heat-exchangers-for-nasas-orion-capsule-301823803.html SOURCE Triumph Group

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Radio TOK FM is a place of pluralistic debate and exchange of opinions. The freedom of speech is the DNA of its editorial team. Dealing with all matters present in the public debate in Poland, we always implement all principles of independent journalism. However, the institution responsible for broadcasting regulations in Poland  the National Broadcasting Council (KRRiT) - regards any criticism of the authorities as hate speech.

REKLAMA

Now, TOK FM Radio, which is one of the most important sources of information in Poland, is in danger of being deprived of its license and stopping broadcasting.

Below you can find the transcription of punished show and the statement of the editor-in-chief of Tok FM Radio - Kamila Ceran, in which she presents the position of the editorial team.

***

Penalty imposed by National Broadcasting Council (KRRiT) on Radio TOK FM

Statement of the editor-in-chief Kamila Ceran | 8 May 2023

Radio TOK FM is a place for pluralistic debate and exchange of opinions. The freedom of speech exercised in this way is in the DNA of our editorial office. It also means that, while dealing with all issues present in the public debate, we subject them to evaluation  by our journalists, publicists, invited commentators and experts.

I have been acting as an editor-in-chief at TOK FM for more than eleven years. In all that time, the station has not received a single penalty from the National Broadcasting Council.

During this time, we have expanded our audience to over one million listeners a day, we have become the fourth-largest station in the country among national and supra-regional radio stations, and we have reached over 33,000 active subscribers to our already broadcast podcasts, which is the best result in Europe and perhaps in the world. These figures alone indicate that the quality of our programme is widely appreciated by listeners.

This is due to the fact that we make constant and consistent efforts to make journalistic integrity our hallmark and  in my opinion we are one of the pillars of free media in Poland.

The Chairman of the National Broadcasting Council (KRRiT) initiated ex officio proceedings to penalise Radio TOK FM for violation of Article 18(1) of the Broadcasting Act. So let us look at what this provision says:

Article 18. 1. Broadcasts or other transmissions may not promote actions contrary to the law, to the Polish raison d'etat and attitudes and views contrary to morality and social good, in particular, they may not contain content inciting hatred or violence or discriminating on the grounds of sex, race, skin colour, ethnic or social origin, genetic features, language, religion or belief, political or any other opinion, nationality, membership of a national minority, property, birth, disability, age or sexual orientation or incitement to commit a terrorist offence.

This provision was applied to a programme in which a journalist from Radio TOK FM criticised the use of hate speech, i.e. negative and xenophobic, non-objective or even propaganda content, in a textbook for the school subject "history and the present times" (historia i terazniejszosc, HiT). It brought to his mind associations with hate speech used to indoctrinate young people by Nazi propaganda.

That is to say, the Chairman of the National Broadcasting Council accused us of using hate speech because we criticised hate speech.

I think it is worth quoting one more provision from the Broadcasting Act in this situation.

Article 6. 1. The National Council shall safeguard the freedom of speech in radio and television, the independence of media service providers and video sharing platform providers, the interests of service recipients and users and shall ensure the open and pluralistic nature of broadcasting.

It is therefore the task of the National Broadcasting Council (including its Chairman) to protect the constitutional principle of the expression of opinions, as long as those opinions are sufficiently argued. I still stand by the position that the broadcast dealt with propaganda and the comparison of propaganda methods. Using specific quotations, we showed an attempt to inject prejudice into the young people's core curriculum, to allow the achievements of the European Union or feminism to be discredited, to deprecate people with a different sexual orientation, and to antagonise social groups on the basis of beliefs. Furthermore, after the broadcast, "taking into account the social good", the publishing house removed the most emotionally charged passages from the textbook in question, which concerned in vitro fertilization.

Since the broadcast, we have exchanged a number of letters with the President of the National Broadcasting Council. On 12 January 2023, he addressed us with a "general call to avoid comparisons of books/works/authors (...) to Nazi works if there is no factual basis for such an opinion".

In my opinion, we have not used any unauthorised comparisons and do not intend to do so in the future.

It was therefore with surprise that I received the National Broadcasting Councils announcement of 28 April this year that a fine of PLN 80 000 had been imposed on the station for violation of the  already mentioned Article 18 of the Broadcasting Act. In addition, the allegations presented to the broadcaster and their motivation are quite new (never even mentioned in the correspondence before).

What the Chairman of the National Broadcasting Council found in TOK FM's programme now, was the promotion of illegal activities, views and attitudes contrary to morality and social good, content inciting to hatred and discriminatory content, as well as humiliation and violation of the dignity of World War II victims, including Jews. These allegations, when juxtaposed with the programme subject to the National Broadcasting Council proceedings, sound absurd, and such a situation has never occurred in the history of Radio TOK FM.

A completely new accusation made by the Chairman is also "inciting to hatred on the grounds of political views and to the presentation of content discriminating on the grounds of political views, by referring to the political affiliation of the author of the textbook  indicating the Law and Justice party". According to the Chairman, the presentation of the textbook's author  prof. Wojciech Roszkowski  at the beginning of the broadcast as a former Law and Justice MEP resulted in the negative opinions about the content of the HiT textbook mentioned in the broadcast, being offensive to this party and all people who share its views. So this time the President, in addition to defending Prof. Roszkowski's good name, also took it upon himself to protect the good name of the Law and Justice Party, caricaturing the meaning of the broadcast, which was not political in any part. After all, the interviewees had just explicitly opposed hate speech and the presentation of discriminatory content in the children's textbook, pointed out and condemned expressions such as: "gender ideology", "European integration is an external oppression saturated with Eurosceptic discourse", "intellectual European deviation". Such content would certainly have been stigmatised by them regardless of the political connotations of its author.

In view of this, I have to ask the question: why is it that a station which, since its inception, has been based on values such as freedom of speech, tolerance and respect for diversity of opinion, is today being accused of promoting hate speech and views contrary to morality and the social good, and consequently fined? What has changed recently? I see one such issue. We have applied to renew Radio TOK FM's licence for another ten years. The current concession expires on 3 November this year.

***

"First breakfast at TOK"

[Piotr Maslak] Its 6:43 and 51 seconds. Pawe Nawrocki, a teacher of history and social studies from the Polygraphic School Complex in Warsaw, is now your and my guest. Good morning sir.

[Pawe Nawrocki] Good morning.

[PM] You were looking at the HiT, or more precisely, the HiT textbook for the school course called The History and The Present.

[PN] Yes, I did, I did it yesterday based on the excerpts published by Biay Kruk publishing house and by Wojciech Roszkowski  theyve been published by Onet portal, but as I say it is also available on the publisher's website.

[PM] I will now quote to our listeners a few, a few short fragments so as not to dwell there: 'The European Union promotes atheism and implements it in through bureaucratic and administrative methods. European integration is an external oppression saturated with Eurosceptic discourse, which has nothing to do with the realities of the formation of the first European organizations in the 50s of the twentieth century. And here I will reach for the flagship phrases: gender ideology, intellectual European perversions, is this a history textbook in your opinion, for the present, for knowledge about society or rather some kind of textbook for xenophobia?

[PN] Well, I didn't find these curiosities. I came across others which I will gladly share now, but of course yes  lets leave gender ideology out because it is abused and already...

[PM] But this is a textbook...

[PN] Many words were said about this. Yes, I know, I want to criticize it, but to do it on the basis of other phrases. Well, undoubtedly it is something that is to replace WOS (a course on Knowledge of Society), i.e. a subject that is to shape the citizen of a democratic state in a wider community of European families. From what you have quoted this textbook actually discourages this, right? So it probably shouldn't be a textbook. Well, this is my simple answer. It is hard to imagine that it could be any different coming from the WOS teacher. Well, I regret that this HiT appeared at all, replacing WOS in the obligatory courses for high school students, first grades, I repeat, in the obligatory part, because students who have signed up for profiles with extended WOS will still have it in the original form, while it (WOS) should be widely available and shape all young citizens. The end result is that they will learn this historical mush, instead of the civic skills that are actually useful to them later in life. They will come out from this course perhaps very proud of the fact that they are heirs to the legacy of the Cursed Soldiers, or the suffering victims of the WW2 still entitled to something that they wont get - see lessons about the sacrifice after World War II and German refusal of fulfillment of new claims, but as I say, competent citizens will not come out of these courses.

[PM] Let me interrupt you.

[PN] Yes, please.

[PM] But you will be forced to use this textbook. Sawomir Drelich, PhD, political ethicist from the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun and author of textbooks for WOS - probably a well-known figure - reviews this HiT textbook as follows: Its simply a tragedy, journalistic gibberish mixed with very detailed academic historical knowledge. This is the best way to ideologize young people, but at the same time to build in them a lasting hatred for historical education, civic knowledge and shaping the ability to function in the modern state and the world." End of quote.

[PN] Well, exactly. I think so too. But, you know what, I was surprised that the author of this is Professor Wojciech Roszkowski, that he would sign it.

[PM] Former Law and Justice MEP.

[PN] Well, but you know what, I remember him - because I already teach for quite some time...

[PM] But me too, I remember him too.

[PN] Then welcome to the club.

[PM] I apologize for interrupting, but I think we are talking about the same memory from times rightly past.

[PN] Yes, but I remember him as the author, together with Anna Radziwi, of a very good textbook, one of the firsts on the 19th and 20th century, the history of modern Poland. Perhaps, here, Anna Radziwis influence was missing? If she was next to the professor, an academic, Wojciech Roszkowski, and she had this knack, skill, experience, teaching practice, among others, from the great Lelewel High School in her time, then well, such a gaffe would not be made by the professor Roszkowski today. But then you have as a reviewer professor Andrzej Nowak - also an academic - who is a great academic historian, but with little contact with the present educational school system, then it all comes out the way it goes.

The Introduction is very promising, isnt it? There is a talk about what teachers will be doing with students - they are supposed to discuss things, they are to understand reality and not just copy the answers from the answer key, they should look for truth, and that this textbook has the ambition to be almost a good novel for everyone, for teachers, students, even for parents. And it is a good introduction to academic studies, especially the humanities. And this introduction is a great beginning, but then when you read next chapters, not much of it stands up.

I like to test those fragments that - well - are close to me, but also provide a litmus test; I especially like to browse through the lessons of recent American history - where young people are the subject. And this is such an important period for me, which, as opposed to the wars, changes these cultural, mental environments and civilizations the most, right? And that's where reading about the march on Washington by Martin Luther King appears. At the end of a that passage one can read that today the N-word is considered offensive (something like that) and that the so-called progressive circles, organizations, Marxists, left-leaning and so on try to remove it from literary works. And then the author claims there are much worse words that are allowed in public discourse - for example, the expression f***-off. We know what it is about and we know that it is an allusion (to the slogan used during the womens marches in Poland after the right to abortion was abolished in all the cases but rape and incest  editorial note). Well, to be honest, how would I use such a paragraph during a lesson? I doubt that I could establish such a good relationship with the first graders, well, with those who remember these events of the women's strike from three years ago to be able to explain this. But there is a bigger disadvantage of using this, this allusion - well, it will be taught to the first classes with future 14-15-year-olds, who will no longer remember the context or did not live it and do not understand this. Well, maybe they heard about it, but they certainly do not know the content of the women's strikes of 2020 and they will have to be told about the women shouting f***-off to the government politicians, just like about any unknown event, thus popularizing it. And I do not know if this is the intention of the authors of the textbook and especially their boss (the Minister of Education).

[PM] But then what the intention is? Because, you know, I read it and I have the impression that the intention is to convince young people to leave the European Union as soon as possible. If not now, then in a few years. Maybe they, convinced that the European Union is evil, will believe in - I do not know - the extermination of non-heteronormative people, because they maybe are a threat to the healthy social fabric. It reads like a textbook - excuse the comparison - for the Hitler Youth a little bit. Sometimes, not everywhere, but at times.

[PN] Well, yes, but you know what, you are right, of course. And I should also criticize and scold it, and I do it, but.. [PM] Then what will you be teaching the subject from, the History and the Present?

[PN] First of all, this subject is not included in the final exams  matura (the high school diploma), and so we do not have such obligation to make the students learn it by heart, because otherwise they would suffer. In the contrary, they will not suffer the indoctrination, if we try to use alternative content. I cannot tell you the details yet, but there is already such project in which I will participate and we will try to prepare another textbook. Still based on the program points of HiT course, but consistent with our conscience and consistent with social benefit, as we - the teachers, understand it.

But insofar as this textbook is what it is, which is to say, it is awful and this idea of pushing into our heads such content as you have quoted, which I have quoted, that for me is disastrous. Well, you know, in the same way as textbooks functioned in the People's Republic of Poland. I will also use the example of American contestation and a famous saying of Malcolm X, who valued the Ku Klux Klan - do you know why? Because it built up very strongly, created and consolidated the consciousness of African Americans, right? I mean, as long as we have such a counterbalance, an author of this textbook and his principals, then we know what to stick to, right?

I will say one more thing to you and to the listeners. When I was making a presentation about refugees in one of the schools in which I teach, the students prepared a thread called "Authorities on refugees". They did it a bit mockingly, that is, they dichotomously opposed different authorities from the two political bubbles. There were pictures of the current government and well, no comment was needed, because immediately there was a volley of laughter. In this way, the young people - at least the ones I teach - perceive those who want to create reality for us. So I think I have more - I don't know - positive emotions associated with this.

[PM] Do you think that it will be, as I remember, from the times - I will refer to them again - rightly past, that is, the times of the Polish People's Republic, that the more they push Polish-Soviet love on us, the more it will be the opposite, because young people are contradictory by nature?

[PN] Yes, I think it will be.

[PM] Let's keep our fingers crossed for the Polish youth, their wisdom and intelligence in that case.

[PN] Let's keep them crossed. We will share with you, when something cool arises. And in addition, I can advertise another initiative. Because we have HiT at schools, we decided to leave the school desks and with a group of young people we have created a Senate talks and Senate dialogues meetings, where once a month, at the invitation of the Senate Speaker Dr Grodzki, we talk about what we want - that is, I speak on behalf of the youth - what we want, with whom we want. So there are still people who care about it. And they will last.

[PM] It is still possible in Poland. One of such people is Mr. Pawe Nawrocki, a teacher of history and social studies from the Polygraphic School Complex in Warsaw, who was your and my guest. Thank you very much.

[PN] Thank you very much to Piotr Maslak and I say goodbye to you - have a nice day.

(EDITED FOR CLARITY)
Behind the scenes, insiders are asking important questions about a promising new project near New KCI that has been abruptly put on hold this week.

More to the point . . .

KANSAS CITY NORTHLAND DEVELOPMENT HITS THE SKIDS AND INSIDERS WONDER IF CAMPAIGN SEASON FLEXING ISN'T PART OF THE DELAY!!!



First . . . Let's cover the back story . . .



Check a few deets on the project in question from our friends at the Platte County Landmark . . .

The Ambassador Building is a 260,000-square-foot, six-story, Class A office building featuring flex space for a single private office, up to 30,000 square feet of available space.



A family partnership group, led by Richard Chaves Jr., acquired the Ambassador Building and adjacent land with initial plans to develop a park-and-ride facility, similar to those the family operates in other parts of the country. Plans for the park-and-ride quickly grew into a full mixed-use development plan.



We believe the Ambassador Building and surrounding land is a prime location for our mixed-use development, Chaves, Jr. said. The new terminal project, nearby data center and continued residential growth in the area makes this development a much-needed addition to the area.



Chaves, along with several family members, recently relocated from their Dallas home to Kansas City to focus on the project.

Follow along closely . . .

- This week the Ambassador development didn't garner approval by way of curious objection at city hall and a conveniently timed memo urging council to hit the brakes.

- Northland council members believed they had the votes lined up to finish this mostly mundane project and the council session ambush was a surprise.

- Coincidentally or not, Richard Chaves, Jr is the main backer behind KC Northland Strong . . . A group offering resistance to the current administration by way of support for a council slate.

Now . . .

Of course we can't say for certain if the political ambitions of Mr. Chaves have put his project in danger. But, behind the scenes . . . Readers can imagine the kind of speculation at work.



And so . . .

The main takeaway here is that skeptical souls contend that doing biz in KCMO likely comes with a political price tag and a lot of companies might not realize this potential cost.

Even the mere thought of this type of "pay for play" consequence threatens to drive more companies away from Kansas City . . . And we can't say that we'd blame anybody for that decision.



Of course, here at www.TonysKansasCity.com we'll merely assume that hearts are pure at 12th & Oak and NOBODY would engage in this kind of dangerous development double dealing . . .

Sadly, we'll have to wait until AFTER the election to know for certain if it was all just a coincidence.



Developing . . .


It's not all bad news out there . . . For our most dedicated readers we share this compilation of recent crime reporting on police action, ongoing court cases and, thankfully, work with the community in order to make this town safer.



Check TKC news gathering . . .



Kansas City Police Department honors 120 fallen officers The police department is honoring all of their officers who gave the ultimate sacrifice, including Officer James Muhlbauer.

Thieves steal thousands of dollars worth of donated lumber from Kansas City charity KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A Kansas City charity is out thousands of dollars worth of donated lumber after thieves broke-in to the back of their property. It was all caught on camera. Organization leaders are saddened by the criminals actions as they continue to help women who have been sexually exploited.

Charges filed in Northeast dog attack Charges have been filed in Kansas City, Missouri Municipal Court against the owners of two dogs that attacked three people on Sunday April 23rd during a community clean up event, including a City park department employee who was taken by ambulance to the hospital due to the severity of her wounds.

Family of man fatally shot by KCK police holds rally to call for justice KANSAS CITY, Kan. - On Thursday afternoon, dozens of people gathered for a rally meant to show support for Amaree'ya Henderson's family. Pauletta Johnson, Henderson's mother, was the first to speak at the rally, where she talked about the kind of person he was. "A ball of light," Johnson said.

Family of Black man killed by Independence police sue for $25 million: 'We want justice' Backed by a team of local and national civil rights attorneys, the family of Tyrea M. Pryor Sr., a 39-year-old Black man killed by Independence Police, filed a federal lawsuit Thursday against the City of Independence and the officers who shot Pryor.

Prosecutors reveal link between terror defendant in Virginia and Islamic State 'empress' from Kansas ALEXANDRIA, Va. - A northern Virginia man arrested on terrorism charges has a husband-wife relationship with another American who was dubbed by authorities as an " empress of ISIS " for her work to establish an all-female battalion of the Islamic State, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Kansas rape survivors received no notification about offender's earlier release date A man initially sentenced to 48 years in prison for brutally raping two women in Lawrence, Kansas, will be released after 18 years behind bars. Cory Elkins was convicted in 2008 on four counts of rape and three counts of aggravated criminal sodomy for the rapes that happened in the mid-1990s.

Mom calls for waiting period on gun purchases; Missouri lawmakers say it's unlikely KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Janet Delana did everything she could think of to prevent her daughter, who had a host of diagnosed mental health disorders, from buying a gun. It didn't work. Ten years after Colby Weathers shot and killed her dad, Delana wants lawmakers to take gun safety more seriously in Missouri.

Kelly signs bill to decriminalize fentanyl test strips SHAWNEE, Kan. (KCTV) - Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly joined legislators in Shawnee Thursday to sign Senate Bill 174, an initiative which aims to decriminalize fentanyl test strips. That bill, and the decriminalization of test strips which can detect the presence of fentanyl in other substances, is designed to help prevent overdose deaths in Kansas.

Undercover sting involving FBI leads to arrest of Bates County, Missouri man A Bates County , Mo., man faces multiple charges after he was arrested in an undercover sting this week. Sean O'Riley was charged with enticement or attempted enticement of a child, attempted endangering the welfare of a child and attempted child molestation in the fourth degree.

Ex-Kansas legislator who committed COVID relief fraud gets just over 2 years in prison An attorney for former Republican state Rep. Michael Capps argued for probation in court documents, citing Capps' Air Force service in a combat zone. But prosecutors asked for a sentence of four years and three months in prison, arguing in court documents that he "continues to show neither remorse nor contrition" over stealing nearly $500,000 in funds meant to help businesses remain afloat during the coronavirus pandemic.

Kansas City man faces life in prison after convicted of running child abuse sites A Kansas City man has been convicted of running four websites dedicated to sharing images of child sexual abuse.Clint Schram hosted, managed, and maintained four different websites from his home, court documents stated. He was convicted of one count of engaging in a child exploitation enterprise and four counts each of advertisement of child pornography and conspiracy to advertise child pornography.Schram will be sentenced on Oct.

Lawmakers send 'Blair's Law' to governor's desk criminalizing celebratory gunfire JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - In the final hours of session, the Missouri General Assembly sent legislation to the governor's desk to impose tougher penalties for people who fire celebratory gunshots. In 2011, bullets fired on the 4 th of July, fell killing 11-year-old Blair Shanahan Lane.

Photos show Kansas Highway Patrol SUV crumpled upon crash KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A Kansas Highway Patrol trooper is recovering Thursday after a motorist struck the back of the trooper's SUV along Interstate 70 Wednesday. Around 2 p.m. Wednesday, the trooper had pulled off onto the shoulder of westbound Interstate 70 near Interstate 135 in Saline County, Kansas, to assist a motorist.

Rewards offered for information about copper thefts, damage to fiber lines KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - Local police and communications companies are warning people to keep an eye out for copper thieves. Greater Kansas City Crime Stoppers said in a press release that criminals in search of metal were likely behind a series of cuts to fiber optic cables.

Kansas City police seeking public's help in locating missing woman, 26 KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Kansas City, Missouri, police are asking for the public's help to find a missing woman last seen leaving a house in south Kansas City, Mo. Jada Kimbrough, 26, was last seen about 8 a.m. Thursday walking away from 11500 Campbell St.

KCK student-led anti-violence program honored by the Kansas City Royals The school district says the student-led program 'Enough is Enough' has seen significant success in their schools. "Enough is enough. We cannot lose one more student, one more faculty member, one more staff, one more community member.

KCPD listening sessions continue ahead of new illegal firearms squad KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves is continuing her quarterly listening sessions throughout the city while revealing on Thursday night that the department is rolling out a new squad that will focus on illegal firearms. Graves was talking about how parts of the police department have been restructured in her nearly five months on the job, which included bringing back the Missing Persons Unit because community members asked for it.

Developing . . .
More than any other local pundit . . . KK comes away with the best take on the performance of the former President and current GOP front runner . . . Here's the word . . .

CNN was looking for a ratings boost by having President Trump on for a Town Hall with their "rising star" Kaitlan Collins. It backfired in an epic way as Trump out negotiated CNN on the setting and audience makeup AND built up Collins as a pit bull who then came off as really rude and cold. Simply put, this was Trump's greatest hits and it was so epic CNN pulled the plug early and cut him off.

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .

Trump's Greatest Hits Stun CNN, Network Cuts Him Off, SM North Protest Falls Flat, 5 Chiefs Games Announced, KU Crushes NIL, R's Bats Stay Hot | Kevin Kietzman Has Issues Oops. CNN was looking for a ratings boost by having President Trump on for a Town Hall with their "rising star" Kaitlan Collins. It backfired in an epic way as Trump out negotiated CNN on the setting and audience makeup AND built up Collins as a pit bull who then came off as really rude and cold.

Further reading . . .

CNN was 'right to try' a townhall with Trump even if it failed, argues moderator NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks with Jon Ralston, CEO of The Nevada Independent, about why he strongly supported the CNN's town hall with Trump - and then changed his mind minutes into the broadcast.

Trump CNN town hall: 'Nonsense' - Republican rivals blast performance North America correspondent Donald Trump's hour-plus appearance on a cable news town hall forum on Wednesday night was barely over when his political rivals - both announced and prospective - began firing out tweets, statements and press releases attacking the Republican front-runner for next year's White House election.

'F-king Disgrace': CNN Gifts Trump Primetime Campaign Rally CNN invited Donald Trump to lie on its airwaves for over an hour on Wednesday night. The evening was billed as a town hall, but played more like a campaign rally for the former president, who steamrolled and repeatedly mocked moderator Kaitlin Collins, pushing a torrent of misinformation about the 2020 election, the multiple investigations into his conduct, and pretty much everything else he commented on.

Trump once more refuses to admit election defeat In a follow-up question, an audience member asked if Trump would "suspend polarizing talk of election fraud" during the 2024 presidential election. Trump responded by saying, "Yes, unless I see election fraud." "I hope we're going to have very honest elections," he said.

Dem Kingmaker Warns Biden Not To Underestimate Trump After Townhall Democratic South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn said Thursday on MSNBC that Democrats should not underestimate former President Donald Trump following Trump's town hall with CNN. Trump sat down for a town hall with CNN at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire where he discussed the 2020 election, the current state of the economy and foreign affairs.

You decide . . .
Leading up to today's resolution . . . We've told our readers to maintain a healthy bit of skepticism . . .

A local news outlet attempts to balance the 12th & Oak victory . . .



"The resolution isn't a formal law or regulation. Still, it does say the city will not prosecute or fine any person or organization that seeks, provides, receives or helps someone care like puberty blockers, hormones or surgery."

However . . .

Here's what's more important . . .

JACKSON COUNTY PROSECUTOR 'MEAN JEAN' PETERS BAKER DECLARED HER SUPPORT FOR THE KANSAS CITY TRANS SANCTUARY AND HER WORDS HAVE REAL CONSEQUENCES!!!

We're not a lawyer and we don't pretend to be one on the Internets . . . Actually . . . TKC was pre-med before we took a horrible detour into blogging on the way to Albuquerque.

But here's our perspective . . .

Today, the most important declaration belongs to Mean Jean given that her office promising to "protect trans people" sets up a legal show down with Missouri and a far more serious dispute with Republican lawmakers at the state level.

Basically . . . Smarter people will question if this statement of support means that the Prosecutor's office won't enforce new Missouri laws targeting "gender-affirming" care and THAT is more than just a throw-away resolution but a REAL stance that comes with legal risks.



Of course . . . We direct readers to her words along with more info about today's resolution . . .



Jackson County Prosecutor's statement on KC Council actions today

"I firmly support the Kansas City Councils action today. All forms of government should firmly stand against discrimination. My office does. We will continue to take all legal and appropriate steps under Missouri law to protect trans people -- who are increasingly targeted for violence and exploitation. Rather than focusing on crimnalizing trans individuals, the criminal justice system should seek to protect them. Each person needs to know they can seek health care for their needs and that those needs will be addressed."

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com links . . .

Kansas City council passes gender-affirming care by vote of 11-1 The Kansas City council has approved a gender-affirming health care measure by a 11-1 vote. Councilwoman Heath Hall was the lone "no vote." The resolution isn't a formal law or regulation.

Kansas City becomes sanctuary city for gender-affirming care after City Council vote KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - City officials voted Thursday on a resolution to declare it a sanctuary for people seeking or providing gender-affirming care, defying state lawmakers who voted a day earlier to ban such care for minors and restrict it for some adults. GOP Gov.

Kansas City, Missouri, City Council votes 11-1 to make city safe haven for gender-affirming care KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A day after Missouri lawmakers passed legislation banning gender-affirming care for minors, the Kansas City, Missouri, City Council voted to make the city a safe haven city. Under the legislation, puberty blockers, hormones or gender-affirming would no longer be available to transgender minors.

Kansas City declares itself a 'safe haven' for gender-affirming health care as Missouri restricts access Just a day after the Missouri legislature approved a ban on gender-affirming care, Kansas City passed a policy offering safe haven to the transgender community. The Kansas City Council on Thursday voted 11-1 to pass a resolution that declares the city a safe haven for gender-affirming care and adopts an official policy on gender-affirming care.

Developing . . .
By buying an index fund, you can roughly match the market return with ease. But if you pick the right individual stocks, you could make more than that. For example, Telekom Malaysia Berhad (KLSE:TM) shareholders have seen the share price rise 18% over three years, well in excess of the market return (8.1%, not including dividends). On the other hand, the returns haven't been quite so good recently, with shareholders up just 5.9% , including dividends .

So let's investigate and see if the longer term performance of the company has been in line with the underlying business' progress.

Check out our latest analysis for Telekom Malaysia Berhad

There is no denying that markets are sometimes efficient, but prices do not always reflect underlying business performance. 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).

During three years of share price growth, Telekom Malaysia Berhad achieved compound earnings per share growth of 21% per year. The average annual share price increase of 6% is actually lower than the EPS growth. Therefore, it seems the market has moderated its expectations for growth, somewhat.

The company's earnings per share (over time) is depicted in the image below (click to see the exact numbers).

We know that Telekom Malaysia Berhad has improved its bottom line lately, but is it going to grow revenue? If you're interested, you could check this free report showing consensus revenue 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. As it happens, Telekom Malaysia Berhad's TSR for the last 3 years was 28%, which exceeds the share price return mentioned earlier. And there's no prize for guessing that the dividend payments largely explain the divergence!

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A Different Perspective

It's good to see that Telekom Malaysia Berhad has rewarded shareholders with a total shareholder return of 5.9% in the last twelve months. And that does include the dividend. Since the one-year TSR is better than the five-year TSR (the latter coming in at 3% per year), it would seem that the stock's performance has improved in recent times. Someone with an optimistic perspective could view the recent improvement in TSR as indicating that the business itself is getting better with time. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Telekom Malaysia Berhad better, we need to consider many other factors. Consider risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for Telekom Malaysia Berhad you should know about.

We will like Telekom Malaysia Berhad better if we see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of growing companies with considerable, recent, insider buying.

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.

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Andrew Palamarchuk is a reporter with Metroland Media Toronto and toronto.com. He has been covering the crime beat since 2002 and has a passion for giving a voice to those affected by tragedy and looking at societal issues that may have contributed to it.
Step into the enchanting world of 18th-century Belgian bars with the grand opening of Belgian Beer Cafe in Dubai.



(TRAVPR.COM) DUBAI - May 12th, 2023 - Step into the enchanting world of 18th-century Belgian bars with the grand opening of Belgian Beer Cafe in Dubai. Paying homage to Belgian history and its culinary delights, this extraordinary establishment invites locals and visitors alike to indulge in an authentic Belgian experience like no other. Drawing inspiration from the renowned Belgian bars of yesteryears, Belgian Beer Cafe transports guests back to the vibrant city of Brussels, where rich traditions and exceptional flavours converge. Immerse yourself in an ambience meticulously designed to recreate the charm and essence of that era, as you embark on a journey that celebrates Belgian culture and gastronomy.

At Belgian Beer Cafe, every detail is thoughtfully crafted to honour the legacy of Belgian history. The menu is a masterpiece, featuring a fully loaded selection of authentic Belgian cuisine that will tantalise your taste buds and transport you straight to the heart of Belgium. From savoury classics like mussels and frites to hearty stews and delectable chocolate delights, each dish is prepared with utmost care and attention to capture the true essence of Belgian flavours.

Of course, no visit to Belgian Beer Cafe would be complete without exploring the extensive beer collection. With over 40 types of Belgian beer on offer, beer enthusiasts will be delighted by the variety and quality of the selection. From refreshing wheat beers to rich and complex Trappist ales, there is a beer to suit every palate and preference. Expert staff members are always on hand to provide recommendations and guide guests through their beer-tasting journey. With its elegant and nostalgic decor, Belgian Beer Cafe offers a charming setting for gatherings and celebrations. Whether it's a casual evening with friends or a special occasion, the inviting atmosphere and attentive service ensure an unforgettable experience for every guest.

Belgian Beer Cafe is poised to become a beloved destination for those seeking a taste of Belgium's remarkable heritage. The team behind this remarkable establishment is committed to preserving the traditions and culinary delights that make Belgium truly unique.

Embark on a gastronomic journey unlike any other as Belgian Beer Cafe introduces its latest addition to the menu - a selection of delectable Belgian desserts that will transport your taste buds to sweet paradise. Indulge in the heavenly flavours of Belgian waffles, delicate pastries, and mouthwatering chocolate creations that perfectly complement the rich heritage of Belgian cuisine. Each dessert is crafted with precision and passion, using only the finest ingredients to ensure an unforgettable culinary experience. Whether you have a sweet tooth or simply appreciate the art of dessert-making, Belgian Beer Cafe is the perfect destination to satisfy your cravings and explore the sweet side of Belgian gastronomy.

Belgian Beer Cafe is a culinary tribute to Belgian history and gastronomy, offering an immersive experience that transports guests back to 18th-century Belgian bars. With a fully loaded menu of authentic Belgian cuisine, an extensive selection of over 40 types of Belgian beers, and an ambience that reflects the era, Belgian Beer Cafe invites guests to indulge in the rich traditions and flavours of Belgium. For more information, reservations, and menu details, please visit Belgian Beer Cafe!

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JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon. REUTERS/Brian Snyder

The US defaulting on its debt is "potentially catastrophic," JPMorgan Chase chief Jamie Dimon told Bloomberg on Thursday.

A June 1 deadline is approaching for President Joe Biden and Republican leaders to raise the $31 trillion debt limit.

"People should remember the American financial is the foundation to the global economic system," Dimon said.

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon on Thursday warned of unprecedented economic harm if the US defaults on its debt amid a failure by lawmakers to raise the country's debt ceiling.

A default "is potentially catastrophic," Dimon told Bloomberg TV in an interview at the bank's Global Markets Conference in Paris.

There's a June 1 deadline to raise the country's $31 trillion borrowing limit. The government could run out of money to pay its bills if the ceiling is not lifted, says Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

Dimon doesn't expect the country to experience its first-ever debt default, but the clock on reaching a deal is running down.

"The closer you get to it, you will have panic  Markets will get volatile, maybe the stock market will go down, the Treasury markets will have their own problems," said Dimon, whose bank earlier this month bought the assets of failed First Republic.

President Joe Biden on Wednesday met with lawmakers including Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, to discuss raising the debt ceiling but with Republicans seeking spending cuts and other terms, no agreement was reached.

A showdown in Congress in 2011 over the debt limit resulted in the US losing its Triple-A credit rating at S&P.

Contracts, collateral, clearing houses and global clients would be hurt by a default, said Dimon, adding that time-consuming "war room" talks are underway.

Talks are currently taking place once a week.

"But my guess is sometime - call it May 21 - it'll be every day. And then it'll be three times a day. And then there will be more conversations with clients about what they need to do, to help get them through it. It's very unfortunate. It should never happen this way."

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Yields on short-term Treasury bills have spiked up as investors sell that debt to prepare for a potential default.

"It's amazing you already have certain T-bills trading at 3% and right next them 5%. This is not good," Dimon said. "People should remember the American financial is the foundation to the global economic system."

The one-month Treasury yield was at 5.55% on Thursday and the 3-month Treasury yield was at 5.2%.

"The last time we were downgraded, we had a 65% or 70% debt to GDP [ratio]. Now it's 105. Now our deficits are two or three times that that we had back then, so we better be very careful," said Dimon.

A "default is not an option," Biden said he told Congressional leaders at Wednesday's meeting. "America is not a deadbeat nation. We pay our bills," he said.

Read the original article on Business Insider
FILE PHOTO: The logo of Brazilian meatpacker JBS SA is seen in the unit in the city of Jundiai

By Ana Mano

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Shares in Brazilian food giant JBS SA fell more than 10% in early trade on Friday after the company posted a wider-than-expected first quarter loss, marking the first time the firm has faced difficulties in all countries where it operates.

In a conference call with analysts, Global CEO Gilberto Tomazoni sought to reassure investors, saying the results don't reflect what management sees for the business going forward despite a tough outlook for its beef and pork business in the United States, where it gets most of its revenues.

One of the units Tomazoni sees recovering faster is Brazil's Seara, citing operating adjustments and lower corn prices as likely improving margins for the processed food division in the short term.

Brazil's beef operations will also quickly benefit from the end of an export ban affecting shipments to China, he added.

Last quarter, margins of JBS's U.S. beef business were eroded by tight cattle supplies, which increased the price of livestock.

According to Wesley Batista Filho, who recently took on the role of CEO of JBS USA, U.S. beef margins will stay "in the low single digits" until the beginning of 2024 because of low cattle availability.

However, as the industry reduces slaughtering of female cows, cattle inventories may begin to improve this year, he noted.

Goldman Sachs analyst Thiago Bortoluci said management tried to show optimism after a difficult quarter, highlighting the imminent grilling season in the U.S. and lower grain costs for Seara.

"But, with the weak results ... and the downward revision to [competitor] Tysons guidance this week, we believe the short-term risk-reward might be skewed to the downside," Goldman Sachs said.

JBS's Seara processed foods division is already benefiting from lower corn prices, Tomazoni said, citing a drop in the price of a corn bag to below 60 reais ($11.99) for the first time in three years.

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On a more global note, Tomazoni said Asian demand for beef should rise as per capita consumption remains low in the region.

JBS exports to China using plants in Brazil and in the U.S. and is well positioned to cater to that demand, he said.

($1 = 5.0033 reais)

(Reporting by Ana Mano; Editing by Steven Grattan and Mark Potter)
One person was killed and four others were wounded in a firefight between the military on the border of Armenia and Azerbaijan.

According to Ukrinform, this was reported by Xinhua.

It is noted that the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense confirmed the death of one of its soldiers, while the Armenian Defense Ministry reported four wounded.

Read also: Azerbaijani MPs to visit Ukraine

The two sides blamed each other for triggering the new round of clashes, which broke out in the middle of their border Xinhua said.

The territorial conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan has been going on for decades. The last time large-scale armed clashes resumed was in September 2020, but the ceasefire signed in November of that year put an end to them.
The Government of Slovakia today approved a proposal of the Agriculture Ministry to cancel the unilateral ban on imports of agricultural goods from Ukraine, only EU legislation will apply to imports of these products into the country.

According to the TASR agency, the Slovak ban on imports of selected agricultural and food products from Ukraine, or originating in Ukraine, into Slovakia have been formally scrapped.

Special regulations are being introduced for transporting Ukrainian agricultural products via Slovakia.

"Only EU legislation now applies to this area," Andrej Wallner of the Agriculture Ministry's press department confirmed for TASR.

The European Commission's measures took effect as of May 2 and will last until June 5. During this period, wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower seeds can be imported into all EU countries except Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. Ukrainian products can still be transported through these countries' territories, however.

At the same time, five countries have pledged to cancel recently adopted unilateral measures on wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower seeds, as well as on any other products originating from Ukraine.

As reported by Ukrinform, the European Commission officially announced the introduction of "exceptional and temporary" preventive measures against imports from Ukraine, which limit the delivery of agricultural goods produced in Ukraine to five EU countries.

The restrictions will apply to four agricultural products: wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower seed.

Photo: twitter.com/MFA_Ukraine
Jamie Dimon is the CEO of JPMorgan Chase. Employees at America's biggest bank say that suspicion and fear have engulfed the firm, stemming from its data-collection efforts. Misha Friedman/Getty Images

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said US regulators should consider a ban on short selling bank stocks.

The comments come amid a crisis of confidence following a string of bank failures.

"[If] people are going short and then making a tweet about a bank, they should go after them," Dimon said.

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon believes US regulators should consider a ban on the short-selling of bank stocks.

In an interview with Bloomberg on Thursday, Dimon said the SEC has the ability to investigate potential collusion amid short-sellers that may be incentivized to spread false information, and that they should do that.

The comments from Dimon come amid an ongoing crisis in confidence in regional banks following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, First Republic Bank, and Signature Bank.

When asked if regulators should look at the short sellers of bank stocks, Dimon responded, "Yes. Look, my folks would tell me that's not the problem... I think they may partially be wrong."

"Some people are unscrupulous and they use other means to go short. If you look at the detail, the SEC has the enforcement capability to look at what people are doing by name in options, derivatives, short sales, and if someone's doing anything wrong, [if] people are in collusion, or [if] people are going short and then making a tweet about a bank, they should go after them, and vigorously, and they should be punished to the fullest extent the law allows it," Dimon said.

Bank executives are on edge in a world where information, whether true or not, can spread quickly on social media platforms like Twitter and severely impact a company's stock price and underlying business.

On Wednesday, PacWest Bancorp said a report from last week that suggested it was considering a sale to a larger bank led to a 10% decline in its deposit base. The stock fell more than 20% on Thursday.

Last week, a report from the FT said Western Alliance Bancorp was considering a strategic sale to a larger bank. That report led to a swift 60% decline in Western Alliance's stock price. Less than an hour after the FT report was published, Western Alliance denied the report and said in a statement that short sellers were to blame.

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"It is shameful and irresponsible that the Financial Times has allowed itself to be used as an instrument of short sellers and as a conduit for spreading false narratives about a financially sound and profitable bank," the statement read.

While short sellers play an important role in making markets more efficient and have in the past identified instances of corporate fraud, some bank executives want a break from the mayhem, at least until the regional banking crisis ends.

Read the original article on Business Insider
U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen met with her German counterpart Christian Lindner on Friday to discuss countering Russia's evasion of Western sanctions imposed on it over its war against Ukraine.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury reported this, Ukrinform says citing Reuters.

It is noted that Yellen and Lindner met on the sidelines of a meeting of finance ministers and heads of national banks of the G7 member states in the Japanese city of Niigata, where U.S. officials called for doubling support for Ukraine.

Secretary Yellen expressed appreciation for Germany's close coordination on implementing sanctions against Russia and discussed the importance of aligning efforts to counter sanctions evasion, the U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement.

Read also: Ursula von der Leyen outlines three features of next round of EU sanctions

The United States and a broad coalition of other countries have provided significant economic, security, and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine. At the same time, they have used sanctions and export controls to impose heavy economic costs on Russia for its war.

Yellen told reporters that the restrictions imposed have systematically degraded Russia's military-industrial complex and helped reduce the revenues that Russia could use to finance its war. According to her, Washington and the coalition have been focused this year on countering Russia's efforts to avoid these sanctions.

At the meeting with Lindner, Yellen emphasized the importance of building a clean, safe, and sustainable global energy supply chain. She also reaffirmed her countrys commitment to a strong global tax cooperation, the U.S. Department of the Treasury said.

As reported, a meeting of G7 member states finance ministers and heads of national banks is taking place in the Japanese city of Niigata on May 11-13.
Belgium has approved a new financial aid package for Ukraine, totaling EUR 92 million. These funds will come from additional tax revenue generated on frozen Russian assets located in Belgium.

The relevant statement was published on the website of the Prime Minister of Belgium, Alexander De Croo, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

Today, the inner cabinet approved a new aid package for Ukraine and its people in preparation of a counteroffensive against Russia. A total of 92 million EUR in new funds will be released, which will come from additional tax revenue generated on frozen Russian assets located in Belgium, the report states.

In particular, a total of EUR 46 million will go to providing new military support, including armored vehicles, weapons and ammunition with the first deliveries taking place shortly, in coordination with the Ukrainian military.

Another EUR 46 million will be made available to support the Ukrainian people and consolidate Belgiums diplomatic presence in Ukraine.

A total of EUR 24 million will be spent on additional humanitarian support, in coordination with the United Nations, to cover basic needs, such as education, health and food security, in major cities and war zones.

Additionally, a total of EUR 8 million will be earmarked for Ukraines reconstruction through the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the World Bank funds, on top of the amounts already invested.

Lastly, investments are planned to reform and strengthen Belgiums diplomatic network in Ukraine and the entire region, to secure Ukraines strategic infrastructure, including its nuclear power plants, and to support the International Criminal Court (ICC) in its investigation of war crimes in Ukraine.

From the start of the war, Belgium has been on Ukraines side. I confirmed this to Mr. Volodymyr Zelensky again last week when we met in The Hague to discuss the countrys needs. The success of the Ukrainian counteroffensive is crucial to ending the war. The additional support Belgium is pledging today will help in this effort, Prime Minister of Belgium Alexander De Croo noted.

A reminder that Belgium has been providing consistent support to Ukraine since the Russian invasion started.
Russian propaganda has created a new "trend" - Europe wants to "mobilize" Ukrainians abroad

The Kremlin media and z-Telegram channels are spreading reports that Ukrainian citizens living in Estonia are allegedly being called up for a "two-week military training of reservists."

Propagandists claim that the notification of "conscripts" is carried out directly by employees of the Embassy of Ukraine in Estonia,

This is a fake. "This information is untrue and is another example of fake news from the aggressor's country," the Embassy of Ukraine in the Republic of Estonia told Ukrinform.

At the same time, in the Russian Federation itself on May 10, Vladimir Putin announced the call-up of Russian reservists for military training, amid the Russian armys significant losses in manpower. According to CNN, the Kremlin has faced problems in generating trained military manpower," but is afraid of triggering a new wave of mobilization in Russia due to public sentiment.

Earlier, Russian propaganda was spreading fakes about the mass mobilization of women into the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Andriy Olenin, Oleg Kudrin
On May 13, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba will visit Stockholm, Sweden, to participate in the informal meeting of EU foreign ministers and the Indo-Pacific Ministerial Forum.

The press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported this, according to Ukrinform.

"At the meeting with European colleagues, the Minister will pay attention to strengthening EU military assistance and steps to open negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the EU. Discussions with ministers from the EU and the Indo-Pacific region will focus on the impact of Russian aggression on the global security system," the Foreign Ministry said.

Read also: EU foreign ministers discuss support for Ukraine in Stockholm

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed that a number of bilateral meetings are planned during the visit with the Minister's counterparts from the Indo-Pacific region.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, during his visit to Guatemala, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba took part in the Association of Caribbean States summit for the first time in history.
The European Union should focus its efforts not only on immediate measures to support Ukraine on the battlefield but also on developing a long-term assistance program that will prove that Russia's hopes for EU tiredness are futile.

High Representative of the EU Josep Borrell said this today in Stockholm before the informal meeting of EU foreign ministers (Gymnich), an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"Today, the meeting has two points: Russias aggression against Ukraine and recalibrating our relationship with China. On the first issue, it is clear that we have to continue supporting Ukraine, and we have to do that in the long haul. Not just providing ammunition for tomorrows fight, but looking in the medium term and preparing a multiannual support to Ukraine. Ukraine has to be sure that we will support it [them], not just in the everyday battle in the war, but in the long haul", Josep Borrell highlighted.

According to him, Ukraine should be confident that we will support it not only in the day-to-day battle in this war but also for a long time.

"And Russia has to understand - Putin has to understand - that we will not fall. So, stop waiting for us to get tired. We will not," the EU top diplomat said.

Read also: Borrell calls on Iran to stop supporting Moscow in war against Ukraine

He noted that the ministers would discuss support for President Volodymyr Zelensky's peace plan and consider bringing to justice those responsible for crimes against Ukraine.

The EU High Representative emphasized that he personally supports the idea of establishing an international tribunal, which is also supported by other democratic countries. Therefore, the ministers will focus on finding quick solutions to this task that would be practical, fast and ready to use.

Borrel said China will be another big issue during the meeting of European officials in Stockholm. The foreign ministers received a concept paper from the European External Action Service to define the EU's position on China. This issue will be submitted for consideration by EU states and governments during the European Council at the end of June this year.

"We cannot have a normal relation with China if China does not use the strong influence that China has on Russia in order to stop this war. The attitude of China towards the war in Ukraine is the second strategic security issue that we will discuss today," Borrel said.

As Ukrinform reported, an informal meeting of foreign ministers will take place in Stockholm today, during which European officials will consider the most important issues of EU foreign policy, including support for Ukraine and defining a strategy for EU-China relations.
05/12/2023

By Ed Brennen

Behind the drivers seat of the River Hawk Racing teams Formula One-style race car are two Red Bull energy drink cans, one attached to each side of the frame. Theyre not part of a corporate sponsorship deal, nor are they there should the driver need a midrace pick-me-up. Rather, the empty cans are actually cost-effective engine components.

Theyre called catch cans. If the coolant overflows, it can go into the can, explains junior mechanical engineering major Aaron Bouchard, president of River Hawk Racing, the student club that is UMass Lowells chapter of SAE International (formerly the Society of Automotive Engineers).

When youre building a race car from scratch on a strict budget to compete against 119 other schools from across North America in a Formula SAE competition, a little resourcefulness goes a long way.

Image by Ed Brennen

River Hawk Racing is heading to Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan, on May 15 to compete in a Formula SAE competition for the first time since 2018. The four-day event caps a yearlong challenge to design and build a formula-style, open-wheel vehicle, a process that teaches students all aspects of the automotive industry, from research, manufacturing and testing to marketing, management and finances.

Its a valuable experience that you can put on your resume, and it proves that youre taking what you learned in the classroom and applying it to a project outside the classroom, says senior mechanical engineering major Garrett Perry, the teams chief engineer.

As club president his sophomore and junior years, Perry helped hold River Hawk Racing together during the remote virtual days of the pandemic. Membership has rebounded to about 50 students this year, and at the Student Leadership Awards in April, the club won the Rising River Hawks Award, which recognizes a student organization that has demonstrated the greatest amount of growth and promise.

It was important to us to get that recognition from the university, says junior plastics engineering major Ryan Tangney, club vice president and powertrain lead for the project. In addition to proving to ourselves that we could do it, we had to prove to the university that we are still worthy of putting their name on the car.

Image by Ed Brennen

The clubs revival comes as interest in Formula One racing has been surging in the United States, with attendance at races and viewership of televised events smashing records.

While River Hawk Racing is geared toward mechanical engineering students (Asst. Teaching Prof. Jonathan Perez de Alderete is the advisor), the team welcomes all students.

Psychology major Arshjot Kaur discovered the team as a first-year student at the Engagement Fair and served as club secretary this year. Growing up in Westford, Massachusetts, Kaur watched NASCAR races on TV with her dad. She was happy to find a way to pursue her love of cars in college.

Ive created a lot of friendships, and I try to make it welcoming for other students, says Kaur, whose duties include communicating with sponsors and keeping team members up to date through emails and announcements.

As a non-engineer, she says she has learned a lot by spending time at the garage on North Campus where the car is being built.

Image by Ed Brennen

Everyone is supportive and willing to teach you, says Kaur, who is among the dozen team members heading to Michigan.

River Hawk Racings business team, led by junior marketing student Joe Dunn, is responsible for finances and sponsorship opportunities. The team has raised over $40,000 this year, with funding coming from sponsors such as the Gene Haas Foundation, Parker Hannifin, Autodesk, SolidWorks and CADSPARC. The team also receives support from the university, solicits crowdfunding and hosts car shows on campus that raise more than $1,000 each semester.

A lot of effort goes into finding and connecting with sponsors, says Dunn, who describes himself as a big Formula One fan who grew up in a family of mechanics in Littleton, Massachusetts. He sees his work with River Hawk Racing as a test drive for his ultimate goal of working in sales and marketing for a motorsports team.

Its a good opportunity to interact with people outside my major, Dunn says. Its really like working at a company, where you communicate and collaborate with people in different fields and with different skill sets. The experience will be useful to me when I have a job out in the real world.

Image by Ed Brennen

Two other members of the business team, junior Miles Oram and sophomore Liam Clancy, will get to drive the race car in Michigan. They earned the privilege by winning time trials that the team held earlier this year at a local indoor go-kart racing facility.

We figured that was the fairest way to do it, Tangney says.

Besides socket wrenches and motor oil, team members are bringing their resumes to the competition in Michigan, where companies such as Tesla, Rivian, GM, Ford and SpaceX actively recruit future employees.

A lot of what you learn in class is applied to what we do with the car, Bouchard says while working with team members on the vehicle in the North Campus garage. You take a computer-aided design course, then you come here and use that software to design parts of the car. Then youre actually making them and putting them on the car correctly.

Tangney, the only plastics engineer on the team, used a 3D printer to create the cars plastic air intake. The Attleboro, Massachusetts, native says River Hawk Racing has been such a good motivator for him academically.

Everyone says, When am I going to use Calc 3? or Whats an integral for? And when were designing, you have to use those things, he says. Its really pivotal for me as a college student. Im taking thermodynamics, which helps me with the design of the exhaust. Being able to apply that is really cool.
Juggernaut Exploration Ltd

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 12, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Juggernaut Exploration Ltd. (TSX-V: JUGR) (OTCQB: JUGRF) (FSE: 4JE) (the Company or Juggernaut) is pleased to report its previously announced non-brokered private placement financing (the Financing) of up to $3 million was met with significant interest from strategic institutions, industry professionals and UHNWI investors resulting in the Financing being over-subscribed. The Financing was capped at $3,040,000 and the Company has filed documents with the TSXV Exchange (Exchange) for approval to close the Financing.



Dr. Hennigh stated, We are delighted to see Juggernaut move toward drilling at Midas and Empire. Given the nature of the targets, potentially high grade and large, and the recent positive trend in the commodity space, Juggernaut is set to be one of the most exciting exploration stories in BC this year. Having reviewed the drill plans, I am quite confident that they could make two notable discoveries this season.

Dr. Quinton Hennigh has taken on the role as special technical advisor to the Company. He is the technical consultant for all Crescats gold and silver mining investments. Dr. Hennigh is a world-renowned exploration geologist with more than 30 years of experience including with major gold mining firms Homestake Mining, Newcrest Mining, and Newmont Mining.

Crescat Capital LLC (Crescat) made a strategic investment representing a 19.70% ownership of the Company post funding on a partially diluted basis. Juggernaut welcomes this strategic investment from Crescat Capital and technical support from Dr. Quinton Hennigh. Juggernauts projects continue to garner strong interest and support from leading institutions and miners alike, confirming the quality of its three fully permitted, 100% controlled, drill ready projects located in world class geologic terrane of Northwestern British Columbia and the Golden Triangle.

Mr. Dan Stuart, Director, President, and CEO of Juggernaut states:

We are pleased to have strengthened our relationship both Crescat Capital as a strategic investor and Dr. Hennigh as a Special Technical Advisor and investor. I look forward to working with our partners who bring a proven track record of both financial and technical strength. This will enable Juggernaut to unlock the full potential of its assets over the long term, building value for all shareholders. This investment and strategic partnership, coupled with the ongoing support and interest from other globally recognized Institutions and senior miners, is a strong endorsement that clearly demonstrates the significant near-term discovery potential of our 100% controlled properties. Juggernaut will have a tight capital structure of just 62,447,452 shares, no debt, and a strong cash position of ~ $5,000,000. As such, we are well positioned to move forward with our plans of drilling Midas, Empire and Bingo totaling approximately ~6,000 meters. With much anticipation, we look forward to executing the inaugural drill and exploration programs and reporting results.

Story continues

About Crescat Capital LLC

Crescat is a global macro asset management firm headquartered in Denver, Colorado. Crescats mission is to grow and protect wealth over the long term by deploying tactical investment themes based on proprietary value-driven equity and macro models. Crescats goal is industry leading absolute and risk-adjusted returns over complete business cycles with low correlation to common benchmarks. The companys investment process involves a mix of asset classes and strategies to assist with each clients unique needs and objectives and includes Global Macro, Long/Short, Large Cap and Precious Metals funds.

Crescat is advised by its technical consultant, Dr. Quinton Hennigh on investments in gold and silver resource companies. Dr. Hennigh became an economic geologist after obtaining his PhD in Geology/Geochemistry from the Colorado School of Mines. He has more than 30 years of exploration experience with major gold mining firms that include Homestake Mining, Newcrest Mining and Newmont Mining. Among his notable project involvements are First Mining Golds Springpole gold deposit in Ontario, Kirkland Lake Golds acquisition of the Fosterville Gold Mine in Australia, the Rattlesnake Hills gold deposit in Wyoming, and Lion Ones Tuvatu gold project in Fiji, among many others.

On receipt of Exchange approval, the Company will issue 19,000,000 $0.16 Flow-Through Units (FT Units), each FT Unit consisting of 1 flow-through common share of the Company, and 1 common share purchase warrant exercisable for an additional common share at $0.20 for two years, for total gross proceeds of $3,040,000. The FT Units will entitle the holder to receive the tax benefits applicable to flow-through shares, in accordance with provisions of the Income Tax Act (Canada).

Subject to regulatory approval, the Company will pay finders fees in cash and broker warrants as permitted by the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange.

All securities issued pursuant to this financing will be subject to a four-month plus one-day hold.

About Juggernaut Exploration Ltd.

Juggernaut Exploration Ltd. is a precious metals project generator in the geopolitically stable jurisdiction of Canada, focused on the prolific geologic setting of northwestern British Columbia encompassing the Golden Triangle.

View Juggernaut videos by Clicking Here.



NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENT

Certain disclosure in this release may constitute forward-looking statements that are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties relating to Juggernauts operations that may cause future results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by those forward-looking statements, including its ability to complete the contemplated private placement. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these statements. NOT FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES OR TO U.S. PERSONS OR FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES. THIS PRESS RELEASE DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER TO SELL OR AN INVITATION TO PURCHASE ANY SECURITIES DESCRIBED IN IT.

CONTACT: For more information, please contact Juggernaut Exploration Ltd. Dan Stuart President, Director, and Chief Executive Officer 604-559-8028 info@juggernautexploration.com www.juggernautexploration.com




FILE PHOTO: The logo of Korean Airlines is seen on a B787-9 plane at its aviation shed in Incheon, South Korea

Korean Air expects EU antitrust warning on Asiana bid by end-May FILE PHOTO: The logo of Korean Airlines is seen on a B787-9 plane at its aviation shed in Incheon, South Korea

By Foo Yun Chee

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Korean Air Lines expects EU antitrust regulators to issue a formal warning about its bid for Asiana Airlines by the end of May, South Korea's biggest carrier said on Friday, raising yet another hurdle for a major deal in the aviation industry.

The deal announced in late 2020 in which Korean Air would become the biggest shareholder in indebted Asiana is the biggest shake-up in the country's aviation industry in nearly three decades.

The European Commission in February opened a full-scale investigation into the acquisition on concerns that it could reduce competition in passenger transport services on four routes between South Korea and Europe.

Sources have told Reuters the four routes are to Barcelona, Frankfurt, Paris and Rome.

"The European Commission (EC) has not made any official announcement about its issuance of a statement of objections (SO)," a Korean Air spokesperson told Reuters in an email.

"However, the issuance of an SO is a common practice in a Phase 2 merger review, and discussions with the EC will continue. We expect that the EC will issue an SO at the end of May."

Such a document or charge sheet allows the EU competition enforcer to set out potential anti-competitive issues arising from the deal.

The Commission, which has set an Aug. 3 deadline for its decision, declined to comment.

Companies can ask for a closed hearing on receipt of a statement of objections before offering remedies.

(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee. Editing by Jane Merriman)
May 12 2023

Aberdeen is making a name for itself with moveable lettering spelling out the city's name to be installed at high-traffic locations.

Intended to boost footfall and social media activity the marketing initiative is being funded by business development agency Aberdeen Inspired and manufactured by Luxous Group.

Extending to 14m each cor-ten steel letter will be backlit by an LED screen, allowing the display to be customised for special events and occasions such as Halloween and Valentine's Day.

Luxous stated: "Its not unknown that Aberdeen is a tad late in joining cities around Europe with large letters displaying its name; but this can be turned around into a positive factor  we now know whats already on the scene. Therefore, we can use this to our advantage. Most lit letters have solid colour changes, all colours changing at the same time. We propose that the faces would be made of Opal (white translucent) polycarbonate. -Very similar to acrylic, but far more hard wearing.

"We propose to manufacture a screen that would sit behind this. The screen would be made up of thousands of LEDs, smart LEDs that have microchips in them that allow us to control each one individually. This enables us to make the lights do whatever we want. Using computer software, we then draw the letters on our software and can then effectively turn each letter into an individual screen."

The installation is expected to be in use for a minimum of five years.
WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 12th May, 2023) US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said the postponement of the meeting between President Joe Biden and the congressional leadership on raising the debt ceiling was due to the fact that not enough progress was made during the staff-level talks and should not be seen as a delay.

"The White House didn't cancel the meeting - all of the leaders decided that it's probably in the best of our interest to let the staff meet again before we get back together," McCarthy said on Thursday. "It's not a delay... I don't think there is enough progress for the leaders to get back together."

McCarthy said he expects the leaders to meet again sometime next week. Postponement should not be read as a signal that talks are falling apart, McCarthy said earlier, adding that it will be more productive to let staff meet again, according to an NBC report.

Biden is feeling the pressure of negotiations as the time until a potential default dwindles, McCarthy said. The Treasury Department has said that the United States could default on its financial obligations as early as June.

Biden met with congressional leaders earlier this week to discuss raising the debt ceiling, during which both sides reiterated their stances; Republicans have proposed a plan to raise the debt ceiling in exchange for cuts to government spending, while Democrats have insisted on raising it without concessions.

The leaders were set to meet again on Friday, while staff met in the meanwhile to advance negotiations.
MUSCAT, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 12th May, 2023) Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, has led a high-level UAE delegation at a series of meetings attended by GCC ministers of industry and trade.

The GCC Industrial Cooperation Committee and GCC Ministerial Committee for Standardisation meetings, held in Muscat on Thursday, intended to strengthen industrial ties within the GCC and support regional sustainable economic development.

The UAEs delegation included Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade; Mohammed bin Nakhira Al Dhaheri, UAE Ambassador to the Sultanate of Oman; Omar Suwaina Al Suwaidi, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology; and Abdulla Alsaleh, Undersecretary for the Ministry of Economy, as well as representatives from government and private sector entities.

Oman, which is currently president of the GCC Council, chaired meetings for the GCC ministers of trade and industry on Thursday, as well as preparatory sessions on Wednesday involving the undersecretaries of trade and industry to discuss the agenda, latest developments, key topics and reports.

The 50th meeting of the Industrial Cooperation Committee and the fifth meeting of the Ministerial Committee for Standardisation addressed a number of topics relating to enhancing cooperation in industry, standards and metrology, and plans to boost collaboration among member states.

Al Jaber underlined the UAEs commitment to strengthening strategic relations, particularly relating to investment opportunities and cooperation in industry, saying, These meetings reaffirm the deep relations between GCC countries, especially in the industrial sector, which plays an important role in sustainable economic growth within the Gulf. The GCC represents a model for multinational cooperation that achieves effective, sustainable economic development.

He added, The Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology is working to consolidate efforts and formulate an integrated investment roadmap to promote the implementation of advanced technologies in line with efforts to drive sustainable industrial development.We

are committed to driving sustainability in the industrial sector, increasing the competitiveness of Emirati products and enhancing their quality, while promoting the UAE as an attractive regional and international hub for industrial investments, including from within the Gulf region, by providing benefits, enablers, incentives and financial solutions to investors.

Dr. Al Jaber continued, As the UAE prepares to host COP28, we stress the importance of fraternal cooperation to bolster climate action. It is critical that countries in the Gulf work together to increase investments in the energy transition and decarbonisation.

These investments will lay the groundwork for more sustainable economic development in vital economic sectors, including industry.

He added that the UAE has created a pioneering model for strengthening economic and developmental partnerships and engaging the private sector in sustainable growth.

Dr. Al Jaber participated in the Industrial Cooperation Committee Meeting alongside Al Zeyoudi, discussing a report on the previous committee meeting. The meeting also followed up on achievements and the directives of the Ministerial Council to address challenges to economic integration.

The ministers also reviewed the Amended Controls on Exempting Industry Inputs from Taxes and Customs Duties and the recommendations of the Standing Committee for Combating Harmful Practices on the Economic Cooperation Committees suggestions regarding furthering its role in protecting Gulf industries from unfair competition. The meeting also presented reports on the activities of the Technical Secretariat to Combat Harmful Practices in International Trade and the achievements of the Gulf Organisation for Industrial Consulting (GOIC).

Dr. Al Jaber also participated in the fifth meeting of the GCC Ministerial Committee for Standardisation, which detailed the committees progress from October 2022 to April 2023. Under Specifications and Metrology, the committee proposed the endorsement of 10 projects as Gulf technical regulations and the adoption of sector-based regulations under conformity, in addition to the committees proposal to use the Conformity Markings system as an alternative to the Gulf Conformity Mark to the Council.

The ministers discussed a set of memorandums by the GCC Ministerial Committee for Standardisation on the conclusive account for 2022, the Gulf Accreditation Centre, the presidency from April 2024 to April 2027, the establishment of a Cooperation Council Award for Quality, as well as emerging trends.

The GCC Ministerial Committee for Standardisation includes Abdullah bin Adel Fakhro, Bahrains Minister of Industry And Commerce; Dr. Majid bin Abdullah Al-Qassabi, Saudi Arabias Minister of Commerce; Qais bin Muhammad Al Yousef, Omans Minister of Commerce Industry and Investment Promotion; Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad Al-Thani, Qatars Minister of Commerce and Industry; Mohammad bin Othman Al-Aiban, Kuwaiti Minister of Commerce and Industry; and Jassim Muhammad Al-Budaiwi, Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council.

On the sidelines of meetings, Dr. Al Jaber met with Al-Budaiwi and reviewed issues of mutual interest. He also met with Al Yousef to explore pathways to enhance cooperation between the two countries.


London, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 12th May, 2023 ) :British businessman Mike Lynch has been extradited to the United States to stand trial over an alleged multi-billion-dollar fraud linked to the 2011 sale of software firm Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard, the UK said Friday.

Britain's interior ministry said in a statement that Lynch was extradited on Thursday after the High Court refused his appeal.

"On 21 April, the High Court refused Dr Lynch's permission to appeal his extradition. Dr Lynch was extradited to the US on 11 May," the ministry said in a statement.

US officials confirmed that Lynch had arrived in the country.

"After lengthy extradition proceedings in the United Kingdom, Defendant Michael Richard Lynch has finally landed on our shores to stand trial, accompanied by the United States Marshals Service," read a US court filing dated Thursday.

Lynch is accused of being involved in a massive fraud in the United States over the sale of his software company, Autonomy, to HP for $11 billion (8.5 billion) in 2011.

The deal resulted in colossal financial losses for the US firm.

Hewlett-Packard accuses Autonomy of rigging its accounts, deliberately inflating its value and causing huge losses for the US company when the true situation emerged after the sale.
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Kyiv, Ukraine, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 12th May, 2023 ) :Ukraine said Friday that its forces had recaptured chunks of territory around the embattled city of Bakhmut in the eastern Donetsk region, which has been the epicentre of fighting with Russia for months.

"The enemy has suffered great losses of manpower. Our defence forces advanced two kilometres (around one mile) near Bakhmut. We did not lose a single position in Bakhmut this week," Deputy Defence Minister Ganna Malyar said in a statement on social media.

The comments came after another senior Ukrainian military official said this week that Russian forces had dropped back from some areas near Bakhmut after counter attacks by Kyiv's forces.

But Russia late on Thursday denied Ukraine had made any breakthroughs in the flashpoint city, saying that reports of territorial losses around the city did "not correspond to reality".

Russian paramilitary group Wagner, which is leading Moscow's ground assault for Bakhmut has complained recently of ammunition shortages and threatened to withdraw unless it received more support from Moscow.

The US-based Institute for the Study of War said in an analytical note Friday that Kyiv had "likely broke through some Russian lines in localised counterattacks near Bakhmut".

Bakhmut, which had a pre-war population of around 70,000 people, has been destroyed as Russian forces have posted incremental gains over recent months, amounting to some 80 percent of the city itself.
(Bloomberg) -- Oracle Corp. founder Larry Ellison won a pension fund lawsuit over the companys 2016 acquisition of rival software maker NetSuite Inc., as a judge ruled that the transaction was negotiated at arms length by a fully-empowered special committee.

Most Read from Bloomberg

The investor suit, brought in Delaware Chancery Court, accused Ellison and Oracle of overpaying by $3 billion for NetSuite. Ellison owned 47% of the company at the time of the $9.3 billion deal and held about 28% of Oracles shares.

Vice Chancellor Sam Glasscock III said in a decision Friday that Ellison withdrew from Oracles consideration of the acquisition just before an initial presentation to the board and that the remaining directors empowered a special committee to conduct the negotiation of any acquisition of NetSuite.

The lawsuit by the Firemens Retirement System of St. Louis accused Ellison and Oracle Chief Executive Officer Safra Catz of orchestrating the combination when NetSuites sales were slowing because of increased competition from Oracle.

Read the courts opinion here

Todays decision constitutes a complete vindication of Mr. Ellison and Ms. Catz, each of whom has been subject to these baseless claims for seven years  notwithstanding their consistent and uncompromising devotion to Oracle and its stockholders throughout their storied tenures with the company, Peter Wald, an attorney for Ellison and Catz, said in a statement.

A representative of the plaintiffs didnt respond to requests for comment on the decision.

Glasscock said that as a force at Oracle and the main creative party and a face of the company, Ellison could have attempted to influence the boards decision, but didnt.

Story continues

The concept that an individual  without voting control of an entity, who does not generally control the entity, and who absents himself from a conflicted transaction  is subject to entire fairness review as a fiduciary solely because he is a respected figure with a potential to assert influence over the directors, is not Delaware law, as I understand it, Glasscock wrote.

The case is In Re Oracle Corp. Derivative Litigation, 2017-0337, Delaware Chancery Court.

Read More: Larry Ellison Denies Keeping Oracle Reins After Exiting CEO Role

--With assistance from Brody Ford.

(Updates with comment from defense counsel.)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2023 Bloomberg L.P.
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Chief Justice Aamer Farooq passes the order on plea moved by former Prime Minister Imran Khan against trial in Thoshakhana case.

ISLAMABAD: (UrduPoint/UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News-May 12th, 2023) The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday temporarily stayed trial in the Toshakhana case against Imran Khan, filed by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for allegedly concealing gifts.

Chief Justice Aamer Farooq passed the order on a petition filed by the PTI chief seeking the transfer of his trial from the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Humayun Dilawar.

Imran Khans lawyer, Khawaja Harris, contended that the ECP secretary was not authorized to send the case to trial court and that the complaint could not be sent after the lapse of the set time period.

The IHC accepted the plea and ruled that the trial would remain suspended until the PTI plea is decided.

Last year, Imran Khan was accused by lawmakers from the ruling coalition of not sharing the details of gifts he retained from Toshakhana in his assets declarations, and the ECP disqualified him for being dishonest and corrupt.

The electoral watchdog then approached the district and sessions court seeking criminal proceedings against Imran Khan for allegedly misleading officials about the gifts.
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday stopped the authorities from arresting Pakistan Tehreek-e-Inasf Chairman Imran Khan till May 17 in any new case registered after May 9 in the Federal Capital

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 12th May, 2023 ) :The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday stopped the authorities from arresting Pakistan Tehreek-e-Inasf Chairman Imran Khan till May 17 in any new case registered after May 9 in the Federal Capital.

The court also directed the Federal Government to ensure the security of former prime minister Imran Khan.

Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb issued the directives during the hearing of other bail petitions filed by former prime minister.

At the outset of the hearing, Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb asked whether the petitioner Imran Khan condemned the violence, which had taken place after his arrest across the country. Hie lawyer answered in the affirmative. The judge then asked the former prime minister to submit a declaration in the court stating the same.

The court also observed that the CCTV footage regarding the arrest of Imran Khan from the IHC's premises was missing.

Imran Khan's counsel Barrister Salman Safdar said his client had already stated everything clearly in the Supreme Court.

He prayed to the court to issue directives to the police for not arresting his client in any case which had not been disclosed yet.

The court asked whether a first information report was registered against the illegal arrest and vandalizing on the premises of the IHC.

Earlier, Imran Khan's lawyer informed the court that the Registrar's Office had raised objections on the petition. The Registrar's Office had stated that the petitions should have been moved to the trial court first, being the relevant forum.

The lawyer said previously the IHC had not sent two bail cases to the trial court and instead heard them itself due to the law and order situation at the F-8 District Courts.

Salman Safdar argued that as Imran Khan had been in police custody after his arrest he was not aware of the law and order situation in the country.

After hearing the arguments, the court stopped the authorities from arresting Imran Khan till May 17, in any new FIR registered against him in the Federal Capital after May 9.
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MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 12th May, 2023) The European Union's chief diplomat, Josep Borrell, believes the bloc is ready to seriously cooperate with China on the peaceful settling of the Ukraine conflict, the Financial Times reported on Friday.

In a letter to EU member states' foreign ministers which was seen by the newspaper, Borrell expressed the bloc's willingness to "engage seriously" with China on the issue despite its alleged support for Russia. He added that Europe "welcomes all genuinely positive moves coming from China aiming at finding a solution," according to the report.

Besides, the high representative for foreign policy urged the ministers not to "block the rising power of emerging countries," hinting that the EU should not follow the US's hardline course against China, the news outlet said. The letter also suggests the bloc should be aware of Beijing's influence when negotiating with low-income countries, as they will be unwilling to "take one side or the other.

"

"The EU must be aware that many countries see the geopolitical influence of China as a counterweight to the west and therefore to Europe. They will seek to strengthen their own room for manoeuvre without picking sides," Borrell wrote, as quoted by the Financial Times.

Borrell's letter anticipated the two-day EU foreign ministers summit in Stockholm, which starts on Friday. The participants in the meeting are expected to discuss the Ukraine conflict and EU-China relations.

On February 24, one year after the start of Russia's military operation in Ukraine, China released a 12-point document titled "China's Position on the Political Settlement of the Ukraine Crisis," which underscores respect for the sovereignty of all countries, the cessation of hostilities and the resumption of peace talks between Moscow and Kiev. Russian President Vladimir Putin said that some of the provisions of the plan could be a basis for a peace settlement, "if the West and Kiev are ready for it."
MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 12th May, 2023) Canada will start sanctioning people and entities based in Moldova under the Russia sanctions act over alleged human rights violations, the office of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday.

On Thursday, Trudeau met with Moldovan President Maia Sandu in Ottawa.

"Canada also announced the intention to establish a new set of sanctions regulations under the Special Economic Measures Act in relation to Russia ... These new regulations will allow Canada to sanction individuals and related entities in Moldova who are committing systematic human rights violations, endangering international peace and security, or who have engaged in significant acts of corruption," the statement read.

During the meeting, Trudeau reiterated Canada's support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Moldova and the country's institutional reform efforts and anti-corruption agenda, expressed support for Moldova's accession to the European Union, and announced a new initiative to help enhance the capabilities of Moldova's police to provide security, including sending Canadian judges to Moldova to exchange practices to enhance institutional capacity and strengthen judicial accountability and integrity.

Earlier in the day, Sandu tweeted that she urged Canada to sanction "fugitive oligarchs to help us fight corruption" during the meeting with Governor General of Canada Mary Simon.
The University of South Florida today celebrates a significant milestone in the universitys history with a special grand opening ceremony to showcase the new, state-of-the-art home of the Judy Genshaft Honors College. The five-story, 85,000-square-foot facility will serve USFs most accomplished and talented students from every undergraduate college and strengthen the universitys position to attract the top talent within the state of Florida and beyond.

The Judy Genshaft Honors College is the perfect place for our students to pursue their passions and create lasting memories during their studies at the University of South Florida, USF President Rhea Law said. A world-class honors college deserves an equally remarkable home. Our students will treasure this facility and all it has to offer as they ascend to new heights in their academic journeys.

The new facility, located across from the Yuengling Center along USF Genshaft Drive on the Tampa campus, provides a dedicated home for the unique classes and programs for honors students. It features a variety of spaces for intellectual development and creative exchange, including open-design classrooms, 39 signature learning lofts and dedicated studio spaces for art, food and culture, along with music and technology. A total of 50 spaces in the building are named through generous gifts.

I have no doubt this building and the opportunities it will provide, will have a tremendous impact on our USF community being able to achieve our goals and aspirations as an institution. I look forward to witnessing that impact on us, and in the lives of our students, for years to come, USF Board of Trustees Chair Will Weatherford said.

The project is primarily funded through philanthropic support, including a historic lead gift of $20 million from USF President Emerita and Professor Judy Genshaft and her husband Steven Greenbaum. When the gift was announced in 2019, it represented one of the largest gifts of its kind ever made by a sitting university president to their institution.

This stunning building  a beacon for bright, talented and high-achieving USF students  is the realization of a dream. It is a home of endless possibilities  both for our Honors students and the dynamic faculty members who help to shape their futures, Genshaft said.

It is like no other building in the nation. I cant wait to see our Honors students here attending classes, learning in dedicated studio spaces and listening to guest speakers in the beautiful event space or on the terrace, USF Foundation CEO Jay Stroman said. The future is bright for the Judy Genshaft Honors College and we all are so grateful to Judy and Steve for making dreams come true.

The Judy Genshaft Honors College consists of more than 2,500 high-achieving, cross-disciplinary scholars who are part of a close community that provides specialized experiences and advanced educational opportunities. More than one third of Honors College students at USF are the first in their families to go to college.

This architectural masterpiece will be a place where students can be creative and think outside all the boxes and put their learning to use in addressing the challenges facing their generation, Judy Genshaft Endowed Honors Dean Charles Adams said. What binds these students together in my mind is that they care about making the world a better place. Here they have, at last, an academic home worthy of their dreams.

Following the announcement of the new building in spring 2019, the profile and success of Honors College students have continued to increase. Total enrollment has grown 13 percent, the number of students with a 4.0 GPA has risen from 463 to 556 and the four-year graduation rate continues to steadily increase. Positive trends are expected to continue as the new building will offer more opportunities for student engagement, which research has shown links directly to stronger academic outcomes.

I feel a sense of exhilaration for my peers and for future Honors students who will enjoy a new world of possibilities inside our new home, said Naziza Bhuiyan, outgoing president of the Judy Genshaft Honors College Student Council. I can attest that this is a major step up from our current situation. Its almost unimaginable to me that our student leaders will have their own space now.

The building will welcome its first class of students this summer.

More information on the new Judy Genshaft Honor College building can be found here.
That sparked my interest in being a pilot, he said.

Clenin will graduate with a bachelors degree in interdisciplinary educational studies. Originally, he intended to major in engineering but decided to switch to education so he could work with students. A math lover, Clenin worked while in school as a tutor at Mathnasium, where he taught everything from calculus to how to count.

While Clenin chose UTSA because of the scholarship and financial aid opportunities, he came to love the Army ROTC program, the university and the city. He said he had great opportunities to succeed at UTSA, strong support from ROTC instructors and a newfound adoration for San Antonio.

I really like San Antonio. Its a big city, but it also feels really small at times, he said. It is easy for it not to feel like 2 million people live here.

Three days a week at 6 a.m., Clenin endures an hour of physical training with the Army ROTC. He is especially grateful to his ROTC family, who helped him develop the discipline to wake up early and work out, as well as accomplish other difficult tasks. He said he learned a lot from his leaders and from his peers, whose respect for Clenin grew even more as they watched him serve as cadet battalion commander this past year.

The instructors for the ROTC program were really good, he said. If you put in effort, they were going to put in effort to you.
Two UW Professors Earn Stewardship Awards

Two University of Wyoming faculty members have earned the prestigious UW Foundation Stewardship Award. They are Cindy Price Schultz, head of the Department of Communication and Journalism, and John Kaszuba, the John and Jane Wold Centennial Chair in Energy.

It is such an honor to receive this award, but it is even more of an honor to be able to work with our donors and alumni, Price Schultz says. I enjoy being able to help the donors accomplish their goals, like supporting graduate student research or endowing a chair in photojournalism. And I love to see the students when they hear alumni talk about what they can achieve after they graduate from the University of Wyoming.

I am honored to be recognized for this award. I really enjoy the work that I do and the incredibly talented students I mentor, Kaszuba says. The Wold family and the Wold Foundation share my vision for energy excellence in Wyoming, and it has been an honor and a pleasure to work with them.

The UW Foundation Stewardship Award recognizes the leadership of UW faculty members who excel in the relationship-building and stewardship of alumni and donors through effective use of private gifts, engaging former students in the activities of the university and a commitment to strong external relationships for the betterment of UW.

Cindy and John exemplify the value and importance of faculty engagement with the stewardship of gifts that support UW people and programs, says UW Provost and Executive Vice President Kevin Carman. They help donors appreciate the value and impact of their philanthropy and, in doing so, encourage even greater support.

Price Schultz was nominated by Assistant Department Head Justin Stewart; UW Alumni Association Executive Director Jack Tennant; Matt Liu, director of forensics in the Department of Communication and Journalism; Denver-based Linhart PR founder Sharon Haley Linhart; and Department of Communication and Journalism Professor Michael Brown.

Price Schultz is being recognized specifically for building a donor and alumni network that supports her department and her dedication to donor relations.

Cindy has done a tremendous job working with donors and alumni, Stewart says. Her work has helped create a funded professorship in photojournalism, supported our debate team and furthered our international mission, among other goals.

Price Schultz is being recognized for her work in the Bobby Model Photojournalism Professorship; the Muhlberg Study Abroad Award; the Department of Communication and Journalism newsletter; and attracting prominent guest lecturers.

Additionally, Price Schultz has built strong partnerships among the areas she represents, the UW Foundation and the UW Alumni Association, helping strategize and raise funds.

Dr. Schultz has continued to be an important advocate for the importance of external relations at the university, Tennant says. Her commitment to stewardship and fundraising has had a profound impact on the University of Wyoming and the wider UW community.

Price Schultz is being recognized for overseeing a revolution in donor relationships through her work with the UW debate team. She has been heavily involved in the establishment of two new funds that support this program -- the Barbara Keener Debate Fund and the Mack Kramer Excellence Fund.

It is through Dr. Price Schultzs excellent engagement with our supporters that UW Debate is one of the most prolific fundraisers on campus, Liu says.

Price Schultzs work with the Bristol Fellowship for Photojournalism and her involvement in the annual selection of the fellow are some examples of her dedication to students and the donors who invest in them. Linhart is one of these donors.

Im encouraged and grateful Cindy is so passionate and committed to teaching and that the University of Wyoming is a place where students are learning honest practical skills and essential professions such as writing, photography and journalism, Linhart says.

Price Schultzs stewardship efforts for the Four Mile Fund and its partnership with Kazakhstan National Universitys journalism department also were recognized. Brown, former director of graduate studies in the Department of Communication and Journalism, is the designated representative for this fund.

Dr. Cindy Price Schultz has kept me well informed and involved in decisions made for the use of the fund, and I cant be more pleased, Brown says. She is the reason we have continued to contribute.

Kaszuba, meanwhile, was nominated by UW School of Energy Resources Executive Director Holly Krutka and School of Energy Resources Academic Director Kami Danaei. Kaszuba is being recognized specifically for his leadership in relationship-building and stewardship for the betterment of the university through his interactions with the Wold family and their foundation.

John Kaszuba is setting the bar on stewardship, Krutka says. Given that this chair is focused on students and requires that the faculty member holding the chair have a strong focus on students, this is a wonderful example of stewardship. John is deserving. He has helped rebuild a strong relationship with the Wolds, and they are now reengaged at UW.

Created in 1985 by John and Jane Wold and the Wold family, the Wold Foundation exists to assist, encourage and promote charitable, scientific, literary and educational endeavors. The foundation supports institutions and programs that promote traditional values and free enterprise and gives preference to projects benefiting Wyoming citizens and Wyoming youth.

Kaszuba was named the John and Jane Wold Centennial Chair in Energy in 2020. His stewardship efforts include donor visits, building a wall display that pays tribute to John and Jane Wold, and holding a joint symposium with the School of Energy Resources and the Wold Foundation that focused on Wyomings energy future.

I am humbled by Dr. Kaszubas accomplishments as the John and Jane Wold Centennial Chair in Energy, Danaei says. It is clear that he has demonstrated impact with students, faculty and the community through the donors philanthropy; has offered meaningful and personalized interactions with the donor; has continued to strengthen the relationship between UW and the Wold Foundation and family; and, lastly, shows his persistence, commitment and high-quality stewardship efforts. Dr. Kaszuba is a natural leader whose intellect, curiosity and compassionate nature make him stand out from his peers. Im privileged to have worked with him and, by extension, the Wold Foundation and family.

The UW Foundation Stewardship Award recognizes the pivotal role faculty members play in donor philanthropy. Stewardship is critical for the university, as it connects donors with the mission of campus and inspires private funding for areas that need it most. It also builds lasting relationships that promote loyalty and generosity.

Creating a culture of philanthropy at UW really starts with the creation of a culture of stewardship, says UW Foundation President/CEO John Stark. When it comes to stewarding our donors and demonstrating the impact that private support can have on our university, our faculty can be our most effective ambassadors. Both Cindy and John set the standard.

Recipients of the UW Foundation Stewardship Award personally receive $5,000. Their colleges and departments each receive $2,500, with another $2,500 that the recipient can direct to a separate university area or unit. The UW Foundation funds the awards.
South Korean consumer tech giant, LG Electronics, has filed a patent for a TV that would allow users to buy, sell and swap Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs).

According to the paperwork at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the device would connect itself to an NFT market server, showcase a variety of artworks and permit purchases through a users cryptocurrency wallet connected to the TV setall from the comfort of their living room.

This patent is the latest in a series of ambitious metaverse and NFT plans the Southeast Asian behemoth announced last year.

In September 2022, LG launched its own NFT marketplace, dubbed LG Art Labs which enabled users to trade digital collectibles via U.S. LG televisions running their webOS 5.0 operating system.

At the start of 2023, the company doubled down on its metaverse plans. It launched the Blade Wallet, which connects to LG Art Labs to enable NFT trading.

To expand into the cryptocurrency market, LG Electronics partnered with Hedera Hashgraph in 2020, a distributed ledger technology company that is touted as an alternative to blockchains. Hedera has also been working with Google, IBM, and Ubisoft.

This move comes amid a cooling off of 2022, which was supposed to be the Year of the Metaverse. At the time, there was massive commercial interestboth in research and development. The Oxford Dictionary even shortlisted metaverse as word of the year.

South Korea is a consumer electronics powerhouse, and LG isnt alone in its quest for market share in the digital assets industry. Samsung, its main competitor, also announced plans last year to build out an NFT marketplace, through a partnership with Nifty.

Despite the cooling off period, yesterdays filing shows LG is still confident the NFT market will be an important player of the digital economy moving forward.

Editor's Note: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that LG partnered with Hedera Hashgraph in 2022.
The Rise of Additive Manufacturing in Vietnam

Additive manufacturing, commonly known as 3D printing, is gaining in popularity due to its broad scope of application, in industry, R&D, and for personal use. Heres how this burgeoning new technology is evolving in Vietnam.

Additive manufacturing is a relatively new means of producing goods, yet has become incredibly popular around the world in a very short amount of time.

More commonly known as 3D printing, additive manufacturing takes raw materials in liquid form and essentially prints a component, product, or part  layer by layer. This technology has been used around the world for myriad applications from houses to, controversially, guns.

In manufacturing hubs like Vietnam, this new technology has the potential to be a changemaker. It can produce parts and components for a fraction of their traditional cost, by limiting wastage and reducing the need for labor.

With this in mind, the potential for additive manufacturing to dramatically disrupt the manufacturing industry is clear and as a result, it has drawn a lot of attention in Vietnam. This is in both using additive manufacturing in production processes and in developing additive manufacturing technology.

In this light, its not only important but can be valuable for manufacturing firms in Vietnam to understand the key industry drivers of additive manufacturing, how the industry is developing, and what impact additive manufacturing might have on Vietnams enormous manufacturing industry.

Additive manufacturing in Southeast Asia

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At present, additive manufacturing penetration in Southeast Asia is relatively small. Its estimated that this new technology only accounts for around 5-7 percent of the US$3.8 billion invested in additive manufacturing in Asia in 2019, according to technology and engineering firm thyssenkrupp.

There is huge potential for the region, thyssenkrupp says, estimating that the sector will generate US$100 billion of incremental value by 2025 impacting the GDP of the Southeast Asian region to the tune of 1.5-3 percent of real GDP. It goes on to say that additive manufacturing could see dependence on imports reduced by up to 2 percent for the region.

This could see the regions dependence on its neighbor to the north and the worlds second-biggest economy, China, reduced. That would take some of the pressure off with respect to the control China asserts over regional trade.

Additive manufacturing in Vietnam

As a regional manufacturing powerhouse, Vietnam stands to be one of the most heavily impacted economies with respect to the rise of additive manufacturing technology. This could be either a good or a bad thing. On the one side, automation may cost the manufacturing sector jobs, but on the other, Vietnam may be able to position itself on the cutting edge of the design and manufacture of additive manufacturing equipment.

Additive manufacturing in Vietnam is currently most acutely visible in the automotive, consumer goods, and electronics sectors. These sectors all have vast manufacturing operations in the Southeast Asian nation and stand to benefit immensely from 3D printing technology.

These sectors are typically heavily invested by foreign firms and it is common for these firms to import their own 3D printing technology. Vietnam, however, is also working toward developing its own additive manufacturing products and services.

In fact, there are a number of events and initiatives in place in Vietnam to promote this new technology and educate Vietnamese firms and businesses about its perks and benefits. These include:

3D Print Fiesta

Held annually, the 3D Print Fiesta event is the self-proclaimed place to go for the entire 3D printing and additive manufacturing industry. This year the event will be held in Binh Duong, a key manufacturing center in Southern Vietnam. Among big-name brands manufacturing in Binh Duong are the likes of sportswear heavyweights Nike and Adidas through networks of contract suppliers. The event is expected to showcase additive manufacturing machines, 3D printers, and a range of other products in the field.

Saigon Hi-Tech Park Incubation Center

This innovation hub in Ho Chi Minh City supports domestic startups in developing their products, finding investors, commercializing their products, and scaling up their operations. The park has a broad range of projects currently being developed, including assisting 3D printing firm Meetech in developing its products and services.

HCMC University of Technology

The Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (HUTECH) is also an active facilitator in the development of additive manufacturing technology in Vietnam. HUTECH has held workshops and produced a number of academic papers on additive manufacturing.

Firms offering 3D printing technology and services in Vietnam

There are a broad range of companies now offering 3D printing technology services in Vietnam. Notably many foreign corporations import their own equipment, particularly high-tech manufacturing nations like Japan and South Korea. However, homegrown AM technology is also growing in prominence. Three local firms producing 3D printing technology are:

Meetech

MEETECH was founded in 2014 and offers 3D printing consulting, 3D design, and 3D printing services, alongside providing 3D printing equipment. Based in Vietnams manufacturing heartland, Ho Chi Minh City, this firm has the support of the aforementioned Saigon Hi-Tech Park Incubation Center.

3D Maker

Founded in 2014, 3D Maker is an additive manufacturing specialist in HCMC. It specializes in additive manufacturing research and the production and commercialization of 3D printers. 3D Maker boasts among its clients the Masan Group. Masan is one of the biggest players in Vietnams food and beverage market and uses 3D printing in product development, according to 3D Makers website.

Scantech Vietnam

Scantech Vietnam first started operating in 2012. Based in Hanoi, it currently offers 3D printing equipment and services, 3D Scanning, and 3D software. This 12-year-old firm is an authorized vendor of key suppliers from all over the world including the USA, Germany, and S. Korea.

Support policies for additive manufacturing development in Vietnam

Vietnam has for a long time been determined to embrace the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Keen to become a high-tech manufacturer of globally in-demand goods, Vietnam has put in place a number of policies and initiatives to incentivize and support businesses with the eventual aim of transforming the domestic economy. These include:

National Digital Transformation Programme by 2025

The National Digital Transformation Programme by 2025, with an orientation towards 2030, forms the backbone of Vietnams digital transformation initiative. This document is designed to facilitate awareness, support enterprises in developing transformation strategies, and provides incentives for businesses to upgrade their plants, equipment, and processes.

See also: Vietnams Digital Transformation Plan Through 2025



National Innovation Center

Established through Decision 1269/QD-TTg, the NIC is at the center of Vietnams push to develop the domestic startup sector. The NIC provides training and support for young enterprises and partners with international technology companies like Amazon and Google.

National Technology Innovation Fund (NATIF)

NATIF is a government agency and financial institution under Vietnams Ministry of Science and Technology that provides grants and preferential loans for research and development, innovation, and technology transfers.

Utilizing additive manufacturing in Vietnam

Traditionally, Vietnam has been an attractive destination for manufacturers due to its tax incentives and low-cost workforce. But this is changing. Wages are rising and tax incentives may be a thing of the past when the global minimum tax comes into force in the near future. In this light, additive manufacturing can be an effective means of mitigating rising labor costs.

Furthermore, demand for additive manufacturing machinery and equipment, particularly from well-known and established international brands, is likely to increase among domestic firms. International manufacturers of 3D printing equipment could potentially find a lucrative market in this burgeoning Southeast Asian nation.

For assistance accessing this market, foreign firms should contact the business advisory experts at Dezan Shira and Associates via the email address: vietnam@dezanshira.com
Migrants rushed across the Mexico border Thursday in hopes of entering the U.S. in the final hours before pandemic-related asylum restrictions are lifted. The two warring factions in Sudan are reported to be making progress in truce talks. Ghana is encouraging African Americans to connect with their African roots.
The leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group has denounced as "baseless lies" reports that one of Syria's most well-known drug dealers, who was killed earlier this week in an airstrike near the Jordanian border, was linked to the Iran-backed group.

Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's televised speech Friday came four days after the rare strike that some Syrian opposition activists claimed was carried out by Jordan's air force. The activists and a war monitor said the amphetamine Captagon kingpin killed Monday was among the most wanted by Jordanian authorities for drug smuggling across the border with the backing of a small militia.

Syrian activists say Merhi al-Ramthan, who was killed with his wife and six children, worked closely with militias linked to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Iran-backed Hezbollah.

Western governments estimate that Captagon has generated billions of dollars in revenue for Assad, his Syrian associates and allies. Damascus has denied the accusations.

"Had we been making billions of dollars it would have been noticed," Nasrallah joked about the charges. Speaking about linking al-Ramthan to Hezbollah, Nasrallah said "these are lies and unjust charges."

Nasrallah added that had it not been for Hezbollah's help, the Lebanese state would not have been able to carry out raids against drug dealers in Lebanon. Hezbollah enjoys wide influence in northeast Lebanon, a region that for decades has been a center of drug production.

Monday's strike in southern Syria that killed al-Ramthan and another that destroyed a factory came a day after Arab governments reinstated Syria to the Arab League following the country's suspension for its crackdown on protests that ultimately led to a lengthy civil war.

As Arab governments gradually restore ties with Damascus, one of the key topics of discussion has been Syria's illicit drug industry, which has flourished during the ongoing conflict  especially the illegal amphetamine Captagon.

"These are baseless lies. For us Captagon and other types of drugs are religiously prohibited," said Nasrallah, a Shiite Muslim cleric and major political figure in Lebanon.

Speaking about reconciliation between Syria and oil-rich Arab countries, Nasrallah said anti-Syrian politicians in Lebanon are "disconnected from reality" and are working to keep Beirut's relations with Damascus cold.

"It is in Lebanon's interest to fix relations with Syria," Nasrallah said, adding that the Lebanese government should send a high-ranking delegation to Damascus to discuss ways to address the refugee crisis that has pushed hundreds of thousands of Syrians to flee into in Lebanon.

Sentiments against Syrian refugees have been rising in Lebanon since the country's massive economic meltdown that started in 2019 that has left three quarters of the Lebanese population living in poverty.

Hezbollah sent thousands of fighters to battle alongside Syrian government forces during the 12-year war, helping tip the balance of power in Assad's favor.
Efforts by Washington to enlist Vietnam as an ally in its strategic rivalry with China are unlikely to succeed because Hanoi dares not risk angering its larger neighbor, say experts inside and outside of Vietnam.

The outreach by the United States, which this year marks the 10th anniversary of the signing of a comprehensive partnership with Vietnam, has included a phone call by President Joe Biden to Vietnamese Communist Party (VCP) Chief Nguyen Phu Trong in late March, followed by Antony Blinken's first visit to Hanoi as Secretary of State in mid-April.

Biden discussed with Trong the importance of strengthening and extending bilateral ties, according to the White House. Blinken hailed the ties with Vietnam as "one of the most important relationships we've had" and expressed hope it could be strengthened in the future.

'Beijing more confident'

But this year also marks the 15th anniversary of a comprehensive strategic partnership  which carried more diplomatic weight than a comprehensive partnership  between Vietnam and China, the experts pointed out to VOA Vietnamese.

Less than two weeks after Blinken landed in Hanoi, Truong Thi Mai, the secretariat permanent member who is often seen as the de facto deputy VCP chief, led a high-level party delegation to Beijing where she was received by President Xi Jinping.

Xi told Mai he "attached importance to party-to-party and state-to-state relationships between the two countries," while Mai reassured Xi that Hanoi prioritizes development of its relationship with Beijing, according to VietnamPlus, a government-affiliated news site.

"China is much more important to Vietnam than the United States," said Zachary Abuza, a professor at the Washington-based National War College who focuses on Southeast Asian politics and security issues. In an email to VOA Vietnamese, Abuza said the Asian neighbors "will always have fraternal Socialist ties" and Hanoi's worldview is "far more aligned with Beijing's than that of Washington."

Abuza contrasted Trong's three-day visit to Beijing last October, in which he met with a handful of members of China's Politiboro, with the Trong-Biden phone call that "took months and months to organize." Trong was the first foreign leader to meet Xi after the latter secured a third term as secretary-general of the Chinese Communist Party in March.

VOA contacted the Foreign Ministry in Hanoi and the Vietnamese Embassy in Washington for comments on their country's relations with the U.S. and China but received no response.

Trong and Xi have met several times, first in Beijing in 2011 when Xi was still vice president, and five times since. Trong has met Biden just once when he was invited by then-President Barack Obama to the White House in 2015. At the time, then-Vice President Biden hosted Trong for a luncheon at the U.S. Department of State.

During the March call, Biden extended an invitation to Trong for a second visit to the White House, which Trong reportedly accepted, according to Vietnamese press accounts.

"Beijing is more confident that Vietnam is an independent actor and steadfast in its refusal to undertake any action that Beijing would view as hostile to Chinese interests," Abuza said, suggesting that the U.S. "has to be aware of Hanoi's sensitivities" and "cannot make any improvement in relations explicitly be about China."

Bill Hayton, an associate fellow with the Asia-Pacific Program at London-based Chatham House, shared that observation. He noted that the Vietnamese leadership are Leninists who regard American-sponsored democracy as "the single biggest threat that they face."

"Compared to that, they think their problems with China are tiny," he told VOA Vietnamese.

As a result, Hayton thinks that Vietnam is not motivated to upgrade ties with the U.S. and that Beijing is aware of this.

"But Washington doesn't want to know this," he said. "It's in thrall to the idea that Vietnam can be part of an anti-China group. That idea is nonsense."

According to Hayton, the current Vietnamese leadership "don't care much" about the nation's long-running maritime friction with Beijing over South China Sea and they "only use the South China Sea issue to persuade the Americans to maintain close relations."

"It's more important for them to keep close to Beijing for political protection," he added, noting that Vietnam in 2020 paid about $1 billion to foreign oil companies to halt oil drilling projects in the South China Sea "in order to avoid upsetting China."

The case for upgrade

Vietnam has comprehensive strategic partnerships  the highest level of diplomatic ties in its classification  with only 4 countries: China, Russia, India and South Korea. The next level is strategic partnership, which Hanoi enjoys with some large European countries and South-East Asian neighbors. The comprehensive partnership Hanoi uses to characterize ties with the U.S. is one more level down, despite bilateral trade volume between Hanoi and Washington being by far much larger.

The United States is Vietnam's second-largest trading partner after China. Bilateral trade in 2022 amounted to $138 billion according to the U.S. State Department, with exports to the U.S. accounting for most of that total.

"Beijing cannot be ignorant of the close economic ties between Vietnam and the United States," said Abuza.

He singled out one area that could get Vietnam in a bit of trouble with Beijing: That is if Hanoi gets significant investments for semiconductor production as the U.S. seeks to isolate China.

But, he said, "China has so many different ways to pressure Vietnam," including naval activity in the South China Sea, conducting seismic research on Vietnam's continental shelf, shutting down the border to imports from Vietnam, increasing leverage in Laos and Cambodia, and damming the Mekong and the Red Rivers.

Pham Viet Dao, a writer in Hanoi who has published books on the 1979 Sino-Vietnam border war, said that any such Chinese pressure has the potential to backfire because it "just serves to fire up the anti-China sentiment among the Vietnamese public."

In his opinion, it's crucial for Vietnam to strengthen ties with the U.S. for "existential reasons," he said. "Vietnam cannot be left on its own faced with China's growing big power ambitions."

Hayton said he believes Vietnam is comfortable with the status quo, but he doesn't rule out "a surprise."

"The current Vietnamese leadership is superbly skilled in telling Americans what they want to hear while protecting themselves from American pressure," he said.
European Union ministers on Friday backed reducing the bloc's economic dependence on China but will now have to figure out how to make that a reality, foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said.

Borrell said foreign ministers gave broad backing to a plan to adjust policy on China to place greater emphasis on its role as a political rival, while continuing also to see Beijing both as a partner on global issues and an economic competitor.

"Colleagues welcomed the paper that we presented. They agree on the basic lines of this recalibration of our strategy on China,"

Borrell told reporters after their meeting in Stockholm.

"When a dependency is too big, it's a risk," he declared.

Borrell said the EU had to learn from the "strategic mistake" it made in the years before Moscow's war in Ukraine of becoming too dependent on Russian gas.

He said the EU today was even more dependent on China for key technologies such as solar panels and for critical materials than it had been on Russian energy.

"De-risking is just a word. But behind this word, there is a lot of work that will take time, to review all our economic relations with China," he said.

Borrell stressed the aim was not to "de-couple" the European and Chinese economies but to rebalance the relationship.

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis warned that even if the EU did not want to de-couple from China economically, it needed to be prepared for such a scenario.

"Somebody has to devise a possibility that a de-coupling might happen  not because we wished it, like with Russia, not because we willed it but because the situation, for example in the Taiwan Strait, has been changed by force," he said.

Officials will now refine the proposal to present it to EU leaders, who are expected to discuss China at a summit in June.

The plan is the latest attempt to strike a balance between views of the EU's 27 member countries, keep a distinctive EU approach to Beijing and preserve a close partnership with Washington, which is pushing for a harder line on China.

The document states that coordination with the United States will "remain essential."

But it says the EU "should not subscribe to an idea of a zero-sum game whereby there can only be one winner, in a binary contest between the U.S. and China."

In a letter accompanying the proposal, Borrell said there were at least three reasons for "re-calibrating" China policy.

He said these were "the degree to which China is changing with nationalism and ideology on the rise; the hardening of the U.S.-China competition affecting all policies areas; and the fact that China is a key player in regional and global issues."

The document says the EU should "diversify sources of supply in key sectors, in particular those crucial to our green and digital transition" such as semiconductors, 5G and 6G telecoms, batteries, raw materials and critical minerals.
We think intelligent long term investing is the way to go. But unfortunately, some companies simply don't succeed. Zooming in on an example, the Lincoln National Corporation (NYSE:LNC) share price dropped 71% in the last half decade. We certainly feel for shareholders who bought near the top. And it's not just long term holders hurting, because the stock is down 62% in the last year. Furthermore, it's down 41% in about a quarter. That's not much fun for holders. This could be related to the recent financial results - you can catch up on the most recent data by reading our company report.

The recent uptick of 3.0% could be a positive sign of things to come, so let's take a look at historical fundamentals.

Check out our latest analysis for Lincoln National

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 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).

Over five years Lincoln National's earnings per share dropped significantly, falling to a loss, with the share price also lower. At present it's hard to make valid comparisons between EPS and the share price. However, we can say we'd expect to see a falling share price in this scenario.

The company's earnings per share (over time) is depicted in the image below (click to see the exact numbers).

We consider it positive that insiders have made significant purchases in the last year. Having said that, most people consider earnings and revenue growth trends to be a more meaningful guide to the business. Dive deeper into the earnings by checking this interactive graph of Lincoln National's earnings, revenue and cash flow.

What About Dividends?

It is important to consider the total shareholder return, as well as the share price return, for any given stock. The TSR incorporates the value of any spin-offs or discounted capital raisings, along with any dividends, based on the assumption that the dividends are reinvested. It's fair to say that the TSR gives a more complete picture for stocks that pay a dividend. In the case of Lincoln National, it has a TSR of -66% for the last 5 years. That exceeds its share price return that we previously mentioned. And there's no prize for guessing that the dividend payments largely explain the divergence!

Story continues

A Different Perspective

Investors in Lincoln National had a tough year, with a total loss of 59% (including dividends), against a market gain of about 5.8%. 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 11% 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. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Lincoln National 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 Lincoln National , and understanding them should be part of your investment process.

Lincoln National is not the only stock insiders are buying. So take a peek at this free list of growing companies with insider buying.

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.

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The U.S. accuses South Africa of sending weapons to Russia. Britain prepares to designate the Wagner Group as a terrorist organization. President Zelenskyy denied a chance to address the Eurovision song contest. Plus a look at what kind of insurance would be needed to attract investors to Ukraine.
A California peace activist who has worked to remove land mines from war-torn regions and replace them with grape vines, fruit trees and vegetables was named the 2023 World Food Prize laureate Thursday at a ceremony in Washington.

The Des Moines, Iowa-based foundation awarded its annual prize to Heidi Kuhn, founder of Roots of Peace. Since founding her nonprofit in the basement of her San Rafael, California, home in 1997, Kuhn's organization has helped remove thousands of mines and assist farmers in more than a half-dozen countries. The group recently signed an initial agreement to begin work in Ukraine.

Kuhn, 65, said she formed the idea of starting her group after hosting an event at her home for dignitaries advocating for the eradication of land mines.

"Looking back on it, perhaps it was a vision of turning blood into wine, killing fields into vineyards and hatred into love," Kuhn said in an interview last week.

Kuhn was named the winner of the prize, which carries a $250,000 award, at an event featuring Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, and Terry Branstad, the World Food Prize Foundation president and former U.S. ambassador to China. Kuhn, who was visiting minefields in Azerbaijan when the award was announced, will be formally given the prize at an event in October in Des Moines.

"Her work shows the world the vital role that agriculture must have in the resilient recovery from conflict to restoration of peace," Branstad said during the announcement. "For making her mission to turn mines to vines, I am so pleased to announce that the 2023 World Food Prize laureate is Heidi Kuhn."

'I will do something special'

Kuhn said she created her nonprofit after becoming sick with cancer at age 30 while heading a TV production company and raising three children, ages 1, 3 and 5.

"My little prayer was, 'Dear God, grant me the gift of life and I will do something special with it,'" said Kuhn, who survived the cancer and had another child.

After learning about the world's estimated 60 million land mines, and in part inspired by Princess Diana's efforts to ban the explosives, Kuhn said she met with vintners in California's Napa Valley and began a fledgling effort that has steadily grown over the decades.

Roots of Peace started in Croatia and then went on to establish programs in Afghanistan, Angola, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Israel, Iraq, Palestinian areas, and Vietnam.

Besides lining up crews to remove mines, Roots of Peace completes market assessments to help determine how farmers can make a living off the newly cleared land. In Vietnam, for example, the group helped plant more than a million pepper trees that resulted in a harvest of high-grade pepper that is now sent to the U.S.

'Off to a mine field'

While her organization has become established with funding from a variety of government and private sources, Kuhn said, her transition from raising four young children to heading an international mine-clearing organization still can seem strange, even to her.

"It is rather bizarre to be raising four kids, and then their mother is going off to a mine field," Kuhn said. "It is unusual."

Norman Borlaug, an Iowa native who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for his work to alleviate hunger through wheat research and other efforts, established the World Food Prize in 1986. The award has been given to 52 people in honor of their achievements in improving the quality, quantity and availability of the world's food supply.
A Hong Kong newspaper has pulled a popular, decades-old political comic strip after government officials accused it of smearing the governments image and misleading the public.

The move is widely seen as another step in the erosion of freedom in Hong Kong under a controversial national security law.

Ming Pao, a respected Chinese-language newspaper, said Thursday it would stop publishing cartoons by Wong Kei-kwan, better known under his nom de plume Zunzi, starting Sunday.

Ming Pao thanks Zunzi for witnessing with us the changing times in the past 40 years, it said in a statement.

Wongs books have also been pulled from public libraries, local media reported.

A search of Zunzi on Hong Kong public library catalogues yielded no results Friday. The government department in charge of public libraries told Ming Pao that books are regularly inspected and those allegedly violating national security or Hong Kong law would be removed.

In his four-decade career, Wong, 68, is well-known for his satirical sketches, which lampoon political figures from the British colonial period to Chinese-rule era after the 1997 handover of sovereignty. His cartoons have been published in Ming Pao since 1983 and some also appeared in Apple Daily and Next magazine -- which folded after the national security law came into effect.

This is the outcome of a gradual development of the situation  it is a mutual decision, Wong said in a carefully worded response. To keep one country two systems unchanged is harder than building a rocket in your backyard.

China had promised to keep Hong Kongs way of life unchanged for 50 years under the one country, two systems arrangement when the former British colony was handed back to its rule in 1997. But it has been widely criticized for eroding Hong Kongs freedom in its imposition of the national security law on Hong Kong.

Observers say they had feared for Wong, as his cartoons have been censored six times by government officials in the past six months -- including the police and the Security Bureau.

The latest criticism came from Secretary for Home and Youth Affairs Alice Mak, who called a cartoon strip of Wongs distorting and unethical. His three-panel strip, published Tuesday, showed a man saying Hong Kongs community representatives will be chosen as long as the leader finds them suitable even if they do not pass their exams and health checks.

The strip followed last weeks government announcement of reforms to the district council election that drastically reduce the number of elected seats to just one-fifth of all seats, with the rest to be either appointed by the government or selected by committees staffed by pro-establishment figures.

Hong Kongs security chief, Tang Ping-keung, said Thursday that Ming Pao editors had made a responsible decision to halt publishing misleading content that smeared the government.

Chung Kim-wah, a social scientist formerly with the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and now living in exile in the U.K., said the authorities see Wong as a thorn in the side because his cartoons are simple and easy to understand  and often lampoon those in the position of power.

He said Hong Kong media outlets now have to self-censor or face closing down, noting that Ming Pao has already cut some columns by authors seen as politically sensitive.

The citys media outlets have long practiced self-censorship since its return to Chinese rule but press freedom has drastically deteriorated since the national security law was imposed by Beijing in 2020, after monthslong anti-government protests. Two influential pro-democracy outlets, the Apple Daily and Stand News, shut down after their assets were frozen by the police in 2021.

The national security law lays out penalties as severe as life imprisonment for crimes including secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces. The authorities have also invoked the colonial-era offense of sedition to prosecute government critics in recent years.

Veteran journalist and political commentator Johnny Lau said after politics, education and media, political pressure has now permeated the arts and cultural sector.

This shows the weakness of the authorities, he said.
Iran on Friday released two French citizens, including one also holding Irish nationality, as Paris urged Tehran to free other foreigners jailed by the Islamic republic.

French-Irish citizen Bernard Phelan, held since October, and Frenchman Benjamin Briere, who was first detained while traveling in Iran in May 2020, were freed from their prison in the northeastern city of Mashhad, the French foreign ministry said.

They rapidly boarded a special flight to Paris and landed at the capital's Le Bourget airport  no longer used for commercial flights  in the evening, according to AFP TV images.

There had been grave concerns about the health of both men, both of whom had been on hunger strikes to protest their conditions.

President Emmanuel Macron said on Twitter: "Free, finally. Benjamin Briere and Bernard Phelan can reunite with their loved ones. It's a relief."

Briere's sister Blandine Briere, who has led the campaign for his release, told AFP: "We are avoiding a tragedy. I have no words to describe the joy we feel."

"We cannot tell you how relieved we are," added Phelan's sister Caroline in a statement.

Neither man was expected to speak publicly for some time and both families requested privacy.

The pair were among some two dozen foreigners jailed in Iran who campaigners see as hostages held in a deliberate strategy by Tehran to extract concessions from the West.

'Difficult ordeal'

Phelan, 64, a Paris-based travel consultant, was arrested in October in the city of Mashhad. In April, he was jailed for six and a half years on national security charges strongly rejected by his family.

With Iran rocked by anti-regime protests since September, Phelan was accused of taking photos of a burned mosque and police officers, and sending images to a British newspaper, the family said.

Phelan went on a dry hunger strike in January to protest his detention, refusing both food and water. But he stopped the action at the request of his family, who feared he would die.

Briere, 37, was first detained while traveling in Iran in May 2020 and later sentenced to eight years in prison for espionage.

Although acquitted by an appeals court, he remained in prison in a situation described as "incomprehensible" by his family.

Briere also went on hunger strikes to protest his conditions.

"This release had to happen before there was a catastrophe. There was a real risk to his life," his lawyer told AFP.

'Regain full freedom'

Iran's foreign ministry described the release of Briere and Phelan as a "humanitarian action."

Four more French citizens, described previously as "hostages" by the French foreign ministry, are still in prison in Iran.

Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said she had spoken earlier Friday to her Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir Abdollahian and made clear "France's determination to ensure that the other French citizens still detained in Iran also rapidly regain their full freedom."

Several U.S., German, British, Swedish and other European citizens, such as Belgian aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele arrested in February 2022, also remain detained.

The holding of foreigners by Tehran has increased tensions with the West at a time when the Islamic republic is under scrutiny for its crackdown on the protest movement that erupted in September.

Activists also are alarmed by a surge in the number of executions by Iran. On Saturday, Tehran hanged Swedish-Iranian dissident Habib Chaab on terrorism charges.
Amid widespread protests and political instability following the recent arrest of former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, authorities have imposed internet shutdowns and blocked social media platforms, while protestors have targeted journalists in violent attacks.

Khan was arrested on May 9 by paramilitary troops on corruption charges. Two days later, Pakistans Supreme Court ruled the arrest was unlawful and ordered that Khan be released, marking a setback for the countrys powerful military.

Khan has faced several charges since he was ousted after losing a confidence vote last year, so it was only a matter of time before he was arrested.

Nevertheless, the arrest of the popular former prime minister infuriated his supporters, prompting protests around the country, with demonstrators storming military buildings, ransacking the residence of a top army general in Lahore, and setting fire to state buildings.

Following Khans arrest, authorities imposed internet shutdown in several regions, including the capital Islamabad, and blocked platforms like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. On Wednesday, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority said the internet shutdown would remain in effect for an indefinite period.

Digital rights groups condemned the latest development in what has become a pattern of Pakistani authorities blocking internet access in response to political instability and protests.

Especially amid protests and crises, people need to share and verify information, and exchange diverse views. The deliberate blackouts in Pakistan undermine human rights, stifle free speech, and will only worsen the impact of the crisis by keeping people in the dark, said Eliska Pirkova, who works at the digital rights group Access Now.

The shutdown is a violation of peoples right to access information and free expression, according to Amnesty Internationals Rimmel Mohydin.

The ban on social media platforms creates a permissive environment for other human rights violations under the darkness of the internet shutdown, Mohydin said in a statement.

Many reporters and news outlets have been the targets of violence following Khans arrest, according to the press freedom group Reporters Without Borders, or RSF.

On May 10, about 200 demonstrators stormed the building housing Radio Pakistan, the state-owned radio station in Peshawar, the capital of the northern province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

They immediately ransacked the reception area and smashed furniture in several studios, the stations managing director Ijaz Khan said in a statement.

The mob later set fire to the building, destroying computer equipment and the stations historical recordings and three vehicles in the compound.

The day before, reporters trying to cover the protests in Peshawar were attacked by demonstrators.

During the current turmoil in Pakistan, it is absolutely crucial that journalists should be able to work without constraint in order to provide their fellow citizens and the world with reliable, freely-reported and independent news coverage, RSFs Asia-Pacific head Daniel Bastard said in a statement.

RSF ranks Pakistan 150 out of 180 countries in terms of press freedom.

Some information in this report came from Reuters.
A federal judge Wednesday ordered the Biden administration to end the expedited releases of migrants who enter the United States illegally from Mexico, potentially straining already stretched holding facilities.

The order wont take effect for a week to give the government time to appeal. The Homeland Security and Justice departments had no immediate comment.

In declaring a key administration tool illegal, U.S. District Judge T. Kent Wetherell II offered a scathing review of President Joe Bidens border policies in a 109-page opinion, which followed a January trial in Pensacola, Florida.

The administration has effectively turned the Southwest Border into a meaningless line in the sand and little more than a speedbump for aliens flooding into the country, he wrote.

Wetherell, an appointee of President Donald Trump, criticized a decision to stop building a border wall, end a policy to make asylum-seekers wait in Mexico for hearings in U.S. immigration court and shift enforcement priorities. He also faulted the administration for ending family detention at the border, a decision that officials have begun to reconsider.

Collectively, these actions were akin to posting a flashing Come In, Were Open sign on the southern border, Wetherell wrote.

Wetherells language echoed Republican talking points heaping blame for all the borders ills on Biden. While numbers have soared in the last two years, similar challenges dogged his predecessors, Trump and Barack Obama.

Todays ruling affirms what we have known all along, President Biden is responsible for the border crisis and his unlawful immigration policies make this country less safe, said Ashley Moody, Floridas Republican attorney general, who sued on behalf of the state in 2021. A federal judge is now ordering Biden to follow the law, and his administration should immediately begin securing the border to protect the American people.

At issue is the administrations growing use of parole to quickly remove migrants from Border Patrol custody to pursue their immigration cases. They are typically told to report to immigration authorities in two months and tracked with a mobile device.

The Border Patrol paroled 572,575 migrants last year, including a record-high 130,563 in December. Parole plunged 96% to 5,225 migrants in January after the administration announced measures aimed at deterring Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans from crossing the border illegally and instead seek protection by applying online, finding a financial sponsor and entering the U.S. at an airport.

MIAMI (AP)  A federal judge Wednesday ordered the Biden administration to end the expedited releases of migrants who enter the United States illegally from Mexico, potentially straining already stretched holding facilities.

The order wont take effect for a week to give the government time to appeal. The Homeland Security and Justice departments had no immediate comment.

In declaring a key administration tool illegal, U.S. District Judge T. Kent Wetherell II offered a scathing review of President Joe Bidens border policies in a 109-page opinion, which followed a January trial in Pensacola, Florida.

The administration has effectively turned the Southwest Border into a meaningless line in the sand and little more than a speedbump for aliens flooding into the country, he wrote.

Wetherell, an appointee of President Donald Trump, criticized a decision to stop building a border wall, end a policy to make asylum-seekers wait in Mexico for hearings in U.S. immigration court and shift enforcement priorities. He also faulted the administration for ending family detention at the border, a decision that officials have begun to reconsider.

Collectively, these actions were akin to posting a flashing Come In, Were Open sign on the southern border, Wetherell wrote.

Wetherells language echoed Republican talking points heaping blame for all the borders ills on Biden. While numbers have soared in the last two years, similar challenges dogged his predecessors, Trump and Barack Obama.

Todays ruling affirms what we have known all along, President Biden is responsible for the border crisis and his unlawful immigration policies make this country less safe, said Ashley Moody, Floridas Republican attorney general, who sued on behalf of the state in 2021. A federal judge is now ordering Biden to follow the law, and his administration should immediately begin securing the border to protect the American people.

At issue is the administrations growing use of parole to quickly remove migrants from Border Patrol custody to pursue their immigration cases. They are typically told to report to immigration authorities in two months and tracked with a mobile device.

The Border Patrol paroled 572,575 migrants last year, including a record-high 130,563 in December. Parole plunged 96% to 5,225 migrants in January after the administration announced measures aimed at deterring Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans from crossing the border illegally and instead seek protection by applying online, finding a financial sponsor and entering the U.S. at an airport.

Parole is far faster than the time-consuming job of agents issuing notices to appear in immigration court. It has dramatically alleviated overcrowding at Border Patrol facilities, which hovered around 12,000 toward the end of last year but fell below 5,000 in January.

Immigration advocates warned that Wetherells ruling could exacerbate conditions.

Should it take effect, this decision will mean greater health and safety risks for detained migrants and greater pressure on our agents at the border, said Jennie Murray, president of the National Immigration Forum.
A new project aims to reopen the official border crossings between Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia, which have been partially or fully closed in recent years due to security issues.

Speaking Thursday in the border town of Mandera during the launch, Kenya's Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua said the project will improve socio-economic development between the three countries.

"Infrastructural development is silenced by armed conflicts, we must silence the gun for the industries to roar back, we must silence the violence for socio-economic prosperity," he said.

The U.K.-funded initiative dubbed "Deris Wanaag" in Somali, which translates to "Good Neighborliness," aims to find a lasting solution to the perennial insecurity and instability in the Horn of Africa nations.

Even though various border-crossing points have been officially closed at times over the last decade, militants, criminals and regular migrants still cross borders with little problem. Last year, the Somali militant group al-Shabab sent hundreds of fighters into Ethiopia before being pushed back by regional forces.

British High Commissioner to Kenya Jane Marriot said the project is a strategic investment for Kenya and the Horn of Africa region.

"You have numerous challenges together  drought, resource conflicts, armed proliferation, terrorism  but you also have so much that is good and positive together, and it is that we want this program to help bring on," she said.

Gachagua said the governments will implement measures to eradicate conflict, such as improving road and water infrastructure networks, as well as enhancing education.

The governments said they will tackle the root cause of terrorism through intelligence and putting greater manpower on the border to catch al-Shabab insurgents.

Kenya closed its official border posts with Somalia in 2012 to hinder al-Shabab's movements. The border closures included the Mandera border post as well as Lamu, Wajir and Garissa border crossings.

However, earlier this year Kenya announced it is reopening its border with Somalia and Ethiopia.

Somalia Minister for Security Mohamed Ahmed Sheikh said the project is timely and will effectively tackle cross-border insecurity challenges.

"And in that spirit of collective solidarity, there has never been a better time to forge common destiny and collectively participate in this project to tackle cross-border challenges," Sheikh said.

The project launch happened a day after a security compact was signed between Kenya and the United Kingdom on Wednesday.
New developments:

In a video address Friday, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian soldiers have already lost the war in their minds. He said Ukraine must pressure them further, so their sense of defeat turns into mistakes, losses and ultimate defeat.

White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said the U.S. assessment of Bakhmut is that the city remains contested territory.

The British Defense Ministry said Russia likely added up to 10,000 prisoners to those recruited to fight in Ukraine.

The founder of the Wagner Group paramilitary forces on Friday sharply criticized the Russian military, saying Russian troops abandoned the flank in and around the eastern city of Bakhmut, allowing Ukrainian troops to gain ground on all sides of the disputed city.

In a video released Friday, millionaire mercenary group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said, "The flanks are crumbling, the front is collapsing," around Bakhmut and the "desertion" of the area allowed Ukrainian forces take control of the Chasiv Yar-Bakhmut road, a key supply line Wagner forces had blocked.

Prigozhin again accused the defense ministry of withholding ammunition from the group, a claim denied earlier by the Russian Defense Ministry. He also mocked Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkovs description of the withdrawal of Russian troops as "a tactical retreat."

Konashenkov had given a briefing earlier Friday in which he described Russian forces making advances and repelling Ukrainian forces, killing and wounding 900 troops in the Donetsk area.

Prigozhin said the attempts of the Defense Ministry to smooth over or sugarcoat the situation would lead to a great tragedy for Russia. He called on the ministry directly, saying that "you must stop lying immediately."

Ukrainian advances

Ukrainian military commanders have said this week that their troops have recaptured territory around Bakhmut. In a Telegram post on Friday, Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar confirmed that Ukrainian forces were gaining ground near the city.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address Friday that he met with the countrys top military commanders earlier in the day. He said that General Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of ground forces, reported his troops "stopped the enemy and even pushed him back in some directions."

Zelenskyy also said that Russian troops are suffering from low morale.

"The occupiers are already mentally prepared for defeat. They have already lost this war in their minds," he said.

In Washington, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said that Bakhmut remains contested territory.

"Ukrainians have not given up their defense of Bakhmut and the Russians havent given up their attempts to take Bakhmut," Kirby said.

"Every single day, the lines change back and forth. I mean, sometimes block by block," he said.



Counteroffensive and grain

Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Friday there was no news to report on the status of restarting the grain deal that allows commodities to be shipped from Ukrainian ports to Africa and other areas with food shortages.

During his regular phone briefing with reporters, Peskov said talks in Istanbul involving Turkish, Russian, Ukrainian and United Nations officials continued, and there were no new decisions for an extension to the deal that is set to expire Wednesday.

Turkey said later Friday that the sides were nearing an agreement.

"We are heading toward an agreement on the extension of the grain deal," Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said in a statement.

Zelenskyy said in an interview Thursday with European broadcasters that Kyiv is delaying the start of the counteroffensive against Russia because it lacks enough Western weapons to succeed without suffering too many casualties.

Zelenskyy said it's possible that "we can go forward and be successful," the BBC reported.

"But we'd lose a lot of people. I think that's unacceptable," he was quoted as saying. "So, we need to wait. We still need a bit more time. ... In terms of equipment, not everything has arrived yet."

Ukraine's preparations for a counteroffensive received an important boost Thursday when Britain announced it was supplying long-range cruise missiles to Ukraine, giving Kyiv the capability to hit Russian troops well behind the front lines.

British Defense Minister Ben Wallace confirmed to British lawmakers that the United Kingdom will donate Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine.

"The use of Storm Shadow will allow Ukraine to push back Russian forces based within Ukrainian sovereign territory," he said without specifying how many are being delivered.

Storm Shadow missiles, which have a range of more than 250 kilometers, would give Ukraine the capacity to strike deep behind Russian front lines  as far as Moscow-occupied Crimea.

British media reports said Kyiv had promised, though, not to use the missiles to strike inside Russia's territory.

The Kremlin threatened "appropriate" measures in response to London's move.

"It will demand an appropriate response from our military that will definitely make the decisions required in military terms," spokesperson Peskov told reporters.

Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press, Reuters and the Agence France-Presse.
Some US lawmakers are urging legislation to curb sales of US agricultural land to foreign entities, specifically China. Of more than 100 countries with US land investments, China ranks 18th in holdings. As VOA's Kane Farabaugh reports, while concerns about China gobbling up US farmland resound in Congress, experts say its more a political issue than a practical one.
Doctors Without Borders, also known by the French acronym MSF, is sounding the alarm this week as it treats an unusually high number of sexual assault victims in the Democratic Republic of Congo's North Kivu province.

Jason Rizzo, the emergency coordinator for MSF in North Kivu, told VOA that clashes between the Congolese army and many armed groups, including M23, have recently led to the enormous displacement in the province of 1.2 million people.

"We have been trying to respond to the different needs that come with mass displacement, access to health care, food, water, shelter and all the epidemics that can come with that, when vaccination coverage is low with measles and cholera," Rizzo said. "We've been trying to respond to all these medical humanitarian emergencies at the same time and one of the biggest problems has been the question of sexual violence."

Rizzo said the number of victims of sexual assault has climbed to nearly 50 per day in the past two weeks.

He said a contributing factor is that people don't have enough to eat. When the humanitarian response clearly does not provide basic services, he said, people take matters in their own hands to make ends meet.

"Perhaps one of the reasons the numbers on our end have exploded over the last couple of weeks is that we've started providing medical services in one of the newer camps called Rusayo," Rizzo said. "Now this is one of the most densely populated camps, also located sort of on the periphery of the city and closer to the forest area. People will go out, they will search for firewood, food, and that's often when the incident is occurring."

One displaced woman living at the Rusayo camp said that shortly after arriving, her child started exhibiting signs of malnutrition. Needing to do something, she said, she went into the nearby forest to collect firewood to sell so she could buy food, and was attacked.

MSF says it treated nearly 700 victims in the last two weeks of April in camps located in Bulengo, Lushagala, Kanyaruchinya, Eloime, Munigi and Rusayo.

Asked who the perpetrators are, Rizzo said it's difficult to respond with any degree of certainty.

"This is a very traumatic event," he said. "We know a good percentage of the victims have told us they were being raped by armed men, but to be able to say exactly what group a particular aggressor was a part of, it's hard for them to say, it's hard for us to say."

Rizzo said MSF is having open discussions with various DRC authorities to ensure that services are in place so that victims can seek medical treatment within 72 hours. Sexual violence is a medical emergency, he told VOA, not something that could be treated weeks later. The reason, he said, is there are a host of potential medical complications, including potential pregnancy and infections.

VOA asked DRC officials for comment, including Major Guillaume Djike, DRC Goma Military spokesperson. Djike said authorities were looking into it, but did not elaborate.

This week, Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi threatened to end the mandate of the East African Community Regional Force, whom he accused of working with M23 rebels, a group that claims to represent the interests of the minority Tutsis in eastern DRC. East African forces have been deployed in the eastern part of the country to help fight M23 and other armed groups there.

Last month, regional force commander Major General Jeff Nyagah lauded the ongoing stability efforts in eastern DRC, saying the cease-fires among warring parties have been holding for over one month and they've seen significant withdrawal of M23 from certain areas. Shortly after, Nyagah resigned abruptly.
(Bloomberg) -- The London Metal Exchange is tightening rules for handling nickel by its network of warehouses, following the shock discovery earlier this year that some of its nickel contracts were instead backed by bags of stones.

Most Read from Bloomberg

The LME will now require warehouse companies to carry out additional checks in an attempt to prevent a repeat of the scandal, according to people familiar with the matter. The tests include using magnets and metal detectors to ensure that the bags do in fact contain metal, and a so-called touch inspection, which involves warehouse workers feeling the outside of the bags to verify that the material inside is an appropriate size and shape.

The changes come two months after the exchange discovered that 54 tons of nickel held at a warehouse in Rotterdam and owned by JPMorgan Chase & Co. was actually just bags of stones. While the amounts involved were small, the incident shook traders faith in the LME, whose contracts have long been seen as unquestionably safe in an industry where fraud and theft are commonplace.

At the heart of the case is a quirk specific to the nickel market: unlike aluminum and copper, which are kept in neat stacks in warehouses, most of the nickel in the LME is in the form of briquettes stored in bags. It is typically only weighed by warehousing companies once: when it first enters their warehouse. That meant that the existence of the bags of stones at the Rotterdam warehouse was able to go undetected for a significant period of time.

The warehousing company, Access World, believes its likely that someone snuck into the warehouse at some point after the bags were first delivered, several years ago, and replaced the nickel with stones. The heist was only noticed when the bags had been sold, delivered out and were inspected upon their arrival elsewhere.

Story continues

The changes mandated by the LME, which only cover nickel stored in bags and were communicated to warehousing companies in recent days, seek to reduce the chances that the incident could be repeated.

The exchange will require warehouses to carry out additional checks when bags of nickel are delivered in. It will also require them to carry out certain checks when bags of nickel are warranted (registered for delivery on the exchange) and when they are rewarranted (registered again, after previously having been deregistered).

Finally the exchange is asking warehouses to weigh bags of nickel as they are delivered out of the LME system  a final check to ensure the trustworthiness of the system and to prevent traders getting a nasty surprise when metal they bought on the LME turns out to be the wrong weight, as happened to Trafigura Group and Stratton Metals with nickel from the Access World Rotterdam warehouse.

An LME spokesperson confirmed the exchange is putting in place enhanced operating procedures for bagged products in LME-licensed warehouses, and said the LME is committed to continuing to evolve its procedures to ensure the future robustness of its physical storage network.

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A South Korean human rights group has condemned what it calls inappropriate pressure from the Chinese government, after the organization selected a jailed Hong Kong pro-democracy activist as the winner of its annual human rights award.

The May 18 Foundation  an organization based in South Korea's southwestern city of Gwangju  earlier this month named labor activist and lawyer Chow Hang-tung as the recipient of its 2023 Gwangju Prize for Human Rights.

Chow is serving 22 months in prison for attending and helping organize vigils to commemorate the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown. She faces up to 10 more years in jail after being charged with "inciting subversion" under Hong Kong's far-reaching National Security Law.

A day after Chow was announced as the winner, the Chinese consulate in Gwangju demanded a meeting with the May 18 Foundation and later dispatched three officials in an attempt to get the award rescinded, the group told VOA.

It is the latest instance of China attempting to control conversation about its policies and silence critics in South Korea, a trend also seen globally.

"It's absurd that the national government would visit and condemn an NGO," said Won Sun-seok, chairperson of the May 18 Foundation. "This is not an issue related to the national government."

Gwangju spirit

The rights group's name is a reference to a 1980 student-led protest in Gwangju, also known as the May 18 Democratic Uprising. The protest movement was crushed by South Korea's brutal, U.S.-backed military leaders, but helped kindle a nationwide pro-democracy movement.

Since 2000, the May 18 Foundation has presented an annual award to those who embody the fighting spirit of the Gwangju protesters.

In announcing Chow as the winner, the organization said she "tirelessly challenged the government's unjust and unfair treatment of human rights defenders."

"As a prisoner of conscience, she continues to struggle against the system that oppresses the people of Hong Kong," the group said. "Despite her imprisonment, she has become a symbol of courage and hope."

'Nothing can stop her'

Chow was the vice chairman of the now-disbanded Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, which organized an annual vigil to commemorate those killed by the Chinese military during 1989 protests in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

According to fellow activists, Chow kept a relatively low profile for years as she worked to defend fellow pro-democracy advocates targeted by Hong Kong's government.

But after a sweeping crackdown on pro-democracy protests in 2019, Chow emerged as one of the relatively few remaining dissidents in Hong Kong who dared to openly challenge the Chinese government.

Chow's motivation to continue speaking out despite grave personal risk can be attributed to her belief that human rights and freedom are the birthright of the Hong Kong and Chinese people, says fellow Hong Kong political activist Glacier Kwong.

"She simply thinks this is the right thing to do, and nothing can stop her. It's just as simple as that," said Kwong, who is currently studying in Britain.

According to the May 18 Foundation, Chinese consulate officials claimed Chow was a "dangerous person" and a "criminal" who led protests that threatened the Chinese government. If the group proceeded with the award, the officials warned, it would impact the opinion that many Chinese people have of Gwangju and the May 18 Foundation.

The Chinese consulate in Gwangju did not respond to VOA's request for comment on the matter.

China angry at solidarity displays

Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement has attracted support from many South Koreans who see overlap with their own country's past struggle for freedom. But China has often responded to South Korean shows of solidarity with heavy-handed tactics.

The Chinese pressure was especially intense in 2019, when South Koreans held demonstrations in support of the Hong Kong pro-democracy movement.

At the time, South Korean activists claimed that pressure from the Chinese consulate in Gwangju resulted in a university canceling an event with a Hong Kong pro-democracy activist.

There were also reports of Chinese students attacking Korean classmates and vandalizing so-called "Lennon Walls," which contain messages of support for Hong Kong protesters.

Those incidents, along with China's broadly more combative stance toward its neighbors, help explain why South Korean views of China have plummeted in recent years.

Opinion polls now suggest South Korean perceptions of China are roughly equal to views about Japan, Korea's former colonial ruler.

No fear or favor

Some observers say it is notable that Chow was given the award by a rights group based in Gwangju, which is located in a region where voters overwhelmingly support left-leaning political causes.

"There is this idea that if you criticize China then you are a conservative, and if you don't then you're a liberal. But the May 18 Foundation dispelled this notion. In fact, this award was given based on universal principles," said Na Hyun-phil, secretary general of the Seoul-based Korean House for International Solidarity, which focuses on global human rights issues.

Won, head of the non-partisan May 18 Foundation, insists his group will not single out any country. But the soft-spoken 72-year-old, who as a college student was sentenced to two years in jail for participating in the 1980 Gwangju protests, has experience standing his ground.

"We don't bow to that kind of pressure," said Won, who stressed the importance of global solidarity against government oppression, no matter where it exists.
Rights groups have called for action against the "forced displacements" of tens of thousands of Ukrainian children into Russia. But for some Ukrainian families, these alleged crimes are only one part of the complex web of violence they must navigate to survive during the war. VOA's Heather Murdock reports with videographer Yan Boechat in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine.
In February 2022, Russia took over Iryna Grinchenkos town in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine overnight. We woke up and Russia was in charge, she said.

As battles continued throughout the summer, Russian authorities told parents that their children could be evacuated to camps, where they would play in the sun and study.

I thought, My children havent seen the sea in long time, Grinchenko said.

By then it was late summer, and other parents had sent their children to these summer camps sponsored by Russia. I wanted my children to have a rest [from the war] and make new friends, Grinchenko said.

She sent her two daughters, Nastia, 12 and Ksenia, 11, on the free holiday, supervised by local teachers she knew personally. It seemed safer than keeping them at home.

A different violence

At first, Grinchenko was happy with her decision. As Ukraine fought bitterly to retake the Kharkiv region last fall, she saw her neighbors children hiding from bombs in bunkers, terrified. Her daughters were safe, and far from the violence.

But rights groups and Ukrainian officials say Grinchenko and her family were victims of a different kind of violence. They say more than 19,000 children have been taken from occupied or formerly occupied areas of Ukraine to Russia, usually under the guise of evacuation, to indoctrinate them, and essentially erase their Ukrainian identity. Fewer than 400 have since returned home.

They force them to sing Russian songs, [the] Russian anthem, to go [to] Russian schools, said Mykola Kuleba, who heads Save Ukraine, a group that helps parents go to Russia to individually retrieve their children. They [the Russians] have special classes. They brainwash [the children].

Russian officials said these accusations are baseless, and that children who have traveled from Ukraine on Russia-sponsored trips have all done so to escape war zones with consent from their parents or relevant authorities.

Rescue mission

When Grinchenko sent her daughters away, she thought they would be gone for 24 days. Some children had already returned from their Russian holidays on time and with happy memories.

But weeks turned into months, and then one day she woke up to find Ukraine had retaken her town. The de facto border had moved and now she was effectively in a different country than her daughters.

Our relatives in Poland were negative, saying, If you dont get them back immediately you may not get them back, she said. They were afraid the children would not be able to return to Ukraine.

Grinchenko sought help from Save Ukraine and began the long journey to Russia for what the group calls rescue missions undertaken by parents or guardians. Russian authorities have not stopped parents from reclaiming their children when they arrive at facilities in person.

But these missions are tricky and sometimes dangerous, said Kuleba, adding that there are an unknown number of Ukrainian children being fostered, adopted or schooled in Russia.

At the Moscow airport, the parents, including Grinchenko, were stopped and questioned for more than 10 hours. Sometimes, Kuleba said, the children themselves do not want to return.

[Russian authorities] tell them  all the time  bad things about Ukraine, Kuleba said. He said the children are told, Nobody from Ukraine needs you  your parents or your country. Forget about it. We can give you Russian citizenship and you will be happy here.

Arrest warrants, international condemnation

In March, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, the Russian commissioner for children's rights, for the unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia.

Then in late April, the Council of Europe published a draft resolution calling for action against the forced transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia, including orphans, children with disabilities, children accompanied by parents, and children taken for holidays  from which they have never returned.

In the case of forcibly transferred children, the resolution said, the crime of genocide has reared its head and must be thoroughly investigated and prosecuted.

Lvova-Belova said the children were rescued for humanitarian reasons and called the criminal accusations a conspiracy. Moscow denies abducting children, saying they have been transported away for their own safety. Lvova-Belova has vowed to continue to take children out of conflict areas.

I can say for sure that I am not ashamed of any of my actions because this is all for children and for children's sake, she told VICE News in early May.

For the children returning to Ukraine, the homecoming is bittersweet. Before crossing a broken bridge into their region, the Kharkiv countryside along the Russian border, Nastia and Ksenia said they had a nice time in Russia. The teachers were kind, and they often brought sweets to their classes. The children were well-dressed, clean and carrying new toys, including a large, stuffed pink unicorn.

The school in Russia taught them local history and language, said Nastia, but nothing about the war in Ukraine. When they left, the towns and cities they traveled through were intact, not littered with debris and rubble from the near-constant bombs raining down on their country.

I didnt expect this [much] destruction, Nastia said quietly after seeing the aftermath of all those attacks.
Tens of thousands of people marched through the Serbian capital, Belgrade, and blocked a key bridge Friday in the second large protest since two mass shootings that rattled the Balkan country and killed 17 people, including many children.

Protesters gathered in front of the Parliament building before filing by the government's headquarters and onto a highway bridge spanning the Sava River, where evening commuters had to turn their vehicles around to avoid getting stuck. At the head of the column was a black banner reading "Serbia Against Violence."

As the demonstrators passed the government buildings, many chanted slogans decrying Serbia's populist president, Aleksandar Vucic, whom they blame for creating an atmosphere of hopelessness and division in the country that they say indirectly led to the mass shootings.

"We're here to express a certain kind of rebellion against everything that currently surrounds us, but primarily the violence that occurred in the last ... days, and that is all around us in the past years," Belgrade resident Nevena Matic said.

Pro-government media criticized the bridge blockade, with the Novosti daily newspaper reporting that "harassment has begun, hooligans have blocked the bridge."

But opposition politician Srdjan Milivojevic told television station N1 that "this is a battle for survival." He said, "If the president does not understand his people, it's time he resigned."

Police did not intervene. As night fell and the crowd started to disperse, organizers promised to hold more protests unless their demands were met.

Ahead of the protest, Vucic, who holds nearly all the levers of power, said it amounted to "violence in politics" and the "harassment" of citizens. But he said police wouldn't get involved "unless people's lives are in danger."

"What gives them the right to block other people's normal lives?" said Vucic, who accused opposition leaders of "abusing the tragedy" following the shootings that deeply rattled the nation and triggered calls for change.

"They are harassing citizens and not allowing them to travel," Vucic insisted. "But we don't like to beat protesters, like France and Germany do."

The rally came nearly a week after an earlier protest in Belgrade that also drew thousands and demonstrations in smaller towns and cities around the country. At that protest, demonstrators demanded the resignations of government ministers and the withdrawal of broadcast licenses for two private TV stations that are close to the state and promote violence. They often host convicted war criminals and crime figures on their programs.

The two shootings happened within two days of each other and left 17 people dead and 21 wounded. On May 3, a 13-year-old boy used his father's gun to open fire at his school in central Belgrade. The next day, a 20-year-old man randomly fired at people in a rural area south of the capital.

Opposition parties have accused Vucic's populist government of fueling intolerance and hate speech while taking hold of all institutions. Vucic has denied this. He has called his own rally for May 26 in Belgrade that he said would be the "biggest ever."

"We do not organize spontaneous rallies in order to play with people's emotions," Vucic insisted. "Ours will be a rally of unity, when we will announce important political decisions."

Vucic also told reporters that citizens had handed in more than 9,000 weapons since police announced a one-month amnesty for people to surrender unregistered guns and ammunition or face possible prison sentences after that period.

Serbia is estimated to be among the top countries in Europe in number of guns per capita, many of them left over from the wars in the 1990s. Other anti-gun measures after the shootings include a ban on new gun licenses, stricter controls on gun owners and shooting ranges, and tougher punishments for the illegal possession of weapons.
A war of words is brewing between the U.S. and South Africa after the U.S. ambassador to the country said he would "bet his life" on U.S. intelligence that South African weapons were loaded onto a Russian vessel when it docked at a Cape Town naval base in December. The South African government hit back, saying that while it would investigate the matter, the U.S. ambassador's remarks had "undermined" the relationship between the two nations.

Pretoria summoned U.S. Ambassador Reuben Brigety on Friday, amid a diplomatic spat that has put relations between the two friendly nations at their lowest ebb in years.

After the meeting, South Africa issued a statement saying that Brigety "admitted that he crossed the line and apologized unreservedly to the government and the people of South Africa."

Brigety later said via Twitter: "I was grateful for the opportunity to speak with Foreign Minister Pandor this evening and correct any misimpressions left by my public remarks."

The demarche was issued after Brigety's extraordinarily strident comments to South African media on Thursday in which he said the U.S. had observed South African weapons being loaded onto a Russian vessel, the "Lady R," which docked at the port of Simon's Town in Cape Town between December 6 and December 8 last year.

He said it showed South Africa was not neutral on the Ukraine conflict as Pretoria has always claimed.

"The arming of Russia, by South Africa, with the vessel that landed in Simon's Town, is fundamentally unacceptable," he said. "We are confident that weapons were loaded onto that vessel, and I would bet my life on the accuracy of that assertion."

The South African government seemed caught by surprise by the ambassador's comments, responding hours later that they were setting up an independent investigation into the matter led by a retired judge.

But Vincent Magwenya, a spokesman for President Cyril Ramaphosa also hit back at Brigety's remarks, saying the U.S. and South Africa had already discussed the matter privately.

"It is, therefore, disappointing that the U.S. ambassador has adopted a counter-productive public posture that undermines the understanding reached on the matter," Magwenya said.

A spokesman for the Department of International Relations and Cooperation said Friday that minister Naledi Pandor would also be speaking to her U.S. counterpart, Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

However, Kobus Marais, shadow defense minister for South Africa's main opposition Democratic Alliance said the U.S. accusations were "deeply concerning."

"If these allegations are indeed true it would be a gross violation of South Africa's international obligations and a betrayal of the trust of our most important trade and investment allies," Marais said.

There have long been questions surrounding why the ship docked in Cape Town last year.

Despite western efforts to get Pretoria's support for Kyiv since the Russian invasion began last year, the South African government has maintained friendly relations with Moscow.

The country's foreign minister held bilateral talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov earlier this year and  despite U.S. consternation  hosted Russian war ships in February for joint military exercises.

Steven Gruzd, a Russia expert at the South African Institute of International Affairs, told VOA that Pretoria could face economic fallout from its stance.

"South Africa is jeopardizing its access to the American market through something like the African Growth and Opportunity Act, those privileges would be revoked and then there would be real economic costs," he said.

South Africa also has invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to attend a summit in the country in August, despite the fact there's an arrest warrant out for him by the International Criminal Court and Pretoria is a signatory to the court.

If he shows up, South Africa is legally obliged to arrest him. This has led to calls by some within the ruling party to look into restructuring the agreement with the ICC.
Sudan's warring parties signed a commitment late Thursday on guidelines for allowing humanitarian assistance, U.S. officials said.

Representatives of the army and paramilitary forces, who have been fighting for nearly a month, signed the agreement in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on a declaration of commitment to protect the civilians of Sudan, a U.S. official involved in the talks said.

The commitment is not a cease-fire but rather aims to help secure humanitarian aid.

The agreement requires both sides to permit humanitarian assistance, to allow the restoration of electricity, water and other basic services, to withdraw security forces from hospitals and to arrange for respectful burial of the dead.

"We are hopeful, cautiously, that their willingness to sign this document will create some momentum that will force them to create the space" to bring in relief supplies, the U.S. official said. Still, the two sides remain "quite far apart, the official added.

Earlier on Thursday, the U.N. Human Rights Council barely managed to pass a motion to increase monitoring of human rights abuses in Sudan, where hundreds of civilians have been killed since a conflict began last month.

Backed by the United Kingdom and the United States, the motion passed 18-15.

The initiative grants the U.N.'s Sudan expert more powers to monitor abuses, among other measures. It was watered down several times in recent days in order to gain approval.

"I think it's really important that the people of Sudan know that we here in the Human Rights Council in Geneva are watching what is happening, that we are appalled by what we see," British Ambassador Simon Manley told Reuters after the vote.

No African country voted in favor of the initiative. Sudanese Ambassador Hassan Hamid Hassan said the conflict was internal and reiterated the refrain of "African solutions for African problems."

Earlier Thursday, U.N. human rights chief Volker Turk urged countries with influence in Africa to encourage Sudans warring sides to end the fighting.

Addressing an emergency session of the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, Turk said the conflict has pushed this much-suffering country into catastrophe.

"I condemn the use of violence by individuals who have no regard for the lives and fundamental rights of millions of their own compatriots," he said.

Fighting in Sudans capital worsened Wednesday, with witnesses reporting airstrikes, rocket-propelled grenades and gunfire in several neighborhoods.

The Sudanese army, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, struck targets in Khartoum and its two sister cities, Omdurman and Bahri. The army is trying to dislodge the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, led by General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, which have dug into the residential areas they have held since fighting began in mid-April.

In recent weeks, there have been concerns  including from U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken  that Russias Wagner mercenary group was involved in the conflict.

Wagners head, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said Thursday that the paramilitary group was not operating in Sudan and had not been involved in politics there since army officers deposed Omar al-Bashir in 2019, according to Reuters.

"Wagner is not in Sudan," Prigozhin said in an audio clip posted on Telegram. "Wagner never got involved in the domestic political affairs in Sudan after the departure of Omar al-Bashir."

Regardless of whether Wagner is involved, the conflict is only getting worse.

According to the World Health Organization, the fighting has left more than 600 people dead and more than 5,000 others injured.

Delegations from the army and the RSF have been meeting in Saudi Arabia for almost a week. The opposing generals are former allies who together orchestrated the October 2021 military coup that derailed a transition to civilian rule following the 2019 ouster of Bashir.

Tensions between the generals have been growing over disagreements about how the RSF should be integrated in the army and who should oversee that process. The restructuring of the military was part of an effort to restore the country to civilian rule and end the political crisis sparked by the 2021 military coup.

Repeated cease-fire agreements have failed to end the conflict or even do much to reduce the violence.

The U.N. refugee agency said Tuesday that more than 700,000 Sudanese have fled their homes since the violence broke out last month  a figure that is more than double the 334,000 the agency reported to be internally displaced last week.

The International Organization for Migration said an additional 100,000 Sudanese have fled the country.

Most aid operations have been suspended or severely scaled back because of 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.

The WFP said Wednesday that up to 2.5 million additional people in Sudan are expected to slip into hunger in the near future because of the violence. The U.N. agency said this would take acute food insecurity in Sudan to record levels.

More than 19 million people, or two-fifths of Sudans population, are currently affected, according to the WFP.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
The United Nations refugee agency said Friday that 200,000 people have fled the violence in Sudan, with 60,000 total having fled to neighboring Chad.

At a news briefing in Geneva, U.N. refugee agency spokeswoman Olga Sarrado said 30,000 have crossed into Chad in the past several days, with more people crossing borders daily.

Along with those fleeing the country, she noted that 700,000 people are displaced within Sudan, as reported Tuesday by the International Organization for Migration, or IOM.

The news comes the day after Sudan's warring parties signed a commitment allowing humanitarian assistance into the country.

However, there was no letup in the fighting Friday as the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces both issued statements accusing each other of harming civilians and ignoring humanitarian needs.

And with no agreement on a cease-fire, airstrikes and artillery pounded Khartoum.

"We were expecting that the [humanitarian] agreement would calm down the war, but we woke up to artillery fire and airstrikes," said Mohamed Abdallah, 39, living in Khartoum. Area residents also reported the sound of fighter jets overhead and heavy fighting in parts of Khartoum and its adjoining sister city of Bahri.

"I woke up to an airstrike (landing) nearby," said Waleed Adam, a resident living in the east of the capital.

Urban battlefield

Since fighting began in mid-April, the capital has become an urban battlefield, and deadly ethnic clashes have erupted in the western Darfur region, where gunfire and artillery rattled neighborhoods in the city of Geneina on Friday. Since mid-April, fighting between local militias has killed 450 people in Darfur.

Addressing Friday's news briefing via video link, the U.N. Special Representative for Sudan Volker Perthes said he expected talks on a cease-fire to continue Friday or Saturday. He said the most important part of the agreement was that the two sides committed to continue the talks.

Perthes said both sides have ignored every cease-fire agreement signed during the four weeks since the conflict began because both believe they can win, and they are trying to improve their positions. But now, he said, neither believes that victory would be quick.

Fire destroys food for children

Also speaking at the news conference, U.N. Children's Fund Spokesman James Elder said a factory in Sudan's capital, Khartoum, which produces therapeutic food for children suffering from the most dangerous form of malnutrition, has been burned down.

He said the fire destroyed 14,500 cartons of ready-to-use therapeutic food  enough to provide life-saving treatment for the same number of children for six to eight weeks.

Elder called it, "the darkest, most distinct illustration to date of how this conflict is threatening the lives of children through multiple means."

Humanitarian aid agreement

The agreement signed late Thursday in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, by representatives of Sudan's army and the rival Rapid Support Forces is intended to ensure the protection of civilians, including "allowing safe passage for civilians to leave areas of active hostilities on a voluntary basis, in the direction they choose."

The agreement requires both sides to permit humanitarian assistance, to allow the restoration of electricity, water and other basic services, to withdraw security forces from hospitals and to arrange for "respectful burial" of the dead.

The Sudanese army, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, is in a power struggle with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, led by General Mohamed Hamdam Dagalo.

The two generals are former allies who together orchestrated an October 2021 military coup that derailed a transition to civilian rule following the 2019 ouster of former president Omar al-Bashir.



Tensions between the generals have been growing over disagreements about how the RSF should be integrated in the army and who should oversee that process. The restructuring of the military was part of an effort to restore the country to civilian rule and end the political crisis sparked by the 2021 military coup.



Some information in this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
Here is a fast take on what the international community has been up to this past week, as seen from the United Nations perch.

Sudans generals agree to guidelines on allowing humanitarian aid and protection

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed Thursdays signing by Sudans warring parties of a declaration of commitment to protect civilians and guarantee the safe passage of humanitarian aid in the country. The negotiations took place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. However, a cease-fire remained beyond reach. More than 700,000 Sudanese have fled their homes since the violence broke out April 15, and hundreds more have been killed and wounded.

Sudan's Warring Sides Sign Commitment to Secure Humanitarian Aid

In Geneva on Thursday, the U.N. Human Rights Council adopted a resolution at an emergency session condemning the human rights violations committed after the October 25, 2021, military coup in Sudan and the conflict that erupted in April. The resolution calls for the U.N.-designated expert on human rights in Sudan to monitor and document all allegations of human rights abuses since the 2021 military takeover.



UN Experts Urge Accountability for Atrocities Against Sudanese



Black Sea grain deal could expire May 18

The United Nations says it has no backup plan if Russia pulls out of the deal that allows Ukraine to export grain to international markets and helps facilitate Moscow's grain and fertilizer exports. Russia has repeatedly threatened to withdraw from the Black Sea Grain Initiative on May 18, claiming it is not benefiting enough, which U.S. officials say is farcical. The United Nations says the 10-month-old deal has helped bring global food prices down and allowed grain and other foodstuffs to reach developing nations.



UN: No Plan B if Russia Withdraws from Grain Deal



Record number of internally displaced persons worldwide

The number of internally displaced people globally hit a record 71.1 million at the end of last year, according to a report released Thursday by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center  a 20% increase from 2021. Nearly three-quarters of internally displaced people around the world were in 10 countries: Syria, Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ukraine, Colombia, Ethiopia, Yemen, Nigeria, Somalia and Sudan.



Number of Internally Displaced People Hits Record High

In brief



 The United Nations Childrens Fund said Thursday that violence in Haiti is driving up severe acute malnutrition in children. This year, more than 115,000 Haitian children are expected to suffer from the deadliest form of malnutrition, also known as severe wasting, compared to 87,000 last year. Gang violence has made moving about the Caribbean Island nation extremely dangerous  the U.N. says more than 600 people were killed in April alone  making it difficult for families to access food and health care. The childrens agency is appealing for $17 million to scale up its operations in Haiti.



 The U.N. Human Rights office said in a new report Friday that there are strong indications that more than 500 people were killed  most summarily executed  by Malian troops and foreign military personnel during a five-day military operation in the village of Moura in the Mopti region of central Mali in March 2022. U.N. investigators were denied access to Moura by Malian officials during the months-long investigation. The U.N. team documented at least 238 victims and said at least 58 women and girls were raped. Read the full report in French.

 Floods and landslides in the Congos South Kivu Kalehe Territory have killed at least 420 people and local authorities say as many as 5,000 more could be missing. At least 3,000 homes have been damaged or destroyed. The U.N. and partners have mobilized emergency teams to support the governments response efforts. The World Health Organization and UNICEF have provided medical supplies, equipment, clean water and sanitation kits. The World Food Program began distributing eight tons of food on Wednesday. Humanitarians say access is challenging as the main road leading to the area is damaged from the floods.

 The U.N. Refugee Agency and the International Organization for Migration called Friday for a collaborative approach to better respond to the movement of refugees and migrants throughout the Americas. Their joint statement comes as the United States lifted coronavirus restrictions on asylum seekers. Title 42, as it is known, allowed the U.S. to turn back migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border since 2020 under the auspices of protecting public health. UNHCR and IOM expressed concern that new U.S. restrictions on access for asylum-seekers who arrive irregularly after transiting through another country is incompatible with principles of international refugee law. The agencies said, returns should only be conducted following due process and necessary safeguards, and in accordance with States obligations under international law.

UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi was at the State Department on Thursday to discuss the Sudan crisis, forced displacement and other issues with Richard Verman, deputy secretary for management and resources.



 The cash-strapped WFP said Thursday that it will have to end food assistance to 200,000 Palestinians by June. Without a funding infusion, the agency says by August it will be forced to completely suspend operations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. WFP is appealing for $51 million to continue its food and cash assistance for Palestinians until the end of the year. The appeal comes as Israel and the Palestinians are in yet another cycle of violence. The U.N. Security Council met in a closed meeting Wednesday to discuss the latest deadly Israeli air strikes on Gaza and a raid on the West Bank town of Nablus as well as Palestinian rocket fire at Israel.



 Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict Virginia Gamba traveled to Ukraine on Wednesday through May 13, to meet with government officials to discuss the impact of the war on children, including how to enhance the protection of boys and girls in Ukraine and prevent grave violations.



Quote of note



Peace must never be underestimated or taken for granted. We must work to make peace and to keep it, every day, tirelessly. In a world that is tearing itself apart, we must heal divisions, prevent escalation, and listen to grievances. Instead of bullets, we need diplomatic arsenals.



 Secretary-General Guterres in his acceptance speech of the Carlos V European Award on May 9 at the Yuste Monastery in Spain. The award is given to people, organizations, or initiatives that have contributed to the general knowledge and the enhancement of Europes cultural and historical values or EU integration.



What we are watching next week



The Black Sea Grain Initiative could expire on May 18 if Russia withdraws from the deal. An earlier brief suspension on Moscows part in late October was essentially ignored by Ukraine, Turkey and the United Nations. But it remains to be seen if Russia will make it impossible to allow ships to pass safely through the Black Sea to the Bosporus Straits if it unilaterally decides the deal should end.
The U.S. government has ended Title 42, the emergency health order used during the COVID-19 pandemic at the U.S.-Mexico border to quickly expel migrants back to Mexico or to their home country,

The order ended Thursday night at midnight.

The Biden administration introduced strict asylum measures that, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas says, will lead to the expulsion of the majority of migrants at the border, where some border analysts say about 150,000 people are waiting to enter the U.S.

"This is what will happen: You will be returned," Mayorkas told a Washington news conference on Wednesday. "Our border is not open."

At the border, migrants are confused about what to do next. Priscilla Orta, an immigration lawyer in Brownsville, Texas, has been crossing the border into Matamoros, Mexico, every week to explain to migrants the process they are about to face.

"If you enter under any other circumstances besides the app, or just prescheduled appointment, you will not be considered eligible for asylum, which, having worked day in and day out with people who are waiting, especially here in Matamoros, that is precisely what they're seeking: an opportunity to apply for asylum," she told VOA.

With the end of Title 42, Orta is advising migrants to use the CBPOne app to secure an appointment and letting them know that if they cross without authorization, they will be removed immediately. But even with an additional 1,000 appointments available on the app, people are waiting for some time.

Neris Arruaz arrived in Matamoros a month ago and is still not sure when her family members will be able to present themselves at a port of entry. She was an accountant in Cuba. If she crosses to the U.S., she says she has plans to become an entrepreneur and help her family get ahead.

For the communities along the border, an increase in migrant arrivals is not something new.

"The reality is, you've got thousands, more than 2,000, coming over every day," said Cameron County, Texas, Judge Eddie Trevino Jr. in Brownsville.

Trevino said that has been the reality for decades and he pushed back against talk that the border is not secure and safe.

"Just because we've had these surges in numbers of immigrants and migrants, that in and of itself has not created the border as an unsafe area," he said. "It's just created the situation that our immigration system is broken. And we've known that for more than 40 years and yet, administration or Congress after Congress continues to kick the can down [the road] saying let somebody else deal with it, because they don't want to deal with the political fallout."

All migrants are processed under provisions of Title 8 of the U.S. Code.

"This is a long-standing immigration enforcement authority that multiple administrations, Republican and Democratic alike, have used to process individuals. It carries stiff consequences for irregular migration, including at least a five-year ban on reentry and potential criminal prosecution for repeated attempts to cross unlawfully," Mayorkas told reporters in late April.

For border patrol officials, the mission is clear. Process migrants who qualify under current guidelines and quickly deport those who do not.

"The border is not open, OK?" Border Patrol Agent Fidel Baca told VOA. "If you enter between the ports of entry, you're entering the country illegally. OK? And you are subject to consequences. Another thing that's going to come with Title 8 is consequences. What I mean by that is that people are going to be removed. They will be facing deportation with a ban of re-entry of five years."

For the migrants who were able to cross to the U.S. side, the journey isn't over. Rose Carillo, a Venezuelan migrant, is asking for asylum. Her immigration court appointment is scheduled for May of next year.

"I hope to eventually bring my children," she said in Spanish. "I miss them so much. It's so hard to be separated from my family. And they're my only family, my mother, my three children. I have no one to help them. And I don't work, they won't eat. This is my dream. Is to have them here."

U.S. immigration officials are urging migrants to use the CBPone app if they plan to ask for asylum. They say the next few days will be busy.
The United States said Friday it was sending reinforcements to the Gulf after what it called increasing harassment by Iran of ships in the oil-rich waters.

"The Department of Defense will be making a series of moves to bolster our defensive posture" in the Gulf, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters, saying there would be "details on those reinforcements in coming days."

The US Navy's Fifth Fleet, based in Bahrain, said in a statement that it was "working with regional allies and partners to increase the rotation of ships and aircraft" that patrol the Strait of Hormuz, the crucial chokepoint into the Gulf.

Kirby said that Iran, which has tense relations with the United States -- although it has recently been repairing ties with Arab neighbors -- has "harassed, attacked or interfered" with 15 internationally flagged merchant vessels over the past 15 years.

"We've seen repeated Iranian threats, arm seizures and attacks against commercial shippers who are exercising their navigational rights and freedoms in international waters and strategic waterways of the region," Kirby said.

"The United States will not allow foreign or regional powers to jeopardize freedom of navigation through the Middle East waterways including the Strait of Hormuz," he said.
Macron: China's XTC to invest 1.5 billion euros in JV with France's Orano in Dunkirk French President Macron visits the Aluminium Dunkerque factory in northern France

DUNKIRK, France (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday that Chinese group XTC New Energy Materials plans to set up a joint venture with France's Orano in the battery sector in the northern French port city of Dunkirk for an expected investment of 1.5 billion euros.

Macron made the announcement from Dunkirk, where he was officially announcing a 5.2 billion euros ($5.7 billion) investment by Taiwanese battery maker ProLogium in a new gigafactory in the same city.

"We just signed, with a joint venture between XTC and Orano, a second investment for the production of cathode material in lithium batteries," Macron said, adding that the venture would create 1,700 jobs.

Cathode materials, comprised of cobalt, nickel and manganese, are the main component of lithium batteries.

"(The XTC/Orano JV) will allow us to secure the top end of the value chain in lithium batteries production," Macron added.

The French president said ProLogium and the XTC/Orano joint venture would create 5,000 new jobs overall in Dunkirk.

(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon and Elizabeth Pineau; Editing by Leigh Thomas)
The White House on Thursday sought to soothe concerns that throngs of desperate migrants  like those seen this week along the 3,100-kilometer border separating the United States from Mexico  could become the norm after the lifting of the pandemic-related migrant expulsion policy known as Title 42.

Our efforts, within the constraints of our broken immigration system, are focused on ensuring that the process is safe, orderly and humane, all while protecting our dedicated workforce and our communities, said Alejandro Mayorkas, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, at the White House.

The pandemic-related migrant expulsion policy expires at midnight Thursday, and officials have seen a border surge as migrants try to enter before a new rule goes into effect. After midnight, migrants who cross between ports of entry will quickly be removed and ineligible for asylum, except in some cases. Those who make an appointment through the CBPOne app will still be able to seek asylum protection.

As night gave way to dawn on Thursday in El Paso, Texas, U.S. National Guard members escorted families laden with backpacks and young children back into Mexico through a gap in the razor-wire barrier.

A few dozen young men stood staring at uniformed Border Patrol and National Guard members across the border from Matamoros, Mexico, separated only by bales of concertina wire.

In Tijuana, groups huddled under blue tarpaulins as the hot sun beat down and a tall palisade border fence loomed over them.

And in Brownsville, a Texas town along the Rio Grande, migrants gathered in clumps on the riverbank, watching the rushing water. The river is about 2.4 meters deep at that point, according to official data. On the other side, migrant families lined up at crowded shelters for food and medical assistance.

At the White House, Mayorkas sought to calm critics who say the administrations policy is confusing, those who say the new policy is inhumane, and those who say the new policy is not strict enough.

He noted that the federal government has sent 24,000 Border Patrol officers and an additional 1,500 active-duty troops to the southern border. The latter step has drawn criticism from within Bidens own party, with Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey saying, The Biden administrations militarization of the border is unacceptable.

Mayorkas said one thing is clear: If anyone arrives at our southern border after midnight tonight, they will be presumed ineligible for asylum and subject to steep consequences for unlawful entry, including a minimum five-year ban on reentry and potential criminal prosecution, he said.

And he emphasized one thing that everyone in Washington does seem to agree on: The U.S. immigration system is a mess.

We want to fix a system that has been broken for decades, he said.

Whom to blame  and how to fix it  is what Washington cannot decide.

"I asked the Congress for a lot more money for the Border Patrol," Biden said Wednesday. They didn't do it. They made it harder.

Bidens opponents want to see tighter rules.

Biden border policies jeopardize national security and endanger all American families everywhere of a terrorist attack by illegal aliens, said Republican Representative Joe Wilson of South Carolina on the floor of Congress on Thursday.

And immigration advocates say Bidens system is too tough.

This rule will only jeopardize the lives of people seeking safety and create even more chaos and suffering at our southern border, said Melissa Crow, director for litigation at the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies, during a briefing with journalists. And as the administration well knows, it's also blatantly illegal. Essentially, the new rule combines and repackages two Trump-era asylum bans that President Biden himself denounced on the campaign trail, and both of which were struck down as unlawful in federal court.

The administration disagrees.

This president has led the unprecedented expansion of lawful pathways, Mayorkas said when asked whether this was a rerun of Trump policies. We stand markedly different than the prior administration.

As the sun rises along the border on Friday, migrants will be subject to the new rules. Meanwhile, this debate rages in Washington.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press.
WASHINGTON - Agricultural experts and scientists say it is important for people worldwide to engage in regenerative agriculture in order to boost crop and domestic animal production at a time the world is experiencing devastating effects of climate change.

These remarks were made at a one-day online educational seminar on regenerative agriculture, convened Thursday by the Association of Foreign Press Correspondents in the United States and PepsiCo.

The seminar, titled Regenerative Agriculture: A Powerful Tool to Fight Climate Change, highlighted the benefits of regenerative agriculture, which according to experts, promotes good environmental practices that reverse climate change by preserving the environment.

Speaking at the event, Jim Andrew, executive vice president and chief sustainability officer for PepsiCo, pledged to support farmers worldwide engaged in regenerative agriculture.

As PespiCo, we are working with over 60 countries in developing this concept across the world. Every farmer is different, every farmer is the same.They all work hard and till the land, sometimes under high risk with only one shot per year, but they need the right education and guidance  We are there to provide that.

Dr. Abbey Wick, associate professor at North Dakota State University, who is also an extension soil-health specialist and founder of Wick Consulting, told seminar participants that farmers should work collectively in order to promote sustainable agriculture.

When we start building networks for the adoption of this concept and good practices of agriculture, we should encourage farmers to believe in numbers because if more register and follow this concept, it will help the world to preserve nature and secure a good future for the next generations.

Everson Ndlovu, an expert in agriculture, climate and disaster management at the National University of Science and Technology in Zimbabwe, says the southern African nation has been practicing regenerative agriculture for a long time.

Regenerative agriculture is a climate-smart method of agriculture that uses conservative methods. In Zimbabwe we have named it Pfumvudza or Intwasa. The idea is to maximize the little water that we get, remember this is zero tillage and you only dig where you plant your seed.

Devine Mafa, founder of Imbabwe Economic Movement, says regenerative agriculture plays a critical role in tackling climate change.

Regenerative agriculture is a holistic approach to food and farming systems that focuses on topsoil regeneration, increasing biodiversity, improving the water cycle, enhancing ecosystem services, supporting bio sequestration, increasing resilience to climate change, and strengthening the health and vitality of farm soil.

Tanya Sibanda, a Zimbabwean-born farmer in Maryland, says she is practicing regenerative agriculture.

In a world where industrial farming that relies on toxic chemicals and heavy tillage is the standard, regenerative organic agriculture is a specialty form of production. I try to repurpose all the biodegradable kitchen sink scraps and compost it back into the soil. I have embraced the concept.

Pepsi said it wanted more countries on board since a lot of low-income countries need a lot of support in developing the concept especially those with one cropping season.

In order to disseminate the information to a wider spectrum of farmers in developing nations, the Association of Foreign Press Correspondents said it invited journalists from different regions of the world to participate in the Thursday virtual seminar.

Although challenges remain in scaling up regenerative agriculture in the world, particularly in Africa, due to limited access to finance, lack of technical knowledge, and inadequate infrastructure, Pepsi, which says its thrust is to support 100 per cent organic farming globally, says it is willing to engage farmers to consider regenerative agriculture.

The global food and beverage giant announced in March that it generated more than $86 billion in net revenue last year.

It also announced a $216 million multi-year investment in long-term, strategic partnership agreements with three of the most well-respected farmer-facing organizations  Practical Farmers of Iowa, Soil and Water Outcomes Fund, and the IL Corn Growers Association  to drive adoption of regenerative agriculture practices across the United States.

The combined impact of these three strategic partnerships is expected to support the accelerated uptake of regenerative practices on more than three million acres and deliver approximately three million metric tons of greenhouse gas emission reductions and removals by 2030, said PepsCo in a statement.
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP)  The U. S. ambassador to South Africa accused the country Thursday of providing weapons and ammunition to Russia for its war in Ukraine via a cargo ship linked to a sanctioned company that docked secretly at a naval base near the city of Cape Town in December.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said an investigation into the visit by a Russian vessel named Lady R to his nation's main naval base was already underway behind the scenes with the help of U.S. intelligence services before Ambassador Reuben Brigety went public at a news conference in the South African capital, Pretoria, that the cargo was weapons and ammunition.

Brigety said the U.S. was certain that military equipment was loaded onto the Lady R at the Simons Town naval base between Dec. 6 and Dec. 8 and then transported to Russia. He said it brought into question South Africas supposed neutral stance on the war in Ukraine and its calls for the conflict to end.

The arming of the Russians is extremely serious and we do not consider this issue to be resolved," Brigety said in comments reported by multiple South African news outlets.

If South Africa is found to be giving Russia military aid, it threatens to fracture the relationship between the United States and a key partner in Africa. Despite South Africa's neutral stance on the war in Ukraine, the Biden Administration was hoping it could still be a key buffer against growing Russian and Chinese influence on the continent.

While Ramaphosa's office said in a statement later Thursday that there was currently no evidence to support allegations that arms were loaded onto the Lady R, The Associated Press established that the vessel is tied to a company that was sanctioned last year by the U.S. for being involved in transporting military equipment for the Russian government.

The news of Brigety's comments broke while Ramaphosa was in Cape Town answering questions on other matters in Parliament. When the leader of the political opposition, John Steenhuisen, asked about the weapons and ammunition, the president replied that the matter is being looked into, and in time we will be able to speak about it.

Ramaphosa declined to comment further, citing the need for the investigation to play out.

Steenhuisen asked the president if South Africa was actively arming Russian soldiers who are murdering and maiming innocent people?

Ammunition supplies have become a problem for Russia in the war. The leader of Russian military company Wagner complained last week about his mercenary soldiers in Ukraine allegedly dealing with dire shortages.

Ramaphosa's office acknowledged in its statement that the Lady R docked in South Africa, but did not say when, where or for what reason. The statement also criticized the American ambassador for going public.

Records reviewed by the AP show the Lady R was purchased by a Russian company, Transmorflot LLC, in 2019. In May 2022, the U.S. sanctioned Transmorflot and several vessels it alleges are controlled by the company, including the Lady R, for aiding the Russian war effort. The company then changed its name to MG-Flot LLC, which is also listed as the current owner of the Lady R.

Last month, The Wall Street Journal reported that another ship owned by MG-Flot, the Rasul Gamzatov, transported artillery shells from Iran to Russia, citing Middle Eastern officials.

The AP has also independently confirmed that the Lady R docked at the Simon's Town naval base during the time frame Brigety cited.

MarineTraffic, a service that collects radio and satellite transponder data from ships, tracked the Lady R off the South African coast in early December, but the signal was lost on Dec. 5. Ships are required by international law to keep their transponders on while at sea. Smugglers often turn them off to hide their movements.

Satellite imagery obtained by AP shows a ship the same length, color and layout as the Lady R docked at the naval base the following day and remained there through Dec. 8. AP also obtained photos of the ship at the naval base, the name Lady R clearly visible on its stern in both English and Russian. The ship set sail Dec. 9 and its transponder signal popped back up on Dec. 10. It returned to the Russian port of Novorossiysk on the Black Sea on Feb. 22.

Steenhuisen's opposition party had previously raised questions over the appearance of a mystery Russian vessel in Simon's Town. In late December, South African Defense Minister Thandi Modise said the ship was handling an old order for ammunition, and arms were offloaded, not loaded onto the ship.

The South African government has stated numerous times it is neutral on the war in Ukraine and wants the conflict resolved peacefully through diplomacy but recent displays of its closeness to Russia opened Africa's most developed country to accusations that it has effectively taken Russia's side.

South Africa hosted Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov for talks in January, giving him a platform to blame the West for the war in Ukraine.

Weeks later, South Africa allowed warships from the Russian and Chinese navies to perform drills off its east coast. The Russian navy brought its Admiral Gorshkov frigate, one of its navy's flagship vessels. The South African navy took part in the drills and said they would strengthen the already flourishing relations between South Africa, Russia and China.

South Africa also faces a diplomatic dilemma over a possible visit this year by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is the subject of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for alleged war crimes involving the abductions of children from Ukraine. Putin is due to visit South Africa in August for a meeting of leaders of the BRICS economic bloc, made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

South Africa is a signatory to the international court based in The Hague, Netherlands, and obliged to arrest Putin. The government indicated it would not detain the Russian leader and threatened to leave the ICC instead. Ramaphosa's office released a statement last month backtracking on the threat.

___

AP Writer Mogomotsi Magome in Johannesburg contributed to this story. AP Global Investigative Reporter Michael Biesecker reported from Washington.
The U.N. refugee agency said Friday that 200,000 people have now fled the violence in Sudan, with 60,000 total having fled to neighboring Chad.

At a news briefing in Geneva, U.N. refugee agency spokeswoman Olga Sarrado said 30,000 have crossed into Chad in just the past several days, with more people crossing borders daily.

Along with this, she noted that 700,000 people are displaced within Sudan, as reported Tuesday by the International Organization for Migration, or IOM.

The news comes the day after Sudan's warring parties signed a commitment establishing guidelines for allowing humanitarian assistance into the country.

However, a U.S. official involved in the talks noted the commitment did not include a cease-fire.

Addressing Fridays news briefing via video link, the U.N. Special Representative for Sudan Volker Perthes said he expected talks on a cease-fire to continue Friday or Saturday. He said the most important part of the agreement was that the two sides committed to continue the talks.

Perthes said both sides have ignored every cease-fire agreement signed during the four weeks since the conflict began because both believe they can win, and they are trying to improve their positions.

Also speaking at the news conference, U.N. Childrens Fund Spokesman James Elder said a factory in Sudans capital Khartoum, which produces therapeutic food for children suffering from the most dangerous form of malnutrition, has been burned down.

He said the fire destroyed 14,500 cartons of ready-to-use therapeutic food  enough to provide life-saving treatment for the same number of children for six to eight weeks.

He called it, the darkest, most distinct illustration to date of how this conflict is threatening the lives of children through multiple means."

Humanitarian aid agreement

The agreement signed late Thursday in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, by representatives of Sudans army and the rival Rapid Support Forces is intended to ensure the protection of civilians, including allowing safe passage for civilians to leave areas of active hostilities on a voluntary basis, in the direction they choose.

The agreement requires both sides to permit humanitarian assistance, to allow the restoration of electricity, water and other basic services, to withdraw security forces from hospitals and to arrange for respectful burial of the dead.

The U.S. official involved in the talks said "We are hopeful, cautiously, that their willingness to sign this document will create some momentum that will force them to create the space" to bring in relief supplies, the U.S. official said. Still, the two sides remain "quite far apart,

Earlier on Thursday, the United Nations Human Rights Council barely managed to pass a motion to increase monitoring of human rights abuses in Sudan, where hundreds of civilians have been killed since the conflict began last month.

Backed by the United Kingdom and the United States, the motion passed with 18 in favor and 15 against.

The initiative grants the U.N.'s Sudan expert more powers to monitor abuses, among other measures. It was watered down several times in recent days to gain approval.

No African country voted in favor of the initiative. Sudanese Ambassador Hassan Hamid Hassan said the conflict was internal and reiterated the refrain of "African solutions for African problems."

Earlier Thursday, U.N. human rights chief Volker Turk urged countries with influence in Africa to encourage Sudans warring sides to end the fighting.

Addressing an emergency session of the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, Turk said the conflict has pushed this much-suffering country into catastrophe.

"I condemn the use of violence by individuals who have no regard for the lives and fundamental rights of millions of their own compatriots," he said.

The Sudanese army, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, struck targets in Khartoum and its two sister cities, Omdurman and Bahri, on Thursday. The army is trying to dislodge the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, led by General Mohamed Hamdam Dagalo, which have dug into residential areas they have held since fighting began.

SEE ALSO:

In recent weeks, there have been concerns  voiced by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken among others  that Russias Wagner mercenary group is involved in the conflict.

Wagners head, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said Thursday the paramilitary group is not operating in Sudan and has not been involved in politics there since Omar al-Bashir was deposed by army officers in a 2019 uprising, according to Reuters.

"Wagner is not in Sudan," Prigozhin said in an audio clip posted on Telegram. "Wagner never got involved in the domestic political affairs in Sudan after the departure of Omar al-Bashir."

Regardless of whether Wagner is involved, the conflict is only getting worse.

According to the World Health Organization, the conflict has left more than 600 people dead and more than 5,000 others injured.

Generals Burhan and Dagalo are former allies who together orchestrated an October 2021 military coup that derailed a transition to civilian rule following the 2019 ouster of Bashir.

Tensions between the generals have been growing over disagreements about how the RSF should be integrated in the army and who should oversee that process. The restructuring of the military was part of an effort to restore the country to civilian rule and end the political crisis sparked by the 2021 military coup.
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(Bloomberg) -- Masayoshi Son is now personally on the hook for about $5.2 billion on side deals he set up at SoftBank Group Corp. to boost his compensation, after the Vision Fund venture capital arm capped a year of record losses.

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The Vision Fund unit lost 297.5 billion ($2 billion) in the three months ended March, ending the fiscal year with a total loss of 4.3 trillion  its worst since Son proudly set up the business in 2017. The worlds largest technology investor reported dismal earnings despite a global rebound in equities, as it suffered losses on unlisted startups in its portfolio.

His unrealized losses widened by about $130 million from three months before, with most of the deficit linked to the Latin America fund. The founder and chief executive officer of SoftBank was down $5.1 billion on the same side deals through the December quarter.

Son, whose stake in SoftBank grew in recent months, also owns portions of the companys key investment vehicles. While these holdings have sparked controversy due to corporate governance concerns, the Japanese billionaire has denied any conflict of interest.

Portfolio losses ratcheted up Sons deficit to about $2.9 billion from his Vision Fund 2 interest, and $463 million at the Latin America fund, according to disclosures for the March quarter. His remaining deficit at SB Northstar was 246.9 billion ($1.8 billion). The debt totaled $5.2 billion, according to Bloomberg calculations based on company disclosures.

The 65-year-old billionaire holds 17.25% of a vehicle set up under SoftBanks Vision Fund 2 for its unlisted holdings, as well as 17.25% of a unit within the companys Latin America fund, which also invests in startups. He has a 33% stake in SB Northstar, a vehicle set up at the company to trade stocks and derivatives.

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There is no immediate deadline for repayment and the value of Sons positions could improve in the future, and for SB Northstar, Son has already deposited some cash and other assets. The founder would pay his share of any unfunded repayment obligations at the end of the funds life, which runs 12 years with a two-year extension.

Sons net worth stood at $8.9 billion after Thursdays close, after adjusting for his deficit from his interests in SB Northstar, Vision Fund 2 and the Latin America fund, according to calculations by Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

SoftBank shares dropped in early Friday trading in Tokyo after the financial results. The stock fell as much as 5.5%, its biggest fall in about two months. Besides the losses, investors were on the lookout for a buyback, which did not materialize.

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Photo: Weiss Eubanks/NBCUniversal via Getty Images

Employees of The Kelly Clarkson Show are broken up, deep inside, but NBC doesnt seem to care about the tears they cry behind the scenes of the networks breakout-hit daytime talk show. In a Rolling Stone report, numerous current and former staffers on the series came forward to describe a toxic, emotionally abusive workplace culture that the network has failed to adequately address. These employees believe that patterns of inappropriate workplace behavior begin with executive producer Alex Duda, who one former employee calls a monster who yelled and cursed at employees and fostered a culture of producers beneath her doing the same. One employee says that the shows production manager would often be cursing, raising his voice, and throwing a huge temper tantrum, including one incident in which he threw a stapler across the office.

Ahead of her move to New York, Kelly Clarkson responded to the Rolling Stone report via Instagram on Friday. In my 20 years in the entertainment industry, Ive always led with my heart and what I believed to be right, she wrote in a post shared to Instagram Friday. I love my team at The Kelly Clarkson Show, and to find out that anyone is feeling unheard and or disrespected on this show is unacceptable As we prepare for a move to the East Coast, I am more committed than ever to ensuring that not only our team that is moving, but also our new team in NY is comprised of the best and kindest in the business.

Two different sources who worked on the show cite instances of racial insensitivity from Duda. The EP, who is white, allegedly asked one white employee, Why dont Black people want to come to the show? Why dont Black people want to see Kelly? Another says they were attacked by Duda for asking how executive producers were going to have the show address the rise of anti-Asian hate crimes, per Rolling Stone:

They say after they reported the incident to HR, they were subsequently bullied, yelled at, and left out of future meetings by the executive producers they complained about. The former employee eventually left the show because they felt retaliated against and forced out without any other options.

In addition to a workplace culture of intimidation and bullying, The Kelly Clarkson Show has issues adequately compensating its employees. Lower-level staffers say they have taken on jobs as babysitters, dog-walkers, and Uber Eats drivers to make ends meet. In a Scrooge-ish touch, staff were also not paid over the two-week Christmas hiatus. And the Writers Guild of America has launched an investigation into the shows practice of having producers write episodes on the unionized show.

Multiple current and former employees say they have reported these issues numerous times to HR to no avail, and that the same producers who demonstrate poor leadership and inappropriate behavior ended up getting promotions. Seven former staffers on the series tell Rolling Stone they used their exit interviews with NBCUniversal to outline their negative experiences. In response, NBCUniversal released a statement to Us Weekly on Friday, May 12, denying that it is not taking workplace complaints seriously. We are committed to a safe and respectful work environment and take workplace complaints very seriously and to insinuate otherwise is untrue, a spokesperson said in a statement via email. When issues are reported they are promptly reviewed, investigated and acted upon as appropriate. The Kelly Clarkson Show strives to build a safe, respectful and equitable workplace that nurtures a culture of inclusivity and creativity.

The 11 current and former employees who spoke to Rolling Stone all express the belief that Clarkson herself is unaware of how bad the conditions on her show are, and how unhappy her employees are, calling the host fantastic. This report comes days after it was announced that The Kelly Clarkson Show will be moving from Los Angeles to New York City for its upcoming season. But in light of these revelations, maybe Duda shouldnt start looking for a Manhattan apartment just yet.

This story has been updated with additional information.
Superlatives A Vulture series in which artists judge the best and worst of their own careers. Ive found that a lot of Kinks music is pretty timeless in the sense that its not really been in one particular age or time, but in some ways quite futuristic. Photo-Illustration: Vulture. Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

A Kinks song often acted as an agent: It observed the world around us and reported back its findings. Those findings, most of the time, werent too cheery, but damn were they beautiful to listen to. The Kinks werent motivated by comfort as much as they were by documenting a transitional period of British history, always aiming a little higher to detail the social and economic problems that affected them as children in postwar London. With Ray Davies front and center as the bands primary songwriter, his younger brother and fellow co-founder Dave Davies became a mad scientist of the guitar, popularizing distortion as we know it with the 1964 smash You Really Got Me. When he looks back at Kinks lore, though, the riffs dont come to mind as much as the visual imagination. Its not just about music, Davies told me recently. Its also the art and the presentation.

This year, the Kinks released The Journey  Part 1, an anthology of their earliest work, as part of the bands 60th-anniversary celebration (formative member Mick Avory contributed liner notes to the release). And Davies recently published his second memoir, Living on a Thin Line, which makes the case for why the Kinks have persevered through decades despite a reputation as rock exiles. Our other theory for their endurance: They were just really, really great.

Most prescient song

Thats hard to think about, because Ive been fortunate to be in a band with a legacy in music that Ray and myself have always been involved in. Its been quite a journey, and our work often suggests that theme. How can you choose one song to embrace all that stuff? Sometimes its best to just say the first thing that comes to mind. The two main songs that are coming to me right now are Im Not Like Everybody Else and Dead End Street. I always thought that Dead End Street was the Kinks key that came through our work and Rays writing. Our past, where we come from, and the key that we all created. So its a lot of stuff.

It goes back to the beginning of our journey  it was really all about family. We grew up in a big family with six sisters and countless uncles, aunts, and family members. It was always such a joy to be surrounded by music, the piano, banjos, laughter, jokes, and a whole creative and emotional life. I feel very fortunate that I was born into a family that had so many cultures to it. Earthiness, emotion, and spirit. They didnt have any money, but they had a lot of spirit. There was so much material to draw from. I always liked Dead End Street because I remember when Ray wrote it and we first rehearsed it, it felt like it couldve been our last song if thats what history had for us, because I realized it was all we needed to say. People can make their own corrections.

Song you now interpret differently

God, music is so personal. Its proper for the listener to find out whats going on in me. There are some songs that are so heavy  about my awakening, my respect, and my enlightening. I can pull out a page anywhere in the book. Music is so in touch with our spirits and our souls. Thank God theres music. Its how we find out about higher thought or even something like life, emotion, courage, and colorful messages. Obviously, you notice more when you get older. You Really Got Me was about young men, kids really, trying to understand the world around them through music and magnetism. Music is like magnetism  information made into energy. It makes you realize what an incredible world we live in. Im flabbergasted how much information was involved in music and emotions.

Theres something special about the love connection coming through a family member who youre so close to. You hate their guts sometimes. Oh, fuck off. Get out of here. And other times you depend on each other to solve the riddle of life. I feel blessed. I feel privileged. Ray was my mentor, my enemy, my teacher, my everything. Through these songs, that only scratches the surface. Thats why I think You Really Got Me is a good presentation to put together. Its a good opener, really, for our work and our music. Its in tune with our history.

Song that pissed off the most people

Theres so many. Loads of stuff, some unintentional. Lola, for one, is obvious. The Denmark Street comments about how fucked up the music business is. Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround was pretty heavy-duty, but, remember, theyre observations. Its not categorical information. Its observations. Its our viewpoint or Rays viewpoint. The 1970s were a tough time for the band and for me individually. I was going through a kind of spiritual rebirth and a change in my spiritual life. Its as important to me as a person, where you live and who you meet. Change is hard and it just doesnt stop. The change, its all about you again. Life just keeps changing into something else, which Im glad to say is good. At least I think its good. Its important to learn how to live. Even though its hard at times.

We caused some anger because we had a very keen observation quality about people  what theyre doing and why theyre doing it. Wed meet and talk about it. There would be a lot of laughs. It was information that we gleaned from just being at the pub with our dad or all his mates. We learned a lot about the world from different generations. They talked a lot about the war years and their mates dying. All of this goes into the music. It all goes in the brain, or soul, or whatever. You get, through conversations and music, exchanges where Ray would come up with something like Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire.) War was an inevitable thing to write about. You write about what you know about it. Thats a good starting point for any project.

We knew about our family and the conditions that surrounded our working-class life. Things were happening, so you would sing about them all and how you react to them. Life lessons are like an incredibly complicated school for us. Especially with the funny times, you dont always know what you learn in laughter and what it means to you as a person. You dont always find out straight away. Sometimes you look back at something and think its funny. Its very revealing.

Song that gives you the strongest nostalgia

I tend to look at nostalgia as information. If you go to the library, you look into specific stories or ideas. Its not always nostalgia. Its information. When we find the Kinks musical library, its a lot of information  its about people. Its about how people live, survive, live again, fall down, and stand up again. Its a wonderful encyclopedia of survival. Survival, really, is another foundation for us. Wherever you open the book and turn every page, you think, Oh, wow. Yeah, I know that feeling. Ive lived that experience. It can resonate. Were an open book.

I think the most important thing Ive learned in my life is the bond of family. Were always about the humor, the people, and how humor carries a whole multitude of storytelling, ideas, and solutions. Humor provides a lot of solutions to problems. Especially at times when youre up against or cornered by something, humor can point a way out to somewhere else. Thats reflected in Rays great writing of observation. Its what it means to be human. Youve got a release; its an emotion and a problem solver. My family grew up in the war years and the Blitz. To grow up through two wars, those kids must have have always been wondering, What the fuck is going on? Theres so much information in the memories. Not just for us, but for everybody. Songs are keys to unlock memories and ideas. Even if its only just a three- or five-minute song, it can still be an encyclopedia of your town. Connecting the thoughts, connecting the ideas, you know how it goes.

Most combative album

Soap Opera. I found that there were many aspects of making that record that I didnt like. I thought back to the day, for me, would that be my swan song? I wanted to venture into new things. I didnt know whether I was happy at that time  it was rather difficult. It always seemed everything was a struggle for the Kinks, even from making the first record. We didnt like the first version of You Really Got Me. The record producers said, Well, thats it, then. Thats what it is. We said, Well, we dont want to put it out. Ray insisted that we wouldnt release it in its current form, and we gave the producers a hundred pounds to get it re-recorded in a way that we envisioned when we saw it. Many times the Kinks could have finished and ended, but we didnt. I think the bond of family, and the love of music, helped see us through.

Most meaningful preservation of English culture

Days comes to mind because it embodies exactly what were talking about. We should be grateful for our experiences, because it teaches us something we didnt know beforehand. With Days, the lyrics make it seem like something is ending. But maybe its just starting. Thank you for something thats gone, but maybe thank you for something thats just about to happen. Its a very important song for the Kinks, and very personal to Ray, but it touches on so many different people. It was people who were experiencing the message and feelings of the song. Thats the power of music. The way the melody is structured, and how it takes you to the different tones  I could go on forever about how much I love that song.

How retroactive Kinks praise has manifested over the years

Thats interesting to think about. Maybe its because the good stuff gets better with age. Good ideas, good stories, good people  they get better with time. Ive found that a lot of Kinks music is pretty timeless in the sense that its not really been in one particular age or time, but in some ways quite futuristic. It could be about the future as well as the past.

Favorite needledrop in cinema

Any of the Wes Anderson ones. Hes been very good to us.
HBO Films is proud to present the film with the least-searchable name: Reality. Sydney Sweeney stars as Reality Winner, the 25-year-old former American intelligence specialist who leaked an intelligence report suggesting Russia interfered with the 2016 presidential election. She was given the longest sentence ever for unauthorized release of government information to the media in 2018. The dialogue in Reality comes directly from transcripts of the FBI interrogating Winner in her home, per the films press release. In the new trailer, Sweeney initially keeps it light with some NSA lackeys who are interrogating her (they think shes 125 pounds  what a compliment!) before giving the world some expert-level frowns. Written and directed by Tina Satter, based on her play Is This a Room, Reality also stars Josh Hamilton (AHS: Coven) and Marchant Davis (The Day Shall Come). It will stream on newly renamed Max May 29.

This post has been updated.
Ghosts The Heir Season 2 Episode 22 Editors Rating 5 stars * * * * *  Previous Next  Previous Episode Next Episode  Photo: Bertrand Calmeau/CBS

Ghosts has been on an absolute rip of great episodes as it closes out season two, and its season finale is no different. The Heir showcases what Ghosts does best  seamlessly blending the ridiculous and hilarious with the heartfelt. An episode that gives us a moving montage highlighting how much our ghosts and livings have become a family and a trip to a local strip club to interrogate a dead 90s finance bro about a possible illegitimate child who wants to take over Woodstone Mansion? Yes, Im in, 1,000 percent.

Theres a lot going on at the Woodstone B&B at the moment  well, except for having guests, maybe? Where are the guests? I remain, as ever, quite concerned about the Arondekars business model  but perhaps the most pressing is a little teeny tiny problem regarding the rightful heir to the property. Never did a moment call for the classic Higgintoot gasp than this one. A woman named Kelsey shows up at the B&B and, with a disarming smile on her face, informs Sam that she just discovered that her birth father is David Woodstone, Sams second cousin (and Trevors friend who helped dump his body in the lake, in case you forgot), who apparently had an affair with Kelseys mother, a stripper, back in the 90s. If true, this means that Woodstone rightfully belongs to her. Like I said: Gasp.

Woodstone family lawyer Dan gets his best DNA guy on it (he does all the Jeter stuff) and winds up with some bad news for Sam and Jay: the DNA checks out. Sam and Jay are spinning. The ghosts are concerned about losing Sam, too, but maybe not that concerned? Mostly, Hettys worried about the TV situation without Sam. Jay calls it the weirdest butterfly effect, and hes not wrong, as he puts it: Some 90s douche finance bro falls in love with a dancer at Scores, and now were out of a house. What a world. Thankfully, the resident 90s douche finance bro hears that whole thing and finds a glimmer of hope for everyone: Trevor knows for sure that David was banned from Scores for life when he asked a couple of members of the Howard Stern Wack Pack for autographs at one once; something about Kelseys story doesnt add up.

Whats the logical thing to do next? Excuse me, whats the logical thing to do next on Ghosts? Sam and Jay learn that David died in a nearby strip club (because, of course, he did) and head over to see if perhaps theyll run into his ghosts. As Thor notes, fingers crossed the guy didnt get sucked off there. You know what he means.

Davids there and very surprised to learn that his afterlife in a strip club is, in fact, not heaven. He also confirms Sam and Jays suspicions: He cant be Kelseys father if she was born in 1997; back in 1993, he dipped his balls into a hot coffee pot because a friend dared him, and he could never have kids after that. And that is the sad, sad story of how Sam and Jay cracked the case of Kelsey and her DNA. So, how did the test come back as confirmation shes a Woodstone? It turns out Kelsey was in cahoots with Lawyer Dan. Hed been given an offer from the Four Seasons to buy the property, which would earn him a crazy profit; money that was much needed since, as he puts it, the New York Knicks have been blowing some very large second-half leads. And so, the Woodstone B&B stays under the care of Sam and Jay.

Theres more than one happy ending going around the mansion. You didnt think Ghosts would go into hiatus without resolving the rift between Alberta and Hetty, did you? Albertas understandably still hurt from Hettys 100 Years of Betrayal, and since it seems as though this problem wont be solved on its own, the ghosts invoke the Woodstone Accords, which dictate that any time a conflict cannot be resolved, a ghost council must convene and agree to an appropriate punishment so that eternal life in the mansion can move forward. Its basically Ghost Court, a show I would definitely watch.

Hetty makes a lovely speech taking ownership of what she did to Alberta but also noting that shes not the Hetty she was 100 years ago. When she was alive, women were competition, she tells the council, but thanks to her friendships with women like Alberta and Flower and Samantha and a washing machine, [she has] changed. How very Ghosts to give us a gorgeous, meaningful little moment about the power of female friendship alongside a perfectly placed call back about the washing machine that gave Hetty her first orgasm. Its all about balance, and Ghosts gets that.

Unfortunately, the speech doesnt do a ton to move the needle Hettys way, at least not initially. Alberta still wants her punished for what she did  the woman is in pain!  but when the Ghost Court hands down a sentence that would have Hetty banished to the woods for an entire year with no contact, Alberta begins to imagine a year without her friend Hetty. She cant! She needs Hetty around. While shes willing to forgive her, she would like Hetty to get some sort of punishment. She decides it would be acceptable if she and Hetty switched rooms. Alberta will have a room all to herself and Hetty will have to move in with Flower. For a moment, it seems Hetty might choose a year in the woods. In the end, she agrees to Albertas conditions and the two women make up. I was already a Ghosts fan, but setting aside time to dive into the female friendships on this show somehow makes me love the show more. What a smart choice to tie Albertas murder mystery into her relationship with Hetty.

Alberta and Hetty are not to be outdone. Theres another relationship in the house that goes out with a bang: Isaac and Nigel. When Sam decides to split her $20,000 book advance with Isaac  truly, an insane decision  he decides the first thing hes going to do with his money is not buy Rhode Island, although thats in the mix, but to have Sam buy him a new daybed from The Pottery Barn. It sounds harmless, but for Nigel, its a sign that Isaac doesnt want them to move forward with their relationship  something that several ghosts, even Nancy, have to explain to Isaac. Shockingly, after a rather muddled conversation with Thor and Trevor that includes talk about taking risks with love, Danish entrails, and not realizing how much time you have with a person, Isaac knows exactly what he wants to do.

Of course he wants Nigel to live in the same room as Nigel. Of course he wants a king-sized bed so they can sleep together. Its just hed like to propose to the guy, to show him just how committed he is, first. Isaac asks Nigel to make [him] the happiest ghost on the entire property, and Nigel tells him no, hell have to settle for being the second happiest ghost, which is very sweet! When Isaac laments that he cant physically put a ring on Nigels finger, Nigel tells him not to worry since he already embedded a shiny metal object deep in [his] heart. Youre referring to the bullet I killed you with, Isaac responds, misty-eyed. Its also very sweet  and very, very weird. Thats how we roll on Ghosts!

And yet, the series doesnt allow us to go out on any of those high notes. Well, I guess technically it is a high note for the person it happens to but possibly not at all for us, by which I mean: While Sam and Jay are out in the car, just as Sam is getting all emotional thinking about how much of a family she and Jay and the ghosts have become, Sam sees a bright white beam burst through the roof of their house  a ghost is getting sucked off! But which ghost?!! Which ghost has changed and grown enough to finish whatever unfinished business was holding them back from heading to the good place? There are several possibilities. Alberta just solved the mystery of her own murder and had a touching moment in which she showed forgiveness to a friend; that seems like a huge amount of growth. Hetty outright admitted that she is a completely different person in all the best ways from who she was as a living. Both Isaac and Nigel just demonstrated that theyve fully opened themselves up to love. I mean, Nigels the safer bet since I cant imagine the show losing any of the main ghosts (unless someone wants out?), but who knows? In fact, there is only one thing I know for sure as we wait for answers in season three: If Nancy the Basement Ghost gets sucked off and we never see her again, I will riot.

Ghouls Just Want to Have Fun

 Originally, Sam simply gives Isaac a candle to smell as his portion of the book advance, but the ghosts get on her for exploiting his labor and taking all the profits for herself. Hetty agrees: Hes not a child in your iron foundry!

 I hate to describe any sentence with the phrase conjugal visits as swoony, but Trevor getting upset over the possible banishment of Hetty really got to me!

 Nancy knows exactly what Isaac should buy with his new money: Get a new water heater, lets party!

 Another Hetty classic (seriously, Hetty cannot leave, none of them can leave!), when hearing the news that the house might not belong to Sam anymore: Were gonna lose you, just when we finally got a living who can serve us  see us.
Photo: IFC Films

When we first glimpse Glenn Howertons Jim Balsillie in BlackBerry, we see only the top half of his face, caught in a rearview mirror. So hes all eyebrows and forehead, a near-comical vision of drive and animalistic ambition, as he pulls into a parking spot and looks around suspiciously, noting a limo full of corporate types filing out behind him. Its a streamlined and accurate first impression. Described as a shark, the ruthless Balsillie turns out to be just what the clumsy, introverted nerds who founded Research in Motion (RIM), the tiny company that in the late 1990s and early 2000s would transform the cell-phone industry, need to make their harebrained schemes reality.

Directed by Matt Johnson, BlackBerry basically presents the story of RIM and the rise of the smartphone as a sitcom pitch: What happens when two affable, not-ready-for-prime-time dorks from Waterloo, Canada  brilliant engineer Mike Lazaridis (Jay Baruchel) and his can-do cheerleader pal Doug Fregin (Johnson)  are joined by a crisply suited, Harvard-educated, phone-smashing apex predator. Balsillie is not a tech guy, and its only by chance that he realizes the potential of Lazaridis and Fregins idea of a cell phone that can also send and receive emails. But he knows how to sell, and he knows how to go for the kill when hes got something he knows people want. Its a solid comic setup. One of the great pleasures of BlackBerry is watching Balsillies befuddled, running disgust at Lazaridis and Fregins hapless ways, at the chaotic ineptitude of their finances, their utter lack of business sense, their go-along-to-get-along management style. I would happily watch several seasons of these three going at it.

But theres also a strain of fear running through Howertons portrayal of Balsillie that brings dramatic urgency to the film. He joins RIM after getting fired from his previous job (apparently for being too much of a go-getter), and in all his actions we sense a simmering terror at what will happen if this new endeavor fails. Even after the movie zooms forward to the 2000s, when BlackBerry devices were ubiquitous and RIM was on top of the world, Balsillie is in corporate panic mode, frantically trying to sell more units and innovate rapidly  or rather, force others to innovate rapidly  to avoid being bought out by the people who make PalmPilots. (Remember PalmPilots?) In other words, success begets more fear. Theres probably a disturbing lesson in there somewhere.

Its the comic energy generated by the triumvirate of Howerton, Baruchel, and Johnson that really drives BlackBerry, but Johnson and his co-writer Matthew Miller also find lively ways to dramatize the technological concepts at play. Saul Rubinek has a memorable turn as an executive at a phone company who questions and even mocks RIMs intentions at every turn, thus setting up scenes that helpfully explain just what exactly these engineers are up to. Its a pretty transparent device; over the course of decades, Rubineks character doesnt seem to age or even change chairs. But it works marvelously, because BlackBerry never takes itself too seriously.

In fact, the films charm is that it doesnt take itself seriously at all. BlackBerry is more Office Space than Social Network. Even the main characters hairlines  Howertons fake-looking bald head (which he apparently shaved), Baruchels phony blond wig, and Johnsons ever-present red bandana  look like discards from a sketch-comedy troupe. By keeping things so loose, Johnson is able to get away with his simplifications and any convenient rewritings of the facts. But the approach also gives the actors free rein to go big and broad, because thats where the laughs usually are. The filmmakers in this case are content to entertain; if you learn some history along the way, thats on you.

Correction: A previous version of this review incorrectly stated that Howerton is wearing a bald cap in the film; that is his actual (shaved) head.
Great news, The Great is still great.

The Great occupies that special place in television where you can spend time with your batshit friends but then leave whenever you want and not have to deal with the consequences of their hilarious but unhinged antics (see also: What We Do in the Shadows). I am so happy The Great is back and that Peter continues to be everyones No. 1, but I would not want to spend a single second with him in real life because he could suddenly kill me and then amuse everyone with an off-handed joke.

In the first two episodes, we pick up where we left off: Catherine has stabbed Peters lookalike, thinking it was him, which was understandable since he banged and accidentally killed her mother (R.I.P. Gillian Anderson). The Swedish king and queen show up because they were overthrown; Marial married her cousin Maxim and is arrested along with Peters friends for going against Catherine; and thats where we start. Well, there, and also with Peter and Catherine in couples counseling with a marriage witch. I would describe the marriage witchs efforts as mildly successful.

But can our royal psychos get past Peter fucking/killing Catherines mother and Catherine stabbing someone she thought was him five times in the back? Maybe! When they wake up the next morning and talk about it, Catherine explains, I just had a bad day. Once again, I love them. Peter is carrying baby Paul around in an eighteenth-century Russian version of a BabyBjorn, and it is my favorite thing in the whole episode. Catherine forgot she had Marial arrested but is in no hurry to release her. This is unfortunate for Marial, as she and Peters friends are standing in a line outside, being subjected to the Peter-invented punishment of the bullet or the bear. This might be self-explanatory, but you can shoot yourself or choose to fight a bear. Orlo is very psyched about it (remember Orlo?), but he also thinks Peter is dead, so hes just generally jazzed.

When Peter hears his friends face this bear-centered sentence, hes off to rescue them. Unfortunately, Peters idea of rescue here is for them all to choose the bear, let it eat an arm, and then escape. No one but Peter is happy about this, and so hes back to square one.

Catherine, meanwhile, is chatting with Aunt Elizabeth about her beyond-all-reason love for Peter and what to do about him and ruling Russia. Elizabeth, in return, tells Catherine about the time she gave Peter the Great a handjob while he fed her soup. What a great show. Elizabeth (and Archie, who is also still alive!) promise Catherine they will help her govern, but she has to trust their methods. The very first example of this is Elizabeth suggesting that Georgina kill her friend Tatyana, who is currently one of the bear prisoners, as a gesture of loyalty. Georgina immediately accepts and shoots Tatyana in the gut (Tatyana lives). Let Georginas theme song for this episode be Reba McEntires Im a Survivor.

The Swedish royals are plotting something, but until its clear what it is, I dont have time for it.

Everyone is figuring out their alliances in the first episode! So many things have shifted. Catherine, against all odds, has chosen Peter. Despite this, he and she are not sure how to trust each other, given recent events (see: stabbing). Orlo is out because he cant deal and keeps trying and failing at Peters assassination. Get it together, Orlo. Marial is no longer Catherines best friend, to which I say, noooooooooo! Velementov and Elizabeth and Archie are pretty solid. Peters friends are on shaky ground but can still escape being bear food and instead be brought back into the fold. And that is indeed what Catherine decides to do. She gives them things they want, but some get the shit kicked out of them (see: Grigor and Arkady). When Marial shows righteous indignation at Peter being forgiven when she is not, Catherine tells Marial that Peter is her fate, but Marial is her choice. Catherine. Marial is so great, and I am extremely bummed about this.

The marriage witch thinks Catherine and Peter are doomed, but she murders two doves (pigeons?) in order to take the past from their blood. Of course. They both feel better and go for a walk in the woods, where Orlo hides and tries once more to assassinate Peter. Alas, Catherine shoots in Orlos direction when she thinks she hears a deer, and now Orlo is dead and presumably eaten by the bears who find his body. Oh, Orlo.

In our second episode, Choose Your Weapon, Marial is determined to win back Catherines friendship (with limited success!!), and the British and American ambassadors are fighting. They both want support from Russia. Wait, you say. But how could America have an ambassador already if it wasnt officially a country with a Constitution and all those other documents? Great question, yes. Benjamin Franklin was the first American diplomat when he went to France in 1776, and he essentially became the first ambassador in 1779 (they were called ministers then). There was a minister to Russia, but Catherine the Great refused to acknowledge America as its own nation, despite thinking England was really getting what was coming to them.

Oh, also, Marials child husband Maxim challenges Grigor to a duel! Maxims a real buzzkill lately. He was so fun last season as a convenient way for Marial to keep her family money, and now hes off demanding she be a more respectful wife (gross) and slapping Grigor in the face. Yes, the latter is funny, but at what cost?

The British diplomat, who is really tight with Peter, is nicknamed Johnny. Hes technically supposed to be this guy, but instead, his name is John Quirkton. Again. All of this is made up. Just go with it. Catherine isnt pleased to be ignored when she is the actual monarch here, so she sends Peter off to help the girls school students as they choose ribbons. When she refers to the War of Independence, Johnny says they prefer to call it The Ingratitude. I love it. I love it so much. Also, not to be a Loyalist about it, but England raised taxes because they spent so much on the French and Indian War, which George Washington kind of kick-started. I am JUST saying. But yes, no taxation without representation, etc.

England wants ten thousand troops and offers Menorca, an island in the Mediterranean with a fascinating history. Catherine wants more because, apparently, history isnt enough of an inducement. Well played, Catherine. While the British ambassador ponders that, she meets the American ambassador, who Velementov introduces as a guy from America since he doesnt have official status. We only get to know him as Glover, and if you think his American accent is not the best and he learned it watching either Westerns or gritty New York cop shows (or maybe both!), you are correct. This actor is English. America wants loans and arms from Russia. Glover tells Catherine shes got that it thing. He and his fellow Americans get shit done and they are on the motherfucking cusp of victory. Is this how other countries see us?? If so  touche. Also, Tony McNamara thinks jokes about Russia and America being best friends forever are funny, and he makes them several times.

While Catherine is talking to Archie and Velementov about America (bunch of raccoon traders and religious maniacs, Velementov says insightfully), Peter is inventing flavored salt. That Peter. What a guy. Hes also helping Grigor practice dueling with a ten-year-old (is that how old Marials husband is?) by walking on his knees. Catherine has banned dueling, but Peter says if she doesnt make violating the ban punishable by death, no one will listen. What a meeting of idealism and realism in these two. If you can call Peters view of life realism. Psychotic realism? Yes, lets go with that.

At the duel, Grigor refuses to participate, so his second, another young child, duels in his place. And Maxim KILLS him. The viewers casually discuss raising the dueling age to twelve. What on Earth is going to happen to Marial with her best friend abandoning her and this murderous child husband?

At dinner with the two ambassadors, Peter, Catherine, and most of the rest of the court  except Marial, who is not invited  Hugo, King of Sweden, cannot be ignored by me any longer because he yells at Voltaire for ruining his life, leaps across the table, then goes phbbbbbbbt at him while they wrestle on the floor. What a highlight. Meanwhile, Johnny offers Catherine Ibiza, and Glover says America is changing everything, including how the English spell color (British ambassador: You wouldnt dare.). He also keeps going on about we the people, which Catherine loves. So we have Catherines own idealism vs. realism at war as she also tries to change how she has been governing since it has definitely not been working.

After some deliberation, Catherine gets a shit ton of concessions from England in exchange for troops and also offers America the money and supplies it wants. Then she bangs the American ambassador to make things even between her and Peter. She tells him, and he is quite upset. Catherine asks Velementov to make sure Peter doesnt kill Glover, and we end with Peter and Glover punching each other on the palace grounds as a crowd watches, and Velementov says hell stop them eventually. This show. What a treasure.
Peter really, really wants two of his horses to bang. It is the first step to creating a European superhorse that will be his legacy. Unfortunately, no amount of candlelight and violin music is making it happen, and if not that, then what? Well, what is making Grigor act as a horse fluffer (horrifying), but even that doesnt work, thank God.

Its Nakaz time! After meeting the American ambassador, Catherine is inspired to take this idea of we the people and bring peasants, merchants, and the nobility together (with the numbers weighted towards the nobility, of course) to hear their thoughts and vote on laws for a new Russia. Peter thinks this is a terrible idea, but hes pretty distracted by the whole superhorse idea. The Nakaz was a real thing and, according to some, the reason Catherine became Catherine the Great, despite this new law code never being enacted. How! Shes an absolute monarch who published some ideas she thought would be good, over 400 of which she took directly from Montesquieu and friends, and then she never put them into effect despite the fact that she could, and she is forever called the Great? That cant be right. Yale Law Library author, I dispute you.

As Catherine nervously paces their room before the gathering, Peter offers her his booklet of goals from his reign. These include a monkey for every village and renaming raspberries Peterberries. I just love him. But also, those monkeys would be so cold (unless they were Japanese macaques!). Catherine is not drawn to any of these, and its not helpful when Marial stops by and calls it a massive, pointless, self-aggrandizing fucking book club. She may have a point. Should I stop being Team Marial in every single interaction?  no. No, she is perfect.

Catherines very first move, her choice for an easy win, is to outlaw murder. Everyone is mad, but mostly the nobles, because they think shes keeping all the murder for herself. The merchants are angry too, but I cant hear why because the merchant spokesperson is Princess Beatrice from The Windsors, a.k.a. the best character on that show. The peasants say they like murder because they think Catherines a witch, theyre scared of the nobles, and if murder is outlawed, their lives will just keep going (ahhhh! Abolish the class system!). Georgina saves the day by faking a fit, and they adjourn. Day one did not go swimmingly.

During all this, Peter has been split between his superhorse project and the fact that his mortal enemy Simitz is there for the convening, as he thinks Peter is dead. If theres one truth about Peter, its that he hates Simitz. Have we ever heard of him before? No! But killing him is now the driving force in Peters life. Thats the thing about Peter; he lives in the now. Or rather, he lives in the now while wanting to murder someone for decades-old wrongs theyve done him. Since Peter knows Catherine is trying to ban murder, he tries to expel his feelings by screaming into a bath of ice water, but its not enough. Simitz sucks too much. In brief, he abused Peter in front of his father to make Peter the Great laugh. Its terrible. Down with Simitz. Catherine still doesnt want Peter to murder him, though.

Before day two of the conclave (Im just going to keep calling it different fun gathering names), Archie and Elizabeth work behind the scenes to get the peasants and the merchants on their side. The nobles are still an unknown, though, and they make up two-thirds of the vote. In a feat of stunning unpractical practicality, Catherine tells those gathered that the no-murder thing yesterday was a warm-up discussion. The first proclamation is that, yes, every village in Russia will have its own monkey  thunderous applause.

Peter and Grigor decide to kill Simitz despite everything, or rather Grigor does to save Peter from having to lie to Catherine. Immediately after Grigor shoots him, though, Peter cuts Simitzs throat. Then Georgina bashes his head in with a rock. You werent the only ones he fucked with back then. Damn, Simitz, how shitty were you?

At the end of the day, Peter and Catherine go to bed. He tells her she had a win because now every town will have a monkey, and when Catherine says that Peter killed Simitz, he only admits that Grigor shot him. The complications of marriage when you are in eighteenth-century Russia and also an imperial monarch!

In the next episode, we see Paul has aged up, but not like in a soap opera where hes suddenly sixteen and can be paired with the new girl in town. No, now hes just a visible baby with hair and everything instead of a potato sack in a BabyBjorn. Peter is preparing for Pauls ordination, i.e., the time when the Church says, you are special because of who your parents are, and it is your divine right to rule. Weve pretty much eschewed this idea nowadays, although England likes to pretend its kind of still a thing.

We are told that Peter the Great invented the stag ritual, which, as far as I can tell, involves the baby being tied to the side of a stag, and then his father shoots the stag. The meaning of this is never explained and I can find no record of anything like it in Russian history. Peter keeps practicing so he doesnt hit Paul. Meanwhile, Catherine thinks history will judge her harshly for the monkey in every village idea. It bears repeating that I love this show. Shes dealing with a lot, as she has also received a letter from her sister that starts with Wo ist Mutter? Catherine doesnt really want to explain that her mother is dead, and she was killed by Catherines husband, albeit accidentally, while they were having sex. Its just awkward.

Catherines nerves are stretched to their limit when Peter brings Paul in and delightedly states that Paul has said his first word, and its pussy. This is Catherines breaking point, by which I mean she loses her shit and starts shouting that she wants her son to be a thoughtful and kind child, led by love, not by pussy. She immediately equates Paul with Peter and states that the ordination and the stag ceremony are canceled. Catherine goes into another room and screams.

After Elizabeth caws like a bird to calm herself (sure), she and Archie decide to fix things. Archie tells Catherine that she risks the legitimacy of her rule by canceling the ordination and, therefore, the divine right of kings. Elizabeth hugs and then slaps Peter, telling him his feelings and love do not matter, only his family and his job matter, and his job is to preserve the line of succession. Damn, guys!

In her upsetness, Catherine stops ignoring Marial and they become friends again (HUZZAH). They agree not to talk about Peter, which seems very hard to manage, but I love them both, so I accept these terms. With that friendship fixed, Catherine now has to work on her marriage in this, not its roughest patch by any means, but certainly a rougher patch than the average for a marriage. That being said, most couples dont have to decide whether God should ordain their child to rule a nation. Since Catherine and Peter do, they have a marriage manual to work through.

The Science of Marriage gives them a number of exercises, including tug of war, a yoga (?) move that they must hold while Arkady and Tatyana throw balls at them, and a conversation where they have to make statements starting with you always, as in you always do this, and I hate it about you. All the prizes for Tony McNamara, except the one from the RSPCA (stop killing animals in your things, dude!). In the end, Grigor and Marial play badminton with Catherine and Peter. Marial holds it together and doesnt start stabbing Peter, so thats a win.

Quick side note the Swedish queen is trying (successfully) to get a battle strategy from Velementov, and Georgina and Katya have a flirty vibe going. I would love it if one of my period shows that I recap finally had a decent queer woman storyline.

Pauls second word is book, and Catherine is wavering re: the whole ordination thing. Marial urges her not to give in. Elizabeth wrestles Catherine to the ground and makes her admit shes using a lemon top as birth control. I think Elizabeth is concerned because of her obsession regarding the succession? Catherine tells her shes still against the ordination, but they can do the stag ceremony. Because of this, Elizabeth and Archie tell Peter theyll secretly ordain Paul at midnight. Im not clear on how this works because it isnt the point for the population to know, but thats irrelevant because Peter decides he cant put that burden on his sons shoulders in case Paul does not want to be emperor (dammit, Peter, I love you).

Catherine takes out the lemon top. Peter shoots the stag. Archie wakes up Peters former double Pugachev and tells him theyre going to fuck over the empress. Well GOODNESS.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Microsoft is the stock to buy as it maintains its lead in the generative AI space with ChatGPT, according to Wedbush.

While Alphabet is still playing catchup with its Bard offering, Microsoft is getting ready to monetize its headstart in AI.

"We believe that Microsoft is in a unique position to gain share in the cloud market while deploying additional AI capabilities," Wedbush said.

The battle in generative artificial intelligence is heating up following Alphabet's I/O conference on Wednesday, during which the Google parent announced updates to its Bard platform.

But according to Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, Microsoft remains the stock to buy as it maintains its lead in AI with its stake in ChatGPT and prepares to start monetizing the opportunity.

"The AI monetization opportunity makes us more bullish on [Microsoft]," he said in a Thursday note. "We believe that Microsoft is in a unique position to gain share in the cloud market while deploying additional AI capabilities that we estimate could expand Redmond's total addressable market around cloud by 35% to 40% over the coming years."

The company's strategic stake in ChatGPT, which was bolstered earlier this year with an additional $10 billion investment into OpenAI, could set Microsoft up for the opportunity to start taking share in the cloud space from Amazon's AWS offering.

"[Microsoft] remains in an enviable position to gain share in its enterprise backyard against AWS in this cloud arms race over the next 12 to 18 months," Ives said. "We also believe Redmond is just starting to hit its next gear of growth with ChatGPT and AI also adding a new layer of growth to the Microsoft story over the coming years."

Ives reiterated his "Outperform" rating on Microsoft and said it remains a "best idea." Additionally, he increased his price target on Microsoft to $340 from $325, representing potential upside of 9% from current levels.

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While Alphabet continues to play catchup in the AI space, it is setting up to go head-to-head for market share against Microsoft, especially as the search company has indicated that it plans to incorporate AI capabilities into all aspects of its product suite, including the cloud.

"With demand for AI applications accelerating across industries, we view the improvements and integrations of generative AI across Google's entire portfolio as a positive in the AI battle as it now comes down to who can gather market share as the advancements are released throughout the year," Ives said.

Despite Alphabet's budding opportunity in the AI space, he still favors Microsoft over Alphabet, with no formal recommendation or price target for Google.

"We continue to strongly believe that Microsoft's game changing early investment in ChatGPT got the key head start on the AI front in this Game of Thrones battle for big tech with Google now playing major catchup mode," Ives said.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Capita

Personal data belonging to millions of retirement savers were targeted by hackers after more than 300 pension funds were hit by the Russian-linked cyber attack on IT outsourcer Capita.

Industry sources said the March cyber attack affected up to 350 corporate retirement schemes across the UK, making it the largest such hack in British history.

Funds affected included the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), the biggest private pension pot in Britain, which said on Friday that 470,000 of its members had had their data accessed by criminals through a piece of Capita software it uses.

Data stolen from the USS included pensioners names, dates of birth, and National Insurance numbers among other details. It is thought similar information was accessed at the other funds.

USS said it would write to all affected active, deferred and retired members even as regulators scramble to understand the full impact of the hack.

Bill Galvin, USS chief executive, said: We are very sorry that some USS member data held by Capita may have been accessed by a third party. Data privacy and security is a top priority for us, and we know our members will be concerned by this news.

Data stolen from the USS included pensioners names, dates of birth, and National Insurance numbers among other details.

Mr Galvin added: Having been told [on Thursday] that Capita could not guarantee the security of certain files, weve moved urgently to inform our members. We have given them guidance on the risks this might have created and how they might respond.

We are very confident members pensions remain secure.

For weeks after the attack first came to light in April, Capita insisted that there was no evidence any data had been accessed by hackers, even as stolen passport scans and other financial information was shared on a dark web site run by the Russian Black Basta criminal gang.

The software targeted by the cyber criminals is called Hartlink, which pension schemes can install on their websites to create a secure link for pensioners to view and manage their investments.

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A spokesman for the Pensions Regulator described the fallout from the March cyber attack as an ongoing situation with more detail emerging daily.

We are calling on all trustees to work with Capita to understand how their scheme may have been impacted, to fulfil their responsibilities as data controllers and to warn members of the threat of scams and how to protect themselves, said the regulator.

We are following up robustly with all pension schemes administered by Capita to ensure they do so.

The list of companies thought to use Hartlink is extensive and includes large companies such as Axa, EE, BAE Systems and Marks & Spencer.

An Axa UK spokesman confirmed the insurer was aware of the hack, saying it was related to the AXA UK Group Pension Scheme, a closed scheme that ceased accrual in 2013.

It is understood that EE, another user of the Hartlink software, has not been contacted by Capita.

A Capita spokesman said the company continues to work closely with specialist advisers and forensic experts to investigate the incident and we have taken extensive steps to recover and secure the data. In line with our previous announcement, we are now informing those we have identified to be affected.

The spokesman refused to say whether or not the London-listed business had paid a ransom to recover control of stolen data.

Black Basta, the Russian-speaking ransomware gang who targeted Capita, broke into the companys servers in March and published information on the dark web including passport scans and job acceptance letters sent to teachers in Sheffield.

Jon Lewis, Capitas chief executive, claimed in April that his companys response to the attack would go down as a case history for how to deal with a sophisticated cyber attack.

Stolen data published on the dark web was deleted last week, raising concerns the company may have paid a ransom to the hackers.

Capita told investors earlier this month that it was setting aside between 15m and 20m to cover costs arising from the cyber attack.

The IT outsourcer holds billions of pounds in government and private sector contracts, including a 456m deal to collect the BBC TV licence fee, providing training to the Royal Navy, and offering back office IT services to NHS GP surgeries across the UK.

Capita said the Hartlink software itself is not compromised.

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New UK embassy building to reinforce relationship with Holy See.

UK minister for Europe, Leo Docherty, on Thursday opened new offices of the British embassy to the Holy See, together with Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Vatican's secretary for relations with states.

These new UK offices, close to the heart of the Vatican, are a powerful and physical reminder of the strength of our relationship with the Holy See, and of our desire to work together even more closely on the global challenges of our time", Docherty said in a statement.

.@ChrisTrott and team BE Holy See were thrilled to welcome HE Archbishop Gallagher of @TerzaLoggia and @LeoDochertyUK officially to inaugurate the new embassy office, close to the Vatican, as we strengthen ties pic.twitter.com/5oZpeJJYtH  UK in Holy See (@UKinHolySee) May 11, 2023

The statement hailed the opening of the new premises close to the Vatican as a milestone in UK-Holy See relations, "reinforcing the importance the UK Government places on its relationship with the Holy See."

The UK and the Holy See celebrated 40 years of full ambassadorial relations in 2022. The UK is represented at the Holy See by Ambassador Chris Trott.

Photo Victor Sokolowicz
All Saints' Anglican Church in Rome celebrates the Coronation of King Charles III with a vintage craft market on Saturday 13 May from 10.00 to 18.00.

The event will include a tea room offering classic cream tea, homemade scones served with strawberry jam and fresh clotted cream and a cup of classic British tea.

The market will offer vintage clothes and household goods, second-hand books, artisanal and handcraft gift items, home baking, a raffle, children's activities and face painting.

All Saints' Anglican Church is located on Via del Babuino 153 in the historic centre of Rome.
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As the Biden administration watches two generals grapple for power in Sudan, it will be keeping a close eye on a third: Gen. Mahamat Idriss Deby, who heads the military-led government in neighboring Chad. The contest for Khartoum could easily unbalance the loose coalition of interests that make up his regime in NDjamena.

But rather than use this as a pretext to protect Deby and absolve Chads authoritarian drift, the US should recognize the lessons of Sudan: Men in uniform cannot be relied upon to ensure stability, or to keep promises to pass the reins to civilians.

When Deby took the helm two years ago, following the death of his father, the American response was guided by the conventional wisdom in Washington security circles that Chad is a vital ally in the fight against jihadist terrorism in the Sahel, the belt of countries south of the Sahara. The Biden administration chose to take at face value the regimes assurance that power would be transferred to a civilian government after an 18-month transition period. France, the former colonial power in Chad, echoed the US position.

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This reassured the regime in NDjamena, which was thrilled to get Western legitimacy and weapons, the more so since the withdrawal of the French, says Nicolas van de Walle, a Cornell University professor of government who focuses on Africa. France, which had led multilateral counterterrorism operations in the Sahel, has drawn down its presence, making the US even more dependent on Chad.

This is why Washington has made little effort to hold Deby and his ruling clique to the timeline of the democratic transition, offering only pro forma disapproval when they blew past the deadline and postponed elections by two more years. After a bloody crackdown last fall against civilians demanding a faster transition, the State Department issued a bromide calling for all parties to refrain from violence and to prioritize dialogue.

At that very moment, the US and its European partners were hard at work to help Deby solve some of Chads most pressing economic problems: A debt restructuring deal under the G20 Common Framework with Glencore Plc, NDjamenas main creditor, paved the way for a $570 million bailout from the International Monetary Fund.

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The unstinting support of the US and France has made the regime thin-skinned about any criticism for its backtracking on the transition. When Germanys ambassador to Chad denounced the lack of progress, he was expelled for his pains. This should have raised alarm bells in the Biden administration, but it had found a second reason to excuse the delay in the introduction of democratic rule.

Over the past year, the US has begun to view Chad as a bulwark against a second threat to the Sahel: the destabilizing influence of the Wagner Group, the Russian mercenary organization. In February, the Biden administration warned Deby about an assassination plot by Wagner. The mercenaries are active in Chads neighbors to the north, east and south  Libya, Sudan and the Central African Republic  as well as in Mali, which is one country over to the west.

The chaos in Sudan could easily become the third excuse for American tolerance of the regimes growing authoritarianism. There is no gainsaying the danger Chad faces from the war between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Mohamed Hemedti Dagalo, leader of the Rapid Support Forces. It has borne the brunt of violence within Sudan: Over the past 20 years, more than 400,000 Sudanese have sought refuge in Chad, most of them fleeing the war between Khartoum and rebels in the Darfur region, which lies just across the border. In recent weeks, fresh waves of refugees have arrived.

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Deby will struggle to pick a side in the Sudanese fight. Hemedti is of Chadian origin, and his militia includes Chadian fighters. If the RSF wins, that would strengthen some factions in NDjamena and upset the balance of power within the ruling clique: Bichara Issa Jadallah, who is related to Hemedti, is a powerful member of the transitional government. Should Burhans forces prove irresistible, the militias will likely retreat across the border. Among other things, this would encourage punitive raids by the Sudanese army, bringing the war into Chad. Deby would have to divert military recourses from the fight against terrorism.

For Washington, this scenario might seem an argument to redouble its efforts to support Deby. The degree of instability in Sudan, the potential for spillover into Chad and the multiplicity of actors with a stake  it all leads to policy-making from a defensive posture, says Michelle Gavin, a senior fellow for Africa policy studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.

But the crisis in Khartoum should be Exhibit A in the case against Washingtons leniency toward the regime in NDjamena. Sudan is now wracked by violence precisely because the West did nothing when Burhan and Hemedti undermined a power-sharing agreement with civilians and put off a promised transition to democratic rule.

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To prevent Chad from going down that disastrous path, the Biden administration should make clear that it will no longer tolerate Debys dithering over the democratic transition and insist on an accelerated transfer of power to civilians.

More From Bloomberg Opinion:

 Sudan Rescue Mission Is Helping the US Navy Prepare for War: James Stavridis

 Sudans War Will Test the New Arab Diplomacy: Bobby Ghosh

 Macrons Greatest Test Awaits in the Sahels Forever War: Bobby Ghosh

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Bobby Ghosh is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering foreign affairs. Previously, he was editor in chief at Hindustan Times, managing editor at Quartz and international editor at Time.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion

2023 Bloomberg L.P.

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The new efforts are designed to crack down on illegal border crossings while opening legal pathways to give migrants incentives to apply for asylum online where they are, instead of making the dangerous journey to the border.

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Migrants caught illegally crossing the southern U.S. border cannot return for five years, and they face criminal prosecution if they do. And migrants will be barred from seeking asylum at the border if they do not first ask for protection in a country they traveled through or apply online.

A major piece of the expanded legal pathway is the creation of processing centers in Colombia and Guatemala and up to 100 others in the Western Hemisphere where migrants can go to apply to enter the U.S., Spain or Canada.

Were both facing the challenges of migration in the Western Hemisphere, Biden told Sanchez at the start of the Oval Office meeting.

It was a huge step for the White House to get Spain and Canada to agree to take in asylum seekers from Latin America. And it helps reinforce the Biden administrations argument that the current migration quandary facing the Americas is a global problem that needs a global solution  much like the refugee crises that have impacted Syria, Afghanistan and Ukraine in recent years.

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The State Department on Thursday announced a website where asylum seekers can now find information on the process and will eventually be able to request appointments.

The U.S. has increasingly seen migrants arrive at its southern border who are from China, Ukraine, Haiti, Russia and other nations far from Latin America and who are increasingly family groups and children traveling alone. Thirty years ago, by contrast, illegal crossings were almost always single adults from Mexico who were easily returned over the border.

Spain, though it has high overall unemployment, needs workers for agriculture and other hard-to-fill fields, and it will be able to accept migrants who want to go there and have needed skills.

The Spanish ministry has said the pathway will only apply to those who have already received international protection status. That means the migrants it accepts will need to be considered refugees and will be treated in much the same way that Syrian asylum seekers, traveling via Turkey, have been treated by Spain.

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Spain and the U.S., we have common interests about democracy, prosperity and safe, regular and orderly migration patterns, Sanchez said.

Plans for the processing centers to be established in Guatemala and Colombia were announced last month, but the centers have yet to begin operating. Once up and running, they are expected to process thousands of applicants a month. United Nations organizations will operate the centers, but U.S. officials will be present as well to help with processing of applications.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the White House expects that the processing centers will open in the relatively near future.

While Biden predicted this week that the situation at the border could be chaotic for a while, his administration is looking to discourage migrants from paying smuggling operations to help them journey to the U.S., particularly through the Darien Gap. Officials hope that by cracking down at the border and opening up other ways to the U.S., they will be able to bring a measure of order.

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The coronavirus restrictions, known as Title 42, were a Trump administration endeavor that went into effect in March 2020 amid the global pandemic. Title 42 allowed border officials to turn away migrants to help stop the spread of COVID-19. But there were concerns the policies were put into place merely to keep people out.

While Title 42 was used to deny asylum more than 2.8 million times, it carried no legal consequences, which encouraged repeat attempts by migrants to enter the U.S. The public health emergency officially ended on Thursday night, and with it the restrictions.

Russias invasion of Ukraine was also high on the agenda for Biden and Sanchez, two NATO allies.

Sanchez told reporters following the meeting that he and Biden discussed their countries continuing efforts to support Ukraine as Russias invasion grinds on. Sanchez recently met with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, both of whom have put forward ideas to end the conflict.

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White House officials have dismissed Chinas 12-point peace plan, and called on Beijing to use its influence to urge Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war.

Sanchez said that Spain, which will assume the rotating presidency of the European Council in July, is committed to a lasting and just peace to resolve the Ukraine crisis. He made clear that he sides with Biden and other Western allies in condemning Russian aggression.

Make no mistake, in this war there is an aggressor and victim, Sanchez said. And in this war the aggressor is President Putin.

On another subject, Spain has called on the U.S. to conduct further cleanup of contaminated soil left after a nuclear accident in 1966. A midair collision dumped four U.S. hydrogen bombs near a southern Spanish village. None of the bombs exploded.

Kirby said the White House anticipates negotiations between the two countries on the matter will begin soon.

___

Associated Press writers Renata Brito in Barcelona, Spain, and Ciaran Giles and Jennifer OMahony in Madrid contributed to this report.

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NIO (NYSE:NIO) is a designer, manufacturer and seller of electric vehicles in China. The company currently offers six models, ranging from sedan to SUV cars. One notable aspect of NIO's business model that differentiates it from competitors is its battery swap technology. NIO has established a network of battery swap stations across China, allowing customers to exchange their depleted batteries for fully charged ones in a matter of minutes, addressing the challenge of limited charging infrastructure and reducing charging times.





NIO has gained popularity and recognition for its cutting-edge design, advanced autonomous driving capabilities and ecosystem of services that include mobile applications, cloud connectivity and over-the-air updates. The company has also been involved in the development of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, including an AI-powered virtual assistant called "Nomi" that interacts with drivers and passengers.

However, the company has one glaring problem: it keeps losing money. NIO's strong brand identity and customer-centric approach have contributed to its success in the EV market, but it can't sustain a negative free cash flow trend forever. How can NIO stop losing money?

2022 full-year results were very poor

Looking at the full-year 2022 financial results for NIO, two things that stand out are the increase in sales and the decline in profitability. NIO reported an increase of 37.2% from the previous year in sales, or 45.50 billion Chinese yuan ($6.59 billion), but at the same time a decline in other key financial metrics, like gross margin and the bottom line. The gross margin fell to 10.4% for the whole year of 2022 compared to 18.9% for the previous year, and the net loss widened by 259.4% from the previous year to 14.43 billion.

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What about the vehicle margin as NIO increased its volume of production a lot? There is bad news here too as the vehicle margin was 13.7% for the full year of 2022, a significant decline compared with 20.1% for the previous year. The company generates negative free cash flows, except for the exception of the year 2020, which saw positive free cash flow of $925.03 million. In 2021, NIO reported free cash flow of -$2.55 billion and in 2022 it was -$11.42 billion. Burning cash is a huge red flag for the survival of its business.

What are the main steps NIO could implement to stop losing money?

It's clear that NIO needs to stop losing money, but how? One route I think it should avoid at all costs is cutting prices to take part in the EV price war. It may seem like a great way to drive volumes, but that only works for a company that is making net profits on each vehicle sold, and for NIO this is not the case.

To address the issue of NIO's financial losses, I believe the company could consider expanding its customer base and reaching new markets. This could involve developing new models and expanding the product lineup to attract a wider range of customers. Second, NIO could enhance operational efficiency by focusing on reducing costs. This could include optimizing manufacturing processes, supply chain management and streamlining operations to eliminate waste and improve productivity. The company should closely monitor and control expenses to reduce overall costs. This may involve renegotiating contracts with suppliers, optimizing research and development spending and reducing unnecessary overhead costs.

NIO could also achieve economies of scale. As NIO continues to grow and increase production volume, per-unit costs can decrease, allowing the company to reduce costs and improve profitability. The company should also focus on improving its battery technology in my opinion. Enhancements in battery efficiency, range and charging infrastructure can make NIO vehicles more attractive to customers and give the company a sustainable competitive advantage. On top of that, the company could also increase service revenue by exploring opportunities such as providing maintenance, repairs and other value-added services to NIO vehicle owners, which can generate additional income streams.

There is always the option of strategic partnerships. Collaborating with other companies in the EV industry or related sectors can provide opportunities for cost-sharing, knowledge-sharing and expanding market reach. Partnerships could involve joint ventures, technology licensing, or strategic alliances. For any EV maker, government incentives and support are of paramount importance. NIO can actively seek government incentives, grants and subsidies available for the EV industry. Governments around the world often provide support to promote the adoption of EVs, and NIO can leverage these programs to reduce costs and increase demand.

I also think NIO should spend more to improve brand awareness and marketing. Enhancing brand awareness and marketing efforts can help NIO attract more customers. Investing in effective marketing campaigns, building a strong online presence and leveraging social media platforms can help increase NIO's visibility and brand recognition.

It's important to note that turning around financial losses takes time and is a multi-faceted approach that can often require more up-front investments. NIO does not seem an attractive opportunity now in my view as net losses keep widening, and the company is burning cash on its path to expansion.

This article first appeared on GuruFocus.


Few clubs in Australia are quite as exclusive or shrouded in mystique as Qantas invite-only Chairmans Lounge.

While the airline cultivates this by keeping schtum about who gets in, the lounge tends to be populated by federal MPs, corporate heavies and celebrities.

Losing access is therefore such a stinging symbol of ones decline in status that even those with strong opinions about the embattled carrier and its unpopular departing boss Alan Joyce arent keen to leave.

Alan Joyce and Alan Jones. Credit: John Shakespeare

This week, Alan Jones was informed via email that hed lost lounge access following one of the airlines reviews, a brutal reflection of the radio veterans fall from king of Sydneys airwaves to an old man yelling at a webcam for his online-only ADH TV.
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The old man in a hat and jacket ordered them to leave. Uncle Lyle Roberts stood before a long makeshift plank table at the campsite and gestured to the hairy young ones and important visitors to go away. To the trees and wait for us, he instructed them.

Fifty years ago, in the hills of Nimbin, up to 100 white people including Leila Wedd and Al Oshlack, and a group of Indigenous people, were hiding in the scrub near a big campsite clearing, watching and waiting.

We stood there as the sun set, Wedd said. Uncle Lyles voice was rising [back at the main campsite]. We began to cry. The sound of clap sticks reached us, or perhaps the women clapping in the lap. And the rhythms built and built and this marvellous calling out.

A group embrace after an Indigenous dance performance by the Mornington Island group. Credit:Chris Meagher

Roberts, a Bundjalung elder and one of the last known initiated men of the area, summoned them to return.

He had the men sit on the ground on one side of him and the women on the other, and welcomed them. He talked for some time about his people, about reconciliation and equality, and the significance of the approaching millennium for healing. That this was a turning point.

Ever wondered why Australians pay tribute to Indigenous people before weddings, sporting matches, zoom meetings or simply when your plane lands?
Western Australia is in the running to host a green steel plant bankrolled by the worlds biggest steel maker, China Baowu Group.

During talks with Trade Minister Don Farrell in Beijing, company chairman Chen Dorong said the availability of clean energy and ore made Western Australia ideal as a site for the new facility.

WA is one of the places in the running. Credit: Krystle Wright

The biggest buyer of Australian iron ore wants to decarbonise operations but is also eyeing West Africa, South America and Saudi Arabia as alternatives.

There had been twists and turns in the Australia-China relationship, Mr Chen said.
Cargo-Partner is headquartered in Vienna, Austria. This warehouse is located near the airport in Ljubljana, Slovenia. (Photo: Cargo-Partner)

Nippon Express, the seventh-largest third-party logistics provider in the world by gross revenue, has agreed to acquire Austrian logistics company Cargo-Partner for up to $1.5 billion, advancing its strategy to become a global mega-freight forwarder.

The deal announced Friday significantly strengthens Nippon Express Groups network in Europe, especially the growing manufacturing regions in central and eastern countries, and increases its ocean and air forwarding volumes. Greater access to Europe and other regions provides a counterbalance to projections for Japans domestic logistics market to remain stagnant due to a shrinking population and government policies.

Publicly listed Nippon Express said it will pay 845 million euros ($924 million) in cash for Cargo-Partner and its subsidiaries, followed by cash payments of up to $607 million based on the target companies reaching certain financial thresholds. The deal is expected to close between November and May, subject to various regulatory approvals.

Nippon Express gross revenue was more than $21 billion last year, with 29% of business coming from overseas sales compared to 20% in 2019. The company, which has more than 73,400 employees at 760 locations, forecasts revenue will decline to $18 billion this year amid a global economic slowdown and weak shipping demand, with international sales increasing to 30%. It is targeting an overseas sales ratio of 40% by 2028, with half of sales from outside Japan by 2037.

Management-owned Cargo-Partner, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary, has 4,000 employees in 40 countries, including the United States. In 2022, it generated $2.2 billion in gross revenue, more than double its sales two years earlier, with operating income of $77.6 million. In addition to primary forwarding business, Cargo-Partner also arranges intermodal rail shipping and provides warehousing services.

It will continue to operate under its own brand within Nippon Express.

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The acquisition of Cargo-Partner strengthens Nippon Express ability to provide a suite of logistics services between Asia and Europe.

The combination gives both companies greater global office coverage, specialty services, information technology resources and global scale, with Cargo-Partner gaining a considerable presence in the intra-Asia and trans-Pacific markets. Nippon Express and Cargo-Partner said the transaction is complementary because of their different customer bases and geographic strongholds.

Tokyo-based Nippon Express in January acquired two freight forwarders based in Italy. In 2020 it bought U.S.-based MD Logistics, a pharmaceutical industry specialist.

Nippon Express moved 870,000 tons of cargo by air in 2022, making it the seventh-largest air freight forwarder by volume. It envisions becoming No. 2 in the world, after Kuehne+Nagel, by 2037. Nippon Express and Cargo-Partner combined would vault to No. 11 in rank among ocean freight agents, according to research by Armstrong & Associates and Transport Topics.

Click here for more FreightWaves/American Shipper stories by Eric Kulisch.

Contact Eric: ekulisch@freightwaves.com

RECOMMENDED READING:

Japan Airlines returns to freighter business

The post Nippon Express buys European logistics firm Cargo-Partner appeared first on FreightWaves.
Next years stage three tax relief will still leave middle-income wage earners up to $172 worse off in 2025 than they were in 2019, with independent analysis revealing bracket creep is eating into the pay packets of ordinary workers.

The analysis by economist Professor Ben Phillips from the Australian National Universitys Centre for Social Research and Methods, shows that once the stage three tax cuts kick in next year, middle-income households  those earning about $100,000  will have less disposable income compared with 2019.

Then-treasurer Scott Morrison and then-prime minister Malcolm Turnbull after the 2018 budget which included a planned three stage tax plan. The benefits of the plan have been eaten by bracket creep for middle-income earners. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Phillips analysis tracked the impact of the original tax package first announced by then-treasurer Scott Morrison in his 2018-19 budget, and includes the welfare measures announced this week by Treasurer Jim Chalmers and the governments ramp-up in childcare assistance.

Morrison said at the time the stage three cuts would protect what Australians earn from bracket creep. His successor, Josh Frydenberg, who increased the size of the tax cuts, also maintained they would protect people from the process by which a greater proportion of their income is taxed at a higher rate.
What in the World, a free weekly newsletter from our foreign correspondents, is sent every Thursday. Below is an excerpt. Sign up to get the whole newsletter delivered to your inbox.

Welcome, officially, to the new Carolean era.

A few days before I flew to the UK last year to take up my posting as Europe correspondent, I had lunch with veteran broadcaster and one-time senator Derryn Hinch in Melbourne.

The full pomp and ceremony of the Kings coronation was something to behold.

Hinch isnt everyones cup of tea but hes become a great friend and mentor to me and he is still a journalist to his bootstraps. Long before he was the Human Headline on radio and TV he was a newspaper man and an editor. In fact he used to write for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age as New York correspondent.
(Bloomberg) -- Canadas main oil-producing region in northeastern Alberta faces an increased risk of wildfires as temperatures rise over the weekend, provincial officials said.

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This months blazes have largely spared the oil sands, but they have hammered the provinces drought-stricken west, forcing the evacuation of as many as 30,000 people and curtailing natural gas output. That pattern is threatening to shift this weekend as temperatures rise and conditions dry out across northern Alberta, Christie Tucker, wildfire information officer, said Thursday.

The northeast has been relatively less affected than other parts of the province so far, she said at a press conference. But that could certainly change because they will be seeing similar conditions to other parts in the north of the province.

Oil and gas producers have brought output back online in recent days as the blazes in the west die down. Crescent Point Energy Corp. has now restored 85% of the 45,000 barrels a day of oil equivalent Kaybob Duvernay production that was shut due to the fires, up from 75% two days ago, the company said Friday. Chevron Corp., which had evacuated its facilities earlier in the week, has resumed operations in the Kaybob Duvernay outside of the fire affected area, spokeswoman Deena McMullen said by email.

Pembina Pipeline Corp. said Thursday that facilities shut due to fires have resumed operations. Peyto Exploration & Development Corp. also said it has restored essentially all production from two plants that were shut.

The output cuts may have affected flows of the light condensate thats mixed with oil-sands crude to help it move through pipelines, helping strengthen prices for Canadian heavy oil. On Friday, Western Canadian Selects discount to the US benchmark narrowed 25 cents to $12.85 a barrel, the narrowest in more than a year, data compiled by Bloomberg show. AECO gas prices in Alberta rose 2.9% to C$2.12 per million British thermal units on Thursday.

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This years wildfires have been far less destructive than those that tore through Canadas oil sands region seven years ago. The blazes of 2016 shut down more than 1 million barrels of daily crude production and razed whole sections of Fort McMurray, the regions main city.

Rain showers have helped firefighters bring the most recent series of fires under control in recent days. There are now 74 wildfires, down from more than 80 on Thursday and more 100 earlier in the week. A total of 20 fires are still considered out of control. But Fort McMurray is expected to see temperatures of 32C (90F) on Sunday, according to Environment Canada.

The number of evacuees has fallen to fewer than 17,000 from as many as 31,000 earlier in the week. Meanwhile, hundreds of members of the Canadian armed forces are being deployed in areas including Grande Prairie, Fox Creek and Drayton Valley areas to assist in battling the blazes.

(Updates prices in sixth paragraph)

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2023 Bloomberg L.P.
If you're not sure where to start when looking for the next multi-bagger, there are a few key trends you should keep an eye out for. Firstly, we'd want to identify a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and then alongside that, an ever-increasing base of capital employed. This shows us that it's a compounding machine, able to continually reinvest its earnings back into the business and generate higher returns. So when we looked at Objective (ASX:OCL), they do have a high ROCE, but we weren't exactly elated from how returns are trending.

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. To calculate this metric for Objective, this is the formula:

Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT)  (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)

0.34 = AU$24m  (AU$125m - AU$56m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2022).

So, Objective has an ROCE of 34%. In absolute terms that's a great return and it's even better than the Software industry average of 12%.

View our latest analysis for Objective

roce

Above you can see how the current ROCE for Objective compares to its prior returns on capital, but there's only so much you can tell from the past. If you'd like, you can check out the forecasts from the analysts covering Objective here for free.

The Trend Of ROCE

When we looked at the ROCE trend at Objective, we didn't gain much confidence. Historically returns on capital were even higher at 46%, but they have dropped over the last five years. On the other hand, the company has been employing more capital without a corresponding improvement in sales in the last year, which could suggest these investments are longer term plays. It may take some time before the company starts to see any change in earnings from these investments.

On a side note, Objective's current liabilities are still rather high at 45% of total assets. This effectively means that suppliers (or short-term creditors) are funding a large portion of the business, so just be aware that this can introduce some elements of risk. Ideally we'd like to see this reduce as that would mean fewer obligations bearing risks.

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The Key Takeaway

Bringing it all together, while we're somewhat encouraged by Objective's reinvestment in its own business, we're aware that returns are shrinking. Yet to long term shareholders the stock has gifted them an incredible 285% return in the last five years, so the market appears to be rosy about its future. But if the trajectory of these underlying trends continue, we think the likelihood of it being a multi-bagger from here isn't high.

Objective could be trading at an attractive price in other respects, so you might find our free intrinsic value estimation on our platform quite valuable.

If you'd like to see other companies earning high returns, check out our free list of companies earning high returns with solid balance sheets here.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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If we want to find a potential multi-bagger, often there are underlying trends that can provide clues. 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. Ultimately, this demonstrates that it's a business that is reinvesting profits at increasing rates of return. Although, when we looked at Stamford Tyres (SGX:S29), it didn't seem to tick all of these boxes.

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. Analysts use this formula to calculate it for Stamford Tyres:

Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT)  (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)

0.067 = S$9.3m  (S$241m - S$102m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to October 2022).

Thus, Stamford Tyres has an ROCE of 6.7%. On its own that's a low return, but compared to the average of 5.2% generated by the Retail Distributors industry, it's much better.

Check out our latest analysis for Stamford Tyres

roce

Historical performance is a great place to start when researching a stock so above you can see the gauge for Stamford Tyres' ROCE against it's prior returns. If you're interested in investigating Stamford Tyres' past further, check out this free graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow.

The Trend Of ROCE

Things have been pretty stable at Stamford Tyres, with its capital employed and returns on that capital staying somewhat the same for the last five years. This tells us the company isn't reinvesting in itself, so it's plausible that it's past the growth phase. So don't be surprised if Stamford Tyres doesn't end up being a multi-bagger in a few years time.

On a separate but related note, it's important to know that Stamford Tyres has a current liabilities to total assets ratio of 42%, which we'd consider pretty high. This effectively means that suppliers (or short-term creditors) are funding a large portion of the business, so just be aware that this can introduce some elements of risk. Ideally we'd like to see this reduce as that would mean fewer obligations bearing risks.

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The Key Takeaway

We can conclude that in regards to Stamford Tyres' returns on capital employed and the trends, there isn't much change to report on. Since the stock has declined 18% over the last five years, investors may not be too optimistic on this trend improving either. On the whole, we aren't too inspired by the underlying trends and we think there may be better chances of finding a multi-bagger elsewhere.

On a final note, we found 4 warning signs for Stamford Tyres (2 are concerning) you should be aware of.

While Stamford Tyres may not currently earn the highest returns, we've compiled a list of companies that currently earn more than 25% return on equity. Check out this free list here.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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There are long lists of places families can take their moms for brunch (or dinner) Sunday, but here are a few additional options for families this Mothers Day weekend. Either alongside your mom, or, in the event they want some quality alone or friend-time, some ways to get you out of the house.

Bonus: the province is offering free fishing all weekend if you want to enjoy the sunshine down by the water. Afterwards, you can go home and make your mom dinner  dont forget to clean.

Niagara Folks Arts Festival

The second weekend of the month-long celebration of Niagara culture heads over to Ukraine as the Ukrainian Canadian Congress hosts its open house Saturday afternoon. The community is invited to learn and celebrate Ukrainian culture and heritage.

Enjoy homemade food prepared by St. John Ukrainian Church (91 Lakeshore Rd. in St. Catharines) kitchen volunteers, as well as cultural displays and Ukrainian vendors. The open house runs 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., with live shows featuring traditional dancing and music at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.

Pelham Art Festival

More than 75 artists from across Ontario are taking part in this weekends three-day Mothers Day event. The festival began in a backyard in 1986 to raise money for a new Fonthill public library, and it now draws thousands of visitors from around the province.

Proceeds benefit Lincoln Pelham Library, as well as funding scholarships for graduating students pursuing post-secondary education in the fine arts. The festival runs May 12 to 14, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the Accipiter Arena at Meridian Community Centre.

Firemens Park Mother Earth Day

Organized and hosted by the Park in the City Committee, Saturdays event is called a celebration of the environment. From a free tree giveaway for Niagara Falls residents, live demonstrations and dozens of environmental vendors (full list can be found online) to food concessions and a visit from Niagara Region Water Wagon, theres something for everyone.

A full list of demonstrations and start times can be found online, but includes Birds of Prey, Indigenous performances, Qi-gong and bee hives. Free youth activities and childrens crafts  plus the Heartland Forest mobile train  start at 10 a.m.

For more information visit: https://niagarafalls.ca/city-hall/committees/park-in-the-city/mother-earth-day/default.aspx.

Rowing

If you want to enjoy the warm weather and watch some rowing along the water, youre in luck this weekend as both rowing courses are set to be filled with club and high school activity.

On Saturday, rowers from 21 crews (five from Niagara) will be racing 2,000-metre sprints in one- and two-person shells at the RowOn Small Boat Regatta at South Niagara Rowing Club in Welland. Qualifying heats in mens singles get underway at 9 a.m., with the final event set for 3:38 p.m.

And on Sunday, its the annual Mothers Day Regatta on Martindale Pond  the host of the 139th Canadian Henley Regatta later this summer. The daylong St. Catharines event will include medals in 42 separate categories.

Mothers Day birding walk

Fort Eries Marcie Jacklin, a former librarian and researcher for Brock University, is bringing her passion for nature and birding to a Sunday morning Mothers Day birding walk.

The spring warbler walk gets underway at 8 a.m. at Port Weller East pier (the end of Seaway Rd Road by the yellow gate). The easy 5K walk will take participants from Niagaras three nature clubs to the lighthouse, looking for spring arrivals.

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David Cohens visit to Niagara Thursday and Friday was part of the U.S. ambassador to Canadas mission to gain a much broader perspective of his host countrys diversity.

A friend of mine reminded me before I came here that the president (Joe Biden) appointed you to be his personal representative in the United States ambassador to Canada and not the United States ambassador to Ottawa, Cohen said during a sit-down interview with the Niagara Falls Review after visiting with regional mayors at Niagara Falls city hall Friday.

The rest of the country is different. Youve got different conversations, different areas of interest, and to do my job, I think its really important that I have this much broader perspective that I get by visiting.

Cohen said when he arrived in Niagara, he toured Salem Chapel BME Church in St. Catharines.

One of the original reasons for my attraction to coming here was a healthy dose of Harriet Tubman, he said. Im a big Harriet Tubman student and fan because before she made Canada her home, she really made Philadelphia (Cohens hometown) her home.

Cohen said he then visited St. Catharines Museum and Welland Canals Centre.

Really got an education on the canal, the commerce thats (related to) the canal, and the importance of that commerce to Niagara, but also to both sides of the border, he said, adding St. Catharines Mayor Mat Siscoe stopped by for a chat.

Cohen said he visited the falls and enjoyed the obligatory boat ride along the Niagara River.

He said he had dinner with local cultural leaders, which focused on diversity and inclusion. He also met with First Nation officials.

Its easy to ... think about (Niagara) as a tourist destination, where its mostly white people, and it is a tourist destination with mostly white people, he said. But theres a pretty strong culture of diversity in this community, and theres a very big commitment by a lot of people in this community to make sure that youre creating community events and arts and culture and commemoration that celebrates the entire diverse history and culture of Canada.

Cohen said his No. 1 priority as ambassador is to nurture and to grow this extraordinary partnership, allyship, and relationship between Canada and United States.

I can talk about our trade relationship  over $3 billion a day in trade last year between Canada and the United States, generating millions of jobs on both sides of the border, he said.

Those are the macro-numbers, theyre true, theyre important. On the other hand, if I come to Niagara, I can get a taste up close of the importance of tourism, and we talked today about the importance of agriculture, and the importance of the border in driving trade and relationship. People can talk about it in Ottawa, but the people here live it, its their fundamental existence, and if I didnt come here, I wouldnt get that up close and personal, direct conversation about those issues which will enable me to do my job better.

On Friday, Cohen met with four mayors Jim Diodati of Niagara Falls, Wayne Redekop of Fort Erie, Bill Steele of Port Colborne and Gary Zalepa of Niagara-on-the-Lake.

He said the mayors shared how they value and appreciate the relationship between the two countries, not just from a commerce and trade perspective, but the personal connection between residents from communities on both sides of the Niagara border.

We talked about reducing friction on the border  making sure the border is as easy to cross as possible, said Cohen.

He noted the coincidence of meeting with the mayors on the day pandemic-era border regulations to enter the U.S. were lifted.

More than three years after the arrival of COVID-19 on North American soil, as of midnight Thursday night, it was no longer a requirement for foreign travellers to show proof of their vaccination status to enter America. Canada dropped its COVID-era entry restrictions in October, but the U.S. maintained theirs for another seven months.

It was a health-related restriction, and I give Joe Biden credit  he did not want to use politics or trade to second-guess the professional doctors, said Cohen.

He always said, Im going to follow the advice of my medical people, and my scientists, and they just werent ready to take the plunge until (recently).

Cohen said although the two countries policies may not have been aligned, its an example of where Canada and United States can have differences without being confrontational.

That wasnt always the case during former president Donald Trumps four years in the White House, as Bidens predecessor didnt shy away from lobbing public insults at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

As I was meeting with people and talking with people, I was struck by the loss of trust that had developed between Canada and the United States, said Cohen.

Part of that was clearly the last administration, part of it was that Canada had not had a Senate-confirmed U.S. ambassador for more than three years, so there was no constant presence in the role of ambassador to be able to re-enforce the relationship, part of it was the times, this growth of extremist conservative voices. I said publicly that Ive adopted as one of the central things that I need to work on is rebuilding the trust between Canada and the United States.

Cohen said EKOS has long done polling defining the trust factor between the two countries, which reached the high 50s at the end of former president Barack Obamas presidency. He said by the end of the Trump presidency, it was 10 per cent, but has since bounced back into the low 50s.

But Im going to take a little piece of credit of trumpeting everywhere I go, every opportunity, to say and to mean it, how important Canada is to the United States. Its not a one-way relationship. I push back on the notion that frequently Canadians have that Canada is the junior partner, or the younger sibling. Canada is an equal partner in the goals that we share. We have the same values, and whether its defending Ukraine, or climate change, or diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility, we are partners together.

Cohen said he backs Bidens message that U.S. has no better friend, ally, or partner than Canada.

Thats not to say the countries are always going to agree.

Were like a family. Do you agree with everyone in your family all the time? Of course not. The question is how do you handle your differences of opinion? Do you discuss them civilly? Or do you yell and argue and make public displays of your disagreements? said Cohen.

I think Canada and the United States recognize that there will be disagreements, but we will handle them civilly, well handle them like adults  (and) we will resolve them in a way that works for both countries.

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OKOTOKS, Alta. - The United Conservative Party is demanding an apology from an NDP candidate for comments he made in a 2021 book about Albertas energy sector.

Wild Roses are Worth It: Reimagining the Alberta Advantage by Livingstone-Macleod candidate Kevin Van Tighem is described as a collection of provocative, personal and thoughtful essays.

Jason Nixon, UCP Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre candidate, said Friday that in the book Van Tighem calls Albertans angry, entitled rednecks and resource exploiters.

Nixon added that Van Tighem also compares the provinces energy industry to slavery and energy workers to slaves.

Van Tighem, who is also a conservationist, said in a statement on Twitter that everybodys insights evolve.

Ive been talking to hundreds of people in this province. People in Alberta rely on oil and gas, he wrote. We need to build a future where we maximize its value to our economy.

Oil was a vital part of our past; it will be a vital part of our future.

On Friday, United Conservative Leader Danielle Smith was in Grande Prairie, Alta., in her role as premier for an emergency cabinet update on wildfires.

She was to tour the fire zone and hold strategy meetings with local officials and Indigenous leaders.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 12, 2023.

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A Metis settlement devastated by an out-of-control blaze remains at risk as hot and dry conditions in Albertas forecast threaten to worsen an already intense wildfire season.

That fire, I call it the devil. Ive never seen a fire like that in my life, said Raymond Supernault, chair of the East Prairie Metis Settlement.

I never seen a fire like that come that quick and fast and go through the settlement and burn everything in its sight.

Driving through the settlement around 165 kilometres east of Grande Prairie, the ground is charred black, electrical poles look like matchsticks and 14 homes were consumed by the inferno.

Around 80 per cent of the community was touched by the blaze in some way or another. Its an overwhelming loss for the community of around 300, Supernault said.

Family pictures, heirlooms and important history for the Metis families vanished in ash. A bridge needed by some families to return home was also destroyed.

The settlement is not out of the woods yet. Temperatures in the high 20s and low to mid-30s are expected in some areas of the province over the coming days, with daytime highs soaring up to 15 degrees above normal.

Thats going to be hot. The fires will start rising again, Supernault said. Thats the scary part.

There were 78 active wildfires in the province as of Friday night, including 22 out of control. About 16,000 people from several other communities in central and northern Alberta remained out of their homes.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith was in Grande Prairie surveying the fire zone and meeting with local officials and Indigenous leaders.

About 300 members of the Canadian Armed Forces are set to be deployed to help with the blazes over the next few days. About 100 of those soldiers will be sent to the area around Grand Prairie and the settlement.

The help will be a reprieve for community members after the fire rapidly tore through the East Prairie Metis Settlement a week ago.

People were given an hour to flee. Supernault said within seven hours, the community was destroyed.

A provincial state of emergency was put in place the following day.

I never thought Id have to see something like this in my lifetime, Supernault said

Some community members stayed behind to save what they could. The settlement has a long history of firefighting. Supernault said residents are also slashers, equipment operators and truck drivers with skills to save as many homes as possible.

We always fought fire growing up, that used to be our source of work, said Brad Desjarlais, who stayed behind to help.

The spruce, muskeg, poplar trees and dry grass lit up quickly as locals did what they could on the ground to keep the flames away from homes, Desjarlais explained.

A small amount of rain this week helped their efforts, but he said hot spots remain.

The Alberta government announced it will join the federal government in a donation-matching program with the Canadian Red Cross that would see every $1 donated become $3.

Supernault said its difficult for the Metis settlement to navigate jurisdictional issues between the province and federal government when it comes to getting help and funding. They will need to rebuild homes, put up power poles and repair the bridge  all with a significant price tag.

East Prairie is one of eight Metis settlements in the province. It is land-based and self-governing, but not the same as a First Nation reserve.

Elders have often talked about how hard it was when they first came to the area, Supernault said. They were called roadside people and lived in tar shacks.

Their forbearers made their permanent home on this land in the 1930s, Supernault said.

They built it for us and we have to make sure we take care of it, Supernault said.

No matter how burnt it is, the green grass is going to come back. the houses will come back.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 12, 2023.

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NAIN, NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR - The president of the organization representing Inuit in Canada hailed the arrival of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in a small village on Labradors north coast Friday as momentous.

Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami president Natan Obed said Trudeaus visit to Nain, N.L., is the first time a sitting prime minister has travelled to Nunatsiavut, the Inuit region of Labrador.

This is a long time in the making, Obed said as he sat next to Trudeau in the Illusuak Cultural Centre, which looked out onto a landscape of frozen sea ice and sprawling mountains. Ive been inviting the prime minister to my hometown of Nunatsiavut since 2015.

Trudeau was in town for a regular meeting of the Inuit-Crown Partnership Committee, of which Obed is a co-chair. The meeting was closed to the public and the media, but Obed said there were 14 items on the agenda, including the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the difficult housing situation faced by many in Inuit Nunangat, which is the traditional homeland of Canadas Inuit and spans the northern region from the tip of the Yukon Territory to Nunatsiavut.

Marie-Josee Houle, Canadas federal housing advocate, said late last year that housing shortages in the region amounted to human rights violations. Over half of Inuit in Inuit Nunangat lived in overcrowded homes in 2021, and more than a quarter lived in homes in need of major repairs, according to Statistics Canada.

Lela Evans, the provincial New Democrat member for the Nunatsiavut area, says housing shortages and food insecurity are driving higher suicide rates in the region. She made an emotional plea for action from the provincial government last month, citing a study that showed women in Nunatsiavut were almost 32 times more likely to die of suicide than women in Newfoundland.

Trudeau told reporters he knows the needs are significant.

We have worked very, very closely with communities like here in Nain, but with leadership right across Inuit Nunangat to work with them to meet the need in responsible, realistic ways, he said.

The latest federal budget promised $4 billion toward an Indigenous housing strategy over seven years, beginning next year. Trudeau did not answer directly when asked if he felt that timeline would meet the regions housing needs quickly enough.

The prime minister attended a community feast at a local school, which featured Inuit throat singing and drum dancing. Obed told the hundreds of people packed into the school gym that the meeting that day was for them  and for all of Canada.

Ultimately, the work that we do is to improve all of your lives, he told the crowd.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 12, 2023.

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(Bloomberg) -- Johann Rupert, the controlling shareholder of Swiss luxury goods conglomerate Richemont, dismissed talk of a takeover by bigger rival LVMH or a combination with Kering SA.

Most Read from Bloomberg

The billionaire said he was in constant friendly dialogue with LVMH Chairman Bernard Arnault, but the Cartier owner has no interest in a deal with the French company and isnt for sale. He referred to the speculation as an erroneous story.

We respect each others independence and I would think less of him if we didnt have frank and candid conversations, Rupert said of Arnault.

The comments mark the first direct response Rupert has given to talk of LVMH circling Richemont for a potential takeover following a report in Swiss newspaper Finanz und Wirtschaft in February. Rupert said both he and Arnault want to make clear that this scenario isnt correct.

Rupert, 72, has for years tried to convince investors that Richemont isnt for sale, yet speculation continues to spring up as the question of succession planning grows. The companys stock surged Friday on better-than-expected results, giving the luxury-goods maker a market value of almost 90 billion Swiss francs ($101 billion).

The Richemont chairman pointed to comments Arnault recently made in the media indicating that Cartier was not for sale.

Rupert also quashed talk of a potential tie-up with Gucci owner Kering. He said investment bankers had pitched a potential deal two years ago.

For the record, we said no, Rupert said on a call with journalists.

The South African businessman, a former investment banker himself, said Richemont would grow its own stable of brands and not look for big acquisitions.

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Why would we want to? We know what we have, he said.

--With assistance from Angelina Rascouet.

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2023 Bloomberg L.P.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP)  A crucial radar antenna on a European spacecraft bound for Jupiter is no longer jammed.

Flight controllers in Germany freed the 52-foot (16-meter) antenna Friday after nearly a month of effort.

The European Space Agencys Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, nicknamed Juice, blasted off in April on a decade-long voyage. Soon after launch, a tiny pin refused to budge and prevented the antenna from fully opening.

Controllers tried shaking and warming the spacecraft to get the pin to move by just millimeters. Back-to-back jolts finally did the trick.

The radar antenna will peer deep beneath the icy crust of three Jupiter moons suspected of harboring underground oceans and possibly life. Those moons are Callisto, Europa and Ganymede, the largest moon in the solar system.

Juice will attempt to go into orbit around Ganymede. No spacecraft has ever orbited a moon other than our own.

The news wasnt so good for NASAs Lunar Flashlight spacecraft. After struggling unsuccessfully for months to get the Cubesat into orbit around the moon, the space agency called it quits Friday.

Launched in December, the Lunar Flashlight was supposed to hunt for ice in the shadowed craters of the lunar south pole. Now its headed back toward Earth and then into deep space, continually orbiting the sun.

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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OTTAWA - A Manitoba senator will be the third woman to sit in the Speakers chair in the Senate, and the first to do so in 44 years.

The Governor General appointed Raymonde Gagne to serve in the role Friday on the advice of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

A statement from Trudeaus office lauding the appointment says Gagne, who worked in education before joining the Senate in 2016, is a strong advocate for minority language rights.

She was the president of Winnipegs Universite de Saint-Boniface from 2003 to 2014.

The statement says Gagne has a reputation for being productive, objective and balanced, and the prime minister is confident she will uphold Canadians confidence in their democratic institutions.

Gagne is replacing the now-retired George Furey, who has been a senator since 1999 and served as Speaker for the last eight years.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 12, 2023.

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Japanese and South Korean officials held hourslong talks into early Saturday and agreed on a visit later this month by South Korean experts to the Fukushima nuclear plant before it begins the controversial release of treated but radioactive water into the sea. The safety of the water is a major sticking point as the two sides work to improve long-strained ties.

Discussions were held Friday in Seoul and online, in which the Japanese government also provided an update on the status of the tsunami-wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. Officials are preparing to release the water, saying it's an unavoidable step for the decommissioning process.

Japan's Foreign Ministry, after a nearly 12-hour meeting that ran past midnight, issued a statement early Saturday saying the two sides agreed to have a four-day visit by a South Korean delegation to Japan that includes a Fukushima nuclear plant tour, and that further details, including its program need to be finalized.

The government and the plants operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, say the water release will begin between spring and summer and take decades to finish.

A massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011 destroyed the Fukushima Daiichi plants cooling systems, causing three reactors to melt and release large amounts of radiation. Water used to cool the three damaged reactor cores, which remain highly radioactive, leaks into the basements of the reactor buildings and is collected, treated and stored in about 1,000 tanks that now cover much of the plant.

The government and TEPCO say the tanks must be removed to make room to build facilities for the plants decommissioning and to minimize the risk of leaks in case of another major disaster. The tanks are expected to reach their capacity of 1.37 million tons in early 2024.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, during his May 7-8 visit to Seoul for a summit with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, announced that Japan would receive a team of experts at the plant later in May to address South Korea's concerns in a show of his desire to further improve relations.

South Koreas Foreign Ministry said Saturday the two sides held in-depth discussions on what the South Korean experts would see and do at the plant and that further consultations were planned to finalize the details.

Seoul wants to send some 20 government experts to visit the Fukushima Daiichi plant on May 23-24, although the groups actual size will be determined after further talks with Japan, Park Ku-yeon, first vice minister of South Koreas Office for Government Policy Coordination, said Friday.

Park said the plant visit is aimed at reviewing the safety of the entire ocean discharge process, including Japan's water treatment facility and its operation and technologies to measure contamination levels in treated water.

Asked whether Seoul would consider lifting its import ban on seafood from Fukushima if it determines Japans water release plan is safe, Park replied absolutely not, citing South Korean public concerns and a need for deeper investigations into the environmental impact of the 2011 disaster.

Japanese officials said the Korean delegation's plant visit is not an inspection and does not involve a safety assessment, review or evaluation of the water discharge plan, because it's already under review by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Japan has been assisted by the IAEA for credibility and transparency.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said Thursday the visit would not affect the timing of a planned release of the water and that Japan continues to provide explanations about safety measures to aid understanding.

Japanese officials say the water will be safely filtered to below releasable levels by international standards and further diluted by large amounts of seawater before release, making it harmless to human health or marine life.

The plan has faced fierce protests from local fishing communities concerned about safety and reputational damage. Neighboring countries, including South Korea, China and the Pacific Island nations, have also raised safety concerns. South Korea and China ban food imports from around Fukushima and describe the water as contaminated" instead of treated despite the Japanese government's repeated protests.

Some scientists say the impact of long-term, low-dose exposure to tritium and other radionuclides on the environment and humans is still unknown and the release should be delayed.

Historical disputes have strained ties between Tokyo and Seoul  most recently over the compensation of wartime Korean forced laborers during Japan's 1910-1945 colonization of the Korean Peninsula. But their relationship has thawed rapidly since March, when Yoon's government announced a local fund to compensate some of the former laborers. Tokyo and Seoul, under pressure from Washington, share a sense of urgency to mend ties amid growing security threats in the region.

Associated Press writer Kim Tong-hyung in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report.
READING, Pa. - A student at Northwest Middle School in Reading was taken into custody Thursday after being found with a gun inside the building, police say.

The incident prompted the evacuation of the building at 1000 N. Front St., one of the district's five middle schools.

According to investigators, school police officers detained a 14-year-old male student in possession of a loaded firearm.

Officers immediately located and detained the student without incident after receiving information that he had a gun. He is charged with possession of a firearm by a minor and possession of a firearm on school property.

Outside Northwest Middle School, a police cruiser repeatedly honked and students could be seen being escorted to reunification sites.

One student described the tense moments inside the school.

"Well, usually like lockdowns are fake, so we weren't scared, but then, the teachers start getting scared because nobody said it was going to be one," explained Anavell Dominguez, an 8th grade student. "So, we stay in the classroom. They closed the doors, and we stayed together until the security came for us."

Fifth and sixth graders were relocated to Riverside Elementary School at 1400 Centre Avenue. Seventh and eighth graders were sent to St. Margaret's Catholic School at 235 Spring Street.

Parents were advised to reunite with their children at those locations. They were then dismissed for the day.

"I'm terrified," said parent Keri Symons, whose daughter is in 7th grade. "Supposedly, there's someone walking around with a gun."

School has been cancelled Friday for Northwest Middle students. They will be assigned times, by grade, to pick up their belongings from the building.

"There was no shooting," said Reading Police Chief Richard Tornielli. "There was no active shooter situation. It was an individual who had brought a firearm into the school. The juvenile, who is in possession of the firearm, is in police custody at this time."

This incident comes a little more than two weeks after security at Reading High School stopped a student with a loaded handgun. Officials say that student was let inside the building by another student who opened an unauthorized door on April 26. Both students were taken into custody.

The incident prompted two days of virtual learning for the high school's 5,500 students. They returned to in-person classes last Monday, May 1.

A message on the district's website applauded the Safe School Team and Reading Police for their timely and professional response, as well as the professionalism of teachers and staff during a stressful incident.
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - Berks County native Taylor Swift is in Pennsylvania for the next three nights!

She's playing three shows at Lincoln Financial Field in South Philadelphia, where fans have anticipated their favorite artist playing more than 40 of her songs for months.

Ahead of her concert tonight, there is a "Tay-Gate," that is sold out, underway at Xfinity Live.

The Swift-themed party is equipped with every ERA of Taylor Swift's music, merchandise for sale, plenty of sparkles, and all the selfie opportunities fans of TayTay could want.

"I am so excited," said Michelle Joyce of Lancaster County. "I am 48 years old. I have no shame. I am in my costume."

The ladies from Schuykill County came dressed to impress in their fits.

"Only $280 a ticket, plus the fit," explained Sain.

That's a steal considering some fans spent hundreds and thousands more to see the Berks County native play in South Philly.

"My husband apparently saw her at American Eagle once when we were younger, so it's cool," explained Wallace. "A lot of people don't want to say it's her hometown show, but it is!"

Some fans, like Sain and Wallace, say they will likely cry once Taylor takes the stage. Others aren't sure if they will get the chance.

"The cheapest tickets I've seen on resale is like $1,300 to $1,400," said Malcolm Mims of New Jersey.

Mims came to Philly without tickets on the off chance he might be able to snag some.

"I've been a fan for years now. I've been trying to get these tickets from November, and honestly, I am still struggling," said Mims.

Sales for Swift tickets practically broke Ticketmaster when they came out. That left many people heartbroken and empty-handed.

"Oh my gosh, it was emotional trauma," described Sain.

"We were very fortunate we were one of the few to get tickets the day they went on sale," said Allie and Jennifer Nicolini of New Jersey.

It's a family affair for many Swifties.

"This will be our fifth concert," explained Jennifer Nicolini.

Some fans took the day off work; others told their teachers they had Swift tickets.

"We left school really early just to be down here and stuff," said Laila Capaldi of Chester County.

Swifties say they hope to hear songs from Taylor's early country days and from her latest album, Midnights.

"Just all the eras. I can't wait," added Allie.
Robinhood co-founders Vlad Tenev and Baiju Bhatt at Robinhood's IPO Listing Day in July 2021. Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images for Robinhood

Robinhood will soon allow customers to buy and sell stocks and ETFs overnight in extended trading hours.

Its 24 Hour Market will run Sunday through Friday starting at 8 p.m. ET, beginning this month.

Customers can place limit orders on 43 individual stocks and ETFs including Tesla and Apple.

Robinhood said 24-hour trading is coming to its platform as the company that was at the center of the meme-stock frenzy aims to accommodate time-strapped customers while pushing for wider change in trading operations.

A rollout of 24 Hour Market will begin May 16 to a "subset" of customers, followed by all customers getting access in June. Trading hours will be from 8 p.m. Eastern Time on Sunday to 8 p.m. Eastern on Friday.

"We've often heard from customers that it's tough to find time for investing during regular market hours with work, family, and everything in between," Robinhood said in a statement. "24 Hour Market lets customers invest when they want, on their schedule."

The program will allow people to place limit orders to buy whole shares of Tesla, Amazon, Apple and 40 other of the most-traded individual stocks and exchange-traded funds, the company said.

Limit orders let investors buy or sell a security at a specific price versus market orders under which trades are made at the best available price. Limit orders could dial down the exposure for customers to large price swings that can occur after hours when trading volume is thinner than in regular market hours.

Regular hours of stock trading Monday through Friday begin at 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time and end at 4 p.m. Eastern. So-called after-hours trade or extended hours are available at some brokerages, with trading running early as 4 a.m. Eastern and stretching to 8 p.m. Eastern.

"It's the next step in evolving the market to how it should work, which is 24/7, and more like a piece of software rather than a brick-and-mortar institution that's tied to U.S. East Coast working hours," Robinhood's Chief Executive Vlad Tenev told The Wall Street Journal.

Read the original article on Business Insider
America's favorite big, fat Greek family is finding itself trying move on, two years after losing its beloved patriarch, Kostas "Gus" Portokalos, the Windex bottle-toting character who was portrayed by Reading native Michael Constantine in the popular film series, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding."

Now, fans of the first two movies have been given their first look at the series' latest installment, which pays tribute to Constantine's character. Focus Features, a division of Philadelphia-based Comcast, has released the trailer for "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3."

"A lot has happened since my big, fat Greek wedding," Gus' daughter, Toula, portrayed by Nia Vardalos, says in introducing the new movie. "My father passed away, and his last wish was for us to visit his childhood village and reconnect with our roots. So, we're having a reunion."

The whole family  from brother Nikos to Aunt Voula  then boards a plane and sets off for Greece in search of Gus' best friends.

"This is one reunion we'll never forget," Vardalos' character says.

The third movie comes 21 years after the series began with "My Big Fat Greek Wedding." The sequel was released in 2016. At the time, Constantine sat down for an interview with 69 News in Reading to talk about the films' success and the fun he had working with the other actors.

Constantine said there was a lot of himself in the character he portrayed, and he used an accent he learned from his mother.

"That's exactly the way my mom talked," he said. "There is so much of me in Gus Portokalos, obviously, or I wouldn't be able to play him. He just functions out of love for his daughter and his family, and I was happy with that."

Constantine died Aug. 31, 2021, at his home in Reading. He was 94. In addition to "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," he was also known for his role as high school principal Seymour Kaufman on ABC's "Room 222," for which he won the Primetime Emmy Award for outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series in 1970.

"My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3" is set to debut in theaters on Sept. 8.
RICHMOND TOWNSHIP, Pa. - Officials with the Department of Labor are revealing more about the historic verdict awarding East Penn Manufacturing employees millions of dollars in back wages.

A federal jury unanimously agreed with dozens of workers at the Richmond Township facility who said their rights were violated.

"This is a historic case against a multi-billion dollar corporation. And the employees came forward and asserted their rights and because of it, we have a historic verdict," said Oscar Hampton, regional solicitor at U.S. Department of Labor Region 3.

The jury awarded those 7,500 workers a share in upwards of $22 million dollars after determining East Penn violated a federal law related to overtime pay.

"39 individuals, some of whom still work at East Penn, had the courage to come in and testify in our favor," said Hampton.

The company said in a statement: "East Penn made every effort to comply with the laws as it understood them. As a company, it stands behind the time paid to employees to put on and take off uniforms and to shower."

"We generally get individual companies that violate the law and their response is always they didn't mean it or they're not doing it," said Hampton. "In this case, East Penn put together a vigorous defense."

The trial lasted 30 days and the jury found that East Penn only paid workers for the 8 hour shift, not for the time it takes workers to put on and take off protective uniforms and shower to prevent exposure to lead.

"They acted with courage, they did the right thing, and I think that's important," Hampton said.

Does this historic ruling send a message to other companies in the industry?

"I hope employers are paying attention and because of this, I hope they do the right thing," said Hampton.
PALMER TWP., Pa. - Swedish-based international giant ABB officially has a post in the Lehigh Valley.

It opened a 350,000-square-foot Northeast Distribution Center in Palmer Township.

The company makes almost every product you can think of involved in electrification and automation. The facility will stock more than 5000 products used in construction, transportation, and utilities.

The new facility sits right off the Route 33 Chrin interchange - joining several other warehouses - an area that some have criticized for lacking the restaurants and retail originally promised.

The company says the facility will actually reduce travel times by 50% and be better for the environment.

"By moving closer to our customers we're reducing 25,000 miles a week on transportation. Over 4,000 tons of CO2 emissions will not occur because we opened this building," said Ken Shotts, Vice President of Logistics and Inventory.

"And we make sure everything we do here is sustainable. To be able to reduce the overall carbon footprint of anything we do for our end customers. Whether it be a utility all the way down to a commercial strip mall," said Executive Vice President and General Manager Ralph Donati.

The move will bring at least 100 new jobs to Northampton County to start.

"One of the things we're really focusing is on developing our floor associates into those other roles. So just because you start as a floor associate doesn't mean you're gonna stay a floor associate," Shotts said.

"We did 350,000 square feet with the intention to be able to grow over the next 5 years as the market grows, our customer's grow we want to make sure we got the footprint to grow in. As we do that, we expect to continue to add people so that we can satisfy everybody," Donati said.

You can learn more about job openings on the ABB website.
CENTER VALLEY, Pa.  Fiscal year 2023 finished quite well for Olympus Corporation, which has headquarters in Center Valley, Lehigh County for its Olympus Corporation of America. Revenues and profits were up company-wide and in its two major business segments.

For Olympus, the global economy in the fiscal year 2023 saw a continued move to recovery as economic activities recovered from the challenging conditions created by the global spread of COVID-19. However, the company also sees a developing risk of worsening business conditions due to global monetary tightening.

Speaking to analysts on a webcast, Chikashi Takeda, Chief Financial Officer of Olympus Corporation, commented, From the start of fiscal 2023, we were significantly impacted by a variety of external factors, including the Shanghai lockdown, the war in Ukraine, supply shortages of semiconductors and other components, and rising raw materials costs.

Fiscal 2023 was more difficult and challenging than ever before, but we swiftly recognized opportunities and continuously implemented measures to mitigate risks. As a result, we still managed to achieve the target adjusted operating margin of over 20% set out in our corporate strategy.

Amid a gradual economic recovery, on the home front the Japanese economy was impacted by fluctuations in foreign exchange, and from the same factors affecting the global economy.

The Olympus Group reiterated that it aims to develop itself as a truly global MedTech company. It is allocating management resources to the medical field, mainly in Endoscopic Solutions Business and Therapeutic Solutions Business, and it claims to be working to strengthen its management base in order to achieve sustainable growth.

On the subject of growth, Olympus Groups revenue increased 17.6% in fiscal 2023 compared to the prior year. Operating profit was up 27.7% and net profit increased 23.8%. Diluted earnings per share rose by 25.4% in fiscal 2023.

Endoscopic Solutions Business

Consolidated revenue in the Endoscopic Solutions Business increased 19.6% year on year, while operating profit was up 14.7% year on year.

In the gastrointestinal endoscopes field, Olympus said sales recovered in China, which had been affected by the lockdown in Shanghai and other cities up to the six months ended September 30, 2022, and sales also increased in North America and Europe, resulting in positive year-on-year growth in all regions.

By product, sales of the gastrointestinal endoscopic system EVIS X1 series were favorable, while demand for the prior-generation upper gastrointestinal videoscopes and colorectal videoscopes was also firm, contributing to increased sales. The ratio of the EVIS X1 series to total sales also gradually increased.

In the surgical endoscopes field, the company noted, sales in Asia and Oceania, where the surgical endoscopy system VISERA ELITE III was launched, and in North America, where sales of the surgical endoscopy system VISERA ELITE II combined with rigid scopes and surgical videoscopes remained strong, contributed to positive year-on-year growth.

In the medical services field, all regions showed positive year-on-year growth due to an increase in new contracts, in addition to stable sales of existing service contracts including maintenance services.

Olympus said operating profit in the Endoscopic Solutions Business increased due to increased revenue, and the impact of costs related to development assets recorded in the previous fiscal year. When excluding the impact of the foreign exchange rate, revenue increased 6.0% year on year, and operating profit decreased 11.8% year on year.

Therapeutic Solutions Business

Consolidated revenue was up 15.5% year on year, while operating profit increased 4.7% year on year.

The GI-Endo therapy field saw positive growth, primarily in North America and Europe. Furthermore, according to the company, sales increased due to product groups for ERCP (Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangial Pancreatography), which are used in endoscopic diagnoses and treatment of pancreatic duct, bile duct, etc. and product groups for the sampling of biopsy forceps, etc., which are used for collecting tissue for screening examinations.

The urology field achieved favorable performance mainly in North America and Europe, Olympus said, with steady growth in sales of resection electrodes for BPH (Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia) and lithotripsy machine for kidney stones SOLTIVE SuperPulsed Laser System.

The respiratory field saw positive growth, primarily in North America and China. Sales of the devices mainly used for EBUS-TBNA (Endobronchial Ultrasound-guided Transbronchial Needle Aspiration) were favorable.

Revenue increased 2.7% year on year, and operating profit decreased 13.8% year on year, excluding the impact of the foreign exchange rate.

Other Businesses

In other businesses, the Olympus Group conducts R&D and exploratory activities for new businesses in addition to engaging in the developing, manufacturing, and selling of biomedical materials, such as synthetic bone filler, and orthopedic equipment.

Consolidated revenue in Other Businesses was down 8.4% year on year, and the segment produced an operating loss. Revenue decreased with the end of the sales of medical devices to the animal market, despite sales of FH ORTHO SAS increasing in conjunction with the effect from COVID-19 settling down.

Outlook

Moving on to our full-year forecasts for fiscal 2024, Takeda said, we expect revenue to increase 4% year on year, with adjusted operating profit 3% year on year. EPS is expected to be up 141% year on year.

Overall, the company expects highly uncertain conditions to continue, including global supply shortages of semiconductors and parts, and geopolitical risks such as the war in Ukraine. It expects these factors to continue into fiscal year 2024.

Despite this situation, Olympus forecast increased revenue in all segments. In the Endoscopic Solutions Business, it expects sales growth from replacement and penetration of the gastrointestinal endoscopic system EVIS X1 etc. In the Therapeutic Solutions Business, it forecast sales growth centered on the mainstay GI-Endo therapy field, urology field, and respiratory field.

Olympus expects a decrease in operating profit and profit before tax due to the absence a gain on sale of fixed assets under other income it recorded in fiscal year 2023, and an increase in expenses related to strengthening the business operation foundation such as quality assurance, compliance with laws and regulations.

Olympus Corporation of the Americas (OCA)  a wholly owned subsidiary of Olympus Corporation in Tokyo, Japan  was established in 1968 in Lake Success, New York. It is now headquartered in Center Valley, Lehigh County with more than 5,000 employees in locations throughout North and South America.
STROUDSBURG, Pa. - Unionized nurses rallied Thursday in the Poconos.

They want to publicize what they see as unsafe nurse-to-patient ratios.

They gathered outside the Monroe County Courthouse in Stroudsburg.

The nurses want Congress to pass the "Patient Safety Act." The measure would set minimum nurse-to-patient staffing requirements.

It would also provide whistleblower protection to nurses who call out employers for unsafe conditions for patients.

"We're in this - I'm in this - because I care. I've been a nurse for 45 years. I have never seen working conditions as poor as this. It wasn't just COVID. COVID shone light to how poor the numbers are in the hospitals," said JNESO board member Annmarie Ruggiero.

The nurses are all part of the group known as the "Jersey Nurses Economic Security Organization."

It has expanded to include nurses in other states besides New Jersey.
Protecting a narrow, four-vote majority, Republican leaders in the House are making clear the legal process will need to play out with New York Rep. George Santos before they take steps to force his resignation or expel him. The freshman congressman has been accused by federal prosecutors of embezzling money from his campaign, falsely receiving unemployment funds and lying to Congress about his finances. The position Republican leaders have staked out generally follows the precedent that Congress has set on similar matters over the years. The House has expelled just two members in recent decades, and both votes occurred after the lawmaker had been convicted on federal charges.
ALLENTOWN, Pa.  Nurses are there when we need them, and a local retirement community is saying "thank you" to all those who have dedicated their lives to serving others.

One way to say thank you is with lunch.

Country Meadows of Allentown hosted a luncheon this week to celebrate nurses during National Nurses Week.

There were lots of nurses there to thank  some are retired now living at the village, some currently work there and at Lifesong Hospice, others are community parish nurses and those who were retired from Lehigh Valley Health Network and St. Luke's Health Network.

They also honored students who are studying to become nurses.

The theme was "A Salute to Nurses: Past, Present and Future." The luncheon was a long time coming. It was originally planned for May 2020, but COVID-19 had other plans for nurses, and it was canceled.

Three years later, they were happy to be able to get together for this well-deserved thank you.

During the early days of the pandemic, the nurses were some of the people stepping in for family when patients died from COVID without their loved ones around them. Nurses were the ones holding their hands.

They got the luncheon underway by reciting the Florence Nightingale Pledge.
If you've neither read Kate Summerscale's award-winning documentary page-turner The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, or the Murder at Road Hill House, nor seen the gripping serialised TV adaptation, the clue in the programme for Alexandra Wood's intriguing stage adaptation at the Watermill that this is a real-life crime story is the apparently contemporary street ballad there.

It's illustrated with a huge hangman's noose dangling menacingly next to a sepia photograph of Constance Kent, jailed for the horrific murder of her three-year-old half brother to which she confessed in 1865. Her confession meant she was not sentenced to death, but to a lengthy period of imprisonment, which she actually survived, to die at the great age of 100, in her bed.

This is not giving anything away that might lessen your enjoyment of this wonderfully concise retelling and reexamination of the facts, the cast' of players and suspects and the motives and explanations behind/for the crime.

The very confines of the Watermill stage are put to unsettling use by designer Amy Jane Cook's stark jailhouse set. We get to eavesdrop on a series of intense conversations Wood reconstructs' between Constance and the eponymous Mr Whicher, the police officer who found himself compromised as he oversaw her confession and conviction.

Jonathan Whicher was one of the first police officers to join Scotland Yard's newly formed Detective Branch and probably the first to be dubbed detective-sergeant'. His stellar rise was not without its controversies, making him an ideal model for fictional detectives.

Indeed, when he was called in to help the local police in the Kent case, he was at the height of his fame and powers. Controversies over the crime meant it was only solved' five years later when Constance confessed and Whicher was criticised in the press for his failure.

Wood's coup de theatre is to imagine Constance granting Whicher access to visit her. Christopher Naylor's almost agonised characterisation makes it clear that he is ever horribly fascinated by Constance and the crime to which she has confessed, haunted by the possibility that confession might be false.

Eleanor Wyld's outwardly calm Constance begins by seeming almost cool and measured, perhaps from the years she has had to contemplate her situation and her confession. But Wyld wonderfully conveys the almost paralysing inner anguish of her mental state, her innate intelligence that is almost in conflict with her emotional intelligence.

So in that claustrophobic setting, often with Constance and Whicher on either side of the stage as if once again facing each other in court, they reconstruct' the circumstances of the murder, conjuring the main players, the members of her dysfunctional family, to act out Constance's revelations.

In this patriarchal Victorian society, the paterfamilias, Constance's father, is the prime mover. His covert relationships follow a pattern of affairs with the children's nannies. Indeed he actually marries Nanny Pratt, after pursuing his affair with her, even as his first wife Mary Ann was on her death bed. Both Jim Creighton's lustful Mr Kent and Robyn Sinclair and Connie Walker as the women who eagerly share his bed both marital and extra-marital, conjure the gleeful sexual transgressions that simmer beneath their prim Victorian exteriors, with Kent, as the all-powerful man making the running every time.

So little Francis is the product of Kent's marriage with Miss Pratt and here Constance looks back on an adolescence where she shows herself and her full brother William sidelined, even neglected, in favour of her younger half siblings. Constance's closest relationship is indeed with William and this fraternal connection is powerfully explored by Wyld and Sam Liu's intelligently and decisively proactive William. Does Whicher speculate on what they might have got up to together and does Constance egg him on or reveal the truth he still seeks?

The possible permutations of what might have occurred are exhaustively reexamined to an extent that could indeed have become exhausting, if it were not for the power of the writing, the direction and above all the acting out of Constance's memories and reconstructions.

Katy Morrison's lighting and Rachel Sampley's projections contribute wonderfully effectively to taking the audience out of the prison and into the metaphorical prison of the family home. The story unfolds with pleasing clarity in a remarkably concise drama that sends its audience out of the theatre with plenty to discuss.
Royal Mail chief executive Simon Thompson - ROYAL MAIL GROUP/AFP via Getty Images

Simon Thompson is set for a pay-off of up to 700,000 after quitting as the boss of Royal Mail in the wake of a tempestuous battle with union leaders.



Mr Thompson will formally step down from the helm of Royal Mail in autumn, leaving the UK postal monopoly on the hunt for its third chief executive in little more than two years.



His departure follows a bruising fight with the Communication Workers Union (CWU) in a year-long row over pay and working conditions.



Mr Thompson, a former Apple and Ocado executive, was the focal point for union leaders anger. Trade unionists personally attacked him over his handling of the industrial dispute.



His decision to step down comes just weeks after Royal Mail agreed a deal with the CWU that brought to an end the worst campaign of industrial action since the company was privatised in 2013.



Mr Thompson said: I have been incredibly proud to lead Royal Mail during this crucial period in its 507-year history. The changes we have made, the infrastructure we have put in place, and the agreements negotiated with our trade unions mean that Royal Mail now has a chance to compete and grow.



That is what I have always wanted, and it is now the right time to hand over to a new CEO to deliver the next stage of the companys reinvention. I would like to thank my team for their support during a difficult and important time of change.



Mr Thompson is entitled to a years salary, shares that have already vested, legal and outplacement support as well as a share of this fiscal years short-term bonus that could be worth as much as 90,000 if targets are hit.

The bonus would be paid at the boards discretion, however.



Dave Ward, general secretary of the CWU, said: [Mr Thompson] was also one of the key people responsible for the appalling mantra of its our business to run that saw the employer openly attack its own workforce on a relentless basis, including developing a culture of imposition which has now created quality of service failures on a scale which threatens the future of the company.

Story continues

Mr Ward said more of the board of Royal Mails parent company International Distributions Services should now be considering their positions.



He said: We recognise that the CEO was only one of the senior leadership team responsible for the unacceptable actions and behaviours of managers across the UK throughout this dispute. Further change in Royal Mail Groups leadership team is vital.

Royal Mail parent IDS said it was in advanced stages of appointing Mr Thompsons replacement.



Keith Williams, the former British Airways boss and IDS chairman, will be under pressure to find the right person after losing two chief executives in comparatively short order.

Rico Back resigned as Royal Mail chief executive in May 2020, collecting a 1m pay-off after also being at the head of the firm for around two years.



Mr Williams said: As CEO, his [Mr Thompsons] leadership, resilience and unwavering drive to ensure that Royal Mail transforms for the benefit of our customers means we have set a clear path to turn the business around.

We are grateful for his dedication and what he has achieved at the company, and wish him well for the future.

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.
Hispanolistic / iStock.com

SNAP, formerly food stamps, supplements the food budgets of low-income households. But even SNAP hasn't been enough to support many Americans struggling to pay higher costs for pantry staples. Luckily, there are several strategies SNAP recipients can use to stretch their food stamps budget to make ends meet.

Food Stamps Schedule: May 2023 -- When SNAP Payments Distribute

Know: How To Build Your Savings From Scratch

Here are seven ways to maximize your SNAP dollars.

Monkey Business Images / Shutterstock.com

Get Twice the Fruits and Veggies

Next time you visit your local farmers' market, use your EBT card to get twice the amount of fruits and veggies at no additional cost. Double Up Food Bucks and other similar programs let SNAP recipients purchase fresh produce by matching the value of their benefits at participating markets.

There's no need to apply. Anyone receiving food stamps is automatically eligible. Use the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Local Food Directory to find a nearby farmers' market.

Food Stamps: Surprising Things You Can Buy

Andriy Blokhin / Shutterstock.com

Use the SNAP Retailer Locator To Make Sure You're Going to the Cheapest Place

You can use the SNAP Retail Locator to find nearby locations that accept EBT payments. This tool allows anyone to find the nearest SNAP-authorized locations by entering a street address, city, state or zip code.

Once you have a map with authorized retailers, you can make better purchasing decisions by choosing locations that fit your budget. For example, Whole Foods and Aldi may be right around the corner, but Aldi has a number of natural and organic grocery products at a more affordable price.

Food Stamps: Do People on SNAP Need To Work Full Time?

Maca and Naca / iStock.com

Use the SNAP Online Locator To Comparison Shop Online for Perks

You can use the same tactic above to find cheaper options online. Use the SNAP online locator and select your state for a list of online retailers that accept EBT cards at checkout. To compare prices, you can select a few stores and start adding items to your cart. This allows you to get the same items for a much lower price.

Story continues

Food Stamps 2023: When SNAP Benefits Will Hit Accounts in All 50 States

shironosov / iStock.com

Take Advantage of Free Food Programs For Kids

Free school lunch is always available if your family receives SNAP. As an added bonus, there are SNAP-related summer programs that offer free food for your kids.

Use the USDA Summer Meals For Kids Site Finder to find approved sites in communities across the country that serve free food to kids under 18. Families can get directions to nearby sites and look up their hours of operation.

As of May 2023, the tool only has data for 19 states, but families can call the USDA National Hunger Hotline operated by Hunger Free America for information on food assistance for their children. The hotline is available Monday through Friday between 7 A.M to 10 P.M. at 1-866-3-HUNGRY (1-866-348-6479) or 1-877-8-HAMBRE (1-877-842-6273) for Spanish.

SNAP Benefits: Can You Use EBT Card/Food Stamps To Purchase Hot Food?

Milkos / Getty Images/iStockphoto

Save Your SNAP Perks For When You Need Them

SNAP benefits expire, but not until they've sat unused for nine months or longer, according to the National Council on Aging. This means you don't have to use up all of your benefits the same month you receive them. You can save your SNAP dollars for bigger shopping trips when you need it, even if you lose SNAP eligibility and your case closes.

Related: Do SNAP EBT Cards Expire?

SDI Productions / iStock.com

Supplement Your Food Budget With Goods From Local Pantries

Finding local food pantries to supplement your monthly food budget with grocery staples is another way to stretch SNAP dollars. Enter your zip code in the PantryNet locator to find nearby food distribution centers. Call and ask about upcoming distributions. You can also dial 2-1-1 for help finding food pantries in your area.

SNAP Reform: What's Needed To Cull Food Insecurity

Courtney Hale / iStock.com

Combine Coupons and Other Discounts With EBT Purchases

You can combine coupons and discounts issued by the manufacturer or store with your food stamps for even greater savings. The USDA says in states where food items are taxed, sales tax cannot be charged on the amount paid with the coupon. If this happens, you cannot use your SNAP benefits to pay this tax, so make sure you have another form of payment with you.

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Get SNAP Benefits? 7 Hidden Ways To Stretch Your Food Stamps Budget
Shares of Japan Exchange Group, Inc. (OTCMKTS:JPXGY  Get Rating) were down 0.2% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $8.09 and last traded at $8.14. Approximately 10,840 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 65% from the average daily volume of 30,917 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.16.

Japan Exchange Group Trading Up 0.4 %

The stocks fifty day simple moving average is $7.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $7.32.

About Japan Exchange Group

(Get Rating)

Japan Exchange Group, Inc operates as a financial exchange holding company that manages stock-company type financial instruments exchange and related businesses. It provides market infrastructure for financial instruments that offers investors a venue to manage their financial assets and listed companies, a platform to raise funds they require.

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Achmea Investment Management B.V. grew its position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA  Get Rating) by 8.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 52,511 shares of the credit services providers stock after buying an additional 3,921 shares during the period. Achmea Investment Management B.V.s holdings in Mastercard were worth $17,109,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. EWG Elevate Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. My Personal CFO LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, RFP Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard during the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.51% of the companys stock.

Get Mastercard alerts:

Mastercard Stock Performance

Mastercard stock traded down $1.88 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $381.51. 370,546 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,701,360. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12-month low of $276.87 and a 12-month high of $390.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.84, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.20. The stock has a market cap of $361.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.11. The firms 50 day simple moving average is $364.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $357.02.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

Mastercard ( NYSE:MA Get Rating ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 27th. The credit services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.71 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $5.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.64 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 42.33% and a return on equity of 169.12%. Mastercards revenue for the quarter was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.76 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 12.26 EPS for the current year.

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 7th were issued a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 5th. Mastercards payout ratio is 22.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MA has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $405.00 to $433.00 and gave the stock a positive rating in a research report on Friday, January 27th. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Mastercard from $405.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Mastercard from $438.00 to $440.00 in a research report on Friday, April 28th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Mastercard from $392.00 to $404.00 in a research report on Friday, April 28th. Finally, Credit Suisse Group raised their price target on shares of Mastercard from $390.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Friday, April 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $418.85.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Hai Ling sold 8,220 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $356.31, for a total transaction of $2,928,868.20. Following the sale, the insider now owns 26,496 shares of the companys stock, valued at $9,440,789.76. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, insider Hai Ling sold 8,220 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $356.31, for a total transaction of $2,928,868.20. Following the sale, the insider now owns 26,496 shares of the companys stock, valued at $9,440,789.76. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Raghuvir Malhotra sold 11,398 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $381.62, for a total transaction of $4,349,704.76. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 9,465 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,612,033.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 298,667 shares of company stock valued at $114,105,971 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the companys stock.

Mastercard Company Profile

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Mastercard, Inc is a technology company, which engages in the payments industry that connects consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments, and business. It offers payment solutions for the development and implementation of credit, debit, prepaid, commercial, and payment programs. The company was founded in November 1966 and is headquartered in Purchase, NY.

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Ambac Financial Group (NYSE:AMBC  Get Rating) released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The company reported ($0.30) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of ($0.37) by $0.07, RTT News reports. The company had revenue of $58.00 million for the quarter. Ambac Financial Group had a return on equity of 52.87% and a net margin of 103.61%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.30 earnings per share.

Ambac Financial Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AMBC opened at $14.58 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $660.79 million, a P/E ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.87, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. Ambac Financial Group has a one year low of $7.82 and a one year high of $17.75. The businesss 50-day simple moving average is $15.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $15.91.

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Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ambac Financial Group

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AMBC. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in Ambac Financial Group during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Gyon Technologies Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Ambac Financial Group during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Ambac Financial Group during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky acquired a new position in shares of Ambac Financial Group in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $146,000. Finally, UBS Group AG grew its position in shares of Ambac Financial Group by 28.8% in the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 11,591 shares of the companys stock worth $148,000 after acquiring an additional 2,591 shares in the last quarter. 69.84% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Ambac Financial Group Company Profile

AMBC has been the topic of a number of research reports. StockNews.com started coverage on Ambac Financial Group in a report on Friday, March 17th. They issued a hold rating on the stock. Roth Capital reiterated a neutral rating on shares of Ambac Financial Group in a report on Wednesday, March 1st.

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Ambac Financial Group, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of financial guarantee insurance policies through its subsidiary, Ambac Assurance Corp. Its services include credit, insurance, asset management and other financial services. The company was founded on April 29, 1991 and is headquartered in New York, NY.

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Baker Ellis Asset Management LLC reduced its position in iShares MSCI EAFE Min Vol Factor ETF (BATS:EFAV  Get Rating) by 0.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 26,070 shares of the companys stock after selling 200 shares during the quarter. Baker Ellis Asset Management LLCs holdings in iShares MSCI EAFE Min Vol Factor ETF were worth $1,658,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cowa LLC boosted its holdings in iShares MSCI EAFE Min Vol Factor ETF by 8,666.2% in the first quarter. Cowa LLC now owns 760,203 shares of the companys stock valued at $548,000 after acquiring an additional 751,531 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in iShares MSCI EAFE Min Vol Factor ETF by 7.5% in the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,868,627 shares of the companys stock valued at $334,570,000 after buying an additional 408,717 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in iShares MSCI EAFE Min Vol Factor ETF by 11.6% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,660,030 shares of the companys stock valued at $208,658,000 after buying an additional 379,548 shares during the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its position in iShares MSCI EAFE Min Vol Factor ETF by 19.0% in the 3rd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 1,900,733 shares of the companys stock valued at $108,361,000 after buying an additional 303,844 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC acquired a new stake in iShares MSCI EAFE Min Vol Factor ETF in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $9,393,000.

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iShares MSCI EAFE Min Vol Factor ETF Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of BATS:EFAV traded down $0.11 during trading on Friday, hitting $70.48. 252,926 shares of the company were exchanged. The stock has a market cap of $7.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.01 and a beta of 0.60. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $68.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $65.40. iShares MSCI EAFE Min Vol Factor ETF has a fifty-two week low of $64.68 and a fifty-two week high of $76.51.

iShares MSCI EAFE Min Vol Factor ETF Company Profile

The iShares MSCI EAFE Min Vol Factor ETF (EFAV) is an exchange-traded fund that is based on the MSCI EAFE Minimum Volatility (USD) index. The fund tracks an index of developed-market equities, ex-US and Canada, selected and weighted to create a low volatility portfolio subject to constraints including sector exposure.

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Black Diamond Group (TSE:BDI  Get Rating) had its target price decreased by Canaccord Genuity Group from C$8.50 to C$8.25 in a report issued on Monday, BayStreet.CA reports.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on BDI. Acumen Capital lifted their price objective on shares of Black Diamond Group from C$8.50 to C$9.75 in a report on Monday, March 6th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Black Diamond Group from C$7.00 to C$8.50 in a research note on Friday, March 3rd. Finally, Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Black Diamond Group from C$8.00 to C$10.00 and gave the company a strong-buy rating in a research note on Friday, March 3rd.

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Black Diamond Group Trading Down 0.1 %

TSE BDI opened at C$6.76 on Monday. Black Diamond Group has a one year low of C$3.10 and a one year high of C$7.30. The companys 50 day moving average price is C$6.52 and its 200 day moving average price is C$5.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 91.38, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.44. The firm has a market capitalization of C$408.17 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.72 and a beta of 1.55.

Black Diamond Group Announces Dividend

Black Diamond Group ( TSE:BDI Get Rating ) last released its quarterly earnings results 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). The firm had revenue of C$89.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of C$78.45 million. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Black Diamond Group will post 0.4887165 EPS for the current year.

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, July 15th. Investors of record on Friday, June 30th will be paid a $0.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 29th. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.18%. Black Diamond Groups dividend payout ratio is currently 18.60%.

Black Diamond Group Company Profile

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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.

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(Bloomberg) -- SoftBank Group Corp. has started testing investor appetite for an initial public offering of British chip designer Arm Ltd., which could raise as much as $10 billion, people with knowledge of the matter said.

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The Japanese conglomerate may launch the share sale in New York as soon as September, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private information. The IPO is on course to be the largest globally this year, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

Arm last month confidentially filed for a US listing. Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Barclays Plc and Mizuho Financial Group Inc. were named as IPO banks in the filing, according to the people. A left lead bank hasnt been identified yet, they said. More banks are expected to be added to the line up.

Deliberations are ongoing and final decisions on the size and timing of the IPO will be taken subject to conditions in the stock markets, the people said. Representatives for Arm, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Mizuho and SoftBank declined to comment, while a spokesperson for Barclays didnt immediately provide comment.

SoftBanks founder Masayoshi Son has said he hopes the Arm IPO can be the largest ever by a chip company. Bankers have pitched a valuation of $30 billion to $70 billion for Arm, a wide range that reflects the challenges of valuing the Cambridge, England-based firm against a backdrop of volatile semiconductor equity prices.

Arms net sales rose 28% to 92.8 billion yen ($688 million) in the fourth fiscal quarter, compared with a year earlier. It lost 6.2 billion yen in the quarter though after making 10.1 billion yen a year earlier.

Story continues

--With assistance from Ian King.

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2023 Bloomberg L.P.
OTA Financial Group L.P. increased its position in Blackrock Innovation & Growth Trust (NYSE:BIGZ  Get Rating) by 241.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,276,755 shares of the companys stock after buying an additional 902,765 shares during the period. Blackrock Innovation & Growth Trust makes up 8.7% of OTA Financial Group L.P.s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. OTA Financial Group L.P.s holdings in Blackrock Innovation & Growth Trust were worth $8,694,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BIGZ. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Blackrock Innovation & Growth Trust in the 1st quarter valued at about $256,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in Blackrock Innovation & Growth Trust during the 1st quarter worth approximately $173,000. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its position in Blackrock Innovation & Growth Trust by 12.8% during the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 22,100 shares of the companys stock worth $252,000 after purchasing an additional 2,500 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackrock Innovation & Growth Trust in the 1st quarter worth approximately $132,000. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blackrock Innovation & Growth Trust by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 787,666 shares of the companys stock worth $8,971,000 after acquiring an additional 11,038 shares during the period.

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Blackrock Innovation & Growth Trust Stock Performance

Shares of BIGZ traded down $0.11 on Friday, reaching $7.22. The stock had a trading volume of 203,885 shares, compared to its average volume of 924,713. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $7.45 and a 200 day moving average of $7.33. Blackrock Innovation & Growth Trust has a twelve month low of $6.47 and a twelve month high of $9.59.

Blackrock Innovation & Growth Trust Announces Dividend

Blackrock Innovation & Growth Trust Company Profile

The business also recently announced a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 31st. Investors of record on Monday, May 15th will be paid a $0.07 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 11.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 12th.

(Get Rating)

Blackrock Innovation & Growth Trust is a mutual fund launched by BlackRock, Inc and managed by BlackRock Advisors, LLC. Blackrock Innovation & Growth Trust is based in United States.

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Soltis Investment Advisors LLC lowered its stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY  Get Rating) by 19.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,567 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock after selling 1,832 shares during the quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLCs holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb were worth $544,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of BMY. Boston Partners raised its position in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 103.1% in the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 10,166,384 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock worth $725,297,000 after acquiring an additional 5,161,226 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 174,002,852 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock worth $12,369,862,000 after buying an additional 3,357,590 shares during the period. Edmp Inc. raised its holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 6,884.3% during the 4th quarter. Edmp Inc. now owns 3,343,588 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock worth $46,471,000 after buying an additional 3,295,715 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 199,886,585 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock worth $14,209,937,000 after buying an additional 3,058,491 shares during the period. Finally, Cowa LLC raised its holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 9,777.8% during the 1st quarter. Cowa LLC now owns 1,657,894 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock worth $1,211,000 after buying an additional 1,641,110 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.51% of the companys stock.

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Insider Transactions at Bristol-Myers Squibb

In related news, EVP Rupert Vessey sold 50,385 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.06, for a total value of $3,378,818.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 47,751 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,202,182.06. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Price Performance

Bristol-Myers Squibb stock opened at $69.35 on Friday. The businesss 50-day simple moving average is $68.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $72.50. The stock has a market cap of $145.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.44. Bristol-Myers Squibb has a 12-month low of $65.28 and a 12-month high of $81.43. The company has a quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY  Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $1.98 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $11.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $11.50 billion. Bristol-Myers Squibb had a return on equity of 51.75% and a net margin of 15.95%. The companys revenue was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.96 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Bristol-Myers Squibb will post 8.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 10th were paid a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 6th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.29%. Bristol-Myers Squibbs dividend payout ratio is currently 66.47%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on BMY shares. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Bristol-Myers Squibb from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a report on Friday, February 3rd. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Bristol-Myers Squibb in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a strong-buy rating for the company. Atlantic Securities boosted their price target on Bristol-Myers Squibb from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, February 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Bristol-Myers Squibb in a research note on Monday, March 6th. They issued a hold rating and a $62.00 price target for the company. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on Bristol-Myers Squibb in a research note on Tuesday, January 17th. They issued an overweight rating and a $95.00 price target for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bristol-Myers Squibb currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $79.43.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company Profile

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Bristol Myers Squibb Co engages in the discovery, development, licensing, manufacture, marketing, distribution, and sale of biopharmaceutical products. It offers chemically-synthesized drugs or small molecules and products produced from biological processes called biologics. The company was founded in August 1933 and is headquartered in New York, NY.

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Citigroup Inc. lessened its position in shares of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET  Get Rating) by 5.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 537,843 shares of the technology companys stock after selling 29,033 shares during the quarter. Citigroup Inc. owned approximately 0.18% of Arista Networks worth $65,267,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 36.6% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 261,360 shares of the technology companys stock valued at $31,716,000 after acquiring an additional 70,034 shares during the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 39.8% during the 4th quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 5,119 shares of the technology companys stock worth $621,000 after acquiring an additional 1,457 shares during the period. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich purchased a new position in shares of Arista Networks during the 4th quarter worth about $118,000. Clarius Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Clarius Group LLC now owns 1,979 shares of the technology companys stock worth $240,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares during the period. Finally, Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 70.1% during the 4th quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 12,449 shares of the technology companys stock worth $1,511,000 after acquiring an additional 5,132 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.30% of the companys stock.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ANET. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 22nd. Argus increased their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $175.00 to $195.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 2nd. Loop Capital increased their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $181.00 to $188.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 19th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $177.00 to $179.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 2nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $173.85.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arista Networks

Arista Networks Price Performance

In other news, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 400 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.74, for a total transaction of $53,896.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,144 shares of the companys stock, valued at $288,882.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website . In related news, Director Kelly Bodnar Battles sold 400 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.74, for a total transaction of $53,896.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,144 shares of the companys stock, valued at $288,882.56. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink . Also, insider John F. Mccool sold 1,000 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.31, for a total value of $145,310.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 72 shares in the company, valued at $10,462.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here . Over the last three months, insiders have sold 338,333 shares of company stock worth $51,347,855. 19.59% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Shares of ANET opened at $139.01 on Friday. The businesss fifty day moving average price is $155.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $136.99. Arista Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $89.11 and a 12-month high of $171.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.85 billion, a PE ratio of 28.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.26.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET  Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 1st. The technology company reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $1.31 billion. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 31.33% and a net margin of 31.24%. The firms quarterly revenue was up 54.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.78 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 5.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arista Networks Profile

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Arista Networks, Inc engages in the business of developing, marketing, and selling cloud networking solutions. The firm is also involved in switching and routing platforms and related network applications. The company was founded by Andreas Bechtolsheim, David Cheriton, and Kenneth Duda in November 2004 and is headquartered in Santa Clara, CA.

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Shares of CVC Credit Partners European Opportunities Limited (LON:CCPG  Get Rating) were down 2.7% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as GBX 93.20 ($1.18) and last traded at GBX 93.20 ($1.18). Approximately 174,302 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 28% from the average daily volume of 135,646 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 95.80 ($1.21).

CVC Credit Partners European Opportunities Stock Down 2.7 %

The company has a 50-day simple moving average of GBX 93.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of GBX 83.79.

CVC Credit Partners European Opportunities Company Profile

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CVC Credit Partners European Opportunities Limited is a closed-ended fixed income mutual fund of fund launched by Goldman Sachs International. The fund is managed by CVC Credit Partners Investment Management Ltd. It invests in the fixed income markets of Western Europe. The fund seeks to invest in securities of companies across diversified sectors.

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JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) CEO Daniel E. Pinto sold 113,640 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.93, for a total value of $15,447,085.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 566,665 shares in the company, valued at approximately $77,026,773.45. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. Stock Performance

JPMorgan Chase & Co. stock traded down $0.43 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $136.05. 7,018,853 shares of the companys stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 13,185,797. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $133.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $134.84. JPMorgan Chase & Co. has a fifty-two week low of $101.28 and a fifty-two week high of $144.34. The stock has a market cap of $397.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.10.

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JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM  Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 14th. The financial services provider reported $4.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.41 by $0.69. The company had revenue of $38.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $35.77 billion. JPMorgan Chase & Co. had a net margin of 23.73% and a return on equity of 16.02%. The companys revenue was up 24.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.63 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that JPMorgan Chase & Co. will post 14.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. Announces Dividend

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, April 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 6th were paid a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 5th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.94%. JPMorgan Chase & Co.s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.52%.

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in JPMorgan Chase & Co. by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 272,539,783 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $28,480,408,000 after buying an additional 2,918,554 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. by 105,652.2% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 98,000,567 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $13,141,876,000 after purchasing an additional 97,907,897 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its position in shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. by 15.9% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 59,049,256 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $7,918,506,000 after purchasing an additional 8,088,433 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 51,248,625 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $6,859,512,000 after purchasing an additional 1,082,325 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. by 71.0% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 30,484,094 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $4,087,917,000 after purchasing an additional 12,654,947 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.89% of the companys stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on JPM shares. StockNews.com started coverage on JPMorgan Chase & Co. in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a hold rating on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $160.00 to $172.00 in a research report on Friday, April 14th. Bank of America raised their price target on JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $152.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Monday, April 17th. Odeon Capital Group raised JPMorgan Chase & Co. from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Monday, May 1st. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $150.00 to $165.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 17th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $155.00.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. Company Profile

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JPMorgan Chase & Co is a financial holding company, which engages in providing financial and investment banking services. The firm offers a range of investment banking products and services in all capital markets, including advising on corporate strategy and structure, capital raising in equity and debt markets, risk management, market making in cash securities and derivative instruments, and brokerage and research.

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Enel Chile S.A. (NYSE:ENIC  Get Rating) shares saw unusually-strong trading volume on Wednesday . Approximately 1,918,179 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 267% from the previous sessions volume of 522,209 shares.The stock last traded at $2.92 and had previously closed at $3.05.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com raised shares of Enel Chile from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report on Thursday.

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Enel Chile Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 0.97. The businesss 50 day simple moving average is $2.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $2.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.05.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

About Enel Chile

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ENIC. Brandes Investment Partners LP boosted its stake in Enel Chile by 457.3% during the 1st quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 6,274,925 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $16,942,000 after purchasing an additional 5,149,036 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Enel Chile by 147.2% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,496,126 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $3,366,000 after acquiring an additional 890,978 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Enel Chile by 38.4% in the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 1,781,819 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $2,459,000 after acquiring an additional 494,605 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Enel Chile by 17.4% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,795,465 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $3,103,000 after acquiring an additional 415,298 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP raised its holdings 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 worth $1,194,000 after purchasing an additional 364,982 shares in the last quarter. 2.49% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

(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.

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Ethernity Networks Ltd. (LON:ENET  Get Rating) shares dropped 50.7% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as GBX 2.80 ($0.04) and last traded at GBX 3.08 ($0.04). Approximately 3,584,984 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 737% from the average daily volume of 428,412 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 6.25 ($0.08).

Ethernity Networks Trading Down 50.7 %

The company has a market cap of 3.20 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -34.22 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 28.12, a current ratio of 1.62 and a quick ratio of 1.37. The firms fifty day moving average price is GBX 6.59 and its 200-day moving average price is GBX 8.15.

About Ethernity Networks

(Get Rating)

Ethernity Networks Ltd. provides technology solutions for telecom, mobile, security, and data center markets in Asia, Europe, Israel, and the United States. The company develops and delivers data processing technology and solutions for carrier Ethernet switching, including broadband access, mobile backhaul, carrier Ethernet demarcation, and data centers.

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Hayek Kallen Investment Management reduced its stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT  Get Rating) by 1.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 42,177 shares of the retailers stock after selling 450 shares during the period. Walmart makes up approximately 2.8% of Hayek Kallen Investment Managements investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Hayek Kallen Investment Managements holdings in Walmart were worth $5,980,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Walmart by 1,519.2% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 8,129,341 shares of the retailers stock worth $1,054,376,000 after purchasing an additional 7,627,286 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in Walmart by 2.9% during the third quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 96,570,711 shares of the retailers stock worth $12,525,224,000 after purchasing an additional 2,712,886 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Walmart by 1.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 130,176,496 shares of the retailers stock worth $16,883,890,000 after purchasing an additional 1,832,388 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in Walmart by 34.2% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 5,258,231 shares of the retailers stock worth $783,056,000 after purchasing an additional 1,340,328 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its stake in Walmart by 85.3% during the first quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 2,399,536 shares of the retailers stock worth $357,339,000 after purchasing an additional 1,104,427 shares during the last quarter. 31.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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Insider Transactions at Walmart

In other news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 563,717 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.26, for a total transaction of $80,194,380.42. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 264,873,644 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,680,924,595.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Walmart news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 1,957,377 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Monday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.72, for a total value of $275,442,091.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 255,973,516 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $36,020,593,171.52. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 563,717 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.26, for a total transaction of $80,194,380.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 264,873,644 shares of the companys stock, valued at $37,680,924,595.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 21,044,002 shares of company stock worth $2,981,168,308 in the last quarter. Insiders own 47.06% of the companys stock.

Walmart Stock Up 0.4 %

NYSE:WMT traded up $0.62 on Friday, hitting $153.74. The stock had a trading volume of 875,723 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,017,112. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a current ratio of 0.82. The stock has a market cap of $414.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.58 and a beta of 0.48. Walmart Inc. has a 1 year low of $117.27 and a 1 year high of $154.64. The firms fifty day simple moving average is $146.52 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $145.27.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT  Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 21st. The retailer reported $1.71 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $164.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $158.67 billion. Walmart had a net margin of 1.91% and a return on equity of 20.45%. The companys revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.53 EPS. Analysts predict that Walmart Inc. will post 6.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Walmart Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 7th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.48%. Walmarts payout ratio is currently 53.27%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Stephens reiterated an overweight rating and set a $170.00 price target on shares of Walmart in a report on Wednesday, April 5th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Walmart from an in-line rating to an outperform rating and upped their price target for the stock from $145.00 to $160.00 in a report on Thursday, March 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Walmart from $164.00 to $169.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 22nd. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Walmart from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, April 6th. Finally, Gordon Haskett upgraded shares of Walmart from an accumulate rating to a buy rating and upped their price target for the stock from $155.00 to $165.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 19th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $165.13.

Walmart Company Profile

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Walmart, Inc engages in retail and wholesale business. The company offers an assortment of merchandise and services at everyday low prices. It operates through the following business segments: Walmart U.S., Walmart International, and Sams Club. The Walmart U.S. segment operates as a merchandiser of consumer products, operating under the Walmart, Wal-Mart, and Walmart Neighborhood Market brands, as well as walmart.com and other eCommerce brands.

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HBK Sorce Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of State Street Co. (NYSE:STT  Get Rating) by 88.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 40,842 shares of the asset managers stock after purchasing an additional 19,175 shares during the period. HBK Sorce Advisory LLCs holdings in State Street were worth $3,168,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of State Street by 7.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 18,758,945 shares of the asset managers stock valued at $1,152,445,000 after acquiring an additional 1,365,681 shares during the last quarter. Eaton Vance Management boosted its holdings in shares of State Street by 159.8% in the 1st quarter. Eaton Vance Management now owns 1,750,857 shares of the asset managers stock valued at $152,535,000 after acquiring an additional 1,077,013 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of State Street by 83.6% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,214,809 shares of the asset managers stock valued at $73,872,000 after acquiring an additional 553,285 shares during the last quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of State Street by 1,943.4% in the 3rd quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 390,180 shares of the asset managers stock valued at $23,726,000 after acquiring an additional 371,085 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of State Street by 23.8% in the 2nd quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,814,554 shares of the asset managers stock valued at $111,867,000 after acquiring an additional 348,782 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.41% of the companys stock.

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State Street Stock Performance

NYSE:STT opened at $67.73 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 0.52. The company has a fifty day moving average of $74.98 and a two-hundred day moving average of $79.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.79 billion, a PE ratio of 9.49, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.56. State Street Co. has a fifty-two week low of $58.62 and a fifty-two week high of $94.74.

State Street Announces Dividend

State Street ( NYSE:STT Get Rating ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.52 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $1.64 by ($0.12). The company had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.13 billion. State Street had a return on equity of 11.96% and a net margin of 18.73%. The businesss revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.59 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that State Street Co. will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 3rd were given a $0.63 dividend. This represents a $2.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 31st. State Streets dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.29%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP John Plansky sold 11,168 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.22, for a total value of $1,029,912.96. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 42,455 shares in the company, valued at $3,915,200.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, CAO Ian Appleyard sold 6,725 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.42, for a total value of $594,624.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 14,493 shares of the companys stock, valued at $1,281,471.06. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP John Plansky sold 11,168 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.22, for a total transaction of $1,029,912.96. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 42,455 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $3,915,200.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 32,893 shares of company stock worth $2,923,987 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.25% of the companys stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of State Street from $91.00 to $83.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on shares of State Street from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 18th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of State Street from $92.00 to $87.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 5th. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of State Street from $84.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Monday, April 17th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on shares of State Street from $102.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 18th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, State Street currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $83.21.

About State Street

(Get Rating)

State Street Corp. engages in the provision of financial services to institutional investors. It operates through the Commercial and Financial, and Commercial Real Estate segments. The company was founded in 1792 and is headquartered in Boston, MA.

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HBK Sorce Advisory LLC grew its stake in Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:BR  Get Rating) by 103.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 30,398 shares of the business services providers stock after acquiring an additional 15,461 shares during the quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLCs holdings in Broadridge Financial Solutions were worth $4,077,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BR. Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Broadridge Financial Solutions by 1,454.6% in the third quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,065,835 shares of the business services providers stock valued at $153,821,000 after acquiring an additional 997,275 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Broadridge Financial Solutions by 470.9% in the third quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 784,831 shares of the business services providers stock valued at $115,292,000 after acquiring an additional 647,363 shares in the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its position in shares of Broadridge Financial Solutions by 86.6% in the first quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 1,195,313 shares of the business services providers stock valued at $186,122,000 after acquiring an additional 554,807 shares in the last quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. lifted its position in shares of Broadridge Financial Solutions by 19.4% in the third quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 1,035,250 shares of the business services providers stock valued at $149,408,000 after acquiring an additional 168,251 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Broadridge Financial Solutions in the third quarter valued at $20,277,000. 86.45% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Insider Transactions at Broadridge Financial Solutions

In related news, VP Richard John Stingi sold 750 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.27, for a total transaction of $116,452.50. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 4,202 shares in the company, valued at approximately $652,444.54. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, VP Richard John Stingi sold 750 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.27, for a total transaction of $116,452.50. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 4,202 shares in the company, valued at approximately $652,444.54. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Robert Schifellite sold 15,695 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.59, for a total value of $2,394,900.05. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 50,314 shares in the company, valued at $7,677,413.26. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 17,870 shares of company stock worth $2,712,363 in the last three months. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Broadridge Financial Solutions Stock Performance

Broadridge Financial Solutions stock opened at $154.70 on Friday. The stocks 50-day moving average is $143.63 and its 200-day moving average is $143.13. The company has a market cap of $18.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.20 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.04, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.35. Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. has a 12 month low of $131.35 and a 12 month high of $183.33.

Broadridge Financial Solutions (NYSE:BR  Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $2.05 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $2.01 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.65 billion. Broadridge Financial Solutions had a return on equity of 40.29% and a net margin of 9.33%. The companys quarterly revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.93 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. will post 6.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Broadridge Financial Solutions Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 15th will be issued a $0.725 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 14th. This represents a $2.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.87%. Broadridge Financial Solutionss dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.23%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BR has been the subject of several analyst reports. Raymond James upped their target price on Broadridge Financial Solutions from $180.00 to $183.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, February 3rd. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Broadridge Financial Solutions in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a hold rating for the company. TheStreet upgraded Broadridge Financial Solutions from a c+ rating to a b rating in a research note on Thursday, February 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada initiated coverage on Broadridge Financial Solutions in a research note on Monday, April 24th. They issued an outperform rating and a $169.00 target price for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $161.40.

Broadridge Financial Solutions Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc engages in the provision of investor communications and technology solutions to banks, broker-dealers, mutual funds, and corporate issuers. It operates through the following segments: Investor Communication Solutions and Global Technology and Operations. The Investor Communication Solutions segment offers services for broker-dealer investor communication, customer communication, corporate issuer, advisor solutions, and mutual fund and retirement solutions.

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Key Insights

Banque Cantonale de Geneve's significant state or government ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public

66% of the business is held by the top 2 shareholders

Ownership research, combined with past performance data can help provide a good understanding of opportunities in a stock

Every investor in Banque Cantonale de Geneve SA (VTX:BCGE) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. With 66% stake, state or government possess the maximum shares in the company. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

And following last week's 4.3% decline in share price, state or government suffered the most losses.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Banque Cantonale de Geneve.

View our latest analysis for Banque Cantonale de Geneve

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Banque Cantonale de Geneve?

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.

Banque Cantonale de Geneve already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. 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. It is not uncommon to see a big share price drop if two large institutional investors try to sell out of a stock at the same time. So it is worth checking the past earnings trajectory of Banque Cantonale de Geneve, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Banque Cantonale de Geneve. State of Geneva is currently the largest shareholder, with 45% of shares outstanding. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 21% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 6.0% by the third-largest shareholder.

Story continues

After doing some more digging, we found that the top 2 shareholders collectively control more than half of the company's shares, implying that they have considerable power to influence the company's decisions.

While studying institutional ownership for a company can add value to your research, it is also a good practice to research analyst recommendations to get a deeper understand of a stock's expected performance. Our information suggests that there isn't any analyst coverage of the stock, so it is probably little known.

Insider Ownership Of Banque Cantonale de Geneve

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. 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.

Most consider insider ownership a positive because it can indicate the board is well aligned with other shareholders. However, on some occasions too much power is concentrated within this group.

Our most recent data indicates that insiders own less than 1% of Banque Cantonale de Geneve SA. It's a big company, so even a small proportional interest can create alignment between the board and shareholders. In this case insiders own CHF7.6m worth of shares. 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 25% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Banque Cantonale de Geneve. While this size of ownership may not be enough to sway a policy decision in their favour, they can still make a collective impact on company policies.

Next Steps:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. Be aware that Banque Cantonale de Geneve is showing 1 warning sign in our investment analysis , you should know about...

Of course this may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free free list of interesting companies.

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.

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Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated their hold rating on shares of InterContinental Hotels Group (LON:IHG  Get Rating) in a report issued on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat reports. The firm currently has a GBX 5,850 ($73.82) target price on the stock.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on IHG. Numis Securities reiterated an add rating and issued a GBX 5,550 ($70.03) price target on shares of InterContinental Hotels Group in a report on Wednesday, February 15th. Redburn Partners downgraded InterContinental Hotels Group to a sell rating in a report on Tuesday, March 21st. Barclays downgraded InterContinental Hotels Group to an equal weight rating in a report on Monday, March 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on InterContinental Hotels Group from GBX 6,000 ($75.71) to GBX 6,200 ($78.23) and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on InterContinental Hotels Group from GBX 5,500 ($69.40) to GBX 6,200 ($78.23) and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, InterContinental Hotels Group presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of GBX 5,836.67 ($73.65).

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InterContinental Hotels Group Stock Performance

Shares of LON IHG opened at GBX 5,326 ($67.21) on Tuesday. The businesss 50 day moving average price is GBX 5,418.48 and its 200-day moving average price is GBX 5,212.69. InterContinental Hotels Group has a fifty-two week low of GBX 4,174 ($52.67) and a fifty-two week high of GBX 5,796 ($73.14). The company has a market cap of 9.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3,189.22, a PEG ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.95.

InterContinental Hotels Group Increases Dividend

Insider Buying and Selling at InterContinental Hotels Group

The business also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 30th will be given a dividend of $0.95 per share. This represents a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 30th. This is a boost from InterContinental Hotels Groups previous dividend of $0.44. InterContinental Hotels Groups dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6,826.35%.

In other InterContinental Hotels Group news, insider Paul Edgecliffe-Johnson sold 21,094 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of GBX 5,521 ($69.67), for a total transaction of 1,164,599.74 ($1,469,526.49). In other InterContinental Hotels Group news, insider Daniela Barone Soares acquired 150 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 5th. The stock was purchased at an average price of GBX 5,428 ($68.49) per share, with a total value of 8,142 ($10,273.82). Also, insider Paul Edgecliffe-Johnson sold 21,094 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of GBX 5,521 ($69.67), for a total value of 1,164,599.74 ($1,469,526.49). Insiders own 4.82% of the companys stock.

InterContinental Hotels Group Company Profile

(Get Rating)

InterContinental Hotels Group PLC owns, manages, franchises, and leases hotels in the Americas, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Greater China. The company operates hotels under the Six Senses, Regent, InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, Vignette Collection, Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, Hotel Indigo, EVEN Hotels, HUALUXE, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Holiday Inn Club Vacations, avid, Staybridge Suites, Atwell Suites, Candlewood Suites, voco, and Crowne Plaza.

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iShares iBonds Dec 2031 Term Treasury ETF (NYSEARCA:IBTL  Get Rating)s stock price were up 0.8% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $21.30 and last traded at $21.29. Approximately 33,058 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 54% from the average daily volume of 72,559 shares. The stock had previously closed at $21.12.

iShares iBonds Dec 2031 Term Treasury ETF Price Performance

The stock has a fifty day moving average of $21.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $20.82.

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Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A hedge fund recently bought a new stake in iShares iBonds Dec 2031 Term Treasury ETF stock. Flow Traders U.S. LLC purchased a new position in iShares iBonds Dec 2031 Term Treasury ETF (NYSEARCA:IBTL  Get Rating) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 36,995 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $760,000. Flow Traders U.S. LLC owned approximately 5.29% of iShares iBonds Dec 2031 Term Treasury ETF as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

About iShares iBonds Dec 2031 Term Treasury ETF

The iShares iBonds Dec 2031 Term Treasury ETF (IBTL) is an exchange-traded fund that is based on the ICE 2031 Maturity US Treasury index. The fund tracks a market-value-weighted index of US Treasury bonds maturing between January and December 2031. The fund will terminate in December 2031. IBTL was launched on Jul 13, 2021 and is managed by BlackRock.

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Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC decreased its position in Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS  Get Rating) by 2.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 58,412 shares of the casino operators stock after selling 1,520 shares during the quarter. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLCs holdings in Las Vegas Sands were worth $2,808,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Las Vegas Sands by 6.9% in the third quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 31,854,683 shares of the casino operators stock valued at $1,195,313,000 after purchasing an additional 2,061,378 shares during the last quarter. Aspex Management HK Ltd grew its position in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 55.0% during the third quarter. Aspex Management HK Ltd now owns 5,652,595 shares of the casino operators stock worth $212,085,000 after acquiring an additional 2,005,112 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 36.0% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 7,428,878 shares of the casino operators stock worth $278,734,000 after acquiring an additional 1,966,755 shares during the last quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC grew its position in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 703.2% during the third quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 1,780,100 shares of the casino operators stock worth $66,789,000 after acquiring an additional 1,558,486 shares during the last quarter. Finally, River & Mercantile Asset Management LLP grew its position in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 903.3% during the third quarter. River & Mercantile Asset Management LLP now owns 1,494,319 shares of the casino operators stock worth $54,685,000 after acquiring an additional 1,345,385 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 39.75% of the companys stock.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

LVS has been the topic of a number of research reports. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $76.00 to $80.50 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, April 20th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $66.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, April 20th. Argus raised Las Vegas Sands from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $68.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Las Vegas Sands from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, April 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Las Vegas Sands from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Thursday, April 20th. 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 MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $68.54.

Las Vegas Sands Stock Down 1.6 %

LVS opened at $60.16 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.65, a current ratio of 1.79 and a quick ratio of 1.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -84.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.36 and a beta of 1.16. The business has a 50-day moving average of $58.49 and a two-hundred day moving average of $52.55. Las Vegas Sands Corp. has a 12 month low of $30.14 and a 12 month high of $65.58.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS  Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 19th. The casino operator reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.11. Las Vegas Sands had a negative return on equity of 10.21% and a negative net margin of 10.42%. The business had revenue of $2.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $1.83 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.40) EPS. The companys revenue for the quarter was up 124.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Las Vegas Sands Corp. will post 1.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Charles D. Forman sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.17, for a total transaction of $947,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 205,984 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,012,009.28. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.91% of the companys stock.

Las Vegas Sands Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Las Vegas Sands Corp. engages in the development of destination properties. The firm operates through the Macao and Singapore geographical segments. The Macao segment handles the operations of The Venetian Macao, The Londoner Macao, The Parisian Macao, The Plaza Macao and Four Seasons Macao, and Sands Macao.

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StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Leju (NYSE:LEJU  Get Rating) in a research note released on Monday. The brokerage issued a buy rating on the financial services providers stock.

Leju Price Performance

Leju stock opened at $2.23 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $1.59 and a two-hundred day moving average of $1.49. Leju has a fifty-two week low of $1.03 and a fifty-two week high of $9.84.

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About Leju

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Leju Holdings Ltd. engages in the provision of online-to-offline real estate services. It offers electronic commerce, online advertising, and listing services on new residential property sales. The company was founded on November 20, 2013 and is headquartered in Beijing, China.

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LGT Group Foundation lifted its holdings in shares of The Toronto-Dominion Bank (NYSE:TD  Get Rating) (TSE:TD) by 34.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,629 shares of the banks stock after acquiring an additional 1,179 shares during the period. LGT Group Foundations holdings in Toronto-Dominion Bank were worth $300,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Toronto-Dominion Bank by 3.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,240,327 shares of the banks stock worth $4,123,850,000 after acquiring an additional 2,238,912 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Toronto-Dominion Bank by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 36,534,597 shares of the banks stock worth $2,263,283,000 after purchasing an additional 245,841 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake in Toronto-Dominion Bank by 406.1% in the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 26,796,674 shares of the banks stock valued at $1,734,653,000 after buying an additional 21,501,478 shares in the last quarter. Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. grew its holdings in Toronto-Dominion Bank by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. now owns 13,546,200 shares of the banks stock valued at $837,261,000 after buying an additional 754,071 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in Toronto-Dominion Bank by 0.7% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 13,191,055 shares of the banks stock worth $816,926,000 after buying an additional 97,866 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 49.22% of the companys stock.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

TD has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Scotiabank raised Toronto-Dominion Bank from a sector perform rating to a sector outperform rating in a research note on Friday, March 3rd. CIBC raised shares of Toronto-Dominion Bank from a neutral rating to a sector outperform rating in a research report on Monday, April 17th. Barclays lowered shares of Toronto-Dominion Bank from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating in a research report on Tuesday. Desjardins boosted their price target on Toronto-Dominion Bank from C$105.00 to C$106.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 7th. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on Toronto-Dominion Bank in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They set a sell rating on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $100.57.

Toronto-Dominion Bank Price Performance

Shares of NYSE TD opened at $60.89 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $60.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $64.18. The Toronto-Dominion Bank has a twelve month low of $55.43 and a twelve month high of $77.15. The company has a market capitalization of $111.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11.

Toronto-Dominion Bank (NYSE:TD  Get Rating) (TSE:TD) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 2nd. The bank reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $1.61 by $0.03. Toronto-Dominion Bank had a net margin of 18.23% and a return on equity of 16.02%. The company had revenue of $9.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $8.97 billion. As a group, equities research analysts expect that The Toronto-Dominion Bank will post 6.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Toronto-Dominion Bank Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 6th were paid a $0.721 dividend. This is an increase from Toronto-Dominion Banks previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.74%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 5th. Toronto-Dominion Banks payout ratio is presently 44.87%.

Toronto-Dominion Bank Company Profile

(Get Rating)

The Toronto-Dominion Bank engages in the provision of financial products and services. It operates through the following segments: Canadian Retail, U.S. Retail, and Wholesale Banking. The Canadian Retail segment offers various financial products and services, as well as telephone, Internet, and mobile banking services.

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Want to see what other hedge funds are holding TD? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for The Toronto-Dominion Bank (NYSE:TD  Get Rating) (TSE:TD).

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Liberty Mutual Group Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. (NYSE:ARE  Get Rating) by 27.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 20,628 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock after acquiring an additional 4,466 shares during the quarter. Liberty Mutual Group Asset Management Inc.s holdings in Alexandria Real Estate Equities were worth $3,005,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities by 1.0% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,749,043 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $3,609,759,000 after purchasing an additional 253,345 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities by 0.3% in the third quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 15,161,961 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $2,125,554,000 after purchasing an additional 44,792 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its position in shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities by 29.2% in the third quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 3,913,856 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $548,683,000 after purchasing an additional 885,711 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities by 26.2% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,090,755 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $433,293,000 after purchasing an additional 642,310 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities by 2.1% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,291,076 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $461,079,000 after purchasing an additional 46,933 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.81% of the companys stock.

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Alexandria Real Estate Equities Price Performance

Shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities stock traded down $0.97 during trading on Friday, reaching $119.44. The companys stock had a trading volume of 23,037 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,029,481. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $124.53 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $142.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. has a one year low of $114.94 and a one year high of $172.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.93.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities Announces Dividend

Alexandria Real Estate Equities ( NYSE:ARE Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.15 by ($1.71). The firm had revenue of $700.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $686.70 million. Alexandria Real Estate Equities had a return on equity of 3.77% and a net margin of 28.01%. The businesss revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.05 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. will post 8.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 31st were paid a $1.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 30th. This represents a $4.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.05%. Alexandria Real Estate Equitiess dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 106.84%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman Joel S. Marcus sold 7,500 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $122.20, for a total value of $916,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 351,354 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,935,458.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities from $176.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, February 2nd. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities from $180.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Monday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities from $198.00 to $166.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities from $162.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, February 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $164.00.

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.

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Morgan Stanley India Investment Fund, Inc. (NYSE:IIF  Get Rating) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in the month of April. As of April 30th, there was short interest totalling 13,400 shares, a growth of 219.0% from the April 15th total of 4,200 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 32,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.4 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Morgan Stanley India Investment Fund

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Karpus Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley India Investment Fund by 13.7% in the 1st quarter. Karpus Management Inc. now owns 290,399 shares of the companys stock valued at $5,651,000 after purchasing an additional 35,049 shares in the last quarter. Elequin Securities LLC boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley India Investment Fund by 17.8% in the 1st quarter. Elequin Securities LLC now owns 4,770 shares of the companys stock valued at $93,000 after purchasing an additional 721 shares in the last quarter. Samalin Investment Counsel LLC boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley India Investment Fund by 16.3% in the 1st quarter. Samalin Investment Counsel LLC now owns 13,281 shares of the companys stock valued at $258,000 after purchasing an additional 1,865 shares in the last quarter. Wolverine Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley India Investment Fund in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $619,000. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley India Investment Fund by 93.8% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 57,057 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,158,000 after purchasing an additional 27,615 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 44.75% of the companys stock.

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Morgan Stanley India Investment Fund Stock Performance

IIF stock traded down $0.16 during trading on Thursday, hitting $20.16. The company had a trading volume of 27,517 shares, compared to its average volume of 37,710. Morgan Stanley India Investment Fund has a 1-year low of $18.91 and a 1-year high of $25.79. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $19.59 and a 200-day moving average price of $21.13.

About Morgan Stanley India Investment Fund

Morgan Stanley India Investment Fund, Inc is a closed ended equity mutual fund launched and managed by Morgan Stanley Investment Management Inc The fund is co-managed by Morgan Stanley Investment Management Company. It invests in the public equity markets of India. The fund invests in stocks of companies operating across diversified sectors.

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Endeavour Mining (OTCMKTS:EDVMF  Get Rating) had its price target boosted by National Bank Financial from C$52.00 to C$56.50 in a research report released on Tuesday, The Fly reports.

EDVMF has been the subject of a number of other reports. Berenberg Bank increased their target price on Endeavour Mining from C$48.00 to C$49.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Endeavour Mining from C$34.00 to C$36.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 30th. Scotiabank increased their target price on Endeavour Mining from C$38.50 to C$43.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 12th. Liberum Capital downgraded Endeavour Mining from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note on Thursday, May 4th. Finally, CIBC increased their target price on Endeavour Mining from C$40.00 to C$46.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 7th.

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Endeavour Mining Stock Down 3.5 %

Endeavour Mining stock opened at $25.27 on Tuesday. Endeavour Mining has a twelve month low of $16.47 and a twelve month high of $27.12. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $24.27 and a two-hundred day moving average of $22.40.

Endeavour Mining Increases Dividend

Endeavour Mining Company Profile

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 24th were paid a $0.41 dividend. This is an increase from Endeavour Minings previous dividend of $0.40. This represents a yield of 3.57%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 23rd.

(Get Rating)

Endeavour Mining Plc is one of gold producer in West Africa and member of the World Gold Council. The firm is operating assets across Senegal, Cote dIvoire and Burkina Faso and a strong portfolio of advanced development projects and exploration assets in the prospective Birimian Greenstone Belt across West Africa.

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Chorus Aviation Inc. (TSE:CHR  Get Rating)  Research analysts at National Bank Financial upped their FY2023 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of Chorus Aviation in a research note issued on Tuesday, May 9th. National Bank Financial analyst C. Doerksen now forecasts that the company will earn $0.46 per share for the year, up from their prior forecast of $0.43. The consensus estimate for Chorus Aviations current full-year earnings is $0.41 per share. National Bank Financial also issued estimates for Chorus Aviations FY2024 earnings at $0.43 EPS.

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Chorus Aviation (TSE:CHR  Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 15th. The company reported C$0.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts consensus estimates of C$0.11. The firm had revenue of C$439.76 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of C$409.16 million. Chorus Aviation had a net margin of 3.06% and a return on equity of 5.30%.

Chorus Aviation Price Performance

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on CHR. Cormark reduced their price target on shares of Chorus Aviation from C$4.75 to C$4.25 in a research report on Friday, February 17th. CIBC reduced their target price on Chorus Aviation from C$4.75 to C$4.50 in a research note on Thursday, April 13th. TD Securities reduced their price objective on shares of Chorus Aviation from C$5.00 to C$4.75 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 5th. National Bankshares dropped their target price on shares of Chorus Aviation from C$4.80 to C$4.50 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 17th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their price target on shares of Chorus Aviation from C$4.00 to C$3.25 in a research note on Thursday, March 30th.

CHR stock opened at C$3.04 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of C$3.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of C$3.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 160.06, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.53. The stock has a market cap of C$609.06 million, a PE ratio of 23.38, a P/E/G ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 2.21. Chorus Aviation has a one year low of C$2.24 and a one year high of C$4.10.

Chorus Aviation Company Profile

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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.

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New York Times (NYSE:NYT  Get Rating) issued its earnings results on Wednesday. The company reported $0.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.03, RTT News reports. The firm had revenue of $560.74 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $564.37 million. New York Times had a return on equity of 13.74% and a net margin of 7.53%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.19 EPS.

New York Times Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE NYT opened at $36.18 on Friday. New York Times has a twelve month low of $27.58 and a twelve month high of $42.40. The stocks 50 day moving average price is $38.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $36.14. The company has a market capitalization of $5.95 billion, a PE ratio of 34.46 and a beta of 0.99.

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Insider Transactions at New York Times

In other news, CEO Levien Meredith A. Kopit sold 29,758 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.05, for a total value of $1,191,807.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 74,610 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,988,130.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 2.00% of the companys stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On New York Times

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Stockbridge Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of New York Times by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Stockbridge Partners LLC now owns 8,558,222 shares of the companys stock worth $277,800,000 after purchasing an additional 419,442 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of New York Times by 31.9% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,741,738 shares of the companys stock worth $263,201,000 after purchasing an additional 1,389,189 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of New York Times by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,506,167 shares of the companys stock worth $129,552,000 after purchasing an additional 143,001 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its holdings in shares of New York Times by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 3,124,642 shares of the companys stock worth $143,234,000 after purchasing an additional 102,100 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of New York Times by 25.4% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,187,378 shares of the companys stock worth $100,269,000 after purchasing an additional 443,684 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.15% of the companys stock.

New York Times declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 8th that allows the company to repurchase $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 3.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the companys leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on New York Times from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, March 15th. StockNews.com downgraded New York Times from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Thursday. Barclays cut their price objective on New York Times from $36.00 to $33.00 in a report on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on New York Times from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Thursday, February 9th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, New York Times has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $36.58.

New York Times Company Profile

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The New York Times Co is a media organization, which engages in creating, collecting, and distributing news and information. It offers news products and other interest-specific products, and related content and services. It offers newspapers, print, and digital products and investments. The firm also manages The New York Times, NYTimes.com, and mobile applications.

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White House and congressional staffers continue to discuss a potential deal to raise the debt ceiling, and the parameters of a possible deal are reportedly beginning to emerge, raising glimmers of hope that D.C. leaders may be able to avoid a calamitous default.

Lawmakers have eyed a deal that would both raise the debt limit and enact new limits on federal spending, and could include measures such as permitting reform to spur energy production and rescinding unused covid aid money, The Washington Post reported.

The two sides are reportedly also negotiating over how long any debt ceiling extension should last. Democrats are seeking to delay another fight for two years, according to reports, and Republicans are pressing for larger spending restrictions in exchange.

Yet with less than three weeks to go before a possible June 1 deadline  and even fewer legislative days on the House and Senate calendars  the talks reportedly remain very far from any agreement, and critics on both sides are already raising concerns. For example, GOP Rep. Dusty Johnson of South Dakota, an ally of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, told reporters that most Republicans likely wouldnt back spending caps that lasted only two years, as Democrats reportedly want. Republicans have been seeking caps for the next decade, which liberals are sure to reject.

Potentially complicating matters further, some key Republicans are indicating that they want to add border legislation to their list of demands for a debt deal, according to Politico. The House has now added more to the mix, Rep. Garret Graves, a Louisiana Republican who is also a close ally of McCarthys, told Politico on Friday.

And Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, similarly signaled that immigration measures were now key items on the GOP wish list. I think this is now a central part of any debt ceiling or spending debate for the remainder of the year, he told Politico. Every day that the president continues to dilly dally, in my mind, the price goes up, not down.  You want a debt ceiling increase? You want to go fund the operations of government? Then fix the damn border, Mr. President.

Story continues

House Republicans on Thursday passed an immigration bill that included new restrictions on asylum seekers and renewed construction of a border wall  legislation that has no chance of advancing in the Democratically controlled Senate.

As staff-level negotiations continue, so does the verbal jousting. In a letter to colleagues Friday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer warned of the economic risks of a default and pointed to a recent Washington Post-ABC poll that found that 58% of Americans believe that the debt limit and budget talks should be handled separately, as Democrats have insisted. This is too important for brinksmanship and reckless ultimatums, Schumer wrote. I urge you to implore our Republicans colleagues: Take Default Off the Table.

A day earlier, McCarthy had insisted to reporters that Biden isnt interested in a deal. In whatever talks we have, you can tell right then he doesnt want a deal. He wants a default, McCarthy said.

The bottom line: The second meeting between Biden and the Big Four congressional leaders is expected next week. Biden is also scheduled to leave Wednesday for a meeting of G7 leaders in Japan.

There is still so much work ahead and members who are on the sidelines of these now tightly held negotiations are placing a lot of faith in their respective leadership to cut a deal at a scale that McCarthy and Biden have never done together before, CNNs Lauren Fox writes.

And if the X-Date is really in early June, a deal may have to be reached by late next week to leave the House and Senate enough time to draft and vote on the bill.

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StockNews.com lowered shares of Nu Skin Enterprises (NYSE:NUS  Get Rating) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Monday morning.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on NUS. DA Davidson dropped their price objective on shares of Nu Skin Enterprises from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 16th. Citigroup increased their target price on Nu Skin Enterprises from $35.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 1st. TheStreet lowered Nu Skin Enterprises from a b- rating to a c+ rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered Nu Skin Enterprises from a buy rating to a hold rating and decreased their target price for the company from $43.00 to $39.00 in a research report on Monday, January 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $39.33.

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Nu Skin Enterprises Stock Performance

NUS opened at $37.58 on Monday. Nu Skin Enterprises has a 52-week low of $29.95 and a 52-week high of $47.84. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The company has a market cap of $1.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.40 and a beta of 1.21. The firms 50-day moving average price is $39.76 and its 200-day moving average price is $40.50.

Nu Skin Enterprises Dividend Announcement

Nu Skin Enterprises ( NYSE:NUS Get Rating ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 3rd. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $481.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $477.49 million. Nu Skin Enterprises had a net margin of 3.68% and a return on equity of 14.13%. Nu Skin Enterprisess quarterly revenue was down 20.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.76 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Nu Skin Enterprises will post 2.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 26th will be issued a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 25th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.15%. Nu Skin Enterprisess payout ratio is currently 101.30%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nu Skin Enterprises

In other Nu Skin Enterprises news, CAO James D. Thomas sold 2,829 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.12, for a total value of $116,328.48. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,928 shares in the company, valued at approximately $737,199.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Nu Skin Enterprises news, CAO James D. Thomas sold 2,829 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.12, for a total value of $116,328.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,928 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $737,199.36. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Joseph Y. Chang sold 25,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.77, for a total value of $1,019,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 21,234 shares of the companys stock, valued at $865,710.18. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 91,370 shares of company stock worth $3,696,764. Corporate insiders own 2.80% of the companys stock.

Institutional Trading of Nu Skin Enterprises

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Teza Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Nu Skin Enterprises in the 3rd quarter worth $241,000. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can acquired a new stake in shares of Nu Skin Enterprises during the 3rd quarter worth about $1,287,000. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC increased its position in shares of Nu Skin Enterprises by 170.0% during the 3rd quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 72,300 shares of the companys stock worth $2,413,000 after purchasing an additional 45,527 shares during the last quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System acquired a new stake in shares of Nu Skin Enterprises during the 4th quarter worth about $858,000. Finally, AXA S.A. increased its position in shares of Nu Skin Enterprises by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 77,400 shares of the companys stock worth $2,583,000 after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares during the last quarter. 93.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Nu Skin Enterprises Company Profile

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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.

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Nuveen Arizona Quality Municipal Income Fund (NYSE:NAZ  Get Rating) saw a large drop in short interest during the month of April. As of April 30th, there was short interest totalling 100 shares, a drop of 50.0% from the April 15th total of 200 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 17,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.0 days.

Institutional Trading of Nuveen Arizona Quality Municipal Income Fund

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in shares of Nuveen Arizona Quality Municipal Income Fund by 5.4% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 26,927 shares of the investment management companys stock worth $366,000 after acquiring an additional 1,383 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in Nuveen Arizona Quality Municipal Income Fund by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 196,347 shares of the investment management companys stock valued at $2,191,000 after buying an additional 1,767 shares during the period. Bartlett & Co. LLC increased its stake in Nuveen Arizona Quality Municipal Income Fund by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Bartlett & Co. LLC now owns 58,600 shares of the investment management companys stock valued at $654,000 after buying an additional 2,200 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its stake in Nuveen Arizona Quality Municipal Income Fund by 6.1% during the 1st quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 42,396 shares of the investment management companys stock valued at $479,000 after buying an additional 2,421 shares during the period. Finally, Hollencrest Capital Management acquired a new position in Nuveen Arizona Quality Municipal Income Fund during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 10.63% of the companys stock.

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Nuveen Arizona Quality Municipal Income Fund Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of Nuveen Arizona Quality Municipal Income Fund stock traded up $0.03 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $10.83. The companys stock had a trading volume of 10,782 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,585. The companys 50 day simple moving average is $11.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $11.47. Nuveen Arizona Quality Municipal Income Fund has a one year low of $10.71 and a one year high of $14.68.

Nuveen Arizona Quality Municipal Income Fund Dividend Announcement

About Nuveen Arizona Quality Municipal Income Fund

The firm 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 $0.0325 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 12th. This represents a $0.39 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.60%.

(Get Rating)

Nuveen Arizona Quality Municipal Income Fund is a closed ended fixed income mutual fund launched by Nuveen Investments, Inc The fund is managed by Nuveen Asset Management, LLC. It invests in the fixed income markets of Arizona. The fund invests in municipal securities and other related investments the income, exempt from regular federal and Arizona income taxes that are rated Baa or BBB or better and having an average maturity of 18.66 years.

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Oarsman Capital Inc. trimmed its position in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS  Get Rating) by 5.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,792 shares of the companys stock after selling 365 shares during the quarter. Oarsman Capital Inc.s holdings in Novartis were worth $616,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Novartis by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,503,191 shares of the companys stock valued at $494,313,000 after buying an additional 465,677 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Novartis by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,399,213 shares of the companys stock worth $386,031,000 after buying an additional 193,519 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Novartis by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,131,935 shares of the companys stock valued at $362,577,000 after purchasing an additional 35,483 shares in the last quarter. Cullen Capital Management LLC increased its position in Novartis by 2.2% during the third quarter. Cullen Capital Management LLC now owns 3,467,273 shares of the companys stock worth $263,547,000 after buying an additional 75,377 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Novartis by 27.2% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,781,596 shares of the companys stock worth $244,085,000 after purchasing an additional 594,194 shares during the last quarter. 8.12% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on NVS. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Novartis from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 26th. Citigroup cut shares of Novartis from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, January 26th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Novartis in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a strong-buy rating for the company. Finally, BTIG Research upped their target price on shares of Novartis from $75.00 to $85.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $82.25.

Novartis Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:NVS traded down $0.36 on Friday, hitting $103.06. The company had a trading volume of 986,694 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,125,933. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The firms 50-day simple moving average is $93.55 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $89.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $218.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.54. Novartis AG has a 1 year low of $74.09 and a 1 year high of $105.56.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS  Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 25th. The company reported $1.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.16. Novartis had a net margin of 13.78% and a return on equity of 23.29%. The firm had revenue of $12.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $12.60 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.46 earnings per share. The companys revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 6.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Novartis Profile

(Get Rating)

Novartis AG is a holding company, which engages in the development, manufacture, and marketing of healthcare products. It operates through the following segments: Innovative Medicines, Sandoz, and Corporate. The Innovative Medicines segment researches, develops, manufactures, distributes and sells patented pharmaceuticals, and is composed of two business units: Novartis Oncology and Novartis Pharmaceuticals.

Further Reading

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StockNews.com downgraded shares of Pinnacle West Capital (NYSE:PNW  Get Rating) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note released on Thursday.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on PNW. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Pinnacle West Capital from $74.00 to $81.00 in a research report on Thursday. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Pinnacle West Capital from $69.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 6th. Credit Suisse Group raised shares of Pinnacle West Capital from a neutral rating to an outperform rating and raised their price target for the stock from $77.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Pinnacle West Capital from $71.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Thursday, April 20th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $74.64.

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Pinnacle West Capital Stock Down 0.1 %

PNW stock opened at $80.56 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $9.12 billion, a PE ratio of 19.70, a P/E/G ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 1.01. The firms fifty day moving average is $78.59 and its 200 day moving average is $75.87. Pinnacle West Capital has a one year low of $59.03 and a one year high of $81.63.

Pinnacle West Capital Dividend Announcement

Pinnacle West Capital ( NYSE:PNW Get Rating ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 4th. The utilities provider reported ($0.03) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.03 by ($0.06). Pinnacle West Capital had a net margin of 10.33% and a return on equity of 7.50%. The company had revenue of $944.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $808.33 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.15 EPS. The firms revenue for the quarter was up 20.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Pinnacle West Capital will post 4.04 EPS for the current year.

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.865 per share. This represents a $3.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.29%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 28th. Pinnacle West Capitals dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 84.60%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pinnacle West Capital

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Pinnacle West Capital in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $104,067,000. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Pinnacle West Capital by 18.4% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,911,753 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $539,808,000 after acquiring an additional 1,072,235 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Pinnacle West Capital in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $74,297,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Pinnacle West Capital by 29.6% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,537,942 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $276,313,000 after acquiring an additional 808,207 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Pinnacle West Capital by 50.4% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,285,965 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $123,521,000 after acquiring an additional 765,591 shares during the period. 85.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Pinnacle West Capital

(Get Rating)

Pinnacle West Capital Corp. is a holding company, which engages in providing energy and energy-related products. It offers regulated retail and wholesale electricity businesses and related activities, such as electricity generation, transmission and distribution through its subsidiary, Arizona Public Service Co The company was founded on February 20, 1985, and is headquartered in Phoenix, AZ.

Further Reading

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Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE  Get Rating) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, May 11th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 5th will be given a dividend of 1.19 per share by the utilities provider on Saturday, July 15th. This represents a $4.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.10%.

Sempra Energy has increased its dividend payment by an average of 5.8% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 19 consecutive years. Sempra Energy has a payout ratio of 49.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Sempra Energy to earn $9.54 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $4.76 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 49.9%.

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Sempra Energy Stock Down 1.4 %

NYSE:SRE traded down $2.11 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $153.48. The companys stock had a trading volume of 1,139,506 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,317,499. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $151.28 and a 200-day moving average of $155.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.73. Sempra Energy has a 52-week low of $136.54 and a 52-week high of $176.47.

Insider Transactions at Sempra Energy

Sempra Energy ( NYSE:SRE Get Rating ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 4th. The utilities provider reported $2.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.76 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $6.56 billion for 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 10.28%. The businesss quarterly revenue was up 71.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.91 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Sempra Energy will post 8.97 earnings per share for the current year.

In other Sempra Energy news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 19,260 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.09, for a total value of $2,813,693.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $146.09. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 19,260 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.09, for a total value of $2,813,693.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1 shares in the company, valued at $146.09. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Trevor I. Mihalik sold 2,306 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 21,362 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,172,257. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 31,979 shares of company stock worth $4,728,393. Insiders own 0.24% of the companys stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sempra Energy

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Sempra Energy by 0.6% during the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 1,141,824 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $191,963,000 after acquiring an additional 6,246 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Sempra Energy by 780.0% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,804 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $302,000 after purchasing an additional 1,599 shares in the last quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. bought a new position in shares of Sempra Energy during the 1st quarter valued at about $782,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Sempra Energy by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 668,646 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $112,411,000 after acquiring an additional 23,431 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Sempra Energy by 77.4% during the 1st quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 13,575 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $2,276,000 after purchasing an additional 5,924 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.75% of the companys stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on SRE shares. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Sempra Energy in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a hold rating for the company. BMO Capital Markets lowered 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. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Sempra Energy from $180.00 to $174.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 1st. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Sempra Energy from $173.00 to $165.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price 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. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $167.25.

Sempra Energy Company Profile

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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.

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Hengan International Group Company Limited (OTCMKTS:HEGIY  Get Rating) saw a large increase in short interest in April. As of April 30th, there was short interest totalling 1,600 shares, an increase of 220.0% from the April 15th total of 500 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 25,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.1 days.

Hengan International Group Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of HEGIY traded down $0.25 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $22.00. The company had a trading volume of 3,532 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,749. The companys 50 day simple moving average is $22.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $23.36. Hengan International Group has a 1-year low of $19.20 and a 1-year high of $27.75.

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About Hengan International Group

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Hengan International Group Company Limited, an investment holding company, manufactures, distributes, and sells personal hygiene products in the People's Republic of China and internationally. The company offers pocket handkerchiefs, box and soft tissue papers, kitchen towels/papers, toilet rolls, first-aid products, enema, garbage and food bags, preservation papers, table cloths and swabbers, sanitary napkins, pantiliners, overnight pants, wet tissues, maternal and child care products, adult and baby diapers, and cleansing products.

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Singapore Telecommunications Limited (OTCMKTS:SGAPY  Get Rating) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in the month of April. As of April 30th, there was short interest totalling 4,000 shares, a decline of 89.0% from the April 15th total of 36,500 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 64,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.1 days.

Singapore Telecommunications Stock Performance

SGAPY traded down $0.12 during trading on Thursday, reaching $19.30. The company had a trading volume of 24,480 shares, compared to its average volume of 50,253. Singapore Telecommunications has a 12 month low of $16.19 and a 12 month high of $20.82. The businesss fifty day moving average price is $18.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $18.73.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Singapore Telecommunications from an overweight rating to a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday, February 15th.

About Singapore Telecommunications

Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. is an investment holding company, which engages in the provision of telecommunications systems and services. It operates through the following segments: Group Consumer, Group Enterprise, Group Digital Life, and Corporate. The Group Consumer segment includes mobile, pay TV, fixed broadband and voice, as well as equipment sales.

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SSE plc (LON:SSE  Get Rating) shares crossed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of GBX 1,724.63 ($21.76) and traded as high as GBX 1,862.50 ($23.50). SSE shares last traded at GBX 1,859 ($23.46), with a volume of 1,990,155 shares.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SSE has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of SSE from GBX 1,650 ($20.82) to GBX 1,950 ($24.61) and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, January 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a buy rating on shares of SSE in a research report on Wednesday, March 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an overweight rating and set a GBX 2,100 ($26.50) target price on shares of SSE in a research report on Monday, April 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of GBX 1,931.13 ($24.37).

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SSE Trading Down 0.8 %

The company has a quick ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 95.17. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of GBX 1,791.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of GBX 1,725.69. The company has a market cap of 20.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 1,914.80, a P/E/G ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 0.57.

SSE Cuts Dividend

Insider Buying and Selling at SSE

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 12th were issued a GBX 29 ($0.37) dividend. This represents a yield of 1.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 12th. SSEs dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9,081.63%.

In other news, insider Martin Pibworth purchased 48 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 14th. The stock was acquired at an average price of GBX 1,757 ($22.17) per share, with a total value of 843.36 ($1,064.18). 0.13% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About SSE

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SSE plc engages in the generation, transmission, distribution, and supply of electricity. It generates electricity from water, gas, coal, oil, and multi fuel. The company distributes electricity to approximately 3.8 million homes and businesses across the north of the central belt of Scotland and central southern England; and owns, operates, and develops high voltage electricity transmission system in the north of Scotland and remote islands.

Further Reading

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STERIS (NYSE:STE  Get Rating) had its target price boosted by KeyCorp from $210.00 to $235.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, The Fly reports. KeyCorps target price would indicate a potential upside of 12.98% from the stocks previous close.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. TheStreet upgraded STERIS from a c rating to a b- rating in a report on Wednesday. JMP Securities dropped their price objective on STERIS from $250.00 to $240.00 and set a market outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 15th. Piper Sandler cut STERIS from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $215.00 to $197.00 in a research report on Friday, April 14th. StockNews.com began coverage on STERIS in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a buy rating on the stock. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an overweight rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of STERIS in a research note on Thursday, February 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $225.80.

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STERIS Stock Up 9.8 %

Shares of NYSE STE opened at $208.00 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -717.22, a PEG ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.85. The business has a 50-day moving average of $186.84 and a 200-day moving average of $187.25. The company has a current ratio of 2.48, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. STERIS has a 12 month low of $159.21 and a 12 month high of $236.10.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On STERIS

STERIS ( NYSE:STE Get Rating ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 10th. The medical equipment provider reported $2.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $1.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.27 billion. STERIS had a positive return on equity of 12.86% and a negative net margin of 0.58%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.04 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that STERIS will post 8.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. boosted its holdings in STERIS by 7.9% during the 1st quarter. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. now owns 1,414 shares of the medical equipment providers stock valued at $271,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares during the period. Executive Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of STERIS by 37.8% in the first quarter. Executive Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,476 shares of the medical equipment providers stock worth $856,000 after buying an additional 1,228 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of STERIS by 6.6% during the first quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 25,516 shares of the medical equipment providers stock valued at $4,881,000 after acquiring an additional 1,569 shares during the last quarter. Colonial Trust Advisors raised its holdings in shares of STERIS by 1.4% during the first quarter. Colonial Trust Advisors now owns 30,682 shares of the medical equipment providers stock valued at $5,869,000 after acquiring an additional 411 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp acquired a new stake in shares of STERIS in the first quarter valued at approximately $960,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.35% of the companys stock.

About STERIS

(Get Rating)

STERIS Plc engages in the provision of healthcare and life science product and service solutions. It operates through the following segments: Healthcare, Life Sciences, Applied Sterilization Technologies, and Dental. The Healthcare segment provides a comprehensive offering for healthcare providers worldwide, focused on sterile processing departments and procedural centers, such as operating rooms and endoscopy suites.

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The Timken Company (NYSE:TKR  Get Rating) CEO Richard G. Kyle sold 24,851 shares of Timken stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.74, for a total value of $1,832,512.74. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 383,082 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,248,466.68. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Timken Stock Performance

TKR traded down $1.06 on Thursday, hitting $72.59. The company had a trading volume of 483,349 shares, compared to its average volume of 620,141. The companys fifty day moving average price is $78.72 and its 200 day moving average price is $76.80. The Timken Company has a 1-year low of $50.85 and a 1-year high of $89.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 2.76 and a quick ratio of 1.47. The stock has a market cap of $5.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.54.

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Timken (NYSE:TKR  Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 3rd. The industrial products company reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.24. Timken had a return on equity of 20.72% and a net margin of 8.88%. The firm had revenue of $1.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.61 EPS. The companys revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that The Timken Company will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Timken Increases Dividend

Analyst Ratings Changes

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 15th. This is a positive change from Timkens previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.82%. Timkens payout ratio is 23.61%.

TKR has been the subject of several recent research reports. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Timken from $88.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 7th. Bank of America raised Timken from a neutral rating to a buy rating and boosted their price target for the company from $71.00 to $87.00 in a research note on Friday, January 13th. Citigroup boosted 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. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Timken from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Monday, March 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Timken from $70.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $90.78.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Cibc World Markets Corp acquired a new position in shares of Timken during the first quarter worth approximately $1,553,000. Shelton Capital Management raised its stake in shares of Timken by 25.8% in the first quarter. Shelton Capital Management now owns 119,509 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $9,766,000 after purchasing an additional 24,509 shares in the last quarter. Pinkerton Retirement Specialists LLC acquired a new position in shares of Timken in the first quarter valued at $1,148,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Timken in the first quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Timken by 7.4% in the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 6,040 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $494,000 after purchasing an additional 414 shares in the last quarter. 82.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Timken

(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.

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(Reuters) -TC Energy Corp finished recovering oil from a rural Kansas creek where its Keystone Pipeline spilled 14,000 barrels of oil in December, the company said on Friday.

The pipeline operator expects to remain onsite until the third quarter of this year to finish restoring the Mill Creek shoreline, TC Energy said in a statement.

"We continue progressing with restoration activities along the Mill Creek shoreline, and environmental monitoring is ongoing," it said.

Keystone's spill into a Kansas creek was the biggest U.S. oil spill in nine years and prompted a 21-day shutdown of a portion of the 622,000 barrel-per-day pipeline, which ships crude from Alberta to U.S. refineries.

In April, the Calgary-based company released the findingsthat showed the oil spill was caused by a progressive fatigue crack, which originated during the construction of the pipeline.

(Reporting by Deep Vakil, Brijesh Patel and Harshit Verma in Bengaluru; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Diane Craft)
Toast (NYSE:TOST  Get Rating) issued its earnings results on Tuesday. The company reported ($0.16) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of ($0.18) by $0.02, Briefing.com reports. The business had revenue of $819.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $763.11 million. Toast had a negative net margin of 10.03% and a negative return on equity of 24.30%. The companys quarterly revenue was up 53.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.20) earnings per share. Toast updated its FY 2023 guidance to EPS and its Q2 2023 guidance to EPS.

Toast Stock Down 1.5 %

NYSE:TOST opened at $20.80 on Friday. Toast has a 52 week low of $11.91 and a 52 week high of $26.03. The stocks fifty day moving average is $17.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $19.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -30.14 and a beta of 1.75.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Toast from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 19th. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on Toast from $26.00 to $24.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on Toast in a report on Thursday, April 6th. They issued a hold rating and a $20.00 target price for the company. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price target on Toast from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 17th. Finally, Stephens started coverage on shares of Toast in a report on Thursday, April 13th. They issued an equal weight rating and a $18.00 price objective for the company. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $22.76.

Insider Activity

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

In related news, insider Stephen Fredette sold 1,485 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.86, for a total transaction of $26,522.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 3,425,063 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $61,171,625.18. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink . In other Toast news, COO Aman Narang sold 120,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.72, for a total value of $2,486,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 1,613,635 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $33,434,517.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link . Also, insider Stephen Fredette sold 1,485 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.86, for a total transaction of $26,522.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 3,425,063 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $61,171,625.18. The disclosure for this sale can be found here . Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 468,834 shares of company stock valued at $9,689,269. 20.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of TOST. First Republic Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Toast by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. First Republic Investment Management Inc. now owns 75,573 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,341,000 after purchasing an additional 1,156 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. purchased a new position in Toast in the first quarter worth approximately $216,000. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in Toast by 11.6% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 20,075 shares of the companys stock worth $342,000 after acquiring an additional 2,094 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers grew its holdings in Toast by 9.1% during the 1st quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 296,662 shares of the companys stock worth $5,266,000 after acquiring an additional 24,662 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its position in shares of Toast by 82.2% in the 1st quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 47,578 shares of the companys stock valued at $844,000 after purchasing an additional 21,460 shares during the last quarter. 50.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Toast

(Get Rating)

Toast, Inc operates a cloud-based and digital technology platform for the restaurant industry in the United States and Ireland. The company offers Toast Point of Sale (POS), a hardware product; Toast Order & Pay, which allows guests to order and pay from their mobile devices; Toast Flex that is used for on-counter order and pay, as well as used as a server station, guest kiosk, kitchen display system, or order fulfillment station; Toast Go, a handheld POS device that enhances the table turn times through tableside ordering and payment acceptance; and Toast Tap, a card reader.

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TopBuild (NYSE:BLD  Get Rating) had its price target upped by Stephens from $230.00 to $250.00 in a report published on Monday, The Fly reports.

BLD has been the topic of several other reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded TopBuild from a hold rating to a buy rating and increased their price objective for the company from $201.00 to $227.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 10th. StockNews.com began coverage on TopBuild in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a buy rating on the stock. Loop Capital increased their target price on TopBuild from $210.00 to $225.00 in a report on Friday, May 5th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their target price on TopBuild from $205.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, February 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $226.14.

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TopBuild Stock Down 0.0 %

NYSE:BLD opened at $214.97 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.96 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a quick ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. TopBuild has a 52 week low of $140.66 and a 52 week high of $227.08. The stocks fifty day moving average is $203.75 and its two-hundred day moving average is $183.12.

Insider Transactions at TopBuild

TopBuild ( NYSE:BLD Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 4th. The construction company reported $4.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.06 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $1.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $1.26 billion. TopBuild had a return on equity of 30.52% and a net margin of 11.31%. The companys revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.50 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that TopBuild will post 15.54 EPS for the current year.

In other news, insider Robert Jeffrey Franklin sold 1,000 shares of TopBuild stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.97, for a total transaction of $212,970.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 19,091 shares in the company, valued at $4,065,810.27. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director Tina Donikowski sold 1,480 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.13, for a total value of $313,952.40. Following the transaction, the director now owns 4,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $933,372. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Robert Jeffrey Franklin sold 1,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.97, for a total value of $212,970.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 19,091 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,065,810.27. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 8,703 shares of company stock worth $1,852,421. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the companys stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On TopBuild

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLD. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in TopBuild by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 3,050,936 shares of the construction companys stock worth $502,732,000 after purchasing an additional 15,777 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management SA increased its position in TopBuild by 4.1% during the 1st quarter. Pictet Asset Management SA now owns 1,507,172 shares of the construction companys stock worth $313,703,000 after purchasing an additional 59,414 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its position in TopBuild by 135.6% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 913,930 shares of the construction companys stock worth $165,778,000 after purchasing an additional 526,053 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC increased its position in TopBuild by 230.1% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 864,237 shares of the construction companys stock worth $135,244,000 after purchasing an additional 602,416 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in TopBuild by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 782,101 shares of the construction companys stock worth $122,394,000 after purchasing an additional 49,620 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.56% of the companys stock.

About TopBuild

(Get Rating)

TopBuild Corp. engages in the installation and distribution of insulation products and other building products to the U.S. and Canadian construction industry. It operates through the following segments: Installation, Specialty Distribution, and Corporate. The Installation segment provides insulation installation services nationwide through its TruTeam contractor services and business branches located in the U.S.

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TransAlta (TSE:TA  Get Rating) (NYSE:TAC) had its price objective increased by CIBC from C$16.50 to C$17.00 in a research note published on Monday, BayStreet.CA reports.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on the stock. CSFB raised shares of TransAlta from a neutral rating to an outperform rating and increased their price objective for the company from C$15.00 to C$17.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 12th. Scotiabank cut their price objective on TransAlta from C$15.00 to C$14.00 in a report on Friday, February 24th. TD Securities dropped their target price on TransAlta from C$17.50 to C$16.50 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 24th. Finally, National Bankshares dropped their price objective on shares of TransAlta from C$15.00 to C$14.00 in a report on Friday, February 24th.

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TransAlta Stock Down 1.7 %

TSE TA opened at C$13.04 on Monday. TransAlta has a fifty-two week low of C$10.52 and a fifty-two week high of C$15.28. The business has a fifty day moving average price of C$11.76 and a two-hundred day moving average price of C$12.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 221.62, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The stock has a market capitalization of C$3.49 billion, a PE ratio of 1,304.00, a PEG ratio of -0.07 and a beta of 1.13.

TransAlta Dividend Announcement

TransAlta ( TSE:TA Get Rating ) (NYSE:TAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 23rd. The company reported C($0.61) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of C$0.68 by C($1.29). TransAlta had a net margin of 1.68% and a return on equity of 7.03%. Equities analysts expect that TransAlta will post 0.6943354 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, July 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, June 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.055 per share. This represents a $0.22 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.69%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 31st. TransAltas dividend payout ratio is presently 2,200.00%.

About TransAlta

(Get Rating)

TransAlta Corporation owns, operates, and develops a diverse fleet of electrical power generation assets in Canada, the United States, and Australia. It operates through four segments: Hydro, Wind and Solar, Gas, and Energy Transition. owns and operates hydro, wind and solar, natural gas-fired, and coal-fired facilities.

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Trellis Advisors LLC cut its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK  Get Rating) by 4.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,454 shares of the companys stock after selling 125 shares during the quarter. Trellis Advisors LLCs holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $272,000 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 the business. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2,671.4% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 5,099,334 shares of the companys stock worth $418,400,000 after purchasing an additional 4,915,334 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 256.3% during the 1st quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 4,882,173 shares of the companys stock worth $400,582,000 after purchasing an additional 3,511,900 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 224,134,448 shares of the companys stock valued at $19,302,459,000 after buying an additional 3,081,402 shares during the last quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 3rd quarter valued at about $243,240,000. Finally, Neuberger Berman Group LLC grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 48.1% in the 3rd quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 5,840,313 shares of the companys stock valued at $503,115,000 after buying an additional 1,897,517 shares during the last quarter. 72.89% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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Insider Activity

In other news, VP Rita A. Karachun sold 15,875 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.53, for a total transaction of $1,865,788.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 45,710 shares of the companys stock, valued at $5,372,296.30. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.22, for a total transaction of $541,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 20,284 shares in the company, valued at $2,195,134.48. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Rita A. Karachun sold 15,875 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.53, for a total transaction of $1,865,788.75. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 45,710 shares of the companys stock, valued at $5,372,296.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 495,073 shares of company stock valued at $57,220,134. Insiders own 0.20% of the companys stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of MRK stock traded up $0.36 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $117.91. 627,242 shares of the companys stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,919,489. The stocks 50 day simple moving average is $111.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $108.69. The stock has a market cap of $299.19 billion, a PE ratio of 22.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.34. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $83.05 and a 12 month high of $119.65. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK  Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $14.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.81 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 22.52% and a return on equity of 37.92%. The companys revenue for the quarter was down 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.14 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 6.96 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on MRK. Mizuho reiterated a buy rating and issued a $130.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Monday, April 10th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Monday, March 6th. They set a buy rating and a $125.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report on Thursday, May 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, February 23rd. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a peer perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $127.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 22nd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $120.75.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

(Get Rating)

Merck & Co, Inc is a health care company, which engages in the provision of health solutions through its prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies, animal health, and consumer care products. It operates through the following segments: Pharmaceutical, Animal Health, and Other. The Pharmaceutical segment includes human health pharmaceutical and vaccine products.

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Trilogy Capital Inc. bought a new stake in Invesco S&P 500 Top 50 ETF (NYSEARCA:XLG  Get Rating) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 1,667 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $460,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in XLG. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new position in Invesco S&P 500 Top 50 ETF in the first quarter valued at about $38,000. National Bank of Canada FI acquired a new position in shares of Invesco S&P 500 Top 50 ETF in the 4th quarter worth approximately $58,000. Bank of Montreal Can grew its position in Invesco S&P 500 Top 50 ETF by 71.0% during the 1st quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 171 shares of the companys stock worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. increased its holdings in Invesco S&P 500 Top 50 ETF by 72.4% during the 3rd quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 531 shares of the companys stock valued at $143,000 after purchasing an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Directions Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Invesco S&P 500 Top 50 ETF in the 4th quarter valued at $143,000.

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Invesco S&P 500 Top 50 ETF Stock Performance

Invesco S&P 500 Top 50 ETF stock opened at $319.53 on Friday. The businesss fifty day moving average is $306.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $294.16. The firm has a market cap of $1.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.22 and a beta of 1.00. Invesco S&P 500 Top 50 ETF has a 52 week low of $260.46 and a 52 week high of $328.88.

Invesco S&P 500 Top 50 ETF Company Profile

Guggenheim Russell Top 50 Mega Cap ETF (the Fund), formerly Rydex Russell Top 50 ETF, seeks to replicate as closely as possible the performance of the Russell Top 50 Index (the Index). The Index is an unmanaged capitalization-weighted index consisting of the 50 largest companies in the Russell 3000 Index.

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Venture Visionary Partners LLC increased its holdings in Devon Energy Co. (NYSE:DVN  Get Rating) by 28.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 104,295 shares of the energy companys stock after acquiring an additional 23,277 shares during the period. Venture Visionary Partners LLCs holdings in Devon Energy were worth $6,415,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. AlphaCrest Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Devon Energy during the first quarter valued at $364,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Devon Energy during the first quarter valued at $188,000. Blair William & Co. IL grew its holdings in Devon Energy by 52.1% during the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 99,120 shares of the energy companys stock valued at $5,861,000 after purchasing an additional 33,936 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in Devon Energy by 9.2% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 414,354 shares of the energy companys stock valued at $24,500,000 after purchasing an additional 34,870 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new position in Devon Energy during the first quarter valued at $26,000. 78.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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Insider Activity at Devon Energy

In other news, EVP Dennis C. Cameron sold 7,179 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.77, for a total transaction of $393,193.83. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 262,498 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $14,377,015.46. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, EVP Dennis C. Cameron sold 7,179 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 262,498 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,377,015.46. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Richard E. Muncrief acquired 10,000 shares of Devon Energy stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 17th. The stock was bought at an average price of $53.28 per share, with a total value of $532,800.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,973,977 shares in the company, valued at $105,173,494.56. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Devon Energy Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of DVN stock traded down $0.07 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $47.19. 2,020,820 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,527,477. Devon Energy Co. has a 1 year low of $44.03 and a 1 year high of $79.40. The companys 50 day moving average is $51.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $59.73. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The firm has a market cap of $30.86 billion, a PE ratio of 5.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.15 and a beta of 2.34.

Devon Energy (NYSE:DVN  Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 8th. The energy company reported $1.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $3.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.82 billion. Devon Energy had a return on equity of 52.20% and a net margin of 31.38%. The firms quarterly revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.88 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Devon Energy Co. will post 6.5 EPS for the current year.

Devon Energy Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 15th will be given a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 14th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.10%. Devon Energys dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.41%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on DVN shares. Bank of America cut their price target on Devon Energy from $67.00 to $60.00 in a report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley lowered 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. Citigroup lowered their price target on Devon Energy from $77.00 to $66.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded Devon Energy from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on Devon Energy from $80.00 to $52.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 14th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Devon Energy presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $70.68.

Devon Energy Profile

(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.

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Want to see what other hedge funds are holding DVN? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Devon Energy Co. (NYSE:DVN  Get Rating).

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Venture Visionary Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of McDonalds Co. (NYSE:MCD  Get Rating) by 1.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 30,575 shares of the fast-food giants stock after buying an additional 363 shares during the period. Venture Visionary Partners LLCs holdings in McDonalds were worth $8,057,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MCD. Covestor Ltd raised its stake in shares of McDonalds by 103.4% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 413 shares of the fast-food giants stock worth $102,000 after buying an additional 210 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of McDonalds by 7.7% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 69,824 shares of the fast-food giants stock worth $17,266,000 after buying an additional 5,007 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of McDonalds by 4.8% in the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 516,408 shares of the fast-food giants stock worth $127,697,000 after buying an additional 23,643 shares during the period. Stevens Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of McDonalds in the first quarter worth about $1,108,000. Finally, Equitable Holdings Inc. raised its stake in shares of McDonalds by 59.7% in the first quarter. Equitable Holdings Inc. now owns 9,338 shares of the fast-food giants stock worth $2,309,000 after buying an additional 3,490 shares during the period. 66.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Catherine A. Hoovel sold 2,876 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.00, for a total transaction of $776,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,184 shares of the companys stock, valued at $319,680. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, SVP Catherine A. Hoovel sold 2,876 shares of McDonalds stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,184 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $319,680. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Christopher J. Kempczinski sold 3,850 shares of McDonalds stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $267.69, for a total transaction of $1,030,606.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 34,637 shares of the companys stock, valued at $9,271,978.53. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 17,393 shares of company stock worth $4,962,294 in the last quarter. 0.27% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

McDonalds Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MCD traded up $0.24 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $295.03. 677,548 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,638,976. The firm has a market capitalization of $215.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.63, a PEG ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.63. McDonalds Co. has a 52-week low of $228.34 and a 52-week high of $298.86. The companys 50-day moving average is $281.88 and its 200-day moving average is $273.48.

McDonalds (NYSE:MCD  Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 25th. The fast-food giant reported $2.63 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.31 by $0.32. The business 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 124.87%. The companys quarterly revenue was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.28 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that McDonalds Co. will post 10.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MCD has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com started coverage on McDonalds in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a buy rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of McDonalds from $309.00 to $315.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 25th. Wedbush lifted their price objective on shares of McDonalds from $315.00 to $330.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 25th. Loop Capital lifted their price objective on shares of McDonalds from $328.00 to $346.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 26th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of McDonalds from $304.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, April 13th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-four have given a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, McDonalds has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus 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.

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Walmart (NYSE:WMT  Get Rating) had its target price hoisted by research analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $150.00 to $155.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, The Fly reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co.s price objective suggests a potential upside of 1.23% from the companys previous close.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. StockNews.com started coverage on Walmart in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a strong-buy rating for the company. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Walmart from $159.00 to $160.00 in a report on Tuesday. Stephens reiterated an overweight rating and issued a $170.00 target price on shares of Walmart in a report on Wednesday, April 5th. Erste Group Bank reiterated a hold rating on shares of Walmart in a report on Tuesday, March 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Walmart from $161.00 to $160.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 22nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, Walmart has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $165.13.

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Walmart Stock Performance

NYSE WMT opened at $153.12 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $413.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.78, a P/E/G ratio of 4.58 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a current ratio of 0.82. The businesss 50 day moving average price is $146.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $145.27. Walmart has a fifty-two week low of $117.27 and a fifty-two week high of $154.64.

Insider Activity

Walmart ( NYSE:WMT Get Rating ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 21st. The retailer reported $1.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.20. Walmart had a return on equity of 20.45% and a net margin of 1.91%. The company had revenue of $164.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $158.67 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.53 EPS. Walmarts revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Walmart will post 6.06 earnings per share for the current year.

In other news, EVP John R. Furner sold 4,375 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.19, for a total value of $630,831.25. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 222,281 shares of the companys stock, valued at $32,050,697.39. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, EVP John R. Furner sold 4,375 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.19, for a total value of $630,831.25. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 222,281 shares of the companys stock, valued at $32,050,697.39. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 1,957,377 shares of Walmart stock in a transaction on Monday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.72, for a total value of $275,442,091.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 255,973,516 shares of the companys stock, valued at $36,020,593,171.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 21,044,002 shares of company stock valued at $2,981,168,308. 47.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Walmart

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in Walmart by 112,181.6% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 22,854,919 shares of the retailers stock valued at $3,240,599,000 after acquiring an additional 22,834,564 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Walmart in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,598,736,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in Walmart by 1,519.2% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 8,129,341 shares of the retailers stock valued at $1,054,376,000 after acquiring an additional 7,627,286 shares during the period. Boston Partners increased its position in Walmart by 7,546.2% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,166,995 shares of the retailers stock valued at $467,747,000 after acquiring an additional 3,125,576 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Walmart by 179.2% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,578,677 shares of the retailers stock valued at $254,078,000 after acquiring an additional 2,938,948 shares during the period. 31.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Walmart

(Get Rating)

Walmart, Inc engages in retail and wholesale business. The company offers an assortment of merchandise and services at everyday low prices. It operates through the following business segments: Walmart U.S., Walmart International, and Sams Club. The Walmart U.S. segment operates as a merchandiser of consumer products, operating under the Walmart, Wal-Mart, and Walmart Neighborhood Market brands, as well as walmart.com and other eCommerce brands.

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Watchman Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN  Get Rating) by 1.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,630 shares of the information technology services providers stock after acquiring an additional 153 shares during the period. Accenture makes up 1.7% of Watchman Group Inc.s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. Watchman Group Inc.s holdings in Accenture were worth $3,103,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

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 Accenture by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 58,473,666 shares of the information technology services providers stock worth $15,045,274,000 after purchasing an additional 816,734 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in Accenture by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 46,363,742 shares of the information technology services providers stock worth $11,929,391,000 after purchasing an additional 319,707 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in Accenture by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 7,296,119 shares of the information technology services providers stock worth $1,877,293,000 after purchasing an additional 354,513 shares during the period. Polen Capital Management LLC increased its position in Accenture by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Polen Capital Management LLC now owns 5,799,259 shares of the information technology services providers stock worth $1,492,149,000 after purchasing an additional 29,646 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 5,598,625 shares of the information technology services providers stock worth $1,440,525,000 after acquiring an additional 219,573 shares during the period. 73.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN traded up $1.35 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $273.62. The stock had a trading volume of 309,234 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,348,674. The firm has a market cap of $172.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.25. The companys fifty day simple moving average is $271.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $276.47. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $242.80 and a 12-month high of $322.88.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

Accenture ( NYSE:ACN Get Rating ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 23rd. The information technology services provider reported $2.69 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.49 by $0.20. Accenture had a return on equity of 30.73% and a net margin of 11.00%. The company had revenue of $15.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.59 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.54 earnings per share. The firms revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 11.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 13th will be given a $1.12 dividend. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 12th. Accentures dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.25%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Accenture from $311.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Friday, March 24th. Edward Jones upgraded Accenture from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, April 5th. Piper Jaffray Companies upped their price target on Accenture from $245.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a report on Monday, March 27th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Accenture from $289.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Friday, March 24th. Finally, Wedbush restated an outperform rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a report on Monday, March 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $314.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,954 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.05, for a total transaction of $827,267.70. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 24,459 shares of the companys stock, valued at $6,849,742.95. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,954 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.05, for a total transaction of $827,267.70. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 24,459 shares of the companys stock, valued at $6,849,742.95. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 556 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.82, for a total value of $153,911.92. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 42,739 shares in the company, valued at $11,831,009.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 15,010 shares of company stock worth $4,180,030 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.08% of the companys stock.

About Accenture

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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.

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Watchman Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Texas Pacific Land Co. (NYSE:TPL  Get Rating) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 114 shares of the financial services providers stock, valued at approximately $267,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of TPL. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Texas Pacific Land by 10.8% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 675 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $913,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Texas Pacific Land by 41.6% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 729 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $986,000 after acquiring an additional 214 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Texas Pacific Land by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 881 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $1,191,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. boosted its holdings in Texas Pacific Land by 23.0% during the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 2,903 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $3,925,000 after acquiring an additional 543 shares during the period. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Texas Pacific Land during the 1st quarter valued at about $515,000. 58.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Texas Pacific Land from $1,396.00 to $1,399.00 in a report on Thursday, April 27th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Texas Pacific Land in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a hold rating for the company.

Texas Pacific Land Stock Performance

Shares of TPL traded up $18.07 on Friday, reaching $1,382.34. The stock had a trading volume of 981 shares, compared to its average volume of 43,679. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.20 and a beta of 1.87. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $1,625.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $2,034.82. Texas Pacific Land Co. has a 12-month low of $1,317.37 and a 12-month high of $2,739.00.

Texas Pacific Land (NYSE:TPL  Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 22nd. The financial services provider reported $12.94 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $15.14 by ($2.20). The firm had revenue of $152.71 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $171.71 million. On average, analysts expect that Texas Pacific Land Co. will post 54.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Texas Pacific Land Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 8th will be issued a $3.25 dividend. This represents a $13.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 7th. Texas Pacific Lands payout ratio is 23.06%.

Texas Pacific Land Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Texas Pacific Land Corp. operates as a landowner in the State of Texas. Its surface and royalty ownership allow revenue generation through the entire value chain of oil and gas development, including through fixed fee payments for use of the firms land, revenue for sales of materials used in the construction of infrastructure, providing sourced water and treated produced water, revenue from its oil and gas royalty interests, and revenues related to saltwater disposal on land.

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(Bloomberg) -- THG Plc shares plunged Friday after ending talks with Apollo Global Management Inc. in the latest failed takeover attempt of the struggling UK online retailer.

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The British company, which operates hundreds of beauty and lifestyle websites, said in a filing that after a short discussion with the New York-based private equity business it has become clear there is no longer any merit in continuing to engage with Apollo.

THG said it rejected Apollos approach for the same reason it rebuffed others  inadequate valuations and the nature of those offer structures. Apollo confirmed in a separate statement Friday that it doesnt intend to make an offer to acquire THG.

Shares in THG fell as much as 23% before paring back in early trading.

Formerly known as The Hut Group, the company co-founded by Chief Executive Officer Matthew Moulding has had a bumpy ride since its 2020 listing due to governance concerns, the surging price of whey  which it uses in its protein shakes  and speculation over the future profitability of its Ingenuity unit, which helps other retailers sell online.

THG stock, which had initially risen on news of Apollos interest last month, has been on a downward trend since then and the companys shares are still well below the 500 pence IPO price.

Entrepreneur Nick Candy last year walked away from making an offer for THG, as did a rival consortium consisting of Belerion Capital and King Street Capital Management. At the time people with knowledge of those bids said Manchester-based THG did not engage with either party or grant any due diligence access over concerns about the levels of debt in both proposals.

Story continues

Read more: Nick Candy and Belerion Capital Drop Pursuit of Retailer THG

Moulding said on LinkedIn that Apollos proposal, which would have kept him in place as CEO, didnt work as the bid valuation was unacceptable and the private equity firm wanted controlling equity rights across THGs beauty and nutrition division.

The Apollo bid was based upon smart financial engineering, capitalising on a wildly low share price from THG being on the London Stock Exchange, he said in the post. I get excited about building and growing things, not spreadsheets.

Earlier this year THG announced a strategic review of loss-making businesses outside of its core beauty, nutrition and Ingenuity platforms. The review is intended to simplify the company. The company has also been reducing its capital expenditure.

Last month, the company, which is facing pressure from activist investor Kelso Group Holdings Plc, reported a slow start to the first quarter with sales turning negative. This came after a disappointing 2022 where earnings more than halved as the effects of inflation meant customers cut back on non-essential spending.

Read more: Activist Investor Kelso Raises THG Stake and Urges Share Buyback

THG said Friday that the board remains fully confident in the companys strategic direction and long-term prospects as an independent business. It added the profitability and cash flow improvements made during the first quarter are continuing and its making progress with diversity objectives aimed at strengthening the board.

SoftBank Group Corp., a one-time anchor investor, sold its stake in the group last year. Moulding is still the largest shareholder with more than 15% with other large investors including the Qatar Investment Authority, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Shares are well below peak but low free cash flow yield reflects the issue in our view, said Wayne Brown, analyst at Liberum. With sterling strength, whey prices coming down and freight costs falling, headwinds over the past few years are turning into tailwinds.

--With assistance from Lisa Pham.

(Updates with comments from THG CEO from seventh paragraph.)

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Shares of Whitecap Resources Inc. (TSE:WCP  Get Rating) have been given a consensus rating of Buy by the eleven research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is C$14.91.

WCP has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. ATB Capital lowered their target price on shares of Whitecap Resources from C$16.00 to C$15.00 in a report on Monday, April 17th. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price target on Whitecap Resources from C$15.00 to C$14.50 in a research report on Wednesday, March 29th. Barclays set a C$14.00 price objective on shares of Whitecap Resources and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, January 18th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Whitecap Resources from C$13.50 to C$14.00 in a research report on Friday, February 24th. Finally, National Bankshares lifted their price target on shares of Whitecap Resources from C$15.50 to C$16.50 in a report on Tuesday, April 18th.

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Insider Transactions at Whitecap Resources

In related news, Director Grant Bradley Fagerheim bought 5,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 7th. The stock was bought at an average cost of C$10.46 per share, with a total value of C$52,300.00. Insiders bought a total of 17,660 shares of company stock valued at $178,651 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.74% of the companys stock.

Whitecap Resources Trading Down 1.6 %

WCP opened at C$9.87 on Friday. The company has a market cap of C$5.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of -0.33 and a beta of 2.90. The company has a fifty day moving average price of C$10.44 and a two-hundred day moving average price of C$10.52. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 26.28. Whitecap Resources has a 1-year low of C$7.70 and a 1-year high of C$12.71.

Whitecap Resources (TSE:WCP  Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 22nd. The company reported C$0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of C$0.42 by C$0.10. Whitecap Resources had a return on equity of 26.68% and a net margin of 33.46%. The business had revenue of C$1.12 billion for the quarter. Analysts predict that Whitecap Resources will post 1.2164179 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Whitecap Resources Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, April 30th will be given a $0.048 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 27th. This represents a $0.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.84%. Whitecap Resourcess payout ratio is presently 28.71%.

Whitecap Resources Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Whitecap Resources Inc, oil and gas company, acquires and develops petroleum and natural gas properties in Canada. Its principal properties are located in West Central Alberta, British Columbia, Southeast Saskatchewan, West Central Saskatchewan, and Southwest Saskatchewan. As of February 14, 2022, it had a total proved plus probable reserves of 701,829 thousand barrels of oil equivalent.

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StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Xinyuan Real Estate (NYSE:XIN  Get Rating) in a report issued on Monday. The firm issued a hold rating on the financial services providers stock.

Xinyuan Real Estate Stock Down 4.7 %

Xinyuan Real Estate stock opened at $3.67 on Monday. The firms 50 day simple moving average is $3.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $4.43. Xinyuan Real Estate has a 1-year low of $2.95 and a 1-year high of $11.90.

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Hedge Funds Weigh In On Xinyuan Real Estate

An institutional investor recently bought a new position in Xinyuan Real Estate stock. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Xinyuan Real Estate Co., Ltd. (NYSE:XIN  Get Rating) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 478,629 shares of the financial services providers stock, valued at approximately $536,000. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. owned 0.90% of Xinyuan Real Estate as of its most recent SEC filing. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.91% of the companys stock.

Xinyuan Real Estate Company Profile

Xinyuan Real Estate Co Ltd. is a holding company, which engages in the acquisition, investment, and development of real estate properties. It operates through the following geographical segments: Henan Province, Shandong Province, Jiangsu Province, Sichuan Province, Beijing, Hainan Province, Hunan Province, Shaanxi Province, Shanghai, Tianjin, Xinjiang, Zhuhai, and United States.

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Aviva PLC grew its stake in shares of Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS  Get Rating) by 34.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 340,181 shares of the companys stock after purchasing an additional 86,254 shares during the period. Aviva PLC owned about 0.07% of Zoetis worth $49,854,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 0.9% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,550,676 shares of the companys stock valued at $5,420,101,000 after purchasing an additional 315,032 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Zoetis by 0.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,803,022 shares of the companys stock valued at $2,936,590,000 after buying an additional 83,221 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its position in Zoetis by 2.2% during the third quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 19,102,111 shares of the companys stock valued at $2,832,652,000 after buying an additional 408,379 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Zoetis by 4.0% during the third quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,406,006 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,548,588,000 after buying an additional 395,882 shares during the period. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised its position in Zoetis by 1.3% during the third quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 3,362,511 shares of the companys stock valued at $498,628,000 after buying an additional 43,387 shares during the period. 90.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Insider Transactions at Zoetis

In related news, EVP Roxanne Lagano sold 4,338 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total transaction of $763,227.72. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 26,357 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,637,250.58. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Zoetis Stock Down 0.5 %

ZTS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on Zoetis from $220.00 to $210.00 in a research report on Monday. Bank Of America (Bofa) upped their price target on Zoetis from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 11th. Barclays upped their price target on Zoetis from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 21st. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on Zoetis in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a buy rating on the stock. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, Zoetis has a consensus rating of Buy and an average target price of $221.14.

ZTS stock traded down $0.96 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $184.16. The stock had a trading volume of 190,775 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,015,151. The company has a current ratio of 3.27, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46. Zoetis Inc. has a 1-year low of $124.15 and a 1-year high of $187.82. The company has a fifty day moving average of $171.16 and a 200 day moving average of $160.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $85.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.79, a PEG ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.77.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS  Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 4th. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.02 billion. Zoetis had a return on equity of 50.26% and a net margin of 25.59%. The firms revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.32 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Zoetis Inc. will post 5.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Zoetis Profile

(Get Rating)

Zoetis, Inc engages in the discovery, development, manufacture, and commercialization of medicines, vaccines, diagnostic products and services, biodevices, genetic tests, and precision animal health technology. The firm operates through the United States and International geographical segments. The United States segment is involved in U.S.

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Even when a business is losing money, it's possible for shareholders to make money if they buy a good business at the right price. For example, although Amazon.com made losses for many years after listing, if you had bought and held the shares since 1999, you would have made a fortune. Nonetheless, only a fool would ignore the risk that a loss making company burns through its cash too quickly.

So, the natural question for FINEOS Corporation Holdings (ASX:FCL) shareholders is whether they should be concerned by its rate of cash burn. For the purposes of this article, cash burn is the annual rate at which an unprofitable company spends cash to fund its growth; its negative free cash flow. First, we'll determine its cash runway by comparing its cash burn with its cash reserves.

Check out our latest analysis for FINEOS Corporation Holdings

Does FINEOS Corporation Holdings Have A Long Cash Runway?

A company's cash runway is the amount of time it would take to burn through its cash reserves at its current cash burn rate. FINEOS Corporation Holdings has such a small amount of debt that we'll set it aside, and focus on the 24m in cash it held at December 2022. Looking at the last year, the company burnt through 22m. That means it had a cash runway of around 13 months as of December 2022. That's not too bad, but it's fair to say the end of the cash runway is in sight, unless cash burn reduces drastically. You can see how its cash balance has changed over time in the image below.

How Well Is FINEOS Corporation Holdings Growing?

On balance, we think it's mildly positive that FINEOS Corporation Holdings trimmed its cash burn by 8.6% over the last twelve months. However, operating revenue was basically flat over that time period. In light of the data above, we're fairly sanguine about the business growth trajectory. While the past is always worth studying, it is the future that matters most of all. So you might want to take a peek at how much the company is expected to grow in the next few years.

Story continues

How Hard Would It Be For FINEOS Corporation Holdings To Raise More Cash For Growth?

Even though it seems like FINEOS Corporation Holdings is developing its business nicely, we still like to consider how easily it could raise more money to accelerate growth. Generally speaking, a listed business can raise new cash through issuing shares or taking on debt. Commonly, a business will sell new shares in itself to raise cash and drive growth. By comparing a company's annual cash burn to its total market capitalisation, we can estimate roughly how many shares it would have to issue in order to run the company for another year (at the same burn rate).

Since it has a market capitalisation of 350m, FINEOS Corporation Holdings' 22m in cash burn equates to about 6.4% of its market value. That's a low proportion, so we figure the company would be able to raise more cash to fund growth, with a little dilution, or even to simply borrow some money.

How Risky Is FINEOS Corporation Holdings' Cash Burn Situation?

FINEOS Corporation Holdings appears to be in pretty good health when it comes to its cash burn situation. One the one hand we have its solid cash burn reduction, while on the other it can also boast very strong cash burn relative to its market cap. While we're the kind of investors who are always a bit concerned about the risks involved with cash burning companies, the metrics we have discussed in this article leave us relatively comfortable about FINEOS Corporation Holdings' situation. An in-depth examination of risks revealed 1 warning sign for FINEOS Corporation Holdings that readers should think about before committing capital to this stock.

Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of companies insiders are buying, and this list of stocks growth stocks (according to analyst forecasts)

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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This aerial photo taken on Feb. 26, 2023 shows people watching a lantern show at the south part of the ancient city wall in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province. [Xinhua/Shao Rui]

XI'AN, May 11 (Xinhua)  At the heart of northwest China's Xi'an, a city with over 3,100 years of history, stands the country's largest and best-preserved ancient city wall, which is deemed a "world-class treasure" by Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Stretching over 4 km from east to west and some 2.7 km from north to south, the city wall was built as a military defense system over 600 years ago on the foundation of a prior structure dating back to the Sui and Tang Dynasties (581-907). It is up to 14 meters wide at the top and consists of a series of military facilities including watchtowers and crenels.

The city wall encircles the old town of Xi'an, where a cluster of relics has borne witness to the past glories of the capital of Shaanxi Province, also the starting point of the ancient Silk Road. Overlooking the city wall, highrises have emerged to demonstrate the city's ongoing efforts to embrace modernization.

For a long time in history, there had been a lack of adequate protection for the city wall. Some parts of the wall had sustained damage, and certain interior spaces had been occupied by individuals with no fixed abode.

Things started to change in the 1980s when China's leadership was alerted about the precarious situation and an extensive preservation project was launched. Thanks to the preservation efforts, the lost splendor of the wall was gradually restored.

On Feb. 15, 2015, days before the Chinese New Year, Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, climbed up the city wall during an inspection tour of Shaanxi and learned about its preservation work.

Describing the Xi'an city wall as a "world-class treasure," he stressed the importance of ensuring its protection and preservation.

"I could feel that the city wall means a lot to President Xi," said Geng Hongmei, an official with the Xi'an city wall management committee who was on site that day.

Geng said she vividly remembers Xi walking on the wall, pausing to engage with a cheering crowd and extending his warm wishes for a happy Chinese New Year and a joyful life.

Three months later, Xi was at the Xi'an city wall again with visiting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Modi was accorded a traditional Tang Dynasty welcome at the city wall and Xi greeted him at a watchtower of the wall. They also enjoyed a brilliant art performance staged by Chinese artists.

Xi has on many occasions stressed the significance of protecting cultural and natural heritage. "History and culture are the soul of a city, and people should cherish historical and cultural heritage as treasuring their own lives," he once said.

China will put more effort into protecting cultural artifacts and heritage, and better protect and preserve historical and cultural heritage in the course of urban and rural development, Xi said in the report to the 20th CPC National Congress.

Encouraged by Xi's words, Xi'an has in recent years stepped up efforts to protect the city wall, creating a mechanism with detailed regulations and innovative measures, according to Wu Chun, deputy director of Xi'an city wall management committee.

For example, a tiered warning system has been established, and quick response measures are taken to curb any potential damage. Regular patrols are conducted and over 8,000 monitoring points have been set up at the city wall.

After years of preservation work, the wall, alongside the surrounding scenic area with lush greenery and clear moat water, has been integrated into the urban life of Xi'an and become a popular recreational and tourism destination.

In the recently concluded May Day holiday, this spot received nearly 240,000 visits in five days, according to the management committee.

For 36 years, the city wall of Xi'an has been illuminated by a spectacular lantern festival, which has become a hallmark Spring Festival celebration. Additionally, a variety of other cultural activities, including kite-making and Tang poetry recitals, are regularly held here, helping to preserve and celebrate the rich and vibrant traditions of Chinese culture.

This aerial photo taken on April 19, 2023 shows a view of the southeast corner of the ancient city wall in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province. [Xinhua/Liu Xiao]

This aerial photo taken on April 30, 2023 shows tourists watching performances at the ancient city wall scenic spot in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province. [Xinhua/Liu Xiao]

Workers conduct repair works at the ancient city wall in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, March 5, 2022. [Xinhua]

This aerial photo taken on April 25, 2023 shows a view of a scenic moat area along the ancient city wall in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province. [Xinhua/Shao Rui]

(Source: Xinhua)
Some investors rely on dividends for growing their wealth, and if you're one of those dividend sleuths, you might be intrigued to know that Thomson Reuters Corporation (TSE:TRI) is about to go ex-dividend in just 4 days. The ex-dividend date is usually set to be one business day before the record date which is the cut-off date on which you must be present on the company's books as a shareholder in order to receive the dividend. The ex-dividend date is important because any transaction on a stock needs to have been settled before the record date in order to be eligible for a dividend. Thus, you can purchase Thomson Reuters' shares before the 17th of May in order to receive the dividend, which the company will pay on the 15th of June.

The company's next dividend payment will be US$0.49 per share, and in the last 12 months, the company paid a total of US$1.96 per share. Calculating the last year's worth of payments shows that Thomson Reuters has a trailing yield of 1.6% on the current share price of CA$165.88. If you buy this business for its dividend, you should have an idea of whether Thomson Reuters's dividend is reliable and sustainable. We need to see whether the dividend is covered by earnings and if it's growing.

Check out our latest analysis for Thomson Reuters

Dividends are usually paid out of company profits, so if a company pays out more than it earned then its dividend is usually at greater risk of being cut. Its dividend payout ratio is 79% of profit, which means the company is paying out a majority of its earnings. The relatively limited profit reinvestment could slow the rate of future earnings growth. We'd be worried about the risk of a drop in earnings. That said, even highly profitable companies sometimes might not generate enough cash to pay the dividend, which is why we should always check if the dividend is covered by cash flow. Dividends consumed 63% of the company's free cash flow last year, which is within a normal range for most dividend-paying organisations.

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It's positive to see that Thomson Reuters's dividend is covered by both profits and cash flow, since this is generally a sign that the dividend is sustainable, and a lower payout ratio usually suggests a greater margin of safety before the dividend gets cut.

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 decline and the company is forced to cut its dividend, investors could watch the value of their investment go up in smoke. That's why it's comforting to see Thomson Reuters's earnings have been skyrocketing, up 22% per annum for the past five years. Earnings per share are growing at a rapid rate, yet the company is paying out more than three-quarters of its earnings.

Many investors will assess a company's dividend performance by evaluating how much the dividend payments have changed over time. Thomson Reuters has delivered an average of 3.3% per year annual increase in its dividend, based on the past 10 years of dividend payments. It's good to see both earnings and the dividend have improved - although the former has been rising much quicker than the latter, possibly due to the company reinvesting more of its profits in growth.

To Sum It Up

Should investors buy Thomson Reuters for the upcoming dividend? It's good to see earnings are growing, since all of the best dividend stocks grow their earnings meaningfully over the long run. However, we'd also note that Thomson Reuters is paying out more than half of its earnings and cash flow as profits, which could limit the dividend growth if earnings growth slows. Overall, it's hard to get excited about Thomson Reuters from a dividend perspective.

So while Thomson Reuters looks good from a dividend perspective, it's always worthwhile being up to date with the risks involved in this stock. To help with this, we've discovered 2 warning signs for Thomson Reuters that you should be aware of before investing in their 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.

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A teen is recounting the moments she helped save a child from a house fire in Winton Hills Thursday. Three children were taken to the hospital, two of them with life-threatening injuries, following a fire early Thursday morning at an apartment complex in Winton Hills.
On 8 and 9 May, Berlin traditionally hosts numerous commemorative events to mark the end of the Second World War in Europe. On these two dates, the German Wehrmacht signed the unconditional surrender in 1945 in Reims, France, and in Berlin-Karlshorst, Germany. The Nazi regime was finally crushed. Adolf Hitler had committed suicide eight days earlier.

The main burden of the struggle against Hitlers Germany was borne by the Red Army of the Soviet Union, which defeated the Wehrmacht under immense sacrifices. At least 13 million Soviet soldiers and 14 million civilians lost their lives in the war. But at the Berlin commemorative events this year, the displaying of the Soviet flag was forbidden. The Berlin Senate called on more than 1,500 police officers to enforce the ban on the three Soviet memorials in Treptower Park, Tiergarten and Schonholzer Heide. There were more police officers than visitors.

Police officers ask a man wearing a shirt showing hammer and sickle to close his jacket outside the tomb of the Soviet War memorial at the park in Treptow, during the 78th anniversary of Victory Day and the end of WWII in Europe, in Berlin, Germany, Tuesday, May 9, 2023. [AP Photo/Markus Schreiber]

On the other hand, it was permissible to show the Ukrainian flag, which was only used by collaborators who were deeply involved in the crimes of the Nazis during World War II. For example, the Melnyk wing of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN-M) used the blue-yellow flag with a trident, as it is also used today in Ukraine.

While the vast majority of Ukrainian men and women, along with their Russian and other Soviet comrades in the Red Army, fought against the Nazis, the OUN-M and the rival wing around Stepan Bandera (OUN-B) joined German SS units and participated in mass murders that claimed the lives of tens of thousands of Jews, Poles, Russians and Ukrainians.

The decision to ban the display of the Soviet flag at the commemorative events was ultimately taken by the High Administrative Court of Berlin-Brandenburg. The police originally banned both Soviet and Russian as well as Ukrainian flags and justified this on the grounds that they could provoke violence against the background of the Ukrainian war. The Berlin Administrative Court lifted this ban again on the basis of a lawsuit. At the request of the police, the High Administrative Court decided to ban only the Soviet and Russian flags and to admit the Ukrainian flag.

The political significance of this decision is unequivocal: 78 years after the defeat of the Nazi regime, it is forbidden in the German capital to show the flag of the liberators. The flag of collaborators and war criminals is welcome. A clearer commitment to the criminal policy of the Nazi regime is hardly conceivable.

This is not an isolated case or a misstep. The scandalous ban illustrates how advanced the trivialization of Nazi crimes in Germany is. Not a single significant media outlet and no established party has objected to it.

The trivialization of National Socialism is inseparable from the return of German militarism. The IYSSE already warned in 2014: The revival of German militarism requires a new interpretation of history that trivializes the crimes of the Nazi era. At the time, the youth organization of the Socialist Equality Party (SGP) protested against the historian Jorg Baberowski, who had defended the Nazi apologist Ernst Nolte in Der Spiegel and declared that Hitler was not vicious.

This warning has been confirmed in the intervening years. Even then, almost all the media, the leadership of the Humboldt University and numerous politicians supported Baberowski and denounced the IYSSE for daring to criticize the far-right professor. Close cooperation with the right-wing and fascists has since become commonplace, not only in Germany, where the far-right Alternative for Germany sits on all important parliamentary committees, but also in Berlins foreign policy.

In official Berlin, nobody is bothered by the fact that the German-backed and -armed Zelensky regime erects monuments for Nazi collaborators and mass murderers, names numerous streets after them, cleanses the country of Russian culture (even Alexander Pushkin and other representatives of world literature are not spared) and bans numerous left-wing parties.

In the Baltic states, too, the German government and the German army work closely together with forces that revere members of the Nazi SS as heroes.

If one follows the bellicose propaganda with which the population in Germany is daily bombarded, one gets the impression that large parts of the ruling elites deeply regretted that Hitler had not achieved his goal of conquering and destroying Moscow.

In a long commentary on 7 May, F.A.Z. journalist Konrad Schuller urged Ukraine to immediately join NATO to provide it with a nuclear umbrella. He warned of a painful stalemate if the announced offensive of the Ukrainians remains unsuccessful. The vigilance of the West could then weaken and the temptation to put scarce money into other projects rather than into weapons grows.

After NATO had already gone out on a limb for Ukraine with material and ideological aid, Schuller said, its solemn promises would turn out to be empty words. The allies could then scatter like chickens when the hawk arrives. Therefore, Ukraine must receive much more money and weapons than it does now.

Less than 80 years after large parts of Europe and Germany lay in ruins, people like Schuller are again ready to unleash a nuclear inferno to satisfy their imperialist world power fantasies.

In reality, the German ruling class has never resigned itself to the defeat of Hitler. After the end of the war, it took a full 40 years for a German head of state to refer to May 8 as Liberation Day for the first time. But Federal President Richard von Weizsacker, whose father was convicted as a war criminal in Nuremberg, also added at the time: May 8 is not a day for us Germans to celebrate.

Today, Weizsackers Christian Democratic Union posts on social media that May 8, 1945 is indeed a day of liberation, but also a day of immeasurable suffering.

Immeasurable suffering for whom, one wonders. For the surviving concentration camp inmates? For the few Jews who had escaped their murderers? For the workers who had not come to terms with the Nazis and were spied on and terrorized by the Gestapo? For the Greeks, Yugoslavs, Poles and Soviet citizens whose livelihoods and lives were destroyed by the Nazis? For the young men who were forced into uniforms and massacred at the front? Or for the fat Nazi henchmen and entrepreneurs who had enriched themselves with Aryanization and forced labor and now feared for their fortunes  which, unfortunately, remained with them.

When the historian Ernst Nolte made his first attempt to rehabilitate National Socialism in 1986, he suffered a devastating defeat in the historians dispute (Historikerstreit). When Baberowski defended Nolte in 2014, he was met with open arms. Today, if Nolte were still alive (he died in 2016), he would be showered with prizes.

The rehabilitation of National Socialism has objective causes. German imperialism is confronted with the same insoluble contradictions as at the beginning of the twentieth century. And it is trying to solve them with the same barbaric methods.

Imprisoned in fragmented Europe, the dynamic German economy at the beginning of the twentieth century urgently needed raw materials, investment opportunities and markets. But these were already divided among the old colonial powers. During the First World War, Germany fought against France, Great Britain and the Tsarist Empire, which was allied with France and, with its enormous territory, offered great opportunities for expansion.

But Germany lost the war. Instead of victory came the revolution, which German capitalism only survived with the help of the Social Democrats. The real winner of the war was another rising power: the United States.

The Second World War was a gigantic attempt to correct the result of the first. Germany tried to bring Europe under its rule and smash the Soviet Union in order to challenge the world power, the USA. To this end, a conspiracy around Reich President Paul von Hindenburg with the support of leading economic and military circles in January 1933 brought Adolf Hitler to power. His regime had two tasks: the violent crushing of the workers movement, which rejected war and militarism, and the concentration of all the countrys forces on rearmament and war.

But Germany also lost the Second World War. German capitalism survived, partly because the US needed it as a bulwark against the Soviet Union. In the post-war decades, it thrived and expanded in the slipstream of US imperialism. But that changed with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Since then, the conflicts between the imperialist powers have intensified.

The US is trying to offset its economic decline by one brutal war after another. The German government supports these wars partly openly, partly indirectly, in order to become a European leader and a world power. One day after the start of the war in Ukraine, it launched the largest rearmament offensive since 1945. Like the US, it is steadily escalating its proxy war against Russia in Ukraine and is not even shying away from nuclear annihilation.

This explains the changed view of Hitler, whose furious hatred of the Soviet Union, Marxism and the organized workers movement are now again gaining positive sides.

Above all, parts of the affluent urban middle class, which have enriched themselves in recent years by the stock and real estate boom, while the incomes of the workers fell, have found favor with imperialism. This explains the transformation of the Greens, which initially presented themselves as anti-fascist and pacifist, into ardent militarists.

The danger of a nuclear world war can only be stopped by an independent movement of the international working class that combines the struggle against social inequality and war with the struggle against its cause, capitalism. The same insoluble contradictions of capitalism that drive the ruling class towards war also create the conditions for the socialist revolution.
Armstrong World Industries, Inc. (NYSE:AWI), might not be a large cap stock, but it saw significant share price movement during recent months on the NYSE, rising to highs of US$82.73 and falling to the lows of US$65.68. Some share price movements can give investors a better opportunity to enter into the stock, and potentially buy at a lower price. A question to answer is whether Armstrong World Industries' current trading price of US$65.68 reflective of the actual value of the mid-cap? Or is it currently undervalued, providing us with the opportunity to buy? Lets take a look at Armstrong World Industriess outlook and value based on the most recent financial data to see if there are any catalysts for a price change.

Check out our latest analysis for Armstrong World Industries

What's The Opportunity In Armstrong World Industries?

The share price seems sensible at the moment according to my price multiple model, where I compare the company's price-to-earnings ratio to the industry average. In this instance, Ive used the price-to-earnings (PE) ratio given that there is not enough information to reliably forecast the stocks cash flows. I find that Armstrong World Industriess ratio of 14.63x is trading in-line with its industry peers ratio, which means if you buy Armstrong World Industries today, youd be paying a relatively reasonable price for it. So, is there another chance to buy low in the future? Given that Armstrong World Industriess share is fairly volatile (i.e. its price movements are magnified relative to the rest of the market) this could mean the price can sink lower, giving us an opportunity to buy later on. This is based on its high beta, which is a good indicator for share price volatility.

What kind of growth will Armstrong World Industries generate?

Investors looking for growth in their portfolio may want to consider the prospects of a company before buying its shares. Buying a great company with a robust outlook at a cheap price is always a good investment, so lets also take a look at the company's future expectations. With profit expected to grow by a double-digit 12% over the next couple of years, the outlook is positive for Armstrong World Industries. It looks like higher cash flow is on the cards for the stock, which should feed into a higher share valuation.

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What This Means For You

Are you a shareholder? It seems like the market has already priced in AWIs positive outlook, with shares trading around industry price multiples. However, there are also other important factors which we havent considered today, such as the track record of its management team. Have these factors changed since the last time you looked at AWI? Will you have enough confidence to invest in the company should the price drop below the industry PE ratio?

Are you a potential investor? If youve been keeping tabs on AWI, now may not be the most optimal time to buy, given it is trading around industry price multiples. However, the optimistic forecast is encouraging for AWI, which means its worth further examining other factors such as the strength of its balance sheet, in order to take advantage of the next price drop.

So while earnings quality is important, it's equally important to consider the risks facing Armstrong World Industries at this point in time. For example, we've discovered 1 warning sign that you should run your eye over to get a better picture of Armstrong World Industries.

If you are no longer interested in Armstrong World Industries, you can use our free platform to see our list of over 50 other stocks with a high growth potential.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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Three days before the May 14 presidential and parliamentary elections in Turkey, Muharrem Ince, one of the presidential candidates, announced his withdrawal from the race after purported sex tapes of Ince leaked online. Ince did not endorse any candidate as he withdrew.

Muharrem Ince, leader of the Homeland Party [AP Photo/File]

In the 2018 election, Ince was the Republican Peoples Party (CHP) candidate against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and lost the election with around 30 percent of the vote. He has been under pressure from the Nation Alliance led by Kemal Klcdaroglus CHP and the pro-opposition media to withdraw from the race. Ince ran as a candidate of criticizing the entry of former prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu, and former economy minister Ali Babacan into the Nation Alliance, both of whom served under Erdogans Justice and Development Party (AKP).

Inces withdrawal could lead to Klcdaroglu winning the election in the first round. Borsa Istanbul reacted positively to this possibility, jumping 6 percent. Last week, Ince said he would support Klcdaroglu if Davutoglu and Babacan withdrew from the alliance.

The elections in Turkey, which occupies a critical position in the Middle East and Black Sea region, are of great international importance as the US-led NATO powers escalate the war against Russia in Ukraine. As it moves towards direct military confrontation with Russia, NATO needs a reliable ally in Ankara. The elections are also being held after the February 6 earthquake disaster that has officially caused over 50,000 deaths, and as rising living costs impoverish masses of workers in Turkey.

Most recent opinion polls have shown that while Klcdaroglu is ahead, it would be a tight race and the presidential election could go to a second round. According to a Konda poll conducted on May 6-7, Klcdaroglu would receive 49.3 percent of the vote, Erdogan 43.7 percent, Sinan Ogan, the candidate of the far-right Ata Alliance, 4.8 percent and Ince 2.2 percent.

Yesterday, Klcdaroglu launched an unprecedented attack Russia on Twitter after Inces withdrawal, blaming Moscow for the conspiracy to interfere in the election. He wrote: Dear Russian Friends, you are behind the montages, conspiracies, Deep Fake content, tapes that were revealed in this country yesterday. If you want our friendship to continue after May 15, take your hands off the Turkish state. We are still in favor of cooperation and friendship.

This wholly unsubstantiated statement is absurd. To ascertain who is most likely behind Inces withdrawal, one must ask, Cui bono? Who benefits?

Clearly, Inces withdrawal favors Klcdaroglu, not Erdogan. According to the latest polls, Inces vote share ranged between 1 and 3 percent. According to the Metropoll Research survey, 49.3 percent of his voters said they would support Klcdaroglu and 22 percent said they would support Erdogan if Ince withdrew from the race.

Klcdaroglu is committed to serving NATO better than Erdogan, and Washington and Berlin have made it clear that they prefer him to Erdogan. Already in 2019, during the US presidential election campaign, Biden said that we support opposition leadership in Turkey. The German political establishment, which plays a central role in the NATO war against Russia, is almost unanimously backing Klcdaroglu in the election.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal on May 10, Klcdaroglu again pledged to implement a more compatible policy with NATO if he became president, saying, Turkey is a member of the Western alliance and NATO and Putin also knows this well. Turkey must comply with decisions taken by NATO.

Erdogan, who tries to mediate between NATO-backed Ukraine and Russia, recently sought to demonstrate his alignment with his imperialist allies by withdrawing his veto on Finlands NATO membership. But he lost the trust of his allies a long time ago as he sought to maneuver between the US and Russia over multiple geopolitical conflicts.

These tensions erupted in 2016 with a NATO-backed military coup attempt targeting Erdogan. Ankara claimed that Fethullah Gulen, a longtime CIA asset and Islamist preacher living in the United States, was behind the coup. Until 2013, Gulen was a close ally of Erdogan and had a substantial organization within the states military, judiciary and police apparatus.

When Ince left the CHP in 2021 to found his Homeland Party, he referred to these events. He said: Who am I parting ways with? I am parting ways with those who beg for democracy from the US. ... I am parting ways with those who protect [Gulens] FETO members and pro-Soros people.

In his statement yesterday and in previous social media posts, Ince claimed that Gulen was behind the plot against him, pointing to Washington. Shortly before his decision to withdraw, a Twitter account allegedly used by a pro-Gulen asset published what it alleged were sexual photos of Ince. Ince said the photos were a montage and slander.

Inces vote share, which initially appeared to be 10 percent, declined due to intense political and media pressure on him to withdraw in favor of Klcdaroglu. This campaign backed by the pseudo-left was accompanied by smears that Ince was Erdogans man and that he received money from businesspeople close to Erdogan.

In his statement yesterday, Ince said: I am not afraid of these conspiracies, these montages, these fake bank receipts, these jeeps that dont exist. I resisted for 45 days. At the last point, there are those who ask, He [Ince] cannot withdraw, he received money from the [presidential] palace. Will he return the money? I am withdrawing my candidacy. I am doing this for my homeland.

Ince continued by promoting his own bankrupt nationalist politics, stating: I offered a third option to Turkey. I said, Neither the People Alliance nor the Nation Alliance; the only way forward is the Homeland. I said, Neither from the right nor from the left, but from the path of Ataturk.

Erdogan said he regretted Inces withdrawal. I wish this race would have continued like this until the end, he said, adding, Mr. Kemal came with a tape. Now he has eliminated one of the presidential candidates. How did he do it? I guess that will be revealed tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, implying that Klcdaroglu was behind the conspiracy.

Klcdaroglu was elected the CHP leader in 2010 after former party leader Deniz Baykal was forced to resign in a sex scandal.

After Ince withdrew as a candidate, Klcdaroglu has called on him to join the Nation Alliance.
This article was originally posted on Twitter in German.

Ninety years ago today, the Nazis made an attack on culture and literature at the beginning of their reign of terror that led to the war of extermination and the Holocaust. Beginning May 10, books burned first in Berlin and later in other cities.

The works of Thomas and Heinrich Mann, Stefan Zweig, Kurt Tucholsky, Carl von Ossietzky, Erich Maria Remarque, Erich Kastner and many other writers were publicly burned. Everything humane, progressive and promoting solidarity was to be eradicated.

At the center of the book burning were the writings of socialists and Marxists. One of the fire oaths was: Against class struggle and materialism, for Volksgemeinschaft and an idealistic attitude to life! I hand over to the flame the writings of Marx and Kautsky.

Also burned were the writings of Friedrich Engels, Rosa Luxemburg, Karl Liebknecht, August Bebel, Franz Mehring, and also those of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin and Leon Trotsky, the two leaders of the October Revolution of 1917 in Russia.

Trotsky understood more than any other the character of Nazi terror. The bonfires which burn the impious literature of Marxism light up brilliantly the class nature of National Socialism, he wrote in What is National Socialism?

And further: Everything that should have been eliminated from the national organism in the form of cultural excrement in the course of the normal development of society has now come gushing out from the throat; capitalist society is puking up the undigested barbarism.

The anniversary of the book burning must be a warning to workers and youth worldwide. Today the same contradictions are developing that led to barbarism in the 20th century. The danger of fascism and world war is back.

Above all, the ruling class in Germany continues its crimes of the past. Eighty two years after the war of extermination against the Soviet Union, German tanks are rolling against Russia again.

And the rehabilitation of fascism is also well advanced. At Berlins Humboldt University, where the 1933 book burning originated, Nazi crimes are downplayed and justified.

Hitler was no psychopath, and he wasnt vicious. He didnt want people to talk about the extermination of the Jews at his table, Humboldt professor Jorg Baberowski told Der Spiegel in 2014.

In the same interview, Baberowski backed Nazi apologist Ernst Nolte, who had already justified National Socialism in the 1980s as an understandable reaction to the Russian October Revolution.

While Nolte was roundly condemned for his theses at the time, the enemy for the ruling class today is once again unanimously on the left. For its criticism of Baberowski and the return of German militarism, the Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei (Socialist Equality Party in Germany-SGP) has been placed under surveillance by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution [the German Secret Service].

As in the 1930s, the bourgeoisie is horrified by the growing radicalization and movement to the left among workers and youth. It fears that this opposition is increasingly coming together with the SGPs international socialist perspective.

Ninety years ago, the workers were prevented by their leadership from taking up the struggle against Hitler. This time it is necessary to ensure that Heinrich Heines warning, wherever they burn books they will also, in the end, burn human beings, does not prove true again.

Necessary for this is the building of the SGP and the Fourth International as a new mass socialist party that will unite the working class internationally and end capitalist barbarism once and for all.
Shawn Fain and US Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin. [Photo: Rep. Elissa Slotkin Facebook]

In a series of recent videos, memos, op-eds and public statements, United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain is attempting to rebrand and legitimize the pro-corporate UAW bureaucracy in the eyes of the rank and file. The aim of this self-serving public relations campaign is to lay the groundwork for the transition to electric vehicles (EV), which the companies and federal government say will require hundreds of thousands of job cuts.

The transition to EV places autoworkers on a collision course with the transnational auto corporations. The auto companies are demanding the restructuring of the entire auto industry in the interests of their executives and Wall Street shareholders. The Biden administration, with the support of the Democrats and Republicans, has enacted a slate of new regulations to carry out this transition by slashing wages and shuttering plants across the continent. As the New York Times acknowledged on May 3, the switch to EV comes with costs for autoworkers, because it takes fewer than half the laborers to assemble an all-electric vehicle as it does to build a gasoline-powered car.

In the past, the companies could count on the UAW bureaucracy to force through their demands, including through fraud and coercion. But today, the UAW bureaucracy is seen as illegitimate in the eyes of most workers, hampering its ability to deceive workers and suppress the class struggle.

Last year, the courts and federal government oversaw the first-ever national direct elections in UAW history in an effort to endow the leadership with legitimacy in the run-up to the expiration of the Big Three contract for US and Canadian autoworkers this September. This plan fell flat, however, because the election is widely seen as a fraud. Fain is known as President 3 Percent because he won the fraudulent election with the support of just 3 percent of the rank-and-file membership. The election was monitored by law firms that represent the auto companies, and the UAW bureaucracy suppressed the vote. First-round turnout was just 9 percent, the lowest turnout for a national union election in US history.

This is why the media, the Biden administration, the courts, the Democratic Party and its Democratic Socialists of America faction are working to promote Fain as having reformed the UAW. Fains rebranding campaign is a critical part of this initiative, and it will also fall flat.

Im a factory worker just like you

The foundation upon which this rebranding narrative is built is the notion that Shawn Fain is an everyman who is reforming the UAW. In a May 4 Facebook Live video, Shawn Fain attempted to present himself as a rank-and-file worker, declaring, Im a factory worker just like you, I dont forget where I come from.

Fain and the bureaucratic clique he represents are not workers; they are bureaucrats. They live comfortable lives paid for by workers dues money. Fains longtime position in the leadership of the UAW bureaucracy has netted him $1.5 million in recent years, with an annual salary of over $150,000 paid from workers dues. He worked at the UAW-Chrysler joint training center when it was rife with corruption and was involved in the 2009 and 2011 contract negotiations which resulted in lower wages, the introduction of tiers and plant shutdowns. There are hundreds of UAW officials with similar histories.

Fain has presented himself as a reformer, saying in his Facebook video that his administration will fight like hell to turn this union around. But Fain has taken no action to give power back to the rank and file, and his record in office makes clear he has no intention of doing so.

On the contrary, Fain has gone out of his way to defend the hated UAW apparatus and has even claimed that longtime bureaucrats responsible for years of concessions have suddenly had a change of heart: The IEB [the UAWs International Executive Board] is united, he said. We came together during the convention and after the convention. According to Fain, the UAW bureaucracy has suddenly seen the light and cleansed itself of past corruption without requiring any real change in personnel.

None of this has anything to do with reality. It is pure propaganda. As Fain said during his Facebook live stream: Shout out to our Comms [Communications] team, they have been doing a lot of work on rebranding.

To carry out this rebranding, Fain has brought in a slate of Democratic Party staffers, including new Communications Director Jonah Furman, a former Democratic Party staffer for Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, as well as Vail Kohnert-Yount, a former White House intern from a family of wealthy Democratic megadonors who held a high-level position in the Labor Department. Furman and Kohnert-Yount, as well as Fains transition manager Chris Brooks and new UAW Organizing Director Brian Shepherd, are members of the Democratic Socialists of America, a faction of the Democratic Party with no connection to socialism.

Fain promotes corporate politicians as our allies in government

Central to this rebranding initiative are Fains efforts to promote the Democratic Party and to trick workers into thinking that capitalist politicians will pressure the corporations to meet workers demands. Essentially, Fain is telling workers to place all their faith in their enemies.

I was in DC last week meeting with a lot of people in Congress and the White House, Fain said on Facebook live. Referring to Biden and various Senate and House Democrats as our allies in government, Fain concluded: Weve got a lot of people on our side in Washington.

The individuals Fain referred to are open enemies of the working class. They include politicians like Elissa Slotkin, Sherrod Brown, Dick Durbin, Bernie Sanders, Mike Peters, Jamaal Bowman and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, all of whom recently voted to illegalize a railroad workers strike, or, in Sanders case, played a key role in the parliamentary maneuvers that ensured the anti-strike bills passage. These politicians also voted to spend tens of billions of dollars to arm the Ukrainian military in the US-NATO war against Russia, which is driving up living costs for workers around the world and threatens to spiral into a nuclear catastrophe. The same politicians have declared an end to any public health measures aimed at protecting workers from the ongoing spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has already killed many autoworkers.

In a series of PR stunts, Fain allowed these politicians to act shocked over low wages and poor conditions in auto plants. Referring to Ultium Cells battery workers, Bernie Sanders said in a video with Fain that he cannot believe theyre hiring people at $16.50 an hour, although it is common for new hires to be paid this low in UAW contracts. For example, many UAW members at the auto parts company Dana Inc. start off making as little as $17 an hour.

After his trip to Washington, Fain wrote a Detroit News opinion article reiterating his call to work with the Democratic Party to pressure the companies for a just transition to EV. He wrote, Our message to them was clear: The EV transition must be a just transition. We cannot allow the automakers to start a race to the bottom for working class Americans. We support a clean auto industry, but we wont build it on the backs of the workers who make this industry run.

The reality is that the UAW bureaucracy and Democratic Party have been allowing the automakers to start a race to the bottom for working class Americans for the last half century. Since the 1979 bailout of Chrysler, the UAW bureaucracy has helped the corporations shutter plants, slash wages, and create conditions of exploitation unprecedented since the UAWs founding in 1935.

The last time the companies and government called for restructuring the industry was in 2008-09, and they got what they wanted because the UAW collaborated with the Obama administration to bail out the auto companies and impose the costs of the economic crisis onto autoworkers. Wages for new hires were cut in half. A system of tiers was created to slash costs and divide workers against each other. The Obama administration directed this transformation as it handed over billions of dollars in bailout money to the auto companies. At this time, Fain sat on the UAWs negotiating committee and supported these cuts. He told an Indiana newspaper in 2009, It was hard to swallow the cuts, but we have to preserve jobs and the future.

Fain and the UAW bureaucracy are also lending support for the Biden administrations plan to prepare the US economy for an extended war against Russia or China, which will require the suppression of the class struggle to keep production running for national security reasons.

The UAW bureaucracy has fully integrated itself into the state apparatus and is playing a critical role in helping US imperialism transition to electric vehicles to outpace its competitors and prepare for war. A 2019 White Paper published by the UAW asked how has China gotten out ahead on the battery arms race? and in 2022, Biden said the transition to EV was necessary to reduce dependence on Russian oil so that were never again forced to pay the price of a menacing dictator halfway around the world. The UAW bureaucracy has put itself at the service of the American government for wars the working class has no interest in supporting.

Praise for politicians responsible for $2.5 billion government loan to Ultium Cells

In his town hall, Fain demagogically said it was shameful that the US government is giving billions of dollars in loans to Ultium Cells to build low-wage plants in places like Lordstown, Ohio and Warren, Michigan. But Fain had nothing but praise for the same politicians responsible for doling out the money.

In a May 2 letter to the UAW staff leaked to the press, Fain said, We expect action from the people in power to make it right at Ultium, which is a joint venture between GM and LG Energy. I want to make sure our staff are armed and ready with the same tone and message. This, Fain has stressed, is the keystone in his fight for a just transition.

But there will be no action on behalf of workers from the likes of people like Sherrod Brown, who was himself involved in issuing Ultium Cells a $2.5 billion government loan. In a December 12, 2022 statement titled Brown announces $2.5 billion loan to Ultium cells, Brown called the loan a pro-American, pro-worker industrial policy.

Michigan Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer, whom Fain recently called our friend, our ally and our sister, issued a statement praising a similar multibillion-dollar corporate giveaway in Michigan, stating, Weve been working hard to outcompete other states for every job and every dollar of investment, so everyone knows Michigan is the place to do business. In other words, Fain is supporting politicians responsible for the same race to the bottom he says he opposes.

Fain and his comms people are aware that many rank-and-file autoworkers will view these appeals to corporate politicians with disgust. To provide a fig leaf for this orientation, Fain has claimed he is not yet willing to endorse Joe Bidens 2024 presidential campaign. This is a move aimed at giving Biden the opportunity to falsely dress himself up as an ally of autoworkers, even though he was actively involved in the restructuring of the auto industry in 2008-09.

In an April 7 article, NPR acknowledged the UAW leaderships challenge in rebranding itself and rehabilitating the Democratic Party: Newly elected UAW officials who are close Fain allies say its important that the union have more one-on-one conversations about politics with members, on the shop floor, in the union hall and elsewhere, NPR wrote. The article quoted Fain as saying, Yes, were going to be a lot more active and a lot more direct with our elected leaders about what we expect.

But NPR cited Georgetown University labor-management Professor John Russo, who says to get the membership fired up about a particular candidate requires trust in their leadership. The past corruption scandals, still a fresh memory for many, make that harder, even with a new leadership team in place. The UAW must manage expectations relating to wages and working conditions: A better-than-expected contract makes finding unity on political issues easier. But not meeting members expectations has the opposite effect. Such is the road ahead for the new UAW leadership.

Fain blames the rank and file

Fains rebranding effort will not succeed, because it offers nothing for the rank and file. Despite the change in rhetoric, the new administration is proving to be just as pro-management as its predecessors. At Clarios battery plant in Toledo, Ohio, the new UAW leadership gave a preview of how it will treat the rank and file by bringing back a contract with insulting 3 percent annual wage increases and cuts to overtime. Workers told the World Socialist Web Site that local UAW officials said the contract was being pushed by national UAW leadership. Workers rightly voted against the sellout by 99 percent and are now on strike.

An internal UAW memo from Fains staff leaked to the media in March made clear the bureaucracy is preparing a massive sellout when the Big Three contracts expire this year. Warning that Unrealistic expectations can result in despair/anger, the memo stated:

Expectations have to match reality and where we are. We cant set unreasonably high bargaining or organizing expectations based on enthusiasm for the slate and for reform. We need to say: We are here for the long game.  This wont be accomplished in 6 months. It will take years. We need to set clear, definable, and achievable goals for the contract campaign.

Fain does not publicly tell workers what he tells his staff and the politicians in private. In private, he agrees that expectations must be tempered so a sellout can be rammed through; but in public Fain tries to present an alternate reality, where the bureaucracy is ready to fight and the rank and file is passive. During his Facebook Live stream on May 4, he said that the companies are looking at the membership to see where you are. We can talk tough all day, we can talk tough at the bargaining table, but unless the company sees that the members are with us, its all going to be talk.

Blaming the rank and file is the longstanding method of the anti-worker bureaucracy and the sections of it which posture as reformist, such as Labor Notes and United All Workers for Democracy (UAWD).

The reality is the rank and file is not to blame for past sellouts, and the rank and file is ready to fight for massive wage increases, COLA and for an end to all layoffs and plant closures. What is required is for the rank-and-file membership to organize itself across plants, across the auto industry, and across national boundaries in rank-and-file committees to unify with workers in Canada, Mexico and elsewhere to ensure any switch to EV is done in the interests of the working class, not according to the diktats of the corporations.

Will Lehmans campaign and the rank-and-file strategy

In the first round of the UAW election held in the autumn of 2022, rank-and-file Mack Trucks worker Will Lehman won 4,777 votes, nearly 5 percent of the total, on a campaign aimed at abolishing the UAW bureaucracy and returning power to the shop floor. Lehman called for the building of a network of rank-and-file committees linked to the International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees (IWA-RFC), a global organization aimed at harnessing the power of the international working class in a unified struggle against the transnational corporations.

In November, when it was clear the UAW bureaucracy did almost nothing to inform workers that there was an election taking place, Lehman sued the UAW and the court-appointed monitor and demanded the court require the UAW to provide actual notice of the election to the entire membership. Federal Judge David Lawson (appointed by Democratic President Bill Clinton) ruled in favor of the union, and as a result the election took place behind the backs of the rank and file. Now Lehman has filed a complaint with the Department of Labor demanding it overturn the election and re-run it with full notice to the rank and file.

The rank-and-file strategy embodied in Lehmans campaign is now being carried into the Big Three contract fight. Walkouts and protests are growing well in advance of the expiration, as evidenced by the strike in Clarios and by the growth of the class struggle on a global scale. As workers in countries like France, Germany, Britain and Sri Lanka launch powerful struggles against inequality and attacks by the corporations and capitalist governments, rank-and-file autoworkers have immense potential power.

Workers need not wait and see how Fains administration will act. It has already exposed itself through its phony rebranding initiative. The key to the situation is that rank-and-file workers can unleash their strength and transform the industry to meet their interests by building rank-and-file committees that they control, outside the domination of the bureaucracy.
The 75th anniversary of the establishment of the State of Israel takes place on May 14. It was officially marked in Israel on April 25, according to the Hebrew calendar, following the annual Memorial Day commemorating those who fought and died in the war that established the state and in Israels subsequent wars, as well as those on active duty in the service of the state.

The official anniversary was a muted occasion. It was held amid the largest eruption of mass protests by Jewish Israelis in the states history against plans to curb the powers of the Supreme Court in a constitutional coup by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus Likud coalition government of fascistic religious and settler parties. The scale of opposition to the most far-right government in Israels history has led to repeated warnings of a descent into civil war, threatening the survival of the state. This has been accompanied by the deliberate stoking of war fever by Netanyahu, targeting the Palestinians in the Occupied Territories, Israels own Arab citizens and neighbouring states, above all Iran and Syria, that support some Palestinian militant factions opposing Israel.

Israelis opposed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's judicial overhaul plan set up bonfires and block a highway during a protest moments after the Israeli leader fired his defense minister, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Sunday, March 26, 2023. [AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg]

Since Netanyahu and his far-right bloc took office last December, his government has set about consolidating its power at the expense of the judiciary to facilitate the suppression of social and political dissent. The government is seeking to pave the way for the permanent annexation of much of the occupied West Bank and bloody military interventions against not just the Palestinians but also Iran and its allies. Netanyahus coalition also plans to disqualify Palestinian Knesset members from serving in the Israeli parliament and to ban their parties from standing in elections, permanently disenfranchising 20 percent of Israeli citizens.

This would consolidate the apartheid-style constitutional changes centred on Israels 2018 Basic Law, the Nation-State Law, enshrining Jewish supremacy as the legal foundation of the state. The law proclaims, The right to exercise national self-determination in the State of Israel is unique to the Jewish people. It declares support for the permanent annexation of the whole of Jerusalem complete and united as Israels capital and endorses settlement construction as a national value. This and the removal of Arabic as an official state language assigns a second-class status to Israels own Arab citizens, as numerous human rights groups have testified.

The official opposition to these moves is led by a disparate group of bourgeois Zionist parties whose disagreements with Netanyahu reflect concerns that he is endangering the interests of the state. They are implacably opposed to any linking of the emerging fascist threat in Israel with opposition to the oppression of the Palestinians and Arab Israelis. If a way of opposing the danger of dictatorship and war that would spread beyond Israel-Palestine is to be found, then this is the central issue that must be addressed.

Had Israel accepted the Gregorian calendar, the foundation anniversary would have taken place the day before Nakba Day, marking the Catastrophe suffered by the Palestinians and the displacement of most of the Palestinian people before and following Israels establishment. Only by examining the relationship between these two events can workers, Jewish and Arab, formulate a political response to the desperate and tragic situation into which Zionism has plunged them both.

The establishment of Israel

The crisis unfolding in Israel is the product of deep-rooted contradictions, political and ideological, within the Zionist state. It is fuelled by the growing divisions between the working class and the ruling elite in one of the most unequal countries in the world. Israels foundation was rooted in the catastrophe that overtook European Jewry in the 1930s and 1940s, culminating in the extermination of six million Jews in the Nazi Holocaust following the defeat of the European working class by fascism.

"Selection" of Hungarian Jews at Auschwitz, 1944. Almost the entire Jewish community of Hungary, numbering 400,000 people, was gassed in Auschwitz in the summer of 1944.

As was explained in a WSWS perspective by Bill Van Auken written in 1998 to mark the 50th anniversary of Israels founding:

Within Israels birth and evolution are concentrated the great unresolved contradictions of the 20th century. Its essential origins lie in one of historys greatest crimes against humanity, the Nazi Holocaust. The extermination of six million European Jews was, in turn, the terrible price paid for the crisis of the working-class movement brought on by the Stalinist degeneration of the Soviet Union and the Communist International. Stalinisms crimes and its domination over the workers movement prevented the working class from putting an end to the crisis-ridden capitalist system, which found in fascism its last line of defense. The defeats of the working class, the crimes of Stalinism and the horrors of the Holocaust created the historical conditions for Israels creation and the Zionist movements largely successful attempt, aided both by US imperialism and Stalinism, to equate Zionism with world Jewry. It was a movement and a state founded ultimately on discouragement and despair. Stalinisms betrayals produced disillusionment in the socialist alternative that had exercised such a powerful appeal to Jewish working people all over the world. The crimes of German fascism were presented as the ultimate proof that it was impossible to vanquish anti-Semitism in Europe or anywhere else. Zionisms answer was to get a state and an army and beat the historical oppressors of the Jewish people at their own game... Their efforts were successful, as Europes stateless and homeless surviving Jewish population was directed to Palestine for very definite geopolitical reasons. Washington, which had closed US borders to Jews fleeing Nazi oppression, saw the emergence of the Jewish state in the Middle East as an instrument for asserting its own hegemony in the region at the expense of the old colonial powers, Britain and France.

Israels founding as a Jewish state was only made possible by involving a people who were seeking a safe-haven from persecution and brutality in a great crimethe forcible expulsion of almost a million Palestinians and the seizure of their land in a brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing.

The founding myths promoted by Zionism include the claims that Jews had returned to their biblical promised land, from which they had been expelled 2,000 years ago, and that the establishment of a Jewish capitalist state would provide A land without people for a people without land.

This latter claim was a transparent but politically necessary lie.

Following World War II, the newly formed United Nations, successor to the League of Nations that had awarded a 25-year Mandate to Britain in 1922 to control Palestine in preparation for independence, proposed the partition of Palestinereduced in size after Britains creation of what is now Jordaninto two separate and non-contiguous Arab and Jewish statelets, with Jerusalem under international control. The reactionary proposal, which was never ratified, sparked the eruption of a civil war between Jews and Palestinians and the 1948 Arab-Israeli war involving Egypt, Jordan, Iraq and other Arab states. The latter followed proclamation of the State of Israel on May 14, following the expiry of the British Mandate. Israel was to take control of over one-third more territory than called for under the partition plan. The Palestinians were largely driven out.

When Israel was founded, Jews made up only one third of the population of Mandatory Palestine, with 1,157,000 Palestinian Muslims, 146,000 Christians, and 580,000 Jews. Two years later, only about 200,000 Palestinians remained in what became Israel. They were to remain under military rule until 1966.

Israeli soldiers in battle with the Arab village of Sassa in the upper Galilee. [Photo by National Library of Israel/digital ID. 990040390490205171/Gideon Markowiz / CC BY-SA 3.0

Several thousand Palestinians were killed, while at least 700,000 were driven out or fled, becoming refugees in neighbouring countries where they found shelter in makeshift tent camps. There are at least 31 confirmed massacres. Accounts of atrocities include those at the village of al-Dawayima, where Israeli forces killed children by smashing their skulls with sticks, and Saliha, where soldiers executed between 60 and 80 inhabitants by driving them into a building and then blowing it up.

Those Palestinians who were driven out, along with their descendants, were banned from returning to Israel. Their homes and property were seized by the Israeli state. Israel has ever since refused to acknowledge the Nakba and its ethnic cleansing or to accept the Palestinians Right of Return, as enshrined in international law and UN Resolution 194 passed in 1948 during the Arab-Israel war.

In contrast, Israels 1950 Law of Return and the Citizenship Law of 1952 granted every Jew the right to immediate citizenship on arrival in Israel. In the three years following the war, about one million Jews emigrated, some from the ruins of Europe but mainly from the Middle East and North Africa.

An organically anti-democratic society

From its inception, therefore, Israel, built on the forcible suppression of the Palestinians and at war with its neighbours, was organically incapable of developing a genuinely democratic society. It emerged as a militarised state surrounded by hostile neighbours and based on upholding religious exclusivism. It rapidly developed nuclear capabilities, becoming the heavily funded garrison of US imperialism, with the army serving as the central pillar of society.

The greater Israels military and political successes, the more surely its rightward and anti-democratic trajectory was confirmed. Once viewed by many as a valiant underdog and home to a population that had suffered terrible historical wrongs, Israel was to become the preeminent military force and sole nuclear power in the region.

Israeli tanks advancing on the Golan Heights, June 1967 [Photo by Government Press Office (Israel) / CC BY-SA 4.0

In 1967, with US backing, Israel invaded Egypt, Syria and Jordan, seizing the West Bank of the Jordan River, East Jerusalem, the Golan Heights and the Gaza Strip and creating a fresh round of refugees. This conflict gave rise to the formation of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) under the leadership of Yasser Arafat and an unequal military struggle between Israel and the Palestinians.

Israels political landscape was transformed, along with economic and social life.

The war and settlement construction heralded the shift to an expansionist Greater Israel policy, with a resurgent right wing demanding that the newly occupied territories be brought under Israeli sovereignty as the biblical lands of Samaria and Judea, promised by God to the Jewish people. This necessitated the continued ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians and Jewish colonial-style settlement.

The course was set for the constant eruption of wars, including the Arab-Israeli war in 1973, military aggression against Syria, Lebanon, and Iran and repeated assaults on the essentially defenceless and impoverished Palestinians in the occupied territories that created new waves of refugees and internally displaced people.

Israels ultra-Orthodox political parties, especially in the context of periodic waves of Jewish immigration, became a powerful force, imposing Jewish religious law in areas previously deemed secular, and determining the formation of governments that became ever more right-wing. Conflict between secular and orthodox Jews has become a feature of social life in every sphere.

This is what created the basis for the emergence of the fascist tendencies within the political and military establishment. As the World Socialist Web Site has explained, These are the forces that now dictate government policy and threaten not only the Palestinians but most Israelis with brutal repression.

The decades since the 1970s also saw an extraordinary funnelling of social wealth upwards and the growth of desperate poverty. By 2010, around 20 Israeli families controlled about half the Israeli stock market and owned one in four Israeli firms. Ten business groups, mostly owned by wealthy families, controlled 30 percent of the market value of public companies. Israel boasts 71 US dollar billionaires, 6.7 for every million people, one of the highest per capita in the world, although not all are resident there.

A homeless man in Israel in 2006. [Photo by charcoal soul/Flickr / CC BY-ND 2.0

At the opposite pole, Israel today ranks second only to the US as the most unequal among the Organization for Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries. It has the third highest poverty rate in the OECD, behind Bulgaria and Costa Rica. Its poverty rate is almost double the OECD average. Poverty now impacts more than 27 percent of all Israelis and more than a third of all children, with over 10 percent (312,000 families) facing severe food insecurity. This prompted mass protests in 2011 in the wake of the Arab Springa precursor to the political unrest that has now erupted against Netanyahus judicial reform.

The false promise of Oslo, the PLO and the Palestinian Authority

The constant feature of Israeli life has been the grotesque treatment of the Palestinians. No official move to end this conflict has changed political realities. The much-heralded 1993 Oslo Accords brought an end to the almost six-year Palestinian intifada against Israeli occupation. But its terms, determined by Israel, set a trap for the Palestinians. It offered the mirage of a two state solution, which in fact consisted of a mini-bifurcated and non-contiguous Palestinian statelet alongside Israel. In return, Arafat and the PLO agreed to recognize Israel, guarantee its security and renounce the armed struggle for Palestinian liberation.

Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority Mahmoud Abbas, United States President George W. Bush, and Ariel Sharon, Red Sea Summit, Aqaba, June 2003

Ignoring the Nakba, the Right of Return, the position of Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian entity, and the future of the Zionist settlements, Oslo established the Palestinian Authority (PA). A nominal government in waiting, it had no control over its borders, with supposedly full jurisdiction over Gaza and just 18 percent of the West Bank (Area A), and joint jurisdiction with Israel over 22 percent (Area B). Fully 60 percent of the West Bank (Area C), home to most of the settlements, remains under Israeli military control.

Its central function was to police Palestinian opposition to Israel, with Prime Minister Yitzakh Rabin hailing the fact that the PA will allow no appeals to the Supreme Court and will prevent the Israeli Association of Civil Rights from criticising the conditions there by denying it access to the area.

Even this caricature of a state was an anathema to Ariel Sharon, Benjamin Netanyahu and their Likud Party. They cheered on the crowds baying for the blood of Rabin, just days before he was assassinated by a right-wing Israeli fanatic in November 1995. At Camp David in the summer of 2000, Labour Prime Minister Ehud Barak made clear that a proposed withdrawal from parts of the West Bank and Gaza would leave the Palestinians just 15 percent of original Palestine. Arafat refused to sign, and the peace process was at an end. This was exemplified by Sharons provocative visit to the Al-Aqsa Mosque/Temple Mount compound and the eruption of a second intifada.

Yasser Arafat in 1997 [Photo by National Library of Israel/digital ID. 990040390490205171/Gideon Markowiz / CC BY 4.0

Thereafter, all the Zionist parties put forward policies aimed at countering the demographic problem and expanding control over the West Bank.

Today, there are approximately equal numbers of Jewish Israelis and Palestinians living in Israel-Palestine, with the Palestinians soon set to become the majority. If the State of Israel was measured by the reality of the population whose fate it determines, it would include not only the 9.3 million Israelis living within its internationally recognised pre-1967 borders, of whom 2 million are Palestinians, but also around 5.4 million Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian territories captured in the 1967 Arab Israeli war who live under Israeli military rule.

Thus, soon, demography and attrition will lead to a territorial area/state with a Muslim majority and a Jewish minority. Zionisms only answer to what it sees as an existential threat is war and ethnic cleansing. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in December 2002 declared that Palestinians must be driven out of the occupied territories to make way for Jewish settlements, while Netanyahu thundered, We are going to cleanse the whole area

Sharon used the second intifada as the justification for building the Separation Wall between Israel and the West Bank with the backing of Labour. In the process, Israel permanently seized up to 18 kms of land inside the West Bank, including the major settlement blocs, taking 9 percent of the territory and isolating around 30,000 Palestinians on the Israeli side and 230,000 Palestinians in East Jerusalem on the West Bank side. Israels control over the western aquifer, courtesy of the Separation Wall, and 80 percent of the West Banks groundwater has led to a chronic and artificial water crisis for millions of people and a drastic reduction in the amount of irrigated agricultural land, from 14 percent before 1967 to less than 2 percent today.

All this was deemed legal by Israels vaunted Supreme Court.

Art depicting slain Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, West Bank separation wall in Bethlehem, 2022 [Photo by Dan Palraz / CC BY-SA 4.0

Gaza was further isolated in 2005 under Sharons disengagement plan, aimed at securing US approval for settlement expansion and consolidation in the West Bank. When Hamas seized control of the enclave in 2007, Israels containment strategy turned into a full-scale economic blockade. In the process, the West Bank has been transformed into an impoverished ghetto and Gaza into a prison.

Neither Zionism nor Arab nationalism but socialist internationalism!

The most fundamental aspect of the conflict between Netanyahus governing coalition and the opposition bloc is their agreement on all fundamentals. It is not an abstract love of democracy but intransigent advocacy of Zionism and the social interests of the Israeli bourgeoisie that has set the protest leaders against the assault on the Supreme Court. Unindicted war criminals such as opposition leader Benny Gantz and Netanyahus rebellious Defence Minister Yoav Gallant fear that Netanyahu and his fascist backers, in pursuing an escalated agenda of ethnic cleansing, a religio-cultural offensive and legal manoeuvres to save Netanyahu from jail, are undermining the bogus democratic cover provided by the Supreme Court and the judiciary over decades of relentless attacks on the Palestinians.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, left, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, second left, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz, third left, former Prime minister and leader of the opposition Benjamin Netanyahu, fourth left, and other dignitaries attend a memorial ceremony in Jerusalem, Israel, Sunday, June 20, 2021. [AP Photo/Abir Sultan/Pool Photo via AP]

Destabilising Israeli society by handing the initiative to Jewish supremacist and religious reactionaries has undermined support for Israel the world over, including the Jewish community in the United States, the largest in the world, which rests in part on Washington and Europes capitals portraying Israel as the Middle Easts sole democracy. It has gravely undermined efforts to portray opposition to Zionism as a form of left anti-Semitism that holds Israel up to standards not expected of similar liberal democracies and makes a false equivalence between Israel and South Africa under apartheid.

Above all, this threatens Washingtons aggressive military policy in the region where Israel acts as its attack-dog in pursuit of its geostrategic interests.

Domestically, though the agenda of the protest movement is presently dictated by the Zionist bourgeoisie and draws social support from sections of the urban middle class, political upheaval risks an explosion of social struggles against the repression of democratic rights and the economic policies of austerity needed to pay for the occupation and war and to enrich Israels oligarchs.

Zionismpromoting a state based upon religio-cultural identity and a supposed common national interest for all Jewshas long formed the basis for opposing not only the defence of Palestinian rights, but any assertion of the independent social and political interests of Jewish workers.

Histadrut headquarters in Tel Aviv [Photo by :"   / CC BY 2.5

The Histadrut trade union federation emerged as a state institution, controlling Israels service sector, its largest conglomerates, national bank and health and medical institutions. Economic liberalisation and privatisation saw its membership collapse without global precedent, from around 1.8 million (then 85 percent of the workforce) in 1983 to less than 200,000 today. All but excluding Arab and migrant workers, its call for a general strike during the mass protests was carried out in coordination with Netanyahu to combat the danger of strikes developing outside of bureaucratic control.

Labour Zionism, the founding ideology of the Israel state, has suffered a worse collapse than its trade union arm, as its socialist pretensions have been shipwrecked by the realities of a state and society based on capitalism and sectarian religious exclusivism.

The political and social turmoil wracking Israel on its 75th anniversary confirm that the conditions exist to fight for a revolutionary socialist alternative. But as long as the basic tenets of Zionism are not challenged, then the crisis of bourgeois rule will be resolved on the basis of a further lurch rightwards.

Most dangerous of all, the escalating political crisis is leading to an ever-sharper turn towards the military repression of the Palestinians and the stoking of war with Syria and Iran. With Israel occupying a central role in US imperialisms military drive to secure global hegemony, stretching from the de facto war with Russia in Ukraine to China, the threat of a war engulfing the entire Middle East grows ever nearer.

The Zionist utopia of a national state in which the Jews of the world could find sanctuary has led instead to a headlong descent into police state forms of rule, the emergence of fascism, the eruption of civil war and war with the Palestinians and Israels Arab neighbours. The way forward lies in unifying the working class, Jewish and Palestinian, in a joint struggle against capitalism and for socialism.

Jewish workers faced with the far-right threat must make their watchword Marxs declaration that A nation that enslaves another forges its own chains. And for Palestinians too, there must develop a profound understanding that there is no national capitalist road to liberation from oppression, as the entire post-colonial history of the Middle East and Africa, as well as that of the Palestinian Authority, has demonstrated.

Leon Trotsky at his desk in Prinkipo

A genuine revolutionary alternative must be based on the theory of permanent revolution. In the imperialist epoch, Trotsky explained that the realisation of the basic democratic and national tasks in the oppressed nations, associated in an earlier period with the rise of the bourgeoisie, can only be achieved only through the independent political mobilisation of the working class, acting on a socialist and internationalist perspective.

Transcending all national divisions, workers must fight for the United Socialist States of the Middle East, freed from the predatory interests of the imperialist powers and transnational corporations. Built on the essential principle of equality for all the regions peoples, this would guarantee a democratic and prosperous future for all, based on the use of the regions vast natural resources to meet essential social needs.

This requires the building of sections of the International Committee of the Fourth International in Israel, Palestine and throughout the region to provide a socialist revolutionary leadership.
With no public speech or even a written statement, the Biden administration allowed the US national COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) declaration to expire on Thursday. In effect, the White House has codified into law that COVID-19 will remain permanently embedded in society, continuing to infect, disable and kill masses of people for the foreseeable future.

The expiration of the PHE was the third and final measure formally dissolving all official response to the pandemic in the US. It follows the April 1 lifting of Medicaid disenrollment restrictions and the April 10 ending of the COVID-19 national emergency declaration. Collectively, these three measures have vast, immediate ramifications for millions of Americans and will cause untold further suffering and death.

The most consequential was the cutoff of Medicaid disenrollment restrictions, which the Kaiser Family Foundation estimates could cause up to 24 million Americans (including 7 million children) to lose access to Medicaid over the coming year. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 6.1 percent of American adults presently have Long COVID, meaning that over 1 million adults suffering from this often debilitating affliction could now lose health care coverage.

Allowing the PHE to expire will privatize the future distribution of COVID-19 tests, treatments and vaccines once existing supplies are used up in the coming months. Manufacturers like Pfizer plan to sell their vaccines for up to $130 per dose and the antiviral Paxlovid for potentially upwards of $500, while at-home rapid tests will each cost $10. For roughly 30 million uninsured Americans, the poorest and most at-risk sections of the population, these costs will be totally unaffordable.

Across the US, hospital systems will face growing financial pressures. The Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform forecasts that more than 200 rural hospitals could be forced to close in the next two to three years. The Department of Housing and Urban Developments COVID-19 mortgage forbearance program will soon expire, threatening an unspecified number of Americans with eviction from their homes.

Last Friday, the CDC announced that it will seize upon this public health wrecking operation to dismantle its COVID-19 infection data reporting system. As has taken place throughout the pandemic, this now thoroughly discredited agency is once again toeing the line of the White House to cover up the spread of COVID-19.

The ending of the PHE in the US takes place less than a week after the World Health Organization (WHO) abruptly lifted its declaration of a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) for COVID-19. Undoubtedly, US imperialism exerted pressure behind the scenes on the WHO to end the PHEIC in order to justify the lifting of the PHE in the US.

The global ending of these declarations of emergency has nothing to do with science, but rather it expresses the economic and political imperatives of the capitalist ruling elites, who are determined to force a return to normal in order to maximize the production of profits. It marks the culmination of the past year and a half of unrelenting propaganda in response to the November 2021 emergence of the highly infectious and immune-evasive Omicron variant, which was falsely proclaimed mild and essentially no more harmful than the flu.

In reality, COVID-19 has always been and remains a highly dangerous pathogen, which is now mutating at an accelerating rate. While official figures on infections and deaths are meaningless due to the dismantling of testing and data reporting, wastewater monitoring and excess death estimates indicate that viral transmission and lethality remain high globally.

For this week, The Economist estimates that there have been 14,000 excess deaths per day attributable to the pandemic, while the cumulative total now stands at 22 million, making COVID-19 still the third-leading cause of death globally. In the US alone, there have been an estimated 1.4 million excess deaths, far above the official figure of 1.1 million, with 860 excess deaths per day at present.

In numerous articles and interviews in recent weeks, scientists have warned of the ongoing dangers of viral evolution. A May 1 article in Nature noted, Currently, SARS-CoV-2s spike protein, in which most immunity-evading mutations occur, is evolving at twice the rate of a similar protein in seasonal influenza and about ten times as quickly as those of cold-causing seasonal coronaviruses.

At any point, a far more dangerous variant could evolve which is more deadly, transmissible and immune-evasive, essentially restarting the pandemic at square one by nullifying the life-saving impacts of existing vaccines and treatments.

Then there is the historically unprecedented mass disabling event of Long COVID, which scientists have compared to the underwater portion of an iceberg. An article published Tuesday in Foreign Policy notes, Tens of millions of cases of long COVID-19 have been diagnosed worldwidecertainly an undercountwith at least a third of those impacted suffering neurological or cardiovascular damage that is proving disabling.

Scientific evidence continues to indicate that COVID-19 reinfections, which are increasingly common, heighten ones risk of developing Long COVID.

The response of the corporate media to the public health implications of ending the PHE has been largely muted, with far more commentary on the associated lifting of Title 42 immigration restrictions and the militarized crackdown on immigrants at the US-Mexico border. In this, the media are deepening their sinister role played throughout the pandemic of deliberately misinforming the public.

The abandonment of public health by the ruling elites globally must be taken as a warning by the international working class. There is no limit to the level of mass death and suffering that they are willing to tolerate to maintain their power and the flow of profits. Over the past year, this has found sharp expression in their efforts to normalize the use of nuclear weapons amid the escalating US-NATO war against Russia in Ukraine.

The ruling elites have viewed the pandemic as a positive good for lowering life expectancy and reducing pension obligations, and there are growing indications that future pandemicswhich scientists warn are increasingly likely due to climate changewill be met with total inaction.

In one of the few articles on the ending of the PHE, the New York Times published a statement Thursday by Ezekiel Emanuel, Michael Osterholm, and other members of Bidens post-election COVID transition team. Emanuel is a well-known advocate of lowering life expectancy, whose long-held eugenicist beliefs have only become more open during the pandemic.

Calling into question the life-saving policy of school closures, which were haphazardly implemented in 2020 and lifted by early 2021, they claim that in future pandemics, In-person education can continue during a respiratory pandemic like Covid, even before a vaccine is developed. They added, Even in pandemics, public spaces should remain open unless they are driving surges.

It is now abundantly clear that the only limit to the level of deaths from COVID-19 and future pandemics will be resistance in the population. This requires the systematic education of the working class and progressive layers of the middle class in the principles of public health and a Marxist political understanding of the nature of the capitalist system.

The ending of the PHE marks the crossing of the Rubicon. It is synonymous with the terminal crisis of capitalism, in which public health has been abandoned forthwith. There is no precedent for this in modern history. It is a decisive moment that has confirmed the previous political analysis that the COVID pandemic was a trigger event in world history.

Throughout the pandemic, the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) and its affiliated Socialist Equality Parties are the only political movement which has continuously opposed the homicidal pandemic policies of every capitalist government and sought to arm workers with a scientific understanding of what must be done to stop the pandemic globally.

In November 2021, the World Socialist Web Site, the organ of the ICFI, launched the Global Workers Inquest into the COVID-19 Pandemic, which remains the only independent investigation into the crimes that have been committed by capitalist governments and corporations. In the face of the deepening COVID-19 cover-up, the Inquest will continue its work globally, and we urge all workers and scientists to participate.

The Inquest is a critical component of the fight to rebuild a socialist culture within the working class. The life-and-death character of this struggle is underscored by the experience of the pandemic and the escalating danger of World War III. Only through the socialist overturn of the outmoded capitalist system will the threat of pandemics, nuclear annihilation, climate change, fascism and ever-deepening social inequality be stopped, and the social rights of the international working classincluding the right to public health and longevitybe secured.
As Chinas pursues its efforts to start negotiations to end the US-NATO war in Ukraine against Russia, the US appears to have switched tack from outright rejection to guarded and conditional support. While determined to pursue its war aims of crushing Moscow, Washington is manoeuvring to prevent Beijing from taking advantage of cracks appearing in the NATO alliance as the conflict grinds on.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Chinese President Xi Jinping shake hands after talks at The Grand Kremlin Palace, in Moscow, Russia, March 21, 2023. [AP Photo/Mikhail Tereshchenko, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool]

The Chinese government announced a 12-point plan in February to facilitate talks so as to gradually de-escalate the situation and ultimately reach a comprehensive cease-fire. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken slammed the proposal, claiming any call for a ceasefire that does not include the removal of Russian forces from Ukrainian territory, would effectively be the ratification of Russian conquest.

Nevertheless, Beijing has continued to advocate the plan. Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky on April 26 for the first time since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. China has insisted that it maintains a neutral position, refusing to condemn the Russian military intervention but, at the same time, not supporting Russian annexations of Ukrainian territory.

While reiterating that there could be no peace at the expense of territorial compromises, Zelensky declared it had been a long and meaningful phone call with the Chinese leader covering the full range of bilateral issues. Particular attention was paid to the ways of possible cooperation to establish a just and sustainable peace for Ukraine, he said in a statement.

Chinas foreign ministry quoted Xi as saying that mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity is the political basis of China-Ukrainian relations. Beijings lack of support for Russian annexations stems from its concerns that the US will exploit separatist tendencies within China, particularly in Taiwan, to undermine its territorial integrity.

Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang is in Europe this week for talks with his counterparts in Germany, France and Norway to push, in particular, its plan for talks to deescalate the Ukraine war. The visit follows high-level visits by French President Emmanuel Macron and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock to Beijing last month.

Macrons comments in China highlighted the differences within Europe and with the US over strategic issues, including relations with Beijing and any Chinese involvement in seeking to de-escalate the Ukraine war. Far from rejecting Chinas peace proposals, he reportedly called on President Xi to bring Russia back to a reasonable policy in Ukraine, to which Xi responded by pledging to work with France to prevent a further deterioration in the Ukraine crisis.

At the same time, Macron made clear that France and Europe should not follow the US blindly as it accelerates its war drive against China. Europe, he said, should not allow itself to be drawn into crises that are not ours. If it is only a follower on the subject of Taiwan and adapts to the American pace and a Chinese overreaction, Europe would become a vassal.

Macrons remarks provoked a sharp rebuke from the European Union and Germany in particular. The German foreign ministry declared that while it was opposed to fierce competition with China, the belief that Europe could stand aside in the event of a Chinese attack on Taiwan was absurd. During her visit, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock played down any policy differences with France.

Nevertheless, those differences were on display this week as Baerbock sparred publicly with Chinese foreign minister Qin in Berlin on Tuesday. Qin insisted on Beijings neutrality in the Ukraine war, declaring China will neither watch the fire from the other bank nor add fuel to the fire. Baerbock, however, while stating that China could play a significant role in ending the war, rejected its diplomatic stance, saying neutrality means taking the side of the aggressor.

Amid these signs of tension within NATO over the Ukraine war, the US has softened its attitude to Chinas proposal for negotiations. In an interview with Washington Post columnist David Ignatius last week, Secretary of State Blinken cautiously declared that in principle, theres nothing wrong with if China or other countries that have significant influence that are prepared to pursue a just and durable peace its certainly possible that China would have a role to play in that effort. And that could be very beneficial.

Blinken went on to state that there were some positive items in Chinas 12-point peace plan including respecting the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of all countries, which implies a Russian troop withdrawal. He also declared that the Xi-Zelensky phone call had been a positive thing, because its vitally important that China and other countries that have been seeking to advance peace hear from the victim, not just the aggressor.

The purpose of the endless denunciations of Russian aggression by the US and its close allies is to obscure the fact that the primary responsibility for the war rests with American imperialism which has, by expanding NATO borders to encroach on Russia, deliberately goaded Moscow into launching military action. Washington, which is pressing Kiev into launching a spring offensive, has to date rejected any talks that do not start with Moscows complete capitulation.

In his commentary, Ignatius pointed to the motive behind Washingtons latest response to Beijings proposal for peace talks. As he stated, the US initially dismissed the plan as part of its efforts to block a broader Chinese role in Europe and keep European allies from making sweetheart deals with Beijing. However, when even Zelenskywho depends on US military aid for his countrys survivalis welcoming contact with Xi, excluding China might be unrealistic.

An article in the Wall Street Journal last weekend noted: The interest in negotiations brings Washington in closer alignment with some European countries, which are eager to see the conflict end, or at the very least moderate in intensity, and have been the most intent on discussing some resolution this year.

However, at the same time, the Journal pointed out US support for negotiations is linked to the planned offensive in Ukraine. Citing unnamed senior French and German officials, the article said the expectation was that the aim is for Ukraine to regain important territory in the south, a development that could be interpreted as a success even if Russia retains chunks of territory its forces have occupied.

These comments make clear that the US shift is purely tactical. While nominally allowing Beijing to proceed, Washington will do everything in its power to sabotage any peace talks as it continues to inflict military defeats on Russia. US imperialisms strategic aims in provoking the war in Ukraine remain the same: to recklessly prosecute the war so as to weaken, destabilise and break up Russia regardless of the terrible consequences for the Ukrainian and Russian people and the dangers of plunging the world into a global conflict involving nuclear-armed powers.
The CNN Town Hall Wednesday night provided a platform for Donald Trump to spew fascist rhetoric and flatly reject the slightest criticism of his four years in the White House, especially his actions on January 6, 2021, when his supporters attempted a coup against Congress to block certification of his defeat in the 2020 election.

The cable network chose to provide this forumTrumps first live appearance on CNN since 2016as part of an effort by new corporate executives to shift the network to the right and begin attracting some of the audience that is abandoning Fox News. New CEO Chris Licht has begun a systematic reworking of the networks line-up of afternoon and evening programs, including a purge of several prominent personalities, such as former headliner Don Lemon, falsely identified as left.

The decision to host Trumps appearance before a friendly Republican audience at St. Anselms College in Manchester, New Hampshirevetted by the New Hampshire Republican Partyprovoked widespread revulsion on social media, including from CNNs own staff.

Former President Donald Trump speaks at the Minden Tahoe Airport in Minden, Nevada, on Oct. 8, 2022. [AP Photo/Jose Luis Villegas, Pool, File]

Perhaps as part of an effort to strike a non-partisan pose, CNNs moderator for the event, correspondent Kaitlan Collins, made some effort to point out Trumps constant falsehoods and distortions, although they came at such a pace and volume that one commentator described them as a firehose of lies.

The most important comments from the ex-president were his defense of the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol and his pledge to pardon many of those convicted of various crimes on that day. These range from violent assaults on police to seditious conspiracyacting as agents of the plot to shut down Congress, stop the certification of Electoral College votes and keep Trump in the White House despite his election defeat.

Trump praised the fascist rioters. They were proud. They were there with love in their heart, he said, then adding, That was a beautiful day. Presumably that is why they erected a gallows outside the Capitol and chanted Hang Mike Pence. The vice president had declined to accommodate Trump by engaging in an unconstitutional effort to reject slates of electors approved by the voters and send the choice back to Republican-controlled state legislatures.

Trump is still bitter about this, rejecting a suggestion that he owed an apology to Pence for endangering his life by a hostile tweet during the storming of the Capitol. I dont feel he was in any danger, he said. Pence was the one who did something wrong, he declared.

Trump blamed Nancy Pelosi for January 6, claiming that he had offered her 10,000 National Guard troops to protect the Capitol, but she had turned him down. This offer is entirely mythical. Moreover, he did not explain, nor did Collins ask, why he would offer troops to safeguard the Capitol on what was supposedly a beautiful day.

The ex-president made it clear that his campaign in the 2024 presidential election would be based entirely on the lies about the stolen 2020 election. Asked by Collins whether he would commit himself to accept the results of the voting in 2024, he demurred, saying, If I think its an honest election, I would be honored to.

In other words, he would accept only an election in which he wins and returns to the White Houseone that, in that case, could well be the last election to be held in America.

Collins repeatedly questioned Trumps lies about the stolen election, but she never hinted at the more fundamental issue: Trumps drive to build a fascist movement to impose an authoritarian regime. His election denial was treated as just one political issue among many.

There were several other issues where Collins elicited statements from Trump that are sharply at odds with the consensus within the US ruling elite. On the proxy war against Russia in Ukraine, Trump avoided answering the question of whether he favored a Ukrainian victory, instead adoptingfor the presenta humanitarian posture, claiming he would bring the war to a halt as soon as he took office, and that his goal was to stop the killing.

This position was widely attacked in the corporate media and by congressional Democrats and most Republicans. There is near-unanimity in the US ruling elite and its two parties on using the war in Ukraine to inflict a defeat on Russia and make it possible for the imperialist powers to carve up the largest component of the former Soviet Union. Trump limited the scope of his disagreement, and made no reference to the threat that the war could escalate into a nuclear cataclysm.

Trump was also out of step with the ruling class consensus on the danger of a default on US government debt, arising out of the congressional deadlock over raising the federal debt ceiling. When Collins noted the predictions that a federal default would devastate the financial markets and plunge the world economy into recession, the onetime billionaire real estate swindler airily waved off the prospect. You might as well do it now because youll do it later, he said, a forecast that might have been his only true statement of the night.

Asked about immigration, Trump defended the savage policies of his administration, including the deliberate separation of young children from their parents. He claimed that this was necessary as a deterrent to illegal border crossings.

Trump denounced E. Jean Carroll, the retired magazine columnist who the previous day had won a legal judgment in favor of her civil suit claiming that Trump sexually assaulted her in the mid-1990s. Carroll was awarded $5 million by a unanimous jury, for sexual abuse and defamation (the later charge based on Trumps vilifying her in response to the original lawsuit).

Asked about this, he added further defamation, calling Carroll a whack job and again claiming he did not know her, although Carrolls attorneys unearthed a photo of Carroll, Trump and their spouses at the time, posing for the camera.

The only issue which Trump treated with caution rather than provocation was abortion. He hailed last years Supreme Courts Dobbs decision, overturning Roe v. Wade, which he credited to the justices he had appointed during his presidency. But he declined to take a position on a federal law to ban abortion, and claimed to support exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother.

The Democratic response to this festival of reaction was to claim Trumps comments would be good for their election campaigns next year. Biden set the unserious tone, with a tweet going out in his name, reading: Its simple, folks. Do you want four more years of that? If you dont, pitch in to our campaign.

There was no reference to Trumps evident threat to democracy, or to fascism, and much commentary portraying the event as a political bonanza for the Biden reelection campaign. This mirrors the unprincipled and reactionary posture adopted by the Democrats during the 2022 campaign, when they deliberately promoted the most right-wing, fascistic candidates in Republican primaries, in some cases actually funding their campaigns, with the claim that these candidates would be easier to beat in the general election.
Rishi Sunak trains

Rumour has it that Liz Truss was on the cusp of taking control of Avantis strike-ridden west coast railway line last autumn until Whitehall officials stepped in.

The then Prime Minister was about to sign-off the move when mandarins said: You do know that this means nationalisation?  so the story circulated among railway bosses goes at least.

Truss ultimately did an about turn on the idea to protect her principles.

Her successor in Number 10 has no such qualms.

Transport Secretary Mark Harper on Thursday nationalised Transpennine Express, stripping the franchise from operator FirstGroup after what he decried as a run of continuous cancellations.

It is the latest rail operator to be brought back into public ownership after Southeastern was nationalised in 2021. Fellow red wall seat operator Northern rail was brought into public ownership in February 2020.

The east coast main line, now called LNER, was nationalised in 2018.

FirstGroup also runs the much-criticised west coast main line services under a joint venture called Avanti.

Avanti, which links London with Birmingham, Manchester, and Glasgow, has grabbed most of the headlines for its risible service.

Transport Secretary Mark Harper - Lucy North/PA Wire

But beleaguered passengers using Transpennine Express have for some time pointed out their trains are much worse.

Transpennine Express passengers have endured an unacceptable service for too long, says Anthony Smith, who as chief executive of quango Transport Focus is not known for letting rip.

Passengers will want to see a much more reliable service. Its clear that passengers deserve better, and the operator needs to take action to improve performance and build back passenger trust.

The Transport Secretary insisted that the nationalisation of the Transpennine Express was temporary.

The pledge was treated with incredulity by the train industry, who have seen nothing but a growing state influence in the sector in recent years.

Approaching half of Britains trains are now directly run by the state following the nationalisation of Transpennine Express, according to analysis of official statistics by this newspaper.

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Based on passenger train kilometres  an industry metric that combines the number of passengers and the distance they travel  some 43.4pc are run by either the Governments Operator of Last Resort or devolved administrations, according to the review of data compiled by the Office of Rail and Road.

LNER, Northern rail, Transport for Wales, Southeastern, Scotrail, Caledonian Sleeper, and now Transpennine Express have been moved into the hands of the state since 2018.

Had services in these areas remained in private hands, just 4.5pc of passenger kilometres would be in direct Government control, Telegraph analysis shows.

Azuma rail LNER train at Kings Cross Station - Jonathan Brady/PA Wire

Many in the train industry believe the Government has been rewarding bad behaviour, as one executive puts it, by nationalising lines heavily disrupted by strikes.

The executive says: This is a win for the trade unions. The unions have sabotaged the operator in this instance and the government has handed over victory.

This is not solely down to mismanagement the actions by [drivers union] Aslef to put in place an overtime ban has dragged out the dispute.

Operators will be appalled by the decision, it shows that if you sabotage the operator enough, the government, in the end, will end the operators contract.

Another senior industry source says: Its like the Tories are delivering Labours policy by a thousand cuts.

A third says: Handing Transpennine Express to the Operator of Last Resort won't make any difference to the service unless the union ends its absurd overtime ban and accepts the generous cash payments offered for drivers to work a fifth day each week.

Mick Whelan, Aslef general secretary, rejects the claims.

Mark Harper  who is not a stupid man  knows full well that the fault lies not with this trade union, but at the door of the company, he says.

There is no one-size-fits-all explanation for how multiple lines came to be nationalised.

LNER, for instance, was nationalised for effectively being too greedy. Announcing the decision to parliament, the then Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said Virgin Trains  as it was known then  had got its sums wrong.

Northern rail spun out of control following a row with unions over who closed the doors. Taking Transport for Wales under state control was a natural move for the countrys hard-left devolved administration under Mark Drakeford.

Southeastern was nationalised following a serious breach" by the train operator after it failed to declare 25m in taxpayer funding that should have been returned.

Nicola Sturgeons decision to takeover Scotrail and the Caledonian Sleeper delivered on the SNPs vow to bring the railways under state control.

Such interventions came in parallel with transport officials embarking on a power grab during the pandemic.

Operators required huge subsidies during Covid restrictions to keep running.

At last count, the rail industry received a taxpayer bailout of 42bn by March 2023  around 1,300 for every taxpayer, whether they used the railways or not  according to the Taxpayers Alliance.



It is estimated that there is a 2bn annual hole in the rail industrys finances as commuters either shun the morning peak in favour of cheaper off-peak tickets or choose to avoid trains altogether by working from home.

Industry bosses argued that it is a shortfall that cannot be filled by cutting costs or increasing fares. As a result, what was meant to be temporary taxpayer support quietly became permanent.

This has emboldened government officials to exert more control.

Although 56.6pc rail journeys are run by private operators, Grant Shapps decision to scrap franchising in May 2021 transformed them from risk-taking operators to little more than Government pawns.

John Penrose, MP for Weston-super-Mare and chairman of the Conservative Policy Forum, has led criticism of the growing influence of the state in the railways in recent years.

But instead of pointing the finger at the Conservative party, he lays the blame at the feet of Whitehall mandarins.

This is not a deliberate drive by the Government to nationalise the railways by stealth, Penrose says.

The growing number of operators being brought into public ownership is more a function of a business as usual knee-jerk reaction within the Department for Transport.

Ministers need to chart a different course with a clear radical alternative. They should set out a different plan that focuses on increasing  rather than decreasing  the role of the private sector on the railways.

Whether a Conservative government can do that on this side of a general election remains to be seen.

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.
By Daniel Leussink and Kantaro Komiya

TOKYO (Reuters) -Toyota Motor Corp said on Friday the vehicle data of 2.15 million users in Japan, or almost the entire customer base who signed up for its main cloud service platforms since 2012, had been publicly available for a decade due to human error.

The incident, which also affected customers of its luxury brand Lexus, comes as the world's biggest automaker by sales makes a push into vehicle connectivity and cloud-based data management which are seen as crucial to offering autonomous driving and other artificial intelligence-backed features.

The issue, which began in November 2013 and lasted until mid-April, stemmed from human error, leading to a cloud system being set to public instead of private, a Toyota spokesperson said. It could encompass details such as vehicle locations and identification numbers of vehicle devices, but there were no reports of malicious use, the company said.

"There was a lack of active detection mechanisms, and activities to detect the presence or absence of things that became public," the spokesperson said in response to why it took time to realise there had been an error.

Toyota said it would introduce a system to audit cloud settings, establish a system to continuously monitor settings, and thoroughly educate employees on data handling rules.

Affected customers included those who signed up for the T-Connect service that provides a wide range of services including AI voice-enabled driving assistance, auto connection to call centres for vehicle management, and emergency support in such cases as a traffic accident or sudden illness.

Also affected were users of G-Link, a similar service for owners of Lexus vehicles.

Japan's Personal Information Protection Commission has been informed about the incident, one of its officials said, but declined to provide further details, in line with its practice of not commenting on individual incidents.

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Toyota said steps to block outside access to the data were taken after the issue was discovered and an investigation into all cloud environments managed by Toyota Connected Corp was being carried out.

Large leaks of personal data occasionally happen in Japan. In March, mobile carrier NTT DoCoMo said data of up to 5.29 million customers may have leaked via a company to which it outsourced work.

The incident adds to a raft of challenges facing Koji Sato who took over as Toyota CEO on April 1 from Akio Toyoda, grandson of the company's founder.

Since he took office, Toyota has admitted safety test problems at its affiliate Daihatsu and received a shareholder proposal from a trio of European asset managers to improve disclosure of its lobbying on climate change.

(Reporting by Daniel Leussink and Kantaro Komiya; Editing by Miyoung Kim and Mark Potter)
(Bloomberg) -- Twitters next leader is a well-connected media executive whose deep ties to Madison Avenue could help lure advertisers back to the platform at a critical time.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Linda Yaccarino is leaving her job as head of global advertising at NBCUniversal to take the chief executive officer role at Twitter. She will work closely with owner Elon Musk, who will be both chief technology officer and executive chairman.

She will helm a company mired in multiple crises  many of them spurred by Musk himself. Musk fired or lost about 75% of Twitter employees since his October takeover, including most of those who had deep relationships in sales and partnerships, which Yaccarino will now need to repair. The company has also faced an advertiser exodus, triggered in part by Musks erratic content moderation decisions and his own tweets.

Yaccarino joined Comcast Corp.s NBCUniversal in 2011 after nearly two decades at Turner, home of cable channels like TNT and TBS. At NBC, she helped launch the ad-supported streaming service Peacock, oversaw live events like the Super Bowl and Olympic Games, and forged partnerships with tech companies including Snapchat, YouTube and Twitter.

Shes perhaps best known for leading the TV industrys push for new ways to measure viewers. Yaccarino was highly critical of Nielsen, whose ratings have long formed the basis for TV ad deals, for not counting all the people who watched NBCs shows online. In recent years, Yaccarino took the unusual step of bringing together competitors in the media industry to discuss alternatives.

She has been ahead of the curve really in measurement and marketing effectiveness, said Michael Kassan, the chief executive officer of the marketing and media consulting firm Medialink.

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Kassan said Yaccarino is extraordinarily well-respected in the industry and has amazing brand and agency relationships.

Read more: Twitter Taps NBC Ad Chief to Take Over as CEO From Musk

During his tenure, Musk slashed thousands of jobs, scaled back the companys content moderation and allowed accounts previously banned for breaking rules to return. A controversial subscription service plan, Twitter Blue, has been flailing, drawing less than 1% of the user base. Twitter needs to boost sales in order to repay $12.5 billion in debt the company took on when Musk bought it. Annual interest is expected to exceed $1.2 billion.

Despite a slight uptick in daily users since early 2022, Twitters revenue has fallen by 50% since October as a result of a massive decline in advertising, Musk said in March.

Shes probably just what Elon needs to establish trust among advertisers, said Martin Sorrell, who founded WPP plc, one of the worlds largest advertising companies.

Dave Campanelli, chief investment officer at Horizon Media, said Yaccarino was very, very tough in negotiations but also listened to advertisers needs.

Shell bring a level of understanding of the ad space and what it takes to bring advertisers back to the platform, he said.

Media-industry peers say it was an open secret that Yaccarino wanted the CEO job at NBCUniversal, previously helmed by Jeff Shell. Some in the industry suspect Shells departure last month influenced Yaccarinos decision to leave, and some speculate that Yaccarinos top lieutenant, Krishan Bhatia, could join her at Twitter.

Yaccarino has been described as trustworthy and empathic by those who know her personally. Shes also known to be image-conscious and careful about how she comes off in public, acquaintances say.

Twitter users are already dissecting Yaccarinos politics and behavior on the platform to try to understand what kind of content moderation decisions she might stand behind  and whether she will align with Musk in his embrace of right-wing provocateurs that were suspended under Twitters previous leadership for breaking rules or spreading misinformation.

In 2018, she was named by then-President Donald Trump to the Presidents Council on Sport, Fitness and Nutrition. On Twitter, she is following many people in Trumps orbit, including previously banned accounts, though its unclear whether she runs her own profile. Among the far right, she is already facing backlash for serving on a World Economic Forum task force and associating with a pro-vaccination advertising campaign.

While at NBC, Yaccarino oversaw the integration of sales teams for Telemundo and became a big advocate for multicultural programming, according to Steven Wolfe Pereira, chief business officer at 3Pas Studios, who has known Yaccarino for years.

While Musk has publicly mocked diversity efforts at Twitter, Pereira said Yaccarino has been a champion on such measures and doesnt back down during business negotiations. She is not a wallflower. They would call her the Velvet Hammer, Pereira said. Shes tough, but shes fair.

Read more: Bluesky Draws Celebs and Politicians as Twitter Alternative: Q&A

One of Yaccarinos first challenges will be a new show on Twitter from fired Fox News host Tucker Carlson, whose incendiary remarks led advertisers to steer clear of him on cable.

Another will be handling her mercurial, unpredictable new boss. He seemed to catch Yaccarino off guard Thursday when he said in a tweet that he had chosen a new CEO who would begin in six weeks, without naming her.

During an advertising conference last month in Miami, Yaccarino pushed Musk on his plans for making the platform more comfortable for brands. At one point, she candidly asked Musk whether he felt he had derisked the site enough to assure advertisers that their campaigns arent going to land in awful hateful places.

Yaccarino told Musk on stage: Are there days where I see some of your tweets and wish I could say, Stop helping the situation?

She nodded her head as she said it.

There are very few people who wouldnt be just seen as a figurehead CEO of Twitter and Linda Yaccarino is one of them, said Mike Proulx, who leads Forresters chief marketing officer research team. Shes a well-respected force in the industry whose credibility with advertisers speaks for itself.

(Updates with backround on Yaccarino in 13th paragraph.)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

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In her big moment in front of CNNs primetime audience, host Kaitlan Collins did not back down from challenging former President Donald Trump when he took liberties with facts during a town hall meeting with voters in New Hampshire.

Collins, 31, did not blink when the former president said youre a nasty person after she questioned him on his classified documents seizure scandal.

Here are some of the top moments when Collins pushed back on Trumps assertions during the town hall at St. Anselm College, and the few times she didnt.

Also Read:

CNNs Trump Broadcast Nabs 3.3 Million Viewers in Networks 2nd-Most-Watched Town Hall Since 2016

ON ELECTION FRAUD:

Right off the bat, Trump claimed it was a rigged election. And its a shame that we had to go through it. Its very bad for our country. Collins responded: It was not a rigged election, it was not a stolen election. You and your supporters lost more than 60 court cases on the election. Its been nearly two-and-a-half years. Can you publicly acknowledge that you did lose the 2020 election?

When Trump doubled down on his stolen election claim, and said there were individuals voting multiple times in Georgia, Collins repeated statements from Republican election officials in that state disputing Trumps accusations. Republican officials debunked those claims about fraudulent ballots, Collins said.

Trump said, In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, they had so many legal illegal votes. They didnt even know what to do with them. Collins responded with, There werent any fraudulent votes in Wisconsin, and noted that Trumps campaign paid for a recount in Wisconsin, and lost again.

Pressed by CNN's @kaitlancollins in a New Hampshire town hall, former President Donald Trump again refuses to concede that he lost the 2020 election and repeats his false claims about election fraud.



Follow live updates and watch now. https://t.co/prGSnWv2ZL pic.twitter.com/KXAqTktWzE  CNN (@CNN) May 11, 2023

ON VICE PRESIDENT MIKE PENCE:

Trump went on to say his Vice Pres. Mike Pence should not have certified the election that day, leaving Trump as president. Collins replied, He doesnt have the authority to do that. As you know. She added that Mike Pence has since said that Trump endangered his life that day by not telling rioters to leave the Capitol.

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When asked if he would accept the results of the next presidential election, Trump said only if I think its an honest election, I would be honored to and right now we are so far ahead if I dont win, this country is going to be in big trouble. Collins shot back with, But no commitment there on accepting the results regardless of outcome?

ON THE JAN. 6 RIOT:

Trump claimed that he offered 10,000 National Guard troops to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for security before the Capitol riots on Jan. 6, 2020, but that his offer was rejected. Collins replied Chris Miller was your acting defense secretary. He says you never gave that order.

Collins asked Trump, Why did it take you three hours to tell them to go home? when violence broke out as Trump supporters smashed through barricades and the doors to the Capitol, while injuring Capitol Police officers. Trump replied that he did finally make a video telling the protesters and rioters to go home. And Im very proud of that video. I didnt have a script. I dont need scripts. It was a beautiful video. Collins responded with It wasnt posted until 4:17 p.m. They breached the capital 2 p.m.

Also Read:

CNNs Chris Licht Unequivocally Believes the Trump Town Hall Served America Very Well

ON TRUMPS COMMENTS ABOUT WOMEN:

Dating back to the 1970s, at least 26 women have gone public with sexual misconduct allegations, including sexual assault. Many of then surfaced during his first presidential campaigned. Journalist E. Jean Carroll was awarded $5 million Tuesday in civil court in New York for her sexual abuse complaint against Trump.

While Collins was ready to take Trump to task on these issues, there were several instances when she did not call him out on blatantly misogynous statements about women during the Q&A.

Among his outrageous and unsubstantiated claims about the victim in one case, Trump said she called her African American husband an ape, and that her dog or cat is named Vagina. Collins did not respond to those comments, and moved on to the question of whether sexual assault allegations cases against Trump will deter women from voting for you? Trump said, Oh, I dont think so.

ON BUILDING THE WALL:

During the Q&A, Trump said he had built a wall hundreds of miles long on the U.S. southern border during his presidency. If we didnt have it, it would be hard to believe it could be any worse than just letting people flow into our country. A country has to have borders.

Collins responded: You built 52 miles of new wall when you were in office, Mr. President. It wasnt the complete wall.

Trump shot back at Collins: This is what she does.

I built hundreds of miles, Trump said, adding the the Democrats are the party of disinformation.

Also Read:

MSNBCs Alex Wagner Calls Out Hurricane of Lies in CNNs Trump Town Hall: An Hour of Propaganda (Video)

Also Read:

The View Host Alyssa Farah Griffin Defends Trump Town Hall: He Lost Votes Last Night (Video)
U.S. Chamber of Commerce Backs Coinbase in SEC Fight

U.S. Chamber of Commerce Backs Coinbase in SEC Fight

The US Chamber of Commerce has expressed its support for Coinbase in its legal battle with the SEC over its proposed lending product. The Chamber filed an amicus brief in which it criticized the SEC for its lack of clarity and consistency in regulating digital assets.

In the brief, the Chamber argues that the SEC is harming the economy and innovation by creating uncertainty and confusion for investors and businesses. The Chamber aso argues that the SEC's actions could have far-reaching implications for the broader crypto industry, and that the agency's regulatory overreach could stifle innovation and growth in the sector. Additionally, they suggest that the SEC's approach to regulation may be overly burdensome and could hinder legitimate businesses from operating in the space.

While the outcome of the case remains uncertain, the Chamber's support for Coinbase is likely to be seen as a positive development for the cryptocurrency industry as a whole, and may help to shape future regulatory decisions in the sector.
Amazon inaugurated its largest facility in New England, which will create thousands of jobs, according to the e-commerce giant.

The Seattle tech titan officially opened the 3.8 million square-foot Windsor, Conn. fulfillment center this month alongside the Governnor Ned Lamont, Lieutenant Governor Susan Bysiewicz and other state and local elected officials. Amazon has been hiring employees for the facility, which also houses state-of-the-art robotics technology, since last fall. The opening adds to a statewide Amazon facility network that supports 15,000 full- and part-time employees.

More from Sourcing Journal

I am thrilled Amazon is investing further into the great state of Connecticut with the opening of its new fulfillment center in Windsor, Lamont said. This fulfillment center is adding more than 2,000 well-paid jobs with excellent benefits into the Greater Hartford economy, and I look forward to the impact it will have on the region and state for years to come.

Bysiewicz noted that the facility will deliver innovation and next-generation jobs to the Windsor area while enhancing the customer experience. Beyond its creation of good-paying, in-demand jobs, Amazon is committed to investing in and volunteering for local organizations and nonprofits, ensuring that not just their business, but the entire community thrives, she added.

Employees began picking, packing and shipping orders of books, electronics, household goods and toys in November, according to the facilitys general manager, Gurol Butun. The robotic fulfillment center will increase delivery speed and efficiency, and the team has also engaged with projects and organizations within the community. Its a privilege to lead this team and create a safe, engaging, and fun workplace that allows our employees to flourish, Butun said.

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Amazon also announced a $10,000 donation to youth innovators including those from Windsor High School and the surrounding area. The investment will support Team Paragon 571, an arm of the For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) international youth organization, which operates its own robotics competition. Team president Brian Abbot said the funding would support science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education.

Over the past 13 years, Amazon said it has invested more than $6 billion in Connecticut, adding $5.5 billion to the state economy. It said highly competitive wages start at $19 per hour, and benefits effective on the first day of employment. A search of Amazon fulfillment center positions on job boards indicates that most roles pay up to $19.40 per hour, with potential $3,000 signing bonuses.

Amazon CEO Andrew Jassy recently said the company expects to see its fastest ever delivery speeds this year, with over 26 million shoppers ordering items for same-day delivery last quarterup 50 percent from the same period in 2022.

As a result, the company has been re-architecting our placement approach and larger fulfillment center footprint to move from a national fulfillment network in the U.S. to a regional one, he said in an earnings call last month. It means weve created each interconnected region in geographic areas with each of these regions having broad relevant selection to operate in a largely self-sufficient way, while still being able to ship nationally when necessary.

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James Jaronczyk went missing on Sunday afternoon after his 22-foot Progression speedboat crashed after hitting a wave while out on the Great South Bay

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The body of a 28-year-old boat racer in Long Island, New York, has been found four days after he went missing.

James Jaronczyk went missing on Sunday afternoon after his 22-foot Progression speedboat crashed after hitting a wave while out on the Great South Bay. He fell into the water, explains News 12.

Related: 'Deeply Loved' High School Student Dies After New Zealand Cave Floods During Class Trip

According to CBS News, a witness saw Jaronczyk board the boat alone after leaving the Tres Palms waterside restaurant. The witness told investigators that Jaronczyk went out of sight after the crash.

Following the accident, the Suffolk County Underwater Rescue team, divers, the United States Coast Guard, and various other groups, including residents, volunteers, and members of the FDNY, began searching for Jaronczyk. By Tuesday, searchers found some of his belongings in the water  including his sunglasses, in an area "not far from where his boat crashed," adds News-12.

In a Facebook post on Thursday, the village of Babylon Mayor Mary E. Adams explained that Jaronczyk's body was then "found in the location where rescue teams and divers were concentrating on just west of the Village Pool."

Mayor Adams added in the announcement: "James May you rest in peace and shine your love and strength down on your family forever. May God's strength and His love and peace comfort the Jaronczyk family and their friends during this incredibly difficult time."

Related:Boy Who Survived for 2 Days in State Park 'Prayed' He Wouldn't Be Lost for the 'Rest of My Life'

Brianna Marchionda, Jaronczyk's cousin, shared with Patch that Jaronczyk was passionate about being in the water from a young age.

"It was undeniably his calling," she told the news network. "He will be so deeply missed."

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Marchionda added: "With a heart of gold and an infectious zest for life, he brought joy, laughter, and love to every moment he lived. James was more than just a thrill-seeker; he was a gentle and caring soul."

A GoFundMe has been created to support Jaronczyk's family after his death. As of this writing, the campaign has surpassed its $14,000 goal, garnering 263 donations.

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Read the original article on People.
Halka Brunerova, the 2023 President's Distinguished Scholar at Pueblo Community College, is one of 1,360 graduates receiving a degree or certificate at PCC's graduation ceremony for its Pueblo and Fremont campuses on Thursday.

Halka Brunerova was 16 years old when the Berlin Wall fell and the Velvet Revolution broke out in her home country of what was then Czechoslovakia.

More than three decades later, after moving to the United States and eventually making her way to Pueblo, Brunerova has accomplished something she never imagined when she first moved to the U.S.  graduating with a degree from an American college.

Brunerova is the President's Distinguished Scholar this year at Pueblo Community College. She is one of 1,360 graduates receiving a degree or certificate at PCC's graduation ceremony for its Pueblo and Fremont campuses on Thursday, May 11, at the Southwest Motors Events Center.

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While she will be walking in and delivering a brief speech during Thursday's 8:30 a.m. ceremony, Brunerova graduated from PCC with her associate degree in history last semester. In January, she began working toward a bachelor's degree from Colorado State University Pueblo.

"As an immigrant, for so many years, I never had any sort of thought that I could go to school and do something in that direction," Brunerova said.

Brunerova is from Prague  the Czech Republic's capital and largest city. She always loved to travel and knew she wanted to live in another country some day after she vacationed in Bulgaria as a child. At 23, she took "the first opportunity to leave" the Czech Republic to work in Holmdel, New Jersey as an au pair. She went back to the Czech Republic for two years but then returned to the U.S.

While living in New Jersey, Brunerova made good friends and visited different parts of the East Coast, but didn't see herself living there the rest of her life. During her last month on the East Coast, she took a road trip through several western states, including North Dakota, South Dakota, Colorado, New Mexico and Texas.

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She said Colorado was the state that "felt like home."

Brunerova spent more than a decade in Boulder before relocating to Red Feather Lakes in Larimer County in 2012. She volunteered with a Buddhist retreat and worked in massage therapy, but after the pandemic hit she decided to pursue a college education.

"I drove by PCC and just felt the energy," she said. "I wanted to move there and go to that school."

At PCC, Brunerova was president of Associated Student Government and the History Club. At CSU Pueblo, she is majoring in history with minors in anthropology and religious studies and is considering a third minor in Spanish. She dreams of working with the United Nations, doing relief work with refugees and residents of post-war countries. She also has a passion for and admiration of indigenous communities and immigrants.

El Movimiento Sigue: Here's how El Movimiento Sigue is trying to address Pueblo County incarceration rates

Three different ceremonies will be held Thursday for PCC graduates. Students from the Division of Arts and Sciences will graduate during the 8:30 a.m. ceremony and Division of Business and Advanced Technology students will graduate during an 11:30 a.m. ceremony.

At 2:30 p.m., PCC will hold a ceremony for students from the Division of Health and Public Safety along with students from the Division of Medical and Behavioral Health. Students from PCC's Southwest campus will graduate on Saturday, May 13, at Montezuma-Cortez High School's auditorium at noon.

More than 1,600 students graduated from PCC's three campuses this year.

Pueblo Chieftain reporter James Bartolo can be reached by email at JBartolo@gannett.com

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Distinguished scholar Halka Brunerova among 1,600 graduating from PCC
The Southwest Public Policy Institute (SPPI) has championed the benefits of nuclear energy as the cleanest, greenest, cheapest, and safest source of power. Now, with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's approval of Holtec International's permit for a spent nuclear fuel storage facility in New Mexico, we stand at a critical juncture in shaping the region's energy landscape. It is imperative that we embrace this opportunity and move past misguided opposition driven by NIMBYism and political posturing.

The approval of Holtec's consolidated interim storage facility (CISF) for spent nuclear fuel is a significant milestone in the realization of a robust nuclear industry cluster in the American Southwest. With a similar complex already approved in Texas, the region has the potential to become a hub for the safe and secure storage of spent nuclear fuel. The benefits of such a development are immense, offering substantial economic growth, job creation, and technological advancement.

Unfortunately, despite strong support from local communities, some state and federal politicians, swayed by anti-nuclear and anti-green energy sentiment, have vehemently opposed the establishment of CISFs. They fail to recognize the negligible risks involved and the manageable nature of such storage facilities. Witnessing this NIMBY opportunism that obstructs progress and overlooks the immense benefits that nuclear energy can bring to our states is disheartening.

Critics often rely on misinformation and fear-mongering rather than sound science and engineering. It is crucial to emphasize that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, tasked with ensuring public safety, conducted a comprehensive environmental impact assessment and safety evaluation before recommending the license issuance. The stringent regulatory process guarantees that all necessary precautions are in place to safeguard our communities and the environment.

Opponents argue that the storage facilities are "temporary" solutions without a permanent repository. However, this should not undermine the viability and necessity of interim storage. The Department of Energy must take responsibility for developing a permanent solution. In the meantime, interim storage provides a crucial stopgap measure to address the pressing issue of spent nuclear fuel.

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While New Mexican lawmakers continue to push legislation to prohibit the storage or disposal of spent nuclear fuel without their consent and the existence of a federal repository, their efforts appear increasingly out of touch with the reality of the situation. Instead of recognizing the expertise and thoroughness of the commission, these lawmakers seem determined to cling to outdated opposition, disregarding the potential economic benefits and the urgent need for responsible and secure storage solutions. Their resistance appears increasingly futile and only serves to highlight their disconnect from the facts and the interests of their own constituents.

In a region heavily reliant on the oil and gas industry, the establishment of the CISFs offers an unparalleled opportunity for economic diversification. The revenue generated from the project will not only benefit local governments but also contribute to New Mexico's long-term economic resilience. It is a chance to reduce dependence on finite resources and embrace a sustainable energy future.

The approval of Holtec International's permit for the spent nuclear fuel storage facility marks a turning point. As advocates for nuclear energy, we urge leaders in Texas and New Mexico to look beyond the politics and seize this opportunity for their states. Let us prioritize common sense, scientific rigor, and judicial analysis over misguided opposition driven by ignorance and hysteria. By embracing nuclear energy, we can chart a course toward a safer, cleaner, greener, and more prosperous future for the American Southwest, setting an example for the entire nation.

Patrick M. Brenner is the president of the Southwest Public Policy Institute, a research institute dedicated to improving the quality of life in the American Southwest by formulating, promoting, and defending sound public policy solutions. Our mission is simple: better living through better policy.

This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Embracing the Southwest's energy future
The head of the short-lived Department of Homeland Security (DHS) disinformation board has launched a defamation suit against Fox News, alleging the network published false reports about her that endangered her life.

Nina Jankowicz was tapped to lead DHSs Disinformation Governance Board, and though the board never held a meeting, it was heavily criticized by the GOP and was regularly covered by Fox News.

The purpose of the board was to coordinate disinformation efforts at DHS across topics ranging from migration to addressing plots from Russia and Iran.

The Republican National Committee dubbed it the Ministry of Truth in a nod to George Orwells novel 1984 and couched disinformation as any speech we dont like.

Fox News mentioned Jankowicz and her role leading the board more than 300 times in its resulting coverage, with hosts and commentators asserting she planned to censor speech with nicknames like disinfo overlord, disinformation czaress, and minister of truth.

Foxs employee hosts and commentators derided and lied about Jankowicz on repeat  and continue to do so even today. Several of these falsehoods stand out as especially destructive  and directly contrary to available, verifiable evidence, according to the suit filed Wednesday.

It adds that Fox falsely claimed Jankowicz intended to censor Americans speech and that she wanted to give verified Twitter users, including herself, the power to edit others tweets.

Jankowicz resigned from government shortly after taking the role when DHS decided to pause the work of the board following backlash.

With the Boards work paused and its future uncertain, and I have decided to leave DHS to return to my work in the public sphere. It is deeply disappointing that mischaracterizations of the Board became a distraction from the Departments vital work, and indeed, along with recent events globally and nationally, embodies why it is necessary, she wrote at the time.

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But Jankowicz has remained a lightning rod for GOP leadership, including the House Judiciary Committee, which issued a subpoena to her in March to discuss the swiftly disbanded board.

At the time, Jankowicz was in the midst of fundraising to sue Fox News over the way the board was covered by the outlet, claiming it made scaremongering statements about my role, my views, and my personal life over the next nine months.

In a GoFundMe post, Jankowicz said misinformation about her role began as soon as her April hiring even though the Board had nothing to do with arbitrating or restricting speech.

The defamation suit against Fox News follows an agreement by the outlet to pay Dominion Voting Systems nearly $800 million in order to avoid going to trial in another defamation suit.

Fox News did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Jankowiczs suit alleged the outlet appeared to personally target her given that the coverage extended well past her resignation.

Foxs defamatory coverage has caused Jankowicz and her family immense suffering. Jankowicz has been doxed, threatened, harassed relentlessly, and even cyberstalked, the suit says.

Fox enfolded these lies in ugly language that could have no other purpose than to denigrate Jankowiczs character and professional reputation, particularly since they continued long after Jankowiczs resignation from government.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Angela Chapman, interim supertintendent for Columbus City Schools; Brian McDonald, superintendent of the Pasadena Unified School District in California; and George (Eric) Thomas, associate superintendent for Minneapolis Public Schools, are introduced during a public forum Thursday night, where the three finalists for the open superintendent position answered questions.

Finalists for the Columbus City Schools superintendent's job faced a range of questions from the public Thursday as they contend for the chief executive position of the state's largest school district.

Last month, the CCS Board of Education announced three finalists for the open superintendent position, including the district's current interim superintendent Angela Chapman. The other finalists are Brian McDonald, superintendent of the Pasadena Unified School District in California, and George (Eric) Thomas, associate superintendent for Minneapolis Public Schools.

The event, held at the district's South Administration building on the Far South Side, was part of the "Day in the District" for the candidates, where they toured schools and met with community stakeholders. In the evening, they attended a forum where they answered questions from the public, moderated by Mo Wright, president of management consulting company RAMA Consulting.

The district is searching for a new district leader after outgoing Superintendent Talisa Dixon announced in December that she would be retiring at the end of the current academic year.

Here's five takeaways from the public forum:

Finalists share reasons they want the job, leadership styles

Chapman, who has a child who attends the district, said she wanted the permanent job because she believes in the "power of the district."

"I believe in the people; I believe in the possibility," Chapman said. "We have been through a lot of change, a lot of transition in the past couple of years, but we are primed and well-positioned to begin reimagining the student experiences here."

As part of the CCS "Day in the District," finalist and current interim superintendent Angela Chapman holds up Charlie, a dog who works with students at Hilltonia Middle School when they're overwhelmed. Chapman visited Hilltonia Middle School and Briggs High School.

Chapman said she sees the district as a partnership between parents, faculty and administration that is built on the "power of relationships."

"This is who I am: I lead with my values as a value-based leader," Chapman said. "I show up, very transparently and authentically and to be very transparent and clear about our vision."

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Thomas, who has spent most of his life in Cincinnati, said he has been impressed by what he has seen in Columbus and wants to bring his experience to another large urban district in Ohio. He said he would prioritize leadership and building a sense of ownership of the district by the community.

"One of the themes that came out consistently is that there is an energy, among individuals, among organizations, (and) among various entities within the (CCS) district," Thomas said. "Obviously Cincinnati is not Columbus, so this isn't a situation where you take one set of strategies and absolutely replicate it."

Thomas also pointed to data that shows while the overall population of students in Columbus has increased, enrollment has declined.

"So, no matter how we look at it, the data says whatever we are doing to create joy, care and value in the district, there's many people in the community (for which) that doesn't resonate," Thomas said, adding the district needs to make some adjustments.

McDonald said he "was drawn" to apply to the job because of the amazing things happening" in the district. After the event, he said he was interested in the position "more than ever."

He said he saw some areas of opportunity for CCS as well and emphasized his collaborative work style.

"Just to see the love for the district," McDonald said. "This is an environment, a community that cares deeply about the school system."

Thomas addresses media reports about Georgia letter alleging mismanagement in office

Thomas took several opportunities to address recent media reports about the settlement with the Georgia State Board of Education in 2020. From 2017 to 2020, Thomas served as "chief turnaround officer" reporting to the Georgia State Board of Education, in which he was tasked with working with the worst-performing schools in the state.

A 2020 letter from then Georgia Inspector General Deborah Wallace to Board of Education Chairman Scott Sweeney claims that Thomas' office was "mismanaged" and "policies and procedures in place were routinely ignored" by Thomas, The Dispatch previously reported. However, Thomas pointed to a cash settlement with the state and shared a separate letter from the Georgia Attorney General saying it could find no evidence to prosecute him.

During the forum, Thomas pointed to successes he had during his time in the chief turnaround officer position, saying 70% of the schools he worked with achieved "their highest results ever."

"That experience also gave me a really strong understanding of the political nature of a lot of things," Thomas said. "Quite honestly, Georgia is somewhat similar to Ohio."

Finalists field public safety questions

Representatives of the Mothers of Murdered Columbus Children, a local gun violence advocacy group, attended the forum and asked the candidates what the response should be for the continuing violence in Columbus.

McDonald said creating and equipping teachers with the skills necessary to mediate conflicts.

"Whenever there's an instance of violence on a campus, strong and swift action must be taken right away," McDonald said. "So that the students can feel a sense of safety and parents feel it's OK to send your kids to school."

CCS superintendent finalist George (Eric) Thomas visited Mifflin Middle School and Mifflin High School as part of the "Day in the District." At Mifflin High School, he spoke to students.

Chapman addressed the recent loss of several Columbus City Schools students within the week, including 16-year-old Elisha Judd, who was allegedly shot and killed Tuesday by a man who said he was cleaning his gun when it went off Tuesday.

"The trauma that happens in the communities happens in our schools," Chapman said.

Thomas did not receive an opportunity to address the violence issue, but on Thursday he visited Mifflin High School, where in late April a student stabbed another student during dismissal. The student was later charged with felonious assault.

Finalists speak directly to faculty, talk labor bargaining following strike

Brian McDonald speaks with students and staff at Yorktown Middle School as part of the Columbus City Schools "Day in the District" with the three finalists for superintendent position.

Last August, Columbus Education Association members went on strike for three days before ratifying a contract that included raises, air conditioning guarantees and smaller class sizes. Wright asked the finalists to address the strike and how they would address bargaining and repairing relationships.

Thomas said he would work with faculty to create a sense of "ownership" in the district.

"We're going to own this together," Thomas said. "That means we're going to come to the table as equals and create something."

Chapman, who was in the district administration during the strike, said she wants teachers to know that as superintendent, she would work to repair the relationships that were damaged during the strike. Chapman also pointed to her previous role as a union steward in a previous district.

"We have to recognize that in the fall, it was hard, it was difficult for all of us  whichever side we were on  and ... it was traumatic; relationships were damaged," Chapman said. "We need to take the time to build and restore those relationships."

McDonald said he would create a labor management initiative, which would discuss issues "before they get to the bargaining table."

"I am heartbroken that there was a strike, but what that says to me is that there are underlying issues that need to be addressed," McDonald said, adding he would focus on building relationships with the labor unions. "I would want to sit down and discuss these issues and ensure we find some common ground."

Board members call 'Day in the district' a success

Board Member Michael Cole said he felt like the candidates were forthcoming and honest during the process.

"I was pleased by the transparency of our candidates about their experiences: good, bad or challenging," Cole said. "And most importantly, that there's a future. There's a future that we can have, share, working together. We're not planning for tomorrow; we're not planning for next week  we're planning for the next 20 years.

Board Vice President Christina Vera said the 'Day in the District' was a success and they had already heard "great" feedback from stakeholders involved in the event.

Final interviews will be held Monday, and the Board of Education has a special meeting planned for Friday, May 19.

"It's not a sprint for us," Vera said. "We need to make sure that we have the absolutely correct candidate for the district."

@Colebehr_report

Cbehrens@dispatch.com

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Five things to know about the CCS superintendent finalist forum
In the just-released BlackBerry, Glenn Howerton plays hard-nosed businessman Jim Balsillie, co-CEO of the Canadian company Research In Motion, which produced the once-wildly popular titular cellphone. In addition to being baldly ambitious, Balsillie also doesn't have a whole lot of hair on top of his head.

Howerton made the decision to shave his own noggin for the movie. The star of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia tells EW that he was surprised how much his new look affected him.

"It's funny, I didn't realize how much of my identity was wrapped up in the fact that I've always had a full head of hair until I shaved it all off," he says. "It stripped me of a large part of my identity in a way that I hadn't anticipated and was very, very helpful. It instantly aged me. Even though I'm in my mid-40s, I still feel like a guy in his 20s. But once I was in a Harry Rosen suit and was bald, all of a sudden I felt like a completely different person, and it put me in a completely different place."

Glenn Howerton

Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images;ELEVATION PICTURES Glenn Howerton shaved his head for 'BlackBerry' and felt like 'a completely different person'

Not that Howerton is complaining about the time he spent sporting his very different look. "I walked around Canada for two months as a bald man and it turned out to be really good," the actor continues. "I actually learned to really like the way it looked."

BlackBerry director and co-writer Matt Johnson reveals that he was a little surprised by how easily Howerton adjusted to his new look.

"I'll tell you my favorite story about Glenn and that hair," says the filmmaker, who also appears in the film, playing Research In Motion co-founder Doug Fregin. "He's such a handsome guy. He's a true Adonis. I remember thinking, Ah, he is really going to be, in a sense, naked here, because he's taking away his great weapon. I was actually quite proud of him. I thought, I can't believe he's willing to do this. It showed true dedication. Day two of us shooting, we're in his trailer, he's talking about a scene, he's looking at himself in the mirror, he's kind of distracted, and then he says to me, 'I look better like this.' He can't lose!"

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BLACKBERRY

Everett Collection Jay Baruchel and Glenn Howerton in 'BlackBerry'

The cast of BlackBerry also includes Jay Baruchel, Cary Elwes, Michael Ironside, Ritchie Cheung, Rich Sommer, and Saul Rubinek. The film is now playing in theaters.

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Patricia Arquette in High Desert

High Desert is a peculiar little gemrough on the edges but a gem nevertheless. The comedy is a curious pastiche of dark, sardonic, and heartfelt humor delivered through some outlandish plots. Not all of them work, but with patience, they find a memorable way to gel together. The show reunites Severances Ben Stiller (executive producer) and Patricia Arquette (executive producer and lead star), who continue producing exciting projects for the streaming platform. High Desert, which premieres May 17 on Apple TV+, starts relatively slowly before finding its hook. And luckily for us, that hook is wonderfully weird, allowing Arquette to entirely embody her character.

In one of her most bizarre performances, Arquette is a terrific anchor for High Desert as Peggy Newman. Peggy is a lot to handle. Shes broke, a petty criminal, and a former addict working as a barmaid/actor in Pioneertown (an Old West set outside of Joshua Tree, California). Shes grief-stricken after her beloved mother dies. Her siblings are trying to evict her, her husband is in prison, and shes no longer speaking to her grown son. Peggy is sarcastic, kooky, and disorganized. Shes also resourceful, charming, and kindhearted. Arquette deftly juggles these multifaceted traits with effortless hilarity in bringing the role to life. She remains unbeatably fun despite an overstuffed narrative, playing a sort of anti-Harmony Cobel.

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High Desert is a fascinating character study of Peggy, who has consistently been underestimated because shes off-kilter. Shes bursting with potential that she often misuses. But as we said, her life changes after her mom, Rosalyn (Bernadette Peters)her only true championpasses away. Unable to cope, she often succumbs to outbursts that swing between comical and sentimental. The actor ensures Peggy stays human and doesnt become a ditzy caricature. And its a testament to her range, especially after Severance and The Act.

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Peggy decides to pursue a new career as a private investigator after getting involved in a coworkers romantic issues (involving a boob job and a sham relationship). No one believes she can make it: She doesnt have a license, money, or a healthy state of mind. Peggy shares a fraught bond with her siblings, Diane (Christine Taylor) and Stewart (Keir ODonnell), who are both seemingly successful and stable. They dont believe in her stability, even though all three awkwardly keep referring to Rosalyn as Mommy (as if all the Newmans, not just Peggy, are still stuck in a phase of arrested development).

Still, Peggy finds her way into the office of PI Bruce Harvey (Brad Garrett), whose business is flatlining, and brings him an irresistible, complicated case that could make them rich. High Desert kicks into gear once she haphazardly settles into her profession, becoming a half-hour comedy full of twists, suspense, death, secret identities, and multiple murderous figures. The show is slightly reminiscent of Barrys early seasons (at one point, Peggy writes a play to process her sorrow), but High Desert embraces absurdity over bleakness, leaning on its troubled yet exuberant protagonist. Maybe thats why no one bats an eye when Rosalyns doppelganger turns up; the ludicrousness is accepted for the joyous Peters and Arquette interactions.

Co-creators Nancy Fichman, Katie Ford, and Jennifer Hoppe-House keep the script acidic and wacky. The writing tethers the show to ridiculous hijinks like attempting to be a human canon ball, nipples being chopped off, and art heists. This partly hinders High Desert from establishing its tone, but the show finds a solid rhythm once its divergent mysteries and supporting characters collide halfway through. Jay Roach expertly directs all eight episodes, with immersive production and set design to boost the Wild West atmosphere, a barren landscape filled with an assortment of eccentric characters.



High Desert  Official Trailer | Apple TV+

Peggys primary case is against Guru Bob, a news anchor-turned-scam artist selling fake Picasso and Cezanne paintings. Homelands straight-faced Rupert Friend is a surprising farcical force as the long-haired, ingratiating Bob, whose healing motto is Everything is stupid. (Maybe he has a point.) Peggy and Bobs grievances spiral out of control over time as she tries to solve whether he killed his missing wife. The show sporadically loses focus by stretching out this mystery into different tangentsbut the comedy remains on-point.

High Desert primarily derives humor from everyone in Peggys life reacting to her nonsense: her familys exasperation, Bruces wide-eyed shock, her Pioneertown boss Owens (Eric Petersen) bewilderment, her longtime friend Carols (Weruche Opia) loyalty, and her husband Dennys (Matt Dillon) own brand of chaos. Recently released from prison, Denny ropes her into the illegal activities shes hoping to escape. The supporting cast is solid, although Carol and Bruce dont have fully fleshed-out personalities, and are primarily being used instead to prop up Peggy.

The show might not be everyones cup of tea because it demands fortitude. While the early episodes are enjoyable, High Desert shapes itself into a more insightful version over the remaining tightly paced outings. Its not a meditation on grief exactly, but it presents a resonant depiction of what its like to lose an adored loved one, promptly lose your mind, and then claw your way back to reality. And Arquette channels all of it beautifully.





High Desert premieres May 17 on Apple TV+

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Gracie Lee grew up in a small rural community in eastern Indiana, the kind with farms all around it.

But she lived in town. Her parents didn't farm. One of her grandfathers did, but that was long before her time.

Growing up in a rural area, I saw it happening all around me and I took a liking to it, said Lee, 18.

That interest turned into a dream of becoming a farmer. She loved being outside, working with plants and animals, and tending to the earth.

Women in agriculture: 'I'm not a woman farmer. I'm just a farmer.'

Indiana FFA State Reporter Gracie Lee plans to pursue a career in agricultural education and hopes to empower other young women interested in agriculture careers.

But growing up, she never really thought it was a possibility. She didnt have the family connections. She didnt come from a multi-generational farming family. And, she was a girl.

In our area, specifically, lots of families have been farming for a long time, Lee said. And most of them are male.

The extent of that gender divide struck her one day in fifth grade. Lee still remembers how it went. She'd worn a John Deere sweatshirt with that classic green and yellow logo of deer mid-jump. It wasnt long until one of her young classmates took issue with her clothing choice.

Women in agriculture: Agronomist works extra hard to take 'femaleness' out of her interactions with farmers

A boy in my class told me girls can never be farmers, Lee recalled.

For Lee, however, that only made her interest stronger.

Gracie Lee, from eastern Indiana, talks with a farmer as they prepare for a dairy cattle show.

Still, she struggled to find like-minded people when she was younger. Lee didnt have many women-on-the-farm role models. But that changed with her introduction to women working in two different youth farming organizations: Future Farmers of America and 4-H. That's when she really started see a path to agriculture.

What I needed when I was younger was women in agriculture to look up to, Lee said. Once I got older and saw other women doing it, it showed me I could, too.

All she needed was a chance, which came working on a teacher's dairy farm in high school. She also showed dairy cattle. Those experiences helped convince Lee she could do farm work. They also helped inspire her to be confident and speak up for herself.

Story continues

Grown IN Indiana: Bringing farming into classrooms is more than cows, sows and plows

Now she is doing a different kind of farming  she is raising ideas and awareness before heading to Purdue University to study ag education. She is finishing a "gap" year between graduating high school in 2022 and going to university in the fall. During this time, she's working as one of seven state reporters for the Indiana chapter of Future Farmers of America.

The reporters live together at the FFA Leadership Center in Trafalgar, about 30 miles south of Indianapolis. Their job is to help with social media for the state organization, and document FFA activities with photographs and articles that often are provided to local media.

Its a year you spend giving back to FFA and to agriculture, Lee said. Its been a big act of service, and I wouldnt trade it for the world.

Gracie Lee spent a gap year after graduating high school working as an Indiana FFA state reporter. She hopes to enroll at Purdue University in the fall to study agriculture.

In essence, Lee and her colleagues want to show that agriculture in Indiana is more than plows and cows. They also work to show that there is diversity not only in the types of agriculture opportunities in Indiana, but in the people who work on farms. And that includes women, despite what that fifth-grade classmate told her.

Women in agriculture: Two Indiana sisters follow in agricultural footsteps of their trailblazing parents

All she needs to do is look at the people around her. Many of Lees fellow reporters and FFA officers, as well as the organizations administrative officials, are female. In her role, she's also had the opportunity to tour many different agribusiness companies in the state, and she said it has been eye-opening to see how there are women who are chemists, agronomists, professors and more.

The growing variety of people and perspectives she's encountered in agriculture present opportunities and new ways to provide food for the world, Lee said, and thats important.

When Lee started her position with FFA last year, she picked a motto. It was intended to be a reminder of how she wanted to live: "Be who you needed when you were younger.

Thats also why Lee plans to attend Purdue University to study ag education. She thinks back to the ag teachers in her schools in seventh and eighth grade. Most were male. They were great teachers, she said, but she wants to be the role model that she didnt always have.

Call IndyStar reporter Sarah Bowman at 317-444-6129 or email at sarah.bowman@indystar.com. Follow her on Twitter and Facebook: @IndyStarSarah. Connect with IndyStars environmental reporters: Join The Scrub on Facebook.

IndyStar's environmental reporting project is made possible through the generous support of the nonprofit Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Agriculture student strives to be a role model to other young women
ATLANTA, GEORGIA - FEBRUARY 08: Marc Daly and Kenya Moore attend 2020 Bronner Brothers International Beauty Show at Georgia World Congress Center on February 08, 2020 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images)

These days, it seems like divorce is in the air for the majority of the Real Housewives. Or rather, divorce is all anyones been talking about lately. Well, in Kenya Moores case, divorce has been the topic of discussion for quite a while.

The Real Housewives of Atlanta star filed for divorce back in 2021 from her husband, Marc Daly. Kenya herself has joked that its the worlds longest divorce. The couple went through a great deal of mediation with no agreements made.

The case is now going to trial, with an odd series of events leading up. Kenya was ordered to provide financial documents as Marc demanded a cut of the house, even though Kenya paid for it. But now, the ball might be back in the housewifes court.

Marc mightve shot himself in the foot

With the trial set to start later this month, Marc has just faced a devastating blow. RadarOnline reports that Marcs lawyer, Regina Edwards, withdrew herself as counsel, the judge signing off on the withdrawal. Edwards has made it known that Marc will be responsible for finding a new lawyer and preparing for trial on his own.

This will obviously be a huge hurdle to Marc given just how little time there is before the trial. Marc has not yet informed the court of any new representation. As to why Edwards may have left his case, well, one can only speculate. Although, we have to wonder if this whole ordeal speaks to Marcs character, let alone his chances in the trial.

Not that Kenya is always the bigger person. The two have been at each others throats since the separation in 2019, with arguments over whether their daughter, Brooklyn, should be allowed on camera. The courts ultimately decided Brooklyn would be in no danger or distress by being filmed under Kenyas supervision.

Real Housewives of Atlanta continues Sundays at 8/7c on Bravo.

TELL US  WHY DO YOU THINK MARCS LAWYER MAY HAVE JUMPED SHIP? DO YOU THINK IT SAYS SOMETHING ABOUT MARC OR IS THE SITUATION INNOCUOUS?

The post Kenya Moore Scores Early Win as Marc Daly Loses Lawyer Days Before Divorce Trial appeared first on Reality Tea.
(Bloomberg) -- China will send a special envoy to Kyiv on Monday, marking the first high-level visit from the Chinese government since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his troops to invade Ukraine almost 15 months ago.

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The US and South Africa sought to smooth over a diplomatic row after the American ambassador accused South Africa of supplying arms to Russia.

Chinas envoy for Eurasian Affairs, Li Hui, will also visit Poland, France, Germany and Russia on the trip, the foreign ministry said on Friday. He was appointed last month after Chinese President Xi Jinping made his first call to Ukraines Volodymyr Zelenskiy since the start of the war.

Ukrainian forces pushed Russian troops back to regain territory around the embattled eastern city of Bakhmut, officials in Kyiv said. Russias defense ministry said its troops had withdrawn to set up a new, more favorable defensive line.

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Ukraine Crop-Deal Talks End With Pact Extension Still in Doubt

Ukraine Cites Gains on Russian Troops Near Embattled Bakhmut

(All times CET)

Preparations for Counteroffensive Discussed (1:30 a.m.)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraines foreign minister, spoke about preparations for the Ukrainian counteroffensive in a call on Friday, the State Department said.

They discussed how contributions from international partners can support the success of the counteroffensive, the department said in a statement.

Story continues

South Africa, US Seek to Smooth Over Weapons Dispute (1:10 a.m.)

South Africa and the US sought to make amends after the American ambassador was summoned in protest over his accusation that the country had provided weapons to Russia.

The government in Pretoria said the ambassador, Reuben Brigety, admitted that he crossed the line and apologized unreservedly. That followed South African officials expressing utter displeasure with his conduct.

Neither the US no South Africa addressed the veracity of his claim that South Africa had sent arms Russia for the war in Ukraine. Brigety said in a tweet late Friday that he was grateful for the chance to correct any misimpressions left by my public remarks. A State Department spokesperson didnt dispute South Africas characterization of his statement as an apology.

Putin Seeks to Stop People From Leaving Russia (6:10 p.m.)

The Russian president wants additional measures to stop people from leaving Russia, according to a document published today by Kremlin.

Hundreds of thousands of Russians fled the country after Putin invaded Ukraine in 2022 and later announced a mobilization when his army suffered a series of setbacks.

According to Putins order, emigration from Russia has increased because of changed social economic conditions and it is necessary to adopt additional financial, social and other mechanisms to keep human capital and reduce Russian population outflow abroad.

Ukraine to Confiscate Part of Zaporizhstal Controlled by Russia (5:44 p.m.)

Ukraine will confiscate a stake controlled by Russia in Zaporizhstal, one of the countrys largest steel producers, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Friday in an address to the nation.

We are blocking influence on this company by a terrorist state, which it had via different off-shore individuals, Zelenskiy said.

Putin, Ramaphosa Speak After South African Arms Sale News (5:04 p.m.)

Russias president spoke with his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa on Friday, the Kremlin said, adding that Vladimir Putin supports the idea of involving a group of African leaders in discussing the prospects for resolving the war in Ukraine.

The Kremlin readout made no mention of reports Thursday of a US claim that South Africa had supplied weapons and ammunition to Russia despite Pretorias neutral stance on Ukraine. The claim helped push the rand to a record low against the US dollar on fears of damage to trade ties with the US.

Separately, South Africas government summoned US Ambassador Reuben Brigety after he accused Pretoria of supplying weapons to Russia, while its foreign minister intends to raise the matter with her US counterpart, Antony Blinken.

Russias Current Account Surplus Rebounds in April (4:53 p.m.)

Russias current account surplus ticked up in April from the previous month as oil prices recovered a bit, but inflows so far this year remains far short of the flood that helped support the economy in 2022.

The surplus in the current account  roughly the difference between exports and imports  more than doubled from March to $6.8 billion, according to Bloomberg calculations based on data from the Bank of Russia. The average price for Russias Urals crude oil - a key export - rose by 23% last month from March, according to the finance ministry.

Zelenskiy, Sunak Speak After UK Missile Donation (4 p.m.)

Ukraines president spoke with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, a day after the UK announced it would donate Storm Shadow long-range precision missiles to Kyiv.

The leaders discussed the importance of the international community sustaining the level of support it has provided so far to Ukraine, particularly as the country prepares to intensify its military operations, according to a readout from Sunaks office.

Ukraine Cites Gains Near Embattled Bakhmut (2:27 p.m.)

Ukrainian forces pushed Russian troops back to regain some territory in the embattled eastern city of Bakhmut, officials in Kyiv said, as Russia acknowledged a flurry of attacks along the front line.

Kremlin troops around Bakhmut, which has been besieged in brutal running battles for almost a year, pulled back as much as 1.5 kilometers (0.9 miles) in some areas over the last 24 hours, Ukrainian military spokesman Serhiy Cherevatyi told Rada TV on Friday. It wasnt clear if the stepped-up action around Bakhmut was part of Ukraines counter-offensive.

Russias defense ministry said its troops had withdrawn close to a reservoir north of Bakhmut to set up a new defensive line with more favorable conditions.

Zelenskiy Wont Address Nonpolitical Eurovision Song Content (2 p.m.)

Ukraines president will not address the Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool, England, after organizers rejected a request for Zelenskiy to speak to the popular event, the Associated Press reported.

The European Broadcasting Union, an assembly of national public broadcasters that runs the annual contest, said in a statement on its website that letting Zelenskiy participate would breach the nonpolitical nature of the event, which attracts an estimated audience of more than 150 million people.

Read more: How Eurovisions Silly Songfest Met War in Ukraine: QuickTake

Sergii Nykyforov, a Zelenskiy spokesman, denied in a Facebook post that the presidents office had asked organizers to address the event. Ukraines entrant won the 2022 contest which normally would mean Kyiv would hold this years event; the UK stepped in to host on Ukraines behalf.

Germany to Place Leopard Tank Order Worth Up to $3.2 Billion (12:52 p.m.)

Berlin is poised to order 18 Leopard 2 main battle tanks to replace units sent to Ukraine, with an option for 105 more, at a total cost of around 2.9 billion ($3.2 billion).

The budget committee in Germanys lower house of parliament is expected to approve the initial order  worth about 525 million  by the end of this month, said people familiar with the plan.

The order is the latest in a broader push to modernize Germanys armed forces triggered by Russias war on Ukraine.

Read more: Germany to Place Leopard Tank Order Worth Up to $3.2 Billion

Ukraine Needs to Be in EU and NATO for Peace, Estonia Says (12:14 p.m.)

The only way for a lasting peace is to end the gray zones in Europe and for Ukraine to join the EU and NATO, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas told a press conference in Tallinn on Friday.

Ukraine needs a positive message on its future at the NATO summit in July, she said. The EU must move ahead with transferring frozen Russian assets to Ukraine for reconstruction, Kallas said. The Estonian leader also called for moving ahead with a special tribunal for judging Russias invasion.

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The possible extradition of Joran van der Sloot, the prime suspect in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway, has placed the mystery surrounding the Alabama teenager who went missing in Aruba in 2005 back in the spotlight.

Peru's government announced Wednesday that authorities issued an order allowing van der Sloot, who has been serving a 28-year prison sentence in the country, to be temporarily extradited to the U.S. to face federal charges stemming from an alleged plot to extort money from Holloway's mother.

Van der Sloot's attorney Maximo Altez told The Associated Press he plans to fight the order.

The U.S. Justice Department declined to comment to CBS News on the extradition announcement. A State Department spokesperson referred CBS News' questions to the Justice Department.

Who was Natalee Holloway?

Holloway was last seen alive nearly 18 years ago in the Caribbean island nation of Aruba. The 18-year-old from Mountain Brook, Alabama, just outside Birmingham, was celebrating her graduation from Mountain Brook High School, where she was an honor student, CBS News' "48 Hours" reported in 2006.

Natalee Holloway disappeared while on a trip to Aruba in May 2005. / Credit: Personal photo

Holloway went on the trip with three of her best friends, Liz Cain, Mallie Tucker and Claire Fierman.

"It was so much fun. We would wake up, go like, brush your teeth, go straight to the beach. We would literally stay in the water all day long because it was so perfect," Fierman told "48 Hours." "We just hung out with our friends on this beautiful island. It was a really fun trip."

When did Natalee Holloway go missing?

On May 30, 2005, the last night of the trip, the group went to Carlos'n Charlie's, a local nightspot, Cain told "48 Hours." The legal minimum drinking age in Aruba is 18.

That night, Holloway was seen getting into a car with three strangers, which surprised Holloway's friends and her mother, Beth Holloway.

"No way would she have left her friends and placed herself knowingly what she was getting into," Holloway's mother told "48 Hours" in 2006. "They just took her when she just  There's no way."

Story continues

Who is Joran van der Sloot?

Among the strangers was van der Sloot, who was 17 at the time. A citizen of the Netherlands, van der Sloot was taken into custody 10 days after Holloway's disappearance and was held for months.

"It's mind-boggling to us that a 17-year-old, if he would have done it, could not have been broken. It's incredible," Aruban lawyer Arlene Shipper, who at the time often spoke on behalf of the country's government, told "48 Hours" in 2006.

Dutch national Joran van der Sloot arrives for a hearing at the Lurigancho prison in Lima, Peru, on January 11, 2011. / Credit: Ernesto Benavides/AFP via Getty Images

At the time, van der Sloot denied any wrongdoing in Holloway's disappearance and no charges were filed against him. He was released to his parents on Sept. 3, 2005.

The case drew widespread attention in the U.S. and has been cited as an example of the news media's fascination with missing White women. According to the U.K.'s Guardian newspaper, van der Sloot has given conflicting confessions in the case over the years. In 2016, Holloway's father, Dave Holloway, told the Huffington Post the latest alleged confession at the time wasn't valid in Aruba unless it was in a signed statement.

Were Natalee Holloway's remains ever found?

Holloway was legally declared dead in 2012. Her remains haven't been found.

In 2010, van der Sloot allegedly offered to reveal the location of her body to Beth Holloway for $250,000, according to the Justice Department.

A federal grand jury indicted him on charges of extortion and wire fraud over the alleged scheme.

According to the indictment, van der Sloot allegedly offered to show Beth Holloway's lawyer where her daughter's remains were located and provide "specific details concerning the manner of her death" for an initial payment of $25,000. Van der Sloot would then be sent the remaining $225,000 through a wire transfer within 30 days after the remains were confirmed to be Holloway's.

Prosecutors alleged that van der Sloot confirmed in an email that the information he provided was "worthless" and kept the initial $25,000 payment.

Why could Joran van der Sloot be extradited to the U.S.?

Van der Sloot has been serving a 28-year prison sentence in Peru since he pleaded guilty in 2012 to killing 21-year-old college student Stephany Flores in Lima in 2010.

The Peruvian attorney general's office said in a statement to CBS News on Wednesday that van der Sloot would be temporarily extradited to the U.S. for prosecution and would return to Peru following the proceedings.

Peru's government said in a statement to CBS News on Thursday that extraditions are approved by the country's president, Dina Boluarte, who assumed office in December after a coup by the country's former leader.

"We hope that this action will enable a process that will help to bring peace to Mrs. Holloway and to her family, who are grieving in the same way that the Flores family in Peru is grieving for the loss of their daughter, Stephany," Peru's Ambassador to the U.S. Gustavo Meza-Cuadra said in the statement.

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Married At First Sight Australia's Alyssa Barmonde has hit back at the edit she received on the series, saying she doesn't recognise herself on TV and the edit gave her more doubts about her relationship with Duncan.

Speaking to Hello! Alyssa reflected on her journey saying whilst she wished Duncan the best, she doesn't feel she was represented as herself within the series.

"I do wish the best for Duncan and his future relationship, but the person portrayed on TV is definitely not me," she said.

Nine

Alyssa added she had found the series difficult to watch as it wasn't portrayed in the way she remembered it.

She said: "It's been hard watching it back specifically because of how the story went, which is not how I remember it."

Alyssa was married to Duncan in the tenth series of MAFS Australia and the pair instantly hit it off at their wedding ceremony. Their relationship strengthened as the series went on, with many cute moments in their honeymoon.

However, when they returned to Sydney the couple ran into a number of issues. Initially Alyssa struggled with intimacy due to her conservative upbringing, however the pair seemed to get over this hurdle and become closer.

The biggest issue the couple faced was Alyssa's reluctance to believe Duncan wanted to be in a relationship with a single mother. ICYMI Alyssa is a mother to a young son.



Throughout the series Duncan insisted he was ready for the relationship and wanted to be with Alyssa, he was frequently seen telling Alyssa: "No, it's [Alyssa being a mother] not a concern."



However, Alyssa has since claimed those moments were not as they initially appeared.

"[The editing] almost gave me more doubts about the entire relationship. Because then I started thinking back and I think there was the time when the experts asked him if it was a concern that my child would be a priority. And in real life, he said 'Yes, it's a concern', but then they edited him to say 'No, it's not a concern' and I thought 'I can't do this anymore'," she said.

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The issue came up frequently and often resulted in Alyssa walking out of the commitment ceremonies.

Despite Duncan's insistence he wanted the relationship, by the time the final vows came around Duncan told Alyssa he did not want to continue their relationship.

Since the series ended Duncan has moved onto a new relationship with fellow cast member Evelyn.

Alyssa told Hello! she felt she now had her "voice back" and wishes for people to see her as "normal person and loving mother."

Cosmopolitan UK has reached out to Endemolshine for comment.

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An inmate at Tyger River Correctional Institution in Enoree died Thursday morning, according to the Spartanburg County Coroner's Office.

Peter Fred Hernandez, 60, was pronounced dead on the scene May 11 at 6:33 a.m., according to an email from Jonathan Lawson, Chief Investigator with the coroner's office.

A South Carolina Department of Corrections press release stated that Hernandez's death is a suspected suicide.

The State Law Enforcement Division is investigating, along with the coroner's office and the SCDC Inspector General's office.

Lawson said in the email that a forensic autopsy and toxicology analysis will be performed Friday, May 12.

Related: Spartanburg jail failed to provide adequate care for man who died in custody, lawsuit says

Peter Fred Hernandez, an inmate at Tyger River CI, died at the institution this morning. Hernandez, 60, was found dead in his cell. He did not have a cellmate. The death is being investigated as a suspected suicide. An autopsy will be performed. Details: https://t.co/pzs75lk3PN  SC Dept. Corrections (@SCDCNews) May 11, 2023

According to court records, Hernandez was serving a life sentence for armed robbery and kidnapping in South Carolina stemming from an incident in December 1990.

However, he received an additional life sentence and 25 years for other charges in North Carolina related to the same incident, according to previous reporting by the Herald-Journal. Hernandez pled guilty to first-degree rape, first-degree kidnapping, armed robbery and three counts of first-degree sex offenses for the abduction, robbery and assault of a 19-year-old Spartanburg woman who was five months pregnant when the crimes occurred.

Spartanburg County Coroner Rusty Clevenger confirmed that Hernandez's death was the first at the Enoree prison in 2023.

Story continues

Two men, James DePriest, 64, and Jahmand Maurice McNeill, 30, died at the facility last year, according to the coroner's office. DePriest's death was ruled natural and McNeill's was ruled a suicide.

The Herald-Journal previously reported on findings from Incarceration Transparency, that tallied 18 deaths at the prison between 2015 and 2021.

Chalmers Rogland covers public safety and breaking news for the Herald-Journal. Reach him via email at crogland@shj.com

This article originally appeared on Herald-Journal: Man dies at Tyger River Correctional Institution in suspected suicide
Jennifer Lopez in The Mother

In the pantheon of female assassin films, many have shown grit and gravitas, but only a handful have nailed their targets. This is especially true in the case of original features for the streaming services. While recent international offerings from Netflixlike Kill Boksoon and Furieshave demonstrated a modicum of mettle, splashy English-language releaseslike Gunpowder Milkshake and Katehave proven frustrating and far from thrilling. And although director Niki Caros The Mother ranks as one of streamings stronger action titles, alongside Lou, it also sticks to a straightforward formula. Its decent but a tad too restrained for its own good.



Our tale opens on a sleepy suburban safe house where our pregnant heroineknown only as The Mother (Jennifer Lopez)attempts to broker a deal with the FBI to inform on her former exes; ruthless arms dealers Hector Alvarez (Gael Garcia Bernal) and Adrian Lovell (Joseph Fiennes). The negotiation is cut short when Adrian shows up and attempts to murder her and her unborn child. Since shes a top-notch assassin, she survives and severely maims him in the process. It becomes apparent that in order to protect her newborn daughter, she must give the child up for adoption and go into hiding in the Alaskan wilderness near her ex-military pal, Jons (Paul Raci). Yet not before getting Agent Cruises (Omari Hardwick) word that if trouble arises again, hes to send for her aid immediately.

Read more

Sure enough, said trouble does arise when a bunch of baddies carrying a photo of Mothers daughter Zoe (Lucy Paez), now a happy, stable Midwestern 12-year-old, are intercepted by the FBI. With skills as sharp as ever, the dormant recluse comes out of hiding just as Zoe is kidnapped by Hectors right-hand man, The Tarantula (Jesse Garcia). As The Mother and Cruise head to Cuba to rescue her estranged progeny from the slimy, silk shirt-sporting Hector, they draw the eyes of Adrian, whos physically scarred and hell-bent on revenge. The Mother is then forced to launch her most precarious mission yet: Parent and train an obstinate tween in the ways of an assassin.

Story continues

Similar to Lou in its use of a laconic, world-weary heroine driven to chilly remote surroundings through a sense of self-abnegation, Caro and screenwriters Andrea Berloff, Peter Craig, and Misha Green (working from a story by Green) create a dynamic female lead character who, both metaphorically and physically, dwells and thrives in lifes gray areas. This is reflected narratively, in her shady post-military career and covert motherhood, as well as aesthetically, in her dilapidated cabin sanctuary and its drab color palette. Symbolism surrounding a wolf mother and her young cubs is delivered with a tender touch, acting as a subtle nature-versus-nurture commentary on The Mother and Zoes dynamic.

The films big action set pieces are workmanlike in their construction, but hold enough character-driven tension and visual flair to make their execution compelling. Mothers pursuit of The Tarantula on foot, motorbike, and car through the winding alleys of Havana (which recalls a sequence in Mafia Mamma involving a coffin and oranges tumbling down stairs) is akin to a Bourne film. Mother and Cruises raid on Hectors heavily guarded compound is set to Massive Attacks Angel, giving it a steely cool sonic identity with its chorus of kills and pulsating beats. Adrians camouflaged henchmen descend and die on Mothers snowy mountain like Bond baddies. And the finales fisticuffs between Mother and Adrian hit hard, thanks to Lopez instilling her eponymous heroines unrelenting journey with tangible poignancy. She delivers nuanced work where her empowering emotions land as strongly as her punches.



THE MOTHER | Jennifer Lopez | Official Trailer | Netflix

However, the films fabric experiences a few frays that lead to a sloppy unraveling. Around the midpoint, characters slowly stop behaving as humans, and behave more like puppets functioning on behalf of the story. It also suffers from a villain problem where both of the evil exes are barely one dimensional, neither oppressive nor genuinely menacing due to Fiennes and Bernals lack of meaty material. Screenwriter contrivances guide the second-to-third-act transition. The Mothers considerable abilities begin to slip for baffling reasons that run counter to her established characterearly on she can mend a bullet wound with superglue, but later she cant stitch a bite wound.

Given the solid pedigree behind these filmmakersCaro directed Whale Rider and Mulan, Berloff wrote The Kitchen and Straight Outta Compton, Craig wrote The Town and The Batman and Green created Lovecraft Countryits a surprise to see their creative consomme turn out much less flavorful than expected. The Mother doesnt examine, augment, or challenge the genres familiar formulas. We might wish for a motherlode of satisfaction when the needle finally drops on Kate Bushs This Womans Work, but we find a shrug of contentment instead.

The Mother streams on Netflix beginning May 12.

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The model and her mother took part in a Mother's Day campaign with Paul Mitchell and spoke to PEOPLE about how their hair empowers them

Ali Mitton

For Quannah Chasinghorse, her long hair is an important part of her identity.

"I find liberation in honoring my hair the way my ancestors did," she tells PEOPLE exclusively. "When native children were being stolen from their families and homes, and forced into residential schools to 'kill the Indian, save the man,' they stripped away our culture, traditions and teachings, demonizing our ways, cutting our hair and changing our names. Now I can proudly represent my people worldwide with long hair and traditional tattoos."

To showcase this tribute to her culture and her heritage, Chasinghorse  and her mom, Jody Potts-Joseph  stars in a new Mother's Day campaign with Paul Mitchell, which showcases their long hair and draws attention to initiatives they support.

Of her daughter, Potts-Joseph tells PEOPLE, "I am extremely proud of Quannah and her staying so true to who she is as a modern Indigenous woman, while holding onto our traditional teachings, be it around hair teachings or cultural values, she is walking in beauty and strength. I couldn't be more proud or thankful for her and the woman she is."

Ali Mitton

Since rising to fame as an activist and model, Chasinghorse, who is Han Gwich'in of Eagle Village, Alaska, on Potts-Joseph's side and Sicangu-Oglala Lakota of the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota on her father's side, has used her platform to draw attention to the inequality and other issues faced by Indigenous people, and to educate people about her background. She is drawn to partnerships that continue to elevate that platform.

"Working with the Paul Mitchell team and family has been such a great experience and partnership," she tells PEOPLE, adding that through the brand, she's been able to get funding for the nonprofit Nia Tero.

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"Paul Mitchell also sponsored the first screening of my film Walking Two Worlds back home in my community of Alaska," she adds. "They sent 1,200 clean beauty hair products for me to give out and also donated most of them to women's shelters and youth shelters that lack resources and much-needed products."

Related:Quannah Chasinghorse Didn't Want to Discuss Her Face Tattoo Because People 'Wouldn't Have Accepted'

Chasinghorse and Potts-Joseph used their latest campaign for the brand to help sharing the deep connections they have with their hair and, ultimately, their heritage.

"Native American tribes have always valued hair as sacred; we have specific hair teachings and customs around hair care, beauty and standards," Potts-Joseph tells PEOPLE. "For us to wear our hair long and natural, really it is a part of us breaking the bonds of colonization and proudly displaying our Indigenous beauty, against assimilation and Western norms. My hair is a part of my identity, strength and beauty."

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Ali Mitton

Related:Quannah Chasinghorse Returns to Met Gala After Previously Expressing Concerns About the Event

The pair also have personal memories around haircare, with Potts-Joseph recalling the special time spent doing her daughter's hair when she was little.

"When she was a toddler, I would have to put on a cartoon  usually Lilo and Stitch  to keep her still so I could fix her hair," Potts-Joseph shares. "As she got older, braiding her hair in the mornings became a special time for us to talk and visit at the start of our day."

For Chasinghorse, she has fond memories of her mom trying out different hairstyles on her and making sure she understood that taking care of your hair was a part of self-care  what Potts-Joseph describes as learning about her "value and worth."

"It was also important in helping her take pride in what the Creator blessed her with, so that she could be herself and not have to try to conform to fit a beauty standard that we might not fit into," she adds.

It also prepared Chasinghorse for her future career sitting in the hair and makeup chair  with Potts-Joseph sometimes braiding her hair "so tight" that she would "go to school with a facelift."

"I don't have a tender head, that's for sure," Chasinghorse says. "When hairstylists do my hair, they are always cautious and don't want to hurt me, which is super sweet, but the funny thing is, I mostly don't notice it at all."

Related:Model Quannah Chasinghorse Would Tell Her Younger Self to Ignore the 'Bullies'  'You're Beautiful'

Ali Mitton

In caring for her hair, Chasinghorse says she does very little with it, favoring a simple process using products including the Paul Mitchell Clean Beauty Anti-Frizz Shampoo and Conditioner and the Clean Beauty Repair Shampoo and Conditioner. Mom uses the Paul Mitchell Tea Tree Hemp Restoring Shampoo and Conditioner.

Both of them let their hair air dry naturally from there and often put it in braids.

Related:Model Quannah Chasinghorse Fronts New Mackage Campaign as She Continues to Drive Change in Fashion

Ali Mitton

"[My mom] is the foundation of my life, my rock, and has always voiced her truth and shown up when needed," Chasinghorse shares of getting to experience this photo shoot with her mother. "She is a matriarch and did it all as a single parent and still made sure I was well-loved and cared for. This campaign captures sweet moments with my mom that I will cherish."

Potts-Joseph reflects on the campaign, telling PEOPLE that it was such a special experience that she was so grateful for.

"Being a mother has been the greatest joy, honor and privilege of my life and I have a special relationship with each of my children," she says. "However, over the many years of raising Quannah and braiding her hair every day as a child, we have a very special bond that transcends all else."

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Two nationally known speakers, a young pro-life advocate, and an opening and closing rally will highlight the 2023 Monroe Walk for Life Saturday in downtown Monroe.

"Changing Hearts  One Heart at a Time" is the theme for the event that will begin at noon and end at 4 p.m. at the St. Mary Catholic Central High School gym, 118 W. Elm Ave. The march, in its fifth year, will focus on empowering both adults and youth toward greater activism to protect the sanctity of life in the womb, William Terrasi, founder of the Ius Vitae Foundation and coordinator for the walk, said. Ius Vitae, which is Latin for right to life, is chief sponsor for the walk.

Monica Miller, speaker for 2023 Monroe Walk for Life

The opening rally will feature two short videos and an address by Monica Miller, a pro-life activist for over 30 years and founder and director of Citizens for a Pro-Life Society based in Ann Arbor. She is also an associate professor of Sacred Theology at Madonna University. Miller recently served 45 days in an Oakland County jail after she and three others were arrested for counseling women Feb. 24 at an abortion clinic in Southfield. The four, including a Franciscan priest, belong to the Red Rose Rescuers, a group that visits abortion clinics to hand out red roses and anti-abortion literature to women. The charges said the four encouraged women and their boyfriends to continue their pregnancies rather than abort.

Miller told the Michigan Catholic the counseling was an effort to "save unborn lives by speaking to women about alternatives to abortion," part of a national effort by the rescue group. Miller said the four entered the waiting room at the clinic to speak to women waiting to have abortions. They prayed and offered roses with cards attached offering information on pregnancy help. The four spoke to several women before law enforcement officers arrived and ordered them to leave.

Joe Boggs, a history teacher and adviser for a Monroe youth group, will host the rally and introduce the speakers. Rev. David Burgard, pastor of St. Mary and St. John Catholic churches, will give an opening prayer followed by remarks by Terrasi.

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Agubosim

Following the opening, the assembly will walk with signs to Trinity Lutheran Church, 323 Scott St., for a welcome and remarks about the days theme by senior pastor Daniel Potts followed by an address by John Agubosim, a recent graduate of the University of Toledo who majored in computer engineering. Currently employed as a software developer at First Solar, he has been involved in the anti-abortion movement for over five years since high school and college. Even as a life-long Catholic, Agubosim thought he was a liberal and favored pro-choice thinking. But his view changed in recent years after discerning that what the pro-choice side espoused was not in line with his values. Agubosium joined the UT Students for Life group, became treasurer and then president in his final year.

Harrison

From Trinity, participants will walk back to SMCC to hear Dr. Donna Harrison, an anti-abortion obstetrician and gynecologist, who will speak on Life After Roe vs. Wade. Recently retired as chief executive officer, she currently serves as director of research for the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, one of the largest non-sectarian, anti-abortion physician organizations in the world.

Following her address will be a video produced by the SMCC Respect Life Club and closing remarks from Terrasi.

Potts

Walkers will be allowed to carry signs they bring or those provided by organizers. Walkers also are encouraged to bring donations of baby clothing, formula, diapers, wipes and other infant items to distribute among several pregnancy resource centers in Monroe County. Walkers also will be able to visit presentation tables and receive free, pro-life merchandise and information materials from virtually every pro-life organization in the county. All mothers and grandmothers will receive a gift in honor of Mothers Day. A silent auction with more than a dozen gift items and baskets is also planned. Winners will be announced shortly after 3 p.m. Those attending the opening rally can remain in the gym and wait for the ending rally if they prefer not to walk. Music will be provided by Celestial Blues.

Monetary donations for the walk can be made to Ius Vitae to be used for various anti-abortion initiatives in the county, or to a pregnancy resource center, maternity home or pro-life organization present.

General monetary donations for the walk can be made to Ius Vitae. Checks should be mailed to Ius Vitae, 3244 N. Custer Road, Monroe, MI 48162.

Further information is available by emailing iusvitae@aol.com.

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Speakers, rally to highlight Monroe Walk for Life May 13
Tubular Bells for Two

Musicians Daniel Holdsworth and Tom Bamford will present Tubular Bells for Two at Arts Centre Melbournes Playhouse theatre over two nights in September. The two-person recreation of Mike Oldfields classic album, Tubular Bells, debuted in Melbourne more than a decade ago.

Tubular Bells came out in 1973 and Holdsworth and Bamford are returning to Melbourne in celebration of the albums 50th anniversary. Theyll take charge of 20-plus instruments on stage in front of live audiences on Friday, 8th and Saturday, 9th September. Tickets are on sale now.

Tubular Bells for Two Returns to Melbourne for One Last Hurrah

Tubular Bells for Two has toured extensively since debuting at Arts Centre Melbourne in 2011, including performances at Sydney Festival and Edinburgh Fringe. Arts Centre Melbourne were the first major venue to give this show a chance back in 2011, Holdsworth said. From that point everything just took off.

In the course of the shows lifetime, the pair have connected with Oldfield, who created the progressive rock masterpiece when he was just 19 years old. Weve been in contact with Mike many times over the years, and he has been incredibly supportive of the show, Holdsworth said. When we first spoke to him, he just said he thought we were crazy.

The upcoming shows in Melbourne will mark the end of the Tubular Bells for Two concept, as Holdsworth and Bamford look to move onto something else. This show has been a massive part of my life for over a decade. Its time for me to move on, but I really wanted to farewell the show properly and the 50th anniversary feels like fitting send off for our little show, and to celebrate such an important piece of music, Holdsworth said.

Tubular Bells for Two

Friday, 8th and Saturday, 9th September  Playhouse @ Arts Centre Melbourne, Melbourne VIC

Tickets on sale now

Further Reading

Jason Bonham is Bringing Led Zeppelin Evening to Australia in 2023

Pink Floyd Drummer Nick Masons Saucerful of Secrets Is Touring Australia

Blade Runner Soundtrack Composer Vangelis Dies Aged 79

The post Tubular Bells for Two Returns to Melbourne in Celebration of the Albums 50th Anniversary appeared first on Music Feeds.
Vin Diesel and Paloma Jimenez have been together since 2007 and share three kids

.Presley Ann Slack/Patrick McMullan via Getty

As one of the world's biggest action stars, Vin Diesel has become a household name and his partner, Paloma Jimenez, has been by his side through it all.

The actor is best known for playing Dominic Toretto, the patriarch of a group of street racers in the Fast and Furious franchise, and currently voices Groot in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Diesel and Jimenez were first romantically linked in 2007, and the pair have since welcomed three children: Hania "Similce" Riley, Vincent and Pauline. Aside from the occasional red carpet appearance, the couple keep their relationship relatively private and off social media.

The model herself maintains a very low profile and does not have social media, but it's clear Diesel has a lot of love for her and their family.

So, who is Vin Diesel's partner? Here is everything to know about Paloma Jimenez.

She is a model

Samir Hussein/WireImage

Jimenez was born in Acapulco, Mexico, and worked as a model prior to her relationship with Diesel.

She was the cover girl for Maxim Mexico in January 2005 and Max Mexico in August 2006. She also walked multiple runways including the Spring/Summer ready-to-wear collections in 2006 and 2007 for various designers including Alberto Rodriguez, Carlo Demichelis and more.

She is a very private person

Tim Mosenfelder/Getty

While Diesel is one of the most recognizable actors in Hollywood, Jimenez manages to keep a very low profile. The Mexican model has no social media presence and has remained mum about her relationship with the actor over the years.

Diesel is equally as private about his personal life, and while he does have an Instagram account, Jimenez has only made a few rare appearances on it as he mainly uses it to promote his work.

Despite their inclination for privacy, the couple have stepped out publicly together on numerous occasions. Jimenez has been by her partner's side on the red carpet of many of his movie premieres, including Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Riddick.

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Diesel and Jimenez have successfully kept many aspects of their life private, including the birth of their first child; they chose to forego a pregnancy announcement until she was born.

"I didn't want cameras around this event. I wanted this to be as natural as possible," he said during a 2009 appearance on Good Morning America.

She is Diesel's biggest supporter

Gregg DeGuire/FilmMagic

Jimenez has attended the annual Vanity Fair Oscar Party with Diesel on several occasions. The supportive partner has also accompanied him to multiple premieres of his movies. The entire family was in attendance at the premiere of Furious 7 in 2015, and they also appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno as Diesel promoted Fast and Furious 6.

Jimenez, Hania and Vincent joined Diesel onstage as he told host Jay Leno and the audience the movie was about "family"  one of the themes Diesel's character is well known for emphasizing throughout the series.

The model and two of his children  Hania and Vincent  were also on hand at Diesel's Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony in August 2013. In his speech, the movie star praised his family for their constant support as he accepted the honor.

"I couldn't have done it without the Mayan queen," he said, using his nickname for Jimenez, "and I couldn't have done it without my little Similce and Vincent, who I love, love, love so much."

She is a mother of three

Gregg DeGuire/WireImage

Diesel and Jimenez welcomed their first daughter, Hania Riley Sinclair, who is also known as Similce, on April 2, 2008. They welcomed their second child, son Vincent Sinclair, on Aug. 15, 2010, and another daughter, Pauline Sinclair, on March 15, 2015, naming her after Paul Walker, Diesel's late friend and Fast and Furious costar.

The couple kept Hania's birth details under wraps, but shortly after she was born, the actor opened up about how the newest addition to their family had changed his perspective.

"Someone once told me that, when you have a child, it opens up parts of your heart that you never knew existed. And it is so true," Diesel told Parade magazine in 2008. "It's like you have a child and you think, 'Everything that I've done up until this point is insignificant in comparison to being a father.' It's a beautiful, beautiful thing."

The dad of three was present in the delivery room for the births of all three of his children, and he shared that when Pauline was born, he felt Walker's presence in the room with them.

"He was in the room [when she was born]," Diesel said during a 2015 appearance on the Today show. "There's no other person that I was thinking about as I was cutting this umbilical cord. I just  knew he was there. It felt like a way to keep his memory a part of my family and a part of my world."

Diesel and Jimenez have also maintained a close relationship with Walker's daughter, Meadow  who is Diesel's goddaughter  and the model considers Diesel, Jimenez and their kids "family." Diesel even walked Meadow down the aisle at her 2021 wedding and Hania served as her maid of honor.

Two of the pair's children are already following in Diesel's footsteps. Hania starred in Fast and Furious: Spy Racers, the franchise's first animated series, which premiered on Netflix in December 2019. Vincent also became a member of the Fast and Furious family when he played a younger version of his dad's iconic character, Dominic Toretto, in 2021's F9.

She has some television experience

Frazer Harrison/Getty

Diesel may be the major star in the family, but Jimenez has also graced the small screen. In November 2004, the model made an appearance on the Mexican comedy and variety show Otro Rollo con: Adal Ramones.

During its run, the sketch show welcomed stars like Shakira, Sofia Vergara, Ricky Martin, Elton John and Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson  who is one of Diesel's costars in Fast and Furious.

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Clinical psychologist Al Carlisle spent 50 years interviewing and studying serial killers. Manuel Cortez fit squarely into his specialized field of research.

The Oxygen series Violent Minds: Killers On Tape features the late Dr. Carlisles never-before-heard interviews and investigations into killers. Theres hope that fresh insights may emerge about past infamous cases.

Like the two subjects in the title of Carlisles book, Mind of the Devil: The Cases of Arthur Gary Bishop and Westley Allan Dodd, Cortez was a child murderer.

RELATED: I Killed Them All: Serial Killer Arthur Gary Bishop Chillingly Describes How He Lured And Killed His Victims

On December 27, 1979, in Ashland, Oregon, 11-year-old friends Rachel Isser and Deanna Jackman went to play tennis at a park near Southern Oregon State College, according to the Associated Press. They never came home.

Issers naked body was found in the press box at the colleges football field. A day later, police found Jackman by a gravel pit at the border of Ashland.



Autopsies revealed the girls had been suffocated and molested sexually, according to the AP report. Weve got the citys biggest detective force ever working on this, the citys police chief said in the report.

The investigation eventually led to Cortez, who was born in Texas and moved with his family to the San Gabriel Valley, California as a child.

Manny Cortez, featured in Violent Minds: Killers on Tape 108

Manny Cortez, featured in Violent Minds: Killers on Tape 108 Photo: Oxygen

In 1975, a then-19-year-old Cortez was put on probation for attempted kidnapping, after he tried to abduct a 17-year-old girl, according to a 1993 Los Angeles Times report.

The following year, he was arrested in two separate incidents for the kidnapping, rape and attempted rape of two teen-age girls. The charges were later dismissed.

In 1977, Cortez kidnapped a 16-year-old girl who escaped and identified him as a suspect, which caused him to flee to Oregon, per the Los Angeles Times report.

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In 1980, Cortez, who prosecutors labeled a sexual sadist, was tried first in the Jackman case, but that trial ended in a hung jury, UPI reported. The two cases were merged for a single trial that ended with his conviction.

In 1982, Cortez pleaded guilty to the 1977 kidnapping, according to the Los Angeles Times. He emerged as a suspect in other unsolved homicides.

Where is Cortez now and what were Carlisles insights and observations about the killer? To find out, watch Violent Minds: Killers On Tape, airing Sundays on Oxygen.
Corrections & clarifications: David Rickert is the CFO for Winnebago County, Illinois. An earlier version of this story had the wrong state.

Shasta County is expected to finally fill its long-vacant executive officer position.

The county has turned to David Rickert, the chief financial officer in Winnebago County, Illinois, to be its top administrator.

The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday is expected to vote on a three-year contract for Rickert. His annual salary would be $258,600.

Rickert has been the CFO of Winnebago County since 2021. Prior to that, he served as treasurer for Kane County in Illinois.

He resigned as Kane County's treasurer in January 2021, according to news reports that stated when he was hired in Winnebago County he still had two years left on his term as treasurer.

According to the staff report for Tuesday's meeting, Rickert has a master of science degree in accounting with honors from Roosevelt University and has been a licensed certified public accountant for 22 years.

Winnebago County has a population of 282,188. The county seat is Rockford.

Rickert's three-year term as Shasta County CEO would start May 30.

Rickert is no relation to Shasta County Supervisor Mary Rickert, who said she is eager to work with the new CEO.

"I think he will be a good fit for Shasta County. He has a strong financial background, which will be important," she said.

David Rickert is not the supervisors' first choice and his appointment would end a nearly year-long saga that galvanized the community before playing out in dramatic fashion the last couple of months.

More: Recall Shasta Supervisor Kevin Crye supporters eager to start collecting voters' signatures

Tuesday's meeting will take place a little over a month after supervisors on April 6 rescinded the CEO job offer to Chriss Street and then announced they had offered the job to another candidate.

Supervisors did not say why the offer was taken off the table, but it came nine days after they announced they were waiting for Street to respond to a background report that was done on him.

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The decision to move on from Street capped a month of emotionally-charged board meetings and public debate on social media on the merits of Street, whose position as vice president of New California State drew criticism. New California is a group that wants to leave California and form its own state.

Street, who lives in Redding, is also the former Orange County treasurer-tax collector who in 2010 was ordered to pay more than $7 million in damages for allegedly mismanaging a bankruptcy trust. That same year, Street decided not to run for reelection for treasurer-tax collector.

Street has twice shown up at Shasta County supervisors meetings since his job offer was rescinded.

At the April 11 meeting, Street got up during the public comment period and alleged serious and illegal budget maneuvering by the county.

Supervisors anticipated Streets presentation, so they called on county Auditor-Controller Nolda Short to provide a report rebutting Streets claims.

Shasta County has been without an executive officer since Matt Pontes abruptly resigned last June after a political battle between Pontes and Supervisor Patrick Jones that played out in an April 19, 2022, closed-door job evaluation of Pontes. Supervisors spent two hours in closed session at the time, before giving Pontes a 4-1 vote of confidence. Jones cast the lone dissenting vote.

Since Pontes resignation, the county has had two acting CEOs  Patrick Minturn, who did the job from June through January, and Mary Williams, who succeeded Minturn on Feb. 1 and continues to be the acting CEO.

Pontes started as Shasta County CEO in January 2020. His annual salary was $240,096 when he was hired.

David Benda covers business, development and anything else that comes up for the USA TODAY Network in Redding. He also writes the weekly "Buzz on the Street" column. Hes part of a team of dedicated reporters that investigate wrongdoing, cover breaking news and tell other stories about your community. Reach him on Twitter @DavidBenda_RS or by phone at 1-530-338-8323. To support and sustain this work, please subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: Shasta's new CEO expected to be Illinois financial administrator
(Bloomberg) -- Uruguays government is now subsidizing bottled water in the capital Montevideo and neighboring cities as a three-year drought has triggered the South American countrys worst drinking water crisis in at least half a century.

Most Read from Bloomberg

This is a drought where it rained 60% less than it should have rained in a year, Uruguay President Luis Lacalle Pou said in recorded comments Thursday, noting water quality could decline further if the drought drags on.

Officials are warning pregnant women and people suffering from some chronic illnesses to avoid drinking the tap water, according to Public Health Minister Karina Rando. The government announced Wednesday it would boost welfare payments for pregnant women, young children and the sick for 30 days so they can buy two liters of bottled water a day. The city government is taking similar action.

Read more: Uruguay Capital Suffers Worst Water Crisis in 50 Years

State-run media reported bottled water sales have tripled in recent days. Public water company OSE says it has enough reserves of drinking water to supply the capital through May with rainfall the only near-term solution.

We want to buy time for it to rain, OSE Chariman Raul Montero told a local radio station. When it rains a lot, Ive seen enough water flow in four or five days to supply Montevideo for a year.

Read More: Uruguay Utility Pumps Salty Water to Avoid Shortages in Capital

Unpalatable drinking water is fast becoming a public health crisis and political headache for the administration of Lacalle Pou. The Montevideo metropolitan area is home to more than half of the countrys 3.5 million people. Small groups of protesters gathered outside government offices in downtown Montevideo this week to voice their discontent.

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Montero said in late April the company is mixing brackish water from the Rio de la Plata river with its dwindling supplies of fresh water from the Santa Lucia River basin, giving the tap water in Montevideo an unpleasant, salty taste.

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2023 Bloomberg L.P.
Still from a video show three men, including Daniel Penny, either restraining or standing near Jordan Neely in a subway altercation that ended in Neely's death. Juan Alberto Vazquez/Reuters

Prosecutors say they'll charge Daniel Penny with 2nd-degree manslaughter for Jordan Neely's death.

Neely died earlier this month after Penny placed him in a fatal chokehold on a NYC subway car.

Penny will be in court in Manhattan Friday on charges carrying up to 15 years in prison.

The former Marine shown on video putting homeless subway rider Jordan Neely in a fatal chokehold last week will be charged with manslaughter, according to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

If convicted, Daniel Penny, 24, would face a minimum of three and a half years in prison, and as much as 15 years, under New York state sentencing guidelines.

Penny, an ex-Marine who confronted Neely on an F train on May 1, will likely surrender to the Manhattan district attorney's office on Friday.

The second-degree manslaughter charge means prosecutors are alleging Penny had a conscious awareness of the risk his actions could cause, including the possibility of Neely's death, said Jeffrey Lichtman, a longtime defense attorney.

Lichtman told Insider that given the press accounts of Neely's behavior, which some accounts described as "threatening," prior to the chokehold, as well as the burden of proof required for a second-degree manslaughter charge, he thinks the case will likely end in an acquittal.

"You put 12 New Yorkers on the jury and if they've ever been on the subway, this will be an acquittal," Lichtman said. "Penny had to hold on to this man until he stopped moving. It's a tragic thing, but New York City is at fault, not the Marine."

In a statement shared with Insider, an attorney for Penny said the Marine veteran confronted Neely to protect himself and his fellow New Yorkers without knowing if his safety was assured.

"He risked his own life and safety, for the good of his fellow passengers," attorney Steven M. Raiser said. "The unfortunate result was the unintended and unforeseen death of Mr. Neely.

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Raiser added that he's "confident" Penny will be fully absolved of wrongdoing once the "facts and circumstances surrounding this tragic incident are brought to bear."

Freelance journalist Juan Alberto Vazquez, who recorded the video of the chokehold, said Penny had Neely in a chokehold for "at least 15 minutes."

A lawyer for Neely's family, Lennon Edwards, said he took the case "because 15 minutes is too long to go without help, intervention, and without air," per USA Today.

In a conversation with Insider, however, Lichtman called the second-degree manslaughter charge "foolish," citing the nearly four-minute video that shows Neely struggling against Penny's chokehold as two other passengers appear to try and further restrain Neely.

"The person in the video who is pinning Mr. Neely's arm down while Penny has his arm around Mr. Neely's neck has made public statements. He's said that at no point did they think that Mr. Neely was in danger of dying," Lichtman said.

"He was fighting back," Lichtman added of Neely. "And according to press accounts, he had been threatening people on the subway."

Charges are set to come after nearly two weeks of increasing public pressure and protests throughout the city.

"Bragg's base  the people who voted him in to office were demanding an arrest," Lichtman said. "So, Alvin Bragg, the political animal that he is, jumps right to it and charges."

Eyewitnesses on the subway said Neely, a 30-year-old Black man, was screaming about being hungry and thirsty before Penny, a white man, put him in a chokehold.

To date, no evidence has surfaced that Neely physically assaulted anyone on the train.

New York police told Insider this month that authorities took the unconscious and unresponsive Neely to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Penny was questioned by authorities the day of the incident, but was later released.

The medical examiner's office determined that Neely died from "compression of neck" and classified his death as a homicide.

Penny released an earlier statement via his lawyer last week, expressing condolences to Neely's friends and family while directly calling out Neely's "documented history of violent and erratic behavior."

"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. "Daniel never intended to harm Mr. Neely and could not have foreseen his untimely death."

May 11, 2023, 8:09 p.m. ET: This story has been updated to reflect a statement from Daniel Penny's attorney.

Read the original article on Insider
The alleged gunman in a Taiwanese church shooting in California last year that killed one and injured five others now faces nearly 100 federal charges, including hate crimes.

David Chou, 69, of Las Vegas, was arrested following the mass shooting at a Taiwanese Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods, California, on May 15, 2022. He is accused of pulling out a semi-automatic handgun and firing into a crowd during a luncheon to honor a pastor returning from Taiwan. Investigators said at the time that Chou, a Chinese American citizen, was allegedly motivated by the political tension between China and Taiwan.

PHOTO: In this May 18, 2022, file photo, a person stands with flowers at a makeshift memorial for Dr. John Cheng outside his office in Aliso Viejo, Calif. (Mario Tama/Getty Images, FILE)

MORE: California church shooting suspect motivated by Taiwan-China conflict: Police

Federal prosecutors announced Thursday that Chou has been charged with 98 counts of hate crimes, weapons and explosives offenses.

A federal grand jury in Santa Ana indicted Chou on 45 counts of obstructing free exercise of religious beliefs by force, which resulted in the death of one person and included attempts to kill 44 others, and 45 counts of violating the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act "by attacking the church congregants because of their actual or perceived Taiwanese national origin and Presbyterian faith," prosecutors said.

He was also indicted on six counts of using a firearm during the commission of a crime of violence, one count of carrying explosives during the commission of a federal felony offense, and one count of attempting to damage or destroy a building used in interstate commerce by means of fire and explosives.

PHOTO: Suspect in the Laguna Woods church shooting David Chou, 68, of Las Vegas, is shown in this police booking photo released by the Orange County Sheriff's Department on May 16, 2022. (Orange County Sheriff's Department via Reuters)

If convicted on the federal charges, Chou faces life in prison without parole or the death penalty, prosecutors said. Online court records do not include any attorney information for him at this time.

Chou is already in state custody on charges including murder with an enhancement for a hate crime and five counts of attempted murder in connection with the shooting. He pleaded not guilty to the state charges last year.

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MORE: Suspected gunman in California church shooting could face death penalty, prosecutors say

Chou allegedly tried to superglue the doors shut so victims could not flee, and placed ammunition and Molotov cocktails around the Geneva Presbyterian Church, authorities said. Dr. John Cheng, 52, was killed while trying to disarm the gunman during the attack, and five others were hurt by gunfire. A group of churchgoers was able to detain the shooter and hogtie his legs with an extension cord, authorities said.

Chou is Chinese but an American citizen, officials said. Authorities said at the time they believe Chou's anger began when he lived in Taiwan, where he felt he was an outsider and his anti-Taiwan views were not accepted. His views became more radical as tensions between China and Taiwan escalated.

Suspect in Taiwanese church shooting indicted on federal hate crime charges originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Fifteen million Americans across the Plains are under threat for severe weather, including tornadoes, on Friday.

More than two dozen tornadoes were reported across the Plains Thursday and Friday, mostly in western Kansas and central Oklahoma, around Oklahoma City.

Some of the worst damage was reported in and around Noble, Oklahoma, about 30 miles south of Oklahoma City, where a tornado struck homes and businesses, according to ABC affiliate KOCO.

PHOTO: Workers repair lines over damaged buildings following storms and tornados in Noble, Okla., on Friday, May 12, 2023, after tornados hit the area on Thursday evening. (The Oklahoman via USA Today Network)

MORE: How to shelter during a tornado if you don't have a basement

A tornado watch is in effect for much of eastern Nebraska and surrounding parts of South Dakota and Iowa Friday afternoon and evening. Tornadoes are possible, as well as very large hail and wind gusts up to 70 mph.

PHOTO: tornado watch graphic (ABC News)

Damaging winds and large hail are also possible across much of Texas, including Dallas, as well as Oklahoma City; Kansas City, Missouri; and Des Moines, Iowa.

ABC News' Emily Shapiro contributed to this report.

Tornado outbreak hits Plains, more severe weather in the forecast originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
The Oklahoma-based gas station and convenience store is a sight for sore eyes on long car rides.

Courtesy of Love's Travel Stops

Weve all been there. Youre five hours into an eight-hour car ride, or maybe youve only made it an hour from your house, but already everyone is getting restless. Someone needs to go to the bathroom. Someone spilled the box of Cheez-its, so youre running dangerously low on snacks. The driver needs a caffeine fix, and Fido looks like hes about ready to jump out the window. Thats when you see itthat familiar bright yellow sign topped with a beating red heart. Theres a Loves at the next exit thats about to solve all your road trip woes. Here are 10 reasons why well always brake for a Loves Travel Stop and why we cant get enough of this Southern-born franchise.

1. Its owned by a Southern family.

Tom and Judy Love started Loves in 1964 when they spent $5,000 to lease an abandoned service station in Watonga, Oklahoma. Though Tom passed away in 2023 at the age of 85, the nationwide franchise is still privately owned and run by the Love family.



2. Theres always a Loves right when you need one.

With about 600 travel stops in 42 states, nearly every highway in the U.S. is blessed with a Loves. This means that no matter where youre driving in the Southeven if youve gotten really deep in the sticksyoure likely to find a Loves stocked and waiting to welcome you in.



3. Their road trip snacks are elite.

The one redeeming quality of a long car ride (other than a great playlist) are the snacks. Like any convenience store, Loves has a huge selection of packaged snackschips, sunflower seeds, Little Debbie cakes, beef jerky, the whole nine yards. But the real star of the show at a Loves is their company-branded candy line, which includes everything from gummy bears and peach rings to frosted heart pretzels and saltwater taffy.



4. Theyre always open.

Driving late into the night? Loves is open. What about those wee hours of the morning? Theyre open then, too. Theres something about a 3 a.m. Coke and peanuts that just hits different.



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5. Its a great place to stretch your legs.

After long hours spent cramped in the car, your legs may be itching to move. Loves is a great place to stop because the store is so big that youll have plenty to peruse while you walk the life back into your aching limbs.



6. You can have a meal there.

Hundreds of Loves locations are paired with fast-food favorites like Arbys, Dairy Queen, Burger King, Hardees, and Bojangles. But even if theres no dining partner, Loves has its own line of hot sandwiches and tacos (for breakfast and lunch), as well as a roller grill that features hot dogs and smoked sausages, as well as their signature Tornados taquitos in flavors like Ranchero Beef Steak and Southwestern-Style Chicken.



7. They give back to the community.

Giving generously is a huge part of the Loves company culture. The franchise donates to nonprofits in Oklahoma and beyond, including Teach for America, Operation Homefront, and the United Way of Central Oklahoma. In addition, all locations donate a part of their budget to a local nonprofit of their choice, and Loves participates in the Childrens Miracle Network. To date, Loves has raised more than $33 million for Childrens Miracle Network Hospitals.



8. They think of everything.

Theres a lot more to a Loves Travel Stop than just gas and snacks. Locations across the country offer truck care, RV parking and hookups, laundry facilities, and even private showers.



9. Dogs are welcome.

Not only does Loves accommodate humans, but it takes care of their furry friends, too. Many Loves locations feature dog parks and pet waste station.



10. Youll find plenty of clean restrooms.

The number one reason to stop on a road trip? Someones got to go. Rather than pressing your luck on a small-town gas station, count on Loves to provide clean restrooms without a line.

For more Southern Living news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on Southern Living.
When Chloe, a 22-year-old mom from Arizona, gave birth to her second child, a daughter, she cradled her on her chest, knowing it would be one of the few times they would physically touch.

Holding her newborn skin-to-skin on her chest was something Chloe originally told doctors she did not want to do.

"I was like, 'No, I don't want to do that. I don't want to get attached to her,'" Chloe, who asked that her last name not be used to protect her privacy, told ABC News." "Because I know the outcome of this."

Chloe said she learned around 23 weeks into her pregnancy that her daughter had a condition known as holoprosencephaly, a birth defect in which the brain does not divide into two halves, the left and right hemispheres, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Her baby's specific diagnosis of alobar holoprosencephaly is the most severe type, often resulting in stillbirth or death shortly after birth.

When Chloe's baby, whom she named Laila, was born on Sept. 20, 2022, she said she decided she had no choice but to hold her daughter close.

"As soon as she came out, I was like, no, I need to be the one that comforts her," she said. "That was definitely hard because you definitely do get attached, no matter what, no matter how hard you try to tell yourself, I know what's going to happen. I know the outcome."

After a 24-hour long induction and several hours of active labor, Chloe had less than two days with her daughter.

PHOTO: Chloe's daughter Laila is pictured shortly after her birth in September 2022. (Courtesy of Chloe)

"She was alive for about 44 hours, which it was definitely hard to watch her just be in pain the whole entire time," she said, adding, "It's like I was trying to keep her from feeling this pain, and she still had to feel it."

'I wanted this baby so bad'

When Chloe found out she was pregnant, in January 2022, she said she was surprised but more so excited, because a new baby would be a sibling for her first child, a daughter who was nearly 6-months-old at the time.

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As her pregnancy progressed, with the normalcy of morning sickness and ultrasounds, Chloe said she was especially excited to learn that she was expecting a girl.

"I was really excited because I wanted to have two girls close in age," she said. "They could be like little besties but also tussle with each other a little bit. I thought that'd be really fun. Two divas."

Chloe's dream was halted when she went in for a routine ultrasound 21 weeks into her pregnancy. She said she was told the ultrasound had "red flags" that necessitated a visit to a high-risk pregnancy specialist.

PHOTO: Chloe is pictured during her 2022 pregnancy with her daughter Laila. (Courtesy of Chloe)

A second ultrasound and additional testing by a maternal-fetal medicine specialist brought the devastating diagnosis of alobar holoprosencephaly. Chloe said doctors told her the baby she was carrying would not survive long after birth, if she made it that far.

A baby born with alobar holoprosencephaly would not be able to breathe on their own for long, and would likely never be able to eat on their own, Chloe said she was told.

Dr. Stephen Chasen, a maternal and fetal medicine specialist at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City, confirmed the difficulties babies born with alobar holoprosencephaly face, including what he described as severe "facial abnormalities."

"Sometimes there's only one eye. Sometimes there's no nose. Often there's a cleft lip and cleft palate, but the major thing is there's very, very abnormal brain function," Chasen, who did not treat Chloe, told ABC News. "Newborns often will not breathe spontaneously or breathe abnormally, and the average lifespan is hours or days."

Chloe said she "broke down" in tears when the doctor shared her baby's diagnosis, recalling, "I have never felt that way in my entire life."

"I wanted this baby so bad. I wanted my daughter to have a little sister," she said. "It's something that you're planning for, something that you're thinking about for a very long time, and just to have that all be shut down and [be told], 'Your baby's not going to make it.' It was really hard."

Dr. Ravi Gunatilake, medical director of Valley Perinatal, the high-risk pregnancy clinic where Chloe received the diagnosis, told "GMA" that alobar holoprosencephaly is typically identified between 18 to 21 weeks into a pregnancy.

"Having an abnormal result [on first-trimester screening tests] and/or having abnormal findings on an early ultrasound performed by her OBGYN is frequently the referral pathway for patients such as Chloe and others like her," said Gunatilake, a board-certified OBGYN and maternal-fetal medicine specialist. "So then typically what happens is, we would ideally see that patient relatively urgently within a few weeks."

Gunatilake said his clinic only provided the diagnosis of alobar holoprosencephal for Chloe, who went on to be cared for her by her OBGYN throughout her pregnancy.

"This was a situation where we really just performed a single consultation and assisted in the diagnosis and complex counseling," Gunatilake said of his clinic's role in Chloe's medical care. "But the patient was primarily cared for by her OBGYN."

When Chloe learned of her baby's diagnosis, she was 23 weeks and four days into her pregnancy, according to her medical records.

At the time, she said she was presented with three options: To continue the pregnancy, to try to obtain an abortion in Arizona before 24 weeks of pregnancy, as was permitted by state law at the time, or to travel out of state for abortion care.

"It's important understand that in maternal fetal medicine, we provide objective counseling that's non-directive, so we don't advise patients to do anything," Gunatilake said. "We counsel them regarding their current situation, what the anticipated risks are, what their options are. We counsel them regarding their anticipated prognosis. If there are ways to improve the potential outcome in the pregnancy, we'll provide counseling."

He continued, "In Arizona, if they're beyond the legal limit and they've expressed an interest in termination of pregnancy, we have the ability of letting them know what the legal standards are here in Arizona, and if they are interested in not continuing the pregnancy, most obstetrical providers are aware of legal limits in surrounding states and they may offer that information to patients."

Carrying a nonviable pregnancy to term

Days after Chloe received the diagnosis, thousands of miles away, in Washington, D.C., the U.S. Supreme Court voted to overturn Roe v. Wade, ending the constitutional right to abortion that had been the law nationwide for almost 50 years.

The ruling returned power back to the states to decide abortion access. In Arizona, that began the process of putting into play a 15-week abortion ban with exemptions only for medical emergencies when continuing with the pregnancy would "create serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function" for the mother.

Chloe said prior to the ruling, she asked her OBGYN to induce labor so that she could deliver her baby early and not have to carry her pregnancy to term. While those conversations had been ongoing, she said her doctor told her he would not induce her in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision.

"It was like an immediate no, you can't get an induction to terminate," Chloe said. "When [my doctor] told me, I couldn't even get any words out ... I just felt so stuck."

Chloe's OBGYN declined to be interviewed by ABC News.

Knowing that she wanted to terminate the pregnancy, Chloe said she made plans to travel by plane out of state for abortion care.

MORE: Couple speaks out on decision to get abortion after fetus diagnosed with rare genetic conditions

In July, just days before she was scheduled to fly out of Arizona, Chloe said the abortion clinic where she was to be treated canceled her appointment. The reason, she said she was told, was because of threats to the clinic and her own safety after she shared her story on social media.

At nearly 30 weeks pregnant and unable to find an alternate option for abortion care, she continued on with the pregnancy.

"I became extremely depressed, more depressed than I already was," Chloe said. "Knowing that now I have to carry the baby to full-term when that wasn't my plan when I found out what was wrong, I didn't want to leave my bed. I was so emotionally unattached from my daughter, from my relationship, from family, from friends, from everybody. I just wanted to sleep all day."

Chloe described still having to go on with her life -- including working and caring for her older daughter -- while dealing the physical toll that any pregnancy brings, especially this one.

"She shakes and seizes inside of me all the time," she said. "And if I'm uncomfortable with that happening, I can't imagine how she is inside of there."

PHOTO: Chloe is pictured during her 2022 pregnancy with her daughter Laila. (Courtesy of Chloe)

She also described what it is like to be visibly pregnant when out in public.

"When I go out to the store, anything like that, people see me and they ask innocent questions, like 'Oh, are you having a boy or girl? When are you due?,'" she said. "I get stuck. I answer the questions, but in my head. I'm like, you know, it's a baby that's never gonna live."

Chloe said she took a job during her pregnancy in order to be forced to leave her house, but took on a night shift to avoid seeing people.

Gunatilake said it is not uncommon for patients to struggle emotionally with carrying a fetus that may not survive after delivery.

"As maternal-fetal medicine specialists, we are aware that frequently these patients are at higher risk for having significant depression, anxiety and certainly afterwards, elements of post-traumatic stress disorder," Gunatilake said. "So frequently, we will assess these patients for mental health disorders and will refer them for perinatal psychiatric counseling."

He continued, "We would expect Chloe to be at higher risk for experiencing some level of mental health deterioration carrying a very high-risk pregnancy like this."

Chloe, who was treated by her OBGYN during her pregnancy, was treated for anxiety and depressive disorder as well as postpartum depression in the weeks after giving birth, her medical records show.

Chasen said that in a state like New York, where abortion care is legal, physicians like himself are trained to provide patients with all of their options.

"Physicians like me are not telling patients to have abortions, and we're not telling the patients what we would do if we were in their shoes, but we're providing them with information" Chasen said. "Most patients, in my experience, when told that they are carrying a baby that cannot survive or could maybe survive, but with absolutely no meaningful brain function, they arrive at the decision of themselves of why would I want to continue such a pregnancy?"

He continued, "So we're not recommending abortion, but we all feel very strongly that it's an option that someone needs to have."

Hospice care for a newborn baby

When Chloe gave birth to her daughter on Sept. 19, she said it was an unexpectedly easy delivery, one in which she heard the sound of Laila crying as she entered the world.

As is common in a baby with alobar holoprosencephaly, Laila was born with facial deformities including a cleft palate.

"She came out crying, which my doctor and everybody else was super surprised about because that's not expected of babies with her condition," Chloe said. "But we could tell that her breathing was off, that it just wasn't normal."

After just one day in the hospital -- during which Chloe said she was instructed to not feed Laila for fear of her choking -- they moved to a hospice center. Not going to extraordinary measures to keep Laila alive is a choice Chloe said she made earlier in her pregnancy.

"That was never something I was interested in because that is such poor quality of life, in my opinion," she said. "She would have never been able to do anything besides lay there and be forced to be kept alive, and that was something that I felt strongly was not what I wanted for any of my children."

She continued, "I did a lot of research about what I was doing and my choice before I made it, obviously."

PHOTO: Chloe holds her daughter Laila shortly after her birth in September 2022. (Downeast Photographers)

Once in hospice care, Chloe said her daughter's condition deteriorated quickly.

Chloe said that while she had nearly two days with her newborn daughter, they were not times of joy or natural bonding. She described the time as they had together as, "peaceful but also difficult to watch."

"When I think about it, I think about how I could tell that she was struggling," Chloe said of Laila. "I think about how she would scream as loud as she could because she could not eat."

"It's definitely hard to think about just because there's so much I wanted to do for her, but I couldn't," she continued. "I knew that if I would have done these things, it would have just prolonged her life and her suffering at the same time."

MORE: Women's health doctors say they feel increased scrutiny amid abortion bans

Chloe said she was able to take photos with her daughter in the hospital, and from the hospice center, she received keepsakes like Laila's hand and foot prints in the shape of a butterfly.

In the weeks after her daughter's death, Chloe said she suffered mentally.

"I went to my doctor about two weeks postpartum and was like, 'I need to get on some type of medication. I'm not okay. I don't want to be having these scary thoughts anymore,'" she recalled. "So I've been on medication since then, and that really, really helped."

Still, Chloe said she has struggled to maintain her job and struggled to parent her older daughter.

"I would just be going through the motions," she said. "I wouldn't be the attentive parent that I want to be, which is horrible, because I want nothing more than for her to remember me being just like a happy, go-get-em parent, but I couldn't at the time."

PHOTO: Chloe holds her older daughter at a tribute for her late daughter Laila, who died shortly after birth in September 2022. (Courtesy of Chloe)

After carrying her daughter to term and spending 44 hours with her post-delivery, Chloe said she would still choose her initial option -- to terminate the pregnancy -- if she had to do it over again.

"I would have terminated because now what I know now, seeing what I've seen, it's not fair, and it wasn't fair from the beginning, to her or to me," Chloe said. "If I could have terminated, I would have."

She added of her decision, "As a mother, you want to be able to see your children thrive, and her being born, there was absolutely no thriving happening. There was never going to be, even if I would have chosen to save her."

44 hours with my baby: I carried a nonviable pregnancy to term after Roe v. Wade was overturned originally appeared on goodmorningamerica.com
Natasha Barnard was photographed by James Macari in Hayman Island, Australia. James Macari/Sports Illustrated

Natasha Barnard made back-to-back SI Swimsuit Issue appearances in 2013 and 14. First, the South African model posed for photographer James Macari in Hayman Island, Australia. When she returned to the magazine the following year, she worked with Raphael Mazzucco and traveled to Barreirinhas, Brazil.

In addition to her work with SI Swimsuit, the 34-year-old has also modeled for Armani Exchange, GUESS and WonderBra. Outside of her profession as a model, Barnard also enjoys a creative hobby behind the lens: photographing wildlife.

Wildlife photography is one of my biggest passions, Barnard previously told SI Swimsuit, adding that an ex-boyfriend suggested she pick up the hobby due to her love of wild animals. When that clicked, I got a really good camera and I got a few lenses and then I tried to, every second that I could, to be in the bush to get that perfect shot because the thing about wildlife is you cant make the animals do what you want them to do, you have to be there to get that perfect shot.

Today, Barnard regularly shares her wildlife and landscape photography with her 38,900 Instagram followers, in addition to lifestyle and work-related images.

Below are eight of our favorite snaps from the models SI Swimsuit photo shoot in Australia.

James Macari/Sports Illustrated

James Macari/Sports Illustrated

James Macari/Sports Illustrated

James Macari/Sports Illustrated

James Macari/Sports Illustrated

James Macari/Sports Illustrated

James Macari/Sports Illustrated

James Macari/Sports Illustrated

Get ready for the hottest event of the year! The 2023 SI Swimsuit Issue 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!
Put on your dancing boots.

Rush Jagoe

Grab your dancing shoeser, cowboy bootsbecause Texas old-fashioned dance halls are still the most fun place to be on a Saturday night. Dance halls have dotted Central Texas and Texas Hill Country for over 150 years, built by German and Czech pioneers who settled the region. Originally, the structures served as centers of social life where weddings, funerals, holidays, and town meetings were held, as well as weekend dances. As time passed and Texas grew, dance halls became popular gathering places for two-stepping to live music, which included many genres such as polka, western swing, Tejano, blues, and honky-tonk.



On our Souths Best list of Texas most beloved dance halls, many have been around for over 100 years, and most have hosted country legends like Willie Nelson, Lyle Lovett, George Strait, and countless others. Some even offer weekly dance classes for those who want to get out on the floor. Here are the 8 best dance halls in Texas, as voted by our readers.

8. Kendalia Halle

Courtesy Kendalia Halle

Kendalia

Established in 1903 in a small town around 25 miles from Boerne in Texas Hill Country, this dance hall is a living example of the dance halls established in the area over a century ago. It remains simple in its original construction, keeps the live music on schedule each week, and fondly remembers a time when the revelers arrived in covered wagons. kendaliahalle.com

7. Anhalt Dance Hall

Courtesy Anhalt Hall

Spring Branch

This Texas dancehall is still owned and operated by the Germania Farmer Verein, which is an organization started by German settlers in Central Texas back in 1875 with the goal of helping protect their livestock. It was also used as a stopping point for early settlers traveling between New Braunfels and Boerne. Nowadays, you can still enjoy live music and hit the floor for the weekend dances. anhalthall.com

6. Albert Ice House and Dance Hall

Courtesy Albert Ice House and Dance Hall

Albert

Another close in the running for Texas' oldest dance hall, this old-school spot has been around since 1892. Boot-scooting became popular here under 500-year-old oak trees, and Albert is still known endearingly as a 13-acre town. Plus, it's less than thirty minutes from Fredericksburg (one of our South's Best Small Towns), so you can easily head out for a night of dancing along on your trip to the Hill Country. alberttexas.com

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5. The Old Coupland Inn and Dance Hall

Courtesy Old Coupland Inn and Dance Hall

Coupland

As if being a live music venue wasn't enough, this dance hall is also part restaurant and part bed-and-breakfast. Located in the teeny-tiny town of Couplandthat boasts a population less than 300it brings in people from all over Central Texas during its open nights, Thursday through Saturday. The building has served many functions, including a hardware store, pharmacy, and newspaper office. couplanddancehall.com

4. Mercer Street Dance Hall

Courtesy Mercer Street Dance Hall

Dripping Springs

A comparative newcomer amongst the many multigenerational spots on the list, Mercer Street Dance Hall didn't take long to capture the hearts of those yearning for a dance hall in the Drippings Springs area when it opened a decade ago. Be prepared for a packed house during the weekendit's open Friday, Saturday, and Sunday onlyand you can even rent a cabin on the property to stay for an overnight trip. mercerdancehall.com

3. John T. Floore's Country Store

Sarah Kerver

Helotes

Anyone looking for an authentic Texas honky-tonk experience can find it at this traditional dance hall. Since 1942, John T. Floore's has been known for being a popular place of gathering on Fridays and Saturdays, and as much for its live music and dancing as its "world-famous" tamales. Head there from San Antonio, which is less than an hour's drive away. liveatfloores.com

2. Broken Spoke

Robbie Caponetto

Austin

Opened in 1964, Broken Spoke can be visited Tuesday through Saturday with live music every evening and dance lessons every day except Tuesday for those who want an introduction to two-step and swing. The list of music legends who have played at the club includes Willie Nelson, George Strait, Dolly Parton, George Strait, Kitty Wells, and more; and in 2023, the dance hall was named a designated Texas Historical Marker. brokenspokeaustintx.net

1. Gruene Dance Hall

Rush Jagoe

New Braunfels

Texas' oldest continually operating dance hall is still the place to be, even 145 years later. In the late-1970s and 1980s, musicians flocked to white-clapboard venue, and folks could enjoy the musings of Lyle Lovett, Jerry Jeff Walker, Robert Earl King, Willie Nelson, and other country icons. Part of the fun is admiring the many worn, black-and-white newspaper clippings and photographs that adorn the walls from the beginning of its golden era. To no surprise, the Hill Country dance hall was voted the best in Texas by Southern Living readers this year. gruenehall.com

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Read the original article on Southern Living.
During an impassioned and emotional paid family leave advocacy day on Capitol Hill yesterday, hosted by Glamour and Paid Leave for All, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro told a packed roundtable: Now we are close [to passing paid leave]. The presidents budget has $325 billion for paid family and medical leave. That is the direction. You dont take no for an answer and you never give up. This institution has the power to transform peoples lives. Were going to do it.

Through tears, Representative Rashida Tlaib, cofounder of the Congressional Mamas Caucus and longtime paid leave proponent, echoed DeLauros sentiments. She recalled the birth of her second son, and the impact of having to go back to work within a week: I had him on Thursday. And I went back to work on Tuesday. Lets be unapologetic about this. We are asking for what is right and moral.

Alexandra Folino

The United States is one of only six countries in the world without a national paid leave policy, and one in four women have had to return to work within two weeks of giving birth. These statistics are what inspired the Glamour to follow eight women through the first 28 days postpartum, to show the impacts of the lack of paid leave on families.

And the extraordinary roundtable marked the coming together of five of the mothers from Glamours now award-winning 28 Days paid leave project, with Representatives Rosa DeLauro, Dan Goldman, Jimmy Gomez, Chrissy Houlahan, Brittany Pettersen, Ayanna Pressley, Rashida Tlaib, and Lauren Underwood to discuss the urgency of passing paid family and medical leave.

Alexandra Folino

Alexandra Folino

During the hour-long meeting, Karina Garcia, Tiffany E. Mrotek, Diana Carhart, Stephanie Williams, and Shukura Wells shared their own experiences, noting how the lack of paid leave took away the rights of women and families to self-determine their own parenting journey. In particular, lack of paid leave forced Garcia back to work six days after giving birth, and Wells, 16 days.

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Alexandra Folino

Founding director of Paid Leave for All, Dawn Huckelbridge, said, It is remarkable, and historic, for a women's outlet such as Glamour to take this kind of a role and to be fighting for paid leave alongside us.

Alexandra Folino

Besides the roundtable, Glamour and Paid Leave for All met with White House staff and senators including Chuck Schumer, Ron Wyden, John Hickenlooper, and Debbie Stabenow.

Senator Schumer told Glamour: Paid leave would make an instant difference for millionsrural families, single parents, and people of color especially. As majority leader, I have fought tooth and nail to try to make paid leave for all a reality, because Americans shouldnt have to choose between supporting their family and providing for them. We simply cannot give up, and I will continue to fight as long as it takes.

Senate Democratic Media Center

Senate Democratic Media Center

And Senator Wyden, who met with 28 Days mom Diana Carhart, said: Moms like Diana are exactly the voices that need to be heard in the fight for a national paid leave policy. Families across America are counting on us to get this done, and Congress has a responsibility to take action.

Alexandra Folino

Alexandra Folino

This advocacy day comes on the heels of Glamour and Paid Leave for Alls provocative public awareness campaign, Get Your Sh*t Together, Baby, which launched in April alongside a nationwide petition to #PassPaidLeave.

The urgency of the paid leave crisis in this country should not be understated. Just 25% of workers in the country have access to paid leave through their jobs. In the lowest quarter of earnersdisproportionately women and women of colorthis falls to just 9%.

Despite the long and uphill struggle to pass paid leave in both the House and Senateit was a casualty of the doomed Build Back Better bill in 2021, and Rep. DeLauro and Senator Kirsten Gillibrands FAMILY Act has failed to pass four times so farthere is a renewed vigor around the issue in the corridors of DC.

It has become a cornerstone of President Bidens agendawith the historic $325 billion provision for paid family and medical leave in his latest budget. The newly formed Congressional Dads Caucus (led by Rep. Jimmy Gomez) has passing paid leave as one of its key goals. The FAMILY Act is being reintroduced next week. And notably, 2023 marked the creation of the first ever bipartisan working group to pass paid leave led by Democrat Rep. Chrissy Houlahan and Republican Rep. Stephanie Bice.

Alexandra Folino

Houlahan told Glamour, I feel a sense of urgency. This is a working group that has had active meetings at least once a month, if not more, since its inception. Our mantra is: More paid leave for more people. And were trying to chip away at this to the best degree that we can. There is an opportunity, and there is momentum.

When pressed on what the group intends with More paid leave for more people, Houlahan explained that its looking like the appetite for the collective is focusing right now on parental [leave], but its a good and important start.

Alexandra Folino

While there still remains some skepticism about how quickly paid leave as a whole can be advanced in the current congressional session, there is undeniable progress and undeniable energy around an issue that for far too long has been deprioritized.

At an evening reception hosted by Glamour, Paid Leave for All, and Rep. DeLauro at her home, the congresswoman applauded the work of all the paid leave advocates, and recalled how she used to feel like the crazy aunt in the attic when she pushed to pass paid leave, but now there are roomfuls of people in DC behind herand tens of millions of voters in support of a national policy (four in every five voting Americans, to be precise). Attendees at DeLauro's house included Senator Chris Doddthe architect of the Family and Medical Leave Act that celebrated its 30th anniversary this yearReps. Ayanna Pressley and Jimmy Gomez, and senior paid leave advocates and policymakers, alongside the women from Glamours 28 Days project.

The battle is, of course, far from won, but progress is coming. Lets #PassPaidLeave.

Sign the petition to #PassPaidLeave here.

Alexandra Folino

Alexandra Folino

Alexandra Folino

Alexandra Folino

Originally Appeared on Glamour
The Spruce / Photo Illustration by Amy Sheehan / David Quarles IV

Acknowledging the contribution of Black interior designers to the design and decor spaces is crucial to moving forward and giving all voices, regardless of their backgrounds, the space to be heard. Were highlighting talented Black interior designers who are thriving in the industry today.

David Quarles IV, the designer behind the eponymous firm, uses interior design to give his younger self a voice. Designing from a place of happiness and using bright colors everywhere he goes, Quarles IV's Dominican and Creole background gives life to everything he does. He especially found design inspiration in those he was raised by: his grandmother and father.



What made you decide that being a designer was your calling?

When I was little my grandmother would change out her home every season and I was inspired by that. And then, on the weekends with my dad, we would build homes or build parts of homes like garages  anything like that. And so I always got exposed to that, mainly seeing him at the dinner table drawing out his plans for the next day and then over the weekend seeing us build what was in his brain. It was just like "Oh, we can make a reality in spaces from our imagination". So, my grandmother and father had a big role in my becoming a designer.

How would you describe your style and approach to designing spaces?

Free. I feel that we have been so indoctrinated to follow the trends, which there's a place for the trends, I love them, but it's like once you see so many, it's starting to feel like an Instagram algorithm. I will like one design and then that's all I'm seeing so I'm feeling like design is becoming like that. I really like to have a design  whether it's going to be from the client's perspective, or mine  really reflect what I'm feeling or what they're feeling as their ideal life.

What life do you want to experience? Everyone wants to be free, everyone wants to feel like they're understood and that their voice is heard. So why not make that be translated into how your home is designed? If it starts there, then you can start emulating that a little bit more in your daily life. And so my design style is free.

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Do you have any design inspiration, whether it be from your culture, other cultures, or anything else in between?

I'm very much known for my use of color so there will always be something yellow. Yellow is going to be present whether it is in a tile or a curtain or even a lemon somewhere.

My cultural inspiration comes from going back down to New Orleans and visiting the Dominican Republic when I grew up. Seeing the colors of the houses, specifically in Santiago in the Dominican Republic, and those houses looking just like the houses that are on Bourbon Street or in the French Quarter  every inch, every detail of the millwork is painted. And I just have always gravitated toward love and color.

Whats a design project that youve done thats stuck with you throughout your career?

Its a restaurant called Panta. The chef came to me because he very much wanted a hodgepodge of culture. He became a chef in Barcelona and became a new him but he has a lot of Memphis pride. And so we merged the culture in Spain and Memphis into a space. I couldn't go to Spain so I went to Puerto Rico to see the architecture because black people, black bodies, built those buildings that the Spaniards may have designed. They couldn't be built without the history of those who built it. And so I'd started looking at how things were designed there, how they were built, the colors that were used, but also factoring in Antony Gaudi, a Catalan architect, who is one of my favorite architects and just happens to be the chef's favorite as well.

And so from there, I got my design together and fused it with Panta's "Pantone" of Memphis' colors  like the blue and gold of the Grizzlies. The bar manager said that he wanted it to be a place that felt like the artists of Harlem would go to relax, but also discuss new art, new ideas, what was going on politically, what was going on socially  that sort of feeling. And so, for those who may not have been accepted as artists in the black community growing up, this was their space. That's what we created and it's been almost two years that it's been open

Whats your favorite design project?

The restaurant. Whenever imposter syndrome comes back in and makes me doubt myself, I go there. We also built it at the end of quarantine so the contractor and I had to fast-track it. We did it in three weeks. It was an existing restaurant, but we had to flip it: change the whole mood, do custom drapes, custom chairs, and everything like that in three weeks. So I go there as a reminder that I was able to design like nobody's business and also do it in three weeks.













And so, for me, being black in design is being able to tell a story that was built over. You can only put so much wood clad over the history of what a structure really is, of who built it.











What does it mean to you to be Black in your industry?

It means being part of the pioneering team. In Memphis, there may be three or four black interior designers, and we still kind of struggle to be the ones who are chosen.

When I finished college, I hoped to be hired at the design firm I had been interning at for a long time. I was turned down and told it was because the firm's clientele wasn't used to people who look like me. I was crushed and erroneously reasoned that everyone felt like that. It wasn't until the pandemic hit that I realized I needed to do something for myself and that's when I opened up.

Being black in design is saying that we don't have to play sports, we don't have to be funny all the time, and we can own a business. And so, for me, being black in design is being able to tell a story that was built over. You can only put so much wood clad over the history of what a structure really is, of who built it.

Whats your favorite part of your own home?

My kitchen because it's the first space that I fully renovated from ceiling to floor. It's also somewhere that I have my wallpaper in and was able to make all of the decisions not based on necessity, but based on the actual design.

I feel that the kitchen is the lungs of the home, it gives breath, and the dining room gives life so those are my favorite. I was able to break down walls in my kitchen and put in a skylight, according to the moon's path, so I can watch the moon as I cook, or just lay down on my floor and watch the moon as it passes over. That's why this room is my favorite because, when it's a full moon, I can turn the lights off in the kitchen and it's just filled with moonlight. So it's my happy place. Yellow is the permanent or prominent color from the refrigerator down to the floors. So yeah, the kitchen is my favorite right now  sorry to the other places.

Read Next:This Black Designer Is Kicking Imposter Syndrome to the Curb
Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen holds a news conference following day two of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting in Washington, U.S., December 14, 2016. REUTERS/Gary Cameron

The US could take action against China's "economic coercion," Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said.

Measures include possibly extending limits on investments in China.

Yellen's comments come amid growing tensions between the two superpowers.

The US and other countries in the Group of Seven could take action to counter China's "economic coercion," according to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

In a press conference at the G7 meeting of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors on Thursday, Yellen said that the US had been mulling a counter measures against China's coercive economic policies for awhile, potentially with the coordinated help of other countries.

Such measures could include extending the current sanctions on investments in China with other G7 nations, she said, but added that no official action had been decided on yet.

"We have been engaging in discussions with our G7 colleagues, and I would expect that that would continue these meetings, at least in some informal way," Yellen said, per Reuters' report."My own view is that this should be national security focused. It's not focused at all on undermining, say, China's economic competitiveness or ability to advance economically."

She pointed in particular to China's sanctions against Australia and Lithuania, which she described as a clear act of coercion, Reuters reported.

Her comments come amid growing tensions between the US and China, with Chinese officials expressing fury over the last year as US politicians signaled their support for Taiwan and grilled TikTok CEO Shou Chew in a March congressional hearing. Lawmakers have floated a ban or a forced sale of TikTok in the US to address security concerns.

Though Treasury officials have said the US isn't seeking to decouple economically from China, Chinese officials have suggested possible retaliation if its companies continue to face harsh treatment in America. Recently, the nation updated its anti-espionage laws, and has begun cracking down on foreign firms operating in China to prevent spying.

That's led some experts to warn of a growing rift between the two countries. Tensions are now approaching a red-line, one Yale economist said, and the two powers could potentially be on the brink of war, billionaire investor Ray Dalio warned.

Read the original article on Business Insider
After Huwaida Arraf finished her four presentations about Palestinian history to students at Bloomfield Hills High School, the attorney and Palestinian American activist, who was invited to speak as part of a diversity program, thought the talks had gone well.

But over the next few weeks, a storm of controversy erupted as some students, parents and Jewish leaders expressed outrage over her remarks on March 14, criticizing her history of Palestinian activism and accusing her of being anti-Israel and antisemitic.

After months of public forums, angry calls from parents for school officials to be fired and intense debate among Jewish, Arab and Muslim communities in metro Detroit, the Bloomfield Hills School District recently announced that its superintendent, Patrick Watson, will be retiring in July. And the principal of the high school where Arraf spoke, Lawrence Stroughter, has resigned "in order to pursue other opportunities in education," district spokesman Karen Huyghe said. The school district has also hired a Troy firm to investigate what happened.

Lawyer and activist Huwaida Arraf is among the Democrats running in the newly drawn 10th Congressional District based in Macomb County

The controversy over the past two months illustrates the challenges diverse communities face in trying to promote inclusion of all groups while also being able to have open dialogue. Both Jewish and Muslim communities feel their voices were not being respected.

'A chilling effect'

On April 30, a forum was held featuring Arraf and Jewish and Palestinian advocates hosted by Jewish Voice for Peace-Detroit at Bloomfield Township Public Library. They spoke out against the reaction of some school officials and Jewish leaders, saying that supporting Palestinians is not antisemitic. About 150 attended, with some protesting the event, said organizers. On May 3rd, Arraf took part in a rally condemning antisemitism outside a Royal Oak synagogue that had been vandalized with a Nazi symbol.

A discussion with Arraf and a local Jewish leader, Rabbi Asher Lopatin, had been set for Friday, May 12, on a podcast hosted by Peter Beinart, a journalist who often writes on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. But earlier this week, Lopatin pulled out of the dialogue, Arraf said.

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The departure of the school officials has concerned Arraf and her supporters.

"That creates a chilling effect," Arraf told the Free Press about the school officials leaving. "People who speak about Palestinian rights will think twice about it. And people who would give a platform for someone to speak about Palestinian rights also need to be concerned. And I think that's the intention of it, to silence the Palestinian narrative, and that's dangerous. That's why we did not want to be silent about it, while we wanted to do something to actually amplify how wrong this is."

Some Jewish leaders had differing views, praising the departures.

There must be consequences for antisemitic agitation if we want to eliminate it, and the Bloomfield Hills community has imposed those consequences," Liora Rez, executive director of StopAntisemitism, said in a statement. "Allowing Ms. Araff to spread her vitriol at length on four occasions was unacceptably negligent ... and it is now the Districts responsibility to prevent similar incidents in the future."

The tensions over the past couple of months led to polarized debates, but also attempts to bring people together. Some Jewish and Muslim leaders are working on putting out a joint statement to promote unity and "protect both communities," said Dr. Yahya Basha, of West Bloomfield, a longtime Arab American and Muslim leader.

Arraf and Lopatin met and spoke with each other briefly at a recent dinner at a Warren mosque, the Islamic Organization of North American, that had invited them.

The debate comes as both sides are marking this spring the 75th anniversary of the founding of Israel, with Palestinians planning a rally Saturday in Dearborn calling it the Nakba, or "catastrophe," referring to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians as the Jewish state was being established.

On Wednesday evening, U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, held a Nakba event with a packed crowd that U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-California, had earlier tried to block. The event was praised by Arab American and Muslim groups while the CEO of the largest Jewish civil rights group, the Anti-Defamation League, called it "disgraceful."

History of Palestinian activism

Arraf is a longtime advocate for Palestinians, co-founding the International Solidarity Movement and leading the Gaza flotilla protests in 2008 and 2010 that drew widespread attention. Born to Palestinian Catholic immigrants, Arraf, 47, of Macomb Township, is also a civil rights attorney and ran for Congress last year in the 10th Congressional District, losing in the Democratic primary. Her husband, Adam Shapiro, is Jewish and has been active alongside her in Palestinian activism over the years.

Arraf spoke to the Free Press in detail about what happened March 14. She said she had been invited earlier this year to speak at Bloomfield High School, along with other speakers representing various diverse groups such as trans, Asian American and Black communities.

After her first of four talks at the Bloomfield school on March 14, Arraf was told by Stroughter, the principal, to tone down her remarks, which included discussions about Gaza and the death of a volunteer Arraf had once worked with, Rachel Corrie, who died in Gaza 20 years ago on March 16, 2003, after she was run over by a bulldozer while protesting against Israel.

"I read a few lines of one of her emails" written a couple of weeks before Corrie died, Arraf said.

But most of her talk was about her own experiences, she said. Arraf started by speaking about how she grew up in a largely white area where she "tried to hide my my culture," but then embraced her heritage while studying at the University of Michigan. Arraf then spoke about her time as an activist.

A forum hosted by Jewish Voices for Peace-Detroit was held April 30th, 2023, at Bloomfield Township Public Library to discuss the debate over attorney Huwaida Arraf's talks at Bloomfield Hills high school in March. Left to right: Palestinian-American educator and activist, Lori Ajlouny; Rabbi Alana Alpert, who is speaking in the photo; Arraf; student Mariam Aladlouni; civil rights attorney, Barbara Harvey.

"I ended the talk by kind of stressing ... there are forces out there that try to divide people based on our differences," she said. "But we can't let that win. ... Every person deserves the same rights and freedom."

After her talk, Stroughter approached Arraf, saying her speech was too political.

"The principal did speak to me ... made me aware that we had a lot of families in Bloomfield that had close ties to Israel," Arraf said, recalling the conversation. "And I said, 'you know, I work with Israelis ... That doesn't negate what is actually happening there nor my experience.' But I didn't argue too much. Because, he said, he doesn't want the students to shut me out. He wants me to reach them."

"And so I said, 'fine, I don't need to talk about Gaza. There's a lot of things to talk about,' " Arraf said. "And Rachel (Corrie) was taken out of the second, third and fourth talks."

Outrage among Jewish leaders

The evening after her talks, the Jewish Community Relations Council/American Jewish Committee (JCRC/AJC), a local Jewish advocacy group that often is the public voice of the Jewish community in metro Detroit, released a statement blasting Arraf and the district for allowing her to speak.

"We are horrified that known anti-Israel activist Huwaida Arraf was invited to speak at Bloomfield Hills High School as part of the schools diversity initiative," the statement from JCRC/AJC read in part. "Arraf gave four presentations over the span of the day  increasing her anti-Israel rhetoric and making Jewish students - of which there were many in attendance  extremely uncomfortable. Some points Arraf made to students in attendance included: Israel is the oppressor, and Israel is an apartheid state."

The largest Jewish house of worship in Michigan, Temple Israel, released a statement the next day, saying leaders were "shocked and disappointed" with what they said was "anti-Israel and antisemitic rhetoric." A group of Jewish leaders, including Lopatin, other rabbis, and members of the Michigan Anti-Defamation League, met the following day with Stroughter and other school officials, reported the Detroit Jewish News.

Stroughter issued a letter of apology, but that was slammed by Jewish leaders as inadequate for failing to mention the specific topics of Israel or Jewish people. The next day, another letter of apology was sent from Pat Watson, the Superintendent of Bloomfield Hills Schools, to the community that was more specific, calling out Arraf by name, reported WDIV.

"We made a mistake," Watson said in his letter addressed to students, staff and parents. "We own what went wrong and will improve our practices. ... In preparation for this assembly, administration met with each of the five speakers to discuss the intent of the assembly and prompts. The prompt was to address an oppression or discrimination they have faced and what could the people around you have done to make this better. A guest speaker deviated from the prompts and discussed specific incidents, political in nature, which were outside of the parameters of the assembly and not their own lived experience."

A town hall organized by Jewish Voices for Peace-Detroit was held April 30, 2023, at Bloomfield Township Public Library to discuss the debate over attorney Huwaida Arraf's talks at Bloomfield Hills High School in March. About 150 people attended, organizers said.

Watson echoed the views of Temple Israel, saying that Arraf was using "antisemetic rhetoric" that "was shared with our students and we recognize its devastating impact. For this we are very sorry."

Arraf bristles at the claim she is antisemitic, noting her long history of working with Jews and Israelis on fighting for human rights. She said she was outraged by the recent antisemitic attack in Royal Oak, which is why she joined with others in the protest Thursday.

"My presentation to the students was not very political, didn't speak in detail about what's happening with Palestine," Arraf said. "Just my very presence and talk about Palestine  not that I said anything antisemitic  is what made them uncomfortable and caused the outrage. And I think that that needs to change."

Groups rally to defend Huwaida Arraf

At school board meetings, Arab American and Muslim leaders spoke out in support of Arraf. Some in the Jewish community also rallied to support Arraf, including members of Jewish Voice for Peace-Detroit, a liberal group that criticizes what it sees as human rights abuses in Israel.

Rabbi Alana Alpert of Congregation Tchiyah defended Arraf at the April 30 town hall at the library hosted by the group.

"We make it impossible for Palestinians to talk about their lives without being accused of antisemitism." Alpert said in a statement. "We dont have any practice listening, we only have practice policing  'you didnt tell that story right, you didnt say it in a way that we could hear it.' When we police and censor their most basic relationship to history and family, we tell Palestinians that they cannot exist in the world except according to our very strict parameters."

But Lopatin said Arraf should not have been invited in the first place to speak at the school

Rabbi Asher Lopatin speaks at the Abortion is a Jewish Value rally at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield on Wednesday, June 29, 2022.

"The Bloomfield Hills situation was painfully flawed because all students were forced to hear Huwaida Arraf speak disparagingly and falsely about Israel  it was mandatory  in a setting that was supposed to be about inclusion and equity and respect for all opinions," Lopatin told the Free Press. "Arraf advocated against everything Bloomfield High School was about  building relationships even with people with whom you disagree."

Jewish leader calls it 'serious mistake'

Lopatin said one mistake made by the school was relying on students to select the speakers without adequate supervision.

"It was a serious mistake that initially hurt many Jewish students and then, ironically, caused pain to many Arab American and Muslim students," Lopatin said. "It was unfortunate because there are many Palestinian and Arab American  let alone Jewish  speakers who could have demonstrated the values of shared society, building relationships with those you disagree, and mutual respect."

Karen Huyghe, a spokesperson for the school district, sent the Free Press a statement the district had issued earlier, saying "our commitment to fostering an accepting and caring school environment is not without challenges."

"We actively listened to the concerns of our students, families, and community and put together a comprehensive plan toward healing as a community," the statement added. "The district will emerge stronger and better as a result of these conversations, undeterred from its commitment to all students and to foster a school environment of safety and support for all our students."

Contact Niraj Warikoo: nwarikoo@freepress.com or Twitter @nwarikoo

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Jewish leaders object to Michigan school talks by Palestinian activist
[Source]

A Boston man accused of spying on dissidents for the Chinese government has pleaded not guilty to his charges, according to reports.

Litang Liang, 63, was arrested on Tuesday and charged with acting as an agent of a foreign government, as well as conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government, both without notice to the attorney general.

He was released on Thursday on several conditions, including a $25,000 bond, the surrender of passport, restriction of travel to Massachusetts, no contact with Chinese officials and electronic monitoring.

The Brighton resident is accused of acting for the Chinese government between 2018 and 2022, as per charging documents.

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He allegedly provided information on Boston-area individuals and groups, organized a protest against pro-democracy dissidents, sent photos and information of such dissidents to Chinese officials and offered names of potential recruits to the Ministry of Public Security.

Liang is specifically accused of providing information about individuals and organizations with pro-Taiwan leanings. Aside from officials with the Ministry of Public Security, he allegedly contacted Chinese diplomats in the U.S. and the United Front Work Department, which federal authorities describe as an entity that reports directly to the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and works to further the CCPs goals.

Frances Hui, policy and advocacy coordinator for the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation, organized the Boston Stands with Hong Kong march in 2019, which Liang is accused of counter-protesting.

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It's definitely nerve-wracking to just learn all about what he has done in the past years, and especially to the people that participated in the rally that I organized in August of 2019, Hui told NBC10 Boston, adding that there were gun threats to participants at the time, including herself.

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In January of that year, Liang co-founded the New England Alliance for the Peaceful Unification of China, a pro-China, anti-Taiwan independence organization, according to Fox News.

He reportedly served as its vice president through at least 2021.

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If convicted of acting as an agent, Liang could face up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a maximum of $250,000 in fines. Meanwhile, the conspiracy charge carries up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a maximum of $250,000 in fines.

Enjoy this content? Read more from NextShark!

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Women should start having regular screening mammograms at age 40  10 years earlier than the previous guidelines  according to an expert panel's new recommendations. (Photo: Getty Images)

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force just released new draft guidelines on breast cancer prevention, and they're stirring up some questions. The panel of medical experts now recommends that women start having regular mammograms at age 40  a huge departure from previous guidance, which said that women should start mammograms by age 50.

This is a draft recommendation  in other words, it's not final yet  but it's expected to become official in a few months.

According to the new draft guidelines, women should be screened for breast cancer every other year starting at age 40 to lower their risk of dying from the disease. "While the Task Force has consistently recognized the lifesaving value of mammography, we previously recommended that women in their 40s make an individual decision about when to start screening based on their health history and preferences," a statement from the Task Force says. "In this new recommendation, the Task Force now recommends that all women get screened starting at age 40. This change could result in 19% more lives being saved."

But the screening recommendations are different from those of other organizations, including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Cancer Society  which are also different from each other. What's going on here, and why are breast cancer prevention guidelines so confusing? Doctors break it all down.

What led to the new mammography screening recommendations?

It's important to point out that the screening recommendations revert to what the Task Force used to recommend around mammograms. In 2009, the organization increased the recommended age for routine mammograms from 40 to 50. At the time, the panel expressed concerns that starting screening at age 40 could lead to unnecessary treatments, such as unneeded biopsies and other therapies over false positives for cancer.

But since then, breast cancer diagnoses have increased  especially in women under 50 and younger Black women, who are dying from breast cancer at nearly double the rate of white women of the same age.

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New and more inclusive science about breast cancer in people younger than 50 has enabled us to expand our prior recommendation and encourage all women to get screened in their 40s, the Task Force wrote on its website. We have long known that screening for breast cancer saves lives, and the science now supports all women getting screened, every other year, starting at age 40.

Dr. Christine Edmonds, an assistant professor of radiology at the Hospitals of the University of Pennsylvania, tells Yahoo Life: "There is overwhelming evidence that, for women at average lifetime risk of breast cancer, beginning screening at age 40 saves the most lives, as compared to beginning at age 45 or 50. In addition, the most life-years are lost to breast cancer among women diagnosed in their 40s as compared to women diagnosed in any other decade of life."

Edmonds says that when you factor that in with knowing there is "minimal risk" to screening women in their 40s, "it is with a resounding 'yes' that we recommend women begin screening no later than age 40."

Dr. Melissa D. Fana, director of womens health for Suffolk County at NYU Langone's Perlmutter Cancer Center, tells Yahoo Life that the new recommendations are a "very important step in protecting women," adding, "We know mammography saves lives."

But many doctors say they've been recommending that women get screened for breast cancer starting at age 40, regardless of what the Task Force said in the past. "That has been our practice despite the earlier guidelines," Dr. Parvin Peddi, a medical oncologist and director of breast medical oncology for the Margie Petersen Breast Center at Providence Saint Johns Health Center, tells Yahoo Life. "There are still many patients diagnosed prior to 50."

Edmonds and Dr. Therese Bevers, medical director of the Cancer Prevention Center at MD Anderson Cancer Center, also tell Yahoo Life that their medical centers recommend annual screenings for average-risk women.

How often should people be screened who are average risk vs. higher risk?

The Task Force guidelines say that all women should start regular mammograms at age 40, but women who are considered high risk may need to start screening even earlier.

"Women at higher risk of breast cancer should also be screened annually," Edmonds says. "The age of screening onset depends on their specific risk factors and level of risk and should be determined by a breast cancer specialist. Those who are at greater than or equal to 20% lifetime risk of breast cancer should be screened with annual breast MRI." (Factors such as your family and personal history can weigh into your risk for breast cancer.)

"There are some very good risk analyses you can do online to figure out your risk," Dr. Michele Blackwood, chief in the section of breast surgery at the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, tells Yahoo Life. "If your lifetime risk is 20% or higher, you definitely are high risk."

Why do some organizations have different guidelines than the new U.S. Preventive Services Task Force's recommendations?

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends that women have mammograms every one to two years, starting at age 40  and the organization has held that recommendation for years. The American Society of Breast Surgeons also recommends annual screenings at 40, and the American Cancer Society suggests getting mammograms starting at age 45. Why is there a difference?

"We don't know what makes them do what they do," Blackwood says. "The [Task Force] recommendation to wait until 50 was confusing." Blackwood is in favor of annual screenings, rather than the Task Force's latest recommendation of every other year. "If you do them annually, you'll pick up cancers at earlier stages," she says.

A lot of why organizations recommend annual vs. biannual (every other year) screenings comes down to risk assessment, Bevers says. "The organizations that say to have mammograms annually are saying, We know that fewer women will die from breast cancer this way," she says. "The organizations who say to get screened biannually want to minimize possible harm of false positives."

The Task Force noted online that the organization analyzed modeling on the risks and benefits of screening every year or every other year and found that "when you balance lives saved against harms like unnecessary follow-up and treatment, women benefit more when screening is done every other year."

But experts say it's really best to get an annual mammogram. "The reasons provided by the [Task Force] for biennial as opposed to annual screening  potential for callbacks, for example  are nebulous, at best," Edmonds says.

Why isn't dense-breast guidance included and why is that important?

Women with dense breasts have an increased risk of developing breast cancer  something the Task Force acknowledges. However, the organization also says that it doesn't have specific recommendations for women with dense breasts just yet.

"We still don't have sufficient data to make clear screening recommendations in terms of who needs supplemental screening and how to provide this supplemental screening among women with dense breasts," Edmonds says. "Much more research is needed to better understand who may need supplemental screening, when in their lives they warrant supplemental screening and how to screen them."

What does this all mean for insurance?

The Task Force recommendations usually guide insurance coverage of screening tests, Bevers says. "Thus, a recommendation to begin screening mammography at age 40 protects insurance coverage for women age 40 and above," Edmonds says.

Wellness, parenting, body image and more: Get to know the who behind the hoo with Yahoo Life's newsletter. Sign up here.
One driver was killed and another was seriously injured Sunday night in a head-on crash, according to the South Carolina Highway Patrol.

The two-vehicle collision happened at about 9:15 p.m. in Chesterfield County, Cpl. David Jones said Monday.

A woman was driving a 2013 Toyota Avalon in the wrong direction, going north in the southbound lanes of S.C. 151, and hit an oncoming 1998 Honda Accord, according to Jones.

Both drivers were taken to area hospitals, and the Honda driver died at a medical facility in Florence, Jones said.

The Chesterfield County Coroners Office has not publicly identified the Honda driver.

The woman driving the Toyota suffered serious injuries, according to Jones. Further information on her condition was not available.

No other injuries were reported, and it was not made public if either driver was wearing a seat belt.

There was no word if Toyota driver will face any criminal charges, but the collision continues to be investigated by the Highway Patrol.

Through April 9, at least 242 people have died on South Carolina roads in 2023, according to the state Department of Public Safety. Last year, 1,091 people died in crashes in South Carolina, DPS reported.

At least four people have died in Chesterfield County crashes in 2023, according to DPS data. Last year, 14 deaths were reported in the county, DPS reported.
Tim de Waele - Getty Images

Road racing, especially the iconic events like the Giro dItalia, Tour de France and Paris-Roubaix often are spoken about in strictly serious terms.

Sure, once cyclocross season rolls around, theres a little room for levity amongst riders and promoters, but during the classics, it is all business.

Except this year, the Giro dItalia seems to be making an extreme exception, as both the racers and the promoters seem to be enjoying moments of hilarity even during the race.

Case in point, this mornings wakeup call for Remco Evenepoel, tweeted by the race organizers with the invite to caption this:

The riders are getting goofier than ever, with the Jayco AlUla team literally reeling in Trek Segafredo's Mads Pederson:

Is this a bike race or improv night at the bar?

The social media team for the race also seems to be trolling teams, posting content like this at critical moments:

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Arguably even better, teams like Trek Segafredo are firing back with memes of their own in response:

We dont even know how to explain the level in in-joke-ness happening between Quickstep and the Giro here:

And finally, to sum it up, this is truly is bananas:

You know what? This is honestly almost inspiring enough to make me want to buy some official Giro dItalia merch.

 Cerchi un look casual ispirato al Giro d'Italia? Sia che tu stia tifando dai bordi della strada o che stia seguendo la corsa comodamente da casa, l'abbigliamento casual Kappa dedicato al Giro d'Italia 2023 ti fara sentire parte dell'azione. Scopri su Giro Store i migliori pic.twitter.com/ds5hQhD4Cw  Giro d'Italia (@giroditalia) May 12, 2023

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The trial for the $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News and its parent company is now set to begin Tuesday.

The original start time was 9 a.m. Monday, but Superior Court Judge Eric Davis announced late Sunday night that the trial was being briefly delayed. The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal, which is owned by Fox Chairman Rupert Murdoch, reported Sunday night that settlement talks will be ongoing on Monday.

The parties can settle anytime before or during the trial.

JUDGE SANCTIONS FOX: Judge questions truthfulness of network's lawyers

This artist sketch depicts Judge Eric Davis of Delaware Superior Court on the bench Monday, April 17, 2023, in Wilmington. Davis, who is overseeing Dominion Voting Systems' $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News announced a delay in the start of the trial until Tuesday, giving no explanation in announcing the recess.

In the courtroom Monday morning, only a few attorneys for Dominion Voting Systems and Fox were present in person. Davis kept his comments brief, saying it was normal for longer trials to be delayed. The plan, he said, is to begin with the final stages of jury selection on Tuesday morning.

The judge did not elaborate more on what caused the delay.

WHO IS A PART OF THE JURY?: Delaware residents will decide outcome of Fox News defamation case. Trial to begin Monday

This is not a press conference, Davis said. I dont do that.

Dominion filed a lawsuit against Fox in 2021 after the cable news network aired false claims that the company helped steal the 2020 presidential election. Dominion alleges Fox knowingly spread these falsities to appeal to its conservative audience after it called the Arizona race for Joe Biden on election night.

Fox has denied all wrongdoing, saying its hosts were covering the most important news story of the day. Fox News, in a statement, described the lawsuit as a political crusade in search of a financial windfall.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Dominion/Fox News defamation trial start in Delaware set for Tuesday
Century 21 is gearing up for its long-awaited return to New York City next week, one year after the off-price retailer announced its comeback.

Last May, the New York-based retailer said it had teamed up with premium experiences company Legends to introduce a revitalized shopping experience in-store at its longtime Cortlandt Street flagship store as well as online.

More from Footwear News

At the time of the announcement, co-CEO Raymond Gindi said in a statement that he could not be more excited to bring Century 21 back home to New York. Century 21 is, and always will be, a New York City brand. Our flagship store has been a long-time symbol of this citys resilience and unwavering spirit. In our 60-year history we have only closed our doors twice, once after the devastation of 9/11 and then again during the COVID-19 pandemic. But like the true New Yorkers we are, we have persevered.

A look at the shoes inside the soon-to-be-open Century 21 NYC. - Credit: Courtesy of Century 21

Courtesy of Century 21

The closure of the retailer came in Sept. 2020 when Century 21 filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which led the company to shutter all 13 of its locations across New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Florida.

During the bankruptcy process in 2020, the Gindi family, which owned, operated and founded the famous off-price chain, bought back the intellectual property for $9 million, together with a silent partner. However, the business is now entirely owned by co-CEOs IG and Raymond Gindi, and their two cousins, Eddie and Isaac Gindi.

So, as Century 21 department store prepares to reopen its flagship at 22 Cortlandt Street on May 16, here is everything you need to know about the opening.

Expect a Smaller Store

The soon-to-be-reopened Cortlandt Street location will have a smaller footprint than before. Judy Duzich, Century 21s VP of merchandising, told FN in an interview that the store is now roughly 100,000 square-feet, down from the previous 250,000 square-feet before the closure.

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The store used to be six floors, but we are condensing to the four main floors of the original downtown space, Duzich said. Mens, womens and childrens designer apparel, footwear, outerwear, handbags, accessories and fragrances will all still be part of the mix, but some categories have been phased out. We will no longer have our home section or large makeup counters, but we do have a great NYC-themed gift area in the store, Duzich said.

A look at the shoes inside the soon-to-be-open Century 21 NYC. - Credit: Courtesy of Century 21

Courtesy of Century 21

Duzich, who has worked for the retailer for 30 years and was one of many employees that came back during the relaunch, noted that the assortment is now more curated and will emphasize a treasure hunt shopping experience.

Shoes and kids are on the lower level, with our core handbags and accessories on the main level, Duzich noted. Womens will be the entire second floor and mens will live on the third floor.

What Design Updates Were Made?

According to Duzich, the company had to reconsider the floor plan now that there is less space but expect to see more modern design with a much brighter store. We have a lot more lighting now, the executive noted. We also pulled the cash registers out to sit near the exits of each sales floor. Out fitting rooms are larger with full-size mirrors and better lighting. And, we will have an express check-out on the main floor in order to minimize some of the pain points that customers had in the past.

Expect a New Name

Duzich pointed out in the interview that Century 21 Stores decided to rename itself for the reopening. The retailer is now known as Century 21 NYC. As a New York based company, it was important to us to acknowledge our legacy by changing the name, Duzich said. Weve also added more New York-based brands to the store throughout all our divisions, and some NYC-themed giftables like mugs and t-shirts. This is our ode to New York.

A look at the shoes inside the soon-to-be-open Century 21 NYC. - Credit: Courtesy of Century 21

Courtesy of Century 21

What Shoes Will Be Available?

The shoe selection will be divided into designer and contemporary spaces. Duzich said consumers will be able to find shoes from designers such as Bottega Veneta, Versace, JW Anderson, Gianvito Rossi, Proenza Schouler, Tods, Santoni, United Nude and Larroude.

As for the contemporary section, Duzich called out brands like Allbirds, Schutz, Ugg, Dolce Vita and Steve Madden. I feel like we have an array of all the top brands on the shoe floor with multiple trends, like evening dress shoes to Western-inspired items, offered throughout.

Whats Happening at the Grand Reopening Event?

On May 16, Century 21 will host its grand reopening event filled with experiences. Customers can expect fashion Illustrations by Izak Zenou, a runway inspired photo booth, a personalization station with NYC themed patches and pins and classic local bites. The retailer will also have a Wheel of Deals prize wheel, which will feature prizes that include NYC experiences, dining, hotels, gift cards, and more.

A look at the shoes inside the soon-to-be-open Century 21 NYC. - Credit: Courtesy of Century 21

Courtesy of Century 21

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The family of Lachelle Jordan, a Cleveland woman who has been missing since Saturday, urged the public to help in the search for the EMT worker, who shared that she was being stalked before her disappearance.

"We're here to talk about the love of a family for a daughter who is missing," Lachelle Jordan's father, Joseph Jordan, told reporters during a press conference on Thursday afternoon outside the Cleveland 5th District police station.

Joseph Jordan said that family, friends, co-workers and Lachelle Jordan's two children -- a 4-year-old and an 8-year-old -- want her home and issued an emotional plea for anyone with information about his daughter's whereabouts to come forward.

"Somebody knows what happened, and I need that somebody -- whoever you are, wherever you are -- I need you to reach out to law enforcement. Reach out to the media. Contact them. You can remain anonymous," he said.

"Lachelle Jordan is a somebody. She is an EMT," he added.

"She is a somebody. There is no way that I am going to rest and let Lachelle become a nobody."

Lachelle Jordan's brother William Jordan told reporters that Lachelle's EMT coworkers canvased for hours today and have continued to help her family in the search efforts.

A spokesperson for the Cleveland Police Department told ABC News on Thursday that "officers have conducted multiple canvasses, searched and have gone door to door."

Joseph Jordan told ABC News in a phone interview on Thursday that before she went missing, his daughter shared with her family and with coworkers that she was being stalked by Michael Stennett and was set to testify against him this week.

According to Cuyahoga County court records, Stennett was charged with two counts of rape and one count of abduction on May 9, 2022. He entered a not guilty plea and was released on $10,000 bond on May 23, 2022.

According to ABC News Cleveland affiliate WEWS, prior to going missing, Jordan was planning to attend Stennett's pre-trial hearing on Monday.

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PHOTO: Lachelle Jordan, age 30, missing from 11608 Fairpoint Avenue in Cleveland was last seen on May 6, 2023. (Cleveland Police)

Lachelle shared with her family that Stennett started stalking her as they were preparing for the hearings related to his rape and abduction case, Joseph Jordan said.

She filed a restraining order and [Stennett] continued to violate that restraining order, appearing at both [her] home and work, Joseph Jordan said.

According to a Cleveland Municipal Court case summary, Stennett was charged with one felony count of menacing by stalking and one felony count of violating a protection order, days before Lachelle Jordan's disappearance. He appeared in court on May 8.

ABC News reached out to Stennett's attorney Daniel Misiewicz for comment.

Cleveland police said earlier this week that there isn't any evidence connecting Stennett to Jordan's disappearance, according to Cleveland 19 News.

Asked if police have any updates in the investigation, a spokesperson for the Cleveland Police Department told ABC News on Thursday afternoon, "There are no updates at this time."

Court records reviewed by ABC News show that Stennett is in custody and is being held on a $100,000 bond. His next hearing is set for May 18.

The Cleveland Police Department asked the public to help in the search for Jordan, who was last seen on Saturday and may be in danger.

Authorities said that 30-year-old Lachelle Jordan has been missing since May 6 and was last seen near Fairport Avenue in Cleveland.

MORE: Searching for missing Indigenous women, tribes and lawmakers seek to raise awareness

Authorities said that at the time of her disappearance, Jordan was last seen wearing "a blue and white East Cleveland Fire Department sweatshirt with ECFD on the back and the Fire logo on the front, green and white tie dye pants and rainbow-colored Croc shoes."

Joseph Jordan said that he last spoke with his daughter on Friday evening and her twin sister, Rachelle Jordan, was the last person in the family to see Lachelle.

Her twin sister was home with her on Saturday evening and she was the last one to hear from her because she said she was going out to get something, Joseph Jordan said.  and her sister didnt think nothing of it until she didn't come back to the house.

He said that Rachelle Jordan filed a missing person's report on Sunday.

Mark Barrett, president of the Cleveland EMS Union, told ABC News on Wednesday that Jordan was a new employee and had filed reports with her job that she was being stalked.

Jordan was removed from the truck where she worked and brought to headquarters due to safety concerns for her and her coworkers, Barrett said.

PHOTO: Lachelle Jordan, age 30, missing from 11608 Fairpoint Avenue in Cleveland was last seen on May 6, 2023. (Cleveland Police)

MORE: Chicago residents sound alarm after 2 women found dead, teen missing

According to an arrest warrant for Stennett obtained by WEWS, Jordan noticed that Stennett followed her multiple times while she was in her personal vehicle when she was working, as well as waiting outside her home.

The arrest warrant stated that, two days before she went missing, Jordan allegedly noticed Stennett sitting outside her home, according to WEWS.

Crimestoppers is offering a $5,000 reward to anyone who has information on Jordan's location. People can leave an anonymous tip by calling 216-252-7463.

Family of Lachelle Jordan urges public for help after she goes missing before rape trial testimony originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
A law banning abortion after 15 weeks is still waiting for the Florida Supreme Court to review it for constitutionality, but the Florida legislature has rushed through and passed an even stricter bill to ban nearly all abortions after six weeks, which Gov. Ron DeSantis quickly signed into law in a private late-night ceremony.

In the race to enact state laws restricting abortion after the Supreme Court ruled against Roe v. Wade in 2022, this move follows similar bans in other Republican-controlled states, particularly in the South where Florida was, briefly, an abortion haven state. Abortion is now functionally illegal in several states and restricted to specific gestational time limits in several others. At least 12 other states have approved bans on abortions after six weeks, although many such as Georgia and South Carolina have seen these laws blocked, struck down or challenged in court.

How will this law change abortion in Florida? Here's what you need to know.

Florida abortion ban: Gov. DeSantis signs 6-week abortion ban after Republicans fast-track vote

'Were for pro-life': Florida Senate sets strict 'heartbeat' abortion law for vote after rolling over opposition

More: Florida Supreme Court in no hurry to shape future of abortion in state

What does a 6-week abortion ban mean for Floridians?

In the new law, all abortions (with a few exceptions) would be illegal in the state of Florida after a "physician determines the gestational age of the fetus is more than 6 weeks," a time when many pregnant people don't yet know they're pregnant. People may have as little as two weeks after missing a period to find out.

As Florida law also requires a person to have two appointments at least 24 hours apart to get an abortion, this leaves an extremely narrow window.

Abortion bans spreading: 5 ways the landscape has changed since the end of Roe v. Wade 'upended' abortion access

When do most people find out they're pregnant?

According to a 2021 study from ANSIRH (Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health) at the University of California San Francisco, about one in three people confirm their pregnancies after six weeks, and one in five after seven weeks.

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"Later confirmation of pregnancy is even higher among young people, people of color, and those living with food insecurity," the study's summary said, "suggesting that gestational bans on abortion in the first trimester will disproportionally hurt these populations."

When does Florida's 6-week abortion ban go into effect?

That depends on how the Florida Supreme Court rules in a lawsuit against the state's previous 15-week abortion ban.

The court must uphold that law in order for this more restrictive ban to go into effect. At issue in the case is Florida's sweeping right-to-privacy in the state constitution and whether the current panel of justices will overturn previous court decisions applying the privacy right to abortion.

Is a 6-week abortion ban the same as a 'heartbeat bill?'

Similar 6-week abortion bans have been called "heartbeat bills," with supporters saying a fetus should not be aborted once a heartbeat can be detected. The Senate version of this bill was changed to the "Heartbeat Protection Act" in a last-minute amendment added before it went up for a vote by Sen. Erin Grall, R-Vero Beach, sponsor of the measure (SB 300).

Once there is a heartbeat, we do not believe that an abortion should occur, Grall told the Senate.

According to medical experts, at six weeks, the fetus has no heart. The sounds heard are pulses visible on an ultrasound.

Democrats' efforts to block the name change, like every other effort to block or at least clearly define the conditions of the bill, were defeated by the Republican supermajority.

'Heartbeat laws': All but one state neighboring Texas also have passed 'heartbeat' laws

'Extreme, dangerous': Florida Republicans file bills to ban abortion after six weeks of pregnancy

Do the 6-week abortion bills in Florida include exemptions for danger to the mother?

Yes, but only for extreme cases. Two physicians must certify, in writing, that in their judgment, "the termination of the pregnancy is necessary to save the pregnant womans life or avert a serious risk of substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman other than a psychological condition." One physician may certify it if another is unavailable at the time.

This requires physicians who are willing to risk possible fines, loss of license and even imprisonment to go on record against oversight committees and the state.

The current 15-week ban does not allow exceptions for rape and incest, something that drew criticism even from some supporters.

Multiple efforts by Democrats to clarify the conditions under which a physician may make that call without risking their medical license were struck down.

New Florida abortion laws: More women, especially Black women, will die in ways you don't expect

Do the 6-week abortion bills in Florida include exemptions for a fetus that has died or is going to die?

Yes. If two physicians have certified in writing that in reasonable medical judgment, the fetus has a fatal fetal abnormality, the pregnancy may be terminated. However, both bills include new language requiring that the pregnancy must not have "progressed to the third trimester," suggesting that abortions for fatal fetal abnormalities are banned after 27 weeks.

Doctor, hospital denies abortion: Told fetus won't survive, Lakeland woman learns medical center won't terminate pregnancy

She had 'a baby dying inside' her: Under Missouri's abortion ban, doctors could do nothing

'The law is clear as mud': Louisiana woman denied abortion after fetus' fatal diagnosis wants 'vague' ban clarified

Do the 6-week abortion bills in Florida include exemptions for rape or incest?

Yes, but. Abortions are permitted in the case of rape or incest but only if:

You haven't been pregnant for more than 15 weeks

You have copies of "a restraining order, police report, medical record, or other court order or documentation" to provide evidence you're a victim of rape or incest.

If you are a minor, the physician must report the incident of rape or incest to the central abuse hotline.

'That is heartbreaking as physicians': Adolescent incest survivor had to leave Florida for abortion, says Jacksonville Planned Parenthood doctor

Do the 6-week abortion bills in Florida ban abortion pills?

For anyone except licensed doctors who are administering them to you in person, yes.

So-called "abortion pills" (actually two pills, mifepristone and misoprostol, taken up to 48 hours apart)  which cause a persons cervix to dilate and their uterus to contract, emptying the embryo from the persons uterus  have dramatically risen in popularity in the last few years both for the relative convenience compared to surgical abortions and to get around abortion bans.

"Medication abortion has become incredibly important for abortion access as abortion bans that have decimated abortion care across numerous states, said Jenny Ma, senior counsel at the Center for Reproductive Rights.

The new Florida law clearly states that abortions may only be performed by a physician and that physician must be in the room with you. Telehealth sessions, such as what many pregnant people have been using to get abortion pills prescribed in states with strict abortion laws, are specifically banned.

Boxes of the drug mifepristone sit on a shelf at the West Alabama Women's Center in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on March 16, 2022.

Online appointments: Demand for telemedicine abortions increases but could face legal challenges post-Roe

In January the FDA ruled that abortion pills could be prescribed by physicians and picked up by patients at pharmacies, but Florida's law blocks that and also prevents anyone from ordering them online. The law states "any medications intended to cause abortions must be dispensed in person by a physician and may not be dispensed through the United States Postal Service or by any other courier or shipping service."

Abortion pills are under attack elsewhere in the country, after a federal judge in Texas ordered a pause on the Food and Drug Administration's approval of mifepristone and lower courts countered with rulings to allow it to be available in the US but with some new restrictions. The Department of Justice has appealed the initial ruling and President Biden's administration has asked the Supreme Court to step in. If the ruling stands, healthcare providers could be barred from prescribing mifepristone in many cases, even in states where abortion is legal.

Amid abortion pill battle most Americans say medication abortion should be legal

Banning abortion pills: Dueling federal rulings plunge future of abortion pill into legal uncertainty

Can I go to jail for getting an abortion after 6 weeks in Florida?

Willfully performing or actively participating in an abortion outside of the restrictions is a third-degree felony, punishable by fines and imprisonment of five years. Some state laws apply this to anyone performing or assisting the procedure; it is unclear here if the pregnant person is also liable.

More: In Florida, Roe v. Wade overturn triggers emotions from all sides of abortion debate

What else is in the 6-week abortion ban law?

The law also blocks any individuals, state employees or organizations, or educational institutions from using state funds to help someone travel to another state for abortion services unless they are required by federal law to do so or there is a need for emergency medical procedures to save the pregnant person's life.

And eligibility for help from the nonprofit Florida Pregnancy Care Network would be expanded from pregnant people and their families to people who have had their children or adopted children under 3 in the previous 12 months, and their families.

The law also includes $25 million for state-contracted pregnancy crisis centers and $5 million family-planning services such as contraception and counseling.

Democrats in both chambers tried unsuccessfully to reallocate that money toward expanding childcare services, rape and domestic violence centers, and a program created by the Legislature to address racial disparities in maternal care. They noted that the crisis centers aren't required to have medical practitioners on staff or to abide by health privacy laws, concerns that were confirmed in a report by the Miami Herald and Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting.

Crisis pregnancy centers: Planned Parenthood warns of 'fake abortion clinics' popping up in Gainesville

More: With new abortion limits, will faith-based groups step up to help pregnant women and the babies they fought to save?

Fact-checking the state: A woman seeking an abortion in Florida gets a pamphlet containing false information

Did DeSantis sign a 6-week abortion ban into law?

Signed the Heartbeat Protection Act, which expands pro-life protections and devotes resources to help young mothers and families. pic.twitter.com/quZpSj1ZPk  Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) April 14, 2023

Yes. Just hours after the Florida Legislature approved the bill, DeSantis flew back into the state from Ohio to sign the bill in a private ceremony in his office, surrounded by the House and Senate sponsors and House Speaker Paul Renner.

Which states have completely banned abortion?

Fourteen states have totally or almost completely banned abortion, said Rose Mackenzie, ACLU campaign strategist. These states are Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Idaho, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia, Georgia and Wisconsin, she said.

In eight states, there are injunctions blocking such bans from taking effect while cases challenging them continue, Mackenzie said. These are Arizona, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, Iowa, Indiana and Ohio.

Contributor: Kathryn Varn, USA TODAY Florida Network; Christine Fernando, USA TODAY

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Florida abortion ban: GOP pushes through 6-week ban, here's what changes
Heather Armstrong, founder of "mommy blog" Dooce died on Tuesday. (Photo: Liliana Penagos for Yahoo / Photo: Getty Images)

Heather Armstrong, a pioneer of so-called "mommy blogging," died on Tuesday at age 47.

Armstrong, who also went by her maiden name Heather Hamilton, launched her blog Dooce (named after a misspelling of "dude") in 2001. For decades, the Salt Lake City, Utah resident wrote candidly about the challenges of motherhood and life with depression. Her site became a business empire and one of the first successful influencer-run enterprises.

Armstrong's boyfriend, Pete Ashdown, announced the influencer's death on Instagram. Ashdown later told the Associated Press that Armstrong died by suicide at their home. He said she had recently relapsed after 18 months of sobriety.

Who was Heather Armstrong?

When Armstrong first launched Dooce, she skewered her job at a tech company, which eventually got her fired. She reclaimed the narrative in a blog post, transforming "dooced" into a verb that describes the act of losing a job over something posted online.

After becoming a parent, Armstrong's blog changed  but she didn't glamorize motherhood in the way her peers did, or in the way society expected of new mothers. She opened up about subjects then considered taboo and private, like the messier side of parenting. She wrote extensively about substance use disorder, her eventual divorce and her departure from Mormonism.

Armstrong's uniquely open manner transformed Dooce into a massive hit. She was one of the first influencers to ever monetize her blog through advertisements. Though the term "mommy blogger" has been used to dismiss women who create parenting content as trivial and boring, Armstrong built an empire, ushering in an era of women speaking the truth about their home lives.

"It was empowering," she told Vox in a 2019 profile. "I realized I didn't need some male executive in New York to tell me that my story's important enough to publish because I can just do it myself."

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Armstrong was also one of the first influencers to reckon with the ethics of sharing a child's life online. She has two children, now 19 and 14, whose lives she chronicled in unsparing detail for years. As they grew up, she granted them veto power over her posts. Her eldest child spoke with Slate in 2018 about the "embarrassing" secondhand fame she inherited.

In the late 2000s and early 2010s, Armstrong transcended online fame to enter the mainstream. She wrote books, appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show and was named the most influential woman in media by Forbes.

Recently, Armstrong was perhaps best known for her writing about depression. Her posts on Dooce.com decreased substantially in the last year  she went from posting daily in September 2022 to posting only once in all of 2023. She faced backlash for some of her last posts in which she shared anti-trans ideals.

In her final post in April 2023, she compared early sobriety to "life as a clam without its shell."

In her 2019 book, The Valedictorian of Being Dead, Armstrong detailed her depression and alcohol addiction. She wrote about undergoing a clinical trial for depression, which involved having her brain activity reduced to zero by doctors before raising it again over 10 different sessions.

"When you are that desperate, you will try anything," Armstrong told Vox about the treatment. "I thought my kids deserved to have a happy, healthy mother, and I needed to know that I had tried all options to be that for them."

Reactions

Lisa Belkin, who once profiled Armstrong for Yahoo News and crowned her the "queen of the mommy bloggers," says "I started to read her because I wanted to read her."

Belkin was just one of many talented writers who admired, and even profiled, Armstrong.

It's hard to put into words just how influential she was to the blogosphere, tweeted author Roxane Gay.

Rebecca Woolf, another mommy blogger from the same era, wrote on Instagram that Armstrong "shaped the internet as we know it today."

"[Armstrong] launched a million storytellers with her willingness to write boldly and unapologetically about the struggles of being human," Woolf wrote.

Lasting impact and legacy

Belkin, who closely followed Armstrongs career and eulogized her for the New York Times, says she wouldn't even consider her to be an influencer  she was whatever came before that. Armstrong laid the groundwork for present-day influencers who post on social media to earn money, but her priority was always the writing.

"There were no limits back then on what you could post or how much," she said. "Women like [Armstrong] were writing about their frustrations with the domestic sphere and figuring it out together. That's gone now."

To Belkin, Armstrong's death marks the end of the blogging era. Sharing your life online now takes so much more work and careful packaging than it used to. But because of Armstrong's talent and popularity, she was able to turn her writing into a product, which has been copied and expanded upon through a new generation of parenting influencers.

Living her life so openly online opened doors for countless other women to take control of their own narratives. Armstrong was not without shortcomings, but her willingness to post openly about the good and bad moments in her life provided a model of authenticity for influencers and laid the groundwork for a major part of the creator economy.

If you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts, call 911, or call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-8255 or text HOME to the Crisis Text Line at 741741.

If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction, contact Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Treatment Referral Helpline at 800-662-HELP (4357)

Wellness, parenting, body image and more: Get to know the who behind the hoo with Yahoo Life's newsletter. Sign up here.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce called out the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Thursday, slamming the financial watchdog for its regulatory approach toward the digital asset industry.

It filed an amicus brief in support of Coinbase, which took the SEC to court last month. The exchange wants a court to force the SEC to respond to its so-called petition for rulemaking filed last July. The petition asks the SEC to propose and adopt rules for digital assets and answer questions related to regulation.

Now Coinbase has one of the largest business organizations in the world standing behind it. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce represents the interests of more than 3 million businesses and organizations throughout the country, from small businesses to global corporations, according to its website.

Amicus briefs are legal documents containing information or advice related to a specific court case and are provided by third parties. And the U.S. Chamber of Commerce accused the SEC of intentionally sewing uncertainty to keep the digital assets industry on ice.

The SEC has deliberately muddied the waters by claiming sweeping authority over digital assets while deploying a haphazard, enforcement-based approach, it wrote. This regulatory chaos is by design, not happenstance.

To be clear, Coinbase isnt asking a court to force the SEC to adopt new rules for digital assets. The exchange simply wants a response, which it is legally entitled to within a reasonable amount of time. And the SECs lack of a response has destabilized the regulatory environment surrounding crypto, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce claimed.

Coinbase has staked its brand on regulatory compliance and transparency, yet it was hit with a Wells Notice in March, where the SEC warned it could soon take enforcement action against the exchange. The agency alleged Coinbases staking products are unregistered securities and referenced other parts of its business like Coinbase Wallet.

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SEC Warns Coinbase of Enforcement Over Its Staking Rewards Products

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce also argued the SECs regulatory approach conflicts with firms right to fair notice, where companies are required to have sufficient notice as to whats improper behavior before action is taken against them

The SECs actions are not just harmful policy; they are unlawful, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce wrote, adding the agencys refusal to announce the rules of the road in combination with actions conflicts with the right to due process.

Relying on enforcement actions to issue regulatory clarity is harmful in other ways, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce contends, stifling the publics ability to play a role in providing input on how digital assets should be regulated.

By proceeding through enforcement, the SEC has denied the public any opportunity to comment on its invocation of Depression-era laws to assert jurisdiction over a trillion-dollar industry, it wrote. "It deprives the entire public of its right to be heard.
Jimmie Allen has been removed from the performer lineup for this years CMA Fest after sexual assault allegations in a new lawsuit, according to a statement from the Country Music Association obtained by Billboard.

CMA Fest is slated for June 8-11 in downtown Nashville. Allen had been slated to perform during the festivals closing evening, on Sunday, June 11, on the main stage at Nissan Stadium. Tim McGraw, Luke Bryan, Dierks Bentley and Ashley McBryde are also on the June 11 lineup. Last year, CMA Fest welcomed an estimated 80,000 country music fans daily to downtown Nashville, and this year, will celebrate 50 years of connecting artist and fans.

More from Billboard

The removal comes hours after a civil lawsuit was filed Thursday (May 11) against Allen, as an anonymous Jane Doe who previously served as a day-to-day manager for Allen claims to have been repeatedly sexually harassed and raped by Allen, and that Allens management company fired her when she complained.

The lawsuit, first reported by Variety and independently obtained by Billboard, was filed Thursday in Tennessee federal court. The anonymous Jane Doe accuser claims that Allen manipulated and used his power over her job as a day-to-day manager in order to sexually harass and abuse her over a period of 18 months from 2020 to 2022.

Plaintiff expressed in words and actions that Jimmie Allens conduct was unwelcome, including pushing him away, sitting where he could not reach her, telling him she was uncomfortable and no, and crying uncontrollably, the womans attorneys write in the complaint. However, Allen made clear that plaintiffs job was dependent on her staying silent about his conduct.

In a statement to Billboard, Allen admitted to a sexual relationship with his accuser but denied all allegations of wrongdoing. Allen also said he is determined to defend himself against the lawsuit.

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It is deeply troubling and hurtful that someone I counted as one of my closest friends, colleagues and confidants would make allegations that have no truth to them whatsoever, Allen says. I acknowledge that we had a sexual relationship  one that lasted for nearly two years. During that time she never once accused me of any wrongdoing, and she spoke of our relationship and friendship as being something she wanted to continue indefinitely.

Only after things ended between us, did she hire a lawyer to reach out and ask for money, which leads me to question her motives. The simple fact is, her accusations are not only false, but also extremely damaging. Ive worked incredibly hard to build my career, and I intend to mount a vigorous defense to her claims and take all other legal action necessary to protect my reputation.

Allen has also been suspended by his record label BBR Music Group (Allen records for the labels Stoney Creek imprint), including the ceasing of of radio promotion for his current single Be Alright.

In light of todays allegations against Jimmie Allen, BBR Music Group has decided to suspend all activity with him, effective immediately, a label representative said via a statement to Billboard.

Delaware native Allen had also previously been slated to deliver a commencement keynote address at his alma mater Delaware State University. In a release obtained by Billboard, it was noted that Allen is no longer delivering the commencement address and has been replaced by Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester. According to the release, Allen informed the university he would no longer be available to participate in the ceremony.

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PARIS  Kering will award this years Women in Motion Emerging Talent prize to Thunder director Carmen Jaquier.

I am very grateful to receive this award, especially from a visionary and inspiring director like Ninja Thyberg. Thanks to Women in Motion, I have a feeling of sorority, which touches me and gives me hope in this desire I have for reflection, rebellion and transmission. I have special feelings for all the people  technicians, producers, screenwriters, actresses and actors  who fiercely committed themselves to my side for my first feature film, Thunder,' she said.

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The Swiss director was chosen by last years honoree, Swedish director Thyberg. It is a Kering tradition for the Emerging Talent Award to be selected by her predecessor.

Thunder is an incredibly beautiful, life-affirming and innovative film that challenges conventional ideas of sexuality, God, pain and redemption. Carmen Jaquier is 100 percent loyal to her female protagonist and this film has a truly female gaze. It is a great honor to pass on this award to her, said Thyberg about choosing to pass the honor on to Jaquier.

Jaquier will take to the stage with Michelle Yeoh, this years honoree for the Women in Motion Award, and she will receive a 50,000 euro grant earmarked for her next film project.

Jaquier graduated from Ecole Cantonale dArt in Lausanne, Switzerland, where she studied photography before moving into film. Her student film Le Tombeau des Filles won a prize for emerging talent in the Locarno Film Festival. She has directed several short films since then to wide acclaim and other awards.

Her first feature film, Thunder, premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and took home the best director award at the Marrakech Film Festival. The story centers on a teen who returns to her village from a convent after learning of her sisters mysterious death, and the tumult around the reunion with her childhood friends.

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Kering is an official partner of the Cannes Film Festival. Its Women in Motion program was founded in 2015 and has grown to a series of talks focusing on female filmmakers, actresses and film executives that takes place during the festival.

The gala awards dinner will be held at Cannes Musee de la Castre overlooking the view of the Mediterranean on May 21. Kering chairman and chief executive officer Francois-Henri Pinault will present both awards alongside Cannes Film Festival president Iris Knobloch and general delegate Thierry Fremaux.

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With recent supply chain disruptions exposing the weaknesses of far-away sourcing bases, politicians and interest groups have seized on the opportunity to promote the return of American manufacturing.

Like many others at the time, Levi Strauss & Co. moved manufacturing abroad decades ago, with its last U.S. factory closing in 2003notwithstanding a short-lived limited-edition Made in America line. Two decades later, Levis CEO and president Chip Bergh sees no reason to return.

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We were one of the last ones to go [overseas], actually, and it almost cost the company its life because we became so cost uncompetitive in the late 80s and early 90s, Bergh said at an Axios event Wednesday. I actually dont think those are the kinds of jobs that should come back into the U.S. I mean were already almost at full employment anyway. The sewing and everything is done very manually, and its low-skill, low-cost labor and thats really not the kind of labor I think we should be trying to bring onshore here in the U.S.

Bergh, however, does see opportunities to move production closer to the U.S., which accounts for about 45 percent of LS&Co.s global revenues. Though the company does quite a bit of sourcing out of Mexico, the CEO said the denim giant is still trying to find the right balance.

The closer our supply chain is to the market, the more agile we can be and the more responsive we can be, Bergh said. So theres a lot of benefit to that versus needing to ship it across the ocean coming from the other side of the world. And that agility in the apparel business, especially when youre chasing trends and fashion, its really important.

On the other side of the world, LS&Co.s supply chain has undergone a separate transformation in recent years. When Bergh joined the denim company in 2011, he said, it sourced nearly 20 percent of its product from China. Today, that number is in the mid-single digits. Of the product arriving in the U.S., less than 1 percent comes from China.

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Weve really derisked our source dependence on China going all the way back to when the tariffs started, Bergh said. That fortunately helped us through Covid and everything because a lot of companies got very, very caught up with an over-dependence [on China].

Embracing AI technology, womens apparel

Two years on from when the metaverse and non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, first entered the public consciousness, LS&Co. has yet to work with the emerging technologies in any major way. Its released a couple of NFTs so far, but in each case, it never saw an immediate lift in interest or sales, Bergh admitted.

One area the company is investing in, however, is artificial intelligence. Three years in, the company is using the technology for pricing, promotions, product recommendations and, more recently, to decide where the company will place its stores and to generate more diverse models. Were definitely getting value out of it, Bergh said.

Bergh also discussed the shift hes led at Levis toward womens and tops. Primarily a mens blue jeans business in 2011, the company, now doing $6.5 billion a year in sales, was not performing when he joined as CEO, Bergh said.

We had to protect that core business, that profitable core business because it is what generates all the cash and a lot of the profit, he added. We got very high market share, its slow growing. Low single-digit growth is kind of the best you can expect out of something like that. So to grow, we had to do other things.

When Bergh joined, he said, womens accounted for about 20 percent of the companys business. Today, it is more than a third and growing double digits.

In the past couple years, LS&Co. has made another pivot: growing its tops business. When you go in to buy a pair of jeans, its kind of natural to buy a T-shirt, Bergh said. In the last couple years, the company has grown that segment significantly, he said. Together, womens and tops have been a key driver of our growth, he added.

And for women, skinny jeans will always be a wardrobe staple, Bergh said. They are never gonna go away, he said.

However, all the cool kids are wearing looser, baggier jean fits right now, continuing the new denim cycle buoying both the mens and womens business, Bergh said. The trend, he said, plays right into our sweet spot: the 501 Jean. Levis is commemorating 150 years of the celebrated straight-fit style this year with a steady drumbeat of special collabs and drops.

Even Berghs teenage daughter is keeping up with the fashion zeitgeist. She is buying the naughty bootcutthat is her cut right now, the CEO said. Thats the fit of her choice.

Additional reporting by Jessica Binns.

Click here to read the full article.
429 Michigan Ave., built by David May in 1913.

CHARLEVOIX  In the March 31 Looking Back appeared an item regarding the editor of the Cheboygan newspaper who, lacking enough content to fill up one issue, resorted to cribbing items from the Charlevoix Sentinel without asking. A regional newspaper called the Progressive caught this, reported it, and Sentinel editor Willard A. Smith gleefully reprinted that opinionated item with no commentary.

But apparently the incident continued to rankle him, and on April 11, 1873 Willard let fly as only he could do, in the first issue of Volume V of his own weekly. Willard was, as of that week, celebrating the fourth anniversary of his highly successful newspaper, and he was in rare form.

The Thief Speaks.--- After three weeks of careful study, the Cheboygan Independent man cant find a reasonable excuse for the little matter of four weeks ago, and as silence, under the circumstances, is painfully embarrassing, he takes refuge behind a breastwork (temporary fortification) of silly invectives, at the same time acknowledging that he purloined the article for want of time to write something better. No degree of bravado or pretended unconcern can convince his readers that he is not a sneaking thief. His harangue last week resembles the chattering of a thieving monkey under the lash, and a poll-cat (skunk) driven to bay taints the atmosphere no more than this jackass headed biped in the last issue of his insignificant sheet. Attaboy, Willard.

Fifty years later, the April 11, 1923 Charlevoix Courier reported on the history of one corner of the Bridge/Clinton streets intersection.

BUILDING RECENTLY MOVED AN OLD TIMER. W. J. Weikel Remembers It On County Bank Site in 1867. The old building formerly occupied by Ray Ashdons barber shop, moved to East Lincoln Street last Friday, was one of the first houses built in this town. It was originally erected by Alden Chamberlain on the corner now occupied by the County Bank (today the North Seas Gallery). Chief of Police, W. J. Weikel, remembers this old building and how, in the fall of 67, having come with his parents and his brothers-in-law, Doc Brown and N. A. Jones and their families in a couple of prairie schooners from Chickasaw County, Iowa, they camped in front of it on the greensward that then flourished where the pavement of Bridge Street now extends. The party arrived by way of Milwaukee on the old steamer Idaho, landed at Foxs dock (now the city/Beaver Island Boat Company dock), and came ashore with their covered wagons, two span of horses and two cows. They were on their way to East Jordan by the way of Antrim City.

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The only way to get to that destination by land at that time was to head south to Antrim, then swing east and travel up and over the roller coaster hills to the tip of Lake Charlevoixs South Arm and East Jordan. By the way, if updated Michigan Department of Transportation statistics can be believed, the greensward area that once was our midtown intersection saw around five million vehicular passages in 2022.

David May of St. Louis, founder of May Department Stores Company.

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In the same issue, it was reported that prominent summer resident David May of St. Louis, who built the large house at 429 Michigan Ave. in 1913, was about to spread his retail empire, May Department Stores Company, from the Midwest to the Pacific Coast.

ADDS TO HIS VAST HOLDINGS. David May Leases Big Los Angeles Store. New Establishment When Enlarged Will be Largest Department Store West of Chicago. May and company bought the Hamburger store business in L.A., with a reported $25 million, 50-year lease on the property. With the transaction completed and the transfer of millions of dollars in property and leases made, . . . no mention has been made public as to the actual price of the firm itself, its good will, fixtures, stock and office equipment, but the figure is said to set a new record on the coast.

Los Angeles was on the brink of transformation into the sprawling metropolis it is today. Brilliant retailer David May, one of the most prominent and highly regarded members of Charlevoixs summertime community, sensed what was about to happen, and got in on the ground floor. But David May had only four more years to enjoy the fruits of his labors, because he passed away, in Charlevoix, in July of 1927.

Speaking of California, again in the same issue appeared a poem right next to the front page article on May. It was written by local resident King Saunders (yes, that was his middle name, which he used), who wished to needle everyone here because he was basking in California sunshine, and they werent. NOT FAIR TO CROW SO LOUD. Restrain Yourself, Gentle Reader, As You Scan This. King Saunders and Other Californiacs May Have the Bulge On Us Now, ButWait. King Saunders, one of the lucky ones who have been basking under California skies, takes it upon himself to chortle over us poor miserable sinners in an original poem. The title of this aggravating composition is Michigan Versus California.'

A few selected verses: Each week I read my Courier thru,/Each page from front to back,/But the one best bet (take your honest due/Are the stories of your cough and hack. I get quite a thrill from the lines I see/Of the trains that never get in,/How the mails get piled clear up to your knee/And make the office force swear like sin. How the ice in Pine Lake (Lake Charlevoix) is solid and green,/Out in front of the old Belvedere./The prettiest ice you have ever seen/Being twenty-four inches and clear. I dont have to worry about freezing my feet,/Or wearing my big overshoes,/For tis summer out here and all the winter we have/Is what we read from your good weekly news.

The Courier went on to say, Now, fellow sufferers, what about it? Should we submit to this gloating affront tamely or shall we appoint a lynching party to meet King at the train next summer when he returns to this despised and much maligned region, as he surely willthey all do. King need'nt have worried. He was one of the most well-liked fellows in Charlevoix, and his return would have been met with open arms.

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Looking Back: Restrain yourself, gentle reader
Georgia Military College (GMC) Preparatory School has appointed a new principal.

Lt. Col. Amy Lee, who has occupied various positions in the GMC community for the past 18 years, will assume her role effective immediately.

GMC is an independent liberal arts college in Milledgeville that was established in 1879. GMC Prep School is an extension of the college that caters to students in grades K-12 from Baldwin and surrounding counties, and offers a college-prep academic program and Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (JROTC) for grades 9-12.

I am honored to have been chosen to lead Georgia Military College Prep School as its new principal, said Lee in a press release. I am committed to building on the schools legacy of providing our students with the highest quality education and prepare them to become leaders in their communities and beyond.

I am excited to continue working with our exceptional faculty and staff to provide our students with the tools they need to succeed.

Lee completed her teaching internship and practicums at GMC Prep School before progressing to Georgia College & State University to earn her master of arts in teaching in 2005. After graduating, she returned to GMC Prep School to teach high school English.

Lee received numerous honors during her time as a GMC Prep School instructor, including teacher of the year, STAR teacher, and character educator of the year.

After 14 years of teaching, Lee was moved into the role of assistant principal and curriculum director in 2019. Two years later, in 2021, she became GMC Prep Schools associate principal, and in early 2023 she was named interim principal.

We are thrilled to have LTC Lee as the principal of GMC Prep School, said Lt. Gen. William B. Caldwell, IV, president of Georgia Military College, in a press release. LTC Lees dedication to student success and her leadership experience makes her the ideal candidate to lead our Prep School. She has already proven herself to be a strong leader and we are confident that she will lead the school to even greater success in the years to come.
We don't wanna go home after seeing Miranda Lambert's latest red carpet look.

On May 11, the "Drunk" artist hit the 2023 ACM Awards in a show-stopping ensemble. For the major awards show, which took place at the Ford Center at the Star in Frisco, Texas, Lambert wore a jaw-dropping cobalt blue look, which she paired with matching shoes.

The country crooner kept her makeup minimal, choosing to go for a neutral lip. She also styled her beautiful blonde hair with striking curls, which she parted down the middle.

Lambert was escorted on the red carpet by her date, husband Brendan McLoughlin.

Of course, it wasn't surprising that Lambert pulled out all the stops for the 58th Academy of Country Music Awards, as she was nominated in many of the evening's biggest categories. For those who may've missed, Lambert headed into the evening with nominations in the following categories: Entertainer of the Year, Female Artist of the Year, Artist-Songwriter of the Year, and Album of the Year.

Theo Wargo/WireImage

Lambertwho won Entertainer of the Year at the 2022 awards showsaid to ET Canada that she was "really excited" to attend in-person this year. "I didn't really get to celebrate with everybody when I won last year," she noted. "So, this will be like my, 'Yay! Hoorah. Who's gonna get it next?'"

As for her record-breaking 17th nomination for Female Artist of the Year? She said it "lights a fire under my ass to keep going and work harder and reinvent the wheel and be more creative musically."

"Because, when your peers vote for you and lift you up, it feels great," she added.

Be sure to expect bigger and better things from Lambert in the future, as she assured fans that she's ready "to do more."

Find out if Lambert took home the top prizes at this year's ACM Awards by checking out the full winners' list.
dcs-mini-sub-ioc.jpg

The first examples of a new special operations mini-submarine should be ready for real-world operations before the end of the month, according to U.S. Special Operations Command. The Dry Combat Submersible, or DCS, offers significant benefits over existing designs in U.S. Navy service, known as SEAL Delivery Vehicles, or SDVs, in which individuals have to ride underwater fully exposed to the elements.

Officials from U.S. Special Operations Command offered updates on the status of DCS this week at an annual special operations-focused conference now known as SOF Week. The DCS is derived from the S351 Nemesis, designed by built by MSubs in the United Kingdom. MSubs is part of a team led by Lockheed Martin that has been developing the miniature submersible since 2016.

A prototype DCS in the water. SOCOM

This morning we received an operational test report," John Conway, the program manager for Undersea Systems within U.S. Special Operations Command's (SOCOM) Program Executive Office-Maritime (PEO-M), said at a briefing at SOFWeek yesterday. "So that means the Dry Combat Submersible is going to be operational by Memorial Day [May 29, 2023], and were coming to an end scenario."

Many details about the DCS are classified, but its general capabilities at least are believed to be very similar to that of the 30-ton displacement and 39-foot-long S351. The Nemesis requires a crew of two to operate and has a stated maximum range of approximately 66 nautical miles when traveling at a speed of five knots and using its all-electric propulsion system. It can dive down to depths as deep as around 330 feet (100 meters). Beyond its crew, it can carry eight additional personnel or around a metric ton's worth of cargo.

An MSubs S351. MSubs

In general, a submersible like this provides a way for U.S. special operations forces, especially the Navy's elite SEALs, to discreetly get ashore from a submarine, even one that's submerged, or another maritime launch platform and/or exfiltrate from the area. This kind of capability is especially valuable for conducting various kinds of operations, especially ones conducted behind enemy lines or in otherwise sensitive locations. This can include missions conducted entirely underwater, such as infiltrating into an enemy port to plant mines or otherwise sabotage ships or infrastructure, or to gather intelligence.

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As already noted, the big benefit of DCS over existing SDVs is the ability to carry its occupants in a totally dry environment. This might sound like a minor issue for special operations forces like the Navy SEALs that are trained to conduct underwater operations of various kinds, but it has significant operational implications.

As it stands now, SEALs and other U.S. special operations forces traveling extended distances below the waves using a 'wet' SDV, even the Navy's latest Mk 11 type, ride the entire way exposed to the water. Even in tropical climates, this can be a cold ride, especially if done at deeper depths that further help personnel evade detection. In colder regions, being exposed to the water the whole time isn't just uncomfortable, it can potentially be dangerous. Furthermore, with a traditional wet SDV, operators then have to conduct whatever their mission might be soaking wet and likely cold, further increasing fatigue and other issues.

A Mk 11 SEAL Delivery Vehicle (SDV), the newest 'wet' design in U.S. service, seen here during testing. SOCOM A picture of a Navy Mk 8 SDV in use highlighting its 'wet' design. USN

With the DCS, special operations forces can travel underwater from their launch point to the objective without being exposed this way. Thanks to a built-in lock-out chamber, they still have the option to get in and out while the craft is submerged. Doing so, of course, would help to reduce their chances of them being spotted as they infiltrate an area, but they would still be exposed to potentially frigid waters for much shorter periods of time.

That ends a capability gap of 15 years  more than 15 years, Navy Capt. Randy Slaff, the head of SOCOM's PEO-M said during a panel discussion at SOFWeek, according to National Defense magazine, highlighting the importance of the DCS.

Slaff's remark also underscores how the current DCS program is not the first time SOCOM and the Navy have tried to acquire a capability like this. The Navy first outlined requirements for what became known as the Advanced SEAL Delivery System (ASDS) in the 1980s and development of this mini-submarine design got fully underway in the 1990s.

ASDS was roughly twice as big as the S351 and proved to be noisy, under-powered, and otherwise problematic. After years of delays due to technical issues and cost growth, the program suffered an especially bad setback in 2008 when the one prototype that had been built caught fire and was completely destroyed. The program was canceled entirely the following year.

The prototype Advanced SEAL Delivery System submersible is seen here on top of the rear deck of the Los Angeles class attack submarine USS Charlotte. USN

This was followed by a Joint Multi-Mission Submersible program, which was itself canceled in 2010.

DCS has proven to be a much more successful effort.

However, in the six years since Lockheed Martin first received a contract to develop this mini-submarine, other events have transpired and the overall geopolitical environment has changed. Expeditionary and distributed operations, possibly in the context of a future high-end fight against China across the broad expanses of the Pacific, are now at the forefront of many planning considerations.

On top of this, the Navy currently plans to retire its four Ohio class nuclear-guided missile submarines, or SSGNs, before the end of the current decade. These submarines are designed to act, among many other things, as special operations motherships, including with the capability to deploy personnel using SDVs via Dry Deck Shelters (DDS). A number of current Virginia class attack submarines are also fitted with DDSs to conduct special operations support missions and future boats in that class could be even more capable in this role. However, a new dedicated replacement for the Ohio SSGNs is likely decades away, as you can read more about here.

When the development of the DCS began, the design was already too big to fit inside existing Navy DDSs, anyways. Work on an expanded capacity DDS design has been ongoing in parallel, but it's not immediately clear what the status of that project might be.

A SOCOM briefing slide from 2022 discussing DDS modernization efforts. SOCOM

Given its built-in lock-out chamber, the DCS could conceivably be carried externally on Navy submarines and personnel could then get inside either directly if a suitable hatch arrangement was available or after exiting via a DDS or other lock-out chamber on the mothership submarine. The larger ASDS design presented similar challenges and two submarines, the Los Angeles class attack submarines USS Charlotte and USS Greeneville, were specially modified to carry it on its rear deck. Those submarines remain in service today with those hull modifications still in place.

USS Greeneville carrying the ASDS prototype. USN

The DCS could be deployed for other maritime platforms, as well, such as the well deck of an amphibious warfare ship. Other vessels capable of deploying boats and submersibles via a crane or a more specialized system might able also be configurable into motherships for these special operations mini-submarines.

Regardless, questions about how the DCSs, as well as existing SDVs, will be deployed and employed in future conflicts are clearly emerging. It's unclear how many DCSs SOCOM and the Navy expect to buy in the coming years, but it can be reasonably assumed that the total fleet size will be small. Lockheed Martin's initial contract called for the construction of just three pre-production examples, all of which appear to have been delivered. As another comparison, the Navy only expects to have acquired 10 of its 'wet' Mk 11 SDVs by the end of this year.

What all this means is that there will have to be tactics, techniques, and procedures in place not just for utilizing the new DCSs, but also getting them wherever they might not need to be and in relatively short order. There has at least been one test involving the transport of a DCS inside a shipping container via a U.S. Air Force C-17A Globemaster III cargo jet, which would provide at least one option for getting it closer to the desired operating area on short notice.

A low-quality picture showing a shipping container containing the third DCS prototype inside a C-17 cargo plane during a test. SOCOM

SOCOM and the Navy are also already interested in acquiring an improved DCS variant or derivative, originally known as DCS Block II and currently called DCS Next. Details about the requirements for that submersible are also limited, but one goal is to make it deployable from a Virginia class submarine. With this follow-on effort in progress, the current DCS mini-submarine is sometimes referred to as DCS Now.

A rendering of the DCS Next. SOCOM

"We do have an additional area that we're looking at heavily and that's the expeditionary mobility for undersea. It's actually expeditionary mobility for all systems, but we had completed a prototype system proof of concept and it was on our... Mk 11 Seal Delivery Vehicle," Capt. Slaff, the SOCOM PEO-M head, said at a briefing at SOF Week that The War Zone attended. "So, we actually have it, it's out there in front doing its demo."

Slaff did not elaborate on exactly what this additional expeditionary capability for the Mk 11 SDV entailed.

"What we're looking at, obviously, with the SSGNs kinda sunsetting here in the [20]26 to [20]28 timeframe, [is] getting the... operational flexibility for expeditionary employment through other means," he added. This "is something that we've been investigating and then rolling that over into... an operational requirement and moving forward with fielding the capability."

There are clearly many questions still to be answered about exactly how SEALs and other U.S. special operations forces will utilize the new DCSs. However, these mini-submarines represent a significant improvement in capability over existing SDVs and look to be just weeks away from finally entering operational service.

Contact the author: joe@thedrive.com
It's the only public floating tent experience in the U.S.

Courtesy of Float Troy

For a one-of-a-kind camping experience, there's a unique stay in the Midwest: floating tents.

Troy, Ohio is redefining camping with Float Troy  an experience that lets travelers stay in tents on the Great Miami River. According to the city, it's the only one in the United States (and maybe even the world) that offers this kind of experience. And it is about to kick off its fourth season, which runs from June 23 through Sept. 4.

The city has 10 Shoal floating tents  each tent fits four people  that are anchored atop rafts and spaced out 25 feet to 30 feet from each other. Guests can access the tents from the nearby Treasure Island Park by taking a four-person raft, kayak, or inflatable canoe. (Each booking includes equipment to travel to the tent, oars, and life vests.) Going from the shore to the tents takes about five minutes  though the exact amount of time understandably depends on each group's paddling experience.

Courtesy of Float Troy

Guests can check in between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. and are greeted by Matt Clifton, an employee of the city's parks department and the on-site coordinator for Float Troy. He goes over the dos and don'ts of the experience, plus tips like how to tie up your raft.

Youre free to come and go as you like," Clifton told Travel + Leisure, adding that he remains on call overnight for guests' needs.

While the tent is provided, guests should come prepared with everything they need to sleep  sleeping bags, pillows, blankets, etc. There are no showering facilities, but restrooms are available back at Treasure Island Park.

As for meals, there are several options. Guests can picnic or grill at Treasure Island Park, have food ordered to the park, or dine at Smiths Boathouse, which is located in the park and conveniently serves lunch and dinner.

"The tents are located about a 10-minute walk from our downtown where we have numerous restaurants from diner-style burgers to glorified tacos," said Clifton. "We also have coffee shops. More people tend to eat out because we have a lot of mom and pop [restaurants]."

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Clifton told T+L the floating tents are popular with both residents of the Midwest and visitors alike.



Renting a tent costs $95 a night. Book your stay at float-troy.com.



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KYIV  At first, everything about the small, solemn gathering in the grounds of Kyivs St. Michaels Golden-Domed Monastery had all the signs of a traditional Ukrainian military funeral.

A guard of soldiers, a Ukrainian flag held over the coffin, the rolling verse of Orthodox prayers, the national anthem, and a grieving partner in a traditional Ukrainian dress by the deceaseds side.

The priest recalled in his short eulogy that Easter celebrations had not long passed by, when Christians were reminded of the miracle of resurrection, and repeated the phrase so often uttered as the losses in Russias full-scale war mount: Heroes never die.

This funeral, however, was different. Off to the side, wearing balaclavas to protect their identity, the line of soldiers standing motionless to pay tribute were mostly not Ukrainians. All the priests words were translated into English by a military translator.

The fallen soldier being honored on this day was 27-year-old Christopher Campbell, an American who was killed in early April outside Bakhmut in Donetsk Oblast, fighting in the ranks of Ukraines International Legion.

An Orthodox priest delivers a eulogy at the farewell ceremony of U.S. volunteer Christopher Campbell in Kyiv on May 5, 2023. (Francis Farrell/The Kyiv Independent)

While at least nine Americans have been killed in the war, alongside hundreds of other foreign volunteers, Campbell was the very first and only to be buried in Ukraine.

In just over a year, Ukraine and its struggle became everything for Campbell, who drew upon his experience serving in the U.S. military to fight with distinction among some of the wars toughest battles, training and sharing experience with Ukrainian soldiers on the way.

During his time in the country, another reason cemented Campbells attachment for Ukraine and commitment to fighting until victory: His love for film director and volunteer Ivanna Sanina, 24-year-old daughter of acclaimed Ukrainian director Oles Sanin.

He was brave like a Ukrainian, and he was stubborn like a Ukrainian, said Sanina, braving back tears to speak to international media during the funeral.

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Some of the other foreigners he fought with mentioned many times that he had very hot blood; thats our blood, Ukrainian blood.

They crawl forward 24/7: On the zero line with Ukrainian infantry north of Bakhmut Climbing to a firing position through trenches dug into black Ukrainian soil, the relative quiet in the air is only reassuring to an extent. At the most forward point, a Soviet-era recoilless rifle stands watch, dug into a shallow depression in the ground. Bohdan, a company comman Kyiv IndependentFrancis Farrell

Committed from the start

Christopher Campbell had never been to Ukraine before Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

The Florida native had recently completed a short but impressive military career, serving with distinction in Iraq and Kuwait in the ranks of the U.S. Armys legendary 82nd Airborne Division.

Having completed his time in the U.S. military, Campbell was studying biology at university back at home when the first attacks began.

At first, Campbell arrived without a concrete plan, traveling to Ukraine with the help of his own contacts.

To know him, and his selflessness, then one can understand his humanitarian values, wrote Campbells mother Cheri in a statement released jointly with the Legion after his death.

Before he left, he told us that if he could help even one single family get back into their homes, then it would be worth the risk of doing so.

A portrait of Chistopher Campbell in civilian life in the United States. (Courtesy)

While volunteering outside Irpin towards the end of Russias initial occupation of the city outside Kyiv, Campbell met Hlib Fishchenko, 23-year-old co-founder of Vilni Volunteers, a grassroots military humanitarian aid organization previously featured in the Kyiv Independents coverage of the anniversary of the full-scale war.

Before taking up arms himself, Campbell lent his skills and experience to Ukrainian units in special training sessions that Fishchenko helped organize and translate for.

According to Fishchenko, it was after the world learned of the Bucha massacre and other Russian atrocities in Kyiv Oblast that Campbell decided he must enlist to fight.

Initially, Campbell joined the ranks of the Azov unit of Ukraines Special Forces (SSO), not to be confused with the Azov Regiment that made its last stand in Mariupol.

Fishchenko says that with his background in the airborne forces, Campbell was inherently drawn to the most intense battles along the front line, part of the reason he joined Azov SSO.

Chris always said he wanted more than anything to join the units that were attacking, liberating; Fishchenko said, not holding lines but moving forward and kicking the Russians out.

He would always compare it to lung cancer; the longer they would be there on this land, the more they would metastasize and the harder it would be to eliminate them later.

Sanina, also a member of Vilni Volunteers, first met Campbell on June 18, after the funeral of 24-year-old activist and soldier Roman Ratushnyi, a personal friend of Ivanna's.

A young participant in the 2013-2014 EuroMaidan Revolution who later led campaigns to protect green spaces in Kyiv, Ratushnyi became a nationwide symbol of how Ukraine was losing its best of brightest people in the war.

After the funeral, Sanina recalled in a separate interview with the Kyiv Independent, when I met him for the first time, he asked me, 'Is this always how you bid farewell to your fallen soldiers, your heroes?'"

"I said yes, and he said in that case, if he dies he wants to be buried here, because he saw the honor with which it was done."

Through the volunteer organization they were both involved in, they had begun crossing paths more often, when Sanina asked Campbell why he came to Ukraine.

He said it was the only right thing to do, she said, that he could not just sit at home and watch the genocide that was happening here, it wasn't an option for him.

When I spoke to him that day, I was astonished by how he looked me right in the eyes. When two people look at each other like that, speaking about such things, a lot is understood right away.

This Week in Ukraine Ep. 4  Russias strategy of evil: 80,000 war crimes in Ukraine This Week in Ukraine is a video podcast hosted by the Kyiv Independents reporter Anastasiia Lapatina. Every week, Anastasiia sits down with her newsroom colleagues to discuss Ukraines most pressing issues. Episode #4 is dedicated to Russian war crimes in Ukraine and beyond, the culture of viole Kyiv IndependentAnastasiia Lapatina

Love in the time of war

As retold by Fishchenko, fighting against the Russian army was a new kind of war for Campbell, very different in nature to his service in Iraq and Kuwait.

"He called this war a difficult one, one of infantry and artillery," Fishchenko said.

"In Iraq, where you could always call on air support in a difficult situation and it would come, here there is no such thing. Here you need to come up with creative solutions to stay alive in the moment.

By the time Campbell joined in late autumn, the Legion had become a very different outfit to the chaotic units formed upon its founding, as some of those foreigners without the right experience or motivations to fight went home, while others quit because of widespread alleged experiences of abuse and corruption in the leadership.

"Those who stayed were mostly from the same countries: Finns, Poles, Latvians, Lithuanians, and some Brits and Americans, said Fishchenko.

"These guys would all say to me that they'll be here until the end. Of course, Chris also had Iva keeping him here."

Those who left saw that this is not a shooting range, it's not Call of Duty, it's death, or the risk of death, every single day, added Sanina.

Chris really didn't like people like that, he called them military tourists.

Christopher Campbell and a fellow soldier train at a firing range in eastern Ukraine in winter 2022. (Courtesy)

During the time in between Campbells campaigns with Azov SSO and Legion, he managed to spend more time with his fiance. In this time, the pair could live a semblance of the life of a young engaged couple in peacetime, visiting the opera and theater in Kyiv.

According to Fishchenko, whenever Campbell was back from the front, he would not act like someone whom the hell of the war had affected deeply.

He would come and hang out with us in our volunteer headquarters on his days off, Fishchenko said, we would laugh and listen to music.

He was very good at switching to civilian life; he was not the kind of person that would need mental health support afterwards.

Sanina, from the perspective of a partner rather than a friend, said that in more private moments with her fiance, things were very different.

He barely ever spoke about the war in civilian life, he held up in public very well, she said. I didn't try and ask even when we were just the two of us, but it was all clear to me anyway.

After every deployment, he came back a different person. You could see the changes in his eyes, and you understand that these guys have seen some truly terrifying things.

In September, less than three months into their relationship, Campbell proposed to Sanina before departing to fight with the Legion in the east.

Ivanna Sanina at the funeral of fiance and U.S. volunteer fighter in Kyiv on May 5, 2023. (Dymtro Sanin/Courtesy)

"I asked him, 'Where is my ring?' said Sanina, and he said he would first learn the language and officially ask my father for my hand."

Over the winter months, characterized in Ukraine by the brutal fighting in Donetsk Oblast, especially Bakhmut, the pair saw each other more rarely, and Campbell had no chance, neither to buy a ring nor to ask for Sanins blessing in person.

Two days before he was killed, Campbell took a few days off to see Sanina in Kharkiv.

"The last time I saw him, I said I couldn't take it anymore, that I would buy it myself, and he said 'No, Iva, please don't humiliate me like that!' He took our traditions very seriously from the start."

Flanks around Bakhmut hold as brutal urban fighting continues for city blocks Two months after Ukraines defense of Bakhmut seemed doomed, the bloodiest battle of Russias full-scale war against Ukraine is still going against all expectations. Making rapid advances at the end of February, Russian forces seemed to be on the cusp of surrounding the city, as the only roads Kyiv IndependentFrancis Farrell

Honoring the fallen

Sanina last spoke to Campbell on the evening of April 5, nine hours before he was killed.

I don't believe in all these supernatural things, but I can't explain this rationally, said Sanina recalling the moment.

I'm normally a very pragmatic person, but that evening, I told my friend, something was wrong. I told her, I could just feel it, something is wrong with Chris.

On the following morning, Campbell and his commander were killed by a cluster munition while holding a position near Khromove, a village along one of the key supply roads into Bakhmut still under Ukrainian control.

Soon after, a Finnish combat medic ran to attend to them, and was promptly killed himself by another cluster munition.

Sanina was called by a comrade of Campbell's, another American legionnaire, and gave the news about her fiances death.

In this moment, I died, I was no more, she said. The only part of me that remained is in pain, and will be for a long time.

Due to the near-constant Russian shelling and attacks, it took nine days for Campbells body to be retrieved and finally returned to Kyiv, where Sanina was asked by his parents to identify the body at the morgue.

This picture will stay with me for the rest of my life, she said.

We had so many plans ahead of us, so many things we wanted to do, and it was taken away.

Ukrainian soldiers hold a flag about the coffin of Christopher Campbell at the farewell ceremony of the U.S. volunteer in Kyiv on May 5, 2023. (Francis Farrell/The Kyiv Independent)

Since Campbells death, Sanina has kept in close touch with both his parents back in the U.S., who she never managed to meet, as well as his fellow soldiers still serving.

His comrades support me a lot, and I support them, she said, for I see in their eyes everything that I saw in the eyes of Chris.

Ukraine's future challenge of national remembrance for the dead in the war looms large in Sanina's thoughts.

There needs to be a place of national memory, she said, where the mothers, families of the fallen, as well as all Ukrainians, anyone who isn't indifferent, can come and see the names, the flags, the dates.

Some people tend to treat the Armed Forces as some kind of abstract image, we need to remind them that the military is people, with hands and feet, not biorobots or cyborgs, but people.

Proposals have already been put forward for a national memorial complex, which could either take the form of a central monument with all the names of the fallen, or a larger military cemetery, most likely built somewhere outside Kyiv.

On April 23, Ukraines Veterans Affairs Minister Yuliia Laputina said after a visit to the U.S. that Ukraine hopes to draw inspiration from the Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia for the future project.

Illia Ponomarenko: Ukraine has proved that hard choices pay off Editors Note: The following is the transcript of the speech given by the Kyiv Independents defense reporter Illia Ponomarenko at the annual meeting organized by the Raam Op Rusland think tank, in Amsterdam, on Oct. 25. For republication, reach out to news@kyivindependent.com. Greetings! Hello, a Kyiv IndependentIllia Ponomarenko

Sanina pledged that if an Arlington-style cemetery complex is built, she will have Campbells remains transferred there.

He needs to be together with other soldiers, she said, it should be visible for everyone, Ukrainians should know that Americans were here, that they also died for us.

Towards the end of the interview, Sanina revealed that it was exactly this process that had motivated Campbell to study genetics, having had a friend in the U.S. Department of Defense who worked to identify and return the exhumed remains of American service members from overseas wars.

For Americans, the return of the bodies of fallen soldiers is like a religious practice, she said.

"It was his dream to work on these military excavations," she said. "He spoke to me a lot about it, especially since here in Ukraine there are places where the bodies of tens of thousands of soldiers still lie.

Note from the author:

Hi, this is Francis Farrell, cheers for reading this article. I grew up on the other side of the world, but in Ukraine I have found a home unlike any other. Just like with so many of our readers, I understand that you don't have to be from near here to realize how important Ukraine's struggle is for freedom and human rights all over the world. The Kyiv Independent's mission is to lead the way in continuing to bring the best homegrown, English-language coverage of this war, even if the rest of the world's attention starts to fade. Please consider supporting our reporting.
Whether you call it bubble or boba tea, this SoCal city is all about the big straws.

Courtesy of Visit Pasadena

Move aside, wine trails, theres a new drink worth following. Pasadena just launched a boba trail with a group of more than 30 spots serving up popular Taiwanese American bubble tea, most typically known for brown tapioca balls floating in milk tea, served with an extra large straw.



There's still a huge sense of Asian pride around this beverage, symbolically representing acceptance for Asian Americans [and] AAPI pop culture exports, Anna Yan, a spokesperson for Visit Pasadena, told Travel + Leisure. With shops bringing the newest boba trends from Asia to Pasadena, such as cheese foam topping, hues of purples and blues from butterfly pea, handmade tapioca balls, and fluffy Japanese souffle pancakes, boba culture continues to flourish as a culinary bridge for Asian pop culture exports.

With roots tracing back to the 1980s on the island nation of Taiwan, boba tea  typically referred to as such on the West Coast and called bubble tea on the East Coast  found its way to the U.S. in the 1990s, particularly making a splash in the San Gabriel Valley, east of L.A., in communities like Rowland Heights, Hacienda Heights, and Pasadena. The influence was cemented in the Fung Bros. Bobalife music video, which uses Pasadena as a backdrop.



The subculture was a significant part of social life for young Asian Americans who grew up at boba shops with study groups, on dates, and playing board games with friends, Yan added. It's the parent-approved, non-alcoholic activity enjoyed with friends. Now, as that boba generation matures, boba culture has also grown into an appreciation of artisanal craft beverages with handmade ingredients, tea leaves sourced from premium regions, and artful presentations, just as it becomes mainstream in America.



Courtesy of Visit Pasadena

Thats exactly what can be found among the shops highlighted along the Pasadena Boba Trail. There are outposts of national brands, like Yifang Taiwan Fruit Tea, 85c Bakery Cafe, Its Boba Time, One Zo, and Beararology; as well as more localized chains, like 3Catea and Home Brewed Bar; and smaller businesses like Jin Tea Shop, Motto Tea Cafe, Miss Cheese Tea Cafe, La Moon Creamery, and Pillowtalk.

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And just to show how much a part of Americana the Asian American drink is, the boba trail also traces many of the must-see sites along Route 66.

The southern California city, located about 12 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles and best known for its New Years Day Tournament of Roses parade, has about 18 percent of its population identifying as Asian and is often referred to as a suburban Chinatown.



The large Asian American influence from surrounding neighborhoods have permeated Pasadena's culinary scene to much welcome, and boba culture is thriving as new food trends are introduced from overseas, Yan said. It's the perfect beverage to have in hand while strolling the sun-soaked Pasadena streets for shopping, sightseeing, or gossiping with friends.

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(Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will discuss the impasse over raising the government debt ceiling with board members of the Bank Policy Institute lobby group next week, a senior Treasury official told Reuters.

Yellen's meeting with the board - which includes the chief executives of JP Morgan, Jamie Dimon, and of Citigroup's, Jane Fraser - was first reported by Politico.

The U.S. federal government could run out of money to pay its bills as soon as June 1, the Treasury has said, unless the debt ceiling is raised.

A debt limit meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and top lawmakers that was scheduled for Friday has been postponed, and the leaders agreed to meet early next week, a White House spokesperson said on Thursday.

Aides from both sides have started to discuss ways to limit federal spending, as talks on raising the government's $31.4 trillion debt ceiling to avoid a catastrophic default creep forward, people familiar with the discussions said.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal and Costas Pitas; editing by Jasper Ward & Shri Navaratnam)
MILAN  Taller Marmo has a unique history, as unique as its name.

Founded by Riccardo Audisio and Yago Goicoechea, the latter born in Argentina, the two designers met at the Istituto Marangoni in Milan and quickly realized they should dive into business head first  despite their lack of experience.

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Their bold move was repaid, as Taller Marmo already relies on a network of top retailers both online and in brick-and-mortar doors.

Most recently, a Taller Marmo pop-up has opened in Kuwait City with Bloomingdales and another pop-up will be unveiled at Bloomingdales at the Dubai Mall on Monday. Both were designed in collaboration with architect Thomas Zangaro.

Taller Marmo is named after the Spanish word for laboratory and the Italian word for marble, which was meant to indicate the designers experimentation with innovative techniques and luxury fabrics.

The designers have been inspired by the show business world of the 60s and 70s  think Mina and Raffaella Carra  or enduring divas such as Elizabeth Taylor and Diana Ross, by fashion designer Mila Schon, and the quintessential symbol of elegance, Marella Agnelli.

Indeed, a bestseller is the Mrs. Ross caftan, inspired by the icons character in the movie Mahogany, retailing at 1,000 euros, and the Ubud with feathers, which sells for 1,900 euros in the long version.

Its a modern, fun take on occasion wear that helps women feel extraordinary, said Audisio in an interview with his partner at the brands showroom here, filled with color and art works.

The brand has been attracting the likes of Alicia Keys, Kylie Minogue, Salma Hayek, Kate Beckinsale, Iris Apfel and Cynthia Erivo, among others.

The high summer 2023 campaign dedicated to the Middle East was fronted by Farida Khelfa.

Riccardo Audisio and Yago Goicoechea

Goicoechea underscored that Taller Marmo is inclusive without any effort, reaching out to the 20-year-old in Riyadh as well as the 60-year-old in Los Angeles.

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Their satin caftans and asymmetric gowns embellished with fringes and feathers attract both modest and maximalist customers.

The designs are very comfortable, but can still look very dramatic, said Audisio.

The designers started buying fabrics in 2012, working with a Sicilian seamstress, and moved to Dubai in 2013, setting up their company that year, and where their modest fashion quickly became a local hit. In 2015 they won the regional Woolmark Prize and its accompanying 30,000 euros.

Bridging the West and the East, 60 percent of their business is derived from caftans, but they also create short dresses, glittery pants and feathered tops.

Moving back to Italy in 2016, sustainability is a priority for the two designers, who apply the principles of slow fashion with the goal of reducing the impact on the environment.

Taller Marmo produces its collections entirely in Italy, in small and medium family-owned factories. Manufacturing is managed internally to avoid subcontracting. The factories are based near their headquarters and distribution center to reduce the carbon footprint. The collections are only produced to order, avoiding extra inventory.

The viscose is FSC certified and the polyester used in garments is recycled, while the sequins are made from recycled plastic found in the ocean. The cotton is part of the Better Cotton Initiative.

The jacquards and fil coupe fabrics are made by a historic family-owned silk mill in Como, Italy, and the feathers are sourced exclusively in South Africa and assembled by hand in Florence, Italy.

Browns was the first international retailer that bought Taller Marmo garments, they recalled. The collections are sold online at Brownsfashion, Net-a-porter, Matchesfashion, Mytheresa, Harrods, Farfetch, Harvey Nichols and Ounass.

Etoile La Boutique in Dubai; Abu Dhabi, UAE; Doha, Qatar; and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as well as Harvey Nichols in Dubai, Riyadh and Doha are among some of the retailers in the Middle East that sell Taller Marmo. Harrods and Harvey Nichols in London, Antonia in Italy, and Tootsies in Dallas, Houston, and Atlanta are also solid supporters of the brand.

Taller Marmos use of vibrant color in their collections really resonates with Harrods local, and international, customers, said Clemmie Harris, head of womenswear at Harrods. The brand recently created an exclusive capsule of bright orange and striking blue dresses specifically for Harrods clients in mind, which were some of the bestsellers in their Harrods pop-up, with customers gravitating to the tried and tested shapes that Taller Marmo is known for  the orange in particular being a standout.

In 2021, Taller Marmo launched a bridal collection.

A Taller Marmo look for spring.

Best of WWD

Click here to read the full article.
They were seen holding hands, for one.

Getty Images

Taylor Swift hasn't confirmed her rumored romance with Matty Healy, but sources close to the pair shared that they're more than just friends. While it may be a while before the notoriously private superstar shares anything about her relationship status, People reports that she and The 1975 frontman were seen holding hands in New York City.

Getty Images

"Taylor is happy. She's very focused on her tour but is enjoying hanging out with Matty when she is off," a source told People. Another insider continued: "They're hanging out and having a good time. It's not just platonic."

Neither Swift nor Healy has made any official statements on whether or not they're dating in the wake of Taylor's breakup with Joe Alwyn. The two were together for six years and broke up in April 2023. CNN reported that a source close to Swift confirmed the news, saying, Taylor and Joe broke up a few weeks ago. They simply grew apart and plan to remain friends.

John Shearer/TAS23/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management

Related:Ryan Reynolds Reportedly Unfollowed Joe Alwyn After a Dinner With Blake Lively and Taylor Swift

People adds that Healy made an appearance in Nashville for Swift's Eras Tour stop at Nissan Stadium earlier this month. Healy performed alongside Phoebe Bridgers and was spotted later in the VIP area with Swift's friends Gigi Hadid and Lily Aldridge. Back in 2014, Healy and Swift sparked dating rumors, but the rocker noted that it was "all fake." Two years later, he set the internet rumor mill ablaze again when he sat down for an interview with Q magazine and shared that he and Swift had a "flirtation." The two worked together on Swift's album Midnights.



Swift also made a surprise appearance on The 1975's tour, when she walked onstage during a break at the band's London performance to perform "Anti-Hero" and a cover of The 1975's "The City."



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Read the original article on InStyle.
Tucanos Brazilian Grill has shut down its enormous salad bar and served its last beef skewer.

The steakhouse, which opened in 2012 in City Center at Oyster Point, is now closed, according to a notice on the Tucanos website.

The restaurant closed shortly before its 11-year lease was set to expire in June, Colliers Senior Vice President Tyler Brooks said in an email.

When the lease was originally signed, Tucanos leaders planned to make the Newport News store the first in a series of expansion efforts along the East Coast, Brooks said, but those plans did not materialize.

Colliers knew the tenant was planning to leave, Brooks said, and brokers are actively marketing the City Center space to prospective tenants to backfill it, and interest is strong.

Daily Press reporting describes the restaurant chain as an experiential dining destination that began in 2000 after founder and CEO Steve Oldham spent time in Brazil while working at PepsiCos international restaurant group.

According to previous reporting, each restaurant table features a red and green sided object customers can raise and lower  green means customers are ready for more skewered meats and vegetables, and red means they are finished eating or taking a break. Tucanos also had a 70-item salad bar.

When it opened, Tucanos representatives told the Daily Press they expected to hire 225 people. It was the stores first and only location on the East Coast, according to its website.

Oldham did not respond to an email from The Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press asking for comment by the time of publication.

The first restaurant opened in Provo, Utah, and other restaurants are located in Colorado, Idaho, Missouri and New Mexico.

Another City Center tenant left in September, when Good Vibes Concert Hall and Event Venue closed after noise complaints from area residents.

Trevor Metcalfe, 757-222-5345, trevor.metcalfe@pilotonline.com
A guy wearing steampunk goggles for no apparent reason has just arrived and taken up a central spot on the dance floor with gusto. One woman in dungaree shorts and a man in a bright red bowtie are dancing as though its their first-ever club night, forcing everyone in their orbit to jump out of the path of their unpredictable flying limbs. Two people have had passionate, life-depends-on-it kisses (we werent looking for them, they just crossed our eye line). There is a whoop and communal energy rush every time the antique, spotlit disco ball revolves into action, casting speckling gems of light around the hall.

Haukur Sigurdsson/[purplehat.is](http://purplehat.is/){: target="_blank"}

So far, so typically discothequewe could be in Bethnal Green on a Saturday night surrounded by East Londons regular merry band of eccentrics and artistes. But the thing that really stands out is that, when you draw back one of the vintage red drapes, its still daylight outsideat nearly 11 p.m.. So much so that other dancers crinkle their eyes and screw up their faces until you block the light out again. Its also unusual for the security team to come and slyly watch the DJ sets themselves from the back of the room. Its nice to see people dancing and not just drunk, one local mutters.

These are the giveaway signs that were actually somewhere a little further from home. A lot further. Because this is the inaugural Detour Discotheque, the so-called party at the edge of the worlda pop-up nightclub bringing peace, love and mirror balls to incredible locations. And the very first destination is ingeyri, in the Westfjords of Iceland, population of approximately 326  which means that when 200 or so visitors arrive for two nights of clubbing, most residents are going to notice.

We have snow to thank for the choice of venue. Editor, DJ and Detour Discotheque founder Jonny Ensall first visited the village in 2018. He was there to write an article about a co-working space that had opened the summer before, Blabankinn aka The Blue Bank, intrigued by the fact that true digital nomads could now travel to such remote places. The village is accessible via a short domestic flight from Reykjavik on a small, 30-seater plane, landing in a narrow, often windy valley that only top-level pilots can handle (the standard of the local pilots is a matter of pride), followed by a 45-minute drive. During Jonnys visit, a snowstorm meant his return flight had to be postponed, leaving him with a surprise extra night in town. His hosts took him to the annual Hjonaballa couples dance in the village hall  and the rest is disco history. There was something so special about the vibe at the venue, I knew I had to share it with more people, he says. Throw in some blue-sky thinking triggered by a boundary-shifting global pandemic, and the idea for Detour Discotheque was crystallized.

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Haukur Sigurdsson/[purplehat.is](http://purplehat.is/){: target="_blank"}

By the time the actual dates roll around in 2022 theyre both sold out. We actually held back some tickets, as wed been told that typically laidback Icelanders are likely to think about what theyre doing that evening on the day, Jonny explains. In the end, the crowd is about 60 per cent local, 40 per cent international visitors. The hall, with its grey exterior and peeling paint on the windows, looks a little lackluster from outside, but this only makes its transformation into some sort of community Studio 54 once you step inside (and squint) all the more unexpected, with its gold tinsel draped from the DJ booth, rustic-chic fairy-lit chill-out area, hundreds of colorful balloons taped to the ceiling and traditional stage framed by heavy red curtains.

The two-night DJ lineup is split between the soul, Afro, Latin, Seventies, and Eighties sounds of the Friday-night residents, Jonny with Josshis co-jock since they were 17, playing together everywhere from Yorkshire to Oslo Hackney, where theyve spun for the last five yearsand three guests on the Saturday. Coming over from his home city Chicago Rahaan travels the furthest of anyone, partiers included, to play the first set in Iceland of his 40-year, disco-purist career, while rising star Norsicaa makes it from London to blend her mix of modern disco, house and Afro rhythms (as the closing DJ she also wouldnt stop playing until her decks were manually taken over). However, the real musical highlight, aptly, is the only Icelander on the agenda: the distinctive, red-pigtailed Hermigervill, an old-school big name on Reykjaviks music scene, whose live set of electro-bleeps-meets-deranged-voice-distorter gets the crowd almost as excited as he is.

Haukur Sigurdsson/[purplehat.is](http://purplehat.is/){: target="_blank"}

But going to a remote Detour Disco is far from being just about the club nights themselves. You dont even have to really love disco, to be honest. Its the preparation beforehand (combining packing for both a one-off Seventies-themed night out and Icelandic between-season weather). Its the travel there (one dedicated British woman hitch-hiked from France as part of a summer of backpacking). Its all the people you meet on your travels. And its what else you squeeze onto your itinerary in a wholly different place on earth from the one you know back home, or have even experienced on other, more traditional trips.

We spent a night wandering the surprisingly low-level, multi-colored little streets of Reykjavik, stunned every time we spotted mountains at the end of the roads. After sampling its appropriately famed restaurant scene at Apothek (trying Arctic char for the first time, caught just a few feet away) and its bustling, creative clusters of bars, we boarded the tiny plane to the Westfjords. The landscape we saw both from thousands of feet on high and once grounded was unlike anything wed ever witnessed: dramatic black crevasses criss-crossed with snow like icing, peppered with moss and wild grasses and noticeably naked of trees.

Haukur Sigurdsson/[purplehat.is](http://purplehat.is/){: target="_blank"}

After a visit to a local bakery teeming with intriguing pastry concoctionsand finding out that, on particularly stormy, cold winter days, coffees laced with all sorts of spirits appear on the menu as early as 9 a.m.we were out at sea. Huddled in life jackets aboard the Aurora, a ship that has sailed around the world four times, we searched the horizon for whales and puffins (spotting the latter, casually bobbing on the waves), fished off the side, sampled craft beer by the Westfjords only brewhouse, Dokkan Brugghas, and learned from our hosts that all Icelandic films must have three ingredients: funerals (at least two), lots of nudity and something weird (the 2022 BAFTA-nominated Lamb is a fine example.)

Other unforgettable Icelandic experiences included visiting Osvor maritime Museum, a replica of a 19th-century fishing station, discovering how fishermen lived not so long ago in freezing conditions (sharing single beds for warmth by night, wearing sharkskin slippers by day). Somehow, the morning after the final party, we managed to climb to the arrestingly beautiful and head fog-vamosing Dynjandi waterfalls, known as the jewel of the westfjords, seeking out rainbows in its froth. Once back on the outskirts of Reykjavik, we slathered on purifying volcanic facemasks in the Blue Lagoon, steamy mist rising all around us, the water so electric blue it didnt seem real.

Haukur Sigurdsson/[purplehat.is](http://purplehat.is/){: target="_blank"}

Still, while all of these vivid experiences will no doubt stand out in our travel memories, they are already woven into Icelands tourist trail. Detour Discotheque 2022 was something entirely new and unique, seeing curious people from entirely contrasting backgrounds, at all different stages of life, sharing one special weekend on the dance floor together.

Those in the hall at 3am(ishonce Norsicaa was dragged off the decks) on Sunday morning gather together to pose for a photo taken from the DJ booth; evidence they made it to the bitter end, before walking home in an ethereal, early dawn light. Apparently, the Northern Lights had been wheeling across the skies above us as we danced inside. Three men, inexplicably painting the inside of a nearby house at this time in the morning, invite us all in for an after-party. The events scheduled bus to the slightly less remote town of Isafjorur sails by with only one person on it. The rest of the crowd appears to have already disappeared into the dawn mist. It seems you never know exactly whats going to happen next at Detour Discotheque. The 2023 edition is taking place on the Scottish Isle of Coll in September, and is set to be as dramatic as exciting as the first.

Detour Discotheque is taking place on the Scottish Isle of Coll from 22-23 September 2023. Tickets are 95. Sign up to the newsletter at detourdisco.com to find out when the second release of tickets is dropping; See westfjords.is for the ultimate things to do in the Westfjords of Iceland.

This article was originally published on Conde Nast Traveller UK.



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Originally Appeared on Conde Nast Traveler
XYZ Films has hired Manon Barat, a former executive at the Spanish sales company Film Factory, to head a slate of titles that will fall under the companys newly-launched global film initiative, New Visions.

Barat will work alongside XYZ Head of International Acquisitions Todd Brown to oversee the new slate, which the company has described as a highly curated collection of films.

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XYZ will launch the new slate in Cannes with In Flames, a Pakistani-Canadian horror film directed by Zarrar Kahn and executive produced by Shant Joshi. The pic will screen as part of the Directors Fortnight sidebar. Check out a first-look image from the film below.

Other titles from the initial New Visions slate include the Czech sci-fi pic Restore Point, directed by Robert Hloz and produced by Jan Kallista, which will have footage screened at the Marche du Film as part of the Fantastic 7 lineup. Paul Duanes upcoming Irish folk horror All You Need Is Death is also part of the slate.

XYZ today said the New Visions slate will support the next generation of great filmmakers at the inception of their career and enable established talents room to do something smaller, more intimate, or challenging outside of the usual box of independent filmmaking.

Ive always considered XYZ to have one of the most creative and bold slates, and it is an honor to join the team, said Barat. I am thrilled to be on board for this specialized slate which will be talent-driven and actively looking for bold filmmakers who I believe will be the leaders of their generation.

During her time at Film Factory, Barat worked on titles such as Jayro Bustamantes Volcano (Ixcanul), Tremors, and La Llorona, which was nominated for a Golden Globe. Other highlights include Fernando Truebas Forgotten Well Be, which was selected for Cannes in 2020. In 2022, she worked on Carlos Vermuts Manticore, and the San Sebastian Golden Shell winning The Kings Of The World by Laura Mora.

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What were saying with the New Visions Slate is that no matter how XYZ may continue to grow and change we are never going to allow ourselves to lose our roots, said Brown.

With this new initiative, we are very proactively creating a space for our next generation of talent to shine, a space for both new talent and established voices looking to challenge and redefine themselves. We couldnt be more excited about what the future holds and thrilled to have Manon joining us on the journey.

In Flames  XYZ Films

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These science-backed tips guarantee softer skin, healthier hair, and a smarter clean.

We asked the experts, and as it turns out, there really is a right way to shower. Though you can, of course, lather up however you want, these science-backed tips guarantee softer skin, healthier hair, and a smarter clean. Read on for some a-ha moments ahead of your next ahhh.

Related:We Asked Derms How Often You Should ShowerHere's What They Said

How Many Times Should I Shower Each Week?

Three at minimum. (Seven is the max for most people!) Showering is one of the most cost-effective ways to reduce disease. Just be warned: There is such a thing as being too clean. When you overwash, you strip your skin of ceramides, setting yourself up for dryness and itchiness, says Shari Marchbein, M.D., a dermatologist in New York City. How do you know its time to wash? Do a sniff test. Shower if you think youre starting to smell, because it could signify a change in the skins microbiome, which can result in irritation, advises Mona Gohara, M.D., associate clinical professor of dermatology at Yale School of Medicine.



How Hot Should the Water Be?

Dont worry, were not going to tell you to take a lukewarm showernobody wants to do that! The ideal temp is between warm and hot. To be sure youve got it right, turn on the water and check the mir-ror over the sink: If it fogs up entirely in a minute or two, you need to turn things down. Chances are, if the water is scalding, you arent fully rinsing off all the cleanser residue, which can dry out your skin, Marchbein says. Plus, hot, hot water can break down the skin barrier faster than very warm water, Gohara notes.

Related:7 Shower Mistakes That Are Ruining Your Skin, According to Dermatologists

Which Soap Should I Use?

When it comes to choosing a cleanser, the CDC and most dermatologists suggest looking for terms like hypoallergenic and fragrance-free on the package. These are hints the formula probably contains fewer and less-likely-to-irritate ingredients. Also, steer clear of antibacterial body washes, says Robert H. Shmerling, MD, senior faculty editor at Harvard Health Publishing. Marchbein agrees: They can be harsh on the skin and cause dryness and irritation. If you want someone to point you toward a winner, Marchbein likes Dove Sensitive Skin Body Wash ($7; target.com).

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Does Bar Soap Breed Germs?

Actually, no. Charles Gerba, Ph.D., professor of virology at the University of Arizona, points to findings from a study in which scientists inoculated bars of soap with disease-causing bacteria and had people wash their hands. After scrubbing, there were no detectable levels of bacteria on the subjects.

How Long Do I Need to Leave Conditioner In?

Conditioner closes the cuticle and smooths the hair shaft, making hair easier to detangle, says Helen Reavey, a trichologist and the founder of the hair-care line Act+Acre. It works instantly. Leaving it on longer doesnt make it work better. Cue the mind-blown emoji.

How Long Should You Shower?

That water hitting you feels oh-so-good. But according to the American Academy of Dermatology Association, standing in the stream for more than 10 minutes can compromise your skins ability to act as a barrier, keeping the good stuff (moisture!) in and the bad stuff (pollution!) out. Thats not to say you cant enjoy an extra-long shower once in a while. The humidity is great for your skin, and the time to yourself can lower stress, Gohara says. The trick is to stick your arm in, then your leg, so you get the boost without pounding your skin. Get out before your fingers look pruney. Its a sign youve sucked the moisture out of them, Marchbein says.

How Often Should I Wash My Hair?

Let your scalp guide you, and only wash your hair when its greasy so you dont strip out natural oils, says Michelle Henry, M.D., clinical instructor of dermatology at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City. Fine types can go two or three days between washes, while tightly coiled types that tend to be drier can go up to seven days to help reduce breakage.

In What Order Should I Wash Myself?

So youre naked. (Were not looking!) Now what? Gently brush your hairits less damaging to detangle hair when its dryor put on a shower cap. Turn on the water, get in, and then...



Shampoo and Condition Your Hair: If youre washing your hair, thoroughly wet it and pour a dollop of shampoo into your palm: dime-size for short hair, nickel-size for medium, half-dollar-size for long. Sulfate-free shampoo is best for anyone with dyed, coily, or frizzy hair or a sensitive scalp because it can be less drying. Massage your shampoo into your scalp and rinse. Work another, dime-size dot through the length of your hair and rinse again. Then apply a dollop of conditioner (based on hair length, as above) to the bottom two-thirds of your hair; rinse.



Wash Your Body: Work from neck to toe. Its important to wash all parts of the body, including the armpits, feet, legs, and private areas, as bacteria and sweat can accumulate in these areas and cause unpleasant odors and infections, says Amy Freeland, Ph.D., team leader for the Domestic Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Epidemiology Team at the CDC. (Yes, to settle the Great Shower Debate once and for all, you do have to wash your legs.) Be gentle around the private areas, and only clean the outsidenot the inside. Most formulas are for external use only, so dont use them inside the vagina or anus, Freeland says.



Shave (If You'd Like): The best time to shave is when your skin is warm, moist, and free of excess oil, which can clog razors. Consider a shave bar (Moisturising Shave Bar, $14; goodtime.org). It cuts down on plas-tic and lathers up nicely. Rinse your body when done.



Wash Your Face: Doing this at the end of the shower helps ensure you've removed any conditioner along your hairline, which can trigger zits.



Do I Need to Exfoliate Before Shaving?

If you enjoy exfoliating, great, but its not a pre-shaving must. Whats more important is that you change your blade every six uses. If you suffer from in-growns, shaving in the direction of hair growth, though it feels weird, helps prevent bumps.

What's the Best Way to Dry Off?

Instead of rubbing, blot your body. If you washed your hair, twist it into or blot it with a microfiber hair towel, like the Microfiber Hair Towel ($23; mykitsch.com). Rub in lotion while your skin is still damp. Nows the time to lock in hydration.





Our Shower Picks

Magical merch to turn your shower into a spa

Esker Bath & Towel Spray This herbal-scented mist makes your towels, robe, and shower curtain smell amazing. $50; eskerbeauty.com

Tweezerman Clean Sole Foot Scrubber Suction it to the shower oor and rub heels along the silicone bristles. Smooth rough spots with the detachable pumice. $26; tweezerman.com

Kneipp Dream Away Valerian & Hops Mineral Bath Salt Soak Sprinkle a capful into the showerthe heat diuses the fragrance. $22; ulta.com



The Best Shower Tools

What you should wash witha ranking of tools:

MEH: Loofah They are way too abrasive, Gohara says, adding that they can irritate your skin and harbor dangerous bacteria. A 2022 report from researchers in Toronto showed that loofahs can even cause skin infections. If youre going to use one, thoroughly rinse it, hang it to dry outside the shower, and replace it at least monthly, Marchbein says.

GOOD: Washcloth A washcloth (moved in gentle, circular motions) is a great tool for exfoliation, which can remove dead skin cells, improve cell turnover, boost radiance, and help your moisturizer penetrate better. Gohara recommends doing this once a week. Go with organic cotton ones meant for babies, she suggests, and use separate cloths for your face and body

BEST: Your Hands I use my hands for everything, Marchbein says, noting that doing so results in less waste and less laundry. Theyre always with you, easy to clean, and gentle, Gohara says. And using them encourages you to be in touch with your skin health so you can feel any lumps or bumps or change in texture."

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PORTLAND, Maine  A Massachusetts man will be spending the next 9 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to robbing a bank in York.

Brandon Simmons, 35, was sentenced this week in U.S. District Court in Portland to 115 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay $7,162 in restitution to the bank as part of a negotiated plea deal.

According to police, Simmons entered a Bangor Savings Bank in York on Nov. 1, 2021, telling a teller that he had a bomb and demanding money. Simmons then grabbed cash from the tellers drawer, left the bank and fled in a white work van, according to police.

Brandon Simmons was apprehended by Massachusetts State Police on November 3, 2021, at a hotel in Peabody, Massachusetts.

Simmons was quickly identified as a suspect through the combined efforts of the FBI, York Police Department and law enforcement agencies in Massachusetts. Simmons was also identified as the suspect in the October 30, 2021, robbery of a CVS Pharmacy in Newburyport, Massachusetts.

Previous story: York bank robbery suspect arrested after 'violent' struggle with Massachusetts police

From Nov. 1-3, 2021, Simmons led police on a series of high-speed chases in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. In his attempts to avoid apprehension, police said he assaulted an officer, attempted to carjack a civilian bystander, stole multiple vehicles and crashed his van into a truck driven by a bystander. Simmons was apprehended by Massachusetts State Police on Nov. 3, 2021, at a hotel in Peabody, Massachusetts.

According to police, Brandon Simmons entered a Bangor Savings Bank in York on Nov. 1, 2021, telling a teller that he had a bomb and demanding money.

Simmons pleaded guilty May 10 to the Massachusetts charges in connection with the robbery in Newburyport, as well as multiple charges related to his conduct while fleeing from police.

The FBI's Safe Streets Task Force investigated the case with assistance from the York Police Department, the Massachusetts State Police, and the police departments in Newburyport and Salisbury, Massachusetts.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: York, ME robbery at Bangor Savings Bank nets 9 years in prison
2023  Netflix

It's time to cancel your weekend plans. Netflix has a new true crime series, Missing: Dead or Alive? that's perfect for true crime junkies. While many shows focus on the victim's life leading up to the crimeor the act itselfthis limited series focuses on the investigations.

In this docuseries, the audience gets to follow lead investigators of a South Carolina-based missing persons unit to solve four mysterious disappearances: Lorraine Garcia, Amirah Watson, David Taylor, and Sierra Stevens.

If you've already watched, you might be wondering if the cases are true. (Spoiler: They are.) Here's everything to know about the cases, and how investigators cracked them. *Spoilers Ahead*

Yes, all the events are true.

The four cases in Missing: Dead or Alive all happened between 2019 and 2021. Each case was investigated by the Missing Persons Unit in the Richland County Sherriff's Department in South Carolina. The docuseries followed the department over the course of three years (with a brief break due to COVID), per The Post and Courier.

The story primarily follows investigators Vicki Rains, JP Smith, and Heidi Jacksonwho oversees the entire unit. The basis of the episodes shows how much work goes into the background of any missing person case, no matter how small.



The show adds a bit of personal flair, showing bits of each investigators' personal life, such as Heidi Jackson's experience fostering children. Parts of the show are, admittedly, a little awkward but the cases are very real. The show is like reality television for a missing persons unit.



What happened to Lorraine Garcia?

The first episode of Missing: Dead or Alive? opens up with the disappearance of 61-year-old Lorraine Garcia in 2021. At first, it seems foul play was involved. Garcia's son, Anthony, was a war veteran with a PTSD diagnosis and was a major suspect.

Netflix

When the missing persons unit investigated her case, Lorraine's neighbors reported that she had been complaining about her son's concerning behavior. "She was being locked in a bedroom," the neighbor said in the series. "Things were being taken away [from her]her bank card, her phone."

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Lorraine's home also smelled like bleach, which initially made the department believe she may have been harmed. However, Lorraine was found alive after she called her bank for access to her account. She told the missing persons department that she wanted to escape from her volatile son. "My son, he did things to me he has never done," she told authorities on the show. "I dont deserve that.

Lorraine has maintained her secret location, but she is currently alive and well, per the docuseries.

Netflix

Amirah Watson was abducted by her mother.

In the second episode of Missing: Dead or Alive?, Amirah Watson, 10, is reported missing by her father, Mansoor Watson in 2020. The lead investigator on the case, JP Smith (who focuses on juvenile cases), knew she was likely with her mother, but it took six weeks for U.S. Marshals to finally locate her at a family home in Georgia. She was with her mother, Tynesha Brooks, who was arrested.



ICYDK, Amirah's case is unfortunately very common. According to the National Center For Missing and Exploited Children, 4.8% of missing children cases are due to family abductions.

It seems Amirah is now happily living with her father in South Carolina. "[My dad is] the only person I really have in my life that really cares about me, that tries to make me happy and feel safe," she said in the show. "He's everything. I wouldn't know what to do without him."

Netflix

David Taylor died of hypothermia.

The disappearance of David Taylor is arguably the most mysterious case in the series. Taylor's truck was found on the side of the highway just after he won a $10,000 prize in the lottery.

Netflix

At first, investigators assumed David might have been attacked for the $10,000 prize money, but the ticket was never cashed in. Instead, Taylor's body was found in a wooded area close to the highway with no wounds. In an autopsy report, Taylor was reported to have died from hypothermia, with a fatal dose of methamphetamine in his system.



It is likely that David overdosed on drug, experienced psychosis, and ended up running into the forest from the highway.

Sierra Stevens was never actually missing.

Sierra Stevens, the 17-year-old girl featured in the final episode of the docuseries was technically never missing at all. In September 2021, Sierra had ended up staying the night at a friend's house after a party without telling her foster parents.

Her foster family reported her missing and Sierra avoided going home after seeing the police at her house. The case was flagged as a high concern because of other sex trafficking cases that had taken place around the same area, according to the show.

Netflix





Sierra continued to avoid calls from family and reportedly stayed with her friend until October 2021when she reunited with them.

You can learn more about these cases, and how they were solved, in Missing: Dead or Alive? on Netflix.

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(Bloomberg) -- Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that the federal government will have to renege on some payments if Congress doesnt raise the debt limit, though no plan on how the department would proceed has yet been presented to President Joe Biden.

Most Read from Bloomberg

If Congress fails to do that, it really impairs our credit rating. We have to default on some obligation, whether its Treasuries or payments to Social Security recipients, Yellen said Friday in an interview with Bloomberg Television. Thats something America hasnt done since 1789. And we shouldnt start now. So weve not discussed what to do.

Yellen was pressed on whether the assumption of many market participants that the Treasury would prioritize payments of interest and principal on Treasury securities was accurate. That presumption is based on discussions between Federal Reserve and Treasury officials during the 2011 debt-limit showdown, revealed in a transcript of a Fed policymaker discussion.

My understanding  I was at the Fed in 2011  is that this plan was never presented to the president and never approved, said Yellen, who was vice chair of the Fed at that time.

Asked whether she would now present that plan to prioritize Treasuries to the president, Yellen said, we are working full time to work with Congress to raise the debt ceiling. Thats where our focus is.

No Discussion

Weve not discussed what to do, if that doesnt occur, with the president  our focus is on getting it done, she said in the interview on the sidelines of a Group of Seven gathering of finance officials in Niigata, Japan.

Biden and congressional leaders are planning to resume discussions on the debt ceiling next week. They had been scheduled to meet Friday, but the session was postponed as Republican and Democratic staff members continue to negotiate.

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Biden and congressional Republicans have been locked in disagreement for weeks over raising the US federal governments $31.4 trillion borrowing limit. GOP leaders have demanded promises of future spending cuts before they approve a higher ceiling. Biden has insisted on a clean increase, with budget talks kept separate.

The Treasury chief said she hadnt spoken with banking executives about the debt limit within the last few weeks, but did so when she first advised Congress in January of the potential for the Treasury to exhaust its special accounting maneuvers to avoid running out of sufficient cash as soon as early June.

Yellen said she had, however, spoken with business leaders from different sectors of the economy more recently, and plans to meet with senior bankers next week.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. has set up a war room looking at contingencies if the US debt limit isnt increased in time, Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said in a Bloomberg Television interview Thursday.

Wall Street executives and American businesspeople have always spoken out about their concerns about the debt ceiling, Yellen said. We want to hear voices of people who will be affected by this.

Different Paths

The Treasury chief also reiterated her warning that a default would be an economic and financial catastrophe. And she emphasized there is no satisfactory solution for the US economy and markets other than Congress acting to raise the debt ceiling.

There are potential different paths that could be taken if that doesnt happen, but there is not a single thing that can be done that will save the United States from considerable economic and financial damage, she added.

Read More: US Debt Limits Bad Options: The Coin, Premium Bonds and More

Yellen added that it was still unclear exactly when the Treasury would run out of funds. She told Congress earlier this month the Treasury could run out of available cash as soon as June 1.

I will update Congress as we have available information, Yellen said Friday. As we get closer I may be able to provide more refined guidance.

Late Friday, the Treasury said that as of Wednesday it had just $88 billion of room left from the extraordinary measures its been taking to avoid breaching the debt limit since reaching the ceiling in January. As of Thursday, it also had about $143 billion of cash on hand.

--With assistance from Justin Solomon, Malcolm Scott and Joe Mayes.

(Updates with Treasury estimate of room from extraordinary measures, in final paragraph.)

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2023 Bloomberg L.P.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis got most of what he encouraged the state legislature to pass as he gears up for a likely presidential run. Lawmakers swiftly approved a six-week abortion ban, expanded restrictions on discussing sexual orientation and gender identity in school and more money to transport migrants to other states.

But there was one notable exception. His push to rewrite defamation law and challenge press rights failed to advance beyond a committee vote.

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Opposition came from an unexpected sector: conservative media and lawmakers.

When it came to backing what First Amendment experts and journalists called a radical rewriting of press freedom laws, DeSantis-friendly outlets responded with a rare show of resistance from media companies that by and large support the governor's agenda.

"He pushed his luck and he was doing so well, pushing everything and getting it," said Javier Manjarres, publisher of the conservative news site the Floridian. "He got stung and a slap on the wrist from his supporters."

The rare defeat for DeSantis (R) comes as donors, activists and supporters have voiced concern in recent weeks that he has embraced extreme positions that could hurt him in a general election. They point to a recently passed abortion ban and his war against Disney. The defamation bill's defeat appears to offer yet more evidence there are limits on how far supporters will go in backing some of the more controversial culture wars-driven targets.

"Once conservative media made their points, there was a quick rethink. I think that tipped the scale," said Susan MacManus, a political analyst and retired University of South Florida professor. "Also, when people started probing the bill, they discovered it wasn't particularly well done."

DeSantis has long had a combative relationship with much of the press. He shuns mainstream news outlets while routinely offering interviews to conservative platforms. His press team is known for launching blistering attacks against reporters on Twitter. At a roundtable earlier this year, DeSantis accused major news companies of "legacy media defamation practices."

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"These companies are probably the leading purveyors of disinformation in our entire society," DeSantis said.

He then issued a call to lawmakers to rewrite defamation law. Republicans who hold a supermajority in Florida's legislature complied, drafting bills in both chambers that met the governor's demands. The House bill would have lowered the threshold for defamation and made it easier to sue - and prevail - in libel lawsuits brought against media companies.

In one provision, reporting cited to anonymous sources would have been presumed to be false. Opponents warned the bill would have opened the door to more lawsuits, create a chilling effect for reporting on corruption and also lead to higher libel insurance premiums.

The legislation appeared to go after protections afforded under a landmark 1964 Supreme Court case, New York Times v. Sullivan. For years, conservatives in political and legal circles have called for scaling back the defamation protections - former president Donald Trump famously pledged to "open up" libel law on the campaign trail - and in recent years, Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil M. Gorsuch have signaled a desire to reconsider the standard.

But the effort to codify DeSantis's antagonistic relationship with the press ran into fierce opposition from publishers across the media and political spectrum, who argued it would could put media outlets - particularly smaller ones - out of business with staggering costs.

"They were kind of down to try and 'own the libs,' and didn't realize the boomerang effect it would have on conservative media," said Brendon Leslie, editor in chief of DeSantis-friendly outlet Florida's Voice. "It was a lose-lose situation."

Leslie found himself on the same side of the debate as liberal bloggers, who criticized the bill as unconstitutional. Some in the conservative media opposition feared that as smaller operations, an uptick in lawsuits would put them out of business.

"They don't have the budget or the lawyers to constantly fight frivolous lawsuits," Leslie said.

James Schwartzel, the owner of 92.5 Fox News, a talk-radio station that carries Sean Hannity and other conservative personalities, said the bill would be "the death of conservative talk throughout the state of Florida." First Amendment scholars noted conservative programming often featured commentary and opinion, which could have made them especially vulnerable to legal challenged under the proposed law.

"Talk radio is often the most contentious of all news programs, as the personalities at the center of these shows tackle issues in purposefully provocative and colorful ways," Bobby Block of the Florida First Amendment Foundation said earlier this year.

Behind the scenes, conservative media publishers quietly lobbied lawmakers to warn them about the bill's provisions. Leslie said more conservative media figures planned to go public with criticism if the bill progressed.

"It was kind of like, if we get to this date, this person will speak," said Leslie, who said he had about a half-dozen "big conservative pundits" in the wings.

The proposal also found resistance from some Republican lawmakers, who contended it was unconstitutional, restricts speech and opens the door to frivolous lawsuits.

"This bill is encouraging the state to violate its citizens' fundamental rights as Americans and is not only unpatriotic, but it is not representative of the free state of Florida," U.S. Rep. Cory Mills (R) wrote in a letter to Florida lawmakers. He added it would "create a bonanza for plaintiffs lawyers."

State Rep. Alex Andrade, a Republican who introduced the bill in the Florida House, said critics mischaracterized the legislation by saying it was designed to stifle the press; he said it was meant to help people "clear their names" if they felt they were defamed. He argued the bill failed because legislators were overwhelmed with a busy session and did not have time to thoroughly address it.

"We're a part time legislature. We have 60 days to get everything we want done," Andrade said. "We made the call to kind of sideline it for the rest of the session once it got a little bit too late to commit the resources needed to pass it."

Andrade said there was "no heavy participation" from DeSantis when he crafted the bill, but he did work with the governor's office to make sure it wouldn't be vetoed had it passed. He plans to reintroduce a similar bill next year.

"As a final product I think most people would've liked it," he said.

The state House bill passed its only committee hearing in March, over the objections of numerous free speech and civil rights advocates. At a news conference the last day of the session, DeSantis acknowledged that the proposal "needs a little more work."

"Defamation, it's a thorny issue," he said. "So I think people just started debating, and there were legitimate issues to do."

Under current law, public figures who sue for defamation must prove those publishing false statements either knew they weren't true or recklessly disregarded whether they could be false. The bill would have narrowed who qualifies as a public figure, in effect, lowering the bar to meet the defamation threshold for more people.

The limits of defamation law in the United States were expected to be tested by a blockbuster trial last month against Fox News, which was defending itself against a $1.6 billion libel lawsuit bought by Dominion Voting Systems.

Legal experts said Dominion had an unusually strong case - it is notoriously difficult for public figures and companies to prevail in defamation claims. Fox settled just as the trial began for $787.5 million, but in the lead up to the trial, the network vigorously defended itself by citing the legal protections afforded by Sullivan. Fox faces a similar defamation lawsuit by another voting technology company, which has sued for $2.7 billion.

Lisa Zycherman, deputy legal director and policy counsel for Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, said the Florida bill was designed to challenge those long-standing protections.

"It is unmatched in recent memory in terms of its overall scope," she said.

But despite the bill's failure, efforts to curtail defamation protections aren't likely to end. DeSantis "has put certain First Amendment challenges within his sights," Zycherman said. "And I wouldn't expect him to give up on that effort."

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Gen. Paul Nakasone, the head of the National Security Agency (NSA) and U.S. Cyber Command, is expected to resign from his positions in the coming months, The Wall Street Journal reported.

A source who spoke to the news outlet said Nakasone is looking to leave by August or September. But its unclear whether the four-star general is planning to retire or take another position in the government or move to the private sector.

Nakasone was appointed to lead both agencies in 2018.

As head of U.S. Cyber Command, Nakasone has focused on addressing several key issues, including election interference from U.S. adversaries and global ransomware.

Testifying before Congress in March, Nakasone told lawmakers that election meddling is essentially here to stay, especially as nation-state threat actors like China, Russia, Iran and North Korea continue to enhance their cyber capabilities.

He also said that influence operations and disinformation campaigns launched by U.S. adversaries are much more prevalent these days than attempts to hack into election systems.

His agency has also been helping Ukraine and other Eastern European countries shore up their cyber defenses following Russias invasion of Ukraine.

The agencys hunt forward team has conducted more than 30 operations in dozens of countries, including Estonia, Montenegro, Croatia, North Macedonia, and Latvia.

The team is a defensive cyber group made of U.S. military and civilian personnel.

Nakasones expected resignation comes as the Pentagon is still reeling from a massive leak of classified documents that revealed information about the U.S. involvement in the Russia-Ukraine war and how America allegedly spies on its foes and allies.

The alleged leaker, Jack Teixeira, a Massachusetts Air National Guard airman, was arrested and charged with violating the Espionage Act and another statute that prohibits the unauthorized removal of classified documents.

This would be the second time this year that a high-ranking cyber official in the administration steps down. Earlier this year, Chris Inglis resigned as head of the Office of the National Cyber Director.

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Inglis was appointed in 2021 to lead the office as the first national cyber director. In his role, he also served as the principal adviser to the president on cybersecurity policy and strategy.

In a statement to The Hill, spokespersons for the NSA and U.S. Cyber Command said, General Nakasone serves at the pleasure of the President. He remains focused on leading U.S. Cyber Command, the National Security Agency and Central Security Service in their critical missions to safeguard the nation.

The NSA added that it does not discuss personnel matters.

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

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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.
At first glance, state Sen. Chris McDaniel appeared to lead incumbent Delbert Hosemann in January-April fundraising for the hotly contested Republican primary for Mississippi lieutenant governor.

However, McDaniel's official filing form, as it appeared on the secretary of state's website Thursday morning, failed to include a detailed breakdown of contributions, leaving much up to interpretation and prompting questions over its accuracy.

Campaign finance: Record fundraising recorded in MS governor's race

According to a single summary page, McDaniel raised more than $677,000 in the first four months of this year, compared to the nearly $193,000 raised by Hosemann, whose filing included both a summary page and a 31-page list of contributions and disbursements. State law requires candidates to disclose any donations or expenditures over $200.

Delbert Hosemann, left, Chris McDaniel, right.

Hosemann, who did not hold fundraising events during the legislative session, which ended April 1, maintains a lead in cash on hand, with about $3.34 million compared to McDaniel's reported total of roughly $336,000. Incumbents often come into races with leads in cash on hand compared to their challengers.

"We are grateful for the support we have received, Hosemann said in a statement. Mississippi voters want solutions, not just talk, and we have a significant record of running government like a business. The next three months will be devoted to spreading the message about our record and priorities over the next four years.

The accuracy of information McDaniel claimed on the summary page has been called into question by Hosemann in a later statement.

At this point, there appear to be multiple campaign finance violations stemming from multiple committees. Standing for election integrity includes following campaign finance laws which require basic reporting of contributions, expenditures, and cash on hand," Hosemann said in a statement. "We are asking for enforcement of these laws. If Chris McDaniel cant get this simple paperwork done, he wont be able to manage a $7 billion budget.

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It is possible that, if McDaniel is factoring in contributions he has previously reported into this period's total, the true amount raised could be about $87,000, not the roughly $667,000 claimed on the summary page. Without the full itemized list, it is impossible to know the true total.

In response to questions about the missing list of contributions, the McDaniel campaign provided 124 pages of screenshots from what appears to be its internal contribution tabulation software, which were apparently sent to the secretary of state. The contributions listed in those screenshots do not include dates and add up to a slightly different total than what was listed on the form posted by the secretary of state. The single summary page listed the contributions for this period at $677,775.77, while the screenshots list it at $677,975.77. The screenshots also list $0 in contributions and disbursements for "Pre-January 1, 2023," lending some credence to the idea that previously reported funds may be included in that January-April period total.

According to Elizabeth Holbert Jonson, spokesperson for Secretary of State Michael Watson, the single page summary was the full filing the office received from the Committee to Elect Chris McDaniel on Wednesday. However, Holbert Jonson said the office received a call early Thursday afternoon from the McDaniel campaign claiming that they had indeed submitted the full report, with itemized contributions, and that they believed the summary was posted alone in error.

The secretary of state's website was experiencing technical difficulties Thursday, including with its campaign finance search application, so Holbert Jonson said the office was unable to confirm or deny the claims made by the McDaniel campaign, and investigations are ongoing.

McDaniel campaign spokesperson Nicole Tardif provided a statement that criticized Hosemann and thanked McDaniel donors but did not address the questions about the filing.

As every failed Mississippi Democrat in recent history, its of no surprise that Delbert the Democrat Hosemanns campaign coffers are bankrolled by corrupt special interest dollars," Tardif said. Senator McDaniel is humbled by the overwhelming financial support his campaign has received by hundreds of everyday Mississippians. Coupling this support with the grassroots momentum the campaign is seeing, Sen. Chris McDaniel is in a strong position to win this August.

McDaniel has chosen to raise money through a candidate committee, a change from previous races where he raised money as an individual. Doing so comes with requirements that a committee file a statement of organization with the secretary of state within 48 hours of receiving or spending more than $200.

Without an itemized list of contributions or disbursements, it is impossible to know when the committee reached that $200 threshold, but a spokesperson for Watson said their office has never received a statement of organization from McDaniel's committee.

Failure of a candidate or committee to comply with the reporting requirements or statement of organization timeline can each result in penalties being assessed by the Mississippi Ethics Commission.

As Hosemann referenced in his statement, this is not the first time McDaniel's campaign finance compliance has been called into question. Last month, after reporting by Mississippi Today and the filing of an official complaint by Hosemann, McDaniel returned $460,000 in legally questionable donations to his "Hold the Line" Political Action Committee, which itself then returned that money to a Virginia-based dark money nonprofit. "Hold the Line" then shut down its operations.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: How much money raised in the MS lieutenant governor's race?
A female flame-colored tanager is shown in this April 30 photograph taken in Sheridan Park in Milwaukee. It is the first record of this species in Wisconsin, according to birding experts.

Over 30 million birds are expected to land somewhere in Wisconsin on Friday morning after unpredictable weather conditions during this migration season have created an unprecedented peak this year.

With the weather expected to become turbulent again this weekend, Wisconsin could become a birdwatcher's dream as millions of birds could be calling the Badger State home until the weather clears  here's what to know.

When are the birds expected to land?

Bird expert and University of Wisconsin-Madison professor Stanley Temple said most of the birds that will make Wisconsin home on Friday were in Missouri or Arkansas on Thursday afternoon.

Temple said these birds are expected to take flight Thursday night and will land somewhere in Wisconsin by Friday morning. As for where they will land, Temple said that is anyone's guess.

There are so many factors that go into predicting where they will land, like wind and route, but its very likely they will be in Wisconsin by Friday morning, Temple said.

What kind of birds will be arriving?

Temple said common birds like robins and red-winged blackbirds are already back as they have only migrated a few hundred miles. However, most of the birds that will be seen this weekend will have migrated thousands of miles from Central and South America.

This group of birds will include the likes of orioles, ruby-throated hummingbirds, warblers and different types of flycatchers.

How long will these birds stay?

Ordinarily, flocks of birds would only stay in any given location for about a day before leaving. With rain possible across the state on Friday this could cause the birds to stay grounded for longer than usual.

Moreover, migration season is expected to last until the end of May, which means lingering flocks can be seen even after this weekend.

Where is the best place to bird watch?

At this time it is hard to say where the best place to bird watch will be because experts don't know where the flocks will land.

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Websites like Birdcast can help give an idea of how the birds will move through the state and when the birds do land, the eBird app will help you track where bird sightings have been documented.

How can you prepare for the influx of birds?

Temple said large migrations tend to leave birds very vulnerable as they are often tired and disoriented with their new surroundings.

Some ways you can help protect these birds are by keeping cats in the house and turning off the lights when leaving your home or workplace so birds don't accidentally fly into windows.

Our subscribers make this reporting possible. Please consider supporting local journalism by subscribing to the Journal Sentinel at jsonline.com/deal.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: 30 million birds from Central, South America will migrate to Wisconsin
In the early 1990s, my grandmother brought her family - my uncles and my mother, who were all children - to the United States by themselves. They endured treacherous conditions, crossing deserts and hiding from law enforcement, all while putting their faith in coyotes. They faced extreme temperatures and suffered immensely, carrying their struggles and traumas with them. Eventually, they made it to New Mexico, only to be rounded up by Customs and Border Patrol Agents and detained at an immigration detention center. Once in detention, my family experienced cruel treatment from Border Patrol Officers, physical abuse inflicted on my uncles, all children at the time, invasive searches, and then illegal biometric data gathering of my mother and her brothers. Sadly, my family's experience is not unique. Immigrant families and individuals have long faced danger and fear as a result of the immigration system at large, created by lawmakers and corporate interests at the national level. The private detention industrial complex has thrived, thanks in part to the explicit and tacit consent of New Mexico politicians and private prison backers.

During the recent 2023 Legislative Session, lawmakers from across the state had the opportunity to pass Senate Bill 172 (SB172), a bill that would have prevented local governments from entering into or renewing contracts with the three private detention centers that currently exist in New Mexico. This bill was the hope of the many directly affected people who lobbied the New Mexico Legislature, sharing their stories and those of their families, some of whom live in communities where these detention centers cast a massive shadow on their lives. The goal was to force the state and local lawmakers to imaginatively and equitably reconsider new economic opportunities that don't rely on the incarceration of immigrants, particularly those with brown and black bodies, by ending these contracts.

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Unfortunately, SB 172 failed on the New Mexico Senate Chamber Floor with a close vote of 18-20. Many Senators chose to side with a racist, xenophobic, greedy, and ultimately exploitative system. However, while I am disappointed, I am not disillusioned. Despite politicians and corporations perpetuating a climate of fear, abuse, family separation, and trauma for immigrants, my community knows that we have never been given a fair shake. But we are not giving up.

We must continue to be loud and demand that our politicians listen to us, their constituents, and end private immigrant detention in New Mexico. This is not just a moral issue; it is an economic one as well. New Mexico and its counties have been profiting off the incarceration of immigrants for far too long. It's time to imagine new economic opportunities that are just and equitable for all, and that don't rely on exploiting vulnerable populations.

As a society, we must do better. We must end private immigrant detention in New Mexico, and we must demand that our politicians represent the interests of their constituents and not the interests of detention corporations. This is a moment for us to imagine a new New Mexico - one that is truly just and equitable and safe for all, regardless of where they come from or what they look like.

Jovanny Hernandez is the Southern NM Field Organizer for the NM Dream Team and Dignity Not Detention NM Coalition.

This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: How private immigration detention is harming New Mexico
Asylum seekers wait between the double fence on U.S. soil along the U.S.-Mexico border near Tijuana, Mexico on Monday, May 8, 2023, in San Diego. The migrants wait between the fences to be processed by U.S. Border Patrol agents. Title 42 is set to expire on May 11, drawing many to the border to seek asylum. | Denis Poroy, Associated Press

With the Title 42 border policy expiring at midnight on Thursday, false information has led thousands more migrants than usual to the Mexico and U.S. border, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Many hopeful immigrants have camped along the U.S. and Mexico border as an upward trend of migration has been identified over the last week, per CNN. Many sit in makeshift tents and suffer high midday temperatures.

Even after nearly two years of preparation, we expect to see large numbers of encounters at our southern border in the days and weeks after May 11  we are already seeing high numbers of encounters in certain sectors, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said, per CNN. This places an incredible strain on our personnel, our facilities and our communities, with whom we partner closely.

DHS blamed smugglers for drawing people to the border with lies, claiming that the end of Title 42 would make entering the United States easier.

DHS launched an ad campaign that emphasizes that Title 8, which will take effect upon Title 42s end, is tougher and enforces consequences for crossing illegally. An explainer video posted in a thread by the organization on social media tries to dispel any misunderstanding of an open border.

The lifting of the Title 42 public health Order does not mean our border is open. Get the facts about U.S. immigration laws: https://t.co/2NWF48ERFn pic.twitter.com/6CRZ6NzH3J  Homeland Security (@DHSgov) May 10, 2023

We are making it very clear that our border is not open, crossing irregularly is against the law, and that those who are not eligible for relief will be quickly returned, said Mayorkas in a statement, Do not listen to the lies of the smugglers. This is what will happen to you. You will be returned.

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Nearby border states are worried about the overwhelming influx of migrants, as officials said that they expect many more immigrants to be at the border as time passes, per CNN. More than 550 U.S. troops, mostly from the Army, were sent to fortify the border and assist Border Control by monitoring and providing data entry, in addition to 1,500 troops sent to the border earlier this month.

Related

On Monday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott deployed a new Texas Tactical Border Force composed of hundreds to assist and prepare for the expected influx at the border.

The Texas National Guard is loading Blackhawk helicopters and C-130s and deploying specially trained soldiers for the Texas Tactical Border Force, who will be deployed to hotspots all along the border to help intercept and repel large groups of migrants trying to enter Texas illegally, said Abbott in a statement Monday. The Texas Tactical Border Force will bolster our Operation Lone Star efforts to secure the Texas border amid the chaos.
A rapidly strengthening line of storms Thursday evening produced several brief tornados and prompted warnings for two more south and west of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area. Residents should also expect severe storms, rain, high wind gusts and possibility of hail.

National Weather Service forecasts severe thunderstorms across Oklahoma on Thursday, May 11, 2023.

The tornado threat will increase over the central Oklahoma OKC metro area, especially the southern parts of the metro area. Stay weather aware and be prepared to seek shelter! #okwx pic.twitter.com/tuey1DysJu  NWS Norman (@NWSNorman) May 12, 2023

Tornado spotted near Maud, swiftly dissipates

10:26 p.m.

The National Weather Service has advised a storm including a tornado is headed toward Maud and Seminole.

10:14pm - The storm southwest of Maud has intensified and may produce a tornado at any moment!



If you're in Maud, Bowlegs, Lima, and Seminole, take your storm precautions immediately!#okwx https://t.co/MGa84KxtjR  NWS Norman (@NWSNorman) May 12, 2023

-Cheyenne Derksen

Storm damage to buildings in Noble reported

10 p.m.

-Cheyenne Derksen

Story continues

Power outages worsen across Oklahoma

9:50 p.m.

The latest information from OG&E shows outages have climbed to 12,500, most in Oklahoma City, but about 1,500 in Norman, Noble and Shawnee.

OFF THE GRID: United States Power Outage Tracker

-Jack Money

Tornado warning issued for Seminole, Pottawatomie counties; Cleveland and Oklahoma counties

9:26 p.m.

The National Weather Service in Norman issued a tornado warning at 9:26 p.m. for west-central Seminole County and southwestern Pottawatomie County involving a storm located over Wanette, moving northeast at 25 mph.

Two other warnings were issued about the same time.

One was issued for parts of Cleveland and McClain County, the other for southeastern Oklahoma County and northeastern Cleveland County.

A spotter reports a tornado is causing power flashes just south of Lake Thunderbird on State Highway 9. The storm is headed toward Shawnee, which was recently devastated by a tornado April 19.

-Jack Money

United States Weather Alerts

Storm in Noble throwing debris, causing damage

9:23 p.m.

Storm spotters report damage, such as leaning power poles and debris on the ground, in Noble. Some buildings have been damaged as well.

-Jack Money

Tornado spotted near Noble

9 p.m.

A tornado appears to be on the ground in Noble, spotters report.

Just before 9 p.m., the National Weather Service in Norman issued a tornado warning for parts of Pontotoc, Pottawatomie and McClain County on a storm located near Byars and moving northeast.

-Jack Money

Tornado warning issued near Agawam

9 p.m.

The National Weather Service issued a tornado warning on a severe thunderstorm capable of producing a tornado that was located 4 miles northeast of Agawam.

-Jack Money

Tornado-producing storm heading to Goldsby

8:52 p.m.

The storm that's produced tornadoes east of Cole is approaching Goldsby. Forecasters report debris on radar returns.

Unbelievable tornado minutes ago heading towards Goldsby, OK! #okwx pic.twitter.com/1PEFXQoJJI  Everett Occhipinti (@WxEverett) May 12, 2023

-Jack Money

Moore, Norman, south OKC residents lose power amid severe storms

8:49 p.m.

Thousands of Oklahoma Gas and Electric customers in Oklahoma City lost power Thursday evening as storms moved through the area. At about 9 p.m., the utility's outage map showed more than 10,500 were without power.

-Cheyenne Derksen

Tornado warning reissued for Norman, south Moore, toward Lake Stanley Draper

8:45 p.m.

Tornado was observed by spotters on the ground east of Cole at about 8:42 p.m. Spotters tracking the storm near Cole have not yet spotted any significant damage, however.

At about the same time, forecasters reissued a tornado warning for a storm that passed over north Norman and south Moore and headed toward Lake Stanley Draper.

The warning reissued on the storm approaching the lake extends into Pottawatomie County.

-Jack Money

Tornado touches down at Cole

8:36 p.m.

Tornado spotters observe a tornado touch down at Cole, a community already devastated by a tornado on April 19 this year.

-Cheyenne Derksen

Tornado developing near I-35 in Norman

8:21 p.m.

Storm spotters have observed a funnel near Franklin Road and 48th Avenue near Norman, which is located near HeyDay and Indian Hills Road.

Slow-mo lightning in the tornadic storm over Norman as seen from OKC! pic.twitter.com/3RZlRoS00c  Dale Denwalt (@denwalt) May 12, 2023

8:19pm- The storm in north Norman and Moore continues to have the potential to produce a tornado at any moment!



If you're in north Norman or Moore, take cover immediately!#okwx https://t.co/O4Eo7w2jDj  NWS Norman (@NWSNorman) May 12, 2023

-Jack Money

Tornado spotted south of Ninnekah

8:15 p.m.

Tornado spotters have observed a funnel that may have touched down south of Ninnekah about 8:11 p.m.

-Jack Money

Tornado warning issued for Dibble, includes Norman and Cole

8:06 p.m.

The National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for a storm near Dibble about 8 p.m. The center of circulation involved in the warning was southwest of the community. The warning takes in the Norman as well, putting that community under two warnings currently.

Cole, hit by a tornado just weeks ago, also is included in this latest warning.

8:05pm - Another storm capable of producing a tornado is currently near Dibble.



If you're in Cole, Washington, Goldsby, Noble, and Norman, watch this storm closely and be prepared to take cover immediately!#okwx https://t.co/LtwC4dan3e  NWS Norman (@NWSNorman) May 12, 2023

-Jack Money

Storm circulating north of Rush Springs

7:51 p.m.

At about 7:45 p.m., the National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for a storm near Rush Springs.

The center of circulation for the Rush Springs storm appears to be several miles north of the town.

-Jack Money

Tornado spotted near Newcastle

7:43 p.m.

Tornado spotted at 7:42 p.m. near the junction of State Highways 76 and 9, southwest of Newcastle. Briefly, it appeared to be a large, wedge-shaped funnel before it began to lift back to the storm's wall cloud.

Tornado warnings have been issued for areas near Cleveland County, Grady County, and McClain County until 8:15 p.m.

Spotter report of confirmed tornado near Newcastle, OK. Take cover now! pic.twitter.com/5mveNFfNBH  Jacqui Jeras (@JacquiJerasTV) May 12, 2023

-Jack Money

Moore, Norman under tornado warning; spotters see funnel between Bridge Creek and Newcastle

7:35 p.m.

Authorities sounded sirens in Moore at about 7:30 p.m. as a storm that reportedly produced a tornado as it passed south of Bridge Creek approached the west side of town.

The National Weather Service issued a new tornado warning at about 7:36 p.m. for Norman as spotters saw a storm approaching the community produce a funnel between Bridge Creek and Newcastle.

Tornado Warning including Norman OK, Moore OK and Newcastle OK until 8:15 PM CDT pic.twitter.com/SVGz5LqKDv  NWS Tornado (@NWStornado) May 12, 2023

-Jack Money

Thunderstorm, tornado warnings issued

7:26 p.m.

The National Weather Service has issued a severe thunderstorm warning for western Oklahoma County and northeastern Canadian County. Residents should expect 60 mph wind gusts and quarter-size hail.

-Cheyenne Derksen

Brief tornado spotted south of Tuttle

7:15 p.m.

The first warning came out about 7 p.m., when spotters saw power flashes south of Tuttle under a strongly-circulating storm that meteorologists tornado warned.

Within minutes, additional tornado warnings were issued on storms near Bridge Creek and Ninnekah.

No damages have been reported, so far.

-Jack Money

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma tornado live updates: Storms spotted across state
Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon pleaded not guilty in a Montenegrin court on Thursday to a charge of forging his passport and travel documents.

Kwon's hearing comes a month after Kwon and Chang-joon Han, Kwon's former colleague, who also pleaded not guilty, were arrested at the airport in Podgorica, the capital of Montenegro, while trying to fly to Dubai. Their lawyer requested conditions for bail at 400,000 ($437,000) each and proposed house arrest in Montenegro. The next court hearing is set for June 16.

On May 7, 2022, Terraform Labs' stablecoin TerraUSD (UST), an algorithmic stablecoin that worked with its sister coin, Luna, lost its $1 peg. The event wiped out approximately $40 billion in market value, collapsing an array of crypto firms.

A year after the crash, Kwon is now in jail in Montenegro and being investigated in the U.S. and South Korea. If Kwon is convicted of falsifying his documents, he may have to serve his prison sentence in Montenegro before being extradited to the U.S. or South Korea, the Montenegrin Justice Ministry said in March.

As a reminder of what happened to Terraform and founder Kwon over the past 12 months, we present the slow-motion disaster as it played out for the now five-year-old company, which launched its TerraUSD stablecoin and Luna in 2019 and then relocated its headquarters to Singapore in 2020:

May 2022

Terraforms Labs' stablecoin Terra, which was supposed to maintain a 1:1 peg to the U.S. dollar, crashed on May 7, 2022.

A group of crypto investors in South Korea filed a lawsuit against Kwon. (May 19, 2022)

June 2022

South Korea launched investigations into Terraform Labs.

Seoul prosecutors blocked 15 former employees of Terraform from leaving South Korea while they investigated the crypto firm behind failed TerraUSD and Luna.

September 2022

Story continues

October 2022

The South Korean government ordered to nullify Kwon's passport, intensifying pressure on the crypto entrepreneur to return to his country. (October 5, 2022)

Kwon said that South Korean prosecutors' charges against him were not legitimate and were politically motivated. (October 18, 2022)

December 2022

South Korean prosecutors said Kwon flew to Serbia via the United Arab Emirates.

February 2023

The SEC sued Kwon and Terraform, alleging they defrauded the U.S. investors who purchased TerraUSD and Luna.

March 2023

April 2023

A local media outlet reported on April 13 that Kwon sent approximately 9 billion won (~$7 million) to Kim & Chang, a legal firm in South Korea, before the collapse of Terra and Luna. This suggests that Kwon was aware of the crisis and expected a legal case that might happen.

A judge in the U.S. denied Kwon and Terraform's call that they had asked the Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) to withdraw the request to access documents regarding Terraform and Luna Foundation Guard (LFG) from the Monetary Authority of Singapore. (April 18, 2023)

Terraform's co-founder Shin was indicted in connection with the crash of TerraUSD and Luna on charges including violations of capital markets law in South Korea, fraud and embezzlement. South Korean prosecutors froze assets tied to the people worth about 246.8 billion won ($184.7 million). A spokesperson of the Korean prosecutors confirmed to TechCrunch that Shin's first trial will be held on May 26.

May 2023
Lawmakers have yet to come to an agreement on the debt ceiling. Democrats want to raise it, without any strings attached, and Republicans are calling for spending cuts. If Congress fails to raise the limit in the coming weeks, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen claims, economic calamity would ensue.

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

So how would that so-called calamity play out in the U.S. housing market? In a report published on Thursday, Zillow's senior economist Jeff Tucker argues that mortgage rates could top 8% if the U.S. defaults on its debtswhich could happen as early as June 1.

Zillow's economist does acknowledge that a U.S. default is "unlikely."

Nonetheless, if the U.S. defaults on its debts, Zillow says, mortgage rates could reach 8.4% by September, which would send mortgage payments up for new borrowers up over 20%. And that couldnt come at a worse time. Mortgage rates jumped from 3% to 6% last year, following home prices that skyrocketed 41% during the Pandemic Housing Boom. The two, together, have deteriorated affordability, bringing it to levels not seen since the housing bubble. If mortgage rates were to jump to over 8%, Zillow says that would send the housing market back into a deep freeze.

Lets take a look at the difference between monthly mortgage payments at 6% versus 8%. On a $600,000 home, after putting 20% down, the monthly payment at 6% would be roughly $2,878 (without taxes and insurance.) With the exact same circumstances but at 8%, the monthly payment would be $3,522. Thats a $644 monthly difference. That would price a lot of buyers out of the market, and keep those who have been sidelined since rates went up last year on the outskirts.

Story continues

When we forecast the evolution of the housing market over the next 18 months in the event of such a debt default, we estimate that existing home sales would fall as much as 23% relative to the no-default baseline forecast later this year, and that home values may be 5% lower at the end of 2024 than expected in the no-default scenario, Zillow says.

According to Zillow, if mortgage rates top 8%, existing home sales would drop 23% from 4.3 million in April to 3.3 million in September.

Any major disruption to the economy and debt markets will have major repercussions for the housing market, chilling sales and raising borrowing costs, just when the market was beginning to stabilize and recover from the major cooldown of late 2022, Zillow says.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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This is how much money you need to earn annually to comfortably buy a $600,000 home


A reunion at the southern border in Phoenix, Ariz., on July 10, 2018. At a CNN Town-hall event in New Hampshire on Wednesday, May 10, 2023, former President Donald Trump suggested he might reinstate his family separation policy for migrants. (Victor J. Blue/The New York Times)

In little over an hour, Donald Trump suggested the United States should default on its debts for the first time in history, injected doubt over the countrys commitment to defending Ukraine from Russias invasion, dangled pardons for most of the Capitol rioters convicted of crimes and refused to say he would abide by the results of the next presidential election.

The second-term vision Trump sketched out at a CNN town hall event Wednesday would represent a sharp departure from core American values that have been at the bedrock of the nation for decades: its creditworthiness, its credibility with international allies and its adherence to the rule of law at home.

Trumps provocations were hardly shocking. His time in office was often defined by a the-rules-dont-apply-to-me approach to governance and a lack of interest in upholding the post-World War II national security order, and at 76 he is not bound to change much.

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But his performance nonetheless signaled an escalation of his bid to bend the government to his wishes as he runs again for the White House, only this time with a greater command of the Republican Partys pressure points and a plan to demolish the federal bureaucracy.

The televised event crystallized that the version of Trump who could return to office in 2025  vowing to be a vehicle of retribution  is likely to govern as he did in 2020. In that final year of his presidency, Trump cleared out people perceived as disloyal and promoted those who would fully indulge his instincts  things he did not always do during the first three years of his administration, when his establishmentarian advisers often talked him out of drastic policy changes.

From my perspective, there was an evolution of Donald Trump over his four years, with 2020 I think being the most dramatic example of him  the real him, said Mark Esper, who served as Trumps defense secretary. And I suspect that would be his starting point if he were to win office in 2024.

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In a statement, Jason Miller, a senior adviser to Trump, dismissed criticisms of the former president, who he said spoke directly to Americans suffering from the Biden decline and President Trumps desire to bring about security and economic prosperity on Day 1. He added, Understandably, this vision is not shared by the failed warmongers, political losers and career bureaucratic hacks  many of whom he fired or defeated  who have created all of Americas problems.

At the town hall event, Trump almost cavalierly floated ideas that would reshape the nations standing in the world, vowing to end the Ukraine war within 24 hours and declining to commit to supporting the country, an American ally that has relied on billions of dollars in aid to hold off the Russian onslaught.

Do you want Ukraine to win this war? CNNs Kaitlan Collins pressed.

Trump evaded.

I dont think in terms of winning and losing, he replied, adding that he was focused on winding down the conflict. I think in terms of getting it settled so we stop killing all these people. He did not mention that the majority of the killing has been committed by Russia.

Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, a Democrat who sits on the Foreign Relations Committee and is close to President Joe Biden, said there were fears internationally of Trumps return.

His performance last night just reinforced what so many of our allies and partners have told me concerns them over the past two years  that a return of Trump to the White House would be a return to the chaos, he said.

Some Republican elected officials who are skeptical of U.S. aid to Ukraine praised Trumps performance. Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio called his Ukraine answer real statesmanship.

Miller argued that Trump had an entire term with no new wars, and hes ready to do it again.

In New Hampshire, the audience of Republicans lapped up Trumps one-liners and slew of insults  to Collins (a nasty person, he jeered, echoing his old attack on Hillary Rodham Clinton), to former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, to E. Jean Carroll, the woman whom a jury this week found Trump liable of sexually abusing and defaming. And the crowd expressed no dissent as he again tried to rewrite the history of Jan. 6, 2021, when his supporters stormed the Capitol in an attempt to overturn his election loss.

It was a beautiful day, Trump said.

If he becomes president again, he said, he would most likely pardon a large portion of his supporters who were convicted over their actions on Jan. 6. They were there with love in their heart, he said of the crowd, which he beamed had been the largest of his career.

You see what youre going to get, which is a presidency untethered to the truth and untethered to the constitutional order, said Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, the Republican Partys most prominent Trump critic remaining on Capitol Hill. The idea that people whove been convicted of crimes are all going to be pardoned, or for the most part pardoned, is quite a departure from the principles of the Constitution and of our party.

Trump also embraced the possibility of defaulting in the debt ceiling standoff between Biden and congressional Republicans, an act that economists say could spell catastrophe for the global economy.

You might as well do it now because youll do it later, because we have to save this country, Trump said. Our country is dying.

Former Gov. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas, a Republican who is running a long-shot campaign for president in 2024, said Trumps potential return to the White House posed an enormous risk for the nation.

He has shown such a disrespect for our institutions of government that are critical to our democracy, Hutchinson said, adding that he had been particularly unnerved by the talk of defaulting. He talked like it was OK for the United States to default on the debt. And thats like putting his past business practices of using bankruptcy as a tool and applying that to the government.

Despite such warnings from old-guard Republicans, the cheers from the conservative crowd in New Hampshire during the CNN event were an audible reminder of Trumps sizable lead in Republican primary polls.

Karl Rove, the architect of George W. Bushs two presidential victories, said in an interview that for true believers and ardent supporters, it was a boffo performance by Trump. But he said that other Republicans would now be forced to answer for a big pile of noxious material on their doorsteps.

Do other Republicans believe that rioters who attacked police, broke into the Capitol on Jan. 6 and, in some cases, attempted to overthrow the government should be pardoned? Rove asked. Do other Republicans agree that it doesnt matter if the United States government defaults on its debt? Do other Republicans not care who wins in Ukraine?

One of the most controversial policies of Trumps presidency was the forced separation of migrant parents from their children at the southern border, which Trump reversed himself on in June 2018 after a huge backlash.

But during the town hall Wednesday, Trump suggested he would revive it. Well, when you have that policy, people dont come, he said. If a family hears theyre going to be separated, they love their family, they dont come.

Casual observers might be inclined, as some did in 2016, to take Trumps most extreme statements, such as his casual embrace of allowing the nation to default, seriously but not literally.

But underneath Trumps loose talk are detailed plans to bulldoze the federal civil service. These proposals have been incubating for more than two years within a network of well-funded and Trump-connected outside groups.

In the final, chaotic weeks of the 2020 election, Trumps lawyers, having crafted a novel legal theory in strict secrecy, released an executive order known as Schedule F that aimed to wipe out most employment protections against firing for tens of thousands of federal workers.

Trump ran out of time to carry out that plan. But a constellation of conservative groups has been preparing to revive the effort if he regains the presidency in 2025.

Pressed by Collins, Trump would not say he was willing to accept the 2024 results.

Former Rep. Liz Cheney, who lost her Republican primary bid for reelection after helping lead the Houses investigation into Jan. 6, said of the Trump town hall, Virtually everything Donald Trump says enhances the case against him.

Donald Trump made clear yet again that he fully intended to corruptly obstruct Congress official proceeding to count electoral votes in order to overturn the 2020 election, said Cheney, who has made opposing Trumps return to power her top political priority since her defeat last year. He says what happened on Jan. 6 was justified, and he celebrates those who attacked our Capitol.

Trump also denounced his former vice president, Mike Pence, for upholding the 2020 election results and waved off the suggestion that Pence had been at risk on Jan. 6, even though the Secret Service tried to evacuate him from the Capitol.

I dont think he was in any danger, Trump said.

Marc Short, who was with Pence that day as his chief of staff, called out Trumps double standard in defending violence by his supporters while claiming to broadly stand for law and order.

Many of us called for the prosecution of BLM rioters when they destroyed private businesses, Short said, referring to Black Lives Matter supporters. Its hard to see how theres a different threshold when rioters injure law enforcement, threaten public officials and loot the Capitol.

c.2023 The New York Times Company
Lovers Key, still closed after Hurricane Ian, is No. 6 on a list of the nation's top hidden beaches, compiled by FamilyDestinationsGuide.com

The good news: Two Southwest Florida spots made a list of top 100 secret beaches nationwide, with Lovers Key coming in at No. 6.

The bad news: It and Cayo Costa (No. 56) are both still closed seven months after Hurricane Ian.

Both parks "sustained significant impacts from Hurricane Ian, including beach erosion, extensive flooding, downed trees and vegetation, and damage to buildings and structures," Florida Department of Environmental Protection spokeswoman Brooke Keck wrote in an email, and no reopening date has been set for either.

Online publication FamilyDestinationsGuide.com polled 3,000 families, asking which they would most like to visit this summer to arrive at the list. Hawaii's Awahua Beach took the No. 1 spot, but with nine beaches on the list, Florida occupied the most spots of any state on the top 100.

Here's the list of the Florida favorites, as compiled by the publication:

It's lovebug season! Q&A: Biologist answers 13 pressing questions about lovebugs

No. 2: Shell Key Preserve

Just south of St. Petersburg it's only accessible by boat, which helps to preserve the untouched landscape.

No. 6: Lovers Key State Park

The guide calls this park "stunning and secluded (with) pristine beaches and crystal clear waters," though makes no mention of the fact that the park remains closed after Hurricane Ian damage. "The boat launch along with all amenities on the beach side of the park remain closed," Florida Department of Environmental Protection spokeswoman Brooke Keck wrote in an email. The publication also reports that it's accessible only by boat, but that's not quite true. "The bridges to the beach that the tram uses are still in place, but there was some minor damage and those repairs are ongoing," wrote Keck. "The two wooden pedestrian bridges that also provided beach access, however, were completely removed by the storm surge and will need to be rebuilt."

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And while the beach part of the park is closed. "The bayside (non-beach) portion of Lovers Key reopened earlier this year with limited amenities," Keck said.

More: Lee County OKs new $90 million Big Carlos bridge, new parking for Lovers Key

More: Lovers Key mystery: Scientists weigh in on unidentified floating objects

No. 9 Dry Tortugas National Park

This unbridged site is about 70 miles west of Key West. Its seven small keys include 19th-century Fort Jefferson.

No.10 Boneyard Beach

On Florida's east coast, this beach on the southern end of Big Talbot Island State Park "gets its name from the weathered and bleached tree skeletons that line the shore, creating a stunning and eerie landscape," the guide says.

No. 13 Navarre Beach

Near the Gulf Islands National Seashore, this panhandle beach boasts a fishing pier that extends out into the Gulf of Mexico.

No. 17 Crescent Beach

Surrounded by dunes, this secluded spot is just south of St. Augustine on the Atlantic coast.

No. 23 Caladesi Beach

This Gulf island features three miles of white sandy beaches and a state park.

More: State puts off vote on controversial Cayo Costa State Park plan to gather more input

More: 2 Lee County beaches named among best on Southern Living magazine list

Cayo Costa, still cosed after Hurricane Ian made landfall there, appears on a list of the top 100 hidden beaches in the U.S.

No. 56 Cayo Costa State Park

This barrier island  mostly state park  is where Hurricane Ian made landfall. When it's open, the park offers nine miles of white sand, rustic cabins and camp sites.

When it will open remains a question. "Cayo Costa remains fully closed to visitors at this time," DEP spokeswoman Keck wrote. "Evaluations are ongoing to determine the scope and timeline for restoring damaged structures and reopening the parks. The department is committed to getting these repairs completed as expeditiously as possible. We are also evaluating opportunities to safely allow access to certain amenities while repairs are ongoing."

No. 64 Camp Helen State Park

This northwest Florida park is on the Gulf and includes historic buildings and scenic trails.

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Two Fort Myers-area islands on list of nation's top hidden beaches
Montana state Rep. Zooey Zephyr (D), the states first openly transgender lawmaker who was censured last month by Republicans in the state House, posed for a photo with members of The Squad during a visit to Capitol Hill on Thursday.

Zephyr was officially censured by the Montana House, in which Republicans have a supermajority, late last month after she warned during a hearing that lawmakers who voted to pass legislation banning gender-affirming health care for transgender minors would have blood on your hands, citing disproportionately high rates of attempted suicide among transgender and nonbinary young people.

If you are forcing a trans child to go through puberty when they are trans, that is tantamount to torture, Zephyr said during last months hearing on Senate Bill 99, which passed the legislature shortly after her remarks.

Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte signed the bill into law late last month. It will take effect in October.

Responding to Zephyrs comments on the House floor, the Montana Freedom Caucus  a coalition of state House and Senate Republicans  said Zephyr in arguing against the measure had used inappropriate and uncalled-for language and should be immediately censured for attempting to shame members of the legislature.

In the week leading up to her censure, Montana House Speaker Matt Regier (R) refused to recognize Zephyr for debate on a bill. Regier also deactivated her microphone, a lawsuit filed this month by Zephyr alleges.

Zephyrs censure has been widely criticized by Democrats, including Squad member Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre last month said it was undemocratic of the Montana House to censure Zephyr.

When you see these types of things, silencing an elected representative, in an attempt to suppress their message, is a denial of democratic values, she said.

Montana House Republicans move to censure Zephyr is one of several strikingly similar instances that have taken place in GOP-controlled state legislatures this year.

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In March, state Republicans in Oklahoma voted to censure Democratic Rep. Mauree Turner, the nations first openly nonbinary state legislator, after Turner allowed an individual protesting at the capitol to use their office following an arrest. The demonstrator had been protesting against the legislatures efforts to bar minors from accessing gender-affirming health care  care that is considered medically necessary by most major medical organizations.

In Nebraska last month, Sen. Megan Hunt (I), the mother of a transgender child, said she was being investigated for a potential conflict of interest after she voted against a bill that would ban gender-affirming health care for minors.

Two Black Democratic state lawmakers  Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson  were expelled from Tennessees GOP-controlled legislature in March after they joined a protest at the capitol calling for stronger gun laws.

Both legislators have since been reinstated. State Democratic Rep. Gloria Johnson, who is white and protested alongside Jones and Pearson, was not expelled.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
RFA/Latino Community and Lower Valley Reporter

Heyo, Im Jasper. Nice to meet you. I cover a wide variety of news, but I try to focus on the Latino community and the Lower Yakima Valley. I want to sharestories and perspectives from the Yakima Valley. Im interested in economics, labor, geography and the environment, but the most important issues will always be the ones the community cares about. If you have something worth saying, Ill listen and try to write it down. Im a gosei from Northeast Los Angeles and I got my start as a student journalist and editor covering sports in the Bay Area. Im a massive soccer fan and I still love to play. I also love water in all its forms, the word copacetic and trying new things. I want to read more, and I like to cook, but Im not great at either. Have fun out there!
Did you know that stones could live?

Chevrolet thinks youll buy a car if you know its like a rock.

Rolling stones gather no moss, so why not name your band after it.

And Ill tell you what ... after learning this last week that my five years of back pain has amounted to kidney stones, I can assure you that stones DO live!

In our street community, stones have become a meaningful practice in our worship life. We use them on Sunday as symbols of our offerings. We write our friends names on them and take them with us at funerals. They remind us of our baptismhow the water washes relentlessly over our jagged edges, smoothing and shaping us into something new.

Stones also symbolize the struggle of our unhoused neighbors. They wear on their backs when they sleep against the ground. They are obstacles to trip over. They are boulders in our paths. It may not be literal stones hurled in this day and age; but our neighbors still feel the sting of words, actions, looks and stereotypes that beat them down just for living out in front of everybody.

The difference between a stone that lifts us up and a stone that brings us down, 1 Peter 2 says, is a matter of our perspectives.

Where we perceive rejection  God uses us.

Take a crucifixion site that symbolized ridicule to disbelievers; it was a location of saving work to those who believe.

Consider those who saw Jesus as an obstacle; while others saw and appreciated the doors he was opening.

The perspective in which we approach the world is like choosing a cornerstone for a building, the perfect 90-degree angle that will determine how well the walls align. Peter says that those without Gods perspective are likely to reject the most important stone in the building. Whereas, those who adopt Gods perspective are used to build a firmer foundation.

Where we perceive humiliation  God chooses us.

Consider the Jewish Christian who finally had the opportunity to take his urgent question before God. Lord, is it true that we are your chosen people? Asked the man. God replied, yes, I chose you to be my holy people. But is there more? The man stuttered and stammered, Yes, what I really want to know is  would you mind choosing someone else for a change?

Indeed  It isnt always fun to be chosen.

Where we perceive sacrifice  God honors us.

Being followers of Christ gives us a new identity, Peter says; we begin to gather that identity from places we didnt understand before Christ entered our lives. Peter channels Exodus 19:6 when he reminds us that we are a new community, a royal priesthood, a chosen people and a holy nation. Gods perspective goes all the way back to a time when we were homeless in the wilderness.

Those sacrifices yielded a promised land

Christs sacrifices brought our salvation

Our sacrifices bring us closer to Christ and in Christ we are reborn.

The more we become Gods people, the more we might want to say, would you mind choosing someone else? But as hearers of 1 Peter 2, we are challenged to assume a different perspective  holding fast to our precious stone in Jesus and ROCK ON by telling all the world what He has done.
The Guadalupe Free Clinic of Colonial Beach helped another nonprofit celebrate a major milestone this week, even as the clinic is busy setting its own records.

A ministry of the Catholic Diocese of Arlington, the clinic moved seven months ago from a cottage on the grounds of St. Elizabeth of Hungary Catholic Church in Colonial Beach to the Food Lion Shopping Center off State Route 205.

The bigger building, which has 2 times more space and better visibility, is bringing in more patients than ever before, said Executive Director Lance Carrington. He expects the clinic to treat about 300 patients this year, the most since it opened in 2005 to serve uninsured residents of Colonial Beach and Westmoreland County.

This is a very big deal, said Len Fotenot, a Fredericksburg resident and vice president of the clinics board. They moved here Oct. 17, and its not even been a year yet, and this place has just expanded.

On Wednesday, one of two days the clinic is open for patients  the other is Saturday  merriment was in the air along with confetti from a handheld cannon. Guadalupe was chosen as the place for Rx Partnership to celebrate its 1 millionth prescription to low income and uninsured people in the state.

RxP, as its known, is a Richmond-based nonprofit that gets donations of brand name medicine from pharmaceutical companies and distributes them to 30 free clinics throughout the state. Since 2004, RxP has provided more than $270 million worth of free medication to more than 82,000 Virginians, according to the RxP website.

All 30 clinics that participate with RxP held their own celebrations Wednesday, including the Moss Free Clinic in Fredericksburg. It was one of the founding members of the partnership, and RxPs distribution of medicine has been a significant benefit to the clinic because it reduces costs and streamlines processes, said Karen Dulaney, executive director of the Moss clinic.

She said thats especially critical during these challenging times.

Meanwhile, RxP brought its four-person staff and cameras, confetti, cake and sign acknowledging the milestone prescription to Colonial Beach for several reasons, said Amy Yarcich, RxPs executive director.

The Guadalupe clinic is the newest one in the state network to have a licensed pharmacy, which is no small achievement, she said. The clinic had to get its licensure from the state Board of Pharmacy, which includes inspections and making sure medication is handled appropriately.

Its not something that a lot of small clinics take on, so Im really impressed that Guadalupe embraces the importance of that and the role of the pharmacist, said Yarcich, noting the work goes beyond filling pill bottles to counseling patients and assisting the care team.

As she talked, Tom Fish worked in the clinics pharmacy alongside his right-hand person, technician Arlene McKenzie. Fish is a full-time pharmacist at Wegmans in Fredericksburg but volunteers at the Moss clinic, where hes been for 20 years, and is at Guadalupe two days each week.

Hes seen prescription numbers go up with patient counts at Guadalupe. Last year, the clinic was filling about 600 prescriptions every four months; this year, its been closer to 1,000, he said.

About one-third of the medicine comes from RxP. Guadalupe works with other nonprofits to get medications the RxP doesnt have, or buys them itself, Carrington said. While Yarcich said some clinics asks patients for a donation toward their medications, Guadalupe provides both care and medicines at no cost, Carrington said.

Abner Ordonez, a 42-year-old who lives in Oak Grove, said he appreciates that. Before he knew about the clinic, he paid hundreds of dollars at separate appointments, to have a tooth pulled and for an eye exam.

The clinic is very helpful, Ordonez said through interpreter Enrique Cancel, one of several bilingual volunteers at the clinic whose client base is about 90% Hispanic. Theyre taking care of us because we dont have any health insurance. Thanks to the clinic, weve been able to move forward and have the care that we need.

Initially, the clinic served a mix of Hispanic and non-Hispanic patients, said Dr. Chuck Penick. He spent 38 years as an emergency room doctor with Mary Washington Healthcare before he retired, got bored and went back to work, supervising urgent-care facilities.

When Medicaid expanded, many of Guadalupes non-Hispanic patients became eligible for Medicaid and have been able to get care from providers who accept the government insurance.

In the old space, the kitchen was the only place available for patients to fill out forms. The new facility includes four exam rooms, three bathrooms and offices where clients can be helped with paperwork privately. Staff enjoy the new location, and the clinic is spending more.

We were paying the Diocese a dollar a year and now were paying (a landlord) about $3,000 a month, Carrington said.

The clinic also had to do some renovations of the facility, which had been a medical center, and the landlord gave a couple months of free rent, Carrington said. It would have been nice to have more accommodations, but he realized everybody, including landlords, nonprofit clinics and the patients they serve, are facing economic challenges.

Thats one reason RxP tries to fill one void in peoples lives: medicine they need for one-time health issues or chronic problems like high blood pressure and cholesterol, diabetes or asthma.

Medicine is sometimes the one thats getting skipped, Yarcich said, describing working parents who tend to make sure their children are fed and have what they need, then do without their prescriptions. That may make it harder for them to do their jobs.

So its kind of this vicious cycle, without getting the medication and the care, theyre going to end up not being 100% at their job and maybe losing that job and then it just spirals to so much more for their families, she said.

More information about the Guadalupe Free Clinic is available online at guadalupefreeclinic.org or by calling 804/224-0571. The website for Rx Partnership is rxpartnership.org and and its phone number is 804/377-1057.
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Adunarea Moldova Europeana  toata lumea este cu ochii pe Republica Moldova

Ziua cand la Chisinau va avea loc Adunarea Moldova Europeana nu este departe, de aceea pe malul Bacului, si nu numai, se inregistreaza o forfota care pare sa fie peste asteptari, or mai multa lume (nebanuita) si-a anuntat prezenta [citeste mai departe]
As agencies in the Fredericksburg area work on strategies to combat the ever-increasing danger of fentanyl  already a potent killer  a Spotsylvania County mother is organizing an event in memory of her two children who died, five years apart, from drug overdoses.

At the same time, a semiretired doctor leads a charity thats providing free naloxone, the drug that can reverse opioid overdoses, to nurses so they can join the ranks of first-responders trying to save lives.

Likewise, a Harm Reduction Committee, part of the Community Collaborative for Youth and Families, is trying to arm drug users with tools to help reduce fatalities. They include fentanyl test strips that indicate if the painkiller is unknowingly in a drug a person is taking.

All the activities are aimed at the same result: to reduce the skyrocketing number of deaths from fentanyl, a painkiller up to 100 times more powerful than morphine. Illicit fentanyl is being added to street drugs, from counterfeit pills to marijuana, according to local and state officials who held programs in the area this week as part of the second annual National Fentanyl Awareness Day.

Last year, fentanyl was responsible for three of every four drug deaths in Virginia, or 1,951 fatalities. As several in Gov. Glenn Youngkins entourage pointed out Tuesday during a visit to Stafford High School  thats more than five Virginians killed by fentanyl a day, every day.

One of the biggest problems is that people may not know theyre getting fentanyl in the mix, said Arianna Colley, a substance use case manager at the Rappahannock Area Community Services Board.

Many of the individuals I see, they dont know. They think theyre getting, like, Percocet 30 milligrams, but it is not Percocet, it is fentanyl, she said during a panel discussion this week. We make sure they leave with Narcan in their hand, we talk to them about the risks, especially if there are children in the homes . . . but I think the biggest thing with this population is just an awareness of what are you putting into your body.

Kristi Pruitt is certain her son, Dean Sperry, didnt know he was consuming fentanyl. He died of an overdose in February 2022, and the toxicology report showed the drug was in his system.

While he had addiction issues, his mother believes he was looking for a way to ease his pain, not end his life.

We kind of feel like it was one of those, he had no idea, the Spotsylvania mother said. He wasnt looking for fentanyl, wasnt looking to kill himself, wasnt suicidal.

Pruitt lost her second child five years after her first, Lauren Sperry, died of a drug overdose at a treatment center in Florida. Both were 25 when they died. Pruitt also lost her husband and the childrens father, Charles Sperry, to brain cancer between the deaths of her children.

After so many losses, she found support with the Fredericksburg chapter of Compassionate Friends, a group for those whove lost children to accidents, illnesses and drug overdoses. The last group is a growing segment, said Kathie Kelly, chapter leader.

As Pruitt talked with others about drug addiction, particularly the presence of fentanyl, shes sensed that people think its limited to the big city, not found in Fredericksburg, and that there isnt a drug problem in the area.

I dont think people understand its the No. 1 cause of death for people under 50, she said about fentanyl. Its scary, its just scary, people, and it is here. Its everywhere.

She and Compassionate Friends will sponsor Narcan training, provided by the Zoe Freedom Center, on June 10 from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Redeemer Lutheran Church, 5120 Harrison Road in Spotsylvania. The event is open to the public and held in memory of Lauren and Dean Sperry.

More information is available online or by calling 540/220-4325.

People also can get the free training, known as Revive, every weekday in health departments in Fredericksburg and the counties of Caroline, King George, Spotsylvania and Stafford. The 10- to 15-minute course goes over the signs of an opioid overdose and how to use the nasal spray to reverse it.

Anthony Salgado, lead trainer for the Rappahannock Area Health District, which includes Fredericksburg and surrounding counties, provided the training this week to a packed auditorium at Stafford High School. He told students, adults and those with Youngkins cabinet and government team that Narcan can rapidly reverse an opioid overdoseand that it cannot be abused.

You cant use it to feel high and it only works against opioids, not other drugs, he said.

But its a critical tool in the fight against fentanyl, Salgado said, particularly because it takes very little to experience a high (with fentanyl) and very little to experience an overdose.

Dr. Stephen Green, who spent most of his career in infectious diseases before semi-retiring and working as a hospitalist at Spotsylvania Regional Medical Center, has been shocked by the growing number of drug fatalities. He cited a figure from 2021, that almost 108,000 Americans died from drug overdoses.

Thats a helluva number, he said. Many of them area young people, and its needless.

Hes chairman of a nonprofit called Sedona Ltd. that helps people in need. The group is working with the Fredericksburg City Pharmacy, at 2567 Cowan Blvd., to offer free naloxone kits to nurses who work at Spotsylvania Regional, Mary Washington Hospital or Stafford Hospital.

Those interested can contact moges.tekle@gmail.com to reserve a kit and include their name, hospital affiliation, title and phone number. The spray kits can be picked up during weekday hours or Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and nurses must show hospital credentials.

Since we have an antidote, at least we can save some lives, he said.

Thats the same motivation behind the Community Collaborative for Youth and Families which sponsored a screening of the documentary, Dead on Arrival, this week with RACSB. About 30 people watched the movie during the virtual presentation and asked questions of a panel led by Sherry NortonWilliams, prevention specialist at RACSB.

Dominic Tierno, who made the documentary, has done other films to educate young people about drugs and had the same intention with this one  to encourage kids not to use drugs because they might get addicted.

Now, theres not even time for that, he said, given that fentanyl has been added to the mix. Now, its dont try drugs because you might actually not wake up tomorrow.

The documentary is available on YouTube and shares a similar message as the campaign by Suzanne Youngkin, Virginias First Lady, and Attorney General Jason Miyares, which stresses that One pill can kill.

Those who buy drugs off dealers may think theyre getting Percocet, Xanax or Adderall but we know its probably pure fentanyl, NortonWilliams said.

At the governors event in Stafford on Tuesday, Del. Scott Wyatt, RHanover, encouraged students to tell others that whats being sold on the streets probably isnt what it seems, and that a single episode of experimenting could kill someone.

Never take a tablet that your doctor doesnt prescribe and your pharmacist doesnt dispense, he said. Please share this message with your family and friends to continue to raise this awareness. If you see something, please say something, you could save a life.
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- The Custodian of the Crown and the Prince Consort arrived in London, on Thursday afternoon, to take part in the state ceremonies occasioned by the Coronation of the British sovereign."Her Majesty Margareta was welcomed at Heathrow Airport by representatives of British Royal House, the British Government

- 1879 - Birth of linguist Theodor Capidan, member of the Romanian Academy (d. 1 September 1953) Fii la curent cu cele mai noi stiri. Urmareste stiripesurse.ro pe Facebook stiripesurse.ro  Help your friends know more about Romania! Share this article on Facebook

- German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck said on Thursday that the United States isnt pressuring his government to curtail economic links with China in sensitive areas and that Germany has its own reasons to reduce its reliance on Beijing, according to Politico. U.S. officials efforts to charm and cajole
Prime Minister Viktor Orban has authorised the signing of an agreement required for the adoption of a global minimum tax regime previously vetoed by the Hungarian government, Portfolio reports, citing a new decree.

Specifically, Orban authorised the signing of an agreement with the US on the exchange of country-by-country reports, which include tax data of multinational companies.



The ministries of finance, justice and foreign affairs and trade will prepare the agreement.



The global minimum tax was first vetoed by Hungary in the European Council last summer, and then approved in December after the US imposed sanctions and terminated the existing double taxation agreement with Hungary, Portfolio adds.
In the first three months of the year, the government made 96 decisions that were not classified as secret, but which were carefully hidden from the public, 444 reports.

This means that, on average, government decisions that do not contain confidential information were made every day, yet the public is unaware of their existence, does not know what they are about, who they affect nor what they might cost the state.



Details of these decisions are not published in the Hungarian Gazette, but there is no reason to encrypt them either; it is merely not mandatory to publish them.



They are typically decisions assigning tasks. Last year, 470 such decisions were made, and the year before last, 679.



Szabad Europa recently learned that such a non-public decision was made at the so-called "strategic" government meeting held in Sopron on February 6. It was decided that the costs of one of the largest railway developments carried out by Lorinc Meszaros could be increased by Ft 17 billion.
The majority of Hungarians are satisfied with President Katalin Novaks first year in office, according to a fresh survey by the Nezopont Institute.

The survey found that 55% of Hungarians knew that Novak is the head of state.



Fully 60% of Hungarians and 62% of those who know Novak is the president are satisfied with her performance so far.



Nezopont said the reason behind Novaks high approval rating was that her performance was in line with expectations, emphasising her role as an ambassador for national interests abroad and for national unity at home.
Indian Aviation regulator authority DGCA has imposed a fine of Rs 30 lakh on Tata Group-owned Air India. A financial penalty has been imposed for lapses in addressing a "safety-sensitive issue". It is to be noted that the decision from the authority comes weeks after one of the airline's pilot allowed his female friend in the cockpit during a flight. The incident occurred on the Dubai-Delhi flight on February 27.

Besides, the licence of the Air India pilot who operated the flight has been suspended for three months. The aviation watchdog has taken action against the pilot for "misuse of authority." Furthermore, the co-pilot present at the time of the incident has been warned for "not being assertive" during the safety violation.

Also read: YouTuber Intentionally Crashes Plane For Increasing Followers, Jailed For 20 Years: Watch Video

DGCA's statement addressing the issue said, "The pilot in command of the flight allowed the entry into the cockpit during the cruise of an Air India Staff on duty travelling as a passenger in violation of DGCA regulations. Air India has been fined Rs 30 lakhs for not promptly and effectively addressing the safety-sensitive issue."

PTI earlier quotes sources saying "the incident was reported by confidential mail to Campbell and Donohoe on March 3. The first inquiry was conducted by the DGCA on April 21, while Air India had not done any enquiry before that."

As per the DGCA CAR (Civil Aviation Regulations) and the Air India Operations manual, only authorised persons who have conducted preflight BA test (as applicable by rule) may enter the cockpit and sit there, provided they are on inspection or for purposes of flight safety only.

After DGCA's ruling, an Air India spokesperson said in a statement, "We acknowledge and accept the DGCAs ruling. However, we reject the assertion that no action was taken by Air India in response to the complaint. There were a number of allegations which needed to be worked through with due process and confidentiality, and which commenced immediately upon the complaint being lodged," reports ANI.
New Delhi: Veteran actor Suniel Shetty has been named the official brand ambassador of a new food tech startup called 'Waayu'. The Mumbai-based startup, co-founded by Anirudha Kotgire and Mandar Lande of Destek HORECA, aims to provide affordable and timely food delivery services to customers, with a focus on Mumbai. The app is aiming to compete with established players such as Zomato and Swiggy in the metropolitan area.

In a LinkedIn post, Mandar Lande announced Shetty's appointment as the brand ambassador, saying, "We are excited and so happy to share with you all that actor and entrepreneur, basically the man who actually needs no introduction, none other than Mr. Suniel Shetty is our official brand ambassador of the WAAYU app!!!"

How To Use Waayu

You just need to sign up for the app before you start using it.

Then search for you favourite iconic restaurant in the list of 1500+ ones and place order.

Waayu is offering restaurants the opportunity to rope in on the platform with zero-commission charge promise.

Tough Competition In Food Delivery Segment

Food delivery industry hasnt been much profitable so far. Old and deeply established players Zomato and Swiggy are struggling to become profitable or at least decrease the gap of spending and earning. In that scenario, it is going tough for new delivery app Waayu to compete against Zomato and Swiggy.
Diane Wilson knows hope is so important to those battling cancer and their families.

So the local woman hopes the public to participate in an event designed to celebrate with survivors, remember lost loved ones and encourage those facing a current cancer battle.

This marks the 25th year of the Relay for Life of Dodge County, a volunteer-led event that raises funds and awareness to improve the lives of people with cancer and their families.

Every Step Brings Hope is the theme of this years event set from 4-10 p.m. June 3 on the Midland University campus. Admission is free.

Waverle Monroe, an anchor for KETV Channel 7 in Omaha and cancer survivor, will be the guest speaker during the opening ceremony at 6 p.m.

The relay also will include a silent auction, shaved ice from Masters Hand shop in Tekamah and food from HyVee. The Arthrighteous Brothers will provide live music. The event features games and fun activities, as well.

Wilson said anyone is invited to walk in the event. A path will be marked out on the sidewalk near the fountain on the MU campus.

A special meal will be provided for survivors at 5 p.m. inside the Anderson Complex. A survivor and one caregiver are invited to attend.

Those whove not yet registered can do so at www.relayforlife.org/dodgecone or by calling 1-800-227-2345. Those whod like to attend the dinner and have not sent an RSVP also are asked to please send an email to rfldodge1@gmail.com.

Teams can still register at the Relay for Life website.

Luminaria, which light the path in honor or in memory of people touched by cancer, are available from any team member, by emailing rfldodge1@gmail.com or by calling Stephanie at 402-690-3734.

A luminaria ceremony will start at 9:30 p.m.

A shoe drive also is taking place in conjunction with the event. New and gently used shoes will be collected and donated to Lutheran Family Services to be distributed to those in need.

Attendees are asked to bring their shoe donations to the event.

Wilson encourages the community to attend.

The relay is a place to belong, said Wilson, leadership team chair for the relay. The event gives you a sense of community. Whether youre a survivor or a caregiver, you will find you are among others who are walking a similar journey. Maybe you just received a diagnosis yourself or learned about a close friend or family member who did  or maybe you just want to remember someone who is fighting currently. Coming out to the relay  especially walking around when the luminaria are lit  it gives you a new found hope.

Wilson notes the importance of hope, which is reflected in the events theme. She added that fundraising for the American Cancer Society takes place all year long.

This is the time to celebrate what weve raised, she said. I dont want people to feel like they cant come out, because they cant donate that night. That doesnt matter. They should come out anyway, because they may have something else to contribute. They may have a shoulder for someone else to lean on or they may find a different way that they can get involved. Maybe they just need to be there, because of whatevers going on in their life.

Funds raised through the event are used for cancer research and programs and services that help those with cancer.

The American Cancer Society reports that in 2023, more than 1.9 million new cancer cases will be diagnosed in the United States and more than 600,000 Americans will die from cancer.

This includes more than 11,500 cases and 3,500 deaths in Nebraska, said Stephanie Stephenson, ACS senior community development manager, in a prepared statement.

Relay For Life has raised more than $6.8 billion to support its efforts since 1985, and the Relay for Life of Dodge County hopes to add to that figure this year.

A fundraising goal of $35,000 has been set.

The ACS has invested $3.1 billion in cancer research since 1991, contributing to 3.5 million fewer cancer deaths. It provides support programs for people with cancer and their caregivers such as the Hope Lodge and free access to cancer information via the 24-hour helpline at 1-800-227-2345.

Wilson notes the resolve among those involved with the local Relay for Life event.

Were going to continue to go on with our mission and fight back until we dont have to do this anymore, she said.
International Nurses Day is observed every year on May 12 to honour the contributions of nurses around the world. This day was first celebrated in 1965, and this particular date was chosen as it marks the birth anniversary of Florence Nightingale, who is considered the founder of modern-day nursing. Nurses Day recognizes the dedication, compassion, and expertise of nurses in delivering quality healthcare services and their tireless work in shaping the future of healthcare. If you have a nurse you want to thank, here are some warm messages of appreciation.

International Nurses Day 2023: Wishes And Greetings

1. Nurses' day should not be limited to just one day because they work hard every day. Happy International Nurses Day 2023.

2. Thank you for everything you do for the benefit of people and society. You are a true hero. Happy International Nurses Day 2023.

3. Nurses are no less than doctors because they work equally hard. Thank you, my superhero. Happy International Nurses Day.

4. We must respect nurses because they are our guardian angels especially when we are struggling with diseases. Happy International Nurses Day.

5. Happy International Nurses Day to you! You have my heartfelt gratitude and regards.

6. Be kind to nurses and respect their work. They leave their family just to be with us during our tough times. Happy International Nurses Day.

7. Nurses are selfless heroes who leave no stone unturned to keep their patients healthy and happy. Happy International Nurses Day 2023.

International Nurses Day: Famous Quotes By Florence Nightingale

1. Rather, ten times, die in the surf, heralding the way to a new world, than stand idly on the shore.

2. If a nurse declines to do these kinds of things for her patient, because it is not her business, I should say that nursing was not her calling.

3. No man, not even a doctor, ever gives any other definition of what a nurse should be than this  devoted and obedient. This definition would do just as well for a porter. It might even do for a horse. It would not do for a policeman.

4. And what nursing has to do in either case, is to put the patient in the best condition for nature to act upon him.

5. To be in charge is certainly not only to carry out the proper measures yourself but to see that everyone else does so too.
The Allahabad High Court directed the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) on Friday to conduct a 'scientific survey' of the Shivling-like structure inside Varanasi's Gyanvapi mosque to determine its age. It overturned a Varanasi District Court order from October 14 that denied a request for scientific investigation of the structure, including carbon dating. The court asked the ASI to ensure that no damage is done to the structure during the survey.

The mosque authorities say it is part of a fountain in the 'wazu khana', where ablutions are performed before namaz. According to mosque officials, it is part of a fountain in the 'wazu khana,' where ablutions are performed before namaz.

#WATCH | Vishnu Shankar Jain, representing the Hindu side in the Gyanvapi mosque case, gives details on the Allahabad High Court order allowing ASI to conduct carbon dating of 'Shivling' found in the mosque premises.



"...The ASI has presented several techniques of scientific https://t.co/LG5wmhqui4 pic.twitter.com/ldYyYJHW7B  ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) May 12, 2023

"...The ASI has presented several techniques of scientific survey before the court. On 22nd May, District Judge will decide how will the scientific survey be carried out," news agency ANI quoted Hindu side lawyer Vishnu Shankar Jain as saying.

A single bench, presided over by Justice Arvind Kumar Mishra, was responding to a petition filed by the Hindu side, which sought carbon dating of the Shivling. On Thursday, the ASI submitted its report in a sealed envelope.

Earlier in April, the Allahabad High Court (HC) slammed the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) Director General (DG), V. Vidyavathi for her failure to file a reply, giving an opinion as to whether a safe evaluation of the age of the Shivling-like structure, purportedly found inside the Gyanvapi mosque complex in Varanasi in May last year, can be done or not.

The Allahabad High Court (HC) has slammed the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) Director General (DG), V. Vidyavathi for her failure to file a reply, giving an opinion as to whether a safe evaluation of the age of the Shivling-like structure, purportedly found inside the Gyanvapi mosque complex in Varanasi in May last year, can be done or not.

Justice Mishra called the ASI official`s attitude "lethargic" and said inaction had hampered the court proceedings. However, the court gave the ASI DG a last opportunity to file a counter-affidavit in the case by April 17, the next date of hearing.
ISLAMABAD: Former Pakistan prime minister and PTI chief Imran Khan will appear before the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday seeking a pre-arrest bail amid unprecedented security a day after the countrys Supreme Court ordered his immediate release, calling his detention illegal.

Meanwhile, Imran Khans Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has called a rally today and urged its followers to gather outside the court where the former PM is also likely to address them. The PTI has announced that party chief Imran Khan will address his supporters at the Srinagar Highway in the federal capital on Friday after appearing before the Islamabad High Court. In a statement on Twitter, the party urged its supporters from across the country to gather at the spot at 10 am to "express solidarity" with Imran.

                     G-13      



                 #____. #____ pic.twitter.com/eICLRp5tU6  PTI (@PTIofficial) May 12, 2023

Imran Khan was arrested on Tuesday in the Al-Qadir Trust case by authorities following the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) order to probe him in alleged corruption when he was present on the premises of the IHC.

Imran Khans Arrest Illegal: Pak SC

The apex court on Tuesday announced that the former prime minister's arrest was "illegal" and directed authorities to release him "immediately". Soon after that, the supporters and party workers hailed the court's decision.

The Supreme Court, in an order issued on Imran Khan's petition against his arrest, has allowed the former prime minister to meet up to 10 guests for as long as he wants while he is at the Islamabad Police Lines Guest House, reported Dawn.

PTI Workers Celebrate SC Order

The supporters of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) were ecstatic over the release of their leader, Imran Khan and celebrated the top court's decision, reported Geo News. They poured into the streets soon after the Pakistan Supreme Court's verdict to release party chairman Imran Khan in the Al-Qadir Trust case. "All Pakistanis, wherever they are, should come out to express solidarity and gratitude to the Supreme Court in their respective areas," tweeted PTI leader Usman Dar, ex-special assistant to the prime minister on youth affairs. He called on the party supporters to take to the streets to express solidarity and gratitude to the top court, reported Geo News.

PTI leader Imran Ismail was also overjoyed at the SC's verdict. "Imran Khan released by Supreme Court. Pakistan zindabad," he wrote on the popular microblogging site. Pakistani actress Mishi Khan thanked the top court and Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial for giving a "fair and right verdict".

Imran Khan's ex-wife, Jemima Goldsmith, also celebrated the SC's decision, reported Geo News.

Taking to Twitter, Goldsmith wrote: "Finally sense has prevailed."

PML-N Leaders Fume Over Imran Khan's Release

After the Supreme Court ordered the immediate release of Imran Khan, the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders took exception to the "double standards of justice," reported Dawn.

Reacting to the verdict, PML-N Chief Organiser Maryam Nawaz criticised Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, asking him to step down from the post and join the opposition party, reported Geo News.

PML-N leader Marriyum Aurangzeb while addressing a press conference in Islamabad said that "a few hundred armed protesters and terrorists have been attacking" the country and state properties regarding the protest by PTI supporters. "You all saw how PTI leaders incited violence and gave orders for attacks on Imran Khan's directives," she alleged.

Moreover, she cited the Islamabad High Court order, stressing that Imran's arrest was carried out in a legal manner, reported Dawn. "But the impression of the Supreme Court giving relief to a criminal, terrorist, and a gangster leading armed groups -- it amounts to backing a terrorist," she decried.

She further said several PML-N leaders faced arrests and raids in the past but no one raised any question. "Because all of that was done in support of the Ladla (a favourite child)" who disrespected the SC.

Protests In Pakistan

Imran was arrested in the Al-Qadir Trust case, in which he has been accused of corruption, from the Islamabad High Court premises on Tuesday afternoon before he was due to attend the hearings of two other cases.

The former prime minister's arrest sparked violent protests across the country, during which at least eight people were killed, several injured and thousands rounded up amid police action. There were many incidents of arson.
Skoda is known for making cars that are worshipped for their dynamics and overall performance. When the Czech brand launched the Slavia in the Indian market, enthusiasts welcomed it with excitement. Although it was tough to find aftermarket performance parts for the Slavia initially, they are now available easily. Subsequently, modified examples have started showing up on community pages. We recently came across a tuned version of the Skoda Slavia on the Instagram page of modified_in. The vehicle belongs to Tanishq Batra. Undoubtedly, it looks appealing, but the owner hasnt just tweaked the aesthetics. Theres more to it.

Beginning the course with the design first, this modified Skoda Slavia is now wrapped in a shade of black. The owner has performed the chrome-delete exercise too, making it look sinister. As can be seen, the grille is blacked-out. To make it look deceptive, a similar pattern is followed for the door handles, ORVM caps, shark fin antenna, and Skoda logo. It now sits on a set of 17-inch aftermarket rims. Draped in 215/45 R17 rubber, the wheels fill the arches well. They look good too.

The sedan has been lowered down with the use of Cobra lowering springs. It is given a drop of 25 mm to aid its stance and dynamics. The suspension is now tighter, while the centre of gravity has moved down by a little margin. Other mods include an aftermarket exhaust and an HPI Japan air filter to make the engine breathe better. Sadly, we arent aware of what sits under the hood of this Slavia.

Also read - Honda City Facelift, Amaze Get Up To Rs 17,000 Off This Month: Check Model-Wise Details

However, the Czech machine is available with two engine choices - 1.0L TSI and 1.5L TSI. The smaller 1.0L TSI is a 3-cylinder turbocharged unit, which belts out nearly 115 PS and 178 Nm of max torque. The larger 1.5L unit pushes out a peak power output of 150 PS and 250 Nm of max torque. While both cars are available with a 6-speed stick, they can be had with automatic transmission as well. The 1.0L TSI gets a 6-speed AT, whereas the more powerful 1.5L unit comes with a 7-speed DCT.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Friday termed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) as Bhasmasur (a mythical demon endowed with the power to turn everyone he touches into ashes by lord shiva) and acuused it of carrying out raids on the inputs of Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP). "Who will investigate the wrongdoings of ED because there is no authority where one can lodge complaints against them?" the Chhattisgarh CM said while interacting with reporters. "Is anyone listening to us? The central agency has been conducting raids and making arbitrary arrests at the request of the BJP, and it has now turned into "Bhasmasur." It has become autocratic in its behaviour." The Chhattisgarh chief minister also claimed that ED officials were beating up people in their custody, not allowing them to sleep at night, and not providing them with water to drink.

Earlier today, the ED arrested the special secretary of the Chhattisgarh Excise Department in a money laundering case linked to the alleged Rs 2,000 crore liquor syndicate scam in the state. The alleged scam involves selective grant of licenses to liquor manufacturers for commission, distribution of the collected money and collection of commission from liquor shops. Anwar Dhebar, elder brother of Raipur Mayor and Congress leader Aijaz Dhebar, was the first person to be arrested by the agency in the case last week.

Also Read: 'Efforts To Defame Kejriwal': AAP On ED's Apology Over Sanjay Singh's Name In Liquor Case

"The human rights watchdogs are also sitting silent as the ED continues to frame people in false cases. It's curious how they acquired so much power. They (ED) are the Bhasmasur, which will wipe out the entire Opposition some day," said Baghel.

       ED-IT-CBI   Holiday Destination    . pic.twitter.com/U0ljBVjmLV  Bhupesh Baghel (@bhupeshbaghel) May 12, 2023

"Both the BJP and ED are acting in collusion. That (former CM and BJP leader) Raman Singh is issuing the press releases of the ED before the agency itself is proof of a nexus between the two. The ED is conducting raids on the basis of whatever the BJP is giving them," the Chhattisgarh CM added.

Also Read: Blow To BJP In Chhattisgarh, Senior Leader Nand Kumar Sai Quits Party

Claiming further that not a single residence of a BJP leader was raided, he questioned how was it that the agency knew who was a Congress member and who was with the BJP. He added it's been three years that ED and IT have been carrying out raids here but not a single address of a BJP member has been raided. "Raids are taking place only at the residences of Congress leaders, which means BJP people are giving the tip-off," he added.

The Enforcement Directorate on Friday arrested the special secretary of the Chhattisgarh Excise Department in a money laundering case linked to the alleged Rs 2,000 crore liquor syndicate scam in the state.
NEW DELHI: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday attended the special screening of the Sudipto Sen-directed controversial film ''The Kerala Story'' in the states capital Lucknow. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath attended the special screening of the film at Lok Bhavan Auditorium at 11.30 am.

A tweet from CM Yogis official Twitter handle confirmed that the chief minister and his cabinet members watched the controversial movie at the Lok Bhavan.





The UP Chief Minister was seen wearing a traditional saffron robe during the special screening of the Adah Sharma starrer which has faced strong protests and criticism ever since the first official trailer of the film was released. CM Yogi Adityanath had earlier met the makers and cast of The Kerala Story in Lucknow. The Chief Minister met and interacted with lad actress Adah Sharma, director Sudipto Sen and the producer and creative head Vipul Amrutlal Shah.

      'The Kerala Story'         pic.twitter.com/bfj7sswOTU  Yogi Adityanath (@myogiadityanath) May 10, 2023

The controversial film which focuses on the alleged radicalisation and conversion of young Hindu women to Islam in Kerala, before inducting them into the global terror outfit Islamic State (IS), is hit the theatres on May 5.

The Kerala Story Tax-Free In UP, MP & Haryana

The Uttar Pradesh government had on Tuesday declared that 'The Kerala Story' will be made tax-free in the state. The Uttar Pradesh CM took to Twitter to make this announcement. Prior to the UP government, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan too shared a video on his official Twitter handle, declaring that The Kerala Story will now be tax-free in Madhya Pradesh.

The Madhya Pradesh CM, while making an announcement on the movie, said, "The Kerala Story makes people aware of love-jihad, terrorism, and religion. The movie also throws light on how the girls are trapped in the name of religion and the aftermath of it."

The ML Khattar government in Haryana has also made The Kerala Story tax-free. The CM of the state tweeted, "The Kerala Story has been made tax-free in Haryana."

SC, HC Refuse To Stay Film's Release

Earlier, the Supreme Court and the Kerala High Court refused to stay the film's release and petitions challenging the CBFC certification granted to the movie. The top court observed that the producers have invested money in the film and actors have dedicated their labour, and it is for the market to decide if the movie is not up to the mark.

The plea seeking a stay on its release was first mentioned on May 2. The apex court refused to entertain the plea which said it is a "worst kind of hate speech and an audio-visual propaganda.On May 3, the matter was again mentioned for urgent listing but the apex court declined to entertain it and asked the petitioners, including 'Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind', to move the high court.

The bench said the Central Board of Film Certification has already certified the film. "Look at it from the perspective of the film producer. How many times does he face challenges? At the end, somebody has invested money and the actors who have acted in the film have dedicated their labour. We must be very careful about staying exhibition of films. The market will decide if it is not up to the mark," the bench, also comprising Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala said.

A public interest litigation (PIL) was also moved in the Kerala High Court against certain statements in the teaser and trailer of the film. It sought the quashing of the CBFC certificate for public display given to the movie by the censor board.

The petitioner in the PIL before the high court has urged the court to direct the movie's director Sudipto Sen, its producer Vipul Amrutlal Shah and the production company Sunshine Pictures to redact or remove, prior to the film's release, certain statements, particularly the ones that say the film was inspired by true stories and that 32,000 women from Kerala were converted to Islam and had joined the Islamic State (IS).
New Delhi, May 12 (PTI) The CBI on Friday conducted searches at the premises of former NCB officer Sameer Wankhede after filing an FIR against him and four others for allegedly seeking Rs 25 crore bribe for not framing Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan in the drugs-on-cruise case, officials said. Aryan Khan was arrested in an alleged drug bust case on the Cordelia cruise ship on October 2, 2021, they said. The NCB, which had filed a charge-sheet in the drugs-on-cruise case, gave a clean chit to Aryan Khan, while an SIT set up by the anti-drugs agency claimed the probe led by Wankhede had lapses.

They said the searches were spread across 29 locations across Mumbai, Delhi, Ranchi and Kanpur. It is alleged that IRS officer Wankhede and others had allegedly demanded Rs 25 crore bribe for not framing Aryan Khan in the alleged drug bust, they said.

Also Read: Aryan Khan case: SIT finds irregularity in investigation, submits vigilance report to NCB office

The CBI received information that Rs 50 lakh was allegedly collected by the officer and his accomplice as advance, the officials said. Wankhede, who headed the Narcotics Control Bureau in Mumbai at the time of Aryan Khan's arrest, was transferred to the Directorate General of Taxpayer Services in Chennai in May last year.
New Delhi: The Election Commission (EC) has rejected the Congress party's claim that the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) used in the May 10 Karnataka assembly polls were previously deployed in South Africa and asked the party to bring to justice "rumour-mongers" who targeted it with false information.

In a letter addressed to Randeep Singh Surjewala, the AICC in-charge of Karnataka, the EC said it had used new EVMs manufactured by Electronics Corporation of India Limited for the polls in the southern state.

Congress Writes To EC Over EVMs

The Congress had written to the poll panel on May 8, raising concerns and seeking clarification over the deployment in the Karnataka election of EVMs previously deployed in South Africa and that too, without going through the process of revalidation and re-verification.

"The concern arises from the fact that this Honorable Commission has deployed EVMs which were previously deployed for elections in South Africa. We have been informed of this by various sources including the fact all these EVMs have been received directly back from South Africa without going through the process of re-validation and re-verification by the appropriate software/mechanisms by the manufacturer i.E. ECIL as also certification by the EC. This puts in serious doubt the entire validation process of the EVM itself," Surjewala had said.

Citing records, the poll panel said the Congress had specific knowledge that only newly ECIL-produced EVMs would be used in Karnataka. It said Congress representatives participated in each stage of the EVM movement and commissioning for the Karnataka polls.

EVMs Not Used In Africa: EC

The poll panel asserted it never sent EVMs to South Africa. It also said the fact that EVMs are not used in elections in that country is easily verifiable through the website of the Electoral Commission of South Africa. "As such, there is no question of any machine being used by the EC in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly election which had or could have been used in South Africa elections or for that matter anywhere in the world.

"All EVMs to be used in Karnataka elections, 2023 are new EVMs from ECIL. This fact is in full knowledge of INC," the poll panel said. "The EC never imported EVMs from any country whatsoever," the poll panel wrote. It told Surjewala that such a query raised by a Member of Parliament of "your standing" was surprising as the actual information was in specific knowledge of his party.

The Election Commission said while it is duty-bound to reply to all questions of an MP representing a national political party, "it has noted with concern that INC has chosen to rely on "sources' and even considered seeking a "clarification", just two days before the poll.

The EC noted that it held back an immediate reply keeping in mind the 46-hour 'silence period' which began at 6 pm on May 8 and ended on Wednesday evening. "The factual basis of the information provided by the "various sources" with regard to South Africa being clearly non-existent, categorically empowers INC, being the entity targeted by the false information, to publicly expose such mischievous sources.

Take Action Against Rumour-Mongers: EC To Congress

"Further, you may ensure such rumour-mongers are brought to justice so that INC's longstanding reputation of a responsible stakeholder of the Indian electoral system is not dented," the EC letter read. The Commission said it expects to receive a confirmation of the action taken by the party by 5:00 pm on May 15.

The counting of votes for the Karnataka polls will be taken up on May 13.
New Delhi: Former Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshiyari has defended his decision to call a floor test after Supreme Court held that his move to ask Uddhav Thackeray to face a floor test in the assembly was not justified. Koshiyari, defending his decision, said that he had no options as Uddhav Thackeray chose to reign instead of facing a floor test.

"When someone's resignation came to me, what would I say, don't resign," Koshiyari told reporters. Asked about the apex court's judgement, saying that the Governor have no power to enter the political arena, he immediately told reporters that it is not his job to see whether the Supreme Court's decision is right or wrong. "Now that the Supreme Court has said. So, it is the job of you people, to see whether the top court's judgement is right or wrong. It is a job of an analyst, to it and not mine," he added.

CM Shinde Backs Koshiyari

Meanwhile, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde also backed the former State Governor. "I won't talk about what Supreme Court said about the then Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshiyari, but I would say that he acted as per the situation at the time," Shinde said in a press briefing in Mumbai.

This comes after, a Constitution Bench, headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud in its judgement said, "Governor cannot use power not given to him. Governor is not entitled to enter the political arena and play a role in intra-party to inter-party disputes. He cannot act on the basis that some members want to leave the Shiv Sena."

Maharashtra Guv Erred In Calling Floor Test: SC

The bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices MR Shah, Justice Krishna Murari, Justice Hima Kohli and PS Narasimha also said that former Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari was "not justified" to call for a floor test based on the request of Eknath Shinde faction since he did not have enough objective material before him to conclude that the then Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had lost the confidence of the House.

The bench further said it cannot disqualify the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government and reinstate Uddhav Thackeray as Chief Minster because the latter had chosen to resign instead of facing a test of strength in the Assembly.

"The Governor was not justified in calling upon Thackeray to prove his majority on the floor of the House because he did not have reasons based on objective material before him, to reach the conclusion that Thackeray had lost the confidence of the House. However, the status quo ante cannot be restored because Thackeray did not face the floor test and tendered his resignation. The Governor was justified in inviting Shinde to form the government," the bench said in its 141-page verdict.

The Governor had no objective material on the basis of which he could doubt the confidence of the incumbent government, the bench said, adding that he ought to apply his mind to the communication before him to assess whether the government seemed to have lost the confidence of the House.

"The resolution on which the Governor relied did not contain any indication that the MLAs wished to exit from the MVA government. The communication expressing discontent on the part of some MLAs is not sufficient for the Governor to call for a floor test. The Governor ought to apply his mind to the communication (or any other material) before him to assess whether the Government seemed to have lost the confidence of the House," the verdict stated.

Floor Test No Medium To Resolve Internal Party Disputes: DC

It further said that the political imbroglio in Maharashtra arose as a result of party differences within the Shiv Sena. "However, the floor test cannot be used as a medium to resolve internal party disputes or intra-party disputes. Dissent and disagreement within a political party must be resolved in accordance with the remedies prescribed under the party constitution, or through any other methods that the party chooses to opt for," the bench held.

It added, "There is a marked difference between a party not supporting a government, and individuals within a party expressing their discontent with their party leadership and functioning." It further said that the Governor is the "titular head of the State government" and he is a constitutional functionary who derives his authority from the Constitution. "This being the case, the Governor must be cognisant of the constitutional bounds of the power vested in him. He cannot exercise a power that is not conferred on him by the Constitution or a law made under it," the top court said.

The top court said there were no communications relied on by the Governor indicating that the dissatisfied MLAs wanted to withdraw support to the government. The Governor erred in relying on the resolution of a faction of MLAs of Shiv Sena to conclude that Uddhav Thackeray had lost the support of the majority of MLAs.

"The exercise of discretion by the Governor, in this case, was not in accordance with law," the bench opined. The judgement of the apex court came on a batch of petitions filed by rival groups of the Shiv Sena in relation to the Maharashtra political crisis.

Appointment Of Chief Whip By Speaker Illegal: SC

The Whip has to be appointed by a political party, the top court said. The apex court held that the Speaker's decision to appoint Bharat Gogawale (Eknath Shinde) as the whip of the Shiv Sena party was illegal.

"The political party and not the legislature party appoints the Whip and the Leader of the party in the House. Further, the direction to vote in a particular manner or to abstain from voting is issued by the political party and not the legislature party. The decision of the Speaker as communicated by the Deputy Secretary to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly dated July 3, 2022, is contrary to law.

The Speaker shall recognise the Whip and the Leader who is duly authorised by the Shiv Sena political party with reference to the provisions of the party constitution, after conducting an enquiry in this regard and in keeping with the principles discussed in this judgement," it held.

The apex court further said that the Speaker must decide on disqualification petitions within a reasonable time. It also said that MLA has the right to participate in the proceedings of the House regardless of the pendency of any petitions for their disqualification. "The validity of the proceedings of the House in the interregnum is not "subject to" the outcome of the disqualification petitions," it added.

Split In Shiv Sena

In August last year, the top court's three-judge bench had referred to a five-judge Constitution bench the issues involved in the petition filed by rival groups of Shiv Sena in relation to the Maharashtra political crisis. On June 29, 2022, the top court gave a go-ahead to the floor test in the Maharashtra Assembly on June 30. It had refused to stay the Maharashtra Governor's direction to the then Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to prove his majority support on the floor of the House on June 30.

After the apex court's order, Uddhav Thackeray announced his resignation as the Chief Minister and Eknath Shinde was later sworn in as the Chief Minister.
If you are an Indian or a tourist currently in India and want to experience the enthralling beauty of nature, put Odisha on your bucket list. Odisha, the home to a national park, two tiger reserves, more than 19 sanctuaries, and a magnificent 480 kilometres long shoreline, has a reasonable amount of wildlife experiences to satisfy you.

Experience Exotic Wildlife With Ecotourism in Odisha

Whether you're looking for a relaxing escape or an adventure full of wildlife sightings, Ecotourism Odisha is the ideal way to enjoy nature and its wildlife, and have an unforgettable experience. From guided jungle safaris to breath-taking views of Odishas lush green forests and its exotic wildlife that consists of elephants, royal Bengal Tigers, and more. Ecotourism gives you view of Odishas natural splendour and its beauty, and make memories that will last a lifetime, while being one with nature.

Chilika Bird Sanctuary

Have you ever imagined navigating through a lake that has an island made of birds? Well, your imagination can become a reality at Chilika Bird Sanctuary! Located in Odisha in India, this Ramsar Wetland, is home to over 160 speciesMarvel at the vibrant migratory birds that flock here during the winters. Visit the Nalabana Bird Sanctuary and Mangalajodi which is a paradise for bird watchers and nature lovers. It's truly a sight to behold! You may even spot the rare Irrawaddy Dolphins near Satapada Island in the lake if you're lucky.

January is one of the best months to visit as one can even participate in the National Chilika Bird Festival. Referred to as the 'Bird's Paradise of Asia', Chilika Bird Sanctuary is the home to the entire ecosystem of birds, including black-tailed godwits, sandpipers, pintails, flamingos and Pacific golden plovers. It also is the vacation spot for migratory birds, billed pelicans, oriental darters, painted storks.

While here, book your stay at the nature camps or nearby hotels run by Odisha Tourism Development Corporation (OTDC). For a more adventurous experience, one can even book a stay at the luxurious houseboat Garuda.

Bhitarkanika National Park

Discover Bhitarkanika National Park, a wildlife sanctuary in Odisha that is home to Indias 2nd largest mangrove ecosystem. Explore its mangrove forests, creeks, estuaries, backwaters, mudflats, and other wetlands, which form an important part of the ecosystem. Spot exotic species such as the Estuarine crocodile, Olive Ridley turtles, monitor lizards, spotted deer, or go birdwatching to find some of the rarest birds inhabiting the park. This untouched paradise offers a unique experience of exploring nature's vastness and magnificence!

Enjoy a boat ride along the creeks for breathtaking views of nature's bounty at its finest! Marvel at the wide variety of flora and fauna, including over 300 species of birds, especially 6 species of kingfisher, the largest heronry of India, 350 species of fish, and 70 species of reptiles. For stay one can explore from the many nature camps run by Ecotour Odisha as well as hotel units by OTDC. For a more luxurious yet eco-friendly resort like experience, one can opt for Eco Retreat. Whether you are an avid wildlife enthusiast or a novice looking to explore the beauty of nature, Bhitarkanika National Park is a must-visit destination!

Similipal Tiger Reserve

The melanistic black Royal Bengal Tigers are beautiful but rare. It is almost a dream for every travel and nature enthusiast to watch the beauty of Tigers. The Odisha Government designated the Similipal Tiger Reserve under Project Tiger in 1973, home to these majestic beauties. The scenic beauty, matched with the magnificent Royal Bengal Tigers, is a treat to the eyes. You can experience the waterfalls, Joranda and Barehipani, and the reserves of elephants, sambars, leopards, king cobras and even the rare majestic four-horned antelopes.

Whether you're an avid explorer or just looking for a peaceful escape from city life, Similipal Tiger Reserve has something for everyone! Similipal Tiger Reserve is the perfect destination for adventure seekers, from unspoiled natural scenery to various activities. Go on safaris, spot tigers in their natural habitat, or explore lush green meadows and rolling hills. Trekking through the jungle can be an unforgettable experience too!

The sanctuary also offers many opportunities to experience the local culture and lifestyle, including visits to local villages and traditional festivals. Apart from staying at the Ecotour Odisha nature camps, you can experience adventure and leisure while you stay at Aranya Niwas or royal heritage at the Belgadia Palace. Whatever might be your reason for visiting, Similipal Tiger Reserve promises a unique experience that you won't forget!

Satkosia Tiger Reserve and Gorge Sanctuary

Have you ever heard of Satkosia? It is a beautiful landscape located in India. Its name is derived from the local term 'Sat meaning seven and kos indicative of unit distance. This place is a biogeographic meeting point of India's Deccan Peninsula and the Eastern Ghats. At Satkosia Tiger Reserve and Gorge Sanctuary, you can come face-to-face with India's most majestic creature - the Royal Bengal Tiger! This reserve is home to some of the country's last remaining wild tigers.

Not only that, but it also boasts a stunning gorge formed by the majestic Mahanadi river. Whether going on a safari to spot tigers or boating along the gorge to spot majestic reptiles like crocodiles and turtles, there's something for everyone at Satkosia Tiger Reserve and Gorge Sanctuary! Stay at the OFDC run ecotour nature camps or for an elaborate experience at Eco Retreat Satkosia run by OTDC. Here, you can witness nature's beauty and learn about conservation's importance.

Debrigarh Wildlife Sanctuary

Take a walk on the wild side and explore Debrigarh Wildlife Sanctuary. This protected area is situated beyond the Hirakud reservoir in the Bargarh district of Odisha. It boasts an incredible array of flora and fauna. Here you can find some of the state's most iconic animals, such as the Indian gaur, elephants, tigers, leopards, wild boars, etc. Birdwatchers will also be delighted with sightings of peacocks, grey hornbills, white-backed vultures and jungle owlets. With its lush forests and grasslands  not to mention the breath-taking views of the Mahanadi River Valley  Debrigarh Wildlife Sanctuary is a must-see for the adventurous traveller. Get ready to be enchanted by the beauty of nature at Debrigarh Wildlife Sanctuary!

Enter this majestic sanctuary and immerse yourself in a world of awe and wonder. From sloth bears meandering through grassy clearings to herds of deer grazing peacefully, there is something magical about the wildlife here. Enjoy the jungle safaris through the dense forests and spot elephants roaming in their natural habitat, or take a leisurely boat ride along the Mahanadi River to watch aquatic birds in flight. Whether you are looking for an exciting adventure or wish to spend some time in nature's embrace, Debrigarh Wildlife Sanctuary is the perfect destination.

For those seeking a unique experience, the sanctuary offers guided night safaris, which allow them to observe nocturnal animals in their natural habitat. Keep your eyes peeled for wild cats, peacocks, and even the Indian Gaur  all under the watchful eye of an experienced guide. And if you're lucky, you may even catch a glimpse of the elusive Bengal tiger! For accommodations, one can book a stay at the Debrigarh Nature Camp or at the Eco Retreat Hirakud for a luxurious experience.

For an Unforgettable Camping Experience

Eco-Retreat Odisha is the perfect spot for a nature getaway that lets you glamping i.e. camping in style with luxury and amenities, while surrounded amidst nature! It not only lets you enjoy the beautiful view of the lush green forests, hills, waterfalls, beaches, etc. but also lets you explore its magnificent temples, hidden treasures, and more. A great opportunity to reconnect with nature, while having a great staycation experience. For more details, visit www.odishaecoretreat.com. For satisfying the serious wildlife explorer within you, stay at the nature camps run by the local community members. For more details, visit www.ecotourodisha.com

To Conclude

There is no doubt that nature is at its best in Odisha. From enchanting species of animals to rare plants in the dense forests, Odisha will keep unfolding new surprises for you throughout your stay. You will get the package of green mountains to waterfalls, Indian Bison to Kingfisher, and rare amphibians to Royal Bengal Tigers, dropping your jaw wide open. It will surely be a trip to remember.

If you want the best vacation of your life in the vast valleys of Mother Nature and be grateful to the divine creations, Odisha is waiting for you. Stun yourself with a guided tour and a complete package. Make your holiday complete by sleeping under the stars in one of our thatched-roof huts, surrounded by lush greenery and rustic charm! Discover a new world of natural beauty and tranquillity at Odisha. Book your stay today!

(Above mentioned article is a sponsored feature, This article is a paid publication and does not have journalistic/editorial involvement of IDPL, and IDPL claims no responsibility whatsoever.)
Elon Musk says he has found a new CEO for Twitter, or X Corp. as it's now called. Musk did not name the person but said she will be starting in about six weeks. Musk bought Twitter last fall and has been running it since but has been insisting he is not the company's permanent CEO. The Tesla billionaire said in a tweet Thursday that his role will transition to being executive chairman and chief technology officer. Musk, though, has made announcements in the past that he did not follow through on.
'The Kerala Story' was screened for women on Friday in the Indore district of Madhya Pradesh by the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) office bearers, the youth wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), news agency ANI reported. Swords and sticks were seen in the hands of the women and female students who came to watch the film. Over 100 women and girl students attended the movie on the four screens that the BJYM staff had reserved at a multiplex in the city, ANI said. The controversial film which focuses on the alleged radicalisation and conversion of young Hindu women to Islam in Kerala, before inducting them into the global terror outfit Islamic State (IS) hit the theatres on May 5.

Notably, Madhya Pradesh government had made the movie tax-free in the state on May 6. Stating that the 'The Kerala Story' exposes the conspiracy of love Jihad, religious conversion and terrorism, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had said that the newly released movie had been made tax-free in the state.

"We have brought women along with weapons and scriptures to show them the film and to make them aware. In our religion, all the gods and goddesses had scriptures and weapons in their hands. We want to convey this message that our sisters know how to use weapons and if someone tries to misbehave with them, then they have the potential to cut their throats," news agency ANI quoted one of the BJYM office bearers Dheeraj Thakur as saying.

Also Read: CM Yogi Adityanath Attends Special Screening Of The Kerala Story Days After Making It Tax-Free In UP

"The Kerala Story exposes the conspiracy of love Jihad, religious conversion and terrorism and brings out its hideous face. The film tells how the daughters get entangled in the trap of love jihad in momentary sentimentality and how they are ruined. The film also exposes the design of terrorism. This film makes us aware," the Madhya Pradesh CM said in a video posted on his official Twitter handle.

Also Read: SC Seeks Response Of Tamil Nadu, West Bengal On 'The Kerala Story' Ban

SC Seeks Response Of TN, Bengal On 'The Kerala Story' Ban

The Supreme Court on Friday sought replies of the West Bengal and Tamil Nadu governments on a plea of the producers of "The Kerala Story" challenging the ban in the two states. A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha questioned the West Bengal government saying the film is being screened in the rest of the country without any problem and there appears to be no reason for the ban.
Karnataka Assembly Elections results about to be declared, the key question - who could be the Chief Minister of Karnataka - is being asked once again. There are too many deputy chief minister, Chief Minister and ministers in the fray who have their eyes on the top job.

Here are top our top 5 picks for the Karnataka Chief Minister post:

1  Siddaramaiah

Going by the exit polls, the first person in this list is Congress leader and former Chief Minister K Siddaramaiah. Besides being a former Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah has been an MLA for eight terms. He was also the leader of Opposition in Karnataka Assembly. Interestingly, Siddaramiah has said that this is going to be his last election.

Siddaramaiah was earlier a part of the JD-S and has served as the Deputy Chief Minister twice in the state. In 2005, Siddaramaiah was suspended from the JD-S. A year later he joined the Congress with his followers. He became the chief minister of Karnataka on 13 May 2013.



2 DK Shivakumar

Shivakumar, or DK or DKShi as he is known locally, had started his career from the Youth Congress and won his first election in the year 1989. He is a seven-time MLA and the chief of the Congress party in Karnataka. He hails from a modest agrarian Vokkaliga family. Shivakumar is the Congress troubleshooter. He has bailed the Congress from many a crises.

3 HD Kumaraswamy

Two-time Karnataka CM and National President of Janata Dal (Secular), HD Kumaraswamy or popularly known as "Kumaranna". He is the son of the former Prime Minister of India, HD Deve Gowda. His brother HD Revanna is a former minister and MLA from Holenarasipur. Both his wife and son are politicians too.

4  BS Yediyurappa

Four-time Chief Minister Yediyurappa is known as the biggest Lingayat leader in the state till date. He is the longest serving Chief Minister of Karnataka from BJP. He is an MLA from Shikaripura constituency in Shimoga district, from where he has been elected eight times. It is said that the Karnataka - that was dominated by the Congress and Jata Dal factions - saw BJPs rise only because of Yediyurappa efforts.

5  Basavaraj Bommai

Basvaraj Bommai is the current Chief Minister of Karnataka. Interestingly, his father, SR Bommai, has also served as a Chief Minister of the state. asavaraj Bommai started his political career with the Janata Dal. He later joined the BJP in 2008. Since then he is ruling over the Shiggaon assembly seat. The Bommais are the second father-son duo to become CMs in the state. He belongs to the sub-sect Sadar-Lingayat, which is not a dominant group within the Lingayats.
Washington: Highlighting the partnership between the US and India, Vedant Patel, Principal Deputy Spokesperson for the US Department of State, has said that 'partnership with India is very important' and that they are looking forward to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the country. "We very much look forward to hosting PM Modi and members of the Indian Government We have an important partnership with India and we look forward to continuing to take steps to deepen that. This state visit will be an immense opportunity to talk about a number of shared priorities," said Vedant Patel, Principal Deputy Spokesperson for the US Department of State.

He said that India and US " have an important partnership," and are looking "forward to deepen that".

"We have an important partnership with India and we look forward to continuing to take steps to deepen that. And this next state visit will be an immense opportunity to talk about a number of shared priorities, including addressing the climate crisis, addressing trade issues, deepening our security cooperation, and a number of other areas as well," added Patel.

Earlier, the White House in a statement announced that US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will host Prime Minister Narendra Modi for an official state visit next month.

The statement released by the White House read, "President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will host Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the Republic of India for an Official State Visit to the United States, which will include a state dinner, on June 22, 2023."

The upcoming visit will affirm the deep and close partnership between the US and India and the warm bonds of family and friendship, linking Americans and Indians.

"The visit will strengthen the two countries' shared commitment to a free, open, prosperous, and secure Indo-Pacific and our shared resolve to elevate our strategic technology partnership, including in defence, clean energy, and space," the statement read.

The last in-person meeting between PM Modi and US President Biden was held in Indonesia. The two leaders took into account areas like crucial and emerging technologies and artificial intelligence.

During the meeting, both sides discussed close cooperation in future-oriented sectors such as critical and emerging technologies, advanced computing, and artificial intelligence, an official statement by Prime Minister's office read. The two leaders also held talks on topical global and regional developments.
New Delhi: Social media influencer and content creator Dolly Singh is set to make Cannes Film Festival debut. She says she has finally ticked an important milestone off her bucket list.

She will be headed to the French Riviera later this month where she will be walking the red carpet and attending the official movie screenings at the iconic Grand Lumiere Theatre. Her four-day itinerary will also include her cultural explorations where she will sample exquisite culinary experiences at Chez Albane, La Mome Plage, Silencio Club, Fred l'ecailler and Majestic Le Paradisio.

Dolly states, "The Cannes Film Festival has been an important platform for Indian artists to showcase their talent on the international stage. Over the years Indian talent has not only brought Indian cinema to the world stage but has also helped to break down cultural barriers and promote cross-cultural exchange."

She added: "Today I am honoured to be contributing in my own unique way to this exchange and making my debut this year at the festival. From making candles in a small town of Nainital to walking the red carpet at Cannes, I'm truly grateful and excited for this opportunity. This was a long-standing dream and I've finally ticked an important milestone off my bucket list."

Dolly, who comes from Nainital, has become one of the most recognisable content creators in the country having built a Dollyverse of her own, with fun little characters like Raju Ki Mummy, South Delhi Girl, Guddi Bhabhi, Zeenat and Shree.

Growing up, Singh was always aligned towards making a mark in the world of fashion. After completing her bachelor's in political science, she decided to pursue her Master's in fashion from NIFT. Her personal content creation journey started with 'Spill The Sass' where she spoke about affordable fashion.

Cannes Film Festival 2023 will take place from May 16 and will run through May 27.
New Delhi: CBSE Class 12th Results 2023: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has finally declared 10th and 12th board exam results, giving a major relief to students. The results for students are available on the official websites  cbse.gov.in, results.nic.in, results.digilocker.gov.in, umang.gov.in.

Students can now download their results on Digilocker and Umang App. It not only allows the easy access to marksheets but you can also share the results anytime, anywhere.

ALSO READ | Pakistan Rupee Plunges To Record Low Of 299 Against US Dollar

CBSE 10th, 12th Results 2023: How To Access Marksheets On Digilocker?

Step 1: Visit the following URL  cbseservices.digilocker.gov.in/activatecbse.

Step 2: Click on get started with account creation.

Step 3: Enter requisite information and 6 digit PIN provided by your school.

Step 4: Verify details, provide mobile no. and validate with OTP received.

Step 5: DigiLocker account activated successfully.

PM Narendra Modi Congratulates Exam Warriors

PM Narendra Modi congratulated to all Exam warriors who had passed in the Class X CBSE exams, stated, Wishing them the very best for their upcoming endeavours. May they have a bright academic career and also pursue their other passions beyond the classroom.

Congratulations to all #ExamWarriors who have passed in the Class X CBSE exams. Wishing them the very best for their upcoming endeavours. May they have a bright academic career and also pursue their other passions beyond the classroom.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 12, 2023

He further said that he would like to tell those bright youngsters who felt they could have done better in Class XII exams  you have so much more to look forward to in the coming times. One set of exams doesnt define you. Harness your talents in areas you are passionate about. You will shine.
New Delhi: India is seeking to tax Netflix Inc's income earned from streaming services in the country, the Economic Times reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.

In a draft order, the tax authorities attributed an income of about 550 million rupees ($6.73 million) to Netflix's Indian permanent establishment (PE) in the assessment year 2021-22, the report added. (Also Read: Meet Linda Yaccarino, The Woman Rumoured To Be New Twitter CEO --In Pics)

Tax officials reasoned that the U.S. firm had some employees and infrastructure from the parent entity on secondment in India to support its streaming services, leading to a PE and tax liability, the publication reported. (Also Read: Elderly Woman Separated By Family, Google Translate Helped Her Reunite - Here's How)

The move is the first time India will tax overseas digital companies providing electronic commerce services to consumers, the people told to ET.

Netflix did not respond to a Reuters' request for comment.
Islamabad: The supporters of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) were ecstatic over the release of their leader, Imran Khan and celebrated the top court's decision, reported Geo News. They poured into the streets soon after the Pakistan Supreme Court's verdict to release party chairman Imran Khan in the Al-Qadir Trust case. "All Pakistanis, wherever they are, should come out to express solidarity and gratitude to the Supreme Court in their respective areas," tweeted PTI leader Usman Dar, ex-special assistant to the prime minister on youth affairs.

He called on the party supporters to take to the streets to express solidarity and gratitude to the top court, reported Geo News. PTI leader Imran Ismail was also overjoyed at the SC's verdict. "Imran Khan released by Supreme Court. Pakistan zindabad," he wrote on the popular microblogging site.

Pakistani actress Mishi Khan thanked the top court and Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial for giving a "fair and right verdict". Imran Khan's ex-wife, Jemima Goldsmith, also celebrated the SC's decision, reported Geo News. Taking to Twitter, Goldsmith wrote: "Finally sense has prevailed."

Imran Khans Arrest Illegal: Pak SC

The apex court on Tuesday announced that the former prime minister's arrest was "illegal" and directed authorities to release him "immediately". Soon after that, the supporters and party workers hailed the court's decision.

The Supreme Court, in an order issued on Imran Khan's petition against his arrest, has allowed the former prime minister to meet up to 10 guests for as long as he wants while he is at the Islamabad Police Lines Guest House, reported Dawn.

The PTI has announced that party chief Imran Khan will address his supporters at the Srinagar Highway in the federal capital tomorrow (Friday) after appearing before the Islamabad High Court. In a statement on Twitter, the party urged its supporters from across the country to gather at the spot at 10 am to "express solidarity" with Imran.

PML-N Leaders Fume Over Imran Khan's Release

After the Supreme Court ordered the immediate release of Imran Khan, the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders took exception to the "double standards of justice," reported Dawn.

Reacting to the verdict, PML-N Chief Organiser Maryam Nawaz criticised Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, asking him to step down from the post and join the opposition party, reported Geo News.

PML-N leader Marriyum Aurangzeb while addressing a press conference in Islamabad said that "a few hundred armed protesters and terrorists have been attacking" the country and state properties regarding the protest by PTI supporters. "You all saw how PTI leaders incited violence and gave orders for attacks on Imran Khan's directives," she alleged.

Moreover, she cited the Islamabad High Court order, stressing that Imran's arrest was carried out in a legal manner, reported Dawn. "But the impression of the Supreme Court giving relief to a criminal, terrorist, and a gangster leading armed groups -- it amounts to backing a terrorist," she decried.

She further said several PML-N leaders faced arrests and raids in the past but no one raised any question. "Because all of that was done in support of the Ladla (a favourite child)" who disrespected the SC.

Directly addressing the chief justice of Pakistan, she said, "Had this love affair ended back then, then chief justice sahib, the court would not have been disrespected the way it is being today."

"Courts are disrespected when they become shelters for criminals, terrorists and armed groups. Courts, the Constitution and justice are disrespected then. Courts are disrespected when their decisions support criminals," she added.

She contended that if the court would back "terrorists" and "armed groups" that "set my country on fire, then all others deserve this relief as well". Reacting to the development, PML-N leader Khawaja Asif addressed a press conference in Islamabad, highlighting the "double standards of justice," reported Dawn. He began by recalling that PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif and several other party leaders and workers were arrested in the past.

In this connection, the defence minister also referred to a video of Imran released prior to his arrest. "In his video message published prior to his arrest [...] did Imran not incite and preach violence? And what was the result of that violence?"

Protests In Pakistan

Imran was arrested in the Al-Qadir Trust case, in which he has been accused of corruption, from the Islamabad High Court premises on Tuesday afternoon before he was due to attend the hearings of two other cases.

The former prime minister's arrest sparked violent protests across the country, during which at least eight people were killed, several injured and thousands rounded up amid police action. There were many incidents of arson.
Some view the legislation as reflecting God's will; others voice outrage that Christianity is being invoked to justify laws they view as cruel and hateful.
As Colorado kids struggle to recoup learning losses post-pandemic, teachers unions keep proving thats not their priority. Standing at the center is the states most prominent teachers union  the Colorado Education Association.

At the CEAs statewide conference on April 22, the organization  which claims to represent teachers  took a brazen, ideological stance when it passed a resolution attacking capitalism for inherently exploit(ing) children, public schools, land, labor, and resources.

Never mind how Americas free enterprise system enables businesses and homeowners to pour billions of dollars into our states education system through taxation, or the philanthropic contributions of businesses and individuals. They proceeded to blame capitalism for systemic racism, climate change, patriarchy, education inequality and income inequality.

As radical union member Tim Hernandez proudly tweeted: CEA may now publicly advocate & lobby for anti-capitalist policies at the CO Capitol. This jibes with the intent of the resolutions sponsor, Bryan Lindstrom, a self-described anarcho-socialist who ran for Aurora City Council in 2021. We are constantly using band-aids and minor reformsbut the system itself is the problem, and it needs to be named, he explained.

Lindstrom previously tweeted that his pension was literally the only thing keeping me from complete revolution and critical race theory is a component of everything I do. As radical as Lindstrom and Hernandezs political beliefs are, its shocking to see Colorados teachers unions explicitly embrace their extreme ideology. At a time when union leaders want parents to believe they arent politicizing schools, this resolution belies that claim.

Consider Woodland Park, a community of 8,000 residents located on Pikes Peaks north slope in super-conservative Teller County. Woodland Parks union leaders abhor the school boards support for charter schools  an educational option widely embraced by parents. They oppose the boards adoption of American Birthright standards  a traditional approach to social studies curriculum that eschews the CEAs overemphasis on racialized and anti-capitalist ideologies.

They are aghast that the board hired Ken Witt, a former president of Colorados second largest school district, Jefferson Countys, as superintendent  because he doesnt support their politics. As soon as Ken Witt became superintendent, you saw union activity ramp up immediately, observed Sean Pekron, a teacher at Woodlands Merit Academy who previously spent 23 years at Woodland Park High School.

Witts tenure began on Jan. 1, months after a failed attempt to recall the school board. By Jan. 30, a staff meeting organized by Woodland Park Education Association (WPEA), a CEA affiliate, revealed clear coordination with other unions to further resist.

The WPEA has filed for a crisis assessment from the CEA, WPEA President Nate Owen stated, per a recording I obtained. If we get that crisis grant, there will be some additional funding coming our way to allow us to do some more things. Leaders from Pikes Peak and Colorado Springs Education Associations participated in the meeting. Owen said they will bring in an operative from JeffCo (Ashlyn Maher), who led Students against Ken Witt when Witt was JeffCos board president.

Witt recently ended the unions needless automatic deduction from members payroll. He scrubbed a makeshift requirement that district and union leaders meet and confer for districtwide teacher contract negotiations  pursuant to a Conditions of Employment document thats operated as a quasi-collective bargaining agreement and provided considerable negotiating authority to WPEA. Thing is, WPS doesnt have a collective bargaining agreement with WPEA  which only represents 30% of Woodlands teachers  and it appears the school board never agreed to these conditions.

Lets be real: The teachers unions arent converging on Woodland Park and stoking anxiety because of extraordinary educational concerns. Theyre doing so because their influence and control are threatened by a school board executing on the academic-centered agenda they ran on.

School districts everywhere are heavily influenced by teachers unions, which seem to think its their turf. A longtime ally of the CEA, former state Sen. Evie Hudak  who resigned in 2013 to avoid being recalled  is a vice-president of Colorados Parent Teacher Association. In that capacity, she often testifies on bills in alignment with the union and advances a consistent educational and political agenda.

In JeffCo Schools, Hudak formally advises and helps lead the district and school accountability committees, a conflict of interest given her PTA role. She wrote the states school accountability law. Yet, as Ive reported previously, Hudak has counseled accountability committee members  parents who trust her as an ex-legislator  that they can ignore the law. While theres the law, theres no DAC police, she advised one accountability committee member.

In Denver, union influence runs especially deep. The school board faces a complete collapse of credibility amid disastrous school safety and discipline breakdowns. All seven members of the board were union-backed candidates  including the irascibly controversial Tay Anderson. Anderson led the effort to remove school resource officers and weaken disciplinary policies. Hes become the biggest lightning rod and greatest source of dysfunctional distraction in Colorados largest school district. Yet the union has supported him  to the tune of $65,000 in campaign contributions.

Lets be clear: The teachers unions dont care that only 5% of Denvers Black and Brown third-graders can read at grade level.

Instead, they fear that the success of Woodland Park poses a threat to the very existence of the union  an entity wholly dependent upon indefensible educational outcomes to grow its membership, advance its ideological agenda and entrench its political power.

Jimmy Sengenberger is an investigative journalist, public speaker, and host of The Jimmy Sengenberger Show Saturdays from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. on News/Talk 710 KNUS. Reach Jimmy online at JimmySengenberger.com or on Twitter @SengCenter.
In its most forceful statement yet on the surge of immigrants at the U.S. border with Mexico  a crisis that has been spilling into America's interior cities, such as Denver  the Biden administration said those who crossed into the U.S. illegally won't be eligible for asylum.

"Starting tonight, people who arrive at the border without using a lawful pathway will be presumed ineligible for asylum," Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas said in a statement.

"We are ready to humanely process and remove people without a legal basis to remain in the U.S," he said.

It's not immediately clear what Mayorkas' statement means in terms of stopping the surge at the border.

Mayorkas added: "We have 24,000 Border Patrol Agents and Officers at the Southwest Border and have surged thousands of troops and contractors, and over a thousand asylum officers to help enforce our laws. Do not believe the lies of smugglers. The border is not open."

The Biden official said people who do not use "available lawful pathways" to enter the U.S. will now face "tougher consequences, including a minimum five-year ban on re-entry and potential criminal prosecution."

"Together with our partners throughout the federal government and Western Hemisphere, we are prepared for this transition," he said.

In Denver, the surge of immigrants has become palpable in the last few days, straining resources and once more getting the city to a breaking point.

Local nonprofits  that for months have helped Denver temporarily house immigrants from South and Central America  have been bracing for the new surge with the sunset of a pandemic-era border restriction that ends Thursday.

All the shelters are pretty much at capacity, said Kristen Baluyot, Denver metro social services director for the Salvation Army. So, any influx is going to be very hard for us to respond to.

In less than 10 days, the number of immigrants has more than doubled in Denver shelters.

Called Title 42, the portion of the U.S. code, the federal policy adopted under the Trump administration, allowed authorities to swiftly expel immigrants to help slow spread of COVID-19.

Immigrants apprehended under Title 42 were returned to their home countries or sent back to Mexico.

The pandemics federal emergency designation  and, along with it, Title 42  will end just before midnight Thursday. Anticipating the policy's end, the number of immigrants at the U.S. border with Mexico has swelled.

On Tuesday, Denver Mayor Michael B. Hancock declared an emergency activation  his second in five months  to leverage federal resources to address the humanitarian crisis.

The city has spent nearly $16 million since December to support arriving immigrants. The federal government, Hancock said during a press conference Thursday, has reimbursed the city about $900,000.

This surge, Hancock said, may require cutting services. But he stopped short of saying immigrants would be turned away.

We dont get advance notice that busloads of people are coming, Hancock said.

He added: Were in desperate need for emergency shelter space for what will be coming our way.

The influx illustrates the calamity that's been unfolding at the U.S. border for years, a crisis that is spilling over into cities in America's interior, including Denver, which is more than 600 miles from El Paso, Texas, the closest U.S. border.

City officials said the immigrants pick Denver because of El Pasos relative proximity to Denver, at least in terms of being able to get to the city by bus with relative ease.

Officials noted that the bus fare to Denver is less expensive from West Texas to other places in the country. Organizations that support the immigrant community also highlight the resources and diversity in the community, as well as its status as a "sanctuary city," as reasons attracting the immigrants to Denver.

Reporters Nico Brambila and Carol McKinley contributed to this story.
The roar of jets over Colorado Springs Friday marked the 65th anniversary of the North American Aerospace Defense Command as senior commanders took a moment to reflect on the evolving threats the United States and Canada are facing together.

"I cant tell you what the future holds exactly. But I can tell you it will be incredibly challenging and it will be incredibly delicate," said Gen. Glen VanHerck, commander of NORAD and U.S. Northern Command. NORAD is the only bi-national command in the world and significantly predates Northern Command, which was set up in 2002.

VanHerck and other leaders spoke to a crowd gathered at Peterson Space Force Base, which included Melissa Dalton, the assistant secretary of defense for Homeland Defense.

This year, NORAD and Northern Command were thrust into the international spotlight by a Chinese spy balloon that was shot down near the coast of South Carolina in February after floating over the U.S. and Canada. The event drew congressional interest in boosting funding for homeland protection.

Modernizing NORAD has been a focus for several years and VanHerck told senators this week his department is in the midst of a cultural transition from the industrial age to the digital age.

In his testimony he highlighted the threat of hypersonic weapons because they are "extremely difficult to detect and counter given the weapons' speed, maneuverability and low flight paths and unpredictable trajectories," he said. The weapons challenge NORAD's ability to provide warnings to Canada and the United States.

Investments in over-the-horizon radar could help detect hypersonic weapons in addition to hundreds of new satellites Space Force is sending to low-Earth orbit, he said in an interview Friday

Canada is also making significant investments in missile detection, pledging to build two over-the-horizon radar systems as part of a nearly $40 billion investment in NORAD over 20 years, according to a news release.

Royal Canadian Air Force Lt. Gen. Frances Allen, vice chief of the Defence Staff, noted the modern radar systems are arriving soon, but much more remains to be done to ensure defense decisions can happen faster.

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"We also need to understand our limitations and that we must maintain the utmost vigilance to counter the rapidly evolving threats to our nations," she said

VanHerck is most concerned about cyber threats to critical infrastructure and a lack of an ability to detect them because so much of the infrastructure is in the private sector, he said.

"We have to understand those vulnerabilities," he said.

As to the Chinese balloon, he said the U.S. saw the "best possible outcome" because the military mitigated the collection of information while maximizing its own collection of information.

Hypersonics and spy balloons are some of the latest challenges for NORAD, originally set up to counter World War II era bombers coming over the North Pole. The urgency of the threat sparked the rapid construction of three west-to-east radar lines, said retired Gen. Tom Lawson, who served in the Royal Canadian Air Force.

"The gravity of the threat swept away all barriers," he said.

The terrorist attacks on 9/11 reinforced the need for the command and homeland defense, he said.

The bi-national ties remain strong among the current complex threats, the military leaders said.

"We live and we strive and we grieve together," Allen said.
A hearing on Thursday for Laura Voepel  the mother of alleged Club Q shooter Anderson Lee Aldrich  took a dramatic turn when Voepel was kicked out of the virtual courtroom for cursing at the judge.

Voepel's attorney, Carrie Thompson, told the judge that misdemeanor charges of resisting arrest and disorderly conduct against her client came after police told Voepel on Nov. 20, 2022, that her child had been arrested in connection with a murder. Aldrich is accused of fatally shooting five people and injuring nearly two dozen more at the LGBTQ+ nightclub Club Q on North Academy Boulevard on Nov. 19, 2022.

During Thursday's motions hearing prosecutor Andrew Vaughan argued that the defense should not be allowed to admit part of the body camera footage of the arrest into evidence because it displayed potential evidence of Voepel's mental competency.

Vaughan argued that evidence suggesting mental competency should not be admissible unless Voepel enters a not guilty by reason of insanity plea, which Thompson said Voepel has no intention of doing.

Thompson argued that the body camera footage should be admissible at trial because it shows her client could not have knowingly committed the crimes in question because of her "deteriorating mental condition."

"She (Voepel) was under extraordinary distress and despair," Thompson argued. "Clearly, she's a woman who was experiencing a traumatic event."

Thompson said the body camera footage, which is over four hours long, shows Voepel being locked out of her apartment before she begins to "scream" and "sob" outside. Eventually, Voepel is detained in the back of a police car before being driven to the hospital, which is when the video ends, Thompson said.

Vaughan told the court that the part of the video he has problems with are when a mental illness or medication are mentioned, as well as the part where she is driven to the hospital instead of the El Paso County jail.

Judge Yolanda Fennick ruled that the evidence in question could be presented at trial and does not require an insanity plea to be admissible.

However, Fennick told the defense that it would not be allowed to present any expert testimony on Voepel's mental illness without an insanity plea.

Vaughan argued that if the defense were allowed to present evidence that a mental illness is what caused the outburst leading to Voepel's arrest, then he should be able to present evidence suggesting other motives for the outburst, such as guilt or intoxication.

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Vaughan said he could potentially have evidence that Voepel already knew Aldrich had been arrested in the Club Q shooting before police arrived at her apartment. Vaughan questioned if there may be potential evidence Voepel had helped provide certain items Aldrich used while allegedly committing the shooting.

"Did she provide him with anything that could have helped (Aldrich) do the Club Q shooting?" Vaughan said before Fennick cut him off.

Vaughan said authorities found 49 pills at Voepel's apartment, which she shared with Aldrich, and claimed they may be ecstasy.

Shimon Kohn, another defense attorney for Voepel, said the pills are being tested. He added that it would be against Voepel's rights for her to be rearrested if the pills are deemed to be an illegal narcotic, and that any new charges would have to be folded into the current case.

Voepel was not present in court on Thursday but appeared virtually via the court's online conferencing system. Voepel interrupted the hearing by attempting to speak numerous times before she was kicked out for calling the judge an expletive.

After the outburst Thompson apologized and said her client was "severely mentally ill," before adding that the outburst may force her to raise the issue of competency to proceed, which Thompson said she had initially not wanted to do.

If Voepel's attorneys raise the issue of competency and a mental evaluation finds that she is not competent to proceed, all court proceedings would be halted until she is treated, and a mental health professional deems her competent. Thompson added that Voepel is moving to Florida in July to live with her parents.

Fennick said Voepel rejoined shortly after the outburst and apologized to her in the chat. Fennick ended the hearing by setting Voepel's trial on Aug. 8, and Thompson told the court that she anticipates the trial will last two days.

Voepel has a motions hearing on June 8, when her attorneys could raise the issue of competency. Aldrich is scheduled to return to court on May 30 for an arraignment.
Stalking charges against Nicole and Courtney Mallery, a Black rancher couple embroiled in a years-long feud with their White neighbor, were dropped on Thursday.

Judge Robin Chittum granted the prosecuting attorneys request that the charges, which were filed by Yoder farmer Teresa Clark, be dismissed. The cases are expected to be sealed.

Based on the evidence, I do not believe that we can proceed at this time, the prosecutor said.

The decision is the latest development in a high-profile, two-year dispute that has included allegations of racist intimidation, dueling restraining orders, several arrests for stalking and accusations of biased policing against the El Paso County Sheriffs Office.

On Tuesday, following the news that Clark and the Mallerys failed to reach a resolution through mediation, the Sheriffs Office made public nearly 40 hours of body camera footage from more than 100 calls for service related to the dispute.

I am deeply disappointed the parties involved in the Yoder neighborhood dispute were unable to come to an agreement during mediation, Sheriff Joe Roybal said in a statement. Now, as those cases have reached their final disposition in court, and in the interest of transparency, it is appropriate for my office to release the remaining body-worn videos to the public.

On Thursday, the Sheriff's Office web page on the Yoder dispute had been scrubbed of content, with a brief explanation: "The content on this page has been removed pursuant to statute 24-72-703."

Colorado Revised Statute 24-72-703 concerns the sealing of certain criminal conviction records.

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Charges against Clark, who was arrested in September on suspicion of violating the Mallerys restraining order, have also been dropped. But Clark, who attended the proceedings via the video chat service Webex, expressed dissatisfaction with Thursdays disposition.

The Mallerys continue to stalk and harass me and my mother. They dont have any intent in stopping, Clark said. I dont think its fair that the district attorney has decided he just wants to be done with this case.

Clark, whom the Mallerys have accused of spearheading a racist campaign against them, has said that the national media attention generated by the dispute has made her fear for her life.

(The Mallerys are) going to get away with stalking me and my mother, and ruining our lives, she said.

Tyrone Glover, the Mallerys attorney, said the family wishes to put the entire episode behind them.

Its unfortunate that weve had to wait this long, and that the Mallerys have had felony charges hanging over their heads for over four months. I dont believe that there was evidence of stalking, Glover said. They can finally move forward with their lives and go back to farming in peace.

After the court proceeding, Courtney Mallery said the charges against them were completely false.

Weve never said  or done anything to her, Courtney said. Its just because of the color of our skin that she has done all this stuff to us.

Im gonna continue to do what Ive been doing, and thats farm in peace, and try to feed the community. I just want to be left alone.
A former Denver Public Schools safety officer who was fired for sending an administrator the N-word in a text message is not eligible for unemployment benefits under state law, Colorado's second-highest court agreed on Thursday.

Shelly Wright maintained she had not purposefully sent the slur, but rather used voice-to-text under "bright sunshine" and had not seen until later that her phone mistranslated what she said. But state officials determined Wright's intent was irrelevant, and a three-judge panel for the Court of Appeals upheld the conclusion that Wright's own conduct led to her firing.

"The hearing officer, after reviewing all the evidence in the record, evaluated the entire context of Wrights employment history before determining that Wrights explanation of the text message was not credible," wrote Judge Terry Fox in the panel's May 11 opinion. "We hold that the hearing officers conclusions  including that a reasonable person would not have countenanced Wrights language and behavior  are supported by substantial evidence."

In Colorado, employees who are separated from their jobs are disqualified from receiving unemployment benefits under several scenarios. "Rudeness, insolence, or offensive behavior" that cannot reasonably be "countenanced" by supervisors falls among the reasons to deny payment.

Wright was a safety officer at DPS between August 2010 and March 2022. On March 3 of last year, Wright was working at an unspecified elementary school when she noticed a woman on school grounds who she did not recognize and who had no visitor badge displayed.

Wright approached the woman, who was Black, and asked why she had not signed in. The woman was allegedly "snippy" and "had an attitude." An employee informed Wright that the woman belonged to a racial equity group that visits the school.

After a second Black woman joined the first woman, Wright used voice-to-text on her phone to send a message to the assistant principal. She reportedly "couldn't see a thing" due to the sunlight.

"At your convenience could you please text me the spelling of the lady's name that supposedly comes here every Thursday," Wright wrote. "She's a (N-word) an attractive black woman."

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The school district fired Wright days later.

In applying for unemployment benefits, a hearing officer found Wright's behavior fit the legal threshold for rudeness and offensiveness that a reasonable supervisor would not countenance. Further, the act of sending the message was within Wright's control, and her intent  Wright claimed she meant to type the word "bigger"  was irrelevant.

"I am a Jewish 65 year old woman," Wright, representing herself, wrote to the Court of Appeals. "I am very mindful of racism and anti semitism."

She acknowledged her intent did not matter, but reiterated that her text message meant to describe the "bigger, attractive black woman" because there were two Black women present. Wright also "showed many coworkers, friends, & family the evidence in this case," all of whom reportedly thought her firing was disproportionate to the "technological mistake."

In determining the hearing officer reached the correct conclusion, the Court of Appeals panel noted Wright had received additional training and reprimands on multiple occasions due to her "racially insensitive" conduct. In one instance, she repeated the N-word after two students said it, prompting further training for Wright.

"At the hearing, Wright testified that 'Ive never said the N-word. I was not brought up like that. I think its offensive'," wrote Fox. "However, Wright admitted she had been spoken to before about making racially insensitive remarks."

The case is Wright v. Industrial Claim Appeals Office et al.
The Woodland Park School District RE-2 board of education unanimously renewed interim Superintendent Ken Witts contract for an additional year on Wednesday. A search for a permanent superintendent is expected to begin after November elections determine the structure of the school board moving forward.

Witt was initially installed to a six-month term on Jan. 1 following a tumultuous December board meeting. Rapid changes have characterized his tenure since.

Within his first month, Witt led the charge in adopting a social studies curriculum standard called American Birthright. The standard was created by the Civics Alliance, a conservative coalition with the stated mission of combating a new civics approach of the progressive left that it says prioritizes activism over the responsibilities of American citizenship. The Colorado State Board of Education shot down a proposal in October that would have adopted American Birthright as Colorados base standard.

Under his leadership the district also moved sixth-grade students from Woodland Park Middle School to its three elementary schools, rejected grants that would retain its mental health workers and introduced employee bonuses and pay raises.

His initiatives have met mixed reception from community and staff alike, but the board says Witt is fulfilling its expectations.

I believe that we are going through growing pains here at the school, but I think that it is all for very good, to a very good end that represents the parents of our community, board President David Rusterholtz said.

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Board Vice President David Illingworth said Witts extension will provide stability going into next school year, but the board still plans to deliver on its promise of a proper search for a permanent leader. He anticipates that process will begin in December or January following election season.

Board members Mick Bates, Cassie Kimbrell and Illingworth all have terms expiring in November. A majority of seats on the five-person board, then, are subject to change and will determine the direction Woodland Park continues.

The community will get their input on one of the most important decisions that we make as a school board, which is choosing a superintendent to lead these schools, lead these teachers and professionals, and lead our kids to a successful future, Illingworth said. They will get that opportunity. They deserve that opportunity.
A heavily amended bill now awaiting Gov. Jared Polis signature intended to cut down on ozone pollution makes major changes critics said would result in far-reaching repercussions. They allege it would handicap not just the oil and gas industry, but also other companies in Colorado  and do little to reduce summertime ozone.

The bills sponsors said the legislation is necessary because Coloradans, particularly people of color and residents of low-income communities, have long suffered from high levels of ozone pollution, which is connected to severe health effects and premature death.

At the House Energy and Environment Committee hearing on HB 1294 April 20, Rep. Jenny Willford, one of the four sponsors of the bill named Pollution Protection Measures, explained the need for the legislation by saying that minor sources are a significant driver of ozone pollution.

Colorado has thousands of minor sources including many oil and gas wells, but because theyre deemed minor permitting of minor sources is fast-tracked and the state does virtually no air quality analysis before approving these permits, Willford said.

Oil and gas industry representatives claim that the majority of ozone and ozone-forming chemicals that settle along the Front Range come from uncontrollable natural sources like forest fires and methane-emitting wetlands or are blown in from the west, from both domestic and international sources.

House Bill 1294 was never a serious attempt to lower ozone, but instead was put forward to add significant, and unnecessary, requirements on Colorado businesses through the air permitting process, said Dan Haley, president and CEO of the Colorado Oil & Gas Association, in a statement. Proponents of HB 1294 have claimed oil and gas contribute upwards of 40 percent of Colorados ozone pollution, but there is no evidence of this. Nowhere in the non-attainment area does oil and gas account for even 10 percent of total ozone pollution.

Willford countered, saying in November state analysis determined that 45% of oxides of nitrogen and 41% of volatile organic chemicals  both substances that create ozone when exposed to sunlight  came from the oil and gas industry.

In the fall of 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, modeling data from the Regional Air Quality Council showed that of the seven air quality monitors that exceeded the federal ozone limit of 75 parts per billion, between 36 and 39 parts per billion were attributable to out of state sources, said Christy Woodward, senior director of regulatory affairs for the Colorado Oil and Gas Association at the April 20 hearing.

Sarah Blackhurst, president of Action 22, a public policy chamber of commerce for 22 counties in southern Colorado, said previously that the organization opposes the bill.

Colorado businesses are already working hard and making sacrifices to comply with existing air quality standards, Blackhurst said. The bill requires new pollution modeling simulations for several categories of permits, including but not limited to dry cleaners, bakeries, warehouses, distribution centers, breweries, rail yards, oil and gas facilities, and any other indirect air pollution sources.

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An existing exemption from penalties for exceeding air pollution limits during equipment startup, shutdown and malfunction was removed in the final version sent to the governor.

Combined with regulations requiring the registration of virtually all buildings or operations that emit any number of pollutants, making businesses from dry cleaners to fast-food outlets subject to penalties for any violation, could negatively impact Colorados economy, bill critics said.

The law would incentivize people to use air pollution complaints to divert and distract the resources of the agency and harass business owners unnecessarily, said Paul Seby, a Denver environmental and natural resources lawyer.

Any business other than a home can be the subject of a citizen complaint that can form a citizen lawsuit at the state level, Seby said in an interview with The Denver Gazette. Thats never existed in our law before. Its open season on a wide range of Coloradans to be scrutinized by people who may have ill motives and no idea what theyre talking about from an air pollution standpoint.

Seby said if the bill becomes law, it is going to make any Burger King subject to a citizen complaint or lawsuit when they start up their cooking grills for lunch.

This bill is not about bakeries, theyre not going to meet that modeling threshold, said bill sponsor Jennifer Bacon, D-Denver, in a prior interview.

The provision appears to be aimed at other, bigger sources of emissions such as the Suncor Commerce City refinery and oil and gas operations.

But Seby insists that the breadth of the authority granted to the Air Quality Control Commission and the required investigation by the Air Pollution Control Division, leaves open the potential for citizens complaints about any nonresidential pollution source.

Make no mistake: The special interests behind this measure remain focused on their longer-term goal of driving energy development out of Colorado by any means necessary, and it is incredibly disappointing that lawmakers are willing participants in such a malevolent undertaking, said Kait Schwartz, director of American Petroleum Institute (API) Colorado, in a statement.

The bill sets up processes allowing anyone to file a complaint against any business the complainant alleges is violating air pollution rules, which would necessitate mandatory investigations and hearings by the Air Quality Control Division  unless the complaint clearly appears on its face to be frivolous, falsified, or trivial or it is withdrawn.
A Colorado Springs woman was sentenced Thursday to 20 years in federal prison for selling a fentanyl pill that caused a Mitchell High School student to fatally overdose, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of Colorado.

Alexis Wilkins, 28, pleaded guilty to a charge of "distribution of fentanyl, resulting in death" in November. After serving her 20-year custodial sentence, she will have three years on supervised release.

Wilkins received the low end of a sentence for her crime: Fentanyl distribution resulting in death carries a penalty of 20 years to life in prison, a fine up to $1 million and at least three years of supervised release, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office.

Two juveniles bought two pills from Wilkins in the parking lot of The Citadel mall on Dec. 2, 2021, according to a March arrest affidavit. Two juvenile witnesses told investigators they were in a school bathroom with the victim the next day when she took a pill that she thought was Percocet. During class, the girl collapsed and began foaming at the mouth, according to court documents.

First responders worked on the overdose victim and took her to a nearby hospital, where she was pronounced dead, arrest documents show. The El Paso County coroner determined that the teen died of fentanyl intoxication, officials said.

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Investigators identified Wilkins as the dealer who sold the fatal pill through Facebook messages, including one that appeared to arrange a sale the night before the fatal overdose.

On March 15, 2022, FBI agents and Colorado Springs police executed a search warrant on Wilkins home, where they found more than 100 pills marked with M and 30 that later tested positive for fentanyl, officials said. Some of the pills appeared to be packaged for sale.

Alexis Wilkins sold poison to unsuspecting kids in Colorado Springs. No prison sentence can bring back her victim or undo the harm she caused; this outcome does mean she is no longer selling deadly drugs, said FBI Denver Special Agent in Charge Mark Michalek.

As our hearts go out to the victim, her family, and her friends, I ask everyone in Colorado to be on guard and share the message with others," said U.S. Attorney Cole Finegan.

"Unless a drug comes from a pharmacist, please do not take it. Any illicit drug could contain fentanyl and, if it does, it could kill you.
Ready or not, here they come.

Colorado nonprofits  that for months have helped Denver temporarily house immigrants from South and Central America  are bracing for a new surge with the sunset of a pandemic-era border restriction that ends Thursday.

All the shelters are pretty much at capacity, said Kristen Baluyot, Denver metro social services director for the Salvation Army. So, any influx is going to be very hard for us to respond to.

Catholic Charities, the Salvation Army and Denver Rescue Mission have been at the forefront of the response to the crisis.

In less than 10 days, the number of immigrants has more than doubled in Denver shelters.

El Paso County officials are closely watching the developments in Denver.

"While we are not specifically preparing for migrant sheltering and have no credible intelligence of a migrant surge in Colorado Springs, part of our overall mission in emergency management is to support and coordinate mass care  sheltering and feeding," said Andrew Notbohm, acting director of the Pikes Peak Regional Office of Emergency Management. "We are in continual contact with our partners to support and enhance this function for any type of emergency."

Called Title 42, the portion of the U.S. code, the federal policy adopted under the Trump administration, allowed authorities to swiftly expel immigrants to help slow spread of COVID-19.

Immigrants apprehended under Title 42 were returned to their home countries or sent back to Mexico.

The pandemics federal emergency designation  and, along with it, Title 42  was scheduled to end just before midnight Thursday. Anticipating the policy's end, the number of immigrants at the U.S. border with Mexico has swelled.

On Tuesday, Denver Mayor Michael Hancock declared an emergency activation  his second in five months  to leverage federal resources to address the humanitarian crisis.

The city has spent nearly $16 million since December to support arriving immigrants. The federal government, Hancock said during a press conference Thursday, has reimbursed the city about $900,000.

This surge, Hancock said, may require cutting services. But he stopped short of saying immigrants would be turned away.

We dont get advance notice that busloads of people are coming, Hancock said.

He added: Were in desperate need for emergency shelter space for what will be coming our way.

To keep up with demand, the city is operating five shelters and relocated its immigrant reception center to accommodate the greater number of arriving immigrants.

Diangerli and her son are but two of them. She fled Venezuela nearly two months ago with her 2-year-old son to be reunited with her husband, who now lives in Denver. The 20-year-old mother was among those being processed Thursday at the new reception center, where city officials directed newly arrived immigrants to local shelters.

'A short window for immigrants'

Despite what Denver shelters are seeing, no one really knows what the surge here will look like. Conventional wisdom, Hancock said, had suggested Denver wouldn't experience a jump in new arrivals until June, catching the city off guard.

Immigration attorney Alex McShiras of Pikes Peak Immigration Law based in Colorado Springs said Colorado cities shouldn't see an immediate Title 42 effect.

Usually, when theres an influx of people coming, it doesnt hit Colorado until its hit the border, so Texas and Arizona will feel the effect first, said McShiras, the firm's president. It could be weeks or months before we feel it.

He said that most people who have been walking for months to get to the border are oblivious to Title 42, but the coyotes who charge families money to drive them across the border are waiting for the opportunity to line their pocketbooks.

The smugglers know Title 42 will be lifted," McShiras said. "The coyotes know its a short window for immigrants to cross.

He guessed that once the surge hits Colorado, it will last a week and then slow down.

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There is no timetable for nonprofit groups, such as Colorados Servicios de la Raza, a 50-year-old nonprofit with offices in Denver and Pueblo.

Organizers feel the urgency and theyll be ready for whatever happens.

Theres no way to know how many people will end up in Denver. Ill help anybody who comes. I dont care, said President and CEO Rudy Gonzales. Weve already been inundated.

He said that Servicios de la Raza has been active with Denver's city-run shelters since last fall. Private funding helps the organization provide services, such as behavioral health, benefit enrollment, financial empowerment and even diapers and formula.

This week, when a Venezuelan family showed up at the door of the offices at 3131 W. 14th Ave., one of his office staff found them a hotel room.

Thank you to our mayor for opening up emergency shelters. I appreciate that. This is what we need in our politicians  that kind of moxy, said Gonzales, who is the son of Denver legend Rudolfo Corky Gonzales, a well-known boxer who became a leader in the Chicano movement.

He is frustrated with the federal government's decision to send troops to the border.

"Why not send doctors? Why not send teachers? Why not social workers?" he said.

'Our capacity is limited'

The migrant wave isn't hitting Colorado cities the same.

Aurora, the Colorado city most known for its immigrant population, has not yet received official notice of any new arrivals.

Unlike Denver, which is also a county, Aurora does not receive health and human services funding.

Without any city-owned shelter space or related infrastructure, the city is currently limited in its ability to house individuals, Ryan Luby, a city spokesman, said in a statement.

A separate nonprofit  which places extreme cases of asylum-seekers into host homes and donated housing  has been so overwhelmed, it ran out of money.

Between August and January, Colorado Hosting Asylum Network (CHAN) found homes for 23 Venezuelan and Columbian families.

CHAN Director Denise Chang said the organization had settled six more families since February, each with its own story of why they fled their homes.

Some left because they were earning only a few dollars per month and could not care for their families. Some were in the military or police and were ordered to commit crimes against others and refused, and fled, Chang said, adding some came to Colorado after being persecuted.

Others simply wanted to build a new life in place where they felt safe, Chang said.

Chang said that because the organization works off of a home host model, it has had to turn people away.

Our capacity is limited, so the large numbers of people who need help dont directly affect us materially," she said. "Just in the pain of seeing so great a need and having to say no.

Many of the new arrivals said they are fleeing corrupt regimes in Central and South America, specifically Venezuela. Some seek economic relief; others, a piece of the American dream.

The influx illustrates the calamity that's been unfolding at the U.S. border for years, a crisis that is spilling over into cities in America's interior, including Denver, which is more than 600 miles from El Paso, Texas, the closest U.S. border city.

City officials said the immigrants pick Denver because of El Pasos relative proximity to Denver, at least in terms of being able to get to the city by bus with relative ease. Officials noted that the bus fare to Denver is less expensive from West Texas than to other places in the country. Organizations that support the immigrant community also highlight the resources and diversity in the community, as well as its status as a "sanctuary city," as reasons attracting the immigrants to Denver.
In a bitterly divided Congress, expectations are low for enacting bipartisan legislation. But one matter, based on a bipartisan consensus that social media can be harmful to children's mental health, has a shot of its legislation becoming law.

Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) see an opening to make the tech industry factor minors' mental health and well-being into its business models rather than exploiting their vulnerabilities. It's an effort in earnest on Capitol Hill after Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen shed light in 2021 on internal Facebook studies about Instagram, the photo-sharing site it owns.

CHILDREN'S ONLINE SAFETY BILL REINTRODUCED WITH CHANGES MEANT TO WIN PASSAGE

Per Haugen, Facebook research showed nearly one-third of teenage girls said that "when they felt bad about their bodies, Instagram made them feel worse." And "14% of boys in the U.S. said Instagram made them feel worse about themselves." Another study found 6% of teenagers who had suicidal thoughts connected them to Instagram use.

President Joe Biden, in his State of the Union address, highlighted the need to protect children online. It was the second time he's called on Congress to act. It's time, Biden said, "to pass bipartisan legislation to stop Big Tech from collecting personal data on kids and teenagers online."

Blackburn and Blumenthal, an unlikely bipartisan duo, recently introduced a revamped version of their Kids Online Safety Act. The legislation would require social media platforms to give parents and children more tools and safeguards to prevent and mitigate content promoting things such as suicide, self-harm, sexual exploitation, or eating disorders.

GRAEME JENNINGS

The bill would, among other things, require social media companies to provide options to protect the information of minors, opt out of algorithms giving recommendations, and shut off features that can be addictive. It would also require the social media giants to participate in annual independent audits, examining their risks to minors and requiring them to set the strongest privacy settings on default for children.

The legislation would also mandate social media companies implement controls for users, such as options for limiting screen time, restricting addictive features, and limiting access to user profiles. The controls would be set by default to the strictest settings for users younger than 16.

"Our bill provides specific tools to stop Big Tech companies from driving toxic content at kids and to hold them accountable for putting profits over safety," Blumenthal said in a statement provided to the Washington Examiner. "Record levels of hopelessness and despair, a national teen health crisis, have been fueled by black box algorithms featuring eating disorders, bullying, suicidal thoughts, and more."

Last Congress, the bill passed unanimously out of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. It was not included in the massive year-end spending bill and did not receive a floor vote. Blackburn believes there's a renewed push to get this legislation over the finish line.

"This is the year that we will see some success with this," Blackburn said confidently during an interview with the Washington Examiner in her Capitol Hill office. "These parents that we have worked with and teens that we have worked with, they had hoped that we could get this passed by the time school was out. Now, they're saying before we go back to school in the fall, let's have this signed into law by the president so that parents can have some recourse."

The senators made a few changes to the bill  the text limits the duty of care requirement for social media companies to a list of specific harms to mental health. There are also tightened rules around platforms' data collection. In addition, there are added protections for services, such as the national suicide hotline, LGBT youth centers, and substance abuse groups, to ensure they aren't hurt by the bill's guidelines. It also no longer requires websites to verify age, a mandate the industry had opposed. However, the bill would create legal liabilities for social media companies if they failed to block users who are 13 or younger.

"What we have done is to make certain it is narrowly tailored, that the enforcement mechanism is with the FTC and with the states' attorneys general. We made certain that it is focused on the process and the work of these platforms, not on content," Blackburn said. "This has moved us to the point that we filed this with one-third of the U.S. Senate as original co-sponsors."

Civil liberties and privacy concerns

The new bill has earned the support of advocacy groups such as the American Psychological Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, Eating Disorders Coalition, Fairplay, Mental Health America, and more. But some tech trade associations and digital rights groups expressed concerns that the changes don't go far enough and that the bill could undermine free speech and hurt personal privacy.

It's part of a broader debate about protecting minors from harmful material on the internet that's been roiling since the Communications Decency Act was enacted in 1996. That law attempted to prevent minors from gaining access to sexually explicit materials on the internet, and many of its provisions were struck down in court.

When it comes to the social media bill sponsored by Blackburn and Blumenthal, "the modifications are not that big in my opinion," said Joe Mullin, a policy analyst with the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Mullin and several other groups believe the bill would allow broad content filtering in an effort to limit the access of minors to specific online content. The decisions would be left up to the Federal Trade Commission and 50 individual state attorneys general, which could make political points about what kind of information they deem appropriate for minors.

"They are leaving the content regulation up to attorneys general in 50 states. The thing about this stuff is that it's just extremely subjective," Mullin said, emphasizing the bill is ambiguous enough that an attorney general in a conservative state could censor content regarding abortion. Or an attorney general in a liberal state could block content regarding gun ownership, arguing that under the Kids Online Safety Act, it has harmful effects on young people.

"In one of the 50 states, an attorney general would say, 'You're hurting kids. You're violating KOSA, and I'm going to shut you down.' I think the First Amendment threats are that clear," he added.

Blackburn disputed these viewpoints and said the proposal would not spur online surveillance or censorship.

"There's no way it allows the government to dictate the online experience. Because it requires the social media platform to make available to parents and kids the toolbox to, as I term it, protect their virtual you,' which is their presence online, to tailor the experience on a Snapchat or an Instagram so that it fits for that family and for that child."

Blumenthal defended the legislation during a press conference and said legal obligations on tech companies had been "very purposefully narrowed" to target certain harms.

"I think we've met that kind of suggestion very directly and effectively," said Blumenthal, a former Connecticut attorney general and U.S. attorney. "Obviously, our door remains open. We're willing to hear and talk to other kinds of suggestions that are made."

The legislation has also been criticized by several groups that represent or take funding from social media companies.

"Governments should avoid compliance requirements that would compel digital services to collect more personal information about their users, such as geolocation information and a government-issued identification, particularly when responsible companies are instituting measures to collect and store less data on customers," said Matt Schruers, president of the Computer and Communications Industry Association, members include Meta, Google, Twitter, and Amazon.

The opposition from the social media giants doesn't discourage Blackburn.

"We've had pushback from the lobbyists since day one since we were working on this. They've never been for it because kids are their product," she said.

"So we had expected that they would fight it. What they did not expect is that this bill would be reintroduced with 33 co-sponsors, original co-sponsors," Blackburn said. "They know that this is moving. They know that it's going to get a floor vote. They know that we'll be able to pass this bill."

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Blackburn, elected to the Senate from Tennessee in 2018 after 16 years in the House, believes this session, Senate Republican leadership can be convinced of the bill's merits and back it. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has voiced some concerns about it.

"We have talked quite a bit with Senate leadership, and we are continuing to work with him," Blackburn said.

And with Democrats holding a 51-49 Senate edge, "Sen. Blumenthal is working with Democratic leadership to be certain that we're all moving forward," Blackburn added.

Original Location: Big Tech couldn't target children online with impunity, under bipartisan Senate bill

Washington Examiner Videos
EXCLUSIVE  A group of House Republicans is demanding the Department of Education explain what the agency is doing to address possible fraud in the department's new income-driven repayment policies for student loans.

In a letter sent to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona Friday, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) and House Education and Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) expressed concern that the department's new regulations for income driven repayment would lead to fraud as they do not require a borrower to verify their income.

GLENN YOUNGKIN HINTS AT FUTURE PRESIDENTIAL RUN: 'IF WE CAN DO IT IN VIRGINIA, WE CAN DO IT ANYWHERE'

The income driven repayment program or IDR allows student loan borrowers to make lower monthly payments corresponding to their income above the poverty line. Under the Biden administration's rules, the program requires borrowers to pay 5% of discretionary income, or income above the poverty line.

In the letter, the lawmakers, which also included Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX), noted that a system of self-certification of income had led to a substantial amount of fraud in the government's Paycheck Protection Program, which had offered loans to businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic that were ultimately forgiven.

"In light of the Oversight Committee's observations about self-certification in multiple COVID-19 pandemic relief programs, we are concerned about the extent to which the Department is leaving taxpayers vulnerable to waste, fraud, and abuse," the lawmakers wrote, noting that the Government Accountability Office had expressed similar concerns about the income driven repayment program's lack of verification protocols.

The lawmakers asked the department to provide a briefing to committee staff on the department's legal authority for the change in verification requirements and explain why it made the change in the first place.

"The Biden Administration's student loan bailout scheme leaves taxpayers holding the bag," Comer told the Washington Examiner in a statement. "Biden's Department of Education has now kicked the door wide open to waste, fraud, and abuse by eliminating verification measures designed to prevent fraud in student loan repayments. We need Secretary Cardona to provide answers about why the Department is taking actions that make hardworking taxpayers liable when student loan borrowers misrepresent their income."

Education and Workforce Committee Chairwoman Foxx said the changes to the income verification in IDR by the Biden administration had opened up the program to potential abuse and fraud, and thus harming taxpayers.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

"When borrowers initially enrolled in an IDR plan they provided tax return information," Foxx told the Washington Examiner. "It's ridiculous for the Department to not enforce the program requirements. This decision calls into question the Department's motives and its overall preparedness to handle the return to repayment for millions of borrowers."

The Washington Examiner has reached out to the Department of Education for comment.

Original Location: Comer targets Cardona for 'student loan bailout scheme' at risk for fraud

Washington Examiner Videos
CNN's live town hall event with former President Donald Trump proved to be a ratings boon for the network, according to early ratings data.

The controversial event brought in 3.1 million total viewers, per early Nielsen ratings.

DEFLORIDA BLUEPRINT: HOW DESANTIS HAS PURSUED A TEDDY ROOSEVELT CONSERVATIONIST IMAGE

In comparison, the channel's 8 p.m. hour on Tuesday, occupied by Anderson Cooper 360, only saw 707,000 viewers.

Trump's town hall on the network took place on Wednesday at 8 p.m. at St. Anselm College in New Hampshire. An audience of Republican and independent voters who plan to participate in the Republican primary election took turns asking the former president questions.

CNN's event was ranked the No. 1 program on cable news for both total viewers and viewers in the 25-54 demographic.

The former president drew in 703,000 viewers from the 25-54 age demographic targeted by advertisers. Cooper only brought in 165,000 the night before.

CNN's ratings bump then lasted throughout the night, providing elevated ratings in the 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. hours as well.

The network retained 2.3 million viewers for the 9 p.m. hour and held on to 1.2 million in the 10 p.m. hour as CNN hosts and contributors discussed the event. On Tuesday, these slots garnered 540,000 viewers and 520,000 viewers, respectively.

CNN's Republican Presidential Town Hall with Donald Trump (left), which was moderated by Kaitlan Collins (right), occurred in New Hampshire on Wednesday night. (John Nowak/CNN)

The event performed better than all other single candidate town halls on the channel since 2016 in total viewers, with the notable exception of President Joe Biden's 2020 town hall event, which received 3.465 million viewers.

However, CNN has faced criticism for hosting Trump on the channel at all.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), for example, said that "CNN should be ashamed of themselves" for hosting the event. MSNBC's Stephanie Ruhle further announced that she wouldn't be covering the event. "Next on @11thHour-We are not going to analyze the former presidemt repeating lies & smears. We've seen it all before. The question tonight is are how are news organizations going to cover Trump if he wins the nomination," she tweeted.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Nonetheless, CNN Chairman and CEO Chris Licht reportedly defended the decision on a call Thursday morning with employees.

"I absolutely, unequivocally believe America was served very well by what we did last night," he said.

Original Location: Trump town hall brings more than 3 million viewers to CNN, per early ratings

Washington Examiner Videos
A promised influx of British long-range cruise missiles is raising hope in Kyiv that Western powers will equip Ukrainian forces to reclaim Crimea, which Russia annexed at the start of the war in Ukraine.

"It's a good sign because to liberate Crimea, we need such long-range missiles  for example, we need these missiles to destroy the Kerch Bridge leading to Crimea," Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Chairman Alexander Merezhko told the Washington Examiner in reference to the bridge Russian President Vladimir Putin opened to connect the Russian mainland to the Ukrainian peninsula. "It's going to be a part of liberation because we cannot liberate [it] without hitting military targets, and so forth, in Crimea."

HOW THE TREASURY IS SCRAMBLING TO STOP DEFAULT  OR MITIGATE ITS FALLOUT

The Biden administration and some Republicans have expressed unease about the idea of Ukraine trying to retake Crimea given Putin's oft-repeated threats of nuclear escalation. That debate could be rendered moot if Ukrainian forces fail in their impending counteroffensive, but the British gift could wreak havoc on Russian defenses during the campaign.

"These cruise missiles, they give us a chance to hit Russian ammunition depots behind the front line, you know, so it might be ... [a] game changer," said Merezhko. "So it's important to us, and it's a good sign on the eve of [the] counteroffensive, starting [the] counteroffensive."

Putin's associates offered an "extremely negative" response to the donation. "This will demand an adequate response from our military, which will, naturally, from a military point of view, find corresponding solutions," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Britain's Secretary of State for Defense Ben Wallace attends a meeting with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin at the Pentagon, Monday, April 17, 2023, in Washington. Alex Brandon/AP

The United Kingdom's Storm Shadow cruise missiles were designed for British and French warplanes but have been modified to be fired from Ukrainian MiG-29s. Their reported range of about 155 miles provides an extensive upgrade over the American HIMARS and other artillery that Western states have provided since last summer.

"The provision of these long range weapons ... will help the counteroffensive dramatically," said former Ambassador Bill Taylor, who led the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv on two different tours. "So this allows the Ukrainians to attack into  well into  Crimea. It also allows the Ukrainians to attack Russian targets well behind the lines into Donbas."

Russian forces fought their way south from Donbas and north from Crimea to seize Ukrainian ports along the Sea of Azov coastline and forge a so-called "land bridge" between mainland Russia, the Donbas, and the Crimean Peninsula. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has tried to keep secret both the timing and direction of the Ukrainian counteroffensive, but U.S. and European observers expect that Ukrainian forces will attempt to storm through Russian lines and deprive Putin of that corridor.

"[The Storm Shadow missiles will be] very, very useful to break through towards Azov sea," a senior European official said. "That's crucial. I think that first phase of this is even more important, the first phase of the counterattack ... because Crimea will be isolated."

Ukrainian officials have tried to manage expectations ahead of the counteroffensive, in part out of a misgiving that a failure to achieve their aims could diminish the Western appetite to provide more aid. Standard military doctrine acknowledges that offensive operations are more difficult than defense, but Ukrainian and Western observers hope that dynamic will be offset by the difficulty that Russia will face in establishing adequate defenses along the entire line.

"Their panic is visible and consists in the fact that they do not know from which direction to expect the maximum force of the attack, and that is why they are dispersing their efforts both on the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson fronts," Ukrainian defense forces spokeswoman Nataliya Humeniuk said Thursday.

The long-range missiles should make Ukrainian forces more effective in preventing Russian commanders from reinforcing their embattled troops after the counteroffensive begins.

"It's a long front line for the Russians to have to defend, and so they will need to be able to move their units that are not on the front line ... so the Russians need the mobility and the flexibility to be able to respond to the Ukrainians," Taylor said. "And so if [Ukraine] can use these long-range weapons to take out fuel depots, to take out the ammo dumps, to hit Russian military headquarters  to cause them to have difficulty commanding and controlling the Russian reserves in response to this Ukrainian offensive, then that increases the chances, the odds, of a successful Ukrainian counteroffensive."

British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace declined to say how many Storm Shadows have been given to Ukraine.

"The exact number is currently enough to satisfy the Ukrainian demand for that capability," he told the House of Commons. "We'll keep that under review to make sure we can make the difference."

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Merezhko, the Ukrainian lawmaker, hopes these missiles could be not only a game changer but "a good precedent" that encourages the United States and other Western powers to open their long-range arsenals.

"Of course, we can liberate these territories using the weapons which we have, but it will cost [more] in terms of our lives," he said. "And these long-range missiles, they help to save lives of our soldiers and our civilians."

Original Location: UKs long-range missiles could be 'game changer' for Ukraine in Crimea

Washington Examiner Videos
It's early in the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, but the basic dynamics are already clear.

Former President Donald Trump remains the larger than life man to beat, defining the race. Either he will once again suck up all the oxygen in the room and steamroll the opposition or Republican primary voters will tire of his routine.

DEFLORIDA BLUEPRINT: HOW DESANTIS HAS PURSUED A TEDDY ROOSEVELT CONSERVATIONIST IMAGE

Trump was a bull in a china shop during the CNN town hall event. He was found liable for battery and defamation. He has been indicted and could face further charges. He has not backed down from his 2020 election claims or virtually any other controversy of the last eight years.

Republicans other than Trump are betting primary voters will eventually tire of this cumulative baggage and focus on past disputes, seeing how it distracted from the case against President Joe Biden and the Democrats during the midterm elections and could do so again in 2024.

Trump's supporters note that this has been predicted repeatedly since 2015 and never happened. The current polling shows no indication of this happening now. The former president leads nationally by 31.3 percentage points, according to the RealClearPolitics polling average. A Morning Consult poll this week had Trump ahead by 41 points.

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) is the only Republican to consistently poll in the double digits against Trump and he is not even a declared candidate. The message DeSantis's supporters are sending is that the Florida governor can give Republicans what they like about Trump while avoiding the distractions, feuds, and baggage.

There are focus groups and surveys that show this can be a powerful argument. DeSantis is significantly outpolling former Govs. Chris Christie (R-NJ) and Asa Hutchinson (R-AR), who have launched full frontal assaults on Trump.

But it also seems that there are limits to what a nuanced approach can accomplish against Trump, who unleashes a constant stream of attacks against GOP primary opponents who appear to be a threat to his nomination prospects.

Trump's numbers in the national polls currently look like those of other frontrunners, like Bob Dole and George W. Bush at similar stages of their respective primary campaigns. The state-by-state picture is murkier, and in both of those past campaigns challengers emerged to make a race of it. But these frontrunners ultimately wrapped up the GOP nomination without much suspense past the early states.

Trump and DeSantis are hunting where the ducks are. Christie and Hutchinson are hunting where the pundits wish they were.

For DeSantis, a key question becomes when to start making the case against Trump's erratic behavior, obsession with the past rather than the present and future, poor personnel choices, and November electability more overtly. Maybe that happens when the Florida governor gets into the race. Perhaps it is in the debates, which may happen with or without Trump himself on the stage.

Then the next problem for DeSantis is making these arguments in a way that succeeds where nearly 20 other Republican candidates and countless Never Trumpers have failed. Can DeSantis take shots at Trump while still hunting where the ducks are, without ending up in Liz Cheney territory?

There was a period following the midterm elections, when DeSantis won big in a former battleground state and other Trump-endorsed candidates lost key races, where Republicans looked ready to move on from Trump.

But like past controversies ranging from the Access Hollywood tape to his first impeachment to the 2020 election loss to Jan. 6, Trump rebounded. From the Mar-a-Lago raid to the Alvin Bragg indictment, new controversies only seem to be making him stronger.

A strategy that relies on Republican primary voters deciding on their own that Trump is too risky a bet for the 2024 general election may fail, especially when a recent ABC News/Washington Post poll actually showed Trump ahead of Biden. Despite obvious pitfalls and repeated electoral setbacks dating back to 2018, Trump looks better in the RealClearPolitics polling average against Biden at this point than he did for most of the 2016 race against Hillary Clinton.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE IN THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

The case against Trump may feel intuitive to political professionals. It isn't to rank-and-file Republican primary voters.

DeSantis may have to make it himself to overcome Trump's head start.

Original Location: What DeSantis must do to turn Trump dominance into Trump doubts

Washington Examiner Videos
Whenever politicians promise to flog landlords and protect tenants, you can bet itll raise the rent. Sure, rent hikes and evictions amid Colorados affordable-housing crunch make great political fodder for grandstanding lawmakers. But attempts to fix the problem through more laws almost always backfire on the tenants those laws are supposed to help.

So, renters dodged a bullet a few weeks ago when reckless legislation to let cities impose rent control died at the Capitol. Those same renters  facing high enough rent as it is  dodged another bullet shortly before the 2023 sessions end when a bill that sought to prohibit tenant evictions without just cause couldnt win enough votes to get out of the Senate.

Lawmakers seemed to grasp the basic economics at stake: The more restrictions you place on a landlords ability to meet demand for rental housing, the less affordable that housing will be in the long run. Prohibit a landlord from evicting a tenant who cant or wont pay the rent, and rent will go up for everyone else to cover the tenant whos now being housed for free.

Prohibit that landlord from raising the rent, and the landlord wont be able to meet the costs of keeping up the entire building. And over time, investors wont want to build more apartments because the capped rent will limit the return on their investment.

And yet, that common sense eluded some of the same lawmakers on other misguided landlord-tenant bills that made their through the session before it ended Monday, and the bills are now on their way to Gov. Jared Polis:

House Bill 23-1120 would require mediation between landlords and tenants on public-assistance programs before the landlords could file for an eviction. A landlord and tenant would have to meet together with a neutral third party to discuss a voluntary settlement in lieu of an eviction. If an eviction is ordered, the bill would give tenants 30 days to leave the property, instead of the current laws 10 days.

House Bill 23-1068 would limit monthly fees charged for pets on a lease to 1.5% of the tenants monthly rent, or $35 per month, whichever is greater. The bill would cap pet deposits at $300.

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Senate Bill 23-184 would cap minimum income requirements landlords use to ensure a tenant can afford the rent. Under the bill, landlords couldnt require that tenants earn more than twice the cost of rent. The bill also would cap security deposits at the amount of two months rent.

We urge the governor to heed his considerable knowledge of economics and veto all three of these misguided mandates on the rental market. All three ultimately harm renters as a class by taking it easier on a relative few  and passing the cost on to all the rest.

HB 23-1120 inevitably would slow the turnover of units from current tenants who arent paying rent to new ones who would. Time is money, and the extended period of lost income would fuel rent increases for all units to cover those losses.

HB 23-1068 would limit the money landlords typically must recover to clean up messes and repair damage left by pets; other tenants would wind up making up the difference in higher rent. And some landlords will ban pets to avoid the bother.

Meanwhile, SB 23-184 will guarantee more evictions because  surprise  with a lower income requirement, more tenants wont be able to afford the rent.

Renters, beware of politicians trying to protect you. Itll cost you in the end.

The Gazette Editorial Board
Scrutinize all the justices

I just read my Sunday paper, and feel I must reply to the letter concerning the Supreme Court code of ethics.

A live broadcast of a hearing convened to discuss the accusations regarding Justice Clarence Thomas. Congress attendees from both parties were present, as well as several spokespersons with a background on constitutional law. It focused on the need for accountability by the Supreme Court, and whether Congress could legislate this. Testimony revealed that the court does have a yearly requirement to report all trips, monies, and relationships that might come under scrutiny. Their reports are scrutinized, and if something is left out or put in question, the judges have, and have a record of, graceful compliance in response.

One of the spokespersons on the inquiry assembly kindly reviewed, and placed into record, lengthy lists of other judges and their yearly histories of trips, contributions, fundraisers, etc, that they had reported. The list was long and telling. One of the judges donated a signed document of a ruling to a favorite organization, to be auctioned off as a fundraiser.

My point being, to focus on Justice Thomas was an obvious attack on one of the most outstanding judges we have ever had. If you recall, Justice Thomas underwent a grueling, humiliation, unfounded as it was, made public during his initial appointment.

Over the last few years, our justices have been threatened and had lives disrupted, without the protection that is legally guaranteed them by our law enforcement and Congress.

To single out this brilliant man, once again, at this time is shameful. Increase scrutiny if necessary, but do it across the board. You can watch the replay of the hearing online. Get educated.

Vicki Penney-Rohner

Colorado Springs

Significance of Cinco de Mayo

In 1808, the Spanish vice regency ended, but the monarchical influence of King Ferdinand VII of Spain remained. A Mexican empire was established. European empires (Britain, Greece, Belgium, Poland, among others) often elected an emperor from another nation. This mitigated the emperor having strong local affiliations and establishing a dynasty.

After the initial monarchical trial, begun in 1824, failed, lacking a suitable empirical candidate, Mexico became a federated republic in the 1840s. After the Mexican-American War, Mexican leaders invited European nations to nominate an emperor. This led to French intervention in 1861, establishing Archduke Maximillian of Austria as emperor.

The fight to restore leadership to Mexicans led to the famous Battle of Camerone, April 30, 1863, when 65 French Legionnaires under Capt DAnjou, held off 3,000 Mexican soldiers, fighting until almost all the French were killed. Santa Anna honored the fight to the death bravery by freeing the few survivors. Subsequently, Mexico lost the war, but Maximillian was executed in 1867.

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Cinco de Mayo is much more important to France than to Mexico. A whole floor of Les Invalides military museum in Paris is dedicated to it. This defining moment in the Foreign Legion is commemorated every year with a Champs Elysee parade led the Legions elite Pioneers. Capt DAnjous wooden left hand, replacing that destroyed in a canon explosion years prior, is preserved and brought to the Legion monument.

Unfortunately, professor Joe Barreras opinion does not reflect the significance of Cinco de Mayo, which is connected more to maintaining tyranny than against poverty, racism or inequality.

David Finkleman

Colorado Springs

Congratulating Woodland Park voters

I received an unsolicited email article this morning on Google headlines, from nbcnews.com titled Trump was great at this: How conservatives transformed a Colorado school district. It is a very lengthy and partisan tome, railing against the elected school board of Woodland Park, a small mountain town that overlooks Pikes Peak. Read through the pages and pages of the hatchet-job, woke article, and you will learn that the school board was elected in 2021 by voters of this mostly white, middle-class city of 8,000 people up the mountain pass from Colorado Springs, had voted for Donald Trump over Joe Biden by 2-to-1 a year earlier.

I continued reading to the end to find out the source and identity of the author. It is by Tyler Kingkade, who is identified as a national reporter for NBC News, based in Los Angeles. Woodland Parks voters choice of its school board members apparently has bothered some in Los Angeles. You might read it for yourself. Congratulations, Woodland Park voters.

Richard Kennedy

Colorado Springs

Lefts war on the middle class

As the left continues to wage war on the middle class, what is one to do? Here is one suggestion: Only allow citizens who pay either property taxes or income taxes to vote. The middle class is financially supporting this devolving country; only they should decide who will represent them.

Bill Crow

Larkspur
The communications strategist who handled press for Republican Cory Gardner's 2014 U.S. Senate campaign is the latest prominent Colorado Republican to join Advance Colorado, the conservative advocacy organization announced on Thursday.

Matt Connelly, who founded and runs right-leaning online media site Campfire Colorado, will be the group's vice president of media.

Liberal policies are failing our state and its time that we put the people of Colorado at the center of the discussion about the future of our state, Connelly said in a statement.

Advance Colorado is putting the left on notice that it does not have a monopoly on policy making in our state and whether its through ballot initiatives, legal action, or training citizen leaders, we will pursue every action to empower the people to save our state from radical liberal policies.

The nonprofit last month hired Kristi Burton Brown, the outgoing chair of the Colorado Republican Party, as a senior policy advisor.

We are assembling a team of conservative leaders at Advance Colorado that will help educate Coloradans about conservative policies that impact their everyday lives," Advance Colorado Institute President Michael Fields said in a statement, adding that Connelly's experience in media will provide a "big boost" to the nonprofit's efforts.

After serving as press secretary on Gardner's winning 2014 campaign, Connelly was national press secretary for the National Republican Senatorial Committee for the 2016 cycle. He also worked on the communications teams of presidential candidates John McCain, Jon Huntsman, Mitt Romney and Scott Walker, and ran the news room for Arnold Schwarzenegger when the movie star was governor of California.

Since launching Campfire Colorado last year, Connelly has interviewed numerous leading Republicans for the platform, including House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and U.S. Sens. Tom Cotton, Tim Scott and Joni Ernst. He said he plans to continue operating the site after starting his new job.

Founded in 2020, Advance Colorado backed last year's successful statewide ballot measure to reduce Colorado's income tax rate and helped launch a bid to recall state Sen. Kevin Priola after the Brighton lawmaker changed his party registration from Republican to Democrat, though the group dropped the effort after an unfavorable court ruling.

The group operates a policy institute and leadership training program and is associated with Advance Colorado Action, which works to influence legislation and ballot measures.

Earlier this week, Fields asked Gov. Jared Polis to call a special legislative session to address rising property taxes without drawing on anticipated tax refunds under the TABOR amendment.
Brace yourself.

Ballots go out in a matter of days for Denver's mayoral runoff, and it's a safe bet that at least a smidgeon of mud will start to hit the fan as ballots begin hitting voters' mailboxes.

Since none of the 16 first-round candidates won a majority of the vote in the April 4 election, the top two finishers  former state Sen. Mike Johnston and former chamber of commerce chief Kelly Brough  face off in the final round, with ballots due on June 6.

It's the first race for an open seat in a dozen years, since term-limited Mayor Michael Hancock won the first of his three elections.

Partly for that reason  there's no margin in gaining a reputation as the attack dog in a crowded field when the object is to motivate enough of your supporters to make the runoff  the candidates mostly treated each other respectfully in the first stage of the campaign. After all, the pair of runoff-bound survivors didn't get enough votes to win outright, so have to win over voters who backed their former rivals, a difficult proposition if their attacks kept a voter's favorite from advancing.

That isn't to say the first round was all sunshine and rainbows. Several candidates who fell short in April came under heavy criticism for their positions or their personalities, though the attacks largely played out in the press and not between the candidates, who sometimes vehemently disagreed but kept the discussion mostly on the issues.

So far, with only a couple of passing hiccups, the city has been treated to remarkably clean campaigns in the runoff, as Johnston and Brough make their respective cases to voters, racking up endorsements and organizing volunteers for what's sure to be a massive turnout effort by both camps.

The candidates and their crews have vowed to stick to the high road  Brough even requires that members of her campaign team sign a clean campaign pledge  but the outside groups supporting Brough and Johnston are under no such obligation. That'll probably be the source of any attacks that emerge.

About those hiccups.

Early in the runoff, just days after the match-up was finalized, Johnston took what Brough's staffers viewed as a swipe at their candidate in a fundraising letter, where he noted that she had a history of advocating for conservative positions over the years when she ran the chamber of commerce, including opposition to mandated family and medical leave and against raising the minimum wage.

In response, Brough's campaign fired off an email to her supporters blasting Johnston for "already launch[ing] a negative campaign attack against Kelly" and lobbed some attacks of their own while they were at it. Repeatedly calling Johnston a "career politician," Brough's campaign manager termed it "extremely disappointing"  but not surprising  that the candidate backed by wealthy, out-of-state donors was dragging the race into the mud so soon.

Days passed without either campaign escalating the attacks, though both sides professed they were merely laying out contrasts between the two candidates denied they'd gone negative.

The initial, stalled attacks were relatively mild. It's no secret Johnston has held office and made unsuccessful runs for governor and U.S. senator with support from Silicon Valley, nor is Brough's experience as head of the city's most prominent business group something she downplays. But it could offer previews of the mud to come if the campaign turns negative.

Both Johnston and Brough are Democrats  likely a prerequisite in a city where Joe Biden won 80% of the vote against Donald Trump  and each has gotten crosswise with key Democratic constituencies during their years in the public spotlight.

Johnston, a former teacher and school principal, drew the ire of teachers unions early in his stint at the statehouse when he sponsored legislation to hold teachers accountable for their students' performance on standardized tests, situating himself on the reform side in an ongoing battle over public education.

Likewise, Brough's dozen years championing business-friendly positions leaves her vulnerable, with a record of public pronouncements often at odds with prevailing voter sentiment, even though she protests she was simply doing her job and doesn't hold many of the positions she espoused.

There's no guarantee this year's runoff will descend into attacks. It's possible the candidates and the outside groups supporting them will focus on the candidate's qualifications and their proposals to confront the burning issues facing the city.

In the city's 10 previous municipal elections, Denver voters have only chosen the next mayor three times without sending the contest to a runoff  Wellington Webb's third-term win in 1999, John Hickenlooper's successful run for a second term in 2007, and Hancock's cruise to a second term in 2015.

But while the runoffs that resulted were often heated  the finalists are vying for what's arguably the most powerful elected position in the state  there's no hard and fast rule that the campaigns have to veer into the gutter.

Of Denver's seven mayoral runoffs in the last 40 years, three stand as models of positive campaigning on both sides: in 1983, when Federico Pena, a young state lawmaker, beat Dale Tooley, the district attorney; in 1991, when Webb, a former state lawmaker and the city's auditor, beat Norm Early, the district attorney; and in 2003, when brewpub owner Hickenlooper beat Denver Auditor Don Mares.

The other four runoffs, however, took decidedly negative turns, leading voters to shake their heads at the spectacle  politicians! what do you expect?  and leaving the eventual winner spattered with dirt.

Pena had a rocky run for a second term in 1987, when 17th Street lawyer Don Bain  the last Republican to make it to a mayoral runoff in Denver  unfurled a series of blistering attacks, charging the incumbent with being out of touch and not up to the job. Webb faced charges of cronyism in his bid for a second term in 1995 from challenger Mary DeGroot, a former councilwoman, who also blasted the mayor for delays opening Denver International Airport.

It was during Hancock's first and third runs for mayor in 2011 and 2019, however, that Denver voters were witness to modern heights of mudslinging.

In his first race, Hancock, a councilman, mostly smiled and shrugged off a steady stream of attacks from his opponent for the open seat, former state Sen. Chris Romer, and his zealous supporters.

At one point, a shadowy outside group flooded mailboxes with postcards featuring dinosaur skeletons and a message alleging that Hancock "doesn't believe in evolution," after Hancock appeared to say in a debate that he thought creationism should be taught in public schools, though Hancock protested that he'd misunderstood the question.

Near the end of the campaign, former U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, the polarizing Jefferson County Republican, said he admired Hancock's life story, and Romer's supporters promptly turned the remarks into an attack on their rival. An amused Tancredo responded by facetiously endorsing Romer, proclaiming "Viva Romer!" in a sound bite that got heavy play on conservative talk radio stations.

Hancock's win over urban planner Jamie Giellis for a his current term four years ago was nasty from the get-go, with both candidates comparing each other to Donald Trump at different points amid hurling attacks nearly nonstop at each other.

Giellis accused Hancock of fostering a "culture of sexual harassment" at city hall, saddling the incumbent with a series of harassment and sexual misconduct settlements by the city during his administration, bolstered by Hancock's apology for sending inappropriate, sexually charged text messages to a member of his security detail years earlier.

In return, Hancock's campaign accused Giellis of lacking racial sensitivity  all but branding the political newcomer a racist  after she couldn't says what the initials NAACP stand for in an interview and amped up the pressure when a decade-old social media post by Giellis wondering why "so many cities feel it necessary to have a 'Chinatown'" surfaced.

Ernest Luning has covered politics for Colorado Politics and its predecessor publication, The Colorado Statesman, since 2009. He's analyzed the exploits, foibles and history of state campaigns and politicians since 2018 in the weekly Trail Mix column.

Denver mayoral runoffs anything but routine as Mike Johnston, Kelly Brough face off | TRAIL MIX

Denver mayoral candidates Mike Johnston, Kelly Brough tell hard stories about hope | TRAIL MIX

Missing from field of Denver mayoral candidates: clear frontrunners, The Dougie | TRAIL MIX
A storm system lashed Colorado Springs and the Pikes Peak region with record rainfall, hail and thunderstorms this week  flooding roads and waterways, delaying a handful of schools, and knocking out power for thousands.

Colorado Springs saw 3.18 inches of rain on Thursday, bringing precipitation totals for the storm, which rolled in Wednesday afternoon, to 3.77 inches (3 inches more than the normal for the whole month of May). Thursday's rainfall drowns the previous May 11 precipitation record of 0.7 inches, which was set in 1928, according to the National Weather Service in Pueblo.

Teller County expected rain and snow overnight after a day of power outages and wintry conditions that closed schools and county government. Pueblo got heavy rain, hail and thunderstorms Thursday, totaling 0.42 inches of precipitation, after some thunderstorms Wednesday.

Weather Service meteorologist Mark Wankowski called this type of extended, overnight storm atypical for the region. The upper-level, low-pressure system moved into the state from New Mexico and is headed north as some turbulent weather persists into Friday for the Pikes Peak region.

"That is atypical for Colorado, but it does happen," Wankowski said.

Breezy and cool today, with sct afternoon showers/t-storms redeveloping over the mountains and I-25 corridor this afternoon and evening. Storms today will be weaker than the past few days. #cowx pic.twitter.com/AsrDT88YXE  NWS Pueblo (@NWSPueblo) May 12, 2023

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A flash-flood warning was in effect for El Paso County Thursday as rising creek levels forced camp evacuations and at least one swift-water rescue of a man and his dog from Fountain Creek. Colorado Springs police said two others and a dog also were rescued from rising water near Bijou Street. Several people were treated for weather exposure, police said.

U.S. Geological Survey water-flow gauges show Fountain Creek rose nearly 5 feet between 11:30 p.m. Wednesday and 11:30 a.m. Thursday. In the past week, the creek level was consistently just over 7 feet; on Wednesday morning, it peaked at 12.26 feet, its highest in at least a year.

Monument Creek height, measured at the Bijou Street monitoring station, doubled in 13 hours, from 4 feet to more than 8 feet around 8:30 a.m. Thursday.

The storm also led a handful of schools to shutter in the region. Ute Pass Elementary School in Manitou Springs was forced to close Thursday due to excessive water in the building, according to an alert from the Manitou Springs School District.

Hanover School District 28 in southern El Paso County closed Thursday because of flooding in the area; Woodland Park School District sent students home early and announced a two-hour delay for Friday ahead of anticipated icy roads.

Teller County government and combined courts closed Thursday, with the county issuing an alert discouraging road travel due to heavy snow. As many as 7,130 Core Electric Cooperative customers lost power in the county; around 4,800 are still without power at 7:30 p.m. Thursday as temperatures approach a forecast 33 degrees overnight.

Colorado Springs is expecting a chance of showers Friday, with possible afternoon thunderstorms ahead of some rain and thunderstorms over the weekend.
Albany has named its winners for the "If I Were Mayor" contest, ringing in not only local prizes but state accolades.

The Oregon Mayors Association "If I Were a Mayor contest" encourages students in grades 4 through 12 to communicate their ideas if they were city leaders.

This year, two of Albany's local winners swept up state prizes. Dozens gathered to celebrate the winners in City Hall on Wednesday May 10. In their age groups, Noah Salazar from Timber Ridge School placed first in state, while Jacella Williams from West Albany High placed second in state.

Colorful posters decorated the inside of City Hall as dozens gathered to celebrate the participants and winners of the local and state contest.

Pointing at his colorful illustrations, Salazar, a fifth-grader, expressed ideas of limiting fossil fuels, expanding hospitals, adding more community parks and cleaning the river of pollution in a colorful series illustrating wind turbines.

Winners received gift cards and prizes for their local contest as well as cash from the state contest.

Alex Johnson II, Albany's actual mayor, said the contest is important for engagement, so young people know they can reach out to their mayor, he said.

"This is their city, they are going to inherit it," he said.
The man was arrested after staff members found him outside the school looking for the boy and claiming to be his guardian before giving a fake name to an officer.
hero_with_1000_faces wrote:





According to United States Air Force officials, a cannon that shoots dead chickens at airplanes has proved helpful in demonstrating what kind of damage can result when jets fly into a flock of large birds.



(E) that shoots dead chickens at airplanes has proved helpful in demonstrating



Few more questions, as I am not very grammar savy and don't have lot of knowledge about grammar, especially verbs. I would like to ask few questions



has proved is a present perfect tense ? Thanks AndrewN (E) that shoots dead chickens at airplanes has proved helpful in demonstratingFew more questions, as I am not very grammar savy and don't have lot of knowledge about grammar, especially verbs. I would like to ask few questionsis a present perfect tense ?

has proved

has

had

hero_with_1000_faces wrote:

D What would be your reasoning



Quote: (D) that shoots dead chickens at airplanes proves itself helpful to demonstrate





D doesnt sound ok to my ears, but I cant say for sure whats wrong in D also, if you had to elminateWhat would be your reasoningdoesnt sound ok to my ears, but I cant say for sure whats wrong in

to demonstrate

itself

has proved helpful

hero_with_1000_faces wrote:

Also, fun fact, when you didn't have your own picture as profile Pic, your formal and polite tone in forums gave me an impression that you were an old gentlemen in his 40's.

it's

don't

Hello, Hero1kF. I will respond in-line below.Yes,is written in the present perfect tense. The perfect tense adopts the form [to have] + verb. It is the conjugation of [to have] that dictates whether the tense is, say, present perfecti.e.provedor past perfectproved.The idiom at the end,, is simply incorrect in this context. As a lesser consideration, why do we need? What does that word add in the way of clarity thatin choices (A) or (D) does not already convey? Whenever you see extra words, you should ask yourself this very question. If the excess does not achieve something in the way of the vital expression of meaning that the other choices lack, then get rid of such an answer choice. When I consider these two problems with (D), it is enough for me to see it off comfortably.Ha ha. I will take that as a compliment. Yes, I do tend to write in a formal manner. That is just my way. One of my professors in college, an Oxford-educated taskmaster, forbade the use of contractions in our essay papers. That is right: a singleorwould result in a returned paper for a rewrite... with one letter grade knocked right off the top, before he had even read through the paper (and he was not an easy grader at all). I was already writing in a pretty conservative way at the time, but perhaps that experience pushed me over the edge.Thank you for seeking my input. I enjoy challenging myself and helping others in the process.- Andrew_________________
Well, well, well.

The Manhattan civil jury that found Donald Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming former advice columnist E. Jean Carroll moved on the former president like  well, as he would say  a bitch, finding against him after less than three hours of deliberation Tuesday.

Trump had not raped Carroll, the federal jury decided, but the assault was real, and he had injured her, acted with malice when he called her a liar, and damaged her reputation in the process. The jury has ordered Trump to pay Carroll about $5 million.

We can take a couple of lessons from Carrolls victory and Trumps defeat.

First, obituaries for the #MeToo movement and the positive cultural changes it has wrought are premature. The jury may not have assigned to Trump the technical crime of rape, but it believed Carroll when she testified that he pushed her against a dressing room wall, pulled down her pantyhose and thrust his fingers into her.

Second, it turns out that narcissism can be its own punishment.

In a deposition taken last year, a surly Trump, who wore face makeup that was an even harsher shade of orange than usual, virtually sealed his own legal fate.

In a videotape shown to the jury, he accused Carrolls attorney of being a political operative and a disgrace and, his favorite insult, not my type.

Roberta Kaplan took it all in stride, asking whether he really believed  as he boasted to Billy Bush in 2005  that stars can grab womens genitals? Remember, when that tape became public during his first presidential campaign, he first claimed never to have said such a thing, then claimed he was indulging in locker room talk.

Apparently, he was telling the truth all along.

Historically, Trump replied, thats true with stars. If you look over the last million years, thats largely true, unfortunately  or fortunately. (Fortunately?)

Then Kaplan asked whether Trump considered himself a star.

Yeah, he replied.

It was pretty obvious to anyone keeping track that what Trump did to Carroll was pretty much what he said he did to women whenever he felt like it. And his claim that Carroll was not his type was blatantly disproved when he misidentified a photo of her as his ex-wife Marla Maples.

Theres a poetic justice to Trumps own vile words coming back to haunt him.

And something extremely reassuring about the fact that the New York law meant to provide redress to victims of long-ago sexual assaults accomplished exactly that.

There was no eyewitness  when is there ever an eyewitness in a sexual assault case?  but Carrolls attorney was able to call 10 witnesses, two of whom testified that she told them contemporaneously of the traumatic event, and two of whom testified that Trump had sexually assaulted them too, using a similar MO.

Thanks to New Yorks Adult Survivors Act, which temporarily lifted the statute of limitations on sexual assault, Carroll was able to accuse Trump in court of raping her in the dressing room of the upscale Manhattan specialty store Bergdorf Goodman on what she thinks was a Thursday evening in the spring of 1996.

Trumps attorney tried to exploit her lack of certainty about the date of the assault. How can a man provide an alibi if he doesnt even know what day he was alleged to have brutalized a woman? In a criminal trial, this missing piece of information probably would have been an insurmountable obstacle for a prosecutor.

But this was a civil trial.

Carroll did not have to prove her case beyond a reasonable doubt. All she had to do was persuade the nine-person jury  six male and three female jurors  that it was more likely than not that Trump had assaulted her. On the defamation charge, she had to meet a clear and convincing standard. The speedy verdict indicates she more than met the burden of proof.

I know from personal experience that traumatic events can lodge in your soul and change the course of your life even if you dont remember exactly when they happened. Shortly after I graduated from college, a jilted boyfriend of mine came to my apartment late one night and tried to strangle me. The Berkeley police who responded did not even file a report. Did it happen in 1978 or 1979? I have no idea.

I have long since given up hope that any of the heinous things Trump has done or said  including inciting the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot and haranguing Georgia elections officials to fraudulently overturn President Bidens 2020 victory in their state  will have any effect on his legions of supporters. Despite the shame of the outcome of this case for Trump, I doubt his status as the 2024 MAGA Republican presidential front-runner will change much if at all. His immediately response? WITCH HUNT, as usual.

But I do want to dwell for a moment on E. Jean Carrolls courage, and also her dignity and composure on the witness stand as she was hectored by Trumps attorney about why she never screamed while the future president was attacking her.

Her response, in my view, provided the truest and most memorable line of the trial: Im telling you, he raped me whether I screamed or not.
GREENSBORO  A staff member was injured in an altercation Thursday at Southwest Guilford High, according to Guilford County Schools.

"An altercation at Southwest Guilford High between three individuals resulted in a threat being made by a student and a staff member was injured," a district spokeswoman said in a written statement.

"The individual who made the threat has been identified and will face appropriate consequences."

Extra High Point Police officers came to the campus to assist with the investigation and remained through dismissal. The school is at 4364 Barrow Road in High Point.

Other details of the incident were not immediately available.
Ida M. (for Minerva) Tarbell never forgot what John D. Rockefeller did to her fathers dream.

She was 14 years old in 1872 when Rockefeller came to Cleveland and offered the owners of local oil refineries a deal most of them couldnt refuse: Sell out to him, or he would put them out of business. When Rockefeller left town, he owned 22 of the 26 refineries.

Franklin Tarbell, Idas father, turned down Rockefellers offer and struggled to keep his company alive. His partner took his own life.

Thirty years later, Ida Tarbell, writing for McClures Magazine, published a 19-part series based on internal documents, interviews with employees and lawyers, and candid conversations with top executives in Standard Oil. The series and the book that followed  The History of the Standard Oil Company  contributed to the break-up of the largest petroleum company in the world.

Theodore Roosevelt called Tarbell and her colleagues  Lincoln Steffens, Upton Sinclair and Ray Stannard Baker  muckrakers, an image he borrowed from John Bunyans Pilgrims Progress, the Man with the Muckrake who rejected a crown (salvation) because he could only look down into the muck in which he worked.

We would call them investigative reporters.

The original muckrakers  newspaper and magazine writers and photographers of the Progressive Era  took on corporate monopolies and political machines, and raised public awareness of urban poverty, unsafe working conditions and child labor.

Their successors have expanded their investigations into government  local, state and federal  and even the church.

In 1972 two young reporters at The Washington Post, Bob Woodward, who had been at the Post for only a year, and Carl Bernstein, who had previously been assigned to the police, courts and city hall beats, wrote a series of investigative reports that revealed a pattern of crimes that ultimately implicated the president of the United States, Richard Nixon, forcing his resignation.

In 2002, the Boston Globes Spotlight team, a group of investigative journalists, uncovered widespread sexual abuse of children by scores of priests and a cover-up by the Catholic Church in which priests who had been accused of misconduct were simply allowed to work in other parishes.

Every year a Pulitzer Prize is awarded for a distinguished example of investigative reporting.

The list of recent winners would bring a smile to Ida Tarbells face.

In 2017, for example, Eric Eyre of the Charleston (W.Va.) Gazette-Mail received the Pulitzer Prize for courageous reporting, performed in the face of powerful opposition, to expose the flood of opioids flowing into depressed West Virginia counties with the highest overdose death rates in the country.

One shudders to think what we would not know if it were not for the investigative reporting of the oft-maligned media.

We would not know, for example, about the puzzling omissions from Clarence Thomas financial disclosure forms except for the continuing revelations of ProPublica, which bills itself as a nonprofit newsroom that produces nonpartisan, evidence-based journalism to expose injustice, corruption and wrongdoing.

In an essay on its website, ProPublica says, Deep-dive reporting like ours is slow and expensive, and investigative journalism is a luxury in many newsrooms today  but it remains as critical as ever to democracy and our civic life. Yes, on both counts.

Investigative journalism has become a luxury in this day of belt-tightening and staff reductions at local newspapers.

According to a report by the Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism, 2,500 newspapers have closed  at the rate of more than two per week  since 2005.

Locally, perhaps we took for granted the passionate writing of John Railey of the Journal on behalf of the surviving victims of forced sterilization in the eugenics movement in North Carolina and the dogged, award-winning investigative reporting of Phoebe Zerwick  now director of the journalism program at Wake Forest University but then a reporter for the Winston-Salem Journal  on the conviction and imprisonment of Darryl Hunt for a rape and murder he did not commit.

Yes, investigative reporting remains as critical as ever to democracy and our civic life. Arguably, more so.

Theodore Roosevelt came to realize that crusading journalists like Ida M. Tarbell were allies in support of his progressive agenda. In a speech in 1906, he offered his endorsement of their efforts: I hail as a benefactor every writer or speaker, who, on the platform or in a book, magazine, or newspaper, with merciless severity makes such attack, provided always that (s/he) in turn remembers that the attack is of use only if it is absolutely truthful.

Hear, hear.
The Helena Tourism Business Improvement District has unveiled its new brand with a design that members said celebrates Helena as Montanas Hometown  unspoiled, unfussy and unexpected in its creativity and natural beauty.

The colors are a nod to Helenas mountains, rivers and architecture. Design elements of the new brand mark depict this, too, tied together by an H.

In addition, Visit Helena is expanding its role from destination marketing and focusing on destination management, as well as supporting development and stewardship.

The Helena Tourism Business Improvement District is committed to building a brand that is centered around the communitys goals, values and creative energy, Andrea Opitz, TBIDs executive director, said in a news release. Were looking to improve the overall Helena experience by stimulating long-term sustainable growth in tourism, workforce and business development.

The new branding comes after many conversations and collaboration between community members and stakeholders including the Helena Tourism Business Improvement District, Helena Area Chamber of Commerce & Convention and Visitors Bureau, Montana Business Assistance Connection, Downtown Helena Inc., Helena Business Improvement District, and liaisons from Helena and East Helena.

Brand identity, communication strategy and materials were created in partnership with independent creative agency, SOVRN Creative.

There were a lot of lively conversations around not just who we are, but where were going, Opitz said. We discussed Helenas deep history to understand the foundation that got us here, while also exploring how to preserve and enhance the future.

"The brand planning was a true collaborative effort, one that shows the authenticity of what makes us Montanas Hometown, Callie Aschim, president, and CEO of the Helena Chamber of Commerce, said. Moving forward, were well positioned to continue strengthening the communitys economic vitality  in a way that provides opportunity for both visitors and locals alike.
Gianforte, a Republican, had previously issued amendatory vetoes on the three policies that cleared the Legislature with broad, bipartisan support. But because the Senate adjourned abruptly on the last day of the session hours before House and prior to either chamber taking Gianfortes suggested changes into consideration, the bills were sent back in their original form for his signature or rejection.

House Bill 29 and Senate Bill 4 were the product of bipartisan legislative work before the 2023 session got underway. At that time, lawmakers were learning patients had died due to the state hospital's own neglect to meet health and safety standards, and the federal government terminated its funding agreement with the facility because of those failures.

HB 29, carried by Rep. Jennifer Carlson, R-Churchill, would have ended the practice of admitting patients to Montana State Hospital with dementia, Alzheimer's or traumatic brain injury.

That prohibition already exists in the hospital's policy and in state law, but patients have still been committed to the state hospital by the courts in instances where they have nowhere else to go. The Legislature this session sought to boost the number of available beds in community settings by upping the Medicaid reimbursement rate paid by the state, theoretically giving assisted-living facilities the funding to actually pay for the cost of care.

The bill would also create a commission to oversee the transfer of current patients who fit into this category to community placements in assisted-living facilities, far less restrictive environments than Montana State Hospital in Warm Springs. The commission would have until June 30, 2025, to develop a plan and transfer the patients out of the state hospital.

Last year the state health department contracted with a third party to examine staffing issues and how to become re-certified with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services after the federal government terminated its certification with the state hospital last year over patient mistreatment and deaths. The department also rolled out a $300 million behavioral health initiative meant to enhance the state's continuum of care for generations to come.

The other proposal, Senate Bill 4, was intended as an accountability measure, opening up abuse and neglect reports to Disability Rights Montana, designated by Congress to have access to certain records in order to protect and advocate for patients in that facility.

"The Department of Public Health and Human Services (DPHHS) has dedicated, and continues to dedicate, significant time and effort to realizing the intent of House Bill 29, to improve the care provided to this patient population, independent of proposed legislation," Gianforte wrote in his veto letter Thursday. "However, as I emphasized to the Legislature in my amendatory veto letter, and as DPHHS has repeatedly warned over the course of the last 18 months, House Bill 29 fails to offer a realistic mechanism for compliance and to transition these patients who are currently committee to MHS's care to community-based treatment services and facilities."

HB 29 cleared the Legislature by very wide bipartisan margins, only receiving 18 no votes through its entire journey. The day after the session adjourned, Carlson said it was good policy and urged the governor to sign it.

Of SB 4, Gianforte called it "legally insufficient, deeply flawed, and fails to protect Montanans' constitutionally protected rights to privacy."

Earlier in the session, the head of Disability Rights Montana explained why she felt it was important to have external oversight of the facility.

"Without our organization having access to the records, the only oversight of the facility is internal," Bernadette Franks-Ongoy, Disability Rights Montana's executive director told lawmakers in a Jan. 4 committee hearing.

SB 4, sponsored by Sen. Jen Gross, D-Billings, did not receive a single no vote during the session, passing with the support of every legislator who voted on it.

House Bill 37 was also carried by Carlson. It would require a court issuing a warrant before a child is removed from their parent or parent by child protective services unless theres an emergency.

It cleared the House with just eight "no" votes in total, but saw a slightly harder path in the Senate, where it advanced from a committee by just one vote but then later cleared the full chamber 41-9.

In a press conference last week after the session adjourned, Carlson advocated for the governor to sign HB 37 since lawmakers could not take up the amendatory vetoes.

This is a historic opportunity to fix a problem Montana is known for and I don't want to be known for that problem anymore in Montana, Carlson said, pointing out the bipartisan support for the bill.   It wasn't just people pushing a button because someone told them to. People in this building know we need to fix the problem, and this is the opportunity. This is a grand opportunity.

In a statement emailed Thursday, Gianfortes spokesperson explained the governors reasoning for the vetoes and pointed blame at the top Democrat in the Senate, who brought the successful motion to end that chambers work for the session before lawmakers had taken up the amendatory vetoes.

The administration consulted legislators before and during the legislative session to fix problems with the bills. The governor does not take vetoes lightly, and made efforts to improve them through amendments, spokesperson Kaitlin Price wrote. Unfortunately, the Senate Minority Leader and a band of senators decided to quit early and sine die before the work was done, leaving the bills unchanged and deeply flawed. When considering these bills, the governor is putting the health and safety of children and other vulnerable Montanans above any political calculations, and we hope lawmakers will do the same.
Advanced practice registered nurses can provide abortion care in Montana following a unanimous order by the state Supreme Court issued Friday.

Abortion providers said the decision is a victory for abortion rights in Montana and will expand access to health care in the state, making patients safer.

The state Department of Justice, which defended the 2005 law that aimed to limit who can provide abortion care to only physicians and physician assistants (PAs), called the court "out of touch" and said the case was not about the right to access an abortion but standards of care.

The lawsuit decided Friday was first filed in 2018 by Helen Weems, who operates All Families Healthcare in Whitefish, and a provider identified as Jane Doe, a licensed registered nurse with a certification in the advanced practice of nurse midwife. Since that year, the state has been under a preliminary injunction blocking the law.

Friday's ruling cited the landmark state Supreme Courts Armstrong decision, which found the Montana Constitutions right to privacy guarantees a persons right to a pre-viability abortion from the qualified health care provider of their choice.

Even after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Roe decision last year and overturned the federal right to access an abortion, the procedure remained legal in Montana under the state documents long-recognized stronger right to privacy.

The state, through the Montana Department of Justice, appealed the district courts ruling to the Montana Supreme Court. The high court, in its 30-page opinion Friday, said early abortion care was safe, advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) were more than qualified to provide the procedure, and the states ability to regulate for the health and safety of its citizens did not supersede the constitutional right to access an abortion.

This is a resounding victory and an unequivocal win for the people of Montana.  The Montana Supreme Court clearly and unequivocally ratified the principle that our state constitutional right to privacy protects the right to an abortion in Montana. That cannot be disputed, said Alex Rate, a lawyer for ACLU of Montana that represented Weems.   That constitutional right guarantees an individuals ability to seek medical care from a health care provider of their choice, and that parts important here in Montana where we live in a geographically large state and its not always easy to travel to get the health care that you need.

Emilee Cantrell, a spokesperson for the state Department of Justice, panned the ruling, as well as the court, in a statement issued Friday.

The state Supreme Court has become disgracefully radicalized and out of touch with Montanans. This case was not about the right to abortion  it was about whether women have a right to an elevated standard of care during an abortion, Cantrell wrote. The Montana Supreme Court said no and lowered the standard of care set by the Legislature, effectively constitutionalizing the right of unqualified individuals to perform unregulated abortions. This decision is a loss for Montana women who will be less safe because of the state Supreme Court.

In the order written by Justice Laurie McKinnon and signed by the other six justices, the court said the state failed to prove its arguments on several points.

That included not proving that abortions done by APRNs were riskier than those performed by physicians or physician assistants. The state also didnt show why APRNs should be restricted from providing abortions or any associated health risks.

While the court in this decision recognized the state has general and inherent "police power" to regulate the health and safety of its citizens, the record showed no evidence APRNs providing abortion care presented any medical risk to women.

The states argument is detached from the overwhelming evidence presented to the district court that abortion care is one of the safest forms of medical care in this country and the world, and that APRNs are qualified providers, the order reads.  ... There is no medically recognized bona fide health risk for APRNs to perform abortion care, much less one that is clearly and convincingly demonstrated.

The court also pointed out that all parties in the case agreed managing a miscarriage is identical or nearly so to early abortion care, but the state did not argue it was unsafe for APRNs to provide that care.

"The court pointed to a logical fallacy in the states argument.  How can the state say it has a compelling interest to regulate abortion when identical procedures are not subject to the same onerous requirement? Rate said.

APRNs also regularly provide care far more advanced than early abortions, the court noted, such as neuraxial anesthesia, central line insertions and intubations. They can also prescribe dangerous and addictive drugs that pose far more risk than abortion medications.

The court also pointed to studies showing the risk of early abortion complications ranging from minor at 1.32% to major at 0.05% is far less than other common procedures such as wisdom teeth removal at 7% and tonsillectomies at 8-9%.

The ruling also cited safety repercussions associated with a lack of abortion care, highlighting evidence that delays in accessing care can force women to seek later-term abortions, which can come with higher risks, more costs and possibly the inability to get a medication abortion.

Access to abortion care in Montana is the difference between obtaining quality care or no care at all, especially for patients who might otherwise time out of early abortion care because their pregnancy extended past a certain gestational age, which can result in safety repercussions for the patient, the court wrote.

One doctor who testified on behalf of Weems and Doe said research has established the median distance a patient must travel for early abortion care in Montana increased by nearly 50 miles between 2011 and 2014, the court wrote. That year the average distance traveled was 180 miles. In 2017, more than 90% of the state's counties, home to half of the Montana population, had no abortion provider.

Other litigation

Republicans in the state have aimed to limit access to the procedure through several laws passed this legislative session and in 2021. Several of those bills are under litigation now, as is an administrative rule from the state health department that in addition to requiring preauthorization for abortions would limit the procedure to only be provided by a physician for those covered by Medicaid. Lawmakers passed a law earlier this year to codify the same policy.

(Fridays order) bodes well for the myriad lawsuits that are challenging the abortion restrictions that were adopted by the 2023 Montana Legislature, Rate said. All of that sends a clear message the state cant legitimately defend these patently unconstitutional laws.
A 61-year-old man running for School Board in Rapid City's Area 4 apologized for posting tweets calling for the execution of Democrats and saying he was "ready to die" taking them out.

Local businessman and Marine veteran Gerald Alvin Harvey II replied to a post from Barbara Lee, a California Democrat and then-candidate for House, on Twitter June 13, 2019, writing: "There will BE ANOTJER[sic] CIVIL WAR...AND EVER[sic] DEMOCRAT WILL BE EXICUTED[sic]..YOU HAVE F***ED MY COUNTRY UP ENOUGH. IM READY AND WILLING TO DIE TAKING OUT EVIL DEMOCRATS FOR MY VOUNTRY[sic] AND MY President..." That same day, also in response to Lee, Harvey wrote: "THERE WILL BE ANOTHER CIVIL WAR AND ALL OF YOU EVIL DEMOCRATS WILL BE EXICUTED[sic].. GO MAKE YOU EVIL C**TS."

Harvey admitted to the Journal during a nearly hour long phone call Wednesday night that he wrote those tweets and "was probably drinking" at the time. Harvey initially denied making the posts and said he was "not that radical," but after discussing the content of his Facebook page, Harvey admitted to making the posts.

"I'll apologize for that. I was probably in pain like I said, alright, because they don't give you no pain pills," he said. "And I probably had like two drinks or something. I was probably pissed off. I was exercising my first amendment right of freedom of speech."

Harvey is the only candidate so far in the 2023 school election cycle to have a political action committee (PAC) formed against him. The "We Can Do Better Than Gerald Harvey" PAC was formally incorporated Wednesday to prevent Harvey's election. PAC Chair and local attorney Kyle Krause told the Journal, Rapid City needs candidates who are able to work cooperatively and not be fighting a culture war.

Harvey's social media posts originally attracted the PAC's attention.

"If there's a conspiracy theory that exists, Gerald Harvey has probably posted about it on his Facebook page," Krause said.

Krause said he doesn't hold out much hope Harvey will withdraw from the election, and reiterated "someone who's threatening to execute people over political views" isn't "someone who has the temperament to bring people together on the school board."

Harvey also has a history of legal issues.

In 2015, a woman obtained two previous protective orders against Harvey in Pennington County, according to court records. A temporary protection order request was dismissed in October 2015 for lack of sufficient evidence, while a permanent protective order was granted in December of that year and allowed to expire seven months later. Harvey said he never hit her, but that he was yelling.

When asked if there were any domestic abuse cases filed against him, Harvey said he had "a domestic thing" with a separate woman "about 35 years ago," where he slapped her. He followed by saying he doesn't believe hitting women is right, but that he grew up "in a different time."

"Why did I do it? I slapped her. She, uh...whatever. I lost control," Harvey said.

Harvey's court record shows a 2014 charge with three counts of making threatening or harassing calls in Pennington County. Those charges were later dismissed. California court records show he pleaded "no contest" to hit-and-run and resisting or obstructing a peace officer in 2005 in El Dorado County.

The Journal called multiple times and left a voicemail with Harvey Thursday afternoon and Friday morning to ask about his criminal history and the political action committee formed against him, but Harvey did not respond by Friday at noon.

During the call with the Journal, Harvey expressed his desire to get rid of the Department of Education; put reading, writing and arithmetic back in schools; and get rid of the gender pronouns, calling transgenderism a mental illness and characterizing it as child abuse. He advocated for teaching patriotism in schools.

Harvey espoused a number of false conspiracy theories, like the belief that the government is poisoning citizens through "chem trails", there are dangerous preservatives in children's food, and he believes the 2020 election was stolen.

"How can it be a conspiracy theory when all the conspiracy theorists are right? It's not a theory; that s**t's poison," he said. "Why would they do that? Why would they spend billions of dollars of our taxpayer dollars and put chemicals in the sky?"

As of Friday morning, Harvey had not deleted any of the tweets from his account. He posted on Facebook Wednesday following his phone call with the Journal that he "repents" for the "very angry" thoughts he posted.

"I repent," he wrote. "It was brought to my attention tonight that I posted some very angry thought[sic] on my twitter back in 2019? I repent."

Area 4 covers most of Rapid City's north side from roughly North Street to the Meade County line and west of LaCrosse Street. The Rapid City Area Schools Board of Education election is set for Tuesday, June 6. Harvey is running against Amy Sazue, Walter Swan Jr., and Karen Woods for the seat.
In celebration of National Travel & Tourism week, we recognize the critical role travel and tourism play in stimulating economic growth, cultivating diverse communities, creating fresh job opportunities and inspiring new businesses in Montana.

Tourism is one of Montanas primary industries and a leading service export for the Treasure State. It, along with the outdoor recreation industry and film and media production, are providing Montana businesses opportunities to creatively harness the power of place to serve as an economic driver for communities both small and large.

Nearly one year ago, historic flooding in the Greater Yellowstone led to the complete closure of Yellowstone National Park for eight days, destruction of the road between Gardiner and Mammoth Hot Springs, and a nearly full season closure of the north and northeast entrances. With these closures came the visitor cancellations, which had a devastating financial impact on communities from Livingston and Gardiner to Cooke City/Silver Gate and West Yellowstone.

For the local businesses whose livelihoods depend on tourism, the negative impact was harsh and immediate. Thanks to the recovery and resilience of Yellowstone National Park and its economically dependent Gateway Communities, the economies are once again thriving, and the importance of tourism is more than evident.

As much as the term tourist may garner a negative response to some local Montanans, tourism is a vital industry, one that is sustainable and renewable and critical to our future. We must focus on disbursing the positive benefits to communities hungry for tourisms positive s and continue to support tourism in the state. Whether here for a three-day business conference or a weeklong family vacation  travelers come and sleep in hotels, purchase goods at local stores and restaurants, hire guides and book day trips. Across the state, they come in, spend money, contribute to local economies, and then return to their home states.

The Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research found that over 12.5 million nonresidents visited Montana in 2022, staying an average of five days spending $207/day with cumulative consumer spending at $5.82 billion. Data shows Montanas outdoor recreation industry contributed $2.6 billion to the economy in 2021, ranking Montana second in the nation (behind Hawaii) for contribution to the states GDP. Another study found that the television series Yellowstone brought more than 2 million visitors to Montana in 2021, travelers who spent $730 million while they were here.

While Montana is Full stickers are popping up on bumpers and the complaints about out-of-staters are frequent, the number of out-of-state visitors to Montana since 2011 has actually remained fairly steady, ranging from 10 to 12 million annually. Further, in-migration of 17,000 people over the past two years as a result of COVID has brought new residents who need to be educated on stewardship of our public lands and how to act like a local rather than try to change Montana to be more like where they came from.

Historically, Montanas National Parks have been the driver for the majority of the tourism dollars and the reason millions visited the state. And while that was the intended goal of various state and national marketing campaigns, our state tourism looks different now. Efforts to disperse visitors to less-traveled corners of the state and encourage travel during seasons other than summer create needed year-round revenue for our more rural and tribal communities. Campaigns to educate tourists on Leave No Trace and Recreating Responsibility will help shape better visitors who respect and appreciate all that makes our state desirable.

Travel is an economic powerhouse for Montana, an essential industry and we will continue to demonstrate to policymakers and business leaders that growing travel, grows the economy, businesses and mutual understanding.
DECATUR  Decatur residents Sally Williams and Diane Lutt had the opportunity to taste test a variety of foods from eight local restaurants, all from one location.

I didnt know what to expect, Williams said.

I really liked the duck confit, Lutt said. And its from a nursing home.

Healthy meals are important to Brad Crites, chef for Carriage Crossing. The senior living facility, located 2650 N. Monroe St, in Decatur, provides foods that taste good and are good for the residents.

They asked for a signature dish, Crites said about the Taste of Decatur menu. This isnt necessarily what we would do for residents, but for special occasions, like Mothers Day. If we can do something nice like this, then theyre going to know we can do a meatloaf really well.

According to Mirinda Rothrock, chamber president, approximately 100 visitors attended the event.

They are getting to taste some of Decaturs great variety of restaurants, she said.

The chamber contacted all of the Chamber member restaurants offering them a table at the event. Eight restaurants served a variety of specialties, including duck, pork, fried foods and desserts. We thought we could bring folks out to network and connect, Rothrock said.

In the past, the Taste of Decatur was held during the Decatur Business Expo lunch hour at the Decatur Civic Center. This years Taste of Decatur was held as its own event and was moved to the Decatur Club. Instead of a lunch, this is more of heavy servings in the evening, Rothrock said.

The chamber continued the tradition of presenting awards. A selected group of judges evaluated the food choices to determine the winners of Best of Show-Sweet, Best of Show-Savory, and Peoples Choice. The Beach House received Peoples Choice and the Savory awards. Dels Popcorn won the Sweet award.

Decatur Club chefs didnt have to travel far to serve their dish, a crab, spinach and shrimp stuffed pork loin with Dijon sauce. This is something we would serve as a feature on Friday night in our lounge, said Jeff Ingle, manager.

The Decatur Club participated in the past Taste of Decatur events held at the Decatur Civic Center serving lunch meals to the crowd. They are paying a premium to be here so they get more sizable portions, Ingle said about the restaurants at this years event.

The new time and location was beneficial for several of the restaurants. With a smaller staff, its hard to pick up the team and go over to the civic center during the day when were all making customers happy, Ingle said.

PHOTOS: Taste of Decatur 2022
DECATUR  Amid booming hip hop music and kids dancing, Jason Lewis  known professionally as Humble Tip  encouraged the young people to repeat after him.

I ain't got no time for no fake friends!

Lewis performed at Robertson Charter School in Decatur on Thursday morning and at Springfield Ball Charter School in the afternoon. He travels the country with his Beautiful Tomorrow assembly, a mix of music, audience participation and words of wisdom from Lewis. He asked the students to define what a real friend is, and kids said things like, someone who will defend you when you're not there and people who support your dreams.

Everybody who says they're your friend ain't your friend, he said. When someone wants you to do something you know is wrong, when they talk about you behind your back, when they don't want what's best for you, that is not a real friend, he added.

I realized that a great way to inspire young people is through hip-hop, he said. Hip-hop is very cultural and relevant and current, and if you can infuse it with a positive message, you can see some amazing results, so that's what we're doing.

He is based out of Capital Heights, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D.C., and was brought to Illinois by Springfield Ball Charter School. Ball and Decatur's Robertson Charter School are the only charter schools downstate, said Ball Principal Tiffany Williams, and this is Charter Schools Week. Teaming up to provide the students of both schools with a positive boost made sense. Williams and members of Ball's student council attended the assembly at Robertson.

He has such an inspiring, fun and engaging way to encourage students and to motivate students, Williams said. At this time of the school year, we're just looking for endurance and we want students to have the opportunity to stay motivated right up until the last day. So I wanted to bring him to Ball Charter School.

We're excited to have this collaboration, said Niki Fenderson, principal of Robertson. We were already celebrating being a charter school in Illinois. But the thing I want my students to take away from this is to always be encouraged to give their best. We know different things will happen in life, but we have to look at those things as opportunities to grow and learn, so I hope they leave today with a renewed sense of 'whatever happens, I've got this, I've been inspired to do my best and to give my all regardless of what's going on in my life.'

Lewis told the students they should find someone to encourage every day, to bring a little sunshine into their lives. Tell someone you admire something they've done or that you believe in them, and don't forget to tell yourself the same things.

Look in the mirror and believe in the person that you see, he said.

Brooklyn Lee, an eighth grader from Ball Charter School and president of the student council, said she thought the kids could relate to Lewis better than they might to parents and teachers because he's young and speaks their language. They hear many of the same messages from other adults, she said, but when it's coming from someone using their favorite music and engaging them in the process the way he did, it's easier to listen.

He was fun and exciting, and I enjoyed hearing him, said Zahnya Gibbs, an eighth grader at Robertson. It was better (than other such assemblies) because of the way he expressed things and it made me feel better inside.

Close Herald & Review, Jim Bowling Third-grader Laura Jones holds a sign made by her class while participating in a Robertson Charter School school-wide peace march around the Macon County Courts Facility in observance of the United Nations International Peace Day Monday. Herald & Review, Jim Bowling Sixth-grader Torrieon Howard walks in the Robertson Charter School school-wide peace march around the Macon County Courts Facility in observance of the United Nations International Peace Day Monday. Howard initiated the idea that resulted in the schools march for peace. Herald & Review, Jim Bowling Principal Cordell Ingram leads Robertson Charter School in a peace march around the Macon County Courts Facility in observance of the United Nations International Peace Day Monday. Herald & Review, Jim Bowling Robertson Charter School walks in a peace march around the Macon County Courts Facility in observance of the United Nations International Peace Day Monday September 21, 2015. Herald & Review, Jim Bowling Robertson Charter School walks in a peace march around the Macon County Courts Facility in observance of the United Nations International Peace Day Monday September 21, 2015. Herald & Review, Jim Bowling Robertson Charter School walks in a peace march around the Macon County Courts Facility in observance of the United Nations International Peace Day Monday September 21, 2015. Herald & Review, Jim Bowling Robertson Charter School walks in a peace march around the Macon County Courts Facility in observance of the United Nations International Peace Day Monday September 21, 2015. Herald & Review, Jim Bowling Robertson Charter School walks in a peace march around the Macon County Courts Facility in observance of the United Nations International Peace Day Monday September 21, 2015. Herald & Review, Jim Bowling Robertson Charter School walks in a peace march around the Macon County Courts Facility in observance of the United Nations International Peace Day Monday September 21, 2015. Herald & Review, Jim Bowling Robertson Charter School walks in a peace march around the Macon County Courts Facility in observance of the United Nations International Peace Day Monday September 21, 2015. Herald & Review, Jim Bowling Robertson Charter School walks in a peace march around the Macon County Courts Facility in observance of the United Nations International Peace Day Monday September 21, 2015. Herald & Review, Jim Bowling Robertson Charter School walks in a peace march around the Macon County Courts Facility in observance of the United Nations International Peace Day Monday September 21, 2015. Herald & Review, Jim Bowling Robertson Charter School walks in a peace march around the Macon County Courts Facility in observance of the United Nations International Peace Day Monday September 21, 2015. PHOTOS: Robertson Charter School Peace March Herald & Review, Jim Bowling Third-grader Laura Jones holds a sign made by her class while participating in a Robertson Charter School school-wide peace march around the Macon County Courts Facility in observance of the United Nations International Peace Day Monday. Herald & Review, Jim Bowling Sixth-grader Torrieon Howard walks in the Robertson Charter School school-wide peace march around the Macon County Courts Facility in observance of the United Nations International Peace Day Monday. Howard initiated the idea that resulted in the schools march for peace. Herald & Review, Jim Bowling Principal Cordell Ingram leads Robertson Charter School in a peace march around the Macon County Courts Facility in observance of the United Nations International Peace Day Monday. Herald & Review, Jim Bowling Robertson Charter School walks in a peace march around the Macon County Courts Facility in observance of the United Nations International Peace Day Monday September 21, 2015. Herald & Review, Jim Bowling Robertson Charter School walks in a peace march around the Macon County Courts Facility in observance of the United Nations International Peace Day Monday September 21, 2015. Herald & Review, Jim Bowling Robertson Charter School walks in a peace march around the Macon County Courts Facility in observance of the United Nations International Peace Day Monday September 21, 2015. Herald & Review, Jim Bowling Robertson Charter School walks in a peace march around the Macon County Courts Facility in observance of the United Nations International Peace Day Monday September 21, 2015. Herald & Review, Jim Bowling Robertson Charter School walks in a peace march around the Macon County Courts Facility in observance of the United Nations International Peace Day Monday September 21, 2015. Herald & Review, Jim Bowling Robertson Charter School walks in a peace march around the Macon County Courts Facility in observance of the United Nations International Peace Day Monday September 21, 2015. Herald & Review, Jim Bowling Robertson Charter School walks in a peace march around the Macon County Courts Facility in observance of the United Nations International Peace Day Monday September 21, 2015. Herald & Review, Jim Bowling Robertson Charter School walks in a peace march around the Macon County Courts Facility in observance of the United Nations International Peace Day Monday September 21, 2015. Herald & Review, Jim Bowling Robertson Charter School walks in a peace march around the Macon County Courts Facility in observance of the United Nations International Peace Day Monday September 21, 2015. Herald & Review, Jim Bowling Robertson Charter School walks in a peace march around the Macon County Courts Facility in observance of the United Nations International Peace Day Monday September 21, 2015.
DECATUR  Desire Lee took a well-deserved break on Friday from her high school class work.

Im happy to be here so I dont have to be in my classes, she said. Homework can be made up.

Desire was invited to the Because We Are Proud of You Youth Empowerment Day, which was held on Friday during the school day at the Devon Lakeshore Amphitheater.

Nearly 2,000 Decatur students, administration and volunteers ate, played games, and listened to live music during the outdoor event. A mechanical bull was also part of the fun.

As a high school freshman, Desire said she has been taking college classes as well as high school courses. So I have to stay on top of my A-game, she said. This feels like it pays off.

The event was hosted by the Sherrods Independent Mentoring Program, or SIMP Inc., the Decatur Police Department and Macon County law enforcement, with funding from the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority. The goal was to recognize students who maintained good grades, represented good behavior, good attendance, acts of kindness and volunteer opportunities.

Jarmese Sherrod said this is the first event she has organized of its kind. And Ive been praying all day it wouldnt rain, she said. The kids are having a good time. I love it.

Sherrod and Decatur Police Lt. Scott Rosenbery began planning the school event nearly a year ago.

We let the kids know that law enforcement has their back, that we want them to have a safe summer and celebrate their success, Sherrod said. "This day is about the youth. It is all for them and it is free."

Officers took part in some of the activities along with the students.

Its important for us to interact with the youth in our community, Rosenbery said. This gives us the opportunity to be in a fun environment.

All Decatur schools, including grade schools, middle schools and high schools, were invited. Sixteen accepted the invitation. The schools decided which students would be allowed to attend the event.

Jody Giberson and Ashley Robinson, sixth grade school teachers at Muffley School, were given only two weeks to select their students. They brought 66 fifth and sixth graders. They couldnt have any behavioral issues and they had to be passing all their classes, Robinson said. We still had kids this morning that were begging us to come.

It did serve as a good motivator for grades, Giberson said.

Madisen Park is a behavioral interventionist for the school district. I try to push my students, what can we do today so we can earn this field trip, she said. Can we ask for makeup work? Can we ask for help?

Muffley sixth grader Kierra Lofton and her friend Tamiyah Lofton had taken part in several of the activities by lunch time. Weve been doing the bouncy house, Tamiyah said.

Ive been getting dessert, Kierra said. Then theres music to dance to.

Is this your teacher?  13 educator photos from the Herald & Review archives
DECATUR  The massive Reas Bridge Road Project  which has long-proved a bridge too far after giving Macon County Board members a bad case of sticker shock  finally gets the greenlight at a projected cost of more than $32 million.

Work is now due to get underway by late summer to replace the bridges and its approach roads and is expected to take two years.

The existing pair of two-lane bridges, condemned by Board Chairman Kevin Greenfield, R-4, as being in the worst shape of any in the county, would vanish in favor of spanning Lake Decatur with a new four lane structure and revamping the approach roads.

A new bridge is also seen as being a crucial part of the Macon County Beltway Project, a 22-mile-long loop around the eastern and southern edges of Decatur.

The county board had hoped it had the project in the bag back in 2017 when engineering work-ups estimated the cost at no more than $18 million. But bids from contractors came in far beyond that.

And the engineering projections for the latest bridge overhaul still missed the mark, estimating the cost at $29 million. But the county board, after discussion Thursday evening, decided unanimously that the estimated cost and the lowest contractor bid were close enough to proceed.

Like I said, it's the worst bridge in Macon County and we don't have a choice, we're going to move forward with it," Greenfield told the Herald & Review.

Funding for Reas Bridge is being pulled from 10 different sources, including federal and state funds. Some of the state money, however  a $3 million contribution from the Illinois Department of Transportation  as yet to be awarded and isnt due to come through until August 23.

But board members worried that if they delayed and kept shopping around for a better deal, the cost of the project would just keep ballooning and it would never get done.

"I've been on the board since 2020 and Reas Bridge has always been a concept of discussion..." said board member Karl Coleman, D-1.

"It's unfortunate to see that we are still dealing with some of the uncertainty that we're dealing with around the country when it comes to pricing for materials and things like that. But I am glad to see we are making our way forward when it comes to the Reas Bridge project and obviously it puts us in a more advantageous position as a community and as a county..."

Greenfield said he had hoped the actual cost would have been closer to the $29 million projected in the engineering estimate, but he said the county will find the money, somehow. "We're going to do it, it's got to be done," he added.

In other business, the board approved an overhaul of its ordinances governing the rules for developers building wind energy and solar generation facilities. The county has had to change its rules to comply with more relaxed state guidelines designed to encourage the creation of new power-generating projects.

The cost of special use permitting fees under the new rules is rising steeply: $150,000 for wind energy and $50,000 for solar; the previous cost for a special fee was $5,000.

And there was a round of applause for Assistant State's Attorney Michael Baggett, who provides the board with legal advice. He's also a prosecutor and was congratulated for obtaining a conviction of attempted murder and multiple other felony charges against Joseph Luckee Williams in a Macon County Circuit Court jury trial on Wednesday. Williams had tried to shoot a Decatur Police Officer to death with a submachine gun.

What unmaintained roads cost the average driver in every state What unmaintained roads cost the average driver in every state #51. Tennessee #50. Oregon #49. Wyoming #48. Iowa #47. Georgia #46. Idaho #45. Oklahoma #44. Alaska #43. North Dakota #42. Florida #41. Alabama #40. Kentucky #39. Delaware #38. Nebraska #37. Montana #36. New Hampshire #35. North Carolina #34. Ohio #33. Kansas #32. Vermont #31. Virginia #30. Maine #29. Minnesota #28. Wisconsin #27. Nevada #26. South Dakota #25. South Carolina #24. Illinois #23. Arizona #22. Massachusetts #21. Pennsylvania #20. New York #19. Maryland #18. Mississippi #17. Indiana #16. Michigan #15. Colorado #14. Washington #13. Louisiana #12. Arkansas #11. Texas #10. Utah #9. Connecticut #8. New Jersey #7. West Virginia #6. Missouri #5. New Mexico #4. California #3. Hawaii #2. Rhode Island #1. Washington, D.C.
DECATUR  Decatur police announced Thursday afternoon that they had arrested Deandrew L. Washington for first-degree murder.

Washington, 32, of Decatur, is accused of shooting 28-year-old Decatur man Travion S. Pickens, who was found mortally wounded at a home in the 100 block of West Packard Street the evening of May 5. He later died in a hospital.

In a statement, Lt. Scott Rosenbery with the Decatur Police Department said Washington was captured by his departments officers and members of the U.S. Marshals Service Great Lakes Regional Fugitive Task Force.

Washington, who had been bailed out of the Macon County Jail in January on charges of drug dealing and forgery, was being held there again Thursday night; the amount of his bail was unavailable Thursday.

Rosenbery said detectives haven't finished their investigation of the murder and appealed for anyone with information to come forward. Call the Criminal Investigations Division at 217-424-2734 or Crime Stoppers at 217-423-8477.

2023 mugshots from the Herald & Review Lourash Hirstein Phillip Gehrken Joseph A. Williams Jetrevius O. Jarrett Edwards King-Woods Wilson
CHICAGO  Mark Guarino is a child of Oak Park and has been a writer since high school, his work appearing in a vast and varied number of publications, on stages of theaters in plays he created and now, finally, between covers in a spectacular book dedicated to the musicians of Chicago.

He loves the sounds of this city and has spent the last decade researching, interviewing and writing about the people who make music, promote music, own places where music is played, and those who sit and listen.

The book is titled Country & Midwestern: Chicago in the History of Country Music and the Folk Revival ( University of Chicago Press). The handsome jacket illustration is by Jon Langford and the snappy foreword by Robbie Fulks, both of them from other places ( Wales and Pennsylvania, respectively) but both popular and influential on the local music scene that Guarino so artfully captures.

These two are part of a huge and colorful gang that populates the book, which traces 100 years of country, western and folk music in Chicago.

There have been other books that tackled parts of this compelling story. Here is the first complete tale and it is far more than a tour through your record collection. It is also the story of this city in all its complexities and inequities, informing us why Chicago played such an important role in the early development of country and folk music (and) later served as a place where the music entered new sonic realms.

Chicago was, as Guarino puts it in print, an unusual hothouse for creativity, and he explains the reasons why and where, which was mostly in small taverns and clubs.

Having personally and professionally been a small part of this scene, many of the people and places are familiar to me and so I can tell you with a bit of authority that Guarino knows the territory in all its forgotten heroes and nuances.

At 53 years old, Guarino is too young to have witnessed firsthand much of what he writes about, but he hears and appreciates the echoes and has been able to find the threads that connect through the decades.

The stories excite and he puts the reader into the action, then and now.

He was not, for instance, alive when a young man, on his way to New York and a new life as Bob Dylan, showed up on the University of Chicago campus carrying a guitar, harmonica and his given name, Robert Zimmerman.

There he met Elvin Bishop, later an original member of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, who describes him, during an interview with Guarino as, Little chipmunk-faced guy with a flat hat and peacoat on. I said, Oh, this poor bastard seems like a nice guy but hes never going to make it. Listen to that voice. His harmonica playing was useless too.

To bring to life the past Guarino interviewed  in living rooms, nursing homes, everywhere I could find them, he says  hundreds of people who shaped and shared Chicago's musical scene. He mines the past and finds gems.

He chooses, wisely, to begin his book with these words from Win Stracke: Chicago has no entrenched cultural tradition like New York, Boston, Philadelphia or Los Angeles. An idea can grow here without being required to conform  Oh, Im not suggesting that we dont have entrenched cultural organizations here, but by and large a great section of Chicagoans are able to view a new cultural movement without prejudice and with a healthy curiosity.

Never heard of Win Stracke?

Guarino brings him vividly to life, this troubadour to whom music was a pursuit that had dignity, who was hounded by the FBI and believed that musicians were necessary to remind people where they came from and who they could become. He founded the Old Town School of Folk Music, which taught and inspired generations of music makers.

To meet Stracke is worth the price of the book but there is so much more. This city nurtured Bonnie Koloc, John Prine, Fred and Ed Holstein, Mike Bloomfield, Michael Smith  So many more. They found their voices in the taverns and small clubs that persisted, sometimes struggling to survive. Especially true of the country performers and venues, dubbed hillbilly by the press and politicians, and marginalized and even demonized.

As Guarino writes, this book is about Chicagos defining role in these kinds of improbable exchanges among artists who freely reinvented country and folk traditions, and their empowerment by a series of gatekeepers, some of them radical idealists and others hard-knuckled hustlers.

There is John Lair, the brains behind the WLS Barn Dance program, which from the 1920s through World War II was the nations commercial heart of country music, and made him millions. There is Al Grossman, a tough West Sider now best known, if known at all, as Dylans manager. Read the reason why Guarino rightly labels him folk musics most notorious impresario, and about his Gate of Horn, the first folk nightclub, with his performers dressed in suits and ties and his audiences drawn for the suburbs.

More pleasant encounters come when you meet Earl Pionke, who made a mecca of his Earl of Old Town and become the father figure to a generation of folk talents. And there is the unforgettable Richard Harding, whose most famous club was the Quiet Knight and who, over 20 years at various places, gave such performers as Patti Smith and Bruce Springsteen their first Chicago stages, but also doted on local talent. The city eventually shut him down and the last time I saw him, before his death in 2012 of cancer, he was driving a cab.

The book overflows with such characters and wonderful if sometimes sorrowful stories. Many of the people here are fascinating, some are flawed, some fragile. Heres a fun story: The already quite famous Paul Simon called the grand talent Bonnie Koloc and asked if she might show him around the citys folk club scene. She did and later invited him to hear her perform at her home base, the Earl. Simon showed up, Guarino writes, but Gus Johns, the doorman, turned him away because the room was beyond packed and Simon was just another fan.

There is not a page in the book where one cannot sense Guarinos enthusiasm and passion. But this is not a polemic. Its too wildly entertaining for that. As Guarino writes, The idea of Chicago as an incubator for creative movements might sound preposterous, considering its tough character and harsh climate, but thats what it was because the artists who took root there knew how to survive with what they had.

The book will thrill any music fan, but it is something more than that. It gives readers a greater appreciation of the heart and resilience and creativity of this city and its ability to sustain and nurture those talented to persevere. If you can make it here ...

He is especially passionate about the current scene, which he sees as a direct reflection of past booms. The performers are here. The stages are here. Its a good time to be alive and listening and reading.

The beat goes on.

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 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
After traveling across Illinois and with my consulting business, Progressive Agronomy Consulting, I have worked on conservation and nutrient management plans with farmers at all scales. I have seen soil at its unhealthiest and soil at its healthiest. I have seen the power in soil health focused farming practices  witnessed firsthand soil that is bone dry become rich with microbes with the help of living roots and soil health practices.

With seven people dying and dozens injured when a dust cloud enveloped Interstate 55 south of Springfield and made international news, there have been a lot of people commenting about the need to do something to ensure this doesnt happen again. But this isnt unprecedented. The Dust Bowl occurred nearly 100 years ago when the topsoil was left loose without anything to hold it in place. Strong winds picked up the soil and blew it across the Great Plains and all the way to the East Coast.

The month of April in Central Illinois was drier and much windier than normal. With normal rain events, this accident might have never occurred, but only masked the underlying cause.

Farmers need support from leaders at the state level to implement conservation practices to help keep more tragic accidents from occurring. In Illinois, we lose nearly five tons of topsoil per acre per year on average. Much of that erosion is from rain, not wind. Its not as apparent, because it falls from the sky and is less visible. But nearly every lake and reservoir in the state deals with sedimentation from agricultural land that carries with it soil nutrients like phosphorus that cause algal blooms in the middle of the summer or nitrates that can cause blue baby syndrome and other illnesses.

This sedimentation forces municipalities to use more chemicals to treat the drinking water or to spend millions of dollars on reverse osmosis systems. All this cost gets passed down to everyone using that water.

I have learned directly from the farmers I serve that there is a desired need for more outreach programs, peer-to-peer mentor groups, and education on how to manage conservation practices, like cover crops, and strip-till as another tool in the toolbox. Sometimes, the cost of the cover crops and the risk of the unknown keeps farmers from trying new practices.

The truth about erosion is that it is a biological process in the soil, specifically a lack of biological processes  or stable aggregates. These are the lumps and clumps of soil glued together. Without the glue to hold the soil together, Illinois soil is susceptible to wind and water erosion.

I believe that the tenants of soil health outlined by the Natural Resources Conservation Service can help solve the problem.

1) Keep the soil covered as much as possible with residues.

2) Minimize physical, chemical, and biological disturbances.

3) Keep a living root in the soil as much as possible.

4) Add more plant diversity.

But farmers need support through education, technical assistance, and funding in order to adopt these soil health practices.

Often, farmers feel like they are on an island if they are doing something different than their neighboring farmers and feel like they cant talk about what they are doing with them even though the neighbor may be curious about the practice. Peer groups have worked incredibly well for some projects I have been a part of in Kansas to get a greater adoption rate with a greater degree of success.

Farmers can be their own greatest support group when adopting a new farming practice.
Screenshot from body-cam footage released by the New Braunfels Police Department in fall 2020 shows a Jan. 2020 incident in which an NBPD officer pulled over a New Braunfels man for a dirty license plate, and then tased him.
New Braunfels, TX (78130)

Today

Considerable cloudiness. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 84F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly to mostly cloudy with isolated thunderstorms developing late. Low 69F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%.
An exhibition beginning in October will celebrate artists across the region by showcasing works in all media.

And the William King Museum of Art is continuing its call for artists to participate this biennial exhibition, From These Hills: Contemporary Art in the Southern Appalachian Highlands.

The call is open to artists working in any media: painting, drawing, printmaking, photography, sculpture, ceramics, glass, textiles, mixed media, video, or performance art in Southwest Virginia, Northeast Tennessee, Western

North Carolina, Southern West Virginia and Eastern Kentucky.

A release from the museum said the exhibition of new works celebrates the diversity of regional artistic talent and highlights the continuing artistic vision of individuals in our region.

The deadline for submissions is July 1. Accepted artists will be notified via email by Aug. 1. This exhibition will be guest-curated by Ali Printz, painter, curator, and scholar of art and Appalachian regionalism. From These Hills: Contemporary Art in the Southern Appalachian Highlands is an original WKMA biennial exhibition established in 1993.

To request a prospectus, contact Anna Buchanan, Curator of Contemporary Fine Art & Craft, at

abuchanan@wkmuseum.org or call (276) 628-5005 x106, or apply online at williamkingmuseum.org under

Call for Artists. Submission fee of $20 is required upon entry.

From These Hills 2023 will open at the William King Museum of Art on Oct. 5 and will continue through Feb. 4, 2024.
BRISTOL, Va.  Current Bristol Virginia City Council members expressed their desire to switch tourism marketers Tuesday before voting to defund longtime partner Discover Bristol.

That meeting was the second public indication that the present marketer  the Convention and Visitors Bureau of the Bristol Chamber of Commerce  might not receive funding.

The first was March 21 when Explore Bristol  an alternative Twin City tourism agency established by the Bristol Tennessee City Council in 2021  was invited to make a presentation to the Virginia-side council. That prompted Discover Bristol to request and receive the chance to make a second presentation.

After that meeting, Mayor Neal Osborne said the city was exploring its options while noting the city might not fund either one.

At Tuesdays meeting, Councilman Anthony Farnum brought up the tourism issue during a discussion of the fiscal 2023-24 operating budget. Farnum didnt express a position but others did.

The presentation we saw a while back from Explore Bristol was rather impressive, Councilman Michael Pollard said. Those who have been attending our meetings for the past several years may have been disappointed at the track record of presentations from our current DMO [destination marketing organization]. Each year theyve said give us another chance; well do better.

Pollard said theyve been given that chance and now we have a valid alternative which has a proven track record of performance. I cant speak for everyone but I think it may be our desire to move from our present DMO to Explore Bristol.

By law the city must designate and provide some funding to a tourism marketing entity because it charges tax on hotel room rentals.

In making the change, the city will give Explore Bristol $100,000 rather than the $126,000 that appeared in the draft budget for Discover Bristol.

The balance wont be saved. Instead, $20,000 is earmarked to Tri-Cities Airport to assist with efforts to secure a new direct flight to Chicago and the $6,000 balance is expected to go to Believe in Bristol to help fund a fireworks show on July 4.

There had been no subsequent public debate about tourism funding, but Osborne said the change had been discussed internally.

Explore Bristol has provided us with some very exciting opportunity  They will do a good job, I believe, Osborne said. I appreciate the years weve had with Discover Bristol. Its nothing personal but sometimes you have to go a different direction and I feel like that might be in the best interest of being stewards of taxpayer dollars.

Councilman Jake Holmes said taxpayer money was the paramount issue.

Vice Mayor Becky Nave, who works for the Virginia Tourism Corporation, said she has tried to stay out of the conversation.

Asked Thursday, Farnum declined comment.

Since 1985, the Bristol Chamber of Commerce provided tourism marketing services for both Bristol, Tennessee, and Bristol, Virginia, using social media, print and billboard advertising and TV commercials.

Tourism marketing has been a hot button topic on the Virginia side, with funding levels varying widely in recent years. Previous iterations of the Virginia councils questioned what the city was receiving for its investment.

More recently, the Bristol Tennessee City Council became dissatisfied with the Chambers tourism arm and decided to cease funding it at the conclusion of the 2020-21 fiscal year.

Explore Bristol is another name for the Bristol Regional Tourism Marketing Corp., the nonprofit organization established by the Bristol Tennessee City Council in spring 2021. That council allocated $500,000 to initiate operations  $200,000 from hotel room occupancy taxes and $300,000 from federal American Recovery Plan funds.

It is expected to construct a new welcome center on the Tennessee side, at the intersection of Anderson Street and the Volunteer Parkway.

Bristol Tennessee has two board seats, one for the mayor and the other for Councilwoman Lea Powers, who is to serve as long as designated by the City Council.

Leah Ross of the Birthplace of Country Music currently serves as its chair.

The organizations 2022-23 operating budget was $650,200, Executive Director Matt Bolas told the council at the March meeting.

The Bristol Virginia City Council is scheduled to hold final reading on the budget, including the changes, at the May 23 meeting.
CHARLOTTE  UNC Charlotte is selected as an inaugural recipient of up to $1 million from the U.S. National Science Foundations Regional Innovation Engines, or NSF Engines, program. UNC Charlotte is leading one of only 40 unique teams nationwide to receive an NSF Engines Development Award, which help partners collaborate to create economic, societal and technological opportunities for their regions.

The initiative, titled Clean Carolinas, is designed to support the economy and growth of the Carolinas through clean energy technology, including innovations in offshore wind, solar, clean hydrogen and marine energy. It will focus on the technologies energy delivery, storage and integration with the grid.

By leveraging the research and development expertise of UNC Charlotte and its partner groups in North and South Carolina, the initiative will meet the challenges of achieving a net-carbon-neutral electric grid by 2050 and sustaining it for much longer. The initiatives activities will lay a pathway for clean energy innovation leadership in the Carolinas through a focus on technology acceleration, research and development on disruptive technologies and workforce development. The collaborative team will also target diversity, equity, inclusiveness and accessibility to identify community priorities for energy economic development and support upward economic mobility through skills development and well-paying jobs.

The Charlotte metropolitan area is the glue that ties together a two-state region teeming with renewable energy resources, especially offshore wind, said Michael Mazzola, executive director, UNC Charlotte Energy Production and Infrastructure Center and lead principal investigator for the award. The innovation flowing from North and South Carolina industry and research enterprises, such as our world-class universities, will allow made in the Carolinas to support increased social mobility and generate more direct financial investment into our region of service.

The NSF Engines program is a transformational investment for the nation, ensuring the U.S. remains in the vanguard of competitiveness for decades to come.

These NSF Engines Development Awards lay the foundation for emerging hubs of innovation and potential future NSF Engines, said NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan. These awardees are part of the fabric of NSFs vision to create opportunities everywhere and enable innovation anywhere. They will build robust regional partnerships rooted in scientific and technological innovation in every part of our nation. Through these planning awards, NSF is seeding the future for in-place innovation in communities and to grow their regional economies through research and partnerships. This will unleash ideas, talent, pathways and resources to create vibrant innovation ecosystems all across our nation.

By partnering with the North Carolina Department of Commerce and the South Carolina Research Authority, UNC Charlotte will include community priorities from the regions individual households as well as the diverse businesses across the two states. Education and skills training, in addition to research and innovation, will be key, as the initiative includes collaborators from partner institutions, including East Carolina University, N.C. State University, Clemson University, Fayetteville State University, Elizabeth City State University and E4 Carolinas consortium. Clean Carolinas will leverage and complement collaborator NC A&T State University, which in August 2022 was awarded a $23.7 million grant to develop and implement a clean-jobs education and training program called STEPs4GROWTH from the U.S. Department of Commerce Good Jobs Challenge.

The awardees span a broad range of states and regions, reaching geographic areas that have not fully benefited from the technology boom of the past decades. These NSF Engines Development Awards will help organizations create connections and develop their local innovation ecosystems within two years to prepare strong proposals for becoming future NSF Engines, which will each have the opportunity to receive up to $160 million.

Launched by NSFs new Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships and authorized by the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, the NSF Engines program uniquely harnesses the nations science and technology research and development enterprise and regional-level resources. NSF Engines aspire to catalyze robust partnerships to positively impact regional economies, accelerate technology development, address societal challenges, advance national competitiveness and create local, high-wage jobs.
The foresight of a billionaire responsible for creating the wildly popular Fortnight video game has led to permanent protection for a 1,125-acre swath of the Brushy Mountains spanning portions of Wilkes, Alexander and Iredell counties.

The Foothills Conservancy of North Carolina and Blue Ridge Conservancy purchased the property in late April from Tim Sweeny, founder and CEO of Cary-based Epic Games who originally acquired the land with preservation in mind, the environmental groups said in announcing the deal Tuesday.

This project is noteworthy because of the large amount of protected natural land in a single transaction and special because of the partnership Foothills Conservancy and Blue Ridge Conservancy forged to complete the project, said Andrew Kota, executive director of Foothills Conservancy.

The purchased property, in the eastern Brushy Mountains about 50 miles west of Winston-Salem and 40 miles northeast of Hickory, is one of the larger undeveloped tracts in that part of the state.

The opportunity to permanently conserve over 1,000 acres in western North Carolina does not happen often, said Charlie Brady, executive director of the Blue Ridge Conservancy.

Sweeny, who has an estimated net worth of $4.7 billion, according to Forbes, has reportedly purchased about 60,000 acres of forest to keep it from being developed.

As always, were grateful for Mr. Sweeneys effort to secure the land initially and offer it for permanent conservation at a bargain sale price, said Kota, of the Foothills Conservancy.

Funding from another North Carolina billionaire, Fred Stanback, the controversial heir to his familys Stanbacks Headache Powders fortune, truly allowed our land trusts to take advantage of the opportunity, Kota added.

Stanback has donated hundreds of millions of dollars to environmental causes but also has been a financial contributor to several anti-immigration organizations. He has been a proponent of so-called anti-humanist environmentalism, which hinges on the belief that population control is crucial to protecting the environment.

The Foothills Conservancy and Blue Ridge Conservancy, nonprofit land trusts focused on protecting western North Carolinas land and water resources, are nationally accredited through the Land Trust Accreditation Commission.

The effort was a unique collaboration of land trusts working together with a common goal of conservation, in partnership with the landowner, said the Blue Ridge Conservancys Brady. Providing public access on a large scale in the Brushy Mountains will be an increasing focus of Blue Ridge Conservancys work.

The Brushy Mountains, a spur of the larger Blue Ridge range, is home to dozens of apple orchards, in part because the soil and elevation offer ideal growing conditions.
Finnish telecommunications vendor Nokia and Colombian telecommunications operator Claro Colombia has deployed a private 4.9G wireless network edge computing solution at Sociedad Portuaria Puerto Bahia in Cartagena, Colombia, using the Nokia Digital Automation Cloud (DAC), including the Nokia MX Industrial Edge to meet wireless connectivity and OT data processing needs in industries such as terminals.

Powered by Claro Colombia, the private wireless 4.9G network bandwidth and latency and improves network predictability in piers and yards and connect hundreds of workers, sensors, equipment, vehicles and cargo.

Nokia DAC will automate hydrocarbons at the terminal area of Puerto Bahia, tracking up to 20,000 vehicles at peak capacity.

It will connect TOS (Terminal Operation Systems) and personnel, and between cranes in docks and yards to optimise operations.

Sociedad Portuaria Puerto Bahia, in the Bay of Cartagena, handles various types of cargo, mainly general cargo and hydrocarbons, being the largest private hydrocarbon terminal in Colombia.

In its general cargo division, it handles Ro-Ro, project, and bulk cargo. It also provides logistics and offshore exploration services, among others.

With Claro and Nokia deploying an industrial-grade network, we are undoubtedly setting a great scenario for the optimisation of our logistics and the development of various use cases that will lead us to a more effective operation and benefit our customers, suppliers and collaborators, said Puerto Bahia president Rodrigo Torras.

With this reliable, high-performance and low- latency private wireless network, we will achieve the goal of supporting Puerto Bahia to become an Industry 4.0 port, said Claro Colombia president Carlos Zenteno.

With this project, Sociedad Portuaria Puerto Bahia confirms its leadership in the digitalisation of port operations in Latin America and the Caribbean. We thank Sociedad Portuaria Puerto Bahia and Claro Colombia for their trust in Nokia and our solutions. We are excited about our further collaboration, said Nokia president Latin America Osvaldo Di Campli.

This first appeared in the subscription newsletter CommsWire on 11 May 2023.
American automobile manufacturer Ford has confirmed that three of its Ford Mustang Mach-E four-wheel drive EVs will be sold in Australia.

In a statement, Ford Australia confirmed pricing for the three models, online bookings for which opened on Wednesday. A company spokesperson said the vehicles would be available in the last quarter of 2023, with delivery to depend on the order of bookings and allotments to various dealers.

The company requires those making a booking to open an account and pay $1000 to express their intention to purchase a vehicle.

The three vehicles coming to Australia will be:

Mach-E Select: Priced from $79,990 (manufacturer's list price), this model has a 71kWh lithium iron phosphate battery, providing up to 470km on a full charge and an output of 198kW and 430Nm of torque.

Mach-E Premium: Priced from $92,990 (MLP), this model has a 91kWh battery, which means up to 600km on a full charge and an output of 216kW and 430Nm of torque.

Mach-E GT: Priced from $108,990 (MLP), this model has a 91kWh battery and two electric motors, which means up to 490km on a full charge and 358kW and 860Nm of torque.

Weve had a brilliant response to Mustang Mach-E since we confirmed it for Australia a few weeks ago, and cant wait to give customers the chance to get behind the wheel later this year, said Andrew Birkic, president and chief executive of Ford Australia and New Zealand.

The interior of the Mach-E. Supplied

Prices may vary, depending on the dealer.

Mustang Mach-E represents a shift from the traditional and will appeal to a wide range of buyers, said Danni Winter, marketing director, Ford Australia.

This is why weve made the decision to offer customers the chance to reserve their vehicle online. Its a natural part of our digital evolution and allows our customers to shop with their authorised Ford EV dealer 24/7.

Online reservation not only adds a level of convenience to the vehicle purchase process, but also allows for the management of wait times based on reservation by series."
CHICAGO  In 2007, Reginald Lane shot and killed Jwonda Thurston, his pregnant girlfriend. For the murder, he was sentenced to life in prison, following state statute for someone who is found guilty of killing more than one victim.

On Thursday, the Illinois Supreme Court heard arguments in Lanes case, specifically around whether Lane was given the appropriate sentence. Lanes appeal hinges, in part, on whether Thurstons unborn child can be considered a victim of the murder and, more broadly, whether it can be considered an individual under the law.

As it stands now, the unified code of corrections defines a victim as any natural person who suffered direct harm, Talon Nouri, an attorney representing Lane, told the justices. And again, the statute on statutes notes that whenever the word person or individual is used, that person must have first been born alive.

Nouri also cited the states Reproductive Health Act, a 2019 law that, among other things, stipulates fetuses do not have independent rights in the state of Illinois.

In addition to the question of what constitutes a victim under state law, Nouri also argued Lanes sentence was inappropriately applied because the lower courts had sentenced Lane in alignment with the sentence for a double murder.

Lane was convicted of both first-degree murder and killing an unborn child  also called feticide  which are two distinct crimes.

While the penalty section of the intentional homicide of an unborn child statute states that the sentence shall be the same as for first degree murder, the relevant statutes and definitions unambiguously exclude intentional homicide of an unborn child from this double murder sentencing statute, Nouri told the court.

Assistant Attorney General Josh Schneider, who argued the case on behalf of the state, relied on the statutes language identifying the sentence for feticide as being the same as murder.

When a person is convicted of intentional homicide of an unborn child, the sentence they receive for that offense is the same sentence they would receive if they had been convicted of first-degree murder under those same circumstances, Schneider said.

Several justices interrogated that line of reasoning.

So we really dont even need to go to these definitions in the other statutes because the legislature has directed us to apply the same sentence as in murder? Justice Lisa Holder White asked of Schneider.

Thats exactly right, Schneider replied.

The justices took the matter under consideration with a ruling to come at a later, unspecified date.

Stop and frisk

The justices on Thursday also considered the case of Francisco Lozano.

In 2018, Lozano was the subject of a Terry stop, sometimes also known as a stop and frisk or field interview in Chicagos East Garfield Park neighborhood.

From their unmarked police car, two officers noticed Lozano running on a rainy afternoon with his hands in his pockets. After turning their car around, officers saw him run up the stairs of an abandoned apartment building before stopping him and finding that he had a car radio, two screwdrivers and a wallet.

As a result of this stop, Lozano was eventually found guilty of burglary to a vehicle and possession of burglary tools.

Lozanos lawyer, Pamela Rubeo, argued the police violated Lozanos 4th Amendment right against unlawful search and seizure by stopping him for running in the rain.

The parties agree the officers needed reasonable suspicion of criminal activity at the inception of this stop, Rubeo told the court. Here, no such reasonable suspicion existed.

Assistant Attorney General Jalan Jaskot, who argued on behalf of the state, told the justices that police had reasonable suspicion by the time they stopped Lozano, citing the behavior that police observed as they approached Lozano for the stop.

This received some pushback from Chief Justice Mary Jane Theis, who referenced the lower courts opinion on the case.

According to the officers own testimony, the reason why he stopped him was to conduct a field interview and ask him why he was running, Theis noted during oral arguments. Why shouldnt we just accept that was the basis of the stop  as the officer himself described  and evaluate whether that was an appropriate Terry stop?

Jaskot responded that the officers saw Lozano flee to the abandoned building when they turned their car around and that while they were approaching, they saw a bulge in Lozanos front sweatshirt pocket, giving them reasonable suspicion for a Terry stop.

If the facts of this case were simply that the defendant was running in the rain, officers would not have the reasonable suspicion to conduct that Terry stop, Jaskot said after further questioning on the subject from the justices. However that is not all that we have. Very importantly, we also have the defendants evasive behavior where he did change that direction and run towards this building that appeared abandoned.

Rubeo also argued that some evidence in Lozanos trial was inappropriately introduced, as it was taken from statements Lozano gave during his arrest, without being given a Miranda warning, a set of notifications police are required to give people they arrest. These notifications include the right to remain silent, the right to an attorney and the warning that anything a defendant says can be used against them in court, among other things.

In their court filing, the attorney generals office argued that Lozano forfeited the chance to suppress the statements he made before being given a Miranda warning because his lawyers failed to bring it up in his trial.

The case will also be considered by the justices, although there is not a set timeline for how long they will take to deliver a final opinion.

Riding the circuit

The justices did not hear arguments for these cases at their typical venue at the Supreme Courts building in Springfield. Rather, the court was riding the circuit and heard arguments on the campus of Chicago State University on Chicagos South Side.

The court uses a version of the historical practice of judges traveling to district courts to raise public awareness and confidence in the judicial branch, according to Theis.

Its a practice that had been temporarily stalled in recent years amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The court held a virtual riding the circuit program in 2021 in conjunction with schools from the states Second Judicial District in northern Illinois. The courts previous in-person road trip took place in Sept. 2019 when arguments were heard at Lewis & Clark Community College in Godfrey.

It is the first time in our history of this court and our state that we have come to the First District here in Chicago, Theis told attendees of the arguments on Thursday.

Around 300 students from schools around the region attended the event. Following the oral arguments, students participated in a question-and-answer session with representatives of the Cook County Bar Association.
The pay gap between chief executives and rank-and-file employees continued to widen during 2022, particularly for those involved in global apparel manufacturing and domestic retail trade.

The Winston-Salem Journals annual chief executive pay ratio report comes each May after most publicly traded companies have disclosed previous years executive compensation in a regulatory proxy filing.

The 2022 list features 32 publicly traded corporations based in the Triad and Northwest North Carolina, or with a major operational presence in the region.

An element of the Dodd-Frank federal regulatory act that went into effect in 2017 requires corporations to put a number and a dollar-to-dollar ratio to the annual total compensation gap between CEOs and their median employee salary.

Median is defined as the middle value in a list of numbers. Median employee compensation factors in regular pay, overtime, bonuses, incentives, allowances and paid time off.

Kontoor Brands Inc. and HanesBrands Inc. continued to pay at least $1,000 in total compensation to their chief executive for every $1 paid to their median employee.

The CEO pay ratio from Kontoors Scott Baxter was $1,649 to $1 ratio, or $11.4 million compared with $6,920.

Baxters pay ratio was $1,936 to $1 in fiscal 2021 and $1,278 to $1 in fiscal 2020.

The CEO pay ratio for HanesBrands Stephen Bratspies with a $1,203 to $1 ratio, or $9.22 million compared with $7,659.

Bratspies pay ratio was $1,564 to $1 ratio in fiscal 2021 and $699 to $1 in fiscal 2020 in his first  but not full  year in the post.

Rounding out the top-five for 2022 were Lowes Cos. Inc.s Marvin Ellison at $591 to $1, Caterpillar Inc.s Jim Umpleby at $361 to $1 and Wells Fargo & Co.s Charles Scharf at $324 to $1.

Kontoor also has the largest gap when it comes to measuring chief executives annual base salary to annual median employee compensation at $169.80 to $1, followed by Hanesbrands at $159.94 to $1.

As foreign-based corporations, British American Tobacco Plc, owner of Reynolds American Inc., and Gildan Activewear Inc. are not required to participate.

Global impact

What separates Kontoor and HanesBrands from the other corporations is that their median employee salary was affected greatly by having a substantial global workforce where annual wages are much lower than in the U.S.

Using Kontoor as an example, the Greensboro jeans manufacturer said in its 2022 proxy report to shareholders that as of Dec. 31 just 20% of its 14,400 full-time workers, or 2,880, were in the U.S.

Approximately 68% of our workforce is located in Latin America and Mexico, 20% is located in the U.S., and 12% is located in the Asia-Pacific countries, and Europe, Middle East and Africa regions, Kontoor said.

For fiscal 2022, we selected the same median employee as fiscal 2021 and 2020  a full-time, Mexico-based production operator whose fiscal 2022 annual total compensation was $6,920.

Meanwhile, HanesBrands said in its 2022 proxy that 12% of its 51,000 employees, or 6,120, as of Dec. 31 were in the U.S.

More than 80% of its workforce, or 41,000, is employed in large-scale supply chain facilities located primarily in Central America, the Caribbean Basin and Asia.

Hanesbrands identified its global median employee as a dry-cleaning operator located in a supply chain facility in the Dominican Republic who made $7,659 in total compensation in 2022.

Our various compensation programs include the payment of market-based wages and the provision of competitive employee benefits, according to the proxy.

The programs vary from region to region and among our various consolidated subsidiaries in each region, from country to country.

Growing gap

Altogether, the number of corporations with a major Triad presence and at least a $100 to $1 CEO pay ratio gap jumped from 15 to 22 when comparing 2020 and 2022 proxies.

As has been the case in recent CEO pay ratio reports, the stock market has played the biggest role in boosting CEO total compensation.

Many corporations have made stock and stock options awards a primary, if not the largest, financial factor in CEO compensation in recent years.

The strategy has been more directly tying CEO compensation to overall company financial performance, particularly share price.

Another major factor: many chief executives have benefited immensely from company share-repurchase programs, which typically make the remaining outstanding shares more valuable.

Those factors showed up more when reviewing the CEO pay ratios in the financial services, manufacturing, logistics, health care and retail sectors.

Wells Fargos Scharf had the highest base salary for 2022 at $2.5 million  which was unchanged at Scharfs request to the board of directors  as well as total compensation at $24.6 million.

When compared with a median Wells Fargo employee compensation of $75,979, Scharfs CEO pay ratio was $324 to $1 for total compensation and $32.90 to $1 for base salary.

There were three other members of the $20 million-plus total compensation club: Nucor Corp.s Leon Topalian at $23.07 million; Raytheon Technologies Corp.s Greg Hayes at $22.61 million; and Caterpillars Umpleby at $20.61 million.

By comparison, the lowest CEO pay ratio involved Jeffrey Haley with American National Bancshares Inc. at $19 to $1 based on his total compensation of $1.08 million and median employee compensation of $58,400.

Meanwhile, the CEO pay ratio totals dropped significantly for Amazon and Krispy Kreme Inc.  in large part because of sharp declines in stock awards.

For Amazon, chief executive Andrew Jassy went from a $6,474 to $1 ratio in 2021 to $38 to $1 in 2022. Jassy received stock and stock-option awards valued at $211.93 million in 2021 and none in 2022.

For Krispy Kreme, chief executive Mike Tattersfield went from $16.14 million in the value of stock awards in 2021 to just under $1 million in 2022.

Pay ratio background

Since 1994, the annual salary, bonus and incentives, stock awards and other compensation of top-five executives from publicly traded companies have been disclosed by requirement of federal regulators.

The Dodd-Frank act requires corporations to adjust how they determine who their median employee is every three years, a schedule that means that change will show up in the 2021 CEO pay ratio calculations.

The ratio is easy to understand and has served to increase interest in the issue, said Michael Walden, an economics professor at N.C. State University.

Many companies substantially increased CEO compensation during the pandemic. The specifics of CEO pay depend on a broad range of factors, many of which change over time.

Ultimately, the tenure of a CEO will depend on performance, as evaluated by the companys board of directors and major investors, Walden said.

A February 2022 study on CEO pay ratio by researchers from University of South Carolina, Texas Christian and Vanderbilt examined the consequences of mandating disclosure about the pay gap between the CEO and the median employee.

Reporting a high pay ratio is associated with adverse changes in employee morale and productivity, which is partially offset by prior corporate social responsibility investments, according to the authors.

Firms reporting an unexpectedly high ratio take actions to downward adjust the reported metric and tend to include discretionary narrative portraying their employee relations in a positive light, i.e. spin.

The regulation does not constrain compensation practices, so its potential influence stems from enhancing transparency on employee wages and concisely quantifying within-firm vertical pay differentials.

The researchers determined that extensive lobbying efforts and public comments on the proposed rule imply that both advocates and critics believe that pay ratio disclosure could have real effects on the firm and its employees.

Similar to incentives to greenwash environmental disclosures, we posit that managers might emphasize positive aspects of their employee relations in the pay ratio disclosure to soften the employee response.

Because the SEC does not limit what firms can discuss in the pay ratio narrative, such disclosures could be cheap talk, rather than virtuous signals of their actual practices.

Opposition remains

Some pro-business groups, such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and National Retail Federation, fought efforts to disclose the CEO pay ratio.

The retail trade group calls the ratio a flawed measure that unfairly singles out industries, like retail, that have high percentages of part-time, seasonal and entry-level employees.

Failing to adjust for the large number of part-time and seasonal workers inflates retails ratios by an estimated 31% over typical employers.

The federation recommends comparing median earnings that factor out part-time workers.

The chamber has referred to the reporting requirement of the CEO pay ratio as an example of an unnecessary financial burden for corporations.

The chamber said global companies shouldnt be overly criticized because they source lower-cost production offshore; the strategy has led to lower prices for U.S. consumers on many imported products.

The left-leaning Institute for Policy Studies determined that of the 50 publicly traded U.S. corporations with the widest pay ratio gaps in 2018, the typical employee would have to work at least 1,000 years to earn what their CEO made in just one.

The institute said it supports the CEO pay strategy of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.

Sanders favored tax penalties ranging from 0.5 percentage points on pay ratios over $100 to $1, to 5 percentage points on ratios above $500 to $1.

Sanders submitted Senate Resolution 794, titled Tax Excessive CEO Pay Act on March 17, 2021, that includes those penalties. There has been no committee action on the bill.

Sanders was quoted by Bloomberg News during congressional hearing as saying that, It has always been true, of course, that CEOs make more than their employees.

But what has been going on in recent years is totally absurd.

Does not work

The Economic Policy Institute said in an October report that exorbitant CEO pay is a contributor to rising inequality that we could restrain without doing any damage to the wider economy.

CEOs are getting ever-higher pay over time because of their power to set pay and because so much of their pay (more than 80%) is stock-related.

They are not getting higher pay because they are becoming more productive or more skilled than other workers, or because of a shortage of excellent CEO candidates.

The institute said a solution to the CEO pay issue is to enact policy solutions that would both reduce incentives for CEOs to extract economic concessions and limit their ability to do so.

Such policies could include reinstating higher marginal income tax rates at the very top; setting corporate tax rates higher for firms that have higher ratios of CEO-to-worker compensation; using antitrust enforcement and regulation to restrain the excessive market power of firms  and by extension of CEOs; and allowing greater use of say on pay, which allows a firms shareholders to vote on top executives compensation.

The annual CEO pay ratio disclosures may cause some buzz for a few days, but overall the strategy does not work, said Zagros Madjd-Sadjadi, an economics professor at Winston-Salem State University.

Investors do not seem to care about the ratio.

What they care about are results, and with the stock market reaching new heights, the ratio of CEO to worker pay is reaching record levels for those corporations who closely tie stock awards to executive compensation.

CEO compensation, even though it looms large in terms of the average worker, still tends to be very small in terms of a firms realized profits, Madjd-Sadjadi said.

Although federal regulators require corporations to declare the value annually, executives typically are required to wait a specified amount of time  often one to three years  to receive those shares or exercise the options.

The over-weighted emphasis on stock awards and share price represented a major mindset change for executives, said John Quinterno, principal with South by North Strategies Ltd., a Chapel Hill research company specializing in economic and social policy.

Executives previously often viewed themselves more as managers who had to balance competing interests, such as those of shareholders, management, labor, vendors, and communities, Quinterno said.

Once the stock price became the only goal that mattered, as well as the one that determined their compensation, executives became much more aggressive in inflating stock prices in the short term, often to the long-term detriment of the firm.

As a result, Quinterno said that investing in long-term research and development, building in-house capabilities, developing a loyal long-term workforce all have gone by the wayside in favor of penny-wise, pound-foolish strategies like off-shoring and subcontracting.

Such strategies may boost share prices and executive compensation immediately, but the combined effect is to bleed many firms of the abilities to innovate and grow over time.

Plus, as shown during the pandemic, many firms are acutely vulnerable to external shocks and lack any real resiliency.
Drug shortages have been plaguing the American health care system for nearly 20 years. When essential medicines are unavailable, doctors, nurses and pharmacists notice, and patients suffer. Despite hand wringing from hospital administrators and pharmacy managers, no one seems capable of solving this problem.

Shortages are likely to get worse in the coming weeks. Thats because a generic drug manufacturer in the U.S. has gone bankrupt. Akorn Pharmaceuticals in Gurnee, Illinois, shut its facilities and laid off its employees. As a result, the company is pulling 70 medications from pharmacy shelves. This will likely add to the Food and Drug Administrations list of drugs in short supply.

A recent report from the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs identified 295 active drug shortages at the end of 2022. The authors admitted that this is not a new problem and has a negative impact on patient care.

Some of the consequences include ... causing delays in treatment, increasing the risk of medication errors, and requiring the use of less effective alternative treatments. Hospitals have also experienced increased costs, medication waste, and limited staffing capacity to address and remedy shortages.

If anything, the problem is getting worse. According to the Senate Committee report, drug shortages increased by nearly a third last year. Moreover, they last longer. The average product scarcity lasts about 18 months. But the report states that more than 15 critical drug products have been in shortage for over a decade.

Most of the medications in short supply are generic drugs. They have been around for decades and are relatively inexpensive. And that may be part of the problem.

The business of generic drugs is cutthroat. Margins are razor thin and competition can be fierce. Because all generic drugs are deemed identical in quality (an assumption for which evidence is lacking), companies compete on price alone.

Many manufacturers rely on facilities overseas, where labor costs are less expensive than in the U.S. In addition, oversight may be less intensive.

That is presumably why the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs is concerned about drugs in short supply. The Senators worry that overreliance on foreign suppliers could pose a national security risk.

Supply problems may become worse, because no one is actually in charge, overall. The FDA approves generic formulations, but it does not tell companies how much to make. In fact, it doesnt even have a clear and simple way to keep track of how much of a given medicine is on the market, though it does keep a list of drugs in short supply.

The FDAs authority is quite limited. Most people dont realize that the agency can ask a company to recall its product, but in most cases recalls are voluntary. The FDA cannot require recalls. Likewise, it has no ability to get manufacturers to make more of a scarce but critical medicine.

The Senate Committee made some suggestions. First, have U.S. manufacturers make certain medicines often in shortage. Second, assess medical supply chain problems regularly. Third, improve the ability to monitor the supply of essential medicines. Lastly, streamline efforts to respond to shortages. If we could implement these recommendations, we might have a chance to solve the serious problem of drug shortages.
Mothers Day is Sunday, so were running this answer a day early so you still have time to get Mom a gift.

Q: When did the idea of Mothers Day start?N.B.

A: Anna Jarvis is generally recognized as the founder of a national day to recognize mothers. Before Jarvis, there were other people in the United States who started celebrations honoring mothers in their towns. Mothers Day is celebrated in other countries, too.

Julia Ward Howe suggested a Mothers Day in 1872 and picked June 2 as the day. Howe was horrified by the carnage of the Civil War and hoped that the idea of a day for mothers would promote peace. For several years, Howe held an annual Mothers Day observance in Boston. Mary Towles Sasseen, a Kentucky schoolteacher, started Mothers Day celebrations in 1887. Frank E. Hering of Indiana started a campaign for a national observance in 1904.

But Anna Jarvis gets most of the credit for establishing an official Mothers Day. Jarvis, of Grafton, West Virginia, who later moved to Philadelphia, campaigned for a national Mothers Day in 1907. She chose the second Sunday in May and began the custom of wearing a white carnation. Jarvis was inspired by her own mother, a religious and community activist who encouraged people in her West Virginia community to provide relief to both Union and Confederate soldiers during the Civil War.

After her mother died, Jarvis began writing to political leaders, asking for their help in establishing an official day to honor mothers. In 1912, the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church recognized Jarvis as the founder of Mothers Day. Governors in a few states proclaimed a Mothers Day in 1912 and 1913. In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed Mothers Day as a national observance.

Thats not the end of the story. Jarvis spent the rest of her days fighting against what she saw as the commercialization of Mothers Day.

Many of the subjects Jarvis complained about continue to this day. In criticism of florists, she wrote, What will you do to route charlatans, bandits, pirates, racketeers, kidnappers and other termites that would undermine with their greed one of the finest, noblest and truest movements and celebrations?

She didnt like the gifts, greeting cards or candy, either.

A printed card means nothing except that you are too lazy to write to the woman who has done more for you than anyone in the world,  she remarked. And candy! You take a box to Mother  and then eat most of it yourself. A pretty sentiment.

The selling of flowers got her goat, in particular, because she suggested the idea of people wearing a carnation on Mothers Day to honor their mothers. The police had to be called when Jarvis stormed a groups meeting to protest its sale of white flowers for Mothers Day. The group was the American War Mothers.

Jarvis never became a mother herself. She was confined to a nursing home for the last few years of her life and died alone at the age of 84.

Forgiving florists paid her nursing-home bills.
Chief Deputy Sheriff Ben Houchin told police he looked down for a "split second" to change his radio station when he crashed into the girl, according to the crash report.
OMAHA  Many investors worry about the future of Berkshire Hathaway after its legendary CEO Warren Buffett is gone, but most of the conglomerate's companies have already made the transition to reporting to the man who will eventually replace the 92-year-old.

Buffett himself and executives at Berkshire Hathaway companies like See's Candy and Dairy Queen say they don't have any qualms about Vice Chairman Greg Abel's ability to lead the conglomerate. Abel already oversees all of Berkshire's noninsurance businesses. So the main parts of the CEO job he's not already doing are overseeing the insurance side of the company and deciding how to invest Berkshire's nearly $131 billion in cash.

Buffett reassured investors at Saturday's annual meeting that he believes Abel is the right man for the job and that he does know how to allocate capital following the same model Buffett uses even if he's not making those spending decisions now. Plus, Abel did help oversee a number of large acquisitions at Berkshire's utility unit that he led from 2008 until 2018, including the purchases of NV Energy in Nevada for $5.6 billion and Canadian power transmission firm Altalink for nearly $3 billion.

I dont have a second choice. I mean it is that tough to find. But I have also seen Greg in action and I feel 100% comfortable," Buffett said. Greg is inheriting a good business and I think hell make it better.

Buffett confirmed that Abel will eventually take over for him two years ago after his partner Charlie Munger let it slip at that year's annual meeting although Buffett has no plans to retire.

Plus, Berkshire does have two other investment managers and another vice chairman who oversees all the insurance business, including Geico and several large reinsurers, in place although Buffett said it will be up to Abel to decide how much to lean on those folks after he becomes CEO.

Gonzaga University business professor Todd Finkle, who just wrote a new book titled Warren Buffett: Investor and Entrepreneur, said Berkshire shareholders should trust Buffett's judgement about his successor because he has been thinking about his successor for years.

To underscore how long Buffett has been thinking about this, Berkshire showed video clips Saturday of Buffett getting questions about his successor for at least the last 29 years. It probably came up before then too, but Berkshire doesn't have video of the meeting before 1994.

"Hes not going to screw this up, Finkle said at the Gabelli Funds Value Investing Conference on the eve of the annual meeting in Omaha.

CFRA Research analyst Cathy Seifert agreed: The succession issue has been put to rest.

Berkshire managers who have been reporting to Abel instead of Buffett since 2018 said they're confident and impressed with his ability to oversee dozens of different businesses as varied as Israeli tookmaker Iscar Metalworking, industrial conglomerate Marmon Holdings, jeweler Helzberg Diamonds and the NetJets private jet service.

Dairy Queen CEO Troy Bader said that whenever he has any issues related to the brand, Abel is always available, and he reaches out if he ever has any questions. Bader said he's not sure where Abel gets all the time in the day, but his access has been terrific.

Greg is a very quick study. He understands the businesses quickly and hes going to challenge us, as you would expect any really good manager to do, he said.

Buffett is clearly a tough act to follow after leading Berkshire for 58 years and earning a reputation as one of the best investors ever, but Bader said there is a lot of talent among Berkshire's other managers.

Obviously Berkshire has never known anything other than Warren and Charlie very well involved, Bader said. But having had the privilege of getting to know so many of the other leaders, Berkshires in very capable hands, and thats a credit again to Warren.

Buffett and Abel joked during a CNBC interview earlier this spring that Abel might even be able to get more out of Berkshire's businesses because he doesn't the history of having acquired them and may ask tougher questions as he gets to know the companies better. But just like Buffett, Abel largely lets the businesses run themselves, talking strategy with them periodically and offering advice whenever they need it. But the CEOs of each Berkshire business make the day-to-day decision except that they'll run any big spending decisions past headquarters.

Brooks Running CEO Jim Weber said Abel approaches the businesses with the background of an operator who helped build the Berkshire Hathaway Energy utility unit as opposed to Buffett's background as an investor. Abel may even direct a few more pointed questions about Brooks' competition to Weber because unlike Buffett, Abel is a runner who wants to try on the shoes not just talk numbers. But he still provides similar oversight.

We definitely see hes got hes got the brain of an operator. And so in that sense, there is a different slate of questions that are, I think, more in tune with business topics and issues, Weber said. But at the end of the day, you know, the relationship is, is still kind of working the same for us.

See's Candy Pat Egan said shareholders should know that Abel is remarkable in his own right.

Gregs singularly talented. Hes an amazing guy, Egan said. So in terms of leadership, we have no, no concerns whatsoever.

Photos: Berkshire Hathaway 2023 annual shareholders meeting weekend in Omaha
Plans for a vacant site in downtown Omaha would bring a grocery store, retailers, office space and mixed-rate housing to the city's urban core.

Proposals for the site of Omaha's former Civic Auditorium have for years come and gone, but a plan announced Thursday by the firm White Lotus Group brings developers one step closer to breaking ground.

The real estate development group envisions a multi-use urban block called Civic Square, with site preparation expected to begin early next year.

The nine-acre area is bordered by 17th and 19th streets to the east and west, and Chicago Street and Capitol Avenue to the north and south.

Civic Square would be bisected by the reintroduction of 18th Street between Chicago and Capitol, and the partial reintroduction of Davenport Street between 17th and 18th Streets. Those changes would increase parking opportunities and accessibility into the interior of the development, according to the press release from White Lotus Group.

The project aims to offer downtown residents a "destination they can walk to or park at easily, a place to buy groceries, work out, shop, dine and convene with friends, said Arun Agarwal, CEO of White Lotus Group.

The design plans for Civic Square will not only fundamentally change the downtown living environment, but the whole Omaha city skyline," Agarwal said.

Built in 1954, the Civic Auditorium for generations was the scene of political rallies, graduation ceremonies, concerts and sporting events. But it outgrew its useful life and was demolished in 2016 and 2017 at a cost of $3.1 million.

An agreement between the city and White Lotus, which purchased the site for about $1.5 million in 2022, gave a June 30, 2023, deadline for the developer to obtain building permits for at least 50% of the square footage of the proposed project, and to submit design plans for the site. If it failed to do so, the agreement says the city will recoup the land at the same price it sold for.

Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert said White Lotus Group has the experience needed to create a new neighborhood.

Civic Square brings life back to one of downtown Omahas most prominent blocks and is part of the great momentum in our urban core, Stothert said. A healthy, successful urban core benefits the entire city.

The development is similar to one White Lotus has proposed in Lincoln at the site where the vacant Pershing Center stands now.

The developer is planning to build 93 affordable housing units on the block bounded by Centennial Mall, 16th, M and N streets. The city also wants to build a new city library on the block, although that would require voters to pass a bond issue.

Top Journal Star photos for May 2023
EL PASO, Texas  The border between the U.S. and Mexico was relatively calm Friday, offering few signs of the chaos that was feared following a rush by worried migrants to enter the U.S. before the end of COVID-19 immigration restrictions.

Less than 24 hours after the rules known as Title 42 were lifted, migrants and government officials were still assessing the effect of the change and the new regulations adopted by President Joe Biden's administration to stabilize the region.

"We did not see any substantial increase in immigration this morning," said Blas Nunez-Neto of the Department of Homeland Security. He said the agency did not yet have specific numbers.

Migrants along the border continued to take their chances getting into the U.S., defying officials shouting for them to turn back. Others hunched over cellphones trying to access the appointment app that is a centerpiece of the new measures. Migrants with appointments walked across a bridge hoping for a new life. Lawsuits sought to stop some of the measures.

The Biden administration said the new system is designed to crack down on illegal crossings and to offer a new legal pathway for migrants.

Migrants are now essentially barred from seeking asylum in the U.S. if they did not first apply online or seek protection in the countries they traveled through. Families allowed in as their immigration cases progress will face curfews and GPS monitoring.

Across the river from El Paso in Ciudad Juarez, migrants watched their cellphones in hopes of getting a coveted appointment to seek entry. Nearby, other migrants were charging their phones on a lamppost to try to get an appointment. Most were resigned to wait.

"I hope it's a little better and that the appointments are streamlined a little more," said Yeremy Depablos, 21, a Venezuelan traveling with seven cousins who has been waiting in the city for a month.

Fearing deportation, Depablos did not want to cross illegally. "We have to do it the legal way."

The legal pathways touted by the administration consist of a program that permits up to 30,000 people a month from Haiti, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela to enter if they apply online with a financial sponsor and enter through an airport.

About 100 processing centers will open in Guatemala, Colombia and elsewhere for migrants to apply to go to the U.S., Spain or Canada. Up to 1,000 can enter daily through land crossings with Mexico if they snag an appointment on the app.

Biden commended Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez for his country's collaboration to establish the migration hubs. The two leaders sat down Friday at the White House for wide-ranging talks on Russias invasion of Ukraine, climate change and other issues.

The Biden administration argues that the current migration quandary facing the Americas is a global problem that needs a global solution  much like refugee crises that impacted Syria, Afghanistan and Ukraine in recent years.

Spain and the U.S., we have common interests about democracy, prosperity and safe, regular and orderly migration patterns," Sanchez said.

The new system could fundamentally alter how migrants come to the southern border.

Biden, who is running for reelection, faces criticism from migrant advocates, who say he's abandoning more humanitarian methods, and from Republicans, who claim he's soft on border security.

Melissa Lopez, executive director for diocesan migrant and refugee services at El Paso said the streets were calm Friday, with few migrants present. She said many migrants told her they are willing to follow the pathway created by the federal government, but there is fear about deportation and possible criminal penalties for people who cross the border illegally.

The lull comes after large numbers of migrants crossed the border in hopes of being allowed to stay in the U.S. before the Title 42 restrictions expired.

Hundreds of migrants, mostly families, sat in two dozen rows between the border walls between San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico, as Border Patrol agents selected who would be allowed to be processed. When some got up with them, those left behind cheered.

Title 42, in place since March 2020, allowed border officials to quickly return asylum seekers back over the border on grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19. The U.S. declared the national emergency over, ending the restrictions.

Title 42 carried no legal consequences, encouraging repeat attempts. After Thursday, migrants face being barred from entering the U.S. for five years and possible criminal prosecution.

Border Patrol chief Raul Ortiz said Friday in a tweet that the agency apprehended 67,759 people in the last week. That averages out to 9,679 per day  nearly twice the average daily level of 5,200 from March.

It's slightly below the 11,000 figure that authorities said was the upper limit of what they expected after Title 42 end, but it wasn't clear where numbers peaked before Title 42 expired Thursday night.

Border holding facilities were already far beyond capacity. Officials had orders to release people with a notice to report to an immigration office in 60 days if facilities reached 125% capacity or when they were held 60 hours or more. The quick releases were also to be triggered when authorities stopped 7,000 migrants along the border in a day.

Late Thursday, a federal judge temporarily halted the administration's plans to release people into the U.S., and set a court date on whether to extend the ruling.

Other parts of the administration's immigration plan were also in legal peril.

Advocacy groups sued the administration on its new asylum rules minutes before they took effect, alleging the new policy is no different than one adopted by former President Donald Trump, which a court rejected.

Photos: Migrants rush across US border in final hours before pandemic rule expires
The body of a 58-year-old Blair man who had been missing since May 3 was found Thursday at the Desoto National Wildlife Refuge in Washington County.

Authorities found the body of Ronald Harvey on the Nebraska side of the refuge at 12:15 p.m., according to Capt. Aaron Brensel of the Washington County Sheriff's Office.

The Sheriff's Office and other local agencies performed a three-day search of the area after Harvey was reported missing by his family. Harvey was believed to have been mushroom hunting, Brensel said.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Fort Calhoun Fire Department, Blair Fire Department, Omaha Police Department, Douglas County Sheriff's Office and the Harrison County (Iowa) Sheriff's Office all assisted in the search, Brensel said. The Nebraska side of the wildlife refuge was closed to the public during the search.

World-Herald staff writer Dan Crisler contributed to this report.

Most dangerous cities in Nebraska Dangerous Cities in Nebraska 6. South Sioux City 5. Scottsbluff 4. North Platte 3. Lincoln 2. Grand Island 1. Omaha A note about the numbers
"I can't imagine what they're feeling right now," the police chief said. "The loss of a husband and the arrest of a stepson. Our hearts go out to them."
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP)  Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip killed two militant commanders Thursday, while a 70-year-old man was killed by Palestinian rocket fire in the first fatality inside Israel amid the current wave of fighting. The continuing bloodshed, which has left 30 Palestinians dead, came despite Egyptian efforts to broker a cease-fire.

It has been the worst bout of fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza in months, with at least 10 civilians  mostly women and children  among the dead. The conflagration, now in its fourth day, comes at a time of soaring tensions and spiking violence over the past year in the occupied West Bank.

Palestinian militants launched unrelenting rocket barrages into Israel throughout the day. One rocket struck an apartment block in the central Israeli city of Rehovot, killing a 70-year-old man, the MADA rescue service said. It said four others were moderately wounded.

Earlier Thursday, Israeli military pressed ahead with its strikes against the Islamic Jihad militant group and said a senior commander in charge of the groups rocket launching force, Ali Ghali, was killed when his apartment was hit.

Later in the day, Israel said it killed another Islamic Jihad commander who was meant to replace Ghali in southern Gaza. Islamic Jihad confirmed the man, Ahmed Abu Daqqa, was one of its commanders.

The Health Ministry in Gaza said at total of 30 people had have been killed since the fighting erupted. An Associated Press tally showed that among the dead were 14 militants, including at least five Islamic Jihad commanders; 10 civilians; and six others, including four who Israel says were killed in failed rocket launches, whose affiliation remained uncertain.

Late Thursday, the Gaza-based Palestinian Center for Human Rights said its preliminary investigations indicated that three Palestinians, including two children aged 8 and 16, died when homemade rockets had fallen short inside Gaza in three incidents. It said 26 other people were wounded in these cases.

Military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari told Israeli Army Radio that two other militants were also killed in the early morning strike, although no group immediately claimed them as members, and that the rest of the building remained intact.

The apartment was targeted in a very precise way, Hagari said. I hope this leads to a reduction, a blow and a disruption of the Islamic Jihad rocket abilities.

The strikes targeted the top floor of a building in a residential, Qatari-built complex in southern Gaza Strip. The pre-dawn airstrike in the city of Khan Younis caused damage to three surrounding buildings. The complex, known as Hamad City, consists of several tall buildings and thousands of housing units. The strike created panic among residents, with falling debris and shattered glass littering the streets.

My children started crying. I did not see anything because of the dust, broken glasses, and debris, said Abdullah Hemaid, who lives across from the targeted building.

Islamic Jihad said Ghali was a commander in charge of its rocket squad and a member of its armed groups decision-making body. The group has said it will only cease fire if Israel agrees to halt targeted killings of its fighters.

The current round of fighting erupted overnight Tuesday when Israel killed three senior Islamic Jihad commanders in near-simultaneous airstrikes.

On Wednesday, a state-run Egyptian TV station announced that Egypt, a frequent mediator between the sides, had brokered a cease-fire. But with the violence continuing late Thursday, there was still no breakthrough.

The Israeli military says that in its strikes on some 150 targets, it has zeroed in on militants with what it says are precision strikes. But children, among them a 4-year-old, were also killed.

Hagari, the military spokesman, told Army Radio that a quarter of the rockets launched have fallen in Gaza, killing at least four, including a 10-year-old girl, two 16-year-olds and a 51-year-old man. That claim could not immediately be independently confirmed.

Efforts to mediate a cease-fire were still underway Thursday with top Islamic Jihad political bureau member Mohamad al-Hindi arriving to Cairo to discuss details. A delegation of Egyptian mediators also was traveling to Israel, according to Israeli press reports.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said that despite our strenuous efforts, these efforts still have not yielded the desired fruits and results.

Israeli officials declined to comment.

The initial Israeli airstrikes set off a burst of rocket fire on Wednesday that triggered air-raid sirens throughout southern and central Israel.

The military said more than 500 rockets have been fired toward Israel. It said most were intercepted by Israels missile defense system or fell in open areas.

Damage was reported when rockets slammed into buildings that were empty because residents had fled the area. Three buildings in the southern town of Sderot were struck Thursday, officials said, but there were no immediate reports of casualties.

Israel says the airstrikes are a response to a barrage of rocket fire launched last week by Islamic Jihad in response to the death of one of its West Bank members from a hunger strike while in Israeli custody.

Israel has come under international criticism for the high civilian toll. In past conflicts, rights groups have accused Israel of committing war crimes due to high civilian deaths. Israel says it does its utmost to avoid civilian casualties and holds militant groups responsible because they operate in heavily populated residential areas. It also says militants fire rockets indiscriminately at Israeli communities.

Hagari said Israel does its best to avoid harming civilians and that under international norms, there was a proportionate ratio of combatants to noncombatants among the dead in Gaza.

In signs that both sides were trying to show restraint, Israel has avoided attacks on the ruling Hamas militant group, targeting only the smaller and more militant Islamic Jihad. Hamas, which has much more to lose than Islamic Jihad, also has remained on the sidelines.

Israel and Hamas have fought four wars and numerous smaller engagements since the Islamic militant group took control of Gaza in 2007.

The army said that schools would remain closed and restrictions on large gatherings would remain in place in southern Israel until at least Friday. Residents were instructed to stay near bomb shelters.

Meanwhile, in the West Bank, where Israeli-Palestinian violence has surged over the past year, the Palestinian Health Ministry said a 30-year-old man died after he was shot by Israeli troops in a raid on Wednesday, and that a 66-year-old Palestinian man died after he was shot during a gun battle between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants in a refugee camp near the northern West Bank city of Tulkarem on Thursday.

The Israeli army said it has arrested 25 suspected Islamic Jihad members in West Bank raids in recent days.
Nebraska lawmakers moved forward on a bill cutting the states top income tax rate by nearly one-third Thursday, after jettisoning some other proposed income tax changes.

State Sen. Lou Ann Linehan of the Omaha area, the Revenue Committee chairwoman, offered the amendment to narrow LB754, saying the state cannot afford all of the income tax cuts that had been packaged into the measure earlier.

But she said the slimmed-down bill would still return money to taxpayers and make the state more competitive in attracting people and businesses. It would provide about $3.3 billion worth of income tax cuts over six years.

This plan by the governor is huge and it will touch every Nebraskan, she said.

Lawmakers approved her amendment before advancing LB754 to the last of three rounds of consideration on a 37-4 vote. Linehan had introduced LB754 on behalf of Gov. Jim Pillen. It represents one piece of his tax cut and school aid plan.

As advanced Thursday, the bill would cut Nebraskas top individual and corporate income tax rate to 3.99% over six years, speed up full exemption of Social Security benefits, exempt some federal government pensions and offer tax credits for limited numbers of low-income parents and child care providers.

The changes would reduce state revenues by nearly $379 million during the next two years, down from the $558 million price tag on the first-round version of the bill.

Critics of the measure, however, questioned whether Nebraska will be able to afford the income tax cuts provided under LB754, along with a package of property tax cuts, in future years.

Sen. Jane Raybould of Lincoln pointed to signs of potential weakness in the states economy. She called for adding some triggers to the bill, which would halt progression of future tax cuts unless certain fiscal targets are met.

Why do we want to kick the can down the road and tie the hands of future legislators? she asked.

Others criticized the bill for giving the bulk of the tax cuts to wealthier Nebraskans. Sen. George Dungan of Lincoln said the lowest-paid Nebraskans would end up with an average of $5 in tax cuts under the bill. He also said that an estimated 83% of the corporate tax cuts would go to non-Nebraska residents.

As advanced, LB754 would ratchet down the top rate for individual and corporate income taxes to 3.99% by 2027, bringing down the rate paid by taxpayers in the top two individual tax brackets and both corporate brackets.

The top individual rate is 6.64% this year, and the top corporate rate is 7.25%. Both are slated to drop to 5.84% by 2027 under a law passed last year.

At least half of Nebraska income tax filers could save money with the 3.99% tax rate, but the package would offer little for Nebraskans in the middle- to lower-income tax brackets.

Limited numbers of low-income parents and child care providers could benefit from another provision of the bill. That provision would allow up to $15 million a year of tax credits for parents with children in child care  enough to help 15,000 children at most.

It also would offer $2.5 million a year in credits for people who donate to child care programs and another $7.5 million in credits for child care programs and child care workers. The first-round version of LB754 would have allowed $10 million for each of those two credits.

Other components of LB754 would make Social Security benefits fully exempt from income taxes by next year  one year earlier than under current law  and make benefits paid by the Federal Employees Retirement System or the Civil Service Retirement System exempt as well.

Linehans amendment dropped provisions that would have affected smaller groups of taxpayers, including one that would have benefited people who itemize deductions on their federal income tax returns and who hit the federal cap on deducting state and local taxes. Another would have exempted nonresidents from paying Nebraska income taxes on work done while in the state for 15 or fewer days in a year.

Meet the Nebraska state senators making laws in 2023
Columbus Public Schools officials say community engagement will continue after a $53.5 million facilities bond referendum failed during a special election.

The bond would have paid for the following projects: construction of a new K-4 elementary school; classroom additions and dining renovations at Columbus Middle School; several projects at elementary schools; classroom additions at Columbus High School; and space for alternative learning.

The estimated impact it would have had on a home valued at $100,000 would have been an increase of $4 per month, or $48 per year.

Fifty-seven percent of voters cast their ballots against the bond, with 43% voting in favor of it  3,566 versus 2,683.

CPS Superintendent Troy Loeffelholz told the Columbus Telegram that he felt disappointed by the bond measures failure.

I thought the district did a good job of reaching out to the community over the last 18 months to try to get some feedback on a growing enrollment problem, as well as some programming needs, Loeffelholz said. It just didnt turn out our way. It's also information and data to take back to have more discussions and to hopefully come back later with something that the community can rally around and support.

Platte County Election Commissioner Eryn Roberts said 47% of registered voters residing in the CPS district had cast their ballots.

Historically, special elections dont see high voter turnout.

Its pretty low, between 25% and 40%, Roberts said, noting she believed last years first congressional district special election to have had just under 25% voter turnout.

On the bond failing to win voter approval, Loeffelholz said more research needs to be done but pointed to some sticking points, such as the $53.5 million price tag or the possibility of one of the projects killing the measure.

Until we have those conversations with a lot of people, it's going to be hard to define what the why, so to speak, but thats what weve got to do over the next six months to a year and figure out what those barriers were, Loeffelholz said.

The school district announced on May 10 that it will be reaching out to those who voted in the election to find out what they liked or didnt like about the proposal and if there were any areas of concern or that needed clarification.

We don't know what they voted but we can reach out to the 6,200-plus voters, and do some surveying and some polling, invite some people in for some conversations about if they were supportive or not supportive. What can the district do differently? Loeffelholz said.

In 2011, a $28.5 million bond issue that would have funded the construction of a new Columbus Middle School failed. CPS officials had then sought additional community feedback and presented a new proposal  construction of a new Columbus High School, which voters passed in 2014.

Loeffelholz said the school districts approach will be similar this time around, in that they need to get out into the community, ask questions and dig deeper into what people want to see.

The needs are aren't going to go away. We're going to continue to grow as a school district with our enrollment; that's going to put more pressure on our schools as far as space, Loeffelholz said. We have to come out and have a conversation to find out what they will support to help alleviate that strain on the number of kids in our classrooms per teacher.

Construction costs will continue to rise, he added. If voters do decide to give their approval to a similar project down the line, it will most likely cost more money, he said.

The longer you wait, the more costs, Loeffelholz said. We're trying to do something to reduce the burden on taxpayers and not overburden them. We felt like all these things were needs, and none of them are really wants. But, again, weve got to go out and have those tough conversations.

Top Journal Star photos for May 2023
Please see individual websites for your church, cathedral, temple or mosque events and services.

Book discussion by author  9 a.m. May 13. Join Dr. Lee Spitzer for a discussion about his new book, Sympathy, Solidarity and Silence. Spitzer will discuss the Baptist response to the Holocaust as the Fascist movement spread across Europe. Public welcome, Second Baptist Church, 525 N. 25th St.

"Yoga and Compline" sessions  6 p.m. yoga and 7 p.m. compline, May 14. This yoga and worship series is an opportunity to combine the physical and mental body as a spiritual practice through yoga and worship, First-Plymouth Church, 2000 D St.

Weekly mens coffee and grief group meetings  1 p.m. Tuesdays, register at Tabitha.org/Hospice/Bereavement, Scooters, 4500 S. 70th St.

Weekly womens coffee and grief group meetings  2 p.m. Wednesdays, register at Tabitha.org/Hospice/Bereavement, Scooters, 2901 S. 84th St.

Saint John's Bible returns to First-Plymouth  10:30 a.m.-noon May 20. The first handwritten and illuminated Bible text since the Middle Ages will be on public display. The Rev. John Ross, executive director of the Saint John's Bible Heritage Program, will present "The Saint John's Bible - An E.P.I.C. Experience" at the May 20 event and will guest preach at all weekend services, First-Plymouth Church, 2000 D St. Register at addie@firstplymouth.org.

Nebraska Brass concert  3 p.m. May 21. Pops music composed for brass quintet, Saint Paul United Methodist Church, 1144 M St.

Lincoln Choral Artists concert, "A Collaboration and a Calling"  4 p.m. May 21. LCA will work with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln i2Choir, First United Methodist Church, 2723 N. 50th St. Tickets may be purchased at the door or at www.lincolnchoralartists.org.

"First-Plymouth Presents"  5 p.m. May 21. You dont always have to be in a pew on a Sunday morning to enjoy music and a sermon. You can also have food and a beer while listening to an inspiring message. Change things up and try church in a bar, Screamers Family Restaurant, 803 Q St. Free admission.
In 1992, the Nebraska Environmental Trust was created to conserve, enhance, and restore the natural, physical and biological environment through grants issued from the proceeds of the Nebraska Lottery.

The funding, 44.5% of lottery proceeds, was approved by voters in the constitutional amendment establishing the lottery, with no mention of any of that money going to state agencies.

It appears, however, that the Legislature will transfer some $14 million from the environmental trust to the Water Resources Cash Fund, which is overseen by the Department of Water Resources.

Senators, including Lincolns Anna Wishart, argued that, because of language inserted in the state budget bill that would ensure the funds were spent on projects authorized under the statute governing the trust, the transfer of funds would be constitutional.

That could very well be challenged in court by Friends of the Nebraska Environmental Trust, a citizen watchdog group that monitors and supports the trust.

While the transfer may well prove to be constitutional, it violates the intent of the trust as it was conceived and, via the lottery amendment, approved by voters.

It wasnt intended to benefit private interests, nor was it intended to pump up the budgets of state agencies, said Friends president Sandra Scofield, who served as chief of staff for Gov. Ben Nelson when the trust was created.

The transfer isnt the first time that trust funds were being allocated to the natural resources department. But, in the past, DNR had to apply for grants, like any other entity, and has been receiving about $3.3 million a year for its projects.

Further frustrating advocates, the trusts board last year rejected dozens of eligible grants and distributed only $11 million of the available $20 million, again failing to follow the amendments directive.

Additionally, the board just adopted a set of rule changes that are difficult to understand, contradictory, possibly cost prohibitive for smaller organizations and appear not to follow the regulations establishing the trust.

Those rules are certain to be challenged in a negotiated rule making process through the Attorney Generals office  another conflict created by efforts of Govs. Pete Ricketts and Jim Pillen, senators and appointed board members to change the nature of the trust by providing grants to agencies and private entities for agricultural development.

One such grant, a 2020 proposal to pull $1.8 million from conservation organizations and transfer the money to a project to install ethanol blender pumps at gas stations and convenience stores, was challenged in court and later abandoned as the suit was settled out of court.

Citizens shouldnt have to sue to ensure that the trusts funds are being properly allocated, engage in rules negotiations or challenge clearly inappropriate projects in court.

But that appears to be the only way that the Nebraska Environmental Trust will be managed in a manner that follows the wishes of the voters to work to conserve and enhance the states environment.
Lincolnites did not succumb to the campaign of cherry-picked stats and fabrications that characterized our fair city as a ghastly, crime-infested asphalt jungle.

The fear-mongering messages were repeated thousands of times on television, on radio, online and in print over the past 10 weeks. With the near-statewide reach of local television, many Nebraskans beyond our city limits must now be leery of passing through Lincoln, much less visiting, lest they be victims of muggings, mayhem or murder.

As an act of concession and contrition, I suggest the second-place finisher in the mayors race, along with her deep-pocketed supporters, pony up and give a couple of million dollars to the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce for a campaign to restore Lincolns image.

Al Koontz, Lincoln
These are images of people charged with a crime in Racine County. Booking photos are provided by Racine County law enforcement officials. A defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty and convicted.
MOUNT PLEASANT  Hannah Zabel goes to her apprenticeship every day after class.

She attends Case High School in the morning and then works for four or five hours in the afternoon. The apprenticeship has helped put money in her pocket and given her on-the-job experience.

You go in, you work, you learn what you can, Zabel said. It gets you into the workplace  Youre actually doing the job.

Zabel, a senior in the engineering pathway, shared her experience last month during a student roundtable as part of a certification review of the Case Academy for Computer Science, Education and Technical Services.

On April 27, two reviewers with the National Career Academy Coalition, a private company that evaluates schools with academy models, spent a day at Case, 7345 Washington Ave.

The reviewers spoke with students, teachers, administrators and business people about the CSETS Academy, which is intended to provide hands-on experience for Case sophomores, juniors and seniors.

The results of the CSETS Academy review wont be known for a few weeks, but the reviewers seemed impressed.

Students in the academy really feel as if its a family for them, said NCAC reviewer Dave Kipphut. The teachers are totally invested in the students, and its refreshing.

Background

The Racine Unified School Districts academy model began in 2016 at Case, Horlick and Park high schools. It is a career-focused education style that ideally engages high schoolers in what theyre interested in and connects them with community organizations. Students take general courses as freshmen and more specific classes over the next three years.

The CSETS Academy was one of two being reviewed last month at Case, along with the Freshman Academy. Two academies at Horlick were also reviewed in April.

RUSD has 12 academies: four at each Case, Horlick and Park.

Last year, six Racine Unified academies  two each at Case, Horlick and Park  were reviewed. All were certified and received model status from the NCAC based on how well they met the NCACs 10 National Standards of Practice.

The national certification is an indication that the academies are headed in the right direction. RUSDs eventual goal is for all 12 academies to receive model with distinction status, the highest possible grade.

Review day

On the morning of April 27, NCAC reviewers toured Case, speaking with students and teachers in classrooms. They then reviewed the Freshman Academy.

In the afternoon, the reviewers received an overview of the CSETS Academy from administrators before meeting for about 30 minutes each with area business people, students and teachers.

The reviewers then conferred privately for about 10 minutes before meeting again with administrators.

The Journal Times sat in on all of the CSETS Academy meetings other than the reviewers private session.

NCAC reviewers Kipphut and Kelly Henderson had largely positive concluding thoughts.

Your teachers are good, Kipphut told administrators. Theyre a team, and they work well together, and theyre willing to listen to each other, ... and they feel supported by the school.

The main challenges the reviewers mentioned involved dealing with the lasting impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and staff changes.

There needs to be a little bit more intentionality with some pieces, Henderson said. I think that is really because when theres a change in staff and a change in leadership positions, sometimes those little things bubble up  Maybe the systems and processes just need to be a little bit more intentional, but theyre there, and thats the most important thing.

Henderson and Kipphut received a lot of information about the CSETS Academy before going to Case, and they found the in-person visit helpful to better understand it.

Coming in, I had this hazy vision of what was actually happening here, but having been here  sitting and talking to the students, sitting and talking to the teachers, going into the classrooms and talking to the students, its like, Oh, its really happening, Kipphut said.

Meeting feedback

Business people who work with students in the CSETS Academy told Henderson and Kipphut that they appreciate providing hands-on learning and letting students know about the array of potential careers.

Luis Torres, a senior in the construction pathway, said he greatly appreciates teachers who have provided him opportunities for jobs he wasnt previously aware of.

A teacher said apprenticeships provide opportunities for students to get hands-on work in areas they are interested in and may also clarify for students what they do not want to do.

Gabe Bray, a junior in the education pathway, said more opportunities for high schoolers to engage with younger students in classrooms could be helpful.

Other challenges students mentioned were lack of storage space and the quality of materials. For example, they noted that lumber used in class is sometimes wet or warped.

Educators said getting more young women in the academy is an area where the school can improve. According to Case administrators, 76% of the CSETS Academys 390 students are male and 24% are female.

Science teacher Kaitlyn Chao, who is in her second year at Case, said an ongoing challenge is getting newer teachers up to speed on the academy model.

Overall, though, Chao appreciates that the academy model results in more collaboration among teachers. Several educators said they are proud to work with excellent colleagues.

The reviewers also seemed struck by descriptions of an April meeting when Case students provided feedback to teachers on changes that could improve the school.

The fact that theyre able to have those conversations here shows how theres a mutual respect and trust and actual love for each other, Kipphut said.

Educators said it was tough at times to hear students views about what they are doing wrong, but they greatly appreciated hearing them because the input could lead to improvements.

The feedback from our students is a really big piece, a teacher said. I think thats an extremely valuable tool.

Students and staff noted the stresses caused by the pandemic but believe they have dealt with most of those obstacles.

I think weve made a lot of improvements, especially with the hurdle of COVID, Zabel said. I think our academies have done well to develop and grow from getting over that hurdle  I think its just going to get better from here.

Moving forward

The reviewers noted the stress for Case staff to prepare for the review and thanked them for their efforts.

Yall are done, yall can take a breath, Henderson said to administrators at the end of the review.

While completing their review, Henderson and Kipphut said they plan to ask the school for additional information so the CSETS Academy can receive a high score.

We want you all to get as many points as you can, Henderson said.

After many discussions, the reviewers will determine what score the Case CSETS Academy receives. If their final overview was any indication, it seems promising.

Close Jay Torres, a Case High School senior, prepares a bowl of consome Wednesday at Case's Food Truck Adventure. Torres was part of the Birria El Rey food truck team, and she said the culinary class has helped her grow as a person. Graham DeBaker eats ribs from one of the booths at Case High School's Food Truck Festival Wednesday Kameron Lee enjoys a teriyaki chicken lettuce wrap Wednesday at Case High School's Food Truck Festival. Madison Marry, a Case High School senior, hands a customer a Cubano sandwich Wednesday at Case's Food Truck Adventure. Marry was on one of 10 teams composed of Case seniors who showcased their culinary skills during the event. Blake Venegas scarfs down ribs Wednesday at Case High School's Food Truck Adventure. About 40 Case seniors showcased their culinary skills during the event. From left: Case High School students Mayfreici Martinez Jimenez, Estrella Perez and culinary pathway instructor Erica Buskirk participate in Case's Food Truck Adventure on Wednesday. Buskirk always has bittersweet emotions this time of year because it will soon be graduation for seniors, many of whom she has taught for three years. Analia DeBaker enjoys some ribs at Case High School's Food Truck Festival on Wednesday. Lilith Reading, left and Bryonna Billips, two seniors at Case High School, hold up Philly cheesesteak stuffed buns Wednesday at Case's Food Truck Adventure. Reading and Billips were on the Federal Crime Rolls team, and their motto was Were dangerously delicious because thats how we roll. Eight photos from Case High School's Food Truck Festival 10 teams composed of Case High School seniors showcased their culinary skills during a food truck festival Wednesday at Case, 7345 Washington Ave. Jay Torres, a Case High School senior, prepares a bowl of consome Wednesday at Case's Food Truck Adventure. Torres was part of the Birria El Rey food truck team, and she said the culinary class has helped her grow as a person. Graham DeBaker eats ribs from one of the booths at Case High School's Food Truck Festival Wednesday Kameron Lee enjoys a teriyaki chicken lettuce wrap Wednesday at Case High School's Food Truck Festival. Madison Marry, a Case High School senior, hands a customer a Cubano sandwich Wednesday at Case's Food Truck Adventure. Marry was on one of 10 teams composed of Case seniors who showcased their culinary skills during the event. Blake Venegas scarfs down ribs Wednesday at Case High School's Food Truck Adventure. About 40 Case seniors showcased their culinary skills during the event. From left: Case High School students Mayfreici Martinez Jimenez, Estrella Perez and culinary pathway instructor Erica Buskirk participate in Case's Food Truck Adventure on Wednesday. Buskirk always has bittersweet emotions this time of year because it will soon be graduation for seniors, many of whom she has taught for three years. Analia DeBaker enjoys some ribs at Case High School's Food Truck Festival on Wednesday. Lilith Reading, left and Bryonna Billips, two seniors at Case High School, hold up Philly cheesesteak stuffed buns Wednesday at Case's Food Truck Adventure. Reading and Billips were on the Federal Crime Rolls team, and their motto was Were dangerously delicious because thats how we roll.
TOWN OF WATERFORD  Fire protection efforts are getting a boost with the donation of a special tool capable of extinguishing a blaze with an aerosol-like blast.

The fraternal group known as Freemasons has donated a Portable Fire Suppression Tool to the Waterford Police Department so that officers can knock out a fire, possibly even before firefighters arrive.

The device, which is smaller than a briefcase, contains a powdered aerosol substance that is ignited electronically to then suffocate a fire before it can spread in an enclosed structure.

Grant Walden, head of a Freemasons lodge in Milwaukee, said the tool has been credited with extinguishing at least a dozen significant structure fires in Wisconsin in the past year.

Walden, who lives in the Waterford area, said he wanted to be sure his hometown police department had access to the latest and best firefighting equipment.

The donation went to the police department rather than fire department, he said, because police officers often arrive at fire scenes first  and can deploy the portable tool themselves immediately.

Knowing our first responders will have access to this makes you sleep a little more comfortably at night, he said.

Waterford Police Chief Matt Johnson and Lt. John Nelson were on hand Monday to accept the donation during a ceremony at a Waterford Town Board meeting.

The device, which costs $1,100, is distributed by Fire Suppression Solutions LLC of Mequon.

The Freemasons organization has purchased 350 of the tools to donate to police departments statewide as part of a coordinated charitable outreach to improve fire protection in Wisconsin.

The same fraternal group had previously embarked on a campaign to distribute automated external defibrillators to promote cardiac health care on a wide scale.

Mark Mock, president of Fire Suppression Solutions, said the firefighting tool is safer than fire extinguishers because the user does not need to get close to the blaze; rather, the user simply pulls pins to activate the device, and then tosses it into a burning building.

In a space as large as 5,300 square feet, the fire suppression tool can douse a blaze within seconds.

Its not going to replace the fire department, Mock said. But its another tool.

While the device is not reusable, Fire Suppression Solutions has found many insurance companies willing to provide replacement units once they understand the effectiveness and potential savings.

Noting how many fires in Wisconsin have been stopped, Mock said his company is happy to work with the Freemasons group to distribute the equipment statewide.

Were extremely proud and honored to have partnered with the Masons for this program, he said.

5 most common causes of reported house fires 5 most common causes of reported house fires #5. Smoking materials #4. Intentional #3. Electrical distribution and lighting equipment #2. Heating equipment #1. Cooking
1. Yes. The state is missing out on millions in revenue that is going to neighboring states.

2. Yes. But only if the revenue is dedicated to education funding or property tax reduction.

3. No. As with the state lottery, casinos would more heavily impact lower-income Texans.

4. No. Texas has resisted the idea for years, and for good reason: its morally irresponsible.

5. Unsure. It definitely has some economic benefits, but it would be controversial.

Vote

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Killeen, TX (76540)

Today

Generally cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High near 75F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 65F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph.
KEARNEY  A Kearney man has taken a plea deal in a sexual assault case.

Nathan Lilienthal, 41, pleaded no contest in Buffalo County District Court to attempted first-degree sexual assault of a child at least 12 years old but less than 16, a class II felony. As part of the plea deal, Buffalo County Deputy Attorney Melanie Young amended the charge from first-degree sexual assault of a child, a class IB felony. The charge alleges the incident occurred between June 1, 2021, and July 4, 2021.

Young also dropped two counts of felony first-degree sexual assault of a child as part of the plea deal. The dropped charges alleged sexual penetration occurred between July 4, 2021, and August 31, 2021.

A no contest plea is neither an admission nor denial of guilt, but the plea is treated the same as a guilty plea. Sentencing is set for July 13 in Buffalo County District Court.

Court records detailing the allegations are sealed.
KEARNEY  Sofia Hayes wants some time to make a few decisions before she starts her college career.

Thats definitely my reasoning for taking a gap year, said the Kearney Catholic High School senior. My brother actually took a gap year, and he figured out what he wanted to study in college because of that. I dont really see the point of going to college as undecided, when I could just take a year off before college.

While Sofia has decided not to enter college immediately after high school, that doesnt mean she has no direction.

My plan right now  and it might change  is that I might go to Appalachian State University in North Carolina, she said. I hope to study sustainable development with a focus in agricultural ecology. I took a tour of the school, and I loved it.

Before starting college, Sofia hopes to travel to Argentina, perhaps Bolivia or maybe even New Zealand.

My dad is from Argentina, and my whole extended family lives there, she said. I was planning on going there to see my family and just have some time there with them before I head off to college. And my dad owns a farm in Argentina, and I was planning on shadowing my cousin so I could see how the farm works.

Although Sofia is still developing her plans, she might work on the farm for three or four months before traveling to Bolivia to work in a womens shelter.

I wanted to take a gap year because of the culture in Argentina, Sofia said. They really encourage taking extra time. My cousins who live there took a gap year. And I wanted to travel and mainly see if I really wanted to do agroecology. And if Im paying for part of my college expenses, I dont want it to go to waste.

Sophia, 18, who is fluent in Spanish, grew up between Kearney and Argentina with her parents, Chelle and Ezequile Hayes. The experience of living between two cultures helped Sofia have a broader view of the world.

It really made me want to help people, she said. I think that sustainable development is what I want to do for my gap year. I see all these people struggling and I think, oh, it would be really cool to be able to help out and make Argentina a better place  and hopefully the world.

With one of Latin Americas largest economies, Argentina has struggled with a broad and diverse populist movement led by three-time President Juan Peron. Economic mismanagement and political dysfunction continue to define the countrys problems.

Its really sad, Sofia said. Theres just really not a way for people to make money in Argentina.

A friend of her aunts organized a womens shelter in Bolivia. Sofia also has the possibility of traveling to New Zealand with one of her fathers clients.

Traveling alone makes Sofia feel a little anxious, but she counters those feelings with confidence.

But I do know that if something does go wrong, I can figure it out, she said. I plan to travel to Europe this summer with my brother. Hopefully I can get a few traveling lessons from that.

In school, Sofia thrived with her art classes.

I like making stuff with my hands, she said.

With a world of possibilities ahead of her, Sofia feels excited about taking off a year before starting college, both from an experiential and a practical aspect.

My parents are supportive of this, she said about taking time off before furthering her education. They really think that if theyre going to be spending money on my education, they want it to be for a good cause.
Opponents of liquid carbon pipelines rally Nov. 9, 2022, in Cowles Commons in downtown Des Moines. (Kathie Obradovich/Iowa Capital Dispatch)

Sprawling Midwestern pipelines that would carry captured carbon dioxide from ethanol plants and other facilities would change little when they cross state lines.

The proposals would be constructed the same way in Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska and the Dakotas  with carbon steel pipe ranging from 4 to 24 inches in diameter with operating pressures of up to 2,200 pounds per square inch.

But the rules and procedures that determine whether they can be built in the first place vary widely among those states.

They range from seemingly no rules at all in Nebraska to Iowas robust system, which puts all regulation of the pipelines construction and operation into the hands of one governing body.

Yet, even in states with rules that give a measure of protection to people who own land in the path of the pipelines, there are calls to strengthen those protections.

In three of the states, legislation failed this year that would have restricted or prevented the companies from using eminent domain to gain land easements. It remains unclear whether regulators and courts in each of the states will decide that the projects are worthy of that forced power.

Some counties have adopted stricter rules about where the pipelines can be built, and landowners are arguing in court that merely allowing the companies to survey land without permission is unconstitutional.

This is just the beginning, said Vicki Hulse, a northwest Iowa landowner who is challenging Iowas survey law and alluded to further legal challenges as the permit processes advance. Theres a long ways to go.

The most prominent projects have been proposed by Navigator CO2 Ventures and Summit Carbon Solutions.

Navigator wants to build about 1,300 miles of pipe  mostly in Iowa  to transport the greenhouse gas to Illinois for underground sequestration or other commercial purposes.

Summit plans a route of more than 2,000 miles that would end with sequestration in North Dakota.

The Wild West

While Nebraska has laws concerning pipeline transport of hazardous liquids, such as crude oil, it has not adopted regulations or oversight of carbon dioxide pipelines.

A proposal in 2022, which failed to advance in the Nebraska Legislature, was aimed at requiring companies that build carbon dioxide pipelines to remove the pipe once the pipeline was abandoned.

A decade ago, in reaction to the controversial Keystone XL pipeline and its initially proposed route across the states fragile Sandhills, the Nebraska Legislature passed laws governing the routing of hazardous liquid pipelines. But those do not pertain to carbon dioxide projects.

Right now, some counties are considering local ordinances concerning the pipelines, according to Jane Kleeb, founder of Bold Nebraska, the citizen group that led the opposition to the Keystone XL crude oil pipeline. She said at least 430 landowners are rejecting offers to sell right-of-way to carbon dioxide pipeline developers in the Midwest.

Omaha lawyer Brian Jorde, who represents many of those landowners, said he doesnt believe that the pipelines have the right to use eminent domain to obtain right-of-way under Nebraska law, an issue that will likely end up in court.

At this time, none of the companies planning a carbon-capture pipeline in Nebraska  Navigator CO2 Ventures, Carbon America or Summit Carbon Solutions  has filed any eminent domain actions in that state, according to Jorde.

As long as they dont try to use it against any of my clients, theyll be fine, he said.

Jorde thinks Nebraskas lack of a permitting process for carbon dioxide pipelines will benefit landowners if they must fight against eminent domain. Other states with laws about the permitting process explicitly say that eminent domain is allowed for the projects. Nebraska has no such edict.

Similar processes

All the other states have a board or commission to review and decide whether to grant pipeline permits. Some have publicly elected members and others are composed of governors appointees.

North and South Dakota have three-person commissions with elected members.

The commissions in Illinois and Minnesota have five members appointed by their governors, although the Illinois Commerce Commission cannot, by law, have more than three members of the same political party affiliation.

The Iowa Utilities Board has three members who are appointed by Gov. Kim Reynolds, who recently named a new chairperson. That prompted the existing chairperson  who was still set to serve on the board for several years  to step down.

All of the states permit processes share the goals of evaluating the need for the projects, the environmental impacts and the best routes.

Iowa, Illinois and South Dakota hold one final hearing to make those determinations, and Illinois commission has 11 months from the application date to make its decision about whether to issue a permit.

North Dakotas commission holds four final hearings in different parts of the state, the last of which for Summit was held Tuesday.

Minnesota is an outlier: An administrative law judge presides over multiple hearings to determine the need for a pipeline and its proper route. The judge submits a finding of facts to the commission along with legal conclusions and recommendations. Then the commission decides.

Iowa is unique in that it is the only state to empower its board or commission with discretion over eminent domain. In the other states, eminent domain is handled by the courts after pipeline permits are granted.

Landowner interactions

The states also vary widely in how they govern  or dont  the communications among pipeline companies and affected landowners.

Those communications most often pertain to informing the public about the projects, surveying land to help determine a pipeline path, negotiating for easements and, potentially, eminent domain.

All of these are state-by-state, uniquely different permitting processes, said Elizabeth Burns-Thompson, vice president of government and public affairs for Navigator. How and when we communicate with landowners. How and when we go about negotiation.

In Iowa, the companies are required to hold informational meetings in each of the affected counties, after which they can begin negotiations with landowners and survey land without fear of trespassing charges  although that survey law was recently found by a district court judge to be unconstitutional.

There are similar rules for land surveys in the Dakotas, but in Illinois there is nothing in the law that forces the surveys until after a permit is issued and eminent domain is sought.

Negotiations for easements or rights of way can begin whenever in the Dakotas. In Illinois, the companies are required to send notifications by certified mail and can follow up in other ways if there is no response. The companies must generally show a good faith effort to negotiate before starting the eminent domain process.

Legislation that ultimately failed in Iowa this year would have broadly curtailed the companies ability to conduct surveys without landowner permission and would have prevented them from limitless contact in regard to negotiations.

Court challenges so far

Jorde predicted it will be at least three years before all the legal challenges related to the pipeline projects are settled.

Dozens of lawsuits have been filed in Iowa and North and South Dakota regarding the pipelines. Most of them have been initiated by the pipeline companies.

In North Dakota, Summit has sued landowners to get access to their properties for land surveys. A judge in that state recently upheld the law that allows the surveys as constitutional.

In South Dakota, there are more than 100 pending state and federal court proceedings related to the pipeline proposals. Summit has sued landowners to gain access to their property for surveys and counties for moratoriums and other actions that would block construction of its pipeline.

Recently, Summit initiated more than 80 eminent domain proceedings in South Dakota court. Each of those cases will likely take a year or more to decide and must conclude before construction can begin, Jorde said: Thats a humongous roadblock.

And some landowners have sued Summit, claiming the company lacks legal authority to enter their land for surveys or to exercise eminent domain.

In Iowa, Summit and Navigator have sued landowners and counties and also the Iowa Utilities Board to prevent it from releasing certain information they have provided to the board as part of the permit process.

The lawsuits against landowners have sought to obtain injunctions to gain access to their properties, and more than 10 suits are pending in different counties. The landowners are arguing that Iowas pipeline land survey law is unconstitutional, and there is the potential for multiple, conflicting rulings.

In the first case to be decided  one of Navigators lawsuits  a judge ruled that the law is unconstitutional because it does not provide compensation for the duress landowners suffer by the mere act of the forced entries onto their properties. The law provides compensation for actual damage caused to land, which Navigator has said satisfies a constitutional requirement that land cannot be taken without appropriate compensation. In another Iowa county, a judge upheld the constitutionality of the law. A decision by a third judge in another county is pending.

A trial is also pending for a Summit land surveyor who was charged with trespassing in Dickinson County. The Iowa Supreme Court recently declined to review a district court judges decision to let the case proceed to trial.

Paul Hammel of the Nebraska Examiner and Joshua Haiar of the South Dakota Searchlight contributed reporting for this article.
Night perspective at Civic Square, former Civic Auditorium in downtown Omaha. (Courtesy of White Lotus Group and RDG)

OMAHA  A national grocer, affordable housing and a five-story office and retail building are key components of the latest multimillion-dollar plan for the former Civic Auditorium site in downtown Omaha.

New renderings released Thursday show the Civic Square project as about nine acres filled with a parking structure, new roads and multiple buildings that the developer expects will bring a new residential neighborhood feel to the urban core.

The design plans for Civic Square will not only fundamentally change the downtown living environment, but the whole Omaha city skyline, said Arun Agarwal, founder of White Lotus Group.

He foresees distinct signage and architecture at the site  estimated to carry a price tag upwards of $200 million  creating an iconic, south-facing view of the downtown of Nebraskas largest city.

The effort to secure a national grocery store is key to filling a missing piece of a thriving downtown area, Agarwal said.

With interstate and inner-city convenience, Civic Square is the most accessible block downtown  which is especially important for the grocery store component and solving for the food desert designation, he said.

The update on the former auditorium site comes amid a flurry of other downtown private-public developments, including the start of the $600 million Mutual of Omaha office tower, the openings of the $100 million Kiewit Luminarium science museum and the $105 million Steelhouse concert venue, and ongoing work on the last legs of the tri-park makeover.

Site preparation for Civic Square is expected to begin early next year, though the plan faces various approval steps.

Formerly at the site bounded by Capitol Avenue and 17th, 19th and Chicago Streets was the Civic Auditorium  which for generations was Omahas central stage for concerts, graduations, sporting and other events that drew audiences from across the state and beyond its borders.

The worn facility was demolished in 2016-17 after a 60-year run.

An agreement between White Lotus and the city called for the developer to submit design plans and start obtaining permits by July, or the city could buy back the property.

Agarwal told the Nebraska Examiner on Thursday that White Lotus already was on that path, and has started the legal process of dividing the property for various elements of the redevelopment. It also is working with a nonprofit on the housing element.

As plans progress, Agarwal said, White Lotus plans to submit requests for tax-increment financing, an economic development tool authorized decades ago by the Nebraska Legislature.

Currently about 200 housing units are planned, Agarwal said, but that number could grow. Housing will include both affordable and market-rate.

Plans call for the site to be bisected by the reintroduction of 18th Street between Chicago and Capitol, and partial reintroduction of Davenport Street between 17th and 18th Streets.

About 180 on-street angled parking stalls will be created, in addition to the existing 500-stall parking garage on the site.

Large businesses around the Civic Square include Union Pacific Railroad and Kiewit Corp. Creighton University, with nearly 9,000 students, is also nearby. The site is a couple of blocks from the planned streetcar route.

This will be a great addition to our neighborhood, and the grocery store will be valuable to our students and faculty, said the Rev. Daniel Hendrickson, president of Creighton University.

Said Tim Burke, interim president of the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce: The urban core vision is becoming a reality.

White Lotus said it is seeking public input on the project through CivicSquareOmaha.com

The development companys other projects include a housing and mixed-use project on the former Pershing Center site in Lincoln, the relocated site of the Omaha W. Dale Clark Library and a nearly 140-acre industrial site along Interstate 80 in Papillion.

Said Agarwal: Civic Square will offer urban residents and workers the lifestyle they want  a destination they can walk to or park at easily, a place to buy groceries, work out, shop, dine and convene with friends.
Today is May 12, which is National Limerick Day, a day to pay homage to the man who made the short poems widespread  Edward Lear. Lear was an English poet who is known for his nonsense-style, often writing with made-up words, telling tales of Quangle-Wangles, and runcible spoons. He wrote 212 limericks.

The Carthage Wind Orchestra and Concert Band will perform the final concert of this season at 7:30 p.m. today, in A.F. Siebert Chapel on the Carthage campus, 2001 Alford Park Drive. The concert is free and open to the public. No tickets are required. The public can also watch from home through a free livestream. For more details, go to carthage.edu.

National Tourism Week activities continue locally today with the first 100 people at RK News Hallmark, 5914 75th St., receiving a free greeting card (up to a $3.99 value).

Also part of Tourism Week activities locally, stop by the Wisconsin Welcome Center at I-94 and Highway 165 for free sausage and cheese samples (while supplies last), courtesy of Brat Stop. Visit Kenosha staffers are at the center from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily.

The Kenosha Public Museum, 5500 First Ave., is again hosting an exhibit featuring works by members of the Transparent Watercolor Society of America. This is the groups annual national juried exhibition and showcases 80-some paintings from the top transparent watercolor artists in the country. You wont believe what these artists can do with watercolor paints. The show runs through Aug. 6. Admission is free to the museum, open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. museums.kenosha.org/public/

The Anderson Arts Center, 6603 Third Ave. in Kenosha, features works from the Racine Art Guild, plus solo show winners from the Winter Juried Show 2022 and works from the Area Artists Group and Kemper Lakefront Studios. The arts center is open 1 to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. Admission is free. Note: Theres also an on-site gift shop, in case you still need to pick up something for Mom. for Mothers Day.
Ill never forget what my father taught me about credit cards in the days after graduating from college.

Since I was an authorized user on his card, he sat me down at the kitchen table to have a conversation about a few senior-year spending sprees that I had racked up that he covered in full to avoid interest charges.

He talked about differentiating between wants and needs, being careful about spur-of-the-moment purchases, paying in full and on time, and to not consider a credit card to be an extension of my salary. Then he took out the kitchen scissors and cut my credit card to shreds, clearly signaling that I would be on my own forevermore.

It was all very dramatic  and just the education in financial responsibility that I needed.

Which brings me to the theme of todays column. With Mothers Day and Fathers Day celebrations on the horizon, I asked several financial-education experts to share a lesson or two they learned about money from their parents. Heres what they had to say:

Vivian Tsai, chair of the College Savings Foundation: When I got my first job at age 15, my mom made me save half of my paychecks  depositing funds in an investment account before doing anything else with my money. I passed this on to my kids, as well, doing this as they collected paychecks and monetary gifts as teenagers  giving them the choice of putting it into their 529 plan accounts or their nest egg account. Paying oneself first by moving money directly into savings is a great habit that I continue to advocate for all young people.

Vickie Fitzgerald, financial educator and author based in Portland, Oregon: My grandfather, who helped raise me, taught me about supply and demand. When supply is low, like eggs now, the prices go up. He advised me to find lower-priced substitutes that are plentiful and, thus, less expensive. In this case, buy other forms of protein  nuts, nut butter, and you can even use mashed banana for baking.

Kevin Ladd, chief operating officer, Scholarships.com: Growing up in the 70s and 80s, we didnt have much as a lower-middle-class family in a small town in southern Maine. In those days, the cool kids wore Levis jeans, Adidas or Nike sneakers and a number of other name brands. My mom and dad were able to budget very little money for back to school shopping for each of their three school-aged children. Realizing I had few options but to earn my own money, I began selling a small weekly paper called Grit when I was around 12 years old. After that came an actual paper route, and over the course of a summer when I was in eighth grade, I saved almost $200 so I could buy a Schwinn World Sport.

Honestly, I now feel fortunate to be born to a low-income family, affording me lessons in earning, saving and budgeting to which my wealthier classmates were not privy. At the time I felt lesser than those other kids in a lot of ways. As an adult, many years later, I realized how lucky I was not to be handed everything but to have to figure out how to earn the money to pay for it.

Ted Rossman, senior industry analyst, Bankrate.com: My parents taught me the value of a quality education. They sacrificed to put me through college without taking on student debt, which was a tremendous blessing. A college education greatly furthers your earning power and reduces your odds of unemployment. I was very fortunate to be able to graduate without debt, thanks to my parents assistance.

Susan Beacham, chief executive of Money Savvy Generation: I learned silence around money does no one any good. I learned saving is important but spending on life experiences is what colors in the black and white of life and creates humility in your humanity when you see the vast greatness of our world. I learned that money is not the only thing in life that brings a sense of security. Love and family create the balance we all strive to attain.
When New Glarus Brewing Company released its first batch of beer in late 1993, it was far from a household name.

But over the past 30 years, after millions of barrels of beer and an increasingly competitive craft beer market, Deb Carey has guided the company she founded with husband Dan Carey into national prominence, even though its products are only sold in Wisconsin.

Next month, Deb Carey, the companys president, will be honored during a luncheon at the Wisconsin Entrepreneurs Conference presented by the Madison-based Wisconsin Technology Council.

Carey will receive the Ken Hendricks Memorial Seize the Day award at the Italian Community Center in Milwaukee on June 1. The award, which celebrates entrepreneurial leaders who have been crucial to Wisconsins economic growth, is named in honor of the late Ken Hendricks, co-founder of ABC Supply in Beloit and 2006 Seize the Day award winner. Hendricks, a billionaire, died a year later in a fall at his home.

Daniel and Deb have combined their business management and brewing professionalism with a philosophy based on individuality, cooperation and use of 100% natural ingredients to produce world class, hand-crafted beers such as Spotted Cow, the WTC said in a release announcing the award.

Carey is just the latest winner from the Madison area of the Seize the Day award. Others include Jan Eddy of software company Wingra Technologies, and Kevin Conroy of Exact Sciences, both in Madison; Bill Linton of Promega and Jim Berbee of Berbee Information Networks Corp., both in Fitchburg; Fred Foster of Electronic Theatre Controls in Middleton, and Craig and Lea Culver of Culver Franchising System in Prairie du Sac.

A Wisconsin native, Deb Carey became the first woman to found and operate a brewery in the country and has helped pave the way for other female brewers who continue to grow in numbers. Carey was first runner-up for the 2011 National Small Business Person of the Year and met with President Barack Obama on small-business issues in late 2012. A few months later, in February 2013, she sat with first lady Michelle Obama during the State of the Union speech.

The Careys started their business with a 10,000-square-foot brewery along the Little Sugar River and in 2007 opened a $21 million, 75,000-square-foot brewing plant on the villages south side. The sprawling and picturesque facility, on a hill overlooking New Glarus, has undergone multiple expansions over the years and has helped make New Glarus Brewing Company the 12th-largest craft brewer in the country. In 2022, the company produced more than 230,000 barrels of beer.

Spotted Cow, the companys signature beer, launched in 1997.

When we came out with it, there was a lot of resistance. I mean serious resistance. I had a wholesaler, somebody whos important to me in a big market who would not pick up the beer because they said You do not expect us to put something like Spotted Cow on the same sales sheet as Budweiser, do you?, Carey told the Wisconsin State Journal in 2007. My guys in Madison were more used to me so they went along with it but even they were like Do you want to do this? Deb, can you really see a guy walking up to a bar and ordering a Spotted Cow? And Im like, Yeah! But in my mind I was thinking This is either going to be a huge hit or a total flop.
Fave 5: Reporter Kimberly Wethal shares her favorite stories of 2022

In the weeks before I joined the Wisconsin State Journal in September, I was told this: Remember that a higher education institution is like their own city. It has its own character and struggles, defined by the students who learn there and the faculty who teach them.

I have seen this over and over again, and it was particularly clear when I visited UW-Platteville at Richland a week after the University of Wisconsin System ordered degree-fulfilling classes to cease because of low enrollment. During my visit, I found many of the devastated students to be emotionally invested in their campus community  and committed to saving it.

It's why Richland Center grieving the loss of its once-vibrant campus is my top story of 2022.

UW-Madison has its own slate of issues. There, a growing population is pitted against on- and off-campus housing availability. I wrote about the tactics used to clear returning students out of the dorms to make room for freshmen, and the frenzy that ensued as students put their lives on hold to secure housing for next fall.

At Madison Area Technical College, a key issue is how to alleviate barriers their students face just to get into the classroom. Finding adequate child care is one of them  I wrote about the efforts to expand future access at the Goodman South Campus and its four rural campuses.

Much of my beat is hard news, but some of my favorite stories are features of students who make up the character of campus. I wrote about Kirstan Gimse, the student commencement speaker who's achieving her dream of being a scientist that she saw as unattainable.

I'm looking forward to diving deeper into the beat in 2023 and am so grateful for the support of State Journal subscribers that allows me to be one of the few reporters in the state dedicated solely to covering higher education.
Pakistans former Prime Minister Imran Khan has left a high court in Islamabad after it granted him broad protection from arrest in multiple legal cases. Friday's ruling is a victory for the former prime minister in his standoff with the government that sparked days of rioting by his followers. The Islamabad High Court gave Khan protection from arrest for two weeks in connection to a graft charge and protection until Monday on other charges against him. The government, which had vowed to bring Khan into custody, said it would respect the ruling. Khan faces around 100 charges including fomenting violence and corruption.
Eight Winona area high school seniors were awarded scholarships Thursday evening during the Winona Daily News Above & Beyond scholarship award night at Saint Marys University.

The Above & Beyond scholarship program recognizes the efforts of high school seniors across the Winona area who overcame obstacles and hardship to find personal and academic success.

To our Winona Daily News Above & Beyond Winners, were so very proud of you, said retired Winona Daily News Editor Rusty Cunningham. Youve shared your stories and your courage, your talents and your character. Talent is a gift, character is a choice. We admire the courageous choices you made under the most difficult circumstances.

Excerpts of news articles published throughout the winter in the Daily News were read aloud during the ceremony, highlighting the efforts of each student to surmount adversity and challenges while making positive impacts on those around them.

Letting your stories be told and shared through Above & Beyond is incredibly brave. Allowing your vulnerabilities to be written down and read by others is yet another way you reached out, said Joy Rockwell, associate director of financial aid at Saint Marys University.

The 16-year-old program awarded scholarships to each student, sponsored by the Winona Daily News and the Winona Community Fund with support from WNB Financial.

What amazing stories we heard from each of this years Above & Beyond scholarship recipients, said River Valley Media Group Executive Editor Todd Krysiak. I want to thank them, as well as the Winona community that stepped up to support these important scholarships that help make college achievable for these special students.

Minnesota State College and Saint Marys University awarded scholarships to seniors planning on attending, while Winona State University earmarked funds if students chose to attend.

Scholarship funds were made available through WNB Financial for seniors attending college outside of Winona.

Every single one of your stories mentioned how youre already giving back. Youre always here in your communities in, your schools, you make time to reach out to others, Rockwell said. To see if they may be struggling themselves. Thats truly beyond.

Scholarship recipients included:

Olivia Becker, Winona Senior High.

Joelle Hammann, Lewiston-Altura.

Laina Koenig, Cochrane-Fountain City.

Kayleanna Kohner, Cotter.

Grace Meyer, Rushford-Peterson.

Brianna Mullen, Hope Lutheran.

Fred Williams, Mabel-Canton.

Mackenzie Zibrowski, Houston.

Close Olivia Becker, Winona Senior High School senior, at Thursday's Above and Beyond awards. Brianna Mullen, Hope Lutheran senior, at Thursday's Above and Beyond awards. Mackenzie Zibrowski, Houston High School senior, at Thursday's Above and Beyond Awards. Joelle Hammann, Lewiston-Altura High School senior, at Thursday's Above and Beyond awards. Grace Meyer, Rushford-Peterson High School senior at Thursday's Above and Beyond awards. Kayleanna Kohner, a senior at Cotter High School, receives a plaque from River Valley Media Group Executive Editor Todd Krysiak during Thursday's Above and Beyond award ceremony. Joy Rockwell, associate director of financial aid at Saint Mary's University, addresses Above & Beyond award winners and their families at Thursday's awards. Winona Daily News Above & Beyond scholarship recipients Winona area high school seniors receive scholarships as part of the Winona Daily News Above & Beyond program. Olivia Becker, Winona Senior High School senior, at Thursday's Above and Beyond awards. Brianna Mullen, Hope Lutheran senior, at Thursday's Above and Beyond awards. Mackenzie Zibrowski, Houston High School senior, at Thursday's Above and Beyond Awards. Joelle Hammann, Lewiston-Altura High School senior, at Thursday's Above and Beyond awards. Grace Meyer, Rushford-Peterson High School senior at Thursday's Above and Beyond awards. Kayleanna Kohner, a senior at Cotter High School, receives a plaque from River Valley Media Group Executive Editor Todd Krysiak during Thursday's Above and Beyond award ceremony. Joy Rockwell, associate director of financial aid at Saint Mary's University, addresses Above & Beyond award winners and their families at Thursday's awards.
Almost 22 years ago, Kim Grcic bought a Habitat house in Winona, making her the ninth Habitat homebuyer in the area.

The first line of the Winona Daily News article on June 12, 2000 about her story stated, Had Kim Grcic been a quitter, she might not have been standing in her new living room Sunday afternoon

All these years later, that has only become more true. This winter, Habitat for Humanity remodeled Kims living room, taking out carpet that had become a falling hazard and replacing it with beautiful beige wood grain vinyl flooring.

In the time between purchasing her home and today, Kim raised two daughters, Jovana and Faith, while working. She has dealt with disability and health issues at different points over the years, but she always looked forward and never lost sight of her goal to leave the house to her daughters some day.

Raising a family in a safe and steady home has excellent effects on childhood development and outcomes. Children living in precarious housing can experience long-term second-hand effects from the extra financial and emotional stress their parents experience. Kim credits the fact that both her daughters got to go to college to her purchasing of a Habitat home.

Always appreciative and active, Kim doesnt just get by, she gives back. Kim has been a long-standing volunteer in the Habitat for Humanity ReStore, helping with cashiering and inventory, which helps raise money for the next Habitat home. Just last year, Kim volunteered more than 67 hours in the ReStore.

We are so grateful to Habitat for all theyve done for us! Faith Grcic stated. From day 1 until now, I dont know where I would be without the blessing of a place to call my home.

Habitat is just as grateful for the Grcics. From homebuyer to volunteer to repairs client, the Grcics are the exemplars of what Habitat represents: building home, communities and hope.

Its been the Lords blessing to keep me safe and sound in this home during difficult times," Kim said. "It is a relief to know I always have a home to come back to. My girls grew up here and now I get to see my beautiful granddaughters spend time here too, running around and playing.

All those years ago, it would have been impossible for that reporter to know just how true their words were. Kim Grcic is no quitter.
This article appears in the May 12, 2023 issue of Executive Intelligence Review.

MANHATTAN TOWN HALL, APRIL 22

Sare for Senate Campaign Disrupts

Controlled Environment in U.S. Politics

[Print version of this article]

May 6In the early 1960s, the potential existed for sweeping change in the politics of the U.S. and the world at large. The spectacular success of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the American Civil Rights Movement, which had won the battles for desegregation and voting rights, had begun to intersect the international movement against colonialism which had been launched in 1955 with the Bandung Conference and the formation of the Non-Aligned Movement. The British, and their followers in the nascent neo-conservative movement in the U.S., were concerned that the U.S. might veer away from their control and return to the ideas of the American Revolution.

A massive effort was launched to disrupt and coopt American political activism, directed by agencies such as the CIA and FBI, and complemented by a tsunami of cash from private oligarchical founts such as the Ford Foundation. Many of these efforts were exposed to public scrutiny during the 1975 Church Committee hearings in the U.S. Congress, which brought to light such ghastly projects as COINTELPRO and MK-ULTRA.

Nonetheless, after a few unconvincing mea culpas from the intel community, it was back to business as usual. Before long, the Civil Rights Movement had been reduced to a caricature of itself in the form of identity politics, and the voices who had spoken out against imperialism had been silenced, replaced by those demanding austerity and a halt to development in the name of environmentalism.

The sole exception, which stubbornly refused to be manipulated, was the growing movement of Lyndon LaRouche. Consequently, the LaRouche organizations became the target of the largest and most aggressive COINTELPRO program. Huge sums were spent on propaganda to convince conservatives that LaRouche was a dangerous left-winger, and to convince liberals that LaRouche was a dangerous right-winger. These campaigns, combined with a weaponized Department of Justice, which managed to convict and jail LaRouche and several colleagues on preposterous conspiracy charges, created a climate of fear where only the most courageous activists in the U.S. would dare to publicly associate themselves with LaRouche and his ideas.

Today, at long last, this is changing. LaRouches oft-repeated warnings about the inevitable demise of the casino economy, and his steadfast opposition to the neocon wars of choice, have not gone unnoticed, and as the political situation in the U.S. becomes increasingly desperate, a new correlation of forces is emerging. This was evident on April 22 of this year, when the Sare for Senate Campaign organized a Manhattan Town Hall meeting in New York City, both in-person and online, under the theme, Putting Away Childish Things: America in a World Without War.

Putting Away Childish Things

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Sare for Senate Diane Sare

The Sare event saw over 120 attendees from New York and other states, along with around 90 online participants, for a four-hour discussion, with 12 speakers. The gathering brought together diverse political voices that collectively called for the United States to return to its anti-colonial philosophical roots, and to commit to building a community of sovereign nations, in the spirit of John Quincy Adams, Franklin Roosevelt, and John F. Kennedy.

With a nod to her own professional background as a musician, Sare opened the event by introducing a series of art songs, opera arias, spirituals, chorales, and the national anthem, performed by supporters of her campaign, to the end elaborated by poet and philosopher Friedrich Schiller: for the ennobling of the emotions through beauty.

Tara Reade, a former junior staffer for Joe Bidens Senate office, introduced and moderated the event. She cited the outrageous Federal indictment of Uhuru Movement members in St. Petersburg, Florida, just four days earlier, for what the Department of Justice called, sowing discord, as setting a dangerous precedent for anti-war activists. Reade also acknowledged the essential role of Helga Zepp-LaRouche and the Schiller Institute in fostering a global peace movement.

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Courtesy of George Y Zah Tara Reade View full size

Sare for Senate Helga Zepp-LaRouche View full size

Sare for Senate

Helga Zepp-LaRouche, the keynote speaker of the event, highlighted the necessity of introducing her Ten Principles for a New International Security and Development Architecture into the global dialogue. Though her first seven principles may be considered obvious and programmatic, she said, the last three, which focus on the philosophical foundations of a world security and development architecture, are crucial ideas for citizens across the world to realize in order to avert the extinction of the human species, whether through nuclear war or financial breakdown. She emphasized the role of the Global South in turning away from neo-colonialism and creating an alternative, non-dollar based financial system, which has enraged many of the most lunatic Atlanticists. In order for the United States to avert a potential nuclear showdown with Russia and China, Zepp-LaRouche emphasized, citizens must demand that their leaders join the new paradigm, represented emphatically by Chinas Belt and Road Initiative.

The rest of the panel featured significant and exciting speakers, including Janice Kortkamp, a journalist who reported on her experience in Syria; Steven Starr, a nuclear weapons expert who gave a concise picture of a theoretical nuclear conflict between the U.S. and Russia, noting that the potential is even higher than it was in the 1980s; Dennis Speed, a long-time collaborator of Lyndon LaRouche, who recalled the hope and optimism represented by John F. Kennedys famous June 1963 American University speech, and called upon everyone to consider the true meaning of the U.S. Declaration of Independence and restore a government in alignment with the principles of natural law; and Jose Vega, a young member of the LaRouche movement and staff member of the Sare for Senate campaign, who spoke about the interventions he and others have led to confront elected officials and members of the media establishment.

Many other speakers from various political parties, including the Libertarian Party, Green Party, and Peoples Party, praised Diane Sare for helping to break the artificial left-right political matrix, and for bringing together voices to form a coalition dedicated to ending the war regime. Former Libertarian Party candidate Larry Sharpe characterized Dianes candidacy in the following way: Unlike the candidates of the left/right paradigm, who only talk to their major donors, Diane will go anywhere and talk to anyone, based on issues and ideas. Peoples Party National Chair Nick Brana praised Sares role in creating a dialogue among diverse political movements, and for actively calling out these war-mongering politicians through public interventions.

Other presenters included Anthony Gronowicz, history professor and former Green Party candidate for New York City Mayor; Gerald Celente, founder and director of the Trends Research Institute; and Cade Levinson, founder and director of the Scranton Powderly Forum.

Former USMC intelligence officer and UN Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter spoke passionately on the strategic importance of nuclear disarmament. He denounced the preemptive use of nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, done not to defeat Japan, which was already prepared to surrender, but simply to send a signal to the Soviets: dont mess with us! He asserted that, We live in the nation that represents the greatest threat to the world today.

Diane Sare concluded the event, urgently calling upon people to resist the tug of primitive habits and instincts, and recognize that their short existence is only meaningful if it contributes to the immortality of the human species. She asked why Americans tolerate the deep corruption in the U.S. political establishment, citing the fact that the whole world knows who blew up the Nord Stream pipelines, and the recent revelation that Secretary of State Antony Blinken was responsible for deploying the CIA to create an open letter by former intelligence officials to make the ludicrous claim that the Hunter Biden laptop story was a Russian disinformation operation. She insisted that the United States needs to jump off the insane path of endless bank bailouts and financial speculation, return to a Glass-Steagall based system, and increase energy consumption from generation to generation.

Sare also recalled the unjust imprisonment of Lyndon LaRouche, showing clips of LaRouche attorney Odin Andersons 1995 testimony before an independent panel convened to expose Justice Department misconduct in the LaRouche and other cases. LaRouches discoveries in the field of physical economy, including that the cultivation of creative genius is the impetus for a sound, healthy economy, must be studied and implemented, Sare said.

The Enemy Response

The Anglophile establishment is keenly aware of these developments, and they are feeling increasingly vulnerable to any form of criticism. Under the pretext of combatting disinformation, they are struggling to achieve an airtight, totalitarian control over their narrative. However, this has been a daunting task for them, as they attempt to play whack-a-mole with an increasing number of diverse dissident voices.

In response, they have ratcheted up the censorship. The most dramatic of these measures was the firing of Fox News personality Tucker Carlson, announced April 24. This was accompanied by an extensive media smokescreen of purported reasons for the firing, including infighting at the management level of Fox, blowback from the Dominion Voting Systems lawsuit, and any number of unwholesome or bigoted views attributed to Carlson (some of which he may actually hold). This was all done to conceal the actual reason: Carlson was the solitary voice on national news who criticized the neocon war agenda in Ukraine and Syria, while also inviting others onto his show to do so, including political comedian Jimmy Dore, former Congresswoman and Presidential pre-candidate Tulsi Gabbard, and Max Blumenthal and Aaron Mate of The Grayzone news site. To no ones surprise, the networks prime-time viewership dropped by 29.6% after it fired Carlson.

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During the same timeframe, the leadership of the Democratic Party, alarmed by the rising poll numbers of anti-neocon Presidential pre-candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., announced that there would be no primary debates for the 2024 Democratic Presidential nomination, hoping to silence any dissent against Bidens bellicose foreign policy.

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U.S. Senate Candidate Diane Sare View full size

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Meanwhile, Canada has passed a new lawthe Online Streaming Actthat amends the Broadcasting Act. It allows the government regulations to be extended to internet audio-visual content as if it were broadcasting (which is regulated by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications CommissionCRTC). The Justice Center for Constitutional Freedoms released a statement April 28, stating:

[The Online Streaming Act] will fall under the CRTCs jurisdiction to penalize any regulated entity found to be spreading misinformation (according to the CRTCs definition of misinformation) and impose significant fines (up to $250,000 per day) for any breaches of the Act. Every person in Canada, whether a Canadian citizen or not, who accesses a foreign broadcaster is under the scope of this law.

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Courtesy of George Y Zah/Picture Architect.com Ann Wilcox

The U.S. State Department indulged in a spectacular orgy of hypocrisy May 3, designated as World Press Freedom Day, with incessant tweeting and other public utterances to the effect that Journalism is not a crime, and with sanctimonious finger-wagging at Russia over the case of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich. The elephant in the room was, of course, the case of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, still incarcerated at the behest of the U.S., under barbaric conditions in HM Prison Belmarsh, in southeast London.

For the occasion of World Press Freedom Day, a special release by Helga Zepp-LaRouche on the Assange case was distributed at rallies in Washington and other cities. On May 5, Assange himself issued a statement as well. [See texts of both below.]

Secretary of State Blinken was reminded of the continuing injustice to Assange and to journalism generally, by CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin, who staged a brilliant intervention on Blinken during an event hosted by the Washington Posts David Ignatius. Benjamin was a speaker at a Free Assange rally held later that day in Washington, which was also addressed by candidate Diane Sare and Jose Vega, who participated in the mid-day protest marchFuneral Procession for Press Freedomgoing from the Department of Justice to the National Press Club and ending at the Washington Post.
This article appears in the May 12, 2023 issue of Executive Intelligence Review.

Vladimir Vernadsky and Lyndon LaRouche:

The Distinct Power of Noesis and Its Metric

[Print version of this article]

This is the edited address of Richard A. Black, delivered online, at Lomonosov Moscow State University, April 18, 2023, to the conference titled, Globalistics2023: Sustainable Development in the Context of Global Processes. His address was delivered to the panel on The Foundations of the Philosophy of V.I. Vernadsky and the Realities of the 21st Century. Black is the Schiller Institute Representative at the UN in New York City.

Video of the presentation is available here.

Abstract

V.I. Vernadsky elucidates the discontinuous separation between the abiotic domain and the living substance, and between the living substance and the noetic domain. His investigation of the Noosphere, itself, includes analysis of both creative science and of artistic creation: Vernadsky states, The mastery of this cognitive apparatus, little reflected by logic, is a task for the future. L.H. LaRouche, later, proposes a metric for evaluating Mans new fundamental creative discoveries within the Noosphere, when they occur.

Introduction

It is auspicious that moves have recently been taken by both China and Russia toward an increasing emphasis on fundamental science research into the principles governing both the physical, as well as the noetic, universe. Provocatively, the recent years close policy integration at the top between China and Russia has increased the durable sovereignty of each. Chinas President Xi Jinping has recently emphasized that innovation and creativity must be encouraged to accelerate self-reliance in science and technology, while President [Vladimir] Putin very recently proposed: Innovative technology invariably relies on existing fundamental research. Here, just like in culture  we must give researchers greater freedom for creativity. Fundamental science makes its own rules.

Thus, both leaders have called for new policies which foster creativity. So, what is uniquely human creativity, and what are its own rules?

Each of these national leaders, speaking in laymans terms, is focusing on the challenge to accelerate the development of the Noosphere. In my brief remarks today, I will focus on V.I. Vernadskys distinction between the phase space of living matter and that of the Noosphere, and discuss American scientist L.H. LaRouches contributions to (1) defining the uniquely human power of scientific discovery as the standard for noesis, and (2) defining a true metric in the domain of physical economywhich LaRouche named Potential Relative Population Densityas the measurement of the validity, or not, of those new scientific discoveries.

Vernadsky defines three distinct phase spaces: the abiotic, living substance, and the Noosphereeach defined by its own distinct principles. As Vernadsky writes, there is an impassable, sharp, materially energetical boundary between the living and inert substance. Abiogenesis is not known to exist: all the living is derived from the living.

Thus, the principles of all three phase spaces have existed in the universe from the beginning. With the appearance of living matter, with its characteristic biogenic migration of atoms, living matter becomes geologically more powerful than the abiotic domain. With the appearance of noesis in human civilization, the self-development of the Biosphere transforms into the Noosphere, with Man exerting the greatest geological force. But, what are the distinct characteristics of noesis? How do we know its existence?

Noesis: Transcending the Bounds of Logic

In his 1938 book, Scientific Thought as a Planetary Phenomenon, Vernadsky begins to describe the nature of human thought as expressed in mathematics, in the physical sciences, and in the fine arts. He writes:

Logic occupies a special position, in the most intimate manner connected to human thought, embracing equally all of the sciences: both the humanities, on the one hand, and the mathematical sciences, on the other.

But the mechanism of the understanding, tightly linked to speech and conceptsthe logical structure of which is complex, as we shall see  does not encompass the totality of Mans knowledge of reality.

We see and we know, but we know in an everyday, not in a scientific way, that creative scientific thought transcends the bounds of logic. The individual, in his scientific accomplishments, bases himself on phenomena, which are not encompassed by logic. Intuition, inspiration, the basis of the greatest scientific discoveries, proceeding and operating further in a strictly logical manneris not brought forth by either scientific or logical thought, nor is it connected to words or concepts in its genesis.

Thus, noesis transcends logic and deduction; the greatest scientific discoveries have their genesis in intuition, in inspiration. As if from above and outside the problem being confronted.

Vernadskys contemporary Albert Einstein, reflecting on the scientific method of his friend, Max Planck, the physicist and accomplished pianist, once wrote:

The state of mind which furnished the driving power here resembles that of the devotee or the lover. The long-sustained effort is not inspired by any set plan or purpose. Its inspiration arises from a hunger of the soul.

Vernadsky points to an identity of the nature of discovery in the realm of the physical sciences and that of fine arts. Far from the reductionists view that the process of discovery is derived from deduction, induction, or any form of logic lattice, rather, discovery represents a leap, which overthrows those axioms now exposed as false, which had underlain previous authoritative knowledge. He writes:

We only see that a large realm of phenomena, which possesses a rigorously lawful, most intrinsic, relationship to the social order, and ultimately, to the biosphereeven more to the Noospherenamely, the world of artistic creation, is not reducible in any meaningful way in any of its parts; for example, in music or architecture, to verbal representation; and yet [artistic creation] exerts a great influence on the scientific analysis of reality. The mastery of this cognitive apparatus, little reflected by logic, is a task for the future. [Emphasis added.]

Among the examples of such true noetic action: Max Plancks discovery of the quantum; Albert Einsteins replacing the distinct conceptions of energy and matter, space and time, with the principle of physical space-time; and the 1782 Mozart and Haydn discovery in musical compositional methodlater, further developed by Beethovenknown to musicians as the principle of Motivfuhrung, or, motivic thorough-composition. A bust of the great Ludwig van Beethoven graces the title page of a paper by LaRouche, Beethoven as a Physical Scientist.

The Cognitive Processes of a Discovery of Principle

It is fashionable these days, in the West, to soften the rigor of classical education, and to blur Vernadskys absolute distinction between Man and animal life; in fact, Vernadsky was no zero-growth environmentalist, as some have claimed! Citing the 19181919 work of Nicolai [German physiologist Georg Friedrich Nicolai ed.], and considering the revolutionary new potential of what Vernadsky called the energy connected to the atomic nucleus, Vernadsky projected the potential human population of the planet to be over 3 trillion individuals! One need only look at the vast empty expanses today, for example, of Russia, of Canada and of Africa to project what universally available, abundant, dense energy could create!

But, such transformation requires abundant scientific discoveries. In a bold innovation, it is these discoveries of principle which LaRouche specifies as the sole defining characteristic of noesis. In a 2007 paper, SDI Revisited: In Defense of Strategy, LaRouche outlines the character of noesis:

The cognitive power of the human mind, is the only means by which man is enabled to cause the universe to submit increasingly to the human will. Thus, there, in cognition, lies the highest known expression of lawfulness. For reasons ably identified by Vernadsky, the universe of living creatures is, as some notable ancient Greeks insisted, hylozoic. It is a universe in which the principle of life reigns over non-living processes, rather than being an epiphenomenon of non-living processes. The evidence on these accounts, is elementary; only self-blinding hysteria, such as empiricism, denies such evidence.

In this configuration, what we are accustomed to regard as physical science, corresponds to those forms of universal action corresponding to validatable universal physical principles: mans mastery over nature, as implicitly measurable in demographic characteristics of populations, per capita and per square kilometer of the Earths surface. However, in order to share and apply this knowledge, we must bring the individual cognitive processes of the members of society to that degree of development of socialized cognitive relations, that the cognitive processes of discovery of principle are themselves efficiently engaged as the primary form of social relations. This condition can be realized only through those modes of cognitive relations associated with Classical forms of artistic composition, and with those studies of the principles of history and statecraft which are, in fact, the natural extensions of valid forms of Classical artistic composition and performance.

Here, LaRouche is taking up what Vernadsky had posed as the task of the future: achieving a greater insight into the nature of artistic creation as a distinct form of noesis.

Figure 1 How the Machine-Tool Principle Is Situated View full size

EIRNS

Figure 1 shows LaRouches flow chart of the noetic process of moving from the discovery of valid principles to their realization in the technology of new machine tools, which, in turn, transform the process of production, resulting in both increased living standards and in the cognitive level of a society.

Thus, in defining the activity of the Noosphere, LaRouche makes three connected points:

1. Only scientific discoveries of principle represent the standard of noesis,

2. Education in society is best organized as pedagogy in the nature of discovery itself, and

3. Classical modes of artistic composition and their assimilation by the population are an essential element for human progress.

This approach dissolves todays prevalent, crippling dichotomy in much of academia in the West, between Naturwissenschaft and Geisteswissenschaftbetween the physical sciences and the humanities.

A Metric of Noetic Activity

The merit, or lack of merit, of a posited new discovery of principle, as well as of the new technologies derived from it, can be measured in the domain of physical economy: Do these new principles and technologies augment or depress the rate of increase of the population density which can be maintained on a given square kilometer of land? How do they affect the potential rate of future discovery? LaRouches metric of potential relative population densitythe capacity for rising rates of increase of population per square kilometer, in tandem with rising energy use per capitaindicates either the happy progress, or the riotous collapse of a national economy.

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In 1994, the renowned scientist Dr. Pobisk Kuznetsovamong whose many accomplishments was the development of life-support systems for the Soviet manned space programpublished his proposal in the Moscow journal, Rossiya 2010, for the introduction of a new unit of account in physical economy, the larouche. Dr. Kuznetsov and LaRouche maintained an intense scientific dialogue throughout the 1990s. Dr. Kuznetsov wrote, Let us introduce the physical magnitude of a larouche, designated La, which gives the number of persons who can be fed from 1 square kilometer, or 100 hectares, during one year. Among the many areas of Dr. Kuznetsovs work was the study of the emergence of living matter, and the necessity of the production of creative new ideas as driving both  the increase in material well-being, and an increase in the intellectual power of the human species.

Vernadsky Forecasts the Future

V.I. Vernadsky elaborated the immense geological force of truthful ideasideas of no weight, no physical form, no smell, unseen. His fearless and creative mind and goodness is the gold standard for young scientists today. I close with a short excerpt from his 1938 Problems of Biogeochemistry II: On the Fundamental Material-Energetic Distinction Between Living and Nonliving Natural Bodies of the Biosphere:

We are living in a brand new, bright geological epoch. Man, through his laborand his conscious relationship to lifeis transforming the envelope of the Earththe geological region of life, the Biosphere. Man is shifting it into a new geological state: Through his labor and his consciousness, the biosphere is in a process of transition to the Noosphere. Man is creating new biogeochemical processes, which never existed before. The face of the Earth is changing profoundly. The stage of the Noosphere is being created. Within the Earths Biosphere, an intense blossoming is in process, the further history of which will be grandiose, it seems to us.

In this geological processwhich is fundamentally biogeochemicala single individual unit, out of the totality of humanitya great personality, whether a scientist, an inventor, or a statesmancan be of fundamental, decisive, directing importance, and can manifest himself as a geological force.

richardblack1776@gmail.com

References

Vernadsky, V.I. Scientific Thought as a Planetary Phenomenon (translated by William Jones), 21st Century Science & Technology, SpringSummer 2012, pp. 1631.

LaRouche, Lyndon H. So, You Wish To Learn All About Economics? New York: The New Benjamin Franklin House, 1984, pp. 2339.

Planck, Max. Where Is Science Going? (1933), Woodbridge, Connecticut: Ox Bow Press, 1981, p. 13.

LaRouche, Lyndon H. SDI Revisited: In Defense of Strategy, Executive Intelligence Review, Vol. 34, No. 7, Feb. 16, 2007, pp. 1718.

LaRouche, Lyndon H. The Return to the Machine Tool Principle, Executive Intelligence Review, Vol. 44, No. 40, Oct. 6, 2017, p. 63.

Vernadsky, V.I. Problems of Biogeochemistry II: On the Fundamental Material-Energetic Distinction Between Living and Non-Living Natural Bodies of the Biosphere (1938), 21st Century Science & Technology, Winter 20002001, pp. 2223.
This editorial appears in the May 12, 2023 issue of Executive Intelligence Review.

[Print version of this editorial]

EDITORIAL

Of Course This Is a Cover-Up!

What Are You Going To Do About It?

May 6Two drones attacked the Kremlin in Moscow on May 3. Within 24 hours, the Russian government had asserted that it considered this an attempted assassination of President Vladimir Putin at the very seat of the Russian State, and it specifically charged that Ukraine was behind the attack, with the backing, logistical and intelligence support, and explicit instructions of the United States, United Kingdom and NATO.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov stated on May 5: We are working on preventing a fall of our relations with the U.S. into the abyss of an open armed conflict. We are already on the verge of this abyss. He added that Russia is literally ready to use any means at its disposal to deter such threats to its security.

The Western response? The government of the United States, the government of the United Kingdom, the European Union leaders, and pretty much the entirety of the mass media in the United States and Europe have all acted like the entire affair is a silly Russian concoction, or at most a minor incident which is being blown out of proportionno investigation, no serious review of policy. All that was forthcoming was a leering grin, along with White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirbys vapid assertion: I can assure you the United States had no role in it whatsoever.

So, what just happened here? An obvious and dangerous provocation is carried out that puts the entire human race at risk, and it is followed by the aggressive message to the world, including you, dear reader: Of course this is a cover-up! What are you going to do about it?

If you do nothing, you are like a lamb being led, without protest, to slaughter.

The same thing happened back in September 2022, when the Nord Stream pipelines were blown up. Again Washington assured the world that it had nothing to do with the matter, a lie so transparent that a 12-year-old wearing a blindfold could see through it. There was no investigation, no review of policyjust a coverupeven after Seymour Hershs revelations on what had actually happened. Again, the message to the world, including you, dear reader, was: Of course this is a cover-up! What are you going to do about it? And: Sure, were fascist beast-men. What of it? Well go to unimagined lengths to keep control of our collapsing unipolar world. Who is going to stand up and stop us?

So, What Will You Do About It?

Lyndon LaRouche often commented that what broke the American spirit in the 1960s, leading to the paradigm shift into deindustrialization and cultural decay, was not so much the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963, as horrific as that was, but the subsequent cover-up of that crime by the Warren Commission. In a 1989 interview that an organization called the International Connection conducted with Lyndon LaRouche when he was incarcerated in the Alexandria Detention Center in Alexandria, Virginia, LaRouche explained the strategic purpose of the JFK assassination:

What they were doing was destabilizing, particularly with the cover-up, the Warren Commission cover-upthe combination of the assassination with the cover-up, actually did destabilize the United States; destabilized the institutions of government of the United States, destroyed the Presidency as an efficient instrument of government, the constitutional instrument.

In a November 22, 2010 article, LaRouche made the same point: The Warren Commission, led by Allen Dulles and John J. McCloy, covered up the British trail, and further terrified two generations of Americans with the flagrant lies.

Again, the message was: Of course this is a cover-up! What are you going to do about it?

But that is a valid question. What are you going to do about it? Doing nothing pretty much guarantees a nuclear confrontation between the U.S. and Russia (and/or with China).

As the invitation to the May 6 Manhattan Project meeting of The LaRouche Organization stated:

Your individual action, joined with others, could be the most crucial factor in changing the response, including even the military response, of several governments to this new circumstance of war-escalation, even in the next days.

The insane drive to carve up Russia, and the vain drive to prop up a hopelessly bankrupt financial non-system, can be derailed by the uncompromising and earned optimism of an aroused, fighting and independent American people, with whom the nations of the world would be relieved, happy and proud to collaborate.
EIR LEAD EDITORIAL FOR FRIDAY MAY 12, 2023

Defense Secretary Ben Wallace Confirms Britain Is Sending Long-Range Missiles to Ukraine

May 11, 2023, 2022 (EIRNS)U.K. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace has confirmed that London is sending Storm Shadow long-range cruise missiles to Kiev, according to TASS. Wallaces announcement follows the earlier confirmation of plans made by U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak during his Feb. 8 pilgrimage to Kiev. Wallace addressed the House of Commons on May 11, describing the move as a calibrated and proportionate response to Russias escalations. The use of Storm Shadow will allow Ukraine to push back Russian forces based within Ukrainian sovereign territory, Wallace said, in an obvious reference to Crimea, Donbass, etc.

The range of the Storm Shadow missiles comes close to 200 miles, which is longer than the HIMARS systems given to Kiev earlier. A senior U.S. military official told CNN that the missile is a real game changer from a range perspective. It should be noted that previous game changers and other forms of wunderwaffen have yet to change anything on the ground for Ukraine, which is being destroyed by their controllers in London and its lackeys in Washington. CNN, citing a Western official, reported that London has received assurances from the Ukrainian government that Storm Shadow missiles would be used only within Ukrainian sovereign territory and not inside Russia, as a clear reference to Crimea, which British officials have described as illegally annexed, identifying it as Ukrainian sovereign territory. However, with the May 3 brazen assault on the Kremlin by Kiev, backed by the British, those assurances will mean nothing to Russia.

The change in the military situation will require a relevant response from Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, commenting on the news. He stated that appropriate decisions would be made by Russian commanders, without indicating what those steps might be. In the past, the Russian policy has been to push Ukrainian forces further out of range, but Moscows response will likely be different and asymmetric, given the unhinged escalation by the British and their proxies in Ukraine.

The Washington Post said London hoped its example would convince the U.S. to follow suit and also provide long-range weapons. Politico also says that President Bidens team is breathing a quiet sigh of relief, according to multiple U.S. officials, who hope it will silence critics who want the U.S. to send ATACMS, which is the equivalent system in the U.S. arsenal. Politico then cites one U.S. official, perhaps the same official, who said our policy on ATACMS has not changed.

This latest phase of escalation by the British should be seen in the context of the growing traction of the peace initiatives coming from China, the Vatican, and Brazil, as well as the growing reality of the actual state of the battlefield in Ukraine.
There is good news for people who hate passwords. Google has added a different way to log in to its services. This new feature employs the use of passkeys.

What are passkeys?

Passkeys represent a safer alternative to passwords and texted confirmation codes. Users will not ever see the passkeys directly. Instead, an online service like Gmail will use them to communicate directly with a trusted device such as your phone or computer to log you in.

All a person has to do is confirm their identity on the device. This confirmation, also known as verification, can take several forms. It could be a PIN unlock code, a fingerprint or face scan, or a physical security dongle.

Google designed its passkeys to work with different kinds of devices. You can use them on iPhones, Mac and Windows computers as well as Googles own Android phones.

Why are passkeys needed?

Thanks to smart hackers and human weakness, passwords are just too easy to steal or defeat. And making them more complex just opens the door to users defeating themselves.

In short, passwords put security and ease of use directly at odds. In addition to getting around these problems, passkeys have one additional strength over passwords. Passkeys are specific to websites, so hackers cannot steal a passkey from one website and then use it to steal from a person's bank account.

How do I start?

The first step to using passkeys is to enable them for your Google account. On any trusted phone or computer, open the browser and sign in to your Google account. Then visit the page g.co/passkeys and select the choice to start using passkeys. The passkey feature is now activated for that account.

If you are on an Apple device, you will first be asked to set up the Keychain app if you are not already using it. It securely stores passwords and now passkeys as well.

The next step is to create the actual passkeys that will connect your trusted device. If you are using an Android phone that is already logged into your Google account, you are most of the way there. Android phones are ready to use passkeys, though you still have to enable the function first.

On the same Google account page noted above, look for the Create a passkey button. Pressing it will open a window and let you create a passkey either on your current device or on another device. There is no wrong choice; the system will simply notify you if that passkey already exists.

If you are on a PC that cannot create a passkey, it will open a QR code that you can scan with the cameras on iPhones and Android devices. You may have to move the phone closer until the message Set up passkey appears. Tap that and you are on your way.

Then what?

From that point on, signing into Google will only require you to enter your email address. If you have gotten passkeys set up correctly, you will simply get a message on your phone or other device asking you for your fingerprint, your face or a PIN.

Of course, your password is still there. But if passkeys take off, the odds are good you will not be needing it very much. You may even choose to delete it from your account someday.

Im John Russell.

David Hamilton reported on this story for the Associated Press. John Russell adapted it for VOA Learning English.

___________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

password  n. a series of numbers, letters, or symbols that allows you to use a computer system

alternative -- n. a choice or option

code -- n. a set of letters, numbers, or symbols that identifies or gives information about something

dongle  n. a small device that plugs into a computer and serves as a security measure

specific  adj. relating to a particular website, person, situation, etc.

app -- n. a computer program that performs a special function

function  n. the special purpose or activity for which a thing exists or is used

QR code  n. a code consisting of black and white squares, typically used for storing URLs or other information
Large numbers of migrants are crossing the United States border just hours before pandemic-related asylum restrictions are set to end. There are fears among migrants that new policies will make it far more difficult to enter the country.

In the early days of the pandemic, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a public health order to stop the spread of COVID-19. The restrictions under the order are widely known as Title 42. It permitted U.S. officials to quickly expel migrants at the border. But it carried no legal threat, leading to repeat border crossing attempts.

The Biden administration has been releasing measures to replace Title 42 restrictions. They include opening processing centers outside the U.S. and screening migrants at the border. After Thursday, migrants face being banned from entering the U.S. for five years and possible criminal prosecution.

Rush to the border

The U.S. Border Patrol stopped about 10,000 migrants on Tuesday, one of its busiest days ever, one official told The Associated Press. That is almost twice the daily average of about 5,200 in March.

And more than 27,000 people had been detained by Customs and Border Protection, the official said, well above capacity. In March, 8,600 were detained.

In a move to clear out crowded holding centers, U.S. Border Patrol agents were told Wednesday to begin releasing some migrants. The agents instructed them to appear at an immigration office in the United States within 60 days, a U.S. official said.

At the same time, the U.S. has introduced new legal pathways into the country. Up to 30,000 people a month from Haiti, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela can enter if they apply online with a financial supporter and enter through an airport. Up to 1,000 can enter daily through land crossings with Mexico if they set up a meeting with government officials.

At the border

William Contreras of Venezuela told the AP that he heard many migrants were released in the United States.

What we understand is that they wont be letting anyone else in, said Contreras friend, Pablo. The man declined to give his last name because he planned to cross the border illegally. Thats the reason for our urgency to cross through the border today, he said.

In San Diego, California, more than 100 migrants, many of them Colombian families, slept between two border walls. They were watched over by Border Patrol agents who had nowhere to take them for processing.

Albino Leon, 51, was traveling with his wife and daughter. News that Title 42 was ending led the family to want to make the trip now.

With the changes they are making to the laws, its now or never, said Leon. He flew to Mexico from Colombia and got past the first border wall to reach U.S. land.

About 400 migrants gathered under strong winds along the Rio Grande River near El Paso, Texas. Major Sean Storrud of the Texas National Guard said his troops have explained to migrants the results of crossing illegally.

The migrants dont really know whats going to happen, Storrud said.

Im Dan Novak.

Dan Novak adapted this story for VOA Learning English based on reporting by The Associated Press.

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Words in This Story

capacity  n. the ability to hold or contain people or things

apply  v. to ask formally for something, usually in writing
Thailand will hold an election on May 14 after nearly 10 years under a military-led government.

Voters will choose from opposition parties, including Pheu Thai and Move Forward, or supporters of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha.

The 69-year-old Prayuth is a former army chief who led a coup in 2014 to take over the government. Later, court decisions permitted him to stay in power.

What to expect

About 52 million of Thailand's population of more than 65 million can vote for members of a new 500-seat House of Representatives to serve four-year-terms.

Voters have two ballots, one for a local representative and the other for a political party on a national level. There are 400 seats for winning candidates and 100 seats for the parties.

Parties winning more than 25 seats can nominate a candidate for prime minister. Those candidates will be put to a vote by the legislature possibly in August. The legislature consists of two bodies, the 500-seat House, and a 250-seat Senate.

Thailand's constitution was rewritten by the military in 2017. The Senate is made up of members appointed by a military group, and most have sided in votes with the ruling, military-backed parties.

To become prime minister, the winning candidate must have the votes of more than half of the combined legislature or 375 members.

Who could win?

Pheu Thai is a political party controlled by the wealthy Shinawatra family. It has a big lead in opinion polls as it did in earlier elections.

Thaksin Shinawatra and his sister Yingluck were both former prime ministers. A military coup removed Thaksin from office in 2006. Yingluck's ouster came during another coup in 2014. They now live in exile. But Thaksins 36-year-old daughter, Paetongtarn, is running as one of the partys candidates.

Move Forward is another opposition party with strong support. The party appeals to young voters. It seeks to change Thailands economy and political structure.

Kanphong Prayoonsak is a Move Forward candidate in Bangkok. He told VOA in early April, Its do or dieits the old ways and powers versus change.

The parties are competing against two parties led by former army chiefs involved in military takeovers: the newly formed United Thai Nation Party, or UTNP, led by Prime Minister Prayuth, and the ruling Palang Pracharat party led by Prawit Wongsuwan.

Both parties get support from the urban middle classes. They are considered to represent the interests of Thailand's wealthy upper class and the military. The two groups have long influenced Thai politics.

Another political party is Bhumjaithai. It has grown with its successful push to make Thailand Asia's first country to legalize the sale of cannabis.

When will we know?

Voting ends at 1000 UTC on Sunday. The election commission says unofficial results should be released that same evening. It aims to certify 95 percent of the votes within 60 days.

The commission and an alliance of media organizations are expected to provide updates on the vote count in the hours after voting stations close.

It might be weeks, possibly months, before Thailand knows what its next government will look like, depending on the outcome of the election.

Im Mario Ritter, Jr.

Hai Do adapted this report for VOA Learning English from VOA News and Reuters sources.

________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

coup n. a sudden attempt to take over the government of a country by a small group, often of military officers

poll n. a public opinion study

versus preposition against

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Chinese police said they detained a ChatGPT user for allegedly using the AI-powered chatbot to create a fake news story about a nonexistent train crash

Its one of the first enforcement actions under a recently enacted Chinese law regulating AI-generated deepfakes  seemingly realistic but fabricated digital images, video or other media.

According to a police report from the northwest Chinese province of Gansu, a man identified only by his surname, Hong, used ChatGPT to create a fake news article about a crash that supposedly led to the deaths of nine construction workers in Gansu.

Twenty-one accounts on a popular social platform, all owned by a media company based in southern China, spread the fake story within a short period of time.

Like most foreign websites and applications, ChatGPT is technically unavailable in China thanks to the countrys Great Firewall, which censors the internet for residents. But determined individuals can gain access via commonly available virtual private network software that bypasses the firewall. The police report did not describe how Hong managed to use ChatGPT.

By the time Gansu security officials realized the article was fake, it had received 15,000 views, according to the report. Police subsequently raided Hongs residence to collect evidence and then took criminal coercive measures against Hong himself. Police use that phrase to describe temporary measures to limit the freedom of a suspect.

The new Chinese deepfake law took effect on Jan. 10. It bans several categories of fake media produced by deep synthesis technologies such as machine learning and virtual reality, but offers only vague definitions for many of these forbidden classes.

According to a translation of the law provided by the crowdsourced site China Law Translate, it prohibits deepfakes used in activities that endanger national security, harm the nations image or societal public interest, or disturb economic or social order. It specifically prohibits the use of such technologies to produce, publish or transmit fake news. MDT/AP
A Hong Kong newspaper announced yesterday it will stop publishing drawings by the citys most prominent political cartoonist after they drew government complaints, in another example of restrictions on speech and media after a Beijing-led crackdown.

Chinese-language newspaper Ming Pao did not explain why it is ending its 40-year partnership with Wong Kei-kwan on Sunday. Wong, better known by the pen name Zunzi, told The Associated Press the decision was made through mutual consultation.

Everyone knows why publication has to be halted, but no one will confirm the reason, he said in a text message to the AP with two emojis showing a laughing face.

His comic drawings caricatured Hong Kong societys frustrations since before the territory was returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

The newspaper has not responded to requests for further comment.

Wong said he feels the citys freedoms of speech and expression are shrinking but that he will continue to create as long as he is able to. He will try to find other channels to publish his cartoons, he said.

Honestly, I appreciate very much that Ming Pao let my cartoons be published until now. If it had been other platforms, the halting of publication would have happened way earlier, Wong said.

Multiple cartoons by Wong have been criticized in recent months by different government agencies, including the security bureau. Most recently, the Home and Youth Affairs Bureau slammed his work for smearing the governments role of appointing local committee members who will choose candidates in district council elections later this year.

In his drawing, a man tells a woman that even if some people failed exams and have health problems, they can still be appointed to the committees as long as the senior officers deemed they are suitable.

According to the government plan to overhaul district councils, local committees staffed by many government supporters will choose about 40% of the 470 seats. The councils were the last major political representative bodies chosen by the public in Hong Kong and will be reduced from some 90% directly elected seats to about 20%, even lower than the level under British rule.

Asked whether the newspapers decision to halt publication of Wongs cartoons was related to the governments criticism, Secretary for Home and Youth Affairs Alice Mak said she wouldnt comment on decisions made by individual organizations.

But for false statements or things that are far from facts, we have to clarify to let residents understand about the truth, she told reporters.

Security minister Chris Tang, who criticized Wongs work last month, insisted the citys residents have the right to freedom of speech and press under the citys constitution and the security law.

If some editors do not want to let someone use their platform to smear and incite dissatisfaction toward the government through misleading allegations, and they stop these activities, it is a very responsible way to handle this, he said.

Other government departments that complained about Wongs drawings have not responded to requests for comment.

In its announcement, Ming Paos editorial department expressed the newspapers gratitude to Wong for witnessing the changing times with them over the last four decades.

The Ming Pao Staff Association on its Facebook page expressed regret that Wongs cartoons will no longer be featured in the newspaper.

Other than news reports, the works of columnists are also a part of Ming Paos core value, it wrote. A diversified society should be inclusive of different voices. We hope all sectors can respect freedom of speech.

The Hong Kong Journalists Association said the incident showed that the space for freedom of speech in the city has further shrunk.

Hong Kong ranked 140th out of 180 countries and territories in Reporters Without Borders latest World Press Freedom Index released last week. The global media watchdog said the city has experienced an unprecedented setback since 2020, when the security law was introduced.

KANIS LEUNG, HONG KONG, MDT/AP
Noval Mall has collaborated with various merchants to offer exclusive Mothers Day privileges until May 14. Customers can choose from a variety of heartwarming gifts to express their love and gratitude to their mothers, as well as exploring a wide range of Mothers Day rewards and offers with their loved ones.

Paul Lee, general manager of Nova Mall, said This Mothers Day, we have prepared a wide range of activities to deliver the sincerest blessings to all mothers. Our goal is to ensure that every family can fully embrace the festive atmosphere and enjoy unexpected surprises and rewards, while creating warm and wonderful memories with their loved ones.

During the promotion period, customers who spend MOP380 or above on a single transaction at participating merchants can participate in the Lets Celebrate Mothers Day @ Nova Mall Instant Lucky Draw.
The total population of Macau increased to 673,600 at the end of March from 672,800 in the previous quarter, an increase which can be largely explained by the rise of non-local students living in the city.

Data from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) shows that new arrivals from mainland China with one-way permits (898) and individuals newly granted right of abode (186) increased by 327 and 102, respectively, quarter-to-quarter. On the other hand, the number of non-resident workers at end-period (154,658) dropped by 254 during the first quarter.

The number of live births decreased during the first quarter of 2023, dropping down from 1141 during the previous quarter to 987 at the end of March, whereas the number of deaths increased by 36 quarter-to-quarter reaching a total of 1,214.

The bureau detailed the three main causes of death during the first quarter of 2023, including respiratory diseases (491 deceases), diseases of the circulatory system (262 deceases) and neoplasms (208 deceases).

A total of 815 marriage registrations were recorded in the first quarter, up by 56 quarter-to-quarter. Staff Reporter
Early this week, over 50 trade delegates from Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand arrived in Macau for a five-day familiarization trip, which includes visits to various attractions and major integrated resorts. According to the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO), the delegation is in the city to discuss business opportunities with 70 representatives from Macaus hotels, travel agencies, integrated tourism and leisure enterprises and tourism-related facilities. Since the start of 2023, the local tourism bureau has successively invited over 330 delegates of the travel trade, media and key opinion leaders from the mainland, Hong Kong, Thailand and Korea to Macau for familiarization visits.

Related
After assessing an increase in Covid-19 infections, the Health Bureau (SSM) issued infographics to educate people about receiving medical support in case they contract Covid-19.

A total of 70 residents tested positive for Covid-19 on May 10. There was also a rise in emergency visits to the public hospital from 600 to 1,000. Alvis Lo, director of the Health Bureau (SSM) said that the medical and health system in Macau can meet the needs of residents and deal with the virus, adding that that bureau has recently mobilized front-

line medical personnel to meet the increased demand for medical consultations.

When there are approximately 1,000 medical consultations per day at the peak of influenza, the average waiting time is about one hour, which is an ideal level, said Lo.

The bureau disclosed days ago that three senior officials in the government recently contracted SARS-CoV-2 for the first time.

Predicting more infections, the SSM encourages patients with breathing difficulties, chronic chest pain or tightness, mental unconsciousness, narcolepsy, or other similar and severe symptoms to immediately seek help from a hospital.

Presently, the epidemic situation in Macau is similar to that on the mainland. Omicron XBB sub-variants  including XBB.1.5, XBB.1.16, XBB.1.9, etc.  are the main new coronavirus strains detected in Macau, the SSM stated.

With the gradual decline of immunity from either natural infection or vaccination, as well as the emergence of new sub-variant strains and an increase in physical interactions, the risks associated with outbreaks have increased, the SSM concluded. AL
China continues its diplomatic push in Europe yesterday with a high-level visit to the Netherlands where Vice President Han Zheng will be meeting the king and the prime minister  and facing questions about its relations with Russia and the European Union.

The visit comes amid difficult relations between China and the West. The 27-nation EU increasingly sees Beijing as a systemic rival on the global stage instead of an ally and economic partner.

Dutch King Willem Alexander received Han early yesterday before Prime Minister Mark Rutte has political talks with the vice president in the afternoon. Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang has also traveled through Western Europe this week, meeting with his German and French counterparts.

On Wednesday, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said that Berlin wants to work in partnership with China everywhere its possible but that it would be naive to ignore the risk of ending up in a position of reliance, including on security issues. It is a view increasingly shared in the West.

The European Union is not specifically advocating decoupling from the economic and geopolitical giant but is proposing de-risking its relations to avoid becoming too dependent on China.

The EU, of which the Netherlands is a founding member, also wants Beijing to be more forceful in addressing the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The visit comes amid diplomatic tensions around proposed new EU trade measures against countries that help the Kremlin to circumvent the blocs sanctions against Russia. The proposal sparked a warning from China that it would retaliate if targeted by such sanctions. MDT/AP
Wynns dedication to providing guests with high-quality catering standards is evident in our sincere belief that inheritance, innovation, and talent cultivation are crucial to the future development of Macao. To this end, Wynn has invested substantial resources in developing a variety of training programs and encouraging team members to participate in international events and industrial competitions in a bid to facilitate a broadening of the horizons of Macaos youth and to enhance the overall competitiveness of the industry. Wynn also actively supports the 1+4 adequate diversification strategy and continuously deepens the integration of tourism and gastronomy to further consolidate Macaos continuing efforts to become a World Center of Tourism and Leisure.

Wynn Leads the Industry with Award-Winning Culinary Services

Several of Wynn Macaus and Wynn Palaces signature restaurants have been honored with multiple international awards this year, which demonstrates the industrys clear recognition of Wynn team members achievements which lend great support to the city in bolstering sustainable tourism development through gastronomy.

Wynns four restaurants garnered a total of seven stars from the MICHELIN Guide Hong Kong & Macau 2023, with Sichuan Moon, Wing Lei and Mizumi each receiving two MICHELIN stars, and Wing Lei Palace once again honored with one MICHELIN star. Supervisor Kit Li of Sichuan Moon became the first in the Hong Kong and Macao SARs to receive the highly acclaimed MICHELIN Guide Service Award by virtue of her attention to detail and dedication to customer satisfaction.

Furthermore, Sichuan Moon together with Wing Lei Palace had the unique honor of being the first two restaurants in Macao to earn a place on the Asias 50 Best Restaurants list. Golden Flower was once again recognized in the 51-100 list of best restaurants, and Wing Lei Palace received the Best Restaurant in Macau honor for the first time this year.

In the 2023 Black Pearl Restaurant Guide, Wing Lei Palace and Mizumi once again received two Black Pearl Diamonds, and SW Steakhouse received the honor of one Black Pearl Diamond. Executive Chief Tam Kwok Fung of Wing Lei Palace has also become the first chef in Macao to be named Chef of the Year in the 2023 Black Pearl Restaurant Guide. Moreover, Wynn collaborated with the Black Pearl Restaurant Guide as the official venue partner to host the Seeking Mountain and Sea to Rediscover the Flavors of China launch event in Macau where a Culinary Discussion Forum was held to foster networking among celebrity chefs and culinary professionals from the two regions.

This year, Wynn Macau continues to hold its exclusive status as the only resort in the world with eight Five-Star Awards from the Forbes Travel Guide (FTG), while Wynn Palace continues to boast the most FTG Five-Star restaurants of any individual resort in the world. The Five-Star Award winners this year are Wing Lei, Golden Flower, Ristorante il Teatro, and Mizumi of Wynn Macau; and Sushi Mizumi, Mizumi, Wing Lei Palace, Sichuan Moon, and SW Steakhouse of Wynn Palace. In addition, Sichuan Moon, Wing Lei Palace, Golden Flower, Mizumi and Wing Lei have been honored in the Top 25 Best Restaurants in Macau list by the South China Morning Posts 100 Top Tables 2023  Hong Kong / Macau Fine Dining Guide.

Nurturing Local Culinary Talent for Future Growth of the City of Gastronomy

Wynn has been continually inviting award-winning celebrity chefs from overseas and mainland China to jointly host the Guest Chef Dining Series and masterclasses in Macao. Moreover, Wynn also regularly runs culinary expertise workshops with local tertiary institutions including the Macao Institute for Tourism Studies (IFTM) and the Macau University of Science and Technology. Wynn Food & Beverage Academy specially invited Thai celebrity chefs Paisarn Cheewinsiriwat, Kanyarat Jib Thanomsaeng, and Num Weerawat Triyasenawat to demonstrate their expertise in Macao in April this year, giving participants a deeper understanding of the true essence of different cuisines, how they are prepared, and shared a wealth of culinary experience with local catering professionals and students. By proactively collaborating with local educational institutions, Wynn hopes to nurture more outstanding culinary talent for Macao and inject new vitality and creativity into the catering industry to further its prosperity.

Encouraging Young People to Elevate Professional Skills through International Competitions

Wynn encourages exchange among young catering talent to enhance their professional skills and international competitiveness, thus contributing to the diversity and sustainability of Macaos tourism. It is our great honor that two of our team members have recently been crowned winners of the Young Chef Macao Final and the Young Waiter Macao Final and will go on to represent Macao to compete in the World Young Chef Young Waiter final in Monaco. Throughout the competition, the contestants will be given high-level training and have the opportunity to listen to celebrity chefs and judges share their unique insights and experiences in the industry, which will be invaluable in helping contestants upgrade their culinary skills and professional catering knowledge.
MADISON IN A MINUTE

With graduation ceremonies and Mother's Day, it's a weekend for celebration. Here are even more ideas for your calendar:

Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra: "Banfield and Beethoven," with the performance of a suite from composer-in-residence Bill Banfield's opera "Edmonia" and pianist Michael Mizrahi performing Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1 alongside Beethoven's Symphony No. 6, the T Pastoral. 7:30 p.m. Friday, Capitol Theater, Overture Center for the Arts, 201 State St. Pre-concert talk at 6:30 p.m., $19 to $95, wcoconcerts.org.

Horicon Marsh Bird Festival: Spring bird migration is at its peak, so join the Great Wisconsin Birdathon at home (details at wisconservation.org/great-Wisconsin-Birdathon). Or travel an hour northeast of Madison for the 26th annual Horicon Marsh Bird Festival Friday through Sunday at the Horicon Marsh Education and Visitor Center, N7725 Highway 28. Family-friendly activities include paddling, birding, live birds of prey and more. Find details and register at horiconmarsh.org.

"Disney's The Lion King": The touring Broadway musical returns to Overture Hall through May 28. Performances this weekend at 8 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Sunday. Overture Center, 201 State St. Tickets $29 to $175, overture.org.

Drum Power Africa Night: School-age drumming students perform a recital with guests from Limanya Drum and Dance Ensemble, 6 p.m. Friday, Madison Youth Arts Center, 1055 E. Mifflin St. $10 donation, $5 youths, drumpower.com.

Washburn Observatory Open House: Public viewing and open house at the observatory, 8 to 10 p.m. Friday, 1401 Observatory Drive. More public viewing sessions through summer; see schedule at www.astro.wisc.edu/outreach/observing-at-wash burn.

Midwest Vintage Flea: Forty vendors with a wide selection of vintage apparel for purchase, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Garver Feed Mill, 3241 Garver Green. Free admission (early bird hours with fee), goodstyleshop.com/ pages/mid west-vintage-flea.

Out WiGo Green: Join Wisconsin State Parks staff and friends for group hikes, bike rides, paddling, rock climbing, nature crafts and more in the Kettle Moraine State Forest-Southern Unit, $5, under age 18 free; state park vehicle admission sticker required for entry to park. Event details at dnr.wisconsin.gov/ topic/parks/out wigo/green.

Madison Youth Choirs: "The Little Prince": Performances by the Purcell, Britten and Holst choirs, 7 p.m. Saturday; Choraliers, Con Gioia, Capriccio Cantilena, Cantabile choirs, 3:30 p.m. Sunday; Cantilena, Cantabile, Ragazzi choirs, 7:30 p.m. Sunday. Verona High School Performing Arts Center, 234 Wildcat Way, Verona, $10, $5 under age 19. Livestream also available, madisonyouthchoirs. org.

Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestra: Chamber music recitals by WYSO musicians, 7 p.m. Saturday at Oakwood Village-University Woods, 6205 Mineral Point Road, and 4:30 p.m. Sunday at MY Arts Studio 4D, 1055 E. Mifflin St., free, wysomusic.org.

Mother's Day at Old World Wisconsin: Moms get in free for the living history fun at the Wisconsin Historical Society's Old World Wisconsin, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Regular prices: $20 ages 18-64, $20 ages 13-17, $18 ages 65-plus, $13 ages 5-12, under 5 free. W372 S9727 Highway 67, Eagle, oldworldwisconsin.wisconsinhistory.org.
Taigu, the Chinese restaurant going into Knoches Old Fashioned Butcher Shop on Madisons Far West Side, is a long way from opening.

Hong Gao, who opened the original Taigu in Middleton in 2014, said her builders and architect have submitted drawings for the renovations to the city.

It has been two months, and we are still waiting for the governments approval, Hong said. It is estimated that we will receive it in two weeks. After receiving it, they will start working.

Taigu specializes in homemade hand-cut noodles. Hong first opened it under the name of the previous restaurant, Orient Express, and changed it to Taigu after 10 months.

In October, when Hong and her husband closed on the building, she said, We are so happy to have their place. Thats the perfect location for Taigu.

Taigu is named for the county in Shanxi province in northern China where Hongs from, and where its said Chinese noodles were born.

The restaurant specializes in homemade Shanxi noodles, but noodle selections make up only a small part of the overall menu. The menu has lots of Chinese restaurant staples, such as moo goo gai pan, General Tsos chicken, Szechuan beef and Kung Pao shrimp. Theres also a separate menu of Chinese specialties.

Hong moved to Madison with her husband in 1998 for his residency at UW Hospital, where hes a pathologist.

Knoches had its last day at 5372 Old Middleton Road on Oct. 15.

Hong spoke in October about the amount of work involved in turning an 84-year-old butcher shop and grocery into a restaurant. Its a huge project. Ive got a headache already, she said, laughing.

She said Friday that her landlord at the Middleton restaurant, at 7610 Elmwood Ave., plans to tear down that building and build a tall one. Her lease there goes until March 2026.

36 Madison-area restaurant, bar, bakery, coffee shop openings in 2022 Taqueria Los Atlantes Golden Nest Pancakes & Cafe Hot Lunch Zippy Lube Coffee, Donuts, and Fried Chicken Tacos El Capi Good Co. at Pioneer Pointe The Bubbling Teapot Sabores Fusion Grill Nori Sushi & Grill North Shore Pizza and Subs Sookie's Veggie Burgers Turn Key La Pollera Colombiana Restaurant Eno Vino Waunakee BigSur Cantina Amara SASS Sauce + Shells The Borough Beer Company & Kitchen Taza Swagat Sun Prairie Little John's Lunchbox AzTec Taqueria Mishqui Peruvian Cuisine Dirty Dog Taphouse Ollie's Forward Craft & Coffee Jacknife The Ready Set FreshFin Poke Hilldale Mom's Bar Prost! Tucuma Northstreet La Taguara Far Breton Bakery Dagu Rice Noodle
A Madison man was sentenced Wednesday to 20 years in prison and 15 years of extended supervision for a 2017 sexual assault.

In January, a Dane County jury found Kevin J. McDowell, 39, guilty of second-degree sexual assault by use of force. According to the Wisconsin Department of Justice, this is McDowells 57th criminal conviction.

The victim of the sexual assault was examined at a hospital. McDowells DNA was found on the victim, and matched DNA from another sexual assault kit tested as part of the Wisconsin Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI), the Justice Department said. In court, the jury was presented with evidence from the initiative.

This sentence ensures that the defendant who committed this serious violent crime will be behind bars for a long time, state Attorney General Josh Kaul said in a statement.

Thank you to the brave survivor who reported to law enforcement and the many criminal justice professionals whose work brought the defendant to justice.
UW SYSTEM | HIRING

The University of Wisconsin System will eliminate questions on how prospective employees would advance diversity, equity and inclusion, in an effort to depoliticize hiring as Republican lawmakers have claimed the universities lack conservative faculty. System President Jay Rothman announced the new guideline Thursday during a state Assembly Committee on Colleges and Universities hearing about the perceived lack of free speech and intellectual diversity on System campuses.

Rothman's directive requires all System chancellors to remove any mandatory written questions about diversity missions from applications by June 30.

Those statements could be perceived as political, Rothman said, and could prevent prospective candidates, especially those who are conservative, from applying. And while any evidence the System has of this happening is anecdotal, from lawmakers and free speech experts, Rothman said he thought the directive was an appropriate step to take.

He added this doesn't mean the System is abandoning diversity initiatives. Rather, through this directive, the System is doubling down by encouraging more diversity and expanding it to include other areas of difference such as thought, veteran status and disability.

"If people think we are imposing litmus tests on them at that stage in the employment process, we are not being inclusive," he said. "We need to be inclusive."

The directive comes a week after Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, said he wanted to see diversity, equity and inclusion departments eliminated from the System, saying they are "burrowed in like a tick on every single college campus." It also comes the week after a racist video featuring a white, female UW-Madison student prompted hundreds to protest and demand her expulsion.

The change also comes after the System launched a review in late April of statements in hiring practices that might be perceived as political, Rothman said, a review that found written answers on diversity were used in limited circumstances.

Long an issue

Free speech on System campuses has been a lightning rod for more than a year, going back to the announcement of a free speech survey for students last spring.

The survey found that while the vast majority of students thought their instructors did a good job in encouraging diverse viewpoints in the classroom, most also opted to not speak up in sharing their opinions and felt, in at least some instances, it was permissible for administration to disinvite speakers who are thought to be offensive.

The Assembly Committee on Colleges and Universities has held three other informational hearings on free speech and intellectual diversity on college campuses in the past month. Those hearings featured the academics who conducted the free speech survey and conservative UW-Madison students who testified about perceived slights from students and a professor over homework assignments.

During a hearing in early April, committee chair Rep. Dave Murphy, R-Greenville, seemed to hint at possible legislation that would expand the System's diversity statements to include differences of opinion.

"Over the course of the past three hearings, we've heard a lot about all sorts of diversity that is heavily promoted on college campuses. But we've heard very little about ideological diversity," Murphy said. "When it comes to the university experience, I very firmly believe that ideological diversity must be on an equal plane with all other types of diversity in our university system ... if it is not, our students will never receive the true college experience they deserve."

Rothman also has moderated multiple panels in that same time frame featuring lawmakers and free speech experts.

Medical College of Wisconsin event

Lawmakers at the hearing Thursday were at times split along party lines over a recent symposium venue change at the Medical College of Wisconsin, a private university that receives state funds for psychiatry and behavioral residency and violence prevention programs.

Last week, Medical College of Wisconsin President John Raymond Sr. announced a Wisconsin Association of Scholars symposium on the uses and abuses of diversity, equity and inclusion would be moved off campus due to "disruptive conditions." The panel was set to feature Murphy, who opened Thursday's meeting saying he experienced being "canceled" for the first time; U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Oshkosh; and John Sailer, a senior fellow and director of university policy with the National Association of Scholars.

Sailer and Medical College of Wisconsin student Daniel Hughes testified to the assembly committee Thursday.

Hughes told lawmakers he had been subjected to pushback on his ideas from his peers and thought any university, including those that are private but receive public funds, should be expected to uphold strong freedom of expression values.

The Medical College of Wisconsin's teachings on areas such as systemic racism in health care or climate change's impact on health often reflect progressive ideas, Hughes added.

"Other students reliably tell me they're terrified to express views that are outside of the expected viewpoint due to potentially being punished before recommendations or other measures," he said.

Some Democratic lawmakers were dismayed that the testimony could be used to punish the Medical College of Wisconsin over its speech. Many private organizations receive state money through grants and contracts, Democratic members said, but they aren't expected to testify on their opinions.

Murphy said he did not invite someone from the Medical College of Wisconsin to speak at the hearing but said he would be speaking with administrators Friday. He noted that he added Hughes to the speaking list at Hughes' request.

"Mr. Chair, I'm disturbed by the suggestion that any ... invited member of the public can come to any committee now and ask for threatened funding for various institutions in order to get their way," Rep. Katrina Shank land, D-Stevens Point, said. "I think it sets a disturbing precedent, and I'm disturbed that we weren't able to hear from administration at the Medical College of Wisconsin. I think that their voice is equally important in this conversation."
SHOSHONE  What happens when the only doctor in town nears retirement?

Its a situation that has a happy ending in Shoshone.

Dr. Keith Davis has served his community since 1985. But now, possibly nearing the end of his career, Family Health Services is building a clinic that will expand health care access. The groundbreaking ceremony for the 11,200-square-foot facility was Thursday, with completion expected next year.

Its not that Davis has retired; he has a few years before hed consider that. But he admits that before a partnership between his Shoshone Family Medical Center and FHS developed, he wondered what Shoshone residents would do.

He had recruited other physicians to Lincoln County, but they never seemed to stay around for long.

Its difficult to find doctors who want to move into rural areas, he said.

Davis is a rare breed. Not only did he offer same-day appointments but even house calls and occasional Saturday hours. He has had such a positive impact on Shoshone that a surprise awaited him at the groundbreaking.

The clinic on South Beverly Street will be named after him.

His entire career he has spent taking care of the lives of those in Shoshone, Family Health Services CEO Aaron Houston said prior to the announcement. He lives here. He has dedicated his life here. We just want to recognize that.

The transition of FHS caring for his patients began last fall, out of Davis Shoshone Family Medical Center.

The clinic will also provide a full-time dentist and hygienist and will charge on a sliding scale, based on Health and Human Services poverty guidelines, for patients who dont have insurance. The addition of dental services is perhaps where Shoshone residents will benefit the most, said Davis, who is now working part-time for FHS.

The clinic will also offer behavioral health services.

Our expansion into Shoshone was unique because the residents were already benefiting from affordable and accessible care due to Dr. Daviss private practice, Shoshone Family Medical Center, said Karlie Haskins, FHS spokesman, in an email to the Times-News.

In addition to an $850,000 Health Resources and Services Administration Grant to help finance the clinic, $1.5 million in funding was secured by Rep. Mike Simpson to support the construction of a helipad and four-unit ambulance bay that will be attached to the facility.

The grant obtained for the clinic wont pay for its entire cost, especially in the wake of higher construction costs since the pandemic, Houston said. It will likely cost close to $4 million, but FHS decided not to downsize in order to give Shoshone residents a proper health care facility.

Lincoln County commissioners and the city of Shoshone have agreed to lease the land for the new clinic.

Marc Essary, deputy director of Lincoln County Emergency Medical Services, said county EMS offices have been in various locations through the years, including the top floor of a Masonic Lodge, and a double-wide trailer donated by the school district.

Its working for now, but he said it will be beneficial to have a more permanent home.

Before, when a medical helicopter had to land, an old school parking lot was used.

The Shoshone clinic will be the 11th addition to FHSs network of clinics that are built to serve all patients, regardless of their age, background, insurance status, or ability to pay.

FHS is a federally-qualified community health center, receiving federal reimbursement for services that it provides to Medicaid and Medicare beneficiaries.
3 Magic Valley students win $1,500 CapEd scholarships

Three students from Magic Valley high schools were awarded $1,500 college scholarships from CapEd Credit Union on Wednesday night during a ceremony at Blue Lakes Country Club in Twin Falls.

Hiram Kimball of Buhl High School (academic achievement), Claire Liljenquist of Declo High School (overcoming obstacles) and Ciara Vaca of Magic Valley High School (most improved) were chosen by a panel of four judges following a year-long nomination process by school counselors.

The weekly nominees were published throughout the academic year on the front page of the Times-News.

Kimball, who has earned 56 college credits in high school and maintained a 4.0 grade-point average, plans to attend the University of Idaho majoring in wildlife sciences. He is also an Eagle Scout.

Liljenquist, an orphan in China for 12 years until she was adopted and brought to the United States, was born with clubfoot and uses a wheelchair. She plans to major in culinary arts at CSI and hopes to become a chef in her own restaurant.

Vaca, whose career goal is to become a registered nurse, will begin the CNA program at the College of Southern Idaho next month.

Also:

The Unity Alliance of Southern Idaho will celebrate Congolese culture at its second annual Twin Falls event, scheduled for Saturday, June 10, from 5 to 7 p.m. at the College of Southern Idaho. For more information, email Alejandra Hernandez

at ahernandez@unityalliancesi.org.

The district staff for

Idaho Rep. Mike Simpson

will host mobile office hours in Burley on Wednesday from 10 to 11:30 a.m. at the city offices, 1401 Overland Ave.

Amy Durfee, who has worked at D.L. Evans Bank

for 24 years, beginning as a teller, has been promoted to vice president branch manager at the Rupert branch.

 Times-News
Over the past 10 months, the Idaho Republican Party has been actively engaged in a range of activities aimed at encouraging citizens to participate in federal, state and local governance.

Republican Party leaders at the state and local levels have been working hard to get out and meet with community members and raise awareness about the importance of voting and civic participation.

We recently participated in a civic engagement fair at Boise State University. Idaho may be a red state, but even our college campuses lack conservative voices. Not surprisingly, the Idaho GOP was the only conservative organization at the civic engagement fair, alongside a slew of Democrat and leftist political groups and nonprofits. We took this opportunity to talk with students about Idahos conservative values and to encourage young people to get registered to vote Republican.

This past week, we participated in the Cinco de Mayo festival in downtown Nampa. This vibrant festival was the perfect opportunity for us to connect with Idahoans and talk about the importance of voting. We distributed informational flyers about the Idaho Republican Party platform and engaged in conversations  including in Spanish  with festival-goers about upcoming elections and the impact that their vote can have on their community.

This week, we were proud to have Republican freshman Sen. Glenneda Zuiderveld speak at our Idaho GOP event in Jerome. Zuiderveld spoke on a range of issues related to civic engagement and voter turnout, encouraging people to get involved with the Republican Party.

Our team will also be popping up at farmers markets, rodeos, and local fairs this summer throughout the region to reach a wide audience. These events provide us with an opportunity to connect with people from all walks of life and talk to them about the importance of voting.

Weve got a busy summer coming up, full of fun family-friendly Republican events. From Dairy Days to the Fourth of July, farmers markets to fairs; you can count on the Idaho Republican Party to be there. We are excited to continue our work encouraging locals to get involved at the grassroots level. Attend a library board meeting, sit in to observe your county Republican central committee meeting, engage with your neighbors and encourage them to get involved with the Republican Party to help maintain the conservative values we love about Idaho.

Whether youre a first-time voter or an experienced conservative politico, the Idaho Republican Party has something for you. We invite you to follow us on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, and check our events page at www.IDGOP.org and join us the next time we are at an event in your area.
Botolan, Zambales  Seeking to establish a safe haven for abused children in Zambales, Congresswoman Doris Nanay Bing Maniquiz is now winning over community support for the Zambales Bahay Kalinga, a pet project that she has filed as a bill in the House of Representatives in March.

The Zambales solon met with various stakeholders in both the public and private sectors here last week to drive home the need for a shelter for sexually abused children, and pleaded for backing for the proposed multi-million facility.

Among those present in the meeting to express support were Vice Governor Jacqueline Rose Khonghun, Zambales Mayors League president Jeffrey Khonghun and all 13 municipal mayors of Zambales, Family Court Presiding Judge Maribel Mariano-Beltran of the Regional Trail Court in Iba, lawyer Jomari Nacin of the Provincial Prosecutors Office, and representatives from the local business community.

This dream project wont materialize without the support of the stakeholders in Zambales, which is why I knock on the hearts of public officials and local investors, as well as ordinary concerned citizens, to

help us put up the center, Nanay Bing said.

Either we give these abused children a safe place for them to grow up normally and find their place in the society, or we give up on them and let them carry the scarring all their lives, she added.

According to current provincial data, Zambales has a total of 137 cases of incestuous rape, which also makes for a high local incidence of child sexual violence, officials said.

A national baseline study on violence against children in the Philippines conducted by the United Nations Childrens Fund (Unicef) in 2015 showed a 13.7% prevalence of overall sexual violence in the home; 7.1% prevalence in the workplace; 5.3% in the school; 7.8% in the community; and 14.1% during dating.

The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic also saw an unsettling rise in child sex abuse, which included forcing children to perform live sex shows for pedophiles online, authorities said. A recent study by Unicef and Save the Children Fund estimates that around one in five Filipino children are now at risk of sexual exploitation.

Maniquiz said the Zambales Bahay Kalinga is expected to house sexually abused children and provide for their housing, care, counselling, as well as special education. A proposed multi-pointed star design for

the facility would allow for the set-up of venues for such activities, Maniquiz said.

Prior to this, Nanay Bing has also presented the proposal to local government executives in last months meeting of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines-Zambales Chapter, and in a one-on-one with Gov. Hermogenes Ebdane Jr.

I am so happy that I received only encouragement from my fellow public servants, Maniquiz said. I didnt have to repeat myself, and especially Governor Ebdane, he readily gave his blessings and assured me of his full support, she added.

Nanay Bing said that with the support from local executives and the business sector, she expects the start of construction for the Bahay Kalinga next year.

She added that Gov. Ebdane has promised to have the project included in next years budget and also committed personnel to run the program.

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The Department of Foreign Affairs on Friday said the Australian Foreign Minister Senator Penny Wong will visit the Philippines next week.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo said Wong will be in the country from May 16 to 19 for an official visit upon his invitation.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Navy played host to the navies of SoutheastAsia to formally open the ASEAN Multilateral Naval Exercise or AMNEX this year in Subic, Zambales.

Seven foreign gray ships will participate in the exercises and are currently docked at the Subic Naval Operating Base, the Philippine Navy said.

The two-day sea phase of the AMNEX opens today in the waters nearZambales in the West Philippine Sea, away from the areas disputed by China and other countries.

According to the DFA, Manalo and Wong will meet on May 18 to discuss a broad range of issues of mutual interest, including defense and security partnership, development cooperation, trade and investment, and people-to-people ties.

This bilateral meeting will allow both countries to assess the current state of their bilateral relations and chart the course for further collaboration, the DFA said in a statement.

Wong will also pay a courtesy call on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte.

The Australian foreign ministers visit comes after a series of high-level exchanges between the Philippines and Australia, reflecting both countries strong commitment to advancing their Comprehensive Partnership to a higher level.

This visit is also an excellent opportunity to renew and deepen the friendship between the two nations and explore new areas of cooperation, DFA said.

It will be Wongs first visit to the country since assuming office in May 2022, following the election of Prime Minister Anthony Albaneses Labor Government.

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President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. expressed optimism Friday on the Philippines chances to regain its footing in the global shipbuilding industry with the aggressive investment and expansion of Cerberus Global Investment LLC.

Were all very excited about this project and we have always tried to find a way to regain our position in the shipbuilding. We were already number 2 for awhile, and then when Hanjin closed (we went down), President Marcos said during a meeting with Cerberus top executives in Malacanang.

Cerberus is a global alternative investment firm with assets across credit, private equity, and real estate strategies.

Former US Vice President and Cerberus chairman James Danforth Dan Quayle told the President during the courtesy call that the company isexcited to be a part of the Philippine economic growth story and has been planning more and bigger investments to the Philippines.

Apart from Quayle, the company officials who met the President were Cerberus Co-Chief Executive Frank Bruno and Co-head Alexander Benard.

The Cerberus offer came following the Presidents success in the 42nd ASEAN Summit in Labuan Bajo Indonesia earlier this week. Cerberus acquired Subic shipyard in 2022 and has invested $40 million to make the shipyard operational again.

Currently, the Philippine Navy has a naval operating base in Subic with 800 personnel.

Hyundai, one of the most prestigious shipbuilding companies, expressed interest in using two drydocks in Subic for shipbuilding, which, officials said could generate 5,000 to 15,000 jobs.

Hyundai eyes to move to the facility by year end. Cerberus, employing a different approach to investment, wants to ensure diverse economic activity by having multiple companies engaged in various businesses.

The firm also sees value and potential in improving the Subic airport for logistics or cargo and plans to propose to the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) to convert the airport into a cargo and logistics hub.

Aside from those ventures, Cerberus is also looking to invest in the countrys semiconductors, and energy sectors.

Cerberus subsidiary Subcomm, engaged in building and installing submarine cables, will also move to the facility in August. The move is seen to generate additional employment in the area.

The entry of Hyundai and Subcomm in Subic is seen to create much-needed economic activity in Subic that could also benefit downstream industries in the area.

Cerberus, founded in 1992, manages up to $60 billion in assets globally. The company has experience in direct investments, private equity, growth, and venture transactions in various region and maintains 27 sites around the world.

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President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. wants the human trafficking scourge in the country eradicated, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin said on Friday.

This developed as at least six Filipinos who fell victim to a human trafficking scheme in Myanmar have returned to the Philippines, after being tortured and forced to pay up to P300,000 each by their employers.

Sixty more Filipinos remain captive in Myanmar, authorities added.

The statement of the President is strong, and his desire is to eradicate trafficking in persons as it is another form of slavery,

Bersamin told reporters on the sidelines of the meeting of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) at the AFP commissioned officers clubhouse in Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City.

So, the PAOCC has been given this task to run after the criminals committing this trafficking in persons, and to rescue the people who were victims of this crime, he said.

That is quite bad for us, he added.

The PAOCC, which helped facilitate the repatriation of the Filipino victims, said they were recruited through social media by false promises of employment in Thailand as customer sales representatives.

Last week, the Philippine National Police-Anti-Cybercrime Group (ACG) rescued about 1,000 people of different nationalities, who were allegedly forced to work for a cyber fraud outfit in Clark, Pampanga.

Upon arriving in Thailand, the Filipino workers were taken via boat across the Moei River to the border town of Myawaddy in Myanmar, where they were forced to stay in a dormitory building and compelled to work as online cryptocurrency scammers.

In a press conference, the victims, who arrived in Manila on Thursday night, recounted what they went through at the hands of traffickers in Myanmar.

The first thing we were told was that we would be sales representatives. We were called direct sales. The problem was that what we were doing was scamming people through dating sites in the US, Lovelyn, not her real name, told reporters in an ABS-CBN report.

According to PAOCC director Winston Casio, the scam targeted men from the United States, Europe, and Australia.

It is a love style in which men, whether European, Australian or American, 35 years old and above, lonely, without emotional support and financially independent. They will entice these men. Now once they fall for it, thats when its going to be like, Maybe you want to invest in cryptocurrency? They go slowly until they can get their victims money, he said.

Aside from Filipinos, other victims of the human trafficking scheme were Pakistani, Indonesian, Ethiopian, Nigerian, and Sri Lankan, and Malaysian, Lovelyn said.

Meredith, another victim, said the physical abuse started when they asked their employers to return to the Philippines.

She said they were told to pay at least US$7,000 or around P300,000 each in exchange for their freedom, and were physically assaulted each day that they failed to produce the required amount.

When they asked me to send money to the family, on my side, nothing was sent, just a little. So, on the first day, I was hit by a pipe in the head, in different parts of the body, and my back, Meredith said.

On the second day, the beating came every 30 minutes. When they ask me if I have money  I couldnt really produce anything on my side.

Thats when they beat me every 30 minutes in the back. Ten blows, a man was beating me, he was a Chinese man, she added.

A video obtained by the PAOCC showed a Filipina, her hands restrainedby two uniformed Chinese males, being beaten by a third Chinese national who repeatedly hit her back with a stick inside her dormitory. It was unclear whether the Filipina was among the repatriated victims.

Arjay, another victim, also narrated enduring torture from his traffickers.

They tied us with strip wire, and we just stood there for 24 hours.We werent allowed to sit, we had no food, no sleep, then every daythey came in with a pipe and then they took videos while beating us,he narrated.

PAOCC director Casio said the victims were eventually allowed to leaveafter making payments to their employers.

He said the Philippine police attache in Thailand, in coordinationwith the PAOCC, facilitated the transport of the victims from Myawaddyto the Thai town of Mae Sot, then to the capital Bangkok where theystayed for a few nights.

We are so happy to be home. We thought we couldnt go home becauseour families had no money, our family just borrowed money so we couldgo home, Lovelyn said.

The PAOCC said the government has extended financial assistance to the victims.

Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla on Monday said the governmentmay choose to either deport or file charges against the 12 individualsinvolved in the alleged human trafficking in Pampanga.

We have to file the necessary charges against them. The choices noware whether we file charges and we dont deport or we deport withoutfiling charges, but we cannot have both, Remulla said.

We cannot deport people who have charges but we will strike a goodcompromise on this so that people will know that we really have to putsome people in jail, he added.

Authorities have also discovered that Filipinos were offered to workin Thailand as call center agents, but they were transported toCambodia, Laos, and Myanmar as a part of a human trafficking scheme.

At least 210 Filipino human trafficking victims have been repatriatedfrom these Southeast Asian countries, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs.

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$600m OFW remittances at stake over deployment ban counter-move

The Philippines stands to lose about $600 million (about P33.5 billion) in remittances by its overseas workers in Kuwait annually after the Middle Eastern state imposed an entry ban on all Filipinos, except those with an iqama or residence permit.

The ban was imposed supposedly because the Philippines failed to comply with a labor agreement between the two countries.

Data obtained by Manila Standard from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas on Friday showed that cash remittances from Filipinos working in the Gulf state reached $597.186 million in 2022, 3.7 percent higher than the year before, and accounted for 1.8 percent of total remittances by OFWs last year that reached $32.54 billion.

Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary Paul Cortes told CNN Philippines that the ban took effect May 10 and covers Filipinos, even those issued with visas, who are entering Kuwait.

Earlier reports from GMA News TV said Filipinos already on their way to Kuwait have been kept from boarding their flights following the countrys suspension of their visas.

About 3,000 workers headed to Kuwait are stranded in the Philippines owing to the ban, while those already in the Gulf state were saddened by the development, ABS-CBN reported last night.

Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Eduardo De Vega said the ban was a way to pressure the Philippines into lifting its deployment ban on first-time Filipino household workers Kuwait following the murder of 35-year-old Jullebee Ranara, whose burned remains were left in a desert in Kuwait by the 17-year-old son of her employer, who confessed to killing her.

The deployment ban was imposed in February to obtain guaranteed protection for Filipino household workers in Kuwait.

De Vega said Kuwaits response to the ban was to expand the non-deployment of Filipinos to all other workers, aside from household workers.

What Kuwait is saying is: well, we wont take other workers then. So that was obviously their response and some measure of pressure, shall we say, for the Philippines to reconsider its decision, De Vega said in a television interview.

De Vega said the effect of the entry ban would not be massive. There are 275,000 to 300,000 Filipinos in Kuwait, almost all of whom have residency. About 5,000 to 10,000 are undocumented, he added.

The DFA official noted there have been two recurring issues the Kuwaiti government is concerned about pertaining to the bilateral labor agreement of both countries.

These are an initiative to set up a shelter for runaway Filipino household workers and the effort to reach out to Kuwaiti employers over reports of abuses.

De Vega said these efforts have been identified by Kuwait as violations of its labor laws.

They say, under Kuwaiti law, there should not be a shelter forrunaway workers but then again under Philippine law, we have to have those shelters and of course it is the obligation of the Philippine government to protect them, he said.

We are not encouraging them to escape from their employers, he said.

But in case of abuses and they have to leave, then they have to have a place to go to.

De Vega said the second issue they were complaining about was that whenever there is a complaint about labor abuse, the Philippine government asks the workers foreign placement agency in Kuwait to contact the employer, which is also not allowable under Kuwaiti law.

While these issues are referred to by Kuwait as violations, these are not clearly defined in the agreement (between Kuwait and the Philippines), De Vega said.

De Vega said Kuwait was not sending home those who are already there, and those who are visiting the Philippines can still return, as long as they have a Kuwait civil residence ID. But Kuwait is not issuing new visas to Filipinos.

He said Filipino authorities would fight for the interests of Filipino workers in talks this month or June.

Now, this is up to our people, do we lift the deployment ban while Ranaras case is not yet resolved? Will we lift the ban while giving in to Kuwaits demands? De Vega said in Filipino, adding that this could last several months.

De Vega said the decision to lift the ban will still have to bediscussed by concerned agencies, including the DFA and the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW).

We have meetings today. We hope to engage the Congress as well, (and then) eventually give recommendations to the President, he said.

De Vega said the Philippines wont just lift the ban just like that,as the country is still seeking justice for Ranara.

There will be meetings with Kuwaiti officials this month.

Remittances from Kuwait declined at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, reaching $580 million in 2020 and $576 million in 2021. In 2016, cash remittances from Kuwait hit a record $856 million.

Last year, cash remittances from all Filipinos abroad rose 3.6 percent to a record $32.54 billion from $31.42 billion a year ago on sustained demand for skilled Filipino workers overseas. The full-yearremittances growth, however, missed the official target of 4 percent earlier set by the Bangko Sentral.

The growth in cash remittances from the United States, Saudi Arabia,Singapore, Qatar, and United Kingdom contributed largely to the increase in remittances from January to December 2022. In terms of country sources, the US posted the highest share of overall remittances in 2022, followed by Singapore and Saudi Arabia.

For the month of December alone, cash remittances coursed through banks grew by 5.8 percent to an all-time high, on a monthly basis, of $3.16 billion from $2.99 billion a year ago due to the growth in receipts from land- and sea-based workers.

Philippine remittances from overseas workers have consistently been the fourth largest in the world after India, China, and Mexico, amounting to about $35 billion per year in 2020, a sign of resilience despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Philippines has been among the biggest suppliers of nurses around the world, accounting for at least 20 percent of the total globally.

The Philippines has also been the biggest supplier of seafarers worldwide, accounting for about 20 percent to 25 percent of the total around the world.

An official of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said officials are discussing what should be the best response to Kuwaits suspension of entry and work visas for Filipinos.

The Kuwait Directorate General of Civil Aviation on May 10 ordered airport personnel to bar Filipinos from entering the country, except for those who are Kuwait residents.

The chairperson of Migrante, Arman Hernando, said the DFA and DMW must act swiftly to find out what the countrys alleged labor agreement violations are.

This is also a good time to see how both the Philippine and Kuwait are complying with agreements to protect migrant workers, Hernando said.

Kuwait hosts from 275,000 to 300,000 Filipinos, most of them household workers while some are in the hotel, restaurant, and healthcare industries, De Vega said.

The DFA said the Philippines remained committed to resolving bilateral issues in an amicable manner.

In the case of Kuwait, we are confident that with our friendly relations and strong people-to-people links, we shall be able to find a mutually satisfactory solution that will take into account the need to provide maximum protection and access to justice for all our nationals working in the country, the agency said.

The DMW issued a statement vowing to continue pursuing the track of labor diplomacy to ensure the welfare and safety of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), while awaiting more details as to why the Kuwaiti government imposed the entry ban.

We are working closely with the DFA and the Philippine Embassy in Kuwait in a unified, whole-of-government approach to the situation, the agency said.

We are also coordinating with our Philippine recruitment agencies, Filipino communities and leaders, and other stakeholders on how to address this development in the best interest of all concerned.

The DMW urged Kuwait-bound workers to contact its National Reintegration Center for OFWs.

Kabayan Rep. Ron Salo, chairman of the House of Representatives committee on overseas workers affairs, demanded an explanation from DMW Secretary Maria Susana Ople as to what violation had triggered Kuwaits action.

News outlet Kuwaiti Times reported that according to the Ministry of the Interior of Kuwait, the suspension reportedly was due to the Philippines having not complied with the provisions of the labor agreement between the two countries.

I am calling on the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) to immediately seek clarification on this alleged violation, Salo said in a statement Friday.

We need to find out what exactly is the violation so we can immediately take the appropriate action in addressing the same for the welfare of our OFWs already in Kuwait and those expecting to be deployed there, Salo added.

He also appealed to the DMW to establish an office within the department specifically tasked with engaging concerned officials of other countries on the implementation of the countrys bilateral agreements. So that the Philippines is not blindsided by sudden impositions like this.

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Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC) joins the country in celebrating the road safety month with Mission: Road Safety. MPTC is undertaking this initiative to reinforce its expressways road safety mission based on the 3 pillars of safety  safe self, safe vehicle, and safe roads.

Mission: Road Safety institutionalized road safety awareness seminars and digital information campaigns to educate the general and motoring public, ensuring their safe journey along MPTC expressways in Luzon and Visayas NLEX, SCTEX, NLEX Connector, CALAX, CAVITEX, CAVITEX C5 Link, and CCLEX (Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway).

The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) cited that an average of 345 daily fatalities is caused by transport accidents in the Philippines.

Empowered motorists and commuting public

MPTC units NLEX Corp and Metro Pacific Tollways South (MPT South) have already established their efforts in the road safety awareness scene, through respective flagship programs Biyahero Road Safety Caravan and Drayberks Drive Road Safety Seminars. These programs intensified education on proper expressway driving, traffic rules and regulations, importance of vehicle road worthiness, and preparation of the driver (self) and their passengers.

Cebu Cordova Link Expressway Corporation (CCLEC)s advocacy program dubbed Istorya Ta Bai! cultivates safe driving habits and orients motorists on key safety features of Cebus iconic toll bridge CCLEX.

Per stakeholder approach

To further strengthen its efforts, business units target various stakeholders that they can tap to amplify MPTCs safety mission.

NLEX Usapang Driver is a forum aimed at educating drivers from bus and trucking companies on safe expressway driving. To date, over seven bus and 13 trucking companies have participated in this program. The unit also has Kaligtasan sa Daan (KalSaDa) road safety education program targeted for its community partners and neighboring barangays.

MPT Souths Bayani ng Kalsada (BayaniKa) is a program that teaches kids about road signs and familiarizes them with road safety measures, particularly on expressways. Since its inception in 2022, over 800 school children from host communities have benefitted from it.

Safety is practiced year round

During peak travel seasons and holidays, MPTC units from North to South intensify their operations under the Safe Trip Mo Sagot Ko initiative. In anticipation of increased traffic volume, over 1,200 patrol crews, traffic marshals, and security teams are deployed to ensure effective traffic management along its expressways. Emergency medical services and incident response teams are also fielded at strategic areas.

Safe roads for all

These efforts are all in line with the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution Improving global road safety with the ambitious target of preventing at least 50% of road traffic deaths and injuries by 2030.

MPTC echoes UNs thrust in its corporate Sustainability Strategic Goals by continuously improving its services and providing top notch customer experience to its stakeholders. Aside from its tollways, MPTC created the MPT DriveHub app that brings expressway services to the hands of the customer to bring about a more satisfactory travel experience. The MPT DriveHub app allows easy reloading of RFID accounts, has real-time traffic updates of its seven expressways, and allows users to call for 24/7 emergency roadside assistance.

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MOTHERS DAY

Shiloh Way of the Cross Church of Christ of the Apostolic Doctrine, 938 Brookdale St., Martinsville, will hold service at 10:30 a.m. Sunday in celebration of Mothers Day. The Shiloh WOTC Wings of Faith will render music in the 10:30 a.m. service and 11:30 a.m. service. Sunday services are streamed on Facebook and YouTube beginning with broadcast at 10:30 a.m. and the service at 11:30 a.m. Broadcast airs on WHEE AM 1370 from 9:10-9:40 a.m.

FREE BIBLES

On Saturday, May 20, beginning at 10 a.m., Chatham Heights Church of Christ, 2229 Old Chatham Road, Martinsville, will hand out up to 90 free Bibles to anyone in the community who would like to read the word of God. A tent will be set up in the parking lot from 10 a.m. to noon and will also provide contact information for the pastor and information about the congregation.

CONVENTION

The Mayo Fire-Baptized Holiness Association will convene with Christian View church at 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 19, and 10 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 20, at 261 Burbank Drive, 5 miles southwest of Ridgeway.

BIBLE STUDY

Traditional Christian Church, 2630 Virginia Ave., Collinsville has begun holding a weekly non-denominational Bible study each Wednesday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. Attendees are encouraged to bring their Bibles.

Pocahontas Bassett Baptist Church, 120 Old Bassett Heights Road, Bassett, hosts Community Bible Study, a gathering of Christians of various denominations for Bible study, every Wednesday from 11 a.m. to noon in the fellowship hall.

MUSIC

Pocahontas Bassett Baptist Church holds Pickers and Fiddlers on the second Saturday of each month from 10 a.m. to noon. Breakfast-type refreshments are served, and both the program and refreshments are free. Come to listen or bring your harmonica or stringed instrument and join in.

CLOTHES

Greater Faith Seventh-Day Adventist Church will have a clothing and food giveaway from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. today. The church is at 8559 A.L. Philpott Hwy., Martinsville, across from Leatherwood Food Lion.

Christ Church Community Clothes Closet is open on the fourth Saturday of each month.

MEALS

Smith Memorial United Methodist Church, corner of John Redd Boulevard and Daniels Creek Road, Collinsville, serves take-out community meals each month every other Wednesday from 5-6 p.m. Call 647-8150 before 3:30 on Wednesday to reserve meals. Next meals will be May 17 & 31.

Pocahontas Bassett Baptist Church, 120 Old Bassett Heights Road, Bassett, holds its monthly community meals at 6 p.m. each third Thursday of the month, in the fellowship hall.

Starling Avenue Baptist Church, 932 Starling Ave., Martinsville, serves meals in the fellowship hall the last Tuesday of each month from 5:30-6:30 p.m. Doors open at 5:15 p.m. The next meal is May 30.

Christ Episcopal Church, 311 E. Church St., Martinsville, will serve a free community meal the last Wednesday of each month from 5-6 p.m. in the Undercroft with a sit-down community meal (and takeout will be available only at the end of the meal if there are any leftovers). There are limited parking spaces behind the church for people with mobility issues. Masks are required for unvaccinated adults. Hand sanitizer is available for use.
MORGANTON  A man has been charged after a disturbance and a recent fire at a tavern north of Morganton.

Thomas Jeffery Edmisten, 41, of Morganton, was charged with felony possession of a firearm by a felon, according to a press release from the Burke County Sheriffs Office.

Edmisten was charged after deputies responded to Styles Tavern, on N.C. 18/U.S. 64, around 11 p.m. May 4, the release said. Deputies were told shots had been fired during the incident, but the suspect had left the scene before they arrived.

Burke County Sheriff Banks Hinceman told The News Herald witnesses identified Edmisten as the suspect.

Kevin Motz, who owned the tavern, told reporters after the fire the suspect previously had been banned from the property, but had shown up that night and gotten into a disagreement with some other customers. Motz said the suspect was asked to leave the property,

It was between 5 and 5:30 a.m. the next day when Chesterfield Fire Rescue responded to the same address for a structure fire that destroyed the tavern, which was housed in a singlewide mobile home, according to information previously published by The News Herald.

The fire remains under investigation, according to the press release.

Warrants were issued for Edmisten on May 5, and U.S. Marshals arrested him May 8 in Catawba County, according to the press release.

Edmisten has previous felony convictions of attempted identity fraud/theft, selling a Schedule II controlled substance, possession with intent to sell a Schedule II controlled substance and malicious conduct by a prisoner, according to records from the North Carolina Department of Public Safety.

He also has other pending charges in Caldwell County of flee to elude arrest with a motor vehicle, assault on a female, misdemeanor larceny, resisting a public officer, a domestic violence protection order violation and two felony counts of probation violation, according to records from the North Carolina Judicial Branch.

Edmisten originally was held under no bond, but was issued a $500,000 secured bond in Burke County District Court on Thursday, the release said. Hes set to appear in court again June 1.
The 2023 Law Enforcement Special Olympics Torch Run/Walk was held Tuesday morning in downtown Marion.

Even after some rain, participants gathered at the Wells Fargo parking lot on North Main Street before running and walking through the streets of Marion.

After a group photo was taken, the runners and walkers carried the Special Olympic torch and flag down Main Street in Marion and continued through downtown with a Marion police escort. The participants concluded back at the Wells Fargo parking lot.

Law enforcement personnel from the Marion Police Department, the McDowell County Sheriffs Office and Marion Correctional Institution all participated in the torch run.

Alecia Conner and Beth Tate were the organizers of the event, which is led by the Marion Correctional Institution. Conner said they had 30 participants and a lot of support from local businesses. All money raised from the event goes to Special Olympics of North Carolina.
Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo visited Burkina Faso on Wednesday, five months after his controversial remarks on the presence of mercenaries from the Russian group Wagner in the country plagued by jihadist violence, the Burkinabe presidency said on Thursday.

This visit was not open to the press, but, according to the Presidency, Nana Akufo-Addo met with Captain Ibrahim Traore, transitional President and author of a putsch on September 30, 2022, to discuss major issues of the sub-region, facing the security challenge.

The Ghanaian presidents visit came five months after a diplomatic row between the two countries, following his statements on the presence of the Russian group Wagner in Burkina.

In mid-December, during a meeting in the United States with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, he said Burkina had made an arrangement to use Wagner forces, like Mali. I believe that a mine in southern Burkina was allocated to them as a form of payment for their services, he added, going so far as to say that Russian mercenaries are on the border between Burkina and Ghana.

The government of Burkina Faso described these remarks as very serious, recalled its ambassador in Accra and summoned his Ghanaian counterpart to Ouagadougou. In a note verbale of protest to Ghana, Burkina said it was deeply affected by these statements. Captain Traore and his government have repeatedly denied using the services of Wagners mercenaries after pushing out the French soldiers in Ouagadougou.

Burkina, on the other hand, has grown closer to Russia, and on May 4, Ibrahim Traore declared that this country had become a strategic ally like others.
The U.S. ambassador in Pretoria accused South Africa on Thursday of having provided military support to Russia, despite its declared neutrality in the conflict with Ukraine, during a meeting with local media.

According to Reuben Brigety, the United States is convinced that weapons and ammunition were loaded on board a Russian cargo ship, docked near Cape Town in early December, before it left for Russia.

Arming the Russians is extremely serious and we do not believe that this issue has been resolved. We would like South Africa to start practicing its policy of non-alignment, he added at the meeting.

The docking of the ship at the countrys largest naval base, Simons Town on the Cape Peninsula, caused controversy in the country before Christmas. The main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), called on the government to explain how a Russian cargo ship targeted by Western sanctions was allowed to dock. Its defense official, Kobus Marais, questioned why the cargo ship was docked in a military port rather than a commercial port and why there is so much secrecy surrounding the ship.

Through a press release Thursday evening, Pretoria responded to Reuben Brigety. While no evidence has been provided to date to support these allegations, the Government has undertaken to institute an independent enquiry to be led by a retired judge, issued the South African Presidency. The same official response emphasized: It is therefore disappointing that the US Ambassador has adopted a counter-productive public posture that undermines the understanding reached on the matter and the very positive and constructive engagements between the two delegations.

South Africa did not take sides after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, a war that triggered widespread Western sanctions.
The largest city in the Sahara region, Laayoune and Floridas Hollywood signed a twinning agreement, underscoring a momentum in US-Morocco ties spurred by Washingtons recognition of the Kingdoms sovereignty over the Sahara territory.

The deal was signed in Laayoune by mayor Hamdi Ould Rachid and his Hollywood counterpart Josh Levy.

The twinning will reinforce Moroccan-American cooperation relations in all fields, notably economics, culture, arts, airlines, agriculture and tourism, Levy said.

Laayoune is a dynamic city poised to attract foreign investments thanks to its human and economic assets, he said.

Ould Rachid said his mayorship looks forward to similar agreements with other US cities building on the US recognition of Moroccos sovereignty over the Sahara.

President Trump recognized Moroccos sovereignty over the territory in 2020 in a presidential decree as Rabat gains ground at the international level with the opening of consulates in the territory by nearly half African states and influential states in the Arab World.
The Kenmare Company that exploits heavy sands in northern Mozambique has handed over $17.1 million (15.6 million) to the government in contractual tributes during the year 2022, it announced on Thursday.

The report that includes the figures was written under the transparency laws of the European Union (EU), the United Kingdom, and Ireland, on whose financial markets its shares are traded (London Stock Exchange and Euronext Dublin).

The disclosure of payments to public administrations is required in relation to exploration, discovery, development and extraction of minerals, so the payments included relate to the groups extraction and processing activities at the Moma mine in Mozambique, the document reads. Most of the amount (10.6 million dollars, or 9.69 million euros) was delivered as royalties, i.e. payments to a Government for the rights to extract minerals or other materials, charged based on production levels or revenues.

In the case, Kenmare has formalized a local firm that handles the extraction and is subject to a 3% mining royalty based on the heavy ore concentrate (HMC) sold.

Then processing and export is done on behalf of another firm that pays a 1% royalty on revenues. Kenamre has also handed over $6.1 million (5.6 million) in taxes and $409,000 (375,000) in fees.

The calculations are detailed in the report released today. The company announced in April that it plans to explore a new lode within two years within its Moma concession, signaling the longevity and profitability of the mine. The mining company says it continues to expect robust demand for all products after achieving record financial performance in 2022. Kenmare is one of the worlds largest mineral sands producers, listed on the London and Dublin stock exchanges, with production in Mozambique accounting for approximately 7% of global titanium raw materials.

The company supplies customers operating in more than 15 countries who use the heavy minerals in paints, plastics and ceramics.
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Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

In Europe, epidemics of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) used to be a seasonal phenomenon associated with migratory waterfowl that were returning to their overwintering sites in the autumn. Since 2020, however, this picture has changed. HPAI viruses, particularly of the influenza A(H5) subtype, have caused the worst epidemics in birds observed to date, with more than 14,000 reported outbreaks and culling of roughly 96 million farmed birds in Europe.

In their editorial published in Eurosurveillance, Cornelia Adlhoch (European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, ECDC) and Francesca Baldinelli (European Food Safety Authority, EFSA) look at the rapid HPAI development in recent years with a move away from seasonality which has been accompanied by a large geographical extension: from west to east along the migratory bird routes towards south-east Asia.

Recently, A(H5N1) virus introductions from Europe to North America was observed in an east to west spread via Iceland and Greenland for the first time from Europe to North America, progressing rapidly across large areas of Canada and the United States (US). Respectively, a north (Europe and North America) to south (Africa and Central/South America) spread during autumn bird migration occurred to as far down as the southern tip of Chile.

They note that risk for human health is currently limited but warn that introduction of avian influenza viruses into mammalian populations could increase the risk of reassortment of influenza viruses that could adapt to mammals and spread among them: "With the ongoing global presence of A(H5) HPAI viruses, further sporadic spill-over events to humans cannot be excluded."

Avian influenza: From virus evolution and diversification

The authors summarize that the recent "rapid spread of A(H5N1) viruses to many previously unaffected areas globally and their successful persistence during the summer months was likely facilitated by the ongoing evolution and reassortment with local low pathogenic avian (LPAI) viruses, leading to their adaptation to newly or previously very rarely affected wild bird species such as barnacle geese or sea birds."

With this rapid and extensive spread, HPAI viruses affect wild bird populations e.g. in South America, where influenza A(H5N1) led to the death of more than 40% of the pelican population in Chile and Peru. In addition, Adlhoch and Baldinelli refer to reports from across the globe about transmission of HPAI to mammals such as minks and sea lions. Such events also increase the risk of the virus spilling over to pet animals through contact with for example dead or sick wild birds or mammals such as foxes.

So far, human infections with A(H5N1) have been reported only in a few countries with no or just mild symptoms (United Kingdom, Spain and the United States), related to exposure to infected birds or culling activities but also severe disease or even death (Chile, China, Ecuador and Vietnam) after exposure to sick or dead backyard poultry or to contaminated environment.

The authors highlight that "although currently circulating avian influenza viruses retain a preference for avian-type receptors, different mutations associated with transmission to and pathogenicity in mammals have been observed. These mutations were detected sporadically in infected wild and domestic birds and more often emerged upon transmission events to mammals."

To tackle the threat of avian influenza, they conclude "a One Health approach is needed through: rapid sharing of information about outbreaks, provision of sequence data and reference viruses, and close collaboration between the different sectors locally and globally. Communication campaigns may help to increase awareness in the population and recognize avian influenza viruses as a threat to animal and human health, in order to reduce the risk of contact with potentially infected animals."

More information: Cornelia Adlhoch et al, Avian influenza, new aspects of an old threat, Eurosurveillance (2023). DOI: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2023.28.19.2300227

Provided by European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC)
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Eight out of 10 Norwegians believe that the next of kin are responsible for making decisions about life-prolonging treatment when patients cannot make decisions themselves. This is incorrect.

What are our attitudes towards and knowledge about key parts of the health legislation which apply during end-of-life treatment? In two new surveys researchers have asked a representative selection of the Norwegian population about this.

"Six out of ten Norwegians answered correctly that doctors are allowed to end ventilator treatment when the patient asks for it, even if it causes the patient's death," Morten Magelssen says.

He is an associate professor at the Center for Medical Ethics at the University of Oslo and has contributed to both studies.

"Seven out of ten also knew that doctors are allowed to give large doses of medication to relieve pain and other distressing symptoms, even if it can quicken the patient's death," Magelssen explains.

"The fear that palliative treatment causes patients to die sooner is admittedly greatly exaggerated. According to previous research, it happens very rarely," he continues.

The doctor makes decisions about treatment if the patient is unable to do so

In one of the surveys, the researchers asked a selection of the Norwegian population to take a stand regarding the claim: "When the patient can no longer make decisions about treatment, it is the patient's next of kin who makes the decision."

"Eight out of 10 said 'yes'. Only one out of ten said 'no', which is actually the correct answer to the question," Magelssen says.

When the patient cannot make decisions about their own treatment, the next of kin have the right to be involved in decisions about their health care. The involvement should consist of expressing what the patient themself would have wanted. But the decision itself is given to the patient's doctor, in the Norwegian patient- and user-rights law.

"In the study we saw a widespread misconception. Many apparently believe that the next of kin have a far more central roleand a far greater responsibilityin decisions about life-prolonging treatment than what they actually have according to the law," Magelssen says. "To prevent misunderstandings or conflicts, the doctor should communicate clearly what the next of kin's role and rights are, and explain where the responsibility lies."

Many believe that the next of kin should be allowed to decide treatment restrictions

"In the study, we examined how much a sample of the Norwegian population thought the next of kin's views should matter when there is disagreement about treatment," Magelssen says.

In the survey, the researchers described a patient with severe dementia, and asked: "Imagine that the doctor and the nurses think that the treatment should be stopped. They discuss this with the patient's next of kin. The family wants the treatment to continue, so that the patient can live on. How much weight should the next of kin's views be given in this situation?"

"One out of 10 believed that the family's view should be given decisive weight, that the next of kin should be allowed to decide. Almost half, depending on how the patient's previously expressed view was described, believed that the relatives' opinions should be of great importance," Magelssen says.

"There is apparently a tension here, between the legislation, which clearly states that the doctor makes the decision based on the patient's wishes, and a widespread opinion in the Norwegian population that the wishes of the next of kin should be given great or even decisive weight. The surveys share data on what the Norwegian population thinks the law says, and gives an indication of how they think things should be."

When are healthcare professionals at risk of prolonging life beyond what is good for the patient?

Since the 1950s, medical treatment has given increasing opportunities to extend people's lives. This has resulted in a new type of ethical challenge: When are healthcare professionals in danger of prolonging life beyond what is good for the patient?

Treatment restriction means ending or not starting treatment that could be life-prolonging, for a terminally ill patient.

"This decision is made when the patient requests it, or when it is considered to be what is best for the patient," Magelssen explains.

The treatment that is terminated or not started can be everything from ventilator, dialysis, and intensive care, to antibiotics, fluid, and nutritional treatment. A decision that the patient should not be resuscitated in the event of cardiac arrest is also an example of treatment limitation.

"If too much treatment is given, we are in risk of prolonging a painful death or a life with a lot of suffering," Magelssen says.

Treatment restriction can lead to ethical challenges

"The survey shows that a large majority, almost nine out of ten, supported that in a given situation it is right to end or not start life-prolonging treatment. Only 4% disagreed," Magelssen says.

"Treatment limitation is clinically, ethically, and legally accepted. However, that does not prevent it from sometimes leading to difficult decisions, disagreements, and ethical problems," Magelssen says.

"Matters about 'when enough is enough' or treatment restrictions is the most frequent ethical problem that is brought up in the clinical ethics committees, which are found in all healthcare institutions and in around 20 municipalities in Norway. That is why this is important to do research on."

The paper is published in the journal BMC Medical Ethics.

More information: David Wikstl et al, Citizen attitudes to non-treatment decision making: a Norwegian survey, BMC Medical Ethics (2023). DOI: 10.1186/s12910-023-00900-5
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A young couple sit on the beach in Huntington Beach, Calif., Monday, May 8, 2023. For years, studies have shown a decline in the rates of American high school students having sex. That trend continued, not surprisingly, in the first years of the pandemic, according to a recent survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The study found that 30% of teens in 2021 said they had ever had sex, down from 38% in 2019 and a huge drop from three decades ago when more than half of teens reported having sex. Credit: AP Photo/Jae C. Hong

Situationships. "Sneaky links." The "talking stage," the flirtatious getting-to-know-you phasetypically done via textthat can lead to a hookup.

High school students are having less sexual intercourse. That's what the studies say. But that doesn't mean they're having less sex.

The language of young love and lust, and the actions behind it, are evolving. And the shift is not being adequately captured in national studies, experts say.

For years, studies have shown a decline in the rates of American high school students having sex. That trend continued, not surprisingly, in the first years of the pandemic, according to a recent survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The study found that 30% of teens in 2021 said they had ever had sex, down from 38% in 2019 and a huge drop from three decades ago, when more than half of teens reported having sex.

The Associated Press took the findings to teenagers and experts around the country to ask for their interpretation. Parents: Some of the answers may surprise you.

THE MEANING OF SEX: DEPENDS WHO YOU ASK

For starters, what is the definition of sex?

"Hmm. That's a good question," says Rose, 17, a junior at a New England high school.

She thought about it for 20 seconds, then listed a range of possibilities for heterosexual sex, oral sex and relations between same-sex or LGBTQ partners. On her campus, short-term hookupsknown as "situationships"are typically low commitment and high risk from both health and emotional perspectives.

A young couple sunbathe on the beach in Huntington Beach, Calif., Monday, May 8, 2023. For years, studies have shown a decline in the rates of American high school students having sex. That trend continued, not surprisingly, in the first years of the pandemic, according to a recent survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The study found that 30% of teens in 2021 said they had ever had sex, down from 38% in 2019 and a huge drop from three decades ago when more than half of teens reported having sex. Credit: AP Photo/Jae C. Hong

There are also "sneaky links"when you hook up in secret and don't tell your friends. "I have a feeling a lot more people are quote unquote having sexjust not necessarily between a man and a woman."

For teens today, the conversation about sexuality is moving from a binary situation to a spectrum and so are the kinds of sex people are having. And while the vocabulary around sex is shifting, the main question on the CDC survey has been worded the same way since the government agency began its biannual study in 1991: Have you "ever had sexual intercourse?"

"Honestly, that question is a little laughable," says Kay, 18, who identifies as queer and attends a public high school near Lansing, Michigan. "There's probably a lot of teenagers who are like, 'No, I've never had sexual intercourse, but I've had other kinds of sex.'"

The AP agreed to use teenagers' first or middle names for this article because of a common concern they expressed about backlash at school, at home and on social media for speaking about their peers' sex lives and LGBTQ+ relations.

SEXUAL IDENTITY IS EVOLVING

Several experts say the CDC findings could signal a shift in how teen sexuality is evolving, with gender fluidity becoming more common along with a decrease in stigma about identifying as not heterosexual.

They point to another finding in this year's study that found the proportion of high school kids who identify as heterosexual dropped to about 75%, down from about 89% in 2015, when the CDC began asking about sexual orientation. Meanwhile, the share who identified as lesbian, gay or bisexual rose to 15%, up from 8% in 2015.

"I just wonder, if youth were in the room when the questions were being created, how they would be worded differently," said Taryn Gal, executive director of the Michigan Organization on Adolescent Sexual Health.

Sex is just one of the topics covered by the CDC study, called the Youth Risk Behavior Survey. One of the main sources of national data about high school students on a range of behaviors, it is conducted every two years and asks about 100 questions on topics including smoking, drinking, drug use, bullying, carrying guns and sex. More than 17,000 students at 152 public and private high schools across the country responded to the 2021 survey.

Condoms are available for free to students at the health center at the University of Oklahoma, Wednesday, May 10, 2023, in Norman, Okla. Credit: AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki

"It's a fine line we have to try to walk," says Kathleen Ethier, director of the CDC's Division of Adolescent and School Health, which leads the study.

From a methodological standpoint, changing a question would make it harder to compare trends over time. The goal is to take a national snapshot of teenage behavior, with the understanding that questions might not capture all the nuance. "It doesn't allow us to go as in depth in some areas as we would like," Ethier says.

The national survey, for example, does not ask about oral sex, which carries the risk of spreading sexually transmitted infections. As for "sexual intercourse," Ethier says, "We try to use a term that we know young people understand, realizing that it may not encompass all the ways young people would define sex."

IS LESS TEEN SEX GOOD NEWS?

Beyond semantics, there are a multitude of theories on why the reported rates of high school sex have steadily declinedand what it might say about American society.

"I imagine some parents are rejoicing and some are concerned, and I think there is probably good cause for both," says Sharon Hoover, co-director of the National Center for School Mental Health at the University of Maryland. Health officials like to see trends that result in fewer teen pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.

"But what we don't know is what this means for the trajectory of young people," Hoover says.

This year's decrease, the sharpest drop ever recorded, clearly had a lot to do with the pandemic, which kept kids isolated, cut off from friends and immersed in social media. Even when life started returning to normal, many kids felt uncomfortable with face-to-face interaction and found their skills in verbal communication had declined, Hoover said.

The survey was conducted in the fall of 2021, just as many K-12 students returned to in-person classrooms after a year of online school.

Abby Tow, a Sexual Health Peer Educator at the University of Oklahoma, displays some of the sexual health pamphlets available at the health center on campus, Wednesday, May 10, 2023, in Norman, Okla. Tow said she wonders if helicopter parenting has played a role in what she calls the "baby-fication of our generation". Credit: AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki

Several teens interviewed said that when schools reopened, they returned with intense social anxiety compounded by fears of catching COVID. That added a new layer to pre-pandemic concerns about sexual relations like getting pregnant or catching STIs.

"I remember thinking, 'What if I get sick? What if I get a disease? What if I don't have the people skills for this?'" said Kay, the 18-year-old from Michigan. "All those 'what ifs' definitely affected my personal relationships, and how I interacted with strangers or personal partners."

Another fear is the prying eyes of parents, says college student Abby Tow, who wonders if helicopter parenting has played a role in what she calls the "baby-fication of our generation." A senior at the University of Oklahoma, Tow knows students in college whose parents monitor their whereabouts using tracking apps.

"Parents would get push notifications when their students left dorms and returned home to dorms," says Tow, 22, majoring in social work and gender studies.

Tow also notices a "general sense of disillusionment" in her generation. She cites statistics that fewer teenagers today are getting driver's licenses. "I think," she says, "there is a correlation between students being able to drive and students having sex."

Another cause for declining sex rates could be easy access to online porn, experts say. By the age of 17, three-quarters of teenagers have viewed pornography online, with the average age of first exposure at 12, according to a report earlier this year by Common Sense Media, a nonprofit child advocacy group.

"Porn is becoming sex ed for young people," says Justine Fonte, a New York-based sex education teacher. She says pornography shapes and skews adolescent ideas about sexual acts, power and intimacy. "You can rewind, fast forward, play as much as you want. It doesn't require you to think about how the person is feeling."

IS THERE AN EVOLVING DEFINITION OF CONSENT?

Several experts said they hoped the decline could be partly attributed to a broader understanding of consent and an increase in "comprehensive" sex education being taught in many schools, which has become a target in ongoing culture wars.

Abby Tow, a Sexual Health Peer Educator at the University of Oklahoma, dumps condoms into a container at the health center on campus, Wednesday, May 10, 2023, in Norman, Okla. Tow said she wonders if helicopter parenting has played a role in what she calls the "baby-fication of our generation". Credit: AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki

Unlike abstinence-only programs, the lessons include discussion on understanding healthy relationships, gender identity, sexual orientation and preventing unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections. Contrary to what critics think, she said, young people are more likely to delay the onset of sexual activity if they have access to sex education.

Some schools and organizations supplement sex education with peer counseling, where teens are trained to speak to each other about relationships and other topics that young people might feel uncomfortable raising with adults.

Annika, 14, is a peer ambassador trained by Planned Parenthood and a high school freshman in Southern California. She's offered guidance to friends in toxic relationships and worries about the ubiquity of porn among her peers, especially male friends. It's clear to her that the pandemic stunted sex lives.

The CDC's 2023 survey, which is currently underway, will show if the decline was temporary. Annika suspects it will show a spike. In her school, at least, students seem to be making up for lost time.

"People lost those two years so they're craving it more," she said. She has often been in a school bathroom where couples in stalls next to her are engaged in sexual activities.

Again, the definition of sex? "Any sexual act," Annika says. "And sexual intercourse is one type of act."

To get a truly accurate reading of teen sexuality, the evolution of language needs to be taken into account, says Dr. John Santelli, a Columbia University professor who specializes in adolescent sexuality.

"The word intercourse used to have another meaning," he points out. "Intercourse used to just mean talking."

 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
On March 6, 2023, the de facto General Prosecutors Office (GPO) of Abkhazia confirmed violations of local legislation in the interstate agreement on the lease of land in Pitsunda (Bichvinta in Georgian) to Russia. This factual rejection of the agreement in its current form seemingly closed a controversial topic that has been affecting Abkhazia for several months. However, it merely closes one chapter of the dispute, which has launched processes that are beginning to push the Russia-supported de facto President Aslan Bzhania into an increasingly open conflict not only with local society but also with the originally pro-presidential parliamentary majority.

BACKGROUND: In defense of its decision, the Prosecutors Office pointed out, in particular, the inaccurate coordinates of the Pitsunda State Dacha object listed in the contract. According to the GPO, the State Commission for State Property Management and Privatization bears the responsibility for errors in the document constituting negligence in the management of state property. The State Office for Land Administration and the Cadaster also made a mistake by not verifying the coordinates in question. Nevertheless, no one will be prosecuted for negligence as the contract has not entered into force and no damage has been done.

The GPO acted on the initiative of the opposition Aidgylara and Aiaaira organizations and the civic association Committee for the Protection of the Sovereignty of Abkhazia from December 14, 2022. The office long remained silent on the matter, which only increased the activity of opposition movements and civil society, calling for demonstrations. In the meantime, and to Bzhanias increasing irritation, the local parliament also blocked the ratification of the agreement.

It may seem that under these circumstances the otherwise loyal GPO also courageously opposed the presidents will. However, it is more likely that the Prosecutors Office published the verdict with Bzhanias consent. There have long been doubts regarding the GPOs independence from the de facto president. Among other things, the GPO is suspected of protecting officials responsible for corruption in the reconstruction of the Achguar high-voltage line and has failed to respond to repeated appeals from the Abkhazian National Movement on the issue of alleged violations of the law when issuing passports in 2020-2022.

According to Abkhaz lawyer and activist Said Gazardava, the GPO did not try to resist the executive power in the case of Pitsunda. While the responsible officials cannot be punished for errors in the contract merely based on the act of negligence, Gazardava asserts that other and more serious crimes could have been committed such as signing an illegal agreement. Ignoring this fact, the GPO shields officials connected to the president from liability. Gazardava also agrees with criticism from civil society actors that the GPO should not have needed three months to assess the given case. The length of the process and the timing of the decision also indicate that the GPOs verdict was based on the instructions of the president.

The verdict allowed the president to avoid open defeat and save face in a situation where protest potential was growing in the streets and the de facto parliament made clear that it would not ratify the treaty in its current form.

IMPLICATIONS: Bzhania has become increasingly isolated in recent months. After the Pitsunda agreement was rejected, his actions indicate that he pursues his policies with a complete disinterest in public opinion. In early May, this tendency was again demonstrated through the detention of a group of young activists protesting against the Pitsunda lease with banners featuring patriotic quotes from Abkhaz writers and politicians. In an effort to reduce the protest potential of the opposition and civil society, the president is putting the local secret service  the State Security Service of Abkhazia (SGB)  to more aggressive use.

The Abkhaz leader increasingly utilizes the SGB to intimidate critical journalists and civil society representatives. The SGB, which is closely connected with the Russian FSB, has started to detain and interrogate critics of the regime on the de facto border with Russia. Although no one has so far been prosecuted, it is a relatively effective method of exerting psychological pressure and intimidation.

Meanwhile, Bzhania also pushes for increased powers for the SGB, effectively transforming it into an instrument of repression. Currently, the SGB has symbolic powers and relies on intimidation and fear, while lacking legislative mandates for large-scale repression. On this issue too, however, the de facto president encountered staunch opposition from the parliament. Moreover, for the first time since Bzhanias ascent to power, the conflict between executive and legislative power acquired a public character. Parliament not only rejected his proposal to strengthen the powers of the SGB, but several pro-government MPs even publicly and rather harshly criticized it in the plenary.

Tensions between the president and the parliament have gone from emerging over isolated incidents to acquiring an increasingly structural character. Unlike Bzhania, the deputies are more oriented towards moods in society and are not as ready to challenge public opinion. The cases of Pitsunda and the initiative to increase the powers of the SGB indicate that even many pro-presidential MPs are increasingly willing to side with the public against the executive power. According to Gazerdava, the pro-presidential faction also probably lacks influential and charismatic MPs who could influence the mood in the parliament. If the Pitsunda agreement is slightly modified Sukhumi and Moscow could plausibly strike a new agreement on it, however, there is no guarantee that the current parliament would ratify it.

Although Bzhania has so far not been successful in his quest to strengthen the SGB, a factor that could potentially help him is the growth of anti-government protest potential in Tbilisi. On March 10, 2023, a crowd protesting in Tbilisi against the bill on foreign agents started chanting Sokhumi, Sokhumi. Local activists and ordinary residents of Abkhazia interpreted this as a manifestation of revanchism on the part of supporters of the Georgian opposition.

Bzhania and Abkhazias de facto Ministry of Foreign Affairs immediately picked up on this narrative. Together, they launched an information campaign according to which, in case Georgias ruling party Georgian Dream would lose power, Abkhazia would face an immediate military threat from Tbilisi. Gazerdava stated that this campaign was quite effective and even engaged many of Bzhanias opponents. It presently seems unlikely that the campaign will have a long-term effect and allow the Abkhaz leader to use the atmosphere of fear to strengthen the powers of the secret service. However, if the protests in Tbilisi would resume or the current government fell, such a development cannot be completely ruled out.

CONCLUSIONS: Under the present circumstances, unless Bzhania would unexpectedly change the methods of his rule, his conflict with a large part of the public and the parliament will further increase. The fact that Bzhania did not back down in response to the strong public opposition against his unpopular proposals, even in the context of absent parliamentary support, and decided to prioritize repressive elements, indicates a relatively high level of self-confidence. Since many of the proposals that the president so stubbornly promotes correspond to the interests of the Kremlin and Russian business groups, this self-confidence is likely rooted in support and guarantees from the Russian government.

The continuous resistance from local residents of Abkhazia creates problems not only for Bzhania but for Russia as well. The decisive factor to the continued development of the situation in Abkhazia will therefore be Moscows reaction. Moscow has many tools of coercion vis-a-vis Sokhumi  especially regarding Abkhazias crumbling system of production and distribution of electricity. Nevertheless, such pressure would risk the outbreak of mass unrest in the region.

Integrating Abkhazia into the Union of Russia and Belarus may become an alternative longer-term strategy to achieve these goals. For now, there are just indirect hints of such discussions taking place between Moscow, Sukhumi and Minsk. However, many experts in Sukhumi believe this might be the next move. This alternative currently faces much less resistance in the region than the idea of Abkhazia directly joining Russia.

AUTHORS BIO: Tomas Baranec is a Research Fellow and Head of the Caucasus Program of the Slovak think tank Strategic Analysis. He currently works as a field researcher on the Georgian-Ossetian ABL. Tomas studied Balkan, Central European and Eurasian Studies at Charles University in Prague.
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Credit: Gang Wang from Ruijin Hospital, affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder affecting tens of millions of people worldwide, and it is the most common cause of dementia. Early-onset AD is typically associated with mutations in the genes APP, PSEN1, and PSEN2, leading to a more aggressive form of the disease with atypical symptoms. In contrast, the newly discovered "Shanghai APP" mutation has been linked to LOAD, which affects a larger population of AD patients.

In a study published in Genes & Diseases, researchers from Ruijin Hospital, affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine and other three teams detected the Shanghai APP mutation in a Chinese patient who developed memory decline in his mid-70s. Neuroimaging techniques confirmed the presence of widespread amyloid  deposition, a key hallmark of AD.

Using molecular dynamics simulation and in vitro experiments, the team found that the E674Q mutation led to increased processing of APP and production of amyloid , a toxic protein linked to AD. Additionally, the biochemical aggregation experiments suggested that the E674Q peptide exhibited higher aggregation than the wild-type peptide, especially the formation of filaments that hinged several fibrils.

To further investigate the mutation's effects in vivo, the researchers introduced the E674Q mutant APP gene into the hippocampi of two-month-old mice using adeno-associated virus (AAV) gene transfer. The study revealed that the E674Q mutation resulted in impaired learning behavior and increased pathological burden in the mouse model, demonstrating its pathogenic role in AD.

The E674Q substitution exhibited a strong amyloidogenic effect, and, to the researchers' knowledge, it is the only known pathogenic mutation within the amyloid processing sequence causing LOAD. This finding is significant, as it may open up new avenues for understanding the development of LOAD and lead to more effective treatments for patients suffering from this form of Alzheimer's disease.

The discovery of the novel Shanghai APP mutation provides a unique opportunity to delve deeper into the molecular mechanisms underlying LOAD. Further research into the effects of the E674Q mutation is essential to explore the potential development of targeted therapies or interventions that may slow or halt the progression of AD.

By understanding how this specific mutation contributes to the onset and progression of LOAD, scientists may be able to devise new strategies for preventing or treating this devastating disease, ultimately improving the quality of life for tens of millions of patients and their families.

More information: Yongfang Zhang et al, E674Q (Shanghai APP mutant), a novel amyloid precursor protein mutation, in familial late-onset Alzheimer's disease, Genes & Diseases (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.gendis.2023.02.051

Provided by Chongqing Medical University
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Interventions aimed at reducing work-related stress for individual health care workers may lead to improvements in how people cope with stress up to a year later. Findings from a Cochrane review of the latest available evidence build on the conclusions of a previous review in 2015 that found low-quality evidence that interventions such as cognitive behavioral training (CBT), and mental and physical relaxation, were better than none.

The researchers included 117 studies of the effects of different interventions on stress alleviation in the current review, of which 89 studies were new. These 89 studies were published between 2013 and 2022. A total of 11,119 health care workers worldwide was randomized to different interventions, and stress was assessed by questionnaires measuring stress symptoms in the short term (up to three months after an intervention ended), in the medium term (between three and 12 months) and long-term (follow-up after more than a year).

The review from Cochrane, a collaboration of independent, international experts, looked at interventions at the level of the individual health care worker that focused attention either on the experience of stress, or away from the experience of stress. Strategies for focusing attention on the stress included CBT, and training on assertiveness, coping and communication skills. Interventions that focus attention away from the stress included relaxation, mindfulness meditation, exercise such as yoga and tai chi, massage, acupuncture, and listening to music. The researchers wanted to see whether different types of interventions were better than no intervention in reducing stress.

The health care workers in the studies were experiencing low to moderate levels of stress and burnout, which can lead to physical symptoms such as headaches, muscle tension or pain, but also mental symptoms, such as depression, anxiety, impaired concentration and emotional and relationship problems.

Sietske Tamminga, assistant professor in public and occupational health at Amsterdam University Medical Centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, who led the research, said, "Health care workers often deal with stressful and emotional situations in patient care, human suffering, and pressure from relationships with patients, family members and employers, as well as high work demands and long working hours.

"We found that health care workers might be able to reduce their stress by means of individual-level interventions such as cognitive behavior training, exercising or listening to music. This may be beneficial for the health care workers themselves and it may spill over to the patients they care for, and the organizations they work for. The effect may last for up to a year and a combination of interventions may be beneficial as well, at least in the short term. Employers should not hesitate to facilitate a range of stress interventions for their employees. The long-term effects of stress management interventions remain unknown."

The researchers say that larger, better-quality studies are needed to look at both the short- and long-term effects of individual level interventions in order to increase the certainty of the evidence.

"We need more studies on interventions addressing work-related risk factors both at the individual and organizational level," said Dr. Tamminga. "It might be even more beneficial to improve working conditions themselves, instead of only helping individuals to deal better with heavy psychosocial burdens. For example, employers could address problems of understaffing, over-work and anti-social shift patterns. If you're dedicated to change, you need to change the underlying risk factors rather than focusing on the symptoms."

Limitations of the research include: The estimates of the effects of individual-level stress management interventions may be biased because of a lack of blinding of the participants in the included studies; many studies were small; and there were too few studies that focused on specific factors that can cause stress in the workplace.

Studies have reported that between 30% to 70% of physicians and nurses and 56% of anesthesiologists experience burnout symptoms as a result of their work. Previous research has tended to focus on a particular type of intervention in specific groups of health care workers. The authors of this Cochrane review write, "To the best of our knowledge there are no up-to-date reviews that examine the effectiveness of various types of individual-level interventions aimed at reducing stress in various health care workers to provide a more complete overview."

Dr. Tamminga concluded, "There is already a shortage of health care workers due to high turnover rates, and effective prevention of stress and burnout may help to reduce this."

The research is published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews.

More information: Individual-level interventions for reducing occupational stress in healthcare workers, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (2023). DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD002892.pub6 Journal information: Cochrane Library

Provided by Cochrane
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Two specialized researchers, one with the Leibniz-Institut fur Wissensmedien (the Knowledge Media Research Center), the other with the Applied Face Cognition Lab at the University of Lausanne, have validated reports that some people have super-recognizing abilities. In their study, reported in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Maren Mayer and Meike Ramon analyzed data from eyewitnesses of ongoing bank robberies in Fribourg, Switzerland, helping to identify two suspects.

Anecdotal evidence and reports from multiple criminal tracking organizations have suggested that some people can recognize another person's face with high accuracy after time has elapsed, even after seeing a face for just a few seconds. Such people have become known by police officials as super-recognizers (SRs). But as the researchers with this new effort noted, little if any research has sought to verify that self-described SRs or those described as such by others, do indeed have such abilities.

Mayer and Ramon were not actively seeking to test the skill of SRs. They were approached by officials from the Cantonal Criminal Police of Fribourg looking for help in solving robberies that had been captured on video.

Cantonal police provided the researchers with copies of the robbery videos and also videos of lineups as suspects were brought in for identification. Soon thereafter, the person responsible for both robberies was identified and jailed. Over the course of the investigation, 118 people had been asked to help identify possible suspects; 66 of the witnesses were known to be SRs. The researchers were then allowed to test both groups as they saw fit and then compared the work of both groups to learn more about the skill level of the SRs.

The researchers found that the skill level of the SRs varied greatly, with some having little greater recognition ability than the average person. But some, they found, had truly exceptional facial recognition abilities. They also found that they could conduct simple tests with the SRs that helped to quickly ascertain their skill level. And they found that performance by SRs could be enhanced by showing them other forensic evidence before asking them to identify a face.

 2023 Science X Network
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The end of the global emergency is the time to reflect on the lessons learned during the pandemic and how we can create more just and kind societies going forward. Credit: Shutterstock

The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the end of the global emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Although COVID-19 remains a danger for many, especially with the possibility of new variants, experts are urging that we move forward to prepare for the next pandemic.

The pandemic caused significant suffering. The WHO estimates that around 6.9 million people died, although the true death toll is likely much higher. Added to that is the loss and pain experienced by many around the world.

But the pandemic also created the circumstances for a type of global, national and local solidarity that has rarely been seen before. In Canada, we saw this unique solidarity in the homegrown "caremongering" movement, where volunteers organized online to offer a helping hand to neighbors and strangers.

During the height of the pandemic, there were at least 191 caremongering groups in Canada. The movement showcased the goodwill of "kind Canadians" and was praised worldwide.

Caremongering

A study led by researchers at McMaster University on caremongering Facebook groups found that the majority of posts were to request or offer materials like personal protective equipment, food and clothes or services like picking up groceries and prescriptions.

There was also a lot of information-sharing about COVID-19, community updates, inspiration and advice. News reports covered these heartwarming stories from coast to coast. From Halifax to Hamilton and Kamloops, many caremongers called this help "lifesaving."

This was especially the case for vulnerable populations such as the elderly, people with disabilities and immunocompromized individuals.

Pandemic unveiled systemic issues

It seems that during those early days, people forgot about their differences and banded together in unity to feel stronger against the common enemy of COVID-19.

But crises and disasters can also "lift veils." They can be transformative or confirmatory, generate new ways of thinking or reinforce prevailing structures of power.

Disasters like the pandemic provide an opportunity to examine the exception in order to understand the rule and to expose the unequal social structures that are often hidden in everyday life.

A University of Guelph study found that in 2020, as the reality of the pandemic set in, discussions in caremonger groups turned towards difficult topics of social justice, inequality and colonization.

One group organizer who took part in the study shared that she felt COVID-19 unveiled the challenges faced by marginalized people.

"[It] pulled a mask off of this but once COVID goes away, these problems do not go away  so right now is the time that we have to keep that mask off so that we make sure that whatever it looks like on the other side of COVID, there is more equity, there's more justice, there's more support and nurturing and recognition that we have been hiding people away and ignoring problems for far too long."

For example, the inequitable rollout of vaccines unveiled how governments have historically overlooked lower-income and racialized communities. It galvanized doctors, public health experts and community advocates to demand better from the government.

Many people saw the injustice in how the most affected neighborhoods, where people were doing essential work in grocery stores, factories, delivery trucks and hospitals, had the lowest vaccination rates while high-income neighborhoods filled with white collar and remote workers had the highest vaccination rates.

A more equitable post-pandemic world

As the global emergency ends, we need to ask ourselves how a post-pandemic world could be more equitable, just and nurturing.

To begin, we can bring the energy of caring for others to our politics. The pandemic allowed people to connect with strangers in their neighborhoods and country through the development of community good will across different geographies. This is what political scientist Benedict Anderson called socially-constructed "imagined communities."

During the pandemic, a light was shone on the needs of those rarely prioritized in politics such as seniors in long-term care, children, low-income households and immunocompromised individuals.

Politics is about who gets what, where and how and we saw that in action throughout the pandemic.

We can apply our newly gained political awareness in the upcoming elections in Toronto and Alberta and aim to achieve a politics that strives for a more equitable, just and nurturing approach to the distribution of resources through evidence-based policies.

Second, the pandemic provided citizens with the time and motivation to think intentionally about life. Some have argued that the pandemic is an opportunity to "rethink humanity's future" with a focus on reimagining the way we want to live going forward. Indeed, many people have adapted healthier behaviors and more sustainable lifestyles.

In the U.K., 85 percent of consumers reported adopting at least one sustainable lifestyle change during the pandemic.

Pandemic travel restrictions also produced some positive environmental effects around the world. Air travel decreased significantly and raised people's thresholds for what justifies their carbon emissions.

Others have become more ethical consumers as part of the shop local movement. More than 80 percent of Canadians reported a desire to support local small businesses during the 2021 holiday season.

All this symbolizes a shift in thinking. As we reflect on the last three years, let us seize the opportunity to use the experience to create a more equitable, just and nurturing post-pandemic world.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
THURSDAY, May 11, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- An asthma attack can literally leave you gasping for breath, so having treatments that relax your airways is critical.

Asthma strikes nearly 8% of Americans, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, so if you have asthma, you are not alone. A chronic condition, asthma occurs when the airways become inflamed and narrow, which hinders airflow.

"The prevention of asthma as a condition is quite difficult. What you can prevent is the frequency and severity of attacks by the use of regular treatment," Dr. John Costello, a pulmonologist at Mayo Clinic Healthcare in London, said in a recent article.

Here, experts discuss the most common asthma treatments that physicians use when creating an individualized treatment plan.

Non-medication treatments for asthma

Your physician will work with you to develop an individualized treatment plan. It is important to follow this plan diligently and check in with your physician regularly.

Avoid triggers:

Because asthma is triggered by many things in the environment, one of the most important treatments for asthma does not involve medication, but rather awareness of what those triggers are. It is important for you to keep a journal in which you record when you have an attack and what triggered it. By noticing what your individual triggers are, you are more prepared to avoid them in the future. According to the Allergy & Asthma Network, some common triggers are:

Hot or cold air

Pet dander, dust, pollen, perfumes, smoke

Laughing or crying

Stress

Exercise

Colds or viruses

Lifestyle changes:

Asthma treatment may also include lifestyle changes. If you smoke, it will be essential for you to quit, according to the American Lung Association. Medications to help with quitting may be part of your treatment plan. In addition, obese patients are more likely to experience asthma symptoms than the general public, the CDC says. Losing weight can be an essential part of controlling asthma.

Keep a journal:

In addition to recording triggers and attacks, keep a record of each time you use your quick relief (rescue) inhaler. One sign of well-controlled asthma is using the rescue inhaler two times a week or less, according to Mount Sinai. If you find your attacks increasing and you are using your quick relief inhaler more often, you should make an appointment with your doctor to review your treatment plan.

A peak-flow meter, an instrument that gauges how well you breathe, can also be a valuable tool in controlling asthma. If you use this regularly and report the results to your physician, it helps the doctor evaluate how well the treatments are working, the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of American says.

Asthma medications

There are two main categories of medications in the asthma treatment arsenal; long-term (control medications), and quick-acting (rescue medications).

Long-term:

Long-term medications are ones that are taken every day as a way to control asthma, the Mayo Clinic says. The goal of these medications is to prevent asthma attacks. These reduce airway inflammation and prevent the airways from narrowing.

Quick-acting:

These quick-acting medications are used in the event of an attack, or when you feel an attack coming on. These include an inhaler that you should carry with you at all times, and can include other medications that may help in the event of an attack.

While inhalation therapy is the treatment of choice, people with severe asthma may need corticosteroids, which can be given either by IV or orally, Costello said.

According to Costello, if the patient's not responding, then admission to the hospital [is needed] to make sure that these medicines are administered efficiently."

It is very important not to change how you take your medications without checking with your physician first.

Surgical treatment for asthma

In the case of severe asthma, surgery may be an option.

For many with severe asthma, medications don't work, with research published recently in the journal Science Translational Medicine suggesting that two natural substances that stimulate cell proliferation activate in the airways of severe asthma patients when they inhale corticosteroids and block the medications from working.

According to the Mayo Clinic, bronchial thermoplasty, usually done over three sessions, is used in patients with severe asthma who have failed medical treatments. It is not for everyone and is not available everywhere. The physician heats the inside of the lung to destroy the smooth muscles which limits the ability of the lung tissue to tighten. This may make it easier to breathe and decreases the incidence of asthma attacks.

While asthma is a chronic illness, you and your physician can create an individualized treatment plan that can give you the best possible control over your asthma.
THURSDAY, May 11, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- The first U.S. cases of drug-resistant ringworm infection have been reported in New York City.

The cases of two women with highly contagious skin infections caused by Trichophyton indotineae are reported in the May 12 issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report . The fungus causes widespread, very itchy, and very hard-to-treat tinea infections. (Tinea is also known as ringworm, which can be misleading since no actual worm is involved.)

"These are the first reported cases in the United States, but the infection is now spanning the globe," said researcher Dr. Avrom Caplan, a dermatologist at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City. It has been spreading widely in India over the last decade and was termed "indotineae" in a report of two 2020 cases, he noted.

"The name should not imply that it is only in India," Caplan said. "We may see more of this infection over time."

The infection can be transmitted by direct contact; by contact with particles of dead skin, nails and hair shed by the host, usually animals and pets; or by contact with fungal spores. The infection is easily spread from person to person.

Caplan said doctors should be aware of this infection and that topical antifungal creams aren't going to be enough to treat it.

"We also know that this infection is hard to confirm with diagnostic testing," he said. "It takes analysis at specialized labs to confirm this particular infection, so clinical awareness and suspicion is very important."

Treatment often requires longer courses of oral antifungals than doctors typically think about, Caplan said.

It appears that one of the patients in the CDC report picked up the infection while traveling outside the United States, he said.

That patient, a 47-year-old woman with no major health issues, developed a bad case of ringworm, also known as tinea, last summer in Bangladesh. She and several family members were treated there with topical antifungal and steroid creams, according to the report.

After returning to the United States, the woman had continued skin eruptions and failed to respond to a common antifungal treatment called terbinafine.

A four-week course of griseofulvin had better results  an 80% improvement in her symptoms  but doctors are still evaluating next steps. Her husband and son have similar symptoms and are being evaluated, the study said.

The other patient in the CDC report, a 28-year-old woman, developed a rash in the summer of 2021. She had not been outside the country, suggesting potential U.S. transmission of the fungus. After treatment with itraconazole, her rash disappeared in four weeks. Doctors are continuing to monitor her, the report said.

"We know this infection is spanning the globe, and we expect we will see more here," Caplan said. Outside Asia, cases have been identified in Europe and Canada, according to NBC News.

"It is hard to confirm diagnostically, but suspicion can be raised clinically if patients present with widespread, itchy, inflamed scaly plaques over the face, neck, trunk or groin," Caplan said.

Patients may report the use of topical corticosteroids or combination creams with topical antibiotics. They may or may not report traveling, Caplan said.

"Given the ease of transmission between people though, it's highly likely that we will see at least family spread if not other local spread," he said.

This infection is hard to treat, Caplan stressed.

Oral antifungals for eight to 12 weeks or more are usually required. Typically, the treatment of choice is itraconazole, which in the past was not usually a first-line oral antifungal. Even afterward, patients may relapse.

Caplan urged doctors to be on watch for patients with widespread, very itchy, scaly and red plaques that look like tinea. They should be asked about travel history, exposures to anyone with similar rashes, and about their use of topical creams, especially corticosteroids, he said.

So far the fungus doesn't seem to be a widespread problem in the United States, he added.

"Public health officials are monitoring the situation closely, and we want to catch cases early to prevent spread," Caplan said. "And we want to emphasize the importance that people should seek a diagnosis from a health care provider if they are concerned about widespread tinea infections."

Dr. Marc Siegel, a clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center, who was not involved in the study, said that these cases, though isolated, have alerted the CDC to a growing problem with fungi that are resistant to common remedies.

Part of the problem comes from misuse and overuse of antifungals, he said.

"This is a growing problem not just with tinea but with other fungi as well including Candida auris," Siegel said.

A second expert, Dr. Raman Madan, a dermatologist at Northwell Health in Huntington, N.Y., said he isn't too worried about this infection.

"A few isolated cases that they found in New York isn't very concerning to me," he said. "I think it becomes more of a problem if a year from now we start seeing more and more of these. It's something that should be on dermatologists' radar but I wouldn't be too concerned as a patient right now."

More information

For more on Trichophyton indotineae, visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

SOURCES: Avrom Caplan, MD, dermatologist, NYU Langone Medical Center, New York City; Marc Siegel, MD, clinical professor, medicine, NYU Langone Medical Center, New York City; Raman Madan, MD, dermatologist, Northwell Health, Huntington, N.Y.; Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, May 12, 2023
THURSDAY, May 11, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Theres a glimmer of good news when it comes to the mental health of Americas adolescents: Visits to U.S. emergency departments for psychiatric troubles declined among kids aged 12 to 17 by the fall of 2022, compared to a year prior.

Overall, mean weekly adolescent emergency department (ED) visits for mental health conditions fell by 11% last fall, compared to higher levels in the fall of 2021, when the pandemic was still keeping many kids out of school and in lockdown at home.

According to data compiled by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, similar year-on-year declines were also seen for adolescent ED visits linked to thoughts of suicide (down 12%) and drug overdoses (down 10%).

Why the improvement in teens mental health?

Many adolescents have returned to prepandemic-like school and community environments, which might have improved social engagement, reduced isolation and supported mental and behavioral health, wrote a team led by CDC investigator Kayla Anderson.

The researchers also believe that familial stressors might also have ebbed as kids were released from lockdowns and remote schooling.

The report wasnt all good news, however.

Boys seem to be benefiting more than girls, the researchers noted, and ED visits for mental health conditions remain similar to or higher than already concerningly high prepandemic baselines among females into 2022, the team reported.

There was also one more grim statistic: A rise between 2021 and 2022 of opioid-related overdoses, especially among boys.

Between the fall of 2021 and the fall of 2022, ED visits for such crises shot up 41% among male adolescents and 10% among females, the report found.

And ED visits involving any kind of drug overdose were still 10% higher in the fall of 2022 than they were in 2019, Andersons team noted.

They stressed that, compared with adults, the absolute number of teen opioid overdoses remains small.

Still, any adolescent overdose is concerning," the CDC team wrote, particularly as increased availability of highly potent and lethal counterfeit pills containing illicitly manufactured fentanyl among adolescents via social media platforms has heighted awareness recently about increasing overdose risk among younger populations.

More needs to be done to help troubled teens avoid mental health crises and drug overdose in particular, they added. Two recent efforts may already be paying off: The launch of the 988 suicide crisis line in 2022 and better access to telehealth mental health services might have improved families ability to identify support before a crisis or get care outside EDs, Andersons team said.

The new statistics were sourced from the National Syndromic Surveillance Program federal database. The study was published in the May 12 issue of the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

More information

Find out more about the crisis in adolescent mental health at the Office of the U.S. Surgeon General.

SOURCE: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, May 12, 2023
THURSDAY, May 11, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- A medication to treat agitation in Alzheimer's patients now has approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The FDA gave supplemental approval to Otsuka Pharmaceutical Company Ltd., and Lundbeck Inc. for Rexulti (brexpiprazole) oral tablets on Thursday. Rexulti is the first FDA-approved treatment for these symptoms.

Agitation is one of the most common and challenging aspects of care among patients with dementia due to Alzheimers disease. Agitation can include symptoms ranging from pacing or restlessness to verbal and physical aggression, said Dr. Tiffany Farchione, director of the division of psychiatry in the FDAs Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.

These symptoms are leading causes of assisted living or nursing home placement and have been associated with accelerated disease progression, she added in an agency news release.

The approval followed two 12-week studies. Participants were between 51 and 90 years of age, and had a probable diagnosis of Alzheimers dementia, along with the type, frequency and severity of agitation behaviors that require medication.

Patients in the first study received either 1 or 2 milligrams (mg) of Rexulti. In the second study, they received 2 or 3 mg of Rexulti.

Over the 12 weeks, researchers looked for a change from baseline in a patient's Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory (CMAI) score. The inventory is a tool that uses caregivers' input to rate the frequency of agitation on a scale from one to seven.

Patients who received 2 mg or 3 mg of Rexulti had statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvements in total CMAI scores compared to patients taking a placebo.

Alzheimers disease is the most common form of dementia, a debilitating neurological condition with progressive decline. Many people with the condition require permanent at-home or residential care.

More than 6.5 million Americans have Alzheimers disease. Agitation is a symptom thats complex and stressful.

The approval for Rexulti was made under the FDA's Fast Track designation, which speeds the review of drugs to treat serious conditions and satisfy an unmet medical need.

Recommendations call for new patients to take 0.5 mg once daily on days one to seven. They should step up to 1 mg daily on days eight through 14, and then to 2 mg daily starting on day 15.

The recommended target dose is 2 mg once daily.

Possible side effects include headache, colds, dizziness, urinary tract infection and sleep disturbances.

Rexulti will continue to carry a Boxed Warning designation for medications in this class. Elderly patients with dementia-related psychosis who are being treated with antipsychotic drugs are at an increased risk of death.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on Alzheimers disease and related dementias.

SOURCE: U.S. Food and Drug Administration, news release, May 11, 2023
THURSDAY, May 11, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday finalized the elimination of certain restrictions that prevented healthy gay and bisexual men from donating blood.

Instead of requiring men who have sex with men or the women who have sex with them to abstain for sexual contact for three months, the FDA has created an individual risk assessment for all donors.

These questions are meant to reduce the risk of transfusion-transmitted HIV.

"The FDA has worked diligently to evaluate our policies and ensure we had the scientific evidence to support individual risk assessment for donor eligibility while maintaining appropriate safeguards to protect recipients of blood products. The implementation of these recommendations will represent a significant milestone for the agency and the LGBTQI+ community," Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said in an agency news release.

"The FDA is committed to working closely with the blood collection industry to help ensure timely implementation of the new recommendations, and we will continue to monitor the safety of the blood supply once this individual risk-based approach is in place, Marks added.

These policies are in alignment with what already happens in some other countries, including the United Kingdom and Canada, according to the FDA.

LGBTQ advocates said the decision was much needed.

"The FDA's decision to follow science and issue new recommendations for all Americans, regardless of sexual orientation, who selflessly donate blood to help save lives, signals the beginning of the end of a dark and discriminatory past rooted in fear and homophobia," GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis posted on Twitter.

Under the new policy, all prospective donors who report having a new sexual partner, more than one sexual partner in the past three months or anal sex in the past three months will be deferred.

People taking medications to treat or prevent HIV infection, including antiretroviral therapy (ART), pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), will also be deferred. These medications, though safe, may give false negative results on screening tests.

HIV isnt transmitted sexually by people with undetectable viral levels, but the same is not true of a blood transfusion because a large amount of blood is given intravenously, the FDA noted.

But Ellis took issue with the deferrals.

"While today's guidance is an important step in the right direction, the deferral period for individuals on PrEP, an FDA-approved drug proven to prevent HIV acquisition, continues to erect barriers to LGBTQ blood donors," Ellis said. "Placing potential blood donors taking PrEP in a separate line from every other donor adds unnecessary stigma. The bias embedded into this policy may, in fact, cost lives."

More information

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has more on donating blood.

SOURCE: U.S. Food and Drug Administration, news release, May 11, 2023
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP)  Kansas' Democratic governor on Thursday scuttled a small legal settlement favored by top Republican officials between the state and the owner of a Wichita fitness studio forced to shut down during the first months of the coronavirus pandemic and then operate under restrictions.

The settlement would have cost the state $4,305.46 and ended a lawsuit filed in December 2020 by Ryan Floyd and his business, Omega Bootcamps Inc. The case has yet to go to trial in Sedgwick County District Court in Wichita, and Attorney General Kris Kobach asked Gov. Laura Kelly and eight leaders of the Republican-controlled Legislature to sign off, as required by state law.

Six of those eight legislative leaders are Republicans, and all six voted to approve the settlement during a live online WebEx meeting that Kelly convened. But Kelly opposed it, along with the House and Senate's top Democrats, and under Kansas law, the governor's action decided the issue.

Kelly did not explain why she opposed the settlement, though a spokesperson later said in a text that the settlement is not in the best interest of the state. The governor and the lawmakers had no public discussion of the settlement but met in private for 35 minutes with two members of Kobach's staff.

The governor cut off public discussion before the private session with Kobach's staff, even though House Democratic Leader Vic Miller asked to have the case verbally summarized in public. The Associated Press requested by email before the meeting that the discussion be held in public.

We had this meeting here today, and you voted no,  Republican state Sen. Rick Billinger, who chairs the Senate budget committee, told Kelly, as she moved to adjourn the meeting immediately after the decision. I mean, I don't understand that.

Kelly said, I mean it's very clear; I voted no,  and then said they could have a discussion after the group adjourned  out of public view.

Ryan Kriegshauser, an attorney representing Floyd and Omega Bootcamps, called Kelly's action an insult to common sense," and Floyd said the settlement amount represented the rent he still had to pay during 53 days he remained closed because of COVID-19 restrictions.

All the dude ever wanted was his rent back, said Josh Ney, another attorney representing Floyd. Now the state will likely spend untold thousands to continue litigating this case.

The state asked the judge handling the lawsuit to dismiss it without a trial in October 2021. But the judge has not ruled on that request. Miller, a veteran attorney, said he expects the judge to dismiss the lawsuit.

Just in general, when we become an easy target for cases that have no merit, it encourages other cases with no merit to be filed, Miller said. You have to look at the bigger picture.

The lawsuit argued that the state used Floyd's and his business private property for the benefit of the general public when it and local officials imposed restrictions to check the spread of COVID-19. Statewide restrictions started with Kelly's order shutting down most businesses for five weeks, starting in late March 2020.

The lawsuit cited part of the states emergency management law that says people can seek compensation in court if their property is commandeered or otherwise used by state or local officials. Miller said that language doesn't cover COVID-19 restrictions, while the lawsuit contends it does.

Kriegshauser said it's notable that the judge has been struggling for more than 18 months with a decision on whether the case should go forward. Also, the Legislature whittled away over time at the power of the governor and local officials to shutter businesses or issue mask mandates in response to criticism of their actions.

"Of course there is merit to this action, Kriegshauser said of the lawsuit.

According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, Omega Bootcamps received two pandemic relief loans totaling about $24,000 in 2020 and 2021. In his lawsuit, Floyd said he wants an appraiser to be appointed to set the amount of damages owed by the state.

Kelly spokesperson Brianna Johnson noted those loans in defending the governor's action.

Kobach was elected attorney general last year but served as secretary of state, Kansas' top elections official, from 2011 to 2019, and Kriegshauser worked for him as an attorney and policy deputy in 2011-12. Lawyers outside the attorney general's office have handled the state's defense in the lawsuit.

Kelly's action came the same day as the formal end of the U.S. national public health emergency for COVID-19. In Kansas, Republican legislative leaders forced an end to a state of emergency in June 2021, about three months earlier than Kelly wanted.

The lawsuit was put on hold by the judge in 2021 so that Kriegshauser could urge Kansas lawmakers to use federal COVID-19 relief funds to compensate small businesses for their financial losses during the pandemic. Republican lawmakers approved a plan that could have set aside tens of millions of dollars, but Kelly vetoed it, arguing that the well-intentioned measure violated a national coronavirus relief law.

In 2022, Kelly and lawmakers agreed on providing up to $50 million worth of refunds on the local property taxes paid by retail storefront businesses shut down or restricted during the pandemic, up to $5,000 for each business.

But critics have said the process of getting the aid is difficult, and the $5,000 cap discourages businesses from applying. The state Department of Revenue reported Thursday that it had approved 23 applications worth more than $22,000 in aid.

Follow John Hanna on Twitter: https://twitter.com/apjdhanna
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP)  Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear on Thursday highlighted law enforcement successes in blocking the spread of illegal drugs in Kentucky, offering an election-year response to Republican criticism of his record in fighting back against the deadly drug scourge.

Beshear pointed to the seizure of 142 pounds (64 kilograms) of fentanyl in the past seven months and discussed the work by the state's Counterdrug Program in supporting seizures of fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin.

The governor also pointed to advances in addiction recovery services as he focused on a comprehensive response to drug woes in a state where drug overdose deaths have surpassed 2,000 per year.

At this point, we all know somebody thats not only been touched by addiction, we all know somebody that we have lost to addiction," Beshear said during his weekly news conference.

Republicans say the state's illegal drug epidemic worsened during Beshear's tenure. State Republican Party spokesman Sean Southard said in a recent statement that drug addiction continues to have a devastating impact on communities, and that Beshear has failed to address this crisis adequately.

The state's drug woes emerged as a leading issue in the GOP gubernatorial primary, where a dozen candidates are competing for their party's nomination. Beshear faces nominal opposition in his party's primary. The primary election is next Tuesday, but three days of in-person, no-excuse early voting started Thursday.

GOP gubernatorial candidate Kelly Craft has made fighting drugs, especially fentanyl, a centerpiece of her campaign. Attorney General Daniel Cameron, another leading GOP gubernatorial contender, points to the nearly $900 million his office secured for Kentucky to fight the opioid epidemic, as part of settlements with companies for their roles in the opioid addiction crisis.

Theres a running debate  which could continue into the general election campaign  about who deserves credit for holding drug companies accountable for the drug crisis.

Cameron has given credit to the office he leads, saying at a campaign stop Wednesday in Shelbyville that it's one thing to talk about these issues, it's another thing to lead on them.

On Thursday, Beshear said he has fought back against the state's addiction problems since his term as attorney general, which preceded Camerons term. While in that position, Beshear filed multiple lawsuits against opioid manufacturers and distributors.

Beshear recently pointed to statistics showing that drug overdose deaths in Kentucky fell by 5% in 2022, which he attributed to drug treatment efforts. This is the first decline in drug overdose deaths in four years.

Kentucky has increased the number of treatment beds by 50% during Beshear's term, according to the governor. His administration is seeking support and oversight of mobile crisis intervention service providers in another initiative to help people overcome addiction. The state's GOP-dominated legislature also has focused on efforts to combat the drug crisis.

Meanwhile, Beshear noted that hundreds of Kentucky National Guard soldiers have been deployed to the nations southwest border during his term as governor. The governor has declared in the past that a strong national security requires strong border security.

Craft has been outspoken in blaming border security problems for the flow of illegal drugs to Kentucky.

Beshear on Thursday signed the state's 2024 Drug Interdiction and Counterdrug Activities Plan. He said the action will pave the way for federal funding to back the counterdrug program in Kentucky.

The governor also offered a slew of statistics to showcase drug interdiction successes.

From Oct. 1, 2022 to May 1 of this year, the counterdrug program team supported law enforcement in the seizure of 88,253 fentanyl pills, Beshear said. During the prior fiscal year, only 5,100 fentanyl pills were seized, he said.

Fentanyl has been partially blamed for the states high death toll from drug overdoses.

Kentucky State Police Commissioner Phillip Burnett Jr., who joined the governor at the news conference, said law enforcement agencies will continue working together to develop innovative ways to combat the spread of illegal drugs causing the deaths of Kentuckians.

Here in Kentucky, we continue to send a strong message to drug traffickers that our focus will be upon you if you distribute such poisons in our state, he said.
Psyche Behan loves being a pharmacist so much, she went to school twice to be able make a career out of it.

Behan, known as "Psy" to her friends and family, is originally from the Philippines and earned a pharmacy degree there. She actually worked as a pharmacist in the Philippines for 10 years, moving from retail work to hospital work to manufacturing. Then, when she moved to Missoula with her husband, she found out that her degree from back home doesn't meet the industry requirements in the United States. She worked at Community Medical Center for 13 years as a pharmacy technician, but she always wanted to get her full pharmacist license.

So, she enrolled in the six-year pharmacy program at the University of Montana and will graduate on Saturday with a Doctor of Pharmacy degree.

"So it's the second go-around for pharmacy school for me," she said, grinning.

Earning a Ph.D. is no easy task, and Behan did it all while battling a cancer diagnosis and working nights part time at the hospital. Sometimes she gets done studying for eight hours in the day and goes right to work and doesn't leave until 1:30 in the morning. After she had surgery for her cancer, her nurse had to tell her to take it easy and stop studying for her next test.

She said her school and her peer study group helped her through it all.

"This is a very good program," she said. "I could say that because I'm not a traditional student. They are always there at your back. They're very open, like trying to figure out things, like how is this gonna work for these students. So if maybe I'm in a different university, you know, I might struggle to finish my pharmacy school. But (the University of Montana) is very good. They work with you."

She said her study group was "amazing" and always helped her focus and understand the curriculum.

"I can't think of doing this just by myself," she said. "My classmates, they're always there."

Behan said that pharmacists are more widely respected in the United States compared with her home country, where doctors sort of think of them as "pill counters." For her, it's important that people understand how much work she has put into earning her degree and how much knowledge it takes to be a pharmacist.

Donna Beall, the interim dean and professor at the Skaggs School of Pharmacy at UM, said she's looking forward to Behan's contribution to the pharmacy profession after graduation.

"During the program, Psy faced many challenges that have shaped her into the woman she is today," Beall said. "I will never forget the day she walked into my office, shut the door and told me of her cancer diagnosis. She was determined that she was going to continue in the program and graduate with her class."

Behan's diagnosis did not define her.

"Throughout her journey, we cried, we hugged, but more importantly, we talked," Beall continued. "Many students might have left the program or took a leave of absence. Psy persevered. She did not miss a beat in her academic classes or her responsibilities."

The University of Montana's commencement ceremonies are on Saturday, May 13 on campus.
A man has been charged after a disturbance and a fire at a tavern north of Morganton last week.

Thomas Jeffery Edmisten, 41, of Morganton, was charged with felony possession of a firearm by a felon, according to a press release from the Burke County Sheriffs Office.

Edmisten was charged after deputies responded to Styles Tavern, on N.C. 18/U.S. 64, around 11 p.m. May 4, the release said. Deputies were told shots had been fired during the incident, but the suspect had left the scene before they arrived.

Burke County Sheriff Banks Hinceman told The News Herald witnesses identified Edmisten as the suspect.

Kevin Motz, who owned the tavern, told reporters after the fire the suspect previously had been banned from the property, but had shown up that night and gotten into a disagreement with some other customers. Motz said the suspect was asked to leave the property.

It was between 5-5:30 a.m. the next day when Chesterfield Fire Rescue responded to the same address for a structure fire that destroyed the tavern, which was housed in a singlewide mobile home, according to information previously published by The News Herald.

The fire remains under investigation, according to the press release.

Warrants were issued for Edmisten on May 5, and U.S. Marshals arrested him May 8 in Catawba County, according to the press release.

Edmisten has previous felony convictions of attempted identity fraud/theft, selling a Schedule II controlled substance, possession with intent to sell a Schedule II controlled substance and malicious conduct by a prisoner, according to records from the North Carolina Department of Public Safety.

He also has other pending charges in Caldwell County of flee to elude arrest with a motor vehicle, assault on a female, misdemeanor larceny, resisting a public officer, a domestic violence protection order violation and two felony counts of probation violation, according to records from the North Carolina Judicial Branch.

Edmisten originally was held under no bond, but was issued a $500,000 secured bond in Burke County District Court on Thursday, the release said. Hes set to appear in court again June 1.
The city of Morganton has much to celebrate during National Nurses Week on May 6-12, as it has an enduring legacy of high-quality nursing education.

Missionary nurse Maria Purdon Allen, who was sent to serve in Morganton in 1903, sowed the seeds for both Grace Hospital (now UNC Health Blue Ridge) and its School of Nursing, according to a history compiled by the Blue Ridge HealthCare Foundation Inc. Allen wrote an article that was published in an Episcopal Church publication called The Spirit of Missions in 1905 that illustrated the need for a hospital in Morganton. The article generated funding for the project, and the hospital opened in 1906. Allen served as director of nurses there until 1924.

Shortly after the hospital began operations, Allen noted the shortage of trained nurses available for hire and founded the Grace Hospital School of Nursing to provide training on-site. The school took female high school graduates between the ages of 18-25 in good health and of good moral character and put them through a three-year program to earn a degree in nursing.

The school did not initially charge for tuition and provided students with textbooks and uniforms. If the students made it through the program at least four months, they were paid a $5 per month stipend through the end of their junior year. The stipend was raised to $10 per month for seniors.

Members of the medical staff served as teachers, and all training took place in the hospital, the history reads. Students learned by doing. Until the new nurses home was built in 1938, students lived in the hospital, sometimes giving up their rooms to patients and sleeping on cots on the porches.

After six months in the program studying and assisting hospital staff, student nurses would receive their caps and a silver cross necklace in a special ceremony. Black strips were added to their caps in symbolic places at the beginning of their junior and senior years to indicate their advancement in the training.

Graces school was unique in adopting the cross as the school insignia, the history reads. The silver cross was a replica of the cross worn by the Rev. Walter Hughson, hospital founder.

Upon graduation, each nurses cross would be engraved with an IHS (In His Service) on one side and Grace Hospital School of Nursing and graduation date on the other. Lola Wilson was the first to graduate from the program in 1913. Allen oversaw the graduation of 21 nurses from the Grace Hospital School of Nursing during her time as director of nurses.

In 1921, Allen, Wilson and three other Grace graduates created the Grace Hospital School of Nursing Alumni Association.

Its missions were to encourage in students and graduates alike a high standard of ethical and professional conduct, to promote fellowship between the nurses, foster an interest in professional growth, including sponsoring continuing education programs locally, and to offer financial assistance to deserving students, the history reads.

The alumnae began to refer to themselves as Grace Sisters. The organization still meets monthly to hear presentations from a variety of health experts and continues to support fellow nurses with scholarships.

Three of the schools graduates served in the military as nurses during World War I, and 32 Grace nursing students enrolled in the Cadet Corp. during World War II.

The Grace Hospital School of Nursing established a partnership with Lenoir-Rhyne College in 1960 to offer a four-year nursing degree. The hospital withdrew financial support from the program in 1973 but continued its affiliation to students for clinical experience.

To learn more about the Grace Hospital School of Nursing, visit brhcfoundation.org or visit the Grace Hospital School of Nursing exhibit at the History Museum of Burke County at 201 W. Meeting St. in Morganton.
World Museum

event set June 1The World Museum of Mining at 155 Museum Way will have its annual membership meeting and an open house at 5:30 p.m. June 1.

The opening of Montana Resources new exhibit will be celebrated, along with Redpath USA exhibits.

For more details, call 406-723-7211.

Dust to Dazzle tour spotlights WalkervilleButte Citizens for Preservation and Revitalizations annual Dust to Dazzle tour heads north this year for a walk through some of Walkervilles most iconic structures. The event will run from noon to 5 p.m. on June 24.

The featured properties along North Main and Daly Streets will include the St. Lawrence OToole Church, the Lexington Mine and Hoist House, a duplex, a commercial building and three historic homes.

Tourgoers can browse at their own pace and visit the properties in whatever order they choose.

For ticket information, visit www.buttecpr.org.

Western music on

tap at Elling HouseVIRGINIA CITY  The Elling House Arts & Humanities Center will host Phil Page, a songwriter, musician and storyteller from Dillon, for a fun night of music, history and laughter at 7 p.m. May 19, at 404 E. Idaho St., Virginia City.

A working cowboy and saddle-maker, Page does songs in the cowboy and country folk genre, focusing on the American Old West.

Tickets are $15, and reservations are recommended by calling 406-843-5454 or 406-843-5508.
Andrew Laszlo Jr. will be giving a presentation, Surviving the Holocaust at 7 p.m. on May 18, at the Bnai Israel Cultural Center, 327 W. Galena St.

The speaker is the son of Andrew Laszlo Sr., who survived the horrors of the Holocaust in World War II. He will tell the story of the skill, instinct, and cunning that led to his fathers survival, while emphasizing his strong will to put the past behind and build a new life.

Laszlo Sr. grew up in a middle-class home in Papa, Hungary. In 1944, his family was forcibly relocated to the ghetto. From there, he and his brother were conscripted into labor service, and the rest of his family was taken by train to Auschwitz and other sites where they perished.

After escaping the labor camps, Laszlo Sr. was captured and sent by rail car to Bergen-Belsen, at the same time as Anne Frank. He escaped from Russian-occupied post-war Hungary to the displaced persons camp in Ulm, Germany. With clothes sown from a U.S. Army blanket, he arrived in New York Harbor with $2.36 in his pocket, unable to speak English and with no post-high school education.

He would later became a world-famous cinematographer doing films such as Shogun and Rambo: First Blood, and was nominated for two Emmy awards.

Laszlos father kept his past a secret for more than half a century. On the 50th anniversary of his arrival in America, a leather-bound book detailing his past, Footnote to History, arrived on his sons Billings' doorstep.
Dance troupe to hold summer bazaar

The Little Steps Dance Troupe will host a summer bazaar from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, June 3, at the Butte Plaza Mall.

More than 40 vendors will be on hand, showcasing crafts, arts, treats, jewelry, woodwork, photography, beauty products and more.

Whitehalls annual garage sale June 17

The Whitehall Chamber of Commerce will host its annual Community Garage Sale beginning at 8 a.m. Saturday, June 17.

Shop for bargains and more bargains. Call 406-287-2260 for details.

Firemen to host seafood extravaganza

PHILIPSBURG  The annual Philipsburg Volunteer Firemens Clam and Oyster Feed will be from 3 to 7 p.m. Saturday, June 24, at the new Philipsburg Fire Hall on Railroad Ave.

Fresh clams and oysters, salads and spaghetti are on the menu. The cost is $25 for adults and kids under 12 pay $5. In addition, raffle tickets will be sold.

All proceeds benefit PVFD operations.

Deer Lodge gearing up for annual Territorial Days

The 33rd annual Territorial Days will be celebrated Saturday, June 17, in Deer Lodge with numerous events, including classic cars, parade, sidewalk sales, food, activities and live music.

The Deer Lodge celebration was established in 1990, and includes a parade, which starts at noon on Main Street, along with a brew fest from 1 to 5 p.m.
Jane Shehan is an independent real estate professional in the Bozeman area. In 2022, she and others in her field lost the ability to post For Sale By Owner listings on Zillow and other online platforms, as Montana became one of only two states, alongside Wisconsin, with online bans on FSBO listings.

Then, on April 25, Gov. Greg Gianforte signed House Bill 247, which reopened for Montanans the opportunity to post FSBO listings online. It was a legislative move heralded by independent sellers and real estate agents alike.

It was common sense, said Sam Sill with the Missoula Organization of Realtors. We supported it.

Not all real estate agents agreed with Sill, however. Billings Rep. Sue Vinton, the bills sponsor, explained that the ban had gone into place in 2022 because the Big Sky Country Multiple Listing Service in the Gallatin Valley petitioned the state to withdraw support for online FSBO postings.

The National Association of Realtors, which bumped the U.S. Chamber of Commerce out of the countrys top lobbying spender spot in 2020, also advocates against FSBO sales.

Shehan and her colleagues oppose the perceived overreach by Realtor associations, contending home sellers no longer need the support of official organizations thanks to digital innovations.

Realtors have a respectful and an important job, but sometimes people dont need a Realtor, she said. Zillow and other online platforms, she explained, even the playing field.

Before HB 247, however, Shehan said she felt hamstrung.

Theres just nothing you can do, she said. Youre forced to just put a sign out on the street.

Shehan used to work as a Realtor, but she decided to go independent, using a title company and real estate attorney to sell property herself.

Thats a very safe way, she said.

Independent sales also create opportunities for more rural real estate transactions with lower-income participants, according to Zillows research.

Thats a benefit that resonates with Shehan, who said she believes the Big Sky MLS petition has played a part in the Gallatin Valleys housing crisis.

That really contributes to the problem of local people being completely bought out of the market, she said.

Real estate agents and the organizations that represent them have a right to pursue their own best financial outcomes, Shehan acknowledged, but she nonetheless inveighed against their outsized impact, particularly in the wake of the 2022 FSBO ban.

They have to take some responsibility for whats going on in the West, she said. Lets understand the collateral damage thats going to go on here.  Everythings better when theres an even playing field.

Zillow, too, agreed with Shehans analysis.

Zillow believes that being formally represented by a real estate professional is the best way to navigate the real estate process, said Beth Wanless, government and public affairs manager, but we also believe in consumer choice  thats why we supported this bill. When we were forced to take down independent, for-sale-by-owner postings, it hurt both sellers and buyers across Montana.
Two separate cases involving crimes on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation were heard in Great Falls federal court on Wednesday.

Dillon James Wippert, 27, pleaded guilty in December 2022 to second-degree murder. According to the U.S. Attorneys Office, he shot and killed a man at a birthday party on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in May 2020.

Wippert was sentenced by Chief U.S. District Judge Brian M. Morris to 11 years and eight months in federal prison on Wednesday.

Court documents state Wippert was at the party on May 17, 2020, at the male victims house to celebrate Wipperts birthday. An argument started, and Wippert is accused of shooting the victim twice, including in the back of the head.

On May 19, Blackfeet law officers responded to a house in the Bear Paw community, where the family found the body of the 19-year-old victim.

The government further alleged that after his arrest, Wippert told law enforcement he had a panther in him and described himself as a weapon, a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office stated. When pushed for a motive for the killing, Wipperts only explanation was that he held ill feelings and that the victim had given him an evil smile and given off death threat energy.

Also on Wednesday, a Browning woman admitted to federal charges that she sexually abused a teenage boy on Blackfeet land, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Brittany L. Gervais, 26, pleaded guilty to sexual abuse of a minor. She faces a maximum of 15 years in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 4.

Federal court documents allege Gervais sexually assaulted a 13-year-old boy with developmental disabilities. In August 2021, a relative of the survivor saw the boy approach with Gervais behind him. An investigation determined Gervais offered him money to walk with her and at some point she abused him.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kalah A. Paisley and Wendy A. Johnson are prosecuting the case, which was investigated by FBI and Blackfeet Law Enforcement Service.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP)  Twitter launched encrypted messaging Wednesday, offering select users the ability to communicate more securely. But its new service is much more of a baby step than a giant leap forward.

For starters, it lacks basic protections that security experts consider essential for shielding messages from hackers and other prying eyes. Senders and receivers must also be subscribed to Twitters Blue service for $11 a month ($8 for desktop-only) or otherwise affiliated with an organization verified by Twitter for $1,000 a month plus $50 per user.

The companys official message announcing the rollout promised additional features soon. But CEO Elon Musk offered his own caution via a tweet:  Try it, but dont trust it yet. 

WHAT IS ENCRYPTED MESSAGING AGAIN?

Ordinary messages sent across the internet, whether by email, direct message, Twitter or other means  are generally vulnerable to interception that could allow other people or organizations to read them. That includes the companies offering the message services. Those companies can also be required to produce user messages in response to a legal subpoena or court order.

Encryption technology offers protection against spies and nosy online neighbors by encoding messages so that only the sender and the recipient can decipher them.

SO HOW DOES TWITTER'S NEW ENCRYPTION STACK UP?

Not super well. The gold standard in secure messaging is set by services such as Signal and ProtonMail, which use strong end-to-end encryption to shield messages so that no one else  not even the companies themselves  can read them.

Twitter's service doesn't currently do that. For the moment, its encrypted messages are vulnerable to a so-called man-in-the-middle attack that allows an attacker to insinuate themselves into an encrypted conversation to listen in and even modify messages as they're sent. Twitter itself, in fact, has the ability to do this.

The acid test is that I could not see your DMs even if there was a gun to my head, Musk tweeted on Tuesday. But Twitter isn't there yet.

Twitter also doesn't offer any way to report encrypted messages for harassment or abuse, although it will be possible to block individual senders.

ARE THERE OTHER DRAWBACKS?

Yes. For instance, Twitter's encrypted messages can only be sent to another individual. Twitter says it will soon be expanding encryption to groups. Encrypted messages are also limited to text and links; photos, video and other attachments aren't supported yet, the company says.

Twitter encryption also doesn't provide what's called forward secrecy," which would prevent an attacker who gets hold of a user's private key from using it to read earlier and subsequent messages.

In its official document, Twitter says forward secrecy techniques aren't compatible with user expectations that they'll always be able to obtain their historical messages from the cloud. As a result, the company doesn't plan to offer forward secrecy at all.

A final issue: Users won't have any way to make encrypted messages a default setting; they'll have to deliberately choose encryption each time they start a new conversation.
The Army Corps of Engineers is asking area residents for feedback on proposed alterations to the levee system.

This year, the Corps of Engineers and the Muscatine Island Levee Stakeholder Group are planning to raise and strengthen the Muscatine Island Levee to a 3-mile reach.

According to the Levee Stakeholder Group, written comments of interest are needed in order to officially begin this alteration of the levee. Residents will have from now until Wednesday, May 17, to send a letter or email.

Although many options were reviewed by the Corps, it was determined that the best course of action was to improve the lowest point in the levee, which would in turn make it so that an overtop situation would not erode the levee itself with any floodwater instead overflowing at the new hardened structure at the far end of the levee. From there, the water would flow to the pump station and back into the river once it receded.

The project comes several years after the Corps' Levee Breach Study in 2013. According to this study, because of the levees current system, if an overtop situation were to occur at the sand levee, it would erode, allowing a large amount of water to break through. From this study, the creation of the Levee Stakeholder Group came about in order to determine potential improvements.

Weve seen many natural disasters across the country and around the world occurring more often. In Muscatine, eight of the top 10 historic crests have occurred since the year 2000," Levee Stakeholder Group member Rich Dwyer said in a news release.

Additionally, it was emphasized by the Bi-State Regional Commission that the key economic development need that will be addressed through the new project will be protecting major businesses and industries within Muscatine County that would otherwise be impacted by flooding if the current levee were to fail.

Should this happen on the northern portion of the levee, the 2013 study demonstrated that Highway 61, a main evacuation route, would then become inaccessible within two to four hours of a breach. This in turn would create environmental damage throughout Muscatines industrial commercial area, potentially even disrupting systems such as the regional power grid, MidAmerican Power Generating Plant, the Muscatine Water Pollution Control Plant and the Muscatine Power & Water power plant.

Emails can be sent to MVR408@usace.army.mil, while regular mail can be sent to the District Engineer, US Army Corps of Engineers, Rock Island District (Attn: Keller (PM-M), Clock Tower Building, P.O. Box 2004, Rock Island, IL, 61204-2004.

Photos: Flood waters receding Saturday, cleanup to begin along the river
JOHNSTON  After signing into law a transformational $340 million program for public assistance for private school costs this year, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said Thursday she plans to address Iowa public school teacher salaries during the next legislative session.

Reynolds said she already has been working on public teacher salaries with an eye to next year, as an extension of the myriad pieces of K-12 education policy passed during the recently concluded 2023 session of the Iowa Legislature.

Reynolds said she has been told by rural school administrators that the issue of teacher salaries is especially critical in their districts.

They werent able to pay, a lot of times, as much as some of the more urban school districts were able to pay, Reynolds said, while highlighting legislation passed this session that provided some regulatory flexibility for school districts to use more funding sources to pay for teachers salaries.

Weve given them a mechanism to do that right now. And then well take a look at that next year  continue to work on teachers salaries moving forward, she said.

Iowas average full-time teacher salary in the 2022-23 school year was just above $63,000, according to state education department data.

In the 2021-22 school year, the average was $59,581, which put Iowa 27th in the nation, according to the National Education Association.

Reynolds made the comments while discussing education and myriad other topics while recording her appearance on this weekends episode of Iowa Press on Iowa PBS.

PRIVATE SCHOOL TUITION

Reynolds said she does not feel that reports of some Iowa private schools increasing tuition weakens the states new financial assistance program.

The state program will provide the equivalent of the states per-pupil public school funding  roughly $7,600 next year  to the families of Iowa students who wish to attend a private school. Since the education savings accounts were signed into law, some private schools have announced increases in their tuition fees for the coming school year.

Asked if those tuition increases lessen the impact of the new program, Reynolds said, I dont think so. But she also said she will keep an eye on it.

Any time you pass transformative legislation like we just did, a lot of times theres cleanup that needs to happen in the follow-up years. So well continue to monitor that, she said.

STATE AUDITOR LIMITS

Reynolds has not yet signed into law legislation, passed by Republican lawmakers, that would restrict some information that the state auditors office can access during an audit investigation.

The bill also eliminates the ability for the office to challenge the decision of a three-member arbitration panel to settle disputes over the auditors access to information. The arbitration panels ruling would be final, with the auditor no longer able to challenge the decision in court.

The arbitration panel is comprised of the auditors office, the state department or agency that is being investigated, and a representative of the governors office.

Critics of the legislation include the National State Auditors Association, the Institute of Internal Auditors, and former U.S. Comptroller General David Walker, who served under both Democratic and Republican presidents.

Iowas current state auditor, Rob Sand, is the lone Democrat in a statewide elected office. Critics of the bill have called it a politically motivated power grab.

The auditors office is part of the executive branch. And I think Iowans expect the executive branch to be able to work things out. It puts a process in place that allows us to do that, Reynolds said.

If my agencies have some conflict, we bring them in, we set them down, and we ask them to work it out. And  to go to the courts, to have executive branch agencies competing against each other, the taxpayers have to pay for it twice, she said.

And I just dont think its unreasonable that we cant come to some resolution through the arbitration process.

BIRTH CONTROL

Reynolds said she will try again next year to convince state lawmakers to pass her proposal to make birth control accessible through a pharmacist without a doctors visit. The proposal passed the Republican-led Iowa Senate this session, but not the Republican-led Iowa House

Hopefully, we can continue to work with the legislators and continue to educate them and talk about why we believe its the right thing to do, Reynolds said.

Weve tried a lot of different paths to get there, and we havent been successful yet. I love a challenge. So well keep working on it. And, hopefully, well get that across the finish line.

GIVING MORE LEEWAY IN SETTING STATE AGENCY DIRECTORS SALARIES

After Republican state lawmakers gave the governors office more freedom to set the salaries of state department and agency heads, via a massive executive reorganization plan, Reynolds said Thursday the state budget is what will limit how high those salaries can go.

The budget is the constraints, she said. And thats the pitch that I made to the legislators: They have the ultimate decision by setting the budget. If I increase the salaries of the directors that Ive asked to serve in that capacity, it has to fit within their overall budget.
In the rolling hills of Southern California, east of San Diego, Fred Taylor spends his mornings with a cup of coffee and a Sudoku puzzle. He enjoys cleaning the yard and refilling his bird feeders  and every spring looks forward to the return of the orioles from Mexico.

Born and raised in Springville in 1921, the now 101-year-old former music teacher eventually found his way south to the coastal climate of the American West. But this spring, like the orioles he favors, Fred is migrating north  back home to Iowa.

Although he didn't know of his Midwest return until a little over a month ago  when his daughter, Linda Taylor, handed him a letter during a Zoom call with family and friends. It was from his alma mater, Cornell College in Mount Vernon, where he earned a music degree 80 years ago.

"I just had him cold read it, and that's how I sprung it on him," she said. "It didn't give him a chance to say no."

'Uncle Sam wants you'

In the early 1940s, when Fred was pursuing a postsecondary degree at Cornell, the world was at war and the United States was drafting servicemen.

"You know all the posters about 'Uncle Sam wants you,'" Linda said. "So he and several of his friends, right after Pearl Harbor, joined the Army Air Corps Reserves because they'd rather fly than join the infantry."

Fred's unit was activated in February 1943, meaning the 21-year-old Cornell senior had to leave school early and miss commencement  although he'd completed his music degree requirements.

Linda said he wanted to serve, having two brothers enlisted at the time. "It was not a hard thing," she said of his decision to go. "He always wanted to fly."

Fred, according to his daughter, doesn't talk about his time at war. Although, she said, he did get to fly "some of the greatest airplanes every made."

"He flew the P51 Mustang," she said. "If Tom Cruise owns a P51 Mustang, it's got to be a pretty hot airplane."

Before Fred left, at the start of his senior year at Cornell, he met a girl named Peggy Newberg.

"I was assigned to the same table in Bowman Hall as Peggy," he said, referencing the history of assigned seating for meals.

Peggy traveled to Colorado Springs to marry Fred during his advanced flight training there.

And after he returned from war in 1945, Fred joined the Iowa Air National Guard before getting his master's degree in music education from Drake University in 1953. He missed that commencement, too  he had landed work in the Black Hills.

But none of those missed experiences fazed Fred, who started his long music-teaching career in Iowa before the couple relocated to California, where he retired and remains today  still living in the same house he and Peggy moved into in 1959.

'Rite of passage'

When Fred missed his Cornell graduation in 1943, his dad drove the 10 miles from Springville to Mount Vernon to pick up his diploma. But that never seem quite right to his daughter  an associate professor at the University of Miami in Florida.

"I had a bee in my bonnet about it," Linda said.

As an academic, she's seen how meaningful and plain fun graduation can be.

"We do a heck of a graduation," she said. "It's a flat-out Miami party."

She started wondering if  even at 100-plus years old  it wasn't too late for her dad to have that tassel-turning experience.

"Dad's generation just gave up a lot to make sure that we were free and happy," Linda said. "I wanted to find out if it was possible for him to have that experience. It's a rite of passage."

So she emailed the Cornell Alumni Association and the college's president, Jonathan Brand, pitching the idea of her veteran father finally crossing the Cornell commencement stage this spring.

"They were enthusiastic about it because there's not many Cornellians left of his generation," Linda said. "So I made arrangements."

When she handed her father his flight itinerary and communication from Cornell inviting him to graduation during that Zoom call several weeks ago, Fred said he was stunned.

"Linda mentioned this idea a long time ago, but it was a big surprise to me that she had gone ahead and made the arrangements to do it," he said. "Of course, I'm surprised and excited about it."

In addition to commencement, Fred said he's looking forward to seeing Midwest friends and family and "eating as many pork tenderloin sandwiches and Maid-Rites" as they can find.

Being in good health, he plans to walk across the stage near the end of the Sunday morning ceremony as the last of this term's spring graduates.

"They're going to call Dad up," Linda said. "And in the time it takes him to walk this 48-foot-long ramp, they're going to explain his story, present him with his diploma ... and then have him lead the tassel ceremony  where you turn your tassel from the right side of your mortarboard to the left."

In addition to his robe and cap with a purple tassel, Fred will wear a white master's hood  because he has a master's degree.

"We are so excited to meet him soon," Cornell communications director Dee Ann Rexroat said.

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CHICAGO (AP)  Two men were killed and three other people were injured in a shooting on Chicago's South Side early Thursday evening, authorities said.

A 19-year-old man and a 26-year-old man were both pronounced dead at the University of Chicago Medical Center after being shot, police said. Their names were not immediately released.

The injured included a 17-year-old boy, a 21-year-old man and a 26-year-old woman being treated at other hospitals, officials said. The boy and the woman both were shot in the arm.

The five victims were standing outside when two people with guns got out of a vehicle and opened fire toward the group, police said.
Embakasi East MP Babu Owino has strongly opposed a plan by the government to introduce a five percent tax on wigs, false beards, and eyebrows.

The plan is contained in the Finance Bill 2023 that targets to raise Ksh2.8 trillion in the 2023/2024 financial year.

According to Babu Owino, the Bill seeks to overburden Kenyans who are already struggling with the high cost of living.

He singled out the proposed tax on wigs and weaves saying it will affect tourism in the country.

The outspoken lawmaker argued that Kenyan women need wigs because they are the biggest tourist attraction in the country.

A government that is stealing from our ladies is not a good government, and a real man should not steal from ladies. Our ladies are now putting on these wigs, the weaves to attract tourists. And the main tourist attraction in this country are our beautiful ladies, Babu reasoned.

The MP added that the country will lose billions in revenue by making these products expensive for Kenyan women.

Taking a swipe at President William Rutos administration, Babu Owino joked that the government might even tax the oxygen we breathe.

You are taxed to wear clothes, meanwhile they are saying that walking naked is a crime. Everything is being taxed. They are taxing food, clothes, education, medicines and housing, he said.
Ministry of Information, Communications, and the Digital Economy Cabinet Secretary, Eliud Owalo, on Wednesday, handed over an ICT innovation hub to residents of Githunguri Sub County at Ikinu PCEA church.

The development is part of the governments plan to establish a digital hub in each of Kenyas 1,450 wards in an ambitious project to spur digital trade.

The CS said the hubs would complement the governments agenda to revolutionize business operations using technology.

CS Owalo noted that the government was committed to providing equal and quality public service technology using digital technology to all citizens.

We want to address the situation of high unemployment amongst the youth in the country by rolling out 1450 digital hubs in the villages, where the youth can be trained to acquire the requisite ICT skills, as well as installing 25,000 Wi-Fi hotspots across the country.

The government has prioritized the integration of ICT into the national development agenda in line with global commitment, and ICT is not just an enabler but also an economic accelerator, especially for the unemployed youth, he said.

The government target, through the ministry of ICT and digital economy, is planning to digitize 5000 government services by June this year but is currently at 4000, Owalo said.

Kenya, he explained, cannot be left behind, and therefore, through the hubs spread across the country, the youth can also get opportunities online and in the digital space, promising that the government will ensure to link the youth who are tech-savvy with technology firms for employment.

Through technology, the ICT sector has the potential for the young people to earn as much as Sh 200,000 salary and through this, they in turn can be able to help in the family, the CS said, promising to add another 30 computers to the 10 desktops and five laptops that are available in the Ikinu PCEA church hub.

The ICT Authority CEO, Stanley Kamanguya, said they have identified 4,000 km of fibre and people can now take advantage of the digital hubs.

He urged the youth to take advantage of the hub in terms of training and also challenged them to ensure that they also train their elderly, considering government services will soon go digital.

Kiambu County Executive Committee member in charge of ICT and finance, David Kuria, who was representing Governor Kimani Wamatangi, lauded the move by the national government, saying the project will go a long way in benefiting both the students and the community at large.

He said that partnering with the county and churches has come at the right time as it will ensure rapid development for the youth.

60 percent of the young people are unemployed, and most are engaging in drug abuse, hindering productivity. Through the hubs, there will be the creation of not only jobs, but our youth will not be idle, he said.

Kuria committed that the county governments would also join in and replicate the same innovation hubs in other areas of the county.

In the run-up to the 2022 elections, the Kenya Kwanza team under President Dr. William Ruto featured ICT among the five key result areas that they will prioritize as an enabler and a critical success factor to drive the economy.

To realize the potential of the sector, the government, through the ICT ministry, has committed to implementing the Kenya National Digital Masterplan 202232, which has five key pillars to drive the digital transformation agenda.

They are digital infrastructure, digital services and data management, digital skills, digital entrepreneurship, and effective alignment with policy, legal, and regulatory frameworks.
A 40-year-old man has admitted to stealing a mobile phone from a police officer at a police station in Nairobi.

Joseph Kariuki, a garbage collector, stole a phone valued at Sh19,500 at Pangani police stations report office on April 16.

The court heard that the phone belonged to Constable Kibet Kirui, who had left it charging while he was out for lunch.

When the officer returned, he found the phone missing and reviewed the stations CCTV cameras. Footage captured Kariuki in the act.

The accused was arrested later when he had gone to collect garbage and found Kirui at the same report office.

Kariuki initially denied stealing the phone even after he was shown the CCTV footage.

In court, however, Kariuki pleaded guilty to theft charges and asked for forgiveness. He told Makadara Chief Magistrate Francis Kyambia that he will never steal again.

The magistrate remanded Kariuki until May 30 and ordered a pre-sentence report.
By PCS

Kenya has begun a global campaign aimed at attracting quality investments.

The new move, President William Ruto said, will provide excellent returns on investment at a relatively low risk.

He argued that it is necessary but not enough to talk about the ease of doing business in the country.

Speaking during the Israel Investor Roundtable Forum in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, the President said the Government is keen on making Kenya one of the worlds top business hubs.

We have a legal system that provides robust protection for property rights and an equally strong rule of law mechanism, he said.

Besides these, he noted, Kenya has enacted laws to protect investment and liberalised the foreign exchange regime.

Our laws permit and support the repatriation of profits by foreign companies, he stated.

The President observed that the countrys tax system is under steady review to align with the countrys investment promotion plan.

He urged the investors to put their resources in Kenyas housing, renewable energy, health, water and irrigation as well as ICT sectors.

We are also pursuing a plan of cooperation in tourism, culture and heritage and film production.

President Ruto reiterated that Kenya is the ideal investment destination for foreign businesses due to its strategic location, highly-skilled human resources and stability.

Direct your interest in the highly-rewarding investment opportunities in Kenya, the President stressed as he wound up his two-day official visit of Israel.
Safaricom M-Pesa users transacted a whopping Ksh.35.86 trillion in the last year through the telcos mobile money services.

This is according to audited results for Financial Year ending March 2023.

The data shows that M-Pesa remains Safaricoms leading revenue earner. Total transaction value grew by 21.4% to Ksh.35.86 trillion, with volumes rising by 33.5% to Ksh.21.03 billion.

the rise in M-Pesa revenue to increased usage and growth of chargeable transactions per one-month active customers by 16.2%.
Controversial preacher Eliud Wekesa, otherwise known as Yesu wa Tongaren, says he was not surprised that police summoned him for questioning.

Addressing the media outside Bungoma Law Courts, Yesu Tongaren said that he had a vision of everything that has happened to him as it was written.

God planned that I would be summoned, even when journalists visit my church, I always tell them that I had a vision of their visit, he claimed.

Yesu wa Tongaren insisted that he had not committed any crimes.

I have come to the police station because the OCS told me the county commander wants to have a talk with me and I said that I will honour, that and today Im here, he said.

I am delighted that wisdom has been applied in this matter, God is full of wonders.

Wekesa at the same time suggested that he is a prophet and that his only mission is steering Gods ship.

According to that bible verse, the law only applies to the guilty. In my entire missionary work, ever since I began my ministry at 30 years, to this day, at 42 years, I have committed no crimes. I am only commandeering Gods holy ship and Im doing it from a prophetic angle, he said.

Bungoma police commander Francis Kooli had summoned the leader of the New Jerusalem church for questioning over alleged questionable teachings.

On Thursday, Wekesa was arraigned before Bungoma Principal Magistrate Tom Mark Olando, where the prosecution sought an order to detain him for seven days to complete investigations against him.

Investigating Officer Elijah Acharia informed the court that Yesu Wa Tongaren is facing charges of radicalisation, money laundering, acquisition, possession or use of proceeds of crime and managing an unlawful society.

Yesu Wa Tongaren is also accused of writing or uttering words with intent to wound religious feelings, contrary to section 138 of the Penal Code.

The prosecution also sought orders to conduct a mental assessment on the controversial preacher arguing that he has been exhibiting apparent significant emotional disturbance of paranoia.

The State obtained a warrant to conduct a search on Wekesas premises. The court will today rule on whether to detain Yesu wa Tongaren for more days.
Soft, cushy chairs. Real plants. Snacks and hot tea. Yoga sessions, crafts and even some aromatherapy.

Such is the vibe at the new Napa High School Wellness Center.

The center, along with a second at Vintage High School, opened this past November. On Wednesday, the Napa Valley Unified School District (NVUSD) hosted an open house at the Napa High center. Another open house, at the Vintage High School center, is set for May 23.

"Having this space available to our students as a safe and calming option when they need a mental break has been incredible, shared Napa High Assistant Principal Cheryl Lawton.

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It allows students to stay in class and at school where they can remain productive and learning rather than needing to go home when they are feeling overwhelmed, said Lawton. We are also grateful to our art students and Wellness Center staff for creating such a welcoming environment. In only a few months' time, it has become the hub of our campus."

The center is located in a former classroom space at the Jefferson Street school property.

The Wellness Centers are meant as youth-centered safe spaces, and are open before, during, and after school hours, said Rosanna Mucetti, NVUSD superintendent. Thats crucial, she noted. You can have a facility like this, but if theres limited access and availability, thats a barrier.

According to a news release, each Wellness Center is staffed with a wellness counselor, a school social worker and a nurse. In addition, NVUSD collaborates with VOICES to help the Wellness Centers engage students by providing full-time VOICES youth outreach coordinators at each high school campus. That coordinator offers students onsite one-on-one supportive services, assists students in connecting to resources and service providers, and hosts workshops and events for and with students.

Wellness Centers serve as crucial one-stop shops where students can check in with staff, connect with community providers and peer support, and receive support with academics, employment, housing, wellness services, and independent living skills, said the release.

In brief remarks at the open house, Mucetti explained that research shows wellness services result in greater school and student outcomes, including improved academic performance, increased school engagement, reduction in suspensions and expulsions, decreased referrals to special education, and increased graduation rates.

Seven NVUSD campuses now house Wellness Centers, including American Canyon Middle School, Redwood Middle School, Silverado Middle School, Unidos Middle School and American Canyon High School. Partners include the Napa Valley Education Foundation, Kaiser Permanente and the Napa Valley Vintners Association.

Jeni Olsen, founder of Teens Connect and the prevention director at Mentis: Napa's Center for Mental Health Services, attended the open house.

Its really wonderful, to have not one but two new centers, said Olsen.

Local youth continue to struggle with, loneliness, isolation, depression and anxiety, she noted. They need peers that they can connect with, at places like the Wellness Centers.

Better yet, the Wellness Center services are free and easily accessible, so students who are seeking out those resources, can access them on site and confidentially.

Daisy Zamora, 20, is an outreach coordinator at the Napa High Wellness Center.

My role is to get to know the students, get them connected to the services on campus and really create that inclusive and safe space for students, said Zamora.

Students can kind of get lost, on such a big campus, and she wants to make sure they have a resource to meet a wide variety of needs.

She wants to spread the word about the Wellness Center and send that message out into our community that we need to continue to focus on mental health in schools. It really creates an impact on students.

Wendy Sommers is a counselor at the Napa High Wellness Center.

Its going fantastic, she said. We have kids using the center every day. Visits can be something as simple as taking a brain break, said Sommers.

Or, they can get connected to a counselor or social worker, or use the food bank or get a snack, she explained. The best part is seeing the students leave with smiles on their faces.

Napa High School student Gael Hernandez said hes already used the Wellness Center, for example, to get bandages from the school nurse. There's all kinds of stuff in there, he said.

If someone isnt feeling well, or maybe just needs some downtime, he would recommend visiting, said the student.

Another volunteer, Emma Aguilar, said she is fascinated with mental health and wellness.

When I'm older, I would like to go into social work and help children get out of their broken homes or just help them like find peace with themselves.

She had this message for any student on campus: The Wellness Center is the perfect place to hang out. It's very quiet. It's calm; it's relaxing. And you can just really take a moment for yourself and really think about how you're feeling on that day.

Eleventh-grader Meritxell Soto is another volunteer at the Napa High center. The Wellness Center is a really great place to just relax, have a calm mindset, trying to get away from things  even if it's just 15 minutes away from your classroom, Soto said.

One of her favorite things about the space is that it is decorated with real plants.

That was by design, she said. The students specifically asked for real plants. Having a living thing in a wellness center  it just brightens up the room.

Madaline Thompson said she volunteers at the Wellness Center because "I wanted to support my friends and classmates. The Wellness Center is a calming and relaxing space; it's what I hear from my friends all the time," she said. "Students have a place to ask for help and get what they need."

Kaitlyn Shelton, another volunteer, said before the Wellness Center opened, "I would see students divided by grade or be alone on campus. Now I see students coming together and connecting. I think the Wellness Center is a great place to make friends."

According to the NVUSD, at Napa High, an average of 15 to 25 students visit the Wellness Center each day for brain breaks, one-on-one support with a counselor or social worker, nurse visits and students receiving services from community providers. In addition, about 10 to 20 students visit the Wellness Center during break and lunch.

Jennifer Stewart, executive director of the Napa Valley Education Foundation, said that more than 1,000 students have visited the Napa High and Vintage High wellness centers.

"This has been a dream of ours for years, since we worked with NVUSD to establish the first Wellness Centers in 2014, said Stewart. It feels great to see students walk through the high school Wellness Center doors and connect directly to services on campus. To put everything under one roof takes a strong partnership between schools, funders and nonprofit providers, Stewart added.

And speaking as a Napa High graduate, this grand opening was especially rewarding, she said.

NVUSD Wellness Centers nvusd.org/wellnessprogram Kristin Nelson, wellness programs coordinator: kristin_nelson@nvusd.org

Photos: go inside Napa High school's new wellness center Napa High Wellness Center 9 Napa High Wellness Center 10 Napa High Wellness Center 4 Napa High Wellness Center 5 Napa High Wellness Center 2 Napa High Wellness Center 3 Napa High Wellness Center 6 Napa High Wellness Center 7 Napa High Wellness Center 8 Napa High Wellness Center 1 Napa High Wellness Center 11
Carlo Trinchero, a member of the Napa Valley family that owns several wine brands including Sutter Home, was arrested by the Napa Police Department on an active warrant early Friday, on investigation of a felony stalking charge. Trinchero turned himself in at the police department after the warrant was issued Wednesday, according to a Napa Police spokesperson.

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The incident that led to the allegation is detailed in a November 2022 report from the Napa Police Department and occurred at around the same time as Trincheros arrest on alleged firearm charges that month.

According to the police report narrative, a Napa resident who is not named called Napa police on Nov. 9, 2022 and complained Trinchero knew she had a male friend at her residence. Police told her to get that friend out of there. When he left, he was followed by a vehicle that had previously been observed passing the residence approximately 38 times to a Sonoma County home.

Hours later, three masked people attempted to gain entry to that Sonoma County home.

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Trinchero was later arrested by Napa County sheriffs deputies on Nov. 11 on suspicion of illegal gun and ammunition possession by a convicted felon. A few days later, Trincheros estranged wife Stephanie Trinchero  the two filed for divorce in June 2022  sought to renew a restraining order, alleging that Trinchero kept methamphetamine and guns, and that he kept both meth and firearms under the same roof as their daughters.

Carlo Trinchero had been barred from owning guns because of a May 2016 arrest. He was arrested, according to the restraining order, after he pushed Stephanie Trinchero into a closet, which caused bleeding that required medical attention, and punched and threatened a paramedic who arrived at the couples St. Helena home. Trinchero later pleaded no contest to domestic violence, and in February 2017 was sentenced to six months in jail and three years of probation.

Stephanie Trinchero argued Carlo Trinchero had threatened, abused and stalked her throughout their 10-year relationship in the request for a restraining order.

The children have been exposed to Carlos rage and volatile behavior, Stephanie Trinchero wrote in her request. They have witnessed him screaming and using profanity with me and others. It is detrimental to their welfare to witness this behavior, and I am afraid for their safety as well.

As for the Friday arrest, the Napa County District Attorneys office filed a criminal complaint on May 5 charging Carlo Trinchero with alleged stalking, along with enhancements for allegedly taking advantage of a position of trust, for the victim being particularly vulnerable, for including others to participate in the alleged crime, and for carrying out the alleged crime with planning, sophistication and professionalism.

The warrant for Trincheros arrest on the stalking allegation was issued on Wednesday, and he was arrested at about 1:09 a.m. Friday morning.

Editor's note: A video that was originally attached to this story online has been removed because its subject is not related to the topic of this story.
Alfredo Pedrozas recent announcement that he wont run either for state Senate or to retain his Napa County Board of Supervisors seat could reshape the political landscape.

Pedroza recently dropped out of the state Senate race one month after announcing his candidacy, citing family reasons. He also said he plans to return to the private sector after his supervisor term expires at the end of 2024.

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That leaves a void for both the 4th District supervisor race and the 3rd District state Senate race. It comes as the community continues to grapple with how to balance wine country's winery, vineyard and tourism growth with environmental concerns.

I hope good people step up and run, Pedroza said last week.

Board of Supervisors race

In Napa County, its not necessarily a stark choice between either wineries and agriculture or environmental concerns such as watershed protections. But it is a matter of where people fall on the spectrum.

Pedroza has consistently won the backing of the wine and farming industries. Meanwhile, various environmental groups want the county to further restrict agricultural development in watersheds.

Those are among the stakes with a 4th District supervisor seat on the March 5, 2024 ballot and the incumbent, Pedroza, saying he wont run.

Soda Canyon resident Amber Manfree ran against Pedroza for supervisor in 2020, losing 55% to 45%. She plans to run in 2024.

Ive been organizing for about the past month, Manfree said. I was going to run anyway, regardless of what was happening with (Pedrozas) campaign. Im feeling really positive about it. Im meeting with my team.

Manfree is a fifth-generation Napa County resident. She has a doctorate in geography from UC Davis and wrote her dissertation on 200 years of landscape change in Suisun Marsh in neighboring Solano County.

She has differed from Pedroza on various controversial issues. For example, she opposed approval of the Walt Ranch vineyard and allowing the remote Mountain Peak winery in Soda Canyon. Pedroza voted for both projects, though neither appears to be going forward.

Manfree said that water security and disaster management will be among her focuses for her 2024 campaign.

Who might oppose Manfree? Often, a county planning commissioner will try to make the leap up to supervisor. Both Supervisors Anne Cottrell and Joelle Gallagher successfully made that transition last year.

Real estate investor Andrew Mazotti was chosen by Pedroza in 2018 to represent the 4th District on the county Planning Commission. He said hes been approached by some community leaders, including Pedroza, about a possible run for supervisor and is considering the idea.

It's a discussion with my family and something I just need to give more thought to, he said. I have a lot of things going, so I would be giving up some ventures to pursue it.

Mazotti grew up in Napa. He previously served as director of Zapolski Real Estate, which is redeveloping First Street Napa with shops and restaurants in downtown Napa.

I think most of all, I care about Napa, he said. I have lived in other cities and I have always come back to Napa. I now live here with my wife and children and we are raising a family here. I could have lived anywhere but I chose Napa.

Various community groups will be watching what happens with the 4th District race. The Napa County Farm Bureau recently warned of a vocal minority in the community that opposes agricultural projects and in 2019 honored Pedroza as a friend of agriculture.

Farm Bureau CEO Ryan Klobas said the Farm Bureau political action committee is raising money. But the group wont back a candidate for the 4th District seat and other two supervisor seats on the ballot until the candidate filing period closes in December.

Were continuing to watch how things are unfolding and well certainly make decisions on how best to support the agriculture industry, he said.

He spoke of an issue that he sees of paramount importance: ending what he perceives as a lack of civility in the public discourse. He sees a level of vitriol that rises above disagreement on issues.

I think a lot of people are asking themselves if they want to run for office, given the current levels of divisiveness in Napa County, Klobas said. I think thats one of the chief concerns of a lot of people.

Napa Vision 2050 supported Pedrozas opponents in two previous supervisor races. The coalition of environmental and community groups has advocated for tougher county conservation regulations.

The best one can hope for is that someone is elected who has an open mind, Vision 2050 co-chair Eve Kahn said.

Weve already got two new electeds (Gallagher and Cottrell) who have changed the dynamic, she said. It depends on who takes that seat. But if nothing else, its going to be a new viewpoint, someone who sees things slightly differently.

Pedroza has yet to make any endorsements and said he is waiting to see who runs. A supervisor has the responsibility of a half-billion-dollar annual county budget and must also have a vision of where the county is going, he said.

I think thats whats most critical in this community, he said. We need to stop talking about the past and start talking about the future.

A majority of seats for the five-person Napa County Board of Supervisors will be on the 2024 ballot. Besides the 4th District seat, there are 2nd District seat held by Supervisor Ryan Gregory and 5th District seat held by Supervisor Belia Ramos.

The filing deadline to run for a supervisor seat is Dec. 8, unless the incumbent doesnt file. In that case, the deadline is Dec. 13.

But candidates will likely emerge well in advance of those dates. For one thing, theyll need time to raise campaign donations. Winners in recent Board of Supervisors races raised in the $140,000-to-$235,000 range for primary elections.

Senate race

Theres also the 3rd District Senate race. With Pedroza no longer running, at least two candidates say they will try to succeed Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, who cant seek reelection because of term limits.

Former West Sacramento Mayor Christopher Cabaldon is running. He has the backing of former state Sen. Lois Wolk, D-Davis, who represented Napa County before Dodd.

Christopher has a deep understanding of the unique issues facing our region and a proven track record of delivering real results that make a difference in peoples lives, she said in a news release.

Also running is Vallejo Vice Mayor Rozzana Verder-Aliga, who has the backing of Dodd.

Shes the kind of person who will stand up to the powerful interests who are stopping the kind of change Californians demand, Dodd said in a statement.

One obvious, potential candidate is Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, D-Winters. But she said she has no intention of entering the race, and instead will run for reelection to the Assembly.

I have a wonderful opportunity to stay in the Assembly  and I promised my constituents that I would stay there, she said.

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Armenia, Azerbaijan recognize each other's territorial integrity

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Alen Simonyan leads delegation leaving for Minsk

Pakistan bans Facebook, YouTube and Twitter

Armenian FM briefs Derek Hogan on Azerbaijan's latest provocation

Borrell: EU should accelerate ammunition supply to Ukraine

Polish archaeologists uncover ancient bakery in Armenia

Ambassador Kvien: I heard heartbreaking stories from families of missing soldiers

Helicopter crashes in Russian Bryansk

Clashes erupt between neo-Nazis, anti-fascists and police in Melbourne

European Council publishes Pashinyan-Aliyev-Michel meeting schedule

Yerevan-Istanbul-Yerevan flight delayed due to technical malfunction

GOP members demand Biden take cognitive test

Fatal accident on Dalar-Aygestan road

Armenian PM Pashinyan leaves for Brussels

Belgium to open embassy in Armenia

G7 raises economic aid to Ukraine

Man pronounced dead by coroner revived at hospital

US Treasury Secretary to update Congress on default

US and Europe believe Ukraine's counteroffensive could boost talks

Borrell: It will be difficult to trust China

Blinken and Kuleba discuss Ukraine's counteroffensive preparations

80-year-old Armenian woman dies in attack on Rehovot in Israel

Ministry of Defense: There have been recorded no notable ceasefire violations over the night

20-year-old Narek Baghdasaryan was killed as a result of Azerbaijani attack

The Armenian side has one more wounded. Ministry of Defense

The intensity of fire in the direction of Verin Shorzha has decreased. Ministry of Defense

As a result of enemy fire Armenian side has 1 killed and 1 wounded. Ministry of Defence

The intensity of enemy fire has significantly subsided. Ministry of Defence

Azerbaijan continues to fire in Kut and Sotk areas

Azerbaijan also uses mortars in the direction of Sotk positions. Ministry of Defense

Turkish lira hits a new historic low

Azerbaijan violated ceasefire in the direction of Kut using mortars

ORC survey: Turkey presidential election will end in 1st round with Kilicdaroglu victory Sunday

Armenia restores diplomatic relations with Hungary

Azerbaijani shells were exploding 100 meters away from Sotk village, Armenia opposition MP says

Armenia MOD: Situation on frontline with Azerbaijan relatively stable as of 5:50pm

Armenia's tourism potential was presented in Dubai

Armenia MOD: Azerbaijan army opened fire toward combat positions near Kut village

Dubai aviation authorities prohibit FlyOne Armenia flight from landing

Armenia ambassador to OSCE: Azerbaijan use of force is aimed at undermining international efforts to establish stability

Mher Grigoryan briefs Christine Weigand on Lachin corridor blockades severe consequences for Karabakh children

Armenia MOD: Injuries of 2 Armenia soldiers wounded today are not life-threatening

NO to the ethnic cleansing of Artsakh initiative members hand signatures to embassies in Armenia, to government

Tasmania state parliament in Australia recognizes Armenian Genocide

Armenia human rights advocate: Instead of 33, we have additional 80 captives in Azerbaijan

Siranush Sahakyan: Arbitrary killings of Armenians increased in Azerbaijan

Armenias Marukyan to Patel: It was not exchange of fire at Sotk but another unprovoked attack by Azerbaijan army

Siranush Sahakyan: About 6,000 Azerbaijan special forces stationed on Armenia-Karabakh border

Human rights activist: In most cases Azerbaijan clearly knows fallen Armenian servicemens locations

Armenia deputy FM: Azerbaijan always resorts to provocation before or after negotiations

Armenia, Azerbaijan FMs meeting in Moscow slated for May 19

Armenia defense minister visits soldiers wounded in Azerbaijan provocation in Sotk direction (PHOTOS)

Siranush Sahakyan: Armenian detainees in Baku are brutally beaten, medical assistance footage is staged

Arman Tatoyan: Azerbaijanis are building wide concrete roads, bunkers, infrastructure in Armenia

Armenia social affairs, UAE tolerance and coexistence ministries sign memorandum of understanding

Armenia ex-ombudsman: Azerbaijan soldiers are placing landmines in Syunik Province villages

Tatoyan: Azerbaijan changes place names on Google maps, creating stereotype that Armenia is their territory

Armenia, Iran businesses reach certain agreements (PHOTOS)

Financial Times: EU wants to lay internet cable under Black Sea to reduce dependence on Russia

World oil prices falling

Karabakh army: No fire shot at Azerbaijani positions

Patel on Zakharova's words: I dont spend a lot of time thinking about what my Russian counterpart says

Armenia MOD: Azerbaijan army used UAVs in direction of Sotk

Patel: US State Department calls on Armenia, Azerbaijan to distance their forces from border

Brussels counters Baku: There is agreement that Armenia, Azerbaijan leaders will also meet in Moldova

Newspaper: Parents of detainees in Azerbaijan leave dissatisfied with Armenia PM

Armenia MOD: No notable ceasefire violations recorded overnight
Despite the statements from Baku, the European Union reaffirms that there is an agreement that the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan will meet not only in Brussels, but also in Moldova, with the participation of the French president and the German chancellor, the RFE/RL Armenian Service reported.

As it was said in the statement by the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, they want to emphasize again that there is an agreement that the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan will meet the head of the European Council, Charles Michel, in Brussels on May 14, and that it will be combined with a meeting in [Moldovan capital] Chisinau, within the framework of the summit of the European Political Community, with the participation of German Chancellor Scholz and French President Macron, Michel's spokesperson informed the RFE/RL Armenian Service.

But earlier on Thursday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan announced that President Ilham Aliyev may not participate in the Chisinau meeting. Moreover, the spokesperson of the ministry claimed that the five-way meeting is of an unofficial nature and can be held only under the precondition set by Baku.

"We have announced that the Azerbaijani side may participate on the condition that it will not replace the Brussels format. However, the final agreement has not yet been given, as the details of the meeting have not been made public," said Ayhan Hajizadeh.

Brussels, meanwhile, counters that all parties have given political consent to the meetings planned in the five-way format, with the participation of Charles Michel, and in Chisinau.

Preparations are being for their holding, Barend Leyts, spokesman for the head of the European Council, told the RFE/RL Armenian Service.
There have been recorded no notable ceasefire violations overnight, reported the Ministry of Defense (MOD) of Armenia.

As of 8:30am Friday, the situation on Armenias frontline with Azerbaijan holds relatively stable.

The injuries of the four Armenian servicemen, who were wounded as a result of the Azerbaijani aggression Thursday near Sotk, are not in life threatening. These soldiers are under the medical supervision of the hospital staff.

Earlier, Armenian News-NEWS.am reported that from 6am Thursday, the units of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces opened fire from artillery and mortars at the Armenian positions located in the direction of Sotk village of Armenias Gegharkunik Province. The Armenian side has four wounded.
The US State Department calls on the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to agree on distancing their armed forces from the border. Vedant Patel, Principal Deputy Spokesperson of the US Department of State, stated this at Thursdays Department press briefing, commenting on the recent escalation of tension on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.

This kind of violence [on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border], we believe it undermines the progress made by Armenia and Azerbaijan toward a durable and dignified peace, and we call on the leaders of both of these countries that when they convene in Brussels on the 14th to athat these two parties agree to distance their forces along the border, as discussed by [US] Secretary [of State Antony] Blinken during their participation of these negotiations that we hosted here in Washington, D.C., at the beginning of May, Patel said.

Regarding the negotiations held in Washington, Patel said they were "important, positive steps."

According to him, the two countries had the opportunity to engage on some important issues, see the other sides point of view."

And we believe that there continues to be a durable path forward. We believe that there is a peaceful solution to this. Its why we, from the Secretary on down, have continued to be so deeply engaged on this, Patel added.

And to the question as to whether the Secretary of State views the upcoming meeting on the 14th [of May] as a continuation of Washington dialogue or that was a separate track, the principal deputy spokesperson of the US State Department said that he is not going to get ahead of these talks themselves.
At around 10am Friday, the Azerbaijani armed forces violated the ceasefire in the direction of Sotk, using drones, the Ministry of Defense (MOD) of Armenia informs Armenian News-NEWS.am.

Two servicemen of the Armenian Armed Forces were wounded. One of them is in satisfactory condition, whereas the otherin severe condition.

As of 10:30am, the situation on Armenias frontline with Azerbaijan is relatively stable.

Earlier, Armenian News-NEWS.am reported that from 6am Thursday, the units of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces opened fire from artillery and mortars at the Armenian positions located in the direction of Sotk village of Armenias Gegharkunik Province. The Armenian side has four wounded.
A memorandum of understanding between the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs of Armenia and the Ministry of Tolerance and Coexistence of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was signed Wednesday in the UAE.

Within the framework of this memorandum, the parties committed to carry out the necessary work in the domains of mutual interest, and toward promoting the values of tolerance and coexistence, as well as exchanging experience, the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs of Armenia informs Armenian News-NEWS.am.

Also, an agreement was reached to combine efforts in the work aimed at different social groups, as well as in strengthening tolerance and human values in the education system and in a number of other directions.

In addition, the parties agreed to discuss the matter of forming a joint working committee which aims to develop and implement programs of mutual interest.
Minister of defense Suren Papikyan on Friday went to the Yerevan Central Clinical Military Hospital of the Ministry of Defense (MOD) of Armenia and visited the servicemen wounded as a result of Thursdays Azerbaijani provocation in the direction of Sotk.

The minister was briefed on the state of health of these soldiers and the course of their medical treatment, the MOD informed.

Papikyan wished these wounded servicemen a speedy recovery.

Earlier, Armenian News-NEWS.am reported that from 6am Thursday, the units of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces opened fire from artillery and mortars at the Armenian positions located in the direction of Sotk village of Armenias Gegharkunik Province. The Armenian side has four wounded.
Tehran hosted the Iran Expo 2023, where agricultural, food, construction, clothing, household items, chemical, and petrochemical industries were presented.

A total of 23 businessmen from Armenia also participated in this exhibition, the Ministry of Economy of Armenia informs Armenian News-NEWS.am.

Within the framework of this event, B2B meetings were also held and certain agreements were reached between businesses from Armenia and Iran.

Iranian President Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi attended the official opening of this exhibition.

A total of 750 large Iranian exporting companies, as well as businesses from a number of other countries participated in this event.
Armenian detainees were severely beaten at the military police of Azerbaijan. Attorney Siranush Sahakyan, the Armenian prisoners of wars (POWs) representative at the European Court of Human Rights, told this to a press conference Friday, presenting the new special report prepared jointly with Arman Tatoyan, the former ombudsman of Armenia.

"They were compounded by deprivation of food, sleep, and they [i.e., the Armenian detainees in the Azerbaijani capital Baku] were exposed also to impact of weather conditions, causing additional suffering. For example, especially in cold weather, they were artificially placed in such conditions as to cause additional suffering due to freezing," she said.

According to Sahakyan, this Azerbaijani policy was continued under the supervision of special services, and more intense inhumane treatment was shown in the places of detention, where the superiority of Azerbaijanis over the Armenian ethnic group was emphasized by insulting the national self-esteem.

She added that the Azerbaijani side continues targeted actions that cause additional suffering to the families of Armenians who are under their custody after the 2020 war.

As per Sahakyan, Azerbaijani civilians and medical workers are also engaged in the bad treatment of Armenian detainees.

"Military or civilian doctors who dealt with servicemen were using violence. In recent incidents, we have had many testimonies that the [Armenian] prisoners of war were handed over to [Azerbaijani] civilians," explained Sahakyan.

She noted that Azerbaijani doctors staged footage of providing medical aid to Armenian POWs to show international organizations that humanitarian rights were not violated by Azerbaijan.
The Tasmanian House of Assembly has become the third state jurisdiction in Australia to recognize the 1915 Armenian, Assyrian, and Greek Genocides perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire, reported the Armenian National Committee of Australia.

The motion was introduced Thursday by Lara Alexander MPMember for Bass. Several members of the Tasmanian House of Assembly spoke in favor of the motion, including Jeremy Rocklife MPMember for Braddon and Premier of Tasmania; Rebecca White MPMember for Lyons and Leader of the Opposition; Cassy OConnor MPMember for Clarke and Leader of the Tasmanian Greens; Rosalie Woodruff MPMember for Franklin and Dr Shane Broad MPMember for Braddon and Shadow Treasurer.

In a major show of non-partisan support, the motion adopted acknowledged the significant humanitarian contribution conducted by the people of Tasmania to assist victims of the 1915 Genocides and recognized the importance of remembering the crimes of the past to ensure they are never repeated again.

It was carried in the affirmative and was unanimously adopted in the presence of members of the local Armenian, Assyrian, and Greek communities.

The adoption of this motion means the Tasmanian Parliament joins the New South Wales and South Australian Parliaments in recognizing the 1915 Armenian, Assyrian, and Greek Genocides, making it the third Australian state to recognize one of the first genocides of the 20th century.
Azerbaijan always resorts to provocations before or after negotiations, and this has become a habit, Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Paruyr Hovhannisyan said in a briefing with reporters Friday.

Since Thursday, the Azerbaijani side has been firing at the Armenian combat positions of Gegharkunik Province on a regular basis. As a result, the Armenian side has six wounded soldiers.

"Unfortunately, it's not a new way of working. I have been in the system of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs [of Armenia] since 1995, and I do not recall a single round of negotiations where there were no such provocations either before the meeting or after the meeting; unfortunately, such a habit has been formed [by Azerbaijan]," said the Armenian deputy FM.

To the questions as to what agreements were reached between Armenia and Azerbaijan in Washington last week and what kind of progress we are talking about, the Armenian official said: "The progress was about getting a better understanding of the approaches of both sides; that was done. The American side did everything possible to create a positive atmosphere. It was a really effective phase to bring those positions closer together on the draft of a possible [peace] treaty [between Armenia and Azerbaijan]. Of course, there are a number of key issues that still need to be discussed. That's why the meeting at the highest level is being organized [for Sunday] in Brussels, which will be followed by the meeting in Moscow at the level of foreign ministers, and there will be other meetings as well.

As per to Hovhannisyan, the Moscow meeting will to some extent be a logical continuation of the negotiations in Washington, but at the same time, each format has its own uniqueness.

Another high-level meeting is expected in Chisinau on June 1, although Azerbaijan has not yet confirmed its participation in it. This meeting will be a repetition of the Prague format, with the participation of the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan, the head of the European Council, and the president of France.

According to the Armenian deputy FM, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is also expected to attend.

"The participation of Germany and France will be a positive contribution, as its about two influential EU countries," added Paruyr Hovhannisyan.
The treatment of Armenians under the overseeing of Azerbaijan is combined with deliberate actions that cause additional suffering to their families. Attorney and human rights activist Siranush Sahakyan, who is the Armenian prisoners of wars representative at the European Court of Human Rights, told this to a press conference Friday, presenting the new special report prepared jointly with Arman Tatoyan, the former ombudsman of Armenia.

"In 2020, we had a case when photos of a soldier with his throat cut were posted on his social media [account]. We have had many cases when family members were taken out by taking their phones and photos revealing war crimes with the participation of that person or his comrades in arms were sent to [their] relatives.

"In this case, we see that there is a special trend [by Azerbaijan] to not reveal the fate of the [Armenian] missing persons. Cases were recorded when the Azerbaijani side clearly knows the location of the fallen [Armenian] serviceman, they have access to the body of the fallen serviceman, but they deliberately do not retrieve the body and do not hand [it] over to the family members. Also, they demonstratively approach, take photos, and disseminate the photos in the media. This is a clear evidence that the number of [Armenian] missing persons that we have since [the war in] 2020 is not the result of objective processes, but a deliberate [Azerbaijani] policy towards Armenians," said Sahakyan.

She added that in modern conditions it is almost impossible not to know the location of the dead bodies.

"Not revealing the fate of the missing is just revenge in response to the existence of the missing on the Azerbaijani side back in the 1990s," said Sahakyan.
About 6,000 Azerbaijani special forces are stationed in the border areas of Armenia and Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh). Attorney Siranush Sahakyan, the Armenian prisoners of wars representative at the European Court of Human Rights, told this to a press conference Friday, presenting the new special report prepared jointly with Arman Tatoyan, the former ombudsman of Armenia.

"The Commando unit [of Azerbaijan] is stationed in Hadrut and Karvachar. At the moment there are five units, but the location of three of them is kept secret. In the interviews of their leadership staff, the fight against the irregular military units operating in the territory of Azerbaijan was recorded as a goal, under which they mean the Artsakh Defense Army," Sahakyan noted.

The human rights advocate said she is sure that the task of these Azerbaijani special forces is to destroy the military units of Artsakh.
First of all, it was not an exchange of fire but another unprovoked attack by Azerbaijans army, which is well known for its ISIS-like warfare conduct. Edmon Marukyan, Ambassador-at-Large of Armenia and Chairman of the Bright Armenia Party, tweeted this, reflecting on the statement by Vedant Patel, Principal Deputy Spokesperson of the US Department of State, who had claimed that there was an exchange of fire between Armenia and Azerbaijan nearby Sotk village of Armenias Gegharkunik Province.

Armenian army took necessary steps to defend our sovereign territory.

Second, our demand is that Azerbaijan must withdraw its occupational forces from the sovereign territory of Armenia and return to the internationally recognized borders, i.e. the administrative borders that existed between both countries at the time of independence from the USSR.

Third, in 2022, in Prague and Sochi, Azerbaijan committed that it will refrain from the use of force or threat of use of force, Marukyan added.
The number of extrajudicial, arbitrary killings of Armenians has increased in Azerbaijan. Attorney and human rights activist Siranush Sahakyan, who is the Armenian prisoners of wars representative at the European Court of Human Rights, told this to a press conference Friday, presenting the new special report prepared jointly with Arman Tatoyan, the former ombudsman of Armenia.

"For example, within the framework of the war in 2022, we had recorded 33 cases of [Armenians] being captured [by Azerbaijan], and with a fact-finding mission we were able to prove the extrajudicial, arbitrary killing of 14 [Armenian] persons by field Azerbaijani servicemen; that is, we have about 40 percent murders. More cases of reprisals against captured [Armenian] persons [by Azerbaijanis] have been recorded if compared to the war of 2020. This proves that the events of 2020 gave rise to impunity [in Azerbaijan], which was encouraging in 2022 for the Azerbaijani servicemen who participated in the war," said Sahakyan.
Regarding the number of Armenian captives in Azerbaijan, it is easier for the Armenian authorities to communicate with the authorities of Azerbaijan and Turkey if they speak with their official figures; that is, the findings and data of the Armenian side are ignored, and here there is unity regarding the respective numbers presented by Azerbaijan. Attorney Siranush Sahakyan, the Armenian prisoners of wars representative at the European Court of Human Rights, told this to a press conference Friday, presenting the new special report prepared jointly with Arman Tatoyan, the former ombudsman of Armenia.

"In my assessment, it is not justified. International human rights advocates operating in Armenia, even outside of Armenia, investigative bodies of Armenia have recorded and revealed more cases of [Armenians] becoming captives [by Azerbaijan] than those that have been made official by Azerbaijan. Therefore, as a source, Armenian, not Azerbaijani sources should have been used. Thirty three is the number that has been made official, whereas we have talked and continue to talk about 80 additional cases. Moreover, they gave information also about those 80 cases to international organizations. That is, this is not an abstract number for us, but there is a clear description of each case, which is verifiable", emphasized the Armenian human rights advocate.
The action organized by members of the "NO to the ethnic cleansing of Artsakh" initiative has ended. They handed the photocopies of the signatures that were collected in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) to the Armenian government and several embassies in Armenia.

Speaking with reporters outside the main government building, Garik Gevorgyan, a member of this initiative, said that the goal of the action was to make Artsakh's voice heard to organizations.

He noted that close 60,000 signatures have already been collected.

The initiative group of the "NO to the ethnic cleansing of Artsakh" petition and signature campaign collection on Friday handed the photocopies of the hardcopies of the respective signature campaign that was held in Artsakh to the Armenian government and the embassies of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair countries in Armenia.
The injuries of the two servicemen who were wounded today are not life-threatening, the Ministry of Defense (MOD) of Armenia informs Armenian News-NEWS.am.

As of 3pm Friday, the situation on Armenias frontline with Azerbaijan is relatively stable, the MOD added.

As reported earlier, at around 10am Friday, the Azerbaijani armed forces violated the ceasefire in the direction of Sotk, using drones. Two servicemen of the Armenian Armed Forces were wounded as a result. One of them is in satisfactory condition, whereas the otherin severe condition.

And from 6am Thursday, the units of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces had opened fire from artillery and mortars at the Armenian positions located in the direction of Sotk village of Armenias Gegharkunik Province. The Armenian side has four wounded as a result.
Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan received Christine Weigand, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Representative to Armenia, the government informs Armenian News-NEWS.am.

Grigoryan presented the current humanitarian crisis in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) as a result of Azerbaijan's ongoing illegal blockade of the Lachin corridor, specifically reflecting on its severe consequences for the children of Artsakh.

Weigand, for her part, lauded the cooperation with the Armenian government, and noted the main directions of the programs being implemented by UNICEF.

Also, the interlocutors exchanged views on matters related to the proper education of children in the conditions of global challenges and high technology.
The matter entitled "Azerbaijan's next provocative and aggressive actions towards the sovereign territory of Armenia" was put on the agenda of the OSCE Permanent Council session at the initiative of the Permanent Mission of Armenia to the OSCE, the foreign ministry of Armenia informs Armenian News-NEWS.am.

Ambassador Armen Papikyan, Permanent Representative of Armenia to the OSCE, stated in his address that early Thursday morning, the armed forces of Azerbaijan opened fireusing mortars and artilleryat the sovereign territory of Armenia, as a result of which the Armenian side suffered injuries.

He emphasized that the use of force by Azerbaijan is aimed at completely disrupting the efforts made by international partners to establish stability in the South Caucasus, and aims to nullify the results of the meeting held in Washington last week to normalize relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan. This illegal action is also a clear attempt to disrupt upcoming meetings in Brussels and Moscow.

Papikyan added that Azerbaijan aims to divert the attention of the international community from the continued Azerbaijani blockade of the Lachin corridor, the resulting humanitarian crisis, the illegal installation of an Azerbaijani checkpoint on this corridor, and the disruption of the Red Cross activities, which are aimed at carrying out the consistent implementation of the Azerbaijani policy of Armenian ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh and completely de-Armenianizing Nagorno-Karabakh.

In addition, Ambassador Papikyan stressed that Armenia will continue its efforts aimed at the stable settlement of the conflict, as well as the normalization of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, in order to establish peace and security in the South Caucasus.
As of 5:50pm Friday, the situation on Armenias frontline with Azerbaijan is relatively stable, the Ministry of Defense (MOD) of Armenia informs Armenian News- NEWS.am.

The MOD will release an additional report on the situation.

Earlier, Armenian News-NEWS.am reported that from 6am Thursday, the units of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces opened fire from artillery and mortars at the Armenian positions located in the direction of Sotk village of Armenias Gegharkunik Province. The Armenian side has four wounded.

At around 10am Friday, the Azerbaijani armed forces violated the ceasefire in the direction of Sotk, using drones. Two servicemen of the Armenian Armed Forces were wounded as a result. One of them is in satisfactory condition, whereas the otherin severe condition.

And at around 4:50pm Friday, the units of the Azerbaijani armed forces opened firefrom large-caliber rifle weaponsat the Armenian combat positions located in the vicinity of Kut village in the Vardenis Municipality of the Gegharkunik Province.
We left Yerevan immediately after receiving the news about what happened in Sotk. When we arrived at Vardenis, the road was already closed for us; but it was clear that the ban was only for us. Opposition MP Garnik Danielyan told reporters this in the National Assembly of Armenia on Friday.

"We asked if there was evacuation in the village, they said no. Many of our fellow citizens were calling on the phone and informing about the problems. After being disallowed, we reached Sotk and Kut [villages of the Gegharkunik Province] by a different route, listened to the [local] people's problems, recorded what there was, returned at night," Danielyan said.

According to the lawmaker, when they were in Sotk, the Azerbaijani shells were exploding 100 to 200 meters away from the village.

"We saw the shells with our own eyes. Azerbaijan has a clear goal and will do everything to achieve that goal. It will do everything in order to occupy new positions [in Armenia] favorable for it, with the expectation of starting a larger-scale war in the future," he said.

The opposition legislator added that they have informed the Armenian authorities about the problems, but they are becoming convinced that these authorities are unable to solve these problems.
17:01





Interacting with reporters in New Delhi, the Rajya Sabha member said the Supreme Court has in fact given a "constitutional cloak" to the BJP-Shiv Sena government which was sworn in after Uddhav Thackeray resigned as a majority of his party's MLAs changed their allegiance to Eknath Shinde who replaced him at the helm.





The Shinde faction of Shiv Sena was later recognised by the Election Commission as the real Shiv Sena due to the majority support it enjoyed in the party's legislature groups in the state and in Parliament.





Jethmalani said the Supreme Court, in its judgment on Thursday, rejected five of the seven prayers made by the petitioners and granted only two. With the court disapproving then governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari's decision to call a floor test for Thackeray to prove his majority, the senior lawyer said it was a "sham, hollow and irrelevant victory" for the Maha Vikas Aghadi, the coalition of the Congress, NCP and the Uddhav faction of Shiv Sena, as it had no "practical" effect as the judges in their unanimous verdict also upheld the swearing-in of Shinde.





Jethmalani, however, added that he does not agree with this aspect of the judgment but qualified it by saying that the apex court is right as its verdict is final. He said the Supreme Court has only asked the Assembly Speaker to revisit the matter of recognising Bharat Gogawale as the chief whip of the Shiv Sena while setting aside the earlier decision as against the law. Gogawale can be appointed to the position again, he said. The Speaker will decide on the matter, including the issue of disqualifying MLAs who had rebelled and backed Shinde, on merit, the Rajya Sabha MP added.





"They are claiming victory in the face of defeat," he said about the opposition's claim. The senior lawyer also slammed Thackeray and his allies for claiming moral victory, saying the morality of the issue was preconceived as it was the former chief minister who broke his party's pre-poll alliance with the BJP after winning due to the charisma of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Thackeray did it to become chief minister and he betrayed the will of the people which is the most important aspect in a democracy, Jethmalani said.

BJP MP and senior lawyer Mahesh Jethmalani Friday made light of the Congress and its Maharashtra allies' claim of victory following the Supreme Court verdict on the political upheaval in the state last year, saying it amounted to these parties "clutching at straws from defeat".
Businesses are not just about numbers but about building relationships, partnerships, collaborating, learning, technology and innovation, said Union Minister Piyush Goyal. Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal was speaking during the Trade and Investment Promotion Event for the Agricultural and Food Processing sector with Indian companies and Canadian importers on the sidelines of 'SIAL-2023' in Toronto, Canada on Wednesday. The Minister said that the focus has to be on shared prosperity for people across the world making all stakeholders in the value chain prosperous. Goyal said that this is an opportunity to celebrate the Canada-India partnership and there is a huge potential of growth in the expansion of business and engagement between the two countries. He said that the value addition of food products is a priority area. Goyal stressed that Indian businesses must focus on quality, scale, design, packaging, etc., to earn the confidence and trust of consumers and businesses in Canada. Terming millets as popular amongst consumers in India and the world, Goyal said it is important to highlight millets' nutritional and health benefits, especially among the youth who need high energy and high protein intake. He noted that millet can be a game changer in the promotion of the Indian food industry. In another meeting with Canadian companies in Toronto, Goyal invited people and businesses from Canada to visit India. He said that the India that they will visit now is truly a 'New India'. He also encouraged the Canadian companies to hold Board meetings in India. (ANI)
Homegrown firm Videomax International (VMI) on Friday announced the launch of its electronic brand Skyball and committed to invest Rs 100 crore in the brand's growth over the next three years. "We are delighted to introduce Skyball, our latest consumer electronics brand, which will revolutionise the smart accessories market in India," Sandeep Gupta, Chairman and Managing Director of VMI and Skyball, said, adding, "At VMI, we are dedicated to delivering innovation, quality, and customer satisfaction, and Skyball embodies these values." Skyball's first range of products will bring home audio products, which will be launched later this month. According to a statement from the company, the home audio portfolio will feature party speakers, tower speakers, Bluetooth speakers, soundbars, and more. With seamless connectivity, long-battery life, these audio products will offer customers the best-in-class music streaming experience possible, it added. The company said Skyball also plans to expand its portfolio in the wearables category with the launch of its smartwatches in June 2023 with an initial concentration on online platforms, followed by a pan-India expansion into offline stores. The firm claimed that these smartwatches will include the latest technology and health-centric features, such as fitness tracking, heart rate monitoring, and more. According to the statement, the home audio category is projected to account for 30 to 40 per cent of the total revenue, while 60 per cent of the revenue is expected to come from the smart accessories business. Smartwatches and neckbands are expected to be the primary contributors to the smart accessories category, it added. (ANI)
Photo: The Canadian Press Members of the Nuchatlaht First Nation and supporters rally outside B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver.

A British Columbia Supreme Court judge ruling on a First Nations land title lawsuit says it did not prove it had rights to its entire claim area, although he suggested it may be time for the provincial government to rethink its current test for such titles.

The Nuchatlaht First Nation, a community on Vancouver Island's northwest coast, wanted title over an area of Crown land that included a portion of Nootka Island and much of the surrounding coastline.

Justice Elliott Myers said in his decision issued Thursday that there "may be areas" the nation can establish in its claim, but if it wants to do that another hearing would be required.

"I stress that I am not prejudging any of the issues or whether a pleading amendment would be necessary," he said in the decision. "I am merely leaving it open to the plaintiff to come back before me to canvass these issues should it wish to do so."

He's given the nation 14 days to decide if it wishes to proceed on the further claims.

The court heard the Nuchatlaht moved to a village on Nootka Island in the 1780s and they say they occupied the area in 1846, when the Crown resolved boundary disputes with the United States and claimed sovereignty over what is now British Columbia.

However, the province denies the Nuchatlaht occupied all of the territory it was claiming.

"Nuchatlaht are considering their options at this time," Owen Stewart, a lawyer for the First Nation, said in an email.

In the lawsuit filed in 2017, the nation argued that the B.C. and federal governments denied Nuchatlaht rights by authorizing logging and "effectively dispossessing" the nation of territory.

The B.C. government denied the Nuchatlaht hold Aboriginal title over the 230-square-kilometre area, and said it has met its obligations under agreements with the nation related to forest resources.

Myers said in his decision that the case demonstrates "the peculiar difficulties of a coastal Aboriginal group meeting the current test for Aboriginal title, given the marine orientation of the culture."

For example, he said it is difficult to prove the nation had used the land because they primarily travelled by canoe so there were no established trails between coastal locations.

He wrote that this case may be indicative of the need for a "reconsideration of the test for Aboriginal title as it relates to coastal First Nations."

"That would be for a higher court to determine," the decision said.

The land claim was the first to be heard since B.C. passed legislation in 2019 to align its laws with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

It was also the first case since the landmark 2014 Tsilhqotin Aboriginal title decision by the Supreme Court of Canada, which recognized the Tsilhqotin Nations rights and title over a swath of its traditional territory in B.C.s central Interior, not only to historic village sites.
CM Sangma put forward proposals to establish heliports in the capital city of Shillong and Tura in the Garo Hills region and to set up an international airport in Meghalaya.

He also urged the civil aviation minister to operationalize the Baljek Airport in Tura.

"These proposals are aimed at boosting our State's tourism potential and economic growth through air connectivity," Sangma tweeted after meeting Scindia.

Meghalaya currently has an operational airport on the outskirts of Shillong, and flights regularly fly in and out for various destinations in the northeast and in other parts of India. (ANI)
Gurugram (Haryana) [India], May 12 (ANI/BusinessWire India): MG Motor India, an iconic British automobile brand with a rich 99-year heritage, today announced its strategic 5-year business roadmap to Indianize the business operations for sustainable growth and meaningful impact on the society. The key initiatives that would constitute this are localization and bringing in the latest technology and indigenising it as well; increasing Indian shareholding over the next 2-4 years; enhancing local sourcing and manufacturing across its operations by 2028 through an extensive series of programs including exploring cell manufacturing and clean hydrogen-cell technology through owned or third-party facilities; expanding production capacity with a second plant in Gujarat; introducing a broader range of electric vehicles (EVs); and unveiling new product offerings. MG Motor India also aims to invest more than Rs 5,000 cr and have a total of 20,000 workforce--both direct as well as indirect--by 2028. As part of its growth plan, MG Motor India plans to establish a second manufacturing facility in Gujarat, significantly increasing the combined production output from the current 1,20,000 to 3,00,000 vehicles (including both plants' capacity). The company intends to launch 4-5 new cars, mostly EV models, and achieve 65-75 per cent of its sales from the EV portfolio by 2028. To support the widespread adoption of electric vehicles, MG Motor India will strengthen local manufacturing of EV components and establish a battery assembly unit in Gujarat. Emphasizing its commitment and contribution to India's mission to become a major manufacturing hub, MG Motor India will invest in advanced clean technologies, including hydrogen fuel cells and cell manufacturing, as well as bolster local manufacturing of EV parts through JVs or third-party manufacturing. Rajeev Chaba, the CEO Emeritus of MG Motor India, further underscored the India roadmap and said, "MG India's unwavering dedication to India is deeply ingrained in our ethos. As we pave the way for our next phase of sustainable growth, we have outlined a clear roadmap and vision for 2028. Our growth strategy is centred around strengthening localization, aligning more closely with the government's 'Make in India' initiative while innovatively augmenting our promise consistently, and diligently meeting the evolving needs of the market." Chaba further emphasized the company's commitment to making a positive impact on society, saying, "At MG Motor India, we are resolute in our commitment to fostering meaningful change. We are dedicated to investing in our talented workforce and nurturing the young talent of India through initiatives like the MG Nurture program. Under this, we envision collaborating with 50 institutes to train 1,00,000 students on the latest technologies such as EV, connected cars and ADAS systems." In addition, Chaba highlighted the company's focus on promoting gender diversity, stating, "We recognize the immense value of diversity. We have achieved a 37 per cent gender diversity within our workforce, and we are aiming for a 50 per cent diversity across various roles within our organization." The company aims to develop 1,00,000 students under its MG Nurture program who shall be trained in EV, ADAS, and Connected Car technologies. The trained and skilled talent will be future-ready in order to cater to the increased demands of manufacturing next-generation cars. This story is provided by BusinessWire India. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/BusinessWire India)
New Delhi [India], May 12 (ANI/ATK): Earthy Tweens, a leading sustainable and eco-friendly brand for kids' clothing and toys, is gaining momentum in the market with its commitment to organic and Earth-friendly fashion. In a recent Q&A session, Nishant Kumar, CEO of Earthy Tweens, discussed the rising demand for sustainable clothing in India, the success of the brand's business model, the benefits of choosing sustainable options for children, the dominance of sustainable clothing in kids' fashion, and the brand's journey towards creating a sustainable future. According to him, the demand for organic clothing in India has witnessed a remarkable increase in recent years. Kumar highlighted the shift in consumers' mentality towards eco-friendly fashion and the growing awareness of the environmental exploitation associated with conventional clothing production. With globalization and advancements in technology, people are making conscious choices to support ecological sustenance. This collective consciousness among modern shoppers has contributed to the rise in demand for organic clothing. Sustainable clothing has become a successful business model in the current market due to the increased interest of customers and their inclination towards eco-friendly options. Consumers, particularly in urban areas of India, are seeking sustainable alternatives to traditional fashion, driven by their awareness of the environmental impact of their choices. The high quality and unique characteristics of sustainable clothing, along with the rising ideological concerns towards environmental sustainability, have propelled its popularity. New parents are increasingly opting for sustainable clothing options for their children due to various reasons highlighted by Kumar. The reliability, durability, and long-lasting nature of organic clothing make it an excellent investment. Additionally, it provides supreme comfort for children, allowing their skin to breathe and preventing irritation or rashes. The absence of harmful chemicals and toxins in organic wear ensures the well-being of children, while also promoting eco-friendliness and reducing the carbon footprint of families. By instilling a sense of responsibility towards the environment, parents are making sustainable clothing a way of life for their families. Sustainable clothing has begun to dominate kids' fashion, thanks to its aesthetic designs. Earthy colors and breezy floral patterns are highly sought-after in sustainable clothing for kids. Colours such as rust, marigold, and navy, along with playful designs like polka dots and funky prints, contribute to the sustainability movement and establish a connection with nature. Kumar shared the inspiration behind starting Earthy Tweens and the brand's journey towards creating sustainable, eco-friendly clothing and toys for children. As a concerned parent and individual, he recognized the need for natural and organic products for kids in the market. Partnering with local artisans skilled in handloom and natural dyeing techniques, Earthy Tweens was able to create a line of organic clothing and toys that are eco-friendly, comfortable, and stylish. The brand's steady growth reflects its contribution towards a sustainable future for children. Looking ahead, Earthy Tweens plans to expand its brand into new categories and product lines. The brand is exploring opportunities to enter the FMCG sector, offering healthy and organic snack options for children. Additionally, Earthy Tweens aims to expand its lifestyle offerings with new products made from sustainable raw materials that are essential during a child's lifecycle. The brand also plans to open offline stores in various locations to increase its territorial reach, envisioning Earthy Tweens as a one-stop destination for parents, offering a wide range of sustainable and eco-friendly products for children and their families. Earthy Tweens is committed to its mission of providing sustainable and eco-friendly options for kids' fashion and toys, ensuring a better future for children while caring for the planet. This story has been provided by ATK. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/ATK)
New Delhi [India], May 12 (ANI/ATK): As International Nurses Month begins this May, Human BioSciences is proud to stand alongside nurses as essential healthcare providers in all forms of care, specifically wound care nurses. International Nurses Month is an annual celebration of the hard work and dedication of nurses worldwide, and it is a time to recognize the important role they play in healthcare. This year's theme, "You Make a Difference," honors nurses' positive impact on everyone's lives. "International Nurses Month is an opportunity for us to show our support and appreciation for the incredible work that nurses do every day," said Rohah Jain, President of Human BioSciences. "Without nurses who share knowledge, mentor new nurses and advocate for their patients, people in all communities would suffer." Wound care nurses have specialized training, and HBS collagen wound products are specifically designed to promote faster healing times and reduce the risk of infection in patients with wounds. Collagen requires less frequent dressing changes, which significantly impacts hands-on nursing time. With shortages in nursing staff plaguing healthcare, simplifying care benefits nurses and patients. Human BioSciences is committed to supporting nurses in India by providing them with the resources they need to deliver the highest quality care to their patients. Application videos for all products, including Collatek Collagen Gel, SkinTemp II Collagen Sheets, and Medifil II Collagen Particles are available on the website. Patient education is available to address common patient questions as an excellent place for nurses to send their patients and families as a resource to relieve some burden. For supplies and purchasing information contact: india-info@humanbiosciences.com Human Biosciences, Inc. is a global biotechnology company specializing in collagen-based products for wound care management. Dr Manoj Jain founded HBS in 1990 with Kollagen technology pioneering advanced wound care with native non-hydrolyzed Type -1 bovine collagen in its purest form with three delivery modes with Collatek Collagen Gel, SkinTemp II Collagen Sheets and Medifil II Collagen Particles. HBS continues engineering breakthroughs daily with innovative new product development, manufacturing advancements, and distribution products globally with facilities in USA and India. For more information, visit: www.humanbiosciences.com For media queries, please contact: info@humanbiosciences.com This story has been provided by ATK. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/ATK)
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das on Friday met the heads of Urban Co-operative Banks (UCBs) federations and the CEOs of Primary UCBs, informed a press release. He held a meeting with the National Federation of Urban Co-operative Banks and Credit Societies Limited (NAFCUB), select Federations of UCBs from various States and the CEOs of select UCBs. The meeting was also attended by Deputy Governor M Rajeshwar Rao, Executive Directors S C Murmu, Saurav Sinha, Jayant Kumar Dash, and Neeraj Nigam along with a few senior officials of the RBI. The Governor, in his introductory remarks, acknowledged the important role played by UCBs in furthering financial inclusion and supporting economic growth by providing banking services at the grassroot level. He further stated that RBI is committed to having a strong, robust and resilient UCB sector and for that, there is a need for all the stakeholders to work together in the spirit of cooperation. He advised UCBs and their Federations to strengthen governance and risk management, adopt appropriate business strategies and explore suitable technology solutions to enable them to sustain and grow their business and serve their customers, keeping in mind the interest of the depositors. The participants shared their inputs and suggestions regarding regulatory and supervisory matters applicable to urban cooperative banks. It was decided that the Standing Advisory Committee (SAC) meetings will henceforth be held once in six months instead of once in a year. It was also decided that RBI will nominate a senior officer who will be the single point of contact for all issues related to UCBs and a formal interaction with the designated senior officer would be held quarterly. (ANI)
Telugu actor Bellamkonda Sai Sreenivas, is all set to make his Bollywood debut with the Hindi remake of Prabhas-SS Rajamouli's 'Chathrapathi'. While the movie is about to hit theatres on Friday, the rising star of Telugu cinema is already in love with Hindi cinema. In an exclusive conversation with ANI, Sreenivas opened up about his thoughts on working in a Hindi movie, and said, "The love I had got from the Hindi audience, as my Telugu movies which got dubbed in Hindi got amazing views and I wanted to thank them in the right way by giving them a great film, so our whole team tried and worked hard. And I thought Hindi cinema is something any actor will dream about because if you wish to reach every corner then Hindi cinema is the only way." Bellamkunda also won the best male debut award for his Telugu film in 2015 also commented on his expectations from the film. "I definitely want one more. So I got the best debut film fare in 2015 for my Telugu film and again in 2023 I am very sure that I will get the best debut film fare again for the film 'Chatarpathi'," he said. As the film serves a lot of action, Bellamkunda expressed how action has to be mixed with emotions in order to deliver a wonderful experience to the audience. He said, "Whenever content merges, action needs emotions. As just for the sake of action it isn't fun to do a project. As if an emotion is there then there is action, then it gets elevated. So I always believe in that as we have a high-emotion film and it is going to be great." "I think the content of the film is something which deserves to be delivered in the biggest way possible. It's a great film, it's great content and I am sure when you see this film you will definitely enjoy it and the audience will think that it is 'paise wasool' (worth the money)," Shreenivas added when questioned about his reaction on the script of the movie. Looking confident for his Bollywood journey he also mentioned the fact that every Telugu movie star has been successful in the industry, so he will continue the trend. Sreenivas is known for his performances in films like 'Sita', 'Alludu Adhurs', 'Kavacham' and many more. 'Chatrapathi' tells the story of a protagonist who rose against oppression to become a saviour of immigrants that suffered massive exploitation. It also stars actor Bhagyashree, Sharad Kelkar, Sahil Vaid, Amit Nair, Rajendra Gupta, and Shivam Patil, among others. On his experience working in the film, Sreenivas Bellamkonda earlier said, "I'm happy to make my Bollywood debut with a special film like 'Chatrapathi' which is a highly thrilling and engaging mass action entertainer. Every moment working on this film was as exciting as it was challenging and we are happy to finally present it to audiences across India." The film is an official Hindi remake of a Telugu film with the same title, which was helmed by the 'RRR' director SS Rajamouli and starred Prabhas and Shriya Saran in lead roles. (ANI)
Late actor Paul Walker's contribution to the 'Fast and Furious' franchise is unforgettable. The stars of the movie have always acted like a family to Paul's daughter Meadow Walker. As Meadow features in a cameo role for the upcoming Fast and Furious movie, the actress penned a beautiful note to share her experience. Meadow Walker took to her Instagram handle in order to drop a BTS image from a cameo scene in the movie. Walker wrote, "A preview of my cameo in Fast X. The first fast was released when I was one year old! I grew up on set watching my father, Vin, Jordana, Michelle, Chris and more on the monitors. Thanks to my dad, I was born into a fast family. I can't believe now I get to be up there too. With those who have been around to see me grow up. Thank you @louisleterrierpro for your kindness, patience and support. It feels like you've been part of the family since we started, I'm happy it's just the beginning. Special shoutout to my dad's best friend who is now my best friend @bbirtell, this wouldn't have been possible without you. I am so blessed to be able to honour my father's legacy and share this with him forever x. I love you all so much." https://www.instagram.com/p/CsGYE2grel1/ The message reflects how well Meadow is connected to the 'Fast and Furious' family. Netizens poured in wishes on the post to congratulate her on the milestone. Actor Vin Diesel who has been a great friend to Paul Walker and even walked the aisle with Meadow as her Godfather when she got married to actor Louis Thornton Allan commented with a folded hand emoji to Meadow's post. According to People Magazine, almost 10 years later to Walker's death, the next movie in the Fast and Furious franchise featured throwback footage of the actor in its trailer as it reframed events from 2011's 'Fast Five'. The new movie will introduce Jason Momoa as antagonist Dante Reye, the son of Fast Five villain Hernan Reyes, who "has spent the last 12 years masterminding a plan to make Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) pay the ultimate price," per a synopsis for the movie. 'Fast X' will hit theatres on May 19, 2023. (ANI)
Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone are one of the most admired Bollywood couples. Fans eagerly wait for the duo's lovey-dovey moments to pop up on their social media feeds. Monday literally turned special for DeepVeer's fans as the couple treated them to their exchange of sweet words on Instagram. As Deepika featured on the cover of Time magazine, her husband Ranveer took to Instagram and called it an "iconic moment." The praise did not stop here. Ranveer dropped a photo of Deepika from the photoshoot for one of the leading magazines and wrote, "World at your feet! Proud of you, babygirl." https://www.instagram.com/p/CsIRILZoUR-/?hl=en Ranveer's gesture won Deepika's heart. Reacting to the praises, she wrote, "My happy place..." Deepika and Ranveer married in an intimate wedding at Lake Como, Italy, in 2018. They had two wedding ceremonies - a Konkani one, and a Sikh Anand Karaj. In her Time magazine interview, Deepika also talked about marriages today. "Having said that, I think not just my parents but that entire generation, I think patience is probably one of the main things that I feel like couples today -- I sound like some love guru (laughs) -- but I feel like there's a lack of patience and I think that that's something that we can all learn from, not just Ranveer and I from our parents but I think more couples like us can learn from the generation before us. Lots of other things but patience is the number one," Deepika said. Meanwhile, on the film front, Deepika will be next seen in the upcoming pan-India action thriller film 'Project K' opposite actor Prabhas. She also has Siddharth Anand's next aerial action thriller film 'Fighter' opposite Hrithik Roshan in her kitty. This is her second film with director Siddharth Anand after they delivered this year's biggest hit, 'Pathaan'. 'Fighter', which is scheduled to release on January 25 next year, will also star Karan Singh Grover and Akshay Oberoi. (ANI)
Actor Ali Fazal is all set to attend the grand international premiere of the upcoming action film 'Fast X' in Rome alongside stars Vin Diesel and Jason Momoa. The premiere is taking place on May 11 in the Italian capital. Speaking of this Ali said, "I am thrilled to be attending the international premiere of Fast X in Rome, and it is an honor to have been invited as part of my past involvement with the franchise. This is where it all began for me when it comes to my work globally, and I am grateful for the opportunities that this franchise has given me. I am excited to reunite with the cast and crew, and I look forward to seeing what's in store this time of the action magic that they have created ." The actor made his international debut with the mega-action film 'Furious 7', the 7th installment of the franchise. He has been invited to attend the premiere as part of his past involvement with the franchise. Since his international debut, Ali has made headlines with his performances in major international films, including his titular lead in 'Victoria and Abdul' alongside Dame Judi Dench and 'Death on the Nile' alongside Gal Gadot. Ali will soon be flying off to the US, where he will be promoting his next big Hollywood release, 'Kandahar' with Gerard Butler. Helmed by Ric Roman Waugh, the film star popular Scottish actor Gerard Butler, Navid Negahban, Ali Fazal, Travis Fimmel and Elnaaz Norouzi in lead roles. The film is all set to hit the theatres on May 26, 2023.The film's description reads, "Tom Harris (Gerard Butler), an undercover CIA operative, is stuck deep in hostile territory in Afghanistan. After his mission is exposed, he must fight his way out, alongside his Afghan translator, to an extraction point in Kandahar, all whilst avoiding elite enemy forces and foreign spies tasked with hunting them down." He will also be seen in 'The Underbug', 'Girls will be Girls', 'Metro In Dino', and in another Hollywood film 'Afghan Dreamers'. (ANI)
The chief organiser of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Maryam Nawaz, on Thursday advised the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) to join Imran Khan's party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), media reports said. Maryam said this in a tweet right after the top court ordered to release Imran Khan while terming his arrest from the premises of Islamabad High Court (IHC) as 'illegal', Samaa TV reported. "The Chief Justice [of Pakistan] was very happy today to meet the person who usurped Rs 60 billion from the national exchequer, and he was even happier to release this criminal, Maryam tweeted. She went on to say, "The Chief Justice is primarily responsible for the attacks on the most important and sensitive installations in the country, as he has become the shield of 'fitna' and is exacerbating the situation in the country by fuelling the fire." The PML-N leader advised CJP Umar Ata Bandial to resign from his position and join the PTI, "just like his mother-in-law", Samaa TV reported. Earlier on Thursday, Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb had censured the Supreme Court for providing "relief" to Khan, The Express Tribune reported. "The SC is giving relief to a criminal, a terrorist, a gangster who leads armed groups," said Marriyum Aurangzeb. The remarks came as the minister addressed a press conference in Islamabad minutes after the apex court ordered Khan to be produced in court within an hour on Thursday, as it heard the PTI's plea challenging his arrest in the Al-Qadir Trust case. The former premier was arrested on May 9 by the paramilitary force from the Islamabad High Court (IHC) over allegations of having looted Rs 50 billion from the national treasury, along with a property tycoon, and getting the Al-Qadir University Trust registered on a 450-kanal land. Hours after Khan's arrest, the IHC had declared that his arrest from the court premises was carried out legally, while the PTI alleged political persecution. A day later, an anti-graft court granted the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) eight-day physical remand of Khan. The government had also backed the arrest as legal, dismissing allegations of foul play. At the presser, Marriyum told reporters, "Imran Khan arrested by the NAB for investigation in the Al-Qadir Trust case. After the arrest, terrorists and armed groups attacked state and public properties," The Express Tribune reported. --IANS san/arm ( 404 Words) 2023-05-11-19:34:01 (IANS)
Photo: Times Colonist The incident plays out next to a vehicle that appears to have had a head-on collision with a police cruiser, which is partway down an embankment.

The Independent Investigations Office of B.C. says it is investigating a police-involved shooting in Duncan on Friday morning.

Witness video of the incident shows a police officer aiming a gun at an individual in a grey hoodie, the sound of a shot being fired, and the individual falling to the ground.

The incident played out near the parking lot of the North Cowichan-Duncan RCMP detachment. A vehicle appeared to have had a head-on collision with a police cruiser, which was partway down an embankment.

The civilian police watchdog is not releasing details of what happened but said it will provide further information later today.

The IIO is called in to investigate incidents where someone is seriously injured or killed while interacting with police to determine if an officer committed an offence.

The Municipality of North Cowichan issued a notice at 7:45 am. warning of road closures on Canada Avenue between the Trans-Canada Highway and Beverly Street.

Its the second police-involved shooting in Duncan in just over a month. On March 28, a man was shot in the head when he was driving a track loader skid-steer along residential streets in Duncan and refused to stop for police.
The Supreme Court on Thursday said that had Maha Vikas Aghadi leader Uddhav Thackeray refrained from resigning from the post of Maharashtra Chief Minister, it could have considered the grant of the remedy of reinstating the government headed by him while also castigating then Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari for asking Thackeray to prove his majority in the Assembly. A five-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, also said the political party and not the legislature party appoints the whip and the leader of the party in the House and the direction to vote in a particular manner or to abstain from voting is issued by the political party and not the legislature party. "The decision of the Speaker as communicated by the Deputy Secretary to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly dated July 3, 2022 is contrary to law. The Speaker shall recognise the Whip and the Leader who are duly authorised by the Shiv Sena political party with reference to the provisions of the party constitution, after conducting an enquiry in this regard," said the bench, also comprising Justices M.R. Shah, Krishna Murari, Hima Kohli, and P.S. Narasimha. However, the top court refrained from declaring the current regime led by a rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde as illegal. "Mr. Thackeray did not face the floor test on June 30, 2022 and instead submitted his resignation. This Court cannot quash a resignation that has been submitted voluntarily. Had Mr Thackeray refrained from resigning from the post of the Chief Minister, this court could have considered the grant of the remedy of reinstating the government headed by him," it said. The apex court declared that the Governor was justified in inviting Shinde to form the government subsequently on June 30, 2022, since the BJP, with the highest 106 MLAs, and eight Independent MLAs extended support to him. The bench also noted that the resolution passed by Shiv Sena Legislative Party (SSLP) on June 22, 2022 brought to the attention of the Speaker that it was passed by a faction of the SSLP. Thus, the Speaker by recognising the action of a faction of the SSLP without determining whether they represented the will of the political party acted contrary to the provisions of the Tenth Schedule, the 1986 Rules, and the Maharashtra Legislature Members (Removal of Disqualification) Act 1956, it said. Chief Justice Chandrachud, who authored the judgment on behalf of the bench, said: "The decision of the Speaker recognising Mr. Shinde as the leader is illegal. The Speaker must recognise the Whip and the Leader who are duly authorised by the political party with reference to the provisions of the party constitution, after conducting an enquiry in this regard and in keeping with the principles discussed in this judgement." The bench observed that on June 21, 2022, there was no material on record before the Deputy Speaker for him to doubt that the resolution of SSLP dated June 21, 2022 (appointing Ajay Choudhari as the leader of the SSLP) was de hors the political party, or that two factions of the party had emerged. "The resolution was signed by Mr. Thackeray in his capacity as the party president much like the resolution appointing the Whip and Leader in 2019. This makes it evident that Mr. Thackeray issued the communication on behalf of the political party. Thus, the decision of the Deputy Speaker recognising Ajay Choudhari as the Whip in place of Mr. Eknath Shinde is valid," said the bench. The top court declared as illegal a decision of the Speaker to appoint Bharat Gogawale as Chief Whip of Shiv Sena on nomination by Shinde group and refused to accept Shinde faction''s contention that the Chief Whip is appointed by the legislature party and not the political party. It also referred the 2016 constitution bench judgment in Nabam Rebia case, which restricted the power of Speaker to decide disqualification petition in view of pendency of motion of removal against him, to a seven-judge constitution bench due to its adverse impact on the Tenth Schedule (anti-defection law). After this verdict, Speaker Rahul Narwekar can decide disqualification petitions filed by both Thackeray and Shinde groups against each other and a fresh legal battle is anticipated after the decision of Narwekar, a BJP MLA. The bench said: "The Speaker and the ECI are empowered to concurrently adjudicate on the petitions before them under the Tenth Schedule and under Paragraph 15 of the Symbols Order respectively." "The effect of the deletion of Paragraph 3 of the Tenth Schedule is that the defence of ''split'' is no longer available to members facing disqualification proceedings. The Speaker would prima facie determine who the political party is for the purpose of adjudicating disqualification petitions under Paragraph 2(1) of the Tenth Schedule, where two or more factions claim to be that political party," it said. On the Governor''s action after the rebellion by Shinde and his supporting MLAs, the bench concluded: "The Governor was not justified in calling upon Mr. Thackeray to prove his majority on the floor of the House because he did not have reasons based on objective material before him, to reach the conclusion that Mr Thackeray had lost the confidence of the House. However, the status quo ante cannot be restored because Mr. Thackeray did not face the floor test and tendered his resignation; and The Governor was justified in inviting Mr. Shinde to form the government." The top court said it cannot ordinarily adjudicate petitions for disqualification under the Tenth Schedule in the first instance. "There are no extraordinary circumstances in the instant case that warrant the exercise of jurisdiction by this court to adjudicate disqualification petitions. The Speaker must decide disqualification petitions within a reasonable period," it said. "An MLA has the right to participate in the proceedings of the House regardless of the pendency of any petitions for their disqualification. The validity of the proceedings of the House in the interregnum is not subject to the outcome of the disqualification petitions." On March 16, the Supreme Court after hearing submissions for nine days reserved its judgment on a batch of cross-petitions of Uddhav Thackeray and Eknath Shinde groups in connection with the Maharashtra political crisis. --IANS ss/vd ( 1054 Words) 2023-05-11-20:14:03 (IANS)
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, accompanied by his deputy Tejashwi Yadav, on Thursday met Shiv Sena-UBT President and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar and state Congress Working President Naseem Khan as part of his efforts to forge a grand alliance of all non-BJP parties. After the meetings, Nitish Kumar said that if more and more opposition parties unitedly stand and work together, it can help achieve a better fight against the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. "When all opposition unites to fight, there will be a direct contest (against the BJP). We can get good success and the country can head in the right direction," remarked Nitish Kumar, who was accompanied by his Janata Dal-U's national Secretary Kapil Patil and others. He observed that what the BJP is doing is not good for the country and its imperative for the opposition parties to work together and save democracy in India. "There should not be any dispute. All must remain united with the same objective to work in the best interests of the country, and provide an alternative in the next elections," he said. To a query whether Pawar would be the main face of the opposition alliance, Nitish Kumar said that "nothing could be more delightful than that", and he had requested him to work more vigorously both for his party and the entire country. Khan welcomed the visiting dignitaries at Mumbai Airport and wished them the bet for their efforts to work out a united opposition front, saying Nitish Kumar had already met Congress top brass in New Delhi recently. Earlier this morning, Nitish Kumar and Yadav, JD-U President Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh, Bihar Legislative Council Chairman Deveshchandra Thakur and Bihar Cooperation Minister Sanjay Kumar Jha, were accorded a grand welcome on their first visit to Mumbai with huge banners and posters heralding their trip, said a JD-U official. The duo and others were accorded a traditional Maharashtrian style welcome at the Thackeray residence 'Matoshri' in Bandra where they had lunch with Uddhav and Aditya Thackerays, with MP Sanjay Raut also present. Later, they drove to Pawar's residence 'Silver Oaks' in south Mumbai where they were welcomed by Sharad Pawar and his daughter Supriya Sule and others. In the past few days, Nitish Kumar has been jetting around the country meeting top Opposition party leaders including Mallikarjun Kharge, Arvind Kejriwal, Hemant Soren, Naveen Patnaik, Mamata Banerjee, Akhilesh Yadav, Sitaram Yechury, D. Raja and other. --IANS qn/vd ( 431 Words) 2023-05-11-20:20:04 (IANS)
Enthusiastic farmers turned up in hordes across all the districts of Jammu and Kashmir with more than 80,000 attending three rounds of the orientation programme being held under Kisan Sampark Abhiyan, the Department of Information and Public Relations (DIPR), Jammu and Kashmir said in an official release on Thursday. Nearly, 800 panchayats from across all the districts of the Union Territory have been covered, to date, under the Abhiyan, the release added. According to the official release, a first-of-its-kind massive farmer's orientation exercise is being undertaken by Agriculture Production Department at UT. The ambitious target of reaching out to farmers in each and every Panchayat of the UT has been envisaged under the Kisan Sampark Abhiyan in the next 4 months. The exercise which commenced on April 24 is scheduled to conclude on August 31, 2023. The farmers outreach exercise has been planned under the recently launched Holistic Agriculture Development Programme (HADP), it said. The official release further said that the Orientation programme is being organised simultaneously across all districts of the UT. The programme has been designed to be conducted on the first three days of every week. An exhaustive district-specific calendar has been issued by the government in this regard. The resource persons for these orientation programmes are officers and officials drawn from Agriculture, Animal/Sheep Husbandry, Horticulture, Sericulture and Fisheries Departments, who were trained beforehand during the 641 training sessions which were held across all districts during the months of January to April. An innovative tool for describing the different schemes and programmes using short films has been put in place. A total of 49 videos of schemes under HADP and other Centrally Sponsored Schemes will be shown to the farmers across the venues in J&K, it read. "Using audio-visual aids in describing the schemes had a lasting and much more engaging, engrossing effect on the farmers. Besides, question-answer sessions after each screening session of videos are being held to clear the doubts of farmers. The farmers are also being provided with pamphlets of all the schemes in the three languages (Hindi, Urdu and English) in the shape of a booklet, which also contains information about the contact details of all the departments under the agriculture production department of the UT," the release said. The farmers are also being apprised of the mode of an application under these schemes using the KISAN SATHI- the IT Dashboard of the schemes developed by APD. A simple scan of the QR codes on the pamphlets takes the farmer to the KISAN SATHI Portal where he can register easily without visiting any office for applying under any of the schemes, it said. Besides, PRI representatives were particularly enthusiastic about the hassle-free online application procedure devised by the Agriculture Production Department for undertaking any of the interventions under the 29 projects of HADP. A Baseline survey/Skill gap study of farmers has also been carried out simultaneously during the Kisan Sampark Abhiyan. The farmers' data is being captured using IT Tools for a holistic assessment of the status of Agriculture and farmers in the UT, the official release said. The farmers were also apprised about the Daksh Kisan, a Learning Management System (LMS) for skill development of farmers. A first of its kind in the country, Daksh Kisan, has been developed by the Agriculture Production Department, where 118 skilling courses as per the agro-climatic zones of the J&K UT are available for free to the farmers. Again, a simple scan of the QR code at the back of the pamphlet takes the farmer to the Daksh Kisan Portal where he can register for free and undertake any skilling course of his/her liking, the release said. The video lectures under the LMS are available in Kashmiri, Urdu, Dogri and Hindi and textual material is available in Hindi, Urdu and English. Besides, specialised modules on business development and financial management have also been included to ensure that the farmers are not merely trained but become skilful entrepreneurs. The successful farmers who clear the course shall be provided Certificates from SKUAST-J/K, it added. (ANI)
In a statement, the veteran leader said: "Congratulations to Thangam Thenarasu on his appointment as Finance Minister of Tamil Nadu. I wish Tamil Nadu further development under his new role, and also congratulations to TRB Rajaa on his becoming the industries minister of the state."

It may be noted that subsequent to TRB Rajaa swearing in as minister, the Tamil Nadu government issued a statement regarding changes in the portfolios of five ministers.

High-profile finance minister of Tamil Nadu, PTR Thiagarajan, was divested of his portfolio, and state Industries minister, Thangam Thenarasu, became the new Finance minister.

Mano Thiagarajan was allocated the Diary development minister portfolio which was held by S.A. Nasser, who was dropped.

--IANS aal/pgh

( 151 Words)

2023-05-11-20:42:02 (IANS)
Ninety nine officials of Tihar Jail have been transferred following the killing of gangster Tillu Tajpuriya by members of a rival gang a few days ago. The transfers were ordered by Director General (Prisons) Sanjay Beniwal, who deemed the incident a grave matter. The transferred officials include 11 deputy superintendents, 12 assistant superintendents, head warders and warders. "However, the transferred officers/officials shall draw their salary from where they were drawing earlier. Further, all the above mentioned officers/officials hereby stand relieved with immediate effect without waiting for formal relieving from concerned jails/offices. Non-compliance of the order shall be viewed seriously," the transfer order read. According to prison officials, additional transfers may take place in the coming days. The killing of Tajpuriya has prompted the authorities to undertake a comprehensive review of the situation, resulting in a strategic overhaul of operations and implementation of essential reforms at the grassroots level. On Monday, the Delhi High Court sought a response from the jail authorities on the steps taken to prevent such an incident. Justice Jasmeet Singh was dealing with a plea moved by Tajpuriya's father and brother seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the murder and also protection for them. On watching the incident, which was captured on the CCTV cameras installed inside the jail, Justice Singh said that it was seen that Tajpuriya was taken out of his cell and was stabbed to death. According to video footage, Tajpuriya was reportedly attacked with improvised weapons by four members of the Gogi gang inside Tihar Jail on May 2. Despite being alive and in the custody of prison security personnel, the accused attacked Tajpuriya a second time. As per reports, Tajpuriya was stabbed over 90 times by the assailants, who are reportedly members of the Jitender Gogi gang. Sunil a.k.a. Tajpuriya (33), a resident of Tajpur Kalan on the outskirts of Delhi, was lodged in Tihar Jail under tight security. Gangster Satinder Singh Brar, also known as Goldy Brar who is believed to be in hiding in Canada, has claimed responsibility for the attack on Tajpuriya, citing revenge, according to an unverified social media post. --IANS ssh/bg ( 370 Words) 2023-05-11-20:52:02 (IANS)
Sameer Ahmmad Baktoo, a young and dynamic tourism player from Nigeen area of Jammu and Kashmir's Srinagar district, has been vigorously working towards promoting responsible tourism in the valley of Kashmir. According to an official release, Sameer, who is the operations head of India Travel Connections & Paradise Camping Expedition, has been actively involved in various workshops and programs on ecotourism at the national level. Under the initiative of responsible tourism, Sameer has conducted various drives and conferences to promote responsible tourism in the valley. He is passionate about eco-tourism and is planning to organize a series of drives and events to develop a sense of responsible tourism among tourists and stakeholders. When asked about his vision for responsible tourism in Kashmir, Sameer said, "Kashmir has immense potential for ecotourism, and we need to ensure that tourism activities are sustainable and responsible. My goal is to promote tourism that benefits both tourists and local communities, while also protecting the environment and culture of the region." Sameer's efforts towards promoting responsible tourism in the valley have been recognized on different platforms. He has become an inspiration for many young entrepreneurs in the tourism industry. Speaking about the recognition he has received for his work, Sameer said, "I am grateful for the recognition I have received. It motivates me to continue working towards promoting responsible tourism in the valley. I believe that responsible tourism can bring positive change and sustainable development to the region." As an advocate of responsible tourism, Sameer has been working towards developing ecotourism infrastructure in the valley to provide a unique and authentic experience to tourists while promoting conservation and sustainability. The tourism industry in Kashmir has welcomed Sameer's efforts towards promoting responsible tourism in the valley. His dedication and passion for ecotourism have not only brought him recognition but also contributed to the sustainable development of the region. Sameer Ahmmad Baktoo's contribution towards promoting responsible tourism in the valley of Kashmir is commendable. His efforts to create awareness about sustainable tourism practices and develop ecotourism infrastructure have not only benefited the local communities but also contributed to the conservation of nature and culture. Sameer's vision for responsible tourism in Kashmir is inspiring, and his work should be celebrated and emulated. (ANI)
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said on Thursday that it has made two fresh arrests in connection with the agency's ongoing probe into the alleged multi-crore coal smuggling scam in West Bengal. The two arrested persons are Sunil Jha, a former director of Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL), a subsidiary of Coal India Limited (CIL), and Anand Kumar Singh, a former inspector of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF). Sources said that both the arrested persons had close connection with the kingpin of the alleged scam, Anup Maji a.k.a. Lala. They were arrested after being questioned at the CBI's Nizam Palace office here on Thursday. This is for the first time that a (former) CISF official has been netted by CBI in connection to its probe into the alleged coal smuggling scam. Sources said that lots of inconsistencies were detected in the statements given by Jha and Singh during questioning, following which they were arrested. The duo will be presented before a special CBI court in Asansol on Friday. On July 7, 2022, the CBI had filed a chargesheet at the same court against 41 accused persons, including former general managers, chief managers, and security officials of Eastern Coalfields Limited, as well as private persons and private companies. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday floated a proposal to the Union Coal Ministry to declare the illegal coal mines in the state as legal. "Let the Union and state governments together do this. This will put an end to illegal supply of coal, and also confirm the jobs of those associated with these mines. This will also increase the government's revenue. I am requesting the Union Coal Minister to consider this proposal," Banerjee said. --IANS src/arm ( 301 Words) 2023-05-11-21:40:04 (IANS)
Jana Sena Party (JSP) leader Pawan Kalyan on Thursday warned Andhra Pradesh's YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) government that filing police cases against farmers will have serious consequences. The actor-politician alleged that farmers who are going to submit memorandums to the government officials are being arrested. He also slammed the Jagan Mohan Reddy-led government for failing to timely procure paddy from farmers. Pawan said his party would continue its fight till justice is done to all farmers. He said that his JSP would not keep quiet if cases are booked against farmers who are approaching officials with their problems. Addressing the media after inaugurating the JSP's Godavari region office building in Rajamahendravaram, he said the government was not proactive in addressing the problem of farmers. "The government is acting only when they resort to protests seeking justice," he said. Pawan said the government's response to the farmers: problems following unseasonal rains was poor. He alleged that right from the Chief Minister to the Agriculture Minister, and the district officers, none of them planned the paddy procurement process meticulously. "The farmers are in tears as they are struggling to get minimum support price for paddy. The government's inability to ensure timely supply of gunny sacks has added to the woes of the farmers in the Godavari region," he said. The JSP leader said while he was not a full-fledged farmer but he can understand their problems. He said farmers who held talks with him said they want Rs 25,000 as crop loan per acre at 25 paisa interest. If that is guaranteed, they are not expecting a loan waiver. At least 25 farmers representing the Godavari region held talks with Pawan Kalyan, and narrated their struggles for crop loans, MSP, and irrigation, and marketing facilities. --IANS ms/vd ( 306 Words) 2023-05-11-21:56:04 (IANS)
Various organisations, including student and women's bodies, in Tripura staged protests on Thursday against the kidnap and gang-rape of a college student. The condition of the girl, who is undergoing treatment at a government hospital, is stated to be "very critical". A police spokesman said that Gautam Sharma, the prime accused in the case and the driver of the vehicle in which the crime was committed, has been arrested along with co-accused Sudip Chetri, and a hunt is on to nab the remaining two accused persons. He also said that cash to the tune of Rs 90 lakh has been seized from the house of one of the accused persons, Prasanjit Paul, who managed to flee before the raid party reached his home. Additional teams have been formed and raids are being carried out in various parts of the state to nab the remaining accused persons. The 20-year-old student was kidnapped on Monday afternoon when she was returning from her college on the outskirts of Agartala. According to the police, the victim was found at an abandoned place along the bypass road late on Monday night and was taken to the hospital, where her condition is stated to be very critical. The victim's mother said that her daughter was returning home when Gautam offered her a lift. There were three others in the car, the girl's mother said, as she alleged that all the four persons raped her daughter inside the moving vehicle and abandoned her along the bypass road. Tripura Ganatantrik Nari Samity, a women's wing of the CPI-M, SFI, DYFI and other organisations on Thursday gheraoed the police headquarters here and staged a massive protest demanding punishment for the culprits. Veteran women leaders Rama Das and Krishna Rakshit said that students, girls and women are not safe even in the capital of BJP-ruled Tripura. "In the latest incident, a college girl was kidnapped from the capital city in broad daylight and then gang-raped by four men inside a car. The police are yet to arrest the culprits even after three days of the heinous crime," said Das, a CPI-M central committee member. Tripura BJP general secretary Papia Datta and the party's Mohila Moracha leaders also visited the hospital to see the victim, and demanded severe punishment for the culprits. --IANS sc/arm ( 398 Words) 2023-05-11-22:18:05 (IANS)
Saha's counsel claimed in the court on Thursday that the CBI has put up a concocted story about his client throwing his two mobile phones into a pond adjacent to his residence in Murshidabad district during a CBI raid at his house.

"This is a concocted story. No videography was done at the time of the raid. The central agency also did not follow the norms required for the seizure of electronic devices," Saha's counsel argued.

He also said that had his client thrown his mobile phones into the pond, the laxity was on the part of the CBI.

"Has any of the officers who were conducting the raid been penalised for that," Saha's counsel questioned.

In counter argument, the CBI counsel said that had they seized the mobile phones at the beginning of the raid, the question of throwing them away would not have arised.

"Why would the CBI try to destroy the evidence collected by the agency itself," the CBI counsel argued.

After hearing both sides, the judge extended Saha's custody till May 25.

--IANS src/arm

( 233 Words)

2023-05-11-22:26:03 (IANS)